Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

[theHotHead]

:dizzy:

It's not about total goals. It's the cumulative impact of numerous factors over the years that have now resulted in a perfect storm for us.

For the past 10 years, we have needed a top player to bail us out constantly. It was Fabregas and RVP, then it was Alexis and Ozil and now it's Auba. Even in RVP's record season, top 4 came down to the very last day; it could have been Newcastle in CL if we hadn't squeaked past West Brom 3-2.

We've whittled down our midfield to the point where we now have no playmakers in the team. Ozil has 2 assists, and yet Auba is somehow still in the running for Golden Boot.

We're no longer profitable as club; we couldn't buy a top attacker if we wanted to. Next year's front line will be Martinelli, Pepe and Saka at best. All of whom are massively inexperienced, and will face the same issue Auba does; no playmakers in the team.

Auba's the only one who has scored consistently at every team he's been at, and has a fantastic fitness record as well.

Wenger could get away with having a smattering of average-to-decent players alongside 1-2 excellent players for many years, because there were only 3-4 teams in the league worth a damn, meaning we always had a strong chance of CL football.

Guardiola
Klopp
Mourinho/Pochettino
Ancelotti

At no point was Arsenal ever competing against all 4 of these top managers and making CL. He could barely make it when City entered the picture.

What's Arteta, who has effectively zero experience, going to do when it's all those guys plus whoever Newcastle's new owners give £200m to splash?

You're looking at Arsenal's historical ~70-80 goals per season without taking into account that the only competition back in those days were Mourinho and SAF.

More revisionism. You are talking like when Wenger took over the only decent manager/team around was Man U !

In 1993-94 you had Man U, Arsenal, Liverpool, Blackburn, Leeds and Newcastle all doing bits. Liverpool had won the league 4 years earlier, the previous year Leeds had won the title. In 1994-95 Blackburn won the league title, In 1995-96 Man U pipped Newcastle for the title. in 1996-97 just before Wenger joined Leeds had slipped away from being a contender as did Blackburn but Newcastle and Liverpool were still there. By 1998 Chelsea had come to the party and Leeds were making a resurgence.

Its nonsense to say the only challenge back then was easier, no it wasn't, there were always 4 or so teams there, just Arsenal and Man U stood above them after a while, no different to now, 2 teams standing above all else.

[NovaGB]

:dizzy:

It's not about total goals. It's the cumulative impact of numerous factors over the years that have now resulted in a perfect storm for us.

For the past 10 years, we have needed a top player to bail us out constantly. It was Fabregas and RVP, then it was Alexis and Ozil and now it's Auba. Even in RVP's record season, top 4 came down to the very last day; it could have been Newcastle in CL if we hadn't squeaked past West Brom 3-2.

We've whittled down our midfield to the point where we now have no playmakers in the team. Ozil has 2 assists, and yet Auba is somehow still in the running for Golden Boot.

We're no longer profitable as club; we couldn't buy a top attacker if we wanted to. Next year's front line will be Martinelli, Pepe and Saka at best. All of whom are massively inexperienced, and will face the same issue Auba does; no playmakers in the team.

Auba's the only one who has scored consistently at every team he's been at, and has a fantastic fitness record as well.

Wenger could get away with having a smattering of average-to-decent players alongside 1-2 excellent players for many years, because there were only 3-4 teams in the league worth a damn, meaning we always had a strong chance of CL football.

Guardiola
Klopp
Mourinho/Pochettino
Ancelotti

At no point was Arsenal ever competing against all 4 of these top managers and making CL. He could barely make it when City entered the picture.

What's Arteta, who has effectively zero experience, going to do when it's all those guys plus whoever Newcastle's new owners give £200m to splash?

You're looking at Arsenal's historical ~70-80 goals per season without taking into account that the only competition back in those days were Mourinho and SAF.

More revisionism. You are talking like when Wenger took over the only decent manager/team around was Man U !

In 1993-94 you had Man U, Arsenal, Liverpool, Blackburn, Leeds and Newcastle all doing bits. Liverpool had won the league 4 years earlier, the previous year Leeds had won the title. In 1994-95 Blackburn won the league title, In 1995-96 Man U pipped Newcastle for the title. in 1996-97 just before Wenger joined Leeds had slipped away from being a contender as did Blackburn but Newcastle and Liverpool were still there. By 1998 Chelsea had come to the party and Leeds were making a resurgence.

