Arsenal lost 2-1 to Chelsea in a preseason game that was fun to watch, but for all the wrong reasons.
Arsenal were messy. Chelsea were poor. Both sides have plenty of concerns heading into the new season.
There were quite a few worries for Arsenal fans. The biggest being that the same faces that weren’t good enough last year are mostly still in the side.
Mo Elneny started and was given far too many minutes. He was his usual self. Unambitious, with a few mistakes in the mixer. Why is he so close to the first team?
Granit Xhaka scored and made some lovely passes, but his lack of pace nearly broke an ankle and there were a few flashes of ‘why?’ that he brought to the table. He needs to move to Italy, we need an upgrade, we can’t continue to talk about top 4 if we don’t move on players that aren’t at that level.
Our entire right side of defence isn’t up to snuff. I really like Cal Chambers, but he’s not a first-team right back next season. Hector Bellerin came on and assisted Tammy with his first touch. It was poor, but par the course, he needs to be exited. We need a new right-back as a matter of urgency.
Bernd Leno seems to be regressing with his passing. He looks panicked and totally lacking in confidence on the ball. If your keeper can’t move the ball in this Arsenal system, you need to find a new keeper. It’s painful viewing that such a good keeper in his twenties is so bad with his feet.
The biggest worry – and I do hate to say it – was Auba. He missed a one vs one and a header from 6 yards out. Two seasons ago, those are goals. Is he keeping his powder dry for the new season? We have to hope so. It is very worrying that our best striker at the moment looks like Eddie. He came on and put a show on again. He ran with intensity, livened up the front line, and looked dangerous with every touch.
There were some good bits about the game. We certainly played with more attacking intent than we did in the Premier League last run out. We broke into their box plenty of times, Willock scored a goal that the lino missed, we created enough high-quality chances to come away with more than 1 goal. The big shift is that we’re playing a higher line. That’s giving us more in the opposite third, though it exposed us time and time again yesterday.
Ben White looked decent when he came on, he made a couple of goal-line clearances. He looks assured on the ball, he’s fast, and you can see his range of passing is good. I don’t think anyone can deny the need for him after watching a high line with Bob and Pablo in the first half.
Willock is a messy player, but he causes chaos. His rangy runs and attacking mindset caused issues for Chelsea and it livened up our game. I expect him to leave, but it’s worrying a player we’re sending to Newcastle had more zest than nearly all our attackers.
The star of the match was once again Sambi Lokonga. He came on and the game opened up. He’s fast, he moves the ball with vertical purpose, and reads the game really well. We don’t need to experiment with Mo Elneny, Sambi should be getting first-team minutes from the start next season.
The major disappointment was that Thomas Partey was crunched and hobbled off injured. He was absolutely brilliant in the first half. He carried the ball, he opened the game up with his passing, he pressed hard… such a shame his day was cut short, but hopefully it’s not too serious.
So, in short, a bit of a worrying day out. There’s two weeks to go before the start of the season, we still need about 4 players, and the coach needs to fix a lot of issues on the training ground.
Spurs next week…
He is 29 five weeks into the season.
WE, so he’s 28.
Nothing new on here it’s the death Nell of arsenal when we lose lol it’s a friendly
Powder dry for me until September 1st then i will see where we are at
Hopefully we replace our weaknesses
WengerEagleAugust 1, 2021 21:09:03
Well that puts paid to the nonsense that was drummed up all summer about the Kroenke’s giving us serious dough to play with.
We have likely spent nearly half of our budget on yet another CB, cue the Curb Your Enthusiasm music.
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PedroAugust 1, 2021 20:24:07
Quite interesting that the ‘be ruthless’ merchants haven’t mentioned that Thomas Tuchel had Baba Rahman, Batshuayi, Drinkwater, Chelobah, Dujon Sterling, Malang Sarr, Barkley, & Zappacosta in their squad today.
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Talking of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ here’s a clip that might remind one of Peds &CC…
🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KqDHFYcel8
Mr Serge, and we scored a second goal.
Pedro
You ought to bin yourself because now you’re trolling.
We
He is 29 five weeks into the season.
I was chastised for adding 2 months to a players age last week
WE, selling Xhaka for £10m to cut your losses is trolling.
Xhaka staying and signing a new contract, he’s probably made it clear that he isn’t staying to be a benchwarmer. Xhaka will start.
CC,
I think you are in dreamland if you think that with Xhaka staying, we’ll spend money on another CM. It was always about his replacement in Neves and Locatelli. Now that there is no one to replace, it’s curtains for CM. Lokonga is our beacon of hope.
