As Santi Cazorla this past week, once again, went under the knife to fix a relapse in his achilles injury, any remaining Gooner hopes of a late season title challenge were crushed. In contrast, Chelsea’s fortunes soared on Saturday with another seemingly routine win over Swansea. To be honest they could have been on the backfoot if Swansea was awarded a fairly obvious penalty midway the second-half but the PGMO decided otherwise. It is now fair to say that, barring a Liverpool-like implosion, they will win the 2016-17 premier league (PL) title. Despite my red tinted lens, that possibility does not even register on my telescope. As matters now stand City, Spurs, Arsenal, United and Liverpool are in a desperate battle for the other top-3 positions which will grant entry into the Champion’s League.
Despite my early optimism, especially after the club overcame a bad start and went on a 14 game unbeaten streak between August 20th and December 10th last year, amassing 33 points or a 2.35 points per game (ppg), I was less confident after Santi Cazorla pulled up lame at Ludogorets in the Champions League fixture and was ruled out of the following PL game with Middlesborough on October 22nd. Initially the club seem to manage well without the little midfield maestro, scraping draws with United and Spurs and banging West Ham 5-1 last November, but that was only flattering to deceive. The unbiased data always speaks the cold, hard truth. Seventeen (17) games in the PL without Santi and the ppg has fallen to 1.76, a mind-blowing 25% drop. Most striking, Arsenal was 1st place in the league Arsenal on October 20th, and today the club is battling for 4th with City.
In spite of the power and clarity of the data, we continue to have fake news or better yet fake analysis by pseudo experts in the mainstream media, blogs and podcasts pouring blame on Arsene Wenger for the recent run of bad results especially the heavy defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League. But at last there are a few in the mainstream media who now acknowledge what I have blogged on at least three (3) occasions over the past year, Santi Cazorla is the key to Arsenal and he is virtually irreplaceable.
First, on October 24, 2016 the Telegraph’s Charlie Eccleshare did a piece which had as its headline:
“Arsenal’s draw with Middlesbrough underlines why Santi Cazorla is the player Arsene Wenger cannot do without”
Later on December 2nd a follow-up by Eccleshare was published with another bold header:
“Santi Cazorla injury will derail Arsenal’s season – unless Arsene Wenger does something drastic”
Well the data is in and Arsenal’s season is badly off the tracks. Even though the Guardian’s Barney Ronay flowery language is often aimed at the literary cognoscenti, he was straight to the point:
“With Cazorla in the centre Arsenal are a different team. Mainly they’re a better one, his presence above all defensive and stabilising, a leadership role. This season Cazorla has started 10 games, with eight wins and two draws. Arsenal have kept five clean sheets with him in the team, compared with four in 20 League and Champions League games since his injury. In the last five years Arsenal have beaten Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham just once without their most resilient ball-hog in the team.”
It is noteworthy that Ronay identifies and recognizes something that many of us at Positively Arsenal, especially our friend When We Were Boring, have emphasized. Santi is the technical leader of this team. None of this abstract, data-free nonsense that the current team and players lack guts, which is simply the reactionary shibboleths of a past era when apparently Nobby Styles was the proof of leadership by emerging from games bloodied and toothless as if he had been in a 15 round boxing brawl (Readers who don’t know of Nobby, should Bing him up).
For those who so easily forget what Santi brings to the table in big games like Bayern, turn your minds to three-four months ago in Arsenal’s champion’s league game away to PSG. In the words of Ronay:
“Just as it is unlikely any English team will see a better all-round performance this season than Cazorla’s outflanking of that powerful Paris Saint-Germain midfield in the second half in Paris last September, scuttling about, holding the ball in tiny spaces and driving the game back Arsenal’s way like a plucky little snowspeeder patiently winding its guy rope around the legs of the imperial walkers.”
I quote these well published journos simply to affirm what I seem unable to sufficiently convey via the data; Santi is the key to the Arsenal way of playing and, at least for now, is irreplaceable. To the contrary, some of my friends at PA urge and I paraphrase: “Stop belabouring the point, Shotta, we have other midfielders who can compensate.”
Can they truly compensate? Recently I did an analysis of the season-to-date Squawka PL performance data of all the Arsenal midfielders and it was a revelation. To make it easy for mobile devices I will break the table in 2 parts.
