Cheerio Laurent Koscielny.
Was lovely to have you.
The best of a terrible bunch of players.
One of the few standouts in a banter era.
But ultimately, he’s the sort of defender the cucks loved. Or the fans that were unfortunate enough to come of age during the Wenger decline.
So often at the heart of terrible moments during our seasons. I’ll still remember that league cup final. The red cards. The penalties. And finally, going on strike.
He wasn’t captain material. Behind the scenes he’s been described to me as a difficult character and high maintenance. He also came for the easy life, which so many viewed as the ‘he loves us’ path. You saw in the end what mattered most to Laurent… Laurent.
Raul and Edu have done a great job. They’ve brought in a fee, they’ve moved on a disruptive figure, they’ve avoided Arsenal having to rely on a 33 year old that’s past it.
Now we have to bring in a defender.
It is getting silly now. We’re 48 hours from a deadline day melee. We have signed ZERO defenders. It’s getting so bad, Neil Lennon is trying to sell us on the fitness of Tierney. Upemecano is on then it’s off, then it’s on. Rugani reports read like a Mustafi shaped nightmare. Then there’s literally no one else causing smoke.
I am LOVING that we are still being linked with Coutinho, but that doesn’t solve our problems. We’re like the Fast Show guy.
‘Did you get me a left back and a sturdy centre back?’
‘Even better than that. I have Coutinho!’
‘You are fucking kidding me’
Not that anyone turns down a player of that genius, but come on, once the HYPE settles and we’re left with the same defence as last season with Xhaka as our captain, reality is going to bite… we just lost our minds this summer.
Still, we’ll be fun to watch.
Let’s see what today brings. The ITKs are out in force trying to see if they can get one over the paywall crowd… I truly HOPE someone has something right. We need a big centre back. We need a left back with pace and power. We need to do something to help a manager who is going to need all the support he can get this season.
Fingers crossed. See you on Twitter. x
Receding – The left hand side is an issue. It’s the one downside of Pepe over Zaha.
We can’t play Auba consistently on the left, it’s almost like playing Luiz as a DM in terms of wearing him down physically. Iwobi and Nelson are far from ideal. Mikhi plays like he’s in the final stages of some neurological disorder.
GOH
Are you suggesting that Pepe is not a goalscorer because he played in French
League. I am not suggesting that he will replicate that number of goals in EPL,
but last season Lacazette who also came from France managed 19 goals.
Also I suspect that there might also be a lot of people in France who would look at Neymiah, Mbappe and Cavani and disagree with your opinion about
goalscorers in Ligue 1.
i had a feeling dybala is going to be too much for spuds if they looking to buy le celso for £55m as well
they cant have that much money after the stadium move
Receding HairlineAugust 8, 2019 11:14:23 After this summer you won’t catch me holding brief for Emery again You have a team, get the best out of them. It’s a 6m a year job Rh Good man!! That’s how it should be. Been letting these coaches off the hook for too long. Crunch time. What theyve done with £45m and an over bloated wage bill this summer is beyond commendable. Absolutely smashed it. Yes I’m not a Luiz fan but I’ll drop it for now for the sake of unity and positivity. Really looking forward to getting going against Newcastle now… Read more »
Lo Celso to Spurs reeks of a another Lewis Holtby episode lol. Delighted if I am proven right.
Receding Exactly, why would anyone defend a manager no one here has any connection with? It’s all about realistic expectations really, last season we had a squad that was expected to end up pretty much where we ended up, we over performed for a while and then we blew it at the end but were still not that far off. Now we have a much more balanced squad although we’re still far off competing for the title we’re now good enough to get top 4 without relying on our rivals to fail. If he doesn’t meet his targets he’s out,… Read more »
Newcastle doing well with St Maxim and Joellington… How have they managed that.
….
Knowing Ashley they will have to put in a shift at the local Sports Direct, Monday to Sunday with a few hours off for the match. 😉
Paulinho i have never really seen Coutinho as a left winger, yes he plays there but he isn’t really a winger is he??
Receding
You missed the word in Fabrizio’s tweet
‘Kieran Tierney and David Luiz to Arsenal, here we go! Philippe Coutinho has been offered by his agents again but #AFC are not interested now. ‘
Lewis Holtby …the midget who refused Wenger to go flop at Spurs
Emirates
To suggest that the French league can produce good strikers is ridiculous beyond belief.
I mean Henry, Papin, Griezmann, Cantona, Benzema, Anelka, Trezeguet etc – all learned their trade on Hackney marshes.
