Arsenal may have ended a 22-year wait for the Premier League title last season, but have they failed to take advantage of that position of strength?
Rather than strengthening an attack many expected to be the priority this summer, Arsenal have allowed several forward players to leave. Dan questions whether financial considerations have been placed ahead of giving Mikel Arteta the strongest possible squad to defend the title.
Improving From a Position of Strength
Sir Alex Ferguson used to preach the importance of a winning team improving from a position of strength.
The assumption was Arsenal’s priority this summer would be strengthening our attack, with the consensus being it was the Gunners’ defensive work that was the biggest contribution to ending a 22-year title drought.
With our owners walking out with the Premiership trophy at Selhurst Park in May, I asked: would the Kroenke family want more days like this?
Father and son said the right things, but many in their position wouldn’t have authorised sales in the forward areas this week without knowing replacements had been lined up. That’s why Liverpool ended negotiations in terms of Gakpo leaving Anfield.
Ripping up Reiss Nelson’s contract and selling Martinelli, Jesus and Vieira reduced the wage bill by approximately £600,000 a week. Yet there are previous champions of England who would not have prioritised a financial decision over what is best for the team on the pitch.
Have Arsenal Made the Same Mistake Again?
It reminds me of January 2025 when, despite injuries up front, some Gooners made excuses for the failure to bring in any help.
I said at the time that window could cost us everything, and I fear the same might happen this campaign.
Mikel Arteta will be forced to quote the company line that the recruitment policy at Arsenal is that we only identify talent who can make us better, and therefore the shortlist is small, but at least we had the ambition to try.
Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs, Man City, PSG, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Everton, Sunderland, Villa, etc. were all able to bring in attackers.
These clubs ignored how inflated the market is because nothing was more important to them than fixing problem areas.
Make zero mistake, if Arsenal really wanted to, they could have improved our attack.
They could have extended Martinelli’s contract by 12 months as a worst-case scenario. They didn’t because the sporting side of the business wasn’t important enough. Not at the expense of slashing the wage bill.
Rivals Wouldn’t Have Made These Decisions
It pains me to write this, but those in power at the Etihad, Stamford Bridge and Anfield would not have made the decisions Arsenal have made in the last week.
When I woke up Tuesday morning and heard Nwaneri was being sent out on loan, I assumed Andrea Berta had someone up his sleeve simply because English champions wouldn’t conduct themselves any other way.
If the Premiership is to remain at the Emirates, our manager will again rely on our team’s defensive talent and work rate off the ball.
That contradicts what the Spaniard and his employers have been saying for months now.
That’s not to say it can’t happen, but it seems naive to think opponents won’t tactically work out our system. That’s why it made sense to adapt our tactics offensively instead of regressing.
It seems so neglectful that it beggars belief that a director of football would sit back and watch rivals fix their issues while he stands still.
It’s more worrying that those who pay his salary have let it happen.
It’s not because we were close to breaching FFP rules or a star name demanded to leave.
Arsenal Have Left the Door Open
Arsenal had their foot on their rivals’ throats and have let them breathe.
They remain favourites to retain the title but have left the door open, and I’m less confident than I was a month ago.
Forget the Champions League.
You don’t become Kings of Europe by diluting your attacking options and probably don’t deserve to if that’s the level of your ambition.
We have left the door open to institutions with the resources to make us pay for standing still.
The rest of the division was there for the taking, and we have not taken advantage, scared to take that next step.
A naive and arrogant transfer window.
Dan Smith
Do you agree with Dan that Arsenal have wasted an opportunity to strengthen from a position of power, or do you think the club were right not to spend simply for the sake of adding another attacker?
Have Arsenal done enough to retain the Premier League title, or could this transfer window ultimately come back to haunt them?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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100% agree.
Kroenke’s just bought LA Angels for USD 4bn. Hope they weren’t financially distracted.
Wow!!!! ok, lets for arguments sake we Haven’t improved our strike force. It wasn’t our fantastic strike force that won us the league. It was out defence. We drew with the best team in club football in the CL final and lost because we couldn’t take penalties. Our defence and the midfield have been strengthened and would struggle to be better. With a stronger defence and a stronger midfield, it should improve the attack. Now wether it does, or it doesn’t the season will prove it, not kneejerk reaction to a perceived poor tranfer window, that is far from poor. Trossard apart, I do find it funny that the maligned Jesus, Martinelli plus Nwaneri being used as an excuse for a go by you Dan at the Kronkes. When you in the past have never given them credit and have always tried to say, they have not done the best for Arsenal. Well Dan, last season we won the league under the Kronkes and you still never gave them credit. Now before the season has really started, you are trying to malign them again. And we have not stood still, we have improved defence and midfield. The only failure was we were unable to bring in a marquee attacker signing, that Arsenal were trying to get. The bigger the name, the harder it is to get, we failed but that is not a failure. Its a failure that the Marquee signing we wanted were unatainable. We actively tried to sign Yildiz, Vjr and Alvarez but without kidnapping them we couldn’t get them for one reason or another. To say we have made us weaker this summer is not factually correct. I think the truth is we have been made more pragmatic!!!!!! Now wether that is better or worse, we will find out.
so if your saying our attack wasn’t fantastic shouldn’t we improve it not make it weaker ?
