we can and should upgrade many of our squad tbh
I do pretty much agree, because football goes beyond simplistic stats like goals scored, but 19 goals from the right hand side isnāt exactly easy to find.
Just part of me that thinks people sometimes think weāll have an easy time replacing the contributions of players we have. Not specifically you, just a general vibe I get, mostly with regards to Giroud tbh
Letās be honest, most of us think weāre losing Alexis and possibly Ozil, but quite a few also want to flog Giroud and Walcott too. Thatās what, 20 plus goals from Alexis, 12 from Ozil, 15-20 from Giroud and just shy of 20 from Walcott. How the fuck does anyone think we are competent enough in the market to replace that many goals?!
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If Giroud and Walcott can get that many goals, just imagine what upgraded players can get. Its not that hard to improve on Giroud and Theo at all.
However, replacing Alexisā input in not only goals, but workrate and assists will be incredibly difficult, if not impossible.
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Yeah but if we also have to replace Alexis and Ozil the waters are far muddier.
I donāt get why anyone thinks we can upgrade on Walcott and Giroud if we also have to replace Alexis and Ozil.
The idea of Arsenal signing four quality forwards in one window and getting them to gel is an absolute myth.
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Agreed, the conundrum really is his contract. It would be a mistake to renew him again imo but heās got only 2 years remaining. This is where our lack of effort to bring in (younger) forward talent in recent seasons becomes an issue.
The 6 forwards in our squad are Giroud (30), Alexis (28), Walcott (28), Lucas (28), Welbeck (26) and Iwobi* (21). 4/6 of those players are right on the ages forwards are expected to start declining.
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I think 10 league goals can be easily replaced with another wide forward
Well I very much look forward to seeing our new right winger in action scoring 10 goals in 24 league appearances, I mean that genuinely.
Still think youāre looking at it in isolation rather than acknowledging that weāll also be losing Alexis and possibly Ozil as well as Giroud from the bench, though I know you rate Giroud personally.
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I agree, losing four forwards would be suicide, especially with two of them being our only world class players. I dont think that will happen though.
If Alexis and Ozil get sold, one of Theo or Giroud will definitely stay. But replacing those two world class players would be nigh on impossible. We really need them to stay with additional signings to get back into the top 4.
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The thing is Theo doesnāt really add goals to anybody else game, such is his one dimensional nature. Giroud averaged better per game last season in key passes, chances created and assists despite playing significantly less minutes and despite, according to some Giroud being a major detriment to how we play. Never mind Giroudās aerial contribution in midfield and the final third either.
Bring in technically able wide forward who will positively engage with build up play and can also contribute goals ideally 8+. Weād have a more functional attacking set up which results in other players scoring more. A player like Lemar suits the profile imo
I can appreciate the bigger picture, the way I see it, at worse it we have Lucas who was never really given consistent game time who can step into Theoās role and score goals in other competitions. Theo wage just doesnāt match his contribution to the squad, we can be having bench players on Ā£100k, sell sell sell
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Walcotts problem also is that he has become so predictable that it is not even funny anymore. I remember when he used to at least kick and rush and beat a man he doesnt even try to do that anymore. I always see him boasting about his speed even recently challenging Ramsey saying he can run faster than him running forwards whilst he runs backwards. Ever since he had that bad injury he never seems to take anyone on, easily knocked off the ball doesnt go into challenges heck sometimes he doesnt even make runs and if he does they are not very intelligent onesā¦dunno what the fuck is the matter with him you think its confidence or is he just past his limited best?
To all the people rating Theo, what other club in Europeās top 10 ( thatās what you want us to be yeah?) would have him as a key part of the squad? Which we obviously deem him as considering heās our 3rd highest paid player.
At worst we have Lucas who also wants to leave 
Agreed on the first paragraph when youāre comparing Giroud favourably to Walcott, Iād much rather keep Giroud, on the proviso that he will accept the same role as last season of course. Iām something of a Giroud defender even if not quite a fan in the way you are, whereas Iām not a fan of Walcott much at all. Iād be more than happy to flog him if the futures of our other three top scorers werenāt so up in the air.
Iām just repeating myself here, but itās a major concern for me the idea that we could be losing three of or four top scorers from last season (depending on who we think may be leaving out of Alexis, Ozil, Giroud and Walcott) because we are pretty fucking incompetent in the market.
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Who wouldnāt to leave about being left out in the cold all season? I think if he was given assurance over game time heād gladly stay.
I actually echoed the same concern but iād say it depends on what happens with Ozil and Alexis tbh. Maybe there was truth in the report that our dealing are on standstill until we sort their futures.
Well I think weāre pretty much in agreement then mate, as per the edit I just made 
Truth be told Iām just really concerned about our outgoings. Especially when you factor in players like Gibbs and Wilshere who according to arseblog (who I implicitly trust not to talk shit without having good sources) are willing to sit out their final year and then leave. We wonāt miss those two but the many millions of pounds worth of players weād stand to lose next summer if they run their contracts down borders in gross negligence (Szczesny is also almost certainly off for a pittance cos heās only got a year to go too), especially if Wenger sticks to his word and refuses to sell Alexis and Ozil. Iād be glad to have those two stick about but if they were still set on leaving the financial hit added to others would be incredible.
Iām also not entirely convinced that we can repair our relationship with Lucas, I still think Wenger has treated him like shit and if I were him I wouldnāt trust a single word of assurance that Wenger may or may not offer.
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Good times to be an Arsenal fanā¦smh
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People get bogged down too much by the zero sum logic that by fucking off one attacker their goal tally will not be met in the subsequent season.
Someone will always step up and score goals at a club like Arsenal.
The question is not what will we do without Theo and Giroudās goals but who can we get in that will score more or provide a greater contribution to the teams overall play.
But if Alexis and/or Ozil also leave then the question is absolutely what we will do for goals.
Even if Ozil stays I wouldnāt expect him to replicate his best ever goal coring season, especially considering that Alexis assisted loads of them.
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Exactly. Our offensive game is a mess. We need to figure out how to play better football and create more and better chances. We need to add players who can add to that imo. Goals will follow on the long term when you create better and more and play better football. .
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Not to draw parallels with a particularly difficult summer but if Alexis and Ozil go then fuck it, we arenāt a big club we may as well just liquidate everything.
Alexis going is a problem, Giroud/Theo not so much. If Alexis does go we can certainly use the money to try and approach a reasonable replacement. It will be difficult to replace his quality but with the money we get for him we should be able to find someone.
Theo/Giroud on the other hand, they would be easily replaceable overnight. Their transfer fees are irrelevant in the equation.
This is it right here, goals are a byproduct of a team playing in harmony.
I remember when i believed Theo was our ābig gameā player. Crazy how it all changes.