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.
Dissenter
“I was referring to putting ourselves in positions where penalties can be awarded. Our playing style disadvantages us.”
Sorry ,but you are talking out of your backside….
Pierre
“I don’t know if you realize that there is no such thing as 110% effort.”
Don’t be such a wussy quantitative pedant.
That’s a philosophical argument I would like to have with you…just not on a football blog.
PierreNovember 27, 2018 18:31:54 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.. ——— And where did we finish-Pierre? 6th place I believe..!!! Scored 113 goals in all competitions, conceded 73 goals in all competitions. If we break it down further,we scored 74 goals in the EPL and conceded 51 goals. With a win average of 50%..Shocking for a manager with 22 years experience in the EPL,with… Read more »
Why do people bother?
Pierre
Whatever…if you insist on being disagreeable.
Keep believing that there’s a vast systematized refereeing conspiracy against Arsenal.
This season alone we’ve had good goals scored against us disallowed …over and over again.
PierreNovember 27, 2018 18:38:02 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. ———————————— With Arsene’s pedigree and his twenty two years at Arsenal and his 30+ years in football as a manager,why did he fail to win a single European Trophy of any sort? When the league was a two horse race between Arsenal and Manure,why did he fail to win a back-2-back EPL trophy-given… Read more »
Cesc Appeal
We won the corresponding fixture 2-0.
Better in all areas over the pitch.
Back three, Koscielny and Monreal on either side of Mustafi. Xhaka and Ramsey as the pivot. Mustafi, Ozil and Bellerin were excellent.
I would not start Guendouzi. He’s a little naive in defensive areas and is a threat to get a red. Think Emery will go with a back three and Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang supporting Lacazette. Ramsey, Özil and Iwobi as the three changes
Emirates Stroller
If I got your post right you were saying Mav and Guendouzi need be registered as non HG players even as there are less than 21?
If so, it’s wrong. Until they are over 21, they are ineligible to be called non HG so can’t be registered as such.
How about this stat from dean in all matches he has refereed in the prem involving arsenal and spurs.
Spurs have received 4 red cards.
Spurs opponents have received 14 red cards.
Arsenal have received 6 red cards
Arsenal opponents have received 4 red cards.
I’m sure you Arsenal supporters can find a logical reason why there is such a large discrepancy between penalties and cards awarded to Arsenal compared to the rest.
Cesc
I’d look at having AMN in the team, at LB if we go 4-2-3-1 or CM if we have 3 in the middle, although I’m still not enthralled by Kolas.
Is there any chance of Monreal being back?
Dissenter
“Keep believing that there’s a vast systematized refereeing conspiracy against Arsenal.
This season alone we’ve had good goals scored against us disallowed …over and over again.”
why do you think that is ……..what has changed.
I could get on board with the idea that certain refs have unconscious bias towards their childhood team. I could get on board with the idea that some refs have conscious bias towards their favourite team….although nowhere near as likely. I could get on board with the idea that some refs have been corrupted by some kind of betting syndicate or even a corrupt club. However, the idea that multiple refs from a variety of backgrounds all specifically dislike Arsenal enough to ruin their career and reputation, not to mention potential criminal charges is basically fucking mental. I remember when… Read more »
We should play both Auba and Laca against the spuds, our only goal threats. I would play Iwobi on the right too, as he’s our only player that resembles a winger. Choosing between Ozil and Guendouzi is anyone’s guess. Ozil kinda turns up for some big games at the emirates. I think he’s due one this week. Also, Xhaka is pretty much guaranteed to get a yellow card, meaning he can’t play at OT. I don’t think Guendouzi should play two such games in 4 days. So, Ozil will probably start against the spuds. Wouldn’t mind Ramsey either. A dodgy… Read more »
I think Emery might stick with the 3-4-2-1 for the NLD because he would otherwise have to play Kolasinac as an LB, something many are not comfortable with defensively.
That will probably mean Xhaka and Torreira as the CMs, with Ozil, Lacazette and Aubameyang in front of them.
Bellerin and Kolasinac as the wingbacks.
Our weak links, IMO, will be Mustafi and Xhaka.
Phd
My comment on goals scored last season was in reaction to dissenter saying we only received 3 pens from dean was due to our tippy tappy football .
I know where we finished in the league and we conceded goals but that makes absolutely no difference to the argument as to why we were awarded so few penalties.
whatever formation Emery picks please do not put Auba on the wing again.
