January Transfer Window – A tricky one!

Thanks Ambarish for posting I know how to contact you in the future.

For me it’s not about being published here, but helping Ambarish help the blog have new content when Ambarish is so busy.

I’ll do the post City game if anyone’s game for doing the upcoming post Brentford home game.

Ambarish if you set the tone for the pre game posts. I’m sure we can muck in with the post game reviews.

Let you talent flow lads. 🙂

your*

Tony, as you’re well-aware, in many respects we’re cut from the same cloth when it comes to Arteta’s Arsenal…one thing that never ceases to amaze is how some have so eagerly scoffed at Chelsea for signing Mudryk and/or openly praised MA/Edu for not paying over the number for BHA’s Ecuadorian maestro-in-training, then applauded our managerial lightwieghts for finding “suitable” alternatives for a fraction of the cost, even though, if the reports are to believed, we voraciously pursued both players in question and only sought out Trossard and Jorginho when our plan A failed miserably…you just can’t have it both ways

now maybe you honestly believe that we never intended to get either Mudryk or Caicedo and that this was all just a smokescreen to deflect attention away from our true targets, but one would have to be dangerously naive to ever believe such a ludicrous notion…so unless you would have attacked MA and Edu with the same vigor in which you have praised them, had they actually secured the services of Mudryk and/or Caicedo, you’re devoid of the requisite amount of objectivity to engage in a commonsensical discussion about our club and it’s manager…for me, this is just another minboggling cake and eat it too moment for Kool Aid kids

I hope and pray that what we’ve done in this TW will be enough to win the day, come season’s end, but regardless of the outcome, I highly doubt that either Edu or MA will have to face the music, as they’ve shown themselves to be rather impervious to blame, so long as Kroenke remains at the helm…I, like yourself, realize that Trossard can do a job or two for any PL club, but I have some serious concerns about how MA will utilize both Tross and Jorginho, as he seems wholly incapable of curtailing Xhaka’s minutes, so there’s a good chance that both Partey and Marts will be on the outside looking in far too often for my liking, which could be incredibly detrimental to our team’s success…as I’ve stated on numerous occasions, there’s no doubt in my mind that we’ve provided our new recruits with the kind of “assurances” that could come back to haunt us once again…Cheers

for the Kool Aid Kids

I just wanted to say a few things regarding what appears to be my general pessimistic demeanor when it comes to Arsenal-related matters…now, of course, I’m elated that things have gone rather swimmingly this season thus far, but we’re not so far removed from a time when this simply wasn’t the case, which is why I’m always playing the long game…we’ve all witnessed a managerial team who, upon first arrival, had no intention of pursuing the very course we’re presently on, so the fact that they made an aboutface in order to save their respective livelihoods, doesn’t make them any more credible, regardless of the more recent uptick in results

during Wenger’s second term in office, post-Highbury, it became all too easy for those within the AKB crew to constantly suggest that anyone who dared to critique the manager should simply shut up and watch, under the guise that us mere mortals should never ever question our supposedly infallible manager…when reality finally set in, it became glaringly clear that this tragically misguided path of least resistance had enabled our club and it’s highly paid manager to slowly but surely lower our organizational standards and expectations, under the falsest of pretences

as such, I refuse to let my guard down without the requisite amount of justification…the fact that we experienced an elongated purple patch with roughtly the same 11 players playing the same exact tactics, just doesn’t do it for me quite yet…I want to witness some tactical nous and some tangible results before I even consider jumping on this well-coiffed bandwagon…that said, I’m trying to remain optimistic that this little project will continue to flourish regardless of the fact that we continue to pursue a rather pedestrian course when it comes to our TW business practices

TRVL
As you’ve said before when it comes to all matters Arsenal we could be brothers. In fact our Arsenal family here is growing where we deal in fact not fiction that LG deem negative. In fact impaired vision with heads firmly implanted in the sand is what spurs LG forward as they blindly follow a manager & blogger who believes there is only one true god: Himself. Son of God: Pedro hasn’t really pulled any miracles out of his arse either other than to lose most of his best readers and shit bricks daily wondering when Arteta is going to play Jorginho and Xhaka in midfield again.

It’s pointless to pontificate whether the punishment is going to fit the serial offending crime?

Our next meeting is going to be tasty at home on the 16th, where our faithful will be giving it belters to the shamed City fans. I very much believe our fans will be out 12th and 13th men on the pitch such will be the righteous and raucous chants permeating throughout the Emirates but loudest on the pitch.

