After a season, the disappointment of which has been understated in my view, Arsenal get a chance here for everything to start over again. Finishing with some promising form last season, but still only in 8th, & not only dropping out of the Europa League, but out of European football altogether. Here Arsenal get a chance to turn things around. A new page of the rebuild chapter, or Same Old Arsenal?
Some fresh faces in Ben White from Brighton, Albert Sambi Lokonga from Anderlecht, & Nuno Tavares from Benfica – representing some honestly positive signings. The two from Belgium & Portugal very shrewdly made, and the newly England international an overpayment for an apparently very well specified need. All three could feature but we will likely see White & Lokonga both playing 90 each.
Mikel Arteta splitting opinions, as all high-engagement topics do, is seemingly set on his 4231. Don’t be surprised to see him marshalling a double #6 midfield base, and a Kieran Tierney higher than anyone over the space of the pitch in our build-up phase. The aim – as it was before – will be to keep the ball, and keep it on the deck during the build-up, except with the added element of raked long balls being readily made across the pitch to “create superiorities” from new additions Ben White & Sambi Lokonga.
The obstacle – a Brentford side fresh off a playoff promotion with Leeds ex-captain Janssen, & hot prospect danger-man the highly coveted Ivan Toney, still only given a less than 50% chance of taking any points at all by Scott Willis’ (@oh_that_crab) game simulation model – a 51.1% chance of a win for Arsenal’s redmen, & a small but significant 23.3% chance of a complete upset. But most importantly of all…
Welcome back to the Barclays, ladies & gentlemen.
@LehmannsTerms_
Positively Arsenal 
well mandy many rumors tonight that both Auba and lacca are close to leaving AFC for clubs in Italy. For me neither of them actually suit Artetaball, so if they leave and we bring in a striker that actually can play CF in Artetaball then it would improve us.
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Ed, totally with you on striker with heading ability.
Definitely wouldn’t sniff at that attribute either. With the rise in deep defending I think there’s been a rise in taller strikers among elite- top ten strikers in world or therabouts
Lewa is superb. Kane, damn him, very good. Ibra. Ronaldo. Cavani. Suarez. Benzema.
Only big teams I can think of to really do without that option in recent times are City (playing by different £ rules) and Barca (pre/post Suarez). Maybe PSG last two years. So two with unlimited budget, one with world’s greatest player and a unique style. Firmino and especially Mane both have decent threat as well
But, like you say, not sure it’s necessary for us to find player of that calibre. We could get a serious boost in games like today’s second half simply by having a top headerer of a ball.
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Having slept on this and experienced the familiar morning after the Arsenal night before, I realise that there were actually some positives and a couple of good passages of play. Smith Rowe was excellent. Tierney as always whipped in some lovely crosses just crying out for Giroud on the end of them. Ben White will be a good acquisition.
Arteta won’t be happy until the players that he has locked horns with have gone. Mystery illness? I am not buying that.
Do we trust that it is necessary to regress while Arteta continues with his master plan?
He is a man on a one track long term mission no one can deny. Can he take his chosen players and the supporters with him?
So many questions to be answered this season.
The fact remains it is not how you start the season but how you finish.
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There’s a young footballer who scored a few headers in a record breaking goal scoring run last season. Not even a striker but a midfielder. Perfect sub if you need a goal in the second half.
Didn’t even make the bench.
Nelson who hasn’t played either through mismanagement or injury came on so cold it was game over at that point.
I suppose we should not be surprised by the level of consistent mismanagement and denigration of the once great club, both in the media and on the pitch it has been after all been…consistently awful!
The frauds supported by the blaggers have been bleeding out of the Arsenal how much is left in the corpse before these vampires drop the husk?
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Think Arteta commented about us getting into a lot of good final 3rd positions but not doing nearly well enough from them.
Which is accurate, I think, but leaves out the bit of the vast majority of those positions being out wide, especially on left, and the truth that players good in air in centre would dramatically improve chance of doing something in those situations.
