Derby Day – F*ck the Spu*s!

I’d echo those thoughts K’phobe. We played good football where the Spuds weren’t at the races. Great stuff.

Good night gys

Doubling Spurs in the league was a yardstick of our success in the leaner years. This season may turn out to be a little special.

Tony
Pumpkin is now officially recognised as a good luck mascot!

crucial 3 points….now let’s take that momentum into the boardroom and shore up this squad in the TW….as I’ve said on numerous occasions, this organization needs to recognize the importance of making moves while in a position of strength…the worst lesson we could learn from this performance is that we don’t need to make moves…just look how tired Eddie appeared to be in the last 20, which could have cost us if the Spurs weren’t so incredibly flat going forward

TRVL
Good stuff. Which names /positions are you thinking of? I’m coming round to prising Milinkovic away from Lazio and/or a big CF like Thuram (in that order).

Decided on entering radio silence for the match,the aul nerves kicked in. I’m not sure if I’ll ever fully trust Ramsdsle,I don’t like keepers who court attention ala Pickford. But he was fantastic today and I take my hat off to him. I thought spurs would change their keeper this year,I even speculated they might buy Leno,but I don’t know where they go now. There are very few good ones out there especially after Newcastle snapped up Pope. When you see clubs like Chelsea,utd, and spurs struggling with their keepers you know there’s a shortage. I rated lloris but he has far too many errors in his game now.
Am still undecided on Eddie,his finishing isn’t exactly clinical but he has really improved at his hold up play and is able to keep defenders busy now in a way he previously couldn’t. I thought he was very impressive today. A word for Odegaard also who stepped up in a difficult away game and showed courage. But its our defence that was outstanding for me,all of them. As poor as Spurs were, Kane,Son and Kulu are as good as it gets in the premiership and our boys nullified them completely for long periods. Isn’t there some old footballing adage about games being won by offences but titles being won by defences? If there isn’t there should be. The days of hiding behind the couch when opponents had set pieces in our half seem to be over at last thank God. There is real pleasure to be had in performances like that,result aside. That’s it now as far as I’m concerned, the title is the aim. And it’s a realistic aim. Nothing being presumed mind you,just willing to start dreaming again.
Kroenkephobe,
Another prediction spot on. Were you Mystic Meg in a former life?

KP—depends if we’re willing to go big game hunting or not…the fact that they showed their hand with our supposed pursuit of Mudryk, that can’t claim that they don’t have the resources available to spend…I’m a huge fan of Savic, but I doubt MA would invest so heavily in someone who would assuredly put Xhaka on the bench…I do like the notion of getting a bigger target up top, which is why I thought a cheap Weghorst would have been a nice pick-up this time last year…frankly, if we weren’t so piss poor when it came to recruitment from Serie A, I would love to make a push for Pellegrini…he’s a true leader of men, who can thread a pass and shoot from distance…it’s so difficult to throw names out there because it appears as if my understanding of our deficiencies is somehow vastly different from our manager’s…like I said before though, I would definitely sniff around Barca due to their exorbitant financial issues

here some rather sketchy circular logic being spewed by MA regarding the current TW:

Mudryk was Arsenal’s top target and the Gunners had been involved in lengthy negotiations with Shakhtar, seemingly closing in on a deal before Chelsea swooped to hijack the deal over the weekend.

“I’m very proud to have the players that we have,” Arteta told Sky Sports when asked about Chelsea signing Mudryk.

“We always want to improve the squad. The club is the first one that is trying to do everything we can to improve the players.

“But I think as well we have to have some discipline. We have to be very consistent in the targets that we want but also in what we are able to do in each moment.”

only at Arsenal would this sort of word salad be not only acceptable but actually applauded by some

First off to the NLD. We dominated and I must say if the squad stays healthy the title is ours to loose. Be of greatest interest ManU next at the Emirates, hope we can do to them what we did to the Sp*ds.

Eddie needs to do better. He had 3 chances just him and Lloris and he fluffed it. His touches are heavy and bringing down the ball needs massive improvement. He is a good 2nd striker but if Jesus is not match fit until end of March we need help.

