BENNY BLANCO LOOKING RICH ON THE PITCH

by .

Arsenal continued their solid run of results with a win against Leeds at home. That has taken our unbeaten record to 8 in all competitions. Not the be sniffed at.

The club struggled with a non-covid bug going around before the game. Pablo Mari and Benjamin White had clearly been sharing cheeseburger, the Spaniard missed the game entirely, White had to come off as a sub after a storming performance.

I’d call the League Cup starting 11 a serious team. It was a blend of fringe players and first-teamers. The objective clearly was to win the game and progress.

My overall view of the game is that we saw a vindication of the summer moves. There are certain players that stepped in tonight that can’t do the things that the new first-teamers can. Concentration, bravery on the ball, and movement was lacking in certain moments.

Nicolas Pepe had another night to forget. His pattern is to frustrate with the basics, then make a contribution to the result. His header to Cal Chambers broke the deadlock. It’s a real struggle for the Ivorian. He’s clearly very talented, can do things others can’t, has worked on his defensive game… but he’s can’t pull the package everything together into a consistent flow. Still, he’s working hard, there’s always hope.

Martinelli also disappointed. He’s lost his zest. The bang-bang player we loved has gone into his shell. Confidence is low. He’s a far cry from the player Klopp called a GOD OF MEN. He’s young though. It’ll click at some point. Every player goes through it. Part of it will likely be that he’s having to reimagine his game to suit the needs of the team.

Eddie was really good again. His link-up play was great, his touch was really sharp, and his goal was good. A little lucky after he scuffed his shot, but it went in. Arsenal are keen to tie him to a new deal, but I’m not sure the player will have any of it. Which is a bit of a shame because I suspect he’ll go on to score a lot of goals wherever he goes next.

Benny Blanco was a standout for me. Cries of ‘HE WASN’T WORTH THE MONEY’ are looking like they were very much formulated in a vacuum of ‘I HAVE NOT SEEN HIM PLAY.’ Still, if you’re an Arsenal fan, the best type of humble pie to eat is on a saucy centre back that has extremely unique skills. It’s like having Aaron Ramsey in defence. If you press him, he can power 50 yards past you. If you sit back he can find people from distance, consistently. It makes him a tactical nightmare. Against his old club, he was a nuisance all evening. You can see confidence is starting to seep into his game and players around him are starting to understand how to work with him.

Couple of other notable points.

Bernd Leno was superb. He kept us in the game in the first half with some very clever saves. That’s how an ex number 1 needs to roll. Like a total pro. I also loved that he dropped a daisy-cutter through the middle like Ramsdale. He’s been working on that move now he knows what gets rewarded in the new system.

I also thought Bob Holding was good. He’s not a sulker, he puts it all on the line, and did you notice he went on a mazy run like Ben White? Very fun. Good competition improves everyone. It’s great to finally have some.

So we progress to the quarter-finals of the first cup of the season. Two games to get to Wembley (I think?). That’s a nice reward if you can do it. Competition gets harder now as teams begin to take things a little more seriously.

The big one is Leicester at the weekend. Hopefully, we’ll have a full squad of players to choose from. I can’t wait.

ACAST | AMAZON | STITCHER

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Davey

Rob Holding’s hair transplant is to drawer

Davey

Pepe was poop again

Davey

AMN was the bet player for me

Davey

Elneny is pants

Davey

Talk to me

Jamie

Good news that Benny Blanco should be available this weekend. A bug rather than an injury.

Davey

Family cars, saloon cars talk to me

Davey

Phew

Ben

Holding went on “a mazy run”. Try 4!!

I thought he looked better than White in every way today – passing, intercepting, heading, dribbling. It’s probably because Leeds pressed White more attentively than Holding, allowing him space and time on the ball, but worth noting anyway.

But agreed – White is starting to look a real player and most importantly, a great partner with Gabriel.

Captain Tierney

Great to see much improved in-possession play from Holding and Nketiah. Nketiah seems like a much improved player than last year. He has filled out physically, does not get bullied, improved his back to goal play a lot. Thats a lot of improvement over the course of 5-6 months. Hope we can tie him down to a long term contract. Unless he sees a first team opportunity though, he wont sign. Clearly not ready to start above Auba and Laca but looks like he can be a useful player who can get us a good 25-30 million after a year… Read more »

DivineSherlock

Pedro

The question was never the player , it was the price . Glad to see it worked out well for Arsenal and Ben White. The expectation is because he is our most expensive defender ever, so he has that to live up to .

