Losing a North London derby isn’t supposed to be easy. It’s not supposed to come with positives. It is always utterly shit. Losing to ‘that’ Jose Mourinho mess stung like a wet towel to the backside in a cold December Sunday League dressing room.
Everything about the loss hurt. The simple summation of the game is we didn’t take the sort of chances we normally would and individual errors cost us big again.
Kola was unable to execute a standard 10-yard pass to David Luiz. The Brazilian, low on pace at 33, didn’t have a recovery in him. Martinez, maybe didn’t make himself big enough for the Son chip. You cannot coach that sort of idiocy out of players (Emi is subtracted from that comment), it is absolute Sunday League basics. The second goal was another set-piece calamity. Kieran Tierney found himself picking up Toby from corner, no one else was paying attention, we conceded.
In attack, you saw Auba air shot from a cut back cross in the first half. The second half saw him rattle a fairly standard finish against the bar. He forced an electric save from Lloris on the half volley. Normally, you convert those. Yesterday, we didn’t.
We deserved the result. You know what Jose is going to do to you and he did it. At the highest level, you need to concentrate for the full 90 and we have players that are rarely capable of that. The Kola piece was particularly irritating. Arteta said that no one complained about his defenders when we were keeping clean sheets, I’d disagree with that. Kola was absolutely awful in the last game, so we knew something was brewing. What was alarming was how everything fell to pieces, particularly when we went a goal down. Mustafi was attacking shadows, the shape started to pick apart, and the usual suspects weren’t sharp enough.
The other absolutely key issue is the personnel in midfield. Dani Ceballos was excellent, he really put in a dogged shift, but we still struggled to create from midfield. I think part of the gameplay was to have Lacazette drop in as a 10, but that came with its own problems.
Someone asked me after the game if I still thought the players were coachable. Absolutely. It isn’t even up for discussion whether the players have been improved by better coaching. Our team is better structured, we’ve beaten some good teams on the road, and nearly all stats point to clear improvements across the board. Coaching though, will not solve for Kola making a mistake that bad from 10 yards. The mistakes, sadly, always wait in the wings with certain players. Sometimes you’ll see David Luiz have a towering game, other times, he looks like the least experienced player on the pitch. Mustafi had a great run, now he looks like he’s playing with fear again. The only way you solve for those issues is new players. The only way you deal with them this season is to continue to give them confidence and hope we see more games like those at Leicester / Wolves / Sheffield United… versus the messy output today.
On the match, I was a little confused with the post-game buoyance from Arteta. I thought we deserved the loss and couldn’t quite match his enthusiasm for the performance. I suspect maybe he knew there were a lot of tired legs out there and he knows if we go into the Liverpool game feeling sorry for ourselves, it’ll be a rout.
What I will say is the whatever you think about the game is at least we’re looking at that match as a lost opportunity. We weren’t battered or opened up. We were shithoused, but like, barely even shithoused. We should have won based on chances and not making stupid mistakes, and that’s the talking point.
We have 3 more games in the league this season and an FA Cup game that looks like it’s going to be very, very tough. Then the real work starts. This summer has to be big. If we don’t buy well and upgrade the clear areas we’re struggling in, we’ll have more games like this. Our summer needs end with a squad that is built for the vision of the coach, if it’s not, then what is the point?
Liverpool in 2 days. My word I hope we have something to give. See you in the comments.
It’s quite simple many on here have insisted the fact we finished 2 points off third last season is testament to us having a top four squad and nothing to do with the skills of the manager in charge, if anything they believe he hampered us. Now that squad has been improved upon, and some of the names endorsed by the present gaffer, all this talk of needing improvements to make top four is nonsense since we already had a top three/four squad last season anyway. Hence come the end of next season we should finish in the top four… Read more »
Safe to say if theres any mediocrity next season touching on the failures of previous manager, most in this space with have gone to knives.
Its not difficult to understand taking a failing side over during peak christmas run is never going to be an easy task. Squad having played under Emery, then FL for a stretch. Getting anything from this season was a bonus. Yet some cease to want to grasp that, pretty those that hired Arteta understood this time may be best used blooding in a hopeful long termer with high potential window.
