Mikel has spend money on these defensive players so far at Arsenal – White, Gabriel M, Tomiyasu, Tavares, Zinchenko, Kiwior, Timber, Calafiori, Mosquera. And it has costed the club around 230m GBP. That’s the back line. Lets include Goal Keepers and defensive midfielders to that list – Ramsdale, Raya, Kepa, Thomas Partey, Declan Rice, Norgaard and Zubimendi brings the total spend to about half a billion dollars.
While in attack, we brought in Willian, Marquinhos, Jesus, Trossard, Havertz, Sterling, Madueke, Gyokeres costing us a total of 234m GBP. If we include Central and Attacking midfielders – Odegaard, Vieira, Merino, and Eze the cost would be 396m GBP.
My point is, we have spent about 20% less in attacks than in defence. One of the reasons I can think of, is that we had Saka and Martinelli covering both the wings. Now, this spending and Mikel’s preference for defensive solidarity shows up in stats. We conceded 39, 48, 43, 29, 34, 27 goals across the 6 full seasons he has managed the club. It’s not surprising that we won the Premier League when we conceded the least of all 6 years.
It’s not wrong to say that defence has got us the title.
But, would you say that the football has become more exciting in recent times? I would say no. In the season 2023-24, we played some brilliant football and scored 91 goals. We finished 2nd, short of City but we used to score for fun. Everyone saw the glimpse of what Mikel brings to the table and everyone hoped we would go on to build on it. However, Mikel became too pragmatic for my liking.
In my opinion, this has to do with the risk and Mikel hates it. To score, you have to take risk in pushing your attacking players in the opposition half, which leaves you open at the back. Mikel wants his CF and wingers to be part of the dirty work, even if it costs us some goals. From an Arsenal fan’s POV, it won us a title after 23 years and fuck it, fuck the football we are playing as long as we are bringing the trophies. Pep left with a cabinet full of trophies at City and he is the one who invented this boring, passive football.
But, Klopp and Luis Enrique showed us a better way to win trophies. By playing some attacking football and keeping the ‘sport’ exciting. Jurgen’s Liverpool title winning team of 2019-20 scored 85 goals and conceded 33. It was one of the most fluid, attacking, entertaining team. A front 3 of Salah (19 goals), Mane (18 goals), Firmino (9 goals) helped and a defence of Van Dijk, Alison, Robertson, Alexander-Arnold helped them secure the title. There’s no reason we can’t do this with the players we have. We have the likes of Saliba, Gabriel and Timber in defence. And we have a front 3 of Saka, Martinelli and Gyokeres to score as many goals as Salah, Mane and Firmino.
So, it comes down the manager. Mikel, a disciple of Pep, wants to control the game and safety comes first. Managers like Klopp wants chaos while Enrique picked up some bit and pieces of the tracking back and ball possession but kept the good of both worlds. I want the later, and I don’t care if you don’t believe me but Mikel wants it too. He brought in Eze to get this sorted, and the club is now open to have a talk with Vinicius Jr. Eze has been good, but he is not the one who can score a couple of goals on his own every other games like Salah used to do. Vinicius Jr can do it and that’s one reason I think we are looking at that possibility.
Mikel Arteta is looking for a way out of that boring football, but he can’t achieve it without allowing freedom to the players and taking up some risks. We would faulter, we would concede some un-necessary goals but at the end football will be exciting and the likes of Enrique has showed that it will win you trophies too. They have 2 back to back Champions League trophies to show for.
Right, that’s my 2 cents for today. See you in the comments.
Jesus is on a fucking scandalous 265 grand a week !! and has been for half a decade!! and yet we will still have cunts saying we can’t compete with Real Madrid or Barcelona or Bayern.
The soppy cunts deserve to watch cunts like Jesus every week and pay the highest prices for the privilege.
This fanbase has always been the biggest problem at the club and held it back because of low self esteem and low expectations.
Only Rioch showed Real – like ambition, signing Berkgamp and Platt and trying to get s young Shearer.
The cunts upstairs sacked him after 12 months, despite taking the cunts from 12th to 5th in his one season.
Art
It wouldn’t be so bad with Jesus if he hadn’t spent so much time injured.
I would check on how many appearances he’s made against how much he’s earnt during the time he’s been with us but it’ll just piss all of us off (except Wicksy who’ll try to tell us how it was an inspired signing that took us to the next level).
Marc
That useless cunt will walk away with nearly £70 fucking million in his back pocket , when he finally fucks off.
But we can’ t compete for the world class players?
Slags ,like Wicksy are beyond help.
They are the problem, ultimately.
And the moronic cunt is about to repeat the same fucking nonsense.
