Season over. It was like going into the operating theater for something serious. The diagnosis was clear, surgery was necessary, we’re just not sure if we picked the right surgeon for the task.
The best remedy post-surgery? Faith. Positivity. Good vibes.
I can’t spend a summer crying about a very odd season, with historically unique circumstances, that impacted nearly every manager at an elite club.
It’s time to search out the light, hunt out patterns of interest, and rev up that propaganda machine one last time for the boys in red and white.
My base premise for hope is this: We just went through the toughest professional sporting season in living memory. A global pandemic that stretched the physical and mental health of everyone. One that destroyed the basic structure of the game by ripping fans out of the stadium whilst also truncating the season to make amends for TV right issuers. The output? A difficult season.
Arsenal finished 8th.
6 points off 4th place Chelsea, the team that spent £250m on a top 4 squad last summer.
8 points off 3rd place Liverpool, the team that won the league last season with 100 points.
The three managers in the running for the Arsenal job prior to Arteta were Jose, Carlo, and Nuno. Two of them exited their jobs, the most prestigious of them all, Carlo, finished below Arsenal.
The weird season wasn’t just in the Premier League. Sporting won their first title for a long time. Atleti beat off Barca and Real for La Liga. PSG was toppled by a spectacular Lille. Inter beat out Juve.
That’s not to justify our position, it’s clearly not good enough, but all of these observations put perspective on it. It was a fine margins season and we didn’t do well with the margins. Our rookie manager botched a rushed summer and struggled to get to grips with a toxic bloated squad of players until January.
… but things picked up.
People were calling the final 5 ties ‘nothing games.’ You might have thought that, but the players didn’t, and that’s a chink of light for next season.
We won 5 on the bounce.
The Brighton game welcomed fans back into the ground. The boys put on a performance and played to the manager’s tune. Dead game? It didn’t feel like it. The starting 11 looked balanced, well-drilled, creative, and defensively cohesive.
The football was slick and fast. Martin Odegaard and Smith Rowe were pulling creative strings. Our midfield was rock solid, the addition of Xhaka to the midfield gave us more options and left us looking less one-dimensional. Cal Chambers had another really, really good game at right-back. His touch, intelligence and defensive ability really make him stand out.
Nicolas Pepe clearly wanted to take the attention off 7-goals-in-a-row-Joe and he put on one of his best performances yet. He was taking the ball at pace and running towards goal. He was switching sides. He was cutting in. He was defending like he really, really wanted to win that game. Those two goals take his season to 19 g/a for the season. Pretty decent.
When you want to talk about the biggest mistake of the season, I’m struggling to think of a bigger one than signing Willian and giving him Pepe minutes. The player produced next to nothing and he ‘might’ be off at the end of the season. Had we passed on the Kia phone call and given those minutes to Nico or one of the other youngsters, they might have hit their stride in December, versus March.
Still, what I will say is the idea that Nico’s form has just been waiting there is so far off the mark. He’s been dreadful because he’s been dreadful. Coaching is clearly developing his game. But we incubated him at the expense of someone older who wasn’t doing it. Perhaps if we’d let him rough it out hard and fast he’d have implemented the lessons faster.
The irony of the Willian experiment is Arteta thought a seasoned pro would pick up his ideas faster. He never picked them up. I think the player complained in the press that the training was very tactical and he wasn’t used to it.
The biggest truth of the season, bundled in a raft of similar mistakes is this: Older players don’t want to learn new tricks. Nico, against my expectations, really has aggressively eaten up the development plan. He’s not here to bum around, he wants to make it at the highest level, so I’m really, really happy for him.
Back to the game. Brighton does two things well, they create a lot, and their out of possession work limits opportunities against them. Lots of people thought Graham Potter was coming to school us after watching him beat Pep at his own game and amass a whopping 19 shots at their goal, along with a 3-2 win. It didn’t happen. We controlled Brighton. They had 5 attempts, 1 on target. They were completely nullified, left to have shots from less than ideal ranges. We battered them, they were demoralized by the end of the game because that pretty style of free-flowing football they offer couldn’t get off the ground.
We have controlled most teams that way since Chelsea in December.
