A lot has happened over the past 24 hours. The PR machine is whirring into action and it is super clear that the club wants you to know that:
- KSE spend money
- Edu is a man with a plan
- Arteta is highly rated and his performance unlocked budget we didn’t have
We still don’t know the exact details of the cash injection/accounting trick, but it seems clear from the media that we had some help from our owners. KSE seem much keener to be seen as important to the process these days, a far cry from the years when Wenger was running the show. This is a good thing. KSE clubs are doing better these days. Well, the Nuggets are at least. Something must have clicked for them, because it now it looks like they realise investing in their teams can reap huge dividends.
The second reason I like the investment is that it seems to be tied to the impression the new staff has made. Mikel Arteta is a young manager, many thought that he was hired so the club could go cheap, but that FA Cup win and back door entry to the Europa League clearly gave him some cred points with the Kroenke family. The messaging has been clear, the Partey signing was a thumbs up to the progress. I really like that, it’s premature, but it seems the club already has an eye on City and Barca coming for their star at some point. If he has another good year, expect a renewed deal, and hopefully all the money from our CERTAIN TOP 4 FINISH, RIGHT?
It’s also worth noting that, although fans savage the Kroenke’s for not spending money, it doesn’t correlate with reality.
We’re the 10th highest net spenders in Europe 2010-19. Staggering, right? The money hasn’t been the problem, it’s who we’ve let spend it (a well-trodden narrative if you’ve been reading this site).
That shifts me onto phase two of the thank-you tour. Arsenal PR has been VERY keen to make sure people know Edu actually does things outside solitaire in the canteen. He has been front and centre over the last few weeks. He’s talking about his plan, he’s telling everyone he got the club excited about it, he’s very proud he delivered on it.
I am pleased with the way we worked because we are facing a very difficult situation with Covid and in the market, everyone is quite worried about the future, the planning, whether they have the money or not, the revenue, so it is quite challenging but the way we did it was amazing.
Edu and Arteta have hired players with more than just legs (As Edu actioned), they think they’ve hired winners. They wanted players to reshape the culture of the club. Willian will always look like a weird deal to me, but when you look at it through the lens of ‘winner’, you can’t argue. Partey, winner. Luiz, winner.
If you see Willian, he brings us experience and a very special physicality in terms of speed. If you see Gabriel, he gives us a lot of physicality and presence. Dani, quality. Thomas, physicality, quality and mentally he is very strong. But in the end if you see all these players we brought to the club, they are very good here (points to legs), but they are better here (points to head) which for me is very important because when you talk to the players, they have a lot of ambition, they are excited and they are hungry to win a title again. This, for me, is important to have in the players to not only be good here (points to legs), but good here (points to head). And they are.
What I do like about this Edu PR tour is that he could easily claim the glory, but he doesn’t.
It is not only Edu, it is not only Mikel Arteta, we have a lot of people around us in the club that it is important to mention as well, financial, legal, medical, recruitment, our loan manager, but we cannot forget of course the support, of which I received a lot of, from the board and the owners. Without them, we cannot do much and I feel really comfortable with the way we are working and communicating together, we are talking almost every day right now so that is brilliant. I tell them with that possibility to have that type of relationship, I feel much stronger. That is the way they give to me and to Mikel as well, so that is the way we are working right now.
Bar talking about himself in the third person, I do like leaders that pump their team. There’s a lovely pic of him celebrating them on Insta Stories. We’ve lacked that at Arsenal over the years. Empowering talent to make moves. I like that. It’s basic, but smart.
I also assume Edu wants to get ahead of me telling everyone there are questions marks over how good he is. He seems very, very happy with how things are going… I couldn’t be more pleased for him. He passed the first test this summer, i.e., no one is crying over Raul. We don’t need him and we’ve just proved that under the toughest footballing circumstances in our history.
This was a good window. The club made purposeful moves that can all be justified. We’ll have to forget about January. Focus on what we’ve seen in the last two months and it all makes sense. We’ve signed experienced winners, elite young talent, and we’ve taken a chance on 5-6 under 23s that might make it.
