Rumours are still RED hot that Arsenal is moving in on Sampdoria pairing, Praet and Andersen. Hard to work out whether this is stoking the flames so they’ll land a buyer this summer, or there’s a RAGING fire of reality to accompany the smoke.
Either way, who cares, I’m into the gossip, it keeps the summer acceptable.
Remember, never trust a person that says they don’t enjoy the transfer window. It’s like saying you don’t like Jurassic Park. It’s the sort of comment that comes from a person you’re forced to meet on a double date that goes, ‘I don’t really support a club, but I do support England and I have a season ticket at Harlequins.’ It’s the half and half scarf of internet hot takes.
I fucking LOVE a rumour. Keep my pint glass topped up with cold foamy gossip all summer long. It’s all I need.
Talking of CLASSIC fine pairing rumours. One of the first major stories that had me firming up at the back pages was SO long ago, Youtube didn’t even exist, yep, we all had measles vaccinations back then… it was when Ronald and Frank De Boer were the De Ligt and Frenkie De Jong of Europe.
This from the Indie in 1997 (I must have been 2 years old or something)!
Arsenal have failed with an audacious offer to Ajax for the Dutch international De Boer twins, Frank and Ronald, but hope to resurrect an pounds 18m double deal in the summer.
The Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein has spent two days in Amsterdam in an attempt to secure the services of the De Boers. The brothers, 26, are contracted to the former European champions until 2000, but each has a clause in his contract allowing him to leave at a certain price.
Arsenal’s chances of signing the brothers are enhanced by the salaries at Highbury. Bergkamp is reportedly on pounds 1m a year, plus bonuses, while the De Boers earn pounds 300,000, despite being Ajax’s best players. However, there is the possibility that the Ajax coach, Louis Van Gaal, will replace Bobby Robson at Barcelona in the summer. In that event, the brothers may follow him to the Nou Camp.
The swift dismantling of the Ajax side in the wake of the Bosman ruling, will also see the 20-year-old striker Patrick Kluivert and the utility player Winston Bogarde, 26, leave for Italy on free transfers when their contracts expire in May.
OH MAN THAT WAS EXCITING.
BIG DAVID DEIN BRINGING HOME THE DUTCH BACON (at least trying)! 🥓🇳🇱
I think we eventually missed out because Arsene Wenger had some major issue with the brothers trying to void their contract agreement with Ajax. Wenger always had a moral compass a touch over-tuned for football. I think he thought if he was nice to other clubs, they’d be nice back, which was rarely the case. Bit like my life with women.
Wish he’d been a bit meaner about winning and bit more ambitious with money. Our ‘nearly 11’ would have won us a few more major silver pots… reckon at least half of that was down to dithering or fannying around over pennies… or making Zlatan have a trial!
The following transfer window post the De Boer fail was pretty bad for me, I was SUPER excited that Arsenal were in for Patrick Kluivert… I was bragging hard at school that we were about to pull off the deal of the century, but it fell through and he eventually ended up at Barcelona. I was totally ripped to pieces by all the nasty West Ham and Spurs fans at school. Don’t worry though, I filed a very strong complaint with those in authority that went nowhere, and was likely blood wedgied for being a grass.
I think we ended up with Kanu, which was exciting because fat Ronaldo said he was the greatest player he’d ever seen in training… and my oh my, did Kanu score some UNREAL goals. Best thing about players back then was there was no Youtube, so you had no fucking clue what was coming to your club until they played.
We also signed Kaba Diawara later in the season, a Champ Man LEGEND. I vividly remember him playing against Leeds and doing everything bar score… he was shipped out pretty quickly after that.
Anyway, what I’m saying is this… transfer windows are the dreams before the reality. Don’t trust the guy at work bemoaning it. He probably keeps foxes genitals in pickle jars, or has a really wicked Instagram handle where he paints toy boats on a timelapse… and let me tell you, this guy is definitely gluten-free and quite happy to pollute the airwaves with chat about how he found this little woke IPA brewery in Bermondsey that you can access on Saturdays as part of a tour.