Pierre

Very little passing ( pissing about ) along the back line and keeper the last 2 games which is refreshing to see.. Ben white did do his best impression of Franz Beckenbauer last night…most impressive. AMN did himself no harm last night, he is slowly showing that he can play the midfield role and having such speed in the middle of the pitch means his recovery pace is 2nd to none. The defence , despite many changes, never looked like conceding once we got our noses in front, which is a good sign. Pepe was poor and Martinelli only slightly… Read more »

Tom

Benny Blanco had a standout performance against the world beating Leeds sitting in 17 place on seven points, while Saliba made the team of the week on the back of a monster game against the farmers’ league leaders , PSG , on 28 points.

Bob N16

Tom , pissing on chips…

Holding, for all his qualities, is too slow to be a top class CB. I think we could decent money for him and he could be replaced in the squad by Ballard. TT is another able to play CB (as could KT in a three). Hopefully Saliba will be in the mix.

Holding deserves to be playing at his age and and level of experience, being a back up is a waste.

Jamie

Poor Pierre doesn’t get the respect he deserves from strangers on the internet.

Cheer up lad.

Rich

We might be able to keep Eddie, but we’d likely need to promise him he’d be an internal replacement for Lacazette next summer, and loan him out at the end of January, promise him the No9 next season

Balogun also needs a loan to League 1 or the Championship, he needs to play, there’s absolutely no value in him staying at Arsenal

An 18 month loan would be the best solution, then we can see his progress, and hopefully he’d be an internal replacement for Aubameyang in 2023

Tom

Holding is the perfect back up CB.
Low wages, good experience, and won’t make waves.

Rich

Martinelli is 20, he’ll be fine Look at the step forward Nketiah’s taken recently, we’ve not seen much of him, but physically he looks stronger, and he’s playing with real purpose Smith Rowe went from saving Huddersfield from relegation, to taking the Arsenal No10 inside 12 months, he’s taken a big step forward this season, but his current form will be difficult to sustain, he’ll likely have a little dip at some point, it’s the same for most young players 20yr olds producing consistently are the rare exception, not the general rule, what were Aubameyang, Lacazette, Alexis, Gnabry, Grealish doing… Read more »

DivineSherlock

I love the fact the Ben White doesnt get bullied despite his lack of strength . He is an excellent reader of the game , just like Mertesacker.

englandsbest

Great stuff from the second-stringers. Eddie was awesome, a one-man show upfront who kept his audience (the Leeds defence) fully occupied. A cert, surely, for the next game. Auba on the bench to come on rarin’ to go 65th minute.

Holding, too, has become an A1 player. Always rated the guy.

DigitalBob

Good result to keep the momentum going. I was surprised to see Kola starting as it seems Tierney will be fit for the weekend so Tavares could have started last night’s game. In any case he didn’t really put a foot wrong, but we know what he brings to the table so…… Mo Elneny is another one we won’t learn anything new about but for rotation/fitness purposes if Sambi couldn’t do the full 90 then the league cup is fine for Mo to start in but really should be the limit of his appearances. AMN ironing out the mistakes and… Read more »

Rich

Small sample size, but White is starting to look the part after a few initial teething issues

He’s quick, reads the game well, can ping a ball with both feet, he’s starting to look like a real player

He was the best player on the pitch yesterday, and good on Friday as well

Holding also had a decent game, I’d much rather Holding as understudy to Gabriel than Mari, hopefully Arteta’s OCD doesn’t kick in if it comes to that

englandsbest

My belief (hope) is that Eddie will stay. His agent angling for a bigger wage. If picked, he will terrorise the Leicester City defence with non-stop harassment.

The impatient on here keep on doubting Arteta. Where is the turning point? they ask. I guess if Arsenal beat Leicester City away they’ll take it as a clear sign that Arteta has rounded the corner. If so, they should take a deep breath and repeat after me, ‘Mikel is the Man’.