Didn’t say we are weaker
said our attack was and that is a gamble we don’t need to make
I gave our owners credit last season for the appointment of Berta but have to call it as I see it
the attack is weaker
so if your saying our attack wasn’t fantastic shouldn’t we improve it not make it weaker ?
Didn’t say we are weaker
said our attack was and that is a gamble we don’t need to make
I gave our owners credit last season for the appointment of Berta but have to call it as I see it
the attack is weaker
And Dan, Bertha was in charge of incomings and outgoings, NOT father and son. They pay people to do the job!!! Why on earth should they say, wether we should bring in attackers or not. They are not skilled football people? It has nothing to do with them. They just pay and trust people to deliver. We delivered last season, they more than likely expect them to deliver again. They just provide the finance.
Why on earth ?
Because they own the club
If you pay someone to do a job and they don’t in any business yes an owner would ask questions
So yes I would expect our owners to ask how have we gone from needing to fix the attack to having even less options ?
Never, they have many businesses and are not skilled in anything but making money. That why they employ people. You obviously do not know how big business is run.
Dan how did we make it weaker? What was Nelli’s and Gab J’s contribution last season? Gab J, 11 substitute appearances & 3 starts with a return of 3 goals! They will not be missed. As for Fabio, we have Dowman who is much much better. We added Bruno who is nearly world class and Skelly who has nailed his mid field spot. Tzolis is not worse than an aging Trossad, agree he had a bad day at Villa Park, so did majority of our players. Good riddance to the 3 players who contributed to 4 goals in the EPL.
Lets stay calm and trust the manager & his team, a 1-0 to the gunners is better than a 4-3. I want Raya to pick up another golden glove. Who knows we might add a free agent or wait till Jan to sign Ktoupi.
I agree with you on much of this Reggie. The Kroenkes made funds available. This was not a failure on their part.
Dan, since we’re naming names – the real key figure missing in this article is Richard Garlick. For those unfamiliar, Arsenal’s executive team management structure consists of Arteta, Berta and Garlick. Garlick is the CEO. He oversees deal structures and finance, and reports up to the board and the owners. Berta handles player identification and contracts, but all three, including Mikel, need to approve any deal. So you can criticize Berta for not having a magic deal up his sleeve, but the other two would still need to sign off. The Kroenkes approving is basically a formality once those three agree, if the money is already available.
That said I don’t think this is really about naivety or arrogance. I get the frustration but they genuinely tried to upgrade, after all. It just didn’t pan out, and they weren’t impressed enough with many of the players that were actually available, like Fofana (or their prices, like Rogers, and honestly who can blame them really). But let’s not forget that this has been a very strange window. Other top clubs had an even worse time with regards to attackers than us. Including Barcelona!
@Reggie
I’m still of the mind that hadn’t we given up that penalty, we would have won that cup. We had momentum up until that point, then we slacked off and tried regaining it back. But PSG held on. Otherwise, we had them won and done.
Possibly but we will never know and move on NY.
60 mil for martinelli is peanuts ,Chelsea got 65 million for Jackson and 50 mil for delap who’s absolutely useless and what use is 60 million when you don’t have a back up natural left winger , awful choices made and irresponsible to not have bought and THEN sold , a lot of focus was on what martinelli didn’t do like score much in the league but he got 6 in the champions league , when we needed goals he was always dangerous and had the ability to run at players and shift defences , gutted we let him go , and in my opinion plain stupid . Really disappointing from a summer that promised so much . The game against villa was an awful watch , from 78 minutes onwards we were pissing about time wasting , playing for free kicks , getting to the final third and then stopping , that’s not how Arsenal should play , I wanna see us spank teams , keep rolling , get the game won , get a second goal , pummel teams , we lost possession too frequently and if we were playing against a team that was better equipped we would have come unstuck and if we continue to play like that from the 70th odd minute we will drop points over the course of the season , Arsenal under wenger was entertaining , yes I like winning but we need to win with more endeavour . As for Julian Alvarez what were we thinking ? As soon as he made it clear he wanted Barca id have put the phone down , if you wanna choose any other club over arsenal then you aren’t worthy of Arsenal , another target should have been identified and on a list in bertas back pocket but instead nothing ….. we all know we needed more goals last year , we are champions we should have a queue of players begging to join us and probably do , but we wasted all our efforts on a player pining for some “dream” move to broke ass Barca , we are better than those mugs and if anyone prefers a move to another club over Arsenal they don’t deserve the option of putting our shirt on , the fact we waited around like a bridesmaid hoping for someone to show us some attention irks me
You have to understand finance. Martinelli was in the last year of his contract, so 55 mil is very good. Jackson was on a long contract and so was Delap. It makes a difference to values. Martinelli could have walked away for free next year, the other two were under a long contract and still hold a value.