Get fucked Steven, you can walk out in the sun and drink your pony tasteless beer, while me and my fellow brethren are sitting at home crushing F5, scouring AS.com with translate on, and following Twitter accounts like @FOOTBALLSECRETINSIDER in the hope of some REAL Saturday good times.
That’s a summer my friends, that’s a fucking summer.
Right, see you in the comments. x
Pedro
Agreed on transfer windows.
Any arsenal fan who doesn’t get into the silly season/transfer merry go round needs to lighten up.
CG And there I have it Ladies and Gentleman. In complete denial!! “It has nothing to do with the previous manager” Lol!!!!!! We are here because of the previous manager, not because of Emery. You know why you keep using the “Looser” rhetoric so much, it’s because you grew accustomed to it under you know who. You associate losing with everything surrounding the club. That’s what happens when you trust in someone who sees losing as being a normal occurrence. Emery deserves one more season. Oh look, it’s CC joining in the fun! The judge and jury of le-grove has… Read more »
Marc
When people ask why we have no money…Exhibit A, add in no UCL football for 3 years, add in the lowest value squad in the top 6, add in the worst wages to value ration in the top 6.
That is why we have £45 Million to spend.
What a cluster fuck of this new lot to create this situation inside 12 months. Awful at their jobs.
Cesc
You missed something incredibly important off your previous comment –
“add in the lowest value squad in the top 6”
should include “with the 3rd highest net spend in the PL over the previous 5 years”
If Sanllehi can unravel this mess over the next two summers it’ll be a miracle let alone one.
Up4
Tierney is a decent LB and wouldn’t cost a arm…he could come in and nail that left side for us in years as long as he keeps improving.. Would prefer Firpo except he’s been touted for 50M and that’s way outta our league
Disagree on Fraser though ..we can and should do better there
spent a lot of time watching the nations league last couple weeks.
man I wish arsenal had the balls to go out and sign de ligt for whatever the cost.
that guy would be a serious upgrade for the next XXX years to come and would probably make a good captain in the future too.
:..(
Graham
You can almost imagine the police arriving at the site of an accident – car’s in a ditch and turns out CG was driving but it’s not his fault because he’s no longer behind the wheel.
Marc The amateur hour running of Arsenal is shocking. Many of us said for years this would bite us in the arse and take years to fix…well here we are. You can tell the new lot are doing better already because look at their buys, Leno has improved in value dramatically, Torreira has improved in value, Guendouzi has improved in value and a £12 Million CB signing has been our best CB and would likely hold value/be a small profit from the right buyer. That is already a drastic improvement on what has come before. Honestly, the utter morons who… Read more »
Cesc
I can’t remember the film but it’s one of the piss takes of Scream etc. Girl run’s from a house being chased by a killer some to a street corner where the sign gives her a choice of safety or certain death – she dithers and then decides – I don’t need to tell you which way she goes.
It’s really as if we got into a place of if we can make a shit decision we will and then see how we can make it worse.
the swiss teams right back nr.2 kevin mbabu looked like a very good prospect too. if the club could acquire his services for a small amount he would probably make for a very good investment.
He reminded me a lot about bacary sagna except that he is a bit bigger and stronger which isnt bad at all 😀
Marc
That is literally it. For the last 6 years two signs. One pointing in the direction of a common sense decision that is best for the future of the club. The other pointing in the direction of an illogical, irrational, emotional based decision that ignores all evidence and contrary examples on how to run a football club.
Victorious,
If Fraser can be got cheap I don’t think it’s a bad deal. If he doesn’t click can be moved on for the Same money or small loss.
It then saves money for important positions like centrebacks and left back.
We need to be buying around the 22-25 age Mark so sell on value is there, and before they peak and go for 50-80million.
Cesc
You what’s maddening? Both Wenger and Gazidas became multimillionaires many times over whilst creating this bleedin’ mess. Ten years of pure unadulterated incompetence…
T as long as he isn’t anything like the last Swiss player we bought.
*know
Leeds
Then Wenger took his last year as well. I know he is legally entitled to it, but that really doesn’t sit right with me. The absolute mess he caused, years worth of clean up and Wenger was like ‘thank you very much I will have that last £10 Million’.
