Well, we are sailing down choppy waters on the Straits of Panic.
Aulas has told RMC that Lyon have cancelled all negotiations for their players. PSG pulled out of the Aouar deal. It doesn’t look particularly handsome on the face of it.
Thomas Partey has been playing for Atleti dropping promising performances. That seems very dead.
Outside that, there aren’t really many hot rumours. We’re all out here warming up for Jorginho, which would clearly be an improvement on our current midfield, but it’d certainly be a bit of a flaccid way to end the summer. It’d be like one of those sexy videos your builder mates send you that starts on a beach with all the babes but then cuts sharply to a dog taking a poo.
I don’t need that dog in my life right now. I need beach boys that look like athletes that can role as a #8 role or a #6.
There’s no point in spewing your guts about anything just yet and there are some things to remember.
- The problem we have is a lack of money. We’ve spent badly over the years. Last summer, we not only spent badly, we also borrowed from this summer in a gamble for Champions League that failed. We are skint.
- It is hard to operate at the level we need to operate at when you don’t have a lot of money. It seems like Arsenal just want game-changers. Aouar and Partey are those two players. We seem to be running it up to the line in the hope that we have a selling spree.
- We haven’t sold the players we thought would fetch money. No one wanted to buy Torreira. Sokratis, Mustafi, Cal Chambers, Reiss Nelson, Guendouzi and Lacazette have all failed to attract suitable bids. I don’t think the club thought that was going to be as much of an issue as it was.
- The COVID nightmare got worse, not better. We’re now in a situation where the world is spiking in cases and most authorities are shutting down the game. That changed the numbers for lots of clubs (all) and I think some of the lighter traffic we’re seeing in the last week is the uncertainty.
You know I have deep reservations about Edu, but I don’t think we can pin too much blame on him for how this is panning out so far.
Also, it’s not over until Jim White sings.
My main criticism, if things go to shit, is that there doesn’t seem to be a back-up plan. I’m not sure I can buy into the idea that there are literally only two players that can improve our playing style. We’re not 2002 Arsenal needing a special cherry to go on the tastiest cake ever baked. We’re a team that can’t create chances from a midfield that lacks any sort of power.
Clubs all around Europe have been making good signings with players that have high ceilings. Sangare went to PSV for £9m, Sourmare is attracting bids from Italy as two examples of talented players in the Thomas Partey shape. I would love a Champions League creator, but if we can’t afford one, there are plenty of attractive players that could do a great job for us in the interim. Though I am a bit worried Oscar and Jorginho is as creative as we’re getting. Hopefully just agent talk.
It’s not over yet, so there’s still time to be shocked, so let’s save an explosion and look forward to a good game tomorrow against Sheffield United. An absolute MUST WIN.
See you in the comments.
Bamford I think Emery had to go, he’d lost the players and the fans, but I think that that says more about our players, and some of our fans, than it did about Emery. We’re the least dynamic team in the league, and we struggle to create chances, we’ve also lacked cohesion through our team, Far too much chopping and changing. A bit of stability in the side, might see some slight improvement, but this season is set to be another massive slog. And while there will be no doubt more calls to sack the manager again throughout the season,… Read more »
Bamford, thank you for your continued clear-sightedness when it comes to the accurate representation of the future. 10th place in the power league. All bets off.
Red
You’ve become a caricature of yourself too, I might have actually cared what you said if your desperate attempts for a response from anyone and anybody weren’t getting sadder by the day. At least when Wenger was around what you said was coincidentally relevant. Now you’re a rambling idiot and little else.
Bamford –
“Of course it’s fluid. The season has just started and each match gives us a little more data.”
I’m with you. If only there was already a table that tracks the progress of each team after each match throughout the season. Like a ranking system so at the end of it all, we know how competitive each team was over 38 games.
I like what you’re doing with the RREPRPTSG though. Keep it up.
