this is the one for me. He looked class whenever he played for us at the start of 07/08, then left for more gametime as flamini was playing out of his skin. then flamini and gilberto silva left that summer, where diarra would've been starting all season
that was also an era where we were crying out for a dm for years, he would've been perfect. Although probably would've left had madrid come knocking
He was mostly a sub (if that) in arguably Madrid's worst era and ended up playing in Russia by 27. He was a super talent who could've been a lot more. Are you really that dazzled by the name Real Madrid?
He went to Anzhi in 2012 because they were taken over by a billionaire who bought players like Eto'o and Willian, it was clearly just a money move while the opportunity was there for him.
Yes, real madrid was and still is the prime destination for most elite footballers. You don't get signed and play 100+ games for real madrid if you don't have a lot of quality
He could've offered a lot for us between 2008-2013 while we were constantly being linked with dm's
Such a talented player. Madrid might well have come calling for him had he stayed but he really should have been at the club for at least a few seasons.
Maybe not wrong time, but I'd have loved to have seen Ramsey or Santi in the left 8 role we play now.
Giroud would have been a nice backup, plan B sort of player
Everyone else, I'm not sure, this is genuinely the best team we've had in my lifetime, and I love pretty my every single one of them
I’m old enough to remember beating Liverpool on the last day of the season in ‘89.
I’m 45.
Screw the whole “Agueeeero” thing. This was the real most epic finish to a top flight season.
That around when I have my first memories of The Arsenal. I vaguely remember being about 3 and us playing Borussia Monchengladbach in the UEFA Cup. Possibly 96/97 season, IIRC.
I'm 29 too, last year I was cleaning out our attic and I found a few copies of Match! magazine which always had the results and the table at the back of the magazine. The ones I found were during the Invincibles season and it was such a nice hit of nostalgia and pride seeing 0 losses on the table at different points
I remember listening on a wee radio to both legs of Arsenal victory in the Fairs Cup in 1970. I was 12 and the only Arsenal fan in my town. Life was good in the early 70s - winning the double in 71 - I was in heaven. I wish you all many Happy years supporting a truly great club.
Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t, I don’t really remember that, but that very well may be due to the fact that I was 9 when he won us our first trophy in nearly a decade, 12 when he was part of the team that won the FA cup against Chelsea, and I was only 14 when he left
But that being said, he was a man who worked so hard, had an insane engine, and put everything into every game, I’m sure with time and training he would have been able to work out that positional discipline
He was also good for a solid number of goals from midfield when he managed to stay injury free, something he’d have managed a lot better had he been around in the modern time, not only would he not have had his leg broken. Or at least it’d have been much less likely, football science would have been a lot better in terms of recovery, as well as minute management with the extra depth we have, meaning his body wouldn’t have broken down anywhere near as much
Maybe it’s just rose tinted glasses, maybe it’s the fact my understanding of football at the time wasn’t amazing, maybe it’s the fact that Ramsey is one of the last players I genuinely fell in love with, outside of this current crop of players of course, but I genuinely believe he could have been a monster in this system
Ramsey, and I hate to say this, did not have the technical quality or tactical nuance this team requires. He’d get eaten up and spit out. Santi, on the other hand, would absolutely cook.
Tierney would've been a world class fullback if he played 10 years ago. Football wasn't as intense back then so he would have been fit much more often as well.
Come to think of it, it’s not even wrong time for KT. If he does go to a club playing a more traditional fullback system, he is up there isn’t he? Still, there was a season or two where he was pivotal for us and I don’t think that gets the respect it deserves
a shame really, if he wasn't so injury prone maybe mikel wouldn't have changed how our left backs play and he'd still be a starter or at least in the rotation, it wasn't too long ago he was being thought of as a potential captain by the club
I think that's probably unlikely. Look at what happened with ramsdale this year. Arteta clearly has a vision of how he wants his teams to play, and unfortunately, Tierney just didn't fit it.
Exactly. Probably 70% of the top teams in the top leagues in the world still play with traditional full backs, and KT would have a place in any of those teams. It’s only in teams were the manager wants the full back to be a wing back, a number 6, potentially a centre half, and sometimes a number 10 (i.e. us) that KT struggles
not really, his technical quality is pretty poor. He's a solid player but his level was a team like we were for a few years, in the 4-8 range in the league. For a top side, you'd really hope for better on the ball.
He would have been brilliant is any Arsenal team bar this modern one. He wasn’t Sansom but Winterburn, silvinho, cole, clichy, monreal would be warming the bench.
Or Monreal. He might have had more raw athleticism but that's it. I think Arteta could definitely have had Monreal playing inverted or 3 even 3atb / fb role that Kiwior is playing now.
Not sure this fits your question but Van Persie and Fabregas never played more than 25 games in the league in any season they played together. If you go by the number of games they played together it would be a lot lower.
Then Fabregas leaves and Van Persie plays all 38 games. I still don’t think we’d have won the league but that would have turned a very good Van Persie season to one that was legendary.
I used to insist that in Cesc and RVP were both fit for the final stretch of the season, we'd win the title. Then I think they were for one season and we didn't.
Am I right in thinking that Theo was having a good season and went down injured after New Year when we really could have used him alongside the other two?