I am finding it VERY tough to be a blogger that has nothing to moan about.
Though I do find it interesting that there are so many spreadsheet merchants upset about Partey. I don’t want to be ‘that’ guy, but honestly, if we’ve been tracking Partey since his Almeria days, and our new recruitment team thinks he’s good enough to put their reps on the line with their paymasters, you’d have to imagine they might be looking at better data than the folk on the internet.
He’s a class signing. I am STILL in shock we did it. Partey is going to be fucking immense for us.
The club omitted Ozil from the Europa League squad along with Sokratis and Saliba.
He is finished. There are stories doing the rounds that we’re trying to buy him out of his deal. The club is trying to get a deal, he’s not budging. What a humiliating way to exit the building, being a petulant child. So ungraceful. He’ll soon realise that his power is linked to his age, then I suspect he’ll regret his last 3 years.
There’s also a lot of consternation about William Saliba. I don’t have an in on this at all. However, I do know two things. 1) If he were ready, he’d be playing. 2) Arteta doesn’t have a vendetta against Raul signings.
I have some thoughts on this. Firstly, Ligue 1 has a lot of great players, but it lacks the same power and pace we have in the Premier League. That’s not a debate, I really don’t care how much Ligue 1 you watch. Young players flourish there because there’s a lower level of competition.
I think it’s clear that he’s not physically up to the standard. He’s literally a teenager. There are very few teenage centre backs playing regularly anywhere in the world. Factor in that he was injured a lot last year, which might be linked to his body not adapting well to his huge frame. Jack was overplayed in his teenage years and now he’s being let go from West Ham in his twenties. Being overplayed at a young age isn’t great for you.
People seem to have taken offence to him being loaned to the Championship (if it happens). Now, there are two reasons this might be the case. We could have messed up the registration back to France. Or, Per Mertesacker, Ben Knapper, and Edu might reckon the things he’s lacking as a player right now are better serviced in the league below the Premiership. The Championship is incredibly fast, it’s beastly from an aggression perspective, and… it’s in England. What better place to toughen up and learn the lingo?
It’s a bit of uneducated opinion to say Championship football is a shit standard. Eze, Watkins, and Leeds are looking pretty damn ok so far this season. Maddison, Joe Gomez, and Andy Robertson all started there. I don’t think Arsenal fans would sniff at Buendia or Benrahma if they joined. William Saliba could do a lot worse than Brentford this season.
Ok, I am now off. Have a great day. Big love x
Marc, if you’re starving, and you spend your £30 on seed (non-edible), no one is going to say that even though you died of starvation, you were forward-thinking.
We spent £30m on a defender still not ready… and £23m on one this season, post-Raul, that has slotted right in.
Think it’s clear what the smarter move was.
Marko
I don’t see how a person whose job depends on the performance of the team would voluntarily play someone worse at the game simply due to preference. So yes to me that means Nketiah and Kola are considered viable options for the squad. Do you honestly believe Arteta doesn’t want better players than Nketiah though?
Marc
“If Saliba is the world’s first £100 million plus defender in a few seasons you’ll be singing from the rooftops how Arteta brought him through and developed him”
We all will be. The trolls will be gutted though.
Pedro At the time we had Mustafi, Kos, Sokratis, Chambers, Holding as CB options. We weren’t starving. And if you remember correctly after the window the narrative was we had a squad good enough to challenge for top 4 . And had we a better manager or a bit of luck wr would of finished top 4. 30 mil on an 18 yo is definitely overpaying but if Saliba kept on going like that for even 2 more years he would of been out of our price range. Just like CR7, Mbappe and the many top players we have missed… Read more »
Pedro
Yep that Gabriel signing was a masterstroke. He was among the top five dominant centre-backs in Europe at Lille. Man Utd wanted him too they must be gutted with that defence of theirs.
Oops messed up the seasons but with a better manager last season we could have challenged for top 4.
Should have been better manager + a bit of luck ( we dropped 11+ points last season due to dodgy referring).
