Arsenal have largely set themselves up to be much the same as last season, except up front where they now have a genuine nine. The key question is, as you say Grace, is how good Gyokeres is. For me: he takes too long to get shots away. In Portugal in a mostly dominant team that's probably not an issue but in the PL? I think he'll end up being blocked/smothered a lot. As for Noni, it will be interesting to see how he gets on. He has skills, sure, but plays like he believes he's Hazard/Salah. Belief is fine but a 'giving Saka a rest on 70 minutes' role will probably test his ego by Christmas
Judging Gyokeres at the end of the season is the right thing to do, but I think it's a massive overpay by Arsenal and it seems a little "Facebook Group" to demand a "number 9". Scoring chances wasn't Arsenal's problem last season, it was creation (as alluded to in the article). I'd have preferred (as a fan) to see Arsenal spend big on left-sided winger (or ideally somebody who can operate across the line) rather than relying on Saka or only set-pieces. Re Gyokeres specifically I'd add:
1. I think the standard of the Portuguese Liga is pretty low. Maybe Championship level.
2. Despite that, and despite playing for the dominant club, 31 of his 39 goals last year came against the bottom 11 teams in that league and 12 of those were penalties.
3. No resale value at 27, which matters to a club like Arsenal, or should.
I don't think Noni is a backup for Saka, but I didn't think he wanted to play on the left and that was an issue at Chelsea, but I was happy with the signing (I would have been even happier at £40M, the original price before Newcastle reset the market paying £55M for Elanga). It's not obvious where Eze fits in to me, and at the price, again, a level that seems an overpay for the age, he surely can't be a backup.
Personally I think Arteta is evolving the team into something a bit different, but I doubt he'll move that far away from his (and Guardiola's) preferred "total possession" game... which is why Gyokeres and Eze seem to be out of character signings for me. People remember Eze's spectacular low-xG goals, but he takes a lot of wasteful shots (his xG per shot last season was 0.08 vs a league average of ~0.1).
TL;DR, I'm not getting my hopes up that Arsenal will be more interesting to watch tbh.
"Against lesser sides, I’d rather see the option of either one in front of two more attack-minded players." have I misunderstood or is this meant to be either Rice or Zubimendi behind two more attack-minded players, not in front of?
Enjoyed the piece although it has made me concerned that Arsenal might actually win the league this year...
Arsenal have largely set themselves up to be much the same as last season, except up front where they now have a genuine nine. The key question is, as you say Grace, is how good Gyokeres is. For me: he takes too long to get shots away. In Portugal in a mostly dominant team that's probably not an issue but in the PL? I think he'll end up being blocked/smothered a lot. As for Noni, it will be interesting to see how he gets on. He has skills, sure, but plays like he believes he's Hazard/Salah. Belief is fine but a 'giving Saka a rest on 70 minutes' role will probably test his ego by Christmas
Judging Gyokeres at the end of the season is the right thing to do, but I think it's a massive overpay by Arsenal and it seems a little "Facebook Group" to demand a "number 9". Scoring chances wasn't Arsenal's problem last season, it was creation (as alluded to in the article). I'd have preferred (as a fan) to see Arsenal spend big on left-sided winger (or ideally somebody who can operate across the line) rather than relying on Saka or only set-pieces. Re Gyokeres specifically I'd add:
1. I think the standard of the Portuguese Liga is pretty low. Maybe Championship level.
2. Despite that, and despite playing for the dominant club, 31 of his 39 goals last year came against the bottom 11 teams in that league and 12 of those were penalties.
3. No resale value at 27, which matters to a club like Arsenal, or should.
I don't think Noni is a backup for Saka, but I didn't think he wanted to play on the left and that was an issue at Chelsea, but I was happy with the signing (I would have been even happier at £40M, the original price before Newcastle reset the market paying £55M for Elanga). It's not obvious where Eze fits in to me, and at the price, again, a level that seems an overpay for the age, he surely can't be a backup.
Personally I think Arteta is evolving the team into something a bit different, but I doubt he'll move that far away from his (and Guardiola's) preferred "total possession" game... which is why Gyokeres and Eze seem to be out of character signings for me. People remember Eze's spectacular low-xG goals, but he takes a lot of wasteful shots (his xG per shot last season was 0.08 vs a league average of ~0.1).
TL;DR, I'm not getting my hopes up that Arsenal will be more interesting to watch tbh.
"Against lesser sides, I’d rather see the option of either one in front of two more attack-minded players." have I misunderstood or is this meant to be either Rice or Zubimendi behind two more attack-minded players, not in front of?
Enjoyed the piece although it has made me concerned that Arsenal might actually win the league this year...