TETHERING EXPECTATIONS FOR SUCCESS AND TRANSFERS

by .

So with Ainsley off to Roma, we could have a bit of a nightmare shortage in midfield should something happen to one of our two available midfielders. Granit and Lokonga are keeping the club going with Mo and Partey out at AFCON. Odegaard and ESR might be able to drop a bit deeper if necessary, but let’s be real, it only takes an errant sneeze to ruin everything… and something like that could badly derail our season. Always remember, before clubs could just make a call to postpone a game… there was Arsenal vs Brentford, COVID ripping through the dressing room, and no option but to play on. Losing our opener then hit us hard for the next two games.

So what options do we have?

I think we’re about to see a number of clubs drop expensive goods from their contracts.

Coutinho will likely be given an exit ramp either on loan or on a free so he can pick up a fee.

Juventus are reportedly saying goodbye to Aaron Ramsey.

There will be others as clubs weigh up the reality: no one is buying ageing stars in 2022.

Could Arsenal bring Ramsey back to the carpet? I have my doubts. It’s a sexy thought, but the truth is he was a risk when we last had the chance to sign him, and let’s be honest… he was a massive waste of money for Juventus. He made 25 games worth of Serie A minutes for £300k a week. Colin Lewin said on our podcast a great indication of future fitness is the past… his past is quite a sad story.

BUT… don’t put it past Arsenal to move on a short term deal for betting advert sensation, Jack Wilshere. He has stature, he gets on with Arteta, everyone is very impressed with how he’s playing and behaving behind the scenes. Even if it’s only a few games, you can’t deny the technical levels he has in his locker. He’s baked in Artetaball, so he’ll hit the ground running. He’s basically had a 2 month medical/trial.

It’s the easiest option for Arsenal that doesn’t break the bank. He can do a Xhaka job, he can do a Partey job, he can do most jobs in midfield.

There’s obviously a big difference between training and match day… but he’s 29, not 38, I’d say it’s a gamble worth taking. There could still be a signing or a loan to buy move. Mattias Svanberg is interesting because all the big Italian clubs are looking at him, the idea there would be to nip in before he turns into a £50m player in 2 seasons time (check out this scouting report).

I have no idea what we’re doing on the transfer front when it comes to strikers, but the more I hear Vlahovic talk in the media, the more I wonder if we’re looking at a big mouth over a big name this summer. There’s not much to suggest Arsenal go for the obvious player these days, if his agents are telling the world they won’t pick up the phone to them, that might be because we’ve refused to pick up the phone to them. What is incredible is how hard the Italian transfer rumour circuit is working to pump him. I wonder if they are paid to do that? Media noise impacts decisions. If fan perception is that a player is right, don’t imagine that doesn’t affect some of the amateur hour minds that are in charge of purse strings in football.

Whatever happens there, don’t expect Arsenal to be making big money moves this January. The value is in the summer or in a try before you buy like Jovic.

I’m no financial expert, but I also wonder if the big rich men of world football are going to wait and see if there’s a mega-market crash brewing. Markets have been very volatile and there are a lot of warning signs that this year might be rough.

The Liverpool game was postponed yesterday. Apparently, their caseload is pretty wild. Klopp has been calling for transparency, but it doesn’t seem like he’s been too willing to share what a mess he’s dealing with or where the mess is.

The disappointing thing is that once again, a big club cries, and they get what they want. Leyton Orient get binned, Liverpool get the full primo service… and they will play the FA Cup on Sunday. Hard not to see that as a dirty darkarts move because Arsenal are in good form and Liverpool is not.

Still, for Arsenal, we have to take it as an advantage. More time on the training ground is a good thing. More rest in the legs is a good thing. Playing the first leg at Anfield is also a good thing. Liverpool clearly not wanting to be part of this thing is a good, good thing. So let’s see what happens there.

It was also nice watching Chelsea easily beat a very strong Spurs side. Not a spanking, but a paddled arse to drive home who the daddy is. 2-0 means Unai Conte has to go with a full team for the second leg. Did you see his body language after the game? Did you hear what he said?

‘Chelsea spent a lot of money’

IT BEGINS

Arsenal will go with a skinny line-up against Nottingham Forest, they’ll probably go pretty meaty for Liverpool on a Thursday, then we roll the dice against Spurs on Sunday. If they get rattled by Chelsea at home again, it might impact how they play against us, especially if Conte plays the victim again.

