ArsenesNO1Fan
Established Member
MutableEarth said:ArsenesNO1Fan said:MutableEarth said:Agree with Jones. I'd like to expand on the point about "names". I've alluded to this before (funny as this is the wishlist thread ) but often people don't really think about the kinds of players they want the club to bring in outside of "well, they're WC so lets get them" and that's it. It's clearly not as simple as that, and we can't just go by the name.
For example, lots of people wishlisted Pogba - hell, I would have been excited at signing him - but in reality, the kind of player he is just isn't what we absolutely need. I'm not in the Diego Costa camp either, but he makes much more sense so I can understand why people want him. He does link up very well, has good athleticism, and is performing as a spearhead in an exemplary fashion for Athletico. Something that we need. But I wonder how many people want Costa because of that, or just because "he's good and scores goals"?
Forget the names for a second and look at their overall play. This is why I'm personally not insistent on this whole "They have to be WORLD CLASS and over-25". I guess I'm not burned by players with "potential", but I'm happy for players who are not only very good and on the cusp of brilliance, but who have specific traits that we need in this team - and they don't have to be popular names for that to happen.
With regards to 'what we need', who thinks we would of done better with Higuain instead of Özil? I do because we're creative enough but massively lack clinical finishing. I like Costa because he can finish, create his own goals aswell as contributing to overall play. Not my ideal striker mind you and he maybe too rich for us and not want to come to a 4th place cold EPL team.
Nah, we needed Özil IMO. We really didn't create the kind of chances we needed to create the season before. Everyone wanks over how brilliant Cazorla was as an AM (and he really was excellent over a period of time), but once he was figured out, they locked him down and doubled up on him. After that, Wenger moved him wide to shift his threat. Wilshere manfully tried to replace him with his driving runs after returning from injury but he didn't have the final ball. Ramsey didn't fare too well either and moved further back where he improved. It was down to Rosicky, who lacked the final ball like Wilshere, but did very well to carry the attack forward with more impetus than Wilshere was doing.
Özil doesn't dominate games on the ball, but he's the perfect #10 that we needed. We don't need someone who dominates the ball - we needed someone who is decisive when he does have it. It is where Özil puts the ball, what he does when he doesn't have the ball, and the kind of chances that he creates, that made his signing a good one.
Basically we needed Özil AND Higuain . We were flattering to deceive in the creative department and Özil ramped that up. Of course, we failed to sharpen the sword adequately. We have a chance to finally put that right.
Diego Costa is a good choice - he links up well, is athletic and changes games not through guile, but by force. As you say though, he isn't my ideal choice. I like Cavani because he's a counter-attacking forward. He is deceptively effective off the ball and when he plays deeper too. Napoli attacked with such venom and so quickly in Serie A when he was upfront. For an Italian team anyway .
Higuain hasn't exactly been as prolific as I thought he would be though. I really wanted us to get him, and thought he'd be a more accomplished finisher than Giroud. I still think he is, but now maybe see that we could do better than £33m on him.
People will not agree with me, but I think the way forward is a younger CF close to exploding.
I think Cazorla is as good a CAM, but even if he's not my reasoning was mainly Cazorla+Higuain>Özil+Giroud.
I too think we go for younger forwards, but I'm not sure it pays dividends anytime soon.