Expectations for the upcoming season.

flobaba

The transfer window is still open so I’m open to revising my thoughts as time goes by.

I was reflecting on our summer activities so far. Honestly I’m far from satisfied, even if it’s clear we have made some signings who are improvements on their predecessors (Jesus > Laca/Eddie, Zinchenko will be versatile and hopefully much more robust than Tierney, Saliba is back). Won’t even talk about Vieira - anything he gives us will be a bonus.

But our biggest problems from last season were:

1) creating consistent high quality chances along the forward line.
2) Xhaka/Partey partner.

We do not have the squad yet for a top four push in my opinion. Bringing in a Tielemans (if we do) isn’t an assurance of anything. I feel like we need a game changer in that midfield, preferably along with another top player upfront. We also need to sign insurance for Partey.

So far I will give our window a 5/10. I think we have done the bare minimum to keep us treading the Europa league waters.

Still so much to do to get us into contention. I hope we don’t waste another season by leaving ourselves short of quality in the positions highlighted. Let’s continue to see how it goes.

AAStyle

I strongly disagree, last season we did have the necessary squad to achieve a top4 position. We have achieved that spot with Chamakh as our main striker; regarding players, last season we had more than enough to get into the CL.

My expectations for this season is that we may achieve top 4, it depends on how the team is able to deal with the season despite the incompetence of the manager.

flobaba

Maybe. In retrospect I tend to agree with you, especially considering that we did find ourselves in pole position towards the end of the season before our spectacular collapse. But I deliberately used the word squad. Once Partey went down we suffered badly trying to get adequate cover for him. Same with Tierney and Tomiyasu. We need replacements that aren’t too far off the first team players in a good squad to give ourselves a higher chance of achieving our goals.

flobaba

Also need to consider that last season we didn’t even have the distraction of Europa league and we still crumbled.

GooneriC

No expectations beyond 5th/6th. The midfield , RB and striker issues have not been addressed. Its also another learning on the job season for management.

Sicario

flobaba wrote:
The transfer window is still open so I’m open to revising my thoughts as time goes by.

I was reflecting on our summer activities so far. Honestly I’m far from satisfied, even if it’s clear we have made some signings who are improvements on their predecessors (Jesus > Laca/Eddie, Zinchenko will be versatile and hopefully much more robust than Tierney, Saliba is back). Won’t even talk about Vieira - anything he gives us will be a bonus.

But our biggest problems from last season were:

1) creating consistent high quality chances along the forward line.
2) Xhaka/Partey partner.

We do not have the squad yet for a top four push in my opinion. Bringing in a Tielemans (if we do) isn’t an assurance of anything. I feel like we need a game changer in that midfield, preferably along with another top player upfront. We also need to sign insurance for Partey.

So far I will give our window a 5/10. I think we have done the bare minimum to keep us treading the Europa league waters.

Still so much to do to get us into contention. I hope we don’t waste another season by leaving ourselves short of quality in the positions highlighted. Let’s continue to see how it goes.

If we get a CM then I want us challenging 4th.

Buy a winger as well then I expect top 4 as a minimum.

Not to forget players like Martinelli, ESR, Saka and even Eddie will be a year older and a year better (in theory).

Clrnc

Huh?

No matter who we buys we HAVE TO BE challenging top 4. Otherwise there's no point to us as a club at all to be contented for Europa League.

The transfer window is no longer anything to measure, we have to get top 4 by hook or crook. If we don't get top 4, we cannot continue to keep saying we have no CMs to sign and accept defeat. Transfer windows should be helping us, not giving us an excuse like the past 4 years.

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert

I expect 5th/6th as it stands because our midfield is still unacceptable and we have two crocks for starting full backs.

Need a star wide forward signing as well.

Club needs to get serious now. I cannot stomach a 6th successive reverse St. Totteringham's or whatever it would be.

JazzG

You can only challenge for Top 4 if you have the right players. Our closest rivals are Chelsea and Spurs, both have invested heavily so you'd expect them to be better.

We have invested too, I think we have done alright with signing Jesus and keeping Eddie. But another glaring weakness in our squad is our over reliance on Partey and we were probably a CM short anyway. Then factor in Xhaka not really being being the standard we want. With Partey's situation being unclear signing a CM becomes even more important imo. Zinchenko can provide very good cover there but I don't think a partnership with Xhaka is going to get us Top 4.

flobaba

Clrnc wrote:
Huh?

No matter who we buys we HAVE TO BE challenging top 4. Otherwise there's no point to us as a club at all to be contented for Europa League.

The transfer window is no longer anything to measure, we have to get top 4 by hook or crook. If we don't get top 4, we cannot continue to keep saying we have no CMs to sign and accept defeat. Transfer windows should be helping us, not giving us an excuse like the past 4 years.

