NORMAL FOOTBALL RETURNS.
Yas qweeeeeen.
Some extraordinary stuff going on in the world of Arsenal yesterday.
Firstly, Don Ornstein, the man that made contacts journalism a thing, was called out by Dani Ceballos as fake news. We spoke about it on the podcast, the feeling is that 2020 has been rough enough and I refuse to accept that David Ornstein is in the wrong here.
The story centres on Dani and Luiz having a bit of a ruck at the training ground.
‘FAKE’ yelled Donald Ceballos.
I suspect it’s probably the details that bother Dani. Being smacked on the nose by an older boy probably isn’t a good look in a dressing room of alphas. It’s quite interesting what a little shit Dani is. Starting a ruck with Eddie and now the banter king of the dressing room? Man needs to get himself into shape.
I will say though… I quite like it. We’ve never really been a John Hartson vs Eyal Berkovic kind of club. I thought Theo Walcott telling the world he liked to go to the cinema, sit in the frontrow, and make his eyes go funny was the exact sort of vibe we had in the changing rooms. Players rucking is standard fare at football clubs, if this is happening, it means there’s an edge on the training ground. I’ll take that. Smacking someone’s nose is weird though… Dave Luiz does have a thing for noses if the Arsenal IG is anything to go by.
In more continental news, Marc Ingla, mate of Don Raul over at Lille… has been ousted by Lille scouting magician Luiz Campos. Apparently, over a deal in which Luis thought Ingla put transfer bonuses over club. I mean, colour me shocked people. Nice to see grifters getting the boot all over the world in 2020.
Talking of The Athletic, they ran a glowing piece about the Kroenke’s and how totally amazing and wonderful they are. The crux of the story is that we were in for Jorginho and Auoar for reals this summer, not as backups… and we’re going to go for the Hungarian chap if things work out this January.
Great news.
If you get the structure right under the Kroenke’s, you’ll have a good run as a club. They put a lot of money on the table and they’ve not really taken much.
As I wrote at the start of last summer, we really didn’t have much in the way of cash. We still don’t. We haven’t addressed our wage bill, we’ve lost revenue from the stadium, and probably on lots of other things. The fact they’re still pumping the squad is good news. There are still questions over some of the players, but look, you can’t knock the focus on youth and you can’t deny that on paper, all of our signings this summer are top quality.
I also like how these papers keep saying Edu is a good negotiator. Like negotiating a release fee is some sort of FBI Hostage release magic. He gave Willian £250k a week for 3 years at 32. That’s getting your pants pulled down and taking a spanking with a paddle inked with ‘LOLOLOLOL.’
Arteta said in his press conference that good leadership is ‘how you navigate difficult moments.’ He is not wrong. We are in a difficult moment.
We play Leeds away at the weekend and things are looking pretty fucking rough on the injury news front. Thomas Partey is out with a thigh injury, Mo Elneny is out with Covid, and Willian might get punished for treating himself to a steak with Salt Bae.
I don’t know how we’re going to cope with the power and pace thrown at us, but injuries are part of the deal when you manage in a 2020 season. Granit Xhaka would be exposed aggressively in our midfield, but experience-wise, we’d be really lacking without him. AMN just played for England, he has the exact profile you need against a high energy team. Dani Ceballos will, without doubt, be back in the squad. Then you have to wonder what he’ll do with the attacking options. Does he take a risk on Willock without the protection of Mo and Partey?
Big questions. I’m dreading it to be honest. Still, losing 3-0 will be ok as long as Auba plays through the middle, right?
It’s going to be a tough game. Arsenal fans are expecting a wholesale change to the setup, I’m just not sure where I see that coming from at the moment.
On the pod, which I am about to tout, Dom made the point that what Leeds lack in technical ability, they make up for with a pack mentality to the football. They don’t care about pristine formations built around positional trickery. They’ll just blitz you. Arteta tends to approach these games with a purity that often ends with one of those Mike Tyson punches to the mouth. He needs to have something for tomorrow. All teams suffer against Leeds, we need to have a smart way of dealing with a side we know will come windmilling in, keys in hand.
Right, onto the podcast. I had a NEW guest on, fellow Essex boy Johnny Cochrane (@iJohnnyCochrane) who you might recognise from standup comedy or his ‘Hows Your Father Podcast’ (check it out here, lots of elite guests). We also welcomed back Dom (@dommy_daniel), who is studying to take over a football club at the moment.
We talked about the pressure Arteta is under, we discussed ways he could open the game up, and we gave a lot of time to the wonderment that is Bukayo Saka. Tune in, it’s a good one. Also, excuse the lack of music, I don’t have a laptop built in this era to mix properly.