Emery had an uncharacteristically poor start to the season which amazingly Arteta has succeeded in making worse…
If you’re seeking an example of the cognitive salad that an Arteta cult of personality can engender, read the CC post at 15:44.66
It’s utter gibberish, what an empty retort.
The point is that the saucy manager isn’t doing any better than the one with bad teeth. Come back with a better defense.
Sal
“hopeful long termer ”
You know that depends on how Arteta fairs next season.
How long is this “blooding” in process going to take?
Blooding in sounds very much like taking a back seat for the next few seasons.
“Or will Arsenal expect a top four finish as has been demanded from his predecessors and if he fails the manner of failure should determine if we invest more time and resources on a rookie coach.”
Given the outright joke that is UEFA’s FFP rule, how does one expect Arsenal to compete when it’s ownership refuses to spend any of its own money? Its tantamount to bringing a knife to a gunfight.
Gunner DNA & Ishola 😂😂😂😂😂 agree .Didnt realise.Thats how much they’ve pickled my head!
Dissenter
Again, the fact you equate Emery and Arteta’s output this season is your own issue – never mind the respective circumstances both entered the season with.
One left us 8 points back of 4th after 13 games, and the other has kept us the 9 points back of 4th that he found us in when he arrived.
Mind blowing that you’re too daft to process that, wholly embarrassing that you instead offer up the explanation as gibberish. Big L for you.
“Emery had an uncharacteristically poor start to the season which amazingly Arteta has succeeded in making worse…”
What the F have you been smoking, Red? Seriously, you cant be this deliberately ridiculous.
DissenterJuly 13, 2020 15:00:35
I don’t believe for one minute that we are trying to extend Mustafi’s contract
Dissenter I have seen arsenal sign Kim kallstrom and Yaya sanogo and I have also seen Luiz getting a contract extension….you really think it’s beyond this club to hand mustafi a shiny new contract?
“Given the outright joke that is UEFA’s FFP rule, how does one expect Arsenal to compete when it’s ownership refuses to spend any of its own money? Its tantamount to bringing a knife to a gunfight.” Ernest we already had a top three/four squad last season, those aren’t my words but the words of many now doing mental back flips. Our finishing 2 points off third testified to that apparently. That squad has had a 70m pound winger dropped in, seeing as Arteta was credited (stupidly mind) with the development of Sane and Sterling, Pepe should be a walk in… Read more »
“Dissenter I have seen arsenal sign Kim kallstrom and Yaya sanogo and I have also seen Luiz getting a contract extension….you really think it’s beyond this club to hand mustafi a shiny new contract?”
For crying out loud Daniel, I’m trying to eat my dinner!
Yes Earnest.Lets face it.Fifa & Uefa are powerless when it comes to “ financial doping”.It was a pointless exercise by the previous regime wenger/ Gazidis in trying to comply with it.Should have seen the writing on the wall when Dein made the reference to the chavs pulling up on our lawn & firing £100 notes at us.
I do live in north London and have seen good improvement int the team shape both defensively and in attack but what does not add up for me is pretty simple and the same applied with Emery .These coach’s need to bin certain players who are obviously not good enough and not suited to the Prem , we all no who they are as it is fucking obvious and quite frankly getting really annoying now and to cut a long story short a big question mark over Arteta is the championing of Xhacka Luiz and mustaffi and if he refuses… Read more »
“Ernest we already had a top three/four squad last season, those aren’t my words but the words of many now doing mental back flips. Our finishing 2 points off third testified to that apparently”
Please refresh my memory, where exactly did we finish last season – and why don’t i have any recall of any CL matches this season?
Red’s on 🔥 dropping some wisdom.
“Please refresh my memory, where exactly did we finish last season – and why don’t i have any recall of any CL matches this season?”
Your memory isn’t the problem here
Why can’t I counter some of the nonsense written on here??
If you look back to at least the Wolves match, you can see that Kolasinac does NOT look comfortable in his role as a LCB, but it’s also either down to him or Medley in that role. I will say that considering the conversation around Arsenal between December and July had shifted from “will Arsenal finish in the top half of the table?” to “will Arsenal snatch a place in Europe?” (even some overly optimistic voices suggesting Champions League for some reason) this shows what Arteta has done with basically the same squad as Unai in the exact same season.… Read more »
Ernest ReedJuly 13, 2020 16:33:14
“Dissenter I have seen arsenal sign Kim kallstrom and Yaya sanogo and I have also seen Luiz getting a contract extension….you really think it’s beyond this club to hand mustafi a shiny new contract?”For crying out loud Daniel, I’m trying to eat my dinner!
