HOARDING YOUTH PLAYERS NEEDS TO STOP

by .

GET ON YOUR KNEES AND PRAY FOR GABI.

Now, we begin.

There’s really nothing better as a writer than the penning a boring post about how things are pretty decent. It’s a joy after 3 months of writing about how an idea you really pushed was actually pretty terrible.

This week is about three things. Moving on deadwood. Praying for Gabi’s ankle. Winning three points in a tough game against Crystal Palace this Thursday.

Players aren’t moving out the door fast enough and everyone is getting themselves into a bind. Fans tend to lean harder into believing the rumours they don’t like (stole that from Arseblog). The latest is that Arsenal are putting their foot down with regards to selling Eddie Nkeitiah to West Ham. Are you fucking kidding me? Arsenal just borrowed £120m to see them through the season. If someone offers £30m for an academy player that hasn’t been able to dislodge our strikers in the worst goal drought in a decade, I think Boris Johnson might roll down to Highbury House and call in that loan early.

There are very few players on our books that aren’t for sale at the moment. Kieran Tierney to Napoli? No chance. Eddie to replace Haller at West Ham for £30m? No way we’re not considering that sort of deal. We do not have the financial luxury to keep passing on good cash for squad players only to bench them.

I fully expect Willock, Reiss, Eddie, Mustafi, and Sokratis to be on the market this window… loan or sale. Sad reality is that Nico Pepe should also be on that list. West Ham took a £20m ‘L’ on Haller, the player wasn’t good enough, so they took what they could for an asset that was fast depreciating. We should look to do the same with Nico. It’s clear he’s not at the level. His basic technique is off, he’s too one-footed, the positions he takes up don’t help the team, and if anything… he seems to be regressing.

Also, what the fuck is going on with AMN? Arguably, he’s our best right-back, third-best deep-lying midfielder, and our back-up left-back. Why is Joe Willock landing minutes over him? I hope he’s being given the job of marking Zaha on Thursday, if not, it again starts to look like another ‘I just don’t fancy him’  issue from a coach with hard-to-comprehend player taste principles.

The biggest weak point for him is the weird relationship he has with young players. Why isn’t he coaching AMN to be better than Elneny? Why was he about to loan out ESR when he was literally the only #10 at the club? Why doesn’t he embrace young players he can coach with the same passion he embraces older bums? Painful viewing.

He’ll say that plays Gabriel and Saka. Sure, but those two were Emery’s doing. Gabriel was not part of the action at the start of last season and we wondered. The talent isn’t in giving minutes to generational talents, it’s making decent young players great ones.

If you’re going to hoard young players, you have to give them minutes. If you aren’t going to do that, sell them. We have to break the cycle, because at the moment, we’re giving minutes to players with no resale value at the expense of pumping the value of talent that could pick up £20m plus this summer. That’s dim.

Edu needs to find his cajones this summer and put an end to this sort of thing. Arteta shouldn’t have the option of clogging the path for young players. Let’s hope this window and the summer see Arsenal own up to the truth… the future is kids and there are no shortcuts to be had with bum players nearing the end of their careers.

I’ve just made myself angry after starting this post stating that writing was going to be a breezy affair this week.

Stupid football.

LISTEN TO THE ARSENAL OPINION PODCAST. Also, thanks to the sharp-eared listeners who corrected my error on Manor Solomon’s nationality.

He’s Israeli… not Brazilian… though that name easily passes the Brazilian test IMO. Could we not just pretend?

ENJOY!

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Globalgunner

Arteta is no great coach, was no great player. The idea that he is this great philosopher of the game is neutered by his dumb ass decisions in game and off the pitch. He spends all game screaming at players telling each one who to pass to. Generational coach my butt.

He couldn’t coach a Yorkshire Terrier to fetch a stick

Nketiah, AMN, Willock. Sell, sell, sell.!

Crabregas

Habesha

It’s mad that in this world we don’t ever seem to examine other clubs (at home and abroad) and follow what they are doing, or even test the water. We seem so set in our ways of messing up. It’s great that we signed Gabriel and Partey, but I think very good move we make is negatively impacted by the bad moves.

