Burnwinter I still continue to take a glass half full view. Even with this first loss in two months. My view is that a single signing will have a really big impact on this team. A forward (left or central) who can create high value, high volume chances for himself like Isak goes a long way. We saw even with Nwaneri, despite his flaws, that decisiveness makes a big difference.
Despite the gloom, I want to shout out MLS. This kid is going to go stratospheric
Claudius My view is that a single signing will have a really big impact on this team.
Yes! I think all else (including luck with injuries and justice from referees) being equal, one more top drawer forward would mean winning the league.
But it's the obviousness of that which tells us Arteta has to get that player or get out of the way.
Burnwinter this, this, this.
Our lack of forward options is both a reason to believe we will get better and solve many of our problems (if we bring players in) as well as a threat to Arteta's job if it doesn't get fixed soon.
Any whispers of #artetaout are pretty petulant at this stage to be honest but things do have to change this summer. My main concern on that front is that we won't have Edu's replacement in before then but the club have afforded themselves faith that they will fix the situation.
Edit: what Burnsy said in his follow-on posts.
Yeah look, hats off to the folks (I particularly recall Sicario and Qs) who insisted we were short of a top striker in summer. I trusted the process and I thought we could get away with a few quality additions and still move forward, but I was wrong.
The people who said Martinelli was going to need upgrading (particularly recall Dules and RtC saying this) were also on the right track.
We skated by with Havertz and Trossard during the second half of last season and achieved an amazing run, but they're not up to it now despite being good players. Jesus has to be sold and Sterling is irrelevant.
Burnwinter it’s always been obvious the team needed another top forward who fit the system for over a year. But one assumes these are works in progress. The balance is how do you build as quickly as possible while ensuring you get the right players. I’d like to think Arteta tried to optimise both of these as much as possible - particularly given rumours around Vlahovic, Williams, Raphiña, Sekso and others.
The frustrating thing about all of this is that Artetas tactical systems and his coaching, both technical and motivational, are top tier. I think the structure above him is wrong. I think Edu let spending, on wages in particular, get out of hand. I think when we made decent signings we mostly overpaid for them. PSR is pretty tight at the moment and we seem to have hit a bit of a wall where we need to be much more careful about who we pay huge money to. I hope whoever replaces Edu has some better ideas for scouting and is able to get some value and catch some players before they blow up. We haven't signed a player like that since Odegaard.
Arteta mentioning the carling cup ball is different is really a novice thing to say and opens him up to all sorts of ridicule. Rival fans are relishing this.
Sicario2 - Tier 1 sorry, what the fuck did he actually say? Lol.
Claudius We tried and we seem to have pursued some reasonable targets, but it looks like we Goldilocksed our transfer strategy given we ended up with no one but Sterling on loan.
The remedy will be to land a really big target.
Imagine if Ange or Ten Haag said that. They would be absolute laughing stocks on here for days.
Burnwinter but it looks like we Goldilocksed our transfer strategy given we ended up with no one but Sterling on loan.
Which is weird because previous years we've managed to pivot pretty well when we missed our first targets. I do wonder if Edu was already mentally checked out last summer and had his new job lined up.
Burnwinter I think the frustrating aspect for those of us who felt we didn't have enough quality is it wasn't some 6th sense you just looked at their output. Martinelli had a very good breakthrough season and then failed to produce over another 2 seasons and didn't seem to develop his own game. Jesus has had mounting injury problems and had never been consistent goal scorer and again had shown poor returns. Havertz is a functional player but he is not a quality forward that will reliably get you goals
Consistency is everything for being a top player and the majority of our attackers outside Saka have not been able to demonstrate the required level. The other side of that is yeah but they will stay fit or demonstrate the quality from 2 years ago. That's pure hopium and not a serious way to build a squad to make the step up, I think it's is a reckless strategy that doesn't give the team the needed resilience that a season requires.
I think we've needed to address the forwards for at least 18 months but the summer was the red flag we needed to address it then. The fact Arteta didn't suggests major problems with how he approaches squad building either he didn't think it was a problem or he chose to ignore it both of which he has to own. This is all his team and philosophy no more excuses.
