2019/20 Rivals - Arsenal

[ThierryFabregas]

We'd have been better off with Koscielny than signing Luiz. At the very best our CB situation is the same as last season IMO.

I don't agree with this. For one Luiz has undoubtadly aged better than Kosceilny. Luiz is knocked for error proneness but Kosceilny made his own fair share, especially the last 2 years. Playing it out the back Luiz is far better and his long passes may give our counter attacks another dimension. Luiz also adds size, aggression and a dressing room presence that I don't think Kosceilny has.

Lastly you're forgeting how injury prone Kos is these days. Luiz nearly played as many times last season as Kos has in the last 2 seasons

The thing is I'm half expecting Chelsea to pull the rug out on us on this. If it comes off I think it's more Lampard might have done an old mate a favour than wanting him out. Or perhaps he has injury issues we don't know

 

[Donk87]

I don’t think anyone was really interested. It has nothing to do with Arsenal being Tierney’s preferred destination above all other English teams.

Nobody said he'd pick us above every other team so yeah, great point.

It looks like we'll sign him, he might be great, he might be pants. We'll know soon enough.

 

[haram]

Nobody said he'd pick us above every other team so yeah, great point.

It looks like we'll sign him, he might be great, he might be pants. We'll know soon enough.

My point is it is strange no other English teams are after him at 25 million considering the hype.

 

[awop]

Erm ok?

My point was more directed that Chelsea didn't have a great defence with him in it contrary to this Chelsea had the 3rd best defence in the league narrative

I don't know, i still think Chelsea has a good defense. Last season they had 2 games where they just gave up against City (6-0) and Bournemouth (4-0), otherwise they look okay to me. Luiz did play in those 2 games but he also took part in 15 clean sheets. Spurs shipped the same amount of goals but i'd rather have Chelsea's defensive line-up than Tottenham's.

 

[Amadaeus]

Congratulations Arsenal.

You easily had the best transfer window of any top six side. Unbelievable. From going to having only £45m to spend to outspending most of their rivals. Top four surely for Arsenal this season. No excuses for Emery.

 

[Klopper76]

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Very good signing.

 

[Hawks2008]

Depressing that arsenal and their £45m have had a better window than us.

 

[Grinner]

Not happy if we lose Iwobi.

 

[afc_gentleman]

Amazing window for us:

a good LB in Kierney
a good RW in Pépé
a good CM in Ceballos on loan
an ok older CB in Luiz and a good young one in Saliba for next season
an exciting young winger in Martinelli on the side

About 10 players out that we don't want to start anyway, bar Ramsey maybe.

All in all for maybe £75m net, and probably lightened the wage bill a bit in the process.

 

[sun_tzu]

.......................Leno...................
..........holding..luiz..sokratese....
Bellerin....tiorriera..cellebos...thierney
...........Pepe.....lacazette...aubamyang

Erm that's looking pretty good to be honest... Lot of goals in that team potentially

Considering budget limitations they have done well to bring in 4 good players

 

[LJJT]

Depressing that arsenal and their £45m have had a better window than us.

I don’t think they have. We’ve got two proven quality players in for our starting 11 and an exciting youngsters. Arsenal’s signings are all huge gambles due to injury record or lack of prem experience. Can only judge it at the seasons end

 

[ThierryHenry14]

I don’t think they have. We’ve got two proven quality players in for our starting 11 and an exciting youngsters. Arsenal’s signings are all huge gambles due to injury record or lack of prem experience. Can only judge it at the seasons end

I am happy with the signings given the budget we have. On paper at least we reinforced the area we desperately need.

 

[NieThePiet]

Not happy if we lose Iwobi.

Sad to see an Arsenal boy leave, but he is 23 now and we are still waiting for his Breaktrough Season. He has talent and i will be sure, he will do it at Everton.
But it was a very good bid and we had to accept it. Nearly the half from Pepe.

Time for Nelson, Saka and Smith Rowe now.

 

[Abhinav]

After a long time it genuinely feels at the start of a campaign that Arsenal will finish in front of us. Its a horrible feeling knowing that we are in a worse state than Arsenal.

 

[DatIrishFella]

They got £40m for Alex Iwobi. A lw version of Danny Welbeck. Fair play.

