2021. A NEW CHAPTER IF ARSENAL ACCEPT LESSONS OF 2020

by .

Welcome to 2021 my darlings! I hope you had a lot of fun and didn’t sleep through it like I did. Fuck 2020.

Onto better things, I hope.

So, what have we to talk about today?

Saed Kolasinac has left the building. He’s taken a loan move to Schalke. He’ll still earn pretty decent money, but nowhere near what he’s picking up with us. Most importantly, he’s gauranteed game time, and a promotion to club captain. Really, he should have left in the summer and taken the move to Leverkusen, but here we are, now he’s in a relegation battle. The thing to note here… when you are in your mid-twenties, it’s hard to ignore that your job is football and if you want the full 10 years as a player, you have to actually earn minutes on the pitch.

There’s a story doing the rounds from Liam Brady where he basically says, ‘Mesut needs to go, it’s not good, Mikel is right to bin him.’ That’s what you’ll hear from people that work at the club. ‘If only the fans knew.’ Now, you can say, ‘well Bernd Leno said a nice thing’, or, you could look at the facts.

Arsene Wenger let him have away days off. Aaron Ramsey said he was teachers pet who sought special privileges like days off, that he was given. That was on Arsenal.com.

Unai Emery bombed him out of the first team very quickly, things went downhill for the Spaniard, then he brought him back in, soiling his standing as a leader in the process.

Freddie Ljungberg dropped him. He was also pissed at the coat throwing incident after he subbed him.

Mikel Arteta gave him, what, 13 games in a row? Then summer came. The usual shennanigans flared up, now he doesn’t have a squad number.

This isn’t a hard puzzle to solve. Someone said to me on the Twitter.com ‘it’s one side of the story.’ No, there’s 4 sides there, 5 if you include Ramsey, 6 if you include the German national team. Then there’s the playing side of this, if you really loved football, why wouldn’t you want to play? Take your game to another club and prove that we’re bastards. He doesn’t do that because he’s more interested in the petty fight at Arsenal than the football.

People ask why Arsenal don’t flay him in public. Outside being unprofessional, I’d heard rumblings that the club has to be very careful around him because he’s basically a bit of an HR redflag. Employment laws count when you’re a footballer and this whole episode has the potential to be a bit of a flashpoint if handled badly. Anyway, we only have 5 more months of this, then we can move on.

On the exit side of things, there are probably two big focuses, with two minors. The two big players we need to find homes for are Sokraits, who is attracting interest from Fenerbache, and Mustafi, who I refuse to beleive can’t find a loan move this window. Both are solid. Both would do a job for a club over 6 months. Both need to raise their profiles because they aren’t raking in retirement money on their current deals.

I suspect there might be loan moves for some of the kids as well. Joe Willock should really find a club to go to. He has talent, no doubt, but he’s not found consistency or a real role in this squad. Reiss Nelson managed to dodge a loan in Jan and the summer. He needs to go to a club like Crystal Palace or Leeds and find his game. I really like his mindset, but at the moment, he’s not confident enough to hit the ground running.

William Saliba needs to find a place to go. This one really gets me. He’s 19 years old, he played against big teams, he’s looked the part, but Arteta doesn’t rate him. He should have played Europa and the Cup games. Mikel really lacks PR chops, he sees his job alone, without realising there’s a bigger eco-system you have to think about when you are at a big club. Let the fans see he’s not good enough in these games. Right now, we’re just remembering comp videos. The situation was poorly managed, now we need to make it right. Move him to a Premier League club or one in the Championship. We need him playing at a furious tempo, we need him to pick up UK power muscles. His value needs to rise, not plummet. Hopefully, there’s a plan.

If we move out that level of wages, then it’s time to look at incoming players. Areas that are absolute musts are #8s with power and dynamic passing, a back-up keeper, and probably a left-back if we want to preserve our new front 4. There’s talk of a right-sided centre back right now, but that feels like a move you make in the summer after you’ve exhausted all the options you currently have.