No he couldn’t
Arsenal had option for another 12 months
So essentially a buying club knew that
As for the owners of course they can speak up and make certain demands
They simply say you don’t sell Martinelli or Trossard till both have been replaced
Here’s hoping they ask what has gone on to allow our attack to be weaker in options
Who signs the cheques?
Could it be Arteta willing to buy, Fofana for example, Berta was too. But Garlick refused to buy?
Moon Girl
Since Tim Lewis left, we’ve been lacking in that dept.
The word option is just that. Both parties have to agree to apply the extra year, if one party doesn’t want to, it a non starter. He had 12 months.
again made up lol
Arsenal had the option not the player
so Arsenal didn’t need his agreement to extend the contract
the notion that both parties have to agree is made up
No it isn’t, you are making things up?
The contract required both parties too agree and Arsenal didn’t want too.
and also wouldn’t make sense lol
You are not making sense? And making things up.
no mate
it’s factual that Arsenal had the 12 month option , not the player
But you are ignoring the fact that Martinelli didn’t want to leave and openly said he would sign a new contract.
The £55 million is way under what he is worth as Choo points out with his examples.
Delap hadn’t even been given a squad number and Jackson was their second or third choice striker!!
That reply is for Reggie
And he’s ignoring that Arsenal had a 12 month option so there was never a world where he would have walked for free in 12 months
I like your reasoning
Why did Martin Keown say Martinelli didn’t want to renew? And Arsenal definitely didn’t want to renew.
but In terms of value on the asset if Arsenal didn’t get the fee they wanted they would have added 12 months on
so no he couldn’t have walked away for nothing in 12 months
But Arsenal didn’t want too? And they did get the fee they wanted?
I don’t think getting long term target Bruno, then buying one of the best all round defenders in the PL to cover for Saliba’s long term injury and bringing in one of the brightest LW prospects in Europe would mean Mr Kronkie was “financially distracted” Sensible Gooner as a reported £200,000,000 plus has been spent just on those three players.
That’s without all the youngsters signed up under new contracts.
Instead of highlighting the owner Dan, shouldn’t we be looking at those people he has employed at vast expense to run the club?
We have Bertha who came to us at great expense with a top reputation and, until this window , had brought in the players requested by the manager and paid for by Mr Kronkie, enabling us to have such a fantastic season.
We also have the longest serving and highest paid manager in the PL, who was given the time and money by Mr Kronkie to build our PL title winning squad of brilliant players.
They include forwards like Havertz (£65 million?)Gyokeres (£65 million?) Manduka (£60 million?)Eze (£68 million?) all wanted by Arteta,bought in by Bertha and paid for by Mr Kronkie.
So why is our attack weaker this season?
Simple really – MA decided to sell Trossard, Jesus and Martinelli, while Bertha decided to spend all his energies trying to persuade a player who stated quite clearly that he had no intention or desire to sign for the club….which I assume meant that Mr Kronkie had given both MA and Bertha the assurance that he would invest the reported £120,000,000 asking price demanded by Athletico Madrid?!
If it turns out that the club have wasted the opportunity to strengthen our attack, then blame Arteta for weakening it and Bertha for wasting his time and effort flogging a dead horse.
Yes seems the attacking shortfall may have been a cascade of events. Rogers – they thought they had him, got distracted by Vincus, then missed the latter and chequebook Chelsea swooped. Then Alvarez was in theoretical reach, which sounds like dragged right until the end.
Still, they have ended up running what to me is unnecessary risk for a club seeking elite goals, which is on them collectively.
I could imagine didn’t help that in dying days of transfer window, Kronkes were busy finalising $4bn deal for another club – but you’re probably right Ken, I’m stretching with that one.
