Eddie Nkeitiah has put the world of Arsenal fandom in a spin; he seemed to be floating out the door in unspectacular fashion, then Lacazette landed the London Plague.
‘IT’S OVER FOR ARSENAL’
‘EDDIE IS LEAGUE ONE’
‘HE AIN’T IT’
5 starts.
4 goals.
Arsenal fans revisiting past assessments.
The solution to our striker problem has been sitting on the bench since August. Most young players can’t impress a diet of 6 minutes here and there, they need a run of games, they need the confidence trust gives them. Eddie was dining out of bins, then he was given access to the chefs’ table, now he’s gorging.
Eddie runs the channels, he wins balls back, scores goals, brings our wide players into the game, works an absolute shift, and my-oh-my, does he get under the skin of anyone he plays against.
Matt Kandela reckons he could be the new Andy Cole, I think he could be our Sylvain Wiltord.
Eddie was the difference against Leeds.
His first goal came from his hounding of the Leeds keeper. The English striker forced an error, nicked the ball, and poked home from a yard.
‘Very Eddie’
Indeed. It’s a feature of his game that he rumbles defenders and keepers. They don’t see him coming, realise how quick he is, nor understand that he doesn’t care about their careers.
Meslier was totally rattled. Eddie Krueger took a nightmare into the real world. He left their keeper muttering to himself.
Eddie Krueger was not finished.
Martinelli did some excellent work down the left, bullied his way into the box, cut back to Eddie who had to do all sorts to reshape his body to sweep home his second.
Two up after 10 minutes.
Eddie doing a hatchet job on a club that treated him like shit.
Wondering how his stats compare to the rest of Europe? Take a look.
Those percentiles are from the top 5 leagues. That is a very complete set of numbers for a striker people said would struggle two divisions lower in England.
His stats compare favourably to Jota, Havertz, Firmino, and Nkunku. More on what to do next a bit later.
I can’t be arsed to go too deep on the rest of the game, but in short, we battered Leeds, conceded their first attempt at our goal, and looked a bit rattled. That is a worrying pattern, our defence has been weird, Ramsdale isn’t invincible now, we need to sharpen up for Thursday.
… there are some mitigating circumstances for the shakiness tho:
Arsenal is inexperienced. What these kids are doing is ridiculous, they stand up to the pressure of the fans and experiences they’ve never had, but it’s not easy. Manchester City score two goals and they know how to go for the kill, and end games with 5. Arsenal are babies, we play with our food, and sometimes the meal escapes. We had 19 shots, 9 found the target, we were not ruthless enough. We cruised in second half then stalled when we needed to find 3rd gear.
Leeds scored and we couldn’t play out of the weirdness of knowing we were in total control but at risk of doing something very dim. We could have drawn 2-2 or won 5-1 in that final 20.
There’s also the chance that the halftime marching orders were built around preserving energy in the 2nd half. It might not have even been an instruction, unspoken perhaps, sometimes players just decide there’s something more important on the horizon. That was dangerous, it was risky, but we got away with it.
We all FELT like it was close, maybe it was, but if I told you before the game Leeds would have 3 attempts at our goal with 2 shots on targets, you’d be happy with that. January 2020, they had 19 shots, 6 on target. As fans, we’re not used to challenging for something at the end of a season, it’s jittery, and sometimes the emotion of those jitters makes us think the game was more in danger more than it was.
Still, our reality is this: We took the 3 points.
Nothing.
Else.
Matters.
The table is looking favourable.
Spurs have to beat us.
If they lose, we’ve created a historical reference point in their house before they have.
If they draw, we’ll need to win one more game. Everton will likely be safe after Wednesday (Watford), their players won’t give a shit when they come to play Arsenal because Frank Lampard will have the company credit card out and he’ll be showing the young whippersnappers what the Ayia Napa days were all about with some BIG nights out in the North West. Newcastle, for all their positive results, have had far too much praise for beating shit teams of late. Before City, the last time they played someone good, it was Spurs, who scored five. City also scored 5. Arsenal fans who love Bruno are too keen to call them a top 4 side when they are just a Jonjo Shelvey vessel of misery.
Even if we are b****n by Sp*rs, the top 4 race is in our hands.
