NORTH LONDON DERBY 6 POINTER INCOMING

by .

Sunday worked out quite nicely for Arsenal FC.

Leicester, the absolute darlings for some Arsenal fans are now on the same points as Arsenal after 5 games. Rodgers out, anyone? Didn’t think so.

Chelsea showed that they are actually pretty decent, dispatching of Spurs in a clinical fashion. No doubt Spurs are saving their best for next weekend, but it doesn’t look good for them, Harry Kane is not looking the £150m player he was during the summer. Thiago Silva, same age as me, dropping a worldie performance again.

West Ham lost, which is good for us really, but they were really, really decent. David Moyes subbing on a penalty taker was peak awful, but they were as good as United most of the game. Their football is… exciting.

The big shift for me is that last weekend, Norwich was a 6 pointer. This weekend, it’ll be Spurs. Win that game and we’re back in the top 6 mixer, lose and I’ll be taking cover for a few weeks.

In the post-Burnley away day glow, there are some things that I’m enjoying.

There’s a picture of Ramsdale over a Tierney who is down injured, Burnley players come rushing in, Aaron and Gabriel protect him and shove the players away. Small thing, but you love to see it. That’s camaraderie and it’s an edge we’ve not had for a few years.

I also liked the video at the end. Auba is all smiles, Arteta is fired up on the pitch, and all the players are loving on Tomiyasu who is on the floor exhausted.

That Burnley game was a really good run out. The football wasn’t stunning by any stretch, but those games are about character and doing what is needed. Turfmoor is a beastly place to go, the fans are electric, the grass is long, and they don’t water the pitch. Notable that Ben White called this out.

‘It was a tough one, my heart skipped a beat for a second. It was really, really dry out there today & my pass back didn’t get there at all. Luckily Aaron came to save me’

I do love the ‘I WILL NOT HEAR IT’ merchants acting like things like this don’t matter. Reality is, it’s tough, and we can say it because we won. But the grass was clearly an issue we didn’t deal well with, and it was probably the reason so many of our final third passes were hit short. We didn’t get our feel on the pitch, so there’s hope we can find that against Spurs at the weekend when the pitch will roll like an ice rink.

Back to the Spurs game. Nuno has a tough week on his hands. Morale in their camp will be low, their fans will start feeling the heat, and he has to show up. Their League Cup game is Wolves. There’s a personal pride thing for Nuno, but also a need to get his team firing. Could we see him rolling with a first team looking side? Maybe. A win for us gives Arteta the luxury of rolling with a younger team and resting some of his seniors (particularly Saka and ESR).

Player hype post Burnley? I think Gabriel is the main man. He had an inconsistent season last year and COVID clearly messed with him. But he’s in season two mode and he’s looking like a really, really top talent again. He has the physically imposing nature of Sol Campbell, and the recovery ability of Kolo Toure. He leaves it all on the pitch and he’s a great counterpoint to Ben White.

Aaron Ramsdale is the big talk post-game. We have a keeper that wants to dominate his area. We genuinely haven’t had that since Jens Lehmann. The biggest mistake Bernd Leno made this season wasn’t his lack of command of his 6 yard box against City, it was letting himself get pinned from a set-play against Brentford. He allowed himself to be man-handled. We’re not going to get that with Ramsdale. There were some shaky moments, he was caught on the ball a couple of times, but overall, he really does have a lot of softer skills we’ve lacked. Fan connection, fan-like passion, and loads of communication with his players. That’s a great thing. Early days, we’ll see how we feel when he drops a clanger, but so far, so good. Looks a better option than Neto.

Let’s also talk about Thomas Partey. I love him. If there’s a player our season hinges on, it’s this one. He has so much about his game. He’s tactically sharp, he’s an athlete, and he absolutely commands on the pitch. He’s a way off full fitness, he left the pitch because of cramps, but man… if he can get his Atleti fitness back, he’s going to be a force this season.

Right, on that note, please watch our video or listen to the podcast.

