I heard through the grapevine; the vintage producing sort, that the Arsenal transfer budget next summer isn’t going to be what many of us had hoped for in the face of oligarchical cash rivers from seemingly flowing in from everywhere. The figure, similar to the number the AST is predicting, is closer to £30-40m, versus the £100m+ we were all hoping for with the new commercial deals about to drop.
Leaning into the Le Grove community, TR7 did some back-of-a-fag-packet numbers, and landed roughly on the number I’ve offered up.
‘As per unaudited 6 month financial statement ending Nov 2017, we had a cash reserve of 160M out of which 23M is in what AFC calls debt service reserve account, basically amount earmarked for stadium debt servicing. That leaves us with 137 M.
We spent around 70M in summer, so that’s 67M remaining. Now if we assume Arsenal’s net cash outflow from operating, investing and financing activities in FY 2018 and FY 2019 is similar to what it was in FY 2017, expect another 40M outflow from that kitty of 67M and we are left with cash balance in the range of 25-30M come March 2019.’
Let’s be honest here, that sort of money isn’t going to get us anywhere, but there are obvious reasons for the lack of cash.
Firstly, our wage bill is pushing £210m. That’s a staggering sum of money when you consider we’re not in the Champions League. That’s about £50m more than Atleti, x3 that of Dortmund, and £85m more than Spurs! Hoffenheim’s average salary is about £820k a year (£20m total)! If we don’t land Champions League, which is highly likely (and the appraisal of many at the club), we’re going to have to find some money to make up for the lack of elite goings on in our euro endeavours. Here are a few ideas.
Contract Rebels:
First idea would be to lose expensive players off the wage bill. Lucky for us, there are a number of names who will be moving on next summer.
Ramsey £5.7m
WELBZ £3.6m
Cech £5.2m
Monreal £3.4,
Lichtsteiner £4.6m
That’s a cool £22.5m back in coffers straight away. The issue here is at least 2 of the above players are going to need expensive replacements. Our left back position is incredibly weak, and we’re certainly missing an Aaron Ramsey like figure who can lead the press, that maybe has more technical ability than the Welshman. Left backs are hard to come by and if we’re sniffing around players like Chilwell or Sessegnon, we’re looking at mega cash. Finding a backup keeper doesn’t have to be expensive, and good scouting should unearth someone suitable. Lichtsteiner and Welbeck could be internal promotions (AMN, Nketiah and Reiss). Ideally, I’d love to throw £40m at Pepe, but maybe we can plug that gap with a loan for Dembele (Kike Marin still thinks this is a thing)?
The Transfer List:
For a variety of reasons, the players on the list below seem ripe for moving on.
- Kos £4.7m
- Kolasinac £6.2m
- Mikhi £4.7m
- Perez £4.1m
- Jenks £2m
- Chambers £2m
£33.2m in wages could be captured here if you can sell or come to a deal on buying out their final years.
Sell our ‘big’ names:
- Mustafi £4.7m £30m
- Xhaka £5.2m £60m
- Bellerin £5.2m £50m
Ok, ok, slim pickings here. Maybe I’m being aggressive with the fees. But for me, Bellerin is one of the best young right backs in the world and he’s got some of that Barca DNA, surely we can land a big fee for him? I’ve seen the spreadsheet virgins selling world class stats that Xhaka is, in fact, better than Jorginho. Well, the Brazilian cost Chelsea £57m. If Xhaka genuinely is that fucking amazing, don’t you think we could find better value for the sort of system we need to play? Couldn’t we find someone who is more mobile, can concentrate for a full 90minutes and give us more power (will Guendouzi eventually move him on)? I mean, I’d hope so. Mustafi cost us a fortune, it’s wishful thinking that we can recoup his fee back, but always remember, Spurs sold Bentaleb for £20m. #AnythingIsPossible
You could even include Ramsey in this section. I’m sure his agent was chipper about his client’s prospects 2 months ago, but now he’s stinking out north London and the Welsh team. He has zero form to speak of. If clubs are weighing up £200k a week, they’ll be sending scouts to check out how he’s playing and I doubt they’d be impressed. Will he really waste the next 7 months of his life picking up 10minutes here and there? He’s 28 in December. I’m totally making physiological assumptions based on parked cars, but if you don’t play regular football for a year, and you’re naturally injury prone, won’t that make you a big risk next season? Physios, let me know the deal.
