Good morning one and all.
Well that was exactly what the doctor ordered.
Over the summer I’ve been avoiding any transfer speculation, I’m happy enough to just keep up with who has actually come and gone. So by having a rest from Arsenal I came to last night eager and excited. The Community Shield performance had wet my whistle and I was raring to go, hopes high, feeling more invested than I have for years. I have to say that I was not dissapointed.
I had harboured hope that having trudged over the winning line in May that Mikel would play a style of football that was watchable without my eyes bleeding, that has happened and so far, so good. Will it last past our first reversal? who knows, but the signs are good.
Occasionally a player pops up that I have an immediate affinity to, well Tzolis is one of them, he reminds me of my second favourite Arsenal player, Arshavin. I can’t tell you how happy that makes me, I just want the ball fed to him at every half chance. I understand it’s early days and a tiny sample, but WOW, I’m stoked.
Haverts looks bigger, stronger, faster and fitter and finally looks worth the fee.
MLS is a revelation in midfield and brings an assured attacking intent that we have been missing since Xhaka left. I know they are very different players and even different positions, but the drive and intent are, at least for me, the same.
My only disappointment was that Noni came on when I was hoping for Ethan, but still.
I hope you all enjoyed the game as much as me and that we can finally become POSITIVELY Arsenal again. It’s been a while.
See you soon and love you all. Peace out.
Pedantic George.
Absolutely George, I agree with all of that.
Tzolis also has the shape of an Armstrong, Marwood or Overmarrs about him, as well as AA.
All players that would constantly deliver performances as well as the ball. He looks a real bargain. My only worry is the PL hackers will target him or he will struggle to keep up with the marathon trudge that is the title race. Having said that his goal involvement stats are incredible, in his last 16 games (including last night) he has 26 GI’s, so it doesn’t look like he’s the type who gets intimidated.
Last night was one of those games where it was thoroughly enjoyable but you felt like we missed out in not scoring more. In games where you play that well, you feel that you should walk off the park having bagged seven. A supporter is never happy.
Obviously there are bigger test to come but there were a lot of players either not starting or not at 100% last night and that just makes you drool.
I did feel sorry for Gyorkores, that game and our new winger were made for him and he didn’t make it on the pitch.
A long ten days before the next game but a great feeling to keep us going.
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our U21’s had a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace today and seemingly the ref allowed Max Dowman to be kicked all game long.
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Tzolis reminds me of Brian Marwood, hopefully he will have a longer Arsenal career
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I hope that crash that killed 7, including two police officers, was not down to the ticktock nonsense that has happened in Ireland, with idiots robbing cars and driving them the wrong way down motorways so that they can put up clips of in on ticktock for likes and clicks. 5 killed here last week and the poor family in the other car have 4 members all in serious conditions. Some of the funerals of the teenage robbers that died were held and the utter nonsense spouted about them is ridiculous, they were all some sort of hybrid of gandhi and a good samaritan, and there was me thinking they were a shower of bad little cunts who had a long history of robbery and anti social behaviour.
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an interesting side note on Ezri Konsa, he is a london lad and never moved to Birmingham, he commuted from London all the time he was with Aston Villa.
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at 1pm tomorrow Arsenal Women play Paris FC in a friendly, the game is due to be screen live on Arsenal Youtube, hopefully the haven’t upgraded it like the website.
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Although I was joking Friday about us being top and our crappy neighbours being bottom, the spuds go and cement their place at the floor of the table by losing 3-0 at Brentford.
After all the talk about the owners saying that the spuds would never again be 17th two seasons running their team goes out and tries extra hard to come 20th.
Surely it’s time to remove the London borough of tottenham and return them to the county of Middlesex where they started.
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lots of rumors again today that Arsenal are in for Alvarez and that he is now open to joining us after his dream move to Barcelona is being blocked by Atletico Madrid. Now do we really want a guy who has his heart set on Barcelona, we’ve been through that shit before, do we really want to go through that again.
Also it is reported that Barcelona are in for Gyokeres cos they can’t get Alvarez. I think it would be an awful downgrade to go from Gyokeres to Alvarez. Also buying one and selling the other still leaves us short in numbers up front
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David Ornstein says talks are on going between Arsenal and Al Hilal for Martinelli, with Arsenal seeking a fee around £60M, he also says Martinelli is open to the move.
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Ive no idea why we are in for Alvarez, as you say Ed he doesnt really want us, its going to be a big load of wad, which he isnt worth, he goes missing mostly. Of course we have no idea what he might like, maybe he works out really well under Arteta, bangs in 30 goals and is the greatest ever. Id rather have Big Vik, and have no idea why we would flog him to Barca. Unless its 100mill plus Gavi (LOL). One thing is do we really know what going on at player level, the press are the interpreters and Im not sure the gospel they sell is ye old truth?
I thought Carraghers comments about stardust were deceptive and passive agressive and it plays into the hands of the vulnerable? Alvarez isnt studust, he didnt win the WC, but a few Arsenal players did…
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well mills the reports are we would pay at least €100m up front for Alvarez and would sell Gyokeres for less than we paid for him last year.
