EDDIE KRUEGER: NIGHTMARE ON N5, CAN HE TAKE IT TO SEVEN SISTERS?

by .

Eddie Nkeitiah has put the world of Arsenal fandom in a spin; he seemed to be floating out the door in unspectacular fashion, then Lacazette landed the London Plague.

‘IT’S OVER FOR ARSENAL’

‘EDDIE IS LEAGUE ONE’

‘HE AIN’T IT’

5 starts.

4 goals.

Arsenal fans revisiting past assessments.

The solution to our striker problem has been sitting on the bench since August. Most young players can’t impress a diet of 6 minutes here and there, they need a run of games, they need the confidence trust gives them. Eddie was dining out of bins, then he was given access to the chefs’ table, now he’s gorging.

Eddie runs the channels, he wins balls back, scores goals, brings our wide players into the game, works an absolute shift, and my-oh-my, does he get under the skin of anyone he plays against.

Matt Kandela reckons he could be the new Andy Cole, I think he could be our Sylvain Wiltord.

Eddie was the difference against Leeds.

His first goal came from his hounding of the Leeds keeper. The English striker forced an error, nicked the ball, and poked home from a yard.

‘Very Eddie’

Indeed. It’s a feature of his game that he rumbles defenders and keepers. They don’t see him coming, realise how quick he is, nor understand that he doesn’t care about their careers.

Meslier was totally rattled. Eddie Krueger took a nightmare into the real world. He left their keeper muttering to himself.

Eddie Krueger was not finished.

Martinelli did some excellent work down the left, bullied his way into the box, cut back to Eddie who had to do all sorts to reshape his body to sweep home his second.

Two up after 10 minutes.

Eddie doing a hatchet job on a club that treated him like shit.

Wondering how his stats compare to the rest of Europe? Take a look.

Those percentiles are from the top 5 leagues. That is a very complete set of numbers for a striker people said would struggle two divisions lower in England.

His stats compare favourably to Jota, Havertz, Firmino, and Nkunku. More on what to do next a bit later.

I can’t be arsed to go too deep on the rest of the game, but in short, we battered Leeds, conceded their first attempt at our goal, and looked a bit rattled. That is a worrying pattern, our defence has been weird, Ramsdale isn’t invincible now, we need to sharpen up for Thursday.

… there are some mitigating circumstances for the shakiness tho:

Arsenal is inexperienced. What these kids are doing is ridiculous, they stand up to the pressure of the fans and experiences they’ve never had, but it’s not easy. Manchester City score two goals and they know how to go for the kill, and end games with 5. Arsenal are babies, we play with our food, and sometimes the meal escapes. We had 19 shots, 9 found the target, we were not ruthless enough. We cruised in second half then stalled when we needed to find 3rd gear.

Leeds scored and we couldn’t play out of the weirdness of knowing we were in total control but at risk of doing something very dim. We could have drawn 2-2 or won 5-1 in that final 20.

There’s also the chance that the halftime marching orders were built around preserving energy in the 2nd half. It might not have even been an instruction, unspoken perhaps, sometimes players just decide there’s something more important on the horizon. That was dangerous, it was risky, but we got away with it.

We all FELT like it was close, maybe it was, but if I told you before the game Leeds would have 3 attempts at our goal with 2 shots on targets, you’d be happy with that. January 2020, they had 19 shots, 6 on target. As fans, we’re not used to challenging for something at the end of a season, it’s jittery, and sometimes the emotion of those jitters makes us think the game was more in danger more than it was.

Still, our reality is this: We took the 3 points.

Nothing.

Else.

Matters.

The table is looking favourable.

Spurs have to beat us.

If they lose, we’ve created a historical reference point in their house before they have.

If they draw, we’ll need to win one more game. Everton will likely be safe after Wednesday (Watford), their players won’t give a shit when they come to play Arsenal because Frank Lampard will have the company credit card out and he’ll be showing the young whippersnappers what the Ayia Napa days were all about with some BIG nights out in the North West. Newcastle, for all their positive results, have had far too much praise for beating shit teams of late. Before City, the last time they played someone good, it was Spurs, who scored five. City also scored 5. Arsenal fans who love Bruno are too keen to call them a top 4 side when they are just a Jonjo Shelvey vessel of misery.

Even if we are b****n by Sp*rs, the top 4 race is in our hands.

Pivot your thinking for a moment.

Imagine Spurs were closer to 3rd than 4th. Imagine they were coming to our house, knowing a win would end our top 4 chances and a draw wouldn’t be good enough.

How would you feel?

The Conte masterclass of ‘lump it to Kane and Son’ + ‘put 11 behind the ball,’ isn’t going to be good enough for them.

They have to play.

When Spurs have to play, they struggle.

Brighton is the team most similar to Arsenal in the league outside City. They man-marked Kane, stopped him dropping deep, didn’t register a shot on target all game, and they were beaten.

Brentford battered Spurs. Spurs didn’t have it in them to play against a deep block and they had rings run around them.

They are shit. But it doesn’t matter in a NLD. All rules go out the window. It is MASSIVE.

So who knows what will happen.

We always imagine the players are going to be deeply entrenched in the emotions of the history, the fandom, the future.

