MUST WIN?

by .

Well, here we are, looking over a wrecked start to the season trying to work out if what we’re seeing is a disaster predicated on a severe mitigating circumstance or a mitigating circumstance that has given cover to a disaster already unfolding.

There are a few worries that I have post-Chelsea game and actually, one of them comes from reading Mike McDonald’s yesterday.

‘I saw Arteta refuse to address a simple tactical issue on Chelsea’s right and I saw what I fear will be his downfall, a lack of humility. None of this has anything to do with unfortunate circumstances.’

Mike put this down to stubbornness, which would be kind in my opinion. I had a different take. I think Arteta is far more similar to Jose Mourinho than any other manager out there. He’s very transactional by nature (bye bye Willian), he seems to be a bit of an egotist (falls out with everyone), and if he doesn’t get what he wants… he throws his toys out the pram (Brentford presser).

He’s also very, very intelligent. There’s absolutely no way he didn’t see Arsenal getting hammered down the left. It was so obvious, it almost looked like he let it happen to us to prove a point. That is a Jose tactic from back in the day, if he didn’t get his signings, he’d do something self-destructive to make a point, then he’d get his shopping list addressed.

It’s moves like that that kill me. That’s not ability, it’s immaturity. Same sort of carry-on before the Brentford game. That game was lost in the press conference and the behaviour that preceded it. That’s not ability, that’s maturity.

You can do things like that if you are delivering. Big coaches behave badly all the time. Pochettino had a massive sulk about the coach/manager position, refusing to wear a suit, but he had earned his stripes. This Arteta nonsense doesn’t hold weight with the fans, who let’s be honest, are at best neutral to him… and it shouldn’t hold weight with the club.

Having an obsession with being right is a bad trait. We let Arteta hire yes men around him. Children or people grateful for his gift of a job at a massive club. When you surround yourself with meh, you have to be so unbelievably good at your job, because when things go to shit, no one will tell you that you’re not wearing clothes.

William Saliba is doing a great job in Marseille at the moment. He has his own set of Ultras that own one of the most potent propaganda networks in world football. They are persuasive. It is getting desperately hard to not look at that loan and think it was all about Arteta. Do I think Saliba is controlling Lukaku at the weekend? No. But do I think he’d have grown from the experience and offered us more from the dismal Pablo Mari? Likely. Again, Saliba getting 3000 minutes this season will be major… but I can only accept those minutes going abroad if our back-up defenders don’t cost us points like they have in the last two games. A 28-year-old defender with beautiful hair getting rolled in our box was embarrassing, and that rankles fans, especially the Ultras. We had Pablo on loan, we watched him in training every day, we made that loan perm… and he’s not that good.

Arteta shouldn’t have leverage at the club, but he does, because we have weak leadership and a knee capped Technical Director. The calculation is quite simple from Arteta… are you really going to sack someone you just gave £130m? If you do, what are you going to bring to the club? The best Spurs could do was Nuno. The best Everton could do was Rafa. Who do you think we’re getting midseason? Antonio Conte… a chequebook manager, a demanding winner, a total lunatic, bad with kids? No chance. He’s not matched to our new vision. Graham Potter? Brighton paid £2m to release him, do you think their poker playing owner hasn’t thought about his release clause? We’d be hiring the type of nobody that rocks up on a boat with Raul, Edu and Kia in Monaco. I think that factors into how Arteta behaves.

The way I see it, the manager has 10 games to save his career, and I suspect he probably will.

  • NCFC (h)
  • Burnley (a)
  • Spurs (h)
  • Brighton (a)
  • CPFC (h)
  • AVFC (H)
  • LCFC (a)
  • Watford (h)
  • LFC (a)
  • NUFC (h)

We need to be extracting 23 points from that lot. Liverpool is probably a write-off, but at least we should have full complement of players to choose from. Spurs has to be a win. Leicester has to be a win. I cannot have Patrick Vieira bossing us with his new Palace side.

Things I’ll be looking for:

  • This is Arteta’s squad now, so where is the better football?
  • Can he make his players press intelligently for more than 6 minutes?
  • Can he get on a run like post-Xmas

The key to any success for me is getting Auba back to his best. That’s why I was shocked to read yet more ‘Auba could go’ stories doing the rounds yesterday. It’s Arteta again. The player isn’t working out, so instead of making things better, he just wants to discard last summer’s toy. He’s like Donald Trump. Everything is zero sum. Who is holding him accountable? Which coach is the counterpoint to this?