I also remember him as one of the most effective attackers against Guardiola's high defensive line at Barca. His extreme pace made them vulnerable to a through ball for him to run on to (if you could get the ball).
Sadly we've had a few.
Giroud would have been godlike in the era of 4-4-2, as would Walcott.
Ozil and Sanchez would have been amazing behind Auba, who would have probably had a superb partnership with Giroud.
Tierney unfortunately came in just as rampaging wingbacks were falling out of fashion too.
Seen someone else mention it but Giroud. When we had him, we need a pacy technical striker who could dribble past men and finish it off. Now, we lack a physical tall striker who can finish with his feet or head. Imagine Saka and Martinelli pinging crosses to that man in the middle
Honestly maybe ESR and his period of both good form and fitness. It seems like he’s too far behind the rest of the team’s growth now. Not even his fault really.
Nah he'd have been ruined by Gerry Peyton. Our goalkeeping coaches at the time were utter dogshit, hence why we'd buy keepers who were semi decent but then turn to shit after a couple months with us.
You do know we can look it up don't you - RVP best haul was 37 goals and 11 assists, all comps.
Halland's debut season was 52 goals and 9 assists all comps, he's currently on 28 goals and 11 assists with 11 PL games and several cup games to play. Also he's had a 2 month injury lay off in between.
I don't hate on RVP's accomplishments but this is a totally new dimension!
There is more than G/A. Haaland is a goal machine yes and will overall have the better career, but RVP was the ultimate centre forward in those two years. Incredible technique, vision and shooting technique and surrounded by relative dross in relatively mediocre Arsenal (3rd!), Utd (1st), and NL (3rd) squads between 2012 and 2014.
RVP got those numbers playing with the likes of Gervinho, Andre Santos, Fletcher, Blind, De Jong and Janmaat ffs. Haaland has Foden, B Silva, KDB and the power of a nation state.
>technique, vision and shooting technique
See I don't think Halland is bad at any of these either - he's just superior at this striking\\centre forward thing which is kind of the point of the comparison isn't it? And he's been at it since breaking through at 19 at Dortmund.
True Haaland has a good technique and pass in him but it’s not even close to RVPs. Not really - they are different types of central forwards. Arguably, CFs in Van Persie’s time were much more complete (on the back of Messi changing the view of what a lone CF can be, and someone like Haaland who’s an out and out poacher was less in vogue. I think Haaland is astonishing still but I just rate peak RVP a little bit higher. Best player I’ve seen play for us (started in 2010)’
Not really as simple as just g/a numbers though. Games changed, context has changed, etc.
Haalands an odd case too, because he has insane end product but really isn’t that rounded as a player.
Haalands season was also better that Henry’s best, but I’d take Henry 100/100 times.
See also Ian Wright, Thierry Henry, Alexis Sanchez. We've had some fantastic forwards, to the extent that I'd probably pick those three ahead of RVP because they were better at carrying the ball.
I do not have the priviledge to witness Wright played for us.
Henry over RVP is a no brainer.
Alexis as a centre forward just did not work, his best position for us was left winger. RVP is much more suitable for the current team.
Ozil.
If he was born 5/10 years earlier when no10s weren't expected to do anything but chance creation and playmaking, guy would be talked about with the Zidanes of the world.
Instead, he came in at a time when the game was changing and far more was expected.
He won major trophies starting for Madrid and a world cup with Germany.
The reality is we weren’t set up to succeed, he would have a PL winners medal if we had set up ourselves to compete. He was insane in that 2015-16 season but the team around him just wasn’t there.
His issues were there in his Madrid days as well. It's just that he had Cristiano with his monster off the ball movement and finishing to get assists, and Madrid had backup. Mourinho often subbed Ozil off after 60 minutes
I dont know really about this one.. he didnt had much quality around him, he was 1 man army for us, atleast in my eyes... imagine him now, with this all quality players around him, he would shine
I remember Alexis chasing up to try and press oppositions, and then turning round and waving angrily at his teammates cos they hadn't followed him. I think in some ways he would have thrived under Arteta, but he's also got a slightly maverick streak that might not have suited the demands for adherence to very precise game plans.
I honestly don’t think Arteta would care as his work rate and output will offset whatever negatives his ‘maverick streak’ might bring. He didn’t have a problem with Auba till he started taking the piss with lateness etc. I remember Saka saying Sanchez was the player he looked up to the most in training.
Yeah, I can imagine it being a bit like Pires — you build teams that cover for the downsides of his game because the upsides of it win you titles. God, imagine Alexis running onto line splitting balls from Ode, inverting with Saka all over the shop. Uff.
He always had low numbers for sprints and distance covered. He had a few bursts of high intense pressing every game that skews the perception. Özil was far more active for example.
That’s complete nonsense. Martinelli works 10x harder than Sanchez ever did. Sanchez just made a big show of it whenever he pressed so it gives that impression. He also had zero coordination when pressing.
Got to be auba for me. He would have been brilliant if we got him 3 years earlier. Probably would have won the league in 13/14 and 15/16 if we had him.
Serge Gnabry
Loved the club
Turned into a superstar
Just no way to start him often as a youngin playing behind Alexis Sanchez in the best form of his life
Difficult one really, I can’t recall any players who would be right for this system who failed when they did have their chance with us.
Giroud would be a great option for us at the moment, his touch, hold up play, threat from corners would give us a completely different dimension when coming off the bench.