Now to the Chelsea and Mudryk saga. It reminded me of what took place in 2008 as the US government bailed out the financial institutions to the tune of $700 billion. It became common knowledge that one of them AIG who received $154 billion in bailout paid $503 million in Bonuses to their executives. This caused a congressional inquiry and in the following YouTube clip representative Elijah Cummings is destroying Neel Kashkari, the assistant Treasury secretary over his handling of the 2008 bailouts. For me Cummings reasoning applies to Todd Boehly and Chelsea.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaSCZQSXGuU
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Listen to the 3 minute intro and see if you do not agree that Todd & Chelsea in their present transfer dealings are looked at by the footballing world as chumps.

They have now set the standard for themselves where no club will ever except their bids but will insist to be paid their valuation as they see Todd as a chump.

Next, what will happen when players on +7 year contracts find out that when all the injured players come back and the dressing room then will look like Trafalgar Square resulting in +60% of the players not being in the match day squad? That will make for some spicy atmosphere in the entire team.

Can’t wait for Micky Mudflaps lining up at the Emirate and see what kind of reception he will receive from the Gunner supporters. Already feel sorry for the young kid and I hope that the reception will not have too much of a damaging effect on his psyche. But as they say Karma is a bitch and poetic justice is definitely called for as he will graduate from the school of hard knocks. There are more important things in life than money.

Morning all
How wining a NLD contributes to a wonderful night’s slumber I have no idea, but it happens.

KP
Pumpkin is thrilled to be the the new lucky mascot, but wants more scratching beforehand and after. Poor thing would be scared stiff if he came in the room during the match: the atmosphere is electric these days. Unreasonably so, my daughter is against having Pumpkin dyed red and white. She just doesn’t get the glorious honor we are bestowing on Pumpkin. This will have to be a work in progress. Any productive suggestions welcome. Which dyes are best and creature friendly?

Had to laugh at poor Garry Neville being all playground like in his comments that would be akin to ‘my dad’s going to beat your dad’. I’ve always thought Gary Neville a pathetic kid when he joined the Teletubbies building a like minded house in a field. Never liked him as a player either.

Now Tele tubby: Neville’s transformation is complete, as we witness his complete melt down into Tinky Winky’s granddad claiming Manure would finish above The Arsenal. Poor Tinky Neville Winky. I’m now Training Pumpkin to hiss when we show him pictures of Gary Neville but, Pumpkin just heads for his bodily motions capsule to relive himself of crap from the sight of Neville’s pic. Reasonable from Pumpkin I believe.

Neville would make a good Dickensian Fagen – Pedro would give him a good run for his money, though, for that part. ‘Roll up Roll up pay your money here for my loutish lads’ writing forgetting Gooners are of all ages. I’m still trying to work out who is the comedian? Pedro or Jonny? Pedro is winning in my book. He’s always been a funny cnut.

Been trying to explain that Gary Neville’s pics is a good laxative for cats to vets, but it isn’t that easy here even when said in Thai. Even funnier his brother failed with our national woman’s European champions. No doubt Gary’s answer as a manager in Spain whenever asked a question, any question, was met with, Que?

Manuel from Fawlty Towers would have been a better manager than Gary Neville.

TRVL
Couldn’t agree with you more re the Mudryk fiasco. We don’t do TWs, we do fiascos of drama or so it would seem. Vlahovic last summer and Buendia who went to Newcastle. We think we’re clever, entitled almost that players would only want to play for Arteta.

I said a while ago the KSE needs to show real ambition in this window. It’s reported we have £70m to find a better alternative to Mudryk. While we were shekel pinching with DS for weeks, Chelsea showed us how a professional club does TW business in under 48hours. Auba took 3 weeks by our highly skilled negotiators in wearing hand-me-down-suits for authenticity that we are poor relations to the other billionaires. No suit wants the Robin Reliants in our car pool, so have to buy their own. Last I heard our mascot was living rough on the streets while we hired an Albanian mobster who loves the anonymity, so much he does it for free.

How the Chavs must be laughing at us along with Newcastle and Juventus and the rest of the PL.

Let’s face it in TWs we’re the laughing stock for other clubs’ amusement. Boehly has just shown KSE what ambition is. Might well be blind ambition, but The Chavs won’t be languishing for long in 10th. Last time being around that position Conte came in and won the next season.

The Chavs have shown us to be more concerned about money than investing in the team and winning trophies. They have been making millions from player buys/sales time RA bought them, which helped to offset their transfer dealings for the first team. They’ve also been winning the biggest trophies in football while KSE just scratch their heads looking at Arteta and Edu and wondering how Brighton & Newcastle does it in record time?

