If you came here this morning expecting a pat on the head for sitting on your arse for three months, here it is.
Well done you.
Now let’s crash into the MONSTROSITY that is Arsenal FC.
Firstly, the FA released the agent fee data and certain sections of the fanbase seem to be very pleased the number is only £13m. This comment from Terraloon might help you work through your joy and temper it with a little bit of caution.
You can not determine from the list of payments made in that period how much the club have agreed to pay out in respect of transfers in.The schedule only records the money paid out directly to the club by intermediaries over a set period. It doesn’t tell us what those payments were in respect of or indeed when those transactions actually happened.
The second attachment does tell us what transactions happened but again we don’t know over what time period the agents will receive their fees
Agents get paid for all sorts of things such as arranging contract extensions , facilitating loans out , transfers out and yes transfers in.
Often clubs agree to bear the costs of an agent acting on behalf of a player but when they do those sums don’t appear on the list they are paid in effect via payroll and treated as a benefit in kind.
To prove the point look at two clubs. Liverpool and Chelsea . These two clubs in the period 1/2/19-31/1/20 . These two clubs paid out £30.38 million and £26.183 million respectively.
In effect two transfer windows. Liverpool paid out just £8.5 million in respect of a couple of minor transfers in and Chelsea who were unable to sign anyone In the summer 2019 window bar Kovacic whose loan they made permanent and in the January 20 window they didn’t sign anyone.
I think we can move on from that and leave the magical thinkers to their own conclusions.
What I do want to talk about is the bigger picture with Arsenal, because we’re missing it when we’re debating whether Soares has a nice attitude or David Luiz is an agent of death.
Arsenal don’t have a plan.
You can hunt for it, you can retrofit excuses, but the simple fact is there is no coherence in what we’re doing.
Why? Because we’re not honest about our standing in football at the moment.
David Luiz, Cedric Soares and maybe Pablo Mari offer no real long term value to Arsenal. It’s money down the drain unless they drive us to the Champions League. Even then, what was the point? They have no resale value, they are not helping us to win the thing, they have limited ceilings.
We are pissing money up the wall with no credible plan to move the club forward.
Ivan Gazidis threw a lot of money at making the Champions League by bringing in senior players just before Wenger left. It didn’t work. Raul threw massive money at senior players when Emery arrived and it didn’t work. Now we’re 12th in the league and we’re doing the same again. Even if it succeeds, we’re still throwing money down the drain. At best, we’re thinking a year in advance.
‘Maybe Willian can help us’ isn’t a strategy, it’s naive.
Why is this happening? Because we don’t know who we are and there’s no real strategy.
We shouldn’t be debating drossy that had their best years 5 years ago. Arsenal should be honest about their position in the world football and rip the plaster this summer. Move on the senior players that are letting us down. A clean sweep. That’s Auba, Lacazette, Mustafi, Kola, Luiz and the loan players.
If Torreira doesn’t like England, sell him. If Matteo is a head case with a grim attitude and Barcelona have £60m, sell him on.
Then decide on the plan. If it’s Borussia Dortmund 2.0, go for it. There is absolutely no reason, outside a coherent plan, that we can’t replicate what they do.
Build a player profile. 20-24 years old. Fit. Mobile. Fast. A good level of emotional intelligence.
Know where to pick them up from. Look at the Eastern European leagues. Fish from the same ponds where the elite youth end up going, like RB Salzburg. Act quick.
Return to the future. Contacts football is shit and it rarely delivers. Ban Kia from the training ground. Never let Canales in a brainstorm again. Set a process for how you get to the right list of players. Leave no one in any doubt as to why you signed a name.
Stop trying to do things the easy way. ‘Call Kia’ is how great clubs die. Relying on people with a conflict of interest to give you good advice on players is quite frankly, fucking embarrassing.
Our current strategy is shit. Load up with bums, and pray to the footballing gods that one season, it might work out. That is not a winning formula. It hasn’t worked for Manchester United with a real budget, and it won’t work for Arsenal who have spent all their cash and borrowed from future pots.
Arsenal has a great coach. There’s a reason all the leaks to the media have cited everyone bar him for the mess. He’s in a tough spot. He’s probably worried about his future right now, he’s likely struggling with the dynamics of having two bosses with very bad taste, and he’s probably wondering how he’s going to get a turn out of these players.
But so would any coach. Carlo and Jose are hardly flying. OGS didn’t exactly cover himself in glory last season. A select few of the Chelsea fanbase have been calling Frank a fraud all season. Implementing change after picking up a midseason fire is difficult.
