EPL: Arsenal v Sheffield United | Sunday Oct 4 2PM (GMT) | Onion soup & garlic bread: Page 2 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

EPL: Arsenal v Sheffield United | Sunday Oct 4 2PM (GMT) | Onion soup & garlic bread

Clrnc

goon wrote:
Remember the comments about him diving in too much?'Another Mustafi' 😆

The one thing I wasn't sure about was his distribution, as the compilations just showed the long floaty balls. But his passing along the ground is excellent.

I have seen less of floaty balls since he joined. Used to he his trademark but his long passes are now more crisp and straight to his man than to space. Very evident yesterday and even under pressure he could pick his man out accurately.

Gazza M

Just start gabby, leno, and auba and hope its enough

The air will really go out of the balloon if we don't win this convincingly. That feeling of staring down the barrell of another season in stasis would be palpable

Daz

Gazza I really think we'd be better off playing with a full 11 on the field

HomeSteak

😆 😆

For once no fans would be good. If we would fail to win this + the failed summer transfer window this would have been very toxic.

speedy

goon wrote:
Think we'll see the West Ham lineup, but with Tierney in for Kola and possibly Luiz in for Gabriel, though I think that would be a mistake.

Can't Luiz play in Holdings spot? It's not like Holding is rapid that makes him more suitable for the wide centre back role.

think of the amount of times holding end up defending completely out on the flank. It'd be asking about of luiz to be able to get out there at his age and secondly to defend /play on his weaker foot. I'd be super difficult for him.

speedy

HomeSteak wrote:
😆 😆

For once no fans would be good. If we would fail to win this + the failed summer transfer window this would have been very toxic.

Can we just sign chelseas transfer guy? They got everyone they wanted at reasonable fees.

Clrnc

speedy wrote:
HomeSteak wrote:
😆 😆

For once no fans would be good. If we would fail to win this + the failed summer transfer window this would have been very toxic.

Can we just sign chelseas transfer guy? They got everyone they wanted at reasonable fees.

And at a fast speed as well. Super decisive on their targets.

I think we have no balls to play a game of bluff in the market. Raul is good at that, buying everyone we wanted before selling our dross at a decent price. We keep telling everyone we have to sell to buy and puts us in a disadvantage. Now the whole summer and the whole of next season depends on who we can find as a last minute backups, which I can foresee us trying to sell those backups when they are average at a loss in the near future.

Kel Varnsen

I don't know what's worse though. Not signing anyone or signing someone like Pepe for 70 mill.

Clrnc

Kel Varnsen wrote:
I don't know what's worse though. Not signing anyone or signing someone like Pepe for 70 mill.

Nah, Pepe can still come good. And he was legit highly rated and chased by a lot of clubs. It's always okay to take a gamble on such signings. Not trying to criminal. I have no problems splashing out on high potential players. Even if Saliba turns to shit it's the fault of our scouts and not the transfer team.

It's transfers like Cedric and Mari that is absolutely unacceptable.

Claudius

Clrnc wrote:
Kel Varnsen wrote:
I don't know what's worse though. Not signing anyone or signing someone like Pepe for 70 mill.

Nah, Pepe can still come good. And he was legit highly rated and chased by a lot of clubs. It's always okay to take a gamble on such signings. Not trying to criminal. I have no problems splashing out on high potential players. Even if Saliba turns to shit it's the fault of our scouts and not the transfer team.

It's transfers like Cedric and Mari that is absolutely unacceptable.

I really hate how the Pépé and Saliba story has suddenly turned on this forum after a year. Last year it was Don Raul this! Pornstein that! So much satisfaction. A year into 5 and 6 year contracts and both players can be tossed into the bin and we are done with them. I’m not sure if it’s solely about these players or related to a lack of action in the transfer window this summer.

But we do need to take a longer term view with big investments. And be accurate about what is wrong. Pépé has limitations to his game, true. But Pépé is along with Aubameyang completely starved of any service from the rear of the team. Stick Pépé on City or Liverpool and he becomes immediate wishlist material around here.

Kel Varnsen

I think Pepe has looked absolutely terrible so far. Poor close control, no real movement off the ball, can't defend, and for someone supposedly good at dribbling his timing is god awful. I honestly have no clue how we ended up paying £70 mill for him. So far he doesn't look like he is worth half that.

