Here’s the thing: I don’t think the decision is that crazy, even if it was, who cares, we need a moonshot to kick-start this 2.0 project. Safe is not a strategy that correlates with our situation. Safe is literally 14 years of Arsene Wenger and 18 months of Emery. Safe is code for meek, stagnant, unoriginal. It just pushes you further away from taking the drastic steps needed to make Arsenal competitive and relevant on a meagre budget.
Arsenal needs a coach, I think he can be that coach.
Sure, there are parts that he’s going to have to learn. Being the go-to for managing a squad of egos is going to be tough. He’ll be the lonely one in the dugout, but look, he’s not some nutter tactician that hasn’t managed groups of players before, he’s been a captain at two top-level football clubs. Commanding the respect of fellow professional isn’t going to be a steep learning curve.
The most valuable thing Arsenal can spend their money on is great ideas because we can’t afford to unload another £200m on players this summer. We have a great group of kids coming through, we will waste their talent if we give them to Carlo (I don’t think we’d go here, but in a fit of panic, he is basically Emery of 2019 after being freshly fired into a narrowed shortlist). We’ll need to reshape the squad in the summer, likely with young kids. They aren’t coming here for an average coach and boring football. We need something to offer them. With the names on offer at the moment, I don’t see anyone in the pack of managers that has a higher ceiling than Arteta.
This was the round two of canvassing for Arteta in 2019. Does the Carlo piece make me sound like an idiot? Yes. But think bigger picture people. I wrote quite a few extensive pieces; here is the gist of what I thought he could bring to Arsenal (second piece).
- Elite communication
- World-class coaching
- Extreme work ethic
- High performance culture
- CITY IP
- Sauce
It took some time to see it all unfold, but I think he’s delivered on all of the above elements.
Today, he deservedly signed a new 3 deal that runs to the end of the 2024/25 season.
There are some out there that wanted the season to finish before rewarding him, but Arteta confirmed he was offered one after the three losses.
Let’s be clear, the worst possible idea that has gained traction with Arsenal Twitter is that we should have waited until we were totally sure he was going to put us in the top 4. This doesn’t stand up to any sort of rigor, you don’t let elite talent run down a deal, just in case something goes wrong.
Arteta has spent £200m+ of the clubs money, you don’t let the architect leave. Sure, it might be a gamble, but how dim would it be to let the best young coach in Europe run down his deal? What does that say to him about our relationship with him? That it’s transactional. What does that say to the players? That he isn’t important.
The standards merchants want you to believe that they would look at the table if things went wrong, look at the body of work, and say… Mikel, you missed out on top 4 by a single point. You are fired. No rational person in sport would do something that stupid.
Offering him a new deal in a low moment is exceptional in its shrewdness. It shows that we’re thinking beyond pure points on the table and we’re respecting the circumstances and the job that he has done beyond just points (let’s be clear though, points per game this season has been good and we’ve been in top 4 form since December 2020).
Look at what he’s done:
- Brought a brand new philosophy to Arsenal that has been implemented up and down the roster of teams
- Ripped out all of our toxic players
- Massively reduced the wage bill
- De-aged the squad to an average age of 24, the youngest in the league
- Fixed our leaky defence, the first manager to do it in 15 or so years
- Brought through a number of young players that are edging into best in class territory
- Has us top 4 for points with 4 games to go
- Has us top 3 for shots on goal, has us 4th for shots on target
- Has the fans in the stadium ROCKING and united around our brilliant young squad
Like, honestly, how can anyone be sitting there saying he hasn’t achieved anything?
… because some fans still don’t understand what it takes to build a club back to the top in the richest/strongest league in the world. They live in the era where giving Jose or Conte £100m and half a season is all you needed to get back to the top.
- Conte is sitting behind us in the league, complaining about how hard the Premier League is
- Ralf Rangnick says it’ll take 6 years to fix United
- Carlo failed at Everton
- Jose failed at United and Spurs
- Thomas Tuchel, a total rockstar everyone said we should have hired, is 3 points behind us in the table after spending £100m+ on a CL winning squad
As I said in 2019, there is no better person for this Arsenal project.
We have someone that loves the club, who is excited by the longer-term nature of the project, whilst delivering on his promise.