Our senior players have been problematic. The contract issues have spilt out into the training ground. The pay cut wasn’t great. He’s had a red card. A bunch of injuries. His season has been derailed by a club that was hoping to deal with these issues this summer, rather than during the season.
But don’t think that has the coach down and out. He has all the ingredients to attain greatness and I am sure given time, a good summer, and the culling of the dross, he’ll find a way to make it work. People giving up after such a short period of time will realise in time that the only magic bullet now is the reshaping of the squad in the vision of the coach.
There will be more bumps. We will lose again. This season isn’t ending in glory.
However, keep the faith. The coach will prove the doubters wrong is Raul and Edu can pull it together this summer. If that doesn’t happen, we’re fucked whoever sits in the hot seat.
Tonight, we play Southampton in a bid to escape 11th position. What a moment. It’s time for a reaction from the squad. A moment for the manager to show that he can rally a nightmare situation and make some magic happen. Maybe… we’ll see a performance.
Also, Sheffield United and Palace are opening up a some space for us to chase… maybe. Sad times that I’m excited by that.
Let’s see what happens!
See you in the comments x
Switched from 3-4-3 to 4-4-2.
Zzzzzz
For goodness sakes bring in GUENDO we need energy Arteta.
It’s Dubai like heat conditions out there
Curious substitution.
i see this 1-1…. we need another goal but we are not having hardly any shots aside auba misses
“For goodness sakes bring in GUENDO”
He isn’t in the squad
Can Soton use the PA to wake Ceballos up? This guy does absolutely nothing in the 2H.
If things keep going this way they’re going to score. We seem to have surrendered the initiative.
Why Pepe?
He could always come with a special goal when needed.
On performance Auba should’ve been off or shifted central in place of Eddie
Bring on that water break..
Great KT is injured.. again…
One of those typcial games that we’re so used to…either this is going to finish 1-0 or 2-1 to the saints..we concede one and it’s as good as conceding two
Lots more injuries.
Who was it that said Tierney was an amazing signing and the response was “he’s always fucking injured”.
Pepe off again for a child. Money well spent.
Martinelli?
Auba?
Ya, Raul is a total non stop animal in the transfer market.
Tierney?
No Ishola
It was a traditional back 3 with 3-4-3 formation which is now changed to 3-5-2.
Tierney cramping up on 66”??? V poor fitness
Seriously don’t want to see Kolac in the pitch. Another waste of space, not dissimilar to Bellerin. Wot a pair of fullbacks we have!
Ozil is concerned with UV….
Tierney made of glass
I’m sure some people on here have never kicked a ball.
Just because we aren’t dominating possession or 5-0 up doesn’t mean we’re playing poorly or are in danger.
We’ve got the lead we don’t need to over commit.
Ishola now please dont make me teach you about formations .
Told you. Dud.
Can they hold out without conceding?
This use of Tierney today could be a master stroke from Arteta lol
Looks like cramps… they were stretching his hammy. We were dying out there though.
As good as he can be
Tierney has to go…
Crock jock
Gsf
‘ Tierney made of glass’
Typical cunt comment.
“We’ve got the lead we don’t need to over commit.”
We are playing Southampton… Not Liverpool
And Tierney is off as soon as I said that.
Cramps? Ha ha ha ha ha.
60 mins in a little heat and the professional footballer has a cramp!
Fuck me.
The team is lacking the believe to win.
Tierney was injury prone at Celtic. Now he’s come to a club notorious for butchering players. Clown.
Goonies/Aubergine/ UP/Dickhead
Fuck off and stop changing your handle.
Genuine question, has a Southampton player gone down and it not have been a free kick?
Same same. Living dangerously
It’s like watching a few lads after a night out having a kick about. But not as much fun.
What exactly does joe willock offer to this team? One of those typical ordinary players who play for a 1 to 2 years and then disappear into oblivion…uninspiring!
This in fucking shocking
Why I feel our goal is being peppered?
Where are our forwards and star striker? Oh. Pepe is warming down already. Can we bring on Martinelli? oh he’s out of favour or injured.
Who can we put on seriously?? Laca who doesn’t score away? Nelson the great? Giroud anyone?
If we hold on and win here, will it make up for the loss against Brighton considering we always lose at Southampton?
Well Burnley have just taken the lead so they better hang on.
Don’t want the embarrassment of Dyche leapfrogging.
This hurts , the lack bod attacking is football frightening, even teams like Southampton play with some structure, it’s so so painful to watch..
Arteta has a nice t shirt but the trousers aren’t good. He’s made a mistake there.
Arteta trying to emulate George Graham!
