The performance was meh and not only from our highly anticipated signing Victor G. The back line looked shaky, midfield didn’t control the game like we do, and the front 3 was so poor Mikel had to sub the striker and the LW in the 60th minute. Havertz was on the pitch in place of the Gyokeres and Madueke got his first game in Arsenal shirt.
There was nothing positive to take away from the game except those 3 sweet points and a clean sheet. Raya was superb and did some brilliant saves to keep us in the game. The United fans were furious for the goal they conceded, counting as a blatant foul and obstruction, but they ignored the same thing happening at the other end when Raya was surrounded but he made it to look like an easy one by punching the ball away comfortably.
I get it, the first game of the season, away from home at Old Trafford, it’s always going to be difficult. Plus, the new signings from them in Cunha and Mbuemo were ridiculously good – so good that they both contributed an equal amount of shots on target that we managed as a team, which made it worse for us. We lacked cohesiveness in the midfield and Zubimendi will take some time to deliver what Partey used too. Our captain was poor, Saka was not at his best, Martinelli had to be subbed, White wasn’t having a good day and Saliba looked shaky as well.
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News of the hour is that Kai Havertz has picked up a knee injury and it looks to be pretty bad. There’s no official club announcement yet Ornstein has reported it and he is usually right about Arsenal. He also said that we are now looking to address the Havertz’s unavailability by going back into the market. I don’t understand why we are after replacing a back up player but not my circus, not my monkey.
There’s another one of its kind development around Trossard. We have renewed his wages but not the contract. I don’t know who comes up with these kinds of ideas because we are talking about a player who we should have sold this summer to raise money. Now, it’s even more difficult to sell him because he earns more per week. It can mean two things though – either our LW reinforcement is over or we are going to sell Martinelli and didn’t want to have 3 new faces and the left wing. Still about 10 days to go, so we will know.
There’s another breaking news from some journos – Mikel was seen switching Saka and Madueke on the wings in training. I doubt he is going to play the best right winger in the world, out of his position. It could just be a tactic for more flexibility in the game where the wingers switch positions to create more chaos. Usually, Saka is surrounded by defenders and switching him to the LW can cause confusion to the opponents.
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Right, that’s all for today. We have a game coming up this Saturday and I will be back before then.
Tears to triumph as Eze nears Arsenal return – https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cn85d82q55zo
Fucking heartwarming story. Sorry Art but I’m a sucker for this kind of story. Elements of the Ian Wright and David Rocastle stories in his background.
Art – at least tell me you’ll eat humble pie if the kid is as brilliant as I think he’ll be.
Kroenke
AF has got himself stuck in a bit of a doom loop – that’s not a criticism I’m doing my first match since October tomorrow.
Always remember its darkest just before dawn. We’ve got some very highly overpaid dross on the wage bill but we’ve also got some good to very good players. The issue is getting past how good could they be with a real coach (Enrique would do wonders with some of our players) with how they perform under Captain Fuckwit – Martinelli being one of the biggest examples.
Raya, Gabriel, Saliba, Rice, Zubimendi, Saka are all top quality. Players like Ode & Martinelli would thrive under a quality coach. We’ve got a couple of unknown quantities in VG etc at the moment but they deserve the chance to prove themselves.
The Kroenke’s have given Arteta a huge amount of money to build a squad, given him more than enough time even the media are now saying its time to deliver.
When we start our first game of next season under a new manager it’ll be time to enjoy the fruits of the bullshit we’ve had to suffer under Arteta.
Marc
Real Madrid fans were coating Alonso in his first game at half time in the week.
Probably why they have won the European Cup 15 times.
Remind me , how many we have won?
And the last time we won the league?
We overrate our players badly.
Including Eze.
AF—if it were up to me, given the same budget, I would have prioritized quality over quantity and went for Isak and Wirtz, then I would have sold off a whole host of players to help finance a few quality depth pieces…shit we got a CB/RB and a backup DM for less than 30M…problem is we don’t have a manager who can coach kids up, so we constantly end up with players like WIllian, Sterling, Jesus, Zinchenko, Luiz, Jorginho etc…
there’s no way I would have pursued Zubi unless Rice was heading elsewhere…for 100M Rice should have been hellbent on doing whatever it took to become the best deep-lying pivot in world football, instead of leaning into his totally selfish and largely unrealisitic agenda…this was another short-sighted decision by a thirsty manager who desperately wanted someone of consequence on his transfer resume
I never would have purchased Merino…I think he has some in-the-box skills, but he’s a piss-poor defender, who can play nowhere besides the 8-hole…half the time when he was on the pitch with Rice he was required to assume the deeper role, which is an absolutely ludicrous notion (not to mention, it has hurt Ethan’s development)…personally I feel the Merino move was phase 1 of MA’s attempt to lure Zubi to the Emirates, which might have made some sense if we hadn’t paid 100+M to Rice the year prior…let’s not forget that Rice was widely recognized as the 2nd best DM in the fucking world at the time of his transfer…I likewise would have sold Havertz at the end of last season…maybe the juiced up version could have secured us a pretty penny
finally I would have sold Tross two summers ago and brought in a younger, more like-for-like winger to compete with Marts…fuck me, don’t we have a fucking scouting staff…instead of packing our roster with more experienced half-measures, who all require assurances, this plan would have opened up opportunities for our aspiring academy pieces, like Ethan and Dowman (maybe we would have avoided the mass exodus)…that’s how you manage your wage bill so that you have ample resources available when it comes time to buy world-class readymade pieces…mini rant over
Havertz should never have been purchased – full stop. We are stuck with him as nobody will contemplate paying his wage – not even the Saudi’s.
