I am like, so embarrassed… I forgot it was the 13th birthday of LE GROVE… YESTERDAY.
Can you believe it? The site is now a teenager. Well, this week, it’ll be getting a new cleaner template. The site will work better from a mobile perspective so you have more space to comment. It’ll also look a lot sharper. I cannot WAIT.
Anyway, I wanted to say a massive thank you to all of the people that tweet, listen, comment, and visit the site on the daily. It’s a massive privilege that anyone pays attention to our mutterings and I am very happy you didn’t all bin me off for the fancy YouTubers.
Right, what do we have today?
I did some rummaging around yesterday on the Ozil stuff. I don’t have a++ stuff, but I think the return of the German was more a result of circumstance than a key indicator of how we’re going to operate this season. I think it’s still positive for the player, at least the coach is trying to include him, it’s probably also an indication he’ll be here all year.
At the end of the day, it’s in the interest of Arteta to get something out of a player costing the club £18m a year. It’s also in the interest of the player to show prospective clubs that he’s worth a punt at a rate he deems acceptable next year. Let’s hope this potential rebirth has more substance to it than the other 13 false dawns.
Then there’s nothing particular new to share on the transfer front. Arsenal need to sell before they can buy, but it sounds like the club is fairly confident of making something happen this summer.
The thinking seems to be that a lot of deals are going to happen towards the end of the window. I quipped that maybe clubs are thinking of holding onto players this summer in the hope of higher prices next year. PSG Tech Director, Leonardo, poured cold water on that idea when he said,
“All the clubs today need to sell. There is also FFP. PSG are in this situation. We made a big investment on (Mauro Icardi). We need to be creative. Player departures are anticipated. We finished playing in August and not in May. We have up until October 5th to sign players. But we have to look at the exit door before.”
I think it’s likely that a few big balls need to get rolling then we’ll see the merry go round kick into action.
Arsenal has a collection of players that could move this summer. We need to gather about £90m to make our dreams of midfield completion come true. This is the list of names.
- Kolasinac £4.5m (£120k p/w)
- Torreira £18m (£65k p/w)
- Holding. £8m ( £40k p/w)
- Sokratis £5m (£90k p/w)
- Lacazette £35m (£120k p/w)
- Reiss £20m (£40k p/w)
- Mustafi £15m (£90k p/w)
- Matteo £30m (£40k p/w)
Conservatively, there’s £140m we could bring in if the stars aligned… not to mention we’d clear £785k a week in wages which is £40m a season. I don’t even think the above is a long shot, we need to make it happen. We have far too many players on our books that we need to shift, transfer fee or not.
The imperative is to clear the wage bill this summer, so if you moved on the above players and took £100m, you’re still winning. You can afford to add Partey, who at the very most would command Lacazette money, and I reckon you could land Aouar for under £100k a week.
The really crazy thing about the above block of players is you probably don’t need to backfill any of the roles… the only area I’d say might need looking at is the striking department. If we could take Edouard from Celtic, a player who has two years left on his deal at a Champions League-less club, then we’d be in top 4 shape squad wise.
The imperative for the summer though is reshaping the midfield. We need more creativity and it’d be a dream to add more power and pace.
Though I will say, I still think we’ll improve on last year regardless of what we do from now. A strong start is imperative. We need to go into the second international break within touching distance of the top of the table. That then sets us up really nicely. 9 points from 12 would be ideal.
We also have quite a nice advantage of playing a lot of our tough away games in the front half of the season. Liverpool, City, United, Spurs, Leeds, and Everton all come before January. We’ll be playing to partially full stadiums. Hopefully, the return legs, we’ll have bigger crowds.
I’m feeling pretty positive about our chances this year, but I really do feel so much of our success this season is built into how we start. This is a team that needs momentum. Winning the Community Shield means nothing if we get shithoused by a late Mitrovič goal in the first game, and save David Moyes job with disastrous follow-up against West Ham. We need Arsenal versus City, Chelsea and Wolves energy… not ‘do I even like football’ vibes from Villa and Watford.