Pivot your thinking for a moment.
Imagine Spurs were closer to 3rd than 4th. Imagine they were coming to our house, knowing a win would end our top 4 chances and a draw wouldn’t be good enough.
How would you feel?
The Conte masterclass of ‘lump it to Kane and Son’ + ‘put 11 behind the ball,’ isn’t going to be good enough for them.
They have to play.
When Spurs have to play, they struggle.
Brighton is the team most similar to Arsenal in the league outside City. They man-marked Kane, stopped him dropping deep, didn’t register a shot on target all game, and they were beaten.
Brentford battered Spurs. Spurs didn’t have it in them to play against a deep block and they had rings run around them.
They are shit. But it doesn’t matter in a NLD. All rules go out the window. It is MASSIVE.
So who knows what will happen.
We always imagine the players are going to be deeply entrenched in the emotions of the history, the fandom, the future.
They won’t.
We don’t want them to be.
They need to be relaxed.
When the players think about the magnitude of who they are playing, this side in particular, tends to get walloped.
Liverpool, City (home game), too much respect for Cristiano, are just 3 examples.
I don’t think our boys will do that on Thursday.
Harry Kane, though clearly the best striker in the world, is not an enigma to a group of players that have eaten dinner with him and possibly had to deal with him as a member of their team on a quiz night.
Spurs don’t have prestige like Liverpool. They’re the mob down the road. Our players know what beating them means.
This game is a toss of a coin. If we can surprise Conte, make them come at us, and attack the space for the first goal, it’ll be very exciting.
It is a HUGE win for Arsenal to be in a position this good. We are in overachievement territory right now. We have the same points that secured top 4 last season. We have the same amount of wins that 2nd place United achieved last season. There are 75 points to play for, which would be a massive top 4 haul.
Very exciting stuff.
Before I go, I think Eddie will sign a new deal, and that is the right thing for him to do.
For Eddie:
- Only Newcastle can offer him more money than Arsenal. He wanted £90k a week-ish. He’s worth it.
- Germany is step down in prestige AND money
- Go to Newcastle, you might be fighting MBappe for a position next season.
- Go to any club in the league, bar Brighton, you are fighting other players for a start
- Palace: Edouard
- West Ham: Antonio
- Newcastle: Barnes / Some mega signing
- We have Europe, we need two strikers, he is now a worthy 2nd striker
- You only leave to go to Brighton as a stepping stone to get to an Arsenal. If you are doing it at Arsenal, and you fired them to Europe, why leave?
- DON’T BE A ZAHA. He left United, banged at Palace, took the big-money deal, then wasn’t allowed to leave, now he’s 29 and he’s wasted his best years
- One year left on his deal this summer. Could be good CL squad filler
- YOUR MATES ARE HERE
For Arsenal:
- Arteta knows he did a bad. There’s no second striker in Europe we know more about than Eddie bar Jesus. £40m for a player who, up until 2 weeks ago, had 5 goals after 1500 minutes? Please.
- We don’t have a lot of money to spend – keep your powder dry, spend that on another position
- You won’t lose on Eddie, he has shown he can do it at the highest level, if he has a bad season post-deal, there will always be another Prem club that needs an English player and £90k is easy money for any Prem team
- Eddie is 22, he has 4 in 5 starts in the EPL, he has 10 g/a… he has a better England U21 record than Tammy. Why would we let him slip the net?
It’s a no-brainer for both parties. Hopefully, Eddie’s agent, who has a bit of a rep, will do the deal.
As for the fans that blew-up all my feeds with ‘YOU HAVE GOT THIS WRONG’, when are we going to have some accountability here? The talent ID in the noisy part of the fanbase has been cataclysmically wrong this season. Time for certain people to just sit out the opinion game.
As for Agenda FC?
- We’ve seen off the xG pearl-clutchers
- We’ve seen off the ‘Arteta is cone boy’ crew with a new 3 year deal
- We’ve seen off the ‘THE FANS WILL BE BOOING BY NOVEMBER’ folk with the fans embracing Arteta HARD
- We’ve seen off the League One Eddie’s
- We’ve probably seen of the ‘PEPE NEEDS MORE GAMES’ crowd as well
- Finally, most are ready to admit… Arteta has sauce.
