DKGooner @Don Pacifico please read this re Merino.
@Clrnc welcome back.
banduan it'll be a big test to see how Arteta tries to reconfigure as we are so reliant on Saka as the goal contributions stat sky showed that @Clrnc posted the other day. Without him it could get very toothless very quickly.
But agree this season should be a lesson to Arteta that he needed to learn. You can't take risks on the quality of your squad, you gamble that the likes of Jesus, martinelli and havertz is enough when they're are signs we needed more and you hope Ode and Saka can continue to take the load that are given.
All of those things have come undone this season and they aren't a surprise so we need to be better then that in our squad building if we want to realise winning the big trophies.
@Clrnc, I agree with @Coombs. Palmer is a fantastic player. But look at his stats. They are accumulated against bad teams that Chelsea punish in transition. Against more organized defensive structures, he’s been largely ineffective.
He’s a kid, so I expect him to solve this over time, and as Chelsea’s team matures.
- In Nwanners!
Claudius Like @Clrnc said, if you're good enough, you're old enough. Not sure how you can look at what he's done in the limited opportunities he's had in PRESSURE packed conditions, both this weekend chasing a game and at Spurs defending the game, and think that we need to go overboard on easing him in. If that was the case then he should be playing with the youth teams.
Arteta clearly thinks he's good enough and let Vieira leave as a result. I don't want to rush him in either, but at this point, he's shown he's got the quality so I think it would be good for his development to start introducing more minutes and different conditions than just coming in as a sub. At the very least, it will give us an idea of how ready he is for certain circumstances when we actually might need him with the congested fixture list that is being referenced above.
Big Willie I think Trossard's almost certainly given different instructions based on everything I've heard about how Arteta coaches.
The approach is pretty detailed, there are player quotes indicating it goes down to specific proportions of the time specific wingers should cut in versus go on the outside, how often to cut the ball back versus crossing behind the lines, and all that.
There are also matching "automatisms" about the runs players like Ødegaard and Saka are supposed to make when Martinelli's on the ball and has made one of these decisions … one of Øde or Rice is supposed to head to the top of the penalty area for the cutback for example. Pretty obvious stuff I guess.
But @Clrnc is being fair when he says there's a "pictures" issue with Martinelli's game on top of the instructions. There are runs Trossard that is able to see and make (like his run for the goal versus Villa) that are moves Martinelli probably isn't barred from making, but just doesn't have the vision to actually make for now.
Gabi is going to need to step up in one area or another: either improve his decision-making (and vision), or his execution of passes and shots, or his one-on-one guile. If he doesn't then he'll be dropped again, and eventually he'll be upgraded. Seems pretty obvious he'll have a lot of better days than the one we just saw however.
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I think there's a bit of an overreaction here. @flobaba and @Clrnc, do you really believe Arteta would let Martinelli keep playing if he drastically changed his style without direct instructions? You think Martinelli just decided on his own to stop getting into the box to score or to stop coming inside like he did when Xhaka and Zinchenko were in the team? And now he's just hugging the touchline and throwing in cross after cross to our new signing Havertz and to win corners last season without any guidance from Arteta? It definitely seemed like a tactic which can be seen by our confidence and results in scoring from corners.
It's hard to imagine that anyone at the club would be allowed to go against the detailed instructions the manager gives and still keep getting picked. That applies to everyone, including Odegaard and Saka let alone Martinelli. Let's wait and see if our setup changes again once Merino is in place and if that unlocks our left side again.
Edit: this is not to say he is struggling a bit, he clearly is. But getting to the root cause of it is the issue and I don't think it's as simple as saying he is a poor player or whatever because he isn't. His execution at times has been off, and you can see there is a confidence issue there. Just need to get him out of his head, but the good thing is that even when he isn't confident you never see him hiding. If anything he tries to force things that aren't there.
