We shouldn’t be talking about finishing strong and a post Dubai push in mid November. We have to start that push immediately because we’re already well off the pace.
If our push only comes in Jan then it will already be too late. And probably by far
'Jürgen Klopp became a manager on February 27, 2001, when he was appointed as the manager of Mainz 05, the club where he played for most of his career.'
Klopp won his first trophy in 2010-11, in his tenth season.
Ah ah.No you don’t Misty.Youre moving the goalposts me on China.Equivalent of Everton or Southampton? Meaning Ligue 1 clubs.Meaning as a novice,as you so are keen to point out,it took him a decade,no less.Hmmmmm.Kind of skews your argument big time.Thanks for that JW1!
Care to explain which one does? Mainz aren't a big club that win trophies in recent Germany at least. Klopp horned his skills at a smaller club like Mainz and then got the gig at a big job ON MERIT. Arteta was handed the Arsenal job (a big club that win titles) based off privileges. He should have horned his skills at a smaller club like Everton or Southampton and then qualify for a big club gig on merit
7 - the number of major titles Jurgen klopp won in 9ish years at Liverpool.
3 - the number of times he got to the UCL finals.
These returns alone are enough to convince players to stay put at a club. Stop comparing Liverpool with Arsenal. Arteta is getting to his 5th without one trophy
correct me if i am wrong .. but didnt it take Klopp 4 years to win any trophy at Liverpool ? what convinced the players to stay after 4 trophyless seasons ? Faith in the process perhaps? Faith in the manager?
A couple of Community Shields too. Might not be major but the majority of the lads have three medals. They know what it feels like to win. I'm sure they want to win as much as we want them to.
That last Shield was a really good game too. Was not played like a preseason contest either.
To take part in the charity shield, it means you either won a tournament that had over 750 teams entered or you won a 38 game PL. (or come second if someone won both). To qualify for the charity shield it’s a HUGE achievement
Yes it’s played before the PL kicks off, but to consider it a preseason friendly is extremely unfair
I agree with your points. Think they should move it to end of August actually. And maybe change the name. The proceeds can still go to intended charity organizations
The Athletic - Martin Odegaard’s return: Rehab, subterfuge and ...
- While out injured, Odegaard spent as much time as feasible in the Arsenal first-team environment, including going to every home game. Although he typically sat in his private box at the Emirates Stadium during the matches, he spent as long as he could in the home changing room beforehand, cutting it fine to make it up to his seat before kick-off. Similarly, he would sometimes leave the box before full time to ensure he was there to greet his team-mates in the dressing room afterwards. Even while unavailable to play, he remained part of the matchday routine.
- Odegaard’s return to the matchday squad, for the Champions League game at San Siro on November 6, was planned several weeks in advance. As his rehabilitation entered its final stages, the club noted a week of three difficult away fixtures in succession — Newcastle, Inter and Chelsea. If they could have Odegaard available by then, they would do everything to make it happen.
Played for a mediocre Newcastle. He reminds Transactional of himself who played for a mediocre Everton until Wenger signed him. Atleast Wenger won trophies before venturing into philanthropy.
28 year olds are top for max 3/4 years. That's "last legs" in a top club for a player.
I have always maintained the profile of Merino is what we need right now. Ready players coming in to make a difference but then the quality also has to match. Apart from the Chelsea cameo the other day, the quality has been sorely lacking. But the profile is top top.
We need quality players aged 24-28 ready to perform and "in their prime.
Not project players "that could come good in 2/3 seasons" because our prime is expected in 2/3 seasons. What a load.
So we have already set out the next few windows for rebuild when we haven't won anything lol. The "excitement" Pedro derives from this project and tries to serve people is comical lol.
- we signed a no6 for 105m less than 2 seasons back, what's been suggested? Sign another one at 60m.
- So we signed Haverts for the left 8 role and he was shit so we moved him up to 9 cos our saviour up top was already shit, no kidding. So who is Pedro suggesting for a 9 now? A worse version of the 9 we want to change. Why cos Pedro believes he will develop into a great striker in 2 seasons lol.
Who's available in the market? Littany of top strikers but but they don't press or defend or win duels lol.
- So we have done all these rebuilding (though we are about to start again lol), spent money and all that, it's getting to 5 years now, no trophies yet. Pedro believes we will hit our peak in 2 seasons more. That's we could go on this pace and be 7/8 years under this project with Arteta without a trophy and Pedro would lap it up.