The one disappointment from the game was Auba. Arteta is trying to play him into form, but it’s not working. He can’t play with his back to goal and the more he tries to do that Lacazette role, the unhappier he looks. Again, an older player, being asked to do new things, and badly struggling. There was a moment when ESR bound into the box and Auba didn’t even chase the run. It’s a bit sad. I’m not sure he’s built for the system we’re trying to operate.
The game finished, the fans clapped the team off, now it’s back to the drawing board.
8th position is not good enough, but it’s clear how we got there. A shocking start we weren’t able to recover from. 38% of the season wasn’t good enough. We were 15th for points accrued, that’s grim. The mitigating circumstances, we hope, were player unrest, Thomas Partey injuries, and no creative players.
The solves, we hope, were the Hale-Enders, creativity, a fit midfield, and a better team dynamic behind the scenes. The remaining 62% of those games gave us a lot of good things, but let’s talk holistically…
We finished the season with the 3rd best defensive record in the league. That’s not bad when you consider the amount of unforced errors that are hidden away in that mess. Dim penalties, inexplicable mistakes, and just all-round punching yourself in the face. If the plan was to build from the back, Arteta has done a good job there.
The final 24 games of the season also post a cheery outlook. 2nd most points. 2nd best defensive record. 3rd most goals.
If you are looking for signs of life and you can’t feel a heartbeat in ‘6 points off 4th place, with the 2nd best form over the final 24 games after we made pointed changes at Christmas’, I honestly can’t help you.
If you thought the first 14 games were relevant enough to merit sacking Arteta, I can’t listen to you tell me the 24 games after count as a mathematical sleight of hand. Again, just to remind you, I understand that the league is 38 games, but we’re searching for light, I’m not trying to convince you we actually won a trophy.
The best part about our little finish to the season was that we kept the pressure on Europe, won all our games, and were pipped by Spurs after a Kasper horror show. Have you ever felt so fine about missing out on St Totts day? I know my pulse on this is right because not one Spurs fans messaged me to gloat about their achievement.
Missing out on Europe is huge for us. It gives Arteta more time to work with a squad that will have new additions. It’ll keep our players fresh for Premier League games as we don’t have to travel long distances to play pubs teams on pub pitches. We’ll also have fans in the ground for Saturday 3pm games.
The summer objectives are clear. We need to be ruthless, fast, and clinical in the decisions we make.
Leadership has moved on coaching staff already. I was very sad to see Steve Bould sacked. Seems like a pretty brutal decision to make on a guy that has served the club diligently for 30 years. I remember him setting up Tony Adams with a peach of a chipped pass for the final goal against Everton to win the league in 1998. I wish him well and hope Per has a sharp idea of what he’s looking for to replace. I also wonder what happened to our PR? ‘Sacked’ is such a brutal headline for someone like Steve Bould.
Edu’s physio buddy Bruno M is out the door. Everyone loves him on the insta, but he was another disaster hire they’ve been trying to deal with for a while. I hope there is deep introspection for other areas of the coaching staff that is clearly not working. The job of Edu is to work out where the flaws in Arteta are and build muscle around them. There are flaws in the backroom team and the moves can’t stop at two changes.
Then we move onto the squad.
Arsenal needs to start selling well. Lucas Torreira just won a La Liga. Matteo G is too talented to take a shit fee on. Willock has 7 goals in 7, Newcastle want to build around him, make it happen. Then there’s a whole group of players like Kola, Hector, Willian, AMN, Reiss, Eddie, maybe Lacazette/Elneny who need to find new clubs. The market will be better this year and I think the players we have on offer this time are more buyable. It’ll also help that clubs know we have cash, so we won’t get lowballed like we did last season.
There’s so much work to do. Every addition has to be perfect if we’re to make moves on the summer. We’ll need a back-up left-back, a right-back, and a proper centre midfielder. I really, really, really hope we make Odegaard our focus. I think he has such a high ceiling. Madrid needs to sell, this would be a good moment to bring him in before he blows up at the Euros feeding that monster from Dortmund.
I also suspect there will have to be some movement for younger players on cheap deals that can pick up some of the weaknesses we have in midfield. I’m also interested to see what happened on replacing David Luiz. It’s a huge position, we have Saliba, but he’s still very green. It’s a moment for Arteta… plugging the gap with someone who is 30 is a tried and true bad approach for Arteta. Signing someone that is 25 blocks the way of a player that could have a Pepe like bounce if he’s given games.
We need to get all this done early, no pissing around until deadline day again.