Mr Serge
You added over 2 inches to Chamber’s height today, I think it’s a little more fair to call a player that is a handful of weeks away from being 29 a 29 year old.
Pedro
Ever wondered why no one offered more for a 28/29 year old Swiss International?
We you have got away with 2 inches all your life mate it’s all good lol
Serge
Now that’s a good one to be fair!
Timely too as it masks you lacking a point (as your old Lady tells you too 😉
Serge
Agree, Roma drop near 20 mil and it’s a different story.
Raptora
What are you talking about? I said I’d prefer Xhaka + a creative midfielder than simply replacing Xhaka and bringing no new creative player…. as per the Telegraph
Terraloon, because Europe is bankrupt
We I got you there bud lol I was actually saying I did the same as you the other day adding a bit in someone’s age and I got bashed 😉
If it means getting a cam or not I would begrudge xhaka another season through gritted teeth but we badly need a Rb as well
Pedro
‘ WE, selling Xhaka for £10m to cut your losses is trolling’
No it’s not actually
If the rebuild of the midfield was the priority of the summer then that would have been acceptable loss
Instead, Arteta prioritized signing a balling playing midfielder on a get-at-all-cost mode
We easily overpaid for White by 15-20 million which certainly pales a £5 million loss of Xhaka into insignificance.
I still think Chia will leave for Roma before the window ends
Just hope he doesn’t get injured before he gets a chance to move.
Pedro
Yep it is hence why your suggestion that deadwood like Bellerin like Xhaka will be bringing in decent fees was always unlikely
Champagne CharlieAugust 1, 2021 19:47:56
…………. I’d prefer Neves to Xhaka, but I’d really love Neves over Elneny.
Don’t know if you added more to it but that’s what I read.
** I still think Xhaka will leave for Roma before the window ends
And it’s not happening.
Mr Serge
You said that Varane who turned 28 just 3 months ago was 29 and I said that Xhaka who will be 29 just 5 weeks after the season starts is 29.
Diss, I’m sorry, are you trying to persuade me that taking a hit on Xhaka that impacts our ability to buy a CAM… is smart biz?
You said that Varane who turned 28 just 3 months ago was 29 and I said that Xhaka who will be 29 just 5 weeks after the season starts is 29.
Yeah I was embellishing somewhat
Terraloon, Xhaka isn’t deadwood. Let’s see what happens with Hector this week
Whatever I saw of Ben White today, he was good. He had good runs, good game and some clearances. We need those kind of players. But it could have waited till we fixed our midfield. Watching Elneny right from the 5th row was such an embarrassment, and what I don’t understand is how is he any better than Azeez and Willock and whoever the fcuk you put in his place. Play Eddie in the midfield and he will do better. Sometimes, you just need to let go of players and stop shouting ‘Auba, Auba, Auba’ every 5th minute. Don’t worry… Read more »
Raptora
That was related specifically to my thoughts on CM as a whole. If we’re rejecting Roma because we’d not be able to replace Xhaka and buy a creative midfielder then I’m very much in favour of keeping Xhaka to purchase the player that is going to make the single biggest difference to the team.
Replacing Xhaka with Neves isn’t nearly as impressive as keeping Xhaka and adding Maddison.
I thought we had money to spend so why arw we depending on money feom the Xhaka deal?
Mr Serge
We all embellish from time to time dude, we all wish for an extra couple of inches no-one more so than the vertically challenged Ben White.
Also Xhaka gets all the heat while a total waste of space like Elneny just skirts along.
If the midfield was deemed a priority then Elneny should have been moved out in June?
He has one year left on his contract and is in small wages so why is he still at the club. There’s nothing he’s doing that an academy graduate can’t be trained like pecker bird to do.
Bati, 75m of spending is money.
Or you thought we had unlimited funds?
Diss
An academy player needs a lot of training to play as bad as Elneny.
I have had enough today. Whoever picked him over Azeez today should be asked to catch the first bus in morning.
