CFCAnalytic

I do think at this point we are trying to get Xabi, that’s not my main concern, it’s just if they’ll be able to get him or not We know how much this club loves briefs & PR, when things are going bad they try to silence the noise, when things are going well they love to blow their own trumpet, obviously if you’re going for a manager of Alonso’s quality you’re going to want to let people know without actually publicly saying it but it’s how much they’re going on about it & more important what they’re saying Things like “Chelsea MIGHT play a back 3 in the final, that’s Xabi’s favourite formation” who says it’s his favourite? Why would you test a formation in a final for a manager you might not get? Even if we had already secured his signature why would you make our tactics public knowledge? It’s PR In my personal opinion I think the plan was originally to get Iraola (or maybe Marco Silva) in, a lack of CV at the highest level means it’s easier to say “join us but do things our way” because someone like Iraola still has to prove himself This is why Maresca joined we didn’t hear any complaining publicly in the transfer market until he exceeded expectations by winning the CWC & asked for 1 centre back Alonso has shown he can win as a manager AND as a player, without European football & our project not working so far it’ll be harder to acquire transfer targets, but if you have a manager like Alonso it becomes easier because players will trust him & want to play under him That however means he’s got more of a leg to stand on when it comes to wanting power in the transfer market, but our SD’s got a pay rise so they obviously think there doing a good job So how much will they be willing to tweak things? That’s the concern, and I’m certain if he doesn’t sign because of that then they’ll twist the story Whether they get Alonso or not they’ll want to silence the protests both online and in the stadium, Xavi links straight after losing to Forest to quickly silence the noise, but now they’ve struck gold with Liverpool seemingly sticking with Slot which didn’t look likely, hence why I said they probably had Iraola has their number 1 choice to start with We’ll see what happens, I really hope we do get him, but either way the constant PR/briefs probably won’t stop & a tweak in the model will still be required

Having hamstring injuries of Estevaos nature will result in a ~10% impact on explosiveness etc. unless if you have surgery. + fact he’s younger makes him more likely to heal better from surgery untreated significant avulsions have tons of problems associated

This is where Arsenal can improve. They’re on the verge of winning the Premier League. And they’re in the Champions League final. And they can improve. This can only be regarded as a very, very exciting thing.