Unai Emery pulled a magic trick out of his hat. He used the powers of youth to completely disguise that Arsenal hadn’t added a single first-team player to the squad this season and we’re three games into preseason.
Quite amazing to be having a 2012 like conversation after all the backroom upheaval to address exactly this.
Before I push on into the game. I’m also finding the strategy for moving certain players on a touch baffling. If we’re serious about selling anyone, why are we starting them on this tour? Mustafi and Jenkinson should both be getting their marching orders, but we have them stinking out the tour instead? Seems a very odd way to go about things.
Anyway, the game didn’t really tell us much about the upcoming season, other than it looks like it’s going to feel very familiar unless something very aggressive happens in the next two weeks.
Our defence seems to have honed its ability to leak good chances. Fiorentina were very poor but found ways to get in behind us time and time again. It doesn’t seem to matter what system we play, we’re a disaster. It obviously doesn’t help when you have Mustafi in the starting 11, but look, it’s not me putting him there.
My major worry is this: Emery has zero pedigree with defences. He averaged 49 goals a season at Sevilla. He took PSG from 17 goals, to 27, to 29. He couldn’t better Wenger’s tally last year, dropping 51 goals despite adding a keeper, 2 defenders and 2 defensive-minded midfielders. Where does the progression come from? Nothing in history to suggest he can change things.
Moving forward we looked interesting. Eddie had a really good game. He finished very well twice. Those chances haven’t been going in when it comes to competition time. I’m of the mind that he should go out on loan this season and see if he can work on his decision making. He needs to get some teeth. I know as fans we always lose our minds with kids on preseason, but the reality for Eddie is that Emery is not going to give him many chances this season because he has Laca and Auba… so maybe he should take the move out and force his hand in the back half of the year.
I also enjoyed seeing Willock on the scoresheet again. He really does have to be ready this season, at 19, it’s a big ask, but he does look the most ready. He’s focused, he has the physicality and he can be decisive. Let’s hope Emery doesn’t bottle it.
I also thought Gabriel looked sharp… he has a lot of pace and power. That long run he made was very exciting. It’ll be interesting to see what the club does with him. Can he cut it in the first team? A huge ask if we’re honest, but you never know… I guess it’s dependent on how badly we fuck our big signings.
I was watching with my dad. He made the point that we might as well give the kids a shot, because if it’s mistakes the manager is worried about… he’d not keep playing Mustafi and Xhaka. Let’s hope he doesn’t get consumed by the panic of his job situation and move away from his youth focus.
In other news, there’s hot talk that United are in for Auba for £62m. Arsenal fans are furious at the thought of us moving him on. I love Auba, I think he’s a joy to watch at times, however, if there’s huge money on the table for a 30-year-old, we should take it and progress the squad. As things stand, we’re finishing no higher than 5th this season… if £80m gets us Zaha and Pepe, we’re in a more solid grounding next season… we might also be able to kick this Tierney deal over the line.
Holding onto your best 30-year-olds when you’re skint isn’t progression in my opinion. Especially when they only have two years left on their deal.
Right, dine out on that my friends.
What did YOU think? See you in hell (comments).
“Have things changed following the exits of Gazidis and AW? All evidence suggests not.”
Cause they’re all Gazidis appointments ain’t they.
Vic
I know you’re not the brightest but look through the comments and check out Dons comments for a spell and then get back to me about bringing the comments section down.
seriously, some people.
I mean, Anus licker, Swedish cuck, is just some of the pearls of wisdom from our friendly neighborhood racist today, think there was something about Somalians as well but who’s counting when it comes to Don and his finger diarrhea.
Vic, have you read uns comments?
Vic is trolling with his fellow Wengerite.
This new team need to get some deals over the line quickly.
There’s a growing sense that everyone is beating them around.
FFS, if Palace laugh off an offer 65 million and Nelson on loan … walk away and go to plan B [if i exists]
Zaha is not worth 65 million plus Nelson [on loan]
Is someone is going to laugh off an already over-inflated bid then walk away.
