‘Is he better than Mustafi?’
Arsenal dropped the second part of the double CEO Interview and THANK the bloody LORD Dennis Bergkamp, it was FAR more interesting.
The baton was passed over to Raul and the Spaniard started to talk about some of the details we’ve been lacking as fans. It was probably the most interesting interview I’ve ever seen come from Arsenal.com.
The new structure sits on an axis that Raul describes as the skeleton.
At the top, sits the first team coach… emphasis on the word ‘coach.’
At the bottom, sits the Academy Head, which is Per Mertesacker. This part of the business is important for obvious reasons, but I still liked hearing Raul talk about its role… namely, it creates an identity within the club, and also reduces the cost of transfers. He noted that Ajax, Bayern and Barca have all had legendary youth ranks.
Then he talked about the technical director role and if you’ve been following Le Grove for any length of time, I think you’ll be pleased we were in the right ballpark. They’ll be setting the tone and vision for the club. If you work in or around advertising, it’s basically a brand manager. A person that’s in charge of ensuring we do things the Arsenal way on the pitch from a technical perspective.
Then to the left, you have the Head of Football Operations. The person who is in charge of making sure every detail works from a budget perspective. They work on the player deals, they ensure contracts are buttoned up, they make sure the guy booking bus tickets isn’t holding the team haka.
The meat around the skeleton is the important thing that we’ve again been talking about at length. Burgess and Shad are growing in importance as we push hard to build out our High-Performance engine. Making sure players are fit, on the right programmes and that our injuries are low. We have a growing Data and Analytics team. That’s working out how we measure players, how we analyse a multitude of data points and how we find people that can extract meaningful insights out the back end. Remember, tools show you the data, elite humans make sense of it. They also had the ladies team in there, which seems to be a core growth point for the Arsenal as we’re so damn successful there (GO LADIES GO!).
They also spoke about player identification as an iterative process, which is great to hear. We’ve chatted about how big clubs build a profile of what they need over the course of a season so they’re not caught in a window shopping frenzy like Wenger used to be. Vinai pointed out they were talking about summer deals in October, which is assuring to hear.
It’s also clear that Emery and Raul are in the driving seat this summer. So we’ll have to see how that plays out. Regardless of how good that plan is, he was adamant there was a plan.
Another thing I really, really loved… Raul and Vinai doubled down on Arsenal being a great place to be for players (and managers by proxy). He’s absolutely correct. All the misery guts that make out we’re some sort of pariah club have always been wrong, but it was good to hear it from the top. History, facilities, fanbase, exposure, stadium… as Raul said, we have a lot of ammunition.
The Aaron Ramsey chat was a bit of a pigs ear. They spoke about wage rationalisation as the leading reason. You can buy into that as ‘we couldn’t afford him’, or you can look at how it went down which is, ‘we decided he wasn’t worth it.’
We didn’t think he was worth it. We offered him a big deal, which from what I heard was lower than what he eventually took at Juve (I also heard the Juve money being bandied around is not a clear cut as it seems), but it was big, then the manager and Raul decided to yank the deal in late September, likely because he wasn’t living up to the PowerPoint hype Emery had envisaged.
You know this is the deal because we took the worst of all PR routes.
Firstly, if we’d wanted to keep Aaron, we’d not have dropped him in September when we pulled the deal. There’s literally no reason to bench a play in September if they’re good. Players need to play, they want to play, and it is extremely rare to make a statement out of a person that early in a season. Also, we didn’t do it with Ozil or Sanchez.
Secondly, if the problem is greed, that’s a PR nugget to run with. You leave it to the player to reject a huge deal and send Aaron to Italy looking like a mercenary. If the problem is the player waiting out their deal, you leave the contract with them and let the player infuriate the fans.
We did neither, we yanked the deal and made a big fuss of it being our decision. Which would have been fine had we not needed to go crawling back in January. The club underestimated how good he was, I think it’s that simple. Wenger did the same with BIG John Hartson, gone too soon man, gone too soon.
If wage rationalisation were an issue, we’d not have Mikhi on £170k a week, we’d do something aggressive about Ozil, we’d not have Lacazette and Auba getting £250k a week (the number Ramsey was being pitched), and we’d not be doubling the money of Matteo.
