Tom still weirdly obsessed and chirping with Nigel mentions.
Nobody cares.
I suggest learning about football, instead of reading twitter and regurgitating other people's opinions here and disagreeing with knowledgeable grovers...
I love Timber as a wildcard or inverted, attacking FB...
Just remember I warned you all at the beginning of last season - Timber is not a good central defender. Just passable for a CB in Eredivisie. His stats would translate to very bad in the premier league as a pure defender.
Where was he on Uniteds first goal yesterday? Good luck finding him on the long ball, because he was way out of frame for a CB with the kid Heaven all alone.... in the RIGHT side of defence.
I hope Arteta gets this Timber at RCB experiment out of his system now, before the games count.
It's pure stupidity to have White on the pitch and leave a liability in CB instead of moving White to CB.. where he's probably the best English CB, with just a small argument for John Stones.
People do this everytime with Jesus. Havertz is our main striker now. Jesus is all this, plays well then give it time you will be calling for another striker.
Jesus even when he was younger and in City couldn't score 15 goals in the league in a season. We should accept our loss and forget all this mental gymnastics
I understand but Arteta struggles to rotate. I saw a tweet saying we were 2nd to last for rotation last season in the league.
Our front 3 will be like last season Martinelli Havertz Saka.
Can Arteta handle Jesus unhappy and coming off the bench? Arteta was being smart about substitution of keepers yet Ramsdele played less than 10 games last season.
Same problem I see with this Calafori signing. If he is signed as a left center back then will he bench big Gab. Or will he sign as a left back upsetting Zinchenko?
I didn’t say we got a trophy for finishing 2nd. I was simply responding to your continuous negativity pretty much every time you post.
Today is no different. Your narrative is to try and paint United in a better light than us wtf! Ask any United fan and they’d swap our squad for theirs in an instant. Winning the FA cup is always enjoyable but United were incredibly fortunate with their draw to get to the final They admittedly played well in the final but still why try and paint a false picture of comparative’success’.
It’s your right to express your opinions but don’t be shocked if you get a similar response to mine.
Calafiori is a nailed-on starter, and currently walks into LB. We’ll also see him at LCB rotation. Not sure people understand just how fucking good he is. Give it a few seasons and he’s taking big Gabi’s spot for sure, maybe earlier if big G doesn’t maintain his form from last season.
I'm still stunned from Emiratesstroller ranking Onana with Raya. Really bad view of your own player.
Show some respect and watch how he calms our entire defense and midfielders. Don't don't be impressed by Onana kicking long bullets (straight out for opponents goal kicks).
The Ramsdale situation is tricky, and Arsenal are rightly playing it cool, setting a high asking price for England's back up keeper, and PFA keeper of the year the season before last.
Ramsdale doesn't like lack of playing time, of course, but word is he has been talking about it freely, and cleaned out his locker at the end of the season, which is a big no-no.
That will make it harder for him to get his move anywhere, because if he's stropping even a little, teams will low-ball us. Chelsea literally had to pull Sanchez yesterday he was so bad. Ramsdale MUCH better than flop Onana. Not even close.
So this is where Ramsdale, like his dad, is behaving stupidly.
He stays as the best second choice keeper in the league. Period.
If the RIGHT offer comes in, we sell, and pick up the Spanish keeper talked about as a new number 2.
Stop fretting until then, and enjoy Raya, who's an excellent keeper for our game.
Rich-- had to go find this recent article from The Athletic-- which explains why teams are signing so many backup goalkeepers. Not sure having five on the books is an impediment anymore.
It was mentioned on the last podcast but as with Pedro I’m concerned about going into a new season with our no 2 keeper being a Wolves no hoper. I must confess I’ve never seen him play or even heard of him but if his price is less than £1m (we apparently bid £300k) then it seems fairly obvious he is no back up for a club of our status now
I’d prefer to promote Hein although that isn’t our best answer either
If Ram goes then I hope we can target a better option somewhere
Bentley ticks the homegrown box (inexpensively)-- and also played in the youth ranks for us. Imagine his distribution is decent if we're considering him.
Hein has fairly solid skills. Though he's iffy at chipping the ball over the first line of defense into space. He's put at least four balls out of play in these two games.
Exactly right. Just a really smart signing that makes a lot of sense. Doesn’t raise the ceiling but raises the floor. He’s also available and only gonna cost sub 30m. It’s an opportunity signing.
He’s a 6/8 that bolsters the squad in a really important way. Great backup for Rice, can also play alongside him and others.
He’s not a signing for the future but he’s ready now and with the right age and experience and physical profile to cover the older two this season and the next few years while we wait for academy players to develop and/or a big first-team signing.
