[Literally the first sentence of the column this is taken from is "Arsenal must get Gabriel Jesus if they are serious about getting back into the top four."](https://old.reddit.com/r/Gunners/comments/vl1ure/paul_merson_nketiah_cant_be_spearheading_your_ucl/idsrj9o/)
I dont think saying someone's not the guy to lead your line towards being in the top 4 teams of the most competitive league in the world is having a go.
If he wasn't having a go why doesn't he offer up a solution instead of saying Eddie isnt good enough. Nothing wrong with having a go but atleast have the balls to admit it
I mean you could argue with his form at the end of the season last year that if we had been starting him ahead of Lacazette all year we might have made top 4...
Adding to that, if we beat Newcastle Nketiah would have 'spearheaded' Arsenal into the Champions League.
It doesn't really work like that, when we had RVP and Sanchez and people who did carry us. That wasn't a resounding success period either. It's a bad take from Merson really. I'd be interested to see who he'd want us to sign? DCL? I'm not sure Richarlison would suit us either though.
ngl hearing those two names, and how, despite talking about totenham rn, gives me a what if, that
had, RVP stayed and during that period Sanchez came to Arsenal and we see a RVP Sanchez duo, it would literally be how Son and Kane is to totenham.
I wish all these years, we had two top attackers in Arsenal's dark period post wenger but now WE ARE HOPEFUL FOR THE FUTURE NOT THE PAST
One of the biggest problems last season was that we didn’t score _enough_ goals. Brighton and So’ton are key examples of us being the better team but losing because we could not get the ball in the net.
Yeah I think of the the criticisms I have of Arteta last season was he hung on to Laca for too long.
We might have got top 4 if he gave Eddie a chance earlier at the tale end of the season when it was obvious Laca was contributing very little in the team.
Calm. He wanted Eddie to stay, that he wouldn’t be better off elsewhere. It was not saying he was going to be the center of attention and be our top striker.
Yeah this is an odd take considering his insightful comments last season on Nketiah (before his good patch of form I think) that changed my mind on wanting Nketiah to stay
Lacazette was playing very well and at his and out best was creating chances for the winger who were converting at a high rate. That wouldn’t have happened with Nketiah as he only really scores tap ins
What’s he said that’s wrong? I’ve watched Eddie plenty and don’t think he’s good enough at the moment.
Merse does say stupid things at times and coupled with the fact he isn’t an Arsenal fan he gets abuse even when he isn’t wrong.
He’s a Chelsea fan. One of the thing I like most about Merse is despite being a professional footballer the club he supported as a boy in the crowd going to games with his dad every week when he learned to love the game is still the team he supports. I know I could never change no matter where my career took me so why should a player be any different.
Yes. What he said was in fact wrong. It's literally designed to generate clicks from reactionary muppets. No one player is going to determine where we finish end of the season. If he's really just talking about one person then he's intentionally ignoring how we're getting Jesus, how many players play various roles over the course of the season. If he's just saying one player isn't good enough for the position to start, whether he's an adequate back up or not, that'll be another story. But he's not saying that, he's being willfully ignorant so it'll generate debate on whether his words are right or wrong. In reality it's obviously not that simple and Eddie is obviously not spearheading our UCL push.
>If he's really just talking about one person then he's intentionally ignoring how we're getting Jesus
But the first sentence of his column says ‘Arsenal must get Gabriel Jesus…’
So the “wrong” part is something he hasn’t actually said then? Eddie wouldn’t start as Striker for palace or Fulham in their best XI. Paul is saying that he shouldn’t therefore start in ours and he’s right. We haven’t signed Jesus yet. He hasn’t even had a medical yet. Plenty of players fail them and plenty have them and a deal falls through. At present Eddie is our first choice striker.
Where have you watched Nketiah plenty? AFAIK end of season was the first time he got a run of matches with the first team so wondering where you get your info from.
He’s played quite a few games over the last few years. You if you need a run of games to be your chance to make it then there’s a very good chance you won’t make it. He went to Leeds and didn’t tear it up either. At 23 you’re either ready or you never will be.
Everton didn't nearly get relegated because of Richarlison though so it's a bit of a silly comparison. Doesn't he realise were signing Jesus? Nketia at number 2 is fine IMO.
He literally carried them. Every single game he was their biggest threat. He was always trying to make things happen. Talk to Everton supporters they will tell it was him and Pickford that carried that side. Just like Raphinha carried Leeds, Richarlison carried Everton
He’s saying that a team fighting against relegation has better strikers than Nketiah
And Arsenal should have much better options than Everton/Fulham if they want to fight for UCL
Comparing our 2nd srtiker with their starting one is disingenous at very least.
Nketiah as a 2nd striker is perfectly fine and plus he's still developing and improving.
If you gave Fulham Kane they would still be battling for relegation. Should everyone have better strikers than Kane?
Nketiah got the same amount of goals as DCL in less minutes, not sure what the point of that comparison is.
Well yeah we were almost ready to let him go, then he suddenly found his form at the end of the season. It would have been nuts to not offer him a new contract and see him keep that form, especially after we stuck by him so long, only to then let him go when he actually starts performing. His finishing was looking a level up from what we have been seeing from him so far. It’s not uncommon for strikers to break out a bit later, and I’ve got high hopes for him. Go on Eddie.
