A GAME OF ROTATION + BAD EGGS MOVING ON

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WOW, I leave you for a day and everything goes crazy.

Arsenal borrowed £120m for a special covid loan to tide them over until the TV money drops. It’s not a shock. We built our future on having fans in the stadium. There are no fans in the stadium. £93m down the drain with many huge outlays.

This money is for cashflow. It’s not there so we can put in a cheeky January bid in for Haaland. What it does remind you is that we’re really not in great shape as a club. Kind of maddening that we dropped such huge wages on certain names if this was what was going to happen… but here we are. Also odd that KSE doesn’t put the cash up. Tells you all you need to know about the idea they’d bail the squad out this summer.

So, as I said in my last post. The priority is going to be clearing people off the wage bill this month.

We moved on Saliba to Nice. He had a mixed bag first game, not surprising considering how little football he’s played, let’s see where he is after 10 games. Because the French media can’t stop crying over this whole debacle, we keep getting drips of information. This is from the player himself.

“I couldn’t train outside, couldn’t play. I arrived there as they were finishing the league season, so I was training alone.

“As soon as they came back from holidays, we quickly had the first friendly matches where I lacked rhythm and was a bit insufficient physically.

“The coach immediately told me that I was not ready. I would have at least liked to have a chance to rediscover my rhythm, but this is football, it’s like that.”

Errr… didn’t the French media run stories that he was totally kept in the dark? They did. Arteta gave more weight to the reasons and they’re basically the same as they were before: At 19, he’s not ready…

“I’ve always been very conscious that when he came back [to London] he hadn’t done the step he needed to do before joining us.

“I want to protect the player that we signed and the future that we have alongside him.

“That’s why we made that decision. I know sometimes it’s difficult to explain or understand after the money the club has spent trying to bring him in only to send him on loan, but a lot of things have happened to him.”

This is logical. What is tough to digest is that Arteta played Runarson in the League Cup knowing he was shite. It’s also hard to piece together the Europa League omission. If you’re good enough for the Nice first team, you are good enough to play against Dundalk. That was the baffling bit and it looked vindictive. The club shouldn’t have allowed Arteta to do that, especially as he kept people like Mustafi in that squad, a player we all knew was leaving.

Talking of vindictive. Mesut Ozil looks ever more likely to move to Fenerbache for the rest of the season. Quite unbelievable listening to his adult fanboys defend something the have ZERO insight into.

If you want a little insight into what people behind the scenes tell you about the player, go to 1.45 on this Keown interview. These are the things that bothered Arsenal. The injuries, the illnesses, a whole manner of things that said he didn’t really give a fuck. That was Keown speaking at the end of the Wenger reign, did it get better? No. Emery dropped him, Freddie dropped him, Arteta binned him for good. If you need to find a conspiracy with evidence like that, you have deep problems. Weird that there’s literally a Qanon like group that follow some of our players.

If the player is moving now, it’s because it suits him, and I’ll make a £10 bet with you… he’s not going to lose a penny from his final 5 months. Let’s also see where he goes next, his fans are hoping it’s an elite club, myself suspicion is the clubs he’s being linked to are the level he’ll find. A real shame for someone of his age and talent.

Anyway, we move, it’s 2021, I have no time for toxicity.

The Arteta presser was a whole different mood. He seemed upbeat, positive about how the form had changed, and happy that things are moving in the transfer market.

He’ll be taking the game against Newcastle seriously this weekend. The FA Cup is a backdoor into Europe. One that we’ll likely need if our inconsistency continues this season. I’d also be looking at this game as a good way to bring players back into full fitness.

As I correctly reported, Thomas Partey should be available. I hope they put sensors on that knee and massage it with horse placenta. We need it strong for the remainder.

I haven’t checked, but I’d assume we’ll have Gabriel (defender) back in the mixer again. It looks like we’re starting to get some choice back in the team. I think Pablo Mari has done an excellent job. They like him at Arsenal because he’s a hugely positive influence behind the scenes. It’s a minor thing, but our squad has quite a few Debbie downers, positivity helps, especially when you’re looking to bring kids through.

Will we see some game time given to Pepe, Willian or Luiz? Maybe. They’ve all been showed up by the Hale-Enders. Our run over the next couple of weeks isn’t shocking. We have 4 days recovery after the FA Cup game before we play Palace. Then it’s 3 days until we welcome Newcastle again.

There will have to be rotation. I’d prefer it to happen in the FA Cup. Newcastle will have one thing on their mind this season: Survival. They aren’t going to win a cup this season. They might stay up. They have a HUGE 6 pointer against Sheffield United on Tuesday at their gaff, so I expect efforts and minds to be there.