It's almost comical init? Arsenal fans are the most bizzare set out there. No accountability. No drive, no urgency. Just vibes and insha Allah. Always ready to make excuses for failing managers for free lol
'Arsenal fans are the most bizzare set out there. No accountability. No drive, no urgency.'
'Accountability' care to elaborate? This statement, on the surface, makes absolutely no sense.
'No drive'?
'No urgency'?
What a load of emotive tosh.
Why do you put so much weight on the fans on how the club is run? When there is a level of distrust in the way we're being managed, the fans will make their feelings known.
I was listening to Evra go over the weekend on a podcast with Rio and a Arsenal fan. Everything he said was so on point. The Arsenal guy was talking accounting why Evra was talking winning. It painted a very interesting picture that explains what I said above. We are mostly always armed to the teeth with excuses until it gets too fucking late.
I'm more conversant with Arsenal fans. My circle is mainly Arsenal (the sheep type unfortunately), the news feed I read online are mainly biased towards Arsenal. I also couldn't care about united fans talking about united, but when they talk about Arsenal, I listen. Much more objectivity than a lot of Arsenal fans I know. They don't usually have the rose tinted glasses on
Is a striker's job to score goals or to defend. We now live in arteta world where the main thing we look for in a striker is his defensive ability. So if halaand is suddenly available now, we won't go for him or maybe mbappe. People are just too much into the arteta idea that hasn't yielded anything yet that nothing else matters but whatever arteta does. The only trophy won by Arteta till date is delivered by a striker totally different from havertz. I'm sorry, before I start using havertz as a template for a striker recruitment, I have to first see that the system can win you things. We can't have a team of 11 players and all of them are expected to be defending.
Agree and have said as always is the fact that we need a striker that will score goals, everything else isn't as important, to an extent also our wingers as well, can feel sometimes like they have to put in way too much defensive shifts due to our system. Someone mentioned the other day parts of the reason Martinelli will start most games is his contribution defensively and I really didn't like that, not saying everyone shouldn't put in a shift all across the pitch but not so much their attacking numbers suffer as well
Like I said in my post, have no issues with everyone putting in a shift, but we need to have a system that allows our wingers and strikers a bit of flexibility and we do need better options at LW and an actual CF who scores goals, hate how long it usually takes us to replace our CFs when they leave.
We didn't have anything resembling a goal scorer after Van persie left till almost a decade later with Aubameyang
At this point, I don't even think our priority should be to get rid of the only visionary central midfielder we have just because of age. Maybe we should get a replacement first before we think of getting rid. I know how excited many were about merino going straight into the starting eleven and then moving rice back into 6 so as to get rid of partey. The way I see it, it's like partey has taken something from some people at arsenal. He's been our best this season and people are talking about his wage when players like havertz and Jesus are on 300k. I don't want to see a midfield of Rice and merino at this moment except if we want to become another stoke city.
I am not going to trawl back through your historical posts but weren’t you advocating a squad around the sort of number we currently see at Arsenal ?
Looking at the players you suggest that could be moved on.
Neto could play in the EFL cup with Bournemouths agreement they, Bournemouth went out some rounds ago so sorry that really shouldn’t be an issue
Many of the other players will be out of contract at seasons end and will cost a fortune to replace with experienced players.
The stories I hear that there is an informal agreement in place re Sterling but due to FFP/PSR constraints nothing is along the line of option or indeed obligation to buy .
A lot re Partey is said to be dependent on matters off field Utd time will tell but when it comes to Jorginho he was good (ish) but clearly is way down the pecking order
17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri has found the net in every single game he has started in this season:
⚽️⚽️ vs Bolton
⚽️ vs Preston
⚽️ vs Italy U19s
⚽️ vs Germany U19s
⚽️ vs Portugal U19s
⚽️ vs France U19s
⚽️ vs Lithuania U19s
⚽️ vs Bulgaria U19s
We shouldn’t be talking about finishing strong and a post Dubai push in mid November. We have to start that push immediately because we’re already well off the pace.
If our push only comes in Jan then it will already be too late. And probably by far
'Jürgen Klopp became a manager on February 27, 2001, when he was appointed as the manager of Mainz 05, the club where he played for most of his career.'
Klopp won his first trophy in 2010-11, in his tenth season.
Some facts are necessary for context.
Mainz is the equivalent of Everton or Southampton. Not Arsenal.
If Klopp started his career with Borussia Dortmund and had to wait 10 years for a trophy, that would be disastrous for his career.
