Quite the scene in America at the moment. I walked through the protests yesterday, I’ve never felt sadness in the air like it. I hope everyone can stay safe and out of trouble this evening, it sounds like it’s going to be a very unpleasant weekend.
Onto the football.
The Premier League will be back, as will a lot of other live sports. We might not have normality in the streets, but the level of content on the TV is about to notch up a couple of levels.
The clubs themselves are doing a good job keeping the case numbers incredibly low. There have been a few cases, but in the main, the ramp-up in testing is doing the job.
Arsenal players look fit and raring to go. They all seem very excited to be back. There’s nothing quite like playing football in the sunshine. This will be the first-ever Premier League game in June. I’m so excited. A summer of football. It’s just a shame we can’t drink in bars to watch the games.
As it stands, Arsenal has 3 games in the books. We have our first game, versus Manchester City on the 17th, then we’re straight into the weekend to play Brighton. I wondered if that was a disadvantage, but likely not. Having a bit more fitness in the legs will probably work for the players.
We also have an FA Cup game against the very impressive Sheffield United on June 27th. The final will be August first this year. We’d normally be pissing around on a foreign tour at that point. Imagine not being able to attend an FA Cup final? Or winning one without a crowd?
There are 5 subs allowed this time round, but you only get 3 goes at making them. This could open up space for some of the kids to impress. From what I understand, the club is very excited about a couple of kids that aren’t widely known by the public. Matt Smith and Trae Coyle have both been seen training with the first time, not sure if that’s just a standard rotation, or it means bigger things… but as the belt buckles tighten, you’d imagine Arteta might see this final run of ten games as a great chance to let some of them shine.
It’s important to note that we will likely take these games a little differently. I mean, that’s what I’m guessing. The manager is working with new information in a new reality. The game is different, the club will have less money, certain players will not be allowed to stay on at the club even if he wants them. That’ll change the psychology of some of the players. They might feel despondent… or they might need to play for their careers because landing a contract elsewhere has also become exponentially harder.
If Luiz is going, how much game time will he land? If there’s no future for Lacazette, does Eddie get the nod for the last batch of games? How will he approach youth?
So many questions that’ll be answered in about 18 days!
Short one today, stay safe my darlings. x
1
2
3
Boom!
hi
Arsenal!
Graham62May 30, 2020 14:26:59
SidArteta doesn’t come across as “ a meek lamb”On the contrary, he seems to have that look that says ‘mess me around at your peril’.
Looks can be deceiving, actions speak louder than looks
Sid, actions have been consistently loud. Matteo G, AMN, Pepe… not sure you’re paying attention if you think he’s meek.
Those are small fry, Laca will be on the team sheet after the balloon incident, you can take that to the bank.
but as the belt buckles tighten, you’d imagine Arteta might see this final run of ten games as a great chance to let some of them shine.
There’s absolutely no way some kids training with the first team will see game time with a European football and a cup still to play for. Absolutely no way.
European football?
I think Arteta looks tough but is a little puppy inside.
have yet to see anything tough about him- coaching wise or otherwise
I want to see a shift in the way we lineup.
Tierney + Saka down the left
Bellerin + Pepe/Nelson down the right
Aubameyang centrally.
Then play with two No8s, we need a midfielder who gets into the box, which should spell the end of Ozil, and opportunity for Willock.
Is the Championship coming back? If not does Smith-Rowe come back into the group for this season?
All the cops should be charged with joint enterprise murder.
Can’t blame the good folk out there going mad with rage
Nothing changes .
Destroy and destruct until it does people.
Its protests against police brutality.
Others join in for their own reasons… the looters and such.
If you really watch, its the protesters and rioters versus police.
Thankfully here in California it has not been as bad.
That can change though quite fast. Oakland is ready to riot all the time.
Rich
We should go back to
Four four fucking two again.
Or play with a sweeper
Don’t see the game against Brighton in my trusty FotMob app. City followed by Sheffield United in FA Cup. Hmmm…
https://www.gofundme.com/f/pro-bono-representation-of-houston-protestors
Thanks Pedro, good post, from across the pond the US once again looks in complete disarray, I also sincerely hope no further lives are lost. Donnie mobilising the national guard is very worrying. Onto the footie, great to see it coming back, the City game is a good test for MA and a squad with a lot of question marks over it. I’d start Mari from here on out, get him used to the league, Luiz is clearly going so should now only play in the event another CB is unavailable. I’d prefer Holding for the moment as he also… Read more »
Great question.