Its nonsense to say the only challenge back then was easier, no it wasn't, there were always 4 or so teams there, just Arsenal and Man U stood above them after a while, no different to now, 2 teams standing above all else.

I can agree with bits of both of these opinions.

[StockGooner]

Is it fair to say that whilst we as a club have managed to replace the goals of those we let go, we have never improved?

On the previous page the stat as that we scored 72.77 goals in Wenger's first nine season and have only lost one goal now to 71.77 in the year's since. But the title winners average in those same time spans was 81.9 to 86.2. This is a gain of 4.3 goals, so we are now 5.3 goals worse off compared to the winner's today.

League averages were 49.9 in Wengers's first 9 years and 50.8 now. So we're now two goals worse off than the league as a whole, let alone top teams.

I think it would be nice to keep a striker who is scoring goals and maybe add to him and not replace him.

[Marsbar100]

I think you need around 80 goals to win the title, we will prob end up with less than 65 this year, selling pea makes no sense if we want to have a go at the title.

[Highbury Hillbilly]

^

I think we got burnt keeping Sanchez and it was a mistake. I think the difference is Sanchez played 4 summers in a row for Chile and was fatigued, he also started being a devicive figure laughing in the stands at us getting smashed springs to mind.

Pea hasn't burnt himself out like sanchez and hasn't played up yet .

It could backfire but I say keep, we have no cl football, we aren't flush with money so getting a good replacement will not be easy,.

Agreed, Sanchez burned out, after playing in international tournaments every single summer from 2014-2017. The mistake was not collecting £60m for him from City when the offer was on the table.

PEA is fortunately with the Gabon NT, and not bigger teams like Cote D'Ivoire, Senegal or Nigeria as they always qualify for ACON or World Cup.

[jayramfootball]

Is it fair to say that whilst we as a club have managed to replace the goals of those we let go, we have never improved?

On the previous page the stat as that we scored 72.77 goals in Wenger's first nine season and have only lost one goal now to 71.77 in the year's since. But the title winners average in those same time spans was 81.9 to 86.2. This is a gain of 4.3 goals, so we are now 5.3 goals worse off compared to the winner's today.

League averages were 49.9 in Wengers's first 9 years and 50.8 now. So we're now two goals worse off than the league as a whole, let alone top teams.

I think it would be nice to keep a striker who is scoring goals and maybe add to him and not replace him.

Adding a striker is not the priority.
If we had a more creative team I am pretty sure Auba WOULD score more goals, but there is no evidence that a replacement could not take advantage of a more creative team also.
The bottom line is that Auba has made no difference at all to us. We've not won anything with him, we've not scored more goals with him. We've actually got worse with him, winning less games, winning less trophies and gaining less points (though that is not his fault solely).

[jayramfootball]

I think you need around 80 goals to win the title, we will prob end up with less than 65 this year, selling pea makes no sense if we want to have a go at the title.

Your argument suggests we SHOULD sell Auba.
He's certainly not up to the job of getting us more goals as a team. We score about the same as when we had Giroud, or Sanchez.
Therefore cashing in and using the money to rebuild the creative force of the team seems sensible.
If we DON'T sell him, he's likely to leave on a free transfer and it will take us longer to get to that 80 goals a season level.

He's also 31 in a couple of months.
It would be lunacy not to cash in on the guy now with the major rebuilding this club needs.
I would rather we look to the future than get hung up on players who have made no difference in our quest to get back to Top 4 and eventually challenge for titles.

[NovaGB]

I think you need around 80 goals to win the title, we will prob end up with less than 65 this year, selling pea makes no sense if we want to have a go at the title.

Your argument suggests we SHOULD sell Auba.
He's certainly not up to the job of getting us more goals as a team. We score about the same as when we had Giroud, or Sanchez.
Therefore cashing in and using the money to rebuild the creative force of the team seems sensible.
If we DON'T sell him, he's likely to leave on a free transfer and it will take us longer to get to that 80 goals a season level.

He's also 31 in a couple of months.
It would be lunacy not to cash in on the guy now with the major rebuilding this club needs.
I would rather we look to the future than get hung up on players who have made no difference in our quest to get back to Top 4 and eventually challenge for titles.

