Well, if anyone thought that the solution to anything at Arsenal was just stick Ten Hag in and hope for the best, you’ll not want to watch the Brighton game this afternoon.
EtH has come into a mess. He’s the new manager, paired with a new CEO, paired with a new Technical Director… where have we seen that 54-part Netflix documentary before?
Their summer business has been limp at best. Their £60m centre-back Lisandro Martinez has been getting bullied by Brighton players all afternoon, he looks light, and he is VERY small. He might prove me wrong here, but I think you might be able to get away without height in a weak league if you are mega talented. I am very interested to see if he’ll get away without height or weight at Premier League level. He’s had all sorts of problems containing Danny Welbeck. Brighton don’t even play it in the air, I can’t imagine how Haaland and Nunez will play against him.
I cannot wait for all the people that told us the word ‘Project’ was offensive have to listen to it rolled out at every United presser. The truth of the matter is there are only two ways of doing things in football if you want to get to the top.
- Buy success.
- Do things properly over a 3-5 year period
United can’t buy it after spending a billion on nothing for the last 10 years. I’m not even sure it’s possible in 2022 to buy success without a plan because Liverpool and City have money and strategy. Even Newcastle are doing things properly, with a plan, an empowered technical director, and some financial discipline.
United need to start by looking at what made Ten Hag successful.
Young players, needing a career, doing exactly what he says.
United isn’t Ajax. He’s working with extremely rich footballers that don’t give a fuck. His most lavishly paid player is 37, can’t do it at Premier League level, and they can’t get rid of him because they gave him £600k a week.
This thread from Nagelsmann tracks quite closely to the issue Ten Hag is dealing with, except Nagelsmann is tweaking a winning machine with egos, the Dutchman is tweaking a garbage fire.
Nagelsmann: “I learned how to communicate with the leading players and let them take part in my ideas. As a coach, you depend on your players, so the relationship with my players is extremely important to me”
— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) August 6, 2022
Managing a big club is very different to managing a small one. Unai Emery is perfect for journeyman players because they needed to listen to him to get to the next level. 29-year-old Nagelsmann worked at Hoffenheim because his tactical wizardry would allow them to be more successful than their talent. When you work with mega players and you are asking them to do new things, it is hard, hence the reason Arteta had to clear 16 first-teamers in 2 years.
If you have Conte at the wheel, he’s big enough to bully big players, if you have a visionary no-name manager, he needs his own players. Arsenal hired Arteta and the right mix was players he knows and kids who want to takeover the world. United have a new manager with no name that is trying to do the same. It’s so lonely at United for him, he’s trying to sign Arnautovic!
There’s also a big difference in leadership between United and Arsenal.
United is the biggest club in the world. They are extremely twitchy when it comes to responding to Untied media. They aren’t strategic as a club. There’s no grand vision there at the moment. Will they have the patience to roll the dice on Ten Hag?
Who knows…
The second batch of games happened yesterday, I’m not sure we learned too much.
Spurs spanked Southampton, not really a shock, Ralph is having all sorts of problems there and most likely won’t last the season. Spurs looked fit, they dominated from an attacking perspective, and they still have the two best forwards in the League. Their third best goal poacher also showed up… own goal. Can you believe it? They also got extremely lucky with two straight red offences. Typical. Shit club.
Chelsea weren’t as impressive, but they did the job at a stadium they don’t like to go to, and their new signings looked pretty decent. I wasn’t overly enamoured by Koulibably, I thought he looked his age, but we’ll see. Sterling and the left back looked sharp though.
The good news? Those two have to play each other at Stamford Bridge next week. I’m hoping it’s a bloodbath of injuries, red cards, and a draw… or… do I actually want Chelsea to win? I think I might want Chelsea to win. I’m sorry. That’s just how I feel.
Liverpool were actually dreadful against Fulham and deserved to drop two points. They didn’t press, Fulham got at them, and Mitrovic had a field day against VVD. They’ll get back to peak very quickly, but it remains to be seen if Darwin can make up for the production output of Sadio Mane.
West Ham vs City the only game to go, but rest assured, I am going to say that City are probably going to be decent this season.
So as we head out of Sunday, I still feel good about what we’ve seen from Arsenal. We looked fit, the football was really special at times, and it is absolutely clear we’ve moved our squad forward this summer.