Can we blame KSE for Arteta and Edu’s three years down the track having squandered and lost the club £millions (£150+m?) Now Arteta wants another £100+m to get it 50% wrong again buying duds that most Gooners knew were wrong for the club.

What we showed with the Mudryk fiasco is that we can be beat in the TW very easily: it just takes money!!!!!!!!! Pl position & manager means not a jolt!

Arteta has been with us for 3 years now. KSE has backed him and Raul who lost us money hand over fist. For us TW time is amateur hour every time, and has been pretty much since 2008ish hence not titles since then.

We can’t blame KSE; they are naive still it seems or just happy with the status quo.

15 days left, so …………..

There must be something going on with Edu and Arteta we are not privy to, as to why we keep buying players for the Hale End and not our starting 11? Then once they get close to the starting 11, they don’t get enough, if any, realistic game time from Arteta unless Josh says no to more financial wastage in the TW.

So, the game was great fun to watch and enjoy. 8 points clear is testament to City, Pool and The chavs having a poor season. Ditto Spuds. 4th is looking stronger by the week and with the right investment we could walk the league as Leicester did.

The reality is we should have got 4th last season and win the league this season.

Feb 1st can’t come quick enough for me.

Almunia
Football can get you like that. It can twist raw emotions and nerves equal to our wives’ and childrens’ abilities.

KP’s predictions can be uncannily right. Going to work out a Bell curve with KP’s thinking for results for the rest of the season and have a little flutter with Thai friends this August for next season. 🙂

For all my ramblings here I said we’d get 4th last season and mount a good challenge to win the PL this season. I’m happy and have been all season, just very wary that it’s Arteta and Edu still in charge and mindful of last season’s capitulation.

Where I’m baffled is how Chavs, Newcastle, BHA, Crystal Palace, Wolves find such good players – mostly young who bed into the PL very quickly with little fuss.

Us? It’s just history repeating itself for the most part: “Trolly dash/11th hour singings R us.”

Tony have to disagree with your take on Chelski beating us to Micky Mudflaps. Co-Owner and sporting director flew in a private jet to turkey and got the deal done in under 3 hours. Micky Mudflaps flew back with them on the jet. For Arsenal to match the Chavs would mean 100mill in fees, which they were close to it but Shakhtar didn’t like our add on clause while the Chavs clause was easy to be fulfill.
However, what we were not willing to match was near 200k weekly salary for 8.5 years. So, it was not us being amateurs in negotiating but rather not being chumps and held hostage to the whims of Shakhtar’s valuation and the exorbitant salary offer made by the Chavs. For me it is more like keeping our powder dry.
AFC send a signal to the footballing world we will not be held hostage, the team has a spirit that we are not willing to endanger. I thoroughly believe we will strengthen the squad as the powers to be will recognize with a strengthened squad we can win the league.
As pointed out in my other lengthy comment Todd Chump Boehly has set the bar for himself how other clubs will deal with him and it is worst then how clubs deal with ManU.

Tony

I have to agree with KillRoy here for Mudryk. We need to draw a line some where in these dealings. Had we got him for what Chelsea is paying, a good section of supporters won’t be happy with the over payment.

We sent a message that we can’t be bullied, and that we have a target cost in mind which we will not break. Unfortunately, this comes for the cost of Mudryk – a talented kid but that’s okay.

Now, if we go and get a CDM, a CF in that 100m, I would be more than happy.

Putting aside the personalities in this case (which is a relief because football is packed throughout with money grubbing cunts) if there are 2 clubs interested in buying, the player will be sold by the selling club to the highest bidder. End of, no?

I’ve actually seen mudflaps play in the flesh as it were. He was in the Ukraine team that lost to Wales in Cardiff (as was Zinch). Not very scientific scouting but he and Yarmolenko were really ordinary, up against players like Rodon and Connor Roberts. Zinch, on the other hand, was their best player.

I think the absolute need to strengthen has diminished slightly but the club does need insurance against more injuries. Milinkovic and Thuram would be nice. But there’s a risk with Milinkovic of a Balkans style proxy war with a certain Mr Xhaka. Alternatively, go and spunk a load of it on Gnabry

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2023/jan/15/spurs-and-contes-lack-of-fervour-thrown-into-stark-relief-by-arsenal

If you’re in search of more post NLD entertainment, read this piece about Spurs and their woes. It’s hard to disagree with any if it.