So here would be my key takeaway. I fucking LOVE an operational lecture, I really do. It’s fascinating to hear how the club is organising bodies around a vision of the future. These sorts of things should always be iterative and they should always change… but organisational charts alone won’t move the club forward.
We need to have the very best talent in the system and we need to have someone leading in a very strong way to make sure it all ticks along properly. One bad apple can infect the rest of the business like a cancer. Who is there making sure there is no cancer in the system?
We have a sports psychologist in the mix that’s overseen epic tanks for years now, if you’re talking elite performance, how is that guy justifying his salary?
If you’re talking about performance over the course of a season, and you’re looking at data, what does success for the manager look like? Sarri put it perfectly when he said that Chelsea should sack him now if his season is dependent on one trophy. What are we judging Emery by? Just top level, if metrics get worse as a season goes on, and you invested in areas to make them better but didn’t manage it, how do you justify those things? It’s just a question, don’t burst a blood vessel answering.
I love Big Per Mertesacker and he talks incredibly well about the game, but growing talent across such a wide range of age groups is REALLY tough. If he gets it wrong, he could consign a generation of players to the bin. Was it sensible to give someone the keys to the academy like that? Time will tell, but it was a huge gamble to go that route for the lifeblood and identity of the club moving forward.
How did all of this process land us on the decision to sign Denis Suarez in January? It’s a serious question. Of all the problems our squad clearly had, how did months of talking about weaknesses in the squad land us on a player that lacked character, physicality and purpose for our setup?
Anyone can map problems out.
Anyone can build a paper organisation.
Anyone can design a model for the future.
The difficult part is driving through that change and holding people accountable for moving things forward. It’s uncomfortable, it’s hard and it takes a huge expenditure of energy.
Who has the energy to make it happen? What are Vinai and Raul accountable for? What is the timeframe for success?
Part one was such a letdown because we didn’t offer up clarity on the vision. If your vision is murky, the execution will be the same.
We have a lot of theory, but very little to judge it by. Making the fans proud is meek.
I also wanted to hear something a bit more detailed about the football.
That could be us waiting for a technical director, or that could be the self-preservation kicking in. If you’re not told to be ambitious, why would you put your neck on the line?
You wouldn’t. Textbook Ivan Gazidis. Talk around the notion of accountability, whinge on that it’s really hard to compete, and people will likely not notice. Remember all the morons that jumped on Arsene Wenger’s comments about buying loaves of bread? Dortmund have done a massive chunk of excellent transfer business and we’re not out of May. They have a clear vision and they execute against it like clockwork. I’m not sure what ours is after an hour-long interview with the top two guys.
Part 2 was very solid, but if I were being very critical, I’d say… What’s really new here? What are doing that no other club is doing? Does this not feel a little like table stakes? Are we celebrating moving forward, or are we still blasting party poppers about catching up on the basics?
Right, that was a good chat… well played Raul and Vinai, but still some way to go if we’re truly planning to make moves over the next 5 years.
See you in the comments!
Xhaka’s passing stats are decent. The problem is who he is passing to…
The club have:– Ozil on 350k offering diddly – Mkhi on 150k offering diddly – Ramsey to replace – Welbz to replace – Elneny offering nothing. – Chambers to replace – Licht to replace – Our defence to address But you’re that obtuse you can’t fathom how Xhaka is down the list as a CM playing 50 games a season on a meagre 90k a week. Elneny is on half what Xhaka is making and he barely causes us goals. Xhaka and Aubameyang were responsible for us missing out of third (Unnecessary penalty given to Brighton to equalize and a… Read more »
I wonder if our reliance on Xhaka to move the ball forward is a reflection on our lack of natural wing play? In other words, relying on that channel makes us easier to defend.
Why’s everyone laying in to Elneny? He had no game time and then failed to deliver when he came in rusty. It’s not like he’s being blackmailed by rent boys or anything…
Assuming that those links to Thomas Partey are true you can rest assured that it probably means Xhaka will be off. You don’t replace Elneny with a Thomas Partey. You’re talking about a 40 odd million player and a lucky if we’re getting 10 million player.
Marko
“It’s funny they criticize the football and the vision and they say Xhaka is essential at the same time and it’s almost like they can’t quite put the two together. Anyway”
Yes ironic is the word.
Dale
I don’t get your logic. Elneny doesn’t cost us because he doesn’t fucking play, Xhaka plays 50 games a season and plays about 1500 more passes than any other player (not a stat).