Auba is our main attacking threat, why does his assist count matter? he works is ass off for the team.

Thats like saying Liverpool should sell Van Dijk because he doesn't score enough.

If we have no choice but to lose him, then yeah sell or let him run his contract down, but there is literally no other reason to sell him.

Hes getting on a bit, but hes only missed 4 games to injury his entire career and his pace is still as strong as ever.

[ag6789]

At present we're winning in the league mostly by a 1 goal margin, and mostly the all important winning goal is provided by Auba (majority) and rest by Laca. Rest of the gang contributes very little.We're in the battle of our lives for a top six finish, this season. Under these circumstances it makes no sense ( madness really,) in thinking of changing your most productive and potent attacker. Absence of those important goals will plunge us into relegation scrap. Even if we have to lose 25-30 mil, need to keep the most important parts of the engine that keeps it ticking, until the situation stabilizes.

[NovaGB]

At present we're winning in the league mostly by a 1 goal margin, and mostly the all important winning goal is provided by Auba (majority) and rest by Laca. Rest of the gang contributes very little.We're in the battle of our lives for a top six finish, this season. Under these circumstances it makes no sense ( madness really,) in thinking of changing your most productive and potent attacker. Absence of those important goals will plunge us into relegation scrap. Even if we have to lose 25-30 mil, need to keep the most important parts of the engine that keeps it ticking, until the situation stabilizes.

Wouldn't it be fair to say that with a better defence and central midfielders our attackers would have more chances though? it would give Ozil more time to do his thing and set the front 3 off, Pepe and Auba track back enough, so the problem is from the back and middle imo.

[Highbury Hillbilly]

At present we're winning in the league mostly by a 1 goal margin, and mostly the all important winning goal is provided by Auba (majority) and rest by Laca. Rest of the gang contributes very little.We're in the battle of our lives for a top six finish, this season. Under these circumstances it makes no sense ( madness really,) in thinking of changing your most productive and potent attacker. Absence of those important goals will plunge us into relegation scrap. Even if we have to lose 25-30 mil, need to keep the most important parts of the engine that keeps it ticking, until the situation stabilizes.

Wouldn't it be fair to say that with a better defence and central midfielders our attackers would have more chances though? it would give Ozil more time to do his thing and set the front 3 off, Pepe and Auba track back enough, so the problem is from the back and middle imo.

But this is the crux of the problem. I agree that Auba is replaceable, IF we get better CMs in who create chances, and the new striker (say Martinelli) executes on those chances. Would help greatly if the CMs can contribute goals as well.

But we're not in the market for them. Thomas Partey is a rumour at best and at £45m, not a strong one. All our other targets are defenders, which is understandable.

So the question remains, who will fill the goal gap if Auba leaves?

[Highbury Hillbilly]

:dizzy:

More revisionism. You are talking like when Wenger took over the only decent manager/team around was Man U !

In 1993-94 you had Man U, Arsenal, Liverpool, Blackburn, Leeds and Newcastle all doing bits. Liverpool had won the league 4 years earlier, the previous year Leeds had won the title. In 1994-95 Blackburn won the league title, In 1995-96 Man U pipped Newcastle for the title. in 1996-97 just before Wenger joined Leeds had slipped away from being a contender as did Blackburn but Newcastle and Liverpool were still there. By 1998 Chelsea had come to the party and Leeds were making a resurgence.

Its nonsense to say the only challenge back then was easier, no it wasn't, there were always 4 or so teams there, just Arsenal and Man U stood above them after a while, no different to now, 2 teams standing above all else.

Mate, nowhere in my comment did I refer to a time period before 2004. When Wenger took over he had a strong team (Adams, Bergkamp, Vieira, Petit, Wrighty) and his tactics caught the opposition by surprise. That was 24 years ago.

The new normal was established more than 10 years ago with the City takeover. If you don't have money to spend, the only differentiating factor are your players. Good tactics aren't enough to get CL anymore, unless you luck out with a golden generation like Spurs did.

[NovaGB]

At present we're winning in the league mostly by a 1 goal margin, and mostly the all important winning goal is provided by Auba (majority) and rest by Laca. Rest of the gang contributes very little.We're in the battle of our lives for a top six finish, this season. Under these circumstances it makes no sense ( madness really,) in thinking of changing your most productive and potent attacker. Absence of those important goals will plunge us into relegation scrap. Even if we have to lose 25-30 mil, need to keep the most important parts of the engine that keeps it ticking, until the situation stabilizes.

