Ok, I took a day off and I’m ready to rev back up into belief mode and pray that we can extract something from this miserable start to the season.
What better way to do that than to land one of the hottest young creative talents in Europe for a rumoured £30m.
That is a steal.
He’s the captain of a national team that contains Erling Haaland.
He’s an aggressive progressive passer of the ball.
He has that eye for a cutting pass no one in this current lineup has.
He ranks highly for progressive carries, so we have someone that can dribble the ball effectively.
We know he has goals in his game from his Sociedad days.
We know he’ll make us a better team.
At the very least, it’ll be good for the squad to see fresh blood.
James Maddison would have been lovely, no doubt, but if we can get him for half the price, then why not. Also, Sam Dean of The Telegraph pointed out, we’ve basically spent £5m to replace Joe Willock.
I’ve read all sorts of embarrassing anti-Odegaard talk online.
‘Why wasn’t anyone else in for him?’
No one else was in for Sancho. No one else was in for Romero. No one else was in for Lukaku. If the barometer for success with a new signing is whether or not Manchester City are in for him, I think you need a new test.
‘He doesn’t move the needle’
I love this sort of comment from people that have no clue. Think it’s born of Liverpool signing Allison and VVD then winning the league. Well my friends, we are not Liverpool, we can’t afford those sorts of players, so we have to play in the world of high-potential. Odegaard does move the needle for us creatively, that’s not in doubt, he also has a very high ceiling and he will get better whether it’s under Arteta or a new coach.
‘He’s average’
Honestly, leave the room, you are embarrassing yourself.
There are three types of signing we could have made here.
A mega star within our budget, like Maddison.
We could have gone for a player like Coutinho, 28 years old, a fallen star, in need of rehab… no resale value.
Or we could sign players we could craft into a superstar.
Plenty of examples of players that didn’t make the cut at big clubs, that went on to blow up with some love. Lukaku booted from Chelsea. KDB, booted from Chelsea. Mo Salah, booted from Chelsea. They all did ok. Failing to make it at Madrid isn’t the end.
I am all in on signing players that can grow with the club. White, Tavares, Lokonga, and Odegaard all represent a profile of players with very specific skills we need, with plenty of room to grow. Bringing in players like that ensures the next manager won’t need to spend £400m to rebuild, because we have the makings of a good squad.
Next up is Aaron Ramsdale. I honestly have no idea what is going on here. He seems like a very weird signing. My hope is that there’s some sort of mega data angle I’m not seeing, my absolute fear is the keeping coach that is somehow still hanging around has made a ‘boss, look at this boy’ recommendation and we’re heading for Runarsson MKII. The only hope I’m taking from this transfer is his distro game looks good. He’s brave with his passing and his long kicks are aggressive. He also ranks really high for catching crosses, small thing, but Leno either doesn’t come for them, or he punches. If you have a keeper that can catch and distribute fast, you have improved Arsenal. Also, at 22, Emi Martinez was cleaning boots at Rotherham. Hopefully, Rams-bo is a rough diamond we can smooth off rapidly before Bernd Leno goes on strike.
There’s still business to be done.
We need a right-back, desperately.
We need to sell more than one player.
We need our manager to get his shit together and start playing the part. He needs a rocket performance at the weekend and he’ll not get that if he’s crying like a baby all week. This squad is good now, there are no excuses, I want to see fast football, I want to see our players pressing, and I want us to move swiftly away from dreary donut football as fast as possible.
Right, quick one today, but here’s a video I did for Latte Firm. Check it out.
AND IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY, PEEK AT WHAT WE DID AT THE WEEKEND
Well I’m happy we now finally have Odegaard added to our team. That’s a step forwards
I have no idea with Ramsdale but hoping he will bloom here. Biggest how is we stop seeing the suicidal passing out by Leno – that would be 20 extra points a season if so
Terraloon
Never got relegated though did he
———————
Finishing above us in the 60s was nothing to shout about!
…..and there were 22 teams in Division 1 back then and only 2 teams went down!!
@Ustyno
I am not sure where you got the idea that I am all in on Arteta. It’s not a binary situation.
Ikechukwu, I don’t really get any enjoyment from watching Arsenal regress nor have I any reason to criticise you. But as you and I have different opinions on the issue I’d like your opinion on this I’ve literally just read it on bbc football : “When Arteta was asked whether he or the club had requested for the game to be called off, he replied: “What we did is what we had to do, through the club, through the club doctor as well. He explained the situation, how it developed and the risk that we consider.”” Now call me a… Read more »
I’m sorry but having 3 players out injured should not be an excuse against the likes of brendford. ——–
True but……let’s be honest here, you have a game plan that you’ve worked on all week and then on the day of the match you lose both your centre forwards, not one of them but both of them.
