Arsenal sell youth prospect

by .

Hey, did you hear? Roy Keane has had a thought.

‘When I was watching it I thought they were 10 points clear in the league the way they were celebrating. ‘No, forget Arsenal. Way over the top celebration for beating Newcastle 4-0. Ridiculous.’

Well I’ll be damned, if there’s ever a person in the world of sport ready with a hot take about joy, it’s gotta be the Irishman. That this sort of commentary still interests people is staggering. It’s so boring.

For me, the best part about the celebration was seeing the players happy again. Lacazette is obviously very highly thought after by the players and it was great to see them all launch at him after 7900 minutes without a goal. Good for them, enjoy life, fuck Roy.

In ‘two drunk uncles fighting’ news, Unai Emery and Arsene Wenger are at it in the press. It’s like two reimagination titans duking it out to see who can fool those lying eyes harder.

This was Emery: “Arsenal was a club on a downward slope for two years before I arrived.

This was Arsene: “In 2017 we made 75 points and won the FA Cup so you cannot say that [Arsenal were in decline] and the year before [2016] we finished second in the league,”

“2018 was my last year but it is very difficult to come out on that.

“Arsenal is a club that is in a very strong position financially. It has good players, after that when you are a manager you have to stand up for what you do and your result and not look around you.

Oof… Arsene, just stop.

I liked that Arteta just pretended he’d not read Emery’s comments. Classy.

Pablo Mari played his first 45 in an Arsenal shirt for the U23 team, dropping a very solid performance according to the nerds that watch those games. It’ll be interesting to see whether he actually starts on Thursday, quite the risk this early, even if it is light opposition.

Robbie Burton, hot prospect from last season, has been shipped off to Dinamo. I cant see what the fee is, but one would assume he must have been told he was surplus to requirements to move to a fairly obscure league. Good luck to him, I love to see British kids moving abroad to land the game time they need in their formative years. Interesting to see that Marcus Mcguane was being touted with a move back to Forest after failing to break into the Barca B team on a consistent basis.

Manchester United kept the race for top four nice and alive, OGS putting Frank Lampard’s team to the sword 2-0 in a VAR controversy fest for the ages. I think the win was ideal for us, the pack is now very tight, just 7 points separate 10th and 4th. I still think it’s a huge ask for Arsenal, but it’s not beyond the pale to suggest a team that dropped a 22 game unbeaten run 18 months ago could do the same again… still feels unlikely though, but we’ll see.

I also think glorious failure of both clubs works for us. United won’t fire OGS if he finishes a close 5th, Chelsea won’t fire Frank if he’s there or thereabouts. Last thing we need is Poch at either of our rivals.

The game on Sunday will be a major test, the ‘SHOULD HAVE BEEN CARLO’ fanboys will be waiting with bated breath to see if he can turn us over. It’ll be a tough home game, no doubt, but it’s one we simply have to win if we want to stand a chance in the league this season.

Right, short post today, I’m off to Virginia… my first time.  Make sure you listen to the podcast though, the sound is so spot on it brought a tear to my eye.

iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher

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Words on a Blog

Guendouzi is 20. At the moment he is a pretty good player, but some distance short of the best midfielders in the Premier League. He has a lot of stamina and fight, but releases the ball too late and lacks positional sense. It’s difficult to tell at the moment what his ceiling is, given his lack of tactical discipline. He was overplayed by Emery from the second half of last season and through this season, at the expense of Torreira – who has less stamina, but is better positionally and as a tackler/interceptor. He’s young and hot-headed, and needs to… Read more »

Ahmeducrazy

I may have got it wrong idk
Im fairly sure i got it right tho

Countryboy

Diss

My initial post was referring to this👇

DigitalBobFebruary 18, 2020 15:59:20
I’m worried Saka’s agent is going to ask for an enormous bump in wages. Hudson-Odoi is on what almost 200K a week based on less than Saka’s produced. I’m not saying Saka will ask for that but what’s to stop him asking for half of that as his basic pay?Do we bite the bullet and pay him that much?

And no I am not throwing random numbers. Our Golden Boy entry Guendouzi is reported to earn 40k. So 50k is not so random, is it?