They won’t.

We don’t want them to be.

They need to be relaxed.

When the players think about the magnitude of who they are playing, this side in particular, tends to get walloped.

Liverpool, City (home game), too much respect for Cristiano, are just 3 examples.

I don’t think our boys will do that on Thursday.

Harry Kane, though clearly the best striker in the world, is not an enigma to a group of players that have eaten dinner with him and possibly had to deal with him as a member of their team on a quiz night.

Spurs don’t have prestige like Liverpool. They’re the mob down the road. Our players know what beating them means.

This game is a toss of a coin. If we can surprise Conte, make them come at us, and attack the space for the first goal, it’ll be very exciting.

It is a HUGE win for Arsenal to be in a position this good. We are in overachievement territory right now. We have the same points that secured top 4 last season. We have the same amount of wins that 2nd place United achieved last season. There are 75 points to play for, which would be a massive top 4 haul.

Very exciting stuff.

Before I go, I think Eddie will sign a new deal, and that is the right thing for him to do.

For Eddie:

  • Only Newcastle can offer him more money than Arsenal. He wanted £90k a week-ish. He’s worth it.
    • Germany is step down in prestige AND money
  • Go to Newcastle, you might be fighting MBappe for a position next season.
  • Go to any club in the league, bar Brighton, you are fighting other players for a start
    • Palace: Edouard
    • West Ham: Antonio
    • Newcastle: Barnes / Some mega signing
  • We have Europe, we need two strikers, he is now a worthy 2nd striker
  • You only leave to go to Brighton as a stepping stone to get to an Arsenal. If you are doing it at Arsenal, and you fired them to Europe, why leave?
  • DON’T BE A ZAHA. He left United, banged at Palace, took the big-money deal, then wasn’t allowed to leave, now he’s 29 and he’s wasted his best years
    • One year left on his deal this summer. Could be good CL squad filler
  • YOUR MATES ARE HERE

For Arsenal:

  • Arteta knows he did a bad. There’s no second striker in Europe we know more about than Eddie bar Jesus. £40m for a player who, up until 2 weeks ago, had 5 goals after 1500 minutes? Please.
  • We don’t have a lot of money to spend – keep your powder dry, spend that on another position
  • You won’t lose on Eddie, he has shown he can do it at the highest level, if he has a bad season post-deal, there will always be another Prem club that needs an English player and £90k is easy money for any Prem team
  • Eddie is 22, he has 4 in 5 starts in the EPL, he has 10 g/a… he has a better England U21 record than Tammy. Why would we let him slip the net?

It’s a no-brainer for both parties. Hopefully, Eddie’s agent, who has a bit of a rep, will do the deal.

As for the fans that blew-up all my feeds with ‘YOU HAVE GOT THIS WRONG’, when are we going to have some accountability here? The talent ID in the noisy part of the fanbase has been cataclysmically wrong this season. Time for certain people to just sit out the opinion game.

As for Agenda FC?

  • We’ve seen off the xG pearl-clutchers
  • We’ve seen off the ‘Arteta is cone boy’ crew with a new 3 year deal
  • We’ve seen off the ‘THE FANS WILL BE BOOING BY NOVEMBER’ folk with the fans embracing Arteta HARD
  • We’ve seen off the League One Eddie’s
  • We’ve probably seen of the ‘PEPE NEEDS MORE GAMES’ crowd as well
  • Finally, most are ready to admit… Arteta has sauce.

But now, we move into a phase of shared agenda ownership: Beating Spurs.

We all want it.

No one is any doubt it will be tough.

So let’s do something like, unite around Louis Dunford’s new anthem, and crack on with beating that lot on Thursday


But before I go, check out our podcast: And please, in the upfront, accept my apologies for the sound issues, that was on me. I’ll have it fixed for the next one.


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DivineSherlock

Le Grove is weird , you question the ability of Haaland not being able to click at City because he played in Bundesliga but advocate a 27 yr old Savic from Lazio in Serie A , how many CM players have been success from Italy to PL ? Just Jorginho comes to mind .

Pierre

Bradybunch “Pierre. Your radar is off. It’s bloody Tierney on the whistle AGAIN,and Dean in the hole. Ffs.” Tierney has never done us any favours and I wouldn’t expect anything different on Thursday. As for buying another striker , of course we should if Balogun is not ready or if Martinelli is not going to be given a try up top. My argument is that buying a striker shouldn’t , as is so often repeated, automatically mean Eddie becomes our 2nd striker however much we spend on a new one.. Eddie will be better next season and he will score… Read more »

Un

Habesha

Kroos isn’t even a top 10 midfielder in the world any more. He can barely move. Savic way ahead of him now. Modric is still great but I think most sane people would choose Savic over him now
De bruyne not an out and cmf. He’s an attacking midfielder/wide playmaker.
For me, only de Jong is better than Savic.
I’d take Bellingham obviously. But if Savic and de Jong really are up for sale for £60-£70m then that is exactly he type of midfielder we need to be bringing to Ashburton grove.

Un

Serie A , how many CM players have been success from Italy to PL ? Just Jorginho comes to mind .