The wonderful thing about that is that wherever City go, they are going to feel the animosity from the home fans and players because nobody likes cheats including other cheats.

Dyche couldn’t believe his luck against us.

Let’s face it this City financial fiasco affects Arteta as well being assistant manager if only guilty by association; certainly Arteta didn’t complain about all the elite players city bought. Quite the contrary Arteta relished coaching such lauded talent.

So Qatari are intent of sending the Glaziers back to the USA with billions stuffed in cases and pockets with promises to Ten Hag of a huge war chest to buy literally any play on the planet rendering the playing field totally lopsided.

A country with just over 2.6 million seems assured that they are going to buy Manure that’s part of a city of over 500m people. Can you imagine how apoplectic the City fans are going to be with a new golden goose in town wearing red.

That’s it for me I won’t be flying Qatar business any more. As long as Gulf Air doesn’t buy the Bin Dippers I’ll fly their business class going forward – not that I fly much these days other than internally.

What a season Mitoma is having who cost around £9m when Edu finds player like Mitoma and Caicedo before they arrive in the PL, I’ll start to trust him. Even Martinelli wasn’t Edu’s find.

As far as the TWs go Edu and Arteta are poor. Saliba wasn’t an Edu find either.

To even contemplate bringing in Jorginho was us throwing our cards in and getting a booby prize player who is marginally faster than a mobility scooter and about the same turning circle. A Xhaka Jorginho pivot will be a joy to watch for opposing fans and players alike as they witness 2 Sids from Ice age make the ungainly pivot while a goal is scored against us.

Trossard is capable if allowed to play his game by Arteta.

Jacob could be that (Mitoma/Caicedo) find for us where if so, let’s hope Edu can unearth more gems as we’re likely to see Jacob Kiwior deputies for the apparently injured Gabs.

Brentford can’t come quick enough for me as I’m really invested in how Arteta plays this season out.

Does he have it in him to win the league from our perfect position at the top? I bet few would bet their house on that outcome.

Have a good one.

You’re not negative TRVL, none of us are, we all want to win or at least challenge to the best of the level we’ve reached thus far. So far we’ve done that this season and without doubt have punched above our weight in some games in others we were the deservedly so righteous winners.

Now it’s crunch time where our finishing position will be solely on Mikel. Ditto the EL Cup.

much obliged for your response Tony…sometimes it’s easy for those with blinders on to confuse my oft-times brash form of pragmatism with abject negativity, which has ultimately led to my being ousted from several Arsenal online platforms…the very fact that this has occured, especially on the heels of the highly fractious latter Wenger years, is quite disturbing, in that it appears as if nothing has been learned by those, like Pedro, who ironically railed vigorously against those who were unwilling to give any credence to his seemingly incessant yet entirely reasonable calls for the removal of our former manager…such hypocritical posturing raises considerable concerns for me regarding what his true motivations are, as he of all people should understand the necessity of open and uncensored dialogue, within reason of course…as such, I can only assume that he’s simply become a paid hack of sorts, which shouldn’t be taken lightly be anyone who truly wants nothing but the best for our once-revered club…echo chambers that, by their very nature, attempt to stymie anything remotely dissenting in nature are the mortal enemy of nuance, and without nuance all that’s left is lip service and hollow banter…take care

That was a tidy and accurate summary of our latest TW Tony, nice work. It’s a pleasure to read an opinion that isn’t being generated with a particular agenda in mind. And fair play to you also Mb for providing the space and opportunity for others to have their say without fear of being ridiculed for not aligning with some preordained standardised viewpoint.