If anyone is guilty of the back pass, its been Laca this season. 2 goals as a result of this against us.
The boys need to be on their most alert and put in a max shift- I agree Cesc
The spurs have some horses in their midfield and we need to be alert at all times
Lucas needs some extra days off this week. He will need to be 100% the entire game. one eye on XHaka, the other on the opposition. Poor lad!
Bamford- I think im with you on that formation. It allows Ozil to play, and also Laca/Auba
Its a deviation of the 352 but adding Ozil in the hole- in his favorite 10 position
Pierre, ” why do you think that is ……..what has changed.” (Sigh) … It had to be about Wenger. Wenger was the darling of the media and was respected by most referees until he decided to overstay his welcome. He became cantankerous with referees in his last 4 seasons and was generally just a cu*t at the end. He thought his sideline responsibilities were limited to berating the forth official. Our playing style under Wenger at the end was not direct enough, hence didn’t earn the penalties other top team earned. We didn’t cross the ball meaningfully ‘We didn’t have… Read more »
Wish people will stop advocating for AMN at LB. Honestly would be a disaster there long term. Already was in the short term. Even this season, man city was going to tear him a new one before he got saved by that injury.
If he won’t make it as a MF then better replace him with someone who can. Buy a proper LB next summer.
Guendouzi must not start the nld. Could be a good bench option depending on how the game is going but he could be eaten raw in the match.
“I know where we finished in the league and we conceded goals but that makes absolutely no difference to the argument as to why we were awarded so few penalties.” Actually it does.. Aguero is more likely to win a penalty than Aubermayang because Aguero takes on defenders than Aubermayang. Like we have said numerous times on this site, we have nobody that can take on defenders aside Iwobi and he’s no so great at it. Taking on defenders forces them to make a decision and if they can’t keep up, would go to ground which increases the likely hood… Read more »
PierreNovember 27, 2018 19:02:07 Phd My comment on goals scored last season was in reaction to dissenter saying we only received 3 pens from dean was due to our tippy tappy football .I know where we finished in the league and we conceded goals but that makes absolutely no difference to the argument as to why we were awarded so few penalties. —————- Were you complaining about refereeing decisions during the invincible period? Or when we won trophies during Wenger’s Cup triumphs -3 in the last 5 years,that you constantly herald as a successful period towards the end of his… Read more »
Marc It’s tough, our squad really gives us issues. Currently it is not suited to a team who want to succeed and I don’t even mean there’s a lack of £300 Million spend or something. Just basically lacking in a lot of areas. I know what you mean about Kolasinac, he’s decent going forward but a bit of a liability in defence. If we played 3 at the back again I still don’t think we handled Bournemouth all that well and this time the calibre of the players we will be dealing with are far superior. We really need to… Read more »
Azed agreed
That is why we need a fast paced tricky technical dribbler to get into the box – earn penalties and also move defenders with his movement. Iwobi is our best dribbler on the team. Add a Zaha like on the wing and it instantly adds a new dimension to our attack, as the defense needs to spread out and shift to that players movements
Dissenter
Didn’t have players that could draw fouls?
Didn’t have dribblers??
Excuse me?? Sanchez, ox, Wilshere, cazorla, rosicky.
All dribblers. All got fouled frequently outside the box.
Add Walcott and Bellerin as runners in behind and we had plenty of “foul drawers”
Not saying that we were great but we had some terrible decisions go against us. To argue otherwise is incorrect or disingenuous.
Spuds might not be so hard to dispatch anyway. Its at the Emirates, home crowd, beautiful pitch and all.
Chelsea’s game this season is largely built on tiki taka. It was never going to happen on that Wembley turf. Sarri doesn’t want them playing any other way so they kept trying same thing with no change in result. (stupidity)
Bamford
Our weak links, IMO, will be Mustafi and Xhaka.
No. Our weak links will be ozil and Aubameyang if they start as our support to Lacazette
Ozil will not turn up
Aubameyang willprivide nithing but late runs into the box and potentially a lethal finish.
Cesc
One thing that is hugely going in our favour is the Spud’s CL match they simply have to win whilst we can send a youth team on Thursday – I’d even be tempted to send Bould to manage the team so Emery can spend an extra couple of days on the training pitch. We need a Liverpool like performance from Arsenal – we should also remember in the fixture last season we all wrote off our chances and had possibly out best performance of the season.