Ernest you are better off…Right now I am with my Liverpool supporting uncle who has been a total dick since they won the league…I shudder at the thought of kolasinac facing salah
Andy1886.
I trust your figures to be correct but it goes to show what KSE have overseen in the time they have owned the club. To have spent that much more than some of our rivals and still be lagging behind in terms of squad quality and depth is a damning indictment of their mismanagement. They are going to have to spend more to help us get to where we want to be.
Arsenal should not of given the top job to someone who requires on the job training.
Ish I think the signals thus far have been positive considering circumstance, its not perfect but were headed in right direction. For me Arteta’s biggest task this summer is ridding club of Ozil then replacing, coupled with finding his best defensive setup which really equates to fleshing the spine out into the mid. That will bring more consistency which we really lack at moment. Its pretty basic. With contract Arteta’s been given I suspect he gets the entirety of next season to see what he can do but the pressure will be immense from the supporters to act if he’s… Read more »
I don’t know what is this requirement that we must have a left footed lcb….what happened to a good old centreback who can defend …wolves have boly/saiss there and I don’t see that affecting how they play..I am genuinely starting to feel that I am never going to see a decent arsenal defence for the rest of my lifetime.
If Arsenal can bring in more players with the same mindset as Tierney, I think we will see a monumental shift in the culture and fortunes of the club.
That wasn’t about coaching it was about not being mentally prepared.
You could see they were nervous throughout so to me it didn’t seem that there was any really fight in them and/or someone to take the team by the scruff of the neck.
Definitely no Adams and classic back four/or 5 five for that matter with steely determination and attitude……
The difference is Emery was fighting for a top 4 finish whe Arteta is fighting for a top 8 finish lol
Daniel Altos I am trying to think of the last time I watched Arsenal and felt genuinely calm and relaxed with our defenders on a consistent basis over a longer period of time (not just the odd game or two) It might even be as far back as 07/08. Ever since then we have always seemed to have it in us to ship multiple goals a game and recruit calamitous defenders. Arteta has made us harder to beat, but as is evident from yesterday we still have very basic and quite frankly dumb (Kolasinac) and headless chicken (Mustafi) defenders. It… Read more »
Daniel Altos- The footballing gods are obviously punishing us .From the All time great back four of Adams,Bould,winterburn & Dixon to the three stooges 😤 of Mustaphi,Louisa & kolasinac.lol!
Reading the post made by some here after Emery lost to spurs in the carabao cup 6 months into his tenure (Dec 2018), and comparing them with their current stance right now is night and day.
As usual, some really interesting thoughts on here. But, unfortunately, the fact remains that we shamefully lost to our crappy neighbours, after taking the lead. As people have said, we have a bunch of lousy defenders, plus a coach who seems unable to comprehend that one cannot make a silk purse out of a cow’s ear. And as for our one footed winger Pepe. Even some of our worst players over the years never cost what he did! Farcical.
How do you decide what comments to show?
So Mavrapanos may go loan with an option to buy or directly sold to Stuttgart whilst we extend the contract of both Luiz and Mustafi. I do understand why Sven could not work at Arsenal.
Soon we’ll hear that we sold Saliba to be able to afford a contract with Thiago Silva.
If Mavrapanos is considered as not good enough for ARSENAL, why are we not looking at the next young CB who could make it big instead of all the never-been players.
Ultimately, since moving to the back three, Arsenal have improved defensively and are better at keeping the ball but are not completing anywhere near enough passes near the opposition goal. The team doesn’t create enough, and therefore doesn’t score enough, to win consistently. People may like to point to profligacy but Arsenal have outperformed expected goals handsomely so far this season. And a considerable amount of that over-performance has come in the five matches since the switch to a back three Looking at passes completed within 25 yards of the opposition goal since the switch to the back three, only… Read more »
Great post from Arseblog and it’s basically mirrors what I have said.
Our defensively stability comes from us sacrificing our attack.
This is one,
“We have defenders that can play for those above us, but that’s conflating the point. The point is we have defenders capable of being better defensively than we’ve proven so far this season.”
