My dad went on a stag-do with his younger cousins about 15 years ago, I wasn’t allowed to go. He had his own style, always, a sharp dresser if ever there was one. His best bit of work advice to me was.
‘If your clients aren’t talking about what you’re wearing, you’re wearing the wrong thing’
That has stood me well, being a bad dresser and all. Back to the point, he went on a Marbella stag do and decided he liked a £1000 cowboy jacket. It was black brushed leather with Eddie the eagle tassels so he looked like a bird when in the Jesus pose. Everyone told him he shouldn’t buy that jacket, but he wouldn’t listen, he knew it would crown his outfit… and that night, he was going to look like a hero.
He bought the jacket, owned the night, and never spoke about that jacket again.
To Arsenal fans, I think Aron Ramsdale is the jacket, we’re the friends wondering what’s going on… and there’s nothing we can do to stop the purchase. Arsenal are ten pints of data deep on this kid and they can already the dopamine hit when everyone is fawning over the tassels on the dance floor.
There is only one thing I can tell you to make you feel better… the same people that have identified Lokonga, White and Tavares are heavily skewing this decision. There’s something in his profile the club think they can work with. It’s not just him, it seems he’s quite popular in football circles, remember Chris Wilder is a proper coach and he made him his star signing (do NOT look at how that turned out). It is also worth noting that despite playing for relegated teams the past two seasons, both sets of fans voted him player of the season.
He’s also very, very young for a Premier League keeper.
So we’ll see. I’m just happy we’re bringing in a backup keeper. Even happier that the money would suggest he’s coming in to replace Leno as #1 as soon as the German drops a major footwork clanger against Brentford.
What I’m not happy about is that we are heading into the first game of the season having not added a single body to our attack. Arsenal had the 3rd best defence in the league last season and an attack that dropped just 55 (9th). Chelsea finished 8th for goals and spent £100m on Lukaku. I appreciate that attack often starts in defence in 2021. Ben White and a keeper that can pass will show us plebs that in due course. However, it is still quite baffling to be at a stalemate with our strikers and to still be fumbling around hoping Leicester or Madrid decide to deal this week.
Brentford will be a tough game, just because they have no history of the Premier League yet. We should beat them, but I’ll be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever known an Arsenal start to the season to be so pessimistic. There are a couple of reasons for that.
- Arteta burned all his ‘hope’ capital at the start of last season with that dreadful 14 game run. If you were a non-emotional fan, you’d be looking at the 60% of games we played post-Christmas for clues as to how we’re going to play this season. But you’re not, you are a hot mess of emotions and all we’re thinking about is how bad that start was last season.
- Preseasons against London rivals was a bad idea. Nice if you win, but back to back derby losses really was a waste of energy.
- Our start is hard.
A lot of the fear isn’t grounded in truth. I saw someone write ‘I just wish my team could register 15 shots a game’… our worst showing this summer was Spurs and we had 11 shots, 2 on target just like them. Chelsea 14, Watford 15+, Millwall 15+, Rangers 19, Hibs 19… shots hasn’t been the issue, but our forwards certainly have been.
There are going to be a lot of eyeballs on that teamsheet on Friday.
Is it going to be Hierahy FC this season? Are we going to see the rebirth of Laca/Auba as a mainstay? Will Arteta panic and start Mo Elneny in midfield next to Granit Xhaka? Who will start as right back, because Hector has been atrocious? Will we have to see 4 bad results to see the best starting 11?
Many questions I will look to tackle tomorrow.
Before we get there, I wanted to thank everyone who has been tuning in to the podcast this summer. We had our best week ever last week! We’re going to continue to bring you podcasts with LIVE video as the season goes on. One minor shift I want to make you aware of… we’ll be doing advertising on the podcast and a little bit with a great sponsor on the site. I went back and forth on it… but the reality is, I can’t ask people to do this for free, and this platform is expensive to run… servers, tools, microphones, WILD nights out in Vegas, all these annoying little subscriptions.
Anyway, jump on the latest videos, know that cancel culture exists and YOU made me change my haircut, and leave a nice 5* rating on iTunes.
