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Football Thread 2013/14 |OT9|

Arnie

Member
giphy.gif

21 goals in 28 games.

Arsenal fans at work.

Of course a club as enormous as Arsenal need a striker that scores in more than 75% of their matches. In fact, anything less (or even on par) would be underwhelming.

Because this is Arsenal.

woodlice of Europe

Same level as Giroud? Says the man who thought in the summer all we would get is Remy and Cesar. We came out with outstanding Ozil!
You signed one player.

Congratulations.

You spent £45 million.

Congratulations.

Would rather pick out players like Django and Coutinho and have the likes of yourselves fawning over them than drop a bundle of cash on a world class talent that anyone but the beigest of slugs would have in an instant.

And Giroud isn't as good as Struddige. You must deal with that. Such is your task, thunder-plum.
 

bud

Member
giroud is a better footballer than sturridge. i've seen him do things this season that sturridge has yet to dream of.

if he ends up scoring 15-20 goals in the league, he'll have done fantastically well.
 

Labadal

Member
Giroud may be less selfish, but I don't know if I'd call him a better footballer overall. They're not the same type of striker.
 

wedward

Member


:lol "Sturridge was luck"


I personally feel whoever you'll bring in will be on the same level as Giroud.[/QUOTE]

Nobody thought Sturridge would do this well.

If we get a player on the same level as Giroud in January I will be very happy with that.
 

Yen

Member
Complete striker? Oh please. His goal return has been impressive. If he keeps it up Liverpool may get 6th spot.
As in, he can drop deep and hold up the ball, or beat the offside trap and outpace the defence. Skilful, good dribbler, very good finisher. He has the lot. I'm not saying he's Messi, but he's extremely versatile and fits into our style of play - whether that's counter-attacks where he sees little of the ball, or possession/'tiki-taka' play - brilliantly.

I'm fairly confident that Arsenal won't buy a £20m striker in January, and won't win the league. Liverpool won't either, but that's beside the point.
 

wedward

Member
Would rather pick out players like Django and Coutinho and have the likes of yourselves fawning over them than drop a bundle of cash on a world class talent that anyone but the beigest of slugs would have in an instant.

This sounds like a quote from an Arsenal supporter previous to this summer.

"WE DON'T BUY SUPERSTARS. WE MAKE THEM"
 

L1NETT

Member
Both Giroud and Sturridge have faults in their game. Both are good at what they do. Apples and pears.

Complete striker do me a favour.

Arsenal still need wheels up front. And somebody who doesn't have the touch of a elephant on ice (ahem Walcott).

Would love for them to spend on £30m on Benteke. Complete and utter waste of hilariously expensive season tickets.
 

Arnie

Member
Nobody thought Sturridge would do this well.

Our scouts did.

Brendan did.

That's why he dropped the money on him that he did when nobody else saw fit to do so. Coutinho, too. The whole world was pre-occupied by Sneijder, but the people at our club who make the footballing decisions were smarter than that.
 

wedward

Member
Our scouts did.

Brendan did.

That's why he dropped the money on him that he did when nobody else saw fit to do so. Coutinho, too. The whole world was pre-occupied by Sneijder, but the people at our club who make the footballing decisions were smarter than that.

He took a gamble. It worked. He has also taken other gambles that didn't work. He isn't an oracle, as much as you want to believe he is.
 

Yen

Member
There's a Barry interview on the Guardian; why did Benitez want to sell Alonso again?

He had been fairly average the prior two seasons, before responding with a final amazing season. I think in Rafa's book he tried to claim he actually wanted to play:

Mascherano-Xabi-Barry
---Keane---Gerrard
----------Torres

...though I'd be dubious abut that.

He took a gamble. It worked. He has also taken other gambles that didn't work. He isn't an oracle, as much as you want to believe he is.
Aye you're right. He flips a coin and says "heads, it's Ebbe Sand. tails, it's Daniel Sturridge"
 

Wilbur

Banned
He had been fairly average the prior two seasons, before responding with a final amazing season. I think in Rafa's book he tried to claim he actually wanted to play:

Mascherano-Xabi-Barry
---Keane---Gerrard
----------Torres

...though I'd be dubious abut that.

Ah, I thought he wanted Alonso out; maddening decision in hindsight really if he did.

Forgot you signed Keane as well, that was an odd transfer. Imagine Benitez in charge with your signings and transfer committee now (although obv you do have faith in Brenton)
 
He had been fairly average the prior two seasons, before responding with a final amazing season. I think in Rafa's book he tried to claim he actually wanted to play:

Mascherano-Xabi-Barry
---Keane---Gerrard
----------Torres

...though I'd be dubious abut that.

Intuitively, that sounds dreadful

My problem with the Barry sage is that even at his worst, Xabi was far superior to ASSASSIN, although Rafa loves his versatile players

Much as I love Rafa, he spent a lot of money on some right stinkers
 

Yen

Member
Ah, I thought he wanted Alonso out; maddening decision in hindsight really if he did.

Forgot you signed Keane as well, that was an odd transfer. Imagine Benitez in charge with your signings and transfer committee now (although obv you do have faith in Brenton)

I think he did value Barry over Alonso - offered him to Arsenal and Juve for £18m, think both would only pay £12m. The idea that he wanted both I think is a bit revisionist on Rafa's part, since Alonso rediscovered his form and won almost everything.
 

bud

Member
how the hell does twitch work? i just signed up, but whenever i go to his page, it says i have to log in.

nnoooo he's going offline
 

Arnie

Member
He took a gamble. It worked. He has also taken other gambles that didn't work. He isn't an oracle, as much as you want to believe he is.

He obviously thought Sturridge was a striker that could fulfil his potential under his coaching abilities, and he was correct. It's an educated gamble, not a roll of the dice. And he trusted in both the player and himself to make it work.

The oracle also shoots the look...

Monk said:
With Brendan, in training he would whistle to stop the session and then look at you. It was just a look. He would stare at you and wait an extra couple of seconds so that it was uncomfortable. If he felt that a player wasn't pulling his weight or wasn't giving his all, he wouldn't hesitate to single him out. But he did it in a way where he didn't alienate the player. He would do it so that the player knew he wasn't just letting down himself, he was letting down the whole group, so there would a positive reaction from that player.
 
Sturridge was more of a calculated risk than a gamble

I want him to go back to his form from the end of last season tbh. The goals are nice, but his general standard of play was much better back then imo (perhaps related to this thigh injury he's been carrying for about a decade)
 
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