Putting AMN to try keep it 1 nil to the Arsenal??
Look, our players have checked out. No one wants to be injured before a transfer.
Mustafi got spun away. Twice in two games. This one didn’t result in a goal. Lucky.
Looks like Laca..and I didn’t see who else getting ready.
Arteta is an apparently an attacking coach but all the stats and our general play don’t support that misconception.
Bellend is a fucking liability
Hope Tierney’s injury is more a precaution than injury, otherwise that kid is more fragile than micro thin glass.
Decent save from Martinez.
We shall not, we shall not be breached.!
We shall not, we shall not be breached!
Just so sad we need to try ‘hold on’ to a 1 nil against Soton!
At this rate, only a matter of time
Where is Ozil these days?
3 games in a row
Ceballos was God awful today. Not gonna lie. Basically invisible.
Watching Ozil with his umbrella – what a life!
We have sunk so low that our MF isn’t good enough to be able to release the. ball early. That’s a huge problem!
For what’s worth the spuds are doing it all the time. Whether it turns into goals is another issue.
Ref should’ve played the advantage.
Painful.
Red card!!!
What are our tactics? Pass back back back hoof. Fuckin boring
Not a sending off for me
Put em away boys
Red Card.. well maybe we can see it out now.
2-0 Willock
“If we hold on and win here, will it make up for the loss against Brighton considering we always lose at Southampton?”
___
Talk about low standards. Still need a complete overhaul.
The kids have won it for us. Nkethia and Willock.
Ok that should, SHOULD seal it.
Lucky goal
Good reaction of willock.
Now the 3 pt is safe.
This is what we have been waiting for. Big mik showing the saints the back of the hand.boom.👊🏿👍🏿
Couldn’t catch the game but see we are holding on for the win.
Some good defending or just bad finishing?
Hold on for the 90 and we move back up to 9th.
You answered me boys.
Thank you.
Job done thank fuck.
Piss poor performance but I guess it’s 3 points.
Thomas
Talk about low standards.
——————–
Welcome to Arsenal in 2020.
Receding
“Some good defending or just bad finishing?”
Southampton haven’t been that dangerous tbh.
Bit of a sleepy match.
Luck seems to be with us today, cos I don’t see tactics or plots! So has to be Lady Luck then.
Good!!!
This CB looks TALL and BIG
Why isn’t AMN being tried in midfield? Isn’t that his preferred position ?
He couldn’t do a worse job than Ceballos
Duly noted Ishola
The win is needed. Seeing us in the bottom half doesn’t sit right. Just 6 points off United now…..
Southampton have the worst home record in the division.
Abject quality of football
CRISIS OVER LOL!
Auba needs a bloody goal.
Funny both teams losing tonight came into the game as favorites with the bookies
Receding
“The win is needed.”
Surely is.
It’s been a poor match overall but you take what you can at this stage and what has been happening at the club lately.
Good performance from the lads.
Martinez is quite good. I din’t really think he was this good.
I really like AMN. He’s positive. Looks forward first. Most our players look sideways.
This has been a better organised and spirited performance helped by Southampton’s mistakes.
We win and move on.
Don’t understand. Why would kolac think he needed to foul Long?v. He’s alone with 4 Arsenal players around.
Holding MOTM for me today.
Ozil should play on Sunday in FA cup. if not , something is really up
All this reminds me of the Wenger days. We never fail too hard. And we never over achieve. Just do enough to be involved throughout the season. Which keeps mediocre managers and players on salaries for 7-8 years comfy.
Holding is tall.
Gazzap
Amn hasnt completed 5 passes today
I d nominate the Soton goalie as MOTM with 1.5 assists. Better than any on the pitch!
TR7
“Abject quality of football”
This is stinging coming from TR7.
I think we can give them a break though.
The whole match has had an end of season feel about it.
And at least it looks like no goals conceded today.
Holding is potentially the best CB at Arsenal. The guy’s career has so far been blighted by injuries but he and Saka are two damn good youngsters.
Dissenter
Emi has always been a very capable shot stopper.
Only his decision making and passing needs to improve.
Laca wasting another beautiful Saka cross. The usual.
I’m watching the SKY sports UK feed.
The sound effects are delicious, they even have the aaaaghs right, probably from FIFA football.
Rob Holding and Martinez have been quite good.
Southampton’s poor home form combined with two Keeper blunders gifted Arsenal an undeserved victory.
I said take guendouzi, Lacazette and bellerin out of the team earlier. I think the they’re all really overrated players. 2 of them didn’t start and we won.
A win is a win.