WELL HELLO.
Let’s rattle through the good news.
MARTINELLI IS BACK FOR NEXT MONDAY.
Finally, the bad luck momentum is turning. I really, really couldn’t have handled the young Brazilian being out long-term. Great news that he has a little bit of recovery time before he explodes over the next 5 games. Explodes in a good way, not like, you know, an exploding muscle or something.
We also landed good news on Gabriel 2. The suspended then covid infected centre back will finally make his return to the action. I’m unsure whether he takes his place straight back, he was a touch out of sorts before the break. Holdinho and Mari have been pretty decent together. A winning combo if you will.
Talking of Holdinho, our 25-year-old centre back of BRITISH background has signed a new long-term deal with the club. Fantastic news. We’ve finally broken the duck of letting players run down their deals. A few people scoffed at this move. I don’t really understand it. The player is growing every week, he rarely puts a foot wrong, and he can play music. What more do you want?
There are rumours doing the rounds that Edu reports into Arteta… and that Arteta has felt like a victim of Raul getting binned because all of the extra work fell on his shoulders.
Now, I’d love this rumour if it were true because it’d totally crystallize the utter mess that Arsenal is from a leadership perspective… but this one feels too far for me. Edu might be the submissive one in the relationship, but I doubt the Kroenke’s would keep Edu around if he was so bad at his job they needed to put him UNDER a rookie manager.
Also, you have to understand this about Arteta. He is fucking ruthless. There is no situation in the world where 1) he didn’t ask for the promotion 2) doesn’t absolutely love the powers and responsibility that came with it. It is almost unimaginable that he would leak in a way that made him seem like a beta male.
Hard to really see who this story serves best? Which is why I suspect it’s just bollocks… but I will tell you this now, I would LOVE it if it was true. I have a 3000 essay on operational structure and cuck leadership in my drafts if that little beauty is confirmed. It would be SO salacious. Imagine getting a double demotion and having to negotiate with Vinai that you’d only sit on the Arsenal.com deck chair of shame if you could say it was a single level demotion. OH MY WORD would that be a good story.
… alas, I think it’s bollocks (Arsenal insiders, hit me up on the bat phone if it’s true).
Finally, an agent in and around the Mesut Ozil deal leaked this to the press.
“If he comes to Turkey then he will play for Fenerbahce, god willing. Let me tell you he has told me, ‘in my football career I am going to play for Fenerbahce’. Until the contract has been signed we can’t say anything is finished”
“It is a case where Mesut would come not just as a footballer but as a lover. The process is underway though I can’t give a percentage. Even if we agreed verbally, it is not over without signing the contract. Let’s wait a bit.”
A LOVER! For fucks sake. Let’s do the deal then boys. The reports state that the deal hasn’t been done with Arsenal. We’ll likely be negotiating how much of his final salary we pay him… it’ll be a lot, I suspect. But… who cares, get him out of Arsenal so we can move on.
Ok my lovers, let’s call this a day, and I’ll be back tomorrow. x
1st??
get in
Trophy
Top4 Trophy
Tr4phy
Damn it
Holding secured.
Next? ESR and Tierney please… extend their contracts.
Dan T “PIERRE – Arguing that Xhaka is good in the air? I haven’t seen that. Ever. .” Well i have seen it and , unlike you i tend to believe what i see with my own eyes when it comes to making a point about a player instead of the usual ” Xhaka is shit” line.. Of course , the point I was making was that a possible reason why Xhaka starts is due to him being better in the air defensively than 80% or more than the rest of the team ,and I quote “Where Xhaka is useful… Read more »
I couldn’t believe the Martinelli news. It was great. Holding also deserved his new contract. He has been good the past few weeks. But I think he will go back to the bench if Saliba really performs on loan and arteta isn’t picking favourites. Still holding is showing some of the form he showed before his ACL injury. That can only be great for us. After the end of the season we will have 4 CBs that won’t be weaklinks. I hope we get these players fast too. I think it is a done deal that Ozil and Sokratis will… Read more »
Get this players out*
I don’t get why people are surprised that the Mari deal has incentive based on appearances. That used to be Huss Fahmy modus operandi for contract, which make sense if you want to avoid being saddled with an expensive flop. Lots of club do higher appearance fees in exchange for a lower upfront fee. Southampton inserted a clause where Arsenal had to pay them for every game where the Ox was playing more than 20 minutes. They spotted that Arsène was introducing him systematically on the 70th minute. In their opinion, it was done deliberately to save cash, they sent… Read more »
Good news about Gabriel and Holding. As Pedro says, Mari has stepped up to the plate and fitted in seamlessly with Holding and that’s exactly what you want, competition. We now have ball-playing Centre Backs who have the composure that Mustafi could only dream of, plus they stay on their feet when they defend. So I’m not worried about which of them plays. There will be plenty of rotation needed and with the decent cover now we don’t risk injuries through lack of recovery or overplaying. Essential to be able to do that. Next month we play Benfica away on… Read more »
Praise the Lord.