Liverpool have built there squad on quite a few people who have improved and then sprinkled them with readymade a acquisitions like VVD and Alisson.

Mark

@Zimmie If you read it you’ll notice that the Mirror article says precious little about Saliba’s individual performance. With the clickbait headline do that people will click to read. Check out some highlights of the game I’m sure there’s stuff on YouTube. Judge for yourself. But the not ready for us line was utter nonsense. He could have been eased in,look at Mari. Anyway my point in this is not to just be negative. I’m scared we are gonna lose this guy,cos of some egotistical rookie mistake. Already the rumours about extending the loan are coming out. When I mentioned… Read more »

Tom

Leeds, Jamie Ozil numbers from the 2013-14 season to the January 2018 contract extension were almost identical to those of man City’s David Silva. Ozil- 67 assists, 37 goals in 15,136 minutes Silva – 63 assists, 37 goals in 14,709 minutes Ozil was on £140kpw in that time after the original transfer fee of £42,5m in 2013. Silva was on £135kpw till 2017 when he was upped to £220kpw and his original transfer fee was reported at £30m in 2010. Considering City scored 71 goals more than Arsenal in that period of time, which means Ozil had larger % of… Read more »

Freddie Ljungberg

Gotta love when the same people who think Peep is useless and wants to get rid also think AMN is our saviour. He’s had a couple of good games for us over the years sprinkled in with some truly horrific ones(EL final, Man City in the carabobo) and the rest has just been below average. He’s still talked about like he’s a youth player but he’s 23 ffs, just 2 years younger than Pepe. He’s never going to make it as a starter for us, he’s waaaay too sloppy with the ball, even worse than Xhaka is. This season Pepe… Read more »

Vintage Gun

Where was Dani Ceballos for the Newcastle game?

Was he injured?

Graham

Globalgunner – he would probably loan the Yorkshire terrier to a French kennel and bring in an Alsatian that has retired from the Chelsea police force and give him twice his previous dog food allowance to drop sticks.

Oh and I guess keep a Pointer with a bad attitude to its owners (perhaps from Switzerland) as a central Midfielder

I guess he could teach a dog to stand on the sidelines and bark pointlessly though as that’s pretty well the beginning and end of his coaching technique.

ADKB

Nelson:

Sure, their weekly wages are based on annual salaries but they’re usually reported to be more round. than in reality. (Was it Tevez’s payslip that was leaked online some years back, showing “odd” figures?)

Anyway the quoted Spotrac report had those 3 wages more “accurate”/”realistic” than others. That’s what caught my eye.

Rich

China1 Buying from the foreign market for £45mill is risky Buying inside the internal market costs a bit more, but it’s safer Neto, Bissouma, Soyuncu, Buendia, Aarons, Lamptey Bayern Munich are apparently trying to sign Omar Richards from Reading on a pre-contract, who’s a left back. Surely we could pick him up for £4-£5mill with less than 6 months on his deal? If he’s good enough to provide competition for Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich, surely he’s good enough to provide competition for Tierney? In the summer I’d say it’s much safer to spend £60-£70mill on Maddison or Grealish Than… Read more »

Jamie

Tom –

“Considering City scored 71 goals more than Arsenal in that period of time [..] please explain how one can be considered the club legend and the other a total waste of money for that period.”

You answered your own question. We needed a goal-scorer (striker), Wenger breaks the club transfer fee record on another attacking mid who scores 1 goal for every 8 hours he’s on the pitch.

We didn’t need him in the first place, and we doubled down on our initial mistake by offering him the most absurd contract extension in our club’s history.

AFC Forever

Tom All those professional people who rated Ozil were morons because the click baiters and the LeGrove fan base know much better. Some fans just blindly follow a narrative because it suits their various agendas. You really do have to have been beaten repeatedly with the stupid stick to say Ozil was a shit player who didn’t perform. The times I’ve seen him run games and display the natural vision few make me scratch my head. The problem is that if you have an agenda, saying anything positive about Ozil is simply not allowed – so rewriting history is necessary.… Read more »

AFC Forever

Rich
“If we’d have gone for Zaha instead of Pepe, we’d likely be in a much better position”

Can’t disagree with this. Plus he is a Gooner and he’d really want to do well.

