AN ARSENAL VS CITY TRILOGY TO DECIDE IT ALL (MAYBE)

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It’s been a real nostalgic few days for me. I spent time in London at its wintery best, hanging with beautiful people and my Arsenal family… now I’m in New York, staying where I used to live, and it’s just a whole whoosh of feelings.

Hold on, am I writing a diary here?

Anyway, what a couple of great cities, truly, the best there is. I know this is a boring opener, but Londoners sometimes don’t appreciate how incredible their city is. That new Elizabeth Line feels like it could only exist in Tokyo or London. A feat of engineering genius, but also, an outrageously beautiful piece of design.

Anyway, ENOUGH ABOUT TUNNELS ALREADY.

Arsenal leadership are dealing with the very painful news that once again, Big Mo is out for an unspecified amount of time. I really feel for him, he’s such a good guy, no one deserves the back-to-back luck he’s had. I think he’ll get renewed regardless, which is good news.

That leaves us in a double challenge.

  1. We need a midfielder that can carry some of the weight
  2. We’re now a distressed buyer and everyone knows it

Prices just inched up.

Our moves are looking ambitious. The story today is we’ve bid £60m for Caciedo. An outrageously good player, but at a club that seems to get expensively picked off every window. I’m not sure how they keep succession planning these talented players, but it would surely be a damaging move for them to lose such a key player at this stage of the season.

There are rumblings that he wants to hand in a transfer request to push the move forward, so who knows where this goes, but we have to be clear, Brighton dance to their own beat, their CEO will not be shoved around, and the player really doesn’t have strength at this moment in time.

What I like is we’re going big, what I’m worried about is we’re under stress now, and the stakes are high. This is when clubs make mistakes and end up with expensive diamonds that upon closer inspection are TAINTED with averageness.

It’s 100% clear we want to move on Declan Rice in the summer, it’d be incredible to move on him now, but West Ham is a total bag of shite at the moment and he’s the one player they can rely on to help them climb the table.

So where do we look?

Juventus are in deep trouble and will have to shed some of their players, we had interest in Locatelli before. Weston McKennie has also been on the agenda, but it’s unclear whether he could reach the heights we need after a fairly spotty career.

Good news is Mr Ornstein says there’s plenty of money to spend this window, Edu is good at spending, let’s see what they do.

The BIG game this evening is Manchester City versus Arsenal.

The job is to win or exit without a battering.

We lost last January and it was an epic loss. If that happened tonight, we can wipe the blood from our nose and live to fight another day.

If we lose 4-0, doubts creep in, it gives other teams a bump, basically, not good.

If we go there and win, well, you are really talking sexy times.

There should be rotation today, we have some top players that don’t have minutes in their legs.

Trossard has been training with the kids.

Smith Rowe hasn’t been getting high-quality minutes.

Fabio Vieira hasn’t been involved.

Kieran Tierney and Tomiyasu need a run out.

Those are all options we’d have been pretty happy about last season.

The question is whether our extremely competitive manager who thinks players should be able to play 100 games a week will agree that’s the path forward.

Our midfield is arguably the toughest conundrum.

Granit and Thomas are all we have if we want a sensible result.

They are also all we have for the season.

Lose one of those two to an errant ankle stamp and we are in deep shit and we’ve blown our season.

This game really does remind me of the United game in 1999. We lost to United in extra time in an FA Cup semi final replay. Ryan Giggs scored THAT goal. Dennis Bergkamp missed THAT penalty. We missed out on winning the league by 1 point after a loss at Leeds.

Arteta will know what this game means mentally. City, the last great challenge left. His old club. His mentor. The man he calls Daddy. If he can roll them tonight, then he can roll them in the league twice and become a legendary manager in the game.

If things go wrong, the season COULD unravel.

Man, this is a strategic nightmare of a situation for a manager who tends to only have one mode… GO BIG.

So let’s see what happens.

