OH MY GOD TROY DEENEY DOESN’T WANT TO PLAY FOOTBALL DURING THE PANDEMIC THE SHAME.
I cannot believe this has drawn so much criticism. I hate the man’s football, but I can’t knock his rationale for not wanting to put his family in the firing line for something as trivial as football.
The guy has a sick kid, he has a BAME family, he’s seen the numbers, he’s made a decision that goes beyond football. That is fair. I live with someone that has underlying health conditions, will that affect my decision to go rampaging back to the office? Absolutely. What use is a test if I catch the virus?
I think we treat footballers like circus animals at times. They are people doing a job. If the health of their family could be a problem, let them do their thing, his football club hardly matters. You also can’t accuse him of being a wimp. The guy is a powerhouse. This is hardly an expensive player taking away days off because he doesn’t fancy it.
‘but Joe Bloggs who runs a market stall can’t say no’
Yes, he can. Everyone has the right not to work in this moment. Joe Bloggs might have trouble with his mortgage, but he can still say no. Just like the majority of people in offices, they too can say no. That might have career implications. If you’re not seen, it’s tough to get noticed, but that’s the choice you make.
I think this is a great opportunity for footballers that WILL play. There are going to be some top players that won’t risk their lungs, but there will be youngsters that jump right into that position. That’s footballing Darwinism baby.
Anyway, let’s talk about something truly serious.
Wingers.
It’s widely accepted that we need wingers as part of the Arteta solution. Thomas Lemar, a player we looked at 3 years ago when we bid £90m for him at Monaco, is someone that is being touted as a possible Arsenal solution. The player predominantly plays on the left, which is where you’d expect Martinelli to take a bigger role next season, but that hasn’t stopped AS report that they’d like to swap him with Lacazette.
I’d rather swap out for Thomas Partey, but I’d be game for any player that boasts a high level of quality. Lemar would certainly be a project for Arsenal. Things haven’t worked out under Simeone, he’s clocked an incredibe zero goals and zero assists in 1000 minutes of football this season. However, if you believe he can find the next level, this is a guy who had 18 assists and 16 goals when Jardim had Monaco purring.
It’d be an odd move, but what is pleasing is the Atletico stories won’t die. They are in trouble financially and they are game to move players around this summer.
News coming out of Italy has us linked to another winger, this time an exchange deal where we’d take on Justin Kluivert as part of the deal for Mikhi. I can’t for the life of me work out why you’d go so hard at an ailing player and exchange them for a youth prospect, but hey, football works in weird ways. The player is only 21, he hasn’t exactly blown up the scene in Italy, but he no doubt has talent. I also really loved his dad when he was playing. I was devastated when we ballsed the deal. So this could be good for nostalgia.
Granit Xhaka gave this response when asked about Mesut Ozil.
“I see him here as a very positive, likeable colleague,”
“He is an extremely down-to-earth guy, always ready to help, and he works hard in training and in my opinion he really enjoys football.
I love it. Sounds like he’s being interviewed for the first time ever by Business Insider.
‘My colleague who I believe to be good makes nice microwave fishes at the work hole’
Granit also had some positive things to say about Arteta and getting the Champions League.
“After the change of coach I had some very good talks with our new coach Mikel Arteta,”
“He convinced me of his ideas and his philosophy for the number six position and showed me a lot of appreciation.
“I’m glad that I could pay him back for this trust and I hope for the future that we can still make it into the Champions League and finally play in the international top league again.”
Right, on that note, I’ll see you in the comments. x
Tom
“””””I thought it was a great fucking tackle lol.””””””
It was a tackle not worthy of an Arsenal player.
It is irrelevant that it was Zaha ( but it does shows how dangerous player Zaha is on the counter by the way as it was injury time)
It was a tackle that perfectly summed up the club as of today and the way it is heading.
When an opposition player does that do Martinelli, Pepe , Saliba or Saha next season and puts him out for 12 months or even longer don’t start moaning.
Just come back from having a nice leisurely walk along Worthing and Ferring seafront here in West Sussex.
A designated green area has been consumed by a large number of people escaping from the cities. Left the place in a real state.
Garbage everywhere/ broken chairs/ bins overflowing etc. Absolutely no respect for others. Social distancing my ass!
Give me Singapore any day of the week.
Graham 62
I will be renewing albeit rather like Bob I will be attending fewer games.
I share the seats with a member of my family and also a friend and they want me
to keep the seats.
Marc
Shouldn’t you plan for the worst possible emergencies that are within reason?
