Arsenal back at Wembley, will Arteta welcome back the outcasts?

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via Arsenal Instagram

Well, here we are, 3 weeks after our FA Cup final win, it’s here, the season curtain-raiser… Arsenal vs Liverpool in The Community Shield.

It’s hard to say it’s not an important game. All games have a psychological value, a big win sets you up for a confident start. A big loss can send you into a nervous territory. We need a good start this season, we need to set a new tone after the horrendous first 4 months of last season. We need to signal that the new era was, in fact, kicked off with that stunning FA Cup final win.

Both teams will be unfit. We’ve only had a few training sessions. Liverpool are in the same position as us. It’ll be a leggy game. There really was no other option. If you blitz your players after they’ve spent two months playing 3 games a week, you will absolutely pay for that later in the season when you need energy in the legs.

The big worry for Arsenal is we really haven’t addressed our central midfield position. Well, we have new bodies. Matteo G is now back in the family and Mo Elneny is available and scoring goals. Doesn’t really fill you with the same confidence you might have taken from seeing Ceballos, Partey, or Aouar starting.

No news on whether Mesut will start. Though Arteta’s impassioned defence of the club for the way they dealt with the pay cuts does indicate he’s still pretty pissed about the German playmakers carry-on over doing his part. Our young Spanish coach is every bit the company man. He also said Raul left with honour, which is, errr… oh fuck it, best leave that be, this is a new season. NO GRUDGES.

Back to the LACK of players.

It is what it is. I think we just have to accept it’s really hard to operate in a slow window when you have no money to play with. Cries that Don Raul has been missed are ridiculous. Last summer was very slow to start with, then we did a financial madness that has us tied up in knots this summer.

Still, on the face of it, you can’t argue with what we’ve done so far.

Saliba, Gabriel, Willian, with Guendouzi and ESR as the LIKE A NEW SIGNING players. Feeling just like it did under Arsene Wenger.

One area the club hasn’t been messing around in is in the coaching department. Arteta is bringing in names that he likes. The two latest are Carlos Questa and Miguel Molina. Both look like the new breed of young coaches that are starting to make their mark on the game. They come from Atleti and Juventus, Dom from the podcast I recorded the other night tells me that Cuesta is a bit like Rene Maric in the sense that he made the opportunity himself by writing and doing analysis online that attracted attention. Not sure which coach it was, but a journo once asked, ‘how did you make it as a top coach without being a top player’, and the response was, ‘I had more time to study.’ You’ll see more of that. We’re moving into a new era of coaching. Bold ideas, great with data, deeply into psychology… major fucking geeks. I LOVE IT. Just gotta hope it all works out for Arsenal, can’t have everyone calling me a hipster melt when we’re bottom of the league in January.

‘WE NEED SEAN DYCHE IN THE BUILDING’

Some disappointing news coming out of the club that Emi Martinez will be exited if the right offer comes in. Raul had him down for £20m, but the club might have to accept as little as £10m. Think this is being driven by the player. He doesn’t want to sign a new deal unless he’s #1. We won’t give him that luxury, so he’ll likely go to Spain. Good luck to him.

Feels a bit shit that a player can be instrumental in the club’s success, then get bombed off… but you can’t ask for ruthless behavior then get angry when it happens to your fave. Martinez has a small sample of games to choose from. Bernd Leno has been consistently great for longer. We are skint. Life goes on. Let’s hope we get a decent back-up keeper. Someone that is huge, loves to catch, and can pass like a hero.

Arsenal Twitter sleuths have just noticed that Leonardo, PSG Sporting Director, followed Hector Bellerin. OMG.

Wolves moved on Doherty onto Spurs for £14m. I suspect that’ll mean Wolves up the offer for AMN. Again, I’d be sad, but if the cash is going to get mainlined into our midfield, I’ll accept the exit with good grace.

Right, on that note, I shall bid you farewell. Enjoy the game today. Football is back. Let’s hope it’s a fun game AND MORE SILVERWARE!

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Bojangles

Some posters here suggesting 10-12 games as go not enough to go on. Please explain how the lad is to put a longer string of games together if he is consigned to the bench.

At least if he has to wait for Leno to make a mistake before he gets another chance, I doubt it will take 10-12 games. If he is still with us then.

Dissenter

Leno is a good keeper but he does have his limitations too. Like Wenger Eagle said , people are presenting him like he’s some Jan Oblak or Allison. Lets see how Arteta’s man management holds up, he made a comment about keepers being like wing backs/full backs. It;’s just that there has ti be a number one keeper to integrate play with the back four. Hope we can have a situation like Juventus who have two very good keepers; Sczezny and Mattia Perin. I understand where the people advocating for Leno are coming from, I just think Eni has some… Read more »

Dissenter

One way to make Martinez stay is to pay him the range of salaries that starting goalies earn in the league.
That’s one quick fire way to defuse the situation.