AFC
That’s what does me – all these agenda’s. All I want is Arsenal to win every single match they play, I don’t care (outside of one or two candidates) who the manager is or who the players are. If they do well I’m happy.
Captain
“but if Saliba kept on going like that for even 2 more years he would of been out of our price range”
This is such a good point.
Like I said,before, young players are a gamble you just never know. Miss out & before you know it the price has doubled.
Marc
Yes mate.
I love Arsenal they are like family to me. They have provided me with an addiction that I don’t want cured. My entire family are Gooners. I am a positive fan so I don’t understand all the agenda crap. Some of it just comes from the trolls, mist Arsenal fans I know are pretty positive right now with what’s going on.
Marc, fitness. How many times do I have to say?
*most.
Pedro Firstly every report I’ve seen says Gabriel cost £27 million. Secondly last summer we spent a fortune we weren’t staving we’d missed out on 3rd by 2 points. The club rolled the dice on spending with a view that the payoff was worth the gamble – Saliba was a nod to the future. How you can infer that Saliba is a poor signing but Gabriel (who I do like the look of) has slotted right in but couldn’t start at Liverpool is daft. It’s even dafter when you consider that if we were staving as you claim we turned… Read more »
Captain / Marc
Only time I whinged was under Emery. I couldn’t stand his tactics, he was clueless.
Pedro
“Marc, fitness. How many times do I have to say?”
Not sure what that’s in reply to?
Saliba. It’s fitness.
£30m for a defender that still isn’t ready. £27m for one that can. The semantics, either way, tell you that it wasn’t smart business considering what the squad needed.
Pedro
Saliba was never bought for right now – how you can say it wasn’t smart business until we see how it pans out it massively daft.
I’d prefer to see Saliba get some time with us in the early EL and League Cup (not that there’s much of that left now) but if Arteta thinks doing a season in the Championship is the best way to develop fair enough.
I will not write off a player or a manager in 5 minutes like so many on here.
Really curious, is there actually any report of issues with Saliba’s foot still being a concern or no? Should let him rehab and heal fully if that’s the case but he’s been playing and I’ve not heard anything like that. Foot injuries that don’t heal properly can be a footballer’s death. Jack Wilshere says hi.
Regarding Saliba. Arsenal faced competition from rivals Tottenham Hotspur to complete the deal, with both clubs meeting Saint-Étienne’s valuation of the player, however, Saliba chose to join Arsenal, with the club’s interest in Saliba dating back to autumn of 2018.[ He had only played 16 games for At. Etienne so he was bought for the future, the kid was a raw talent described as a future star. We bought him and loaned him back. He played 12 games, his broken foot delaying his progress, so in total he has only played 28 ganesvat the topp level. That may explain his… Read more »
Sorry about my phone! *28 games at the top level
Luteo
His foot is fine but it limited his playing time. Prior to the foot injury Saliba did not play a game for St Etienne until the end of September, as he underwent surgery on an adductor muscle injury, missing 6 weeks or so. So last season he played just 12 games. So his game time was severely hampered and not as expected
Marc, how many clubs in world football are spending 30m on players that aren’t ready for first-team action for at least two seasons?
Very few. Almost unheard of. It was not a smart way to spend money when we have much more pressing matters.
If we were in the CL sure, but we weren’t. We were so skint, we borrowed money from this summer.
Luteo, I don’t think that’s true. If he had a recurring injury, he’d not be going out on loan.
It’s broad-based ruggedness that he’ll hopefully get in the Championship.
AFC, no one is arguing potential. Think most people are just wondering why you’d invest 30m in a 2 year investment when you had actual needs for the now.
‘He could reach VVD levels’ is something that you could say of lots of young centre backs around Europe.
Pedro Yes it was a roll of the dice – I’ve already said that but right now we don’t know how it will work out. What I will say is it’s got a major chance of working out better than the signings of Torreira and Sokratis who were both “right now” signings, it’s also got a massive chance of working out better than giving Ozil £18.2 million a year, turning down £60 million for Sanchez only to swap him for a player 6 months later who’s contract we’ve had to write off to get him off the wage bill. I’d… Read more »
“It’s broad-based ruggedness that he’ll hopefully get in the Championship.”
