Well hello, I’ve been back in the UK, so the blog has taken a bit of a backseat. In fact, I would say this is the first time in many years Arsenal has not been top of mind, and I’ve been out the mix 3 days and I have ZERO idea what is going on.
So let’s just start on a ramble and see where we go.
Tomi, our new centre back that is a right-back stole the show on international break with a dominant aerial performance. Weird to have two fullbacks at the club that boast 6ft+ frames. I don’t know what the galaxy brain notion is here, but I do remember Olivier Giroud being very important for Arsenal defending set plays back in the day.
‘Tall people are good for high balls’
Maybe this one isn’t so hard to work out. Weird thing with Tomi is he seems to be the player that is most intriguing Arsenal fans. No one has a clue if we’ve signed Kagawa levels of Japanese talent or we’ve unearthed another Inamoto. I’m excited for him, he seems to have a very Premier League athletic profile and he’s young enough to grow. Doubt he’s going to start at the weekend, but I’m looking forward to seeing him regardless.
Emile Smith Rowe stepped out of the England U21 game with some of that ‘unwellness’ which is a bit concerning. It’s not the ‘rona, which is pleasing, so hopefully he’ll be good for the weekend.
Kido Taylor-Hart signed a pro deal with Arsenal. That’s superb news. He’s highly rated and we LOVE the Hale-Enders. Again, say what you like about some of the embarrassing stuff that has gone on at Arsenal, one thing you can’t avoid… the kids are signing up for whatever Mikel is offering. That means good coaching and chances for the first team. We’ve not had that in many years. Can’t wait to see what the future holds there.
Martin Odegaard proved that there is no one better to rip apart a very weak team. He banged out a massive 12 key passes against… Gibraltar. Listen, you can only beat what is in front of you, so let’s just be pleased for him and hope he can dish out that sort of lesson to Norwich this weekend.
Arsenal rejected a bid for Mo Elneny. No one dodges a transfer window like this man. He’s Keanu in the Matrix. Each bullet he’s ducking is a Besiktas, Fenerbache, or Gala. It’s wild that we persist with him. But here we are, he has a nice smile and you KNOW he’ll be getting leaned on after a February injury crisis. I just hope we don’t offer him a new contract or extend him.
Just some passing conversation I’ve been having with Arsenal fans in England. Quite interesting that picking up a season ticket is now a piece of pie. Red members are being offered them. That’s quite a dip for Arsenal who boasted 60,000 on the old waiting list. If you can’t shift season tickets, then moving club level tickets is even harder… gawd knows what they’re doing at corporate level. Part of the splurge this summer was about apologizing to fans for the wrongs of the Super League, but I guess if you really dug deep, it was probably about arresting the decline in matchday going fans. Stan once said that it didn’t matter what price you put the tickets at, the fans would come… seems that might not be the case.
FINALLY. Le Grove was 14 the other day and I missed it. Thanks to everyone that has read, commented and followed the blog. It’s been a wild ride and I love you all for being so kind along the way. Now we have a podcast, we do Youtube, and we’re Pog Daddy’s (look it up). Here’s to 14 more years!
Right, that’s me done for today, I’ll see you in the comments. x
TR7
I agree. Add Gareth Barry or Alonso. They were relatively cheap during that era.
Odegaard is the type of player people slag off but if he is out of the team, you would see the effect. I am really glad we signed him. He can see a pass and has vision. This is exactly the type of player we have been missing since Ozil retired in his head and Santi moved to Villareal. And unlike Ozil, Odegaard works hard. And he is also a ball carrier. He might not skin people regularly but he gets us up the field more often. And also he is the exact type of player that will help us… Read more »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LVjyO8tUkE
My type of midfielder.
And a proof that a player with similar physique to Odegaard knew he needed to add goals to his game, and indeed he did. In 7 seasons, from 2007 to 2014, he scored 56 league goals or 8 goals per season, including a league campaign with 15 EPL goals in 27 games in 2009/10. He was probably the best midfielder in the world in that football year. Absolutely carried us on his 22 yo shoulders.
Thanks Pedro.
Habesha
Actually it may be easier to park the bus against us with Ode because he does slow the game down.
Habesha
Oden needs to add goals or assists to his game. This will improve him as a player
It’s not a question of slagging him off.
1 goal in 14 games on his loan spell? Do you think Oden would of been happy with that return?
And a proof that a player with similar physique to Odegaard knew he needed to add goals to his game, and indeed he did. In 7 seasons, from 2007 to 2014, he scored 56 league goals or 8 goals per season, including a league campaign with 15 EPL goals in 27 games in 2009/10. He was probably the best midfielder in the world in that football year. Absolutely carried us on his 22 yo shoulders.