What’s the point in getting a player for cheap if he is not good enough. At least with Carassco, there is huge potential upside if he clicks. Fraser is a typical run of the mill winger who does little else than cross the ball from wide areas. We need wingers who can dribble and beat a player. If we are not getting a good one in our budget, we rather should strength other areas. No need to add another average player on top of plethora of ordinary players we have.
Up4 I like your thinking but the tabloids are saying Fraser would cost 30M even with one year left in his contracts.. That’s anything but cheap most especially when better players like Ziyech and Carrasco(don’t particularly rate) are available for less..all same age We need 2 wingers this summer and it seems We’ve settled for Carrasco and Claude-Maurice for 9M with an outside chance of a Zaha should he throw a strop and push for the move Not sure Carrasco and Maurice would be enough for top4 but what’s more important is what we do with the defence ..absolutely needs… Read more »
Cesc
But that was the whole problem with Wenger. He just couldn’t identify anymore how football was operating. He still thought he was doing the job better than anyone else could and had just had a bit of bad luck. As far as he was concerned that last years money was the least he deserved – I actually wonder with a few of the comments he’s come out with recently if the penny has dropped and he’s realised that he wasn’t seeing the wood for the trees.
With all the money in the PL we shouldn’t go anywhere near other PL players unless they are either on a free or have a buy out clause.
Victorious,
For me defence is the most important place to start.
Would even say forget trying for a winger and save the money if it meant a top quality left back and centre half Is all we can afford.
Scoring wasn’t the pressing thing last year it was the poor defence. That hasn’t been sorted out for years.
It doesn’t help the midfield offers little protections as well.
EPL players are ridiculously too over-rated and overpriced, I mean why on earth would Chilwell be priced at 70M while Firpo a far better Player is going for less..WinBissaka 50M?Maguire 70M,Zaha 80M..loool..i mean what exactly is going on?..these are decent but absolutely not world-class players.
Victorious
That’s because I’m not in denial.
You’re another one.
Like a swarm of bees around the honey jar.
By the way, NOT “all the problems bedeveling the club”.
Only about 80% of the things.
God, this reminds me of the good old days.
Same folk as well.
All the ones who sat and applauded are now fuming.
What a surprise.
——————————
Marc
I’m actually trying to help Pedro out.
He needs to recharge his batteries.
with 6 games to go.
Arsenal were 3rd. ( Wenger clearly left a horrendous legacy)
Only Man City- The League Champions were ahead
Only Liverpool – The European Champions were ahead.
CL Qualification was on a plate.
Like Emerys PSG at the Nou Camp-WHY DOES IT ALWAYS GO WRONG UNAI?
One of Life Loosers – I am afraid.
And I know that is Painful for some.
But its the TRUTH.
And not one Arsenal fan will tell me otherwise.
Graham
Are you suggesting that Pedro’s needs a night out to let his hair down – doh that’s it I’m banned this time!
Pedro
You owe me.
CG,
We can all accept Emery’s mediocrity, but your clarity on his flaws make a mockery of your constant defence of Wenger
CG
Enjoy your evening.
Cheers.
Victorious
Basically because there’s so much money in the PL small teams no longer need to sell anymore. Therefore to let a player go they can demand crazy money – the second problem is someone’s stupid enough to pay it.
Marc
I agree.
He was totally deluded.
I don’t pay attention to anything he says now so I’ve no idea if he’s finally seen reality. It’s like being constipated and then finally shitting, you don’t hang around looking at the shit you just flush and you’re glad to be rid of it.
That’s sort of how I feel about him.
I love Arsenal and he injured it severely to the point we’re in quite a precarious position. I will never forgive him for that. I don’t even want to see him let alone hear him speak his drivel.
Pedro
Fuck me that’s like telling someone who’s just committed mass murder that you’re going to deny them their Netflix subscription. CG has repeatedly called for Wenger to be installed as Tech Dir and has also suggested on more than one occasion that Mourinho should be installed as manager.
Guy’s bordering on needing to be sectioned.
PedRo If we are still around in 500 years time- Wenger ( probably) would still hold records in 2 of English biggest tournaments. And that deserves eternal respect. unbeaten season 7 FA Cups. Off course- he had many many flaws. Believe me- he used to drive me round the bend too. And stayed miles too long. My beef is always not that he left. We were all relieved of that- but Emery was chosen as his replacement. Frankly, it was an embarrassment and even a slur to Wenger. Which- I think was part of the intention. We deserved and deserve… Read more »
Repercussions?