A full fit rob holding can ask mustafi how does it fell to left a world cup.
Receding
‘The squad as it is should make top four or we need a new coach’.
It’s not that cut and dry but we definitely look like we have a very strong chance.
You would expect Man city, Liverpool and Spurs to make it, so it’s really between us , man u and chelsea .
We are definitely stronger, chelsea look weaker and I think man u have the wrong manager.
If I was a neutral I’d put a tenner on arsenal.
I think Kola is more likely. There’s talk he and Iwobi didn’t arrive at training today.
That’s interesting. I wonder if something might be in the pipeline cause you don’t potentially lose Kolasinac/Monreal and Iwobi and Mustafi on top of Jenkinson and Koscielny and just bring in a LB and a single CB. Maybe Coutinho or Umtiti or Rugani still on? I’m disappointed that we didn’t throw more money at Leipzig for Upamecano knowing that we could still sell some other players. If we don’t something around 2 just assume that it’s just the two
“A full fit rob holding can ask mustafi how does it fell to left a world cup.”
That was the Mustardi before his wengerization.
“Giovani Lo Celso has landed in London to undergo a medical ahead of a move to Tottenham.”
Fuck…. at least, it’s not Dybala.
““A full fit rob holding can ask mustafi how does it fell to left a world cup.””
Where did he leave it? No wonder he got dropped from the national team.
Marc
I like the sarcasm!
Let’s face it France won the World Cup twice in recent years and almost all
their players started life in French Ligue or Academies like Claremont.
How many English players including those who learned to play on Hackney
Marshes achieved similar results?
Receding – He’s always played his best stuff there(for Liverpool and Brazil) even though a lot see him as a central player. I’ve never thought he cut out for central positions due to him fading in and out of games too much, and when he played for Barca there he couldn’t cope with consistently having to show for the ball. He takes breaks in game; plays in fits and starts, but insane quality when he does decide to take part.
Receding,
Agreed – no excuses for Emery anymore.
He now has a significantly improved and more balanced squad, or what is known in the jargon as a “top 4 squad”, at his disposal.
He’s similar to Iwobi. An inside left winger. So suits an overlapping full back.
True Coutinho has played his best stuff floating in from the left. Barca tried to turn him into an Iniesta clone and it didn’t work out
Emirates
The negativity really pisses me off. Any Arsenal signing will struggle – any signing for another club will do well.
I don’t have a problem with someone saying the PL is tougher we need to see how Pepe will adjust or I can’t see him scoring 19 goals in his first season for us _ does anyone actually expect that?
some people not happy with Luiz because it means bench warming duties for rob holding.
Lo Celso is a good move for the spuds… but on paper they still don’t look better than us.
bob
Welcome back, you’ve been missed
bob
If Holding is the player we hope he is he’ll start matches because he’s good enough. If he’s not good enough he doesn’t deserve to start the matches.
Receding,
Have you taken up a job at The Telegraph?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2019/08/08/david-luiz-no-clown-unai-emery-can-have-no-excuses-arsenals/
“Receding,Have you taken up a job at The Telegraph?”
LOL
It’s really common sense. Last season he had a lot of excuses and i was happy to make them for him, the job was tough and i think at the end his overall performance was not shameful.
This season should be much much better or he is out the door
Dare I say it, we have become gangsters in the transfer market and everybody has been forced to take note of us, better start shitting your pants when your star man is linked to our club
“Even a few weeks ago he was talking about enjoying life under Frank Lampard. But it’s been made clear that he’s not certain to be a regular starter under Lampard – he’s perhaps not even going to third or fourth choice. Other potential outgoings include Danny Drinkwater, Tiemoue Bakayoko and perhaps Davide Zappacosta.”
LOL! Apparently Lampard and Luiz don’t get along very well. Interested to see if this decision doesn’t backfire on Lamps. I would hope so.
And we don’t need Coutinho, we have Miki who looked good against Barca. Hopefully Emery uses him ahead of Iwobi so he can actually build up some sort of consistancy. If Ozil heads off to DC, there are at least 10 better options ahead of Coutinho, who would not even be a like for like replacement.
I would stip the no.20 of mustafi and give the world cup winner the no.6 shirt.
Bob you little mug
😂
Mustafi can ask holding what it’s like to be able to defend.