Freddie Ljungberg

Wilko aka aubergine supercunt I think Pepe is a quality player that’s been misused, hell all of our forwards have looked like crap this season up until the last couple of games. That’s on the tactics and personnel choices. Arteta has made. Willian has been stinking the place out every game and still gets starts and is coming in off the bench ahead of Pepe, it’s stupid and smacks of favouritism. Xhaka is only decent with the ball when he’s under no pressure, as soon as he’s feeling a bit crowded he starts losing the ball and has to scythe… Read more »

Pierre

TomJanuary 11, 2021 15:15:19

Couldn’t have put it better myself..

From 2018 onwards , it was a case of him being in the wrong place at the wrong time under the wrong manager.

Eriksen is suffering exactly the same problem atm as is Deli Alli.

Debruyne and Salah suffered it at Chelsea , but they have now found a manager and club that are maximising their potential.

Pierre

Nice to see some intelligent posters on here today who understand and recognise quality.

Tom

Jamie
You picked the one paragraph from my post that suits your position but explain to me then how strikers score goals if not from a build up play and players like Ozil who feed them the ball.

The fact Wenger was sitting on money and trusted substandard players to come good had not not do with Ozil of that period who did his part.

Sly

Arteta needs ‘technical security’ with his team and recruitment strategies which = older players
I don’t expect this approach to change which means willian et al will retain their positions
Youth will force themselves in on account of injuries etc
I rate coaches who can advance youth development very highly.
Not all top tier coaches have that ability
It does appear arteta lacks capacity with talent recruitment and recognition

Jamie

Tom –

I picked the one paragraph where you asked for an explanation to something.

We needed a goal-scorer, Wenger massively overspent on an attacking mid when we already had creative mids in the squad.

That’s why he was a waste of money and 4 times PL winner David Silva wasn’t. I don’t blame Ozil, I blame Wenger.

China1

But it’s not just about risk reward with high prices – it’s that we’re skint The first 11 isn’t so far away but The overall squad needs some work in the next 18 months. Backup keeper Backup LB First team CM Laca replacement? Elite CB (maybe not) Winger (subject to Pepe Willian and Nelson all failing) If we spend 45m on someone now, even assuming they are quality, it means we will be financially on the bare bones trying to fill those other roles in the next window and many of our most sellable assets are depreciating in value and… Read more »

Tom

Jamie,
Don’t we have a great goal scorer now? Where are all the goals?

Crabregas

The problem wasn’t Ozil. He was a statement player that although we possibly needed someone in another position, he instantly made us a better team and with having him here, allowed us to attract someone of the quality of Sánchez. I thought at that time we were on a roll where we would sign 1 world class player each summer, with a CM/CB next on the list, Wenger opted to buy Cech instead. That summer we were the only club in the top 5 leagues in Europe to not buy and outfield player. If Wenger has carried on what he… Read more »

China1

And as much as the risk is much lower, league internal moves still carry significant risk

Lukaku, zaha, Torres, Willian, cech are all fine examples of quality looking players who moved within the PL at great cost and disappointed significantly

I’m not against your choice of player but I don’t feel comfortable with that risk

Jamie

Tom –

You asked for an explanation and got one. Flat Earthers pivot from one question to the next when they don’t understand the science.

Crabregas

Before this season I would say Neto was an ok player. One that wouldn’t have much end product and often went down blind ally’s. To his credit he has played well this season and has created an output. Maybe he needed Jota to leave to give him the responsibility and opportunity. Either way I think 45m is steep for a played of his level at the moment. Maybe some of that money is for what he could be as he is only young, however I just don’t think we can afford to spend that amount on one player at the… Read more »

Pierre

Pedro
“GET ON YOUR KNEES AND PRAY FOR GABI.”