“He looks really good, he looks really sharp. He’s changed a lot of things over the summer and he’s come back in top condition again. When you have that baseline, other things can be built but without that foundation we don’t have a player and he needs to be in that condition to get the best out of him. He’s realised that and I’m really happy with what he’s shown today again. You can see by the way he looks, the way he’s moving and you can see in his eyes that there’s a spark there.”
Hinting at something here, maybe more to the lack of form than just injuries? ‘Baseline condition’ and ‘he realised that’ and ‘changed a lot of things over the summer and has come back in top condition’.
I do wonder what he means. Hopefully we see the best of him this season, because we certainly didn’t last season when he was so frustrating to watch.
It wouldn't surprise me if Jesus was a bit lazy last season with his injuries, he wasn't putting in 100% effort and just half assed it when he came back from injury. I presume Jesus has put his head down the past couple of months and got serious again about training, or at least that what I hope Arteta means.
Last season Arsenal finished 29 points ahead of Man Utd. Can you see them closing the gap between the two clubs this season?
Frankly I don't see any players at United currently getting into our first team? There may be perhaps one or two who are rated on par with players in our starting lineup.
Agree with a lot of what you’re saying, their injuries were really quite bad, anyone would struggle. But I’d argue that United’s main issues were tactical and coaching - they were playing a brand of football that was completely chaotic, reliant on players to create moments, with no clear defensive plan.
Their system is the main problem, and a manager that refuses to accept any responsibility - he’s either scapegoating his own players or lying about how well they are playing (‘one of the most dynamic teams in the EPL’) or making the same ridiculous excuses (Arsenal ‘offside’ that was factually correct call but somehow still a gripe for him). The guy is completely delusional. I can’t imagine how painful it must be to be a utd supporter.
The underlying metrics for utd last season were absolutely abysmal in almost every way that can be measured. I cbf finding them all but just looking at xP expected points had them finishing 16th in the table.
You’re ranking Onana and Raya together !? Can’t get over it the bad press Raya gets on here. WC is perhaps overused but certainly he’s the next level down and top Prem class. Onana nowhere near
Timber was out for most of the season and Partey came back only in last
month. Jesus and Tomiyasu also suffered injuries.
That does not change my view that there is not a single player at Man Utd
who would be guaranteed a place in our starting lineup.
Bluntly would Hojlund make the bench let alone the starting lineup at CF ahead of Havertz and a fit Jesus? I think not. Both these two are not prolific
goalscorers, but they are much better footballers.
To be honest I am not watching these pre season games. This is a time to have a break from football.
As far as I am concerned it is "holiday season" and of course there is a lot of other activities such as the Olympics going on. Personally I don't watch the football.
It is of course an opportunity for Arteta to make an assessment of his current first team resources
and of course a small number of Academy players to see whether any are ready to get promotion.
For the first time in many years Arsenal do not have to offload a lot of "deadwood". We have on the
books only two players aged 30+ in Partey who may well leave in the current transfer window plus
Jorginho who has leadership qualities which are of some value.
Smith-Rowe is leaving and that leaves probably two or three other players like Nelson and Nketiah
to prove if they have a future at Arsenal. Somehow the cast for Nketiah is set. He is a centre forward who can't score goals at first team level. It is now only a matter of how to offload him.
Reading the opinions of Pedro and some of the other posters it is clear that the only academy player likely to get promotion to first team squad this coming season is Nwaneri. Lewis-Skully and
Heaven are getting some game time, but promotion seems unlikely.
Frankly I think that it is crystal clear that Arsenal need to focus on four positions in this transfer
window.
First who will be the second and third string goalkeepers? Will Ramsdale and Hein leave?
Second who will be our left back this season? I think that it is likely to be Calafiori. Timber has been
playing on the right side of defence.
We are light in midfield. Odegaard and Rice will obviously start there. Who will be the third starter?
There are still in my mind questions whether Havertz will revert back to midfield. Nwaneri could
well replace Smith-Rowe on the bench.
Havertz is a very good player, but on the evidence of last season and his international performance
he is never going to be a prolific goal scoring centre forward. Finding a solution there has to still be
a priority.
Personally I don't have a problem with our wingers. Martinelli may have had an indifferent patch
last season, but I rate him as a brilliant player and of course Saka is a world class player. Trossard
has at least one more season with the club. So what we need to find is an understudy for Saka.
It’s always in the hands of the players, so show what you can do. Show that ambition, that determination, that quality and things will happen naturally. Tomorrow he’s going to train with us again and if he continues to play like that he’s going to play some minutes on Wednesday for sure.
