Well, technically there’s still couple of days for an Arsenal game but Premier League officially begins today with Liverpool v Bournemouth. We haven’t had football since the stone ages it feels like, and I know some of you resorted to watching Chelsea in Club World Cup, hopefully you get back to your senses now.
FOOTBALL IS BACK! Lots of exciting things going around in the transfer market but before that, lets discuss our state first. We have got the midfield sorted with Zubimendi coming in and Norgaard as his back up, we have paid some huge money for Madueke to Chelsea who got some game time at LW in pre-season games. He is not here for Saka, he is here for Martinelli and Trossard will most likely be sold by the end of the transfer window. Nwaneri signed a new contract where he has been promised game time in the middle of the pitch. I hope he ups his game, dethrone the captain Odegaard and make that position his own. No shying around like ESR, go make a statement like MLS did with whatever minutes he got. Mosquera, a young but experienced CB came in to support Gabriel and Saliba while Kepa provides the cover for Raya for games that will not matter.
Biggest transfer of them lot, we have finally landed a CF since Auba left. A first under Mikel, Gyokeres has already scored a header (wooh!) and put on his mask against Villareal. We came 2nd three times in a row, and we didn’t have a striker. We have finally got one, and hopefully he is going to be the piece we have been missing.
Call me an optimist, but we don’t have a problem anywhere on the pitch. Defensively, we have a solid back 4 of Timber, Saliba, Gabriel and MLS with Calafiori and White, a first team starters, on bench. Mosquera provides the depth in CB position and Kiwior has been great lately in the middle. That’s 2 sets of back 4, perfectly capable of playing against 15 of the 19 Premier League teams and win.
In the middle of the pitch, Zubi and Norgaard are the DMs and Rice can cover if things go south. Odegaard keeps his position with Nwaneri catching up, while Merino, Havertz tries to compete with Rice on the left side.
Up front, Saka and Martinelli on either side with Madueke and Trossard available to rotate / cover. Gyokeres starts in the middle for me, every game of the season. If you can manage a season playing Havertz or Merino as your striker, you won’t need a back up.
So, yeah – we have probably the best line up in the Premier League. We also have probably the best bench in the Premier League. Whether we win a trophy or two, will now solely depend on the manager. Over to you, Mikel.
Ok, that’s the good part. The bad part is that Zinchenko is dropping interviews, talking about how unhappy he has been sitting on bench and how the manager has not been treating him good recently. Mate, you were injured half the time you were at Arsenal. Appreciate you helping us get into the top 4 initially but do you think we are going to sacrifice our games to give an injured you more game times? Lets be practical here, you have been replaced by a 18 year old kid not because the manager favoured the kid, but because he is better than you. Stop crying for everything, if you want to go the Ozil way, get that fat check for contract termination silently.
Trossard has also been getting attention from everywhere.
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Lets talk about some of the nuisance going around. Isak, from Newcastle has gone on a strike. Liverpool wants him, he wants to go, but the Magpies wants about 150m for him. They will ultimately settle to whatever Liverpool will offer but what a shitfest going on.
Man Utd have landed Sesko, stirring up the old rivalry but hey, we don’t compare ourselves with a team finishing 16th. Amorin can jog on.
Spurs being Spurs, lost a 2-0 lead against PSG in super league in the last 5 minutes of the game and went on to lose it ultimately in the penalty shootout. Thomas Frank, personally told me that he didn’t want to win simply because Daniel Levy loves sacking his manager who wins them a trophy.
Chelsea, has bid for the tea lady at Leipzig because apparently they have run out of players to buy.
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Right, that’s all for today. I will be back with the match day blog tomorrow. First game of the season, against our old rivals, on a Sunday evening is a perfect set up.
How’s things at your end?
Good read Tony—I still think Hugo has a ways to go when it comes to his finishing, but many people said the very same thing about Isak when he first arrived from Sociedad…normally it would seem too late in the window for a transfer the magnitude of Isak to go through, but it just might be ugly enough between the two parties that they’ll find a way…the best way for Hugo to learn on the fly is for him to be tucked in behind a more polished version, which should open up the floodgates for both Salah and. Wirtz…frightening proposition
Amorim not Frank in previous post.*
Howe won’t start next season as Newcastle manager – it’ll be decided he’s taken them as far as he can and the owners will look to get a next level (or several levels) manager.
You all know my fears.
Potter going to be out of a job at West Ham if they repeat any results like this.
Marc—he might not survive the season, should Isak leave, unless they can find a somewhat plausible replacement
just to clarify my previous position, I’m not pleased by the potential return of the the top-heavy tiered system, unless the top 6 are firing on all cylinders…if not, it could be a shitload of bus-sitting affairs with minimal excitement on offer…to be clear, when the punditry spoke of clubs imitating Arteta, it had little to nothing to do with innovation and far more to do with dumbing down the game for the purposes of squeaking out victories
Marc
Burnley didn’t play bad and being tidy and well drilled, but lacking the players required for PL level.
Spuds under Frank will be difficult to beat when Frank had all his starters available.
Marc—talk about watching paint dry…they’re business model is the poor man’s version of ours during the post-Highbury years…thank fucking god, for all his faults, Wenger was unwilling to abandon his more offensive tactics and we could still attract some talent
Tony—I do like Frank as a manager, especially on a side with a bigger budget, as he seems to get the best out of his players, but I still see them as a hot/cold squad…that said, if he can find a way to deploy a more balanced tactical approach and they’re not so dependent upon the counter, like his former side, they could be problematic to play against at times
TRVL
If Newcastle are going to let Isak go they’d be better off pulling off the plaster getting it done and get a replacement sorted.