There’s still talk that we might add a winger and a midfielder, but increasingly, it’s looking like that’ll only happen if we shift on players. Bellerin, Ainsley, and Nico seem like the players most likely to give us a little cash injection, but you suspect most clubs are waiting for us to yellow sticker them in two weeks time.
There are delicious rumours that we’re tracking Moussa Diaby as our ‘surprise’ winger.
🚨 EXCLUSIVE! 🚨
– Arsenal owner Kroenke has given green light to pursuing Leverkusen forward Moussa Diaby. ✅
– Price tag is £60m. Arsenal want to pay less, but are going ‘all-out’ for him to ‘complete’ their attack. ✍️https://t.co/pxOfnYwBRi pic.twitter.com/1a8vr7o72B
— Football Insider (@footyinsider247) August 6, 2022
The story from FootyInsider247 says that we’re going big for the Frenchman. He scored 17 goals and had 14 assists in 43 games last season. He can play on the left or right of midfield. He has a homing beacon bottom corner finish he likes to execute. He is in the 91st percentile for non-penalty g/a, so right where we’d want a winger. His defensive numbers look pretty bad, but the dataset I’m looking at could be broken. Leverkusen don’t really allow passenger players, so you’d imagine he offers a big workrate… but I’ve not spent a lot of time watching him, so you’ll have to tell me.
Youri Tielemans played for Leicester today in their draw over Brentford, so who knows what is going on there, but I really would like to add a bit of experience to our midfield this summer.
Right, short one today. Get on our podcast or video. Heap praise on the brand redesign. Sign up to our Patreon so you get the before the Whistle that’ll drop this Thursday.
Great 3 points.
Ten Haag has problems.?
2nd
4th
Welbeck MOM.
I thought Brighton we’re gonna be rubbish without Bissouma 😉
From the previous thread The coach isn’t the problem for United for the first time in a while. Ten Hag is fantastic. His Ajax teams were a joy to watch. And if Arteta was sacked last year, I would have wanted him over any other coach not named Guardiola or Klopp.But their players are awful. It looks like our squad before Arteta spent massive amount of money on it. It isn’t fit for purpose. And United don’t just over pay their players, they get fucked by them. Sancho is in 300k a week and he is a player who is… Read more »
Diaby is elite going forward. He is just as much a talent as Saka is. He is a bit faster and his shooting technique is better. Defensively he doesn’t do the hard yards as much. He presses decently.
He is much better than both ESR and Martinelli at this point in time and he would be great. The fee that Leverkusen will demand will be astronomical though.
i think leicester having money issues forcing them to save their biz for the final week. wouldn’t expect tielemans til around then.
the winger issue is bigger than i realized, i really do think its important to get at least one more if ESR is building back into fitness, we can’t be trusting pepe or nelson to get us anywhere. CM is the same issue but instead its sambi, if something happens to elneny do we recall patino or bring azeez in? AMN seems like wasted minutes in cm
habesha
you just wrote word for word what I was saying end of last season abot ten hag. IT DOESNT MATTER HOW GOOD HE IS! HE IS AT MAN UTD
GUYS, does anyone want to talk about how Brighton just beat United WITHOUT Bissouma in their midfield?
How did I miss the trophy!!
southhampton did what i thought fulham would do against pool. really gonna take a few games before we see the real spuds
potter seems to have the ability to breathe life into that brighton team, almost doesnt even matter who’s playing in it.
Sunbathing Tiz
I look at Man United, and I wonder who is going to score the goals on a consistent basis? Today it was OG that got on the board for them. I wonder how much they paid Spurs for their striking talents? 😉
I wonder if G Nev can see what direction Man U is going? I’m sure that he does….
Potter should be England manager. This Southgate carry on needs to end. There’s too much sentimentality going on there. No idea if he would want the job. Find it hard he would ever leave Brighton.
Wow… I’m enjoying this opening weekend so much.. the polar opposite of last season. I think United are right on track… long may it continue…. they should bring back Moyes and start the cycle all over again. 😀
I have read a few articles saying Diaby has done an interview saying he is staying one more season at Bayern L. so .. that one might be dead in the water.
United in a relegation battle would be pure banter. One could dream!
Caicedo looks like a player to keep an eye on . I believe manure were close to signing him too.
