I agree, defensively Chelsea are a shambles, that's not going to fixed immediately, I see them in the top 6 next season with a realistic challenge the following one
ARSENAL OFFICIALLY BOTTLE IT! Arsenal fans now backtracking....2nd will be a great season for us! Surely that has to be seen as a failure??
- Thread starter RedPed
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Your co-top scorer was a midfielder. If you think not upgrading at striker will be sufficient to catch a team that features a 50 goal per season striker, then that's on you.
And no one is willing Arsenal's downfall. There are Arsenal fans who disagree with you.
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Hard to see Kane moving to Arsenal TBH
Of course he won't. The point was that there are Arsenal fans who believe they need a 25-30 goal a year striker instead of 11 goal Gabriel Jesus. The fact that their top scorer was a central midfielder is more than sufficient evidence that they may want to look at how to get more production from their #9.
But Rashford will have another great season presumably.
Odegaard is that player, thats what he is, he isnt Dan James in a purple patch. There is no reason why he wont be a dominant player next season too.
The people who wrtie off us, is rooted in the argument it was a freak season, a lunar moon. No way Arsenal were an 84 points team on merit. They are a 65 points team playing above their skin.
TO break it down further, you need to then suggest the players in the sqaud are playing above level, ad not at the level. As I have asked, which Arsenal player this season played above thier ceiling? Because when it comes to Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli - the expectation is they can mature and get better and score more goals and create more assists.
We are very likely adding Rice nect season. Were going to get better too, why is everyeone going to be better, but we will regress?
TBF Jesus was out quite a while injured, he'd have scored more otherwise, but I'm not encouraging them, we're after the same thing!
He would have for sure but he did play 33 games, which is not insignificant and only managed 11 goals. Nketiah scored 9 in 39. The fact that Odegard, Martinelli, and Saka carried most of the load just underscores how much they need more production at striker if they want to compete for the league next year. They're also losing Xhaka's goal production, which will also need replacing.
I didn't say that just adding a CB was enough to catch City. I said the order of priority would be midfield, CB then striker. It was clear that Saliba going down was a catalyst for the 3 draws and not being able to hold onto leads. It's been pretty clear to every Arsenal fan I know who watched all our games this season that a third CB is a top priority. In the three crucial draws, there wasn't a problem scoring goals, there was a problem locking down the opposition and preventing them from scoring.
I'm not too worried about a "Poch-led Chelsea". Don't think they'll have what it takes for top 4 next season. Bit too early and too many questions for them. I see them around 6-8 next year atm. Also, Newcastle is a massive question mark for next season also with them going from relegation to CL in such a short time and needing a truckload of signings themselves to compete in Europe and the league.
You are confusing necessary and sufficient conditions. If Arsenal's only signing was the best striker in the world outside Haaland, whomever you believe that to be, that would not be "sufficient" by itself to catch City. You might believe Arsenal signing a top striker is necessary to catch City, fair enough, that's your opinion but it certainly isn't sufficient when it was clear the squad lacked depth and experience at key positions.
The only way there is a chance to catch City is if Arsenal makes 3 premium signings and at least another 2-3 quality signings for depth to compete in Europe and the league with the domestic cups, as well as the squad naturally improving as key players get more experience. It won't be easy to sign a striker better than Jesus in this window so I don't see that as the only way the squad could overcome city. Jesus improving and staying injury free would be another way that could happen along with those premium signings.
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I think its as simple as adding a striker. If Arsenal had a 30 goal striker, for the sake of argument lets say Lewandowski, alongside this year's contributions from Martinelli, Saka, and Odegaard, then you have a very good chance of getting over the finish line. You will need to replace Xhaka and make sure Saliba is healthy. If on the other hand Arteta attempts to stick with Jesus, i think there's a very good chance things go in reverse next year because you can't realistically presume the wide players are going to continue contributing 15 goals each every year.
Yeah, definitely don't agree with you there. How many Arsenal games did you watch this season?