Martinelli is fit.
Habesha.
Good point. Next season we will have Holding, Gabriel, Mari and Saliba. That is a serious upgrade compared to the past few years. I suspect David Luiz will be gone.
I think the holding deal is great! There is the option for the club to trigger another year. I feel we have never gave deals with the option of another year!
Wilko, The only reason, I can see is that they did not notice the fact that we signed him with £10millions add-on or spotted it but assumed that we would never have to pay that. It works both way. Arsenal made lots of money from former academy players sold with such incentive or percentage of resale price. Maybe Arsenal could have been more upfront with the add-ons fee. Instead of announcing them in a vague statement , it should separate the unlikely, the likely and the sure. Some add-ons are unlikely to occurs (Despite Arteta belief Arsenal is unlikely to… Read more »
Much talk of Bissouma a player i really like
but is he just not a mirror copy ability wise
of Partey a very very similar style of playing
would they both work in the same side.
Would be nice to have them both seeing Partey
MIGHT be another Diaby LET’S HOPE NOT.
Pierre
Xhaka has won 48% of his areal battles in the prem, and made 134 headed clearances in his 143 appearances.
So he does attempt a lot of headers it seems.
As for 80% of the team, all the CB’s more or less beat him of course. And for perspective Bellerin has almost equal stats % wise.
Tierney equal for headed clearance too with one per appearance.
So as usual you release a broad statement and are kind both right and wrong, however we all know you will see it as being 100% spot on and claim it as yet another victory over the uneducated.
Xhaka’s aerial ability is average. When his confidence is up he attacks the ball but when our back is against the wall, I’ve also seen him duck out of the way rather than put his body (or more specifically his head) on the line.
He likes to tell everyone he’s a leader but his lack of consistency betrays him… and doesn’t take responsibility for his mistakes but looks to blame others and other factors.
Real leaders don’t do that, in any walk of life.
“and arteta isn’t picking favourites.” What does this mean? Of course a Manager has favourites – he picks who he trusts and what he believes is his best players. I prefer to call them his ‘preferred’ players, every Manager has them. We might disagree with his selection, which is fine, but he’s picking them regularly because he believes they are his best players or best ones for a result. So selecting ‘preferred’ players is absolutely normal; just because fans think he is wrong doesn’t make it so. However, selecting a player because he is his mate, related to him or… Read more »
AFC forever
Favouritism refers to choosing a player regardless of form or quality. Arteta has done that before. Don’t act like you don’t get it.
As for Willian, if we must play him, I say bring him in on to close down games. These days he seems to slow down games and pass sideways and backwards.
Perfect for when you want to run the clock down if you’re trying to protect a lead.
I rather not see him in an Arsenal shirt again.
Leeds
Can’t disagree, Willian’s form has been very poor. He’s not the same player he was at Chelsea. Could be a confidence issue because he has (had) ability. Very odd how poor he has been.
“Favouritism refers to choosing a player regardless of form or quality”
So non-footballing reason then?
From previous blog.
You guys just look for things to complain about. If Mari plays 80 games for us his total cost will be around £16 mil + £85 thou per week. Pretty good value for money really.ijYou guys just look for things to complain about. If Mari plays 80 games for us his total cost will be around £16 mil + £85 thou per week. Pretty good value for money really.
How ghastly! A love affair between Ozil and Fenerbahce.