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Pedro

Emirates, think there will be immense pressure to give him a chance next season, the wait will be over. Makes sense for him to be getting all the minutes this season

raptora

That’s also the reason we didn’t sell Leno even though he wanted to leave. Because no one knew how good Ramsdale will be for us and they didn’t want to risk it. Not letting Leno leave is a proof that we bought a GK that we hope will come good but we are not 100% convinced in. Totally not like the Chelsea transfer.

Emiratesstroller

raptora

So you don’t think that Arsenal did not buy Ramsdale to replace Leno?

MD-Gunner

@ES
I know you are weak with numbers as your fruitless argument about Stan’s investing money into AFC showed. But please get your elementary figures regarding the loan/sell of Guen right, it is easy just Google Arsenal selling Guenduzzi.

NO, AFC will not make double their money. Guen was signed from Lorient for £7m in 2019. Arsenal will receive around £10 million from Marseille for Guen who was valued at one time around the £35m.

So if anything at all Arteta devalued his selling price.

Pedro

Two clean sheets and raptora is whining about a loanee

raptora

The way everyone saw White dealing with the price tag and pressure on him wasn’t good so I wouldn’t say that Saliba would be influenced by the pressure more than White. White, at times, looked lost. Could have cost us the game and we would be talking about him so much if he did. Huge luck that Ramsdale saved him out of that mess. But it wasn’t his only mistake. Far from it. Still, what happens next season when Saliba comes? Who do we bench to make “Arteta’s plan” of Saliba work? It’s laughable really. Buy a 50m player to… Read more »

raptora

Pedro,
I literally just posted about OM’s fantastic form. Then other people, including you, mentioned him back to the team, after a full season of playing. So the plan is that Saliba starts. Who do we bench? Gabriel? Who looks a better CB than White. Or a 50m CB? What do you think cause to me it makes absolutely 0 sense. We ain’t City ffs.

Emiratesstroller

Pedro

Mistakes were clearly made when Saliba arrived at Arsenal, but I think that he will return
pre-season in 2022. He will have 2 years left on his contract.

I will be surprised if Arsenal would take a heavy loss on this player. They will want to cover
at least what they paid if they sell him.

Arsenal need at least 4 CBs to meet their commitments particularly if we compete in Europe
next season. I don’t think that Mari is good enough for our squad so I can see him leave next
summer.

Pedro

Raptora, you posted that to get to here.

Arsenal just won with a clean sheet managing things we don’t normally manage well… and you want to write off Ben White and ignore the superb defensive display from the others.

Emiratesstroller

MD Gunner

I understood that Marseille paid a loan fee of Euros 3 million and I assume that we received a
loan fee from Hertha Berlin so I don’t think that we will be far short of doubling our money.

The point is that we are not making a loss on this player.

raptora

Juve have 2 pts in 4 games benching the likes of de Ligt, Ramsey, Chiesa, McKennie, Kulusevski and Kean. Things aren’t going well for Allegri. Midfield of Rabiot, Locatelli and Bentancur is so negative. Personnel ain’t the problem though.

raptora

Saliba + Mavropanos is better to have than White + Mari. We paid money for both of White and Mari to loan the other 2. Then we are supposed to believe the young squad bullshit. And that they know what they are doing. Arteta/Edu sold Mavropanos for £4m to pay £13m for Mari. They bought White for 50m and sent Saliba on loan. Honestly, that’s trolling your own club.

White + Mari -> £63m when we had Saliba + Mavro who is a goner. Incompetent.

raptora

Sell Laca + Xhaka for whatever we are given – 20-25m total. Don’t buy White, keep Saliba. Buy DCL 70m + Anguissa 15m.

This team with DCL + Anguissa and Saliba literally tramples over teams. We’d be the most physical team in the league in an instant. We’d literally walk all over half the other clubs. The people above know better though.

Emiratesstroller

Raptora

Why do you think that offloading Mavropanos is a mistake?

Have you looked at his injury track record?

raptora

Stroller,
He has missed 10 League games in the last 2 seasons due to injuries. He has been with 0 injuries in the last 10 months. The team that he was loaned to last season, wanted him back.