Savage

Seems clear to me that Arteta has changed his game plan from a City-style possession based system to a fast gung-ho counterattack.

It’s both a credit to him that he was able to rework things, but also a discredit to him that he started out with the wrong plan. Then again, being flexible is a good problem.

Savage

All 3 front players had the same problem of selfish play, trying to put their name in headlights. At least ESR is the one player who provides connectivity.

Bradybunch

How encouraging is it to see so many of our fringe players stepping in ,having played so few minutes ,and still able to impress with how much they’ve improved, physically, tactically and mentally. How does that happen. ? Just asking.

Rich

EnglandBest I’ve been keen to give Arteta more time, and had some sympathies with both Emery + Arteta, I don’t think our main issues over the last few years have been poor coaching + poor tactics That might have played some part, but we’ve had much bigger structural issues I expect a few ups + downs, but winning 1 game against Leicester will mean nothing, if we then go and get turned over at home against Watford, particularly with 3 out of the next 4 being tricky away games, where we’ll almost certainly drop points I’d give Arteta until the… Read more »

Davi

Eddie has always worked hard and used his body well – now there’s more of it so he can be quite effective in the build-up – and he has general talent as a footballer, but what I want to see from him is finishing 1v1 chances. I wouldn’t count the one yesterday as it came from defensive mistakes that he took advantage of skillfully, but it’s not the same as the chances where he has time to think. Over the past couple of seasons it’s looked to me like that was his major flaw as a striker. People say he’s… Read more »

Bradybunch

I was most impressed with AMN last night. His mentality and positional awareness have come on leaps. Big Sam may we’ll have had some influence there, but it’s not been This clear til last night’s performance, so it’s an ongoing growth I hope. His role in defending the Leeds attempted assaults from our offensive corners was excellent, sweeping and quickly recycling long clearances,, shadowing and slowing up controlled breaks. He’s a very good defender to boot.

Nelson

Martinelli needs better coaching and support. On the pitch, he is always fighting alone. Kola is of no help at all. Why he kept moving sideways with the ball? The coaching stuff should advise him to go upfield and then cut back.

The Bard

As you say Pedro lots of positives. I’m an AMN fan but he seems to be a bit of a dipstick. He likes to showboat his casual cool persona instead of just concentrating on his job. He is a superb athlete. If he can bring all of it together he is our defensive midfielder. Despite playing well I’m not sold on Eddie. To be a successful prem striker you have to be super super talented. In my opinion Eddie is good but not that good.

Pierre

Davi I agree with your doubts about Eddie in certain situations . I don’t think he is a great striker of a football and that may be the area that stops him becoming a top level striker like Harry Kane for instance, who has a power from a short backlift. I’m sure Eddie is working on that side of his game but maybe it is a skill that you are born with and practice can only get you so far. Nelson Yes , Martinelli is receiving the ball too deep , similar to Pepe . These are players who’s game… Read more »

G

” BTW, have you seen Eddie come close to the miss of the season. Thank god for shins, eh? ”

BTW have you seen Eddie first 2 touches before he nearly missed, quality eh ?

Danny

I simply cannot believe that player would get worse between the ages of 18 and 20.
———–
Martinelli suffered a very bad injury which might mean he’ll never get back to the level he was before, e.g. same as Bellerin.

Kroenkephobe

What a fucking terrible drive home – 5 hours, a good chunk of which was spent leaving Londinium. Samuel Johnson hit on something with his witticism about being tired of life if you’re tired of London. About the only negative of the entire day which was almost perfect as far as the N7 bit went. Crowd inside was loud, young, multicultural and included lots of girls and women. Sorry EB but one of things I’ve always loved about our club is the inclusion and diversity. Really good atmosphere and everyone stuck with the team despite not looki g terribly threatening… Read more »

Rich

The vast majority of young players have ups + downs, it’s really not unusual

Saka is currently having a little dip in form, I’d be amazed if Smith Rowe kept this level of performance up over the whole season

Rashford 22/23 was the youngest player to score 10 goals in the PL last season

Up until the last few weeks of the season when Greenwood had a goal burst, Saka had scored 5 PL goals, which was more than all the other teenagers in the league combined

Kroenkephobe

The conclusion I drew from the experience was that I need to go to more Arsenal games and spend less time on here pontificating about our awful arm-waving histrionic manager. 😊

Northbanker

In the end a good win last night. White, AMN , Leno, Eddie and Bobby H all deservedly mentioned in despatches. Actually I’d like to do a special shout out for Cedric. I haven’t been his biggest fan but he was superb last night. He won so many tackles and put himself in the right place so often I lost count.