Reshape our pay structure to be meritocratic:
The club is still reeling from the generous contracts Wenger dished out because he believed in the contradiction of sporting socialism. Arsenal have never used leverage in their dealings with Euro agents. Now we have a set of contract gurus who will fully adopt the dark arts.
Examples aplenty already. Lucas Torreira has changed the way we play, an immense signing, and he’s earning just £3.4m a year. Guendouzi is offering more than Jenks ever has and he’s earning £1.3m a year. Our #1 keeper is earning £2.6m p/a, that’s less than Almunia, and he’s already done more for us! I think we can let the Mikhi issue slide. We took a fee for the piano playing white elephant and needed a player who’d done it before. You can’t win them all.
Anyway, already you can see than Huss and Raul are trying to rebalance the way we pay players. I would imagine they pitch the city, the training facilities, the stadium and the chance to grow your career to the next level and don’t worry about offering premium wages. No doubt there are pay bumps, just not the 1000% ones we’ve been doling out for the last 10 years.
Rework the budgets
One of the most ridiculous things Ivan Gazidis allowed Wenger to do was take his combined yearly budget; which was salary and transfer fees, and spunk it all on bloated contracts leaving nothing for purchases. Arsenal should be operating a lower wage bill so they can spend more on players to bring in.
The strategy, it seems, is a Dortmund+ model. Buy in the cream of European youth (low wages), blended with some elite experience (reasonable wages).
Develop them, earn some success, sell the stars at x10, buy in even better youth, build even more success, grow commercials with the end game of not needing to be a selling club.
Jurgen Klopp recently spoke of why he was pleased about the Mane deal.
“It shows the change the club has made in the last few years. A few seasons ago players at the peak of their careers thought they had to leave the club to take the next step but now the boys believe they can achieve their ambitions here.”
The only players who want to end their careers at Arsenal are those aren’t wanted elsewhere or know that we’re the best deal in town. I think we need to be realistic about where Arsenal are and where we want to be. We’re not going to be Champions League finalists anytime soon, but we want to buy in players who want to achieve that. Up the ambition, up the talent, build a side over time that can eventually afford to keep elite talent around because we’re challenging.
Spend according to future earnings:
Stan K tends to live in a vacuum of one season at a time when it comes to Arseanl spending. If he wanted to, we could spend against 3 seasons worth of Premier League money and it wouldn’t be a big deal. That’s speculating, and if you can say anything for sure, it’s that Arsenal haven’t speculated well for years and it’s cost us big time. You only have to look back to the time we baulked on Suarez for £55m, only to see him go the next summer for £70m, or the Hig, who we shit the bed at over £30m, only to see him go to Juve for a monster £80m. There is value in speculating when you find talent. De Ligt and De Jong spring to mind as two that’ll have 12-year careers at the top, why couldn’t we sign them? Two players who’d absolutely have sell-on value.
Concluding thoughts:
This post isn’t suggesting we sell the whole squad, it’s merely offering up ideas of how we can aggressively free up money this summer, restructure our wage bill, and bring in a new batch of highly capable players that will build on what we’ve already done.
That, I’d imagine, is the Arsenal 5-year plan.
See you in the comments.
Bamford
” I like the look of xhaka’ s butt ” is Bamfords view ……😇
You’d be a fool to write off the likes of Naby Keita and Fabinho (links to PSG today)
let’s talk about what is actually happening and leave the “links” aside for once shall we??
And what is happening is that Naby “he is that Good” Keita has struggled for form and fitness and has actually turned out to be anything but the sure bet you told us he was. And Fabinho is being linked back to France because apparently that is the only country in which he can play football, he certainly isn’t doing anything noteworthy at Mersey side
Xhaka is far from our biggest problem, and as a result of that he will not be going this coming summer. We have bigger fish to fry, namely at CB, LB and AM, where we probably need 2 top wide players as well as a CAM. Unfortunately the squad was left in such a state that we have 2-3 windows of work to do before we get round to replacing half decent players like Xhaka. But make no mistake, he is far from a top player. He is one of the slowest players in football history, one of the least… Read more »
Why is having affection for Xhaka a bad thing might i ask??
