2016/17 Summer Transfer Rumours Mk. IV

Firenze wrote:Pure nonsense. Napoli sold their best player this window and Arsenal are stronger than them in every position.

Still can't believe they haven't found a decent replacement for Higgy. Milik?

Arsenal are stronger in every position if you only watch the PL
Get out there and watch more football.

Firenze wrote:Pure nonsense. Napoli sold their best player this window and Arsenal are stronger than them in every position.

Still can't believe they haven't found a decent replacement for Higgy. Milik?

Can't really laugh at Milik. Guy scored 2 in 2 so far for them.

rincon wrote:They are good, but they aren't great. They failed to put up a title fight against Leicester City. They weren't even second place until the end. Their defense has holes and their midfield is soft. Alexis and ozil are too far above the rest.

Napoli is a more complete team with a better gameplan. Their defense is good, their midfield is excellent and very balanced. In attack they are weaker, but the balance is positive. Add Maurizio Sarri.

Arsenal have pretty much a top team in every position.
I can't judge Napoli but I'd be inclined to say that they can't keep up with indivual quality like Özil, Sanchez, Cazorla and Koscielny, even if their other position were equal.

Arsenal's problem is that they have coaching and club management that has, in a 20 year process, been slowly drained of intensity and competitive fear factor.

That's, I'd take a guess, is the big advantage Napoli have at this moment, and all the benchmarks you enumerate can be explained with this difference.

Think Rincon means collectively. Player to player we have a superior team however Napoli are a better functioning team. Sarri specially is probably a better manager than Arsene atm.

Napoli's midfield is Allan, Jorginho, Hamsik, Zelinski and Diawara. Probably the best midfield in Italy.

Up top, Mertens, Insigne, Milik, Callejon. Also a very strong group of attackers. Napoli created the most chances in Italy last season by quite a big margin if I recall correctly.

Koulibaly is one of the best defenders in Italy as well.

Individually I would rate Arsenal over them but Napoli is very strong, Sarri too has proven to be a fantastic manger. I hate Napoli with a passion though but I have to give credit where it's due.

That being said, let#s see how Napoli do in CL before hyping them too much.

I remember last time around a Napoli team in CL was hyped too, the one with Cavani the Scrub upfront.
Turned out they were not a good team at all.

Won't make it passed the group stage probably. You won't see a more provinciale team

@RG

That's what I mean. Arsenal has big names but their play is behind Napoli. Its a team game.

@Hans
Like I said, be it up to the players or up to Wenger, or the management, Arsenal dont play with enough intensity and purpose.

But even the names hoy mention. Only Ozil and Alexis stand out. Koscielny has nothing on Koulibaly. And Hamsik is performing better than Cazorla.

Luca wrote:Napoli's midfield is Allan, Jorginho, Hamsik, Zelinski and Diawara. Probably the best midfield in Italy.

Up top, Mertens, Insigne, Milik, Callejon. Also a very strong group of attackers. Napoli created the most chances in Italy last season by quite a big margin if I recall correctly.

Koulibaly is one of the best defenders in Italy as well.

Individually I would rate Arsenal over them but Napoli is very strong, Sarri too has proven to be a fantastic manger. I hate Napoli with a passion though but I have to give credit where it's due.

Best midfield... nah not really. Our midfield if healthy is comfortably better. Napoli have a solid midfield core and some exciting talents but we have midfielders who have compered in big finals be it CL or internationally.

That midfield has potential to be the best ? Absolutely yes but not now.

Having said that, they're putting together a nice team and have way better depth than before.

Arsenal is better than Napoli regardless of team play or individual talent or whatever is being argued around here.

Good then, let's see if Arsenal can achieve something anytime soon or if Leicester City is just too good.

rincon wrote:Good then, let's see if Arsenal can achieve something anytime soon or if Leicester City is just too good.

I don't know what exactly have Napoli achieved for them to be rated higher than Arsenal either... And this after just having lost their best player and not having played Champions league football since 2013.

