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!
x
Tr4phy
So
Good read
4
Game means nothing, fans must remember this
Who’s DM when we have TallestXhakaboom???
It’s great that Willian was excited by Arteta’s plan to win the Champions League in 3 years time. That’s good timing, as it will tie in perfectly with my 2023 wedding to Gal Gadot.
Is Willian playing today?
Pissed about EMI he is home grown and about the same age and probably as good as leno sell Leno keep EMI I would say
It’s still early to panic about our transfers though let’s see what happens with the midfielders we are linked to
Fully agree Serge
I feel that emi is the better keeper.
I like Leno but Martinez showed so much at the end of last season. He protects his defenders more by commanding his area and his shot stopping abilities is close enough to that of Leno. He was pretty faultless in his decision-making with his feet and the emotion he showed after winning the cup final shows how much passion he has for the team. He’s not to blame for being sick of being the back-up. If someone absolutely has to go then it should be Leno. His injury was a complete fluke but we also have seen more injuries following… Read more »
The only issue is Emi wants to be assured he is number 1 that won’t happen so he won’t sign his contract. Keeping him will loose us 20m if that’s the case sad times
Remains to be seen how they perform of course, but how refreshing, bringing in such young coaches to work with an innovative young coach. Wenger had some great great attributes, but keeping a backroom staff refreshed and full of new ideas will never rank amongst them , hard to believe that only a short time ago, the players were being coached by such luminaries as Gerry Payton, Boro Primorac and Neil Banfield.
Seems like this club could become of new ideas and techniques under Arteta.
Yay , bring on the English Super Cup.
Wait, what? It’s a Community Shield?!
Never mind then.
Pedro I do not understand your logic concerning Martinez He is not in the final season of his contract and we are not therefore under any pressure to sell him and certainly not at a time when most clubs don’t have a pot to piss in when it comes to transfer fees. I appreciate that Martinez wants regular first team football, but Arsenal’s priority is getting our squad in order and able to compete at top level in EPL. We should not be making changes in positions where we have no need to do so. Moreover your suggestion that we… Read more »
According to Transfermarkt Martinez contract ends in June 2022.
There is nothing wrong in having to great keepers at our disposal.. Let them fight for the 1 No position. Beside we never can tell when injuries ll come
Top 20
David Smith
Funny thing about it is that while both Szczesny and Fabianski didn’t think much of Gary Payton , Emi Martinez actually did.
Either that or he was just being diplomatic on the subject while still in Arsenal’s employment…….unlike the other two.
Welcoming the dross back will win us nothing.
Our mediocre squad will give us the same season as last year.
Arteta cannot put a shine on turds
Leno should be sold, not Martinez. We then keep the best keeper and probably get the best fee. Simples.
Welcoming the dross back will win us nothing.
Our mediocre squad will give us the same season as last year.
Arteta cannot put a shine on turds
————
And Arteta still hasn’t had a proper preseason ,if you really think about it, so I suppose all the excuses for not making top four are still valid.
I see alot of people knocking guen for lack of consistency or being ‘average’ and it just makes me laugh.The guy is clearly talented.I know Legrove is on the aouar hype train and I am not saying he isn’t immensely talented but have people actually watched the guy?I watch ligue one almost every week as I have a package that provides every top league apart from the bundesliga and aouar is the epitome of ‘choosing games to turn up’….nowhere near consistent enough.
Leno should be sold, not Martinez. We then keep the best keeper and probably get the best fee. Simples.
—————-
No one should be sold.
Give Martinez a bump in pay ,if that’s what it takes to make him less unhappy, and wait until someone comes in for either one when transfer market bounces back next season.
Martinez is better than Leno following 12 games in the most pragmatic Arsenal side of the last 2 decades? Idk about those declarations.
Where was the clamouring for him anytime in the last decade? All incredibly speculative and hopeful if you ask me to assume he’s ready to drop 5 years in the same manner he’s played 6 weeks.