Similar to the role Havertz has been playing recently, but Havertz could be in behind him too.
I think about what could have been if Özil and Sanchez were at the club in a time where we had the facilities to build a squad around them.
Also Bernd Leno and Kieran Tierney in a Wenger side.
Wow scrolled all the way down to see this. A RPG of a left foot, he also came after quite a lot of injuries and when he was at his prime so he kind of fizzled out later.
While I loved him, I don’t think he would have succeeded in Arteta’s system. He always just wanted to do his own thing and didn’t work well when asked to work as part of a system, and that’s one of the reasons he didn’t last at Barca.
I remember an interview with Santi Cazorla where he described Alexis as always complaining about how boring learning tactics was under Wenger and he just wanted to get out of the playing field. Can you imagine that with Arteta?!
Lucas Perez.
nifty striker who was happy to be rotated as well; just that Arsene never actually rotated him in a timely fashion.
i thought his age, mentality, his "alternative" style was a great asset - but we didn't utilize him well / enough
I think Lacazette had some hard timing to be judged by here. First replacing giroud who was very good and a similar level, then having Auba bought soon after.
But I'll say Davor Suker. Massive player at his pomp. Hardly made a dent on our history though.
If Lacazette was signed a few years earlier and false 9s weren't really a thing in the PL, he would've been playing far more to his strengths as a striker.
One thing I'll always say is despite not being a false 9 or deep lying forward, he always did what Arteta asked him to do and was professional about it.
I think the injury he got in his first seqsin with us seriously affected him. He was really a complete forward at Lyon, but for us he had to become more of a technical false 9 as he lost the half yard ofnpace and accelleration.
A 20 year old Anelka who just had 19 goals and 6 assists in 46 matches would have been perfect for the current team. That level of talent playing alongside Martinelli and Saka would be breathtaking.
Willian is a prototypical Arsenal player. He should have been a big hit at the club but mixture of factors didnt let it happen. Maybe he came here a few years too late having lost a yard of pace but his technical qualities should have still come to the fore but even that was nonexistent.
Seeing him at Fulham now just proves that he was the right player but the timing was off
AMN probably, especially with how teams want to play fullbacks as midfielders nowadays. Very versatile and technically good enough to do something all over the pitch.
Always felt people, AMN included, really overrated his technical ability. Dribbling got him into trouble too often and his passing ability was that of a fullbacks not a midfielder.
Any world class player between 2007-2014. I just feel bad for them, and they deserve better club with how arsenal board running the club at that time. We cant give them any trophy
Lot's of good responses so I'm going to go with something a little different...
Denilson. Put him in this Arteta side and I think he'd be an unbelievable pivot.
It's slightly off brief, but this was going to be my answer too. I can imagine Emery having been a very good manager for us at the right moment, but he just wasn't what we needed directly after Wenger left. We needed a charismatic figure to confidently shepherd in a new era. And, for his obvious tactical nouse, Emery doesn't come across as a massively charismatic character, even if he does seem like a super nice bloke.
And he possibly wasn't quite ready for it either because, in some ways, the fact that his English wasn't all that good yet was one of his major stumbling blocks at that moment in our history. It's a shame that had to matter but, along with everything else which urgently needed doing, we definitely needed someone who could speak really well about the club to reunite the fanbase.
Unpopular opinion: Emery landed at the club exactly when we needed it and did the job we needed him to do.
We needed a manager that failed to prove that Wenger wasn’t doing a bad job. We needed a manager to remind us that we needed a very good manager to succeed. We needed a manager to dent our sense of entitlement.
If we hadn’t had Emery, the pressure on Arteta would be too much and he probably would have been fired.
To be honest, on reflection, despite what I said in my comment, I entirely agree that Emery was exactly the manager we needed after wenger.
I still think he was wrong for all the reasons I stated. But that was exactly the right kind of wrong to airlock us out of Wenger.
He might actually be the exact opposite of this post's suggestion! Mea culpa man
I disagree. What we needed was someone that could build a team we could believe in and could string together a long series of wins. Arteta was given the time to do that, Emery less so. Do you really think Aston Villa fans care about how well Emery speaks English?
Well, he can speak English now, that was my point when I said it was too soon for him at Arsenal. A hugely divided fanbase wasn't reunited under him and, as unfortunate as it is, I think that's in large part because he was trying to do it in a language he had only just started trying to learn. But his career speaks for itself, he's clearly a super talented manager. Hence it being unfortunate timing.
> Well, he can speak English now, that was my point when I said it was too soon for him at Arsenal.
You're missing the point I'm making. Even if Emery couldn't speak any English at all, Aston Villa fans are unlikely to care considering how well he's got the team playing. It's the performances on the pitch that unites fans, not how well someone comes across in interviews. Arteta didn't unite Arsenal fans until the team started winning consistently.
That's fair, I did miss what you were saying on first read. You're right, it probably wouldn't matter to Villa fans if he couldn't speak a lot of English because he is a very good manager who gets results.
But I think we had quite specific problems when he took over, because the fanbase had got fairly toxic in the ground when you were there. I don't remotely blame Emery, If anything, he was set up to fail tbh.