- on Gabriel Martinelli hitting the ground running:
That’s the mentality of the team and individuals - one training session and he comes in and plays at that level. That means that he’s not coming here to get prepared, he’s come prepared to show where he is and that’s a very different approach and I loved it.
- on the thinking behind Timber and White’s positions:
Making one change and not two. It’s simple, and as well there is so much chemistry in that right unit. That relationship has been there for a long time and I believe at the moment that it’s better just to touch one thing.
- on Ayden Heaven’s reaction after Man Utd's goal:
Very impressive. At 17, I don’t know how many players are able to do that on a stage like this. He’s lost a duel against one of the strongest and fastest players in the world, it can happen, but the reaction afterwards, the composure, the quality, the body language that he had were all remarkable. I’m really happy with him.
Tom still weirdly obsessed and chirping with Nigel mentions.
Nobody cares.
I suggest learning about football, instead of reading twitter and regurgitating other people's opinions here and disagreeing with knowledgeable grovers...
All just to get noticed.
I love Timber as a wildcard or inverted, attacking FB...
Just remember I warned you all at the beginning of last season - Timber is not a good central defender. Just passable for a CB in Eredivisie. His stats would translate to very bad in the premier league as a pure defender.
Where was he on Uniteds first goal yesterday? Good luck finding him on the long ball, because he was way out of frame for a CB with the kid Heaven all alone.... in the RIGHT side of defence.
I hope Arteta gets this Timber at RCB experiment out of his system now, before the games count.
It's pure stupidity to have White on the pitch and leave a liability in CB instead of moving White to CB.. where he's probably the best English CB, with just a small argument for John Stones.
What the fuck is wrong with you guys putting Timber at CB when Nigel has warned you all about his deficiencies at that spot.
Fucking clowns.
Incredible reading the tabloids online.
UTD disaster. UTD lose, not one headline about Arsenal winning. Shocking how clicks drive the show
People do this everytime with Jesus. Havertz is our main striker now. Jesus is all this, plays well then give it time you will be calling for another striker.
Jesus even when he was younger and in City couldn't score 15 goals in the league in a season. We should accept our loss and forget all this mental gymnastics
This is reasonable common sense. I'll be cheering for him, even if I'm a little down on him and prefer to sell.
I understand but Arteta struggles to rotate. I saw a tweet saying we were 2nd to last for rotation last season in the league.
Our front 3 will be like last season Martinelli Havertz Saka.
Can Arteta handle Jesus unhappy and coming off the bench? Arteta was being smart about substitution of keepers yet Ramsdele played less than 10 games last season.
Same problem I see with this Calafori signing. If he is signed as a left center back then will he bench big Gab. Or will he sign as a left back upsetting Zinchenko?
I guess we will see.
I prefer to focus on our 2nd place finish than the '2nd to last for rotation' stat.
Didn't know we get trophy for finishing 2nd
I didn’t say we got a trophy for finishing 2nd. I was simply responding to your continuous negativity pretty much every time you post.
Today is no different. Your narrative is to try and paint United in a better light than us wtf! Ask any United fan and they’d swap our squad for theirs in an instant. Winning the FA cup is always enjoyable but United were incredibly fortunate with their draw to get to the final They admittedly played well in the final but still why try and paint a false picture of comparative’success’.
It’s your right to express your opinions but don’t be shocked if you get a similar response to mine.
Calafiori is a nailed-on starter, and currently walks into LB. We’ll also see him at LCB rotation. Not sure people understand just how fucking good he is. Give it a few seasons and he’s taking big Gabi’s spot for sure, maybe earlier if big G doesn’t maintain his form from last season.
I don't know how good he is, not watched him play and most comp I saw briefly show his attacking plays not defensive ones. I guess time will tell.
Calafiori has apparently passed his medical and he’s on his way to LA. Will sign his 5 year contract there - hopefully that’s tomorrow
I'm still stunned from Emiratesstroller ranking Onana with Raya. Really bad view of your own player.
Show some respect and watch how he calms our entire defense and midfielders. Don't don't be impressed by Onana kicking long bullets (straight out for opponents goal kicks).
The Ramsdale situation is tricky, and Arsenal are rightly playing it cool, setting a high asking price for England's back up keeper, and PFA keeper of the year the season before last.
Ramsdale doesn't like lack of playing time, of course, but word is he has been talking about it freely, and cleaned out his locker at the end of the season, which is a big no-no.
That will make it harder for him to get his move anywhere, because if he's stropping even a little, teams will low-ball us. Chelsea literally had to pull Sanchez yesterday he was so bad. Ramsdale MUCH better than flop Onana. Not even close.