Ok, before I go, I have a VERY special podcast for you. I teamed up with Andrew from Arseblog on The Arsenal Opinion for the first time. It’s a great chat. It was a total pleasure to have him on. I’ve been writing about Arsenal for going on 16 years, he’s been going way longer. We’re kind of the last two daily bloggers standing, he’s the biggest fan media site in the world, it was cool to hang. Anyway, listen in, he’s awesome, and the chat actually inspired my belief that we’re definitely going to win the league!

COME ON ARSENAL!

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Emiratesstroller

G I think that you overrate Chelsea’s financial muscle and underrate ours. We did not lose out to Chelsea for Mudryk because of our lack of spending power. By all accounts our transfer fee offer was similar to theirs, but their terms were better and I suspect also the length of contract offered to Mudryk was the clincher. Arsenal have clearly got funds. available because if you calculate that we have already spent £47 million on two players in this window and offered also £60 million for Caciedo we could have increased our spend on Mudryk if we had chosen… Read more »

Bergkamp63

LameSong,

The game was in Manchester !

And all this coming from someone who wanted Arteta out for 2 years !

Know who’s the joker !

dSidstathopoulos

“”Same pricks who wanted any big African guy in the French league 2 years ago who are now nowhere to be seen”””

Pam Anderson already got Adil Rami and shes Not on le grove.
Ngolo Kante is a small African guy.

Muppetman

No one would win a double on this site. We rested six players, if we rested 11 then everyone would moan. Players get injured, just enjoy the ride and don’t get too worked up

Samesong

Bergfool

Climb back under that rock you’ve been hiding Muppet.

Bergkamp63

SamesongJanuary 28, 2023 11:22:58
Bergbore
I work at the Emirates.

Who cares ? !

I guessed you didn’t do anything to taxing already. I thought it might be more than cleaning the toilets though !

Muppetman

Good one samesong

Bergkamp63

Joker, Muppet

You can tell the level of someone’s intellect the minute they start resorting to childish name calling.

Samesong

Bergdick

Nothing wrong with being a cleaner at the Emirates do you think you’re above those type of people ?

You haven’t got a clue what I do. I could be saving your life one day.

Samesong

Bergfool

You want to talk about intelligence. Ok.

Bergkamp63

I won’t talk to little children like you, small minded is not my bag,

Gazza

Lokonga needs to vastly improve his out of possession game quickly less he will be gone in the summer…Vieira pace & strength is a concern but I believe he came overcome these negative aspects of his game

Dissenter

Un Good for Brighton then but they will still occupy the 8-10th position at the end of the season. They don’t have any unfinished business left this season. We made a very good offer of £60 million lump cash, it’s not like we came kicking tires. I’ve got no apologies for taking an Arsenal-centric view, on an gooner blog about a player that will get us closer to winning our first title in 19 years. My tunnel vision on this issue didn’t convince the player to release that statement. Brighton operate in a pragmatic manner. If you listened to De… Read more »

Samesong

Bergkamp63January 28, 2023 11:36:08
I won’t talk to little children like you, small minded is not my bag,

Yep and cleaners too.

dSidstathopoulos

You guys need to raise the level a bit, @Rich could help you do that.

Wengaball

Players should have no knowledge a bid has come in unless selling club agrees in principle to sell.

They can then check with the player if he wants to move.

If the player agrees, the final deal and personal terms can be worked out.

Buying clubs should be absolutely restricted from making it public, or letting the player in question know.

Bergkamp63

Wengaball,

It’s almost impossible these days to keep transfers quiet,

In theory, it’s a good idea,

One wonders who exactly makes it public and it’s always to do with money ultimately.

G

Emirates why would chelsea not outbid us twice, they ve done it for years.. I remember nearly getting Sean wright Phillips for 11mill then Chelsea got him for 20+
Plus chelsea know we will not go into a bidding war, we will have a valuation and stick to it.. Chelsea then can come along and add an extra 10 mill

Mr Serge

Rich would be c bombing the crap out of this argument right now

Samesong

Serge

You’re a funny guy 😂

raptora

1, 2… 33… 49… I can’t count any higher the amount of sniveling cunts in this blog.

Bob N16

Wengaball, idealism is all well and good but it’s unrealistic to not expect a player to be approached by intermediaries to discover whether a bid would be welcomed.

