Morning all.
I watched Man Metropolis beat Chelsea yesterday afternoon, a end result I didn’t essentially wish to see however one Chelsea deserve for myriad causes. Enzo as captain? Ugh. John Terry would have been proud. Anyway, Erling Haaland did what Erling Haaland does. He scored a aim, and statistically he’s ridiculous.
100 video games, 91 targets, 15 assists, 9 hat-tricks. How are you going to argue with it? But, at one level early within the second half I had a take a look at the in-game stats and he had touched the ball simply 5 instances. To be honest, he acquired a bit extra caught in through the second half, and ended with 17 touches, nonetheless 6 fewer than Savinho who was taken off at half-time with an damage. His go completion was 37.5%, which is so low that’s a determine you hardly ever see on the finish of 90 minutes from knowledgeable at this degree – particularly in a Pep Guardiola staff the place possession is ten tenths of the regulation.
It acquired me desirous about the continuing dialogue about Arsenal and whether or not we’d like a striker or not. For comparability, in opposition to Wolves on Saturday, Kai Havertz had 44 touches of the ball, finishing his passes at 78%, and ended up with a aim and an help. He did spend among the remaining levels in midfield although, however I puzzled about whether or not a striker is admittedly what we’d like.
I’ve seen some folks will say that ‘a Haaland’ (for those who might even discover one), wouldn’t be an excellent match for a Mikel Arteta staff, and I can see that standpoint. The flip-side, after all, is that when you may have a participant who can do what he does, you make them match. As Guardiola has accomplished. Haaland just isn’t a Pep participant in any conventional sense, however his expertise and high quality is such that even the most effective managers, even those most wedded to their ideas of play, must compromise for the advantage of the staff.
That stated, I feel the Norwegian is fairly distinctive within the fashionable recreation, and looking for one like him simply because that’s what Metropolis have is a idiot’s errand. I do know we went after Benjamin Sesko who – bodily a minimum of – could possibly be seen as a sort of Haaland analog, however that didn’t undergo. And, when it comes proper all the way down to it, we’ve a 6’4 centre-forward proper now who acquired a aim and an help on the opening day of the season, kind of choosing up the place he left off final season when his kind and finish product was very, excellent. I additionally assume the reportedly imminent arrival of Mikel Merino to play in midfield just about cements Kai as the primary alternative up entrance, and possibly means he gained’t play as typically in midfield.
As I stated in yesterday’s weblog, simply earlier than Saka scored I used to be a bit involved about him as a result of he’s had such a brief summer time vacation. I regarded on the bench, and I wasn’t craving a striker, I used to be in search of one other large participant who might come on to make a distinction and provides him a break. The aim prompted a change, Leandro Trossard on for Saka, however the midfield departure of Declan Rice to cramp (a certain signal that he and others are going to wrestle a bit within the opening a part of the season), meant Havertz dropped again into midfield and Gabriel Jesus got here on up entrance.
I like Jesus so much, I feel he’s acquired loads to supply throughout the entrance three if he stays match, however that query mark over his availability will solely begin to fade once we see him play week in, week out. Even then, like a few different gamers on this squad, there’s a component of danger with banking on his health just by advantage of what we’ve seen from him since his arrival two summers in the past. All of which is to say that with 11 days of the switch window left, if there may be to be an attacking addition (and I actually, actually hope there may be), then I would favor somebody who can provide us one thing within the large areas reasonably than up entrance.
Whether or not that participant can also be versatile to present us an possibility as a 9, we’ll have to attend and see. Arteta has Havertz, Jesus and Trossard obtainable for that spot, every of them giving us completely different qualities, however the potential to unleash one thing completely different on the flanks would give this facet one other dimension that could possibly be very, very helpful over the course of a protracted season. To me this makes extra sense than looking for worth within the centre-forward market which, proper now a minimum of, appears low on choices – a minimum of when it comes to the quantity we’re prone to spend. There’s zero probability of a £100m+ Osimhen, for instance, not that I feel that’s a deal we must always do anyway.
So, let’s see what occurs. The continuing futures of Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson will play an element within the remaining a part of this window, and if there’s any motion there this week then I count on Arsenal to be energetic within the different course.
Proper, I’m gonna depart it there for now. Please be a part of us for a model new Arsecast Further slightly in a while. Hold an eye fixed out for the decision for questions on Threads @gunnerblog and @arseblog with the hashtag #arsecastextra – or for those who’re an Arseblog Member on Patreon, depart your query within the #arsecast-extra-questions channel on our Discord server.
Pod must be out mid-morning. For now, have an excellent one.
