Today, it is my birthday, I am now at the age where I’d be getting a one year deal and everyone would be clapping like it was some sort of a major achievement, or worse, I’d be landing that deal because I’d done well for the club. A sympathy contract. I’m basically Dennis Bergkamp right now, slow, but I’ll still pick out the top corner if you let me.
The real birthday story is… I am sad. Yep. Really sad. Arsenal is not joy at the moment.
… but, I am ready to bury that sadness deep within, because I can’t be miserable any longer… metaphorically, I’m one walk to the fridge away from my career being over, so today, we hunt for a bit of positivity, because honestly, the lunatics were out in force yesterday after the game and we have to right some of the wrongs that are being spewed into the Goonerverse.
The surrounding noise
I had the view that the covid-disaster was going to take us places with this group of players. Turns out, I was totally wrong.
My hypothesis was that the uncertainty in the market would push players to find another level on the pitch as they fought for a contract, or, they fought for a future in the game.
This really was naive… no, it was stupid.
When you take people’s money away and they see that no one else in the league really took a pay cut, that has a negative affect. I know personally what pay cuts can do to people and their thinking. At first, it’s like, oh, ok, I’m saving the world out here… then, the dark clouds settle in and you start thinking… fuck you.
Some other factors that aren’t helping.
When Arsenal players are flogged in the press as potential exits or swaps, that has an affect. Lacazette, I am looking at you. He had to come out and call a random Twitter account a liar. Mentally, he’s been affected by uncertainty.
When four players don’t know their futures 2 weeks before they might be cut loose, that can be problematic. Firstly, it can have direct consequences on the pitch, and we saw that. Secondly, people who are at risk can spread misery in the squad. You’ve all had a Karen in the work kitchen telling you that the company is going to collapse, that happens in football.
There will also be a collection of players that know they are leaving in the summer. Do you think they are going to put their bodies on the line? Absolutely not.
Those above issues, at a club with a stronger culture for winning, might have been ok. But this is Arsenal. A place that has allowed our best player to take away days off for the last two years. Each one of those problems takes you further away from an elite culture, where perfection is what you strive for.
I don’t think this season will be a total disaster, but it’s apparent that we have a more complicated set of mitigating circumstances than most and it literally played out in a red card in our first game, and it certainly looked like there was a lack of effort in some quarters for the second.
Time
Arteta has been in the job 6 months, but he’s 13 games into his tenure, with a squad he’s spent zero money on. Why are so many fans jumping down his throat after every bad result? It is quite incredible. He’s picked up a squad of players that are on their 4th coach in 2 years at a club that is at its lowest ebb in about half a century. Freddie hated the senior players so much he fucked them off and played the kids. This is far from an ideal situation.
Picking up clubs midseason is very, very difficult.
Jurgen Klopp took Liverpool from 10th to 8th and he started in October. He had a far better squad to work with.
Jose Mourinho picked up Spurs from Pochettino, a club that was in the Champions League final last season and he has them sitting a whopping 2 points ahead of Arsenal.
OGS at United. A great start going 12 undefeated to… losing 5 of his final 9, notably losing to Cardiff in the last game of the season.
The mighty Carlo is 3 points behind us and barring a miracle today, will likely stay there.
That’s four pretty relevant comparisons. Picking up someone else’s players midseason when they’ve been utterly shit is not an easy job, so when all the new high-standards-bros are chirping away, put a little perspective on things. There is no manager in the world that was solving our issues in 13 games. Also, we have bought into a manager that wants to play like Pep, do we have players to do that right now? No. But we will at some point.
Mistakes
New managers are going to make them. Guess what, experienced managers also make them, especially at new clubs when they’re trying to work out what’s what. Arteta’s in-game management was not at its best at the weekend, but he’ll learn from the experience. Overall though, it’s hard not to watch that Brighton game back and think that we should have come away with three points. Our defending was just criminal, as it has been for years. We’ll hopefully fix that this summer with more suitable players.
