Balloon selfie mishap

by .

Oh Alex, Alex, Alex, what have you done?

… balloons. I get it. Now, I don’t really think this sort of activity is that big of a deal. I’d rather this than lines of coke in China White’s disabled toilet. The thing that is disappointing here is: ‘filmed himself.’

Why would you do that? Is the joke really worth it? It’s so dumb.

Worse still, what the fuck is wrong with his mates? The Whatsapp Group is sacred. What goes on in there stays in there, that’s a legally binding premise. You’ve got to be a really dirty snitch to share that sort of gossip on the streets. I’m utterly appalled by his crew.

Let’s be real here, someone needs to get shanked. Who is raising their hand or carefully sharpened toothbrush?

It hasn’t been a good year for Alex. His form has been pitiful, he was caught cheating on his long term partner, he lost his shit at a Twitter account that was spreading FAKE rumours, and now he’s setting the tone for the lockdown by sending videos of himself getting lightly high off a balloon. Not befitting of a man that is nearly 29, I mean, his birthday is in 11 days, he’s actually 29 years old. Or is he still 28?

I find it tough to believe he’s going to be here next season. He earns £185k a week, he has limited time left on his deal and he’s not doing the business on or off the pitch.

Sounds like…

It’s clear that Arteta is looking closely at midfield and central defence as he rebuilds this summer. In an interview with Sky Sports, Mustafi gives a little more detail on how he sees the central defender position moving forward.

“He’s a little like a professor,”

“He knows exactly where he wants the players to be when on the ball and how to react when losing the ball. It’s very special.

“When I pass I am usually only focused on where to be if we lose the ball but he wants me to contribute offensively too. So we constantly need to make an option for the player on the ball.

“When you are 28 and you play in different countries with other coaches you think you know everything but then he came in and there are things I’ve never known before.”

In a weird twist of fate, Mustafi is the type of defender he’d be looking at, maybe a bit taller. He’s very mobile, has a great range of passing, and he’s good in the air. I know that pains people, but if you cut out the mistakes, he’s pretty decent. Not sure whether he’ll stay, but I’d imagine we’ll aggressively chop out some of the fat we have in that position. It’ll be interesting to see how much weight the manager puts on Saliba rejoining if he’s part of the group next year, you’d have to imagine that’s curtains for Sokratis.

Another area that we might look at is the goalkeeper. We’ve been linked with Neto of Barca and PSGs Areola. For me, there are question marks over Bernd Leno’s concentration. He’s looked great when we’re being battered, but sometimes his mind goes walkabout when you need him most. Hopefully, that can be rectified, but it would be nice to have some proper cover for him going into next year.

I also think it’ll be interesting to see where we go with Auba. He’s never looked fitter, the fans love him, and he’s absolutely lethal. He’s added a lot to his game under Arteta, and it’s clear the view is that he’s the best player at Arsenal. That said, he’ll also have massive appeal to clubs looking for swap deals this summer. We know Barca, PSG, Madrid and Juve are all in the market to move players about in that way, and he really is our crown jewel if we wanted to bulk the squad with two or three quality additions.

The other reality we could face is that Arsenal simply move on the high earners this summer and focus on the kids coming through. There will never be a better opportunity to say, fuck it, let’s move players on. The pressure will be lessened because there won’t be fans in the stadium, and I think there’s a general lowering of expectations at most clubs due to the situation.

Ok, that’s all I have time for today. See you in the comments. x

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Upstate Gooner

1

Adam Benabbes

First

Upstate Gooner

2

grooveydaddy

1st

Adam Benabbes

Tr4phy!

Upstate Gooner

boom

Mark S

So close….yet so far.

grooveydaddy

Woo-hoo! !

Total fluke! Best way really 🙂

Marc

” I know that pains people, but if you cut out the mistakes, he’s pretty decent”

Bit of a daft statement it’s like saying if a fat fuck loses 15 stone they wouldn’t be fat anymore.

Saying it and getting it to happen are two very different things.

Santan

I said we were unbeaten in the league and forgot to write this year! I feel like a right idiot

GillespieRoadNoMore

Surely there must be contractual options for AFC to do something with Laca’s deal in the face of his behaviour, not sure if what he has done is illegal but it sure as hell ain’t clever. Fingers crossed for an Ozil scandal heinous enough to see his deal terminated.

