THE STORY OF ‘SHOTS TAKEN’

by .

Ugh, trying to be creative during a dead week is… tough.

How about a table?

Arsenal rank 10th in the league for shots on goal according to the Premier League data. We’ve had 92 shots across 7 games. That’s 13 a game.

Now, there’s a little bit of misleading context there. We’ve played City and Chelsea, the two best teams in the world, and we played them when we were in pieces with covid issues. Take them out and our shots per game looks a little healthier at 17.

What is clear is this: No one knows where we are on the attacking front.

We do know this:

  • We are not scoring enough goals in the Premier League

The job to be done after the break is clear. We need to see a consistent level of shooting output in all of our games. Liverpool clocked in with 147 shots. City 15 odd. United 107. Wayne Gretzky said you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. Or something like that. We need to take more high-quality shots if we’re going to move on this season. That means we need to move the ball quicker, be more creative, and take risks.

We’re playing teams that will give us a chance to do that. Palace, Watford, Villa and Leicester aren’t ruthless defensive teams. There will be openings, we have to craft them, the football needs to be more us vs Spurs than Brighton.

That is Arteta’s challenge now. We need to see this team bang more often. I can’t have a taste of a glorious future then not see it again until next year.

A lot has to workout on that front. What is clear is that Auba, in this current system, needs a lot of things to happen for him to work. That’s why it’s interesting that the club are tackling a striker for the Lacazette replacement. We need someone that can rough it against teams like Brighton. DCL and Ollie Watkins are front runners. One is very good in the year and a Gooner, the other leads a press like an absolute monster and he’s also a Gooner.

The biggest miss of the summer, in my opinion, was Tammy Abrahams… we wanted it, the player wanted it, but it was one in one out on the striker front.

Onto some cool tech news. Arsenal’s GPS partner, StatSport, has just announced that their tech is for everyone. Yep, they are promising that you, and your fat arse, can use their equipment in your Sunday League games and compare yourself to Bukayo Saka in their app.

THAT IS AWESOME.

If you don’t know what those packs are… they basically monitor about a 1000 movements on your body so sports scientists can assess thing like: How hard did that training session go? What is the peak exertion this player can handle? Should Thomas Partey be rested because he’s in the red zone?

Health apps have always been a bit meh to me because the contextualization is broing. I really couldn’t give a shit about how many steps I take. My fit bit is boring. I don’t believe the sleep app actually works.

Gamifying the football experience? That is some next-level stuff. Imagine being a 12 year old and being able to monitor your performance to an exact science. Imagine the business opportunities behind that sort of data?

They’re also running a competition for the chance to win one of their pod things. They are £300, so might be worth getting into the mixer on that one (not you Dave, you’re too old).

Feeling starved of football? Haven’t seen the Women’s team this season? Then jump on their game vs Barcelona this afternoon. It’s 8pm UK time, 3pm Eastern… it’s going to be a banger of a game. The new coach is dropping 3.9 goals per game. Maybe he can have a word with the boys team?

FABRIZIO ROMANO has leaked MORE good press about the Arteta Regime. He’s told the world that Arsenal are thrilled with the progress William Saliba is making and he’ll defintely be part of our plans next season. Reiterating that playing 38 games is better for his career at 20 then bumming around on our bench all season.

Nice one Fabrizio, nice one Arsenal FC.

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grooveydaddy

1st

grooveydaddy

Gimme

grooveydaddy

The

grooveydaddy

Tr4phy

grooveydaddy

Nice!

Graham

Top 6 fantasy land

Graham

7th

Graham

Generational 8th

Irish Gooner

Pedro how come you use certain fixtures to suit the stats like playing good teams like Chelsea/Man City but don’t take into account the crap teams like Norwich and Burnley that should beef up the stats. Arteta is taking this team nowhere, If Kane had his scoring boots on Spurs may have salvaged a draw in our only decent victory so far this season, prepare for no euorpean football again next season Pedro

Graham

grooveydaddy you are stuck in the past when 4th was a target and performance was measured over a whole season

Pierre

Fortunately our next 3 games are at home (including league cup), all night games , even better for the fans to create an intimidating atmosphere..

Win the first one v palace and it sets us up nicely for the next 2 …

Karsa

If missing out on Abrahams means we get Wadkins or Calvert-Lewin I’ll take that.