Not sure I understand what you're saying, or that you understand the thread? This is basically a rehash of the predictions thread. Question is, do you expect us to achieve top four with the squad composition (and manager) as is currently, versus the competition?

And as noted previously, I expect opinions to change as signings come in and go out, until the window closes.

Big Willie

Personally, with the squad we have I expect us to get top 4 or 70ish points (top 4 or otherwise) minimum.

Whether I predict we'll do that is a different thing altogether. In reality I don't see us getting more than 55-60 points and somewhere in 7-8th based in how we set up.

That is unless we change our gameplan to be more direct and faster in our buildup, less conservative in our approach, and more willing to take risks. There are some signs that we may play that way but preseason is an opportunity to try new things out.

The real tests will come when the season begins, or when we have a couple bad results on whether we continue, or whether we revert to type and go back to our cautious approach.

Clrnc

flobaba wrote:
Clrnc wrote:
Huh?

No matter who we buys we HAVE TO BE challenging top 4. Otherwise there's no point to us as a club at all to be contented for Europa League.

The transfer window is no longer anything to measure, we have to get top 4 by hook or crook. If we don't get top 4, we cannot continue to keep saying we have no CMs to sign and accept defeat. Transfer windows should be helping us, not giving us an excuse like the past 4 years.

Not sure I understand what you're saying, or that you understand the thread? This is basically a rehash of the predictions thread. Question is, do you expect us to achieve top four with the squad composition (and manager) as is currently, versus the competition?

And as noted previously, I expect opinions to change as signings come in and go out, until the window closes.

Yeah I know, was replying to Sicario.

If your question is simply that, I am of the opinion that we got our priorities wrong with the squad and combined with our manager, nope its not top 4 material the way we built it. Wasted plenty of resources.

MistaT

I think we've a decent shot at 3rd/4th. Would actually consider it 50/50...

Chelsea's squad is deep, but they lack serious talent. Tuchel still has plenty to get right, including his best forward line, how to use Havertz (and Gallagher/Pulisic), and how to find a consistent starting XI.

Tottenham has a great set of forwards, but there's still questions about the rest of their team. Conte has a high ceiling, but also a low floor that could see them implode at any moment.

In a combined XI between the three squads I think we would have the most players, though I understand that Kane/Son are well ahead of our counterparts.

invisibleman18

Like others I expect a similar sort of season in that we'll compete for the top 6 but probably fall short of 4th again. Chelsea and Spurs have strengthened as well as having quality managers so don't see us overtaking either of them, and expect Man United to improve under the new manager too. Looks like we should have a strong first 11 but still lacking quality cover for when first choice players are out and there are more games to contend with too. CM still looks a big concern especially if Partey is gone. Expect another Europa finish.

Anzac

IMO we should have achieved top4 last season, but we badly managed the squad post Jan.
This season my objectives have not changed, to the point I want Arteta gone if we do not achieve them = no excuses.

AAStyle

JazzG wrote:
You can only challenge for Top 4 if you have the right players. Our closest rivals are Chelsea and Spurs, both have invested heavily so you'd expect them to be better.

During 2009-2016 (approx.) Wenger always dealt with that situation. All the other big teams (Lpool, ManCity, ManU, Chelsea, Tot) investing more than us and at least 3 of them investing heavily. We were always top 4. Always.

Maybe the problem is not the players.

banduan

We need to be better at everything. More points, better GD, more consistent play.

Frankly, we should be challenging for the title with the outlay we've had, but the squad is still missing that X factor, the superstars.

We should be challenging top 4 right down to the wire as before, that is the absolute bare minimum. I would've said top 4 is the bare minimum but you can't ignore what the other challengers in the big 6 are doing in the transfer market, Spuds in particular.

Anzac

AAStyle- wrote:
JazzG wrote:
You can only challenge for Top 4 if you have the right players. Our closest rivals are Chelsea and Spurs, both have invested heavily so you'd expect them to be better.

During 2009-2016 (approx.) Wenger always dealt with that situation. All the other big teams (Lpool, ManCity, ManU, Chelsea, Tot) investing more than us and at least 3 of them investing heavily. We were always top 4. Always.

Maybe the problem is not the players.

Whilst that is true there is also a price we paid for that, in that's all we generally were = top4.

Anzac

banduan wrote:
We need to be better at everything. More points, better GD, more consistent play.

Frankly, we should be challenging for the title with the outlay we've had, but the squad is still missing that X factor, the superstars.

We should be challenging top 4 right down to the wire as before, that is the absolute bare minimum. I would've said top 4 is the bare minimum but you can't ignore what the other challengers in the big 6 are doing in the transfer market, Spuds in particular.

In which case we should have got the job done last season when we had less committments in terms of competitions.

banduan

yeh but that's last season with a different squad.