The Kroenkes would need to sign off personally on all big transactions, after representations from Richard Garlick, whose name isn’t mentioned here so far but is the actual person who manages deal structures and club finances. Berta’s team is responsible for player identification, day to day dealings, contract preparation etc. So yeah, this is a collective thing where there is more than just one thing going on at more than one level.
Bergkampfwagen.
You need to get up earlier. Moon Girl had you beaten by over 2 hours on the Garlick situation😏.
I got the worm, I got the worm. 🤣
I would say set your alarms, truth is I hadn’t put phone down for the night yet when I posted it, for me it was still yesterday.
If MA and Berta would have signed Fofana or similar to have extra body left forward, and Garlick refused to open the purse – and MA had a-one to the player yes there were reports “not all on board”, we should see Garlick as key player in our window, not simply blame MA or Berta if you don’t like something.
I don’t think Garlick was wrong in the situation, why bring in bodies just for cover, who won’t be up to the level when/if you need to call on them?
Yeah I agree – Garlick was in a bit of a situation on the last day of the window because of the way things played out.
On the one hand, if he agrees to open the books for a backup player for £50-60m that rarely plays, it’s probably a waste of money and another problem to solve down the line.
On the other, if he doesn’t agree to it, some fans are upset. But he’s been fiscally responsible, given the Martinelli transfer wasn’t completed.
If a CEO has the choice between annoying the fans or potentially wasting £50 million of the club’s money, I think we all know which choice he’s going to make…
Oh my bad haha. I didn’t read every comment before responding to that one.
Also in my defense, I’m in California so it was late evening 😉
Excuses, Excuses!!🤣
We struck out on the elite players we wanted and we were not prepared to pay the inflated prices for Rogers and Barcola. My guess is that we get through to January and then bring someone in. I know January is not the best time to buy but l think they have someone in mind. By that time we will need the ‘cutting edge’ to progress through the CL knock out phases. MA has said numerous times it’s no longer about building the squad but making the team better. Is Tzolis better than Martinelli and Trossard, maybe marginally, time will tell. However, l believe the next attacking player through the door will definitely be on another level. Before City finished spending l thought we had enough to win the PL again this season, now l am not so sure. The only chink l see in their armor is what happens if Haaland gets injured?
Trust me Barcola will be another Isaak 2.0
PSG weren’t foolish to let him go, the real deal is KK at PSG. Good, we sent out a message that we no longer will pay over the odds for good not great players.
Whatever the logic or excuses, Arsenal have put themselves in a poor position to win silverware this year. We barely got it over the line last year, but now we have LESS depth. Tzolis had a terrible first game, doesn’t look like he will make an impact right away, and there is no backup for him. If Tzolis and Saka are injured, Arsenal will struggle mightily to score goals. You can’t win the league on draws alone. One hopes we can still win silverware this year, but at the moment, it does appear that we are a weaker club than last year, so not a great way to start.
To say we barely got over the line last year is misrepresenting the facts. 7 points difference is the reality. I made that 2 wins and a draw.
True bro
It turns out that Arsenal’s saddest mistake of the transfer window was the refusal to pay £117m for Morgan Rogers even though many of us, including me, applauded the decision at the time.
But now, seeing the kind of money clubs forked out for bang average players, you would think that £117m for a young, home grown star of Morgan Rogers’ class would have made sense. And he would have improved that front line considerably
Let’s hope that we can hold on till December and try to rectify the bad situation in the January window.
Eberechi Eze did fairly well against Villa from the left flank. Maybe he will be the saviour
It wouldn’t cost Arsenal the title. There is the mentality, the stability, the fear factor, the knack to win by a solitary goal that drive Arsenal to the 26/27 title
I don’t want to go anywhere near the January transfer window. It would be desperation stakes with every club knowing that Arsenal were in panic mode and needed someone quickly. Then there would be rumours of every man and his dog desperate to sign for Arsenal. We simply know that is only our wishful thinking. Despite our being champions and a favorite to take out European honors, there was no mad scramble of players pushing each other out of the way in order to want to play for Arteta.
Naive and arrogant transfer window could cost title versus fans exaggerating lack of attacking squad depth.
All bases covered 🙂
There’s a glaring weakness in the “count up the numbers, less numbers is logically weaker” argument. That is forgetting the number of match squads Jesus, Havertz and Gyokeres weren’t fit enough to get in. There were some match days all three didn’t make it and Merino played false 9.
So which base you in MG 😁
Maybe there shouldn’t be an actual answer, just different ways of breaking nuts?
