Players return

by .

Well happy Friday to you ALL.

Not a lot in the news today. A couple of journos saying Arsenal are interested in Thomas Partey, but the club doesn’t have the cash at the minute. SHOCKER. It’s exactly the same issue standing between me and Mercedes-Benz SL ‘Pagoda’ and a house in Saint Tropez.

Think that’ll be the theme around Europe this summer. Which is why I find it weird we’re also being linked with Tagliafico for £20m. I think even those numbers are excessive for the moment.

That we’re being linked with a left-back is odd just in general, unless the club is sure that Tierney is going to be a problem in the long term. He’s quite young to be written off as a crock, but we have been here before with plenty of players. Still don’t understand why we’d look for an expensive left-back if we have Saka. Martinelli makes the most sense on the left of midfield next year and if Saka is a top 3 left-back in the Premier League, it’d be odd to remove him. Do what you’re good at, not what you’d like to be good at (AMN rings a bell here).

Training appears to have started at most clubs, Kante is the latest to refuse to train, with Deeney as yesterday’s big name to say NO. I wonder what the deal is at Arsenal? Any dropouts? Mesut, Xhaka and a couple of the others have young kids and seem to spend a lot of time with family. Be interesting to see how this shapes over the next few weeks.

I’m also very excited to see how we come back. Arteta took over a burning heap of shit, now he’s had two months of ZOOM lessons with the players, now he’ll basically have 4 weeks of intensive preseason like Emery did when he first joined. Can he get an improved response?

*prays to god*

He’ll have all the component parts he lacked at the start. All his defenders will be back in the mixer, which will give him the power and pace he needs from wide positions and also the recovery pace we’ve lacked at times. He’ll technically have ‘first half of the season’ Mesut Ozil, which usually does a lot better. We’ll also have drilled youngsters. They’ll all be a little bit smarter, more confident, and hopefully, fitter.

We’re moving from a ‘plug the holes’ strategy to a more attack minded approach. Well, I hope we are. Being hard to beat is wonderful. Keeping clean sheets is a delight. However, I think the team is better than that. I’d like to see a bit more boldness to our game. We need to move the ball faster, our combination play needs to be less clunky, we need more goals. There needs to be a bit more imagination out on the pitch.

These final 10 games are important, but I don’t think we need to grind them out. We have a fully fit squad to choose from, I hope we can be more aggressive about how we approach the final games.

It’ll still be very tough to make the top 4, but not impossible. Everyone has had time with their players, all the names are returning, and some of the teams that were struggling will have long forgotten their stuttering form.

Arsenal needs to hit the ground running. Win 7 out of 10 games and we’ll be in a good position to make something happen with Europe.

What would YOU like to see for the run-in?

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Marc

Bob

“If our AM could score 10”

Did you get the decimal point in the right place there mate!

Chris

Un Can Aubameyang not adapt to this hard work, coaching, and the rest of it? Calling him a one trick pony is a bit much, even if he is, his trick is scoring a shed load of goals and he is very good at it wouldn’t you say? If he were to leave I don’t believe we can find a replacement who can immediately replicate what he brings without spending a big transfer fee. And I don’t think we will be doing that anytime soon. I must say Raul seems to have slipped up on one of his claims about… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Bob N16/Marc My personal view is that Arsenal should/must hold onto Aubameyang until the end of his contract even if it means that he leaves on a Bosman in June 2021. The way that the market is likely to operate this summer we will be lucky to secure £35 million on Aubameyang’s sale factoring in his age [32] and wages almost £200K pw. Finding a suitable replacement guaranteeing us at least 25 goals a season without spending £70 million plus is a remote possibility. If he were to stay then it would give Martinelli another season as his understudy to… Read more »

Marc

Emirates

Unless a very good offer were to come in for Auba or if he was playing up I’d keep him. If a good swap was on the cards I could go for that as well but this idea of selling both Laca and Auba to buy 2 CM’s and relying on 2 unproven kids one of whom has shown a lot of promise is madness. We’d be closer to relegation than CL football.

Emiratesstroller

For the record it is highly unlikely that Real Madrid and Barcelona would recruit a 33 year old as a first team regular even if available on a Bosman. RM offloaded Ronaldo at that age and he was a more prolific goalscorer. So my guess is that the incentive for Aubameyang to leave Arsenal will diminish at the end of his contract. This is not a player who will sulk like Sanchez and underperform if he stays next season. If Arsenal manage to upgrade other areas of our team his retention might give Arsenal the best chance of finishing in… Read more »

Marc

Un

Because we also had Bergkamp and Overmars also Anelka did not step in and make us instantly more dangerous in 97 / 98 he scored 6 goals in 26 appearances, pro rated out he wouldn’t have got into double figures.