I certainly prefer Emi, ‘keepers that actually command their area are a rare breed these days. Arteta likes to retain possession so a ‘keeper that actually claims the ball would suit that whereas one that prefers to punch is more often than not just giving the ball back to the opposition in our own half. Either way are we really that desperate for £10m? It’s not going to be a difference maker and neither is a similar amount for AMN. You get the feeling that other clubs know that AFC are terrible negotiators. Buy high and sell low seems to… Read more »
Tom Agreed. If Man Utd can hold onto both De Gea and Henderson surely we can hold onto both our goalkeepers. This should not be the priority. My concern is that we are considering offloading both Bellerin and Lacazette and this should not be a priority either. There are plenty of other players in our squad who should be at the head of the departing queue namely Sokratis, Ozil, Elneny,Kolasinac, Torreira, Guendouzi, Maitland-Niles, Chambers and Holding. All these players are for a variety of reasons no longer playing in starting X1 or even likely to sit on the bench. Some… Read more »
No one cares about the Charity Shield, especially this year.
I would like to keep Martinez and I suspect we will.
We have no midfield signings. Willian?
I don’t know if Arteta is involved in the decisions, but there’s a lot that worries me.
Keep AMN – why in god’s name did we buy Soares?
Why are the Auba/Gabriel deals taking so long?
Why can’t we sell Guendouzi – he’s a loose cannon.
Why (it appears) was Freddie pushed out? Was he pushed or did he jump?
All this is worrying.
Why is my comment awaiting moderation? I am not a first-time contributor
RIP Chadwick Boseman
Karsa, any footballer with the slightest bit of professional pride (okay, not Ozil) wants to win EVERY game, if they don’t they shouldn’t be at our club. Would it be terminal if we lose badly? No, but as Pedro says confidence is a big deal and a spanking can only have a negative effect on our preparations for the new season.
Emiratestroller
If his contract is ending in 2022 then according to our policy of not let players get into final years of contract,so if he doesnt commit then we will sell him .
Anyone want to speculate why the Gabriel deal not been announced, plus also who thinks Aubameyang is off to Barca?
That DOF at Chelsea she just gets the deals done , that’s where we should be looking to replace, we seem to have Ed Woodward’s brother doing our deals
Stroller, I agree although given our history recently in the market I can’t see us making much (or in some cases anything) on the sale of most of those squad players. The main benefit will be getting their salary off the books.
Yes, had heard that Tom, apparently our two Polish keepers took the piss out of Peyton on Polish TV, I would guess that would be curtains for their career with someone like Wenger, who was extremely loyal to his backroom staff, no matter how they did, or didn’t perform. Have long been of the opinion that Wenger sold a potentially top keeper for a knockdown price, partly in having Peytons back, which if true, was a crime. Perhaps Emi read the situation to prolong his career, or who knows, maybe did rate Peyton, takes all sorts I guess. I Remember… Read more »
Arsenal should be strengthening their squad and not weakening it. Does anyone believe that potential replacements for Martinez will be a goalkeeper upgrade? Does anyone believe that Arsenal have the money or potential replacement for Bellerin lined up? Does anyone believe seriously that offloading Lacazette will strengthen our goalscoring potential particularly in absence of Martinelli until Xmas? What Arsenal needs to do is provide some clarity on status of Aubameyang and Gabriel. Then move onto a clearout of players who are currently surplus to requirement and/or unwanted and recruit a couple of midfielders which are desperately needed. What I see… Read more »
I think you will find it is actually 4 weeks since the FA Cup final Pedro
Bac
Yeah I laughed when I first saw the bit about Arteta telling Willian about wanting to sign him to help win the CL.
I’m all for being ambitious but seriously thinking that you’re going to win the CL in your first 2 attempts could be called unrealistic.
Assuming of course we qualify for it this season other wise Arteta will win it at his first attempt.
Andy.
Karsa, any footballer with the slightest bit of professional pride (okay, not Ozil) wants to win EVERY game
I agree, but I was referring to the fans. They will be people on here , and elsewhere, slaughtering players just for the fun of it. I find it sad to see.
Emirates
I’ve been asking the question about our finances or lack of for a few weeks now. Selling off assets to fix other areas of the team makes sense but any new signing won’t make the first match of the season now and even if they’re signed next week they’d have next no time to train with the squad to make the second match.
When we’re starting from 10 points back we shouldn’t be risking making the start to the season any more difficult.
Stroller, AFC have for too long focused on mediocrity in depth rather than building the best possible first XI.
Yes it’s a squad game these days but I’d rather have a smaller squad supplemented by youth players than a bloated one full of average players. We seem to have the young players for that model but are still signing pretty average back ups which is handicapping us when it comes to investing in the best players.
Got to say I’m not feeling confident about today although I’ve no idea who’ll be available.
On the bright side I had a terrible feeling about the Cup Final so who knows.
