Alexis Sanchez told the world he regretted his move to Manchester United from the very first training session.
“Sometimes there are things that you don’t realise until you get there, and I remember the first training session I had, I realised a lot of things.
“After the session I got home and I told my family and my agent ‘can you not rip up the contract to go back to Arsenal?’. They laughed, I told them there’s something that doesn’t sit right, it doesn’t seem good.
“But I already signed, I was already there. After the first few months I carried on having the same feeling, we weren’t united as a team in that moment.”
Hilarious.
The Chilean was a monster of a player for Arsenal. No doubt. But I feel no empathy for his plight after going to United in one of the most disastrous moves for BOTH clubs. We landed Mikhi, which was horrible. They landed a £400k a week dud. Unreal from his agent, you have to say.
Though I have to say, I’m shocked he didn’t like life under Mourinho. I can’t imagine why people don’t enjoy being called ‘soft cu*ts’ on the daily. Baffling. What is even more surprising is the amount of people online that aren’t willing to laugh at him. Grow up. This is football.
Transfer stories slowed a little bit yesterday, though it does appear that the smoke around some of the exits is accompanied by fire. Lucas Torreira is going to Fiorentina in a deal worth around £24m when it’s all fully executed. The Uruguayan looked like a decent on paper signing, but he didn’t quite have the physical attributes you need to rock it in the Premier League. He also didn’t seem to like the UK. Not a great combo, but at least we’ve dealt with the mistake quickly.
The second player likely to say goodbye is Sokratis. Again, not a terrible player, just not suited to what we’ve ever really needed. We have to have defenders that can cut it with the ball at their feet. Sokratis isn’t exactly a ball-playing centre back, and though he’s strong, he lacks the height you need. Filling out our centre back positions with two giants will go a long way to solving some of our problems, particularly from setpieces.
Stories around Aouar, Hector and Partey have died down… I wouldn’t be lying if I said I wasn’t a little worried about the midfield. Our biggest issue of last season hasn’t even put a bit of make-up on. We need some mobility, we need a creator, and we needed it yesterday. Let’s see if next week brings more exciting news.
A VERY short post today. I’m tidying up the new lick of paint for the site, hopefully, that’ll land with you next week!
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Nketiah is lightweight and can’t hit the back of the net in the league but will of course score at Youth national team level. I’m still scratching my head at why he’s still at the club and being given opportunity after opportunity. I don’t rate young strikers that can’t score when given chances like he has. before anyone starts talking about how he “harrasses defenders and puts them on the back foot, his job is to put the ball in the back of the net when he gets chances. If we want to play with that type of striker then… Read more »
I’m a lot less confident about getting Aouar, Partey / both, than I was. There’s not enough interest in the players we want to push out the door. If we fail to pick up one of our primary targets, then I assume we have others lined up. With Aouar and Partey together, we could contest for 3rd or 4th place. Add a young striker and squad players for next year and it could be all systems go. The good thing is, we have the building blocks for a rebuild and the appetite and enthusiasm to pusue top quality, young players.… Read more »
Cup games are different from league games, because of the different focus.
We will struggle until we strengthen the midfield.
If Stan was serious about winning he would bankroll the club so we could get the players now and not after the sales of our dross.
Getting a good start sets the mood for winning, loose and heads will drop.
Internet tough guys out in force tonight.
The pale ale must be flowing.
Captain Tierney
This was the game(night) Sanchez decided he’d had enough.
The only player that night who was looking to win the game, whilst the other players gloried in coming back to snatch a draw.
Slow news day. If bellerin leaves I expect us to get one of Aouar or Partey. If we are selling a high profile starter like Hector then it must mean we are very sure we can get one of them. I am reading some rumors Kolasinac will leave for 10 mil too. And we won’t be signing a replacement until we sell a lot more players. And we are expecting a 35 mil bid for bellerin. It adds up to Partey’s release clause. Aouar will be tough but I think they might take Guendouzi as a make weight if he… Read more »
Alright since it’s a slow day in the comments I’ll post another one: A female class teacher was having a problem with a boy in her class in Grade 3. The boy said, “Madam, I should be in Grade 4. I am smarter than my sister & she’s in Grade 4”. The Madam had heard enough and took the boy to the principal. The principal decided to test the boy with some questions from Grade 4. Principal: What is 3*3? Boy: 9. Principal: 6*6? Boy: 36. The boy got all the questions right. The principal told the Madam to send… Read more »
Habesha
We don’t need a replacement for Kolas – we have other players who can cover that position if required.
