Good morning all Positives,
Another largely routine win against Brentford, a team I cannot ever remember playing before in any competition. Checking the record books our lat competitive game was in May 1947, the last time the Bees wee in the top flight, so for once it was not my recollection that had faded. Having watched Derby County dump out the red Mancs on Tuesday, a team doing well in the Championship promotion battle, we faced a Brentford side with a similar banana-skin potential.
Of the game itself, like a number of other posters here as I read this morning, I struggled to watch the first half with a stream that went on and off, and even started to go backwards at one point. WTF the cub do not arrange a way for the games to be streamed live via Arsecom Gawd only knows. Do they not understand that worldwide there are tens of thousands of fans watching streams that would happily pay a few additional pennies to watch what they want to watch ?
From the scraps of disjointed action I did see we dominated the game consistently, controlled the ball, slipped in two good goals through Danny, and should have had more. The visitors barely made a serious effort towards our goal, let alone forced Leno to make a save. They were either a bit over-awed during that first 45, or were just not very good.
After half time, and the life of a football fan is subject to the cruel barbs of Fate such as this, my stream was exceptionally good. I had the opportunity to watch a previously defeated swarm of Bees storm forward and give us a damn good game. Our previous domination of the first half was brushed aside, Judge scored a good goal on the hour, and the smooth control of a few minutes earlier had been replaced by hard, sweaty effort, and dour defending. Leno dived left, he dived right, he worked like a keeper should. At times the Championship side really were camped in our half and when we did get the ball over the half way line it never stuck to an Arsenal player and was straight back.
How did that happen ? I appreciate the visitors came out with a bit more vim on the step in the second half but even so … !
During that second half I saw Mustafi and Holding play well, and Lichtsteiner’s subtle skills were always there to slam the door. The defenders dealt with a lot of high balls and while Brentford tried to open us up there was always a boot or a head in the way to frustrate them. Recognising the slide UE made the changes, though I am surprised he did not beef the midfield up a little earlier with Torreira and Ramsey. The Brentford fire was dampened, and slowly we took back control. A final rally by our opponents led to a last minute penalty appeal waved imperiously away by Deano – you can always rely on that man to do the unexpected.
So there we have it, six in a row and with Watford up in short order at 3pm Saturday. More bloody insects. We have to wait until Saturday evening to discover our next Carabao fixture, so try to control yourselves until then.
Positively Arsenal 
Andy, don’t worry, I’m forever being told how we played by people that then go on to say they haven’t watched the game. And I kid you not.
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I am at the game on Saturday so I shall probably have even less idea what is going on – like any sensible football fan I rely Twitter to reveal all
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We may not have played the Bees competitively but we have traditionally played pre season games against so it a team we know well.
They have common in leaps and bounds though and I tend to think of them as an Arsenal light team. They play the right way good attacking football and have an innovative coach. I think they just fell short of making it to the premier League last season which was a pity.
The game itself was in keeping with what we have seen this season, largely in control and had the quality to finish them off. It must be a nightmare when you are chasing the game to la cazette warming up as a sub.
As for the weekend Watford worries me. They are a crude bunch and if the ref lets things go we could be in for a tough time.
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Thank goodness for Twitter to reveal all as I too will get to see the game on Saturday. Not at the Ems unfortunately but on TV. I’m away for the weekend and for reasons I simply don’t understand I’ll be able to see it live. Why that can’t be possible in the UK I don’t know although it will be interesting to see if a 3pm untelevised game leads to a higher actual attendance.
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And we’ve got ‘give a talking to’ Taylor as Ref Saturday so Deeney et al will be rubbing their hands together.
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Thanks for the report Andrew. Unai’s army keeps on building and exploring how it is to win! Great work and finish by Lacca. Loved Dannys goals too, classic Numero 9, and a touch of the old Wenger ball for number 2. I really like Danny, I would love to see him go on a goal run, like in the days of yore when such things seemed to happen.
The old league cups a weird competition though-bit of limp atmos last night.
I reckon the Orns might find us a bit of a different prospect.
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I found the game far from routine and infact very frustrating. My target of around ten games before we truly gel is coming up fast and I still think we are a long way off. I know I’m biased but I believe Arsene would won the game more convincingly with a less experienced side.
This squad looks very close to a very very good one yet frustratingly just doesn’t seem to fit together yet.