Can Saliba play now?
would like to see Soares get some time … if he does well, bye bye Bell
Guns very true, Soares is another one we need to see on the pitch with extended minutes, particularly if both Bellerin and AMN are off this summer.
My personal preference would be to stick with both Hector and AMN, but I’m always biased when it comes to academy players.
It’s possible especially in the case of AMN that a change of scenery is whats needed to reach his full potential.
Anyone watching the Bayern game, Alaba plays CB now, talk about versatility!
Saliba not registered- unavailable.
Saliba will end up having a decent break and consequently hopefully a great pre season.
He has had a glowing reference from his boss at St.Etienne, despite him due to leave them he had his best season yet according to them.
Ah ok fair enough, thanks Bob
Absolutely Chris, the next few months will be very beneficial for him in terms of integrating with his team mates and Arteta’s methodology. I think he should be first choice CB next season regardless of whoever else we keep at the back to partner him.
8000 new cases a day being reported in the U.K.
We are in a very delicate place.
Hospital appointments being cancelled for other
complaints because they fear a second wave.
And there we are today with the beaches and parks packed.
What a football club, Bayern Munich are.
5 zero.
8th successive title in the bag.
(Champions league q/f await )
Players still hungry for more.
The club Arsenal should aspire to be.
The English Bayern Munich.
But alas ,Arsenal just an investment vehicle for KSE and a plaything for young Josh to cut his teeth on.
What a waste.
James
It’s worse than that – we need to start reopening the economy or there won’t be anything left to restart and these morons are ignoring the social distancing advice etc.
CG, an investment vehicle that has a bloated wage bill and has massively overspent on players for the last 5 years.
Pedro
“has massively overspent on players for the last 5 years.”
It’s not how much we’ve spent it’s who we’ve spent a lot of it on that’s the problem.
Marc, I don’t deny that… but let’s be honest, if Stan were using Arsenal to make money, spunking millions on shit players isn’t the way.
CG constantly clutching at something to complain about.
We have a young exciting manager, some really exciting U21 players coming through, and a summer that’s going to force us to move on the dross.
I’m pretty excited to be an Arsenal fan… even if Arteta does wear athleisure.
CG – Bayern are well run when they are not bogged down by the politics of the board/Bayern old boys.
Perfect balance of experience and young talent. Just looking at it from this match alone, they really are a relentless hard working team. For sure admirable qualities.
Pedro – 100% correct, another reason I hope we’re not players in free agency(Willian) or the loan market(Coutinho).
We really don’t need to shed wages just to take on more bloated contracts.
Pedro
What Kroenke is guilty of is allowing Wenger and Gazidis to much power with little or no scrutiny. Something I think is being altered now.
Good to see the betting industry open up fully with U.K. racing
from Monday.
PedRo “”CG, an investment vehicle that has a bloated wage bill and has massively overspent on players for the last 5 years.””””‘ Concur. Thats because we have owners that are not at all interested. Its the supporters money,ultimately thats is being wasted. (Their investment is pretty rock solid.They will walk away investment enhanced and intact.) And I’ll predict we will overspend in the next 5 years too if they take the same level of interest. And the next 5 years after that too. I just wonder, had 10 years ago- KSE taken over Bayern Munich instead of Arsenal what type… Read more »
I just wonder, had 10 years ago- KSE taken over Bayern Munich instead of Arsenal what type of club they would have become?
I mean they couldn’t but had they I imagine they’d still be perennial champions as they’ve mostly always been.
It’s probably past CG at this point but I’d bet any amount that had we binned off Wenger several years prior we’d be a much better and healthier place than we are right now. Without a doubt especially had we appointed Klopp in 2015 instead of giving the scrot another contract
James
1,600 new cases today and I have an MIR scan next week.
Scaremongering.
Gotta love Bayern Munchen. They pay out so much.
Took 1st half asian handicap on them once they went 1-0 up.
Nice touch on the Czech team today as well Viktoria Plzen another 1st half AH bet.