But now, we move into a phase of shared agenda ownership: Beating Spurs.
We all want it.
No one is any doubt it will be tough.
So let’s do something like, unite around Louis Dunford’s new anthem, and crack on with beating that lot on Thursday
🎶 North London 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 🎶@LouisDunford ❤️ pic.twitter.com/M2pm31pNe4
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) May 8, 2022
But before I go, check out our podcast: And please, in the upfront, accept my apologies for the sound issues, that was on me. I’ll have it fixed for the next one.
1st?
Trophy
2nda
4th
Wow, between pop ups and page not refreshing that was a horrible experience!
Now to read the post like I came here to do ><
Sealing 4th at SHL on Thursday will be beyond delicious !
Honestly I’m all in on Eddie after listening to the Beautiful Game podcast he did. Spoke well, made some very fair points & has since backed it up. Likewise with the El Nenney quotes today. Think sometimes fans (especially online) just draw sensationalist opinions, fixate on stats and assume they’re the pinnacle of football knowledge but forget that a) the players are only human and b) they don’t really know more than people who do this professionally.
Fellow gooners, for a non North londoner Arsenal fan for forever please enlighten me how the new Anthem has anything to do with Arsenal. I listened to the complete song and intently caught on to every word of the lyrics. I still can’t find a linkg to Arsenal. Sure it’s about North London and reminiscent of yester years but what’s the link to Arsenal. Enlighten please.
I have to hold my hands up on Eddie. That Westham game in particular was an eye opener for me. I had never seen Eddie create his own chances in the form of a dribble or a run. He took a lot of shots. And he created the space for those shots himself. And his linkup play has improved massively. I don’t think he is still a starter if we want to go on and challenge the top two gradually. I hope he stays though. We are going to need good strikers for next season. I am not sure what… Read more »
Ornstein and Fabrizio are reporting we are interested in Tielemans. That right there is a smart decision. He will go 30 to 40 mil and he is easily a 50 mil player in this market. Out of all the CMs we could target, he is attainable, good enough and will come cheap. And he will help us hammer small teams if he comes. CL key though. Also Elneny has been offered a new contract. I think he deserves it because of the last few games. He is going to be a good squad player to keep around if injury ravages… Read more »
hands up on eddie too i did not thik he had it but he does, reckon he will sign on
Eddie Krueger. Love it. He is definitely tormenting mesliers dreams. 😀
We need to keep elneny and holding. They understand the importance of their roles as squad players and don’t mope around for not playing. When called upon they deliver, they bleed for the badge. That’s the attitude we need at the club.
Great win !
Bergy Holding signed a new contract last year, Elneny offered a new one? Eddie will sign like i said a few times now,
Yes, keep Eddie but sign another striker.
Tall, powerful, athletic
Madhu – North London forever. It’s probably part of it’s charm that it actually doesn’t mention the club at all. Tom Robinson said something about another song which I’ll re-interpret for this song. ‘You don’t have to be from North London to sing this song… But it helps’
Pedro I am not going to make a forecast what the outcome will be and the number of points we achieve in next three games. We need to focus on one game at a time with our best performance against Spurs. Also I hope that Partey and White will be available for the last two games of season. Arsenal have clearly got a dilemma in the case of Nketiah. Can we offer him a contract which guarantees him being our first choice striker or regular game time. That might have been possible if Aubameyang or Lacazette stayed at club. Realistically… Read more »
Berg10kamp
https://t.co/JnaYGxHfVe
Here is a link to a video of Elneny being interviewed about his playing time at Arsenal. The interviewer is annoying and tries to paint him as someone who is unambitious. But he understands what it is to be in a team. He knows what it takes to build a club that wins multiple titles. I haven’t been disappointed in Elneny since Arteta came in. And he deserves to stay. And we need a player like that.
Eddie will probably look to see the offers that are on the table before making any moves. Smart man!
Oh the interviewer is Ahmed Mido. I can’t believe I didn’t recognize him. No wonder he never joined a really big club. Marseilles, Roma and Spurs was just as good as it got for him. No honors to speak of in his career apart from Afcon. Elneny already has FA cups to his name. And will be staying in a progressive team for the next few years.