Don’t care who comes in at this stage anymore Current management has absolutely botched this transfer window A summer were targets should have been brought in by now,said players taken aboard for pre-season training to ensure proper gelling with teammates to ease their way in around the squad and have us totally prepared for the season Here we’re at the tail end of the window without nothing to look forward to except a total carry-on from the the shitfest of last season. Absolutely unacceptable Going right on track to be arguably our Worse transfer window ever..slightly just battered by window… Read more »
Going to take many years to rid this club of the negative affects of the later geriatric Wenger and Gazidis.
Many years.
Going right on track to be arguably our Worse transfer window
Worse than Peter Cech Na mate!
Freddie
You’re avoiding the answer because you k ow they should have made a lot more money on the players we had to sell than we did
There was value there
Wether you rate Ramsey or Bennacer or whatever
You know full well the club could and should have extracted far more value from the players we have allowed to walk
It’s negligence to a serious degree
Victorious
Suck my balls ya little arse hole
Freddie is a cuck and you’ll not be policing me.
Well Freddie you did pretty much admit to being the rim master of le grove
Something along the lines of if my Mrs washed her arse then maybe I’d perform analingus more regularly
🤢 🤢
Dissenter
Especially when Everton is going for around half of that fee.
Freddie and Un na naai
The answer to your problems is a Bidet. Often found in foreign hotels , suspiciously French and maybe a tad pretentious in your average semi. However it will help wash your anus’s without the need of your wives involvement .
Just a thought. Now on with the football
Mark
Cheers for that. I know full well what a bidet is but I don’t think it matters much to Freddy when he’s playing out his next bum hole.
Lolz. Le Grove implodes again.
Human nature, live!
Some hate Wenger, some love Wenger, some sit in fence.
Some hate emery, some love emery, some sit on fence.
There is no one solution that works here.
You would dissapoint me Pedro if I thought you where
enjoying some of the gutter remarks being made on here.
“Going to take many years to rid this club of the negative affects of the later geriatric Wenger and Gazidis.“
Good lord.
Ishola
How many years? How many players need to go? How much do we need to spend? How many managers will we need? How many new technical director/CEO’s/DOF’s??
Look into your crystal ball ishola
Well Gazidis has his paws all over the appointments of Emery, Raul and Vinnai.
This is even before we get to the later geriatric Wenger years and why Arsenal currently find themselves in the second tier competition as well as players we all know signed under Wenger current players that aren’t good enough.
A good few years to flush it all away.
Self-sufficiency is also hindrance.
The problem with self-sufficiency is that you have to cut your cloth to what level you are at. Good old Josh has already alluded to this in stating players on CL money playing EL in his recent interview.
Only hopes for the club to get back quicker and by that meaning get back properly is for a special sauce manager to come along which is difficult to find or change of ownership.
Blog of lube on here indeed today gents.
Raul and his contact book proving as clueless as predicted . July 22nd, 3 pre-season games in and yet no signing. We should be patient though as it’s gonna take the new team a while to rid us of the Wenger and Gazidis stench…. Bunch of amateurs running this football club i tell ya
I mean you’d think Wenger and Dick Law were the ones in charge if you’ve been in a coma for a while and have just woken up
Bats doesn’t see the link between Gazidis and Raul.
They are buddies and Raul’s appointment was a job for the boys one.
Any link still with Gazidis is not a good sign.
Ishola you’re placing too much emphasis on the numerous ills of the previous regime(which is well documented btw)and is ultimately clouding your judgement on the current offerings by the new sheriffs in town
The current buffoons running the club have been totally woeful from day 1 and haven’t gotten a single decision right from the off IMO
A totally objective observer will agree as much
Is there a way I can mute some posters?
The fake Charlie
CG (the only one who cracks me up on this squad)
The clueless, agenda driven Valentin,
And the Victorious loser.
Un na – why are so abusive – you can put your point of view without being so spiteful
Various sources now saying we our looking for alternatives to Tierney- we can’t even get a player from the sh’t league . Nothing has changed
Un/Don
I run a company
And I can only guess that business is booming. Dumbass
Victorious
“A totally objective observer” would be thinking how the fcuk can you balance out one season of drastic change, against twenty-two years of autocratic leadership and, in particular, 13 years of neglect and gross mismanagement.
Works for me.
