Season Review First Draft

[HCZ_Reborn]

It’s not even about fan’s favourites it’s about objective reality. Anyone who has ever played football will tell you not only that Tierney is a better defender than Zinchenko but that Zinchenko can’t defend very well.

Why should the club bend over backwards to accommodate a man with obvious personality problems, he was brought in as a head coach and did an unwarranted power grab. If he cannot pick the best players available to him which is largely his job, and if he cannot get the best out of his entire squad….what’s he doing in management?.

The club doesn’t have the finances to spend the kind of money he evidently thinks he requires to buy the players we as a club need for him to rotate sufficiently.

I wouldn’t mind but he doesn’t even appear to fully trust the players he did buy.

Maybe we need to be the club that says the head coach is only a functionary, the days of Alex Ferguson types ruling the roost are long over. We need someone who will get the best out of what is now a very expensive squad, not hold it back

[Marc Overmars]

It’s not even about fan’s favourites it’s about objective reality. Anyone who has ever played football will tell you not only that Tierney is a better defender than Zinchenko but that Zinchenko can’t defend very well.

Why should the club bend over backwards to accommodate a man with obvious personality problems, he was brought in as a head coach and did an unwarranted power grab. If he cannot pick the best players available to him which is largely his job, and if he cannot get the best out of his entire squad….what’s he doing in management?.

The club doesn’t have the finances to spend the kind of money he evidently thinks he requires to buy the players we as a club need for him to rotate sufficiently.

I wouldn’t mind but he doesn’t even appear to fully trust the players he did buy.

Maybe we need to be the club that says the head coach is only a functionary, the days of Alex Ferguson types ruling the roost are long over. We need someone who will get the best out of what is now a very expensive squad, not hold it back

I mostly agree with you but the manager is the most important person at a club. If he’s a cunt so be it, as long as I feel he’s got us moving in the right direction then I say pander to him. I always believe in giving someone enough rope to hang themselves with. The buck starts and stops with Arteta.

[HCZ_Reborn]

I mostly agree with you but the manager is the most important person at a club. If he’s a cunt so be it, as long as I feel he’s got us moving in the right direction then I say pander to him. I always believe in giving someone enough rope to hang themselves with. The buck starts and stops with Arteta.

I don’t think he is moving us in the right direction

I think it’s more accurate to look on the first half of the season as an outlier, and the second half more in keeping with the failures we’ve come to expect from Arteta.

I’m not saying I’m definitely right, but I’m convinced enough to be very worried about next season. Actually more worried than I was at the same time last year. I think the possibility exists for him to fuck us up enormously in the transfer market and the season.

I’m not saying the club should push him, because of course there are no grounds to do so and even less grounds to suggest we can definitely bring in someone better but the last few games especially have seen the Arteta I recognise.

You’re right ostensibly that he’s a cunt is not relevant, If I felt he was getting the best out of the entire squad I wouldn’t care if he was knocking his wife about and using his kids as drug mules.

But in reality you can’t be a cunt and it not have a deleterious impact on your work

[Mac76]

It's the 'right direction' question that's at the heart of this, I don't question that he's revitalised the club spirit and got his chosen players doing very well - at least until he runs them into the ground

But as per my comment above, locking us into a system that means we play Zin at LB is not for me the right direction, certainly as a blanket policy from which he never willingly waivers

It's greater flexibility in his thinking that I'll be looking for, as HCZ says if he simply thinks he can spend his way out of his failings it's not enough

But still we have exceeded expectations this season so maybe it can happen again, just not sure how much I'd bet on it

[HCZ_Reborn]

I wouldn’t mind if he thought he could spend his way out of trouble, if we were all honest with ourselves we’d admit that the reason we finished second is because we’ve spent 400 million almost since Arteta took over…it’s actually a pretty poor return on the investment but a) if spending our way to success is the only way then fine by me (assuming we buy the right players) and b) maybe some people will begin to accept that money is the reason we are doing better and not the coach who is a definite drag factor.

But of course the flip side of that is who we spend it on, rumours linking us with Mason Mount I hope are no more than that as signing him should be a sackable offence. I think enriching West Ham for average dross like Declan Rice would be a grave mistake as well.