Also, I say this in a hushed tone, for fear of waking the Gooners with the heavy set tattoos on the table behind me, but… we missed Granit Xhaka in our side. Our two best players at moving the ball between the lines are out. Mesut Ozil is on an effort holiday and Granit is injured. Say what you will about the Swiss, but the good parts of his game are sorely lacking at the moment. Dani Ceballos is not the full ticket, he’s been a huge disappointment. I like Matteo G, but he’s still a bit of a head-scratcher… I can’t work out what his thing is. That is not the sort of midfield that’s winning you games consistently. We need a Thomas Partey desperately.
Selection
This is my favourite debate at the moment. Every time we have a bad result, every man and his dog knows the exact reason. This week, ‘WHERE WAS MARTINELLI’, which is fine, we’re fans, we’re allowed to have opinions… but come on people, do you really think we’re a Martinelli away from cracking the code?
Last week it was Nic Pepe, who, outside an outrageous goal, was largely anonymous.
If the Brazilian isn’t playing, I suspect there’s a reason. At the moment, it’s because Saka is ahead of him in the pecking order, and I have to say, that’s absolutely fair. We all have this quick win solves that the entire coaching staff are missing, but we need to be real, there’s not a silver bullet in this squad. If there were, they’d be playing.
The Past
I know there are a lot of wounded Emeryista out there. They go into hiding during the good times, then as soon as we drop a few points, they’re out in the street, ringing a bell, messing their pants in public. We have to move beyond this. I could absolutely tolerate the AKB pining after their leader, because he was more than just a manager, he was… a father figure to a lost generation of fans. Yep, I know that’s weird, but it’s true.
Unai Emery? That’s a whole bag of weird. He was an abusive stepfather who didn’t even take time out to work out how to pronounce your mum’s name. How anyone can still be trying to litigate his passing is beyond me, but it has to stop, and I have to weed the poison out of the comments section here.
It’s time to move on.
On the Arsene piece, there’s also a collection of muppets that think the Wenger Out fans are getting what they deserve. No my friends, the sycophants that supported Wenger’s prolonged tenure are getting what they deserve. Wenger held onto power too long, he crashed the culture, he didn’t innovate, he held on to average staff, he spent bad money after bad money, he didn’t get contracts right… and then we doubled down on a terrible succession plan.
Wenger is not to be blamed for Arteta’s mistakes, but it is disingenuous in the extreme to say his exit was the problem. The problem is we didn’t move him on soon enough. We should have hired Klopp before Liverpool. We should have snapped at Pep when he was interested. We should have moved on a whole host of managers that could have moved good squads forward. Remember, Wenger blew the league to Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester.
Also, you don’t have to look at me for clarification on whether Wenger was finished. Just look at where he works now. That’s not because he was the magic wand keeping Arsenal together, it’s because his slow-motion crash over 10 years made it very clear that his idea of what the game should be was for 2004.
Conclusion
Onwards and upwards, we have to pick ourselves up the same way the players will be expected to. We have to get out the end of this season with a few wins. We have to hope the kids can pick up their game. Then we have to look forward to fast-forwarding 3 years transfer windows and reshape Arsenal into a lean, mean, battle machine.
The real focus for us should be on Stan Kroenke. He’s a real estate mogul, the market has crashed, he should move in on the weak clubs this summer and bring the squad up to standard in one quick hit. There will be SO much value to be had, but I fear we’re going to have wheel and deal with zero funds.
Josh and Stan need to step up, Raul needs rip the emergency cord and do something special this summer, Arteta needs to make sure he’s heard so there are no excuses next season.
Right, next up, a team we always have a good time against… Southampton.
Hb pedro, keep it going. It can only get better or maybe its gotta get a little bit worse first… anyones guess w mesut ozil on 350/wk
Backpass
“Are we ready to wait for Arteta to become a good coach, he simply has nothing to fall back on when all chips are down.”
Thats the drawback of giving rookie the job
When things go bad, they have no experience to fall back on.
People pretend that there’s only one course that Arteta could go – get better. They forget that rookie managers are more to flame out and get worse than improve.
*”This again in an abject lie
“While I am curious to know as well why he isn’t, you got to accept that there could be a legitimate reason behind it which the coaching staff is aware of and we aren’t.”
That’s some gooooood deducing there!
Dissenter, do you have stats to back that?
Avg tenure or a PL manager is about 2.19 years.
PL makes about 12 changes a year.