Let this rumble on into the season and it’ll cause all sorts of other problems – no idea whether Howe being sacked with be sooner or later but they’ll want to trade up.
Enrique will be on their list.
Tony
The Spud’s will do what they always do – get really excited, talk about how this is the one and then sack him in a couple of seasons.
what was with Richarlison today…I feel like he scored more today than the whole of last season…with his Eminem-like coif, it begs the question, will the Real Slim Shady please stand up
City looking slick against a Wolves missing their better players. Reijnders is going to be a baller especially when Rodri returns to run their midfield to give their goal scoring midfielder more freedom.
At least the fan boys can’t use the PL bedding in period now with the newbies firing….
Tony—looks as if Pep wasn’t willing to risk trying to replace KDB with one individual, so he brought in both Reijnders and Cherki…they’re silky with the ball at their feet and could easily pot double-digit goals…you add Rodri to that mix and you could have quite the formative midfield trio…how the newbies handle the physical rigours of the PL will likely determine their fate
Pep still needs another wide-side forward on the left, as Doku’s not producing the kind of numbers that will open up space in the middle of the park…he still drew double-teams yesterday, but that will start to fade, just like last season, if he doesn’t vastly improve when it comes to his end product…I wouldn’t be surprised if they sell or loan out Nunes then go for Rodrygo or a player with a similar profile
of course, one must temper expectations a bit as they were playing the Wolves, who many see as a relegation-level side, and even they were able to expose City’s defensive frailties on the counter, although I’m fairly certain that Rodri will help to rectify that situation
on a couple of sad notes, Eze looks to be on his way to the Spurs, especially if he doesn’t dress for today’s match against Chelsea, our old buddy Paul Merson is embarking on a revisionist tour of epic proportions by fawning all over Xhaka, who he claims was a TOP player while at Arsenal (one solid year does not a top player make), and Isak is seemingly reading to burn every bridge to land at Pool, a la VG, which makes me wonder if he would have done likewise had we properly approached his camp…let’s hope we don’t create another unwanted headline by crashing out against United…I still think they have a ways to go, so I feel pretty positive about us getting all 3 points as long as we’re relentless with our press
above all else, I’ll be incredibly intrigued by our starting 11…
TRVL
From the last post something I posted while you were away.
MA’s decision agony for today’s opening game will look like this:
RW Saka – Dowman
LW Marts – Noni
LMF Rice/Eze/Merino
DM Zubi/Nargaard
ST VG – Havertz
LMF Ode – Ethan
RB White – Timber
LB Cauliflower – Skelly
Maya, Saliba and Big gabs pick themselves and we have back up for both positions.
We’ve gone from 5 LBs to having 4 CDMs.
I thought Eze would go to Spuds before us, which tells you so much about MA’s projects not being subscribed to by the players we really need.
After City’s 4:0 day-out stroll against Wolves who are going to need to punch against their weight to survive this season, where City never really got out of 2nd gear. KDB who? With Rodri to come back who City have never lost a game with him starting.
This will make Slot need Isak more to compete, as both squads look closely matched until you get to Haaland up top: nines is not consistent enough and they’ve lost sadly Jota, and the feisty Diaz.
Ekitike and Isak just about trumps Haaland, but in Reijnders and Cherki, City have AMs who love to score with a record/stats to prove it.
As you say it will be interesting to see how MA sets us up against Amorim’s Mbeumo, Sesko and Cunha? Yes, we know them well from previous clubs, but never played them combined under a manager barely hanging onto his job to begin with.
Amorim, Pep, Enzo are all dead men walking if they are pot-less come May next year. Not sure a minor cup would save any of them unless they were a point adrift after the fat lady has finally sung her last high pitched blast come the end of this season’s CL’s final, when the chips will be inspected where they have fallen by the clubs’ owners.
As you rightly said, MA is already doing the failure excuse groundwork with his comments you highlighted.
The Spanish gob-shight knows all he needs to do is keep the CL money rolling in, and he has a job for life with KSE as Wenger did while Stan waits for the Super League, where my guess is in under 10 years.
If MA can win the odd minor cup along with a conference shield, then Josh will see that as success on the pitch, and daddy can count his filthy lucre at the end of each season allowing MA to buy mediocrity at the bargain basements or grab some low hanging fruit in the summer TW.
Maybe grab a bargain January loan/buy, such as a Sterling type to waste another couple of KSE’s millions.
I’m not looking at the first 10 games to see how many points we have while sitting in 1st or 2nd: not in the least, I’m expecting to have dropped 12 to 15 points by the end of October, and be adrift of Pool or City by a similar amount at that stage.
The season will be over for us bar cheap thrills from maybe a Tin cup to give us a chance at winning MA’s coveted silver plated Conference Shield.
I say we get a lucky draw or drop 3 points at Manure today.
Anyone see it differently?
Tony
Dowman is not an option yet – he’s 15. He looks a phenomenal talent but throwing him into the PL now would actually damage his development. He’s been moved up to the U21’s but beyond the odd bench appearance or a run out in an early / easy cup tie I don’t expect to see him near the first team this season.
We’re beginning to see a press “agenda” that this is a win the PL or get fired for Arteta this season.
I don’t know why the media seem incapable of independent thought but its always the way in football and the football media are sharks. Once they smell blood in the water they’ll go into a feeding frenzy.
As we all know Arteta doesn’t handle pressure well – I’m looking forward to watching him torn to pieces.
Match day post is live.