Player poverty really is a thing.
ChrisJuly 13, 2020 16:54:52 Daniel AltosI am trying to think of the last time I watched Arsenal and felt genuinely calm and relaxed with our defenders on a consistent basis over a longer period of time (not just the odd game or two)It might even be as far back as 07/08. Ever since then we have always seemed to have it in us to ship multiple goals a game and recruit calamitous defenders.Arteta has made us harder to beat, but as is evident from yesterday we still have very basic and quite frankly dumb (Kolasinac) and headless chicken (Mustafi) defenders.… Read more »
As for those defensive improvements has anyone ever paused to ask why we have been praising our goal keepers of recent? That should be a red flag on its own. Here are some stats to help you along ..make up your won minds Chelsea and Arsenal defense compared on twitter (stats since Arteta’s arrival) Defensive comparison of Arsenal and Chelsea since Arteta’s arrival: Games played: 17 for both Expected goals conceded: Arsenal = 25.3 Chelsea = 17.2 Actual goals conceded: Arsenal = 17 Chelsea = 24 Additional stats, with Arsenal on the left and Chelsea on the right Shots on… Read more »
Remember teams can go to a back three when there is seen to be emergency measures need to be taken.
Wenger did it at the tail end of a season when the team was in poor form previously and Arteta has done it now because it was obvious that overall the teams confidence was shaken.
It doesn’t mean we will see back three at the start of next season.
Predicted formation vs man c
721
Im telling you for free!
Cannot believe am asking this but what happened to sokratis?I am no fan of his but one thing I have noticed about him is that he is always pumped up for a derby…yesterday I didn’t see anyone pumped up for the fight
Regarding Pepe, I do wonder where are all those people who last summer were so taken by his highlight videos. You know the ones who insulted people who dared suggesting that Pepe was not all that and that without a lot of personal coaching he would find the going very tough in the EPL. ManCity, ManUtd, Chelsea can afford to get it wrong, but not Arsenal. That’s why putting all our eggs in one basket i.e. a right winger when there was glaring deficiencies in our midfield and our defense was a ludicrous decision. Those €80 millions (without the agents… Read more »
Receding from those stats one thing I can say is that kepa is really a shocking keeper
Also agree with Merson, stats are utter bollocks and any manager who relies on them over his own 2 eyes is not worth shit
“Receding from those stats one thing I can say is that kepa is really a shocking keeper”
Daniel Altos Kepa is indeed rubbish but Chelsea have some absolute clowns in defense too, Rudiger and Christensen are a joke, Zouma is passable but shouldn’t be in a top four team, Lampards tactics is also quite open, he is brave i give him that as he prefers to attack but at this point they need to be more pragmatic and he is failing badly.
“Also agree with Merson, stats are utter bollocks and any manager who relies on them over his own 2 eyes is not worth shit”
The stats actually point to a problem, the clean sheets are what’s misleading.
The passing map yesterday was an absolute concern too, we just held the ball for the sake of it. We have been doing that since the restart too. I asked a friend a question yesterday, have we looked like a team that can come from behind to win?
Fergie, heynkes,Wenger 1998-2006, cloughie. They won shit loads and they didn’t rely on stats.
Receding
You’re trying to analyse our improvement by comparing us defensively to Chelsea since Arteta arrived?
How on earth does that measure an improvement in our own performance?
Compare the defensive performance of Arteta’s 17 games to the 17 games that preceded it. Or drop in how Arsenal compared defensively to Chelsea in the 17 games before Arteta arrived.
Those stats do absolutely nothing except illustrate Martinez has performed well and Kepa hasn’t.
Good morning from sunny silicon valley Ok, onto business… This entire possession based football is not working for us. The keep away game is hurting us. Why keep the ball when we cannot do anything with it? The concept of give it to the winger and see what happens is so naive too. We need the ball moved at speed up the field and to take more chances! Playing this conservative wreaked of Emery ball yesterday. We need to sit Pepe and others who do not perform. Holding needs to be put in. Kola out. No point with Kola if… Read more »
“Those stats do absolutely nothing except illustrate Martinez has performed well and Kepa hasn’t.”
yes Sherlock that was actually the point, you claim to have a mastery of the English language yet here we are:
“As for those defensive improvements has anyone ever paused to ask why we have been praising our goal keepers of recent? That should be a red flag on its own.”
