Arsenal Banter Archive May 23 2016

 

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23 May 2016 21:51:06
Juan Matta? He will no doubt be available again soon and probably at a decent price.
In his only two full seasons at Chelsea he was their plyer of the year both seasons and all that ability hasn't gone anywhere he simply didn't fit in at Chelsea under mourinho and joined a very disjointed united in order to make Spanish world cup squad, somrone somewhere might well be about to bag the bargain m of next season should it be us?

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23 May 2016 22:41:09
I hear ya G62! I think he's a cracking little player, if santi were to leave then I'd have mata all day long.

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23 May 2016 22:48:38
He's going nowhere. Don't u dare take my jaun away lol.

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23 May 2016 23:25:16
I would take him.

Think he can play AM and LW and RW.

Still a quality player.

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24 May 2016 01:17:43
I think our CM is well sorted and even though I would take Mehrez over him for sure.

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24 May 2016 07:21:33
New striker
Sanchez Ozil Matta
To me gives the opposition much more to think about than
New striker
Sanchez Ozil Theo, Ox, Campbell or Iwobi.
Xhaka the new veira and Matta the new overmars, Ozil is as close we're ever likely to get to Bergy leaving us with just an Henry tribute act to find.

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24 May 2016 09:11:44
"Henry tribute act".

You just made my day G62 :-)

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24 May 2016 14:52:47
Good player, but way too similar to Cazorla and Wilshere. The era of small, technical players has declined, with more powerful, taller, athletic players coming to the fore again. Hence a powerful side such as Athletico can beat Barce in the CL and possibly even win it. Leicester won the PL with quite a powerful team and the Toot tried to play a power game and came third!

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25 May 2016 10:17:07
Mata is a lazy player, thus work hard Willian replacing him in the Chelsea team. He doesn't know what tracking back is. He's a Spanish theo.

He pulls some nice volleys out granted, but in the modern days of high pressing football, he let's the side down for me.

Every squad has a luxury "stay up the pitch and give us an outball player" I'd rather it be ozil or sanchez for me. Iwobi works twice as hard, is 40million pound cheaper, younger and generally a better proposition in the longterm I. My. O.

If we are looking for a right winger, I can't see who's available who we could justify buying? Mhikatarian?

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23 May 2016 20:06:22
“I personally, like we all do here, love the player. The standing ovation he gets every time he walks out there tells you a lot.

“We love the man as well, and his attitude, and his exceptional class and qualities. It’s sad [that he’s leaving] but I must say, for me it was a privilege to manage him.

“He makes it look very easy when he’s playing. He has a quality – when the ball comes to him the game suddenly becomes a bit quicker, more incisive, more mobile.

“He had all the football qualities to play the game we love to play here, and I would say Tomas Rosicky was the perfect player for Arsenal Football Club. ”

A late post about Rosicky, but this is what wenger said about TR7. Such a lovely tribute and it goes to show what a brilliant talent he was and considering how hampered his Arsenal career was still made such a difference to us fans.

One of the few players to leave Arsenal with 100% of the fans full of love for him and such unhappiness that he has gone.

So thank you Tomas, for the memories, beautiful moments and loyalty to showed to us fans and to this club.

Soppy post over guys!

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23 May 2016 20:16:50
Top post about a top player Akie.

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{Ed025's Note - i agree dags..

23 May 2016 20:27:52
Great post, great player, loved him. :-)

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23 May 2016 22:49:11
Great player? Debatable.

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24 May 2016 09:52:37
CTR. Must be difficult when the only class you see is Memphis and Felliani. Enjoy spursday night club.

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23 May 2016 18:02:58
As exciting as the early signing of xhaka is, if we also go for and get kante then there is surely a big sacrifice to pay. Presuming arsene continues either 433 or 4231, then there are 3 midfield spots to fill with xhaka, cazorla, le coq, el neny, Ramsay, jack and Ozil (maybe kante) all vying for spots. Don't get me wrong, that strength in depth is phenomenal but I can't help feeling there will be a big sale (ramsay or wilshere) or that arsene will revert to type and try and shoehorn one into a wide position, which even Malaga would admit only works 1 game in 10!

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23 May 2016 18:58:20
I can't see arsene signing another cm with xhaka coming in, that position is well n truly filled.
You can't count jack '5 games a season' Wilshere

Didn't santi want to go back to Spain last summer?
I know he's in the new kit photos but maybe he's angling for a move again?

I'd be well happy going into next season with CMs we have. All sorts of versatility in there.

ST
CB
Winger (sell Theo if possible)

These positions should be priority, in that order too :)

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23 May 2016 19:04:27
The beauty of xhaka is he can play DM or where cazorla plays. His work ethic is amazing if we need to be more attackin then we put him in DM and caz or Ramsey in front if more defensive then le coq or elneny and him in front. Ramsey wants to play where ozil plays and that's his best possition but he ain't as good as me ozil. We have loads of options at Rw but none that are world beaters (unless you put Sanchez there but I like him out left) mane would be a good buy for that possition. Even without Kante we are good through the middle now. Just a cf and a CB needed. There are a few players who we could get for CB but the tricky one is the CF possition. To be where we all want to be then only aubamayang, lewandowski or benzema will do ( I'm not sure on morata or higuain or lacazette )

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23 May 2016 20:01:13
SLB,

Ozil has been raving about Serge Gnabry and with a pre season with us and his form initially he could be the one to watch, can play either wing.

