Finally, Arsenal has managed to move Mesut Özil out of the club to Fenerbache. One of the most productive and creative players to have worn an Arsenal shirt has said goodbye after his disastrous back-9 at Arsenal climaxed with him being exited from the squad.
I don’t need to go over this again.
The player hasn’t lost out on any money.
Arsenal don’t have to deal with the smoke of his PR wafting through every pre and post-match presser.
I see a lot of his weirdo fans are deactivating their accounts, so we don’t have to deal with the grim toxicity they added to the Arsenal community.
This deal works for everyone.
He gave us some great moments, he won us some trophies, he gave us hope of better days for a little bit. I hope he finds peace in his new role. Good luck, Mesut, we wish you all the best.
Heading the other way is Martin Ødegaard. The Norwegian creative midfielder looked like he was heading to Real Sociedad, but a phone call from used-car-salesman-Arteta seems to have worked the magic. I know people huff at this, but I told you from the start, when Mikel talks football, people pay attention. He has plenty of sauce when it comes to setting the tone for an exciting vision. Now he’s starting to bring in players that can help him deliver on it.
There’s a concern that the player might not adapt. Totally fair. Dennis Suarez arrived and played about 12 minutes. Baptista was totally shite. Dani Ceballos started well and faded. Hold on a minute, why are we signing players from La Liga on short term deals?
Samuel Johnson once wrote, ‘depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.’ In footballing terms, a rejection from Real Madrid is potentially devastating. His career needs to be in the ascension. He has to prove himself. Arsenal presents a unique opportunity he’s smart to take. The bar is very low for creativity, the club is huge, and the only way is up based on the news. The game time he’s been promised and the path to a prestigious move will certainly focus his mind. He’s coming here with a noose around his career, let’s see what he can do.
The big question is going to focus on where he plays. Emile Smith Rowe has been doing an excellent job in that #10 position. It’d be pretty brutal to drop him for someone that’d have to adapt to the league. So are we looking at positions where we’ve been weak this season?
Is there a chance that his range of passing and better mobility could see him slip alongside Thomas Partey? He is certainly more than capable of playing in that role. His passing would be faster than Xhaka’s and it’s clear he has more mobility. The strength of Partey defensively means we can afford the luxury of a more attack-minded player next to him in the double pivot.
He could quite simply be used to rotate with Emile Smith Rowe, but honestly, are we really going to stunt the growth of one of our own to accommodate someone who might leave in a few months? I mean, Arteta has a weird thing with the kids, so who knows.
He might also find himself on the right side of midfield. Saka has been electric there of late but is more than capable of camping out on the left of midfield and forming a partnership with Kieran Tierney. This would all be a little problematic for Gabriel Martinelli, but look, at least we’d have electric options available to us.
I think we should all be excited. Why? Well, if you look at this season with a hopeful lens, and you believe that Mikel Arteta is capable of learning, then the harshest of lessons have already played out.
- Certain senior players are bums and cannot be trusted
- Youth at 100% trumps experience at 70%
- Mobility and pace beats craft and Champions League games
- Shit performance is part of the non-negotiables
- There’s a right way to lose, and it’s not playing with peak Tony Pulis principles
The second half of the season won’t see as many red cards. It hopefully won’t see as many awful injuries. It won’t have senior players trying to down the manager. It won’t be bereft of shots (up to 10th!). The football won’t be boring.
Where we’ll finish is going to be very dependent on what happens with the next two games. Beat Southampton and United, maybe we can have an interesting conversation. We’d be 10 points off United who are top and we’d be very much in the mixer for the top 4. I don’t think we have enough this season, but we’d be within spitting distance by February, which I said was always the target for the club. From there, it’d be a cup run, which suits our best players.
One to ponder. See you in the comments.
1
2
3
clever title, top 4???
Boom!
Son of a…
If you believe that Mikel Arteta is capable of learning
Not on the evidence I have seen.
And just stop with the special sauce Pedro – I can’t work out if you are trolling yourself (in which case fair play) or just deluded.
Where we will finish.
