Player of the season 2023/2024

Sicario2 - Tier 1

For me it’s Declan Rice for his leadership, at times heroic displays, the impact he’s had on the club, the ability to play well with such a heavy price tag and the winning mentality he’s installed in us. Mr Arsenal 2.0 in the making.

Shout outs to Gabriel, Saliba and Odegaard. With the latter I fee he only came good at the start of 2024.

Who would be your pick?

Claudius

Sicario2 - Tier 1 can you include an official poll to help guide the discussion.

JazzG

Rice, Saliba and Saka were our best players imo.

goon

Odegaard - our best player by quite a distance imo.
Rice - immense debut season.
Gabriel - has just about pipped Saliba for me, which is saying something because the latter has been outstanding himself.

Honourable mentions to Saka and Saliba. Saka just misses out but not a reflection on him so much as the three I listed. I think those guys pip it based on consistency.

FEBravo

goon I agree with this

Clrnc

goon Agree with this

Sicario2 - Tier 1

Claudius

I tried to initially but for some reason didn’t include it. Tried editing now and no luck. If mods can add that would be great.

Don Pacifico

Despite his highs, feel Rice was more consistently good than Odegaard.

Would have comfortably chosen Gabriel if he hadn't have dropped off in the last month or so though.

Mirth

Odegard - not as consistent but without him our season would have trickled out by Jan. Between Jan to May he's as good as I've seen from an Arsenal mid
Rice - consistently excellent
Gabriel - giving him the nod although Saliba's been on par as well.

RocktheCasbah

Declan Rice for me. Not to come over a bit like my uncle, but if Odegaard had been at his 2024 level at any point in the 2023 part of the season, it'd be him and it wouldn't be particularly close, but he wasn't.

For Declan to come in from West Ham with the pressure of that price tag on him, needing to convince the naysayers - there were a few here, weren't there? - and render all such discussion essentially irrelevant so quickly was remarkable. We'll never know now, but if we had managed to prise him away from West Ham in January 2023, maybe Saliba's injury wouldn't have been so terminal for us. I love this guy to bits.

Our two centre backs - I don't know if it's doing them a disservice to suggest they should come as a pair in any end of season rankings, but they have both been imperious. Chatting to James last night, Gabriel was his vote for player of the season, but it was Saliba coming away from the Emptyhad, Old Trafford and Anfield with the man of the match awards. What a pair, the best two we've had at the club since the salad days of Keown and Adams...

Bukayo Saka is now at such a level where his excellence - as I said the other week - is so normal, we barely notice it anymore. So I'm going to throw Kai Havertz in as a shout. This guy was not a universally welcomed signing, he had a very slow start to life in N5 which discounts him from any real shot at the award, but he has proven to be a very worthwhile addition to the squad, unexpectedly solving what became a bit of a live issue at centre forward. If only he had put just one of those Aston Villa chances away....

Don Pacifico

RocktheCasbah Chatting to James last night, Gabriel was his vote for player of the season, but it was Saliba coming away from the Emptyhad, Old Trafford and Anfield with the man of the match awards.

I think that's just indicative of how they're both perceived. Gabriel does a lot of work that goes unnoticed by the casual fan or the commentator that doesn't watch us every week, whilst Saliba generally does the more eye-catching things (even if some of his more basic defending has let him down a few times).

We're lucky to have both of them but for my money, Gabriel has been the better player this season.

Qwiss

Odegaard and its not close.
Then Saka
And then I find it hard to decide between Saliba and Gabriel, maybe the Frenchman since he played every minute.

Sicario2 - Tier 1

Qwiss

Hahaha and not one mention of Declan.

Do you really hate him that much because he chose England over Ireland?

Qwiss

Sicario2 - Tier 1 I don't hate Rice. Why do you hate Saka so much? Most goals in the team, most assists in the team but doesn't get a mention? And you spent all season talking him down, making up stupid reasons to say he wasn't world class, etc Whats behind all that?

Irishgunner

Think it has to be Odegaard

Sicario2 - Tier 1

Qwiss
Hahahaha I don’t hate Saka at all - just don’t think he is world class (yet). Even Man Utd away recently he was poor (for his high standards).

There is a reason no one has mentioned Saka - he’s been good not great this season.

RocktheCasbah

Sicario2 - Tier 1 I mentioned Saka.

Qwiss

Sicario2 - Tier 1 he's been our top scorer and top assister. Not mentioning him is down to expectations. People are grading players on a scale here. More is expected of Odegaard and Saka than anyone else so even when they produce loads they don't get the credit. You even said it yourself by adding "for his high standards". I'm not comparing the players to their own standards, I'm comparing their impact on our season vs each other. For me its obvious that Saka has been outstanding. 16 goals and 12 assists from the wing is a phenomenal return and thats not even including his general play, his defensive work rate, the way he drags us through games at times, the fact other teams need to double up on him and yet he still performs.

CPM

The Gabriel-Saliba partnership, for me.

QuincyAbeyie

Qwiss assists are underrated. If he had 26 goals and 2 assists, he'd probably be much more hyped. Yet, the assist record in a season is only 20.

Qwiss

QuincyAbeyie and I only mentioned his league stats. 4 goals and 4 assists in the CL too. Also better than anyone else in the team.

Claudius

QuincyAbeyie assists can be a very noisy stat. So great playmakers like Odegaard can often be undervalued by them, for a few reasons.

if you make the pass before the assist, and it’s that pass that opens up the defense, you won’t get credit.
and then there’s all the missed passes. Over 80% of shots are missed. So in an extreme world, you could be the guy setting up the missed 80% while a scrub sets up the made 20%.

It’s much better to look at the volume and quality of chances created than assists.