Tierney has missed 30 League games in his last 2 seasons.

Mavro is good enough to be our sub ahead of Mari who we paid quite a decent fee for. It’s really obvious.

Zacharse

Raptora
What is DCL?

englandsbest

I love listening to Mikel Arteta, straight talk, no spin. First class stuff.

Thomas Tuchel? Straight talk, no spin – when things are going well. And if they don’t? Ah, that’s another matter.

When hings go bad, he blames the players. Never lasts. Probably suit Roman fine.

raptora

Zach,
Calvert Lewin. He’s not top class, but at 24 yo, he could improve and with what he already has, he fits Artetaball better. The 5th best striker in the league this season after Ronaldo, Lukaku, Kane and Michail Antonio who sadly found his position too late in his career and is 31 yo. Auba is probably on par with DCL right now but Artetaball does not fit him at all.

raptora

I rate Antonio a lot btw. If he was 5 years younger he’d lead my list of attainable CFs by quite the margin. Sadly not the case.

Pedro

EnglandsBest, glad someone raised it. Everyone loves how you chat when nothing has gone wrong.

Aaron

2 goals scored against Norwich and Burnley, who have sored a total of 5 goals between them in 10 total games, and possess a goal difference of -18, and Pedro is bigging AFC.
Get back to me on Dec 18th when we are a solid 10th place.

Zacharse

Raptora
Im with you on the DCL, anguissa… meh. Seems like one of many physical dm types that get upped every yr around transfer windows and rarely make the difference to a team once bought for 30m+
DCL looks bright and hungry

Spudnik

Arteta straight talk? Puuhleeese. This is the guy who said his best time in football was Arsenal’s worst time. Glad you enjoyed it Mikel.

raptora

Zach,
Anguissa is really good. The loan with an option to buy could cost Napoli £13.5m and that’s dirt cheap.

Maybe Bissouma is better, maybe not, I like Anguissa more and his price made him a no-brainer.

However, we had many, many options including the likes of Aoaur and Bruno Guimaraes depending on the type of player we wanted.

All of them attainable and waiting for us. We decided to keep Xhaka and Elneny. I don’t agree with it.

Raulishuss

Rap you chat so much shit, you’re always right and the club wrong. The club can’t do right unless its what you want. You’re boring af

Nigel Tufnel

Raptora, All you talk about is transfers. Recent transfers, the past transfers you don’t like, already talking about transfers for the future windows. You are like a child. This is not football manager. You are like a greedy little kid who just wants more and more. Follow Chelsea, Man City, Man U…. whatever. You can get excited about spending prospects all year long. Still talking about Aouar even. You can’t take a hint. Nobody in the whole wide world of football wants him. But somehow, in your eyes, we missed out. We blew it. So basically every executive on every… Read more »

raptora

Raul, Arrsenal’s transfer policy has been top notch for many years. Excuse me for bitching when things are so rosy. We’ll see how good this squad is assembled in the next months. I just know that with the 150m Arteta and Edu were given, we could have made a team ready to fight for top 4 this year, maybe not good enough to finish in top 4 but have a real go at it, and also lay a good foundation for a title challenge in the next couple of years. The players we brought are of decent class, but one… Read more »

Zacharse

Maybe rap
We’ll have a lot more choices at the end of the season if we keep pushing up the table

Nigel Tufnel

And she’s still crying about transfers……

NWM

Raptora “So we brought a 50m CB cause Saliba isn’t ready yet, then next season Saliba supposedly comes here, and what do we do? We bench the 50m CB, or the one that actually looks like a 50m player Gabriel? Fantastic planning LOL!Arsenal the only team to have a 25m reserve GK /Leno or Ramsdale/, a 50m reserve CB , and a 50m reserve CF!!! While we ball with Xhaka and Elneny at CM” Simple solution, move White to defensive mid and accept whatever offer that comes in for Xhaka. Oh, and unless Arsenal are really dumb and extend Elneny’s… Read more »

Nigel Tufnel

These numbers games must be so much fun since they can’t leave them alone. So realistic and fun to go on about. Fantasy football has a lot more reality than the lot of clowns here beating a dead horse with thousands of permutations.

