I’m the first to respect opinions but Mari was by far the worst player I’ve seen play for us in recent times by some margin
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You not watched Tavares ?
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Tavares has shown some glimpses of being a competent footballer. Mari has been shit every single game I’ve seen him play
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And Tavares still has some potential to develop. Mari is what he is.
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Tavares would be a much better attacking LW. Can’t defend for shit but can run for dayssss
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If he can somehow develop his defensive side of the game and polish his attacking instincts, we could get a half decent wingback. He’s shit right now, but he’s still only 22.
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I don’t think the gap between Tavares and Tierney defensively is that big. I would argue Tavares is in some regards better than Tierney.
The main issue with Tavares is that he’s a spawn of Chaos. Type of dude to steal the ball in a dangerous situation at the back, dribble past 2 players and then blindly pass the ball to an opponent who’s 1 v 1 with the keeper.
He simply needs to iron out these brain farts and become a bit smarter.
Easier said than done though, Mustafi had good qualities too but he couldn’t go a game without a brain fart or two that cost us.
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Absolutely. I was at Southampton away last season and when Tavares went off as a sub, the whole away end stood and clapped him off, he had a great game.
I dont like the stick he is getting, its undeserved. He will be a good back up LB and eventual LB if it comes to that once he has settled and improved with us. Hes still only young and was bought as such.
Tierney has his own defensive issues but there is a yawning gap between these two defensively. I feel badly for Nuno because we was dropped into situations that he wasn’t ready for due to circumstances and Arteta probably not integrating him enough over the course of the season. But the guy is just not ready for playing LB at a high level right now. He is arguably a wingback not a fullback but at the very least should go on loan somewhere and get some more experience with basic aspects of defending.
Forest - So bad he needed to be substituted in the first half, against a Championship Side.
Palace - He basically destroyed this match. Beaten badly in the air (while ducking) for the first goal on 15 minutes, then out of position and not tight his man at all, he allows a 40 yard ball into feet to Ayew of all players and a free strike at goal for 2-0 only eight minutes later.
Brighton - Nuno was such a disaster in the previous match that Arteta can’t bring himself to put him in again, which leads to Xhaka at LB and Sambi in midfield all on his own, which creates its own huge set of problems. Nuno’s crappiness helped kill us in this match even without playing. You can’t have a backup the manager can’t bring himself to put into the game.
United - Nuno’s work to destroy this match went under the radar because we won but he not only had a bad penalty but he easily could have had a DOGSO red card and penalty around 25 minutes as well. He didn’t anticipate the play and ended up badly beaten for pace by Elanga and then was right on the edge of getting sent off by holding him back in the box.
He made fewer massive mistakes in subsequent matches but I think there was a knock-on effect on our whole team. Gabriel’s form cratered and I think part of it was the constant uncertainty of wondering whether he needed to cover for Nuno. Xhaka played much deeper to help give Nuno more protection, etc.
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Part of Nuno’s fault should go to Edu/Arteta as well.
Same as Lokongo.
Edu/Arteta put them into those bad situations.
They knew the players were young and raw but need them to fill the shoes of Partey and Tierney, who are established international players.
It was pretty fuck up
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Tavares is barely a football player lol
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He’s absolutely useless, he was a joke at Benfica, the fans were thinking how the hell he got a move to Arsenal.
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Goes to show never underestimate people who actually watch regularly. Could professional scouts not see what they do?
Tavares goes into box of outright wierd signings by Edu/Arsenal as Ragnarsson. We received fair warning before they signed lol
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Tavares falls into the box a lot of our backups the last few years have. Ultimately not good enough to be relied upon for an extended stretch. I think if we were seeing him a game here or there and in Europa we’d petty much be fine with him but that’s often not where we find ourselves with our back ups
Nothing weird about it. Took a punt on a Portuguese U21 international that had people overlooking Tierney early in the season, the guy who used to be one of our best players in previous years.
Atalanta and Marseille just the two clubs we know are interested this summer.
Atalanta are renowned for their scouting.
These moves are low risk and deals the club should always be on the lookout for. If they work out, great. If they don’t, more often than not you break even or make a minimal loss.
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Have zero issue with low level/risk punts or signing developmental players like ASL.
The weirdness comes from the fact that people who actually watched considered him totally shit at a lower level. Where’s the logic in thinking someone like that with a terrible sample could do a job for a bigger club in a tougher league? It’s like trying to turn a piece of shit into a gem stone
It’s very similar to Ragnarsson in the sense he was totally shit and showed no promise or had an interesting profile to justify the punt.
And no I don’t think back up level LBs are tough to buy.
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Dortmund fans told us Auba was shit. Leicester fans told us Madders was shit last summer, they turned on Mahrez after an off season, and now on Tielemans.
We’ve had plenty of examples of a fanbase hating a player, warning us about getting them, and not really turning out true.
There’s a player there that’s why he plays for a very talented Portugal U21 team and has interest from clubs this summer after a “poor” season.
Hell, ESPN reported City had a look at him last winter.
He’s certainly very raw and but he can be developed into a very good player.
I need some citations on these.
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(Sorry, couldn’t resist)
Twitter fits all sizes on randoms man.
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