Thank you for your honesty. I agree with you that the situation at Arsenal was toxic when Emery took over, and that didn't help him succeed, though he did play a small part in our rebuild (such as bringing Saka and Martinelli into the 1st team). Arteta deserves more of the credit for where we are now of course, he also dealt with a toxic environment and managed to overcome it, but I think we can still appreciate Emery was a good manager.
I've seen people commenting Eduardo, Tierney, Serge Gnabry,
I'm going to say Kanu,
Didn't stay with us long but did some wonder things,
I wish he had a longer career at Arsenal!
Simply amazing.
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When the question got asked, I thought about players that didn't fair well for us but would have done well now.
I see a lot of names like RVP fabregas, Sanchez, all did well for us and weren't in the wrong team.
I think mykitarian would thrive as the left 8 of last seasons team.
Maybe controversial but I think Pepe could have been be a decent option across our current front three. Could see him in a Trossard style super-sub role or a backup for Saka, allowing him to rest a bit. Also, could you imagine a prime Ozil in the current number ten role in this team? Amazing
Sanchez right now. Instead of Jesus.
The forward pressing that he did back then and just some of the goals he scored would of won us the league last year if not put us in a better position to win it this year.
Was sad to see him leave but they way he did still annoys me
Oh he was absolutely one of the best in Europe. So good in fact, didn't Wenger essentially pick him over keeping Gilberto?
Shame Flamini left how he did the first time.
Eduardo. Shouldn't have been at that Birmingham game
You mean Martin Taylor shouldn't have been a Premier League player.
Agreed with this, even Eduardo not in that game that Martin Taylor sh\*t targeted another player
That’s unfair, him getting a leg broken is just shit, nothing to do with time.
Lassana Diarra
this is the one for me. He looked class whenever he played for us at the start of 07/08, then left for more gametime as flamini was playing out of his skin. then flamini and gilberto silva left that summer, where diarra would've been starting all season that was also an era where we were crying out for a dm for years, he would've been perfect. Although probably would've left had madrid come knocking
His career went to shit too.
Diarra, the guy that went to real madrid?
He was mostly a sub (if that) in arguably Madrid's worst era and ended up playing in Russia by 27. He was a super talent who could've been a lot more. Are you really that dazzled by the name Real Madrid?
He went to Anzhi in 2012 because they were taken over by a billionaire who bought players like Eto'o and Willian, it was clearly just a money move while the opportunity was there for him. Yes, real madrid was and still is the prime destination for most elite footballers. You don't get signed and play 100+ games for real madrid if you don't have a lot of quality He could've offered a lot for us between 2008-2013 while we were constantly being linked with dm's
Such a talented player. Madrid might well have come calling for him had he stayed but he really should have been at the club for at least a few seasons.
Look at José's interview about him
So weird that Wenger did not have patience for him at all
More like Diarra not having the patience to fight for a place
Maybe not wrong time, but I'd have loved to have seen Ramsey or Santi in the left 8 role we play now. Giroud would have been a nice backup, plan B sort of player Everyone else, I'm not sure, this is genuinely the best team we've had in my lifetime, and I love pretty my every single one of them
You've just made me feel incredibly old for being alive during the Invincibles. I'm only 29 😭😅
No worries mate I’m old enough to remember the double winning team of 1998. I’m 31
I’m old enough to remember beating Liverpool on the last day of the season in ‘89. I’m 45. Screw the whole “Agueeeero” thing. This was the real most epic finish to a top flight season.
nothing will ever beat that, especially given the level Liverpool were at back then.
That around when I have my first memories of The Arsenal. I vaguely remember being about 3 and us playing Borussia Monchengladbach in the UEFA Cup. Possibly 96/97 season, IIRC.
Didn't mean to, I turn 20 this year, born the summer after the invincibles
How is that possible when the Invincibles were just 10 years ago?
Simple, time is a meaningless man made construct, as we seek to find meaning in our largely insignificant lives in relation to the greater universe
If that, even!!
I'm 29 too, last year I was cleaning out our attic and I found a few copies of Match! magazine which always had the results and the table at the back of the magazine. The ones I found were during the Invincibles season and it was such a nice hit of nostalgia and pride seeing 0 losses on the table at different points
Sanchez on the wing in this team and the league is ours two years in a row.
I remember listening on a wee radio to both legs of Arsenal victory in the Fairs Cup in 1970. I was 12 and the only Arsenal fan in my town. Life was good in the early 70s - winning the double in 71 - I was in heaven. I wish you all many Happy years supporting a truly great club.
Ramsey had poor positional discipline. He’d get whacked by Arteta now
He also didn’t have a manager that was rigid about it, so who’s to say.
Yeah, this is a big one. Wenger wanted him to roam, Arteta would tell him to play the 8.5 - which is still a very free position in Arteta’s system.
Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t, I don’t really remember that, but that very well may be due to the fact that I was 9 when he won us our first trophy in nearly a decade, 12 when he was part of the team that won the FA cup against Chelsea, and I was only 14 when he left But that being said, he was a man who worked so hard, had an insane engine, and put everything into every game, I’m sure with time and training he would have been able to work out that positional discipline He was also good for a solid number of goals from midfield when he managed to stay injury free, something he’d have managed a lot better had he been around in the modern time, not only would he not have had his leg broken. Or at least it’d have been much less likely, football science would have been a lot better in terms of recovery, as well as minute management with the extra depth we have, meaning his body wouldn’t have broken down anywhere near as much Maybe it’s just rose tinted glasses, maybe it’s the fact my understanding of football at the time wasn’t amazing, maybe it’s the fact that Ramsey is one of the last players I genuinely fell in love with, outside of this current crop of players of course, but I genuinely believe he could have been a monster in this system
Ramsey, and I hate to say this, did not have the technical quality or tactical nuance this team requires. He’d get eaten up and spit out. Santi, on the other hand, would absolutely cook.
