Arsenal’s net wage reduction revealed

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I’ve been trying that CBD oil malarkey, I don’t want to keep talking about wellness, but damn, that stuff is fine. I used it for a broken arm so I didn’t get hooked on painkillers, but now they do the stuff in a can called Recess. Get on it people, puts you lights out if you go to bed at night anxious about what the nasty boys in the LG comments section are saying about you.

It also gives you a way in when you’re at a party with people younger than you. They’ll think you’re super cool and likely forgive the fact you’re wearing Crocs and t-shirt that says ‘TOTAL LADS TOUR, KAVOS 2008’ with your salty nickname on the back. Come on, admit it, you did it because you were a little bitch that couldn’t stand-up for your future snobbish self.

Anyway, Paul Merson has been giving Unai ‘Wenger’ absolute pelters in the media.

He thinks all Xhaka is good for is bookings, he doesn’t think we’ve moved on since last season, and he thinks Mesut Ozil should be brought into midfield because we’re over-reliant on elite striking, which won’t last (like last season).

Paul gets a lot of stick from the champagne socialists amongst us (usually Xhaka lovers, amirite!), but I for one think he has some incisive views on Arsenal. He’s never far off. We do need to add some creativity to the midfield. I’d rather it were Ceballos if I’m honest, but if Ozil wants to act like an adult, he’ll absolutely do.

I saw this excellent Tifo video that explored how West Ham could use their new record signing, Haller.

*BREATHES IN*

I’m going to talk tactics to you.

They mention that Frankfurt played a 3-4-1-2… with Rebic acting as a sort of #10.

This is kind of interesting considering some of the options we have at Arsenal.

Steve Bould mentioned that Lacazette could almost be a number ten last season. So potentially, a #10 role wouldn’t be totally awful for him. He basically assumed that job at the weekend, only far deeper. Additionally, you could very well see Ceballos playing that role with Matteo and Willock sitting at the base. Bellerin and Kola could make up the wide options, and the 3 centre backs could make up for some of their defensive lapses.

LOOK I TRIED.

But seriously, what do you think?

Does it feel like I just offered you a bite of bacon-infused dark cocoa chocolate (95% pure) with a dash of fig marmalade? I think it does. This is new. You feel like you’re at a sophisticated words premise, right?

I’m sure it’ll more likely be a 4-3-3… I just worry we don’t really have the personnel to operate that at 100%. AMN is not a right-back, Kola is never going to be a great defender, so what are the options open to keep a front three of Pepe, Lacazette and Auba alive?

If you have a better idea, put it in the comments.

The Times reckons we removed £45m from the wage bill this window. I am struggling to see how that works out as a net figure. So I worked out where we landed.

  • Mkhitaryan
  • Cech
  • Ramsey
  • Welbeck
  • Koscielny
  • Monreal
  • Elneny
  • Iwobi
  • Ospina
  • Lichtsteiner
  • Jenkinson

-£900k p/w

  • David Luiz £125k
  • Nicolas Pepe £140k
  • Dani Ceballos £51k
  • Kieran Tierney £75k
  • Martinelli £20k
  • Saliba £N/A (would assume St Etienne are taking that on)

+£411k p/w

NET -£489k pw

TOTAL -£25,428,000

That’s pretty good going in a summer that we’re all very happy about.

Aaron Ramsey’s £300k a week does not look a miss either, and shock/horror, he’s out injured already.

So in one summer, we’ve made things mostly a lot better, and we’ve moved the wage bill down below £200m. Good going.

What we don’t know is what the true spend of the summer was… and I hear we committed to a huge number. Super agents don’t come cheap and I’ve no doubt we went to bed with many of them and woke up very sore.

I was told we’ve committed next summers budget to the cause this year, so anyone talking about Emery simply being a caretaker this season is very off the mark. It was Raul that brought him into the equation late on, so he’s very much his man. This season simply cannot end in failure, and if it’s looking terrible by January, I wouldn’t be shocked to see something happen… though I have been told by people in and around the club that that eventuality is very unlikely.

What I do like about this bit of info is this, if true, is all Raul cares about is success. He’s not hedging bets, he’s not hiding behind a manager, and he’s not pushing for status quo. He’s put his balls on the line and he’s making a play for the big boy leagues. That is what we’ve wanted. We have no inherited the second coming of Gazidis, it’s going to be totally different whatever happens… but make no mistake, it’s a big gamble. One that looks sound based on what’s around. One that needs to deliver some winnings.