Matt Kandela went to the West Ham game at the weekend, he called me after and said:
‘The Arteta out stuff is bollocks, everyone is totally behind him, there are no doubts’
This gives us stability. This will make it more likely the players are going to sign up again this summer. This means the dream of challenging for the league in two seasons is still very much on.
Right, see you in the comments.
_________________________________________________
You thought I’d leave this post without slagging David Moyes? No chance.
The West Ham manager had to defeat an average Frankfurt team, they blew the home leg, it was clear that the most important thing for them to do was fix up for the return game and go there fresh.
What did he do? He played all his stars. There is no world in which this was a smart decision. It was dumb.
He put 32-year-old Aaron Cresswell into the Arsenal game. What happened? Due to deep, deep fatigue and the emotional stress attached to being bullied by Eddie for a long 90 at the weekend, he fumbled a simple long ball, then he gets sent off for the bungled challenge.
West Ham didn’t have a response. They weren’t fresh. They struggled to breakdown a very poor Frankfurt. They was NO answer. There should have been, even with 10 men. It was AWFUL.
David Moyes blew the second leg because he tried to play a cute game against Arsenal to kickstart his team. He failed, he blew West Ham’s easiest chance at Champions League EVER by being greedy and too clever by half.
Frankfurt literally rested their entire team against Leverkusen, even the goalkeeper, now they have to beat Rangers to get into the biggest competition in the world.
West Ham vs Rangers. What a dream that would have been. The Hammers fans, humming the CL theme tune, Moyesy a legend forever… now, the best he’ll get is Europa Conference.
What a SHOCKING fail. But he deserved it. I told him my support would not be there and look what happened. I LOVE IT.
Right, I’m really going now. x
Bankz is here for the tr4phy again
Groovey and DM, come outside!
It’s so on……
((((BOOOOOM))))
Okay, I’ll bite. Get fired for missing fourth by one point? Hmm, sounds familiar.
And although I don’t have an issue with the contract extension he really hasn’t fixed the defence YET. See the goals against column. Maybe after a couple of seasons playing together but we’re not there yet clearly.
“He’s even made both Xhaka and Elneny better players. That alone is incredible.” Lol. Elneny was always a stable player from the moment he arrived in London. He’s always been reliable for several games per season but not good enough to start in a team trying to be in top 4 year in, year out. He has his strong and weak sides to his game. Nothing has changed. Re Xhaka I’d rather not comment. Several good games in a season is nothing to write home about. Re’ve been giving the MotM awards to Elneny for how good he’s been playing,… Read more »
Bang on with the Moyes ‘tribute’. Managerial lunacy. Still nervous about top 4 but if we cross that line then I’m genuinely excited for the TW and beyond.
ANDY. NO ,just NO. I know you know it’s wrong, and we’re not going to talk about him any more.
Tuchel is 3 points ahead not behind but with you Pedro on Moyes what a dickhead !!!
No 10. ESR?
Chrispy
I’m nervous too. Lot of pressure on some pretty young players shoulders but they’ve certainly got spirit and belief. We have a great group of lads but they can be naive at times. But you don’t beat Chelsea, Man Utd & West ham if you don’t have balls, so fingers crossed.
Fair enough that he is getting a new contract. After two year of faffing, stretches of mediocrity and some awful recruitment, he is finally learning from his mistakes and shaping a promising side. But chucking around ludicrous hyperbole like ‘elite’ and ‘world class’ is laughable. He hasn’t earned anywhere near that right. Maybe he will in the future, maybe he won’t. No-one knows yet. He should, however, be very grateful they allowed him two years to learn his trade, many managers won’t get that luxury. I get the desire to anoint him some kind of business award of the year,… Read more »
Pedro
“David Moyes blew the second leg because he tried to play a cute game against Arsenal”
Spot on.
When I saw the team sheet against us I was stunned. Declan Rice has played 45 games this season, and he’s their engine room. Brilliant player. He should have rested those he knew were important and prepared properly for Frankfurt. Instead, his ego decided he wanted the scalp of Arsenal. That was never going to be an easy game, especially with the disadvantaged recovery time. Sheer madness.