Divine
You never heard of Patrick Vieira? 😂 😂

Un

Di Matteo was another
Edgar Davids.

Veron and Aquilani were spectacular failures. Gattuso did well in Scotland.
Not many midfielders come from Italy to U.K. to be fair

Un

Pogba bombed

Un

Kocavic has been Chelsea’s best midfielder for a couple
Of seasons now

Samesong

Have you seen Chelsea play recently ?

Divine Chelsea are much better away from home this season. Can’t see Leeds beating them.

Mr Serge

I can’t see Leeds besting then either
Man I am getting nervous about Thursday already

DivineSherlock

Un

Fair Enough but Viera only had 2 appearances for Milan . It was his Cannes stint that got Wenger interested . I forgot to add that in recent times there has not been quality CM from Italy . Kovacic came from Madrid though .

Emiratesstroller

Arsenal started the season with six forwards [4 centre forwards and 2 wingers]. At the end of the season we could be down to two Martinelli and Balogun. Balogun is realistically not ready for EPL let alone Europe. So Arsenal need to hang on to Nketiah as well as Martinelli and recruit additionally a centre forward and winger. The dilemma with Nketiah is that he is at end of contract and wants assurance of game time. Realistically Arsenal need to buy a “proven centre forward”. So far this season we have been linked with a large number of candidates namely:… Read more »

Markymark

China1 – interesting points you make about Haaland. From a very brief sample namely a match I watched live Hertha Berlin vs Borussia Dortmund. It was great entertainment but very little finesse. Really crash bang whallop and some player howlers on both sides . Sancho looked a world beater that day . I think the Prem is finding him at his truer level.
Haaland may find it difficult

Markymark

Stroller – the game time can be easily increased imho . Arteta needs to rotate far more often . Hopefully after publicly commenting on his mistakes in this area he will spread the load better. What Eddie has done is sort out the Laca question. His performances show a younger hungrier striker can replace Laca. It’s a case of thank you for your service and sell

Samesong

Man I am getting nervous about Thursday already

Serge I am not worried about Spurs as funny as that sounds.

Chris

Anyone else feeling totally relaxed about Thursday?

By the way I love ‘North London Forever’. I don’t agree that it makes us look provincial or whatever, whoever came out with that crap earlier in the thread. Totally missing the point. It’s our anthem and it’s who we are, connecting all fans and the players.

Habesha Gooner

Un
Let’s just forget the fact that Lazio’s president came out with how he turned down a €140 mil bid years ago. The price will at least be 60 mil+.

Doesn’t it worry you that we would have two 27+ year old CMs that will be the center piece to our team? And don’t you think we would need to replace them in a few years? Do you think it is a sound investment? Answer these questions.

For example Matic moved to United for 40 mil. And that was a waste of money in my eyes.

Chris

Same song

This might change by Thursday lunchtime but right now I’m so cool about it haha.

Just can’t see us not getting what we need.

Emiratesstroller

Pierre

The issue for Arsenal with Nketiah is not whether he is good enough to play in starting lineup in EPL, but rather that Arsenal need two CFs on the books who are capable of scoring regularly goals.

Arsenal are not going to go out on market and spend money on a second rate striker simply to gamble on Nketiah’s potential. What Nketiah needs to prove is that he is good enough to
be our first string and outperform the incoming striker.

That is the same deal as was offered to Martinez when he was expected to compete with Leno.

Emiratesstroller

Markmark

Next season we will be playing in Europe and also the number of subs allowed in EPL is
increased to 5. So there will be a necessity to rotate players and increase their game time.

The lack of rotation this season is primarily due to playing in one competition for last
3 months. Smith-Rowe was always going to be one sub and we made other changes either
to rest players or cope with injuries.

Rich

ES All the noise seems to suggest that we’ll sign Jesus for around £30million, which for that type of price, would be excellent business. I’d like to keep Eddie as well, hopefully we can get it done. Regarding Balogun, it depends where we finish, if we end up in the Europa, they’ll be plenty of minutes for him, I like him a lot, he’s still lacking physically, but I think he’ll surprise a few people, just like Eddie The business we do in our forward line will be dependant on which European competition we qualify for, and our ability to… Read more »

Un

Divine

Kovacic was at inter Milan before Madrid though sent he?

Habesha
No it doesn’t bother me that Savic is 27
His game is based on footballing intellect, technique, skill and vision. Not physicallity. So he will endure longer than someone like partey
Saying that, look at Milner and Henderson. Still going strong. Modric is another. Thiago. Kdb and silva in late 20s too.
I wouldn’t turn down someone of that class beacuse he’s 27
Bergkamp was 26 when we signed him. So was Campbell. Pires. Wiltord.
United signed berba at 27

Un

If we sign Jesus for £30m then we should be going hard for that technical leader in the middle next to partey

raptora

Habesha, You said that when we bought Partey and he was clearly one of the top players in his position but you can’t say the same about SMS. I mean clearly you’ve watched some games of Atleti in the UCL probably, but you haven’t paid much attention to Lazio which is perfectly understandable and I’m the same way. I pay attention to valuation though, I watch highlights and I read what the common knowledge about a player is. SMS with a record valuation of £81m isn’t a top midfielder but Partey at max valuation of £45m is? Kante, Casemiro, Kimmich,… Read more »

raptora

Wonder where would Sterling end up at if he gets sold. He’s still done good job for City this season but he has clearly suffered with Pep giving Grealish so many chances earlier in the season.

