Well hello my darlings, how are we today? Good I hope. VERY good.
Hot topic of debate is the Eddie issue. He looks… good. Right? This isn’t just the one game he played, this is his mindset since preseason. He looks more powerful, his game is more deliberate, and he looks very focused. Amazing what the insecurity of having no new deal can do… and what growing up a little bit can add to your game.
I think there’s some concern at Arsenal that if he doesn’t sign up, he could be a sleeper-Emi Martinez for us next season. He’s a good player. He’s extremely young. He could add a lot of value to many clubs in the Premier League. As fans, we do tend to get into the mind that you are either an elite 17 year old or you are a failure. Not everyone can break like ESR or Saka. Ivan Toney is 25 years old, he’s making waves in the Premier League this season. There are loads of examples of players that are not great until they are. Patrick Bamford at Leeds is a prime example, even Leeds fans lamented how poor his finishing was… then things clicked last season and people were talking about big moves. He’s 28 years old! Let’s go a step further… Serge Gnabry was binned off by Arsenal at 22 after failing to stake his claim under Tony Pulis, now look at him? You can’t tell me anyone saw that coming.
It’ll be a shame to see him go. Folarin Balogun ain’t there yet. The third striker berth is open this summer with Lacazette going. It could be his. Let’s see if Arteta can persuade a player I’m pretty sure has little love/trust for a manager that benched him for a season.
I’m feeling pretty good about Arsenal at the moment. One of the interesting things about the Leeds game, which was a great spectacle, was the speed we were moving the ball at. The lethargic passing of last season seems to be cycling into something a little more one-touch and a bit more purposeful. There’s a rhythm to what we’re doing and it doesn’t look as one-dimensional as it did. When we spoke to Nigel Winterburn last week, he talked about working under George Graham and the relentless coaching of the defence. I asked him if he believed in over-coaching and he said he didn’t. The coaching is there to help you make better decisions on the pitch, but it’s down to the players to be bold and make them. I think one-touch passing is helping us. It wasn’t there before, now it is. Long may the confidence continue through every level of our squad.
Leicester at the weekend is another huge test. I do like that we set each game up as some sort of definitive moment in our season.
SPURS: Good side, if you can’t win the derby… well
Aston Villa: Good side, their midfield is better than ours, if we can’t beat them… well
Leicester: A real test, because they are top 4 contenders, if we can’t beat them… well
I’m going to keep it going. I think this is a real test because I see us at about the same level as Leicester City. They have great players, a well-coached operation, and they spring surprises. Brendan Rodgers is sharp and he certainly played us like a fiddle at home last season.
This game is a big one for us. We’re doing the business at home, but can we go away to a big atmosphere and win the occasion?
I really hope so. 9 games unbeaten has a nice ring to it. Moving 3 points past Leicester in November is a good omen heading into some really tough games. More confidence means we get to where we need to be faster.
3 points are important because there are a few games between teams that are rivals.
United vs Spurs
Liverpool vs Brighton
Villa vs West Ham
Wolves vs Everton
If we win our next two games, I think there’s a fair chance we’ll actually be in the top 4. That would be a lot better than how we were shaping up this time last season.
Right, that’s me done, see you in the comments.
Ramsdale wasn’t planned. But goonersterous was hammering his supposed link to us in legrove. Lol. Funny state.
This game has just sprung into life with goals and errors
We’re still heavily linked with Noa Lang for the forward position. He’s quick and can play in any of the 3 forward positions. He could therefore be the CF role at something like €35m. May even be a Jan signing.
Raulihuss – well it comes down to what you mean by planning. We had targeted a GK, had a list of options which included Ramsdale (who seems to have been first choice but slightly clouded by the Onana situation) and approached Sheff Utd and the player probably early TW, maybe even earlier. So yes of course it was planned to the extent you can plan for transfers
Raulishuss,
Very few transfers are “planned”. You plan a strategy. That strategy produces a list of players that have a similar profile. Then you start shaking trees to see what’s realistic. Unless you’re willing to pay a big premium over the market rate, it’s usually circumstances that decide which player you end up with. So you gotta be opportunistic. In that sense, Ramsdale was probably more “planned” than most transfers.
Northbanker,
You beat me to the punch there:-)
LS – great minds!!
It must also be said that even low key transfers take a huge amount of work. Identifying the gap, drawing up a shortlist of who you want and in what order is only part of it. Then you’re dealing with the club over fee, the player and the player’s agent, in most cases fending off other interest fro other clubs, then dealing with an army of lawyers once a deal is possible from both club and player, with immigration in many cases as well as the FA and Premier league to effect registration. You have to do this in full… Read more »
For the life of me, I can’t understand why UEFA doesn’t regulate how agents operate. They’re the source of at least 50% of all complications and 90%+ of all corruption surrounding transfers.
Totally agree LS which only leads to one conclusion…….but I won’t state it here!
I don’t care myself if Ramsdale was planned. I care that despite being very expensive for a keeper he’s looking like excellent bang for our bucks. If he maintains this level the club will have been very well vindicated in chasing him and paying what they did. More than happy to credit them with that if he can keep this up.
northbank
i agree with you. I was just jesting goonersterous cuz he claimed we didnt plan the rams transfer but he was all hysterical on here when we were linked to him here in june
What does “been expensive for a goalkeeper” mean? We bought leno for 20m kepa was sold for 70, ederson 30 and rams 24m. It is the going rate this days. Guess some just love to moan a bit.