I started a Fat Chart in excel this year, where I’m looking fluctuations in weight against drinking and eating out… I have found a correlation, if you drink and eat out, you get fat. Game-changer. I can’t believe how easy it goes in these days, I literally have to starve myself to get back on track. Why is life so unfair?
Well, apparently it’s not unfair if you’re a mistake-ridden footballer under Saint Arteta. The Spaniard is more forgiving than Jesus himself, this time, he’s trying to bring Mustafi under his arm and rebirth his stale career.
“Yes he made a mistake, but it’s OK. I like more the reaction and I look more at the reaction.”
“I don’t believe that at 27 you cannot improve certain aspects of the game; I really believe you can,”
“I work with players like this and I have team-mates like this and there is always a moment where there is a click.
“I can accept a mistake, no problem. What I’m not going to accept is somebody makes a mistake and after he stops playing, and he doesn’t want the ball and doesn’t want to make decisions. That player is not acceptable for our team.”
I mean, we asked for a coach and that’s exactly what he’s bringing to the table, so we really shouldn’t moan. The point that he’s making is a fair one, we all gave massive praise to Xhaka for his performance when we went a goal down, but you’d be hard pushed and cruel to deny that Mustafi had a very strong game after the error. Also worth remembering we were burning Xhaka effigies in November now he’s seen as reliable.
My worry, as ever, is that we’ve been watching this episode of Mustafi on repeat for the last however many years and it’s tiring. That said, there’s a player there, he was great against Crystal Palace. His range of passing was solid and he gave us a great outlet, so if he can be coached back to World Cup winning levels, then I’m game for it.
One thing is for sure with Arteta, he doesn’t give a rats arse what we think as fans, and he’ll do as he pleases.
Another player who has been spending time in the Miki Confessional box is Nicolas Pepe. The £72m winger from Lille has had a very up and down season. He has an unorthodox approach to the game, it’s hit or miss, but there’s certainly no doubt there’s a real talent lying in wait. Nic had this to say of the godly work he’s doing behind the scenes.
“Things have been going positively so far, we’ve got some good results and have been playing good football,” the 24-year-old said. “There has certainly been some encouraging signs and we know that we do have quality and we have what it takes to do well on the pitch.
“Mikel Arteta has explained to me what he would like me to do on the pitch and he has shown me videos that have stressed the importance of my positioning. He has told me exactly what he would like me to do to help me progress as a player.
“We want to do well as an attacking force. We want to perform well on the pitch, score goals and get assists. As a team it doesn’t matter who’s getting the goals and who’s getting assists, but the important thing is we are playing well together and getting results.
“We support one another on the pitch and as an attacking player it’s always great to have someone like Mesut Ozil feeding passes into you so it’s enjoyable.”
I’m hoping we’re going to see some sort of Raheem Sterling project with some of our wide players. We simply don’t get enough end product out of our players in the final third. That needs to change as the team builds more stability from the back. One absolute basic I’d love Pepe to work on is his right foot. How you can make it to the top in football being one-footed in 2020 is a miracle. Also, note the comment about Mesut Ozil… the players like being around him.
One player who isn’t a rehab project is Gabriel. I liked these comments from Mikel about our superstar Brazilian.
“They said you’ll be surprised how prepared he is to compete with any other player in the squad. I always thought yeah ok but he’s 18. When you see in big games how he goes about everything it’s surprising.”
Big things expected of him for the backend of the season.
The Bournemouth game this evening will be interesting for us, it’s another chance to redeem an average result we had against them in Arteta’s first encounter. It’d be wonderful to progress further in a cup that has all the big boys still involved. The one thing we have to be sure to avoid is a replay. Spurs drew against Southampton and Liverpool slipped up against Shrewsbury… Klopp insisting he’ll not even manage the replay.
It’ll be interesting to see how we line up, we went all out against Leeds, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see the same again. Though I would imagine there will be an eye on a tough game this Sunday against a Burnley that appears to be slightly resurgent in the league (though they were beaten by Norwich in the cup at the weekend).
It’s a shame we’re likely too early for a Pablo Mari start, but maybe by the time I wake up, he’ll be confirmed as a signing. Was also sad to see Aaron Ramsey still benched for Juve… I’m not pining for an Arteta reunion, you are.
