Mhsc

Feel like he was probably following agents instructions. After all Arsenal are very public about wanting to sign and play people that really want to be at Arsenal. Doubt he cared beyond just wanting to get to a top club tbh.

Needs replacing immediately. The thing is he doesn’t even bring good passing or anything creative anymore. He is just a liability with no upsides.

I think long term contracts also take away player power and guarantee you the prime of player's careers. The downside is they may flop and be stuck on the books for ages. It is something I first saw Tottenham doing and it has worked to keep them relevant despite being (relatively speaking) cash poor. No way Harry Kane is still at Spurs if not for clever use of long-term contracts.

Mason is literally just bringing workrate and no quality whatsoever. Needs a few weeks out to get himself together imo. People talking about selling Mason have short memories.

What a signing we may have made at CB. Looks better than Fofana did for us in his brief moment with us before injury, and 2nd only to Thiago. If this is the new normal at CB we are sorted for as long as Thiago stays defying his age.

I think he's played way too much football and needs a rest tbh.

Mudryk on an 8.5 year contract through to 2031 lmao

Nice play by Kai on the wing there with Gallagher but overall a poor half from him. Would probably sub off Mason for Fofana and keep Kai on, think Mount was worse overall.

Damn goalie almost kicked it in for us and no corner given either. Still not got luck on our side.

Completely different class so far, plus he's young and improving. KK's career is over here.

Swap Mason for Felix and Havertz for Fofana and this team might legit score some goals and be dangerous. Still be vulnerable at the back but at least we could score. Shame Felix is out but surely Fofana has to come on 2nd half

At least we wont have 0.0 xG. Tbh feel like this performance is more positive so far but still very limited players out there. Kai and Mason sabotaging our play as well.

Touching stuff for Vialli

It certainly could be, with Hall and Gallagher wingbacks, but I'm hoping not. Guess it would make sense if we want to go for a point and just be solid.

Watching Badiashiele, Carney and Hall will get me tuned in but honestly think we will lose. Palace have pace and we do not, I don't really see how we can hurt them aside from a bit of luck.

Havertz and Mount undroppable it seems. No pace in this team, we will lose. Extremely happy to see Carney start and KK dropped, still disappointed in the lineup overall

Can it be real?

Giving all these players MASSIVELY long contracts probably helps a lot, at the risk of fucking us over in the future. I would guess we've got another £100m to spend this January if we want to. I assume we would be making some sales but can't because of the injury crisis. Didn't the purchase come with some commitments about spending money on players in the first years?

Doesn't Zubimendi have a 60 million euro release clause? Any others with 'tolerable' release clauses? Would love to see us just go no-nonsense grab some players by the end of the window where the clubs just cannot stop us.

I feel like we should just be systematically poaching a decent % the players that clubs like Benfica and the RB teams buy. Probably relies on us having the multi-club model in place though. Some of these clubs have unquestionably proven they can repeatedly buy good, undervalued and highly promising players.

Pulisic we should have sold without giving a minute in January, with the benefit of hindsight... After his WC, value was high and a lot of clubs would be interested in the hope this was a turning point. I think we should give him some subs minutes towards the end of the season to showcase he "can play and is fit" and then sell him asap in summer before he gets another injury.

On the topic of Mudryk, I've checked him out some more now that we might really be signing him. Certainly has some strong upsides, not least being very two footed, but he is fast and brave. He is essentially a Timo replacement I guess - fast, direct, dangerous when there is space to attack. If he can be more clinical than Timo then he will be loved here, because Timo was actually key for us in an attacking sense he just was simultaneously frustratingly wasteful.

Robinho all over again

So a 70m euro deal apparently with potential to rise to 100 depending on whether he turns out to be good or not, probably the kind of deal we were hoping for with Enzo too. Still very hard to comprehend transfer if this is real.