Oh man, it was totally an accident, I was wandering around the supermarket trying to find something that resembled healthy that could be cooked fast… and I accidentally bought something called Better Than Rice and a curry jackfruit pouch which is a vegan chicken substitute. I swear guys, this is NOT who I want to be…
Tasted pretty good though. Have to admit it. Also, I do feel smug because I’m pretty sure I just saved the planet with one meal? What did you eat? You fucking culinary terrorist.
Anyway, outside saving the world, I was thinking about the impact of Stan taking Arsenal private and Josh K telling us to all ‘be excited’ the other week.
Give it to him, he f*cking delivered hard. He even made Emery change his teeth, harsh, but that’s America people.
I wonder how they’re setting the club up financially now? Are they merging all their sports teams like some sort of mega content network? How is this summer working? How is Raul making the numbers continue to work? Or did everyone just get thrown off because Arsenal spent all season leaking they had no money to spend?
Everything the club is doing makes sense. They’ve invested in players before they’re out of our price range. They’ve taken a huge punt on someone that could be worth £150m in 2 seasons time. They’re trying to promote youth as a cost-saving measure. They’ve reorg’d around a serial winner.
From a business perspective, it would be a bad thing if we slinked into mediocrity. There’s no value in being shite in the world of democratised football content. This all makes total sense. But I feel uneasy, because Arsenal are finally doing things that make sense? What’s the catch?
I feel like one of those boys that went to Pleasure Island with Pinnochio. I’m out here, swigging citrus pale ale, smoking cigars, shooting pool with a puppet that has gender issues… but where’s the catch?
This just, you know, doesn’t feel very KSE.
Well, I guess that’s unfair. As we’ve constantly penned, Stan spends money, just not very well. The difference is KSE is now making good ‘soccer’ decisions. Maybe it took Josh to open his old man’s eyes to the utter corruption (legal) that was going on at the club. Everyone getting fat off over-generous pay packages, underserved long deals working in a no-pressure lifestyle. The opposite of an elite performance culture.
Now things have changed. There’s an urgency to the problems at hand. Let’s be more specific, there’s been an urgency in the last two weeks. This summer, if analysed in a debriefing, would still be classed as a bit of a mess.
I think the calmness from the fans has come from the realization that Raul seems to be a mafia-style killer in the world of football. We’ve not had someone ruthless before. Arsenal is on his terms.
The Nokia 3210 vibe of yesteryear is dead, we’re now dialling in on space phones. It looks great, we just need to see it move a little quicker because at the minute, we’re still fucked going into this season.
We’re still desperately under-resourced in defence. Jenkinson is in the squad for next year, Koscielny and Mustafi are still here and Nacho is now a captain and our first choice left-back.
Edu and Raul can pepper in as many exciting attacking players as they like, but reality will always bite in the Premier League if you don’t address the glaring realities. If you have a defence that collapses under pressure, you will be punished over and over again.
We are 7 days away from the Newcastle game. They are a terribly run club and they’ve let an elite manager slip away from them. They shouldn’t be a problem, but again, Emery and away form have not mixed well so far. I’ve read some people reverse engineer rationale for Pepe being so important because the club think our away form issue was a lack of pace going forward… could be… but that reads flimsy.
We’ll have to see what happens there.
This is a huge week for Raul. Does he pivot from Tierney after reading about his hip problems? Very worrying to read Adrian Clarke tweet that he had the same injury when he was young and it took a year to clear.
Who is the centre back? Raul is in Barca and we know they are desperate to move on Umtiti because… you know… he has a chronic knee problem. An outrageous talent and a World Cup winner, but no good to us if he’s taking 2 months off in December.
The Barca game today will give us some indication as to what to expect this season. La Liga for the Blaugrana starts on the 16th, so they’ll be fairly fit. Things we’ll need to be looking out for is who starts in defence and midfield. Is it going to be Xhaka and Mustafi again? If so, will Emery have done anything in preseason to address their glaring issues? Will Willock be a regular, adding more athleticism? How will Ozil be used? Will Ceballos be able to deal with the butchers in the league?
My big worry is preseason has looked pretty much exactly the same as last season. I also expect we’ll realise that most of the kids we’re purring over will not be features this season. Willock, Reiss and Martinelli are the big bets. I do like ESR, but he wasn’t exactly drowning in-game time at Leipzig.
Let’s see what today looks like… a 3pm kickoff for me for the first time in a while! I think London has to wait until November until they get their first one… sad times, fuck Europa.