Andy I’m surprised you didn’t mention Dean who put on a truly terrible display of officiating and I’m sure if the stats were checked would have done less running than Leno. At times he looked if he didn’t know where he was and after one wrong decision the Brentford defender first looked in disbelief then just laughed out loud.
It was nice to see Nico captain them last night and although he has always been a grafter he was a little over exuberant.
The last two games have shown why Cech has got the number one slot proving millions wrong although Leno did show he can be a sweeper keeper and is very fast off of his line.
I thought Emile did well but Alex seem to have “were playing a lower division team” syndrome and tried to take everybody on including the subs the bench and some of the crowd, he didn’t have one of best nights. Holding was efficient and Danny was impressively Danny.
I do worry for the game against the hornets though they are bigger and have a more powerful sting than the bees and we don’t seem to be quite there yet.
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Ian regarding Alex I actually thought he had an excellent game and in large part because of the confidence he had to take players on. This has been quite noticeable this season and shows he now appears to trust his talent and ability. He is also providing effective balls from the wings and his workrate covering is excellent. I actually think he should be starting ahead of Mikhi and Ramsey on the wing.
His ability to recieve the ball and break at pace also opens up the game for Auba.
The issue of gelling is a tricky one. The results so far show we are more cohesive more pragmatic too in our defence in terms of settling for the win . It will take time I suppose but I see us settling. We have excellent players in Torreira and Guendozi. The attack is settled as Auba and Lacazette lead the line. Nacho and Hector are seasoned players and Sokratis has been excellent in almost all games.
There is still a question of how effective Ozil Ramsey and Mikhi to a degree have been but to be honest they are all quality players who will produce.
What I would like to see is that we go for the kill and throttle teams from the onset
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I really don’t think Dean did much more than he usually does Ian in terms of his usual random decisions and wierd view of officiating. As I did however say his decision to turn down Brentford’s last minute penalty appeal was a first !!
I admit I don’t really understand how the VAR system and the referee are supposed to interact and work together at this stage. If a clear error has been made then presumably the VAR official says “you have made wrong decision” in his ear.
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Can someone please advise if arseblog is a in fact a blog where wenger out dickheads write their opinions?I’m asking because I’ve just had a chat with four clueless bastards who think Ramsey is crap.
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If there is a clear error, and the referee automatically reverses his original decision. If no clear error then there should be no contact.
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Sean: as far as I can make out the only two blogs who actively support the club and all the players are this one and Untold Arsenal, although even there you get more than a few “it was better in my day” merchants. Ramsey is a fine footballer, but it might be fair to say that so far this season he has yet to perform at his very best. But what I do think is that nobody on the outside has any idea of what has been going on with regard to his contract situation.
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Some or all of the following may be the case:
Ramsey does not feel the club is likely to make sufficient progress given the current squad, manager and willingness to spend.
Ramsey is not seen as essential by the current manager in the way that the former manager did.
Ramsey has decided that having given years of loyal serivce it is the right time to make a move elsewhere.
Ramsey feels that he is not sufficiently valued and that others would value him more.
Ramsey has read Arseblog and concluded that only a madman would want to play for a club supported by such a shower of so and sos.
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Yes I agree he’s not in the best form right now but everyone is still trying to find their feet under the new management but the amount of agenda driven crap I read on that website…Jesus wept it’s like they conveniently forget all the good he’s done,the terrible injuries he’s suffered from lack of protection during games whilst also being mishandled by some of the clubs physicians.Regarding contract talks don’t worry I’m sure DT (diarrhoea talk) and his minions will fill us on the situation soon enough.
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I like Ramsey & hope he stays. He can (and often has been) a match winner, but if it’s true that he’s looking for £200K plus per week, then I think he should be told to take the leave option. We’re already overpaying another midfielder and this is not the way to reduce the wage bill. He’s good, but not THAT good. Worth some sort of increase, but nothing like what I’ve seen reported.
Hope also to see Danny sign, but again not with a huge pay rise.
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Ramsey leaving will be a fuck up of monumental proportions. And yes, the club will move on, but it will be moving with a self inflicted limp.
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It’s frustrating with contracts not knowing the absolute truth.
Is sanchez on the reported figure of 600,000 per week, for instance? If so, that’s pretty terrifying.
The 350,000 figure for Ozil, is that one true? If so, that can obviously cause difficulties if others believe their influence in the team is similar to his and deserves similar reward.
And again, that’s against a background of flipping Sanchez being on those astronomical wages.