Can we call it experience – it at least to me seems a better description.
Media reports say Arteta soots two specific weaknesses of Saliba’s play that has led to the kian exit. 1. Defending set pieces 2. Going to ground too much Arteta sees Saliba in training so i won’t soubt his observations. The going to ground thing I can understand but no idea what issues Sakiba has In defending set pieces. No reprted unfortunately In fact, Saliba got his name in defending set oueces being tall, attacking the ball, fast etc. Is it his judgment? Not physical enough to wrestling in the box? Or what? Talking about weaknesses…. How many of us here… Read more »
Marc, no, because it’s about his body as well as his experience.
Marc, you are right, Saliba hasn’t failed nor will he.
Useroz
No you see that makes it all make sense – Pedro you could learn something from this fella!
Arteta sees Saliba “2. Going to ground too much” as an issue so has decided to get him away from Mustafi ASAP!
Pedro
“Marc, no, because it’s about his body as well as his experience.”
Yeah but fitness doesn’t fit right for me – maybe conditioning is closer but I’m not sure a single word quite does it.
Pedro. Would you be able to speed up the fine tuning of the text box that we use to write feedback? So to change the font to black and increase the font size. Thanks!
Useroz..
That’s pretty fair.
As I said, he was viewed as a hot prospect & we met the valuation, same as Spuds. He has only played 28 games & English football is more demanding physically than the French league.
Sending him on loan makes sense to me. Whether or not he will be a big success or failure we won’t know. So yes, we have to trust the club and Arteta. Anything is just speculation & guesswork.
So Big Weng’s autobiography isn’t released in the US until 10th November, but is out here on Tuesday.
Are you relying on serialisation in the tabloids for your info, Pedro, or will you be finding a pirated ebook on the murkier reaches of the net?
Between the YT clips and watching 2/3 games that feature Saliba, i seem to recall he went to ground to intercept the ball. Of course the clips show highlights en masse so could have skewed the picture. But this interception thing is meant to be one of Saliba’s strengths as being decisive, proactive and he hardly goy yellow cards doing it. May be the pace of the PL would out his style (and doot) at risk? A mistimed going to ground interception could have his foot broken etc. So Arteta doesn’t want another Mustafi un the making. Thats fair enough.… Read more »
If Arsene loves the club so much he should put his hand in his own pocket and buy out Ozils contract himself. He was the prick who signed off on £90m worth of bullshit
AFC Forever
When did you start supporting Arsenal?
Saliba has to go on loan because we’re stuck with Mari, socratis, kola ,mustafi and holding. And we still have chambers to come!
It.is either that or Arteta doesn’t fancy him at all for one reason or another which would be a shame
It doesn’t look like it’s a fitness or physical issue to me, the boy is 1.92 m and looks as strong as an ox
Graham62
At a guess similar to you.
I said it from day 0ne..Saliba has a poor heading technique and Gabriel has a superb technique in the air. Le groaners were not keen on my analysis. Also said that Saliba reminded me of an early Rio Ferdinand when he drops a shoulder coming out with the ball…..this is a compliment. Ferdinand , though a superb footballer, was a liability at times in the early days at west ham, Maybe Arteta thinks that at this present time , a liability is the last thing we need… I received a message from my son a few months back saying Saliba… Read more »
Interesting stat from last season.
Goals conceded:
Open Play: 16th (25 goals)
Set piece: 3rd Joint (15 goals)
Regarding set piece goals, Leicester, Spuds & Sheffield Utd had the best recordletting in just 6 goals. Worth a good few points..
Pierre, it’s time to admit that you are one of us… give it up, you, are a Le Groaner.
Useroz, I think the issue is your phone?
What is the exact issue?
Pedro
I use an iphone Se 2.
Colour of font i n the text box looks grey not black and hard to see and the default font size is a bit small.
I can size the screen larger to compensate font size though inconvenient. But can’t change colour of the font
Others on here say the same when the new look came out.
Thanks.