See you in the comments! x
Cesc- Agreed it seems too negative.. Were definitely some positives to take out of that.. You know how it is though… it’s easier sometimes to define negative things especially when we lose. Also we didn’t see Pepe and missing some other players.. so .. I don’t feel like the world is ending .. I just want to see some defensive additions because I feel like we are very close to being a much better team. Barca is a much deeper team then us .. that much is clear. I don’t blame Emery for today or at least very little and… Read more »
Where are all the “Be careful what you wish for…” crowd now?
Strangely quiet…
Pepe would have never happened under the old regime… because Wenger hated fighting other clubs for targets. He thought having to convince targets was beneath him. Pepe would have been another entry in the “I tried to sign” book of transfer incompetence.
Thank goodness we don’t have to deal with their infuriating mistakes and doublespeak any more.
MidWest One of the most encouraging things for me was how much better we looked with a winger. Even when it was inexperienced players like Nelson, Saka and Martinelli. Just so much different to when its Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Iwobi etc. You add some actual full backs to that and we look a lot better. I want to see a LB and CB but I think with the CB the club doesn’t want to spend on an average sort of purchase which the kind of money we can spend will get you unless you scout very well. That means Arsenal need… Read more »
Also interesting that Edu was there to watch Holding with the U23s.
I thought that was classy. Guy has got stuck in since day one and put in some work already. He’s everywhere
Cesc- Yep… Willock, Nelson, Saka, Martinelli .. all a little better then I knew. Saying that over the course of the whole preseason which I actually saw this year due to it being partially over here. Think Willock may make a big contribution this season.. the rest probably just cameo’s but I feel like we are moving away from the everyone needs to be a CAM situation we had under Wenger so that’s encouraging to me. Off topic but, I do find it amusing all my Chelski supporting friends are bitching about Giroud as their only real striker now, too..… Read more »
Hope is not a strategy.
Definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over but expecting a different outcome.
I am willing to bet that against Newcastle and then later in the campaign the same failing players will be used again: Xhaka, Mhikitarian, Mustafi.
Ajax’s Donny Van de Beek is in negotiation to go to Real Madrid. Zidane really does not fancy Ceballos. At least not as an attacking midfielder.
MidWest A lot more balance with the squad compared to the shambles left behind and that will be improved further with the addition of a LB. A midfield 3 of Dani Ceballos, Torreira, Willock could be interesting and provide a lot more balance and work rate than anything we saw last year. Added to that an actual winger in Pepe and then actual full backs. Interested to see what happens this week in terms of signings. Chelsea fans are going to know what it was like for Arsenal fans to have Giroud as a main ST for years. Could be… Read more »
Cesc- Pulisic can’t carry Chelsea like Hazard did… But he is very good and in form right now. But he is not the goal scorer Hazard is this early in his career.. Also , he tends to get injured more then I would want. His tech skills are crazy good though.. fun to watch. Val- If you criteria for the bet is Xhaka isn’t going to ever play clearly that isn’t gonna happen.. I do believe Miki could get phased out once Pepe starts playing though.. and Mustafi seems to have fallen to second string in preseason , anyhow. But… Read more »
MidwestGun: “Also , he tends to get injured more then I would want.”
I would not have a problem with him getting injured often tbh.
Lol Fsaf… Yeah I know.. Once he joined Chelsea he was basically dead to me.. Unfortunate because he is probably the best US player in a long long time.
MidwestGun, The reason for my pessimism is the combination of lack of change in personnel and tactic. Xhaka will play. Most of the youngsters we have seen in pre-season will be given token game time. (Nelson and Nkethia may be given time against Newcastle if Lacazette has not recovered by Sunday). Instead of getting a dominant CB ready for the new season, we will have to hope that Holding has fully recovered and is as good as we remembered. The same tactic of two central midfield players against three will be used to alledgedly protect a high line of defense… Read more »
Val-
Yep… I agree. Willock has gotten a lot of time though.. that’s encouraging. And I don’t know that we can fix all our problems in one transfer window in regards personnel although we almost have to make defensive additions especially given Kos. isn’t going to come back.
I’m not sure formation can fix our issues. but would prefer we stick to 4 at the back.
My personal prediction is Edu makes a change at the end of the season In regards to Emery. but we will have to see.
AMN isn’t going to have a career at a top 6 club considering how disinterested he is in playing
He plays like one of those kids at lunch time who doesn’t really like football but there’s nothing else to do and all his mates play, so he’s like whatever then I’ll play
I find that it is more urgent to get a CB than a LB. We saw today that Reiss Nelson has the motor to track back and also support the attack. He could cover up a lot othe weakness of our two LBs. On the other hand, once Suarez came in, Chambers was totally out-classed. He was shown up even before the 2nd goal. I can imagine that he’ll have a lot of problem when we play against a strong striker.
