Arsenal vs Ammers 22.02.2025 - KO 15:00 GMT

[HCZ_Reborn]

Ah didn't know this....that makes things a little bit more palatable.

It’s why we lost Saliba for only the one game back in October

[Niall_Quinn]

Trossard did well to take on his man and put in a good cross, but watch the goal again….Calafiori acres of space finds Trossard, his man gets tight to him but only because Trossard has no pace, but when Trossard puts the ball in, Leicester defenders are still running back and therefore Merino is able to ghost in unmarked.

It’s a counter attacking goal. It’s the kind of goal you can only score when the opposition has pushed up which they had

No wait, I'm not saying we have to score a goal every time we go forward. I'm saying we should play at a higher tempo, we should be more direct and play with a lot more pace (which we usually have, albeit not right now). Even Sterling would find it easier despite his shot legs. You are making my point for me. When the defenders are put under more pressure there is more chance of them making a mistake. They could be under pressure because their mates are up the field chasing the game, or they could be under pressure because relentless bastards keep coming at them with no let-up.

We, instead, tip it around in front of the opposition defence. And when the opposition gets stretched by a pass or when recovering from a transition, by the time we've completed out 30+ 5 yard passes, everyone has had a breather and is comfortably back in control.

The very fact almost every manager is now a Pep knock-off is why we get two teams playing chess instead of football. We need to be knights against these pawn armies. Go over, past and around them but always forwards and always with urgency. How could that NOT be more effective than trying to walk the ball in 80+ times in a season?

[HCZ_Reborn]

Right just one more time. We weren’t playing at a higher tempo, we were playing with more space. Not because we created the space with our high tempo, but because Leicester had no choice but to push forward after going behind.

We don’t have the players with the ball skills of Thierry Henry to make defenders part like the Red Sea. Savvy?

[Letters]

We always had top 4 as the goal. For financial reasons. There was never any intention to win anything, that's not the focus of the club.

I don’t think that’s as true as it used to be.
For financial reasons Top 4 has been a minimum requirement but the level of investment over the last few years suggests they have tried to push on and win something. Had it not been for us being up against a team who have been cheating for years we’d have won the title last year and maybe the year before. It’s frustrating when City finally do drop off that it’s not us who benefits. Maybe without the injuries we’d have run Liverpool close, and without the refs putting their thumb on the scales which has clearly cost us points. But we left ourselves vulnerable with a lack of squad depth and failing to sign a striker last summer when it was clearly a problem area was just negligent

[Niall_Quinn]

Right just one more time. We weren’t playing at a higher tempo, we were playing with more space. Not because we created the space with our high tempo, but because Leicester had no choice but to push forward after going behind.

We don’t have the players with the ball skills of Thierry Henry to make defenders part like the Red Sea. Savvy?

Obviously it's going to take more than one time. What do you think would be more effective? Trossard taking on his man and getting the cross in? Or Trossard recieving the ball with his back to goal, slowing it down, taking a few taps and then playing it back into the midfield to the closest team mate?

I don't think the answer to this is difficult. But we'll see.

[Niall_Quinn]

I don’t think that’s as true as it used to be.
For financial reasons Top 4 has been a minimum requirement but the level of investment over the last few years suggests they have tried to push on and win something. Had it not been for us being up against a team who have been cheating for years we’d have won the title last year and maybe the year before. It’s frustrating when City finally do drop off that it’s not us who benefits. Maybe without the injuries we’d have run Liverpool close, and without the refs putting their thumb on the scales which has clearly cost us points. But we left ourselves vulnerable with a lack of squad depth and failing to sign a striker last summer when it was clearly a problem area was just negligent

I wonder about that. WOULD we have won the title last year if gypsies weren't allowed in the league? Maybe. Or maybe we'd have invested less because there'd be fewer direct rivals for the top 4 trophy. We saw in the summer we're prepared to ignore doing what it takes to win. Then we saw it even more starkly in January. I don't think there's any way to get around January. We KNEW we were desperately short, due to those injuries you mention AND because our shitty summer resulted in Sterling being evacuated onto our bench. Still did nothing. Still placed other priorities above winning. Player age, sell-on fee. It's become a very far-fetched argument that concluded this club is out to win trophies rather than maximise return on investment financially. Soon enough we'll be in the next summer window, then we will see. They'll need to spend 150-200 million (minus any sales) in that window to win, or when they spend considerably less, release 5 new kits and have us playing some whack tournament in some desert or the far side of the world, we'll know.

How do you think the summer will turn out? Isak, Sesko, somebody to replace Saliba, somebody to fill the gap left by Partey and Jorghino? The quality we need to win the title, as opposed to securing another top 4 trophy? I have a feeling we'll still be asking the question next deadline day and the headlines will read, "Sterling's Mum Signed in Loan Deal."

[Letters]

I wonder about that. WOULD we have won the title last year if gypsies weren't allowed in the league? Maybe. Or maybe we'd have invested less because there'd be fewer direct rivals for the top 4 trophy. We saw in the summer we're prepared to ignore doing what it takes to win. Then we saw it even more starkly in January. I don't think there's any way to get around January. We KNEW we were desperately short, due to those injuries you mention AND because our shitty summer resulted in Sterling being evacuated onto our bench. Still did nothing. Still placed other priorities above winning. Player age, sell-on fee. It's become a very far-fetched argument that concluded this club is out to win trophies rather than maximise return on investment financially. Soon enough we'll be in the next summer window, then we will see. They'll need to spend 150-200 million (minus any sales) in that window to win, or when they spend considerably less, release 5 new kits and have us playing some whack tournament in some desert or the far side of the world, we'll know.

How do you think the summer will turn out? Isak, Sesko, somebody to replace Saliba, somebody to fill the gap left by Partey and Jorghino? The quality we need to win the title, as opposed to securing another top 4 trophy? I have a feeling we'll still be asking the question next deadline day and the headlines will read, "Sterling's Mum Signed in Loan Deal."

I don't think we would have invested anywhere near as much as we have had we been content to bumble around in the top 4.
The investment we've made has seen us properly challenging for the first time in a couple of decades. We were miles above everyone last year, if you don't count the oil cheats.
January...it's hard to do serious business then although I as I just said in the match thread I still think Rashford might have been worth a punt.
This summer...God knows, although it will be interesting as it will show how serious we are about taking the final step up to land a big prize. If we do nothing of note again then I guess we'll have our answer.

[Niall_Quinn]

I don't think we would have invested anywhere near as much as we have had we been content to bumble around in the top 4.
The investment we've made has seen us properly challenging for the first time in a couple of decades. We were miles above everyone last year, if you don't count the oil cheats.
January...it's hard to do serious business then although I as I just said in the match thread I still think Rashford might have been worth a punt.
This summer...God knows, although it will be interesting as it will show how serious we are about taking the final step up to land a big prize. If we do nothing of note again then I guess we'll have our answer.

It's the opposite of hard to do business in January, it's easy, as demonstrated by the hundreds of deals that were made. Villa made the window look like a Black Friday Amazon click and collect. We spent the month either repeatedly failing to do what other clubs managed to do without fuss, or not even trying (which I'm betting is the case).