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Leeeet’s start with a bang.
SIX Arsenal players are back in the mixer for Arsenal.
- Koscielny
- Mustafi
- Bellerin
- Mavropanos
- Monreal
- Ozil
That is great news. I mean, you kind of have to discount Ozil, he’ll be back on the medical table at the next rumour of being dropped, but the others will all help us.
I’m intrigued to see what the plan is with Mavrapanos. I remember when he was signed above Wenger’s head, there was a lot of concern the manager wouldn’t like him… then the story was that he was very impressed and he started giving him games. He looks a good player. He’s absolutely huge, he’s pretty quick from what I remember he knows how to play the ball from out from the back.
Is the future him and Holding? We’ll find out.
Matt and I speak at length on the podcast about the reality of Arsenal and how we tackle the rest of the season.
The true reality of Arsenal is we’ve emptied out the piggy bank by making incredibly short-sighted decisions over the past 5 years, which were further compounded last year when we decided our strategy was a short term BURST for the Champions League spots. We didn’t sell Ramsey in the summer, we tied Ozil down to the most outrageous contract of all time, we gave Mikhi £170k a week despite him playing like a Championship player for years, and we amped up everyone’s deals.
The reality is that now we have the highest wage bill in the Europa League by quite some margin. That’s not sustainable by any stretch. It’s so unsustainable, we had to pull the Aaron Ramsey deal and let him go for nothing.
To make things worse, it’s clear we’re very unlikely to make a go for the top 4 this season. So that gives us one route out of this mess. We have to greatly reduce the wage bill. To put things into perspective, our wage bill is 260m euros, the next richest Europa League side is Milan on 163m euros! Now, we don’t have to drop that low, but it gives you a little perspective as to why we’re strapped.
As Matt said, we’ve experimented with what a ‘no wage cap’ looks like, and it’s a bit shit (because it’s been poorly executed).
So that opens up a scenario for the rest of the season. Do you gun for the top 4 positions and chop in players that don’t have a future with us in the hope something miraculous happens (CFC looking decidedly toothless of late). Or do you write the season off and see what the kids can do?
Maybe it’s a blend of both. But simply put, our strategy moving forward has to look smarter than the half-baked thing we have going on now of buying in some young talent and peppering it with ok experienced players.
I also think it’s that time of the year when we call for real solutions for the defence.
Yep, I’m gonna say it… GET STEVE BOULD ON THE JOB!
He knows how to organise a defence. He’ll literally tie them together with electrical cable, everytime Mustafi dives into a challenge that might not even exist, BOOM. They all suffer. We do that in advertising when we’re practicing a pitch.
‘Thanks for reaching out’ ZAP
‘Ummmm’ ZAP
‘Holistic’ ZAP
You gotta learn ’em good people.
Harry Kane took an embarrassing tumble to win a penalty and take Spurs within spitting distance of their first trophy since time began (if you were born March 2008). I’d love to see them lose again.
PETA France has bantered Franck Ribery by sending him a basket of vegan snacks coated in gold after he dropped a £1000 on a salt bae steak. Good work. I think the player was also fined heftily after he went nuts on people criticizing his choice on the menu. Bellerin is a vegan… you know who isn’t? The bellends that protested outside Greggs because they lauched a vegan sausage roll. Imagine being the kind of person that’ll march for something like that.
Finally, before we go. Myles Palmer, I thought we were buddies? The fireside chats at AGMs? The casual exchange of e-mails about the Gooners?
IT WAS ALL A LIE. How could you give a regular column to a resident crazy over here that sends me actual hatemail? This is the biggest betrayal since Wenger told us he had a surprise signing we’d like in 2008.
I would love to share some of the contents of the e-mails I have, but I’m not that mean. But damn, does this guy cover some topics. Rape, Zimbabwe genocide, hatred for millennials… quite the roster of topics let me tell you.
Anyway, the whole thing has cut deep Myles, you were my blog hero. Tears all over the keyboard.
WHILE YOU ARE HERE, listen to the latest podcast from me and Matt (EKB).
