Well, I took a week off from this excruciating heat and my hometown didn’t disappoint. For all the urbanization and industries, there is still some forest left and the breezes are better than the so called recycled, smell-nice air conditioners. We will survive but what about the next generation(s)?!
So, a lot has happened since I went missing. Man City has lifted the Premier League and will probably finish with 10+ points more than us. Newcastle has made it to the Champions League and the almighty Liverpool will most likely play in Europa. For Arsenal, we lost a golden chance to lift the trophy. Saka signed a much needed contract extension in the range of 15m / year, Martinelli, Zinchenko and Saliba were ruled out for the rest of this season due to injuries but are expected to join back before pre-season. There is a good possibility that Xhaka will leave this summer and The Athletic guys are linking us to Rice, Caicedo, Mason Mount and Gündoğan.
First thing first, after leading the table for almost all of this season, the season was ours to lose and we did exactly that. We threw away 2-0 lead against Liverpool and West Ham. We let Southampton score 3 against us at home and settled with one point. City beat us, which was expected, but these 3 draws proved very costly. Adding insult to the injury, we lost our last 2 games against Brighton at home and Forest away. It didn’t matter but the game against Forest was a prime example of brain fart from Arteta.
In a good news, Saka signed a 4-year contract extension that runs till 2027. He will be paid somewhere around 15million / year. Frankly, I don’t get the criticism of putting him into this salary bracket. He has been splendid for us whole season, had few rough games at the end but you can’t really blame the kid when he is being played every game and kicked and pushed throughout. My belief is that, if you buy a high profile player like Antony at United, pay a fee of 80m and then offer him another 300k/week, it’s not sustainable. We must understand that we are saving the need to find this 80m to buy a player of Saka’s calibre. This is also different to what we offered to Ozil. Ozil was past his prime, everyone knew he is only going to get regressed and it led to a situation where no one was happy. Saka’s case is different, so was Martinelli and if Saliba signs, I won’t mind if we offer him a 200k/week wage. These group of players are young, they can be the best player in their positions and winning ‘with’ them is more important than encashing them now and then bringing someone else hoping they turn out to be equally good.
We have some injury concerns, Zinchenko is out, Saliba’s back injury is taking time, Martinelli picked up a knock and is ruled out for the rest of this season. Not that it matters now, but hopefully they will all be back by next season.
It came out as a surprize to me when various media outlets linked Xhaka with Bayer Leverkusen. He is getting a 4 – year contract, and is almost a done deal. I don’t mind it, I have been asking for an upgrade to his position from god knows when, and if it’s ending in a happy way for both the parties, it’s a good thing. I must also applaud Xhaka for his service this season, he has made a lot of us eat a humble pie with his performance in lots of games. We mustn’t discredit him, he was part of a team that stayed at the top for more than 30 weeks against the likes of Manchester City.
So, whom are we getting? There’s been a lot of rumours, Rice, Caicedo, Mason Mount, Gundogan but I will keep this part for the next articles. Wrapping up for now, hope you are having a good week. If not, there’s a thing called mid-week beer and Wednesday qualifies for that.
Cheers!
TRVL
You took the words out of my mouth regarding Caicedo. ,We put on an amateur hour show in January where Brighton must have asked themselves which part of NO don’t these idiots not understand? As it turned out he was instrumental in getting BHA into the Europa league and they played that card extremely smart. Extended his contract and can demand a higher transfer fee now.
It became apparent to the public how bad Edu & Arteta are when it comes to negotiations when Chelsea gazumped us in signing Mydruck, that was so unprofessional and provincial by those two amateurs. So I seriously doubt that we will get our targets when other elite clubs will also bid for them.
Regarding Rice and for that matter any other English player, there is the additional factor of being familiar with family and home environment, starting with cough, cough British cuisine.
Also all things being equal there is the additional attraction of the manager. To what degree will he develop my talents and skills that I am a sure selection for my countries international competitions. We are so screwed in that department. Say what you want but Wenger did attract talent, maybe not in his later years. Tets has nothing to show for yet, except temper tantrums ans shutting out players he doesn’t like or care for whatever reason.
On a very positive note because of Juve having 10 points deducted we have almost secured a place in Pot2 of the CL draw.
Guys,
Let us not hate each other. There is enough of non-sense to deal with, in everyone’s life.
Criticizing a team whom we support in bad times, not agreeing with managerial decisions, not liking the football, the transfer window and everything else related to football are subjective. One person may find Arteta generational, the other don’t. It won’t take away the fact that both loves Arsenal.