I was also told, before the Liverpool game, that the training ground has been the best it’s been in a very long time. Lots of hope and energy. Hopefully that buzz lasts, and hopefully Emery can make the fixes he needs to before we attach ourselves to the slog of two games a week. We need happy players and we need good results.

Right, listen to my solo podcast and talk to me about the new tactics blog I should set up.

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Bankz

Bankz is here for the Tr4phy again

Peter

1st

Bankz

Second…

Peter

Not today Bankz

Bankz

BOOOOOOM

Peter

yeees

Bankz

Haaaaahaaa.
Nice one Peter

Un na naai

My brothers bother in law produces that stuff
Not recess but something similar
Apparently he’s the only company in the U.K. with a license for it or something
Reckons sakes are going through the roof

Seems like a switched on fella

HighburyLegend
Ishola70

Merson is far off more often than not.

When he is right he stumbles on it.

Championing Mesut Ozil sums it up in regards Merson.

He may have played for Arsenal but he likes having a pop at the club and is a Chelsea man.

Thomas

This season is already boring. Has emery been sacked yet?

Bojangles

I didn’t notice our £72 mil signing in that set up Pedro. You have him playing alongside Auba up front?

Emiratesstroller

Pedro There is no question that our inflated wage bill has been reduced, but somehow I doubt it is by as much as has been suggested. For a start when reading your figures you have omitted the probability that the U23 players promoted to first team squad e.g.Willock, Nelson and Smith-Rowe will have got a pay rise. My guess is that other players in squad like Guendouzi have also got a pay rise as well. However, the real point is that the age over 28 players who were no longer guaranteed a place in first team and were on inflated… Read more »

HighburyLegend

“This season is already boring. Has emery been sacked yet?”

@Thomas : not Emery, Wenger.
Ask Merson about it.

Dissenter

Pedro has gone from Raul-is-a-contact driven-charlatan to Raul positivity.
Raul was supposed to stay away and let the technical director do his thing , remember?
You don’t seem to write much about Edu these days.

Spanishdave

Emery is clearly not the one.
By favoring Xhaka it will not give confidence to the team as they know how the clown operates and he regularly makes errors that wipe out our score.
Emery needs to drop him but he will not so that for me tells us that we will struggle to make top 4

Un na naai

Ishola

Oh yeah? I’d love to reacquaint myself with that knee slapper you told me this week

How emery is forced to play xakha by wenger, gazidis and kroenke

😂

azed

A 4-2-1-3 is the best formation we can play but if we want to play a straight 4-3-3, the Pepe through the middle dropping deep to do the Firmino work might work as suggested by Maureen.

Dissenter

Emirates
The combined pay rises of AMN, Nelson and ESR can’t be more than half of savings on moving Mykhi out.
None of these three should be on anything more than 20-25k weekly.

Pierre

Tactically, Emery is still struggling to find a balance in the team . If he is going to persist with playing out from the keeper maybe he needs change things about a little . The most important player in the system he is trying to implement is the deep lying midfielder , at the moment he is persevering with Xhaka in that role but he never really looks comfortable receiving the ball with his back to goal and on the half turn. The answer could be to slot Ceballos into a role similar to which jorginho plays at Chelsea .… Read more »

HighburyLegend

“How emery is forced to play xakha by wenger, gazidis and kroenke”

And Merson.

HighburyLegend

“Tactically, Emery is still struggling to find a balance in the team ”

Never thought I would agree with Lil’ P. about something one day.
The ultimate proof that anything can happen!!

Dissenter

It’s laughable when anyone has to reach for a Merson position to slam Emery.
Sometimes, you wonder if Merson is still on the bottle with some of the commentary he makes.

Leftsidesanch

Merson is so off 9/10, I think most football fans can unite in that regard as various share the same feelings.

raptora

I read a lot of ppl slotting Willock in our midfield next to Guendouzi and Ceballos.
Did you guys already gave up hope on Torreira? Wasn’t he supposed to be with clear potential of becoming world class player for us? I still believe he is. Willock will have plenty and plenty opportunities to improve in the cup runs and being with the team on a daily basis. But Torreira is a pretty good damn player already, no? Imo Guen, Tor, Dani is our best midfield atm and I’m surprised by the amount of ppl that would bench Tor for Willock.

