I see Mahrez staying put until next season. Leicester play Hull in two days, so I can't see a deal being done now.
Which big striker can Arsenal get who's better than Lacazette?
I don't think we will sign Mahrez, but seeing as we play them 2nd game of the season I would guess even if a deal was to take place they will stall until after we play them
To say Arsenal haven't mounted a title challenge in years is a little inaccurate, given they were top for more than half of 13/14.
Secondly, even if you don't see a difference between 2nd and 4th, there are still changes. For example, Man City have to travel to Romania to play the away leg of their qualifier in mid week a few weeks from now which is a distraction from their weekend fixture. Arsenal themselves nearly bottled a qualifying match against Udinese a few seasons ago, so it's not as though they can know the team they face will DEFINITELY just be easy.
To say the distance itself between 10th and 12th, a placing which many teams deliberately field weakened sides in towards the end of the season is comparable with 2nd and 4th is straw man at its finest.
Lolwut
No one wins a league in the first half of the season, so that's not a title challenge. They were out of it before the run in started.
They didn't nearly bottle it, they won 3-1. They win the playoff every single time and it's only going to become a more obvious outcome as the financial gap between the PL and the rest widens.
Travelling sure but they've got 4 days between the games, and Bucharest are poor enough that City can rest key players, and still focus on the weekend game. It's an issue but not a huge one.
We could have had a totally banterous striker, a fat man like Higuain winning us the title. Instead we will have Giroud doing that stupid thing where he sticks his tongue out after missing a tap in.
No one wins a league in the first half of the season, so that's not a title challenge. They were out of it before the run in started.
They didn't nearly bottle it, they won 3-1. They win the playoff every single time and it's only going to become a more obvious outcome as the financial gap between the PL and the rest widens.
Travelling sure but they've got 4 days between the games, and Bucharest are poor enough that City can rest key players, and still focus on the weekend game. It's an issue but not a huge one.
Fair enough. It's impossible for me to see finishing second as a bad result. It doesn't really matter if Spurs were the only team to challenge them, the main thing is where they end up. Back to the original point; it's all fine and dandy if Arsenal fans say "if we finish fifth we'll see change", but who exactly will implement it? I don't think anyone who would come to Arsenal would do a better job.
Fair enough. It's impossible for me to see finishing second as a bad result. It doesn't really matter if Spurs were the only team to challenge them, the main thing is where they end up. Back to the original point; it's all fine and dandy if Arsenal fans say "if we finish fifth we'll see change", but who exactly will implement it? I don't think anyone who would come to Arsenal would do a better job.
Leaving out El cholo for obvious reasons: Tuchel Sarri Allegri(reaching but meh) Schmidt would all be good options imo, missing some that i can't remember
Leaving out El cholo for obvious reasons: Tuchel Sarri Allegri(reaching but meh) Schmidt would all be good options imo, missing some that i can't remember
Sarri only has two seasons experience in any top league. His first isn't evidence he could do better, as even dinosaur managers can drag poor squads out of relegation battles in a better league such as Big Sam, Pulis, Bruce etc. He's done well at Napoli, but replacing Wenger after one season seems knee jerk. If Napoli make another decent push for Serie A this year, then he may have a claim.
Schmidt hasn't improved Leverkusen points wise from where they were two seasons ago.
Allegri and Tuchel I'm certain would improve Arsenal, but if the job were offered to them, I'm not certain either would take it. I guess Klopp took the Liverpool job, so we can't rule them out. I'm still a little sceptical that Arsene's successor is out there, though.
Sarri only has two seasons experience in any top league. His first isn't evidence he could do better, as even dinosaur managers can drag poor squads out of relegation battles in a better league such as Big Sam, Pulis, Bruce etc. He's done well at Napoli, but replacing Wenger after one season seems knee jerk. If Napoli make another decent push for Serie A this year, then he may have a claim.
Schmidt hasn't improved Leverkusen points wise from where they were two seasons ago.
Allegri and Tuchel I'm certain would improve Arsenal, but if the job were offered to them, I'm not certain either would take it. I guess Klopp took the Liverpool job, so we can't rule them out. I'm still a little sceptical that Arsene's successor is out there, though.
This would only be relevant at the end of this season, so would be adjusted accordingly, but he's at least worth keeping an eye on, valid concerns about schmidt but still better than most options
Fair enough. It's impossible for me to see finishing second as a bad result. It doesn't really matter if Spurs were the only team to challenge them, the main thing is where they end up. Back to the original point; it's all fine and dandy if Arsenal fans say "if we finish fifth we'll see change", but who exactly will implement it? I don't think anyone who would come to Arsenal would do a better job.
1. I support the team that d*cked Arsenal on the opening day of last season.
2; I never said the season was a success.
All about the circumstances pal.
I've seen Liverpool finish 2nd in the league twice and both times we've been thoroughly disappointed. At the start of those seasons, we would've bitten your hand off for 2nd but when you challenge consistently throughout, runners up just seems like a bad result.
Arsenal last season on the other hand were (largely) never in touch with Leicester, so a 2nd place finish is a good result for them, especially when they leapfrogged a defeated Spurs side on the final day.
We could have had a totally banterous striker, a fat man like Higuain winning us the title. Instead we will have Giroud doing that stupid thing where he sticks his tongue out after missing a tap in.
How did Higuain get so fat .
It's interesting how Higuain and Benzema got so good when they both became the main striker instead of rotation players.
Some damn tasty odds on Liverpool scoring over 2.5 goals. Worth a punt I think. The bookies have the odds too high, they are likely to get over 2.5 goals in my opinion.
Some damn tasty odds on Liverpool scoring over 2.5 goals. Worth a punt I think. The bookies have the odds too high, they are likely to get over 2.5 goals in my opinion.