We are up for a healthy discussion, disagreements and criticism. We are also up for celebrating like no one will, when we win. We just don’t wanna be another AFTV.
Killroy,
There are tweets mentioning pot 2 is going to be tougher than pot 3. Juve’s point deduction is not good for us.
But then, you don’t compete and win leagues by hiding away behind smaller teams. Come who may.
agreed Ambarish, but to be fair I originally only used the phrase “not so intrepid representative”, which would barely qualify as an expedition in “hating” on someone…in response, the poster in question took things to a far more personal level, so I simply responded in kind…I will refrain from doing so in the future…Cheers
Killroy-there’s no doubting we’re amateur hour personified when it comes to all things asset management related, which undoubtedly includes asset acquisitions…we’re such a messy bitch, in that one minute we’ll pay well over the number for what some might describe as off the radar targets, like White and Vieira, then the next we will dither about and/or submit lowball bids for far more seminal and widely desired targets…fact remains, we’ll know when we’re ready to be serious contenders on multiple fronts because we’ll target world class players, who best fit our particular script, then do whatever is necessary to bring them into the fold in a timely fashion…unfortunately, just like in the days leading up to the ribbon cutting outside the Emirates, we’re still expected to shut up, pay the highest prices in the land and trust the process
Morning all
Great lively night of comments LIR is beginning to build up traffic that’s ALL cool to read with my coffee.
KP
OMG shoot me. I had De Zerbi on my notes list and got an email about France and got distracted. I absolutely love the guy. Unless De Zerbi drops off a cliff next season, he is my pick to take over at Arsenal not just for his excellent football identity but his close relationship with Tony Bloom. I could see Arsenal with De Zerbi having 1st pick from Bloom’s nuggets.
With De Zerbi rightfully in the line up I’ve asterrisked De Zerbi and Arteta as I’ll have a better idea when as you say the ink is dry on the transfers. De Zerbi rotated and took a point off Pep, says much.
Pep
Klopp
Mikel Arteta*
De Zerbi*
Ten Hag
Howe
Emery
Pochetinho
Emery
Arne Slot
TRVL
It would be good to see more tactical reviews of games for both players and Tets, which will help us all to improve our understanding of the game today. I believe this is something we can draw on from your coaching days to be able to add more weight to the discussions. I’m always about learning from others. Leaving Tet’s personal being out of the posts should leave only tactical debating and general football talk.
Ambarish has Pedro’s monikers tied up in knots where they are lashing out at us, so we must pose a concern to LG. Personally, from a music industry observation I’d say Pedro is enjoying far too much of recreational life all too readily available in the USA. That and Josh’s PR spin team are looking to control the narrative through the Arsenal blogs.
I’m not going to mention LG going forwards, as it only serves to promote LG’s blog. All publicity is good publicity so long as they spell your name right. As regards discrediting, LG appeals to a certain intelligence level who seem to be happy posting as ‘invented characters’ rather than faceless, real people.
I understand Bob’s frustration on LG and equally here, which was why I’ve opted for a more football focus on Arteta and the players. I popped in LG last night read Mr. Serge’s best and worst for the season and Bob’s rightful frustration and left and came to the conclusion LG is just not worth my time.
Conversely, I’l do all I can to help LIR realise Ambarish’s goals for the site, as I know us lifers here will do also.
LIR: The Arsenal thinking fan’s blog.
Marc
I remember your jousts with Pedro and the Marc with a C posters et al. I would imagine Pedro was just starting to be part of the PR spin when you got binned. I got Covid concerned with your such long absence, so was happy to see you here.
The Arsenal has fully become a corporate machine where those of us who have had the displeasure of being part of a corporate structure in their working lives know how badly run most of the corporate world is run. Glossy exteriors do not equate to well run interiors of corporate companies and conglomerates. Most are run by narcissistic egomaniacs, or power mad accountants. My MC club’s founding member was the CEO of Pfizer where we’ve had some very interesting convos about corporate life.
Aicho
Good to see you still read LIR and your views are always welcome. What are your views on De Zerbi after this season?
If not De Zerbi who would your Arteta replacement be if Tets is 8th by Xmas or similar and needing to leave?
Obviously, De Zerbi wouldn’t be my pick if he’s down the bottom of the table either. It’s going to be a credit to De Zerbi’s coaching and tactical nous if he loses at least 4 of his best starters to the summer TW and then De Zerbi continues on where he left off this season in his quest for top 4 next season. Will be an interesting one to watch.
There’s no hidden agenda here Aicho; only our club winning is our collective concern. Who takes us to the winner’s circle is of no concern to me, I only care about our club and the football it plays and meeting like minded Gooners here.