What a load of tosh.
We are still in the same shit jam that Wenger left the club in.
Repeat : What Wenger left the club in.
And once you say this is the situation that Wenger left the club in then you get his defenders saying yeah but that was Wenger’s worst season as if that excuses him or something.
It doesn’t matter if it was his worst season.
It is at the door of Arsene Wenger. The downward spiral originated on his watch. Best to remember that.
I am outstandingly consistent in all my views.
Elite people in position at the Arsenal.
Eg Mourinhio, Ancellotti, Allegri, Wenger
Or Arsenal affiliated people in position at Arsenal
Eg, Vieria, Arteta, Freddie.
As for players:
Proven premier league performers
Eg. Zaha, Maguire, Brooks
Its all you wonderful guys and girls- who are happy to settle for mediocrity. And just want any Tom , Dick and Harry wearing the famous Red and White.
Ebening Grovers, Good post Pedro, you’re on good form; your comedic anecdotes and analogies are laugh out loud hilarious, love it. I remember the De Boer situation well being 21 at the time and was equally frustrated at Wenger taking the moral high ground and putting personal ego preference above what would have been amazing for Arsenal. I remember thinking at the time this doesn’t bode we for future signings and looking back I was right, the warning signs were there right from the get go and the alarm bells were ringing. I also spotted very early pre 2000 how… Read more »
I am sure if Leicester City can win the League Title by 10 points 18 months after they were promoted from Division 2. This Legacy argument really should be thought through more.
Its cliched nonsense.
Great managers don’t need a inherited legacy. They have an impact. Immediately!
The more and more people moan about Wenger- the more and more Emery is floundering. They go Hand in Hand.
3rd – 6 games to GO!
And then Unai does what Unai does.
I kind of agree with CG, Emery was a hugely underwhelming appointment but with the lack of money coupled with the Director of football/Head coach model Arsenal were adopting it did make sense particularly as Allegri walked away and Arteta was a complete unknown entity, and don’t forget Emery had just won the domestic treble in France and his CV was vastly superior to Wenger’s when he took over Arsenal. If there’s seriously any risk of Chelsea hiring Vieira then we must act quickly and ruthlessly and bin Emery off and bring Vieira in ourselves. I see little point in… Read more »
Bd
Thanks Bd
Cech is in the post,
(Same as Always.)
Ishola Exactly. When you combine the loss of UCL revenue with a wage budget £50-60 Million overblown with the lowest value squad in the top 6 with players earning wages way out or proportion to their value you have a monumental task rebuilding. Limited money, limited pull, limited assets to sell and reinvest and limited movement on the wage bill with FFP even starting to breathe down our neck. I personally think a lot of people are confused about where we are as a club right now and what we’re doing. We’re basically recalibrating every single aspect of a club… Read more »
bd
“”””if out former Captain Invincible and one of our best players and inspired leaders is available to be reunited with Ljungberg and Pires. It would be a dream, a match made in heaven and would surely unite the entire fanbase ready to start afresh next season.””””
It would Stop The Rot.
Arsenal would be Arsenal Again.
benny The thing you need to remember is none of the coaches that came after Moyes have managed to be an improvement – Mourinho might have won a couple of trophies but left a shit show ManU will still be looking to correct when OGS gets the bullet come Christmas time. Sometimes a rebuild is exactly that and cant’ be done overnight – the more you try and force or accelerate the issue the more you fuck things up. If there’s a genuine candidate (not one of CG’s moronic fantasies) out there 99% of fans would get behind the appointment… Read more »
Anyone who wants a transfer Budget to manage us. We should tell them to Disappear.
Only People who are prepared to walk on their knees for 500 miles only need apply. ( Tony Adams words)
We are The Arsenal, Mark.
We don’t beg for anyone.
Arsenal people running Arsenal is the way to Go.
We have tried Rauls way- and its Horrific!
Yeah true CA.
Can’t argue with a lot of that.