Laca would also bring in a good chunk of money and is down to 2 years left on his contract – we either sell or get him to sign an extension.
I haven’t heard a peep about a new contract for Laca.
Marc I assume you mean Saka. I want him to play as a winger full time though. And Arteta sees it that way I think. But with all the players we have in the wings it might make sense. I do think We want to sell Lacazette for good money, But I don’t think there will be any takers. Athletico Madrid might actually give in and might take a swap with partey eventually but I don’t see any other teams. Juve have moved on to Suarez and Dzeko as targets. If there aren’t two midfielders coming in I would rather… Read more »
“Sokratis Papastathopoulos is closing in on a move away from Arsenal after agreeing a £45,000-a-week contract with Napoli, according to TuttoNapoli.” Halfing his wages just to play football, credit to PapaSok. Would be nice to see that attitude from a certain someone. Only looking at a 2.5m fee though which is pretty shite, especially considering they’re looking to make a killing on Koulibaly. Torreira looking like he’ll bring in 21m after all is said and done with his loan to sell. Need to start seeing some more outgoings this coming week so we can get the ball moving and bring… Read more »
Eddie scored a hatrick tonight!!
Hopefully has learnt to hit the back of the net, if he starts adding goals to his overall gameplay he may add a different problem to defenders. Not a bad option on the bench.
still can be a good team.
Luteo GuenreiraSeptember 4, 2020 19:31:14
Alright since it’s a slow day in the comments I’ll post another one:
😁😁😁
Luteo, they haven’t gone unnoticed mate. I howled at the son-in law dildo one.
Luteo
You’re on a winning streak
Do you have the wining numbers to this week’s mega millions
The reality is that even if we do sign Partey AND Aouar, 4th will be a scrap with Chelsea having added Ziyech, Werner, Havertz, Chilwell and Silva to what they already had and United adding Van De Beek and potentially Reguilon now to what they have.
Without us making those kind of marquee additions, I wouldn’t give us much if any chance at all.
WE
I think Arteta’s KPI will be top 4 this season if he falls short (unless there’s crazy circumstances) he’ll be under huge pressure season 21/22 but with resources that are drifting even further away from the competition.
So much for Norway’s golden generation, making Austria look like prime Brazil tonight.
Even we gave Austria better games.
Haland looks destined to be another elite CF absolutely wasted at international level failing to make World Cups.
Marc Top 4 is a massive ask when you look at how far Liverpool and Citeh are ahead, it’s pretty much dwindled down to 2 available spots. Chelsea have had a huge summer of intent, yes you can say that investment guarantees nothing and that this bunch may well flop but at least they have given it a real go. I think that they won’t finish far off the top 2 and could even make it a 3 way title race for a large chunk of the season. United as well are making ambitious pushes in the transfer market and… Read more »
WE
Why did we bring in Arteta if he’s not going to compete? We’ve still got a squad that cost an awful lot of money to acquire, a wage bill that is up there and a good chunk of our problems are self inflicted.
We need to start operating like the club we are.
Holland’s got a good squad, they’ve rebuild on the sly. Frenkie de Jong has got to be one the best central midfielders at the moment. The weird guy that took over from Velverde didn’t seem to fancy him though.
Thank Weagle. It’s nothing at all, just relaying good jokes I’ve come across.
I dunno if anyone recalls but I used to edit the Friday jokes I posted so that Bamford was the main character, there was one where he was screwing a donkey but I believe I got a ban shortly after that.
Dissenter
Don’t waste your dollar mate. If you told anyone playing the Mega Millions to pick one number between 1 and 300 million for a prize, not sure they’d be so eager play.
Marc
I’m hopeful that we will compete, I think that Arteta will insist we get a couple more players over the line before season starts and I like what we’ve done since he’s arrived at the club.