His job is to get us back to 2 seasons ago Auba. A man who loved his football, who scored goals for fun, and lifted the fans. You can’t just bin him because you don’t fancy him.

Willian is about to exit. For me, it’s quite refreshing to have a player in the side on a big contract who actually wants to play football and actually reacts badly to being disliked by the fans. We’ll be exiting him, but no doubt picking up a huge chunk of his two-year deal, especially if he goes to Brazil. Who is being held accountable for this? No doubt Raul and Edu were pushing the player… but let’s not pretend Arteta wasn’t championing this guy and his special qualities.

There are also other exits lined up. Kola will leave to Turkey, Eddie will get his move to Palace, and Torreira is going to Italy.

We await a new on the right back… but dear lord, don’t let that player be a 31-year-old that’s been bombed off by an elite side. Do we ever learn?

We play West Brom a little later. We’ll have the chance to see Martin Odegaard and Aaron Ramsdale make their official debuts. We’ll probably see Tavares and some of the players that are around the periphery. It’s a must-win game whoever he puts out there. Sadly, I’m not looking forward to it… when your biggest backer is getting bored, you know you are in trouble.

Let’s see what he has, because the time for excuses is well and truly over.

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Spudnik

HT Carabao Cup Brentford 0 – Forest Green Rovers 1 (EFL League 2. 5141 capacity)

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Should have kept saliba … Let him grow with the team.
Mad decision to release him.

Pierre

Inside right “It’s not the quantity of players that’s the problem, it’s the relative quality of them. We have been picking up players none of the top six sides are interested in.” In my opinion , over the last 12 months we could have bought Partey and Bissouma as definite starters and that would have sorted our midfield. Gabriel and Saliba are potentially good signings as was Guendouzi. with players like lakonga tavarez and Martinelli as one’s for the future. So bissouma , partey and possibly Odegaard would be the only real addition to the starting line up. Players like… Read more »

Pierre

Charlie
“More than happy to be provided evidence that suggests Xhaka’s new deal is until 2025 basic, with the 30 grand increase stated. Where’s this one being sourced?”

You’re missing the point Charlie.

The fact that he is still at the club is bad enough.

If he had taken a 30k drop in wages, fans would still have preferred he left .

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Saliba will never play for the club again… Sadly…

The big young hope he was has been washed away with artetas hair gel..

Instead we sign one of snow White’s dwarfs.. whitey…

Shocking.

Clubs in total turmoil …

Can it be fixed.?

Emiratesstroller

TR7 The post you reference at 17.35 WAS NOT an endorsement of White. What I said was that White was a replacement for Luiz and we needed a a first string RCB which is/was factually correct. For the record these are statements about White which I have made: 1. I knew little about White before he joined Arsenal, because I do not follow either Brighton or Leeds. However, I pointed out that others rated him highly. 2. I referenced his height in reference to other criticisms about his size. I pointed out that 1.82 1.86 was not small and that… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

correction Brentford not Brentwood

Radio Raheem

How did Emenalo do at Monaco?

WengerEagle

TR7
August 24, 2021 18:07:54

“Managers use the word “project” to buy more time for themselves and to imply that the current situation is a mess too big to be easily solved. Most owners and fans fall for this buzzword.”

This post is really on the money. No surprises it is TR7.

Champagne Charlie

Pierre

No I’m not missing any point, if you come on here and talk the specifics then you should be honest enough to get them right, or at the very least reference where you’re getting your info.

The 30k pay rise was used in snide reference to Willocks transfer fee received, so it would be nice to see where this information is coming from. Shit opinions are one thing, but shit facts just don’t wash.