Receding Hairline

“People need to remember that player performance is massively influenced by team-set up, position, managerial approach etc. It’s not as straight forward as plonking them on the pitch and expecting a performance. They need guidance and tactical instruction.” Nobody has forgotten that. hence why sports teams and athletes have coaches. Not really some great insight Point being made is that some players are simply not good enough for a team aspiring to be on a certain level. The not been coached properly bit is just something made up to excuse certain players on the basis that they used to have… Read more »

Dissenter

Graham
You are fast becoming an Arteta knows best [AKB] fan

“Arteta is therefore 100% correct on this.”

You don’t even know what the argument they had was about. You don’t know if the argument was with Arteta or one of Arteta’s assistants.
There’s a risk in publicly calling out players. it could go get resolved or go south.
Many managers don’t say so much in press conferences; Wenger never did it this way. Even Pep doesn’t call out players publicly.

Receding Hairline

I don’ know what Arteta’s issue with Guendouzi is and i am not particularly interested. If he decides Guendouzi does not have the right attitude to play here or whatever great

I am actually more concerned that certain characters are seemingly earning his trust when we all know deep down that when push comes to shove they will be found wanting. I have seen this movie before with many of them.

Dissenter

Countryboy
Very well. Lets agree to disagree.

Cesc's Pizzeria

CG “Keane uniquely played under Brian Clough and Sir Alec Ferguson. He uniquely won also the treble.I would say he is far from an irrelevance- he is a pundit worth listening too, If anyone knows how to succeed in sport he does” Roy Keane couldn’t hack it as a manager at the top level which is why no one listens to him. Gary Neville also won the treble but after his adventures in Valencia, he’ll only be listened to as part of the double act with Carragher. Playing under great managers and winning trophies doesn’t make someone a great pundit.… Read more »

Nelson

I trust Raul won’t make a stupid contract like the one given to Ozil by Ivan. For Saka, the contract should be heavily result driven to keep him motivated.

Jim Lahey

Guendouzi
Saka
Martinelli

When have we had such talent at the age in the team??

Although I would gladly trade all three for a 16 year old Cesc! ha!

shaun

The defensive shape under Artetea is much better, players defensive positions are much better and we are not seeing anywhere near the individual errors that were seen under wenger and Emery but If you are one of the arsenal supporters who want a 100% flare possession football then no you will not have seen any improvement for me it has been a big change as the embarrassing defending was one of my main issues

Graham62

I was an Arsene “knows best fan” upto 2009.

I was an Emery “knows best fan” upto the end of last season.

I am now an “Arteta knows best fan” because I want us to progress.

Only going on what we all see and feel. Arteta has eyes and ideas of how he wants Guendouzi to perform. I feel therefore my assumptions are, for the most part, correct.

Nelson

I notice that Arteta is playing a heavily possession based tactics. The goal scored after 35 passes will be an example. Whenever we recover the ball, most of the time the ball is passed back to the CB to start the attack. Even under Wenger, we tried those fast break. Of course you’ll also run the risk of giving up the ball and hit by a fast counter.

jwl

“You do know a player can’t be sold without his agreement right?”

Yes, I do know that Romford Pele, but he still moving to country at war with Russia. For all we know, Burton and his agent haven’t done due diligence and they have no idea. I would go to just about any European country before Ukraine.

jwl

I hope Saka and his agent are just doing what Ozil did, apply pressure on management and force Arsenal to give you deluxe contract.

I think Saka is being badly advised if he seriously thinking of going somewhere else now because he getting game time with us while there is good chance he falls through cracks and is forgotten about if he moves to another big team.

Saka can sign five year contract on good money and if Arsenal still middling team he can move to better club when he is 22/23 and has experience.

Tom

Guendouzi was always going to plateau from the dizzying heights of his first games for us. “

Dissenter
What dizzying heights?

The only reason Guen is even in a conversation is because our midfield is so below average.

I like how some posters in the same breath are ready to give him a pass for not being coached properly and arguing with Arteta.