Once all those moves have been secured, it’s time to use the 6 weeks worth of preseason to bed down the new ideas to ensure we have a really, really fast start. There can be no excuses next season if everything is corrected in the summer. There’s been a lot of patience, a lot of heartache, and a lot of weird stuff fans have had to deal with. Time to bring it all together and prove out the vision.
This is an exciting time to be an Arsenal fan. The club is spending money, problems are slowly being fixed, and the numbers are on our side. So you can choose to be miserable about the totality of our season, or you can be smart, and seek out the positive patterns, and put ALL your chips on next season being a banger.
Thanks for reading this season, it’s been a pleasure. Podcast later. x
First
Second
And fourth
Yeah righg
That’s ‘right’ btw
Everton
Tiny Tots?
Now Everton, 6th was West freaking Ham. Who could have thunk that
Kroenke’s Arsenal
What’s that record again?
I’m gonna give it a try.
DM must be jealous.
And Banks
And Groovy Daddy
And the other pretenders.
Swashbuckling my way into Le Grove’s Hall of Fame
Who sends records, when you’ve got breakfast to attend to.
Well played Thorough 🙂
Jesus always look on the bright side of life?
I will repeat what I have just posted on the earlier thread. Arsenal need 5 experienced central midfield players to fulfil next season’s requirements if we are to compete at top level in EPL. Had we qualified for Europe I would have suggested that we would need 6. The defensive midfield department has currently got two players in Partey and Xhaka who are good enough to play in the defensive department. Xhaka has his shortcomings but was the best partnership option to play alongside Partey. However, watching Bissouma yesterday he would be most certainly an upgrade and a good longterm… Read more »
Keep searching for the light, Pedro hopefully it leads to your salvation in Christ Jesus. Praying for you.
The Guv “””””My base premise for hope is this: We just went through the toughest professional sporting season in living memory. A global pandemic that stretched the physical and mental health of everyone””‘”” Well reminded. But STILL the best 4 teams Man City Man United Liverpool Chelsea as expected eneter next seasons CL.They found a way. Their managers by hook.or crook did their jobs. (2 of those teams are in the European Cup final this week) And the worst 3 teams Sheff Utd Fulham West Brom went down. And their managers failed to do their jobs. Arsenal FAILED and Arteta… Read more »
Chelsea were 4th
Liverpool were 3rd
Decent post Pedro, but I couldn’t disagree more on Odegaard. I think what we are seeing is his ceiling. If he is our marquee signing this summer then we can forget about top four next season!
Also, I don’t disagree on the lost of names who should be leaving, but can you honestly see the club moving on that many players in one window – never going tt happen.
Well I hope you are right – and as you say we don’t have any choice given we have a negligent ownership are not interested in holding managers to standards – but I think you are rather ignoring the twin elephants in the room which are what still makes me more than a little unconvinced by Arteta. For me the two other huge mistakes (and there are so many to choose from ) were the no-striker formation in the first leg of the Europa semi final and the 1-man midfield formation in the second leg. Both against a team well… Read more »
Four priorities for me: 1. Keep moving on the deadwood. The highlight of the season was finally ridding ourselves of some of the sins of the past.. the Wenger years. Keep going.. there are half a dozen players that can go- choose your own names- but those who’s contract position means they’ll be leaving in a couple of years have to be on there too. Sign them up, or ship them out. 2. Stop signing potential deadwood. Im sorry, the reason Betrand doesnt do it for me is for exactly this reason. Willian was a mistake for exactly this reason.… Read more »
Worst season in decades is finally over. Out of Europe after 25 years. Arteta has broken countless records like this, this season and sacking him is very much justifiable, especially after the pounding we got against Unai Emery. It felt great to end the season with a win against a Brighton team which had an overall season xG of 61.5 (top 7). But the narrative we thrashed them is superficious. The xG yesterday was 0.7-0.24 in our favour and this was one of our better performances. We are still struggling to create enough chances. I think we should at least… Read more »
THe only problem with the 38% bad, 62% good argument is that nestled in the 62% is the most humiliating performances of the season in the two legs against Villareal.
