Arsenal chase down special Ligue 1 talent

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Very interesting how powerful Gary Neville has made himself in the game. He creates headlines for his opinions, and unlike some publications, he’s usually a force for good. (Interview)

It’s interesting how hard the Raheem Sterling story has pivoted to ‘this is just racist.’ My hope is that we’ll have the same come to jesus moment we had with the press and their treatment of the national team. The press treated the England camp a lot different after their shite long lense story this summer. If you apply pressure to them, their narrative changes, because ultimately, your interest keeps them in work.

Arsenal is apparently ramping up interest in 20-year-old number 8, Houssem Aouar. The player has attracted interest from Manchester City who are also chasing down Pepe of Lille. Thing is, how many players can one team buy? When do you start looking at their squad as a player and think… ‘damn, is this worth it?.’

I think there are two clear things going on with Sven M. Firstly, after reading that great interview in Die Ziet the other day, it’s clear he’s looking at players through a far more technical lense than the spreadsheet virgins online. He’s not just looking at pass completion and core stats. He’s looking at things like efficiency of running, positioning and far deeper metrics that point to value.

I’d imagine the club see that they can get far more value from young players around Europe than they can from very expensive players that might still need quite a lot of development to hit the heights at 28-years-old. This young Frenchman looks like the sort of player Mislintat loves. Fast, technically excellent, light on the feet… I’d be very happy to start snapping up the top talent from Ligue 1 again.

I don’t know why I love the above video so much, but it’s awesome. Thierry enforcing good manners is something else.

Back to Neville. He had this to say on Torreira.

“I think someone like him leaves his teammates with nowhere to go. If you look at him against Tottenham getting forward into the box he’s almost like this bundle of energy that everyone else in the team responds too, & this team needed that”

Mainline that right into my veins. Torreira has been an exceptional find, and it’s unreal how quickly he’s developed into one of the most important names on the teamsheet.

Alex Iwobi reckons he nearly fucked off the Crystal Palace when he was 16 years old.

“I felt that maybe I wasn’t rated at Arsenal but I always felt at home here, so I signed the scholarship forms,”

“Then it was all about proving people wrong.”

Well, top-level sport is about proving people wrong at every stage of your career. He still has a way to go, but there’s definitely a lot of talent there. He needs to find consistency in his end product. The coach clearly rates him, so he’s off to a winner there, but you wonder how long patience will run if he continues to drop stinkers like he did when he came on at the weekend. We’ll see… jury is out at the minute.

Right, that’s me done, see you on the other side.

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Marko

Surprised you’re knocking about superfan Vic after you hoped Huddersfield would snatch a win Saturday. Thought the embarrassment would keep you away for at least a week. Shame

Joe

Vic

I guarantee emery will git rid of emery very very soon.

He’ll be at west ham level soon. Maybe playing with jack. Another over hyped academy product.

Best of the bad bunch hahaha. You couldn’t make it up. Still makes him “bad”

Victorious

Marc

In what world do you look to replace Iwobi when you still have Mikki and Ozil who are literally stealing a living in the club still kicking about

Iwobi is a better squad option than both Ozil and Mikki at the moment

Improve on the lot and you’d find a player who is perfectly OK to be a squaddie and still yet is contributing his best while taking home what? like 50k weekly isn’t much of a problem at all

Joe

OK to be a squaddie and still yet is contributing his best

Sorry but his best isn’t nearly good enough for us to be taken seriously.

His best is probably good enough for west ham though

G8

Finally icardi

Victorious

Surprised you’re knocking about superfan Vic after you hoped Huddersfield would snatch a win Saturday. Thought the embarrassment would keep you away for at least a week. Shame”

Oh look who has decided to join the party, Marko the big bad bullock is here to wave his flappy cock.

I mean everyone is getting along just fine tonight, needless to be a cvnt.

Now go do some homework before mummy gets all pissed off with ya

WengerEagle

Callejon has to bury that.

DaleDaGooner

Ospina is quite a very handy goalkeeper…

DaleDaGooner

Wait??? I htought we’d want the spuddies to progress ??? I mean let them waste their time in CL and stay away from the Europa….lol not that they’d give us any trouble, I quite like Liverpool progressing away from Europa..

WengerEagle

Spuds have done it, lol Inter Milan you bottling cunts.

DaleDaGooner

Barca are helping spuds….

Victorious

Joe

Again, no way we can have a squad full of world beaters,not especially a club like us running a self sustaining model with meagre sums set aside as budget

Iwobi is perfectly OK as a squad option, Sir Alex won a lot of titles with players of lesser quality

So who do you think has the potential of contributing more positively to our cause in the longer run, Ozil?, Mikki? or Iwobi?
At least with one of them there you know there is the potential to fight and put in your best for team anytime anyday.

