Yes, I deserved the boos for being absent for couple of weeks but in my defence I was on a much needed, short break to refresh myself for the upcoming season. I hope there’s some relief to the maddening heat waves London suffered, though we, humans, continue to bury our head in sand like an ostrich and keep rejecting the idea of global warming and climate change.
There hasn’t been much change to my last weekly round up. Zinchenko deal was completed, we beat Everton 4-0 in a friendly and lost 2-1 to Brentford with a second string of players. Gabriel Jesus looks to be a world class striker and EN#14 has scored in every single pre-season game. We got to see some of Marquinhos and Nelson, Maitland Niles failed to impress again in the midfield but we have improved our team from last season.
We have a competition to Tierney, our CF position is sorted, Saliba is back in the fold and we have enough coverage upfront to survive both Premier League and Europa.
As a supporter, I worry about that midfield. Partey was injury-plagued, that too when we were only playing once a week. He had been immense whenever he was fit and played, but we can’t rely on ‘hope’ that he remains fit. A combination of Xhaka and Elneny hasn’t looked promising ever, Sambi Lokonga is still an understudy and Arteta didn’t use the last season to test Patino, Azeez!
We need a cover for Partey and an upgrade on Xhaka. There’s a reason we haven’t made to top 4 since Xhaka has played. Still got over a month for transfers but it would have been great if we wrapped it up sooner, and integrated our signings like we did with Jesus and Zinchenko. It would be bonkers if Edu and Arteta decides to go another season without any upgrade/cover.
Back to the players we have whom are trying to sell. Lucas Torreira looked like a promising player when he arrived and is very much capable to provide a cover as a DM. He is one of those players whom you don’t like to play against. However, he found it difficult to adapt to weather / place (really?) and whose fault is that? As a professional player, you can’t run away from a contract you signed because it rains a bit more or you don’t like food. And if you do, you remain classy about it. Posting pictures on Instagram about your time on loan with other clubs when you are on a pre-season tour with your parent club is a poor behaviour. It’s a difficult situation for Edu to handle and we will see what happens, but this one is on the player.
Same with Bellerin, who is trying to move to Real Betis, who don’t want to pay any freaking money, by rejecting all other offers. These Ozil-esque situations are cropping up and we need to send a message to the players. I think we are addressing that by getting players who looks excited to play for Arsenal but then Bellerin was superstar for us, loved by every man on the street. I would even go ahead and say don’t tear up the contract. Bring him in office, tell him he is not going anywhere and would train with U23 for the next 12 months. Take the L, we had wasted a lot of money in recent years but this would be for a good cause.
Onto the positive news, Nuno Tavares is going on loan to Olympique Marseille, there is no option to buy which the club was asking for. I see a player in Nuno and he needed regular game time to improve on his defensive attributes. Arthur Okonkwo is set to join Crewe for a season-long loan, he is promising goal keeper and I’m sure this loan will be useful for his growth.
There would other loan moves / sell out in coming days.
Right, that’s all for today. I am as excited as you for the new season, I have ordered my black kit, the classiest till date and expecting it to arrive before next Friday.
Onwards and upwards. #COYG
Ambarish
Hiya mate. No boos from this corner of the world. You deserved a break after all that writing and collective anguish we suffered last season. I’m still not sure this one will be any better (whereas I’m genuinely excited about Cardiff). Almunia’s back too. It’s looking good.
You’ve gone for the entire black kit? I think LiR needs a photo of the commander-in-chief in his full splendour. I’m talking kit, boots, shin pads, gloves and matching snood when the winter kicks in. Oh, and kneeling over a ball and a home made replica of the PL trophy.
Relatives always used to buy me Arsenal paraphernalia until I was nearly 40 (fuck knows what they thought of me!). I have a blue shirt with an O2 logo but they knew I mainly went for the home ones and only yellow away ones. Black, pink, mint green, white, even that silly maroon one when we left THOF were all unmentionables.
Good analysis on Torreira and other transfer fiascos. I’m going to do a rare thing and think about what you’ve written instead of diving in.
A new piece from Ambarish and the return of Almunia. Perfect timing and now it really feels like the season is about to kick off.
Hi Kroenkephobe
Oh, it’s not the whole kit but just the tshirt. Too old for complete kit 🙂
It was easy enough there in UK to get one, go to Sportsdirect and pay. Here I have ordered from Adidas online store since it wasn’t available on Amazon or local Amazon competition, and it takes ages to come. Hopefully in a week or I will have to use my last season’s top.
It’s always good to see you all here. LiR is back, hopefully Almunia is feeling better he has been missed.
Ambarish
Nice piece and is pretty much on the nail.
Marc
Nice to see you, too.
What’s your expectations for the season? I am hoping a finish in top 3 or Europa league win. Anything less than that, and some people should lose their job.
And I am being very decent in my hope here.
Ambarish
Expectations for the season – not sure we’ve been so poor now for a couple of seasons I don’t know what to expect. Our signings have on paper been good but Jesus wasn’t on anyone’s radar as to the type of striker Artetalackofball needed to lead the line and we still have the Xhaka question.