Rich

I’d be concerned if we signed Sterling, he’s obviously a very good player But we don’t want to block Martinelli or Smith Rowe’s path, and put their noses out of joint. We’ve built up a good team spirit, bringing in a left winger who’d expect to start 60-70% of games, and the vast majority of the biggest games, would very likely hit squad morale Martinelli + Smith Rowe are cracking young players, with massive potential, we certainly need to externally supplement our forward line, but we have to do that very astutely, in a way that doesn’t completely block the… Read more »

Positive pete

Why not just tweak the lyrics slightly to “ Arsenal forever” ,everybody happy?Problem is hijacking.The noisy neighbours also see themselves as Norf Londoners,so it doesn’t sit so we’ll with some.In reality they are Middlesex swamp dwellers but that’s another story🤫

Positive pete

If we end up signing Jesus & Tielemans for around £30 million each we will still have a hefty chunk of silver left for other positions & acquisitions.So what’s not to like.Player sales will generate at least the fee of one of the above.Imexpecting at least 4 top drawer signings.call me positive….

China1

Marky it will certainly be interesting to watch haaland here In Germany he looks like an 16 year old playing with the u12s, it’s not even funny In England I fully expect him to be a big star but we’ll see. Plenty of big stars have failed. Shevchenkos Chelsea stint is stuff of legend. Torres was not only world class but PL proven and immediately became a laughing stock at Chelsea too. Diego Forlan was great apart from at Utd where he was a donkey. Meanwhile I think Bergkamp was voted as something like the worst player at Inter or… Read more »

China1

I’ve said many times I’m not big on Jesus and whilst I do support tielemans id rather de jong But truth be told if both are had for a combined 70m that is some shrewd business. Pretty please for de jong tho. Tielemans is good – but I’d so like for us to have our new CM be a proper ‘wow’ player. CF too, but if I had to choose my priority would be CM An elite CM (if he settles well) can help us properly dominate games and push up the pitch. Play deeper in the opposition half. Create… Read more »

Chrispy

If we’re being picky, then we’re more sarf London. Woolwich is definatly below the river 😉
I’ve said it at the weekend that I think we’re beating that lot on Thursday. Feel more relaxed about as we get closer. 3rd is out of hands but wouldn’t it be lovely.

WengerEagle

Habesha is normally bang on the money with his takes but bizarre take on Milinkovic-Savic not being better than Pedri or that 27 is too old to be desireable. Who says that 31 he declines? That is an arbitrary number plucked out of thin air. And he could be giving you 4 years of immense production in that time. Liverpool have Henderson (32), Fabinho (28/29), Thiago (31) Keita (27) and Milner (36) for their CM. City have KDB (31), Gundogan (32), Fernandinho (37) and Bernardo Silva (28) for their CM. There is a reason that the two best clubs in… Read more »

Tom

Captain obvious type statement but the signings we make will vastly depend on where we finish. Unless you throw the Partey type of money at players, which we seemingly no longer do, the CL participation is the next big draw. Regardless of Pedro’s narrative, failure to close out the season in the top four now that we don’t need a result from the NLD would be a huge let down. I’ve never commented on Nketiah before and I would hate to rain on Pierre’s well deserved victory parade, but the type of goals Eddie has been scoring lately scream purple… Read more »

Rich

Positive Pete If we could sign Jesus, Tielemans + Zinchenko for £75-£80 million, we’d be smoking a pipe. 3 experienced PL players, who should just be entering their prime. Particularly if we secure the futures of Saka, Martinelli, Saliba, Gabriel, Nketiah, Patino, Norton Cuffy. Then manage to clear out the excess, in which there’s still plenty. Next summer we’d then just be looking at “Cherry On Top” signings: Ramsdale, Turner, Hein Tomiyasu, Cedric Tierney, Zinchenko White, Saliba Gabriel, Holding Partey, Elneny Xhaka, Sambi Odegaard, Tielemans Saka, Jesus Martinelli, Smith Rowe Nketiah, Balogun Maybe a little concern about competition + cover… Read more »

WengerEagle

We got Santi Cazorla aged 27 let’s not forget and he was immense for us into his 30s and would have been for even longer were it not for the freak injury. And even after that he excelled back at Villarreal in his mid 30s. We do not have enough experience in the team and it is a big problem. No real leaders or obvious choices for Captaincy too which again is not good. Vying for top 4 is one thing but in a title race which is where we want to head (?) you absolutely need that veteran leadership… Read more »

WengerEagle

Jesus, Tielemans and Zinchenko are all good players but do they move the needle in regards to the top 2 at all? Not really.

2 of them are from City after all and the fact that we likely would get them without much resistance and likely overpay speaks volumes on them not being drastic difference makers.

And sure people might laugh but that should be where we are looking to push onto, otherwise what are we playing for? Perennial top 4? That’s what got AW hounded out.