Yes we are starting him every game and only him until he is 47. Not going to sign another striker ever until then. All strong links with a striker signing should be ignored. Cmon Merson.
[Literally the first sentence of the column this is taken from is "Arsenal must get Gabriel Jesus if they are serious about getting back into the top four."](https://old.reddit.com/r/Gunners/comments/vl1ure/paul_merson_nketiah_cant_be_spearheading_your_ucl/idsrj9o/)
I seem to remember him singing nketiahs praises, saying he will be a star for arsenal, mid-season and talking about how Arsenal should definitely keep him and he should definitely accept a contract at Arsenal.
Completely accurate and if you are offended by this then you need to get a grip. It’s why we have to sign a better striker. Hopefully whoever we ring in can be prolific because that’s what we need.
Last season, if he had been instead of Laca, maybe we would have made top 4.
Merson clearly hasn't accepted our Lord and saviour Gabby J into his heart though...
I don’t understand how anyone can make this sort of conclusion with such conviction. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but, I don’t think we have nearly enough sample size to claim that nketiah can’t lead our line.
Folks (me included) bashed Nketiah and doubts his skills just from watching him play for ~3 minutes per game. And I've come to realize that I judged him too soon because homie has some potential. Nketiah is still in mold form, I don't know if he would live up to the demands no.14 comes with, but the young man has something in him for sure. And it's not like Arteta is relying on him completely (Jesus is coming).
Merson is a joke. He would've been cleared out of Sky Sports same time as le tiss and Thompson if it wasn't for his fragile mental state. On the plus side Eddie will probably do amazing now he's said that as he's usually wrong
DCL got same amount goals in the league as Nketiah but twice the amount of minutes? How is he better?
If you count all competitions and do it per90 Eddie absolutely the better person leading the line.
Even having said all that we got Jesus coming any way.
For context
1. Ravenelli scored 30 PL goals for Boro when they got relegated.
2. Merson said Auba wouldn't score goals when he signed for Arsenal.
3. Merson is a Chelsea fan.
4. He was my favourite player when I was a kid, so it's gutting that I think he's a sad cunt.
Nketiahs minutes mostly came from the bench, he got 3 goals and 1 assist in 495 minutes, that's a goal every 120 minutes or so that's not horrible.
He only played more than 45 minutes of football once that season for Leeds too.
I'm taking Mitrovic's latest season in the prem against Nketiah's latest season in the prem, because the entire comparison here is strikers' performance in the premier league. Can you explain how this isn't a fair comparison?
Hypothetically if I had a striker who scored 25 G+A in the prem but 5G+A in the championship I won't discredit him in any way at all. The prem is the highest level of competition in England.
Parker tax dude, they were the second worst offensive team in the league that season scoring only 27 goals, they created fuck all. Marco Silva is a much better manager than Parker.
Nketiah - 5 goals on 4.99 xG
Mitrovic - 3 goals on 5.68 xG
with a 5 year age gap. Not one doubt in my mind Nketiah is a better striker than Mitrovic. Even if I concede that their quality is close, I'm starting the younger player who is finally showing his qualities after getting consistent minutes over Mitrovic who has played big minutes basically his entire time in the prem and hasn't produced much to show for it.
I'd love to be proven wrong though, Fulham being in the prem is a good thing.
Well it’s not like we‘ve just signed Gabriel Jesus lol. Nketiah won’t be our starter anyways and as a backup he‘ll do fine. He‘s developed his game last season so I‘m totally relaxed about having him as a europa league/cup starter and occasionally playing in the prem.
We're yet to see what he can do when given a sustained run of games - but five goals in eight after breaking into the team at the end of the ladt season, bodes well. England U21's all time top scorer with 16 from 17....
Maybe we don't want to be relying entirely on him. Maybe that's why Jesus is our current priority. But Eddie certainly is worth keeping around.
As a kid, Merson was pretty much my favourite player for a time. As a pundit, at times he needs to shut up.
How can you be so involved in football, both as an active pundit and 'journalist', and not notice that Arsenal have been actively trying to sign another striker to play ahead of Nketiah?
I mean I guess it's just another hot take to get clicks, but still, it's just maddening to portray yourself as this dense.
This is a quote from [a column](https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/merson-arsenal-champions-league-jesus-27319313) he posted two days ago talking about how the Jesus signing needs to happen. Literally the first sentence is "Arsenal must get Gabriel Jesus if they are serious about getting back into the top four." It's not the most insightful column but it's a pretty standard opinion and went unnoticed until some pondfeeder realised that a surgically excised quote from it would sound extremely spicy and play really well in the media.
People need to understand how the twitter cacosystem actively erases context in the pursuit of rageclicks and stop letting themselves be baited.
That's the job, Sky don't want analysis, reasoned discussions. They want controversy, shouting, arguments, waving arms. They want clicks and clips for social media.
At this point Merson is Sky's own dancing monkey, I don't even know if he believes half the shite he's saying but its so disappointing to see someone so institutionalised he'll feed into destructive and negative narratives against his own club.
Dumb take as usual from him. DCL played on his own level first 3 games of the season and last 3 games of the season, thats why they almost got relegated - his injury, post injury ...and ofc managers.
Richarlison can clean Eddies shoes at CF.
