Arsenal 2018-2019 Thread

113,955 Views | 2116 Replies | Last: 4 yr ago by CoolAggie
OneBlitzer
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AG
Hello darkness, my old friend...

At least until ICC Bayern Munich match in LA.
AirplaneAg09
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Extremely disappointing. Arsenal are on quite the downward spiral from a club trajectory standpoint, especially compared to the rest of the "Big 6". Kroenke as the majority owner and the continued absence of UCL is a recipe for total disaster. We just thought the last few years of Wenger were lean years, I shudder to think what's in store for the next 5 years.

Hello darkness my old friend, indeed. What a letdown.
wangus12
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So after year 1, I'd give Emery a C-.

The total collapse to end the season just really puts me off. The mental fragility is still very much there. We all talked about Emery needing a few transfer periods to get what he wants in, but we have almost no money to do that. You had two different opportunities to secure Champions League and we managed to emphatically blow both chances. Our defense managed to regress from last year. Even with some of the big injuries to Holding & Bellerin, there was no visible improvement from a system standpoint.

We have players that need to be sold that we probably can't off load. We can't afford to bring in any high class players that we be immediate fixes. We drastically need to fix our midfield. Teams just pass through us like we aren't there and its one of the reasons the defense struggles so much.

I'd like to see us offload players like Ozil, Mustafi, Elneny, Mkhi. It could possibly help add something to the budget for us to get a couple good young players moving forward.
wangus12
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I thought Willock & Iwobi looked decent coming on today and I think part of that is simply because they are willing to run so much. They work hard when they are out on the pitch. With the lack of funds, we're gonna have to hope players like Nelson, Nketiah, Smith-Rowe and Willock actually come good and turn dividends for us. Another interesting case is Calum Chambers returning. He played most of the season at Fulham as a defensive midfielder and ended up winning their player of the season award. We can either try and cash in on him (he'll be worth something as an english homegrown player) or give him a shot in front of our defense.
chjoak
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wangus12 said:

So after year 1, I'd give Emery a C-.

The total collapse to end the season just really puts me off. The mental fragility is still very much there. We all talked about Emery needing a few transfer periods to get what he wants in, but we have almost no money to do that. You had two different opportunities to secure Champions League and we managed to emphatically blow both chances. Our defense managed to regress from last year. Even with some of the big injuries to Holding & Bellerin, there was no visible improvement from a system standpoint.

We have players that need to be sold that we probably can't off load. We can't afford to bring in any high class players that we be immediate fixes. We drastically need to fix our midfield. Teams just pass through us like we aren't there and its one of the reasons the defense struggles so much.

I'd like to see us offload players like Ozil, Mustafi, Elneny, Mkhi. It could possibly help add something to the budget for us to get a couple good young players moving forward.

I really wonder how much of the defensive issues are the players vs coaches. Only holdover from the previous staff is the defensive coach (Bould) and he is rumored to be let go this summer. Not giving Emery a pass but it is entirely possible that Bould could have caused some issues considering that our defense wasn't exactly stellar under AW. There is definitely work to be done on several fronts. Assuming the rumored budget is true we are going to have to be creative. Work the FAs, expiring contracts and cheap release clauses really hard. If a rumor pops up that doesn't fit into one of those categories it is likely a completely made up rumor. If we are able to offload the excess and otherwise poor players without loosing too many of the good ones, it is possible for this team to compete for top 4 and/or EL next season but it is gonna take some deals falling our way.
chjoak
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wangus12 said:

I thought Willock & Iwobi looked decent coming on today and I think part of that is simply because they are willing to run so much. They work hard when they are out on the pitch. With the lack of funds, we're gonna have to hope players like Nelson, Nketiah, Smith-Rowe and Willock actually come good and turn dividends for us. Another interesting case is Calum Chambers returning. He played most of the season at Fulham as a defensive midfielder and ended up winning their player of the season award. We can either try and cash in on him (he'll be worth something as an english homegrown player) or give him a shot in front of our defense.
I had been on the cash-in boat for the last few months but I am starting to think he could be worth keeping around as a DM/CB (CB only if we are playing back 3) sub to see if there is a chance he could contribute. Think I would plan for him to be on the roster and get him a bunch of preseason playing time to see if I like what he brings at DM.
chjoak
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My assessment for the summer based on rumors, presumed budget, etc...


Assumptions
  • 40m + sales budget
  • We shift to a 4-man back line (4-2-3-1 / 4-3-3 / 4-2-2-2 / 4-4-2 diamond) as our base

GK - Don't see the point/value in spending money here. Leno is #1. Martinez has looked good at Reading. Make him the #2 (added bonus is he is HG) and let one of the academy guys push. Worry about GK next summer if Martinez isn't getting the job done.

CB - Needs an overhaul. Id keep Kos (assuming he wants to stay) for leadership and frankly he has been our best defender. Holding stays and gets an opportunity to earn his starting spot back. Outside of that I think all spots should be open. Id sell Mustafi & Sokratis to the highest bidder and loan Mavro (assuming they think he has a future) and make a run at Mario Hermoso (valued at 20m Euro due to expiring contract), Fernando Calero (10m Euro RC) and then see if we can convince Barca to loan us Umtiti with an obligation to buy if/when he has X appearances.

LB - Needs an overhaul. Because of budget, I'd probably keep one of Nacho or Kola but honestly I'd like to replace both. If we are able to get Hermoso he is capable of playing LB much like Nacho, so that could help with depth and transition. Honestly have no idea who we might be able to get on a budget that could start.