In any case, how would you police what you’re suggesting?

Marko

Brighton telling Caceido to stay away till after deadline day is kinda like George Costanza avoiding his girlfriend breaking up with him until after his office party.

David Smith

Is there another major club so prone to losing key players around Jan/ Feb?
It’s been going on for years. Guess at least we now have a regime trying to do something about it , rather than Wenger who would sit by, do nothing, whatever the ultimate cost to our season

Mr Serge

raptoraJanuary 28, 2023 11:46:39
1, 2… 33… 49… I can’t count any higher the amount of sniveling cunts in this blog.

Rich is that you ?

Un

Rich may have lost his rag after a few too many but he was right about partey getting injured and that we need a player who can immediately do what he does and that we should be phasing him out if he can’t stay fit

Yes he’s the best in the world but that’s no good when he’s missing a 3rd of the season and costing us points if we can’t have another player who shares game t to me with him

Un

Partey and Xakha are both 30 now and if partey misses the crucial coming run of games then I think it’s time to really think about cashing in while his stock is high and letting him go to Italy or Spain or psg

raptora

Ben Brereton Díaz, Samesong’s guy, is going to Villarreal in the summer. Interesting to see how he does.

Terraloon

ES I think that you overrate Chelsea’s financial muscle and underrate ours.We did not lose out to Chelsea for Mudryk because of our lack of spending power. By all accounts our transfer fee offer was similar to theirs, but their terms were better and I suspect also the length of contract offered to Mudryk was the clincher.Arsenal have clearly got funds. available because if you calculate that we have already spent £47 million on two players in this window and offered also £60 million for Caciedo we could have increased our spend on Mudryk if we had chosen to do… Read more »

Wengaball

Bob

Buying club says to selling club – if this goes public, we are out.

Selling club says yo the buying club – if this goes public we will put the player up for a bid, or we won’t sell at all.

Prisoner’s dilemma on both sides can potentially make both behave.

G

Hopefully with Chelsea they’ll have brought nearly a new team by the summer but if this new team misses out on top 4 then this could have some implications for them … hopefully

Samesong

Rap

That’s an interesting move
Let’s see how he gets on.

Bergkamp63

Wengaball,

It’s not in the selling club’s interest to keep it quiet really, if they are to lose a player, they are going to want the highest amount possible, the best way to achieve this is to have a bidding war.

Hence the Mudryk situation.

Bergkamp63

G, As I said a couple of days ago, Chelsea will go all out this month now that UEFA has closed the loophole regarding long contract amortisation. Their problem as you say will be if they don’t succeed in getting CL football in the next 2 years, if 2022/23 season is year 1 of 3 and starting from a 0 debt position, they will have spent close to £500m by the time this window shuts at the rate they are going, anyone else from the summer onwards can only be counted over a 5 year period to amortise. They may… Read more »

Bob N16

Wengaball, but what about the player and his agent, you can’t expect unofficial approaches won’t happen?

Topside Northbank

If Partey misses a couple of weeks I really hope we have a couple of potential CM lined up not just Caicedo.

Lokonga simply hasn’t taken his chances so far. will still be used in Europa games and on the bench but starting PL games, not for me.

Zinchenko middle of the park and Tierney to start left back the only real internal solution as old Wenger used to say that jumps out at me.

TeeCee

Lokonga is 23, not 18. He’s poor and needs 2 or 3 years at another club to develop and learn (boy he has a lot to learn)! It musn’t be at Arsenal. There’s no panic about Partey. If he’s out, use Benny Blanco as DM, he’s made for it. He has all the attributes required and rarely gets injured! Apart from him, we can play Zinny in CM, not quite Partey but a very capable guy in CM (plays there for Ukraine I believe). We have two other options at LB now with Tierney and Kiwior. Get rid of Cedric,… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Terraloon Fair play rules are of course important. Chelsea found a loop hole in the rules by providing extended contracts. In the case of Mudryk it was 8.5 years. That loophole is being closed by UEFA. Chelsea did not increase significantly the transfer fee agreed with Shakhtar. However the terms were better than we offered. Arsenal offered initially a lower wage to Mudryk than what Chelsea offered. However, the wage they are paying Mudryk is around £100K pw. That will be less than what we will be paying Saka, Martinelli and Saliba when they are signing new contracts. So this… Read more »