It’s not but it can cloud judgement
Marko
LB: Monreal, Kolasinac, AMN
RB: Bellerin, Lichsteiner, AMN
CB: Holding, Papa, Mustafi, Mavro, Kos
CM: Xhaka, Torreira, Guendouzi, Elneny
CAM: Ozil, Ramsey
Wing: Iwobi, Mhki, Welbz, ESR
ST: Auba, Laca, Eddie
I stand by the assessment that CM is arguably the most comfortable area at present. We lack quality at CB, and LB/RB, the wings are in dire need of quality. Basically we don’t make the biggest gains by replacing Xhaka in the lineup, Guendouzi is on his way to doing just that.
You’d be a fool to write off the likes of Naby Keita and Fabinho after 4 months. Better Receding? Considering some of the performances of Xhaka his first two seasons I’d go easy on the early judgements on the likes of Keita and Fabinho.
“Unfortunately the squad was left in such a state that we have 2-3 windows of work to do before we get round to replacing half decent players like Xhaka.”
to repeat, we’ve prob played the 3 best sides in the league and only City looked comfortably superior. the squad is not perfect, but it’s far from in the kind of state some of you are suggesting.
“to repeat, we’ve prob played the 3 best sides in the league and only City looked comfortably superior. ”
We have 1 point from these 3 games
We are 5th in the league
Thanks for your interest in our affairs.
Of course Marko you tend to go easy on anyone that isn’t related to Arsenal
A combined 90-100m worth of two midfield players, one of them you were so bent on hyping it was cringe-worthy, we are approaching December and no one can yet see what the fuss was about. But hey they need time cos they play for Liverpool
Pierre, the reality of our situation is when we were settling for top 4, it was easy. We didn’t make hay while the sun was shining. We took our foot off the progress and then when we tried to spend our way out of a hole, we fucked it up… mainly, because there were too many satisfied fans like you about. The wage bill IS a problem if we don’t have any transfer money to spend. We can’t have a £210m wage bill if we’re a Europa League team. We need to restructure how we pay and how we buy… Read more »
UPDATE:
I found a website that outsources WordPress Fixers.
I’m going advert free… and I’m getting the comments issue fixed.
We will be ROLLING in 3 days.
Thank you for you patience.
Merely mentioning Xhaka’s name seems to get people going. Again we have serious defensive issues the last few years. We’ve conceded 60+ goals the last two seasons and 20 so far this season and to address this issue we’ll need to replace error prone and defensive liabilities from the starting 11. I believe most if not all will agree such players who are guilty of this are Xhaka and Mustafi and therefore I believe that it’s important long term wise to replace them and I believe before long that we will. That’s it really. People arguing about priority position and… Read more »
“The wage bill IS a problem if we don’t have any transfer money to spend. We can’t have a £210m wage bill if we’re a Europa League team. We need to restructure how we pay and how we buy players”
This isnt right.
Our revenue is going to be £440m next season even if we’re in the EL. We can easily afford a £220m (50%) wage bill.
In fact, we will significantly struggle to get back in the CL if we reduce our wage bill.
You cant expect to finish ahead of teams that are paying better wages than you.
So Marko you are saying one we replace Xhaka and Mustafi we will be a defensively solid team even if we do no business elsewhere ??
You are saying the number one priority for Arsenal football club after looking at the squad is to replace first off Xhaka then Mustafi??
But hey they need time cos they play for Liverpool
Xhaka has only started showing signs of improvement after two seasons. Did you judge him so harshly after 4 months? Maybe I don’t know
Fabregas and mata on a free aren’t looking so bad now are they marko? This is exactly what I was trying to say. We don’t have big cash. We are losing Ramsey and welbz with Koscielny likes to follow. We could do with players of that quality to bulk out our squad. Why would we turn our nose up to free players with world class talent. Ok so they are over 30 but we are in no position to pass that up right now. I’d welcome them both back along with Alexis on his previous wage and spend the transfer… Read more »
Gambon, if Spurs and Atleti can compete in the CL, we can certainly free up some of that wage bill and keep things to a leaner model.