Back to Spurs. They are really bad. 5 attempts at Chelsea’s goal, 2 on target… when Chelsea had Kepa in goal? It’s very drab. Antonio Conte is here to play on the break, you know what he’s going to do every game, and it is painful to watch. I really hope Arteta takes the same energy he took into last seasons win or bust game.

Here’s the big truth that you can’t escape: Top 4 is still a stretch goal.

‘You are making excuses’

No, I’ve been preaching the same reality all season.

This is the youngest team in the league.

We had the biggest reconstruction of any big team this summer.

This group has to suffer before it can truly be deemed top 4 quality.

That doesn’t mean I’m not hoping we can nick it, we have a lot of things going for us this season. Momentum is one of them. Hungry young players is another. The speed in which they’ve all bonded around the Artetaball idea. They’re all massive, but things can come unstuck very fast, as we saw against Everton.

I don’t want to pick on fan archetypes, but generally, I would say the fans that said the new signings didn’t move the needle / Arteta would be sacked by November, are the people now saying we should make top 4.

Don’t raise the highs too high and don’t take the lows to extremes.

Whatever happens this season, we are on a sharper track than most teams in the league at the moment.

You know where the Spurs story is heading, a massive arson attack that Daniel Levy will have to pay a premium to solve.

You know where United is heading under Rangnick… right into a painful transition. His success has been built around nobody young men from around Europe that agree to work themselves to the bone in a selfless system that requires every single player to do their job. He can’t work with Ronaldo, his system won’t allow it, and he just made him captain. Older players do not want to learn new tricks. Rangnickball is very bad unless everyone buys in.

This season is an opportunity to catch a leap on the competition, no doubt, just tether your expectations to reality. One day, we will drop a performance against Everton so bad, you actually want to cry. Two weeks later, we’ll put on the best show against City of any team in Europe and totally control them by making them look ordinary.

The rocket ship is heading to the moon, but buckle up, because we’ll get nicked by space debris, and occasionally, we’ll be pushed off orbit by a big fuck off rock you weren’t expecting to see.

Have fun in the comments. x

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TR7

Ramsey back is not a sexy thought at all. He was never good enough for Arsenal and now he is worse a player than when he left.

grooveydaddy

Tr4phy

DM

Back with a tr4phy

grooveydaddy

Oops

andy1886

Ramsey or Wilshere if they’re the options? At least Ramsey has played top flight football recently, Wilshere couldn’t get a deal at all. Wilshere would be a huge risk, it’s not as if he’s any less injury prone than Ramsey anyway.

Double Double

Surely there are better options than those 2 even on freebies.

Chrispy

‘ A big fuck off rock….’ almost poetic in its truth, Ped’s

Graham

FA Cul rules on COVID are different to the EFL rules and the EFL rules this year are different to last year.

No need to start seeing conspiracies and we can beat Liverpool’s first team – we don’t need a bye.

No need to adopt a small club mentality.

Walking Wounded

I like the idea of a straight swap loan of Ramsey for Aubameyang with no obligations at the end.

Zube

Buy Harry Kane. Send a big their way

Golikethis

Sign Jack! He can do the job. Ramsey? No way!

Samesong

2022 and we are still talking about injury prone Ramsey loool

Emiratesstroller

I don’t see Arsenal buying players this month. If someone comes in it will be loan. There were a lot of complaints on Le Grove about Liverpool’s request for a postponement of today’s game. My suspicion is that Arsenal were not disappointed that it was delayed. I am fairly sure that Liverpool could easily have fulfilled today’s fixture. They have a first team squad of 27 players AND 10 academy players have either played in first team games or sat on bench. So I would be surprised if they could not have fulfilled fixtures. My guess is Arsenal are not… Read more »

englandsbest

Pierre

Your wistful notions about Wenger are a pain in the a**

Of course the Club is far better under Arteta

It’s on an upward curve not a downward spiral.

Ger real. Your idol had feet of clay.

Samesong

Wilshere I meant.

englandsbest

‘get real’ – but I suppose that’s too much to ask.

Jim Lahey

Have we spoken about Arsenal getting fined for something that occurs in every game every week? Would love to see the club strike back at the FA. Maybe request an inquiry into potential corruption within the organisation. Shower of cunts.

Jim Lahey

Bissouma in a money + Eddie deal?

