Latest media player links escalate to the once decent Real Madrid ! Frankly, not sure what we *need* from there who can cut it in the PL?!
Bellingham may be ... he'd score and make final passes but would cost 100m+ even IF he moves.... nope to their back 4; front 3 less than inspiring, again, would cost the sky anyway.
Flair and decision making capability aside, whoever we buy this summer must have strengths, physique, and a bit of aggression /nastiness (on ptch) to match. Need to learn from the Lokonga and more so the Vieira failure. Where we are (been runner ups), no point buying small, frail PL wannabes. That said, happy that MLS and Nwaneri have these attributes !
It’s ridiculous that Newcastle’s goal was allowed despite inconclusive evidence, yet our goal against Palace was swiftly chalked off.
That gifted goal to Newcastle should never have stood as it violated about fifty different rules - offside, ball out of play, foul, handball… you name it.
If they had acted like proper humans, those two points might have been the difference between us winning the title or not.
That decision in the Newcastle game and not giving the foul in the penalty area by a Villa player on Jesus were scandalous.
If just one of these decisions had been made correctly, it would have been enough.
Supposedly we want to pay 50m for joules kounde of Barca
Can we pretty fucking please focus our resources FIRST on the priority weaknesses of our squad Jesus Christ
Defenders are the LAST positions we need to look at and whilst I don’t know how much money we have to spend I do know that 50m would be a solid fraction of it. Bad bad idea to lead into the window with this if it’s true. Hopefully it’s just the Sun doing its usual tabloid nonsense
If we have already done the groundwork on Zubi, Nico and one of Gyokeres and Sesko, what do you want us to do?
It's normal to work on all possibilities and options even if we end up not having to go for someone.
Plus, if we're bringing the above-mentioned players, they'll be about 50-60m each. Plenty of money left to get a few more players in.
We are one right-sided defender short in the absence of Tomiyasu who cannot be trusted. We should be looking at someone cause we need one. Partey playing 14 games at RB proves it and we've been lucky Saliba hasn't had any injuries and Timber is clocking more minutes than expected of a player coming back from an ACL rupture. We're actually short there and probably why we're interested in Huijsen who can play either side.
I don't rate Kounde though. Timber is clear. White probably as well. Saliba is miles ahead obviously.
The difference is rap you are assuming the ground work is done on those players and I’m saying I’ll believe it when I see them on the .com holding up a shirt with their name on it
Sesko is supposedly interesting a few clubs. Nothing concrete done
Zubi has a gentleman’s agreement which is worth nothing at all without a contract. Meanwhile he’s being linked to Madrid recently. If their interest materializes does he choose arsenal or Madrid? We don’t know but don’t bet against Madrid
Williams reports suggest he’s not sure if he wants to leave at all this summer. Nothing concrete at all
We don’t know what conversations and plans are happening behind the scenes, but we can only comment on what we can see and patterns we’ve seen happen before. And what I see is none of the priority positions taken care of and us supposedly willing to put 50m+ on a defender. That report (if it’s actually true which I don’t know) gives me PTSD of Arsenal doing what we love to do which is focus again and again on defense even when we have gaping holes elsewhere then we finish a window having missed out on the positions we need more.
If we have a starting 11 CF, LW and long term 6 signed, as well as a backup keeper, then signing defenders is fine.
But it will be entirely our fault if we start next season with a load of good defenders but we ran out of money and time to get the players we *really* needed during the window
Tough to imagine we could do more about Zubi who we've been courting for about 2 years straight. I expect that he's joining us.
Gyokeres and Sesko is mostly about who we pick of the two and if we decide to pull the trigger I doubt either of them would say no to us. The only clubs that could tempt them with money are Chavs and Manure but I doubt either of them are that stupid to join clubs that are years behind us.
Liverpool will be in the market for a striker as well and are probably our only real competition for transfers.
Nico doesn't have many options out there that will pay him 250-300k. Both Barca and Madrid are stacked at LW unless Raphinha moves to the middle but Barca are having troubles registering players so yeah.
But 1 defender should be on the agenda as well. Just not Kounde please.
Some will say they already had the title won, but that was their first loss of the season ... no way they didnt care about the result. Invincible season gone.
A piece in The Athletic earlier this week-- covering how the Kroenkes and KSE (and a new entity KPE) will be addressing upgrades to Emirates Stadium-- as well as coordinating sponsorships across the KSE/KPE family of clubs/franchises.
