re: Arsenal 2016/2017 Season Long Thread: 13 time FA Cup Champs

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I guess he thought Santi would stay healthy all year?

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Wilshere is a good enough replacement. We shouldn't have loaned him out. He was going to get into the England squad anyway.

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Watch our first game against Chelsea again. We worked around all these players, especially Kante, quite easily, because the players were utterly uncomfortable in the system

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I know. He swapped after we ran riot on them.

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Which speaks to my point about players. It doesn't matter who we buy when our system isn't functional.

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I've followed this team a long time and I've seen that meme repeated before. Sorry if I was overly insistent.

I honestly think if we had a real framework other than to look win beautifully, we would have won at least one PL title, if not more.

We do need a new coach, but it has to be the right coach. I really want Jardim at Monaco. I don't think we are going to get him. We might end up with Allegri, and he isn't the tactician that I feel we need.

Wenger was a visionary in many ways, but if he implemented a tactical system that was cogent from the youth ranks to the senior team, we could dictate games to the opposition (one of Wenger's stated goals) rather than seem so damn aimless all the time.

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2013:
40+ mil for Ozil and finished 4th

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Ozil= world class

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2014:
40+ mil for Alexis
20+ mil for Welbeck
20+ mil for Chambers and finished 3rd

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Alexis= world class
Welbeck= nowhere near it. I love Welbz but he is Injured far too often to ever be effective
Chambers= is now on loan because Wenger seems to have no faith in him. I do think he can be a stalwart for our defense for years to come, though.

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2015:
10+ mil for Cech
10+ mil for Elneny and finished 2nd

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10M was too much for a 33 year old keeper. yeah, he won the golden gloves last year but he's been nowhere near that this season

Elneny= isn't anywhere close to world class, he was bought as cover and has actually performed better than Wenger's preferred DM alongside Xhaka, Coq

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2016:
40+ mil for Xhaka
40+ mil for Mustafi
20+ mil for Perez and are currently sitting 5th and 18 points out of 1st

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Xhaka & Mustafi the jury is still out on. Neither have justified that price tag yet, but Mesut didn't in his first season either.
Perez= I don't know if he's just not training hard or what. The man should be getting EPL looks and doesn't even make the bench. Pitiful.


What I'm getting at here is money isn't the problem (necessarily. We just would rather buy 4-5 players instead of 1-2 much better for the same amount. Quantity > quality, I guess) the talent evaluation seems to be the problem.

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Sorry bro. I know I'm being a dick. I wish I had your enthusiasm. I really do. I'm just tired of the excuses and people bending over backwards to defend Arsene. He has a very expensive and world class roster at his disposal. fricking do something with it.

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It's okay. I know this is a big issue between the fans, so its fine bro.
I'm not trying to defend everything Arsene has done, only a few things. The only thing I will disagree with in this last part is the "world class roster". I'd say, legitimately, 3 players can reasonably be considered world class. (Kos, Ozil, Alexis)

The upper tier would most likely be where Bellerin, Ramsey, Giroud, Ox and possibly Walcott fall.

The rest of them, barring Xhaka & Mustafi, would struggle to make it in any top tier team in the world.

^^^
I left out injured and loaned players, because they can't be picked on match day

World class players go to Barca and Real.

Do you really think Chelsea and Spurs have that much better of a squad? Theo has 19 goals for crying out loud.

Other teams with lesser talent in the premier league find ways to frustrate and shut down Arsenal.

I've only known Arsenal with Wenger. But he can't coach forever. His contract is up. Let him go. We need a new direction. Even if we catch Liverpool.


The players that come here and stay injured and aren't worth what we paid is starting to out weigh him finding the unknown and turning them into stars.

And don't even get me started on how long he went without getting a legit keeper.

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Luiz & Cahill are great in defense. Cesar A. is a good talent too.

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Luiz is a massive wildcard. Super talented but also positionally undisciplined.

Cahill has never been world class, but he's very good.

I don't think they are a level above us. The line between world class players and very good players is sometimes a matter of systems rather than talent alone. Or mentality.

Santi is as good as any midfielder on Tottenham or Chelsea, but he will never get rated as such, unfortunately.

The type of world class player we need exists very rarely.

Also suggesting that we buy another world class player without regard for who it is part of the reason we spent the noughties with too many number 10s who all wanted the ball. We need a very specific type of player, if we have no departures. The type of player we need is fairly rare. We should have bought Javi Martinez, who would have been exactly the midfield anchor we needed. Players like Martinez are extremely rare.

I'd love to get Mbappe from Monaco but we are going to miss out on him.

Speaking of, what happened to Santi this season?
(Don't follow Arsenal close enough to know, but i've always enjoyed his game.)

Just judging by Arsenal's youtube channel, Santi and Ox are the life of the party in the locker room.

Santi is always smiling and laughing. People are in a good mood everywhere he goes. I want so badly for Ox to make it at Arsenal. He's a great locker room guy. All of the guys seem to like him a lot.

Just wanted to point out how good Giroud has been this year as a super sub.

Funny how when you put players in a position to succeed they deliver. Giroud is not suited to lead the line day in, day out, but he's excellent as a sub and spot starter.

If only we can re-tool our defense the way we've re-tooled our attack this year.