The other thing about mudflaps is the message it must send to existing Chelsea players. Pulisic, Cheek, Mount, Ziyech and even youngsters like Hall and our very own Hutchinson. It must be hugely demotivating for them and Potter must be thinking, how the fuck do I get out of here? Too early yet but that ‘pride of London’ tag might be coming north of the river again.

Fair enough Kilroy & Amberish I don’t disagree with your sentiments. You’re making my point for me, though. It took Chav’s 3 hours to hijack our deal. Others will follow if we don’t stand our ground, also. How m any players do we want to lose. It’s 2 now in 2 windows.

How long were we at the table is my point? Pure waste of time if no one else is further in negotiations. I included Auba’s debacle when no other club we’re interested and Auba was person non grata at Dortmond.

What did we do? We dropped our pants for all their demands. Then gave him a ridiculous new contract.

That’s how we roll. How is giving Mudryk what he wanted at the get-go different to how we negotiated with Auba?

So, if Mudryk was the guy, then pay up and if that isn’t good enough enough, then move on. Done in one day.

Sorry guys, for me, winning the PL is worth taking calculated risks and if not, then don’t waste precious TW time. Our need is yesterday for a quality 6/8 and a versatile front player comfortable playing across our attacking line.

As for what other Gooners think? I really don’t care if their views are different to mine. I care about winning and stopping the nearly 20 year old banter of not winning top honours.

Letting Mudryk deal slide from under us says we’ll fold every time.

Give in to ransom? It tells other clubs to go forth and fornicate, we get our man and hopefully the league or CL.

I’m assuming you both want to win the league, so let’s revisit our POVs when the final whistle has been blown on this season.

I don’t care how much money KSE spends, as long as they match our expectations matched by our history.

My last caveat is for people my age (68) 19 years without a PL win and still no CL needs to be rectified sooner than later. You both have far more time in your lives.

Shame we haven’t got the £150+m Arteta has spunked for us in player assets for us and the club were enablers.

So, yes we should have gone toe to toe with the Chavs as KSE is by far the richer owner and let out the, “Don’t fuck with us” for all to see.

Interesting take K’Phobe. Junior rates the player highly, but I’ve only seen his highlights YT reel. From your perspective we shouldn’t have been even looking at Mudryk anywhere near that price, especially if he’s not a starter. We should have thrown a cheeky bid and moved on.

My point here is we just don’t know how to get our targets over the line other than Ode who we had for 6 months first. It was a no brainer for both parties. Clearly, Arteta doesn’t have pull with players. 3 targets have gone elsewhere.

My wife deals with billionaires on a daily basis for our company and looks at our TW dealings as being risible. When I told her about us losing Mudryk and Ryan looking forlorn last night, she said why would we expect any different outcome with Arsenal?

Junior and I looked at each other and had no push back. Says it all really.

K’Phone I’d buy Mitoma to play him next to Partey and relegate Xhaka to the bench. If the Balkan is far better than Xhaka, Xhaka he has to accept Arsenal is not a home for wayward boys any more. He can always ask for a transfer. 🙂

Kids got an engine, great positioning and full of assists and goals. Imagine him, Martinelli and Saka. Junior could be rotated more easily and Mitoma covers both attack and CM for us. Watch his game against L’pool. Kid’s got a good footballing brain and always switched on. Deservi looks to be a very good manager kicking on from Potter.

K’Phobe*

Sadly, PL clubs are Billionaires playthings these days where any thought of financial prudence is a thing of the past. It’s all about dick swinging in today’s PL football, which seems too much for the Glaziers and Fenway who will make way for more multi billionaires to put their dicks in the PL ring.

Good stuff there Tony. It’s right to continue yo root out weaknesses even though we’re top. That old drunken bastard Ferguson never took his foot off of football’s throat during manure’s heyday did he?

Almunia – that meters final was probably just what snooker needed right now. I saw little if it but I reckon it was tight and edgy right to the final frame. I agree with what you said about Trump – he seems to have turned into an adult and a professional at the right time. His and Williams’s comments about each other after the game represented sporting play at its finest (unlike what that oik Bingham said after bearing Murphy). A thoroughly wholesome outcome.

That Grimsdale kicking thing was laughable. I think attention should be more focused on Richarlison who’s a real enigma. Manure next!