SPOTIFY | STITCHER | ITUNES | GOOGLE | POCKET CASTS
DM
2
3
Tr4phy
Too late
RE: Myles Palmer
One can’t expect a sane, measured, thoughtful decision from a man who is the opposite of all of that.
Gambon
No there’s no argument at Auba and his ability to produce, it’s the technical decision making that baffles me. Both are League winning CF’s for me, it’s pursuing another of that ilk that is hard to quantify.
Totally understood if we were applying the cherry and looking for marginal gains, but 56 mil could’ve been used to gain a lot more than Auba over Laca gets us.
gambon
It makes no sense to have a player worth £60m on the bench. It makes no sense to have a player on £200k per week on the bench
actually it does. or do you want a welbeck to be our other option when Auba isn’t clicking or injured ? As I keep saying, we need quality players not squad fillers
They were here when Auba was bought, it’s that decision given we had Lacazette, that puzzles me.
I’m not sure why that should puzzle you. Aubameyang has 26 goals in 40 appearences while Lacazette has 26 goals in 65 appearences. It’s obvious as to who is the slightly better striker. Instead what you should be asking is why did you know who picked Lacazette over Aubameyang in the summer? I’d also ask why he didn’t sign him up in 15 but whatever
Plus they were probably thinking about the possibility of selling Lacazette when they bought Aubameyang. You buy Aubameyang you’re getting a better player but you’re also not getting any resale value whereas Lacazette at 27 can still fetch a good fee. It’s course correction
I mean, you kind of have to discount Ozil, he’ll be back on the medical table at the next rumour of being dropped, but the others will all help us.
Nailed it
gonsterous
So how come Man City got 100 points without a £60m bench striker?
How did Leicester win the PL without one?
How did Chelsea win the PL twice in the last 5 years without one?
How do Barcelona win La Liga without one?
How do Bayern win the Bundesliga without one?
Maybe we should buy 10 top class CFs and ask UEFA for extra points due to all the quality we have on the bench?
Seriously, who cares if Ribery treated himself to a top steak? The veganista militants would have us hiding in shadows eating bacon Frazzles if they had their way.
“actually it does. or do you want a welbeck to be our other option when Auba isn’t clicking or injured ? As I keep saying, we need quality players not squad fillers”
There are like 6 levels between Aubameyang and Wellbeck. And I agree with Gambon, there’s no point having a 60M striker on the bench when there are other places to filled.
Ideally we would have Aubameyang as the number one option then number two would be young like 22/23 waiting for his break out year and then Wellbeck.
gambon
you know all those teams have wide men that score goals for fun right ? apart from Leicester which are the abnormality rather than the rule
Charlie
I would disagree with you about their quality levels.
I would say Auba is world class, league winning material.
I would say Lacazette is one level below.
Lacazette was never going to fight it out with Salah and Kane to win PL top scorer, the way Auba is.
“you know all those teams have wide men that score goals for fun right ?”
Why do you think I want us to sell Lacazette?
Have you not been reading the posts?
Imagine if Jamie Vardy accepted our offer when we agreed a fee for him?
Gambon
Do you think we couldn’t win the league with Lacazette as CF?
That 56 mil could’ve gotten us Fekir for instance and that pair are gold dust together. I agree Auba is a better goal-getter, but I think both are title winning strikers in the right setup.
Just not convinced in the strategy to change one for the other at our point in the process.
So say that we sold Laca do we replace him like for like or on other positions? If so, which ones? Like 60m maybe 2 decent players or a few bargain up and coming youth. Even then mostly they just gonna be squad players anyway.
Rhys Jaggar
Rhys Jaggar.
Rhys Jaggar..
We replace Lacazette with a wide attacker that can score as many goals but from wide positions.
A Sane/Mane/Salah type player.
gambon
well we’ll just have to agree to disagree because I don’t mind having two strikers that score goals and a decent winger, while you want a winger that scores, a striker that scores and a decent back up. You can argue your way is cheaper but I would argue, we already have the strikers settled in the team.