Graham
Agree on the “sauce”. It’s just downright silly at this point. If anything, it’s expired mayo is what Arteta is.
Just a quick question.
If Ryan takes up the non home grown player spot which Kolasinac vacated, we might have to de register another player from our squad to occupy Odegaard right?
Is there any way we can give Willian a proper vacation?
Not much left to be excited about this season. We are just not good enough for a top 4 this season when it comes to our depth. We are one injury away from struggling to score any goals. Hopefully we can win Europa though. Our European resume is far from impressive for a club our size.
The same sauce that thought Willian was a worthwhile buy.!
After the past few months I’d be happy if the word sauce were permanently removed from the English lexicon. We’ve done alright the past month in the premier league, but it’s not at all clear that Arteta has sorted things out. He seems very stubborn and somewhat inflexible, very “my way or the highway,” and his man management seems very suspect. I certainly hope that he turns out to be the sauciest generational talent of his generation, but I wouldn’t wager on it.
It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve last visited le grove, does Pedro still believe Arteta is the Generational One?
So called ‘fans’ deactivating their accounts because a player leaves? Sad bunch and no loss at all.
The saucy one happened.
‘but a phone call from used-car-salesman-Arteta seems to have worked the magic. I know people huff at this, but I told you from the start, when Mikel talks football, people pay attention. He has plenty of sauce when it comes to setting the tone for an exciting vision’.
>>>>>>>>
So Arteta can talk the talk but he can’t walk the walk. Please stop saying he has sauce, there is no evidence of sauce.
So Pedro, quite rightly, mocks the Ozil fan boys.
The irony.
Pedro Let us be gracious and wish Ozil all the best in his move to Fernebahce. The lesson which needs to be learned by the club from this sorry affair is that they need to be a lot smarter in the way that they handle contract negotiations with players. It is not Ozil’s fault that we have landed up with such an enormous bill for his services. You pose in this post the question as to how we can use both Smith-Rowe and Odegaard in the same team? Frankly I see no reason not to do so so long as… Read more »
The lesson which needs to be learned by the club from this sorry affair is that they need to be a lot smarter in
the way that they handle contract negotiations with players.
>>>>>>>>>
er, Willian?
WoW! GB lost. What a surprise!
Arteta seems happy, sounds like the press snitch has gone.
Just hope we see plenty more of ESR this season whatever formation he plays.
Still, no excuse for not playing creatives, and hope this weekend is the last we see without these type of players
Cazorla had the versatility to play as a winger, offensive and central midfielder.
Smith-Rowe has similar versatility and could play just as easily alongside Partey a role that
Xhaka, Ceballos and Elneny have played. The difference is that he is more creative than those three.
In any event Arsenal need to improve the quality of their midfield options. Our options have been very thin in recent years.
I’m sure this kid is a good player but my gut tells me after all the hype he’s going to be more Ceballos than elite.
I would love to be wrong, but it’s just a gut feeling. Still glad we’ve done it tho as he cost less than 2m and his wages are bugger all
Good deal on paper, so we’ll see anyway
I mentioned the other day if we had elite creativity ahead of him esr might do really well as a b2b based on his attributes Lots of the most elite creative players of the last 20 years have been b2b or even deeper rather than playing as a 10. Cesc being one of the very best examples. And also it sure would be nice to have creativity coming from an extra position. A lineup that has Auba, Laca, Saka, Øde, ESR and Partey presumably has a few goals in it you’d imagine I think with ESR we can just see.… Read more »
At least in a worst case scenario we appear to have a rotation option at 10. Even if that’s all Ode ends up being that’s fine considering the cheap deal
Stroller
“Frankly I see no reason not to do so so long as Partey is playing in the same team. Smith-Rowe can play a “central midfield role”. ”
That won’t happen….what will happen is Odegaard will come on as a sub for Smith Rowe in the 65th minute or thereabouts
ESR could do massive things alongside partey because we’d finally have two CMs who can receive the ball on the half turn and burst past people and pick a pass The highest praise you can levy at Xhaka and El Neny is ‘they didn’t make any mistakes’ but this is such a low bar in seriousness. CM is the most influential role on the whole pitch and your CMs should be looking to dominate the match, not just ‘keep it ticking over’. Like I said we don’t need to commit to this as a long term plan, but if ESR… Read more »
Pierre I do agree tho regardless of if that could work, arteta probably doesn’t have the smarts to make it happen. 65th minute sub for ESR is likely as creative as Mikel is going to get
Arteta’s system relies Xhaka to backup Tierney, who in turn would allow Auba to play the inside left attacker role. I can’t see Arteta would change this system.