Bojangles

“Speaking on Maitland-Niles’ future last week, Gunners boss Mikel Arteta said: “We are reading a lot of news about our players which is not bad that other clubs want him but with Ainsley, he’s a player that I’ve said since I joined that I really like.

“The best way to show that is that I have played him in the most important games of the season and he responded really well, so that’s where we are with the player.”

Bojangles

“Dominik Szoboszlai has pledged his future to RB Salzburg and ended all talk of him moving to the Emirates with Arsenal.”

Tom

Bojangles
The only thing missing from the Arteta really likes AMN comments is that he’s not going anywhere because he’s a vital part of Arteta’s future plans.
So I guess if the right offer comes along ……..

Tom

One way to make Martinez stay is to pay him the range of salaries that starting goalies earn in the league.
That’s one quick fire way to defuse the situation.

———
He would have to sign an extension then , which he said he won’t do unless he’s a starter ,so back to square one.

Giving him a bumper pay on his current deal just to keep him less unhappy before he leaves in 2022 , is that smart use of funds?
Although 20k is super low for a quality keeper, it must be said.

Bojangles

Un**ed in box seat to sign Van der Beek. Would have preferred us going in for him rather than Aouar. It’s also been reported that Barca have recently shown interest in him too, if that’s true there’s a good chance Koeman could persuade Van der Beek to head to Barca.

Dissenter

Bojangles
The asking price for Van Der Beeb is 60 million, that’s not chump change my friend.

MidwestGun

Pretty clear to me, Leno has been Wally Pipped at this point. Ride the hot hand… Martinez has been near flawless.

Leedsgunner

Pleeeeeease Arsenal FC stop playing Sweet Caroline as our anthem.

It’s creepy boring and utterly uninspiring.

Tom

“Hands, touching hands
Reaching out, touching me, touching you” – pretty much an epidemiologist nightmare scenario during Covid lol.

Sid

A good perfomance from AMN that should push his value to 35m,
His replacement Soares is crap, thats my Arsenal one step forward one step back.

Tony

Great win yesterday that will make the PL clubs look at us differently by continuing to take top 4 club scalps. Looking forward to seeing who we add to the squad by October 6. Posted a couple of days ago that I believe we’ll see far mote highs than lows this season. Yesterday’s performance only reinforces that view. Emi vs Leno If Emi is considered elite since the restart of last season and continuing that rich vein of form yesterday, I still say we need to move Leno on rather than Emi for all the positives many have posted here… Read more »

Habesha Gooner

Dissenter
Fabrizio Romano is reporting ajax are Willing to sell Donny Van de beek for 40 mil euros. I think he is a very good value at that price. I would love either Aouar or him.

Akkimaniac

Mikel Arteta already has more wins (5) against the Big Six than Unai Emery (3).

Useroz

A shame Dominik Szoboszlai is no longer available but I bet Arsenal were never interested despite some rumours.

Seriously don’t understand how the pros who work at the club. Szoboszlai is young, looks built for the PL and las good as any we are linked with and wasn’t on a mega fee (c €25m).

Yet… we have Willock, Elneny, even Guendouzi and the almighty (salary) Ozil still loitering around. Arghhhh…

Useroz

van de beek at €40m is too good to be true. May be a covid sale but if true what are we waiting for?

Oh, there’s not much of a market for our dross and Vinai couldn’t wave his financial magic wand.

Sanmi

SpanishDave About xhaka, what’s more bizarre is legrove dont know the value of Xhaka, is it that you guys don’t watch the games? Xhaka is undroppable. Even if we sign Partey, xhaka plays! Let me explain is role in the 352, He is key to us beating the press when we pass from the back, his passing range means Arteta wants him freed in the middle that’s why AMN moves infield to occupy another midfielder so Xhaka is free, once the ball gets to Xhaka, Aubameyang, pepe or saka knows the ball will find them in one swing pass. When… Read more »

Sanmi

Every coach gives Xhaka the most technically complex job in the team, he gets to do the multiple role. With Wenger: the starts in the middle then drops back to mid CB when we attack. With Emery: He starts in the middle then drops to LB when we attack. I already explained arteta’s. In his national team, he starts at CM. His positional awareness is very good. The only criticism is lack of athleticism, but that’s not his fault, he makes up for it by reading the game well. Arteta is making him more consistent by creating more room for… Read more »

Valentin

At Bayern Pep used to rely tactically a lot on Philip Lahm. He was a very intelligent footballer, defensivelt tactically aware who was able to fill multiple positions as Pep required. AMN is the same to Arteta. He is his Swiss army knife player. Can play at right fullback, left fullback, wingback tucked in to density midfield, defensive midfielder. He can do all that with a reasonable quality, because defensively on 1v1 situation he is rarely put on the back and when he does he has the pace to recover. All those quality made him invaluable to Arteta. He may… Read more »

Receding Hairline

Very difficult season to predict is coming up.

