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
Were doing more window shopping than a parafin on Oxford Street …. Let’s go buy youth players …not 30/40 year old
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/jan/28/chelsea-investigated-fifa-more-than-100-players
Chelsea being investigated for over 100 youth players…
Honestly, we can talk about the players we brought in but I’m starting to feel last summer should have been much better in the players we should have sold. Ramsey should have been sold for £60m Mustafi should have been sold for £30m Jenkinson should have been sold for £5m Elneny should have been sold for £10m Welbeck should have been sold for £15m Martinez should have been sold for £2m Zelalem should have been sold for £2m Ospina should have been sold for £10m That’s another £129m that we could have added to our transfer pot… and goodness knows… Read more »
‘Inter Milan have insisted the deal contains a firm agreement that Arsenal sign Perisic, however, as a way of a compromise, they are demanding Arsenal commit to a permanent deal if Perisic plays a set number of games during the second half of the season.’
Iwobi new deal recently
Chambers new deal recently
Xhaka new deal recently
Elneny new deal recently
Doesn’t look like these guys are leaving anytime soon. Too bad because this squad needs a massive clearout and the players mentioned should be some of the first ones to leave.
I cant believe we not in the mix for Adrian Rabiot
even spurs getting linked with him, he is massive upgrade on Xhaka that’s for sure
but if barca are really interested then they prob need to get rid of Saurez, Malcolm to free up wages as they signed De Jong
The Cardiff game of course is no longer a foregone conclusion or a homebanker considering what’s happened with Sala. This will be like a cup final for them now and we’re going to find them very hard to break down. With Bellerin, Sokratis and Koschellny out, who’s going to play at the back? AMN – Elneny? – Mustafi – Kolasinac Or will we go with a 3 5 2 Elneny – Mustafi – Monreal AMN – Ramsey – Xhaka – Guen – Iwobi PEA – Lacazette Torreira and Ozil benched. Personally I’d go with Leno Elneny – Mustafi – Monreal… Read more »
“I cant believe we not in the mix for Adrian Rabiot”
He’s a prima donna.
Thanks but no thanks.
Benny,
Samwell Tarly cleaning shit bowls makes me feel less queezy than that team sheet !
Bloody autocorrect !
looking at emerys comments I don’t think they going to buy any defensive players
so it does look this perisic rumour is quite strong
he can play left and right
he is a threat though but hopefully just short term
I don’t mind arsenal getting nkunku there is some potential there he would be a useful addition as he can even play right back
Denis Saurez, I bet barca want to get rid of him asap
Looking back through our games this season and formations and personnel , the changes from earlier in the season until now are small but may be a telling factor as to why our form has dropped and results are poor. At the start of our unbeaten run ( in the league) up until the Bournemouth game we always played with 4 offensive players …it was always 4 from Lacazette,Aubamayang, ozil, Ramsey,iwobi & Mhkitaryan and occasionally welbeck . We played with a back 4 and 2 holding midfield players , Torriera and xhaka and the 4 offensive players. Since the Bournemouth… Read more »
Fuck the LA rams.
Bergkamp 63,
Lol! True; but what other options are there?
And we really should be beating Cardiff at home regardless of the tragic circumstances surrounding the build up.
First time poster here, have read the blog for a number of years and been a gooner since 96. Hello everyone!! Personally I am still feeling relief that Wenger is no longer bringing us down, though I remain grateful for the revolution at our club he was responsible for in the first decade of his tenure. I’m not convinced that Emery will be the one who instigates a recent revolution and gets us winning trophies again on a regular basis but…he is doing well IMO at this stage. I’m a glass half full person. He doesn’t have the squad to… Read more »
Like we needed another season to come to the conclusion that they’re not good enough.
Seems you were missing on here when the general consensus was we have great players good enough to make top four easily
Expecting him to come in and work miracles given what he has inherited is delusional and immature.
And we really should be beating Cardiff at home regardless of the tragic circumstances surrounding the build up.
Frankly i do not see how that makes them up their game plus they are playing away from home.
How is this game a cup final for them??
Bennydevito
Leno
a back 4 consisting of AMN Mustafi .Monreal, Kolasinac
A midfield consisting of xhaka and Torriera
Aubamayang, Ozil and Ramsey /iwobi ( not sure which)
Lacazette up top.
