GOOD MORNING TO YOU ALL!
Waking up to a new keeper signing was the fuel I needed to get me through the day.
Matt Ryan joins us on loan from Brighton for the remainder of the season. The Aussie comes with over 100 Premier League appearances worth of experience. He’s a very capable signing and he will allow us to all breath a sigh of relief when we watch Bernd Leno play. Make no mistake, Runnarson would have been deadly to our season if we’d needed to have called upon him.
Signing for the club you grew up supporting as a kid ✔️ @Arsenal
Buzzing to be beginning this new chapter and will give everything I’ve got to contribute to the first club I ever loved. pic.twitter.com/IUohEjFKVK
— Maty Ryan (@MatyRyan) January 22, 2021
Some folk are pointing to poor save percentages, and sure, he’s been out of form this year, but this Brighton fansite points out that maybe covid and family separation has added to that. Overall though, he’s been a big part of keeping a very underfunded team in the league and he’ll add the strength we’ve lacked to the keeping department.
There also sounds like there are rumblings on the left-back front. Currently, Kieran Tierney is backed up by Pablo Mari or Bukayo Saka. Neither option are satisfactory. We’re apparently looking very closely at Ryan Bertrand. The experienced 31 year old is running low on his deal and could be loaned in like Cedric was last year. Not the ideal age profile, but ultimately, we’re up against it this window and as long as there isn’t a 14 year deal at the end, I’m fine with this.
The really exciting rumour? Martin Ødegaard. The NORWEGIAN youngster has gone from ‘no chance’ to ‘very good chance.’ Kike Marin about-faced on his doubts. He’s now leading the charge with Ornstein that the player is very close to making the move to London.
This would be a real coup. We’re not in the financial space to be dropping mega-money on Buendia this window. The best move was always likely to be a loan. What I love about bringing this precocious talent to the club is that it ‘seems’ like a shift in mindset from Edu and Arteta. The easier move and the sexier one might have been Isco or Eriksen. They’d give you instant impact, where Martin Ø might take some bedding in.
… but man, this makes us instantly more exciting. Last season, he played an important role at the exciting Real Sociedad project. He was 2nd to only Messi for progressive balls. I think he was also second with through balls. Third was Santi!
There are limitations to his game. Zizou doesn’t like his nice hair and the defensive lapses in his game. Let’s be real, Madrid is a long, long way from where we are as a club. The bar for making us more creative is quite low. We’ll be better for having him in the squad.
The 22 year old Norway international had a hand in 16 goals during 36 Sociedad outings – and they wanted him back. Solbakken said Arsenal would suit the Madrid playmaker and fits the Arsenal style of play.
“It (Arsenal) is a team with great traditions that have underperformed for a while now. I like Arteta, I think he is a very good manager. But he is not going to a club that is a self-propelled machine. He is going to another country, another league, a different tempo. It shows he has great belief, which makes me happy. The way Arsenal play can fit him well, a kind of football that suits him. He can also play in different midfield roles, whichever Arteta chooses, different formations. He will get assists and be a good team player.”
David Nielsen, his manager at Strømsgodset, likened him to David Silva and Lionel Messi. International teammate and Rosenborg winger Morten Gamst Pedersen dubbed Odegaard “The most talented player I have ever seen. For his age he is unbelievable – his knowledge of the game is unbelievable and his technical skills are fantastic.”
Those quotes are SEXY.
We are not hitting the top 4 this season. This sort of signing for me is all about showing the fans what the future of our football ‘could’ look like. What we’ve badly lacked is quality in the final third, we’ll land that with Martin. Imagine him feeding the runs of ESR, Martinelli, Auba, and Saka.
Finally… Matteo Guendouzi having a bust-up coming out for the second half with one of his teammates? COLOUR ME SHOCKED. He might be talented, but he is Mario Balotelli levels of ‘loose cannon’ and he likely always will be.
See you in the comments.
‘Edu probably thinks Ødegaard is a ski lodge’
via @trentmcginn
We both hope this ages badly.
— Le Grove (@LeGrove) January 19, 2021
How fucking obvious is it that Pepe, Willian, Eddie and Elneny should nevet play for Arsenal again.
