Arsenal 22-23: Time to Deliver the Goods

Time to Mo Vaughn

RIP Dernell
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WHy does that dude Mikeford who always posted negative shite all the time not share in the good times here? Maybe he was an AI experiment fueled by an algorithm.
We had a conversation about this that I thought was up thread, but must have been in one of the weekly game threads instead. At the end of last season after missing the Champions League, he said he was done with Arsenal until they fired Arteta.

In hindsight as an Arsenal fan, I think I'll take the trade as the season is much more enjoyable without him around. I hope Arteta coaches Arsenal until 2050.
 

fletcherpost

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We had a conversation about this that I thought was up thread, but must have been in one of the weekly game threads instead. At the end of last season after missing the Champions League, he said he was done with Arsenal until they fired Arteta.

In hindsight as an Arsenal fan, I think I'll take the trade as the season is much more enjoyable without him around. I hope Arteta coaches Arsenal until 2050.
Fair enough. Arteta is proving a lot of people wrong, myself included - and fair play to the board for sticking with the process.
 

lars10

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Fair enough. Arteta is proving a lot of people wrong, myself included - and fair play to the board for sticking with the process.
I, for one, am truly surprised to see how well things are working, especially so soon. Having the young kids in the lineup so soon seems to have paid huge dividends. There's a chance that Arsenal could have a young core together for four or five years... if they can play together and increase their passing accuracy and efficiency there's a real chance they'll be able to contend with City and other top teams.

Arsenal are playing a super high line and press.. it bit them against United, but has generally worked out.

I think the biggest miracle/coaching job Arteta has pulled off is making Xhaka an elite player... playing him up the pitch has increased his value ten fold.. he's no longer diving in or doing whatever he was doing in the past in the back third. And their defensive players that they've brought in are probably the best they've had in a decade... since Mertsaaker and Koscielny were playing together?
 

Time to Mo Vaughn

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I think one of the amazing things about Arsenal year is how spread out the creation and goal scoring has been across the team. It seems like for most of the early season, Jesus was the straw that stirs the drink, but less reliance on him more recently.

Stats from the PL and Europa games through the first half of the Southampton match:

Jesus: 5G, 4A
Saka: 4G, 4A
Martinelli: 4G, 2A
Xhaka: 4G, 3A
Odegaard: 3G, 2A
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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We were due one of these matches eventually. Our finishing wasn’t quite sharp enough, we had three decent-to-good penalty shouts turned down, they scored on their only real chance all game, and we were too leggy to really push for the winner in the last 15-20 minutes. Shit happens. The key thing is finding a way to close out the group by getting a win or draw at PSV and then beating Forest at home next weekend. If we do that, we can basically reset to a once-a-week schedule for the core first teamers for the last two weeks before the break by playing the likes of Cedric/Holding/Sambi/Marquinhos/Nelson/Lokonga/Turner plus academy kids at home against Zurich in a dead rubber and then (hopefully) the same kind of lineup in the Energy Drink Cup the following midweek against Brighton. I am very eager to just go out of that competition as I anticipate January being a weird month recovering from the World Cup and getting back to speed and having a bunch of additional cup fixtures to play seems bad.

All the English clubs in European competition are really beginning to show the legginess and physical wear and tear of this grueling schedule. No surprise that the only team in that group that played well this weekend was City, which was also the only team not to play during the midweek.
 

litigator02

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Other than wishing - for FPL reasons - that Gabriel
hadn’t touched Saka’s goal-scoring corner on its way in, that was great. A couple misplays in front of Ramsdale, Jesus should have had that header, but all in all … that was a lot of fun. Didn’t mind Saka getting the yellow after some of Cucarella’s horseshit, and if the dust up at the end means that Xhaka has figured out exactly how far he can go without getting booked … I’m giddy.
 

lars10

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Other than wishing - for FPL reasons - that Gabriel
hadn’t touched Saka’s goal-scoring corner on its way in, that was great. A couple misplays in front of Ramsdale, Jesus should have had that header, but all in all … that was a lot of fun. Didn’t mind Saka getting the yellow after some of Cucarella’s horseshit, and if the dust up at the end means that Xhaka has figured out exactly how far he can go without getting booked … I’m giddy.
The shame of the Gabriel miss was really that the buildup to it would have made it an all time great overall goal. So many one touch passes…

nice to have a team that gives up so few quality chances.