3-1 to Liverpool right now – maybe the lineups will change my mind.
Divine Sherlock 1. This is the wrong transfer window to be selling Martinez with the limited liquidity in transfer market. 2. Martinez cost us nothing and is amongst the lowest wage earners in our squad. 3. If Ramsdale’s transfer fee was £18.45 million I would have thought Martinez is worth considerably more. 4. Martinez is home grown. That should be attracting a premium and not the £10 million being suggested by Pedro. 5. I am fed up reading how Arsenal pay premium transfer fees when we buy and sell for peanuts or offer freebies when players leave. The club is… Read more »
andy 1886
Totally agree.
I have posted many times that we should reduce size of our squad and focus
on 18-20 players who can play regularly without diminishing performance level.
Emirates
The current problem we have with selling is bang average (at best) players on proportionally high salaries.
It’s possible that other clubs are looking at Martinez and saying a good 10 match run does not make a player worth £25 million.
Karsa, that’s fair comment, I always want us to win but agree that it’s not the end of the world if we don’t. People have agendas, and anything that can be used to support them will be sadly.
andy
Just to get in before any result or comments later.
My agenda is that we desperately need to sign some CM’s. That’ll still be the case whether we win 5 nil or lose 5 nil.
Marc, Arsenal have a history of failing to address the most pressing issues every TW.
Years without a decent DM. Years without a decent ‘keeper. Years without a top class CF. This time around it’s going to be the midfield that is the biggest problem and if we’re lucky we may get a bargain basement CM around deadline day.
Would love to be proven wrong.
I’m with Ems on this one.On no account should Martinez be let go especially for f*** ng peanuts Even in this current climate.But should we decide to do so a hefty sell on clause & first option buy back at a reduced rate should be included.
Marc
Who cares what other clubs think.
As I posted I would not consider replacing Martinez this summer. Goalkeeper
is last of our problems.
Our priority departures should be to offload the unwanted players even if the
fee income is below expectation.
The club needs a clearout even if it costs money. The list of players who should be offloaded and doing so is not going to weaken our squad.
I accept that Ozil is probably untransferable, but the other players on our list
can and should be offloaded if for no other reason to get players of payroll.
Emirates
It matters what other clubs think because they’re the ones who will make an offer for the players we want to sell.
It’s very possible you’re under estimating how much we need to generate in sales.
Panic is setting in already. All the hoo-ha about Martinez leaving (he won’t), the slow window (weeks and weeks to go yer), selling off essential layers (better team without Bellerin), etc, etc
Have faith in Mikel. My guess is that he is more likely to play Willian in midfield than Gendozy or Ozil.
Seems Holding is off to Newcastle on loan after the community shield
eb
Willian playing in the CAM position isn’t my concern – it’s the 2 players behind him that are worrying me. Right now that looks like either Xhaka and Willock or Xhaka and Elneny.
Either way our midfield will be overrun and we’ll end up playing in or on the edge of our box.
Agree with ET that this is not the right window to sell Emi Martinez. If it was up to me, unless I get a 30-35 mil bid for Martinez I’d keep him for another year ( he’s got 2 years left in his contract at 20k a week ir roughly 1 mil a year that too before tax. He is earning less than Saka and Guendouzi and Amn ) Although the sample size is small , Martinez showed us he has the potential to be a world class keeper. Certainly if he can maintain that 10-11 games form over a… Read more »
Why would anyone be worried about today’s game it’s the charity shield. Literally a glorified kick about
Loaning Holding for me suggests that we’re confident in getting money in for others otherwise why not keep him or set his price fairly reasonable.
Skint Kroenke is partly to be blamed for Arsenal pennies wise pound foolish transfers. In most cases , if at time of intent we place a reasonable ,or maybe slightly over the market bid for the player ,we get him pronto and cheaper. That is what DOF of Chelsea is doing with support of Ibramovich. We started on Gabriel when he was touted at 24, now he is on 27 , we might land him at higher price. Kroenke owns the Club . Considering the lack of finances sob could put in some money now and collect back after sales.… Read more »
S Asoa
“In most cases , if at time of intent we place a reasonable ,or maybe slightly over the market bid for the player ,we get him pronto and cheaper. ”
Not sure I follow the logic in paying over the odds and thus getting a player cheaper?
Marko
Unless the loan contains a compulsory purchase price it does seem odd unless we’re even more broke than I think we are!
