Expectations and Predictions for 18/19 Season

New season is upon us
What do expect and what objective you would set for the Team and also players

I voted Europa League and Top 4, but I think we‘re going to have to sacrifice one over the other when the time comes.

My only real expectation now is to see that the team is building a new identity and displaying the potential to be better than we've seen in the last two seasons.

I don't know what position in the table that translates to, but this is a season where I could accept finishing outside the top four so long as it's because other teams were just better than us, as opposed to us being so shit.

Another deep run in the Europa League should be a given. It's perfectly achievable for this team.

Target is to get back to Champions League via either routes

IF i was to ignore Europa for a moment,the objective i would set for PL would be reaching 80 points Mark,which would be first time since 07/08 and would guarantee Top 4 and being closer to the Top spot than we have been
I think we have the firepower for that

also having a Top scorer that reaches 30+ Goals in all comps which has only happened 3 times Since Henry left(Auba possibility, Touch wood)

We should be favorites for Europa league and then only way finishing outside top four is acceptable is by Delivering that European Trophy

hopefully we manage between two comps

i want EL+Top four and i think its achievable IF squad is managed well enough
esp taking advantage of the fact our first teamers play once per week until Dec and getting Auba/Laca/Mesut and Rambo on the pitch together as many minutes as possible

Winning cup comps are always hard plus we don't know yet which teams are going to drop down into the EL from the CL, but I voted winning EL and top four. It would definitely be a successful season and a step in the right direction if we accomplish that. But then again, if we achieve neither I wouldn't be totally surprised, it would be sad not to get into the top four because I believe we have the team to do it, but we also first need to see how this team plays under Emery week in, week out.

I really don't see why we can't beat tottenham and chelsea to top 4. We really should have gotten it last year but our away record and specially losing to shit teams away cost us that.

We are stronger this season.

Winning EL would be great but KO competition are often about luck as they are about skill.

Finish 4th (might be our level) and win EL would be ideal. But if we are in the top 4 by let's say march then sacrifice EL and concentrate in the PL.



but in all honesty we are winning the PL inshallah

The Stats Bomb preview for is a good read:

https://statsbomb.com/2018/08/10075/

Attacking wise, we should be up there with the best if Ozil and Aubameyang have good seasons. Only Spurs, Liverpool and City managed to create more xG than we did last season.

Defensively, however, it's very concerning. We conceded the second highest amount of shots on counters last season, only beaten by Stoke *bleep* City. Apparently, this was caused by a very poor press, as many of these shots came just 20 seconds after a failed defensive action in the opposition's half.

The poor press may be a combination of players and coaching. So we'll see if Emery can take essentially the same group and get them pressing more successfully this season, or if he'll take a more stand-offish approach instead.

^Özil 2nd in the league in deep ball progressions per 90 (that’s passes, dribbles and carries into the opponents final third)
he runs things in final third too
What a player

and  then there are Laca and Auba
yet we have to fight for top four rather than title
because of lack of balance/quality elsewhere in squad
what a waste

Basically "how Not to build a squad "by Arsenal

with all that we can still expect good things this season

Look at it this way: we have one half of the team sorted, albeit one that's on borrowed time. The club invested £100m+ to get two quality strikers in last season.

This summer, we've begun the process of addressing the other half of the team. Torreria arrives to add defensive quality to the midfield. Leno provides competition for Cech, and Sokratis and Lichtsteiner add experience to the backline. And of course, having a new head coach who actually cares about this part of the team.

What's missing is a really high class defender, and I think that'll be our target next summer, when hopefully we'll have more funds to work with (boosted by a new kit sponsor and CL football, with any luck).

A title challenging squad isn't going to be built in one summer, especially when we're going to spend two seasons out of the CL.

When it comes to defending, people have to realise that defenders will look crap if their's no organisation. Clearly, we can see from Arsenal's defensive stats that they had no organisation last season. They opted to press, were very bad at it, and suffered all the downsides that brings. Emery clearly knows this because pressing was the one of the first things he said he'd address.

If we get that right, I think Mustafi, Sokratis, etc. will surprise a lot of people.

Yes Jay, voice of reason!

-The point about Lack of CL is correct and I'm willing to give new Regime more time with their recruitment and squad building

-My point was overall state of squad

As i said before one could argue All those years of Having Özil-Alexis together,a striker like Aubameyang was missing piece of attack which should have been signed for exp in 2015(when we had CL )THAN 2018

but lets not duel on the past

Tbh we can't really fix our squad in just one transfer window. This season is transition and eventhough it's exciting and all, we also need to accept that things might not go our way.

Thankfully we have some very very good attacking players and a solid midfield. So i really can't imagine us flopping. But it won't be that surprising if we don't get the top 4 considering 4-5 teams have a better squad.

In 1-2 years we will have gotten rid of rest of the plebs at Arsenal and improve the team with even better players.

But above all. We are winning the PL this season.

Despite it not being complete, it's without a doubt a successful transfer window.

