COME ON PEOPLE, ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!
I mean, entertained is maybe the wrong word.
Are you not captivated by the ruthless efficiency of a well oiled Arsenal machine?
I am.
Arsenal is aggressively pursuing the goal of shaking out the mediocrity that’s hung over our heads for the best part of 12 years. Ivan Gazidis is finally demonstrating that he is a CEO with a vision. More importantly, his catalyst for change line from last summer wasn’t a PR soundbite, it was, in fact, the real starting pistol for life post-Highbury.
Inside 8 months:
- We have someone sensible dealing with contracts (HUUUUUSS)
- We have an elite Head of Recruitment (Sven)
- We have the exSporting Director of Barca (Raul)
- We changed our manager (#WengerOUT)
- We ditched all his dross staff (Not including Colin Lewin or Jens Lehmann there)
- We hired a new manager (#EmeryIN)
- We let him bring in 5 of his pals (will talk on this another day)
- We reshaped the spine of our side (Leno, Sokratis, Auba, Torreira)
- We shipped out the deadwood (Theo)
- We tied down Ozil (Should be a win)
- We’ll likely tie down Ramsey (Could be SO good)
- We binned Sanchez and he tanked (HOW’S THAT PIANO, MATE)
That’s how you say hello to the future. It’s how you shine light on the embarrassing carry on of the past. It’s everything we’ve been craving for ten years, achieved inside a single year.
Arsenal announced yesterday that Bernd Leno would be our new keeper. Sampdoria leaked to the press that Torreira is heading our way for €30m. The club said goodbye to Jack Wilshere, which was a shame, but a totally fair decision. One that I guarantee you would not have happened under the old regime. He’d be sitting pretty on a whopping £150k a week deal. Even more promising? It seems like we’re already eyeing a replacement in Banega.
I don’t want to enjoy this moment too much, but come on, how many years have we been castigated as the crazy ones? How many times were we told that it’s better to do deals at the end of the summer. That buying players wasn’t like going to the supermarket. That Brexit would make things difficult. That World Cups mean you can’t sign players. That only clubs like City can buy players. That it’s impossible to sell our shite players because they have big deals. That class, was the hallmark of rank amateur behaviour in the transfer market.
Didn’t we say that it was all nonsense?
The ‘careful what you wish for’ crowd are really eating a fat slice of ‘I didn’t have a clue’ pie right now. Even worse, the crowd of ITKs who faux-leaked that the issues were at board level and Wenger was just too honourable to rat them out. I told you at the time they were wrong, and fuck it, I feel vindicated. 10 years of having to listen to enablers talk bollocks about the real state of Arsenal and all along, the popular opinion was wrong. It wasn’t just a bit wrong, it was 1996-Gareth-Southgate-hide-your-head-in-a-Pizza-Hut-bag wrong. Each and every week that passes by, another nail gets hammered into the myth of yesteryear.
The banter era is over. At least from an infrastructure perspective. Sure the club will sign duff players, sure we’ll make mistakes, but the days of putting the club in the hands of total incompetents are long gone. We have the best minds our money could buy out there trying to prove they’re worthy of their status at the club. That’s exciting. The old boys club is over.
Can the playing side still go badly wrong? Absolutely. We have a horrendous start to the season. The players won’t know what hit them with the new management arrangement. There are still concerns about Emery’s ability to hit the ground running.
But it doesn’t matter. If he tanks, the club are now in the right shape to fix the issues. I honestly believe that outside a total disaster, we should give the manager two years. As long as we’re seeing a steady improvement as the months go by, I’ll be happy.
Fans won’t turn like they did before, the club is making a concerted effort to be better. They are serious about fulfilling Arsenal’s vast potential. This is what vision looks like. This is what strategic thinking brings to the table. This is how big clubs operate.
‘Careful what you wish for’ was an offence to progress. It was the talk of weak people happy with their lot. It was the death of curiosity bleated out by average thinkers who clung to the sagging teet of stale comfort. We were conned by positivity, fooled by stability, and held hostage by the past. That’s all over now. We’re about to experience the first season in over a decade where the feeling in the pit of your stomach before the start of the season will be butterflies. That’s something special.
I am so fucking charged to be an Arsenal fan right now. I hope you are too. There is no club more exciting than us this season, so enjoy it while you can
That’s me done, see you in the comments!
COME ON ARSENAL!
Your Comment Her
wa wa wa.. ! . here we go..!
