HILARIOUS Poch meltdown + Rambo off early? + LOANS LOANS LOANS

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Before we begin, may I introduce you to some fine words from the Spurs manager.

“Tottenham, no history of winning,”

“Our glory, I watch the video about the glory, it’s with (Bill) Nicholson. It’s black and white and I watch it nearly every week. To create again that feeling you need time. Four years, five years, that’s nothing in the history of the club.”

“Again we’re going to have the debate whether a trophy will take the club to the next level. I don’t agree with it. It only builds your ego. The most important thing for Tottenham right now is to always be in the top four.”

Mainline this meltdown right into my veins. Beautiful.

Welcome to a BIG week. Cardiff, followed by Manchester City. A fairly straight forward game followed by OH SHIT THERE’S A BEE TRAPPED UNDER MY SHIRT kind of game against the best team in the country.

Let’s start with the news. I’ll give it to you agenda-free.

Aaron Ramsey wrote a tweet saying there’s a big week ahead.

WHAT DOES HE MEAN?

Well, he could mean he’s packing his bags early and heading to Juventus.

Or, he could just be excited about going back to Cardiff, followed up by City at home.

Tough to know what to make of it if we ship him off. If Champions League football is worth £40m and we only land £10m for him, it’s a pointless exercise because we’re stronger with a fit player who knows the league. I very much doubt we’ll replace him with a loan player that has anywhere near the quality he does, but who knows.

Next up. Sokratis. Out until the end of February.

What a bloody nightmare.

The good news is Kos didn’t break his jaw, just bruising and swelling. I don’t know what that means, but I assume they’d say if he were concussed. 2 weeks?

The really bad news is we’re heading into Sunday with hopes and dreams wrapped up in Mustafi, which is a bit like playing Russian Roulette with 5 chambers filled. There is no leadership in our defence whatsoever. A real concern.

Arsenal are going LOANS CRAZY.

I was told that even though we’re being linked heavily with a lot of loan players, it’s still unlikely we’re going to be able to do much. For the second time in a week, it appears we’re dealing with a CEO who doesn’t want to give us an option on whether we buy a player. Ivan Perisic wants to leave, Inter acknowledge this, but they want us to buy.

“Perisic? We must accept the situation that some players show a willingness to be transferred. The player has expressed this desire, we want to satisfy him but we also need to respect the value of the player. Nothing concrete has arrived yet, we’ll wait to see in the coming days,’

…  £35m for a 29 year is fucking bat shit crazy and payday loans levels of short-term thinking.

To sweeten the deal, Arsenal are apparently offering to ship Ozil off and pay half of his salary. Which again makes my eyes bleed, because Moratta is a very shrewd operator and not into wasting money.

This time last year we swapped Alexis for Mikhi. It’s like we never learn. If a fair chunk of the fanbase are excusing Emery’s first 8 months because new players have been bedding in, are we confident that someone from Serie A who is failing will hit the ground running in the most physical league in the world? I wonder if we’d be better of giving chance to someone young like Smith-Rowe or Saka.

If I were to be positive about all this. Perisic is a capable operator based on what we’ve seen of him in the World Cup. He has a tremendous work ethic and he can give us much-needed quality from wide positions if he finds form. His stats might look dreary, but you don’t know what the deal is at Inter. He might hate it. I’ve read that he’s a tricky customer to deal with, and inconsistent, but it would appear we’re very much in the ‘anybody will do’ territory which feels reckless.

To make matters weirder, Inter are trying to run a swap deal for Carrasco. Someone who comes with baggage, but is younger, with a higher ceiling.

“Carrasco-Candreva swap? It’s normal that there are contacts, Ausilio is doing a great job but we must wait for things to become concrete,”

Moratta also loaned Cedric Soares, the right back from Southampton. The guy knows how to sniff out deals.

LOTS TO DISCUSS.