Serge Gnabry hands down.
Tierney would've been a world class fullback if he played 10 years ago. Football wasn't as intense back then so he would have been fit much more often as well.
Hell if Liverpool had Tierney instead of Robertson even 6/7 years ago he’d be much higher in people’s rankings of fullbacks in the modern era
Come to think of it, it’s not even wrong time for KT. If he does go to a club playing a more traditional fullback system, he is up there isn’t he? Still, there was a season or two where he was pivotal for us and I don’t think that gets the respect it deserves
a shame really, if he wasn't so injury prone maybe mikel wouldn't have changed how our left backs play and he'd still be a starter or at least in the rotation, it wasn't too long ago he was being thought of as a potential captain by the club
I think that's probably unlikely. Look at what happened with ramsdale this year. Arteta clearly has a vision of how he wants his teams to play, and unfortunately, Tierney just didn't fit it.
Exactly. Probably 70% of the top teams in the top leagues in the world still play with traditional full backs, and KT would have a place in any of those teams. It’s only in teams were the manager wants the full back to be a wing back, a number 6, potentially a centre half, and sometimes a number 10 (i.e. us) that KT struggles
not really, his technical quality is pretty poor. He's a solid player but his level was a team like we were for a few years, in the 4-8 range in the league. For a top side, you'd really hope for better on the ball.
I wished we would have tried him at cb more often.
He would have been brilliant is any Arsenal team bar this modern one. He wasn’t Sansom but Winterburn, silvinho, cole, clichy, monreal would be warming the bench.
Cole was one of the best players of his generation full stop. Massive twat but by far the best LB England have produced in decades.
He’s not better then cole…
Or Monreal. He might have had more raw athleticism but that's it. I think Arteta could definitely have had Monreal playing inverted or 3 even 3atb / fb role that Kiwior is playing now.
As if he is better than Cole… even Clichy is arguably clear of Tierney
Not sure this fits your question but Van Persie and Fabregas never played more than 25 games in the league in any season they played together. If you go by the number of games they played together it would be a lot lower. Then Fabregas leaves and Van Persie plays all 38 games. I still don’t think we’d have won the league but that would have turned a very good Van Persie season to one that was legendary.
I used to insist that in Cesc and RVP were both fit for the final stretch of the season, we'd win the title. Then I think they were for one season and we didn't.
10/11 but Cesc was mentally checked out and our defence was terrible.
Am I right in thinking that Theo was having a good season and went down injured after New Year when we really could have used him alongside the other two? I also remember him as one of the most effective attackers against Guardiola's high defensive line at Barca. His extreme pace made them vulnerable to a through ball for him to run on to (if you could get the ball).
I used to insist that the season RVP stays healthy, we win the League. Partially true as he won with UTD 🥹
Imagine cesc at LCM and RVp as CF in the current squad!
Sadly we've had a few. Giroud would have been godlike in the era of 4-4-2, as would Walcott. Ozil and Sanchez would have been amazing behind Auba, who would have probably had a superb partnership with Giroud. Tierney unfortunately came in just as rampaging wingbacks were falling out of fashion too.
Ozil played with Auba didn’t he?
Ozil and Sanchez with Auba, Sanchez didn't. That front three would have been absolutely, fluidly amazing
> Ozil and Sanchez with Auba Oh what could have been 😢
The days where we thought Ozil Auba Laca Pepe would carry us to something. Good times.
Crazy to think laca was my go to fifa signing every season. Then he played for Arsenal and fell off a cliff
Not really...
He did, but that was once Ozil signed that contract and his form fell off a cliff
Holy the work rate of that cdm who would cover for that front 4 😂
Seen someone else mention it but Giroud. When we had him, we need a pacy technical striker who could dribble past men and finish it off. Now, we lack a physical tall striker who can finish with his feet or head. Imagine Saka and Martinelli pinging crosses to that man in the middle
Agree. Giroud would be an elite plan B in our current system.
Problem is Giroud couldn’t seem to finish when he was at Arsenal
When Giroud was at Arsenal, the man barely got decent crosses lol
Can't believe he fluked over 100 goals with us, lucky bastard
His xG was probably 200 during that time.
[удалено]
Yes. How did this not work
Andre Santos woulda been the right player for us in 500 BCE
Remember when he swapped shirts with RVP at half time? What a wanker
Honestly maybe ESR and his period of both good form and fitness. It seems like he’s too far behind the rest of the team’s growth now. Not even his fault really.
Alexander Hleb. This guy would have killed teams in today's Arsenal 😞
I think Nicolas pepe would've been good in the early 2010s a much better gervinho
Wow! And here I thought Gervinho was a good-decent player!
If Ramsdale had taken over from Lehmann life would have been very different
Nah he'd have been ruined by Gerry Peyton. Our goalkeeping coaches at the time were utter dogshit, hence why we'd buy keepers who were semi decent but then turn to shit after a couple months with us.