Karsa

* Watkins.

raptora

Matt B: “why so many people dismissed White and Ramsdale before they’d even seen them play” Must have something to do with shelling 80m in defence, for 2 players that were not universally recognized. You read Watkins or Calvert-Lewin or even the likes of Mings, Cash, Cresswell and just like now, in the blog, people are excited for Watkins just by some gossip dropping. 80m is a truckload of money and we spent it in defence, for 2 players of unknown quality, both risky signings that can go either way. They are not a Varane, or a Lukaku that you… Read more »

Bradybunch

I think it’s 8 pm in Barcelona, so 7 in UK for the Women’s game tonight. Barca are still good in this iteration tho, so I don’t expect many goals from Arsenal. Hopefully Jonas has swapped some ideas with Mik for this one.

raptora

Let’s look at the transfer of Andy Robertson from Hull to Liverpool for £8m. – Surprising – even though fans knew him, no one could imagine the heights he’ll reach or that he’ll even be good enough for a top 4 club let alone playing an integral role in a title winning team) – Cheap af – regardless of working out or not, you lose peanuts White + Ramsdale: – Surprising – we had people in the blog arguing that Ramsdale is a fake story even when there were reports of us making a 3rd bid etc. They couldn’t believe… Read more »

englandsbest

If Auba was firing on all cylinders we’d be top of the league. Just throw in the goals he ought to have scored, and you’ll see that I’m right. And therein lies our problem upfront. Of course, no striker scores all the goals he ought to score. The closest that I ever saw was the late great Roger Hunt. So what I am talking about is our RELIANCE on Auaba to score goals. And therein lies the root of the problem. He is a lurker, he operates by stealth. Put in a slugger and everything changes. OG would have missed… Read more »

Pierre

To score more goals you need players that have real desire to score goals . If you look at our offensive 4, Smith rowe and Saka are getting there but are not there yet but both should reach double figures for goals/assists. Aubameyang is fast becoming a striker who only scores at home, and Odegaard may score occasionally but doesn’t look like a player to me who will reach double figures unless we start dominating games. As i mentioned before, to me it is a simple solution, we need one other player who can provide goals and the simple solution… Read more »

Rich

Arsenal had 8 centre backs on their books The club is clearly trying to age down the squad, and bring down the wage bill This summer we lost Luiz, Mustafi, Sokratis who left for nothing Luiz reported £120 p/w Mustafi £90k p/w Sokratis £90k p/w £300k p/w saved, over 5 years that’s £78,000,000 Ben White £50 million £80k p/w according to the Athletic, 5yr contract, + 1yr club option Over 5 years that’s: £70,800,000 Net spend will say – £50 million, but really it’s just a reallocation of resources Ozil reported £300k p/w Over a 5yr period that would cost… Read more »

Sid

Hey bedwetters xG is so 2018, try and keep up, 2021 is all about shots on goal,
Parteys shots on goal are game changing!

Dissenter

Pedro
“Now, there’s a little bit of misleading context there. We’ve played City and Chelsea, the two best teams in the world, and we played them when we were in pieces with covid issues. Take them out and our shots per game looks a little healthier at 17.”

Not sure
Had we set up for City, Chelsea ort Liverpool the way we did at Brighton, we would have been shellacked. Brighton are still struggling with putting away chances.

Sid

Talking of Wayne Gretzky, i loved Pro stars.

Ernest Reed

“Just throw in the goals he ought to have scored, and you’ll see that I’m right.”

How can you be right when the FACTS tell the exact opposite, EB? Football, as with every sport, works in what HAS happened and not what COULD HAVE happened.

The revisionism on display from some of you is bluntly astounding in its ridiculousness.

Dissenter

I prefer a striker like Ivan Toney, an athletic monster that will batter defences even if he’s not playing well.
That’s why Tammy Abraham was a big loss…and I can’t stop resenting Lacazette for refusing to leave to make squad space for Tammy’s exit.

There have to be young and hungry strikers like Ivan Toney in the Championship. Villa and Everton will ask for a King’s ransom for either of their strikers.

Sid

I love a woman with defined lower trapezius like the one above!

Jamie

Nice piece today. I can’t vouch for anyone else, but I much prefer reading about what Arteta should be improving on, not all the mitigating circumstances as to why we’ve seen very little improvement to date.

We’ve been defensively solid since not long after his arrival. We absolutely need to consistently score more goals. Next 3 games are crucial.