Mr Serge

Le SauceAugust 24, 2021 19:16:12
Strollers calling someone “thick” … color me amazed
You flip flop faster than Mia Khalifa takes off her panties man

So I googled Mia khalifa that’s a lot of panties she takes off 😳

Valentin

Pierre, Personally I would have bought Soumare, Lonkonga and Bissouma and straight away you have a more dynamic, athletic front foot midfield. You can then go for attackers with less physical prowess because the engine room is covered. You also have enough height so that you don’t struggle on set pieces. Sold Aubameyang or keep him an extra year with the idea of losing him for nothing the following season. Try to bring Giroud back on a free for a year to give time for Nkethia and whoever is bought to replace Lacazette to grow into the role without the… Read more »

Guns of SF

That word “project” is a trigger man.
humiliating to be talked about like that IMO

We are bigger than a project Mike.
We are Arsenal. Not a project.

WengerEagle

It’s not the fact that White is short(ish) for a CB that is the issue Emirates Stroller, he is 4cm taller than Kounde for example. It is that he is really weak aerially, he is not remotely comparable to Sergio Ramos stop it with that nonsense. Kounde is short but he is exceptional in winning aerial duels, only 4 players across all of La Liga won more aerial battles in their own half than Kounde last season. Toney dominating him in the air was a sneak preview for teams targeting this weakness all season. Imagine what Antonio or DCL in… Read more »

Le Sauce

Mr Serge
I know right…
Apparently she’s feeling the sauce at the other side of London. She supports West Ham

WengerEagle

Raulishuss

24 and too young to have watched the Invincibles season, were you not watching football by age 7?

My condolences. Just about remember 2001/02 myself.

Mr Serge

.
R.S.P.C.ArsenalAugust 24, 2021 21:14:23
Saliba will never play for the club again… Sadly…The big young hope he was has been washed away with artetas hair gel..Instead we sign one of snow White’s dwarfs.. whitey…Shocking.Clubs in total turmoil …Can it be fixed

If Arteta is sacked he still has a future with us I reckon

Mr Serge

West Ham
WengerEagleAugust 24, 2021 21:40:43
Raulishuss24 and too young to have watched the Invincibles season, were you not watching football by age 7?My condolences. Just about remember 2001/02 myself

How old are you we ?

WengerEagle

Suppose everyone gets into ball at a different age, wasn’t it big Bam Bam that started supporting us in 2006 and well into adulthood?

Until Ole took over United that is.

Le Sauce

WE
White strikes me like someone who’s gonna be bullied in the air by Aubameyang. He’s another Xhaka in defence, a flawed player who would need to have his weakness hidden against the “Rolls Royce” midfielder a certain Le grover told us

WengerEagle

26 Serge.

Was given an Arsenal jersey by age 3 so had some unknown relative looking out for me.

Kids over here pretty much all supported United and Liverpool.

Le Sauce

*defender

Goobergooner

Cc, you have absolutely no clue. Up there with EB

Majesticgooner

The obvious is staring us in the face, when was the last time we had a player who could grab the game by the scruff of the neck and inspire them to a win, or a player the opposition would have nightmare facing, think the last one was Sanchez. All the teams around us have at least one or two players in their team no one wants to face, Spurs have Kane , son, West Ham, antonio, soucek, Everton, Calvert lewin, Danny ings, Watkins, , I’m not even going to mention the top four teams. So we can see how… Read more »

WengerEagle

Le Sauce

Haha, the RR tag really was a whopper wasn’t it?

Van Dijk is a RR CB, Rio Ferdinand was.

Guns of SF

someone was saying on AFTV that we need quality over quantity.
I agree. However we have so many holes to plug at once.
id rather not get 3-4 average to good, and focus on 1-2 really high quality. In 2 season we should be set up much better. Average is not moving the needle. We need above average and exceptional talent.
That damn needle is stuck right now

Guns of SF

Majestic

we once had an entire team that other teams were afraid of.
Oh how we have fallen….

Le Sauce

We
I’m like goddamn!!
We had guys comparing him to Cannavaro and Ramos, some telling us he’s a fucking RR… more like a 2002 Subaru on current evidence. I just hope he comes good because he’s an Arsenal and is gonna be here long after Tets is gone

Spanishdave

Rip Charlie Watts great drummer

Champagne Charlie

Goober

What are you even talking about?

