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Leeeet’s start with a bang.
SIX Arsenal players are back in the mixer for Arsenal.
- Koscielny
- Mustafi
- Bellerin
- Mavropanos
- Monreal
- Ozil
That is great news. I mean, you kind of have to discount Ozil, he’ll be back on the medical table at the next rumour of being dropped, but the others will all help us.
I’m intrigued to see what the plan is with Mavrapanos. I remember when he was signed above Wenger’s head, there was a lot of concern the manager wouldn’t like him… then the story was that he was very impressed and he started giving him games. He looks a good player. He’s absolutely huge, he’s pretty quick from what I remember he knows how to play the ball from out from the back.
Is the future him and Holding? We’ll find out.
Matt and I speak at length on the podcast about the reality of Arsenal and how we tackle the rest of the season.
The true reality of Arsenal is we’ve emptied out the piggy bank by making incredibly short-sighted decisions over the past 5 years, which were further compounded last year when we decided our strategy was a short term BURST for the Champions League spots. We didn’t sell Ramsey in the summer, we tied Ozil down to the most outrageous contract of all time, we gave Mikhi £170k a week despite him playing like a Championship player for years, and we amped up everyone’s deals.
The reality is that now we have the highest wage bill in the Europa League by quite some margin. That’s not sustainable by any stretch. It’s so unsustainable, we had to pull the Aaron Ramsey deal and let him go for nothing.
To make things worse, it’s clear we’re very unlikely to make a go for the top 4 this season. So that gives us one route out of this mess. We have to greatly reduce the wage bill. To put things into perspective, our wage bill is 260m euros, the next richest Europa League side is Milan on 163m euros! Now, we don’t have to drop that low, but it gives you a little perspective as to why we’re strapped.
As Matt said, we’ve experimented with what a ‘no wage cap’ looks like, and it’s a bit shit (because it’s been poorly executed).
So that opens up a scenario for the rest of the season. Do you gun for the top 4 positions and chop in players that don’t have a future with us in the hope something miraculous happens (CFC looking decidedly toothless of late). Or do you write the season off and see what the kids can do?
Maybe it’s a blend of both. But simply put, our strategy moving forward has to look smarter than the half-baked thing we have going on now of buying in some young talent and peppering it with ok experienced players.
I also think it’s that time of the year when we call for real solutions for the defence.
Yep, I’m gonna say it… GET STEVE BOULD ON THE JOB!
He knows how to organise a defence. He’ll literally tie them together with electrical cable, everytime Mustafi dives into a challenge that might not even exist, BOOM. They all suffer. We do that in advertising when we’re practicing a pitch.
‘Thanks for reaching out’ ZAP
‘Ummmm’ ZAP
‘Holistic’ ZAP
You gotta learn ’em good people.
Harry Kane took an embarrassing tumble to win a penalty and take Spurs within spitting distance of their first trophy since time began (if you were born March 2008). I’d love to see them lose again.
PETA France has bantered Franck Ribery by sending him a basket of vegan snacks coated in gold after he dropped a £1000 on a salt bae steak. Good work. I think the player was also fined heftily after he went nuts on people criticizing his choice on the menu. Bellerin is a vegan… you know who isn’t? The bellends that protested outside Greggs because they lauched a vegan sausage roll. Imagine being the kind of person that’ll march for something like that.
Finally, before we go. Myles Palmer, I thought we were buddies? The fireside chats at AGMs? The casual exchange of e-mails about the Gooners?
IT WAS ALL A LIE. How could you give a regular column to a resident crazy over here that sends me actual hatemail? This is the biggest betrayal since Wenger told us he had a surprise signing we’d like in 2008.
I would love to share some of the contents of the e-mails I have, but I’m not that mean. But damn, does this guy cover some topics. Rape, Zimbabwe genocide, hatred for millennials… quite the roster of topics let me tell you.
Anyway, the whole thing has cut deep Myles, you were my blog hero. Tears all over the keyboard.