Vintage Gun

Aubameyang tests positive for COVID

Jim Lahey

Regarding Aaron Ramsey, how are players like RVP, Nasri, and Cesc considered snakes, yet there is some bizarre halo hanging over the head of Ramsey who utterly fucked over the club? Aaron Ramsey purposefully ran down his contract rejected new contracts from Arsenal just so he could demand a huge wage and sign-on fee from his next club (which he got), while screwing Arsenal over 10-15m we could have obtained from a transfer fee. After the club stood by him for years as an injury-prone player. Cesc, RVP, Nasri, all gave legitimate reasons as to why they wanted to leave… Read more »

Jim Lahey

“Aubameyang tests positive for COVID”

To be honest, it has the same impact on the team as Cédric Soares testing positive at this point. Aubameyang will probably never play for the club again and from the way we have been playing lately, that isn’t a bad thing.

T

Pedro I think rangnic made the right call. He basically announced that the current united is team ronaldo. If they tank the captain sinks. If they swim he will be ok.

Either way he gets what he wants in the end

AFC Forever

Jim Lahey I saw that last night. Failing to control our players. What a joke. Especially when you consider what Fergies lot got up to almost every week surrounding referees and snarling at every decision they didn’t like. Apart from the regular inconsistency we see in decisions like this, I don’t like the fact that we are trying to sanitise the game. It’s bad enough that every foul is now a booking, unless you are Rodri or Kante, but now they’re attacking emotions. Passion. These guys have loads of testosterone running around their bodies and they want to win. Of… Read more »

Jim Lahey

@AFC Forever –

The fine was definitely a slap in the face to Arsenal and its fanbase for having the audacity to question the bias and incompetence of the PGMOL.

I mean, the same game City players did the exact same thing when their penalty wasn’t immediately given and somehow that was okay?

Jim Lahey

The referrers feel like they are untouchable, they answer to no one and therefore can get away with awful performances without any ramifications.

If they don’t want players questioning them on the field then they should at least be made to justify their decisions after a game on TV.

Emiratesstroller

So Aubameyang is now unlikely to be playing in Afcom. According to Daily Mail he was seen
partying in Dubai!!

It will be interesting to see how Arsenal handle this situation and what will be final outcome.

Ray+in+LA

I like the idea of post-game referee interviews 🙂

AFC Forever

Emirates Is anyone surprised Aubameyang has tested positive for Covid? There were a lot of rumours that Aubameyang was being irresponsible regarding Covid and was flouting the club’s rules. There is more to this than just his lateness issue. There were concerns that the Covid breakout which affected the squad at the start of the season, came from a party Aubameyang had thrown without permission. Now there are rumours he was partying in Dubai…! The bloke has no sense of responsibility for other people and clearly no shame. Now he’s let his Country down. This will definitely put off any… Read more »

Bankz

I don’t show up today and groovey, you still allowed DM sneak in with a tr4phy win?

It’s 2022, how are Arsenal fans still talking about Jack Wilshere? We really are one big emotional fan base

Emiratesstroller

AFC Forever

There will be always be a club who will take Aubameyang.

However, I suspect that his departure from Arsenal will prove costly. We will land up paying
at least part of his unexpired contract which is 18 months unexpired.

AFC Forever

Jim Lahey “The referrers feel like they are untouchable, they answer to no one and therefore can get away with awful performances without any ramifications.If they don’t want players questioning them on the field then they should at least be made to justify their decisions after a game on TV.” They are untouchable. Mike Riley will not allow his referees to be questioned. Look, Mike Riley opposed VAR because he claimed it would undermine the match officials. This is a man with no backbone, he’s a wet, weak, weasel. I suspect this is why he bodged up VAR when it… Read more »

AFC Forever

Emirates

I’m not sure too many will want him if he can’t be trusted around Covid. Clubs have a duty of care not just to the players but to everyone working at the club. Lateness is one thing but flouting Covid rules is something else.

Domagoj+B

Pedro, it’s tiring to read about our covid situation before the Brentford game in almost every post, and using it as an excuse for that disaster showing and the next 2 matches. Especially since it was not the same as some other postponements, we didn’t have such a situation as some other clubs had. Let it go.

Leedsgunner

Yes to Wilshere… especially on a short term pay as you play contract (in cup games… I have no doubt against lower league opponents like Nottingham Forest.)

No to Coutinho, Ramsey and Isco.