Clubs I would avoid buying from: Chelsea Alumni, Sevilla, China, Kia.com, Barca Loans Department, Keeping Coach Black Book.

Places that might be interesting. PSG has a lot of attacking options and Arteta is friendly with Pochettino. Real Madrid, Atleti, and Barca first team are all gagging for cash after a terrible year. The Championship often has untapped value. I would also suspect there might be some opportunties to bring in some experienced heads the might already be in the league. We’re not a threat to anyone in H2 of the league next year, maybe the sympathy vote helps us out?

There are also some resolutions the club should be sticking to this year:

  1. No more big deals to older players. Lacazette has found his mojo, he’s talking about how the new system works for him, he sounds… happy. Don’t fall for it. He has to go if he starts playing well. We made too many emotional decisions in the summer. 3 months of form cannot cloud out 18 months of nothingness. We must, must, must make the tough decisions this year, even if fans hate them.
  2. Set the profile of player we want. We aren’t top 4 contenders. We need to stop buying finished articles that aren’t of the level. Time for Arteta to become a coach, which means it’s time for us to age down the profile and start hunting for the next big thing.
  3. Work out the strategy. It’s clear there isn’t one. Vinai might be able to tell you what he ‘thinks’ strategy is, but I suspect his strategy is an objective: make top 4. We need to nail down a plan that is clear, concise, and actionable. Then we need to filter every decision through that strategy. PROJECT YOUTH ++ as a line tells you how you need to plan. It gives you rules to follow. It tells you how to staff, scout, and recruit. It sets the tone with fans that have high expectations. We don’t have a pithy name or a coherrant vision, so it’s hard to tell if we’re failing until you’re sitting 13th in the league Jan 1.
  4. Become disciplined. It’s all fancy and cute to have principles and rules, but no good if you don’t follow them. As a club, we lack discipline. A basic example of this: ‘We will sell players with 2 years or less on their deals.’ Errrr, how did that work out? We’ve either let players run down their deals and panic re-signed them (Auba/Ozil) or we’ve just let them walk (Ramsey/Welbz). If you set rules, you have to hold yourself to them, otherwise you make shitty decisions. We should also be looking at mistakes we’ve made so far to set new rules. No more longterm deals for over 30s, ever. It worked for Wenger when he started, it should work for Arsenal now. We cannot afford to be a retirement fund for players that don’t need to care.
  5. Don’t waste a crisis. The biggest mistake you can make when you’ve gone through a horrible patch is to assume that moment was a blip. A great leader looks at the mess, why it happened, and plans out a way to rectify it. Topline: Making Arteta manager was a poor move. Letting the keeping coach dictate transfer strategy was costly process. Giving deals to over 30s was bad. Each of these problems should be listed on a wall, categorised, and the root problem identified. From there, someone should be engineering solves, even if they are extremely painful to implement. 80% of our problems can probably attributed to 3 or 4 clear issues. We need to find those.

2020 was a year to forget, but at the same time, it was 1000 potential lessons learned in a very small space of time. That’s the key though… it’s only a lesson if you have the guts to learn from it. Otherwise, it’s just 1000 problems you ignored. My worry at Arsenal is we’re a club built on self-preservation. The easiest route is always the most likely. Does Vinai have the guts to make the necessary moves to ensure we’re not bemoaning a second coming of this? Or is he just praying Arteta can be the rockstar he thought the footballing gods bestowed on him? 2021 is about addressing the problems against a clear football strategy.

This is a chance for a new chapter. We’ve tasted rock bottom. Let’s never go back.

183 Comments
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Goobergooner

We just need an Arsenal biased ref at the top 😂😂

That’s what will bring us back to ‘glory’.

Or we could just get our house in order and beat the league and the refs at the same time for the real glory via arsenal values!

Goobergooner

It hasn’t been subtle for decades haha. We all remember that fateful day the invicibles streak ended.

Utter BS I tells you!!!

Bojangles

“Pierre
Sagg is right, Arsenal should be competing for the title.”

Why SHOULD Arsenal be competing for the title? You make it sound as though we have a devine right to do so.