Only way I know how to be K’phobe.

Complacency kills by stifling the life out of everything in the end. Look at Liverpool. Even Pep is realising he needs new toys to keep his edge. Players get complacent and they grow comfy at their clubs, it’s why managers should merit advancement or move after 3 years in any business.

KSE and the suits were complacent in keeping the stats quo in the Wenger CL days. So the question is will they go back to Wenger days; happy with CL money and self sustainability or will they back the incumbent manager financially to keep replenishing the new toys room in order to keep mounting serious challenges?

Football is fast becoming a sport of kings as technology advances and now countries buy clubs who will start outbidding the billionaires.

Where does it end?

status*

For me our recruitment has to be more astute, if there is trouble brewing with target one, start on target two etc. Last Jan TW we should have gotten Bruno G instead of Newcastle, that is on the not so dynamic duo but you can only deal with what is in front of you unless you are a once in a lifetime generational sporting director and manager with connections.
To the credit of the three stooges, Ode is developing into a first class player and I had my doubts, but seeing this season his ball control in tight spaces is a sight to behold. Protection for him is vital.
Whether Mudflaps would develop into a player like Ode is a BIG if. Besides talent it requires a manager with vision and intuition, it requires support players that are elite level, it requires a team spirit that oozes confidence and self believe, it requires a club that will play elite European football next season. We have some of that Chelsea a.t.m. doesn’t and they may very well ruin Micky Mudflaps. Todd Chump Boehly needed to throw some raw meat to the angry supporters, that is how I interpret that drama and looking at Mudflap’s images from yesterday, he looks more like a Chelsea hostage then a happy bunny.

After listening to the Athletic podcast by Mark Chapman, David Ornstein and others it became clear to me what happened in the Mudryk saga and that this may very well become a case study for 21st century transfers in the years to com. Arsenal does bear some blame and responsibility because it looks like that they were taken by surprise.

Here is my deduction. With the Ukrainian war FIFA decided that the contracts of all foreign players would be suspended until June 30th 2023. Shakthar and 8 other Russian clubs took FIFA to court and lost a few days ago their appealed case in the Court of Arbitration (CAS). Shakhtar was suing for 50mill that they lost in player sales and only had Mudryk as the only valuable asset.

In the summer TW Mudryk was offered for 20 million and two clubs thought they had an agreement, but it was not to be. In 6 months his valuation by Shakhtar went up to 100mill. They were under financial difficulties and having lost their appeal they needed the money fast to cover costs. Even though Arsenal were willing to match Chelsea’s fee, they believed that Mudryk was always going to them and therefore took their time to get the finances together. Chelsea on the other hand were quick and had the whole finances as well as contract signing done in a few hours on Saturday.

So, bottom line Chelsea beat Arsenal to the signing because they had their finances lined up and ready, Arsenal did not. AFC had put all their eggs into this one basket and it is very disappointing for the supporters. However taking into consideration the invested targets that they missed out on like Vlah, Martinez and Raphinia, with the exception of Raphinia, they got somebody else that actually improved their project far better. Jesus and Zinchenco to just name two that improved the team beyond what the club had imagined.

For me the way forward is use the remaining time in the window to either get someone new in, recall someone who is out on loan or promote a player from within. Then in the summer get the players you are scouting now for a better price that is more reasonable and start building for the next season. It is a repeat of the last Jan TW, but we are in a better position now and circumstances are not as dire.

It’s very simple, this organization still operates under the same antiquated business practices that were established once Dein had left the room and Wenger was left to his own devices…it’s not difficult to recruit when your willing to pay over the number and your competing against no one of consequence, like with White, Ramsdale, Tomi, Vieira, amonst others, whereas things get infinitely more complicated when there are competing suitors and the other club in question wants to play hardball, which is when you really earn your management stripes…during MA’s tenure, we’ve been piss-poor when it comes to these latter scenarios, not to mention our rather horrific asset management record, which makes it all the more important that our management team gets their collective heads out of their asses and do something that will best ensure our success THIS season…no logical management evaluation metrics would ever suggest that we should be competing for anything of consequence, yet we are…as such, we can’t look this MF’ing gift horse in the mouth, as there’s no guarantees that the circumstances won’t change drastically by next season and we could find ourselves on the outside looking in…that said, if we can find a way to take proper advantage of our very fortuitous situation and win the day, the momentum and the resulting profits could set us up for the foreseeable future…it’s clear that there are a lot of blue chip players who aren’t buying into the Artetaball narrative, but that will matter exceedingly less if we find a way to capture a title this season, as that will make us an incredibly atractive option come the summer TW

