A boring couple of weeks since I have nothing to watch in internationals, so what do I do? I open a discussion about the changing scenarios of football transfers. Real Madrid are pursuing Trent from 2 years now and they would finally get him in a couple of months for FREE! There was a year long tussle between the PSG management and Kylian Mbappe and the club had to let go of the best player on the planet for a fee of ZERO EUROS. Erling Haaland transfer to Man City from Dortmund was a fair one but he recently extended his stay at Manchester TILL 2034! On a salary of half a million GBP per week. That’s bonkers but if you don’t tie up your best player, you will eventually end up in the situation which PSG suffered with Mbappe and Liverpool are going to suffer with Mo Salah.
Lets wrap our head around this a bit with an Arsenal player. William Saliba’s contract is set to expire in 2027, 2 years and some change. Real Madrid has been interested in him from some time. A club as big as Madrid has a great pull and if you ask anyone, they would feel privileged to play for them. But, that shouldn’t be on the cost of the club that invested time, money, games, medicos in your development. Saliba can ask the club to pay an exorbitant wages, which we will do eventually or he can run his contract down, and the club who should, in a fair deal pay 100m to us, will wait and give a part of that 100m to the Saliba. That’s win-win for the destination club and the player. The club in loss would be Arsenal. That’s exactly what is happening with Liverpool.
Ok, they mismanaged the contractual situation but I don’t believe that Liverpool didn’t sit on a table with either of Trent or Salah and I would also not believe that they didn’t offer a very good contract. Players know they can force the club to pay them huge sum per week or they walk out free and earn even more somewhere else.
Mbappe had set the trend. PSG is a very powerful club with no need of any money. PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi tried his best to sell him, keep him, play him, bench him but he didn’t succeed. Mbappe knew he is too big to be benched, and he ran his contract down on purpose. I am not saying he might have bumped into Madrid’s president on a morning walk and might have a word or two.
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How to deal with this?
I have no fucking clue! Chelsea’s attempt to tie up players on a 10 years deal looks the best option (although they are doing it for a different reason) but it comes with another problem – a player who is not performing, or is injured, or don’t want to move will visit the club every Friday for his check and play Fortnite for the rest of the week. Remember Mesut Ozil?
I was against these 10 years deal but if Haaland played for Arsenal and after the Mbappe incident, I would have cheered that deal. There’s no other way, not one I can think of.
You got any? Comment section is open for discussion.
“I blame MA with lack of rotation for the hamstring injuries and now without big Gabs we will suffer as Ancelotti can attack the below level Kiwior.”
Tony
There’s an article in the Daily Telegraph talking about the increase in hamstring injuries that then says there aren’t more they’re just more serious and whilst using Gabriel and Arsenal as the springboard for the article it says all clubs are suffering.
Its a badly written puff piece that tries to absolve Arteta and blame more fixtures and longer travel with a side note of “maybe managers could rotate more” – there’s some real geniuses amongst football writers!
We’ve all commented for some time on Arteta running his favourites into the ground and he’s done it again. Mbappe is going to have a field day.
Pool starting strong against Moyesyball Toffees.
Can’t see an upset with Pool In this mood.
How the fuck was that not given a red – VAR review and get it wrong.
Nasty tackle that could have seen a broken leg.
Junior and I said same Marc. Defender knew what he was doing.
Everton turned up after that challenge making it a good derby. We get an extra days rest before we play Everton away.
On this showing they will be tough to break down.
On today’s showing, Saturday’s game isn’t an easy one compared to the Fulham game who were dire, but also could have left with a draw.
If we play as poor as we did last night we could easily drop points.
Pool needs 13 points to claim the trophy, I believe.
With MA go for broke in the CL? We’ll know Saturday at 12:30.