Ah ah.No you don’t Misty.Youre moving the goalposts me on China.Equivalent of Everton or Southampton? Meaning Ligue 1 clubs.Meaning as a novice,as you so are keen to point out,it took him a decade,no less.Hmmmmm.Kind of skews your argument big time.Thanks for that JW1!
Some of your takes border on ridiculous, yet-- you still post them to the world.
I'll take free comedy wherever I find it!
Care to explain which one does? Mainz aren't a big club that win trophies in recent Germany at least. Klopp horned his skills at a smaller club like Mainz and then got the gig at a big job ON MERIT. Arteta was handed the Arsenal job (a big club that win titles) based off privileges. He should have horned his skills at a smaller club like Everton or Southampton and then qualify for a big club gig on merit
See above.End of.
Is anyone else finding that comments are not appearing in full on the Substack App? They just seem cut off mid sentence.
The app is subpar
locks you out, won't allow edits and cuts off comments
Better to use a web browser
Yeah this is what I am finding. It’s only just started happening the last few days for me.
See if reducing the font/text size in your phone's settings helps.
I don't understand why Bentancur gets banned for 7 games by the FA but Enzo Fernandez gets off free.
Both incidents occured whilst they were playing with their countries but they refused to impose the same disciplinary process on Enzo.
7 - the number of major titles Jurgen klopp won in 9ish years at Liverpool.
3 - the number of times he got to the UCL finals.
These returns alone are enough to convince players to stay put at a club. Stop comparing Liverpool with Arsenal. Arteta is getting to his 5th without one trophy
correct me if i am wrong .. but didnt it take Klopp 4 years to win any trophy at Liverpool ? what convinced the players to stay after 4 trophyless seasons ? Faith in the process perhaps? Faith in the manager?
2019-20 FA Cup. Not hard to look up.
A couple of Community Shields too. Might not be major but the majority of the lads have three medals. They know what it feels like to win. I'm sure they want to win as much as we want them to.
That last Shield was a really good game too. Was not played like a preseason contest either.
To be fair I always value community shields but majority on here and in the football community (for some weird reason) don't.
I love the charity shield. It’s the most unfairly unappreciated trophy.
Yes it’s a lesser priority than the others, but the ONLY bad point about it is the timing as it is treated by many (unfairly) as a preseason friendly
If the match was held at the end of May the prestige would be WAY higher. It’s harder to qualify for than the champions league ffs…
To take part in the charity shield, it means you either won a tournament that had over 750 teams entered or you won a 38 game PL. (or come second if someone won both). To qualify for the charity shield it’s a HUGE achievement
Yes it’s played before the PL kicks off, but to consider it a preseason friendly is extremely unfair
I agree with your points. Think they should move it to end of August actually. And maybe change the name. The proceeds can still go to intended charity organizations
Yawn🥱
The Athletic - Martin Odegaard’s return: Rehab, subterfuge and ...
- While out injured, Odegaard spent as much time as feasible in the Arsenal first-team environment, including going to every home game. Although he typically sat in his private box at the Emirates Stadium during the matches, he spent as long as he could in the home changing room beforehand, cutting it fine to make it up to his seat before kick-off. Similarly, he would sometimes leave the box before full time to ensure he was there to greet his team-mates in the dressing room afterwards. Even while unavailable to play, he remained part of the matchday routine.
- Odegaard’s return to the matchday squad, for the Champions League game at San Siro on November 6, was planned several weeks in advance. As his rehabilitation entered its final stages, the club noted a week of three difficult away fixtures in succession — Newcastle, Inter and Chelsea. If they could have Odegaard available by then, they would do everything to make it happen.
https://archive.ph/JNZKD
Arteta has no problems convincing the board to sign a 28 year old as #8, on his last legs
However, when it’s striker, it has to be a concept player who may be good after 2-3 season for major money.
This just smacks of Wengerism
Always keep the fans waiting for something because when you make it too easy they will sour on you too quickly.
Wenger didn’t buy a #6 after Gilberto, Arteta is doing the same with the #9
Don’t think this app is working properly. What evidence are you referring to about what?
The app is shite
You wrote that .. "He’s just already decided he doesn’t like Merino."
How did you arrive at this conclusion?
Played for a mediocre Newcastle. He reminds Transactional of himself who played for a mediocre Everton until Wenger signed him. Atleast Wenger won trophies before venturing into philanthropy.
'a 28 year old as #8, on his last legs' - on what basis can you support this claim?
That just smacks of hyperbole!