When I was younger I used to collect programmes and as a rule,even as an adult,I continued to buy match day programmes to any and every event attended. I have some wonderful pieces of memorabilia as a result. But it was Arsenal who finally finished me in this regard. The programmes became mere propaganda as the drive to control narratives around the club began to supercede the importance of open discussions. Nowadays blogs and other online platforms are combined with mainstream media to constantly maintain a stream of sanitised drivel to the populace. I find that frustrating, infuriating and insulting and hence I rail against it and those who perpetuate it. But what I’m finding now is that I can’t separate the Arsenal football club that I’ve supported for so long from the Arsenal corporate club who are doing their upmost to treat their fans with contempt by shutting down criticism and controlling the media. Blogs have been bought and paid for,have no doubt about that. Lip service from narcissistic sycophants has replaced intelligent discussion and in my mind this is what the club want. They are behind it. So I’m really struggling to take joy from our current onfield success when I look at the bigger picture of football in the 21st century.
The recent TW is an example. We are being fed the line that Trossard and Jorghino were part of a plan. There is no planet on which this is true. Why not say it as it is? We failed in our objectives so we bought theses lads instead. Why present it as otherwise? It’s bloody insulting.
And where’s project youth gone? It never existed. Willian,Soares,Auba’s new contract, Xhaka’s new contract were proof enough. Then failure saw a sea change in thinking. But we are meant to accept that youth was always the plan? Except of course that now it isn’t again? The point I’m making is that there is a very deliberate strategy within the club to reach out and influence the fanbase. This means they are more concerned with the superficial image of the club than with genuine improvements and planning. And that is very worrying. Hence,to read some honest to goodness comments here is a breath of fresh air for me. Orwell never lived to see just how accurate he was. Any of the rest of you finding your ties to the club being eroded by the barrage of propaganda,most of which is so poorly presented as to be insulting to anyone with a functioning brain?
I am,as you can see,annoyed.

Bravo Almuniasaynomore…just imagine what might have been if this club had spent all the time and monies being wasted on non-football related agendas on bettering the actual product on the pitch, this year notwithstanding, at least from a results perspective…the very fact that we’ve rolled the dice again with a cult of personality-driven narrative, speaks volumes about how the powers that be actual envision us as a second tier entity in the footballing landscape…of course, this shouldn’t be the case, as we have a world-class facility, some of the highest ticket prices in the free world, one of the most internationally recognized brands, historical significance and one of the richest owners in the footballing world…we’re not fucking Leicester City, we’re fucking Arsenal…hopefully someday soon we’ll start acting like it…Cheers

no disrespect intended towards Leicester City, of course

TRVL,yes that’s the way I’m seeing it now. I like your interpretation of this new era as being a repeat of the past mistake of investing in a cult of personality yet again. You’re spot on. And it’s so bloody divisive because it creates such polarised thinking. Supporters of Arteta are now claiming everything he does is and was part of a master plan. No criticism allowed. All logic suspended. Its becoming pointless talking to fellow Arsenal fans. The similarities with Bible bashing religious cults are really scary. And it’s getting worse. I used to love having conversations with people who held opposing views to mine,always felt I learned more that way. But now it’s pointless to try,with a handful of exceptions, reasoned debate is anathema to these people. And my key point once more is that when it comes to Arsenal it is the club itself which continues to drive this shutdown. I’m rapidly falling out of love with my club. I could put up with bungs and on pitch failures,terrible signings and financial exploitation of our love for our club. But this is becoming a line in the sand for me. The idea that they can control both information and opinion is outrageously arrogant and really pissing me off!

Almuniasaynomore, I certainly don’t want to descend too deep into the proverbial rabbit hole, but once Dein left the building things have taken a drastic turn…the mythological nonsense perpetrated by Wenger about us being the little train that could, on the heels of the stadium “ruse”, was our organizational “original sin”…once we replaced our logic-based cultural revolution, of the pre-Emirates era, with some sort of excuse-laden claptrap, like we had somehow become the sad-sack David to ManU, Chelsea or City’s Goliath, the focus invariably shifted from the football pitch to the managerial room

Wenger had come to despise the emerging “superstar” player, for obvious monopolistic reasons, so anyone who challenged his supreme authority was quickly excommunicated, regardless if it made footballing sense…furthermore, the ludrious notion that we couldn’t afford to compete with our closest rivals was suitably debunked by both RVP and Gazidis, in public and on numerous occasions, which strongly suggests that our self-sustaining model was a Wengerian creation…why else would Korenke’s minion, Gazidis, make public pronouncements about us being flush with cash if he knew that his overlord was totally opposed to upping the financial ante

what Wenger desired most was the accolades he would undoubtedly receive if he, the professor himself, could lead little ole us to a title, especially in the face of the contrived “us v. them” dynamic he in fact had created…in a way, I get it, as there’s no doubt that he would have placed himself on the Mount Olympus of footballing Gods if he had finagled his way into one or two championships during those more frugal times, but this wasn’t Arsene’al, Wenger’s personal plaything to do with as he wished, this is Arsenal, a club that’s far more important than the sum of it’s parts

so when everything you hold dear is proven to be nothing more than a manufactured lie, this has incredibly long lasting effects, which, to this very day, still haven’t been properly exorcised…until he proves otherwise Arteta is little more than a plastic Wenger replica, who, unlike his predecessor, has none of the historically-significant cache that usually provides you with the benefit of the doubt and a considerably longer managerial runway…Cheers