Does anyone actually think Arteta would drop Havertz even if we sign Alvarez, it would probably see Tzolis become a squad player with Kai or Alvarez out wide left
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Arsenal Women beat Paris FC 1-0 today with Olivia Smith blasting the ball into the net in stoppage time to get the win.
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one thing for sure Ed, Simeone and Atletico must really rate him, and so must Barca! If all plays out, it looks like its the old self destrcution I talked about on friday?
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looking at Alvarez’s stats, he has a very good scoring record, much better than I would have thought, as he never seemed to play well when I watched him play, maybe if he joins Arsenal I’ll have to stop watching our games if I want him to play well.
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https://x.com/ArsenalWFC/status/2091533519558205852/video/1
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I’ll be joining you Ed! LOL!
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Real shame pool and city both scored late, it was becoming the perfect weekend. Brighton even had the audacity to score four, to knock ARSENAL off the top and tottenham off the bottom of the table.
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seems Alvarez did not get a good reception from Atletico Madrid fans today when he came on as a sub, and he was instructed by the club after the game to not go to applaud the Atletico fans. It does seem the relationship is broken between the player and the fans, maybe even between the player and the club. But the one key thing to note is that Alvarez wants to play for Barcelona. Its not that he wants out of Atletico Madrid cos he just no longer wants to be there, no its that he wants to play for Barcelona.
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ha ha ha, I just took the time to watch one of those videos of Julian Alvarez, you know the sort, his skills, his goals, his assists, they refer to him as the perfect striker. I really don’t know how they come up with that little description from the clips they showed.
Yes he strikers the ball with serious power, and he can dribble, in fact the most impressive clips of him was his assists, but my god he does seem to lose his power strikes when he does one of his mazy dribbles, when he does that he has shots akin to a back pass. There was not one single clip of him heading the ball let alone scoring a header.
He really looked best as a wide left player or a second striker, but we don’t play with a second striker, very few do now.
I really did hope that his highlight reel would have changed my mind on him, but my God it has convinced me more than ever that we really should not be looking at him as our starting striker, maybe left wing, or after Tzolis start to the season, left wing back up.
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a gluten for punishment I have watched the top 20 goals scored by Alvarez, he does like to shoot from the left edge of the area, be in from play or freekicks. He has massive power shots with either foot. But as top 20 goals go its nothing to get me overly excited. Give me Eli Junior Kroupi any day of the week.
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I’m another to add to list of those who doesn’t fancy Alvarez. If he succeeds in his first couple of seasons he will be agitating to leave for Barca anyway and they can’t afford an inflated fee, so a profit will be difficult as well.
If he’s not successful then we will be shifting him out for less money and the wages could become a problem as well.
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reports tonight that El Hilal have bid £47M for Martinelli.
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I think we do need nearer to the reported 60 million, even if that includes achievable add ons.
We absolutely must include a sell on fee on a sale for such a young player.
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well Ian I don’t know about us getting a sell on clause in Martinelli deal, but the club we signed him from it seems have a 20% of any profit in the deal with us, so €60M fee we get is about €50M profit so 20% of that is €10M, meaning Arsenal would only be getting €50M which is £43M.
there are reports that even if we sell Martinelli we may not sign another forward if our targets are considered over priced, which it seems we feel Alvarez is well over priced.
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Everton wide man Iliman Ndiaye is getting mentioned as a serious target
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ok, i realise im probably being thick as shit, but do prices of players no longer indicate anything? Tzolis ( new messiah) costs 40 odd million, out of favour Martinelli costs 60 odd million. You buy a cheaper player to replace a more expensive player, but the price tells us what? Martinelli is the better player or Tzolis? And ive heard we are supposed to be buying coverage for Martinelli? Ok, maybe Arteta and Martinelli have fallen out…I dont know, Ive seen the (unsubstantiated) rumours that the squads pretty naffed about him leaving and are irritated with Arteta on this one, thats not good.
I know the criticisms against Martinelli, but also there are many positives. Why didnt they just get him on a one to one training, I know he wasnt quite the same since the period he was out but one thing he will always have and that was the nuts to take on players, from the minute he whipped Chelseas arse all those years ago to the final nail in Reals coffin. he was major in our CL run last season for sure.
And why are we paying 130 million for a bloke whose stats are the same as Big Viks, when he wants to play for Barca? How much do you think Barca will pay for him next season? Not 130milliom!
Anyway Im sure my understanding of transfers is wank and fair enough if it is. I’ll be glad when the fkn windows shut.
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Nowadays, deals are structured in a multitude of ways.
The more you pay up front the less the total. The longer a player has left on his contract the more the cost.
Wages also play a big part in the total of a transfer, clubs make an amount for the total package so bigger the wages the less they can pay.
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proving my understanding was/is wank! But thanks for clearing it up Ian.
The scale of worth for a player is a bit left field for me.
Sometimes these days I look around and just think; Pearls cafe?