“well we’ll just have to agree to disagree because I don’t mind having two strikers that score goals and a decent winger, while you want a winger that scores, a striker that scores and a decent back up.”
If we had Man city money, that would be great but we don’t so how do you propose we raise funds to buy a proper defender?
Also how do we raise funds to buy a winger or two since we have non?
And who will that be? Anyone you fancy?
inb4 Pavon, Lozano, Kluivert the list goes on etc
and even then we may only can afford one winger of that calibre
tbh it all depends on how Emery wants to play and 2 at top is clearly not his style so yeah from that point of view Laca may look like a surplus
It will be midfield heavy then? With our supposed playmakers not being effective enough I think we one that can feed those forwards too.
azed
surely we have at least 70m in the summer. Get a CB and a winger. Surely we can get a CB and a winger with that. If we manage to sell ozil and mhiki, get in a decent LB too, and a CM.
@Pedro –
How much for you to release those Rhys Jagger emails?!
Gonsterous
VVD cost 75M. Chelsea just paid 58M for Pulisic. Who are you going to sell Ozil amd Mhkitaryan to considering they are both 30 and earn wages far above their contributions.
Charlie rather than look at criticizing the new guys for spending 55 million on the better striker perhaps you should look at criticizing Wenger for bringing in Lacazette instead of Aubameyang in the first place.
Marko
Wenger was a busted flush but you can’t knock him for Lacazette instead of Aubameyang.
Lacazette is a good striker in his own right.
Leonardo Jardim is now manager of the same team in China that Carrasco plays for. Does the same rule apply for managers as players? Seems like quite a step down for him no?
azed are you seriously suggesting we are going to spunk more than 35m for a CB ? did you not see the TW we just had ? Of course it would be nice to spend money on macquire, but such is the nature of our funds that we need to get smart buys rather than exp ones. Like the torreira, guen buys. Sell ozil and mhiki, get at least 40m for them (I believe they are worth at least that much combined). use that money for a good winger or CM. then use our transfer fund to get a CB… Read more »
I agree with China1 and think a 3-4-1-2 system might suit with Ozil sitting behind our 2 strikers. You never know it might get the best out of Ozil. Don’t understand why we haven’t at least tried it as it gets our 3 best attacking players on the pitch.
Pedro When Mavropanos arrived we were advised that there had been a lot of interest in Europe for this player and the initial reaction when he played was that he might just be the answer to all our prayers based on his early performance. Unfortunately he was subsequently red carded. Why he has been out so long this season has been a mystery. I don’t recall any explanation as to how he got injured in first place or that his groin injury was so serious as to keep him out for over half a season. Nevertheless one subject which might… Read more »
Maybe because we only have 2 strikers and a not ready Eddie as backup, if we play them both for 90 minutes it’s going to end up badly for us. We have to keep some powder dry.
Azed you can knock him if he spent the same amount of money on a slightly less player. It’s just another continuation of a classic Wenger patern. Gervinho over Hazard Xhaka when Kante was available. It’s not a knock on Lacazette I’ve always liked the player and again I maintain had we signed him in 15 we probably would have won the league but in saying that if you have Aubameyang and Lacazette available you go for Aubameyang because he shades it
Gambon
Regarding your point that Lacazette might be sold this summer.
It has been suggested that Arsenal were interested in both Dembele and Pepe.
Both are high scoring wingers but also their second positional option is as a
striker.
Lacazette by contrast is more rigid in where he can play in the team.
” but such is the nature of our funds that we need to get smart buys rather than exp ones. Like the torreira, guen buys”
Its almost impossible to get 40M for Ozil and Mkhitaryan.
You want/expect the team to get smart buys but how smart is it having a 60M player on the bench?
Isn’t it smarter to have a 60M defender on the pitch than a 60M striker on the bench?
Isn’t it smarter to make the first 11 better than to have your second best player on the bench?
How much did Dortmund fleece Barcelona with Dembele? He has discipline problems too with missing trainings and such. Surely they want to recoup those losses so we might not afford him at the supposed current rate.