Batistuta

Don’t think pinning your hopes on a Mustafi or Xhaka or Ozil long term is particularly smart but we’ll see…Hopefully Arteta already has replacements lined up for the summer, least for Mustafi

Tom

“Graham, it’s bizarre that people are questioning whether Arteta’s approach to the discipline of a problem player are correct. His man management skills thus far have been impeccable.“

Pedro,
Ozil fans said he needed to play regardless of anything he might’ve done in training.
Pepe fans said the same thing when he wasn’t training hard.
Ceballos fans – same.
And now Guen.

What Arteta is doing is not just the right way, it’s the only way.

Jamie

Robbie Burton moved to Croatia not Ukraine.

Pierre

Many on here were questioning Arteta’s team selection before the Newcastle game, not me. Playing a central midfield of Xhaka , Ceballos and Ozil with Pepe and Aubameyang out wide gave people concern due to the lack of physicality against a big strong, physical Newcastle side…I didn’t see it that way . I said before the game , why fight fire with fire , technique and skill will win us the game, and it did. Pedro remarked that Olympiakos are light opposition , are they? Their last defeat was against Tottenham in November. Since then 16 games , won 12… Read more »

Nelson

Pierre

You don’t think PapaSok will be selected to play against Olympiakos ?

Chris

Pierre ‘ Many on here were questioning Arteta’s team selection before the Newcastle game, not me.Playing a central midfield of Xhaka , Ceballos and Ozil with Pepe and Aubameyang out wide gave people concern due to the lack of physicality against a big strong, physical Newcastle side…I didn’t see it that way .I said before the game , why fight fire with fire , technique and skill will win us the game, and it did.’ I had the exact same point of view and it was sad to see so many question the selection over the last few games we… Read more »

jwl

Thank you, Jamie.

Did not realize there was a Dinamo in Croatia as well, only know Kiev.

Croatia is whole other story, much more stable, nice people, adequate food, and terrific beaches.

And I just looked up Dinamo, they are Croatia’s most successful football club so Robbie likely to earn some medals as well, much better move than I initially thought.

Nelson

I have a feeling that Guen will come out of jail and features.

Chris

Hard to believe it is almost 14 years since that night in the Bernabéu and THAT Thierry goal.

Pierre

Nelson
“You don’t think PapaSok will be selected to play against Olympiakos ?”

It did cross my mind but I see no reason to change a centre back pairing that has kept 2 clean sheets..

Guendouzi is a possibility if Arteta wants to rest Xhaka…

It is also possible that Arteta may go with what he regards as his strongest line up as it is an important and difficult away tie.

Jamie

No worries, jwl. Hard to keep tabs on all the Dinamos!

Pierre

Chris
“So it only made sense to add anther creative source to the side against a team likely to sit back for the majority of the match. 4-0 suggests it was the right call.”

Exactly.

Guns of SF

Loved how stupid Sergio Ramos looked when Thierry schooled him and Beckham and ronaldo etc

Classic goal

Graham62

Olympiakos has come at just the right time.

This will be an interesting tie.

Olympiakos are top of the league, are unbeaten and, in their group in the EL ,finished above AC Milan( second to Real Betis). Two months ago I would say we would have struggled. Now I feel far more positive about the tie.

Will be a good test for the squad.

Graham62

Still one of my favourite ever goals.

To see the reaction of the Madrid fans, standing up and applauding spoke volumes.

A classic goal and a special moment in Arsenal’s history.

We were brilliant that night and could have won by more.

Graham62

Bloody hell, 14 years ago.

Can’t believe it.

Graham62

Pedro

I know that but that goes to show exactly where we were under Emery.

Ishola70

I don’t think the Olympiakos away match is a game to rest players.

Arsenal should get through over the two legs but Olympiakos have already shown this season at home in the Champions League that they can score goals.

The good thing for Arsenal is that Olympiakos concede enough as well.

The away match is not one to be taken lightly otherwise Arsenal could find themselves playing catch up in the second leg home tie.

Ahmeducrazy

Line up vs olympiakos?