The bigger picture is that within our league there are those three clubs who undoubtedly have more money, (with one of them actually earning it through football-related activity!) though we as fans don’t know exactly how much more financial power they have- beyond ‘a lot’ or ‘a shit ton’.
Ornstein, who I think we all agree is the most reliable person out there, said something about ‘are now not in a position to proceed’. Wtf?
Where’s that leave us? Does it mean all the talk I’ve found hard to believe about our wage bill really biting (despite no other clubs seeming to be affected, and increased commercial deals around corner) is true?
Feck knows. Dispiriting news but i guess I’ll have to fall back on how often the media are wrong about all sorts, and just try remain optimistic as there’s nowt else for it.
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The £40-£50 million a club earns from participating in the CL is a lot of spare cash for wages Rich. Miss out on it and that is the wages of 3-4 of the v best PL players not covered. We shall just have to ensure it is not us who misses out this year.
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Anicol
Good point. I’m conflating two things as well : total money we have for wages and all else; and those fangled rules about wage increases per year.
The first I don’t know truth of, the second irritates me (and I also don’t know for sure what’s what) on account of it only being us I ever hear mentioned as battling with it, when Everton, for instance, seem far more likely candidates for falling foul of it than us.
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It was a worry that Ramsey would go after the club failed to re-sign Chamberlain who’d made big contributions to the three cup victories and would easily have replaced Alli at 8 for England during the WC considering he has Southgate’s favour.
As for the Arseblagger, it was easy to predict his memes on behalf of his agent pals as that is his MO and has been since the Adebayor saga.
He’s simply a rung above ‘AFTV Media’ and a rung below Ian Wrong on the Super Agents’ ‘Trickle Downs Effect’ ladder, that is all it is. Sports Communications innit guv.
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I’m not going to pass judgement on the club or Ramsey. I will only admit to a befuddlement about how this has gone down. In particular, if Ornstein’s account is accurate — and though his record is not impeccable, he hews to the standards of journalism more closely than anyone else covering Arsenal does — the club and the player’s representatives reached an agreement. The club later rescinded that offer. I’m struggling to understand. Did this happen after the transition from Ivan to Raul was announced?
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Ornstein also said neither club nor Ramsey’s reps would say when contacted why the contract renewal is off.
To me this suggests that in fact neither have actually said deal is off. Ramsey’s agents have not tweeted a word about it, and there is not a single mention on anything official Arsenal about it either.
Only last night Emery said talks between Ramsey and the club was still on going.
Emery will give a press conference tomorrow for the Watford game, he is sure to be asked about the whole thing, so we may actually find out something truthful tomorrow.
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Emery will stone wall it.
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Emery is not the manager, he is head coach. It doesn’t matter what players he might want to keep as ultimately his job is to coach the players the club chooses to make available to him. That is the new regime. It’s just a shame but not a surprise that the mob have leapt onto this bandwagon to abuse the player as if he is responsible for the club withdrawing their offer (if Ornstein is to be believed). Even if he is choosing to leave, I can’t say I blame him. After all he has done for the club all I have to say is good luck, but I will miss him and be sorry to see him playing for another club in the PL.
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Anyone on here use Android – and if so any problems accessing the blog ? I have a man who is keen to get on but his Android devices won’t load PA
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Do you guys think it was ethically good or bad for the Orn to have spilt the Ramsey beans? I dont mean from the perspective of a hack, but for affect on the club iteself…
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The WordPress app for Android works well for this purpose.
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It is Ornstein’s job Dave, his means of putting bread into the mouths of the little Ornstein’s – what else can he do ?
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As for Aaron my entirely uninformed opinion is he is gone. I have seen this absurd dance too often to expect any other outcome. A pity but the way of the world.
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Fair point Andrew, could AFTV make the same reasoning though? ( Im not defending AFTV, in fact Im the biggest tool as probably too concerned with ethics in a world that often isnt or has other conditioned identities).
One thing, the Orn has to take responsibility for his words though (see Im at it again aarrgh!) it wont happen?
I think Im the one who doesn’t get it and probably never will,( I really don’t get a lot of our contemporary attitudes) as Im not too keen on hacks and their attitude and lack of decency ( generally) even if they are well meaning ( should I assume they are or not?) and they did make a choice to go into such a job.
Maybe the Orn would say “its the system”, but we’ve seen that as the reasoning for terrible events.
At least it does make you think a tad? Im also probably up to the hairline with the AFTV squad and other blogs and press always baiting Arsenal (then dont look a that stuff!).
