TambourineMan Never going to happen but I'd love us to sign him as our creative attacking midfielder along with a promising CF, starter level LW and Zubimendi. That would be a perfect summer in my book.

Think he will end up at Chelsea/Spurs/Liverpool.

    Claudius "ELO adjusted" 🤔 sounds like that's just been a substantial multiplier to Ekiteke's stats across the board? That can be misleading for sure.

      RocktheCasbah I mean it might be slightly more confidence-boosting than a "Travelling Wilburys adjusted" player ratings system ...

      Many complain that we don't get the young developing players often enough. I think this is a guy at the right stage. He's not yet established but he has displayed enough to suggest that his floor will be okay but there is scope for incredible upside.
      I have a longer list of attacking talents, in this order. Number 1 and 2 would be highly dependent on things going wrong for their respective clubs.

      Primary targets

      1. Isak
      2. Rodrygo (7 goals and 5 assists in 2025)
      3. Ekitike
      4. Sesko
      5. Williams
      6. Barcola

      Fall backs

      1. Cunha
      2. Martinez
      3. Thuram
      4. Watkins
      5. Osimhen
      6. Samu Aghehowa
      7. Gyokeres

        Claudius not sure if this necessarily tracks. Saw a similar story about Balogun back in the day, claiming that his early career stats/ trajectory put him in line to be the next Harry Kane...

        Also, speaking of Rodrygo, the most talented (and one of the "insane") player at Real Madrid, the guy has never cracked 20 goal + assists contributions in the Spanish league his whole career. And somehow he's a galactico? I think this season is likely to end up as his most productive, and even at that his numbers are not popping or making me look sideways with envy. He's a decent player but I'd be pretty disappointed if we went out and spent real money on the likes of him. He's no Benzema.

          flobaba

          I am gonna disagree with you on this one. For me, he would be a clear and massive upgrade on someone like Martinelli. I would spend a good amount of money on him if we could realistically get him, but it will never happen. His numbers may not be eye popping, but watching him play shows me that he is a really really good player.

          Regardless of who we sign Arteta will need to reinvent his attacking style slightly. We need to be able to play at a higher tempo at will but it feels like we just don't have that in us. Today's performance was very deflating. I thought we would be all over West Ham.

            Rohit we just need two fast players. So we can break on teams once in a while. Speed is an absent quality

            And with our most athletic forwards all gone, there is no press to speak of.
            It’s a cluster all around

            Indeed it is. I seriously worry we may drop out of the top four. That’d be catastrophic.

            Anyways, as much as I love Arteta, if in doesn’t invest sensibly and appropriately in the attack this summer and we have another season like last season and what this one is shaping up to be I’ll be questioning if he’s the man for the job for the first time since he took over.

              lorddulaarsenal

              Arteta is 100% clear that he needs more strikers every window. It's someone else's job to sign them and someone else's role to provide the funds. The balls not being dropped in artetas court.

              I don’t think he’s detached from it like that. He certainly should have overseen more attacking incomings since taking the coach/manager role

              Yep. Unfair to place this on Arteta. He is on record severally expressing his desire to bring in striking options. And balances that with giving full support to the pretenders to the position in Havertz, Jesus and Trossard.

              My grouse is still our style. And it's because of days like these. We can be extraordinarily sterile and devoid of threat. Too many games we don't create or threaten enough, in my opinion due to the inherently conservative nature of our passing /attack. We are too scripted. It's effective when we have our best players in good form, but I do not truly enjoy it.

                flobaba Yep. Unfair to place this on Arteta.

                flobaba My grouse is still our style.

                So, in your opinion, who's responsible for our style?