Rich

Pierre

I’d have no issue whatsoever if we gave Eddie a new contract, and offered him the No9 shirt next season

I love him, he always gives 100%, he can sniff out a goal, and is only going to improve with his type of work ethic + commitment

I always preferred Wenger’s mantra:

“We don’t buy superstars, we make them”

Nketiah has added power + purpose to his game, convince him to stay, create the space, and lets give him the opportunity

Northbanker

Really so disappointed with Pepe. I keep reading we need to adjust to let him play further up the pitch. Frankly this just avoids the issue – Pepe isn’t good enough. His first touch is consistently dreadful and that is the major problem. At points he is pushing the ball so far away from him there is no prospect of retention let alone launch a stinging attack. Unless that can somehow be coached in him then i can’t see it getting any better. He is a limited player and imo always will be. We need to get rid of asap.

Marx

Theres three matches in November plus thw Leicester one. Win those and we are certainly resembling a team destined for success anything less and we are back to mediocrity. Pepe is so disappointing i cant even understand what he does in training, the glaring deficiencies have been there for two full seasons now! His position when receiving the ball is thw worst ive seen from a pro, its disgusting. The jury is still out on White who is still struggling against better opposition. Liverpool awau should be the best test imo

Na me ooo

Play Pepe in the Bergkamp position, supporting Auba. He’s a forward not a winger.

Na me ooo

I refuse to give up on that boy bcuz, like Hugh ‘Huge’ Hefner, he’s gonna bang.

Na me ooo

Get him off the wings, put him in, near, around the box.

Na me ooo

If Saliba comes back next season, we would have White, Gabriel, Holding and Saliba as our 4 CBs. I love it.

Pierre

Rich
“Nketiah has added power + purpose to his game, convince him to stay, create the space, and lets give him the opportunity”

Exactly

Davi

Pierre – I don’t think it’s a shooting power issue with Eddie (agree a large part of that is natural), I think it’s psychological. When he has too much time to think, he usually misses. It might just be a matter of time but I do think it’s held him back because he’s good at the instinctive stuff

Spudnik

Didn’t see the game but I’m enjoying the good news vibes all around.

Tenerife Gooner

Sure its been said.England starting line up in the not to distance.Ramsdale and White.I might start getting interested again.On Englans that is.

Pedro

Going to be tough to keep Eddie unless we offer him the Lacazette shirt. Think we want a DCL type player.

Also hard to offer Eddie a deal when we promised Folarin minutes and a career

AFC Forever

Pierre

I know you are a massive Eddie fan. Good for you, we all have our favourites.

My favourite player from history was Cazorla, because. I played that position. Technically he is probably the best two footed baller I’ve seen live. Could receive under pressure, go either way, beat players and was so elegant on the ball. What I wouldn’t give to see another Santi. Doubt I ever will.

AFC Forever

Pedro

Players know the score. There is no guarantee. The best player gets the shirt, it’s as simple as that. It’s not a sentimental or contractual obligation to select Balogun over Eddie. They have to fight for it. A promise is just that. A word. It is about time we started behaving that way. It seems obvious to me from what I have seen and heard from the player, that Arteta demands they work hard and show desire. That is a long way from where we used to be.

Rich

Pedro We need better squad planning Renew Eddie, then send him out on loan at the end of January when Aubameyang + Pepe are back from theAfrican cup Let him use a 15-20 game run in the Championship as a finishing school, similar to Smith Rowe at Huddersfield Then bring him back to take the No9 shirt, and Lacazette’s minutes next season Aubameyang will be 33, and at 1 game a week stage Send Balogun out to League 1 in January to pick up 15-20 games, then send him to the Championship for 40 games next season In the summer… Read more »

AFC Forever

Pedro

* Players.

