There is absolutely no doubt about it, Arsenal stand at a forked road, to the left is the abyss (Think Blackwall Tunnel at rush hour). A rocky, pothole-filled side road where we limply try and compete with the big boys, peeling away aging substandard players with faded reputations, or young player lost in their careers because of previous application issues. Down here, we invest in haggard ideas, journeyman staff, and bland football.
To the right is the footballing equivalent of the yellow brick, where we settle on an exciting vision for the future and skip down to Emerald City, where I believe a Champions League medal awaits. Down here we take chances, invest in bold ideas, empower our staff to innovate toward excellence and run their departments independently, structure the club around transparent decision making, and make the football stand for something. This path is not easy, but it sets us up for a brighter future. The road may not be paved with gold, but it could be further down the line. This road is honest about who we are and realistic about how we achieve success.
That’s why the hire for our first technical director is so incredibly important. We need an idea. We need something to rally around. We need to reshape 3 very confused transfer windows. We need to avoid careening off the road into a ditch of insignificance.
Last week I profiled Andrea Berta. As a refresher, he’s delivered two Champions League final appearances on a net spend of 13m euros a season. His total net spend over 6 seasons is £6m more than we spend last summer.
It is not acceptable to say that Arsenal cannot compete within our financial constraints. We just need to have a better plan than the current one.
Today, I am covering one of the great minds of the game, both on the playing front, and on the operational side of the business.
Profile: Ralph Rangnick, Red Bull
A legend in managerial and coaching circles, Rangnick has been the top guy at 13 clubs, he has many achievements to talk of, from taking Schalke to runners up in the league, to his stellar work moving tiny Hoffenheim up two divisions and cementing them mainstays of the Bundesliga, but for most, no achievement can eclipse the incredible work he’s been doing at the Red Bull football franchise which now encompasses 4 clubs in Austria, Germany, Brazil, and America.
He joined as the Sporting Director of Salzburg and Leipzig in 2012. The German club moved up the divisions rapidly, hitting the Bundesliga 2 with two straight promotions. He spent a couple of seasons there, even dropping into management himself after failing to hook Thomas Tuchel as his appointment in the summer of 2015. He won promotion that season, resigning at the end to focus on his Sporting Director duties, he then appointed Ralph Hassenhutl to takeover. The team went undefeated in their first 13 games, a record for a promoted team, and made Europe in their first season, qualifying for the Champions League.
Additionally, it’s worth mentioning that the much-derided Leipzig franchise has seen gate attendances go from 2,000 to 39,000 a game under Ralph. He knows how to build clubs successfully, and he knows how to attract the fans with a brand of football that is high intensity, aggressive and fun to watch.
He’s fondly known as the professor, like Arsene Wenger, though he has a more rigorous philosophy when it comes to football and business than the Frenchman . He works to the three Ks (wouldn’t call it that in New York)… Kapital, Konzept and Kompetenz (Money, concept, and competence).
“If those three things come together, then you can be successful. If you only have one or two of them, it’s more difficult,”
“Our club is always reduced to the financial muscle of its owner. There are lots of clubs in the Bundesliga like that. Put it this way, the Bundesliga table doesn’t correlate with clubs’ budgets. If it did, the table would look very different.”
Red Bull sure have money, no doubt about that. But there’s also a smart philosophy in how they spend that cash, something Arsenal sorely lack these days. Here he is speaking to The Blizzard.
‘The difference between us and other clubs is that when we sign or scout new players, we are fishing in a very small pond. We only interested in players aged between 17 and 23, as from our experience, when you are 23 you are no longer a talent. If you look at other clubs and their development, you can see that players start their careers earlier than 10 years ago and finish earlier too. So we are only scouting those players. The maximum age is 23. The second difference is that in both clubs, we try to implement and play the same style of football and of course between the two clubs, we make use of synergies that can be developed out of those two factors.’