Also Cucarella’s fouls were so cynical.. felt like a player who knew he was overmatched and was fouling to try and goad Saka into a card or two. Especially on the card.. he looked like he expected it and was ready to go down.

xhaka needs a talking to.. good to not get booked there but just get out of there to begin with.. don’t even fall back on dumb habits.. I also hate time wasting as a practice when the ball is out or stopped.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Fantastic win today. We've had a good record at Stamford Bridge under Arteta but most of the good results were kind of freaky or unexpected. Today we just rolled in there, established ourselves as the better side, and controlled the entire game. If the finishing was a bit sharper it would have been an easy 2-0 or 3-0.
 

shaggydog2000

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Fantastic win today. We've had a good record at Stamford Bridge under Arteta but most of the good results were kind of freaky or unexpected. Today we just rolled in there, established ourselves as the better side, and controlled the entire game. If the finishing was a bit sharper it would have been an easy 2-0 or 3-0.
In the games that we used to talk about as measuring stick games for this team, against Chelsea, ManU, Liverpool, and Spurs, they're 3-1. They also looked in control in all of those games, even the ManU game that they lost on counters that were against the general flow. This is a very good team. They dominate the ball, move the ball forward quickly, and are completely relentless in attack. But it's all built off an incredibly solid defense. Saliba just locks down anybody and anything in his area. I don't know how a guy that big can be that fast and agile. Adding him to Gabriel in the middle and moving White out to fullback has made that defense rock solid while still being able to chip in offensively. You have Tomiyasu when you need to lock down a player on the other team's right wing, or Zinchenko when you want to focus on ball movement and make the LB primarily an extra midfielder. I don't think Tierney really fits any more, but he's a great option to have. It sounds like the team is going to keep spending in January, with a potential title chase on their hands. They could use another RW to compete with Saka and rest him, and another midfielder. It's obvious they know both of those things before coming into this year and just couldn't get what they wanted done, so I'm sure they're going to look at those positions again. Hopefully Emile Smith Rowe can finish the year out healthy and provide some more depth as well. And extending Martinelli, Saliba, and Saka will be huge for the future of the team. Outlasting Man City at the top of the table is going to be a tough feat, they're probably the best team on the planet, maybe top two at worst, but things happen so you never know.
 

candylandriots

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One thing that I hadn’t thought about related to Arsenal’s success this year. It probably gives Vieira another couple years at Palace at least. So, thanks, Gunners.
 

BostonJack42

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The World Cup and the resulting tiredness/injuries (or rest) that effects different players & teams is going to throw such a WHAMMY into this season.

Yesterday, I thought we played great and scored a wonky goal - but it was a result we deserved. Really could have used Fulham to see out their game though.
 

lars10

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The World Cup and the resulting tiredness/injuries (or rest) that effects different players & teams is going to throw such a WHAMMY into this season.

Yesterday, I thought we played great and scored a wonky goal - but it was a result we deserved. Really could have used Fulham to see out their game though.
The one good thing is that Arsenal have a very young team which should hopefully help with recovery.. at least Norway didn't make it and Ramsdale will most likely be a backup. Quite a few of the other players looks as though they'll play quite a bit.
 

shaggydog2000

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Not bad for the first game back. Guys worked off some rust, came back to put 3 past them in the second half, and looked in control the whole time. Nketiah doesn't do all the things Jesus does in terms of pressing and combining with the other attacking players, but he does score goals. Which is pretty big for a center forward. Partey and Odegaard looked great in the middle of the field. And Xhaka somehow got away with what normally gets you a yellow card. A year ago that goes the other way and he gets a red for that just based on it being him.

Oh, and there is plenty of talk about them being pretty close to getting Mudryk. They're going to need more goals to compete on the highest level, so I hope that one works out.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Massive win yesterday, especially given the tough league schedule coming up.

We catch a small break in the Brighton fixture with Moises Caicedo suspended due to accumulating five yellow cards. That is always a tough match for us so I'll take any break we can get.