You and I differ in what we consider an area of need. I’m content benching Xhaka by replacing dross like Elneny with superior. You want to replace Xhaka and have a new guy with dross as back up? Interesting.
Let’s not touch upon claiming Auba cost us anything this season….not a wise comment
I don’t care too much about Xhaka’s passing ability, I care a lot about his errors leading to goals against us, it has to be high statistics on that, and keeping the ball means you can be relied on to hold the midfield…he’s terrible holding midfielder and not adequate with his through-ball passes…
“Our defence isnt fit for purpose in terms of build up. Until it is, Xhaka is going nowhere.”
Maybe why Emery experimented with him in defense, of course it did not work but it was his way of acknowledging that without him the build up play collapses
“I don’t care too much about Xhaka’s passing ability,”
Well thats where you should stop writing.
You think some magic force gets the ball from Leno to Aubameyang?
Like your point on the two-way players gambon, Paulinho made the same argument a while back lamenting the amount of one-way ‘half’ players that we have which makes sense and helps to explain as to why some weeks we turn up and other weeks we’re absolute dogshit as it depends on the teams that we face and the way in which we are allowed to play. Most critical areas for strengthening for me are at least one wide player that can thrives in tight spaces and has the change of gears to go past players in space 1 vs 1… Read more »
Xhaka is down the list as a CM playing 50 games a season on a meagre 90k a week.
Xhaka gets a pass because he’s on not that much wages and because we’ve got so many other issues to deal with. That makes sense. Much like the Auba/Laca situations you’re talking about an actual sellable asset and I’m guessing if the opportunity to sell him arises they’ll take it.
Just get the keeper to boot the ball as hard as he can up the pitch every time it comes to him. With a pacy forward, we should catch out the opposing defence and get goals. It worked for Leicester…
Snarko We’ve also got to replace Ramsey, so having Partey, Xhaka, Torreira, Guendouzi isn’t the most ridiculous idea. Also, nobody is saying we shouldn’t sell Xhaka. It’s being said that we won’t be actively doing so because we have numerous other needs. If we receive interest, and good money, Xhaka will go. But that’s no different to any of our players. Xhaka isn’t the same as Mustafi either. Mustafi goes and we have able deputies like Kos, Sokratis, Holding, even Mavro and Nacho can fill in. Whilst CM we lose Rambo, and are punting Elneny at last. You don’t replace… Read more »
Charlie, I am not against removing Elneny, but Xhaka has to go as well. I see a very error prone midfielder playing way too much and relied upon way too many times. I’d worry about recouping my 35m spent on Xhaka before the 10M or less Elneny will be moved on for. Elneny has been effectively been replaced…Guendouzi and Torreira, those two benched him permanently as we all saw, Xhaka, as you reckon featured heavily meaning, he is not under any threat by those two for his place, and we stand a chance to recoup more for him if sold…so… Read more »
You think some magic force gets the ball from Leno to Aubameyang?
Gambon you do realize that there’s a tonne of midfielders out there capable of passing the ball and who don’t hinder the team (by being such a slow fuck) and who aren’t so abject defensively that they cost us. He’s not this rare fucking diamond that we absolutely need to keep. Again no coincidence that you say he’s essential to how we play and at the same time regularly complain about the football on offer at Arsenal football club
“Also, nobody is saying we shouldn’t sell Xhaka. It’s being said that we won’t be actively doing so because we have numerous other needs. If we receive interest, and good money, Xhaka will go. But that’s no different to any of our players.”
Quite simple really
One of the players we have who could fetch good money and some are suggesting we hawk him around like we have to Mustafi and co.
Let buyers come for him and get good money, Xhaka won’t struggle for suitors, same cannot be said for Ozil,Mkhi e.t,c
You think some magic force gets the ball from Leno to Aubameyang?
Oh really? I see….how many times did those passes reach Aubameyang in the Games we needed to win, where Aubameyang scored 0 goals?
The game against Brighton, where Mr Xhaka made a stupid fould because he couldn’t keep up, how many times did he find Aubameyang to at lest get another goal to beat them? He struggled woefully in that game, and was rightly yanked…
Marko
OK go out there and find how many CMs can pass the ball 80 times per 90 mins, make 5 defensive actions per game.
I bet you its under 10 across the big 5 leagues.