Le Sauce

*player

Valentin

WE, As you succinctly explained the issue with White is not his height, but the fact that he weak aerially. Also he is a front foot aggressive player which can be an asset, but can also be disastrous in the penalty box against tricky wingers. He got his antiticiu wrong and got done in the penalty box by MBeumo who then scuffed his shot. If they didn’t already know those flaws in his game beforehand, every other premiership managers should certainly be aware of them now. They will deliberatedly target him as an easy way to get to our defense.… Read more »

Mr Serge

WengerEagleAugust 24, 2021 21:44:41
26 Serge.Was given an Arsenal jersey by age 3 so had some unknown relative looking out for me.Kids over here pretty much all supported United and Liverpool

That’s half my age man no wonder sometimes I reference something and some of you guys tell me I am old

Ray+in+LA

Spudnik

August 24, 2021 18:50:55

“Arsenal’s left side doesn’t need strengthening. It’s got Tierney, Tavares, Saka, Martinelli”

It may not need additional personnel but it certainly needs strengthening 🙂

WengerEagle

Le Sauce Exactly, at this point I am all aboard team White as we literally have no other choice. He will outlast Tets here unless we get a complete re-jig and a ballsy authoritarian type like an Allegri or a Conte that flat out does not fancy him. But if I hear shite like ‘Rolls-Royce’CB I have to draw the line as it is fan-fiction at best and delusion at worst. Allegri apparently does not at all fancy Weston McKennie in CM who Juventus were only after shelling out 20m for back in March and he is being shown the… Read more »

Ray+in+LA

I’d like to see White play as RB against Norwich

If it works, it would solve an immediate problem — not as well as a ‘right’ version of Tierney, but maybe better than a Cedric that doesn’t understand the offside rule, a Bellerin that has never recovered from a serious injury, an AMN that doesn’t care to play there or even a promising Chamberlin that looks very demoralised [like Cedric]

Champagne Charlie

Last season our aerial win % per defender was the following:

**1st in the league was 82.1%**
Luiz – 71.4%

**20th was 71%**
Mari – 64.4%

**50th was 63%**
Gabriel – 60.5%
Chambers – 57.5%

**100th was 56.8%**
Holding – 56%
White – 53.1%

**150th was 47.8%**
Bellerin – 47.8%
Cedric – 41.7%
Tierney – 29.7%
AMN – 26.7% (216th of 254 players who qualified)

Collectively we ranked second from bottom in aerial duels won as a team with 45.9% pipping Southampton who came dead last. Top 4 were Everton, United, City, and Chelsea 56-52%.

WengerEagle

Valentin People keep mentioning that Gabriel will be an ideal partner for White due to his aerial ability which is very good granted. But from what I saw of Gabriel last season, he is very rash and front-foot. He elects to push towards the ball and commit to challenges so I am not sure he and White will work as a tandem as that is supposedly what White specialises in. Most CB partnerships have an aggressive ball-playing type along with a more composed reader of the game that often provides cover and organises the backline. We had it with Koscielny… Read more »

WengerEagle

Charlie

It’s one thing everyone on here bigging up White as a Luiz replacement has seemingly overlooked- Luiz was very good in the air and White is a significant step down in that aspect.

It is a serious problem that teams will look to exploit at every opportunity this season. I know you think Carra’s party piece on MNF is what has turned heads but this was flagged up months ago on here when White was in the pipeline.

WengerEagle

Serge

50 ain’t old mate, it’s actually likely not far off the average age around here.

Venga, Dani

@Charlie, thanks for posting that. Looks like we’ve seriously downgraded aerially this season by spending 50 million…what a mess. Wondering if Ramsdale has good command of his box. Making the Emi sale sting more and more.

Champagne Charlie

Weagle

I have no objection to having a concern over that aspect, but at the same time it doesn’t diminish all his other qualities as has been a very familiar theme since it’s become a topic of discussion.

Pretty sure Koscielny was a defender that was initially average aerially, but developed himself to be competent with that and excellent elsewhere – I see White falling into that category. He isn’t the finished article at 23 in central defence, there’s no shock on my face.

MD-Gunner

@TR7
“ES is the biggest flip flopper on Le Grove. ”

TR7, you are a smart poster and I enjoy your analysis but I am really disappointed in you because you get in a posting match with the biggest flip flopper and Le Grove troll Erroneous Stroller. (ES)!
Did you learn nothing from his explanation on how Stan poured money into the club? I can only surmise that you have time to burn.