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen some positive improvements this season, I’m just not sure if that’s a byproduct of our manager’s efforts or it’s more indicative of the maturation process positively impacting the play of a few key individuals, combined with the fact we’ve faced some rather toothless opponents this year, for whatever reason…firstly, I’m definitely coming around on Ode, as he’s more influential against better opponents than in the past and he just might be finally finding his shooting boots…I’m likewise incredibly hopeful that maybe Partey has emerged from his injury funk(knock on wood), as he’s a pertinent piece of the puzzle…I even think that White has been rather effective at RB, even though I wouldn’t have purchased him in the first place (at least not at that inflated price)…furthermore, I’m chuffed that we’ve delivered far more consistant performances week-in and week-out, minus a few blips, which undoubtedly bodes well for the immediate future, especially if we can stay the course until reinforcements arrive and/or Jesus returns to the pitch…so it’s certainly not all gloom and doom for me, it’s just that this largely dysfunctional organization has found a way to disappoint so often that I refuse to let my guard down until something real and tangible actually occurs…I certainly don’t think that’s unreasonable…Cheers

“so it’s certainly not all gloom and doom for me, it’s just that this largely dysfunctional organization has found a way to disappoint so often that I refuse to let my guard down until something real and tangible actually occurs…I certainly don’t think that’s unreasonable”

My sentiments entirely TRVL.

How many weeks has it been since Junior was injured?

When City and others are enjoying their downturns, now is the time to take advantage and win the league at whatever the cost. Do this and our summer TW should see us get any target we can afford because Arteta will have validated his managerial kudos. Or will he?

Kilroy, thanks for the inside news on Mudryk. I wasn’t being blasé in my reply. TRVL explains in better detail regarding past TWs going back nearly 20 years.

Why not turn up with a blank bank guarantee an appointed bank’s lawyer can fill in the amount and authorize. In today’s tech all can be done within the blink of an eye once the details are finalized.

Boely has set the precedent for buying a player. It’s how it should be done in my book. Just pissed KSE and the sleepy suits we’re caught being complacent.

A big response from us would be appropriate now, such as buying Leao or similar level. Making a marque signing will be a good way to flip the bird at the Chavs and others and instill more fear in our coming opponents.

If I were to sum up our ‘Suits TWs’ in 2 words: Entitled Indecision would fit.

For Edu & Arteta Squad Mismanagement sums up our last season’s result.

We were partly proactive with Junior and Zinch, so we need to be fully proactive this time, in this TW.

14 days and counting.

I’m sorry guys for doing this, but I am running a vote for who should win in City v Spu*s.

https://twitter.com/LondonIsRedCom/status/1615295869179531264?t=oVXWBRg_eZr66pnyLu1cKA&s=19

15% says City should win because they hate to see Spu*s winning.

85% are okay for the sacrifice for the greater purpose.

What about you?

Nowt to be sorry about Ambarish.

Spuds win by a few goals to take into account Haarland’s goals. I want to see Pep’s face.

It’s such a thin line, you are saying you would be happy seeing Spuds win.

M just kidding 😂

Hi Ambarish

It’s rare for me to say this but I’m placing myself in the majority hoping for our shit-stinking neighbours to beat the oil kleptocrats. For the following reasons…

– city are greater competition
– spurs are irredeemably shit and on a terminally downwards curve – they’re winning fuck all this year including the 4th place trophy. 1961 – there can’t be many left alive who witnessed their last title.
-if City keep dropping points and feel we’re getting away from them, they’ll sacrifice the PL for the ECL
-if spurs win, it’ll be a bittersweet experience for their fans knowing that they’re helping us.
– spurs are useful idiots. They can do us two massive favours in one week.
– a spurs win in convincing and controversial circumstances will get into the heads of City players before we meet them.

Don’t get me wrong. I loathe Tottenham but they have their uses.

Just been reminded of those nasty pink jerkins that the players ran out wearing on Sunday. A fucking abomination. Let’s hope we never see them again. They ran the risk of being arrested by the style police before kick off.