Dan T and Danny s “Xhaka has won 48% of his areal battles in the prem, and made 134 headed clearances in his 143 appearances.So he does attempt a lot of headers it seems.As for 80% of the team, all the CB’s more or less beat him of course. And for perspective Bellerin has almost equal stats % wise. So as usual you release a broad statement and are kind both right and wrong, however we all know you will see it as being 100% spot on and claim it as yet another victory over the uneducated.” Danny , you’ve… Read more »
Guendouzi’s wife is pregnant. Maybe he’ll settle down and mature some with a little sprog around.
Comparing about paying out £8m to a player’s former club when he plays 80 plus games for us is strange…
It’s nothing when we’ve paid more than than to Özil alone for sitting at home this year. Or to Wilshere and Diaby to keep the physios company for all those years.
Fuck me pierre you did it again! Haha
You just did EXACTLY what I said you would.
Hardly 80% of the team is it? Do you want to post ALL of our CB stats in there?
*Complaining…
Also Tierney and Bellerin are close to Xhaka. Almost a headed clearance per game played.
Pierre
“in fact Xhaka is the only player who has won more heading battles than he has lost”
Want to look at the defence and have another go?
The centre backs will always have more headed clearances because that is their job .
Xhaka is a midfielder and outperforms ALL the other outfield players including our full backs and the rest of our midfielders..
Hence my point that his selection could be due to his DECENT heading ability in that he wins his heading battles in midfield , unlike the rest of the midfielders and full backs , and his headed clearances are only matched by Tierney, other than the centre backs.
Desperate Danny
Stop making a fool of yourself …my advice to you is quietly disappear with your tail between your legs.
Pierre That is a very valid point re:Xhaka. He seems to be one of our best headers. Some people just want to find scapegoats and hate them to no end. Against teams like Newcastle, Burnley etc. Id much rather play Xhaka as midfield partner for Partey over Ceballos, Elneny and Willock. Because Xhaka is an elite passer of the ball when he isn’t pressed and the likes of Newcastle just sit back to attack on the counter and set-pieces. He is also one of our best headers of the ball which helps the team a lot when defending against the… Read more »
Perhaps the problem with Willian is that at Chelsea he was playing more as a link man keeping the ball moving in strong line up, whilst we have been expecting him to be an initiator of attacks/scorer in a seriously malfunctioning team. I would expect him to improve with the latest line ups especially when Partey is back especially as mentioned in helping control a game later on. However his evident poor shooting for whatever reason is a concern as I recall him knocking them in from range for Chelsea.
Leeds
Its 4 mil for 40 appearances. We’ve already paid 4 and the rest 4 is dependent on appearances if the reports are to be believed.
Anyways 8 mil is still a bargain if Mari keeps performing like he has.
Rob Holding: “Pablo [Mari] is the most positive person on the planet. You see him and he will just make you happy.”
Wilko is Pierre I’m sure of it.
Captain
Mari’s loan was 3.5 mil, we then paid 4 mil to make the loan permanent. We then pay 990 thou per 10 games up to 80 games. Still good value.
CT
I agree , Mari does bring a calmness to the defence..
Arteta has a little conundrum regarding Gabriel and Mari.
What Arteta has to weigh up is the strength of the opposition in the games that mari has played in and does it give a false impression of how good he’s playing..
Gabriel is a very good centre back but he became a little impetuous in his tackles and his decision making started to suffer.
So for me , Mari would get the nod for the foreseeable future alongside Holding as they are rarely drawn out of position..
“Wilko is Pierre I’m sure of it.”
Now you are becoming desperate Dan with comments like that.
Mari has the added advantage of being more experienced than Gabriel as well. I like them both its a good thing we have two left foot CBs that are starting quality. I would prefer Mari at the moment , thankfully all the reports that he was a slow dud were wrong.
“But I think he will go back to the bench if Saliba really performs on loan and arteta isn’t picking favourites” Lol, why would holding go back to the bench? I don’t see saliba benching holding if holding keeps improving. If you think saliba will just come next season and be introduced immediately, then you are on a long thing. Just saying this because the bed to moan is quietly being laid here. If saliba performs and holding keeps improving then I don’t see how saliba will topple him. One will have to underperform for the other to claim the… Read more »
*RCBs*
Somebody having a wank thinking how Edu has been bent over. The euphoria should be if Edu gets replaced with a proper DoF overseeing the petty macho minion. His Don Quixote posturing and bullying has cost us a 4th place, or a 6 at a trot.