Tom

Weagle, I agree.
People have bought into the idea of young elite signings maturing together and hitting their peak in 3-4 seasons, which is a complete long shot strategy that’s very likely to fail, if indeed pursued
by the club and not just a narrative pushed by Pedro.

LoveSausage

I’d sell Partey if an opportunity comes along. I have issues with buying players at 26-27. As WE says, it’s a bit of a BS takes that they’ll automatically decline at 31. That said, if there is one factor that virtually guarantees a decline, it’s an injury record like Partey’s. It’s highly unlikely that he’ll improve from here on.

SMS is a better player than TP even when TP is healthy and firing. But Juventus are in for him and we all know how that goes.

LoveSausage

*I have NO issues…

DivineSherlock

WengerEagle

We are paying for Tielemans now , so we dont have to pay over the odds for him later when he becomes WC . You obviously dont rate him so you’ll disagree but he is class . People are sleeping on him because he plays for Leicester , its exactly like Odegaard.

Vintage Gun

We should be keeping Party and adding quality to our CM, The problem has been we’ve been too dependent on him . Selling him tn a season in which we’ve qualified for Europe doesn’t make much sense to me.

Sell Guendouzi, Torreia, AMN and keep the rest.

WengerEagle

An ideal summer for me provided we get top 4 would look like: Outs: £65m excluding Mavro fee which is up in air – Mavropanos (ideally Stuttgart get relegated, otherwise we only get €3m). – Nelson £10m – Pepe £20m – Lacazette (free) – AMN £10m – Bellerin £8m – Torreira £7m – Gundeouzi £10m – Tavares (loan) – Balogun (loan) Ins:. £130-135m CB- Saliba (loan return) ST- Jesus £30m CM- Milinkovic-Savic £50m LB- Antonee Robinson £20m LF- Guedes/Danjuma/Brandt £30-35m With the Mavro sale if they are relegated that would likely be a net spend of under £50m, even without… Read more »

Vintage Gun

Big fan of Tielemans. Been a top player for Anderlecht, Monaco and Leicester.

For £30m it’s a no brainer.

WengerEagle

GK: Ramsdale, Leno
RB: Tomi, Cedric
CB: Gabriel, White, Saliba, Holding
LB: KT, Robinson
CM: Partey, Milinkovic-Savic, Elneny, Xhaka
CAM: ESR, Odegaard
RW: Saka, Jesus (?)
LW: Guedes/Brandt/Danjuma, Martinelli
ST: Jesus, Eddie, Martinelli

That’s a very competitive squad, maybe still light out wide and could use another player.

WengerEagle

DS

If Tielemans were really available for as little as £25-30m I would bring him in and sell Xhaka for £10m.

Could still do that and keep your net spend to well under £100m even with the other signings and SMS.

Pool dropped £150m on VVD and Alisson alone to take that next step for context.

Rich

Depends on what we’re looking for. Zinchenko + Jesus are very good players, you don’t play for Guardiola for as long as they have, if you can’t play. Guardiola spoke back in Dec/January, and said his biggest achievement was achieving consistency year on year with largely the same group of players, because usually after a while players switch off. Ferguson said something similar, “that if you don’t change your team every 5 years, then they’ll change you” Klopp has also spoke about that very subject, saying that after a while of players hearing the same things, that they tend to… Read more »

WengerEagle

Rich You are talking as if Zinchenko has been a regular under Pep, he has averaged 13 PL starts a season under him. He’s a decent squad player but does he compare to Cancelo, Robertson, Chilwell or even Reguilon or Shaw back a year ago when any Utd players could be bothered to show up? No he is not. I don’t want us to bring in squad players, that is not following the Liverpool model of 16-18 to build that CL winning and PL contending squad for 18/19. Has to be starters and difference makers at that. Zinchenko is a… Read more »

Vintage Gun

Hearing we’re seriously in for Arron Hicky to compete with KT for next season.

Villa and Napoli have also registered concrete interest also apparently.

englandsbest

It’s worth remembering that nobody got it right on last summer’s signings. So no names from me. But what most of us agree on is that a free scoring striker and a dominating midfielder are top of Arteta/Edu list. We can also mention that a GK is already signed. We can also say with a fair degree of certainty that Saliba will join the squad and that Laca and Leno will depart. As to the rest, they will comprise back-ups of PL and CL/Europa quality plus a sprinkling of youngsters. Other than that, it’s anybody’s guess. But with a severely… Read more »

Positive pete

So ,unless there’s any surprises it’s seems to be :Jesus,Tielemans,Aron Hickey & Cody Gakpo( the Pepe replacement)any other strong candidates heavily linked.Not just wish list?