“No, my Arsenal would be perfect!”

I simply loan this one, buy these 9, sell 12 at my price and look at my profit and guaranteed trophies!

I don’t know why teachers said I was dumb all those years.

Daddy would have loved me more if he saw how smart I am at transfers on Le Grove.

Leedsgunner

Joe Willock seems to have fizzled out for the moment. £25m well made… and well judged on the club’s part.

Arsenal FC have gotten plenty of transfers wrong, in my opinion, this was one we got completely right.

Pedro

Leeds, yep, can’t believe Arsenal fans watched him for 80 games and thought passing on 25m was a good idea.

Rap, do tell us how you’d have made top 4 with 150m this season.

Leedsgunner

If we manage to sell Leno for £20m+ we will have repaired the damage we did with selling Martinez. In my opinion, we have two young backup keepers ready to challenge in Hein and Okonkwo, let them get on with it. This effectively means we can focus our attentions on getting a young top central midfielder and an attacker in January and or next summer. Edu has made some big big mistakes. Cedric and Mari should have never been signed. Mavropanos is being sold to Stuttgart far too cheap (£5m) and the same for Guendouzi (£11m) to Marseilles. Plus he… Read more »

Leedsgunner

*looks to me

Leedsgunner

If Pedro is right and there is a road back for Saliba I wonder, just wonder if there is a way back for Guendouzi. He is flourishing over in France… and we’re definitely selling him far too cheap.

£21m fair enough but £11m? We’re practically giving him away to Marseilles. Oh well, you win some you lose some.

Pedro

Leeds, it’s over from Matteo

LoveSausage

Leeds,

It’s always difficult to guess how a young player will develop. But if I have to guess, my money is on Matteo going down a similar path like Balotelli. He has the talent, even though I think there’s a lot of hype there. But he’s an idiot through and through. These days, there’s less room for players like that in too football. As much as I believe Arteta is a fraud, I think he’ll be proven right on Matteo.

Guns of SF

hello

Guns of SF

He is flourishing over in France… and we’re definitely selling him far too cheap.

Says something about Arteta….

Guns of SF

There are better mids than Guen to begin with. We got him, and the rest is history. Time to move on from him… our mids need an upgrade big time still with Xhaka and Elneny still around.

James wood.

Arsenal now linked with Noa Lang 23 the Bruggge left winger.

Gonsterous

Pedro Let’s not go overboard. If we had won the brentford game at the start of the season, we would be in a much better position. The chelsea and city loses were unavoidable, but the manner in which we were toothless and didn’t put up a fight leaves a bad taste in the mouth. 150m spent and we can’t compete for top 6 shows how bad the business in the TW has been, especially 50m for white, when 25m Gabriel is making him look like an amateur. I thought we had learnt about over paying for potential with the pepe… Read more »

BacaryisGod

Pedro-agree with much of what you wrote but let’s drop this line about Turf Moor being tough to get a result at. They are 0 wins, 7 losses and 6 draws in their last 13 games there.

underrated Coq

It still an achievement for a team lead by Mikel Arteta. Any win is 🎉

Pedro

Gonsterous, you don’t want to go overboard after 2 wins but were more than happy to call time on Arteta after Brentford when we had 9 players out to COVID or injury.

Guns of SF

late night Pedros?

Pedro

Bacary, They beat Liverpool in January. Turfmoor is always hard. No manager in the Premier League will tell you different.

Guns of SF

Pedro Its was Brentford man… Take a second to let that set in… Even with our reserves we should have shown some more mettle and take this team out. Might no be pretty but still….. This was an easy win if we really put effort into it. I put that on Mike. city and chelsea ok… but we lots of teams have injuries and covid etc. ITs the way we fight that fans want to see. Yes the last 2 make me feel good and I hope we kick the shit out of Totts…. I think we will win this… Read more »

Pedro

Guns, yes, yes… downplay the wins, pump the losses.

