I changed mine a few times but I think I was mainly 'TillerBear' on not 606 I mean yes. - You don't get 89 pts in a Prem Season with a ****ty attack. But your right our defence and midfield has been stronger and deeper . I have said before but I rate Havertz as a false 9. But if you're going to play a false 9 both your wingers need to be scoring big numbers. Soo in a way the weird thing is Havertz gets all the criticism but in reality it was Martinelli who didn't hit the level expected of him.
I rate Havertz highly for the specific reason he reached the very top class level for the second half of the 23/24 season - by top class i mean one of the best players in the world - his numbers and contribution were excellent.. I believe the best in the PL over that period. We KNOW what level he can reach. His challenge now is to maintain it week in week out over a full season.
Yeah, I agree. The main issue is Skysports/Talksport etc.. still can't get their old heads around the idea of a false 9. Much as I like Martinelli - If you think back to when him and Saka were at a similar level say 4-5 Seasons ago you would have expected the Brazilian to be closer to Saka now in terms of numbers. A fit Saka gets you 20 goals +10 or more assists. If we can get similar numbers from a top class LWF we win the league. If Havertz had stayed fit he would have hit 20 last Season. If you get 15-20 from all three forward players that's more than enough - doesn't matter if you have a traditional no.9 or not.
Yeah Havertz was on track for 35-40 Goals and assists last year when he got injured - and it was even more prolific the second half of the year before. Martinelli is an interesting one - his game is very complete IMO. Going forward and defending , with one flaw... he doesn't seem confident enough. When the pressure is off he looks absolute dynamite - for evidence of this look at his goal against Madrid when we were already 4-1 up on aggregate with minutes left. The run burst of pace and cool finish was world class. He needs to get some arrogance in him. I actually think he could be an extremely good option through the middle too.
Scoring record goals in consecutive seasons didn't win us a cup of any sort Jay. I would much rather we had players that scored at decisive moments, in decisive games. No point winning games 5-0 but when you need to score when you are 1-0 or its 0-0, you can't because your attackers are squander-some. Havertz has as much chance of missing the target totally in a one on one as he does scoring, we need better finishing to win the big prizes. Martinelli's finishing has been off and Trossard looks like he has forgotten how to play football. Bringing in a lethal finisher should be the highest on our agenda.
The problem with Martinelli is Arteta. Think back to 3 season's back when Martinelli had his best season in terms of goals and assists. He had Xhaka providing width at times (sometimes it was Zinchenko), but either way he wasn't isolated, he had options. When we sold Xhaka Zinchenko stopped doing overlapping runs, Martinelli became totally isolated. With no fear of the overlap defending teams doubled up on Martinelli which destroyed his game. Meanwhile Saka always had/has Odegaard and either White or Timber giving him options on the right. Thats the reason for the past 2 seasons Martinelli has been a shell of himself. We saw him look brighter when Calafiori gave him options and toward the end of the season when Rice noticeably played further up and left, he and MLS began to give Martinelli options and overlaps, he looked reborn.
Na - Martinelli wasn't any better when he played on the right for example. He's just not been consistent enough. I don't think that's Artetas fault at all. Arteta has shown a lot of faith in him.
As you know i do not buy the 'decisive moment' argument. The best strikers in the world miss big and important chances. Winning trophies is not just about scoring goals - it's also about not conceding them and more crucially whether you are actually the best team. You can be second best and still have a great attack. Haaland has a low conversion of big chances HH, in fact its lower than Havertz. Strikers will always miss more than they score.
Perhaps. I just think that as a team they contributed more - 33 goals came from non offensive positions (we scored 91 goals) and in 2022/23 36 goals came from non offensive positions.
Damn, you have a gooood memory This one in bold is still me by the way lol, seem like I'm one of the few 'old guard' who have continually used this forum. I've seen a few of the other usernames on forums like 'Arsenal Mania' but I wasn't a huge fan of that one.
He won't look as good on the right, just like Saka wouldn't look as good on the left, it removes a key weapon/component - the ability to cut in onto your stronger foot.
[ That's a good thing in my view because it means we have more threats. The argument ultimately comes down to whether a different striker - one that is more in the ilk of an out and out goalscorer - is actually going to provide incremental goals for the team. Given that it looks like Gyokeres is on his way here, we're going to find out. Can we score more than 91 in the season? I would be absolutely delighted if we do, because that number of goals is already fantastic.
Yup and many experts call this out. Harry Kane is miles better than Haaland, his finishing is levels above Haaland's. Haaland misses loads of chances and I think he has largely been found out now. Let see what he does next season.
Haaland still has a super power and that is his ability to sniff out positions to score from. His finishing is not terrible, just average or slightly below. It's masked somewhat because at times he can score some great goals with sublime finishes and they are the ones that get highlighted, but there is little doubt he thrives on chance creation and as long as he is being fed he'll score goals. The idea that he's up there with the likes of Messi and Ronaldo, though, is for the birds. Kane is indeed levels above in terms of finishing. So is Son - they are two of the best when it comes to finishing the big chances.
Oh wow - you are Ammaar, as Jay said you were a good poster, always fair with well put together posts. Life flies by, I am no longer a playboy/bachelor boy, I now have an "enjoyment regulator" firmly attached to me (named fiancé) and 3 kids LOL !!! Hope you are well too.
I mostly agree with you, HH. Let's not forget as well Havertz was initially signed to be the replacement for Xhaka - but he was doing such a poor job in midfield that thankfully he salvaged the value he had by being a pretty decent striker in the second half of 23/24. My issue is, if we'd sorted out that area properly and invested on an actual striker from the beginning, we would have had a balanced team earlier and (IMO) would have won the league that season. The first half of the season, we were figuring out how to fit square pegs in round holes. We should have won the league at least once between 2022-2025 and it's frustrating when we have performed at such a high level, but not won a single honour (can't even have the consolation of a league cup or FA Cup for our efforts) yet teams with inferior squads and resources are winning things. I think even if we had won the league once within the past 3 seasons, the perception of Arsenal and Arteta would be very different to what is currently. Both within the fanbase and externally. It gets to a point where you do question whether Arteta right now has the ability to win major honours when it matters. Whilst we have seen demonstrable progress in terms of league position and in the Champions League, our cup competition record overall since the 2020 FA Cup win has been pretty abysmal. And I'm yet to see concrete evidence of Arteta being able to juggle multiple competitions at once. He usually only focuses on one and puts all his eggs in one basket for that. Also, as you say, some of these signings (especially the more expensive ones) are his signings. He wanted Havertz, he wanted Merino, he wanted Calafiori, he wanted Madueke etc. So he has to be held accountable if they're not performing to the level we expect. We've been very proactive this window though and have been very busy, so this pressure to win will only intensify next season. If we go trophyless for another year, I would say it's time for a change.