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Unai didn’t or couldn’t say anything about Ivan leaving, so he may be in the dark about Aaron too. It is true he is head coach so he may be detached from breaking news until the top set decide to brief him on it.
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Agree Anicoll, think Ramsey is a goner , and possibly has been for a while.
If so ,Maybe the club are fed up with stalling tactics, perhaps they know there is no mid ground, maybe his demands are unreasonable, perhaps we have a replacement in place or lined up, who knows.
A real shame if true , have always rated Ramsey. Know talk is cheap, but as a club, need to maybe look at either being better at keeping key players, and if not, getting top dollar for them, with the sums involved, I suspect the owner and his men will be on the case with that. Agree with the earlier post, after all that has gone on in recent years, losing Ramsey for nought or close to that , possibly to a rival, is a fuck up, no less
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I use Google Chrome on Android to access the blog and don’t have any problems.
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I see its being alluded that Mesut Özil is being overpaid. That’s just nonsense. MÖ is getting paid what he worth if we remember he was going to leave from free and get a mega sign on bonus elsewhere. So Arsenal worked his bonus into his new wage deal. Let’s keep some perspective.
The same with Ramsey. Transfermrkt values him at €45m. So we can’t expect him to get no sign-on bonus negotiated in any new wage agreements unless said bonus is paid up front. This is no different to paying £50m to find a adequate replacement and pay him 150k per week.
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To add on Pass’ comment at 6:56pm.
The reported contract situation re Ramsey is no different than Jack Wilshere. With Jack the mob directed their anger toward the club but w Ramsey he is being called all sorts of vile name, well, he hasn’t been called before from them. Which points this is just a continuation of their agenda that lack its usual context and any comprehension.
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just get the impression this club are almost unique in trying to stick to,whatever version of FFP they signed up to. We have lost a lot of very good players.
Also Wonder of the club have got pissed off with Ramsey’s agent, and have decided to rely on players we already have or could get? Are they trying to signal the new regime has got a lot tougher?
A little strange and worrying at this juncture though.
Many Wenger players, along with his staff, will soon be gone. Is that some sort of plan, coincidence? but is it wise, we weren’t that bad under him, and on our reported finances, it will be difficult to replace some.
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I love it that Mesut Ozil who was going to get a huge bonus signing for a new club instead got Arsenal (his current club) to pay him that bonus by factoring it into his new wage deal. Money he would have got elsewhere paid by his current employer.
If that’s true, then whoever put that deal together should have been sacked.
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With Aaron probably leaving, who are our most senior players now? Kos, Jenks, Chambers (if he returns).
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What is clear and undeniable is the MO of some of the blaggers and plundits.
Which is why after the Chamberlain saga even a numbnut like me could predict the loss of the greatest player the club’s had in the last decade (not an opinion!). Both sagas had nowt to the with the manager/head coach, but the venal scum pretended that it did and so many bouth into the meme, repeated so often over so many years how could they not? We are only human after all.
The parasites primary business is not the Football (so few of them actually talk about it as we saw with the stinking gibberish they were projecting during pe-season about Emery, the funting idiots don’t appear to even watch the football!) but working with the agents as their Sports Communications consultants. That is clear, I hope, for most of you here now, if not now then never.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/sep/26/west-ham-complain-talksport-danny-murphy-declan-rice-agent-contract-football
Murphy, Ian Wrong, they’re all the same. Condescending insincere wankers, pardon me.
Becasue their is no doubt what the primary game of these plundits and blaggers is. The moolah. Of course it is.
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Labo
I’m not looking to assign blame to player or club for Ozil’s reported wages. Just looking at it on the practical side in terms of what it means if we are determined to, or have to, fight very hard to keep wage bill down.
It would be nice if other players and their agents took account of the reasons he is paid that amount, specifically the power going into the last year of deal provides, with potential signing on fee elsewhere possibly incorporated into it,etc, but I doubt they do.
I see it simply as football on a budget, a big one but not as big as some others, including a few who, to me, in reality, have no real budget constraints, only paper or technical ones.
I find it deflating, and an awkward fit for my dreams of us being the best, (or the even weirder half-notion of us already being the best, rightfully, and now waiting and hoping for everything to go our way).
Annoyingly, we are well short of the full facts, but again there’s no one to blame for that.
Maybe we have to look at it as part of a sequence stretching back to Fabregas, Nasri, Van Persie, Sanchez,Ozil and now Ramsey. All who left stressed money was not the main factor but i think it’s reasonable to believe they may have said and done otherwise if enough money was offered.