Just saying that we’re up against it even with the signings. Chelsea and United are massive favourites for top 4.
Luteo
” I posted so that Bamford was the main character, there was one where he was screwing a donkey but I believe I got a ban shortly after that.”
Can’t blame Pedro for having a zero tolerance policy on animal cruelty!
WE
I have doubts over Fat Frank and OGS. If Arteta is the manager a certain blogger has told us he should be able to compete providing we get another CM.
If we don’t it is actually Arteta’s fault – he shouldn’t have stopped Xhaka leaving in Jan.
I’m so happy to see media darling Fat Frank getting all the support he wants so no hiding place for the upcoming season. My money is on Arteta’s Arsenal finishing ahead Frank’s Chelsea if he lasts the season.
Raheem
I’ve got a feeling Fat Frank won’t be Chelsea manager season 21/22.
Marc
Indeed, it’ll be a surprise.
Ultimately, our chances for top 4 qualification depend on how many goals we can score. We’ll need at least 70 or close to two goals per match. If we’re are scoring in the 50s like midtable sides do, then forget about it. We have only one player in our squad that is a guarantee to score in double figures in PL. If Pépé doesn’t hit double figures in league play, it’s a disaster for us. Arteta’s “tactics” have made us more competitive against teams in the cups. But, he has to find a way to beat the teams we are… Read more »
PSG have joined the Partey party.
If we don’t get the likes of Partey, Aouar etc do we have alternatives lined up? Surely we do.
Agreed Dream. We know what we’re going to get from Auba but from anyone else, there’s a question mark. Lacazette for me has been a big fat disappointment. Looked prolific in France but he’s never looked like a 20 plus PL goal a season scorer over here. Pepe also had a significant goalscoring drop off. I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt because it was his first season but really, we need at least 12-15 PL goals out of him to stand a chance at competing for CL. And we need the likes of Willian, Martinelli, Saka… Read more »
WE
Agree on the goal contributions from other players but that will be reliant on Arteta doing 2 things – giving those players regular game time in the right positions and not playing a low block against relegation fodder.
Ceballos loan official
Well that’s at least something.
Ceballos done. Does that mean no Aouar/Coutinho?
When are Athletico and Arsenal going to stop this silly dance and just get swapping Laca for Partey done
Good, but it’s as we were.
Ceballos loan official
————
Terrific news. I’m really looking forward to seeing how his game and his partnership with Xhaka develops.
Hopefully it will be a Xhaka upgrade.
Strange timing!
You can’t reject £30m odd for Xhaka in January and cry of no funds. Had we sold him and kept that money, we would still have finished no less than 8th!
I am looking at you KSE!
mb
It was Arteta who stopped the deal. It might come back to haunt him.
Thanks Marc, I’ll dead stare both of them.
mb
Mate I’ve got a shovel if yo want to help me bury the body!
Maybe I’m imagining it but does it look like Saka has grown a couple inches throughout this past season?
That recent training video sure as hell makes it look like it.
It’s great that Ceballos is back. If he is performing to end of the season levels then he will be a major coup for us.
I think we will get Partey unless someone comes in and signs him. Aouar will be dependent on our sales. It will be a late move after we sold enough players. .
Edu Gaspar: “We’re thrilled to have Dani back with us for the new season. We all know his qualities after an impressive 2019/2020 campaign, which ended with him playing a key role in our FA Cup success. We’re excited to add Dani to the list of quality players we are bringing in.”
The last sentence says something to me.
Maybe I’m imagining it but does it look like Saka has grown a couple inches throughout this past season?
…………..
Where is Sid when you need him?
Aubameyang is doing the fans a big favor…
How many times have we complained after the transfer window about our lack of quality signings… I dont think we have ever been satisfied… at least for me I haven’t been so.
But I feel like aubameyang is pushing the board to the point that it seems he is blackmailing the board to leave if all the realistic, doable transfers are not done.
All in all, aubameyang not only helped us avoid relegation battle against Norwich last season but also proving pivotal to the club moving forward.
