Arsenal were the best team in the CL this season according to lego head. Why do they keep crying for signings then?
1 Like
Maybe Arteta will use him as a new CF. Don’t underestimate his genius.
Or a backup left back?
They may have a new one. Its Arteta’s yearly routine.
1 Like
It occurred to me that Arsenal in this era is really very similar to the Liverpool of the mid-2000s under Rafa. Very different personalities, different constraints, and of course they don’t have a crown jewel like 2005. But this season for them was a lot like many of those - solid league campaign to secure top 4, not really much threat of winning it though, shifted focus to a promising CL campaign, and being left with not much to show for it. Not much different at all from 07/08.
3 Likes
This season there is a conventional wisdom that built on what their needs in the summer were, that Arsenal just needed a better striker. This idea that a team can only improve by adding more goals from a new striker is one of the biggest over simplifications in football. This was especially true for Arsenal for whom their false 9 was a big part of why they were so difficult to play against. When a team is set up like that there are big trade offs you have to make to bring in a more orthodox forward and so even if you ear mark someone as good as a 2008 version Torres last season’s Arsenal team would not automatically be better for just adding that quality of forward. I think Arteta’s acceptance of that is likely whey they didnt spend money.
Interestingly though, with the way their approach has evolved this season they are a lot less dynamic, and a lot of this had already happened even before Havertz got injured. With this new way they play maybe they are able to just pop in a penalty box goal scorer and not have much of a trade off in losing all around contributions of their false 9. It seems like a fork in the road for Arteta now in deciding which direction he wants to go in and it will be interesting to see how he approaches it this summer.
8 Likes
Mikel Arteta latest Arsenal claim is frankly ridiculous and Liverpool response will say everything
Difference being that in 2007-08 we actually did spend some time on the top of the league.
1 Like
Arteta has much more financial support than Benítez. If David Villa and Silva joined us, I think the story could be very different. Meanwhile, Arteta has already spent £850m, and their best football was two years ago.
3 Likes
David Silva was 1.70m. Way too short.
Pounds or Euro? That was cheap either way even back then.
3 Likes
M stands for Metres, as you well know.
Yes, that it was I meant by different constraints. But I was thinking in terms of the supporter experience, of feeling like the side was close, just not seeing the pathway.
2 Likes
They’ve already been in this position and not demonstrated that they would come back stronger.
If their league challenge was demostrating a team learning from mistakes they haven’t done a great job.
And what is the response the morning after? Transfer market…
2 Likes
I’ve no doubt that AFTVs income is largely being generated by rival fan clicks. Only reason they put such imagines/tweets/social media posts together.
2 Likes
Isn’t it the case for most “fan” “influencers”?
2 Likes
Just the shouty ones really - goldbridge, that Irish LFC fella, the Man U lads posted earlier.
Plenty of others that stick to sensible football chat.
1 Like