What is going on my darlings?!
I am currently in Washington with my dad.
The weather is disgusting. It hit 100 degrees yesterday, or 37.7 Celcius. We walked the landmarks in a fit of ‘let’s not be pussies about this’ and I can confirm this was a mistake.
I have no idea how the players are supposed to deal with this… peak temperature arrives at 1700!
There is a BIG game tonight as we take on the once-mighty Fiorentina. Another chance for some of the kids to shine. Another chance for Mustafi to show the world he is a total legend and well worth the £90k a week.
Some interesting snippets in and around the internet. Arseblog had an interesting piece from Sven about his time at Arsenal. It’s what we all knew… he fell out with leadership because they changed direction when Ivan G left.
The key takeaway – one I have debated at length with people is… the dreaded contacts approach to football is real.
Arsenal is the only club on the planet that can move in the direction of modernism, only to crush it and go back to something that reeks of old fashioned curtains. He basically said instead of being proactive, using tech, people and data to uncover value in a competitive market… we’re waiting for agents to bring players to us. Pretty much the exact strategy that’s seen United do so well since Fergie left.
I guess we have to hope that Edu has something to say about that. It is not efficient to rely on the opinion of people who have something to sell. That is not a forward-facing approach to building a super club. When it succeeds you can’t repeat it either… it’s built on luck of the draw.
Very depressing if our new technical director agrees with this… because, you know, it’s not a very technical way of looking at a game that is advancing at a rate of knots.
Don’t be a dinosaur, Edu.
It was amusing that the journo speaking to Sven pestered him about taking a smaller job, his response was basically – ‘we fill 60,000 for a relegation battle and we’re nosier. This isn’t a small club.’ Fair play.
Talking of Edu, it reads like he gave a personal response to my blog the other day.
There are a lot of things to do, but I will try to explain to you a little bit about almost everything. People always say that the technical director has to look after and be involved in the process of signing players, selling players, keeping players, loaning players. That’s an important part of the job of course and I understand that. But for me there are more important things in front of that – we have to look after what we have today. We have to work hard today. We have to look after our squad today. The future is the future, and signing players means sometimes the future, and of course I have to be involved in that process, but I also have to take care of today. I explained to the players when I arrived that I’m not the guy who stays inside the office and waits for someone to knock on my door and send a message to me. I want to be involved in the process, I want to be on the inside, I want to be with them, I want to be with Unai, I want to be with the staff as well, to try and advise them if they need it, and give some advice for them. Being involved is important and that’s what I really believe from today. The link with the academy is very important because people always forget about it, because they talk about signing big names, but we have to take care of the academy as well. That’s one point I have to be linked with.
So there are short-term things to address, and also medium-term things to address?
Yes, that’s part of my role as well, because in football there are short-term, medium-term and long-term [challenges] of course, but how do you share that? I have to look after short-, medium- and long-term, but Unai has to look after the very short-term [challenges], and that means Wednesday, Saturday, training sessions, looking after the opponents and the strategy of the games. I have to give him time to look after that situation, and he has to give all his energy to that very short-term, he has to look after that and I have to help him with it. And medium-term and long-term, when we look after the academy, maybe you’re talking about medium-term and long-term, so that’s important to me, to be linked very well with the academy as well. So as I said, Unai has to be focused with his energy on the very short-term, and I have to help him with that.
What do you say, Edu, to the fans who are concerned about the club’s future? Some fans are positive, some fans are less positive. What do you say to those who are less positive?
We have to understand the fans, we have to understand that. That’s important. But they have to understand us as well. Because we have a philosophy. The club is changing a lot, so I saw that before I signed up for technical director, I saw the many changes now Arsene has left. The structure of the club changes a lot. So that’s a process, and sometimes we need time. I understand that time is going against us but we have to be aware of that. But in the end, we’re going to give to [the fans] some good things I am sure. I am sure. Because since I started to talk with Vinai and Raul about that job, I felt the energy of the club. I felt the very positive things around it. That’s why I really believe and that’s why I am here as well, because I feel we will do good things in the future. Not the future-future, but nearly there!