I believe proper preparations for every conceivable exigency will mitigate its impact.
I didn’t knock you for your wild optimism that the Oxford vaccine will be ready for the public by September as pie in the sky, even though that’s what it is.
Assuming I’m guilty of preparing for the worst possible outcome, you are certainly in the muck for an head-in-the-sand approach.
You were just knocking Arsenal for planning to sell season tickets for next season in light of the same uncertainties.
CG
Are you talking about the so called Rugby tackle?
Graham
Singapore is an island that’s geographically protected, same as New Zealand.
I’m sure Singapore wouldn’t take you in right now, not unless you happen to be James Dyson’s buddy.
Dissenter
I don’t have a problem with people preparing for a worst case scenario you just seem to come across as A) that it’s either going to be the worst case scenario or a fate worse than a worst case scenario and B) almost revel in it being as bad as possible.
“Arsenal is going to be in some deep shite for some time.”
Is a case in point – Arsenal aren’t going to be in deep shite for some time – the Premier League and further afield is.
‘If any of those players come good as expected suddenly they’ll be Sven signings and nothing to do with Sanllehi at all.’ Damn right Marc. Sanllehi has been a huge upgrade on Ivan. And had he not signed Pepe for 72 mil or had Pepe been World class right off from the start Raul would still be Don Raul. Ivan was our here spending 90 mil on the trio of Xhaka , Mustafi and Lucas Perez. CG We definitely have a better crop of young players than most of the clubs in the world. Just compare it to the Prem.… Read more »
“When an opposition player does that do Martinelli, Pepe , Saliba or Saha next season and puts him out for 12 months or even longer don’t start moaning.“
A bit melodramatic there, no?
There is a higher risk of injury from a tripping tackle on a player at full flight , as a matter of fact I could give examples of players missing games from the so called “ taking one for the team” type of tackles , but I’ve yet to see a single injury from what Guendouzi did to Zaha , no matter how ungainly it looked.
Wasi
The truth of it is that CG wanted Zaha to score and Arsenal to lose, Guendozi saved us a point. If he hadn’t of fouled him CG would be screaming about how a “proper” player would’ve committed a tactical foul.
I just can’t be bothered with someone who wants Arsenal to lose matches, get relegated and go bust.
Wasi
“””As for the Tackle on Zaha. Loved it . Saved us 2 points that lad.””””
Oh yes .
Didn’t we do well, not get beat by
mighty Crytal Palace at home.
All these exceptional youngsters could not beat Olympiakos over 2 legs either!
Totally deluded.
Marc The current PL broadcasting deal is worth £4.35 billion over a three year period 2019-2022 . Around £2.17 billion a season Around 46% of the total income is paid by foreign broadcasters who have access to all live PL games. They is no way that foreign broadcasters are going to agree to the likes of Arsenal showing any games live for a fee in their territory’s I can see Sky and BT renegotiating the current deal to enable then to screen a few more games and possibly the likes of the BBC will take a few games if that… Read more »
Maths went wrong
Worth around £1.45 billion a season
Re CG-as regards to opposition players taking OUR OUT 😂 they’ve been doing that for years the list is prob endless but I’ll mention a few: Eduardo,Diaby,Ramsey …..so I’ll give Gwen a pass on that pussy rugby tackle cos he sure didn’t end Zahas career hey?
‘Oh yes .
Didn’t we do well, not get beat by
mighty Crytal Palace at home.
All these exceptional youngsters could not beat Olympiakos over 2 legs either!’
CG
So what did you wanted to happen. Guendouzi do nothing and Zaha score and beat us?
If you dont like the young signings and academy players , what do you propose , the club bet on the likes of Luiz , Willian and old guys ?
Terraloon
If overseas companies are already showing all the games things will just continue as before. Domestically it all depends on how long before fans are back in the grounds – one positive is it might make clubs realise that fans going to matches are the lifeblood of the game.
Un I like Pepe a lot too. And his dribbling ability may only be rivalled by Zaha but maybe you are setting yourself up for disappointment if you think he can be no.1 tbh. This lil piece tho ‘I mean he twists defenders in knots and turns them into spaghetti bolognese. He sends them so far the wrong way they end up at Gatwick’ 😂 Imo Martinelli is the best of the lot. Pepe’s technical ability , dribbling and shooting may be better than and Martinelli may never learn how to spin defenders like Pepe does but he mentality is… Read more »
ridiculously*
All our wingers could use some of that mcmanaman magic.
Dissenter
That wasn’t my point.