Guns
Letting Malen and Bennacer go were blunders too.
Every club has them to be fair, just is more painful for us because we really could have done with these two lads in the current side. Chelsea didn’t miss Salah, Lukaku or KDB at the time.
WE
Agree on Cesc and pizza was terrified of him as well.
The Fabregas talk is making me want to dig out the season reviews from 2006-2008, when he had Rosicky and Hleb for company, among others. That midfield was technically supreme and I must be honest, I am craving to see us play that kind of football again.
See Balogun was sent off for U23’s.
Two yellows for punching the ball away and diving.
Marc
Back when we weren’t a complete joke to United and Fergie. As soon as we ceased being a threat, he softened towards Wenger.
If we didn’t choke the 2003 PL title him and Fergie would have been 4-4 in PL titles from 1996-2004. Pretty nuts considering United’s near monopoly on the PL in the early to late 90’s.
Hleb was brilliant, Iniesta-lite and one of the most creative players that we have ever had.
Actually always preferred him to Rosicky even though his end product wasn’t as good. Better dribbler and could always find gaps even against teams that parked the bus at the Emirates.
Having said that, I have literally never seen a talented player as averse to shooting as Hleb was.
Made Ozil look as shot greedy as Kane.
WE
If Hleb had taken one shot for every ten times he was in a good position to take one he would’ve been taking 8 or 9 shots per match.
WengerEagle
Gervinho would destroy Hleb in the lack of cutting edge competition.
His right leg didn’t know what his left leg was doing, he was so uncoordinated.
Scouting Hazard, and then signing Gervinho, after selling Cesc and Nasri, is the perfect metaphor for what happened from 2011-2020
Absolute car crash decision making
I was behind the goal when Hleb scored a quality solo goal against Blackburn, sometime in 2006-07, he passed the ball into the net almost and looked apologetic for shooting in the first place, hardly celebrated the goal!
He was so great to watch at times though, could drift past players with little effort and had a real eye for a pass.
Basically all the stuff we are lacking right now.
Who the feck is salt bae? Im lost
I remember Fergie talking glowingly about Hleb, in how he would help us control the game. The narrative for a long time was Arsene needed to add some steel, and move away from the technical no10 types. The narrative today is we lack technical No10 types We’ve gone full circle. We were close in 2007/08 and again in 2010/11, just lacked a bit of squad depth, and experience to get us over the line. After both seasons, we dismantled what we’d built, United had rebuilt with Ronaldo, Tevez, Rooney, and after that we had the emergence of City. We’re desperate… Read more »
What is the actual injury that Partey has? I was very much expecting (hoping) he would be fit for Leeds.
Matt
I’ve only seen it described as a thigh injury.
Ramsey used to be out for 3 months with a thigh injury..
Pierre
Ramsey would be out 3 months with a stubbed toe.
Wenger Eagle the fact that Wenger substituted pires and left hleb in 06 final says alot the confidence Wenger had in him
‘We were close in 2007/08 and again in 2010/11, just lacked a bit of squad depth, and experience to get us over the line.’ 2007-08 we lacked quality in a couple of really key areas in GK with Almunia being awful and Clichy at LB was also a liability. Never rated him always felt that he was an erratic mess of a defender that got by on freakish athleticism and stamina rather than any real footballing ability. Gallas and Toure were also a bad pairing as good as both were individually. Both under 6 foot, temperamental and rash defenders that… Read more »
Rich
Spot on re Gervinho over Hazard being a microcosm of the past decade as an Arsenal fan.
Gervinho was about as terrible a striker of the ball as I’ve ever seen. Welbeck, Chamakh and early Sterling up there for company.
Hleb would be pilloried on here in 2020 because his G/A aren’t anything to write home about.
Aouar was getting hit with it already.
Charlie
Na I actually think that he fared worse amongst casuals back in the day before data outside of G/A was widely available as it is now.
His Whoscored rating would have been pretty damn high with the amount of successful dribbles/key passes/through-balls he made.
WengerEagle I thought in 2010/11 our first team was excellent, we just lacked depth and a bit of tactical nous and experience, after losing to Birmingham in the final, we picked up a few injuries particularly the Van Persie one, and we fell off. In 2007/08 we were within 4 points of the title, and only conceded 31, the Eduardo injury hurt us for sure. After both seasons, we sold off the Crown Jewels, and started again. Cohesion is important, United had it with the class of 93, we had it with the famous back 5. Building a winning structure… Read more »
I hope Mikel has something planned for Sunday rather than tomorrow, like the Tyson reference – everyone has a plan until they are smacked in the mouth.
