via @Arsenal Instagram
Gooood morning you sexy beasts. How are we today? It’s a roll-neck-jumper-no-hair-product kind of day for me. I’m in business mode. I’m gonna invest £63 in the stock market and tell my cat I bought in the dip. I’m gonna put meeting notes in my girlfriend’s digital calendar to discuss her poor performance when I’m on Zoom calls. This is not a day to trifle with Pedro Buffet.
In the news, we’re really lacking out here. It’s Oxford Street on lockdown right now. If news were a person, it’s just been caught by the feds going out for a Mars bar for the SECOND time in the day. It’s rarer than… ok, you get the point. I’m padding this blogs word count like Mesut pads his stats.
We made a podcast last night and questioned what’s going on with the Edu and Raul transfer strategy. Watching the stats guys drop out of the club is a worrying Twist. As Alex correctly asserts, Sven was the data guy, Raul was the contacts guy. The yin to the yang. Sven finds the gems, Raul brings them in. That model with a strong CEO overseeing the show should have been a dreamy combo. As it turned out, it wasn’t so dreamy. Now we seem to have shifted heavily into the contacts world of sport.
How often has that worked out? What does the future of Arsenal look like when it comes to deals? You can look at the speculation, which has us competing for Walce, Jonathan David and Odsonne Edouard. That ‘seems’ like a roster of players you’d hanker after.
… but then you see the reality. Cedric Soares and Pablo Mari. Willian this summer. Top corner contacts scouting.
Where are we heading? Hopefully, it’s more Saliba’s, Tierney’s and Martinelli’s… because I really would be sad to see us hoover up a load of favors that never seem to be returned. We’ll see though.
In a very interesting twist, the Premier League clubs are asking the PFA to accept a motion for clubs to defer payments of up to 50%. A huge sum of money, but one that makes total sense when you consider the entire world is shut down with thousands of people losing their jobs. Footballers earn more in a week than most do in a year, they should be able to handle a temporary cut, especially if it’s to save the clubs they work for. It’s already happening in Germany, Hans-Joachim Watzke calling the play “a valuable sign of solidarity.”
Talking of the PFA, it’s believed that the players are not happy about the notion of returning to action behind closed doors.
‘Players do have concerns and understandably so. It would not be our preferred option but everything has to be considered at the moment.’
I think this is a fair worry. Conflicting messages have been a key theme in politics. I’m not sure that telling the UK they can’t go out to buy a second packet of sausages because of social distancing quite works if you’re letting 22 guys on a pitch play sport. People are also easily led astray. You know that fans would go and hang around outside the ground just because it’s more interesting than eating another bag of spicy Wotsits.
… but, on the other side of things, maybe a bit of well-regulated sport is what we need right now? I can’t decide.
I think the big thing to watch for is how the TV firms deal with this. If they pressure the Premier League or ask for a rebate, that could spell trouble for negotiations for the next deal. Bezos, Cook and Hastings might be waiting in the wings with their extremely deep pockets ready to offer a far sweeter deal. There will no doubt be a strong relationship with Sky, so we’ll see how they play it. Now is not the time to be overly aggressive. What a nightmare though, the TV execs have to protect shareholder value without pissing off one of the most valuable prizes in world football.
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This week we talk about the Premier League, what social distancing will do to future crowds, and we speculate heavily on the summer or autumn transfer window. I’m on with Alex, give him a follow here.
The interesting thing about Covid has been how the whole world has been living in a financial bubble that won’t last a few months if the system crashed for said amount of time. Football has been no different. The insane amount of money that was involved has now disappeared. It’s because most football clubs don’t actually make profits. They grow in value because of market perceptions that suggest clubs will always be relevant. Having losses and still going up in value might not sound too bad in normal times but In these crisis times It always shows that making actual… Read more »
Pierre
I am not sure about your analysis of Gazidis background. If anything he had a
superior football background than David Dein.
Gazidis was by all accounts an excellent amateur footballer and secured two Blues playing for Oxford University.
That is not of course a barometer of his expertise in buying and selling professional footballers good enough to play for Arsenal.
However, to suggest that he was clueless about football would be entirely wrong.