The club are still capable of getting top four as we saw season just gone and it was very disappointing that the team and manager failed at the last hurdles.
Mind you I’m not sure the team would have been in such a position with a few games to play if it wasn’t for those shall we say more than manageable away fixtures in September/October and the one in November.
I was seriously disappointed when Vieira took up a coaching role at Man City and saw it as rather treacherous, but there was no way Wenger was going to have his dissenting and charismatic voice undermining his that’s for sure.
Ishola Yeah it was a very disappointing end to the season but I just hope it has hardened the attitude of those at the club that there needs to be a mass clear out of the shit left to them. When you think this squad has one full back and then Emery had no full backs for half a season, this squad has no wingers at all. Just on that front we are so far away from being ready to be a UCL side. You basically have to scratch out the entirety of both sides of your team. I think… Read more »
Will Arsenal get such a nice run of away fixtures up to the beginning of November next season as the one just gone?
Remember no team that finished up in the top ten played away from home up until beginning of November apart from that very first away match at Chelsea.
Next season can be very different in how the away fixtures fall in the first few months and of course there will be pandemonium on here if Arsenal fail away to teams that finished in the top ten places.
Let’s get this right
We are linked with the 2 Sampdoria players
One ac Milan midfielder
One getafe defender
One Turkish midfielder
One young Brazilian
One player in China
One Belgium defender
Have I missed any ?
Wha5 a load of baloney
‘Let’s get this right We are linked with the 2 Sampdoria players
One ac Milan midfielder
One getafe defender
One Turkish midfielder
One young Brazilian
One player in China
One Belgium defender Have I missed any ?Wha5 a load of baloney’
And we have an array of posters here swooning over the capabilities of the new regime day in day out. Emery and Raul are going to break the hearts of many believers.
TR7
“Emery and Raul are going to break the hearts of many believers.”
It’s all relative though really isn’t it.
Who are these believers you speak of? Believing in what exactly?
Really all it’s about is gaining 4th place which is all a little unfortunate in itself isn’t it.
Club still needs a complete culture change.
Maybe these so-called “believers” are looking for this culture change while others just pine for the pretty football still that ultimately most times fell short in the past itself.
Regarding the transfer targets it is what it is. That’s how it falls.
Club now in it’s fourth season in the second tier european competition and the bloated wage bill to contend with.
A club that sat on it’s arse for too long admiring itself in how clever they were with an oh so clever manager and that club got fat and obese and second rate.
The Sampdoria duo don’t fill me with much confidence if I’m being entirely honest
I’d much rather just the CB as opposed to both.
Kaba Diawara…funny looking chap wasn’t he. Fucked if I know what Wenger saw in him lol
Agreed… there is no “believers” it takes decades to form cult manager followers like that.. More like it’s just people who want the new group to not suck as bad as the old group… which in theory shouldn’t be that hard to achieve. so far it’s been a bit of the same same though. At this point I would settle for clearing out the useless overpaid players clogging our roster up… I’m not 100% sure that will happen either. Also frustrating. Other then that it’s just basically troll patrol up in here. Seriously what self respecting Arsenal fan suggests Jose… Read more »
I think I will just migrate away for a bit…
No inspiration from arsenal…..
Where has all the money gone….
Carts
Been a while mate good to see you posting here again.
What have you made of the season?
Kaba Diawara was owned by Bordeaux. Marseilles wanted to buy him, but because of the bad blood between thebtwo clubs, there was no way Kaba Diawara was moving from Bordeaux to Marseilles. Everybody knew in France that his move to Arsenal was really a way for him to move to Marseilles. The funny thing is that after one year at Marseilles he left them to join PSG. He could have a great career, but he let his agent dictate his moves. As soon as he was settled, his agent moved him to get a commission. 17 clubs in a career… Read more »
The Sampdoria duo don’t fill me with much confidence if I’m being entirely honest
I’d much rather just the CB as opposed to both.
_________
Agreed… maybe they are saying both or nothing? Or it could be just made up media stuff because of the LT connections.. I don’t know.
Speaking of short Italian players … Insigne hit an absolute bomb volley goal today for Italy vs Bosnia.. score one for the midgets.. lol Was a pretty entertaining match though..