Ishola70

People are citing Inter Milan as the one to beat in the Europa League and they are unsurprisingly one of the favourites to win it but given Italian clubs record in the Europa League which isn’t very good coupled with the probability that Inter will qualify for next seasons CL through league placing this season then it is probably worth looking at another club to win it rather than Inter.

Majesticgooner

How naive are the guys running arsenal? They must have known of saka in the u23s and his potential, why not have him tied down to a long contract if they knew he was going to be involved in the first team? Now they find other teams are sniffing round him after his performances, running the risk of him being tapped up. These guys beyyer get there act together.

Nelson

” why not have him tied down to a long contract”

Raul wants to save every penny.

Northbanker

We should be aiming to field a strong team v Olympiakos. Winning the Europa Cup needs to be a major target for us

Jowl – there are many Dynamos in Europe – Burton has joined Dynamo Zagreb, Croatia’s top club

TR7

Dortmund vs PSG should be an entertaining game.

Chris

TR7 it’s likely to be an absolute blockbuster, goals galore. Been looking forward to it all day.

Nelson

Vinai said this during the 2nd Fans Forum of the season:
” there is a list of five things to consider when signing a player, and the agent thing is only number five.”
Anyone believes what he said…

Nelson

I think they put a cover flag in every seat of the stadium in Dortmund. It makes quite a scene on TV.

Nelson

Madrid scores

Kwame

Very interesting the kind of things managers see/don’t see. Heard Mr Lampard whining about Maguire not getting a red card and going ahead to score the 2nd goal. Looks like just recompense for the Jorginho 2nd bookable offense that never was and Jorginho going ahead to equalize against us. Who feels it knows it.

Nelson

I find Saka is already better than Robertson offensively. Robertson has no skill to beat a defender.

Nelson

It is good that Inter was eliminated by Dortmund. This Dortmund team looks super strong.

Redtruth

“I find Saka is already better than Robertson offensively. Robertson has no skill to beat a defender.”

On what basis, playing against pub teams…

Terraloon

Suggestion on the football rumours site that Bayern talking to Saka

Redtruth

Keane is right, it is shameful celebrating beating a pub team…
Too many prima donnas at Arsenal

Redtruth

Saka has had a handful of games and has had the ignominy of being shifted to left back…lol

raptora

Imo there are other ways to convince a player that he is at the right place and make him feel good about extending on a reasonable salary bumper deal. It worked for spuds for years with a lot of their best players on laughable salaries.

Anything above 80k pw for me would be obscene.

Dissenter

So long as Saka is getting reasonable game time, he will sign an extension.
The problem will come when Tierney and Kolasinac return to match fitness.

Guns of SF

Lets not jump the gun with Saka.
Sure he is doing great but its still early days.
You pay him crazy money, and watch what happens… he will decline- lose motivation
Do what we did with Gabby- double his weekly..
We cannot run into overpaying players and over extending them ala Wenger!

Northbanker

Red
Why are you bothering. – surely you would enjoy your Spurs shite blog more cos you’re clearly not a Gooner

Northbanker

Sakas last contract was a 3 year one when he was a nobody having just made the u23s

Easy to criticise but we can’t lock in every u23 into expensive 5 year + contracts

The rapid rise of an18 year old in this way is always going to be a rarity and when it does you have to renegotiate the contract then but only then

Marc

The situation with Saka ultimately comes down to whether he’s looking for first team wages for a young player who is or looks close to first choice at LB or LW or if he’s looking for £120k per week.

If it’s the former we should pay him what he’s worth (whatever that is) – you can’t talk about letting Auba and Laca go because Martinelli is ready to replace them and them say a player’s too young to earn top money.

Of course his agent could be looking to cash in as well

Marc

AM had to score a 2nd there!

Marc

Un

Where was the yank Chelsea bought last night?

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

How is it possible for Haaland to play for two teams in same champions league year?

Guns of Brixton

Steve McManaman said that Koke is showing his age.
The dude is 28

Gotta to be some of the worst commentary I ve heard

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Marc

Less of the racist calling please fella.

Marc

RSPC

Er racist?

Marc

Guns

You clearly haven’t heard Carragher – I was going to say lately but ever is probably closer to the truth.

