IT’S GONNA BE A BETTER DA…
Oh… lost 3-2 to Brentford did we?
But.
But..
But…
I mean, it’s a preseason game, it in no way foretells how badly we’ll get beaten by Manchester City.
The highlights felt pretty familiar. We were very sloppy for our goals. Dopey midfield switch offs, badly judged passes, a touch of laziness in certain areas.
But… we forgive. It’s a preseason game. There’s still a week to go.
One thing that is interesting to note is how the lack of atmosphere affects those games. Arsene Wenger said in one of his interviews that he felt smaller teams suffer without the fans. I watched the Brentford highlights and felt that our players looked like they’d switched off without the fans.
Either way, next Wednesday’s game is going to be tough.
Pep G is going to have a fully fit squad of players that he’s been lashing with a whip made of Messi’s 2011 hair. If we are not at the races, we’re going to get steamrollered.
The only thing keeping me going is that under Arteta, we may have dropped stinky performances, but we’re generally been difficult to beat and well disciplined. I have my doubts we’re going to allow ourselves to be opened up. This game comes with special fire for both managers. Mikel has to prove he’s not a bitch and can handle the highest level, Pep has to prove he’s still the greatest and he has to make a statement to anyone else thinking of leaving his orbit.
I’m looking forward to the game. It’ll show us how far we have to go this summer. It might also set the tone for the rest of the season. If big players don’t show up, maybe the final games are kids? If they do show up, and we pull out a good performance, maybe it’s them for the rest of the season.
This is a huge management task for Arteta. He has to motivate players that are going, he has to blood kids that are fresh, he has to build atmosphere and energy in empty stadiums, and he has to push us up the table.
It’s a big ask… but it’s a big job, so we expect delivery.
Can’t wait.
See you in the comments x
Playing for Arsenal must be a dream for certain types of players. You get paid well above your worth, get to live in a great city and have no expectations to perform. Also you can leave whenever you want, up to you!
@China –
It seems like we are in a position where 8 players could leave and be replaced by two decent players and it have no negative effect on the squad.
Marc, I find it funny that suddenly you are the champion for youth team player when before you were dead against. Last year whenever I was promoting him as a alternative to test as right back in place of Lichsteiner, you kept saying that Osei-tutu was shit (despite not having seen play). Of course now that he is getting good review in Germany it is a lot more difficult to argue against him. Keep Gaslighting people and accusing them of lying when you deliberately misconstrue their point because you know you have already lost the argument. Just last week you… Read more »
Players I feel we could let go of this summer:
Prices are estimated both on what I believe a players worth is and what the club would be capable of getting (as we are legendary for getting peanuts for our players).
Sokratis: 10-12m
Lacazette: 25-30m
Özil: 5-10m (If he would leave).
Maitland-Niles: 10-15m
Mustafi: 10m
Kolašinac: 15m
Xhaka: 15-20m
Elneny: 5-10m
Mkhitaryan: 10m
Mavropanos: 5-10m
So that is 120m-140m. Spread that out over 3 decent first team players and we are better off.
Huge cut in wages too.
Jim Lahey
You haven’t factored in the Covid-19 discount.
@Graham62 –
Yeah true, Knock 20-30m off the total maybe. But our buying power should remain the same. We sell for COVID prices we but at COVID prices.. hopefully..
I suspect that its not so easy moving AMN on because we probably pay him above market wages
Dissenter
There are worse places to start than bags of speed and a bit of experience at this level when other PL clubs look at potential young talent that might’ve failed at a top six club.
I think AMN would find another PL club with more ease than most think.
Think Clichy to City transfer….
@Tom –
“when other PL clubs look at potential young talent”
Does 23 still count as potential young talent?
Telegraph UK online stating Sores will not probably play one game for the club.
Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee Outsmarting the Market again.
Crikey- when and what will it take to get these imbecilles the sack.
They could sign Shergar and get away it.
I would count 23 as fairly young, still has at least 4-5 years till his prime
Bring all the kids in and drop all the ageing primadonnas.