Imagine the furore if Odegaard is picked ahead of Smith Rowe and we lose .
That decision by Arteta would be up there with binning Ozil and then the team going 320 hours( or thereabouts) without a goal from open play….
“That decision by Arteta would be up there with binning Ozil and then the team going 320 hours( or thereabouts) without a goal from open play….”
Did you deactivate your account?
The point I am making is for this season and not the future. Odegaard is coming in on loan
for 6 months with no option to buy.
What I was suggesting is how ESR and Odegaard could play in same team alongside Partey.
I anticipate still that Arsenal will bring in on a more permanent basis a quality central midfield to complement both Partey and ESR.
As I have suggested on many occasions Arsenal need at least 5 quality midfielders to rotate if we are to fulfil our requirements in EPL, Europe and Cup competitions.
“I don’t think that was an option at any time,” he told a press conference. “Clearly, with everything that he showed [here], what a good player he is, the team would grow even more, but at no time has there been any possibility that he would return here.”
Real Sociedad coach addressing the Odegaard loan return news 2 days ago. So much for Arteta convincing him to join Arsenal. Assuming they were other clubs interested
1sr
If the move is announced today , we he be available to play for us against Southampton ?
Odegaard is not really “pacy” over the first 2 yards line a rosicky or willock. His biggest challenge would be to adapt to the piece of the EPL. He has good close control, so if he is able to weather the faster closing down and referees allowing to kick you every now and then, he will be alright. I specifically mentioned the pace because, if you quicker, it offers you more to time to adapt as you can recover from reflexes being a little slow to anticipate the opponents with your legs. The only way ESR, Odegaard and Saka start… Read more »
Pace of the EPL*
Even if Ødegaarde signs today he is going to be coming in against Soton. I think Pierre 8s correct, he will be eased into the team.
There’s also.much talk about RM being open to discussing Ødegaarde at the conclusion of the loan deal.
Not going to be coming on against Soton.
Between ESR and Ode, ESR seems the stronger player physically. Ode will get a rude awakening no doubt. Look at Suarez… another lightweight and both of them eerily look similar. PTSD kicking in… Now Ode is here 6 mos. Is he cover? Is he auditioning for a deal? No doubt Madrid would have , as part of his loan mentioned a min of games he needs to play.. I doubt they will let their asset depreciated even more at this point, if a sale is to be made in summer. So the question is, is he cover or how does… Read more »
Or in the hole
___ Leno___
Bell__Gab__Mari__KT
______ TP_________
Saka___ESR___Martinelli
_______ODE__________
_____Auba/Laca_______
ESR is injury prone too, so overall I am not so sure of him putting in more defensive duties in the middle…
In any regard, both of them provide cover and competition so not a bad thing
According to Jan Åge Fjørtoft he said that Martin Ødegaard before he signed for Real had 4 clubs that he considered going to and Arsenal was one of them. I wish him all the best in transforming the squad. As far as Ozil is concerned it has been revealed that Ozil could land £670,000 in bonuses alone this season. He will be handed an extra £445,000 if he helps Fenerbahce to a first league title since 2014 plus a return to the Champions League would see him pocket another £222,000 bonus. The club is tied for first. Truly a sweet… Read more »
GSF, my thoughts too, playing ESR as CM is a NO, increases his chances of injury and he isnt at Carzolas/Rosiky level in terms of dictating tempo.
All that is left for Arsenal fans is wishful thinking, thats how bad it is.