Mark S

I’ll admit that I was beginning to be in the camp that just said “f this season, just be done with it….and let’s go again next season”. The Bundesliga returning has changed my thought process. I kind of have this sneaky suspicion that Arsenal goes on a tear once the season resumes. It could set us up for a big year next year if we finish strong. It’s already been a weird season for us. I feel like Mikel will have the squad primed to come out of the blocks fast. Again…just some weird feeling I have.

Santan

We don’t need Areola, stick pepe in goal. And then we’ll have a goalie who can play with his feet to! lol

Micheal

How Arteta and the club respond to Lacazette’s balloons will be an important signal to our overall discipline. This is a highly oppportune moment for Arteta to come down hard and make an example of Lacazette in front of a very young squad.

A slap on the wrist and loss of a week’s wages will send all the wrong signals. Youngsters with lots of money are an accident waiting to happen. But Arteta can signal that Laca-type bad behaviour will not be tolerated.

Santan

How are Saul, Bellingham & Moussa Dembele “sealed” for United

Marc

Pedro

Fortunately I can’t see Mustafi being part of our squad once things start moving again and we have a transfer window. I reckon we’ll have Saliba, Mari, Luiz and Holding with Chambers injured and a decision to made in a year or so. Sok and Mustafi to be moved on – no idea what happens with Mavropanos.

If a player is that mistake prone reducing them isn’t enough – there’s always one waiting to happen and when it does it’ll most likely be in a critical match. Same goes for Xhaka.

China1

Well Mark S it’s very hard to predict what will happen now in the PL which does us a favor. If this was a normal May we’d still have our backs against the wall fighting for a difficult top 5 spot, but with the weird circumstances I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see a couple of the teams above us go on a shitty run of form as the season has been so heavily disrupted and the behind closed doors games are weird The worst that can happen is we continue to do badly and finish the season as… Read more »

Marc

China

If life had continued as normal I believe today would’ve been the last match PL of the season – I’d be watching the players do a lap of appreciation and then hitting the Tolly for a pint in the Sunshine!

Sid

I have always said we can get by with Mustafinovs as long as Xhakalson and ozil are not in midfield, Mustafinovs isnt as bad as Djourou, Squillaci, probably Senderos
What the team is missing is a rosiky/Santi/Nasri/fab to complement Saka, after that then a CM

London gunner

Lacazette is an adult whats the issue?

As far I know ballons don’t impede performance like a pack of fags.

Up 4 grabs now

Time to shift lacazzete on I know he’s Aubas best buddy but that won’t make a difference keeping him.

The guy looks like he wants a fresh start, if partey can be got with 10 million plus and laca then do the deal.

The only way I’d keep laca was if Auba was definitely leaving, or we played two up top with saka and pepe as wingers, and I can’t see that happening anytime soon.

CG

Great Post. As always.

CG’s 3 observations.

1. Mustafi is taking a leaf out the Luiz play book.
Be nice and eulogize about the young boss in public- and I’ll get a new contract or my place in the team.

2. No wonder Laca can’t last more than 60 minutes if he is inhaling the funny stuff.

3. We dont need another goalkeeper. Leno is brave ,agile and German.

Dissenter

“This slagging off of Arteta for overseeing the loss to Olympiakos and concluding that he is not an elite coach because of this one result is pathetic“

Actually calling him world class in the basis of zero evidence is appallingly pathetic.
He’s a promising manager that we all hope goes on to do well.
There’s some evidence he’s not all that, besides the happy talk.

Guns of SF

yes indeed. Laca needs to go.
His body language, and attitude is not what we need. I fear his malaise can have a bad effect on the team, when we really need players fully committed mentally as well.

Xhaka, Ozil, Laca, – right there we can recoup some monies for better players.
Add the deadwood and we might have a little more to spend.

CAM, CM, Striker RB
All need a refresh.