Nigel Tufnel

Bob,

Your take on yesterday’s game is right on point. The rotation strategy, the outcome, and the implications. I’ve never felt more unbothered after a loss than this.

jwl

I wonder if that was lokonga last match for arsenal? He was a passenger yesterday, getting bollocked by ode and then straight down the tunnel after match while rest of squad went over to away fans, makes me think he doesn’t have much of a future with us. I guess we have european matches still, so he might get a game if we are short, but doesn’t look good for the belgian.

Dissenter

Jwl
Yea, I think Lokonga will leave on loan and be sold in the summer.
He’s not been able to make the step-up and just seems to want out.

Never seen Ode lose his composure like that before which suggests there’s more happening behind the scenes.
Lokonga didn’t have a bad game, just hardly ever has good games.

Northbanker

Can’t see Brighton buckling on Caicedo. We need to really work plan B once again

Sly

The athletic piece on our caciedo interest would explain the outlay for a kid Rodri (4.15) has a higher xG value from open-play passing sequences he has initiated himself than Caicedo (3.08), while it’s only Rodri (90) — again — who has been involved in more open-play sequences that have ended in shots than Caicedo (55). Defensively, Caicedo ranks in the top five per cent for his position for tackles and interceptions per 90 minutes across Europe’s top five leagues, while he is the third-best midfielder in the air among his Premier League contemporaries, with an aerial duels success rate… Read more »

Wicked Willy

Brighton saying £90m according to the independent. I like the player, but I don’t think he’s enough of a banker to justify that.

Hoksilato

North,

Quite pessimistic too…they are very stubborn, he’s 21 and can still be convinced to do a job for them for about 5 months after the initial disappointment…
May be easier to change Zubimendi’s mind (on moving mid season) than Mr Bloom’s mind 🙂 … and a RC does not need to be negotiated…. not perfect but we need to add someone

Dissenter

‘ Brighton saying £90m according to the independent. I like the player, but I don’t think he’s enough of a banker to justify that’ So they’ve gone from we won’t sell him in January’ to actually naming a fee That/s a big movement. Brighton are a selling club. They had a perfect opportunity to make a statement with Trossard. They didn’t have to sell him. They did because they aren’t the type of club to leave money in the table. Another reason why they will sell him now is they know first hand from the Enoch Mwepu unfortunate experience that… Read more »

Marko

Given our need his age his stats and quality I would like to think 70-80 gets it done. It’s a lot for sure but that’s the way it is. I know the argument next is gonna be why didn’t we say get him when he went for 4.5 million which is fair but we’re kinda not always gonna be able to do those sort of deals ala Martinelli especially if we want to compete. The time to develop a player or a team it can come at the expense of competitiveness which is why we seem to be targeting potential… Read more »

Samesong

Diss

Surely Brighton have actived Todd. He’s probably onto his negotiation team as we speak.

Marko

Another reason why they will sell him now is they know first hand from the Enoch Mwepu unfortunate experience that player transfer values are fickle.

You come out with some nonsense sometimes. To connect both is a stretch to say the least.

Samesong

Can Accrington come back?

Dissenter

Marko I think you should have my moniker since you’re so instinctively disagreeable and ready to make the most bizarre deductions from my posts. How’s it unconnected? Brighton bought Mwepu from Salzburg and anyone who watched them last season saw they dude was the real deal. He was the one to step in after Bissouma left, then he got sick only for them to discover he had a previously undiagnosed heart condition which caused an early retirement from football. The example was used because it happened to the same club, within the last year – they saw a player value… Read more »

Shaun

Lokonga is not what we need and would not get into the palace , hammers or Everton 1st 11 defo cannot win the league with him starting. Just the truth

Tom

“Tom, take a look how Southampton have managed using the same policy”

Shaun, I did.
The only time Southampton sold three nailed on starters was in 2016\17 season when they sold Mane, Pelle, and Wanyama.
The next season they went from 8th in the table to 17 narrowly surviving the drop.