PS: Enjoying the content Pete, it’s more like a fan blog now!

AFC Forever

Rich I don’t disagree mate. The ages of Laca and Auba are relevant. I’m a massive Lacazette fan as you know. I just love that desire and commitment, he leads by example. Players feed off him. At training he must be such an example for the younger lads. Wish he had scored that goal he made for himself with his tenacity. Sometimes people expect too much from younger players, forgetting they are novices learning their trade. That’s why the loan system is so important, it doesn’t mean we’re getting rid of players, we’re simply giving them game time and looking… Read more »

Downundergunner

Good results, average person by the boys..
AMN is nowhere near good enough to be playing centrally in the midfield, aside from pace he lacks all the attributes.. no strength, passing is very limited, vision is poor, he should just be competing with tomiyasu for the right back position and Cedric needs to be shipped off to a land far far away

Mulerise14

When Tets went to battle for Ramsdale….I didn’t understand why he wanted to die on that hill…. but now,it is clear.
Same with White,he is looking for specificity, but as the manager of this club of ours,he owes us duty of care not depreciate our resources.
A trio of White,Gabriel and Saliba would fix our CB, probably for the next decade….so it can’t be a good thing if we loose Saliba service . how much can we generate from his sale? A few quids on the £27m?Tets must convince him to stay.

Pedro

Rich. Eddie doesn’t want a loan deal. You can’t force players to sign deals and you can’t force them to make decisions on loan deals.

Think we lose him unless he starts taking Auba and Lacazette mins

Bradybunch

These theories on Flo and Eddie don’t hold water to me. If The manager wasn’t prepared to promise EMI a start, he sure as hell ain’t promised Flo he’s ahead of Eddie. I can buy that he’s bigger him up as being potentially better than Eddie, who wouldn’t expect that.
I do buy the work hard or fuck off theory. Seems to be getting some results, for the moment. Long may we prosper.

Ollie

If Saliba keeps up his performance level, we’ll either keep him or sell him for a very nice profit. Big if though, takes about 2 mistakes from CB’s for their stock to plummet.

Pedro

Brady, not a guarantee of minutes, but he was offered a chance to fight. Eddie signing pushed him back

Nelson

Rich

I like your plan with Eddie and Balogun. They both have potential. Strikers costs a lot, buy or sell.

Buckagh

JamieOctober 27, 2021 09:50:51
Poor Pierre doesn’t get the respect he deserves from strangers on the internet

Pierre takes himself too serious imo

Rich

Pedro, I’m not suggesting we force anyone to do anything, God’s gift to mankind was freewill I’m suggesting we dangle a carrot in front of Nketiah, offer him a path to the No9 shirt next season, and create the space for him to play regular minutes On the premise he commits to the project, and goes out for half a season to gain more experience at the end of January Seems like a really good opportunity for him, it’s then up to him whether he takes it or not Nketiah has something about him, he’s got the hunters gene, and… Read more »

Mark

Was at the Leeds game last night. Pepe was poor too loose in possession. But will take the win. Just seen the following and am not happy about it. https://metro.co.uk/2021/10/27/arsenal-struggling-to-convince-william-saliba-to-stay-amid-rift-with-mikel-arteta-15493126/ People saying that a loan was the best thing, he has 3yrs left on his contract etc. Totally ignored the actual situation ie How Saliba was made to feel. Which has resulted in the above reports in the press. There’s very little chance we will ever see Saliba in an Arsenal shirt. Those who think it is no big deal, just watch when you see him tearing it up for… Read more »

Rich

AFC Forever I like Lacazette’s work ethic, and it sounds like he’s become a leader within the squad, my concern is his stamina, he’s gassed out at around 70 minutes on a consistent basis, he’s also the old 30yr old I’ve ever seen I’d be reluctant to renew his deal, and I certainly wouldn’t give him anything more than a 12 month extension, when older players dip physically, they usually fall straight of the edge of the cliff If we lose both Laca + Eddie, then we’ll have to enter the market, my preference would be to keep Eddie though,… Read more »

Bob N16

Mark, at least with Saliba we should get a sizeable fee if he really doesn’t want to return – the Metro isn’t the most trustworthy of sources in any case!