The current squad is not CL ready honestly.
Edu is going to have lots of catching up to do if we hit CL.
As for Elneny, he is one of the foreign players on our books, so he takes up one of the quota that we have.
Whether he gets an extension will depend on who else is coming in and who we can sign.
LOVING the downfall of United. The most deluded fanbase getting exactly what they deserve.
Ødegaard is now undroppable plus as he’s probably our new captain so that’s that. This causes a problem for ESR. Ødegaard has taken his position and he can’t play on the left. It will be a disaster if ESR decides to move and who would blame him.
“Ødegaard is now undroppable plus as he’s probably our new captain so that’s that. This causes a problem for ESR. Ødegaard has taken his position and he can’t play on the left. It will be a disaster if ESR decides to move and who would blame him”
If we get CL football next season there will be a lot of rotation in the squad ESR will have plenty of opportunities to stake a claim for a starting position.
Getting back in the UCL is obviously huge for us but still very much feels like we’re competing as «best of the rest» a little bit. Haaland to City case in point that there is still a chasm up to the next level. I wonder how we go about closing the gap or if indeed it is even possible with clubs like that spunking billions on billions every year. I absolutely think we should keep Holding El Nenney Nketiah but feels a long way to go yet…
Elneny is a “solid and unspectacular” defensive midfield. He is well liked at the club and coaching staff and a safe pair of hands.
He is never going to rock the boat and is perfectly happy to stay at Arsenal so long as he is wanted. We need a small number of such players at the club if we are recruiting younger
players.
The same applies probably to Soares and Holding.
@Jim – I don’t mean to come of pessimistic, but there is no real closing of the gap to City. They have a hold on English football that will not be broken until their financing source is cut off. The best we could probably hope for is a one-off every now and then must like Dortmund or Inter. I feel like what we are seeing now with Liverpool is the exact same thing that happened to us in the early 2000s, a team that should now go on to dominate the league are halted by a team financially doping. City… Read more »
“He will be 5th choice CM if Lokonga starts to progress next season.” As someone who has always rated Elneny I think he is tremendously underrated to the extent that even Lokonga is considered a better midfielder by many. Elneny may not be a spectacular player but he knows exactly where to position himself to help both defense and attack and has got a presence in the middle. Besides Elneny rarely makes a mistake. Still remember Partey-Elneny masterclass against United when we beat them a couple of years ago. Lokonga is good but he shows his capabilities only in flashes.… Read more »
@Jim Lahey
Yeah, sadly I think that’s a spot on assessment. Don’t want it to come across as sour grapes because it’s not us but very frustrating all the same…
Champions League next season (all being well) will be a real eye opener to just how good we are against those dining at the top table.
Big fan of our sustainable young profile model we’re running with but get the impression we’re going to be perennial underdogs for any major major honours!
I am one of the Pepe should be given more minutes crowd but the way we are playing suggests that he just is a very wrong fit in our system . He is more suited to Moyes’ West Ham style play of counter attacking direct football . I can understand why Arteta didnt give him more minutes.
TR7
I’m yet to see those flashes of brilliance that Lokonga has.
Guendouzi was accused of being a beardless chicken when he played lots of games in Emery’s first season.
He was barely 19 years old at the time, Lokonga is 22 years old and has not done half of that.
Elneny is waaaaay better than Lokongo.
Dissenter
Were you not paying attention during the start of the season ? We played Lokonga then , had a good run of games . He got called up to the Belgian NT .
Pepe, needs a miracle to fit in this team. If I remember correctly, in his last season at Lille, only Messi & him had double digits assists and goals in Europe. There’s a good player in there. I just think his style of play will never fit Arteta’s tactics. I also don’t think he’s the type to change his style. He likes to dribble even when it’s not necessary and rarely run behind defenders like Saka.
He’s been given limited minutes and he’s not complained. I respect him for that.
DevineSherlock
That’s was a honeymoon period. Isn’t he supposed to get better once he settles in?
He didn’t, he got more timid and robotic, always looking for the simple pass. He became a professional hider.
I don’t dislike Lokonga. I’m just saying that if Elneny stays, Lokonga is a the bottom of the pile battling with the Patinos in the squad.