3 games has changed the mood around the club, the players, and the manager. That could all change over the next 10 days. If Arteta slips back into old habits again, we could find ourselves in trouble again. These next three fixtures are all about momentum. Arguably, the two most important games of the season are at the end of the month. Southampton is gunning for the top 4 and United, as it stands, are title contenders. Bring home 4 points there and we will be right where we needed to be heading into February. The run-in becomes a cup run. This team is built for that.

However, 4 points against United and Southampton will mean fuck all if we botch the next three games. Arteta needs to show us he can defy our low expectations. He’s had his shocking run. We can brush it off as a horrible blip. What he needs to do now is show he can take this squad to greater heights using the ingredients that helped him escape his nightmare.

Let’s see what he has.

964 Responses to “A GAME OF ROTATION + BAD EGGS MOVING ON”

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  33. S Asoa

    ESR ArtetaOut reluctant debutantes scores. The boy was a bit tensed considering how Dracula ignored him after red card escape

  55. Useroz

    Knew earlier we needed laca to make esr and saka play optimal

    Now these trio ought to be the starting 11, lethal hit team with martinelli and Tierney on the left

    Whats left for auba, William and pepe???

  71. Sid

    Can I plant peas and reap rice
    Can I plant cocoa and reap yam
    Can I plant turnip and reap tomato
    Can I plant breadfruit and reap potato

  98. Nelson

    Our offense looks much more complete with Laca than Auba. Auba doesn’t fight for the ball. Laca can link up play.

  108. Useroz

    Pepe wasnt isolated cmon. Pepe ran into players, couldn’t find the ball under his feet, sloppy passes etc. Can’t just blame others though William didn’t help as a player

  109. Chris

    Xhaka was very good when he came on, unfortunately Willock didn’t grab his big chance with both handsthis evening which is a shame.

    Tierney outstanding again, running out of superlatives for him.

    A brilliantly taken goal by ESR and a very well worked second once we got the ball back.

    Credit to Leno for keeping us in the game at the end of normal time, he’s not too bad eh?

  111. Gunnernet

    Great win, typical cup game. Newcastle showed resilience. Great to see ESR score. The least he deserves. Not sure how long Arteta persists with Willian.

  116. TR7

    Serge

    I think Arteta doesn’t like players who speak up their mind and are outspoken. AMN should force for a move away, must be painful to see a much inferior player in Willock to get more game time.

  120. InsideRight

    We won ugly, but we won.

    It’s becoming clear where the talent and delivery exists in the squad, and it’s not among the big earners. Those who are not producing have to be replaced. No ifs, buts or maybes. The lads with talent, determination and a work ethic need more players around them with the same attributes.

    Time for the show ponies to be shown the door.

  125. Sly

    Useroz
    Who did he have to combine with?
    You just mentioned a trio of saka laca and esr
    For Pepe? No one, take on 3-4 players alone constantly then move centrally
    How many chances did he create single handedly?
    At least 2, one for Nelson and willock. Both fluffed
    At least offer a fair analysis

  126. Dolomite

    Arteta still doesn’t know the teams main synergy as Useroz pointed out – you need a player like Lacazette to bring out the best in ESR Saka and Tierney

    Playing Willian, Pepe and Willock defeats the object and will cost us games.

    Credit to the unfairly maligned Xhaka who brought stability and forward passes to the midfield unlike Mr Square ElNeny…all energy no end product

  127. S Asoa

    Also looks like it is helping that players are ignoring the background noise and playing without handbrake on.
    So many reasons ethe Fraud Arteta should have been removed

  128. Gunnernet

    All 4 changes had a strong impact today. Problem is we are too much reliable on so few players we will become highly predictable at some point. Rotation doesn’t work.

  129. Samesong

    Very happy ESR has come good he got a lot of shit in here from the doom mongers since his debut

    Your making shit up. Nearly everyone here rates ESR. It’s the manager people have issues with.

  139. Dolomite

    Surely that’s down to the manager to optimise his skill set not force a round peg into a square hole.

    Every Arsenal fan knows Xhaka isn’t built for tackling but a decent range of forward passing

  141. Dolomite

    That’s correct Bob N16

    Arteta still making bad selection calls and a major reason why we struggled

    Midwest – choose one lol

  147. Nelson

    Xhaka is OK against weak team playing defensive football. Against strong team, he is too slow to defend and attack. They won’t give him so much time.

  149. Foxy

    Arteta should have learnt a lot tonight

    Willock and Nelson are not first team quality
    Willian needs to go to the MSL.
    Mari is proving to be a very good buy
    ESR is now a definite starter.
    We need back up left back
    Luiz can still do a good job as back up CB