Mark

Bob the writing has been on the wall s long time before the metro article. Quite a few of us pointed out that this would be the case after he was shipped out on loan again without getting a chance pre-season! Still not ready to play, whilst we roll with Kola ( who played last night ) Mari and holding. It’s hardly rocket science that he feels if we don’t rate him he’ll go play for someone else. Understandable after how he’s been treated. When people pointed it out they were shut down and told he’s our players blah blah… Read more »

Rich

Mark

Think you’re being a little bit dramatic, let’s see how things unfold before getting our panties in a twist

Ben White can play the inverted right back role, it’s the role he predominantly played for Brighton last season

Tomiyasu can pay across the back line

If we create space for Saliba, give him opportunities, slap a not fit sale sign on him, and a better contract under his nose

Then anything’s possible, this story originated as an exclusive in the Sun, so I wouldn’t give too much credence to the report..,

David.D

Totally agree Mark.
Really pissed off with the Saliba situation if its true he doesn’t want to come back.
Not good enough to play for Arsenal??
And he is tearing it up against Messi and Mbappe and looking comfortable with it.
Yet we consistently play the likes of Kolasinac.
Arteta has taken a dislike to him and shipped him out.
Because of Arteta’s fucking ego we could lose out on a generational defensive talent.
Fucking unforgivable.
Fucking clowns we are sometimes.
Arteta put his fucking personal pride before whats best for the club.

TT

There is absolutely nothing to proof that Saliba has fallen out with Arteta. And anyone quoting Metro as their source of information should be sectioned.

However I agree that his loan and non loan were badly handled by the club, but that’s more on Edu than anyone else.

Whether he will cut it in the EPL remains to be seen but he definitely has potential.

David.D

Only way this could be turned around is an Edu charm offensive but that might not even be enough for Saliba if Arteta is still the manager next summer.

https://apple.news/A2IBKTawcR46S7e1M7KwKJA

Apparently Saliba has fallen out with Arteta. Shame

BacaryisGod

Rich

‘God’s gift to mankind was freewill’

Nice line if you believe in both God and free will. Unfortunately, I don’t.

@TT

I don’t know mate. I’d honestly be surprised if he hasn’t fallen out with Arteta. Let’s be real he has been treated shockingly. If we do sell him I hope it’s for a hell of a lot more money than we bought him for. If Ben White is worth 50 million surely he has to be close to that valuation?

Zacharse
Zacharse

BacaryisGodOctober 27, 2021 15:32:21
Rich‘God’s gift to mankind was freewill’Nice line if you believe in both God and free will. Unfortunately, I don’t

Well bravo regardless for exercising these gifts in the shadow of belief lol

englandsbest

Right now it seems to me more likely that Eddie will get Auba’s shirt than Laca’s. There’s no mileage in getting rid of Laca, whereas there might be a helluva lot in disposing of Auba. A near-perfect buy for say, NUFC in Jan, a player that pretty much guarantees the goals to keep the Club in PL. £50 mill is cheap for them.

Rich

Saliba hasn’t been treated shockingly, there’s endless examples of players going out on multiple loans, before going back to their parent club and being successful He was supposed to go out last October, but a club pulled the plug at the last minute, and we ran out of time He then went out at the beginning of Jan, and had a successful loan with Nice We’ve got him out early this summer, he’s having a really productive loan at Marseille, and is now captain of the French under 21 as a result He’s 20, he’s playing consistently, and he’s developing,… Read more »

zacharse

if anybody realistically thinks Saliba’s ‘falling out’ w Arteta would prevent him from returning
if we make top 4, i have a few bridges whose buyers have recently backed out of these amazing one of a kind deals and I’d be willing to discuss a sale, even to a foreigner…

Basically if we have a season that gets our squad gelled and settled, consistently playing fiery footy and maybe win something/make CL etc- i think Willy S probably won’t have too many issues about coming back to play

TT

TYAG Yea how they approached the loans was bad. But I take all this articles with a huge pinch of salt. He is a young player that at the moment is doing well and has huge potential. Whether he becomes world class is yet to be seen. We have seen this many times before where they don’t meet expectations. There is something about him though that makes me optimistic. He has the mental strength to go all the way and that’s why I’m so skeptical of this falling out stories. He is an intelligent young man that knows the club… Read more »