The most worrying thing about Arsenal at the moment is we seem to be following ManU’s path after Fergie left. Emery was our Moyes, Arteta’s our van Gaal so we’ve still got our Mourinho and OGS to come yet!
Hope we won’t go to Leeds and get played off the park
Would be so embarassing, playing 10men behind the ball against a newly promoted side
Jamie
” If only there was already a table that tracks the progress of each team after each match throughout the season.”
You’re just being fucking stupid now.
Pedro if you don’t think this group of players are capable of finishing 10th? Or the players we’ve tried to move but failed, then go and throw another manager under the bus?
Then you have much more faith in this set of players than I do.
I think we’ll do better than 10th, but I don’t see the margins between us finishing 10th and 5th/6th being very big, any injuries to Xhaka, Saka, Aubameyang?
And the tide could turn nasty pretty quickly.
Arsenal twitter should be placed under suicide watch. The ITKs going out sad 😀😀
Mr Serge
There a difference between’ ‘free’ and free transfer.
Bamford10October 3, 2020 19:25:18
RadioSee 19:00:15.
😂😂😂
Losing David. Silva and Sergio Agüero really hurt the MC attack.
Bamford
What you’re doing isn’t even that original. There used to be a weekly ‘power ranking’ given by that fool Shaka Hislop on ESPN a couple of years ago. They stopped it after realising the silliness of it.
Diss, he’s still trying bless him. If James didn’t arrive on a free then neither did Kola, Willian or Soares. In that respect absolutely no player has ever signed on a free transfer because they all have signing on bonuses and agent fees to pay.
MrSerge,
literally the most famous transfer site in the world, transfermarkt, has James as a free transfer. https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/fc-everton/alletransfers/verein/29
Goal, dailymail, sun, yahoo, times all report the same.
There was money exchanged below the table like there was in the Pepe deal and in a lot of other big players deals, but there was no transfer fee. He was a bargain deal. Even his salary ain’t as big – around 140-150k pw.
andy
Don’t forget the VAT
Leeds are flying. My worry is are they able to play with that energy all season? If not then I see them burning out massively.
Can’t believe we can’t be backed by Kroenke when we’re 10 million short of landing someone like Aouar.
Better get a couple of good players before the window shuts or top 4 is out of sight.
“If only there was already a table that tracks the progress of each team after each match throughout the season“
Someone get IBM on the phone, we have a new project for Watson. AI has only come so far though.
Arsenal never had a chance with James, he was always going to play for Ancelotti. Discussing his cost is irrelevant.
Little
Don’t worry about Leeds, worry about the team you support,which is disgusting to watch at the moment.
It’s the tempo with the ball that makes other teams look better than us.
Without the ball we’ve definitely improved but we have too many players who hold onto the ball for far too long, when we have it.
We don’t have the pace and dynamism that other teams possess.
Over to you Mikel.
Pedro
I don’t have us 10th. I have us at 7th, tied with Wolves and Spurs. I have Leeds at 10th.
Jamie
Yeah, I already explained how what I am doing is different from the table. (According to the table, Villa are better than City and United.) You keep doing your silly little routine, though.
karim,
We had significant offers for AMN, he was priced at 20m pounds, and we were on course to get the money we were asking for. Is it Kroenke’s fault Arteta decided he wants AMN more than he wants Aouar or/and Partey? It’s logical clearly. You can’t spend money you don’t have. And we could have had the money. But Arteta decided against it.
Marc, yeah, free but £25m when you add on the VAT…
Cavani to United.
When it rains, it pours.
No Jorginho @ Arsenal please……..lots of better talent can be had for way less money. Just look at Leeds.
The funny thing is if you give Arteta any of the Leeds players, he’ll tell you they are not ready yet. Arteta is dim. We better start getting used to it. Dropped Gabriel on Sunday because he thought Luiz could do better, got same result he’s gotten everytime he’s tried playing Luiz against Liverpool. Then brings Gabriel in 4 days after and the guy had Sallah in his freaking pocket.