Valentin There is a misconception by many (not you) that Highbury was this cacophony of noise and passion in all areas of the ground ….it wasn’t. In fact , I would say that the Emirates has a better atmosphere , especially in the lower tier in all 4 corners of the ground. Very rarely , and I mean very rarely did you hear any singing or chanting from the east or west stands in support of the team. In fact, during one home game there was amazement from us fans standing on the North Bank when we heard the chant… Read more »
Stroller
“I am not sure about your analysis of Gazidis background”
I think it ust have been another poster who analysed Gazidis background….not me.
“In fact, during one home game there was amazement from us fans standing on the North Bank when we heard the chant of “THE ARSENAL ” coming from the west stand.”
https://youtu.be/5Rzao52ndNA
Must agree Pierre.
East and West was very subdued.
But the North bank made up for it.
I think the tightness of Highbury
gave the atmosphere the emirates lacks.
“This all began when Dein was pushed out and ramped up when kroenke came in”
Who introduced Kroenke to the club?
Talking about pitch side at highbury, did anyone go to a pre season friendly v Glasgow Rangers in the 60’s. I was standing in the schoolboy enclosure, adjacent to the north bank , as I was only about 10/11 . There were thousands of drunk scotsmen standing up the north bank all drinking bottles of whisky, they were slaughtered and most of them were 30+ in age. Rangers had a goal disallowed in the 2nd half and taking into account it was only a friendly , the Rangers fans became irate and decided to throw their bottles up into the… Read more »
Interesting that UK department of Health is not reporting the number of deaths over a 24 hour span like most other countries. They now want to contact families first before releasing the age and location of the deceased.
Seems like a deliberate ploy from Boris and co to massage the figures.
Just checking in to wish everyone the very best.
Stay at home if you can. If you’re one of those people on the frontlines fighting this thing…
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Pierre
i was there for a night game around that time
on the North Bank .
Rangers vs Red star Belgrade nothing friendly
that night Scotsmen urinating in empty bottles
and throwing them down from the back.
I was not comfortable at all.
The great Scot player Jim baxter played in that game.
Pierre 1964.
So i would have been 16.
Dream10
They reported 43 deaths for yesterday I’d expect a new number later today. As far as reporting who has died and what other conditions they had – legally they can’t report personal medical information without permission.
James wood
The game I went to was Arsenal v Rangers, must have been 2 or 3 years after the red star game.
I’m surprised they let them come back .
It was 1967
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.alamy.com/aug-05-1967-arsenal-v-glasgow-rangers-at-highbury-disturbance-in-crowd-image69429994.html&ved=2ahUKEwin2fqxg7joAhW0sHEKHQlnDZoQFjACegQIBhAB&usg=AOvVaw2u-k2kJi5tPFxgFa-5gzl3
Marc
You’re right. They generally don’t specify what other illnesses the person had. It’s a general “other complications”
THE ‘BOTTLE BANK’ HIGHBURY As Armstrong breaks away. “A sway started behind the Rangers goal. (the North Bank) and dozens of youngsters are carried on to the track as ambulance and policemen dash to the scene. One fan is led around the track with blood streaming from his face by 2 policemen. 3 youngsters are led away by first aid men.” (Peter Hendry in the Evening Times) Fans had been throwing bottles at each other, those on the track had been escaping the trouble. EXTRACT FROM : TALKING POINTS • LOST YOUR BOTTLE – THE BLAME GAME Following the game,… Read more »
Pierre
Was Fergie in the lineup for Rangers against Red Star? Think he was playing for them around that time
Pierre
Yes I watched Arsenal v Rangers, which was an annual “FRIENDLY” MATCH.
Rather like England v Scotland it died a death. One suspects that these matches mattered more to the Scots than the English.
The North Bank at Arsenal was always “vociferous” and of course contained
the Caledonian Mob who were as fearsome as any other group of supporters
in the First Division.
Does anyone here have fifa20 on ps4?
It’s mostly a pretty good game though I must say the magnets on the woodwork forcing you to hit them at least 3 times per game are extremely tiresome. I’d much rather my strikers just outright miss than hit the post with 1/3 of all my shots.
I think they thought this would be exciting when in reality it takes all the novelty out of hitting the woodwork and feels bizarrely contrived
Apart from that and a few other gripes it’s a pretty good game. Anyone else here play?
Dream 10
No Fergie.
But John Grieg and Millar.