Who you on about? Fabregas?
The youtube link is Ruud Guillit.
My bad I see you added Fabregas.
Samesong,
Ye, I changed the link but I used your expression.
There should be lots of mobility in the side now, speed and pace, but will our manager be able to deliver? So far all we have seen is a horseshoe of death by boredom…..is he allergic to movement, swapping places, fluidity and natural creativity of our players. Has he taken ‘Juego de Posicion’ and killed it by his OCD approach?
Great to see those Gullit goals, all kinds, amazing headers, what a player to have in the team.
Talking of Season Tickets, I remember Chelsea hawking STs at Waterloo Station circa 2002 ish … a couple of dolly birds walking around asking people who wanted to sign up for one – different times …
Love Arsene but I am not a fan of his proposal for a World Cup every 2 years.
Itās more special having it every four years. Also when does the players welfare come into it? Itās just another excuse for FIFA to make more money, they have absolutely no shame.
Wenger’s 2 yearly WC idea is just bat shit crazy
How is the qualification going to work every two years?
Just goes to show how out of touch he became eventually
I read the qualification would work my having more groups, each nation only playing 6 games, in two periods of time in October and March. One thing that is definitely outdated is the ridiculous stop start nature of the beginning of every club season due to international breaks. Playing 4 games than a break x 3 is just daft and irritating to the club dynamic. Plus it would surely make far more sense to have international football for a longer period at a time ie 5 or 6 games over a couple of weeks, so the players are together longer… Read more »
Raducanu what a player, Open women’s draw insanely good this year.
Chris
Surely Wenger should know that the average footballer is playing way too many games as it stands
Then you have the idea of devaluing the most prestigious international tournament
Dissenter
I canāt imagine Wenger having pushed this idea when he was Arsenal manager, thatās for sure!
Who will start RB
Amn ?
Congratulations Pedro on the 14 years truly amazing commitment & dedication to a regular great read
Leno
White chambers gab
Amn. kt3
Part.
Pepe ode
……. .saka
Auba
Well done Peter for the 14….
Myself been in since 2008 once gunnerblog went skewiff
CG
Conte would be massive for us. His experience and knowledge would be invaluable for us as this would help with creating a decent foundation for the team.
A rebuild cannot be done by a novice due to the fact that he lacks experience.
Imagine Conte coming in and winning the league in his 1st/ 2nd season like he did with Chelski in his first season with them. That would be a dream…
Congrats on 14 years Pedro amazing achievement are you going to any games ?
The fact that you can still get tickets for the NLD a week after they go on sale to red members blow my mind, red members would have had to be online on the dot to get those a couple of years ago
TR7 āOzil was a good player but wasnāt the type of midfielder I like. I like midfielders who can run with the ball. Iniesta, Zidane, Santi, Rosicky, Cesc, Hleb etcā Per FBref, before Emery and Arteta arrived with their structured systems, Ozil was Arsenalās most progressive ball carrier, averaging more than 220 meters on 13 progressive carries per game and this was on the downside of his career,. Unfortunately, FBref didnāt track progressive ball carrying and passing before the 2017-2018 season. If youāre talking about beating a man off the dribble, he did that too, though not as often as… Read more »
As for Wengers suggestion of a WC every 2 years… it’s just mental. How are the players supposed to rest? And then you have the Euros. How does that fit in??
I suppose it’s just AW trying to show that he is doing some work at Fifa.
You canāt get a normal season ticket if you are a red member there is a waiting list club level you can but you are paying Ā£2500 for the privilege
Happy birthday Legrove, I was there in the hospital at the birth and have been ever since. Well done to you and Geoff in the earlier years.
Long may you continue.
As for the football over those years. This must be the WORSED ever.
Let’s hope it gets better soon
Mr Serge “The fact that you can still get tickets for the NLD a week after they go on sale to red members blow my mind, red members would have had to be online on the dot to get those a couple of years ago” I guess it isn’t just the doom merchants on Le Grove as the self -proclaimed ‘balanced’ (ha) Nigel Tufnel lets on that are sick to the core of the pile of steaming shit that the club has been serving up to us over and over again that has led to such extreme supporter apathy as… Read more »
Mr Serge I agree re the fact about buying tickets as a Red Member, considering I am one. For all Category A games, tickets used to sell fast. You had to be online @ 10:00 sharp to get a ticket. The same applies when buying a ticket exchange. It was all down to luck, and regularly logging in, to check if one was for sale. And you had to snap it up fast, otherwise someone else would have bought it. I just checked right now for the Norwich game and I can still buy tickets for Upper tier seats, 3… Read more »
A question to all members, what do you think of the new membership card?