Gambon you do realize that there’s a tonne of midfielders out there capable of passing the ball and who don’t hinder the team (by being such a slow fuck) and who aren’t so abject defensively that they cost us. He’s not this rare fucking diamond that we absolutely need to keep. Again no coincidence that you say he’s essential to how we play and at the same time regularly complain about the football on offer at Arsenal football club
Wow Marko, a day we are so in synch….
Dale
Why do you think we rely so much on Xhaka?
In our situation I don’t see the sense in replacing what we currently rely upon unless it’s too good an opportunity.
We get better by having “Xhaka plus new guy”, than “new guy plus Elneny”. I know some like to scoff, but there’s only so much business can/will get done this summer. Especially with some things being forced upon us as they are.
We’ve also got to replace Ramsey, so having Partey, Xhaka, Torreira, Guendouzi isn’t the most ridiculous idea.
Ramsey leaving should have absolutely no bearing on what happens with other players. We’re already replacing him that then has nothing to do with Xhaka staying or going much like Elneny also staying or going should have nothing to do with Granit. We get a bid for him accept it and move on
Where is our on-the-pitch leadership coming from next season?
Emery’s bullshit about 5 captains or whatever it was is patently rubbish and a few of them are off.
I feel that we sorely missed a strong leader on the pitch this year, particularly when the going got tough. Someone to drive the team on when they don’t give a shit.
10m for Xhaka? Fucking hell, I like bagging on our players as much as the next bloke but you’re mad if you think that in 2019 we could get more for a 26 year old that has captained Switzerland [a good international side] for years now.
Liverpool got 19m for Dominic fucking Solanke. A bloke that can’t score at senior level.
If we can’t get 30ish million from a Serie A club we ought to be ashamed of ourselves.
gambon, are you not going to pull out the stats on how many errors from Xhaka leading up to a goal? I need you to pull that stat… Alex Song, bless him, was far competent than Xhaka is, and that’s not saying much…we lost Cesc and we rightly could have started out 5th and 6th position decline those days, yet we always made 4th and 3rd comfortably with the likes of Denilson and Song….any coincidence that we have 2 capable strikers and Mr Xhaka can’t seem to find them with his 80 passes in 90mins…..how many assists those he even… Read more »
Lacazette dropping deep to collect balls from midfield while Xhaka with his 80 passes tells you all the story you need to know.
“Ramsey leaving should have absolutely no bearing on what happens with other players.“
Ehh? He’s leaving for free mate, so is Welbeck, we need to replace them using resources we never received for them. That blatantly does affect other business.
You’re seemingly keen to give us even more issues this summer, we’ve got enough i’d wager. If someone wants Xhaka do you think the club are sounding a ‘hands off’ warning? No, no they’re not.
But let’s replace the leavers, and improve the defence, before aiming for your personal grievances.
Oh right, theres a budget.
Dale
“Elneny has been effectively been replaced…Guendouzi and Torreira, those two benched him permanently as we all saw, ”
If Elneny has been replaced [and I agree] then surely he should be the first out of the door.
I’d sell Xhaka + Elneny back to Switzerland for a better midfielder who’s athletic and pass the ball 60 times in 90 mins…as long as Xhaka and his errors and slow build up and stupid fouls move away
OK go out there and find how many CMs can pass the ball 80 times per 90 mins, make 5 defensive actions per game.
Sounds instrumental in how we play let’s keep him. You sound like a fan now gambon. 80 passes per game and 5 defensive actions??? Sounds too good to be true. Almost like we haven’t bare witness to some awful midfield performances from a club in decline the last 3 seasons. Just wondering were you one of those people criticising the club giving him a new contract last summer or no?
Keep seeing Fornals name popping up, not a fan. Struggling for a poor Villarreal side and is having Cazorla outperform him which isn’t encouraging considering Santi’s 34 and coming off of 2.5 years of injury hell and near-amputation.
We need to be extremely diligent in who we sign or else we’re completely fucked.
I really think Xhaka is made for the Serie A. He has his limitations no doubt but can thrive in the right environment.
There’s no way we sell for anything less than 40 million.
DaleDaGooner
“I’d sell Xhaka + Elneny back to Switzerland for a better midfielder who’s athletic and pass the ball 60 times in 90 mins…as long as Xhaka and his errors and slow build up and stupid fouls move away”
lol 30-40 times would do me as long as the bloke coming in can run and has some good all round attributes.