So it takes the PR department a month of Sundays to announce Gabriel but they put out an email at 10.51 on a Friday night that Ceballos is back.
Really happy to see Ceballos back with us. He was making good progress with us adapting well to the PL and is really clicking well with the team.
If we can now get Partey….. Our midfield will definitively get that much better.
My cousin was speaking of having Umtiti in defence. Any thoughts on having this CB in our team?
He would be an upgrade on Holding or Chambers.
DB10
“My cousin was speaking of having Umtiti in defence. Any thoughts on having this CB in our team?He would be an upgrade on Holding or Chambers.”
We’re broke have no midfield, have just signed Gabriel for almost £30 million, have Saliba joining the squad who cost £25 million but you want another defender?
Fuck me it’s either way past your bedtime or you live in a fantasy football world.
Chelsea’s new home shirt is a joke, worst than fuck ugly.
And what the hell is that sponsor ?? lol
Big congrats to Adidas for their work on our beautiful kits for this new season.
We’re good on left footed CB’s now
Marko
If anything we need to start unloading CB’s for fee’s not loans.
We sign anymore and we’ll be playing a 9 – 1 formation.
Marc
Hold up!
Yes, I know that we have no midfield. That has been very obvious for a long time! This is why I am am calling for Partey to be bought.
I was just asking for some thoughts on a what if basis out of sheer curiosity, not calling for him to be bought.
Marc,
You’d better get with the program, you’d better get with the 2020 Arsenal Tactical Revolution.
Our new formation is gonna be 9-1, with Xhaka as an auxiliary 9th defender.
WOAB
Don’t say true, for the love of the Football God’s tell me it’s a lie.
We made a comeback after going 3-0 down with Sanchez scoring a header and 97th min pen.
Right?
Wrong
Scorers were Sanchez , Perez and a late Giroud header .
DB10
OK – I think I pretty much covered off what a bad idea it is!
Unless of course Arsenal blew the last of the petty cash on a Euromillions lottery ticket and won £150 million!
Wrong
Scorers were Sanchez , Perez and a late Giroud header .
Shit I had genuinely forgotten that Lucas Pérez played for Arsenal. A £17m purchase. I can’t believe this doesn’t get brought up more often, what a huge mistake that was.
Luteo
Add it to the list of:
£35 million for Xhaka
£35 million for Mustafi
£60 million turned down for Sanchez
All managers have transfer that don’t come off but for a manager who was as frugal as Wenger to piss so much money away?
Marc
Pérez in my opinion is definitely worse than Xhaka or Mustafi. Say what you will about them two but at least they’ve played and contributed in some ways. Pérez barely even played. £17m then sold for £4m. It’s criminal failure on all levels, whether it was judging the talent, managing the player, or the finances of it.
That said it’s insane to think that Mustafi cost £30m back then, and it wasn’t even considered such an outrageous price for him.
“Walcott and ox were two players that did not live up to their hype.”
Most of the hype comes from the fans which is usually way above player ability which in turn makes it difficult to live up to.
Luteo,
Perez was a, ‘oh, you want me to sign a striker, well fuck you how about this?’ signing.
One of the most baffling moves of the Wenger tenure.
Along with Bischoff, Park, and Eisfeld.
Well Pedro
Ospina. Eboue. Andre santos. Silvestre gallas mustafi Xhaka denilson Gervinho. Perez. Chamakh
For a genius, Wenger could be a total moron at times
Those were all first eleven players. Bought to play – not just pad the squad. Take a close look
Anybody thinking any of them
Would be solid top 4 premier league pros must expect their judgement to be questioned
Dani Boy is back!! Welcome back Dani Ceballos. We love you!!!
Marc
In all honesty, we didn’t turn down the 66 mil.
The replacement we lined up in a hurry rejected thr move when everything agreed between the clubs.
I’m kinda happy tho , cause otherwise we might have had Lemar and not Auba and that thought is scary because for sure he wouldn’t even come close to how good Auba has been for us.
I suspect Atletico will ask for the full amount in one payment for Partey. That’s probably what’s holding things up. As well as, it seems, his exorbitant salary demands.
Nketiah is misusing Nketiah, thats the reason he is not scoring for Arsenal. His value will drop.