The answers are really quite simple


Sell Zinchenko - keep Tierney as first choice and the Dog snogger on loan as second choice left back

Sell Holding - Have White, Gabriel, Saliba and The Polack as our four centre backs and sign that Fresneda individual as right back with Tomoyasu as back up…that’s it leave defence alone…spent enough time and money on it


Get rid of Elneny and Lokonga. Bring in Caicedo…and Tielemans…and have Jorginho and Partey make up the four in midfield. And if needs be we can slot Trossard in at the no 8 role

Sell that anaemic fuck Vieira or pay for a blood transfusion


Sell Nketiah, bring in a striker who is a bit of a route one merchant and a set piece bully


We don’t even need to blow millions in cash


We essentially need to bring in four players and get rid of 9-10 (if you include the ones on loan)


Ramsdale
That American Imbecile

Tierney
Tavares
Gabriel
Saliba
White
Kiwior
Tomoyasu
Fresneda
Partey
Caicedo
Jorginho
Tielemans
Smith Rowe
Odegaard
Trossard
Nelson
Saka
Martinelli
Jesus
Balogun
X Striker

23 man squad capable of challenging


It won’t happen of course

[Marc Overmars]

I don’t think he is moving us in the right direction

I think it’s more accurate to look on the first half of the season as an outlier, and the second half more in keeping with the failures we’ve come to expect from Arteta.

I’m not saying I’m definitely right, but I’m convinced enough to be very worried about next season. Actually more worried than I was at the same time last year. I think the possibility exists for him to fuck us up enormously in the transfer market and the season.

I’m not saying the club should push him, because of course there are no grounds to do so and even less grounds to suggest we can definitely bring in someone better but the last few games especially have seen the Arteta I recognise.

You’re right ostensibly that he’s a cunt is not relevant, If I felt he was getting the best out of the entire squad I wouldn’t care if he was knocking his wife about and using his kids as drug mules.

But in reality you can’t be a cunt and it not have a deleterious impact on your work

You mentioned objective reality but I would say that also applies to the team achieving something it hasn’t done in 6 years. Anyone would say that is moving in the right direction after several laughable years post-Wenger.

I prefer to just reserve judgement until I see otherwise.

[HCZ_Reborn]

You mentioned objective reality but I would say that also applies to the team achieving something it hasn’t done in 6 years. Anyone would say that is moving in the right direction after several laughable years post-Wenger.

I prefer to just reserve judgement until I see otherwise.

Objective reality was specifically in relation to the Zinchenko/Tierney situation


However the reality is in the last 19 games of the season we got 10 wins, 4 draws and 5 defeats. If that had been mirrored in the first half of the season we’d have finished outside the top 4. I think the second half of the season was far more in keeping with what we’ve come to expect from Arsenal under Arteta. And i think it will be far more likely that this is what we see going forward. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m 95% sure I won’t be.

[Marc Overmars]

Objective reality was specifically in relation to the Zinchenko/Tierney situation


However the reality is in the last 19 games of the season we got 10 wins, 4 draws and 5 defeats. If that had been mirrored in the first half of the season we’d have finished outside the top 4. I think the second half of the season was far more in keeping with what we’ve come to expect from Arsenal under Arteta. And i think it will be far more likely that this is what we see going forward. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m 95% sure I won’t be.

The only thing I’d say with certainty is that if you finish above City you win the league. Otherwise we’re all in the same boat, I think the top 6 is all interchangeable now, we could fall off cliff next year like Spurs and Chelsea this season or we could be in the mix again. I don’t know, I’d like to think the team has a high enough ceiling and has demonstrated enough quality to suggest it can come again but it’s all really down to Arteta now and how he strengthens. I’m a pessimist usually but I’m feeling relaxed about next season. Probably because while Pep is at City everyone is sort of just hanging on to their coat tails.

[Mac76]

Back to reviewing the season, while it's tricky i've had a go at player ratings - bear in mind these take into account the fact some of them were played to death and others barely got a look in - and when they did they were sometimes played out of position - so i'm not punishing the player for the manager's mistakes. Also I am genuinely marking out of 10, i.e. it's possible for a player to get 10 rather than it being an unachieveable fantasy

Ram - 8.5 - yes one or two high-profile errors but generally excellent

White - 8 - great season, better defender than some would assert and linked up with Saka extremely well

Tomi - 7 - a varied season (when he was playing) but let's not forget the job he did on Salah and some other good performances - losing him and Saliba at the same time was a big blow

Kiwior - 7 - seemed decent when played in the right position

Saliba - 9 - what a class player, we really missed him and am a bit concerned it's taking time for his contract to be sorted

Gabriel - 8.5 - an absolute rock most of the time, especially considering he had to cover two positions a lot of the time due to the whole LB 'situation'

Zin - 3 - I've said it all before but he's a disaster given the big mistakes he makes match-on-match, the effect on our set up and causing Tierney to go

Tierney - 7.5 - a crime to see him played out of position or left out in favour of a non-natural RB replacement - if he does go to Newcastle or elsewhere in the PL, I hope he stuffs us when he plays against us

Partey - 6.5 - very good at times (including yesterday) but increasingly woeful at others, wouldn't be surprised to see him sold tbh