Venga, Dani

Dissenter, did Laca have an option to go this summer?

azed

We do know this:

We are not scoring enough goals in the Premier League.

This has been the theme of Arteta’s tenure and he’s almost two years into reign.

Pedro

Maybe it’s time to admit that Arteta would not be that super sexy attacking manager you envision him to be.

Chris

Another interminable interlull, and in a months time there will be yet another.

I want Wenger to have his ideas for a revamp of the football calendar pushed through, all so we can put an end to all this nonsense. One set of qualifiers over 6 weeks is it? I would absolutely prefer that over the constant stop start of the domestic season.

Luckily there is plenty of other sport on to distract from the monotony of these qualifiers.

Graham

Surprising – we had people in the blog arguing that Ramsdale is a fake story even when there were reports of us making a 3rd bid etc. They couldn’t believe we want him and we’re going to pay 30m for him. I think to be fair that was in fact Pedro August 16 main post “ Then we get to this goalkeeping issue. We have a child as our backup keeper right now. Our main interest this summer is a £30m keeper that has all the hallmarks of Richard Wright. Namely, he looks decent getting 50 shots powered at him… Read more »

Davi

Can’t remember his name, but Ivan Toney’s striker partner (Mbuemo?) looks pretty good also – well-rounded and possibly more of a goalscorer?

izzo

Reality always bites. We aren’t scoring goals like an Arsenal team should. Its not good enough. Its going to end badly. Arteta and his crew don’t have what it takes. Why are we prolonging the inevitable. End of season we won’t be anywhere near 4th or (lol) Europa League places. Just sack this project and try something new already. Boring AF!!!

Chris

Pedro

It sounds crazy I know, what I can’t stand is playing 3 domestic rounds, an international break, play another 4 games, another break, play another 4 games etc. It’s frustratingly stop start and makes it harder to build consistent form.

We are going to have a 6 week break next mid season anyway for the WC, I know that the tournament provides more of a fix than the qualifiers themselves, but we will get to see how that might work anyway I guess.

Chris

Pedro

I was thinking more like play 14/15 games in the league, then the extended break to take care of the international qualifiers, and then the rest of the domestic season uninterrupted.

If Arsene gets his way I would think it would play out something like that anyway?

I actually wouldn’t appreciate a Christmas break, can’t beat the nostalgia of the Boxing Day games.

Guns of SF

In a perfect world, I would take both of those 2 strikers and play them together…

azed

Pedro

The Spurs game looks like a one of at this point.

Let’s hope the rest of the season proves me wrong.

G

Wasn’t bothered spending 30 on Ramsdale considering we sold a keeper for 18-20mill..

Also reckon we’ll be above manu by the time we play them

Chris

Pedro If I was a betting man I’d say probably not, FIFA and UEFA at loggerheads over it. Although it wouldn’t surprise me to see FIFA force it through, given they have a lot of support from confederations other than Europe/SA and there is a shit ton of money to be made. What I would say is there is surely a better way to handle the flash between club and international football than it is in its present format, which is undoubtedly outdated. Wenger is right when he says nobody cares about watching Faroe Islands vs Albania, outside of this… Read more »

Matt B

Rap: ‘Must have something to do with shelling 80m in defence, for 2 players that were not universally recognized’ You mean not recognised by you and others on here? Ramsdale was called up to the England squad at the Euros. Bielsa had put a bid in for BW the season before which had been rejected by everyone’s favourite (on here at least), Graham Potter. And as we know Ramsdale had been supporters player of the season 2-years running. So yeh, not universally recognised by the ‘experts’ on Le Grove, just by those that actually matter, and make a difference, in… Read more »

Matt B

Apart from the ‘experts’ on here who make judgements without seeing players actually kick a ball, some of us actually wait for the evidence before chucking our toys out the pram

Which is exactly what you and many others on here did, hence the bedwetter shout, completely justified in this instance

zacharse

seems like the gods are pissing on stan k

reports of problems w the LA stadium. didnt bother to read but sounds as though the roof leaks prett badly, delayed the nfl game?

Matt B

Pedro: Ah yes, good shout…

Leno’s fee to Arsenal back in 2018 was £22.5M

Ramsdale’s fee was £25.2M (rising potentially to £30M)

At the moment, Ramsdale looks twice the keeper Leno is.

He’ll make a mistake soon enough, as all keeper’s do, but we know that many of the usual suspects will be on here straight away gloating.

