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
Dissenter
Made some very bizarre decisions this summer, Ødegaard isn’t one for me.
What’s bizarre is not finishing job and giving him platform to work form that entails a mid on level of Aouar and Partey in the three for me.
Yet we spent £80m on Ramsdale and White, extended Xhaka and are looking down barrel of seeing Laca leave on free in June. Not even touching on raking the money depressed leagues for talent.
Besìktas links to Elneny gaining pace. I truly hope we can ship him out for 5-7m. I dont understand what is going on with LT. He was really solid when he played for us. If he doesnt leave, i d rather see him behind TP and Lokonga instead of Elneny.
The lad was playing whoheartedly for us, why not giving him a second chance?
Edu might be waiting for Juninho to reply to his texts.
“Is that Aouar guy like Guendouzi?”
” I offer you half price, take it or leave it”
Nightmare on Elm Street
Hellraiser
The entity
Scared the shit of of me.
Guns of SF I think this is worse than Wenger’s Wenger didn’t sign good players because he would rather be right and lose that to win on an idea he didn’t believe in. When Wenger didn’t sign players, he used internal solutions to still extract annoyingly decent results. When Wenger didn’t spend, the club saved on transfer fees and built up a vast cash deposit. With Arteta, it’s like giving a toddler your pay check to spend on groceries. You know he’s going to spend half on lollipops and cup cakes, which is exactly what we’ve done this summer. We… Read more »
I said at the time last year that if Arteta cannot handle a temperamental but professional player like Guendouzi, there is absolutely no chance getting Aouar would not end up in disaster. Aouar previous two managers said exactly the same thing. When on song, motivated and fit he is an extraordinary talent. When unmotivated, angry, he is a nightmare. Refuse to warm down, turn up late at training, does not bother with the instructions during game, can be rude and obnoxious. Trying to play the hard task master always failed, the only way was to either give him a challenge… Read more »
Sal
We can still hope though
Maybe with Elneny’s exit, they will make a play for Aouar
I would rather have a dynamic midfield player like Aouar capable of scoring goals than sign a subpar RB this summer.
In what world is Torreira surplus but Elneny makes the grade? I don’t think Arteta is bright at all, theres too many things that point to him being dim, and deluded which is a dangerous combination.
Wenger Eagle
“Torture Porn”, that’s very funny!
Hi Graham I understand your deep frustration with Arsenal, but this didn’t start with Arteta or Wenger, it has been brewing on a back-burner for decades. Arsenal’s philosophical issue is that since the early 1900’s, they’ve always been owned by Conservatives. That’s great if it’s someone like Henry Norris who used a lot of his wealth to make Arsenal the dominant force in English football. But not remotely exciting with Old Etonians like the Hill-Woods. Football wasn’t really their primary concern, for them it was all about protecting and cautiously profiting from their investment. Throughout their whole time as custodians,… Read more »
Wenger Eagle Old shouts there with Wolf Creek, the guy in that was a sadistic fucker, made me think twice about travelling Aus back in the day haha! Hostel was another one of those films I just laughed through mostly, the bit with the girl and her eye!! As I say I think if Saw was left as a stand alone fillm it would be a cult classic (perhaps it is anyway) I have up after Saw.V. This is moving away from horror as such, although it perhaps has elements of horror, but does anyone else like Final Destination and… Read more »
Weagle and sal agreed we can’t let aouar go spurs it’s a joke he ripped man city a new one and us in our very own Emirates cup he was sublime in both those games
Auba, Laca and the goalie tested positive for Covid last week but Auba could be back for Sunday. Nevermind what anyone says, our season hinges on him discovering his form and regularly finding the net. We have added nothing in attack so there is now more emphasis on this.
Valentin
Agree with your assessment of the Alien/Predator films.
Alien Resurrection I see as a comedy film really.
I like to watch the AVP films for light entertainment but overall am disappointed with the direction they took with the story as there was great ideas from the comics they could have tapped into but didn’t.
Did you like The Predator film from a couple of years back?
Willian also tested positive for COVID and for being positively shit
Valentin
We don’t have evidence that arteta is a good coach
We do have a lot of evidence to the contrary over the last 18 months
We could have had Ryan on a free transfer and spent that £24 million on Aouar
Valentin
The job of a coach is also based on spotting the technical and tactical deficiencies in players and eradicating them.