The fat Brazilian Geordie, 29 on another similar contract, to Jesus.
But we cant compete with Real Madrid for world class players, according to the supporters?
Marc—where as I would agree with your tv revenue assessment, I think you’ve vastly underestimating the lucrative revenue streams available to ownership during that supposed austere period, whether from ticket sales to concessions, ever-changing merch, sponsorships, summer tours and monies from our constant involvement in the CL..so we could have easily spent far more on talent…I keep going back to the conversation between RVP and Gazidis regarding our overflowing coffers, regardless of your personal feelings about either or both
not to mention, the Kroenkes were always playing the long game, which under Wenger required them to risk fuck all, as it would be financed in large part by an eager and naive fanbase who was willing to pay the highest prices in the land under false pretences…the only reason Arsene was finally relieved of his duties was that under his tutelage we had lost a step and it was negatively impacting our MV…not that it was going down, quite the contrary, it just wasn’t going up at a rate that was deemed acceptable in light of what had transpired after the market reset in the mid-2010s
all it took was for a single team of lesser consequence to be sold for over a billion dollars and the market was going to undergo a massive reset…that team was the LA Clippers, who were sold to Steve fucking Ballmer in 2014 when the NBA forced the previous owner, Donald Sterling, who was caught in a hot mic-like situation making racist comments, to sell the club…he originally bought the team for a paltry 12.5 million in 1981 and received a golden parachute of 2 billion, which was a massively inflated valuation…no one but Ballmer would have paid such a ridiculous price for such an afterthought of an organization, but the other owners put aside their petty differences for this arm-waving rich as fuck nutbar, as they knew they would not only get a nice chunk of change, it would likewise artificially raise their respective MVs…as soon as the ink was dry it was only logical that teams of any major sport could now use this as a comp
my point is the Kroenkes could have easily extended themselves massively and still made a shit ton of money in the long run, the cost of that stadium was chump change for them and was likewise the soundest of investments…as to the reason why they didn’t spend during the period in question we can agree to disagree…btw if you attempt to argue that the 2014 was almost a decade later and therefore not applicable, I will contend that these billiionaire fucks knew full-well what was coming down the pike, financially speaking, which was why they didn’t hesitate to pay what appeared to be above the number to extend their stake and why they never even contemplated selling even though they received several offers that were well above the going rate…Cheers
.
“Arteta wants a physically dominant focal point who can bully Prem centre-backs while working his socks off for the team — and Esposito is seen to fit that blueprint”
this was in regards to our supposed interest in Inter forward Pio Esposito…two things: (1) what does this say about our current makeshift Strikers? it brings into question the viability of Viktor, who doesn’t have the footwork that MA’s shit tactics require and Havertz, who’s a flopping wafer thin mint…(2) why does our one and a half trick pony want to stockpile players with the same profile over and over again…because he’s a blunt instrument fuck who’s appears wholly incapable of venturing out of his fucktard comfort zone…no wonder top-top players want nothing to do with us (or so it appears)
with Bruno’s signing there’s already rumblings about Eze being pushed out wide, which is by no means his best position (shoehorning 101 nonsense)…this is disconcerting for two reasons, firstly, see above and secondly, this opens the door to a midfield trio of Rice, Zubi and Bruno, with fucking Havertz up top…fuck me
I don’t have a problem with what’s happening but that’s quite simply because the more Arteta doubles down on being Arteta the more he’ll fuck up. Football fans are a strange bunch – they’ll put up with all sorts of bollocks if they believe it’ll bring success.
An awful lot of Arsenal fans were willing to put up with all the shit football, cunt excuses, massive waste of money on poor decisions etc in the desperate hope of winning the PL. Now that’s happened they’ll start to get snobbish – we want to win but we’ve got to do it playing good football.
If he goes down a route of a central 3 of Rice, Zubi and Guimaraes we’ll have even less creativity. Where does that see Eze and Ode end up? Up front we still look 2nd rate.
Ultimately Arteta’s going into a season as title holders where City, Liverpool, ManU, Chelsea, the Spuddies, Newcastle. Bournemouth, Fulham, Palace and Forest all have new managers. The only teams in last seasons top 8 who have kept their managers are Brighton and Villa and Villa have been selling off the crown jewels.
Its looking like the weakest / most unsettled Premier League I can ever remember – with Arteta’s 6 odd years and hundreds of millions spent winning the PL should not only be a foregone conclusion but the football’s got to improve massively.
Arsenal being destroyed by Dortmund.
We’ve only got two more friendlies after today (including the Charity Shield which does carry psychological weight for the coming season).