Unless I’m mistaken I could have sworn the majority of our unbeaten run earlier in the season consisted of Lacazette and Aubamayang in the starting line up . It only started going tits up when Emery started messing Lacazette about… Why anyone would want to split up the most potent and effective part of our team baffles me.. It appears that all the negatives flying about regarding our financial position have sent le grovellers into a frenzy and they want to sell most of the team …..the same team that went 22 games unbeaten a few months ago. How about… Read more »
I stopped reading at ‘Ozil as the cam’.
Surprised I made it that far!
Pierre I would not disagree that this season Arsenal should not be dismantling the offensive resources, which we have got. However, it is clear that the head coach is reluctant to use both Aubameyang and Lacazette in the same team and we know also that Ozil is clearly not the flavour of the month as well. So I accept the point made by Gambon that it is possible that Lacazette might be sold in the summer and replaced with a top class goal scoring winger such as Pepe who can if required play as a striker. Insofar as Ozil you… Read more »
Laca is a better striker than PEA. Amazed so.many people want us to sell him. Shaking my head in disbelief.
The continued criticism of Arsene Wenger always amazes me. Yes. He stayed 5 years too long! But under Wenger ,ARSENAL acted,behaved amd and thought like a big club. The signings of ozil and Sanchez were down to him and him alone. ( we were all excited by these top arrivals) With the colourless Spanish/Germanic Pact -we have shrunk as a club And by the time they will be sacked (and they will- as night follows day) We will be on par with West Ham and Watford and below Everton. We must have ambitious people running ARSENAL not necessarily with cash… Read more »
“Laca is a better striker than PEA. Amazed so.many people want us to sell him. Shaking my head in disbelief.”
Available data doesn’t support your position.
Pierre because it’s clearly not as convincing and as strong a first XI that is gunning for Tr4phy should be. Some want to reinvest on areas that are badly needed and if we really are that skint sacrifices have to be made. Maybe some just want an alternative if we can’t sell the usual suspects.
Though for me Auba can’t be up there alone and isolated as we’ve seen time and time again especially against the big boys. Support must come from the flanks and/or through the middle.
No-one dislikes Lacazette, and no-one wants him gone for the sake of it. Look at it another way. Assuming we buy at least one wide player in the next 2 windows, we will go into next season with the following highest earners: 1- Ozil – £350k pw – on the bench 2- Aubameyang – £200k pw – Staring XI 3- Mykhitaryan – £200k pw – on the bench 4- Lacazette – £170k pw – on the bench Now that is just ridiculous to have 3 of your 4 highest earners sitting on the bench. All of your big earners should… Read more »
Auba and Laca are the two most important players in our team. Selling one prized asset who has already settled in our team and performed on a regular basis is not the way to build a team. In my view PEA can play no other position than the center forward role but Laca has the skill set to either play just behind PEA or on the left side. He will be more like a Nasri type player if played on left rather than a pure winger in traditional sense but that’s okay. We can go for an out and out… Read more »
azed
Lacazette is an excellent player to have on the books. He works hard for the team and he is our second highest goalscorer.
However, he is not on current evidence a 25+ goal a season striker in EPL in
contrast to PEA who is. Lacazette on current evidence is probably around 15-18
goals a season player, which is similar to Giroud.
If money was no object I would support the case to keep Lacazette on the books.
Stroller
“However, it is clear that the head coach is reluctant to use both Aubameyang
and Lacazette in the same team and we know also that Ozil is clearly not the
flavour of the month as well.”
One always has to believe that the manager will come to his senses and realises that there is no substitute for class and quality …..Charlie George has hit the nail on the head by comparing out thinking to that of Watford and West ham though I would say that West ham ‘s recruitment has been far more impressive.
TR7
Agree,Lacazette is more than capable of playing on the left , he and Aubamayang could quite easily alternate position during the game .
ES
If money was no object I would support the case to keep Lacazette on the books.
Nobody wants the sale of Lacazette for the fun of it. Gambon like myself realizes that their are some pressing team needs and selling Lacazette is a sure way to raise the desired funds needed.