Arsenal signed anyone yet? ZZZZzzzzzzz
Celtic hanging us out to dry publicly re how incredibly stingy we are.
Pretty embarrassing saga as a whole, if we’re not going to stump up the 25m for him just move on to other options ffs, not like there isn’t at least half a dozen young talented LB’s out there.
The oracle has spoken, we have agreed for loan of Ceballos
I think we will get Zaha but is he worth it at this price-WE
With the imminent arrival of Cebellos (& Zaha) what formation we utilising?
WE – agreed regarding Tierney- move ahead with plan B
All the best to Celtic.
They can keep their boy, that way he can win a few more plastic trophies in Scotland.
We are seeking to break the transfer record and all we get is derision. The comment Lennon made to compare him with to Wan-Bissaka was ridiculous. Maybe they can keep him for United next summer.
Time to move unto other targets.
Wouldn’t be so sure NW9, Palace aren’t in a position where they have to sell and they know that we’re pretty desperate. They won’t accept anything under 60m for Zaha and I doubt that we’ll go much past 40m.
I’d rather Everton Soares for 30m tbh than Zaha for 60m anyway. That extra 30 odd million gets us a quality centre half which we critically need.
Carts, how are you keeping fella? What do you make of this sorry summer as of now. Looks like we’ll be bringing in 4 players max and have largely the same spine as last season, grim stuff.
Zaha for £60m is banter
In hindsight we should’ve moved for Zaha way earlier before Utd got bent over for AWB
‘I’d rather Everton Soares for 30m tbh’
I don’t think you do get him for £30 Million.
Gremio apparently want £37 Million and they own 50% of the player.
Exactly what I have been saying. UE seems to have hard on for him
CA – the total is 37m- 50-50 for two parties
And we can negotiate also
WE
All good, bruv. I’m lurking if not commenting.
Summer I had been shite, to tell the truth. This poverty act we’re doing is embarrassing to say and hard viewing.
We still need to shift either/both of Ozil and Mhk. I suspect if we miraculously pull of Zaha, Everton, Tierney and Cebellos, we’ll see some definite departures.
NW9
That’s not bad if that’s the case, but I will believe that when I see it.
I’ve read that 3 parties own rights to Everton Soares and that Gremio want the £37 Million for themselves.
Suffice to say if we manage to do okay in the market the owner has done absolutely nothing to help us despite our obvious struggles.
CA
So 74m including payment to the third party? Well he’s stuck in Brazil so if that’s the case.
Find that hard to believe, Brazilian clubs can’t afford to hold onto their talent and always sell to Europe. Milan bought Lucas Paqueta for 30m in January from Flamengo, Real Madrid bought Vinicius and Rodrygo for 40m a piece and they are potential Neymar level talents compared to Everton who while looks a quality player is 23, not 18.
These Labour MPs won’t be satisfied until Netanyahu is installed as leader
Carts Yeah pretty much my exact sentiments too. For all the talk of this brave new Arsenal with cutting-edge futuristic planning and recruitment strategy we’re painfully unimaginative and myopic. We should have told Palace to fist themselves weeks ago when they quoted us 80m and moved onto other targets of which there is so many abroad. It looks like we have no alternative past Zaha though so are just stalking him all summer with the hope that Palace will eventually relent and plummet their asking price. Same for Tierney albeit on a lesser scale. Does Emery not have more than… Read more »
Been obvious for a while the Tierney deal wasn’t going to happen -despite the “I expect us to wrap this up by the end of the week” crowd assuming token negotiations would lead to quick resolution . Celtic are under zero pressure to sell and Ornstein winding them up with his silly tweets just riled them up further. Also think the £25 million valuation is bull and they are holding out for at least £5 million more. Interesting that Emery said he doesn’t want us to move to second line targets just yet. Clever move on his part. Distancing himself… Read more »
Well he’s going to get stick either way Paulinho with the alternative being going into the season with Kolasinac as the first choice LB and a geriatric Monreal as back up.
Don;t see what’s wrong with going for a player that isn’t your no.1 target, even Klopp wanted Brandt over Salah if you are to believe the stories.
WE – It’s a problem because, as we’ve seen last Jan, Emery wanted Perisic and had to settle for lightweight crock Suarez.