Tom

Leave it to Rich to trot out the old trusted what was so and so doing at x year old to make a specific point when in fact all individuals are different. Saliba considers himself a level above, always has. Wether you think it’s a good thing or not, he was deeply hurt having been dismissed by Arteta based on two and a half games, especially after the circumstances he’d been through. The fact he spoke about that to the French press says a lot. Who watched Ben White play his first two Arsenal games and thought he was ready?… Read more »

Tom

“He is an intelligent young man that knows the club did fuck up but I don’t think he takes it personally.“

Isn’t Arteta intelligent as well?
He seems to take everything personally, when it’s in his actual job description not to.

Rich

Tom

All individuals are different, but 20yr old centre backs performing consistently at the top level over the past 30 years, have certainly been the very rare exception, rather than the general rule

Pedro

Zach, don’t fall for it! These diversionary tactics are so, so boring.

Benny Blanco has shown why he’s a £50m player. William Saliba has shown exactly why he’s on loan building muscle and experience. We’re going to win when he comes back next season. Two seasons and he’ll be truly competing with Ben White. Then our back 4 will maybe be Ballard, White, Gabriel and Saliba… all extremely young for CBs.

Love how this squad is shaping up.

Tom

Rich
Saliba didn’t need to perform at the top level consistently on the team that had not a single player who did that.

@ Tom

In Saliba’s defence I’d be pissed off to see Mari and holding ahead of me as well. I’d love to see him breakthrough at Arsenal, but if he doesn’t as long as we get top dollar for him.
Also I’d like to praise AMN for last nights performance, his best yet in an Arsenal shirt. I’m not going to argue if he has a career at Arsenal or not just giving credit where’s it due.

James wood.

So you would have the chance of GUEN AND SALIBA
coming back to the Arsenal willingly if ARTETA was
not at the club.
How does that sit with the price these players could
possibly be worth in a couple of seasons.
Guen has broken all the rules yes.
SALIBA found it necessary to speak out ? Two top players at the club or Arteta.?..

Rich

Tom

You admit that none of our defenders could perform consistently at the top level

But you think we should sack the manager for failing to get them performing consistently at the top level

You’re tying yourself up in knots here

Tom

Rich, never said Arteta should be sacked.
Pointing out his poor record and flawed decision making on occasion to counterbalance the generational rhetoric isn’t the same as calling for his dismissal.

I personally think it’s a poor decision not to at least give him a proper chance. He’s been talked up in France since he was 16/17 and he’s impressed last 3 years. I remember VVD at Celtic and it was clear to most people he was a top talent even then. I really think Saliba can be out very own VVD

Jamie

I thought he should’ve been sacked after Emery bummed him out of the EL, and I’m not even remotely embarrassed to admit it. Our summer spend followed by the start we had to our season didn’t change my mind. Backing him to the hilt from day one while glossing over his subsequent poor decisions isn’t brave, it’s reckless. All that said, I genuinely hope he’s figured some shit out and we’ve actually turned a corner this time. If he manages to get us back into Europe next season, we’re on the right path (albeit moving slowly) and he gets another… Read more »

@Jamie

Well said. As you’ve said credit where it’s due for last 2 games, but we need to maintain it all season before I’m Arteta in. Sorry but again that’s my opinion. As you’ve also said 6th is the bare minimum we should be expecting

But I’ll reiterate it again. Massively happy with the last 2 performances, he’s got them playing well. Can always improve but credit where it’s due to Arteta and the team. Now if he can just stop waving his arms around like a windmill on the touch line I’ll like him even more 😀

Jamie

TYAGN –

For sure, I think everyone’s happy with the last few games. Massive game against Leicester coming up.

@Jamie

Be a good game hopefully and a barometer of where we are. Hopefully we’re on the up. Won’t be easy, not sure but I think Vardy has a good goal record against us.

8 goals in 8 games against us when Vardy’s started the game. Bastard

Jamie

Vardy does have a good record against us, the prick. If we show up like we did against Villa though, I’m not even worried.

Who’s Sid talking about?

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