Do you think Arteta is top notch at doing this?
Is Ramsdale better than Ryan? Don’t think so.
Is White better than any of our current CBs (ignore his last match)?
I believe that Arteta is a terrible manager and a control freak. However he built his reputation on being able to improve players individually by giving them targeted exercises. I think he still has that and that’s why the younger players like his advices. However his advices are useless if he can’t build a coherent system. And that’s where he is failing. Yes he is poor at everything that makes a good manager: Man management, tactics, substitutions, in game adjustments, etc, but he was an excellent No2. I think that he does not have the competence nor character to be… Read more »
Chris,
I was disappointed with the latest Predator movie. It was not bad, just a pop corn movie you watch and enjoy, but 1 week later you can’t even remember the characters or the scenes.
According to football.london: “Alexandre Lacazette is also definitely out after testing positive for COVID-19, while Willian and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang still need to be assessed after also testing positive for the virus.” I remember someone said that it was BS yesterday…
Chris,
Talking about Predator, have you read the latest news about that movie. The next one Predator: Skulls will have a Comanche female lead.
Back to the original and less technology.
Have you seen Outlander with Jim Cazeviel?
Good popcorn movie as well.
“He’s average’. – Honestly, leave the room, you are embarrassing yourself.”
The word “Generational” for some reason comes to mind in similar context.
HerbsArmy Thanks for the history lesson. My take on things has nothing to do with our 1900’s culture, it’s based on what I’ve seen manifest over the past decade or so. The acceptance of second best, third best and fourth best ultimately sent us on a downward spiral. When these same beliefs are promoted and consumed by everyone within the club, including the players, it’s a recipe for disaster. My frustrations with Arteta are based on what I see. Unknowingly, he has disrupted the trust of the players by displaying an inability to deal with the ongoing problems. He has… Read more »
@Almunia
Your reading of the tea leaves is formidable.
“for all knew that on his sacking AW has used the last of his power to place an unforgivable curse on the club, no manager would ever again be able to qualify for the champions league.”
This has come to pass last UCL appearance was under AW. Now at least we know why the defunct duo is in place AW’s uncanny powers. WOW! Brilliant deduction.
Real Madrid-Arsenal negotiations.
RM: ’30 million for Odegaard? You were interested in Maddison for 60m, weren’t you?
ARSENAL: ‘Yeah, but Maddison has two feet. Odegaard has one. Simple maths’
RM: ‘ok-sold!’
“ Alien and aliens are good horror movies!All of the ones after were shite action movies”
I would agree Alien is a horror, Aliens was definitely more of an action film but one of my favorites when I was younger.
Ye man, but it’s a dry heat!!
I don’t understand why the coaching team couldn’t improve Pepe. He has the speed. But every time he receives the ball at his foot, he’ll move it to his left foot and then decide whether to pass back or cut in. He should practice carrying the ball down the line and then cutback from the baseline. He just have to mix it up. Currently, he is too predictable.
Cautiously optimistic because of our recent form against them, (we even mugged Tuchel at Stamford Bridge). It’s become more of a rivalry over the last two decades, so naturally I would love us to smash them
Given where the two clubs are currently though, I would take a point.
@Nelson – have you seen the TIFO sad donut video? It explains why Pepe is basically useless in the Arteta system.
Nelson
Simple answer the defunct duo doesn’t have the footballing knowledge to do that. Proof false 9 in the Villarreal semi.
Old IT acronym GIGO Garbage In Garbage Out that is Tests mantra.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXXshG-5oRU
good video
I am so disgusted by the vitriol spewed out on social medial to our new goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.. It is now high time for the providers to clamp down on this vile practice. Whatever your views on the player, this is not acceptable. Now all I want now is this kid to prove the doubters wrong. He is our player now and should be welcomed with open arms. These are NOT Arsenal fans. They are scum of the Earth!!!!!
Spurs 1-0 down
Spurs losing to ferero Roche
Phil Neville, making Arteta look world class. Not very good at this managerial gig are they, the Neville brothers 😁
It’s not really ‘horror’ but the original wicker man was excellent too“
The remake with Nic Cage was unintentional comedy gold.
Odegaard doesn’t move the needle at all.
A bang average(being kind) squad doesn’t improve with a slightly above average player.