Marko
It’s quite amazing how CG can scrutinize every penny that’s badly spent since Wenger left but can’t see just how bad things had gotten under him and the amount of money pissed up the wall.
According to the ZOE website which is much more informative than the rubbish turned out in the Government press conferences, the number of infections in England dropped by 17% last week. The Oxford vaccine experiment is jeopardised by there possibly not being enough active cases . At some stage we need to reopen the country. If people behave responsibly ( which the majority have) we should keep R suppressed and can move on. My wife was in hospital at the height of the infection – mid- April- and I was impressed how well organised the hospital was. Her ambulance came… Read more »
CG. – its not about supporting KSE, its supporting our club and as Pedro says despite the negatives there loads to be positive about. So stop being a whiny moaner and get on with finding the positives if you care about AFC
Pedro
Mattie stories
Henry
Hope everything turned out OK with your wife.
The story about the Oxford vaccine trails and lack of possible cases to get through testing was on the Sky News website last week – it lasted about a day.
If it’s a bad news story or a potential government fuck up it’s up for weeks.
When all this is over the press are going to be bitching when an independent body is set up to oversea them. Their behavior throughout this has been disgusting and reckless.
Northbanker
CG hates Arsenal and everything to do with us – his support is purely directed to Wenger. If Wenger had been able to get another job in management he’d be on here daily talking about how great team “X” were doing – whether it was true or not.
Henry,
For those still arguing that the UK government has been a beacon of competence, the FT that renowned leftie ragsheet has published a scathing indictment of the number of deaths in the UK due to the dithering of our politicians.
https://www.ft.com/content/6b4c784e-c259-4ca4-9a82-648ffde71bf0
I do expect the conservatives newspapers to wait for the end of Corona virus crisis to start baying for our supremely incompetent buffoon PM head, but they are really preparing their argument against him.
Once BREXIT done, all bets are off with regards to his premiership tenure survival.
Valentin
It’s going to take a long time for the “facts” to come out about this and that’s not just for the UK. At the moment we have deaths being included where no test has been done but “Covid” is included on the death certificate.
Personally I can’t understand how someone can be ill enough to die from something but a) not be tested for it when we’re testing well over 100,000 a day and b) not be taken into hospital before they die when we have spare capacity in critical care beds at the moment.
Am i right in thinking we have more away games left than home? If so this distortion of home advantage could be very good news.
Bayern Munich have a revenue of €750 million Dortmund €317 million Schalke €243 million. Bayern borrowed $336 million over 25 years for their stadium, they paid it off in 9 years, they have minimal debt thought to be less than €40 million. Bayern have a wage bill off €336 million, Dortmund €160 million It’s hardly a fair fight, Bayern can pick off almost any player they want from inside the Bundesliga, and there’s few clubs on the plant that can compete with them financially. We’re competing with City, United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs who all have similar or far superior financial… Read more »
Northbanker
4 home 6 away
@Rich
Agree with you about Bayern. That’s why klopps achievements with Dortmund aren’t appreciated enough outside their own fans. Bayern have been buying the league for years
Marc, For a few number of patients the progression is quite rapid. One of my colleague lived with her nan. Her grandmother was frail but OK, with no underlying condition. She felt tired and started to cough. She died the same day she was admitted to hospital. She died within 48 hours of starting to show symptoms. Somebody else relative died overnight. Until very recently, unless a coroner requested an autopsy none of the people dying outside of an hospital were tested. That is exactly why the epidemy that ravaged the care home was missed. That is why the excess… Read more »
Medley has been promoted to 1st team training.
If Luiz goes back to Benfica he is being asked to take a £38,000 per week reduction. That figure doesn’t seem right. Luiz is currently on £120,000 PW with us. Benfica have, reportedly, a £32,000 PW salary cap. If Benfica’s salary cap is correct Luiz is looking at an £88,000 pw drop in pay. We’ll see how much that effects his “dream” move.
The America is really showing its ugly side to the world. That’s what you get having a racist as the president.
Nelson
Yes indeed. Police brutality is rampant here in America. The president is a racist dim wit. He condones things like this, causes chaos and runs the country like a dictator. People are fed up. This will be his undoing for sure. Also, I do hope that someone has the guts and courage to enact change thoughout the country when it comes to police brutality. There has to be a purging.