Sorry @Clrnc didn't mean my comment to single you out. I just was getting frustrated seeing all of the negative posts and replied after yours.
lorddulaarsenal Must our targets have been eyeballed for a while
@Clrnc see above.
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Clrnc there are plenty of top Italian players who was superb in PL. Aquilaini, Emi Viviano, Scamacca, Diamanti, Nocerino, Boriello etc
I think you're kind of proving my point there @Clrnc.
- Viviano? That keeper we got back in the day that never played a single game for us?
- Aquilaini was a really good player but didn't he hardly play for Liverpool and ended up being sent on loan a bunch of times because he couldn't adapt?
- Don't even remember Nocerino playing in the PL tbh.
- Boriello was an FM legend back in the day, not sure he reached the peaks he was expected to tbh, but regardless a good player in Italy. Don't remember him in the PL though mind you. Didn't even know he came over.
- Diamanti, I don't even know who that is.
- Scamacca is a recent one so I remember him well but he was only at West Ham for a season and was thoroughly disappointing, hardly scoring at all.
I guess what I'm saying is none of these guys were as good in the PL as you seem to be suggesting, definitely not on the levels of the ones I mentioned if I can't even remember them being in the league, let alone setting league alight.
Certainly not what I'd be thinking when I think of being superb in the league. For that you'd have to be at a playing at consitently good levels in the PL over a number of years. I can guarantee you none of these guys stayed more than a couple years though which kind of shows they either didn't adapt or didn't want to be here.
Edit:
Just checked these names out by the way.
- Viviano only "played" for us in the PL before leaving the country and never returning.
- Aquilaini had one season at Liverpool before he was loaned out for two years and then left.
- Nocerino had one season at WHU in the PL, and only played 10 games before leaving.
- Scamacca only played for WHU in the PL, making 16 appearances and scoring 3 goals.
- Boriello also played only for WHU in the PL, making 2 appearances and and not signing permanently after his loan ended.
- Diamanti had two spells in the PL, first with, you guessed it WHU and then with Watford. His first season he played 28 time in the PL. His second season, just 1. His loan at Watford consisted of just 3 appearances in the PL.
Even Balotelli, who isn't on either your list or mind or my list, despite some great moments, wasn't someone who you though was superb throughout his time in the PL.
Clrnc 16:00 Arsenal v Everton DOUBLE POINT GAME 5-4-0
16:00 Brentford v Newcastle 1-2
16:00 Brighton v Man Utd 1-1
16:00 Burnley v Nott'm Forest 2-1
16:00 Chelsea v AFC Bournemouth 3-1
16:00 Crystal Palace v Aston Villa 2-2
16:00 Liverpool v Wolves 2-1
16:00 Luton Town v Fulham 1-3
16:00 Man City v West Ham DOUBLE POINT GAME 3-0
16:00 Sheff Utd v Spurs 1-3Trying to make one last desperate climb up a few positions with two prediction posts @Clrnc ?
- In PL 23/24
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@Clrnc Makes more sense to include the top 6 teams this season than a historical list, yeah.
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Burnwinter It's called mathematics.
You're all measuring goals in a conversation about goal difference, I can't help you with that. It's like trying to think about gravity without the concept of acceleration.
(I hope I'm right by the way, it's fucking late here)
It's called something but it's definitely not mathematics
If we lose the league on goals scored, I expect to see you and @Clrnc in here making the principled stand for our points tally to be adjusted down from 89 points to 88, for consistency's sake
HomeSteak then we would be even and City wins
This is why @Clrnc and @Burnwinter's disinformation needs to be defeated.
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Pepe LeFrits I won't, but I feel a strong urge to answer "Your mum"
@Clrnc's count is more practical in my opinion. If City improve their goal difference by 3 relative to us after an unlikely draw at Spurs, then we are equal on goal difference and they win.
If they improve only by 2, we are still ahead on goal difference and we win.
Barring improbable edge cases such as us beating Everton 7–6 etcFuuuuuuck you @Clrnc
