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.
RSPC
Good stuff – you can’t beat cooking from scratch.
I don’t know where you’re based but the weather forecast for the UK next week is 30 odd degrees. There isn’t a better food in the world in hot weather than proper home made Gazpacho – it’s light, refreshing, cools you down and tastes fucking great. I make about 4 – 5 litres of the stuff – does make the kitchen look like it’s been hit by a tomato bomb though.
“We have distilled contacts scouting to:
‘You have to have a contact to buy a player, so it’s good’
Nice work.”
We’ve distilled analytics based scouting to “the computer told me to do it”.
Strange making a stupid comment about a differing view is not as satisfying as I thought it would be.
Sven was the only guy in our so called modern set up who was capable of adding real value to AFC.
I’m not so sure of that. Outside of 3 players sure but the rest have no resale value.
‘Bennacer is perfect for Emery’s high pressing. He attacks like a rock while Guen is like a feature. I find him better than both Guen and Xhaka. Guen needs to gain another 10 lbs of upper body strength before he can play like a man’
Bennacer is better than anyone we have in the midfield fight now and that includes Torriera.
Missed opportunity there and I just wonder if we will be saying the same about Beilik by 2020.
Marko jacking off as we speak at the very thought too.
I have never jacked off to a transfer window while supporting Arsenal ever to the best of my knowledge. I may have tried to in years past when we signed Bergkamp or Overmars but I definitely didn’t cum
One of the transfers I’m watching if that of Lukaku to Milan
Conte [and everyone at Inter] is absolutely not considering Icardi for next season. Conte fatuously fell out with Chelsea when they didn’t get him Lukaku and is the one player he asked for when Inter signed him.
Problem is that they don’t have money and need Icardi to move anywhere to raise money.
Icardi is ….Icardi
There’s a ton of TNT about to blow up. Conte has declared he won’t be playing a striker until the situation is resolved.
Why are the numpties at United rejecting 54M for Lumbering Lukaku?.. How much are they hoping to get? Guy is physically built for the EPL but has the turning ability of a pregnant elephant ,has hit his ceiling and ain’t getting better
Worry that united might come for Auba if they finally give in
Marc
Yes mate, we’re the only club in European football with players we can’t shift apparently, memo received.
We’ve lost half a mil on wages since seasons end so what’s holding up us signing players? Is Wenger still in the back dithering?
I fully expect us to sign some players in the next 3 weeks, but don’t come at me and pass it off as some masterful new age. We’ve already shown our incompetent hand to reach this point with absolutely nothing achieved.
– Name all the guys you want sold, they’re still here
– Name the areas you want addressed, they’ve not been
– Name the guys we need to replace after contracts ran out, we haven’t.
But let’s wait and see, then claim it was all part of the plan to play scratch and sniff for two months before turning Colney upside down for a fortnight straight before Newcastle.
Dennis wasn’t worth a popshot Marko is that what you’re telling me?
The current transfer window has been a big disappointment. The only thing that will get me excited for the new season is Emery giving a few young lads quality game time. I would rather the likes of Willock, Bielik, Holding, Mavrapanos, Chambers, AMN ,Nelson,Nketiah and ESR got opportunities than Mustafis, Iwobis and Xhakas of the world.
Dissenter
Conte also fell out with Costa – which in part lead to him leaving. He’s one of those guy’s who will always end up in an argument with someone.
Victorious
United come for Auba …so what.
Good players always attract attention.
Auba’s contract is still good for two years and we don’t have to sell him. That’s what we tell United and they they can fuc* off.
Interesting that United aren’t at all keen on Icardi being involved in the Lukaku transfer. There seems to be no top level interest in Icardi in fact.
Bit overrated as a CF.
Dissenter
A management with a bit of gumption would activate the buy back clause we have on Bennacer and bring him aboard but alas we have some really thick fvcks ruining the club every passing minute
TR7
You really dislike Iwobi that much?
You placed him in teams box as Mustafi, goddamit.
Is he that hopeless?
I think he’s done enough to be a player coming from the bench and is more advanced that all the other academy players you listed.
CC
The Spud’s need to move on Alderweireld, Vertonghen and Eriksen, they also want to sell Rose.
