Liverpool making their own luck again I see
Arsenal - 2024/25
- Thread starter oneniltothearsenal
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That's fecking brutal. Right after the window closes.
No idea who they'd play up top. Trossard? So, a Nwaneri, Trossard Sterling front 3?
Saka and Martinelli won't be back for a while yet. Jesus is finished for the season, and now Havertz is too.
This injury hit season reminds me of our last couple of seasons.
No idea who they'd play up top. Trossard? So, a Nwaneri, Trossard Sterling front 3?
Saka and Martinelli won't be back for a while yet. Jesus is finished for the season, and now Havertz is too.
This injury hit season reminds me of our last couple of seasons.
Can't blame anyone else, shocking transfer business last summer and in January
How many titles will that be for Liverpool then? 20? Fair play
How many titles will that be for Liverpool then? 20? Fair play
I wonder if that lad Chido that United signed would have been given a shot if he was still around.
Things are bad when you're lamenting an injury to that donkey.
Still find that perception so lazy. Scored more goals than the likes of Chelsea, Villa, Spurs, Brighton, Bournemouth, Forest etc from open play.
As for the Havertz injury, watch us play Merino up front now in a Fellaini type role.
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Only got themselves to blame. Board completely inept to buy depth and Arteta (slightly forced but also slightly at own fault for lack of rotation) running players into the ground.
Havertz has basically played every game for them since joining (also played the whole Euros) and his role is also very physical demanding. If you pick up a serious hamstring injury in training it's just an indication that you were deep into the red already.
Havertz has basically played every game for them since joining (also played the whole Euros) and his role is also very physical demanding. If you pick up a serious hamstring injury in training it's just an indication that you were deep into the red already.
League is a wrap.
Maybe the CL, but would need a lot of luck to go their way
Might as well focus on getting some more experience into Nwaneri and Myles, and retool for next season's league title attempt
Maybe the CL, but would need a lot of luck to go their way
Might as well focus on getting some more experience into Nwaneri and Myles, and retool for next season's league title attempt
One could easily argue that Liverpool would benefit a lot more from havertz actually playing for Arsenal.
Watch Liverpool lose tonight and draw a few games to make it even more painful. Go Forest i guess...
I don't blame them for not spending mega-money at the position in January as ultimately they need to think long-term as well and invest in the right player seeing as they'll be challenging for years to come if they keep the core of their team together - but they simply had to get another body in of some sort.
Even forgetting the argument about upgrading Havertz to a more natural, clinical CF it was painfully obvious once Jesus got injured that they could not expect him to carry the workload as their only striking option, at the time of the injury to Jesus they were looking at anywhere between 21 and 29 games left in the season over a span of 20 weeks - expecting him to play near-on 90 minutes in all those games is / was ludicrous.
If the Watkins move was never on they should have looked at the likes of Kolo Muani, Morata, even Tel, literally even Evan Ferguson as injury prone as he is would have been a better option than nobody. And there must have been some other viable options out there who never ended up making a move as well.
I'm guessing given the fact he replaced Havertz in the 2 CL games post-Jesus injury (off the bench against Zagreb and a start against Girona) that it'll be Trossard upfront as first choice which isn't ideal in itself, but Lord knows what their back-up plan is for him - Sterling?!
Question for Arsenal fans - do you think Edu leaving hampered your ability to get a deal for a CF over the line in January or do you reckon they would have still not brought anyone in even if he was there?
Even forgetting the argument about upgrading Havertz to a more natural, clinical CF it was painfully obvious once Jesus got injured that they could not expect him to carry the workload as their only striking option, at the time of the injury to Jesus they were looking at anywhere between 21 and 29 games left in the season over a span of 20 weeks - expecting him to play near-on 90 minutes in all those games is / was ludicrous.
If the Watkins move was never on they should have looked at the likes of Kolo Muani, Morata, even Tel, literally even Evan Ferguson as injury prone as he is would have been a better option than nobody. And there must have been some other viable options out there who never ended up making a move as well.
I'm guessing given the fact he replaced Havertz in the 2 CL games post-Jesus injury (off the bench against Zagreb and a start against Girona) that it'll be Trossard upfront as first choice which isn't ideal in itself, but Lord knows what their back-up plan is for him - Sterling?!
Question for Arsenal fans - do you think Edu leaving hampered your ability to get a deal for a CF over the line in January or do you reckon they would have still not brought anyone in even if he was there?
Don't forget the fouling opposition players!
The reaction from Arsenal fans is absolutely glorious, yet proves their bias when it comes to players that are perceived by rival fans, as poor and inept. I completely get that it's a poor situation to be in when you literally don't have another CF option, and you lost one of your best academy CF prospects in recent history this summer to United, but still, the way I've seen Arsenal fans react to this, is like they've just lost prime R9.
Havertz recent 10 games (Premier League) = 5G 2A. Let me add some context to this as well.