Stop it you idiot
Forgot mentioning the hottest property on the market. 7 in 7 marksman Sir Joseph Willock. Personally I think he is a good player with high potential. He’s got bags of Pace and Power and his late runs are a dream for wingers and fullbacks. He is also very adept at carrying the ball. Main problem rn is that his game is not suited to the system we currently deploy, or just a possession based system in general. His passing is erratic, he rarely if ever plays long balls, and he loses the ball much too often. My opinion is to… Read more »
Excellent summary of the season. On the game yesterday are people just going to ignore the fact that xhaka has become our most important midfielder? To think people were saying partey was carrying him lol. Even if we do sell xhaka we need to replace him and it is going to be hard even the best teams are struggling to get quality midfielders now
Also, Pedro, I take your point that big clubs like Barca and PSG were getting upset all over Europe by the typically less successful clubs.
However, in this bizarre season, this might have actually been our best chance to do something like Lille and Atletico did and overperform instead of underperforming.
Buendía > Ødegaard
Honestly I don’t get the love in over Odegaard. Yes he had a few good games, but he didn’t set the world on fire.
I know he was in a new league and new team, but I just don’t think he is deserving of the high praise from some. Perhaps it is the fact that he literally cannot touch the ball with his right foot that sways my opinion.
One question for you Pedro.
Next season, what are your requirements for wanting to keep Arteta? Is it a Top 4 finish. Is it Top 6 by Christmas? I’m genuinely curious what benchmark you apply here because you were never shy doing this with previous managers.
Needs rebuild but need to sell 10 players and bring in 5 quality ones
We have to remember that we need 8 HG players so we can’t sell everyone people are mentioning
Willock is staying put for sure after such a great loan
More likely we sell
bellerin HG
Soares
Guen
Torr
Lacs
Amn HG
Nketia HG
Luiz gone
Willian
We cannot sell anymore HG players than this unless we are registering azeez etc
“””””It felt great to end the season with a win against a Brighton team””””” They were on their summer holidays. Wake up and smell the coffee Captain. Arsenal were better off loosing this seasons last 5 games if it meant they used this game time for the likes of Balogun, Azeez Saliba and other similar. Another huge strategic error from Arteta not experimenting with our young players at the back end of this season. What a waste of an opportunity. Those players will now NOT get a chance to play in an unpressurized environment. Did you see how many Manchester… Read more »
Do we actually really need a new RB though? For me Cal Chambers has really proved to me he’s very much capable of playing up to the standards and could be relied upon 100% next season, there wasn’t one game i can remember where he looked out of place since he came back after that long lay off and one of the few players that should held their heads high after the subpar season we’ve had. Massive props to him!
I would also have buendia over ode
Now have made CL they will sign Domamoura which I bet means we get scezny back and sell Leno
Great post Pedro and I agree with the sentiment. I only hope Arteta has truly learned from his mistakes – as Graham said the tactics (and the motivational techniques of instilling fear into the players) were diabolical in our biggest 2 games v Villareal. Even the once technically inept Emery out-thought us. But onwards and upwards. Not being in Europe may cost us some signings but stick to the plan and only sign players under 25 – no Bertrand or other pensioners looking for a cosy retirement on the bench. We actually probably don’t need as many new faces as… Read more »
Nicolas Pépé for Arsenal 20/21: – most goal contributions (21) – most MOTM awards (8) – highest rating in all comps (7.19) – most goal creating actions (20) – most successful dribbles (60) – most matchwinners (6) All in only 29 starts More goals than Pulisic, Ziyech and Havertz combined. Player of the season. For me Yes. Our best player in the EL campaign. Our best player since the turn of the year in general. This is my theory why Pepe struggled in the first half of the season. – Arteta decided he was not good enough, pushed through a… Read more »
Odegaard is a brilliant player, really hope we sign him, no buy back clauses or loans though
Ornstein linking us with Kounde from Sevilla , £50 million, but says might be difficult without CL football
Not sure why we’re looking at another right sided centre back, Holding + Saliba should be enough, with the option of Chambers as third choice
I wouldn’t be surprised if Saliba was a surprise departure this summer
BREAKING NEWS: PARADE PLANNED FOR WEDNESDAY, OUTSIDE THE EMIRATES.
WE FINISHED 2ND SINCE CHRISTMAS DAY!! What a tremendous achievement
CG my man.
I agree we should have experimented with the likes of Azeez and Balogun and Reiss in the last 5 games. But we still had a chance of qualifying for Europa(until Wednesday) and that is probably why Arteta went 100% into the last 5 games.