How many are still there?
ManU need to sort out a contract with De Gea or sell and they also need to get Pogba out the door.
They are both still there.
Tell me who would you sell Mustafi Ozil to? How would you get them out of the club?
I’m not saying there’s a master plan, we do seem to be working on some deals but until they’re done it doesn’t mean shit.
At least the new team would like to buy some players. Wenger purposely avoided it.
Anyone seen that little piece of filth, A Star is Born?
Lady bloody Gaga shows her tinkle to Brad Blooper.
Victorious
I think the Bennecar water has passed under the bridge
It’s irrevocable because we already passed on the player twice. As I understand it, we had the first refusal and then a percentage of his transfer if we decide not to activate the clause.’we’ve already declined and he’s already set for Milan.
I don’t think the player will want to come to a club that’s turned him down twice already. I guess the data we had on him was flawed.
Marc
If your big summation is at least the new lot want to buy some players then your bar is embarrassingly low.
We turned the club structure upside down to ‘want to buy players’? Fill me to the brim with that confidence. I’m sold on it.
You even see how pathetic things are but you’re hesitant to commit to saying it because it maybe go against your primary belief that anything is better than Wenger. Better is better than Wenger, but average is not.
Iwobi is not a winger, all fool to Emery chunking him there in the absence of a legit wide player in the entire squad
Guy is superb playing #10 for Nigeria,.notched for himself a couple of goals and assist also
We should look for a way to bin Ozil or Mikki and have Iwobi getting valuable playing time in his preferred position
Interesting that United aren’t at all keen on Icardi being involved in the Lukaku transfer. There seems to be no top level interest in Icardi in fact.
3 words a Bitch Called Wanda
Marc
If Spuds sell Rose then all bets are off, they will come in for Tierney just to spite us.
I’ve always wondered why Celtic are dragging their feet and snagging negotiations.
Someone’s agent is telling them ..not so fast
Just speculating…like we all do, especially in a scorching summer day down to my birthday suit 😀
Dissenter
Yes, Iwobi is utterly useless as a winger. To be honest he looks half decent when he plays as a no 10. I like how he runs with the ball. But if Emery is going to use him as a winger then expect him to have another poor season.
Football is fcuked! and not just at Arsenal FC.
I suppose if you pay too many players too much money, it’ll eventually come back to kick you in the ass when you want to move them on.
Oh for the days of regular off seasons, regular transfers, regular chit-chat and regular excitement.
I think Icardi is persona non grata at all major European clubs.
He’s laid his bed very carefully…now has nowhere no room to place it in.
Another transfer deadline day rush incoming
Somethings just never change with this club
I expected the team to move one of Mykhi or Ozil on
Having both stil around will stifle the chances of the likes of Willocks or Iwobi.
There something to be said about the willingness to try to keep Koschielny and resting Ozil as well as Mykhi.
Victorious
I agree.
Iwobi could play as a #10.
His pace and directness would be a valuable asset in that area of the park.
Got to get the two misery guts ( Ozil and Mikki) out of the way first.
I do not think that Aubameyang will move to Man Utd on two counts.
1. Arsenal are unlikely to “assist” Man Utd in becoming a top 4 team.
2.We will struggle to replace a 30 goal a season player. It would be a retrograde
step.
CC
Average is better than Wenger – that’s the problem it shows you just how far down he took us.
We’re not going to sell Auba to United
But again Iwobi doesn’t have the composure and creativity to play as a 10 either. His runs look good but lack of composure and nous in his game renders most of his runs meaningless. So, we should bin him.
Graham
“Oh for the days of regular off seasons, regular transfers, regular chit-chat and regular excitement.”
It has been a strange window – there’s been very little movement to speak of.
Marc
No it really isn’t, but I’m not going to open that can of worms. My point is you’re trying too hard to rework this current state into a ‘better’ version of what we had under Wenger.
It’s the wrong approach entirely as i see it. We’re a long way short of where we should be under a modern structure. The club has butchered taking these new steps much worse than I thought possible.
CC
I’ll criticise the club when the window closes if we haven’t signed some players.