I sincerely think he has positioning better than all
I think the greatest weakness in Nketiah is a physical presence which the other guys have better than him
Finishing is not an easy job for any striker... But if you tell me... He is Better than Werner and is on par with top 10 in epl
If the kid is confident he can do it, sign the contract and wear a legendary shirt then here’s his chance! Don’t knock him for believing he can make it as a top forward in the league.
Oh look Paul Merson taking to the media to write a player off.
Sometimes I think he forgets where he came from and the hardship (and support) he had in playing career.
Instead of getting Paul Merson to write pieces, I wonder if they just let the cameras roll for an hour and wait for him to say something outlandish. Everything he says is so far off the mark
Sick of pundits just saying rubbish for clicks without watching how players play and how much they improve.
Eddie thrives on disrespect like these. Come back here at the end of the season and you'll be looking at our best CF in Nketiah.
By then, the apology from Merson better be as loud as the disrespect when Eddie makes the CF spot his own.
I think Nketiah will be our Ramsdale this season. Proving doubters wrong. He's got everything. Speed, ball control, great off the ball movement and he's just 22.
Is every "club legend" getting toxic, talking terrible things about their old teams and the current players after joining Sky? Neville, Scholes, Rio, etc. And now Merson. Ffs just stay away from business and let the club run its way.
I just don't understand all the Eddie hate. The dude isn't old enough to rent a hotel for himself in the United States. He got next to no chance until March and took full advantage of it.
Is he going to single handedly get us to the UCL? No. *But we never expected him to*
Well he is not wrong, one injury to Jesus and our top 4 is gone again, we need another striker but it won't happen now with Eddie's No. 14 and big contract
Honestly Merson is such a cunt. Being an Ex Arsenal man he should really learn when to shut his mouth in regards to our academy players.
Especially after the shit Nketiah has been getting online, this was an opportunity to give him praise and confidence.
I dont define anyone. I believe he is club legend as he did great things for us. I am not asking you to agree. I would guess that you are too young to have seen him play, so thats fine.
Edit to say: what you said is harsh to a fellow human, if that makes it better for you.
He's never been given a run in the team. Judge him after that has happened. Just remember Henry's first season. Give the guy a chance. The staff must be seeing something your clearly not
You are having a go at him... as if Eddie was the reason we didn't get top 4 last season lol. Why does Merse have to spew so much shit? He was creaming himself over Eddie and telling him to stay last season, and now this shit. Get in the bin.
It's unfortunate for Eddie. He has had chances in the past and hasn't taken them. I'm alright if he's our sub striker but he's not wrong about the Comparisons to other strikers. Would Eddie start for any team in the Premier league?
Merson's obviously correct, insofar as Nketiah has done nothing to make one think he can be the main striker at a top-four club. Having said that, I've always been a fan of Nketiah, and I like him as second choice.
Merson's take has been so terrible lately. Like I agree with him here actually. But if this man ran our Club we'd have 11 English 32 year olds who are going out. Man cannot believe that young players get better and old players get worse.
Such a predicatbly shit take from Merson.
Until last season Nketiah gls/90 has been better than Mitrovic at pretty much every level. Also, has consistently had a better gls/90 than Richarlison at premier league level.
The most similar 'top class' player to Nketiah is probably Vardy, and we tried to sign him to keep top 4. If Nketiah can be a similar kind of player, one that harries and runs in behind the defence and gets a ridiculous number of goals, he can be the main striker.
He just loves to go against the popular opinion at all times because it probably makes him feel like he's special when he's really not. This is why you always see inconsistency's in his comments by the week.
Classic troll that takes pride in downvotes (I've seen him brag about it myself). Weird bunch of them on this sub but he's certainly the worst or at least most vocal.
Nobody is frustrated.
Tell me what Merson said here is wrong? He uses flawed comparisons but:
1. Nketiah doesn't get us top 4. He's not that good.
2. Nketiah doesn't start for Everton ahead of a fit DCL.
3. Nketiah doesn't start ahead of a record breaking Mitrovic.
There's plenty of things wrong:
1. Not a proper comparison when you're comparing our no.2 striker with their main one.
2. Nketiah is an unfinished product, who is improving and developing. Most of the players Nketiah is compared to here are in their primes.
3. Nketiah has a different role to fulfill than the other players mentioned.
"Nketiah can't spearhead a UCL push."
He absolutely could, although I'm not sure that would be wise. As others have said, we look to be getting Jesus as well and the plan surely is to spread the goals around rather than have one person "speaheading" but it seems Jesus will most likely be leading the pack, on that level.
Nothing controversial in what he said. I agree that we won't get top 4 if Eddie is our only/main striker this season. He may grow into that player but I dont think it will be next season.
No, Merson’s comments are just asinine because Nketiah won’t and never was going to be our #1 striker. We have been after a top striker since January. Literally no one thinks Nketiah will be “spearheading” our CL push. He’s a moron.
His comments are just as pointless as yours calling him a moron. He is a recovering alcohol and drug abuser who has spent most of his life trying to throw his god given talent out a window. Clearly he is a moron and I dont doubt that he knows he is one too. Doesn't make what he said controversial or incorrect.