And the great winger Willie Johnstone.
The team was packed with Internationals.
Sorry
Jimmy Johnstone
Willie Henderson two wingers that gave
teams huge trouble.
Thanks James
This is great. Loving the stories guys. I don’t remember much before the mid to late 80s but it seems to me with the creation of the Premiership we have progressively swapped atmosphere and mild peril for a better/more athletic/professional performance on the pitch. It’s given us Henry but also the sanitized game experience we have today.
Dream10 I have a feeling Fergie was playing in the Arsenal v rangers friendly 1967 , though of course, I can’t remember him, In fact the only only part of the game I remember was the bottles flying through the air and going home on the bus with my younger cousin which was full of legless foul mouthed rangers fans which was not a great experience for a 12 year old. Obviously didn’t put me off though as I never missed a home game for the following 5 years.. A great time to support the club with a league title… Read more »
LOL for a desperate Kroenke needing to sell the club because of construction delays with his new facility!
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/28955197/sofi-stadium-construction-ongoing-la-safe-guidelines
I don’t think it’s been mentioned on here but one solution being put forward is to merge the 2019/20 season into 20/21. In other words the same teams will play each other twice home twice away. That solution would be replicated right down through 5he leagues and into the non league pyramid.
Upamecano? In your dreams! We have to accept a new normal these days. Get ready for Smalling and Willan!
Read how Arsenal players got Stepanovs signed when a wind up of Martin Keown went very wrong. From the Romford Pele’s biography – boy could we do with a Parlour now! What a player – on his day a better finisher than most of our strikers – and don’t mention the energy of the guy! He would have died for the Arsenal cause.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/may/14/ray-parlour-autobiography-arsene-wenger-thierry-henry-steve-bould
Terraloon, that doesn’t make much sense: if you ask me it’s just a solution that avoids making a decision.
I suspect we will have to see something radical. Maybe scrap European competition altogether for 2019? That will dilute the legal cases.
I don’t see any way around just scratching this season. Liverpool can go fuck themselves.
”way back from Newcastle. It was a six-hour journey so we were like: “What should we do today? Let’s have an eating contest.” No reason, really, it was just something to do. We must have had about eight dinners. Bouldy [Steve Bould] won by a mile: he had nine. In the end we had to stop, a few of the players were being sick outside the coach. But under Arsène those days were becoming history.”
Those were the days.
It must be difficult for many on here to read that link about Parlour eulogising over wenger.
It shows how highly respected he is throughout the game .
The only football people , and I use that term lightly , who disrespected wenger were the WOBS ( also known as” the know nothings” or “the entitled ones “)….
Fools.
I like Terraloon’s suggestion. It doesn’t look like the current season can be finished normally before June 30th. If the games were to play with closed stadiums, a lot of teams couldn’t survive financially. It only benefits the TV’s. It is also a risk for the players and all support personals to travel around. The only thing that makes sense is to let all the teams to have the whole Summer preparing for the next season, which will include the remaining nine games. The biggest losers would be the championship teams. After all, football is a sport. It is more… Read more »
Pierre calling Pedro a WOB, know-nothing, entitled fool.
Shots fired.
James good to hear…
Jamie,
In a related opinion piece by the mighty Pierre, he argues that Wenger actually discovered an effective vaccine for Covid-19, but the “know-nothing” WOBs refused to allow him to use it.
Terraloon
The problem with your solution is the same problem with all the other suggestions that don’t include just finishing the season.
Who gets the European spots?
I also can’t see Leeds etc accepting promotion.
Should have read – I also can’t see Leeds etc accepting not get promoted!
Words
Its almost as if we didn’t finish 5th and 6th in Wenger last 2 seasons and everything was amazing.
WoaB –
There are at least 3 regular posters here who would swap out Arteta for Wenger tomorrow if the option was available, such is the intensity of their hero-worship.
Straight-up regressive madness.
On no account should this season resume for many reasons to numerousto mention .But chiefly because The scousers on no account have an opportunity to either win the title OR be handed it (with almost a quarter of the season still to play )& the remotest possibility however improbable that they could be caught.so I can go into next season pissing myself laughing that once again the arrogant b’stards have been denied .Meaning 30 & counting.wonderful.
