Big bad Berta: Page 14 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One more in the Tolly

Big bad Berta

Claudius

Klaus United are about to send those bang average players into a champions league campaign

Bernard Woolley

samthegooner Agreed. I’d also like to see extensions for Rice and Timber. We have 4 players (these 2 and Ode and Havertz) with 2 years on their contract so time to extend Rice and Timber. Can put Ode and Havertz on wait and watch in my view.

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert

Think Timber can wait a bit too as we have no idea what his long term fitness is going to be like now.

Sicario2

Not overly positive with Berta’s track record recently.

Failed to sign Rogers ❌
Failed to sign Vini Jnr ❌

Missing out on two key LW targets in a row when your managers new contract is unsigned is a great signal.

Don Pacifico

He's got a lot to prove. Received far too much credit in some corners for what was delivered last summer.

Klaus

A league title?

Sicario2

Klaus I think Arteta takes 90 percent credit for that

Klaus

Will he receive 90 percent of the blame then if we don't win the league again, or can Berta only lose here?

Don Pacifico

Suggesting he was instrumental in winning the league last year completely ignores all the work done in the 3+ seasons to get the squad to within a few points of winning the league.

Of last summer's signings:

Kepa: shows no signs of being useful
Zubimendi: basically signed by his predecessor
Norgaard: already gone
Madueke: got time for him but if he doesn't start to deliver more end product, he'll look like £50m worth of cannon fodder
Gyokeres: reported as part of a potential swap deal
Mosquera: super pick-up, particularly at the price paid.
Eze: like him but still has work to do to justify his price tag/signing

I said at the time that the signings weren't without merit but weren't exactly 'empire building' investments and I stand by that. Let's see what he gets done this summer (Guimaraes is a good pick-up, Tzolis okay but big gaps up front still need to be filled).

Mirth

Don Pacifico think the line by line analysis ignores that in totality how we lifted the floor of the squad last summer.

FWIW a Director of Football needs to be measured in cycles. The manager is the one that should be measured in seasons.

That's literally how the job spec is written.

Klaus

I just figure you guys are chatting shit most of the time to have something to talk about, because there's no way these are your actual opinions. We nearly pulled a league/CL double last season and all I read week in and week out was absolute nonsense on here. We've just followed it up by signing one of the best midfielders in Europe and people are still angry we didn't sign a scrub like Rogers. How utterly boring.

Qwiss

Klaus and people are still angry we didn't sign a scrub like Rogers.

Well now that we've fucked up trying to sign Vini I haven't seen us linked with a better attacking player.

I'm not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to Berta but we've one good signing this summer. That was done by Edu's bestie Kia too so I don't think not having Berta would have made a huge difference. We'd probably just have paid more. Berta still has time to do something though. It better be more than Konsa and N'Diaye.

Claudius

Klaus I just figure you guys are chatting shit most of the time to have something to talk about, because there's no way these are your actual opinions. We nearly pulled a league/CL double last season and all I read week in and week out was absolute nonsense on here. We've just followed it up by signing one of the best midfielders in Europe and people are still angry we didn't sign a scrub like Rogers. How utterly boring.

Summers are terrible. Just people reading made up or incomplete stories, and then criticising teams for not fulfilling these ITK click bait fantasies. And in the process you can ignore that we ignore that we will likely have the 2 best CMs in the league (to go with the two best CBs) if Rodri leaves.

It’s like when goons watch too much porn and are numb to the beauty of a real woman put before them.

Don Pacifico

Nothing you've said negates any of the points I've made.

Tell me what I'm not getting because from the way you're talking about it, it sounds as if we we were complete scrubs before Berta arrived and not a side that had lost to pretty much the same PSG side the previous season in the CL SF and been within a whisper of beating a very strong City team to the title the season before that.

RowJimmy

Don Pacifico
Those players played heavy minutes in a league-winning campaign after two seasons where a lack of depth had prevented us from winning. It's pretty straightforward. I think Gyokeres - for example - is not especially good at any part of football other than kicking it hard but he was absolutely essential to the title.

Don Pacifico

Mirth think the line by line analysis ignores that in totality how we lifted the floor of the squad last summer.

Yes, agree we lifted the floor (a clear directive from Arteta fwiw) but with little to go on, assessing player signings is an indicator of his work...

Mirth FWIW a Director of Football needs to be measured in cycles.

...but agree with this. Again, that's why I think he still has a lot to prove and can't say last summer was a slam dunk.

Klaus You didn't make any points so what is there to refute? Your asinine musings?

I've tried to be respectful towards you when I don't agree. Appreciate if you'd make some effort to do the same. 👍

Klaus

You didn't make any points so what is there to refute? Your asinine musings?

You don't seem to get that we won the league last season by signing a new top scorer, a new ten, a new winger and a new leftback in a season where key players in those exact players went missing for huge chunks. That's the only point anyone ever has to make. All of the signings we made bar fringe players like Kepa contributed in a big way to our first league win in 22 years.

Klaus

Of course sir. As you were.

daredevil

Qwiss

Rogers and Barcola are/were the two best options on the market. We're not getting either so it's over in terms of potentially upgrading the LW. All hinges on Tzolis now.

SimplyTheBest

Not that it was a major secret or anything but we've shown our hand in terms of how much dough we can throw around. Anyone of genuine quality is probably going to cost us an arm and a leg now.

Dom

SimplyTheBest

I've been thinking today what if it wasn't anyone inside the club but Vinicius Jr's agents that leaked the Arsenal talks to Ornstein?

It makes sense to me and it's seemed odd the club would leak its interest in a player who, from the outset, viewed Arsenal as a distant second option. The agency eventually won a bigger contract and received greater attention for their business.

Tam

SimplyTheBest yes and no in my view. Clubs engaged in negotiations about players will have a very good idea of the potential financial constraints and capabilities of their counterparts for the most part. There needs to be that understanding and confidence to get to the position where you’re quibbling over payment terms or a few million here and there. Others will know that Vinicius would have been an extraordinary deal with extraordinary financing arrangements that wouldn’t apply almost any other deal.

It won’t stop clubs trying to take advantage, but it’s on Berta to negotiate well and show there isn’t an unintended inflationary effect because of the Vini move.

DiabyKungFu

RowJimmy I think Gyokeres - for example - is not especially good at any part of football other than kicking it hard

He was pretty good at pressing. Better than advertised in that aspect.

Don Pacifico

RowJimmy I agree we needed more depth in the squad and last summer's signings achieved that. But there are two reasons I find it hard to attribute too much praise to Berta for that:

Arteta had been speaking publicly for about a season (maybe more) of the increasing need in modern day football for deep squads. So as an initiative, I see it as less a strategy designed by Berta and more a directive from the manager.
Achieving squad depth by itself is a really basic task for a DoF. It's literally just buying any players to make up the numbers. Unless I'm missing some nuance, I'd see that as something any sporting director could do. Which is why I think it's important to assess the quality/effectiveness of individual signings.

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