Nothing, and I mean nothing… enrages me more than a drip from a badly sealed coffee cup. I would go take a country to war over such a sleight.
I have no segue, I just wanted to share that.
So what do we have today?
ARSENAL SIGNED A PLAYER.
Unreal stuff. The pull of Edu and Mikel is real, we’ve landed the best back-up left-back that money can buy. Nuno Tavares comes into the club for under £10m. He’s a Portuguese U21, he’s a bang-bang kind of player, and his profile closely maps to Kieran Tierney, which means continuity when there’s a need for a rest.
It’s a tough position to fill. Do you go for an experienced head that has no resale value, like Leicester has, or do you sign someone young that might not hit the mark right away? I think this option is best for our business model. It’s also nice for the overall vibe of the squad. Tavares won’t be satisfied with the bench, he’s grown up with Felix, that’ll keep hunger levels in the squad at optimum levels.
Next up would seem most likely to be Sambi Lokonga. Again, the right age profile, a very high ceiling, with a skill set that very closely aligns with Thomas Partey. I think Clive from Arsenal Vision has it right when he says we need to raise the ceiling and the floor. Our floor with midfielders was a basement that had flooded last season. Sambi Lokonga has better potential than anyone we’ve shipped out. We’re moving in the right direction here. I’m still interested to see who we sign to replace Xhaka… hoping it’s Locatelli or someone with his power. But we’ll see.
The pattern: Arsenal building back with young kids with high ceilings.
You love to see it. Also interesting to note that Tavares said his favourite player was ”The Smith’ because he is my generation’… blooding kids shows other young talents that Arsenal is the place to be. I do not think it is a coincidence that the emergence of Saka has coincided with Martinelli, Balogun, Kido Hart, and Okonkwo signing new deals. We’re starting to become the place to be if you are a young player. Bright young coach, massive stadium, London social life, elite training facilities, and the chance to make a name at a club hopefully on the rise.
There’s still a load of work to do moving players on, but this time around, I think we actually have people that other clubs want. Patrick Vieira, fresh off the back of signing the excellent Michael Olise, is apparently interested in adding Eddie Nkeitiah to his squad next season. I think it’s a smart move, he has it in him to be a very good striker, but he needs minutes. You know one thing for certain, he’ll get you goals, hopefully we get more than £12m for him. Wouldn’t it be something in Patrick turned Palace into an exciting team to watch?
Xhaka, Hector, and Kola will be the next names to drop. I suspect we’ll see movement out the club for Ainsley, which is a shame, but he wants a position we can’t give him. There are also positive rumours out of France that suggest Arsenal are not looking to move on Saliba (shocker), they see him as a key part of the future, but the recco is a loan… TAKE THE NEWCASTLE GIG WILLIAM.
Arsenal launched HUGE news yesterday that they are going to do an All or Nothing documentary. It’s a bit annoying because I spent a large part of last summer ripping into Spurs fans about it… but here’s the thing, it makes a lot of sense on so many levels IF you look at football through the prism of ‘it is content’ and ‘it is business.’
Now, I have some expertise here. I’ve spent the last 5 years working closely with an unscripted reality TV network (one of my fave clients ever), which isn’t far off what these shows are. If you can make it work, the positives can be huge. The fandom around these things is SPECTACULAR. You have women leaving them and making $100m. I worked at a convention they held, it was $400 a ticket, it sold out in about 10mins, and it was WILD. Louder than a cup final. These shows connect people to the talent in ways you can’t imagine. I’m not sure if Arsenal has the acumen to make it work for them in that way, but if you do it right and connect all the pieces together, it can have lucrative bottom-line implications.
Some ways it could be good:
After a year of being out the ground, it’s a great way to bring the club closer to the fans. We’re going through a rebuilding process at Arsenal, we’re doing it with young players and a young coach, and it’s exciting. But there’s a huge swath of fans that don’t like it and I suspect some of the logic is that this will humanise the process. It’s hard to hate people when you can see they are trying to do something positive. It’s hard to say ‘it’s all shit’ when you can see it on the TV. This will soften how people see the club.
Additionally, there will be some reputation pumping going on here. The club must think what they are doing is impressive. They must believe that the coaching staff and technical team will come across well. They must have seen that Jose Mourinho came out looking pretty human from the Spurs doco and want a bit of that. There’s an element of ego associated with this, but also the realization that they have come across very badly over the past 5 years.