Jamie, Wenger quitting liberated Pierre, finally, he could speak truth about the game.
*getting fired.
Marc
The idea is that the current season will continue into next season. The current European games will be played during the next season. The schedule for each league will already be so tight, there will not be any new CL games nor Europa Cup games added.
The only problem will be for the championship teams who will need to add up the points of this season to the next season.
There are at least 3 regular posters here who would swap out Arteta for Wenger tomorrow if the option was available, such is the intensity of their hero-worship.
Ha, that number will grow exponentially like the covid19 infection rate, I predict.
I’m behind Arteta a100% but nothing he’s done thus far suggests he’s anything special.
Pedro,
Unfortunately, in the absence of any football to talk about sensibly, the siren lure of Wenger is proving to be too strong to resist for Pierre.
Pedro
That Cesc interview is a must listen.
Pedro I did waste too much time defending Wenger but someone had defend him in the face of the Le Grove onslaught, and that someone was me. I’m sure you can remember that I said many times that Pep was my man to replace Wenger after he left Barcelona, it was the pefect time for him to join Arsenal but we missed the boat, so although I was a supporter of Wenger , i was never blind to his failings, I knew he had lost the midas touch but I also knew that he was doing a very good job… Read more »
“I have to say that i am being proven right on how difficult a job it is to manage Arsenal football club.”
Yeah, can’t have anything to do with Wenger running the squad into the fucking ground and filling it up with crocks and has beens on inflated wages.
No no, he was a genius and no one can fill his shoes. Daddy please come back all is forgiven…
Freddie, Crock like Tierney. Average players on inflated wage like Elneny who was given a pay rise by Raul. Your argument would have sway if the new regime had not replaced bad players by worse or unsuited to the EPL players. I would take Cazorla, Ramsey, Koscielny, Jeff, Mhkitaryan and even Wellbeck over the player Raul bought or hired. Lichsteiner, Suarez, Sokratis, Torreira, Pepe, Ceballos, Luiz are hardly the crème de la crème players. Same thing with regard to headcoach. Replacing Wenger made sense, replacing Wenger by somebody who gave us the worst start of the last 4 decades was… Read more »
Ozil and Xhakalson are the root of all problems in the team right now
Im telling you this for free!
Defo right to replace him but to win more doubles and more FA cups then in Arsenals previous history is unbelievable
Val Fancy seeing you throw yourself in front of any bullets heading Wengers way. There’s a free signing, 2 loans and 2 stop gaps in that list of players you don’t like, why do you think that is? Pep is 24 and still one of the most highly rated wingers in Europe and better than anyone we’ve had there bar Sanchez in a long time, you don’t like him too bad. Bit early to call Tierney a crock, wait until he’s been broken for 5 years and had 2 contracts extensions first. Elneny who is now out on loan? Sure… Read more »
AKBs take the bait so enthusiastically.
p.s. It was 3 FA Cups in 12 years.
Ray parlour the romford pele is probably the most awesome personality we have had or will ever have at arsenal football club The guy was a quality player. He was consistent as fuck. He showed up in cup finals with worldies. He bled for the cause and was arsenal through abs through. He played with us for yonks. And best of all he has the most hilarious stories from way back when. He’s so much larger than life and his stories are consistently some of the best in football. The very definition of a legend even if not quite as… Read more »
“No no, he was a genius and no one can fill his shoes. Daddy please come back all is forgiven…”
You can always tell when his kids forget his meds.