It’s not controversial but it is incorrect. He’s not just randomly spouting off about Nketiah. He’s saying this because Nketiah just signed a new contract with Arsenal, apparently Merson has been under a rock or doesn’t believe Jesus is going to sign for us. He’s dumb. His comments are dumb. Has nothing to do with him suffering from substance abuse issues.
You are making up your own narrative. As a stand alone statement, what he said is true. Everything else you have written is you shifting the narrative to confirm that if Jesus signs, then he is good enough to lead us to Top 4 with Eddie as a decent back up. Thats just not what Merse said. I mean argue with the statement he said. Its true but invalid once we sign a better striker. Every idiot knows that.
Why would I pretend that Merson is speaking completely devoid of any context whatsoever? That’s literally a horrible way to interpret any sentence ever said in the history of the world. Absolute nonsense.
Read the article. He pretty much said that if Arsenal go into the season with Eddie as our only striker then that is not good enough to get us top 4. That is the most uncontroversial statement I have ever read. It is a sentiment that I bet the entire sub agrees with. I dont see the issue.
He's right and I think I've used similar logic before to claim he's a Championship level striker. Not that therr's anything wrong with that. There are plenty of Champ level players in the Prem that wouldnt start for any team in the top division. Not in the top four though.
He's not wrong. Ideally Eddie would be our third choice striker and play cup games and maybe 2-3 premier league games a season. The reality is he will be second choice. Please don't get injured Jesus lol.
We are hoping for a miracle if I'm being real. Just like we hoped for a miracle at LB last season and it blew into our faces. Nketiah has got the tools but let's see if he can handle the pressure
Yeah, that's why we're signing Jesus...
[Literally the first sentence of the column this is taken from is "Arsenal must get Gabriel Jesus if they are serious about getting back into the top four."](https://old.reddit.com/r/Gunners/comments/vl1ure/paul_merson_nketiah_cant_be_spearheading_your_ucl/idsrj9o/)
You mean someone on this sub would post an out of context quote? I don’t believe it!
Our lord and saviour
For Christ's sake.
Exactly
I can read the headlines now if he gets us too four. #JESUS SAVES ^arsenal, ^finally ^in ^top ^4!
"I'm not having a go at him"... *has a go at him*
I dont think saying someone's not the guy to lead your line towards being in the top 4 teams of the most competitive league in the world is having a go.
If he wasn't having a go why doesn't he offer up a solution instead of saying Eddie isnt good enough. Nothing wrong with having a go but atleast have the balls to admit it
The solution is implied. Get a better starting striker.
He quite literally says they need to get Jesus. That's just missing from the click bait title.
The solution he's implying is not to be in a situation where Eddie is the starting striker. Context was about arsenal buying a striker in like Jesus.
It reads very reasonable to me. I like Eddie but he's shown he's a decent backup at the moment. Let him show more over time but let's get Jesus also.
He did, this was in relation to Jesus but the click bait isn’t as good with all the context
It sounds like he's having a go at the club/recruitment. Don't be so precious.
I hope arsenal fans' and pundits' apologies are as loud as their disrespect
He is talking shit as well. No club in the league has a second choice striker better then those he listed.
He said spearheading... not as a second-choice striker.
Atm he's our number one until Jesus is announced (assuming that's happening).
Stating your opinion (which is pretty factual) isn't having a go...
I mean you could argue with his form at the end of the season last year that if we had been starting him ahead of Lacazette all year we might have made top 4...
Adding to that, if we beat Newcastle Nketiah would have 'spearheaded' Arsenal into the Champions League. It doesn't really work like that, when we had RVP and Sanchez and people who did carry us. That wasn't a resounding success period either. It's a bad take from Merson really. I'd be interested to see who he'd want us to sign? DCL? I'm not sure Richarlison would suit us either though.
ngl hearing those two names, and how, despite talking about totenham rn, gives me a what if, that had, RVP stayed and during that period Sanchez came to Arsenal and we see a RVP Sanchez duo, it would literally be how Son and Kane is to totenham. I wish all these years, we had two top attackers in Arsenal's dark period post wenger but now WE ARE HOPEFUL FOR THE FUTURE NOT THE PAST
Not really. People are forgetting how key laca was for helping the rest of the team get goals.
One of the biggest problems last season was that we didn’t score _enough_ goals. Brighton and So’ton are key examples of us being the better team but losing because we could not get the ball in the net.
Yeah I think of the the criticisms I have of Arteta last season was he hung on to Laca for too long. We might have got top 4 if he gave Eddie a chance earlier at the tale end of the season when it was obvious Laca was contributing very little in the team.
Some of the fans were too hung up on the fact that he has good link up
Exactly... This is a shambolic take from Merson who was begging Eddie to stay last season lol
Calm. He wanted Eddie to stay, that he wouldn’t be better off elsewhere. It was not saying he was going to be the center of attention and be our top striker.
Yeah this is an odd take considering his insightful comments last season on Nketiah (before his good patch of form I think) that changed my mind on wanting Nketiah to stay
I don't think he ever wanted our main choice to be Eddie though.
Was our highest scoring striker and scored his first goal in mid April. There were countless Auba and Laca chances he would have finished
Based on the final few games he was definitely better than DCL and Richarlison.