Before I go, some more sad news for the Arsenal blogosphere… Yogis Warrior from ACLF passed 3 weeks ago. I didn’t know him well, but he helped correct my Spanish to ‘Manos fuera Cesc’ back in 2011. I’ve always had huge admiration for his brilliant writing and his dedication to regular content for his community. He seemed like a top guy, our thoughts are with his family.
P.S. RIP Kobe. His career transcended sport. What a sad moment.
Unai na
Point your shriveled dick else way mate
That conversation is over, not going there again.
I asked a general question, move on of you don’t want to answer it.
If Barca bid for Auba
Get the money in cash then get rid off. That said, I suspect the club may struggle with that simplistic approach since we have the EL to play for.
ESPN Brazil say the Mari deal has collapsed
What a fucking shambles we are haha had the cunt here on video and we botch it 😂
“I bought a ps4 a couple of days ago and have been playing red dead redemption 2 and fucking wow what a game”
@China1, if you haven’t played Witcher 3 + its DLCs my word I envy you as you ‘ll get to play it for first time… one of the best games out there hands down on every front conceivable . From the Story, graphics, characters etc.
Who’s got the scoop on the mari deal??!! Wtf happen!!??
Brixton
Witcher 3 is the peak.
If arsenal are offered over 55m for auba and over 40m for laca in packages/installemebts that are not unreasonable then I would take either in a heartbeat Both carry risk but not selling right now carries significant risk. People saying wait til the summer to sell auba, but that’s a risk too. He’ll be 6 months older, 6 months closer to the end of his contract and market movements of other players in the summer will change whether or not offers (especially good ones) will be forthcoming at all Selling laca I see as low risk because he’s expensive and… Read more »
@Guns of Brixton –
have you played the RE2 remake yet?
CC
Loool a man of fine tastes I see 😂👍
Zacharse
‘What happen’
They set us up the bomb *EXPLOSIONS EVERYWHERE*
I wonder if anyone else is nerdy enough to get this reference lol
Brixton
It’s brilliant mate, blood and wine DLC itself is better than numerous titles to date. If China hasn’t touched it and goes in fresh then big envy.
Never played any of The Witcher games, yet watched the Netflix series! Hope that series wasn’t riddled with spoilers!
China
WHA’ HAPPEN!? Its my catch phrase.
Seriously tho, would love to know if the collapse was solely about loan move vs permanent deal. If not, says a lot about the clubs approach
If we are having a bit of a bitch about the state of the current games industry, I am sick to death of huge day one downloads!! The first real kick in the dick came with GoW4 where once completed it took up something like 250Gb of HD space!
Early access can fuck off also! At least quick time events have died a death.
Un
No, not me. Witcher, or any RPG, is always about immersion and by nature the best ones are time consuming. The fact it’s so rich is what I love most about it tbh, side quests like main storylines. Its made other games feel hollow and quick by contrast. Horses for courses I guess haha
CC, I was never a gamer, but I picked up Zelda, ohhh my. What a game. Was thinking about getting Witcher… seems that would be a good move?
Genuine question; how do you guys feel about the route we’re taken with Raul and co using their contacts book etc to determine the way we move forwards as a club rather than Mislintat and Burgess who very much preferred the data-analytics approach. I’m sure there are merits to both sides but keen to gauge fan perspective.
Can’t say I’m devastated.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/soccer-transfers/story/4041620/arsenal-deal-to-sign-flamengos-pablo-mari-collapses-sources
@Pedro –
Breath of the Wild was immense. If you’re looking for something light and don’t want to invest too much thought or time into a game I would suggest the new Luigi’s Mansion.
Hearts of Stone DLC still better then some full length feature games loool
The David Beckham looking dude and Master Mirror were superbly written characters.
Pablo Mari is gooooone 😂
Jim, I was looking at that, good shout!
I am looking forward to see how the Arsenal media team spin this one!
“And the brave men of Arsenal banished Pablo Mari from the emirates stadium… because he was hanuted!”
Screwing up the transferts like the good old days…
Vacuous comments again from a whole bunch of ingrates. This blog section really is in the gutter.
Sad cause usually the content is good.
Good win tonight please
Be kind
Have a nice
@Pedro –
It’s great just to switch your brain off and enjoy mindless fun!