Freddie, The problem is that you are so obsessed with Wenger that you refuse to look at Arsenal current problem objectively. Easier to blame everything on Wenger. You are tolerating unacceptable things simply because “at least it’s not Wenger”. I am not pro or anti Wenger, I am pro Arsenal. When Wenger was mistake I spoke, now criticising the current regime is viewed as being pro Wenger. Look at what some wrote about Pedro when he dared criticising Emery. Cheering for Emery when he was clearly floundering simply because he is not Wenger was not helping the club. If Emery… Read more »
“……replacing Wenger by somebody who gave us the worst start of the last 4 decades was hardly an inspired move. Somebody whom most sensible people had predicted would fail.” ————— Valentin Predicting failure is much easier than predicting success. How much easier you ask ? Well, it’s a gimme. When you,Pierre, Pedro, Un, CC and a few others were jockeying for positions in claiming the title of Legrove champion in predicting Emery’s failure , I was predicting that whoever followed Emery would fail too. If the aim is to take Arsenal back into CL and eventually a PL title contention… Read more »
China1, Ray Parlour has 4 things for him: 1) he is a raconteur. He can tell stories of his time with verve. 2) he was part of a successful era, so people are more likely to listen to his stories. 3) he is an humble guy, so even when he is center of the story he never blow his own trumpet. He is relatable. 4) he is a lot more talented that he has been given credit for. It took the 2002 FA Cup final for people to grudgingly acknowledge that he was more than just a body. Reviewing the… Read more »
“The problem is that you are so obsessed with Wenger that you refuse to look at Arsenal current problem objectively. Easier to blame everything on Wenger.You are tolerating unacceptable things simply because “at least it’s not Wenger”. I am not pro or anti Wenger” Ok, there’s so much wrong here I’m not sure where to even begin. First of all I’m not obsessed with Wenger in the slightest, he’s gone and it was way past time but other than that I don’t really care. It’s the complete rewriting of history from the usual suspects, you being one, that annoys me,… Read more »
Tom, There are failure and failure. Glorious failure I can take. Failing to win the 2001 Fa Cup final, or the 2006 Champion’s League final I can take. Abject failure because of bad planning and gross incompetence, I find that a lot more difficult to swallow. Failure and success also depend on the expectation. Even without the virus, I don’t expect Arteta to win the premiership next season. But I believe that Arteta will succeed in bringing us back into the Champion’s League. Winning the premiership is different in that you also need the right circumstances, the right players, the… Read more »
Freddie, 2 summer ago, We passed on Evan N’Dicka at €5.5 million now quoted €40 millions in favour of Sokratis. We failed to get Söyüncü for €17 million because we spend the same amount on Sokratis. Had we bought any of those, we would not have had the need to buy David Luiz. Regarding Pepe, my view is that in a team like Leicester he would be perfect. For Arsenal he would flatter to deceive, but ultimately will not be worth the money spent on him. I repeat myself in that Saliba was Sven’s choice. We got rid of him… Read more »
Valentin
Arsenal are so far away from competing for the PL title, let alone winning it, that even any mention of it with Arteta in the same sentence seems unfair to Arteta.
We just got bounced out of 1/32 of Europe’s second tier competition by a Greek club full of players no one’s ever heard of.
CL? Please.
Un,
Merse is an idiot, a nice relatable idiot, but an idiot nonetheless.
Wrighty has changed over time. He still has that crazy vibe in him, but he really matured. A more thoughtful, reflective guy than he used to be, but still as passionate and relatable as before.
Tom, I did not say that Arsenal were going to win the EPL next season. However Arsenal should be targeting to be in the mix within 2 to 3 years. With good planning and good management, we should see a massive improvement. I can see the current big 6 teams having problem so the field might be more level. Spurs is going to struggle financially and with The Toxic one. ManCity may see an exodus of players if the ban from European competition is upheld. Liverpool will have to reinvent themselves as Mane and Salah will leave for the Spanish… Read more »
Val So we passed on Ndicka when Sven was supposedly in charge of transfers? Are we doing this whole song and dance routine again? Every good signing before and after Sven was because of him and every bad one Rauls fault? That’s a bit boring, swerve me with that one. What 30 year old players are we looking at? Do you have any more of that inside information that you constantly pretend to have? Gueye, Ndicka, Gabriel, Upamecano, Partey, Jonathan David, Edouard etc etc, those are the most common links and Partey is by far the oldest at 27. I… Read more »
Tom “Predicting failure is much easier than predicting success. How much easier you ask ? Well, it’s a gimme” Not really, it’s all down to circumstances. It was easy to predict that pep would be a success at City. As for Emery, I’m sure that many on here would never believe in their wildest dreams (or nightmare) that he would fail so spectacularly , especially this season. So for you to say that it was easy to predict Emery’s failure is false as I would say the majority , 18 months ago , would never have predicted his failure. You… Read more »
Don
Look at the composition of that “whole new squad” that we bought and you see where Wengers mismanagement comes into play.