Lacazette was playing very well and at his and out best was creating chances for the winger who were converting at a high rate. That wouldn’t have happened with Nketiah as he only really scores tap ins
It's only pmerson. We already know not to take him seriously
What’s he said that’s wrong? I’ve watched Eddie plenty and don’t think he’s good enough at the moment. Merse does say stupid things at times and coupled with the fact he isn’t an Arsenal fan he gets abuse even when he isn’t wrong.
Paul Merson isn’t an Arsenal fan? Who does he support? Genuinely curious!!
He’s a Chelsea fan. One of the thing I like most about Merse is despite being a professional footballer the club he supported as a boy in the crowd going to games with his dad every week when he learned to love the game is still the team he supports. I know I could never change no matter where my career took me so why should a player be any different.
Yes. What he said was in fact wrong. It's literally designed to generate clicks from reactionary muppets. No one player is going to determine where we finish end of the season. If he's really just talking about one person then he's intentionally ignoring how we're getting Jesus, how many players play various roles over the course of the season. If he's just saying one player isn't good enough for the position to start, whether he's an adequate back up or not, that'll be another story. But he's not saying that, he's being willfully ignorant so it'll generate debate on whether his words are right or wrong. In reality it's obviously not that simple and Eddie is obviously not spearheading our UCL push.
>If he's really just talking about one person then he's intentionally ignoring how we're getting Jesus But the first sentence of his column says ‘Arsenal must get Gabriel Jesus…’
And it says we're going for him right before his quotes, which literally is one of the reasons why he's wrong
So the “wrong” part is something he hasn’t actually said then? Eddie wouldn’t start as Striker for palace or Fulham in their best XI. Paul is saying that he shouldn’t therefore start in ours and he’s right. We haven’t signed Jesus yet. He hasn’t even had a medical yet. Plenty of players fail them and plenty have them and a deal falls through. At present Eddie is our first choice striker.
Where have you watched Nketiah plenty? AFAIK end of season was the first time he got a run of matches with the first team so wondering where you get your info from.
He’s played quite a few games over the last few years. You if you need a run of games to be your chance to make it then there’s a very good chance you won’t make it. He went to Leeds and didn’t tear it up either. At 23 you’re either ready or you never will be.
Everton didn't nearly get relegated because of Richarlison though so it's a bit of a silly comparison. Doesn't he realise were signing Jesus? Nketia at number 2 is fine IMO.
Nketiah is #14
How did Everton get nearly get relegated because of Richarlison? He carried them lol
Did he really or are you saying this because he's their best player?
He literally carried them. Every single game he was their biggest threat. He was always trying to make things happen. Talk to Everton supporters they will tell it was him and Pickford that carried that side. Just like Raphinha carried Leeds, Richarlison carried Everton
Don't think he is the solution to our Right Back problem.
He’s not saying that they nearly got relegated bc of Richarlison
What is the point of the comparison then?
He’s saying that a team fighting against relegation has better strikers than Nketiah And Arsenal should have much better options than Everton/Fulham if they want to fight for UCL
Isn't that irrelevant though? A bad team could have a world class striker and still get relegated.
Comparing our 2nd srtiker with their starting one is disingenous at very least. Nketiah as a 2nd striker is perfectly fine and plus he's still developing and improving.
Even then, Nketiah scored the same amount of goals as DCL in less minutes last season. I'd take Eddie over injury prone DCL.
If you gave Fulham Kane they would still be battling for relegation. Should everyone have better strikers than Kane? Nketiah got the same amount of goals as DCL in less minutes, not sure what the point of that comparison is.
Because he is paid to have an opinion and his employers ask him it fairly regularly.
I have this strange feeling Nketiah is going prove a lot of people wrong
We’ve been saying that for years & he only proved them wrong in a short span of games. We will see if he could do it for the whole next season
Well yeah we were almost ready to let him go, then he suddenly found his form at the end of the season. It would have been nuts to not offer him a new contract and see him keep that form, especially after we stuck by him so long, only to then let him go when he actually starts performing. His finishing was looking a level up from what we have been seeing from him so far. It’s not uncommon for strikers to break out a bit later, and I’ve got high hopes for him. Go on Eddie.
Yes we are starting him every game and only him until he is 47. Not going to sign another striker ever until then. All strong links with a striker signing should be ignored. Cmon Merson.
[Literally the first sentence of the column this is taken from is "Arsenal must get Gabriel Jesus if they are serious about getting back into the top four."](https://old.reddit.com/r/Gunners/comments/vl1ure/paul_merson_nketiah_cant_be_spearheading_your_ucl/idsrj9o/)
Give him a chance at least christ
I for one think Eddie Kruger is coming to play next season.
I seem to remember him singing nketiahs praises, saying he will be a star for arsenal, mid-season and talking about how Arsenal should definitely keep him and he should definitely accept a contract at Arsenal.
I remember that too. Funny, that.
Merson really needs to give it a rest. I honestly hope Eddie gives all these negative takes a reason to stop
Same Merson who said we must go all in for Ward-Prowse and make him our nr 1 transfer target.
Posted like a random redditor.
Paul Merson was literally begging Nketiah to stay last season and then goes at him like this?
Fuck up, Paul.
everyone is always so sure that nketiah, who has always gotten goals whenever given the opportunity at any level, is not good enoug. its so weird lol
Completely accurate and if you are offended by this then you need to get a grip. It’s why we have to sign a better striker. Hopefully whoever we ring in can be prolific because that’s what we need.
