Fuckin’ hell, we haven’t seen proper football since ages. We have three world cup winners in our squad, though Raya couldn’t get a start (remains a mystery to me) and Zubimendi played just about the minute you needed to finish a plate of tikka masala. Mikel Merino outdid Ronaldo in the world cup in about 1/5th of the minutes he played, but hey, we surely don’t want to be in a situation to give him a start.
Right, fuck those Spursy cunts, I am happy football is back and thr starting line up is out.
Raya starts in the goal – no wonder there. We have gone with a back 4 of White, Mosquera, Gabriel, and Calafiori – which makes sense considering Saliba and Timber are out. Mikel has finally come to senses and given Lewis Skelly a start in the midfield alongside Rice and Odegaard. We have got Saka, Havertz and Tzolis starting up front. Gyokeres wouldn’t like it to be replaced by a part timer but you can’t really do much if your manager prefers someone else.
That bench looks solid as well, Hincapie, Eze, Gyokeres, Madueke, Nwaneri, Merino, Zubimendi, Dowman and Kepa are players fit to start in any of the Premier League teams. Maybe not Kepa, but he is a Premier League winner so who knows.
Coventry – a club that’s back in the Premier League after 25 years would be hoping to put up a fight at least, and the first days always have some surprises, but I am sure it won’t be this game. I am very interested to see the front 3 combination, whether Havertz has improved him scoring ability and how he links up with Tzolis and Saka.
No Martinelli on the bench means it’s over for the Brazillian. I always liked him, and I have nothing but praise for the kid. He would certainly be in the list of what could have been, just below Wilshere, if things have gone a bit differently.
Right, that’s me done. My laptop finally gave up to the extent of no return, that’s why you don’t see a complete makeover of London Is Red before the season begins. I am still searching for a good one.
See you in the comments.
flying the coop
Marc
“ Alonso might just be the managerial appointment of the season “
How anyone could make that assumption after one game is baffling, surely it would be wise to wait 6 months or so before making such a sweeping statement as it impossible to judge any manager after a few weeks at a club.
This won’t go down well but I still think Grealish would be a good shout for a season or 2, only 30 years old with a lot to prove and would cost next to nothing as he only has a year left on his contract, a very talented footballer , he would be a good back up for Tzolis, a great player to bring on if things are not going to plan.
The danger is that we spend 100 mil or so on a wide player who fails to impress , of course we do have Nwaneri and Dowman who are more than capable of playing on the left , a left footer playing on the left wing who would have thought.
you’re right, that’s an incredibly fucked up idea, which fits with your know-nothing profile…btw that last bit was quite the shoehorning ode to your dipshit manager of choice
we had better hope that we somehow get Alvarez over the line, otherwise we could end up paying over the number for someone on the second or third page of MA’s ever expanding wishlist…now it’s not out of the realm that whomever comes in carves out a seminal role, but if they don’t, which is the more likely possibility, we could be signing another player who could potentially hinder our ability to make much more significant future moves, like with Jesus, Havertz & Tross…if Arteta truly covets Alvarez I would bet that by now he’s lowered his non-negotiable standards to just such a level that all he requires of JA is that he say the word Arsenal aloud with at least one other person in the room
Unfortunately there are some who believe all they read in the news, nobody knows what Alvarez thinks of a move to Arsenal as he has never mentioned Arsenal, all we hear is heresay which is only there to provide ammunition for the likes of Vera and Marc to pour scorn on any potential move.
Personally I rarely get involved in speculation on transfers as I’m sure there are many private conversations between said player and club that we are not privy to.
As for thinking playing a left footed winger on the left wing is “shoe-horning” you are talking nonsense, I suppose you would consider Saka playing on the left wing is “shoe-horning” despite the fact he played his formative years as a left winger.
Morgan Rogers joining Arsenal and then being asked to play on the left wing is “Shoe-horning “ as he is not a winger and never will be a winger.
4 days to window closure. The legal team not planning to go to Madrid just yet. If this goes through it will be last minute. Alverez has 4 years left on his contract so he stays or AM concede. He really doesnt fancy moving to the UK even though London is more appealing than Manchester.
“How anyone could make that assumption after one game is baffling, surely it would be wise to wait 6 months or so before making such a sweeping statement as it impossible to judge any manager after a few weeks at a club.”
Hence why I said “might”. What Chelsea need is a capable manager who’s allowed to turn the basket case squad they’ve got into a squad they want and can manage. They’ve got some very good players and some who are a shambles.