With our finances and pull at the mo, our first choices are just about acceptable and then the quality levels fall of a cliff if those approaches are rebuffed.
Throwing in Nelson with the Zaha bid is a joke. Nelson is tripe and would be lucky to make their bench.
WE
I guess we will have to see on that. I wouldn’t want to pay anything over £40 Million for him. Closer to £30 Million really.
I’m really getting pissed off that we’ve landed no full backs or starting wingers. Such a huge issue for us offensively and also defensively. City and Liverpool became different teams when they upgraded their full back areas.
Ceballos and Saliba are great, but we need to upgrade the flanks.
Paulinho See why does the quality have to fall off a cliff though? You don’t think that there are other LB’s in Europe available for 20-25m? Dortmund signed Schulz for 17m and Milan signed Theo Hernandez for 20m. Both very good players. Fair enough if he has his heart set on Tierney but just pay the 25-30m they are asking for then, stop with the 17m plus add-ons contingent on us qualifying for the CL which is far from a given, as you say with CL football they are in no real dire need to sell him. There are literally… Read more »
Interesting Edu was signing autographs and someone asked about him Everton and he replied ‘Let’s see, let’s see’.
Unrelated to the comments but I really like Edu, I think we’ve made a smart hire there.
“Fair enough if he has his heart set on Tierney but just pay the 25-30m they are asking for then”
I don’t really think Emery has any say in whether or not we pay that extra 5 or 10 million.
Not sure about there being players better than Zaha in terms of his attributes and how badly they are needed. I see a lot of final third speedsters like Fraser and Soares, with quick feet, but I don’t see players that can drop deep and run the ball through congestion like Zaha can.
CA Yeah they are but we’ll only have one of the two playing for us this season and next. Ceballos has no intention of pulling a Kovacic and making this permanent, Real Madrid prefer him as well and want to hang onto him hence choosing the loan with us over selling him to Spurs. We’re less than 3 weeks away from the season and we’ve signed no players while losing our best CM in Ramsey and a serviceable squaddie in Welbeck. Pretty much everyone agreed that we are in dire need of a LB, CB, CB, CM, LM and arguably… Read more »
Im still hopeful on the tierney deal but im cool with us walking away at this point.
Its all getting a little silly and the media/pundits constantly telling Celtic not to get “robbed” by us have put batteries in their boards back.
And that was before losing Ramsey. You can add another CM to the list too.
WE – What do you think of Ceballos?
Paulinho
Yeah I’m not blaming Emery for the standstill but he must be wondering about a plan B if Celtic don’t budge at this stage. Kolasinac as the starting LB is enough to make any supporter nauseous.
Zaha is far from the finished article himself, he’s flawed in that his end product is unremarkable and he’s a turnover machine not far removed from Alexis back in the day. A better athlete and dribbler but Alexis had far better end product and was more decisive.
For 60m+ you really can find better.
Still sick we’ve lost Rambo and Danny Boy. Two favourite players in the squad ffs.
Paulinho Don’t know a lot about him, from the little I’ve seen he looks a good player. Technically sound, good eye for a pass, makes the right decision more often than not and he’s a busy little presser, a player that Emery will love. Will definitely add a bit of dynamism to our lethargic midfield. Poor end product for a player playing so advanced mind, Ramsey he is not. He plays pretty high up the pitch though so it still leaves us with massive gaps to plug further back and will require Toreirra to be more conservative which is a… Read more »
WE – Crazy thing is we can’t afford to lose Kola as it stands. His aggression in terms of getting in behind off the ball is one of our few attacking threats. His final ball is beyond terrible though. On Zaha, Emery spoke several times last season about importance of athleticism and how we need to improve in that respect. Zaha’s is pretty average in terms of productivity but he brings stellar thrust and power in the deeper areas in the pitch. With Auba and Laca up front good for nothing apart from scoring goals, his strengths compensate for their… Read more »
“Poor end product for a player playing so advanced mind, Ramsey he is not”
Yeah, I can see it now. Will be billed as a huge upgrade on Ramsey due to technical ability, and yet his inability to breach the box will be completely ignored.