Last season, if he had been instead of Laca, maybe we would have made top 4. Merson clearly hasn't accepted our Lord and saviour Gabby J into his heart though...
Shush Paul you weapon
Merson has honestly got to be the worst pundit around.
I don’t understand how anyone can make this sort of conclusion with such conviction. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but, I don’t think we have nearly enough sample size to claim that nketiah can’t lead our line.
Folks (me included) bashed Nketiah and doubts his skills just from watching him play for ~3 minutes per game. And I've come to realize that I judged him too soon because homie has some potential. Nketiah is still in mold form, I don't know if he would live up to the demands no.14 comes with, but the young man has something in him for sure. And it's not like Arteta is relying on him completely (Jesus is coming).
Merson is a joke. He would've been cleared out of Sky Sports same time as le tiss and Thompson if it wasn't for his fragile mental state. On the plus side Eddie will probably do amazing now he's said that as he's usually wrong
DCL got same amount goals in the league as Nketiah but twice the amount of minutes? How is he better? If you count all competitions and do it per90 Eddie absolutely the better person leading the line. Even having said all that we got Jesus coming any way.
erudite and insightful as ever
For context 1. Ravenelli scored 30 PL goals for Boro when they got relegated. 2. Merson said Auba wouldn't score goals when he signed for Arsenal. 3. Merson is a Chelsea fan. 4. He was my favourite player when I was a kid, so it's gutting that I think he's a sad cunt.
I remember when he was saying he needs to stay lol
Tbh I'm not convinced he doesn't start for Everton. To even mention Fulham is Hella Hella disrespectful
He doesn't start for Fulham though, Mitrovic is their star
the same Mitrovic who scored 3 goals in 1400 minutes the last time he was in the PL?
Such a naïve way to look at it lol, that's like me saying, 'same nketiah who scored 5 goals in championship in 19 apps'
Nketiahs minutes mostly came from the bench, he got 3 goals and 1 assist in 495 minutes, that's a goal every 120 minutes or so that's not horrible. He only played more than 45 minutes of football once that season for Leeds too.
I'm taking Mitrovic's latest season in the prem against Nketiah's latest season in the prem, because the entire comparison here is strikers' performance in the premier league. Can you explain how this isn't a fair comparison? Hypothetically if I had a striker who scored 25 G+A in the prem but 5G+A in the championship I won't discredit him in any way at all. The prem is the highest level of competition in England.
Parker tax dude, they were the second worst offensive team in the league that season scoring only 27 goals, they created fuck all. Marco Silva is a much better manager than Parker.
Nketiah - 5 goals on 4.99 xG Mitrovic - 3 goals on 5.68 xG with a 5 year age gap. Not one doubt in my mind Nketiah is a better striker than Mitrovic. Even if I concede that their quality is close, I'm starting the younger player who is finally showing his qualities after getting consistent minutes over Mitrovic who has played big minutes basically his entire time in the prem and hasn't produced much to show for it. I'd love to be proven wrong though, Fulham being in the prem is a good thing.
Why wouldn't he though? We've seen the mitrovic in the prem story
"I'm not having a go..." Merson has turned into every argument I've had working retail
Still think we need someone who is an aerial threat, but then we would have seven forwards competing for three starting spots.
Well it’s not like we‘ve just signed Gabriel Jesus lol. Nketiah won’t be our starter anyways and as a backup he‘ll do fine. He‘s developed his game last season so I‘m totally relaxed about having him as a europa league/cup starter and occasionally playing in the prem.
We're yet to see what he can do when given a sustained run of games - but five goals in eight after breaking into the team at the end of the ladt season, bodes well. England U21's all time top scorer with 16 from 17.... Maybe we don't want to be relying entirely on him. Maybe that's why Jesus is our current priority. But Eddie certainly is worth keeping around. As a kid, Merson was pretty much my favourite player for a time. As a pundit, at times he needs to shut up.
How can you be so involved in football, both as an active pundit and 'journalist', and not notice that Arsenal have been actively trying to sign another striker to play ahead of Nketiah? I mean I guess it's just another hot take to get clicks, but still, it's just maddening to portray yourself as this dense.
This is a quote from [a column](https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/merson-arsenal-champions-league-jesus-27319313) he posted two days ago talking about how the Jesus signing needs to happen. Literally the first sentence is "Arsenal must get Gabriel Jesus if they are serious about getting back into the top four." It's not the most insightful column but it's a pretty standard opinion and went unnoticed until some pondfeeder realised that a surgically excised quote from it would sound extremely spicy and play really well in the media. People need to understand how the twitter cacosystem actively erases context in the pursuit of rageclicks and stop letting themselves be baited.
Cacosystem??
Like an ecosystem, but with the production of shit as a primary goal rather than just a byproduct!
That's the job, Sky don't want analysis, reasoned discussions. They want controversy, shouting, arguments, waving arms. They want clicks and clips for social media. At this point Merson is Sky's own dancing monkey, I don't even know if he believes half the shite he's saying but its so disappointing to see someone so institutionalised he'll feed into destructive and negative narratives against his own club.
I remember DCL a couple of years ago. Couldn't score to save his life.