Also, if Saliba didn't get injured, Arsenal would have had a very good chance of getting over the finish line so playing what if can go a lot of ways.
More than i care to admit given they were top of the league for a long time. What I saw was an over reliance on Saka, Martinelli, and Odegaard, which ended up creating an imbalance once Jesus returned, which wound up costing the title. Jesus is simply not the level of quality you need to compete with City. If he was United's main striker I would be fuming.
They need a striker for squad depth but doesn't mean they need 25-30 goals a year striker. When Liverpool won the league in 19/20, they scored 85 league goals, 3 league goals less than Arsenal this season. Their striker Firmino scored 9 league goals in that season. So it depends on how a team plays first. Does Arteta play his striker in a system where he expects the striker to score 25-30 goals? You also have to take into account if they sign new striker that score 25-30 goals, there is a possibility it might affected Saka, Martinelli, and Odegaard goals in negative way.
Arsenal need lot of signings to improve their squad depth quality and Xhaka's replacement if he leaves. Although, Im not big fan of Ramsdale and I think he needs to be upgraded or needs to show some improvement on the ball.
I wouldn't say "over-reliance", it was simply how the tactics and squad composition works. Just like how Liverpool overcame City with their two wide players being their leading scorers. Jesus scored more last year (and other years) than Firmino did when Liverpool won and Odegaard contributed more than any of their midfielders offensively that season. A 30-goal striker is not the only recipe for a league-winning side, although obviously, it makes it easier but it's not the only way to get there especially if the tactics aren't set up for a target man like that. Kane, for example, I don't think would improve this side much as his style doesn't fit in.
LFC's league was obviously in a different situation. All clubs are going to have to deal with the fact that Haaland is going to be running rampant for the next few years and Pep is obviously not going to sit around and not upgrade in other areas as well.
The season when Liverpool won the league, City scored 102 league goals. When you said ''obviously a different situation'', what do you mean?
Completely wrong there. Hope they rot!
Let's put it this way. If they don't upgrade players then the ArseFAM TV thread will be pretty active next year.
I want AFTV chill at its peak though. Don't you?
Who cares? Hopefully they'll just upgrade with more duds.
To play in our frontline you need to be able to dribble and pass. Were not interested in a target man or a focal point in attack. Saka, Martinelli, Odegard, Jesus scored 55 league goals between them, which is an equivalent to 25,10,10,10. They should also be looking to get around 15 each a season, so that's around 60 from the front four. Were not looking for a saviour like Kane to score the majority of our goals. For us, its more about how the front four connect, and if he has someone like Evan Ferguson it would all break down.
I agree that a big CF is not the priority at the moment, partly because its not really our style of play. But also because the market is not really good in that area right now. I see Arsenal going for a project type forward in the mould of Evan Ferguson, or Osimhen before he was Osimhen.
I do however think that Arsenal could do with another highly technical, speedy outlet type of player, the player Mudryk was supposed to be for Arsenal. Moussa Diaby comes to mind here, as rotation/competition for Saka, and a similar high speed, high technical outlet like Martinelli. Low center of gravity and stocky as well, and could contribute around 10 goals next season.
But I'd add Diaby after adding to the midfield and defensive lines first.
This is what I’m not understanding either. What difference does it make where the goals are coming from? In fact, I’d say I’d say it’s a good thing to have scored almost as many as City with the goals spread across the team.
Apparently we’re “reliant” upon our wide players scoring. Too right. We play with a false nine and Saka / Martinelli up front. Check our average positions, they both often ahead of our striker.
That’s like saying City are “reliant” upon Haaland to score goals. They are, in the sense that their tactics are geared towards the attributes of the players they have. Like every other team.
Arsenal’s goals tally was within touching distance of City, despite being without our main striker for several months. That means our goals are the result of passing combinations, partnerships within the team and established patterns of play. Those are the complete opposite of freak circumstances that disappear overnight.
If anything, reliance on a striker scoring an unheard of amount of goals is the more precarious situation, due to the risk of injury.