Martinez and Guen sales, Saliba, AMN loan has nothing to do with football. You can even count in Ozil. Leno to follow in a year.
Arteta requires a yes man. Primary reason why Ode is preferred over Madison and Xhaka getting another contract despite doing fuck all.
‘If Ramsdale was total shit, Sheff U wouldn’t have signed him for £20m, and Arsenal wouldn’t be poking around now’.
Pedro, jesus, expel the brainworms sir. The market dictated that we pay Willian 200k a week so that means he’s not total shite either right?
Willian is world class, watch your tongue. he just has to adapt to the league…again.
Sell the best goalkeeper in the league for 20m just to buy one of the worst 12 months later for 24m+.
Those are the facts.
Sorry Terraloon-you beat me to it on Brewster!
Dissenter-I don’t think Pedro owes Wenger an apology. It was past time for him to go. But we’ve definitely entered ‘be careful what you wish for’ territory.
Unless Leno us off to bayern i dont understand this move. It will be the first transfer window we invested so heavily on defence and not a single attacking minded player when we are in dire need. And still we will start the season with Bellerin at RB and Xhaka in the middle. Good Lord 😟
The other issue with Ramsdale is that he seems to be a ‘confidence’ keeper and liable to slumps in form. Considering he has spent most of his time in relatively low-key environments like Bournemouth and Sheffield United, how will he fare in the much much high pressure cooker that is Arsenal?
Pedro You know how to sell brother ! But still Ramsdale looks so bad because of 2 specific reasons – 1- The same people IDing Ramsdale sold Emi ( one of the best keeper in the world currently) for 18 million. I can’t believe the data we have on Ramsdale is much more than data we had on a keeper who was with us for 9 years. Thats just not possible. The fee for Ramsdale is not what you pay for a backup, is what you pay for a starter. And if Ramsdale is being signed to start then maybe… Read more »
Vegas Dani made me laugh mate. The absurdity isn’t lost. Is this the Arsenal way that everyone goes on about. Signing Willan, selling Martinez are right up there with the the cock ups of the decade. I thought Wenger capped it all signing Kallstrom but Arteta getting close.
I have to confess that I don’t understand why Arsenal are spending £20 million + on a player
who is probably going to be our second string goalkeeper this season.
Ramsdale is valued on transfermarkt £10 million and that should be the maximum that we are spending on a second string goalkeeper.
There are plenty of “experienced ” goalkeepers who cost a lot less than Ramsdale and is likely to play fewer than a dozen games this season unless the plan is to let Leno sit on the
bench.
Fair enough Charlie but the “he’s in the England team so can;t be gash” dosen’t wash with me when Popes injury brought him in as backup for backup. Considering Pickford (good Euro’s btw) is at the top of the National GK tree would point to a lack of quality in that department.
I guess we have to agree to disagree about Ramsdale in his current state
The only plausible theory is that the Kroenkes are all-in on the apology tour for their involvement in the Super League. Part of that tour involves overfilling the coffers of smaller English clubs like Brighton and Sheffield United.
Absolute truth there Venga! Just accepting these facts is mind-blowing let alone defending them!
I honestly don’t care who Arteta brings in anymore but the Ramsdale was voted by Sheffield fans the player of the season argument is probably the weakest one yet to justify anything Arteta has done to date.
Sheffield were relegated in mid April and scored only 20 goals the entire season.
Just out of curiosity, was the final vote between him and the mascot?
I hope he signs.
Leno’s off in January when Onana comes in to fight it out with Ramsdale.
Or maybe not.
The positive i’m assuming is there regarding the ramsdale potential signing is that he’s a beast at set pieces, unlike Leno.
That is it. Everything else about this deal smells like smoke behind the scenes
Btw the same people have IDd Runnarson, William and Cedric lol.
Same people signed Tavares as LB backup without deciding what to do with Kolasinac
Same people who think Saliba is not good enough to play against Dundalk but injured Mari and outgoing Mustafi is
Is Kim KALSTROOM STILL PLAYING..
😏.