Dennis June 20, 2018 14:34:10
“some might say moaning about high pitched ‘, ‘like children women commentator is hackneyed sexism.. (then again what sexism isnt hacneyed aye..? and what isnt hackneyed.. i reckon women commentators. people. perspectives. woo hoo”
Some might say that. But they would be bloody morons. Not liking a person’s attribute is not a criticism of their gender or identity. If I don’t like a woman having bad breath is that also sexist?
Marko, why don’t you put down the pseudo Liberal outrage aside? You lot are an embarrassment.
Commentary should be of low pitch, large range. Women can’t do this well.
Mustafi was a panic buy because Wenger was in a bind. He could have acquired him for around £20m but Wenger dithered, and long term injuries to Gabriel and Mertesacker forced the price up.
He was a disappointment at Everton earlier in his career, and although he had an initial half season which was decent — his Arsenal career has also been full of mistakes more than moments of brilliance.
Çağlar is no worse than Mustafi – a little naive maybe but definitely not an inferior defender.
I think Chambers ends up on loan this year though with Mustafi staying due to Kos injury.
SouthAmerican commentators are the best. Incredible vocals but never harsh on the ear.
Morocco is a better team. Portuguese are very sloppy passers.
But Portugal have CR7. Unfortunately the arseholes don’t seem to know where to CLEANLY pass
Commentary should be of low pitch, large range. Women can’t do this well.
Touche
“I wonder if Redtruth has ever liked anyone…..….apart from David Ospina”
Francis Coquelin…
To be fair, I like him too
Portugal, the definition of a one man team.
Bamford’s 2nd favourite team just comfortably outplayed by Morocco.
Evidence of why you don’t completely reshuffle your predictions after 1 game.
DRAINING THE SWAMP
OH YEAH
Leeds,
“Portugal, the definition of a one man team.”
That’s what critics said of Maradona when he dragged Argentina to the world cup in 1986 and came very close to repeating it in 1990
Stars elevate the game and they do win games
The Portuguese team has know how, experience and depth…without Ronaldo.
He’s just the icing in the cake, very good icing, that is.
Fighting in the stands regarding Israel flag by the looks of it.
Why is someone waving the Israeli flag at a game involving Morocco. Israel didn’t qualify as I recall.
Icing on the cake?
Lol he’s just virtually single-handedly picked them up their 4 points, he has scored all 4 of their goals.
Eduardo pls dont t say that . Trump has no place on this board
Gelson Martins didn’t look like a £40+ million player to me. Was completely ineffective. Alarm bells are ringing.
Interesting fact #53
Leno is an anagram of noel.
Tough on the Moroccans
“Why is someone waving the Israeli flag at a game involving Morocco. Israel didn’t qualify as I recall.”
I think it’s to do with Morocco having a large Jewish population. Historical context there as well.
Maybe a bit early to say, but I’m starting to get a euro 2004 feeling about this WC..
Carts
You calling a shitty winner?
Gelson looked pretty poor but so did Guedes tbf.
Having said that I don’t rate Gelson nearly as highly and I do think that we’re only interested cause hes a potential freebie bargain.
I dont even think we’re interested in Gelson Martins.
Agent talk to get a move to Everton, West Ham etc.
Gelson looked like a modern day Glenn Helder. Think I’ll pass.
“Leno is an anagram of noel.”
Absolutely fascinating…
Carts got a point about this weird – so far – WC…
I like the shirt Leno is wearing on the picture.
The guys at Puma probably have a huge preference for goalkeepers.
Barking Arsene
“Gelson looked like a modern day Glenn Helder. Think I’ll pass.”
lol plenty on here were clamouring for him. It’s that searing pace you see.
WE
I think shitty would be a tad exaggerated. But unless these countries buck up their idea, then outside of Brazil, France, Portugal, Spain, Argentina, it could well be an underwhelming winner (who’ll obviously be rightful winners).
if that makes any sense.
Winning ugly in the group stages is part of the championship form that required.
Only teams who’ve won ugly are England and Portugal…
but it’s early doors so we’ll see..
Carts
“Only teams who’ve won ugly are England and Portugal”
tbf England should have been out of sight within the first half an hour in their match. A mixture of carelessness in front of goal and some Tunisian fortune were the reasons Tunisia went in at HT without a hiding. England did die on their arse a bit in the second half though. This was England slowing down and the Tunisians actually finding a taste for defending in the second half.
Ishola
That’s a fair view.
I think Southgate’s stubbornness to implement change could’ve been worse if not for Kane’s scoring.
I mean, Sterling and Alli, in particular, should’ve probably been removed sooner.