Nelson

Dis

Raul said that he is in charge for last TW.

Chris

Pierre

With Ceballos in a deep lying role it may provide the positives you suggest, but I can’t help but think he would be targeted himself by more physical sides as an area to exploit. Also he would have to cut out the rash passes of the like we saw against Liverpool (across his own penalty area).

I think overall it would be a waste of his talent, which is best served in a more advanced role. We unquestionably do need someone however, as you suggest, that is comfortable on the ball and can break the press.

N5

@Pedro

Good stuff RE CBD, I got hooked on painkillers after an op and was taking around 30 codeine tablets a day. I wish I knew of CBD then. Does it make you feel high too or just deal with the pain? I want the Euphoric feeling too that Codeine/Morphine gives you if I can 😀

raptora

“Tactically, Emery is still struggling to find a balance in the team” We should give this team/coach a chance. We have a lot of new players and 3 of our ideal back 4 are still injured. They are going to be available soon though so that’s when things could get better. Most of them should be back by the middle of October, so give it a month of playing to gel and get back to their top form. Imo we should really start judging our play from November onwards. Until then it’s going to be about grinding results and not… Read more »

N5

Is there any truth with your contacts RE a CB coming in, in Jan?

Emiratesstroller

There are two interesting and significant articles appearing today in the Daily Telegraph covering both transfers and wages. The first relates to Spurs and covers not only the growing problems for the club in selling players particularly those in final year of contract such as Eriksen and Auderwald. The major point made is that Levy had a track record of being a very hard person to deal with but also being successful negotiator in achieving “inflated” transfer fees. There appears to be now a backlash against Spurs in transfer market. Many clubs are reluctant to deal with Levy and certainly… Read more »

raptora

I would expect Pool to suffer if Robertson, TAA and VvD were all out at the same time for months. It’s just an example but think about it. How they wouldn’t have anyone even close to the quality, penetrative runs that their full backs do and how without VvD they would concede goals for free like they were in the months before they bought him. I know Holding isn’t VvD but the loss of not having our starting full/wing backs and a solid partner to Luiz is hurting us big time without any doubt.

Wasi

Azed Pepe’s abilities would be wasted at CF position i think. His left footedness and tendency to collect the ball with his back to the throw in line are only good in the wing position. I would even say he can be his at his best only when he is playing in the RW position. He can babble at CF and LW but he is a typical inside forward.He is very similar to Bayern legend Robben in his playing style and really thought they might replace him with Pepe. Pierre Ceballos would be a no-no at the deep lying playmaker(DLP)… Read more »

Up 4 grabs now

Good morning, hopefully after the international break and with the introduction of holding, Tierney & Bellerin our defence will be a lot more stable. xhaka has no place in the arsenal side, and is just a permanent risk waiting to happen. Ceballos can link the Defence to attack and Torriera and Guendouzi can protect the Defence. the two sitting defensive players are pulled all over the pitch because xhaka doesn’t have the legs, he might have amazing passing stats, so did Arteta. crab passing sideways, and pass backs to defenders are not what the team needs. The last ten minutes… Read more »

N5

“We should give this team/coach a chance. We have a lot of new players and 3 of our ideal back 4 are still injured. ”

@Raptora, I don’t disagree, he should have time. However, he hasn’t addressed the defence and this isn’t acceptable. It’s been a problem for so long and any manager worth their salt must know this was a priority and should have been where his attention went straight away.

Since then, his mistakes have been constant and very reminiscent of a certain zip botherer! Stubbornness, no tactics during match, predictable game approach, silly accent! you name it!!

Samesong

CBD then. Does it make you feel high too or just deal with the pain?

Nope. You need pure THC for that.

Though it’s good for protection against infections, etc.

Nelson

@Wasi

Fully agree with your opinion on Pepe. He started as CF but failed. He was then playing in the RW position and excelled.

Emiratesstroller

Dissenter

The point I was making is that Pedro did not include those players wages in his
list or any players on potential wage rises such as Guendouzi.

Nevertheless as suggested many of the incoming and promoted players in our
squad are on significantly lower wages than the players they replaced.