Experience is a nice bonus, but it’s not helping anyone keep their job
TR7
I would have given Freddie the caretaker role till end of season and gotten the likes of ten hag, Alegri, Pochetino.
“You can’t dream of a better present than Arteta giving you a blowjob.“
Oh to be 12 again thinking this was comical chat.
Dissenter
“People pretend that there’s only one course that Arteta could go – get better”
Exactly, they don’t want to believe he might not come good.
HL, this is why you are banned.
Relentlessly trying to get back on for 5 months and this is your contribution
Backpass, who is out here not considering that things might not work out?
Seems a really weird argument.
‘Not enough people are considering, out loud, that Arteta could get sacked’
‘what the debate needs right now is more people considering that an employed person could be fired’
… then everything would be perfect.
Arteta could fail, or succeed.
Have to ask questions of yourself as a fan if you’re revelling in the prospect of the former.
This story may help with inducing laughter
Three Pennsylvania men who sexually assaulted more than a dozen animals over a five-year period will spend up to 41 years in prison, according to Local 10 news.
The three animal “lovers,” identified as Matthew Brubaker, 31; Marc Measnikoff, 34, and Terry Wallace, 41, were sentenced to 20 to 41 years for forcing themselves on a cow, a goat, nine horses and an unspecified number of dogs. A teenage boy was allegedly tasked with restraining the animals while the twisted trio committed their bizarre crimes.
Pedro
“‘Not enough people are considering, out loud, that Arteta could get sacked’”
No, it should be not enough people are considering, out loud, that Arteta should have been given the job in the first place.
This job is to big for a novice manager, this squad is a mess on and off the pitch. The powers that be dropped the balls on this one. I pray am wrong but i don’t think so.
Backpass, that’s just an average opinion that doesn’t matter now.
He has the job. He replaced someone that tanked with 5 clubs worth of experience. Raising the alarm when he’s not spent a penny in transfer fee, without considering the wider context of what he’s dealing with is novice.
CC
I’m not going to stick my head in the sand and pretend that only one outcome is possible for Arteta.
You have it all figured out; you’re certain that he has all the talent and sauce, experience is all he needs now.
I’m not so certain he has exceptional talent and I’m yet to see any sauce .I do hope I’m utterly wrong and you turn out to be right for Arsenal’s sake.
CC
Of course I want him to succeed, only non-arsenal fans want him to fail. But, what i want and what i think are two ddifferent things.
Dissenter, I think CC likely understands that success isn’t the only possible outcome.
Not sure why you need that stated.
Dissenter, is that story you shared some sort of abstract sleight at Arteta?
Pedro
Honestly I want it to happen for Arteta but I can’t wrap my head around his pushing for average talent like Mari and Luiz,
Lampard played with Luiz and knows him well…yet kicked him out of Chelsea. What is Arteta seeing in him?
Pedro,
He better reduce the “wider context of what he is dealing with” because if we don’t improve next season, we would have wasted 3 years doing nothing and just falling behind to mediocrity.
Dissenter You’re not woke by fixating on the possibility of Arteta failing, it’s the most basic idea when faced with a new manager – they could succeed or fail. Likewise you’re not clever asserting bollocks about myself, or anyone else, burying heads in sand and only seeing one outcome as possible. Just makes you appear more ignorant than usual truth be told as it’s never once been suggested that anything is inevitable in those terms. Arteta can go one of two ways, that same basic principle can be said of anyone in any role in football. But speaks volumes that… Read more »
I miss the days of Wenger.
Even the 8-2 drubbing was more entertaining than what we are seeing
Lol
That was fucking entertaining wasnt it. Andre fucking santos
Backpass, not really sure anyone would disagree with wanting Arteta to do well.
… but no one knows what will happen, how he’ll work out, because there’s nothing to base your opinion on outside 13 odd games.
The potential is huge… let’s roll and see what happens.
I think we will turn things around because surely it can’t get worse …. I hope 😬
be wary of southampton.
We tend to struggle with them too.
They just won 3 nil
Confidence is high. Ours is shattered.
Arteta needs to work on team morale… and go with an all out attacking line up…
We leak goals, but are also not scoring enough.. lets get our offense going… will help to clearly outscore the opponent if we cannot stop them from scoring.
I hope he has seen my post and copies it for the line up. We will win then
Ings has 16 goals so far… just a few behind Auba.