Hope sense comes with the calmness after the ejaculation
Bojangles
That was what the tabloids reported at first.
After a few weeks/months someone from the club ( vice President iirc) told the media something along the lines that Mari earned them a total of 4 million
Recent reports suggest we’ll pay 1 mil for 10 games Mari plays until the total transfer value reaches 8 mil.
Which means we will eventually pay them 4 more million or 8 mil total.
Divine
He is slow but he is also smart.
Wilko,
Asoa said Pedro’s getting excited cos Edu is supposed to report in to Mikel. However getting a proper TD such as Rangnick in to oversee what Mikel is doing would be something to get excited about.
Cos Mikel has cost us places in the Prem with his stubborn and mystifying treatment of players and persistence in playing Willian.
Surely someone as clued up as you can comprehend that.
That’s right Mark
Admit I have to be less convoluted for comprehension
Sorry about that Wilko
Wilko, I still think that by splitting the never going to happen fees from the very likely to happen fees, fans would have a better indication of the financial obligations of the club. People see that Mari cost £4 millions and jump at his cheapness, then they realised that because of the extra add-ons, he is likely to cost £12 millions and they are up in arms. When the reality is that if he is a success an extra £8 millions is peanuts. On the other hand Pablo Mari looked good, because he has not been faced with teams that… Read more »
Captain Tierney
I know he is slower than most but I meant slow dud as in someone who is slow to react , not his pace. He hasnt played against more high paced wingers like Sterling or Salah so I’d still reserve my judgement but he does looks ideal for a PL side.
Danny
You are missing Pierre’s point.
Pierre said one the reasons why Xhaka played is because he’s one of the better headers of the ball among our midfielders and looking at our midfield, that is true.
He did not say Xhaka is one of the best at the club, just among our midfielders so if you are going to compare percentages, it should be between Xhaka, Willock, Elneny, Ceballos and Partey.
Mari faced Man City when he picked up that injury end of last season. Up to that point we were defending well and he was playing well. It all went to shit after he got injured.
So I’m confident he can hold his own against a mobile attack (he played in Brazil so there must have been a few decent strikers there). In fact that is where great positioning sense can come into its own as all CBs can be exposed where a Liverpool like strike force is operating.
Martinelli being fit proves there is a God after all, that’s such a relief. When he does return, what do people think should be our starting front three? Ideally though, we should take the opportunity to rest Saka who is in danger of being overplayed, as is Tierney. Remember back in Wenger days, our injury record was shocking, it was hardly manageable. That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore, I wonder what is being done differently? Rob Holdings new contract makes good business sense (for a change), and in two years time, he will be 27 and at maximum… Read more »
Val spot on. But I’d just say imo Mari is more calm and composed, Gabriel enjoys the physical battle and he’s quick to go pressure attacker, Mari almost waits for you to run out time to think. With someone like holding, it’s dangerous leaving him exposed Mari makes the defensive duo compact
Mari apparently performed well when he played against peak Liverpool in the Club world cup final.
PIERRE
Thanks for the stats. They are surprising.and much better than I thought they would be. I assumed that his heading stats would be similar to our other midfielders (ie really shite).
Having said that, his stats are still very average and I don’t think they could be used to justify his place in the team.
I want Arsenal to win and be successful. Holding and Mari is as good as Tarkowski and Mee. Bang average. It will be obvious in time. Some fans are a bit quick to jump to a conclusion. Now suddenly Gabriel was making rash challenges. The fucker managed 3 player of the month awards in 3 months since he joined the club. Instant impact, managed us to keep us above water in defence, scored 2 goals, there isn’t anything he could have done more. It’s obvious that Arteta rates Mari. He ditched a healthy Saliba so an injured Mari can take… Read more »
Marc
Wherever you are, wishing you all the best. You haven’t been forgotten.