How can Southampton play their strongest 11 today & we can’t?
We are not even in this game
The likes of Willian, Eddie, Elneny & Pepe are not good enough. Big cull at halftime needed..
Is caballos ill? A game for him, xacka eleneny is far too negative
Is Martinelli playing?
How bad is Willian?
Agree Nketia is a waste of space. Tap in s are about all he offers.
Pepe is gash
Why isn’t Partey getting game time, he needs to get fit for the Prem..
Withous ESR, Saka and Laca and of course Tierney.. we are below average.
First half chance. Need many more for ’em to score
Radio Raheem
You might be right. Haven’t seen Gabriel since in a while. He’s a good defender, still a lot of stuff to iron out
Walcott NEVER closed down like that when he played for Wenger. Shows how bad a manager he was.
The Willian pass was big off…too wide and took the player away from goal.
How fucking obvious is it that Pepe, Willian, Eddie and Elneny should nevet play for Arsenal again’
They’re fringe players ffs bt my God are they dogshite..
No sign of hunger or anger to claim a first team spot at all.. Garbage players!
Looks like Southampton smell blood
You put a swine up there and a good cross from Pepe is gone into the trough
That’s better
Willian still shit, Gabriel very shaky, Pepe and Eddie invisible, Elneny and Xhaka ineffective, Leno shaky.
Marinelli faded in the last 15 min. Arghhhh
I think this just needs 3 players to come alive a bit
Saka
Tierney
ESR
You take Tierney, Saka and Smith Rowe out of this side and we are a completely different side. Coupled with Partey and Auba being out & Laca in decent form being out.
Yeah ceballos has a calf strain. Think said only out for a few days.
This line up was never going to deliver a good performance. What did Arteta honestly expect with elneny, Willian, Pepe and Eddie in the same team?? Baffling decision.
We look like a team in pre season – passes short, wrong weight, can’t find any pattern or rhythm.
Better directness there from pepe, lovely run martinelli
Cheers gazzap
Willian and Pepe dig themselves deeper into a hole every single time they play. Not even sure they should be fringe players anymore. So bad.
No way Laca with his form shouldn’t be starting ahead of Nketiah.
It’s annoying when one player makes a full frontal press and the rest don’t follow.
Reminiscent of the late Wenger era, that used to vex Alexis.
Oh dear.
Pepe with another dumb play
Bad call by Arteta with this team, losing the good momentum we have & giving Southampton the confidence going into the league game.
He feels like he has to give players minutes to not upset them but the truth is they are shite & he has to pick his strongest 11. Southampton are no mugs either ffs
Same as the last round, I was saying Arteta would have needed to put Saka et al on t
In the 2H to save his arse.
Same here. Just worse.
Martinelli pressing and Eddie checking his imaginary mobile phone SMH. A nothing player.
Cedric with another useless, aimless cross
The club need the cl it is very obvious with the selektion today.
Look at this fucking cross! How off can you get???
Eddie is too laid back.
He needs a loan ..oh wait , that already happened and didn’t go so well.
It’s always nice to be in the good graces of the manager.
Cedric is playing for Arteta statistics. Number of pointless crosses to no one at the other end..
Cedric total pants performance so far
That’s why Arteta has no eye for a talent even if it hits him on the face. El, Willian, Eddie and Xhaka in his eyes are talents.
Arena had the gut to tell the press that player sale was kinda done!!
What about the dross on the o
pitch!??
The massive gap in quality between the first team and this lots is worrisome
Jesus. Why didn’t we even try to muster some sort of attack at the end of the half. Just happy to retain possession like we’re winning the game.
In the end, the Willian and Pepe signings will be as disastrous to the club’s finances as Ozil’s extension was. What a mess.
Eddie is woefully out of his depth at this level. Someone needs to roll out his youth stats quickly and give us 4 paragraphs on why this particular 4-2-3-1 setup isn’t working but why another version of the same 4-2-3-1 would work better using elite hindsight analysis.
Another shite half of football that needs to be rescued by a flawless half of football.
Cedric crossing the ball like a retard is exactly why we’re in the market for a back up LB
First outta the door this TW should have been Arteta
Just shows how bad the squad is.