Leno = Liability, but he’s probably better than Cech who seems to have lost his confidence.
Just gone through Emery’s press conference. Here are my thoughts: – For the past few months, he did a lot to try to push Ozil out. He has miscalculated Ozil’s reaction. Now he knows that he is stuck with Ozil at least until the Summer. This is what he said. “For Mesut I want his best performance every day. When he is playing also to give us his quality and commitment.” – He prefers to win 5 – 4 than 1 – 0. This is what he says: “I want to win, we can score a lot and if we… Read more »
If PSG don’t sign another midfielder apart from leandro paredes then I think Nkunku will not be sold
its most likey denis saurez and ivan persic
Perisic??? Wtf. They seems Not to learn from Mhiki.
Give the chance to Smith Rowe and Saka. The two will cost 3x less money than this soon to be retired, who will never have the chance again to be world class player.
But the two above mentioned have all the future in Front of them. But only If they are given a Chance to play. Or, are we condemned to live with Iwobi?
Pierre,
Good line up, agreed.
Receding,
Because of the outpouring of emotion because of the Sala thing, that’s why. The players will make more effort than normal to show respect, it’s human nature and what always happens. Leicester had an upturn in form after the helicopter crash and I expect the same of Cardiff.
Bennydevito
Your assessment of Ozil’s rare appearance for the Arsenal team was spot on …his passing was crisp and incisive and of course he wasn’t to blame for the third goal. Lacazette gave the ball away , Torriera and Guendouzi left a massive hole through the middle of midfield and cech could have done better.
Only a fool would consider Ozil culpable for that goal.
I also agree with you that Ozil is not much of an impact sub…
People need to get over what Ozil has cost us as an excuse to play him, it is a sunk cost which cannot be recovered, we need to cut our loses and try to loan him out, even if we pay half his wages.
Every time he is on the pitch, he often plays a part in one of the goals conceded, as he did the other night. We cannot afford to keep gifting goals away and expect to improve from where we are now.
He is a liability and should be benched until he leaves, period.
For the past few months, he did a lot to try to push Ozil out. He has miscalculated Ozil’s reaction.
What exactly has been Ozil’s reaction??
He did indeed play a part in that goal, his pass to Lacazette was not great which led to him then giving a poor pass back again.
Perhaps you should watch more carefully in future.
“Every time he is on the pitch, he often plays a part in one of the goals conceded, as he did the other night.“
This just isn’t true, and it’s the sort of lazy commentary becoming the norm on here.
Nelson, Interesting regarding Emery rather winning 5 – 4 than 1 – 0, puts to bed the notion that he prefers joyless boring football but the usual suspects will still try and bang that drum and ignore Emery’s own words. With the shambollic defending against Man Utd and the comments about already having enoigh players in a certain position therefore no need to buy reinforcements, it looks like we have Wenger 2.0 running the ship now. So we now have it from the horses mouth that Emery prefers high scoring football than tight defensive boring football. How very Wenger. How… Read more »
CC,
Coming from someone with a sub 80 IQ judging from most of your comments on here, I would say that is priceless !
“We have enough players like a centre back in the squad. We are having a lot of injuries in this position but we have enough players. If we can bring another player and all of the players want to play, we will have a problem in the future.” First off its nonsense to say we have enough players than can play center back because we do not. Playing Xhaka at center back is one of the reasons people think he is out of his depth However i do understand what he means by not wanting to stockpile more average bodies… Read more »
Watch the goal again, he passes to a player who was blocked in and leaning backwards WTF !
“What exactly has been Ozil’s reaction??”
Look at his eyes!! Eyes speak for themselves in Ozil’s case!!
Mavrapanos
Holding
Mustafi
Sokratis
Kos
Monreal
That’s a lot of centre backs
Pierre, Thanks. Regardless of viewpoints etc I always try to be fair and reasoned in my assesments even if I am prone to the odd outburst, a character flaw of mine I am well aware of and working on. Regarding Ozil as far as I’m concerned he’s not going anywhere soon and I’d much rather see us get some sort of value for money than waste him on the bench, especially when we are very short of genuine flair players even if he’s only useful for an hour if the game. Start him and have 2 DMs marshalling behind him… Read more »
@RH “What exactly has been Ozil’s reaction??”