All of that was playing without the pressure of having the expectation of getting a minimum of PL 15 goals.

Bob N16

ES, should we give up on keeping Saka? If we cannot offer him enough game time in his preferred position of LW I worry thathis agents will move him on (this could happen anyway).

If transfer values have gone down then £35 m will buy allow more value incoming .

Marc

Bob

Why can’t we offer Saka game time at LW?

Marc

Un

“We are looking for top four and chelsea, spurs and United’s attack are hardly formidable”

Really they’ve all scored more than us.

Chelsea – 51
ManU – 44
Spud’s – 47

Arsenal – 40 without Auba and Laca’s goals – 17

Marc

Un

If we sell both and do not buy a new striker we will be in trouble. I’m not saying don’t sell I’m saying you have to replace one of them if you sell both.

If Arteta sanctions it, it will see him sacked or a panic buy in the Jan transfer window to avoid getting dragged into a relegation battle.

The Godfather

Can’t wait till the EPL SEASON starts

The Godfather

Bundesliga is way too boring

Emiratesstroller

Bob N16

As I have indicated several times before I think that the agent of Saka could be the issue.

I doubt that the problem is money. It could be that the player and agent don’t want to commit to a 5 year contract, although my suspicion is that this particular agent sees the opportunity of a fat commission now that Arsenal
have allowed Saka’s contract to run down to one year.

The problem for Arsenal is that the Agent has four other current Arsenal players on his books including Nkietah and Nelson.

He is also agent of Iwobi.

WengerEagle

Guerreiro is a beast at LWB for Dortmund.

When you have fullbacks that can score you close to ten goals a season each you’re laughing.

Marc

Un

You’ve got to stop this Pepe and Martinelli are not going to score 30 PL goals next season – it is never going to happen.

To push forward we need Pepe to score more to make us better not replace what we’re already doing.

Sid

At the moment 18 yr old Martinelli, 1st season at Arsenal is performing equally if not better than laca, who would have thought

Aubas 22goals can easily be replaced between 9Saka, 9pepe, 3new AM, 7new Striker

You heard it here 1st

Marc

Emirates

If it is the agent playing games and he’s looking for Saka to walk on a free in a years time then we’ve got to play hardball – sign on, be sold or we drop him from the squad completely. He doesn’t get used in cup matches, an injury crises and isn’t allowed to even train with any other players.

Sid

Once the goals are replced we can let Tierney take the 4 penalties Auba took 2018/19

WengerEagle

‘You’ve got to stop this Pepe and Martinelli are not going to score 30 PL goals next season – it is never going to happen.’ Not that I agree with Un’s pov on cutting both our strikers loose but cast your mind back to the summer that Henry left for Barcelona. Who in their right mind with what they had seen to date from him would have backed Adebayor to score thirty goals that next season and twenty-four in the PL alone. Sometimes players that you wouldn’t expect can rise to the occasion and step-up to fill the void left… Read more »

WengerEagle

A rebuild is on the cards though so I could possibly get behind selling Aubameyang so long as he wasn’t out the door before Xhaka, Kolasinac, Ozil, Mustafi, Lacazette and Chambers AND we actually reinvested the funds in improving the XI.

I would keep him though personally, I’d sell Lacazette to generate funds along with the above list [Ozil we just need rid of]. Let him mentor Martinelli for a couple of seasons and build towards putting creative talent around for Auba’s goalscoring talent to really flourish.

Marc

Un

“16 goals between them with 10 games to go in their first season.”

No they haven’t Pepe and Martinelli have scored 7 PL goals between them this season. Now I expect both to improve but Pepe’s improvement will be to improve the team’s position not replace what’s we’re already doing. Having Martinelli as backup to either Auba or a new striker I’m fine with.

Bob N16

Marc ‘why can’t we give Saka game time on LW?

We obviously could but PEA was first choice on LW, followed by Martinelli. I’m not sure if PEA isn’t most effective coming in from the left. We could sell Laca, put PEA down the middle then it’s a toss up between Saka and Martinelli to play down the left.