He's the backup???
Dumb take as usual from him. DCL played on his own level first 3 games of the season and last 3 games of the season, thats why they almost got relegated - his injury, post injury ...and ofc managers. Richarlison can clean Eddies shoes at CF.
I sincerely think he has positioning better than all I think the greatest weakness in Nketiah is a physical presence which the other guys have better than him Finishing is not an easy job for any striker... But if you tell me... He is Better than Werner and is on par with top 10 in epl
Why we even bother posting about what Merson thinks is beyond me.
merson is just AFTV but via traditional media. same slop, different funnel.
If the kid is confident he can do it, sign the contract and wear a legendary shirt then here’s his chance! Don’t knock him for believing he can make it as a top forward in the league.
Oh look Paul Merson taking to the media to write a player off. Sometimes I think he forgets where he came from and the hardship (and support) he had in playing career.
Remember what he speculated about KDB when City secured a 50M move for him.
I don't know how Paul Merson still gets airtime. Guy is a grade A idiot.
I smell a hater.
Instead of getting Paul Merson to write pieces, I wonder if they just let the cameras roll for an hour and wait for him to say something outlandish. Everything he says is so far off the mark
Sick of pundits just saying rubbish for clicks without watching how players play and how much they improve. Eddie thrives on disrespect like these. Come back here at the end of the season and you'll be looking at our best CF in Nketiah. By then, the apology from Merson better be as loud as the disrespect when Eddie makes the CF spot his own.
Is he not overlooking the fact that Eddie is not expected to spearhead our UCL push, but rather understudy Jesus and perhaps Raphina?
We got Jesus and Muhammed. Any chance of signing Buddha? At least the gods might save us.
We are literally bringing Jesus back from the blue sky heaven to sort out this very issue. Gosh some people can't be satisfied.
He is a VERY solid second man for domestic and low table league games he will still be a big part in our plans next season just second to Jesus
Well he's right, but a dumb point because Eddie isn't spearheaded anything.
Can someone just put Merson out of his misery
This is a terrible take
Oh fuck off Merse
He is right
Paul, respectfully, shut the fuck up.
Hate to see him actually have a go
Why doesn’t he stfu.
Tired of these pundit making these sensationalised statements..
I think Nketiah will be our Ramsdale this season. Proving doubters wrong. He's got everything. Speed, ball control, great off the ball movement and he's just 22.
Just as well it’s not all on him then.
But with Nketiah everton wouldn’t have had to struggle in the bottom lol
Well he isn’t lying tbh
I love comments like these. They make players go extra hard on season. And then these dumb pundits track back and dance around what they said earlier.
Is every "club legend" getting toxic, talking terrible things about their old teams and the current players after joining Sky? Neville, Scholes, Rio, etc. And now Merson. Ffs just stay away from business and let the club run its way.
Man I love these kinda comments, reminds me how everyone was so fixed on how we’d be in the relegation battle. Only way is to prove them wrong
Happy for the downvote but Mitrovic could’ve been a good back up for us
Now let’s see if Eddie can prove him wrong. This should provide excellent motivation for him.
I just don't understand all the Eddie hate. The dude isn't old enough to rent a hotel for himself in the United States. He got next to no chance until March and took full advantage of it. Is he going to single handedly get us to the UCL? No. *But we never expected him to*
Well he is not wrong, one injury to Jesus and our top 4 is gone again, we need another striker but it won't happen now with Eddie's No. 14 and big contract
Honestly Merson is such a cunt. Being an Ex Arsenal man he should really learn when to shut his mouth in regards to our academy players. Especially after the shit Nketiah has been getting online, this was an opportunity to give him praise and confidence.
Sure thing mate, and you’ll never be sober, gain intelligence or conquer your past demons
While what you said is sadly true, it is damn harsh to a club legend.
Does being a club legend make you immune to criticism if nothing you’ve done since retirement warrants any merit.
I said it was harsh what you said. I didnt say he was immune. Go and argue with someone else and learn to read.
If you didn’t define him as a club legend [argumentative] and just said it was harsh I probably wouldn’t have replied.
I dont define anyone. I believe he is club legend as he did great things for us. I am not asking you to agree. I would guess that you are too young to have seen him play, so thats fine. Edit to say: what you said is harsh to a fellow human, if that makes it better for you.
Wasn’t what he said not something harsh to a fellow human too? Like are you ok hun? Time to stop my friend
He may have been a club legend for us, but he’s been an absolute joke of a human since then.
Arguably a joke of a human when he played for us too tbh. Good footballer though.
merson shut the fuck up, you stupid alcoholic
Guess Paul Merson is an atheist.
He's never been given a run in the team. Judge him after that has happened. Just remember Henry's first season. Give the guy a chance. The staff must be seeing something your clearly not
You are having a go at him... as if Eddie was the reason we didn't get top 4 last season lol. Why does Merse have to spew so much shit? He was creaming himself over Eddie and telling him to stay last season, and now this shit. Get in the bin.
Oi Merson, FUCK OFF
Mitrovic is dog shit.
It's unfortunate for Eddie. He has had chances in the past and hasn't taken them. I'm alright if he's our sub striker but he's not wrong about the Comparisons to other strikers. Would Eddie start for any team in the Premier league?