Above average improve collectively average .
HerbsArmy
August 19, 2021 19:53:28
I don’t know how Test is going to stop Chelsea. Their players look hungry and introducing Lukaku will add a new dimension to their game.
My optimism comes in that we can’t play worse than the first game or can we?
For the oldies on here.
one movie.
JAWS
any kid who saw that when it was released in 1977/78 was traumatized. The beach was no longer friendly, and even taking a bath when the water went over your eyes too. trauma
Nelson 19 .51
He likes looking down at his current new boots.
But in all fairness and besides all his failings
he looks like your main outlet for a goal at the moment.
Predictable yes -annoying yes.
Guns
Summer i watched that movie, a friend of a kid i knew got attacked at stinson in the shallows boogie boarding and he fought it off. Spent 6 weeks in the hospital.
this seems utter BS
These are being shopped around
https://arseblog.news/2021/08/arsenal-announce-quadruple-covid-positives-ahead-of-chelsea-game/
I’ve been banging the Aouar drum for over a year. He’s v talented and young. Yes he can be inconsistent and he’s arrogant. I like arrogance in footballers, especially in attacking midfielders and strikers. Aouar won’t go for £17m i can assure you, as English clubs will pay a premium, but I guess he will go for circa £25m – or a lot less to a continental team. I really don’t understand why we haven’t bought him. We need more than 2 creative players, even without European competition. ESR has a history of injuries and he and Saka are still… Read more »
Guns agree jaws was epic when it came out everyone was terrified of going in the sea after that
I must have watched that movie 30 times over the years
Wilshire f**king auto correct
Tbh, Samesong, it is hope more than optimism, like a lot of fellow fans here, I can’t wait for Arteta to be evicted from the building, lego-head first.
I hate that he played for our club, because it has given him a license to steal a living leeching off Arsenal’s lack of ruthless leadership.
Arteta was certainly in the right place at the right time. Still hoping he manages to get us playing just a lttle bit better…
But really id like to see zidane or rodgers muscle into the job.
Wonder if Zidane would be interested
Bill Correct Any good manager will take the talent and work with it. Mold it, and also learn how to manage it. Mike wants the easy road with players who are choir boys. Easy. Non confrontive, without attitude. Most talented players have an ego. It just goes with the territory. To get where they are, being a choir boy generally is not the way… You have to stand out… on the pitch and off. Look at our TH14. A egomaniac but the greatest EPL player ever in my book Just lightning in a bottle. The fella was a juggernaut. Wenger… Read more »
Sid,
@Bertie Mee, there are Diet Pep fanboys, then there are Arsenal fans
Can you be both ?
Zach
Stinson beach has that sign right by the public restrooms about sharks.
Craziness man. That is great white central out there.
I think I heard of that boogie boarder who got attacked.
Recently near Pacifica another attack about a month ago.
Just wait til the Aussie gooners chime in about the shaaaaks in their oceans. Ours are tame comparatively.
Guns, ‘Jaws’ is a great call, was traumatised by that. I really need to think about my answers more, that would defo make my top 5. I’d also be highly suspicious of that arseblog article. Why is no one asking the obvious question, if they had covid why was it hushed up leading to inevitable and unnecessary speculation? Why wait a week and then disclose it? Makes no sense. Sky sports has been corrupt since it’s inception but the club seems to be using every possible arm of the media to sell it’s shit. Who the fuck would believe that… Read more »
Who the fuck would believe that Runnarson could catch anything?
Classic!
Unforunately Jaws movie has led to, and continues to millions of sharks being killed every year since. White sharks were decimated in the decade following the movie. Crazy how this movie triggered so many people worldwide.
It was a first of its kind back when, so those of us in our 40’s plus really felt this harder than the glossy, and gory movies that came later on in mass numbers.
Even modern day shark horror movies dont compare to the original
guns did you ever see the film about the couple who go snorkeling and then get left behind in the ocean by accident? i thought that was pretty good sharkish film
what is the name of it. I think i did.
“Barcelona want £12.8m for 18-year-old Spanish midfielder Ilaix Moriba. The teenager has attracted interest from Wolves but the Catalan club are yet to receive an acceptable offer”
i cant remember exactlyt but maybe something like ‘deep water’
Ilaix
another, get him in now!
Camavinga?? still out there….