I absolutely dislike this new design of combining a VISA pre-paid card into it. Even the card looks soulless now
Before, you at least had the picture of the Emirates and more importantly, “The Arsenal” was written on it.
Now it’s just “My Arsenal Rewards”. What garbage.
If the local community isn’t warming up to Arsenal, think of what’s happening to the larger global community.
Arsenal is settling into midtable-lower league table status without as much as a whimper.
The people vested with spending transfer money don’t seem to get the strategic value of making signings that get’ fans back in the stadium. It’s all about some interminable and unmeasurable “process”
A funny perspective since Arsenal’s transfer fees spent amount to eighth most expensive squad in the world with MAās team worth
Ā£541m following summer spree, is this an omen that MAās side are expected to finish eight this season?
Please anyone jump in here and have the eighth most expensive squad in the world finish higher then eighth!
Same song Fair point on Odegaard. I can’t imagine he will be one of those players who gets double figure goals every season. But I can see he amount of Assists he will provide if the rest of the players take there chances. We even saw it in the 2nd half of last season when our strikers failed miserably on a number of opportunities he created. I have no doubts about him elevating us creatively. David Silva isn’t a regular goal scorer. But his effect on his teams isn’t questionable. Even Kevin debruyne who is the best midfielder right now… Read more »
Diss
When you have Edu just talk about building the team for “the future”, you just know there is no plan at all on how to get us back into top 4.
At least they are getting that we need younger players, but for a youth team build, you’ll need an experienced manager. Not an unknown, experienceless novice.
DB10 absolutely.
Lots of room for improvement, whether he can or not is a hot topic of debate
Are theses youngsters staying with us because of Arteta or the BFG. I think heās one whose getting the most out of them. Definitely future director material
DB10 I don’t like the new card either it’s ugly like our football
Ozil hasn’t been relevant to world football for 4 years and yet Pierre goes on and on about him every day. That’s some obsessive dedication
Anyhow.. speaking of dedication… Congrats on 14 years Peds..!!!! .
Been a long strange trip. Long may it continue.
Szczesny caught napping.
Kane scores against Poland.
0-1 to England.
Wojciech Szczesny has been making some solid saves until the goal. Nothing impressive though.
What is the point of a creative player if he does not score, does not assist and does not create pre-assists? To create big chances than nobody score from? If his teammates keep fluffing their lines after he creates so called big chances, then either his teammates are poor or his big chances are not big chances. They look like big chances, but the timing is off, the weight of the pass slightly wrong, the angle of the direction skewed, the cross too high. Not everybody can be an Iniesta, a Fabregas or even an Ćzil and makes the perfect… Read more »
Well deserved Poland. Nothing game from England. GS keeps with his 1 to 0 bullshit. Close to no chances all game long.
Aaargh, Poland score on a good header to level in the 1st min of additional time (+1).
Another Southgate Snoozefest.
Predictable, formulaic, uninspiring.
Has anyone ever seen Arteta and Southgate in the same room?
Southgate is the British Arteta.
Very fair draw considering that Poland have been really strong and aggressive with their game style throughout the game.
England didn’t do to badly but they need to up their game in these type of games.
Raptora
š¤£
I can only agree…. trying to play too safe is not the best strategy in the long run. It will only get you so far until another team outplays you.
I much prefer ESR in the No 10 slot over Odergaard. I think ESR is wasted out wide and ofers more threat in the middle. I’d even think of playing him alongside Partey to keep him in the centre where he does most damage than play him out wide (in a 4-2-3-1).
England had 2 shots on target. Both from around 30 meters. Rice and Phillips are the equivalent of Xhaka and Elneny. How can you play so scared having such fantastic offensive players…
The amount of times Grealish fell on his back just to protest to the ref doesn’t make him all that different to Neymar. Way under the skill level of the Brazilian though. Good player, no doubt, but the huge hype around him is unjustified. It’s got more to do with how he looks than how he plays. He is a downgrade on Sane, Mahrez, Sterling, Silva albeit more expensive than them.