WHILE YOU ARE HERE, listen to the latest podcast from me and Matt (EKB).
SPOTIFY | STITCHER | ITUNES | GOOGLE | POCKET CASTS
RG, I don’t think in general, but this guy sure did have a problem with you
Marko “Also with regards to the Ozil situation and how it plays out with some of his friends on the team who gives a flying fuck. They get paid to do a job and as far as I can tell his dropping recently hasn’t been a problem with team morale. Nothing like winning games to make a player feel happy.” If we were winning games without him then some might say you were talking sense , but as you know we have lost 3 games recently without ozil starting , and also a bore draw with Brighton when ozil was… Read more »
CC: “If Arnautovic is 40 mil, Ozil is 100 mil on talent. Clearly he’s not for output, but in those leagues he’d look like Zidane.” Didn’t quite work like that for a lot of class players. I remember Berbatov went to Monaco. Started having problems with teammates and getting red cards. Then went to play in Greece and had like 2 red cards in 8 games or so. Tragic stuff. When you think that you are so much better than the players around you and still think that you are the big deal, when you obviously aren’t anymore, it’s a… Read more »
Pedro
What’s with the rude boy/yuppie/geezer accent hybrid???
“If we were winning games without him then some might say you were talking sense , but as you know we have lost 3 games recently without ozil starting , and also a bore draw with Brighton when ozil was substituted at half time so maybe you are talking out of your backside .”
We were loosing against Wolves until Ozil was taken off.
Our best game of the season was against Spurs and Ozil did not play.
We were drawing with Southampton until Ozil came on.
Ozil is one of our problems.
Emery Is a bigger problem., than Ozil
Ozil has millions of twitter followers at least.
He Has a commercial cache. WHICH Arsenal use or should use more – rather than constantly castigate the man.
Emery Came 2 nd once in a one horse race
Ozil has won the world cup.
Again Pierre he’s been involved in 3 of our 5 defeats this season contributed nothing to the Southampton game and wouldn’t have made a difference at Liverpool or played against Spurs (maybe not actually since he’s a back up these days). Oh and our record is better without him than with. You need to make better points pal
Pedro
Now way top 4 is out of reach. Win our next two matches and it’s on like donkey Kong
Again Pierre he’s been involved in 3 of our 5 defeats this season contributed nothing to the Southampton game and wouldn’t have made a difference at Liverpool or played against Spurs (maybe not actually since he’s a back up these days). Oh and our record is better without him than with. You need to make better points pal
Marko
You taking about ozil or Aubameyang
Emery will be gone before Ozil ….
I alternative to paying Ramsey what he wanted was to cut him loose and save money, since, like Ozil, he wasn’t quite worth that much. You seem to think we couldn’t afford to keep him.
Marko ” Oh and our record is better without him than with. You need to make better points pal” Games ozil have been involved in this season Played 16 Won ..9 Drawn..4 Lose..3 season Say no more! 2018 Arsenal 0 – 2 Man City PREMIER LEAGUE Sa 18Aug 2018 Chelsea 3 – 2 Arsenal PREMIER LEAGUE Su 02Sep 2018 Cardiff 2 – 3 Arsenal PREMIER LEAGUE Sa 15Sep 2018 Newcastle 1 – 2 Arsenal 1 goal1 EUROPA LEAGUE Th 20Sep 2018 Arsenal 4 – 2 Vorskla Poltava 1 goal1 PREMIER LEAGUE Su 23Sep 2018 Arsenal 2 – 0 Everton PREMIER… Read more »
Oooh Citeh winning 9-0…haven’t seen a ten nil for years…exciting.
I expect I’ll get stick for this…
Azed
“We were loosing against Wolves until Ozil was taken off.”
not a particularly good game for you to highlight as Wolves had 4/5 one on one’s in the last ten minutes and Arsenal resorted to hitting aimless crosses into the box.
Ozil went missing long ago.