This championing of number of passes regardless if it is really of any benefit to the team as a whole is so Wengerish.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-7062035/Manchester-City-closing-52m-signing-Joao-Cancelo-Juventus.html
These guys are relentless
Ehh? He’s leaving for free mate, so is Welbeck, we need to replace them using resources we never received for them. That blatantly does affect other business.
Right. If anything wouldn’t that mean we’re more likely to shop Xhaka? We’re agreeing with each other that if they receive an offer for him they should absolutely accept it. We’re just not agreeing with each other on the whole essential part of Xhaka
“We need to be extremely diligent in who we sign or else we’re completely fucked.“
That we do.
But rest easy, I hear Marko’s on the case. Going to sell all our ‘shit’ players for fuck all money and replace them with better for cheaper.
Rambo leaving for free? Welbz leaving for free? Licht leaving? Don’t worry about it, ‘absolutely no bearing’ on spending. Top lad he is, Irish Mislintat……pro bono.
If build up is so unimportant, as im seeing from a lot of people here…..why did Pep go and spend £200m on Ederson, Walker, Danilo, Mendy, Laporte?
He finished 3rd, and focused almost entirely on the defence.
The result was the best attacking team this country has ever seen.
It seems lots on here just want us to lump it from the keeper to the strikers, a style that will probably see us finish 13th.
RH
They’ve signed/are about to sign Bruno Fernandes too off of Sporting Lisbon. CM Midfielder that has scored 30 goals in all comps.
Hard to envisage anything but complete City/Liverpool domestic domination for the next 3-4 years.
Ishola, well said…i highlight Alex Song, type of players who weren’t as bad as Xhaka is with his all round play, at least. Having Guendouzi spraying passes next to a Doucoure might not be so bad compared to Xhaka trying not to fall over his shoe laces once a ball is passed to him by a CB or Leno, thereby gifting the oppo a chance at goal.
Sounds like we’ve got Raul at the wheel this summer with Unai riding shotgun.
Really is anyones guess who we target.
I don’t see Xhaka leaving with other issues we have to chase, highest up list has to be CB then adding goals to flank whilst bringing in a MF to fill Ramsay void hopefully followed by LB.
Thats not even touching on Ozil situation.
Yeah spoke about Song the other day Dale.
Shame that Wenger didn’t or couldn’t install more discipline in him.
gambon, what you highlight is a need for better CB, who can pass the ball out the back……what you are championing is keeping mistake number 6 (assuming you agree that 2/3 of our CB corp are a waste passing out the back and our full backs are gash as well) Because Xhaka and his 80 or more passes seem to struggle with receiving the back out the back 5 as his errors are very well highlighted. His miss-passes, or inability to take control of the ball once he receives it is very glaring. His 80 passes haven’t really been an… Read more »
But let’s replace the leavers, and improve the defence, before aiming for your personal grievances.
Grow up it’s nothing personal but you I think it absolutely is though. Can’t quite figure is it that you really like the player or perhaps see him as a great big glaring example of what Arsene Wenger left us with. Again those players leaving for nothing will need replacing sure but we’ll also need money to replace them with and that’s where selling assets comes into play. They’ve talked about being smart in the transfer market let’s see what they come up with.
For those saying that Liverpool could well get broken up and have Salah, Mane, VVD get picked off by Real Madrid, PSG or Barcelona, why the fuck would you leave this Liverpool side now for anything other than money? Literally is no sporting incentive to leave what is arguably the best club in Europe right now. 97 PL points and a possible CL title is insane. They destroyed Barcelona over 2 legs in the SF, didn’t deserve to lose 3-0 in the 1st leg was a bit of a freak scoreline and duly reversed the deficit at home. Battered Bayern… Read more »
We need to get cracking as soon as we’re finished next week.
_________
I’d imagine that’s the hold up is the ridiculously long wait between season end and EL final. .. I see people lamenting others getting business done. Well true that’s great but they don’t have a big match coming up which will determine their budget. And I’m sure they don’t want to unsettle players before it, either.
Hey Granit… we are thinking about selling you…. now go out there and play a blinder.