To all
Just trying to read behind the TW lines where the signs are Arteta wants some kind of radical overhaul. My concern is that next season it will be ok to miss out on CL because it’s a new team gelling together, That’s the next spin I’m expecting with Arteta’s next contract extension this October when he hits 4 years with only a FA cup and one CL showing.
I think you’ll find the Nazi thing derived from LG’s leading racist: Un, Raulishuss, Don, Aubergine et al. Banned the most times and yet still licking Pedro’s arse. I’m beginning to think Un is also Pedro for Un’s puppy love for CC who I called out as Pedro and who immediately left. Now Pedro’s Conetta is struggling to find a persona away from CC, but Pedro isn’t clever enough to write in a different style. I think Jamie is close to calling Conetta out.
We are, in my book, a corporate entity poorly run from top to bottom whose only recourse is to keep throwing money at the problem: £750m+ in 2 years, which only goes to prove Arteta is nothing like Pep and never will be. The club will continue to haemorrhage money through Arteta’s and Edu’s TW dealings.
One has to wonder whether KSE is blindly overturning the board’s advice on financial matters because they control the purse strings? If that’s the case, a hard line sports CEO wouldn’t be needed. Our cuddly smiley incumbent is all KSE needs.
Have a good one.
Bielsa is missing from the list.. I loved Leeds under him, though his measures are extreme but they are for players who are 0.001% top earners.
He has some exciting wins, some very exciting losses, but the football was never bland. He will go aggressive against a pep side. I wished to see him more in Premier League.
Thanks TRVL. Frankly le-grove was an inspiration in the day to start LiR. They are doing great, just not in line to what I believe. We can co-exists.
Ambarish
Don’t know where you got that impression from that pot 2 would be more difficult. As it stands now since these teams are in pot 2 we can’t be drawn against them
Real
Bayern
Leipzig
Inter (If they loose the CL Final)
Athletico
Porto
But could face from pot 1:
Barca
Dortmund
Napoli
PSG
Benfica
Winner EL (Sevilla or Roma)
Look at the projection of the pots and in pot 3 the only one that I have a question about is AC Milan we should beat every other team, but then we do have Arteta who could go all Galaxy brain on us again.
Tribuna
https://tribuna.com/en/news/arsenal-2023-05-23-arsenal-could-be-in-pot-2-for-the-champions-league-draw-it-all-depends-on-borussia-dortmu/
Thinking about this radical rebuild where we need at least 6 incoming. I’m assuming the £250m we have to spend is because we have CL income now is further belief Josh has in Arteta and Edu from our 2nd position finish this season.
Now I’m a reasonably adventurous kind of guy financially where Mrs T is the family CFO she says in case of a senior moment – well she is 20 years younger and I’m still CEO of the family last time I checked, but we all know what happens when we pull rank on our significant others? It doesn’t usually end well for us.
I feel I’d want to see how we do in our first CL outing before committing such a big number again. I’d also want to see if we finish next season with a CL birth? I’d certainly want a lot more convincing than our clearly overachieved 2nd (4th would have been more realistic) and the car crash run in.
Won’t we be back to Emery days if we fail to be in the CL the season after?
CL salaries for Europa or worse; no Europe that Stan complained about after Wenger was fired. I’d certainly want to know the risks and critical thinking behind automatically paying CL wages to our stars. I’d want caveats in the contracts to revert to a lower package if no CL just to make fiduciary sense.
I guess we’ll see in the coming months how financially smart our board and KSE are. I’m far from complaining about spending money on our continued rebuild, but I do worry about what we spend being leveraged against our club, and thus the old buy now pay later America has always thrived on and continually bitten by.
Unfortunately, our pay later is building steadily.
Killroy,
Got it, I only saw couple tweets about it, didn’t check myself. Pot 2 sounds good then..
Killroy
Sorry wasn’t ignoring you, but a busy morning in-dispersed with incomings.
I agree with you our TWs have been relatively poor for compared to our real needs. All the more reason to keep De Zerbi in Arsenal’s sights as has been reported previously. As mentioned earlier a direct line to Tony Bloom’s conveyor belt with first options would be really worth having if their recent history is anything to go by.
Regarding the pots I feel we have to play who we have to play. I accept that meeting one of Europe’s giants early isn’t advisable, but if we go out and beat what’s in front of us, we’ll carve ourselves a fearsome rep going through the competition.
No point in thinking about the CL until the TW closes for me. I find it easier to work with tangibles and not what ifs. However, I agree with your thoughts towards Arteta and Edu in the TW’s where Arteta’s management style is well known and appears not liked by the players he wants to sign.
