At the beginning of last season, prior to the opening three defeats, hopes were high that Arsenal would have a good season, everything was in their favour, no European football, one game a week, Tottenham in disarray and Man Utd still under the tutelage of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
We had two well known and respected strikers in Pierre-Emerick Aubamayang and Alexandre Lacazette with some very exciting youngsters ready and willing to learn from the two experienced hitmen.
Then it all went wrong and our two strikers simply did not do what we expected. Aubamyang form evaporated and Lacazette couldn’t hit a barn door and worse, Auba was not the sort of presence in the dressing room to set a good example.
Well, both are gone now and this presents Mikel Arteta with a golden opportunity to bring in players to lead the line, both on and off the pitch.
The club will surely know that Eddie Nketiah is not that man, he may be a good squad player but the idea that he could be our main attacker next season is for the birds, he is not and the board need to dig deep and bring in two men that Arteta wants and trusts.
It is now the end of an era, Auba and Laca have been the main two men for quite a few years now and we thank them for their service but it really was never quite good enough.
Arteta and Edu cannot get this wrong, it would be unforgivable if they do and with both Tottenham and Man Utd expected to kick on next season the battle for the top four will be even tighter in the next campaign
There is still a lot of time before the transfer window closes and so there is no rush but the longer it is left the more worrying it will become. Nerves need to be settled and last-minute panic buying needs to be avoided at all costs.
As already stated, this is a golden opportunity for Arteta now, let’s hope that he and Edu get it right and create a front line that will do Arsenal proud.
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Two 8th places in a row, two covid no fan seasons and a huge pile of players we could not sell meant even with 6 new players the squad was light on quality, low on confidence. Not surprisingly Arsenal was not expected to make even top 6 and after going 0-3 the fan base basically wrote the season off as a dead loss. The fact that the gaffer dragged the team into top 4 contention by Xmas and an eventual 5th place 11 points clear of Man U in 6th was nothing short of miraculous. Aubameyang and Lacazette for their fees of 60m and 50m respectively were this season as close to usless as it is possible to be . These two half a million a week salaried players scored less goals than either Saka and ESR who between them cost less than a litre of milk.
We simply don’t need a 50m striker and we still have 72m Pepe. We only needed 3 more goals to get Champions league football. We did NOT need a 20 goal striker. Nketiah, Balogun Biereth Marquinos+ Pepe will easily get those 3 extra goals. But the fans will scream till they get their 50m marque player. And because the club is incredibly rich we can simply afford to throw 50/60 m down the drain again. Aubameyag and Lacazette attest to that. Its what super rich clubs do
A real fan a true fan. this is what is, required, fans who love the club over some fellas committing day light robbery from 100k/week upto 350k/week.Well spoken, honesty appreciated
Why not get someone in in January to get the extra 3 goals. You always avoid the January window shambles. If we keep the same CM we will struggle again this season. You don’t always have to spend vast amounts of money to sign good players just have to find and sign the right players
This is a valid point but had we brought in somebody for a bloated January fee and they went on to flop, there would’ve been even greater criticism. Vlahovic appeared to be the only target who the top brasses deemed good enough value for money. While it’s a shame to have missed out on CL by such a fine margin, there’s no guarantee that a panicked January purchase would’ve had the effect many believe.
Totally agree there too but I’m sure the loan market would’ve been ok to explore it worked for spurs
fairfan, every other club will be saying “we only need three more goals”. Which, would leave us exactly where we are next season, no? The fact remains, other teams had a very average season (Manure, Spuds and Leicester). They will be investing and strengthening. Surely you can’t expect to lose Auba and Laca and yet not replace them with another world class striker striker? You talk about Pepe and yet he he is one of the squad who you definitely COULDN’T count on. He goes missing more times than a stray dog! Will he even be here next season?
You keep talking about us over achieving last season and how we did so well. Yes we finished higher than many expected, I agree. But it was the way in which we capitulated in the final run that proves the problem. And, our lack of goals because of our lack of finishing quality was clear to see also!
Tactically, mentally and physically we were found wanting on many occasions. In some ways we could have finished higher had our squad been coached with better attention.
Sometimes I feel sure you’re very happy with mediocrity. You have to be in it to win it. Aim high or go home. Settling for less with never bring success. That’s what I say!
Well said GunneRay.