Anyone know if Olmo is avail? I know Barca are knee deep in financial shit. If he is, that is someone who I would take in a heartbeat to take over Ode' spot. Much more robust player and very talented. Spanish too so Mike likes that
Ashburton Army simply need to take this knock back for their plans on the chin.
I think we can be fairly certain the club has something special planned for Tuesday regarding a display of some kind. First CL semi final in over 15 years, let’s be real who knows when we will host another one. Something will be done for it.
I’m already nervous as anything and feeling a little sick in the stomach about the PSG game and it’s still a few days away. We haven’t been here in so long, I’m gutted Partey can’t play given the form he is in and the difference he makes to our team, I just want us to do ourselves justice.
Rather be here (CL semi) than joy obviously but now there is the other side of the coin! We have never won CL, all our biggest rivals have and we desperately need this. As far as I am concerned if we do it this year then there is absolutely no debate to be had whatsoever (there barely is one now) about who the kings of London are. And I genuinely think it would lead to at least one league title in the next 3/4 years.
There’s such a buzz, such an excitement brewing but also a deeply ingrained fear, it’s maybe our best opportunity that we may have for a long time as we’ve already knocked out the holders who are the biggest concern to any team at the start of the CL year. if we fail we’re back to being bantered by Chelsea, even Forest and Villa fans about the lack of big ears in our trophy cabinet.
Funny how it’s possible to be simultaneously excited and pumped up and also equally terrified of a football match.
It’s being polite to call Aluko average to be fair. Sbe’s an awful ‘pundit’, frequently caught out citing nonsense and almost never offering anything remotely insightful.
A topic for the people opposing the potential extension of Partey.
Partey was not expected to be this available or physically improved this season. The plan was to have a pair of Rice and Merino.
The tables have turned so dramatically, that Merino has basically started in midfield only when Partey was being rested or when he had to play RB (14 games at RB for Partey this season is unbelievable).
Partey has not played in 5 games this season - 1 due to a small muscle injury and 4 being rested - once in Carabao and 3 times in recent weeks - the return leg vs PSV, and against Everton and Ipswich in preparation for Real Madrid.
He's currently on 47 apps this season.
If you aren't sure if Arteta rates and trusts Partey, I hope the above has made the opinion of our manager on the topic very clear.
That's to prevent any potential guessing on Berta's arrival being the trigger for opening talks over an extension with the Ghanaian.
If it was up to Arteta, we would be renewing Partey's deal and I think it's safe to say that our manager is the driving force behind the 180 we've done and the change of plans in regards to our #5.
Th ease with which Partey consistently make passes that break lines and under press still amaze me, no one cones close. Glad that MLS shows some talent on that front but not nearly enough at this stage to replace Partey
Arteta said in a post match early this season that the sorts of Partey injuries would take a year to fix and I thought it's BS ...apparently not! It'd be fantastic if we'd tie up a 2 year extension as some pundit , incl C Watts, report
It doesn't. The holders of the tournament, in addition to the champions of the top leagues, as well as clubs with high club coefficient ranking are placed in Pot 1. The clubs that finish from second to fourth or fifth in their leagues, that don't have a high club coefficient, are distributed across Pots 2, 3, and 4 based on their club coefficients.
Currently the club coefficient is either the sum of the points earned by the club in the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League over the previous five seasons or 20% of the club's association coefficient over the same period, whichever coefficient is higher.
No. The performances in European competitions over the last 5 seasons are counted and we have a 98 total score - 23 (20/21) + 0 + 17 + 22 + 36 (this season).
That makes our UEFA club coefficient of 98. We were rank 22 in Europe in coefficient, now with the semi final we're rank 11. Quite far from the truth but we're climbing.
When Forest qualify for European football this season, because they have zero participations in European tournaments recently and they'll have 0 points using the previous math. They will instead use 20% of the club's association - which is England, and England have a coefficient of 112.5 over the last 5 seasons so Forest will use 20% of that which is 22.5. Club association score takes into account of each association's performance in European competitions from 2020–21 to 2024–25.
Thanks for explaining. On another note just read that league position does affect the merit payments from the premier league, last season each higher position accounted for an extra 2.8 million apparently with the champions getting 50 mil and the bottom team about 3 mil.
It's interesting how consistently available and healthy players like White, Odegaard, Saka, Havertz, Gabriel, and Merino have all suffered significant injuries in the same season.
