As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
Odegaard for 30-35 million will be a decent signing imo. He was pretty decent for us till he got injured on international duty. 2 goals and 2 assists from 20 odd games doesn't sound much for a number 10 but he was involved in a number of other goals providing the pass before the assist. He is also only 23 so he has not reached his peak yet.
£30m-£35m for a DECENT PLAYER sounds good to you ??? We have enough "decent players" as it is without pissing away more of our meagre transfer kitty on average players. We have already spunked away £50m on a defender who can pass the ball but not defend, are on the verge of signing a below average keeper for ridiculous money, and now we are on the verge of pishing away the last of the cash on a plain decent (but no better than that)midfielder
We need to get used to the fact that world class proven talent in their prime may not be dying to join us given the utter shambles that we are right now. Every signing is not a guaranteed success but a strategy (if there is one) of buying young, talented players who can improve is something I can get behind.
No doubt we overpaid for White and it is difficult to justify splurging such an amount on a position which most would agree wasn't a priority specially now that it seems that we will not be signing a RB or a proven CDM. But that and one bad performance doesn't make White a bad player. It is absurd to suggest that he can't defend based on one bad performance.
Yes agreed early days for Ben White...but as Ferdinand was saying recently other teams will see a weakness and play on it.....TBH not sure about dominace in the air either........jurys out.....need more games to assess
As for Odergaard....hes tidy dont seem to give the ball away too much...but cant see the attacking threat....Aouar looks to more fit the bill football wise...dont think Arteta will go for him as he shows a bit of attitude.....where as Odergaard dont
I don't think anyone is saying that White can't defend, it's more about the fact that the priority for signing him seems to be his ability with the ball.
I believe we would see the best of Odegaard if we had different types of attackers around him.
Odegaard for 30-35 million will be a decent signing imo. He was pretty decent for us till he got injured on international duty. 2 goals and 2 assists from 20 odd games doesn't sound much for a number 10 but he was involved in a number of other goals providing the pass before the assist. He is also only 23 so he has not reached his peak yet.
£30m-£35m for a DECENT PLAYER sounds good to you ??? We have enough "decent players" as it is without pissing away more of our meagre transfer kitty on average players. We have already spunked away £50m on a defender who can pass the ball but not defend, are on the verge of signing a below average keeper for ridiculous money, and now we are on the verge of pishing away the last of the cash on a plain decent (but no better than that)midfielder
We need to get used to the fact that world class proven talent in their prime may not be dying to join us given the utter shambles that we are right now. Every signing is not a guaranteed success but a strategy (if there is one) of buying young, talented players who can improve is something I can get behind.
No doubt we overpaid for White and it is difficult to justify splurging such an amount on a position which most would agree wasn't a priority specially now that it seems that we will not be signing a RB or a proven CDM. But that and one bad performance doesn't make White a bad player. It is absurd to suggest that he can't defend based on one bad performance.
Yes agreed early days for Ben White...but as Ferdinand was saying recently other teams will see a weakness and play on it.....TBH not sure about dominace in the air either........jurys out.....need more games to assess
As for Odergaard....hes tidy dont seem to give the ball away too much...but cant see the attacking threat....Aouar looks to more fit the bill football wise...dont think Arteta will go for him as he shows a bit of attitude.....where as Odergaard dont
Ferdinand made a very valid point that White at this stage of his career needs a more established/experienced partner alongside him to be a success. I can't say I am convinced by the White-Gabriel partnership given their lack of experience and Gabriel's iffy performances last season after a bright start. I haven't seen enough of White to form an opinion on whether he is good in the air or not, at Brighton, he was playing at the right hand side of a back 3 and most of the heavy lifting in terms of aerial clearances was being done by Dunk.
The fact that Aouar was our number 1 target last year and we haven't tried to sign him for half the price this year suggests something might have turned us off. The general feedback that I have received on Aouar is what some are accusing Odegaard of which is even though he is a very talented player, he often tends to drift through games without much impact. Having not watched much of Aouar and having watched plenty of Odegaard, I will probably go with the latter. I don't think comparing Odegaard to a lazy Ozil is a fair comparison . Odegaard has a lot more to him in terms of work rate and pressing that people give him credit for.
On the Odegaard subject, I won't write him off completely and will welcome him in the way that we do all new signings. He arrived halfway through last season with limited game time and to me seemed out of most of our games. There is talent in there but I'll be amazed if he turns out to be an instant success as I think the physicality of this league will take him a season to get to grips with. I do think Augie makes a fair point in terms of ESR though - we need to be careful that we don't do what we did to the Ox, by shunting him into positions that didn't suit and ultimately fucked up his development. One for a great manager to manage, which of course is where the biggest failing is because more likely is the Spanish David Brent selling ESR to Villa in the next window
Odegaard isn't the worst signing we could make. The appealing aspect of it is that he is still very young. I fully agree that ESR is a better 10, and will continue to get better, however he also seems to be made of glass. Having Odegaard as cover, maybe dropping back to CM time to time isn't a bad option. It's a signing that adds a bit of depth. Saka can also play on the right if needed, ESR on the left and Odegaard in the 10, of needed.
Not my first choice (none of who we signed this summer would be first choice, but whatever) but I think it's a good signing in terms of options/depth.
Yes Odergaard on his way by the look of it.......think arteta likes him because hes a quiet lad and gives no trouble
Not the player we need at worst hes ineffectual....drifting through games..a player we just dont need at present
If we had kept Martinez we wouldnt have needed Ramsdale....
Agreed on Ohdeargod. Not a bad player, just very average with little impact on games. He'll have a couple of great games in a season and a 10 minute spell of quality in almost every game he plays but ultimately he's not good enough and has zero consistency. We don't need him and its another big salary that could be directed to some of the areas we need to improve.
FFS!!!
Yes he is an "okay" player, but Not what we need. FFS
Edu, Arteta and the other cun.t are a definite contender for this most like award:
Why are people on here so objectionable to players we may sign who are better than we currently have?
Countinho, Abraham, Ramsdale.
I'd settle for Jack Wilshere.
It's questionable that Ramsdale is any better than Leno for a start but also he and Abraham are certainly not worth the fees being reported.
Wasn't looking at better than Leno, just looking at a better back up keeper than Runnarsson.
If they want better than Runnarsson they could sign me for nothing. I played in goal for my primary school team.
Lyon Sporting Director Juninho intends to react radically following the 3-0 defeat to Angers, now willing to sell Maxwel Cornet, Thiago Mendes, Houssem Aouar, Rayan Cherki and Islam Slimani for "their poor attitude," according to RMC. More follows tomorrow.