Napoli are a quality side but the hype can only be justified through consistency in the league + a strong European performance.

They made a bunch of good signings that would take some time to gel. You would think that Arsenal who havent sold their best players and addressed their weaknesses are a better team at this point.

rincon wrote:@RG

That's what I mean. Arsenal has big names but their play is behind Napoli. Its a team game.

@Hans
Like I said, be it up to the players or up to Wenger, or the management, Arsenal dont play with enough intensity and purpose.

But even the names hoy mention. Only Ozil and Alexis stand out. Koscielny has nothing on Koulibaly. And Hamsik is performing better than Cazorla.

Koscielny has to be th most underrated CB nowadays tbh. I'm sure Koulibaly is great and all but to say that Koscielny 'has nothing on him' is certainly a ridiculous statement. There's no CB that Koscielny 'has nothing on'.

I have the feeling you Serie zZzZzealots are getting carried away here a bit.

RealGunner wrote:We must be really bad to be compared with Napoli ffs.

Koscielny is the best CB in EPL... people just won't admit it.

Napoli tied their first game against a Serie B team that just got promoted. They then went on to pummel that powerhouse team that is known as Milan.

So they look quite average at this point. Let's see how they fare in the next few games. Losing Higgy is a big deal. I highly doubt this Milik dude scores at a goal a game pace all year long.

Milik flopped at Augsburg.

Enough said.

sportsczy wrote:Koscielny is the best CB in EPL... people just won't admit it.

He is top 5 in the world easily.

maybe I use slang wrong. I thought "has nothing on him" meant "is not better than", which I do think. They are both very good. Neither team would take a particular hit or improvement if they switched teams. And I do rate him as the best CB in the PL.

Now discuss like grown ups instead of pointless jibes.

Hapless_Hans wrote:Milik flopped at Augsburg.

Enough said.

Mustafi flopped at Sampdoria.

Enough said.

See? just as easy.

juve_gigi wrote:Napoli tied their first game against a Serie B team that just got promoted. They then went on to pummel that powerhouse team that is known as Milan.

So they look quite average at this point.  Let's see how they fare in the next few games. Losing Higgy is a big deal. I highly doubt this Milik dude scores at a goal a game pace all year long.

Yes this is true. But guess what? Arsenal has 4 points from 3 games. Thats right, actually worse than Napoli . And we look just as average, its only 2 games into the season.

S wrote:

I don't know what exactly have Napoli achieved for them to be rated higher than Arsenal either...

Nothing really, just like Arsenal. I said "This Arsenal team is not better than Napoli". They are not. They are similar level teams.

S wrote:
Napoli are a quality side but the hype can only be justified through consistency in the league + a strong European performance.

Exactly. And what was Arsenal's consistency in the league? getting less points? losing the league to Leicester City?? Any consistency in the league arguments is completely against them when they lost the league to Leicester, and by an actual bigger than margin than Napoli to Juve...

What were the strong European performances? Getting the same points as Olympiakos or losing to Zagreb? before obviously losing both games to Barcelona.

Nothing about their play or results stands above Napoli's. Rating them better is hype alone based who Arsenal are supposed to be, not who they currently are. I didn't say the club wasn't bigger, or richer, or more successful, I said the team wasn't better. Which is currently not, they need performances.

rincon wrote:

Hapless_Hans wrote:Milik flopped at Augsburg.

Enough said.

Mustafi flopped at Sampdoria.

Enough said.

See? just as easy.

Did he though?

Imo no

not really. It was just easy to say
But he didn't do particularly well, just fine, which is why he left Italy quickly enough.

rincon make up ur mind

he didn't flop he was just an alright player. Didn't manage to make much fuss at Samp. Not much was expected either, he joined in a free transfer. He did ok, and left 2 years later.

I think both Napoli and Arsenal suck really. That should end this debate...

Radio Gaucha: Liverpool have offered €35m for Luan