Got to be way.
I think Auba will score tho, I feel it in my bones
*wary
be wary of southampton.
We tend to struggle with them too…
Guns, we struggle against everything and everyone. I asked a question today who can we beat if we can’t beat Brighton. The answer is fucking no one. No team is afraid of us. Soton have as good a chance as anyone else. Pathetic is the only word I can think of. And coaching is to blame just as much as individual players/mistakes.
Arteta is a beta male, thats why he makes a perfect 1. assistant for Pep,
2. a captain for Wenger
These are just lame excuses for utter rubbish performance. Dreaming about us hiring pep Guardiola as if the Catalan coach has ever coached a club without endless financial power. The WOB mob are getting what they bargained for and this is just the start of a long and painful decade or more of mediocrity
Upstate
You are right.
All Remaining games are losable
It’s like if we win one it will be a surprise
My worry is why would anyone come to us.. we are a total mid table team with only a history that we are banking on to bring in talent.
This summer will be really telling
After 13 games it’s hard to understand what Arteta is trying to do
Imagine the uproar if Arteta plays Auba down the middle, Martinelli on the left and Pepe on the right and we drop in a few goals … let’s hope that’s the case on Thursday lol
My lineup with Saka in the hole
Number 10
It will work
If we pretend to overlook the ZERO improvement of last SIX months, the ZERO SOTs, the confidence level in every player improving ZERO percent in last SIX months, then we are being asked to live in denial.
BTW, what does Arsenal have to play for now for the rest of the season? To finish in the top-half?
“After 13 games it’s hard to understand what Arteta is trying to do”
” ZERO improvement of last SIX months, the ZERO SOTs, the confidence level in every player improving ZERO percent in last SIX months”
Mornings do show the day. Arteta is a blunder Arsenal is persisting on only to save the selectors, the board.
Arsenal will have to make do without Auba in front next season. S, with Nketiahs and Lacazs and Matinellis upfornt, it will need a master technician at work to bring Arsenal even 5 wins in the first 15 games till Christmas.
I never expected Arteta to get is firing within months of taking over. But our team’s form should put to bed the notion that there is no player poverty like pedro has been preaching to set an agenda with Emery. Emery sucked too but our players need a massive upgrade. Arteta is yet to win away with out players in the league. I wouldn’t sell any one under 25. but the rest of the senior players that have been here with us for over two years bar Aubameyang need to be sold. And even he would need to be sold… Read more »
get us firing*
TR7 someone has already pointed out to you that the whole we have looked more solid than we ever did under Emery thing is just nonsense. We didn’t amass 70 points last season and get to the final of the EL getting past far better teams than Olympiacos by accident. You really need to separate Emery’s stint this year from the respectable job he did last year. Consistently making false claims about his time here does Arteta no favors.
Pedro I really wanted you to be right about Arteta but I just can’t agree with your post. We’ll see what happens over the next 6 months and if there is a 2nd wave of C-19 and how that affects the game as we know it. Always been fully supportive of your views regarding Raul where for me I wanted Overmars as our DoF or similar position instead of Edu. As I posted at the time Rual was being considered by Gazidis I felt he was wrong for our club. I was also very much against the club run by… Read more »
Martinelli HAS to get time against Southampton. No ifs and buts and training tantrums. Bellerin needs rest or he’ll get injured again. That means Amn will have to play there for at least 1 or 2 more games. Luiz will probably be available for selection again. (right?) One positive is there is no news for Luiz signing a new contract and its almost the Kia deadline. Osei-Tutu will be back July 1. Let him train with the first team. If he is good enough to be Bellerin’s understudy next season then bin Soares. ( What a total waste of money… Read more »
Tony
“Always been fully supportive of your views regarding Raul where for me I wanted Overmars as our DoF or similar position instead of Edu.”
Thanks. I’d do a better job of recruiting defenders!
Raul reportedly tried to get Overmars for the tech. director role.