Ceballos earns less than half of Ramsey
Nelson less than half of Iwobi
Willock earns probably half of Elneny
Smith-Rowe a fraction of Mkhitaryan
Tierney probably the same as Monreal
Luiz probably less than Lichsteiner
Martinez probably 10% of Cech

Dissenter

If Tierney makes the earlier return back training[ kudos to Marko 😀] we still have to give him time to get to grips with the league. It will still be Kola tripping up himself in the bid.
Emery still has to ease him in very slowly. He won’t be playing full games for a while.

N5

Samesong, can you buy THC legally?

Gentlebris

It’s really a white and black situation re Emery.
We make top 4, Emery gets a new deal and the major fuck up begins.
We don’t make top 4, BIG FUCK UP but Emery is fired.

Arsenal is fucked either way as we can’t afford another year in the Europa after spending this big and Emery being here long term is a sad story.

Up 4 grabs now

Morning N5

dont you think he has addressed the defence to a point?

Tierney, keeping chambers, bringing in luiz (not ideal but short term 2 years?)
and even playing holding last year.

Also binning off mustafi to the reserves. and letting koz go.
i would have kept Monreal but he was a good pro and wanted to go home to his family.

SammyNelsonsPants

It isn’t rocket science. The problem is injuries. Ignoring those, a first 11 could be: Leno Bellerin Holding Sok/Luiz/Chambers Tierney Torreira Guendouzi/Willock Ceballos Pepe Laca Auba Which addresses the defensive issues, gives us the creative 10, a solid DM and a pivot/b2b mid, plus one of the best attacks in the league, and plenty on the bench/ rotating. It also has the happy consequence that we don’t have to rely on the unreliable Ozil, or the reliably idiotic Xhaka. Chambers arsenal career has been a bit stop start, but I’d love to see him succeed at CB alongside Holding. If… Read more »

Dissenter

Emirates
Agreed
If this group of academy graduates continue to do well, they will save is a lot of money in years to come. It will easier to just focus our spending on top-class starters.
I just wish our academy also produced defensive players.

AMN is another dilemma forming for the club. Are we better off with two proper right backs or two converted right backs. Bellerin was a converted winger who is nit a natural defender while AMN never excelled as a midfielder and is certainly not a natural defender.

Bojangles

Emery could pick my dog to replace Xhaka and defensively we would be a better side.

Receding Hairline

“Despite scoring on his debut, Ben Arfa was frozen out after reportedly making an ill-advised joke to Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani – the Emir of Qatar – about the fact Nasser Al-Khelaifi – the club’s president – was often difficult to get hold of. ”

We were told by someone on here he was frozen out by Emery because he is a poor man manager and that Ben Arfa has sued Emery who will soon become unemployable

Up 4 grabs now

Emery could pick my dog to replace Xhaka and defensively we would be a better side.

lol

i actually think we would be better just playing with ten men, no chance of a bad back pass, loose pass for someone to pounce on, or stone wall penalty given away.

raptora

“However, he hasn’t addressed the defence and this isn’t acceptable. It’s been a problem for so long and any manager worth their salt must know this was a priority and should have been where his attention went straight away.” N5, We did get 2 new players in defence and Saliba will joining next year. I’m just not so sure that you can “BUILD” a defence with players that have limited brain capacity this often in their games. Papa Sok should have chased a career in WWE instead of becoming a footballer, Kola doesn’t even bother defending, AMN is sometimes a… Read more »

Dissenter

Gentlebris Get over your Emery obsession already. It’s gotten you you noticed already and it’s gotten stale;. If the manager makes top-4, he keeps his job because he would have met the minimum goal. His job gets easier [ also easier to fire him] as the pace of squad rebuild continues. I’m sure he will put together a better defender with Upemecano, Saliba and Holding. After spending big? We addressed a a weakness in our wing play and brought in loaner from Madrid as well as an error prone stop-gap defender. The record signing is still adjusting to life in… Read more »

Bill

Pedro , are you suggesting that the club won’t move for Upamecano due to lack of funds.
I’m relying on such a move and that negotiations are on-going between both clubs and the player.
Once Upamecano is secured, we need to buy Ceballos or an alternative, then move on the deadwood – starting with Mustafi and Ozil. The first team will then have been transformed with a younger and more physical side – along with a reduction on the average age.
What’s not to like?

