We have made Piero Hincapie a permanent transfer. He was solid last season, and I don’t think any Arsenal fan will question this decision. We then went ahead and brought a left winger in Christos Tzolis, who has some brilliant numbers to his name. For 35m, we have replaced Trossard with a 24 year, who had 17 goals and 23 assists in 36 appearances last season in Belgian League. And, we have taken away the Newcastle captain Bruno Guimaraes for 75m GBP.
Bruno G was a leader for Newcastle. He was a cunt, sure, but he did well for them. Mikel brought him to Emirates because Granit Xhaka (remember?) is too old to start for us and is rejecting Chelsea these days. I don’t mind him at Arsenal because we need some toughness and deterrents among those technical boys. The only concern for me was the fees we paid for a 28 year old who is most likely in his last contract before leaving for Türkiye. I would be furious if we stop here, because there are some very pressing needs in the attack that needs addressing.
In defence, Saliba is out for an extended period due to his back injury. Mosquera can cover him up but then Jurrien Timber is out for few more weeks and we are left with Mosquera and White for RB and RCB positions. That’s not an ideal scenario and you know it very well that Ben White hasn’t been well ever since his last injury. We need someone to cover one of the positions, or I am afraid we will have to see Declan Rice at RB position, who needs his own ‘rest’ days.
Midfield looks OK, with Bruno G addition. Ethan Nwaneri is back and I seriously hope more game time for that lad, he has the potential but Arteta’s insistence on playing Odegaard every game is costing his development. Look, I am not saying to start him against Man City and Liverpool, but if you are 3-0 up, he should be the one on the pitch. If it’s a game against Ipswich Town, he should be starting.
The front 3 is another problem we need to sort. Martinelli has been a loyal servant and a great player so far, but we lacked that killer instinct last season. We have got Tzolis for Trossard but I am afraid we need another upgrade, as talented as Bukayo. I also wanted much more from Gyokeres than a 20+ goals last season, when we played in 4 competitions and reached to semi finals at the very least. I am okay to give him another year but if it’s a Merino or Havertz who you prefer more than him in the starting line up, there’s something wrong.
10 more days before we begin our season against Coventry. Saliba and Timber are the only ones injured, but Declan Rice needs some rest. That’s 3 starting players out for weeks / months.
After the Vinicious’s drama, we don’t even have any rumours going on for us. Some journalist with a 1000 follower floated the news that we are offering MLS to Chelsea and United for a fee of 45m. Firstly, you are talking about a 19-year old who start the Champions League final and has a Premier League Winner medal in his drawing room, so “if” that’s true, the fee must be at least 75m. Secondly, he is Arsenal till I die, and told both clubs and others to fuck off if they thing he wants to go.
Right, that’s me done for today. There is a useless FA Community Shield coming up on Sunday which will clear up more things about injuries and our preparedness about the coming season.
Onwards and Upwards.
Ambarish
The community shield, otherwise known as the super cup across Europe, may appear useless to many but it is usually a very competitive game between the league champions and fa cup winners and it is exactly the type of game we need to kick start our season as it’s fair to say that we look far from ready for the new season.
There has been a lack of intensity in our game so far which is understandable as we are lacking numbers due to world cup commitments so it has been more important than usual not to pick up unnecessary injuries.
we have had only 3 friendlies so far with the players only playing about 60 mins at best so tonight’s and Sunday’s game is all about gaining match fitness , Sunday’s game especially will be competitive but I don’t expect to see any English or Spanish World Cup players starting , results matter little until the season start but fans will be expecting an improvement in performance though I should point out that Betis and Dortmund had both played a couple of friendlies more than Arsenal so naturally would be ahead of us fitness wise, tonight’s opponents Como should be at a similar fitness level as they have only played 3 friendlies.
Watched the last 20 minutes of our first half – yawn feast.
At half time switched on PSG vs Villa and see more excitement in 37 seconds than you see in a season under the CUNT at Arsenal.
Boring, unstructured dog shit. No flair, no plan, no one looking to make their mark. Fuck knows how much the mugs have paid to watch this fucking rubbish.