Un

Eagle
Great post on Savic
Literally top class. Only de Jong is Better for me in world football right now

Rich

WE *In your opinion he has a low ceiling… So low that he ended up at Man City for 5 seasons so far, being part of a team that’s won 10 trophies during that time, and is on course for yet another title… He’s 25, has excellent experience, hasn’t been run into the ground, and is good to go on day 1. Where you want us to sign a left back who’s played just 24 times in the PL for Fulham, is just 8 months Zinchenko’s junior, has no CL experience, hasn’t played in the pressure cooker at the top… Read more »

Bob N16

WengerE, Leno being replaced by Turner probably for a net gain of £2-3m. Turner £7.5 if all targets met, Leno 1 yr contract left)

raptora

Yeah, the value transfers of Jesus, Tielemans and Zinchenko for example, would give us a solid base to solidify our top 4 place. Do we need to take it slow and easy though?! I don’t think so. We should target world class talents. Players that could become elite one day. Maybe our mistake is not seeing through the true potential that some players have. Who could have said that it’s highly possible that Salah, Mane, Wijnaldum would become elite when they were bought by Pool?! A few select people, sure. But the vast opinion was that they are quality, yet… Read more »

Habesha Gooner

Wenger eagle, Un, Raptora I have watched Savic. And I think he is a top player. But I wouldn’t pay 60 to 70 mil for him at 27. Certainly not when there is far better value out there. Tielemans at 35 mil is absolutely better value. My only issue is spending that much on a player that probably will give us 4 years at the top level. If he was under 40 mil too I would be okay with it. We aren’t on the verge of winning the league. I would be okay with that kind of signing if he… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

I agree that Jesus would be a good buy and perhaps his versatility in contrast to other centre forwards would make good sense if we want to hold onto Nketiah and offer him more playing time. Realistically Jesus is not a 20 goal a season striker, but he is an option who can play on wing if required. Osimhen has been out injured for a length of time in last two seasons. Do we want to take a risk with such a player. Calvert-Lewin and Isak are in my assessment grossly overrated and on current form unlikely to score the… Read more »

Habesha Gooner

Weagle Santi cost 15 mil. My issue with Savic is the astronomical fee. We could get two very good players for his price. And way younger too. Tielemans and Jesus will cost 70 mil combined, the quoted price for Savic. If we fill the holes this summer, then we can go for players like Savic who are the cherry on top kind of signings. You sign one or two of them and be done like Liverpool did with Diaz. You don’t throw the kitchen sink at one signing when you have to sign it 5 or 6 players. And I… Read more »

WengerEagle

Rich

Yes that is fair enough but are we going to pretend that City haven’t had a left back crisis since Mendy was banged up? And even still he has averaged less than a third of the season starting for them.

Robinson was an example that I like, Cucurella is another one although I would worry about the price there. There are a lot of LBs out there with a higher ceiling than Zinchenko.

Rich

ES I don’t see us signing Lautaro Martinez for £50-£60 million, if we can Sign Gabriel Jesus for roughly half the price. Jesus has 12 months left on his contract, whereas Lautaro Martinez signed a 5yr extension last summer Both similar ages, one speaks fluent English and is PL proven, the other isn’t There’s always an element of risk with any signings, but signing players from the domestic market, reduces that risk significantly Rap Realistically don’t you think that next season will be about securing top 4, and adjusting to playing 3 x a week on a consistent basis? We… Read more »

WengerEagle

Habesha Pedri will be a better player than Savic in the future, for sure. But is he now? No chance, still very green despite the obvious elite potential. See I disagree there, to me Savic moves the needle much more than Tielemans does and Liverpool after they secured top 4 signed VVD and Alisson for £150m. Also Fabinho for £45m, Keita for £50m. That is what you do when you are not a million miles away. Our actual squad is pretty strong barring a couple of areas like CM and the wide areas. I think we only need one seasoned… Read more »

Habesha Gooner

Honestly all this debate is meaningless though. Looks like our targets are very clear. Turner is in. Tielemans and Jesus are being targeted and it is dependent on CL qualification according to the rumors. And Aaron Hickey, the bologna left back, who can also play RB is the man to replace tavarez. He is also two footed. The only surprising target will be the Winger we are going to try and sign. After this summer though we can pick and choose the 2 or 3 players we will sign. Players that are genuine competitors for our starting XI. I am… Read more »

Rich

WE

In fairness to Zinchenko, Cancelo has played at left back 29 times this season for City

Cancelo is one of the top 10 players in the whole league, and the standout full back probably in the entire world….

WengerEagle

”Honestly all this debate is meaningless though. Looks like our targets are very clear. Turner is in. Tielemans and Jesus are being targeted and it is dependent on CL qualification according to the rumors. And Aaron Hickey, the bologna left back, who can also play RB is the man to replace tavarez. He is also two footed.” True, can be fun to speculate but I don’t expect us to try for Savic so meaningless indeed. No idea how good Hickey is but he is 19 and a starter for a Serie A club which is fairly impressive for a Scotsman.… Read more »

WengerEagle

Rich

Sure but the point remains that he has been a squad player under Pep, not a regular fixture as you implied.