I just think you constantly look for ways to slag off the club. Buy some good players – not good enough should have signed them earlier. Haven’t moved on players on big wages – not good enough that should’ve been easy.
If the club doesn’t make some buys I will promise you this – we’ll seriously struggle to even compete for top 4 and you’ll see a lot of empty seats at matches.
But again Iwobi doesn’t have the composure and creativity to play as a 10 either. His runs look good but lack of composure and nous in his game renders most of his runs meaningless. So, we should bin him.
Remove the sentiments and you’d discover is way down the priorities of players needing the bin more..
I mean you’re talking about a squad which has clowns like Mustafi, Elneny, Jenkison, Mikki Ozil pretending to be football players and somehow you see a player who at least put himself about and has done reasonably well in an unnatural position in same bracket, behave
Marc
Yea that’s it, I’m looking for reasons to slag off the club. Nothing to do with them giving reason after reason free of charge.
There’s already empty seats galore, seems to me you’re another one that’s bought into this “process” and “time” notion.
Abstract concepts are wonderful at distorting reality. Both are relevant with context and detail, but we have none of that so it’s very much just wait and see what happens as we head towards something. Exactly the change all were desperate for.
Marc
You’ve told all and sundry that have been harping on the fact that we’re 3 weeks away from the season starting and weve not done any business whatsoever to wait till season starts before complaining about the lack of movement but wasn’t the premise for a new set up meant to be doing things like a proper modern club?
You mention United and spurs or anyone else having trouble shifting players but how does any of that have anything to do with Arsenal?
I remember City shipping Mangala out on loan after loan due to his excessive wages in a way that allowed them to pay at least half and that’s a player I’d have Mustafi in place of so this whole it’s hard to shift players Wenger bought line that has been used as a defense really is bullshit if you ask me.
It’s not like Raul and to an extent Emery haven’t seen enough of certain types to know that they’re not fit for purpose so how have these folks paid millions not been able to figure out how to get shot of players we don’t need?
Bati
If you have the answers why aren’t you making the deals and getting a cut?
CC
My point with you is the timing. You seem to have restarted history last summer.
Charlie
Who’s gonna win The Open
We should get a bit of weather tomorrow
Can’t believe the following clowns are still about in the club:
Mustafi
Jenkison
Elneny
Koscielny
Monreal
Mikki
I mean Barely more than a fortnight before the new season kick off..
We have literally not sold a SINGLE one of those dross and to worsen it all,just about brought only a kiddie from Brasil 4 division, meanwhile there are still folk in here defending this current inept management. Lol
No wonder we’re the laughing stock of the football world
Bantz FC
Well I hope it’s Fleetwood £10 ew 30/1.
Quite a few unwanted players on high wages
Ozil
Mikki
Mustafi
Kola
Anyone want to suggest potential buyers and enlighten us on why they would want them?
Players we could sell and turn a decent income,
Auba
Laca
Ballerina
Would all need replacements
The rest are either new additions or have little value with the exception of Chambers and Iwobi, we could probably get £25m or so for the pair.
Dont see a whole lot of options on the outgoing front.
Fair play Pedro for being spot on regarding Sven’s departure. I thought he may have just been homesick, but you were bang on with the empty promises, strategy change & power struggle. For me your credibility is on the rise, unlike anyone at the club after Sven’s words and Kos’s apparent betrayal. (Even our quiet periods are full of dramas)
No idea why anyone would argue with facts from the horses mouth! Sven’s words are further cause for concern.
The new regime are no different to the last, expectations are tempered early (with a leaked budget figure), followed by the “we tried” stage, and then they take the easy option of contacting an accommodating agent repping an average (soon to be) overpaid player to be a square peg in a round hole.
Oh forgot that lumbering fvck Kolasinac as well
James
Lowry currently leading him by 3
Marc
This is the criticism I don’t understand from you.
Why last summer?
Because there was massive change at the club that was supposed to aim and fire us into the shiny new era.
Did you expect any resounding change in any of the last 5 years of Wenger? No.
So the expectation was ramped up 18 months ago, along with ridding ourselves of the apparent impediment to greatness, and here we are still picking our nose and calling it productive.
“No idea why anyone would argue with facts from the horses mouth! ”
And of course Sven would never lie about what happened?