David Luiz is about to become and Arsenal player – and it’s after a change in his circumstances. It’s only in May that Luiz signed a two-year deal after a great season under Maurizio Sarri. David Luiz is about to become and Arsenal player – and it’s after a change in his circumstances. It’s only in May that Luiz signed a two-year deal after a great season under Maurizio Sarri. “Even a few weeks ago he was talking about enjoying life under Frank Lampard. But it’s been made clear that he’s not certain to be a regular starter under Lampard… Read more »
And now I posted it twice… Oh sweet regrets…
Good article that Words. Agree completely no excuses this season. I still see us conceding more than should be necessary but I expect better performances away from home and a higher points total. 4th should be on. If they reach next summer still needing another centre-back, that will be progress compared to the laundry list of problems they needed to solve in this window. Liked this part. Was going to wait until the window actually closed before commenting on it but might as well. When the old fart left we had serious squad issues in literally every single department bar… Read more »
BOB
That’s makes you a very stupid boy
Assume we’ll play with wing backs until at least one of Tiernay and Bellerin is fit. Luiz playing libero!
According to sources Tierney is “relieved” that the transfer gone through. I mean, he better be. We spent whole fkin Summer chasing yo ass. And you are injured… You better be all that and some on top.
The last two transfer windows post Wenger have been great. Who knew traffic directors could be so good.
Raul and Edu are only going to get better, the more they work together. They will learn from their mistakes and understand the English footballing landscape better.
This is easily the best transfer window since we moved to the Emirates stadium.
There was an easily understandable methodology and approach to how we went about doing the business
Bar several serious injuries to key players, fk me if it happens, Emery has the squad to attack a position in top 4. I won’t forget last Summer how EVERY single pundit had us to finish as 6th or 5th at absolute best. As painful as it was, it was the reality. As things stand, things have changed quite a lot. A lot of people would expect us to finish in top 4 now.
Our team, gents, is finally a capable one.
“arsenal should give a chance to Daniel Crowley”
Was watching his for the 55 mins that he played
Such a nimble, technical player. Almost too intricate for his own good.
Jude Bellingham is going to be special if his career is managed well.
Dissenter
I agree but you missed one point. As their input begins to have an effect we’ll have more money to spend and CL football to offer.
Thing’s at long last are on the up.
Dissenter: There was an easily understandable methodology and approach to how we went about doing the business.
Agreed. Club did a lot of work to get the deals done. We as fans will be the first to acknowledge a job well done. Bravo to their effort. They all did their job to the best they could.
I can’t think of a better stop gap defensive signing than Luis
He’s a passing and somewhat pacy central defender who knows the league well. He’s on a two year deal and is already our best defender, a lot better than mono-skilled Sokratis who gets away with a lot because Mustafi is worse.
Nothing stops us from moving Luis off next summer by the way. He will drop down the pecking order once Saliba and [hopefully] Upemecano come in. He will leave Arsenal for the same reason he left Chelsea. – to get playing time.
Paulinho
August 8, 2019 11:31:19
Receding – He’s always played his best stuff there(for Liverpool and Brazil) even though a lot see him as a central player. I’ve never thought he cut out for central positions due to him fading in and out of games too much, and when he played for Barca there he couldn’t cope with consistently having to show for the ball. He takes breaks in game; plays in fits and starts, but insane quality when he does decide to take part.
===================================
Now, doesn’t it sound like someone we already have !! :))
Looking forward to seeing what this lot can do with a Champions League budget. Or god forbid with instructions towards challenging for major honours.
siddharth,
Yeah. An ex football player that chased a pro Fortnite Esports career.
I hope we move Iwobi on, for his sake and Arsenal’s. He’s at a point where he’s really blocking the path of Saka and Nelson. He’s at the point Chambers is at now [even though we didn’t sell him] Once you get your chances and you don’t convince fully…you need to go and let another youthful prospect get that chance. I’m glad the player had the grace to read the writing on the wall, ready to jump before he was pushed out. Funny enough, we have had a better offer for Iwobi that we got for Ozil in the last… Read more »
Really looking to seeing how this season pans out with the re-shaped and upgraded squad
Dissenter
Agreed on Iwobi. If the £30 million offer from Everton is genuine, I’d take it.
If he stays, I won’t be too disappointed though. He’s a tryer at least.
David Luiz isn’t my first choice but he is adequate asa stop gap… to give Holding Chambers and Saliba the safety net to become bedded in. Amazing that in one window, where large parts of it we seemed to do nothing, we have 1. brought in a new CB to replace Koscelney 2. brought in a Ramsey replacement (albeit on loan) 3. bought a new CB for the future 4. bought in a new LB of starting quality 5. brought in a winger of immense quality and potential in Pepe, whilst fighting off all the top clubs in doing so.… Read more »
Rather if we’d signed Danny Rose instead of Luiz.