Hardly a pattern Brighton want to follow.

Marko

So you you make a comparison to a player who had to retire due to a heart defect to illustrate what that Brighton should sell Caceido before anything happens to him? You think that’s a good point to make.

Horrendous flip flopper by the way. Went from Brighton saying that he’s not for sale and we should respect their wishes to Brighton should sell him if they know what’s good for them. You’re all over the place man

Dissenter

Marko
It’s called a change of opinion, a lot less than you saying Nkettiah was shit for two years then changing your mind when the obvious hit you in the face.
Many of us were skeptical about Arteta and are now happy to say we were wrong.

TheBayingMob

Brighton aren’t letting Caicedo go and I can understand their stance. Arsenal need to move on someone as Sambi is not the answer, certainly not at the moment. Now the worst and what we expected has happened it’s time to see if Edu really does have a plan b or c …

Josip Skoblar

Rabiot from Juve? He can play as a defensive midfielder and also as an attacking player. He creates chances and scores goals. He just had a great world cup.

FoxInTheBox

Seriously… curious to know what’s plan b and plan c? Even Patino cannot help right? Can he?

Tielemans? Can he help?

Tony2

Afternoon guys. My God I hope the news that my son just showed me. From a twitter account (know alot is bs) some1 announced TP out for 6 weeks. Fuck me please let it not be true

Batistuta

Whole thing seems so scatter gun and unplanned. Also hate the whole media statements like that from the player.

What exactly was the plan with this one? What are rhe options if Brighton refuse to sell?

Surely we are not hoping Partey doesnt break down or that Lokonga bless him just doesn’t cut it for me will fill in especially with El Neny out

dSidstathopoulos

The claim that Partey got a rib injury is ridiculous and does not add up. Most likely his crusty hammies got triggered running after Rashford

LoveSausage

If it’s true that Brighton are asking for 90M, we should just let Big Man Todd do his thing and do a deal for Zubimendi. This is getting fucking ridiculous.

FoxInTheBox

90M is a Chelsea deal. Let that pass.

TallestTiz

Partey out for 6 weeks?

WTF

FoxInTheBox

Edu and Arteta shd not have left the partey alternative so late. Why not Tielemans? Is he not good enough anymore?

Johng

If true that is our worst nightmare come true

FoxInTheBox

Worst nightmares always come true

Tony2

As I say a twitter account so just scaremongering (hope) nothing from the official Arsenal website or anyone connected with The Arsenal. Total bulcrap I as all of us hope

Positive pete

Here we go again.Brighton have seen what the Shaktar Gangsters did & will probably mirror the tactics.Waiting for Fat Boehly to squeeze himself into the taxi with the reqd readies.Brighton know the Chavs will pay £80 million easy peasy & so will wait for the taxi to arrive.
In the meantime Caicedo will be offered the sun,moon & stars by the Chavs which will persuade him to ditch us.The precedent has been set already with Muddy boy.

Positive pete

Just go & pay the release fee for ZubamendiCould be £20/30 million cheaper.plan B.

Buckagh

Tony2

Who knows, but that is just pure speculation,
He is due an MRI tomorrow or Monday so just hold on before you start these fucking disaster stories

Tony2

Hey don’t shoot the messenger. I’m with you and don’t want it to be true and I’ll post no more on the subject and just like all of us will wait until the scan

Leftside

Thomas Partey is expected to be fit against Everton. Initial tests have shown no serious injury. Reports,
@JackRosser_
.

TR7

Since Santi Cazorla left there has never been an Arsenal player as influential as Thomas Partey. This season we have lost 4 games and Partey either didn’t play/start/complete 90 mins in those games.

Wicked Willy

I think it’s time we considered bringing Patino back and throwing him in at the deep end. The precocious ones usually do quite well when given the responsibility.

Either that, or one of our fullbacks needs to cover.

Guns of SF

Seems like Caceido is told now to stay away from training until Feb 1 when the window closes. Seems like a punishment for his twitter statement yesterday and to avoid any more drama around the team.

Who is our plan B? We have only days now to find cover

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