Mudryk looks very impressive and I really hope we get him. His highlights in the CL and for Ukraine make him look like a pace merchant but I've watched videos of him in the Ukrainian league where Shakhtar is dominating the ball and he can really play - he uses his left foot very well for a right-footed LW, he can cross, can strike the ball cleanly with either foot, shows some composure in the final third, etc. How it all translates to the PL is always going to be an open question, especially for a player coming from Ukraine, but the raw talent and ceiling seems really high. Edu and Arteta haven't missed on a high priced transfer yet and they seem to really like this guy.
 

lars10

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Nice little 7 point lead at the end/beginning of the year... and City and Tottenham have to play each other twice in the next few weeks. Team seems to have come back where they left off and so far survived not having Gabriel.

Any transfer rumors coming to fruition? Watching videos of Mudryk and he looks like he'd fit in great with what Arsenal are doing.. any chance that happens?
 

litigator02

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ESPN and The Athletic both report that Arsenal made a second, "improved" offer for Mudryk, but it sounds like that's more in the nature of add-ons and moving money up front (are deferred payments the norm?) rather than moving from 65M much towards100M.

I'm conflicted about transfers. On the one hand, they're undeniably thin up front (Reiss Nelson being unlikely to repeat his last big performance) and there's a dropoff in midfield, too. But on the other hand, Joao Felix's manager at Atletico has pretty much said "he won't play in the system, so I won't play him," which seems problematic, and there's only so many Europa league games to keep a Martinelli/Saka/Mudryk combo on the pitch.

Really looking forward to today's game, and to being top of the table regardless of the outcome!
 

lars10

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ESPN and The Athletic both report that Arsenal made a second, "improved" offer for Mudryk, but it sounds like that's more in the nature of add-ons and moving money up front (are deferred payments the norm?) rather than moving from 65M much towards100M.

I'm conflicted about transfers. On the one hand, they're undeniably thin up front (Reiss Nelson being unlikely to repeat his last big performance) and there's a dropoff in midfield, too. But on the other hand, Joao Felix's manager at Atletico has pretty much said "he won't play in the system, so I won't play him," which seems problematic, and there's only so many Europa league games to keep a Martinelli/Saka/Mudryk combo on the pitch.

Really looking forward to today's game, and to being top of the table regardless of the outcome!
The one takeaway from today.. arsenal are now the feared team that top sides bunker against.. extremely cynical play by Newcastle.. arsenal just couldn’t find that break with 14-18 players in the box
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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I thought we played well overall today, just lacking a tiny bit of sharpness in the final third, which meant lots of promising situations didn't quite get translated into clear cut chances. That's probably mainly down to our front five playing the whole match after also playing the whole match (or 87 minutes in the case of Odegaard) three days beforehand against Brighton. The biggest lesson really is that this team has a thin bench. Getting ESR and Jesus back will help a lot, as will Mudryk or another attacker if that transfer materializes.

Arteta's unwillingness to use Fabio Vieira in this situation is definitely concerning. Partly its that his two natural positions happen to be occupied by our best two attacking players in Saka and Odegaard. But bringing him on for Xhaka (who admittedly was playing well in the second half) was a pretty obvious move, especially when pinning the other team back, and he didn't pull the trigger. Vieira created the go-ahead goal against Wolves and then looked really sharp in the friendlies so I thought we'd see an expanded role for him after the break and it just hasn't happened.

Referee Andy Madley had a bit of a mare, handing out yellow cards left and right but inconsistently in the first half and then clearly petrified to make any kind of big decision in the second half. I don't know why they assign such an inexperienced referee to a big match like this.
 

deconstruction

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I thought Zinchenko was superb today. His progressive passing is nothing new, but with Newcastle's defensive emphasis on Martinelli and Saka, some of his line-breaking passes into Xhaka and Nketiah were really good, especially in the second half. Like you said, they didn't really turn into chances though. ESR receiving those passes instead of Xhaka likely would've led to more.

That field tilt tho.

And that shirt pull on Gabriel has to be a penalty.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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I thought Zinchenko was superb today. His progressive passing is nothing new, but with Newcastle's defensive emphasis on Martinelli and Saka, some of his line-breaking passes into Xhaka and Nketiah were really good, especially in the second half. Like you said, they didn't really turn into chances though. ESR receiving those passes instead of Xhaka likely would've led to more.

That field tilt tho.

