How are the likes of Saliba, Saka and Martinelli comparing to established elite players at this stage of their careers?
Can what the team needs to be competitive in both UCL and EPL next season be found in the transfer market with our budget or is it more a question of the current squad gaining experience and improving organically?
What can we do to anticipate ‘second season’ syndrome after a breakthrough year and avoid a drop off in performance or results?
There will a lot of talk about goal difference in the run in. But really, what is the probability that both City & Arsenal finish with the same points and GD then decides the outcome ?
Hello, late to this Partey. Wondering about our central midfield next year. Ahem, Partey,Xhaka,Elneny(extended in Mo's case)Sambi-Lokonga(elsewhere and will remain elsewhere IMO) and Jorginho (short-term contract and will likely be an important backup for what is more than likely ahead), Will there in my badly worded and punctuated question be room for another central midfielder next season?
A short question, potentially with a long answer: Who at Arsenal is to credit for the recent success?
If you look at Arsenal's recent transfers activity, both those that were actually completed and those that were rumored, you see a range of outcome in player quality. I think we can all agree that the recent business in the past two years has largely been very positive, contributing to where the team is now. However it wasn't always clear that this would be the case.
Players like Mudryk were reported to have been very close to being signed but he seems to (so far) have been a bullet dodged. It is also appears pretty clear that at this point that we're better off without Raphinha and maybe even Buendía as well. Others like Cedric and Lokonga are pretty conclusive misses at this point, though they were quite cheap.
Additionally, a number of Arsenal transfers that did occurred under Edu and Arteta over the past two years didn't look like homeruns at the time of transfer but seem to have worked out incredibly well. For example, from a statistical perspective it wasn't clear that *at the time of the transfer* that the likes of Partey, Ramsdale, Ben White, or even Odegaard (heresy I know) would be successful to the point they are now.
Probably impossible to truly know in the black box that is the Arsenal back office, but I wonder if you had thoughts on whether this comes down to good analytics (potentially using non-publicly available metrics), really good scouting, Arteta being a miracle talent developer, or some combination of good luck supporting a strategy whether all of the pieces function as a well oiled machine.
Also, if you HAD to pick at this point: Nketiah or Balogun?
I'd love a retrospective on fabio Vieira. What is he actually doing on the pitch (good and bad)? How is that different for what he was doing in Portugal? Where do you expect his game to go next year as he beds into the team?
Probably too long for a mailbag, but this season (after flashes last year) finally feels like "Arsenal is back". Not just in the wins, but the play style. But that's my feeling, and I'd love to see a breakdown of this year vs 2002-2004 and 2014-2016 Arsenal. How is this team similar to those? How are they different? Perhaps as a corollary, what players from then would be be the best fit now, and what players now would have fit in back then?
In my opinion one of the best things about the stat revolution in baseball was the creation of WAR as an all encompassing stat for player evaluation? Is there a similar stat for soccer? What stat would be closest. I understand that it would likely differ from league to league given the differences in quality of opposition. The radars and other graphics used for player comparisons are cool. But sometimes it would be nice to have a single number to look at for simplicity.
Would be interested in your thoughts on players from years gone by who, in the era of more statistical analysis, would have perhaps gained more credit than they did at the time (equally interested in the inverse as well actually!)
How are the likes of Saliba, Saka and Martinelli comparing to established elite players at this stage of their careers?
Can what the team needs to be competitive in both UCL and EPL next season be found in the transfer market with our budget or is it more a question of the current squad gaining experience and improving organically?
What can we do to anticipate ‘second season’ syndrome after a breakthrough year and avoid a drop off in performance or results?
There will a lot of talk about goal difference in the run in. But really, what is the probability that both City & Arsenal finish with the same points and GD then decides the outcome ?
Which current Arsenal player profiles best to deputize as a backup RB when Ben White needs a rest and with Tomi out for the rest of the season?
Hello, late to this Partey. Wondering about our central midfield next year. Ahem, Partey,Xhaka,Elneny(extended in Mo's case)Sambi-Lokonga(elsewhere and will remain elsewhere IMO) and Jorginho (short-term contract and will likely be an important backup for what is more than likely ahead), Will there in my badly worded and punctuated question be room for another central midfielder next season?
A short question, potentially with a long answer: Who at Arsenal is to credit for the recent success?
If you look at Arsenal's recent transfers activity, both those that were actually completed and those that were rumored, you see a range of outcome in player quality. I think we can all agree that the recent business in the past two years has largely been very positive, contributing to where the team is now. However it wasn't always clear that this would be the case.
Players like Mudryk were reported to have been very close to being signed but he seems to (so far) have been a bullet dodged. It is also appears pretty clear that at this point that we're better off without Raphinha and maybe even Buendía as well. Others like Cedric and Lokonga are pretty conclusive misses at this point, though they were quite cheap.
Additionally, a number of Arsenal transfers that did occurred under Edu and Arteta over the past two years didn't look like homeruns at the time of transfer but seem to have worked out incredibly well. For example, from a statistical perspective it wasn't clear that *at the time of the transfer* that the likes of Partey, Ramsdale, Ben White, or even Odegaard (heresy I know) would be successful to the point they are now.
Probably impossible to truly know in the black box that is the Arsenal back office, but I wonder if you had thoughts on whether this comes down to good analytics (potentially using non-publicly available metrics), really good scouting, Arteta being a miracle talent developer, or some combination of good luck supporting a strategy whether all of the pieces function as a well oiled machine.
Also, if you HAD to pick at this point: Nketiah or Balogun?
Also, thank you to both of you for all the excellent context!
I'd love a retrospective on fabio Vieira. What is he actually doing on the pitch (good and bad)? How is that different for what he was doing in Portugal? Where do you expect his game to go next year as he beds into the team?
Which Arsenal player in the team has had the most underrated impact this season? Which player is getting less love than they deserve if any?
Probably too long for a mailbag, but this season (after flashes last year) finally feels like "Arsenal is back". Not just in the wins, but the play style. But that's my feeling, and I'd love to see a breakdown of this year vs 2002-2004 and 2014-2016 Arsenal. How is this team similar to those? How are they different? Perhaps as a corollary, what players from then would be be the best fit now, and what players now would have fit in back then?
In my opinion one of the best things about the stat revolution in baseball was the creation of WAR as an all encompassing stat for player evaluation? Is there a similar stat for soccer? What stat would be closest. I understand that it would likely differ from league to league given the differences in quality of opposition. The radars and other graphics used for player comparisons are cool. But sometimes it would be nice to have a single number to look at for simplicity.
Any primer for beginners? Like, what is PADJ, what is field tilt etc?
Would be interested in your thoughts on players from years gone by who, in the era of more statistical analysis, would have perhaps gained more credit than they did at the time (equally interested in the inverse as well actually!)
Arsenal vs City game by game, odds and how it would shift
Would love to know which combo of front 5 is most clinical in their finishing?
Also, your opinions on where/how this team must improve over summer to compete in both PL and CL?
Assuming this is finally the window we add some RW Depth, choose your fighter at €50m:
Olise, Chukwueze, Diaby, or Nico.