I think it’s more important, at this particular juncture, that City get a result so as to keep the requisite amount of pressure on our management team to pull a rabbit out of our TW hat…of course, I hope they struggle to secure points once the window is closed and the push for the title kicks into high gear…Cheers Tony for your follow-up to my earlier soliloquy

Sorry for going back to the Mudryk saga but it keeps on getting headlines because it is the most unusual transfer and the more details emerge the worst Arsenal look and the more the incompetence in doing business in the mid season TW becomes evident. From the Athletic “Why Mykhailo Mudryk joined Chelsea not Arsenal – by Shakhtar’s CEO”

• The two London clubs offered the same amount for Mudryk, but the add-ons built into Chelsea’s bid were more “achievable and realistic”

• Chelsea co-owner Behdad Eghbali proposed a future friendly against Shakhtar in Donetsk.

• Overall, the total figures were the same. The fixed part, variable part, bonuses. But if you look inside the fixed part and bonuses, it was completely different. Different time (schedule) of the payments, different kinds of bonuses. Yes, we can talk about bonuses, but Chelsea’s bonuses would be somehow achievable and realistic.

• When Arsenal proposed the final offer of €70million plus €30million (in add-ons), we sat down and started to talk internally about how it will be fulfilled in terms of the payments, the fixed part and the bonus issues. We realised we will not close this deal (with Arsenal).

After putting all the eggs in the Mudryk basket having monitored him for a long time, Arteta really wanting him, it becomes clear Edu wanted to find ways for not paying Shakhtar what they were asking for. Amateurish and deservedly he is going to Chelsea. It had nothing to do with Mudryk getting a larger salary it was down to AFC shaving off a pittance on an outlay of €100million, that to me is not the behavior of execs at one of the biggest clubs in Europe.

I have to change my thinking on this and how it will be effecting future deals. Arsenal will now have the stigma of being stingy, cheap and wanting to squeeze every penny out of a deal, while Chelsea, God forbid the next phrase, seems to be reasonable and accommodating. WTF is wrong with the 3 stooges.

there appears to be some chatter regarding both Vlahovic and Diaby today, in light of us missing out on Mudryk, for better or worse, of which I have some mixed feelings…personally if we’re willing to shell out 90+M for a player I would opt for Nkunku over either of these players, as I believe that what he has on offer could take this project to the next level…he’s more positionally versatile than the other two in question and he’s the kind of set piece specialist that we could undoubtedly use…I certainly have nothing against Diaby, as he’s a highly skilled forward, who has considerable pace and an eye for goal, but I still believe he’s a level below Nkunku…of course, he might be a much more logical mid-season target due to Bayern’s current position in the table, versus that of Leipzig, but I very much doubt either club could ignore a sizeable offer…as for Vlahovic, I like his skillset, but I don’t know how this would play out once Jesus returns, unless GJ is willing to take on a completely different positional role…with this in mind, I wouldn’t be opposed to Vlahovic leading the line with Jesus assuming the more advanced role that Xhaka has occupied for the better part of this season…not to mention, GJ could also be deployed out wide when necessary, which would give us some much-needed delth behind both Marts and Saka…fact remains, if we’re going to commit such a vast sum we simply must get it right, as we can’t afford another Pepe scenario, let alone being left at the altar again

We have egg on our face and need to show we are capable of doing business in the TW. Therefore get something done that looks like a statement signing after Edu had his pants pulled down and now diehard supporters rubbish the Mudryk deal and say he wasn’t worth it. That is bullshit, because lengthy discussions, 3 offers plus matching Chelsea’s money offer shows they wanted him. So, show that you are worthy of negotiating for one of the biggest club in Europe.

Killroy—we’ve been playing the “stingy” card for almost two decades now, so that comes as no surprise…for me it’s all about MA’s unyielding NEED to totally monopolize all things player selection related, as he wasn’t willing to strike a deal that would make it almost impossible for Mudryk to not be a regular starter…in fact, it appears he wanted to be able to pay 70+M for a player he may or may not give adequate playing time to, thus making it inifinitely cheaper for us, if things went sideways…I’m assuming this was an amateur hour overcorrection on his part due to his own ill-advised Willian and Auba deals…regardless, not a good look for us once again, as this will raise concerns for both potential future transfer partners and any player looking for assurances, which is commonplace nowadays for any blue chip prospect or top quality player