TRVL
I agree with that.
Always quality over quantity and then fill the gaps with young hungry players.
Need a quality lean , tight squad.
Not a bloated one of useless cack.
This moronic cunt buys shit players at stupid stupid prices on an industry scale.
He thinks that is his job description
And we know they are basically shit, beacuse its there are no takers for the cunts.
Lokonga?
Vieira?
Tierney?
Jesus?
And all the others
AF
You’re overreacting – I want Arteta gone more than anyone.
All fans think their players are better than they are just like they think that was definitely a penalty at one end and never one at the other.
We have some good players – some were a colossal waste of money but providing we bring in the right choice the new manager has some good foundations to work with.
Cunting off the current players won’t improve us cunting off the manager will.
What will be interesting is what power / influence will Berta have?
Norg
Havertz is probably the worst signing we’ve ever made.
Wow West Ham just scored a screamer – worth catching.
Poor keeping
West Ham in serious trouble they’ve conceded 6 goals in 120 minutes of football.
Chelsea does look very good, we have been expecting Arsenal, City and Liverpool for the title race but I guess they are also in the run.
Marc
Are you sure about Havertz being the worst signing?
There was another Chelsea player we signed few seasons back. 1 goal in 37 games.
No lads. I’ll die in a ditch saying this.
MESUT OZIL WAS, IS AND WILL BE THE WORST SIGNING EVER BY ARSENAL
come on you two, we’ve had far worst signings than Havertz and Ozil…now the latter might be the worst re-up ever, but at least he contributed something to the equation (before he didn’t)…as for Havertz, he was the worst luxury buy ever, as he clearly wasn’t a Xhaka replacement and no other team of any import would have ever brought him to lead the line…that said, from a pure shit signing standpoint there’s a mile long list of far worse candidates: Runnarson, Kallstrom, Cygan, Baptista (minus one Rice against Real night versus Pool), Silvestre, Chamakh, Vivas, Diawara, Santos, DeBuchy, Squillaci, Ryo, Sanogo, Park Chu-young, Jeffers, Clive fucking Allen, Mustafi, Pepe (fee related though), Richard Wright (own goal punch), Wellington Silva (work permit debacle), Denis Suarez, Lichtsteiner, Lokonga, Chambers, Sokartis, Pablo Mari, Sterling, Luiz, Fabio Vieira, Stepanovs (supposedly bought as part of a prank—not so funny after a 6-1 United thrashing)…enough said
Yeah sorry Vieira. I should have qualified my comment (although I’ve said it about Ozil at least a couple of times on here in the past).
From a cost-benefit perspective, Ozil was a fucking arsewipingly bad transfer. All that money wasted on a massively disinterested ponce.
He was also THE worst teammate. Self absorbed, hugely egotistical and never did the stuff associated with team work, eg tackling, getting behind the ball and generally digging in when we needed to score/equalise. Always disappeared when it mattered. Set a poor example to young players.
And christ knows why that old cunt Wengo let him get time off from certain away days, eg Burnley, with some entirely bogus injury. Remember those occasions which occurred more and more towards the end of his shocking tenure at the club? No professionalism or commitment to the cause.
He was a fucking anti team player. I’ll never be dissuaded of that opinion. He would not be fit to suck the sweat off of Havertz’s balls let alone someone like TA or Mclintock. A complete wanker who was used by Wengo to cover up his own ineptitude at that point.
KP
Alexis wouldnt agree with you nor CR7 at RM. All the time he had decent players by his side he was OK but then Wenger didnt want to lose face and see two players disappear so he offered Ozil the crown jewels. Ozil then put on his best scumbag hat and wound up Wenger, Emery and then Arteta who he hated. Wenger didnt sign Ozil – that was down to Ivan G.
Bad signings – anybody else remember Ian Ure?
Yeah, Ian Ure was a few years before me really but I’ve read enough history to know he was a little underwhelming. But I’ll take IU and trump that with Jeff Blockley. And Terry Mancini was hardly England’s answer to Beckenbauer was he?
By they way, I’m taking your erudite analysis of the costly failed experiment that was Ozil as basic agreement with my points!
John Mathews and Peter Simpson on the other hand were decent at that time although we only replaced McClintock when Spider came along a few years later.