Leeds, Everton, Leicester, Wolverhampton can all play free flowing football, with variable success mind you, but Arsenal can’t. I guess we have the 10th best squad indeed. Or is it a manager difference?
Victorious We absolutely will get played off the park by Leeds if we stick with this midfield . West Ham outplayed us . Same applies if we add Jorginho, whoever is recommending him don’t need sacking they need shooting . It’s all very well putting up his stats and what he does for Chelsea but you got to look how he fits with his team mates , he fits at Chelsea as Kante covers his weaknesses so he can play to his strengths . No sensible manager can partner him with Xhaka, they have exactly the same flaws , cumbersome,… Read more »
“You keep doing your silly little routine, though.”
The lack of self awareness is truly astounding with this one. Wow.
Feel like Bam does a mini Conor McGregor strut away from his desk whenever he shoots one these pointy arrows at someone. Have a good day gents indeed.
Raptora
Not wrong my friend, never wanted to believe Marko’s gloomy prediction but he was right in the end.
Still think our owner should have done something about it to save our season.
But that’s self-sustainability for ya !
I’m actually getting to the stage where I’m glad there are no fans in the stadium – it’s going to save me 1200 odd quid plus all the other costs when right now A) the club don’t deserve the money B) looks like they’re going to waste it on some shit alternative to the targets we’ve been chasing all summer.
If Edu and Arteta knew what they were doing, instead of deluding themselves about the Partey’s of this world which they can’t afford, they should have entered the market and get a few bargains that were EPL ready. Doucoure would have been perfect for us.
Thorough
They didn’t even have to be PL ready – just the right level of ability with the right attributes.
Names are great they get the fans going but when you’re short of money it should be about the results not the intention.
Bamford –
“Jamie
Yeah, I already explained how what I am doing is different from the table. (According to the table, Villa are better than City and United.) You keep doing your silly little routine, though.”
According to the RREPRPTSG from an hour ago, Arsenal and Everton were joint 6th. Everton just smashed Brighton and with some sweet calculations, they’ve jumped up above Arsenal.
Like I said, I’m fully invested. Can’t wait for tomorrow’s edition, where Arsenal will slip lower than their current position unless we secure a result.
Peckobill,completely agree.
Sad part is we could have afforded both Partey and Aouar. If we sold AMN (20m), we didn’t make stupid purchases like 24124-th CB in Mari (15m) and we cashed on someone like Nelson or Willock for around 15m each. We had people asking for Lacazette according to the media. Arteta refused to sell him too. You have to make the money in order to buy and Arteta doesn’t seem to get it. You cannot spend what you don’t have. And he apparently wants to hoard on players.
Marc,
“I’m actually getting to the stage where I’m glad there are no fans in the stadium – it’s going to save me 1200 odd quid plus all the other costs when right now A) the club don’t deserve the money B) looks like they’re going to waste it on some shit alternative to the targets we’ve been chasing all summer.”
I thought you already renew your ST.
So Arsenal have a powder puff midfield yet at the same time Arteta has:
– Made Torreira redundant and disposed him
– Ostrasized Guendozi due to petulance
– Put.a definite end to Ozil’s career.
I think we’ve/we’re creating another Wenger. Someone who can do anything he likes and never answers for it. Only that this time the Coach has absolutely no previous. At least Wenger had some meaningful previous.
The shock of the summer would be us getting Jorginho off Chelsea, and Chelsea replacing him with Partey in record time.
The shit has hit the freaking fan.
Raptora It’s a squad balance issue. Outside of Luiz, we don’t have any players through the centre of the pitch, who look to constantly play forward, but the offset to playing Luiz is his legs have gone, so you have to play him in a three. Outside of Willock + Smith-Rowe, all our midfielders are static, want the game played in front of them, don’t take many shots, don’t get into the box, and don’t drive with the ball. Willock is 21 Smith-Rowe 20, they give us something different, but lack experience. We’ve got talented forwards, but they lack the… Read more »
Mikel Arteta is now desperate to secure a loan deal for Jorginho before the transfer window closes on Monday. Aouar was the club’s priority this summer ahead of Atletico Madrid’s Thomas Partey but Lyon wanted around €60m. [@ESPNFC @LaurensJulien]
Tomorrow really should be a sackable offence if we can’t beat a team who has lost all 3 opening games and scored no goals.