@Capn Tienrey, the sad thing is nothing will change unless
a) Kroenke’s leave
b) it gets so unbearably bad that Kroenke’s are forced to act.
Considering b didn’t happen last year, I think we’re in for quite a ride
Rhian Brewster is my cousin, maybe I’ll ask him what he thinks of Ramsdale 😂. Nothing surprises me with this club any more in regards to Ramsdale. Very strange decision. We def like spunking money away don’t we.
There is still almost three weeks to go before the window closes, so plenty of time for Arteta to get the players he needs (and rid himself of players he doesn’t need)
Don’t let’s panic.
Agree have to think theirs more to this Ramsdale deal than meets eye, like Leno’s out for lacking true commitment.
A poor piece of business after letting Martinez go for £18m after club invested a decade of time to getting him at hight level. Also ticked homegrown box. Should of won PFA keeper of season for most, owned the Copa America en route to victory with keeper of tournament honor’s.
Captain Tierney
Arsenal will offload Kolasinac before the end of transfer window. At the moment they are still
hoping I am sure for a transfer fee..
My guess is that they will release him on a free so long as the club recruiting him pay his
substantial wages in full.
Clubs a mess , we are going nowhere with Edu and Arteta both way out of their depth.
Ramsdale for £30m now should probably add another £10m to the asking price of anyone else Arsenal are in for.
I can just see the Leicester DoF go “ they paid how much for him?!?!”
Madison…£80million.
Ramsdale just found himself a nice warm cozy spot for the second time. I should get his agent to negotiate my prenup. Between Willian, Xhaka, Mari, Bellerin, Soares, and Runarsson, how much wages are being wasted on employees that are a net negative at the work place? I think Arteta is so far out of his depth that he has lost all track of events and is living in autopilot.
Nobody in their right mind would sign Kolasinac. He will end up a free agent like Mustafi after we pay him to leave the building as Ramsdale walks in beaming from ear to ear.
Haha Peds.. you went full used car salesman those first 3 paragraphs… Trying to convince you a Ford Escort is what you need when your really want a Mustang.
Anyhow, I’m so disappointed in this transfer window… to be honest signing Ramsdale wouldn’t change anything. Renewing Xhaka pretty much set the tone and ruined it for me..I was expecting transformative change.
PS>> You know changing the haircut was the right thing to do. Good on you for trying on the leather fringed jacket on your head, though. The don’t give a fuck look does have it’s time and place.
“So our back up keeper cost more than our main keeper… That ain’t gonna work”
It’s working at Chelsea.
I get keeping Xhaka if the only offer was 10 mil, but renewing him to “protect value”?? What value! he’s only worth 10 mil in the market. shocking decision making, and he’ll probably turn out like Kola/Ozil where we have to subsidize his wages or pay him off to leave in a year or two
Really beggars belief how we end up paying over the odds constantly, meanwhile Liverpool paid 25mil for thiago.
We would have had to part with 50 for the same player, we did part with 50 for Partey.
72mil for Pepe, 73mil for Sancho.
What are we doing to get fleeced like this? Who on earth did we upset for the entire collective of world football to prune gouge us on our targets like this?
The thing that really makes my blood boil is the constant false economy that the club handicap themselves with, which started as long ago as when the Hill-Woods and the Old Etonians, and is still very prevalent in the here and now. Arsenal are the Emperors New Clothes, always risk averse, always ridiculously cautious, and always cheap, which always ends badly. A club of Arsenal’s global reputation putting all their eggs on a rookie manager is an insult to the whole fan-base, but the biggest crime is that the custodians haven’t got the balls or the level of care to… Read more »
Price gouge*
If Arteta is not careful with his team selections, I see the fans hounding him out by December. Things might start badly for the club again and Arteta might just be too stubborn to drop the big names.
By the way, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ivan Toney tears Arsenal a new one on Friday. The boy is more motivated than all our senior players put together
what capacity will the emirates be at?
Agreed Sal
A really uncommon thing that shows just how perverted our project youth had become.