So…why have not brought in such a player yet?
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Perhaps answer is Laca and Auba, expensive players, both with their strengths, and we had to try make it work, and then Nketiah and now Balogun behind, Martinelli too to a degree, talented players we want to give a chance to/not completely block.
Well, maybe something is happening with the first two, and Nketiah very strongly linked with move away also.
So we’ll see. Do the club recognise the need to get a big strong, heading forward in the mix? Strangely, despite his size, I’m not sure about Abraham on that front? Can’t recall much of him scoring headers or relishing those situations when teams are deep and he’s tasked with being a menace on crosses.
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I watched on a smallish screen so would like to hear from anyone who was either at the match or had a better view than me. But the main impression I gained yesterday was of always coming second in physical challenges, especailly when the ball was launched long at Balogun or by them at White. And I read somewhere this morning that Arsenal were out-muscled. Is that a euphemistic term for ‘constantly fouled’ because if it is going to be the case this season that the referees are going to allow much greater contact then I fear that whoever manages the team is going to have a big problem on their hands.
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Tim, that might be true if we were a technical team with technical players. But we are not.
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Even Rwandan President Paul Kagame seems to be laying into those running the club on his latest tweets!
Know Rwanda are sponsors and all that, but if Presidents are getting involved , would be interesting to hear Bidens take on Ben Whites debut
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forever heady
I made it 7 strong six foot plus lads for them- three centre backs, three centre mids and striker.
And one of the shorter ones, left back, Rico Henry, bullied us, if bullying is being allowed to grab Pepe’s arm from moment he receives ball till releases, plus absolutely launching himself into challenges.
As for difference between our long balls to striker and theirs, couldn’t be greater really. There’s almost zero chance of ours winning it- so no difference there with Balogun and Auba (Laca generally competes well, but hasn’t much chance against big defenders on long ball)
With them, as seen so much in recent times, whoever we play at back, very rare for us to win clean header; typically it’s one where their cb is in front, holding off our cb, and at best it’s a real scrap each time.
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Thank you for a top class match preview!
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There was some tilting that did make a difference at times during the match and this constant pgmob handicap will cost points as usual. I thought it must have been a new rookie muppet on show and was surprised to see one of the “best” put on such a shockingly inept performance as an official after seeing the refs at the euros. No doubt it’s a step down and that’s if we are being charitable. But it’s hard to look beyond the negligence.
Either through poor planning or a combination of poor planning and ill luck Nelson was so cold (like Balogan starting) as soon as he came on the home team found space on the right and got back into the contest. Martinelli was gassed sure if only there was another confident and now premier league level established goal scoring player in the squad available to come on.
This is a disaster class imo.
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Foreverheady
I lacked imagination in thinking it couldn’t get worse for us from refs.
Knew as soon as reaction was in from Euros we were in deep trouble though. Every single pundit is thoroughly pleased with idea more will be let go, restoring the soul of English game.
For us it just means we can be grabbed more, have even less chance of pens, reds and yellows. Less- id’ say damn near zero- chance of Var intervening when there’s say, a clear foul on keeper.
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So it’ll be every last section of play up a level in difficulty, plus an increase, we can’t afford, to risk of injury. As well as the non pen for the wild lunge into Balogun, there was an absurd non-booking edge of box, and 3-4 times they launched themselves full force at speed in situations where if we’d gone in for loose ball we’d have been screwed.
As for Emile…on every one of his three-four runs there was at least one full stretch dive into him.
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Niles is…a better RB then Chambers, who is a better CB then Mari even as a LCB! Cedric?
Four right footed options at RB in the squad and we saw a LB come on at RB because the coach needed a goal? Never mind the RB who although still not himself after that big injury played so well in a cup final just 12 months ago.
It’s not looking good. Edu is having a whale of a time but the fans returning to the stadium may give him indigestion yet.