DNA
No usually we would have but a few weeks ago they were looking at letting limited numbers back into the stadium on a lottery basis which you could enter or take a holiday until the ground fully reopens.
I chose to take the holiday and since they’ve binned the plan on getting fans back it looks like the right choice.
Signing Cedric and Mari to four year contracts when you have 28 defensive options in your books?
Squad planning at its finest!
Is there some kind of internal rule at Arsenal that says a certain percentage of incoming first team players need to arrive from Chelsea? It’s always Chelsea.
Redtruth
With Arsenal’s habit of being the gift that always gives to teams in trouble I have no idea what the result tomorrow will be.
Everton are spending more then arsenal, this club has been a freaking joke.
LG is definitely one of the best fans blogs, if not the best.
The thing is, it has this unique ability to both lift you up and give you hope and then cut you down to size and destroy any belief you have on a regular basis.
We all know why.
There we were after our F.A. Cup victory and positive Community Shield workout looking forward to a progressive start to the season.
We then lose our best keeper and now it’s the usual transfer window crap.
Oh the joys.
I need someone to answer one question for me since the ‘we spent this summer’s money last summer ‘ excuse is popping about again. If we didn’t have money then why have we spent all window chasing two midfielders who cost roughly a combined 85m?There are buendias,diallos,james,depaul’s etc …I think this is incompetence if the highest order.I still hold hogh hope that we will get partey at the death though
Le Grove is becoming depressing to read.
You would think reading a growing number of posters that we were about to be relegated and that we were already out of Europe and had been defeated in every domestic Cup Competition.
Moreover that Arteta is the worst manager in the EPL.
I cannot wait to read posters when we next lose a match!!!
“Everton are spending more then arsenal, this club has been a freaking joke.”
I was talking about finances or lack of them months ago – why people are surprised I just don’t know.
It’s not only piss poor performance by Edu and Arteta but it’s taking the piss out of fans to get their hopes up by giving the impression we were going to do something.
Pedro: Edu Out!
BBC: “Ex-Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger says he is ready to return to the club “one day”, having not set foot in Emirates Stadium since leaving two years ago.”
See where this could go?
FFS Keep Edu ‘in’ if it means it keeps Wenger out…..
“I cannot wait to read posters when we next lose a match!!!”
Emirates you about tomorrow?
We need top 4.
Our current squad gets us 5th at best.
The Xhaka , Elneny axis scares me. Hopefully an Arteta play to prove we need better. But do the Kroenkes care?
Jorginho is an upgrade on what we currently have but come on, if thats where we’ve landed, is that what Arteta signed up for?
Doubt it.
We have like 10 CBs, might as well get another one and not sell any.
We have Bellerin and Cedric as RBs, might as well keep a 20m AMN as a backup player.
Torreira and Guendouzi, who are both capable players with high ceilings, absolutely frozen out of this team for the sake of Elneny and Willock.
You can’t make this up.
I have a feeling that if it ends up being Jorginho on loan when all things considered on Monday night this place is going to have its very own Life of Brian moment. “He’s not the Messiah. He’s a very naughty boy”
Redtruth
Is that a joke?
Or do you really think we should sack our manager, every time we drop 3 points that we shouldn’t?
With our current set of players, that could see us sacking as many as 12-16 managers this season alone.
Marc, you, I, and others have been saying for months that we’re skint. And laughing at the idea that we’d get £40m for Guendouzi, £45m for Laca, £30m for Torriera, £30m for Mustafi etc.. Looks like those muppets that were throwing those sorts of number around have gone very quiet.