Marko Im not a fan, but he’s not some useless player. Look at it this way. If you had a right back, that was absolutely terrible, I mean Championship level player. Lets say Carl Jenkinson level. But he scored 10 goals per season. For whatever reason he just had a great shot and kept scoring. Now, it would be easy to replace him with a better defender, like Wan Bissaka, but whats the biggest problem? If you replace him, youre going to lose 8 goals per season give or take. Clearly its a big issue. You need to work out… Read more »
But rest easy, I hear Marko’s on the case. Going to sell all our ‘shit’ players for fuck all money and replace them with better for cheaper.
You’re just getting pissy at the idea of improving the squad and the thought that Granit might be a casualty of Arsenal getting better.
“Grow up it’s nothing personal but you I think it absolutely is though. Can’t quite figure is it that you really like the player or perhaps see him as a great big glaring example of what Arsene Wenger left us with. “ Comical hypocrisy. The fact you blest on about him more than anyone, despite also moaning at length on the state of our defence, shows it’s a personal fixation. Everyone has said bench him with someone better but you’re not content. You want the club to worry about punting him even with so much on our plate. Emery levels… Read more »
“They’ve signed/are about to sign Bruno Fernandes too off of Sporting Lisbon. CM Midfielder that has scored 30 goals in all comps.”
Who are they planning to let go?? Or will they just stockpile?
“gambon, what you highlight is a need for better CB, who can pass the ball out the back”
Yes, and when have i ever said anything but this.
But not a better CB
A better defence. Better LB, better CBs (more than one), better RB.
Once youve done that you can sell Xhaka to Doncaster ROvers for all I care.
Yeah, I agree WE…only money would break up this Pool side for next season, i see them growing even more and edging City next year for the title….City were lucky they had the one or two blips in concentration to draw games…City lost what? 4 games and Pool only lost 1 game all season!? Shame really
Champagne Charlie “””Ehh? He’s leaving for free mate, so is Welbeck, we need to replace them using resources we never received for them. That blatantly does affect other business””” Correct. Thats why- what Raul stated yesterday was total nonsense. He harps on about resources and wages etc-but does The Buffoon realise good players have to be replaced.And good replacements cost …… cash and resources. Who are going to score the goals like Ramsey did at Wembley against Spurs or against Newcastle etc? Who is going to be our third centre next season forward now Welbeck has gone? Look at our… Read more »
“You’re just getting pissy at the idea of improving the squad and the thought that Granit might be a casualty of Arsenal getting better.”
Yes, must be it. Same when I said I’d sell Lacazettte to better our strike force (despite it being known he’s my fave current player).
What’s Gambon excuse, who doesn’t rate Xhaka? Or Recedings excuse?
Mine is some apparent tie I have, funny that. Not one player is immune from sale, not one. But some, some are not priorities.
“Arsenal are bigger than Juventus”
VicVic, is that you?
“gambon, what you highlight is a need for better CB, who can pass the ball out the back”Yes, and when have i ever said anything but this.But not a better CBA better defence. Better LB, better CBs (more than one), better RB.Once youve done that you can sell Xhaka to Doncaster ROvers for all I care. I’d say Holding is a quality passer of the ball, and I think Kos wasn’t bad…Mustafi is the worst in that aspect…I agree we could use adding 1 or 2 superb CB who can move the ball well in addition to Holding …. but… Read more »
“Arsenal are bigger than Juventus.”
This is really not an accurate statement CG, wished it was true. But Juve are one of the Elitest clubs out there. Then theres that fucking B/W strip, boss as it comes.
Receding
Fernandinho mate, he’s last legs, and Silva is getting to that level.
“I’d say Holding is a quality passer of the ball, and I think Kos wasn’t bad…Mustafi is the worst in that aspect”
Mustafi is a far better passer of the ball than Holding..come on
Better than Kos too but not by much
“Fernandinho mate, he’s last legs, and Silva is getting to that level.”
Yea forgot about Fernandinho…guys running on fumes
Silva though will still transform a team like ours, still very important to City
RH
Likely that he replaces Fernandinho who takes up more of a squad role next season.
Adding him, they’ve rectified one of only miniscule flaws that you could even level at them this season- that they don’t have a consistent source of goals from CM.
Ridiculous squad of players that they have now and most at a good age with increased re-sale value.
I would say Holding is our best defensive passer.
We need more though.
Kolasinac and AMN are terrible in possession.
This needs to change.
As it stands, all the 4 teams above us are much more comfortable building play from the back.