Ugh elneny the epitome of average
To think back in the early 2000s edu could not get into our midfield regularly he would be star player now adays
Pedro ‘ Diss, I’m sorry, are you trying to persuade me that taking a hit on Xhaka that impacts our ability to buy a CAM… is smart biz?’ I thought you were trying to convince us spending 55 million on a ball playing defender makes sense when you have a bare midfield. Partey tweaks his ankle and people are wailing from the rooftops. Why aren’t you imposing those lofty principles of ‘selling to buy’ before we paid a record fee for White. Also are you suggesting that replacing David Luiz at a high price of 55 million occupies a higher… Read more »
There are so many positions requiring attention and not enough money to fix them. That is why 50 million on Ben White was questioned, not Ben White himself, but the club desperately need to extract every penny’s worth of value from each deal. You cannot recognize this fact in justifying the failure to sell Xhaka and then completely ignore the exact same principal when defending the outlay of 50 million on White. ( If your instinct here is to talk about White being a good player you are missing the point entirely, so please don’t). We spend that 50 mill… Read more »
In fairness to Pedro, he’s taking fire from many sides today so his replies are a bit erratic.
The palace guard will arrive soon and provide covering fire for him.
* principle!
It was always dubious when those stories about Chelsea wanting Ben Whjte made the rounds
Celadon have so many good and experienced defenders on the periphery that it was laughable that White was linked to them.
Chalobah is definitely going out on loan or will be sold but he looked super good. That lad has been on quality loans since the beginning of time.
Diss, you have to stop conflating what you believe to the problem, with what the manager and tech director think the problem is.
Xhaka was not a planned exit this summer, he’s liked at the club, that is the reality.
A ball-playing centre back was one of the most important positions they wanted, so they spent big on it.
You also seem to be very keen to pour scorn over our new centre back. Hopefully, you’ll be embarrassed by this carry on in a couple of months.
A ball-playing centre back was one of the most important positions they wanted, so they spent big on it.
With no midfield, Ben White will have highest no. of assists this season. . .if Aubameyang don’t miss those sitters.
Bati
Exactly my sentiments. We we’re told we had money for an impressive summer by you know who, we then spunked our load on a certain Benjamin white all because “he can open up the pitch” whereas we have elneny running around like am imbecile and could be giving serious game time to the likes of Azeez if our midfield begins to rack up injuries. We’re now been told we cannot have a midfield rebuild because all the whole of Europe could offer for an Atertarised Xhaka is a measly £10m. Trust the process
If we’re skint why are we offering Xhaka a PAY RISE as part of a new contract? Makes even less sense when you consider he was prepared to take a PAY CUT to leave. What kind of idiots are running the club?
Guys white was a necessity he is 6 foot tall let’s move on
Andy big clueless idiots if xhaka is only going for 10m now we may as well just let him go on a bosman than give him a new four year deal which will mean we are stuck with him
I really dislike that twat and the only way I would begrudge him staying is if it meant we got a cam
West Ham ITK (exWHUemployee) is saying Abraham has his heart set on a move to Arsenal over West Ham – Chelsea have softened their stance and are looking for 30 mil for him.
Almuniasaynomore, we’ll see who creates the most value at the end of the window. But you have no idea how the money is going to play out. We wanted a top class centre back, we bought one that has Premier League experience… Leicester bought one without that last summer for £36.5 million. We signed one of the best midfield prospects in Europe. We have a decent back up left back. We’ve tapped Inter for Martinez. We’re in the mix for Maddison or Odegaard. We’ll likely bring in a quality right back. Then we’ll see who did the best work when… Read more »
Pedro
‘ Xhaka was not a planned exit this summer, he’s liked at the club, that is the realit’
That makes absolutely no sense’
So we have just been checking out central midfield catalogs all over Europe in vain.
Maybe Arteta didn’t want him to leave but it’s obvious to anyone without an agenda that Xhaka was seeking an exit. He’s a professional who will play along IMO.
Getting rid of Laca for Tammy is no-brainer
It should have been Auba that was ditched last summer.
Dissenter
Have to agree with you there. The forward line needs hunger and quality added.
Abraham isn’t perfect, but he’d be a lot more devastating for us with the kids behind him than Laca, or arguably Auba in his current state. Would bin Laca for him tomorrow.
I would bin lacca and auba at this point
I can only speak for myself Pedro, but my fears are absolutely unrelated to today’s game. And yes the value we extract from the window can only be judged at the end of the window.. It’s why I tried not to comment until now. But the Xhaka deal has shook me, not just because I don’t want to see him at the club next year, but because the finances around it strongly suggest we will now struggle to further improve the team( without outgoings which are also proving problematic). It’s like being splashed with cold water really, so I guess… Read more »
* misled!
Almunia, it doesn’t suggest we won’t add more players… it just means Xhaka exiting wasn’t part of the plan. If he left, they’d replace him, but not at a massive loss.