Top-4 Avg Performance Score
| Ozil | Cazorla | Iwobi | The Ox | |
| Avg Performance Score | 27 | 25 | 22 | 18 |
| Total Appearances | 22 | 8 | 21 | 21 |
| Shot Accuracy | 50% | 67% | 47% | 43% |
| Avg. Pass Accuracy | 87% | 91% | 87% | 82% |
| Avg. Pass Length | 15m | 16m | 14m | 17m |
| Avg. Chances Created | 2.68 | 1.25 | 1.14 | 1.10 |
| Avg. Goals Scored | 0.23 | 0.25 | 0.14 | 0.10 |
| Avg. Defensive Actions | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Avg. Duels Won | 53% | 28% | 55% | 53% |
Bottom-4 Avg Performance Score
| Xhaka | Elneny | Coquelin | Ramsey | |
| Avg Performance Score | 18 | 16 | 16 | 11 |
| Total Appearances | 19 | 12 | 21 | 12 |
| Shot Accuracy | 23% | 0% | 14% | 29% |
| Avg. Pass Accuracy | 89% | 92% | 88% | 90% |
| Avg. Pass Length | 18m | 16m | 15m | 16m |
| Avg. Chances Created | 0.84 | 0.25 | 0.62 | 0.83 |
| Avg. Goals Scored | 0.05 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Avg. Defensive Actions | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| Avg. Duels Won | 45% | 42% | 48% | 52% |
I have already made the point in my last blog that Cazorla is our second best midfielder next to Ozil and is inferior in only one offensive statistic i.e. Chances Created, making him a huge loss as an attacker. In his absence the team is forced to rely Iwobi and Oxlade-Chamberlain as Attacking Midfielders. While Arsenal fans should be extremely happy with the development of both players, the stubborn fact is that at 87% and 82% Pass Completion respectively as well as inferior chance creation stats it is hardly likely they will trouble defenders in much the same way as Santi. Nevertheless they are young players with a high upside and in Arsene they have a manager who is infinitely capable of bringing the best out of them. The bottom-line is neither is really suited for a deep lying role thus the manager is relying on Xhaka, Elneny and Coquelin and Ramsey to perform this function. The fact that they as well as The Ox have sub 20 average performance scores is a telling statistic. Even more troubling is the most experienced in the lot is Aaron Ramsey, but he has had an injury plagued season and his average performance score is a measly 11. The data is compelling; Arsene may have 6 injury-free midfielders but he is starved of another quality attacking central midfielder. (Note to StatDNA and the scouts in planning for the 2017 transfer season.)
I am no tactical expert and I have no advice to give the manager. He, I am sure, is more aware than all of us of the scale of the challenge he faces and the experience to prevail. For example on February 7, 2015, Arsenal lost to Tottenham 2-1 and fell to 6th place in the league with only 42 points. In the next 14 matches the club went on a run of 10 wins, three draws and one loss to finish 3rd at 75 points. Switching Santi to that deeper role, in place of the injured Mikel Arteta, was the key to that revival. Surely Arsene will find another internal solution.
Positively Arsenal 
Ah the old ones still resonate
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Hey Andy, that was my stock reply to people on ACLF ,if you can remember.
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As requested Sir:
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/everton-farhad-moshiri-arsenal-rival-12664922
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Interesting debate yesterday about the importance of data. I have a simple answer for the sceptics; the key metric is the PPG. Over the past 20 years the avg ppg to win the title is 2.24, median was 2.28, the minimum was 1.97. That minimum of less than 2.0 was a one time occurrence, a statistical outlier. Over the last 10 years, of the Arsenal trophy drought, the club’s ppg was sub 2.0.
Arsenal’s chances of winning the title with a sub 2.0 ppg are slim and none. The key to overhauling our bigger spending rivals is identifying the key players that will drive us to consistently delivering a 2.24 ppg, not for half a season but through the entire campaign. Over the past 4 years Santi Cazorla is one of those players and there are others. The main point of my blog was to show that Arsene may mix and match but of the remaining central midfielders we are, to put it mildly, highly challenged. I am sick and tired of flag waving Arsenal supporters who fail to accept that reality as they are causing Arsene and the club more damage in the long run are equally as bad as the WOBs with their unrealistic expectations. .