Most of them are youths, loans and freebies simply because we didn’t have the funds for serious strengthening in multiple positions. We got hardly any money for players we sold. A lot of players either refuse to leave or hasn’t got anyone interested in them because of their wages, of course that’s going to affect what we can achieve in the market. Soon those restrictions are off hough and hopefully real progress can be made.
“It must be difficult for many on here to read that link about Parlour eulogising over wenger”
You poor obsessed numpty, the scars are deep with you.
Pierre “”””””As for Emery, I’m sure that many on here would never believe in their wildest dreams (or nightmare) that he would fail so spectacularly , especially this season.”””” Well Le Groves Nostradamus did. You could tell after his opening press conference he was a complete Wrong -Un. Very reminiscent of the Spurs joker( Gross) who waived the train ticket in the air as his opening gambit at the press conference. Two impostors there. Folk have always got to remember- there is no industry like soccer that has as many heavy duty BS’s in it. And our club currently is… Read more »
I repeat myself in that Saliba was Sven’s choice. We got rid of him and now are looking at 30 years old players.
Correct me if I’m wrong but wasn’t Sokratis and Lichtenstein bought under Sven’s watch?
How does Sven get the credit for Saliba but Sokratis is Raul’s fault?
azed
Sanllehi’s is also blamed for the size of Ozil’s contract even though he didn’t join until the middle of Feb – strange why Sven didn’t put a stop to that either.
£200m spent in 14 months says different Freddie
In
100M of the supposedly 200M was spent on Pepe and Saliba.
Marc
Funny thing is when Sokratis and Lichtensteiner were signed, Gazidis was in charge not Raul.
Don
Do you seriously think 200m gets you a whole new squad in 2019/20? It gets you about 4-5 top players, not elite, or it gets you a bunch of prospects or hopefuls. Not every signing is going to work out either, no club gets everything right.
We still have some turds blocking the system, holding us back and stopping us from properly strengthen some positions. Long term contract mistakes doesn’t get rectified in 18 months.
Most sane people recognized this years ago, it was always going to be a long rebuilding job after Wenger.
azed
No no no – just because Gazidis was CEO and outranked Sanllehi doesn’t mean Sanllehi wasn’t in charge and responsible for anything / everything that is deemed to be not perfect at the club.
Could someone advise me of all the young players we signed when Sven was with the club because I can only think of Mavropanos and Guendozi – one out on loan because he can’t get fit and the others just been bitch slapped by the new manager for being an upstart.
“Only chambers holding Mustafi ozil and xakha are wenger players
Chambers played a season under wenger so does he really count? ”
Bellerin?
Kolas?
Laca?
Chambers was signed in 2014 and Wenger joined in 1996 and left in 2018 so a season is bollocks.
Ozil is on 350k a week and refuses to move, how do we sign a replacement for that? How many new players could we have had on his salary? The less said about Mustafi and Xhaka the better. Pretty sure Kola and Bellerin played under Wenger too but whatever. Yes, there’s a lot of new players in there but you’re still, as always, ignoring the fact that on average we had to sell 4-5 players to pay for a new one, is that because the players we had were so totally awesome and amazing or was that because we had… Read more »
“The less said about Mustafi and Xhaka the better.”
I think not I think a huge amount needs to be said about two players who cost a combined £70 million and are amongst the worst 10 players in the PL.
“The only thing stopping us from upgrading is our Inepts financial team and Kroenke
So you want Kroenke to pay for new signings? Possible maybe if we don’t want to be able to play in European competitions for awhile but hardly likely.
We had about 4 Cams before with a combined salary of about 700k a week ffs, how do we upgrade that position without clearing the decks first? Half of that sum is still stinking the squad out btw and is refusing to leave.
I’d like to apologise to the other 8 terrible players in the PL for lumping them in with Xhaka and Mustafi.
The truth hurts though.
Fred
“Do you seriously think 200m gets you a whole new squad in 2019/20? It gets you about 4-5 top players, not elite, or it gets you a bunch of prospects or hopefuls. Not every signing is going to work out either, no club gets everything right.”
You’ve changed your tune.
Really Pierre, do tell?
I think we had a very good window last summer but only one of those signing can be labeled a top player in Pepe, and even he isn’t an elite, fully developed player yet.
Saliba, Martinelli and Tierney are all great prospects but are they elite at this moment or when we bought them? I think not.