Romford
Cesc Appeal made a very good point yesterday regarding this contact vs data debate
Wolves have made a killing recently with the much derided contact book approach. They have used the super-agent connection to repeatedly get quality players for relatively lower fees. They rarely make mistakes with the contact book approach
Eventually, it has to be all of the above. We don’t have to pitch one against the other.
Pedro I played video games as a youngster, and always longed for games where the world is there and what you do in it is up to you (open world vs platform games). Witcher 3 hit that mark better than anything for me (I’ve played none of the others, because I’m also a graphics snob so won’t go back too far), if you like games with story, characters of meaning, and where you can really cover every nook and there be something worth exploring for, then it’s a no-brainer for me. Best game I’ve ever played is Witcher 3. The… Read more »
Pedro
wtf? you don’t want a fuckin defender added w huge potential for a nominal fee???
seemed like a great signing to me, not WC level but shit, just what we needed in this window!
loool
Said that the loan talk was fishy and made no sense to Flamengo.
“uses your terminology to a tee. Melts, lad, have a word with yourself. Has a Scottish sounding surnamen.Just struck me is all”
Sounds like a cunt 😂
wonder if he has an Irishman and departed yank on a string? Can’t all be so blessed lol
@CC –
Have you been keeping up with the hype surrounding Ghost of Tsushima?
Zacharse, I worry that Flamengo are selling a star defender for fuck all. What’s the deal there? Is he the Spanish Mustafi?
Jim
Not in the slightest mate no, what’s the chat?
I’m a fake gamer, played when I could as a kid, got incredibly good at CoD which I played exclusively for a few years, then landed on Witcher 3 one day after googling ‘best RPG games’.
Chose Witcher 3, Horizon, couple of others that didn’t take, and most recently God of War.
Pedro
Wages off the bill? The fact that he’s spanish national and would want to return to the continent anyway? A huge sell on clause for a defender that they believe bigger clubs will eventually come in for? Rebuild after a season where the team splurged to win almost everything possible?
Could be a lot of things!
@CC –
Open world set during the Mongol invasion of Japan in 1270. It looks stunning, definitely one to keep an eye out for!
Which CoD game did you peak with?! Was the first Black Ops for me, been downhill ever since!
also he’s quite a bit taller than mustafi!!!
Not going to say for a second I’m gutted about the Pablo Mari deal, but I’m definitely not thrilled with the attempts to conduct business we’ve seen in that transfer.
Filmed in Heathrow to collapsing in 48 hours, love my club.
Summer overhaul for Arteta? That should go smoothly based on this level of operations.
Ghost of Tsushima??
Jim Lahey
I see this and return to you with Cyberpunk 2077 😂
@Guns of Brixton
Ha yeah, there is a chance we could win the PL before either of those eventually get released!
Jim
Black ops was excellent, but my fave is Blops 2. That game introduced me into competitive gaming, zombies was mint with friends for both, particularly black ops. Pure boredom since tbh.
CC
good point, this saga does not augur well for the summer. i thought dick law was gone? Perhaps arsenal has re-written transfer strategy to incorporate a
‘Dick Law’
@CC –
Agreed, the series has taken a real nose dive since.
“Is he the Spanish Mustafi?”
Where’s the problem ? We have a coach who change everything he touches in gold, so why worry ?
What is the most a continental club has paid for a South American defender? My guess is its quite low. This might be part of our negotiation strategy as well
Blops 2 was my favourite CoD also. Getting the Swarm streak on a big outdoor map was savage.
I never got that good at the later ones with all the jet packs. It did my head in.
Best RPG I played was the Mass Effect series, although I haven’t touched Andromeda. I must have lost 200 hours to that trilogy.
Chika, putting it kindly, Mari looks rubbish. ”
People are trying to gloss it over but it is definitely . uninspiring. At least we didn’t shell out 30 million for him like we did with Mustafi.
Who scouted Mari that’s the worry.?
Can a basketball buff fill me in on how do Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James compare with each other ?
@TR7
Dont think its the best time to start comparing skills and debating who was better. The guy just died.
Romford, I’ve never really understood the “contacts approach” vs. “data driven” debate with respect to sourcing players and making transfers, which seems to me to be a bit of a non-debate really. You may be able to source decent/appropriate players or the odd undiscovered gem using data, but without contacts and good relationships with other clubs and super-agents you might either struggle to entice them to the club or have to pay over the odds to do so. Equally, non-quantifiable factors (e.g personality, homesickness etc.) May mean that a well-(data) researched player ultimately proves to be a dud. A pure… Read more »
@TR7 : they just can’t be.