England are so damn boring I never watch them it’s bad enough I have to watch our lot
#CONTEIN
UTarse Yep, Conte In. I’ll follow the snowball on that one. The more I think of it, since CG mentioned it, Conte would make so much sense. A proven manager who will know what he wants and translate our team into proven winners. If the Kroenke’s want their top 4 holy grail, which was duly instilled by AW, they must at all costs get Conte. Oops, I forgot. We don’t have any experienced footballing acumen at Senior level to come up with such a sensible plan to get us back at the top or close to top 4. What a… Read more »
Itās a no brainer DB10ā¦. And we all know there arenāt many of those in the management department at Arsenalā¦. Which means we might just get him ā¦just maybeā¦. We can hope I guessā¦..no different to āhopingā that Arteta may come good.
Yeah DB10 wengers World Cup every two years idea is absolutely rubbish. As you said he doesnāt appear to do anything in his current role and probably thought he better come up with some kind of idea to act as tho he does The World Cup every 2 years is a white idea because 1) the novelty of alternating with the euros is more interesting 2) the novelty of the World Cup being the pinnacle of football will be diminished if it comes around so often 3) whatās the actual benefit? 4) unless the euros are going to disappear it… Read more »
Shite* idea
The only argument I heard wenger make for it was āthe demand is thereā
Perhaps in the fifa head office where they smell a pay day, sure.
TOP 10: Transfer fees spend to assemble current squad
1. Manchester City – Ā£926m
2. Manchester United – Ā£877m
3. Paris Saint-German – Ā£820m
4. Real Madrid – Ā£675m
5. Chelsea – Ā£669m
6. Liverpool – Ā£576m
7. Juventus – Ā£563m
8. Arsenal – Ā£551m
9. Barcelona – Ā£542m
10 – Tottenham Hotspur – Ā£472m
Top 5 European leagues squad expenditure:
1. Premier League – Ā£7bn
2. La Liga – Ā£2.9bn
3. Serie A – Ā£2.8bn
4. Ligue 1 – Ā£2.3bn
5. Bundesliga – Ā£2bn
Premier League transfer window: Top 10 biggest spenders
1. Arsenal – Ā£156.8m
2. Manchester United – Ā£133.7m
3. Manchester City – Ā£100m
4. Chelsea Ā£97.5m
5. Aston Villa – Ā£93m
6. West Ham – Ā£63.3m
7. Tottenham – Ā£57.1m
8. Leicester City – Ā£55m
9. Leeds United – Ā£43m
10. Liverpool – Ā£36m
great that we’re one week into september and i’m thinkin about what mf we’re buying in january
who would you buy zach
Morning/evening Grovers
Arsenal have bought enough players, no excuse for not getting top 4 or better.
Morning Tony
If i was Owner, I’d say, you have the next six games to show me if you have any capabilities.
I saw the Wenger piece yesterday and 2 things immediately came to mind: Wenger regularly played players in the red where they ended up getting broken. Wenger likes to keep himself current, in the press regardless of what stupidity he utters. It’s sad that a manager that had 10 years at the top with us continues to belittle himself in the public eye. Wenger’s drive and desire to manager again at the top is outweighed by his age and lack of ability to actually firstly do the job, and secondly win anything more than a domestic cup. Wenger’s comments are… Read more »
Hey Guns
You never know how to take stories of people we’re interested in distance themselves from the post talked about. Overmars says he’s happy at Ajax. Intimating he’s not going to leave, but what could he say knowing how The Arsenal like to keep targets away from the press: a potentially new DoF is no different to a player or manager. Maybe Overmars is in secretive talks with us, maybe he isn’t who really knows. It could be we are talking to several people for Edu’s and Arteta’s posts. What we haver seen countless times in the past is that when… Read more »
China1
Shite* idea
That about sums it up!!!!
Recycled
Premier League transfer window: Top 10 biggest spenders
1. Arsenal ā Ā£156.8m
Yep…. MA better show something for that kind of expenditure.
And what I hate about this spend, is none of the players look like we will be hitting top 4.
But that is more to do with the fact that we have a novice manager who has no idea what to do to progress these players.
When MA’s only attacking strategy is to cross the ball in, it genuinely exposes MA’s limited attacking nous.
Mr. Conte*
@Toni Edu was not Arsenals first choice they were massively upset when Monchi went to Sevilla where he is doing wonders, so it is not unthinkable that the leadership will be replaced in mid-season, happened the last time. Also Arsenal has the 8th most expensive squad in the WORLD, why would Stan not protect that investment. Further Stan may have a distraction in the US on his hands as a St. Louis judge ruled that plaintiffs in the 4-year-old lawsuit over the Ramsā 2016 move to Los Angeles may obtain financial records from the league, the Rams and franchise owners… Read more »
MD I remember the Monchi stories, but I think that’s when Wenger wasn’t going to move.