There’s some fucking naïve people out there.
Marc
I am not an employee of Arsenal fc, so it is not within my purview to ship out underperforming members of the squad but you’re the one who’s constantly having to defend the ongoing failures of the current set up in the current window.
Having a new CEO or a NEW scout or whatever was meant to usher in a new wag of doing things but deep down we all know it doesn’t seem like anything has changed with regards our transfer business.
Most were happy to give Raul and co leeway last summer, even gave the manager enough room to chop and change and make his mistakes because the assumption was he needed time to see things for himself before deciding on what he wanted to do but it seems he is happy with Granit Xhaka at the base of his midfield so who are we really to complain.
You do come across though as this “super loyal” fan who feels the need to shut down every criticism of the club even when it’s pretty obvious there’s enough reason for such criticism, like you’re some super fan or something
Unai proper question would be why does other clubs seemingly finds it easy to shift dross but we don’t?
It gets more puzzling because not long ago were able to ruthlessly shift the likes of Giroud,Gabriel, Coquelin,Walcott, Chamberlain etc. in the space of like two windows, so What gives?
CC
How many times have I got to say it – Would I prefer to have all our business done – yes. Would I prefer us to have sold off a load of players – yes.
Mate you carry on head butting that brick wall – I’m sure it makes you feel better. Personally I’ll try not to fucking lose it or at least wait until I know that no signings are actually going to be made.
Just a different approach to life or at least Arsenal that’s all.
Is me bitching about it on a blog site going to make a toss of difference to what happens – NO!
Yea then maybe let those who want to bitch about it on a blog do so without chirping in your 2 cents about people bitching about it.
I mean it’s not hard
Victorious
Apparently it’s the wages, that’s the reason why we are going to be starting with Mustafi in CB at Newcastle in 3 weeks.
Bati
What is a super fan? I would also point out what is said on Le Grove has zero fucking effect on real life.
So with all that in mind I’ll hold fire till I’ve something real to moan about.
Spuds get fed up of Tripper.. Gets sold 20M,Dippers gets bored of Ings gets shot to soon for 25M? Solanke to Bournemouth, dippers also sells Moreno, who is literally worse than Kolasinac, also Chavs eventually shifted Morata for 50M,lol.
Kroenke,Raul and the other loonies are running us down to permanent medicre with every passing minute
Arsenal is by far the worse run club in the EPL, with Newcastle coming a close second
We’re utterly done as a top level outfit
Victorious
Who do you think will take Mustafi on 90-120k weekly that he is on/
Who do,] you think takes Xhaka on his enormously wages
Would you take Jenks in his 45k weekly wages.
These salaries are fait Accompli , we have to live with the consequences.’
Let’s stop the grandstanding.
If you know clubs willing to buy them at those wages, let Arsenal know because you may be due for a hefty commission.
How my players are we going to shift out and keep paying half their wages?
Bati
No reading you moan and bitch constantly without saying anything new is in no way boring.
Apparently it’s the wages, that’s the reason why we are going to be starting with Mustafi in CB at Newcastle in 3 weeks.”
LMAO.. Ospina was on something like 50-80k and we just about eventually shifted him for 3M. Lol
Thats a number 1 goal keeper for Colombia and of good age too
It’s not about the wages Bat.. We just have some very thick idiots ruining things for us
As usual
It’s marko. All day all night. No wonder it’s dead on here
Fuck me aren’t there any bonfires in Dublin tonight? No cars set alight?
Keirion Tripper signed a 35k weekly salary 5 year deal in June 2017, of you believe the typical internet sources.
He moved to Atletico for more money, as is the normal practice
Who’s going to increase or even match Mustafi or Xhaka’s wages.
The Arsenal situation is a bit different. ,
Champagne CharlieJuly 20, 2019 18:31:41
Marc If your big summation is at least the new lot want to buy some players then your bar is embarrassingly low. We turned the club structure upside down to ‘want to buy players’? Fill me to the brim with that confidence. I’m sold on it. You even see how pathetic things are but you’re hesitant to commit to saying it because it maybe go against your primary belief that anything is better than Wenger. Better is better than Wenger, but average is not.