Captain Tierney
I will give you 10-1 odds that the group of players you mentioned won’t fetch 80m
Willian and Kola we’ll be lucky to give away. The rest we’ll get between 50-60m for. (Torreira-12m, Guendouzi-12m, AMN-8m, Eddie-8m and Bellerin-15m
Matteo, Torreira, Amn, Bellerin, Willian, Kola, Eddie
good riddance as far as the season is concerned. someone made a very good argument that if we sacked Arteta on boxing day and the new manager was then second on points, we would be pretty happy. that is the way to look at our current situation. and so on the the masturbation for the masses … our potential transfer activity. we will not be in Europe this season, so the conventional argument of 2 players at every position doesn’t hold. example, for our 3 behind the striker, we have Saka, ESR, Pepe, Martinelli. You add one more to the… Read more »
Good read, but deep down we all know it will be 15th in December looking for a new manager.
Absolutely spot on Pedro. This is an exciting time for an Arsenal fan. Those who aren’t are an enigma. And then I recall that even in the best seasons when the Club won titles and trophies, there was never a shortage of whiners and wailers. I don’t go along with those who believe there will be numerous additions. With the malingerers gone, Arteta will want to keep the squad together, keep the fellowship spirit high. That makes, say, Willock, AMN, Mavro, etc integral going forward. Most of the spaces left by the departed can be filled in with what he… Read more »
Kounde is a diamond. I doubt we’ll get him.
Orny says Odegaard is our first choice. Wrong choice.
It should be Buendia.
One more thing to consider. Luis Ocampos ( Responsible for the well-oiled Lille machine that just won the league with free signings and best players leaving) and Ralf Rangnick ( responsible for building the Red Bull brand) are both free agents right now.
Getting one of them to replace/supervise Edu would be the best signing we can make this summer.
Rich – agree – Ode for me the no 1 priority and he adds something to the team. He will only get better with regular football. His close control is better than anyone at the club. I also would go with Holding and Saliba for CB. Don’t spend further resources on another. Get a proper DM for me is a second priority. after Ode. Replace Bellerin at RB and maybe let CC in as 1st choice (depends who we can sign) Sell Auba and extend Laca for 1 year (only if we sell Auba). Laca can play out system and… Read more »
Thanks SurferX. I’m against keeping Willock. He’s had an amazing run but I think he’ll come down that cliff soon. However his run gives us a chance to get ridiculous money for him. If we can get 20 million from Newcastle and insert ridiculous clauses like sell on, first option, buyback et cetera then we would have done well. If he sustains his present tempo we can get him back. And I am 100% against buying Odegard. This is a playmaker that’s an average dribble, never shoots and invariably never scores. I’ll rather throw money at Buendia or Coutinho. If… Read more »
englands best
Be careful now. You might want to check who was whining and wailing when Arsenal won the F.A Cup in 2014, 2015 and 2017.
bacary A good negotiator can easily get 15 mil for Guendouzi and Torreira each. We rejected a 16mil offer from Wolves last season for Amn. He is now a much better, experienced player who has also been capped by England. So Id say 20 mil for him is doable. I think we’ll get at least 10-15 mil for Eddie and 15-20 mil for Bellerin maybe more if we play our cards right. Willian and Kola, I’ll be happy to give out for free but do think we can sell Kola for cash granted we generate enough interest in him. (… Read more »
Willock has a far better record than Auba over the last few months. Just saying, but there’s a moral there. I doubt Auba will relinquish his jackpot wages, but we’ve seen the best of him.
Liverpool finished third and Chelsea fourth. We were 6points off Chelsea in 4th
Captain “””I agree we should have experimented with the likes of Azeez and Balogun and Reiss in the last 5 games.”””” Over the years, when Arsenal have butchered the season- the moment that happens – the club plays all its best youngsters to see if they are up to standard required for next season. That way , they can gauge who they do or dont need in the summer to supplement and improve the squad for next season. By not playing Balogun, no one now knows if we need another center forward? By not playing Azeez, no one now knows… Read more »
Kloppy.First five seasons before winning the title.8th ,4th,4th,2nd,champions.Took him five seasonsTo deliver championship..Arteta first FULL season 8th.Same as kloppy.Sackable offence lol😅 ( even though had a trophy already in the cabinet)Interesting analysis from the Doomers on this site.