“Caicedo looks like a player to keep an eye on”
Looked very composed today.
Pedro
To be fair Brighton had Fred and McTominay helping them.
History tells us that little should be read into the opening 3 games of the season, so it is futile to make comments about Bissouma and Martinez etc , as early results and performances very rarely give us an idea of how things will pan out.
Take last season for instance, Tottenham win their opening 3 games , Arsenal lost their opening 3 , and yet the Tottenham manager was sacked within a few months due to poor results…
After one game , nobody is right and nobody is wrong about any player or club…
Zacharse
Yep. It has been clear for a while now you can’t go anywhere with a poor squad no matter how good a coach you are in the Premier league in this day and age . Guardiola struggled in his first season, Klopp needed three seasons to compete at the top and lots of other managers have struggled. I have to give credit to Arteta for clearing out our poor players. We now look attractive even if he fails.
Oh, Goncalo Guedes is off to join portugese FC. I would have been underwhelmed by him as a signing. He is good for a team like wolves though. He can look world class one game and look poor the other. We need better if we are going to sign a winger.
Pedro, weren’t you the one going all guddy and crazy behind Martinez. I remember you even posted those stupid videos of him making half turns and claiming how those turns would take Arsenal to the next level. How do you feel about that?
My Fantasy team is really hoping for big win from City with Haaland and Foden leading the g/a count.. Talking about fantasy is there a Le Grove league going on? Or is it only the London is Red one?
The City away kits are pretty weird.. Reference for only me.. most likely.. but Chicago Sting 1978… comes to mind
Jonko.. Pete was always talking about him as a left back, never wanted him as a CB.. He might be af suited to the league as a left back in our system.. It doesn’t look like he is a good fit as a CB in this league
Pierre
History tells us that little should be read into the opening 3 games of the season, so it is futile to make comments about Bissouma and Martinez etc ,
Except I dont think there was this call for patience anywhere for Ben White last season. Lots of people calling him a flop .
Brighton always have a plan. White, Dan Burn, Bissouma, Cucurella all sold in the last year and they replace them without missing a step. And they buy well. They bought Cucurella for €18 mil and just sold him for €65 mil. They know how to scout good players for their system. And their coach knows what he is doing.
I agree Midwest their kit is just terrible, I doubt it has good sales numbers
City look toothless
“GUYS, does anyone want to talk about how Brighton just beat United WITHOUT Bissouma in their midfield?“
Yea, Pedro, but thanks to Bissouma Tottenham beat Sotton 4:1, when without him last season they lost 2:3.
Instant improvement.
Tom, he didn’t start mate. Thought you’d have noticed that?
Divine, correct. Ben White was a failure after one game.
Brighton are a system based team not an individual oriented one. That’s when you know you are looking at a proper manager. Potter is bound to be swooped by a big club sooner or later. Love watching their football.
Pedro, you know Brighton beat United by 4 goals in May, 2022 with bisuoma playing. This your thing with Spurs players and coach I don’t know. Nice Post, I found the comments about managers funny cause Arteta who is supposed to be a great coach literally bought a new team. United are starting their project, this is match 1 of many more matches. Additionally, like Pierrre said 3 games in doesn’t say much. 3 games last season we were bottom and spurs was 1st. Until the end of transfer window I cannot say much cause every defeat means more opportunity… Read more »
Mid
I think Citeh kit looks alright. Just my opinion.
Fabianski doing an Ospina .. pretending to be injured to make his saves look better later on.
Samesong just weird to me… instantly put me back to 1978…. The Sting had a kit called the bumblebee.
Big season for Grealish. A 100 mil player not scoring or assisting enough will be a flop. He needs to replace Sterling and Jesus and be the main man. Tough ask but that is what you should get for a 100 mil.
What do you know Fabianksi was injured.. I take it back. Didnt seem that bad.
Nagelsmann’s musings on how to manage a big club players need to be ignored.
Bayern are no longer a big club having lost to Villarreal last season but especially for lavishing praises on Kane this summer.
After the opening weekend I definitely believe that:
1. Arsenal will win 85 championships this season.
2. Man yoo will be relegated by Christmas.
Can’t see Michael Antonio lasting long really showing his 32 years 🙄
“Bayern are no longer a big club”
Ignore this dreck.