Pedro, You want to celebrate MA at this moment, which is understandable given your consistent advocacy. And I am happy about the new contract. But credibility demands that you have a balanced view. Here are just three examples: 1. Yes, the weekly wages have been reduced. But the other side of the ledger is that his strategy has incurred HUGE costs in paying off players to leave and/or subsidizing their wages elsewhere. We don’t know that figure because it isn’t publicized. But we know that it exists, and has been very expensive. 2. He got rid of a lot of… Read more »
Gazza
Let’s hope Pedro was speaking us finishing ahead of Chelsea by 3 points into existence.
Raptora, I did admit it’s kind of incredible about Xhaka and ElNeny improving, but I’ve watched both of them for years, under 3 managers… And only lately.. this season, do I see both of them improved. I don’t think it’s that subtle, because lots of us here have been commenting on both. People actually saying that Xhakas had a bunch of great games recently… When did any of us say that before.. even for a couple games? Never, I think. Also go back and read the comments about ElNenys last 2 games… lots of praise including from me who’s wanted… Read more »
I’m pleased with the progress we’ve made under Arteta. I never doubted his capabilities. The new contract was a right decision. Now, let’s wrap 4th and look forward to an exciting summer!
Look we all said that top 6 was the priority this season, we all knew that the squad needed a season and a few more recruits to get top 4. If we get top four that is a massive over achievement and everyone has to accept that. Look at the company he’s keeping with just 2 and a half seasons in charge, Klopp, Guardiola, Tuchel, Conte, Ragnick and even Moyes is very experienced. Plus we have the youngest squad out of the top 7 and Arteta has done this without a striker. He is not quite Elite yet he has… Read more »
Fantastic News about Artetas new contract. We have the best young coach in Europe and we’re keeping him so he can continue his excellent work. One major trophy already in the locker and now we have the youngest team in the PL in pole position for a Champions League place. It’s taken a while to get back on track but we are. Gabriel Jesus when Arteta left for Arsenal: “He’s helped a lot of players. When I want to do finishing after training, I tell him and he comes and helps me. He is a fantastic guy and fantastic manager.… Read more »
I don’t see anything “exceptionally shrewd” about giving him the extension now as opposed to waiting until the season is done. It just shows the owners are committed to Arteta come hell or high water. It was an expected development. I’ll get excited when we’re actually back in the CL. As for Mikel, he’s certainly changed the culture in the team, which is no small feat. If he gets 4th, he’ll also have achieved a great outcome. And his in-game management, which has been very mediocre, has improved a lot this season. All this is encouraging. IMO, he remains somewhere… Read more »
Pedro Agreed, Arteta has earned his contract. Arsenal now has a proper team with spirit, youth and a discernable style of play. Let’s not get the party ballons out yet though. Next season is the one where we can really judge things. Not being in Europe and playing one game a week football has been a blessing and something of a luxury this season. Next season will be significantly harder and right now we fall short in terms of squad depth- whether it’s Europa or CL football. All those years we used to go into the CL without adequate depth… Read more »
@BradyBunch – Don’t worry, I’m not going there and I’m not mentioning the name of the individual either! We all know that Pedro likes to dangle that carrot and reap the additional comments, it’s what he does.
Our young players making their national team debuts is a clear testament to Arteta’s great work, long may it continue.
Ha, yes Andy there’s plenty of bears to poke too. Sadly not Yogi RIP.
Pedro “Fixed our leaky defence, the first manager to do it in 15 or so years” Are you sure about this , if you look at the goals against since the turn of the century it tells a different story. This season , Conceded 41 in 34 games , so at a conservative estimate it will probably be 45 conceded this season. Let’s look at goals conceded since the turn of the century. 2000/01…..38 conceded /02…..36…wenger /03…..42. ” /04…..26 ” /05……36 ” 06……31 ” 07……35 ” 08……31 ” 09……37 ” 10…….41 ” 11…….43 ” 12……49 ” 13…….37 ” 14…….41 ”… Read more »
Someone has already pointed out that there is an error in this sentence by Pedro
“Thomas Tuchel, a total rockstar everyone said we should have hired, is 3 points behind us in the table after spending £100m+ on a CL winning squad”
NJ Gooner
Exceptional comment. I also think the extension was necessary and a positive development but there’s a tendency from some on here to sweep everything under the rug that doesn’t conform to the ‘Arteta is Generational’ belief.
Andy-in fairness to Pedro, the individual in question wasn’t fired for finishing 5th. He was fired when it was clear the team had given up on him the following season.