It’s going to affect the team however you look at it, I mean if they’d got covid on the Wednesday or even the Thursday etc plus throw in a jetlagged Martinelli and Balogun who has no experience at this level etc
Odegaard in ….. where are his lips? The man has no lips..
Anyway let’s just hope on Sunday we can at least produce a performance that we can feel sort of satisfied with, whatever the result, Arteta will have had 9 days by Sunday afternoon to sort somekind of game plan out.
Still a worry though that we’ll have 0 out of 9 come the international break.
@Almuniasaynomore
I just watched an interview where Arteta said he was surprised that the match wasn’t postponed, also that the regulators decided that the match should go ahead.
What else do you want? Moreover, Arteta is not the one who makes such a request, because it’s medical.
Olumide, get this straight. I’m not into Arterta as Arsenal’s manager. I think he ain’t for for purpose.
All I meant is the fact that successful coaches have overlooked a player doesn’t mean the player’s bad. Bale, James Rodriguez for examples.
Maybe if you’ve cared to read carefully you might have understood what I wrote.
Off topic…
Is anyone else as amused as I am that various media outlets keep running to Jamie O’Hara for comments about Arsenal?
The guy came out of Hale End and ended up at Spuds where he made 34 appearances in six years. Most of the time he was on loan around League One or the Championship. Yet the media cite his authority as a “former Spurs star”. He literally made less impact there than Glenn Helder did at Highbury.
When people say talk is cheap, they must have been talking about O’Hara. The bloke is a complete tool.
I don’t think we go into this season with a bad squad
But it’s a squad that presumably doesn’t have a top class keeper, RB, CM or CF
There’s still enough there to put in a run towards top 4 but I’d be shocked if they actually achieved it with arteta as manager
Fucking clickbait
I saw a headline saying parlour was chugging from a giant bottle of champagne hours before his breakfast radio show and was pretty concerned
Saw the video and it took place the night before and he looked sober enough, chugging for all of about 3 seconds before spluttering and presumably stopping
Way to turn a non-event into something dark sounding. I love the media
Ikechukwu, The way I chat with someone is I ask them a question that I’d like answered and I answer the questions that they ask me, directly. You have yet to explain to me why my argument that Arteta has poor man management was wrong despite the evidence I outlined. In fact you just ignored it. Now you are ignoring the quote I presented you with and the accompanying question I asked you. Finally you asked me to believe that Arteta doesn’t request a postponement, his opinion on whether he wants the match to go ahead isn’t considered. But I… Read more »
Yeah inside. Ohara will be remembered by a grand total of no one for his football career. The very fact he’s known at all is because he is constantly referred to as an ex spurs player like you said
Ask a spurs fan to tell you 30 ex players and most probably wouldn’t even remember…
Samsung, condolences. I lost both my parents in a four months, four years ago. It was a shit time.
Look after yourself and try not to fret about Arsenal. You’ve got bigger concerns, mate.
Covid or no Covid, the only one of the four that may have made any difference would be Laca and at that, it would have likely permitted Balogan to have played 20 minutes at most, and they still would have lost.
The fact that Arteta is somehow trying to leverage this as a possible reason as to why his club stunk the joint out with yet another abject performance…yeah whatever. The problem with Arsenal remains the same problem, Arteta himself. Out of ideas, out of clues, and out of time.
Samesong.
Bloody autocorrect
The only agenda Almunia has is the return of our DEAR LORD BIG WENG
*drops to knees and starts fumbling with zipper*
“England is Arsenal, & Arsenal is England.” But if Arsenal want to win the Champions League, they need us. £129 million, I’m feeling it Stan, but you can’t just stop there. You need to see this through. I don’t need to be there on the night, I’m happy to be home with the tele on watching it from the comfy couch at some God forsaken hour in morning. But it’s will be one of those, ‘ where were you when The Arsenal won the Champions League’ moments. Stan, you hold the hearts of millions around the world. There is no… Read more »
The problem with our goalkeeping isn’t Leno or whoever we sign, the problem is the keeping coach. How he’s still at post is buffling. I don’t think it was a position we were looking to address until lil pep came along.
I think by now people would have realised this.
Plus Arteta already said that despite all the interruptions on matchday 1, the performance and result were unacceptable which we all agreed with. The #Artetaout mentality is clouding every single thing including stuff that you are in conjunction with. Lol
Sorry to hear about your dad Samesong. Much love
China,
I was wondering about that last night. If ‘he who shall not be named’ actually returned, should I do the lotto? Or hide?