Tony—I’m of a similar mind when it comes to our weekend fixture, if for no other reason than the fact that Everton will be on their home pitch…they’ll definitely do their fairshare of sitting deep and defending, but surely they can’t be as anemic as Fulham was for the first 65+ minutees…they actually had a 0.03 xG at half
even so, we should still take all 3, as Everton aren’t a serious threat when it comes to countering with pace and numbers, which is our biggest vulnerability, especially with Skelly tucking inside/getting further forward and our present injury concerns…if Timber and Gabs are unavailable, it will be interesting to see what our back 4 looks like on Saturday knowing that we face Real 3 days later…after all, it’s not even a given that White or Cala will be fit enough to play this week or next
not sure how much blameworthiness I would attribute to MA when it comes to many of our injury concerns this particular season, as they happened on a break or just following, like with Ode, Gabs, Cala, Havertz and Timber or to those players who have had extensive injury histories throughout most of their respective careers, like Jesus and Tomi…that said, I do think he’s at least partially culpable for Saka’s hammy, due to his problematic rotational practices, and I likewise detest the fact that he’s trying to use this situation as an excuse for underperforming even though he did nothing to remedy that situation in the last window…I don’t think I’ve ever seen a “big” club standpat in January when the stakes were so high and reinforcements were clearly required
on top of that, I would have a training room/medical staff rethink come season’s end…in the past we’ve been exceedingly slow on the draw when it comes to these types of personnel rejigs and it’s cost us dearly…I don’t even give a flying fuck if the supposed analytics suggests otherwise…maybe Berta will oversee this while MA’s making a mockery of another transfer window…Cheers bud
I have previously been critical of martinelli as he was a player who ran down blind alleys and rarely looked like he would beat the right back using skill and trickery, but this has changed and my belief is it is all down to Martinelli gaining confidence using his weaker foot.
Previously , it was easy for the full back to stop martinelli just by showing him down his left side, meaning he would have to stop and try and cut back on to his right which normally resulted in the ball being rolled backwards or sideways.
Watching Martinelli now is like watching a completely different player as he has obviously been working on his game.
Now, when running with the ball and faced with a full back he constantly moves the ball from left foot to right rolling his foot over the ball and will relish the option of going on the outside and crossing with his left , something he was very reluctant to do previously.
The return of Saka and a transformed martinelli will mean Nwaneri dropping to the bench for the champions league tie.
The injury to Gabriel has come at a very bad time what with calafiori, white and tomiyasu out.
Hopefully Timber will be OK and White’s niggle clears up otherwise the unreliable kiwior will be brought in to cover for Gabriel.
Also the last thing we need is Arteta playing Partey at right back as Partey has been superb in the centre of midfield , surely someone like zinchenko could play at right back if need be.
A midfield of partey , Rice and Odegaard is strong and they know each other’s game and play well together. Merino up top is not ideal but in fairness he has been very clinical when presented with a chance.
But for the Gabriel injury I would have given us a 50/50 chance against Madrid , now it all depends on the fitness of timber and white..
Unfortunately we have Everton at the weekend and Moyes will undoubtedly tell his players to kick shit out of the Arsenal players and who can blame him…..personally I don’t think we will be up for a physical battle with Madrid 3 days away.
I always enjoy a Chelsea – Spuds game. TTOC – two teams of cunts, usually kicking lumps out of each other for the entertainment of Gooners.
A blues win or high scoring red card riddled draw with masses of injuries will be fine.
Cheer up Postecoglu
Oh what can it mean?
To a fat Aussie bastard
And a shit football team.
To the tune of Daydream Believer
Kroenke
It is a very good version.
Chelsea hit the post in the first minute!
There’s an article in the Daily Telegraph…
Marc – I’m astonished that you read the Daily Telegraph.
Are they still showing debutantes with their knockers out on page 3? No wonder you’re the only person left in the UK who thinks Starmer is a dangerous left wing agitator.
Everton condemn death threats towards Tarkowski – https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c4gr3ryxdpko
Calm down, calm down, calm down…wankers.
Kroenke
The DT has gone seriously left wing lately its like reading Socialist Worker.
I take back my previous comments involving MA’s general lack of culpability regarding our injury-plagued season…following another season-ending hammy injury it’s clear that something is amiss and as the overseer of all things football-related he must shoulder the bulk of the blame…I’ve never even heard of one squad having so many hamstring-related surgeries in a given season…could it be yet another Arteta-inspired karmic moment?
TRVL
It’s Artetas lack of rotation that causes the problem.
Every season we end up having players injured in the run in and being hurt by it.
