128 Comments

On Saliba and why he wants to stay at Arsenal.

He's a gooner isn't he!

He's probably settled after a while in London too, got his barber, his mosque and local food house all nailed down.

He had to prove himself after a few loans and there was talk of whether Arteta rated him and then all the hype that he arrived at Arsenal with.

I wonder if he can feel that we're about to do big things though?

For some reason he doesn't strike me as an "all about the money", kind of player so I don't think that's the main factor, sure its nice but I bet he wants to win it all, more over.

I remember when he started his career at Arsenal after his last loan in France ended and we were playing at home, I forget against who but he scored that own goal - I was like, head in hands, oh no! This could be terrible.

The crowd though, all clapped him, now, I thought - this is brilliant.

It's the definition of a "supporter".

I don't think he's forgotten that either and it probably has given him the confidence to really shine, without fear of reprisal.

So the only problem I have here is, why the same grace isn't extended to other players.

If trossard does that - he's taking pelters!

I'm also slagging him for it as well, I'm not on my soapbox or "holier than though".

I just thought the crowd response that day was fantastic, it was also, unexpected.

So it just makes me wonder that, if we saw more of that, the team, in pressure moments/games - where we have fell over in the last few seasons, they might have stayed on their feet and may well have got it over the line?

This season feels like so many people just expected us to be winning it, probably led by the bookies and i feel like we were playing a lot better football 2 years ago when nobody had us down to win it, the bookies had us odds of 66-1 that year.

This is not a dig at our fan base, I just think it's weird how we're so selective about how we treat different individuals and more of a nod to the matchgoing fans at the Emirates that day.

I mean how may players can say that they scored an own goal and their own fans clapped them? - I don't know the answer to that but I'd guess it's not many.

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I have a few close friends who are Liverpool fans and they are not full of optimism for next season. Arsenal have underachieved points wise this season and there are reasons for that( not excuses). If we get the players in who we need and there are signs that we will, with a decent amount of luck, I think we’ll win PL and most football supporters would accept that it was about time!

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We're waiting for Salah + VVD to exit, Saka to stay healthy for a season and hope Pep remains in the doldrums so that we can win a trophy.

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Also for PGMOL to be staffed by Buddhist monks right out of Mongolia

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It would help.

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4dEdited

Laugh all you want when we lost the league last season by 2 points, literally 1 City win into a draw or 1 Arsenal draw into a win and we would have been champions. Out of 38 games just 1 game with a different outcome would have given us the title.

If you think that the PL can't be decided by fine margins, you're very wrong.

Put more than one situation against a team and in a favor of another and it can have a catastrophic effect (the 8 pts I've been talking about for months).

Mind you, we'd be about 3 points away from Pool (just counting the times Arsenal got done by the refs and not the potential 5 red cards for VVD not given, a couple of gifted pens and another 2 red cards not given to Szobo and Konate), the title race would have been very much on with 9 games to go.

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Why can't we win the league by fine margins? Why the fuck are we always on the losing end?

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3dEdited

Well, fine margins means an edge that we don't seem to have much... a great question for Arteta

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🤣🤣🤣 step way from your keyboard sir

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You know it's kinda irrelevant to Arsenal whatever happens to Salah and Liverpool if fuckhead continues to piss money away on LCBs and DMs. You know that right. Liverpool will be fine. Post Rafa and Gerrard, post Klopp and post Salah big clubs always find a way.

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True.It took the scousers 30 years to win the prem.But ,they got there in the end.

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Pedro promised us it will be our year; Pep will leave, Klopp will vamoose and the Arteta-Arsenal dynasty will commence

You see Arsenal's strategy was just outwaiting Pep

...once Pep leaves, the coast is clear.

That's why they wasted last summer signing a defender who's defensively worse than MLS [a midfielder] and that's why we busted our guts signing Merino who's a very good replacement for Elneny.

Now the same PGMOL conspiracy theorists and luck merchants have latched unto the new belief that another rival is done for next season.

Never mind that that club is manned by competent hands and they kept their powder dry last summer [signed only Chiesa] but still wrapped up the league in February.

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A step in the right direction... all is left is waiting for vvd, salah, and perhaps, alison to leave

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Liverpool are definitely fucked regardless who stays or goes.