TRVL, again I find myself agreeing with your every word. I’d just add 2 observations. Firstly I think some of our older fans might consider our frugality,the prioritisation of club’s profits over investing in on pitch success, to have begun long before Wenger. There were periods throughout the 70’s ,80’s and pre Wenger 90’s that saw us failing to invest as a club of our standing should. However the success of Wenger ironically reminded us all of the size and status of our club and therefore made the preceeding years of stagnation unacceptable.
The second observation I’d make and this is purely a personal theory of mine, is that the Arsenal fan base was split by those who supported Wenger and those who wanted him gone. In essence however this was a split based on those who accepted the impoverished Arsenal argument that Arsene peddled and those who were not prepared to view Arsenal as anything other than elite(and therefore demanded elite levels of competitiveness from the club). Now Arteta is playing the same trick comparing his lack of resources to the riches of city and Chelski thereby justifying the lack of competitiveness and the need for so much time etc.
But here’s the real irony. Many Arsenal supporters who ousted Wenger because they didn’t buy the ‘we are a small club’ argument, are now trying to use that very same argument to defend Arteta! This has been noted by the Wenger diehards who are now making a comeback (you just need to read some other blogs to spot them) and are particularly triumphalistic in light of the city charges. Meanwhile the group of fans who were critical of both Wenger and Arteta (and the club itself) for ever promoting Arsenal as less than elite (I’m in this group) is dwindling all the time and being accused by both other groups as being ‘entitled ‘, ‘doomers’,’bed wetters’ etc. Yet for my money Arsenal has always been and always will be one of England’s elite and should ALWAYS be in the hunt for major honours both domestically and in Europe. I find any other argument to be dishonest. Of course we can’t always win. But to develop an argument that justifies not trying?? Now that is truly shameful.

#proceeding not preceeding.

Leeds did us a favor by having Man Utd drop two points. But Leeds are where they are because of how they play and if they get relegated they deserve it. They don’t defend and play bad they play infuriatingly shitty. No winning of loose balls, misplaced passes, no extra effort to intercept passes, so shitty in nicking the ball, no clue of reading a game, if they would have played half way decent they would have won the game. But it was not to be. Good for us if we win the games in hand.

Excellent observations…in regards to your first point, I do agree, but I was just comparing our pre-Emirates period, with Arsene in charge, with the diametrically opposed underpinnings of his latter days, once he was left to his own devices…it’s clear that during the years when he and Dein ruled the roost together that the product on the pitch was of paramount importance and everything they did revolved solely around the proposition of creating an elite level footballing club

as to your second point, I could just never fathom how those who wanted to usher Wenger out the door, of which I was one of them, could ever hitch their proverbial wagons to our present day poor man’s version, especially considering some of the obvious similarities when it came to much of the nonsensical PR-related rhetoric and the level of disrespect shown towards the fans when addressing club-related matters (ie transfers, man management etc…)

btw I agree wholeheartedly with your statement that we “should ALWAYS be in the hunt for major honours both domestically and in Europe”

I have to add that I only watched the 2nd half and from the Goal Zone it looks like that Leeds was good in the 1st 20 minutes and couldn’t keep up the pace, still with better defending they should have won this game.

I can only surmise two logical reasons as to why someone who could clearly see Wenger’s failings would willingly turn a blind eye to Arteta’s. The first and most obvious is desperation. Blind faith. Hope. Call it what you will but decades of suffering make people throw their lot in with the strangest of folk. Religion always thrives where suffering and poverty are greatest!
The second is slightly more nuanced. I believe that we are entering an age where criticism is becoming unacceptable. It is wrongly,and in some cases cunningly, being framed as discrimination. Therefore people are feeling more pressured into portraying themselves as open,agreeable,accepting. Even you and I are often qualifying our criticisms,feeling the need to justify them as if the logic alone isn’t enough. I see this in all aspects of life now. The fear of being labelled a grouch or a cynic is overriding many peoples natural instinct to critique. It’s linked to this whole concept that many label as Woke,which I see as being an attack on intellectual independence. Anyway I feel many have succumbed to the pressure and have thrown their lot with Arteta as the alternative, to be labelled a contrarian ,was simply too difficult a battle given social media trends today. It’s always easier to follow the crowd and I genuinely do understand that. It’s just not for me. I think it was Ghandi who’s said it is better to follow your own path than a crowd going in the wrong direction (and if he didn’t say it he should have!)