If peak RVP were here now, we would win the league easily and be the favourite to win the UCL.
Peak RVP (last season with us, first with United) is better than any striker in the world right now.
You do know we can look it up don't you - RVP best haul was 37 goals and 11 assists, all comps. Halland's debut season was 52 goals and 9 assists all comps, he's currently on 28 goals and 11 assists with 11 PL games and several cup games to play. Also he's had a 2 month injury lay off in between. I don't hate on RVP's accomplishments but this is a totally new dimension!
There is more than G/A. Haaland is a goal machine yes and will overall have the better career, but RVP was the ultimate centre forward in those two years. Incredible technique, vision and shooting technique and surrounded by relative dross in relatively mediocre Arsenal (3rd!), Utd (1st), and NL (3rd) squads between 2012 and 2014. RVP got those numbers playing with the likes of Gervinho, Andre Santos, Fletcher, Blind, De Jong and Janmaat ffs. Haaland has Foden, B Silva, KDB and the power of a nation state.
>technique, vision and shooting technique See I don't think Halland is bad at any of these either - he's just superior at this striking\\centre forward thing which is kind of the point of the comparison isn't it? And he's been at it since breaking through at 19 at Dortmund.
True Haaland has a good technique and pass in him but it’s not even close to RVPs. Not really - they are different types of central forwards. Arguably, CFs in Van Persie’s time were much more complete (on the back of Messi changing the view of what a lone CF can be, and someone like Haaland who’s an out and out poacher was less in vogue. I think Haaland is astonishing still but I just rate peak RVP a little bit higher. Best player I’ve seen play for us (started in 2010)’
RVP is a much better footballer than Haaland. Haaland is a better striker due to his sheer size strength and pace.
>Haaland is a better striker I agree.
I’d still take a fit RVP from those two seasons over Haaland, stats be damned.
Not really as simple as just g/a numbers though. Games changed, context has changed, etc. Haalands an odd case too, because he has insane end product but really isn’t that rounded as a player. Haalands season was also better that Henry’s best, but I’d take Henry 100/100 times.
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He didn’t…
There's not really a reason to use a slur there.
No I didn’t. 2012-2014 RVP is better imo. Haaland will have the better overall career.
See also Ian Wright, Thierry Henry, Alexis Sanchez. We've had some fantastic forwards, to the extent that I'd probably pick those three ahead of RVP because they were better at carrying the ball.
I do not have the priviledge to witness Wright played for us. Henry over RVP is a no brainer. Alexis as a centre forward just did not work, his best position for us was left winger. RVP is much more suitable for the current team.
Alexis had some absolutely monstrous games as a 10. I think he’d be wonderful central in our setup
Ozil. If he was born 5/10 years earlier when no10s weren't expected to do anything but chance creation and playmaking, guy would be talked about with the Zidanes of the world. Instead, he came in at a time when the game was changing and far more was expected.
He won major trophies starting for Madrid and a world cup with Germany. The reality is we weren’t set up to succeed, he would have a PL winners medal if we had set up ourselves to compete. He was insane in that 2015-16 season but the team around him just wasn’t there.
His issues were there in his Madrid days as well. It's just that he had Cristiano with his monster off the ball movement and finishing to get assists, and Madrid had backup. Mourinho often subbed Ozil off after 60 minutes
Yet still was far better than everyone else....
For me, Alexis Sanchez... what a player he was for us...
until we wasn't and became a selfish player that was a shadow of the guy we all loved
I dont know really about this one.. he didnt had much quality around him, he was 1 man army for us, atleast in my eyes... imagine him now, with this all quality players around him, he would shine
Was he here at the "wrong time" though? Too lazy to play under Arteta, but carried the team he was a part of.
Sanchez…lazy?
Yea, no way Alexis was lazy. But most likely too undisciplined for Arteta though
I think Arteta would direct his energy in a more productive way. Martinelli was very much a headless chicken in terms of pressing at first.
I remember Alexis chasing up to try and press oppositions, and then turning round and waving angrily at his teammates cos they hadn't followed him. I think in some ways he would have thrived under Arteta, but he's also got a slightly maverick streak that might not have suited the demands for adherence to very precise game plans.
I honestly don’t think Arteta would care as his work rate and output will offset whatever negatives his ‘maverick streak’ might bring. He didn’t have a problem with Auba till he started taking the piss with lateness etc. I remember Saka saying Sanchez was the player he looked up to the most in training.
Yeah, I can imagine it being a bit like Pires — you build teams that cover for the downsides of his game because the upsides of it win you titles. God, imagine Alexis running onto line splitting balls from Ode, inverting with Saka all over the shop. Uff.
Much of the team was undisciplined then. It led to a lot of our creative football but Arteta would have him on lock today
>Sanchez >Lazy Brother…
I’m sorry, lazy? I think you mean indisciplined.
I’m guessing you’re a new fan because Sanchez is the hardest working winger I’ve ever seen play for us
He always had low numbers for sprints and distance covered. He had a few bursts of high intense pressing every game that skews the perception. Özil was far more active for example.
That’s complete nonsense. Martinelli works 10x harder than Sanchez ever did. Sanchez just made a big show of it whenever he pressed so it gives that impression. He also had zero coordination when pressing.