This is a huge season. I am very excited to get started. JUST SIGN SOME MIDFIELDERS PLEASE.
P.S. Xhaka doing bit against Switzerland, you hate to see it.
Granit Xhaka Vs Germanypic.twitter.com/JOCOAUwP9X
— BNS Comps (@BnsComps) September 6, 2020
CG
Based on your perceptions that we were relegation fodder last season, that means we could push for top 6, or even, hold on to your horses, top 4.
Quite upbeat by your standards.
Xhaka was the best plater on the pitch.
Is a fabulous player.
For years I’ve been saying we should GIVE Ozil away.
……………
Just sacrifice him. Literally!
Monetise and the site would lose all credibility. 😆
No way we should sell Nelson.
3 years for Willian was a mistake.
Renewing Nelson, then sending him to the championship for 40+ games might be the way forward.
He’ll thrive in a decent championship team, pick up good experience, and be worth 3 x the amount next summer.
We’ll definitely regret selling him
Left
Sorry what site are we talking about?
This site/blog?!
Graham
“”””CG Based on your perceptions that we were relegation fodder last season, that means we could push for top 6, or even, hold on to your horses, top 4.””””””
We are in the 5th- 8th Zone.
Too good to go any lower.
Too short in too many areas to go any higher.
Season starts in a few days and Arteta has not even got a settled side.
Inexperience showing .The teams that will do best this season – the ones that have the fewest changes.
This blog is where you get it for free!
I told you that 1st!
For the 13th birthday, Supreme leader should have a week of festivities with display of Pedrogilia
*pedrobilia
Left
It’s OK I got confused when you mentioned credibility.
How are you doing Sid?
For a second I thought you were asking for a display of paedophilia!
Lots of fans seem to be assuming that the new CBs will walk in and be everyday starters in the Premier league. I am not so sure. Until thay get their legs under them however long that takes, Mustafi/ Luiz combo is still the security blanket.
It will be interesting to see how Guenduzi and Ozil are used this year. My thoughts are that the lock out of players from Ramsey through Guendozi was more down to Sanllehi. He is no more, so lets see if it is more of the same or a new dynamic.
LT
You cant change a man’s human instincts.
If he is putting his head on the line ina CL final, he’ll do it in an amateur league game too.
If he aint putting it on the line in an amateur game, he won’t even do it in a CL final.
Captain Tierney
September 7, 2020 14:59:49
LT
You cant change a man’s human instincts.
………
Once a pussay, always a pussay. Hardly captain material.
Personally I’m amazed Xhaka could move quickly enough to get out of the way.
13 Years? Holy Crap…has it been that long… ?
Well in the words of Jerry Garcia.. What a long strange trip it has been.
Congrats Pedro.
He ducked in instalments.
Pedro, you playing around with new layouts? I liked the one it briefly changed to, before it reverted back just now
If Xhaka sets off now he might just make the through ball that Ceballos is going to play for him at 12.47pm on Saturday.
The guardian? I think Pedro is a brexiteer!
Happy bday legrove!
13 years ago I was just 17. A wee wippersnapper who thought he knew it all but actually knew nothing. Thankfully now I really do know everything so suck it
China
Pedro’s the biggest snowflake going – it’d be the Guardian all day long!
Is this the new look Le-Grove?
test comment, please delete this from WP
The best part about legrove is that we get to learn for free courtesy of our Sid
All that student loan debt hanging over my head when I should’ve just started getting free life lessons on here
HELLO NEW LE GROVE WHAT ARE WE SAYING?
Don’t want to be rude but all the build up for a change of typeface? I suppose it does a load of whizzy stuff behind the scenes?
Marc Pedro is a bag of contradictions
A brexiteer who drinks oatmilk lattes and works in marketing
SUMMITS NOT RIGHT WITH THAT ONE
Wow this is looking so good!
Brexiteers only drink Stella and cook with lard, so I gather
THIS NEW LAYOUT SUCKS!!! 🙂
Multiple Personality Disorder.
Looks nice Pedro!
The Chinese overlords approve
They even have two names. Pedro/Peter.