What I do know is the Spud’s will get more points than last season where they played half of it under a manager completely unsuited to them and ManU should not be underestimated – Ten Haag is a good manager despite what agenda the fanboys are pushing. The biggest surprise to me is Chelsea, I really thought the new owners would look to make a statement and get the fans onside but their transfers have been pretty underwhelming so far.
Beyond that City to win the league – Haaland is going to be a beast and the World Cup will cause a lot of issues with injuries etc,
My prediction, and I know I’m going to be sent to Arteta’s magical kingdom of Arslikhan for this, is third behind city and the bindips, and a knock out cup final. Preferably the EL. Bigger, better, costlier squad with more proven winners. Plus more experience gained by the dynamic Hale Enders.
We should be top 2 or 3 by the end of September. If they do it cool. I’ll still be AMG. If they don’t the Kroenkes will surely fuck him off and PV will get the red carpet rolled out along the Holloway Road.
Hey Mb,
Hope you are reenergized for the struggles ahead. A really hard season to call for many reasons. Lots of teams, particularly Chelsea,utd, Newcastle, Leicester and West Ham could have significantly better or worse seasons than last year. Don’t expect City and Pool to slip out of the top two. Think Spurs will finish with a similar points total providing the levy/ conte relationship doesn’t break down (and presuming bayern don’t tempt Kane away).
I can’t work out what’s happening at Chelsea,I’d say they thought they would have strengthened beyond just Sterling particularly with Lukaku leaving and their defence disintegrating. I’d imagine a lot of action there soon. Likewise at utd. Expect one or two really big deals there soon.
From our pov I think we have a real chance to finish third. I think we should finish fourth or be considered to have failed. But in truth I’m going to sit on the fence until the window is closed as there are too many ifs and maybes for now.
But I’ll say this. I think Arteta will not get the most from this squad considering the huge potential he inherited combined with the unprecedented spend. He hasn’t shown the capacity to be versatile, creative or humble enough to be successful at this level. The torturously slow ‘improvements’ are coming at such a financial cost that they cannot in my eyes be deemed relevant. At a club our size,having been given the time and money that he had,only one question should now be relevant. By how many points will Arteta have closed the gap on the big two. If he comes fourth but we’re still 20+ points off the top two then in my eyes the ‘success’ is an illusion.After all that time and money he will have moved us no closer to the pinnacle of the English game.
The fact that this closing of the gap is not being discussed,the idea that top 4 after 3 years of failure and hundreds of millions of pounds being spent is STILL the only target shows that Arteta’s true success has come in the brainwashing of the fanbase and the lowering of expectations to such a level that we have forgotten why Wenger was ousted. Arsenal fans would not tolerate the idea that titles were beyond this great club and so we demanded,rightly,that Wenger leave. Now we’re preparing an open top parade for Arteta if he can get us ahead of Spurs in his fourth season. Incomprehensible.
“we’ve been so poor now for a couple of seasons I don’t know what to expect. ”
Tell that to an Arteta loyalist, and they will prove you how much we have progressed in last 2 season.
…still finished out of top 4.
KP
Pretty much agreed. Anything less than a top 3 finish or Europa win is a failure at this stage, considering Chelsea is in shambles, United is piss poor and Liverpool has sold on of the their gems.
Almunia
I really enjoyed reading those thoughts of yours. One thing that will test my patience to the limit is if this season proves to be a repetition of the last one, ie stop-start runs of wins and defeats, losing pathetically to the big teams and suffering that arm waving, sycophantic bullshitter on the sidelines as he continues to deliver turgid, goal free football that is everyone’s fault but his own.
In lieu of those objectives I set out yesterday, I’d equally take the sight of Tets queueing up at a job centre before the autumn is out.
Prayer mats out for the Bluebirds (and Latics) today.
Emirates cup in two and half hours against Sevilla. Should be a good game to watch before our season begins.
Shame Arsenal.com is charging for it 😐 I mean come on..
Ambarish
Try snooping around and you’re bound to find it for free. Until they were completely obliterated in the UK, hesgoal.com was a good site.
Bonne chance mon ami. If I tune in and have any luck, I’ll let you know.
Ambarish
“Shame Arsenal.com is charging for it 😐 I mean come on..”
I’ve just forked out over £1000 for a season ticket and still have to pay for the match!
The fan boys are talking big right now – how long before the excuses start?
“I’ve just forked out over £1000 for a season ticket and still have to pay for the match!”
We have let the corporates take over this beautiful game.
Starting XI: Ramsdale, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Partey, Xhaka, Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli, Jesus
Pretty much the starting XI we will see in our opening game.
Oh, and Odegaard has been announced as Team Captain few minutes back on the dot com.
I’m getting it on hesgoal – for free! Give it a try.
I might be asking too much but should that also be a red card? Not that it matters really given its a friendly.