RB - Assuming Bellerin comes back from his injury in previous form, we should be fine but we really need a backup. If we are moving to 4 man back line, AMN is not the solution at RB. He needs to be moved back to MF where he will be more effective. The bonus to this option is that we could get a cheap, young, HG player with AMN & possibly Chambers available for emergency starts.

CM - ElNeny & Xhaka need to go. ElNeny hardly played this season. Xhaka can produce some magical passes and cracker shots from distance but his defensive mistakes are just killer. Need to cash out on him while we can. I would like to add Rabiot but I think that is unlikely with no CL. Think it is more likely that we find a value buy / FA (Banega, Herrera, Milner, Joan Jordan, Nkunku) and then fill in with academy guys (Willock, AMN). Could see Chambers being given a chance to show he deserves a spot in the team as well.

AM - Ramsey is gone and Ozil desperately needs to be. There are value options out there for this spot but I highly doubt we spend any money here unless we can offload Ozil. If we are able to offload Ozil, I'd be looking really hard at the release clauses for Ziyech, Pablo Fornals & Pablo Sarabia (25, 22 & 18m). Added bonus that Ziyech & Sarabia can play RW.

W - Iwobi has flashes and deserves to push for more minutes. Miki probably needs to be sold. Think Emile likely needs another loan. Really hoping Nelson can step up. Gonna have to spend some money here. Several options out there but we likely lost a few of those options with the loss today. Assuming we continue trying to play 2 ST, I'd be inclined to try and snag atleast 1 guy that can play both W & ST (Thuram).

ST - Really wanna keep both PAE & Laca. Fear we are gonna lose atleast one to a CL club either because they demand to go or we feel we can't pass up the cash for a rebuild. Either way I think we are gonna need another ST on the roster. Nketiah has looked solid at times but he really needs a loan to get more minutes. We need to find a 22-26yo to bridge the gap between PAE/Laca & Nketiah. Who we go after would depend heavily on whether PAE/Laca are sold and whether we intend to run 2 ST formations next season.
wangus12
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I think you almost have to sell one of Laca/Auba since there are rumors of big spenders looking at them. Try and sell one for 75-90m could do wonders for the bankroll. Or Kroenke just pockets it. Ziyech has stated he's dreamed of playing for Arsenal, but I doubt we can get him without CL. Would be a good signing I think
chjoak
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wangus12 said:

I think you almost have to sell one of Laca/Auba since there are rumors of big spenders looking at them. Try and sell one for 75-90m could do wonders for the bankroll. Or Kroenke just pockets it. Ziyech has stated he's dreamed of playing for Arsenal, but I doubt we can get him without CL. Would be a good signing I think
I don't want to but I think that is what will happen. Think it's likely gonna be Laca for 75-100m and then we switch to a 4-2-3-1 / 4-3-3 base. We can get a young target forward as a backup (Wesley) for under 30m. If they can sell PAE or Laca for 75+ and get a backup ST plus 2 other younger players that can be starters in exchange, it's hard not to pull the trigger.

Ziyech would be awesome as a RW/AM but I don't see anyway that happens after today. Had we won, I think they would have triggered his RC as soon as the window opened. Assuming he wants to play for us bad enough, I could still see us snagging him IF we offload Ozil.
Maximus_Meridius
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wangus12 said:

Or Kroenke just pockets it.
This is why this conversation is frustrating. No one knows what he's gonna do, but you can bet your life he ain't gonna drop as much money this transfer season as we need him to. Are there any legal rules that stipulate he can't just pocket 50% of the cash from selling PAE/Laca?
chjoak
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Nope. He can pocket 100% if he likes.
chjoak
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What we really need is for the Nigerian dude that expressed interest in buying out Kroenke 1-2 yrs ago to blow him away with an offer, fire Emery, hire Allegri and give us 100-150m + sales to work with.
texagbeliever
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It is kind of doom and gloom situation here. Only bright side is that man u is somehow worse than us and Chelsea sans hazard plus transfer ban could have a setback year.

But yeah no chance at any titles
chjoak
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Chelsea could be even worse. Several players are leaving (Hazard) and can't be replaced and there are rumors that they will lose Sarri and replace him with Lampard.
AggieRob93
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AggieRob93 said:

What will be insufferably ironic...Arsenal make it to the Europa final, and lose to the fightin' Hazard's, who have already qualified for the CL.


Sorry that I called it back in early May.

Arsenal backline was, once again, shyte.

Arsenal midfield was, once again, shyte.

Arsenal front line was, once again, unable to put balls on target.

Crap. Crap. Crap. Nothing but crap.

I stuck up for and believed in Emery all season. I'm officially out of his corner. The last 6 weeks to the EPL season should have shown me the writing on the wall, but just like a good Ag, I had to believe. That's what I get, I guess.
wangus12
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TXAggie2011 said:

2017-2018 is now OVER!

Let's do this!
Go ahead and start the new thread so this one can die just like our hopes and dreams
PJYoung
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AirplaneAg09 said:

Extremely disappointing. Arsenal are on quite the downward spiral from a club trajectory standpoint, especially compared to the rest of the "Big 6". Kroenke as the majority owner and the continued absence of UCL is a recipe for total disaster. We just thought the last few years of Wenger were lean years, I shudder to think what's in store for the next 5 years.

Hello darkness my old friend, indeed. What a letdown.

This is my 5th year as a fan so blame me.

At least nobody can say I'm a front runner.
CoolAggie
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Can't accuse Arsenal fans of being glory hunters or plastic fans anymore. This team is basically a safe, passive, dividend-yielding investment for Kroenke to finance his stadium in L.A. He didn't even attend the game yesterday. F***.
 
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