MD-Gunner

Pedro I think calling time out on Arteta has been longer around then the Brentford game, that just added to the clamor of Arteta Out by the MOBs. From the 5 games 9 points were expected by many of us as a minimum. 2 goals in 5 games was not and neither was a -7 goal difference and many times it has already been said the playing style and manner of the matches was not to The Arsenal standard. The next games which will be played against direct contenders for 5th & 6th place will give a better indication were… Read more »

Guns of SF

I aint pumping any losses.. its the manner of losing
Pointing out Brentford was winnable and we need to score more moving forward…
What if that does not happen? The struggle to score against good teams will hurt us….
I hope this turns around

Pedro

Guns, just the 9 players missing for that one.

Pedro

MD, 3 points less than expected. 5 games in. Chance to go level with Spurs this weekend. Exciting week ahead.

Leedsgunner

Derby County FC has gone into administration. Anyone we can look to poach opportunistically?

Guns of SF

in your post Pedro, you even said that the end product is lacking… the cutting edge in the final third.

I think there needs to be a re think on Auba and his role.
I am worried this is what we will be seeing here on out from him…

How will mike give minutes this season to our other attackers, strikers?

BacaryisGod

Pedro Why are you backing yourself into a corner. Right now, Turf Moor is not a hard place to get a result at. Just a fact. Sometimes it’s ok to admit an error. You can’t say Turf Moor is tough to get a result at when they’ve lost 7 and drawn 6 in their last 13 home matches. You say they beat Liverpool in January 2021 at Turf Moor to support your claim. That game was actually at Anfield not Turf Moor (right when Liverpool were on a brutal slump) Look, there’s plenty to be hopeful about. Let’s just stick… Read more »

DivineSherlock

Pedro

Chance to go level with Spurs this weekend. Exciting week ahead.

This is something really good , after 3 games they were top of the league , now we can peg them back . The best time to play them , I hope Arteta doesnt use the galaxy brain of his and keeps things simple.

Graham62

Bacaryisgod

And facts!

You are right Burnley away is not what it was.

Graham62

One of the monumental mistakes made by Arteta in recent months and there’s been a fair few, is his alienation of Aubameyang and Lacazette. This alienation comes in different forms. Not utilising them properly, not playing them at all, ignoring their qualities and in the case of Lacazette in particular, disrespecting them. These two players, if mentally tuned in, are so important to us. Arteta favours those that are taking the piss and don’t genuinely care about the team and the club(GX) and yet disrespects those that do. I can add so many others – Martinelli, Eddie, Balogun, AMN, Willock… Read more »

Graham62

No other club would have brought GX back into the fold after the debacle of 2019.

We did and we then honoured him.

shaun

is beating spurs this weekend a good thing ? cat among the pigeons and all that lol……………………..lol.Not at all convinced with the football I am seeing from legoheadball or PCP or JDP or what ever you want to call it and it seems to me he is using Galaxy brain almost every game now. Can anyone tell me why sami was not playing next to Partey from the beginning. Even if we beat spurs Arteta is the wrong man.His team selection is all wrong nearly all of the time and there is only one player in the cd who looks… Read more »

Samesong

Start Rammo (Ramsdale) against Spurs.

The Bard

A couple of decent wins has halted the slide but stiffer challenges await. Not convinced we should stick with Arteta and so far the football we are playing is deadly dull.

Bob N16

Graham, maybe I’m being thick but how is PEA being alienated?

Bob N16

PEA is being played CF and is Arteta’s captain. When he was starting on the left, it was to accomodate Lacazette, another of your ‘alienated’ players.

Is Lacazette being ‘disrespected ‘ by being behind PEA in the pecking order? You can’t really have it both ways Graham, a misplaced PEA or Laca as a sub.

I know it’s bash Arteta day….again but sometimes the creativity is something else.