F365 Do their top 10 goalkeepers of the season. Guess who is top? Leno didn’t make the top ten btw… 1) Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa) Arsenal had a straight choice last summer between Martinez and Bernd Leno. They got it wrong.In fairness, at the time, it was the easiest decision to justify. Leno is a Germany international with a stellar track record. Martinez was impressive as a stand-in towards the back end of last season but it would have been a brave call to bomb Leno in favour of a goalkeeper who has spent the vast majority of his career… Read more »
‘Over the years, when Arsenal have butchered the season- the moment that happens – the club plays all its best youngsters to see if they are up to standard required for next season’
Thats my point. Europa league was still salvageable and that’s probably why we didn’t see the kids.
ManU were guaranteed 2nd. Hence why we saw so many young players given a chance
Thorough- Good call on Odegaard.Agree with midfield.Buendia AND Bissouma a must.You will see a different Arsenal.
Captain T,
Your heart’s in the right place but we’re trying to sell players (mostly with contracts winding down) in a depressed market.
I wish Pedro had a betting option on the site because I would clean up if you actually think we can get 20m for AMN after the season he had with WBA.
Absolutely spot on Pedro. This is an exciting time for an Arsenal fan.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
Big LOL.
The data from Xmas is really good Pedro, but we can’t let that hoodwink us with the style of football.
Our style is bloody awful! We lack the speed and acceleration of play to shock teams…..its all very rehearsed, slow and predictable.
I can get over having a bad season if I’m seeing movements towards progressive football but I feel our resurgence is based largely around shithousing teams
Arsenal are lucky to have three stellar young guns in Martenelli, Saka, Saliba, Smith Rowe. Get in Ordegard and that is a potential core that is bound to win a title. Add Tierney and an inform Pepe then the future is lit.
Even without Europe. Arsenal has a clean slate to build a great side. Just hope Arteta and Co will lay the foundations well.
Northbanker
I get the feeling that we won’t go for a traditional defensive midfielder, but a Cazorla type
A technician who’s press resistance, and can dictate the whole game if teams stand off
Hopefully we can get Bellerin, Soares, Niles, Kolasinac out as well
Then get a first choice right back to compete with Chambers, and genuine competition for Tierney, I really hope we don’t sign a journeyman left back
Competition for Leno is also a must, going into the season 1 injury away from Runarsson becoming our No1, was complete negligence
By the way, Yves Bissouma looked an absolute monster yesterday. I’d love to get him in alongside Partey
Odegard’s best quality is his mentality. Never gives up. That alone is worth his place in the team.
So we have a young goal scoring Hale Ender and were supposed to cash in so Arteta and Edu can use the money on Sander Berge and Ryan Bertrands retirement deal. Sorry no I do not agree. 7 goals in 7 games, can we even find that type or productivity in the transfer market considering how fully mid table we are. Some are saying he doesn’t suit the system, well then the system needs to be tweaked to fit a midfield goal scorer. Its really not rocket science. Please lets learn from the Martinez deal last summer, Willock leaving permanently… Read more »
bacary
Wolves paid 45 mil for an 18 yo last summer.
Chelsea spent 220 mil
City spent 67 min on Ruben dias ( 1st chocie) and 40 mil on Ake ( 4th choice)
Everton spent circa 70 mil
Villa spent circa 90 mil
Leeds spent close to 100 mil
Sheffield around 60
Liverpool around 75
And last year was supposed to be the most depressed market in decades.
Pepe is putting in a shift in defence as well . Hope he is starting to enjoy the epl..
Chambers needs to improve his crossing ? If Willock is here next season, his goals will help ..
I am also excited to see if any more youngsters will come through the ranks ?
We need a fast creative midfielder imo. Partey had a good game and was unlucky to not score !!
3rd from December to date is akin to the hogwash we were fed of finishing in CL position while paying the Emirates debt. Any fan can look for a sample of stats that would prove they can do better. At the ond of the day one statistic matters – points garnered at the end of the season. Leceister spent the most days in top 4 than City,Chelsea, Lvpool or Chelsea. But when it mattered the most they shat their pants. How do you appease their fans? Head will roll over there. Fact: we will only sell 2 players from our… Read more »
I like the look of Odergaard.
Yes, he had some average games but these mostly followed the injury he picked up whilst on international duty. He looked pretty decent the rest of the time.
I suspect he will want European football next season.