‘When Mr Mateschitz called me, the average age of the two squads was 29. In fact, it was almost 30 at Salzburg and 29 in Leipzig. The players they were signing were signing their last contracts. When he asked what I would change I said, “The commercial slogan says, ‘Red Bull gives you wings’. The target market [for Red Bull] is 16-25, and young people don’t identify themselves with 30 year olds, so you need players the same age or slightly older.” So we have changed the average age in Salzburg to 24 and in Leipzig it’s similar. We have reduced the average age of the whole squad by four years in the last two seasons.’
He also set the vision across all his clubs on how the club should play.
‘Here are the principles: one, add maximum possibility to the team and act, don’t react. So you need to dictate the game with and without the ball, not through individuals. Two, use numerical superiority and let the ball run directly whenever possible, with no unnecessary individual action and with no fouls. Three, use transitions, switch quickly. Try to win back the ball within five seconds with aggressive pressing. After winning the ball back, play quickly straight away, play direct and vertically towards the opponent’s goal, surprise the disorganised opponent to get into the penalty area and shoot within ten seconds of winning the ball back.’
‘At Hoffenheim, we did research and showed that the likelihood of scoring is within eight seconds of winning back the ball. In training we have a countdown clock and the target is to score within 10 seconds. Jürgen Klopp has said that the best playmaker is ‘perfect counter-pressing’. So four, the more a team sprints (i.e. the more the players sprint) faster to win back the ball then there is a greater likelihood they will score a goal once they have won it back quickly.’
This is what focus looks like. This is why you can’t be satisfied with loose ideas like ‘contacts’ based transfer strategies. This is why having a belief system when it comes to how you play is so important.
The second layer of interest in how the Red Bull operation operates is how they are not only a factory for players, they are also a hothouse for the best young coaches in football. Rangnick is one of the best mentors in football. He helped oversee the education of Julian Nagelsmann who is making the trip back to the loving arms of his mentor next summer in Leipzig. Ralph Hassenhutl went from a very adept organiser of defences, to combining it with the powerful attacking energy of the Rangnick pressing philosophy. Roger Schmidt passed through Salzburg. PSG made a world record purchase for an assistant when they landed Zsolt Low last summer.
I would also guess that the F1 analytics team partner with the football guys to build advanced analytics models to assess performance in novel ways. Just a guess though…
Things get very interesting when it comes to Red Bull and money. On the face of it, the German club is a mini-Chelsea. They have made a huge outlay over the past 8 years dropping a whopping 160m euros in expenditure. The money has been well spent because they’re competing for CL, but it’s hard to say they’ve had many constraints on what they’ve been doing.
However, when you look at the Austrian club at the same time, you start to see the smarts behind the Red Bull machine. Salzburg, who have been incredibly successful themselves have spent 63m euros in that time, but recouped a whopping 201m euros.
When you even that out, the total net spend between clubs is 22.3m euros. Not bad with two clubs making the Champions League qualifications 2017.
It’s also interesting to see that Leipzig like to raid Salzburg. The German team sent 89m euros their way, which would actually mean that the Red Bull franchise made 66m euros building all that success.
Additionally, look at some of the names that have passed through the club.
Saido Mane, Naby Keita, Emile Forsberg, Timo Werner, Joshua Kimmich… these are not poor players.
Now, I know that the Bundesliga is weaker than the Premier League, but Arsenal spent 83m euros in one summer. Are you still going to tell me that it is an impossibility for us to come up with a sharper plan than the one we’re currently adopting?
The Red Bull owner isn’t into football according to Rangnick, ‘Mr Mateschitz said to me when we first met in 2012 that he’s not a football man but he has a vision and this is what I like most about him.’
Sadly, we don’t have an owner with a vision or any real ambition for Arsenal. However, I truly believe if we made the right hire for the Technical Director role, success would follow. If you hire in folk with a vision and the drive to deliver it, you don’t need an owner to be checking in and micro-managing (see the LA Rams where I’ve read that Stan isn’t heavily involved).
So in conclusion, a man like Rangnick shows how you can implement a vision across 4 clubs and succeed. He’s created a school of excellence for managers, he’s mapped a vision of how the football should be played, he’s worked out a business model that allows him to farm talent between his clubs and make big profits in the process, he’s also delivered unbelievable results in a short space of time.