So this is where Ramsdale, like his dad, is behaving stupidly.
He stays as the best second choice keeper in the league. Period.
If the RIGHT offer comes in, we sell, and pick up the Spanish keeper talked about as a new number 2.
Stop fretting until then, and enjoy Raya, who's an excellent keeper for our game.
That would be my view too - unless someone pays full MV for Ram we’re under no pressure to sell
And yes he too is much better than Onana
Rich-- had to go find this recent article from The Athletic-- which explains why teams are signing so many backup goalkeepers. Not sure having five on the books is an impediment anymore.
Non-paywalled link: https://archive.is/ywtZA
I suspect that the Fabian Ruiz rumors are to send a message to Sociedad and Merino.
It doesn’t make sense to sign a 28 year old on a one year loan with obligation to buy. They are trying to check Sociedad’s ego.
I hope it’s because we are genuinely trying to buy Ruiz in preference to Merino. I’d have both if funds permit
Yeah, remember one is replacing Elneny, and unreliable Partey in his last year.
Lots of players returned back for preseason in excellent shape
Odegaard looks like he trained everyday of the summer break, his boyish looks are gone.
Jesus looks angry and hungry to make a point
Timber looks devastating
A streak of excellence is running through that squad.
We are winning the league this season
It was mentioned on the last podcast but as with Pedro I’m concerned about going into a new season with our no 2 keeper being a Wolves no hoper. I must confess I’ve never seen him play or even heard of him but if his price is less than £1m (we apparently bid £300k) then it seems fairly obvious he is no back up for a club of our status now
I’d prefer to promote Hein although that isn’t our best answer either
If Ram goes then I hope we can target a better option somewhere
If that is the case then I would be happy with that. It’s Bentley being no 2 that would bother me
Bentley ticks the homegrown box (inexpensively)-- and also played in the youth ranks for us. Imagine his distribution is decent if we're considering him.
Hein has fairly solid skills. Though he's iffy at chipping the ball over the first line of defense into space. He's put at least four balls out of play in these two games.
So is Merino an 8 or a 4...just don't ever want to see Havertz in midfield anymore
Exactly right. Just a really smart signing that makes a lot of sense. Doesn’t raise the ceiling but raises the floor. He’s also available and only gonna cost sub 30m. It’s an opportunity signing.
He’s a 6/8 that bolsters the squad in a really important way. Great backup for Rice, can also play alongside him and others.
He’s not a signing for the future but he’s ready now and with the right age and experience and physical profile to cover the older two this season and the next few years while we wait for academy players to develop and/or a big first-team signing.
Really interesting comments from Arteta about GJ:
“He looks really good, he looks really sharp. He’s changed a lot of things over the summer and he’s come back in top condition again. When you have that baseline, other things can be built but without that foundation we don’t have a player and he needs to be in that condition to get the best out of him. He’s realised that and I’m really happy with what he’s shown today again. You can see by the way he looks, the way he’s moving and you can see in his eyes that there’s a spark there.”
Hinting at something here, maybe more to the lack of form than just injuries? ‘Baseline condition’ and ‘he realised that’ and ‘changed a lot of things over the summer and has come back in top condition’.
I do wonder what he means. Hopefully we see the best of him this season, because we certainly didn’t last season when he was so frustrating to watch.
It wouldn't surprise me if Jesus was a bit lazy last season with his injuries, he wasn't putting in 100% effort and just half assed it when he came back from injury. I presume Jesus has put his head down the past couple of months and got serious again about training, or at least that what I hope Arteta means.
Last season Arsenal finished 29 points ahead of Man Utd. Can you see them closing the gap between the two clubs this season?
Frankly I don't see any players at United currently getting into our first team? There may be perhaps one or two who are rated on par with players in our starting lineup.
Agree with a lot of what you’re saying, their injuries were really quite bad, anyone would struggle. But I’d argue that United’s main issues were tactical and coaching - they were playing a brand of football that was completely chaotic, reliant on players to create moments, with no clear defensive plan.
Their system is the main problem, and a manager that refuses to accept any responsibility - he’s either scapegoating his own players or lying about how well they are playing (‘one of the most dynamic teams in the EPL’) or making the same ridiculous excuses (Arsenal ‘offside’ that was factually correct call but somehow still a gripe for him). The guy is completely delusional. I can’t imagine how painful it must be to be a utd supporter.
The underlying metrics for utd last season were absolutely abysmal in almost every way that can be measured. I cbf finding them all but just looking at xP expected points had them finishing 16th in the table.
Rich
I am looking at the calibre and performance of the players and not at the excuses.
