Rice is a far more important player to us right now. Odegaard has become a relic of our hyper attacking style of last season. He’s become pretty obsolete, as Zinny, White and Tomi have become our main “playmakers” who feed Saka and Martinelli, and Odegaard just floats around without actually doing much.

And before people jump at me, Odegaard and Havertz have pretty similar stats, which is abysmal for the supposedly best player on the team. We played pretty well in our games without Odegaard, while the team would’ve crumbled without Rice.

I can definitely see Odegaard being phased out by the end of the campaign, as he had made no impact whatsoever this season, which is horrible for the captain.

The capitancy should go to Rice, who is the heart and soul of this team, and has already repaid his price.

While I still think it was a mistake to buy him, I think he has a better chance of coming good at Arsenal than somewhere like United or Real. United is an extremely toxic club that would’ve shattered what little confidence Havertz has, while Real is the greatest club of all time and you have a very limited window to suceed there before someone better comes along.

At Arsenal I feel like there’s a perfect balance of competitiveness and familiarity that can help Kai realize his potential, if there is any. Arteta obviously sees something in him that I don’t, and he’s willing to give a lot of time to players he believes in, for better or worse.

I really hope Kai becomes good here, because if he fails, questions need to be asked about giving Chelsea 60m for a proven flop. I really hope Mikel can unlock his potential.

I feel like this team has outgrown Odegaard. Arteta has obviously decided to abandon the balls to the wall attacking strategy, and has settled for a more Mourinho-esque smash and grabs in order to sustain stamina in the PL “marathon”.

Odegaard has been abysmal this season, and I think his poor stats reflect our new strategy. He’s not a very good defensive player, and his skills are wasted in the current squad, as he’s the only offensive midfielder we have, since Havertz is still very shy on the ball.

I think Arteta should bite the bullet and get us another physical midfielder, since Odegaard has been painfully impotent in the new system. He doesn’t have the skillset to be more defensive, and he’s always been isolated as an attacking midfielder this season.

Fuck off, you fucking snake, and keep your poison away from my club 🐍🐍🐍🐍

Go see if Xavi needs an assistant coach, if Barca’s even willing to give you a second glance.

It’s wild to me that Elneny’s been here for so long. Despite guys like him and Xhaka being around for so long, the whole 2016-2021 period is a huge memory hole to me, and the only player I associate with that period was Auba, who only had 2 good seasons with us.

I feel like players from that era will never get the respect they deserve because the club was absolutely chaotic during that time.

Honestly, if Ramsdale came here in 2016 when we were a vibes club he would’ve been a legend already. But all of the off pitch shenanigans that endear a player to fans probably piss Mikel off to no end. All of that ADHD, can’t stick to the plan so we compromise spiel is cute, but it has no place in a title winning team.

Unless you’re Neymar, being a class clown isn’t acceptable in the top of modern football. Guys like Ronaldinho and Balotelli probably wouldn’t make a single season in top european football nowadays because discipline>skill.

It’s better to have 11 Xhakas on the pitch than a Neymar, Ronaldinho, Balotelli and 8 average players. Football just isn’t like that anymore.

That’s because KT is still an overwhelming fan favorite. He’s a good ol’ white proper British lad that wears shorts in winter, so most people like him and want him to play regardless of his fragility. It also doesn’t help that Partey’s rape allegations makes a lot of people want him out of the club, regardless of his value to the squad. I remember during the summer break, people literally wanted us to change our gameplam to fit in Tierney, because people were desperate for him to play, and it hurts to see such a fan favorite fizzle out.

It’s very similar to the Ramsdale/Raya discussion. Although they have very similar stats, people like Ramsdale because he’s English and he does funny shenanigans off the pitch, and people feel like he was unfairly benched, even though it really doesn’t matter who’s the keeper in the long run, since him and Raya have such similar stats. So it hurts people to see Ramsdale phased out and probably sold, even though statistically it doesn’t make much difference. Football fans are emotional like that.