What will determine whether we get top 4?

We will get top 4 if we keep our strongest XI fit and fresh for the EPL…. If we do so, this will lead to consistency- which will most likely lead to a top 4 finish.

Vintage Gun

Don’t want Ramsey back. Honest enough pro but i felt that after his 16 goal season he lost his head and turned selfish. If he wasn’t talking about joining his great friend curious George at Real Madrid he was on the pitch playing the poacher role from central midfield. Never mind the injuries.

Saying all that if we can’t sell Auba and can’t get a CM we want this window then maybe a 6month loan swap with no obligation (on our side) would be better than nothing.

Tony 2

Few things. Ray+in+LA. I can only remember 1 time a ref came on tv after a match and spoke about the game. Paul Durkin I think and he stated he got a big decision wrong. He wasn’t seen on a pitch forca couple of weeks afterward. Jim gotta disagree re Aaron. Under emerys unbeaten 22 once He Was recalled he was the midfield glue that held the team together. Weather it was defending, starting attacks or finishing , no doubt in my mind when fit he was absolutely brilliant. 1uestion is of course coukd he remain fit? Finally AFC re… Read more »

Leedsgunner

Auba apparently tested positive for COVID whilst partying in Dubai – having been released by the club early to join his national squad for AFCON.

I was sympathetic to Auba when the story about his initial disciplinary breach came out but this is really poor on Auba’s part – especially if it is going to prevent or make difficult him to be moved on this transfer window.

You would have thought that he would have self awareness to keep his name clean… but no.

Auba going full Özil when he should be going full Lacazette.

Matt

I have zero sympathy for Aubamayang. The guy is a joke of a professional and gets so much slack because he’s always smiling. Well, he is a clown so that’s very apt.

As others have said, my only concern is it makes it even harder to get rid of him this window. How was this guy ever made captain!!

AFC Forever

Vintage Sadly I think we’re stuck with Auba. The best we could hope for is a loan deal but any party will refuse to pay all of his ridiculous wages. Just before he signed the media and fans were saying he had to stay and if we were a big club we would break the bank. Unfortunately, once ‘some’ players reach a certain age they become greedy and stop putting the same effort in. He’s a different player now, his attitude and finishing has been getting worse. Auba’s shot conversion stats: 17/18: 32.2% 18/19: 23.4% 19/20: 23.7% 20/21: 17.5% His… Read more »

S Asoa

Disturbing

https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/transfer-news/emile-smith-rowes-arsenal-confusion-22654206

Martineli fantastic run on the wings is indicated as the reason why ESR cannot get in.
But dammit , ESR most effective position is where Odegard plays. Guess a leopard will not change it’s spots, nor Arteta his prejudices.

AFC Forever

Matt “I have zero sympathy for Aubamayang. The guy is a joke of a professional and gets so much slack because he’s always smiling. Well, he is a clown so that’s very apt.” Yep. His lack of professionalism is shameful considering the money he is on. In any other job, he would have been sacked. The problem is the power the players have, you can’t get rid of them like you can a bad employee. Give them a pay rise based on performance and once they’ve taken the money, their performance levels nosedive – because they’ve git what they wanted.… Read more »

Jim

Don’t think signing an ageing player even on a short term deal fits in with the new model we have pivoted to and to do so would undermine what we’ve been doing. Would happily keep Jack about the club but not on the playing field for me. *if* we were to get top 4 this season it would obviously be a good result given where we’ve been. Do you think it comes ahead of schedule in our long term plans though? Would the young players have had enough time together under Mikel to really start mixing it with the big… Read more »

Matt

AFC Agreed and look, I don’t think we had a choice but to renew his contract. Coming off a great season, if we had let him go then most fans would have been up in arms – myself included. However, what bothers me more since is not so much his form, but his attitude. Players come in and out of form and largely that cant be avoided, but what can be avoided is: turning up late for training, turning up late for the NLD, buggering off to get a tattoo in the middle of a national lockdown and sauntering round… Read more »

Leedsgunner

I wonder if all this noise surrounding Vlahović and us is in fact smoke and mirrors.

The boy has impressive numbers but personally I prefer Alexander Isak, Jonathan David or Youssef En-Nesyri – all three would fit us better than someone who continually reported as being unconvinced by the Arsenal project.