Non-existent as far as I’m concerned.
——————————————-
Only 9-0 now. Makes for an interesting second leg
“not a particularly good game for you to highlight as Wolves had 4/5 one on one’s in the last ten minutes and Arsenal resorted to hitting aimless crosses into the box.”
What was the score with Ozil on the pitch and the score with Ozil off?
Pierre
You and Ozil gone this summer.
4/5 one on one’s in the last ten minutes
Pierre’s coming out with wengeresque beauties now.
Top 4 is a trophy, mental strength, handbrake = 4/5 one on one in the last ten minutes
Azed
Give up on that one …we were dire after he went off v wolves , just as we were dire after he went off away to palace when we were winning, just as we were dire after he went off at half time away to Brighton ….
Is there a game we have improved after he was substituted.
I’m sure Marko will be going through the records as we speak
Joe
Top 4 is a trophy tonus these days. You all covet it.
https://www.vbetnews.com/sport_type/arsenal-better-without-ozil-stats/
Since being dropped for the Bournemouth game he’s taken part in 3 games the win against Quarabag defeat to Southampton and the draw against Brighton. Since then without him we have a 6 wins 2 draws and two defeats. So in full with Ozil we’ve won 6 games compared to without him 9 wins. Also with him lost 3 games and without him lost the Spurs Cup game and the Liverpool game. Basically he’s not really necessary anymore.
No un
We don’t covet it. But it is needed for emery to build on and fix wenger’s garbage he left behind
It’s never nor will it ever be a trophy like the wanker wenger said it was.
“Give up on that one …we were dire after he went off v wolves , just as we were dire after he went off away to palace when we were winning, just as we were dire after he went off at half time away to Brighton ….”
We were dire against Utd in the FA cup final but we won. Should we throw that away because we were dire?
The “great Ozil” couldn’t even help us against Wolves…….
Would be nice to answer the score with Ozil and without him for Wolves and Southampton.
Sorry forgot the 3-1 against Burnley. Still though
Ozil has a whopping 4 goals and one whole assist in 18 games this season. Vital stuff really.
Marko
Won..9
Drawn…4
Lost…3
Nothing else needs to be said…
I’m sure you and Azed are desperately looking for a game where we have improved after ozil went off …
don’t bother ……You won’t find one
Watching MC plays with proper wingers,I have to admit that a formation with wingers is more balance than a formation with wing back. A winger can focus on receiving the ball and starts his attack run. A wing back has to run up and down. It is more taxing and has to cover much more space. It also leaves more room for counter attack.
Pierre is so fucking boring.
I cant honestly believe this Ozil debate is still going on. Hes obviously got some sort of Genetic defect, look at his crazy eyes. We should keep him on about 50K a week as he ages though as he does have a good through ball in him, hes fucking great at it on Fifa.
“Why bemoan Stan“ Pretty sure that’s the guy who owns the club outright, but I could always bemoan Wenger despite him not being relevant to anything we do in the future to achieve the goal of becoming title winners again. You have a nerve to talk about me “defending” wenger when you take every opportunity to redirect criticism of elements of the club right back to Wenger. It’s you that’s fascinated with the man, get over it. I’ve said today our recent spending was poor, but instead of moan about the guy no longer in the job I tend to… Read more »
“I’m sure you and Azed are desperately looking for a game where we have improved after ozil went off …”
Nope.
Our best game of the season so far was Spurs at home and Ozil wasn’t even in the stadium.
Muffin man
Well wenger delivered trophies didn’t he?
3 league titles and 7 fa cups
Boom!!
More than any arsenal manager
You’re right , the Ozil bashing is really boring ….it’s been going on all week.
It’s about time arsenal fans started supporting their own players instead of continually criticising them .
Haha it’s so funny when Pierre gets all juvenile like this. Trying to twist words and all that. You can tell he thinks he is clever.
No I meant you and your tired arguments are boring.
Emery Can be the next Arsenal manger for the next 50 years.