HighburyLegend

“you wonder if Merson is still on the bottle”

@Dissenter : that could explain a lot of things… lol

Batistuta

Off topic a bit

Hey Receeding and any other Nigerian posters here

What do you make of what’s going on in South-Africa with the killings and Xenophobic attacks of foreign nationals especially Nigerians, fiance who’s Nigerian just showed me some pictures and videos and the whole thing just looks so distasteful

Dissenter

There ainly so much any manager can do with the likes of PapSok. He’s as useful as a fenestrated condom. Reviewing that first goal, Xhaka was definitely telling him to get back…he started falling back …then changed his mind and jumped into Xhaka, making the midfielder miss that header Then he didn’t count for the runner tracking the ball with him, jogging into space casually. I agree with raptora that there’s only so much any manager can do for brain dead players. PapSok’s contract expires in 2021. I won’t be surprised if he’s sold to free up wages for Upemecano… Read more »

Dissenter

Batistuta
I remember saving my lunch money in primary school to donate to fight apartheid
The well organized and obviously encouraged xenophobic attacks on other Africans are mortifying.
Its taken the ANC record time to fcuk up a thriving economy and the foreigner is the familiar scapegoat.

Nelson

I have the feeling Emery doesn’t value Torr. Also he asked Torr to play so advance last game and left AMN exposed. Son had lots of room to maneuver.

I feel that the players still need to gel as a team. It would be easier if we play mainly one formation. For a well drilled 4 3 3 or 4 2 3 1 formation, the two wingers track back to help out the FBs.

raptora

Another example of Xhaka being Xhaka.

comment image

Screenshot of a moment in the game vs spuds when before a spud corner Eriksen is left completely unmarked and both Luiz and Leno are yelling and pointing at Xhaka to cover his man/space. How could a player so awfully uncoordinated and with such little brain capacity even exist?

Up 4 grabs now

Dissenter,

The ANC are not much more than a bunch of corrupt old pals act.

facilities are disintegrating while the taxes are siphoned off or not collected at all from party members .its all back handers for tenders.

unfortunately when you have gullible voters that listen to the same lies and continue to vote for crooks nothing will change

Champagne charlie

Benny

Don’t be such a baby, you flip flopped something rotten. Not sure you get what it means though if you’re trying to say I have lol

Up 4 grabs now

Batistuta.

What do you make of what’s going on in South-Africa with the killings and Xenophobic attacks of foreign nationals especially Nigerians, fiance who’s Nigerian just showed me some pictures and videos and the whole thing just looks so distasteful

this happens every couple of years here.
a recession is pretty much here, and since unemployment is so high here, its the foreigners who get blamed.

as for the murders of children and woman in recent weeks. police are easily corruptible and incompetent. its like they rounded up all the village idiots and put them in charge.

azed

Pierre

It’s should be a 4-2-1-3

Neither Willock nor Guendozi are as creative as Ceballos. They are also much taller and fastest than him.
I believe Guendozi can play at the base. He always shows up to receive the ball will Willock can beat him man and travel on the ball ala Diaby.

Major_Jeneral

SNPants

I agree with your line up. However it seems Auba is unhappy playing on the left. He wants to play through the middle

The personel in the defence is good but the mentality needs to improve else we are back to players like AMN making school boy errors.

Bill

Azed, Willock is the same height as Ceballos – to be exact, he’s 1cm taller.

N5

Grabs I did make a comment about this the other day so sorry to rehash, but my opinion is that Tierney is possibly the only one of our defence that is a positive move, however he was in a one horse league so we’ll have to see on his transition.

I’m glad he moved people on, but Kol, Sok, Chambers really are not good enough, HB is fast but I’ve never been convinced. Holding is the only one I really like the look of.

HighburyLegend

This is the message the Inter Milan fans had wrote to Lukaku… their way to “apologize”. “We are sorry if you thought that what happened in Cagliari is racist, but it is not. We understand that it may look like it, but it is not the case. You have to understand that Italy is not like the other European countries where racism is a real problem (…) The Italian tifosi are not perfect, but if we understand the frustration that certain expressions can create, they do not are not used for discriminatory purposes. Once again … WELCOME ROMELU! ” Hum…… Read more »

Batistuta

Grabs

I guess that’s reasonable but the looting of foreign owned shops seems a bit much this time around going by some of the reports I’ve read. Just gone on twitter and some of the trending hashtags and accompanying pics and videos are scary stuff.