Arsenal do not need 5 years to unfuck the dying days of Arsene Wenger. We do not need MBS to inject £100b into our team to move the club forward (would be nice, but be real, I’d not last long). We need someone with an exciting plan to move us forward. Who that will be, I have no idea, but there are plenty of exciting names I will continue to explore while we wait.
P.S. Listen to the podcast and follow my guest on Twitter who is @TopicalStorm (Grover)
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Pedro
Anything is possible. The big question is a) who do they put in till the end of the season and b) who do they go for as full time. Abramovich had an obsession with playing attractive football with his general drop off in interest will that be reflected in another managerial choice?
Matic can be the weakness to Manure’s defense. He is quite slow. Torr could take the ball away from him easily.
Just a thought on people saying having Ozil sulking is preventing good players coming to The Arsenal. What player in this day and age with a brain looks up to Ozil the little self absorbed Bitch. He’s a weak minded, weak muscled assist maker, that isn’t assisting. look at his world cup antics and then the way he just calls in sick when the going gets tough. There are so many other players to be like. Or we should be targeting players making names for themselves rather. And if he is telling the likes of havertz it’s not a good… Read more »
Rashford is definitely improving.
Paulinho going to hammer me for saying that lol. Still a bit raw though.
Jorginho a faster Xhaka? Not a chance. Neither are quick but Xhaka can get up to speed over a distance at least.
Jorginho doesn’t have one physical attribute that cuts it in the prem, he’s weak, slow, soft, and quiet.
RH
Don’t get it twisted
Sarri is having a rough patch at it and making some horrible decisions
But don’t for 1 moment undermine his style of play
His first 9 games were mint. Swept us aside at SB with it
Emery doesn’t even have a discernible pattern or style of play.. We are a horrid watch
This could turn into another mauling for Chelsea, all with a Cup final against City on Sunday. League Cup final ticket allocation is different to the FA Cup final where both teams are restricted to 25,000 tickets in the League Cup you usually have 40,000 from each team or so. Could be some Chelsea fans regretting getting a ticket.
Matic isn’t going to finish this match. If Utd don’t sub him he’ll get sent off.
Vic
“Swept us aside at SB with it”
Er they won 3-2 and we missed 3 sitters not only could we have won but we should has won easily.
Great start from Chelsea.
Marc thanks for refreshing his memory
We cut Chelsea open so many times that first half I genuinely feared for their season
Telling Victorious thinks his first 9 games where mint while Emery’s 22 game unbeaten run was luck and Wenger DNA.
We were by no means swept aside at SB Vic. We get that Emery’s not flavour of the month but theres no need to exaggerate to further drive home your point.
Receding
Outside of the politics and agenda’s there is also a really bad habit on here sometimes of praising everything other teams do as amazing and anything Arsenal does is either rubbish or pure luck.
Ohhhh myyy fuck. I had no idea Lukaku was playing 😂
Samesong – Ha ha. He’s doing well,still don’t rate him anywhere near highly as some do/did, but Solsjkaer is definitely getting a tune out of him, and it’s been quite enjoyable watching him at times over the last few months.
Chelsea woeful again. Most importantly thing though is Sarri has a philosophy and identity isn’t it? If he was still in Napoli you can guarantee people would be constantly bringing his name into arguments to criticise Emery.
Does anyone give Chelsea any chance at all on Sunday?
Dortmund about to slip…
Pedro
It’s always a trial playing at Nuremberg.
Well Bayern are now title favorites Germany… Most feared Dortmund won’t last the pace.
Doesn’t diminish the fantastic job Favre has done, still three points clear and crashing out a Europe will help, that’s assuming Bayern don’t follow suit
Marc, yellow card 😂
A 3 point gap is nothing, Bayern will be licking their lips
Pedro
Really I thought that was going to be a straight red with an extended ban!
It’s with VAR as we speak
Not looking forward to the match against United when they come to play us….
Marc the players want Sarri and his ball gone, its a cup final though and they have beaten City this season playing sensible football. Not “my football”.