Firstly, Chelsea and Man City seem to burn through money and players.£60M in, hardly play, and on they go to next club. Reindeer – who was being hailed as second coming 12 months ago – gone already. But in theory, long contract high wage that outside the prem only the sandpit can match – it shouldn’t be that easy to move players on without losses adding up – how are Man City and Chelsea doing it?
However, the counter approach, pay over the top for whatever available in a window, and you may have allocate squad numbers, but do have quality depth. It may have taken years and many windows for Arsenal to build a quality squad – do spurs feel they’ve achieved quality squad in just one window? Chelsea’s approach finished tenth last season.
no it’s fairly obvious.
If a head Chef , tastes food then turns round to his kitchen and says we need better ingredients, go order some ….
he wouldn’t then expect to come back in the next day with some ingredients thrown away but nothing else brought
He would then have the same ingredients he wanted improved on but now less to pick from
He would rightly ask why would you throw away stock without knowing something better was being delivered
Because he still has to cook for a restaurant not even with the same ingredients he had before but less choice
Dan,
You’re making me hungry. 😂👍
me too lol
I do love your comparisons Dan
Do you think that selling players is the same as throwing something away?
Did you think that last season we had a very impressive squad with depth of talent? Would Jesus have played significantly? Would Trossard – another year older needing an upgraded contract make sense? Just a couple of thoughts
no I think our attack needed improving …..it hasn’t improved
I would have kept Trossard or Martinelli at least if another replacement wasn’t available
Well in the case of Trossard, it looked fairly obvious he was leaving on his own accord. He was signed up and out of the door early on so that left Martinelli.
I doubt the club wanted the left side to lose 2 players with one not being replaced. Strange window with ludicrous transfer fees.
then keep Martinelli till you have a replacement
or at the very least keep Nwaneri and tell us that he will benefit from the gaps in the squad
Looking back on this window it seems that Arsenal were prepared to make decisions that you and many others would not have done
This might be controversial, but i would love to see calafiori as a winger. If you watch him play, he is hardly ever doing much defending anyway. He is always further up the field. That guy is one hell of a player. Put him in any position and he’ll deliver. Honestly, we can even put him up front as a striker and he’ll get goals. He’s just one of those players that can’t be put in a box. He does it all.
Also, downman will get more games this season. The boy is ready, so give him the playtime. There’s also different formations that can be used, goals coming from all over the pitch, hopefully improvement in fitness (with the new club doctor that was hired). There’s more to improving a team than just buying players. If buying players was always the only answer, liverpool would’ve won the league last year. Yet they didn’t even make top 4. Think about that. They broke the transfer record twice in one window and didn’t even make top 4! That should tell you that new players alone is not enough. With all that being said, I would’ve loved another attacker. Anyway it is what it is, lets support the team. What I have no doubt about is the desire that this team has. They’ve tasted victory now, and that will only make them want trophies even more. Lets not underestimate that. Their appetite for more trophies will push them even harder to give it their all.
Kau memang pandai cakap saja.
Bila Arsenal tak beli player/ lambat beli player/ tak berjaya beli player, kau cakap Arsenal naive, siap cakap arrogant pulak tu.
Bila Arsenal beli player, kau cakap Arsenal beli trophy.
Semuanya tak kena di mata kau.
Ye lah, kau saja yang betul.
its not even whether we have improved but also the balance of the squad. While Rice, Skelly and Zubbimendi could all fill at defence. None of our midfield or fullbacks can fill in as wingers. Im surprised both Jesus and MArtinelli were sold. If we get 2 injuries in wide positions we are very short on numbers in those positions.
Title is up in the air.Poor decision making.Baring injuries it czn be corrected in January. If we have half the injuries Spurs had last season,we can forget the Title altogether
Relax guys, we still have depth. We have 3 strikers including Merino. Dowman will now be a regular meaning that we have 4 wingers if you add Eze. Some of these players didn’t play much last season and they won’t accept limited roles years after year.There were no takers for Martinelli in EPL, where player valuations are inflated. I also agree that we should have paid the fee for Rogers because that’s what you now pay for an elite player.
I think our attack looks better than the beginning of last season.
Odegaard is in fine form. He scored one goal last season, he already has two.
Saka is looking like he has been putting injury problems behind him too.
Havertz was injured this time last year but is looking good
It is actually incredible that we won the league with so many problems with attacking players but it is looking brighter now plus newbies like Gyokores and Eze have settled in and Dowman has made his place in the squad.
We also have Calafiori who is perfecting the hybrid role of a full back/wild card attacker. He has two assists in the premier league already, plus his goal in the Shield. Each time he was involved in the opening goal of the match
I agree. How much Jesus and Havertz and Ode and Gyokeres missed last season, and how Saka and Rice carried injuries, and Timber and Saliba and Gabriel and Califiori all missed sizeable chunks – yet still the title two finals and QF.