Captain,
Maybe I’m being too negative on our potential player sales revenue but we’ll both find out soon enough.
Digital Bob ””””’7 goals in 7 games, can we even find that type or productivity in the transfer market considering how fully mid table we are.”””””””’ If this player had no connection with Arsenal previously and was simply a born n bred Newcastle player and was scoring these number of goals- 99% of the supporters on here and our clueless management team would all want him to be the main summer signing. but alas that ship has now sailed with Joe W and Arsenal under this management. Willock is having fun , playing under an old school manager , who… Read more »
An honest post Pedro, in that you admit this is clearly a propaganda piece so I won’t spend much time shooting holes in it, which would be about as hard as shooting fish in a barrel with a shotgun. Except this one maybe: “ the PSG were toppled by a spectacular Lille” So Poch didn’t bottle the race in the one club league the way Emery did it in a year Monaco won ? Let’s see if the “spectacular “Lille sell £300m worth of players to best clubs in Europe in the next two seasons the way Monaco did, after… Read more »
By hook or crook Lego hair got Pepe firing
Let’s see if he can do the same with Auba
That’s another 20 goals which would easily mean 10-15 points
There should be a decision made on sack after the first 7 games in my opinion.. anything less than 5 wins will have to be considered a failure
Odegaard, Grealish, Camaviga, Buendia, Bissouma all cam strengthen us. 2 out of these 5 and we should improve.
Well it was quite a season. I can’t get on board yet, I still think the attack is built on a fine margins game which comes apart over time, some of the decision making looks odd. I’m laser focussed on not bringing in a new cab, we don’t need one , we have saliba gab, holding Mari chambers, that is enough, we had like 8 cbs at start of last season bonkers. Streamline and trust the players. This summer we need a new cm and I would take buendida, he’s a player. Massive amounts of selling laca Eddie nelson ainsley,… Read more »
CG – Yes I suspect if he wasn’t “our” Joe Willock, he would be at the top of most posters wishlist. As it stands his early season Arsenal bench warming seems to be counting against him which is a very big mistake.
The whole point of the loan system is to send a player out to see what he’s made of and if he can contribute on his return. Its as clear as day to me that this guy will contribute if he’s given a chance.
Stop mentioning Grealish in transfer dealings they will never sell him he is the difference between mid table and relegation for them
They are also rich and can. Pay him anything he wants
Willock may have scored 8 goals, but he is not a top class striker. He is a midfielder. The question is would you prefer to play him in our starting lineup ahead of Smith-Rowe, Saka and Odegaard assuming we buy him? Frankly I would not and factoring in that we will not be playing in Europe next season I see very little game time at Arsenal unless we decide not to buy a new attacking midfielder. Another consideration is that Arsenal have a number of very talented creative midfielders coming through system in next couple of years like Azeez, Patino… Read more »
Talking about managers who shat the bed the worst: 1. Nuno took the Wolves , the ninth in the Transfermarkt player valuation to 13th in the table………….can’t believe there’s talk of him getting the Spurs job after the season he’s had. Carlo finished 10th with the PL 8th most valuable squad, so then just like Arteta, who took the sixth most valuable Arsenal to eighth in the table – a two places underachiever. The biggest movers: Bielsa, who took Leeds, the 15th most valuable squad to ninth, and Moyes, who finished sixth with the 11th most expensive side. Special mention… Read more »
Dig Bob ”””””’The whole point of the loan system is to send a player out to see what he’s made of and if he can contribute on his return”””””’ If he was not out on loan to Newcastle or AMN not out on loan to West Brom and the manager had given these ‘home growers’ a fair crack of the whip ( like William, like Elneny, like Cebollas )- Arsenal would be playing Manchester United this week- with the CL carrot still in play. Others on here might want to spin you positive vibes and some ‘therapy claptrap’ Ill state… Read more »
Odegaard is not good enough. Rarely scores, rarely assists. A bit of nothing player really.