I don’t think anyone on here read the original post. You can not start by saying “no one thought Arteta would turn things around overnight…but”. There is no ‘but’! You are being ridiculous. The season was on hiatus. He has shit players. Arsenal FC are in disarray behind the scenes. He’s had 6 months and about 15 games or so. What the fuck did you expect to happen? I bet you lot are the kind of clown who sticks a loud exhaust pipe on your Vauxhall Corsa and starts believing you’re in the Fast and Furious. Have realistic goals for… Read more »
Need to sell auba unless we want another ozil in the club. Sitting pretty on 200+ a week and giving us performance like the one against brighton. He is quality but not getting any younger.
Sell him this summer and laca the next. Get in another younger striker, who will take over from laca whilst having martinelli take over from auba.
We need to look to the future, not be signing 30 something players on big wages.
Overmars confirmed that Arsenal approached him for the job of DoF, but they put so much restriction on the remit of the role that he was a glorified assistant to Raul, also the money was less than what he was on. It was a Ridiculous offer that he was unlikely to accept.
Monchi said the same thing. The money on offer from a club like Arsenal was not in line with market rate.
That is exactly why it took so long to fill the position. Pay peanuts, get monkey.
Arteta and his favourites crack me up.
He is always demanding more from pepe, matinelli. Making an excuse to bench them. But slides over the performances of his favourite players.
Apparently nketiah was extraordinary against city.
Luis costing us two goals will not be taken into account for his contract.
I want to back arteta, but decisions like that make it very difficult.
Now I’m not saying that martinelli would have changed the course of the game but the in game management has been terrible since taking over. (Not just post covid)
Hard to be positive is all I’m saying.
play 3 CBs Nelson as RWB rest bellerin ,
‘Raul reportedly tried to get Overmars for the tech. director role.’
Supposedly so Was, but I suspect Overmars saw through Raul as Arsenal should have done.
Overmars
‘Thanks. I’d do a better job of recruiting defenders!”
And tea ladies no doubt
GOH
Your last post was your world famous satirical humour, right?
Valentin
Then clearly Raul didn’t want Overmars or Monchi; too much of a threat to his own position security.
Val
Source?
Because I dont remember anything like that.
Is it the same source that gave you the Dortmund and Saliba story?
Dont think Overmars ever said something like that in public. Or even Monchi.
Tony, I don’t know if he did not want them (and therefore make the role as unappealing as possible) or if he was deluded in thinking that men with strong experience will accept the restrictions. Sometimes people are in their own bubble and don’t realise that what they are offering is shite compared to the rest of the world. Years ago, I worked for an investment bank who had a huge staff turnover in one under appreciated department. Eventually Management asked an external HR consultancy firm to investigate. The consultancy report was brutal. You massively underpay people in that department,… Read more »
Does having shitty players acount for fielding square pegs in round holes? Arteta is far more shitty than the players. Lots on here are saying he didn’t have a preseason with the players and co, how long does it take to establish your first 11? A whole season? Does it look like Arteta is doing everything to just to win matches? We ain’t even entertaining, let alone winning matches. You have no good CAM but pacy wingers and a goal poacher, why not play to the strength of what you have? Playing a whole 90 minutes with no single shot… Read more »
Pedro There are plenty of things arsenal ‘should have ‘ done. Maybe if the club’s illustrious owner had been a little more present over the past 10 years they would have been done. The only time Stan has been proactive is when he flew in and personally awarded Wenger his final contract , ignoring the advice and wishes of the rest of the BOD. You cannot continue to ignore the importance of this. Where is Stan now? He should be at Arsenal as we speak, banging his fist on the BOD meeting table and complaining about how shit the coffee… Read more »
Saka is a brilliant winger but he is not a No10. In fact Martinelli would make a better No10, because when they both played together he was the one who kept taking intelligent positions to be able to make incisive passes and release Saka into space. I also think that his relentless chasing would be more effective against central midfielders and CBs. Anyway with the injuries we have in midfield, surely Martinelli will play some part of the game. Arsenal seems to be the only club who keep trying to shoehorn square pegs in round holes. I wish we had… Read more »
Hasn’t Bielik been out with a ruptured ACL since January?
