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
“”””Martinez leaving is a brain dead stupid decision.”””””
Agreement Graham.
That lad tears at Wembley only weeks ago. Heartfelt and genuine,
Even made an old crustie like me- get the handkerchief out.
Another one who has been at the club over a decade.
Another one like AMN – who has grown up at Arsenal and have the unique Arsenal DNA.
Jettisoned. Disgraceful.
Now our x 2 time F A Cup winner Rob Holding is being farmed out too.
The Zombie club strikes again. And again……
Marc
Spot on
For me the real Elephant in the room is the lack of true depth of squad depth and for all the deadwood that the club are desperate to sell they occupy squad places that need to be filled and if the likes of Martinelli, Chambers and Mustafi take longer to recover or indeed are moved on then the demands of early season will take a major toll on the likes Willian etc who almost certainly will be picked to play every game.
I genuinely don’t get Arsenal fans sometimes I really don’t. The reactions to a keeper here 10 years who performed admirably in just 10 games is truly ridiculous. It’s embarrassing honestly. Again if people want to have a conversation about upgrading the goalkeeper position we can do that there’s certainly keepers out there better than Leno that we could target but a conversation about replacing Leno with Martinez after 10 games in circumstances never before seen in football is ludicrous . So let’s put everything in context and finish with this nonsense shall we. Leno is 28 has played 467… Read more »
CG/CT
Leicester are a well run club because they have owners that care about the club and the environment it functions in. Arsenal do not have such owners. I doubt if Stan even knows what London Borough the stadium is in!
We are a midtable team expecting our players to fet h as much as leicesters is unreasonable.
With a proper midfield our not so good players would look better and fetch more. Adebayor, Song, Vermaleen, Hleb, Clichy all looked great because of Cesc, Rosicky, Nasri.
Its that simple
Keeping on with Xhakalson as the main man in midfield will cost us financially and on the field.
Sid
There are some fundamental equations that govern the Universe.
E=MC2
Arsenal doing well = CG being unhappy
And of course the most important of all of them.
Xhaka = No CL football.
Heartfelt and genuine,
Even made an old crustie like me- get the handkerchief out.’
Lol
Hope we put a buyback clause in Greenwood’s sale.
Selling martine for 10 million is a terrible idea.
It doesn’t matter of so far in hia career he has played as number 2 thats due to circumstance not a lack of talent.
What the guy shows is he is capable of being top quality so selling him now for only 10 million is a lose lose situation. 10 million isn’t the difference between a good and bad transfer season for us. If it was 40 million then you may have an argument there.
Selling such a good player for such a low sum is a lose lose situation.
RH There is also the point that he has performed admirably since Leno got injured. Glorifying selling him for 10 mil where everyone else charges premium on players isn’t great. Martinez has been here 10 years, true. But he has shown world class potential during the past dozen or so games. Torriera is a good player. He had some good moments with us. Cutting him down as a midtable player when he is an asset is Negativity in my eyes. He didn’t work for us due to the nature of the league but he will eventually be back on a… Read more »
It doesn’t matter of so far in hia career he has played as number 2 thats due to circumstance not a lack of talent.
He’s 28 and never held down a starting spot for any meaningful amount of time. That’s the circumstance. Also there’s a reason why he might be going for 10 million and not 40 million. It’s a pretty obvious one at that
But he has shown world class potential during the past dozen or so games.
You can’t tell but I’m banging my head against a wall right now
Maybe Martinez can’t perform so calmly in front of a crowd.
None of his loan teams have wanted him back.
Marko
I am not advocating to sell Leno. But on the basis of the games Martinez played, He deserves to start the season as No 1. And when we find fault in him the Leno gets his chance again. 10 mil might have been a fair price before Leno got injured but not now. If we sell we need to make at least 15 mil+. We also need to replace him too and make a profit.
Keepers can peak later, hardly outrageous to question club willing to sell Martinez after recent exploits culminating in an FA cup win. Martinez is headed into peak years with ability to play for many seasons to come. As is Leno potentially.