You don't think any 28 yr old midfielder is on his last legs?
Must you do this all the time?
The midpoint of their career is somewhere between 24-26 yrs old, after that they are on a downward slope.
His signing went against the grain of what Edu talked about when he assumed the job.
‘Mustn’t you do this all the time’ what react to your bollocks? I only do it occasionally.
‘ Downward slope after 26’ - Too many players to mention who have been at their peak well into their 30s.
Merino was relatively speaking, a short term fix but injuries aside, he should still be at or near his peak for the length of his Arsenal contract.
and his residual transfer value after that?
'Last legs' to residual value..
Not all transfers have to be 20-23, some can be 27-29.
@Dissenter, i wouldn't bother
28 year olds are top for max 3/4 years. That's "last legs" in a top club for a player.
I have always maintained the profile of Merino is what we need right now. Ready players coming in to make a difference but then the quality also has to match. Apart from the Chelsea cameo the other day, the quality has been sorely lacking. But the profile is top top.
We need quality players aged 24-28 ready to perform and "in their prime.
Not project players "that could come good in 2/3 seasons" because our prime is expected in 2/3 seasons. What a load.
He won’t have anything to back that up Bob. He’s just already decided he doesn’t like Merino.
Talking about evidence to back up stuff
Do you have anything to backup your claim that I don't like Merino?
So we have already set out the next few windows for rebuild when we haven't won anything lol. The "excitement" Pedro derives from this project and tries to serve people is comical lol.
- we signed a no6 for 105m less than 2 seasons back, what's been suggested? Sign another one at 60m.
- So we signed Haverts for the left 8 role and he was shit so we moved him up to 9 cos our saviour up top was already shit, no kidding. So who is Pedro suggesting for a 9 now? A worse version of the 9 we want to change. Why cos Pedro believes he will develop into a great striker in 2 seasons lol.
Who's available in the market? Littany of top strikers but but they don't press or defend or win duels lol.
- So we have done all these rebuilding (though we are about to start again lol), spent money and all that, it's getting to 5 years now, no trophies yet. Pedro believes we will hit our peak in 2 seasons more. That's we could go on this pace and be 7/8 years under this project with Arteta without a trophy and Pedro would lap it up.
It's almost comical init? Arsenal fans are the most bizzare set out there. No accountability. No drive, no urgency. Just vibes and insha Allah. Always ready to make excuses for failing managers for free lol
Pray tell us who the messiah is Misty,so we can dismiss the ‘ special sauce’.Im intrigued.
Hahaha
'Arsenal fans are the most bizzare set out there. No accountability. No drive, no urgency.'
'Accountability' care to elaborate? This statement, on the surface, makes absolutely no sense.
'No drive'?
'No urgency'?
What a load of emotive tosh.
Why do you put so much weight on the fans on how the club is run? When there is a level of distrust in the way we're being managed, the fans will make their feelings known.
I was listening to Evra go over the weekend on a podcast with Rio and a Arsenal fan. Everything he said was so on point. The Arsenal guy was talking accounting why Evra was talking winning. It painted a very interesting picture that explains what I said above. We are mostly always armed to the teeth with excuses until it gets too fucking late.
Doesn’t explain it at all.; you listened to a podcast. How do you ‘rate’ Man United fans for example, on that basis?
I'm more conversant with Arsenal fans. My circle is mainly Arsenal (the sheep type unfortunately), the news feed I read online are mainly biased towards Arsenal. I also couldn't care about united fans talking about united, but when they talk about Arsenal, I listen. Much more objectivity than a lot of Arsenal fans I know. They don't usually have the rose tinted glasses on
'My circle is mainly Arsenal (the sheep type unfortunately)'- if they agreed with you you'd describe them as 'discerning' no doubt!
Great to be back almost in the land of proper wifi (in Kathmandu before I fly back to London).
Just to let you know I made it to Everest Base Camp - hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life but incredible experience
Raised over £3000 so far for Dementia UK
That’s awesome. Well done sir
My point is, its unsustainable to have a setpiece xG 14 and score 20 goals.
@Rich wants people to believe im against setpiece goals. Theres a similarity between him and unwashed vagina.
Rich, I wouldn't bother.
Like @Pierre has proved many times, your football tactical analysis is mediocre and superficial.