AMN is annoying me extremely much. Never seen a footballer look so spacey. He’s having trouble concentrating for more than couple of minutes at a time. It sucks cause in general he has a lot of the attributes needed to do well in the EPL. But it seems like it’s his persona and he will never change that. Re Ceballos, with all the talent in front of him – Laca, Auba, Pepe; I’m not too bothered he’s not a natural goalscorer. Plus he’s young, has a lot of other strong aspects in his game. Cesc had scored 15 goals in… Read more »
Chambers is that bad, that 33 yo Koscielny is surely better than him. If it wasn’t for the problems that Kos created, we should have sold Callum and keep Kos as a cover. Now we got done by Kos, we are stuck with Chambers for year (hopefully) until Saliba comes. I expect us to sell Kos and get a temporary solution until next season when we should say bye to Sokratis and Chambers and maybe go for a super good CB. Really important season for Holding and Mavropanos though. I hope they do well for us. We could save a… Read more »
I don’t know why Emery wanted to try out Guen as a DM. That’s a No No. Guen’s weakness is his defense. Defensively, all our available midfielders are stronger than him.
Before everyone and his dog write off AMN, it should be noted that his strongest position is DM not RB/RWB. If we played him there regularly he would present a much better account of himself.
Having said that his own goal tonight was caused by his own stupidity. Playing out of position or not, he shouldn’t have been so so idiotic.
Still better tonight than next week when it really matters!!!
If Lacazette is not a 100% fit don’t let him play against Newcastle.
It’s a long season and we need to have the long term view… if we play him and he comes off crocked for 2 or 3 months it will not be worth it.
Give Eddie his slot and let’s see what he can do. He’s been excellent in the pre season and he’ll be eager to make the step up. Frankly after the Barca performance I would give Mkhitaryan’s place to Saka and W.illock should be given a chance too.
AMN has good ball technique and very good recovering speed. He somehow has this swagger that is bad for a defender. I don’t know whether he can cut this out.
I thought Emery spends a lot of time on video analysts. Offensively, he should count how many times Micki gave the ball away. Defensively, Micki was just a spectator.
I don’t think AMN changing position is the biggest problem, it’s his lack of care If he plays DM he will be making the same careless mistakes leading to exposing our already suspect CBs, so I don’t think putting him in his preferred position will stop him being annoying and a liability In a way that own goal could be good for him. His face after showed emotion for the first time since he started playing regularly a whole year ago. Perhaps the penny will finally drop that he can’t just go through the motions at arsenal or he’ll end… Read more »
AMN did well as a winger at Ipswich… Yea freaking Ipswich. It’s Emery holding him back alright, not his lackadaisical style of play like he is some superstar. Funny some have turned on him, isn’t he one of our own anymore?? Some dense fcuk using a comment on Pep’s unpredictability to hammer a silly point after a preseason game, guys obsessed with me. Oga I no get your time, I have met your type in countless bars during games, all mouth no substance. Pfft Mustafi needs to move on for his own good, he is under a microscope now and… Read more »
Who will be sold in a few days?
Didn’t see the game but reading that mikki was shit
I really wonder about him this season
Would sell in heartbeat now
AMN was our best performer in a string first half against Barca at the nou camp That should tell that the boy has qualities. Concentration can be improved upon and coached Yes he made a bad mistake. No question Yes he switches off no question. But he is 21 and playing at right back. Even if he doesn’t make it at arsenal there are too many on here too willing to call the kid nasty names like Cunt and moron or useless. It’s a disgraceful indictment of the modern arsenal fan that so many behave like this. The second half… Read more »
Remember we can sell players to overseas clubs after the 8th until the end of month/beginning of next (depending on the market). The 8th is important as a deadline for EPL clubs bringing in players.
Priority has to be on bringing players in and after the 8th selling the deadwood off to build up transfer funds for January…
RH
Despite being played out of his preferred position “his lackadaisical style of play” does go against him.
This is not turning on him and, in any case, so what if “he’s one of our own”.
Hopefully it’s a wake up call that will register somewhere in his brain.
China is 100% correct in his assessment
AMN has talent but needs to focus for 90 minutes.
We must replace Mustafi and Mkhitaryan but we have until the end of the month to do that if they go abroad. Our priority is to sign a CB and LB. Tierney is too big a risk
The general consensus on here was that with a bit of organization, our defence would be better than previous seasons. Well, we’ve not seen anything close to that. Emery needs to cut out the high line and this stupid playing out from the back; he has a pair of glasses now so I expect his vision to be better.
