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.

        • Rohit

        • Post #120

        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?

                      QuincyAbeyie you like to throw around bizarre strawman arguments. And it’s incredibly annoying. Like seriously. Different parts of xG measure a specific part of your ability to put a ball in the net, but there’s a lot more that’s important to scoring than just looking at xG under/performance. Our issues under Arteta have never been about shooting ability.

                          Claudius Our issues under Arteta have never been about shooting ability.

                          How do you figure? I'd say that's basically the only real problem in this squad. 73 touches in the box with no goals ring any bells?

                              Coombs correct. That’s about keeping the ball in advanced areas, and creating the space for a shot. The shooting itself isn’t the issue.
                              What good is a dead-eye assassin if he never draws his pistol, let alone locates his targets?

                                  flobaba yeah I know, just messing around. Arteta's been placed in an impossible situation squad-wise, but his jarring style of football doesn't exactly mitigate how bad it is to watch.

                                    lorddulaarsenal you’ve framed it nicely. A lot of what you are saying isn’t an xG performance issue. A really good example is Mbappe, a player you know I love to bits. Watch his four goals versus Emirates Marketing Project

                                    • the first leg goal: great timing of the run to escape into space for the lob from Ceballos. Needs to avoid being offside and to make contact
                                    • the first one from second leg: he times run perfectly, stays onside, but then reads a ball coming over his shoulder to get a lobbed shot off. This is black belt stuff
                                    • the second one: Makes space to left of Rodrygo, and then instead of just shooting wildly, drags the ball back in, sending Guardiol off to the bodega, before switching feet and slotting it in in a crowd
                                    • the third one: bursts past his player and makes space foe the shot. Ethan/ Saka can do this last shot. Nobody else really.

                                    We do not have a single player who could’ve put himself in all 4 of these positions. Henry and van Persie would’ve scored these goals. And that’s the point. That it’s not the finishing that’s the problem. It’s the creative ability particularly on a 1-on-1 basis that’s the issue. That’s why we lean on Saka so much. Because he can beat his man and destabilize defenses