Diss, same to you. Arteta didn’t want to exit Xhaka, now he can focus on the areas he had in mind in May.
Charlie
Tammy will get the13-15 league goals Laca has provided us … goals will drown out whatever snotty opposition some have of him.
It’s criminal to let Laca run down his contract when selling him now pays for half his replacement who will be on lower wages.
Sorry but you can’t bin Auba now
That boat has sailed, no one is going to take him at the exhobitant wages we pay him. He’s tethered to us, for better for worse.
You just have to hope he gets hit by a lightening bolt that will give him back his old form.
I’ll keep laca and auba. I’ll bin nketia and send balogun on loan then sign belotti /Tammy in that order.
Dissenter
I agree, but beyond that I think Abraham is better suited to a front line with ESR, Saka, and a new AM behind him. He’d provide the movement and physicality sorely lacking from both Laca and Auba (who can’t hold off a defender to save himself).
Eddie and Laca out, Abraham in for me.
Belotti the Torino player no thanks not s fan at all
A mid table club is selling off their under performing dead wood in a deflated market and yet no-one wants to pay our (high) prices……..what a surprise!!!! FFS Arsenal, we have half a dozen players who really aren’t worth much at all, just ask a realistic price for them!!!
Why is Xhaka being offered a pay rise, when he was willing to accept a £19k per week reduction in his net salary (after allowing for Italian tax code) to move to Roma?
Partey seen about in Paddington, not limping and chilling. So he should be cool for Brentford.
PedroAugust 1, 2021 21:42:30 Diss, I’m sorry, are you trying to persuade me that taking a hit on Xhaka that impacts our ability to buy a CAM… is smart biz? —— It’s the cumulative effect that eventually breaks the camel’s back. Shocking decisions over the last two seasons,will eventually give way to Arteta leaving this season,if there’s such a thing as having to fall on your sword due to the owners giving the trusted keys to a rookie manager who is so out of his depth for a ‘supposedly’ top club like Arsenal. -Arteta had the chance to sell Xhaka… Read more »
“I still think Chia will leave for Roma before the window ends Just hope he doesn’t get injured before he gets a chance to move.” No chance of that! The guys a machine. Just a VERY slow one. Worth more then the reported £10m mill though if i’m being honest. The problem isn’t just Xhaka. It’s more the fact that we’re under 2 weeks from the seasons start and 90% 0f the players that have let us down for at least the last year or two are still here. I know it’s a slow market etc but this carry on… Read more »
In regards to ben White, i for one am delighted with his signing (£15m over the odds imo) really good player. But if his signing will end up leaving us financially short elsewhere then it’s a pass for me. Our Midfield has been shot for YEARS. And after 5 ears of Xhaka it’s clear he’s not the answer and now here we are rolling on the new season with him as a key lynchpin in the heart of our team.
A guy that wants to leave.
PhD – better add Kola and Torreira to your list of deadwood to move on.
Off late Pedro has been trolling his own blog and the posters who post here.
Real encouraging signs from willick and eddie. Hopefully the gaffer has enough intelligence to give them some decent minutes in august and see if they can do it when it matters. I think after the last season we’re asking for it if we don’t move some players on very quick specifically anyone in the xi barring the obvious. kola and bell absolutely need to move on, elneny and xhaka absolutely need to move on. Auba and laca asap. Have we forgotten so soon OR is it just easier to blame you know who. I think its naive to believe he… Read more »
Zach I think we keep willock and he sells Eddie
Ya maybe serge but theres no rush atm. Hea got a few games to see if hes maybe grown into himself etc
Were gonna need another striker. Dont think either laca or auba are up to task at least for like 6 months. Both can smile and shout all they like they lack goal scoring form and you cant be waiting around for them to get it backnwhen theyre on the wages they are…
andy1886August 1, 2021 23:03:31
PhD – better add Kola and Torreira to your list of deadwood to move on.
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I remembered Kola just after I hit post.And thanks for reminding me of Torreira.
Almost 10 players in total to exit…
Defies belief to be honest.
Torreira, my god, i wonder if we’re still paying mikhi’s wages over at roma
Let’s not get carried away by friendly results. My worry is after this window, 75 million spent and there will be no real improvement in Our first 11. Our first 11 is still a match for most and if every on stays fit it should be enough for Europa! I can’t see anything else at this stage
Gotta disagree. Whites looking perfect fit
With that cash from those players being sold, we could grab A maddison, Martinez and someone else possibly
The selling business is terrible. Worse than the buying.