I really can’t see £50 million when I watch Ben White play.
Can it get any better? Nope. Brazillian beauties for that third goal.
Energy, technique, menace…. It’s like being in 2006 with Doc Emmett Walsh and Marty McFly. I know, we’ll look like labs to the slaughter at Selburst but wtf.
Three – ‘kin ‘ell. I can feel a false dawn coning on.
And Saka with his second. Sevilla don’t know what’s going on with them lol
Ambarish
I know you’re looking forward to wearing that black shirt but you might have to keep your red one on as a good luck mascot, at least until we lose. They don’t look much like last year’s team at the moment so they? This preseason is unrecognisable from the last one.
Haha, red till we win the league ❤️
Saliba is a monster, looks better than the settled Gabriel.
Martinelli is unselfish. Poor lad deserved a goal for his efforts today.
5-0 to the Arsenal.
Sorry, 6-0.
Bellerin has gone full Billy the Fish with that mulletty barnet.
https://images.app.goo.gl/xCuSjjJJBgNcr9Br7
London is red
Cardiff is blue
Edinburgh is green
Great day. But Arteta out!
Kroenkephobe,
Great start for the bluebirds, addicks threw it away.
Hard to know what to make of the Seville game, looked brilliant at times,but friendlies can be deceptive. Saka and Jesus look like they’ll carry our hopes this season but Saliba and Partey look fabulous. It’s now or never!
I agree Almunia. There needs to be a noticeable uptick in results when the season starts proper. Seville were like a pub team but the first quarter of the game was impressive. Jesus does seem to have an Ian Wright-like instinct for knowing where to be when there’s chaos in the box. I think that’s almost innate, and the result of good coaching and intelligence. And much as I liked Laca the man and his mentoring role, I think the others will get more out of playing alongside GJ.
I’m delighted about Cardiff. Tough first game but they hung on. Pretty spiky game and the Bluebirds got stuck in so that augurs well too. Last time I was there (and it was a draw), I vowed I’d never set foot in the Majeski Stadium again. Awful, soulless bowl by a motorway with the shittest fans and the most banal atmosphere. But rules are made to be broken right?
You recovering now man?
Marc
Your comment earlier about White is spot on. I thought he was a weak link today. I’m expecting him to be shown up by Saliba to some extent this season. That’ll make the 50 million spunked on him look like a huge error, and confirm that Tets was wrong to loan Saliba to OM.
What were your thoughts on the Sevilla game?
I know he’s not designed to appeal my hetero sensibilities (!) but that Haaland is one hell of a motherfuckingly ugly bastard.
Starting to turn the corner I hope. Drugs(legal kind) starting to work. A few procedures to undergo but I’ll live!
Watching the community shield here,I am so jealous of city having Haaland. He may not have the speed or finesse of a Salah but I like my strikers strong and powerful like peak Shearer. Mbappe and Haaland are the dream. I’m fully aware the modern systems have left my tastes behind!
Kroenke
“What were your thoughts on the Sevilla game?”
It was a great result but from what I saw they were playing like it was a 30mph friendly and we came at them at 60mph. The real test will be next week against Palace, we won’t get the time on the ball and they won’t be as naïve as Sevilla were.
“but that Haaland is one hell of a motherfuckingly ugly bastard.”
If he gets better service than today he’ll beast the PL.
Almunia
Mate I thought you had a case of man flu or similar and was being a light weight – whatever it is get well soon and keep strong.
Black kit is decent and I’ll need to buy one before that pink one grows on me, it ain’t bad once I get past the pink issue.
I think we’ve just about got the team we want now. Arteta can’t have any complaints bar perhaps an extra bit of quality in midfield.
It’s on him now. I’ve never been convinced by him but maybe like a last minute scramble on valentine’s, throwing money at the problem might cover his lack of ability.
At least the start to the season is relatively easy.
No stress on having the break. Conserve energy for the cold winter months.
Hi Aitcho,
How’s it going? We certainly appear to have depth in some areas in the squad, but I’d suggest we’re still light up front and in the middle of midfield. Imagine if Eddie Unket and Jesus sustain injuries this winter and Flo has gone somewhere (hopefully Cardiff!) on loan. Or if TP gets crocked at the WC? I think we’re lulled into thinking this season will be like the last but if we progress in the EL and the FA Cup, I reckon we’ll need extra hands in these key positions because there could be north of an extra 15 games. Tielemans looks possible but we also ought to be having scouts looking out for a young but proven tall forward who can offer something either as a starter or off the bench. Sorry I don’t have any suggested names.
That’s another problem which this stupid fucking WC has presented, ie that no new talent has been showcased this summer. It affects all teams of course but Qatar will, among many other defects, screw the transfer market this season.
What colour shorts and socks are accomonying that pink shirt BTW? You’re a braver man than me Aitcho for even thinking about adding that shirt to your wardrobe! 😁And I used to wear that original bruised banana one back in the 90s!
Kroenke
If Partey gets crocked? You mean when he gets crocked!