Champagne Charlie

There was some shock at how poor our fullbacks are in the air though. Looking through the top sides and you see the following:

Shaw – 48.6%
Wan Bissaka – 56.8%
Walker – 66.7%
Zinchenko – 63.2%
Chilwell – 55%
James – 56.3%
TAA – 22.2%
Robertson – 59.1%

Our boys are very meh…

Bellerin – 47.8%
Cedric – 41.7%
Tierney – 29.7%
AMN – 26.7%

WengerEagle

Charlie

Kos may not have been amazing in the air but he was a hell of a lot better than White is when he came. Won 2.7 aerial balls a game in his first season here and he was paired next to a 6 foot 6 giant in Per that he worked really well in tandem with.

Who can be our Per for White? Hardly Mari on recent evidence.

Gabriel? He’s far too rash to emulate Per for me, different kind of CB.

WengerEagle

Ha, Bellerin and Cedric make up for the surprising aerial prowess by being wank on the floor at least.

Venga, Dani

Meanwhile, I’m sitting here thinking the Leicester signed Vestergaard for approx 15 million who won 70.1% of aerial duels coming in at #24. Could have spent the other 35 million on a bloody RB or striker provided we get one out. Hell we could have even got another CM so we wouldnt have to see Xhaka again!

Venga, Dani

Meanwhile Inter signed Dumfries who is 1 meter 88 and looks great in the air. FFS

Champagne Charlie

Weagle Think your horse has bolted on White, its been 90 mins mate settle down a notch. On last seasons evidence he’s marginally worse than Holding at winning headers, and not one cunt has criticised Baldinho for that. What will influence this seasons success is what you’re alluding to, partnerships. I actually think looking at that info (plus the clusterfuck of attacking options) we could see a 3 return with Gab and White playing either side of a Holding/Mari for some games. A Gab/Ben pair requires a lot of maturity from the pair, and idk if that’s quite in the… Read more »

Le Sauce

Tierney is all about pashun and whipped crosses it seems. 29.7% is an L

Venga, Dani

LMAO – Mavrapanos came in at #24 for % of aerial duels won across the big 5 leagues last season at 75.4%.

Raulishuss

Absolutely not WE. My dad didnt even like sport plus i didnt really start supporting arsenal untill my uncle came to live with us and started watching arsenal games, then i picked interest. Think that was around age 11. Never been to a match but my passion for arsenal is ferocious. Supporting arsenal to me is akin to marrying drew barrymore only that after your marriage she went to a coma and you’ve praying ever since to see her back.

Venga, Dani

Saliba won 61.4% aerial duels if anyones curious…

Le Sauce

Cc
From the looks of it, if white came in at £25-30m no one would be reading much meaning into those stats. The heavy outlay will always come with heavy criticism, same way you won’t be really critical of Pepe if we bought him for £30m
For £50m in a depressed market we should be getting close to the real deal. £17m for Lokonga is excellent money for potential as you’re not seeing anyone here looking into his key passes, tackling stats and what not. If we paid £40m for Lokonga then the stats would be flying out

Words on a blog

I hereby nominate Raulishuss for the Nobel Prize for Literature based on the quality of the following line: “Supporting Arsenal for me is akin to marrying Drew Barrymore only that after your marriage she went into a coma and you’ve been praying ever since to see her back.”

Top, top quality line.

Champagne Charlie

Le Sauce Yea I understand that, but there’s got to be a suspension of criticism for a period when a new player arrives until they’ve given you something to digest in Arsenal colours. A poor debut isn’t going to amount to much if he uses it as a platform to reflect and improve in the games to follow. Likewise if he doesn’t then the criticism that comes his way will be justified. Many a player has started slow here and gone on to grow into a proper player, few have set the place alight and carried it through. Usually the… Read more »

WengerEagle

Charlie As you yourself point out, were the 2nd worst team league wide in the air last season so it was a massive problem even with Baldinho. It likely didn’t get the bulk of the attention as we conceded 39 goals [3rd in PL] and we scored a paltry 55, understandable enough. I don’t disagree I suppose the frustration and exasperation of posters towards dropping so much money on White was that not only was he not a massive priority of ours, he isn’t the complete package as a CB himself. Anything but a RR type ala VVD and Ruben… Read more »

G8

Pedro spinning Arteta’s left side shambles and complete idiocy to just stubbornness is taking the piss and insulting the intelligence of your faithful readers!
Otherwise good post!