How can Gooners point to the deepest quality squad depth in the Prem and panic there is not enough numbers or quality to achieve what we want this season. I just don’t see and think what they are seeing and thinking,. It’s weird behaviour. 🤷♀️
because we believed we were improving the attack and have ended up with less options in attack
I think the focus on signing a striker should have been directed elsewhere. For example, Pavlidis at Benfica or Tetteh at Panathinaikos should have been considered from both a sporting and a financial perspective.
It is likely that neither option would have been the perfect solution; however, it would have added some much-needed depth to the attack without demanding excessive costs or wasting money, whilst avoiding the risk of
breaking FFP regulations. The playing styles of both players could fit in with the team’s game plan.
Can we try developing Dowman to also play from the left wing.
This is the right age to grow him into an ambidextrous winger.
That’s what he needs to be the world-class footballer we all expect him to become.
I am not sure management see Dowman as a winger. I don’t think he will play much on any wing now.
I think they see Dowman as Central attacking midfielder like Eze and Odegaard. If they give him starts, or bring him on for 30 minutes, that’s where I think they will mostly use Dowman this season, centrally. The Heir to Ode.
For me, as happy as I was that we won the League last season. I even had question marks regarding out attack then. And that’s not changed now either. It still remains an unanswered question.
Yes our defense is strong as is our midfield, no problems there. But the attack is still highly questionable in my view. Tzolis has had a promising start, although at Villa he discovered the hardness of this League.
Saka is the star boy, Madueke I liken to Iwobi. He promises much but delivers very little. Gyokeres, his 21 goals cannot be ignored in his first season, but on reading quite a few posts over last season the jury still appears to be out on him to a certain extent. Havertz, well he creates division amongst the fans as far as I can see. Some love him, and some don’t rate him. I’m personally in the middle when it comes to Havertz.
Now having got rid of Nelson, Nwaneri, Jesus, and worst of all Martinelli, to expect Tzolis to carry the burden down that left side will be a big ask of him in his first season if that turns out to be the case. To not bring in at least one more left sided player was badly judged by the club and whoever decided it.
Sadly the writing was on the wall the moment the club wasted most of the summer chasing two players that we’re never going to join.
Vinicius Junior, was never going to join. Something I banged on about constantly.
And then just how many times did Arsenal want telling by Alvarez that he didn’t want to play in England let alone at Arsenal.
No to much time wasted. And now we’ll have to see how we do up to January, and then it will be difficult to buy top players in that month because clubs don’t want to sell their best players then, especially if their heavily involved in competitions.
There is just a glimmer of hope, but it’s a risky one. I’ve wrote a post with a list of players that are free agents asking for fellow poster’s views on who they would take in the short term.
As I say, I think our club are guilty of standing still regards the attack. I hope I’m proved wrong, but the club are certainly taking a big risk regards our attack.
Yes, but why does this happen to all the sports directors we’ve had? Is this a joke? Two years ago, we had no depth, they were constantly playing themselves, they were bursting their lungs.They couldn’t get their feet wet… As a result, City won our championship easily in the end. And this year again, if we often didn’t have the favor of the referees Decisions, we might have lost it. But here I would like to focus more on Arteta’s statements after the lost European final. Have you seen such a will anywhere? No, it is the Answer. A permanent delay. With Guimaraes we ate half a summer, Tzolis ok it was a small expense closed quickly, Konsa and him relatively quickly for a reasonable amount. What is the absurdity? when Your main target, Alvarez, makes it clear to you two months before the window closes, that… Arsenal and the Premier League don’t interest me in the slightest. No second or third attempt and you see the Same result. Then why do you insist another month and a half? Why? Also you go to a target who clearly never said I want Arsenal. He used you for his own best contract. I mean him Vinicius. Did anyone ever believe that this player wants something other than Real Madrid? I don’t think so. Why did you waste so much time there? With that money you could have bought two players immediately who could have They would like to come and they would be first choice. In the end what happened. You got rid of heavy contracts mainly Jesus, also Martinelli, Trossard, and you also gave Nouanere on loan, a striker where You told us that this was a player case. No, you didn’t believe him. When. So you took out the contracts you had every week and a few hundred thousand for the releases. And I ask the Havertz, Tjolis, Jokeres, Saka, and Madueke who would come If he were the first to leave, five attacking players, three wings, and two forwards, could you win a championship, a cup, and especially Champions League matches every week?Really the changelings or completely dangerously irrelevant. Okay we have a goalkeeper and a top defensive line in England, a center also pro complete but attack? Well not only did you get money from the Selling strikers, you are in the plus and from the contracts they had, you were left with the 150,000,000 euros that you were supposed to get for a striker. And yes, it is a fact at the time that you It is beneficial to build an empire, you put the noose around your own neck. Besides, the Kronks were not the ones who always declared that Arsenal was still a profitable business, and essentially Have they lost the sports world? Yes, that’s right. Does Kroenke outside remind you of anything? Aren’t they the ones who said that since We are the most profitable business and we don’t mind if we don’t get any headlines. Here we go again. I don’t believe that this whole story happened by chance. In my country, if there was such a thing,Behavior would have permanently lost all their sleep, and the stadium would be more than 60/70% empty. At Arsenal, thousands of sheep are waiting in line for a long time. Then don’t Speak up and don’t whine. You don’t deserve better than the Kronkees.