The entire country has had enough.
Its about justice — before peace…..
Some are protesting with this cause others taking advantage. its typical of any riot…
Trump is a racist fool. A tool. scum
I really hope we see a lot of movement this summer, in so tired of this squad I’m curious to see how mari does tbh. I haven’t got an opinion on him but it seems that Arteta thinks highly of him. He’s very big and also reasonably young so at that price if he’s actually a good player that would be nice to see him signed permanently. Even if he’s only a solid backup I’d be very glad to have him. No more mustafi or sokratis please I wonder how good that PSG 17 year old AM is? Haven’t seen… Read more »
Yeah at the end of the day, Americans voted in a horrendously bad human being for president. There’s surely no one who’s actually surprised that the country is now on fire?
There are zero redeeming qualities about the man, he’s really just an awful human. But people hated hillary even more and now due to pig headedness half the country still can’t admit that trump is a national disgrace.
He doesn’t need to be competent, successful or a good person to maintain his popularity. Just be bombastic and say he’s a republican and that’s half the country on side.
Part of the problem in America is they keep lining up awful choices for president. Hillary vs trump was like choosing between eating dog or cat shit.
But at the end of the day people voted for the cat shit and can’t complain they’ve got nuts stuck in their teeth now, so they just smile and say it still tastes good
Correction dog shit and bat shit, they went for bat shit full of pathogens
China, 8 years of Obama wasn’t a bad decision.
Obama was like Freddie ljungberg managing arsenal, too late to save the sinking boat
This thing is not only about race its about inequality, covid19 has been the catalyst, if its swept under the carpet at some point it will erupt once more.
Billionares is the new tyrants
You heard it here 1st!
“If that is the case, it will have been a very expensive deal for us. We paid Chelsea a transfer fee of £8m, and my understanding is that the agent’s fee for this deal was extremely high (we’re still waiting for the Premier League to reveal the figures clubs paid agents last year, by the way). On top of his salary, which I think is probably a minimum of £100,000 per week, we’re looking at an outlay of somewhere between £15 and £20m for one season of David Luiz.”
Scandalous.
Sid
True but this was again sadly about race and police brutality
Enough is enough
I wish Obama would give a speech to give some calm. Hope when we need it. Perspective in times of chaos.
This is the time for leadership and there is none… not surprising with dipshit trump
The hope of offloading Elneny to Besiktas has taken a bit of a hit. He is refusing to play for them until they make good the €1 million owed him in unpaid wages
You can see in the US now just a glimpse into the anger generated by years of impoverishment, enrichment of the 1%, political corruption, nationalist bullshit and lack of compassion. People see no end to this and the virus, lockdown and the threat of future generational poverty has provided the flashpoint. There is of course the racial issue here, which in America is an ongoing source of national shame, or should be. But I think this is an eruption of many years in the building, and I would be very surprised if we don’t see similar outbreaks across Europe, Africa… Read more »
The main failing of our ownership is that they stood buy and allowed Wenger and Gazidis to run the club in such a dysfunctional manner for far too long. Remember folks, this was not for one season. This was for 12 years, from the time we left Highbury. This has nothing to do with the new regime. This also has nothing to do with Emery. This is all about making the drastic changes that were desperately needed, in both the operation and the mindset, after these two individuals finally left the building. CG 🤪can harp on about how crap things… Read more »
Moray
That’s because Trump is a racist, a bigot and in general, a nasty nasty man.
What we call a recipe for disaster wouldn’t you say.
This has erupted because of a lack of leadership.
Anyone heard much about this George Lewis guy? Born in Rwanda apparently which sounds a bit fishy given our links to that country. Another Inamoto type marketing ploy?
China1
Anyone comparing Hilary to Trump is either a complete moron or was molested as a child by a real estate agent lady sporting a two piece business suit.
Hilary for all her flaws as a person and a politician was a fully competent presidential candidate running against a complete cretin not fit to hold any public office, let alone the highest one in the land.
Spanishdave19.25.
No Dave thAt was reported on BBC yesterday by a
Medical govt official.
Believe it or not I to have an MRI the week after
I have already had an ear appointment cancelled
after loosing my hearing in one ear after a serious
infection XMas.
So scaremongering on my part no.