Meanwhile, players who have had issues in recent seasons, such as Partey, Saliba, and Timber (though perhaps Timber doesn't belong in this category, as his injury was a single, major one), have managed to stay healthy. Tierney too, though that may be more due to the fact that he has hardly been playing.
It almost feels like a cyclical phenomenon, where eventually everyone will experience injuries—it's just a matter of when. However, once it happens, perhaps you're somewhat immune to it for a while. This could be because, during recovery, injured players get the opportunity to rest and rebuild their physical condition. In the meantime, their bodies get a much-needed break, avoiding the stress of being pushed to the limit almost every other day.
Of course, the above doesn't seem to be valid for the likes of Tomiyasu, Zinchenko, Jesus and Calafiori.
That is a very plausible theory. So no counting on Rice's availability next season and Raya should have had two injury free seasons which increases his chances of unavailability.
I think Partey has retired from internationals which if so is another reason to keep him on.
The Madrid games, the best ever . But..now now through the other end of the telescope...RM seemed off and half asleep in many instances over the two games, so it gives the thought, would we be where we are now if we had played Barca or Bayern? I don't know..definitely maybe? perhaps?.. but still plagued by our self- inflcted injury situation.. that is really going to be exploited by le Hot Club de Paris. But we are the Gunners..come on and sod it! .we are going to do it! A very good shout about Wrighty Pedro...woke madness against one of the nicest of guys..but as you say, best let it go.
Is anyone about?
New post.
Latest media player links escalate to the once decent Real Madrid ! Frankly, not sure what we *need* from there who can cut it in the PL?!
Bellingham may be ... he'd score and make final passes but would cost 100m+ even IF he moves.... nope to their back 4; front 3 less than inspiring, again, would cost the sky anyway.
Flair and decision making capability aside, whoever we buy this summer must have strengths, physique, and a bit of aggression /nastiness (on ptch) to match. Need to learn from the Lokonga and more so the Vieira failure. Where we are (been runner ups), no point buying small, frail PL wannabes. That said, happy that MLS and Nwaneri have these attributes !
I'd pick Rodrygo over any player in their front 3 to come to Arsenal. Kid reminds me of Saka.
It’s ridiculous that Newcastle’s goal was allowed despite inconclusive evidence, yet our goal against Palace was swiftly chalked off.
That gifted goal to Newcastle should never have stood as it violated about fifty different rules - offside, ball out of play, foul, handball… you name it.
If they had acted like proper humans, those two points might have been the difference between us winning the title or not.
That decision in the Newcastle game and not giving the foul in the penalty area by a Villa player on Jesus were scandalous.
If just one of these decisions had been made correctly, it would have been enough.
Until PL clubs would unite and speak out against Pgmole, this would unlikely change, 😥
Supposedly we want to pay 50m for joules kounde of Barca
Can we pretty fucking please focus our resources FIRST on the priority weaknesses of our squad Jesus Christ
Defenders are the LAST positions we need to look at and whilst I don’t know how much money we have to spend I do know that 50m would be a solid fraction of it. Bad bad idea to lead into the window with this if it’s true. Hopefully it’s just the Sun doing its usual tabloid nonsense
Nope, Nope, and Nope
If we have already done the groundwork on Zubi, Nico and one of Gyokeres and Sesko, what do you want us to do?
It's normal to work on all possibilities and options even if we end up not having to go for someone.
Plus, if we're bringing the above-mentioned players, they'll be about 50-60m each. Plenty of money left to get a few more players in.
We are one right-sided defender short in the absence of Tomiyasu who cannot be trusted. We should be looking at someone cause we need one. Partey playing 14 games at RB proves it and we've been lucky Saliba hasn't had any injuries and Timber is clocking more minutes than expected of a player coming back from an ACL rupture. We're actually short there and probably why we're interested in Huijsen who can play either side.
I don't rate Kounde though. Timber is clear. White probably as well. Saliba is miles ahead obviously.
I rate Kounde, but I don't see him as a player I'd like at arsenal...