I don’t think ESR would be a great CM. He will be a great number 10 though. His ability is not dependent up on recieving a lot of the ball. He is not as technically gifted as some think. He is just good. He isn’t a high volume passer and he is not the best defensively. But he has unreal intelligence of positions he takes up. You could see him on either wing at the right moment. He is in half spaces behind DMs at the right time too. That is why he has been so effective. His movement off… Read more »
Habesha I agree with you except with Ode as a CM He will get eaten alive, being new to EPL, skinny, not physically mature, etc. He needs the ball at his feet outside the box, which is where he operates like a true 10. I agree with ESR and his movements… He knows where laca, saka are going to be… he has good chemistry with them Ode will take a long time to find his role an feet in EPL. I can only hope he hits the ground running and Mike is clear with him what he wants… We are… Read more »
Willian can now focus on his upcoming 50th birthday celebrations now
MD
In the Ozil saga, Arsenal (mostly Edu) was smart. He found a way to make the Ozils move to Fener to be a transfer without a fee. That way we stand a chance of earning through bonus payments too. Like champions League qualifications, winning the league, number of appearances etc. The Athletic said this
Guns of SF
That line up is mouth watering! A return to the attacking days” None of the backwards/sideways nonsense, no retirees in the team – bring it on! Add Azeez, Cottrell, Ryan, Moller, Cirjan to the bench and off we go!
In all honesty no-one knows how Odegaard will adapt to the EPL – it is suck it and see time. Unfortunately we all know how Willian, Xhaka, Elneny and Luiz play!
Only injuries or red cards keep xhaka off the starting XI and he seldom gets both. lol. Happy times
Odegaard came to AFC not because of MA but because RM didnt want to send him to a rival. The player was stagnating at the club and needs game time – RS and AFC were the inly two options.
RS was not an option. Only Arsenal was
Habesha ESR does not need to play No 10 exclusively in contrast to Ozil. He is far more mobile and has a “work ethic”. As I suggested he should model his game more on Cazorla who was far more versatile than Ozil and could play anywhere in midfield or wing apart from DMF. However, ESR is just beginning to establish himself in first team and it makes sense that he will probably “rotate” with Odegaard. Ceballos and Odegaard are short term recruitment options. However I expect Arsenal to start rebuilding the midfield on a more permanent basis starting in summer.… Read more »
I read somewhere Ode hasn’t played 90 minutes since June, so the idea he will start tomorrow is fantasy land.
“a lot of his weirdo fans”
There’s only one I know of.
Guns of SF I have doubts about Odegaard’s defensive contributions but there is no doubt in my mind he can be good in the attacking phase. And physicality will be an issue whether he plays CM or CAM. In fact there is a lot more tackles and duels in attacking areas than CM. A N0 10 will also need to deal with DMs and CBs. But we know what we have at CM. There is a lot of upside to playing Odegaard there than our other crappy midfielders. We would be passing the ball forward all the time. So I… Read more »
So Ødegaard will cost around £2.5million including wages.
Divide that by the 25 games = £100,000 per game.
Good value?
A CM needs to retreive the ball more from opponents, a CAM only needs to outsmart the opponents DM and CBs
Most of Arsenals deals are never good value just between poor value and average value
Its usually a domino effect, sign Ozil long term, sign Willian to replace Ozil instead of Buendia, realize we need more playmakers mid season, sign Odegaard instead of playing Azeez or signing Michael Olise,
find ourselves in the summer with the option of signing an overpriced Buendia/Olise without any youth prospect that has had game time.
Panic buy on the last day of summer window.
Wash, rinse, repeat
Arteta might be able to talk the talk so also does Mustafi but we would rather see the sauce on the field than in press conferences.
Playing regularly 18 year old Azeez who has less than 3 senior appearances to his name or signing and playing regularly another 18 year old Olise who hasn’t played in the premier League.
No thanks. Give me Odegaard for 100,000 per game till the summer unless you have 40m at the moment to throw at Buendia.