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imo, Arteta lost that dressing room as a coherent form or unit ages ago, it seems held together by spit and a dream? Theres no inner spirit and unity and understanding in the team, Im not sure there ever has been since the first few games under Arteta.
I felt we would lose, and didnt write anything about that yesterday as it was the start of things, but that game was set up for us to lose, it was like a third round cup match back in the distant past when giant killing still happened, and the whole media would look forward and put massive pressure on those games.
The crowd were as noisy and in our shit as their players were( that was foul on Leno for the second hes being gripped totally and cant move and was theball out when Chambers hoofed it?), and we are unable to fight back as theres no will, no unity and no real want. We are scared and lost and struggling through time and time again.
But its still summer and we shall see, the dark, retrograde days in October and November and the claustrophobia of the pre and full Christmas period will show us many things. The analysis is of a different kind in the colder darker days.
The people fins mentions above wanted this, how far will they go?It frightens me to think of it, probably until it almost at death, then their tabloid mentality will try to revive it?The trud from the toilet, rather than the pheonix from the ashes.Nice work vampires!
In the old days we could sing “every1s a winner”, now “every1s a scapegoat”? Week after week its some tools fault, as if one player fks up a team and getting rid will make it all rosy. No it wont, those are good players we have who are badly led, just like the heavy cavalry at Waterloo. “they are the noblest cavalry in Europe, and the worst led”- “that may be, that maybe”.
Ok we arent the best in europe or even in on the island, but you get my point? And they are good players, but they think with an imposed mind that hasnt really the pudding- proofed understanding imposed on them, everyone was lured by the shining light of youth, and the bs propaganda of “moving forward” ( moving down more like?) and it wasnt the light at the end of the tunnel but the train of failure coming our way…
The shuffle and scrape FA Cup win? Ive no idea how that was pulled off, certainly empty stadiums helped? The last whiff of the past pulling it through…
I dont like the idea that Arteta sets up his idea of a team then gets the boot and then we have to wait years or for the cliched ” he need three transfer windows” etc etc for the next manager to get his idea of whats right.
There was way to much hatred of Wenger, and he made it all look to easy and many green eyes looked on in hatred and jealousy, inside and outside of the club, and at this point( all things change though) the transition was/is a failure, it failed. But does anyone at the club know who to recruit? Maybe the bloke who flew the plane with the Wenger out banner?
I feel a bit sorry for Arteta, he was ushered in a some kind of unproven secular messiah to sort it all out, which is way to much for anyone-it just doesnt work that way( things are too relative), I feel sorry for the players who soak up endless crap, who want to play their own way and cant, and they are eternally criticised by people like me who could never get up to their standard.
But its not working, all this concentrating on the league speak is bs. A fully powerful club should be able to handle it all, and we could until recently.
Theres way to much show biz, too much money, too much greed and not enough sportmanship and certainly not enough pure enjoyment of the game. And all wrapped up in way to much extremism of emotion, and the need for utter domination in a system that utterly unfair?But to others these are the things that make the game and they love it. No matter what I might say, I will be a clueless fotze for them. Maybe theyre right.
But in our fanatical urge to win, in many respects have we destroyed Arsenal? When fan tv sites come up on the search engines before the club, what does that say? The sadistic voices always, always, hide a masochist one. The endless drum beating and pressure, what good does this do? Would you want to play for Arsenal?
Arsenal in some from remains, with much potential on the pitch but elsewhere Im not convinced at all, anymore than you are, the rest of the club seems skeletal, more about business than sport?
It tough to see something youve loved for a long time get such a kicking, become so thin and stretched everyone having a grabba off the back of it and slanderign it into fear. But when it comes to modern day footballs machinations and endless punditry Im a over the hill dinosaur buried and forgotten and clueless, but I will always have the game to watch, and most answers lie there.
A new manager will only be one component of improvement, not the totality of things? Imo dump the secular messiah crap, as manger or players to solve all problems.