China1

‘ Leicester, the absolute darlings for some Arsenal fans are now on the same points as Arsenal after 5 games. Rodgers out, anyone? Didn’t think so.’ Not one person has judged Arteta based on the first 5 games. The judges him based on the last 2 years. How does Arteta compare with Brendan over the last two years across all metrics? Points, goals scored, goals conceded, position in the table? Even trophies they’ve matched him and won the cup more recently than we have. Then there’s the more attacking football and all of this done with a squad assembled on… Read more »

Ishola70

Graham62
“No other club would have brought GX back into the fold after the debacle of 2019.We did and we then honoured him.”

“For me GX typifies everything that is wrong with Arsenal. I’d have shown him the door long ago.”

lol

Xhaka’s gonna get ya! Xhaka’s gonna get ya! La-la-la-la! La-la-la-la!

The man is Mr Arsenal.

Tee

“That’s also the reason we didn’t sell Leno even though he wanted to leave. Because no one knew how good Ramsdale will be for us and they didn’t want to risk it. Not letting Leno leave is a proof that we bought a GK that we hope will come good but we are not 100% convinced in. Totally not like the Chelsea transfer.”

Stop spitting trash man. No transfer is 100% guaranteed.

How many goals has Timo Werner scored for Chelsea?

Emiratesstroller

Bob N16

I think that the problem with large squads in football today is that you cannot keep everyone
satisfied.

The priority for Arteta if we are going to build a successful team is to find a settled “starting X1” with perhaps half a dozen additional players of equivalent quality to provide rotation.

I must confess that I would have played Lacazette more than has been the case in recent times.

Daniel Altos

PedroSeptember 19, 2021 05:12:58
Tony, if you and the ‘night gang’ want to set up a little whatsapp or sub-reddit, I will gladly put you all in contact with each other. Just email me and I can make that happen because it might be better to be miserable after a win elsewhere.

😂this got me laughing

Ishola70

In the future folks will look at us pityingly and say.

“Did you live through those Xhaka years at Arsenal?”

“Yes we did” “Yes we most certainly did”

“Was he as bad as they say?”

“Well yes. He most certainly was”

Samesong

Ish

Do you think Xhakattack will be back against Spurs?

Ishola70

Samesong

“Do you think Xhakattack will be back against Spurs?”

Well Sambi has already been eased out against Burnley so the chances are good that the GX makes his much anticipated return in the NLD.

Absolutely integral to Arteta’s positional style football we were informed.

If not Spurs he will be gracing us yet again soon after many times. Many, many, many, many , many , many, many times. Lots of times.

englandsbest

Graham62

‘Arteta favours players who take the piss and don’t care genuinely about the team and the club…’

Yeah, what DO you know?????

Bob N16

ES – If the team is winning and your not getting picked easier to take than if you’re losing! I have little sympathy for players like Kolasinac and Lacazette who Arsenal were were encouraging to find new clubs, they could be playing regularly somewhere else.

Ishola70

Many, many, many, many, many, many years.

Tommy gets his Frazers and Fraziers mixed up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5qZRLRC1ts

InsideRight

Ishola, if you think Xhaka is “Mr Arsenal” you need to stop taking those substances and revert to clean living. It’s addling your mind.

Ishola70

InsideRight

GX agrees.

He will show you his overall first team appearances for the club since he joined in comparison to others.

Many, many, many, many, many, many, many appearances for the club.

InsideRight

Poor judgement from managers doesn’t make GX Mr Arsenal. It just means we’ve been using a substandard player we should have got rid of years ago.

Jim Lahey

Arsenal before Xhaka:

11/12 – 3rd
12/13 – 4th
13/14 – 4th
14/15 – 3rd
15/16 – 2nd

Arsenal with Xhaka:

16/17 – 5th
17/18 – 6th
18/19 – 5th
19/20 – 8th
20/21 – 8th

MR.ARSENAL!!

Ishola70

Emery so very nearly had Xhaka out of the door.

This is why we should all love Emery.