Pepe is a goner
He has two years lef6 in his contract and is clearly not in the manager’s good books.
It would be criminally insane to not sell him this summer to redeem at least 25% of wages of what we paid for him.
I think he goes back to being a regular scorer in Italy or France,
We can do a swap deal with Lille for Sanchez.
Wishful thinking
Dissenter
Lokonga is good with short passes between the lines which don’t look as spectacular as long Xhaka passes but can be very effective. Of course he needs to develop other aspects of his game such as positioning, defensive work, long passes etc.
***t would be criminally insane to not sell him this summer to redeem at least 25% of transfer of what we paid for him
TR7 I have seen some flashes in Sambi that makes me rate him. Elneny though is a steady player that we need in case we have major injuries next season. And experience is important too. Liverpool have James Milner at 36 to do a job. But they have Keita, Fabinho, Henderson, Thiago, Jones and Alex oxlade Chamberlain. We definitely need to sign one top CM though. I am hoping it is Tielemans. Dissenter I have been guilty of it in the past too but you are too harsh in Sambi. We keep saying players aren’t good enough before they have… Read more »
Comparing Elneny + Sambi is ridiculous…. They’re 2 different players, at entirely different stages of their careers. It’s not surprising we’ve decided to go with experience in the middle of the pitch, at a crucial stage of the season. Elneny is almost 30, with over 90 appearances for Egypt, and over 350 appearances for 4 different clubs, and has been at Arsenal for 6 years Sambi is 22, with 1 appearance for Belgium, just over 100 appearances for 2 clubs, and has been at Arsenal 9 months There’s kind of a difference, and goes some way to explaining the level… Read more »
Dissenter
Wouldnt you try to play safe if you saw the manager binning a player for an error that proved costly ? Lokonga is asked to play a certain way , a certain role , he will get better once he has a run of games for sure. It would have been better if he had Europa League games under his belt.
Hopefully on Thursday this happens :
https://youtu.be/DEf06Fppq8A
😆
Devine
Good point about playing safe to avoid the Tavares treatment
Like I said, I’m not against Lokonga but he has to be behind Elneny on the pecking order .
I see danger in the EDDIE contract.
Newcastle will offer more money to him.
Eddie is really good friends with. WILLOCK.
He has been denied playing time by Arteta
to the point of virtually falling out with him.?
I’m of the opinion their are better options.?
Has Eddie ever scored outside the box?
Understand the nerves from everyone yesterday.As peds pointed out an experienced side goes onto to crush Leeds.Hopefully in time( soon) that will come.As for the spuds.v.worried.Not sure. We’ll set up right to deal with their sole tactic of Kane to son ,son to Kane on the counter.Peds idea of man marking Kane especially when he drops deep is fine but who gets the job? Fear a 3- 1 tanking.Even more so with Dean on VAR.
I’m not against giving all this credit to Eddy, after all it was his two goals that got us this win, but Martinelli was the difference maker in this one for me …….with Ayling a close second lol. Not sure what the right set up for the NLD might be. On the one hand Spurs seem less dangerous if you concede possession to them, but on the other, we seem to thrive high pressing teams and closing down spaces these days. I don’t think being passive suits us much. It’ll be interesting to see what Arteta does in this one,… Read more »
Agreed Elneny on recent form and the experience he has is ahead of Lokonga.
If Elneny is ahead of Lokonga, and Cedric is ahead of Nuno, then that doesn’t exactly bode well for our strategy of ”elite young talent” taking us to the top, does it.
No one in Europe was willing to pay us £5m for Mo, and people scoffed at the Soares signing calling it a joke, and yet it seems these two are the better options, at least in the immediate future.