Gambon
You are.basically saying to make up for the mistake of giving Ozil a bumper contract, we should commit another mistake by selling Laca. Two wrongs do not make a right.
TR7
Why play a player out of position just because he can play there. Xhaka did an ‘okish’ job at left back. Are you saying rather than buy a left back, we should play Xhaka there because he is already settled?
No TR7
Im saying Arsenal need at least one more high quality attacking player in the team a lot more than they need a high quality player on the bench.
If you had a house that was in desperate need of repair at a cost of £100k, but you only had £50k, and you had 2 Porsches in the garage, what would you do?
Azed
If only data and statistics could always tell the truth. In most of the goals Auba has scored, Laca has played an integral part in the build up.
It’s obvious that we can’t afford to have two elite center forwards when we don’t have a wide player, Athletic attacking midfielder or speedy central defender
It’s a luxury we don’t deserve currently.
They have to make some difficult decisions his summer. Lacazette’s value will go downhill the longer he isn’t first choice.
For 60M, we can get a player that wants to play wide, can score the goals Lacazette is scoring and do so much more (take on players, deliver assists) so why are some so bent on keeping Lacazette?
TR7
Putting Sane in our team instead of Lacazette instantly makes us way better on the other hand, putting Lacazette in place of Sane for City weakens City so why should we keep Lacazette when we can upgrade?
TR7 Auba and Laca are the two most important players in our team. Selling one prized asset who has already settled in our team and performed on a regular basis is not the way to build a team. I agree completely. sometimes people in here think real life is like fantasy football. You just slot someone in. I would say, why decrease the quality of our bench when we can build the quality of the squad. it’s the same thing with xhaka, he’s a good squad player, but people want him gone. the solution is to sell your bench players,… Read more »
I wish all the contributors, stop harking about players wages
We are not accountants.
We are fans.
Football is a simple game
Get the best players at your disposal on the pitch.( until they are gone)
We have ozil – play him
We have Rambo- play him
We have laca – play him.
Emery is messing your brains up- because he like Italian coach(sarri) over think football.
Simplicity is genius.!
Any leg on those Carasco rumours? He is quite versatile right? Just wary of this being another journeyman who is not good enough for starting line-up.
“If only data and statistics could always tell the truth. In most of the goals Auba has scored, Laca has played an integral part in the build up.”
Are you saying there’s no wide player in the world that can do that?
For the past few games Kolasinac has been our biggest attacking threat, now imagine we had a Winger (Sane, Dembele e.t.c) in that position.
Lol
Yes gonsterous, I hear UEFA are going to start handing out extra points according to the quality of your bench.
Maybe we should buy another £50m CF, so that we can have even more quality on the bench.
TR7
Don’t you think you’re taking this Laca stuff too personally?
He’s a back up striker at Arsenal currently. He’s too good to be a back up striker so it’s better to let him go for good money and reinvest the money to make the starting eleven attack more effective
It’s not an indictment on Laca’s ability that he’s the one to leave. He’s younger and still retains some transfer value. Dithering on selling him is akin to not taking an early decision on Ozil or Sanchez . His value will go down the longer he’s settled a back-up striker.
Hear hear Charlie George!
442 just punt it to the big lad up top and let him score sam fackin goals
simple as.
Stopped reading Myles Palmer years ago used to like him a lot now his is insignificant
TR7
These are the stats for both strikers this season in EPL.
Aubameyang
P21 games 1,648 mins 14 goals 3 assists
Lacazette
P20 games 1,287 mins 7 goals 6 assists
Last season Aubameyang scored 10 goals in 13 games and Lacazette scored 14
goals in entire season.
So if Emery is playing with just one striker clearly Aubameyang is first choice.
That is not to say that I agree with his policy.
Personally I would prefer to play both in same team, because it creates more problems for opposition if you have two goalscorers playing in combination.
