Well, you know it’s a sign of the non-banter era when the biggest international break debate is whether or not there’s a conspiracy against William Saliba because the club wants to loan him to a Championship team.
A few things I wanted to clarify.
Talent
I think he’ll be a top player. The signing, as a standalone investment, was kind of wild, but I think his first season in Ligue 1 showed that he has the tools to make it big for us at some point.
Business
Although I think the deal was bad business, I don’t think it was failed business. This should be a good signing. My overarching point was that signing him was a little bit like spending $16k of your £18k home-improvement budget on beer cooler… before you’ve addressed the fact you don’t have a roof or running water.
Ligue 1 Quality
I 100% believe the Championship slander is off the mark. It’s a very strong league that consistently produces top, top talent. Ligue 1 is superior technically, because France, as a general rule of thumb, does its shit right. However, there’s a reason only one teenage centre back managed more than 300 minutes of football in the last 4 seasons in the Premier League… because it is far more competitive. In France, nine U20 players were given +600 minutes (thank you @GiantGooner), why? Because it doesn’t boast the same pound for pound quality as the Premier League… and I think you’d find that our top Championship clubs would battle it out in the top 8 in Ligue 1.
Generational Stuff
People keep batting around the notion of ‘generational talent’, it’s the new hot thing to talk about. However, it’s worth reading up on the early years of VVD. Things weren’t going off for him at 19 years old. He was apparently ‘overtired’ from playing a season at Willem II reserves. Even more interesting than that, and something that might be a consdieration for Saliba is this little snippet from when the player was 17 years old.
Van Dijk’s long rise began the summer he turned 17, in 2008, when he shot up 18 centimeters (7 inches) in height. Before then, Van Dijk has admitted to the BBC, he was a slow, short right-back with an unstable knee, not a player who was good enough to dominate as a central defender.
Saliba is 6ft4, has a huge frame, and he’s only 19 (debuted younger). That’s rapid growth. That sometimes comes with challenges that are best ironed out outside a top 4 challenging team in the Premier League.
Back to VVD, things eventually clicked at Groningen. He then moved to… Celtic. He left Celtic at 24 to go to Southampton. This generational talent didn’t make it to Liverpool until he was 27 years old. Why am I telling you this? Because we need to drop the idea that this loan says anything about Saliba’s future, and we need to take seriously the reality that it is VERY hard to make it as a young centre back at a big club.
MOVING ON…
The Premier League announced that we, the fans, can watch all the games this season. The games that aren’t shown on the normal channels can be purchased for £14.95. Wow, what a treat?!
This is a dreadful decision that reads like it has been made by a group of people that would be more likely to know the exact price of an AP Royal Oak, than that of a pint of milk.
The pricing structure makes so little sense on so many levels. Firstly, shouldn’t the league be looking to draw in new customers, versus hammering people you know will already pay £20 for a ticket (the captives)? The price point is so high, you immediately rule out casual fans from the party, that’s money only obsessives pay.
Also, is that sort of price point not a bit detached from humanity in an era of mass unemployment? There aren’t many places to find joy right now. Food, booze, and sport is where I get my kicks. Making football really expensive right now seems really unfair. It’s also counter-productive, because the thing with the internet, is if people think the price is too high, they simply find it for free. The music industry learned that the hard way, then Spotify reimagined its structure for the internet. I’m not sure why the Premier League thinks gouging fans is a smart move?
£5 would be fair. £7.50 would be pricey. £10 for me would be a monthly subscription. £14.95 is just a rip off… it is especially jarring when you consider clubs just dropped £1.2b on players. Between them, the couldn’t come to arrangement to calm down the pricetags and wages of players… so they just dumped the bill on the fans.
I speak out of both sides of my mouth because the reality is I love the signings and I’ll pay the price of the games… but as always, it’s a losing game to be a fan. Still, at least we can all be skint watching Thomas Partey beating the press.
Right, that’s me done, tune into our podcast if you like to hear things. Also, sign up to the newsletter by giving you e-mail to the the box on the right (desktop) or scroll to the bottom if you are on mobile.
I’ll also get you some darker font colors for the comments box.
TR7
And this isn’t even prime Rafa.
None of the new gen can live with him at RG, Djokovic was supposed to be the toughest hurdle to overcome and he’s flattening him in straight sets today. A guy that hasn’t lost all year in over 30 matches or something crazy.