Marc

Bob

Bearing in mind we’re all playing a huge dose of armchair manager I’d sell Laca or use him in a swap deal, I’d play Auba through the middle and let him roam across the front line with Pepe and Saka wide and use Martinelli as back up striker.

If Martinelli is tearing it up – fantastic we know our first choice striker for the next 10 years.

Marc

Un

Yes he has 17 which pro rated out over 28 games is 23 which is golden boot territory.

Pepe and Martinelli DO NOT HAVE 16 PL goals between them it’s 7. Pepe has 4 and Martinelli has 3.

You’re measuring Auba on the PL and Pepe and Martinelli on all competitions.

HillWood

Auba is 30yrs old
His contract runs till 2021
I’d hate to lose another player on a free
Cash in on him now for whatever is the current market value

Marc

Hillwood

Fine but would you buy a replacement striker?

Bob N16

Marc, Martinelli’s figures are much lower than they would be if he was a regular starter. Pepe’s strike rate is sure to improve. Do agree with selling Laca but it’s going to piss me off if PEA goes on a free and is able to negotiate with a new club on 1st Jan. I would sell PEA if the the offer is big enough. Hope PSG don’t manage to do a deal for Icardi and splash the Qatari cash on PEA. If we do sell both, which I’d probably go with I’d hope we could get say a 22 year… Read more »

Marc

Bob

My argument has only been that we can’t sell both and not bring in a new striker. The squad does not currently have the goals in it.

Bob N16

I would make a fully fit Bellerin ( fingers crossed) captain. It would be a very young squad, inexperienced but with bundles of potential.

Let’s go for it!

Bob N16

I appreciate that Marc.

The trick would be to bring someone in who fits both on and off the pitch. You could possibly go for a more experienced CF but I’d rather go full on ‘project youth’.

Dissenter

Marc
‘ Fine but would you buy a replacement striker?’

You would need a replacement striker next season regardless, then you’ll be doing it without the proceeds of an Auba transfer.
This issue is fundamentally simple. If we aren’t capable of learning from the Sanchez/Ozil/Ramsey mistake, then we deserve all the decay that comes our way.
No ifs, ands or buts….his contract has one year left…he won’t extend ; SELL

Bob N16

Edouard and Partey for PEA and Laca?

Northbanker

I’m with the crowd on this Option 1 we sell Auba for what we can get. – which if an auction arises could be more than reported Option 2 he rinds his contract down and we get al of the tail end onerous liabilities in his contract with no residual value And he doesn’t perform at the levels seen previously Option 3 we extend and commit to a 3 year onerous contract and still no residual value but witness a declining force as he ages I don’t know why anyone thinks if we’re to rebuild Arsenal anything other than Option… Read more »

Northbanker

And Lacazette needs to go for whatever sum or swap value we can get irrespective of Auba going

Marc – this isn’t just about next season but rebuilding on a sustainable basis for the future

Marc

Northbanker

Laca does need to go.

I’ve now said about 30 times I’m not against selling Auba but if we do we have to buy a replacement.

Marc

Un

In a years time Martinelli might be ready to take on the mantle as first choice striker but for next season it would be a gamble of negligent proportions.

Marc

Northbanker

“this isn’t just about next season but rebuilding on a sustainable basis for the future”

Yes but if we don’t get CL football soon you’ll start to see all of these great young players we have leave. We’ve got ManU a basket case, Chelsea have an inexperienced manager and the Spud’s have Mourinho and the stadium debt – if we don’t make it now we’ll miss the opportunity.

Samir

If we lose Auba and Lacazette ;
What about Gabriel Jesus?

HillWood

No crowd
Less pressure for the kids
Arteta more knowledgeable about them
Lacca
Martinelli
Nketia
Pepe
Saka
Nelson

Combination -should have a couple of goals in them

Ustyno

I do think if we struggle to get a reasonable amount of money for Auba,he runs his contract while Martinelli understudies him as the deputy next season and by the upper season when Auba walks away Martinelli would have gotten atleast 2 years of premiership experience and then leads the team

Might not really sound great,but we try to see if we can get champions league next season with Auba still leading.

As for Lacazette he should be sold either for money or exchange this season,that way his wage is gone or perhaps reduced if someone is brought in

izzo

100% agree with Un. We need to move forward. Auba and Laca should be sold and replaced with a more experienced but young prolific striker than Martinelli and Nketiah and the remaining money from sales of other players reinvested into the entire center midfield which needs replacing.