Terraloon

Michael Very very silly of Laca but technically what he has done isn’t illegal in the UK. As for what Arsenal do in terms of discipline the options are rather limited They could sack him for gross misconduct but it’s very very unlikely that would happen because there is no way that Arsenal will want to write off his value. That said there is a precedent should a sacking actually happen . Technically FIFA regulations are in place which could be interpreted that he caused his contract to be ended “without sporting just cause “and should he then sign for… Read more »

Up 4 grabs now

No to keeping mustafi just because he’s slightly improved doesn’t make him right for arsenal.

He should be on the dumped list with ozil and xhaka.
Unfortunately I can see us being stuck with ozil till contract end time.

Guns of SF

Mustafi is reacting faster and getting rid of the ball ASAP.
Basic stuff…. much of his mistakes were not tracking defenders, last ditch tackles, etc…
Now he gets the ball out of the defense asap.
He is an athlete for sure. Great healing powers too.
However, not for us…
I am excited to see what Saliba brings but also cautious as this is the EPL… and there is always adjustment periods

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Sake him Sack him
Breach of contract

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Fucking junkie

CG

Terraloon

Off course they ain’t going to sack him.
They are all at.

Marc

SF

“Xhaka, Ozil, Laca, – right there we can recoup some monies for better players.”

It’s a bit early to be on the sauce – Xhaka worth low £20 millions before all this happened currently worth £2.91 and a bag of jelly beans (which are out of date). Laca’s worth mid £20 millions but could be useful in a swap.

Ozil is unsellable we’d have to play him a huge amount just to leave.

Dissenter

Pedro
You’ve stretched the use of “world class” to include assistant managers just to be able to bestow it on Arteta.
Le assume he as excellent at ASSISTING Guardiola but that doesn’t translate into the top level.

Terraloon

Food for thought.

Wenger 57.25% win rate from 2156 games as manager/ head coach at Arsenal
Emery. 55.13 % win rate from 78 games. -,,-
OGS 52.6 %. win rate from 76 games as manager/ head coach at Man Utd
Lampard. 50% win rate from. 42 games as manager / head coach at Chelsea

Arteta. 50% win rate from. 12 games as manager/ head coach at Arsenal

AWs first 12 game win ratio 50%
OGS. first 12 game win. 84%
FL. first 12 game win 66%

Up 4 grabs now

As it stands now. A solid defensive midfielder with pace and power is needed. Then a santi replacement. Then it’s replacing players that leave.

If auba goes you either keep balloon boy, or go big for a striker.
Martinelli is a great prospect but I wouldn’t want to go into next season with just him leading the line.

See how bellerin is on his return if the season actually restarts before we look there. Also Pedro a replacement for Leno, really!

CG

Well played Terraloon

Superb analysis.

Marc

Terraloon

Mate problem is that doesn’t take into account the level of the squad’s they inherited – it also doesn’t include the “thank fuck Mourinho’s gone” bounce OGS got”

Guns of SF

any thoughts on Gaby playing as a 10? I wonder if we could experiment with the remaining games with him in that position.

Ditch Ozil… Gaby has the speed, dribbling and scoring ability.

Sid

I dont need stats to tell so far Artetas style has been closer to mourinho/poch/simeone
Playing Auba on the wing is similar to the time Mourinho played Etoo on the wing at Inter

Im telling you for free!

G

“Mustafi is taking a leaf out the Luiz play book.
Be nice and eulogize about the young boss in public- and I’ll get a new contract or my place in the team.”
Don’t think any footballer actually believes that..
Also both have improved under Arteta

Sid

Gaby is not a #10 in any way rather Saka, then Gaby on the wings

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Marc
Xhara
20m
Laca 30
Auba 30

Ozil.. free.. jus5 get 5hem gone..
Medely
Ossi
William
Build on yoot.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Using th3 8 dumbest staff

Who is Williams best partner at the back…

I think chambers .

Guns of SF

Our remaining games do not look very good for us.
NO way we get top 4 – might be a long shot for EL…

Time to experiment Arteta…

With this whole 5 subs thing…. mix it up. I really hope to see that happening.
Give us a better idea of the combos that seem to work…

Hell, try Saka in the middle… why not…
Kid has speed and technical ability to do it

Lets see Tierney back… these next games will decide whether he is another Ramsey like perma crock

Marc

RSPC

Can’t see us getting £20 million for Xhaka in the current climate.

