No, it's that they are similar players. I am not saying they are identical but they do share some attributes.Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn
No, it's that they are similar players. I am not saying they are identical but they do share some attributes.
Thinking about this some more, I think that letting Partey go is a mistake. We have enough disruption/rebuilding to do as it is without now having to find another player in Partey's position, and finding someone at his level will cost £50/£60M plus - that will have a knock on effect on other transfers. We are supposed to be aiming to win things next season. A new player carries risk, and will need bedding in. Partey's traditional injury record is not good, but last season was exceptional. As for Partey leaving and the club not signing anyone to replace him, we have surely learned enough not to be taking risks with little cover in his position - and putting a massive burden on the incoming Zubimendi. And I'm not keen on the idea of shifting MLS into MF and leaving us with just Cala if he does...
Does keeping Partey on his wages for a year's extension really harm us, in the circumstances.
Problem is that I think we will let him go - and won't deal with the above problems well enough.
Putting the laughter back into manslaughter
I've known for a while that discussions with you is all about winning but surely even you can do better than making up things I never said... on second thought, maybe not
Again another excellent analysis of where we are and the people than make the decisions.
Well that's actually what buying Zubimendi is for to replace/upgrade on Partey.
I imagine the plan was to have Zubi as no.1 and Partey drop to no.2 to fill in as Zubi adapts to the prem.
First off I think it’s the pot calling the kettle black for you to accuse people of that, given you made a whole post about me essentially being on the side of trust the process.I've known for a while that discussions with you is all about winning but surely even you can do better than making up things I never said... on second thought, maybe not
Secondly about Leeds you said the following
“Starting off with Leeds brings back funny memories from the O'Leary days.
Who would have thought that with all the ambition they showed during his days they'd become a yoyo club (and not even a good one for that matter”
And look where that “ambition” got them?
That comes across to me as you speaking admiringly of their recklessness, I suppose in the way when I say to you not everything the club does is stupid you see it as being a company man.
Really interesting topic this.
Initially when the Forbes list came out in 2007, we were the 3rd biggest club in the world financially based on value and only behind Man U and Madrid (we were practically the same size as Madrid though).
At that time Man U was only about one and a half times bigger than us. All the other clubs in England were miles behind us. Liverpool and Chelsea were roughly 2 times smaller than us, while Spurs and Citeh were 4 times smaller than us.
Almost 20 years later, we are number 8 in the world and we've actually improved quite a lot in the last 3 years after dropping to as low as no 11 in the world and no 6 in England. However Man U and Real Madrid have consistently remained in the top places of every list in the past 20 years never going below no 3 and are currently no 2 and 1 respectively.
In England specifically, Man U is currently twice the size of us, Liverpool & Citeh are one and a half times bigger than us, while Chelsea and Spurs are pretty much at par with us (they were ahead of us a year ago).
Clearly in the last 20 years we've had the lowest growth among our rivals financially (and probably in every other aspect despite consistently always charging the highest on average for season tickets), and it's obviously not only about titles as Man U and Tottenham wouldn't be doing so well despite their erratic form.
So when some of us who are familiar with this world lambast our suits for being shortsighted and acting like mini shopkeepers, its clearly something evidenced by something as unbiased as our value to the unapologetic outside world....which permeates even into things like the transfer market.
We are losing our position as one of the biggest clubs because of our lack of success in winning major trophies, and IMO you are right that we do not have the pull that Arteta/the club thinks we do. Unltimately, unlike we Gooners the outside world doesn't really give a shit that we have been runners up in the league 3x, and got to the CL semis. For all that he has improved us, Arteta is still a relative rookie with no winning track record. And we do not have the petro dollars to make up for our lack of footballing pull.
We have a traditionally big worldwide fanbase - but this is largely based on the exploits of Henry, Bergkamp and the Invincibles and a reputation for playing pretty football. This reputation is dying out, and if we are honest our current style of play is not really gaining new fans. Success is imperative for us.
I think that this is a big reason why its so frustrating to see us dithering. For anyone taking an interest in our club from outside, I think our reputation undoubtedly took a hit as a result of disastrous transfer windows last season, and our failure to prevent Liverpool from cruising to the title effectively with a couple of months to spare. Literally nothing that we are hearing so far this Summer is giving any indication that we really mean business. I mean - even the Zubimendi transfer has come under question - notwithstanding that this is apparently a done deal. If we are honest - we do not look like an outfit with any real ambition to enhance our postion as a top world club. Reputationally, landing a truly world class player (and I don't even include Gyokores or Sesko here) is very important for us, but from all we can see even or transfer targets - let alone the likes of Nico Williams and Rodrigo - are pretty lukewarm on joining the project.
I hope I am wrong, but currently I don't have a great feeling about how this is all going to play out - and I can see a relatively small time approach this Summer leading to failure next season...
Putting the laughter back into manslaughter
Sure - but this falls apart if Partey is allowed to leave.
Putting the laughter back into manslaughter
Yes I think that was the plan
It was a horrible and stupid plan but a plan all the same, because the consequence of that plan was to have Rice a defensive midfielder as no8, and Merino who can barely function in any role as a midfielder as his backup
My plan would be to only play Rice and Zubimendi together when we are playing teams that will give us space. And play two creative midfielders against the rest (my ideal would be that person would be Morgan Rodgers)
And therefore whichever striker we signed, would have more space to operate in
But given we almost certainly won’t do that, I’d much rather the striker who can operate in tight spaces and score with headers
But for all the criticism of Arteta that comes this way, it’s interesting that this suggestion is treated like a suggestion of using your first born kids as a blood sacrifice
Good if that was the plan, of course it means more money will be wasted on a defensive midfielder rather than doing the obvious thing. But it leaves at least the option of doing the obvious thing
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