David Smith

Mike Riley wouldn’t let an Arsenal biased ref near the Norwich under 6 league

SAGG

Bojangles It is not about winning the title. It is how Arsenal has been making lower standards every season. So now we are talking about “End the season in the first half of the table” and branding it as a great success if we qualify to EL Then what was the point of sacking Wenger. If I remember well we were tired of repetitivr Top 4 mediocrity. We as fans are to blame, Wenger needed to go sooner but he wasnt the real problem, that tag goes to the Kroenke so now we have been brainwashed that we are in… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

PEDRO I agree with a lot that you have posted. Clear out Kolasinac, Sokratis and Mustafi would save us over £300K pw for rest of season. Arsenal should also loan out Saliba and a couple of our home grown talent to gain experience elsewhere and prove whether they have future at club. You are correct about Ozil. This has become a political dogfight with the player and his agent making as much mischief as they can deliver. At end of season he will be shifted out. Sadly the story will not be over because I am sure Ozil will sell… Read more »

Aussie+Gooner

The bad PR is of Arteta’s making. Even the best PR team in the world would be hard pressed to put a positive spin of some of his decision making. Let’s not pretend it is just an administrative faux pas – he has earned the wrath fair and square! Let our New Years resolution be to not make the same mistakes we did last year by hanging on to dud players, obtaining useless semi-retired new players, constantly picking underperforming players, playing people out of position and discarding young talent. More of the same will see us hanging around the bottom… Read more »

izzo

SAGG and Aussie

100% agreed. We never learn. It’s really depressing being a fan and seeing the support for mediocrity and enabling failure to carry on. Until we become ruthless and set high sporting standards throughout the club we will never progress.

I’m at the point I completely believe we need a change in ownership to achieve that. I’m really sick and tired of the club going backwards. Something as to give someday.

Goobergooner

Bojangles,

It’s not the Devine right, it’s the fact we are the 11th richest club in the world yet spend nearly half a billion absolutely disgustingly poorly over the last 5 odd seasons with a decline in squad strength.

We should be doing better than 13th. And we shouldn’t have players on mega contracts who do shit all to deserve it.

How are Leicester doing better than us on a fraction of a budget?

Bojangles

Goober

Whether we are the 11th richest or the 111th richest club in the world does not dictate a right to anything. You are talking about fan expectations, which is a totally different thing. Especially Arsenal fans. We certainly feel we are entitled to more than we get, this is especially so because of what Wenger brought us. It reached the stage than finishing fourth in the league was below us.

Why shouldn’t Leicester be doing better than us? Is it written in the stars that “lower” clubs should never out perform Arsenal?

Sid

Leicester signs Ndidi and Ngolo, Arsenal sign Partey and the fans think its great business.

Arsenal Sign Socratis and loan Mavro, extend luiz, Waste Salibas career while Leicester sign Soyuncu, Fofana and make money selling Maguire

As soon as Leicester’s title winning manager underperforms its adios, meanwhile at Arsenal diet Pep gets deep tissue massage coupons for position 13.

Moray

Bojangles, it’s in the heart of every football fan that they should be winning every tournament they enter (even Spuds fans). We all feel entitled. Certainly since the Premiership came about and flooded the British game with money, you can follow the money through the title and cup winners. There is a strong correlation between wealth and success. Our issue is that we overachieved in the early days of Wenger and that put us in the top 10 earning clubs. Now we still have tremendous support and resources (though subject to more conditions than a Chelsea, say) but we have… Read more »

Moray

The January transfer window: Brexit changes, South American focus and ‘gambles’
https://theathletic.com/2294752/2021/01/01/january-transfer-premier-league/?source=user_shared_article

Some interesting views on opportunities and challenges for transfers now that brexit has completed. Looks
Like S America could be opened up for hiring youngsters.