Giving Ozil a free transfer won’t work either – he’s got £18.2 million guaranteed and can then pick up the same deal in a years time. People really need to do the maths on this.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Using the incumbent staff
Who is William Saliba best defence partner…

Calum chambers…

And I would love luiz in the sweeper role…

Would it work?

Marc

SF

Not so sure – firstly we only need 5th for CL football with City’s ban also the remaining fixtures are a mixed bag but there’s certainly a good chunk of winnable matches in there.

Marc

RSPC

Chambers is out for a while yet and it’s a difficult path back from an ACL. I do think Arteta brought Mari in as a starter though.

Guns of SF

We have City, Tottenham, Watford, Sheffield and Wolves in the run in.

Will not be easy by any stretch.

Spanishdave

Leno is poor handling crosses and doesn’t command the box.
If the defense gets better then the goalie looks better .
I think the midfield is the key to improve the team’s performance, currently it doesn’t work too good and is constantly changing.
Good news on the vaccine although it’s been reported some weeks ago.
Let’s get out and live again.

James wood

Difficult to understand Laca is he looking for a move
with this stupidity.

Guns of SF

sorry some of those were cup events.. but we do have Pool, Leicester, and City in there

James wood

Great foresight by some of the lower league clubs
who have had discussions about restructuring of the divisions
That would merge division 2 and the National league into two divisions
North and South meaning 5 divisions in the English pyramid.
Thus swelling attendances in the lower divisions in local derbies
and cut down on travelling costs.
A win win for all concerned and huge boost for the lower divisions.

TheBayingMob

You have to remember as a base common denominator football players are as thick as shit. I have sympathy, they live in this weird bubble that many of us can’t really imagine. Their young lives are under a microscope. The same mistake you and I made as kids, the same stupid shit we loved doing with our mates at the weekend they have to watch their mates doing that shit but they are vilified for it … But the upside is you are getting paid a lifetimes wages in just a few years and if you keep your shit together… Read more »

andy1886

New ‘keeper is the least of our worries, would be mad to spend what little we have on that position. What we need is at least one decent MF player, ditch the #10 play maker nonsense (unless ESR comes in and really tears it up) and replace the pointless Xhaka.

There’s definitely an argument to sell Laca and keep Auba if he’ll take a reasonable deal, no way can we move both on without replacing Auba’s goals (and we don’t have the funds to do that right now).

Marc

” City, Tottenham, Watford, Sheffield and Wolves ” Well this is how I see it: City – Arteta has inside info and City are going to have zero motivation so that’s an easy 4 – 1 win. Spud’s – their players are going to be so desperate to get rid of Mourinho they’ll want to lose 17 nil win. Watford – Our last match at home – they’ll be down by then and won’t give a shit. Wolves – our toughest match Liverpool – you missed them off it’s at home and they would have won the title we’ll get… Read more »

Graham62

Marc

To be honest my genuine interest in games has waned a wee bit.

Only speaking for myself of course.

Marc

Graham

Watching matches behind closed doors is hard work and I do think it’ll have an effect on performances / results, problem is in the short term what choice do we have?

Tom

Any minute now CG chiming in with a scathing assessment of Laca’s character and the rotten regime that brought him in……oh, wait, no, my bad, never mind then.

Terraloon

Marc

It’s quite common that a manager coming in mid season gets a bump. The worry surely has to be that Arteta enjoyed the same sort of positive bump

Marc

Terraloon

Well results didn’t improve so if he did I’d put your money on us being relegated next season!

CG

Watching Dortmund v Juve 1997 CL final

Dortmund = Hitzfeld
Juventus = Lippi

Arsenal 2020= Arteta ( Elite)

Joke club.

Sid

When Emery was in charge this season, the Gunners had an average possession of 56.23%, but that has surprisingly dropped to 54.4% under Ljungberg and 52.57% under Arteta

Im telling you for free!

Guns of SF

Arteta focused in on the defense at the expense of the attack.

Graham62

CG

Ah yes, and when did we start becoming “a joke club“ in your eyes?

Was it prior to 2011 or just after?

