via @Arsenal Instagram

Arsenal is interested in hiring Edu as a technical director. The classy Brazilian who had an injury prone stint with us way back when has played the role of Director of Football at Corinthians, and he’s now the Technical Director for the Brazilian national team.

It’s unclear what exactly this technical director role would entail and which part of the business he’d be looking after, but you’d assume if Sven is looking after recruitment and scouting, then maybe Edu would be responsible for excellence elsewhere in the club.

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I have to say SORRY for not attending the match review yesterday, I headed back to New York and didn’t have the time.

However, I did take in the Blackpool game. Miserable on so many levels, right? I’m not talking about the football, but more looking at a half-empty stadium half-full of fans who’ve been absolutely mugged off by that weird looking owner of theirs (defo wouldn’t want to peak at his internet history, or venture into his basement).

I’m not much of a protectionist, but I have to say, when it comes to football clubs, I really think the UK government should get involved to stop dickheads taking over and destroying things. I don’t know how you go about doing that, but football really is so much more than a business. It doesn’t even work like a business (clubs almost never die either). It’s all for the people and the communities. To do what he’s done is an assault on the town.

The game wasn’t up to much. Laurent K pulled out before the game throwing our defence into a shambles. I was surprised he didn’t opt for one of the kids to step into his shoes, but there you go.

It’s hard to lose your mind over a game against Blackpool, but it was thrilling to see Joe Willock grab two goals. I was a bit gutted for Eddie, he’s a very exciting player but he made some bad decisions in front of goal. He did work hard though, and here’s the important point: at least he was finding the positions and the runs to miss. Goals will come. Wouldn’t it be immense to have a striker in the ranks who could deliver that came from the academy? NOT HAPPENED IN OVER 30 YEARS.

Iwobi also had a positive impact on the game and I thought AMN looked very good in midfield in that more advanced position.

My big hope with the latest batch of young players coming through is that we see some growth with them towards the back end of the season. We can’t fall in love with another group only to see them all fuck off to Hull, Swansea and Birmingham (god damn it, I miss you Fran Merida). We have to see some progress, otherwise some serious questions need to be raised about the state of our academy. The production rate has been utterly pitiful over the last 20 years. The club need to move away from excuse making when it comes to the academy. Making it work is about hiring the best people, giving them the best young players and having a coaching setup that can build them into smart footballers and good humans.

KIT TIME:

Hmmm…

I was not immediately in the firm zone when I saw them.

However, the computer kits look nicer and I’m sure they’ll look way better on a human. A very solid start and the colours feel right, I like the blue that they’ve brought back into the mixer and you know they’ll make them to a high-quality (please, no plastic badge).

The Denis Suarez story continues to rumble on. Part of me feels a bit miffed that we’re losing someone like Ramsey and bringing in someone who feels less effective. However, hard to say Ramsey has had an impact on our season up until now. It’s not like we’re shipping out a powerhouse contributor to the first team. We’re hiring in a better technician out wide who can knit midfield and attack together with more efficiency. So really, it’s an upgrade on where we are.

I have no idea what we’re going to do with the defence. It’s clear that LK and NM are going to be injured most of the season. Mavrapanos needs to hurry up and get back into the squad and hopefully prove he’s more than a 4 game wonder. We were all very excited about him when he played last year. He’s very big, he’s quick on his feet and he has a lot of composure about his game. Forget that red card.

More and more, it looks like the second half of the season is going to be about stretching old men way too far, or blooding the kids and giving an honest appraisal of how hard we have to work the pound notes this summer.

I’m gunning for all the kids.

I really do detest the muppets online who try and destroy teenagers because they’re not Leo Messi after two games. Players rarely come fully formed. It takes time to adapt to the tactics, fitness levels and technical expectations of the league. The guys can grow if they’re given the chance. We can’t be writing them off after a dodgy touch in the FA Cup. Young players grow. Thierry Henry and PV04 were in no-mans-land before they came to us, then they exploded. Why? Because they were given room to grow.