If we dropping 50 on a CB, 25 on a back up GK, I think its time to spend on what we really need….
Explosive young midfielders ready to go now!
Guns,
There’s a wonderful poem called ” wolves in the zoo” by Nemerov,don’t know his first name. It tells a similar story, only about wolves obviously, and how popular culture, films, nursery rhymes,etc have wrongly portrayed the species and led them to the verge of extinction. Makes you think.
Anyone laughing at spuds tonight need to look in the mirror
1. Spurs eventually progress
2. Spurs go out and then have no European distraction and finish ahead of us by 15 pts
I fuckin hate Arsenal, I can’t even laugh at spurs anymore
Ash79
Spurs has won nothing show any progress
The last time they wrestled the league was in 1961
So relax, they’ve got nothing to offer
Ash fuck spurs man you can’t come on an arsenal blog and say anything good about the scum
Not even if you are a milienial
Ilaix Moriba …. would be great with us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPRfhW9yx6o
Ash
Sorry man but fuck the spuds 😂
It is sometimes funny to see that not only does Tets have major brain hemorrhaging but Nuno had a brain fart today.
Torture Porn….. Now new things are learnt on le grove everyday!
Almunia classic. From a hilarious script to Runnarson not catching anything.
Please does anyone know where Reftruth is? He and Sid will make a compact ink couple.
*compactible couple
Not surprised so many on here are unmoved by signing odegaard. I was a little disappointed with his contributions too. The thing nobody ever mentions with him though is just how good he was at Sociedad. Think you could make a case that pre-pandemic, he and/or benzema were la liga’s best performers. Madrid ended what was meant to be a 2 year loan a year early and proceeded to bench him. When he came to us he was recovering his form from being a key player week in week out (at socieded) to being a nobody at Madrid. And he… Read more »
and at only 30 million, its really good business too.
Agree Venga
I keep up with Sociedad not to Arsenal levels but they are my La Liga crush, how can one not be in love with San Sebastian?
They we’re electric at times with Ødegaard in setup, if you didn’t get on board with him there you either didn’t see him play or theres something essentially missing from your footballing DNA.
Ødegaard didn’t hit those levels during his loan but he showed enough and will build from that base.
Not like he walked into a silky setup.
I’m excited by his signing, no question our best deal this summer.
Absolutely Sal. He’s had a taste of the EPL already, he’s familiar with the squad and the city. Should be primed to hit the ground running.
Always loved watching Sociedad – remember when they had Vela and Griezman on either wing. Quite the team!
There’s one simple rule everyone on Le Grove should follow. You cannot trust the current Arsenal management team on goalkeepers. If all the reports are accurate we bought a disaster of a keeper in for 1.5m and are paying him 50k per week. This isn’t even measuring for the Leno/Martinez debacle. So when we’re having this long, drawn out discussion over Ramsdale’s value and quality, you have to factor current management’s judgement heavily into the equation. If Vinai had any balls, he would temporarily hire a goalkeeper recruitment expert to recommend the best path forward. It should have never been… Read more »
40k not 50k a week. Point still stands.
I’m patiently waiting to read Dissenter’s breakdown of Cristian Romero’s Spurs debut, cut above White I’m told, Walter Samuel II who will beast the PL.
Guess it’s the third tier of Europe against Portuguese bricklayers that’ll find him out….
https://mobile.twitter.com/AFCMax9/status/1428454976226009092
Can only imagine the critical analysis if it was our Benjamin.
Am I the only one who thinks Lucas T could do a job for us this year… Emery playing him as a 10 killed his confidence but he had some really good performances for us.
Most of us agree that for this season’s limited competitions, a squad of 25 should be sufficient. Where do we stand with that? To simplify let’s go with 3 keepers and 2 most likely used players for every position. Leno, Ramsdale, Runarsson Chambers, Cedric Tierney, Tavares White, Holding Gabriel, Mari Partey, Elneny Xhaka, Lokonga Saka, Pepe Smith-Rowe, Martinelli Odegaard, Aubameyang, Lacazette This fills out 24 spots.Logic would dictate that either Odegaard or ESR would play in the 10 role and of course there’s the possibility of a Back 3 and how that would affect things. Who is left? Willian-can’t get… Read more »
oh, and Reiss Nelson too.