The worry? When you work in reality TV, you’ll hear it all the time, ‘they didn’t treat me fairly, the full context wasn’t there.’ This is the risk. Amazon is unlikely going to pay £10m to give Arsenal creative control and a veto on the work. I could be totally wrong, but they are a megalith and the job of this doco is have people watch it. They need the drama, they need the bad eggs, they need the heroes, and they need a narrative. Someone will pay the price, because that is how you sell content and get more people buying toilet rolls via Amazon Prime. You have no idea who the editor is, what mood they’re in, or who they support. Being made to look a total whopper on a global scale is not going to be fun, but someone will get that treatment.
I think there’s also a bit of surprise that the Bank Of England club would go down this path. We’re letting people in behind the curtain and it doesn’t feel very Arsenal or aligned to the brand.
Still, get it right and we bring in a whole set of new fans. It’ll shift a whole bunch of merch. It will create a deeper bond between the hardcore that think no one cares. It’ll give a little bit of insight into how our actions online impact the young minds that are trying to do their best. It could be great.
Football is now a content game. Amazon has one of the biggest platforms. Arsenal has a generation of young players that will connect with a new generation of kids looking for somewhere to spend their money. Imagine the wildness of a Bukayo Saka Twitch watch party? Honestly, this is too much for my advertising brain to handle… I know most people hate it, but I think it’s sharp.
If you get time, you should watch the Chivas documentary they have on there now.
Threads that might feel familiar:
- A might club that has fallen
- Owner passes the club to his son
- The club goes on a big spending splurge to get back to the top
- They have a famous technical director that used to be a player
- They are trying to bring back a winning mentality
The storytelling is a little frenzied, but you empathise with everyone at the club. Worth a watch.
Right, I’ll see you in the comments my darlings. Remember to listen to the podcast this week. We’ll be doing one again on Tuesday!
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20 mil isn’t crap money for a good Goal keeper. Unless you are named, Kepa or allison, A lot of top keepers have went for under 35 mil. Cortuios and Ederson being prime examples. We didn’t get ripped off for emi Martinez. We just didn’t get the full benefit of the player he has become.
Weagle No the context was a GK that hadn’t cracked the first team in a decade played 12 games and wanted guarantees over an international GK that had been lauded in his previous two seasons. There’s no guarantees anywhere in the squad, Arteta is even on record saying he doesn’t buy into that dated view of a GK, and he sees the position as any other. Also I’m not sure why you’re referencing his time here in the way you are, he wasn’t elite and being overlooked by everyone. He emerged in a unique circumstance and used it to push… Read more »
Don’t see the point in re hashing the whole keeper thing beyond why did we keep a GK that wants to leave a year later?
Its a small world @Northbanker, i lived around Joondalup, several years back..
Weagle A lot of your views are getting buttressed by retrospective info. Yes, he had a good season, and yes the value has increased to where 20 mil is now viewed as cheap. But it wasn’t at the time, and it was a battle between Brighton and Villa for him. I’ve no dispute about the sale relative to others, but pining for him and trying to use the season as some unequivocal proof he’s vastly superior to Leno is where I’ll chime in. Jamie touched upon it, but where the supporting evidence of this beyond the anecdotal stuff? I’ve spent… Read more »
Jamie ‘No one can explain how his elite presence leaked in more goals than Leno during our biggest banter season in a quarter century. Perhaps you can have a crack’ One plays for Arsenal and the other Aston Villa, I’m sure that Villa would have conceded even more with Leno. Martinez ranked above Leno in pretty much every important GK metric you care to look at. No actual way of proving this of course if you want to be be pedantic unless we swap Martinez for Leno, Villa ought to be up for it if he’s as good and cheaper… Read more »
The 2 biggest mistakes Arteta made this time last year was 1) sell Martinez, what a keeper , brave dominant , secure, reliable… 2) Not including a no.10 (Ozil)in the squad…how we missed him. By not having Ozil in the squad Arteta had to play a wing back system which was a disaster. As soon as he reverted back to the 4-2-3-1 system with a no 10 ( Smith-Rowe) BINGO, results and performances improved. The 3rd mistake Arteta made, later on in the season, was to mess about with the system for our semi final v Villarael Playing a false… Read more »
Pierre
Well I’d say out of the 7 players you name at least 3 of them will be sold this summer maybe 4 if Newcastle stump up what we want for Willock. Saliba will not return to play under Arteta so that’s 5.
Jamie
“No one can explain how his elite presence leaked in more goals than Leno during our biggest banter season in a quarter century. Perhaps you can have a crack.”
