The English Football Thread

[Laylabelle 9,406]

7 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

Why didn’t we throw everything at signing Declan Rice. Absolutely ridiculous, looks the real deal. In fact would of paid what we paid for both Enzo and Caicedo to get him. 

Because we wanted to waste money elsewhere. He has been such a key signing for them so far.

[lucio 5,418]

3 minutes ago, Laylabelle said:

Because we wanted to waste money elsewhere. He has been such a key signing for them so far.

He's done fuckall apart from some lucky deflected goals , basic English lump , arsenal are no better than last season. Middle of the road side 

[OneMoSalah 8,810]

12 minutes ago, lucio said:

He sucks 

Severely disagree. Suddenly Arsenal went from a side who were all style and no substance to a team who have got some real grit. They have actually won a lot of games this season without actually playing as well as they did last season. What changed? Declan Rice in their starting 11. To say otherwise is just being ridiculous. Would swap any of our midfielders for him without hesitation. Also saying that we would probably turn him shit.

10 minutes ago, TheHulk said:

Rice is a bang average player, easier to look better in a settled team. 

Probably will be Arsenals player of the season. Look how many key headers, tackles and interceptions he has made so far in this game alone never mind over the season. Only better midfielder in the PL right now is Rodri. Not even debatable. Wouldn’t hesitate to swap any of our guys for him. Definitely done more to warrant being worth £100m than Enzo and Caicedo. Without question. Also so much more obvious how much of an impact he has on their team.

5 minutes ago, lucio said:

He's done fuckall apart from some lucky deflected goals , basic English lump , arsenal are no better than last season. Middle of the road side 

😂

Edited December 23, 2023 by OneMoSalah

[Strike 7,298]

4 minutes ago, lucio said:

He's done fuckall apart from some lucky deflected goals , basic English lump , arsenal are no better than last season. Middle of the road side 

They’ve been good for 1.5 years now 

And Rice is boring but he is at least consistently doing the dirty work in midfield - hold position, recover the ball. Not the skill sets to pay 100 m for but there is some value to being one of the best in the league at the boring, dirty work in midfield 

[OneMoSalah 8,810]

3 minutes ago, Strike said:

They’ve been good for 1.5 years now 

And Rice is boring but he is at least consistently doing the dirty work in midfield - hold position, recover the ball. Not the skill sets to pay 100 m for but there is some value to being one of the best in the league at the boring, dirty work in midfield 

Precisely what Caicedo was bought for too…. There is a lot said in being a top top midfielder who contributes these things to a team. And can be relied upon every week to do so.

People have short memories on here, Maka, Mikel, Ramires, Matic, Kante - all players who yes could do other things but were primarily their best assets and contributions were to do the bits that the likes of Rice & Rodri do so so well for their sides.

Edited December 23, 2023 by OneMoSalah

[NikkiCFC 8,081]

2 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

Severely disagree. Suddenly Arsenal went from a side who were all style and no substance to a team who have got some real grit. They have actually won a lot of games this season without actually playing as well as they did last season. What changed? Declan Rice in their starting 11. To say otherwise is just being ridiculous. Would swap any of our midfielders for him without hesitation. Also saying that we would probably turn him shit.

Probably will be Arsenals player of the season. Look how many key headers, tackles and interceptions he has made so far in this game alone never mind over the season. Only better midfielder in the PL right now is Rodri. Not even debatable. Wouldn’t hesitate to swap any of our guys for him. Definitely done more to warrant being worth £100m than Enzo and Caicedo. Without question. Also so much more obvious how much of an impact he has on their team.

😂

There's also this.

Assuming this ends with draw.

PL table after 18 rounds last and this season:

Arsenal 46 to 40 

West Ham 14 to 30

Where is positive Rice effect?

WH was really smart to invest that money in Alvarez and JWP. 

[lucio 5,418]

1 minute ago, OneMoSalah said:

Precisely what Caicedo was bought for too…. There is a lot said in being a top top midfielder who contributes these things to a team.