Can Arteta out think Bielsa, fingers crossed that he can.
Weagle
I’ve my doubts mate, superficial data is mans best friend. If they don’t score or assist these days you get an outpouring of criticism whether warranted or not.
As someone put it – we were a great team with great midfield to now great team with elite striker and steely back line but no midfield. If we don’t have the midfield to control the game we are dead. Like the team we face on Sunday – Leeds with be Gung Ho from the very beginning and if we don’t have the tempo to control the game we will be under pressure at every point when Leeds have the ball.
Sboz can be had for 20m sterling paid in installments. That’s not a huge amount of money – that doesn’t even get you a AMN level player who the manager doesn’t even plan to use Slobby’s manager came out just yesterday saying he’ll be off in January if anyone pays the release clause and he won’t try and talk dom out of it because he’s glad to see him get the opportunity at a bigger club There’s no guarantees any player will be a success, but he literally has every single quality we are looking for in abundance and is… Read more »
Hlebs dribbling was elite as fook, but he literally had an ozilesque phobia of shooting. He might have been best used deeper alongside a good DM as a deep lying playmaker who can easily beat the press and drive forwards, akin to cazorla. His close control and dribbling were awesome
Merson quote.
“The former Gunners playmaker says a Brazilian winger is struggling for a spark while a talismanic forward is being held back in a wide role
Article continues below
Willian is looking “lost” at Arsenal, says Paul Merson, while the struggles of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the final third are considered to be down to opponents working him out.
The Gunners thought they had pieced together a fearsome attacking unit when acquiring an experienced Brazil international from London rivals Chelsea.”
Sauce has gone rancid. Easily and obvious solutions. But Don Quixote must only see windmills to react
Gunnerram
Only thing I disagree with is steely backline.
I don’t care if we concede less. If we can’t score more we are still shit
The thing is, our top 4 rivals have way more balanced squads, and don’t have as big a teething problem as we do with a properly fresh off the bat manager. This season is still a write off for me. If we get top 6 I’ll actually be stoked. Our squad has lacked in key positions for years, and apparently the change of managers has only changed the part of the squad that needed addressing the most. I’m not a doom and gloom merchant. I just think even Wenger’s last squad had more to them than this lot. Not so… Read more »
Also fuck international football during covid. Fucking idiots at the helm. Governments aren’t allowing proper international travel, yet a fucking football association is allowed to take the absolute piss, and players are all over the place spreading this shit.
How money talks hey, disregard common sense for a fucking friendly.
Fuckkkk
Also I see that the elite sport bubbles are somewhat working. But what’s the point of meaningless games and literally spreading this shit?
I agree on international football. During a spiking pandemic, this makes little sense but the mighty $ talks the loudest.
Hleb was skinny as skeleton.
However, a great dribbler, and combined with TR and Cesc, was great.
Now we have nothing close to the sort.
Wenger wanted conductors, creators…. now we have ?
We do need 2 creative mids in Jan. I keep saying this… One is not enough…
Wenger played with 3 creative mids at all times mostly…. our most beautiful football was with 3…..
How to couple that, with the solid defensive side is the question.
again 2 creative mids in Jan please
LG and its patronizing Arsenal fans always find fault with creative players like Dani. Players who dont backpass. Players who want to win at all costs. Shame!!!
Is international football more risky than CL or Europa in terms of covid19 infection?
I’m kinda with peanuts there 😂😂😂 shows how bonkers I am
Sid, I’d say yes. For the sheer fact not as many nations are involved
Meslier looks weak for Leeds. A better GK would have saved 3 of their 4 goals conceded against Palace
Sid – yes because in CL/Europa you’re still only training, travelling and competing with your own squad. You only come into contact with another squad during the match.
Biggest problem with international football is each international squad brings players from 20 different club squads together to train, travel, eat, sleep and play together. Its madness.
Burgy,
How many shots you predict arsenal to have compared to Leeds? Away from home mind you
I do not think they eat together anymore as for sleeping together thats a personal choice.
We should check the data on rate of infection during international games vs rate of infection during CL or Europa games.
That would give us a better perspective
Agree Sid, you heard that here first
This is a super important day if spurs beat City they have to be favourites to the title. If city win this kills spurs season. A lot is riding on this match.
I have to be careful coming on here at the moment because my perceptions at what’s going on at AFC, specifically in regards to Mikel Arteta, makes it difficult for me to be able to look at things in a measured way. I’m on the edge with him at present and a loss, or even a draw, at Leeds tomorrow, would definitely tip me over the edge. Nothing to do with not having the flair or style we all desire in the team, it’s the way negative things seem to be manifesting amongst the players. Won’t give a prediction but… Read more »
London gunner on the Special Brew nice and early this morning.