Samesong, very sorry to hear about your loss. Keep his memory alive and look after yourself.
Welcome to odegaard
I think he’ll be a great signing
You can slag off KSE all you want but they have backed arteta to the hilt
Their failings have recently revolved around naive appointments but in the last 5 years they’ve certainly stepped up with cash outlay
Now arteta needs to prove he’s not their most expensive mistake
Thoughts to you and your family Samesong, sorry to hear about your old man.
True but……let’s be honest here, you have a game plan that you’ve worked on all week and then on the day of the match you lose both your centre forwards, not one of them but both of them. hence why we need an identity at the club. Every player should be playing the same way. yes, you have a drop in quality but everyone is still on the same wave length and can step in and the game plan still works. Its one of the reason why i had a problem with arteta not utilising the squad, because when a… Read more »
remember all the arsenal haters joining up with villa fans to tell us how shit we were cos we “missed out” on 24yr old Emily Brenda for 30m?
it’s gone super quiet on that front now we’ve picked up a dude 2 years younger from a better team for the same price.
Welcome MO8!! 🔥🔥🔥
Ronald ”””’OGS signed for man u in December 2018 and he had a much much better squad to work with and you still see a gradual process there.”””’ Did he really? OGS was a clinical goalscorer, he also knows the importance of goals from Fergie in your side from every position. Arteta was a water carrier in midfield, who has shelled out £200 000 000 and is relying on 32 PEA to score ours. Already tenuous links ( ESPN)that Man Utd will go for Mbappe next season. The whole idea of good coaching surely is to create a team that… Read more »
Samesong,
Condolences from a fellow Gooner and Grover.
Samesong
Condolences to you and your family.
AlmuniasaynomoreAugust 20, 2021 13:17:52 Ikechukwu, The way I chat with someone is I ask them a question that I’d like answered and I answer the questions that they ask me, directly. You have yet to explain to me why my argument that Arteta has poor man management was wrong despite the evidence I outlined. In fact you just ignored it. Now you are ignoring the quote I presented you with and the accompanying question I asked you. Finally you asked me to believe that Arteta doesn’t request a postponement, his opinion on whether he wants the match to go ahead… Read more »
Samesong-
Take care and stay strong!
Sorry to hear about you’re loss Samesong. Condolences
Samesong
My sincere condolences !!
Sorry for your loss Samesong.
I lost my dad 11 years ago and it still hurts. I just try to remember the good times and try to smile . All the best.
Anyone else with concerns about Leno’s form think we should just start Ramsdale for a run of games and to hell with it?
I can’t imagine a £24 million pound keeper being happy to sit on the bench and bide his time for a whole season until Leno leaves next summer perhaps. If Leno’s head isn’t in the game, and Arteta believes Ramsdale is the future, then just put him in now and get the defenders used to him etc as to avoid potential adaption issues next season.
Samesong
Condolences mate. Every good wish to you and your family.
Chris, we’re not buying Ramsdale to sit on the bench. I suspect we’re moving Leno off sooner, rather than later.
I guess we’ll see Ramsdale next Wednesday against WBA. I want to see how our playout from the back functions with him. If he performs, we may see him again vs MC. That’s what I would do.
KAY Boss “Olumide, get this straight. I’m not into Arterta as Arsenal’s manager. I think he ain’t for for purpose.” I never said you’re into Arteta as Arsenal manager. “All I meant is the fact that successful coaches have overlooked a player doesn’t mean the player’s bad. Bale, James Rodriguez for examples. Maybe if you’ve cared to read carefully you might have understood what I wrote.” First, that’s not what you said. You said “to suggest he’s not that good because seasoned coaches overlooked him is quite the argument.” Except I don’t understand English, “not that good” is different from… Read more »
SamesongAugust 20, 2021 11:11:54
Condolences to you and your family Samesong.I hope you and your family are able to remain strong during this difficult period.
Samesong
Condolences to you and your family. Sorry for your loss.
My condolences to your father Samesong. Stay strong friend
Thank you all for the kind messages. And my condolences to those that have lost loved ones.
Arteta confirms Laca and Auba had Covid. Pretty obvious. Unless you are some gangster wannabe who pretends his name is Pedro.
Arteta confirms Laca and Auba had Covid. Pretty obvious.