I feel like we create an arms race all on our own. Our players aren’t worth £220m, we just seem to give money away
So Marko you are saying one we replace Xhaka and Mustafi we will be a defensively solid team even if we do no business elsewhere ??
No I’m saying that we’re never going to have a defensive stable team and be good enough defensively if we continue long term wise with such defensive liabilities in our starting 11. Not far fetched is it. For example there’s probably a reason why Liverpool don’t really start with Moreno or Lovran much these days. Anyway
Also shows that we will not win a major trophy under kroenke
It just won’t happen. Not under Wenger, emery or Pep.
Absolutely agree our players arent worth £220m
My point was more, we shouldnt reduce our wage bill.
The biggest predictor of league finishing positions across Europe is wage spend.
Atletico do well, but their average position tends to match their spend, 3rd place.
Spurs are the only top 6 club we comfortably outspend, we shouldnt give away that advantage, and we need to stay as close to the other big teams as possible.
Fabregas and mata on a free aren’t looking so bad now are they marko?
No they don’t look so bad they look disastrous
The shocking part is you didn’t even say Fabregas or Mata, you said and, you actually want two players in their 30’s who earn mega salaries brought in, players whose best years are behind them. So much for smart business
Yeah I think we can all agree we are massively wasting wages.
In no way does our squad reflect £220 Million a year worth of value.
When you just think about our CAMs, there’s £630 000 a week of not a whole lot right there where usually only one at a time plays as well.
£440 000 a week on STs and not one winger.
Pedro
“We didn’t make hay while the sun was shining. We took our foot off the progress and then when we tried to spend our way out of a hole, we fucked it up… mainly, because there were too many satisfied fans like you about.”
the fans are almost entirely beside the point. like blaming a shit post on the comments section.
It would be interesting to see what the difference in wage spend is between Arsenals and Man Citys group of AMs
Arsenal
Ozil
Ramsey
Mykhitaryan
Iwobi
Welbeck
City
DeBruyne
Bernardo
Sterling
Sane
Mahrez
Something tells me there wouldnt be much difference, which is a terrible use of wages.
“My point was more, we shouldnt reduce our wage bill.The biggest predictor of league finishing positions across Europe is wage spend.Atletico do well, but their average position tends to match their spend, 3rd place. Spurs are the only top 6 club we comfortably outspend, we shouldnt give away that advantage, and we need to stay as close to the other big teams as possible.”
rarely think much of gambon’s posts, but hard to disagree with any of this.
“Barcelona spends more money on wages than any other club in the world and has become the first sports team in history to top £10 million a year in average first-team pay.
According to the Sporting Intelligence website’s latest Global Sports Salary Survey, the average basic first-team pay for the 2018-19 season at the La Liga giants is £10,454,259 — a rise of a third for the Catalans since the 2017/18 season.
It is the first time Barcelona has topped the survey since 2012, when the club’s average wage was half of the current sum.”
– cnn
Correct me if I’m mistaken, but it wasn’t so long ago when the club used to trumpet how big its cash reserves were (usually right after the closure of the season ticket deadline) like it was some trophy. After announcing how big the war chest was, Board would always come out with the statement that the money is there for Arsene to use if he wants it.. safe in the knowledge that he wouldn’t. Remember that? Where has all that money gone? I thought it rant to the hundreds of millions of pounds. I cannot believe that the club would… Read more »
*it ran
Anthony Martial reveals he was an Arsenal fan as a kid.
What are we waiting for. Get in there.
We need a whole new set of AMs, as Cesc Appeal says the other day, our current formation is 4-2-GAP-1
Martial solves the left sided AM issue. Get a quality right sided player, and a CAM……then sell Ozil, Mykhitaryan, Ramsey, and let Welbeck go.