Goobergooner

Bo, I agree mate we don’t have a right to win anything, that isn’t the point I was making above. The thing for me though is that we lost the arsenal values at some point and all logical decision making has gone out the door. The last few seasons we haven’t had a semblance of proper connection to the fans. We have overpaid for over rated and over the hill players. We have no real structure behind the scenes and we have no clear direction on the pitch. Why I bring up the ‘values’ is that we have spent ridiculous… Read more »

Kenyangunner

Hairstyles? Remember Ruud Gullit? So dangerous in the air and he wore long deadlocks

Useroz

Trust we all had enjoyed the New Year day… It’s not 1920, Pedro. FA Cup counts for much less in2020, unfortunately. Some feel good factors and thats all. No way a measure of and attesting to Arteta’s coaching prowness! As an analogy, Aptera (and Arsenal) are in the ICU and nowhere near fit and health. Too many symptoms and underlying issues to address and attend to. May need further and multiple surgeries. The 2 wins are no more than having better readings on vitals during a day…. Talking about potential and flops etc, Arteta and Edu are both well in… Read more »

Habesha Gooner

Our young players are not the problem. We shouldn’t even be thinking about selling any of them. For example out all of our young players I rate Nketiah the least. Its because he is a poacher right now and doesn’t provide much. If you are that kind of player you have to be really good at scoring like Aubameyang (though not this season). But I still want to see if his game can develop at a loan club. What we need to stop doing is giving 29+ age players long contracts on massive wages. If other teams can afford the… Read more »

Useroz

Missing out on Szobo was criminal given our state of finance. This alone shows poor judgment and decision making by both Edu and Arteta … Watched some YT highlights of attacking mids lbeing linked. All I’d say is, if you aren’t excited watching their ‘best moments ‘, how good are they really? Could be wrong of course but I am not a pro scout. For examples, Brandt feels bland, Isco and Erikson smell exactly like William and Ceballos, Buendia may be closest and better than wot we got. But lacking a wow factor like, well, Szabo! If he costs under… Read more »

Habesha Gooner

https://the72.co.uk/212185/arsenal-at-an-impasse-as-major-update-reveals-stance-on-25m-norwich-city-man-leeds-united-handed-potential-boost/

https://thisisfutbol.com/2021/01/blogs/premier-league/arsenal-charles-watts-doesnt-believe-gunners-will-go-after-houssem-aouar-this-window/

Well this is a bummer. If we arent going for either buendia or Aouar then I expect it will be an Isco or Eriksen type player. Not a huge fan of making a move for brandt either. He is very good but not suited to the premier league.

Moray

Habesha, actually what we pay at all levels is important. I remember when we signed Ramsey, we outbid Man Utd on wages and offered 55k per week or so. The result was, when Rambo hit 28 years old, we couldn’t afford to keep hold of him, and his salary was too out of whack to sell him. In the end he went on a free for an inflated wage (Juve learned the hard way that current salary is not an indicator of ability). I don’t want to get into the Runarsson salary debate, but you absolutely know we are overpaying… Read more »

S Asoa

AFC hasa very rigorous Omerta in the dressing room. But considering the stupidly astounding decision Arteta makes , time the going ons should be investigated. Saliba would have complicated Gabriel who is a good header whereas Saliba is a very good passer. ANM is much better than Xakha and Elmeny.
Guendouzi was good but a headless chicken . Reiss is virtually forced against Arteta judgement into the team because of circumstances . Balogun apparently praised Ozil, like ANM did too. Arteta behaviour is of a power drunk mother throwing her children out into bad streets at night.
ArtetaOut

Moray

Unless we can sell this Jan, which is unlikely, we’re not buying shit.

We’re still paying for Pepe, who is awful, and we went the most expensive route to solve our DM problem, for a guy who played 2-3 games before getting injured.

They took us to just above the relegation zone.

I wouldn’t let these clowns order for me in McDonalds never mind open the cheque book in Jan.

The Bard

The real issue at Arsenal is the culture. If the dynamics at a club are dysfunctional it doesn’t matter who you get in. The Ozil situation is a symptom of that.

The issue with the youngsters is largely psychological. They all have ability otherwise they wouldn’t be in the frame. Its really a case of whether they are mentally strong enough to make that step up. Football and psychology are still in the dark ages.

