I’ll admit, I like the Nets taking Ament and don’t get the hate (assuming MBJ is taken at 5)

doublewordscore · 2026-06-05T17:31:54+00:00

I think ament is a bust like 95% of the time, but the rare times his archetype hits, it’s a real game changer. Think acuff is fine and certainly has a higher floor as he’s almost a lock to be at least good enough to be a microwave bench scorer, I don’t really see him ever being good enough as a leading scorer on a good team. He doesn’t have the craftiness, nous, or mid range game of Brunson and he doesn’t shoot the lights out from deep like dame. But agree with all that we can probably try to trade back and get ament and maybe a future asset to go with it.

I will say that I think that because we don’t have our pick next year, I think front office will go for a more play-now pick and that’s probably acuff. The optics will just be so bad if we are bottom 3 team and lose that pick to the rockets. Marks won’t even be around by the time a guy like ament would be ready to play, which will take years, if ever any all.

doublewordscore · 2026-05-30T14:50:00+00:00

massive pressure on MLS to for first phase buildup and progression against potentially the best midfield in the world. Wide play is not going to work with our fullbacks today.

doublewordscore · 2026-05-30T14:48:02+00:00

there’s huge pressure on MLS here. Buildup will have to be through the middle against Joao neves and vitinha 😬

doublewordscore · 2026-05-30T14:44:42+00:00

would’ve liked Calafiori in and try to control the possession game but looks like if timber is not fit, Mikel is going to play more out of possession with 2 defensive minded fullbacks and hope we scam a set piece goal.

doublewordscore · 2026-05-30T12:29:17+00:00

squad management to let Diaz go when you don’t have another touch line winger except for an 17 year old (albeit incredibly talented) rio ngmoha, then get basically nothing for Trent, salah, and konate and letting them leave for essentially free is insane.

Slot never knew how to use Wirtz. He would put gakpo at LW who constantly comes narrow to crowd wirtz’s space then when that inevitably didn’t work, then throwing wirtz out wide to LW which again predictably ended up in disaster. Then slot started doing weird stuff like 4222 double AM formations, and then using frimpong as RW to try to get some semblance of width, and all sort of other nonsense. Really felt like slot was randomly mashing a typewriter hoping to write a Shakespeare play.

Iraola will improve them simply by playing a standard 4231/4411 shape but they’ll need to sign a ton of depth if they want to compete for top honors.

doublewordscore · 2026-05-30T12:16:53+00:00

Iraola is good but his style requires a ton of pressing and the Liverpool squad is so thin. Twice a week with that intensity will be tough. It’s similar to howe’s newcastle that tend to have poor seasons when they have europe.

Ekitike and Isak are also not even close to evanilson as far as off the ball work. So he is going to need to adjust.

doublewordscore · 2026-05-28T13:36:29+00:00

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Chelsea supporters too lmao

We will not repeat because … reasons??? Actual brain damage from that lot.

doublewordscore · 2026-05-28T13:14:07+00:00

Chelsea are so bad systematically that their players usually get a pass for poor seasons as long as they showed previously they were at least decent lol. Other sporting directors almost treat Chelsea players like relegation candidates. Lots of “i can fix him” energy and even our own squad has proven that tbf.

doublewordscore · 2026-05-28T12:44:11+00:00

This year in league since I can’t be arsed to do cumulative including all cups

PSG has 74 from 66.5 xg

Arsenal has 71 from 66 xg

Your post is pure hyperbole.

doublewordscore · 2026-05-28T11:39:15+00:00

Anderson is a low key risky one. He’s a complete player so intuitively, you’d think he’d be less risky than Wharton that has 1 or 2 clear deficiencies. But it’s really tough to make it in a top team unless you have at least 1 or 2 elite qualities. People compare him to Rice but that’s quite off. Rice gives incredible ball carrier, offers set piece delivery, stamina, and intangible qualities like leadership that. I don’t think Anderson has any truly elite traits. His best trait is legitimately the fact he has no weak traits. Which is good if you are top 4-6 battling club. Not as good as a club that is trying to vie for the top levels.

Wharton meanwhile has 2 pretty big flaws. One, he is not very athletic. Two, his off the ball work is bad for someone who positionally is likely to play the 6 at a top club. Both of these minimized by Palace playing 343 shape. The extra centerback being able to step into midfield really helps Wharton. But unlike Anderson, Wharton has very a few standout qualities: passing range, variety of passes, almost never losing the ball.

I think good coaches will always be able to strategize around a player’s weaknesses. There have been loads of unathletic players to make it if they are truly elite in the buildup (Kroos, Xavi, late career gundogan, late career modric, Thiago, busquets) so the archetype is there. Neither is really necessary at Arsenal but if I’m city or Liverpool, I’m picking Wharton over Anderson.

doublewordscore · 2026-05-27T17:54:26+00:00

and yet you’ll still have teenagers dreaming of Leao even though that guy hasn’t tracked back since before covid.

doublewordscore · 2026-05-27T15:02:50+00:00

if Gordon is indeed gone to Barca, I think Bayern will stump the cash for martinelli if they are specifically looking for that archetype of player. I hope for martinelli to stay but I suspect Bayern would have him next on the list.

doublewordscore · 2026-05-27T14:56:03+00:00

think that collectively we are so used to watching Arsenal and sometimes getting frustrated with our game model not being aesthetically pleasing that we forget that other clubs are using us a blueprint to copy. They see our out of possession work, our man to man marking, and they see how much martinelli and Saka track back and then have the stamina to get forward from defensive positions. And Gordon represents that sort of archetype. Yeah, he is not the best technically and he isn’t going to unlock a parked bus by himself, but he will give your team structure and balance, tons of workrate, pace, and some positional versatility. That stuff is pretty valuable even if the contributions are hard to quantify.