Backup Keeper didnt need to do that..
I think this is the start of Halaand bestmode
Fans doubting Haaland and thinking he is going to flop were ridiculous to me. He won it and he scored it. Dude is elite and he is going to be trouble for the rest of us.
Grealish is poor..so is Foden..both never impact the game as much as Mahrez and yet Pep never starts him
WH don’t have a chance in this game.. Have just manged to get 30 successful passes when City are at 300…
The extra winger feels less necessary than a 3rd center forward. What happens if Jesus and Eddie are injured? We are not able to control contested long balls from Ramsdale at all. Some height up front is where I would spend the money. Let Reiss or Pepe back up Saka, they aren’t useless.
What an absolutely hideous kit this City are wearing , it looks like they wanted to make it look like Dortmund just to accomodate Haaland . And changed the yellow at the last minute.
Commit
It is still 1 nil. You can’t always predict what will happen.
Jonko I agree that Grealish is playing badly but Foden is nowhere close in the terriblenessly (not a word??)
HG, it depends on your definition of failure.
Haaland was brought in to deliver them the CL.
Did anyone think City wouldn’t have won the league again had they kept exactly the same squad from last season?
West Ham look pretty stale.. especially with Antonio. Got to freshen it up somehow … as they didnt really have any ideas or pattern of play that half. The bumblebees just swarmed them with possession. 80%.
I know Habesha.. But these stats are on a different level. WH manged to get to 74 before half time (with more than half coming in the last 10 minutes) against City’s 373.
That being said(written). WH might score 2 in the second half with fewer successful passes. Pep must remove Grealish at half time
Foden is top class, young and only going to get better.
Elite talent that any club in Europe would take bar none.
Felt like city were just holding the ball as much as possible first half, away from home taking teh adrenaline outta the match
Neto of Wolves for 30-40 million is EPL proven, cheaper and all around better than this Diaby.
Pedro,
Headlines based on footyinsider……
I know there’s other chatter… but really…
Moyes showing how to use the 5 subs rule now.
Serious question… where would Man United be right now if they had simply kept Moyes and backed him?
They could’ve avoided so many bad signings too.
Ferguson should’ve put some weight behind him.
Haaland has the personality and swagger to go with the talent, he will desteoy the PL.
To the Tielemans detractors like Ishola…
Watch Gundogan … these are things Tielemans could add to Arsenal. How much more of a threat would we be?
But he says we aren’t getting him anyway.. so nevermind.
I just hope we at least get somebody similar.
Haaland is insanely fast over 20m. Walcott-level speed but with a football brain and end product. And Pep seems willing to adapt the system to suit his game. Didn’t think he had it in him.
That’s what you call a killer ball , inch perfect , timed to perfection, with perfect pace on the ball…
I think Tielemans will happen but only on deadline day. According to multiple reports, the player has his mind set on us. If that’s the case, it makes sense to run down the clock and remove any leverage Leicester may have in a negotiation.
To be frank I was hoping Haaland would flop….he’s fucking scary
Middy
Got the Sting reference loud and clear!
Takes me back to my AYSO days…..
Laca and Ramsey both scored on their ligue 1 début this week-end.
Nuno plays tonight against Balogun.
Aaron scored a nice one. ( no pun intended ).
LS
It literally doesn’t make sense how he can be that fast at a legit 6″4.
Absolutely battering ram. He can play too even if he doesn’t have the technique of Ibrahimovic.
Well.. this one is ovaaaa.. Game was down to a literal standing. walking pace and then West Ham fell asleep. let Haaland run through the defense uncontested. Other then that .. I was half asleep as well.. hahaha Thought this match would be a little better to watch.
Haaland is just unstoppable. Debruyne and Bernardo Silva threading passes for him won’t fail. They are just too good.
WE,
It’s something else to watch him for a full game instead of just YouTube clips. Absolutely astonishing speed. That said, West Ham’s CBs are slow and West Ham have actually tried to play football. Will be interested to see how he does against a less ambitious team with faster defenders.
Groovey… thanks.. I figurd I’d be talking to myself with that reference… hahaha
Remember they had the yellow and black checkered game balls as well.?
I was worried about Xhaka in midfield, now I’m worried about Ode. He’s just easy to shake of the ball, losing in dangerous places and keep turning into traffic instead of space. Being so one footed doesn’t help as with the ball of Jesus with a half decent right foot, we’d have been 2 nil.