For me in the past the transition of things was like on a graph-really it seemed to create a linear pattern, but Weng took things so high, that the points now point so low? Rioch passed on to Emery, and theres a small dip to Arteta as there was from Neill to Howe, but maybe a slight up to GG, and a slight low with Rioch. Wenger was the anomaly, the bizarre dream, that might not ahve happen?
I dunno what to do? Just keep on keepin on? Get back under me stone? Probably. Maybe we wil beat Chelsea and its happy days again? I dunno.
COYG!
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It’s beginning to look like AW might be needed to steady this ship.
Too many chemistry/synergy details missing in MA’s tactics and player purchases.
Making good players look bad is now our official post-Wenger I.D.
September will decide Arteta’s fate.
After the window closes.
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AW returning might seem far fetched but completely losing our tactical identity seems about the absolute worst thing that could happen to Arsenal football club.
It took Man Utd 6+ years to realize the importance of hiring a manager who’s a disciple of their DNA.
Arteta is NOT a disciple of Wengerball.
It just seems beyond his grasp.
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Auba and Laca probably out against Chelsea ? Seriously ill? I think not and this is our Captain either refusing to play or being sold or both. Come on Arsenal some transparency please. As pointed out people have formed out a £100 for this match show some respect.
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Aura & Laca’s illness seems more like COVID to me..
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bradybunches, did Tierney really put in some great crosses, or was that just more of the Tierney is great so his crosses to no one were great and not his fault that it was just another aimless giving away of the ball. Its a get out of jail free pass saying a cross was put into a very dangerous area, or that the cross was great, when the said crosses were not within an asses roar of one of our players. Does Tierney even look before he crosses, as it very much looks like he does not, cos if he is looking and still swinging them in with no one there to attack them, he is brain dead.
The putting in crosses to a dangerous area when no one is there is the biggest fraud line in football, you’d never hear a commentator praise a no.10 for putting in through ball to a dangerous area if no one was actually running for the pass, it would be said to have been a giving away of the ball, pointless etc. But for some reason on crosses its seen as good thing from the crosser.
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I think I finally figured out why Arsenal changed Arteta’s title from first team coach to first team manager, its cos they realized he can’t coach for toffee.
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master tactician Arteta just needs more of his own players, so will I ask why one of his own players, right back Cedric Soares did not come on last night when MA decided to bring on a right back, no he brought on the new shiny left back Taveras to play on his wrong side. We also had another right back on the bench in Bellerin, so 2 right backs on the bench and when he wants to make a change at right back he doesn’t bring on either of them in preference to a left back. Too fucking clever by half this Arteta guy.
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I get the feeling that the only way we succeed under Arteta is if we can somehow bring in the caliber of players that are that good they can overcome Artetaball with enough moments of brilliance.
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Aman I’d say their illness is more that one or both fell out with Arteta and as close pals they backed other up and as we know if you question Arteta you don’t get game time at AFC
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Not good news if so Eduardo.
We absolutely need experience in this team
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Signing just Odegaard just isn’t enough in my opinion.
Include Aouar or Bissouma and hope rises.
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Hype aside, is Odegaard worth 40 million? Clearly Ancelloti doesn’t think so..
Ancelotti: I’ve told Odegaard there are eight players in his position and for now he’s not registered
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Loan Odegaard back in with the obligation to buy…buy Aouar….and Bissouma.
Shake the CM up completely. Steel, grit, skill variety & numbers
Sign Onana. Leno needs top competition.The wait till November (and AFCON absence) will be worth it on the long run. Karl Hein, Okonkwo +/- Runarsson can cover till Onana is eligible.
Per RB….2 of Hector, Ainsley, Cedric, Callum & Tavares will do till we can get the quality we need.
Sell or loan out whoever isn’t needed.
Edu and Arteta need to grow some balls and just go for it.