MD-Gunner

Arsenal again is in a shitty position of selling players. Palace offered 10 mil AFC wants 20 mil, Eddie is out of contract Summer 2022, how did these morons in the contract department let it go this far, are they on permanent vacation or just plain inept.

Words on a blog

Ben White is not the issue. It’s way too early to dismiss him or to laud him as the essential lynchpin for all our amazing new attacks from the back.

The issue is the decision to spend £50m on Ben White.

WengerEagle

Raulishuss

Where you based, Stateside? What if any other sport were you more taken by as a youngster?

So that would have had you started supporting us around 2007 or 08 if my maths are shit-hot. So you caught most of the Cescball/Wengerball era of elite football albeit with no silverware. Still, we were a team you could be very proud of at least with the quality of football with the likes of Cesc, Hleb, Rosicky, Nasri, Arshavin, RVP, Adebayor, pre-crocked Jack, etc.

WengerEagle

Dani Venga

I still don’t really understand what happened around Mavropanos.

He had by all accounts an excellent loan spell with Stuttgart last season, he is a ball-playing CB and has an impressive physical profile and is only 23. And we elect to loan him out to Stuttgart once again with an option to make it permanent for a next to nothing fee, I saw 5m-7m being floated around.

Where is the upside in that amount for us? Buys us Ben White’s left shin.

BacaryisGod

No Premier League team got upset by a lower level team. Can only imagine what will happen if we lose to WBA. I’m predicting a draw tomorrow.

Words on a blog

WnegerEagle,

If I’m not mistaken, the players brought in by “diamond-eye” Mslintat have all fallen out favour and have been totally marginalised by A&E.

Saliba,
Torreira,
Mavro,
Guendouzi.

All shunted out by Arteta, who clearly doesn’t share Pedro’s high opinion of diamond eye.

WengerEagle

Surprised nobody has mentioned Real Madrid’s £137m bid for Mbappe tonight.

That is unbelievable and surely unturndownable money for a guy that will walk for less than the price of a Mars bar next summer. Even if it is Mbappe.

They are very lucky that Messi chose Paris is all I can say.

Words on a blog

WengerEagle,

And there I was thinking Real were broke and weren’t going to be doing the big numbers for galacticos!

Champagne Charlie

Weagle

My latent hope-come-pipe-dream is that PSG green light that deal and look for a cheap established name to fill their ranks for the season. Auba or Laca would do nicely for me, both a relative bargain for what Mbappe is earning.

Really want to see a striker land before the window ends, but I don’t think there’s even a long shot touted anywhere. I’d take a speculative loan-to-buy from somewhere just to add some fresh blood, I’m not even expecting a 50 mil sexy talent.

WengerEagle

Words I can forgive Toreirra and Guendouzi as both had their opportunities here and didn’t play well but the other two literally have not been given a chance and it’s just baffling why as they have performed well in top 5 European Leagues already. Re Real, think it was Sal earlier who said the league was Atletico Madrid’s to lose after keeping everyone and adding real quality in Rodrigo de Paul and now Cunha. Flo Perez and Carlo clearly share this opinion as they know that Mbappe will cycle himself to Madrid next summer for nothing but without him this… Read more »

SAGG

Well, as I told you a week ago, things would start to move if we lose against Chelsea. Things about “Edu out” and “Artetas has 5 games”, have started to leak. Just as I told you, the big verbal spank that Stan gave to Josh was extremely unusual, and Project Josh has its hours counted. If we lose against WBA things could speed up MASSIVELY. Wenger is the guy Stan wants, even if he needs to apologize. But that is a desire not a clear option yet, dont know who will take Arsenal helm after Josh but it seems Stan… Read more »

WengerEagle

Charlie

You not just see them opting to go with Icardi up top? Neymar-Icardi-Messi with Di Maria floating behind is a pretty formidable attack. I do see them bringing in another ST but Auba/Laca would be such a stretch.