Dissenter

‘reports of problems w the LA stadium. didn’t bother to read but sounds as though the roof leaks prett badly, delayed the nfl game?”

Every project of that size will have niggling problems which are typically accounted for
The builder will handle it and it will be covered by the builder’s insurance.

You really think Stan K is staying up late because some roof is leaking.
The other day, the roof plumbing at the Redskins stadium burst and rained shot down on hundreds of people. Stuff happens

Matt B

Rap: While with White and Ramsdale we are talking about a huge amount of doe that the club committed to the wish of Arteta. Huge risk

Did you feel that Leno was a huge risk at £22.5M back in 2018? Did you fuck

zacharse

nevermind, not as bad as headline made it seem

zacharse

diss they had to delay the game because of the weather while its classified as an indoor stadium…

Guns of SF

Who cares, my Chargers won….

Dissenter

Zach
A simple newly built single family home will give a home owner a 90-100 day warranty on repairs
How much time do you think a commercial builder will provide for a 5 billion dollar project?
Whatever repairs will be done wont be on Kroenke’s dime, Kroenke may actually make money off them if he decides to seek damages.

Upstate Gooner

“Arsenal rank 10th in the league for shots on goal according to the Premier League data. We’ve had 92 shots across 7 games. That’s 13 a game. Now, there’s a little bit of misleading context there. We’ve played City and Chelsea, the two best teams in the world, and we played them when we were in pieces with covid issues. Take them out and our shots per game looks a little healthier at 17.” This is really annoying… it’s like saying that if we don’t count the first 3 games, then we’re undefeated in the league. Or better yet, if… Read more »

Guns of SF

Pedro,
that is not being inclusive mate!

Graham, go to a Brighton blog, honestly, you are so boring.

Johnno

We appear to be stuck in the old narrative – arteta – yes or no. But I see a club that bought and grown potential. Team is young and coach proof. I thought arteta had promise abs still do. However I have been alarmed by his slow learning curve. A few months ago that concerned me. But now I think it’s irrelevant. We come 5th – well done – he will get z as new deal and most will like that. 6Th – mission accomplished for this season. Carry on 7th. Meh. Job in jeopardy 8th +. Gone the only… Read more »

Vintage Gun

Regarding GK’s, i’m really impressed with Ramsdale. Really impressed.
He was the only summer signing that i was against but from his first interview through to his last match against Brighton the kid has been class. In performance and personality.

He’ll have his ups and downs along the way, but it’s clear he has passion and a love for the shirt, and the way he has rose to the challenge thus far under massive pressure to hit the ground running deserves a mention.

He gets my vote and hope he continues to grow.

Aaron

If AFC score less than 55 goals than 8th or worse, less than 50 goals, who the f cares.

Nigel Tufnel

Raptora, From yesterday which I just read… let me ask you…. ? Do you ever realize, that when you’re giving your view on one of our players, like Ben White yesterday, that you sound exactly like someone who is biased against him and Arsenal. Basically, (and I’m not trying to be funny) you sound like a spurs fan reviewing Arsenal players in the worst possible light.? I mean, as harsh, as negatively, as demeaning as possible. The terms you use to make him sound completely inept? For example, you treat our new guy, the same way I talk about the… Read more »

Guns of SF

The fact that he did nothing in huge games in the last world cup and Euros. England might very well have won both tournaments if Jamie Vardy was playing instead.

This is true.
Also, lets not discount the coward Southgate who had his nuts cut off before the game started. Wrong line up and should have gone guns blazing at home against italians

Pedro

Guns, Southgate has made a WC semi and a Euro final doing things his way. Far from a coward.

LoveSausage

Pedro, Agreed with the big question in this post. I think one of the things dividing the fan base right now is whether scoring more goals is just the next step in the evolution of the team (Arteta supporters) or something that’s mutually exclusive with the negative football being played (Arteta critics). I believe the next 4-5 games will give us the answer. I strongly disagree with going after DCL/Watkins. The top teams in this league seem to be doing just fine against the Burnleys of this world without an old school English-style center. That’s mid table stuff. Granted, Chelsea… Read more »

Pierre

Personally I would have the international qualifiers in pre season..
So instead of the players getting match fit with their respective clubs, they can do it away on international duty and then they can come back to their clubs ready for the new season.