We need to move on from this constant debate about the worth of our players. Everyone realises that there is a need to improve the squad, but that is not going to be achieved by making wholesale changes and shelling out ridiculous money. The club has brought in since January 8 new players. As far as I am concerned five of the players were good acquisitions. Leno [GK], Torreira [DMF] and Aubemayang [ST] are all excellent buys and good value for money. Mavropanos [CB] and Guendouzi [CMF] are excellent prospects acquired for little money. Sokratis and Lichsteiner are frankly short… Read more »
“”It would be interesting to see what the difference in wage spend is between Arsenals and Man Citys group of AMs” There won’t be a big difference because Wenger used the wage bill not to reflect the quality of the player but as a fund to buy their loyalty not to question Wenger’s judgement and his ego and to feed the myth that he was still able to compete with the best. That’s why Theo was offered over £100k a week to sit on the bench, Wilshere’s contract was renewed repeatedly despite his injury problems, and many our youngsters were… Read more »
EmiratesstrollerNovember 27, 2018 08:54:37 Tony Adams was interviewed last week by a National Newspaper. He made it clear in the article that he was not personally an Arsenal fan, but playing for them was a job.However, he went on to confirm that both his children were Arsenal fans and he would be taking them to watch Arsenal play Fulham at Craven Cottage.He then went on to distinguish Arsenal Supporters of old who had a close affinity with the club whatever the result with the new breed of fan who are only interested in the result and winning trophies.When I read… Read more »
*Not wishing to put a dampener on your view
PHD, nice post.
Additionally, Arsenal fans hounded out Terry Neil with protests in the 80s. Let’s not pretend things were rosy back then.
Just a case of an old man grumbling about the past through rose-tinted glasses.
Pedro “pierre..We didn’t make hay while the sun was shining. We took our foot off the progress and then when we tried to spend our way out of a hole, we fucked it up… mainly, because there were too many satisfied fans like you about.” Do you think I was satisfied when bentner and Denison were at the club …silvestre, squillachi, chamach…then the ridiculous signing of sanogo.. Do you think I was satisfied when we were sitting top of the league when Walcott was injured v spurs in January in the fa cup leaving us short up front and wenger… Read more »
4-2 GAP-1 LoL
“Anthony Martial reveals he was an Arsenal fan as a kid.What are we waiting for. Get in there.”
can he track back ?
can he track back ?
Does he put in the effort and care anymore should be the question
I would also be looking at Samuel Chukwueze, at Villareal
Nigerian 19 year old, we were supposed to sign him alongside Nwakali, but for whatever reason it went wrong and we only signed NWakali.
Hes scored 2 in his first 3 La Liga games, great attacking numbers.
Pierre, Arsenal fans weren’t spoiled.
We were a top 4 team when there were only 4 good team in the country.
We wasted our chance to double down. Now we’re also-rans starting from 5th.
You seemed pretty satisfied, if anything, you seemed to relish our position. I appreciate your critical voice now, but where was it during the dark years under Wenger? You had more excuses than Trump.
If some of u think Mustafi is that bad, wait till u see Smalling in our team, then u will rethink about about so.e of the utterances put out here.
I don’t think Arsenal decides to buy bad plays and no team does.
Xhaka n Mustafi ai t going g nowhere in the foreseeable future.
All I want is my team performs better n learn from their mistakes game after game
I don’t think we’re signing Smalling.
Phd020 Frankly I agree with Tony Adams view of supporters. Yes expectations have changed and there is now a huge gulf between the top six clubs in EPL and the rest. The top six have got a global reach, whilst the rest still retain a more localised support. Adams article was frankly unsentimental. He regards football as a business so from a personal perspective I can understand his point of view. However, as old school I am perhaps a little more sentimental and more forgiving about the club than probably most of the posters on Le Grove. Last season I… Read more »
You’ve been attending the same restaurant for 10 years the service has always been great until one day new management team arrive staff are rude and the service is shit. The meal you paid for is double since the last time you went with the old management was there. I’m assuming most of Le grovers would’nt go back to that restaurant.
It’s funny how we as fans are served up with shit sandwiches but still go back for more. Love is blind sometimes!!!
That’s just my opinion btw your all entitled to do what the hell you want.
On an entirely different matter, which both Pedro and other posters need to consider. The current EPL rules require clubs to register a minimum of 8 Home Grown players. Arsenal have currently exactly that number inclusive of both Jenkinson and Martinez both of whom seldom if ever are likely to play in EPL. The offloading of Welbeck, Ramsey, Chambers [currently out on loan] and Jenkinson will result in Arsenal having to replace at least three of them. In normal circumstances players like Smith-Rowe, Nelson and Nkietah would be added to first team squad but NOT registered. They may have to… Read more »
“Anthony Martial reveals he was an Arsenal fan as a kid.