Any PSG cast-offs interest you? Have to imagine that Draxler, Sarabia, Gueye, Rafinha will all make way to help balance the books and streamline the squad.

Raulishuss

Yes WE
I was usually the loudest even amongst loud,arrogant man u cunts cuz i was so proud of the football we played and i absolutely used to adore wenger. Tbh i had so much faith it was just a matter of time before we’d start dominating am kind sad and suprised and lost hope almost at this point but hey it’s the hope that kills.

Champagne Charlie

Weagle Yea most certainly, hence the pipe dream. Would just really love to see us breakup the band up top somehow. Drax was someone I thought we’d show an interest in as his contract wound down, but he signed a new 3 year deal there. If we’re batting for long shots I’d hope the vanity of PSG losing Mbappe and wanting the last word would see an Auba arrival, or maybe City getting fucked by Levy and turning to Auba to replace Aguero’s old role. Maybe the latter could see a little 11th hour part-ex get the green light, would… Read more »

WengerEagle

Raulishuss

I was surrounded by Manc and Scouse cunts as a whippersnapper, the Chelsea wave only came around 06′ onwards, now of course seeing Citeh shirts a plenty over here with the youth of today.

You do worry about the future of the club with the next gen of football supporters, why would a kid be remotely inclined to support Arsenal right now barring getting bullied into it by his old man/an influential relative?

Raulishuss

While i absolutely hate the big spanish two. Mbappe to real will make europe competitive. Benzema back to a supporting role and mbappe assuming the ronaldo role will be great for the both of them. Might even bring out the best out of the creative genius that is eden to cause some hazard. Top front 3 in europe for me. Wow

Raulishuss

Here in Nigeria only CHELSEA Fans growing in numbers could care less about manc fans. They’re about few and funny as redtruth’s sentences.

WengerEagle

Charlie Moussa Dembele is a lethal goalscorer, his record really is very impressive indeed for the mins played. Problem is that his all-round game is non-existent and he has choppy on ball technique from what I have seen of him in the CL and bits from Lyon games in France. I think that we desperately need a CF that can create chances for himself and conjure something out of nothing as we don’t have the creative personnel to rely on putting top quality chances on a plate for a finisher type. Last thing I want to see is another stationary… Read more »

WengerEagle

Yeah I hope the Mbappe move happens too, would make the CL exciting once again and up for grabs.

WengerEagle

Raulishuss

Yeah never a particularly big Manc presence over in Nigeria, why is that? They seem to dominate the Asian market as well as the US but not Africa.

Every Nigerian I have ever met supports either Arsenal or Chelsea.

Raulishuss

Think you misunderstood WE when i wrote “manc” i actually meant man city. Man u definately has fans infact they have much more fans than arsenal and chelsea and boy are they the worst

Champagne Charlie

Weagle Dembele doesn’t do it for me in a typical sense for the reasons you lay out, but what he does offer is a frame and power to battle defenders, speed, and ability in the air. I think that’s sorely lacking from our current CF options even if my ideal striker is cuter and akin to Benzema. Could see him having a very Wilfired Bony kind of baptism if things went well in England. There’s very few CF options on the market that aren’t commanding 50 mil fees. Edouard is another, but he strikes me more as a slow burn… Read more »

WengerEagle

Raulishuss Not over here, Scouse fans are by far the worst, not even a close second. Manc [Utd] fans over here are absolute fair-weather types, barely even into football. Charlie True, does nothing for the cohesiveness of the attack though. A frontline containing Pepe and Dembele would be an eyesore to put it mildly. Dembele would have been very good in our more creative sides of the past, even the Ozil-Ramsey-Cazorla one post-Cesc era. Giroud was a lot of good things but he was a terrible finisher for us. Was saying yesterday, any of: Ten Hag-Overmars Gasperini-Sartori Jardim-Campos Jesse Marsch-Rangnick… Read more »

Champagne Charlie

Weagle My latent hope for cohesion this season come in the form of ESR, Ode, and Saka developing a wider understanding and adding to their individual games. I have none reserved for Auba or Pepe, none. So with that said I’d much rather we added a CF that could bully a penalty box and run channels just for the space it can potentially create for others. Auba is a wet noodle and Laca doesnt threaten in behind. I back them both (sort of) to finish, but it’s simply not the issue. It’s disrupting defences and creating the goal scoring actions… Read more »

Dissenter

Arsenal had had a pretty shambolic summer at time when there have been fantastic signings available to transform our midfield for the next half decade.
I’m just reading about Weston McKennie being available for as little as £20 million but we have decided to keep Arteta cripples like Xhaka and Elneny
All the while we have our Rolls Royce elite ball playing defender that cost about 55 million spearheading our offense from the back.