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Pretty shocked about Dolly. That one feels uncomfortable for sure. Jolenes one heck of a song. I liked Dolly, as she just lived as she wanted to and didnt listen to those who criticised her style. That takes courage, its hard I think to stand and and be what you want when its easier to mask-up and take less of an ass-kicking. But she came here, did the business and left behind a great legacy. RIP
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Arsenal U18’s drew 3-3 away to Blackburn Rovers U18’s in the Premier League Cup, Oba gave us an early lead, but then Blackburn went 3-1 up, Sampang got us back in the game and Bonaventure Yetna scored very late on to get the draw, Van der Straaten was then sent off but AFC held on for a draw
but the big news today for the U18’s is that Josh Smith has been appointed interim head coach, its not clear if Adam Birchall has left the club or if he has more illness problems, he missed a very large chunk of last season with illness.
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seems the Martinelli sale is nearing completion, €58M plust €8M in add ons.
will be interesting to see with whom or how Arsenal intend to replace him.
one week of the transfer window left.
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some reports that Arsenal are trying to loan Ethan Nwaneri to Everton as part of a deal to sign Iliman Ndiaye
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Ceadach O’Neill is the subject of some conjecture in regards to his international future, despite him having two caps for the Northern Ireland senior team, it seems the Republic of Ireland are trying to get him to switch to them. He would be from a Nationalist background and there is no doubt that he is likely to look favorably on an approach from the Republic of Ireland team.
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Olivia Smith has won the PFA Women’s Young player of the year.
Fox, Mariona and Russo selected in the PFA Womens team of the year
William Saliba has been selected in the PFA Mens team of the year for the 4th year in a row.
Ray, Timber, Gabriel and Rice also make the team.
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by the way this is the second year in a row that Smith won young player of the year.
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Goalkeeper Phoenix Blayney will be part of Arsenal’s scholarship intake next summer, and will sign a pro deal when he turns 17 in November 2027. He will join us form Larne. We best off competition from Liverpool and Nottingham Forest for his signature
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sky sports were reporting a 20% sell on fee which would be very good.
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well Ian it seems we have to give 20% of the profit on his sale to his former club in Brazil.
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Ed, that Everton deal sounds very good for all parties, much better than Alvarez.
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well Ian the question is would Alvarez if signed be for CF or LW, if its CF then a replacement for Martinelli is still needed, so that would mean the likes of Ndiaye could be a good signing.
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reports today that Arsenal have turned down several offers of loan deal for Mooney, and that they have decided to keep him at the club till at least January, when he might be let go on loan then.
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I thought in the age of versatility any forward we signed would have to be able to cover LW as well.
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I take it if Olivia Smith wins it again next year she gets to keep it.
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Mills yep definitely a shocker, she was one of those people who you thought would go on forever.
We did Memphis and Nashville one year and we visited Gracelands, Stax, King, Gibson and Jonny Cash Museums and did the Blues trail but didn’t have time to visit Dollywood which was on my wife’s bucket list.
Myley Cyrus, (Dolly’s Goddaughter) surprisingly does a really good version of Jolene.
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We used your very words last night.
Bobby Gentrys still going though, doesnt she live in a gated residential area? Shame she retired so early.
Thats sounds like on heck of tour, must have really been excellent. You did Sun records too? I love the King label. Tiny Topsie…” early in the morning”…
I never made it up that far north went to So LA loads and loads of times ( met some weirds and wonderfuls and really hard as fks and some amazing food), sometimes with a cousin of Ernest Tubb (keeping it on the Dolly road), also went to his trailer ranch out in Cotulla, now thats real cowboy country. Red oxide earth, everything bite, burns or stings, amazing skies at night and the coyote howls.
One of the guys I knew used to go to the Lousiana hayride all the time in ht emid to late fifties and all through the 60s.He told me what it was like when they first heard Elvis on the radio.
Did you go to the Grand Ol Oprey? They used to show me it on tv. Then laughed and said you hate country music now ( i was 22 then) but when you go home you wont ever forget it or dilike it. And they were right!
One thing I did see was New Orleans before it became too comercial, that was pretty amazing. Music everyhwere, down by the miss small combos just playing for themselves.
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Yep done Sun where my son was able to play Jonny Cash’s guitar they have there.
The grand Ol’ Oprey was very nationalistic and apparently never allowed drums to be played there because it was an “African” instrument.
Jonny Cash used to put a dollar under his Guitar strings to create that percussion sound.
We want to go back and do Muscle Shoals and Dollywood and go to the village where Bobby Bland was born.
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I see in a completely random pre draw of the league cup us and AV are going to be drawn away from home.
The other six European sides are all drawn at home, that’s got to be bent.
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Kevin Schade of Brentford the latest wide man to be linked with Arsenal
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some thing that seems odd to me is that the bloggers and the journos reporting on Arsenal transfer targets all are going with the line that Alvarez is our top target now, but if we can’t get him to sign for us then we would go for someone like Ndiaye or Schade or even Barcola, so our main target is a striker, but if we don’t sign him we will try for a left winger. Do we see Alvarez as a central striker at all, or is the aim for him to play wide left. Why else would it be Alvarez or a wide left signing, surely with Martinelli going we need a wide left player regardless of signing Alvarez for CF.
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Arsenal have been drawn away to Ipswich Town in the Carabao Cup 3rd Round.
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