Even put martinelli and neketiah as first choice strikers
Otherwise we ll member get beyond 9th
Jim Lahey When I look at your list of potential sales it is not difficult to understand why Arsenal’s wage structure is absurd and it is so difficult to shift them out of club. Ozil is paid £350K pw and both Mkhitaryan and Lacazette are being paid £180K pw. Xhaka, Mustafi and Kolasinac are all earning around £100K pw. These are wages which I would expect to pay for players who are currently playing at a higher level in Champions League. Most of these players apart from perhaps Lacazette should not even be playing at Arsenal. If they were playing… Read more »
We have experience over many years that recruiting players in January transfer
window is a mistake.
Why on earth are we bringing in yet again an injured player in Soares or more importantly paying a transfer fee for such a player who is at end of his contract in the summer?
Breaking news
Aaron Ramsey reportedly for sale after one season in italy
Roma also trying to get us for 25m€+ mkhitaryan for kluivert deal
‘Arsenal is not a massive business by any definition. It may be a major club but a £400 million annual revenue business is NOT gigantic by any stretch”’
Anyone think of a situation where each player had a different ad message on his shirt though all the shirts are designed the same?
And the coaching crew have a message on too.
Drawing money from many different organizations instead of one or two?
Could football clubs make more money that way?
Dumb idea?
According to soccerex the club still has £235m in the bank ….we aren’t as skint as some perceive,it’s only wise to trim the over bloated wages being paid out to average players and staff
Gentlebris
No football club in EPL is a large business and that includes Man Utd. They are
in reality middle order FTSE 250 size companies
Personally I find the salary scales being paid in football completely obscene and unrealistic. We are paying Ozil, Aubameyang, Lacazette and Mkhitaryan
more in a week than the Prime Minister is earning in a year!!!
Dissenter He signed on loan. At any point during his period on loan if it were offered by Arsenal and agreed by Southampton and of course the player he could have signed a permanent deal. That’s a fact. If indeed his temporary contract ( that’s what a loan is ) was turned into a permanent deal then the balance of any loan fee, whatever it was, could be waived or turned into a transfer fee. That’s another fact As things stand the period of loan wasn’t for 6 months it was till the scheduled end of the season. Southampton almost… Read more »
‘The thing is what is the repercussion for constant mistakes at Arsenal? Its nothing, more than likely you will continue to play week in, week out. Manuel Almunia, a classic example, how many points did he have to cost us before something was done?’ Arsenal are a class act. We have a superior football culture to others. And as a result, we remain the only club among the traditional top 4 without a CL trophy. Plus we have not won any major trophy in 16 years! Now we have people in charge who are so keen to continue the culture… Read more »
‘Personally I find the salary scales being paid in football completely obscene and unrealistic. We are paying Ozil, Aubameyang, Lacazette and Mkhitaryan
more in a week than the Prime Minister is earning in a year!!!’
ES,
I wanted to say just that!
How do you pay about £100m in salaries if your net profit is £35m?
Valentin
“Last year whenever I was promoting him as a alternative to test as right back in place of Lichsteiner, you kept saying that Osei-tutu was shit (despite not having seen play).”
That’s a lie – I’ve never commented on that player to say he’s good or bad.
I may have commented that he might not be ready but that’s a world away from saying a player is “shit”.
STOP FUCKING LYING!
Trap.
The sum show by Soccerex was the snapshot as at 31/5/18.
Valentin
“I find it funny that suddenly you are the champion for youth team player when before you were dead against.”
You accuse me of gaslighting etc please provide the comment where I was championing a youth player? It shouldn’t be difficult if the comment was made today or are you lying again?
Terra
How much do you reckon is available ?
Terraloon,
I am afraid that on this one you are wrong.
Arsenal could not have negotiated with Southampton a transfer fee because his contract with Southampton was ending. The only advantage of loaning him would have been to treat those six month as test period before offering him a contract.
What is not in dispute is that he did not demonstrate to the coaching staff and the management team that he was worthy of a contract at a level both parties could agree on.
Trap
How much loose change do you have?
Valentin
You haven’t answered my question – why is that?
Do you fancy Leicester falling apart and losing five games and getting draws in three😎 While we win seven games and get draws in 2?