Players get highlighted with a big Club’s interest aided by hype from their agent . Gets interest up from other’s as well. So over prolonged negotiations their valuation rises in the market. So , in case of a highly regarded player it is a good strategy to get the deal done and signed fast. A slight mark up always helps in such cases.
Remember De Suarez ? Instead of +£1 if we offered additional 5000 he might have been our man. Ultimately went to Barca next year for 72 mil all told , I think
Holding is reportedly a season long loan with no option to buy. Maybe the club hopes he can kick on and take Luiz’s place in the side next season. But that must mean the club is confident of generating cash from our other assets as Holding is someone I believe who can get us a good 15-20 mil. With Saliba , Gabriel , Luiz and Mari I think our CB options are set for next season. We need to generate at least 10-15 mil from Sokratis and Mustafi. Chambers can get us a good 10-15 but personally I would like… Read more »
I d ask Martinez to sign an extn and allow him to go out on a season long loan.
Try to sell him next window for 20 mill rather selling him for 10 mill this window.
Loaning Holding to Newcastle doesn’t make sense. They have Lascelles, Fernandez and Schar. He wouldn’t play as much and his value wouldn’t go up. If we are loaning him out he should go somewhere where he would play.
Kay
Martinez has clearly stated he will either be the first choice keeper or leave the club.
ET “There are plenty of other players in our squad who should be at the head of the departing queue namely Sokratis, Ozil, Elneny,Kolasinac, Torreira, Guendouzi, Maitland-Niles, Chambers and Holding.“ Can’t agree more that we should keep Martinez. 10m? Got to be joking. Why is the club so stupid in managing player sales? On the many others who shouldn’t even be around, trouble is,other clubs know they are dross too. And at such high wages. It’s really dim the way it looks. Don’t think we’d raise much from this bunch unfortunately. Having Elneny in today’s squad is embarrassing. This guy… Read more »
Captain T
Martinez has 2 years on his contract. A pay hike and an extended contract with a secret gentleman’s agreement to sell , whatever , would be way to deal with the Martinez problem.
Martinez stated he would not go out on loan again.
Leno for me was our second best player after Auba this year. I like both players, but if Leno is fully ready to go he will start games.
Martinez is the better keeper, regardless of the paltry games he’s played. I like Leno, but he’s a year or two older and coming back from a serious injury. I think he’d also command the bigger fee.
To see Elneny is an Arsenal shirt is embarrassing.
Asoa He has been at the club for 10 years. He said he only stuck around for so long because the hierarchy promised him that he would get a chance for the No.1 jersey. He got that chance and boy did he grab with open arms. Now he knows theres genuine interest from other clubs and has said in 2 or 3 different interviews that 1- He will not go on loan 2- If he is not the no. 1 he will leave for new pastures. And imo he’s earned the chance to start as our No 1 next season.… Read more »
ES “Our priority departures should be to offload the unwanted players even if the fee income is below expectation” It’s all well and good wanting to do that but achieving it ain’t so easy . I said on here weeks ago that it was highly likely that the only way some of the unwanted would be sold would be on the basis that the HP terms would be almost nil deposit and nil to pay for 12 months. Very very few of Arsenals players will be wanted by CL clubs and bar the odd club very very few have cash… Read more »
Terraloon
Agree – I think too many are underestimating how difficult it’s going to be to unload players and how restricted we’re going to be on signings if we don’t bring in some serious cash.
I don’t currently want to sell either keeper but I’d currently rather Martinez was n1. Leno is a more technically capable keeper with better reactions but that’s not actually preferable to having a keeper who just calmly dominates his box.
I’d trade 2 world class saves from Leno for just consistently flawless catching and distribution from Martinez but that’s just me
I think we should sell torrieria good little player but hasn’t turned into our kante and seems anglophoebic, needs a Latin based environment.
Martinez leaving is a brain dead stupid decision.
London
Who’s buying? As he’s clearly surplus to requirements 99.9% of Gooner’s are expecting him to go you must have some insight into who’s going to offer us a big wad of cash?
China1 An argument can be made leno is a better shot stopper but I wouldn’t say he is technically better. It takes much more technique to time the jump and have the hands to catch the ball rather than wildly punch it out like Leno does and it also helps us maintain possession and Control not just in our box but with the overall game. Think of the law averages everytime leno punches the ball out its a 50/50 probably less we maintain possession, everyone martinez catches the ball its 100% possesion retention. Now imagine leno punches the ball out… Read more »
Yeah I think the problem is if you were running another club how many of our dross/fringe players would you actually want to buy and how much would you be willing to pay?