The important thing for Martinelli is for him to get completely fit and feel confident in his body strength.

He has years in front of him, patience is the key , patience from the club and the player.

We can survive without him this season if the worst fears are confirmed.

He is a player for the future and we don’t want him to go the same way as Jack Wilshere, he is a major asset for Arsenal football club and needs to be treated with kid gloves.

into the red

30m for Eddie is insane, even at 20m a good deal for us. Why dither about?

Tom

Tom –You asked for an explanation and got one. Flat Earthers pivot from one question to the next when they don’t understand the science.

Cute

China1

‘Xhaka looks after the ball better than anyone in the squad other than ozil’

Not true at all. The vast majority of what he does is bargain basement stuff save for the very occasional pretty long diagonal high ball. With very few exceptions, most of what he does is just basic short passing to the easiest option available. It’s not impressive

Emiratesstroller

I have not written off Saliba as the fourth centre back, but until now he has not shown us that he is the finished article. The club needs four good centre backs to meet our annual commitments in England and Europe. Also we should be producing within our Academy decent defenders as well. During the Wenger era we failed to produce many young CBs at that level. He was more focussed on their football ability than producing proper defenders. A top class CB needs excellent concentration and positional sense as well as being a decent athlete. If you find the… Read more »

Vintage Gun

“30m for Eddie is insane, even at 20m a good deal for us. Why dither about?`”

Because West Ham haven’t made an offer yet, if at all this window. Hence Arteta saying he doesn’t EXPECT Nketiah to leave this window.

If we got offered £20m plus for him Arteta would chase him out of the training centre.

Freddie Ljungberg

Wilko Not exactly interested in having an adult conversation with the poster that has been banned more than 15 times exactly because he can’t stop being abusive. I get it you’re in phase 1 of you reincarnation now, where you try to be somewhat sensible but you know you can’t hold the rage demons at bay much longer, just let the hate flow through you and get banned for the 17th time. Like I said, Pepe has started 3 games in the PL, in a crap formation, he’s been doing alright in the cups when he’s been playing but of… Read more »

Valentin

China, Those are special cases. + Cech was past it when he left Chelsea to join Arsenal. + Torres never recovered from his injuries. He was already a spent force when Chelsea bought him. Then he was unmotivated and unable to adapt to a completely different system. + Lukaku was asked to replace a legend in Drogba when he was not ready. Also there was that misconception that because he was big and black, he was the same kind of player which he was not. + Zaha like Lukaku was not ready when he got his big move. Add that… Read more »

Vintage Gun

“I have not written off Saliba as the fourth centre back, but until now he has not shown us that he is the finished article.”

Pretty hard to do that when you have zero appearances. A loan was the best option in the current situation but to say he has not shown us he’s the finished article at 19 with zero apps is a bit harsh.

Valentin

I mentioned to a friend that Arsenal academy had not produced a single premiership qualify CB. His answer was that it was not just Arsenal. None of the prime England academies have done it either in the last 10 years. His views is that like Arsenal at academy level, the defenders are quite either not good enough midfielders moved backward or are kept because of their on the ball aptitute. The result is that quite often, they are good player but poor defender. Like John Stones, good passer of the ball, but they don’t smell danger. Also U23 academy football… Read more »

Dissenter

Val
“Anybody knows a football academy with great defenders?”
Liverpool have a good bunch at their academy.
Even the goalie was good enough to start a CL game..and did creditably well.

China1

Wilko context is exactly the point – because what does it mean that he looks after the ball well if the vast majority of what he does is basic recycling? Is this of any significant strategic value to the team? Is it anything that other players cannot do? Players like Saka, ESR, Tierney and pretty much all of our team are able to play simple short passes, mostly sideways and backwards. Doing so constantly is not actually especially valuable which is why some of our players actually try to make something happen and take some risks You are conflating the… Read more »

Nelson

Val
“+ Willian was past it and never a good fit for Arsenal. Willian thrive in counter-attacking team with a big man who can hold the ball. Basically he is a more active and more two footed version of Pepe. Asking him to play No10 in such a setting was always a fool’s errand, and even more at the salary and length of contract.”