Strong argument to made to keep both if possible for next season then sell when market is in better place with Leno having shown the injury is fully behind him.
https://www.whoscored.com/Players/92173/Show/Bernd-Leno
https://www.whoscored.com/Players/102248/Show/Emiliano-Martínez
Yes it’s a small sample size but we need to know if he can do it over a whole season. 10 mil won’t get us a lot in my opinion. keeping Martinez might.
Sheesh the chronic overrating of some of ‘our own’ on here really is baffling.
Martinez was excellent end of season, but cmon people it was a dozen fucking games and he’s been here a decade. If Leno hadn’t wrecked his knee Martinez would’ve been sent on loan to QPR or someone and not one cunt on here would’ve said a peep.
Leno was voted second behind Auba in the player of the year stakes, absolutely delusional to think that if we’re selling a GK it’s going to be Leno over Martinez.
Anybody suggesting we sell Emi for 10 million needs to get their head checked. Not suggesting he is already better than Leno or anything but the guy is still too good to be sold for a meagre 10M fee. Kepabalaga who is not even half as good went for 70 M. Leicester if they decide to sell Schmeichel will not agree for anything less than 40M.
I fucking hope Edu and Arteta have good sense to keep both Leno and Emi for at least one more year.
Michu played like peak Ronaldo for 12 games too. Good times.
“hardly outrageous to question club willing to sell Martinez”
Well firstly the rumours that we’re willing to sell might just be precisely that, secondly what if Arteta wants Leno to be No 1 and the player has said he wants to leave if he’s not first choice?
People are making it sound like we’ve tied him to one of the statues outside the stadium with a for sale board on him.
Martinez starts.
Arsenal’s #CommunityShield XI confirmed: Martinez; Bellerin, Luiz, Holding, Tierney; Maitland-Niles, Elneny, Xhaka; Saka, Nketiah, Aubameyang
3-4-3
Arteta’s playing games with the likes of Wolves, the Turkish clubs and Villa by starting, Niles, Elneny and Martinez. I like it.
Liverpool XI Confirmed: Alisson; Williams, Gomez, van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Wijnaldum, Milner, Salah, Firmino, Mane
Elneny m, is this putting him in the shop window or is it resorting to sticking with what we have. The guy is painfully average and always has been. A steady Eddie but he won’t light any fire in a new Arsenal midfield, another Wenger signing that smacked of averageness.
Go into get well beaten
Elneny ffs.
Another half asleep player.
Mid table squad.
Marko
Don’t think theres a question Leno is the number 1, point was is he fully rid of injury. Something only time will tell.
Sorry Marc… not Marko.
Not just Elneny, but really don’t rate holding. Holding is way to slow to be a top defender. I know John terry and our warrior leader Tony Adams were not overly quick, difference was they could read the game and were often a few steps in their head, ahead of their opponents
Holding on loan ffs? What’s that all about.sell,sell,sell.
Habesha???
But on the basis of the games Martinez played, He deserves to start the season as No 1.
You mean the games where he was only playing because Leno was injured? Gotcha
Hello Ladies.. what’s shakin? Another Leno vs Marti debate? meh…. hahaha can’t get into that.. Don’t know why Pedro is pimpin this match so high… It’s very easy to say it’s not an important match… I just did.. simple.
It would be fun to win it.. but grand scheme of things this shortened summer.. it means nothing. The old player confidence debate.. not this summer …with all that’s going on.. players will be fine if we lose. Half these dudes might be sold for all we know.
I’m not sure why there is such consternation from Marko , charlie and Receding because the majority would prefer Martinez as out No.1.
It’s all about opinions and as we see, Martinez has been chosen today despite Leno’s return to fitness..
Is that Arteta saying that he prefers Martinez over Leno.
Maybe we shouldn’t read too much into it.
Or should we.
Kepabalaga who is not even half as good went for 70 M.