Both of the 3 strongly marked their time.
Both of the 3 are (were) incredibly complete.
Both of the 3 have (had) their own skills.
Both of the 3 are true NBA legends.
Romford,
As I think Cesc has said, the reality is you need data AND you need a decent contacts book and excellent relations with super-agents.
Even if we assume that Wolves is a data-light, contacts (Mendes) driven club, it has done them a world of good both in terms of results and style of play.
Words, good posts mate
You can just see it coming. Arsenal will play with Arteta for the next couple of years, promise something more and deliver little in terms of talent that will benefit the team and Arteta will leave to a more progressive team/organization. Pep wont stay at City for too much longer and Arteta is growing his teeth at Arsenal. They will come calling and Arteta will answer if Arsenal show this level of ambition at that time.
Maybe I’m wrong but something tells me its going to play out this way.
Ernest why would city want the understudy back if he fails at Arsenal.
Come on.?
Unai.
Ernest said what he thought might happen.?
I said IF he fails.
.I want Arteta to be our best manager ever
and we all know about our upper management
one can only feel for him.
As regards Champions league well I think that’s
of the menu for a while
I never stated the word “failure” nor even implied it. If Arsenal do not invest properly and leave Arteta with the dross he has on display today, why should he stay? He whet his teeth under a damn fine manager and its obvious he learned something. Watch it all play out.
Michael jordan made basketball global, chicago bulls a household name,
Kobe worked hard
Lebron more athletic than MJ, lebron great role model
ION Edu has been Arsenalized
You heard it here 1st!
You have to commend Arteta for taking on this squad of players. The problems are well defined and easy to see, game in and game out. Saying that, patience is a virtue and having to put up with the likes of Ozil and Mustafi, for differing reasons, does indeed require a lot of patience.
Words, this paragraph in The Guardian made me as happy as the hire of Arteta. ‘It is why alarm bells sounded when Nuno Espírito Santo, the Wolves manager, was mentioned in connection with the role in the 48 hours before Emery was sacked. Nuno’s performance at Molineux, albeit with the resources of Fosun and the network of Jorge Mendes, has been exceptional but the catch lay in the small print. Sanllehi knows Mendes well and an element of distaste surfaced among some sections of the fanbase at the prospect of Arsenal handing de facto control to the so-called super-agent.’ ‘In… Read more »
Contacts recruitment is great until you start splashing money on last-minute deals for David Luiz… and taking advice on hiring Unai Emery.
Transparency should be at the core of any deal you do for a player. Data to unearth a gem… contacts to bring them in. But not the other way round… which seems to be the way of Raul.
” or player-spotter.”
Isn’t that why we have scouts and Edu?
Pedro
Why do you think we bought Luiz?
Marc, it certainly wasn’t after some deeply thoughtful scouting that unearthed a 32-year-old gem at the peak of his powers and good value for money.
Dissenter, Mendes relationship with Wolves is different. He is acting as their headscout. He see Wolves as a staple club who can help him maximise his investment in players. He places his players with Wolves, hoping that Nuno will help their progression and that the EPL will give them exposure. Once that work accomplished he will then get his reward by selling them at a premium. His relationship with Arsenal would be different as we would be expected to be potential buyer at inflated prices. Right now his goals and Wolves objectives are aligned, but wait until they don’t. At… Read more »
Valentin, I’d imagine he’s also taking a fee on every deal in and out.
Pedro No one I know has ever claimed that it was. My personal take is that the clubs plan was to make do with Kos for another season and then have Saliba join, maybe add more in the summer of 2020 as we’d done our budget for 2019. Then Kos through his toys out of the pram and the club found themselves needing another stop gap CB at short notice and without much money to spend – a player that was familiar with the PL would be a huge basis. Luiz ticked enough boxes to on paper at least make… Read more »
Marc, Luiz isn’t a stop-gap, is he?
bonus not basis!
Pedro
I think he is – he’ll be with us for 2 seasons.
Huge agent fee. Huge salary. £8m fee.
That is bad business for a first-team starter that is 32 years old and not exactly a great endorsement of contacts scouting.
Marc, all he’s got left in his career is two season, but he’s a first-team solution. Not Kos who would have been good for 20 games max.