Una na
How are you doing?
“Not saying that we were great but we had some terrible decisions go against us. To argue otherwise is incorrect or disingenuous.”
We also had a lot of dubious decisions given in our favor too.
Our foul drawers ween’t deployed to use their skill set in the dark arts.
Ozil is an example, master dribbler who will not run at players but go away from them.
Mystic
I like our explanation about why Spuds win Chelsea so easily.
It’s also because Sarri was inflexible in approaching the game and couldn’t think on his feet.
Emery has to revamp his approach and play a more caged game.
We have to start with three midfielders to start with and personally I wouldn’t start with Ozil. I would also start with Laca because he contributes a lot more than Auba to general play.
**like our explanation
*like your explanation
“We will see how good Emery is because Poch will approach the game with ingenuity”
Yep, we all saw how good Mr Wenger was over the years, when he came up against half decent managers who showed a wee bit of ingenuity. What a great track record he had.
It’s like your judge and jury with regards Emery.
Marc
Good point. Spurs play Inter tomorrow. Not an easy game, and we have seen Inter snatch points late in games.
As we speak Im sure Emery is planning for the NLD. This will be a great battle of coaching minds- cant wait
So the gist of the conspiracy theorists who cite refereeing decisions as to why we won no EPL titles in over a decade,is down to refereeing decisions?? So if we won the EPL Title(s)-refereeing decisions were in our favour.. If we lost the EPL Titles(s)-refereeing decisions were to blame-nothing else. If we won Cups-refereeing decisions favoured us..No question. If we lost-unfavourable conditions,cup draws and of course the major kicker-“Refereering decisions-right?” European campaigns over 22 years,under Arsene-Refereeing decisions,or not? In summary-when we win-no refereeing decisions. When we lose-conspiracy.Cite refeereeing decisions as your go to default position. Sounds like a bunch of… Read more »
Un na naaiNovember 27, 2018 19:34:32
DissenterDidn’t have players that could draw fouls?
Didn’t have dribblers??Excuse me?? Sanchez, ox, Wilshere, cazorla, rosicky. All dribblers. All got fouled frequently outside the box. Add Walcott and Bellerin as runners in behind and we had plenty of “foul drawers”Not saying that we were great but we had some terrible decisions go against us. To argue otherwise is incorrect or disingenuous.
——-
With the way we played under Arsene(latter years)-the cheap version of tippy tappy around the box,how many players were we committing into the penalty box,to draw penalty fouls?
Our creative engine, namely Ozil, Mkhitaryan and Ramsey are underperforming because of their inabilities to discipline their minds and bodies to motivate/push themselves. Emery knows this. Consequently, it has affected our attacking players(Auba and Lacazette) when it comes to maximizing their true capabilities. Again, Emery knows this. However, considering we have 27/39 points and are pushing for top 4, things don’t look too bad do they. Dropping Ozil against Bournemouth was the correct thing to do. Giving Mkhitaryan game time will also aid his confidence. As for Ramsey, the least said the better. I like how Iwobi is developing and… Read more »
you’re judge and jury
Dissenter, cheers. A win is not at all beyond the realms of possibility. I remember them struggling a lot this season and getting off with lucky wins.
On another note, Sol ‘most creative mind in football’ Campbell finally lands a managerial position with Macclesfield. Absolutely wish him the best.
PhD
“So the gist of the conspiracy theorists who cite refereeing decisions as to why we won no EPL titles in over a decade,is down to refereeing decisions??”
May be worth noting, now you mention it ,that it was reported that if VAR was in operation a few years ago Arsenal would have been crowned league champions (not Leicester) ..so yes ,you are right in your assumption that refereeing decisions deprived the club you support of another league title….
Very disappointing for all Arsenal supporters.
Is it me or Lyon should be 3 goals ahead at half-time ?
Lyon looks very impressive. They could have easily scored 3 tap-in. I have never seen MC got out-played like that.
Bit worried as to why Reiss Nelson never starts for Hoffenheim.
He’s done well scoring 6 goals, but his loan won’t be a success if he never starts a game.
Must be a reason.
Nelson
Hope they get the win, both teams would be qualified if they do.
As things stand, they can even afford a draw.