That seems the only way we get top 4, assuming Wolves, Spuds, Sheffield and United do not win more than 5 games and not get more than 2 draws each.
bris
Remember if City’s ban is upheld or even reduced to a year 5th place will get CL football next season.
Marc, Are you now arguing that you were not against my suggestion that Emery should have used that kid instead of Lichsteiner? You really are shameless. Very early in his tenure, I stated that Emery was now doing exactly what he had been doing at PSG which was to misuse his team by getting into scrap with big ego players, sidelining them, underutilizing the youth team, then turn to them when things become difficult (which was exactly the wrong time), before performing an embarrassing U turn and try to be friend again with the big star players. You were very… Read more »
Anyone remember the last time arsenal extended a players contract without much fuss, they let the players run down their contracts till the last year and then get held to ransom, even a young kid like Saka is holding the club to ransom, look at Liverpool, already talking of extending van dykes contract, even their young kids like Alexander Arnold, no fuss in signing contracts , he was just happy to play , even the spuds don’t seem to have a problem extending contracts for the likes of Kane, son and considering we pay more than them and even Liverpool,… Read more »
Valentin
Let’s try again – when did I champion a youth player today? You’ve said I did it show me the comment.
I’d also point out that we signed Lich when your hero Mislintat was head of recruitment.
You’re so desperate to try and prove something over me you can’t stop lying.
Marc
June 12, 2020 13:12:22
Freddie,
Can we recall him [Jordy Osei-tutu] though?
Marc,
Lichsteiner was one of the player who Mislintat did not want, but Raul imposed in the name of experience.
The same guy who in the name of experience decided to hire David Luiz (Sven was already gone so you can’t blame that one on him) who cost us a few penalties.
Marc
About £3k why
‘Remember if City’s ban is upheld or even reduced to a year 5th place will get CL football next season.’
Marc,
Just prefer the certain thing. I have a feeling Citey will get out of this without a scratch. And I can’t just imagine Europa for the 4th year in a row. I mean, who could have imagined that after twenty uninterrupted years in the big boys league.
Valentin
Osei-Tutu was injured for the first part of last season. When he was fit, he was invited to train with senior squad.
Right now in Germany, Osei has played more as a right midfielder than as a defender.
I said it last season and I’ll say it again, we have a terribly unbalanced squad and until we fix that we are not going anywhere.
We have 7 center backs and none of them is world class.. 7 f*****g CBs
Joe Willock is the only decent B2B midfielder at the club..
Last season we had no natural wingers.
Valentin
Here’s the FA rules on such matters
A player registered on a Standard Loan may subsequently be permanently transferred to that Club at any time including during a Closed Period.
What are natural wingers, thought they became redundant
Valentin
“Can we recall him [Jordy Osei-tutu] though?”
You call that “championing” a young player? There was a conversation going on about alternative options for back up RB and another poster brought up a player on loan – I asked can we recall him because if we can’t or register him for the squad it’s irrelevant at this point in time.
You really are a retard.
Valentin
“ Lichsteiner was one of the player who Mislintat did not want, but Raul imposed in the name of experience.”
Do you have a source to back this up? Genuine question.
Chris
In Valentin’s fucked up little world any signing that turns out well is a Mislintat signing, even if it’s made after he left the club ie Saliba. Any signing that doesn’t work out (some don’t it’s just a fact of life) is a Sanllehi signing and made so he can bung his agent mates some cash.
If you push him you’ll actually get him to say that Ozil’s contract was down to Sanllehi!
Raul shot JFK. True story.
And RFK.
He also kidnapped the lindbergh baby.
Raul actually started ww2
He’s also responsible for faking the moon landings.
As well as starting the rumour that the moon landings were faked.
Joke Friday –
8:46 – Dave Chappelle
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3tR6mKcBbT4
Can’t wait for the EPL SEASON to start but this
juve be Milan Coppa Italia semi match is a cracker!
CRon misses a Pk and less than a minute later the ref gives a red to Milan.
Crazy !
Where is Big Head Sven these days?
Running the show at Bayern?
Nah must be Madrid, no?
Okay surely it’s at PSG?
Wait, wait my bad, he’s gotta be at
Juventus, surely?