‘Shitty Players’ Who finished just outside the CL spots last season and reached the EL final. So who did we lose last summer? Iwobi – pretty average according to most. Ramsey – overrated and always injured apparently. Lichtsteiner – Just Lol. Welbeck – Injured last campaign anyway. Jenks – Didn’t contribute. Ospina – Ditto Monreal – decent back up but no longer had the legs. Cech – Leno is better. So realistically these ‘rubbish players’ can perform much better than they are doing. Not top four maybe but not far off. Then we added: Pepe – better than Iwobi. Tierney… Read more »
AlexanderHenry, Stan Kroenke is unlikely to complain about the board inactivity or lack of oversight when Josh is complicit in killing all the initiatives for the board to have a say on operational matters. The board is being systematically bypassed by the owners. The responsibilities lays with him and his son. He would need to Admit that he knows nothing about football and name a board who does know its stuff. Short of that appoint a special advisor for football. But he won’t. He is an absent owner, whos asset is slowly getting decrepit. In a few years he may… Read more »
@ Valentin, martinelli at 10? To pick out spaces left by opponent or to dribble and create spaces? Martinelli is an impulsive player and this is what you don’t want in your 10. Mart does whatever comes first in his football mind, that’s why you see him sprinting when he just needs to dribble, he’s a power player. Your 10 should be able to draw opponent with his ball retention ability to utilize the spaces left by the drawn opponent, he should be able to pick out a pass, remember saka’s pass for our goal against man utd?
Valentin
Why do you have to invent stories all the time, seriously? Do you morph into a fly and land on the walls of meeting rooms in football clubs or something?
Jamie, Yes Bielik has done his ACL, but I wish that we had kept at least one proper DM instead of just Torreira who can’t physically cut it in the EPL. Bielik was having a good season and would not be so easily bullied off the ball. Lack of strategic planning. Same thing with Osei-tutu. We send him on loan at a club where he is not even playing right back, when we could have used him as Bellerin understudy. I know that Chambers was pencilled as Bellerin replacement, but he is not a right back. Again Square pegs in… Read more »
I haven’t read anyone’s suggestions for
– new players and their positions
– new manager
– where the money is coming from
– why we are actually ‘better’ than we are
Front up and let’s have it.
Vikings, In a 4-2-3-1, the No10 does not play exactly the same way that past No10 used to. When attacking, He is much closer to the striker, but when defending he drops into the midfield to block the connection between CB and misfielders. Also I don’t expect us to hoard the ball. I would like us to be much more direct and dynamic, because our midfield is so poor that when we keep the ball we are too often put under pressure and caught off guard. So a more dynamic style of play would suit us more. I remember Saka… Read more »
In fairness to Luiz, he did have a very good couple of months upon the arrival of Arteta. There was obviously a reason why Arteta left him out of the starting line up v City, probably to do with his contract, meaning his head wasnt in the right place… Ultimately, Arteta was correct in his thinking , Luiz wasn’t focused . This being the case then maybe Arteta should have shown more faith in Holding and brought him on not Luiz , when Mari was injured. Put it this way, if Arteta hadn’t brought Luiz on as substitute against City… Read more »
Torreira is sidelined due to a very dangerous challenge that of course went unpunished.
Pierre, Luiz was better under Arteta, but he is still unconvincing as part of a back 4. He is rash and when behind a player, he will commit a could and give away a penalty. Against Chelsea, Everybody accused Mustafi, but the reality is that David Luiz could have let the player go. He is the one who made the stupid decision that lead to the red card. Mustafi made an error that Luiz compounded by a rash tug. At his age, he will not improve. No need to dwell on him. No extension and Arsenal should go back to… Read more »
“Play saka at 10, he’s an intelligent player, field martinelli and pepe on the wings and auba at 9.” yep agree with that Arteta really cannot afford a loss against Southampton he needs to get all weapons on the pitch
Anybody knows who was the player who tested positive for COVID-19 and who were the 3 players who had to self-isolate?
If Martinelli was one of them, he would be behind the rest in term of training and that could explain why he has not been used yet.
https://www.goal.com/en/news/arsenal-player-tested-positive-covid-19-ahead-of-restart-against-/93xzkhvsggsr1xae3n003r6of
I said in the Brighton matchday post from Pedro, Saka is similar to De Bruyne(obv not the same level yet) in the sense that he is a natural footballer and so can play competently across the entire attacking line, but that doesn’t mean he’s a no 10. He’s a left winger and should be playing there to maximise his potential.