And that shirt pull on Gabriel has to be a penalty.
Agree, Zinchenko was great. Having him in there really makes a difference in terms of midfield control. And having ESR or Vieira rather than a dead-legged Xhaka in a couple of those dangerous situations would definitely have helped. Martinelli also looked off the pace all match, maybe needing a rest. Newcastle seemed to try to channel us toward the left side, Zinny did his job, but the players ahead of him just weren't sharp enough.

Overall lots of positives from this match. We just need better options to bring off the bench in attack and hopefully that'll come together with players returning to health and good use of the January window.
 

teddykgb

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You’re gonna see a lot of these bus parking tactics now that the league sees you as a title contender. City have to deal with this most weeks and it’s incredibly frustrating to watch and play against. A draw against Newcastle is hardly a tragedy when we have lost points to Brentford and Everton. Draws may become something to fear but when you play this style of football you’re gonna have 4 or 5 of these a season where you dominate everything but just can’t find one
 

shaggydog2000

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I can tell this is a totally different team than it was a few years ago, because Xhaka played almost 60 minutes (including extra time) after getting a yellow card in a big game. Old Xhaka would have clothes-lined a dude before halftime and gotten his red out of the way.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Lots of "Mudryk is close" rumors but I haven't seen anything from anybody all that reliable.

The Oxford match really highlighted the weakness of our central midfield depth as well as the total absence of a backup LCB. Those have to be the next two biggest priorities if we end up signing Mudryk. I'd love for us to address at least one of them this window but think the club will only do it if they can bring a deal forward for a top target that they otherwise would have done next summer. They clearly have a serious aversion (not without reason) to compromising on the quality of signings just to bring in another option for a role.

City at the Etihad was a shit draw in the FA Cup but I think there are some silver linings. Either we'll win and be in a strong position to win the competition or we'll lose and get a leg up in the league as they'll have to play 2-4 extra matches in an already congested spring schedule.
 

Time to Mo Vaughn

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Arsenal keep winning and meanwhile City drops 3 in the Manchester Derby putting Arsenal a full 8 points ahead at the moment.

Having missed out on Mudryk to Chelsea, it's not quite clear if or who Arsenal will target for depth in the January window. ESR is back fully training and logged a minute on Sunday, so that adds some depth to the forwards in the absence of Jesus. Still seems like depth is the biggest concern for the second half of the season particular if something happens to Xhaka or Partey. The rumor at the moment is that Arsenal will now target Declan Rice in the summer transfer window, which would provide a great rotation with Xhaka and Partey and there should be plenty of playing time with the CL next year. Tielemens I believe will be available for a free transfer as well, but I've been a bit disappointed whenever I've seen him okay this year for both Leicester and Belgium.
 

Dummy Hoy

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Tielemens is a stud who has been playing with duds (or shitty/disinterested coaches) this year. I think he's a better player with the ball than Rice, although Rice has improved himself in that category.

Either guy would be a real solid pick up for Arsenal, although I think Rice would play the Partey role better and Tielmans the Xhaka role. Given that Tielemans and Rice are 5 years younger than their counterparts, those would be great pickups, although both may want to go somewhere where they get starter minutes.
 

Time to Mo Vaughn

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Tielemens is a stud who has been playing with duds (or shitty/disinterested coaches) this year. I think he's a better player with the ball than Rice, although Rice has improved himself in that category.

Either guy would be a real solid pick up for Arsenal, although I think Rice would play the Partey role better and Tielmans the Xhaka role. Given that Tielemans and Rice are 5 years younger than their counterparts, those would be great pickups, although both may want to go somewhere where they get starter minutes.
I also made a comment about it being hard to rate Tielemens because the teams he's been playing on have underperformed by so much this year, and I unfortunately had never really keyed in on him until after there was so much expressed interest from Arsenal on him last summer.

I actually don't worry too much about Tielemans or Rice thinking they need to shy away from Arsenal due to minutes. Xhaka is already 30 and Partey will be 30 in 5 months. Both have been playing with massive workloads over the last two years and it's conceivable that either or both of them could be losing a step in the next year. At 31 and 30 next year and with CL football, I'd think that either DM coming in would get plenty of starter minutes and know that they're also likely a half season or season away from being the guy full time.

But DM is certainly the largest lack of depth area on the Arsenal squad right now.