Not even Wenger’s 2015 summer frustrated me this much.

Dissenter

**Arsenal have had

Dissenter

Compare Edu’s perform with the former Juventus DoF running things close by.

China1

Projects are supposed to have a designated end date. We don’t even have a target end date

Arteta is intentionally confusing a project with operations, and failing miserably at it

WengerEagle

Charlie

You fancy any of those Manager/DOF combos?

Dembele wouldn’t be the worst shout, I don’t need a whole lot of convincing. Just for his youthful spark alone compared to our pensioners.

WengerEagle

China

As TR7 correctly put it, it’s just a buzzword to buy him more time than Emery was ever afforded.

China1

It makes for bad reading seeing Pedro say Saliba should’ve stayed after he’s spent the whole summer shitting on everyone who even dared to suggest it

Champagne Charlie

Weagle

I’m not particularly versed on Tech Directors, but I liked the little I saw of Jesse Marsch a while back. Not that enamoured by the rest in truth, would sooner see us go for Brenda even if there’s a glass ceiling on him that he needs to work through.

RockyRoe

“He is also very very intelligent” Exactly what did arteta do to make you think he is very very intelligent? Just because you like him? I think he is a dumb fuck. Getting our left get rolled over to prove what point exactly? That we need a better LB or LCB? If Reece was playing on the left your theory *could* make a modicum of sense since we do t have a established RB. Unfortunately for you truth is far simpler. Arteta has never ever managed to change a game with tactical changes or subs. Case in point his appealing… Read more »

Zacharse

Do we think anyone’s coming in before the window shuts?

Goobergooner

William Saliba is doing a great job in Marseille at the moment. “He has his own set of Ultras that own one of the most potent propaganda networks in world football. They are persuasive. It is getting desperately hard to not look at that loan and think it was all about Arteta. Do I think Saliba is controlling Lukaku at the weekend? No. But do I think he’d have grown from the experience and offered us more from the dismal Pablo Mari? Likely”

Pedro, you love a good flip flop 😂😂😂

Goobergooner

Saliba loan was all about Artetas ego. Literally any other manager in world football would have introduced him into the squad properly by now, even if he wasn’t a starter.

Your man is a piss poor man manager and has a very poor eye for talent

Tony

RIP Charlie WattS a jazz drummer who was one of the best R&B drummers of his generation. I have most of their live concert and full discography.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwtyn-L-2gQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHlxGg0QIqE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kl6q_9qZOs

A few tracks while you read.

Sly

Pedro
You’re using ‘galaxy’ brain to analyze arteta’s failings
Really not that complicated
He’s not intelligent and is also not a good coach
No sane coach in a death spiral would say hey I’m just gonna throw all my toys outta the pram during a game just to prove a point
He managed the Chelsea game desperately and to the best of his ability or lack thereof
Time to spend your energy blogging on alternatives to this mediocre egotistical runt

gunnerman

Remember the talk about Occam’s Razor?

Arteta is out of his depth vs him concocting some grand throw because he’s not getting what he wants.
The former takes less words to explain.

Gonsterous

Pedro

He’s also very, very intelligent. There’s absolutely no way he didn’t see Arsenal getting hammered down the left. It was so obvious, it almost looked like he let it happen to us to prove a point. That is a Jose tactic from back in the day, if he didn’t get his signings, he’d do something self-destructive to make a point, then he’d get his shopping list addressed.

Lmao, I stopped reading the blog after this pearl. Can’t stop laughing.

Goobergooner

Fucking hell England’s best.

If I was manager of Arsenal I would be saying I’m taking us to the very top. Be absolutely bizarre not to. But considering I had as much management experience as tets when he started maybe I should be considered for the next job if all it takes is saying you’re going to win (despite the clear evidence winning is not his strong suit)