I seriously feel figures are being used by the media
for senselisation..????.
.
Graham “””””Arteta is now holding the reigns because, for the first time in over a decade, we have someone at the helm who is being respectful to the fans.”””””” In what way is he more respectful? Did he offer his resignation overseeing the most embarrassing result we have ever suffered in European football? Or apologise to the fans? What is this respect nonsense? (Our Wenger was hugely respectful to whoever came across in his path. Loosing to the Greeks despite winning the away Leg and having Pepe, PEA,Laca and Ozil starting. Thats £200 million of players and this world class… Read more »
Pedro
Most neutral observers outside of the US don’t realize the scale of political polarization this country has been under for the last few decades or so.
The right wing media labeled the Obama administration the most corrupt in the entire history of the US , yet most conservatives sharing this view couldn’t name one example of corruption perpetrated by Obama to save their lives.
The same group considers the Trump administration the most transparent ever.
Case closed.
“It cost up to £24 million for a one season deal for David Luiz including all intermediary fees and add-ons. The justification for big money short term deals is very tricky now for Arsenal.” https://theathletic.com/1846089/2020/05/31/david-luiz-arsenal-chelsea-agents-fees-contract/?amp#click=https://t.co/laeB8Vv1Yf I like David Luiz more than most football fans, but that’s a lot of money, especially for a side that are complaining about not having enough due to lack of CL. Raul will probably get another couple of windows to run the show. He definitely has to be held accountable for the lack of successful signings since summer 2018. If you’re buddy buddy with agents… Read more »
Sanllehi is a liability and Josh needs to act asap. Put Edu in charge And a steer that he needs to build AFC organically and with astute signings paying no bloated agent fees at all. Walk away from these deals
If spending on circa 24 million on Luiz for 10 months work ( Athletic) doesn’t cost Raul his job.
Nothing will.
It will also continue to show the fans that utter contempt KSE has for them.
Because ultimately it’s the fans money.
(Stan and Josh won’ t lose out.)
I am guessing the usual KSE lapdogs and supporters will be out in force defending their 10 year and ruinous regime.
CG
🤔😄😂
“Our Wenger was hugely respectful to whoever came across his path”
No he wasn’t.
Ka-ching!!
Un
You must’ve misunderstood my post.
I said most conservatives, not right- wing nutjobs lol.
“In what way is he more respectful?Did he offer his resignation overseeing the most embarrassing result we have ever suffered in European football?” CG use your brain, he’s been in the job for months. “Loosing to the Greeks despite winning the away Leg and having Pepe, PEA,Laca and Ozil starting. Thats £200 million of players and this world class and elite coach could not defeat these twerps over 120 mins!” Yet despite being unbeaten this year before that this is the only thing you want to talk about. No positives, all negatives and vice versa for wenger. “What would your… Read more »
James go on the worldometer web site it gives dentals on every infected country in the world and updates every day.
Infections have been going down from 4000 to 1600 in the past three weeks.
The R data used by the government is three weeks old because the ONS can’t work faster!
The government said when the R factor was below 1 we could go back to normal, well it is even with care home deaths.
The government are moving the goalposts every day to suit their agenda.
How is your wife doing?
Random advice, the three P, – protect, provide, penetrate
Protect- dont let her learn the darker the berry the sweeter its juice.
Provide- a nice sausage and 2 hard boiled eggs keep the doctor away.
Penetrate- interfemoral/intercrural is no substitute to the real thing
Im telling you this for free!
Unai na ‘ the murder of George Floyd is sickening, totally unjust and the officers involved should be made an example of. Any officer kneeling on the head or neck of anyone who is unarmed and not posing a threat should carry an instant removal from police duties or worse. It’s assault’ Your comment shows your ignorance about what the BLM is all about The system is built so that cops such as these can walk away with little or no punishment despite overwhelming evidence. That’s why it happens over and over again. It’s very difficult to hold cops accountable… Read more »
Of course Unai na believes Obamagate and all the right wing nonsense that exist in the blogosphere.
Maybe he’s the fucker who tapped Trump’s campaign phone, who knows.
….but… but… Obama
That’s the only right wing defense of Trump left now.
Dissenter
Un gets his news from Facebook, Twitter and Alex Jones’ infowars.
Bless him.