Would be nice to be able to post GIFS/MEMES. Is that too much work? Maybe charge everyone a $1 paywall fee (times is hard with covid) and I know those hippies at organic stores be overcharging for oatmilk.
Absolutely no chance of getting in Partey and Aouar unless some significant sales are made and right now given that some of our dross are being linked with loans and small fees the only significant assets look to be Lacazette, AMN and Bellerin. So realistically if we want Partey and Aouar we’ll have to sell at least two but probably three of those mentioned. But the good thing is that we are apparently still trying to sign up these players it’s just taking an age because of money. I can’t help but feel like if we sold AMN to wolves… Read more »
@Pedro –
“HELLO NEW LE GROVE WHAT ARE WE SAYING?!
Looks cleaner.
China, there’s a really great book called On Grand Strategy by John Lewis Gaddis. It’s all about contradictions in life. You’d probably really like it if you haven’t already read it.
Pedro,,
Happy 13th and liking the new look.
Or (since you’re an anti-Brexit Guardian reader) I’ll put it differently.
Joyeux anniversaire: j’aime beaucoup le nouveau esthetique.
Looks good
Pedro food job with the site ,I’m loving this 🕵️
Has anyone watched the Spurs doc?
I was genuinely shocked at the banality that came spewing out of Jose’s mouth. The guy has nothing to say to his team that isn’t some cliche shite you would expect from a poorly written movie made about football.
Also, Harry Kane can barely speak! How is that for an inspirational captain?! Son Heung-min’s English is much better
Good#
Wow…Pedro weldone. You and le grove were perhaps the only consolation during the torrid times during le prof final years.
Much respect to him.
But glad we’ve moved on.
And le grove made sure of that.
Rate the new layout. Looks fresh, and good to keep comments as they were.
I read some other blog (travel-related) where the owner has just paid tens of thousands to a design agency for an overhaul (still WordPress), but to my eyes it’s barely an improvement, though apparently advertisers feed back that they value it.
Prefer the design here.
Congrats on 13, Pedro.
Le Grove’s Bar Mitzvah.
Apparently Barcelona are in talks for Depay for 30 million euros. Absolute steal
Happy birthday legrove. Been reading since 2012 and must say Pedro is top drawer. More life. Pedro please can we have red back?
Thanks Elmo. The brief to the designer was to keep the character of the site, but make it easier for people on mobile to use.
The comments are wider, so you don’t have to do as much scrolling. The comment box is dynamic. The font is a little easier on the eyes.
The images in the actual blog now go full bleed.
I’ll maybe look into gif integration at some point… my worry is it slows the site down.
Raul, Red is out of the bin.
Typical bloody marketing person – going to rebrand I know I’ll change the font!
Pedro
On a serious note is Un banned? Haven’t seen him on here for a while.
Is Bamford banned?!
No bamford’s just crazy. He’s in lockdown during the day and only appears at night when he sneaks out to make bets with strangers on an Arsenal blog
I like the subtle changes, it’s more like Waitrose rather than Sainsbury’s now !
Apparently the mickey mousers are about to lose winaljum to the Barca bandits for a pisstake £15 million .Koeman a huge fan.That leaves a v.big hole in these middle of it happens.This me@nscthey could turn their attention to Partey.I would suggest the Arsenal negotiating team start stepping up their attempts to deliver him & stop f*** ng about.
Uwot
Surely they’d be looking for a CM of unrivaled ability – Xhaka.
Bergkamp, what a beautiful comment.
https://arseblog.news/2020/09/nketiah-hard-graft-during-lockdown-is-paying-off/
I’m having trouble to see the difference between the pre lockdown Nketiah and the post lockdown Nketiah.
Untold = Aldi
Like the red
Oh nice, the new skin is out.
Looking slick, happy bday Le Grove.
Pedro
I like the new look, one slight hiccup ( I don’t like to criticise cause I know how much work goes into this) but on the phone, the comments stick to the side, whereas earlier it was more in the center. Just my two pence, may be you’ll change it or maybe I’ll get used to it 😅😂
The upgrage of the blog was done with ze handbrake still looking for qualidee
This format looks too plain, we need something saucy.