Dissenter, re; your post on Ospina’s situation, I think he ain’t a bad keeper. How do u expect him to perform if he didn’t get much game time. His problem is his height and his inability to deal with crosses. IMO, we could get between €8-10m for him. Naomi are just being pony. Why do some posters complain about the players we’re being linked with. The plan is to get those with a point to prove (Carrasco in mind), players out of contract (say Rabiot) or player who are young with a much ceiling ahead (Saliba)and players with a year… Read more »
Oh and Verratti scored too.. speaking of midgets…
*Napoli are being pony
frazer btw is very much of the mold of player that fits the bill with unai… hard working, decent results, not too special. just like unai himself. I think the club should be looking to sign less frazers, unais, elnenys and so on… and perhaps be a little more ambitious. on the other hand I was really happy with most arrivals last summer and those guys played pretty well throughout the season too … well apart from lichsteiner of course 😀 so all in all interesting to see who comes and who goes this summer. perhaps we will be surprised… Read more »
Mark
“”””Mourinho might have won a couple of trophies but left a shit show ManU “””
He left them second last year.
And lots of sellable assets ( Pogba, Lukaku etc)
You may not like the man. And there are many compelling reasons not to do so.
But not accepting that he is not a brilliant football operator illustrates that you actually know very little about football
He is one of the most decorated managers ever.
CG,
Life is miserable enough as an Arsenal supporter without having the Specialist in Misery making all our lives even more miserable than it already is.
Words….
Miserable Enough…?
I am afraid to say ( especially to you- because you are a wonderfully polite and erudite chap)
This Arsenal Black Dog ain’t over Yet….
Not even touched the sides….nowhere even halfway through it.
Next season- there will be results and ructions- we would not have believed were possible only a few seasons ago…
The club has no plan
So expect the unexpected..
I honestly think we’re fucked. Not just this season but for many to come. Our owners are shite. They don’t care about the club. Never will. Planning and organizing seem nil. The transfers were being linked with are stupid. Why sign a 17 year old Brazilian winger when weve got willock saka and nelson coming through?? What kind of message does that send out to them? I’d be furious if it was me. I think the only thing weve got to look forward to next season is the new kit
WE
All good, bruv
If I’m to be totally honest, the season was frankly a failure.
Excusing that weird unbeaten run we went on, Emery hasn’t shown me anything outside of Wenger.
His team selection would rank between baffling and naive, his tactics are bizarre; now he’s looking at a couple of players that don’t wzactly instil much confidence in me.
To be honest, I would’ve sacked him after the Chelsea game…sadly, that’s not the Arsenal way apparently
Kay BOSS “Why do some posters complain about the players we’re being linked with. The plan is to get those with a point to prove (Carrasco in mind), players out of contract (say Rabiot) or player who are young with a much ceiling ahead (Saliba)and players with a year left (Fraser).” Maybe some people are wary and don’t want another Ozil scenario down the line. Mhiki is another lazy player. First thing he commented on when joining from Man United was oh good I don’t have to work too hard here and he has proved a disappointing. Maybe some are… Read more »
Midwest
Yeah it could be same old rumour mill with the Italians. They like to drive a hard bargain and create a mini bidding war… similarly the the Portuguese.
Personally, I think the rumour has legs, and something tells me Emery is proper keen on it.
Financially, we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. Ramsey thing still makes me laugh.
Haven’t seen anyone really complain about Saliba.
He looks a very good prospect.
Some posters though may have reservations about his transfer price and they may have a point considering the overall budget.
And now we hear Man United are interested in him his price isn’t going to get any lower for this youngster.
Carts We’re on the same page there it seems, I agree with all of that basically. The end of season run-in was a sackable offence if we’re looking at improvement in life past AW. The players that we’re being linked with are a pretty uninspiring bunch as well truth be told. I get that we’re a EL club now so the marquee names are off the menu but really, we’re looking to recreate Sampdoria’s midfield over here? A midtable side in Serie A. Carrasco is ball-tingling as it gets, a player that chucked 1.5 years of his prime years to… Read more »
United looking at spending upwards of 40m on Bissaka it would appear.