Habesha Gooner

Weagle I value the experience. Tielemans is just as experienced at 25. And I don’t agree that it is the same signing a 25 year old is the same as signing a 27 year old. 25 year old has got at least 6 or 6 seasons in him at the top level, may be more. But the age isn’t the only factor. I have seen a lot of CMs decline when they get in to their 30s. Even a player like Gundogan looks shot this season. And he will be phased out. The major factor for me is the fee… Read more »

Habesha Gooner

I have seen highlights of Hickey. Looks a good prospect. Certainly looks a better defender than tavarez. The two footedness is also a plus. He genuinely looks like a younger Tierney tbh. Plus we would have Tomi and him to play in both fullback positions should injuries happen.

raptora

Rich, Re Cancelo, he’s played in LB when he is normally a RB. It’s similar to Arteta using Cedric instead of Tavares. Pep would rather play a RB at LB than a specialist LB like Zinchenko. The Ukrainian is a good player, no doubt. But his own manager considers him a reserve option and nothing more. I’m unclear if we are going to try to sign a player as good as Tierney but look for a bargain, or someone who’ll be okay with being a squad player like Cedric. Tierney breaks too often, but are we so rich that we… Read more »

Habesha Gooner

😂😂😂 I am dine with the Savic rants now.

Habesha Gooner

Done* FFs 😂

Habesha Gooner

Bellingham looks like Moussa dembele is reborn though. What a player. And he is just 18 the potential is scary.

LoveSausage

Haaland to City is official. Let’s see if Pep tries to play him as false 9.

WengerEagle

Habesha Gundogan fallen off a cliff? Really, based on what? His numbers across the board are pretty much identical to last season barring scoring less goals which is more of a return to the norm that a deviation from it. He has never been a goalscoring MF before last season in his career. Same with Kante, was he not being mentioned in Ballon D’or talks this time last year? People tend to overreact sometimes to players having a dip. It’s too early to tell if he is in terminal decline or he has also been effected like about half a… Read more »

Rich

Rap

Cancelo is that good, it doesn’t matter if he plays left back or right back.

Massive difference between Cancelo + Cedric playing left back, Cancelo is ambidextrous, Cedric isn’t.

Cancelo is the best full back on the planet, he’s different class.

At this stage, it’s absolutely clear that Tierney shouldn’t be playing more than a game a week, that means we need another left back as a matter of urgency.

izzo

Man City buying Haaland is to help win the CL. Not so sure about him doing much better in the PL. He will still bang them in but he’s not going to get the same numbers as he did in Germany.

Habesha Gooner

Wenger eagle One last time. My issues isn’t just about his age. Do you think it would be worth it to sign him for 60 to 70 mil? And after we sign him we will have Xhaka (29), Partey (28), Elneny (29), Savic (27) , Sambi (22) Don’t you think that is a disaster waiting to happen? Every player will be in their 30s in 3 years time bar Sambi. Don’t you think the average age of our CMs need to be lower in the same way as the rest of our players who are two, three years away from… Read more »

andy1886

If Haaland performs anywhere near the standard he has been in Germany I’d be surprised. How many big names hit their stride from the off? Fingers crossed that he’s a flop (like his old mate Sancho has been to date relatively speaking).

WengerEagle

Habesha Where are you getting that figure from though? Lazio are not moneybags and have no CL Football. They are a selling club, if a bid of £45m-50m was put in and SMS pushed for an exit I would be amazed if they kept an unhappy player rather than take the money. Regarding midfielders age for us, we need to filter Xhaka out. Elneny is grand for back-up/squad duties. Sambi is green and will not be a feature for us for a couple of years at best imo. I don’t see an issue with signing a 27 YO CM no,… Read more »

Samesong

Habesha

Love your posts

Don’t care how young our team are it’s needs experience in the squad. Big experience Players like that in games against the 3 teams we lost to can get down and dirty.

WE when’s Pedro going to let you do a Guest post you’re killing it as always.

The Bard

Tom I agree the whole long term youth project is just fantasy. I read somewhere that Arteta fully expects we will have to sell one or two of our youngsters. The long term project idea is to keep the fans on board and kick the can down the road.

Samesong

Fingers crossed that he’s a flop (like his old mate Sancho has been to date relatively speaking).

Nah I hope not he’s a brilliant talent and it will be a joy to watch him play. Maybe not against us.

Habesha Gooner

Fabrizio Romano
@FabrizioRomano
·
7h
Lazio president Lotito on Sergej Milinkovic-Savić rumours: “Milinkovic is not for sale. I turned down €140m bid for him [years ago]”, tells Rai Sport. 🇷🇸 #transfers

“I’d ask Sergej what he wants to do only in case we receive am important proposal from a world class top club”.

This is from Fabrizio Romano.

45 mil max and may be I can get on board.

Anyway let’s agree to disagree.

andy1886

Samesong, sorry, can’t stand City and their vile owners. I hope that Haaland fails big time, I’m not interested in watching City (they bore me) I’m only interested in Arsenal doing well.

Habesha Gooner

Same song Tielemans is just as experienced as Savic. It isn’t as if we have to choose either one or the other. We can get Value for money, Resale Value and enough experience all rolled in to one. I have seen a lot of transfers. And the value is in getting the 30 to 50 mil players who are 25 or under. Odegaard is a prime example of that. Whenever we spend above 50 mil, Especially on older players, it turns to shit and they leave on the cheap or free. We need to be smarter. Big money on players… Read more »

salparadisenyc

With the core of this squad young can see a case made to bring in a more experienced central mid. Don’t really see Arsenal competing or spending for De Jong, Tchouaméni, Milinković-Savić, Verratti or Bellingham. Bissouma, Rice and Neves will be so premier league price inflated. Eddie making case for himself does potentially open door for a big central mid splurge without having to get 2x strikers. But the Tielemans rumours sounds pretty concrete and looking at the financials sounds like a real goer. Not my first choice and said it last night where that leaves Xhaka is anyones guess… Read more »

Samesong

Same song
Tielemans is just as experienced as Savic.

