Summer Transfer Shit and Everything Else

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Originally Posted by Marc Overmars

Agreement to sign Merino has been reached.

Good stuff.

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Good to hear, I just hope we won't regret not finishing this deal earlier when we play Villa.

A good signing and hopefully now if anything happens to Odegaard (or God forbid we actually rest him), we have someone natural who can create and keep the team ticking.

Looking forward to him getting into the team ASAP and pairing with Rice for now

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Originally Posted by 21_GOONER_SALUTE

Good to hear, I just hope we won't regret not finishing this deal earlier when we play Villa.

A good signing and hopefully now if anything happens to Odegaard (or God forbid we actually rest him), we have someone natural who can create and keep the team ticking.

Looking forward to him getting into the team ASAP and pairing with Rice for now

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He erm wouldn’t be a backup for Odegaard. That would be either Vieira, Havertz or Nwaneri

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

He erm wouldn’t be a backup for Odegaard. That would be either Vieira, Havertz or Nwaneri

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Read slowly.

I didn't say we are bringing him in to be backup for Odegaard as I believe he'd be starting next to Rice.

However, he is easily more of the natural choice to play Odegaard's position in case something happened to him, far above all the limited players you just mentioned (and even the likeable Smith-Rowe).

Just think of how Vieira moved further forward when we sold Petit.

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Originally Posted by 21_GOONER_SALUTE

Read slowly.

I didn't say we are bringing him in to be backup for Odegaard as I believe he'd be starting next to Rice.

However, he is easily more of the natural choice to play that position in case something happened to Odegaard, far above all the limited players you just mentioned.

Just think of how Vieira moved further forward when we sold Petit.

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Except he didn’t (Vieira) he was always someone who moved from box to box, regardless of whether he had Petit, Gilberto, Grimandi or Van Bronckhorst next to him. Odegaard doesn’t drop deep either. So I’m not sure where the comparison comes from.

Also Merino is a player who was deemed surplus to requirements six years ago by Newcastle who had only just made it back to the premier league. Maybe you should hold back judgement on knowing what you believe to be his superiority to other players.

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

Except he didn’t (Vieira) he was always someone who moved from box to box, regardless of whether he had Petit, Gilberto, Grimandi or Van Bronckhorst next to him. Odegaard doesn’t drop deep either. So I’m not sure where the comparison comes from.

Also Merino is a player who was deemed surplus to requirements six years ago by Newcastle who had only just made it back to the premier league. Maybe you should hold back judgement on knowing what you believe to be his superiority to other players.

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You simply just love pointless arguments.

When we had Viera and Petit, Vieira was the no4 (chief defensive midfielder, in case you don't understand) and Petit the no10. When Petit left, Viera became our no10 (chief creative midfielder , again incase you don't understand) and whoever he was partnered with became the no4. Its quite basic really and I can't believe I am explaining this on an Arsenal football forum.

By now you hopefully understand the Odegaard is our no10 and the only player that came close to even looking like a proper no10 in our squad was Smith-Rowe. However injuries and the little cameos he had never showed he could adequately come close to being adequate cover for Odegaard. Fabio Vieira has probably had more opportunity than anyone in recent times and again I can't remember being satisfied with seeing him in that role (neither was Arteta IMO).

From what I have seen from Merino, he's more a natural fit for this, if we need cover .

I am sorry if you get upset that I am projecting my hopes and aspirations on a likely new signing, but thats kind of the way true fans behave, which might be a bit difficult for you to grasp...seeing as you can't even remember how our best teams were setup.

Petit never played as a number 10 he was a defensive midfielder. Vieira would always stride between the defensive half and the offensive half so no I literally have no idea what you’re on about.

I’m not the one projecting, you’re the one comparing apples and bowling balls between a 4-4-2 system from 25 years ago. If the number 10 role existed at all it was largely fulfilled by Dennis Bergkamp.


Merino if anything will be more like Xhaka though hopefully not as one footed, positionally lazy and prone to blind passes as him.

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

Petit never played as a number 10 he was a defensive midfielder. Vieira would always stride between the defensive half and the offensive half so no I literally have no idea what you’re on about.

I’m not the one projecting, you’re the one comparing apples and bowling balls between a 4-4-2 system from 25 years ago. If the number 10 role existed at all it was largely fulfilled by Dennis Bergkamp.


Merino if anything will be more like Xhaka though hopefully not as one footed, positionally lazy and prone to blind passes as him.

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This is tiring.

The fact that you play 2 DMs together does not mean you will not play one in front of the other. If your argument is that Vieira played in front of Petit, then we'd be getting somewhere and that would be something worth a discussion. I've always classed DB10 as a 2nd striker (no 8) and it is pointless bringing him into this when its clear what we are talking about.

Anyway back to our current team , I maintain that there is no one suitable as cover for Odegaard in the team at the moment. Thankfully, we both agree that for now Merino is coming in to take the "Xhaka" spot.

Lets see how the season goes, but just like you had little faith in Trossard and Rice, lets hope Merino surprises you with how useful he becomes to us.

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Originally Posted by 21_GOONER_SALUTE

This is tiring.

The fact that you play 2 DMs together does not mean you will not play one in front of the other. If your argument is that Vieira played in front of Petit, then we'd be getting somewhere and that would be something worth a discussion.

Anyway back to our current team , I maintain that there is no one suitable as cover for Odegaard in the team at the moment. Thankfully, we both agree that for now Merino is coming in to take the "Xhaka" spot.

Lets see how the season goes, but just like you had little faith in Trossard and Rice, lets hope Merino surprises you with how useful he becomes to us.

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I stated from the outset that no matter which DM he played with, Vieira held the more advanced position. He wasn’t really a defensive midfielder at all, but neither was he the chief creator that was either Bergkamp or Overmars when he came inside.

And F Vieira or Nwaneri are more like for like backups for Odegaard than a player like Merino. I wouldn’t say Vieira has played enough games to say categorically he can’t play in that position, and Nwaneri is an unknown quantity.

Isn’t Merino supposed to be a Rodri kind of player? I’m guessing he will share the load with Partey so Rice can continue to play a more box to box role.

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

I get what you’re saying but equally when you look at last season there were only 12 games where we scored less than twice, that’s compared to City with ten.

Of those 12 games, only 5 of those games did we fail to score in full stop (compared to 3 for City) so basically we are only falling a little bit short of a team that is a machine.


Of those games we won 5 drew 2 and lost 5

Of the games where we scored once we won 5 drew once and lost once

So basically our record total when scoring a minimum of one goal in a game was 28 wins 4 draws and 1 defeat

So whilst yes there’s no doubt we did clock up big wins against pathetic teams, it’s also arguable that we did get a good overall goal distribution.

In many ways the problem is depth as much as quality. I don’t think there is an obvious forward signing that would make us much better up front than we already are. The problem as IBK put it, is that it is not a great market for forwards….and I think when you look at the euros and how so many teams the goals were shared out, the lone front man role seems to be a bit outdated.


I would be happier especially if we sell Nketiah to bring in a right sided winger and maybe hold fire on a new striker until next season.

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Agree with this - particularly going down the rabbit hole of signings dictated by Man City. This is not to say we shouldn't aspire to best them, but a transfer policy dictated by what another team does rather than a sober look at our team's needs is a dangerous route to go down.