“I’m patiently waiting to read Dissenter’s breakdown of Cristian Romero’s Spurs debut, cut above White I’m told, Walter Samuel II who will beast the PL.”
Lol. Romero will eat EPL strikers for breakfast – dissenter
“Lucas Silva ran in behind Cristian Romero too easily to latch on to Nuno Santos’ through ball and slot into the bottom corner for the only goal.”
Some posters would have been foaming on both sides of the mouth if this happened to White
The Arsenal’s season going from ‘pear shaped’ to ‘she’ll be apples’ hopefully!
Also, are the rumours true that the geezer who designed Tottenham’s stadium made it the shape of a toilet seat on the proviso that a soft closing roof could be installed for rainy match days. It already has a retractable floor like a Budgie cage, apparently for quick removal of post game rubbish.
@bacary
Mavrapanos is gone loan until June 2022 to Stuttgart with an option to buy and guess who made that deal happening, yes diamond eye Sven. So obviously he saw something in the player that dumber didn’t see and rather spent 50 mil on a CB that can’t do headers, while Mavrapanos scored Aug 7th with a header.
MD-Gunner
The option to buy is reportedly 3m.
Tits I avoided the Nicholas cage remake of the wicker man as soon as I heard the plot
I gather they dumbed it down to unreal levels, and made it about a man with an allergy to bees finding a previously undiscovered island of feminists off the coast of Washington DC?????
Once I heard that I was like NOPE.
I’m not a fan of bashing either White or Romero after one appearance. Anelka tied Jaap Stam in knots in Stam’s first appearance and he turned out to be brilliant for them.
Arteta will need to figure out how to expose White less to aerial bombardment though.
Do we still have that GK coach who recommended Runarsson? Maybe he is the reason why Leno is getting worse. What is he good at????
Almunia Thomas partey runs for the door but does his hamstrings in… lmao, that was the best part Speaking of almunia, ramsdale feels like almunia 2.0, only difference, we paid 25m for him. I think that puts to rest the debate of arteta coming in to improve the players. Go back 2 seasons and every one was assured the GK situation had been dealt with for the next 5-8 years, with comments from posters claiming leno was world class and we had a decent back up in martinez. Fast forward to 2021, and suddenly we are on the verge of… Read more »
I dont care about Ramsdale as long as there are funds to pull another mid…. we sorely lack that..
Even a RB, striker
It seems the club is either saving the best for last or clueless again with all this shit
Playing from the back is great and requires a lot of control of the goalie and defense, mids who can drop to get the ball…
DO we have that? I dont think so – not yet
Hoofing the ball also works…
we drop back so deep defending, that playing from the back is sometimes risky. Play the long ball sometimes…. mix it up
Ramdale error leading to goals stats are good, but this may be mainly because he just hoofs it up field to his tall strong strikers. So that’s killing two birds with one stone, not only does he have a high long range passing stat (which won’t be afforded to him by the midgets playing in arsenal), he doesn’t have to worry about playing out the back, and make mistakes that the GKs from the top teams do. I’ve seen lloris, de gea, emerson, leno, allison all make mistakes when trying to play out the back. This doesn’t effect keepers from… Read more »
K’phobe & Almunia First of all just had a post disappear where I forgot to copy first. Almunia great sketches shame we don’t live near each other, as we could commit some to video and start a YT channel. Ireland and especially Dublin were great live audiences better than the English. Bands loved playing Ireland; Belfast and Dublin I did a few gigs on tours. The Belfast logic back in the day was to stay at the most bombed hotel: The Europa. It was so well guarded you felt safe but were not allowed to open curtains in the rooms.… Read more »
“”””””Bertie MeeAugust 19, 2021 21:06:26
Sid,
@Bertie Mee, there are Diet Pep fanboys, then there are Arsenal fansCan you be both ?””””””
I might be wrong but it seems like an oxymoron to me
Rosemary’s Baby and The Omen (first one with Gregory Peck).
Any horror movie list is incomplete without those two.
The haunting of Emily Rose
Tony
Thai horror man.
Perfect for Friday nights. The recent one, The Medium looks like a real treat.
It’s almost taken as read that White was a terrible buy. I’m going to judge after quite a few more games before I draw any conclusion
In meantime the following is worth a read
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/58208642
Far more insightful opinion I suspect than the armchair experts on this site