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23 May 2016 17:22:22
Seems the lost sheep has been forgotten. Needless sign a striker, we've got SANOGO. Where the heck is he, our new comic hero in the future maybe? lol.

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23 May 2016 18:04:26
He can stay lost lol. I'm the only sanogo you need.

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24 May 2016 10:12:43
Haha. I bet you've got his genes in you mate. lol.

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23 May 2016 13:27:18
Morata has scored 15 goals in 63 games! How can anyone be thinking this would be a good signing? And for the prices quoted absolute madness for that return I would pay no more than 15 million and keep in mind that is for juventus who dominate their league.

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23 May 2016 13:50:50
Although I'm not the biggest fan of his goal scoring record, Morata has a quality that is incredibly difficult to find in strikers; he scores in big games. In my opinion, Giroud is a good enough striker when the pressure is off, and even puts in some decent performances against big teams, but almost every time I see Morata score it is against a big team in an important moment. While I do believe that strikers can learn to improve their positioning and even finishing to a limited extent, the ability to show up in the most important moments cannot be taught. Case in point he just scored the winning goal in the copa Italia.

That being said I would agree that he's not worth the price being quoted.

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{Ed025's Note - its not your money hoover, dont let it bother you mate..

23 May 2016 14:25:35
I think you need to do a bit more digging than that stat to be honest.

Morata has not had many starts, and I suspect his goals per minutes looks better.

Also - he was playing wide right, and not down the middle because of Dybala.

He is not a guaranteed 20+ goals, but honestly I think very few such strikers are available, and so we have to buy someone with the rigth traits.

Morata, is mobile yet strong.
Can dribble and distribute.
Is a fighter.

I think these are the things we have been crying out for. The player is often compared to Morientes, a player I had always wished had been at Arsenal.

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23 May 2016 15:34:56
He's also 23 I think, and is as such the next generation of player. Once messi and Co retire, tell be the Morata, lukaku and hazards who are worth 90million.

I agree Morata has a neck of finding important goals too. If he's the best available then we should buy him for me as he's an improvement on current options and has ample champions league/ big club experience.

However, I'm not going to sit here and say I wouldn't like to see higuan or lewendoski lining up infront of ozil. Just neither seem like an arsenal signing for me.

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23 May 2016 15:39:32
As ed said its not our money but he is not the answer and he might score in big games but his scoring record for teams like real who are free scoring and juventus is woeful. I mean he is third choice behind mandukich. It would be a huge gamble.

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23 May 2016 11:13:49
Can any Ed tell which players Arsenal are interested in this transfer window.

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{Ed033's Note - why don't you do what malaga gooner does and stare into a bottle of tomato sauce and all will be revealed.

23 May 2016 11:42:38
Ah. The old bottle of tomato sauce trick 😁.

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{Ed033's Note - Scrying, or something to do when eating fish and chips with warm beer.

23 May 2016 12:58:02
Normally with a translucent ball Ed, but bottle of sauce will suffice 😉.

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23 May 2016 07:48:30
I saw some stats on another site analysing the strike rate (goals per min played) of those players who scored more than 10 goals in the EPL this season (ignoring penalties) . Aguero is 1st by some margin but Giroud is second, comfortably ahead of both Kane and Vardy (both of whom played more minutes and had 5 penalty goals) .
I'd be pretty sure the same analysis from last season would favour Giroud even mre as he played far fewer games for only 1 less non-penalty goal.
Like most, I'd dearly like us to get an upgrade on Giroud but
a) how easy will that be from the realistically abailable strkers?
b) are we all being too harsh on Giroud?

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23 May 2016 13:07:38
You will always find some stat or another that will favour certain players. Unfortunate the only stat that counts is goals and I don't care if they fly in of the back of their heads as long as they go in.

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23 May 2016 16:02:19
The best way of judging strikers is on chance conversion rate and chances created if you're looking entirely at stats (which I don't think anyone should as it doesn't paint the whole picture) .

In both of those categories I'd imagine Giroud is behind Aguero, Kane, Vardy and possibly behind others like Lukaku, Ighalo and Martial.

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23 May 2016 20:03:46
That's the problem with Olly its the amount of excellent chances he misses, shame because he's a fantastic worker but doesn't have the ability to be a top finisher.

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23 May 2016 10:00:46
Did anyone see my Squad number calls?

I am 2 for 2!

Now we need to sign a number nine
and let's give Iwobi No. 17.

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23 May 2016 16:07:26
Nah didn't see it mate.

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23 May 2016 08:41:33
Hi Ed's - with regard to our goalkeepers, do you see Ospina or Szczesny staying?

I thought Szczesny would go on loan for a season and then come back and we sell Ospina, but it all seems to be pretty quiet.

Thanks for the good work on the site - all very informative when you are asked the right questions and the same constant drones!

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{Ed001's Note - the club would like to keep hold of Ospina but Szczesny is unwanted if Ospina stays. The issue is that both want to be first choice.}