Match Day Thread Brentford vs Arsenal - Matchday Thread

The only reason Conte would ever join Arsenal at this moment in time is if he is bored and none of the big clubs go for him and Kroenke gives him 100m + to spend.

Otherwise no chance conte will touch arsenal.

I think it's telling that even Vardy turned you boys down a few years back, Arsenal are no longer a big club that players dream of going to.

 

Its career suicide for any big manager, why would they want to tarnish their record?
"Ok, so here is a squad that finished 8th, its full of mostly sacks of ****, you have no money to spend, and your mission is to get back in to the top 6. In a league containing City, Chelsea, United, Liverpool and Leicester who will almost certainly take the top 5 positions......good luck"

 

To be fair, I’m not sure the Vardy situation is the best example to use.

Wenger spoke about it in an interview a year or two back and he said Leicester ended up offering more money to convince him to stay - money that we weren’t willing to match.

During the time Vardy turned us down, we were still able to sign highly rated players at the time - even if they didn’t necessarily work out in retrospect.

Lacazette was a highly rated striker in Europe. Aubameyang was a highly rated striker in Europe.
Partey was a highly sought after midfielder. Likewise with Pepe and Saliba.

For where we are right now, I will agree that we definitely aren’t the draw that we used to be. But this is only in the last few years.

 

One thing in common with all those signings though (apart from Partey) is that they all came from "inferior" leagues, at smaller clubs who paid a lot less. Not sure how many of those players were chased by other big clubs (maybe auba and saliba had spurs?).

 

Absolutely, but there were clearly other clubs, some bigger than us, that were interested in these players too. Money is obviously the biggest factor to convince them to join us, but that’s with most of the top clubs when they get players.

You don’t see as many players moving from Prem club to Prem club (unless contract is expiring) because there is a premium involved, as we’ve seen with Ben White and Jack Grealish.

We’re also never likely to get the top players of bigger clubs unless they have outcasts or players they want to sell (to make room for someone bigger) which is why we got Alexis and Ozil.

Circumstances matter too tbh.

 

I don't get why we bought Tavares. Why buy a left back when you need a right back? I don't get why we bought White. Why buy a ball playing centre half when you need a buffalo centre half.

Baffling transfer decisions that will remain while Edu et al are still in place.

Chelsea at home could be toxic.

We'll go and win now.

 

Talk of our demise is vastly exaggerated! Look at Liverpool, how long were the wilderness for? They kissed so many frogs along the way.. We might not be a top class draw, however we are still good draw for a top manager to re-invent themselves, our fans don't demand much, just progress!

 

A good manager, yes, one of the worlds best managers? Perhaps not.
Who knows, maybe someone like Conte will fancy a challenge, and maybe Kroenke will finally agree to splash the cash. But I am having difficulty seeing it at the mo.
Didn't your board come out and say fans should excited because they are going to gift the manager a huge war chest? What happened with that? Or am I imagining that?

 

If you're referring to this Summer, the board themselves didn't say that. However, all the reliable journalists who work for The Athletic, Sky, BBC, The Times etc were all reporting that their sources at the club told them Arsenal were prepared for a big Summer and they expected a lot of incomings and outgoings.

Unfortunately, it feels like Arsenal vastly underestimated how difficult it would be to shift players (which isn't a problem unique to us to be fair) and the fees we would usually expect for our fringe players haven't materialised, as a lot of clubs across Europe are still suffering from the financial impacts of Covid.

It's frustrating because, in hindsight, we've made some poor choices. PSG offered £25m for Bellerin last summer, Wolves offered £20m for Maitland-Niles last summer and Hertha Berlin offered £20m for Xhaka. We said no to all of them. That's £65m we've lost out on now.

 

You've got a good left-back in Tierney, but he's quite injury prone.
Buying backup and competition for him shouldn't be an issue for you.
Tavares wasn't expensive, either.

Having three potential right-backs on the bench (Bellerin, Soares, Maitland-Niles) is an issue, though.
Picking a centre-half there over all of them, then subbing on a left-back in his place is just odd.
Sends out a very negative message to the three subs, too.

 

Tavares looks like a decent signing. The fact that he can play LB or RB is a bonus too.

Bellerin and AMN will probably be off soon, so the Tavares signing makes even more sense.

Arteta's team selections are baffling at times, and his subs do little to nothing to change games. I think his tactial weakness and inexperience is being fully exposed now

 

Deluded, mate.

Conte would always be guaranteed a job at a club with Champions league football and challenging for league titles. Arsenal offer neither with no sign of that changing anytime soon.

 

This guy is a wum, right?

 

I am WUM because I refuse to accept the naysayers belief that we have a rubbish team?

 

Arsenal have recruited Arteta thinking he was as a mini or young Pep. They made the classical “assistant manager” mistake. How many times have the assistants to Alex Ferguson been successful? Kidd, Mcclaren, Queiroz, Phelan, Knox, and many others were good as assistants. But none were brilliant managers. Kidd, assistant during arguably Ferguson’s best period, was a particularly poor manager but at least he’s had the insight to return to a coaching role.

Arteta is floundering and it is time to put him out of his misery. There is always a point of no return in a manager’s career at a club. Arteta may already have reached that point.

 

Back to back midtable finishes brings the belief to life mate.
Aside from 2-3 gifted youngsters your squad ranges from meh to utter dogshit. Complete overhaul needed.

 

The sad thing is. It’s needed exactly this for the last decade. We’ve had a handful of really good players in a squad of total mediocrity.

we’ve just ended up repeating the same mistake again and again. Letting quality go for a pittance and replacing it with ****e.

That said. I think this current squad has got some decent players. Tierney, Gabriel, Partey, Saka, smith Rowe. But we’re still badly lacking quality in key areas.

 

Mate if some of those are your decent/ good players it's no wonder you're more ****ed than us at the moment

Gabriel especially has been gash, not impressed by him one bit. Swear he weren't even always making the XI last season either? Wouldn't even take him over Dier or Sanchez.
Partey's been a mess as well. Injury prone and when he has played he's looked nothing like the baller he was at Atleti. Was genuinely envious when you lot got him but been a massive flop so far, basically your Ndombele.
Tierney's class, can't deny that, although does seem to be troubled by injuries.
The two youngsters have got a lot of potential but still a fair way from being a genuine top six/ top four player in my opinion.

 

Have to disagree. Gabriel has been decent at CB and whilst Partey was injured a lot last season, he started to come into his own towards the end of the season. Ndombole comparison is bunk bro. He’s genuine gash, but Partey is a quality player.

Tierney, Saka and ESR are genuine top quality

 

Nah I can't agree about Gabriel, he's looked a mess. He was meant to solve your issues last season and now you've spunked £50m on Ben White (you went for the wrong Brighton CB too in my opinion).

No doubt Ndombele is gash but so far he's done more for us than Partey has for you, he's even managed to score a few goals in the Prem.

Saka and Smith-Rowe are promising and may become top quality but they'd struggle to make any other top six XI as of right now.