How did no one notice how good emi was??? I think the argentina national team was on the phone to him last summer saying he needs a starting berth or hes outta the picture. We were too slow there. Bout 3 years or so. Meant if wed had the right setup internally we woulda never had to buy leno, could bought a propsect
Anonymous Commentator… 25m for Thiago, who was awful, and was part of the team that lost 30 points on the season prior.
Not sure that illustrates your point.
Mee
The reason kola isn’t gone already is that the club he was playing for (w mustafi) that kola originally stiffed on the bosman before he came to us, was relegated and could not afford him. Bad luck or poetic justice?
Yes yes Pedro thiago was awful in his first season in the prem with an injury ravaged Liverpool.
What are you going to be saying when he’s firing on all cylinders this season?
“But he was awful last season” yeah can already see it, then that will be spun towards xhaka hopefully getting good next season.
Probably on a post titled “reasons to be optimistic about the future”
Adetunji, Arteta needs to get it right this season, like everyone else.
Kim Kallstrom came in on a loan when out of the blue Wilshere and Ramsey got injured and Flamini got a red card. He was a pure stopgap for half a season just in case things got worse. Not the best of moves but nowhere in comparison to buying Willian, selling Emi and the buying Ramsdale.
I agree with Mb wholeheartedly- in the A&E circus, being servile to Arteta counts for much more than footballing talent. What is common to Özil, Emi, Guendozi, AMN, Saliba and now Leno? They have all challenged the supreme leader.
baracry
To be fair it was an obvious response to Pedros comment
Al
There’s a vast difference to getting a keeper in as number one and taking steps to resolve matters when you realise you make a mistake compared to what looks like is going to happen with Ramsdale/ Leno.
Pedro
The sad part is most people want Arteta to succeed but he just drives you crazy with his weird choices. At least, it took Wenger many years before the weird decisions started. Mikel is too young and exposed to be acting like a retiree. He was expected to blaze a trail not lag behind average managers
AC, bit of a weird argument you are forming there. Liverpool deals aren’t bad because… the future.
Not only is ramsdale overpriced and shite but the guy has been part of teams either nearly or have been relegated. The guy is a fucking jinx
If Ramsdale was total shit, Sheff U wouldn’t have signed him for £20m, and Arsenal wouldn’t be poking around now.
Didn’t we sign a keeper by the name Runarson?
Pedro, Liverpool did not have to overspend to get thiago. We by contrast have to drop 50+ to get Partey who is proving to be injury prone either due to mismanagement or poor rotation policies, maddison who will cost us our entire fictional budget, or damn near 50 to get odegaard of all people. It’s night and day. And Liverpool still got into the champions League with their title winning defense ravaged by injuries and in crisis for the season. We on the other hand are so bad in general that we can’t even finish ahead of spurs when they’re… Read more »
Who will provide the goals in this team? Surely, Oba is on a decline and Laca has never been prolific with us. Btw, whoever signed off on Runnarson to Arsenal should be banned from football for life.
Leno must’ve told them I want out, so do whatever you have to do to get some cover in place.
Nothing else makes sense.
Paying £12 million more for Ramsdale than what we got for Emi would be shit business, but in the great scheme of things, when you compare it to throwing £80m at Auba and Willian over three years , some might even consider it a tidy piece of business.
AC,
29 years old
Poor injury record
1 year left on his deal
… but there’s always this year.
We just need to bring in a good goal keeping coach who knows how to train keepers.
Very poor spin.
While we’re stuck with xhaka and elneny.
AC, if spin is just rolling out the facts that counter your weak point… then so be it.
Rolling your skirt up to defend Liverpool wastage is embarrassing stuff.
Pedro
Why are you deleting my comments?
Azed, if you disrespect me like that again, you’ll go in the bin.
The only sense I can draw from the keeper situation would be if Ramsdale is coming in alongside Onana in January when we offload Leno. Assessing the cost of the entire reshuffle, rather than individual fees makes everything seem a bit smarter. Net spend ~£20m for a number one and number two seems to be a fair price.