The difference is rap you are assuming the ground work is done on those players and I’m saying I’ll believe it when I see them on the .com holding up a shirt with their name on it
Sesko is supposedly interesting a few clubs. Nothing concrete done
Zubi has a gentleman’s agreement which is worth nothing at all without a contract. Meanwhile he’s being linked to Madrid recently. If their interest materializes does he choose arsenal or Madrid? We don’t know but don’t bet against Madrid
Williams reports suggest he’s not sure if he wants to leave at all this summer. Nothing concrete at all
We don’t know what conversations and plans are happening behind the scenes, but we can only comment on what we can see and patterns we’ve seen happen before. And what I see is none of the priority positions taken care of and us supposedly willing to put 50m+ on a defender. That report (if it’s actually true which I don’t know) gives me PTSD of Arsenal doing what we love to do which is focus again and again on defense even when we have gaping holes elsewhere then we finish a window having missed out on the positions we need more.
If we have a starting 11 CF, LW and long term 6 signed, as well as a backup keeper, then signing defenders is fine.
But it will be entirely our fault if we start next season with a load of good defenders but we ran out of money and time to get the players we *really* needed during the window
It's blind hope but it is what it is.
Tough to imagine we could do more about Zubi who we've been courting for about 2 years straight. I expect that he's joining us.
Gyokeres and Sesko is mostly about who we pick of the two and if we decide to pull the trigger I doubt either of them would say no to us. The only clubs that could tempt them with money are Chavs and Manure but I doubt either of them are that stupid to join clubs that are years behind us.
Liverpool will be in the market for a striker as well and are probably our only real competition for transfers.
Nico doesn't have many options out there that will pay him 250-300k. Both Barca and Madrid are stacked at LW unless Raphinha moves to the middle but Barca are having troubles registering players so yeah.
But 1 defender should be on the agenda as well. Just not Kounde please.
PSG losing 3:1 at home to Nice with their full squad
surely their collective minds had landed in London during the game , no different to the way we played palace
That one's over.
PSG 1 : 3 Nice.
PSG 31 shots / 12 on target
Nice 7 shots / 3 on target
Someone else was looking toward Tuesday too soon!
Some will say they already had the title won, but that was their first loss of the season ... no way they didnt care about the result. Invincible season gone.
A piece in The Athletic earlier this week-- covering how the Kroenkes and KSE (and a new entity KPE) will be addressing upgrades to Emirates Stadium-- as well as coordinating sponsorships across the KSE/KPE family of clubs/franchises.
https://archive.is/IrEp0
This could be massive.... if they could technically "consolidate" the sponsorship dollar pools, means quantum leap to FFP etc limits !!!
Anyone know if Olmo is avail? I know Barca are knee deep in financial shit. If he is, that is someone who I would take in a heartbeat to take over Ode' spot. Much more robust player and very talented. Spanish too so Mike likes that
Injury Crock... Arsenal won't touch him at all. "PTSD".
No more injury prone buys
Do hope Raya does not have anymore come dancing moments around his box Tuesday ,the excellent Mateta ( sign him ) showed him right up with that lob.
Yeah, Raya must not create another open goal situation, whether defenders fuck up or not
Mateta is a physical beast. Would take him for sure
I wouldn't. If we want to dominate Europe we don't get Mateta.
Ashburton Army simply need to take this knock back for their plans on the chin.
I think we can be fairly certain the club has something special planned for Tuesday regarding a display of some kind. First CL semi final in over 15 years, let’s be real who knows when we will host another one. Something will be done for it.
I’m already nervous as anything and feeling a little sick in the stomach about the PSG game and it’s still a few days away. We haven’t been here in so long, I’m gutted Partey can’t play given the form he is in and the difference he makes to our team, I just want us to do ourselves justice.
Rather be here (CL semi) than joy obviously but now there is the other side of the coin! We have never won CL, all our biggest rivals have and we desperately need this. As far as I am concerned if we do it this year then there is absolutely no debate to be had whatsoever (there barely is one now) about who the kings of London are. And I genuinely think it would lead to at least one league title in the next 3/4 years.
There’s such a buzz, such an excitement brewing but also a deeply ingrained fear, it’s maybe our best opportunity that we may have for a long time as we’ve already knocked out the holders who are the biggest concern to any team at the start of the CL year. if we fail we’re back to being bantered by Chelsea, even Forest and Villa fans about the lack of big ears in our trophy cabinet.
Funny how it’s possible to be simultaneously excited and pumped up and also equally terrified of a football match.
Can't believe we're going to sign Zubimendi when Carlos Baleba will likely be leaving Brighton this summer
How much?
Btw, not sure Zubimendi rumors are legit, hope not... Don't want players who don't like Arsenal to begin with, and this guy said it on record
Is he?
It’s being polite to call Aluko average to be fair. Sbe’s an awful ‘pundit’, frequently caught out citing nonsense and almost never offering anything remotely insightful.