I feel we need to win this season or I'd be very much heading to the we need to do something else to get us to win things. I accept I'm going to be early for lots on that but I agree that it can't progress beyond next season if we are still coming up short.
It's funny, isn't it? All managers appear to have their blind spots, Arsene's were towards the back of his team and Mikel's appear to be at the top end.
I was at the game last night and thought, to be honest, that game could very easily have finished 2-0 to us and Newcastle would have had no complaints. Equally, I have to acknowledge that even me, the uber optimist left five minutes before the end as it was clear the team were out of ideas and could still be playing now without having scored.
In contrast, there seemed to be a clarity of purpose, and, more to the point, a cutting edge to the visitors that we can only dream of at present. For me, Martinelli's one on one is the sliding doors moment of the game. Put that away and you might get Newcastle coming out and leaving more lovely green space to run into.
Obviously, he smashes the post, Newcastle scored a few minutes later and a tough game gets infinitely more difficult.
The Havertz miss in the second half defied belief and that Newcastle's second goal came from a rebound felt a bit like sick joke given the amount of blocks Newcastle put in around their own penalty area. But they had the players to take advantage of it. Isak would obviously transform this Arsenal team, but Anthony Gordon would also mark a clear improvement on Martinelli.
I don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water because, even with all the mad shit that's happened to us this season, we're still 2nd in the league and, for all the frustration of being behind Liverpool, are still a very good team - even if we don't look it right now. However, even I am at the point where it is clear Arsenal can't achieve anything with this group of forwards. We need a Saka level forward on the other wing and ideally up front - but I'm fucked if I know who that should be.
I think we need to acknowledge the deficiencies of the choices that Arteta has made in our team setup in respect of our attack. Diaz, Jota, Gakpo are not magicians but appear to be so much better in that Liverpool side because of the way they attack rather than their innate eliteness. Arteta has made certain choices that make us better in some ways but worse in an attacking sense (advancing too early, one-paced attack, insane focus on the flanks vs central, etc.). I don't think there is a team in the world (bar RM) that can have 2 Saka's. We of course need better quality upfront (I still don't understand why we bought Havertz) but perhaps also a few slight tweaks to the system. In my view, if Arteta can deliver that over the summer (and I don't see why not since he has been able to slightly tweak his system each season to improve the team), he should stay, if we exhibit the same patterns and deficiencies without the personnel change to adjust for that, he should go.
I'm sure Arteta wanted to spend money last summer and address our weaknesses. However, it was clear that selling first was the priority, and he wasn't backed to the degree that he was in previous windows.
Qwiss Something went on there, I reckon. The hope is that Arteta was on the smarter side of it. What's undeniable is that until Edu is replaced and his replacement is bedded in, the buck stops with Super Mik.
daredevil but this then does come back to the way we keep spending on defensive reinforcements.
I think I'm possibly the most pro Arteta poster on this forum, but we had a game a couple of weeks back where we had one attacking option on the bench in Ethan Nwaneri - and three left backs. Without wanting to get all Liz Truss about it (nobody needs that), that says, well; a) we've been a little unlucky, but also; b) we have got our squad planning just a little wrong.
Arseblog made the point today that none of our three summer signings even got on the pitch last night, which makes you wonder what the point of them all were.
RocktheCasbah but Anthony Gordon would also mark a clear improvement on Martinelli.
I'd take Gordon over almost any left winger we've been linked to. He takes responsibility in a way few others do. Think he'd be perfect in Artetas system too.
That said he's got the same number of goals as Martinelli this season and in more minutes. This is why the LW spot is so hard to upgrade. Newcastle would want over £100m for him.
I would too. Difficult argument to make based on output and also mentality, as Martinelli is no shirker, but I like Gordon and like that he’s got an edge. He’s a bit of a prick and I’d like one or two more Ben White’s around. Gordon, Martinelli and a Jesus replacement would be a good situation going into next season.