Of course that is entirely hypothetical and relies on those in charge doing what we all see as ‘glaringly obvious’ perhaps something that data/scouting suggests not to be the case ?!
why have we not signed an attacker?
You know what’s mad, Partey and thiago have the same number of games played in the prem.
One has a goal, the other has two assists.
Sat here wondering what the big difference is between 45 and 25mil.
Guns i concur but who exactly are you thinking of ? Struggle to see a genuine goal source in any iteration of a starting XI
AC, if you have to wonder the value of Thomas Partey to Arsenal, then you shouldn’t be here.
It makes no sense this shit about the market is dead what you need is a competent and proper DOF, just look at what Monchi is doing at Sevilla. No such lame excuses just business and look where Sevilla finished last season in La Liga 9 points of the top not 26 as AFC.
To make the point if this gossip is true:
Arsenal are looking to hijack a move for Bologna defender Takehiro Tomiyasu.
WTF more defender and no attacking players shows that Tets can’t organize an attack like he couldn’t organize a piss up in a brewery.
Brentford will be dangerous on set pieces. I can see us losing. The more I think of the game.
MD, how did Monchi do when he left Spain?
Jim Who is buying Leno for £15-20m in that hypothetical situation? He wants out of the UK, believes he came to Arsenal to play CL football, but is not needed by the few elite clubs in Europe who might be able to cobble together that amount for a keeper. So if selling to a West Ham or Everton isn’t on the cards, then there are no buyers for him at that price. It feels like another Xhaka situation where it’s either accept a fee far below his ‘worth’ / status, or keep him. I hope the club are thinking about… Read more »
I think someone in the Arteta/kroenke/edu triumvirate took building from the back as something to do every year, I mean was Gabriel not quite an expensive purchase? I was a little baffled by the white signing seeing as we were constantly being told that Arsenal had one of the best defenses in the league last year but the Ramsdale links are just trippy. Ask any outsider and they would suggest 4mill to be an accurate quotation for this player, especially only as a backup. Relegated twice in two seasons is a big warning sign to me. Hopefully we do actually… Read more »
Pedro my funky friend, whats next for your coiffure styling? Loved the slicked back look from last week!
Wasn’t it Monchi who discovered Reyes? In the 17 years with Sevilla he helped win 11 trophies. Went to different owners at A.S. Roma which didn’t work out as he stated “left Rome for a simple reason: we realized that the idea of ownership was different than mine. The president thought it was better to go to the right, I to the left. It was not right to continue like this.” Well we can identify with shitty ownership so it was best for him to returned to Sevilla in 2019 and if my memory serves me right Arsenal were pretty… Read more »
Pedro is in a roll 😂
Hopefully the signing doesn’t turn out to be as bad as it seems
Ernest, it’s this one for a few weeks, maybe slick back when I’m feeling serious!
Can’t believe LG cancelled my hair
“Pedro is in a roll” do you mean his Arteta security blanket 😆
For the record Pedro, I adore you hair but not as much as French defenders.
Sal, that means a lot man.
Is ozil still paying gunnersaurus wages or has auba taken over that duty ?
All I can say about Ramsdale is that whilst watching shef utd last season a few times , my initial reaction was how a change of goalkeeper can have such a negative effect on the side.
With Henderson in goal the previous season , the difference to their defence was there for all to see..
To me, Ramsdale replacing Henderson was the primary reason they were relegated.
What Arteta sees in Ramsdale god only knows…
Pedro you’ve got a cameo in peaky blinders new season in your sights.
Looking like a clean shaven ‘Arthur Shelby does Coachella’
Leicester signing Vestergaard to replace Fofana, maybe he’ll help them get top 4…
Steady… Pedro’s first cameo will be in my Birkenstock real people doing real things campaign.
Not going to see a better duet between hair and product.
North banker
“I know so little about Ramsdale that I can’t add whether he should replace although my enthusiasm for signing him is low. I just don’t get why we’re not all in for Onana”
Onana would require Arsenal to sign two keepers. He’s banned until sometime in November and then in January he’ll disappear for AFCON. That’s why no one has signed him.. Would it be cheaper to sign a homegrown backup, not named Ramsdale, and Onana, possibly, but you would still have to pay Onana’s salary for the half of the season he isn’t available.