Highlighting the fact that in Singapore everyone respects the rules, whereas in the UK we have a core of society that don’t give a toss about anything because our rules and punishments are pitiful.
Those that do care and do respect( the majority) have to suffer the consequences.
Graham
Don’t they still have corporal punishment in Singapore?
If we play 4-3-3 next year, which i gather is MA’s preferred formation, then Saka-Martinelli-Pepe could be electric. I’m assuming no Laca and Auba and i suspect we will have a signing at CF. A real possibility in my mind could be a swap deal with Real for Jovic. That would give us a few options
Also hoping we don’t waste the Laca Card on a swap with AM for Lemar. If they do want him then we should keep our powder dry for a Partey swap.
Despite the gloom on here re AFC’s finances i don’t think the squad looks too bad as it is – adding Tierney and Saliba and prob Mari will give us plenty of options and allow Saka to play the LW role which is far better suited to his game.
Heard it all now.
Genduzi and Makalele in the same breathe
Now Pepe is to take over the mantle from Messi and Ronaldo
And the squad is fit for purpose even though we are entrenched in midtable and cant defeat Olympiakos over 2 legs
I guess Mari will be the next Bobby Moore in a few weeks.
Some of My wonderful fellow Le Grove patients seem to be totally deluded.
Must be the sunshine.
We don’t need Lemar
We have a certain exciting young player called Saka who has produced more than Lamar in the past year, playing as a LB or LWB.
Graham62
I live right where you are by the sounds of it, and yes, that area is busier than in normal times it seems.
I used to like walking home along the seafront from work but now I avoid it like the plague, because well, it kind of is avoiding the plague if you know what I mean. It isn’t possible to social distance in some stretches because the path and cycle lane is narrow and some people don’t make any attempt to keep 2 metre distance anyway.
Every club is having to amend their policies and procedures in respect to STH’s/Memberships. The fact that fans will not be able to attend games for the foreseeable future will undoubtedly lead to (and already is doing) a revamp of the entire system. Of course, the bottom line is that it all boils down to money and how far the clubs are prepared to go to benefit the fans. Yes, ,that’s right, all those folk who basically keep the footballing world ticking over and have done since medieval times. It’s not just a football thing, all major spectator sports will… Read more »
It’s great to see most of us excited about Arsenals youth players and the future that potentially lies ahead.
Shame there is always the same miserable bastard trying to piss on everyone else’s chips.
Un
As i said Pepe is more polished technically than Gabi , Saka as well. But none has the mentality that Gabi possessess and that is why I think that 4-5 years down the line Gabi will be the best of the bunch.
Chris
I know where you’re coming from.
I understand the local community groups are seething and that patrols are going to be set up.
Bob and Doris then with their tape measures🤪
Only in the UK.
🙏😷🍺
Letting Jack and Aaron go pretty much destroyed the Arsenal spirit of the team.
Fuck you Unai.
“But none has the mentality that Gabi possessess and that is why I think that 4-5 years down the line Gabi will be the best of the bunch.”
You can’t really say that for certain. It is incredibly hard to consistently have that mentality for 5 years straight. I agree though, his work rate is incredible and if he can keep it up then he could be one of the best forwards in the league, if not the best
Chris – best to ignore completely the 2 or 3 on here at the moment who desperately want the club to fail. As for last comment on Wilshere and Ramsey – not sure what point you’re answering but digging into history is pointless.
It’s where we are now that matters – CG I don’t know how good Mari will be but I’m rooting for him as he is almost a fixture with us. If he is an upgrade on Luiz then what’s the problem?
Nice to see LG is as immutable as ever whenever I check in. Decent football talk interspersed with unintelligible blather and caustic comments.
Anyway hope you’re all well amidst the never ending chaos. I’m bringing a child into this world this fall in spite of all that, so will probably never be around as much as I could previously. No real loss for anyone really though.
Glad you’re still kicking Cutter keep giving them hell.
“I’m bringing a child into this world this fall in spite of all that”
Comgratulations mate
“Letting Jack and Aaron go pretty much destroyed the Arsenal spirit of the team. ”
Do me a favour – you’re talking about crock and crocker, one of which was stringing us along on a new contract as a fall back until he could sign one with an overseas club. Everyone’s talking about a financial squeeze and yet then want a player on £250k per week plus who spends at least 3 months of every season injured.
Thank fuck Sanllehi isn’t as nostalgic as some on here.
“Heard it all now.Genduzi and Makalele in the same breathe….”