See you in the comments. xx

 

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Gunnershabz

“but the DEFENCE needs sorting and from emery message he doesn’t want to add anymore in expense for his current squad” Probably can’t find any decent defenders that we can get on loan that would make a difference. I’m sure he would like a spanking new world class CB for example but that doesn’t seem likely until the summer and maybe not WC then either. yeah I get what you mean, the fav rumour of benetia can end as he left juventus to go to some team in Qatar but it does look like emery wants to develop Mavropanos which… Read more »

Paulinho

Our biggest problem is the lack of quality in transition. A lot of our defensive problems and goals conceded are due to spluttering play between our midfield and attack and the opposition countering off that. Emery doesn’t play with an 8 so we need our advanced options to be a lot more efficient than they are now.

Freddie Ljungberg

Gunnershabz

I like the little we’ve seen of Mavro, just too bad he has to play next to Mustafi, hardly going to be easy. Hope he impresses enough to be paired with Sok when he’s back.

Gunnershabz

yeah paulinho I agree with you

we lose most of goals with turnover of possession, lacazette has been guilty of doing flicks and it becomes a loose ball

we get crowded out and the opposition transition turnover ends up with an efficient counter attack leaving our defence exposed

that’s why I think he went with wingbacks and 3 defenders but we didn’t really create much with this formation unless we were really clinical

Bellerin was a speed merchant he can get back asap but Kolasnic will drift up front and most teams will counter his defensive space

Gunnershabz

Freddie

“I like the little we’ve seen of Mavro, just too bad he has to play next to Mustafi, hardly going to be easy. Hope he impresses enough to be paired with Sok when he’s back”

unfortunely if he does play today it will be with Mustafi, they both aggressive centre backs trying to win the ball early and they get caught
we need a good positional defender like sokratis next to mavropanos

but beggers cant be choosers for the next month

Champagne charlie

“Our biggest problem is the lack of quality in transition. A lot of our defensive problems and goals conceded are due to spluttering play between our midfield and attack and the opposition countering off that. Emery doesn’t play with an 8 so we need our advanced options to be a lot more efficient than they are now.“ What is this in reference to specifically? Because turning over possession in attack shouldn’t result in goals and goal chances being conceded, that’s a systemic issue of awful defending. Iwobi was castrated for doing a flick in the opponent 18 yard box because… Read more »

Paulinho

Charlie – If you’re looking to attack aggressively and takes risks at the back then you need to have an cohesive threatening attack that can consistently create chances/shots or at least really put teams on the back foot to the point they find it difficult to counter even if they do thwart us. Too often – as seen as again between Ozil and Lacazette before United’s third goal – we do not attack with any conviction and we concede possession too high up the pitch with the opposition barely flustered. I have doubts that Suarez/Perisic are the required level to… Read more »

Dissenter

Barca are said to be unhappy because Raul took negotiations about Suarez “too personal”.
That means he struck a good bargain for Arsenal.

Dissenter

There’s talk from French tabloids that PSG are interested in signing Denis Suarez and want to use the deal to ease Rabiot off to Barca.

Un na naai

Dissenter

There is a world of difference with molde and Manchester United. In those terms he’s a novice. You’re playing semantics but you know exactly what I mean when I say he’s a rookie. Now Steve Bruce isn’t a rookie in comparison. He’s managed in the premier league for decades
Solskjaer up until now has managed for half a season and finished last. Yes it’s an experience but it’s not why he got the United job. Neither is his time at molde.

In premier league terms not just elite club terms, he’s a novice.

Un na naai

. I don’t know about you but I’ve learned more in life from failures that any victory could ever teach me. OGS success is derived from being at the right place at the right time. He knows how to work a squad because he’s actually done it before/

Dissenter

Yes. I’ll agree. Hard knocks certainly sharpen your tool collection more than an easy run. From my own experience.

Nelson

Seems that we are getting Suarez and I am happy.
I start to see the reason why Emery wants to strengthen the attack. It would be easier for us to defeat those weaker teams. That would keep us stay close to the top4 spot. If we can somehow also get points from the games against Spud and Manu in the beginning of March, there is a chance we could sneak in top4, Let’s hope! I give up vs MC.