The other benefit of this is it gives the club managers a chance to assess young players in pre season or players on the periphery of the team .

This would mean no qualifiers at all during the season as it would all be done and dusted by possibly the end of August…

Leedsgunner

Dusan Vlahovic is refusing to sign a new contract. I wonder if Florentina will consider taking Torreira (he’s on loan there from us) and Lacazette in a straight two for one swap?

China1

Zacharse yesterday you said Emery was garbage and he went. Wenger lost the plot and he went. What was last season? We came 8th for the second time in a row. We were near the relegation zone until Christmas. We didn’t win or compete for a cup. We went out of Europe for the first time in a quarter of a century. We broke literally countless negative records. People keep acting like last season never happened and people ave unfairly criticized Arteta. If wenger and Emery were garbage in the end then how can you possibly conclude that Arteta is… Read more »

China1

People literally had standards for the last ten years and then something clicked in people’s minds and somehow standards just don’t matter any more. Things can slip. The same shit that previous managers got crucified for are now acceptable. I don’t know if it’s some hipster fan thinking just because Arteta is young and a pep wannabe or something but either we have standards or we don’t. You cannot hold previous managers to elite standards and the current one has no fricking targets and just empty statements like ‘if he fails he will go’ after he’s already tanked a season… Read more »

raptora

“Basically, I’m asking, what the hell did your father do to you, to make you this way?”

That’s a perfectly in order comment right.

China1

And any comment that refers to the player poverty and ness that Arteta inhereted whilst simultaneously ignoring that Emery walked into an absolute car crash squad and wasn’t even allowed to sign all his own players, let alone 200m worth is having a laugh.

If Arteta had inherited wengers squad like Emery and came 5th and a EL final the same folks who rightly say Emery failed would be calling it a marvelous success for Arteta.

Guns of SF

Southgate is a pussy.
The final was in his backyard and he choked. He played ultra conservative. Who does that against Italy? A team that Spain really should have knocked out.
I like England and was dissapointed they lost but really, they had this and blew it. I put that on Southgate. Putting on 3 cold subs before PK’s is amatuerish to me.
Shame he wasted that attacking talent on the bench. should have gone guns fucking blazing in the final in your house.

Leedsgunner

It appears to me that Nico Pepe and Arteta doesn’t see things eye to eye; both parties are trying to accommodate each other which is positive… (that’s why he is on the bench) but time is running out. Either Pepe needs to change and give Arteta what the coach wants or Arteta needs to admit that he can’t make Pepe better. Pepe is nearing three seasons with us and beyond the point where we keep hoping that he comes good. However because of the ridiculous price we paid for him we’re going to admit that we will only sell him… Read more »

Guns of SF

Leeds,
On paper it works but I doubt Lille take him back.
But who knows… I like the creative thinking

Leedsgunner

Oops, Jonathan David valued at £31.50m not £36m…and funny enough that is what Pepe is worth at the moment! So a straight swap is even more reasonable…

bacaryisgod

Rich This summer we lost Luiz, Mustafi, Sokratis who left for nothingLuiz reported £120 p/w Mustafi £90k p/w Sokratis £90k p/w£300k p/w saved, over 5 years that’s £78,000,000 I really don’t know where to start with this one, but needless to say you don’t take a 5 year into the future cost of players you’ve just got rid of. Mustafi was loaned out to Schalke for half the season and then left the club. Sokratis was also given a free transfer in January. Luiz contract expired this summer. The savings (ie. what we spent last season on those players) are… Read more »

bacaryisgod

Leedsgunner

Pepe making about 7m per year and David making 2m per year would kill that deal even if Lille wanted him back (which by and large doesn’t tend to work). David has just been with them for about a year. Nice thought but no go!

Guns of SF

Actual savings versus potential savings if said players stayed their full contract.

bacaryisgod

Guns-it really doesn’t work that way. Not one of those players had a chance of staying 5 years longer at the club. Never seen a budget that looks remotely like that.

S Asoa

” If Auba was firing on all cylinders we’d be top of the league. Just throw in the goals he ought to have scored, and you’ll see that I’m right. And therein lies our problem upfront. ”
That is the elephant in the room. But mention who is responsible for shitty tactics of not playing to Auba strength, instead force him to helplessly chase the balls, and love for Arteta overflows and drowns all reason

raptora

englandsbest: “If Auba was firing on all cylinders we’d be top of the league. Just throw in the goals he ought to have scored, and you’ll see that I’m right. And therein lies our problem upfront.”