Accurate description of Willian. On top of that, he has lost one step and his priority seems to be his restaurant business. He doesn’t have enough energy to play like ESR.

Upstate Gooner

“Anybody knows a football academy with great defenders?”

You don’t have to go far, Valentin… just look at Burnley. Not only most of their defenders are English (with the exception of two who are Irish) but they are also all home grown, if I’m not mistaken. But it’s not just their academy now, is it? You also have to have a competent coach who can teach them the basics of defending (like not go to ground all the time), and sticking to a system that works. We don’t have that in Arteta.

DUIFG

Saliba is going to come back to haunt arteta, being vindictive isn’t a good look, can he be a man and admit he fucked up?

I doubt it, he seems to love average workhorse cbs, let’s be honest he is loving the holding mari partnership

Upstate Gooner

Are people really discussing whether Xhaka is a good player or not? He’s shite, plain and simple. And I blame Arteta for convincing him to stay, and for picking him week in and week out. I don’t know exactly how many points he lost us on his own but I have no doubt we’d be better off without him in the squad.

China1

Valentine Willian was a good player just last season. This is undeniable. We put up good money for him because there was no evidence at that point that he would resemble the trash we’re seeing right now. We can agree on his salary and contract length being a joke, but on a reasonable salary he was on paper a perfectly reasonable signing because he was Clearly good last year As for lukaku failing because he was assumed to be the next drogba just because he was big and black – no not really. He was bought as a very well… Read more »

Valentin

Upstate,

Just checked Burnley squad.
None of their CBs were formed at their academy.
According to Transfernarkt, their two young CBs still play mostly U23, and they have not formed at Burnley either. One went to Crew Alexandra then Everton FC and the other one was released by ManUtd.

Valentin

China,

I was thinking of Lukaku previous transfer. But even at ManUtd, he was misused by OGS, who I am sure who would love to have him now. He may have been erratic at ManUtd, but under the tutelage of a proper coach, you can see that he has developed into a better and more rounded striker. At the time of his departure, lots of people thought that Rashford was going to eclipse him, that look unlikely now.

Sid

Xhakalson is the best at recycling diet Peps testicles

NORG

Arteta’s dream – a team of players in his mould. Can you imagine what Arteta would do with a modern day Cantona.

Upstate Gooner

Wilko
I followed the whole conversation, and I think that’s exactly what’s been discussed. You’re making a point for Xhaka where no one in the right state of mind would. Xhaka epitomizes everything that’s wrong with Arsenal at the moment. And Arteta is the enabler.

Upstate Gooner

Valentin
Just did a little research myself. Three of Burnley’s defenders are products of their own academy. And another one came from ManU where he’s been for less than a year (Jul 2015 – Jun 2016). For some reason, I thought Tarkowski was one of them as well but he spend a few years at Oldham Athletic prior. Mee too came from elsewhere (was registered with City for about a year).

I hate Green Bay

All this Eddie talk, West Ham havent made an offer, just expressed an interest. Some journalist probably threw in £30m. I really think we need to give JW and RN a bit more time to see of they can progress a bit more. Thats not the case with AMN because hes not a kid anymore, WYSIWYG with him, so if we like what we see, keep, if we dont, sell. Tranfer policy should be No one older than 24. No one cost more than £30m. Wage no more than £80k. Listen to any decent offer for anyone 29 or older.… Read more »

Le Sauce

Excellent post Pedro and I of course thank you for it

Upstate Gooner

Wilko I’m sure that even those who hate on Ozil the most will disagree with you on comparing him with Xhaka. One was (and some will argue still is a talented footballer), and the other is a bum. And it’s pretty clear to everyone who’s who. I don’t care what his pass completion percentage is. It’s always going to be high when you pass sideways and backwards all the time. That’s why Arteta probably loves him so much, reminds him of himself back in the day. For every one of his Hollywood passes, there’s 10 mistakes waiting to happen. Shit… Read more »