WengerEagle

I mean were we to sell both Aubameyang and Lacazette, we would definitely need to bring in a twenty goal minimum marksman up top. Of how many of those are currently on the market, not an abundance exactly. Some potential options include Duvan Zapata, Lautaro Martinez, Mauro Icardi, Ben Yedder, Timo Werner, Kai Havertz, Haaland, Memphis Depay. Out of that list, Haaland along with Havertz, Werner and Martinez are pie in the sky options as they are all heading on to become world class players and will join Europe’s elite. I don’t see any of Zapata, Icardi or Ben Yedder… Read more »

izzo

I would give Leverkusen whatever money they ask to get Kai Havertz into our midfield. Nothing wrong with us snatching him before Bayern.

Emiratesstroller

For the record Aubameyang has scored one more goal than he did after 28 games in EPL last season. I would remind those who are keen to offload him that he won golden boot last season. No-one will argue if Aubameyang chooses to move to Real Madrid or Barcelona, but that is unlikely to happen. I don’t see either of them coming in for a 31 year old player and offering a decent transfer fee I don’t see PSG coming in to buy him either. They are trying to offload Cavani. So realistically the only other clubs who might come… Read more »

Marc

izzo

What is they want £50 million and our transfer budget is £15 million.

Marc

Emirates

We might actually see in the current climate that any offer we make is the best financial offer he has available.

bennydevito

Anfield 89 right now on ITV Grovers!

Marc

Un

If he’s so useless who are you going to sell him to for big money?

HillWood

For the record
Relying on one individual to get most of your goals is not a great approach
We need a style of play to get whatever combination of our current youngsters scoring more between them
And don’t forget we’re skint

WengerEagle

Unn He’s far from perfect and I agree with you that ultimately we need better than Aubameyang up top to be competitive in the future but come on mate, he’s just about the last player on the XI that we need immediate improvement on. He’s scored against Spurs, United and Chelsea this season which isn’t a terrible big game record. And let’s face it, it’s far more important for where we are right now that we just have a guy that can score against sides outside of the top six as that’s who you play the vast majority of your… Read more »

WengerEagle

HW

Sharing goals throughout the team is always the best approach, agreed.

Even in the glory years we were far too reliant on Thierry’s goals. Thankfully the man was made of iron and rarely if ever got injured besides his last season and even then you do wonder how many of those missed games he could have played in as he’d mentally checked out the summer we lost the CL Final.

Bob N16

ES, the main reason for ‘off loading him’ is not because he isn’t an outstanding goalscorer but that he’s got one year left on his contract. We know that our transfer budget is an issue so there has to be a strong argument for selling. If you argue that we won’t get that much for him in the present climate then the counter argument is that transfer fees for incoming players will also be reduced. If the management can offload a sufficient number of players to generate enough funds, as well as considerably reducing our wage bill then great, we… Read more »

Marc

Un

OK If he’s such a one dimensional player who are you going to sell him to for big money?

Marc

Bob

The counter argument is you sell Auba for £25 million (for example) and finish 5th but what if keeping him for a season means we get CL football and then lose him on a free? We’ve lost a £25 million sale but earnt an extra £50 million in revenue, it’s also easier to recruit better players on lower wages with the attraction of CL football so we’re actually millions better off.

izzo

@Marc just sell players to make up the fee. We have a lot of players that need to go. The squad needs to be trimmed down.

Marc

izzo

Great who’s going to match the wages of Xhaka, Mustafi and Kolas so we can sell them?

izzo

We have a lack of quality in midfield and GOALS and Kai brings that at 20 years old. That’s our Ozil replacement.
Pedro has harped on about bringing in elite young talent well they won’t be cheap but if they’re worth it go the extra mile and get them. If we can manage getting two or three and get rid of the wasters we will be better off moving forward into the future.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

That Kruger league is very fucking hard to predict

Done me bollocks last two weeks…

izzo

All players have to take pay cuts with covid still a thing so saying they can’t be moved because of their current salaries makes no sense. There are clubs out there for every player. Now is the time for those in charge of transfers at the club to do what they’re fucking paid for.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Let get this straight

This Kai lad
Ain’t .. is not .. will never be an arsenal player
Ipso facto.

Up 4 grabs now

Keep Auba and Laca.

Play 442 with pepe and saka on the wings.
All you then need to do is buy a mobile midfielder to replace Mr concrete boots.
If you have wingers you don’t need full backs bombing on leaving only two in defence when caught on the break.

You actually play with a back four.

Your welcome.