Thick as mince she is.
A topic for the people opposing the potential extension of Partey.
Partey was not expected to be this available or physically improved this season. The plan was to have a pair of Rice and Merino.
The tables have turned so dramatically, that Merino has basically started in midfield only when Partey was being rested or when he had to play RB (14 games at RB for Partey this season is unbelievable).
Partey has not played in 5 games this season - 1 due to a small muscle injury and 4 being rested - once in Carabao and 3 times in recent weeks - the return leg vs PSV, and against Everton and Ipswich in preparation for Real Madrid.
He's currently on 47 apps this season.
If you aren't sure if Arteta rates and trusts Partey, I hope the above has made the opinion of our manager on the topic very clear.
That's to prevent any potential guessing on Berta's arrival being the trigger for opening talks over an extension with the Ghanaian.
If it was up to Arteta, we would be renewing Partey's deal and I think it's safe to say that our manager is the driving force behind the 180 we've done and the change of plans in regards to our #5.
Th ease with which Partey consistently make passes that break lines and under press still amaze me, no one cones close. Glad that MLS shows some talent on that front but not nearly enough at this stage to replace Partey
Arteta said in a post match early this season that the sorts of Partey injuries would take a year to fix and I thought it's BS ...apparently not! It'd be fantastic if we'd tie up a 2 year extension as some pundit , incl C Watts, report
Does finishing 2nd give any advantage for the ECL draw?
It doesn't. The holders of the tournament, in addition to the champions of the top leagues, as well as clubs with high club coefficient ranking are placed in Pot 1. The clubs that finish from second to fourth or fifth in their leagues, that don't have a high club coefficient, are distributed across Pots 2, 3, and 4 based on their club coefficients.
Currently the club coefficient is either the sum of the points earned by the club in the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League over the previous five seasons or 20% of the club's association coefficient over the same period, whichever coefficient is higher.
So finishing second improves our coefficient vs finishing 3rd right?
No. The performances in European competitions over the last 5 seasons are counted and we have a 98 total score - 23 (20/21) + 0 + 17 + 22 + 36 (this season).
That makes our UEFA club coefficient of 98. We were rank 22 in Europe in coefficient, now with the semi final we're rank 11. Quite far from the truth but we're climbing.
When Forest qualify for European football this season, because they have zero participations in European tournaments recently and they'll have 0 points using the previous math. They will instead use 20% of the club's association - which is England, and England have a coefficient of 112.5 over the last 5 seasons so Forest will use 20% of that which is 22.5. Club association score takes into account of each association's performance in European competitions from 2020–21 to 2024–25.
Thanks for explaining. On another note just read that league position does affect the merit payments from the premier league, last season each higher position accounted for an extra 2.8 million apparently with the champions getting 50 mil and the bottom team about 3 mil.
It's interesting how consistently available and healthy players like White, Odegaard, Saka, Havertz, Gabriel, and Merino have all suffered significant injuries in the same season.
Meanwhile, players who have had issues in recent seasons, such as Partey, Saliba, and Timber (though perhaps Timber doesn't belong in this category, as his injury was a single, major one), have managed to stay healthy. Tierney too, though that may be more due to the fact that he has hardly been playing.
It almost feels like a cyclical phenomenon, where eventually everyone will experience injuries—it's just a matter of when. However, once it happens, perhaps you're somewhat immune to it for a while. This could be because, during recovery, injured players get the opportunity to rest and rebuild their physical condition. In the meantime, their bodies get a much-needed break, avoiding the stress of being pushed to the limit almost every other day.
Of course, the above doesn't seem to be valid for the likes of Tomiyasu, Zinchenko, Jesus and Calafiori.
That is a very plausible theory. So no counting on Rice's availability next season and Raya should have had two injury free seasons which increases his chances of unavailability.
I think Partey has retired from internationals which if so is another reason to keep him on.
The Madrid games, the best ever . But..now now through the other end of the telescope...RM seemed off and half asleep in many instances over the two games, so it gives the thought, would we be where we are now if we had played Barca or Bayern? I don't know..definitely maybe? perhaps?.. but still plagued by our self- inflcted injury situation.. that is really going to be exploited by le Hot Club de Paris. But we are the Gunners..come on and sod it! .we are going to do it! A very good shout about Wrighty Pedro...woke madness against one of the nicest of guys..but as you say, best let it go.