Rich

Upstate Gooner The argument for Xhaka playing is really simple. He’s not a good option. But he’s still better than Elneny Partey is injured. And that leaves Xhaka + Ceballos. At the start of the 2019/20 season Xhaka had more experience than Ceballos, Torreira, Guendouzi + Willock combined. I think Guendouzi will develop into a far superior player, and there’s definitely a player somewhere in Ceballos But last season Xhaka was still our best available and most experienced option. We need better midfielders, but until either Guendouzi matures and returns Ceballos finds consistency, Or we enter the market for an… Read more »

Nelson

I hate Green Bay

All Arsenal fans will follow you for this Saturday. If Rams defects GB, KSE may be in the mood to help us out.

Tee

Saliba’s motm was based on twitter poles. He didn’t do bad performance wise but the mirror noted he lost his man which later resulted to a goal.

No need scrutinizing his performance to score cheap point or attack the manager. The best for him is the loan which I believe will fine-tune him.

Ozil had better announcement his departure this evening.

Upstate Gooner

Wilko Xhaka only “looks after the ball” when no one is around him (as China1 rightly pointed out to you earlier). He’s extremely weak under any sort of pressure. Hence, his first instinct is to pass the ball back to a defender or keeper. Both Guendouzi and Torreira are better players than Xhaka by a country mile. But both were binned by Arteta for reasons that have nothing to do with football. So there you have it, a poor player who should be nowhere near the pitch for us but is because of a vindictive, petty manager who only cares… Read more »

Upstate Gooner

Rich Xhaka should’ve been gone the second he told the fans to F off. If a club like Inter could bin their best player in Icardi, then certainly Arsenal could and should have done it to Xhaka. He’s nowhere near good enough and he doesn’t even care or has respect for the fans who pay his salary. I’d put Elneny, Ceballos, AMN, Partey, Guendouzi, and Torreira all ahead of him. Hell, I’d even try Luiz in his place. Or better yet, Willian/Partey combo which I think might work (closest I can think of to Santi/Coq partnership that worked wonders for… Read more »

Tee

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/55615893

This piece says patient wearing thin; n football due to continuos covid 19 breaches

Danny+S

Xhaka is also pretty clueless off the ball, he just ball watches and plods to get himself between the ball and the goal while the opposition players all run past him.

Add to that his ability to totally switch off at any point during the game and you have a huge liability in the team, no matter how well he ‘looks after the ball’.

Upstate Gooner

‘Xhaka is also pretty clueless off the ball, he just ball watches and plods to get himself between the ball and the goal while the opposition players all run past him.Add to that his ability to totally switch off at any point during the game and you have a huge liability in the team, no matter how well he ‘looks after the ball’.

Precisely, Danny. Someone actually watches games and is intelligent enough to recognize Xhaka for what he is, a complete bum.

Mark

@Wilko What’s the point of having possession and doing nothing progressive with it?? Surely you saw the futility of this in the games we lost after having more possession than our opponents. Backwards and sideways passing just pads stats. Slows us down and worse discourages people to make runs, cos the ball Never comes. Can’t tackle, and dangerous free kick giver always a moment away from some kind of madness. Nah . Whilst Elneny isn’t up to it and has played poorly recently, he offers more legs and is a (slightly 🙂) better tackler than Xhaka. Best solution for me… Read more »

Upstate Gooner

Wilko
Willian can at least attempt to dribble passed someone. Xhaka can only watch others dribble around/passed him.

Rich

Willian centre mid?

You never know…..

But not particularly keen to see that experiment.

Upstate Gooner

A cardboard cutout would do a better job in the middle of the park instead of Xhaka. It might even get in a way of someone and won’t get a needless red card.

Habesha Gooner

I hate Green bay Actually when we have used your plans, which should really be the plan, we have either succeeded or haven’t tanked that much in the past two seasons. Leno, Martinelli, Tierney, Gabriel, Saliba, Torreira and Guendouzi all signed below 30 mil. 3 of them are mainstays on our team , One is a superstar forward interrupted by injuries and one is a kid on loan. 2 of them not liked by the manager. But both better than Xhaka and Elneny. At the very least we will break even or double our money with Guendouzi and we will… Read more »

Upstate Gooner

Rich
Willian centre mid?