Champagne charlie

Paulinho

Yes, I get that. But attacking is a risky endeavour anyway or it would yield goals every time you had possession. There’s ambitious passes, cute flicks etc.

If we’re setup to attack in this way then our passive players and setup should be drilled to anticipate and organise to mitigate the danger from these turnovers.

Like I say, Iwobi throwing a dummy in the opponents box shouldn’t result in us conceding. That’s not an Iwobi issue, that’s a defensive setup one.

Paulinho

Charlie – I knew when we appointed Emery that we would concede goals like we have, and I still don’t have a problem with the Bournemouth goal. Time elapsed since has revealed how mediocre they are as a team and we were right to press for the second goal, even if it was just before half time. That’s always been his way and making dumb decisions and generally have no idea what to do in and around the box has always been Iwobi’s way, so Emery’s plan is to bring in more efficient ‘been ‘around the block’ types like Perisic… Read more »

Silverhawk

Receeding

The Benfica women’s team after 16 matches have scored 293 goals and conceded 0.

So far this season, they have played 13 league games and conceded 19 goals while scoring 30.

Braga Women on the other hand have played 13 league games, scoring 70 and conceding 2.

I believe you saw the clip where the Benfica Women won 32-0.But that was a cup game.

Receding Hairline

Thanks Silverhawk

I knew there was something dubious about that stat.

Cup game or not though a 32-0 scoreline brings the game into disrepute, even if it’s women football.

Receding Hairline

Paulinho A man sat down in a press conference and said he prefers to win 5-4 than 1-0 and yet some expected defensive solidity from a team he coaches When he was at Almeira, he went 10 man down in a game tied at 1-1, rather than an extra defender he brought on two extra attackers and lost 3-1, no one at the club was surprised because that’s just the way he is, a risk taker. The question i have always asked is, can he take us into the Champions league at the end of his two year contract,and up… Read more »

Marko

32-0. So there are worse defenders out there and they play for some womens team in Portugal

Receding Hairline

32-0. So there are worse defenders out there and they play for some womens team in Portugal

I think you are using the term defenders very loosely Marko

Pierre

A vital part of the centre mid is giving protection to the defence. Our centre midfield basically consists of Torreira,xhaka and Guendouzi. Those 3 are not the quickest around the pitch I think it is fair to say . Because of their lack of mobility it is vitally important that positionally they are near perfect and are good readers of the game and can sense danger. without these attributes , if they are fractionally caught out of position , their lack of mobility will be highlighted. Manchester United’s 3rd goal in the FA cup highlighted a weak area of our… Read more »

gambon

Have to say Sanllehi has played a blinder here. You have to be impressed with how he has handled Barcelona.

We wanted a loan with an option, they wanted an obligation, and Sanllehi won.

Im not that keen on Suarez as a signing, but at least we have someone that is more competent than Wenger or Gazidis dealing with negotiations.

Paulinho

Receding – Agree. It’s baffling. It’s one thing making criticisms of him based on his philosophy (although some still seem none the wiser on that score) because there are flaws, but general criticisms that don’t take his style into context are the puzzling ones. When Rafa Benitez decided to open up at Newcastle earlier on in the season after being defensive at the start, they started winning games, but then they got soundly thumped at home to West Ham. So even someone with the special sauce defensively or tactically like Benitez couldn’t stop them conceding three goals at home and… Read more »

Gunnershabz

raul sanhelli if the rumours are true he is a ruthless guy which is what we needed

Guns of sf

Morning all

Hear we getting Suarez?

Receding Hairline

Paulinho i watched Watford beat Newcastle in the FA cup this weekend

The game was pretty flat and boring because Newcastle were not attacking and Watford are rubbish unless they are countering. The minute Newcastle decided to give a little more in attack they were a goal down in a flash, pushed for the equalizer and were sucker punched with the second. All this while not registering a shot on target all game.