He won’t match Wengers trophy Hall..
How we jettisoned Wenger for this guy?…I am still flabbergasted..
but I could always bemoan Wenger despite him not being relevant to anything we do in the future to achieve the goal of becoming title winners again…I’ve said today our recent spending was poor, but instead of moan about the guy no longer in the job I tend to find it more pertinent to concern myself with the guy still running things – the guy who still hasn’t shown he has what it takes to lead a football club to the promised land of titles. Oh we’re talking about titles? Stick to what you were talking about yeah. You said:… Read more »
It’s about time arsenal fans started supporting their own players instead of continually criticising them
Get behind the manager and start supporting Ramsey will ya Pierre
People keep banging the drum Ozil is on 350k a week.
Emery /Raul ( I guestimate) are trousering I reckon (150k)
I know- who I would rather keep.
Ozil against Leicester was sublime . that performance is what football is all about…
Keep off his back!
Charlie
Yes, theres nothing better than paying a guy £17m for one good performance per season.
Gambon
I concur
It’s obscene money.
Gazidas/Raul signed it off..
HE is here, last time I looked
Manager should play him
Fans should support him.
Marko
I know you’re slow, but you reach new levels of ignorant with each passing day. I think i’ll just leave it on the subject of Stan with you, you’re not capable of processing anything that’s said quite clearly.
Ironic really given you’re forever banging the drum of recruitment for improving us, but somehow cant work out the link between recruitment and titles when discussing Stan.
I’ll give you an example Jan 2013 Liverpool bought Coutinho for 13 million euros what stopped us? We just bought Ozil for 40 million sold Gervinho, Chamakh and Mannone for what Coutinho cost. What the excuse? Stan’s fault I suppose.
Nowt to do with Stan K
Stan don’t want incompetence, loss of revenue, and discontent amongst the fans.
He has not spent his dosh for Arsenal to become also rans.
Does any heavy duty investor want to have falling revenues?
Wenger could of stayed for 50 years and still not delivered a European trophy…the busted old flush was a fraud.
“I’ll give you an example Jan 2013 Liverpool bought Coutinho for 13 million euros what stopped us? We just bought Ozil for 40 million sold Gervinho, Chamakh and Mannone for what Coutinho cost. What the excuse? Stan’s fault I suppose.“
Unlike you to utterly conflate a POV and represent something nobody is offering up. As I say, best avoiding you for any sensible discussion given your inability to process what’s being said.
Wenger could of stayed for 50 years and still not delivered a European trophy…the busted old flush was a fraud.
Probably.
BUT.
He has left 3 league titles on the table
7 FA Cup
X2 seasons when we went unbeatenAWAY from home
Multi runners up places too
Stayed too long.
But we failed him – replacing him with Emery!
And I quote It really is amazing how we’re seemingly the only club unable to profit off the volatile player prices we’ve seen the last few years. Again Wenger made the signings and sold the players but blame Boogeyman Stan for not knowing the difference between a Gervinho and a Hazard or for not having the eye for talent that Arsene had. Again and I can’t stress this enough for you a Wenger apologist if you have an issue with our player recruitment policy and our inability to sell players for decent money in this current climate then blame the… Read more »
I would have Wenger as Dof tomo
His eye for a player is peerless..
From George weah to Nic Anelka to Carzola
The last batch of guff we bought was not his ;
Mustafi/paulista/elneny etc
Out of curiosity, for those critical of Kroenke:
If Sanllehi and Mislintat, or Emery, or whoever not named Wenger was in charge transfers and business dealings with the same amount of funds and players available since 3-4 years ago, does anyone really think that the position of Arsenal Football Club today would be worse off today than things actually are currently? You don’t think if these club moves that Arsenal are making on multiple levels had been in place years ago that Arsenal would be better off today?