Funny how one can tell right away if a person has British roots. Still laugh at a Chelsea buddy of mine who has their “Yokohoma Tyres” shirt. He thought they misspelled it 🙂 .

Danny+S

Wilko

Having control is futile if you don’t actually do anything progressive with it.

In a fast league, playing an aggressive pressing game which I think is Artetas desired style, having someone who passes the ball back to the CB when your team is surging forward may help you keep possession and ‘control’ the game but it doesn’t get you goals.

Xhaka is a one in 5 games player mostly with the odd little run of games in him. He lacks the mental strength to keep anything up for long.

Ernest Reed

“China thanks for taking 4 paragraphs to miss the point and show me you’re clueless”

This being your schtick Wilko, everyone is somehow clueless in your estimation, based primarily on your level of comprehension.

Perhaps you ought to best consider that if others are clueless its like because you are incapable of registering what having a clue actually means.

There are ways to engage people in a thoughtful and engaging manner, something you clearly have no desire or capability of doing. Save your schtick for yourself you pompous fool.

Pierre

Where Xhaka is useful is that he is decent ( not great) in the air, and due to Arsenal’s lack of height throughout the team he will often get the nod. If you look over the past couple of seasons, our central midfield consists of Elneny Ceballos; Torreira, Guendouzi and Willock. None of these are dominant in the air, in fact i would say they were weak…xhaka will at least defend the box well. Taking into account our strikers and full backs are neither tall nor strong in the air is another reason for playing Xhaka . Will just point… Read more »

Nelson

FA Cup fourth and fifth-round draws at 7.10pm London time, 14:10 EST.

Northbanker

Green bay / Habesha – agree entirely and consistent with my own views. Arteta and Edu would be forced then to focus on getting real value. We should also be aiming for Academy products to fill half the team / squad with the other half being 5- 15m signings generally with the odd ‘marquee’ signing such as Tierney. As you say Habesha. had we forced that policy on both Emery and Arteta inc fat Raul just imagine the shite it would have filtered out We wouldn’t of course had Auba and Laca but I suspect that would have ended up… Read more »

Nelson

FA Cup fourth-round
CHELTENHAM vs MAN CITY
MAN UTD vs LIVERPOOL

Good!!!!!!!

Nelson

SOUTHAMPTON or SHREWSBURY vs ARSENAL

Damn!

Rich

Upstate Gooner

Just had to google that,

Never knew across the Atlantic you spelt centre as center.

On my auto correct, center comes up as inaccurate spelling.

Nelson

WYCOMBE vs TOTTENHAM

WTF!

Nelson

CHELSEA vs LUTON

Looks like we’ll be playing Southampton.

bacaryisgod

Can any of you tell me where the 30m Nketiah fee came from? I just don’t believe Arsenal would turn down that much for him but I can see us turning down 15m for him.

bacaryisgod

A probable away tie 4th round to Soton and then it would be another away game probably against Wolves.

Looks like our Cup luck might run out this year.

underrated Coq

Looks like Champagne Chuckles has come crawled back in under a new moniker.

Joker

bacaryisgod

WIlko I think the fairest thing to say is that Xhaka has a history of making sloppy mistakes but he seems to have improved that side of his game. In general, I’m guessing most fans have no problem with him as a squad option but dread the idea of him as our midfield leader/captain. I’m perfectly fine with both him and Elneny as back-ups to Partey and one other in CM. As I said before, I would like to see a Partey-Guendouzi combination given a try but fear that Guendouzi’s relationship is too toxic with Arteta for it to work.… Read more »

Dissenter

underrated Coq
That’s not Champagne Charlie
It’s Uruguayan bulldog/Aubergine/Quantum on his 15th moniker
Some idiots never change

Victorious

Xhaka a subject of discussion and CC nowhere to be found?Odd

Surely he wasn’t binned?

