SRY FOR THE SLOW INTERNETING THIS WEEK

Turns out, children make a tight excuse for pure laziness on my part. Just kidding. I have been making some really nice things at work so could not spare a moment for you.

Let’s go over the end of the transfer window quickly.

The way I understand it:

Arteta wanted a winger of high quality to cover for Saka and Martinelli who are now integral to how we play.

BOOM. Thomas Partey injures himself in the same place as last time.

BOOM. Big Mo, made of GRANIT, puts himself out long-term.

Arteta has to pivot the winger chat to a #6.

The club had a deal agreed with David Luiz, apparently, in Brazil, everyone has a deal ready with our BBQ pitmaster.

Villa played the I’M FUCKING HARD, INNIT with their negotiating tactics. Quite incredible for them to decide they’d rather pass on £25m for a player that doesn’t start under Gerard just to make a point no one needed.

How do I feel about it?

I’m not really fussed. Doug Luiz wasn’t on anyone’s lips this summer, he’s a decent player, but I don’t feel he’s doing much outside being a warm body for us. I feel the same way about him as I did with the Arthur Melo rumours in January. I’d rather we move for Danilo who has a less clear ceiling but seems to have a lot of heat around his name.

So where does that leave us?

In the same boat every club without nation-state backing is: without the perfect squad.

Arsenal is a long-term plan. There is finite cash. So if the players aren’t there to move the squad forward, we just won’t buy. After all, who are you satisfying? A few of the outrage merchants online who will INSTANTLY turn on the player if they aren’t perfect.

We played it right.

Is there a criticism? I mean, our season flopped on Thomas Partey, we’ve given his muscles too much faith, I thought a backup 6 was a priority, I don’t understand why it wasn’t in the initial batch of signings earlier in the season.

Arteta prioritised the attack, which, in fairness, has been our undoing.

We also can’t get too furious because we don’t know what the internal solutions are. There’s a bullshit line going around that we’re one player short of where we were last season, which on paper is correct, but that is a nonsense line of attack because we have added 6 players to the squad this summer that can all compete for starting positions.

• Matt Turner  
• Marquinhos  
• Gabi J  
• Saliba 
• Zinchenko
• Fabio Vieira  

That list of players is absolutely top class. For all the people giving out 6 out of 10s for our summer window, who had a better one bar Manchester City? Spurs? Please. Liverpool? Please. Chelsea? Oh my word how did they spend that much money and not move their squad forward! Barca? Sorry, not having it. I think we had the best window in Europe. If you’re angry we didn’t go from 5 signings to 7, you have forgotten what it was like being a fan in the late Wenger years. We’ve been spoiled under Arteta and Edu. This was a precision summer and we have added levels.

Also, don’t give it to me that Saliba doesn’t count as ‘like a new signing.’ If you were part of the Saliba Ultras crying your eyes out about the loan move, insisting Arteta hates young players, and promising the kid would never start for Arsenal… you of all people should see him like a new signing.

We have a squad of players with high levels of technical ability and a number of them are swiss army knife players that can player multiple positions, which makes the ‘smaller squad’ chatter laughable.

Ben White is our best right back, a centre back, and a midfielder

Zinchenko is our best left back, a midfielder, and he can play as a winger

Saliba is a centre back and a right back

Vieira can play either wing and as a #8

Unless you have a mad American hedge-funder running your club or a nation-state, you aren’t going to have perfect options throughout your squad.

Liverpool has a few injuries and they look dreadful. 9 points from 6 games is a shocking haul for a team capable of 90 points.

If Spurs lose Harry Kane or Son, their season is absolutely fucked, the idea they are well equipped to handle that is a myth mostly perpetuated by Arsenal fans that have a CONTE IS MY DADDY tattoo on their backside.

Chelsea spent £300m this summer and they look dreadful without Kante in their starting 11.

We have 10 or so games to navigate until teams break for the World Cup. The job is simple. Do whatever you can to preserve our best players until January.

I don’t want to see Saka in Zurich.

I don’t want to see Martinelli playing in the League Cup.

I don’t want to see Thomas Partey on a plane unless it’s domestic.

We need to lean into the kids, give minutes to our very capable second stringers, and we need to be very good managing the load of the first teamers.

Arsenal will need luck, without doubt. There is also a reality that Matt and Johnny wouldn’t accept in a chat I had with them yesterday: Our style of play is going to make managing fitness harder.

We sprint more, we cover more distance, our football is fucking ferocious. There is always a cost to that. The skill is managing that… and again, to reiterate, you need luck.

FRESH PATREON DROP: WE DISCUSS THE UNITED GAME, THE SAD END TO THE WINDOW, SQUAD FLEX, EDDIE DOOR KNOCKING, AND MUCH MUCH MORE

SIGN UP BELOW. WE HAVE @MATTKANDELA AND @IJOHNNYCOCHRANE ON THIS ONE. VERY GOOD REVIEWS.https://t.co/7w2GHK2CCP

— Le Grove (@LeGrove) September 2, 2022

Have you not signed up to our Patreon yet? I thought we were best friends? Don’t best friends support each others art? They do. Click in. We go hard at these podcasts. We treat them like Champions League midweek games.

It’s United tomorrow, I am worried, we are always a gift for a struggling them at Old Trafford.

Ten Haag is a good coach. He has the players doing some of the things he wants. But let’s be real, they are still a long way off.

The main worry? That Antony kid will start. Casemiro will start. The baying Gold and Green mob that was crying about their parasite owners are now placated by shiny objects, so they’ll be supportive until things go wrong again. Their squad is also toxic, this is the sort of game toxic players get up for, so expect a beast of a day.

Arsenal needs to do what they’ve been doing and they need to take their chances.

I cannot argue anything about the football. It’s the best we’ve seen in a years. Sharp, fast, aggressive, and fun to watch.

There are three things I’m looking for:

1. Manage the occasion. We’ve beaten teams people expected us to beat. Arsenal have been underdogs in the media. But, now, people are paying attention. No one likes to see us do well. No one likes Arsenal looking sexy. That is a special kind of pressure we’ve not been under for a decade. How will this group adapt? Especially with injuries. This is a chance to put the memories of Newcastle in the bin and prove we are a BIG GAME team.
2. NO FUCK UPS. There is nothing worse than working in a business and someone says ‘no mistakes, please.’ Like, honestly, what the fuck am I supposed to do with that? You think I’m out here choosing mistake life? You think those typos are preplanned? You think me addressing the client lead as Jane when her real name is Patricia was in the rehearsal? Telling people not to fuck up doesn’t stop them fucking up. But… we really need to stop with the unforced errors. Ramsdale and Gabriel need to be at their best. Arsenal needs full concentration tomorrow. Errors in games this big can be deflating, we need to trust in ourselves and be extremely sharp all game, because any lapse will be punished.
3. Take the chances. We should have beaten Villa 5-0. We should have scored more in all our games. We’re not sloppy in front of goal, but we aren’t exactly clinical. I don’t know what United we’re going to face, but assume it’ll be one that’ll somehow be extremely good defensively, and that our chances will be low. Let’s be clinical.

One thing we have to be VERY aware of is the refs are Greater Manchester folk. Yep, a few days after a Merseysider reffed for his favourite manager in the league and gave them odd decisions, we’re doing it again. We need to expect bad reffing tomorrow.

This game is either going to feel like the time United punctured our Invincible run… or it’s going to be a show of might against a United team that is 2-3 seasons behind us. I don’t think there’s an in between here.

Great going to Old Trafford as favorites though, right?

Ok, see you in the comments. Remember to get the United Before the Whistle via our Patreon. If you want the free stuff, see below.

PATREON