DaleDaGooner

Barca are trying not to win here

WengerEagle

Mane with a shocking finish.

DaleDaGooner

We’re still debating Iwobi on Le Grove?? jeeze

DaleDaGooner

Mane misses an open net……Iwobi-like..according to Le Grove

Victorious

Inter haff basically shat their pants.

Complete bottlejob

Joe

Ozil ans mkhit’s worse is as good as Iwobis Best

Joe

Just because he runs a lot doesn’t make jk a good effort or make it ok because “he’s giving his best”

Still not good enough to be getting the minutes he gets

And Vicky. Who else is emery meant to play

Wenger did not leave many options at all did he. The useless waste of space Wenger

DaleDaGooner

Well both Liverpool and Spuds move on. We have Chelsea to contend with,….

Victorious

Joe

Wonder what has changed so suddenly

You was praising Iwobi a few weeks when he came against dippers a few weeks and gave an assist for our equalizer (ironically he even saved your bacon)

Puzzling

DaleDaGooner

Mane is really good…..lol

lemassivecoq

Spuds and pool through.

Oh well, only Chelsea to worry about in the Europa…

Ozil to Inter you say? Interesting

WengerEagle

Don’t know how the Spuds managed to pull that off, had just 1 point after 3 matches.

Napoli choking, familiar old story.

DaleDaGooner

Napoli and Inter will be tough opponents ….

Receding Hairline

Inter being Inter

You can always trust them to let themselves down

DaleDaGooner

Liverpool and Allison in wonderland

DaleDaGooner

Atletico are quite boring..0-0 against Brugge

Joe

Vicky

Had hopes he would kick
On after pool. He’s regressed back to his Wenger level days. Been absolute dire

That’s his level I guess not the aberration that was the Liverpool match

Victorious

Joe
Wenger did not leave many options at all did he. The useless waste of space Wenger”

Now you’re simply struggling to basically stick to the point

I know the temptation is there to mention him all the time

But Emery is not being put over a barrel to play Iwobi, he perceives him a better option at the moment

But you don’t agree with him and at the same time don’t want to be seen questioning his decisions so basically you’re left waffling all over the place

WengerEagle

Dortmund having about as ideal a start to the season as possible so far, pipping Atleti to top the group is huge.

Victorious

Though on Napoli

Deserve to go through

lemassivecoq

@Dale 9.57..

Yup, had a total brainfart and forget the 3rd placed teams..

Joe

Vicky

What other option does he have? Elneny?

Like I said. Time will tell. I can guarantee Iwobi won’t be here much longer unless he has a complete transformation of form which I doubt will happen

Just like you thought Wenger got the sack even though you defended him to the end , the same fate is destined for Iwobi I’m afraid

WengerEagle

Outside of FC Porto, potential opponents for Pool, United and Spurs in last 16 are:

Borussia Dortmund
Bayern Munich
Real Madrid

PSG/Juventus for Spurs, Barcelona/Juventus for Liverpool, PSG/Barcelona For United.

Would be hilarious if they all avoided Porto.

Victorious

Joe What other option does he have? Elneny?” You could literally say that for every other player in Emery’s team, His job is to win games with the resources and personnels available to him.not for me to speculating the options he has at his disposal Also thought you made mention of Mikki and Ozil’s worse being Iwobi’s best? So those two should comfortably be starting ahead of Iwobi? I mean is Iwobi a better option than them the reason he’s getting games? Or is Emery wrong for playing him? Which one of them Joey? And please no ‘what other options… Read more »

Victorious

ust like you thought Wenger got the sack even though you defended him to the end , the same fate is destined for Iwobi I’m afraid”

Absolute rewriting of history Joey
Wanted him gone the year he finally halted the trophy drought
Ever get tired of making stuffs up even when time and again you get shown up for it?

Victorious

This week Joe does a rimming job on Iwobi, just the next one, he wants him Binned off to West Ham, then when he has a good game again,he’s back onside,Hilarious

The fickleness in the mind of the modern fan is absolutely astounding.

Joe

It’s not one game you muppet?

He’s had about 2 good matches this season

I was hoping he would continue playing well but he hasn’t and had gone back to being crap

Like he has been for the last 2 seasons

Do you even watch football?

The Johnny come lately akb wanker fans do my head in.

No fucking clue about the game whatsoever

Joe

Modern fan

Trust me muppet. Been following arsenal longer than you’ve been alive

I’d make you a bet about what happens to Iwobi but I know you don’t follow through on your bets so what’s the point.