Fucking hell…just like the Dortmund game, the football is getting worse the longer it wears on. Arteta is such a wanker.
So our preseason record is won 1 drawn 1 and lost 2 before the Charity Shield.
The goal for the draw was a massive goal keeping mistake. I can’t see the fans putting up with this level of shit in competitive matches – at the current rate we’re going to be praying for a corner against Coventry to save our blushes.
I was listening to a podcast earlier today and it got me to thinking…one of the guests mentioned MA’s comments immediately following the season regarding the notion of us getting our business done “swiftly”…I didn’t think about it much at the time, except to scoff at our fake news twat, but upon closer inspection I think I now understand why he chose those specific words…after all it’s not like this overtly pragmatic fuck to ever offer up such a definitive statement regarding the timeline for transfers, espeically in a WC year
of course we’re all well-aware that in a perfect world you get your business done early, both for embedding purposes and so as to cut deals before the market resets…sadly the only time MA did so was when he went full thirsty fuck and massively reached for Havertz(involving a big money buy that is)…so why did he offer up this particular statement in this particular offseason, surely he didn’t feel any added pressure to do so after his most successful season…I guess it’s possible that it could have been another moment of false bravado by our dictatorial imposter, but I would suggest otherwise…the answer is really quite simple, he was trying to undermine Berta, who’s approach to transfers relies on a certain level of patience, rightly or wrongly, so the chances of anything consequential happening in short order was slim to none
Arteta’s clearly pissed that Berta was brought in, even more so after winning the PL and advancing to the CL finals…he’s not someone who likes to share the credit, just look at his manager-centric tactics and the manner in which he fucked with Berta’s pick, Viktor, when it mattered most…let’s face it he’s a petty man, similar to Wenger in his latter years…he would rather lose doing things his way than fucking kowtow to the wishes of others, especially someone who appears to have been brought in by the Kroekes as a knuckle rapping gesture, like Gazidis with Wenger, after all his cocking up…so his statement was undoubtedly meant to put our new man in the line of fire should things go sideways, which speaks to his delusional nature, as surely he doesn’t think that he wouldn’t shoulder some of the blame (fake ass cult of personality fucktard)
to bolster my point let’s review what happened right after we failed to secure Rogers then Vini…in the case of the former it’s imperative to note that we didn’t lose out due to Villa’s eventual asking price, we lost out because we didn’t push hard enough prior to the market reset, following the signings of Anderson and Fernandes…many of those in the know believe that if we had pushed hard enough in the early part of the window we could have secured his services for around 85 or 90M…still a little high, but doable…instead we dithered and lost out to a longtime rival, yet somehow we found a way to sign Tzolis some 48 hours after Rogers signing…it’s likely why we overpaid a bit for the Greek forward, as there were no other formal inquiries or competing bids…now that was some classic Arteta wag the dog bullshit
as for Vini, I find it difficult to believe that MA wanted a one side of the ball marauding forward who would play havoc with our current wage structure…when that ruse predictably collapsed, lo and behold we signed Bruno 48 hours later…now that’s the kind of player who MA would rather hire, even though he personally quashed a deal with him some 4+ years prior, when we bought no one in the 2022 January window(what an idiot)…once again it’s not a coincidence that we can’t seem to get things over the line in a timely manner unless we’re looking to deflect attention and/or when the player in question better suits MA’s bully-ball/flop-heavy tactics
all that said, it will be interesting to see how we conduct our business in the remaining weeks of this window…the Bruno signing likely puts Skelly and/or Ethan in jeopardy, under the guise that we’re in a win now window…I would have an easier time accepting this proposition if MA wasn’t so incompetent when it came to dealing with our young blue chippers…for Arteta this pure profit selling strategy could be used as a means to change the current narrative about his insanely poor sell-on record…of course that’s only going to pass muster with the Arteta Knows Best crew because anyone with half a brain will be irate by the possibility of selling off these high-ceiling academy prospects…unless of course the monies were used to acquire a world class talent like Vini and we all know that ain’t happening, regardless of the messages of intent emanating from his camp in recent days
in my estimation there was only 3 ways this transfer window could have gone:
(1) we targeted game changing readymade players and did whatever it took to get them over the line in a timely fashion…so far that’s been a massive failure…hardly a surprise as the only time this happened during his tenure was a few years back with Rice…even then he didn’t help us to get a better deal, so it failed the timely quotient, and it likewise required MA to provide him with some ill-suited assurances..not to slight Bruno, as he’s a talented player, but we shouldn’t be shelling out big money on a midfielder with his age profile before properly redressing our more pressing issues (especially after signing Zubi last summer)
2) when the above plan invariably fails, MA will turn his attentions to some lesser light replacements, as he’s the king of the placeholder purchase…in a way I get it as why would a top creative talent want to wasteaway in the land of bland, unless they were desperately seeking a way out of their current predicament and/or on a lesser squad…just look at how MA neutered Eze…if MA was to lean into this all-too-familiar strategy again this is where players like Neto or Ndiaye could enter the equation…I spoke about this years ago following the signing of Tross, which stymied the development of Marts and made it exceedingly less likely that we would spend big out wide…this isn’t an outright attack on Tross, as he’s not without his skills, but no team with the highest of aspirations would ever deploy him as their starting option
(3) stand pat and have a go with Marts and Tzolis (maybe Eze and Noni could provide cover, as you all know how MA loves him some shoehorning)…this could be the case if MA gets his wish and signs a couple new defensive pieces, now that it looks as if Saliba and Timber could miss some time…maybe the only saving grace about Saliba’s injury is that it might require Rice to sit deeper, where he should be, so as to better protect whomever replaces our best CB…if so we could finally see two more offensively-minded midfielders on the pitch at the same time…what a novel fucking concept…btw by offensively-minded I don’t mean having fucking Kai tucked in behind Viktor…Cheers
…is the season finished yet?
TRVL
Arteta doesn’t want Berta or any other Independence football brain at the club – Arteta want’s to buy 3 more full backs and a defensive midfielder.
Football brain says “yeah but we need a first choice left sided attacker (because you can’t get the best out of Martinelli) and a world class striker. Don’t you think we should divert our resources into those areas first?”
Arteta has hissy fit.
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/mikel-arteta/spielertransfers/trainer/47620
Take a look at all of his signings in the above link – 2 strikers in 6 and a half years. One of which had been mostly used as a wide player by City. The number of goalkeepers, defenders and full backs on the list is fucking shocking.
Marc—and not a single wingback in the bunch…never understood how we didn’t go for Dumfries a few years back…he’s just as good defensively, if not better, than anyone he’s had out there, minus maybe Hip…of course he’s now at Real…as such we should bring in Araujo, then when MA shoehorned Eze on the left, he could tuck inside into a more natural position…that guy is a fucking Energizer Bunny type with some flair to boot
“Looking ahead to the future, SciSports believes that Kofane can reach a similar level to Viktor Gyokeres if he fulfils his potential. Right now, of course, he remains some way short of the Gunners’ current offensive options in terms of ability”
I don’t know about you, but that’s a pretty low bar as far as potential goes…why would you get someone who projects to be as good as the very player you’re trying to replace…of course he’s only a kid so maybe it’s too soon to properly project future performance levels
I’m certainly not displeased by the possibility of us making a move for Osimhen…wish it happened a few years back, but at 27 he’s still in his window…now there’s someone with a fucking aerial presence…I’m sure it’s not a coincidence that he currently plays for a team who’s expressed interest in both Ethan and Marts…that said, if this rumour enters the “swap” realm, it’s unlikely to materialize…I can see him thriving with the likes of Saka, Tzolis, Bruno and Rice(from set pieces) putting crosses into the box…from a heading perspective he’s miles ahead of any of our current options, except maybe Merino
Vera
“ Arteta’s clearly pissed that Berta was brought in, even more so after winning the PL and advancing to the CL finals…he’s not someone who likes to share the credit, just look at his manager-centric tactics and the manner in which he fucked with Berta’s pick, Viktor, when it mattered most”
It is a possibility that Gyokeres lack of technique, lack of heading ability , lack of ability to find space, lack of hold up play , lack of anticipation in the box, lack of a good first touch was the reason for dropping him , though it has to said he is excellent at taking penalties.