In todays game its so important.
despite also moaning at length on the state of our defence, shows it’s a personal fixation. Nothing personal you just have to look at him play and the amount of errors leading to goals that he contributes and that tells you that you can’t address the defensive fragility at Arsenal without mentioning Xhaka. Everyone has said bench him with someone better but you’re not content. How does that make sense you dumb cunt. Literally one of the few players we could get decent money for and you want to keep him on the bench. So afraid of him leaving you… Read more »
Pedro-
Good read Peds… I hadn’t have time to listen to it either so thanks. Your the long write up master now… I really think you need to be working on .. “Le Grove” the screen play, though. I don’t know why but I’m thinking .. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in your role. You have both hands right? He is probably looking for a role that doesn’t have him type cast as an amputee And you have kind of a Jamie Lannister vibe about you.. .
Who is going to be our third centre next season forward now Welbeck has gone? Quick fix….play Nketiah more …why not? Not like Welbeck offered himself enough times in all his stay….that’s an area i feel we have covered in our youth…Between Nelson, Nketiah…we shouldn’t need to replace Welbeck. For Ramsey, I believe we can replace that as well….Fraser isn’t bad, and with enough games to Wil.lock, we could be on to something…What we need to work on mostly is adding quality CB and moving Mustafi on, we need to add solid fullbacks and I would just bite the bullet… Read more »
Dale Yeah I picked them back in July to win the PL this season. It was the stretch around late January-early March that killed Pool’s title dream, think they drew 3-4 matches in that time and two in the space of a week. Despite still putting up great numbers, Salah and Firmino were both better last season. Salah of last season especially wins them at least a game or two out of those 4 draws. They’ll only strengthen too especially if they win the CL, expect them to drop another couple of big signings. Certainly a CF to help their… Read more »
Mid
Pedro’s way more a Free Folk – Wilding than Lannister.
Should see that kid in a bar, its messy.
Mustafi is a far better passer of the ball than Holding..come on
We must be watching different games…Mustafi is terrible, his passes always find the opponents…he’s another plenty-pass-to-no-one type like Xhaka
Arsenal are the Biggest club on the Planet.
Juventus are a great club. They will never be as big As Arsenal.
(We don’t do match fixing. And bribe referees.)
The Arsenal are in London, UK.
Such a shame -we have scoundrels and incompetents running the show.
Unai bloody Emery as Arsenal manager!!! Incredible.!
Sal-
Really? I didn’t have him .. down as a sloppy fermented goat’s milk drinker.. huh… learn something new everyday.
Jaysus up your trolling game CG, take some notes from Red.
Surveying the defense we’ve got Koscielny in retirement age, ditto Monreal, Holding and Bellerín still recovering from big injuries, Kolasinac and Maitland-Niles not adept at fullback, and Chambers not looking like he’ll ever make it past 4th CB.
Solution? Secure a 5’4″ crossing specialist.
I know the consensus of opinion on Le Grove is that Nzonzi is not what we want/need but I tend to disagree , I think he is exactly the type of player we need. If ,as some are saying , we can get 40 odd million for xhaka we could then buy Nzonzi for something in the region of 20 million , we will have solved a problem in that we have addressed a weakness in the side ( defensive midfield) whilst at the same time having 20 mil to spend on another area of the team that needs addressing….makes… Read more »
Many consider Ramsey’s best season to be in 2013-14 when after suffering injury in December Arsemal went on a winning run finished top 4 and reached an FA Cup Final all without the presence of Ramsey for several months..
“How does that make sense you dumb cunt. Literally one of the few players we could get decent money for and you want to keep him on the bench. So afraid of him leaving you are.“ “Dumb cunt” and “dumbshit”, grow up you fucking spastic. It’s a dead easy equation people are running with: Xhaka is 50 games a season to replace, you don’t sell him to replace Ramsey’s 50 games a season, because who does that leave to play Xhaka’s 50? Guendouzi? Who played 48 games… No, you sell Elneny (5 games) and Chambers (0 games) to replace Ramsey… Read more »
Eagle-
Yeah man Red is the gold standard. He is our goat. 10 time Ballon d’troll.. winner.
Haha Red is the highlander indeed.
CG when the owners of your club also have Ferrari under the umbrella and the godfather of the outfit wears a suit like Gianni Agnelli did, you win.
DDG
“”””we can still find gems like we did with Torreira””””
the little lad – can’t run. He can barely take a corner kick! I would beat him a race.