 

[Grinner]

Please don't...it's always better when you underrate us.

 

[JazzG]

Fantastic window, well beyond expectations. It definitely gives us a great chance to get back into the CL, was hoping for that marquee CB but just couldn't get it over the line. Pepe & Ceballos I think will really help the team, we've struggled in those positions badly and needed reinforcement there.

Alll in all for maybe £75m net, and probably lightened the wage bill a bit in the process.

Net figure is closer to £45m! Still a couple of weeks to go and expect another player or two to leave

I don’t think they have. We’ve got two proven quality players in for our starting 11 and an exciting youngsters. Arsenal’s signings are all huge gambles due to injury record or lack of prem experience. Can only judge it at the seasons end

Strange you call our signings gambles due to lack of PL experience and call your young signing exciting You've also lost Lukaku who despite not being popular here probably has as many goals as Martial, Rashford & Sanchez combined in his time at your club. So massive pressure on those three to step up now.

 

[ThierryHenry14]

Sad to see an Arsenal boy leave, but he is 23 now and we are still waiting for his Breaktrough Season. He has talent and i will be sure, he will do it at Everton.
But it was a very good bid and we had to accept it. Nearly the half from Pepe.

Time for Nelson, Saka and Smith Rowe now.

I would keep Iwobi and sell Mkhitaryan. He is our boy.

 

[Grinner]

Iwobi is a good experienced option. We've got a lot of games this season and the dreaded Thursday short recovery period.

 

[Mogget]

I don’t think they have. We’ve got two proven quality players in for our starting 11 and an exciting youngsters. Arsenal’s signings are all huge gambles due to injury record or lack of prem experience. Can only judge it at the seasons end

In what way is Wan-Bissaka proven? He's a 21 year old defender who's had one good season at a team battling relegation. Going from Palace to United is a huge step up.

 

[Lynty]

I only see the same fragilities as always.

It's so easy to hurt Arsenal, that you're going to drop too many points against well drilled mid table clubs.

 

[NieThePiet]

I would keep Iwobi and sell Mkhitaryan. He is our boy.

Yeah, but we aren't getting these offers for Mikhi and he is on high wages. So not many clubs are interessted.
Think every Arsenal Fan would have prefered a deal like this for Mikhi instead of Iwobi, but it hasn't happened.

 

[LJJT]

In what way is Wan-Bissaka proven? He's a 21 year old defender who's had one good season at a team battling relegation. Going from Palace to United is a huge step up.

Best RB in the prem last year. Arguably

 

[LJJT]

Fantastic window, well beyond expectations. It definitely gives us a great chance to get back into the CL, was hoping for that marquee CB but just couldn't get it over the line. Pepe & Ceballos I think will really help the team, we've struggled in those positions badly and needed reinforcement there.



Net figure is closer to £45m! Still a couple of weeks to go and expect another player or two to leave



Strange you call our signings gambles due to lack of PL experience and call your young signing exciting You've also lost Lukaku who despite not being popular here probably has as many goals as Martial, Rashford & Sanchez combined in his time at your club. So massive pressure on those three to step up now.

James will be back up youth player for us. You need all yours to start so that’s more a gamble in my view

 

[Donaldo]

Tasty window for us. Looking forward to the season, barring the brainfarts in defence.

 

[Klopper76]

I only see the same fragilities as always.

It's so easy to hurt Arsenal, that you're going to drop too many points against well drilled mid table clubs.

I think they've got enough in attack to make the top four. Chelsea and United look like they've fallen behind now imo.

 

[0le]

Did the Luiz deal go through?

 

[JazzG]

James will be back up youth player for us. You need all yours to start so that’s more a gamble in my view

A lot of arguments could be made about AWB & Maguire as well. Don't get me wrong both are good players but you could also point out why it isn't guaranteed they'll hit the ground running. AWB played for a team which did a lot of defending and he wasn't really an outlet or relied up for attack, at Man Utd his role will be reversed and there will be an expectation for him to produce higher up the pitch. Though I'd say Maguire actually looks better on the front foot and out of the two I'd say has a better chance of doing well with your lot.

Did the Luiz deal go through?