There were the usual jokers on here quick to stick the knife into Mari after a handful of games allowing for no adjustment to a different pace league.Was being slaughtered as too slow,can’t pass,can’t tackle,blah blah blah all the usual no nothing knee jerk reaction( you know who you are)not surised at all.The same ones willing to stick the knife in Artetas back at every opportunity.Such is your typical poster these days.
OTD 1995 : We signed John Hartson, the most expensive teenager in British football at the time. Think we signed Kiwomya not long after or before. Hartson stood out to me as a player as it was around this time I started to go to Highbury regularly as a kid. And also OTD 2006: we signed Abou Diaby. Big regrets about this guy, could have been a monster of a player for us were it not for that reckless challenge from that Sunderland player. It was after that though where I remember a stand out performance, against Chelsea in the… Read more »
Mari is coming back after a long injury and still looks better than those who have proceeded him in recent times.
Let him get a few more games under his belt.
Two players over the wenger years have the biggest regret of their misfortune with injuries.Both would have been world stars.no question.That’s “ little Mozart” Rosicky & Abou Diaby.
Rosicky was among those players in the early Emirates era that were just a joy to watch in full flow, Fabregas, Hleb, van Persie, Diaby when he was fit.
I still wonder just how good Eduardo could have been were it not for serious injury.
Pedro
Any idea about Marc?
Arsenal have won all 8 matches Mari has started, conceding 4 goals. That is pretty good, lets not rush ito condemnation based on perception,
https://www.footballinsider247.com/exclusive-arsenal-sensation-agrees-to-join-rb-leipzig/
Looks like Bslogun is of to Leipzig. Their recruitment is fantastic, gotta give it to them.
I watched Mari when he played for flamengo almost every week, and i can assure Gabriel Magalhaes is the better player, Mari is a good CB but Magalhaes a class above in my opinion
goldinho – your recall of history is incorrect. Hill-Wood did not introduce SK – David Dean did as he tried desperately to flog his shares to all and sundry. PHW in fact said at first that “we didnt want his kind” (how right he was) He had to change tactics once Dein had found an even worse buyer in Usmanov and Danny Fiszman died round about he same time. Rock and a hard place stuff. So dont blame PHW. If hs father Denis had kept his shares rather than cashing in maybe we’d be in a better place with owners… Read more »
If mark stays fit and keeps this level he will have been a good buy. Whether he can become great remains to be scene but he at least looks like another holding – a player who can play at this level when called upon and hold is own (if you’ll excuse the pun) even if he’s not a proper elite level The problem with Mari was just we signed him, then he didn’t play and many of us (I’ll hold my hand up) thought this looked like a PEAK arsenal signing. If he turned out to be horribly injury prone… Read more »
Rumor that Belo’s agent doesn’t trust Arteta and has convinced Belo to leave. Did he read Le Grove by chance?
Holding is a young English player , I am sorry he didnt cost 55 million. classic.
Not sure why Raptora is having a downer on Mari. he has rarely ut a foot wrong in his admittedly short playing career for AFC. I for one am not saying he should be picked instead of Gabriel and agree Gabriel is a great find.
But to survive a season we need 4 top CBs and i think both Holding and Mari fit the mould. Ultimately the first choice will be Gabriel and AN Other. Fingers crossed that other will be Saliba or otherwise that is another shed load of money down the drain.
Also glad to see holding is finally getting a bit of credit from the fans He’s not world class. Will he ever be? I don’t expect so. But he’s always been a player good enough to get frequent game time at this level. On the few occasions when he has had extended runs in the team, he’s consistently been a very solid player. Under emery he was our stand out defender until he got injured. I’m not really a prominent of building a team around him because he’s no sol Campbell or tony Adams. But if he is our third… Read more »
People always go over the top when they criticize or praise a player most of the time. I remember people slating him because pedro run a story that he was signed for us because of Arturo Canales. Fans were on his back before he even played enough games for us. Mari is good. But there is a reason he spent most of his career being a journey man. He has found form since he joined flamengo. And he is a good Centerback. Holding is also a good centerback. But both aren’t great centerbacks. They don’t need to be to play… Read more »
yep makes sense to me Raptora and agree with what you say can’t see either defender(holding or Mari) at a top club .It is simple both defenders be it CB’S or wing backs now require super recovery pace .If you don’t have the now basic attribute “speed “your going to be average or good if you are super quick you can be average , good or potentially the best . Gabriel has the potential to be one of the best and Mari does not Mari can and has been good but will never be the best and playing with holding… Read more »
Was Marc banned by Pedro?