1G vs West Ham, 30/11/24, Arsenal battered West Ham 5-2 in this game. So it was a drubbing, not an impactful goal by any means.
1G vs Crystal Palace, 21/12/24, Again Arsenal battered Palace 5-1. Another drubbing and another goal with no impact.
1G vs Ipswich Town, 27/12/24, at home to relegation side Ipswich.
1G vs Man City, 02/02/25, in yet another drubbing where the goal came when the result was already confirmed. No impact.
Havertz has missed FAR MORE impactful goal scoring opportunities than the ones he's actually scored. A large majority of Arsenals recent goals have come from their defenders because as we all know, they're Set Piece FC.
I get the reaction to losing him, as I said above, he's their only CF, but I think they're massively over-reacting.
Havertz recent 10 games (Premier League) = 5G 2A. Let me add some context to this as well.
1G vs West Ham, 30/11/24, Arsenal battered West Ham 5-2 in this game. So it was a drubbing, not an impactful goal by any means.
1G vs Crystal Palace, 21/12/24, Again Arsenal battered Palace 5-1. Another drubbing and another goal with no impact.
1G vs Ipswich Town, 27/12/24, at home to relegation side Ipswich.
1G vs Man City, 02/02/25, in yet another drubbing where the goal came when the result was already confirmed. No impact.
Havertz has missed FAR MORE impactful goal scoring opportunities than the ones he's actually scored. A large majority of Arsenals recent goals have come from their defenders because as we all know, they're Set Piece FC.
I get the reaction to losing him, as I said above, he's their only CF, but I think they're massively over-reacting.
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What a load of shite
As if Obi Martin would have gotten any minutes anyway.You've used the word impact or impactful 50 times in that post and don't seem to understand that while Havertz is pretty bad at scoring(or rather finishing since his numbers aren't that bad), he does an awful lot of other things that indeed impact the way we play and strech the opposition. Things that no other profile in the squad does. Nothing to do with him being prime R9. It's one less senior option with 20/25 games of PL and CL to play with 3 guys (4 when Martinelli comes back).
I am not sure how this injury affects them, honestly not sure if it's bad or a blessing is disguise.
Anytime I've seen him, he always seems to muck up great opportunities or stymied a good attack etc.
Hopefully, somehow, it's a silver lining for Arsenal and galvanises them for the run in.
1-0 x 14 would be fine. All headers from corners.
Anytime I've seen him, he always seems to muck up great opportunities or stymied a good attack etc.
Hopefully, somehow, it's a silver lining for Arsenal and galvanises them for the run in.
1-0 x 14 would be fine. All headers from corners.
False 9? Anyone that can do that in their squad?
As much as I get annoyed by Arsenal fans i'd sooner see them win the league than Liverpool, so this is pretty bad news.
As much as I get annoyed by Arsenal fans i'd sooner see them win the league than Liverpool, so this is pretty bad news.
Trossard can play false 9 but Sterling is the more natural option there I think.
They've kind of done quite well to keep up with Liverpool this season. Hasn't been at all convincing but has forced Liverpool into needing wins every week. Hard to see it continuing though. If there is a liverpool slip up from fatigue cant imagine them being any better off to take advantage.
We'll never know will we, so all we can do is speculate. Bold of you to assume that he wouldn't even get a sniff at a matchday squad if your attacking options are that dire? Or maybe you're telling me that they're not, and what I've said is correct, and that there seems to be a massive overreaction to losing a makeshift no.9 (and a poor one at that)?
I guess I'm not the only one that sees it as an overreaction either.. pretty telling.
I covered this in my post but I guess you didn't care to read it properly?
Here..
And here..
You also chose to ignore this literal fact too, which also adds to my 'over-reaction' comment.
He was been beyond useless whenever we tried him there. Don't think he's a good choice at all. I mean, Trossard isn't a good choice either, so Arsenal are fecked either way, unless they have a striker gem in the academy just waiting to be unleashed similar to the way MLS got his chance out of nowhere and grabbed it with both hands.
Yeah I mean he's not a good option there. Especially with how Arsenal play. Havertz is expected to come into midfield and move into wide areas to support. Sterling can't do that. Trossard maybe but then who plays LW? Nwaneri is fine RW whilst Saka gets back to fitness. I think they'll probably ease him back in now though.
Arguing with another member
Yeah i should have ignored the view of someone watching football like it's a FUT game. Carry on with your analysis.
Dubai is a 7 hour flight. Why do clubs put players on that kind of journey in the middle of a season when it is not necessary. Modern footballers spend so much time travelling to begin with, you'd think they would want to minimise extra time on flights.
Not just arsenal of course, but it seems insane to me.
Not just arsenal of course, but it seems insane to me.
Honestly, it’s nothing when you are used to it. I frequently have taken 11-12 hour flights and worked the next day. 7 hours, in the comfort they are traveling in, is nothing for a bit of sun and recuperation.