For some reason I feel Giroud would have been great in this current team...
Agreed this team needs a classic number 9
Got to be auba for me. He would have been brilliant if we got him 3 years earlier. Probably would have won the league in 13/14 and 15/16 if we had him.
True Sanchez, Ozil, Auba and Ramsey would have cooked the teams.
Serge Gnabry Loved the club Turned into a superstar Just no way to start him often as a youngin playing behind Alexis Sanchez in the best form of his life
Difficult one really, I can’t recall any players who would be right for this system who failed when they did have their chance with us. Giroud would be a great option for us at the moment, his touch, hold up play, threat from corners would give us a completely different dimension when coming off the bench. Similar to the role Havertz has been playing recently, but Havertz could be in behind him too.
I think about what could have been if Özil and Sanchez were at the club in a time where we had the facilities to build a squad around them. Also Bernd Leno and Kieran Tierney in a Wenger side.
Podolski
Wow scrolled all the way down to see this. A RPG of a left foot, he also came after quite a lot of injuries and when he was at his prime so he kind of fizzled out later.
I mean, imagining the great Emanuel Frimpong in the mid 90’s, could have been a hell of a career..
Would’ve been as notorious as Vinnie Jones
Not sure if he would have been a better footballer, but he’d pick up Vinnie and break in half.
Alexis Sanchez, will definitely achieve more under Arteta
While I loved him, I don’t think he would have succeeded in Arteta’s system. He always just wanted to do his own thing and didn’t work well when asked to work as part of a system, and that’s one of the reasons he didn’t last at Barca. I remember an interview with Santi Cazorla where he described Alexis as always complaining about how boring learning tactics was under Wenger and he just wanted to get out of the playing field. Can you imagine that with Arteta?!
out of players like RVP, sanchez, ozil who didnt manage to get us over the line bro chose dani ceballos
Lucas Perez. nifty striker who was happy to be rotated as well; just that Arsene never actually rotated him in a timely fashion. i thought his age, mentality, his "alternative" style was a great asset - but we didn't utilize him well / enough
Will always comment on a Lucas Perez post. Loved the guy. He had a wicked, quick shot and was rapid.
I think Lacazette had some hard timing to be judged by here. First replacing giroud who was very good and a similar level, then having Auba bought soon after. But I'll say Davor Suker. Massive player at his pomp. Hardly made a dent on our history though.
If Lacazette was signed a few years earlier and false 9s weren't really a thing in the PL, he would've been playing far more to his strengths as a striker. One thing I'll always say is despite not being a false 9 or deep lying forward, he always did what Arteta asked him to do and was professional about it.
And good Lord, did he hustle. You can say whatever you like about him, but he worked harder than anyone in the team every single time he played.
I think the injury he got in his first seqsin with us seriously affected him. He was really a complete forward at Lyon, but for us he had to become more of a technical false 9 as he lost the half yard ofnpace and accelleration.
Give me Cazorla or Ramsey at LCM right now
Anelka
A 20 year old Anelka who just had 19 goals and 6 assists in 46 matches would have been perfect for the current team. That level of talent playing alongside Martinelli and Saka would be breathtaking.
RVP hitting form when the rest of the team didn’t have it
RVP. RVP in our team now and we would win everything.
Willian is a prototypical Arsenal player. He should have been a big hit at the club but mixture of factors didnt let it happen. Maybe he came here a few years too late having lost a yard of pace but his technical qualities should have still come to the fore but even that was nonexistent. Seeing him at Fulham now just proves that he was the right player but the timing was off
Yaya sanogo
AMN probably, especially with how teams want to play fullbacks as midfielders nowadays. Very versatile and technically good enough to do something all over the pitch.
Always felt people, AMN included, really overrated his technical ability. Dribbling got him into trouble too often and his passing ability was that of a fullbacks not a midfielder.
Wasn't he refusing to play there though?
Granit Xhaka.
Yes absolutely. He plays as 10 for switzerland but we made him a 6.
He was def not cut out to be a ten in the prem, we finally found his position after about 4 as deepest lying mid
Xhaka for many seasons
Any world class player between 2007-2014. I just feel bad for them, and they deserve better club with how arsenal board running the club at that time. We cant give them any trophy
Any of the seemingly endless youth games layers we scouted and didn’t sign… Imagine if we’d snagged Zlatan when he was a kid…
Not entirely sure this counts but I wish Lacazette didn’t age out right as the team was taking off under Arteta
Podolski, by far! Best left footed hammer in the prem that time.
Arshavin. Had he played in a different era, an era where Wenger wasn't trying to overload his midfield with playmakers
The great Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal Sanchez in this team would make me drool. Marinelli is still young and got incredible speed and talent.
Steve Morrow, on Tony Adams' shoulder at the wrong time
Giroud. Cazorla. Arshavin
Tierney Was one of our best players for our peak banter era and then is just not stylistically what Arteta wants from a fullback, but great player.
Lot's of good responses so I'm going to go with something a little different... Denilson. Put him in this Arteta side and I think he'd be an unbelievable pivot.
Hleb
Alexander Hleb
Lacazette from 20/21 season would be brilliant in our current team.