They may still get all the decisions refs gave them this year again but there’s simply no way in hell the random computer schedule, one in which they haven’t played anyone of quality all season, will repeat itself next year.

No way, for sure.

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The 2024/05 season was over the minute the fixture list came out and we saw Livepool face Ipswich at home 38 times

It was appalling

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Here here.well said.

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Is it Salah or the PGMOL thats helping Liverpool win the EPL? Make up your minds fanboys.

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Now ,now Sid.Just stick to the “ longstuff”.

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Is Salah even a Liverpool player, I mean really?

Not to mention how lucky Pool are he didn’t down tools mid season to impress the Saudis

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4dEdited

Liverpool have a few very obvious replacements for their older/leaving players.

- Salah -> Mbeumo

- Trent -> Ola Aina

- Robertson -> Kerkez /to a lesser degree Antonee Robinson/

- VVD -> plenty of names here but let's say Huijsen

That's a top 4 team right there but not a PL winning team. Still, I think after VVD, Trent, Salah and Robertson, they will be quite happy with a top 4. You don't understand the class of VVD, Trent, Salah if you think they'll be replaced that easily.

Also, landing a player like Salah, you can tell me how Edwards did it, how he'll do it again blah blah blah, why hasn't he done it again since Salah? A top class player ready to blow up on the cheap? Dissenter especially, speaking like it's so easy to replace him like there are players like Salah out there waiting for Edwards to make a move. There aren't many players born like him. He's a PL great. The best RW in the over 30 yo history of the PL. Even if he renews and they don't have to replace him right now, they'll have to do it next summer when maybe the options are less (say Mbeumo is off the market).

Salah is fundamental for them. Trent as well. VVD as well.

We are talking about 3 players that are probably the best in their positions in the history of the club.

How did we deal with Vieira, Henry and Cesc's departures? I'll wait.

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Ola Aina?!

Whatever you thought Pool might be spending on him, they already have a TAA replacement in Bradley, who’s already a better defender than Trent at 21 and superior runner with the ball and off the ball, with more involvements in the att third.

No one replaces Trent’s passing abilities from a right back position, that player simply doesn’t exist.

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4dEdited

"they already have a TAA replacement in Bradley"

Big LOL!

"No one replaces Trent’s passing abilities from a right back position, that player simply doesn’t exist."

Kimmich.

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This place talks about Liverpool far too much and it's easy to see why. You know you talk about Liverpool's luck and their imminent demise in the hopes that it distracts from the fact that we bottled yet another season and have struggled at times under the current manager. And ultimately that's what it's about. Distract and deflect about a serious discussion on Arteta.

In saying all that it is pretty funny seeing people write off Liverpool like they didn't exist either side of Salah.

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Well 30 years is a long time.At least in my book.

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They are winning the PL and we have to outdo them next season. Who do you want us to talk about? The Saints?

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I would be more concerned with talking about us and what we should have done and what we need to do to be more successful in the future. Talking about Liverpool should be literally irrelevant

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In the 7 seasons before Salah joined Liverpool only made the top 5 once.

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They also had this fella Klopp in charge for a while there.

You might’ve heard of him.

He probably had something to do with their recent fortunes.

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They are still doing well, Tom.

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FYI Karsa, since Bill Shankly brought them up in 1962, Liverpool have never finished below the top 8. That's 62/63 years of Top 8.

If only our club Arsenal had such ridiculously high standards.

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I'm merely pointing out the difference Salah has madde to recent times Liverpool. 1 top 5 finish in the 7 years preceding his arrival.

Never out of top 5 since.

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I recall discussing with a leading Administrator at Arsenal in the 1980s the background of professional footballers. His observation was that with few exceptions most players had no brains above the waist.

With the advent of the EPL and the current wage structures that situation has almost certainly

changed and many modern footballers are academically "intelligent". Players like Flamini,

Bergkamp and De Bruyne were all graduates.

Interestingly there is growing evidence that many leading clubs are sending some of their academy players to well known independent [private] schools. That trend included West

Ham who sent players to Brentwood, Chelsea to Whitgift and Man City who sent pupils to

well known schools in North of England.