As for the sceptics, data is now the biggest thing in football. That is why Arsenal spent so much money on a proprietary analytics firm, StatDNA. Football was the last of the big sports to embrace data and analytics because in England, which ground zero for professional football, for too long the troglodytes and reactionaries ruled the roost. Up to recently as coaches and managers relied on experience and intuition to make huge footballing decisions with millions of pounds at stake. As usual it is taking a long time for the fans to catch up as they are still treated to pundits and commentators wo still spout data free crap e.g. the best way to score is to get the ball wide and cross it into the box.
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I think the other factor is keeping players fit Shotta
I doubt that Arsene would have presided over any PL wins if the injury record of Paddy, Manu, Thierry or Dennis ie the earlier core players had such a poor record as our current game changers.
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Eddie,
re your earlier comment on David O’Leary being a potential candidate for the Arsenal Youth position, you may well be correct, however it would not be because he is a guest of AFC at arsenal games, because he attends those games as an Arsenal ‘Ambassador’ – whatever that means. [Booze and schmooze?]
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I don’t think anyone was questioning the importance of data personally I love it. However what I was questioning was the isolation of PPG of a single player who has a high injury record. Basically the data is incomplete as there are so many other factors to consider. So Love Santi Love data but cannot assume a title based on it.
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We all agree that watching Cazorla play football has been a treat!
And that most AFC fans sound like that’s what they have thought since his arrival at the club
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AndyNic – I don’t have a disagreement with your point about injury but the key difference with the 1st 10 years vs the last 10 years of Wenger is the change in the competitive environment. Its no longer United as our main rival, we have equally if not better financed rivals such as Chelsea and City and lately have fans squawking about Moshiri and Everton. Add PSG and Monaco to the mix and we have fierce competitors for French talent than Wenger used to easily recruit.
BTW I read that the board is offering AW a raise from £8mm to £10mm per year to sign a two year extension. Those who read my blog “Arsene Will Be Manager Indefinitely” will be in no way surprised. The data proves he is the biggest competitive asset for the club. But if the Board thinks they can win the title without giving him £40mm-£50mm to acquire an ACM of Santi Cazorla standard then they are damning us to two additional years of frustration. Meanwhile the Chinese will have fun poaching 2nd level talent from the PL and eventually our club. Money talks, bullshit walks.
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Very true Shotta – even United are being battered by the sums required to remain competitive.
The other point is that 20 years ago we had an inside track on scouting in Europe, particularly France.
Not now, everyone is far better resourced.
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Shotta,
Why do you continually refer to those who try to debate with you the conclusions you arrive at by using data sets of being sceptics?
To declare an interest, I have used data analysis for most of my professional life. I have never, and would never, arrive at a conclusion/decision that could cost clients a great deal of money simply because of a graph showing historical data trends. Data has its place in guiding those decisions, but that in turn is dependent on effective methodology in data collection, and rigorous data analysis to ensure human confirmation bias is filtered out of a meaningful conclusion.
You have said earlier that you wanted the data to shut down debate on the subject, but leaving aside the fact that blogs rely for their existence on debate, a key part of establishing any findings based on data needs critical scrutiny by peer groups.
OK, not everyone is a mathematician, and do not necessarily wish to be, but the fact that your data discussions contribute to debate on a football blog is an essential part of the process – and those who have doubts about your conclusion – will not be convinced if they are called sceptics, especially when the conclusion becomes a popularity poll about someone who is already treasured by all Arsenal fans.
Surely it does not require data analysis to say the team is better with Santi in it, than if he is not? The real problem is something data cannot help with – he is ageing, and subject to more and more injuries that curtail his appearances for the team, and will eventually reduce his performances over time — time and tide await no man — we all get old.
Sceptics? No – just people who care.
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Fins: I am definitely responsible but we seem to be hung up on Santi as an individual. Santi is merely a symbol, a standard. I identify him as ONE of the key drivers especially when you compare him to the seven other members of the midfield. If we compare AFC’s midfield with PSG’s then we may better understand the disparity. There is reason why a midfield of Draxler, Matuidi, Di Maia, Veratti, Rabiot Krychowiak and Stambouli took Barca to school in their last champions league game. They also tore us apart in the 1st half of the1st game of the group stage and we were saved by the poor finishing of Cavani.
Food for thought. Gone for the rest of the day.