Happy new year to all

S Asoa

Saliba would have complimented Gabriel…

Sorry

Sean Mukiza

Vinai out. Peter Wood in?? I see more direction in your blog posts than from anything Venkatesham has ever said. Man needs to go back to negotiating sponsorship and promoting the Arsenal brand.

Sean Mukiza

Reality is. Arteta got way too big for his boots. You lot were all stroking his ego with those GeNeRaTiONal CoAcH & ‘the next pep’ comments.

Tee

“Missing out on Szobo was criminal given our state of finance. This alone shows poor judgment and decision making by both Edu and Arteta …” Hope you know he went to a sister club? ” We’re still paying for Pepe, who is awful, and we went the most expensive route to solve our DM problem, for a guy who played 2-3 games before getting injured.” Did you envisaged party getting injured after 2-3 games when we bought him? The answer is NO. So, no need beating edu on such business. He isn’t injury prone and as such shouldn’t be among… Read more »

Tee

“Reality is. Arteta got way too big for his boots. You lot were all stroking his ego with those GeNeRaTiONal CoAcH & ‘the next pep’ comments.”

I never new that Arteta reads le-grove comment section because I don’t know how the comment section here stroke or strike Arteta’s ego

shaun

Reality is Arteta has never been a manager until now and only dreamers and people with zero knowledge of football would have appointed him , from what we have seen so far he is extremely inexperienced he is also tactically inept and his player management is awful . We have also heard players have called him out on his preferential treatment of certain players .two wins changes nothing for me , he has to go …..he will flog the youngsters to death as they are producing for him .he really is a piece of work “the medical staff say he… Read more »

TR7

I am amazed how United get soft penalties every week, yesterday the referee didn’t even use the VAR and still there is no furore from rival clubs, the media and so called football pundits. United are in a false position in the league thanks to absolutely biased and shambolic referring.

Emiratesstroller

Moray

The priority is to offload dross this January.

If we recruit at all it should be a second string goalkeeper and a creative midfielder. I would
recruit at moment only on short term basis until summer.

Third I think that you will find that recruiting players from South America is likely to be problematic, because a lot of these players are on third party contracts which is illegal in
England. The best players are often on these contracts.

Nelson

Useroz

I watched Dominik Szoboszlai played a complete game. His style is similar to Kai Havertz but his technique is less refined. Just like Kai, he may not be as effective playing against EPL’s fast and physical defenders. Of course he is only 20 years old. He can still get physically stronger. He has already the height (1,86 m).

Chelsea fans already regret not signing Jack Grealish instead.

DivineSherlock

To get Arsenal back on top needs smart recruitment . Smart Recruitment comes from leaders who have specific vision or plan . We dont have anyone remotely capable of that at the club. If Edu is the man , I havent seen him outlining his vision or something that is remotely closed to the plan. If its Arteta than we are again going down the same route as Wenger where the manager has all the power .

Bojangles

Moray

Sorry but I disagree. All fans want to win everything, true but Arsenal fans expect to win, that’s the difference.

Goober

I agree, we have squandered too much on poor options, we have been that way for a long, long time. We have had the wrong people in charge for for well over ten years. Of all the players brought in the past two seasons only 3, possibly four have any future at Arsenal, imo.

badkalu

Well, in the end, it seems Arsene Wenger, even in his last seasons, wasnt such a bad manager after all…

Pierre

I could have sworn that it was all about the training for Arteta regarding team selection.
https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2021/01/02/report-one-arsenal-player-dazzling-in-training-arteta-hasnt-used-him-since-march/

Peckobill

Reports emerging arteta willing to accept a permanent move for saliba . When are we going to rid ourselves of this toxic , egotistical joke of a “manager” . How I wait for packed emirates crowd which will then soon end this clowns reign . Arteta out already

Graham62

badkalu

Yes he was.

Peckobill

Graham
Your right he was , arteta far worse though and I think that’s the point really

Graham62

The Bard

Agree totally.