Normally, a player would demand to be traded to get playing time. But Ozil’s reaction is just laugh off everything Emery did to him. He just enjoys his life. He is already 30 years old. He has a fat contract and living in a nice mansion with a beautiful girl friend.
“Perisic is not a prolific dribbler – he is, rather, a direct runner who thrives on the counter-attack – but he has created 1.7 chances per 90 minutes this season and he shoots far more – and from more dangerous areas – than Alex Iwobi, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and even Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who has also been used on the flanks by Emery this season. For context, Perisic’s average of 2.4 penalty box shots per 90 minutes this season is only bettered by five Premier League players – among them Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus. The Croat’s average is higher than Harry… Read more »
Mavrapanos Holding Mustafi Sokratis Kos MonrealThat’s a lot of centre backs Yes it is Pedro lets dig deeper Holding is out for the season Monreal has so far failed to prove his fitness this season, has been struggling to stay fit for sometime now Mavropranos just returned from injury and Dissenter does not appreciate us namedropping him as an option, he was red carded in his last game you see. Sokratis out till the end of February, and that’s hopefully, we have been here before where he can go missing for longer Kos needs to be nursed constantly to play… Read more »
@Nelson
In summary a shocking reaction from a professional footballer
To think i used to love the dude and Paulinho was taking pot shots at me constantly
Ozil has quit the German national team. If not, he may need playing time to keep his spot in the national team.
Axed “”Ozil == Volkswagen Beetle.A relic of the past”” So why add a clapped out Skoda to our rusty old mix….in the form of Persic. ? Kos./Mustafi/Sok/PEA/Miki/Monreal/lich are all 30 plus. The last thing we need is another. No wonder- The German Scout scarpered!! How on earth can Emery/Raul say in all seriousness- that this Persic signing will make Arsenal ultimately better? a 30 year Croat- coming to the UK for the first time mid season- and expect to be cutting the mustard? Its a signing that smacks of indecision, and a total lack of anything but self preservation. I… Read more »
Pedro
If you were starting a team today, is there anyone you would want in your team?
Receding
We have 6 centre backs on the books and can only play 2 or 3 at a time. 5 of the 6 are not home grown which means in order to bring in another centre back, we have to sell one. The question is who would buy any of our defenders this January?
This is also an is issue with the rest of our squad. Lots of bodies but no real quality.
CG
“So why add a clapped out Skoda to our rusty old mix….in the form of Persic”
I am not a fan of Perisic. I said it on yesterday, I would rather chase Carrasco for that amount.
“Coming from someone with a sub 80 IQ judging from most of your comments on here, I would say that is priceless !“
Oh, you’re a mong… nvm as you were.
Emery did well when we had a somehow complete squad but since injury started plaquing us especially the CBs, emery hasn’t been good at some of his decisions making. Whether we like it or not, the earlier we know and embrace the fact that arsenal fc has no pulling power, the better for those calling for signings. A certain martins preferred being loaned to monaco than arsenal. I’m still wondering what convinced him
I just finished up reading our latest financial statement, the statements paint a grim picture of our financial position : 1. Our football revenue is down from 422.8 million in FY 2017 to 388.2 million in FY 2018. Total staff costs (excluding exceptional costs which are payment made to Wenger and his staff) is up from 199.4 million to 223.3 million. So, revenue is going down while staff cost is going up. Not quite a surprise but the issue is we are not likely to see any improvements when the numbers for FY 2019 are published. 2. Our profit after… Read more »
Bergkamp63
“Watch the goal again, he passes to a player who was blocked in and leaning backwards WTF !”
have you ever thought of talking a trip down to your local Specsavers.
TR7
Very comprehensive stuff and yet so very depressing. Staff costs are the major issue.
Caught your post yesterday on the Djokovic display. Bloody awesome. Dismantled Nadal and showed that there is a gulf between him and the rest.
Never been a Novak fan, as I find his antics counterproductive to my personal enjoyment of the game.