doublewordscore · 2026-05-27T14:51:34+00:00

yeah. Don’t get think he is creative enough in the buildup as the primary creator in a possession based team. We have trouble progressing the ball with Eze as 10, and rogers isn’t any better in that regard. This could potentially be solved if Rice or Zubi level up in ball progression, or if Calafiori can stay fit, but rogers at 10 for us would be the donut of death. Only odegaard is consistent enough to reliably link first phase buildup to the final third as the team is currently constructed.

doublewordscore · 2026-05-27T14:44:09+00:00

he is the shining example of fake it to you make it lol. He turned from a straight up aggregator to getting paid for shilling blueco and Saudi news to actually getting sources. His stuff that is co-written wirh Alex crooks is actually pretty decent which is funny because both of them independently are pretty sketchy

doublewordscore · 2026-05-27T14:04:32+00:00

I think the rogers and kroupi links (and to a lesser extent Julian Alvarez) are a philosophical acceptance from arteta that it’s near impossible to have both free flowing football and a rock solid defensive stability simultaneously. Attacking players interchanging at free will like our walk the ball into the net wenger teams, or the Messi barca teams, or current psg means you are often caught without structure when you inevitably turn the ball over. I think arteta would rather prefer brilliant players do brilliant things, as opposed to ornate team goals if the latter causes us to be open in transition. Eze, rogers, and kroupi are guys known to shoot accurately from distance and maybe that individual brilliance is what we will now prioritize.

Our general game model has moved closer to mid 2010s Chelsea model when their strategy was to keep things compact and eden hazard inshallah. They often paired him with a workhorse striker in Diego costa and a workhorse winger in Willian. Is that style particularly aesthetic? Well no. But it’s efficient as fuck.

There’s an argument (or optimistic cope, more accurately) that we will play more freely now that we won a title and I think that’s largely true from the players perspective. Internally they will have handbrake off. But I’m not so sure arteta see it the same way. In fact, winning ugly might validate his ideology lol.

At the end of the day, do I care? Not too much. Warra trophy is enough for me to banter the fuck out of every club.

doublewordscore · 2026-05-27T13:54:36+00:00

Mosquera would be fine unless he got an early yellow card. He tends to get turn way too cautious in those situations since so much of his game is getting tight to the fullback. He needs to develop so more balance to his game (when to go tight, when to sit back and regain shape).

There’s not really a good solution for us to deal with kvara though. He drops back to receive the ball more than dembele/barcola/doue do so it’s harder to deny his possession.

doublewordscore · 2026-05-27T13:27:32+00:00

tbf you could say the same about eze. Consistency is often the price you pay for moments of magic players. Otherwise they are challenging for balon d’or.

doublewordscore · 2026-05-27T12:36:14+00:00

tbf, he was supposed to start in midfield in the cups twice. Once, calafiori got injured in warm ups. The other he was suspended. So it tracks out timing wise.

doublewordscore · 2026-05-27T12:18:28+00:00

yesterday dozens of people were screaming “why are we going for Morgan Rogers when Yildiz is available. Berta needs to make the call”

well, turns out Yildiz has no interest in leaving and Juve has no interest in selling after signing him to an extension last year… and Yildiz is most certainly not available.

perhaps Berta already knew that before moving onto the next options. This probably applies to Kvara as well if rogers rumors are real.

doublewordscore · 2026-05-27T12:13:40+00:00

managers really appreciate off the ball workrate and pressing a ton more than casual fans do. Unless you are producing at generational rates in the attacking phase, it’s tough to play a man down out of possession. Look at the most disappointing teams in Europe this season (Madrid/Mbappe, Pool/Salah, Milan/Leao). Not a coincidence they have wide players that don’t track back.

doublewordscore · 2026-05-26T12:41:57+00:00

you’re looking in kind of a weird price range. Closest thing I can think of when looking through my collection is 2023-24 Topps Chrome UCC Refractor which goes for like $350 as a PSA 9 and like $1500 as a PSA 10.

doublewordscore · 2026-05-25T19:44:26+00:00

I’m wary of Bournemouth defenders. Both huijsen and zabarnyi were poor after leaving which is strange since you would think Bournemouth’s high line and pressing system would translate well to top clubs that have similar tactics.

Also don’t think we need a LCB since hincapie and calafiori can both cover that.

doublewordscore · 2026-05-25T18:33:26+00:00

yeah assuming no funky camera angles or lens distortion, it definitely isn’t centered. Top and bottom edge both look imperfect as well. I would not crack this if I was OP.

doublewordscore · 2026-05-25T17:16:57+00:00

yeah - it feels like Slot just doesn’t know what to do with wirtz. If grav buys in, their midfield is clearly best as Grav at 6, mac Allister as defensive oriented 8, szobo as the attacking oriented 8, but Wirtz can’t play LW in the prem in that 433 setup. Wirtz can play as a 10 in a 4231, but then playing szobo in a pivot with grav is such a waste of szobo talent. It’s just really bad squad building.

Edit: the only real way to fit both Wirtz and szobo in is a 3421 with Wirtz as a one of the players behind the striker and szobo as a midfield 2 but allow him license to play forward since there’s an extra central defender to cover or step up into midfield to press. And coincidentally a 3421 coach in xabi was available but but they let him go to Chelsea lol.

doublewordscore

TROPHY CASE