With the type of football we are playing we will have zero sellable players.
You heard it here 1st!
RIP David Graeber
Dani Ceballos welcome back . Thats one midfield piece in the jigsaw.
Arsenal will need to offload players before we make any further incoming transfer[s].
The priority should be
SOKRATIS 1 Year Unexpired Contract
MUSTAFI 1 Year Unexpired Contract
OZIL 1 Year Unexpired Contract
KOLASINAC 2 Years Unexpired Contract
ELNENY 2 Years Unexpired Contract
GUENDOUZI 2 Years Unexpired Contract
TORREIRA
HOLDING
CHAMBERS
None of the above is likely to play for first team next season unless we have a
major injury crisis.
For nketiah he needs to score more imo and he’d be a really solid player I’m not rushing to judge him, he’s young and needs more time At youth level he was a stone cold killer of a goal scorer and he obviously did well at Leeds, but at arsenal he has appeared to be impacted by nerves at this level and his finishing has not be quite lethal enough. He’s hardworking, quick, selfless, has a good attitude and seems professional so he has a good core, so for him, it’s now got to be about overcoming these nerves at… Read more »
Nketiah will come good and he’s cheap. Lacs is expensive and have been poor recently. We should sell Laca to AM and get Partey
Stephan Malz
❤️
Nketiah it seems has been stuck in his development stage where he is too good for the youth team but not good enough to start in the English top flight. He’s got a very good nose for goal and comes alive in the penalty box. Apart from this and his top class work rate he does not contribute much in any of the other areas right now. + He needs to improve his sharpness and his finishing to Vardy level if he is to make a living by being a poacher his entire career and he still wont possess Vardy’s… Read more »
Laca had 15 goals with 6 assists last season.
If we sell him, we need someone to come up with the goals. Pepe may contribute more next season, and willian can get a goal here and there but we can’t rely only on auba to score goals for us.
The more the team plays anti football with 10 men behind the ball the less we will be able to sell players and attract youth players that want to play sexy football.
Aour has seen how Guend has been treated, he will not be coming here.
Im telling you for free!
Will just point out that Nketiah started just 9 games for Arsenal last season , scoring 4. A goal nearly every other game. At leeds last season he scored 5 goals in 6 starts. Apparently he is scoring a goal a game for the under21’s. The fact is , at Arsenal we are not creating enough chances and the strikers are living off scraps.. He has come on as substitute a few times but a player coming on as substitute in the last ten minutes or so has very little time to influence a game. Too early to judge and… Read more »
Sid
Don’t support Guend, his attitude stinks
Pierre
Hypothetically if you were given the choice to keep one of Nketiah or Martinell, who would you keep?
Re Nketiah. “Right now, I think a loan to a mid table Bundesliga club or a promotion challenging Championship club where he will start week in week out should br great for his development. But unfortunately we need him to be our #2 striker and thats why we won’t send him out on loan.“ Eddie is not ready as a 2nd striker if Laca is sold. Putting him there would not only risk Afc but also jeopardise his development. Need someone like Edouard who performs real well in a league perhaps closer to the EPL than the U23 / Championship… Read more »
Martinelli any day. No match unfortunately
Selling Lacazette and Bellerin would be a mistake, because they are whatever some posters may think our first choice CF and RB. Aubameyang has played wide under Arteta and Nketiah is not yet ready to start. Arsenal need still to beef up our midfield. So far there are no new arrivals apart from Smith-Rowe who is no more than a squad player. Our priority must be to bring in 1 or 2 quality midfielder[s]. Messrs Torreira, Elneny and Guendouzi will be offloaded and Arteta cannot rely on Ozil. Even allowing that Willian can play in midfield our current resources are… Read more »
Nketiah…… How do you Younger players get better?……by playing them! How do you find out if younger players will make it or not to your expected standards?…..by playing them! Do people expect him to be the finished article at 21? He is more than capable of being a second choice striker, he has already shown enough to confirm that and clearly Arteta rates him. The kid scores goals, and worst case scenario you have Martinelli and Auba who can all play there if he doesn’t perform as a 2nd choice striker. Worst case scenario is that he will at least… Read more »
ET where does the money come from to fix our midfield if we don’t sell either Bellerin or Laca?