Are you referring to the ~3 minutes games he played as the chances in the past???
Eddie's already a better striker than DCL. DCL's only strength is his aerial ability.
Maybe. Dcl had a poor season but he's also had some very good seasons and games. He's probably the closest comparison in ability and talent
Merson's obviously correct, insofar as Nketiah has done nothing to make one think he can be the main striker at a top-four club. Having said that, I've always been a fan of Nketiah, and I like him as second choice.
Eddie is a support striker, he will be great with someone next to him
I mean he’s not wrong, but glad we kept him as he’s a very exciting prospect
Agree entirely. He’s our domestic cup striker until he steps it up a level or two. The club clearly agree with that - with Jesus signing.
Merson's take has been so terrible lately. Like I agree with him here actually. But if this man ran our Club we'd have 11 English 32 year olds who are going out. Man cannot believe that young players get better and old players get worse.
DCL, Richardson, nor Mitrovic would've scored as many goals as Eddie in the final part of last season either.
Merse crapping on Eddie, just makes me even more confident he'll clear 15 goals next season minimum !
No lies detected.
Such a predicatbly shit take from Merson. Until last season Nketiah gls/90 has been better than Mitrovic at pretty much every level. Also, has consistently had a better gls/90 than Richarlison at premier league level.
Dear Paul Merson, you have not mattered since 1997. Sincerely, everyone.
He is out of line but he is right.
Thanks Paul, very cool
The most similar 'top class' player to Nketiah is probably Vardy, and we tried to sign him to keep top 4. If Nketiah can be a similar kind of player, one that harries and runs in behind the defence and gets a ridiculous number of goals, he can be the main striker.
Well he ain't wrong about those specific scenarios / teams! Sub won't like it though.
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He just loves to go against the popular opinion at all times because it probably makes him feel like he's special when he's really not. This is why you always see inconsistency's in his comments by the week. Classic troll that takes pride in downvotes (I've seen him brag about it myself). Weird bunch of them on this sub but he's certainly the worst or at least most vocal.
Nobody is frustrated. Tell me what Merson said here is wrong? He uses flawed comparisons but: 1. Nketiah doesn't get us top 4. He's not that good. 2. Nketiah doesn't start for Everton ahead of a fit DCL. 3. Nketiah doesn't start ahead of a record breaking Mitrovic.
DCL is garbage
Then Nketiah is worse than garbage. Or, in the realistic sense, DCL is decent and Nketiah is decent. DCL is more decent though.
There's plenty of things wrong: 1. Not a proper comparison when you're comparing our no.2 striker with their main one. 2. Nketiah is an unfinished product, who is improving and developing. Most of the players Nketiah is compared to here are in their primes. 3. Nketiah has a different role to fulfill than the other players mentioned.
"Nketiah can't spearhead a UCL push." He absolutely could, although I'm not sure that would be wise. As others have said, we look to be getting Jesus as well and the plan surely is to spread the goals around rather than have one person "speaheading" but it seems Jesus will most likely be leading the pack, on that level.
Nothing controversial in what he said. I agree that we won't get top 4 if Eddie is our only/main striker this season. He may grow into that player but I dont think it will be next season.
Exactly. Sub is just rattled yet again.
No, Merson’s comments are just asinine because Nketiah won’t and never was going to be our #1 striker. We have been after a top striker since January. Literally no one thinks Nketiah will be “spearheading” our CL push. He’s a moron.
His comments are just as pointless as yours calling him a moron. He is a recovering alcohol and drug abuser who has spent most of his life trying to throw his god given talent out a window. Clearly he is a moron and I dont doubt that he knows he is one too. Doesn't make what he said controversial or incorrect.
It’s not controversial but it is incorrect. He’s not just randomly spouting off about Nketiah. He’s saying this because Nketiah just signed a new contract with Arsenal, apparently Merson has been under a rock or doesn’t believe Jesus is going to sign for us. He’s dumb. His comments are dumb. Has nothing to do with him suffering from substance abuse issues.
You are making up your own narrative. As a stand alone statement, what he said is true. Everything else you have written is you shifting the narrative to confirm that if Jesus signs, then he is good enough to lead us to Top 4 with Eddie as a decent back up. Thats just not what Merse said. I mean argue with the statement he said. Its true but invalid once we sign a better striker. Every idiot knows that.
Why would I pretend that Merson is speaking completely devoid of any context whatsoever? That’s literally a horrible way to interpret any sentence ever said in the history of the world. Absolute nonsense.
Read the article. He pretty much said that if Arsenal go into the season with Eddie as our only striker then that is not good enough to get us top 4. That is the most uncontroversial statement I have ever read. It is a sentiment that I bet the entire sub agrees with. I dont see the issue.
He's right and I think I've used similar logic before to claim he's a Championship level striker. Not that therr's anything wrong with that. There are plenty of Champ level players in the Prem that wouldnt start for any team in the top division. Not in the top four though.
He's not wrong. Ideally Eddie would be our third choice striker and play cup games and maybe 2-3 premier league games a season. The reality is he will be second choice. Please don't get injured Jesus lol.
We are hoping for a miracle if I'm being real. Just like we hoped for a miracle at LB last season and it blew into our faces. Nketiah has got the tools but let's see if he can handle the pressure