summer '22 transfer craziness and stupidity

[IBK]

Great scene - I'd forgotten about Heisenberg, and Skylar...and Brad

[Chippy]

It was £40m and a pound. We're not cheap

My apologies for the error, Sir

[mandela8]

3/4s of our fullback options are decent - the problem we had last season was we built a system that needed one defensive FB to balance a more offence FB on the other side, and we only had one defensive option. So all good as long as Tomi was fit - even Nuno looked like a monster in the making before Christmas - but as soon as we lost him we had nothing but attacking FBs to choose from. For a while we slid White across to play there - not ideal, but it provided a balance, and even Cedric didn’t look awful (for Cedric) when we told Tierney to stay back - it had an effect in Tierney’s game, but again it provided a kind of balance. But when we lost Tierney, and then Partey as the shield in front of them, and then White, the defence finally crumbled.

Let’s not forget, though, when had our best back 5/6 available we were breaking records for clean sheets, so there’s nothing too much wrong with those starting options. I don’t even have a problem with Nuno - he’s a bit raw, but at least he has a high ceiling. I’d take him over Cedric any day, who is as good now as he’ll ever be and will never get any better. What we need is depth, especially for our defensive FB options.

Saliba actually goes some way to addressing that - he’s played RB himself a fair bit or he allows us to slide white across to cover. And Martinez sounds like he would be a really smart buy too - he’d give us that defensive option on the left allowing us to play a more offensive RB (and if he can also provide better depth for Partey then that really would be a good move). Also, the additions of Saliba and Martinez would increase the chances of playing a back 3 when needed - in that situation we can get away with two all-out attacking FBs.

Pretty much agree with all of this.

I also think fullback is the easiest position for youth players to step into. Surely we have a young RB. Norton Cuffy or someone. I'd actually pay Cedric to fuck off. That's how shite he is.

Taveres did look magic when he first broke into the team. Another shocking piece of man management from Arteta that, imo. Managed to turn a blip into a crisis and destroyed his confidence.

[mandela8]

Need to stop pissing around with these incremental Martinez bids now if he’s the guy we want. I don’t mind haggling when the talks are secret and we’re the only bidder, but if United are sniffing around then we need to just pony up the extra 6m, or whatever it is, and get it done.

Also I have an alarmingly short attention span because of the internet and I’m starting to get bored.

Not sure about this Man U intradest. They've just signed the boy Malacia who is a LB. They already have Shaw. So not sure why they'd need Martinez.

Unless...this really means that he does play other positions. At 5 9" I just don't see him as a CB so maybe he is a CM...which would actually have me far keener on him as a signing.

[I am invisible]

Pretty much agree with all of this.

I also think fullback is the easiest position for youth players to step into. Surely we have a young RB. Norton Cuffy or someone. I'd actually pay Cedric to fuck off. That's how shite he is.

Taveres did look magic when he first broke into the team. Another shocking piece of man management from Arteta that, imo. Managed to turn a blip into a crisis and destroyed his confidence.

Norton Cuffy is why I think we'll probably keep Cedric around for another year - a bit of additional cover while we send him out on a more challenging loan, probably to a Championship side, to finish his development. Hopefully we won't have to see much of Cedric with Tomi, White and Saliba ahead of him.

[Mac76]

Hopefully we won't have to see much of Cedric with Tomi, White and Saliba ahead of him.

i'm not sure Arteta sees it that way - i know White has filled in at RB but not when Cedric is fit i don't think

having said that i hadn't realised Saliba could play at RB, but i just checked and apparently so, in whic case yes, it gives us another good option and maybe he or White can be at RB more permanently

[Mac76]

Thanks and very best of luck Matteo - you actually showed some guts, spirit and determination - too much unfortunately for some lego-haired managers wth a penis-size complex...

https://www.arsenal.com/news/matteo-...ique-marseille

[I am invisible]

Not sure about this Man U intradest. They've just signed the boy Malacia who is a LB. They already have Shaw. So not sure why they'd need Martinez.

Unless...this really means that he does play other positions. At 5 9" I just don't see him as a CB so maybe he is a CM...which would actually have me far keener on him as a signing.

Yeah, I'm not really keen on the idea of him as a CB, although I'd be happy for him to provide a bit of cover there when needed - he might be on the short side, but he's also just won Ajax's POTY award in that role so he must be doing something right.

Everyone loves comparing what we're doing to Man City, and I'm sure I remember one of the Arsenal podcasts making the point that the player in their side who he most closely matches in terms of skill charts and stats is Fernandinho? He certainly has the distribution skills and he also looks extremely calm under pressure, with a lovely sharp change of direction on him... it could work.

My gut-feeling though is we're looking at him as an inverted fullback - that would mean we'd lose the marauding, overlapping fullback down the left, but we'd potentailly gain a left-8 who doesn't have to drop to support Partey?

[mandela8]

Thanks and very best of luck Matteo - you actually showed some guts, spirit and determination - too much unfortunately for some lego-haired managers wth a penis-size complex...

https://www.arsenal.com/news/matteo-...ique-marseille

Strange one this.

I never bought into the hype Gendouzi generated. He was nowhere near as good as Arsenal fans thought he was.

However, he seems to have developed hugely over the last season and fits the profile we seem to be going for. He's definitely now better than both Xhaka and Elneny and won't be on huge wages. His whole situation has been horribly managed by Arteta who does seem like an insecure wee prick.

Both Gendouzi and Torriera are big improvements to the squad. Just weird.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Strange one this.

I never bought into the hype Gendouzi generated. He was nowhere near as good as Arsenal fans thought he was.

However, he seems to have developed hugely over the last season and fits the profile we seem to be going for. He's definitely now better than both Xhaka and Elneny and won't be on huge wages. His whole situation has been horribly managed by Arteta who does seem like an insecure wee prick.

Both Gendouzi and Torriera are big improvements to the squad. Just weird.

Yeah same I never rated him either, it does appear though that he had a good season with Marseille

I think we had a compulsory purchase agreement with Marseille so that particular transfer was set in stone some while back

Think his behaviour was mainly the reason we got rid

Torreira? Yep definitely better than Elneny and Xhaka for me but Arteta didn’t rate him and that formed part of the reason we brought in Partey