The opinion of Arteta it seems is Universal. A contact in Cape Town hoped for the best when he was appointed but soon changed her mind. She has three sons – the elder two stick by her and are firm AFC supporters but her 7 year old now wears a Liverpool kit supplied by his grandfather.
Marc—I totally get the whole rotational gig, but I think there’s something else at play and if we don’t rectify that situation we could find ourselves in the same predicament next season…not to mention, all these injuries on the defensive side of the ball could negatively impact our off-season pursuits…this fucker buys defenders like their going out of style even when it’s the least of our concerns, so just think about what he might do under these circumstances…that’s not even taking into account that Tierney, Zinchenko, Kiwior and Tomi could all be shipped this summer…plus who the fuck knows what might transpire with both Gabs(Saudi) and Saliba(Real)…all I can say is that Berta better have some deals sewn up before season’s end, considering the snail’s pace nature of our negotiating team, or we could easily find ourselves relying upon several Sterling-esque late window fuckwads once again…Cheers
unfortunately today’s match is on much too early for my liking, so I’ll have to watch it on tape delay…I’ll be sure to checkout all the in-game banter once I’m caught up…not sure what our lineup will look like, but we should get the required result regardless…Cheers to one and all
Morning all
Been crazy busy and still am looking for a new home to buy and settle in with Junior.
Got my priorities right, though, with a TV and sound system for the football being my first priority.
TRVL/Marc
I think it’s a combination of lack of rotation as well as MA’s tactics. The injured players are relied upon too much with us playing high lines, so having to turn and sprint full speed to recover when facing counters or playing through one sided attacks – our right side.
Then add internationals and our guys get no rest. Something has to give. I don’t see our medicos staff being that poor to miss signs of strains and muscle fatigue, but I do see MA stubbornly not listening to his medical team.
Remember Partey being pushed back on by MA while trying to go off injured. Then the Timber fiascos?
I see more of the same as players are made to play multiple positions. I felt Havertz was just a matter of time with his dropping deep to defend and then supposedly being our 9.
They have been Artetasrised and more will suffer the same fate unless Arteta buys quality as in players he trusts: now he just runs his pets into the ground.
Our best attacking selection for RM is, as I said last week: Marts 9, Ethan false 9, Tross and Saka on the wings and Merino at 8.
Partey may have to be RB if Timber is injured with his knee, so Rice has to be a disciplined 6.
Or play Saliba, Rice and Kiwior/Skelly as a back three and swamp midfield with Partey and Skelly as our fullbacks tucked into our midfield, who can quickly form a back five as well as five across midfield denying space for counters through midfield.
Keep a deeper back line to stop balls over the top that always cause us problems with speedsters running onto the opposition’s route 1 football.
MA has options but is tactically myopic. It’s why he has to go.
We can only hope Berta is really MA’s boss or we will just see a repeat of the last nearly 6 years from the “nearly man” as Souness called MA.
Everton is going to be a very tough away game where we could easily drop 2 points at least. Their derby game midweek, they were unlucky not to take a point, as they did in their home game against Pool.
Not an easy game at all unless MA changes things tactically.
OMG the line up is a joke. Everton will be rubbing their hands with the feeling they can get something from this.
I’m actually pleased with the lineup – Arteta’s going all in on the CL and Real are going to tear him a new arsehole.
Season over before Easter.
Marc
He’s his usual clueless. A bad result today does nothing for confidence for the RM game.
So this is our rotation from our £billion team.
Everton not parking the bus shows what the think of our line up. End to end but no real threat from us with us blocking more shots in our area.
Going to be a long game for us.
Good counter from us with Tross being clinical. Poor defending by Everton.
Lols like a game with more goals in it.
Poor by Rice where he went for power when an instinctive striker would place the ball in the net.
OK someone please tell me why rather than pick Sterling who’s just a waste of space you wouldn’t put Tierney (my preference) or Zinchenko at LB and Skelly in front of them if you wanted to rest / rotate the other forward / wide options?
That’s as much a mystery as bringing Saka and Marts for the 2nd half.
Saka surely just needs about 20 minutes to have more game time.
Now Everton have a pen.
Raya sent the wrong way for 1:1
It’s anyone’s game which we shouldn’t be saying a club 14th in the PL.