Ospina was in 40k weekly, from the typical internet sources.
Hence it’s easier to move him albeit with a smaller fee.
CC, if you take club’s statements at face value Wenger was always on the record saying Kroenke never stopped him from spending,.
Right now the club is saying they have to sell to buy and have only 45 m available with which to rebuild the team.
I think that’s a huge difference isn’t
Dissenter
I get it must be difficult to shift the likes of Ozil and Mikki who are not just on bloated wages but have also been bang average over the years
But the likes of Elneny, Jenkison, Kolasinac? no way. They’re all likely under 100k.. We should be considering taking as minimum as possible in transfer fee and ruthlessly cull them
Palace is sniffing around Jenkison,Kolas has suitors as well, don’t tell me some of the EPL Newcomers wouldn’t like some of these players
We’re not just ruthless enough and diabolically amateur in transfer dealings
Ospina was also entering last year of contract.
Easier to sell.
Mustafi and Xhaka too many years left on contract.
Xhaka still four years remaining lol. Four ‘kin years.
The new ‘modern structure ‘ gave Xhaka the new contract
I was wondering whether Xhaka was on an agreement previous season to get improved extended contract. Number of matches played etc. The end of season previous to Emery’s arrival.
If not I want Emery sacked without delay.
Ishola
Wasn’t Xhakas contract renewed last year?
Marc
Do you fella, just don’t see why you get all riled up with others bitching and moaning at our lack of activity, you’re nor some kinda police or something so if you see a post where someone moans, maybe just scroll past it
Victorious
I’ve mentioned something about subsidizing the wages for some of these players or was it China1 that said that.
Buying club gets to pay just half while we take care of the rest, at this stage and given the length of their contract, maybe lower their valuation, take the loss and hit a hard reset at the whole thing. Like you said, probably harder with Ozil or Mikhotayan but surely can’t be sane for other low earners
Batistuta
“Wasn’t Xhakas contract renewed last year?”
It was officially announced summer Emery came to the club.
But was it done just before Emery arrived?
I mean I wouldn’t put it past Gazidis to leave yet another of his turds in the office drawer for the new incumbents to discover. Quite a few of his turds hanging around.
Really a shameful thing to call oneself a gunner these days.. We’re been taking to the cleaners both on and off field not just by the top 6 now but the likes of Everton, Leicester, West ham
Those clubs have better managers than us and are having a far better summer as well
We might finished 7th or below next season and it wouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone paying close attention since we had a ‘modern structure ‘ in place
Fantastic round of golf from Shane Lowry today
16 under
I find it laughable that the italian media sell the idea that Inter Milan are booking
a medical before buying Aubameyang.
First it was Lukaku and now it is Aubameyang.
It is laughable because everyone know that Inter Milan don’t have the resources to buy any player with a transfer fee north of £50 million unless it
is on the “never never” or with a “long term instalment payment plan”.
At 0.52 lol. Fuckin Gazidis!!!!!
Buying club gets to pay just half while we take care of the rest, at this stage and given the length of their contract, maybe lower their valuation, take the loss and hit a hard reset at the whole thing. Like you said, probably harder with Ozil or Mikhotayan but surely can’t be sane for other low earners”
Spot on Bat
Isn’t it just ridiculous the lousy excuse of wages being flog around every time a question of why most of the dross still hang around are brought to the fore
Really I thought there wouldn’t be a better time to overhaul the squad and start again going by what we saw last season ,don’t care give some youth a chance and bring a couple of decent players, couldn’t get any worse
But alas it seems it would be carry on from last season and the usual suspect still trotting about
I hope Emery gets the sack before Christmas if he continues to start Mustafi,Kolasinac,mikki etc
I hope he gets booted out if he persist with a bunch of clowns for his 5 captains rubbish
I also hope if we don’t bring in some quality players before we meet Newcastle that the fans absolutely turn on Kroenke..
Boo his are out and leave large swathes of seats empty in the Emirates
Anything to get my arsenal back from these leeches
Marc
Why am I head butting a wall? Because I’m not bending over backwards like you?
There’s numerous reasons why I’m “underwhelmed” with the current state. If you think it boils down to simply when we buy in a transfer window I’ll leave you to it.