There will be no reasonable excuses next season unless we have terrible luck with injuries. Like Pedro and others, I think there are justifiable reasons for optimism: a clear improvement shown in the second half of the season, a core of young, improving players whose potential stands up to comparison with any other PL club, a young manager who can benefit from his first proper pre season and Summer transfer window, a squad which has its’ bloated wasters removed, and no European football. Let’s hope we start well otherwise the Legroaners on here will be grim beyond belief. They’re already… Read more »
Digital Bob. ‘7goals in 7 games, can we even find that type or productivity in the transfer market considering how fully mid table we are. If you’re given the chance to sign Coutinho/Buendia, will you ignore them for a Willock? 7 in 7 doesn’t necessarily translate to 38 in 38.. I remember when people were calling Ramsey world class because of a purple patch and Gambon kept saying his form was unsustainable. Guess who turned out right? I feel Willocks form isn’t suatinable either and we need to cash out now because we need the money. Ffs it’s Newcastle we’re… Read more »
Stroller – I think the point of playing those youngsters aged 17-18 is to develop them and get them to a level of contribution that benefits Arsenal long term aka what Joe is doing at Newcastle now.
A 20 year old goal scoring midfielder deserves the chance to stay at his boyhood club and fight for a starting midfield spot.
CG – Yes Arteta was forced into using ESR and we have benefited significantly, one hopes he has learnt from this and will give more time next season to Martinelli, Saliba and Willock if they all stay.
Thorough – I think we have room for Willock to contribute and for another midfielder to come in, although this depends on what happens with Odegaard.
My point is giving the nationality squad quota, and the position we find ourselves in, I wouldn’t be so quick to cash in on Willock. It’s also not a guarantee we get the chance to bring him back should his recent form turn out to be the start of something great for the guy.
I would get rid of Ode and keel Willock
I don’t think Ode is any better than ESR to be honest, he’s just another player still developing.
Imagine if Ode had half the loan success that Willock has had?
Oh my.
*keep Willock
Ode isn’t as good as we were expecting. I’m not going to line up excuses for him.
Last season, Ceballos had a better loan experience before he became shite in the second season. Ode needs to go back to Madrid and fulfill his dreams.
Some of the commentary about Willock is a bit pathetic
Willock deserves more from his boyhood club.
How can you jettison a player who’s performed well on loan so quickly.
What does that say to the other young players?
Diss agreed the boy needs a run plus Arteta said in his presser on friday wilock has a future and is in his plans
What I am really interested in and would be grateful if someone can provide really, the data since Christmas as to how many chances we actually created in that time period . What my eye test told me was we just circulated the ball around defense and midfield , that too slowly .
Dissenter
Joe Willock actually outscored Mason Mount , Timo Werner and Kai Havertz . If thats not taken into consideration and he is sold , then we deserve whats coming to us.
Dissenter – Agreed 100% on Willock. If Ode had managed 7 in 7 during his time here we would be saying “name your price” to Madrid.
As it stands I think Ode has more to come from his game and another season with us “on loan” would be best suited for everyone involved. If however Madrid are thinking upwards of £45 million I’m not so sure I’d take the deal.
Yep Bob .agree with you.The Doom n gloomers are already getting a semi on the thought of a tough opening fixture list so they can bleat on.Prob give Arteta around 3 matches before setting up the scaffold 😆 Then squealing for the next flavour of the month to work some miracles in one season.Fails abysmally.Rinse & repeat.Wonder do they ever get any joy out of being an Arsenal fan.
Yea but if the manager can’t find a way to utilize Willock then what’s the point of keeping him here? It’s not just about keeping him but about whether the manager can find a way to replicate his form with us
Dissenter I really like Willock, and was the lone voice in the first half of the season suggesting we give him a 15-20 game run to see how he developed Not because I thought he was ready, but because Partey + Smith-Rowe were both injured, and our only other midfield options were Xhaka, Elneny, Ceballos, who all want the game played in front of them Willock is direct, will look to get in behind, and takes shots, something that is alien to the other three options that were available Willock is similar to Aubameyang, Pepe, Martinelli, he’s an impact player,… Read more »
“. It was like going into the operating theater for something serious. The diagnosis was clear, surgery was necessary, we’re just not sure if we picked the right surgeon for the task.”
Cut to the chase. God forbids, if you were the unlucky one going into the OT, would you pick Arteta, a media proclaimed generational yet novice surgeon who was previously a surgeon assistant?
Good optimistic read, but I will believe it when I see it.
Lyon missed out on champions league football… sacked Rudi Garcia. Napoli missed out on champions league football…sacked Gattusso. Meanwhile Arsenal miss out on European football for the first time in 25 years and…nothing.
We’re just a different breed of a club