Freddie Ljungberg

https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/transfer-news/30m-plus-mesut-ozil-arsenal-18301873

Delusional to the extreme to think we can get Havertz for 30m + Ozil.

I mean if Havertz was only worth 10m maybe they would agree to that deal but not very likely atm is it, smh.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

We should lump in
Joe Wilcox
Esr
John jules
Martinelli
As our front 4 very soon.

Up 4 grabs now
Bob N16

Marc, I get that CL qualification is vitally important and PEA would obviously be a major contributor to a top 4 finish if he were to stay. By selling him it could potentially allow us to significantly improve our CM which might make CL equally likely. However I’m unaware of a parallel universe to check both options out! I’m just sick of seeing a top player going on a free so I would take my chances and sell, particularly given our young, quality players coming through. If the club choose not sell PEA and we qualify for the CL with… Read more »

WengerEagle

Hard pass on Gotze, he’s finished at the top level.

Can’t get near Dortmund’s eleven.

Bob N16

Up4grabs, who are your two CM players in that 4-4-2 line up because there going to have be serious box-to-box players?

Marc

Freddie

Good grief – what on earth makes people think Ozil’s going to walk away from a guaranteed £18 million.

izzo

John Jules??? Balogun is the only striker that can make the step up to the first team. Sorry to diappoint Nketiah fans but the lad is not it. Does’t have the aggression or overall attributes to lead the line and those tap ins don’t make him worth it. Watch Martinelli and then watch Nketiah and decide who you’d rather keep. Seen enough of him and I don’t get the constant inclusion of him in our strike force.

Trask

No matter how good Auba is, you don’t let him run down his contract if you can regain some sort of meaningful value for him Keeping him to get a champions league spot is not a given either. It wasn’t last season and sure doesnt look likely this season. So if the club misses out on champions league football again next season, it then also misses out on 35ish million quid. In these times? Sell and we end up close to relegation waters eh? Well what’s the difference between that and the current midtable mediocrity. I’m looking at Raul closely… Read more »

Up 4 grabs now

Wengereagle,
Just cause he can’t get into Dortmund side which is better than us, doesn’t mean he’s finished.
Still better than anything we have mate, and on a free at 27.

If money is tight might not be a bad punt?

Marc

Bob

As I’ve now said repeatedly I don’t have an issue with selling Auba but we’d have to replace him. In the current climate I don’t see how we get enough money to replace him and then have excess cash to spend on CM.

izzo

Lol Ozil has a year left he can sit on the bench all season and take his 18 million and fuck off for all i care. I’m just relieved its a year left and the unthinkable like giving him an extended contract isn’t happening.

Up 4 grabs now

Bob,

That’s why you need to save all your money for midfielders.
Even if you had two high energy players who aren’t the most creative but can find a forward pass, we can get by.

Either that or its defensive midfielder and a box to box midfielder, ala petit and Vieira or gilberto and Vieira.

Trask

No need to dream, even think of Havertz.

No sort of permutation is bringing him to AFC

Aint happening

Wanna get a similarish midfielder? – Szoboszlai

The club should be able to get him for cheap considering the ridiculously low amount Halland went for

izzo

I do wonder about Kai though. He’s captain at a Leverkusen at such a young age. Yeah think he won’t be moving for at least 5 years or more.

Bob N16

Marc ‘in the current climate’ works both ways. If we get less for PEA, we’ll have to pay less for our incoming targets.

Up4grabs, I see your thinking but at a time when our CM is clearly inadequate, to play essentially four attacking players would require two very efficient, mobile CMs. If we can acquire two, great but we’d have to sell Xhaka as he wouldn’t be right for the role as well as Torreira doesn’t have the legs, Guendouzi and Willock are very much ‘works in progress’, Ozil couldn’t play there and Ceballos is on his way!

Up 4 grabs now

Bob,

Our midfield isn’t really fit for purpose.
I like guendouuzi with a quality midfielder along side him I think he’d be fine. We just don’t have any!

Why they didn’t accept the 20 odd million for xhaka in January is the biggest mystery off all time.

He is fit for nothing.

Marc

Bob

We’re selling a 31 year old on £200k per week with a year left on his contract- to achieve the equivalent drop on purchases we’ll have to look at players other teams are looking to unload or unknowns.

This really isn’t as simple as people are making out. Sell him – all you’ve got to do is manage to buy a striker who’ll get a minimum of 15 PL goals and have cash leftover to buy a CM.