Anyone with a football brain would know .
I’d be surprised if Arsenal doesn’t have final control for content.
Marc
I know…what a sad situation
I’m hoping they all go out on loan ready for the new manager if it all goes tits up for Arteta.
WE
“I’m sure that Villa would have conceded even more with Leno. Martinez ranked above Leno in pretty much every important GK metric you care to look at.
No actual way of proving this of course if you want to be be pedantic”
I’m glad you didn’t push this counterfactual too hard. Most folk don’t readily admit the point they’re making cannot be proven, so fair play.
Charlie That’s not true, a lot of people on here including myself were not all happy that we were letting the better performing keeper leave at the time it happened a year ago. You can call it retrospective all you like but the vast majority of those who wanted us to keep him could see the massive potential in a decent sample size, it wasn’t a handful of games like Pepe it was 23 games. Important games like Cup SF/Finals vs City and Chelsea. Atletico Madrid only needed to see Oblak perform for that game timeframe [25 apps at Benfica]… Read more »
“So no, end of day I wasn’t (still not) bothered by his exit. I prefer Leno and think he suits the football we want to play more than Emi. I don’t have any unrequited love for Emi because he was here an age, and in fact I think club was incredibly loyal to a guy that hadn’t delivered us a thing.”
The things I read on this site smh.
Is it so hard to just admit that you were wrong???
Charlie ‘No the context was a GK that hadn’t cracked the first team in a decade played 12 games and wanted guarantees over an international GK that had been lauded in his previous two seasons. There’s no guarantees anywhere in the squad, Arteta is even on record saying he doesn’t buy into that dated view of a GK, and he sees the position as any other.’ It was 23 games he played that season. And good luck trying to convince a guy who has been on the sidelines for not far off a decade/on half a dozen loans in a… Read more »
Jamie
All opinions at the end of the day mate.
Your opinion is just wrong however. ;D
Weagle “lot of people on here including myself were not all happy that we were letting the better performing keeper leave at the time it happened a year ago.” I’m not disputing that, I’m saying how his transfer fee etc can’t be looked at retrospectively given no team was going to pay circa 30 mil for a guy that played a dozen PL games. The value and credit he’s accrued this season wasn’t there that summer, it was speculative. And re: last summer, that’s why everyone was content to have Emi start the season in goal (Arteta included). Only person… Read more »
Well, I AM saying he was vastly superior to Leno and made my views on here very well known at the time. What he has done since has been testimony to that but I had that view after 3 games (one if I’m honest). We sold him primarily because we were trying to raise the deposit for Partey and he was agitating to move at the same time. A disastrous decision – he could have been the difference is staying in Europe (imo would have been the difference) But we move on – Onana could also have been that keeper… Read more »
“All opinions at the end of the day mate.
Your opinion is just wrong however. ;D”
Fair enough, WE. Small correction though, it isn’t my opinion that Emi chose to leave Arsenal. It’s a fact which can be proven.
Charlie Who are you talking about here because I never said Villa were a sexier club than us. I also never said that he was vastly superior to Leno. Would you have called Casillas an average GK back in the day? Because he used to concede a shit load of goals for that older Galactico Real Madrid side. He put up a near MOTM performance in the 4 or 5 nil [forget which it was] CL QF demolition job that Liverpool did on Real at Anfield in the peak Torres/Gerrard days which goes to show that goals conceded in isolation… Read more »
Jamie
Are you sure Arteta didn’t drag him out crying? Maybe check Val’s sources.
Jamie
Agreed, the debate can be had on enticed him out the door though.
Honestly I can’t wait to see Val in All or Nothing.
You get to see Rodrigo de Paul last night Charlie?
Oooft, talk about saucy. Atleti are getting a baller, worst top team stylistically for him ironically as Simeone will attempt to turn him into a cholo James Milner.
I’m relishing Arteta’s grand whiteboard stickmen tactics exhibition myself from the AON.
And the cone-setting execution tutorial.
Pedro “I do not think it is a coincidence that the emergence of Saka has coincided with Martinelli, Balogun, Kido Hart, and Okonkwo signing new deals. We’re starting to become the place to be if you are a young player. Bright young coach, massive stadium, London social life, elite training facilities, and the chance to make a name at a club hopefully on the rise” You only have to listen to what Saka, ESR, Tierney & Odegaard have had to say to know this is true. Football has become a far more technical and tactical sport now. The days of… Read more »
Weagle No I’m not laying that at your feet, I’m saying several posters on Le Grove have waxed lyrics about Villa throughout the season. They were a stick to beat us with for the first half of the season, don’t tell me that escaped you on here mate? And again, I’m not using goals conceded as the decider of anything. But it’s a clear indication of a functioning defence over a season and Villa didn’t perform admirably in that despite all the noteworthy players at their disposal – that should ground some opinions in reality. Casillas was part of a… Read more »
Jamie
Lmaooo, not sure it’ll have board room access.