If Auba was firing on all cylinders he would’ve surely changed the outcome of our games vs City and Chelsea, and also vs Brentford when he didn’t play at all. Seriously.

zacharse

china let’s be clear, i didn’t have anything to do w the goalposts being moved but i concede that they definitely were, by ownership presumably-and a clear transfer window strategy was probably the result as well as artetas continued employment. I understand the strategy of hanging on to a rookie and letting him learn. I understand why it looks safer than to throw endless $ at guys like conte from ownership standpoint esp. after the pepe purchase. If they’re going to give him 150m and presumably another 50 in january, i expect to see us 4th or 5th- or at… Read more »

China1

I won’t blame you for not spazzing out as you say but I will blame you for having a dry diaper! Comparisons between Emery and Arteta really are fair, tho. Emery was filling the shoes of a legendary manager. Can you imagine how hard that is? You can ask Moyes who was well respected until he went to Utd and it’s taken him years and years to return to respectability The squad Emery inherited was awful. It didn’t have a midfield. Ozil (troublemaker). Ramsey (injury prone, fishing to leave, didn’t help the defense enough). Xhaka (say no more). He had… Read more »

China1

As well whilst Emery all was full as hell, artetaball is equally as drab besides a tiny handful of matches to date

raptora

China: “But my point is we called Emery a failure but Arteta did worse in his second season. That’s really what it comes down to for me”

But Arteta speaks and looks better than Emery. Surely that matters more than our play and results.

China1

Emeryball was dull as hell*

zacharse

china i agree w most of that but key differences
emery was snowballing and arteta is, with 10 more out of next 12, doing the opposite
squad emery had had experience and ‘intelligence that got worse over time and the dregs of it were what arteta had to work w for 18 months, give or take 15 games for partey and more for gab mag

raptora

On top of the €500,000 loan fee, Mislintat said of a future deal for Mavropanos: “We have an obligatory purchase option of €3 million if we remain in the league. There’s also an option if we get relegated. In both instances, we have the opportunity to take him. I think it’s relatively clear what will happen with him.”

Shite business if I’ve ever seen one. What a horrible garbage deal they made.

Globalgunner

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/58793946

Humiliated again. Arteta out!

Graham62

Guns of SF

Totally agree with your perceptions on Southgate. He blew it and he knows it.

raptora

I read Barcelona scored less than 5 goals for the first time this season. I assume the difference in qualify between the teams in female football is bigger than in male football.

Graham62

For my sins, I like Lacazette and what he brings to the team. I would also like to say that, based on the past few months, he’s a better option than Aubameyang.
Arteta though has his favourites but I think it’s a travesty that he’s being ignored.

Globalgunner

I like Laca too. He is a warrior that battles defenders and hunts for the ball. He is also more likely to produce a goal out of nothing than Auba these days who is all about waiting in the box for ESR or Saka to produce a bit of magic. He has done well for us. If I had to choose Id keep him and let the other go. If you are up against a tough team Auba offers very little

Steg

Emery was at Arsenal from May 2018 to November 2019. So two full summer transfer windows, but i still think he was hard done by and needed more time to get rid of the players who were no longer up for it and bring in the players he wanted. I rate him as a manager. Give Arteta till the end of the year by which time we should hopefully start to see the vision, if not Potter or the lad at Nottingham Forest would get my vote – modern, sensible managers. I don’t have any time for Conte fanboys –… Read more »

raptora

In general, when Auba offers very little it’s because our team in attack offers very little. I see your point that Laca could do a better job when we don’t get a sniff of the ball, but even in counterattacking football Auba is also better than him. I agree that Laca can do more if he is left in the wild to deal on his own with several players, like Auba was Vs Brighton. But in every other situation Auba gives you more. Arteta’s job is to make sure that when he plays Auba, his team will play football and… Read more »

raptora

Steg: “I assume though that had we signed him from Brentford Arsenal would have been pilloried for a lack of ambition etc etc.”

You are wrong there, as at least the fans in here do love a relatively low profile player. We had people asking for Bissouma not sure maybe 2 years ago. We had love for Max Aarons and Buendia. I was pushing hard for Anguissa from Fulham.

Watkins scored 25 goals in the Championship and is no mean feat. That being said, I’d still rather take Calvert-Lewin than him.