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Report by Jeorge Bird – Marcelo Flores hits hat-trick as Arsenal U18s beat Aston Villa in eight-goal thriller
U18 Premier League
Arsenal 5 (Flores 21, 40, 54, Edwards 28, Sagoe Jr 49) Aston Villa 3 (Jay-Hart 30, O’Reilly 62, Reddin 68)
It was anticipated that new manager Dan Micciche might bring more entertainment to Arsenal’s U18 games, but perhaps not quite this much.
The young Gunners started their season with an enthralling 5-3 victory against Aston Villa, with Marcelo Flores scoring a hat-trick.
There was an expectation that Flores would be heavily involved at U23 level this campaign, and that may well still be the case, but at London Colney today he provided a reminder of the impact he can make for the U18s.
The U18s had a mixed pre-season in terms of results but Micciche’s squad gained plenty of valuable experience playing against senior non-league teams.
Flores was given a start, with Jack Henry-Francis, who featured for the first-team in pre-season, also called upon.
The highly regarded Amario Cozier-Duberry also started after returning from an England U17s training camp.
It is anticipated that Charlie Patino, Zane Monlouis, Brooke Norton-Curry and Omari Hutchinson will be with the U23s when their season gets underway against West Ham United on Monday.
There were a host of absentees for the U18s today, with some players left out and others unavailable.
The full list of missing players was: Zach Awe, Luigi Gaspar, Billy Vigar, Henry Davies, Jimi Gower, Kaleel Green, Bradley Ibrahim, Ismail and Tino Quamina.
Arsenal team: Mitchell, Walters, Foran, Jeffcott, Cozier-Duberry (Robinson, 76), Bandeira, Henry-Francis, Sagoe Jr (Richards, 68), Sweet, Edwards (Quesada-Thorn, 84), Flores.
Subs not used: Kovacevic, Roberts.
Arsenal opened the scoring in the 21st minute, with Flores getting his first goal of the game after being found by Mauro Bandeira.
Flores then turned provider for Khayon Edwards, who scored as he looks to show that he deserves more opportunities with the U23s.
Villa got a goal back through Taylor Jay-Hart, but Arsenal restored their two-goal lead before the break, with Flores scoring again after Edwards set him up.
Arsenal, remarkably, could have had another prior to half time but Edwards missed a penalty.
Charles Sagoe Jr, who enjoyed an excellent pre-season, got Arsenal’s fourth goal and Flores then completed his hat-trick having been teed up by James Sweet.
There was a scare for Arsenal as Villa threatened to achieve the seemingly impossible and get back level, with Tommy O’Reilly and Kahrel Reddin scoring to make it 5-3.
Arsenal managed to hold on, however, with Amani Richards, Josh Robinson and Elian Quesada-Thorn receiving runouts as substitutes.
Villa’s frustration intensified late on when Jay-Hart was sent off for a second bookable offence.
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The first excuse for Arteta was that he did not have enough of his own players. How many has he now bought, and he still does not have enough?
The next excuse was that he did not have a full pre–season. Well, he has now and we see the result.
The start of the Ozil exile was repeated statements that he was not playing because he was unwell.
Now we are told that Aba and Laca are “unwell”. Perhaps, disagreeing with Arteta has been diagnosed by the club doctor as an illness.
Having done his best to destroy our club in the least 20 months, Arteta has now found that he has not done enough, so he is working hard to finish the job.
Yet the Arteta excusers will trot out the usual excuses like it was the ref’s fault.
Please enough of that. Please stop using the refereeing as an excuse.
The reason we did not win was that we did not score any goals.
For a change, we had 65% possession and 22 shots (we even managed as much as 4 shots on target, wow) and could not manage to get one in the goal. That is why we lost.
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Tammy Abraham is joining Roma, seemingly €40M plus add ons, and a buy back clause in two years of €80m
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jjgsol for all our shots on the night, did we actually ever look like scoring, maybe the Xhaka shot, but so many of that 22 shots are not worthy of being called shots.