Those who have, for a year, maybe two, beaten the money in Spain *, France and Germany in the last decade have all done it with, among other things, a stunning run of successful signings, esp young, supplemented by a few home grown youngsters, in a short period. Maybe that’s our best hope.
*Atletico different and a bit older, but still some excellent recruitment to get Godin, Miranda, Filipe Luis, Juanfran, Diego Costa, Courtois, Villa, Turan in as they built towards success.
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As predicted, Spurs benefit from Kabasele red but overturned so he can face us.
Maybe shouldn’t moan as it is probably correct decision.
Whereas I believe Phil Jones can’t have been making a genuine attempt at ball in cup final, or at least had zero chance of winning it, and therefore should have seen red by rules, this one was different. Alli for a start, which invariably means, on replay, the decision is dubious
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Why should anybody get sacked for giving a player who would’ve been a free agent a sign-on bonus? Its standard practice and the reason why more players would run down their contracts. This is something Arsène Wenger alluded to. Ignoring that points to prejudice in your analysis/ comment of the player.
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Rich at 11:25am
“It would be nice if other players and their agents took account of the reasons he is paid that amount, specifically the power going into the last year of deal provides, with potential signing on fee elsewhere possibly incorporated into it,etc, but I doubt they do.”
I completely agree. To add to that; it would be real nice if some supporters take that in account too.
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would add on Ozil’s wages, that at the time of his renewal it was reported that Arsenal had gotten more of his image rights in the deal. Image rights make a massive difference to the wage worth of the big name players. Silly people talks about the players jersey sales paying the transfer fee etc, but the reality is that clubs get a pittance from each kit sold, the use of their image rights bring in far more than kits.
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New post is up…………………..sorry.
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No objection to a player getting a re-signing bonus (or even a loyalty bonus a la Cesc) as long as it’s not in the area of the type that a free agent gets from a new club.
If reports of Ozil’s wages are correct Arsenal will pay him over £63 million during the course of his current contract.
If it’s true that he waived the image rights perk, then that would go a long way in explaining the high basic.
Does he actually have an image? (smug face emoji)
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Ok, here goes:
1) This is a really stupid move. You can’t tell me they can’t afford to pay him at least what they are paying Auba and Miki. He wasn’t asking for Mesut’s salary AND he wanted to stay. But, that apparently carries no weight in the new Arsenal regime, which I can’t say I like very much.
2) If Aaron goes, the last of the ethos of the club as we knew it goes with him. Kos can’t instill it alone, and I’m not convinced any of the younger players (bar perhaps Hector) really buy into it yet.
3) It makes no sense to me that Emery has built a first XI to include Aaron, only for the club to yank his contract offer.
4) I’m even more pissed at Ivan Gazidis now. I believe that contract would have been signed it he had stayed.
5) IF Emery freezes him out now (I don’t think he will, but I don’t think a lot of things will happen and then they do) it will poison my view of this club. He’s done nothing to deserve that. He gives everything, every game, he doesn’t pout (looking at you Mesut), he just gets on with it. What he deserves is to play, and to have a testimonial at the end of the season.
6) I hope the fans treat him with the decency he deserves. We will never again have legends (yes, I said it) who give the club a decade of their lives, because that’s football now. I hope people appreciate him, I believe he’s the last of that ilk we shall ever see.
7) I hope Aaron stays until summer, gets all the money he can, goes somewhere else and lights the world on fire. I hope the Director of Football feels stupid, and puts this decision down in his notebook called “Worst Decisions I’ve Ever Made”.
8) My positive side still holds a tiny sliver of hope, that this decision will be reconsidered by both parties at some point. But it’s admittedly very tiny.
9) I will follow Aaron’s career wherever he goes, and cheer for him unless he’s playing Arsenal (and maybe even a little bit, then). I hope it’s abroad. He deserves to play in a league where he doesn’t get kicked to death, and it would kill me to see both him and Oli (the second worse decision ever made) at Chelsea. I hope he and Colleen and their precious little family of five enjoy life wherever they land.
10) My heart is broken. I feel like someone has died. I knew the day would come, but I hoped he could end his career here, like Tomas did. No player will ever hold my heart like this again.
Footnote: I reserve the right to take *most* of this back if this all turns out to be bullshit. But I don’t think it is.
There you go, George. There’s your blog. Call it “10 Things I Realized Yesterday”.
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Your second point is crucial.
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