First of all we've done most of our business without panicking, everything seems to have been planned earlier except maybe for the signing of Guendouzi which was maybe our second option after Adli. However you won't find any Arsenal fan complaining with the way Guendouzi has been impressing.

Considering the state of our team it was surprising that we could even attract a talent like Lucas Torreira (who has been awarded as the best young midfielder in 17/18) and Aubameyang in January.

The attacking side and midfield is great and can push us for a top 4 finish, maybe more. Defensively it all depends on what Emery does, even if we signed two top class CB's it still would've depended on the way Emery sets his team up, that was our complain about Wenger despite changing who knows how many defenders and hopefully Emery can fix it.

The goal is to reach the top 4 and/or win the Europa League/FA Cup and I believe we have the squad and managers to achieve this.

It's worth keeping just how bad our defending was in perspective.

These are the numbers from 7amkickoff's recent article:

xG Against - 55 (vs 51 actual goals conceded)
Big Chances Conceded - 69

Our defence was literally twice as bad as City's. Without our attack we would be mid-table.

It surely can't get any worse than that. On the other hand, a marginal improvement here probably still wouldn't be good enough - that's how much we have to cover.

I'm optimistic but hesitant to be cocky. We signed the right kind of players and got the right kind of coach, but not all of the players are huge names so we need to see how they perform when it matters before I can confidently say that we've fixed enough of our problems.

Having said all that, Chelsea's window didn't see them improve. Spurs did nothing. I feel strongly that Utd is the worst team in the top 6 but capitalized on other teams being shit last season for long spells so I would absolutely not say it's a foregone conclusion that they are any better than us (especially right now with the enormous negativity surrounding that club).

I'm picking City (barring Champion hangover) or Liverpool to win the league but we can get 3rd realistically. If our players end up being all that we hope they can be, the potential is even higher than that, but give me 3rd place and a trophy with secure financial potential moving forward and I will say thank you sir.

I voted winning Europa, I believe we have better chance than top 4. Win Europa and we will play CL next year.

As my expectation! I just want us to compete every game, win or loss I want be able to see a positive performance.

Emery wants every player to run 700meters extra.

Both were realistic and possible, what a bottle job in last 2 months

Sina wrote:Target is to get back to Champions League via either routes Failed

IF i was to ignore Europa for a moment,the objective i would set for PL would be reaching 80 points Mark,which would be first time since 07/08 and would guarantee Top 4 and being closer to the Top spot than we have been
I think we have the firepower for that

barely reached 70 pts mark


also having a Top scorer that reaches 30+ Goals in all comps which has only happened 3 times Since Henry left(Auba possibility, Touch wood)
Accomplished but fraud in most big games

We should be favorites for Europa league and then only way finishing outside top four is acceptable is by Delivering that European Trophy
Emery  record in EL Finals gone now

hopefully we manage between two comps
LOL

i want EL+Top four and i think its achievable IF squad is managed well enough
esp taking advantage of the fact our first teamers play once per week until Dec and getting Auba/Laca/Mesut and Rambo on the pitch together as many minutes as possible

Tried but it wasn't ideal at all,also tired opponents down and changed results in 2nd halfs but that wasnt going to be sustainable
Özil not worth it after all

Eman wrote:I'm optimistic but hesitant to be cocky. We signed the right kind of players and got the right kind of coach, but not all of the players are huge names so we need to see how they perform when it matters before I can confidently say that we've fixed enough of our problems.

Having said all that, Chelsea's window didn't see them improve. Spurs did nothing. I feel strongly that Utd is the worst team in the top 6 but capitalized on other teams being shit last season for long spells so I would absolutely not say it's a foregone conclusion that they are any better than us (especially right now with the enormous negativity surrounding that club).

I'm picking City (barring Champion hangover) or Liverpool to win the league but we can get 3rd realistically. If our players end up being all that we hope they can be, the potential is even higher than that, but give me 3rd place and a trophy with secure financial potential moving forward and I will say thank you sir.

My prediction was on point before our disgraceful collapse at the end of the season.

I watched that interview with Raul and Vinai last week where they called this season a success and I cringed then but now I'm pissed about it. How can finishing 5th be a success? Now that we totally bottled the Europa League, it's been a disaster of a season.

We have had good moments and Emery seems to have instilled more aggression, but honestly what about where we are is any different to where we would have been under Wenger? We've always had great moments and an ultimate collapse so this season was the status quo of our mediocrity. Now we don't have Mislintat handling transfers, we just lost out on a ton of cash for the transfer window and presumably it will be more difficult to convince top players to join, so how will we move forward and catch up to the other teams, let alone surpass them?

Anyway I'm sure we're all feeling down but I am far less optimistic about next year than I was for this year. Losing Ramsey too is just a kick in the teeth. This club needs to get its act together because we're currently at risk of spiralling out of control.

Arsenal are better off playing one striker

Arsenal are better off with no owner.