Chitom
Where is it said we have to sell to buy? We have money or we wouldn’t bid for players no? That’s taking it at face value.
If we had to sell to buy then the emphasis wouldn’t be on who is joining us, but who is leaving. Zaha, Saliba, Tierney in the pipeline. Who are we selling? You sure you got the memo right?
The Ospina transfer was the perfect how not to negotiate.
Same thing with Saliba.
The one thing that any good negotiator does first is to find what are the blocker/non-negotiable point of the other party. Ifbitbisvthe minimum price, you then move on quickly to the instalment plan. If it is time of the transfer, you then negotiate the price.
Somebody should have identified early on that Saint Etienne would not budge on the year loan. So instead of increasing the fee in order to convince them, we should have stuck to the original price and negotiate on the payment schedule.
You also need to show that you have other options. Let the other party that you are prepare to walk away and mean it. That lot reeks of desperation and no plan B. Tierney is not the only left back in the world. And for 30 millions, you can get some very good LB with experience and of the right age on the continent.
Hillwood
Sorry mate, Lowry looks in control of his game but the weather needs to blow or it’s a cakewalk. Was hoping for Westwood but he’s soiled himself.
Lowry unless it blows, Koepka of it gets testy.
‘I’ve mentioned something about subsidizing the wages for some of these players or was it China1 that said that.’
C’mon man
It’s been repeated over and over again. It’s obvious that the team is working in a very limited budget.
Subsidizing wages to get players out comes at a price we can’t afford.
I can understand getting the odd player like Mangala [at city], problem is that we have a battalion of them.
Do it for one player and then the rest will dig in.
Valentin
Ospina is a back up keeper. Backup goalies aren’t hard to find.
A young starter like Tierney is not in the same league. Celtic have learned from their mistakes. They sold Van Djke off cheaply and ought to have gotten some of that windfall that came the way of Southampton had they insisted on a sell-on clause.
I think it’s Arsenal trying to stretch a budget by trying to pay as little down payment as possible. The selling clubs are rightly balking at this idea.
Ishola what’s the point of the YouTube clips?
We have some set of clueless bufoons currently running the club to the ground no point rehashing past ills. This current idiots are on their way out doing whatever errors in judgement the previous management managed
Of course Kroenke remains the common denominator
Jenkinson is on £45kpw in his last year of contract. That is the equivalent of £2.5 millions.
Jenkinson may not be Arsenal quality, but he did a good job at WestHam. He is lower premiership and top Championship level player. Most players of his level are on £25~£35kpw.
So if he is overpaid by £10~20kpw that means 500k~1000k for a year. That’s the extent of the hit on the price that Arsenal should take.
If Jenkinson still refuse to leave because he wants a bowman style sign-on bonus to compensate for his lower wage, then send him on loan to cover his salary and take a loan fee for half his value.
Shifting a player of Jenkinson quality should not be that difficult.
The fact that Arsenal could not, just paint a picture of complete inadequacy by the team.
Charlie
They are forecasting rain and wind tomorrow
All links courses need that. Will make it an interesting day
Victorious
I really don’t want to repeat myself but who do you think we have to thank for all of this?
Don’t think too hard.
It seems you’re suffering from the same syndrome that hit me for the first time in 2008-09.
Valentin
…and what if Jenks refuses to go in loan?
You can’t loan players out without the permission of the said player.
Hillwood
Totally agree, it’s necessary as today was easy least for anyone with nerves. Wind and rain tomorrow will make it a proper event, Shane’s arse could go as he’s under tremendous pressure
Charlie
22mph forecast tomorrow with rain in the afternoon ..anything could happen..will be brutal our there.
There are some decent odds for players 8 or 9 shots back…stenson 200/1 , ten shots back …a good each way bet.
Lowry, superb today and should get over the line , he knows the course and the conditions but the last day of the open is something completely different.
Dissenter,
Ospina was Arsenal back-up goalkeeper. At Napoli he was their main goalkeeper until he was within one match of an automatic purchase.
Sevilla was interested and were willing to pay more than Napoli (rumours stated €6 millions), but they wanted to pay in instalments. Funny enough Arsenal dismissed the option out of hand. So we ended up with more money upfront £3.5 millions but a third less of what we could have received in total (€6millions).