The injury is far more likely to have happened because of how overplayed and tired the player was. You could see him gasping at the end of a few matches recently.
It’s just a coincidence that it has happened during a session out there.
Arteta is from the ten Hag school of ‘play them until they can’t’
Klopp went on warm weather training camps with his squad mid-season and it never ended well. We usually came back completely out of sorts. In 16/17 we had a three week break before our next game away at Leicester. Leicester had three games before they played us (two CL games).
We went off on a warm weather training thing and came back fresh as anything. Got battered 3-1 when we played Leicester, who were vastly superior in terms of match sharpness.
Arsenal did come back last year from that break and went on an amazing run tbf.
my kids have a sponsorship at a local donkey sanctuary. whenever the donkey they sponsor dies, they are simply assigned a new one. i’m sure a similar route is open to arsenal.
Hard to see how we line up. Trossard or Sterling as forward? I'd be maybe tempted to try Nwaneri but that's a heavy lift there.
Odegaard has been a bit better lately. He is going to have to be on top form to carry us through. We just need to weasel through the next few fixtures until Saka and Martinelli get back. Corners?
Odegaard has been a bit better lately. He is going to have to be on top form to carry us through. We just need to weasel through the next few fixtures until Saka and Martinelli get back. Corners?
I don’t know what FUT means, nor do I care. I’ll put that in the same category as celebrating like you’ve won the league when beating a team 5-1 and wanting plaudits for doing so.
You answer your own question in your post. It's not that we think Havertz is a great player. However, if he's your only real option there, and then gets injured for the end of the season, meaning you have NO real centre forward options at all, then people are obviously going to be annoyed.
And the reaction it's so vocal, is because we just literally had a transfer window where we could have got someone in to help mitigate this. We all could see it coming, we all knew we were taking a massive risk, and yet barely a week after the window closes, you lose 2 players from a front line that was already 2 players down.
I understand January is a hard month to get top targets, i can understand if you don't want to deviate away if you have summer plans for strengthening, however, it's things like what has been leaked about someone like Morata that worry me about how slow we operate. In my opinion, IF you have summer plans, don't want to disrupt them etc, then he's the easy type of short gap signing that should have been done. He's certainly not everyone's cup of tea, but he is experienced, played in the league before, not too dissimilar to Havertz, and most importantly, we knew he was available for a straight loan. We even had a conversation with him. However, we were too slow in reacting, Galatasaray were more proactive & they get a deal done quickly.
So you are literally left with 3 forwards for the next 6 weeks, with Martinelli coming back after that. 1 of them a 17 year old who should be getting his game time managed, and another of them a washed up winger. It's just not good enough.
That's why the reaction.
Our summer transfers looked very questionable back then, now downright horrible. But it could have been an injury nightmare at the other end, and it would have looked a lot smarter. It's a bit of hindsight sometimes but yes that C+ transfer season has now turned into a full blown F.
Various reasons why Arsenal would want to go there.
Firstly, it would be a private plane, so its not like you are spending hours at the airport etc...
Arsenal are sponsored by Sobha Realty and I assume they will be well treated out in Dubai as it is a millionaire's playground.
Consistent hot weather, players motivation levels change when you are out in the warm sunshine rather than gloomy North London.
It gives the manager chance to build real squad morale because everyone is staying in one place, training and having free time enjoying it like a mini holiday whilst they are not training.
Dubai probably has some of the best facilities too.
There are more positives to go out for warm weather training than negatives. Plus its 2 weeks out there so a 7 hour flight is nothing really.
Dubai is fine, it's like spending most of the time at a giant spa. Just rotten luck and poor squad depth in some areas. Kai had a pretty heavy workload so far this season and it possibly caught up. Don't think it was about not rotating your players enough...when you are short, you cannot rotate a whole lot either, compounding the problem.
I thought Calafiori was a great signing, but I didn’t know you had MLS in the academy on the cusp of the first team. Had I known that, I’d have said it’s probably not a necessary signing and resources could be better used elsewhere. The big killer has been not bringing reinforcements in attack aside from Sterling. Merino is a bit of a redundant player in your midfield. He doesn’t really offer much except fresh legs when needed.
But yeah, Calafiori was the signing that made your summer window somewhat good, but you already had MLS waiting in the wings, I think he’s quite a bit better than Calafiori already.
Was definitely a bit of a luxury signing. But we have had a lot of trouble with that position with players not staying healthy. Agree with Merino. He hasn't added much that I can see. Seems slowish almost everything he does.
MLS will or at least in my opinion shift to midfield eventually, so that may have been part of the reasoning. We have had some dependable players struggle. White going down early on has left us weak in terms of options even at the back. I thought Sterling might show us he had something left in the tank, but that has been a disappointment so far. Weird year...