My preferred signing even in the summer will still be Brandt but I like Buendia too. I think it will be easier to sign Brandt
Presumably Odegaard will be eased into the match day side.But does anyone really think Arteta will do this by dropping his most “favourite” player in Xhaka.Otherwise he would need to change to team’s formation and I can’t see that happening either. We always like to think that the Manager has a plan but Arteta has proved again and again that he doesn’t really have one.So initially,at least,he will just rotate Odegaard into the side in place of those players who will complain the least when being substituted…under the pretence that they are “young” and need protecting.Another sign that we are… Read more »
The fact Odegaard hasn’t played in the EPL isn’t lost on me too. But he’s 22 with tons of match experience so he can adapt quicker to EPL than Olise and Azeez
24 matches in the championship 4 goals 8 assists 19 yrs old vs
someone who hadnt completed 90 mins this season.?
Very low risk, high reward involved in the Odegaard deal for me, he could be great or he could be anonymous every game he features in but as he was one of the best attacking players in la liga last season I think we’ve got an asset.
Good solo pod by the way Pedro.
Yea right Sid, only this season counts. I forgot.
Sign Micheal Olise!!!
Olises stats at 19 years are almost similar to , Buendia
21 matches 7 goals 6 assists.
This season we have not given chances to academy players,
we would not have Saka, ESR if previous seasons the same was done.
Odegaard is still recovering from a knee injury .
The current decision making is very myopic, it will cost us longterm
Sid, the pressure is different. Context man. Stats don’t cover everything. Saliba had monster stats at 18 but still had to spend a year on loan at St Etienne. And even if Arteta didn’t mess him up was not expected to start and then replicate those performances all the time in the EPL
A cup run that suits our players??? Like Saturday’s debacle…
I do not expect them to replicate their perfomances. We messes Saliba Leicester gave Fofana a chance. Papasok leicester gave Soyuncu a chance.
Im saying its a safer bet than an injury prone player who madrid are not very keen on at the moment and who in the event steps up will be off then Arsenal will be back to square one.
Buendia will not be coming to Arsenal.
Arsenal need at least 5 quality midfielders if they are to compete again at top level in EPL and qualify for Champions League. That will be achievable only through a combination of promoting home grown talent like Saka and ESR and recruitment of players through transfer market like Partey. As I have posted previously Arsenal should still pursue Aouar as our next recruit in transfer market. I am sure that can be more than adequately covered next summer by sales. For example whilst Pepe has proved a disappointment in London we know that he is highly rated in France albeit… Read more »
“I know people huff at this, but I told you from the start, when Mikel talks football, people pay attention. He has plenty of sauce when it comes to setting the tone for an exciting vision.”
I almost threw-up on myself upon reading that.
not sure why people are talking about ESR as a central midfielder when he has just got into the team , yes he may have the attributes to play there but I would think that is akin to playing Saka as left wing back and not the greatest use of his quick one touch incisive passing , in the final third he makes Arsenal quicker and more dangerous and he is a baby who has played all of a minute and yet we have fans saying switch him to a central midfield role , I think it is probably better… Read more »
Stroller – While I agree Aouar should be first choice, the likelihood of him choosing Arsenal this summer over other teams is very low in my opinion. He is also the midfield playmaker for the potential Ligue 1 champions as Lyon are only a couple of points behind PSG. Why would he come to Arsenal when he (or his representatives) have already turned us down in the past? Then you look at the cost, unless we get significant funds from the sales of Guendouzi and Lucas Torreira can we afford the 50-60 million price tag? To be honest can we… Read more »
I should clarify that , I don’t see the need for ESR to play further back in a CM two is what I meant to say
Was TP bought in to be a DM? I prefer him in the B2B department with elneny playing more defensively.
ESR maybe able to play as a CM. I do like his pass and go method rather than the chaka method of pass and then point to where the player with the ball should pass next.
Martin ode I have yet to see. I don’t mind a 6 month loan though let’s hope he has more of an impact than kallstorm.
Should have done a lot of this in the summer!
Why it took to the jan window to realise we are full of bums that need fucking off I don’t know.
Still, better late than never right?