This trend may have gone unnoticed by supporters by Arsenal, but appears now to be the case

with both Charlie Patino and Lewis-Skelly being educated at Aldenham School and Ethan Nwaneri going to St Johns School in Enfield. By all accounts Max Dowman is also following a

similar route.

So you may ask why this trend is happening? First of all I believe that most football clubs are

looking for youngsters who have brain as well as brawn. All four mentioned above plus Saka

who was an A*/A grade pupil at GCSE level were reasonably academic.

Second many private schools including those in London are now offering sports academy programmes, which tie in with major sports clubs including football. These partnerships

benefit not only the schools but the clubs as well.

Private Schools can and do offer flexibility and expertise which few if any state schools can offer. This applies not just to the teaching of academic subjects, but also to the training of its

elite athletes.

Highgate School which is recognised nationally and regionally as an academic school does not

offer sports scholarships it does take sport and recreation seriously. It employs 34 staff in its

Spex Departement [PE teachers and Professional Coaches] who can prepare pupils for high

performance. That applies to many other private schools in North London as well.

Bluntly that is an environment that virtually no state schools can offer today. Highgate won last

year the ISFA Under 13 Cup beating Aldenham in the Final. The school which educated Lewis-Skelly and Patino.

This season the school reached six finals and won four age categories for both boys and girls

in the Middlesex Schools FA Cup Competitions.

These competitions include both state and private schools many of which have historically produced many fine footballers.

So there is growing evidence that football now recognises that elite footballers need brain as

well as brawn to cope with demands of the professional game

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That’s a pretty interesting post ES.

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Dissenter took Pedro and geng to the cleaners earlier. Was an interesting reach. You can't write off Liverpool all season and then think it will be monumental to replace the players and team you didn't rate initially. Double standards.

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Nah he didn’t.Definitely did not.Nice try.

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🚨 @skysports_sheth: “I’d say that Martin Zubimendi to Arsenal is almost definitely going to happen. When you look back now to the summer transfer window, Liverpool were all set to sign him & then there was a late change of heart — was there a late intervention by Arsenal?”

“It was him who changed his mind in the last minute & you just wonder whether Arsenal had come in & said, ‘Look, we can’t bring you in now, but we desperately want you’.”

“Mikel Arteta knows him really well & maybe he just thought, ‘I’ll just bide my time for the time being, I actually want to go to Arsenal’.

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Lol. Such tripe

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Yup. A SkySports journalist guessing and assuming things as any of us can do thinking he's credible in any way.

In other news (not the same "journo"): Andrea Berta has already signed in 20 days ago as new Director at the club. Official announcement expected in the next hours.

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Lol. This is more believable but I'm guessing it's more like he's already started "work" before signing on the dotted lines.

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Joke friday

Don/Un: Doctor, My Mrs is pregnant but we always used double protection. Then, how is it possible?

Doctor: Let me tell you a story to make you realize that it is possible.

"There was a Hunter who always carried a Gun wherever he went.

One day, he took his Umbrella instead of his Gun and went out.

A Lion suddenly jumped infront of him. In order to scare the Lion, the hunter used the Umbrella like a Gun and shot the Lion, the Lion collapsed & died!

Don/Un:This is totally Nonsense!!

"Someone else must have shot the Lion"

Doctor: Good!! You understood the Story. Next patient please... .

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Lmao

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“ Uefa has opened an investigation into allegations of indecent conduct by four Real Madrid players during their Champions League last-16 win against Atletico Madrid.

Antonio Rudiger, Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr and Dani Ceballos allegedly made gestures towards the home fans after Real Madrid beat their city rivals on penalties to book their place in the quarter-finals”

Ban them all

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To those who are too quick to declare the demise of Liverpool;

Consider that they have Michael Edwards [Director of football for Fenway group [multi-club] and Richard Hughes [club director of football].

Richard Hughes is the fella that built up the Bournemouth squad in record time.

Be very careful not to overstate the impact of Trent, VVD and Salah exiting the club. They have a team on the ground who will replace them for a fraction of what we like to spend these days.

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Diss, remember, you are an Arsenal fan. Those two playing like that should be devastating to you. If you don’t have sour grapes over it, how can you call yourself an Arsenal fan?

They are at peak. If you can’t compute that it will be near impossible to replace them, I can’t help you. You are in denial.