London gunner
It’s impossible to predict anything at present.
How the fudge can a MC win kill Spuds season?
We’re only nine games in.
Jamie and Graham I know its early in the season but I think its games like this that win belief in a team and spur them on. This season is a real mixer with multiple teams outside the top 2 with a chance at the title. For me its about who wins the big crunch time wins against liverpool or City. Teams like spurs typically lose these games but if they can win these clinchers plus on top of this we have seen this season that spurs can shithouse a win against the rest of the league by son or… Read more »
London –
Sure, there are games and there are big games. But it’s far too early to be making predictions based on a single result this weekend.
No team has reached 20 points yet, and there are still 90 points to play for. Only Dissenter makes outrageous predictions about who will finish where this early. Don’t do it.
London gunner
Not a very convincing argument.
Either team can win but could then lose next week.
The new norm is different.
Jamie,
Diss and Bamford 😂
Covid normal hey Graham. The thing I hate hearing the most hahaha. The “new normal”.
Countries were already taking things like pollution levels and germ spreading seriously. Just because the rest of the world is catching up doesn’t mean it isn’t normal for some already haha.
The god damn west and their aura of BS
Oh well the slowest midfield v one of the fastest, I wonder what the result will be?
I sincerely hope the rumour we wish to pay Szoboszlai 23m release clause in three yearly payments is utter bullshit and we instead just pay it upfront in January.
Otherwise not only is this utterly embarrassing to us, it’s also going to make us look even more inept. As the rival clubs will just pay the fee. Also why the fuck would Salzburg be ok with that when they know he has so much interest??
There’s got to be some finance directer in place who’s been there for years, he really needs the boot.
Director*
I sincerely hope the rumour we wish to pay Szoboszlai 23m release clause in three yearly payments is utter bullshit and we instead just pay it upfront in January.
As long as we pay the first instalment in January I’ll be happy as it will mean we’ve got him.
Karsa,
Can’t they decline it if it doesn’t match they’re requirements?
Easiest and safest thing to do is just pay it all upfront.
Their*
Pedro
If we suppose, and we can suppose anything.
Suppose we lose 3-0 playing Auba through the middle , will it be ok ?
But then suppose we win 3-4 playing Auba through the middle , even this should be ok .
Likely , it could be 3-1 win with Auba in the middle which is better.
I like this suppose game
By the way Senor Valentin. Long time no see ya man
S Asoa,
Not a bad game to play.
Usually most weeks/opponents brings such deliberation.
From BBC Sport Football “Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta tells ex-Gunners defender Alex Scott that his side are ‘”a long way” from where he wants them to be, and says he wants to bridge the split between the fans and the team that he witnessed when he first arrived as manager in December 2019.” Split between the team and the fans? Really other than any fan with half a brain wanting Xhaka gone which we were finally getting the mood was not that different from now. Emery hadn’t worked out and the fans moved on. Obviously there’s an element of divide… Read more »
Marc, not sure if the divide is because the fans aren’t in the stadiums.
But it’s a random comment to come out after such a loss and some meek as fuck performances.
Goober
That’s what I meant by deflecting – the club a year ago is pretty irrelevant at the moment I’m more interested in us getting a result tomorrow.
Ahh yeah of course hahaha.
Been a long week, keep forgetting it’s the weekend already 😂 the brewskies don’t help either.
I mean it’s been an incredibly long international break that’s for sure
Is it over yet?
Graham62
Respectfully disagree I think its a great argument.
Its pivotal big crunch games that end up winning championships and not all crunch games comes at the end of season. You need big wins early on to build momentum and motivation.
sal
That’s a pretty open ended question
London
I agree the Spud’s next 3 matches are City H, Chelsea A and us H – they get 9 points out of that and their confidence is going to be sky high, they’ll likely be top of the league and then have a relatively easy tie in the League Cup Qtr Final’s.
They lose all 3 and all the talk will be same old flakey Tottenham.
They better fucking lose
Imagine Jose winning the league at the spuds. I’ll be first in line to neck myself
Marc
Let us hope the latter scenario you said is the one that pans out!
Unfortunately you look at their front 3 that has the potential to be unstoppable, together with Mourinho’s pragmatism and the reality is they have the ability to be very dangerous.
Well Merse has called it – he can see Leeds beating us so game over.
I blame Pedro.
Chris
Imagine if they win the first two? The pressure on Arteta to not lose will be huge.
Arsenal should be all in for Isco , seems like he’ll be available in January.