I watched it all Killroy and utd should have scored 5. Leeds were blessed to get a point. That Garnacho kid,don’t know the spelling,is incredibly like Ronaldo at that age. Serious potential,excellent technique,frightening pace,really frustrating decision making,punchable face,diving prick,prima donna attitude. Keane would have throttled him by now but utd have one here. Could go either way but if he fulfills his potential the sky is the limit.
Leeds for their part have found one also in Gonto,?Gnoto?,can’t rem his name but he scored their opener. Looks a serious handful. 3.8 million. We’d have paid 10 times that,sat him on the bench and claimed a bargain!!

Almuniasaynomore, the “wokeness” brigade is such an intellectually-stunted collective endeavour that I fear what the response to this pseudo-Dark Age might actually look like when the pendulum invariably swings full-bore in the opposite direction…now some might suggest that the Trump-inspired QAnon nonsense is in fact the “logical” reaction to this far left zealotry, but I’m not buying it, as I think this is only the tip of this fucked up iceberg…as someone who has taught at both the university and collegiate levels, I can’t imagine what it must be like to navigate such treacherous waters nowadays…I even contemplated returning to the profession during covid, as I was constantly being inundated with offers, but I thankfully refrained from scratching that itch…all I can do now is try to properly harness and/or redirect my own children’s “woke” tendencies into something exceedingly more positive than the senseless ramsacking of anything and everything that doesn’t meet the unrealistic standards of this self-absorbed and misinformed lot

on a side note, there’s no doubt that “fan burnout” was a contributing factor when it came time to pledge one’s managerial allegiance…after the whole divisive Wenger gig, it makes perfect sense that some would choose the path of least resistance…that said, our future shouldn’t be decided by the abject lazinessof others…have a good one

no “collective” before endeavour…my bad

Hi Tony,

Thank you for the piece. I always wanted to keep it as an open platform, difference in opinion is healthy. We all see things differently and LiR has no agenda.

Too small for a sell out but if the day comes, LiR remains independent.

Arteta was given too much time for a club as big as Arsenal without achieving anything significant.

I’m glad we are performing at the highest level this season, but that don’t mean we turn a blind eye to 8th places finishes, breaking all negative records of the century. You also can’t forget Willian saga.

Excellent discussion lads pointing out the generational differences the club has woven into the very core of our club, and I’m sad to say we’ll never witness ‘club honesty’ from KSE downwards – only their prepared BS being orchestrated by Pedro-Pete and sycophants cozying up to their agenda ridden masters.

The games played upstairs aren’t that different to on the pitch, such has the “Bottom Line” & “Winning At All Costs” merged into the root cause of looking at fans as: just noise with money who need keeping in check while subliminally being sold merchandise, food and drink to be relieved of as much money as is possible from game day sales, and Social Media brain washing leading to online purchasing.

Are we just one step away from the American sitcom classic of lit banners for ‘applaud’ and others for ‘laugh’?- As big a fraud as you could witness on a goggle box. I believe the Americans called it humour enhancement, as once when checking into the The Luxor in Las Vegas that was covered in what they deemed to be white enhancement building dust, which they were orating as if we were fortunate to be experiencing it.

This is exactly what The Arsenal & KSE combined have been working towards” a way to silence the fans and keep us in our correct place knowing when to applaud and be silent like good little Gooners, as countries take on countries rather than clubs verses clubs for pride for the badge, which I hasten to add is slowly rescinding from today’s game – except perhaps in lower leagues not owned by battling billionaires or aforementioned countries seeking the ultimate bragging rights.

If not so, then why was the super league so important for both mentioned elements for club ownerships? The super league was founded on the ‘bottom line’ never wavering with profits guaranteed and minimal financial losses necessary to offset taxes. It was win, win, but the greedy owners wanted it all too quickly and got just as rapidly washed away by the fans.

Almunia you’re right on all accounts and it pisses me off with similar levels to you: all further ADHD enhanced – not to be around when it gets to boiling point.

When my rage at the situation subsides with help from natural herbs, spices and freshly squeezed lemon tea, I collect my thoughts and remember what an empty stadium did to Josh’s constipation.