Fully fit ESR and Fabio and he’ll be off the team, which lead us to , why is he the captain!.
But back on topic – has anyone here actually watched Diaby? If so, do you think he’d hit the ground running or be one for the future? How would you rate him vs Paqueta?
Middy
Don’t think that Moyes and WH were ever going to play on the front foot and be brave today.
He’d have been hoping for a shithouse of a result at best. City in the mood could carve them for 5+ and Moysie knows he cannot let that happen at home on the opening day.
Does make for a dull spectacle mind.
Yeah I dunno if anyone was genuinely doubting whether or not Haaland could do it in the premier league but for me there was never such a doubt. Since the obvious decline of Messi and Ronaldo there’s been two players who look like taking up the mantle of best in the world and that Mbappe and Haaland.two absolute freaks if you ask me
Wtf are these wankers doing…waste of scotch this match
Pedro
Remember when you’re drooling over Martinez half turns?
LS
I haven’t seen much evidence of it because Bundesliga is pretty bonkers and teams tend to run up cricket scores over there and play with their defenders high up the pitch but I’d imagine Haaland’s height and physicality makes him dangerous in any defensive situation or formation.
He doesn’t need much backlift and has great sbap to his shots as well as being a decent header of the ball and if he continues to improve that, basically game over for PL defenders.
Let’s not start singing about Haaland too early, KDB was given a lot of space by WH and the pass was screaming “please score me”. If I remember correctly, last week he was dead quiet against Liverpool.
Looking forward to Stoke v Citeh though lol.
Mbappe for me is better than Haaland but for the PL specifically it’s hard to imagine any player better suited to it than Haaland.
Eagle – yep I suppose.. I just figured the Hammers would do a little better especially after halftime when they knew it wasnt working.. Moyes would try something a little different but .. is what it is. Maybe get that Italian dude a little more involved sooner.
But yep probably wishful thinking on my part it would be close.
City are excellent at controlling the tempo and pace of the game.
LS,
I’ve watched him, has power running and skills. Very little football brain, average work rate and I personally prefer Neto.
Marko,
I’ve never doubted his quality, it’s clear that he’s a freak. My doubts were about whether he would fit in the system. Wouldn’t be the first attacker sacrificed by Pep at the altar of the false 9.
SimpleWay,
OK, doesn’t sound too promising considering the price tag. According to rumours, Paqueta is available for 30-35M and Nkunku has a release clause of €60M that kicks in next summer. Maybe we should just save some money and go all in on that instead.
Haaland has everything but he is pretty average in the air for a man that big.
Henry was also pretty average in the air as well.
Put either on a ball on the shoulder of the defender running behind it’s carnage.
Pedro,
How did Brighton do it with Golden boy Bissouma… the next Yaya Toure? Lol
Let’s also see how much Conte uses him.
Jack Grealish is like Xhaka at Arsenal.
Overrated, Overhyped and a bloody poor fit.
Lad needs to go.
Total misfit there
GD4
Grealish at Villa everything played through him and constantly buying cheap free kicks that simply and rightly are not given anymore.
Sterling playing wide for all his critics at least could get to the line and also be on the back post to finish chances, Grealish City stays wide, passes and simply not enough goal threat.
Sink or swin season for him 100m or not.
Still the Xhaka hate from a usual suspect after a good win…
But surprisingly, no mention of Bissouma….
Progress!
The problem.with Grealish is he has got freakishly big calves..it limits his mobility..footballers need leaner legs…freaks like roberto Carlos who do well with unnatural calves are a rare breed
Back to us still hope for another CM player but with ESR (fitness aside) and Vieira if he settles in lots of depth wide positions.
Unless we move Pepe on permanently still can’t see a wide player coming despite earlier going in for Raphinha.
Mari hopefully next out the door hopefully another off the books.
Leave olde Nigel alone his basic existence around here is to be contrary to any negative without actually offering up a worthwhile opinion. He plays the role of Kool aid pourer really well.
GD4 – ultimate keyboard warrior . It’s just embarrassing what you come out with.
Grow up and stop sounding like a 15 year old on an 8Chan message site.
All this last warnings shite. What are you actually going to do? Yep nothing