I assume you don't rate him then Mike?
Arsenal 22/23 - go to new thread
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I don't. Decent enough player I suppose, but not the potentially world class midfielder he is being made up to be by a lot of pundits. And he certainly wouldn't be worth the enormous fees that have been mentioned previously. It's just another example of the English bias at play.
If I was to bring in a midfielder from the Premier League, I would look towards Brighton instead.
Can't argue with you about the fee West Ham will want, that's for sure, and I certainly don't think he's world class or anything like that yet.
However, I do think he's a good player, with characteristics that we possibly lack. He's a better ball winner than Xhaka, he has more mobility and can cover ground better than Xhaka, and I think you can rely on him more when the chips are down.
You notice I'm comparing him to Xhaka on our 8 role rather than Partey in our 6. That's because that's where I see him fitting in our team. Plus, as the article mentions, I'm hoping we are still looking towards Brighton for that number 6 role.
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Fair enough. If I was doing Arsenal's transfers, I would try to find someone better on the ball for that no. 8 role. I haven't seen much evidence that Rice is any good in tight spaces with the ball or at arriving late in the box to finish an attack, which would be something I would expect from an expensive midfielder bought for that role.
But will be interesting to see where Rice go, and what kind of role he takes at a bigger club. I could be proven wrong, but I would be surprised if he ends up being a very effective box-to-box midfielder at the highest level.
We need to add ready-made winners at this point. Players with experience of Champions League and Title challenges. Declan Rice might still be a good signing but he isn't that.
Like Jorginho? Not so sure about that generalization - I'd say try to keep that team intact and add a little depth here and there with perfectly fitting and high quality players.
I think Jorginho has been a decent signing, albeit a low-budget version of what I'm talking about. United's signing of Casemiro is a better example. You screw the 'age profile' and 'resale value' stuff and buy a world-class player in their prime to hit the ground running. Granted these kinds of opportunities are fewer and further between.
Not to be misunderstood, I rate Jorginho in general very highly and haven't seen him play for you much so that comment of mine was a bit tongue in cheek. I just think that letting that young core group of players mature further without brute forcing a development (that may or may not occure then) by adding those very experienced players on top of them (of course that doesn't mean not strenghtening the squad). But that's something you didn't say and quite likely didn't have in mind as well. Nobody expected you to challenge for the title this year so I personally think developing the team more naturally would be wise.
Im trying to 2nd guess Arteta. Our interest in Rice and Caceido is well documented now. Apparently if we landed Caceido in January then that wouldn't have stopped us going for Rice in the summer. So that made me question what role he sees both in.
If he was copying Pep's traditional formation it seems he would be looking at playing 1 holder and 2 more attack minded number 8's. But he always likes to play Xhaka in there, and I think that's because Xhaka can tuck in defensively better when we have to defend.
Even so we still concede too many goals, a lot because we are open in transition. So my guess is that he sees Rice as a Xhaka on steroids rather than a Partey replacement. I might be wrong, and he sees Rice as a Partey alternative, but then I wouldn't understand why it was said we would have wanted to sign both if possible.
As I said, this is me trying to 2nd guess Arteta, I might be out, especially as it seems we have interest in the likes of Mount or Kudus as well.
Who do we get for that though? In this country your only talking City or Liverpool players. In Spain, Barca or Real Germany only really Bayern.
Or you buy from a lesser league and hope they can make a step up, which is a gamble in itself. I'd say the quality and character of the player outweighs experience. Of course, if you can combine them all, that would be ideal, but not sure many spring to mind?
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I’m really surprised by this. He’s been touted as the jewel of Hale End.
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Surprised as well to be honest. Had good minutes at Blackpool although they ended up relegated, think maybe he had mixed reviews from their supporters but think that's more a victim of the team struggling.
With these young guys like Balogun and Patino they get a taste of first team football and want more of it, so hard to disagree with them really, they need to be playing to kick on, and sometimes jumping straight into a top 6 team is too big a jump.
Reminds me a bit of you guys with Gilmour to be honest. Hope he picks his next team well and we include some sort of buy back clause.
It's funny that they are the top three
I'd take him at United in a heartbeat
Is he much better than Mainoo? Like, I know he's been v. highly tipped as best Arsenal academy player in a generation and one of the top in his European year group, similar levels to Wilshere previously or for MU, Morrison back in the day, but how has he coped with senior mens football, could he add serious value in terms of being that press-resistant no.8 we need going forward etc?
I'm sure in principle he'd be someone we could make money on if we brought him in, coached him under ETH and then loaned out at higher level to showcase, but we've also got a bunch of very promising youngsters around his age so I'd be of two minds.