Thanks Gonstrous, will look into that!
We’re still working in the background.
Diss, I like to keep things clean an minimalist… they don’t date as fast. The sauce is always in the work
Dissenter
Blogs looking crisp.
Sometimes less is more 😉
There’s another thing to separate the two in the debate of Martinelli or Greenwood. Absolutely no way I see Martinelli getting a call up to the Brazilian national team only to then come along and do something as stupid as call up a couple of girls to a hotel room between matches during a lockdown. He’d be fair more focused on the job at hand. Levels mentally between the two
gonsterous
Yeah hugs the left side a little closely a touch more to the centre and the blog layout is perfect for me.
marko
He is a Brazilian he will probably have three girls a tranny and a marching band in his hotel room
London fair more focused and determined
Has Auba signed yet?
He’s waiting for something to happen before he does.
What is it?
I forsee Elneny staying and seeing Arteta persuing Aouar only . We can’t have Partey and Aouar in the same transfer season. We are too poor to afford such luxury. Infact there is no transfer season we have gone fully prepared
‘There’s another thing to separate the two in the debate of Martinelli or Greenwood. Absolutely no way I see Martinelli getting a call up to the Brazilian national team only to then come along and do something as stupid as call up a couple of girls to a hotel room between matches during a lockdown. He’d be fair more focused on the job at hand. Levels mentally between the two’
Martinelli’s mentality is what seperates him from the rest.
He is going straight to the top.
London, do you mean when you click into the comment box, it hugs… or you mean just from a visual standpoint, you’d like to move in from the margin a fraction?
I like the new look – familiar yet easier on the eye.
Martinelli has had a bad injury hope he recovers well.
Peds..
I think what London and Gonsterous mean is comments when viewed on the main page on my phone start right at the left margin so look a little off compared to where it ends on the right because the avatar box makes the right have more space because it is offset a little to the right. Also, because my Android has a curved screen the first letter is on the curve.. on the left. Otherwise it looks great on the Samsung phone.
New GUI
New font
Nice and clean
Good work
Sleek new look.
Less definitely is more, feel like we went from Sandra Bullock to peak Kate Moss.
Man, I can’t believe the season is about to start in 5 days.. 2020 has been the weirdest damn year ever.
Pedro,
Love the change, nice clean look. And Happy Birthday Le Grove!
Everything looks NY style now Ped, well done 👏🏾
Nice new layout Pedro 👍
Oh my, looks so much better.
Really loving the new Le Grove!!
I have to say that it really is pleasant on the eye and I really like how the comments space is maximised making it easier to read posts on a mobile screen.
This is where reading long posts on a mobile should be less tedious to read through due the text being more spaced out across the screen.
This means we can now all look forward to ES’s next novella … erm post and not have to freak out at how long the post is. 😀
And a belated Happy Birthday to Le Grove!
Nice new layout, also love the new fonts as well.
Happy 13th birthday LG.
Got to say I’m really missing N5, Gambon, Romford Pele and Cesc Appeal.
Really hope to see their posts soon. And their prospective on the new season.
Makes the blog better.
Thanks guys, really glad you like the new look
« Got to say I’m really missing N5, Gambon, Romford Pele and Cesc Appeal »
This.
Happy birthday Le Grove !
New look is a lot better on the phone. Not much different on the PC.
« Got to say I’m really missing N5, Gambon, Romford Pele and Cesc Appeal »
This.
……
Ditto.
Left, 80% of traffic comes through the phone… the upgrade was mainly about the mobile experience.
I understand and consent. 😉
Pedro – this is a really good look. Only comment against is the comment box itself (I’m using an ipad) – the text is very faint and hard to see.
Same with iPhone – comment is on behalf of those of us supporting Arsenal a bit longer than 2000!!
Happy b’day le grove!!!
Nice touch on the site Pedro. IKEA was definitely here.
I learned from twitter that the agent of westham’s Felipe Anderson offered his client to us any truth there?