Mole

Different levels of pressure but yes I take your point.

Tbf expecting to get bummed was always very silly and I can say that because I said as much yesterday. Main reason being they are under a shit load of pressure and the way Arteta has them set up isn't exactly conducive to bumming anyone.

That might be a good reason to do it unironically Just by pass it all together.

I imagine it's because the games don't mean anything really and not playing him just hurts you in two ways. Firstly, if you do plan to sell him then it will hurt any potential price you can command and secondly if you want to rehab his status here long term it probably doesn't help that either. This may seem harsh, but I don't think Osula is either going to be the long term answer even if he manages to score a few goals. Woltemade might be, but you'll never know that if he's not playing.

Makes sense, I haven't watched it yet but that's genuinely the vibe I have gotten from these rumours tbh. Like I expect some big names to go but I also kind of think it's necessary. Up to the club to get these incomings right this time.

Rightly or wrongly I do think a big shakeup is needed, which includes the sale of players. Multiple seasons of not investing due to fear of FFP bullshit, last summer not going at all well and obviously players ageing over the period of 3-4 years.

I remember this guy from the summer and let's just say his accuracy would make a Stormtrooper blush.

Yeah like in theory you would expect the league leaders do the business comfortably. But combination of just how Arteta has them set up (I don't think they would comfortably do anyone rn ) and the extreme amount of pressure they're under I would like expect them to win but also not make it easy for themselves.

Only reason I don't think it will be a hammering is because they are simply not set up to score like that. They'll win but it will be boring and lifeless.

I imagine it's relative and means stars of this team and not stars in general.

I think this is the right move, as much the lack of signs of improvement is concerning I do think he deserves the chance to right the ship where he doesn't have so much responsibility as he did last summer.

Obviously agree on striker, but I personally think CM could possibly be avoided if the wingers were high enough quality. I think they both compound each other (Wingers don't provide enough to allow the midfield to do less and vice versa) In a different set up maybe it would be okay, but Howe really needs them to be better.

I understand what you're saying but something I've felt for a while is the bit in bold. When you have limited funds due to bullshit rules I genuinely think getting the players who have the highest impact is more effective than trying to spread out funds. I don't think they are bad players but for a Howe coached team where the wingers have a tonne of responsibility and have a tonne of impact on results if they perform or not I don't think they are good enough. Maybe getting this standard of player isn't possible but I think trying to get decent-good players in multiple areas is hurting more than it's helping.

I mean that's not true, I was there. Everyone was moaning how boring the rumours were last summer. The only time there was genuine excitement was when it seemed like Ekitike was a goer and then Woltemade.

If that were to happen then we'll just end up in a future where "I would like to keep x and get better players to play on the left" Because none of them are actually good enough and if it was up to me we would just start over on wingers completely.

I just want to say while I know you didn't mean it like that, he is absolutely trying to fix the problems, on multiple occasions he has done so but none of it has panned out. I think at this stage he has run out of ideas in how the currently solve the issues, doesn't mean he never will but I think it's fair to say that whatever issues we have aren't going to be solved before the season ends. Rightly or wrongly, even if did have good ideas on how to fix it the players also have to believe in those solutions or it won't work and quite evidently they do not based on performances on the pitch.

Yeah I remember last summer and everyone was 100% positive about the dealings prior to it. It's why I am positive this summer will be better, last summer was an aberration but considering the context which surrounded it all it probably shouldn't be a surprise that it became what it was.

Aye I definitely think Arteta is a large reason why there's such a dislike for them.

Oh to be clear I have no idea about the kid, I just wanted to make a point about the dangers about turning down someone on the back off their lack of direct goal involvements. If there's more to it than that then fair enough, I think everyone would agree we need more players with ability in general play because that will make creating chances to score goals much easier anyway. Too many games we go long periods where fuck all happens and it's partly due to the fact we can't seem to maintain any sort of pressure. Need to get better at that across-the-board obviously and not just with one player.

Shows how unlikable Arsenal are that everyone I know is rooting for City

Focusing on the goal contributions is a very dangerous mindset to have, I know we're all just yapping on an internet forum but I hope the club don't hyper focus on it tbh. Every team is different, requires different strengths and weaknesses, have different styles, combine with different profiles of player who themselves have different strengths and weaknesses etc.

While that is fair enough, I don't think perfect timing is ever actually going to exist. If the club decides to move in a different direction there's going to be difficulties regardless, just the way it is.

I am going to be honest, I have been waiting all season for any signs of a potential turnaround and it's never happened. I noticed the same mistakes happening every single week and I felt this way in like October, it was something I personally noticed super quickly. I think he definitely has tried to change things on multiple occasions, but after those repeated attempts have failed I think either he has run out of ideas with this group or the group stopped really listening. I genuinely do not think the problems I have seen all season are as simple as - It's really physically taxing to play all these games and it will be okay next season with just the League and hopefully a more positive summer. Usually I would say, yep time to move on. But my instinct has told me that considering the circumstance of the summer and what the man achieved prior to the farce of the summer that he deserved a chance to go into next season, I still kind of believe that but as each week passes it becomes harder and harder to see the evidence behind any potential turnaround. Maybe it's like some of you have said, this is a very emotionally taxing job and there's a reason most people don't stay at a club for 5+ years and he's just coming to the end of his cycle here and needs a break.

Yeah I agree, I thought Howe deserved the chance to turn it around and give this summer and see where it goes but as each week passes it becomes really difficult to see a scenario where things can be turned around.

Aye but Klopp's teams had a much higher standard of quality when it comes to the wingers. (Fullbacks too but I have no issues with Hall and Tino) This sort of tactic lives and dies by that position and the sort of production you can get from it. To me there are two options to this problem, either do the best you can to get quality required and accept the fact you will have holes in the team elsewhere and hope it works. Or adapt to what you have accordingly, I think currently we are doing neither which is what is leading to mediocrity. I also think this intensity he talks about simply hasn't been there this season either so that doesn't help.