Gambon Except Laca is not a luxury player (Porsche in a garage). I know you have been a big fan of PEA for long but do you not feel as a lone striker he can be easily marked out of a game. It has already happened a few times this season. He looks far more threatening when Laca is playing with him. Plus Laca himself scores goals and provides assists. Say hypothetically you sell Laca for 40-50M and go out in the market for a new winger. Now tell me how many wingers there are in transfer market available for… Read more »
Alone
Nowt wrong with that!
Leno
HB,Sok,SM,SK
HM,LT,AR,MO
PBA, laca
That ain’t a bad 442 !
No Leno passing sideways to vulnerable centre halves- like this dopey Emery wants us to play!
Do not be a footballing snob!
How do 3 TIME CL winning Real Madrid play under the brilliant ZZ??
“Now tell me how many wingers there are in transfer market available for 50M who can match Laca’s output- 15- 20 goals and 8-10 assists”
Sterling…..£50m
Sane……….£40m
Mahrez…..£60m
Mane………£34m
Salah……….£37m
Martial……..£36m
Hazard………£32m
Son……………£22m
Richarlison £40m
In fact, you may have noticed, we are the only team that doesnt have one.
We do however have a backup CF that is top class. Makes no sense.
Gambon
Sane, Mane, Sterling, Hazard, Son, Salah in current market are all worth more than 80 M.
Richarlison and Mahrez although good players are not going to match Laca’s output.
Pierre/ES
In total agreement with your take on Lacazette and Aubameyang.
Two of the most positive components of our team.
Play them together as often as possible.
It’s a no brainer.
Charlie George Over half the comments on here are a about our finances……boring Most of that is just a smokescreen as they don’t want to discuss what’s happening on the pitch . They don’t want to talk about why our players are knackered( we know why) They don’t want to talk about why our manager can’t get the best out of ozil,Mhkitaryan and Ramsey and why he is messing Lacazette about. They don’t want to talk why our defence has conceded more goals than ever despite buying 5 defensive based players.I No, they would rather talk about how much Ozil… Read more »
Richarlison = 9 goals so far
Lacazette = 9 goals so far
TR7
Your point about values is irrelevant. I put up how much they cost.
Unless you think no good player is every going to be available for less than £50m ever again?
I actually think Laca is a more rounded player, compared with Auba.
If one Auba or Laca has to be sold to free up funds to get a wide player then it has to be Laca
He’s younger and retains a higher transfer value.
Having two elite strikers in a squad that’s barren in so many areas is like an oasis in the Sahara desert.
I wish we could keep both but sadly we don’t have the funds to build a team around them, it seems.
Pierre
Not sure if u were in agreement
I just don’t understand why our dopey Emery
Does not play laca and PPA together ever game for 90 mins to boost their goal tally and reputations ?
(Could get us top 4 -that combo)
I see Poch – brought Kane on 10 mins to go when spurs were winning 0-6 last week against Tranmere – to boost his goal tally
Fans, can’t admit -we have a colourless, mediocre and unsuited manager at arsenal
Emery!
Charlie George, better prepare some lube with that non-existent left flank as we’ll surely get our shit pushed in if we play with that kind of formation.
Pierre we’re currently in mid-season transfer window and it’s natural to talk about how to fix things from the outside when we can see the inside is not adequate enough. Emery is not without fault but I’m willing to see how can he handle the predicament we are in right now.
TR7
Liverpool sold a started in Coutinho and bought VVD. Are they a better or worse?
TR7
Please note Coutinho was a started while Lacazette is not.
Gambon
Not impossible, I just think it is highly unlikely we find a winger for 50M who can come.in and hit the ground running to match the current output of Laca especially if the player is from another league. And if the player flops, it is money down the drain and that too for fixing something which ain’t broken.
Has to be said, buying Auba when we already had Laca was in the same category as renewing ozil contract. Sven and family fucked up. The ideal situation would have been, use Auba money to by fekir or another lively cam cum winger and watch the team blossom. That being said, the mistake has been made. We have an unrelaistic situation that should be sorted come the summer. Auba can’t be sold, he’s scoring more (even though he shouldn’t have been bought) so it has to be Laca. we will have to take a hit on his fees because everyone… Read more »
I love that we have both Laca and Auba.