Pedro
The font color in the text box is definitely a bit too light. I can read it, but not easily.
(I’m on an Android – Samsung M31)
Ofc the partey signing is absolutely massive but the one I’m watching closest is actually Gabriel I know it’s too early to say, but could he be the replacement for sol Campbell we never got? Could it be????? I fucking hope so. If Gabriel is half the player and half the servant sol was he will be an incredible signing It’s early days yet but man of he comes good we will have an absolutely huge signing. Massive guy, great in the tackle, loves to defend, reads the game, solid passer, good in the air, not slow… and he’s early… Read more »
Pedro
I sent you a couple of screenshots on Twitter.
Have a look when you get a chance.
Cheers
The Championship should be played in an oval field, with an oval ball,
Its a disgrace to football. Thats why while ligue 1 produces Maga the Championship has Shawcross
Arteta said saliba goes to ground too easily
I don’t think it’s a point about him worried about getting overplayed. If we’re worried about the toll of overplaying him in a high tempo aggressive league, why wouldmloaning him to the championship be a good idea?
I think it’s just about experience and adaptation, not worries about injuries
Let’s get this clear – Saliba was not purchased as a long term development prospect. You do not spend 27m on a player that is so far off a first team debut, particularly as he has been playing at the top level in France. Look at all the prospects we have just picked up in this window for peanuts. I know he has been injured but is there more permanent damage to his foot? Something is not right here.
Agreed Aussie that it seems saliba might have some issue we don’t yet know about
Arteta said he goes to ground too easily but surely telling him to use his upper body strength more and release the ball earlier is pretty low down on the list of difficult points to coach into a player and shouldn’t take a year to drill. Or he can hit the gym and gain a few KG of muscle in just a few months
Pierre
Your Analysis is not really backed up with data.
Last season in Ligue 1, Saliba had a better Aerial duel win % than Gabriel.
Has saliba done a Guendozible?
Afc Forever
Emery really messed us up. But I dont think he is a bad tactician. But he just doesn’t have the aura/sauce/whatever to manage a big club. He cant manage big players and egos and thats what you get at big clubs.
I think the Sevilla/ Villarreal level of football is perfect for him
And both Saliba and Gabriel were in the upper echelons in Aerial duel win% category.
TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT SALIBA
#Somethingsup
#ArtetaOut
#Ivehadtoomuchcaffeine
I love this football club
Whenever I’m down in the misdt of daily darkness. It helps. The familiar first days at Highbury on that carpet.
It’s the devil you know…❤️
I heard saliba breached an arteta non-negotiable when he kept calling the white players crackers and asking if they need more cheese
Something had to give I guess
Well, the Saliba omission doesnt look good to me. Yeah we need to integrate him slowly but this is too much. So far I have seen signs arteta pick average players over talents. As a System we are a bit better but we arent using players of high potential apart from Saka. Arteta had trouble managing and getting the best out of guendouzi. He was picking Nketiah over an unveliveable talent like martinelli. Now Something is wrong with Saliba. I see a trend that I dont like. If he is integrating them very slowly to use them in the next… Read more »
Keep on trucking crimson
There was a guy on the news a few months back in England who was suffering from severe depression. Now he’s celebrating a book he just wrote being a n1 best seller.
Things can change very suddenly
Pedro “Pierre, it’s time to admit that you are one of us… give it up, you, are a Le Groaner.” We all like a bit of a moan …I tend to moan about the entitled whingers on here. In general i am positive about our players and manager get roundly criticised for it . I defend players who get all the stick on here like Pepe, Lacazette , eddie , willock, Guendouzi, torreira and mustafi…could go through the who team I suppose.. As per usual , Le Grove get over excited about the new toys …I pointed out that Martinelli… Read more »
The thing about defenders and defensive midfielders in general are that unless you make zero unforced errors in a whole season,you aren’t any good. At young age, errors will happen. Gabriel is getting all the praise but he miscalculated the flight of the ball plenty of times vs west ham. I have only seen YT videos of saliba and it’s not enough to judge. CBs are judged on errors. Not their best moments. Without sufficient knowledge it’s not possible to make any reasonable conclusion. Hopefully he does well on loan. Regarding Partey, data guys are right in many aspects. Considering… Read more »
Tierney
“Your Analysis is not really backed up with data.