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george the link
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/everton-farhad-moshiri-arsenal-rival-12664922
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Arsenal name Luke Hobbs as interim Academy Manager following Jonker’s departure
by jeorge bird
Arsenal have named Luke Hobbs as interim Academy Manager after Andries Jonker left the position to become head coach at Wolfsburg yesterday.
Hobbs joined Arsenal in July 2013 and was the club’s Football Operations manager at Hale End. Prior to that he was a community officer at Peterborough United before spending time as centre of excellence manager at Cambridge United and then operating as head of coaching at Southend United.
The club have already commenced their search for a permanent successor to Jonker.
Meanwhile, Jan Van Loon, who was previously head of individual development, has been appointed as Arsenal’s U15 coach after Freddie Ljungberg joined Wolfsburg as an assistant to Jonker.
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Five fixtures rescheduled
Five of our Premier League fixtures have been rescheduled, with four of our upcoming matches selected for live TV coverage.
We can now confirm that the following games have been rescheduled as below:
Arsenal v Manchester City
Sunday, April 2 (originally Saturday, April 1)
Kick-off: 4pm
Live on: Sky Sports
Arsenal v West Ham United
Wednesday, April 5 (originally Tuesday, April 4)
Kick-off: 7.45pm
Crystal Palace v Arsenal *
Monday, April 10 (originally Saturday, April 8)
Kick-off: 8pm
Live on: Sky Sports
Middlesbrough v Arsenal *
Monday, April 17 (originally Saturday, April 15)
Kick-off: 8pm
Live on: Sky Sports
Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal *
Sunday, April 30 (originally Saturday, April 29)
Kick-off: 4.30pm
Live on: Sky Sports
* Subject to UEFA Champions League participation
The ‘standard’ TV selections have now been made up to the end of April 2017. Ordinarily, fixtures up to this date will not now change. However, as ever, all fixtures remain subject to change and circumstances may yet arise which result in further fixture changes.
Copyright 2017 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source
Read more at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20170228/five-fixtures-rescheduled#bvVfW4DwWosf0jfZ.99
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Shotta, @ 12:18
I think you have now mentioned a key part of any team, when comparing PSG’s midfield to others, including Arsenal. The number of quality players available and included in their team.
Extending that to the Santi issue — how many other Arsenal players were in the same teams as Santi when the points per game data was collected? 1? 2? 6?
If we said that [and I do not have the data] Kozzer played in those games too, would it not be correct that he may have had as much impact as Santi. If the data related to midfield players, the same question could be asked. However, that is selectively applying the points per game data to a single group in the team, ignoring other positions that may have made a greater impact on the results, as that is what PPG ir really all about.
The strikers putting on their shooting boots, or not, the GK making world class saves or not?
if you have data on that — I would love to see it — that would contribute to a meaningful conclusion based on a wider data population, and that would keep all us mathematicians happy. lol
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Eddie,
Where would we be without you keeping us abreast of all the administrative matters that affect our enjoyment of the Arsenal!!!! lol
I am especially happy that I have been able to watch the occasional Arsenal youth team on AFC because of your tipping us off on dates and times in previous posts.
Well done, sir.
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Richard @R_GOONER 19m19 minutes ago
If we get to the FA Cup semi & Man U gets moved our last home game on a Saturday at 3pm of the season would’ve been 10th December!#Arsenal
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Anicoll,
It was obviously Arsene’s encyclopaedic knowledge of world football, that enabled us to pick up talented youth players from France and Africa – particularly France.
Once every other club appointed scouts to specialise in France, that advantaged was eroded, because the scouting systems of the monied clubs, especially while the Emirates was being built, enabled them to ‘pinch’ the cream of the crop.
Then Real, Barça, PSG, Bayern and the top Italian clubs got their claws in, and prices for youthful players rocketed so that £30m, £40m and even £50m kids such as Martial at Manure became almost commonplace.
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I don’t think Shotta is suggesting we would have won the league with Santi fit, more it became a lot less likely once he was injured.
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what have I missed, for some reason I see lots of mentions for a fans representative on the Arsenal board, which up their own arse group of loud mouths are demanding such a stupid notion. was it ast or aftv
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Another interesting day of posters airing a variety of opinions. Nothing against that but I am not going to indulge those who ask for more data without doing their own research to support their own alternative theories. That is a suckers game. It is like those people who argue ad infinitum that man never landed on the moon. Give them the data, they dispute the facts and ask for more data. No Sirree Bob. You had better put some skin in the game and then we can talk.