He was a waste of money. I like him, but that was not a smart move considering we’re skint.
Pedro
No one has ever suggested the Luiz signing was part of some sort of master plan. I’ve already told you my take on it. His transfer was revenue neutral bar a couple of million.
Who would you have signed? Where was the long list of rough diamonds Sven left us all ready to make it big in the PL and available for under £5 million?
Arsenal XI confirmed: Martinez; Bellerin, Mustafi,Sokratis, Saka; Guendouzi, Xhaka; Pepe, Willock, Martinelli; Nketiah
Substitutes: Leno, Maitland-Niles, Holding, Torreira, Ceballos, Ozil, Lacazette
Nketiah starts.
Glad Torreira’s being given a rest. Will Bournemouth put out a reserve team bearing in mind their precarious position or go for it as a win would be a confidence booster?
A 2 year contract is a stop gap Pedro whether good business or not
Actually given way season has gone has looked an ok signing even though I found it depressing reading at the time
In most case the recruitment policy should be first data (identify players who fits a need) then contact. The contact approach that was done by Raul at Barcelona was the other way around. Have agents propose candidates then do some research on the players. However if you are after hidden gems, in most case the super-agents contact approach is irrelevant. Most of the so called rough diamond players do not have expensive agents. In fact quite often their agent is a family relative. Then when they become established they switched to a powerful agent. Unfortunately by that time they are… Read more »
Marc,
“David Luiz’s transfer was revenue neutral bar a couple of million.”
Neutral vs what?
Clearly not Vs keeping Koscielny (which was not an option anyway). His fees is higher than what we received for Koscielny and he is on higher wage.
Martinez
Bellerin Sokratis Mustafi Saka
Guendouzi Xhaka
Pépé Willock Martinelli
Nketiah
Worrying that Holding can’t get a game
Ceballos is done. Clear Arteta doesn’t fancy him.
Nketiah who was mostly benched at Leeds will leads the attack for Arsenal tonight.
Thanks Stan.
Pity those going to the match do not get a discount.
I think we need spies to find out youngsters in the other teams. Martinelli was invited to Manure two times. We could take notice of that.
Valentin
It was revenue neutral bar a couple of million because we sold Kos for £5 million and bought Luiz for £8 – maybe I should have been specific or maybe I should just say once again you jump on any opportunity to have a dig at Sanllehi.
SHEFF WED VS MAN CITY
READING OR CARDIFF VS SHEFF UTD
That’s a big tie?
Chelsea vs Liverpool
CHELSEA VS SHREWSBURY OR LIVERPOOL
So far so good!!!
Marc, Luiz cost more in transfer fees, wages, and agent fees. It wasn’t a cost-neutral excercise.
Nkeitiah up front , laughable.
WEST BROM VS NEWCASTLE OR OXFORD UTD
LEICESTER VS COVENTRY OR BIRMINGHAM
Perfect!!!
We’re going to get the Spud’s!
Liverpool vs Chelsea… lovely.
NORTHAMPTON OR DERBY VS MAN UTD
SOUTHAMPTON OR TOTTENHAM VS NORWICH
PORTSMOUTH VS BOURNEMOUTH OR ARSENAL
Portsmouth. We can beat them!
We got to win tonight first, we prefer to draw.
Pedro
I’ve always rated Luiz. He’s had a decent season. Was the best player on the pitch in a couple of matches early on this year under Emery where we could have shipped in five or six. Tremendous against Leicester.
The Koscielny one the club should have seen coming. Wanted to leave in 2018 before his Achilles went. He came back relatively quick from an injury that retires many a footballer.
Pedro
I didn’t say it was completely neutral. Luiz is on £125k per week Kos was on circa £90k. So the transfer was a £3 million cost and the salary increase is £3.6 million more over the 2 years.
In the position we were in it was a pretty cheap option all things considered.
Surprised Pierre hasn’t been on cheerleading his current favourite in Eddie.
Valencia have encountered a difficult obstacle with regards to completing a deal to sign Dani Ceballos, and that is the fact that Real Madrid don’t want the player to return to a domestic rival
If fans are happy with the David Luiz signing then they have low expectations in what a consistently good defender should be.
David Luiz is not a consistently good defender.
He can have some good matches mixed in with just rank bad defensive play.