Last season in Ligue 1, Saliba had a better Aerial duel win % than Gabriel.”
I go by what I see with my own eyes ..
A player can win an aerial dual without being a good header of a ball…
Gabriel has a way better heading technique.
LFC
The question I always ask of a new arrival is does he improve the team and is he better than what we have for that position.
Gabriel affirmative
Partey …a near certainty to improve our midfield
Willian … 50/50 on that one as I think Pepe has the potential to do something special …Willian is a good all round professional, he has found it difficult in the last few games to make any impact but still early days.
Pierre
“As per usual , Le Grove get over excited about the new toys …”
Well perhaps it is because we are none too happy with some of the ‘old toys’ you are always willing defend. I personally would not wish to see Ozil, Mustafi, Xakah, Guendouzi, Eddie, Willock start over some of the ‘new toys’ ie Gabriel, Martinelli, Saka, Saliba. I actually do like to get excited by the football I watch!
And of course ‘new toy’ Partey!!!!!!
Pierre you say you go with your own eyes yet I recall you touting stats of ozil being on the pitch and arsenal winning games being indicative stats that ozil makes us better
Shame your eyes didn’t tell you much then
Leftfootcurler
Are you a coach?
Your comprehensive review of Partey is excellent.
Was just thinking how fans would be commenting on players back in the seventies.
“His socks rolled down by his ankles were a hindrance to his forward movement, mainly because his calf muscles were too cold, whilst his ability to track back was also affected by the poor surface and the fact that his boots were clogged up with mud”
Football is such a simple game but your analysis shows just how much perceptions have changed.
That’s a compliment by the way.
Aussie
The posters on le grove who get over excited about the new toys quickly become disenchanted with those same players and label them the new ” dross”
Sokratis, kolasinac, Torreira, Guendouzi, Mari ,Cedric (possibly Pepe/Lacazette )and even Xhaka , to name but a few.
Personally, I prefer to give a balanced view on newcomers…..
Gabriel and Partey look nailed on to be a success, let’s hope they don’t succumb to the famous non negotiables.
Left xhaka only plays a few of those long balls per game. A vast majority of his play is short ground passing sideways or backwards. That he stretches the opposition with regularity is a ‘stretch’ if you’ll excuse the pun
Pierre loves an early morning moan.
Pierre I haven’t said anything to you. Willian is a balancer. He is doing just fine,not struggling. It’s Arsenal who are struggling to get him in the game by being so left heavy. With Partey at RCM, I hope we build on the right more. That will get Willian and Pepe into the game more. As for Pepe,my judgement is the same as last season. He is too tall so he doesn’t have a low center of gravity hence he gets knocked off the ball easily. This nullifies his dribbling. To overcome this,he has to bulk up. Let’s be patient… Read more »
Graham
Thank you for the compliment.
No I am not a coach.
I know the name is Pierre but if you were a woman it wouldn’t surprise me.
Any tennis fans on here?
Yet another reason last night why Novak Djokovic will never be seen by many as a true great.
At one point in the match, before starting a point, he bounced the ball 40 times on the court before striking his serve.
Gamesmanship to the extreme and something that drives me mad. I know it pissed of Tsitsipas. Novak got a warning for time delay but that’s not enough.
The rules need to be changed.
Djokovic has benefitted numerous times over the years because of this.
Ok, back to football.
