Rating the summer window: Page 2 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

Rating the summer window

Asterix

Can you mute an entire thread? Asking for myself.

MistaT

Asterix — you can a poster

Burnwinter

Dom I'm desperately trying to remain positive that we've got what it takes to win the PL or CL but I just don't see us having enough in attack. The positive feelings don't stick.

Let's see what happens—we've got a bevy of attacking talents here including two new guys with great attributes. Sure, it might not be enough.

Madueke is a decent punt, which in the end is all Eze could have been. He is very mobile, baffling to defenders one on one, and very lively. He looks like he can play a less disciplined version of Martinelli's game while being able to go round his man twice as often.

Any onlooker can say Madueke and Martinelli are very poor, whereas Eze would revolutionise our LW position if they please.

Is that a take that holds up to scrutiny? I don't think so.

It's very, very far from a slam dunk Eze upgrades LW for us. It barely passes the pub test for me considering this is a guy who plays his eye-catching football in something closer to Ødegaard's role for Palace, in a 3-4-2-1 where he's the right-hand side of the 2.

I'm seeing people talk as if this (I guess imagine the offensive phase, with one fullback overlapping and the other inverting):

Eze Gyökeres Saka
  Rice Ødegaard
    Zubimendi

is supreme relative to what we've got with Martinelli at LW, and that simply doesn't ring true. If we have this, we have a LW who cuts inside, has an eye for goal and is great 1-on-1, yes.

It would be an interesting option, but it's not handing us a 100 point league season. It doesn't add to the space and time available to Gyökeres, Saka or Ødegaard. It doesn't automatically unpick the low and mid defensive blocks we face.

The overwhelming negativity appearing from some about us "not getting Eze" reads like fan anxiety projected disproportionately into the only underwhelming bit of news we've had all summer.

It's not like we didn't replace Partey with a limousine on every other top club's list and sign a goal machine up front. And it's not like signing Rodrygo would buy us the Premier League, for goodness' sake.

TambourineMan

Burnwinter

It's not about not getting Eze, it's about not upgrading LW which has been the weakest position in our attack for the past two seasons. Improving here should have been a priority and it hasn't been done. That's where the angst is coming from.

Burnwinter

TambourineMan

I get what you're saying but has Eze ever been the guy, or is he just a last resort fans fixated on? It's not like Eze was left winger wishlist material all last season. That was Kvaratskhelia.

Sure, if we signed Thierry Henry on the left the question of our tactical right-sidedness would never appear again. But Eze isn't Thierry Henry, he's not even Ribery or Robben.

GooneriC

I'd rather we signed Eze instead of Madueke then look for a left winger.
Worse case we move Saka to the left and play Noni wide on the right.

Mirth

GooneriC Madueke’s been signed to play LW most weeks.

In Arteta’s mind he’s got his LW.

RowJimmy

Majority opinion was that CF was a higher priority than LW. Personally I would have priotitized a LW but I think the other way around is a perfectly rational decision.
I think it makes sense to angst at this point if (and only if) you think Gyokeres was a mistake and we needed a LW - not Eze, but an actual left wing - rather than a CF.
Otherwise, it seems to me you have to say that we landed our 2 primary targets at DM - which was the absolute priority - and CF, and we've added needed depth. And that's got to be 8/10 in terms of achieving priorities (with the actual effectiveness of the signings being something no one will know until the season is over).

TambourineMan

RowJimmy It's not CF or LW, it's Madueke or LW.

RowJimmy

Do you really think the difference between Madueke and Eze is that big? Eze may be a marginally better player but he's further from the type of player we need. The difference is not one that deserves this much angst.

TambourineMan

RowJimmy yes, I think it is that big. Eze has shown himself to be a top player capable of pulling his team across the line in big moments - he put in excellent performances and scored crucial goals in the SF and Final of the FA Cup against top teams whilst Chelsea were happy to let Madueke go on the eve of their CWC final because they knew he was shit and wouldn't impact it positively anyway.

Most importantly though, Eze has the creativity and technical quality we currently lack - the ability to do something different. Madueke is just a left footed version of Martinelli - pace, direct running, but very little guile.

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert

Mirth which is laughable.

TambourineMan

Burnwinter he's not the last resort for me though, I'd just like a player of his profile with a left leaning bias in the squad and it's incredibly frustrating that we won't be getting this player (whether Eze or someone else).