So if we decide against signing the likes of Coutinho from Inter or Dembele from Rennes or Dybala from Palermo or even can’t spot someone like Dele Alli when he’s at MK Dons or can’t get decent fees for the likes of Walcott or Chamberlain or Szczesny then perhaps you need to blame the person responsible for it
“His eye for a player is peerless..”
Almunia
Senderos
Djourou
Santos
Jenkinson
Denilson
Song
Perez
Chamakh
Sanogo
Wenger made one huge mistake at arsenal
HE should have walked when Dein was sacked.
Those 2 were the best combo in English football
Then Gazidas come and his absurd self sustaining model trash talk.
Set up to fail – the day he arrived.
Same mantra spoke now
Still failing.
Hope Josh
Gets Wenger and Dein back
We would get our arsenal back in a heartbeat.
Ramsey signed for juventus…summer
His eye for a player is peerless..”Almunia
Senderos
Djourou
Santos
Jenkinson
Denilson
Song
Perez
Chamakh
Sanogo
All garbage
But u don’t wanna talk about his gems.
Talk about lichsteiner, instead!
Talk about lichsteiner, instead!
Make a point > Have point countered > Make a completely irrelevant statement after bringing up the subject yourself in the first place.
I mean. Are people really this stupid?
Good luck to Rambo
HE deserves it.
We don’t deserve him.
We can have banega or some bollox!
Bye Aaron good luck
Give GG, Chapman, Whitaker and Allison 22 years at Arsenal like wenger and they would have wiped the floor with wenger’s # of trophies.
Wenger deserved no more than 10 years. The last dozen or so were undeserved.
Reading the guardian
He trousers 36 mill
The Arsenal £0000
Well played Emery/raul
Got a trick up your sleeve?
Aaron deserves every shilling after what happened at stoke
AND the way we have treated our leading goalscoring midfielder
What a club we have become!
PSG just got knocked
Out of the league cup.
The same
Trophies emery won there that last 2 seasons
Guess it isn’t that easy is it????
How many people break their legs playing soccer or every sport that get paid nothing for it
Ramsey deserves it because of what happened at stoke
Hahahahahahahahaha
This beauty right after
Wenger is peerless.
Hahahahahaha
CG’s post could be used for joke Friday. Every single one of them
Charlie George is outing himself for the agenda driven Wenger slut he actually is.
You Wenger slut you.
Lest we forget Wenger’s FIRST signing was the amazing Remi Garde…lol
I wanted Wenger out – like u cannot believe
I just did not what we are becoming.
Colourless, aimless, soulless and ultimately trophyless.
PSG knocked out of the league cup at home by the team bottom of the league table
I just did not what we are becoming.
That’s because you were institutionalized by Wenger and aren’t bright enough to realize it. Kinda like cult members who think they want to be the sister-wives for some nutter.
Receding
That can’t make sense because we were told that it was easy for emery to win titles there and they don’t count
Hmmmmmmmm
Ramsey will be at Cardiff or same level club in 2 years time
#fact.
You dismiss Wenger achievements at your peril.
Just look at the plaudits, awards he has achieved since he left
We might not see times like it again…
Ramsey will be at Cardiff or same level club in 2 years time
I am hoping he is back with us!
Where he belongs…
Just look at the plaudits, awards he has achieved since he left
Wow
Wonder why he hasn’t achieved a contract at a club
Any club.
No one is denying any of the accolades.
But if you want praise for your/his good deeds you should accept the criticism for your/his missteps as well.
A certain poster is really making this blog a tedious read
No.
He belongs with the other useless
Brit we got rid of. Wilshere.
CG
There are 10,000 Ramsey’s in Europe. And will play for 1/4 of Ramsey wants be 100x
More productive.
Wilshere was always not good enough
Never a fan
If Emery got sacked tomo
Would any top tier club want him?
CGThere are 10,000 Ramsey’s in Europe. And will play for 1/4 of Ramsey wants be 100x
More productive.
You are so RIGHT.
but football don’t work like that.!
E.g.. Liverpool have both won the league for 25 years
Emery would find work easily, unlike a certain someone.