I’ll go prior.

What do you think?

Marc

SF

Anyone who’s watched football for more than 3 seconds who isn’t carrying some idiotic agenda knows that you build from the back.

James wood

Is Yawnable a word.????

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Marc

I agree
But is the Mari deal A full time deal yet .

James wood

If Yawnable is a word .

Then that German football over the weekend
gets a new title .

“Theyawnsleague.”

Marc

RSPC

I thought the hold up on getting it done was his former club insisting on a buyout clause?

If we get that done outside of RB (Bellerin’s got a question mark after the ACL injury over him) our defence is sorted for a good few years.

Marc

James

I thought you were having a pop at someone on here!

James wood

My comment did follow your post Marc.
However it was not aimed at you.
It was just the fact in lockdown there has been a
lot of repetition on here- to be expected I suppose.?

Any way that German football behind closed doors only added to this
boredom.🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱

Habesha Gooner

Ideally I would Keep Auba on a reasonable deal. Then Sell Lacazette. I like him but his form has tailed off and now there is drama. Get Martinelli to 9 to backup Auba. Buy a left winger that can Compete with Saka. Tierney and Kolasinac ( would sell him to get another Lb too but we can’t as he is on 130k a week and no one is paying that post Corona) as Left backs. Get a Creative Midfielder, A central midfielder ( possibly Partey) and a CB if Mari is not permanently signed.

alex cutter

“Fucking junkie”

How old are you?

Do you have great-grandchildren that can explain the story to you?

Marc

James

Didn’t think it was directed at me!

It is hard work at the moment and having certain individuals continually push trolling agenda’s doesn’t help.

Guns of SF

Marc,

True, but you simply cannot ignore the attack either. Part of building from the back is also how to transition from defense to attack… non existent pretty much right now.
Everyone and their dog knows that we leak goals so no brainer we need work there, but to think that the offense would somehow work itself out, or Ozil would be a wonderboy.. is stupid.

Pepe needs help. Our mids cannot assist to save their lives. Nor score…

Valentin

If PSG are dumb enough to sell Areola at a cheap price, I would take him over Leno in a heartbeat. His weakness is dealing with crosses but seeing that Leno is rooted to his line to avoid vomitting any howler, he would still be an improvement. The question with Mustafi is can Arteta unlock his true potential and stop the brain fart? Maybe in a very structure environment, Mustafi can thrive. However Saliba is the better prospect, so unless Saliba is moved to the left side, with Luiz having already signed an extension, and rumours abounding that Pablo Mari… Read more »

Mark S

If the season resumes…and you’re Liverpool…do you completely rest your starters/main players after you clinch the title in 2-3 matches? If I’m them, I go all out to clinch the league as soon as I can so I can give the likes of VVD, Salah, Mane, Firmino, Alexander-Arnold, Robertson, Alisson, and Henderson as much time off before the new season begins. They don’t have anything else to play for besides the league, and by clinching early they can rest their players while the rest of the teams have to fight it out for the remainder of the season. It could… Read more »

Mark S

If they do go with this strategy however, it would give us a great chance against them.

Guns of SF

I just want to beat those scum
Next season I don’t think they repeat… due for some injuries to their stars

Hope mane goes to Madrid. Would weaken them considerably

TheBayingMob

If anyone was interested …

14 years ago today. Paris, May 17th 2006.

UEFA CL Final, Arsenal v Barcelona … grrr. That Henry 1-on-1, we could have won it. Then Larsson came on and Almunia was in goal. Tears.

Guns of SF

Th had like 2 chances…. 11 v 11 we win I’m convinced of that. Ref should have yellowed Lehman and let the first goal stand. Ruined the game

G8

It’s obvious that mustafi is just doing the usual new coach sucking up routine

I mean “make yourself available “to receive the ball and “pass & move” is basic football stuff and Arteta didn’t invent the wheel! Or did he!?

Good for him though!

Overmars

Doing balloons isn’t the biggest crime in the world. But if you play for a club like Arsenal and haven’t exactly been one of the best performers this season, then filming himself and sending it to his mates won’t do him any favors. Can you imagine Cristiano Ronaldo doing that?