PEA is now 30… and would be silly not to think about a long term successor. I would love it if it could be Nketiah but if this is to be he needs to be given game time. As he has shown in this pre season he has the raw ingredients and instinct he needs the experience to hone his decision making. As I said above if Lacazette is not 100% fit I hope Emery is brave enough to give Eddie a chance versus Newcastle. Tyreece John Jules, I hope will also be given games this year. If we can… Read more »
Graham the one of our own comment is for a particular chap who funny enough is berating AMN while extolling the virtues of playing academy graduates. It escapes him that AMN is an academy graduate.
As for his best position, is he really good enough to play central midfield for us? Doesn’t matter if he is better than Elneny by the way …
I’ve also come to the conclusion that bringing in Tierney would be a massive risk.
I hope we have other options on the cards.
*bringing
Once again we conceded silly goals,which is a habit of Arsenal over the past two to three seasons. As almost everyone on the planet believes there is not going to be progress made until the club makes a serious effort and investment in our defence. We know already that our current defensive resources are simply not good enough even if Bellerin and Holding make a full recovery. I had hope that Maitland-Niles might be an adequate understudy right back but rather like Mustafi he is constantly making silly mistakes and lacks defensive positional sense. So there are weaknesses all along… Read more »
Auba has the physicality of a 25 year old.
He is lithe and sinewy and has no injury issues.
He could comfortably go on for another 5 years.
Four days to go.
Emery and co have had the whole window to get a cb.
It’s gross mismanagement putting the club in this position.
They have sold no one in our defence mainly because nobody rates them.
“Speaking of transfers, and in particular defenders, Emery was asked about the possibility of more incomings before the window closes. He said: Only if we can sign a player who really, really can improve our squad, then we are going to do that. If not, then not. We have good competitive players to achieve or try to achieve our target this season and we are going to be looking at something if we can sign someone, but with this idea. Only, and only, if we can improve.” This from emery last night Deja fucking vu. A Swiss cheese could come… Read more »
Ozil has showed some form this pre season but Mhki has been dogshit as usual. We need to lay down a marker from the first game against Newcastle.
Stroller
Willock is a goal scoring midfielder
I also expect more goals from our front 3 when Pepe is introduced
Maybe if ceballos acclimatises then he can offer more of a goal threat.
It’s defence we need to focus on and we have 4 days now. I hope Raul has something up his sleeve because I don’t want to see Mustafi on the field for arsenal again. The guy is just a giant hole where a defender should be.
I am not a psychologist but AMN might be having some personal issues that affect his concentration.
Chika
So why does emery persist? Why does he not give Saka nelson and martinelli more of a look in preseason?
Why did he stick with Mkhitaryan on the left of a woeful midfield 4?
Another defeat. Can’t wait for the new season.
It could literally be any year between 2005 – present day.
Un
I’m equally shocked at his persistence with certain players given the history of their terrible performances. Mhki has been terribly poor, his game time should be given to Saka/Nelson/Martinelli. There’s nothing new to find out with certain players.
Chika
Well I thought so too until he was deployed as an old school left winger after another miserable first half.
I just can’t get my head around the midfield he used in the second half.
Spanishdave
Who, in their right mind, would want Mustafi?
Don’t forget guys, the whole idea of preseason is to assess your options so that you’re ready for the real stuff.
I’m sure Emery knows where he stands.
At least I hope he does.
Emery couldn’t find a pair of bollocks in a male changing room.
We look clueless on the field.
GOH why do you bother? Coming on here frequently to moan about something that clearly provides you with no joy?
Glad to see the Le Grove hasn’t changed much.
Anyway can’t wait for the season opener now. Hope it is a lot better than last season.
Although chucking the Europa would not be seen as a positive move, I personally feel we should blood the youngsters and give them as much game time as possible in this competition.
If, and that’s a big IF, we can get in a defender before the deadline and offload a couple more players, we should then put our focus of attention on the league.
It will then be all up to Emery.
Gulp!
Left
I’m stating facts. I do get joy reading the deluded comments on here. It’s hilarious.
Un “But what the hell was emery thinking in deploying a midfield 4 ofOzil Guendouzi xakha Mkhitaryan” He did a similar thing v Real Madrid a few weeks and cost us the game .. I criticised the manager’s game management and was shouted down on here by the know nothing’s. I said at the time that players sitting in the changing room after the game would be buzzing if they had heat Real Madrid( or Barca) , instead they would be sitting there after another game that they couldn’t see out the 90 minutes ( due to poor decisions my… Read more »
Pedro
‘How is Raul making the numbers continue to work’
The Pepe transfer – €80 million – is being paid off in installments, over five years I think.