Although I’m as disappointed as everyone else that we were not able to get the L W and striker signings – as many have said, we have strengthened in midfield and defence which were already the best in the P L.
The attacking players that were sold, didn’t get that much P L game time last season, so in forward terms, we won the P L with the 2nd highest goals – (Man City scored 5 more, but were 7 points – 2 wins and a draw behind us, and we won the Title with a game to spare) – essentially ‘without’ the players that were sold.
Havertz and Gyokeres – our main strikers for this season – at the moment – both had reasonable periods of time out with injuries last season.
We STILL won the P L with the 2nd highest goals – by 7 points – with a game to spare.
Saka had a ‘poor’ season by his standards – Odegaard had a ‘poor’ season by his standards.
They’ve both started really well this season.
The squad can be added to again in January – MLS and Max Dowman, are likely to get more game time now.
They are young, but they are good, and more senior squad game time will only improve them.
Some of the comments’ like the Article itself, have come down hard on the Club Owners and Management.
Some, while still remaining objective, are clearly more supportive.
I’m in the 2nd group on this one.
Last May, the Club Owners and Management were HERO’S
Now in the minds of some – in the space of 3 months – they’re CRIMINAL’S.
They can’t win – they’re damned if they do (and they’re signings don’t work out) and damned if they don’t – they can’t win.
Look at all the money the Spuds Sunday Leaguer’s have spent in this Transfer window – and they are still where they belong – at the very bottom.
We’re essentially, where we belong – at the very top.
None of us would swap places – would we?
Too many positives Chris. You may not last long on JA.
👍😆
🙄 another way round more like .
The transfer window started excitingly with Guimaraes and Tzolis, but ended badly by not replacing Martinelli, Trossard with another top attacker
I’m still in shock to be honest
I’m worried about LW
We sold Martinelli, Trossard and Jesus. Martinelli and Trossard can play LW
Jesus is primarily CF/Striker but can play winger too.
We got Tzolis but he hasn’t completely proven himself yet.
We are okay in RW with Saka and Madueke
We are okay up front with Gyokeres and Havertz
I suppose Madueke can be put on the left but his best position is RW
I think it’s very negligent and almost self-sabotage to sell top players (Martinelli, Trossard and Jesus) and not buy/or get on loan a top player in that same Position or another top attacker in general.
And of course, if we are weaker in 1 position, we are weaker overall
And what happens if Tzolis and/or Madueke/Saka gets injured
Maybe I’m worrying too much
I hope we get through okay
But I expected more from MA especially since City has strengthened more than us
💯
Don’t worry B B
I’m resilient.!!!
Tzolis, Eze, Madueke, Saka, Dowman are available on the wings. So is 5 wingers too short for an aspiring champion?
well it’s weaker then our options last season so it depends if you were happy with our attack then or not ?
I’ve just read on the Arsenal Website that Martinelli has signed for his new club.
So any hope of a last minute reprieve is now gone.
Saw this as well Derek – it seems the club doesn’t worry about our left wing depth very much, as they have sold three players who played there and replaced with one!!
Let’s hope the reliance on the RW doesn’t backfire but It’s been this way ever since MA became our manager .
Thank you Gabriel Martinelli for your seven years of service, you became a true Gooner in every sense of the word and a professional footballer at all times. You will be sorely missed – good luck luck for the future.
Derek, they’ve still not removed Martinelli from the players list.
…and it looks as though we’ll only be able to name a 23-man Premier League squad, relying on academy players again.
Gutted we didn’t sign a top top forward but was anyone really available. And maybe Arteta wanted a more manageable squad which does make sense to me. 3pts on Sunday and all will be forgotten
Getting through one game is not the point. It’s a long season. Injuries happen. Players fatigue, go through form patches. That is the whole point.