I’d rather have a kid with a high ceiling than an expensive journeyman who has hit their peak.

Right, that’s me done, see you in the comments you beautiful people. x

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It would appear Arsenal aren’t quite as broke as we’d initially thought. The news dropping the loudest of rumbles at the moment is that we’re going in for Denis Suarez for £14m. However you feel about the player, it’s hard to disagree that he’s 1) Young (24) 2) Technically superior to Iwobi 3) Capable of hitting higher levels.

Most of his success came at Villareal in 2015-16 when he dropped his best numbers with 12 assists and 5 goals in 48 appearances. He also played under Emery in his last season at Sevilla where he racked up an impressive 5 assists, 6 goals, in 46 appearances. Also notable that he was signed by City way back when!

His numbers at Barca look, well, decidedly Iwobi-ish if I’m honest. I think he’s cut from a similar cloth. A little bit faster, but the type of player who stitches midfield and attack together with cute intricate play. I know it’s a basic, but just having someone out on the left who you can rely on to always have a good touch is where the bar is set at the moment.

He’s an upgrade. I just hope he’s not a £150k a week upgrade. Worth remembering that when he was a teenager, he was compared to players like David Silva. If he fulfils here, then we’ve unlocked a lot of potential value. (read here for an interesting scouting report).

Today we take on Blackpool in the FA Cup. I’m excited to see Saka land a heavily mooted start. I think we need to see more of these kids and they need to land pitch time. If they don’t, they might as well be out on loan. From the sounds of it, the manager is going to heavily rotate, hoping to inject some much-needed energy into the legs of players that have been drained over the past two months.

Short one today, have a great day!

courtesy @allthatchas

There’s cause for celebration and a bit of self-reflection today.

Were YOU watching the Liverpool game yesterday praying for a Manchester City win?

Was that because the MOST important thing for you at that minute was the scousers flunking their invincible attempt?

Yes it was. Just f*cking admit that your big hope in that moment was that another team would fail so they couldn’t displace the record we set 14 years ago. (more…)

The Mesut Ozil story continues to drag on, and as suspected, the chances of him leaving are somewhere in the region of no chance, to no f*cking chance. This is what his agent told GOAL.

“Unless you are on the inside and privy to what happens on a daily basis, it is best not to speculate.

“In every journey there are highs and lows, but it is important to consider the bigger picture rather than simply making knee-jerk judgements without proper context.

“The speculation around Mesut’s future has not come from him or us and is unfortunate because the situation is clear: his future is with Arsenal, end of story.”

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It’s very tough to take too much stock in Boxing day or New Years day games. I know the players aren’t out until 5 in the morning licking lamp posts, but there’s always a weird flat vibe around the stadium on the day, and quite often, our play on the pitch is flaccid.

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Well, yesterday’s post certainly put the cat amongst the pigeons. I think a lot of people felt that was mostly aimed at Emery. It wasn’t, I think the challenges we have with the club moving forward are about the whole team. A few people screamed that I’d always straight up blame Wenger for what happened on the pitch back in the day, but was affording Emery different treatment. That’s because Emery is a coach, not a demigod.

The biggest concern that all Arsenal fans should have moving into this year is the lasting impact of the Ivan Gazidis signings in the club. He’d been making face-saving decisions all over the football club because his MO was about self-preservation. Don’t rock the boat. Do enough to get you by. Go with the mainstream view of what looks good, never put your neck on the line.

The big question is this: Who will put their neck on the line to move Arsenal forward?

Think about how easy it is to take the job at Arsenal. We have a bigger turnover than Liverpool, one that is about to get bigger, without any real success to talk about. The fans still pay for the season tickets, Adidas are about to pay out a fortune on a new shirt deal, the Premier League gravy train just keeps on rolling on, and we’re doing all this without Champions League football. Incredible.