I don’t mind Arteta getting a contract extension, no point in changing things now, let’s hope he finishes the job this season. Will just point out that our season looked as good as over until Eddie showed us what we have been missing all season.. What we now have is Saka, Eddie, smith rowe, xhaka Holding and Elneny who, as we know, were at the club when wenger was there and it’s looking like we will be relying on these players to see us over the line. Personally, I don’t think xhaka has done anything special at all in the… Read more »
Our defence still go through leaky phases, but its been mostly solid. Kinda like Ramsdale.
True Bacary, but also true that Pedro was calling for his head for missing that P4 too.
How do the same numb nuts always know when there is a new post ? They must get notified right ?
Sorry , couldn’t resist the temptation to look at the attacking stats .. Wenger , since the turn of the century never scored less than 63 goals Arteta has managed 56 , 55 and now 54v withb4 matches remaining. Looking at goal difference , since the turn of the century Wenger’s worse season was a plus goal difference of 23 . Arteta has a plus difference of 8, 16 and this season 13. The question is , will we ever see the day when Arteta can equal , let alone pass Wenger’s far superior record on the pitch. I would… Read more »
Pierre I am of the same persuasion when it comes to Xhaka I really hope we sell him in the summer I would rather keep elneny and upgrade Granit plus one more cm as we will have at least 20 more games next season
Pierre. Top drawer.
Is there any chance in frozen hell that These players have been improved by our current Coach(es). The current season of course bucks the Xhaka trend you propose.
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/12605242/eddie-nketiah-takes-alexandre-lacazettes-place-up-front-and-shows-arsenal-what-they-were-missing
Pierre … can’t you find a little happiness in anything? Don’t lie and say you’re happy for Arteta or the team’s recent success, because your posts are nothing but negative in tone, always meant to downplay and build up your previous opinions……some of which are frankly ridiculous to mainstream Arsenal fans… like the Willock fetish or replacing Ødegaard with a 30 year old cardiac patient. Everything is about you trying to convince the whole world that you were right about something you said previously, going back years…. I actually loved Ozil myself and am a big backer of Nketiah.. so… Read more »
Surprised they didn’t give arteta a bit longer with this contract?
Fuckinell Nigel. If you were a psychologist you’d be on the dole.
Not really a fan of articles like this. Just too much toxicity from start to finish. SMH. When other fans say they say dislike Arsenal fans, articles like these and others I’ve read elsewhere make me understand why.
Have a wonderful weekend folks. The end of the season is going to be great.
Word from the pub David, is that he was offered 10 years with no severance payment, or this.
I don’t think money is the problem. My belief is that, within reason, Arteta will be given the money to sign the players he needs. The Jan window was a clear signal by the Kroenkes. Wait till you can buy first-choice not second. European football requires a balanced full squad and right now the Club is 6-10 players short of that.
Word is vision, player sales to cut wage bill, project youth etc all came from KSE. They deserve the credit for the courage to instigate a new trajectory and retain a fledgling stalwart
We all know arteta’s interest is in anything but youth development
He does deserve some credit but this has been a gruesome experience with an un charismatic fellow learning the tools of his trade
I really hope he continues to grow fast and become elite, he’s certainly nowhere near that now
Pierre, that Skysport article is a summary of Tim Stillmans Arseblog post from this week. No less relevant , or poignant. Is Eddie a gem we’ve missed all season? We’ll never know. I’m glad he’s taking his chance and seems to be giving his all.. I’d like to see him stay, but I suspect it’s too little too late from his perspective.
Andy
Fair point but I think Pedro was against him from the outset as he wanted Arteta from Day 1 post-Wenger. There was some grudging praise during the long unbeaten run but he was never on board with the choice.
Pierre
What we’re really basing this on is the last three games. All three teams who wouldn’t defend deep against us and left themselves exposed against younger, quicker players including Eddie.
The test will be against a team that will come to defend for a point. Fortunately, Leeds and Spurs don’t fall into that category, Newcastle have nothing to play for and Everton’s game plan will be dictated by what they need to stay up. Here’s hoping they need a win and we can cut them to shreds with our transition game.
Bradybunch
I See no problem Eddie having to sit on the bench if our strikers and the team are scoring regularly…
Also there should be no problem in asking the question as to why it took Arteta until April to give Eddie his first start.