He would get hired before wenger does
The best thing will be that Jose getting a job before wenger does
That will icing on the cake for the wenger embarrassment
Wenger is adored by the Kroenke family.
Do not think his Arsenal race has run!?
Sami Khedira moved to Juventus when chased out of Madrid
Blaise Matuidi when not offered a contract at PSG
Emre Can moved to Juventus and Liverpool barely noticed
Ramsey is just following a path
Midfielder who moved to Juventus on a free and the clubs they left were better for it. Trust me no one on that list will be at Juve if they weren’t free.
Wish him the best of luck but I honestly think he will be back in England in two seasons tops. Will enjoy watching him at Juve though
Wenger is adored by the Kroenke family.
Do not think his Arsenal race has run!?
These are not the words of someone who desperately wanted Wenger out. In fact it sounds quite the opposite, like someone who desperately wants him back and never really wanted him to leave.
You lying Wenger slut you.
Thought wenger claimed he would Ben working again on 1 Jan??
He lies as much as trump
Ramsey left for what his value is.
On a free.
Anyone who besmriches Wengers name
Should be ashamed of themselves, in my honest opinion
He has achieved unachievable events time and time again.
He has records/achievements on his C.v will never ever be imitated
Genius are by nature flawed
And he was flawed the most
Pavard signed for Bayern
Genius are by nature flawed
And he was flawed the most
You are definitely a sister-wife candidate.
Carrasco rumours hotting up
Ah now we see what all the attacks were about…Wenger
The Ozil brigade are simply transferring their Wenger affections to him, he is their rallying point against Emery, the man who dared to replace Wenger
I stopped going because of Wenger
That’s not to say.
HE should not get respect.
And his Arsenal history be appreciated
I 8-2 to remind you but you 10-2 forget about many of wenger’s embarrassments.
Chapman. GG. Whitaker, Allison all deserve respect.
Wenger deserved to be sacked a dozen years ago.
They signed Aubameyang because they weren’t convinced by Lacazette. This is obvious. You don’t spend £60m on a starting CF if you already have a top-class, title-winning-caliber, starting CF. Prior to the January 2018 window, Lacazette went eight games without a goal and had only seven shots in those eight games. Many articles were written at that time about his drought and about whether he was good enough for what we needed. It is true that since then he has looked — at times at least — like the better CF, but he didn’t look it then, and there have… Read more »
Crikey Joe
With your sacking regime
Emery ain’t got too long then , too produce the goods..
I’ll give emery 2 years to make a
Difference.
The thing is we all know he won’t get the bonus 12 years that wenger got and stole 100m pounds from the Arsenal
If emery fails, he’ll be gone. But I’m not making that judgment after 6 months
The Ozil brigade are simply transferring their Wenger affections to him, he is their rallying point against Emery, the man who dared to replace Wenger
It’s really all quite transparent and pathetic.
The Ozil brigade are simply transferring their Wenger affections to him, he is their rallying point against Emery, the man who dared to replace WengerIt’s really all quite transparent and pathetic.
Pierre thinks fans will choose Ozil
Over emery haha
Pierre thinks fans are stupid like him
Don’t be like Pierre
I’ll give emery 2 years to make a
Difference.
I’ve said this repeatedly but it doesn’t matter how much time any supporter has for Emery. If he doesn’t perform, he will be sacked. So debating whether he was the right hire is pointless. He was the hire. He will perform how he performs, and either that will be good enough or it won’t. And if it’s not Arsenal as a club – not one person, not the owner or CEO or manager individually – will make the proper decisions.
This Charlie George dude is mental! It’s almost painful scrolling through the blog with his drivel spewed every 3 comments.
Sancho
Exactly
And to think he should be sacked after 6 months while dealing with the fraud’s garbage is ridiculous and throwing a tantrum.
And to see psg lose today in the cup shows just how ridiculous some of the Arsenal “fans” are being