Guns of Brixton

1 1

Neymar

Nelson

Thomas Tuchel has lost his source

Guns of Brixton

2 1

Harlaand

😂😂😂😂

MidwestGun

Marc-
Pulisic is injured. That was my worry for him going to PL from Dortmund.. He breaks down a lot. Has same problem with national team staying healthy.

Anyhow.. you sure don’t want to draw AM in any tournament.. defend defend defend…defend hit you with the sucker punch. And then bring in Diego Costa to annoy the shit out of you.

Nelson

What a shot from this striker

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

As I said earlier, saka looking to move on, seeing all the success that moving abroad brings, money.
Agent in ear, family involved. He’s gone.

Best we can do now is sell him

Marc

Midwest

I can’t say I’ve really seen anything of Pulisic before Chelsea bought him but my take was they paid a lot of money for a player who was not proven and then chucking him in as Hazard’s replacement – one of the best PL players of the last few years was a massive ask.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

In

How can he play for two teams in same Euro comp this season?

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Marc

Yep

Yank.

Desiory term to call our pond brothers,

Got a colleague who hates the name and what’s it short for…

Proceed.

Marc

RSPC

Of all the racist terms and ways to act in the world that should be a lot lower down your list of social justice causes to fight.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Does anyone know why ?

H3 can play for two separate teams.

If it was eng
Ish team wouldn’t be allowed.

MidwestGun

Marc-
He’s a good player.. very quick, has all the dribbling tricks and can score as well as assist. Great passer as are most players who go through Dortmund training. But as I said he isn’t very robust.. Hazard was built more like a tank.. Pulisic is built more like Theo Walcott.

Marc

Midwest

Walcott was a lightweight in all sorts of ways. Hazard one of the best players to feature in the PL.

You cannot put them in the same sentence.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Ma4c
Why can Haaland play for two teams in comp.

Guns of SF

This game is very slow… shows how fast the EPL is and how so many players have a hard time adjusting.
The time and space on the ball in this game is ridiculous.

Guns of Brixton

“Walcott was a lightweight in all sorts of ways. Hazard one of the best players to feature in the PL.You cannot put them in the same sentence.”

Pffffft. Why the eff not??

Both were fast and scored goals 😂😂😂👍

Marc

RSPC

Not sure but wasn’t Auba not available for us in Europe after he signed for us because he’d been named in Dortmund’s squad for the knockout stage of the CL even though he hadn’t played? Now that was moving from CL to EL but beyond that I dont’ know.

Marc

Un

Not sure what that is supposed to mean.

Paddy Gooner

Skill level at ath v pool is far above anything I’ve seen from arsenal this season

Dissenter

Marc
They changed the rules that season but it didn’t become active until 2018-2019

Marc

“Skill level at ath v pool is far above anything I’ve seen from arsenal this season”

Which is probably why we’re not playing in the CL!

You really have to wonder.

Marc

Un

Last one!

MidwestGun

No away goal for Liverpool… Going to have to do it the hard way. Simeone is the master of frustrating teams. Masters of the dark arts. Diego Costa must have flopped on the ground at least 4 or 5 times.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Diss

That’s a load of bollocks rule.

Ahmeducrazy

Liverpool and PSG lose by 1

Haaland really is a beast

Words on a Blog

Liverpool beaten….hopefully the first of a few defeats.

Marc

Dissenter

Like I said I don’t know.

Guns of SF

go to hell liverpool

Guns of SF

didnt watch that game, but perhaps other teams can take a page from Atletico today.
How to stop them from scoring at will….
of course, atletico are the most boring defensive teams on the planet but still….

Marc

Liverpool’s result and performance were a national embarrassment for the UK tonight.

Clearly a mass hanging of the squad and entire coaching staff is the only acceptable response.

Boris make your country proud!

Dissenter

United should have paid Haland’s agent anything he wanted.
This is the one player that you overpay for. He would have single-handedly gotten them back into the CL.

Chris

Haaland is an electrifying talent. He has an aura surrounding him already, 19 but plays like he is several years older.

Fast, powerful and tall with a hammer of a left foot, he is destined for the Premier League one day. Unlikely to be us but you never know!