Too many slow demotivated players.
Another nothing first half performance and Southampton aren’t even that good
Their only goal was a poor cross that was deflected in.
Can’t we release Arteta as a free agent.
I get he wants to try William and pepe, but William is worse than dogshite as a cam, William has to be right, bring pepe into the middle of you just play both
Suprised that score is still only 1-0 despite Eddie , Pepe and Willian starting the game.
Better to convert Reis’s Nelson to a fullback than this stupid 4 year deal given to an average journey man Cedric.
Willian and Pepe are completely stealing a living. It would be bad enough having one of them in a team and we are lumbered with both.
Soton are playing their first team so should be considerably better but we have so much experience in this side too to make us competitive
Truth is the like of Pepe, Willian, Elneny, Xhaka and Cedric are no way good enough for us even as squad options
Can’t extract performance from ‘senior players’
Can’t develop young kids
Can’t get the team to play coherently for ages
Can’t get rid of dross
Can’t retain obvious talent
That was a dismal first half, too many changes by Arteta, xhaka and Elneny have created nothing.. bring in Saka and Partey!
Well our squad is deep numbers wise… but talent wise… it is far from it. I have given up on Willian and Pepe at this point.
Maybe I can Le Grove curse them into a goal.. but not looking likely.
The purchase of willian when done was very very odd, it now looks like one of the worst pieces of business known to man,
It’s like watching a guy whonrembers he used to be good but hasn’t got a clue how he did it
Think we should have went with a stronger side, a poor result needlessly kills momentum and confidence especially when we have to play the same side in a few days time.
Jamie,
He’s England under 21 top scorer, he scored hatric against Maldova. You can’t see his off the ball movements you know nothing.
Gabriel and Holding just don’t look comfortable on the ball. Add in Elneny and you’re struggling to get the ball forward.
Everyone likes Martinelli because of his pace and desire but he’s still very raw.
Have to feel for poor old Middy waking up early for this rubbish. Arteta owes him a strong 2nd half showing.
What’s the game plan, anyone?
Willian is worse than Sanogo . There I said it.
Wow, the second string are showing the manager they have nothing. Some harsh comments re Cedric… He isn’t a left back. Elneny at fault for first goal; I don’t mind him but as others have said, he can’t be in the same lineup as Xhaka. Eddie is awful that experiment needs to die. Take the cash on Eddie and give Balogun game time for me. Gabriel is not at it but to be expected as he has been out a while… Would love to see Pepe given a go as a CAM… Willian is offerring next to nothing.
Arteta has a first half problem, it does not matter what team he plays they are always happy to sit and horseshoe, second half a bit of directness comes in but it’s an issue, you can’t throw away every frost 45 mins
”
Can’t we release Arteta as a free agent.”
A non negotiable written into his contract
Genuinely don’t know who is worse between Willian and Pepe.. How they’re not ashamed a 20yo Saka is making them look absolute idiots is beyond me
When you’re playing a team back to back. It’s important to take the first game very seriously because of the psychological edge it will provide.
Our league season is all but done, the FA cup offered a redeeming opportunity.
The better players should have started today, There are 5 subs allowed so they could have been rotated out.
Arteta out too many c-listers out in the pitch.
Laca should be starting with Martinelli.
Martinelli has been off this half as well. In fairness, nobody played well that half. That doesn’t bode well for the next 45.
Not Arteta’s fault this.. We can’t play our first team in all the matches, they’ll burn out
Haha Thanks Jamie.. Ill survive.. I might be taking a siesta after this though..
.”
VickingzJanuary 23, 2021 13:08:23
What’s the game plan, anyone?”
Put Saka, Tierney and ESR on and toss a coin precisley on 66, 70, and 81 minutes.
I dunno what people are expecting Cedric to do, to dribble or do what with his right leg playing in a position meant for left footed player? No way he’s not gonna be cutting the ball back to his right leg to either play a side way pass, a back pass or just a cross.
Has to bring on Laca, Partey & Saka at half time or we can kiss goodbye to the cup
Vikingz
“What’s the game plan, anyone?”
There isn’t one! Unless Arteta has a cunning plan to unleash Runaarson in the second half!
