USArsenal when you do it all the time its loses the impact especially in games you haven’t shown up in. Cringe. A true leader leads on the pitch.

    I respectfully disagree with your assessment. I don't think he has "not shown up in games" in quite a while. I think many equate "things not coming off as well" to "not showing up". Cringe all you want, he is literally not the problem this fucking team has.

      Odegaard has not been consistent enough to be regarded as some sort of omphalos of this team like Saka or Gabriel.

      He was outstanding between August - February in the 22/23 season, but the level of his performances nosedived from March onwards. His form was largely patchy and underwhelming from August - January in the 23/24 season, but he had a very strong end to the season like the rest of the team.

      This season, he's been hopeless. There's no other word. He hasn't shown that he can consistently peform at a high level for 30+ games and his output is decreasing each season.

      I don't think it'd be wise to look for a replacement though. Striker, CM and winger are all far higher priorities.

      Liverpool are getting Isak as well aren't they

      Edit: Joke account

        Probably.

        I don’t think spending what it would take to get him is the best use of our funds

          Post this season I’d say we’re a better bet to win the champs league than Liverpool - their cycle is coming to an end

            lorddulaarsenal football is about scoring goals. we have some issues behind the striker we can solve in how we bring the ball up. but when you are in the final third, you want players who will consistently have an advantage versus defenders - they need to have a real spike, like being faster (Michael Owen), stronger (Shearer), trickier (Vini), better into getting space (Thomas Mueller), and use these attributes to create open shots for themselves. Isak can do this with his speed and spatial awareness. the thing that is consistently apparent when i watch us is how only Saka is reliably able to make his own shots. the rest are dependent on movement, which is tough when you're facing a low block

                Claudius Agreed completely. Saka, Nwaneri and Jesus are really the only players we have that reliably create shots for themselves (and only Saka and Nwaneri have the requisite ball striking ability to take advantage of that). We desperately need to add these two qualities (shot creating ability and ball striking ability) to our front-line this summer.

                I am loving seeing some stories about how we have been scouting Jamie Gittens this year - he's got both abilities and we need to get in on him this summer before he really blows up next year IMO. He also is pretty two-footed which makes it much easier to get shots off when you don't have to always figure out a way onto your strong foot. Semenyo is another who has both abilities and I think he would be a great signing this summer. Williams has shown flashes of both but his conversion rate this year is awful compared to Gittens/Semenyo. Barcola would be the dream but I just don't foresee PSG letting him go or him forcing their hand this summer. All of these guys can get their shot whenever they want and are good ball strikers.

                It's also why I am really starting to think Ekitike would be a better move than Sesko. Ekitike is agile like Isak and looks like he can get himself free to shoot easier than Sesko, who is a lot more robotic in his movements. But I also think that if we added another shot creator on the left, with Saka on the right and potentially more time for Nwaneri in the attacking midfield, we could likely be fine with guys like Havertz/Sesko up top. Personally, I hope that if we add Sesko, we really look to pry Barcola away and if not, potentially bring in both Gittens and Semenyo. A Sesko/Barcola or Sesko/Gittens/Semenyo summer in the attack would set us up very nicely next year. Ekitike in there instead of Sesko would be even better IMO but I feel like we're pretty committed to Sesko at this point.

                    samthegooner Saka, Nwaneri and Jesus are really the only players we have that reliably create shots for themselves (and only Saka and Nwaneri have the requisite ball striking ability to take advantage of that).

                    It's not that Jesus doesn't have ball striking ability, it's that after creating room for a shot for himself, he decides to turn again, more often than not, back into the same defender he already turned. And it's definitely a mental thing, poor guy is just fragile mentally.

                        Big Willie I don't see him strike through a ball that often when he does shoot though. Regardless, we aren't going to be able to rely on him much moving forward until 2026 anyways. Trossard has the ball striking (although hasn't shown it as often this year) but isn't able to get free as easily.