We’ll see over the course of the season. The difference between us Wicksy is I can tell the difference between if someone says “”I really like “player X” I think he’ll be a great signing for us” and “”player X is an amazing signing” blah blah blah”” when that player has come from a 3rd rate division and really struggled in their previous outing in the PL.
Norg
He wants Barca and Barca want him – I’d be surprised if we get him and do we really want a player who doesn’t want to be here but joined because we kept adding zero’s to the offer?
Wicksy
Are you saying Alvarez is a left winger?
Marc—we all know what the most likely stumbling block to any Alvarez deal wii be us trying to lowball the fuck out of AM because we believe that the present circumstances will require them to run him out of town by any means…they probably want something over 130M and we likely offered 70 + Jesus
on another note, Endrick is now on our rumoured list…I can see that, as he doesn’t really make sense, especially if we’re looking for someone who can be deployed up top and out on the left…it would be just like MA to shoehorn him into a position he played just once in the top tier (Serie A 2024)…not to mantion the book on him is that he’s a self-absorbed twat who struggles for consistency(work rate) and is not a team player…now I’m a fan of individual brilliance, but we might want someone else to work out his kinks before we throw any cash his way…I can just see him walking through the door and straight into MA’s doghouse
Does JA realise he will be second in line to Bambi
Norg
Or played on the left rather than through the middle.
We need a left winger / left forward – Why didn’t we go for Barcola?
TRVL
Sorry when you were talking about the self absorbed twat who isn’t a team player – who were you talking about?
Marfc—Endrick…he was publicly called out by Fonseca at Lyon for low effort, lapses in focus, and poor overall displays…although I get that your comment might have been a facetious one
TRVL
Ah and there was me thinking you were talking about Arteta!
I can see how you might of made that mistake…wouldn’t it be insane if City threw their hat in the ring and landed Alvarez…probably just rumours started by AM because we’re trying to nickel and dime them
Early season is a good time to play clubs who are in turmoil due to the risk of losing players during the transfer window, I’m talking about clubs like Villa and palace who have lost players and are in danger of losing more players which is bad for morale.
That being the case both city and Arsenal could be considered fortunate to play palace and villa this weekend.
Although there are many clubs who have new managers , it is the clubs like Chelsea, Liverpool , Tottenham and city who have the financial muscle to make the managerial change reasonably stress free compared to the likes of Newcastle,palace, Bournemouth, forest, and Fulham who will all be hoping they don’t lose anymore players before the end of the window.
City beating Bournemouth and palace means very little as both clubs will struggle in the first couple of months of the season , city’s next 2 away games are at united and Liverpool, these games will give us some indication of how city’s season will pan out.
I do expect Arsenal to beat Villa due to their turmoil and then we face Chelsea who themselves have faced a club(Fulham) with a new manager and limited funds do look good up top so it will be interesting to see how they get on against the best team in the country.
It is no coincidence that the clubs who have had very little disruption with no managerial change like Brentford, Everton and Brighton have begun the season well.
We will only see a true reflection of the league table once the transfer window ends, those clubs with limited funds and a new manager will take time to make their mark in the league….
thanks for subjecting us to another one of your empty calorie takes…are you fucking 12? (I apologize for the language if I just revealed your little secret)
looks like both Endrick & Rashford have rejected our advances…who knows if there’s any truth behind these rumours, but there has been ample chatter about us feeling out a potential loan arrangement with United…it’s always seemed a little far-fetched, in light of the two teams involved, except that there are only a few sides who could take on his exorbinant wages and you just know our little MIT is desperate to find an 11th hour plan z, should things go tits up with Alvarez …the fact that Barca wouldn’t pay his 26M release clause does give me cause for pause…clearly they saw Gordon as a considerable upgrade, which means he shouldn’t be good enough for us
for me it’s all about his bad body language and even though I saw a better verison at times last season, I still think he’s too much of a coin toss proposition…it might be different if we were more direct, I just highly doubt that his presence would be enough to flip MA’s script…we need to make a big money signing where ironclad assurances are required…those kinds of players are already on big wages so the only thing that’s going to turn their heads is a plan where they’re the centerpiece figure, kind of like the whole Reinvention of Rice initiative…frankly I.find it difficult to envision a world where our gutless manager grows a pair without a massive investment being in play…sadly he might favour Alvarez because he could easily fit within his preferred anti-Striker plans…that said, if it means that Havertz will struggle for minutes, I’ll be happier than a pig in shit