From the Athletic The key point about having money in the TW is to use it cleverly. Arsenal have made a substantial outlay this summer. All in all, their outgoings are about to exceed what Chelsea or City have so far spent but notably on a different kind of shopping list. However unpopular Arsenal’s owners are with a large faction of the fanbase, they have backed manager Mikel Arteta in delivering players he has specifically asked for. This week’s purchases of Odegaard and Ramsdale will take the total spend sanctioned by KSE to approximately £182 million (with loan fees on… Read more »
Samesong
Just to echo other’s sentiments, condolences for what is a big personal loss.
Your memories will keep your dad living through you.
MD
Imagine wenger or any other competent manager being entrusted with this kind of funding
This also invalidates the popular (Pedro) argument that Arsenal can’t go for a top drawer manager because we can’t provide resources for team rebuilding
Ps
My condolences on your loss samesong
May your dad Rest In Peace
In 3 to 4 months we will see what Tets can do with this squad who are his players. I am always pointing to Chelsea and look what Tuchel did with Lampard’s squad. Hopefully KSE will see the light by Nov/Dec.
On the other hand Mavrpanos will play today at 2:30pm EST in the game RB Leipzig vs. Stuttgart on ESPN+ and let’s see what Sven has done since his arrival with that club and why he chose Mavrapanos for a cheap loan with the option to buy.
Samesong
Accept my heartfelt condolences. Stay strong
Pretty obvious they are being shopped around
Samesong, much love and condolences ❤️
Diamond eyes wasn’t exactly a hit with recruitment for us
Auba
Socrates
Mikhi
Guen
Mavrapanos to name a few
Quite a few lame ducks
Counter argument for him would be it was the remit he was given
His recruits otherwise contributed to our demise
Pulisic out with covid
So very sorry to hear of your news Samesong. Sincerest condolences to you and your family and always know that your Father is never too far away from your heart.
Best wishes.
Sly I cant quite get my head around why you think Pedro’s argument about not attracting top drawer managers is invalid because we have spent a bit of money. We have bought a few decent players but no world class ones. Top managers don’t want to be negotiating for the Ramsdales of this world they want Kane, Grealish and Co. I personally think Pedro is spot on with that argument.
If you have any complaints about our kit…
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/58281753
The Arteta out rhetoric has absolutely nothing to do with last weeks defeat against Brentford, far from it. It’s a combination of many different things, specifically the inability to make logical decisions for the benefit of the club and, importantly, the progression of the team. My own perceptions have been set in stone ever since the Martinez debacle. Since then we have witnessed, week in week out, the incompetence of Leno. We then went out and purchased Runarsson, who is simply not good enough. We’ve then had Matt Ryan, who is better than Leno, on loan, who we could have… Read more »
The bard
A bit of money?
What’s your counter argument?
Over 200 million has been invested in the arteta project and we’re still being peddled low expectations, not fit for a top 4 finish, under funded and the arguments go on
We’re also not an attraction to any top level manager ie conte etc because there are ‘no funds’
Tone is also being set for failure because games are not being re scheduled
Due to Covid and all
Graham62,
Didn’t Tet’s mentor dick around with keepers for a couple of seasons as well? Perhaps this is the Pep IP we’ve all been hearing about.
i think KSE has been around long enough for a lot of managers to think twice about working with them. I can’t think of another club I’m even aware of nevermind one with a stadium that seats 60k+ that has had the exec level incompetence we’ve had for a decade plus. usually clubs go broke with that kind of leadership. this started when it became apparent to the football world that AFC belonged to wenger, the key man for theb stadium loan as well as the complete naivete and distance of the kroenke ownership. That’s when we became a banter… Read more »
No argument about the naïveté and distance of the owners here zacharse
Problem which has been well chronicled is that they’re ‘football specialist’ dependent and have committed to the same model they went down with wenger
Entrusting the club to whoever has the most appealing vision
Their leadership recruitment has been lazy
And now we have arteta whose football philosophy, coaching ability and recruitment is in serious question
If he gets it wrong he could set this club back a further 10 years
So, after Keown, Seaman also questioned our transfer policy. More or less they questioned why you should spend so much on players coming in, that replace others like Martinez and Willock. Simply what we have been saying all of us in the summer.
Àpparently Martin and David are NOT Arsenal fans then, as all of us. If you are not Arteta’s fan, then you are not Arsenal fan.
Samesong,
sorry for your loss. My deepest condolences mate.
@Sly
2018-2019 Stuttgart was relegated. Sven was appointed to DOF of Stutthart 2019 promoted them to the Bundesliga for the 2020-2021 season and they finished 9th. Not an easy job considering the finances available to him. He was promised DOF for Arsenal by Gazidis but then when he left Raul kicked Sven out and he took his talent somewhere else. Arsenal’s loss.
I was part of a very small %.Could not wait to get Lukic be replaced.