Pool are really sniffing around right now and I’m very worried that the allure of Klopp and his project will tempt our young winger. We need to just give him £150K per week and be done with it.
I’m always amazed at how easy it is for a ref to send an Arsenal player off and for them to give a penalty against us. For Arsenal to actually be awarded a penalty or the opposition be red carded is very rare . The brighton game , I saw a brighton player elbow or forearm Saka off the ball, which should be a straight red …where was VAR. I saw that same player commit foul after foul without punishment , and a couple of those fouls were dangerous assaults on Arsenal players. I saw the brighton striker deliberately impede… Read more »
Pierre, I think Luiz has four reds this season, twice that of any other PL player so although there are mitigating circumstances it was hardly an aberration. That said he’s a professional footballer so being focused on his performance rather than contract negotiations should be a given. He has had some decent performances though, just not enough to make him worth keeping IMO. Also it wan’t just the Luiz intervention, or even the result that people had an issue with. As has been repeatedly mentioned the line up was odd, playing Saka on the right in particular. If we’d set… Read more »
Valentin
“Anybody knows who was the player who tested positive for COVID-19 and who were the 3 players who had to self-isolate?
If Martinelli was one of them, he would be behind the rest in term of training and that could explain why he has not been used yet.”
You could be right , I would also put Ozil into the equation due to this comment from Arteta 4 days ago,
“A lot has happened to him(Ozil) in the last few weeks and I have to respect the timing of every player. Sometimes they need a little bit of time.”
DBob
No way we should be giving an 18 year old 150k a week. How much would he demand in his next contract? How much in the next? By the time he’s 25, after 2 extensions he’ll be on 250k+ and that won’t be the end of it. If we want to keep him during his prime years it would be Ozil levels of wages.
Can’t just go full retard because we’re in a slump and start handing out stupid contracts again when we’re trying to get away from that practice.
Pierre That player is Yves bissouma. He made so many fouls as well as a clear elbow to Saka’s face and he didn’t get a yello card.The commentator on the replay said , theres nothing there ( for elbow to Saka’s face) . That elbow was a 100x more harmful than the Guendouzi anger tantrum which he might get banned and fined for. The quality of refereeing in the PL has to improve . Kola’s foul was not given a penalty but whats concerning is no player pressuring the referee in such situations. These are professionals and should know that.… Read more »
Valentin
“If Martinelli was one of them, he would be behind the rest in term of training and that could explain why he has not been used yet.”
Ornstein said all three featured against Mancity, am guessing Xhaka.
Xhaka didn’t feature in the second friendly match.
But 150k is too high. 70-80 k + bonuses is good a enough deal for an 18 yo imo.
Guns: – new players and their positions: We aren’t getting any are we? At least we’re not spending big this summer. Saliba is promising though, Saka will have more experience. – new manager: If he does the basics right and motivates the players then we don’t need one. That’s on him though as it should be. – where the money is coming from As above it isn’t. So MA will have to prove he has ‘sauce’ and produce results with what he has. If he can’t then is he any better than Emery? – why we are actually ‘better’ than… Read more »
Backpass,
All three featured or all three were involved (as part of the squad)?
That would not make sense to use 3 players who are behind the rest in term of training against a team so exhausting that ManCity.
Straight away you are at a disadvantage, fitness wise.
Personally I think Arteta needs to burn the house down in a sense. He needs to clear out quite a lot of players for issues to do with attitude. We have a dressing room of players who think they are big and playing for a big club and who are unwilling to put in the work necessary for competing at the highest level. A bad attitude is a cancer and it spreads. Unai Emery in many of his many interviews after leaving said something that stuck, we have players who say yes to your demands on them one day and… Read more »
Valentin
All three played against Mancity. So that rules out Ozil, Martinelli, Niles.
Guns of Hackney was one of the posters that over-reached in bashing a certain former manager.
Now he’s so dumbfounded by Arteta’s ordinary commonness that his fire is out.
He’s realized that sitting next to a truly great manger isn’t the same thing as being a great manager. If proximity to Guardiola was all it took, then his long term assistant {Dominic Torrent] would be an elite coach by now.