Meantime I will wait for the data to emerge as we go deeper into the season. Data has no headlines, no emotions, no narratives…..
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shotta,
No one is disputing your data. The disagreement that some have is with your conclusions from your published data. I don’t even disagree with your conclusion that much. My only issue with you is your belief that because you backed a point with data, that point is therefore sacrosanct. I cannot accept that and as person who works with numbers for a living, I find the position arrogant and anti-science.
You aren’t exactly doing any data analysis by telling us that men have been to the moon. You were merely stating a historical fact. Saying that “because 100% of the humans who have been to the moon are men, therefore only men can go to the moon” is a conclusion which I believe others can disagree with without necessarily having to provide any data of their own.
Here are some other terrible conclusions that we can arrive at with the Almighty Data:
– Women can’t win elections/lead
– Girls aren’t as smart as boys
– Black Americans do a lot more offences than whites
Each every one of these conclusions can be backed up by data but they are all wrong.
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No idea why you ended up on the spam bin Boo !
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My favourite bit of data concerns Jon Moss. A man who sends a shudder down the spine of every right thinking Arsenal fan, and even a few wrong thinking ones.
With Jon Moss however AFC have an average of winning 2.86 points per game, a exceptional, title winning haul. If Mossy had the whistle in 38 PL games, and even allowing for the occasional slip up on his part, we would have 108+ points.
How can you not love this man and recognise him for the key performer he is ?
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every club will certainly feel the impact of the loss of any important player. i dont think i need any data to say that the loss of koscielny will have as much devestating effect on the team as cazorla’s. even psg with so many big talent in the midfield were not so good when verrati was not in the team.
i’m certain that we would have had this same conversation had we have santi available and kos is the one out since october.
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anicoll5,
I think it is a WordPress issue. I haven’t been able to like comments for the last 3 days.
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To quote the great man himself:
“I don’t think Shotta is suggesting we would have won the league with Santi fit, more that it became a lot less likely once he was injured.”
Seems fairly straightforward to me!
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Andrew
You missed out the entry that recorded the two handed push into a pit that wasn’t called as a foul. Or the hack on Cazorla that took him out.
In the same match last season.
Like you said above, the big injuries are a key factor.
Another item we all agree upon!
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There was that Summer where Mossy reached heady heights, the club even took him to Asia and had him at the Emirates Cup as their personal mascot/favourite referee! Perchance to dream eh?
I don’t think are any more free pies in n5 for Big Jon when he comes to town, reflected with his upset demeanour upon his last visit. Don’t believe me? Just as Xhaka!
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I’m going to head out the front door and head North. There are many variables, but I’m going to trust the numbers displayed upon my compass, hopefully that doesn’t send everyone into a tailspin (can’t see the stars in London at night and, well, most days the Sun is hidden, sometimes you have no option!).
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I can only assume that Moss did not think that anyone could be that stupid;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AygmolWccIg
Has anyone noticed if these camera pits are still at Carrow Road ? – bloody death traps for any player of either side even without a shove in the back
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Good Afternoon, one and all.
I enjoy chatting with fellow Gooners, – I do not like getting into disputes that are wholly unnecessary.
I said at 12:16 yesterday, “Surely it does not require data analysis to say the team is better with Santi in it, than if he is not?”
It seems everyone, in their own words, agrees with that conclusion, so probably best to move on.
Anicoll @ 2:52 pm had me cheering for Moss as a top referee – against my better judgement).
Until I read, Finsbury @3:29 pm, and he convinced me I was right first time!
Fickle? Moi?
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Anicoll,
You had me scratching my head with your ‘photo above. Alexis being pushed into the Cam? — Wasn’t that a Cambridge river – wassat gorra do wiv Narich?
Then I twigged — the photo showed an abbreviation — so solly, master. lol
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HenryB,
I think anicoll’s post was tongue in cheek (please correct me if I’m wrong, anicoll5) about how conclusions drawn from data can be wrong sometimes when we use our own senses and judgment.
It is better to use data to draw conclusions than not but the fact that data has been used to reach a conclusion doesn’t make such a conclusion sacrosanct.