Yup, Arsenal being Arsenal means we never announce things early!

 

[TheReligion]

I think Arsenal have had a better window than Spurs.

That said they still haven't sorted the CB issue for me. I don't really rate Luiz and on paper it just looks like you can get at them.

They'll be tasty going forward so I expect they will have an exciting season but will still leak goals.

 

[ThierryHenry]

Very happy with the window. Best thing about it is that management quite clearly acknowledged the holes in the squad, and did what they could to best address them. Not like the old days of going years without signing the DM or keeper that was obviously missing!

I’ve always had a soft spot for Luiz. Excellent on the ball (something we desperately need at the back), and his top level is miles ahead of the rest of our CBs. Our first choice Upamecano wasn’t possible, so we may go back for him next season, alongside Saliba coming in. A high quality stop-gap therefore makes sense, which is what we’ve got.

Disappointed that we’ve lost Iwobi on the other hand. He leaves a hole in the squad that I don’t trust Özil and Mhiki to fill, and I can easily imagine him stepping up a level over the next 12-18 months. Think we’ll come to regret his sake.

Best RB in the prem last year. Arguably

Err, no.

 

[FootballHQ]

I don’t think they have. We’ve got two proven quality players in for our starting 11 and an exciting youngsters. Arsenal’s signings are all huge gambles due to injury record or lack of prem experience. Can only judge it at the seasons end

There isn't much difference between Tierney and AWB imo. Yes your signing has premier league experience (just over one season) but Tierney played lots internationally and in europe.

Tough to say with Arsenal. I'd probably say they've done enough to put a sticky plaster over some of their issues by getting in Pepe and Ceballos. Can still see likes of Xhaka, Mikhytayran and yes even Mustafi playing a fair bit given they have europa which will drag the level down a bit.

Probably the usual, blast away majority of teams at Emirates who just come to play for a point and then crumble under pressure away from home due to lack of resilience.

 

[duffer]

So who is captain now?

 

[VorZakone]

So they brought in Pepe, Ceballos, David Luiz, Tierney and Martinelli. Am I forgetting someone? Could have sworn there was another addition.

 

[3KDré]

So they brought in Pepe, Ceballos, David Luiz, Tierney and Martinelli. Am I forgetting someone? Could have sworn there was another addition.

Saliba but he's been sent back on loan.

 

[ThierryHenry]

So who is captain now?

Depressingly, it’ll be Xhaka. Which makes a mockery of all the suggested dream line-ups in this thread. I don’t think he was in any of them.

 

[Dirty Schwein]

We were all laughing at arsenal saying they're buying players on finance and using wonga and starting a Kickstarter campaign but in the end they're laughing at us.

They went into the market with a smart plan. We played the transfer market like idiots.

 

[ThierryFabregas]

Not happy if we lose Iwobi.

Why? His end product just isn't good enough for a top 6 club

Can still see likes of Xhaka, Mikhytayran and yes even Mustafi playing a fair bit given they have europa which will drag the level down a bit.

I don't see Mustafi starting given Luiz, Sokratis, Holding and maybe Chambers and Mavropanos as options.

Xhaka will start his fair share yes

Mikhitaryan will start less now we have Pepe

 

[Cheech Wizard]

No more #Kronke out blud shit from AFTV this season. They've backed Emery and fooled us all with this budget limit smokescreen. No excuses, top four or out.

 

[Finn MacCool]

Best RB in the prem last year. Arguably

AWB is very solid defensively but nowadays FB's need to be able to do much more than just defend. Trent has just had the most amount of assists ever for a FB and was part of a defence that only conceded 23 goals. So there is no argument about it.

 

[afc_gentleman]

Net figure is closer to £45m! Still a couple of weeks to go and expect another player or two to leave

true, but I guess it depends on whether you consider us paying for Saliba (£30m) this window or not.

And yes, maybe we can sell Mustafi now that we have 2 new CBs back (Luiz and Holding, three if you count the Chambers lad) and another one (Saliba) coming, plus Monreal can fill in in a worst case scenario for a game or two if we play a 3 man defence as we have 2 other LBs now. This window has already been lovely but if we can find a buyer for Mustafi as well before the other leagues start it would be out of this world.