Definitely hope so Perry. A lot of our crap football last season stemmed from the fact that we had few attacking options outside of the wingers. When Martinelli wasn’t producing many spectacular moments, Trossard’s jinking getting nowhere,Saka stalled through injury and a tired body. With nothing coming from our midfield it was simply too easy for opposing team to close down our attacking options especially with Gyorkes, Harvetz and Jesus mostly making up the numbers and providing minimal threats. Our midfield was let down by Eze, Odegard and Zubamendi all being out of sync and short of ideas. I’m hoping that with Skelley’s energy, Bruno’s smarts and Tzolis’ passing there will more creative options this season and this will make up for the fact that we don’t yet have an out and out superstar in the squad. Chelsea on Sunday will give us a better idea.
Apparently when asked in his press conference if Arsenal had ticked all the boxes’ regarding transfers, Arteta said yes.
So going for Vinicius Junior and Alvarez, and failing to get both, all the boxes were ticked.
I think someone’s telling porky’s.
Some people are never happy, won us our first title in 22 years, and because he refuses to spend big money on bang average players, he is called arrogant and lazy. Arteta knows the players he wants, and most of the PL clubs have spent a fortune on average players. Some people can’t let their dislike of Arteta just fade away, just wait for any excuse to criticise him.
Yes he helped us win the League for the first time in 22 years. But that doesn’t make him immune from criticism.
Yes I agree with you regards not overpaying for players. But to not bring in another left-sided player is incompetent.
You let 5 attacking players go, and bring in one. Of course Arteta is going to be questioned on that, regardless of whether he’s liked or not.
And then he doesn’t help himself when asked if all the boxes regards transfers have been ticked. He says yes, how can that possibly be true if they tried and failed to get the two names they were constantly connected with over the summer.
It’s very old fashioned to think 5 out 1 in has left us short of options. The people pushing that ratio last weekend have already embarrassed themselves – Inward stepping Eze inverted in partnership with wing backing Ricky is an option that was never even being counted in the lazy “one out one in” mindset. Many of us have inverted Eze with rampaging Ricky as potentially better option than Tzolis, it has a double teaming opposing full back about it that properly turned the tables on Matty Cash.
It could be an embarrassing mistake saying Arteta doesn’t know what he’s doing on transfers, when it’s a committee that decides, MA having a say, Berta and his spotters and evaluators and technicians, and Garlick could trump all of them not signing the cheque.
It’s also very rude to say the management don’t know what they are doing, are you 100% sure a left forward Skelly or Nanweri won’t burst on the scene in coming weeks? You can’t be sure they won’t, becuase the way football works now is every Prem side is banking on the academy, into which huge sums of the clubs money is spent, helping first team out this season. Ditto – how are you so sure using inverted Eze with wing backing Full back wasn’t one of a host of plans and cool idea’s to maximise deep and talented squad, long before Trossard and Martinelli were moved on?
Options for left forward.
Top option, inverted Eze with rampaging Ricky,
Next best option, inverted Havertz with rampaging Ricky
Next best option, Merino inverted with Rampaging Ricky.
Next best option, Skelly inverted with Rampaging Ricky.
Next best option, Tzolis.
Next best option, Noni.
Next best option Key-Dac.
Number 9.
Best option Havertz
Next best option, Gyokeres
Next best option Eze false 9
Next best option, Merino
Well said MG for putting forward options
It gets tiresome to constantly read the doom and gloom merchants before the sh@t actually hits the fan
“Rampaging Ricky” I like it. I just hope he’s ready to rampage back to defense often enough tomorrow.
so many things not accurate about what you said
I’m all ears
so if you have 5 of something and you now have 1 , that is less then what you have before
that’s just factual maths not old fashioned thinking
Eze on the left in partnership with Calafori is an option that we are all aware of and have seen so this idea that fans have not thought of it is not true . Nor is the idea that Maduake can play there .
Again though these were options last season so again it’s not old fashioned thinking to say we have lesser options .
very few have said Arteta doesn’t know what he’s doing they simply pointed out that Arsenal attack is weaker then last season
We know Nwaneri won’t burst onto the scenes because he’s in Germany .
The idea Skelly can play on the left again is an option we had last season so again would leave you with less options now
no of all the options named outside of Tzolis( the 5th best option apparently) all of those options were available last season
so in fact it’s just evidence to say that we had more options last season which we knew
👍
Well said Dan, why people refuse to see that all is being said is we have less options is beyond me.
And as for people having to be embarrassed, I think Moon Girls wide of the mark in that regard.
As you say Dan, all the options pointed out were there last season to.