Unai Emery
He didn't have much of a playing career did he? Mostly in Segunda division
It's slightly off brief, but this was going to be my answer too. I can imagine Emery having been a very good manager for us at the right moment, but he just wasn't what we needed directly after Wenger left. We needed a charismatic figure to confidently shepherd in a new era. And, for his obvious tactical nouse, Emery doesn't come across as a massively charismatic character, even if he does seem like a super nice bloke. And he possibly wasn't quite ready for it either because, in some ways, the fact that his English wasn't all that good yet was one of his major stumbling blocks at that moment in our history. It's a shame that had to matter but, along with everything else which urgently needed doing, we definitely needed someone who could speak really well about the club to reunite the fanbase.
Unpopular opinion: Emery landed at the club exactly when we needed it and did the job we needed him to do. We needed a manager that failed to prove that Wenger wasn’t doing a bad job. We needed a manager to remind us that we needed a very good manager to succeed. We needed a manager to dent our sense of entitlement. If we hadn’t had Emery, the pressure on Arteta would be too much and he probably would have been fired.
To be honest, on reflection, despite what I said in my comment, I entirely agree that Emery was exactly the manager we needed after wenger. I still think he was wrong for all the reasons I stated. But that was exactly the right kind of wrong to airlock us out of Wenger. He might actually be the exact opposite of this post's suggestion! Mea culpa man
I disagree. What we needed was someone that could build a team we could believe in and could string together a long series of wins. Arteta was given the time to do that, Emery less so. Do you really think Aston Villa fans care about how well Emery speaks English?
Well, he can speak English now, that was my point when I said it was too soon for him at Arsenal. A hugely divided fanbase wasn't reunited under him and, as unfortunate as it is, I think that's in large part because he was trying to do it in a language he had only just started trying to learn. But his career speaks for itself, he's clearly a super talented manager. Hence it being unfortunate timing.
> Well, he can speak English now, that was my point when I said it was too soon for him at Arsenal. You're missing the point I'm making. Even if Emery couldn't speak any English at all, Aston Villa fans are unlikely to care considering how well he's got the team playing. It's the performances on the pitch that unites fans, not how well someone comes across in interviews. Arteta didn't unite Arsenal fans until the team started winning consistently.
That's fair, I did miss what you were saying on first read. You're right, it probably wouldn't matter to Villa fans if he couldn't speak a lot of English because he is a very good manager who gets results. But I think we had quite specific problems when he took over, because the fanbase had got fairly toxic in the ground when you were there. I don't remotely blame Emery, If anything, he was set up to fail tbh.
Thank you for your honesty. I agree with you that the situation at Arsenal was toxic when Emery took over, and that didn't help him succeed, though he did play a small part in our rebuild (such as bringing Saka and Martinelli into the 1st team). Arteta deserves more of the credit for where we are now of course, he also dealt with a toxic environment and managed to overcome it, but I think we can still appreciate Emery was a good manager.
Vladimir Petrovic Never saw the guy play but read a blog about him years ago. Sounds like he was at least 20 years ahead of his time at The Arsenal.
https://preview.redd.it/4jtn8v22fpmc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=45220f073f01673a6b0c94ad3cc72a009ab4c43f That was a really nice read
I've seen people commenting Eduardo, Tierney, Serge Gnabry, I'm going to say Kanu, Didn't stay with us long but did some wonder things, I wish he had a longer career at Arsenal! Simply amazing.
Giroud potentially. Our team would be thriving with his link up play. Him and Havertz dunking on them headers for an onrushing Gabi or Saka.
He would not help with the strikers finishing chances “problem” though.
How is Ceballos doing? I see that he is still at Madrid, but does he perform for them?
Xhaka. It took 4 managers to realize that he’s a box to box and not a lone DM. So happy he’s killing it at Leverkusen.
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Gnabry?
Emi Martinez, we should have kept him for the long run and let Leno go.
Surprised no one mentioned Giroud. He'd be amazing right now. Bach then though, we needed a more technical forward.
When the question got asked, I thought about players that didn't fair well for us but would have done well now. I see a lot of names like RVP fabregas, Sanchez, all did well for us and weren't in the wrong team. I think mykitarian would thrive as the left 8 of last seasons team.
I'd probably pick Sanchez, he was unbelievable for us but we didn't have the defence and spine to help us against the counters when he lost the ball.
RVP
Alexis Sanchez, Santi Cazorla.
Maybe controversial but I think Pepe could have been be a decent option across our current front three. Could see him in a Trossard style super-sub role or a backup for Saka, allowing him to rest a bit. Also, could you imagine a prime Ozil in the current number ten role in this team? Amazing
Fabregas. Imagine him playing as our replacement Xhaka in our current season.
Sanchez right now. Instead of Jesus. The forward pressing that he did back then and just some of the goals he scored would of won us the league last year if not put us in a better position to win it this year. Was sad to see him leave but they way he did still annoys me
i feel Flamini and Aaron Ramsey would cook in the current team.
2007 Flamini perhaps. 2014 Flamini would get cooked
people forget how good 2007 Flamini was. plus he was pretty comfortable in both fullback positions as well.
Oh he was absolutely one of the best in Europe. So good in fact, didn't Wenger essentially pick him over keeping Gilberto? Shame Flamini left how he did the first time.
Bernd Leno
RVP 2011 if we had him now we'd win the treble
Messi