I dont care about Spurs but they have to lose against us. Previous match if Kolasinac had didnt screwed us , we wouldve done them .
Chavs look the business it has to be said.
Marc
I can definitely see them winning today (again, unfortunately) but I do think Chelsea will be the game in which they come away with nothing.
I think if we can win our next two it will put us in a good place for the derby. True that they may have momentum but we really ought to be winning the next two if we have pretensions about finishing top four.
Chelsea’s away kit looks like a market knock off Palace strip.
Chris
I think people are writing City off a bit too easily – they haven’t looked right this season so far but that will change – hopefully today. For the Spud’s Chelsea match I’d like carnage – I want the score line measures in broken limbs rather than goals.
Chelsea’s Werner and Abraham form an effective attacking pair.They are two run and gun type attacker similar to Auba and Pepe. I wonder whether Auba and Pepe can team up in the same way.
Marc
City will definitely be a threat in terms of the whole season, they simply have too much quality not to be, but sadly I see Spurs picking up the win for today. Argh.
Like you say I think it will be a blood and thunder match between them and Chelsea next week. Should at least be entertaining.
Kepa’s never getting another look-in again, is he? Lol.
Another clean sheet for Mendy.
Arteta talking about the training incident “Arteta described the confrontation as “nothing” and was more concerned about it becoming public knowledge. He said: “I don’t like the fact that that incident comes out at all.” The Spaniard added: “I will find out where it is coming from and if that is the case, that goes completely against what I expect from each other, the privacy and the confidentiality that we need, and there will be consequences.”” Another example of his inexperience there. By saying that in the press you keep the story alive, if you want a witch hunt to… Read more »
WengerEagle
We’d be in the same boat if the correct decision had been made.
Never mind.
Arteta should concentrate on the things that really matter.
Marc
I’m in agreement with you about Arteta’s keenness to answer some of these questions,
The Ceballos vs Luiz incident was a nothing burger, he should have just ignored it. Going on to talk about finding the leaks in the club is laughable.
Who’s he going to deploy to find the leak,? …..special branch or military intelligence?
He didn’t handle the little storm over the Willian trip to Dubai well.
He didn’t handle the little storm over the Willian trip to Dubai well.
How has he handled it?
Karsa
Said it’d be dealt with in house.
What Arteta should have said about the Ceballos – Luiz incident is something on the lines of “this type of thing happens all the time in training both players have shaken hands on it and all is forgotten. The fact you guys are talking about it shows how scarce real news is in the International window”
Dissenter
Careful – me and you agreeing on something!
To me he’s just adding pressure to himself.
Proper football must be back, we have a Spurs game getting billed as one that ‘makes them favourites for the title’ with a win, or ‘ends their season’ with a loss.
Week 9 ladies and gents, just the 29 games to go.
What a take.
Pep has shown what a quality manager he is in the way his team have recovered from the 5-2 home defeat to Leicester. 11 games unbeaten in all competitions without doing any special , 4 goals conceded shows that he tightened things up at the back and played a much more disciplined game.. His first aim was to get back into the title race or at least make sure they are not out of it. They are not firing on all cylinders that’s for sure, aguero has been a big miss plus sterling hasn’t hit form. They are in 10th… Read more »
Marc.
I agree with the Ceballos-Liz incident.
I was querying the Willian situation. All I’ve heard to date is that Arteta has talked to Willian and it’s been dealt with. That could mean anything from a slap on the wrist to a fine or other punishment.
Apparently staying safe but missing a zoom meeting is a worse offence than putting yourself at risk by travelling half way round the world to Dubai during lockdown…
Pierre
Agree Merson was talking about how they’ve conceded 9 goals already when 5 of them were against Leicester in a freak result. Funny how they don’t mention Liverpool’s 16 conceded!
What you did miss is that they have two matches in hand on Chelsea so a win today and win the game in hand and they are on the same points as Chelsea who are top right now.
Pierre
“Apparently staying safe but missing a zoom meeting is a worse offence than putting yourself at risk by travelling half way round the world to Dubai during lockdown…”
You could have made a good argument there but instead you had to defend Ozil. Both are unacceptable but Willian’s actions were certainly worse.
Yeah Pierre , because he took all precautions and his test came back negative . Whereas the other guy doesnt even bother he just says I want a sick leave for an away game.
Divine
Doesn’t matter if he tests negative – he shouldn’t have put himself in a position where he could have tested positive.
It’s bad enough the number of players missing this weekend’s fixtures because of the internationals without someone potentially exposing themselves.
I actually think Willian ‘s little trip to Dubai has done Arteta a favour, as he now has the perfect excuse to leave him out of the side without having to drop him for his poor performances ….