It’s a smart tactic but still means Arsenal will stay within their budget of about £40million.
Goh
😂
Good one that. I’ll have to borrow it for one of our apprentices. Goldfish brain the lads are calling him now.
“Don’t forget guys, the whole idea of preseason is to assess your options so that you’re ready for the real stuff.”
Yeah Emery is trying to assess Mhki’s game when deployed in other positions.
It would be far easier to accept failure with Nelson/Saka/Martinelli/Willock playing than with proven calamities like Xhaka or Mhki.
Pierre
Yes I have the same reservation on ceballos myself but he did create a chance last night for martinelli via Saka on the left with quick feet around the area
Busquets was hacking and grabbing him a lot
Can’t stand that cunt. Would love to clatter him, the little worm. He doesn’t get it enough.
Chika
Exactly
We’ve got serious talent to try out yet we persist with that absolute waste of space
Just get rid
Him, Mustafi and elneny are not fit to wear the arsenal shirt. They’ve proved as much over the years
These aren’t kids we are talking about feeling their way into the elite professional game.
I don’t know why we aren’t closing deals for defenders???
Our attack, although a bit powderpuff, was okay…but our back line has more holes than France in 1940.
Leno is good but that’s it. Sure, Papadopuloulis chucks himself about a bit but we need better. Holding and Bellerin are coming back from serious injury, Mustafi isn’t a footballer, Kos is on strike and shit, the LB is finished.
£72m on an attacker is great but…
Un
Please, don’t remind me of Elneny’s presence.
Our best midfield three should consist of Torriera/Ceballos/Ozil/Willock.
I’d like to see Iwobi moved to CM, I really want to see actual wingers on the wings, the difference/impact is so crystal clear.
It’s quite sad watching AMN do that shit to himself. He has the physical attributes and flair to make it to a decent level. I wish we’ve got our RB well sorted, I’d certainly take him above Guendouzi for a CM role.
I would say United and Arsenal are in similar situations at this present time
Both are strong offensively, both are weak defensively …
United have focused on improve their defence .
Arsenal have focused on improving our offense.
Chika
I agree
He does so well then in one moment ruins it for himself
He’s not RB though and shouldn’t be deployed there
Either try him in midfield or back up winger or let him go where he can get game time
I’ll guarantee when he leaves arsenal he will make the England squad wherever he goes
At the end of the day I don’t think AMN being one of our own really matters We don’t have the luxury of messing around with players who don’t improve us or have the right attitude as a bare minimum I would love nothing more than AMN to become a beast and be a legendary figure at the club and so on, but it’s up to him to make that happen, not the club or fans to excuse his lack of serious effort If he is half arsed now as a kid coming through at arsenal imagine him in a… Read more »
On a side note, willock, RN, saka, Eddie all look like they’re giving 200% to take their chance so I’m quietly optimistic that our academy will lead to some first team players sooner or later
‘Mustafi isn’t a footballer’ this made me lol and it’s funny that it’s true considering he’s a bloody World Cup winner!
We fans dont owe AMN anything. If he sucks, he should be dumped not encouraged. Thousands of other kids busting a gut for just one chance at the big time and here we have a kid who plays the game like he is on the verge of retirement. Do you think Messi or David Silva would suck if asked to play RB. This is how we carried that numpty Walcott for 10 years and that dribble into a brickwall nutcase, Wilshere for almost the same time. AMN things he is already in the big leagues and it shows every time… Read more »
China I don’t see him as half arsed but maybe a little to over confident. Cocky even. This mistakes are the mistakes of someone who thinks he’s sure of what he’s doing but he’s not. He needs to be moved away from our goal. I also think the manager is instructing them to take their time with the ball at the back to play out from the back Look how many times and how many of our players were playing risky footballat the back recently. He ramped it up in pre season by the looks of it. This wasn’t an… Read more »
. Do you think Messi or David Silva would suck if asked to play RB.
Global
Stupid stupid comment…
Of course they would suck at RB. Especially for arsenal.
Global
You don’t know your football
I’ll take your ramblings with a wheel barrow of salt next time.
You Unai, of course are the fountain of all crap knowledge. I doff my cap
Global
Yeah? Messi would make a quality right back wouldn’t he? Genius.
We have bid £60 m for Upamecano. Great move but why so late ?