“Not me Guv, I never said that….”
Hey Marc you about…prick?
Daniel Altos. Or we could get Jorginho and let Chelsea have a free run at Partey..Our 3 idiots are that stupid. Imagine this: we bid for Aouar, then bid a second time, Aulas saw our ‘seriousness’ and swiftly bought Paqueta to replace Aouar, then gave us deadline to sign Aouar, then extended the deadline, then decided to bite the bullet as he realized he was dealing with dimwits. What do these guys do actually? Arteta spoke about working very hard in the transfer market as if it were a treadmill, a direct line from Wengers book for dereliction of duty.… Read more »
///BBC: “Ex-Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger says he is ready to return to the club “one day”, having not set foot in Emirates Stadium since leaving two years ago.”///
I thought Wenger was all set to become Bayern manager after Kovic was sacked? What would have been the scoreline in the Bayern Barca match has Wenger been the manager ? 8-2 ofcourse , but only in favour of Barca
Arsenal have hardly spent any money this window, emi martinez received £20mil and spent £27mil on Gabriel, what the heel going on with this club? why is the no money available?
Just wanted to mention that Mavropanos started for Stuttgart against Leverkusen today.
He hit the post with a great header, outjumping everyone by more than a foot. The guy’s simply too dominant physically for the Bundesliga – he outjumps everybody by a mile (remember him aerially dominating Fellaini?), but is also faster than virtually every tall player in any league. What a beast he could become if his decision-making improves and he can stay injury-free. 2 big ifs, but his ceiling is much much higher than Holding’s (or any of our young players bar Saka and Martinelli).
If we sign Jorginho which in turn opens up a place for partey going to Chelsea I actually think Arteta would by and large lose the fan base
Marko
What the fuck was that about?
We need an attack minded box to box midfielder, a passer and a solid strong holding midfielder.
Emery let our last mobile midfielder leave for nothing. We haven’t had a solid strong holding midfielder since Gilberto and we have an elite passer who is dead to us.
Welcome to Arsenal.
jay
“why is the no money available?”
Are you serious? Have you only just started following the club?
Rich, this team won’t finish 10th. Not a chance. It won’t finish 8th either.
Don’t mind the prick part. Was that a piss take earlier about Mikel convincing Kolasinac to stay? I’m compiling a list for Monday at 23:01
The thing about the Arteta promotion in the Summer is that he can openly be pointed with a finger if the squad decisions end up a failure. We would’ve had Edu as the only culprit but since Arteta has been having an equal say in every transfer we make, then he is as responsible as Edu if not more since we’re basically back in the Wenger era and Arsenal is a manager centered club again. Sad stuff really cause if it was someone ruthless that just wanted to get the job done, would have sold AMN for 20m within the… Read more »
andy
What annoy’s me isn’t the lack of spending it’s blatantly going after 2 players who were always going to cost £80 million plus when we never had a hope of signing them.
I’d rather the club came out and said with the effect of COVID we just don’t have the money to spend.
Marc,
“DNA, No usually we would have but a few weeks ago they were looking at letting limited numbers back into the stadium on a lottery basis which you could enter or take a holiday until the ground fully reopens.I chose to take the holiday and since they’ve binned the plan on getting fans back it looks like the right choice.”
Cool. My bad! 👍🏾
Marko
Yes of course it was a piss take about Kolas. If Arteta actually turned down a bid of £15 million for Kolas let alone £150 million they’d be a lynching in North London shortly after.
It looks like we are stuck with box to circle midfield this season, sad
DNA
No worries.
If we sign Jorginho which in turn opens up a place for partey going to Chelsea I actually think Arteta would by and large lose the fan base’
Agree again! Its going to be fcking disappointing, because I did like some of his work.
“Rich, this team won’t finish 10th. Not a chance. It won’t finish 8th either.”
9th?
Second season after we finally rid ourselves of Xhaka, we become title contenders.