United are beatable. We just need to set up properly and not play to their strengths.
Pedro
Well if you’ve got Mike Dean on VAR I’ll be fine!
As fantastic as Dortmund have played this season, these are the results that surrender the title back to the Bayern juggernaut, you have to find a way to come away from the worst team in the league with 3 points even without Reus.
Bayern have Dortmund at home in April, that’ll be the game if Dortmund can even hang in up there that much longer.
Pedro Too many are getting a little carried away by Utd. They’ve had a pretty easy run of fixtures on the whole, if the Spud’s could have managed to not shoot straight at the keeper they would’ve got a least a draw and Burnley were 2 nil up with 5 minutes left. They’ve just beaten a Chelsea team who are in a slow motion car crash. If we can show the spirit we showed against Liverpool, Chelsea and the Spud’s and not make any stupid mistakes we can take the 3 points. There match against PSG a few days before… Read more »
Sarri’s been a disaster for Chelsea, he is getting sacked at the end of the season.
Marc, I generally have more faith in Emery sides getting up for the big games.
Think the OGS run is a little overblown.
That said, they looked dangerous in the first half and the battoned down the hatches in the second. Very good result after tanking against PSG.
WE
If he lasts that long – I can’t see them sacking him days before a cup final but if they get spanked by City he’ll be gone on Monday morning.
Pedro
It’s going to be a huge match and will probably decide on who gets 4th. No excuse for our players not being up for it.
Marc, just a bit of a shame it’s Spurs away the week before. Would have preferred them to be the other way around.
Pedro
We’ve got 8 days between the matches and ManU play on the Wednesday in a big match. In an ideal world maybe the fixtures would be spread out a little more but we have no excuses.
Marc
Yeah agree but they will get spanked by Citeh.
Hazard simply has to leave if he harbours any real ambition in ever winning the CL. All looks lined up for him to make a marquee move to Real Madrid in the summer doesn’t it?
Be very interested to see how many of Marcelo, Bale, Benzema and Isco are still Real Madrid players come next season.
What odds Utd get Swansea at home?
Wolves away, 2nd toughest tie left tbf.
WE
I’ve already said there’s going to be a huge splurge by Madrid in the summer. They’ve been shit in the league for a few years now – by their standards only 1 win in 7 and they have to replace Ronaldo.
I wonder if they are interested in a German number 10?
Chelsea fans singing fuck Sarriball for 5 mins straight.
He won’t last the season.
You mean an ex Germain number 10 Marc
I read an article on ESPN the other day, they called him occasional Arsenal midfielder
Benny, Chelsea fans don’t need pretty things… they just need a Jose.
He’s still German RH
Pedro,
I reckon the fans would love Jose back but surely it’ll be a step too far for Roman?
Maybe Lampard takes up the job in the summer or too soon?
“occasional Arsenal midfielder”
Brilliant.
Marc Tbf Barcelona have only won the CL once in an even longer stretch of time, 1 out of the last 7 attempts, Real Madrid have won 1 La Liga title out of the last 6 attempts. Both have been under-performing in these respective competitions, difference is that Barcelona have made a huge push to be competitive in CL once again in recent windows with the Coutinho, Dembele, Vidal, Arthur Melo, Lenglet, Malcom investments. Was a huge mistake on RM’s part not to even attempt to replace CR7 this season, you’re literally taking 50 odd goals out of the side… Read more »
Benny, maybe. Roman loves his players! Might be looking at the Ole G experiment jealously.
United plays defense and fast counter style. They pass the ball north/south with no hesitation. It doesn’t matter whether their attackers can get to the ball or not,since all their defensive players are still in place. If their attacker can get to the ball, the opponent’s defense is usually quite open. To play United, we should not play ball control and keep passing the ball left and right in the united half. If we lose the ball their counter is very dangerous. We should defend first with a midfield diamond and then long ball for our two strikers to run… Read more »
OGS nailed on now to get the permanent gig?
Lamps managing Chavs with JT procuring the contraband.
Were good unless Drogba gets involved, then all bets are off.