Also like I mentioned before, the extra 4 weeks it took to negotiate the new Napoli deals cost us more in Ospina wage than the extra money we extracted on top of their initial offer.
The weather will play a pivotal role in who wins tomorrow.
Lowry has 4 shot cushion but don’t right off Fleetwood or Koepka.
Should be a fascinating days golf.
Jenkinson already went on loan three times. Twice at WestHam and once at Birmingham FC. He knows that he has no future at Arsenal, he has absolutely no reason of refusing a loan where he will be able to showcase his talent and possibly get a better deal when on a bosman.
I am not talking about loaning him to a league 1 club.
He is unlikely to refuse to go on loan, because he knows that would destroy his reputation as a greedy, and not very clever mercenary and with his reputation any chance of getting a good bosman deal with a decent English club.
Graham
The question is how long are you willing to hold the previous management in the balls for,before judging what’s currently right in front of your eyes?
Don’t think too hard
We’re not the first club to establish a ‘modern structure ‘ or for that matter change a manager neither would we be the last
Dippers change management and in two years are unto greater heights
Going by what this current leadership is offering up We’re not going anywhere in the foreseeable
You can continue to blame past regime for our numerous ills why others have the view points of us going sideways at best and at worse going from frying pan to fire
Lowry would not have been on many shortlists
amazing round.
Unfortunately I have been summoned to my sisters bbq tomorrow but hopefully will be able to keep up with play
Look
Realistically
Tori era and iwobi
Won’t be available at start of season
So there is plenty to play for for the yoot.
Go get it .
Auba for £62m…
Too low… but if someone comes back with £90m, what do you do?
… not sure I could stomach United, but if it were another club outside the league? You’d have to consider.
Pierre
Yea you fee the pack are just a bit too far back, different if a few more were at -12 like Tommy. Shane’s arse will go at some stage and he’ll be tested then. But he’s got some gap.
Pedro
I’d bin Auba to Spurs for 90 mil, there’s nobody at the club worth clinging onto for dear life. If we have anything about us we’d turn that 90 mil into 3 quality players that would have us laughing 12 months down the line as Auba inevitably scores goals, and drifts into PL irrelevance.
CC… if we could load the wings with goals and assists, I’d do it.\
However, if it’s just sitting in the bank for a year acting as padding for the wage bill, I’d rather keep the player than help United get back to the top.
Also wonder about Lukaku… he can be such a monster on his day, but he looks totally dejected.
Shit player… or needs a new challenge?
Hillwood that’s absolutely tragic news, I’m sorry to hear that. Not on Open Sunday…
Valentin
You have that wrong
Alex Meret is Napoli’s long term goal keeper. They paid 35 million for him in 2018 and unfortunately he injured hence the loan for Ospina.
Ospina got game time because Meret has a setback and only started playing again in the spring.
Ospina knows the score- he’s backing up Napoli’s 22 year old that they paid a record fee for.
Pedro
That’s it entirely, of Atletico or Dortmund sold their star man to a rival for 90 mil you’d be confident they would work around it.
With us it’s very quick to hit the gag reflex because we’ve not seen anything inspiring at all despite losing player after player.
Arsenal should be able to lose Auba and Laca to United and Spurs yet still come out swinging big dicks. The reality? We’ll bump their wages and spend the next year hitting Instagram with subliminal about them being besties and a dream time whilst we watch them totally clog the centre.
*Got injured
Lukaku is donkey boy with flashes of good. At the top level he isn’t cut out, he’s bully boy at the mid tier imo. Would wreck at Inter
Pedro
That was under fergie
Ole ain’t fergie
90m yes …
But laca will need counselling .
Was just thinking about the back and forth over the ‘contacts’ approach earlier… if we are a contacts kinda club these days, we’re doing a pretty shocking job of it.
Dortmund are the future of scouting and club smarts and they buried their biz in week one. Our contacts game has landed us zero first-team signings 3 games into preseason.
Quite unbelievable.
CC, true. You have to marvel at Atleti.
Bye bye Griezmann… hello most exciting young talent in Europe.
