Wooooaaaahhhh… did I wake up FRESH from the news. I could run a marathon. I could climb a mountain. My head is so clear now Mustafi is gone I think I’m going to apply for a job at SpaceX on the rocket science team.
The German World Cup winner held us back in life, now he’s gone. Good riddance. No sentimentality here. He was a terrible, terrible signing and I am here, with you, thanking the footballing gods for lifting him from the club.
I always thought he was just a nightmare center-back, but when the rumblings came my way that he was difficult behind the scenes, it was time to exit.
Thoughts and prayers for Schalke… Christian Gross as their new manager, Kolasinac as their captain, Mustafi as their defensive rock… could you imagine a worse film poster?
So, how did we finish the window? About £600k a week better off. That’s how you do ruthless business in a pandemic.
The absolute key is to NOT put that money into a bunch of bums Kia knows this summer.
This is a semi-fresh start, obviously slightly tainted by the fact we forked out a lot of money on certain players this summer that will not provide long-term value. Those decisions were made, we now have to lie with them on a bed of nails.
We’ve cleared out underperformers on the pitch, we rid the dressing room of players that were less than helpful, and we’ve freed up cash flow so we can move for the players we want this summer.
We also did a pretty decent job of looking after the future.
Joe Willock has gone to Newcastle to help Steve Bruce out with his team’s appalling final ball. I think he’s had a bit of an identity crisis, everyone knows there’s a player there, no one knows what that player is. He couldn’t be going to a club more desperate for a spark, so let’s see what he has.
AMN, as I suspected, took a loan move to West Brom. He had 5 offers apparently. What is pointed is the fact he binned off bigger clubs. His loan move isn’t about his lack of talent, it’s about scratching a very specific itch… he wants to show Edu and Arteta he can be a midfielder at the highest level. The player is coming back to us next season, if he wasn’t, I suspect he might have tried to impress at Southampton or Leicester. What better way to show you are top tier than keeping West Brom in the Premier League? Last player to go to West Brom from Arsenal was Serge G… let’s feed AMN the same water and keep em’ crossed.
We’ve gone over the William Saliba stuff. He’s in the right place. @GrimandiTweetss, a guy who actually watches him, had this to say on where he’s at development wise (referencing his error this weekend that cost Nice the game).
As I’ve been watching him at Nice, it’s apparent his one glaring deficiency is his lack of ability to defend the high cross
His shape is often wrong, that’s why it skimmed off his head and they score
It’s not just a matter of getting games, it’s a matter of releasing the skill of defending crosses. For such a big chap, he doesn’t impose himself defending crosses in open play or at set-pieces
Half a season in France isn’t as ideal as half a season in Championship would have been, but you know what, it’s a helluva lot better than sitting on the bench.
There were some other moves. Matt Smith moved to Charlton for the remainder of the season, Swindon fans were absolutely feeeewming over this, which is great news.
I was a bit disappointed that Reiss Nelson managed to avoid a loan move again, a move to Valencia collapsed. It kind of looks like he’s blown a year on his own terms. He should have taken a loan in the Premier League. Now he’s cratered his value and no one really knows what he’s capable of. Not the sharpest advice he’s taking.
This summer is going to very interesting. Arsenal are going to be making big plans again. They’ll likely be looking to add another creative player, but the most important position they’ll address is central midfield. I think everyone is very aware of the limitations we have in midfield right now and they’ll be looking at top class options to play next to Thomas Partey. It’ll all depend on what we can do in terms of sales. Lucas Torreira and Matteo G will be high on the exit list. I suspect we’ll also be looking to whip up interest in players coming to the end of their deals, or, players that just need to find new clubs because they aren’t quite right for the future.
If we can bring in £80m, expect us to drop another Thomas Partey like move on the market and plug some gaps that are clear. Could be interesting. I just hope Edu isn’t ready with his mega contracts for older players… he needs to move on names that aren’t part of the 5-year plan and continue to trim that wage bill.
The Swiss Ramble ran the numbers that basically showed we’ve dropped £236m of wastage on talent over the last 10 years.
Arsenal have finally moved on Mesut Ozil and Shkodran Mustafi via free transfers, which raises the question of how good the club’s recruitment has been. Looking at this over a longer period, we can see that since 2010 they have lost (in cash terms) a cool £236m #AFC pic.twitter.com/17augNMb2W
— Swiss Ramble (@SwissRamble) February 2, 2021
Our new strategy needs to start refocusing on how we have a consistent flow of transfer cash coming through the door. 26 should be the max-out age of players we sign. Really, 22-23 is the sweet spot. You can mold the players in your vision, you know they’ll only be thinking about football, and they’ll be at wage pricepoint that means you can easily sell them.
The hope is Edu and Arteta have learned the harshest of lessons this season. This window indicates that maybe that’s the truth. Youth is the way forward, there are no shortcuts to the top, if we start acknowledging that now, we’ll move forward as a club… if we don’t, we’re just burning more cash on an idea that has failed for 5 years.
Edu has done a very good job this window, but we do need to be careful that we don’t celebrate table stakes like we’re rocking the world of football innovation. De-bloating the squad, signing young talent on loan, and moving out young players to gain more experience is sharp… but we can’t forget what went before. The truth will arrive in the summer. Contracts, new signings, how we sell… BUT… this is a great start to the first non-Raul window. So praise and credit are due.
Right, Wolves tonight. We need 3 points. Auba, Saka, Mari, and Ceballos are all in contention. We might see Odegaard as well. It’s a huge game, Nuno really hasn’t managed to get his side into gear this season, but… we are always a gift to struggling managers, so who knows what will happen.
