15 Sep 2025 05:58:12
Morning trish
Just wondering what you think of the squad we have built now?
I think it's one of the best I've seen
How are you buddy?
{Ed001's Note - it is very good, particularly in defence, but you have no cover for Gyokeres at all, which is something you do need to look at, instead of buying another couple of centre-backs every summer. Also, you are at your best when youth players are involved, so I would like to see him make more use of the likes of Nwaneri rather than turning to Trossard when there are injuries. That Lewis-Skelly is better than Calafiori imo, so I would have started him, unless the plan is to keep them fresh for the UCL, in which case it is a big risk as they are not match sharp yet, so shouldn't be struggling for freshness.
I am good thanks mate. Though I am sleepy still, just got up to upload the weekend round up, so I will be going back to sleep soon! How are things with you and the family?}
15 Sep 2025 07:00:15
I'm OK buddy, the old man is the same evil disease
Have a good sleep speak soon.
15 Sep 2025 08:01:56
Valid point about our cf situation Ed. I've been thinking about Saka as a cf for a while, but especially now after seeing Madueke play so well on the right. Honestly i can't see why Saka couldn't become one of the best strikers around. He's the most well-rounded forward in the team and our best player. But of course this is just theoretical right now. Can't say whether it would actually work and would he be better as a rw still. Ultimately we want to play our players in their best positions for the majority of the time.
Left back is a mysterious position for us. Calafiori is a very fun player to watch, he ends up in all kinds of crazy positions. Lewis-Skelly seems to be more fixed to the midfield. Then there's Hincapié who i could see playing as a slightly more traditional overlapping full back, which i think suits Eze the best. Right now i'm thinking that over time Hincapié becomes the main lb, Calafiori migrates to cb and Lewis-Skelly migrates to cm (which will Ultimately eat up Merino's minutes) .
{Ed001's Note - Hincapie is not really a full-back. He is a centre-back who can play there, I am not convinced he is going to be a flying wing-back.
Reducing Merino's minutes would be a good thing, he is far too immobile for the Premier League. Shame because he is so good technically, but he is slow enough to fit in West Ham's midfield.}
15 Sep 2025 09:34:26
Difficult to argue with that Ed. Although Merino boosts his brand in Europe, he’s just not epl pace and was expensive but may be a decent option off the bench as he’s a bit like Platt in that ge knows where to be to score. I would have loved us to sign a striker as that’s a glaring hole and we don’t have a striker on the bench. Kai or Jesus don’t scream game changers or goals in big tight games although they probably have a role to play somewhere. I’m not a huge Cali fan but it’s another CB converted to a LB which Arteta loves and suits his style. I’ve given up on a Cole like LB bombing down the left wing. Strange it never releases the LW but hoping we can let Eze spend more time up front with a defence minded LB whereas Skelly has a mindset of a midfielder. I would have signed a young or an old striker to take pressure off Viktor but we had such a good window. Hopefully Kai, Jesus or Eze could fill the void in the short term.
Fancy us for a cup this year.
15 Sep 2025 10:16:03
Okay thanks for the insight on Hincapié Ed. I've only seen him in clips and in many of them he is playing lb, has good pace and seems to have a good left footed pass/ cross. So i thought he might be our slightly more defensively minded Tierney replacement. But what you can't evaluate from clips is whether he can run up and down repeatedly for 90 mins. Maybe that's where he falls short?
The thing that irks me with Merino is he was clearly signed as a squad player yet cost way too much. Look at Kepa and Norgaard. Those were bargains. I trust Berta to not repeat the mistakes of Edu.
15 Sep 2025 18:00:23
Evening all missed the gameon Saturday but seen the highlights. Personally I think we are finally at a stage where we can challenge on all fronts, for me in January we need to look at bringing another striker to protect Victor,
Our next two prem games will provide a more clearer picture, Man City are not fully at the races I don't think so we have a good chance and we generally stuggle with Newcastle away but it does not look good for newcastle at the moment.
Lets stay behind the team and the manager a lot of fun days ahead.
15 Sep 2025 20:17:17
Hi G4, I really enjoyed seeing our first goal come as a result of an Arsenal player taking a shot from distance and the second goal coming as result of a long direct ball over the top.
We all enjoy watching our easy on the eye intricate passing game when it leads to a brilliant team goal that takes our breath away, but adding a more direct approach to attacking options can only be a good thing that gives opposition managers a lot more to think about when trying to prepare their teams to play us.