If we have to work this hard to convince him to come, perhaps he’s not worth it. Ironically he wants to go to Spurs because he’s convinced by them. 😂😂😂

Chinaman69

Would love to see Jack donning arsenal again

Samesong

Rather see Patino on the pitch then Wilshere. All this love for ex players that are injury prone baffles the mind.

CG

Re: Wilshere.

One of the most overrated players ever to play for the club

Re: Ramsey

One of the most underrated players ever to play for the club.

Rambo scores winning goals in cup finals and gets a move to Juventus.
Jacko is always injured and gets a move Bournemouth.

Positive pete

Yeah “ laughing boy”.Out in Dubai,taking the piss.What’s new.Only hope is the Barcodes might be desperate enough to take him on.Here’s hoping.🙏🤞

IAT-Robbie

Leeds, A quick read off sources that are not Daily Mail tells a slightly different story. It seems like the entire Gabon national team were invited to a private dinner, I’m guessing it’s organised by whoever is hosting them for their training camp in Dubai. If he caught COVID from there, then other members of their national team probably have it too. I get that Auba is on the naughty step but I’m not sure if this is the best example of him being irresponsible. In that case, anyone who goes to a social gathering while in employment is also… Read more »

Positive pete

Leeds.He ( vlahovic)is obviously thick as well.Stay clear.Don’t need anymore problem boyz.

raptora

Damn right, CG. Ramsey is still a professional football player unlike Wilshere. Bring him home to cover for Partey and Elneny, and help the kids with his never-give-up attitude and with being the closest thing to Mr. Arsenal we’ve had in the last almost 20 years. Obviously he’s still fragile, but he won’t be a starter every game. Rotate him with Lokonga/Xhaka in the position next to Partey. When healthy, he’s comfortably the 2nd best midfielder in our team. I will not be upset if we don’t make a move though. He’s had his time. If we don’t go for… Read more »

WengerEagle

Don’t want the crocked old guard back myself but whatever about Ramsey, he at least is still capable on his day.

Wilshere lost it years ago. Looked out of his depth in the lower leagues in his last couple of loan spells. Ask West Ham/Bournemouth fans what level Jack is at now if in any doubt.

WengerEagle

Ramsey was a big fail at Juventus though, not really up for debate that one.

TR7

Some real over hyping of Ramsey here. He never was an “excellent” player. Workmanlike and ponderous most of the time except few and far between moments of brilliance.

Vintage Gun

@AFC Yeah Auba’s gonna be a hard sell. Especially after his latest situation. A 32 year old in poor form and with poor professionalism during a pandemic? Good luck Edu with that one. I still support giving him that contract though as it was a dammed if you don’t situation and only God, his son and Sid would have known how badly it would all pan out. @S Asoa Don’t worry my friend, Smith Rowe isn’t going nowhere anytime soon regardless of who does/doesn’t come in. I see no problem regarding how he’s been handled over the last year, months… Read more »

InsideRight

Emiratesstroller – “So Aubameyang is now unlikely to be playing in Afcom. According to Daily Mail he was seen partying in Dubai!!”

His mother must be feeling much better then…

Bertie Mee

So we now take the Daily Mail as gospel
‘ Auba catches Covid while partying in Dubai’
The Daily Mail is a ghastly pile of prejudices many of which are anti – Arsenal . It’s not fit to be toilet paper.
I agree the choice of Jack and Aaron is not a beguiling one . Both are finished sadly

InsideRight

TR7 – “Some real over hyping of Ramsey here. He never was an “excellent” player. Workmanlike and ponderous most of the time except few and far between moments of brilliance.”

Never forget his consistent ability to put almost all his shots from outside the box into Row Z, before grimacing and trotting back to await the next opposition attack.

Mr Serge

No to either Wiltshire or Rambo please we need fresh hungry players that will improve the team those 2 will not

Mb

Frankly, both Jack and Rambo are well past it. We shouldn’t get emotional.

CG

Raptora

””””’Damn right, CG.

Ramsey is still a professional football player unlike Wilshere.”””””””

Ramsey scores big goals on the big stage. FA Cup Finals., Spurs at Wembley and scores them for Wales too. Its what separates the greats in sport.

Players that can perform on the big stage and do not freeze.

He was Arsenal’s modern day Charlie George but without his genius.