On the defensive backs you've got Tomiyasu and Tierney and if a CB goes down, then you'd assume White will just shift back to CB. At DM, you're either looking at Elneny, Vieira or potentially my preference of move Zinchenko up at return Tomiyasu or Tierney to a starter. I worry about an Odegaard injury the most after Xhaka or Partey at the moment as I'm not sure Saka, Martinelli or Jesus (when healthy) really slot in as a 10 the same way with distribution. ESR might be able to once he's fully healthy, but I think he'll have a fair bit of rust to shake off.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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I would definitely have preferred Mudryk as a longer term addition with the ceiling to truly compete for a starting position but Trossard is a really good piece of business under the circumstances. I don't think he is dynamic enough to really replicate what Martinelli or Saka gives us but he can play across the front three, he has the technical quality to play our kind of football, he has played in similar kinds of tactical systems at Brighton, and he knows the league well. We obviously have a great opportunity over the next 4-5 months and you can definitely make the argument that he will help us more in the short term than Mudryk would have done. I've also seen reporting that he is only on 90k per week on a 3.5 year deal so its not a big commitment and the wages are low enough to be affordable for most PL clubs if we want to move him onward in a couple years.
 

shaggydog2000

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I would definitely have preferred Mudryk as a longer term addition with the ceiling to truly compete for a starting position but Trossard is a really good piece of business under the circumstances. I don't think he is dynamic enough to really replicate what Martinelli or Saka gives us but he can play across the front three, he has the technical quality to play our kind of football, he has played in similar kinds of tactical systems at Brighton, and he knows the league well. We obviously have a great opportunity over the next 4-5 months and you can definitely make the argument that he will help us more in the short term than Mudryk would have done. I've also seen reporting that he is only on 90k per week on a 3.5 year deal so its not a big commitment and the wages are low enough to be affordable for most PL clubs if we want to move him onward in a couple years.
He's definitely not the young exciting player that can develop with the rest of the young stars, but all in between salary and fee you're looking at about 40m total, and that's not bad to provide security for a team that has a good lead in the race for the league.
 

PedroSpecialK

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Caveat with the fact that Trossard has torn up Liverpool whenever they've played, but getting him in his current form - in January no less - for < £30m is exceptional for Arsenal IMO
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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On a process level, I really can't blame the club for being wary of paying a full £88m - which is sort of what it sounds like the Chelsea offer might end up being, with pretty attainable add ons - for a 22-year-old guy with nine career goals in the Ukrainian league. On an outcome level, I suspect that eventually we're going to end up regretting that we didn't do it. You could see in 10 minutes today the qualities that made Edu/Arsenal contemplate paying that price (and make a pretty huge offer themselves). You just don't find players all that easily with that combination of speed, technical ability, fast feet, and at least a bit of a football brain.
 

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Hard to imagine a better first half of the year. 10/12 points from @Brighton, Newcastle, @Tottenham, ManUnited in the last four games with Jesus out is top shelf.

I think the starting 11 have the talent and character to win a title. The only question remaining is health and energy during a congested second half of the year (two different sequences of three PL games in 8 days, with ManCity in the middle).
 
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BostonJack42

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You have to be thrilled with their play and their position at this point. I am fine with missing out on Mudryk for that price - although I recognize I may end up eating my words on that.

But man, I really really need them to buy some covering pieces for the central mid-field players (DM). While I love seeing him play the minnows in the Europa League - I don't want to see Elney in any big league games.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Kiwior transfer is official.

I'd love to see a high quality CM come in this window but am not expecting it. I think this is a position where they will not compromise on quality and are planning to go big on their next addition. Its just hard to find guys in that bracket that are obtainable in January. There have been rumors that we tried to activate the 60m euro release clause of Martín Zubimendi from Real Sociedad but they have an actual shot at La Liga and he wanted to see it through. We're also rumored to be talking heavily with Declan Rice's representatives. They clearly want to bring in a really top quality 6/8 player - our interest in cheaper options like Douglas Luiz or Danilo from Palmeiras faded away - and I don't see it being realistic until the summer.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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I'm feeling deeply ambivalent about this cup tie today. I can't actively root for us to lose but I think it would be for the best. I love the FA Cup and it would be great to win it again but competing for the league is so much more important for the club in the big picture and I don't think we can fight on three fronts this spring. The head-to-head nature of the tie with City also means its sort of like a six gamer in the same way that head-to-head league matches are six pointers. Whichever side wins is going to be a favorite going forward so on average it probably means playing in maybe three more matches (reaching semis), which are three more midweek games and therefore three more league games with deadened legs coming off midweeks and for them its the exact same. So on average its like a difference of six midweeks between the two scenarios, which is like having European play or not having European play. In our case, we could respond by just totally punting the Europa League (whereas City will never do that with the CL). Nevertheless, the losing team really gets a leg up in the title race I think.

