Summer Transfer Shit and Everything Else

[KSE Comedy Club]

Sterling has pretty much been booted out of Chelsea.

Cheeky bid?

No Ta.

[dostoy]

Sterling has pretty much been booted out of Chelsea.

Cheeky bid?

No chance I hope.

Nowhere near as good as he was, massive wages and that statement was unforgiveable.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Well sadly that is a failing of Arteta if he thinks what we have is good enough - because it is not, period.

Yes we bagged 91 goals last season, but its no good smashing a team 5-0 one week and then not scoring at all the next week.
Usually that is down to not having another dimension of attack, and 9/10 where we have been found out in the last two seasons.

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when you look at the euros and how so many teams the goals were shared out, the lone front man role seems to be a bit outdated.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.

[KSE Comedy Club]

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.

But those few games is the difference of where the league was won & lost.
If we failed to score in 5 games to City's 3 - that could be the difference maker.

We aren't going to change our attacking play, that much was evident in the Wolves game, loads of chances but only a couple of times are players willing to have the killer instinct to try and score.
All too often the attack line up looking to pass the ball around and lay off other players.

We NEED a direct type of striker, there are players out there who would do well in this team with the amount of chances we create.
You can't tell me there is no one better than Eddie & Jesus at putting the ball in the back of the net right now.

We waited last season to bring in a striker this summer, and now we may end up doing the same again??

Seems counter intuitive to me and something we've needed since Auba went down the toilet.

[HCZ_Reborn]

But those few games is the difference of where the league was won & lost.
If we failed to score in 5 games to City's 3 - that could be the difference maker.

We aren't going to change our attacking play, that much was evident in the Wolves game, loads of chances but only a couple of times are players willing to have the killer instinct to try and score.
All too often the attack line up looking to pass the ball around and lay off other players.

We NEED a direct type of striker, there are players out there who would do well in this team with the amount of chances we create.
You can't tell me there is no one better than Eddie & Jesus at putting the ball in the back of the net right now.

We waited last season to bring in a striker this summer, and now we may end up doing the same again??

Seems counter intuitive to me and something we've needed since Auba went down the toilet.

Where is this route one target man? Gyokeres? You’ll forgive me if I’m not enthused about the idea of a player of 26 who has played only in the championship and what is largely the same level in the Portuguese league.

Also we exceeded our XG against Wolves (1.4), which seems to me less about having someone to tuck away chances but not creating more than half chances in the main.

I am frustrated by Arteta not wanting to bring in forward players, but a) it’s clear finances are an issue either due to FSR or the Kroenke’s closing the chequebook and b) it’s not at all clear that there is a top striker out there. It’s not even so much about whether it’s someone who is better than Nketiah or Jesus, it’s about whether they will score more than Saka, Harvard or Trossard.

[Marc Overmars]

The goals probably wouldn’t be spread either if we brought in a top striker. Would the current crop score as many as they do now if there was a greedier player in the team who’s first instinct was to find a way to shoot rather than create? I don’t know what strikers are out there right now but I imagine we need to be quite methodical in who we bring in and for how much. If we get that investment wrong it might undo a lot of the good we’ve done.

Whatever it is we need, it’s marginal. I felt we were good enough to win the league last season and I think our chances of winning it this year largely depend on whether City take their foot off the gas or not. It’s either that or we win 26 out of 27 games like Liverpool did but that’s incredibly unlikely to happen.

[WMUG]

One point I've seen made is that when you're as good as we are currently, it's pretty difficult to improve with signings just because of maths.

Like, how many strikers are there out there who are better than the ones we've already got?

Sure there some, but only a few of them are going to be on the market at any one time.

Of the ones that are on the market, how many of them are going to fit into the culture of the club and the system Arteta wants to play?

Of all the strikers out there that are an improvement on who we've got, are on the market and would fit in, how many are available at a price the club can/is willing to pay(this is a factor that only gets more challenging when the world and their mums know we need to improve in this position)?

That's going to be a very small number of players worth targeting, and you still have to get the deal over the line.

[Marc Overmars]

Agreement to sign Merino has been reached.

Good stuff.

[Letters]

One point I've seen made is that when you're as good as we are currently, it's pretty difficult to improve with signings just because of maths.

Like, how many strikers are there out there who are better than the ones we've already got?

Sure there some, but only a few of them are going to be on the market at any one time.

Of the ones that are on the market, how many of them are going to fit into the culture of the club and the system Arteta wants to play?

Of all the strikers out there that are an improvement on who we've got, are on the market and would fit in, how many are available at a price the club can/is willing to pay(this is a factor that only gets more challenging when the world and their mums know we need to improve in this position)?

That's going to be a very small number of players worth targeting, and you still have to get the deal over the line.

This is my thinking. How many players are there out there who would really improve us now. And yeah, they've got to fit in, we'd need to be able to afford them, they'd need to be available etc. etc. I am worried that we haven't signed a striker but it never seemed that realistic. We've not exactly been frugal of late.

[HCZ_Reborn]

This is my thinking. How many players are there out there who would really improve us now. And yeah, they've got to fit in, we'd need to be able to afford them, they'd need to be available etc. etc. I am worried that we haven't signed a striker but it never seemed that realistic. We've not exactly been frugal of late.

I’ll be honest I haven’t been massively happy with a lot of the transfers we have made, feels like we constantly seem to spend most of our money on defenders. Now Ben White, Gabriel M I think have been worth it. Zinchenko I think if you’re going to be charitable is a luxury player, Timber it makes you wonder what we are going to do with him having signed Califiori. Tomiyasu is good but an injury magnet, Kiwior well I think he’s a decent squad player but we seem to want rid of him as well.


If you look at the around 700 million we’ve spent on players under Arteta….230 million of that has been on defenders

210 million on central midfielders, and 200 on attacking midfirlders/wingers and strikers. And 60 million on goalkeepers

I think the balance should have been more weighed on midfield and attackers


But all that said, yeah there’s not a striker out there I’m massively impressed with. Saying there’s got to be one out there better than Nketiah or Jesus doesn’t mean a lot when neither are regular starters and one of them is likely to be sold