Then Arteta came along and scuppered it all.

raptora

Tee: “No transfer is 100% guaranteed. How many goals has Timo Werner scored for Chelsea?” You missed the fact that Werner isn’t a GK. GKs in general are way safer transfers as their level normally doesn’t change from a team to team and they don’t need much time to bed in contrary to outfield players. Usually when you spend a lot of money on a GK, it’s to make him your #1. The fact we have a 25m reserve GK, a 50m reserve CF and next year possibly, according to Arteta’s grand plan and Saliba is back here stronger than… Read more »

englandsbest

I am one of those who have wanted Xhaka gone for years

But I recall Liverpool fans saying the same about Jordan Henderson.

And nobody knows the value of Xhaka to Arsenal better than Arteta. It must lie elsewhere than what we see on the pitch. In the dressing room? Leadership quality? Experience?

Anyway, with Partey, etc alongside to shoulder the action, who knows, maybe he’ll shine.

HerbsArmy

No comparison Englandsbest,, Liverpool are an elite club, and he captained them to

HerbsArmy

…their sixth CL and their 19th title and first in 30 years.
Arsenal with Xhaka will never hit those levels.

Kris

“And nobody knows the value of Xhaka to Arsenal better than Arteta. It must lie elsewhere than what we see on the pitch.”

LOL

Jim Lahey

“And nobody knows the value of Xhaka to Arsenal better than Arteta.”

To be fair, this is the same guy that tried to also renew Mustafi’s contract. I wouldn’t exactly say he has the best judgment when it comes to the value of players.

Kris

If only there was a way to get a player who can do all the glorious off-the-pitch things Xhaka does, but can also play football.

Ah well, one can dream.

TR7

“And nobody knows the value of Xhaka to Arsenal better than Arteta. It must lie elsewhere than what we see on the pitch. In the dressing room? Leadership quality? Experience?”

Do you mean to say without Xhaka’s inspiring leadership in the dressing room we could slide further down the table and finish outside top 8 ?

raptora

“And nobody knows the value of Xhaka to Arsenal better than Arteta. It must lie elsewhere than what we see on the pitch.”

Good one. Sid will be proud!

TT

Slow news day……we are back arguing about Xhaka..

China1

Can’t we hire a sports psychologist or something for that off the pitch stuff? We are paying 100k a week for a footballer whose primary value is intangible off the field qualities. It’s genius! Also I’m always pretty curious what these intangible qualities are. Is it leadership? Arsenal have frequently been an absolute laughing stock and a complete mess for the period he’s been here. When the going has got tough how many times was it him showing up to drag the team onwards? Must’ve missed those games. Or maybe it’s the great example he sets to the kids? Always… Read more »

englandsbest

TT

Nobody on here is arguing about Xhaka – we are all in agreement (for a change). It was a mistake to buy him, and he should have been gone ages ago. Just trying to find a reason why he is still around. And to merely put it down to Arteta’s bad judgement sounds like a lame excuse. Wenger bought him, Emery played him, Jose wants him, Switzerland captains him.

Foxy

But no club other than Roma for a cut price fee wants to buy him

S Asoa

TR7September 19, 2021 19:04:04

“I love listening to Thomas Tuchel, straight talk no spin. Absolutely top class stuff.”

Tuchel knows his onions. We have a good looking gigolo only, a fantasy for his unabashed fan boys

NORG

TT

makes a change from Ozil.

Mark

https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2021/09/20/opinion-forget-saliba-and-guendouzi-another-loanee-has-just-made-arsenal-boss-look-silly/

🤬🤬

Another talented defender that should be with us, just given away for peanuts!

Arteta is a Shit judge of talent !

raptora

https://www.twitch.tv/arsenalofficial

Sambi Lokonga is coming up live and will answer some viewer questions.

Matt B

What, shit all the time Mark?

Bad call on Willian, yes, but seemingly good calls on Tamiyasu, Ramsdale (even in light of most on here saying he was shite), Lakonga, White, Tavares — initial impressions only of course