Champions league budget?? If we’d had one we wouldn’t now have had to settle for Luiz, we’d have upamencano. That’s on emery. He threw away that budget and the prestige, status and pulling power our participation would bring. Just one win vs Leicester or Brighton or wolvesor palace and we would now have that centre half we were all hoping for Still. We can all pretend that Luiz is better than what we have The truth is he isn’t. When holding is fit he’s on the bench unless emery prizes passing out above defending our goal. The it’s papa on… Read more »
Why would we sign Danny Rose if we bought Tierney and have 2 other LBs? lol
Now, let’s see Raul ship out the deadwood and build our transfer war chest for January.
Iwobi £35m
Elneny £10m
Mustafi £10m
Mkhitaryan £10m
That £65m without even really touching the first team. In January I can see Raul pressing to bring in a quality player with these funds to get us over the line.
Koante or Upamecano then? One can hope!
fsafAugust 8, 2019 12:27:21
Why would we sign Danny Rose if we bought Tierney and have 2 other LBs? lol
Fasf
Give up. Right over your head
Mustafi
Xhaka
Elneny
Chambers
Mkhitaryan
Iwobi
Kolasinac
Monreal
Ozil
Maitland-Niles
Martinez
Left on the dross list
Unaai
Not particularly chipper mate, had my backpack stolen from a hotel lobby yesterday. Adios MacBook et al.
This window is more enjoyable than dealing with that nonsense.
It’s not like buying a loaf of bread!
“According to Bild, Dayot Upamecano’s release clause of €100 million will drop to €80 million in 2020.” We were told we have to pay his release clause mang. I’m not sure we would have done it even if we had the money. It’s over £90 freakin millions. I know it’s all about getting your #1s in the list, but that’s a bit too pricey imo. £60-70m would have been far more reasonable and it’s almost as much as we offered at £55m. We did try to get it done. When they tell you that you have to pay almost £40m… Read more »
Neville quote about how Luiz played like he was controlled by a ten year old on playstation was funny but I think he good stop gap for a year or two until Arsenal can focus more on defense. Luiz affordable, good deal, eight million quid for experienced defender for two season contract.
I am curious to find out how Pedro reacts to our summer now.
Un na,
With Arsenal you can’t be sure. If we had secured 4th place last season, i very much doubt Arsenal would have taken such a proactive approach in the Transfer Window.
Give it a rest with the every defender we have better than Luiz Nonsense Un na nai
They are not period
Luiz has always been top class and has always played at the highest level
Rob Holding is at best a young promising defender (23 by the way). He stands to learn a lot from Luiz.
His issue with Lampard was just a power play, no young manager will be comfortable with such a character in his dressing room. he got rid at the first whiff of conflict
Champagne charlieAugust 8, 2019 12:30:19
UnaaiNot particularly chipper mate, had my backpack stolen from a hotel lobby yesterday. Adios MacBook et al.
Charlie
Oh shit. Sorry to hear that. Nice hotel? Business or pleasure?
“I hope we move Iwobi on, for his sake and Arsenal’s.”
Funny how this quote can work with Mustardi.
Leeds You can add Thompson for 3m to that list of sales. Think we should try and work out a season long loan for ESR to Leipzig since they’re so keen on him, with the condition that we have first refusal on Upamecano or if we can agree a fee now for January or next summer. He only has 2 year left of his contract so if his head is turned and he refuses to sign a new deal they’ll have to make a decision. Would love it if we tried to bring in Sangare in January too, gives him… Read more »
And with Xhaka, of course.
Rh
We will see won’t we? I remember your type gushing over xakha and ozil when they first arrived. Soon changed
Anyway. I hope you’re right. I hope he is a fucking monster for us and holding and Saliba learn kids form him and become world class defenders themselves, shoring is up for the next 10 years
I just was never a fan. He doesn’t come with that clownish reputation for now reason
No smoke without fire as they say
Looks like Everton have decided against a second bid for Iwobi.
I’m reasonably happy with Luiz. I’d have preferred us to go big on Upamecano or try get Gimenez away from Atletico Madrid or something like that, but we have to be realistic, we’ve already spent a LOT. So it was always going to be a loan or a cheap move. I understand that on paper, Mustafi has better stats than Luiz. Then again, Mustafi had better stats on paper than Maguire, and I know which I would have preferred us to have had in the team. The number of interceptions and duels you win is irrelevant if you manage to… Read more »
“Looks like Everton have decided against a second bid for Iwobi.”
