Summa 26 TW: Page 267 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One more in the Tolly

Summa 26 TW

awooga83

Panda yeah it cannot be a serious strategy to improve an area you've highlighted as needing raising the level to have Vino or Alvarez as part of the main effort when at the outset they must have been <5% chances. Obviously everyone wants Mbappe or Haaland but that can't be the main plans for the window in a realistic sense.

tazmania

Agree, shut the window and let's move on.
If I read one more useless Alvarez update I'm going to flip something

Qwiss

JazzG well if Purple Panel says so...

tazmania this window has made me hate Alvarez. Hope his career goes to shit, never want to hear about him again.

Doc

Can see late madness. Berta has got this, let him cook.

daredevil

awooga83

It extends beyond him. How many top forwards have we signed since Arshavin.

Alexis, Aubameyang and ? over a 15 year time span involving three different managers.

It's a very difficult market to navigate, especially given where we are on the totem pole. We need to take more risks on players like Pepe if we aren't able to land a hand me down, but either way - the success rate across the league for top attackers is abysmal.

JazzG

Panda Maybe we should have paid up but that also leads down a slippery slope, what if Chelsea had gone even higher? City, Chelsea and Spurs have acted like they have been handed stolen credit cards and just spending as much as they can before they get done!

Doesn't mean we should behave in that manner but clearly whatever our strategy was it has not worked out. Good LW players have moved in the last year and we have not been there, that is concerning.

Panda

JazzG Doesn't mean we should behave in that manner but clearly whatever our strategy was it has not worked out. Good LW players have moved in the last year and we have not been there, that is concerning.

Couldn't agree more. Squad has been trimmed at least. So we have room to splash out going forward hopefully finally on the attack.

GooneriC

Maybe players just dont like the way we play nowadays. Who knows

JazzG

GooneriC Players sign for clubs like Chelsea where they get treated like commodities.

samthegooner

I don't think this summer will be as disastrous as the online Chicken Little Arsenal fans (not necessarily here) claim it is if we end up bringing no one else in. Bruno is going to be the signing of the season in my opinion as he is just an absolutely world class player in his prime and despite his awful performance yesterday, I expect Tzolis to be a big piece for us all season. We also addressed a huge point of failure with Saliba being out and already saw how that could rear its ugly head yesterday when Mosquera went down.

That being said, I do think we need to take a long look at Berta and our recruitment of elite players in general. We are in a new spot as a club where we are fighting for the absolute cream of the crop in terms of talent. Berta's approach may have worked for Atletico and for us as we were fighting to get back to the top but now that we are there, our targets are changing and our recruitment methods likely need to be adapted in kind. The juggling plates approach may work for certain types of talent but clearly with top targets, you have to narrow your focus early and work to close them as soon as possible. We also have to be more flexible in our appraisals of value. We are the third most valuable club in the world right now and while I don't want us to just acquiesce to every demand, we need to understand that sometimes you have to pay above the rate to secure a world class talent. Focusing in on our number one target early is also important so that we lock in the player's commitment or pivot when we sense a player isn't convinced like Alvarez. I'm not convinced Berta is the right man for the current job so hopefully we take a long hard look at him this fall and determine if he can deliver for us moving forward.

JazzG

samthegooner Thing is if you split our transfer window in three sections, defensive, midfield and attack. The first two are definitely 8 or 9 out of 10 for me. Konsa will give us high quality depth at CB and can cover RB. Bruno is a superb player and will improve our play. Only concern with both is the age but fuck it I can get over that.

In attack we have had an appalling window, arguably made ourselves weaker going into the season. Last season Havertz missed most and Saka missed chunks and clearly was not right. If we can keep those two fit for 90% of the season our attack moves up a level but we are relying heavily on that.

samthegooner

JazzG Yep completely agree.

IF and it's a big IF, we can keep our attackers relatively fit, we should be completely fine. I do still think we are a world class forward away from being Champions League favorites but also think we can beat any team in the world. We showed that last year against PSG where we were a penalty away from taking the title. But I won't pretend I am not disappointed that we haven't done more to increase the margins this summer. I think we nailed our defensive and midfield recruitments, which will help a bit. But the big margin improvement was on the forward line and we have stayed relatively stagnant there, which is frustrating. I still think we aimed for the right guys but probably didn't act decisively enough to end up with one of them. Hopefully, we don't regret it and can get some good health luck at least until January when we can re-assess.

JazzG

Also not wise to spend the money for the sake of it, like you say we could reassess in January and if needed pay a bit over the odds then. Options will be limited though. Kroupi might be available depending if Bournemouth are willing to sell. Probably should start the groundwork on that deal now.

JazzG

Still time for a Pedro Neto or Gittens signing 😆

tazmania

HomeSteak

daredevil

Havertz, Gyokeres
Saka, Madueke
Tzolis, Eze
Odegaard, Merino
Bruno G, MLS
Rice, Zubimendi

Dowman is the free man.

That's two players per position. We don't have a gap anywhere across the front line. The question isn't about quantity, it's about the quality and whether we could get someone top class to push one of those guys out. Fofana and co. aren't going to do that.

FWIW, I think we should have paid up for one of Gordon, Rogers or Barcola.

QuincyAbeyie

daredevil FWIW, I think we should have paid up for one of Gordon, Rogers or Barcola.

Gordon seemed extremely set on Barcelona, but based on the prices this summer I think he'll prove to be a great signing. Had a fantastic assist yesterday as well.

Rogers and Barcola probably would've come here if we wanted them to, and if we end up signing nobody then I definitely agree we should've signed one of them.

awooga83

daredevil I agree on the Arsecast they talked about arsenal getting it wrong on our stubbornness around attacking valuations because when you are at the top trying to bring in limited players if you don't match the market you don't get your targets. It was also interesting that we have been effectively happy to overpay for Konza and Bruno given age.

IBL

Orny saying we're done for this window.

lorddulaarsenal

IBL all done except for the Zubimendi Neto swap deal

Pepe LeFrits

lorddulaarsenal all done except for the Zubimendi Neto swap deal

...

Arsenal rejected an enquiry from Chelsea for 27-year-old Spain midfielder Martin Zubimendi. (Sun)

Too close!

USArsenal

Well, i guess it was confirmed what most of us already knew. Alvarez literally had no interest in coming back to England, and he threw up a strop about it.. And now he has to face the Atleti fans.. Good luck with that, mate.

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