Arteta signings Willian, Runarsson and Cedric already not wanted by Arteta, and they join a whole host of players Arteta does not want, but we can’t find buyers for.
By the way only 2 of our starting 11 yesterday played for Wenger, but its still all his fault you know
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media in newcastle once again linking Arsenal with a move for Freddie Woodman
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Looks like Arteta will go into another season with a large bunch of players I am sure are aware in no uncertain terms they really are not wanted. Some of these will be influential players , some might be pissed off over pay cuts, lack of playing time, lack of a transfer out, and all manner of issues.
Don’t like the term “ losing the dressing room” believe this is an oversimplistic term, but these unwanted and unhappy players could easily do to Arteta what some did to Emery and what Chelsea players do to all managers in the end. An Arteta with A combination of poor results and players causing problems behind the scenes will not last long, even with some of the boardroom buffoonery this club has seen in recent years. I am pretty sure the Villarreal defeat echoed around the boardroom, a continuation of that and what we saw on fri surely will not go down well.
Does Arteta have the flexibility, humility, expertise and nous to turn this around?
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Damn. Wanted to get Marco Rose from Munchengladbach. Unfortunately, he’s more at Dortmund.
Now though, I don’t think it’s just the coach, we need to change it entire setup to something like Dortmund’s to become competitive again.
Wenger probably tried by getting Sven in but no sooner was he removed, Sven was pushed out too.
It is a long way to the top. Don’t have confidence in the current regime though.
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Mandy I agree with how Mills interprets what we’ve seen these past ten months:
Arteta lost the dressing room last season after he announced the premier league squad and also sold off Martinez who was also popular with teammates. Maybe not immediately but eventually after it became apparent that the journeyman Willian was not a top level footballer and never was and there was no creativity etc.
Footballers will get fed up of seeing their good team mates who help them win trophies flogged off and replaced with lesser but more expensive shite. the spirit in the camp that carried this squad past City and Chelsea in the Cup was lost.
It’s a disaster class in how manage a club.
the only solace about the disaster at The Arsenal is that this horror show at Sporting Highbury/ Shaktar Finsbury Park has comprehensively exposed those who like to wear Kronke’s new clothes, who wrap themselves up in the “interest” used to sign Partey and White etc. the PR clowns and lickspittles who spent a decade spouting forth on the Arsenal have supported this retarded process, the poor football. Because they don’t know football.
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Mills & Mandy
Not only did Arteta lose the dressing room. It’s been impossible for any of these fraudulent blaggers and vampires to admit that this happened last season. Which is kind of weird and funny and demented but when you have to do PR for a living I guess that’s they way it goes! When you live off the interest* from signings like Pepe, Partey & White. (*this awful pun is for shotta I apologise)
They may try to change their tune on Arteta now but as with Emery they are late and behind the fan base which is funny given the volume of their content.
yet they haven’t been able to acknowledge that this squad of footballers would simply be playing better football under better football coaches like Bruce never mind Benitez & Rodgers.
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Did Joe Willock say anything positive anywhere positive about Ozil? Arteta seems to be a petty egotist. Maybe Auba and his mate voiced an opinion that Joe should not have been sold.
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To further elaborate on what I’d posted earlier…
Thankfully, a football season is a marathon not a sprint.
Its evident we are at the mercy of novices trying hard to fit the bill.
Our lucky 2 @ the helm, Arteta and Edu, are a couple of key decisions away from either making it to the next grade or blowing up what little has been achieved.
Sometimes its just about taking a few steps back, view the forest for the trees, and simplify.
AW built his teams around a world class maestro, around number 10s.
Top maestros make everyone look good and Mesut Özil was the numero uno. The squad was to be built around him hence the signing of Auba & Laca (maybe even Pépé?). Once Mesut was undermined, everyone started to look ordinary.
Conversely, AW’s love for #10s blindsided him on the need for a top DM.