People have short memories on here, Maka, Mikel, Ramires, Matic, Kante - all players who yes could do other things but were primarily there to do the bits that the likes of Rice & Rodri do so so well for their sides.

prime mikel would be great right now

[Strike 7,298]

And Arsenal are challenging for the league. They got 84 points last year and are on 40 as it stands. They’ve shown they can be consistent and this is not a lucky streak . Their first XI is really good and settled. Don’t know why they wouldn’t be title challengers 

[TheHulk 1,951]

2 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

Precisely what Caicedo was bought for too…. There is a lot said in being a top top midfielder who contributes these things to a team. And can be relied upon every week to do so.

People have short memories on here, Maka, Mikel, Ramires, Matic, Kante - all players who yes could do other things but were primarily their best assets and contributions were to do the bits that the likes of Rice & Rodri do so so well for their sides.

Everyone would be raving for Caicedo if he was playing for Arsenal right now.

[lucio 5,418]

6 minutes ago, Strike said:

They’ve been good for 1.5 years now 

And Rice is boring but he is at least consistently doing the dirty work in midfield - hold position, recover the ball. Not the skill sets to pay 100 m for but there is some value to being one of the best in the league at the boring, dirty work in midfield 

i'd have taken him on a reasonable price too, but yeh, he wouldn't get a game at a top european side. Before sanchez messed up , he was getting dominated by our mediocre midfield 

[lucio 5,418]

1 minute ago, TheHulk said:

Everyone would be raving for Caicedo if he was playing for Arsenal right now.

rice is 24 so he would have given us a little bit of experience at least 

[Laylabelle 9,406]

4 minutes ago, Strike said:

And Arsenal are challenging for the league. They got 84 points last year and are on 40 as it stands. They’ve shown they can be consistent and this is not a lucky streak . Their first XI is really good and settled. Don’t know why they wouldn’t be title challengers 

Exactly. Obviously things may chance but at the moment they're at the right place! He has built up a stronger side then before and no reason why they can't go all the way. City are hit and miss atm

[OneMoSalah 8,810]

3 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

There's also this.

Assuming this ends with draw.

PL table after 18 rounds last and this season:

Arsenal 46 to 40 

West Ham 14 to 30

Where is positive Rice effect?

WH was really smart to invest that money in Alvarez and JWP. 

But also look at how many years have West Ham played in Europe now also? He also captained them to a European trophy too didn’t he? Was Rice a huge contributor in their success and doing that? Undoubtedly yes. They were smart investing in Alvarez and JWP because they wouldn’t be able to get what they got from Rice in one player. Plus they needed to become a more multi functional team because some of guys they have will only get them so far and with question marks around the likes of Paqueta’s future also. 

Arsenal started very well last season. But didn’t finish well. Also is a league won after 18 games? Look at City last year and then the year or one before. Slow starts, finish strong. Arsenal haven’t played the same sort of high level of football they were last season but they are still getting a lot of results. Them, City and Liverpool all haven’t played anywhere near as well but 100% they are all capable of going on a run too. 

Just watch how much of the dirty work Rice gets through for Arsenal, particularly in the first half there I thought he was very good. Maybe looks simple the things he does but Rodri is the same. Adds stability and grit to their team. And height also. 

 

[Strike 7,298]

16 minutes ago, lucio said:

i'd have taken him on a reasonable price too, but yeh, he wouldn't get a game at a top european side. Before sanchez messed up , he was getting dominated by our mediocre midfield 

I agree with this. I don’t think he was an essential signing

But as long as we don’t get our midfield in order, we’ll always have the Rice comparisons and he’s looking like he can be part of a title challenging squad 

[lucio 5,418]

caicedo would probably be good under klopp at pool

[Strike 7,298]

Liverpool are making it work with Endo and Gravenberch. Drop Caicedo and Lavia into their system and they’d be pretty great too .

[lucio 5,418]

6 minutes ago, Strike said:

Liverpool are making it work with Endo and Gravenberch. Drop Caicedo and Lavia into their system and they’d be pretty great too .

And those 2 would look all at sea here. We’ve had shocking management since tuchel left 

[Vesper 29,199]

1 hour ago, lucio said:

He's done fuckall apart from some lucky deflected goals , basic English lump , arsenal are no better than last season. Middle of the road side 

ludicrous