Let’s jump one year into the future. If we spoke to you again then, where would you hope the club would be at that point?
I’m not saying [it’s a] dream, but [we need to be] focused to be fighting for the Champions League again. Of course that’s our target. To make the squad even stronger. I want to see the fans enjoying, as before, the club even more. I know how they live the club, how they love the club and we have to give them something back so they can enjoy again the club.
This reads really well for me… and the club are clearly trying to appease the whingers like me. They want the ground to be buzzing this season, which is fair.
What I like:
He’s addressing the now, he’s talking about stages to what he’s doing and he’s said that his goal is to fight for the Champions League.
No time frame… but I’m giving him one. 5 years. Champions League final. Make it happen!
Transfer wise, no one really has anything. All the deals we know we’re gunning for are just chugging along. Dani Ceballos is going to be a very interesting move for Arsenal, that would make me feel a lot better about the coming season. If we can bring in a couple of wide players and a centre back, at least we’ll have inched forward. The most important thing for me is building out the athleticism of the squad. It’s been painful to watch average teams bully us. We need a more brutish character this season, Zaha certainly gives us that sort of edge.
In the… ‘look who we let go OMG OMG’ instalment today. Ismail Bennacer just took the player of the tournament at AFCON. Ouch. It’s amazing how good other clubs have been at identifying the better prospects in our youth ranks.
Hopefully, Emery really does get pressured into playing the kids this season… John-Jules, Saka, Willock and Medley best be £30m players by the end of the season.
Interestingly, Chelsea HAS to take the youth approach. Top 4 could be battle of the kids.
Right, that’s me done, enjoy the game this evening and HYDRATE if you are in the ground.
“They couldn’t understand Emery’s English”
Yeah if only in that several hundred million wage bill we had someone who appreciated that no being able to talk to someone is not ideal.
Unbelievable from Ndombele. Guy comes on and creates a goal for Moura. One more win in the last six matches in the PL last season and Ndombele doesn’t join Spurs. He’ll go for big money to PSG, Real in two years. Utter nonsense.
Marc, It is called the Peter principle. Somebody is elevated above his competency level. However if that person is ruthless enough to know when and how to eliminate anybody threatening their own position, they can survive. In the meantime their organisation suffer from their incompetence. If they are senior enough, the company can collapse. When the situation become intenable the person leave before being pushed out or is handsomely compensated to leave. Usually they then reappear somewhere else and repeat the same process. At Barcelona, Raul was allegedly the master wheeler dealer. The reality is quite different. It is like… Read more »
Emery has to go for more matches next season. We don’t have to be have as counter punchers to react to opposition’s tactics. His weakness from his time in Spain is building a defensive setup like Conte. His strength is going for games.
One of Xhaka/Torreira plus one of Ceballos/Guendouzi/Willock, maybe two at times.
That Ndomble is going to be a star in the PL. He is dynamic and has a good eye for a pass.
Valentin
If we make the following signings Tierney, Saliba (goes back on loan), Ceballos (on loan) and a wide player with at least a high potential threshold, then add a CB as backup for a season.
How would you rate that as a window?
#Ndombele
The Young Gunners knows best!!
Young talents/fresh start/very good ambiance between the young and the more experienced players means the season to come will not necessary be a disaster.
And Valentin knows best, him too.
(As usual)
Marc, I would rate that as a bare minimum. Ceballos is a good player, but not the right type for Arsenal. From the little I have seen of him, he plays as a 10, but with defensive awareness. We don’t need another 10, we need a 8. Ndombele would have been perfect for Arsenal. The annoying thing is that there are players in France who have his characteristics. They may not have as much talen as him, but some still are more suited to the position than Xhaka or Ceballos. Regarding the CB as a back-up. We need a proper… Read more »
As I thought Valentin nothing is good enough. I don’t know whether you’re another of the closet Wenger fans who are enjoying seeing the club struggle to fix the mess he left or just someone incapable of getting any joy out of the club.