Sorry despite an underwhelming stint at Chelsea and them grossly overpaying Kepa is still absolutely better than Martinez. He’s played for Spain his performances alone at Bilbao suggest this
Uwot
I don’t know. May be arteta doesn’t want to spend on a 4th CB next summer and wants to bring Holding back.
Marko
That is called taking your chance. Remember a certain player called harry kane who benched a club record signing called Soldado? Unless he drops shit performances from now on he is should be No 1. It doesn’t matter how he got his chance.
Matt Macey doesn’t exactly fill me with optimism.
Pierre
I missed your championing of Martinez the past few years, must’ve been another that’s done so under his breath – or not at all. Weird that.
Now wanting the club to raise funds and improve the first XI is seen as an odd stance, what a time to be alive.
he should*
This may well be the start of an inspired 10 game run of form from Elneny.
If Martinez can do it with no previous form to speak of…
Jurgen Klopp always looks like a hired assassin trying to blend into a crowd.. Sketchy disguise beard… with a baseball hat and glasses.
That’s some optimism Karsa.
That is called taking your chance. Remember a certain player called harry kane who benched a club record signing called Soldado?
Yeah but what age did that happen? 27? Come on man it’s not even remotely the same this debate is stupid. Guy shows signs at nearly 28 over 12 games it doesn’t really mean you bench someone who’s been doing it for much longer
Midwest
It’s all one piece. He takes the hat off and the glasses and beard come off too.
This may well be the start of an inspired 10 game run of form from Elneny.If Martinez can do it with no previous form to speak of…
Excellent point. Expect Elneny to be considered top class by mid October
One half each today for the keepers.
Juventus bringing back Moise Kean on a two year loan deal, what’s really going on at that club, they will do anything to save a penny
Elneny’s previous 46 starts suggest that he is v. average Karsa.
I do like the optimism of some Arsenal fans, but Elneny is never going to be good enough for what we need, nice guy as he is. Great goal against Barcelona in another predictable last 16 CL exit but what has he ever done apart from that?
Funny thing is Martinez himself, quietly went on loan to average clubs and then gets a good run of games and starts talking tough, who’s biting? Aston Villa, that tells it’s own story.
Even the shower smoker with a dodgy attitude ended up at Juventus.
Elneny is just playing to trash talk Mo Salah. No?
Marko
Van der sar moved to United at 34 and he showed his best form there. 27 is young for a goal keeper. I don’t know if Martinez can become world class but we should find out before binning him. He has been really consistent when he got his chance and that deserves a look in yo him. If not we can restore Leno and bin Martinez next season. It’s not like Leno is in the last year of his contract.
Arteta playing this for the shop window, can’t argue with that having played the final to get into this 3 weeks prior.
Marko
‘You mean the games where he was only playing because Leno was injured? Gotcha’
It doesn’t matter. Several instances in football when a player got a chance only because someone else got injured and grabbed the opportunity with both hands.
Van der sar moved to United at 34 and he showed his best form there.
Oh for fucks sake. Difference being prior to that Van Der Sar had successful stints elsewhere and won trophies and showed his quality. Martinez has shown nothing prior to his 12 games streak recently.
Does feel good to have Football back already.. no withdrawals this summer.
Right but TR7 the difference being that players usually show you something prior to taking that opportunity to show that they might be worth keeping on. Meanwhile Martinez at 27 has prior to a 10-12 game period in never before seen circumstances shown absolutely nothing to suggest that he’s worth a shot at the number one
Something tells me Elneny will be a new signing.
He will go all out to impress Arteta and who says he can’t succeed, after all Mustafi impressed the manager.
For me it’s difference in style. I’d much rather have a keeper that catches the ball rather than punches, one that dominates his area over a good shot stopper who doesn’t. So I’d go with Martinez.
And it’s Arsenal,
Arsenal FC,
We’re by far the greatest team,
The world has ever seen…
Klopp currently has look of washed up aspiring musician who owns a METAL venue deep the Czech republic, well vodka at two for one with the Scorpions cranking.