Weagle
Nah mate missed it, he put on a clinic? He was never on the table for me after that Instagram outfit. We’ve enough banter coming our way haha
Charlie Sure some people went over the top on the Emi/Leno stuff one way or another, it shouldn’t be out of bounds to bring it up occasionally though like last night when he wins a major international trophy playing a starring role and makes a PL Team of the Season on Sky. It’s something people will have to accept here like the way Gnabry was brought up when he was embarrassing the Spuds and the Chavs in the CL for Bayern and smashing Lyon in the SF. What noteworthy players defensively are we talking about here for Villa, outside of… Read more »
Charlie
MOTM, TR7 put up his wankworthy stats there last night if you scroll up.
Should have had 2 assists but Messi decided to go full Carlton Cole and crack out his giraffe chasing a coconut down a stairs impression in a one on one sitter. Bossed the game in CM, all of the Argies MF were impressive tbh even the Spud Lo Celso.
AFC It’s interesting to think about younger Mourinho’s fit in the modern game. He’s a dinosaur now but it’s more likely that he just lost it rather than his style being outdated. I mean Chelsea won the CL by employing shithouse Mourinho tactics along with Atletico Madrid winning La Liga. Top managers tend to be like boxers and do eventually lose it, most of the greats did barring the Fergie exception and by his own admission he had to devote most of his time in his later days just adapting to the modern game. That is what preserved him at… Read more »
Cc, I wasn’t one to use villa to beat Arteta with; but damn the way those 2 games panned out against them, it couldn’t have been more in line with those few people’s views, coincidentally or not
No I’m not laying that at your feet, I’m saying several posters on Le Grove have waxed lyrics about Villa throughout the season. They were a stick to beat us with for the first half of the season, don’t tell me that escaped you on here mate?
—–
Thought Leicester was the benchmark,used as a stick over many a season to beat the beads of sweat, off of Arsenal fan’s rectum?
0-3 at home to villa, and didn’t EMI provide an assist (or pre assist).
Let’s not forget the Leicester 2015/16 incredible season….
Damn…..
Martinez gets in the Arsenal side. Arsenal immediately win the FA Cup/Charity Shield Martinez gets in the VIlla side. They have their best season for a decade. Martinez gets in the Argentian side. They win that South American tournament. No coincidence. A colossus of a goalkeeper. A mixture of Pat Jennings and David Seaman The Dopes sold him for £20 million without a sell on clause and bought Runarsson. The man they preferred ( Leno) now wants to leave and they want Ramsdale whose claim to fame is relegating clubs. And Arsenal supporters ( and KSE) want A & E… Read more »
Weagle I’m not the one championing Villa, I’m saying they were routinely used against Arsenal early in the season largely because of a willingness from some to vindicate their Emi views. Bringing up Emi is of no consequence to me, it’s the rewriting of history based on current events. Would he have had the season he did had he stayed? Impossible to know. What we knew was that we had a guy with a handful of games pushing for an exit. How would you have handled that? Knowing too you needed to raise finance and manage the group. Cmon now,… Read more »
Weagle
De Paul will be a right back inside 18 months under Simeone bless him. Will love Madrid though as an Argentinian, good on him.
What do you make of Maddison? Saw you cap him at 35 mil or something, were you drinking?
Damn martinez wasn’t lying when he said he was moving because it was a step up.
A beast for Argentina and getting better. Awarded best goalkeeper of the tournament.
Why Aston Vila rate ESR
With Smith Rowe starting
Games: 26
Wins: 15
Draws: 6
Defeats: 5
Points per game: 1.96
Win rate: 57.7%
Goals: 48
Goals per game: 1.84
Goals against: 22
Goals against per game: 0.84
Without Smith Rowe starting
Games: 32
Wins: 14
Draws: 6
Defeats: 12
Points per game: 1.5
Win rate: 43.8%
Goals: 46
Goals per game: 1.43
Goals against: 36
Goals against per game: 1.12
But then trying to shoehorn someone else , trying so hard too , looks like Arteta sees ESR not good enough.