The “culture” in and around the club is appalling.

Arrogant, snobbish, complacent, lacking in a genuine hunger and desire to succeed and, significantly, set in a comfort zone.

These negative characteristics have been evident ever since we left.
Highbury.

——————————

WBA 1 Arsenal 2 or 3.

Anonymous Commentator

Just
Play
The
Kids

There is no more time for waiting, for banking on has beens, for seeing where to fit your overpaid veterans.
We are out of time for that.
Play the kids at the club, amn to azeez, play them all, they are far better than whatever Mikel thinks he has in our veterans.

Batistuta

Tr7

A bit disingenuous to say United are in a false position. They’ve been lucky with penalties more than any other thing sure but they’ve been in very good form of late and they have a very good attack and midfield options too. They’re joint top and deserve to be there so far

raptora

If L’Equipe is right, then this club is in deeper trouble than any of us could’ve imagined.

Graham62

If Arteta brings Luiz and Willian back into the fold, I won’t be a happy bunny.

Graham62

Will Mourinho park the bus against Leeds?

Surely not.

S Asoa

Anonymous

Right , play the kids, they are playing a vintage Arsenal game. Arteta was a late import from Everton and does not have the tiki taka in his DNA, in spite of the Spanish connection.
But again, West Rom tend to be physical. Bit wary of that

Graham62

Arsenal Football Club has been run along the same lines as your typical elitist and insular golf and tennis establishments scattered around the country.

Still run by a committee based mentality and still set in the dark ages.

Speaking from experience.

China1

More important than a creative midfielder is a first team quality DM or B2B partner for partey

Otherwise you end up with ESR on the bench and xhaka partnering Partey. It’s not an efficient use of money in our current circumstances

S Asoa

Artetaball is a deeply cogitated Emeryball. So long in thinking that it gets taken away in the interregnum . Leno and Saka are prime proponents of Artetaball

Chris

Mourinho has to be more adventurous against this Leeds team, who leak goals, why sit back against them when they have the attacking style to hurt you anyway, and Spurs have players who can deal serious damage to that Leeds defence.

If he sits back again he is making himself look like a one trick pony.

China1

Chris mourinho is and has always been a one trick pony. He’s not likely to change his approach now

Kris

Leeds really dominating again.
Still think Tots win this, but Bielsa proving again what you can do on a small budget.

Trask

These English refs, VAR inclusive

How dumb can they be?

Foul was clearly outside the box

Mindboggling how stupid they are

Aussie+Gooner

Brandt incoming! Just read that he shares the same agent as Mertesacker!!!

Radio Raheem

Like how Snoop has really got into Just Eat. That’s his legacy right there 😂

As for the football, Leeds frustrating again they should be at least 2 up but 2 down instead.
Guess that’s just Leeds.

Aussie+Gooner

Spuds getting all the breaks – now 3 up – game over!

I just can’t believe this saliba mess. Please can we get rid of Arteta and put in a proper manager. The guys decisions are a joke

SUGA3

Wenger has offered his help, stating that time is the best doctor. The man has no shame whatsoever.

Freddie Ljungberg

If we get rid of Kola (done) Sok (nearly done) and Mustafi (hopefully soon) why would we look at loaning out or selling Saliba? Suddenly our bloated backline would look rather thin. Hope we’re not even thinking of selling him, we manage to, for once, snag one of the hottest CB prospects in the world with competition from several other clubs, pay big money for him and then let him go without even 1 senior game because the manager is a dickhead? Not very smart is it. Both Holding and Chambers are injury prone/not good enough, Mari still hasn’t convinced… Read more »

Aussie+Gooner

Here we go again! Is Saliba really that bad that he can not get on the bench ahead of Mustafi? What the hell has happened to the lad since signing for Arsenal? No one could regress that far that fast!

“It seems Saliba is destined for a move away in January, either on a loan or permanently. PSV Eindhoven are reportedly interested, and have apparently already made an opening enquiry to Arsenal about his availability. Arteta is said to be open to the idea of Saliba departing on loan in order to get some regular minutes under his belt.”