So Xhaka is staying…and I don’t know what to tell Ishola now.
Max Aaron pls.
Elneny- 7m
-Willian-15
-Xhaka-15
-Bellerin=15
-Runarsson-2
-Auba/Laca-20
-Nketiah-10
-AMN=10
Kola-5
Torr-10
about 100M right there on low pricing
Maddison – throw in AMN or Eddie as bait. say 45 spend
Martinez- send Bellerin so about 45 spend
Leaves about 10M left over for back up goalkeeper
It’s a Sambi season this one.
The boy is gonna be everything we wanted Guen to be.
Starting to think lack of CL is really coming home to roost now. If so we’re likely going to have to wait while CL clubs take the pick of everyone we’re interested in and see who’s still available in a few weeks time. 😬
Gentle that’s who I have been calling out for Aaron’s
Some of us were saying Partey wasn’t 27 back when we were trying to sign him.
Of course we can’t be sure…but these injuries look like stuffs that happen to footballers over the age of 30.
I don’t know anyway.
Yeah TR7, massive fan of the blog and the job that Pedro has done with it over the years but it’s hard to take him seriously on the club these days, half of what he writes comes across as borderline satire. I find it really bizarre his unconditional adulation and faith in Arteta off the back of so little a return on the pitch and no discernable improvement on Emery or late-term past it Wenger, both of which he adopted the total 180 opposite stance for similar underperforming. May take an extended break from here until Tets has been sacked… Read more »
Partey was in spain before, not the hardest tackling league…
Weagle
“Our CM is wet bog roll”
The most succinct summary of the problems at our club. Thanks!
I was really sold on Pedro and Johnny talking at the start of the summer about the priority being a fast and powerful midfield that opposition teams didn’t just run straight through (Xhaka and Ceballos; in your analogy wet 2-ply).
Like everyone else I wanted Xhaka out, but for the sake of £12m I can understand him staying as a squad player, but ONLY on the basis that there’s another starting CM coming in (with Elneny going).
PhD
Lol
That looks like a deposition to indict Arteta for high crimes against humanity
We no stay here in purgatory like the rest of us man
WE
Cant u just say whatever u want to say and save your breath on the arteta adulation mantra. Its so boring. None of us think hes a world beater or worthy of adulation but according to a lot of people hes pretty good. I personally am hoping it starts to show more. I dont think theres a better fit for us at the moment. I think all of us will be thinking differently in 6 months time and he may be gone by then.
Unless Edu pulls a coup and we score world class CAM RB, I think this summer has been a bust with a lot of shit being said about how great we are doing… how much we have to spend etc.
its clear, that they have no idea. Nor does Edu know how to do a job.
Blind leading the blind over there..
If next week we get ODE and its all about how great he is, im gonna throw something
Serge, we can only hope our guys in charge are looking in that direction.
Id rather have that 12m than xhaka. Whatever we put it towards will be a better fit. I really dont see the point of keeping him and risking the wrath of the stadium when him and elneny are in together…. We gotta move at least one so that doesnt happen
Zach,
Mike has already shown how competent he is thus far. Not sure what else needs to be said- he is not good enough and continues to show that to the world.
HE probably thinks White is like VVD and he is the smartest fella in the room. Wanting to prove something
Went from saying the squad was not good enough last season to keeping the team as is pretty much…
Its mind numbing… now if Arteta chopped up the team with word class, Aouar, Sterlings, Maddisons, Hakimis etc, id shut up gladly
Zacharse
It’s not out of bounds at all, what is really boring is flip-flopping on prior stances on players like Xhaka holding us back all in the name of avoiding Arteta criticism and second-guessing him.
You’re free to think whatever you like about Tets, just be consistent at least and level criticism at him like you would any other Arsenal manager that has it all to prove and makes questionable decisions like he does.
Guns
I disagree w yr sentiment but i do agree hes young and got plenty of mistakes in him and that is reflected in our game. I also think hes got plenty to offer and if things change over the next 6 months we’ll all hopefully be having a very different conversation than the one we’re having now, either about how good hes become or how good the new guy is
Pedro
You were the one who has said all summer we have koney to spend so i ask again, why then arw we turning roma down over a million or two in difference? Wouldn’t it make more sense to just take it and add to that large pot we’ve got?
Pedro
You were the one who has said all summer we have koney to spend so i ask again, why then arw we turning roma down over a million or two in difference? Wouldn’t it make more sense to just take it and add to that large pot we’ve got? .