I read somewhere that Danny Welbeck had more open play goals in the prem than Gyokeres last season.
So the usual suspects are now blaming Arteta for not getting transfers over the line, the fact is Berta’s only job is to sort out the transfers and if we are honest he hasn’t made such a good job of it as last season when he plugged all the gaps in the squad.
Maybe Berta’s level is bringing in squad fillers and not getting elite signings over the line.
Why anyone would be be majorly concerned about our lack of form pre season is beyond me , we have numerous players who have played either no time or only half hour of competitive football in pre season so to expect anything other than what we have seen is delusional.
We have hardly made a tackle in pre season, Sunday will be different against city , we will see the difference as like the psg/villa game there is a trophy at stake.
Of course the narrative on here will be that if we win it is a meaningless game but if we lose it will be confirmation of how the season will be a disaster.
My expectation of the first few weeks is low , if we are in the top 8 after 6 games then I can see us pushing on as the players return to full fitness.
We may find that a team like Chelsea will come out of the blocks quick as they had little involvement in the World Cup and the usual suspects on here will be in their element as they call for Arteta’s head.
This season will not be about how you start, it’ll be about how you finish and as the premier league champions we will feel confident of getting over the line in what should be a very competitive season with many teams capable of putting in a title challenge…
Apart from Wicksy is anybody getting excited about the start of the new season. Maybe because I am approaching the three quarters mark of a possible century I am past caring. In the past I would be desperately trying to find a link for the game but now I couldnt care less. The football served up by El B is so underwhelming.
I wondered the other day if Tony still logged in to read the posts. A month or so ago Will Wainwright died and he may have known him. William had worked with the great and good in the music industry and many people that I have met over the years also knew William.
Norg
Its hard work trying to get excited for the football. I’ve seen a couple of bits of pre season and its the usual.
Arteta’s got a week to get things into shape or he’s going to start the season struggling to beat a promoted team.
Wicky’s getting the excuses for a poor start in early.
Marc
Fat Frank must be hoping his team will be spurred (excuse the pun) on by the result a few decades ago when Coventry beat us. I think KP like me remembered that occasion.
Pricksy—don’t get it twisted, MA runs our recruitment drives, as there’s no way that either Tzolis or Bruno were Berta picks…just so happens that Berta was the main backer of Viktor, once Sesko decided that he wanted nothing to do with our offensively-stunted manager without assurances that Havertz’s bestie wasn’t willing to provide…maybe Berta was hoping that if we brought in VG our little MIT might tweak his tactics to allow for a little more directness, which is Viktor’s bread and butter…like I said before this was the functional equivalent of when Gazidis brought in Perez…obviously the much higher costs involved and the injuries to Havertz/Merino meant that MA couldn’t completely ghost him, but I bet if he could have he would have
Berta’s more of a numbers/board room guy than an identifier of talent, so he typically only does what he’s told…the only thing I blame Berta for is not having the ear of Alvarez, as one might think that he would have an easier time getting his former player over the line…unfortunately that’s easier said than done when your working for a manager who has set the game back some two decades with his blunt instrument style of play…one has to only look at ALL the players who’ve said thanks but no thanks(some haven’t even used such pleasantries) to comprehend Berta’s current predicament
btw are you sure you’ve covered all your basis regarding your cake and eat it too predictions…no wonder you think you’re a great prognosticator…WTF
NORG
I would rather drink a gallon of lepers pus, than watch this cunts team and players.
This cunt has killed it for me.
And of course the carpet baggers owners.
The real enjoyment now is , when the cunt loses, and the soppy fanbase blame the PGMOL. That always makes me chuckle, depsite us not having a penalty or red card against last season.
Even Slagsy, was at it, the other day, already stating the fat Brazillian Geordie will be a marked man by the biased refs.
The fanbase deserve this cunt, these players and this style of football.
And they deserve to pay the highest prices for that privilege.
I can’t be the only one , that feels this way , either.
TRVL
If I predict we’ll win the PL, finish top 4, mid table, survive a relegation battle & get relegated does that mean I know as about football as Wicksy?
RIP Jimmy Rimmer.