PierreNovember 27, 2018 20:45:18 PhD “So the gist of the conspiracy theorists who cite refereeing decisions as to why we won no EPL titles in over a decade,is down to refereeing decisions??”May be worth noting, now you mention it ,that it was reported that if VAR was in operation a few years ago Arsenal would have been crowned league champions (not Leicester) ..so yes ,you are right in your assumption that refereeing decisions deprived the club you support of another league title….Very disappointing for all Arsenal supporters. ———– Oh really..?? So you are saying bar the 2 points difference that… Read more »
Bit worried as to why Reiss Nelson never starts for Hoffenheim.He’s done well scoring 6 goals, but his loan won’t be a success if he never starts a game.Must be a reason.
He has started 4 of his 8 appearences for Hoffenheim in the bundesliga. Still very much considered a prospect
“May be worth noting, now you mention it ,that it was reported that if VAR was in operation a few years ago Arsenal would have been crowned league champions (not Leicester)”
This is just completely wrong.
gambonNovember 27, 2018 21:10:03
“May be worth noting, now you mention it ,that it was reported that if VAR was in operation a few years ago Arsenal would have been crowned league champions (not Leicester)”This is just completely wrong.
———–
The man-Pierre lives in a parallel universe.
Leon finally scores. A deserved lead.
Hossem Aouar is such a top quality player.
We really need to up our game in terms of both buying and developing young talents.
Youri Tielemens anyone??? Monaco are tanking and he is too good for a relegation scrap.
Henry could do us a favour and throw a cheap deal in there.
He would certainly fit our desire for an energetic no.10 to replace ozil
There are 3 players from Leon that I like. The winger Cornet, the DM Ndomble and the left back Mendy.
Who’s going to tell him? ^
Lyon 4 points against City. Teams will study how they were able to do it.
United steal it at the death. Christ they’re shite
Who’s going to tell him?
Probably Bam
Lyon showing the PL how it’s done, nabbed 4 points off Citeh and could have been 6.
Shades of Monaco of a couple of years ago off them, remains to be seen if they can sustain it season long but they’ll give anyone problems in the last 16, serious offensive weapons considering we barely saw Traore tonight or Moussa Dembele.
Fuck’s sake, Donetsk scores a late winner in Germany meaning Lyon cannot lose in Ukraine now.
Still unbeaten, playing great football but paying all the late equalisers they conceded in the competition ..
Suits us Marko, at this stage Mourinho is doing more harm to United than anything else and has clearly lost the dressing room.
Rarely if ever can gaffers turn a sinking ship around when the player’s have downed tools, especially one as stubborn as Mou.
Tielemens has always been crazy overrated on here, average player.
* can’t afford to lose
Karim you obviously follow Ligue 1 much closer than anyone else on here, how has Memphis looked on a weekly basis because he’s looked fantastic in Europe.
Has impressed me with how he’s checked his petulance and gotten his head down in Lyon, easily could have went the way of Ravel Morrison.
Shades of later Wenger for me. Mourinho has clearly lost the plot and the dressing room and should be dropped as soon as possible but you’d still get people saying he can turn it around. Him putting up his three fingers and talking about winning three league titles is very reminiscent of Wenger talking about refusing offers from Real Madrid to stay at Arsenal back in the day basically irrelevant to the current fortunes of the team
It’s great to be on the other side of things and be a fan of a club wanting a failing manager at another club to stay!
Just as we use to hate Wenger doing enough to survive and other fans laughed at us being stuck with him, we can do the same for Mourinho now.
He can carry on doing just enough over there.
Eagle
Well, he had an average first season but his second one was excellent, he was their best player last year and scored a few gems in the process.
He’s still a bit of a pain sometimes though.
Great player when he feels like it, has some magic in him, really.
Amen CA long may the United banter days continue. Cheers Karim yeah heard as much online, lad clearly has immense talent, over the last year or so it seems he’s starting to put the application together but is let down by his petulance now and again. Hard to do a total 180 on his character I suppose, always remember that story Rooney told of when he pulled up Depay and basically told him to get it together and drop the prima dona act until he was actually a PL player at least and then he showed up to training in… Read more »
then he showed up to training in a fur coat in his Lambz the next morning.
That’s dope as shit
The game against the Ukrainian side has been moved to Kiev.
How does UEFA expect the travelling fans to suddenly start changing hotel reservations and flights.
The don’t seem to care about the fans.
