it actually bloody happened
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If you asked me before the transfer window at the start of this season, I would not have “Kai Havertz will be instrumental to our title challenge” on my bingo card
Daily Discussion - 11th March 2024
[Official] Every word from Mikel's post-Sheffield Utd presser
Billy Carpenter | Introducing BEAST
Super insightful read from Billy as usual. Something that really surprised me that might’ve changed my mind a bit about Raya: he is claiming crosses 3x as often as Ramsdale. This was something I thought he was doing poorly from, and was hurting us as a result but I didn’t realise it was just my nostalgia goggles talking.
Also I think something underplayed in this article is set pieces. We all sort of know, and Billy talks to it here, that Arteta’s big MO is minimising variance in the game in the team’s favour. Yes, our open play goals have been lacking, but you don’t need to break down a low block from a set piece. If we scored 8 goals every game from corners and had 0 open play goals all season, you would be stupid to bemoan the lack of open play goals.
So yes, our finishing has been woeful, but the amount of corners in our last few games that have hit the first defender instead of our players has been as bad, if not worse.
Billy Carpenter: What ails Arsenal
I really don’t agree with the wording of “Once adequate finances are available, the Raya deal must be turned permanent.” He has been pretty solid for us but not without flaws. Especially if Ramsdale stays, I really don’t think Raya would be my pick for keeper for the next x years. If we can use that 27 million elsewhere and keep Ramsdale, for example, why not just let the loan lapse?
I suppose that comes from a pretty biased place on my part though - I much prefer Ramsdale.
David Ornstein’s January transfer window guide: The plans for the Premier League’s top teams
David Ornstein’s January transfer window guide: The plans for the Premier League’s top teams - Lemmy.World
Pretty useless article that says basically what we already know, but some interesting tidbits from other clubs. Here’s the Arsenal bit: >Recent years show Arsenal are not afraid of doing business in January and they will be alert again — depending on usual considerations such as injuries, profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) and opportunities in the window. > >Last summer’s spending meant the signing of David Raya from Brentford needed to be done on loan with an option to buy (£27million; $34.2m), which shows Arsenal were in a tight spot around PSR. Once adequate finances are available, the Raya deal must be turned permanent. > >Let’s see whether those finances are generated from existing resources or require player trading. Should it be the former, departures could presumably be used to enhance the budget. Should it be the latter, there is unlikely to be a huge amount of money at manager Mikel Arteta’s disposal. > >The most obvious candidate to exit might be Aaron Ramsdale. Any goalkeeper in his position will want to regular football, especially given the desire to get into England’s Euro 2024 squad, though there have been no significant movements yet — nor are any certain to materialise. > >While plenty of speculation has focused on Arsenal potentially recruiting a striker, that is more plausible in the summer. Nothing has developed regarding Ivan Toney and it would take a massive bid to change that, particularly with Bryan Mbeumo out for around three months with an ankle injury. > >Even if Victor Osimhen, Benjamin Sesko and Evan Ferguson are among those admired by Arsenal (and many other clubs), it is not anticipated they will land at the Emirates Stadium soon.
All-round decent weekend for results in respect to our position on the table. Didn’t expect Liverpool to falter although I thought Aston Villa would have held out much better in their game.
I hate this point of the season where there’s such a big delay between games. We really must win against West ham