Nobody is exactly throwing money at us for our other players. Torreira should be 24m or so to Italy, sok for a few mil. Where’s the remaining 70m we need for two top quality midfielders?
Moray- if that’s the case I don’t hold out much hope of nabbing him( Partey) & should those greedy b’stards want Lacazette I would charge them the earth to claw it back…….
Useroz
I’m considering Auba as LW.
So Nketiah is second fiddle to Laca
The question is, who will be responsible for this seasons unpreparednes?
China 1 That is the million dollar question. However, the reality is that the only position in the squad which may have been strengthened “sofar” this summer is Centre Back with arrival of Gabriel and Saliba and as young players there is no guarantee that we will make an improvement there. Willian is of course strengthenING our squad in forward department, but it should not be forgotten that Martinelli is out until at least Christmas. Whilst some may be enthusiastic that Ceballos has come back. He is not an upgrade on last season. Messrs Torreira and Guendouzi are likely to… Read more »
Stroller “we know that Ozil is no longer good enough” Do we, he was deemed good enough at the beginning of the year when we were the only unbeaten team domestically before lockdown and he started every league game. In fact we had a realistic chance of champions league qualification with Ozil in the side. At this present time, nobody knows if he is good enough as he was dropped from the team for refusing the pay cut. What we do know is since lockdown we lost 4 league games in 10 without Ozil …..mid table form one would suggest… Read more »
It’s highly unlikely we’ll sign two quality midfielders, but if we sell Torreira (£24m), Elneny (£5m), Sokratis (£5m), Guendouzi (£15m), that’s nearly £50m to buy one top class player.
I expect that we signed Dani on loan because we know we can’t get afford to buy a second midfielder this summer and as you say it looks like Willian will be playing in a more central role too.
Oh Pierre 😅
Pierre, we don’t know that Ozil was dropped because of the pay cut refusal, that’s simply your assessment. Stroller’s statement that he is no longer good enough is no less likely than your argument. You don’t have any inside information and could quite easily be be making 1+1=3 to suit your agenda. Fact is that Ozil was dropped by previous managers over the last two or three years, and was considered unsuitable for tough away games on many occasions – all before the pay cut issue. It’s also true that his performance numbers have declined dramatically in recent seasons all… Read more »
Hi guys I’ll post as Tony 2 frm now on so as not to be confused with the other Tony who posts here. Just a thought from left field. We all know we are looking for another PV4 type in midfield. After watching the youtube highlights some1 posted the other day and watching how he breaks up play, and wants to push up, maybe MA is gonna convert our Gabriel into a new role? He has all the attributes imho. Just a thought as i say. Have a good day y’all
ES agreed we may stop a few goals but we won’t be scoring more
Auba situation quiet this week, I think he’s waiting to see if we strengthen the midfield and be a top 4 team. So far this doesn’t look likely, Stans not interested in doing any interim funding to secure a couple of players.
Can’t give away our dross.
Pierre
Ozil is no longer the footballer he was and bluntly “unreliable”.
If he was not he would be playing regularly in starting X1. Believe me I wish that he was still word class, because if he was we would not need a replacement and that would save us a lot of money.
I am not a poster who manages to find fault with every player on our books.
andy1886
Your valuation of potential offloads is far more realistic than many other posters although I think that Sokratis and Elneny will sell for less.
Your valuation of Guendouzi is absolutely in line with what a Sports Journalist
said to me. Some of the mega valuations are totally unrealistic.
I would add to your list the sale of Kolasinac albeit at a small fee and also Holding fetching perhaps a small loan fee.
Overall I think that the club may reach an agreement for sales or loan fees of
around £50 million, but not necessarily paid in this transfer window.
If we buy Edourd instead of gambling on midfielders it will solve the issue of unlocking low blocks. He will be our Costa one of Pepe/Saka to be Hazard.
Against top 4 the same tactic will be used. The 343 is not very taxing on the CM so we could get by with what we have.
Thats diet Peps plan
You heard it here 1st!