This is why you look should generally elsewhere outside of the PL for talent, Bissaka is a very good RB but that’s a silly figure that they’re demanding for full-back that’s put up one good season of PL football.
There’s just as talented players to be found abroad for literally half that price, just like Zaha who’ll they’re quoting as being worth 70-80m which is a laughable figure.
If United signing Wan Bissaka means we get Meunier I’m all for it.
I’m so excited to get some full backs in the team, City and Liverpool are evidence of what happens when you add great full backs.
I mean having any would do for start with us. But if we get the signings right (Meunier and Tierney looking most likely) it could improve us right away.
Weagle Exactly. If our summer is the two Sampdoria boys, over the past year we’ll have taken the spine (CB and 2 CMs) from the 9th best team in Italy. Is that really going to drive us back into the CL? I’m all for seeking out the value propositions and hidden gems at smaller clubs, which usually means taking a stand-out player who clearly is on a plane above his teammates. I find it difficult to believe that the spine of the 9th best team in Italy is an elite group who just happen to be so low in the… Read more »
CA
I am not sure spanking big bucks on a prime RB is the way to go.
Its money down the drain if Bellerin comes back from injury and manages to displaces him.
I would think that a versatile defender to rotate with AMN for RB spot is probably more sound?
Replacing Kolasinac, IMO, should be the priority.
Holy macaroni!
https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3014104/thousands-block-roads-downtown-hong-kong-defiant-protest
Congrats to America beating the Thai woman’s midget tomboy team 13:0 yesterday.
Sal, Dissenter and Midwest must be very proud of their team/country 🙂 🙂 🙂
Absolutely hilarious game/result.
Will America win their 3rd world up?
To be fair and joking aside America look decent, but so does Brazil and a few others in the competition.
England? Managed by Phil Neville?
Neville has been reported that fitness isn’t as important as keeping possession (you watching UE?)
Pierre’s level of football really.
Arteta should be England’s manager to cut his teeth as a manager.
“No inspiration from arsenal…..Where has all the money gone….”
MONEY realized he has no role in a club where there is no AMBITION. So, MONEY left few years back to find and (hopefully) bring home our long-lost AMBITION.
Tony-
To be honest given the level of participation and money invested and training and talent level of the US women… anything less then winning will be considered a failure. Sorry about Thailand man… Lol… Seemed a bit obsessive… but you know point differential and all that.. 😀
Seriously though.. until our Men’s program is anywhere near what the Womens’ is.. you won’t be hearing me gloating over anything… it’s embarrassing really how bad our Men’s national team is…. at times.. Only good thing is our U-20’s are decent. Anyhow.. it does kill the monotony of the summer.
obsessive = excessive… although they were obsessed with scoring. Maybe Matty G could spend some time with the US women to learn how to shoot this summer when they do the US tour.
Midwest The Thai men’s team employed Peter Withe as their manager on a princely salary of £96,000 a year. Then fired him to pay a Thai less than year later. Thailand has money – more than people realise, as is evident with the amount of Mercs and premium cars on the road where an E-Class Mercedes costs US$150,000 Vs £60,000 in the UK. In Bangkok about 1:6 cars are premium BMW 3 series upwards. Just too much corruption in Thailand as to where the money goes. I saw the U-20s are looking good. Our adopted Thai daughter was on a… Read more »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWGtDNBgZPo
Was checking to some new music and came across this guy: Woodley Taylor – unique voice and Gilmour influence lead guitar.
into*
Un
One for you:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-7116803/Jack-Wilshere-opens-injury-hell-illness-young-son-consider-career.html
Mario Hermoso is the name back in circulation this morning.
Tbh this is exactly who I expect to land at the Emirates, and is precisely the ‘sort’ of player we should be buzzing around – how good he is I don’t know. But….
Good reputation, good season at modest club, under 25, just broken into the Spain national side, modest fee. Get them on the rise guys.
This blog is becoming unbearable with CG constantly around here…
The guy has no life.
Mario Hermoso is of the same ilk as Andersen at Sampdoria.
Footballing CB.
Very good long passer of the ball. Setpiece taker for Espanyol as well.
As he has such a good eye for the long pass from deep you know what current player could be dispensed with don’t you if he was signed.