Not enough time to plan and strategize, many players will get underserved third or fourth chances etc although some think it’s justified because they are playing under Arteta, like that would give them abilities they just don’t have.

We need to get back into the champions league come the seasons end , thanks to the FA Cup win we have two possible avenues to do so. That should be the ultimate goal going into the season, to finish in the UCL places or win the Europa league.

DaveCee

It’s tough on Leno, but seeing the way Emi has performed and how he fits with the defenders it just seems logical that he keeps his place. Leno would probably command the higher fee of the 2 also.
And can we agree that AMN should be kept and played without saying Soares is crap? He has done little wrong in his time on the pitch.
Great we won y’day. I wasn’t sure we could.
Nice to see Elneny play well too. No need to bin him off yet, we are light in CM and he is a useful player.

Valentin

Sanmi, Excellent posts. The problem is that both Xhaka and AMN are not highlight players. They don’t score goals, they don’t make busting lungs attack, they don’t make crunching tackle so often fans don’t see what they bring to the team. It remind me of Gilberto Silva. Near me in the stadium there was a thick fan who kept swearing against that lazy midfielder. A faorbfew were nodding in agreement, Until Gilberto broke his back and suddenly it became evident to everybody there was a Gilberto Silva hole in the middle. Partey will be used as the player to break… Read more »

Receding Hairline

No Valentine the problem with AMN and Xhaka is they are both average, if they leave Arsenal today they are moving to clubs below us in standing, without a doubt. We want players who cannot make the starting eleven at other top clubs starting for us week in week out and we wonder why we haven’t finished top four in years.

Receding Hairline

Funny enough the only midfielder at the club who could move to a top tier club none of you want anything to do with, Matteo Guendouzi…his crime seems to be he is viewed as an Emery favorite, as none of you on this blog bar Pedro complained of his attitude before.

James wood.

You need to to read back RH.
The guy’s a fool.
And that’s been stated before.
A wasted talent who I expect is an only child.

Habesha Gooner

Donny van de beek will be a snip at £36 mil. We can have a hard time luring aouar here with the price on his head but van de beek is possible. I would hate to see a bruno, Pogba and Van de beek trio at United. They will never run out of creativity of that happens.

Receding Hairline

Wasted talent at 20? Some of you use words and phrases you don’t even know the meaning of.

All his coaches have attested to his hard work both in training and on the pitch. What he does with his private time is his business.

Spent months demonizing the kid and now you are all surprised the 60m pound bids from top clubs aren’t flying in. Real head scratcher that

Aussie+Gooner

Arsenal fans celebrating all over the world – good to see! I know we haven’t won the EPL or CL but it is still baby steps. This kind of win against the odds builds confidence. Look how well Martinez and AMN have performed recently. There is genuine competition for some spots in the team now and players seem to be responding accordingly. Arteta is clear on the commitment he wants from the players and if they don’t stack up they are out the door. Very interesting what he had to say about AMN having to be consistent in training. There… Read more »

Habesha Gooner

RH I agree Guendouzi is probably the only midfielder who can become world class at the club. But seeing arteta is pulling in the same direction, Guendouzi and Ozil being the only ones who aren’t on board isn’t great for me. I would have loved for us to keep him and get the best out of him. But Arteta has done enough to convince a lot of people. He has had weird choices in players but his results and performances have been good so far. It’s for that reason we should sell Guendouzi. I still think he will become world… Read more »

Terraloon

The simple fact that AMN and indeed Martinez are being considered as potential departures are that Arsenal need funds . Now some talk about getting big money paid over a long period and in normal circumstances that would be fine but the dilemma is that all other clubs likewise need cash now as opposed to the future so that viciously distorts the market. It’s been said for weeks that most of the transfer activity will be by way of swaps or loans the majority of other deals will be by way of vastly reduced fees but with a bigger %… Read more »

James wood.

RH “ what he does with his private life is he’s business “
YES 100%.
It’s what he does with his attitude in certain games on the pitch
that let’s him down.
Let his former club Lorient down.?
Embarrassed Arsenal.
Who would want to take that on.?

Receding Hairline

What did he do James on the pitch that has never been done before?

Lol at throwing in lorient like you ever watched him play there.

Graham62

It would be a travesty if Martinez were to leave.

It is clear to us all that he is a better keeper than Leno and, significantly, his teammates feel far more comfortable with him between the sticks.