Stan has two big clubs on his books. Arsenal, arguably one the greatest brands in European football… and the LA Rams, a nothing team that moved from St. Louis. The Kroenke’s invested mega money into the American club. One of their guys is on record as saying something to the tune of ‘we knew we had to invest, because folk from LA aren’t going to pay to watch a substandard product.’

So what did they do? They hired in a bright young innovative coach to lead the team. They’ve made powerful backroom hires. They’re adding big names and excitement to their team sheet. They are making an unbelievable effort to make that team the crown jewel. It’s an absolute investment, because they know that there’s no history there like there is in North London.

Meanwhile, over here, there’s Arsenal. The MO has been keeping the trains running. He will never invest a penny of his own into taking us to the next level because there’s no benefit to him. The big question then becomes this: What is the expectation of his staff?

Will he have Raul and Vinai banging down the door for LA like investment? Or, like we’ve seen with Ivan, will it be a put up and shut up? If the person that runs the show has no desire to dominate, rewards a culture of low risk and obedience, what hope do we have?

Well, the hope goes back to what we spoke about yesterday. We need to accept that we’re tier two. We need to be grateful that at the very least, Stan allows the club to put back in what we earn. We need to try something new. The approach at the moment feels like we’re waiting for a miracle to happen, instead of making our own miracles come to fruition.

This point becomes even more important now David Ornstein confirmed the ‘we’re skint’ intel I shared 6 weeks ago.

We need to make our way back the Champions League. We’re not going to do that hiring in hacks that are past their prime. We’re not going to do that blowing huge amounts of money on players that don’t fit the mold. Again, I ask this question, if the club truly believed in Mesut Ozil, why is Unai Emery alienating him? Not that I disagree, I’ve never thought he was fit for purpose, but what was the football strategy that allowed us to get to that point?

Anyway, the thing to watch for next year is whether the new management are for real. Raul has come from the most prestigious club in the world. A nasty club. A club that does dirty things to get whatever they want. Their wage bill is hideous, almost double that of Manchester City. No wonder they dominate, they can have whoever they want. The manager is almost an irrelevance, even Enrique won the Champions League there. Raul is not a tried and true scrapper like the Dortmund CEO. He’s never had to properly hire a manager before. He hasn’t had to innovate, so what is he going to do at Arsenal to help us out think, scout and perform our much smaller resource pool?

Sven for all intents and purposes was exactly the sort of hire we wanted. In charge of ferreting out some of the roughest diamonds in world football and turning in De Beers profits. We know he has it in him to bring all the boys to the yard, but the question remains is this: What is his remit? I can get on-board with Matty G and Torriera like signings, but what is going on with Gary Cahill and Ever Banega? Are those guys kicking us onto the next level? I highly doubt it, so wouldn’t it be worth investing our limited budget in players that have room to grow like Dortmund did so well? Should we be planning for next season this January, versus making average crap shots with players that really aren’t that great?

Then there’s Vinai. Clearly a very talented man, but he’s 37 years old. He has been gifted an outrageous opp at Arsenal. It is unheard of to give someone that young so much power. But at what cost to Arsenal fans? Is he an Ivan protegé? What did he agree to land the job? Will he have the guts to move us forward, or will he be preaching self-sustaining as a football strategy for the next ten years.

Arsenal need to wake up. They need to focus on a way forward. They need to be bold. The problem statement is simple: how do Arsenal succeed with the resources on offer?

Remember the resources are MASSIVE. 3rd highest net spenders in the league (bigger net spend than Madrid since 2010). 9th largest wage bill in Europe. Growing turnover. We have a huge stadium, mostly full attendance, unreal training facilities and the backdrop of the greatest city in the world. If Atleti, Roma, Juve and Liverpool can make CL finals, so can we. No more excuses. No more mediocrity.

The answer to the problem statement cannot be the direction we’re heading right now. It’s not innovative, it’s not bearing fruit (nor will it), and it’s a very long way off being sustainable.

Happy New Year, enjoy the Fulham game. 🔴⚪️