Lol that dude was so full of his own gas that he forced his way outta Arsenal believing top club offers would be raining down …
Well enjoy life @ Stuttagart, hot stuff
The best example of a player in the PL whose loan agreement was converted into a permanent transfer was Kovacic at Chelsea
If you remember Chelsea were banned from registering players for two windows that as we know was on appeal reduced to one
Kovacic was on loan from Real Madrid to Chelsea for the 2018/19 season. The contract year ends on 30/6. Prior to that date Kovacic was still registered as a Chelsea player.
Outside a transfer window ( registration period) the two clubs and of course the player agreed to convert the loan into a permanent deal.
Teraloon ‘The best example of a player in the PL whose loan agreement was converted into a permanent transfer was Kovacic at Chelsea’ Kovacic moved from Inter to Real Madrid on a six year contract in 2015. He still had three years left on his Madrid contract when he left for Chelsea on.one year loan deal with an option to make it permanent. Madrid still owned his contract till 2021. Soares had six months left on his Southampton contract and was leaving on a Bosman in the summer. The ONLY way we could bought him on a permanent contract from… Read more »
Un
Oops , a little too soon ( funny though)
The PC brigade will be on the warpath now.
You’ll be going the same way as Basil Fawlty…..binned.
Juventus will make easy profit from two free transfer-midfielders; Rabiot and Ramsey,
Who said life was fair?
Un
It’s been nice knowing you!
Pierre
I’m not sure Pedro will stop at binned on that one!
Dissenter
Juve may have an Ozil situation with Ramsey.
Unsellable due to his astronomical wages, they would have to give him away .
Would Ramsey take a drop in wages.. debatable.
Marc
It’s a case of ” don’t mention the war” …
Pierre
You just did but I think you got away with it!
Pierre
On a serious note I have to agree on Ramsey – it’ll all come down to how much Juve want for him, how much another club is willing to pay him (no one will go close to what he’s on currently) and how much he wants to play football.
If he’s not that fussed about playing and is enjoying life in Italy they might just be stuck with him – how long’s his contract for?
“it was a joke
Not polictal
Jokes Friday
I told a joke”
As he’s blinded folded and stood against the wall!
“You don’t really think I’m getting canned over that?”
Ready
Aim
Fire!
Marc
Juve will make a profit even if they pay the balance of his wages.
Assuming he makes £300k weekly and United won’t go higher than 200k weekly wages, Juventus can pay Ramsey the 100k balance of his salary for 5 years and still make profit with a transfer fee of …say £30 million.
Dissenter
He’s rumoured to be on £400k per week – if someone will only go to £200k that’s a £41.6 million shortfall over 4 years in Ramsey’s earnings without a transfer fee.
Someone maybe stupid enough to pay out for him and I wouldn’t be surprised to see ManU and Juve do a swap / trade with Pogba and Ramsey but it’s still a huge amount of money to tie up on a player who is injury prone.
I said when they signed him
Juve are cunts
They do this all the time the corrupt cheating back handing cunts
Yet UEFA do fucking all about their racism.
Fuck the scum
In fact Italy are up there with my hate for yanks.
Rude aggressive money driven scum
RSPC
Yeah but what about the Italians?