Pierre

Graham Besides Martinez’s handling being better than Leno , he is a physically imposing figure when coming for crosses and closing down strikers. Keepers like Kepa, De Gea , lloris and Leno are maybe more agile but they cannot and do not command their box due to their physique. A striker wouldn’t dare take on Martinez in a physical confrontation as he looks as solid as a rock and strikers would just bounce off of him, plus he is fearless when he comes out of goal. Bob wilson was the most fearless and brave ( or stupid) keeper I’ve seen… Read more »

Buzzy

Agreed about Martinez..Artetas doing really well and I’m very excited by his project but in my opinion one of his weaknesses has been choosing the right personnel ..Here’s hoping he doesn’t make the blunder of dropping Emi just like he’s been committing one with playing Nkiteah even though the kid really offers nothing

Raulishuss

Nkethia might not be the finished article but he offers very good movement and help relatively with holding of play. He needs games but he’ll come good imo

Sid

Xhakalson beating the press is laughable. He cannot function when pressed. Thats the reason Arteta has used Luiz as our main passer.

AMN is a great athletically, his problem is ze mental strength most likely a result of being raised by a messed up single mother. Needs a mentor/father figure.

Soares is limited athletically and early signs is he has an average football brain. A bad combination.

James wood.

RH

“Avoid using exaggerations “
Everyone except you know’s he’s
childish knob.?.

alex cutter

““The world’s most interesting man’ That made me chuckle wondering which way I should take it.”

That campaign was pretty big in the US for a while, and though a little hyperbolic, seems appropriate for how it sounds like you’ve lived your life. Thx again.

Graham62

Pierre

Agree.

🍺🏌🏻‍♂️

Valentin

RH, AMN has been called up by the England team, so clearly there are other people who think that he can do a decent job. That idea that he is a bubbling buffoon who does not deserve to be on the pitch is a ridiculous notion. He is not a lower league player who blackmailed Arteta to be in first eleven. As Arteta said every time there was an important game, he was in the starting eleven. Every time there was a defensive problem wide, he was used. The same with Xhaka, he may be a limited player, but he… Read more »

Useroz

Arteta does have a unique appetite in putting certain players on the pitch , or on sale (as reported), that most of us layman couldn’t fully comprehend. The use of Xhara seems crucial in how Arteta wants to play. It shows. When Xhara was off injures, MF was terrible. Personally, don’t see Guendouzi becoming WC as some predict. Need way more than talent to become WC. Time would tell of course. But pace is something you couldn’t improve and he’s slower than Cesc. You’d tell when Cesc would be WC when played as a 16yo… not Guendouzi, not Willock, not… Read more »

andy1886

Sanmi, on Xhaka, how you can have the audacity to say “guys don’t watch the games?” and follow that up with “The only criticism is lack of athleticism” is beyond me, it really is. How about his many and well documented brain fart moments? You claim he has great awareness yet he frequently has his pocket picked in dangerous areas (often just on front of our box). Don’t you think the fact that he can’t tackle properly would be a weakness for a player in his position? Obviously not. Yes he can play the the odd great pass, and he… Read more »

Moe

Valentin
Good point about getting a replacement for AMN, will surely cost more than 20mil especially if the player is English. One more season and if his growth continues Arsenal can make a bonanza on him.
Also, those wanting Emi sold to raise funds for midfield reinforcements are conveniently overlooking the fact that selling Leno brings in way more cash. Can’t even get a quality backup keepeer at 10mil come next season.

Graham62

Question to all our American based bloggers.

Are all republicans ignorant or is it just a simple fact that they don’t get out enough?

Sorry, I know, I should stick to football.

Moe

In sports you play the guy in form. That’s how the Nfl introduced the world to Tom Brady and the rest is history. There are many other examples. This Wengerite notion that you don’t lose your place because of an injury is so anti competition. Sports is all about what have you done for me lately. Sorry that’s harsh but it is what it is.

Moe

That’s how players get teams to pay him them ransoms, and why PEA can hold Arsenal to ransom at the moment. Strike when hot, and if gone cold the team will strike back. No unnecessary emotional attachments

China1

Yeah AMN isn’t a monster talent but what he is is very dependable, very versatile, cheap, young, home grown and this season has demonstrated that he has a good work ethic too As much as we want a team full of world beaters, this kind of player is very very useful to us right now. Every squad needs a few such players ideally for both rotation, reliability and versatility for different formations etc. How many do we have currently? Saka is another (more talented) player who can do a job all over the pitch but anyone else? Not really We… Read more »

China1

Btw Saka’s play in the first half yesterday was fab

Great passing, not only for his assist but that pass to nketiah 10 mins later was really ozil style. So clean and accurate and begging for Eddie to bury it

China1

I know the charity shield is a preseason friendly but in the last handful of weeks we’ve beaten city, Liverpool twice and Chelsea, winning an Fa cup and charity shield along the way You have to say if we can do this ‘without a midfield’ and some highly dubious CBs, best striker on the wing etc, you really do wonder if Arteta will deliver us to the promised land when he gets a few more quality players in Credit to Arteta he’s on a serious role at the moment. You no longer look at those fixture against the top sides… Read more »

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