As for Wilshere, simply a 5 side player. Can’ t run, can’ t score ,can’t assist , can’t tackle ( thats why he is always crocked on the ankles ) and seemingly can’ t find a club.

raptora

WE, not like Juve are doing too hot without him either. Feels like he was never given a proper shot, some of it because he was announced some half a year before Allegri was replaced by Sarri. Then Sarri had another way of playing and probably Ramsey didn’t fit in it. Now that Allegri is back, he’s hardly even played him. I’m aware that if he played super well he would have played much more, but it feels like a bad moment, bad fit and some other complications. A player like Eriksen has found it rough to play much in… Read more »

raptora

bank* account

raptora

To Ramsey’s credit, he was one of our too far and between players, who wouldn’t duck and hide vs ANY team we were playing versus. It was him, Alexis and Cazorla the players who would not choke in the big games and moments. Mental strength is an underrated value quality.

raptora

InsideRight: “Never forget his consistent ability to put almost all his shots from outside the box into Row Z, before grimacing and trotting back to await the next opposition attack.”

You are talking about the highest scoring CM in Arsenal’s history. Give respect where it’s due.

Samesong

Ramsey scored some beauties.

Taylor Swift

R and W are far too injury prone, it would be a disaster. And we have a model that we can all see has vastly improved the team. I think we stick to the model even for loans.

CG

Raptora

”””’You are talking about the highest scoring CM in Arsenal’s history. Give respect where it’s due.”””’

Well said.

Charlie George was x 1 million times a better player than Ramsey, but Ramsey still scored more goals from center midfield and in more cup finals than CG did.

Habesha Gooner

Chris Wheatley reported that we are looking at Johnathan David. That is a realistic option for us. And he is good at things that Vlahovic isn’t like hold up play plus pressing work rate. And I don’t think Arteta likes a player that will make a lot of noise before he has even got here. And he is 21. Plus he is not haaland. He is the same ilk but he still needs to improve in a lot of things. Conte’s spurs might have been poor last night but they are our genuine contenders for top 4. It is because… Read more »

Habesha Gooner

Ramsey was never top class. He was just a good player that was made to look good because we had shit options. No one was talking about him as a serious player through the years when we had Cesc, Wilshere on top form, Santi, Ozil on top form. But when we exited them all and had Xhaka , Coquilen, and the like he became the best of a bad bunch and that was why he was hyped. Anyone that saw Cesc knew what a top CM looked like.

The Bard

Following your argument that we only have an outside chance of top 4 why bring in Ramsey or Wlishire. Lets give Patino half a season to see how he does. A much better option.

Habesha Gooner

I don’t know why pedro is pushing the Svanberg agenda. But the stats aren’t great. I won’t make up my mind before he comes if indeed he comes in. Our scouts deserve a but of faith after last summer. But I don’t see a passer in svanberg and Arteta likes his CMs to be good passers.

raptora

No one has claimed that Ramsey is top class but you can’t put Wilshere’s name in there and pretend like he was. Ramsey had half a season where he looked top class, what did Wishere have? 1 game against Barcelona? Wilshere was by far the more overhyped player, when he did close to nothing for AFC. Far less than two times FAC-winning goal scorer Ramsey. On a sidenote, I just watched a Jonathan David compilation. Probably 80% of his goals are tap ins + pens, he has 0 curlers, 0 goals outside of the box, 0 dribbles leading to goals.… Read more »

Leedsgunner

I’m not so desperate to have Wilshere back more that I don’t want us blow our transfer budget on Coutinho.

He just has all the hallmarks of another Willian; we don’t need him or his ridiculous salary.

Leedsgunner

I would love Coutinho to go to somewhere like Aston Villa. His outrageous salary would hamper them for years and prevent them from operating quickly in the transfer market this summer.

Just Another Customer

he’s just another scam from Lille

raptora

I’m against Coutinho coming cause he isn’t even a CM. He’s a type of a hybrid AM/Left winger and even now we have ESR and Pepe warming the bench.

Martinelli, ESR, Pepe (at AFCON I know) even Tavares as a LW is enough as it is.

Odegaard, ESR, Lacazette is alright.

If we get a CM that could play AM in a few games would be the best thing. Ramsey ticks the boxes. lol

raptora

Coutinho doesn’t tick our weak positions – CM and CF.
He comes from a huge team so he prolly has ego.
He isn’t young.
He isn’t even English.

Would probably involve a lot of hidden shady money.