That’s not dope as shit that’s a dopey shit
Look what happened to him since. The mark of an immature egotistical narcissist grade A arse hole with an arse hole name as well
Eagle
He turned up at the ligue 1 awards with a Michael Jackson outfit
Had a freestyle rap down the Eiffel tower, smoking a cigar just last week-end
The don’t seem to care about the fans.
It was probably moved with them in mind. I mean the teams would be protected no matter what
Mysticleaves I did not express myself well. Guendouzi and Mavropanos will not qualify as Home Grown players, because they will not be Arsenal players for the requisite 3 years before they reach their 21st birthday. They will need to be included in the non home grown list WHEN they reach their 21st birthday. I accept the point that Gambon makes that the club can play unlimited number of U21 players in their unregistered list, but the fact is that if Arsenal want to register 25 players we need to include 8 Home Grown players in that list. At the moment… Read more »
Marko
It was clear that the game could not be played under these circumstances so why wait for so long.
I take it you’re not one of the fans who’s booked a flight out.
The game should have been moved to a neutral country last week. That’s what a proper organization should have done.
I think some of us are over thinking the Spurs game
We are at home and Spurs are good but not that good. Don’t let the Chelsea trashing fool you , that result has been coming for a long time for Chelsea.
Someone on here said Jorginho was better defensively than Xhaka, I am yet to see that. The guy actually panics once he is pressed and gets bypassed same way you do Xhaka with the slightest turn of pace.
Receding Hairline
Spurs are not invincible. We beat them 2-0 at home last season and they have lost already 3 games in EPL this season.
The team needs to be positive and play at least as well as we did against Liverpool.
Even a draw against Spurs might be considered a respectable result with current team.
We should be aiming for at least 4 points from Spurs and United.
After those 2 games we’ve got a nice game at home against Huddersfield and then a game away at Southampton. That is usually a tricky place for us to visit but Southampton are pretty shit right now.
We can really give it our all. A win at Old Trafford would be great.
A draw absolutely isn’t good enough.
We can’t keep losing the big games away and drawing the home ones.
If that happens we pick up about 4 points from the 10 big games, which will almost certainly see us miss out on top 4.
We have to win a few big games, especially at home.
For all the Spurs bravado and Pochettino’s statement that he considers Chelsea as their main rivals and not Arsenal the stats tell you a rather different story.
Spurs have beaten Arsenal only once in EPL in a Home Game at Highbury/Emirates in last 20 years and that was in November 2010!
Our record over that period is W13 D6 L1.
We will beat Spurs. We will beat United
We win these games and I think we are on our way. Both are vile teams. Wont be easy but I cant wait to see these games
Emirates
You’re contradicting yourself though
“Spurs are not invincible … “Even a draw against Spurs might be considered a respectable result with current team”
We need to BEAT spuds at home. They are competing for the CL with us.
It’s Emery’s audition, his first NL derby. We need to start strong out of the gates and beat them.
No ands, ifs or buts.
Poch’s remarks about the Arsenal-Spuds rivalry aren’t cheeky though.
In his time, Spuds have edged past us to be the ones giving Chelsea run for their money.
There improvement coincided with our Wenger-induced decline. They haven’t improved enough to win stuff but we gotten progressively shittier in the same time.
I expect Pierre to jump all over this because he will see an affront to Wenger in m benign factual statement.
Yes getting off to a strong start and scoring 1-2 goals in the first half would be brilliant. We will need to take our chances- shoot, get into their box and sprinkle some luck in there- nick a goal or 2. Ozil is my biggest worry here. He needs to make himself a scoring threat- it cannot be just our strikers especially if we are going with 3 up top
Realistically we should be aiming to take 4 points from this next week, 6 would be ideal but hard to see us doing over both Spurs and United at OT where even despite their recent post Fergie struggles they’ve always handled us barring the Welbeck winner courtesy of Valencia’s gift which was a fair few years ago now. No reason that we shouldn’t turn over this United lot at OT next week though and who knows, we’ve been knocking the away wins out of the park under Emery so far so could well be a pleasant PL evening at OT… Read more »
Cesc AppealNovember 27, 2018 22:11:01 It’s great to be on the other side of things and be a fan of a club wanting a failing manager at another club to stay!Just as we use to hate Wenger doing enough to survive and other fans laughed at us being stuck with him, we can do the same for Mourinho now.He can carry on doing just enough over there. ——– It’s now got to that? Let’s put things into perspective.Under SAF they won 13 EPL’s,2 CL’s,5 FAC’s,1 European Cup Winner’s Cup,1 European Super Cup,1 FIFA World Cup,in 27 years of management. The… Read more »
Have to beat the Spuds, Can not go 6 Pts behind them this early, Draws at home are points lost. Should be looking for the win also at the toilet, It’s time to man up.