Is Eddie a gem , who knows but what i do know is he should have been given the chance as long ago as Christmas 2020 when smith rowe came in and the Arsenal side under Arteta had forgotten how to create and score , but for some reason Arteta seemed reluctant to use him…
“Aurélien Tchouaméni’s game by numbers vs. Lille:
100% take-on success
85 touches (most)
13 ball recoveries (most)
10 duels won
10 passes into final ⅓
6 interceptions (most)
4 aerial duels won
4 shots
2 tackles made
2 fouls won
2 take-ons
2 goals
0 fouls”
Just putting it out there, those are some monster numbers…
without a fully functioning striker has to be added to that list of progress and the amount of time this squad has been playing together. once these guys are doing it in their sleep with the higher level of talent 4th brings, scary hours for the league. imagine. a Scottish manager, gets approved by Alex the Scot, flops but then comes back stronger than ever, only to lose the plot trying to outdo his Spanish son in law costing him the chance of being the Scot who beat a Scottish team to get English West ham in the CL… I… Read more »
Pierre,
Absolutely agree, the attacking output has been poor… but we all know why and we can all see what is going to happen when they get a proper striker in the system.
Wenger failed in the end because he couldn’t balance defence and attack.
Let’s see what Arteta has.
LOL long May rangnick stay at Utd I think he’s toxic for them. He’s come out and blamed the club for not buying another striker in Jan. I mean they only have the forwards below right? Hard times! Isn’t he supposed to be smarter than just a chequebook manager? He said he wanted Vlahovic and Diaz in Jan. Yeah and I’m sure those players would’ve done the dressing room a world of good. Ronaldo definitely wouldn’t be kicking up a storm if relegated to the bench and way to go shatter the confidence of the hugely expensive sancho 6 months… Read more »
not sure about greenwood there
Pedro
how could anyone possibly argue with such an unbias and well-balanced managerial assessment…if I remember correctly I believe that Arteta actually treated the home crowd to a feast following the United game with only 7 loaves and a few small fish
Re artetas new contract I think the overall direction since he came in has been positive. I obviously am quick to highlight I think he’s got a lot wrong and still needs to work on aspects of his approach. For me the main thing comes down to whether or not he is actively aware of and addressing his flaws or if he’s over confident in himself and blind to them His public admission about being wrong on Eddie surprised me and gives me hope in that sense. We are close to getting top 4 this season which must be considered… Read more »
NJ Gooner
You didn’t post much, but you have impressed me with your previous post. It is good that KSE has deep pocket. At least, Arteta has the players he wants.As long as we have European football, I am happy.
Pierre
I like Eddie’s shooting skill. You don’t break the scoring record for U23 if you don’t have it. Up to this season, Eddie was lacking physical strength to be an effective EPL striker. You can be young and small playing other position but a good striker requires physical strength. Eddie has improved in this area and he still need to build up more strength for his career.
I haven’t been this excited at the business end of the season for a long time in regards to the league. Congrats to mikel for his new contract. He has done a great job, there is of course always room for improvement. I’m excited to be back in the CL. The icing on the cake would be finishing above chelshite. Pierre With regards to goal scpred for and against during the Wenger years. I would say he had a world class squad compared to the quality of players in the club atm. Also, if you compare all the teams in… Read more »
First of al its a great news that Arteta extended his contract. Jonas expending his is a positive news as well. Jonas has done a super job taking WSL forget till the last game. We have a genuine chance of being champions but may end second one point less than Chelsea. I wanted Arteta after Wenger and i was glad we got him after Emery. I am also excited of what this project will bring in and how we might improve as a club. Offcourse there are aspects of Artetas management which baffles me but that’s for another day. 4… Read more »
The attacking output has been poor The defensive output is worse after spending £100 million non new defenders Academy players aren’t getting opportunities, ESR and Saka were bloodied by Wenger and Emery, respectively In game management needs to improve Squad rotation management needs to improve Man management skills need to be improved All said, extending Arteta’s contract was just natural progression. You don’t hire a rookie manager, back him through thick and thin….only to get rid of him when he’s just beginning to show maturity. The Kroenkes have become fast learners and are using their sports franchise IQ It;’s not… Read more »
The club showed astuteness in the timing of the announcement
We needed a new wave to to get us to the end of the season.