I personally think a 10 at LW would work (Cunha, Eze, Simons) but understand the views of those that disagree, in which case I'd settle for a more technically sound traditional 'LW' option (Barcola, Rodrygo, Williams) - which is granted, a harder player to find. But to get neither when the position desperately needs to be improved, is criminal for a side with title winning aspirations.

yuppa

I’ll give a +7/10. Lost a point for not pushing for an Eze or LW to freshen up the push. Also started to look less impressive once Liverpool splashed the cash.

Regardless, it’s very strange that people call others losers for not spiralling into anger over transfers. You don’t get any internet points for saying “we’re shit” before others do.

Football supporting is 90% hope followed by disapointment. Might as well enjoy the hope.

Segway

Mirth This is exactly where I'm at. Yes the window hasn't been perfect. Madueke is a gamble and our inability to sell remains a mystery. But when I'm looking at the team sheet, I'm seeing a great team that should win trophies.

HomeSteak

I have decided that I will gaslight myself that we will sell Martinelli and buy Rodrygo and thats why we are keeping Trossard. I will be happy for 2 weeks then.

Segway Nobody wants Trossard, we give him a pay raise : "our inability to sell remains a mystery".

We already know the tweet for next summer

David Ornstein - "Arsenal open to selling Trossard + interest from PL and abroad, but wages could be a sticking point. Trossard happy at Arsenal and open to seeing out final year of contract ".

"An exit is needed if #AFC are to upgrade at LW. Barcola and Gordon are at the top of Arteta and Berta's list"

Repackage and repeat.

TambourineMan

Hope you're right but apart from Saudi no one will touch Martinelli on his wages. Even Saudi teams don't seem interested. So for your hypothetical to work, Martinelli would need to be sellable which unfortunately - he is is not.

Speedster

Rodrygo cost would be 90ish million + agent fees + sign on fees. He'd be on 300k and by all accounts he's not that eager to come here. He's cost about 175m + agent and sign on fees. Over 5 years

That's Noni + Gyok for 5 years

Or
Zubi, Noni + Norgaard for 5 years. (Or norgaard for 2 just so nobody has to debate in bad faith)

Doc

Speedster That's Noni + Gyok for 5 years

would take that swap in a heartbeat

Sicario2

Burnwinter lol we haven’t won anything for 5 years, zero finals in the same period and spent close to a billion and the squad is still imperfect. Paying £52m for Madueke to be our LW after playing 3 games at LW in his career or paying that much money for him to be Saka’s back up is great business 👏

When you have been linked to Rodrygo, Eze and then Trossard gets extended of course it’s going to sting. Wake the fuck up and get in the real world.

I look forward to hearing your excuses when we don’t win anything for a 6th time in a row.

Anyone with no bottle is you, happy with the team/Arteta no matter what.

Calling fans spineless because they are critical of their team is cuck behaviour.

Problem with you guys is you don’t like to hear the truth as it hurts. Until we win something I will be very critical of the club and Artera, zero tolerance.

You don’t like to listen to this then fucking ban me as I won’t stop.

Burnwinter

Sicario2 Wake the fuck up and get in the real world.
Sicario2 You don’t like to listen to this then fucking ban me as I won’t stop.

Look mate, I appreciate the Michelin vibes you bring, but you're not the first chef on the football Internet to try to reimagine a heady cocktail of bratty sub, full kit nerd and faux realist.

Eze is no more than the last "acceptable" LW target the "major trophy now or I'll chew my poo" griefers settled on after a long list that has included Rodrygo, Williams, Simons, Gordon, etc.

Eze's no unicorn and isn't a particularly good fit for our LW role at all. Neither is he coming in to displace Ødegaard or Rice as a starter, and we have Nwaneri and Merino behind those two on the depth chart.

Might've been nice for Arsenal to have Eze sitting round gathering dust, but the angry insistence that signing him would nail us on to win the league, but not signing him means we definitely lose the same competition doesn't make a skerrick of sense.

Exactly how good do you think Eze is and where is he supposed to be on the pitch while he's achieving this?

And none of the other names listed is a unicorn either by the way. Some are great players, but for example we saw Williams is just a human being as recently as a fortnight ago when he was anonymous for Bilbao against us.

The situation is far less a case of the facts not caring about my feelings than your feelings not caring about the facts.

As for the gritty hard-bollocked realism of it being a "sackable offence" for Arteta and Berta to pass over Eze, who's supposed to be getting sacked, someone's therapist?

Gurgen

Banning you would be awesome actually

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