(AndI have had a hip and a knee replaced.)
Gem???
we have paid £20 million for a player who cant run – and months later- gave a player away for nothing who runs all day.
Quite extraordinary- your definition of a Gem!
You should get a job with Raul and Vinnai- you would fit in well there.
“Fucking hell, Brandt and Demirbay gone and we’re still waiting for Mr Good Ebening to get going.”
Isn’t this the truth.
There’s nothing stopping us from selling players we don’t want like Jenkinson, Asano, Ospina and Nwakali out on loan… sell them. Their value has nothing to do with Europa League Final result and they are clearly not good enough so get rid.
Collectively they might bring in about £10m but it’s about the new mentality at the club… not to put up with nonsense.
gambon is asking for better quality players whilst blaming Emery for not beating Wolves, Brighton, Crystal Palace lol
“gambon is asking for better quality players whilst blaming Emery for not beating Wolves, Brighton, Crystal Palace lol”
Because scraping 4th place isnt the height of my ambitions like you.
Redtruth – the abortion that never was.
Embarrassing yourself as per though with your pathetic insults and childish demeanour. Always pointing the finger too, state of you. Yeah I only reserve that for you because you do it too you dope. We don’t agree on the type of player he is that’s painfully obvious these last few years you’re that clueless. But at least we can agree that if we get an offer for the player that we accept it. That’s good that’s progress. I disagree with the whole only sell him after we’ve sorted out this this and this shite because if the opportunity arises to… Read more »
Leeds
To be honest, I can see why we arent making signings.
One, we dont know what competition we will be in.
Two, any signing leaves a player knowing they are finished at the club.
Ie- if we sign Hermoso, Mustafi knows he’s done, and we may need him next week.
Our team needs signings no matter what competition
We all know who needs to go
Better get their replacements in now. Perhaps that will shake them up for perform for their “last game”
Marko
Yea Marko, tell us more about how you’re just bitchy and insulting to me. Go on, now your ban has been lifted….
Xhaka will be sold if and only if a club (probably Italian) comes in for him at the right price. Not sure what the bods at the club see as a good price for him, but if I were to hazard a guess, it’s something north of £35m.
Otherwise, he’s here next season.
Dortmund and Leverkusen have finished their seasons too. We still have a game left. Bayern have a game on Saturday but they had Lucas and Pavard lined up months ago
gambon
Fair enough, but like I said nothing stopping us from selling.
If we start clearing people out it might sharpen up the concentration levels of those in danger of being sold and motivate to give their best performances… either to stake their place in the team or to put up a good performance in the shop window.
A win, win as far as Arsenal is concerned.
Charlie you are a bit of a dumb cunt you do know that. I tend not to feel bad about insulting you because you’re such a horrible prick.
Italian refereeing crew for the EL final… hmmm
CG, I am not sure why you think LT isn’t a decent find for the amount…In regards to your Ramey can run all day….reference how many injuries and how much time he’s out of the team. Everyone is obsessed with Ramsey, as if we never had the likes of Paddy V, Cesc Fabregas, even Nasri…all better than Ramsey…he scored some decent and much needed goals, but he was one of the problems we had…never played excellently well with any one he is paired with…ie. Wilshere, Song, Santi (Coquelin paired excellently well with Santi more than Ramsey), Xhaka Torreira…..I’ve rarely seen… Read more »
Midwest
good or bad???
Hazard going full Marlon Brando in the box.
Guns-
Not sure… but Sarri probably speaks Italian and might even know these dudes. They are an experienced crew though..
Emery won’t replicate his PSG success at Arsenal because of lack of funds and quality.
Xhaka is a competent if limited player. He has flaws but he has also ability. He is far from the clogger some want to paint. Before deciding to jettison him out of the club, the DoF needs to decide what kind of football we want to play. Once that decided, then head coach can decide if he fits the bill. That’s why people keep harping about football philosophy. If we decide that we will play a slow build-up from the back, then Xhaka is perfect. In a 4-1-2-3, then we just need to have two aggressive defensive minded players in… Read more »
Salpar,
Full Marlon Brando – method diving?
Marko
Says a lot about you. I do wish you’d drop the sage stuff however, the idea you think you know any faceless nobody from the internet is peculiar at best.
‘but Sarri probably speaks Italian’
You’d hope after 59 odd years living in Italy eh.