Weagle “It’s interesting to think about younger Mourinho’s fit in the modern game. He’s a dinosaur now but it’s more likely that he just lost it rather than his style being outdated” Yes, maybe but I believe there may be more to it. The biggest influence on football has been the rule changes. It started with goalkeepers being unable to pick up a pass back and being forced to kick the ball instead. That was a big change. However, when they introduced the rule that goal kicks no longer needed to go outside of the penalty area, it completely changed… Read more »
It was the inability to see through other deals in order to buy Aouar. That’s what hurt Arsenal, Emi over Leno at its best would’ve been negligible imo. We will lose much better players than Emi in the future, but the club should be sound enough to take that and improve still. Same situation as Cedric in many ways, totally on board with his signature, but it’s made redundant and a waste for keeping Bellerin, AmN, Chambers on the books and not raising the cash. —- And who’s at fault for the above? And do you think-such oversights, can be… Read more »
Phd
Edu and Arteta, I’ve made no bones about that and was one of the few scathing toward them for that oversight. That said, there was context to the window as well given the amount of disruption Raul getting sacked caused in addition to the truncated Covid summer.
I’ve reiterated all season that this summer is the acid test for Edu and Arteta, it’ll decide if they’re a feature or if the whole gang is getting cleansed. I’ve no confidence one way or another, I’m hopeful we’ll see a response to the season but skeptical of the total scale.
England fans setting off fireworks outside the Italy team hotel at 2AM to try to wake Italy
Talk about home field advantage.
Nelson
I’m sure if the final was in Rome Italian fans would never do the same thing outside the England hotel!
Winning today will double Saka’s value and wages too.
He’s had a good tournament
DaviJuly 11, 2021 09:29:15 but the rise of BLM (it’s founders/leaders clearly influenced by CRT) and similar has thrown any kind of progress towards this goal out of the window (and we were making progress). Now everything is about race again. Ultimately all this does is divide people and create conflict. ———- Are you on drugs? Ahemmm..Look to the man(Trump),that held the highest office in the land over a term in office(2016-2020) and set about dividing the country-on racial, religious and gender lines,to the point of staging an insurrection and a premeditated assault on the very pillars and foundations of… Read more »
The fireworks stuff is small potatoes, noting sound mufflers along with ear plugs and noice canceling earbuds can’t take cate off.
Many players ask for sleep medications before big games in any case.
I hope no fan got hurt setting off the fireworks though.
CC “””That said, there was context to the window as well given the amount of disruption Raul getting sacked””””” Yes , off course its only Arsenal that oversee executive changes or Covid during the season. Didnt Chelsea sack a manager mid season? Didnt Liverpool get a whole team out injured? Didnt Leicester City owner die in a crash a while back? Bloody excuses. I can already see them now for next season. Arteta””” Yes, its not really been ideal having the cameras around 24/7. Yes it has affected my preparation””””” Excuses , we are getting more and more like Spurs… Read more »
Champagne CharlieJuly 11, 2021 13:10:52 Edu and Arteta, I’ve made no bones about that and was one of the few scathing toward them for that oversight. That said, there was context to the window as well given the amount of disruption Raul getting sacked caused in addition to the truncated Covid summer. I’ve reiterated all season that this summer is the acid test for Edu and Arteta, it’ll decide if they’re a feature or if the whole gang is getting cleansed. I’ve no confidence one way or another, I’m hopeful we’ll see a response to the season but skeptical of… Read more »
CG
You’re in a roll today
No excuses this season if we don’t hit too 5 at the very least and be in a good position come December the fans will loose their minds in the stadium
I can’t wait to be in there for the first day of the season and see what the concensus is with the fans that go.
We know what everyone on here feels
NEW POST
Said this before and will say it again Emi Martinez will become one of the best GKs in the world within a couple of years. He will be talked in the same breath as Donnarumma, Ederson, Oblak etc. Letting him go was a monumental mistake. Arteta wouldn’t have won the FA Cup and Argentina Copa America title without Emi.
Thank you Dissenter.
Only stating , the truth as always .
PhD. Assuming everything you said is correct (it’s not), does Trump being divisive/a hindrance to the goal of ending racism mean that BLM/CRt proponents is/are not? BLM and CRT started well before Trump became president and BLM supporters were involved in massive protests and riots throughout last year well before the election. See the 1619 project as an example – NY times promoting the reframing of history to make everything about slavery and race. How does that actually help anything realistically? Ultimately this sort of thing is initiated by people who see the concept of racism differently – they see… Read more »