City as a team scored less goals this season with Haaland than they did in 21/22. And 19/20. And 18/19. And 17/18. A singular focus on having a high-scoring central striker is a little bit odd.
Just to put a bit of context on it, Jesus had 11 goals and 8 assists in 27 starts. The rest were sub appearances of the bench.
I think it's a bit too simplistic to say add a 30 goal a season striker and Arsenal win the league.
City scored 99 league goals in season 21/22, added a 50 goal a season striker and ended up scoring 94 league goals this season. There's lots of factors at play. My issue with Jesus is that he can miss too many chances, and when games are tight having someone that just needs 1 or 2 chances to get you that goal rather than 3 or 4 can make all the difference.
If you'd be fuming with Jesus, you must have been absolutely raging this season?!
You need to tell us where this rage comes from...did you get bullied by an Arsenal fan, or did an Arsenal fan pump your Mrs or something, because it's bordering on being concerning now how you need to mention your hatred on most posts.
I fully respect this.
GFY.
We have 4 players in the top 14 scorers in the league. It was our defense that cost us points in the late part of the season, when we had a few injuries.
Apologies, i shouldn't have got personal. I might just have to refrain from biting at the constant digs.
What the feck is wrong with you? Embarrassing.
There's lots of embarrassing posts on here. I held my hands up though.
I doubt any of them talk about someone's wife being pumped because they can't handle some harsh words about their football team. If you can't handle harsh words about your football team, log the feck off.
It's the most baffling thing on the Caf these days, this idea that a highly prolific striker wins you everything automatically, and their goals can simply be added to a team's previous totals. It's presumably because we haven't had a really good, high-scoring centre-forward for so long and we've forgotten that they aren't actually magical "I win" buttons.
Agreed, it's a bizarrely simplistic way of looking at it. You also have the example of Ronaldo who scored a fair few goals in his first season back at United. The team's goals total went down.
It was said tongue in cheek ffs, and I've apologised for it. It was an admittedly tasteless retort that wasn't meant to be taken seriously, tried to inject some Scottish humour into my post which evidently failed miserably.
I'm sure he won't spend his day worrying about it.
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It was both… You scored 0 goals in games agaisnt Everton, Nottingham, Brighton. Teams that normally concede 1,5 to 2 goals per game…. Until they won the title I can’t remember so many league games where City failed to score. Definitely wouldn’t happen against small teams.
You blew up 2-0 lead twice and both times you failed to score the winner despite having the ball most of the time (same happened at the Emirates against Sporting and cost you your best shot at a trophy) Your attacking statistics are a bit misleading with the 5 and 4 in the open games…
I thought it was pretty obvious those 3 draws against Liverpool, West Ham, and Southampton ended up costing us the league and it was our defending that let us down in all 3 of those games.
I'm not sure how anyone could watch those games and think a better striker is what would have made the difference.
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The title had effectively already been lost by the time we played the Brighton and Forest games, we lost those because the players' heads had dropped.
We blew a 2-0 lead twice so to prevent that happening again we need a.. *checks notes* better striker.
Seriously where has this narrative come from
Is it because you've had to watch your manager play Wout Weghorst this season? Do you lot now think a good striker solves all problems?
You need to work on your reading skills.We blew a 2-0 lead twice so to prevent that happening again we need a.. *checks notes* better striker.
Seriously where has this narrative come from
I said:
“and both times you failed to score the winner despite having the ball most of the time (same happened at the Emirates against Sporting)”
You need a goal scorer that will guarantee you 25+ goals. This can be a striker or otherwise to increase your goals from one of your wide forwards by at least 10+ goals.
Look on the bright side Arsenal fans; at least next season you won't even be in the position to bottle the league.
Those matches meant nothing, we were done by then. We scored plenty against non top-6 team, more than enough to win the title, the problem was the defense in the later stage, when saliba and tomi were out.
The bold part applies to everyone, I'm sure haaland scored plenty when the matches were already decided.