What a cunt.
Arsenal fucking terrible. On the beach at the START of the season. Lacking all over the pitch. The main cunt will be on here saying calm down it’s meaningless pre season shite, but I fear we’re going to get regularly raped without Saliba while he’s injured.
Nwan, Tsolis and Dowman the only brightish sparks for me.
KP—sadly, this showing could see Ethan sold, maybe to Dortmund, Tzolis preseason will encourage them to stand pat and Dowman won’t see the fucking pitch unless we’re ravaged by injuries
We’re dangerously close to a bad result in the Charity Shield seeing Arteta panic and rush players back for the PL who haven’t been given the right pre season.
Which will of course compound the problem when they pick up injuries.
Marc
Dont worry , the cunts will win the Charity Shield via a set piece and all the soppy cunts with their Bruno G shirts will clapping like seals , again.
Imagine Enrique with a fucking billion.
This fanbase deserves this manager and these players.
If it had anything about it, it should be tapping up Bellingham, he was in the stadium, but it ain’t got the bollocks and never has
Expect more expensive cack under this cunt.
here’s the skinny on why we paid the highest transfer fee ever for a midfielder over 28:
“Look around other top European leagues, at competitions where referees are quicker to award a foul than they are in England. Aside from the Lazio winger Mattia Zaccagni (with 418), you will not find anyone who has won more free-kicks than Guimarães. Vinicius Júnior is a shade above him on a pro-rata basis, with 2.95 fouls drawn per 90 minutes to 2.89, and Arsenal were trying to sign him too.
Guimarães ranked no lower than second in the Premier League for fouls suffered in each of the previous four seasons, twice leading the standings for England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. This will have been an enticing selling point for a team that spin so much gold from set plays. And here’s the ultimate win from Arsenal’s perspective: only two players have scored more set-piece goals than Guimarães in the Premier League since early 2022 and they already own one of them(Gabs)”
talk about leaning into an already sad narrative…try something different you one trick fuck
TRVL
I said a few weeks ago Arteta was going to try and go a season without scoring a goal from open play – and you thought I was kidding!
Marc—not “thought” but hoped…I don’t have anything against Bruno, minus some of his antics, but the fact that we bought another midifielder with a defensive profile belies logic…Zubi needs to go and another readymade AM needs to come in or we’re going to be relying too much on Bruno and/or Rice in the final third…the fact that MA didn’t secure his services a few years back, when it was at the finish line, reminds me of Wenger with Laca,, in that we missed out on a good chunk of their respective priimes yet still paid over the number…that’s what I call doubling down on stupidity
btw there’s no way we’re getting 77+M for Zubi…who was sold to us as a Rodri upgrade, which was and is a ludicrous notion or why would we even contemplate selling him
TRVL
Zubi’s value will have plateaued – Arteta can’t have a player he pushed so hard for leave for another PL club (no one else would spend that sort of money on a DM) and then show what he’s capable of.
All whilst our fans pray for a corner in the 93rd minute in the hope of a 1 nil win / 1 – 1 draw.
I note that the usual suspects have learnt nothing from last season , a season in which we won the league and reached 2 cup finals playing without Saka, Odegaard, Havertz ,Timber, White Jesus and Merino for a large chunk of the season..
Let me attempt to educate you, firstly Bruno has not been brought in to replace Eze or Odegaard, and this pathetic talk about him being bought because he wins free kicks( though possibly tongue in cheek as nobody could be that dumb)is nonsensical because anyone with a football brain would know that Bruno playing at st James park for Newcastle will be treated completely different by the officials compared to Bruno playing at the Emirates for Arsenal, the marauding Bruno at Newcastle who I would say is the same as the marauding Enzo at Chelsea will not be allowed to get away with murder playing for Arsenal including winning 50/50 free kick decisions, it just doesn’t happen at Arsenal, Arteta recognised this and last season we finished top of the fair play league as well as being the best team in the country because we played with maturity and common sense, so Bruno may need to reign it in a bit .
Brian Marwood springs to mind when I watch Tzolis play , neat and tidy on the ball but very effective, a player who makes the right decisions.
Marwood had a massive impact when he joined Arsenal just before our 89 title winning season though injury unfortunately meant he missed the title run in.
The World Cup has of course disrupted our pre season with players such as Eze, Rice, Saka,Zubimendi,Raya and Merino only just returning to the club this week, though I think it’s fair to say that we have been far from impressive so far.
Defensively we look all at sea but I have no doubt that Arteta will recognise this and look to bring some stability to the side by working on the midfield and defence, I have said previously that don’t be surprised to see a stuttering start to the season until the squad is up to speed..