Probably as he didn’t like the Arteta out stuff from Marc.
So much about freedom of speech, the woke brigade don’t like it.
Extend Holding.
Let Balogun slip away to Leipzig for zilch.
Sums us up.
So much about freedom of speech, the woke brigade don’t like it.
……………
This is so true. Getting binned for having a different opinion shows where this blog is heading.
Pedro doesn’t ban someone for just disagreeing with him. I can’t stand Arteta and have been pretty vocal about it… still here. So there must have been something else with Marc (and a few others).
Maybe just bored with the same discussions on here?
Agree with raptora on his view about our CB’s. None of them would make it at a top club, IMHO, with the exception of possibly Gabriel. Our last decent CB partnership was Mert/Kosc, and Mert was slower than molasses. His positioning was normally good though, and he obviously benefited from having Koscielny as a partner. But he’d still get exposed for speed every now and then against fast and counterattacking sides. Hence, having Mari and Holding as our main CB combo doesn’t instill a lot of confidence since both of them are pretty slow.
how much of his final salary we pay him… it’ll be a lot, I suspect. But… who cares, get him out of Arsenal so we can move on. // See this right here is the issue with the ozil situation. Some are, but most are not ‘fanboys’ running to defend ozil the person. It’s the fact that some fans see him as “holding us back”. That narrative has been pushed so hard by shills to drive away attention from the fact that. It makes no difference if ozil is here or not. He hasn’t been in the team all season… Read more »
Left, you can walk yourself out the door if you don’t like the direction of the blog.
Azed, no idea on Marc. He’s a chump for not being here when we’re doing well, but I like having him on the blog and I certainly haven’t banned him.
Might email his account to check he’s not dead.
Wow
Don’t worry Marc and the rest of the ” negatives” will be back when we drop a few points.
Le Grove is always a much better place to comment on after a few victories, but you’ll always get your Danny s’s of this world to try and put a dampner on things.
Perhaps someone might comment on my earlier post.?
That Bissouama is to much like Partey and would it work for both to play in the side together.?
United just spent 37 million on an 18 year old winger from Atalanta; Amad Diallo.
I guess that means they won’t be in a hurry to sign Sancho again.
La croqueta
Well said… Ozil has nothing to do with our recent (mostly) poor form prior to a few decent results. He has nothing to do with how we play, where we are in the table, etc… He has nothing to do with how the players are being coached/managed… nothing to do with our tactics/formation, etc… Wenger’s been gone for a while now yet he still gets blamed for some things. Ozil will be gone soon but I too have a feeling that he’ll be blamed for something that has absolutely nothing to do with him.
James, I think Partey is seen as a more progressive midfielder. Bissouma more a traditional DM. They want Partey playing balls into the final third and opening up like he does for Ghana
James Wood
First of all Partey is not a Diaby. This is his first major injury for a very long time.
I do agree that Bissouma and Partey are a bit similar in their playing style. Seeing how Arteta wants our full backs to push very high up the pitch, maybe we want this pace and power duo to provide cover to the advanced full backs while also being good recyclers of the ball. A bit like Liverpool.
James W
Think Partey has more to his game than just being a destroyer. I’d imagine that (and ££££) was one of the reasons he was open to leaving Atletico.
Partey is a progressive midfielder. True. But he definitely isn’t a free 8 or #10. Dont think he would be great if asked to recieve the ball in the final 3rd with his back to goal.
Imo he is best as a #6 in a 4-3-3 or as a #6 or #8 in a double pivot.
Bissouma has become popular here for obvious reasons. I just think he’s a lesser version of Partey imo.
He just reminds of me of Coquelin when he was at his best for Arsenal. There was a breif period where Coquelin was excellent.
Bissouma is athletic, spritely and can cover lots of ground but is not good in advanced positions. He’s also not press-resistant in any way because his passing isn’t that great. He tends to cover his flaws with his sheer athleticism.
Dissenter, he plays in a possession based system, something Coq wasn’t great at.
Dissenter
How much have you seen Bissouma play?