Jorg - 8 - fucking love this guy, great attitude, great experience

Odegaard - 8 - at times sublime and it's increaasingly clear that the moment he is taken out of the game we are much weaker for it - needs to just be a bit more consistent and impose himself a bit more on games

Xhaka - 7 - taken out of harm's way and given a role going forward, he's managed to be a banter player in a totally different way, causing other teams problems but obviously not good enough at the level we aspire to - tbf he's read the writing on the wall and decided to go

Saka - 8.5 - often brilliant but massively overworked by Arteta

Trossard - 7.5 - a good signing, giving us different options and always well focussed

Jesus - 8 - a combination of a 9 pre-World Cup and 7 afterwards - I think if there's one player who caused us to have such a good start to the season it was him, with his energy and belief, he's not the same since his injury

Martinelli - 9.5 - my Player of the Season, every time he gets the ball it's an opportunity, plus his early celebration to annoy everyone was quality

Eddie - 7 - I bumped his score up because he did well for a while, covering for Jesus, but typically useless either side of it

The rest:

Turner - 7 - didn't see much of him but tbh not as bad as some people say, would probably hold down the No1 job at a third of PL clubs

Holding - 5.5 - sad to see him be so below par but still, a good Servant to the CLub (TM)

Vieira - 5 - talented player but not sure he should stay

ESR - 4 - yesterday was another example of his failing to get involved, i don't think he got a single touch after he came on - sell

Nelson - 8 - gave us the Moment of the Season and I think he still does have potential to get better - if he signs then Arteta needs to help him develop it - I don't think he started a single game this season, that needs to change

That 15-year-old kid - 7.5 - seemed decent but it seemed a bit of a stunt by Arteta to play him that once then never use him again

[HCZ_Reborn]

Player ratings eh?


Ramsdale 6.9 - Some good saves especially in games like Anfield but also some awful howlers along the way. 6 being average, I mark him just below a 7


White 5.8 - Another player who epitomises the difference between the first and second half of the season, it’s not his fault given he’s not a right back but yeah…I can’t award him any higher when he was beasted so badly by Rashford, Grealish and Mitoma


Saliba 7.6 - Excellent debut season, plays like someone of many more advanced years


Gabriel 6.6 - Solid season, and good recovery after actually being the weak link in the defence in the autumn period. Needs to not let opposition players get to him so much


Zinchenko 3.1 - I think this is being generous, there simply is no point having a player in the defence who not only can’t defend but looks at the role of a left back the same way cromagnon man would look at a smart phone.



Xhaka 6.2 - High water mark for him, given the marked deficiencies in his game


Partey 6.7 - Would have got to the 7s, but when we needed him played like he had Dengue fever


Odegaard 7.9 - My player of the season, would have liked to have seen more of him at Anfield, The Etihad etc but is often so relentless on the ball, as well as producing some outstanding goals


Martinelli 7.8 - Was in many ways a toss up between Odegaard and Martinelli as to who was my player of the season. Has added goals to his game this season and is quite some player


Jesus 6.5 - Was so integral to our attack with his movement both on and off the ball, but often just became a passenger in games towards the end of the season. Still would rather have him than not


Saka 6.8 - The April/May funk soured what was an otherwise excellent season where he has progressed in the way he takes on the fullback.


Squad


Tierney 4.5 - Hasn’t got anywhere near enough game time to rate him any higher, for one of the best left backs in the country to be overlooked this way is evidence that Arteta is a narcissistic sociopath


Kiwior 5.7 - Reasonably decent, doesn’t look quite cut out for the premier league yet and will never be more than a squad player


Tomoyasu 4.2 - Just about acceptable to keep him as a squad player but injury proneness casts a shadow over this


Holding 2.6 - League one player, it’s not his fault…he was bought from the lower leagues when that is his level

Jorginho 6.6 - Excellent games indispersed with him being a total passenger, on balance a useful squad addition


Vieira 3.8 - I don’t know if he’s just our Helder Postiga or whether he actually has undiagnosed leukaemia


Lokonga 2.3 - Ship him off to Turkey, forget he ever existed


Elneny 3.5 - Fortunately injury meant we didn’t see much of him


Trossard 6.4 - Gave us something different in link up play, and assist making but ultimately like with a lot of players just looked stale near the end. Would like to see a far bigger goal return next season


Nelson 6.7 - Really would have liked to have seen more from him this season, not the most technically gifted player in my view but lots of raw pace and was really willing to put in a shift


Smith Rowe 4.7 - You can’t really blame Arteta for not using him more often, what do we actually see from him when he does come on? Very little

Nketiah 5.3 - He has these small purple patch runs, but other than that he provides next to nothing


Not going to even mention the players that featured in the cup competition. They were a complete irrelevance