Don Who the fuck is talking Martinelli down? I think you need to have a chat with Pierre on that front. He’s an elite prospect and we’re incredibly lucky we got him but is a ready made superstar nailed on for a place in the team week in week out? Tierney has been mostly injured and wasn’t bought as an elite player with pedigree in the best leagues in Europe, he’s like I said a great prospect though. What has this got to do with Emery you lunatic? Saliba has world class potential, but we bought him before he made… Read more »
Don
You’re seriously comparing transfer costs 20+ years ago to today? The landscape has changed slightly since then.
That’s a nice list you got there, when was the latest player in there bought? Asking for a friend.
oh, and Theo cost more than 6m btw.
Francis Jeffers £13m ..lol
Ozil £42m lol lol lol
Don Berbatov 229 games and 94 goals £30m Giroud 253 games 105 goals £12m Ehm, ok? Doesn’t change the fact that a teenager in the french second division or Brazilian 4th dicvision costs 6-7m nowadays like Guen, Gueye or Martinelli so comparing that to Anelkas pricetag in an other era makes 0 sense. Not many players in that list from the last decade which is exactly my point, Wenger lost it completely in the transfer market and made much more terrible decisions than good ones and we’re still paying for that. I have never claimed that he was always that… Read more »
It was easy to predict that pep would be a success at City.
———-
Pierre
Was it?
Would you like to produce any evidence for that, like say, a post or article from his first season in charge stating “ no doubt Pep is going to break records and dominate the league.
I seem to remember many doubted whether his possession style would be effective against vertical , over the top football the likes of Burnley play.
Don
Cesc was 16 when bought and Malaga was in financial troubles when we bought Santi. I’m not even sure what you’re arguing anymore?
Is it that Wenger in the past was good at picking up gems, because I agree with that.
He stopped doing that a long time ago consistently and he failed to strengthen the team for so many years it was criminal, that’s what is holding us back now. What Anelka cost in the 90s is irrelevant to say the least, glad it paid for Henry and Colney though, but still…
Guys, Wenger is not your real dad.
Possession style backward style or any style would beat cannon fodder like Burnley when you have an unlimited spending budget.
What happened to the 3 spanish starlets Wenger poached from Barcelona, they turned out to be right proper duds.
Tom
“I seem to remember many doubted whether his possession style would be effective against vertical , over the top football the likes of Burnley play.”
Never doubted him for one second .
I think you will find that it was the know nothings like Jamie and Fred who doubted him .
“throughout his career at Arsenal”
Clearly not Don. He did in his first decade though, no one is arguing otherwise so settle down.
Pierre please find a post where I mention Guardiola, I’ll wait.
While you’re at it you can explain how I have changed my tune about last summers signings.
I thought that Wenger was out.
Wenger out!
“Our current best players were either signed by wenger or coached through the wenger ethos” After kicking out most of the crocks and has beens we’re left with a couple of good ones yes, only Auba is elite though and that’s why we are where we are now. Not sure who the other best players are though? Saka maybe, does he count as a Wenger player? Can’t be Mustafi, Ozil or Xhaka because they’re still wank even after a small uptick in performances, Laca? Meh, he’s ok but would replace in a heartbeat. Lots more potential in the squad now… Read more »
Arteta was bought after his best years were behind him, never liked him as a player for us, hopefully he’ll be much better as head coach. Arshavin was good, until he lost his motivation and discovered burger king. Ox was bought 9 years ago and wasn’t cheap for a youngster, spent most of his time injured, plenty of average performances mixed in with some really good ones, was one of the poster boys for the like a new signing bullshit but at least we got good money for him. Yes, Santi was good value. Kos likewise even though it took… Read more »
That’s great Don, and if you see him you can blow him as much as you like he should still never have been our first choice striker.
Going from Henry, Ade, RVP to Giroud and Chamack and Sanogo was a travesty, no question about it.
Don What’s the contradiction there? He was good at it, then he lost his touch and was shit at it. Simple. Did you seriously think All that mess was going to be fixed 18 months after he left? Because most sane supporters/experts, pundits agreed that it was at least a 3- year project getting us back to the top again, and that is optimistically thinking. Still think we can do it with the right signings. Only people blind to the shambles our squad had become thought all we had to do was tweak it a bit and get a new… Read more »