Emirates Stroller
Ok, I understand now. Arsenal naming Bramall in the 8 home grown shows you they don’t care as much about the HG as they do about the 17 non HG. As far as we get our 17 almost perfect we are good.
Will this article be a help or hindrance?
Who knows with Dean, but he’ll know his decisions will be under the microscope for the NLD.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6434737/Arsenal-fans-rage-Mike-Dean-named-referee-clash-rivals-Tottenham.html
Well this trumps Wenger’s water bottle throwing/kicking antics.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6435901/Jose-Mourinho-throws-crate-drinks-bottles-floor-incredible-celebration.html
all these comments and no one mentions that xhaka is suspended for the Spurs game. Didn’t he get a yellow during the Bournemouth game ?
so a mid of Gwen and torr, with wing backs beside them, one of ozil or mhiki and hopefully both laca and auba play up front.
Xhaka wasn’t booked at Bournemouth
PhD2020
Excellent post.
RH
my bad, I thought he picked up a yellow at the weekend.
one positive before the NLD could be that spurs play inter while we play a second team against some team in Ukraine
Guns
“Ozil is my biggest worry here”
Tend to agree with you on that one.
To all those doubters ……..Here is an article from the sun confirming that Arsenal were denied another title success due to errors by the officials. Every single game and decision was an analysed….. THE SUN “the Gunners should have been applauded as CHAMPIONS if officials had done their jobs properly. SunSport’s panel of experts have looked at every game over the course of the campaign to bring you the Premier League table as it should have looked. We have analysed all 380 matches to determine the goals that should not have counted, the ones wrongly ruled out and the key… Read more »
Pierre
article from the sun ? lost all credibility before the post even began.
Yes,he might be a busted flushed in current times..But,hey..This guy has won more across all countries in a lesser time than Arsene I don’t believe anyone is arguing that with you Mourinho has spent 400m and his team relies on Marouane Fellaini to score dying minute goals against Young Boys while he uses the post match presser to talk about his past achievements , key word bring past. We are still in November and the team that finished 2nd last year are already 14 points behind City with a negative goal difference I do not get where your passionate defense… Read more »
Pierre
it’s funny how you think an article stating that arsenal should have won a PL can defend the horror show that was Wenger. It would be pathetic if it wasn’t sad.
End of the day, Wenger didn’t win the league. End of the day, 3 points is 3 points and sadly could have got 3 points doesn’t equate to 3 points.
on the plus side, if emery fails, he’ll get the boot and we’ll get in someone else. So you can take some solace in that.
personally I feel we can only get better, another 2 transfers and the stench of average players may be finally gone. I’m not expecting all the signings to be a success but I have a feeling more than half of them will do well at arsenal.
upward and onward
Phd
“.Arsene sat on his arse for 22 years and won 3 EPL Titles in 22 years, and cited financial doping,FFP,stadium debt as his reasons to be unable to compete.”
You forgot to mention biased refereeing …..should be reading 4 titles in 22 years.
Dissenter Yes Spurs have outperformed us on the pitch over the past two seasons and may also have currently the better starting X1. However, on a one to one basis last season we beat them twice in home game and league cup compared with their one narrow victory in EPL. On current evidence there is frankly not a huge difference between the two teams. Offield I think that Arsenal are now the better run club. Spurs appear to be grossly overspent on building their stadium and one suspects there have been serious problems on building site. Arsenal generate also significantly… Read more »
Gonsterous
It’s funny how you ,being an Arsenal supporter, do not feel cheated at the thought that we should have been crowned league champions …
Anyway ,it looks like decisions are now going in our favour as last weekend was probably the 4 th time this season that we have had the benefit of a decision that would have been game changing…..we could be anything from 4-6 points worse off.
Let’s hope this trend continues.
Sometimes calls go your way; sometimes they do not. Arsenal have never been any more “hard done for” by calls over the course of a season than any other team. To claim otherwise, or to claim referees had something against Arsenal, is a ridiculous, absurd and self-pitying conspiracy theory worthy of Untold.