yeah he’s crap, but tbf no CF that moved in the summer is better than a fit and firing Havertz (£120m Isak aside), so it’s not like there was an alternative anyway

obviously not suggesting Havertz is close to Haaland’s level overall - but he’s Arsenal’s best centre forward by miles and so is similarly important to his team

idk about that. If Haaland and Bernardo had only managed as many minutes as Havertz and Odegaard have, City would be nowhere near

to put Kai up front prior to the City game would have meant compromises in midfield - either Norgaard or maybe MLS - and it's pretty clear that Arteta would rather contract dysentery than play either of those guys in midfield

Exactly. But we’ve been forced into starting Gyokeres, Noni, the festering corpse of Gabi Jesus etc, basically all season

conversely, the worry would be that the damage would be terminal for the group if, for example, they blow the league and lose in the CL final

yeah we've had multiple opportunities to really put it to bed this season and have put in a wretched performance. Liverpool (H), Forest (A) spring to mind

They are players, yes. How many of them are good enough to be regular starters for a league winning team? Two. If you're reliant on the others for the majority of your games, you'll have problems

injury situation in 22/23 and 23/24 was fine tbf - it's only the last 2 seasons where it's been disastrous (in part due to too many minutes in the legs from the injury-free seasons).

23/24 was the one that really got away, after we persisted with Kai in midfield/Eddie up front for far too long

not really his fault that Arteta seemingly put him on the naughty step for weeks after losing track of Matty Cash once, when others have made similarly negligent defensive errors and not been treated that way

same with Eze and Odegaard pretty much

I don't even think the first one is *that* good a chance tbh. The layoff from Odegaard is a bit heavy so Havertz is stretching a bit for the shot, and Donnarumma comes out very quickly.

The header though he absolutely has to hit the target - that's a very bad miss.

also didnt even consider this in my initial reply, but how can we possibly say the summer business was a solid 8/10 when one of the buys was Norgaard who Arteta clearly very quickly decided was basically unusable for whatever reason

I really want to like Gyok, and I absolutely acknowledge that without his goals we’d have been completely fucked in the absence of Kai. But the technical level is just too low, and it isn’t a hurdle he can overcome at this level. I’d be trying to offload him in the summer if at all possible

The 1v1 maybe. The header probably not. And it’s moot because he wouldn’t have even got into those positions in the first place anyway. The bloke never manages to get any shots off against anyone half decent

yeah I definitely can’t go as high as 8/10 because I just don’t think Gyokeres in particular is anywhere near good enough.

But I can also acknowledge that without him (and the other signings) we’d be way off the pace, due to all the injuries to the key players

Ethan didn’t want to play RW anymore, and from what I understand the club felt he has plateaued in that position too as teams started to work him out. So I don’t think that was ever an option really

have to acknowledge that Semenyo was a significantly bigger financial outlay than Noni tbf. It is what it is

If you get a decent offer for Havertz you have to sell I think. You can’t renew him on massive wages if his fitness is going to be flakey from now on.

Martinelli should go, but idk who is offering good money for him - the guy has got rocks for brains.

if they can cut their losses on Gyokeres and get ~£40m for him I think it’ll be ok. If they’re stuck with him then it’s a problem

it is true that he hasn’t looked right since getting hurt in that England game though. He’s probably being asked to grit it out because Saka is dead and the only other option is literally a child

thanks for the nice assist vs Sporting but kindly fuck off out of my sight forever

Can’t miss as many presentable chances as we have unfortunately. Just not clinical enough when the opportunities arose

v funny that his brief would have been to primarily offer defensive cover

the sexual tension between Gabriel and Haaland is getting silly now

how has O’Reilly got nobody within 50 yards of him ffs

Fucksake

Aaarghh pass to Havertz just a little bit heavy

Noni I’m sorry I take it all back