You in SA at the moment? What’s the govt doing about it

Up 4 grabs now

N5,

Im not sure either on chambers being the answer, but i think he needs a run alongside a decent partner to really tell.

him and holding are maybe too young to play together?
its a lot of ifs and buts as well.
tierney could be a bargain, is bellerin and holding going to come back as before and hit the ground running?

saliba looks a good investment but again we dont see the benefits this season.

Nelson

From our forgotten “Hero”: “Maybe I realized how much I was in my own bubble alienating myself from the rest of the world when I was managing.”

Northbanker

N5 – I don’t think we’ve seen enough of Chambers recently to be sure of this. Luiz is temporary as he’s a decent option in the absence of anyone else despite some headcase moments. The real weakness is Sok – even more so than Xhaka. Both players need to be dropped immediately.

I’d like to see Chambers being used alongside Luiz until Holding returns.

Dissenter

Up4grabs
Problem is south African companies have a lot of investments in other countries which have similar economic hardships.
In this digital age, it doesn’t take long for a boycott south Africa measure to go viral in a place like Nigeria. The Zulu ‘king’ encouraged it and the South African president kept mute for too long.

Valentin

Receding, Your constant rewriting of what I said is becoming a joke. I said that Emery ostracised him, Ben Arfa tried to complain to the club chairman Nasser Al-Khelaïfi who basically refused to talk to him. Ben Arfa then went above his head directly complained about that to the owner Qatar Emir during one of his visit making Nasser look bad. After that Emery and the club tried to kick him out by permanently dumping him with the U23 club. However the French laws are much stricter in term of constructive dismissal and moral harassment. He then spend the rest… Read more »

Up 4 grabs now

Batistuta, Im originally from London and moved out here to South Africa 4 years ago. im in a town called Pietermaritzburg about 45 minutes drive from the city of Durban. although the country is settled, its not like zimbabwe, theres still crime and poverty. there is the odd foreigner attack when times get tough and its an easy target to blame them than the actual government. government will do nothing as there to busy filling there own pockets. Two murders happened in a month, back in June and the police didn’t even bother to open a murder investigation into them.… Read more »

N5

Grabs/Banker, RE Chambers I’m more than happy to be wrong, he just hasn’t looked good when I have seen him, his confidence maybe shot to bits though.

RE Luis, I’ve never been a fan, I find him too erratic! We’ll see though when he has competence around him if that helps.

Guns of Hackney

CBD didn’t work for me but then I use smack so…what was I thinking?

Onto other things.

Emery out.

Wage bill? No fucker cares. We just want good football, to win and for the players to leave it out on the field every week.

Ramsay injured. Lolz. Fuck you Juve.

Rumour has it that in three days, Mikki now weights 800lbs. He just loves pasta.

N5

“CBD didn’t work for me but then I use smack so…what was I thinking? ”

Ha ha, so CBD was like a chaser.

Ghost

Why am i in moderation?

Guns of Hackney

N5

Yeah…biggest waste of £40 ever.

CBD didn’t cut the mustard.

Snake oil.

Up 4 grabs now

Dissenter the other thing as well is that china is buying up a lot of businesses here, imports are huge from china. chinese gangs are slowly moving into areas as well. its a shame really because the resources in this country are amazing and the potential is there, its just the wrong people in charge. that wont change either. racism has gone the other way here, if your white coloured, indian or asian your in the minority. and arent even allowed to apply for certain jobs. if your black your given positions that your not even qualified for, which is… Read more »

HighburyLegend

“Ramsay injured. Lolz. Fuck you Juve. ”

Seriously ?? For real ??

Valentin

The thing with the defense is that I don’t see progress or better coordination when confronted specific but common situations. Against Spurs first goal, AMN covered Lamela diagonal run. However the rest of the defense ran back without any idea of where to run and who to cover. In fact that has been a common occurrence of Arsenal defense, simple diagonal run behind the defense has them flummoxed. George Graham and Mourinho (let me wash my mouth) used to relentlessly drill their defense against specific threats. The result is that the players knew what to do, the position to take.… Read more »

Danny S

A back 3 is done in the prem, pep abandoned it before the end of his first season.
It’s all about the 4-3-3 and I think we have the personnel to pull off the 3-3 we just need to improve the back 4, so we will see how Tierney and bellerin come back. Plus holding, then ad sabila next season and hopefully another top CB.