China You don’t play long diagonals everytime you get the ball. You play it at just the right time. Also where you play it,matters Best example I can give is of Scholes. He played diagonals with a purpose. The intention was to shuffle the defensive block from side to side. His diagonals penetrated backlines, got his team mates in behind the cb/Fb. The difference between running onto a pass/taking into your stride and trapping it dead before progressing the ball is HUGE. Most diagonals are useless. Xhaka’s use of diagonals are very good. Arsenal’s second goal vs west ham came… Read more »
Theres nothing complementary about Xhakalsons game whether next to iniesta or yaya toure
From the Mirror “The Gunners eventually paid Partey’s release clause to sign him from Atletico Madrid just moments before the transfer deadline. According to The Athletic, the Ghanaian midfielder first spoke to now-axed head scout Francis Cagigao over a move several years ago. It is claimed they discussed his role at length over lunch and Partey ‘talked admirably’ about new team-mate Granit Xhaka. He is said to have expressed his belief that he could form a strong midfield partnership with the Swiss international which could now come to fruition under Mikel Arteta.” Dear God, no wonder Saliba is on the… Read more »
What is rarely discussed on Le Grove is that the club has been in transition over last two seasons with a large number of departures and an influx of SEVENTEEN new players. In 2019/20 Season the arrivals were: Soares Luiz Tierney Mari Pepe Ceballos Martinelli Willock [U23] Saka [U23] Nelson [U23] Nketiah [U23] This season the arrivals were Runarsson Saliba [recruited last season but arrived this season] Gabriel Partey Willian Smith-Rowe [U23] Many of these recruits were young inexperienced players with limited first team experience or came from clubs outside major leagues. It has been clear that it has taken… Read more »
LFC Yes mate. You hit the nail on the head with your analysis. When you see those who dislike Xhaka, which they are entitled to, they look at him in scone dimensional way. He breaks the lines with his powerful & often accurate passing. He is a big lad,and doesnt posses great pace but he provides a valuable function in the team dynamic. This is something that gets so often overlooked. Some fans forget the best team will not necessarily he the best players. Arteta has shown this is his philosophy he doesn’t hesitate in making changes to match up… Read more »
*sorry about typos. Text panel is so small when typing on a phone. Kids are better on these devices!!
Left
Great analysis re Partey and Xhaka.
And 100% right about Xhaka. He is slow but has got a wand of a left foot. Its the errors he makes that make him an average player. Tho his decision making off the ball has Massively improved since he joined us ( remember all the mindless red cards) it is still suboptimal.
I hope that I am wrong, but I am suspecting that Arteta does not want to play Saliba because he personally did not approve of the signing. It’s a way of proving that he is in charge. Young William is a pawn that he is choosing to sacrifice to get his point across. If you can play in Ligue 1 at 17/18 years of age in such a physical league with the rare ability of being able to tackle while not going to ground as a defender, you can certainly play in the PL. Holding is not better than him.… Read more »
One additional lesson to be learned from Saliba recruitment.
We should never loan back or out a player to a club UNLESS it is providing a suitable environment to what would be expected and applied by Arsenal.
In my view Arsenal should work closely with two or three clubs including one in the Championship like Brentford where we can be sure that they will look after young players
properly and access for them to train periodically at Arsenal and receive the appropriate
medical support.
I have no problems in Saliba going to Brentford.
Probably one of the best run clubs outside the EPL.
“I hope that I am wrong, but I am suspecting that Arteta does not want to play Saliba because he personally did not approve of the signing”
Thats quite a reach Dream10, more likely Saliba simply isn’t ready for prime time yet.
With Watford’s apparent interest in taking Saliba on loan at least he would be training in London Colney as their training ground is next to Arsenal’s.
Saliba has played 30 first team games.
He is coming back from two injuries.
He is with a new team, in a new league, in a foreign country.
His CB partner is also very inexperienced.
He has sadly lost his mother.
Not really surprising he needs some time. Nothing at all sinister in this decision to me.
There are some ridiculous comments being made about Saliba.
Does anyone believe seriously that Arteta is so prejudiced that he would not want a player at
his club, because he did not recruit him?
He assessed the player and came to the conclusion that he is not ready for EPL and that it would be best to give him regular playing time elsewhere, but with proper supervision.
Recruitment is never an exact science. There are many factors, which impact on a players
ability to adapt to a league, club or even management and coaching.