Someone save this comment for future.
To be honest the only reason Arteta isn’t under pressure is because he won the FA cup. Had we lost that game, there would have been no shield too and then just imagine today’s scenario. Not saying that he’s a poor manager but just that that win has papered over a lot of cracks too.
I can’t accept that all we will do by Monday night is Jorginho.
Him plus Auor is the minimum and maybe enough for 4th to be fair.
But when the whole world knows we need him and Partey?
If that’s the case then Arteta needs some serious conciliatory skills to get Gendouzi & Ozil to step up and do their bit.
Kaz
That’s the frustrating thing – the reason I was excited about the links to Aouar and Partey is it would’ve guaranteed Xhaka being dropped (one way or another) and then him leaving.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Xhaka = no CL
Wow this place is more depressing than a morgue
I just went to arsenal twitter posts and my God people really are having melt downs it’s so funny the admin is getting roasted.I feel sorry for arsenal fans honestly
I think fans need to wait until Monday evening although we have been waiting for months. It might not be Partey and Auoar but at least 1 midfielder will be added to the team. It’s not anyone’s fault but yours to have so many trust in 3 guys who are doing OJT. It was pointed out months ago but most said it was hating. It’s going to be raining under Pedro umbrella for sometime
@Marc
Agreed. All of Wengers tight top 4 finishes couldn’t last and didn’t last with the points dropper Xhaka in the line up.
Now we’ve semi built a team around him and is it any wonder how shite we play? 😂😂😂
That’s mad, do we build a team and system around Ozil? Aubameyang?
No, Xhaka.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Marc
Bad news is come Monday we could have 2 xhakas
Sure Chavs can’t wait to give us Jorginho so they can have our main target Partey, becoming their bitch now aren’t we?
What a total shambles this club has become,My chavs mate is currently taking the piss on me,completely bottled this transfer window those clowns running the club
Please God let this not happen.
Daniel,
“I just went to arsenal twitter posts and my God people really are having melt downs it’s so funny the admin is getting roasted.I feel sorry for arsenal fans honestly”
🤣🤣
Buendia is two footed, can dribble and is technically good. Really would not mind him playing no 10 for us. Would probably not cost more than 25M.
@Pedro
Why is Arteta putting more energy and effort into covering Xhaka’s weakness in our first team then a player who deserves it?
Imagine playing a 442 and having to good CMs. And more importantly freeing Auba off the wrong.
Nah let’s not sell Xhaka and pull the whole shape of the team back instead and divert most play to the fullbacks.
Genius.
Wing*
Buendia is two footed, can dribble and is technically good. Really would not mind him playing no 10 for us. Would probably not cost more than 25M.
I’ve been big on buendia but people don’t like him because he plays for norwich saying this…we could have just signed buendia and another athletic midfielder for a combined 60m if we are that skint.McKennie,Sanitizer,diallo etc…
Buzzy, papering cracks? He reworked the culture of the club, made us more intelligent, shored up the defence and qualified for Europe. That’s not papering cracks, that’s progressing the club
In other news,ManU are reportedly paying 10m in agent fees for the cavani deal and are also pushing hard for dembele
Yes there are serious questions to be raised about Arsenal’s finances and perhaps also the way transfer negotiations have been handled. Also perhaps questions need to be answered why Raul who was our experienced negotiator left the club in similar fashion to David Dein. However, to blame Arteta for all the ills of the club is ridiculous and shows just how fickle and stupid some people who post on here really are. Let’s consider the following: 1. Arteta was appointed Head Coach last December and had absolutely no say in transfers or contracts. Those decisions were taken by the Board,… Read more »
Kez, I don’t understand the question?
@Daniel Altos
Someone was also dismissing Doucoure because he played for Watford 🤦🏾♂️
@Pedro
My Xhaka hate boner is bigger than your Rambo hate boner.
Anyway, why are we putting so much into our team tactics to enable Xhaka to he a starter?