Agree about Spurs, the more of the ball Spurs have, the less dangerous they are, and the more dangerous their opponents becomes. It’s a NLD, so it’ll likely be frantic early on, I think we’ll match them up with 3 at the back, like we did at Chelsea. We’re not very good at coming back from behind, Spurs aren’t very good at breaking down well organised sides who sit deep. First goal could be crucial, because whoever gets it, is likely going to have less of the ball. The last thing we need is to overcommit, and leave space for… Read more »
We’re not going to get every signing right, you don’t always get an instant return on investment, and we can’t just throw 11 novices on the field, we’ve got to get the balance between youth + experience right. Tavares was a low risk punt, he’s 22, he’s currently nowhere near the required level, and he’ll either go out on loan to develop, or he’ll be sold. Sambi might have to bide his time, he might even need a loan, but it’s still an investment that can pay big, You sign Saliba for $30 million at 18, because he probably cost… Read more »
I think el Neny is more polished than lokonga. El Neny doesn’t really have any bad weaknesses, he’s just purely reliable and solid. But he also doesn’t have any stand out attributes. For that reason I think he’s an excellent squaddy, as long as his role isn’t more than that (it isn’t). Lokonga is very clearly rough around the edges. But his strengths are better than el neny’s. What likings needs is to have the kind of consistency and maturity that el Neny has combined with his superior technical attributes and he’ll be a very good player. Still clearly a… Read more »
Eddie has a knack for scoring goals, the most valued asset in pro football. He atttacks the ball relentlessly, a pain in the a** for defenders. It would be a mistake to let him go.
I’m really curious about what the future holds of Eddie I’m very happy for him to be delivering at his boyhood club. A hale ender winning plaudits at a time when we desperately need some quality up front and he has absolutely provided it I don’t know what to expect tho for next season. Let’s assume Eddie maintains this form. The fans love him. We make the CL. He decides to stay. But then we go and sign an expensive CF like Martinez, Nunez or whoever. What does it mean for Eddie and how is he going to feel about… Read more »
Great result yesterday, we had an exceptional first 20 minutes. Eddie continues to impress, kudos to him. I think this is a different Eddie, I’ve seen him play live in the flesh many times now but this last month he’s shown a different level of hunger. He’s like a baby Benzema in the way he’s no longer static and constantly moving between the lines, he really is a terror for defenders. I’d have no problem offering him a new deal and Laca’s role in next seasons team. I’d hope Arsenal are his priority but can completely understand if his head… Read more »
Tielemans certainly represents a strong value option
A big upgrade on xhaka at a relatively low price with PL experience, good height and power. Would be a very reasonable choice and would be towards the lower end of the risk spectrum
I won’t be complaining if we get him
China.Eddie “ Marlo stanfield” Nketiah ( see the wire.It’s the same person! )being a boyhood fan hopefully will stay & compete.There will be plenty of games if we get CL ,plus 5 subs next year will allow everyone,who’s worthy,to get a reasonable stint.Plus injuries ( hopefully not) & there’s opportunity.We need at least 1 to 2 top striker & winger along with midfielders.He knows this.
Tom ,tactics for Thursday will be conundrum!
Haaland to city almost done could mean Jesus to us has legs big time
Tieleman or Neves ?
For me yesterday, there were 3 players who consistently took either a first, unnecessary touch on the ball before passing it, or, were just too slow at recycling the ball.
They were Cedric, Xhaka and Mo Elneny.
I found myself yelling at them to be quicker…but they didn’t hear me….
Upgrade those three with quality ,add a clinical striker and we’re cooking.
Eddie won’t get more love from anyone else than Arsenal.
He’s not going to be the number one strainer for any premier league club, even the promoted sides wouldn’t plan their attack around him.
He has to bid his time and be patient. He’s proven he can be a number two striker on the pecking order. He turns 23 on May 30, he can target being a number one by the age of 25.
It can’t be that easy to sign a competent 30 year old who’s happy to be number 4/5 on the pecking order for the position.
Mr Serge
‘ Tieleman or Neves’
The question is if you could sign Tielesmann for one third of the asking price for Neves , which one would you sign.
Tielsmann is going to be a basement price because Leicester’s business model won’t let him leave for free next season.
Jim Lahey
But don’t you belong to the most deluded section of the arsenal fan base?
Or has it only taken you 2 years to see what we’re trying to do? Either way you’re a disgrace.