Auba has replaced Iwobi on the left wing, doesnt that mean we are stronger there? Lol
We should be playing one of 343, 352, 3412
Freddie – Its the market rate and if we tie him down to a deal upto £150K a week it doesn’t mean its doubled every time he renews it just means we have a young player tied down and the likes of Pool/Barca/Real will have to pay a premium if he says he wants to move. Bottom line is the footballing world is full of high level teenagers on large contracts, and based on Saka’s production and potential I have no qualms paying him up to that amount if he commits to us for the next half a decade. If… Read more »
Andy There’s bargains out there that would improve us. No way we’re not going to see a busy window. We’ll have plenty of players out the door and that will raise money. Maybe not as much as pre covid but the buying price will reflect that too. Disasi CB 13m. Not the finished article but better than what we have already. Szobozlai 15-20m Cam/Cm miles better than what we have since we don’t have anyone able to play that position. Pape Gueye is still on the market for a nominal sum, signed for Watford on a free but claims he… Read more »
Generally Beta males make good assistants, bould, arteta Round, pat rice, AV- Boas
Freddie is right – paying Saka anything near £150k a week is ridiculous at this stage in his career, incentivised or not.
Dbob
It’s still too much for where he’s at, you don’t give that much to someone in his breakout season. Needs to show it consistently over a longer period of time to warrant super star wages.
250k after 2 extensions isn’t double of 150k either.
Did you by any chance have the same math teacher as Pierre?;)
Ibrahima Sissoko would be my choice over pape gueye
Freddie So what’s the alternative to not paying Saka what’s he’s asking for? …losing him for £8-10 million if he doesn’t extend his contract? I mean we don’t have that much leverage in negotiation and all the tough talk in the world can’t change that. You keep harping on his age forgetting that he’s undoubtedly the best player our academy has ever produced and he’s been carrying this team even though he’s played out of position all the time. He’s in the position of strength in the contract negotiations and eventually the club will succumb because we can not afford… Read more »
The two poor performances may well now be explained by the disclosure that 3 Arsenal player were tested positive last week and this combined with three critical injuries and suspension cannot have been helpful to the team’s morale and team selections. This season is a write off as far as I am concerned and we need to move on and plan for next season. Obviously Leno’s potential achilles injury is now a serious longterm problem and we will need to bring in another experienced goalkeeper. It remains to be seen whether Kroenke will agree to release of additional transfer funds,… Read more »
Freddie – Just providing an example if we double his deal every time hes up for renewal, you know what I meant!
I agree its a lot for a youngster and if not for the fact his contracts expiring in a years time I wouldn’t bother.
But given how much Sancho will be on when he moves this summer or the next and Hudson Odoi’s new contract, I’m just saying its not the worst deal in the world for the club to tie him down long term.
Freddie, agree that there will be bargains but I think the problem is that we will struggle to move our unwanted players on. No-one will pay the wages we do in this environment – Mustafi at £100k+ a week? No chance. We’re struggling to offload Mhiki even though Roma want him. Ozil isn’t going anywhere, who would buy Xhaka on his wages?
There are maybe one or two we could sell for modest money but I can’t see us bring much in the way of funds in although I would love to be proven wrong!
For all those saying 150k is too much for Saka
—-Compared to what?
Have you weighed the cost if losing him for the 8-10 million that arbitration will pay. City only got 8 million for Jadon Sancho.
His agent has to compare the wages of current players at the club with their current output to the team. That’s why Saka has us by the balls.
Are you lot prepared to back up your tough words and lose him for less than we are paying for Pablo Mari?
” Its the market rate and if we tie him down to a deal upto £150K a week ” https://www.spotrac.com/epl/chelsea-f.c/payroll/ https://www.spotrac.com/epl/liverpool-f.c/payroll/ https://www.spotrac.com/epl/tottenham-hotspur-f.c/payroll/ I know anything on the internet is open to question but the idea that a kid in his breakout season is suddenly worth £150k per week is crazy. Right now we need to get the wage bill under control, I’ve no problem paying top players top money but that means CL football, we’re not even going to make EL. The rumours have been that the sticking point on the contract is it’s length not what we’re offering –… Read more »
“he’s undoubtedly the best player our academy has ever produced and he’s been carrying this team even though he’s played out of position all the time.”
Jesus Christ. Saka already better than Tony Adams, Rocky, and Ashley Cole. Sounds good.