Yeah Kola has presence about him I’ll give him that. Ironic that he was renowned for being a solid defender in Germany and he literally can’t defend for toffee over here, going forward are his only redeeming features and as you say he struggles to fins the grass with his end product, never mind a player in the box.
If we could somehow acquire Bale would you do it? Fantasy stuff I know because he’s allegedly on 600k a week but imagine if Zidane just wanted shot of him that badly that they were prepared to pay half the wages.
Ramsey really was an outstanding PL player. Don’t see him being as effective in Italy with Juventus, won’t be as much space to run into as they defend so much deeper and conservatively over there.
Will be interesting to see if he even starts. How do you fit Pjanic, Matuidi, Bentancur, Emre Can, Rabiot, Ramsey, Khedira into three midfield slots? Have to assume that one of Matuidi/Khedira will be sold, Pjanic and Rabiot are locks for starting spots imo so will be between Ramsey, Bentancur and Can for the third spot.
WE – Hard to say no to that kind of elite ability but I’ve found as the years have gone on he he’s too passive in general play and waits on the periphery, similar to Ronaldo in some respects. I loved the Bale in his earlier Spurs years that would seek out the ball more. Might be due to injuries though.
“despite the “I expect us to wrap this up by the end of the week” crowd assuming token negotiations would lead to quick resolution”
Think you’re confusing the expectation that we are competent enough to secure a deal for a player who wants to come to us, and who plays for an inferior side.
I still think we’ll do a deal for Tierney, I think it’s dependent on the Zaha transfer and how that might get structured. Then based on that we can nod to how Celtic want the fee paid.
WE – I would go with Pjanic deep, flanked with Rabiot and Ramsey as dual advanced mids, with Rabiot circulating the ball deeper and Ramsey making the runs off the ball. Rabiot is smooth as silk but worth noting he’s another that flatters to deceive once he gets in and around the box.
Khedira is past it,and Matuidi getting on a bit as well. I think if he stays fit he strolls into their side.
CC – I think a lot of our fans arrogantly thought Celtic were putting up a front for their fans and media, and behind the scenes they were telling us something different, hence all the bullshit about Boli’s signing as a cue for Tierney’s imminent arrival etc etc.
Paulinho Maybe, but I think there should be a level of expectation that we can negotiate the transfer of a player from Celtic, arrogant or not. I’ve no issue with Celtic playing hardball and wanting better terms than we’re offering, I think it’s a bigger slight against us frankly. Shows us to be pretty desperate. If anyone thought we were going to cherry pick the leagues best player for a fiver up front and staggered payments then they’re kidding themselves. But I still see us closing, because I assume the arsenal leadership is aware of how they’ll be viewed should… Read more »
Having an opinion is now being agenda driven. Some are so far Emery/Raul is the best thing since sliced bread and Wenger is the devil incarnate that they’ve lost all sense of proportion. It should be clear to everybody by now that Raul is a poor planner/organiser and an even poorer negotiator. One basic skill of any good negotiator is to be able to establish especially the other party objectives and blockers. As repeated by their president numerous times, Saint Etienne number one demand was for Saliba to spend an extra year with them. Yet we kept offering more money… Read more »
Gareth Bale has been injured a lot playing in a slower league. I can’t see him having a full EPL season. So half his alleged wage of 600kpw for 2/3 of the season is as bad a deal than we currently have with Özil.
Ceballos is hoping that he will be able to take over from Modric when he finally leave Real Madrid next summer.
He will have to do an exceptional season to convince Zidane who wanted him sold, but Perez wanted to keep him.
Hopefully that would play in our favour, but it could also backfires. If he is not straight away in the starting eleven, that may lead to some internal conflict.
I can imagine that if we have a left winger, Monreal or Kola will stay back more often. They may focus on defending and will get better.
Un na nasi “We let an absolute fortune leave for free after wenger left We’ve signed Martinelli and Suarez since Sven left and we are fucking up a crucial transfer window yet again” Didn’t Wenger himself say in an interview that players going to their last year of contract and moving for free will become more and more common when asked about players like Ramsey? So Wenger and co fuck up, let people go to last year of their contract and it’s Emery’s fault that the club suddenly has no leverage? They either renew on higher wages these already overpaid… Read more »
Apparently Bale is moving to China despite being on a wage higher than Özil. I wonder whether it was a condition that Real Madrid pay for a part of Bale’s wages.