There are a few talented youngsters out there. Let’s see if they can step up to the plate and give him some stiff competition.
Can see Djokovic surpassing Federer’s total of 20 GSlams. That’s his major incentive now.
But receding what’s the value of taking lots of shots in the box if you only score 3 goals in half a season?
If we need that we can just ask iwobi to shoot more often
TR7, if you’d like to write a guest post on financials, you are more than welcome.
If you say no, I’ll just steal your info and pass it off as my own.
” the Djokovic display. Bloody awesome. ”
Bloody depressive.
Just like tennis nowadays, stays at the back of the court, never attack at the net, hit the ball as hard as you can, and mostly, wait for your opponent to be too tired to fight, wonderfull really…
Federer will stop at the end of this year, then tennis will be over for me.
(thank god)
Seriously, Pedro, it’s BEPPE MAROTTA. How hard must it be? Great content but stuff like this makes it look like you’re only half arsed.
If I wanted I could take more shots in the box than him. What is the value of your shooting is balls?
I’d rather a player who shoots once a game and scores than someone who shots 20 times a game and doesn’t
Pedro
Your list of centre backs excluded Zech Medley, what do you make of him? He obviously shouldn’t be chucked right in at the deep end but I think he could be called upon. He looked very assured in his debut and it seems he is highly rated for the future.
Sweden, I do half arse this. But thank you, amended. As you were!
Chris, I think it’s really tough for kids to break into the first team as center backs. I had a friend who played for Arsenal back in the day and he always said it was harder because you’re not strong enough to deal with really strong players.
That said, he can play as full back and I’d rather see what he can do now, so we know what do in the summer.
Please no financials. Boring as fuck!
Do other fans go on about financial as much as Arsenal fans?
Samesong, other fans clubs have money to spend in Jan
“The 29-year-old, who started his career as an out-and-out striker, has reached double figures for goals in Serie A in each of his last two seasons with Inter Perisic is a creator, too. As well as his combined total of 22 Serie A goals in the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons, there were 17 assists. Since the start of the 2015/16 season, he ranks 11th in Serie A for chances created (194) and 10th for shots (337) underlining just how dangerous he can be.” China That’s probably why he shoots, bear in mind i do not want him here. Just putting… Read more »
Its always dim with Arsenal. Some excitement always leads to depression. its just who we are.
No money. bad management bad players.
Injuries
divided fans
non existent owner
hopefully this dark cloud moves on… we need a string of fucking wins
Pedro agreed. Would like to see some more of him in the team before the season is out. Likewise a few other youngsters in other areas of the team.
I doubt he would do it but if we are out of top four contention by the last few games of the season it would be great if Emery gave some of them some starts.
Just saw on Twitter that an Arsenal ambassador, female, Indian, Bellerin’s ex, posted a chat calling Alex Iwobi a gorilla and a Neanderthal. Later issued an apology implying that she didn’t think it was racist.
Think the club needs to make a statement. People like that shouldn’t be associated with the club
Samesong
No other clubs fans have invested as much in their club these past 13 years as Arsenal fans have.
Keep up the good work TR7.
After Torr scored the goal against Huddersfield, he wants to become Remsey 2.0 Very often he charges into the opponent’s box. He is much more valuable to the team by staying back and intercept or breakup plays.
Regarding Djokovic I find his tennis boring to watch and he’s like the Lennox Lewis of Tennis; it rose to the top once those better than him are over the hill and haggard.
When Federer rose to the top he had prime Nadal, Murray, Djokovic himself, Hewitt, that other American guy and put paid to Samprass. The fact that now Djokovic’s rivals are at the knackeres yard and the younger generation are nowhere near ready gives Djokovic an easy and unfair run at surpassing Federer in my opinion.
Pedro,you writing skills are far superior than mine, feel free to pass it off as your own 🙂 Quite a few typos as well, should read ‘ our cash outgo is minimized while cash inflow is MAXIMIZED’ not minimized. Graham I am a massive Rafa fan, so you can imagine how much I dislike him. He has got Nadal’s number, has beaten him in so many grand slam finals/semi finals. Nadal looked very good through out the Aus open but Djoker annihilated him in the final. Unbelievable display of brute power and unbelievable consistentency. Pains me to say this but… Read more »
Graham
So posting up the financials is actually going tosolve what exactly? I’m just trying to understand from a fan perspective? Someone going to post them to Arsenal board and demand answers ?