Guns of Hackney

HL

Yes. No love for Juve. Or Ramsay.

None.

Pedro

N5,

It doesn’t make you high at all.

A lot of people in advertising take it in the day to take the edge off the day.

Well worth the purchase, especially over painkillers.

Pedro

Guns, get a stronger bottle and don’t buy it from the pub.

HighburyLegend

@GoH : ffs, you’re surreal!!

I was asking if the Ramsey injury was real, not your feelings about Juve!!

Valentin

At last the administrative side of the academy is putting his shit in order.
Saliba has been named in the list of 49 U21 players to the EPL despite being loaned to AS Saint Etienne.
Saliba is 18 and if he register for 3 years for Arsenal once he is 21 years old he will be considered as a home grown player.

Bojangles
simon

as well as making an allowance for the U23″ promotions” you need to remember chambers came back from loan and ospina was already on loan last year so already off the payroll. Still been an impressive reduction of the wage bill and churning of the squad toward younger players with improvement potential though doubt it is sub £200m.

N5

Cheers Pedro, I’m going to give it a go and see how I get on.

N5

HL, I believe his injury is legit and have no reason to doubt it, but how must Juve feel paying 400k a week for a dud!! 😀

Eduardo

Relying on Paul Merson for hot takes is really scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Up 4 grabs now

Juventus might be a bit premature about dumping can and putting ramsay in there.

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/12961/11801997/juventus-emre-can-shocked-at-champions-league-omission

Hoksilato

Valentin
Seems like the management team is getting smarter, makes me hopeful they’ll make mostly the right decisions going forward

Chris

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/harry-kane-tottenham-forward-pochettino-latest-future-jonathan-liew-a9088981.html

Interesting reading regarding Spurs and Kane. His tackling rate has declined markedly over the last few seasons so their attack from the front philosophy is suffering. At times last season they appeared more dangerous with Son operating through the middle.

N5

I surprised Can is surprised to be honest. Juve blindly pick Matuidi and Khedira regardless of who is fit. I know Matuidi still can ball, but my god they need to put Sami on the bench and trust the younger guys a bit!!

Freddie Ljungberg

From what I’ve read the savings in wages is closer to 30m, we did have 25 players leaving the club and even the smaller wages adds up. We also don’t have to pay Wenger and his lot 10m like we did last season so that’s 40m saved, should be enough to go out and get Sangare in January and relegate Xhaka permanently to doing what he does best; looking after the other players house keys when they’re playing. Our defensive unit will improve by default in the next month, Bellerin – Luiz – Holding – Tierney is at least on… Read more »

Eduardo

Lacazette as a number ten? This kind of nonsense undermines the occasions when you make valid criticisms of Emery’s mistakes. The front three have started together on ONE occasion! Give the team a bit of time to bed in before talking about playing Lacazette as a midfielder, for God sake. Ceballos, Guendouzi, and Torreira should be our main midfield three this season. Ozil substituting for Ceballos, Willock for Guendouzi, and Xhaka for Torreira. Tierney and Bellerin will be available soon and will improve the link-up play with the front three compared to Kola and AMN. We’ve just played two of… Read more »

azed

George Graham and Mourinho (let me wash my mouth) used to relentlessly drill their defense against specific threats. The result is that the players knew what to do, the position to take. BTW Mourinho included the two central midfielders during his defensive exercises. The first goal was all in Sokratis.. The ball is kicked long, Xhaka tells Sokratis to drop back (communication), Sokratis starts to retreat, then changes his mind and goes for a ball he can’t win (there’s no defense drill for stupidity) Sokratis is still the same person that does track his runner Ericksen. If AMN who is… Read more »

Up 4 grabs now

N5,

That Juve midfield is packed already im surprised Rabiot went there.

i bet if Sarri was installed before Ramsay contract was agreed he wouldnt have taken Ramsay.

N5

“Were it not for Xhaka’s brainlessness we would have beaten Spurs. Give it a rest.”

Would we?

Dissenter

It’s Sarri’s Juventus now
It’s like placing the best platoon of the best SAS soldiers under the command of a professor or research arithmetic. Better still, a pride of lions being led by a chain-smoking intelligent sheep.
.

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