“Only teams who’ve won ugly are England and Portugal…”
France ?? Hello ?? (lol)
Not surprised by Sterling’s perrformance.
Think it was Bamford who asked the question before the tournament who would be England’s most disappointing performer in the competition and without thinking twice answered Sterling. He has been made to look much better than he really is in that Man City side.
I clearly remember the Sterling mania on here though not too long ago.
Sterling is a top quality player.
One bad game doesnt make him a bad player.
It’s not one bad game though Gambon.
It’s too many under par performances from him playing for England.
“Sterling is a top quality player.”
Don’t agree. I would say 1 or 2 good games doesn’t make him a quality player. Doesn’t have the end product. Another Gervinho.
“lol plenty on here were clamouring for him. It’s that searing pace you see.”
To be fair his YouTube reel is quite flattering.
Also slightly off topic but can’t quite get my head around William Carvalho either – just looks like the kid at school that got picked because he was massive compared to everybody else.
qna
He scored 23 goals last season. He has averaged 13 per season from age 18-23.
Carvalho lacks dynamism.
Arsenal would concede less goals though if he was plonked in front of the defence.
A lot of the good things he does defensively are not eye catching or note worthy but he does offer protection.
A tale of two Germans.
* Leno IN
* Lens OUT
Torreira is on the bench again. Fuck off.
Anyway I still think Saudi Arabia will beheading home tonight( Twitter).
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/german-officials-hit-back-claims-12751877
A dead frog…see it’s not just a minority of pissed off Arsenal fans
Akilan
“Torreira is on the bench again. Fuck off.”
lol Torreira is always on the bench for Uruguay. He has yet to start a match for Uruguay.
Their manager prefers the older player Vecino.
Ishola
Lacks any sort of dynamism agreed. I appreciate he offers some protection but for some reason (that I can’t put my finger on) he just doesn’t look that accomplished.
Not really important , just an observation.
The beaver strikes……
Carvalho does exactly what it says on the tin. Can tackle can pass it to a teammate close by and sits in front of the defence what more can you ask for
Very good signing by Leicester re: James Maddison.
Seen a lot of the kid and I think he’s brilliant.
Would’ve gladly signed him for Arsena. DGAF!
Sterling carried city on his back in the first-third to first-half of the season.
People like to selectively forget stuff. He scored so man late goals that helped them develop momentum.
Of course he’s a top class player.
Ishola,
I knew it. After their pedestrian performance against Egypt, I thought he may be given a chance. Not to be.
If they repeat that performance again, he may start against Russia.
Yeah he could start against Russia Akilan because they would be qualified by then into the next stage.
But their manager seems pretty adamant that Vecino starts ahead of him really.
Vecino would have to have a complete stinker it seems for the manager to drop him for Torreira.
If Torreira can’t break into Uruguay’s first 11 then he can’t be that great 😉
Radio Raheem
“If Torreira can’t break into Uruguay’s first 11 then he can’t be that great”
He hasn’t really be given the opportunities to break into the Uruguay side.
He’s got plenty of time on his side and it’s only been relatively recently that he has come to notice more in the wider footballing world.
Nothing to really worry about.
Some managers have their set teams and prefer more older experienced players.
Regarding Pedro’s article, and as I’ve already said, I am cautiously optimistic. I’m looking forward to next season.
Surely we have to wait until it starts before getting the party hats on though.
Tongue in cheek lshola
I know Raheem.
I was just making sure they were not accusations that I was downplaying an Arsenal signing.
You know what some are like on here.
The U are gay manager is monk, starving us to get a glimpse of our potential man beast in midfield,he is better than vecino
A triumphant & jubilant post Pedro “The ‘careful what you wish for’ crowd are really eating a fat slice of ‘I didn’t have a clue’ pie right now. Even worse, the crowd of ITKs who faux-leaked that the issues were at board level and Wenger was just too honourable to rat them out. ” This. The same idiots are now using the camouflage of “ITKs” or “rationale fans” and still debating against anyone who was/is against the last 10 years of Wenger’s reign. Like some idiots here still trying to erase their past pro-Wenger image by arguing ad infinitum with… Read more »
““If Torreira can’t break into Uruguay’s first 11 then he can’t be that great”
I’ve got two words for you.
