Hmm, I don't know about this. I think you lot have a fairly clear run at 4th if I'm honest. Man United's upcoming fixtures aren't great and haven't even been winning the games you'd expect them to win anyway. However, having that star quality in Ronaldo can still win them matches even when they're garbage. But I still don't see them doing enough. Arsenal aren't scoring goals, have no Premier League calibre striker, can't defend anymore and look totally one-dimensional in everything we do. I don't see us getting more than 7 points between now and the end of the season. We are going to lose around 15 games this season IMO. Which isn't acceptable. I know you will drop more points between now and the end of the season, but we will drop more, especially looking at our fixtures. We'll finish between 6th - 9th now.
Sorry should’ve been a bit clearer, I was talking long term, as in seasons, not just this season. As of right now, yeah we’re in the driving seat for this year but 4th has switched hands quite frequently so I expect there to be a few shocks left, it definitely isn’t a foregone conclusion and could very well go to the wire. After this one though, I think there’s probably a solid 3 teams, possibly 5, who’ll be vying for that spot for a few years with no clear favourite and it likely changing hands. Recruitment, injuries and managers will likely determine who gets it for the next few years I feel. The top two seem cemented for the time being and I think Chelsea will keep third/ challenge the top two but that fourth spot is anyone’s going forward.
Can defo see this scenario arising. Even in the last few weeks it's shown us how insecure that 4th spot it. It looked like West Ham's for ages, then ours, now yours. And you may still **** it up. Going forward, unless one of the clubs you mention significantly strengthen in the summer, then I think it could be a merry go round again next season.
Yeah I think Utd even had it for a bit too. It’s mad how much it’s changed hands this season and I think it’ll continue for a while. Exciting for neutrals but gonna be nail biting for us fans lol. Good for football in general though, need that competition for spots otherwise it gets ****ing boring.
It's crazy because it's there for the taking, but no club seems to want it badly enough. The prize is ****ing huge too, Champions League football which every top player wants to play in, plus the extra revenue from being in the comp. Our club had a massive ****in brain fart in Jan and didn't bring in a striker, as a consequence we can't score for Toffee and seem to have thrown it away Your lot look destined to nick it, but you always have the potential to go Spursy And Utd just look completely in disarray, only really relying on Ronaldo to save them Robbie from AFTV summed it up the other day when he said that we still had a chance, because whilst we are bottlers, we're fighting it out with other bottler clubs. Madness.
Janury went quite opposite for us, our two new signings pulled us back into the mix when it felt like we were out of it. Still didn’t solve our main issue of creativity though, if Kane don’t create then we’re ****ed and realistically that shouldn’t even be his job. Yeah it really is the Great British Bottle Off. Be typical none of us get it after Wolves turn into prime 2015 Barca and storm their way to fourth, capitalising on all our losses.
Been really impressed with Bentancur and Kuluseveski (although he should be looking at a 3 match ban for a red that never came against Brighton). I think they are the difference between having a proven manager like Conte and a rookie like Arteta. Conte identified the players he wanted that would strengthen the team and it's made the difference for you. Whereas we tried to sign a player who had no intention of joining us, and ended up with nobody. If that wasn't bad enough, we gave away our best striker and loaned out one that could be helping us now.
Now I have always been artetas biggest critic, but to say something positive about him: If we get top 4 this season (still a big if) then he has probably done everything that was asked of him this first contract. He has fulfilled all his targets: - refreshed the squad and got rid of deadwood - instilled a new culture at the club - gotten us champions league football. At that point, you’d have to say he has earned a new contract. I would also have to hold my hand up and say I got it wrong. we shall see if we qualify for CL…
Whilst I still have reservations about Arteta, if he does get 4th, then yes, I am fine with him getting a new deal because he’d have exceeded expectations. No-one gave us a prayer of CL football at the beginning of the season and if he gets it after getting rid of our best striker, with Lacazette and Nketiah having to lead the line for half of the season, then that is very impressive (regardless of whether this was self-inflicted or not). At the end of the day, I don’t care who is manager, I just want to see Arsenal succeed and maximise their chances of winning. And if Arteta is the man that we succeed under, then great.
Arteta's doing a decent job of it imo. He's not perfect and as a rookie he's going to make mistakes (show me any manager who hasn't). But given where we were a couple of years ago with a team of misfits, aging overpaid players and a mix of deadwood, he's done a great job of shaping a team that is challenging for top 4 again. The project is not complete, but you have to say that Arteta and Edu's recruitment has been pretty good so far, and their ability to clear out the deadwood in the short space of time they've had is also to be commended. I'm not a fan of the knee jerk reactions when we have a bad run. It is to be expected when you're rebuilding a squad, there are going to be ups and downs. But you have to stick with the manager and allow him the time to see through his vision. This constant chopping and changing that some clubs do is totally counter productive.
I've actually been quite impressed with Nketiah in recent games. As he's said himself, he needs to be playing every week. He definitely offers more of a goal threat than Lacazette and I love the way that he takes on defenders and isn't afraid to shoot. He was unlucky not to score against West Ham yesterday. Given time, I think he could become a really dangerous striker. That said, we still need to sign a couple of forwards in the summer and we can't guarantee Nketiah a starting position each week. If he does leave, I think somebody is going to pick up a very decent young striker with bags of potential .
he’s probably a premier league footballer, but that’s where it stops. Really hope we don’t give him a new deal. We need to think about all the past players we kept too long. Eddie is not at the level we want to get to.
6 months ago I would have said the same It's a difficult one because I think he could become a top player But we need a top striker right now, not in 18 months time
He's pleasantly surprised in the last few games in that he's been quite good rather than absolute gash. But 'quite good' makes him good enough to be backup in the same mould as Elneny and Holding. Those two seem happy to play that role. Nketiah doesn't sound like he's going to be happy to play that role so whatever, he's gone. He's not good enough to start for a club like us. Sell him to Newcastle for £40m
Yeah I'm not convinced signing Nketiah to a high wage would not just be a big mistake. He's actually had a lot of chances at Arsenal and only recently started to perform to any kind level.