I'd feel better about advancing in this competition if we solved what appears to be a real problem in midfield, with Elneny's injury looking potentially long term (again). We have apparently had a 60m bid for Moises Caicedo rejected. I'm not very optimistic about that transfer - Brighton are tough negotiators and under no pressure to sell this window, plus even if we do strike a deal we have to hope Todd Boehly doesn't decide to start waving his dick around again. But the fact that we were willing to make that kind of bid shows that the club is serious about addressing the position in the next few days so hopefully somebody is brought in.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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I still think we'll look back on the Mudryk situation with regrets (although I'm not sure we could have done much different as Chelsea were apparently after him the whole window). But overall this has been a really good window for Arsenal. We entered with three significant needs, wing depth, Partey cover, and Gabriel cover, and we addressed all three for about 50m total in transfer fees. Jorginho is on an 18 month deal so it doesn't really disrupt our squad building. We can still hopefully bring in a big name 6/8 player like Rice or Caicedo over the summer to give us some younger legs in midfield and then when Jorginho or Xhaka leaves after summer 2024 integrate Patino (who probably should go on a PL loan next year) and/or another signing.
 

Time to Mo Vaughn

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A quick look over to Ligue 1 and the leading scorers are exactly whom you'd expect:

French Ligue 1 Top Scorers
1 Folarin Balogun Reims 14
2 Kylian Mbappé PSG 13
3 Neymar PSG 12

One of these players is 30, another 24 and one just 21...
 

BostonJack42

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What a ducking game on Saturday. Nelson bails out not only the team from dropping points to Bournemouth at home but also VAR/PL refs missing or lacking the intestinal fortitude for calling any one of 4 handballs in the box. Combine that with ManU getting humiliated and Spurs dropping points this was a pretty good weekend.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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The next two league matches look worrying for Arsenal. We really need six points if we're going to be fighting for the title given the schedule in April, but how we score the goals to win these matches is really unclear. Trossard won't be back until after the break, there has been worryingly little said about Nketiah's injury, and Jesus remains a big question mark. Saka looked completely gassed at the end of the match yesterday against Sporting but I don't see many options other than to run him, Martinelli, and Nelson back out against Fulham.

Sunday is the type of match where you really could use a set piece goal, some gritty defending, and a jammy 1-0.
 

SidelineCameras

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Well Fulham turned out better than expected. Trossard was all the way back with a massive performance and Jesus looks like he’s itching to return to form. Just about as good an away win in that situation against a team that had been in form.

Eyes on the prize, boys. Long way to go but the belief certainly seems there.
 

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Apr 5, 2007
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Their depth does suddenly look a lot better. That they had key injuries at a bad time and played well and stayed on top of the league has got to be a big confidence boost. That sort of situation is how they dropped out of the champions league spots last year. This is a much deeper team than that one. Their next 5 league games have a trip to Anfield and then a bunch of bottom half teams. Liverpool is playing better and will be a challenge, but they should be able to rotate in the other games and work around the Europa league matches. Then comes a tough 4 game stretch against City, Chelsea, Newcastle, and Brighton. That is going to be the deciding section of the season. There are also only two games after that, so that's kind of obvious.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 2, 2006
22,345
Philadelphia
Getting Trossard back and having Jesus fit for the bench was an enormous boost.

We badly needed a match like this one where we went up early and could cruise a bit in the second half. You can't expect to pull 90th minute winners out of your hat every weekend.

Five league wins in a row since that rough patch where we lost to Everton, drew Brentford, and lost to City. This is a resilient team. The next couple months are going to be an enormous test and I'm excited to see what happens.