Marko

Oh look who has decided to join the party, Marko the big bad bullock is here to wave his flappy cock.

Hard always hard. I wouldn’t want to be reminded that as an Arsenal supporter you wished for an opponent to snatch a win either it’s pretty shameful especially for a superfan.

Wanted him gone the year he finally halted the trophy drought

Simply not true. You said that he earned the right to choose when to leave. Basically Vic you’re an awful “supporter” of the club

Joe

So now you can’t praise a player for havibf A good match and hoping he builds on it and pushes on but he doesn’t and then has 4-5 bad ones normal to his form if the last 2 years you can’t criticize especially if the good match was the abberation and the crap games is his norm.

Joe

and To set the record straight :

The bet was I said we would not lose.

You said Liverpool would win

I won the bet.

Yet you disappeared after for a bit knowing you looked like a wenker betting v arsenal and emery

gambon

Lol, Dale comparing Mane to Iwobi.

Mane has 40 goals in the last 2.5 seasons

Iwobi has 8.

It’s posters like Dale, with their sub-70 IQs that bring this place down.

Still hurt that Arsene got sacked I guess.

Nw9 gooner

All this talk of Juventus, Athletico Madrid having lesser wage bill is cr’p – their average wages are way higher than ours

China1

In our current setup iwobi has his uses which is why he’s getting picked. That and we don’t have anyone else in the squad similar to him atm I’m reserving final judgment on iwobi until the end of the season, but his season to date has consisted of a great start followed by a petering out of form. In his defense tho I don’t think iwobi is on a colossal contract, so it might not be a bad idea to keep him in the squad regardless. Not everyone in our squad is going to be world class, so for a… Read more »

Goobergooner

Iwobi isn’t good enough for the first team in my opinion, but is definitely an option for the bench. We have so many bigger fish to fry in terms of replacements, such as Ozil and mhkitaryan. Possibly even mustafi. Though even he would be a good backup option. We need to get those big wage earners off our books, and replace them with first 11 players. Whereby players like iwobi are actually relegated to the bench as we have a proper player to take his spot in the first team. Iwobi is the least of our problems, even if he… Read more »

Goobergooner

Big wage earners *who aren’t contributing enough to the team*

Graham62

Victorious

“The fickleness of the mind of the modern fan is absolutely astounding”

Would that be the mind of someone who wanted Arsenal to lose last weekend to end the unbeaten run?

Graham62

Is it good or bad for Arsenal that both Liverpool and Spuds got through last night?

Cesc Appeal

G62

Difficult one.

I think that in the past Spurs have not handled playing Thursday and then at the weekend very well.

But I do think it is good they have both stayed in the UCL because there is less attention on the Europa League than there otherwise would have been. If both had fallen into the Europa League all the stories would have been about the English teams now being favourites etc and we really don’t want that spotlight at all this season.

WrightIsGod

In terms of recruitment and playing staff the model we need to emulate is that of Monaco and Dortmund.

Fast, strong and technical young players. Sure they may be flaky, may not have enough to get you over the line and may be poached by bigger clubs over the years, but they will be exciting and give you hope.

Seeing as we don’t like to spend big it’s the best way to go.

Mysticleaves

Absolutely delighted Liverpool and spurs qualified. There’s less eyes on the EL as is and i want it to remain so. The distraction of having to face English teams and all the press nonsense is what we don’t need.

Also the money we are getting will be bigger compared to if spuds and Liverpool dropped down.

Lastly, it also keeps spuds occupied with an illusion of victory in Europe while we sneak up on them on the PL table.

Win win for us I will say

Mysticleaves

WIG, we will gradually move towards that level. Sven already bought Guen and Torr so there’s massive hope. We will get de fast, electric wingers soon.

Champagne charlie

Find that Henry clip contrived and a bit desperate tbh, could have easily dressed the lad down out of camera shot. That was more for HIM than the kid, just a cheap way of projecting discipline and respect. Always been my concern with Henry – narcissism.

Receding Hairline

Is it good or bad for Arsenal that both Liverpool and Spuds got through last night?

Personally i don’t think it has anything to do with us either way, especially Liverpool, we are not competing with them for anything this season, they will finish top two. As for Spurs their squad is as thin as ours, i think if we concentrate solely on ourselves and our goals we will be fine, we pay too much attention to them, attention they don’t deserve

HighburyLegend

WTF ??? Barcelona unable to beat Spuds ???

WrightIsGod

CC

Although I like the incident for entertainments sake I agree that Henry is a bit of a twat for this, it’s about him.