This announcement will add some zest to the team. This adds more buzz to the storyline.
Arsenal; preparing for the future whilst Conte is secretly talking to PSG.
The contract extension for Tets is reasonable: we are seeing improvements and it also seems the manager is capable of learning from his mistakes. One area of concern, however, is his ability to effectively rotate the team. We’ve essentially thrown everything at one competition this season, which is looking at the moment to have been the right approach, with West Ham, Spuds and even Chelski falling away over the last few games. I’m not confident, though, that this weakness won’t be magnified next season when we have European football to play with as well as hopefully a bit more of… Read more »
Test
I’m still of the opinion that Mikel’s in game management could become better and more effective if he had an older head around him guiding him… someone like a George Graham like figure who is not afraid to gently challenge him… to think differently and learn from his depth of experience.
Having innovative and exciting new ideas is good but this needs to be balanced with realism and perspective. I wonder whether Arteta has surrounded himself with yes men and the reason why he makes the same mistakes with subs is because his back room is an echo chamber…
I understand why they gave him the new contract now. They are trying to provide a boost for the rest of the season. And he has definitely hit the target set out to him. It was to achieve Europa League football. But if he is a coach that is going to get us to the levels of the Mancity’s and Liverpool’s of this world, then he can’t blow this chance to get top 4. I find the terms like “elite young coach” or ” the best young coach” very cringe. He is a good coach that has improved his team… Read more »
Arteta was offered a new deal?! That is some shocking development……and by shocking I mean completely logical move easily predicted months ago. I didn’t realize there was an Arteta out faction out there, but if true, they should probably let go of the grudge. And speaking of grudges…….Pedro, lol, Moyes wasn’t trying to be ”cute”, or get a” scalp”(another shocking take btw), but rather nick a point or three against a side that lost to CP, Brighton, and Saints on the spin, and close the 3 points gap to United in sixth. Frankfurt away was always gonna be tough for… Read more »
Arsenal FC do not understand motivation. They never have. 1. We have not yet secured fourth place, so handing out a contract of praise and reward before the goal has been achieved is at best, dumb, at worst, suicidal. 2. The players and now manager probably feel that they have done their part, booked their summer holidays, started either looking for new clubs (unlikely as no one is as stupid as us at handing out contracts to duds) or sending out new contract begging vibes. 3. Guaranteed, like Wenger before him, Mikel will now start handing out ‘loyalty contracts’. “Back… Read more »
Hackney
Xakha is not shit
Never has been
PierreMay 6, 2022 22:18:14 Sorry , couldn’t resist the temptation to look at the attacking stats ..Wenger , since the turn of the century never scored less than 63 goals Arteta has managed 56 , 55 and now 54v withb4 matches remaining. Looking at goal difference , since the turn of the century Wenger’s worse season was a plus goal difference of 23 .Arteta has a plus difference of 8, 16 and this season 13.The question is , will we ever see the day when Arteta can equal , let alone pass Wenger’s far superior record on the pitch.I would… Read more »
China “His public admission about being wrong on Eddie surprised me and gives me hope in that sense.” Admitting he was wrong on Eddie shouldn’t give anyone hope, let’s be honest here, Arteta couldn’t do anything other than admit he cocked it up regarding Eddie. The question should be why hasn’t he started him and personally i cannot come up with an answer. The fact that about 80/90% on le grove agreed with Arteta’s treatment of Eddie gives you an idea of how flawed their judgement can be. It is reminiscent of their flawed judgement of joe Willock before he… Read more »
Pierre
The Willock deal was too good to turn down. And he only has two goals this season.
Eddie should have had more game time. He’s had a couple of decent games recently. I’d like him to stay but I don’t want him as first choice.
Pedro is trolling.
Whatever you can say about Mikel Arteta, there is no doubt that he loves and is committed to
the club.!! It will be interesting to see what he does regarding the defence for next season should we qualify for uCL . An nail biting weekend lays ahead for us fans, once again, watching the game
while listening to Curtis Shaw tv is a no brainer !! Eddie has been improving lately but that is
down to rigorous coaching I believe ..