Make fans feel better ?
All for TR7 doing a guest post.
Nelson
I agree with you there.
Earlier in the season he was protecting the back 4 putting out fires .
In December Torreira was quoted as saying ” the coach tells me before every game to try to get forward”
And there lies the problem .
Nelson
I dont mind Torreira doing that. He can score, and offer something to our attack. Its just that when he leaves Xhaka, problems happen. His natural instincts is probably to be a pure CM, but poor guy, has to cover xhaka
Samesong
Just explains and lays bare the financials to avoid any fan misunderstanding surely?
Numbers are numbers, but they’re often omitted from discussion in mass media and instead a clouded narrative is created.
Here it’s clear to all, no real room for interpretation as X amount is X amount achieved because of A B C. Not some gobshite stuff from a journo conflating matters.
Thank you CC.
The balance of the team has been affected since Emery changed from playing 4 offensive players during our unbeaten run to 3 offensive players since the Bournemouth game, hence the 5 defeats.
Nelson My thoughts on Torr is somewhat against the mainstream. I think he should be our CAM going forward. In recent week I have seen him being outmuscled by bigger players largely because of his diminutive physique. Some have also attributed it to him being tired. That is not to say he doesn’t win his fair share of tackles but in Unai Emery’s system, I think he can do a job as the first person putting pressure on the ball. He can shoot, pass, tackle. This will free Lacazette from coming back to retrieve the ball fro opponent’s midfielders. Cos… Read more »
Unfair on Djokovic but if you think he’s bad in terms of grinding then some of the younger players are even worse. Medvedev, Khachanov, Tiafoe, the list goes on in terms of dull baseliners.
Rublev only one that consistently looks to end the points early but even then he’s extremely one-dimensional. Plays like the drop shot is illegal.
Guns of Sf
That’s exactly it Torriera just does not get back.
The only way that will happen is if his put back in the canon.?
Just noticed The Invincible and the immaculate Jens Lehmamn has joined the Augsbergs coaching team.
What a hugely imposing and impressive man he is.
And What an absolute scandalously weak decision Emery made when deciding he was surplus to requirements even before a ball was kicked pre-season .
But chose the continually comatosed Steve Bould instead.
I think with Jens on board- we would have had more productivity from fellow German Ozil.
I for one – wish him well in the Bundelsliga.
Guns of SF
“I dont mind Torreira doing that. He can score, and offer something to our attack. ”
I can feel a Ramsey situation developing … I thought we had at long last cured the problem of having one of our deep lying midfielders bombing forward..it was working so well earlier in the season and then Emery decides he wants Torreira to attack more .
And fans wonder why we are conceding goals .
TR7
Thanks for setting out details of the 31/5/18 accounts and have to say your summary gets over 100% the point I was trying to make and indeed the fact that you come to the same conclusions as I do with regard to potential spend going forward.
I will be interested to see Gambons take for he is suggesting that ther3 will be circa £100 million available to spend in the summer.
@Countryboy
I see your point. Torr got outmuscled. It is because his initial position is too far forwards. He should sit back and see the game in front of him. He can then do his interception or tackle. If he approaches the opponents from the side, then he’ll got outmuscled.
If we have a good DM, we can play Torr up front. He is very energetic. He played very well against Chelsea. Currently, our team needs him to help out the defense.
What’ is the point discussing financials when we are signing 30 year old players like they are going out fashion …?
Sign 20 year old players and then financials are worth discussing ..
There is no future- when u recruit 30 year old first timers into our Prem…
TR7
Djokovic( and even Nadal to a degree) has stretched the boundaries of gamesmanship and fair play over the past decade, which has given him a considerable advantage, especially against Federer.
Time between points, excessive ball bouncing, time outs/delays, has enabled him to close in on Federer’s record. I can guarantee that Federer would have won several more titles if certain rules had been enforced.
Three incredible players, but only one played within the rules.
Pierre et all
Our attack is impotent.