Is a striker's job to score goals or to defend. We now live in arteta world where the main thing we look for in a striker is his defensive ability. So if halaand is suddenly available now, we won't go for him or maybe mbappe. People are just too much into the arteta idea that hasn't yielded anything yet that nothing else matters but whatever arteta does. The only trophy won by Arteta till date is delivered by a striker totally different from havertz. I'm sorry, before I start using havertz as a template for a striker recruitment, I have to first see that the system can win you things. We can't have a team of 11 players and all of them are expected to be defending.
Agree and have said as always is the fact that we need a striker that will score goals, everything else isn't as important, to an extent also our wingers as well, can feel sometimes like they have to put in way too much defensive shifts due to our system. Someone mentioned the other day parts of the reason Martinelli will start most games is his contribution defensively and I really didn't like that, not saying everyone shouldn't put in a shift all across the pitch but not so much their attacking numbers suffer as well
Rashford has won more trophies than martineli. And they are both shit
Like I said in my post, have no issues with everyone putting in a shift, but we need to have a system that allows our wingers and strikers a bit of flexibility and we do need better options at LW and an actual CF who scores goals, hate how long it usually takes us to replace our CFs when they leave.
We didn't have anything resembling a goal scorer after Van persie left till almost a decade later with Aubameyang
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/13255782/arsenal-sporting-director-search-paris-saint-germains-luis-campos-under-consideration-to-replace-edu How do we feel about him? Few years too late?
Trossard to join the treatment room?
Too bad these international breaks are becoming more useless to football fans.
They are just wank
I don’t even watch England anymore
They’ve killed the international game and they’re turned players into me mindless zone machines
Used to love tuning into the international games to catch Zidane Totti and others
Not any more
So dull
https://theanalyst.com/2024/11/premier-league-2024-25-data-trends-stats
Arsenal's performance level has been underwhelming this season.
Some will argue that 3 penalties + our injuries has cost us points and results. However, that is only
part of the story. For a start we need to ask the question why was our squad reduced from 25 to
22 registered players factoring in our current commitments?
Over next two transfer windows Arsenal will need to offload the following players:
NETO [loanee second string goalkeeper who could not play in Carrabo Cup and will be 36]
TOMIYASU [persistently injured right/left back]
TIERNEY [persistently injured and unwanted left back]
ZINCHENKO [wages too high for bench left back]
KIWIOR [third choice left sided centre back]
PARTEY [in 30s and in decline and on grossly inflated wages]
JORGINHO [in 30s and at end of current contract]
JESUS [underperforming centre forward on grossly inflated wages]
STERLING [loanee winger who should not be signed on permanent contract]
Factoring in that Arsenal will probably promote both Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly to first team squad
the club will need in my opinion to recruit at least the following players:
Our minimum requirements are:
CENTRE FORWARD [first string]
LEFT BACK [first string]
GOALKEEPER [second string]
DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER [second string if Rice reverts to that position]
WINGER [to replace Sterling]
At this point, I don't even think our priority should be to get rid of the only visionary central midfielder we have just because of age. Maybe we should get a replacement first before we think of getting rid. I know how excited many were about merino going straight into the starting eleven and then moving rice back into 6 so as to get rid of partey. The way I see it, it's like partey has taken something from some people at arsenal. He's been our best this season and people are talking about his wage when players like havertz and Jesus are on 300k. I don't want to see a midfield of Rice and merino at this moment except if we want to become another stoke city.
ES.
I am not going to trawl back through your historical posts but weren’t you advocating a squad around the sort of number we currently see at Arsenal ?
Looking at the players you suggest that could be moved on.
Neto could play in the EFL cup with Bournemouths agreement they, Bournemouth went out some rounds ago so sorry that really shouldn’t be an issue
Many of the other players will be out of contract at seasons end and will cost a fortune to replace with experienced players.
The stories I hear that there is an informal agreement in place re Sterling but due to FFP/PSR constraints nothing is along the line of option or indeed obligation to buy .
A lot re Partey is said to be dependent on matters off field Utd time will tell but when it comes to Jorginho he was good (ish) but clearly is way down the pecking order
M&Ke Thomas
1. I did suggest reducing the number of registered players to 22-23, but that did not
include Tierney or a loanee second string goalkeeper aged 35 who is not qualified
for Carrabo Cup.
2. I would be opposed to formalising contract for Sterling. He is at best a bench player
and I would not want to take on his wage bill.
3. Partey and Jorginho are at end of current contracts this summer. Taking them off
books will save £300K pw in wages or over £15 million.
4. It was a mistake not recruiting a goalscoring centre forward. Havertz is not a
20 goal a season goalscorer.