Pierre and his Joe willock love in is funny to see. At least I understood it with Ozil. And fair play he saw a bit more in Eddie than we did. But no one still wants Eddie as first choice. He has only shown that he is better than Lacazette and Aubameyang who are both over the hill. Un Let’s be honest. Xhaka has been shit for 4 seasons. He was literally the definition of shit for us alongside the likes of Mustafi, Kolasinac and the whole joker defense we had going on. As soon as the reliable players who… Read more »
Chelsea Sold. I wanted the Saga to continue till may. I don’t want them to perish as a club but I was enjoying their misery. Looks like their demise won’t be as bad it could have been. But still, no Abramovich means the playing ground is more even now. It’s a good thing too considering there is the new Oil club that is coming to compete.
Dirty oil clubs that hate our culture and ways should never have been allowed to buy into our football clubs, I mean the Saudis are so terrible at human rights it’s ridiculous they can even kill someone in an embassy and dismember the guy and get away with it, sick
Habesha He always was a good player. He was never going to be a transformative midfielder. The point I’ve made all along is that hard far better than he’s given credit for and is unfairly picked on. Yes, players perform better in the right set up. Look at bergkamp at inter Henry at juventus Petit at Barca Sanchez at United Ibrahimovic at Barca All class players, all needing to play in the right system to bing out the best in them Not putting xakha in that bracket but citing that if te best players can bomb in the wrong system… Read more »
I just don’t see this Chelsea doom and gloom. If they decide to go cheap with project youth, they have a very good youth setup. Their loan system is so good and they have good players. If every team got a transfer ban, Chelsea is the last team that will worry cause of the several players on loan. Also, Pierre is mostly right with his predictions. He really championed Eddie for several months now and really he has been right. Willock might not have scored many goals but he is helping his team, Newcastle that was in relegation zone is… Read more »
Nah willock is shite we did great business selling him just like when we sold iwobi
How on earth is Chelsea worth twice what Arsenal are valued at? Four and a quarter billion pounds is insane. They don’t even have a modern stadium. Guess it’s all about winning trophies and failure to do that kills the value of a club.
Pierre “The fact that about 80/90% on le grove agreed with Arteta’s treatment of Eddie gives you an idea of how flawed their judgement can be.” That says everything about you – the arrogance of believing you are always right despite being in a tiny minority Eddie is an ok player with some promise and yet blew most of his opportunities as a sub I would like him to be kept but he is never going to be a no 1 striker. Those who have the same view as me (the generic 80 – 90%!!) probably also think he may… Read more »
Abrahmovich is the best owner in the premier league era. I know some will come and say the typical crap about the source of his money. If his money was so dirty, why did the UK accept it in the first place? Man bought a club smaller than Everton for bout £140 million in 2003, he invested £1 billion and set a club ethos of seeking victory no matter the cost. I also loved the way they went after Adrian Mutu at the time. I write this with mixed feelings because as a ginger, he stymied us but we didn’t… Read more »
* I write this with mixed feelings because as a gooner, he stymied us but we didn’t respond properly. We just went into our conservative mode.
Lol I’m no ginger 😀
Just posted Pedro’s comments on West Ham to my WhatsApp group which contains 3 WH fans . Fantastic wind up with bait that got one of them apoplectic
andy1886 How on earth is Chelsea worth twice what Arsenal are valued at? Four and a quarter billion pounds is insane. They don’t even have a modern stadium. Guess it’s all about winning trophies and failure to do that kills the value of a club. Matchday revenue is a decent chunk of money but the difference between Chelsea’s £70 ish million and Arsenals £90-£100 million in the overall scheme of things isn’t that great when you take into account the extra costs incurred such a interest, extra business rates , extra utility cost, extra stewarding etc etc . The big… Read more »
Agree Chelsea have a lot of exciting young talent bubbling underneath the surface, their use of the loan market is exceptional… But there’s absolutely no value in worrying about what others do, we can only control what we do. We’ve still got plenty of excess to clear up: Leno, Runarsson, Bellerin, Mari, Mavropanos, Torreira, Guendouzi, Niles, Nelson, Pepe, Tavares are all likely to be available We might lose Eddie, Laca + Elneny on Bosmans, but I’d be inclined to keep Eddie if possible We’ll need to renew Saka, Martinelli, Saliba, Patino, Gabriel + Norton Cuffy I have a sneaky feeling… Read more »
Got to keep Eddie.
It’s a no-brainer.