We should absolutely rock the boat and sign Nkunku from RB Leipzig. Incredible stats and would fit like a glove in our team. Has swagger and bags of talent. He’s 24 years old, about to enter his prime. 50 games, 34 goals, 20 assists tells it’s on story. Before anyone says “It’s just the Bundesliga” – he scored a hat-trick vs City and bagged another goal vs PSG in the group stages of the UCL. He scores with his right, he scores with his left, he scores headers, he scores free kicks, he scores penalties. 20 assists show that he… Read more »
Nkunku has 2 years left on his contract. It’s the perfect time where the power is spread between player, buying club and selling club. Make an offer that everyone would be happy with and he could be our guy. Exactly the type of guy that elevates us in every way as he is so flexible just like Jesus but with probably higher ceiling. He’s a flair player too and I always appreciate that.
Mr Serge – I’d go with Tielemens simply because he’s more attainable. Very similar to the choice between Ode and Maddison last summer. One is attainable and so available for a decent fee, the other still has years left on his deal and is likely to cost £20 million more.
Raptora – Yep Nkunku is a baller, would be a great addition.
Haaland’s soon to be replacement at Dortmund Karim Adeyemi is also another one to keep an eye on, has all the makings of an elite forward.
Raps.Agreed Nkunku is full package.Should move heaven & earth for him.I believe was on our radar short while back? Are we linked again?what’s the damage if a goer?
Dissenter you’re spot on. I’m not sure what’s the hold up. Does Eddie want more money ( possible),guaranteed playing time ( impossible ), a better club no chance.
People continue to under-rate Eddie. He is young and is on an upwards curve. He certainly has the potential to become a world-class striker. It’s worth remembering what Ian Wright was like at his age.
Rap Been thinking of Nkunku as well, seen figures of 50m in the papers. would prefer him over almost every striker we’ve been linked to. If we’re ever going to challenge for the league we need to buy the best player we possibly can in each position, preferably someone with room to grow since we most likely can’t compete for the fibished article. Would much rather we go for 2-3 players this summer and fill the rest with youth + keep elneny etc than the 5-6 we probably need. Nkunku + Tchouameni and I’d be very happy. Add Gakpo if… Read more »
Shout out to Pierre
Man was a one-man army on here for weeks calling for Nketiah to be started. We all thought it was another Ozil type fascination.
We shouldnt have doubted Eddie’s abilities. After all, a lot of us were familiar with Eddies previous work. We knew for sure that he was a killer(the wire).
Keep killing Eddie.
It’s ironic because Emery actually wanted Nkunku. Got Pepe instead. Now Nkunku is out there producing Pepe expected numbers.
Eddie giving me Andy Cole/Dwight Yorke vibes.
Funny how Pedro is now such a huge Eddie fan after dissing him for so long.
Has he put his hand up yet and apologized to
Pierre?
Let them know Nkeitiah step to any motherfucker. Omar, Barksdale, whoever.
Jim,
incredible!!!
I found the gif from that scene
https://www.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/4187d3c0-7cbe-4469-97bb-09b77abd8dae
They look so much alike.
Did not expect to look up the LG comments and see a quote from The Wire today but here we are, attaboy Jim.. GOAT TV Show along with The Sopranos, 1A and 1B for me.
Nketiah is nowhere near good enough if we want to be a genuine contender going forward. Would city or Liverpool ever consider him? No. End of.
Don’t like arteta, think he’s been lucky this season but if he shows ruthlessness this summer and gets rid of the likes of nketiah, Elneny, tavares etc in order to build a proper team then he will go up in my estimation.
Raptora
I like Nkunku a lot, thing is where does he fit in our XI?
He’s not a ST, he plays best in that free role off of the ST. In ESR/Odegaard’s best position basically. He’s not a guy that is going to lead the line and play with his back to goal/hold the ball up.
He’s a Lampard type of CAM.
Bigper, your talent ID has been in the bin this season, not sure anyone cares about your opinion on what Arteta needs to do to win your approval
‘Top four is guaranteed now but I’d say this is maybe one of the worst pl teams to ever get top four.’
We have the same amount of points with 3 games to go as Chelsea had last season.
Get a point at Spurs we have the same points as Liverpool had for 3rd.
These comments of your are dire.
Like I absolutely love Florian Wirtz too for example, hopefully he recovers well from that ACL.
But he is another one of those free role CAM type players that can play wide forward but really will be running things in central areas mostly.
We need more genuine widemen ala Mane, Mahrez, Kulusevski types.
Moussa Diaby is a good shout but he is another lefty.