Zaha has missed training at Palace
I hope Zaha stays put and Crystal Palace goes down in flames… and then they will have to sell Zaha cheaply.
For their outrageous greed I want to see them relegated. They had more than enough money from the sale of full back to Man United for £50m and had they taken even £50m from us they could have time and money to rebuild their squad.
Instead they got greedy, and managed to convince many in the media that we were being cheap and unreasonable… well who is being unreasonable now?
Palace, for their sheer arrogance deserve everything they get.
CC
that’s fucking brazen!
Was it a sly one of did you leave the bag unattended?
Zaha sold to Everton and then Palace try to buy Iwobi, that would be sweet, sweet revenge.
Emery’s had ages to bring in a decent defender and finally settles on Luiz.
Worst manager we’ve ever had.
“We will see won’t we? I remember your type gushing over xakha and ozil when they first arrived. Soon changed”
Yes Un na nai you saw Ozil failing from a mile off, good for you the lone voice of reason. As for Xhaka, he is about to be made captain so maybe pipe down a bit eh, He is still here, still playing 30+ league games a season, will probably be sold for good money when he leaves.
“Wilfried Zaha has missed Crystal Palace training this morning”
What – A – Mess.
Would’ve taken that iwobi offer so fucking quickly.
No one isnt bidding that for Iwobi again. Unless he has an outstanding season.
Another benefit of bring in a CB is that it can free up Chambers as an option for RB until Bellerin is back and fit.
In tougher away games where we need to be more solid he’s a better option and we don’t need AMN width with Pepe in the team.
We are just looking so much more balanced.
Oh this is turning into the most banterous window ever for the Spuds.
Coutinho – no thank you
Dybala – nope
Who is next to pass on a move to the North London toilet bowl – Neymar?
But people on here wanted more money him.
@Danny
Emery didn’t decide on Luiz.
Sure, he’ll have had a say. But it’s probably Raul/Edu that had the final say.
@Danny : yeah agree, even worse than Wenger in his 2nd era…
‘Looks like Everton have decided against a second bid for Iwobi.’
Which was always the fear, they would realise the error of their ways and not go back in with a larger bid.
Highbury
Where did you here that?
I’d actually like to see Palace do down – watch their fans boo hoo blah blah blah. Should worked with us on a deal and moved on. Palace you are not a big club don’t try and act like one.
Dave : they sign Lo Celso, not so bad.
“Emery’s had ages to bring in a decent defender and finally settles on Luiz.
Worst manager we’ve ever had.”
Some people really need a lecture on how proper football clubs work
This is no longer Wenger era when Dick Law keeps waiting for him to pick calls and sign off on transfer target prices. The club (Raul, Emery and probably Edu) had their targets, bids were made, deemed too expensive for now. Luiz was probably never in their minds until 48-24 hours ago, transfer windows are all about opportunities.
Luiz vs Rugan …Luiz wins for me any day
If we sign luiz, we will know that our backroom team still has no idea about defending. Fuck that rumour right off
That’s why you sell at £30m.
Now we’re stuck with that fucking donkey, Iwobi.
All you lot “you don’t accept the first offer”…errr you do when the SOB is as shit as Iwobi.
Joke. Totally dampened the good work.
Yea it was very weird turning down that initial bid for Iwobi
Everton probably only offered £30m it to spur Zaha deal into action. If we had accepted they would’ve pulled out.
“Emery’s had ages to bring in a decent defender and finally settles on Luiz.
Worst manager we’ve ever had.”
Give it a rest ffs, He’s not in charge of transfers.
We already spent 130m (yes, yes installments, but still) and we tried for a young CB with world class potential but it didn’t work out.
We’re still in much better shape after this window, probably the best window we’ve had in about 15 years or so.
Is more work required on the squad? Of course, it was left in terrible condition by Wenger but we’re addressing it now finally.
@Marc : didn’t hear it, but just read it, it’s buzzing around on the web…
@Goobergooner : not a rumor, but a true fact.
HighburyLegend – true but think we have had a better window.
£30m for Iwobi was ridiculous if true.
It’s like someone coming up and offering you £12m for a Vauxhall Zafira and calling it a Ferrari 250GTO.
Arsenal never learn.
Kolasinac is reported to have been sighted in Vegas.
He is about to switch to MMA. They offered him a contract after seeing tho fast feet movements he showed in that famous video.