What are we waiting for”
The UTD curse?
Every player we’ve gotten from UTD has turned out to be average at best.
“The current EPL rules require clubs to register a minimum of 8 Home Grown players.”
This is not remotely true.
Mike Dean announced as the referee for Sunday’s NLD.
Honestly?
Likely to be lazy journalism, but the Ozil to United rumours are back.
If Mourinho can stay there and be an anchor holding United back and also gives us money for Ozil before he’s sacked I will turn into his biggest fan.
Gambon
So if my interpretation of the rules is not correct what is the current rule?
My understanding is that you must have 8 home grown players if you wish
to register 25 players.
Home grown can include foreign nationals who have played for the club three
years before 21st birthday. So Martinez, Bellerin and Iwobi would be included.
“Thank you for you patience.”
Something our former manager never said to us.
I would be delighted to see Ozil go to manure.
Pedro I was talking about the years from 98 – 04/5 …league titles ,fa cups ,1st or 2nd every season..we were spoilt during that period …we will be lucky if we have a repeat of that success in the next 20 years. Yes we did waste our chance …Thierry Henry said any player in the world would have come to Arsenal in the invincible period with the quality and style of football we were playing and that is when we should have pushed the boat out . However,the cesc,rvp,ade,nasri era was a great but frustrating time to be an Arsenal… Read more »
Emirates
There is no quota for Home Grown players.
Merely a quote for non-homegrown players (17)
We currently have 15, so can add at least one without any departures.
Mustafi counts as HG as well, but doubt that will save him if Emery wants rid.
Considering Lichsteiner, Elneny, one of Monreal & Kolasinac are unlikely to be here next season, we can easily go out and buy 4-5 players without too much worry over HG status.
Ozil to United. One can dream.
Gambon
Are you sure that is correct?
My understanding was that if you failed to reach the 8 HG target then they reduced the number of registration.
However, you seem to be fairly certain about rules.
Also are you sure that Mustafi played in England at U21 level for three years? I
know that he was here for some time.
Why is it that Arsenal fans are so concerned with Club finances? After all, a Club with Arsenal’s huge revenue ought to have no money problems at all, In PL only Man U has more. The Bank of England Club, we were called. And at the top of the tree, not so long ago, packed with talent like Denis, Patrick, Sol, and on and on. So what happened? The Emirates stadium? Its purpose was to provide greater revenue not less. And it does. Arsene Wenger? The guy was an employee, he followed orders, didn’t he? Any complaints from his bosses?… Read more »
Gambon
Just checked Mustafi was registered with Everton less than three years as an
U21 player.
Emirates
Yes, the rule is very much that you can only have 17 non HG players over 21 on Jan 1st of the year the season starts.
You could feasibly have 0 HG players if you wanted.
17 Non HG, and 8 under 21s.
Yes, I think Mustafi was 2.5 years rather than 3 full seasons.
Still, its 15 non HG players still, becuase Mavropanos is not yet 21.
Next season Mavropanos is 21, so we will have 16 non HG.
I think the club may choose to loan him out for the season if we feel he isnt ready, rather than take up a non HG space in the squad.
EmiratesstrollerNovember 27, 2018 16:10:55 On your separate comment about Rugby I was for the record playing for both Saracens [schools and colts level] and Wasps [adult level]. Whilst Rugby has gone professional the fundamentals of the game have not changed as dramatically as EPL professional football. There is far more camaraderie and loyalty and support levels for the club is more family orientated and close knit. —————— And why do you think that is? Maybe because the Rugby Union clubs,aren’t asking for the impossible from their fans-maybe?Not asking for their pound of flesh-perhaps? Not asking for fans to pay through… Read more »
Emiratesstroller
“He then went on to distinguish Arsenal Supporters of old who had a close affinity with the club whatever the result with the new breed of fan who are
only interested in the result and winning trophies.”
What a load of rubbish….For most ‘fans’ results and winning trophies was secondary to Wenger has earned the right to decide his future, to the detriment of the club i might add.