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To replace VVD is going to cost them big,big bucks.Iike it did when they bought him.Unless they pull a rabbit out of the hat.And a top class winger probably similar.So we’ll see.

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I’m overstating it my friend.

They are done

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"Be very careful not to overstate the impact of Trent, VVD and Salah exiting the club. They have a team on the ground who will replace them for a fraction of what we like to spend these days."

Jesus H Christ! you are delusional. Its like saying we can Replace Saliba, Saka and Rice for pittance. If you can point out the players they are going to replace them with for a fraction of what we like to spend I would be grateful.

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"Jesus H Christ! you are delusional. Its like saying we can Replace Saliba, Saka and Rice for pittance."

You're the one who added the "pittance" so the histrionics and delusion is obviously yours

Read what is written carefully, then respond or just move past it.

Michael Edwards has a stellar reputation already and so does Richard Hughes.

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Diss getting BBQ’d like a piece of lamb at an Edu garden party

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Meh, who is the next Salah they're bringing? Please, it's over for them once he leaves.

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4dEdited

Mbeumo would be the ideal replacement. But it ain't happening if they extend Salah.

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Who was salah when they brought him in? Every club is not as wasteful as the management at arsenal. We spent £110m on rice while Liverpool spent 40m on gravenberg. It's laughable that some people are still seeing that as a good piece of business. MLS has a far greater ceiling and potential all for nothing, and he's got dribbling skills that Rice can only dream of. Rice is a though a good player, but the price is double. There are many salah out there, it's just the system that enables them. Give salah to the 'project one' and see if he will be the same.

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Why just pick Arsenal as the most wasteful? Very disingenuous.You could probably pick quite a few holes in Liverpool’s buys over the last few seasons if you looked at it comparatively.

The Tets detractors don’t want to hear that the dice rolled very favourably for the Mickey mousers this year.Wish we had a slice of that fortune.

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A pittance is a small payment or reimbursement. A fraction of "what we like to spend" can be understood as the same.

But the names of these players please. I'm all ears.

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Lol

I didn't say I have a stellar reputation of squad building like Michael Edwards so why are you asking me. I merely said they have good people in charge to oversee the transition from Salah, Trent and VVD. Stop pretending that your expertise extends beyond the little you gather online, like the rest of us.

The same people who are clowning around about Liverpool's demise never gave them a chance to win the league on a canter.

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At a canter..

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I'm asking you because in your own words

"They have a team on the ground who will replace them for a fraction of what we like to spend these days."

And you say *will*, *not can* but they *will*. What are you basing this on if you have no idea what players are out there that can replace Salah, ATA and Van Dyke for a "fraction of what we like to spend"?

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"They have a team on the ground who will replace them"

I am not "they", that's Liverpool's tested team.

Bournemouth have arguably better attackers that Arsenal, many will admit to that

The Bournemouth squad was built by Richard Hughes at a fraction of what we deploy in wages and fees.

The same Richard Hughes who is going to be involved in the squad building at 'Pool. He's a tested hand, not like getting Edu in 2018 from the Brazilian national team to be sporting director.

Stop clutching at straws, you know you jumped the gun. You obviously didn't read the post properly and now you're coming apart, looking for semantic loopholes.

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Liverpool.com: "Mohamed Salah Liverpool extension 'closer than ever' thanks to Trent Alexander-Arnold exit"

https://www.liverpool.com/liverpool-fc-news/features/breaking-mohamed-salah-liverpool-contract-31295836

Let the gnashing of teeth commence

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I’d be shocked beyond belief if Salah turns his back on an Aladdin’s cave worth of treasure being offered by the Saudis to re-up with the Scousers.

Can’t see it happening … the money is too much to pass up

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Yeah he may well extend & I hope he does because sooner than later that dip is arriving whether though age or injury but it’s coming.

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Watch pool overpay and Salah go pop next year.

Heard it here first, actually most know it is going to happen sooner than later!

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Why are you so interested in Liverpool Diss?..whats the obsession?

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Diss, many of us Arsenal fans are fantasy merchants! Next you’d hear that he’s past his prime. Smh

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5dEdited

They are damned if they extend him and damned if they don't. Only time will tell.

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Hadn’t seen your comment, but lmao

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