Chris, Yes two sources: Mislintat and Raul. Raul gave an interview when Lichsteiner joined where he explained that he chose Lichsteiner because of the experience he was going to bring to the squad. Emery was on message when he introduced Lichsteiner citing Lichtsteiner’s “experience and leadership”. A few months after his departure Mislintat gave an interview where he explained that he felt that Arsenal had reneged on a promised but also that he disagreed with the new recruitment policy. He wanted to champion internal youth team players but other people (meaning Raul) wanted to bring experienced players. As the only… Read more »
So man u will bid for Ramsey, and they have Alexis on their books, is woodward Wengers sibling
Dissenter It goes back to your statement where you said that the only way he could have signed a permanent deal was on a Bosman. That is not the case. My point is , and I maintain it, is that let’s say he was on £40k at Soton. The opportunity came to have a 6 month loan at Arsenal with the carrot dangled in front of him excel and yes we know that other clubs could give you a Bosman deal come the summer but rather than us risk losing you we will make the deal permanent. It’s not confusing… Read more »
Valentin If that’s true then fair enough. However I cannot see anything like you say about Raul explaining that decision to sign Lichtsteiner online. All I can see is that it was Emery trumpeting his signing. The ‘bitter ex’ interview from Mislintat that I can see is he felt like he had been stabbed in the back over promises about becoming new technical director. The signing that went above his head and caused him to leave was the Denis Suarez one, no mention of the Swiss in any interview I can see. Perhaps you can provide me with the link… Read more »
The contracts department at the club really needs a complete overhaul When was last that you recall they managed to renew / extend the contract of someone we wanted to keep with/without competition?? My impression is, they only manage to extend contracts for players we don’t want or who didn’t deserve one!! This we have unfortunately too many examples. Correct if I am wrong. Our competitors seem to have a much better handle of this and over time it’s make or break capability that we lack to progress. Saka is the well publicised example. Get it done, Raul/ Edu or… Read more »
Apparently juve’s penalty yesterday required two minutes of var to determine it was handball I’d sack every one of the officials involved in that match. If it takes you 2 minutes and 50 views of the same few angles to reach a conclusion, the reality is you clearly don’t know because it’s too contentious to be conclusive or you are just crap at analyzing what you’re looking at. In either scenario the officials are failing badly There’s no way it should take that long to reach a decision. As long as these got less officials are given free reign to… Read more »
Any tool that was thought to make the game whiter than white was always going to fail. It has caused as many greviances as it has been seen to do good. If there was an honest review of it right now it would be scrapped. If there are any honest reviews of it in the future it would be scrapped as well. Mind you we live in times where people want to give out that they are whiter than white some kind of saints and they hold others to this notion. Of course we know it is hypocrisy. VAR sits… Read more »
I think that we need to be careful in our criticism of what is going on currently with contracts and transfer market. 1. Soares is on loan until 30th June. Does the club want to sign new contract with this player? 2.Mari is on loan with option to buy. Can Arsenal extend contract until end of season without paying additional fees or exercising option? 3. Luiz contract ends on 30th June. Do we want to extend for further year on current terms? We keep on complaining about the calibre of players recruited and the contracts being negotiated. Personally I would… Read more »
Our line up should be
Leno
Osei tutu
Saliba
Upacmamba (or Mari )
Tierney
Gendouzi
Partey
Pepe
Saka
Martinelli
Neketiah
Sell the rest Of the seniors or let them stew on the bench or in our reserves . Except willock , nelson , balogan , Smith Rowe , maitland niles . Time to move forward
ES “”””I think that we need to be careful in our criticism of what is going on currently”””” Why? We are sitting in 9th and are 42 points of Liverpool. We have just had been beaten by Brentford following on from the Olympiakos debacle. We have very little money and we continually waste it on dross and suspect signings. We have no one at the club that has actually accomplished anything of note. ( edu,raul,Vinny,Josh etc) and are absolutely clueless. Certainly in comparison to say our rivals. A head coach who is wet behind the ears. And we can’t even… Read more »
The xhakalson transfer fiasco and Soares signing are squarely on Arteta, even without covid19 Soares would still be out of the team
Im telling you for free!
Sid, so you are not a fan of Arteta?
CG
You are very good at criticism.
For a change find something constructive to write about.
Nice to see it’s not just us losing to inferior teams at home.
Utd losing to WBA 2-1
Spuds losing to Norwich 2-1
Biggest worry with our loss is that arteta still hasn’t beaten it into our players about losing the ball in risky areas.
All 3 goals were down to losing the ball. Do that against city and it could be a bloodbath.
ES
“”You are very good at criticism.
For a change find something constructive to write about.””””
And you are exceptionally good at being totally delusional and in denial about whats happening at the club.
And I certainly don’t need all your spurious contacts to know- this club is going absolutely nowhere under this current regime.
Now go and phone a friend.