Gambon I doubt that Arsenal would want to register less than 25 players if they qualify for both EPL and Europe. Therefore we will need 8 Home Grown Players included in squad. Also I did suggest that Home Grown players who are Under 21 can be added to squad without having to register them. If you look at original post I suggested that Smith-Rowe, Nelson and Nkietah could be added in this way. Mavropanos is U21 but as a Greek National who has not played for us three years will need to be registered just like Guendouzi. Both are playing… Read more »
Pierre
Is it “he’s not getting the best out of our offensive players or is it he’s not getting the best out of our creative players?”
Please clarify.
PhD2020
You may well be correct that ticket prices are a factor although International Rugby is not cheap.
However, the culture of the game is still very different. If you play both rugby
and football you will understand this.
Rugby players and supporters are much more likely to interact than those
in football. You will find rugby players drinking at the same bar as supporters
after a match.
Pierre
From 87-94….League titles, FA Cup, League Cups and European trophy…we were spoilt during thst period
Mike Dean is the ref for NLD. God help us. Xhaka red card in the making- penalty ;(
Ruth
True
Mike Dean penalty stats:
Man Utd – 16 in 61 matches, one every 3.81 games.
Chelsea – 12 in 65 matches, one every 5.42 games.
Man City – 11 in 63 matches, one every 5.73 games.
Spurs – 10 in 58 matches, one every 5.80 games.
Arsenal – 3 in 64 matches, one every 21.33 games.
Graham
Both
Our creative players are our offensive players
Guns of sf
Don’t worry thing are different now …at long last decisions are going out way .
Guns : for us or against ??
If you looked at every refs penalty stats for the top 6 during the last 10 years of so and I’m sure they will all have Arsenal at the bottom…..
All Mike dean ‘s penalty stats do is confirm what I have been saying for years ..
Didn’t even know this ugly cunt was still alive.
Highbury
Against us…. alarming!
https://talksport.com/football/452175/tottenham-vs-arsenal-mike-dean-referee-north-london-derby-fans/
lol
What I meant to say is that these are penalties he has given us- not too many compared to the other top teams in the league
Manure benefits the most. I remember this asswipe- and it was always like 12 against 11 with him being the damn fuckin ref
Mike Dean penalty stats:Man Utd – 16 in 61 matches, one every 3.81 games. Chelsea – 12 in 65 matches, one every 5.42 games. Man City – 11 in 63 matches, one every 5.73 games. Spurs – 10 in 58 matches, one every 5.80 games. Arsenal – 3 in 64 matches, one every 21.33 games. It makes a lot of sense We don’t have dribbling players We don’t use the wings to cross the ball We don’t put ourselves in situations where the referee is put under pressure to award a penalty. The tail end of Wenger’s reign just had… Read more »
When Mike Dean was in charge last year he made 2 mistakes which led to the two goals that we scored.
People are just getting worked up and of course are trying to work the referee.
Dissenter- agreed. The tippy tap is hardly going to win us penalties. Conversely, we need to be on high alert with spurs players milking the diving, and targeting Xhaka. Im sure the players and Poch are well aware of the ref
Does anyone know if Laca will be fit for the NLD?
Xhaka is neither shite nor a world beater. TBH, I thought Xhaka would never be a top 6 level player in the Prem. This season he has looked fairly decent and has been going about his business albeit with his regular brain farts. Also his free kicks are awesome. People will appreciate his passing game more when we have an actual winger in the team. Does that mean I don’t want an upgrade on him. Not at all. Our defenders have been shite all season. Apart from Mustafi vs pool and a few decent outings from Holding, none of our… Read more »
EmiratesstrollerNovember 27, 2018 17:25:07
Rugby players and supporters are much more likely to interact than those
in football. You will find rugby players drinking at the same bar as supporters
after a match.
————————-
Hmm..Was this not the case in football also,back in the days,before the game was awash with astronomical amounts of money?
I mean,I’m sure you can tell me,whether the likes of Charlie George,Frank Stapelton,George Graham,Liam Brady,Pat Jennings,et al could be found in a local bar or the club bar socialising with the proletariats(fans)-non?
Lol
Here we go with the “All refs hate Arsenal” bollocks.
