Well, I didn’t realise it was an international break, which is super unfortunate as I’m back in the UK next week.
What also coincides with a really irritating break in the schedule is a total lack of news, so why not re-up the Ivan G story? This from The Times.
Arsenal would almost certainly put Gazidis on gardening leave should he choose to leave to join a European rival despite the fact that he has a 12-month notice period in his contract. Milan’s owners are understood to have offered Gazidis a stake in the club having been taken over this summer by Elliot Management after the former owner Li Yonghong failed to repay a debt to the American company.
Paolo Scaroni, who was deputy chairman of investment bank Rothschild, is the club’s chief executive, but Gazidis has been targeted as a result of his work in nine years at Arsenal. The 53-year-old is also an influential figure in European football as a result of his position on the board of the European Club Association as well as being on several Fifa, Uefa and FA committees.
Arsenal are confident that they have structures in place to enable them to thrive without Gazidis, but his departure would be a blow to Emery, who was appointed on his recommendation with the pair having daily meetings throughout the summer.
As I said the other week, the big difference between Ivan at Arsenal and Ivan at Milan is he’ll be getting a chunk of the club there. If he grows it, he’ll grow his bank balance and retire and even richer old man. Good for him.
Not great for Arsenal though. Apparently, Ivan is on 12 months notice, which seems odd if he’s on a contract, but whatever. The fact that he’s even considering ducking out of the Arsenal project before he’s seen it through is a touch grim, but some people work for greatness, some for the pound notes.
I thought the paragraph at the end was pertinent. Emery certainly has a friend in Ivan G. From what I understand, the rest of the backroom team was impressed by other candidates and I’ve no doubt the ‘we all took a vote’ was an absolute fabrication so Ivan could spread the blame for anything that went wrong with the appointment further down the line.
Now Emery is being cast away into no man’s land. I don’t think that’s very fair. A new CEO comes in, everyone looks to fill the power vacuum, hierarchy changes, favourites get promoted and demoted, it could be a real mess. The big worry for Emery is this… the new CEO is likely going to want to make his own impression, and it’s very unlikely he or she will have loyalty to the Spaniard.
Very shitty. It’s also a kind of shabby that Ivan has let it get so bad that people from within the club are leaking they’re irritated with the process.
Before I leave you, the Nike Colin Kapearnick advert that’s dominating the internet at the moment is quite incredible.
Firstly, well fucking played Nike. The reality is, you invented capitalism for sports shoes. Anyone who thinks it’s a hot take to say Nike is trying to sell their product off an advert needs to have a word with themselves… they’re a publicly traded company, of course they’re trying to sell things. That’s not the point though. The point is, there are easier ways to sell shoes than alienating 40% of America. Nike is backing a modern day civil rights hero, while Jack Dorsey is overruling his staff to keep Alex Jones on his platform. Yep, the guy who runs Twitter is personally fighting to keep a man on his platform who harasses the parents of kids who’ve been massacred by gun violence. Tell me what flavour of capitalism tastes better?
Not a lot of brands have the guts to go against ‘the base’, Nike did. That isn’t brave, I’ll reserve that for people that put their lives on the line for things like forest fires and their country… but it is bold.
Secondly, if you’re the sort of person who burns your trainers or socks because the brand you follow did something you don’t fancy, throw yourself into the sea. You are insignificant. Political correctness is pretending you matter. No one should indulge you.
Thirdly, I know there’s this weird deep-state-ish view of advertising people like we set out to restructure the world around unnecessary consumption, but the reality is this: it’s just a group of creatives boxed up in a room who want to put a brands influence to something that matters. The folk who concocted a campaign that supported a black man who’d lost his playing career age 28-29 for taking the knee for a national anthem wasn’t about profits, it was about doing something that fucking mattered in this world.
Fair play to those advertising folk. Those that used their jobs to make an impact. The people that pushed their client to take a risk that would change the conversation and maybe have a positive impact.
Right, that’s me done. Listen to the podcast. It’s what you need.
Join Kurtis, Matt and I for a rollercoaster ride of excellent chat.
Also, if you’re a regular reader, don’t be selfish… leave a 5* and a totally terrif review, ok? The least you could do imo.
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Colin Kapearnick lost his NFL career because actually he’s just not a very good Quarterback. Hundreds of NFL stars took a knee last year and are still starting. If Kapearnick was as good as Brady, Brees, Wilson, Rodgers then he’d still be the starting QB for the 49ers regardless of his political views.” Exactly. He’s just trying to make a name for himself. Since clearly he wasn’t going to be the superstar playing football anymore. The Baltimore ravens wanted to work him out and he shot himself in the foot. He wants to be a star but that ship sailed… Read more »
Lets not get confused about this please. Kap will see a bump in his presence and on social media sure- does that promote the agenda of ending police brutality or bring awareness of racial mistreatment by police? ” LOL Each incident is an individual incident. What is he protesting exactly? The fact that a police officer has to use force on occasion? You put guns in the hands of the population then the police have to be armed as well. People being armed will end up with dead police on occasion, and jittery cops approaching said people(armed) will end up… Read more »
This Kap,does he play rounders or the sport they call football even though they use their hands predominantly……rugby ,I think we call it over here …or is it the other boring sport they play over there, where they throw the ball in the basket ..netball is what we call it over here,played by females predominantly.