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@gunnerRay, you couldn’t say it any better. Most arsenal fans don’t even think we can make top 4 much less win the league. Such mediocrity. Mediocrity loves company and arsenal sure is holding out for mediocrity to walk with the club for a long time. Both inside and outside the club keeps settling for just the bare minimum, from those that own it, to the board room to some of the fans. So sad though. Aim for the sky, we just might drop in the clouds. That’s an old saying, but we are aiming for the bare minimum and getting the bare minimum. So sad.
Personally I think that Aubameyang has already been replaced, not by one player but by 2 in Martinelli and ESR. I think a new striker is requsired but that Eddie and Flo are good enough to support. Saka on the right needs more of a challenge than Pepe or Nelson. Any two of gnabry, sterling, jesus would do me.
It’s definitely an end of a era, I hope we are not making another mistake in Jesus reported £190k/wk with £50m. I don’t see him as a CF , I haven’t see him play them much, I’ll rather we buy a proper CF and maybe bring him in as LW, our wingers are too inexperienced and Pepe who I thought should lead is way too unreliable
We had Berkhamp supported by Henry then Wiltord came in who later was replaced by descent strikers and emediatly Van passi came in you can see the list, these are all strikers who can do anything anytime to bring results and that was our garantee in top four.S o MA and EDU we need a 20 goal a season players to lead the line.
I am been moderated on justarsenal for simply giving friendly opinion. Last time for now. Think justarsenal needs me more than we and more important I need it. I do have more important things to catch up on, so it maybe it is a good thing that am been moderated. Free speech is truly dead. Bye. See you in August, probably.
You sound so sad and dejected I had to investigate.
Your other post wasn’t approved because you used a different email address…
Cheer up buddy, its not the end of the world.
there seems to be loads of confusion on what we actually need in a CF, one with an intimidating height and skills to convert chances and set pieces or without height like Jesus, if the former is the case and we let go off auba who had the presence in the box but went AWOL then look no further for NOW than Olivier Giroud, our own version of Ronaldo at utd, afterall which world class striker wants to play thursday night football
There is not a single leader or world class player in our current squad so unless we address this in the transfer window I just cannot see us getting into the top 4 next season. Man U with Ten Haag will be a tougher proposition not to mention Conte and the Spuds!! Edu and Arteta have to come up with the goods this window.
The more i think about getting GabrielJesus the less i want him on our team . Id bet money if things dont go to plan he would be throwing his hands in the air , whinging and acting like a spoilt kid . Lets get a better strong centre forward so we can at least have options in how we play .
l would take a 45 yr old bentner over that brat anyday
Artetas tactics blunt our attack, he failed to get the best out of really prolific goalscorers like Auba, Lacca and Pepe. That is damning, they are proven goalscorers and the way they were played and treated was an utter disgrace. I doubt any player we bring in will be able to overcome the way we play and get goals. Messi and Ronaldo would struggle under this manager. Our football is so deliberate and so easily read and stopped. With the talent we had up front we should have been challenging Liverpool and City for goals scored, instead we were challenging the bottom dwellers and the like. I hold no expectations at all that any new striker or strikers will be able to perform with the handbrake on like us. It is folly to think we can under the present set up. Our football stank at times last season and we went large periods of games where players couldn’t get a sniff of a shot, no one was able to look dangerous at getting goals for us. And it wasn’t that Arteta didn’t have a striker, he did but he blunted them.
There is nothing prolific about Pepe or Laca. And Auba has no motivation in the Arsenal team.
We shdnt put any hopes on Pepe. He had only one good season and we forked out a huge sum on him. He’s just not good enough.
Tactics is determined by your players. We initially had a striker who was consistently missing open goals including pens, we then fell to one who had no legs to get into the box on a counter or even get on the end of crosses. He preferred to play as a false 9. Then we got to Nketiah.
Check the stats, we were the 4th highest for shots, but our conversion rate was a meagre 11 or 12% placing us 12 or 15th in the table. That’s not coaching, it’s the players.
Sometimes we fans abuse ourselves and say we are contented with mediocrity. We are not, we are only being real. Based on the squad we finished last season with, we don’t deserve more than we got no matter how high they raised our hopes. It’s gravity. We shdnt just be living in Dreamland. Of course we would like the team to get better, but throwing tantrums through words and dwelling in the past won’t fix it. The past is gone. And we must know that we can’t fix our woes in one window or two or even three. We also do not have the money of ManCity, Man U or Chelsea. Liverpool is even better. Our squad is far behind which means it will need more time and input. Someone mentioned better coaching. Guardiola cannot coach our team in the second half of the season to get top 4. They simply were immature and ran out of steam. It’s therefore not being content with mediocrity, it’s our reality. We need time and good signings.