Akilan
Agree 100% with your post.
The club needs to focus on bringing in three or four players who are good value and affordable to include one CB, LB and W.
Also we should endeavour to integrate a couple of the academy into first team
squad.
What people do not seem to realise is that the club has recruited since January eight new players and both Martinez and Jenkinson have also be added
to squad.
So that means that the club has changed already 10 out of 25 players since January.
Gambon
Dont you know that they do? They actually do!
Also Mkhi is a scam. He is neither a winger nor a CAM. For a MF, his passing is pretty shite and I hate it when he messes up a simple pass(at that level) at a crucial moment losing all the rhythm. Also he’s an average dribbler and poses zero goal threat for a winger. 170k a week down the fucking drain. Would have Theo fucking Walcott over him all day long. Sooner we get rid of him the better. TBH, I’d sell all our 3 CAMs and buy a new winger, a CAM and bring back Nelson. We could… Read more »
They better wrap up Torriera in cotton wool for the spuds game. He will have to do the work of two midfielders.
Never really bought into this whole idea that our attack was great. People state we have Lacazette/Aubameyang but only one can play at once. People state we’ve got Ramsey, Ozil and Mkhitaryan, but only one can play at once if you’re looking for balance and none of them are really good enough. They all have glaring weaknesses. We have absolutely no wingers and are lacking in pace and directness. The squad is, as many people said, an unbalanced and ill-thought-out mess that we’re now trying to address. Have to hope Nelson continues to develop and that his return along with… Read more »
I can see a 3-5-2 working again against spurs.
As it stands, Bell and Kola are the healthy full/wingbacks currently anyhow
I think we should go with 3 midfielders for Spurs because the way they use Alli and Eriksen could mean we get overrun and if they put Xhaka under the pressure they did Jorginho he’s dropping mistake after mistake. I’d go with Guendouzi, Torreira, Xhaka as a midfield in a 4-3-3/4-5-1. Then have Iwobi on side and maybe even someone like Maitland Niles on the other instead of Mkhitaryan to see out Spurs pressure and remain solid. We have to accept Spurs are a much better team than us starting 11 vs starting 11. Wonder what Emery is going to… Read more »
Cesc,
“We have to accept Spurs are a much better team than us starting 11 vs starting 11.”
Agreed
We can only beat them with a 110% effort.
I would leave Ozil out of this team to be honest.
Cesc
We could always go with Cardboard Cut out instead of Xhaka, he’s more mobile and doesn’t switch off.
Dissenter
“The tail end of Wenger’s reign just had us doing sideways tippy tappy outside the 18 yard box .”
Didn’t we score something like 120 goals or thereabouts last season ….not bad for “tippy tappy outside the 18 yard box” football..
Laca needs to start ahead of Auba.
We need 10 outfield players who will put in the graft and we can’t afford to dilly dally with backward passes because it will cost us.
We will see how good Emery really is because Poch will approach that game with ingenuity, like how he destroyed “Sarri-ball” last weekend.
Dissenter
“Agreed
We can only beat them with a 110% effort.”
I don’t know if you realise that there is no such thing as 110% effort.
Pierre
Don’t be a cunt. Wenger’s gone and he’s never coming back.
Pierre
“Didn’t we score something like 120 goals or thereabouts last season ….not bad for “tippy tappy outside the 18 yard box” football..”
I was referring to putting ourselves in positions where penalties can be awarded. Our playing style disadvantages us.
Don’t take every Wenger criticism personal.
Dissenter
“We will see how good Emery really is because Poch will approach that game with ingenuity, like how he destroyed “Sarri-ball” last weekend.”
One would have thought that with pochettino ‘s ingenuity he would have managed to win a trophy ………..any trophy.
Marc Dissenter You are going to need every single man to put everything into this game. The thing is they have weak points. Dier is very slow and error prone a bit like Xhaka, only not quite that slow. I’d even be tempted to put Iwobi in CAM and have him like a running back (I’ve been watching NFL can you tell?) not so much concerned with passing as with driving the ball past Dier. Particuraly if Foyth is at CB again, get around Dier and then just go straight at Foyth and draw a foul or use his nervousness… Read more »