Summer Transfers 2025 Missed Opportunities and Regrets

[KSE Comedy Club]

You’re arguing that every cross that comes into the box represents a chance. That’s pretty thin stuff

To be honest that we create chances with almost half of the crosses that come in is actually not bad, that’s a testament to the height of the team I imagine. But lumping a cross into the box isn’t a chance, it’s an opportunity to create a chance

It is a chance and can be labelled as such.

Historically that is exactly what crosses into the box have been chalked up as. You put a decent cross in and most of the time an attacking player just has to header it or kick it into the back of the net.
How many times have we heard commentators, etc say "they are creating lots of chances but just can't find the back of the net" ?

There's no need to reinvent the wheel here.

[KSE Comedy Club]

Against PSG we created:

1st leg: 3 chances
2nd leg: 4 chances

Scored: 1 goal

7 chances created (based on a situation whereby a player is reasonably expected to score) and 1 goal in return.
That's just one example.

No one is expected to get every chance, but Arsenal and a lack of creativity are not usually two things I would put in the same sentence.

Again I agree that we should add some depth in our creativity - but we are not lacking in creating chances.

[HCZ_Reborn]

It is a chance and can be labelled as such.

Historically that is exactly what crosses into the box have been chalked up as. You put a decent cross in and most of the time an attacking player just has to header it or kick it into the back of the net.
How many times have we heard commentators, etc say "they are creating lots of chances but just can't find the back of the net" ?

There's no need to reinvent the wheel here.

As I’ve said that our players have managed to get to almost half of the crosses that come in is reasonably impressive, given a lot of crosses are easily cut out by defenders.

As you seem to admit yourself the ability to do something with a cross, often depends on the quality of the cross itself

And it depends on how good a side is at dealing with crosses. Like with set pieces, sides set up to deal with us more aggressively in these situations

We are talking about an inability to make space, suck in defenders etc which requires an additional creative midfielder in the team not relying on Odegaard to find his form

[HCZ_Reborn]

Against PSG we created:

1st leg: 3 chances
2nd leg: 4 chances

Scored: 1 goal

7 chances created (based on a situation whereby a player is reasonably expected to score) and 1 goal in return.
That's just one example.

No one is expected to get every chance, but Arsenal and a lack of creativity are not usually two things I would put in the same sentence.

Again I agree that we should add some depth in our creativity - but we are not lacking in creating chances.

Devoid of any context, the chances especially in the second leg came in one or two attacking phases of play…the keeper made a save and then a save on the rebound. Definitely can argue we might have done better, but we weren’t able to sustain that pressure, we weren’t opening them up at will.

Wasteful is more how I’d describe PSG against Liverpool at home, where they created chance after chance after chance throughout the 90 minutes….we created a flurry of chances in one small period.

Plus as I’ve said our XG throughout the league season was less than 2.

The chances we create are half chances, blocked shots and shots from outside the box that are often likely to go wide statistically speaking. We aren’t opening up teams at will and then missing sitters constantly


I don’t even know why you’re arguing frankly, it’s not a binary anyhow. We clearly need a striker id argue two, but we clearly also need an extra creative player in midfield

[HCZ_Reborn]

Someone I think posted this a while back. Which basically stated that we didn’t get much wrong tactically, that a) PSG had more efficient goalscorers who could score from low XG chances but that signing a striker was only half the problem for us as there wasn’t consistent chance creation for us

[KSE Comedy Club]

Devoid of any context, the chances especially in the second leg came in one or two attacking phases of play…the keeper made a save and then a save on the rebound. Definitely can argue we might have done better, but we weren’t able to sustain that pressure, we weren’t opening them up at will.

Wasteful is more how I’d describe PSG against Liverpool at home, where they created chance after chance after chance throughout the 90 minutes….we created a flurry of chances in one small period.

Plus as I’ve said our XG throughout the league season was less than 2.

The chances we create are half chances, blocked shots and shots from outside the box that are often likely to go wide statistically speaking. We aren’t opening up teams at will and then missing sitters constantly


I don’t even know why you’re arguing frankly, it’s not a binary anyhow. We clearly need a striker id argue two, but we clearly also need an extra creative player in midfield

I'm not arguing, it's just a discussion

I said I agree with you on all those things, but I just don't agree that we lack creativity as a main problem.

[KSE Comedy Club]

Someone I think posted this a while back. Which basically stated that we didn’t get much wrong tactically, that a) PSG had more efficient goalscorers who could score from low XG chances but that signing a striker was only half the problem for us as there wasn’t consistent chance creation for us

7 chances was more than enough to win both legs had they been converted though.

You shouldn't need a million chances per game to score enough goals.

[HCZ_Reborn]

7 chances was more than enough to win both legs had they been converted though.

You shouldn't need a million chances per game to score enough goals.

A) As I said to begin with, if the chances are coming in one attacking phase of play, for example the goalkeeper saves and the ball is still in play. The problem in Paris wasn’t not taking the opportunities in one attacking move because you had Donnarumma make two or three ridiculous saves. It was the failure to consistently create chances after that couple of minute spell.

B) Using the PSG game as a paradigm case won’t help you, as I’ve said to you our XG doesn’t vastly exceed the goals scored this season. If our XG in the league completely tallied with goals scored we’d have got 72 goals (three more than we actually did).

So to suggest there isn’t a problem with chance creation is to be honest absurd. There’s a problem with putting the ball in the net too, but we equally are not creating enough good chances for a striker to put away

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

Just seen the news that Chelsea is pulling out of their obligation to buy Sancho for £25m and willing to pay the £5m penalty.

I want to believe the penalty clause swings both ways and hope we have that in place for Tavares as letting Lazio get him for sub £10m seems ridiculous to me (this is a defender who achieved as many assists as Odegaard did this season).

The worst sale of the summer has been completed.

You can update your list KSE.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football...s/ckgnp4dn92qo

[HCZ_Reborn]

I'm not arguing, it's just a discussion

I said I agree with you on all those things, but I just don't agree that we lack creativity as a main problem.

And I think in the most profound way possible that you’re mistaken. The striker issue and the creative issue are of equal importance. The XG in the PSG tie as I’ve stated is high because we had two or three chances to score in a very short period of time that the goalkeeper made world class saves to deny us, we weren’t consistently making chances and then screwing them side wide. Might a world class striker have put those away, yes possibly only problem is there are only a handful of world class strikers about currently…Haaland, Mbappe and a few others

We do need a striker definitely, but we also need an additional creative presence in the team. Because if you have the ability to open up teams consistently (which you surely must admit we do not have), it makes putting the ball away that much easier all round.