Samesong

Pierre

Guendouzi a youngster, all that will come with experience. Think your being a tad harsh on him.

It’s all about communication.

Guns of sf

If we can get another player in that will be a good window given our bare cupboards

Pierre

RH “When he was at Almeira, he went 10 man down in a game tied at 1-1, rather than an extra defender he brought on two extra attackers and lost 3-1, no one at the club was surprised because that’s just the way he is, a risk taker.” Are you saying that it’s a good thing that we have a risk taker managing Arsenal. Would you be happy with the point I made about Emery wanting Torreira to attack more when he has no recovery pace whatsoever . I personally think that it highlights the weakest part of his game… Read more »

Receding Hairline

Maybe when we start offering a little bit more in attack Torriera will not have to move forward too often.

If i was on the pitch watching Iwobi prance around with the ball up front i may also be tempted to join in to make something happen.

Again it boils down to what Paulinho is saying and has been saying, better attacking options upfront will eliminate the need for our defensive players to join in the attack hence lowering the possibility of a counter.

Paulinho

Receding – Yep, he can get away with that at Newcastle. Not much will be made of it. He’s working with less there but enjoying the leeway that gives him in terms of poor results and performances.

I think his best days are behind him (Valencia, Liverpool). We’ve got Emery at his peak, when he’s still hungry and up for that fight.

Dissenter

Ozil’s days are numbered, that is if he still fancies himself as a footballer.
No one wants him, not Germany, certainly not the not Arsenal hierarchy.

Champagne charlie

Paulinho

We can agree to disagree as far as conceding those types of goals go. You don’t brush those under a rug in some defence of attacking.

To concede goals from the opposite box is abysmal defending. The kind that stifles attackers because they’re then pressured never to lose the ball despite needing to take risks.

I wouldn’t expect that sort of concessions of any manager, so for me that’s a totally bogus assertion as far as Emery goes.

Gunnershabz

in regarding Ozil

Fenerbache cant even afford him they in a relagation battle and could be relegated and plus they banned from Europe

so no way they can pull a package for him and I know he ozil would love to retire at fenerbache

only way is with inter Milan but they will want a loan and wage compensation

Receding Hairline

Yep, he can get away with that at Newcastle. Not much will be made of it. He’s working with less there but enjoying the leeway that gives him in terms of poor results and performances. Paulinho personally i think Rafa is pulling a blinder at Newcastle, he is absolved of any poor result or performance because people are more fixated on Ashley and his lack of investment. After some less than stellar spells at Napoli and Madrid, he has somehow reinvented himself in England as a good manager starved of funds who would have been doing wonders if he was… Read more »

Leftsidesanch

new post

Pierre

RH
“Again it boils down to what Paulinho is saying and has been saying, better attacking options upfront will eliminate the need for our defensive players to join in the attack hence lowering the possibility of a counter.”

I’m not sure if will make any difference who we bring in , as you say Emery’s a risk taker…
Anyway , I believe that used correctly Aubamayang,Lacazette,Ozil,Mhkitaryan,iwobi and Ramsey are good enough attacking options …it remains to be seen whether Emery improves on what we already have at the club.

azed

“La Gazzetta dello Sport also report that Mislintat was the one who had suggested the signing of Perisic to Emery.

Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2019/01/29/ivan-perisic-annoyed-sven-mislintat-exit-arsenal-8407636/?ito=cbshare

This part from the Metro quote would not be could for “the Spanish guys are trash” crew.

Charlie George

Gambom

“”Have to say Sanllehi has played a blinder here. You have to be impressed with how he has handled Barcelona.””

Are u sure???

Barca( Raul) sign Suarez from Villareal
£3.5 million.
Arsenal ( Raul ) sign from Barca for
£20 million.
Suarez has been a resounding failure at Barca- and yet his price has increased FIVEFOLD?

And then we wonder why are finances are in a pickle…

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