If I were Josh, I’d be asking serious questions personally to the players’ and their agents’. Our board seem to overlook the simple things, such as sales and non sales thorough due diligence debriefing from an independent source vetted by Tim Lewis and the board.
Apparently Slot has turned down the Spud’s.
I’m not laughing – honest I’m not I am however available if Levy wants to pick up the phone.
Marc
You couldn’t make it up.
Arne Slot has just gone right up in my estimation. lmao. Quickest way to screw your CV for an up and coming manager looking for his first PL job is to take Spuds and Levy on. I say bring Tim Sherwood back.
Imagine having a name like Slot and feeling that you wouldn’t fit it…. Tumbleweed moment….
I’m expecting a desperation call from Levy myself along the lines of…
Look Mr Kroenkephobe, despite your obvious and longstanding love of Arsenal, your name might go down well with our few remaining fans. There’s a real job market crisis at the moment so you’re my last resort except for those 2 northern cnuts, Dyche and Allardyce who’ve been bugging me. If you move back to London, I’ll even personally pay for your bus pass up the seven sisters road every day. And I’ll throw in a free salt beef sandwich and some industrial antispit goggles for your discussions with Sir Harold of Kane. I know you’ve only ever managed your kids’ football teams in Pembrokeshire but we also like your offensive shoutiness and renowned anti-Arteta-ism plus your strident language about our secret agent paranoid Pedro. We also think you might have some influence with Cardiff City as we plan to spend millions on their cast offs this summer
9 million quid a year tax free in addition to those other perks. Otherwise, we’ll have to keep Ryan Mason at this rate and my head might explode.
Tony
I’d gauge Sherwood as a footballing genius compared to Christian Gross, Nuno, Villas Boas or Juande Ramos. And never get me started on that grubby little whoremeister David Pleat.
But rumour has it Sherwood is from a massive Gooner family so he probably considered he was doing his duty by fucking them up so thoroughly.
KP
Shades of Almunia there, take a well deserved bow 🙇♀️ sir.
Cheers Tony, but I could never fill the great man’s satirical boots. Spurs is a club that keeps on giving. When the dust has fully settled on this season, I think we’ll look back at how we’ve restored our superiority. This enduring failure to secure a good manager will be steadily eroding confidence among everyone at that miserable club and could well precipitate Kane and Son’s departures. Bad time to be a cockerel jockey. 😊
Tony-DeZerbi plays something akin to a possession-based tightroping exercise, in that he provokes his opponents into overstretching and committing one too many to the press, at which point they deploy their exit strategy and easily play their way out…of course this is easier said than done, so when it fails it can leave you exposed at the back, but when it’s on point it can wreak havoc in those open spaces it creates…ultimately it was a logical tactical reaction to the high press/quick transition game, that emerged out the ashes of the tiki-taka era, which dangerously attempts to draw the opponents onto them before releasing passes to the “free” man…as such, the scheme isn’t based nearly as dependent on your own movements, as those of your opponent
this is why our one trick pony of a manager got so badly outcoached in our most recent affair…what he should have done was feign a high press, only to drop-off as soon as they made their first pass out from the back, then resumed our pressing on our side of the pitch, where the field starts to shrink, thereby making it vastly easier to maintain one’s defensive shape…by doing so you force them to commit more players farther up the pitch, especially their defenders, whom are vitally important to this particular scheme, which leaves them open to the counter…unfortunately MA appears to despise playing with any semblance of directness, so this too might not have yielded the desired results…Cheers
btw Arne Slot probably saved himself a lot of anguish by declining the Spurs gig, as they will likely continue to struggle until the stench of Levy has left the building…that said, I wouldn’t be surprised if he got a major appointment in the next year or two, especially if he can continue to be successful within a high turnover operation like Feynoord
there’s talk circulating again about our interest in Antonio Sanabria, a 27 year old Torino Striker of Paraguayan descent…don’t know that much about him except that he potted 12 this season, which is his best first division total at any point in his career…he’s not that big, at 5’11, so it doesn’t appear to be about tactical flexibility, surprise surprise, although there’s some suggestion he’s been on our organizational radar since he emerged on the scene at 17…just don’t get why we would potentially ship Balo, a far younger in-house prospect who now appears to have come good, and replace him with a less productive and considerably older version…btw we supposedly offered 25 for a player with a current market value somewhere around 7, which I find difficult to believe….can’t help but think, if there’s any truth to this rumour, that it has everything to do with the grudge MA still holds against Balo and/or his agent when they wisely played hardball during his last re-up