Wouldn't it be fair to say that with a better defence and central midfielders our attackers would have more chances though? it would give Ozil more time to do his thing and set the front 3 off, Pepe and Auba track back enough, so the problem is from the back and middle imo.

But this is the crux of the problem. I agree that Auba is replaceable, IF we get better CMs in who create chances, and the new striker (say Martinelli) executes on those chances. Would help greatly if the CMs can contribute goals as well.

But we're not in the market for them. Thomas Partey is a rumour at best and at £45m, not a strong one. All our other targets are defenders, which is understandable.

So the question remains, who will fill the goal gap if Auba leaves?

As great as Auba is i would have always preferred us to have a natural winger over having a striker out wide, we have been doing this since we got Podolski and Giroud, and Auba and Laca basically have to do the same thing, i'd rather a all out goal scorer up top and a assist machine who scores a few wide.

If anything i'd like to get rid of Laca and maybe use him to get Partey then put Auba up top and get somebody like Carrasco (because he defends well, scores and assists) or even Ryan Fraser if he can replicate his assists from the previous season because hes free.

I mean swapping Laca out and bringing Fraser does not sound that glamorous, but it would probably function better if Fraser can hack the pace.

Zaha would be nice, but 1) hes stupidly expensive and 2) his main quality is making defenders panic/make mistakes rather than how much he assists and scores.

I think any natural top winger or inverted winger (would make more sense because Tierney/Saka behind for the overlap) would be a benefit over playing 2 strikers with one out of position.

Imagine how many Auba would bang in with constant service and no need to chase back constantly.

offload Mkhy and Mistakey and Laca and we have freed up a ton of wage to bump up Auba's contract until 2023.

[gooney]

I think you need around 80 goals to win the title, we will prob end up with less than 65 this year, selling pea makes no sense if we want to have a go at the title.

Your argument suggests we SHOULD sell Auba.
He's certainly not up to the job of getting us more goals as a team. We score about the same as when we had Giroud, or Sanchez.
Therefore cashing in and using the money to rebuild the creative force of the team seems sensible.
If we DON'T sell him, he's likely to leave on a free transfer and it will take us longer to get to that 80 goals a season level.

He's also 31 in a couple of months.
It would be lunacy not to cash in on the guy now with the major rebuilding this club needs.
I would rather we look to the future than get hung up on players who have made no difference in our quest to get back to Top 4 and eventually challenge for titles.

omng we had much better team back then. Do you even watch us? Those teams didnt use to play against Bournemouth and Palace and have less possession and shots. We are not half the team we used to be. I cant remember last time we played 28 league games and have +4 in goal difference. Even at wengers worst season we was never close to this. +4 goal difference after 28 league games with one of the best strikers in the league is a damning stat that cant be overlooked

[NovaGB]

I think you need around 80 goals to win the title, we will prob end up with less than 65 this year, selling pea makes no sense if we want to have a go at the title.

Your argument suggests we SHOULD sell Auba.
He's certainly not up to the job of getting us more goals as a team. We score about the same as when we had Giroud, or Sanchez.
Therefore cashing in and using the money to rebuild the creative force of the team seems sensible.
If we DON'T sell him, he's likely to leave on a free transfer and it will take us longer to get to that 80 goals a season level.

He's also 31 in a couple of months.
It would be lunacy not to cash in on the guy now with the major rebuilding this club needs.
I would rather we look to the future than get hung up on players who have made no difference in our quest to get back to Top 4 and eventually challenge for titles.

omng we had much better team back then. Do you even watch us? Those teams didnt use to play against Bournemouth and Palace and have less possession and shots. We are not half the team we used to be. I cant remember last time we played 28 league games and have +4 in goal difference. Even at wengers worst season we was never close to this. +4 goal difference after 28 league games with one of the best strikers in the league is a damning stat that cant be overlooked

Exactly, we don't have sensible no nonsense cb's anymore we have Mistakey, Sokratis the diver and David Luiz whos not bad but is basically a midfielder.

People used to laugh at Kos and Mertersacker but they are world class compared to what we got now.