Onana and Raya may be on par. Neither is world class.
I don't think that a single defender at Man Utd would get into our starting backline.
The same would be the case in midfield.
The only player in attack who when on form might compete in our attack is Rashford
if on form which was not the case last season.
Northbanker has it right. Speaking of Raya in the same paragraph as Onana is a football blog war crime.
Sort yourself out.
You’re ranking Onana and Raya together !? Can’t get over it the bad press Raya gets on here. WC is perhaps overused but certainly he’s the next level down and top Prem class. Onana nowhere near
Arsenal had also injuries.
Timber was out for most of the season and Partey came back only in last
month. Jesus and Tomiyasu also suffered injuries.
That does not change my view that there is not a single player at Man Utd
who would be guaranteed a place in our starting lineup.
Bluntly would Hojlund make the bench let alone the starting lineup at CF ahead of Havertz and a fit Jesus? I think not. Both these two are not prolific
goalscorers, but they are much better footballers.
With nice options, I'd like to see Arteta finally rotate better. And sub EARLIER.. especially in the case of Saka, Ødegaard.
It's been my only consistent criticism about Mikel in the years he's been manager.
I hope we give much more game time to Ethan Nwaneri this coming season, lots of games to give him enough game time that isn't 4/5 mins cameos
I think we will. He hasn’t looked out of place at all. Any time on the pitch is good for him and us.
To be honest I am not watching these pre season games. This is a time to have a break from football.
As far as I am concerned it is "holiday season" and of course there is a lot of other activities such as the Olympics going on. Personally I don't watch the football.
It is of course an opportunity for Arteta to make an assessment of his current first team resources
and of course a small number of Academy players to see whether any are ready to get promotion.
For the first time in many years Arsenal do not have to offload a lot of "deadwood". We have on the
books only two players aged 30+ in Partey who may well leave in the current transfer window plus
Jorginho who has leadership qualities which are of some value.
Smith-Rowe is leaving and that leaves probably two or three other players like Nelson and Nketiah
to prove if they have a future at Arsenal. Somehow the cast for Nketiah is set. He is a centre forward who can't score goals at first team level. It is now only a matter of how to offload him.
Reading the opinions of Pedro and some of the other posters it is clear that the only academy player likely to get promotion to first team squad this coming season is Nwaneri. Lewis-Skully and
Heaven are getting some game time, but promotion seems unlikely.
Frankly I think that it is crystal clear that Arsenal need to focus on four positions in this transfer
window.
First who will be the second and third string goalkeepers? Will Ramsdale and Hein leave?
Second who will be our left back this season? I think that it is likely to be Calafiori. Timber has been
playing on the right side of defence.
We are light in midfield. Odegaard and Rice will obviously start there. Who will be the third starter?
There are still in my mind questions whether Havertz will revert back to midfield. Nwaneri could
well replace Smith-Rowe on the bench.
Havertz is a very good player, but on the evidence of last season and his international performance
he is never going to be a prolific goal scoring centre forward. Finding a solution there has to still be
a priority.
Personally I don't have a problem with our wingers. Martinelli may have had an indifferent patch
last season, but I rate him as a brilliant player and of course Saka is a world class player. Trossard
has at least one more season with the club. So what we need to find is an understudy for Saka.
Arteta's answers at his press conference -
-on Ethan Nwaneri’s display:
It’s always in the hands of the players, so show what you can do. Show that ambition, that determination, that quality and things will happen naturally. Tomorrow he’s going to train with us again and if he continues to play like that he’s going to play some minutes on Wednesday for sure.
- on Gabriel Martinelli hitting the ground running:
That’s the mentality of the team and individuals - one training session and he comes in and plays at that level. That means that he’s not coming here to get prepared, he’s come prepared to show where he is and that’s a very different approach and I loved it.
- on the thinking behind Timber and White’s positions:
Making one change and not two. It’s simple, and as well there is so much chemistry in that right unit. That relationship has been there for a long time and I believe at the moment that it’s better just to touch one thing.
- on Ayden Heaven’s reaction after Man Utd's goal:
Very impressive. At 17, I don’t know how many players are able to do that on a stage like this. He’s lost a duel against one of the strongest and fastest players in the world, it can happen, but the reaction afterwards, the composure, the quality, the body language that he had were all remarkable. I’m really happy with him.
https://www.arsenal.com/news/every-word-artetas-post-man-utd-presser-0
United hires Van Nistleroy as EtH's assistant-- so he can be their interim manager come December-- until they can convince Southgate...
Almost too transparent.
Correct and hilarious. Unfortunate though since he’ll probably do a good job and makes it less likely that Southgate will join them.