I’m still loving you.
People are talking about Martinez as if he were in his mid 30s being here a decade, etc.
Guy is 27 which is still young for a GK. How many goalkeepers break into their respective first team at the top level in their late teens? Not a huge amount.
Anyone know where Willian is??
27 years is very young for a goalie
It’s also too young for a goal keeper to accept being number two.
Eni needs to move on if he doesn’t get his fair shot at Arsenal, that’s what ambitious players do.
Marko
So we should sell the guy for 10 mil eventhough he has shown he can be great for 10 games and because he hasn’t shown enough before? History doesn’t matter, If it did Jamie vardy would be a nothing footballer and Ozil would still be world class.
Elneny is fucking shite, even the Besiktas fans didn’t like him and those cheap fuckers will take virtually any able bodied player.
Someone should tell Aston Villa they are buying one of the best keepers in the world, scratch that someone should tell top clubs the next Gigi Buffon might end up at Villa. Wonder if we can throw him in deal for Ngolo Kante, I hear he is up for sale and seeing as he is “much better” than Kepa we can value him as we please to them, too bad this assertion came from just 12 games as opposed to Kepa’s many years as number one for top clubs. Play any keeper long enough and the errors creep in, we… Read more »
Anyone have a live stream
This is one of those games where you’ll rather get smashed by Liverpool than to get a key player injured and unavailable to start in 2 weeks.
any working livestream links?
“How much would Martinez have fetched this window if Leno wasn’t injured?“
————-
But Leno did get injured didn’t he.
How much would Alison have fetched for Roma if Szczesny hadn’t been sold to Juve for $15m?
A 15m goalie kept an 80m one on the bench it seems.
I like Luiz’s long pass
I look at the team sheet and grimace
no pepe laca willian
It is taking ages to get deals done. I suppose there are no buyers for our stellar players we have for sale.
Feels weird that after just 4 weeks, we are already playing the Community Shield.
Come on The Arsenal!!!!
People will laugh at the Jamie Vardy example but it’s an apt one. Ian Wright our very own club legend didn’t play PRO football until he was 22.
Not to say Martinez will definitely go on to be a top GK but he deserves a run in the team for this season at least. Played a big part in helping us win our only trophy in 3 years.
Streams – https://streamsgate.tv/
Receding
You’re already bored of the Leno vs Eni debate.
You better brace up, it’s going to happen a lot this season
It would be nice to get the Marble Hall’s kit off to a good start.
Dissenter
I see Eddie N your favorite in the team! lol
smh
Isn’t AMN about to be sold
Why is he starting, what if he gets injured?
Lol at that David Luiz tackle.. hahaha
Guns of SF
I barely tolerate Nkettiah
It’s Pierre you’re looking for.
Is this our 3rd shirt!!!???
It looks awful.
At last 4 Liverpool players were offside
Why the long delay
Marko Wouldn’t right Martinez off. I am a big fan of Leno and I have said it numerous times that for me he is one of the top 3 GKs in the league but Emi has certain good attributes which Leno hasn’t. Emi is taller and catches the ball better. His handling of crosses is better. His distribution is good. Really would be silly to bin him for a paltry sum. All for selling people like Xhaka, Mustafi, Kola, Torr, Ozil etc. who are either useless or have struggled but let’s not sell even the ones who can do well… Read more »
Shit
I predict liverpool do not win the EPL this season….
Bellerin looks well off the pace.
Offside!
Bellerin got Elmeny company for compulsive backpass
Nelson.. I think your stream is about 2 mins slow.
Or is it meant to look like Marble? A really off design.
VVD clearly offside. Phew.
off = odd
I read somewhere Mane being shopped to Barca
I do hope its true.
without him, they go down quite a bit.
And this delay with Auba and Gabriel… wtf
Legendary yep it’s meant to look like Marble.. I like it actually. I’ll like it more if we win. though.
Absolutely wonderful
Auba does what Auba does
Have it!
Doesn’t score against the big teams though