LEROY SANE
Pedro, you’re quite funny and biased. You say we’ve cleared out the deadwood and in bracket, Theo, and you proceed to write this Arsenal announced yesterday that Bernd Leno would be our new keeper. Sampdoria leaked to the press that Torreira is heading our way for €30m. The club said goodbye to Jack Wilshere, which was a shame, but a totally fair decision. One that I guarantee you would not have happened under the old regime WILSHERE IS A DEADWOOD! You also comfortable forgot that Wenger had told Wilshere he should find a new club, he was also the one… Read more »
I read a comment earlier from a poster insinuating that he expects to see us out of the top4 in the foreseeable future
the signings we are making thus far entirely mocks that suggestion along with having such embarrassingly defeatist mindset
Emery should be able to make top4 this coming season at the least if he’s anything as good as we have being led to believe.
Vic
It’s best to wait and see what happens before making grandiose predictions.
I’m sure that horrible poster you refer to has just shown a bit of reservation rather than outright dismissing chances of top four.
If we can get a decent winger…sell Wellbeck. He’s another mediocre signing of the Wenger era. I’m not sold on Lozano…we need a really fast pacy winger like Bailey…he would rip teams to shreds. Failing that…I would go for Pulisic…young, intelligent, pacy and skilful winger. The rest of them…I would even sell Eleny… The dude is not good enough even for a bench role…we need hungry and talented players at the Emirates. If we could’ve had Jorginho…that would be dreamland… A true midfield controller. > Xhaka I’m liking the look of Golovin…kid looks gifted. He seems more suited to a… Read more »
Ishola
having the top4 as a target ain’t anything grandiose it’s just a mere optimistic and realistic target
now a grandiose notion we be expecting a title challenge just so soon, what’s your expectations for the new season? what will you regard as successful or failure from the new man?
Would be quite happy to see mustafi moved on.,
Rather than chambers.
Not a lot between them, and chambers is 3 years younger with less experience, so can still improve.
If we could get 25 of our 35 million back would be happy.
Holding needs a loan to a mid table newly promoted club.
I’m not making any predictions Vic because this is the start of a new era and many times with new eras it can give the club a real injection and the team do much better than previously or as many times the new era takes a while to bed in and progress to the eye is a little bit slower than some would really like. These are the reasons I give no predictions. But you seem to be very brash in your predictions. I’ll be calling you out at the end of next season if Arsenal fail to finish in… Read more »
Half an hour for Lil’ Torreira
We’l get a proper idea of our defence under Emery because Wenger + defense = disaster
“I’ll be calling you out at the end of next season if Arsenal fail to finish in the top three places in the EPL. This regardless of being an Arsenal blog.”
That might be hard cause he’ll probably be under a different moniker by then. D.on and Goon from North were the resident ultras, disappeared and then came Victorious and the guy with hair problems.
Pattern goes way back.
Anyone remember Morgan Schneiderlin, the universally championed world class defensive midfielder of Le-grove two seasons ago.
That’s one the players that exemplify the bad-wagon effect on this site.
Everton have told him to pack up and go.
*band-wagon effect
Ishola you’r restraining from making predictions yet you come out with this:
‘fail to finish in the top three places in the EPL. This regardless of being an Arsenal blog.’
feels like you have low expectations from the the new man this coming season,it then the begs question why celebrate the departure of Wenger and herald the coming of a new manager but to still be less ambitious and pinning for places below top4,puzzling.
Rambo Ramsey
“That might be hard cause he’ll probably be under a different moniker by then. D.on and Goon from North were the resident ultras, disappeared and then came Victorious and the guy with hair problems. Pattern goes way back.”
lol yeah you have a point.
In a way you have to admire in some little way the efforts they put in to appear incognito.
One is pretending to be African now eh.
“Anyone remember Morgan Schneiderlin, the universally championed world class defensive midfielder of Le-grove two seasons ago.
That’s one the players that exemplify the bad-wagon effect on this site.
Everton have told him to pack up and go.”
LOL
Stop it Dissenter..when you mention Morgan S. here everyone goes into hiding
Don’t forget to add Yann Mvilla and Chris Samba to that list.
A lot of duds have been picked here as the answer to our problems only for them to go and flop and fade into irrelevance elsewhere.
There is a good chance that this coming season will be pretty average.
A new manager with new ideas, that he then has to convey to a squad that has just been overhauled might need some time.
Anyone jumping straight in on him within the first half of the season is just being sensationalist for the sake of it.
I personally expect 5th this season but a definite push for 4th in the following one.
Beyond that (all going well) it should be us working towards a sustained title push.
The main thing is we are moving forward.
Why aren’t we trying to sign cheap prospects like Amadou Haidara from Red Bull Salzburg?
He’s on the market for about 15 million
Don’t think a top four finish is unachievable.
We dropped 16 points from a winning position last season, most of them in the last 20-25 minutes.