That is what opened my post, if the defense has been so solid how come the xGA numbers and the keepers needing to “perform well”.
Agree w/ that Valentin, our club record spend is the £72m for Pepe when the more pressing issues were certainly back four into the MF.
You look at others clubs spend in that region you see names like De Bruyne, VVD, Sterling even with a bit of inflation added to equation it still looks banter.
“yes Sherlock that was actually the point, you claim to have a mastery of the English language yet here we are“ Yes, and you stated the following: “So again no real improvements to declare we are in the right hands etc, mostly great goal keeping, thrown in with luck. Add pointless possession between center backs to keep the ball away from the opposition and you get the whole picture. Jury is still very much out on this huge improvements that prove we are on an upward curve“ So explain how comparing our defence to Chelsea’s since Arteta arrived shows “no… Read more »
Read the tactics article on Arseblog, which once again reinforced the fact that we were tactically outclassed yesterday.
Mourinho let our center backs have the ball because he knew they were going to gift Tottenham chances , and Arteta let that happen.
Stuttgart have offered Arsenal a “loan deal” for Mavropanos!!
What Arsenal should be doing is unloading all the unwanted players and maximising transfer fees. Surely we can get £5 million for this player. He is
young and on low wages and by all accounts played reasonably well in Germany.
He is not Arsenal or EPL quality so shift him out of club permanently. Arsenal
need to generate some transfer fees + reduce our wage bill.
Chelsea are rightly seen as a defensive shambles this season so showing we have indeed conceded more shots than they have and have a worse xGA shows the defensive improvements can be explained simply as having a better goal keeper.
The “this should be good” bit is old and worn by the way.
Now tie yourself in knots
I find it unproductive to keep complaining about the Pepe signing or compare the stats of Arteta vs Emery. Life is full of regrets. You can’t turn back the clock. I only look at the future and try to find the best way going forwards. Isn’t Arteta successful with Sterling and Leroy Sane? He should spend some times working with Pepe to get him going. Pepe can’t do it alone. If he is good for fast counter, then study how Klopp deploys Salah and order Pepe to practise the same route. The club has put all the offensive eggs in… Read more »
Nelson the whole Arteta being responsible for the talents and application of Sane and Sterling thing has been overplayed. We should stop using them to gauge expectations
“Chelsea are rightly seen as a defensive shambles this season so showing we have indeed conceded more shots than they have and have a worse xGA shows the defensive improvements can be explained simply as having a better goal keeper.“ Randomly comparing our defensive numbers to Chelsea’s since Arteta’s arrival does nothing but……compare our defensive numbers to Chelsea’s since Arteta’s arrival. You claiming it can be used as means of dismissing our defensive improvement makes no sense at all. Either: – compare our defensive numbers to the first 17 games of the season irrespective of Chelsea – compare our numbers… Read more »
RH, says you, who has absolutely no intel on Man City or Arteta.
Think we might take Pep’s view over yours.
Honest analysis Pedro,
Its worrying that Arteta couldn’t see kolas shortcomings last few games
We all did and called it straight away, he looked scared and in jitters every time he received the ball
He is obviously thinking too much about his best pal ozil !!
Terrible decision by the saucy one
Nelson, Sakha was Liverpool most expensive defender, yet Klopp kicked him out of the club for not fitting with what he wanted. If Pepe continue to flop next season, there is absolutely no benefit in keeping him at Arsenal. I am sure that Arteta will give another 12 months before revisit the problem. However keeping underperforming players because the club has paid good money for them is just continuing to throw money away. This is exactly the same logic that see Arsenal keep and extend Mustafi, Luiz and Kolasinac. “We paid good money for them, they must come good.” My… Read more »
G8, agree… but also, Holding hasn’t exactly been tearing it up when given a chance.
“He is not Arsenal or EPL quality”
This is an interesting statement, Emirates. What exactly is “Arsenal Quality” these days?
Valentin, I heard rumblings they will try to move him on this summer.