Fucking seamless…
Pedro
That sends out signals of too many links in the chain.
Too many people too much Input,
… and I do wonder how things are going to look at Barca when Messi finally calls it quits. They make some horrendous decisions with players. We’ll see how smart they are when it’s over.
Charlie
Yep
And it gets worse
Her and her husband and their youngest have season tickets at the London Stadium
Marvel at athletics
Le mar
Was 50/50 last season ,,
Cost a lot of money.
Pedro
In management terms, Arsenal created these vague titles of director of footballing operation, sporting director, director of recruitment etc to emphasize the inter-dependability.
It has to be a team approach to mesh people with different skill sets.
Unfortunately, your boy thought he was know all and didn’t want to work with the team so it is what it is.
Stay in a cool place or you will be burnt like crips bacon.
Are you going to stay in the DC area for the Madrid game on Tuesday.
Pedro
They’re just an example of leadership that is absolutely not interested in playing victim, and balance the relationship with the players superbly – in that they’re commodities of the club, but they’re valued (hence Griezballs loyalty etc)
We mess up at all the valuable junctures. We don’t have a clue how to move the pieces on the board to our favour, and the recent drawings with Kos and Sven tell me we’re not getting the balance right behind the scenes.
Hillwood, I’m lost for words mate. That’s a nightmare.
Atletico think they have bought the next Messi, only time will tell.
That’s a lot of money to pay for potential.
Atletico are the smartest run club in Spain. Madrid are all glamour, and Barcelona have owned a generation with academy talent but there’s huge questions over their external recruitment of recent seasons are anything to go by.
And my brother in law and his boy are rampant Spuds
Long gone are the days of mocking them
It’s all gone a bit pear shaped
Hillwood I’d pull a sickie, that is genuinely horrific a lineup as you’ll see all year.
Either that or grab an apron and don’t move from the grill.
We’ve gone for a burton….
Tonight starts
And I’m driving
Arsenal XI: Martinez; Chambers, Mustafi, Monreal; Jenkinson, Olayinka, Burton, Kolasinac; Nelson, Saka; Nketiah.
There will be a water break every 15 minutes
Water breaks… ffs
What next shirt change , manicure sessions every 30 mins…
I wonder what position Kola will be playing, One of the midfield three ? Don’t tell me Emery wants to go back to 3 at the back.
Not a single new signing to even watch out for
Who did we offend?
Eddie Eddie Eddie Eddie
Dissenter, sounds like he didn’t want to be part of a crooked environment, we’ll see.
CC, I’d kill to be run like Atleti… maybe some sexier football, but whatever, they play to win and don’t have fans that constantly make excuses for failings.
I am looking forward seeing R. Nelson starting. I feel that he understands how to play his position better, when to defend and when to attack.
‘We need a more brutish character this season, Zaha certainly gives us that sort of edge.’
Bless your vision, Pedro.
RSPC
Apparently panty liner technology has come on leaps and bounds
Out lot should be able to go full 90 mins without having a knicker-change-break
Pedro
I’d be giddy if sexier football was the extent of our exasperation. Not like our current gear is straight to the vein is it 😂
Arsenal hiding their lack of new signings with kids.
I am literally blinded by it!
I can’t even see Mustafi and Jenks!
Most fans wear Arsenal shirts.
We plays 3 at the back.
Palace want £80 million for Zaha
Zaha wants “more life. Less stress”
Maybe Edu should have a bit of a rethink about this players commitment
Any streams
Hill wood
Marvellous
Body form for you,…
Hi Nelson… how’s it goin so far. ? Finally found a live stream they aren’t televising it here I guess.
Mustafi in the middle of a back 3…. oh boy… Luckily Fiorentina are a bit shit.
Hi Mid. Live blog is less fun without you.
Mid
You got a stream to tune into,,, for the game
Yeah Rspc found one on Sportstek or something like that..
Omg… MUstafi already getting beat.. slow bastard.
Mustafi did it again. They almost score
Eddi!!1 scores
Any live streams for the match?
I have no idea what Emery sees in him… He can’t play its that simple..
Oh GET IN!! nice goal by Eddie…
Deserve a water break!
Monreal is showing his age.