This team is suited to sharing the goalscoring burden.
Our fanbase are no strangers to wanting new toys every now and then which is no surprise considering who doesn’t?! Cheif among our wants recently has been a shiny new striker considering that we’ve been playing without a proper number 9 for a couple of seaons now, despite that the club has continually been linked with star strikers all over Europe even after the closure of the summer transfer window.
Even with the form of Kai Havertz, gooners will absolutely love a new striker coming in as soon as possible. However we have to realise that one of our super powers in recent seasons has been our ability to share the goals around the squad efficiently, with it’s effectiveness perfectly shown in the stats as well.
Arsenal broke their goalscoring record in the PL consecutively with 88 goals in the 2022/23 season and a better tally of 91 goals in the 23/24 campaign, and in those two record breaking campaigns in front of goal we witnessed the majority of the squad sharing goalscoring responsibilities given we had a total of 17 different goalscorers in the 2022/23 season, followed by 15 different goal contributors last season.This has certainly been an asset to us regardless of the shortcomings we faced in those two seasons.
Relying on one player for your goalscoring needs is never a way to go, not saying we should abstain from signing a number 9 however the difficulty of this league means that there are few players in the market currently who can offer you 30 odd goals in a single campaign.
We have to understand that it’s okay to have a squad capable of spreading the goals around, even though a new striker will certainly be needed eventually especially if we fail to win anything major soon.
Thoughts gooners?
KENNETH BENJAMIN.
Do you want to read our whole collection of history articles? Check out our Just Arsenal History section
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…
I agree. It’s about getting lots of goals and we have several players who can score
Although Premier League winners tend to have one player who scores 20+ goals
This is a familiar argument. However, should Havertz be injured for any length of time, Arsenal could well have problems despite the goals “elsewhere in the team” etc. (and, by the way, there’s no rule that determines these must increase every season).
I wouldn’t be too fixated on the “30 goal striker” yardstick which is usually a proxy for a “Haaland MkII”. There is no striker like that readily available – but so what? If clubs took the best there is as the comparator no club would sign any player, in any position, unless he was the best, would they. You have to get the best you can taking fees/wages/other factors etc. into account.
Currently, we’re relying upon Jesus, who scored 4 goals in 27 EPL games last season, as the insurance policy. It seems to me that any striker who can manage something in the mid to high teens, goal-wise, would be a considerable improvement on that.
But what if Halaand got injured himself? What would Man City do? Who is their second choice goal scoring striker to step in? Who does Man City rely upon in case Halaand got injured himself?
I don’t think Arsenal are that reliant on Jesus if Havertz got injured. Jesus will come in and do hus think and the team will still score goals no matter what.
The team will still have goal scorers all over the place. Arteta has built a team that is not reliant on a single goal scorer. If Havertz was to get injured then the rest of the team will carry on sharing the goal scoring responsibility.
That’s what I have noticed about this team for the last 3 season. The goal scoring is distributed throughout our attackers and from Gabriels corner scoring beast-mode. 😊
Well, I don’t think Haaland has missed any games this season. Their other strikers are Doku and Savinho. I don’t know who scored the goals when Haaland was out for seven games last season. However, when a team’s main striker is missing, they invariably replace him with another striker with the intention that he’ll score goals.
My point is that if/when that happens at Arsenal, and it almost certainly will at some stage this season, the replacement we have (Jesus) wouldn’t – on the evidence so far – provide those goals. After all, what is “his thing” that you mention? It’s not goals, or assists come to that, so what does he as a No. 9 actually provide now?
In that scenario, the goals from the rest of the team would need to increase but there’s no rule that says it would. That’s not the same, by the way, as saying “the team will still score goals no matter what”. They will, but enough to cover for a striker who doesn’t score? That’s why, in my opinion, Arsenal need’s an effective striker which we don’t have currently.
So how many goals have both Doku or Savinho scored in their Man City stints so far?
But also the same can be said about Man City with regards to Halaand. Was he to get injured then where are these magical strikers at Man City going to come from in order to compensate for the 30 goals a season Halaand would have scored? I don’t see any top striker at City to fill in for Halaand was he to get injured.
Same with Arsenal. But that’s why we have a squad and a manager. The manager will have to tweak formations and systems in order to compensate for the loss of their main striker.
The same nervousness was put forwards about Odegaard. “If he gets injured then we will be in deep deep trouble” etc.. But we seem to be doing okay even if he has been injured. getting injured. Why? Because the manager tweaked his systems / formations to deal with that injury.
I bet the same would happen in case of a Havertz injury. We have a squad and a system that is not reliant an particular individual.
I don’t know how many goals either have scored this season. Savinho only arrived a few weeks ago anyway, but it’s not relevant as Haaland has played all the games. We’re talking about replacements.
It’s also not a question of a striker being replaced for a whole season as you suggest. You wouldn’t expect to find a striker at City (Arsenal, or anywhere else) coming in and scoring 30 goals – that’s daft.
However, you would expect a striker to come in and score more than Jesus has proved he can which is a goal in every seven EPL games over last season (the last evidence we have). You wouldn’t replace Havertz with anyone else but a striker – and that’s Jesus!
That’s why I asked you to name these Man City strikers that can come in and score even half of Halaands 30 goals a season?
So you want to tell me that you would have more confidence in the likes of Doku or Savinho coming to replace Havertz ahead of Jesus?
Doku and Savinho, what is their average goal scoring record at City? Would man City fans be more confident in Doku or Savinho deputising for Halaand?
Aren’t Man City in the same situation as us in terms of striking option were both our main strikers got injured?
I don’t know why people forget our most clinical finisher, Leandro Trossard. How about our great header, Gabriel? Martinelli is regaining form. Why do we forget our most persistent perform, Saka? How about a fit again Odegaard? Ricardo Calafiori announced his debut with a stunning goal against Man City. One can go on and on. This means that our team has the capacity to score goals even in the absence of our well known forwards. The last full fledged no 9 we had was Olivier Giroud whom some of our fans loved to hate! Alexander Lacazette was never quite prolific. The others like Alex Sanchez were converted wingers but who did a great job. By the way even Thierry Henry and Robin Van Persie started as wingers.