My memory is vague at best but didn’t the Monhci rumors follow Klopp’s and Pep’s interest.
Good to hear Stan is at the losing end of the St Louis legal battle. Hope they make a dent win his wealth.
I don’t think the BoD wants either of the 2 because it would upset their comfort zone.
Roll on Saturday MD
Im here 4 the comments
The Kroenke’s have money to burn, his wife is an heir to the Walmart fortune and worth over 9 Billion USD with Stan around 10 Billion. Monchi was DOF at Roma and had a disagreement with the owners, in his own explanation they were tugging into opposite directions so he decided to leave and there was great interest for him to come to Arsenal as Sven had just left. However he said that the project set out by Sevilla president Jose Castro Carmona convinced him to rejoin the club he had just left two years ago. So much for projects… Read more »
World cup every 2 years is a good idea, we need to dilute club football that has become a monopoly of 10 or so clubs and monotonous
Guess what after Monchi’s return to Sevilla he took them to the CL and he attributes this to a large degree on his scouting system. Their most recent TW was spectacular.
world cup 2 years will generate a lot of $
seems like ages since the team has played
The euros are pointless, let Germany, Spain, France, Spain, Italy play each other to determine the European champion, toss a coin to determine who will join them between Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands or England.
Thanks MD for the update I remember now after reading your post. Wenger was very anti DoF around that time even asked what it was in the press. The problem is Wenger would have lost his power at the club other than day to day managing the squad. As far back as the later 60s we’ve never been adventurous in the TWs. We were known for having money but keeping most of it. We’d splash out on the odd big name but generally we’d bought cheap. The football was different then as were fitness levels and extremely poor sobriety. Wenger… Read more »
Yesterday I watched an under 21 game on tv. Kids are not ready to play professional football on
a regular level ?? We need experienced and steetwise players to accommodate them. Get
Bissuma and Haaland in January no matter the cost !! But still looking forward to Saturday .
What happens to Arteta will depend a lot on what it looks and feels like at the Emirates. If the owners lose the fans then Arteta goes whatever the supposed long term plan. Without doubt there will be conversations happening behind closed doors.
A half empty stadium and disgruntled fans is a recipe for the sack.
Arsenal on the list as the 8th most expensive assembled squad in football and fans plead player poverty lol
A half empty stadium and disgruntled fans is a recipe for the sack. Bard I’d add media antipathy to that. So-called football experts spend the weekends on TV and in print rubbishing Arteta so that’s already a negative. Kroenke – in so much as he relates to anything – will know from his US experience that noisy fans, empty seats and media criticism add up to a need for change. From what I saw on TV, the supporters gave it a good go at first against Chelsea, but if we replicate that performance or the other two against Norwich, the… Read more »
Anything less than a win against Norwich is Not only sackable it should be criminal negligence involving the crown court and the ICC
Ridiculous! Big song and dance about European Super League – and now people back World Cup every two years. It’s all about money – this time for FIFA, the corrupt bunch who handed Qatar WC for…guess what? Money. It makes far more sense to back a properly-run, fair, two division European Super league – and here is why. It’s clear that nowadays only clubs backed by hugely rich benevolent owners (sheikhs, Roman, etc) can survive financially. Whereas European Super Leagues (backed by ALL clubs not just those owned by billionaires) would spread the cash around,benefit all, and make European soccer… Read more »
Side
A win against Norwich would be a miracle under this current manager.
Arteta is just really lucky to have Norwich at home, our players should be good enough to get the win without listening to him.
I think that we will win against Norwich. They are the best opposition we could hope for. They don’t have a burly striker. They try to play, so it won’t be a low bloc. You could say that Arsenal is also the perfect opposition for them for exactly the same reasons. However at least upfront, we have the better players. In midfield Lokonga and Partey (please no Elneny) should have too much for them. To me the big test will be against Burnley, because they will play 4-4-2 with two physical strikers. Sean Dyche will not try to play pretty… Read more »
“A win against Norwich would be a miracle under this current manager.” if you believe that then your crazy………………..I will just say now that Arsenal have to beat Norwich at home on Saturday .No other out come will be acceptable .I certainly would not like to be in Arteta shoes if we get beat at home by Norwich
Valentin
September 9, 2021 10:34:14
Spot on
What about Spurs?
The key is for the players not to be too nervous. We should win against Norwich however on set pieces I am worried. And will be too cautious in our play?
Lokonga needs time to settle and Partey is rusty.