I’m not a xhaka fan but will give it the benefit of the doubt if played alongside Partey. Will see how that goes. I Wana see Partey and Ceballos together. LFC, I understand and actually appreciate your analysis on those 2 players. But I’d say that while Partey does not control in a more ‘attacking’ sense as you say, it’s more the fact of how much more rounded a player he is. The positioning being able to play higher than xhaka (in this league) and not have to sit so deep. He will intercept and tackle more than xhaka as… Read more »
Dream, This comment doesn’t fit with the image I had of you. I thought you are more measured and this opinion is a provocative, drastic, strong opinion. I agree with you. Arteta has a bunch of favorites. Then there is a bunch of people/players he doesn’t like. He will not make compromises with the people he doesn’t like. But will do with the ones that he does. It’s a really bad way of treating people in a collective. It will be a huge problem for him in his career if he doesn’t change this bad trait. And he’s going to… Read more »
I think it’s just a matter of the lad being rusty. He looked the part whenever he played in France, but their season got called off in March.
He looked out of sorts by all accounts in his U23 appearances so far. This is probably down to a lack of sharpness/match fitness rather than ability.
The kid needs a run of games. We can’t afford to give him that in the prem at this point.
30-40 games in championship rather than sporadic cup games is a no brainer.
At times a dream can be a nightmare of poor judgement.
It’s weird when a coach/manager tells interviewers what he doesn’t like about a player and then decides to loan him. Why? You are the coach? Is it not your job to improve the players in your every day training sessions? Tell them and show them what to do so they become better? Showcase your training methods and your 1v1 talks with players that need guidance? He refuses to take the responsibility of working with a highly rated young CB and would rather move the pressure to a Championship club. “Oh, hopefully he gets to learn all the things I don’t… Read more »
Raptora ‘He refuses to take the responsibility of working with a highly rated young CB and would rather move the pressure to a Championship club. “Oh, hopefully he gets to learn all the things I don’t like about him there. If he doesn’t oh well, we just gonna loan him again”. It’s such a bs I must say. Instead of being a dream come true to have such a talented player at your disposal, and making sure he progresses under your guidance and you get to shape the player you want to play for your team in the next 10… Read more »
Guendouzi showed in many games his leadership qualities, he lead the team and earned us points when the other players were hiding. Is this not the winner’s mentality Arteta and Edu want to form? Teenager coming abroad and being a shining light in us barely missing UCL football? He played in 48 games for us at age of 19. Integral part of our team. Our most exciting CM since Wilshere. But gets exiled. Arteta played some boring ass football always picking the safe pass in his career. I hope he shows at least a bit of love towards attacking football.… Read more »
Guendouzi showed in many games his leadership qualities, he lead the team and earned us points when the other players were hiding. Is this not the winner’s mentality Arteta and Edu want to form? Teenager coming abroad and being a shining light in us barely missing UCL football? He played in 48 games for us at age of 19. Integral part of our team. Our most exciting CM since Wilshere. But gets exiled. I don’t remember it quite like that. A young, admittedly energetic, young player who ran around a lot with little positional sense, who lost the ball regularly,… Read more »
raptora
What are you talking about?
Guendouzi showed no leadership qualities whatsoever when he played for us.
He ran around the pitch like a headless chicken expending a lot of energy, but as games progressed he ran out of puff and seldom lasted a game.
Also he was far too easily dispossessed and more often than not landed up on the ground.
You can rattle off all the stats on Xhaka you like but I for one can not erase from my memory his constant turning his back on shots resulting in goals. The Saliba affair has been mismanaged from the start. The lad’s confidence must be shot through by now, going from the French top flight to a Championship club. One could be forgiven for thinking he was not wanted by the current regime if he is behind the likes of Holding, Mustafi, Chambers and Sokratis! For those saying that it is no big deal being loaned out again, can I… Read more »
Emirates
Guendouzi was allowed to run around like a headless chicken for over 70 games! Yet Saliba does not even get off the starting blocks!
Agree there, Arteta obviously has his favourites, he plays them no matter what!
Unfortunately that comes at the expense of other players playing time.
Something he picked from AW I guess
mismanagement of our young assets, would plummet their market value, that’s for sure !