Time Up –
You’re right. All signs point to him becoming better than Shearer. I’ll cut him some slack.
Willian, Pepe, Elneny, Bellerin, Nketiah. None of these guys should be playing for us.
Cedric is also poor but an okay back up RB.
Just got in and the first thing I saw was that terrible cross from Cedric, read the comments and looks like he’s been dogshite for the entire half.
Outside of a handful of players, we have a very average squad.
Missed first half, Willian stink out the place again?
I know certain posters always have this thing against Xhaka, but hes actually been one of our more effective players Focus on Pepe Willian Nketiah and ElNeny Pepe is completely out of this game and making Bellerin work as twice as hard as he should Willian is a senior player thats playing like a rookie from League One Nketiah is not a Premier League striker. End of. Probably isnt Championship quality. I cant see the point of ElNeny, always chooses the safe option even if it kills momentum and more than ofetn cannot play a progressive pass without making a… Read more »
Mid
The problem is waking up to a shit performance and result kinda messes up your day.
I had that problem when I lived on the pacific coast in the Wenger days.
You wake up to watch Arsenal at 4.30am and watch Charmack miss chance after chance.., then you’re just a zombie till the day is done.
@Vickingz Agreed, Cedric is not where we should be looking to lay some blame….
@Dolomite
I agree 100% with everything you posted just now. Spot on
Victorious
Its Arteta’s fault if he can’t even get our 1.5nd team to play respectably…one that has
* a 72m top left peg
* a successful 250k pw restaurant entrepreneur
* best ever England U23 top, top striker
..amongst other talent
How is it that every comment on here re Willian, Pepe, Mo, Eddie expose the very clear and obvious reasons why we are shit when they play.. Are we all collective sub morons who can’t function at the higher level that Arteta and Edu operate at that sees they are even worthy to wear the shirt?
Pepe and Willian desperately need selling. In pepe’s case I’d honestly take 25m for him right now. In willians case I’d take basically anything at all and not be against losing him on a free lol. Not even joking But the one that disappoints me is Eddie. I know the service and creativity is poor but why does he always look like a boy amongst men? It’s not about height or frame or whatever. He just has absolutely zero presence and it’s a problem. Unless he’s being fed for a tap in he just looks like he doesn’t have any… Read more »
Curious as to why Arsenal can’t play their first team for fear of burn-out yet Southampton with a far smaller squad can. Concentrating on the league? Saints are two points ahead of us with a game in hand so no reason why they should concentrate on the league any less than us.
I mean roll out his stats against Estonia u21s all you want but goodness me Nketiah is just not at the level Arsenal football club need
For those focusing on Martinelli, look at the build up play and the service offered
– percentage crosses
– late wing passes
– no combinations (Tierney/Saka/ESR)
– long hopeful passes from defence
I’m actually impressed that he hasnt given up on such shit service.
a 72m top left peg
* a successful 250k pw restaurant entrepreneur
* best ever England U23 top, top striker”
Lol
I think we’d all MUCH rather be watching the players that played in the U23s last night.
Balogun with a hat-trick by the way. Azeez quality in midfield, Cîrjan, Cottrel, Moller.
Diss –
Yeah man.. it can be brutal… Hopefully we wake the fuck up this half.
We’ve obviously picked things up secobd half, fuck me, immediately atrocious
Even then between Martineau and willia peters
Southampton never beaten Arsenal through out their history in the FA cup.
With generational breaking all records , you know what’s coming!!!!!!!.
Shocking Pete.
Pepe CUNT
Is pepe actually even a footballer, has anyone checked?
Marty getting his pound of flesh back on Walker Peters.
Proper Brazilian.
The current first 11 just played every 4 days or so and have got Southampton, Utd, Wolves and Villa coming up in quick succession.
There had to be rotation today. And then you put a team together who individually haven’t been playing every week and not as a unit and it’s going to be disjointed.
Especially against a good team like Southampton.
Pepe the postman.
Pepe 1 on 1 with a youth player. Youth player wins easily… £72M
Radio commentator stated that the first half performance mirrored the pre game warm up. Southampton were up for it while we were just going through the motions.