Really is probable that he keeps winning RG late into his 30s. Thiem is hyped a lot but Rafa still batters him on any given day at RG.
Pedro ‘If people are buying a property in London, it’s because it’s a great place to live, ‘. That’s a little over simplistic. I’ve lived in London all my life and what has increasingly become the case is this: If you’ve got a very well paid job or a family well off enough to buy you a flat then yes, London is a great place to live. Most Londoners aren’t in that situation though, and as the city has become increasingly gentrified, even a reasonably well paid job won’t leave you much left over to go to boutique eateries in… Read more »
‘Without competition, sport isn’t sport.’
Men’s tennis has been highly competitive over the last 3 decades. Can think of at least 30 players who have been superb players in their own right.
Witsel and Meunier would be perfect for Arsenal ..
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/oct/11/arsene-wenger-arsenal-manager-football
Interview with Wenger. Great read.
When he talks, you listen.
I have a serious problem with this misleading term ‘unforced errors’ in tennis. Most of the ‘unforced’ errors are actually forced errors.
Going for dropshots versus Nadal. Sign of desperation.
LOL Djoko fired it up!
First break of the match for Djoko. Crazy.
My Father died recently.
My Sister and I have been trying
to sell his 1 bedroom leasehold flat
in Parkhurst rd for 3 months.
We have reduced the price twice.
The Corporation of London are not even buying back leasehold flats.?
There is a massive glut of property in the N7 area.New builds in Holloway rd and Caledonian
Rd as well as the Kings cross area have flooded the market.
Property is not moving as quickly as some might think.?
Why does Djoko keep on playing dropshots? They don’t work consistently vs Rafa. It’s a lost cause.
Captain,
Interview with Wenger. Great read. When he talks, you listen.
…………………
You may listen. I don’t.
Get the feeling Nadal needs to end this in three.
The Wenger interview makes one feel embarrassed to be an Arsenal supporter for the way a section of the fan base abused him.
How will history judge the entitled WOBS…not very favourably one would think.
That’s why I don’t like Djoko. Court is sliding too much, before hawk shot the refs were always wrong, shouts, breaks rackets. Negative stuff. Rafa and Roger were always classier in their behavior.
Nole obviously a great champion.
That smash from the base line was insane.
If and when Wenger steps foot in the Emirates ground to watch the team he loves, I can guarantee you that 60,000 fans will stand and applaud him all the way to his seat as a mark of gratitude for the joy he brought to millions of Arsenal fans around the world..
Arteta should invite him and welcome him back when the fans return .
Bamford’s inferiority complex to Pedro and Charlie is becoming more serious by the day.
Haven’t seen a dynamic more lopsided since the Harlem Globetrotters went undefeated against the Washington Generals for the better part of six decades.
Alex, I know man, not great. If there’s nowhere for the artists and culture makers to live, it’ll be a boring place to live.
I bought near Tower Bridge Road. It was a state, now it’s fancy as… climbing shops, bike shops selling coffee, craft beer pubs… which, I like, but it’s amazing how fast they’ve changed the area.
“I can guarantee you that 60,000 fans will stand and applaud him“
It’s the least they could do after all the signs calling for his sacking the last time he was there.
New post
Unbelievable to watch someone be this dominant on one surface for so long. Well played Rafa.
He should try to win 20 French Opens. He will probably get to 15 at the least.
Pure dominance. What a slap to the face.
Make no mistake. Roland Garros or not, today was a comparable result to Bayern M’s 8 – 2 versus Barcelona. Annihilation.
Pierre
Nonsense. He should have been dismissed years before he was, and intelligent Arsenal fans were right to want him out. He was incompetent in his final years, and he was completely contemptuous of the fans. That it got as unpleasant as it did was a function of his staying on too long and of his arrogance and obliviousness. Those who wanted Wenger to go were absolutely correct, and if he had left years earlier when he should have, things would never have gotten as unpleasant as they did.
Well done to Rafa, Djoker couldn’t live with him today.
Imagine telling anyone in 2016 that Nadal would go on to win 6 more GS titles and be competitive again at all 4 majors.
Was always inevitable that he would catch Fed’s 20, is whether or not Djokovic can win finish with more than him now. Probably 50-50 chance now, that was huge today.
The African continent has debunked covid19, time to move on, its a flu pandemic
Thanks Sid.
I will tell the widow of my friend who died in May of Covid and his two kids so they know it’s not serious .