Play like we did against United and we’ll be in with a good chance of coming away with the points.
If Saka had scored in the first minute, we would have won the game comfortably.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Why can’t people talk about the actions of the player’s instead of blaming the officials and the manager etc. – Laca was offside should of checked his positioning before making the pass – Saka should of scored his first opportunity and hit the ball with his outside of foot rather than hit it low. -David Luiz for all his good play switched off before the half time whistle – Leno mistake never really in doubt As much as dominated the first half we were only up 1-0 and we didn’t have it in us to punish them. Some will say… Read more »
*Rather he should.of hit the ball low.
If Saka had scored in the first minute, we would have won the game comfortably.
Graham
No doubt about that.
It’s a definite penalty and red for luiz.
If I were walking down the road and someone got so close behind me that my foot hit them when I took a step and I tripped because of it, whose fault is it I fell over?
Then add to the fact it was a CLEAR goal scoring op and you have a red.
Luiz is a dickhead and he needs to fuck off soon as.
Pen but not a red card!
Simple as that. Any other opinion is plain stupid!
It wasn’t a deliberate attempt to impede the player and moreover, it wasn’t such a clear goal-scoring opportunity as Leno was near the ball.
Referees don’t always have to follow the exact law. We saw this all time with different types of fouls like hanbdballs.
Common sense would have prevailed if VAR did its job and asked the referee to review it on the monitor.
Horrible decision and an unfair result but I was happy with how the team played.
Leno was nowhere near the ball.
https://youtu.be/Km50KziNjxs
Buzzy
Hence my take on ditching those who oversee VAR.
Plain stupid the lot of them.
After Pepe’s last 3 performances
Does he deserve to start on the left instead of Aubameyang against Villa?
I reckon alot us including myself would of wanted a red card if our player was in that position Regardless of no intention.
You didn’t need VAR to see it was a clear penalty .
I’d say the foul was more intentional than most because the player was bearing down on goal.
it wasn’t such a clear goal-scoring opportunity as Leno was near the ball.
Check the highlights again and then tell us it wasnt a goal scoring opportunity and Leno was near the ball 😂
Buzzy Based on current rules, which I think we can all agree are crazy, if it was a penalty then unless Luiz made an attempt to play the ball, which he didn’t then it’s a red . Pawson prior to VAR almost certainly wouldn’t have been sure so no red, However because VAR wou,d see for clear what happened then you haven’t just got to factor in that unsure on field ref you have a qualified ref looking at replay after replay to form a decision and then you have the luxury of the ref going over to potentially see… Read more »
Samesong
So it then begs the question why did Leno handle outside the box? If he hadn’t thought it was,
The problem was had the ball got past Leno the closest player was a Wolves player with no Arsenal player getting close to the ball
There was 2 mins of added time.
Why didn’t the ref blow up ?
The incident was 39 seconds after full time.ie 2m 39 sec
Often refs let a corner be taken after full time and then only blow up after the corner is cleared.
This is not right. Why do they not keep to the time?
Please please forget the notion that a foul was either intentional or not because that consideration is not something that is included in law
If foul is awarded or a bad tackle happens then it’s the looked at without trying to guess what’s in the players mind
Spanishdave
When the board is shown it’s the minimum extra time to be played so it could have been he intended to play2 minutes 59 seconds.
It’s only a clear penalty of Utd would have conceded it as well, think we all know the answer to that
Dave, their get out is that it’s a ‘minimum’ of 2 minutes. It’s all bollocks anyway, the additional time being shown was just another TV gimmick, as you know the ref used to decide when to blow up and none of us knew when that would happen until he lifted the whistle to his lips.
Tera
Leno looked scared that Toure was running towards him. I don’t blame him. As any contact to Leno he’s getting clattered again, shades of Brighton game might of flashed before his eyes. He still could of controlled the ball with his body.
Buzzy it seems you are the stupid one. Saying Leno was close to the ball. It will take a miracle for Leno to even see where the ball was placed if he got his shot away.
The ref waited to make sure it wasn’t a dive. VAR confirmed there was a contact and the result was fair. Red card and penalty. Spot on.
Buzzy, there is no such thing as ‘common sense’ if you’re a referee. I have been a ref and I can tell you that even twenty years ago any young referee who used common sense or did not stick strictly to the guidelines would get absolutely nowhere as a referee and certainly wouldn’t make the PL list. Fans wanted ‘consistency’ which was interpreted as absolutely no deviation from the laws of the game and robotic refereeing.
Really tough to digest last nights result, we has Wolves on the ropes for the whole first half. Reminds me of Wengers days TBH. Top 4 now becomes mission impossible
Andy
As they say be careful of what you wish for
Top 4 now becomes mission impossible
Plenty of football still to be played. But yes I agree and never had that expectation anyway.
Maybe 7-8th finish?
The law is not wrong, the application of the law by PGMOL and English pundits that is wrong. It’s a red and a penalty if the player commits a foul. If there is no foul, then there is no red nor penalty. Not all contact are fouls. An accidental tangle of legs is just an accidental tangle of legs not a foul. Incompetence cannot be eradicated by law. Remember the ManCity offside goal that was not offside. PGMOL issue a clarification of the interpretation of the law that did not change the law nor its interpretation. Instead of admitting that… Read more »
There is no smoke without fire, if you have referees like Craig pawson whom we have lost all the games he has been in charge off then questions need to be asked, who polices the PGMO, before the luiz incidents we had penalty shouts, yet none was sent to VAR, this northern cabal needs to be investigated, I sense something like what happened in Italy with Juventus and the refs. They have a hit squad of refs who they send to officiate certain matches. The press are all complicit, they know what’s going on but because most of them are… Read more »