Arteta is another Wenger in the making, totally blind to the rubbish we have in the team, his belief that Xhaka is a good player is laughable, we are simply going from bad to worse, and I can’t see any improvement, we shop in bargain basement and we shouldn’t be surprised with the tosh we see, it is so embarrassing watching these lightweights adding nothing to the team apart from a few gems, we are years off the top four pace. Arteta will do nothing and I haven’t seen any improvement, just keep going backwards
“Isn’t Arteta successful with Sterling and Leroy Sane?”
Certainly Nelson, however appropriate context is required. He did so in a stacked full of talent environment that is ManCity. Arteta has not been afforded such a luxury at Arsenal. Still, given time and patience Pepe may yet turn out to be the player that 72 million thoughts went into?
The difference is Emery was fighting for a top 4 finish whe Arteta is fighting for a top 8 finish lol
Seriously????? The reason Arteta is here fighting for a top 8 position is because the team quit on Emery and we had our worst start in a generation under his shit “leadership.”
Can’t believe he is still being discussed as though he was competent. Move on for god sake your shit is boring red.
Valentin
I wrote Salah and not Sakha. Ha! Ha!
With Mustafi, Xhaka, Luiz, Laca & whoever the hell is in midfield, neither Pep nor Klopp can make it to top 4.
Even in 4 years.
Or Ever.
If you don’t have money, bring some kids from Academy. After all, loosing a 2-1 with no improvement is worse than loosing 3-1 and grooming youngsters.
On that note, does anyone follow our Academy? Do we not have options from there? Nelson, ESR, etc came but never seen a defender.
So with the ruling in City’s favor… basically receiving a slap on the wrist and no CL ban.. at all. The PL is back to the team who spends the most money has the advantage. Over to you Kroenke and Kroenke, Jr. FFP in my mind is basically eliminated. now.
Winning games is important, where the Club ends up in the league this season is not. For me the EL is a negative, not a positive, a distraction from what really matters. It’s a reminder of painful years in the CL without ever really competing. So where will be at the end of next season, competing at the top, or missing out on EL? What needs to be clear is that the Club is losing money. Which means cherry-picking the best is not on the menu. Nor does the Club have a bagful of super-stars to sell. From Mikel’s POV,… Read more »
I like Arteta and I hoped that he would be a success. However to me he looks like a great coach, but a mediocre manager. What worries me the most is something that cannot be improved with experience: temperament. Wenger was naturally a cautious man, so until he had his back to the wall, he never made the initial step to make changes. Arteta’s in game management has been poor. Especially the timing of the changes. With more experience he will get the changes right, but his cautiousness will always put him on the reactive side rather than pro-active side.… Read more »
Nelson,
I meant Sakho not Sakha or Salah. Damn autocorrect.
Valentin, I heard rumblings they will try to move him on this summer.
Pedro
Please tell me William on a free is not his replacement?
Pedro,
Yes, I have been told that they want to get rid of Mavrapanos, Holding, Sokratis in order to fund one purchase. But that there is an internal discussion about whether the big purchase should be in midfield or a left sided central defender.
The crazy rumour that I heard was Arsenal were seriously considering loaning Saliba to PSG with an option to buy.
Surely they would not…
Ryan Fraser has rejected extension and has been linked to a move to Arsenal & Spurs.
Never too late to get him.
How do you move on a player that cost 72 million transfer fee without incurring huge losses. The management team at Arsenal won’t be so stupid to try that. Pepe came to us without a pre-season and is having an average season, not a bad one. He’s playing under his third manager in one season so where’s the rumbling to move him out coming from? Yesterday was his first game back since he became a father, anyone who’s nursed a newborn can identify with him coming back jaded. He needs good coaching at Arsenal, not an exit. I thought we… Read more »
Valentin
Did you hear those rumours at your local fish & chip shop by any chance?
I also heard a rumour that we’ll loan Auba to Stoke next season with an option to buy.
Dissenter
There is no doubt that there are concerns over Pepe’s overall play. It’s so ragged and yes this has been the case since he has joined far too many times.
He may come good but the concerns about him this season are justified.
Val
Arsenal doesn’t have a midfield on the balance of play, seems a pretty clear decision in that context.
Arteta is a possession-based manager, I’ll be shocked if we don’t see a considerable effort to alter the dynamic of midfield. Same manner Klopp built his side from front to back.