TambourineMan

I sense a West Ham type performance incoming. Let's see if we can lucky and come away with three points this time.

Claudius

Kel Varnsen wrote:
I think Pepe has looked absolutely terrible so far. Poor close control, no real movement off the ball, can't defend, and for someone supposedly good at dribbling his timing is god awful. I honestly have no clue how we ended up paying £70 mill for him. So far he doesn't look like he is worth half that.

He and Ndombele were the two best non PSG players in Ligue 1 when we got him. Similar prices. And we got in a bidding war on an overheated market where super-agents ruled the world. Bayern and Pool probably dropped out around 50 or 60m but Napoli stuck around for the whole ride with FOMO. That same Napoli went back to Lille for another spanking this summer. It’s easy to see how this stuff happens.

I don’t regret us buying Pépé. We could’ve paid less. Now we need use him better before we cry failure.

Gazza M

I recall saying when we were linked with pepe that it was telling bayern weren't going for him at a time they were hunting for an elite winger, which was a bit of a warning sign. Then we purportedly 'aligned' with mendes to sign pepe, its no wonder we got rinsed. The tricky thing with him is he's 25 and still looks raw on many of the basics like short passing and decision making. Not sure what you can do to coach away his improvisational (aka seat-of-the-pants) approach to the game

Kel Varnsen

Claudius wrote:
Kel Varnsen wrote:
I think Pepe has looked absolutely terrible so far. Poor close control, no real movement off the ball, can't defend, and for someone supposedly good at dribbling his timing is god awful. I honestly have no clue how we ended up paying £70 mill for him. So far he doesn't look like he is worth half that.

He and Ndombele were the two best non PSG players in Ligue 1 when we got him. Similar prices. And we got in a bidding war on an overheated market where super-agents ruled the world. Bayern and Pool probably dropped out around 50 or 60m but Napoli stuck around for the whole ride with FOMO. That same Napoli went back to Lille for another spanking this summer. It’s easy to see how this stuff happens.

I don’t regret us buying Pépé. We could’ve paid less. Now we need use him better before we cry failure.

Ndombele has also looked awful every time I've seen him play for Spurs. Maybe Ligue 1 is just terrible.

Claudius

Ligue 1 is to you what Serie A is to Flobaba. 😆

Clrnc

HomeSteak wrote:
😆 😆

For once no fans would be good. If we would fail to win this + the failed summer transfer window this would have been very toxic.

It's already toxic. Haven't seen this amount of anger and vile in our fan base for a long time, probably since 8-2. It's kicking off on all social media platforms. The stadium would have been a terrible place prior to kick off today if filled with fans

Klaus

Kel Varnsen wrote:
Ndombele has also looked awful every time I've seen him play for Spurs. Maybe Ligue 1 is just terrible.

It's definitely a bit overrated. Going by my experience of watching a bit of it a few years ago there's way too much space compared to other leagues and defenders aren't as aggressive. Technically weak guys like Pepé and Depay (who's another trickster whose touch was too bad to buy him time in Premier League) thrive there but fail in England. Lacazette scored half a million goals over there too for what I think are similar reasons.

Sicario

Klaus wrote:
Kel Varnsen wrote:
Ndombele has also looked awful every time I've seen him play for Spurs. Maybe Ligue 1 is just terrible.

It's definitely a bit overrated. Going by my experience of watching a bit of it a few years ago there's way too much space compared to other leagues and defenders aren't as aggressive. Technically weak guys like Pepé and Depay (who's another trickster whose touch was too bad to buy him time in Premier League) thrive there but fail in England. Lacazette scored half a million goals over there too for what I think are similar reasons.

True but for every Depay you have a Hazard and for every Laca (who I rate) you have a Drogba.

Claudius

Depay doesn't look much better in Ligue 1. I've watched his Lyon and Netherlands games and there is nothing there. The key with Ligue 1 is to watch the players when they play in the bigger games and in Champions League. It's not very informative watching a player when his team is off sautéing Strasbourg or flambeing Reims. Both Ndombele and Pepe performed in bigger matches so they warranted the hype.

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