Pierre

Wilko talks a lot more sense than a large percentage of the posters on here.

Anyone who is remotely positive about our players (especially youth) is regarded as an idiot..

You just have to look through the comments to see who the idiots are ..

Snide jamie tops the list ..
Freddie …
Graham
Danny s has to be in there .
Tony…without a doubt.

Victorious

ThankGod for the tough FAcup draw, we have a decent first team but a very poor squad, remove Saka and ESR and we’re almost a dogshite team.

The goal for this season should be top4 or Europa league win

Fck the FAcup!

Upstate Gooner

Rich
“Never knew across the Atlantic you spelt centre as center.”

Yep. And theatre is theater, and so on… I grew up in Soviet Russia (or I should say USSR) where we studied proper British version of English language. So I was quite perplexed when I came to US to find out these weird differences. Now, of course, it’s funny for me to see it the other way around.

Globalgunner

Also in America route is pronounced “rout”. You have to wonder what they would call one team dispatching another quite comprehensively?. That would be a “route” I guess. Its like Quebec teaching French the way to pronounce stuff.

Globalgunner

—and dont get me started on “innernational” or Nookulear energy

Ernest Reed

“You can hand your cape back in now you hero.”

You incorrigible blighter you, Wilko!

Northbanker

Victorious

1 it is still an historic trophy which we should take pride in winning
2 it may be our only passport into Europe
3 you speak as if its a choice – far better to aim to win everything possible

but yes if it was a choice (there isn’t) then I would pick the Europa esp as that gives a CL place

Upstate Gooner

Globalgunner
“Its like Quebec teaching French the way to pronounce stuff.”

Lol… Indeed.

Ernest Reed

“Looks like our Cup luck might run out this year.”

Never underestimate the capabilities of this squad when it comes to the FA Cup, Bacary. They all know this may be their only ticket back to the EL. They know what’s at stake.

Dissenter

“Nookulear” isn’t American English though
That’s just GW Bush doing his thing. The US and British English pronunciation are identical.

Northbanker

Rich – where the hell have you been hiding to not be aware of American spelling?. You almost can’t avoid it and my fear for the future is the Americanisation (but hanging on to an s and not a z) of our language. When you have half the newsreaders pronouncing schedule by saying ‘skedule’ phonetically rather than “shedule” the decline in standards becomes noted.

Dissenter

Americanization is not going to happen.
You ought to be worried about having to learn all 100,000 different Chinese characters.

Ernest Reed

Cant be said that you are not a strong supporter of the youth on the team, Pierre. You most certainly are.

Nelson

Valentin

I remember you have compared Phil Foden with Saka. I like Foden’s low shot to the corner. I remember watching Saka in the England NT, he couldn’t keep the ball low with every shot. Just watched the replay of the game vs NewCastle. Saka again shot every ball high. How come the coaching staff didn’t improve Saka’s shooting skill.

Upstate Gooner

Dissenter
“You ought to be worried about having to learn all 100,000 different Chinese characters.”

That’s pretty funny… and sad at the same time because you’re not that far off the truth.

Northbanker

Dissenter – no I really don’t

Chris

Personally I’d be happy to see another season like 92/93, mediocre league showing but two cups in the bag. We are more than capable of going for both cups with the squad we have, provided we rest at intervals in the league perhaps. The league is somewhat close in terms of points but the sheer number of teams in close proximity means an awful lot has to go our way to finish in the European places in the league, plus a remarkable run of form from ourselves. And we have a very hard run of league games coming up after… Read more »

Danny

Fck the FAcup!
——–
Seriously?

Dissenter

Northbanker
“Dissenter – no I really don’t”

Not in our lifetimes, I agree but there will come a time when tat will be the thing.
Chinese speaking nannies command a 6 figure income right now amongst the super wealthy because they want someone to teach their children Chinese [any variant] early in childhood.

Northbanker

Dissenter The US and British English pronunciation are identical.

Er – no they’re not

paytriot vs pattriot (phonetic)
skedule v shedule
levvverage vs lever-age

and so on