Time to move on from Tierney.
We’ve met their evaluation and they are not taking the proverbial.
Ricardo Rodriguez would be an excellent alternative.
Rennes being reported by several outlets of having agreed a deal with Koscielny… they have several young left backs… are they any good? Worth considering a straight swap?
*they are taking the proverbial…
Ok, so far we have gotten a guy on loan and another we can’t play next season. We also will not be going after our first choice LB.
Great.
Expectations.
Just kill Bambi and play the teenagers.
Leeds realistically wages in China might be doable for them. It’s the transfer fee that I’d be curious about
Tevez was on 400k a year as far back as 2 years ago here, so there is precedent for monstrous wages for past it players
But with a 100% tax on foreign players and a government push against ‘overspending’ on transfer fees it seems more likely than not the transfer fee would have to be very small by relative standards.
Or if it’s a loan that makes a lot of sense in light of the above
If Real get Pogba that’s one more CM to push Ceballos down the pecking order
Left backs? Centre backs?
Tottenham is trying to sign Sessegnon to replace Rose. The price tag is £25m.
Like I said forget Tierney, sign Sessegnon either for the money or in exchange for Chambers and be done with it. The player is younger and he wants to stay in London…
… plus we would annoy Levy and Tottenham which would worth it for the humour value alone.
Leeds
Stealing players from under Spurs’ noses alway highly amusing, ie Manu Petit!
WE “Does Emery not have more than one name for each position on the list he gives Raul, etc? Guy is supposedly even more obsessed with watching football than Pep is and after a year in the gig the fruit of his labours when cultivating his transfer wishlist are… Zaha and Tierney…” Think seems so out of sync at Arsenal, from the players right through to upper management. I think Emery has very little idea if I’m to be totally honest. Those wincing facial expressions he loves to pull, told me all I need to know. Slightly surprised we haven’t… Read more »
*things
Sid Yes. 100% weneger must take his share of the blame for not securing a contract for these players. I’m not disputing that. However, emery said he wanted to build his team around Ramsey and then dropped him after two games. This shows me that he really didn’t know what he was getting. The club and manager would have been aware of the contract situation and if the manager wasn’t sure on the player then we should have sold for whatever we could get. Even £25-30m for Ramsey would have been something. Even £20m is better than nothing. We ended… Read more »
“Arsenal are also struggling to complete a deal to sign Kieran Tierney, Sky Sports News understands. Celtic believe Arsenal’s second offer of £18m plus £7m in add-ons is unrealistic because the additional payments are linked to Champions League qualification. Celtic believe Arsenal should move on to other targets if they cannot afford Tierney.” If indeed the nonsense above was leaked by Celtic then i believe this transfer cannot be concluded in good faith. Celtic took a contemptuous stand from the off with several details of the deal which should be private leaked to the press. We finished two points off… Read more »
I’m with Leeds idea.At last a sensible alternative.sessignon for £25 million.no add ons.no f*** ng about.just go in & do it quickly.a double snub.to those piss taking jocks & levy & his spuds.what could be better?
As much as I like sessegnon
He’s no more a ready made defensive left back than kolasinac is. Is he really what we are after?
“As much as I like sessegnon
He’s no more a ready made defensive left back than kolasinac is. Is he really what we are after?”
NO
We will still be a joke defensively with him in the team. Kid plays like a winger and not a very good one
We will still be a joke defensively with him in the team. Kid plays like a winger and not a very good one
I actually thought he was a winger RH he plas so far forward.
“I actually thought he was a winger RH he plas so far forward.”
Yes, so far forward Pierre might actually have a heart attack watching him. And when he is even back defending he isn’t very good at it.
Yeah we don’t need to be looking at sessegnon as our new left back for the summer. We’d be better off with kolasinac
So we’re at a stage where we have had bids totalling £85m turned down for two new players
Something tells me this grand master plan of Raul’s and Emery’s was rather ill conceived
The Everton news has died a death
And all we have to show so far is an 18 year old winger and a loan midfielder.
Hardly scintillating stuff from the dynamic new transfer gang.