Marc

“Why they didn’t accept the 20 odd million for xhaka in January is the biggest mystery off all time.”

Please don’t remind me.

Up 4 grabs now

Un,

We really miss santi. Just a feeling about goetze but think he could do well for us.

Think he’d like to try the premier league and wouldn’t want stupid money.
If we can pay xhaka or mustafi 100k a week Goetze wouldn’t turn that down.
Somebody solid alongside him would work a treat.

Up 4 grabs now

The other thing about a 442
Is that if you have mobile midfielders and full backs that aren’t half way up the field out of position, you don’t need a defensive midfielder as such, as you have 4 players back actually defending.

Bob N16

Up4, I can’t remember which game it was last season but I left the ground thinking Guendouzi should be made captain there and then. That being said, I’m still uncertain if he is going to make it. He seems one paced, too often wants to receive the ball too close to the player in possession and gets caught with the ball too regularly. Opposition coaches must enjoy highlighting this last failing in particular.

Coaching should help his progress but I think we need midfielders who are top physical specimens, dynamic as well as technically good.

Marc

Un

No it’s not £71 million in the bank – it’s a reduction in costs of actually £28 odd million and £45 million in the bank.

If I don’t renew my season ticket that doesn’t mean I’ve suddenly got an extra £1500 in the bank – it just means I’m not spending money that I expected to.

Marc

Bob

One of the things we miss is leadership, a player like Guendozi needs a player alongside to help guide him and when necessary give him a kick up the arse during play.

Thorough

We all thought Pepe was beyond our reach last year too. See how that turned out? To move this team forward we need to buy players that even if they’re the only singular player we sign in that summer, it would have been worth it. If we have any ambition we would at least try for Kai.

Thorough

Bob N16.
That has to be Aston Villa. He took the match by the scruff and singlehandedly drive the team forward.

Bob N16

Marc, agree that Guendouzi would benefit from the right partner in midfield. Too early to say but I get the impression he is a very confident 20 year old and it would need a strong player alongside him to make him listen.

Bob N16

Thorough, I think you’re right. It was an outstanding motm performance.

Bob N16

Unai, as has been said many times, there’s a snowball’s chance in hell of Ozil walking away from AFC without being paid a sizeable chunk of his final year’s contract. That’s not to say AFC couldn’t save themselves a good chunk of change though by going down this unlikely route.

We would obviously have to sell PEA first otherwise his agent might want to get a similar deal to Ozil which would not be great!

Marc

Un

Not when we’re losing money because we don’t have CL football. It just means out potential loses are reduced.

Marc

Un

Whoa I never said we won’t make CL for next season – it won’t be easy but there’s 30 points available.

The big questions are which teams will come back motivated and how much difference will empty stadiums have?

The first round of matches in Germany showed a statistical swing reducing home advantage – we’ve got 4 home matches and 6 away.

We get CL football for next season and it’s a different conversation.

Valentin

If PSG were so inclined, I would take Draxler + £25 millions vs Aubameyang.
Straight away we solve two problems. We have a player who can play LW (sharing the position with Saka) and Martinelli can get time as striker.
The £25 millions can then be used to get an upgrade on Xhaka.

Marc

Un

Strangely the most amazing stat from the first round of matches in Germany is the huge effect 1 dimensional players had!

Trask

CL qualification?

High level of ‘opiumism’ right there

Valentin

I would say that any team that does not risk relegation and does not think it can get Europe is not going to be motivated. Some may even not be motivated to get into Europe. If our players are really motivated we may even make Champion’s League football. However I doubt that Champion’s League football could start until December. Usually European pre qualifier starts in August, but this time with leagues not yet completed, Every would be postponed by a few months. it may even be postponed to next calendar year if some European governments don’t want fans travelling in… Read more »

Marc

Un

Unfortunately we don’t have any!

Guns of SF

Why are we so determined to look in Europe all the time? Surely there are gems out there in other countries and continents

South America
Africa!

If we are going the cheap youth route since we are broke, then why not explore these areas??? Gaby has friends and Edu has the hook up in Brazil.

Let us not close the door on anything. Keep and open mind.

Northbanker

I do wonder in all of the forward Line-ups we’re discussing whether Pepe is really a right winger. He is so predictable there being so one (left) footed Which men’s that defenders know he’s going to cut inside. So maybe he would be better at LW but I’d also like to see what he would be like at CF. It’s a role i think he could be devastating in.

Northbanker

Means