To the rest of the world
Your governments are imperiled if they follow the lead of Trump’s America
His inauguration speech was titled ‘American carnage’ and that’s exactly what he’s done. America’s global leadership is all but decimated for the next 2-3 decades. All the aircraft carriers in the world cannot charge that.
His campaign slogan may just have been ‘Make China Great Again” because that’s exactly what he’s done.
Un , FYI Trump told police and other enforcement officers to be “less nice” and not to worry about injuring suspects during arrests as far back as in June 2017.
Unai na The riots started before the Trump tweet. However a leader’s job is not to douse fires with petrol. A president is supposed to find a way to SOOTHE and unify. That’s what every president before him has tried to do. You really don’t get America from so far away. Trump is a rascal who;s definitely bigoted. He had a ‘press conference’ on Friday about China and the WHO withdrawal. He didn’t utter a single public remark about the outrage many feel and ran away from the press after answering a question. There’s no place for leadership by tweeting.… Read more »
Un, Such a shame I’m gonna miss out on all the wisdom from such independent thinker like yourself.
Seems like Pedro was in the ball park regarding David Luiz cost as the athletic has it at £24 millions for one year. Even discounting the £10 annual salary, £14 millions for a one year deal is disgraceful.
I remember having a discussion here last summer with some posters who should remained unnamed about the fact that we were getting shafted by agents with exorbitant fees.
Hopefully that will open their eyes on the benefit of contact dealing.
An individual officer?
I suppose the other three were fired without a cause then.
Satan “”””CG wenger’s been in the job 22 years. 22 fricking years, the circummstances are massively different here. This was the most braindead, biased comment i have seen””””” Not as brain dead as you think. Another highly rated no. 2 ,Stewart Houston took over the reigns mid season from George Graham and steered Arsenal to a European Cup final. ( the nayim last minute final-’95) If he could do it with lesser players what’s MA excuse? If I hear the words elite or world class against Arteta’s name again – I will go seriously bonkers. He is just a promising… Read more »
The fact that people are more outraged about destruction of property than an unarmed black man being snuffed out speaks volumes. This a black person’s reality in America. Kolin Kapernick tried the non violent civil protest and failed. I am not trying to say hurt people but turning the other cheek hasn’t brought change either. May be Violence might bring change. The more I think about it, May be Malcom X was right afterall. If someone punches you punch them back. Watch Trevor Noah’s explanation of why protests almost always get out of control.
It’s funny how they’ve been rioting hard in France for over a year,, but the MSM have generally been very quiet on the situation. You’ve had the French Police and French guard on the streets of France beating the crap out of French civilians, but hardly a peep. But when they riot in America, it’s all we hear about. Macron as a liberal is largely off limits for criticism, but Conservatives are fair game. Discontent is in the air, and it’s only a matter of time before it kicks off here, the media are largely to blame, our politics is… Read more »
These riots are a terrible shame because it should’ve been widespread peaceful protests against police brutality and inherent racism in the system being propagated all the way from the top (trump) but now the opportunity has been hijacked and many who had sympathy for any movement will not any longer.
Rich how did you (and I) hear about the protests in France if macron and his protests are off limits? The irony is that in pretty much every country you have two sets of media, openly biased left and openly biased right. By pandering to the stereotype that the media is all left leaning you fail to notice how right leaning much of the worlds media is. And that is why as you say, politics is becoming more tribal – because *both* left and right sides of the media are biased as fuck, with plenty of fake news and opinion… Read more »
Case in point, the daily mail (much like Fox News) is absolute garbage. It’s so full of shit it’s almost amazing to me that people seriously indulge in such outlets
Meanwhile I was watching one of the most cringeworthy segments I’ve ever seen on CNN recently where Don Lemon was artificially adding 10 second pauses between each word to try and add significance to his words when addressing trump directly and I was just like fuck man how do people stomach this shit lol seriously
China1
The idea that there is an equivalent of Fox News on the left in the US is a bunch of bs.
The CNN and MSNBC are who got Trump elected by giving him millions of $ in free airtime, while simultaneously running countless pieces on Hilary’s missing emails.
The conservatives were going to vote Trump regardless but the undecided/ independents were mostly swayed by the so called left leaning networks who normalized Trump and made him look something he never was.