TWar

Yeah poor picture choice from that blog. The league made the same mistake in one of their fantasy promotional videos. It is quoted from here:https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/premier-league-fastest-player-traore-24834371 so it is the right player, just a bad choice of pic.

You said the prem demands strikers can do x, y, and z. I said that most strikers in the prem are no better at x, y, and z than ours are (especially outside of the top 8 ). You then listed a number of attacking mids, a top player at a top side, and a couple of players who are arguably not that much better than ours. Which I disagreed with. I understand Jimenez is recovering from a serious injury, but it is also a serious injury a number of players don't return to full quality after returning from. I will wait and see how long it takes him/ if he ever gets back to the level he was two years ago. Also, in the least rude way possible, I don't think you are using "strawman" correctly. It means to construct an opponents view and then argue against that. I haven't constructed your view at all. You said you believe the prem demands x, y, and z. This implies you won't make it in the prem if you don't have those things, or aren't prem level. This is inaccurate as the majority of prem forwards are no better than ours in that area.

I think Che has the same degree of strength, composure and close control as Jimenez. His finishing could use work, but this season so could Jimenez as shown by his underperformance of xG. Luis Suarez has been amazing in a front two for Atletico Madrid as has Griezmann, Joao Felix looks well on his way too. Werner was great for Leipzig in a front two, Ings for us was incredible a couple of years back, Lautero Martinez was pretty excellent for inter last season, Haaland played well in a front two for Salzburg (and continues to excel when BVB play a 4312 or 3412), as did Daka. Atalanta play a front two and Zapata looks pretty quality in that. To be honest, it's less that bad strikers play in a front two and more that front twos aren't super common anymore.

People seem obsessed with attributing views to me I don't have tonight.

Playing as a lone striker is not necessarily harder than playing as a pair, you get an extra attacking mid to accommodate mostly. Jimenez' goal against us where Bednarek was dreadful was no more impressive than Che against Watford or Armstrong against villa.

I didn't create anything like a strawman. I made the original claim that teams outside of the "Europe challengers" generally don't have strikers who regularly make their own chances and change games. You mentioned a few attacking mids, a player who plays for a side that finished 5th last season, and players who don't fit that criteria. My point was the prem doesn't "demand" top quality strikers, Europe demands it so teams in contention for that have it (ie the top 8), most mid table and below sides have forwards a similar level to ours. Regarding Che vs Jiminez, Che's biggest weakness is finishing and he has underperformed xg by 0.17. Jiminez has underperformed by 0.39. I think the "our player is better" thing is a thing of the past as a lot of people only see opposition players in highlights which make them look better. Jiminez has not been consistently finishing this season at all.

Jiminez is better, don't get me wrong, but he isn't that far ahead. Especially since coming back from injury

Again, taken out of context...

I wasn't really counting them as forwards, I think in our system they would all be more attacking mids. The only one of them who plays up top at all is ASM and tbh he doesn't score many at all really. Vardy plays for Leicester who I definitely include in the top 8 sides. Jiminez misses a lot of sitters tbh. He's a decent player but I don't think he is particularly far ahead of the likes of Che and Armstrong

I mean, you know you can disagree with the manager right?

I get on quite well with MLG to be fair. People who rely on objective fact tend to find it easier to come to a conclusion than those who just kind of reckon things...

Yes, they did. We should have killed the game. The gk was the biggest source of blame but our attack shoulders some too.

It was that or the kitman haha

That was when he had like 5 CB's out tbf.

These things happen. We lost that game due to a couple of GK errors, but we held on to a point at united due to them being pretty poor finishers. It is the ebb and flow of football in a way. Sometimes you have to appreciate when you have been unlucky to come away with a loss and hope it levels out in the long run.

A lot of good points in here but do disagree with a couple of things. I don't think the prem demands players who can " create their own goals from nothing, make top class defenders look like mugs every now and then, or take that one solitary chance in the whole game", I would argue the only team outside the top 8 or so best teams in the country that has that is maybe Villa with Ings and he is constantly injured. Maybe Bamford too I guess. Regarding Che, his best strengths are link up, passing, strength and quality on the ball. He makes a fine second striker. Regarding Armstrong, you say he has average pace but he is the fastest player in the premier league this season so if he doesn't have electric pace I really don't know who does - https://www.888sport.com/blog/fastest-players-in-premier-league

No one is saying three years. He has had 3 months or so. Even the best need a little while to settle. Liverpool was a poor game for him but he gets a lot of chances, goals will come soon.

We really weren't, they barely had a shot on target outside the ones they scored. We on the other hand dominated possession and missed some key chances.

Forster is hardly better though. You can only pick from the keepers you have.

If he started Walcott as a false 9 it would be his fault. Or if he benched Salisu, JWP, or one of our key players for someone much worse. Or if he played a crazy defensive formation when we need a win or crazy attacking against a top side. There are lots of things he could get wrong, but there are also lots of things that could go wrong out of his control. The latter list gets bigger the larger the quality disparity between our squad and that we are playing against. If, as I say, the game is pretty even and both teams make a similar number of chances and it is decided by which strikers were more clinical/which GK is better then that is on the players, unfortunately.

I very much wouldn't say playing Walcott at a false 9 was a good move. Leicester are a good side though and if we play well and miss out because their quality shines through, then that quality should be acknowledged. IE if we have about the same amount of chances as them but they put theirs away because Vardy is a lot better than what we have then that would be acknowledged as a contributing factor rather than saying they "out-tactic'd us". Similarly if one of our weaker players make a glaring error then that player would receive a good share of the blame.

I'd agree most don't, but it only takes a couple to ruin your day. I've been to a couple of matches alone too, it was fine and I had a good time. I don't blame someone for not wanting to though, especially if they had had bad experiences in the past.

Fair enough, it's hard to tell on here sometimes.

Arteta isn't a crap manager, Arsenal are 5th in the league joint on points with 4th. Liverpool are just very good.

It'll depend on the situation. If they spend a packet in Jan their squad could improve, if we get another freak injury wave ours could drop. Failing either of those things though, yeah, if Villa finish above us the Gerrard will have done a better job than Ralph. If we both finish comfortably mid table though then I wouldn't say "poor management on our side" I'd say "good management on their side".