ES, Raul and his team have got their work cut out right now! Loanees stick or twist? Players out of loan to be dealt with. Players who are down to 1 or 2 years to be offered new contracts or sold. New player acquisitions. Other players worth selling. All these are affected by where we finish in the league, how the market is changed by Covid 19 and how much support KSE will provide. Mari is part of the busiest area, our bloated CB situation. I haven’t got a strong feeling on whether he’s worth making permanent but that would… Read more »
It appears the only reason Soares hasn’t featured is he suffered a facial injury in training
ET you always say we have next to no chance of making the CL places – based on current circumstances we only need to come 5th which we aren’t very far behind. And two of the teams in contention with us are small clubs that could easily shit the bed in the business end of the season I’m not saying we’ll do it, but we only need to put in a solid run before the end of the season to be in with a very serious chance of getting 5th. If we don’t do it it will likely not be… Read more »
The model we should try and adopt is the Dortmund’s. Shit…to think Dortmund should be following in our footsteps! But then, they are ahead in every sense of the game now and I think we should copy and paste. Shift focus to exciting young footballers all round the pitch. Forget ancestors like Auba, Laca, Ozil and the rest. You say Auba scores goals, I say yes he does. But because he is not a baller like Alexis or Firmino, our game suffers and we lose games, couldn’t qualify for CL while Auba won joint highest goal scorer. Bin him without… Read more »
‘Nice to see it’s not just us losing to inferior teams at home.
Utd losing to WBA 2-1
Spuds losing to Norwich 2-1’
Those are your role models in 2020?
China 1
I am being realistic factoring in not only that we need to overtake 4 clubs, but
also our remaining fixtures which include Liverpool, Man City, Leicester,Wolves and Spurs all of whom are currently ahead of us.
You need also to consider that Man City have appealed the decision and it is not beyond realms possibility that the suspension will be reversed.
So the odds of us making CL are not very good.
I don’t mind following Dortmund’s strategy. But people forget Dortmund too have old senior players. But theirs are actually good enough. For every Sancho, Haaland, Reyna there is also a witsel, Reus and Hummels. There are also players like Hazard, Brandt and Can who are coming in to their prime. If we let some of our senior players leave we need to replace them with players between the ages 23-27 who are good enough. If both Aubameyang and Lacazette leave we would need another striker. We can let go of senior players who aren’t good enough though. The likes of… Read more »
Bob N16June 13, 2020 09:22:24
Sid, so you are not a fan of Arteta?
He is okay, slightly above average(like Poch, simeone,Van gaal),
not exceptional(pep, wenger, klopp, Fergie, Hidink, Heynckes).
CG
“this club is going absolutely nowhere under the current regime”
As it was for over a decade under the old regime.
Stop burying your head in the sand.
Bob N16 I agree 100% with what you have posted. My view is that the club needs to see through this season and then plan methodically for the future. If it takes two or three years to put the house in order so be it. Every major club has its highs and lows. Liverpool have taken 30 years to get in a position to win EPL and Man Utd have not won the League Title since 2013 Most of our competitors have been on the verge of bankruptcy in recent years. There is no divine right for any club in… Read more »
“”””To finish on a positive note, at least we have lots of promising young players in our squad.””””
We have.
But never forget ( as many often do) – so do all the other clubs.
Including little ole Brentford.
You can tell when players believe in a manager by how fast they sign contracts and their discipline
When Wenger started declining players contracts became troublesome
Look at how fast they sign for Klopp and everyone tows the line over there
The Laca, AMN, Dozi discipline issues are worrying signs,
Saka and Auba signing will give us a cleary picture
Judging Arteta so soon after Wenger, Emery and Freddie.
6 months at the helm( minus 3 for covid-19) and posters are already comparing him to Klopp and Pep.
Unfriggingbelievable!
Sid, so you’re saying Simeone is ‘ok, slightly above average” ?
CG
You really are a miserable cunt. Not only have I not seen you ever make a positive comment about Arsenal (a team you claim to support) in over 2 years but you have to pick up on other’s positive comments to look for a downside.
I really don’t know how you can live like that.
Sid
Based on how Arsenal have been run(badly) over the years, would you sign a contract.
Players are not stupid. They know how Arsenal FC are perceived by the footballing world.
Nothing to do with Arteta.
Graham 62
Well said. CG has absolutely nothing constructive to say.