Be confident in your hair or go Baldingo like Holding. Theres no in between
Putting things straight I want us to do well but am deeply concerned that we are trying to make a suit with an inexperienced tailor with no chalk In hand or a tape measure round his neck…
Hopefully we will end up in saville row and not Primark…
Positive start and none of the rubbish on the bench.
Pierre
“What Arteta sees in Ramsdale god only knows…”
Well given his track record over the last 18 months of always backing the wrong horses, it really shouldn’t be seen as a surprise.
Maybe the club should take captain duties away from auba. Maybe it’s making him to much under pressure
Never should have got rid of Wenger if it meant Pedro defending the indefensible
Tr7
You saying arteta is a mug punter ?
SuperCup starting in 10 minutes, Emery in for another European trophy and Arsenal in for the local trophies 😆
Since we are talking is talent ids, here is one of the best talent Ids ever, someone who bought to the Arsenal, Anelka, Henry, Ceec, Diaby, Reyes, Persie, Sanchez , Ozil, Santi, Sol and many many more.
.
Wenger: “Saliba is an amazing young player. So strong, so mature. He can upgrade many many defenses. Not sure what happened at Arsenal, but he seems talented enough”
The bees are 16/5 to win at home Friday… Inviting very inviting
Read in a David Coleman style voice for effect…
Tiago Pinto did not only travel to London for a forward, but also to try to sign a regista (CM). Reports,
@AliprandiJacopo
Fingers toes ball sacks whatever cross them all
Fair play @pedro – gotta bring in advertisement to the site.
Agree I’ve never been so underwhelmed heading into a season. Makes it worse because we all know this should have been an exciting summer of rebuilding.
Think we have to just wait out the auba willian contracts before we see true overhaul
Wenger: “Saliba is an amazing young player. So strong, so mature. He can upgrade many many defenses. Not sure what happened at Arsenal, but he seems talented enough”
Phew some people will feel conflicted now
Elmo,
My crude maths had Leno going for ~£10m. £24 for Ramsdale + £6m for Onana. But I do see what you’re saying. My point was as much to try and understand how the club may be viewing the situation as total spend for the keeper position (#1+#2) rather than taking it on individual prices sort of thing.
CT
Is he implying something happened behind the scenes that affected his arsenal career?
In defence he is only a kid could be immaturity ?
A secret office deep in the bowels of the Emirates. Josh Kroenke sits at the table,head in hands and surveys individuals seated around him. The air is thick with gloom and tension. An emergency meeting of the people responsible for Arsenal’s transfer strategy(PRATS) is taking place.A furious argument has erupted between Mikel Arteta, Arsenal manager, seated on his right and Edu,director of football, seated on his left. Edu: I had nothing to do with it I’m telling you. MA: You are responsible for transfers, who signed him, the fucking tooth fairy? Edu: Oh so now I’m responsible for transfers? Last… Read more »
Pedro You really need to wake up. I can’t believe you are the same pedro who wanted Wenger out all those years ago. This summer has been filled with odd decisions. If anyone else other than Arteta did it, you would be crucifying them. This is worse than Wenger spending on a bunch of attacking midfielders when we actually needed DMs and CBs. And you have been against that like every fan. This is actually worse because we are spending vast sums on unproven players who aren’t needed. And unlike Wenger’s CAMs, they won’t be as fun to watch. You… Read more »
RSPCA
Leno over Emi M
Willian
Xhaka
Odegard
Auba on left
Guen, Torr, AMN, Saliba sidelined
Ramsdale
White for 50M
Runarsson
Arteta’s list of fuck ups is long for someone just 18 months in to his job.
Habesha I am sure Pedro will turn on him as soon as the results are bad as will the fans in the stadium
I am also backing MA as I have no choice but if he fucks it up he will be booed out by November
Habesha, or maybe you need to wake up? We shall see.
Tr7 add martinelli sidelined as well
mA does need to get the players he needs though to prove he can do it