I wouldn’t believe everything you see in The Daily Star, but it doesn’t look great as Laca and a few other players haven been seen to be doing it before.

Sid

make yourself available “to receive the ball and “pass & move”

The stats show possesion has dropped so Mustafinovs needs to yank his neck out of Saucy’s arse

Guns of SF

it could be worse, i suppose. Laca compared to Kyle Walker shagging some hookers at his home.. vs Nitrious Oxide balloon inhaling.

My guess is he is utterly bored, depressed, and wanting a change in his stagnant millionaire life.

Id sell him this summer. Do not need that type of player right now in the team…

Nothing personal with the fella, his heart does not seem into it anymore

Overmars

Guns of SF I think he cares. It’s easy to forget that he was the Fans Player of The Season last year. Lacazette has a great habit of scoring or assisting in big games. Manchester United, Spurs, Chelsea, Liverpool, Napoli, Atlético Madrid, Manchester City and Valenica are just a few of the teams he has scored against, not to mentioned assists. He’s a bit of a confidence player though, he suffers a little bit when he misses a chance so he needs to work on that side of his game. But his work rate and what he does for the… Read more »

Valentin

I am not worried about Lacazette getting on balloon, but I am worried about the impact of the revelation of the video by a newspaper on the team morale.
There is at least one player who sold pictures sent on a private chat to a newspaper. Knowing that there is a traitor/rat in their midst is not going to improve team cohesion. When the team will be back together, the first thing people will try to find out is who leaked the video.

Valentin

When Sanchez left, I was glad to see the back of him. He had been sulking his way out of the club for the last six months. His lack of effort, attitude, body language was stinking the place out.
On TV it was less visible, but in IRL, his pretend superman attempt at goal when a better placed teammates was available, his constant berating of his teammates, repeated loss of the ball in dangerous area was truly shocking.

UTarse

“Giving Ozil a free transfer won’t work either – he’s got £18.2 million guaranteed and can then pick up the same deal in a years time. People really need to do the maths on this”

Marc, no way can ozil pick up another crazy contract like the 18.2 we pay him… my guess is the reason behind him seeing it out is he’s done with football…. pretty much like football is done with him.

Sid

Alexis was finished by the time he left arsenal, seems arsenals backroom could read the signs, only regret is that we could have sold him to man c for more

Graham62

Valentine

Yes, you are 100% correct, he switched off.

Under normal circumstances, this is a definite no no, irrespective of the situation at hand.

The thing is, as most supporters know, it wasn’t normal at the club at this time.

Do you actually remember the day and time that Sanchez decided enough was enough.

I do.

Marc

UT

You misunderstood what I meant – he’s got £18.2 million left on his contract with us, once that is up he can move on a free and get £100k, £150k per week in Turkey or where ever. So he get’s the 18 million plus a new deal – we give him a free so he can sign a deal elsewhere and he’s down 18 million quid!

Marc

Valentin

There was a stat that around the December that Sanchez lost the ball over 30 times per match in 6 odd matches.

I’m amazed we were winning the ball back that often!

Uwot?

If there’s any truth in the Yahnited deal for Saul niguez at £70 million.were f** kd if it comes to Partey being sold to us.Theyll have all the money they need to offer Partey a better contract.So yahnited f** k us over twice.were so slow in the market it’s 😖

Dissenter

Marc
I don’t think anyone is paying Ozil more than 100k weekly after he leaves Arsenal, not even on a free transfer.

Marc

Dissenter

He’s still got a good rep in Turkey but ultimately it doesn’t matter what he can get because he can still get the same deal once he’s run his contract down with us.

Marc

Uwot

The rumours were that Liverpool and ManU were locked in a battle for Ramsey last week – there’s a good chance it’s just paper bollocks.

Dissenter

Piers Morgan , The know-all blow hard is back
Now he’s leading the movement to have Calum Hudson Odom banned because he met up with model he met online
Don’t they understand that sexual contacting is a physiological need, more so for a 19 year old..

Jamie

Utd need to shift Pogba before they can invest in more centre-mids..

Plus Alexis will be back this summer with his £400k a week squeeze on the club’s finances. They can’t afford a £70m midfielder any more than we can right now.