I’m down with Tielemans coming in.

Rich

The Bard Let’s see, football and football narrative can change very quickly. Today’s headlines, are tomorrow’s fish + chip paper. This summer will be a big test to see if we can secure the futures of our young talent, Saka + Saliba down to their last 2 years, we’re also trying to renew Martinelli + Gabriel Obviously actions speak louder than words, but listening to Josh Kroenke, I think the club know they need a cycle of success I don’t know how people expect us to get back to the top, without the implementation of a strategic plan over a… Read more »

EdTheRed

That North London Anthem sounds a lot like a verse of Roxette’s “It must have been love”.

jwl

Did tapping up players stop being illegal or no one cares nowadays? I’ve been reading stories about Jesus and Tielsmans, and other transfers, and it seems like clubs are negotiating with other teams players and they not trying to hide it. Seems like there has been shift in culture.

WengerEagle

Haha cheers Samesong but I’m not much of a writer, more of a football nerd.

I would love to see some more guest posts from commenters here though for sure, would freshen things up if Pedro’s half-cut on occasion and can’t find his laptop in his slumber.

EdTheRed

Haaland going to City means only one thing, Sterling is coming our way.

MidwestGun

Yep Sal.. there is a few things you can 100% bank on when it comes to Arsenal.. and one of them is if Xhaka is fit or not suspended and still on the roster … he is 100% starting. Tielemans is more of an admission Partey is not fit enough to go a full season and likely never will be. . I have come to accept the Xhaka paradox because otherwise you spend too much energy on it. The paradox being the more you don’t want Xhaka to play, the more he plays.

S

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jwl

Looking forward to match on Thurs, first time in a few years where I feel anxious about matches. My teenage niece is overwrought, Arsenal ladies lost league and Miedema looks like she off to Barca, and now she worried about men cocking things up at end season like they did in Emery’s season. I’ve been watching arsenal matches with her for six or seven years now and this first time she experiencing proper anxiety about her fav team.

WengerEagle

Habesha

The Lazio president is talking shit, absolute zero chance there is any truth in that.

And Fabrizio is known for talking a lot of bollocks himself. We’ll leave it there though and agree to disagree.

salparadisenyc

How’s it hanging Middy, my 11 year old told me this on the way to school today: Give me Gnabry, Lautaro Martinez and De Jong and all will be forgiven. Clearly of FIFA lad.

MidwestGun

Hi Sal.. Nice.. haha you have trained him right. I’m good .. putting together an NLD viewing Partey here for a bunch of people who don’t regularly watch the PL. So I have built it up quite a bit .. I hope it isn’t a letdown and we beat the Spurs and also it’s on my birthday which is a little foreboding and added pressure to make my day turn out well.

Tom

“sorry, can’t stand City and their vile owners. I hope that Haaland fails big time, I’m not interested in watching City (they bore me) I’m only interested in Arsenal doing well.” Andy, I’m pretty meh about their owners and I actually like Guardiola, but I too hope Haaland fails big time in the PL, even if unlikely. City taking advantage of his release clause shouldn’t fool anyone, because they are getting a player who on” open market” would cost £150-200m , right after they spent £100m on Grealish. And they are putting him on base wages exceeding those of VVD… Read more »

The Real Vieira Lynn

Pierre I admire your attempt to swing for the fences regardless of the pitch, but I did watch those matches and the fact that he was gifted a goal, or two, while playing against two rather unsettled defenses, who were both missing their number 1 CBs, can’t be totally ignored…there’s no doubt he put in a shift, on both occasions, but there’s still more questions than answers when it comes to the notion of him being able to properly excel as a first choice Striker option in the PL…now if we’re attempting to runback the whole Wenger Cup narrative, with… Read more »

salparadisenyc

Mid

Wow thats is a bold endeavour my friend, truly hope the Arsenal gods are with you or just TR7 who never left anything out whilst battling the cunts. A win in Purgatory is a win for El Mundo.

I’d like to see a picture of that bar setup.

Regarding Haaland, think he’s going to tear the living shit out of this league. Immense signing and the missing piece for City. God help us all.

Tom

The Bard, I’ve said it before Arteta could have a very ”successful ” Arsenal tenure without ever truly challenging for the league.
Some of the harshest Wenger and ”top four is like a trophy ”critics are now fully in board with the idea the league is too competitive to expect Arsenal to win it anytime (if ever) soon.

andy1886

Tom, yeah, although I’d add that as far as I know Fenway Sports Holdings aren’t in favor of half time floggings or stoning nor have they instigated any assassinations recently. I’m an ardent football fan but I wish some people would look beyond sporting rivalry and at the bigger picture.

Funnily enough I used to be quite fond of the City sides of the 70’s (Lee, Tueart, Hartford, Bell and others)…

Tom

This just in: After hearing of the Haaland to City transfer, Rangnick has just added 2 more years to his original six year plan of taking United back to the top.