The few clubs that have proper resources should be looking at better players, or there are even better and cheaper alternatives frankly
Marc
He has the ability to play for a top 5 Italian/Spanish team. Worst comes worse we can trade him for a young promising player with lighter wages. Point is we need to work on options here.
I don’t know if Arteta is involved in the decisions, but there’s a lot that worries me.
Keep AMN – why in god’s name did we buy Soares?
Why are the Auba/Gabriel deals taking so long?
Why can’t we sell Guendouzi – he’s a loose cannon.
Why (it appears) was Freddie pushed out? Was he pushed or did he jump?
All this is worrying.
I don’t think we should sell Martinez yet. I don’t think he is expecting a promise of being No1. 8 think he is saying he needs an assurance that he can be No1 if he performs, which he has done so far.
Next summer even with a year left on his deal we can sell him for the 10 mil that’s being talked about even if he flops. If he doesn’t we will sell Leno for a much better price. It’s a win win for us to keep him.
London
I suspect that Torrieria would be sold in a heartbeat if even a decent offer were incoming but the only offer I have read about was a 12 month loan ( fee less than his wage ) with an option to buy for €15 million
CaptainT, just a thought on your CB options for the upcoming season: Saliba – hasn’t played a single minute in the PL. Gabriel – Ditto, (assuming we sign him). Luiz – Has good and bad days, not getting any younger (or better!). Mari – Has played less than two full games and looked slow and immobile when he did. I think that we do need to retain at least one PL proven CB until we see how the above settle. People have a habit of assuming that every player we sign will be the next best thing ever! but at… Read more »
London
We need cash otherwise they’ll be no other signings. Look at the options we have who should (I say should) be able to generate funds and beyond Laca and maybe Bellerin we’re pretty limited.
Really cant see why they loan Holding. Get a fee for him even if its 10-15 and move on making a profit as well
If uve got to loan then make it an obligation to buy
He is not coming back next ur to be anything other than a squaddie
Just a poor selling club Arsenal. Really atrocious at it
Still have Mustafi, Sokratis, Chambers not good enough who will generate f all
As soon as you see the clubs linked with most of our for sale players you realize it’s hopeless Lower German teams, and clubs like Torino ffs lol This perfectly underscores how piss poor our recruitment and contract negotiation was in the last 5 years because the only clubs that might be improved by our fringe players are absolutely nothing teams with no resources to boot. No offense to Torino but as soon as arsenal answered the phone and heard it was them calling about a transfer we should’ve hung up lol. At least in years gone by we could… Read more »
Lol @ 10m for Martinez being too low. We sold Ospina for 3m or was it less? And he has a longer history of being a number one in normal games that had fans in the stadium and no water breaks
This Martinez adulation is getting silly
“””””Look at Leicester and how they do business. They didn’t lower the asking price of Maguire a bit and if someone really wanted him they had to pay the price and they did. Similar thing with Chilwell. Imo Tierney is a much much better than Chilwell but they just sold him for 50mil + bonuses. We need to be strong in our sales this window and the future.”””””” Well said Captain. The best run club around . The Foxes are constantly pro-active in all of their business where as Arsenal are always reactive ( Except off course- when asking players… Read more »
Andy
100% agree.
Torriera attracting interest from mid table Serie A teams…. About his level
You can understand Emi wanting to leave if he isn’t #1. He’s spent ten seasons waiting for a chance and when he got it he did everything right. If you can’t keep your place after that you’d have to assume that you’re never going to be #1 and may as well move on.
RH
what’s with negativity man?
Does anyone actually have a quote attributed to Arsenal that Martinez is up for sale?
Habesha what negativity?
How much would Martinez have fetched this window if Leno wasn’t injured?
Is Torriera not being courted by mid table serie A teams?
Why do some of you have an issue with facts?
“Why do some of you have an issue with facts?”
A few on here need to be able to understand the difference between what we’d like to happen / where we are and what the actual reality of the situation is.
Holding wouldn’t even start in that Newcastle from all indications
If he doesnt play then his value diminishes even more and so the idea of selling him nxt summer for more than we would have gotten now becomes null
Just looks like a case of “oh shit too many CBs get rid anyhow”