Never rated him as a pundit and he’ll fail as a manager of a club.

HighburyLegend

But I agree with Mystic, Spuds & Liverpool will have to deal with the CL + the PL + the nationals Cups.

HighburyLegend

@Wright : are you aware of the situation of Monaco this season ?? The owners have totally destroyed the club, total reconstruction needed.

Any other manager would have been in trouble.

Champagne charlie

Wrightisgod

Exactly, it’s comical to watch but if you were to have that as your manager you’d be thinking ‘unnecessary, wtf are you doing to that lad’.

TitsMcGee

Agreed that the antics by Henry were a bit pretentious. More for him than anything else.

WrightIsGod

HighburyLegend

All the more reason not to use an ego driven rookie.

Mysticleaves

“WTF ??? Barcelona unable to beat Spuds ???”

It is what it is right? Though the circumstances should not be forgotten; Barcelona had guaranteed top spot and rested players. nothing game for them

HighburyLegend

At the Camp Nou… where is their honor gone ??
(lol)

HighburyLegend

And Kane didn’t even score… anyway, enough talking of this suckers.

HighburyLegend

*these

Graham62

I have no problem with what Henry did.

The guy is a perfectionist and a legend and, imo, will turn it around at Monaco.

Va Va Voom rules ok.

Guns of Hackney

I’m pretty sure no one gave spurs or Liverpool a chance on here yesterday.

It just goes to show.

I guess Allison’s save is what you pay £70m for.

OleGunner

“VictoriousDecember 8, 2018 16:41:07
This is the problem with unbeaten runs. It gives a ‘Drawing is okay’ feel.”Exactly Draw ain’t good enough and the unbeaten run is a myth in making things a bit rosy. Wish Huddersfield will nick the win if for anything but to jolt us out of this,’unbeaten’ nonsense””

Once again I don;’t know why ya’ll engage” Vic the super fan” whose actively wanting Arsenal to lose games, only on what he’s seen from one half of football.

He’s a fucking Wenger era troll.

Mysticleaves

Guns
Napoli is not all that for people not to think Liverpool can win them at Anfield

HighburyLegend

Vic is still here ?? I thought he was exiled on Untold.

Georgio

@Gambon

Mane 40 goals vs Iwobi 8 goals in the last 2.5yrs

…. please can we also know how many minutes they’ve both had on the pitch over this time to put it in perspective??

Graham62

Henry was a good pundit. Always gave a different perspective of thinks and often was able to bring humour into the equation when the likes of Souness,Carragher, Neville and Keane made things sound too complicated and too fudging dour. Guaranteed he smelt better! Smart, intelligent and greatly respected and revered, especially amongst the younger generation of players throughout the Footballing world, he is someone we should all be backing to do well at Monaco. This guy made Arsenal a sexy club and irrespective of some posters perspectives on Henry, I hope he succeeds just like he did for us for… Read more »

Mysticleaves

Gerogio, no matter how many minutes both have played I think we can all agree that mane is better than Iwobi in everything, no?

HighburyLegend

Amen to that.

HighburyLegend

(*to what Graham said about Henry)

Graham62

If Henry was white, he would be called a racist by many for doing what he did.

A seventeen year old being shown how to set standards.

The world needs standards.

Henry should be applauded.

Nelson

Watching both yesterday’s Spuds and loserpool game, you can’t help but admit that they are both matured teams and well managed. We are still experimenting different formations. It is going to be a big challenge to get into top 4.

Guns of Hackney

I love Henry, I really do. After Bergkamp, the best Arsenal player ever imo.

I also agree that he is attempting to set standards for his players. However, it wasn’t too long ago that he was chewing out his younger and less talented teammates when they misplaced a pass to him…even Henry was capable of being a bit spoilt and naughty.

Champagne charlie

“If Henry was white, he would be called a racist by many for doing what he did.“

Err what?

Not sure your need to fiercely defend Henry, nobody has argued anything about his Arsenal legacy. I commented that the ONE act in the video was self-indulgent and unnecessary in front of tv cameras, some others agreed.

Disagree if you like, but not sure what tangent you’re going off on with the racism bollocks. Publicly chastising people has a tendency to go very wrong in the end, despite the mild amusement or faux applause it gets at the time by some.