No way is our defence worse than last year.
Considering Wenger never did defence the only way is up.
“One is pretending to be African now eh.”
You are a weird fellow
If you are going to talk crap about someone at least balls up and call them by name.
Dunno why anyone would pretend to be from where he isn’t on a blog full of strangers but unlike Bamford i am not about to tell you my life story….The number you have dialed is switched off….
lol who is pining for places outside the top four?
I think you need better word selection Vic.
No-one would be pining for places outside top four.
What some may do though is see what pans out and happens as the season progresses rather than jumping the gun with predictions.
Just changing a manager is no guarantee of instant success or even marked instant real big improvement regardless of how that manager may have been seen or was a hindrance. I thought you would have been onto that Vic being a big fan of Arsene Wenger.
it appears when one poster on here is not ranting about Xhaka he is lost for other reasonable things to say
That’s what an obsession does to you …
Wait, I thought Victorious was the African? Why is Hairline crying? A mistake made in hurry, is it? So there’s not even two guys, just the one dingus running multiple accounts?
Mr Hairline
For some reason you think that the African impostor line was directed at you. That’s a bit self-important isn’t it. It could have been the other fellow not you but you have taken it as directly pointed at yourself.
And the line was ended with the word eh which signifies a question not an outright statement.
Really calm yourself sir.
Saudis going out with a whimper.
“Why aren’t we trying to sign cheap prospects like Amadou Haidara from Red Bull Salzburg?”
Strong, fast box to box midfielder …very young ..claims he is 20 i believe ..bit of a hot head. Not really that much of a physical specimen as with most Malians
I like him, might be worth a punt but that is only if we are moving on Mo Elneney
Ishola don’t make it about Wenger
Conte took a woeful chavs side from 6th place straight to league winners just the next season,not saying the scenario here are the same but regardless Emery’s performance next season will bring to the fore just how supposedly bad you and your ilk thought of Wenger.
“If you are going to talk crap about someone at least balls up and call them by name”
Man Up dude
Wenger had told Wilshere he should find a new club, he was also the one to loan him out with Bournemouth provided an option to buy, which they quickly realized was a scam deal for them…lolWenger over stayed and rubbed us all the wrong way, but my goodness the man still deserves some credit for the things he did do right. No offence Dale but that’s horse shit or did you not notice Wenger playing him 30+ times last season and he’s to blame for keeping him around alot longer than he should have been here. What exactly are you… Read more »
Rambo get some sleep
you’re all over the place although not unexpected for someone having his head far up the arse of Aaron Ramsey
@ Wenger eagle
The Saudis were never going past this round.
Uruguay should be worried though….they don’t look good at all…Suarez looks like he would rather have skipped this tournament
WengerEagle
“Saudis going out with a whimper.”
They are a sort of all round whimperish team though aren’t they so going out in a whimper seems apt if not inevitable for them.
Asano (£1m)
Ospina (£3m)
Jenkinson (£2m)
Mustafi (£20m)
Perez (£10m)
Bramhall – Cohen (£0.5m)
Akpom (£2m)
Bielik (£3m)
Campbell (free)
That’s £41.5m selling deadwood…
If Liverpool was offering £60m for Fekir, we can easily afford him if make our disposals smartly and look for realistic valuations rather than being stubborn as Wenger often became. He would be a great addition to the team and an able replacement for Wilshere and a future successor for Özll.
Just meant in terms of they literally showed no interest in pressing forward and scoring an equaliser even when their coach was urging them to when the board for stoppages went up.
Uruguay and Portugal both looked pretty poor today but they both picked up wins so it’s not all bad for them.
By the way Receding did you just quote yourself?
“Suarez looks like he would rather have skipped this tournament”
Suarez loves his nation and loves playing for his national football team.
Suarez is a Uruguayan patriot of the highest order despite their relatively brief and insignificant history. Beef and cowboys.
Really like Fekir bit we have Ozil and Miki already that are both 10s, also Ramsey.
Would prefer a more genuine wide player like Malcolm, Bailey, Guedes, etc.
We’re prob in store for another one niller tonight.
Expect Iran to pack 10 bodies in their own half, Spain will eventually unlock them to score though.
By the way Receding did you just quote yourself?
He did he literally just told himself to man up dude. And I concur.
For what is worth, I thought Emil Forsberg looked absolutely awful versus South Korea. Hype no substance. Definitely not worth £50m. Next!
I can’t keep track of your aliases, so I’ll refer to you as Dingus from now on. Tell me, Mr.Dingus, what motivates you to do this work?