Considering he’s leaving Arsenal because looking for first team action, he’s not signing for another big club to be on the bench or play in the U21s.
Hard to say if he's better than Mainoo, since we haven't seen enough of him to give a fair judgement. With regards to Patino, he's definitely made strides in coping with the physicality of mens football (in the Championship no less).Yes he can still get bullied against stronger opponents, but he's still only 19 and his body is yet to fill out. I just really like his player profile. Very much belongs to the same profile category as De Jong.
Four out of the top five. They really have some nerve calling Spurs bottlers when they are factually the biggest bottlers in PL history.
If-and it's a huge if- they win their remaining games and they get 90 points does anyone who hates City more hold hope that they can do it? I mean, where are City realistically most likely to drop enough points? Toughest match on paper is Brighton away.
Probably pointless to hope as Arsenal go to Newcastle next.
Probably pointless to hope as Arsenal go to Newcastle next.
Brighton and Brentford but it's their last games, we'll have played Brighton and Newcastle before and probably dropped points in either game to seal it. West Ham tomorrow will concede 5.
Needed the win tonight and good performance, albeit against a very poor Chelsea side. Still, hope we can finish strong and make City sweat a bit. Next match at Newcastle will be tough.
I was actually thinking about the prospect of Everton or West Ham getting relegated and I remembered how many title-shaping games those two clubs have been involved with in the PL era; they're both teams that have that weird aura about them where no matter how crap they are they could potentially harm someone's title chances, or else be a big win towards a title.
They're fecked, aren't they? Even if they win all their remaining games, they still need City to lose two out of their last six, and that's not happening. Technically it could be enough for City to lose one and draw one, but that's only if Arsenal also catch up on the GD which is highly unlikely. Meanwhile, City haven't lost a game since the start of February and their remaining fixtures aren't too bad.
Realistically we're playing for pride, for looking attractive as possible to summer signings and for momentum going into the new season. There's very little chance City let us back in.
Bottling is in the DNA.
Lose one and draw one would be enough. No GD needed. However, City aren’t slipping up twice with Arsenal having perfection. The bottle is well and truly on the table.
Lads, we got smashed 7-0 by Liverpool and crashed out of Europe 5-2 after being 2-0 up. We don’t get to talk shit about a team bottling anything.
You're trying too hard Chief.
You really shouldn’t be touchy about it. It’s a common pattern. Arsenal fans just thought this time it would be different, again.
I'm fine mate, more find it's bit desperate to be honest, like you are trying to force the bottle phrase into every post.
Arse fans flashing lasers into Mudryk's face just shows how thin-skinned their fans are.
I’d argue you’re trying too hard to deflect from what it really is, a bottling. Even your own fans have accepted it is exactly that. Let it go.
Sure we do. It’s not as though we ever had 9 fingers around the PL trophy.
No one here gave a fukk about the EL “trophy” other than the fact that it’s another door to the CL.
If we fukk up fourth place, then you’re point would be well taken.
They hold 5 out of the top 10. But shh, don’t call them bottlers because they’re not.93%
I’d love to see it happen but it’s not going to. Arsenal have drawn one game too many. Had they won the Southampton game they’d still have a small chance but potentially 4 points behind City with a worse GD and harder fixtures to come, I think it’s done. City would have to have a few really bad results and Arsenal go on a run for this to be possible.
Arsenal were never winning the title, the table topping was because of fixture placement/postponement. We had 2 matches against City and 2 against Newcastle in the second half of the season. If they were played at different times, and we didn't have 2 games in hand - Arsenal would've been top for around 50% of the season.
Though obviously, topping the table for any amount of time would've been a pipe dream a couple of years ago, so there's progress at least.
We wouldn’t bottle anything if we finish 20 points behind Man City every season.
If Arsenal hadn't just recently gone four games in a row without a win - including games against West Ham, Southampton and a Liverpool team that hadn't recovered their form like they're gradually starting to do now - they'd still be in an excellent position to win the title even with City's two games in hand. The loss to city was the only one of those four that can be called inevitable.
I don't personally believe in concepts like bottle jobs and such, but under no circumstances were Arsenal "never winning the title." They stumbled just before the finish line and it should have been very avoidable. This wasn't some case where a fluke left them in 1st place and then everything returned to normal. Arsenal absolutely could have gone the distance, even losing to City and potentially Newcastle.
I'm not trying to argue, I'm just saying your a bit obsessed. I mean, people in glass houses, shouldn't throw bottles around is more my point.