Drogba’s only career regret is not being able to play against Wenger’s Arsenal on a weekly basis I’m sure.
He would have posted up Messi/Ronaldo numbers were it the case. Was never a safer PL bet back in the day than Drogba anytime vs Arsenal.
By 2021
Arsenal – Vieira
Chelsea -Lampard
Man Utd -OGS
Liverpool-Gerrard
Spurs -Poch
Man City- Arteta.
Should I go to the bookies.?
By 2021
Emery- Real Betis
CG
Hahah, solid kits that Betis.
Losing John Terry from the club has had a massive effect on Chelsea. I have always believed that a club needs a leader in the changing room even if that said player is not a regular starter . If one looks through recent history of successful clubs there is a similarity to how a club struggles to remain successful once the influential leader in the changing room leaves the club. Liverpool in the 80’s had Alan Hansen …8 league titles …he leaves the club in 1991 …27 years later , no league titles and counting. Manchester United had Ryan Giggs……13… Read more »
Eagle
Surest thing in the biz, Drogs vs the Arse.
Like Brando pulling birds on his Triumph late 50s NYC. Woke up in a different room every night for a years. Very solid read btw his autobiography.
Bit of a stretch to put United not winning titles anymore down to Giggs retiring in 2014. And Terry barely played in Chelsea 16/17 triumph, was a peripheral figure.
Not completely bagging on your argument as you may have something of a point, you’re reaching and overstating it though.
Pierre
Great post
Hence, why it’s criminal to let players like Ramsey to go…. indeed even Ozil
They are the bulwark(s) of the club.
Just hiring in 11 overseas mercenaries- is doomed to fail. You need a mixture of 5/6 solid home grown players mixed in with 5/6 overseas signngs.
Just have to study Fergies teams. Always has that ratio.
The very astute Poch has about the same ratio too.
Kane,Winks ,Ali, Rose,Walker,Davies ,Tripper etc. ( home grown)
After John Cross Report in the mirror today- heaven help us if Banega comes…
Sal
He didn’t discriminate either, lad even had him some Richard Pryor, swung each and every way. Bit weird to think that some of the most influential men of all time were secretly going at it haha.
I’d still wake up in cold sweats from Drog’s 2007/08 SB double after Bacary had us 1-0 to the good and given a good old whiff of that title.
Pedro, Yes absolutely. I think I’m ready to get behind the idea of replacing Emery sooner rather than later with an ex player maybe even this summer, especially if us being linked with Benega, N’Zonzi, Sanchez and Mata has any legs and they come walking through the door of an early summer press conference. I’m hoping it’s just the usual lazy recycled click bait but it wouldn’t surprise me. I have seen some exciting links to that Ajax defender, a Norwich defender, Leeds winger and a Bristol City defender, plus I saw something from one of our ex defenders (can’t… Read more »
CG,
No Spurs – Jamie Redknapp.
😉
De Ligt? He’s bound for the top, PSG or Barcelona will sign him, we have no chance.
@Pierre
“Vieira left the club 2016”
___
Lol at this.
CG,
Ozil is no leader, good grief, and Ramsey’s pushing it a stretch too.
And our invincibles team only had Keown, Campbell, Cole and Parlour as regulars so don’t start with that foreign mercenaries nonsense ffs!
Remember Wenger’s famous quote:
“I don’t look at the passport of people, I look at their quality and their attitude.”
Wenger Eagle “Bit of a stretch to put United not winning titles anymore down to Giggs retiring in 2014. And Terry barely played in Chelsea 16/17 triumph, was a peripheral figure” John Terry didn’t need to be on the pitch to be an influence on the team and club . Wait and see how long Chelsea will go without a title….I doubt if they will win the league for another 20 years. Giggs influence on United is understated..he was more than just a player , he set the standard for years and years and new players and young players coming… Read more »
‘ I look at their quality and their attitude.”
– Signs Park Chu Young, Chamakh, Squillaci, Silvestre, Kallstrom, Andre Santos, Almunia, list goes on.
Sid,
I really hope that Benega link isn’t true.