He preferred to invest in CM/AM/DMs which was fine if we had the luck to get a Santi Cazorla type…Our post-stadium budgets never allowed access to the best ones in their prime, so we suffered once the likes of Santi, Rosicky or Diaby got injured.
Presently, with Xhaka, Partey, & Lokonga, our CM/DM position has been upgraded.
But with Xhaka’s weaknesses, Partey’s fragility, Elneny’s lightweightedness, and Lokonga’s PL-inexperience, we could do with a proper CM/DM that plugs all the others’ deficiencies. That man is Yves Bissouma. Get him and our spine stiffens considerably to where we could offload Xhaka and Elneny next Summer.
The other primary focus is the AM position. Smith-Rowe is clearly not enough, as Wengerball requires 2-3 ball carriers (maestro & 2 deputies..think Bergkamp, Pires & Freddy). Bringing Ødegaard back (preferably on loan with obligation to buy) is good but also not enough. We need a ball-hugging, next-level type player whose audacity & self-confidence uplifts the entire squad. Houssem Aouar seems the perfect fit for this team as far as what we need. Young, ambitious, unfazed by responsibility, a leader-in-the-making, moody enough to ruffle feathers while demanding higher standards. At 25 million pounds, it just seems like he’d be perfect for this team.
Lastly, we do need another GK and I completely get MA’s attraction to Aaron Ramsdale. Home-grown, 23, England international, has the years on his side to deputise and compete with Leno. The stickler is in the price the Blades are demanding. Can we spend 30 million? Only if they’d accept deferred payments, like Lille did for Pépé, would it make sense. Otherwise go for the “unavailable-till-November” Andre Onana @10 million (market valued @30 million). Its a plan B that eats into our foreign player quota but will immediately raise the level expected of an Arsenal #1. At some point, one of them (Leno/Onana) will want to go which guarantees more funds for future transactions.
Our RB position need not be addressed till next summer (or January). Hector, Ainsley, Cedric, Callum, Tavares & Ben White can all do the business. Nothing serious can be done until we move Hector & Ainsley anyway. (I quite like Ajax’s Noussair Mazraoui who will be a free agent next summer).
Finding new homes for Kolasinac, Willian, Runarsson, Ainsley, Hector, Torreira, Nelson, and Eddie Nketiah before the window closes is a lot to ask but at least 5 of them should be elsewhere come September.
Edu & Arteta have 16 days to step up or step down.
We wait and we wonder…
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One must not forget to give kudos when due though.
All 3 of their imports, White, Lokonga & Tavares, look like good fits so far.
Now finish the job MA & Edu.
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well Aman you name 8 players that Arteta wants out, or has no need for, i’d suggest Cedric is on that list too, and we have Lacca in the last 10 months of his contract and is his and auba’s illness more than meets the eye, could we really be looking to rid ourselves of 11 or more players in the next 16 days.
I would suggest that Ramsdale is not wanted as competition or back up to Leno, but as his replacement, we may see Leno sold and Ramsdale and one other keeper signed.
On the subject of keepers, our sub keeper v Brentford, Hein, is in the last 10 months of his contract too
So along with the outgoings we want one or two keepers, a rightback, an attacking midfielder, maybe another midfielder and a striker, so 5 or six signings, the question is how many of the outgoing deals will see us pay for them to leave, fully or partly.
As for incomings, I would expect we sign Ramsdale, Aarons and Odegaard, and then its anybody’s guess if we get one or two more big signings, depending on departures
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New post is up
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I can’t add Cedric to the OUTBOUND list just yet Eduardo. We still need cover @ Max Aaron’s is good but overpriced for his experience. Again we can make do with who we have.
2nd & 3rd Keeper contracts are usually extended during the season anyway, so selling or extending Hein now is not a priority.
Abraham was a good option at CF but I see absolutely no sense in selling Lacazette.
Extend his contract, bump up his salary, reinforce defensively with Bissouma, and bring in Aouar & Odegaard to provide the assists for him and Auba.
No need to complicate things.
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Cover@RB
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