China
Exactly. Even if human beings were/are “tribalistic” by nature, this wouldn’t make “tribalism” a good thing. Civilization is the result, in part, of overcoming any number of our more primitive instincts, including our alleged tribalism.
Anyways, back to the football.
I’m going to circle back to some of the questions I posed yesterday and add one new one:
1. What evidence do we have at this point that Emery knows what needs to be done at Arsenal?
2. If we were to switch to 3-5-2, who would be in your midfield?
3. What do people think is going on with Leno / Cech? Does the coaching staff not believe in Leno based on what they’ve seen so far? Or is it simply that they’re allowing for some kind of settling in period?
Way to flaunt your provincialism, Pierre.
Holy fuck! Still going on about this Nike dude? Two days!!!
Wenger leaving wasn’t debated this much.
Bamford
1. None at all.
2. AMN, Gued, Torreira, bellerin, Ramsay and Miki
3. I can only think that Leno is terrible. No other reason that Emery would pick Cech.
Hackney
OK, but that’s six players. You only get five — and I was actually just thinking about the central three, not the wingbacks.
At the moment you have Torreira, Guendouzi, Ramsey and Mkhitaryan, but you can only have three of those, so you need to eliminate one.
I personally would go with Torreira, Ramsey and Mkhitaryan.
Bam
Ha sorry…I got carried away.
Yours works I think, providing miki can pull his massive weight around. I still think we need to be playing two DMs as we are so soft at the back.
I’d def have Bellerin as a wingback…the boy can’t defend but is okay going forward.
Whatever formation I think Emery needs to start being brave.
Tits
That’s the thing though even the ones that are clearly unjustified hardly ever end with a guilty verdict, that’s why I believe Kaepernick thought his protest was necessary.
need some guest posts, especially over the international weekend.
Make it happen pedders.
B10
Good afternoon from the beautiful South Coast of England.
I will give you my take on Mr Emery later this afternoon.
Work commitments have taken over.
How’s life in the States?
Cheers.
GOH “I still think we need to be playing two DMs as we are so soft at the back.” Of course we do ,as soon as that happens the better we will be . Spurs play with 2 of either dembele,wanyama or dier and it works for them… This allows their full backs to give the width higher up the pitch and allows them to have 4 attacking players as they are protected at all times.as.their 2 .midfield players rarely vacate the midfield and are rarely ahead of the ball and rarely venture into the opposition box. Son,kane,alli and eriksen… Read more »
Pierre
I would advise you not to take the piss when it comes to US Sports.
Try dealing with a 26year old collegiate Footballer, weighing in at 200lbs tackling you at break neck speed when your in your forties( 14 years ago).
I’m still recovering.
Hence the care home.
You’re
Newcastle will be a much sterner test than Cardiff or West Ham. If we give away easy chances they will punish us.
My team to face them would be
Leno
Bellerin – Holding – Sokratis – Mustafi – Monreal
————— Lucus T ————————
—————- Ramsey — Özil ————–
———————————- Auba ————–
————— Lacazette ————————-
Subs
Cech
Mavropanos
Holding
Welbeck
Nkhetiah
Mkitaryian
Iwobi
I’d like to try each of the major American sports/entertainment forms once Been to basketball in LA which was a great laugh and showed up for the WWE when they held it in Shanghai last weekend. Full props to the wrestlers for being good entertainers. They put on a real show and there was a lot of comedy throughout. Well worth £20 a ticket for a fun 3 hours! Shame chinese hot dogs are as bad as American ones in my experience In England you get yourself an extra large hot dog with fried onions and ketchup and you’re all… Read more »
Leeds you don’t have guen even on the bench? Don’t rate him at all?
Oops, duplicated Holding, replace him with Lichtensteiner in the subs bench.
China
I do rate him but we need to keep somebody fresh for Europa League/League Cup. He’s still a very young kid — although he has played well I want him not to be burnt out…
If he is good as we think he is I want him to last the whole season. For me I would relegate Xhaka to the Europa team… hopefully he could get his mistakes and concentration sorted out before he is introduced to the EPL again.
China
Who would you play for the Europa League/Cups? More specifically along with Emile Smith Rowe and Nketiah who would you take a chance promoting from the youth squad for these competitions?
I don’t disagree with your choice just curious
I think he needs proper nurturing. We don’t need to treat him as we did cesc and have him playing every week
He seems to be extremely raw. He swings between a players who could become a 9/10 and a 6/10 from minute to minute. I hope we give him proper coaching. Give him minutes but not over burden him. Do this and he’ll hopefully iron out the raw and we’d be left with one heck of a useful player
Kos wanted to leave, and properly would have left had he not got injured.