Criticising Emery because the team lacks an identity/plays unattractive football is fine.
Criticising Emery for using the wrong tactics on occasion is fine too.
Criticising Emery for overtraining the players, is more debatable, but still a valid line of criticism.
The stuff about Banega, though, is bollocks sourced from bullshit sources.
And even if it’s true that Emery is pining for Banega, surely we have a structure in place to make sure that his dark wish is not realised.
If by some miracle we ever get Banega, that’ll be on Sanllehi
Even putting Ozil’s impact on Arsenal in the same sentence as John Terry for Chelsea and Giggs for Man United is comical and blasphemous, not even remotely the same ballpark.
And it was clearly Fergie’s departure that left them in the shit and not Giggs, they were terrible in 2013/14 after beating a much better Citeh team to the title just a year before.
Pierre,
It’s not Emery’s treatment though is it?
We’ve been over this umpteen times already.
Jeez.
Pierre, lol really comparing Ozil to those players and in the same paragraph states Viera left in 2016…
Pedro
Fantastic post,really enjoyed reading it.
Pierre knows Vieira left in 2005, that’s just a typo surely.
Pierre
You posted that leaders shit before.
It is shit now as it was then.
Off course Ozil ,Ramsey are different characters to Vieria and Terry. (They are very combative characters Players every fan would love in their team.) But What all these 4 players have in common is that they are they are RESPECTED players amongst their team mates . From the moment Emery has arrived at AFC he has wanted Banega. To help him facilitate this hideous act- he has pulled Ramseys contract and frozen out Ozil. That is as clear as night follow day. Just think Moyes – Fellani. That combination alone- has taken Man Utd- 5 seasons to sort out- with… Read more »
Ha no chance Ozil is anywhere even close to as respected at Arsenal as Terry was at Chelsea or Giggs at United.
Laughable.
Thanks Leeds!
Wenger Eagle
I keep hearing players want to win medals.
Ozil has a GOLD WORLD CUP one.
Unlike Giggs- who neglected his playing for country – Ozil has a smidgeon under 100 caps for the mighty German national team.
Giggs slept with his brothers wife- Ozil presumably hasn’t.
As for Terry- imperious player. But a chequered history- off the park.
I would say, the more enlighted players – would respect Ozil the most.
Is that really laughable….?
Ps. OZIL is smarter than the 2 mentioned.
He gets £350k a week.
Players respect that too.!
Some fair logic there CG, but Ozil hasn’t sustained winnertivity.
Giggs and JT didn’t stop, going right to the end
Do not get me wrong…PedRo Who would’ nt want Giggs or Terry in their team ( both British players – coming through their academy’s- I add) ….Just wanted to emphasis – players ( maybe not fans) LOVE playing with the likes of Ozil. A top manger would have sat Ozil down -start of the season ( knowing he has this 4 yr deal) and said to him – you are 3 years younger than David Silva- I think you are better than him- others dont- prove US BOTH right…. But we have Emery- so scarred from his PSG spell –… Read more »
Question wasn’t about who was the more respected player in the game, it was who was the more respected player at their clubs. And there is no doubt whatsoever that Terry is a Chelsea legend or that Giggs is a United one. 5 titles and a CL for Terry, 13 titles and 2 CL’s for Giggs. So Ozil’s most noteworthy achievement is a trophy that he won outside of Arsenal? Proves that this is a joke comparison. Terry’s a meathead no doubt but always felt that he was given an overly hard time by the media considering anybody who’s ever… Read more »
Charlie George. Stop with the young players being overplayed. Having not played much football, Holding did not get ‘overplayed’ into an impact injury. He was pushed and landed awkwardly. Go and have a look I’m sure you have eyes and a brain in there somewhere. Bellerin you have more of a case of being overplayed. But still was an impact injury. Stop spouting shit every single day. Are you blaming Emery for Welbeck too? How do you explain players like Azpilicueta, willy boly, Connor Coady, Steve cook who have played every game so far. And xhaka? And I’m pretty sure… Read more »
WE
Fair points
But we all cheat on our wives ( used to)
But we don’t cheat on OUR brothers wife…..