Receding Hairline

We are still experimenting different formations There is nothing wrong in having more than one system of play. No self respecting team play only one way, don’t know why this formation thing seems to be a big deal Spurs were lucky they played against a team who have already won the group and had nothing to play for, they still didn’t win mind you and have Inter not been Inter Spurs would be in the Europa league. In the words of Craig Burley they won the lottery. I don’t get this falling over to give them credit, they did not… Read more »

gambon

No surprise that the former AKBs hate Henry He was one who didn’t hail at the shrine of Wenger. He was also more than willing to criticise the utter shit show that Arsene created. Now if Abou Diaby or Gilles Grimandi had done what Henry did, we would be hearing all about how amazing it was. The standards that are set from the top down are massively important. Henry is a perfectionist and I would expect nothing less. If it was Wenger he would have turned a blind eye, extended the guys contract, sent him on 5 different loans for… Read more »

Champagne charlie

Gumbo

Could take you seriously if you weren’t already on record as having waxed lyrical about the manager Henry will become. You’re just doing your bit to protect that POV as per.

Nobody “hates” Henry, that’s a little number you’ve spun for yourself as you look for any excuse to have a pop – your last sentence sums you up. What Henry did was self-indulgent with a room full of cameras, would’ve been self-indulgent had any other person done the same thing.

Graham62

CC

As usual you grab the wrong end of the stick.

Several posters openly criticize Henry on here and a great deal of this is due to his character and personality.

It wasn’t “self indulgent” or “unnecessary”. The kid is young enough to be his kid and he was basically saying listen, you ain’t done nothing yet, show respect and act accordingly. Remember, Badiashile is only seventeen. He has learnt a life lesson.

I know you like your PC methods and principles but going to HR isn’t always necessary.

Its called growing up.

Receding Hairline

What Henry did was simply playing to the gallery,some can interpret it as enforcing discipline or whatever but it was unnecessary.

He was lucky the kid was even looking his way or he would have been left looking silly standing there

Graham62

gambon

You’re wasting your time.

My son at seventeen would have tucked his chair in. Those that condone Henry obviously feel there is a time and a place. I don’t. My POV.

Kudos to Henry.

Graham62

The “kid” will not do it again.

End of.

Graham62

Oops, condemn not “condone”.

raptora

I love Titi to bits but he was the epitome of an arrogant footballer.

Trying to educate a young player to be humble is not really something he was when he was a player.

It’s more like he wanted to instill power and show the kid who’s the boss.

If the manager/coach is to be looked as a teacher to the young men, that’s a pretty bad technique. Demonstratively showing supremacy to a person that is obviously below you in the ranks shows big ego and small dick.

raptora

Next thing he does is to force the kid to shine his boots?! Pretty stupid behavior.

Graham62

Why is it that so many posters on here mock other posters user names?

Victorious/Pierre/CC etc.

Shite! Silly me………Of course, it’s that lot.

Juvenile and totally unnecessary.

raptora

Just watched Dembele’s goal vs spuddies. Phenomenal. If I could hand pick a player to join Arsenal it would be him or Mbappe.

HighburyLegend

“small dick” ?? He was surnamed “Anaconda” by his teammates!!
(lol sorry…)

Leedsgunner

You want your players to exude confidence on the pitch… especially strikers. However off the pitch they should be gracious, humble and down to earth. If more players were like this there wouldn’t be this disconnect with the fans.

Ngolo Kante is such a player. Supereme on the pitch but off the pitch unassuming and unpretentious.

“Let others praise you loudly before they see you coming.”

Graham62

raptora

“Instill power”?!?

What a load of crock.

This wasn’t Mourinho on an ego trip. This was a respected and honourable man( accept to those living in the Republic of Ireland) giving a kid a life lesson.

It was refreshing to see.

Cheers.

HighburyLegend

“Honestly, I would like to be coached by Pep Guardiola one day, we have this way of seeing football together”

What a surprise!! I guess seeing Aouar wearing an Arsenal shirt one day is just a fantasy.

Champagne charlie

Graham I haven’t the wrong end of any stick pal, I have a particular POV of a video and that’s literally the end of it. You disagree? Great stuff, but my view is that it’s unnecessary and was Henry acting to the camera for the sake of Henry – not for the sake of instilling values into the next gen as is the comical defence of choice. As for the name jibe, clearly you miss the countless times all of those you mentioned have been coined variations of their monikers. So kindly do me a favour with your ‘that crowd’… Read more »

Leftsidesanch

“VictoriousDecember 8, 2018 16:41:07
This is the problem with unbeaten runs. It gives a ‘Drawing is okay’ feel.”Exactly Draw ain’t good enough and the unbeaten run is a myth in making things a bit rosy. Wish Huddersfield will nick the win if for anything but to jolt us out of this,’unbeaten’ nonsense””

I always knew he was a prick, but after seeing this comment in real time theres no way I’d engage with the fraud again

HighburyLegend

This is the problem with akbs runs.