Your post (disputing anicoll’s) just perfectly made that point.
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Bootoome,
A little humour never hurts — disputation rarely heals.
I rarely, if ever, disagree with the honourable anicoll, so wash your mouth out!!!! lol
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Fins: Beginning at ACLF, together we have been engaged in these debates where people throw around opinions and theories without a shred of data to back it up. For example since 2012, when Fraudegras deserted the ship for the glories of Barca, there have been tons of gooners who concluded AW is no longer fit for the job, end of an era etc. No data, just an opinion.
But we lived long enough to observe that because of the signing of three skilled, experienced and wisened older heads in the form of Santi, Mikel Arteta and the BFG the ship was steadied. Despite Mikel’s loss of athleticism in his latter years, moving him deep into the engine room was a masterstroke by AW and then having Santi replace him the act of a genius. Santi proved to be an upgrade on Mikel as with him we went on to beat United, City and Chelsea at decisive moments, something we struggled to do with Fraudegras. The data, our experience and intuition is thundering loud in our ear the need to strengthen in that area and not fool ourselves that, apart from Ozil and Santi, we have within our ranks the necessary quality. If data sceptics continue to harbour such illusions, feel free. If they want to ignore history, feel free.
I will continue to let the data re our ppg without Santi unfold. I will continue to observe and support Wenger as he mixes and matches and tweak our formation to maximize a top-four finish. But I refuse to pander to those who refuse to put up verifiable, unbiased data to support an alternative thesis.
The Contrarian@shotta_gooner
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Panic buys Shotta
Panic!
You know how the market works better then I! Hehe.
I’d feel more confident with a fit Rambo, especially after he wowed the watching world last summer, but after this season i don’t think his hammies will be strong enough for full seasons after his earlier injuries and time spent/lost in recovery, especially not after a summer tournie.
And it is worth repeating – Cazorla’s been a better CM against the big clubs then the F word was, and Ozil’s been the better ten.
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I remember looking at Mertseacker and feeling the urge to confuse him with Metzelder.
Then i noticed that he had ninetry odd caps for Germany, making the odd final and a semi-final with them.
That was a helpful metric!
I remember watching his home debut, think i was sat close to his brother! Certainly a very gentle and friendly German gentlemen. The becalming presence on the pitch appeared to be that of a ninety odd cap star German CB who’d been to many tournament finals/semi-finals and would go onto pick up a WC medal.
Good signing wasn’t he?
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shotta what about this data
http://thekingmaker.me/football-season-ticket-prices/
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shotta this should be your profile picture
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Barney RonayVerified account @barneyronay 9h9 hours ago
Leader of anti-Wenger protests says he’s tired of seeing “limp-wristed” Arsenal teams. Only half the story. Also lots of dagos and frogs
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Stephy Mavididi has been ruled out for the rest of the season. The forward tore his hamstring against Bury at the weekend and is now set for surgery. The Charlton boss admitted it was his fault for overusing the lad.
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Giroud and Ramsey were in training today, but Ozil was sent home early from it due to illness
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Watching Citeh systematically and relentlessly cheat at every opportunity against Huddersfield. Little wonder players occasionally lash out with the intention of disabling little shits like Sane Sterling and TinTin.
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Arsenal Fixture News @AFCFixtureNews 20m20 minutes ago
Robert Madley has been appointed the referee for Saturday’s away match against Liverpool.
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1886 @1886_blog 8h8 hours ago
Pathetic abuse aimed at AFC players in reply to their tweets. Easy to see why players hire PR companies to manage their social networks. For example, @mertesacker wishing @aaronramsey a Happy St Davids Day. The replies are full of abuse. It’s utterly pathetic and embarrassing.
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afcstuff @afcstuff 4h4 hours ago
17 year-old Arsenal trialist Marcelo Allende (pictured behind Alexis) was in first-team training with the squad today. Allende has came through the ranks at Alexis Sanchez’s former club, Cobreloa & has been linked with a move to Arsenal for over a year.
Allende, a midfielder who has now been on trial at Arsenal on three separate occasions, is captain of the U17s Chile team
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Vacancy at the Camp Nou in August – there is an opportunity for an ambitious manager.
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I’ll let Pedro at le groan know.
He’ll have to get behind Gary Neville and own Coyle in the que (Moyes has a job ATM).
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