Hopefully we can kickstart the season with a win v United and make up the lost ground a big chunk.
Am I the only one who thinks Auor is over rated? Will be kinda like pepe, tearing it up in ligue 1 but won’t be physically up for it in the PL. He is going to cost a lot and it’s not a gamble worth taking.
I think most Arsenal fans are of the opinion Aouar does not really fancy Arsenal and would much prefer Juve or Madrid , teams much more fitting and suitable to his ability , it seems there is a bit of an arrogant vibe comming from his camp in that he thinks he is to good for Arsenal and why would you make a player who has turned you down already( even with the used car sales man intervention ) your top target seems silly to me me . Ability wise yes great exactly the profile we are looking for but… Read more »
Danny
Arteta the saucy one thought he could have everyone playing like world class players, bumping their worth up by 100%. He thought he was peak Wenger in man management and coaching.
Shaun – 100% in agreement.
Gonsterous – you have a point for every Hazard that adapts well to the league you get more than a few Gervinho’s!
Azeez is more a CM than CAM. Would want to see him being introduced gradually as back up to Partey
Players on the up/ with options like Aouar, Buendia are unlikely to sign for us in our current state.
Our options are cast aways like Odegaard and youth players with high potential. The latter is the better choice
I wouldn’t call Odegaard a cast away!
I don’t see Arsenal going back for Aouar. At least I hope not.
Sid
You are wrong.
Players will move to clubs who can afford both transfer fee and wage bills.
In the current market conditions there are very few clubs outside England who fit into that
category. Arsenal plead poverty, but despite that have spent £72 million on Pepe and £45
million on Partey in last two seasons.
Real Madrid and Barcelona are not currently in great financial shape and I suspect that is
also the case in Italy.
I think we will move to a 4-3-3 in games against teams who offer a low block and stick with 4-2-3-1 in games against sides we want more defensive stability against. In the 4-3-3 Ode and ESR will play as 8s with Thomas sitting. This will give us more players attacking and getting into the box. We will see Xhaka return in the other formation with one of ESR/Ode missing out. The 4-3-3 is Arteta’s dream formation and very similar to how Pep plays with City.
It’s because we spent £72 million on Pepe and £45 million on Partey in last two seasons we plead poverty.
Forgot the 30m for gab, 27m for Saliba too.
Cheney
433 is the closest we can play with Ode and ESR. But they both need to be able to track back as well as move forward in quick transitions. Can Ode do it? Based on reports, I think that’s his weak point.
That’s assuming Arteta drops his man friend Xhaka. Which is 200% impossible
From Adam Crafton
Packed inside read on Lampard’s sacking but this quote from one #cfc player’s agent sums it up: “Lampard has series of huge investments he does not have ability to maximise, but more than that, he appears to have given up on attempting to maximise them”
Morning all. I agree with Emiratesstroller and Guns. ESR & Odegaard can play together, not sure why anyone thinks they can’t. Football has changed, the game is more fluid, against the high press you really do need technical ball players. you only have to look at how under Guardiola Man City play and move the ball in transition. Wenger too used to play with as many technical players as he could in the final third, which made us an exciting team to watch. Let’s face it, we have been pretty bland prior to ESR coming into the team, as many… Read more »
@Mysticleaves Would you say Gundog and De Bruyne have great defensive capabilities? I think the idea is to cut space, crowd players fast with a press and keep possession. Think Xaxi and Inestia, were they defensively capable? The caveat here is that I’m not saying Ode and ESR are in the same class as the players I’ve used as examples, I have simply used them to illustrate that you do not need to be ‘defensively able’ to play in the 4-3-3. The idea is that the press and possession are your def with the insurance of Partey, Fernandinho, Bus etc..
newspapers are reporting that Frank Lampard is about to get sacked. A Good or a bad thing for Arsenal?
Chelsea did not hesitate to sack Lampard a real club legend who as a player won the premier league, the Champion’s League with them when performance dipped in the league.
Meanwhile Arsenal reassert their confidence to the manager who presided on the worst start of the club for the last 30 years…