I really hope we get a premier CB along with a winger or two in January… hopefully we’ll still be in the thick of the EPL leaders along with all the cups…. if we make some smart acquisitions we should be able to pick up at least a cup… hopefully the Europa Cup (given Emery’s great track record in that competion).
For me, EL this time should be Cech, Xhaka, Guen, Nketiah, Welbeck, Iwobi, Licht, Mav, Rowe, Mustafi, +1
I don’t want monreal playing in the EL but not sure who else we can put there for now if kolasinac is still out
For me smith Rowe and guen are our stand out high potentials this year. I’m not sure what to make yet of our other kids so I’ll save judgment but I’m all for them getting chances in the league cup and EL. Maybe even in the FA cup as long as we maintain balance with first teamers
China
I would’ve not minded if you did disagree, I’m just giving my opinion after all. Shame Ainsley Maitland Niles got injured because he would have been useful for games like Newcastle — and would have been able to give Monreal a breather.
With my line up I just wanted to shore up our midfield and defence because at the moment our CBs are being completely exposed when the full backs go bombing forward… and our mids are not dropping back to cover their spaces as they should.
Pierre “This Kap,does he play rounders or the sport they call football even though they use their hands predominantly……rugby ,I think we call it over here …or is it the other boring sport they play over there, where they throw the ball in the basket ..netball is what we call it over here,played by females predominantly” The American sports are so boring that whenever any team from US plays a game at Twickenham Stadium or the O2 Arena its sold out. Not to mention the ones who turn up at the Airport to see players from Cleveland Browns and Jacksonville… Read more »
Hey to be fair we invented cricket which is officially the world’s worst sport
I have several awesome colleagues from India who always encourage me to get into cricket because of how exciting it is
It takes every bone in my body to hold back from saying sorry boys but we literally gave you our worst sport haha
They’re all such sweet guys though so I just nod and pretend I might like it one day
Tits
That’s the thing though even the ones that are clearly unjustified hardly ever end with a guilty verdict, that’s why I believe Kaepernick thought his protest was necessary.”
I’d wager the vast majority are punished accordingly. Handfuls of injustices are not enough to justify glorifying this drama queen.
It’s funny because since body cameras were made mandatory everyone expected it to be this venus fly trap for bad cops to get busted. Turns out most of the time the cops are the ones in danger. It’s had the reverse affect.
What were United thinking when they gave Sanchez a 500k weekly salary?
What were we thinking when we gave a 350k weekly deal to United?
It just boggles the mind why football executives didn’t do their due diligence in the January 2018 transfer window.
I don’t think anyone expected that most cops would wander around with body cams on committing violence openly
And of course it showed that they were in danger. Who thinks being a police officer is a safe job?
Tits whether or not you’d wager cops getting let off for violence is a rare exception or not is irrelevant to whether or not it’s actually the case I don’t know the stats but many high profile cases have gone without serious punishment over the years. Whether or not these were simply well publicized but rare instances or part of systemic corruption can probably be demonstrated beyond realistic doubt by checking available stats of cases where police have been involved in the killing of unarmed people and let off. I don’t know what the truth is but I think it… Read more »
Tits “I’d wager the vast majority are punished accordingly. Handfuls of injustices are not enough to justify glorifying this drama queen.” If you wagered often with so little information you would be in penury by now. You should just shut it. You don’t live here and you certainly don’t know what you’re talking about. The district attorney/state attorney is an elected position, as is the sheriff. District Attorney’s need police involvement to try cases in court. The need police union endorsements to win elections. They don’t mess with the police and often go through the motions to soothe public anger.… Read more »
It’s also not entirely surprising that in a country where it’s so easy to be armed that cops have itchy trigger fingers (that’s not an excuse by the way) However does the rest of the world handle crime without armed police? In my city (Bristol) I don’t recall seeing an armed officer in my life. The police generally do a fantastic job maintaining order, arresting criminals and handling furry situations Ironically it’s the riot police I don’t trust (funny as they’re the weapon used police as well…). Far too many instances of the riot police going to town on unarmed… Read more »
It will be interesting to see how many more injuries are incurred
with this new Nations Cup format.
Enough injuries are received by players in friendlies.
So this tournament being a ranking event managers are bound to want maximum commitment.
We really cannot afford to many long term knocks.?
Here’s something we can all get excited about during the dreadfully dull international break:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/7185375/arsenal-snap-up-nine-year-old-south-african-wonderkid-jayden-adetiba-after-five-week-trial/
Interesting reading Le Grove this past two days
Sad that Bamford is still asking for posters he does not like to be banned..sad that this man claims to be an educator
New post
Receding
Yes Bamford Likes to be right .
Any one with a contrary view
will be subject to a ban.
He went away for a while but as all gardener’s know
it’s difficult to keep the grass down.
Oh dear, Dissenter bringing out the “You don’t live here, so shut up” chestnut.
This the guy who wears his Superhero cape and tackles social injustice happening everywhere, from Africa to Asia.
The dreadfully dull International break is only dreadful lly dull to people on here
Personally I think it’s a great idea to turn dreadfully dull friendlies into a competition