We have a limited budget, players on salaries that mean they’re difficult to shift and you expect someone to wave a magic wand and fix everything.
Spuds won in over time. Kane got a lose ball on the midfield line and looped a ball over the GK.
Nelson
Where are you from?
Szczcsny was the goat.
Marc
Canada
Ah explains – wondered why you called in over time.
Starting to look like we’ll be lucky to see 4 brought in, Emery saying ‘up to four’.
So Tierney, Ceballos (loan) and a wideman most likely. Not going to lie that would be a disappointing window and still desperately weak in the central areas.
We are more an ice hockey nation. Ha! Ha!
and still leaves us*
Wanting an 8 in midfield or a competent CB is not really waving a magic wand tbf.
Valentin is correct in his analysis of Ceballos. He plays like a 10 who can also offer some defensive play as well. Nothing wrong with the player individually he has some good arrtibutes but he isn’t going to offer control in the centre of the pitch because he will be on walkabouts further up playing his instinctive 10 game.
Ceballos isn’t a 10. Or at least he wasn’t at Betis
Tell us what he is Marko.
Tell us his style of play.
Marc, This is the same usual tripe: You criticise the current team, because you are a closet AKB. Did it never occurred to you that some fans wants what’s best for the club and are not ready to settle for average. My opinion is that the team needs upgrade and some area are more important than others. I just think this current team is doing as bad if not worse than under Wenger. I made the point that Tierney may turn good, but I view his price was too high for the uncertainty: will he have completely recovered from his… Read more »
I’d say Ceballos is more of an 8.
His end product needs a lot of work, even in his best season at Betis he was only directly responsible for a handful of goals all season.
Cabellos looks nothing more than a neat and tidy player to me. Nothing special about the guy.
WE,
He is an attacking midfielder who is best when trying to control the ball further up the field and dictate the play. He has defensive awareness, but he is not the player who sit deep, tackle attackers, get the ball cleaning of them and burst past players.
Ceballos has played plenty of matches in more advanced positions than CM and on the flanks which indicates he really isn’t an 8. He is an attacking midfielder who has some defensive attributes about him. Quite a lot of players are listed as CM when in reality they are AMs. At Betis he was clearly seen as a focal point in attack in providing. He’ll play like Ramsey who was also meant to be box to box but in reality wasn’t. He has attributes to be box to box but I think his natural instincts are about further up the… Read more »
TR7
He’ll be an improvement on Ozil and Miki at least but I agree, you’d swear we were signing Isco the way some fans are bleating on about him.
Numbers are quite restrictive when describing players, he’s more involved in the build up than your average 10 but he’s also not a disciplined CM in terms of holding his position in the centre and tracking opposing midfielders off the ball.
Xhaka as the sweeper and gatekeeper in front of our fragile backline is still a huge cause for concern and will see us leak so many goals.
‘Added to that reports that Emery doesn’t fancy him at all and it doesn’t look to good for Mav at this point.’
Emery has no understanding of defense and quality of defenders. The guy will continue with over the hill journeyman like Mustafi and Sokratis.
Did you watch Mav at all last season?
Rabbit in headlights, guys definitely not ready for the prem regardless of how bad the other options are.
Unai ‘Did you watch Mav at all last season?Rabbit in headlights, guys definitely not ready for the prem regardless of how bad the other options are.’ A young teenager coming back from an injury layoff not looking up to speed in the limited game time he gets in a league still alien to him is hardly a matter of surprise. As far as I am concerned he has it in him to come good if the manager shows faith in him and gives him adequate game time. Talking of rabbit in headlights, what about calamitous Mustafi continuing to be a… Read more »
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TR7, your right, hes a raw kid who needs game time.
A loan? cup games? Fine.
30+ games in the prem would be pure negligence.