Rich
Even if every one of the current squad were to stay I would imagine that there would need to be an extra 4 or so additions and with the exception of Leno every one of the current squad that leaves will need to be replaced.
We all know the debate and issues re Saliba but who else realistically save possibly Balougan is ready to be given a squad place ?
Who knew Dissenter was a ginger 😂😂😂
Terraloon Depends on where we finish, and what happens with the 3 players who’s contracts are due to expire. If we end up in the Europa, then there should be plenty of minutes for Balogun, and maybe Patino. The noise coming from people around the club is that Patino is expected to be promoted to the first team squad, but how involved he’d be is anyone’s guess, you never know how young players will adapt… Obviously a bit easier to educate young players in the early stages of the Europa, than it is in the Champions League. We’ve got 10… Read more »
The Arteta contract issue is non news. Since when do contracts mean much. If he loses 10 games on the trot he will be sacked just like any other manager. If he wins games he stays. Wenger had a year or so left on his contract and he was sacked.
Vlahovic looks distraught at Juventus, not enjoying life.
Allegri not complimentary about him in the media either.
We should see if Juventus are ready to dump their investment at cost…
Rich
The noise coming from people around the club is that Patino is expected to be promoted to the first team squad, but how involved he’d be is anyone’s guess, you never know how young players will adapt…
Patino and come to that Baulogan need a full season out on loan because yes you are right you never know how it will turn out.
Chelsea are done as a club. The biggest backer in this consortium is a private equity firm. Talk about doing a 180. Going from a sugar daddy bankrolling luxury signings to an owner who will only care about generating a positive cash flow. United fans have been going crazy about their owners looting the club but the Glazers will look like saints in comparison.
Love Sausage Based on historical models it’s difficult to see how the majority of owners will ever get a decent return on their investment and yes that includes KSE. It’s been discussed on here on numerous occasions that the real money comes with a different broadcast model and whilst I can’t see too much change to how the current Sky/BT model can be distributed in a I think the writing is already on the wall and quite possibly that’s how the top 6 clubs will push through some sort of adjustment to overseas arrangements. To a degree you can dismiss… Read more »
Diss “If his money was so dirty, why did the UK accept it in the first place?” The same reason they allowed the Saudis to buy Newcastle; they murdered a journalist and cut up his body in an Embassy. The Premier League is not fit for purpose.. Along with the FA and that joke of an organisation PGMOL, it is nothing but an old boys network. It’s a real problem. The thing is the whole world knew Abramovich was a criminal who had spent time in prison for theft. They knew about the fraud involved in purchasing the Russian sate… Read more »
I don’t know the ins and outs of the Chelsea but I gather there were multiple British led bids and the club still got sold to an American firm. I’m not saying that’s inherently a bad thing but I would much rather see British institutions being owned by the British primarily. Not sure what the difference was in terms of the offers on the table, but I can’t help but think this was a rare opportunity to move a massive club back under British control, even more so considering there is up government intervention in the process, and it’s still… Read more »
Terra they won’t get a return on investment in terms of day to day profit. The profit comes from owning the club and selling it in the future.
It’s like a buy to let property. Will the rent cover all the costs and fees? Hopefully. Maybe not. But if you sell in 15 years odds are you made a significant profit
Diss very naive of you to ask if Roman was so dirty why did they let him buy it
Him and the Saudis have ruined the premier League and every trophy city or Chelsea win has blood on it
They are disgusting and the government should do to city and Newcastle what they did to Chelsea and make them sell up
It is sad as an Arsenal supporter to continue to read all the negative reviews that still reverberate around our present manager. It’s nice to start a reply by cherry picking views to be negative on, and then class it as a balanced view, re NJ Gooner. But it appears to me that it’s much harder for people to see the huge elephant in the room and as such fail to comment on it. 1. M. Arteta was appointed by the Kronkis as an inexperianced manager who would have to learn the job in situ. That to me means the… Read more »
now that the Championship has finished and Boro out of the playoffs is Balogun able to feature for us should Eddie or Laca get injured
Interesting on the theme of ‘corruption’ that former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osbourne was hired as an ‘advisor’ to the Boehley bid for Chelsea. I’m not sure WTF Osbourne knows about football but I am sure that he still has plenty of mates in government circles who might influence who would be the preferred bidder….