Partey looks likely, but talk of Marc Roca today too which I’m not surprised at whatsoever. Guendouzi has an attitude, Torreira isn’t a fit, Ceballos isn’t our player, the needs are clear imo.
Pepe has not had such a disastrous season that the club would cut their losses one year in, and a disrupted and chaotic year at that. If he is still struggling this time next year and he has suitors, you could give it credibility.
Loaning Saliba out with an option to buy? I find that extremely hard to believe.
The amount of rebuilding we need to do; we really need to sell Auba and Laca for as much as we can and reinvest.
Signing Auba to a big contract when he’s 31 and declining isn’t smart business.
Chris
“Loaning Saliba out with an option to buy? I find that extremely hard to believe.”
It’s plausible tbh
If the rumors of us trying to sign Malang Sarr on a free transfer are true, then you can’t rule out the possibility that we are moving deck chairs around.
FFP never really existed, an egotistic whim on Platini’s part. None of the elite clubs abided by the rules, one way or another they got round them. No top manager took them seriously – apart from Wenger.
Uefa never stood an earthly against clubs like Real, Barca, Bayern, Man U, etc. The sole reason why there has been a stir against Man C is that they threaten to rule the roost.
I say, better them than the usual suspects. Another Liverpool era? Another decade of Man U dominance? No thanks.
When was arsenal known to do smart business? Certainly not in the last ten years with a few exceptions.
“…have we looked like a team that can come from behind to win?”
Here is your answer, receding hairline.
Orbinho – Arsenal have won just one of the 10 Premier League games under Mikel Arteta where the opposition has scored. W1 D5 L4.
jwl
You better stop spreading Arteta doom around here.
All you need here is happy talk about Arteta and lasso the last Spanish manager in for good effect.
Terraloon
Where art thou
Remember the conversation we had about the city ban?
I told ya the UEFA goons swung a battle ax at city and let PSG walk away free for the same offences.
The over-reacted to city’s braggadocios approach.
Dissenter – it is incredible how all of us see what we want to see. It is like us gooners are watching two different manager/matches.
Azed, Willian was very close to signing before the break.
Diss, the only good thing about a super-agent is they can move players on.
Still, hard to look at him as a 70m player based on this season. He looks meek. Moments of magic, but he got lost in that game yesterday.
Dissenter
I am fine with moving the deck chairs around, very much in favour actually, but Saliba? One of the most highly rated young centre backs in Europe who we have invested so much in already?
There are at least four who should go before he does. It seems ridiculous even discussing it.
Swiss Ramble has an interesting thread on what kse has done with bonds thing announced last week and also looks into our debt and finances. It is not a pretty picture, that for sure.
https://mobile.twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/1282561270173097984
Chris, Saliba might go out on loan again, but he’s not being sold.
Pedro
Can’t imagine who’d buy him from us and see to it that the transfer itself made financial sense though. Napoli wanted him when we signed him, who’s in for him?
That said, yesterday was a worry to me that he’s a player who lives on moments, and isn’t the type that is a constant thorn in the side of teams week upon week.
I’d not bemoan any sale provided it leaves us better equipped to improve. Arguably asks more questions than gives answers though if him, Torreira etc are fodder for sale.
This much is likely certain, if Arteta goes into the Liverpool and ManCity matches with the Insane Clown Posse central defenders that were on display yesterday, the outcome from both matches could be detrimentally demoralizing.
If everyone gets moved on for attitude (Guen) , being meek (Pepe, who one would imagine the creator of Sane and Sterling would see as a challenge),Saliba( heaven knows why) who stays?
Soares, Mari, Luis and Xhaka?
I would be disappointed if Saliba was loaned out again. I could somewhat understand the initial years loan at his former club, but another year out there wouldn’t make much sense to me. We need new defenders and he is highly rated and already ours.
Said Pepe was more a Gervinho MK II from the very beginning. He does not have the look of a great player. Great players always have poise and balance when they play. Pepe always looks hurried and unbalanced. Even his passing is erratic except one signature pass that he is very good at (cutting inside and sliding one at 90 degree to a team mate in the box).
FFP went out of the window at Arsenal as soon as Ozil signed his contract and Sanchez went on a free.
That wasn’t fair on the fans.
1-1 at OT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE5-oii48-o
Ohhhh love me some Insane Clown Posse references.
Our defense is a Hall of Illusions.