Big big difference.
All my gripe – with Ozil – he is here
And here to stay.
PLAY HIM – (don’t shun people.)
Goober gonner
“””Are you blaming Emery for Welbeck too?”””
100% No
Holding 100%Yes
Bellerin 80% Yes
Arsene Wenger, given the lifetime achievement here at the #Laureus19 World Sports Awards in Monaco: “When human beings at their best meet sport at its best, life becomes art.”
Football is an Art….
CG
Giggs is a far bigger scumbag than Terry is.
Imagine banging your brother’s missus for nearly a decade behind his back, knocking her up and paying for the abortion, etc.
I know that it’s not related to football and that you have to separate personal lives and all that but that has to hurt him in management at some point, how could you ever trust a dude like that.
Very noticeable Man Utd fans very happy tonight.
And no wonder why- after years of unsuitable managers replacing their maestro- seeing old favourites OGS/Phelan/Carrick on the sidelines…and off course Fergie upstairs in the seats must be so reassuring.
(They seem to have got a semblance of their identity back )
Compare and contrast to the Chelsea fans and their despondency…
(Identity is everything in football. )
Common Mr George.
I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt on most things you say. But holding is one thing I don’t agree with at all.
Haha that was meant to say come on*
Goober
Holding played 3 games in 6 days
Middle game in Ukraine. Dead rubber.
10 hours travelling by plane.
RedZone= tired players( overworked) -more susceptible to injuries.
Now tell me – if you think I am wrong?
Goober,
CG isn’t wrong. You can never be sure how an injury is sustained, but being unable to manage a landing can be associated with fatigue.
You can’t totally rule it out. Same with Hector. Fittest guy at the club plays in a new system that puts more strain on his system and his knee explodes. Can’t say for sure, but the club will no doubt assess what they could have done better.
“From the moment Emery has arrived at AFC he has wanted Banega. To help him facilitate this hideous act- he has pulled Ramseys contract and frozen out Ozil.” CG, This is such bollocks. Not one of us knows whether Emery wants Benega or not, not one, it is mere unsubstantiated tabloid shite, and to say he’s pushing Ramsey and Ozil out to bring Benega in is pure unadulterated fantasy made up in your head. Ramsey could have signed the contract earlier but wanted more money, it is Emery’s bosses – his employers, who are wanting Ozil and Ramsey out, not… Read more »
Benny, John C is the chief football writer there and he is very well connected. Not sure why everyone thinks the mirror is some sort of tribalfootball entity. The tabs have journos with ears to the ground.
Not saying Banega is true, but the story has hung in the air for 2 windows now.
Banega wouldn’t be a terrible signing in addition to another CM with a higher upside, presumably younger age bracket.
He’s a very good pro, still a decent age at 30 and has balled out for Sevilla this season.
But yeah, on his own would be a pretty disappointing move from the club.
Arsenal shouldn’t be touching any player over 30 unless they are free and come on low wages
Pedro, CG. I do understand where you are coming from. But that game in Ukraine that was a “dead rubber”, was literally just match fitness and a run out for a player not having played much the last few seasons. If it was nacho, Kos or Licht then a totally different story. I understand that fatigue leads to injuries and the heavy legged way of landing or even just running for that matter, but you can not tell me, fatigued or not, that being pushed in the back does not invoke both whiplash and an awkward landing. I’m not saying… Read more »
Presuming that he already is on low wages, Sevilla pay their players peanuts. Can’t imagine that he’ll demand a fee over 10 million either at worst.
Wouldn’t be my first choice but he’s an underrated player and would definitely improve the quality in our CM.
If we believe John C and Emery really wants Banega, can’t the club/Sanllehi just say no?
Even without a jazzy new Technical Director in place, it seems pretty obvious that a 31 year old (as he’s gonna be by the summer) like Mr. B is not the answer to Arsenal’s on-field problems
Pedro,
I hear you but I pray it’s wrong.
If it’s true then #EmeryOut is no longer a debate.