If we are as broke as made out though, would you rather that we kept both and signed Denis Suarez?
Or sold one, I prefer Laca as an all-rounder but it’s difficult to argue with Auba’s goal return and bought a top calibre wide midfielder in the mould of a Jadon Sancho?
The Chinese club that Carrasco is at are trying to sign Payet. As a possible replacement?
“Sterling…..£50m
Sane……….£40m
Mahrez…..£60m
Mane………£34m
Salah……….£37m
Martial……..£36m
Hazard………£32m
Son……………£22m
Richarlison £40m
In fact, you may have noticed, we are the only team that doesnt have one.”
have to say that apart from sterling and Mahrez (once) none there can or have scored 15 – 20 goals a season. But I like what they offer as wingers and with Auba in the middle, he would score loads.
Son has been playing as a second striker and strike this season, spuds are adapting a two man strike force this season and it has been great
Dissenter
No, I am not taking it personally. I have posted my reasons why I want us to keep him.
Azed
Pool had FOUR quality attackers. Easier to dispense one when you have four.
Alone
We are getting smashed now, m8
Saints 3
Liverpool 5
There is no way Lacazette should be sold.
If this does materialize, Emery will find himself on slippery ground very quickly.
He will also face the wrath of one exceptionally angry supporter.
“Liverpool sold a started in Coutinho and bought VVD. Are they a better or worse?”
Azed, Liverpool didn’t just sell. Barcelona came for coutinho real hard and had just lost neymar so needed to save face. I don’t see many clubs banging down our door wanting Laca. If we have to sell, we will have to look for buyers which weakens our bargaining chip.
We got him for 46m because there was no other takers, athletico was willing to pay more till they couldn’t.
We know that Arsenal’s squad/team has been unbalanced in last 2 seasons, but that does not mean that we cannot deliver with resources we have got and a better selection policy and maximise our potential. Lets face it for all our shortcomings we went 22 games unbeaten! Our defence has been a shambles this season and that is reflected by conceding more goals than last season and producing just 3 clean sheets in EPL. So the club should have been focussing since start of January on putting the house in order there and not attempting to buy a “squad midfielder”… Read more »
Azed has a point though.
As top a player as Coutinho is, Liverpool with their front 3 bit the bullet and sold him at a time when he was their best player or 2nd best at least, and have drastically improved the overall balance of the side with VVD as he has literally made their defence more than twice as good.
You could say that it was an easier decision as they had more options but still was a big risk nonetheless to sell a player of that quality.
Mystic
What on earth are you talking about?
Hazard – scored 15 or more 4 times for Chelsea since 2012
Son – has scored 15 or more the last 2 seasons, and will this season
Salah – 44 last season, 16 so far this season
Mane – 20 last season, 9 so far this season
Sane – 14 goals last season as a 21 year old
Hope that’s not true, Payet’s still far too good for China.
Was up there as the best player outside of PSG and Fekir/Thuavin last season in Ligue 1.
TR7
Why have two strikers who want to play centrally when you can have one striker who wants to play centrally and a winger?
Neither Aubameyang or Lacazette want to play wide but if they both start one is unhappy. So you would rather have a 60M striker sitting on the bench and play Iwobi or have a 60M winger starting?
I just think it is highly unlikely we find a winger for 50M who can come.in and hit the ground running to match the current output of Laca especially if the player is from another league.
It’s weird how you write something like that but dismiss the idea of Aubameyang being better even though he’s got better output than Lacazette. Fact is this one is slightly better than the other and one is easier to sell. Lucky for us
Arsenals defensive record at this stage of the season is the leakiest since 1960s
(Pre Wenger)
Wenger never coached defending -yet this guy does.( he was the defensive coaching guru/with all his videos sessions)
How the hell -is he still in the job?
We should stick with 3-5-2 and play PEA and LACA together.
We ditch Iwobi when the new winger arrives.
Hopefully we get another winger on the other side.
Mids- Xhaka, Lucas
CAM- Suarez