Dissenter

Aubameyang didn’t become covid-19 positive because he went out the night before in Dubai

Lots of laughable comments about his “lack of professionalism”. without getting all the information.
Is it unlikely that he got it at London Colney, the same spread as Mikel Arteta?

Nigel Tufnel

Did Conte really say that ? That Chelsea spent a lot of money…haha..
That’s so great.. also Pedro reasoning that Spuds should have to field a good team in the second leg, or just sacrifice the competition.
Maybe just forfeit.

Jamie

Where’s Paulinho? Aaron superfan.

And Bamford.

Leedsgunner

Apparently it’s all kicking off at Man Utd and up to eleven players from their first team want out.

Donny van de Beek anyone? Fits our present transfer strategy although our history of Man Utd to Arsenal transfers isn’t great…

Jim Lahey

“Donny van de Beek anyone?”

Yeah actually! Wouldn’t mind that at all!

DivineSherlock

The thing about Svanberg is that I had literally no idea he existed before the rumors began , just like Tomiyasu , which is a good thing I guess .

raptora

Jamie,
I’m trying my best in Paulinho’s absence lol.

Jamie

I feel you, rap. Keep up the good work.

I liked Paulinho’s content, and there’s nothing wrong with having favourite players, even if they’re bang average 96% of the time.

Spudnik

Pedro, I don’t know why you’re so afraid of 4th. Is it because of the trolling you’ll get if Arsenal don’t get there? You’re going to get that anyway. And why settle for 4th given the form Liverpool and Chelsea are in? Arteta and the team will have a laser eye focus on top 4. The ambition to be there has already been declared by them. The significance to Arsenal is huge: it means keeping the young team together for the next couple of seasons to launch a title challenge in their prime. The more they progress, the more the… Read more »

Zacharse

would be a shame if we lost real momentum by not making moves in jan. we’ve already put 2 out the door, 4 more to go to afcon, and we already had a thin squad
hasnt stan doubled his net worth over covid?

Habesha Gooner

I know we got scammed by lille for pepe. But we underpaid for Gabriel. In a market where great CBs are going for 40 mil+, we got a great deal. David doesn’t look as good as the other strikers we have been linked with on YouTube. But his stats on overall game look better than everyone. Even Vladovic’s..He is two footed. And he works very hard without the ball. And he isn’t slow. I wouldn’t be against moving for him. But he isn’t as clinical or a polished finisher. Isak is unpredictable. And he can dribble and make his own… Read more »

Habesha Gooner

Better wilshere than coutinho. Both are done at the top level as serious options. But at least Jack will be here for a short term. He also loves the club. And he plays a position that we need. Coutinho is unnecessary even if Pepe leaves. He is not a Right forward or a right winger. We don’t need a CAM or a LW.

Zacharse

I wonder how posters whomwere negged out on arteta at the beginning if the season etc.would have reacted then to hearing that for about a month of the season we’d have 3 cms and one would be jack…

Leedsgunner

Habesha

Between David, Vlahović and Isak who would you take? I would plump for Isak, then David and Vlahović.

Other strikers like Jović, En-Nesyri and Calvert Lewin would also work in our system.

Who would you take out of the second set of three? For me, En-Nesyri first, then Calvert Lewin followed by Jović although if we could get him on loan first that wouldn’t be a bad idea – it worked out well for Odegaard so it could work again.

Habesha Gooner

Leeds Vlahovic is a monster at scoring goals. And I wanted him. But I have changed my mind on him. Not just because he isn’t convinced by arsenal. But also because Lacazette is showing us what kind of forward we should target. We need a Firminho, type player who can also score at a decent rate. And Vlahovic isn’t that. He is an out and out goalscorer. Auba is the same, albeit different strengths. And he struggled. Vlahovic has more bows to his game but he isn’t known for linking up play and pressing. His passing stats aren’t great either.… Read more »

Jim Lahey

The 72 million for Pepe was a bad bit of business alright (not Pepe’s fault), however, remember it could have been a whole lot worse considering we had a 90m bid for Thomas Lemar turned down!!

Habesha Gooner

Out* put two times FFS.

izzo

What do you all think of Divock Origi? Personally think he would be a great Laca replacement as long as we still sign a #1 top end striker in the summer.
Has a knack for scoring killer goals.

China1

If anyone has offers from arsenal and Spurs and chooses Spurs because they think they’re more ambitious as a club – said player is an absolute tool and has never watched English football

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