Aside from through balls from Guen and Xhaka, and long distance shots we have nothing. The link from CM to CAM to our Forwards is gone.
A Suarez can help, of if we actually had a decent CAM
we have nothing at all
So what do we have then? Periodically, LT does make an attacking move- why not? He does it a few times per game when its is opportune.
No one complained about his goal against Spuds right?
Anyways, without true wingers or CAM we are left devoid of attacking creativity
Paulinho
Modern tennis is inundated with base liners, it’s getting extremely boring now. Can’t really blame the players though. Courts are deliberately being made slower and slower. Why would anyone want to be a serve and volley player in such a set up. Federer with his magic and Nadal with his variety (left hand, spin on the ball) kept tennis interesting for over a decade but the upcoming new breed of players are very one dinensional. Where are the Safins and the Gasquests of modern era ?
Oh dear, oh dear…. Arsenal 2.0 is trying to become like Arsenal 1.0
Don’t know how anyone can sit through a tennis match.
Last game, Pogba took the ball from their own half and marched it to our box and shot. Where was our DM?
TR7 – Agree it’s sad. Even Tsitsipas manages to be quite dull with the classical single-handed backhand, and he is probably the most aesthetically pleasing of the bunch. He got battered by Nadal because he didn’t have energy to spend the whole match grinding from the back of the court, and had no variety in his game to make up for it. Same with Zverev. Flops in Grand Slams because he’s so one-dimensional that he runs out of energy. Gasquet is a perfect example of the classic all-rounder dying out. Phillipe Kohlschreiber another. Loved it when he schooled Zverev at… Read more »
Don’t know how anyone can sit through a tennis match.
I usually find myself shaking my head back and forth.
Sorry I’ll show myself out.
Graham
I don’t know whether excessive bouncing of the ball by Rafa and Djoker before serve is a deliberate attempt to take unfair advantage or it is their natural style but yes it is extremely annoying. Agree with you on their misuse of time outs though.
Hi TR7,
Thanks for the notes on the financials. If you have the figure for RE handy please would you post this.
Cheers
Paulinho
Zverev is incredibly over rated. That he and Thiem were heralded as the next big thing in tennis not long ago says it all. There are a fair few still left who are fun to watch such as Federer, Gasquet, Wawrinka etc. Fognini and Dimitrov at their best are interesting watch.
At the beginning of the season Emery had decided to switch to man marking for set pieces. For the next 3 months, it looked like the opposition was going to score at every corners. How Sokratis our Wrestler in Chief, Mustafi or Guendouzi did not concede penalty remains a mystery to me. Then Emery realised that he did not have the team to do that. He has now reverted back to zonal marking with some man marking for known threat players. Back from his Siberian exile, Steve Bould is now allowed back to direct those sessions. The result Arsenal has… Read more »
Don get why are everyone upset about Perisic deal? Its not about Perisic being great future investment, its about taking Ozil off the books, and bringin in stop gap player for him.
Perisic would porbably get 2yr deal, and would be used on position we seriously lack players of any quality.
If we were interested in him w/o Ozil going other way, that would be alarm bell worthy.
TR7
Of course it is. It’s their way of controlling the point and the tempo of the game
If there’s one rule I’d change it would be the serve.
Once your stance is taken up, that’s it…….serve the bloody ball!
No more Harlem Globetrotters stuff.
Mgooner
Didn’t get you, what do you mean by RE ? Revised projection ?
Terraloon
Yes, 100 M summer spend looks unlikely.
Chelsea got Manu in the 5th round. They can kill each other.
Maybe a good week for Ramsay means the Club has compromised on his salary. A deal like that sounds to me like common-sense – which probably means that it won’t happen.
I’m a huge fan of the player, always have been, and he typifies what it means (or used to mean) to be an Arsenal footballer. He plays and behaves as though he loves the Club.
It makes sense from the Club’s POV too (which since Stan is the financial POV). If he signs a contract but doesn’t suit, some club will pay them big money for him.
@ TR7
The Retained earnings from Income statement, got it 363K,
Wanted yo see how much room KSE have. An important expense for them will be the servicing of the loan to DB.
They have few options for management fees/divs and investment into players.
They absolutely need top 4. They actually need a Wenger 2.0