CG,
You asked for one example of a “premier player “with offensive stats as poor as Guendouzi’s and when I gave it, then all of a sudden I’m at fault for bringing up Mekelele ?
Is this what you got from that exchange, Guen = Mekelele?
Whatever, I’m happy to engage if that keeps you from hurting yourself or others even momentarily.
Un
I’m with you – there’ll be some fall out form all this but the future for Arsenal looks promising with some of the young talent we have at the club.
The one area where we do look weak is CM, stick one preferably 2 quality CM’s in there and we’re looking good.
Tom
I think CG and self abuse go hand in hand!
Wasi, Raul is an upgrade on Gazidis. lol! You set the bar low with just being better than Gazidis. Yet I am not even sure that Raul pass that threshold. Gazidis wanted Arteta. Raul did not. In fact Raul rigged the interview process in favour of his man Emery who turn out to be so unsuited for us and the EPL he got kicked out when Arsenal were in danger of slipping toward relegation places. Saliba is not a Raul signing. It is a Sven signing who tried to sign him the previous season when at his previous place. Raul… Read more »
ManUtd posting a quarter loss for the first time in a long time and with some its sponsoring deals expiring soon, we may see the Mancunians thrown off their perch.
They may even start eating crows because the massive deals they have with Sanchez, Pogba and no gate revenue may really impact them.
Marc – completely agree – decisions to let both go were correct. Total playing time lost meant both were expensive luxuries. We can’t keep Diaby and Rosicky types on our books forever. Really hoping Tierney’s troubles are over but if we continues to be a crock then we would need to be more ruthless with him. There’s a point when you have to make a decision ans that was the case with Wilshire and Ramsey.
Valentin
Pepe is the most instinctive tricky dribbler in the game today , to the point that sometimes you have to rewind the tape to decipher what it was exactly that he did there to his victim.
His biggest problem is that he’s too predictable in his play right now and that’s hurting his game.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that one of his best games was against the best PL defender, VVD , and Liverpool earlier on, when most PL clubs hadn’t seen him play before.
Imagine that we had Ramsey on 250k weekly on our books, along with Mesut Ozil on 350k weekly.
That’s 600k weekly on two players that cannot really play together and don’t make out midfield whole. That 600k weekly can easily pay the wages of 4-5 solid midfielders.
Thanks to Raul for making the necessary and tough decision to let Ramsey go.
Hands up who misses Jack Wilshere?
Exactly!
Pepe reminds me of that school kid in the playground who would dribble around as many players as possible, only to go back in reverse and try and to do it all over again.
He has to learn to be more precise in his decision making.
Sort that out and we have a special player.
Un Spot on about ESR. He is definitely the top academy product alongside Saka. Bags of potential but has been really unlucky with his injuries. Nelson under Arteta when played on the Right wing reminded of his Australian preseason where he was outstanding. Emery and Nagelsmann both tried to use him on the left which is clearly not his best position. He is great when running in a straight line. Val How long are you going to kid yourself that Unai was Raul’s decision alone? Gazidis was the top man then and Raul and Sven and Vinai were on the… Read more »
Un
My fav. goal same as yours.
Pepe will be better than Mo Salah, with a better #10 beside him or quality CM in a 433 with Saka on the right thats a CL winning combination
You heard it here 1st!
I have high hopes that ESR will start to target the no 10 role. At first as deputy to Ozil but as Ozll discovers new sicknesses he will play more and more. Put him behind the new front 3 and it could be great.
Actually even if we sell Torreira along with Auba and Laca we can still put out an eventual top 11
Leno
Bellerin
Tierney
Saliba
Mari / Luiz
Guendouzi
Xhaka (unfortunately)
Smith Rowe
Pepe
Martinelli
Saka
Nelson, Balogun , Miguel Aziz and maybe Greenwood (maybe another year) all knocking on the door
Payment options post pandemic.
2m social distancing = £200per match ticket.
3m social distancing = £300 per match ticket.
4m “ “ = £400 “ “ “
Just a thought 🙏😷🍺
I hate the way he left and do not hold too much respect for him now, but Nasri scored some belters for us.
Two of my many favourite goals from the mast decade were his, against Porto in the Champions League where he took the ball around 3 or 4 players before slotting home near the by line.
Another one sticks in the memory against Fulham, he again took it around 2 or 3 players, dummied to shoot at least twice fooling the opposition and then blasting home.
Un
Yes Ozil
Very close second is the team goal against Leicester last season.
“Hands up who misses Jack Wilshere?Exactly!🙋🏻♂️🙋🏻♂️