Interesting player from a purely footballing aspect but question marks about how good he actually is at defending. Bit weak tackling apparently.
Ishola
You watched much of him play, or are you bringing a watered down WhoScored report to the blog as your take?
https://www.whoscored.com/Players/344156/Show/Mario-Hermoso
@cescappeal
Im ok with buying tierney but if we get menuir then surely we will be using that awful 352-532 formation again this year.
What a ball ache going into another season without proper wingers.
I also fond this martinelli signing to be pointless. We paid 5 mill for wellington silva only for him to dissapear in to the sunset after many loans.
I’ve watched him in some games and yes whoscored.com can also be a good indicator of a player.
Watch him play Charlie and you will see his whoscored profile matches up pretty well.
In fact whoscored.com can be a better barometer of a player than certain posters here who bring to the table only secondary stats.
whoscored actually gives characteristics of players rather than just number crunching.
Of course you also want to see the player in action as well to see if this marries up.
“I’ve watched him in some games and yes whoscored.com can also be a good indicator of a player.”
That so? What do you make of Mustafi being our 3rd highest performer this season, and your mate Xhaka 5th? I’m guessing the merits of WhoScored are there as and when you want to use the information to support a view.
https://www.whoscored.com/Teams/13/Show/England-Arsenal
But Charlie there is a telling weakness in both Xhaka and Mustafi’s profiles on whoscored that being that both are tagged as being indisciplined players which is entirely correct.
Indisciplined basically meaning prone to fuck ups which is again entirely correct from whoscored in relation to these two players.
Good site whoscored but as said previously also you want to see the player in action as well as confirmation.
Has that answered your attempted put down Charlie?
Ishola
“In fact whoscored.com can be a better barometer of a player than certain posters here who bring to the table only secondary stats.”
Interesting looking at the ratings on whoscored…Ramsey and Holding, players that many on Le Grove were regarded as having very good performances during the season , are down to 14th and 11th respectively.
Mustafi and xhaka , players that were regarded to be very poor by many on Le Grove last season 3rd and 5th .
Pierre
As Charlie inadvertently pointed out while whoscored can be seen as a good site there are other aspects which can be seen perhaps as not as good.
For me personally that would be the number crunching parts of the site.
I only look at characteristics of players on their site not stats.
Highbury CG probably floats around the spectrum lexicon, as a bit of a mongrel: a bit Aspergers, part bi-polar and ADHA. I have ADHA and it wasn’t until my early teens I began to learn to use the fact that my brain runs at stupid speeds where it became more of a gift. I was able to seriously multi task while absorbing vast amounts of data. Oddly enough my wife is similar to me and our son has ADHA so we are equipped to teach him where others can’t. He speaks Thai, English and now learning Chinese and is in… Read more »
Ishola
It’s not a put down, you dropped ‘knowledge’ ripped entirely from WhoScored, then lauded WhoScored as a reliable site, so I asked how that’s so when you absolutely dismember Xhaka as a footballer at every turn – yet he’s a top 5 performer for us on there.
“Indisciplined basically meaning prone to fuck ups which is again entirely correct from whoscored in relation to these two players.”
Not true, ‘discipline’ doesn’t relate to giving passes away or being a liability positionally, it’s foul count and cards.
Pedro There are many posters here much more knowledgeable about players and their stats than I am. Although I’ll always read the blog I don’t see the point chipping in with my thoughts on players we probably won’t end up buying. It’s obvious who we need to shift and what positions need filling. To that end I thank the posters, such as Freddie, Ishola, Charlie, Cesc Appeal and many others who contribute such cool information. If you don’t mind me occasionally going off topic for the next 6 weeks, I’ll just post the odd tidbit for any who are interested… Read more »
Charlie I have already told you that I have seen Hermoso play for Espanyol in a few matches and that the whoscored.com profile matches up well. The ratings you gave and Pierre as well relating to Xhaka and Mustafi being 3rd and 5th best performers at the club are stats based. I have already told you I don’t rate their stats side and stats in general. What I rate on their site is their characteristics profile of players. And I can’t believe you are arguing about what indisciplined means. It can cover many aspects on the football pith and the… Read more »