Peckobill

Aussie
What happened to saliba you ask ?
Arteta happened that’s what , try and think of a single player that’s improved under him because I can’t think of any .
Please no one come out with Saka , his numbers were better under Emery

Graham62

Peckobill

No doubt the Arteta lovers will be drooling if( when)we win a third in a row.

Not me.

Graham62

Wenger coming back to the club would be the biggest mistake the club could make.

Graham62

What happened to Saliba?

Answers on a postcard please.

Wilko

Graham
But As an arsenal fan won’t you be happy if we win 3 in a row?

Graham62

Harping back to the Spuds penalty, the contact was outside.

They draw all these frigging lines to decide an offside decision but can’t make a clear decision on something that is so obvious.

Very Annoying Replay continues to confuse.

Sid

‘I never new that Arteta reads le-grove comment section because I don’t know how the comment section here stroke or strike Arteta’s ego’

He does read legrove disguised as Superob

Peckobill

Graham
Sad times for us arsenal fans , I honestly worry how low things will get and how many valuable assets we’ll have left by the time we pull the trigger on the dunce . He’s a very bad fit for arsenal

David Smith

Would they really take Wenger back as manager?
Could half see Stan panicking and putting weng back at the club somewhere upstairs, but as manager?

Graham62

Wilko

Yes I would.

Only papering over the cracks though.

What’s your take on things.

HNY by the way.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

What’s the story with saliba…
Now he wants permanent out…

Would really like to know the truth of the club fucking it up or the player being shite ?

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

G62

I’m with you
He was the big hope … In friendly against the done then not seen again…

There’s more to this than the covid virus

SpanishDave

Report about that Arteta is hoping to give Holding an improved contract.
Ffs!!!!
We shouldn’t let Arteta make any decisions until the club sort themselves out.

Nelson

Whoever signed Runar Alex Runarsson for a contract until Jun 30, 2024 with a weekly wages £40,000 should be fired. Now we have to sign another backup GK.

Wilko

Hi Graham
Think we’re not as bad as is painted and don’t think we’re as good as some think we should be but somewhere in the middle. Knew we were in a terrible run of form but was never convinced that was a justified position.

Thought saliba would have started games before Gabriel to be honest. Something has happened with him that we don’t know but has obviously had a massive impact on him. All we’re doing is speculate without all the info.

Bojangles

The Poch is manager of PSG until June 2022, if he lasts that long.

GunnerWomble

Qute right Nelson. If we are ever going to get out of the mess we are in now the back room operation has to be top class as well as the coaching. Signings of Willian & Runarsson are clear proof of incompetence and whoever was responsible should be sacked.

Aussie+Gooner

Yes sign up Holding on a 4 year contract extension at 140,00 pw but let Saliba slide out the back door and hope that no one notices!

Tom

Zaha not using his forehead to head the ball from a Crystal Palace free kick.
Someone should teach that boy the proper heading technique.
He mustn’t have played a lot.

Habesha Gooner

Arteta is horrible at spotting talent. I am all tor Holding staying but no way he will be enough to be a starter at a top team. We already know that. Now I don’t know for sure if Saliba is the answer but giving him no chances is stupid. If Saliba isn’t given one chance before moving permanently, he deserves 5o be sacked. We signed him for 30 mil at 18 years of age for a reason. I don’t mind if he goes on loan with an idea to get him ready for next season. But moving him on before… Read more »

Mark

Reading that Saliba is open to a permanent move away!!! Just beggars belief., Watch if he goes elsewhere and see him blow up. He’s better than Mustafi now ( including any rawness) so the reasons not to play him at all are Shite and all on Arteta.

Such poor management skills and shit in his eyes for talent. Xhaka, mustafi, Kola all Shit, yet rated by Arteta. If Saliba goes permanently we need to get some banners drawn up Arteta Out Now! Unforgivable.

Tenerife+Gooner

Great sub Arteta.The Game was getting shitty. AMN.