Ideally we sign a right-footed goalscoring LF.
Madhu “Fellow Gooners, for a non-North Londoner Arsenal fan for forever please enlighten me on how the new Anthem has anything to do with Arsenal. I listened to the complete song and intently caught on to every word of the lyrics. I still can’t find a link to Arsenal. Sure it’s about North London and reminiscent of yesteryears but what’s the link to Arsenal. Enlighten please.” A bit of backdrop. Louis Dunford is a massive Gooner. His best friend was a lad called Ben Kinsella who was tragically knifed to death in North London. Louis wrote a song for the… Read more »
Stat time, people.
What is the % chance of Arsenal finishing top 4 based on the outcome of the NLD:
Arsenal Win = 100%
Arsenal Draw = 90%
Arsenal Lose = 40%
Avoid the loss boys.
WE, Was thinking he could be like Jesus, Mane, Jota. Have a bit of a free role to be in an around the penalty area but not only central but at the edges of the box too, opening space for the likes of Saka/Martinelli/ESR. We can have Nkunku and Martinelli rotating like Jesus and Sterling making it hard to defend players that move all the time. A lot of his goals come from chip shots similar to Auba. He ends up in positions very similar to a CF where he’s 1v1 with a keeper. He has such a precise finish… Read more »
Rap
I just don’t see how it would work as he would be occupying the areas where ESR is at his most effective, same for Odegaard. We already have a bit of a problem there which has seen ESR benched regularly or played out wide which nullifies his impact on the game.
Mane is a genuine wideman, yes he can operate centrally but for the most part he plays LF and has done for his entire Liverpool stint.
Nkunku would cost a huge fee and it may be wiser to spend that money on a better fit for ESR/Odegaard imo.
Same goes for Tchouameni.
He looks a superb player and talent but he is a very similar player to Partey and wouldn’t complement him as well as a more creative and offensive-minded CM like Modric to Camavinga for example rather than Casemiro to Camavinga.
Wolves got some saucy players that would fit into our team. Some of the attacking football one touch football they play is good.Trincao and Neto are ballers without the goals lol.
Eddie Nketiah signs da ting , Saliba returns , Tielemans + Jesus in an Arsenal shirt and we are cooking ! While you’re at it give Elneny a new deal . This summer is shaping out to be hugeee
AFC Forever Thanks a lot Sir, it makes sense now. I made the mistake of listening to the song on Spotify with the lyrics, i should have seen the video and it would have made sense. I would love that we have an Anthem. I always hated that Pool had an Anthem and that too something like You never Stand alone which is so powerful. Its high time we had an anthem and its really exciting. As a long time true gooner, i will have this lyrics with me forever. Credit to Arteta for giving us an Anthem and off… Read more »
DS
Think we’ll definitely need a left back as well.
Zinchenko or Cucerella would be ideal.
Brighton will want stupid money for Cucurella unfortunately. Very good player but not worth what they will ask for to make a profit off of the original £20m buy themselves.
Zinchenko is good but not sure how much of a threat going forward he is and in the modern game you need your full-backs to provide that outlet.
Said it before but I really like that American LB Robinson off of Fulham.
Was decent in the PL for them last season too. 24 years old, good on both sides of the ball and athletic.
My opinion might turn out to be unpopular but I think we should not be too hasty and chuck Tavares . Soares and Tomiyasu can both play LB . Tierney when fit starts , if injured we can play Tavares there or Tomi/Soares. Even Partey looked out of sorts in his first season here.
samesong Trincao is owned by Barca he is only at wolves for the season, I do really like neto and Neves though
Wenger Eagle
Cucurella is also a wingback not a full back always plays wide of a back 3 not sure he would be as good in a 4-3-3
Tavares has a lot of the raw ingredients, he’s a brilliant athlete, decent with both feet But he’s currently nowhere near the required level, send him somewhere he’ll pick up 40+ games in the Championship or League 1 What he needs are minutes, wherever we send him, the important thing is playing time. I’d be absolutely amazed if he wasn’t either sold or loaned out this summer. It was a big step up to go from second choice at Benfica with little experience, to going straight into the Arsenal first team, that step has ultimately proved too big. I wouldn’t… Read more »