How true or not I know not, but some say Josh’s explosive crap in the HQ execs’ toilets could be heard as far as the Toilet Bowl where Spud players training thought Levy had finally got the plumbing working again and could now remove the butt plugs with no fear of Conte being upset with him still taking his Gall Bladder operation pain meds.

Let’s face it have you ever seen a more anal bunch masquerading as footballers? Hence the butt plugs borrowed from ……..

Josh is a big man and someone mentioned an even bigger arsehole like his daddy, but again I have no supporting facts, so will leave it open to interpretation as to how one views Josh’s actions as our owner past and present?

All joking aside, I seriously hope Josh can see and understand what we see and discuss here at LIR. If Josh is in favour of censoring fans’ dissenting voices, then we’ll just have to get louder.

At the moment the exec toilets are experiencing normal usage: however, if Arteta and Edu’s gambles, for there are several in play, don’t pay off, poor Josh- High Five King of the club – will be shitting bricks again, as the faithful begin to turn. He’d shit early because he has a reference point to the past and horrific memories of sleepless nights and a stitched arsehole or was it he’d been stitched up by an arsehole? Bit fuzzy on this one. 🙂

He’d shit even smaller bricks, but for much, much longer if he’d been out for a Ruby Murray with Vinai Venkatesham who would always be trying to impress with his Asian cuisine. Vinai cosy in his CEOship so much, he’d be hoping the food would help lessen the news of the fans’ collective dissenting voices in coming 5th again, he was going to have to impart with the very lanky one.

I mean Vinai’s sound thinking would remove the necessity for stitches for the poor lad.

Point is The Arsenal suits have a long impervious history of not listening to the fans or so their short memories would have them believe.

When you try to spot the time the club started to change to be unrecognizable, it was simply Wenger’s decline from about 2009 onwards. Wenger saw the fans as disrespectful during his power grabbing decade. Chippy called it noise at an AGM.

Arteta just modified it to suit his teflon coated process.

I hope the above has relived you of your anger with some well er honest comical intended commentary, as my warped brain sees things today.

Every time you start to get pissed off just think of Josh shitting bricks when the faithful voted with their feet.

As we found out from Covid; not having real live, raucous fans at games the TV streaming isn’t the same. Nowhere near it.

Pedro and his cohorts can try to dictate all they want, Almunia. Blogs with specific agendas and narratives will always want their say without recourse, but are no more than Reddit on a bad day.

None can silence those with true voices; no matter where they are in the world. In the not too distant future, global fans will vote with their subscriptions and voices as we do here at LIR.

TRVL, you’ve found a place where your voice can be heard unabated with welcoming listeners where we are fortunate Ambarish allows us ‘Sinners’ ‘ voices to be heard without recourse or be removed.

I fancy that for all our doubts about the club posted here, they are for the club’s good welfare going forward.

“We want our Arsenal back” couldn’t be more significant today, but watching Junior grow and listening to him talk about his views and those of his generation, I feel we will be leaving our club in good hands with the right beliefs.

A question that I keep asking myself is; Does American Ownership of PL clubs work in the long term? Fenway wants out as the numbers don’t work without a super league now Pool is in decline.

The answer I keep coming up with is a hard NO! What say you lads’?

Have a good one lads.

Ambarish I genuinely salute your thoughts where you are beginning to build posters who want to have their say the right way and without fear of recrimination. I will look to help you as we wrap up our business this year. Something we can talk about later.

None of us have crystal balls, not least Pumpkin anyway 🙂 and we are believing with all our supportive might that Arteta doesn’t blow it like last season. No excuses!

Everton was proof that Arteta still has it in him to be a loose cannon with tactics, selections and in-game management all recurring faults never corrected from the beginning. We were lucky City are in turmoil and could make up any points.

I’m very happy with our current plight and those around us having the propensity to drop points. However, the fragility of our squad depth is, once again, called into serious question.

What I do question from KSE is why our midfield levels are so low excluding Partey?

Why also do our serious TW targets blank us?

Does Arteta have a 100% clean bill of health from the City fallout? Pep seems worried and ready to leave.

Why other than click bait is the DM saying that Arteta doesn’t have plans for Bolagun yet when he should have been brought back for the run in. Saliba MK II?

The above questions we are all asking lead to legitimate concerns regarding Arteta, Edu and the club.

No plastics at LIR just fans who want the best for The Arsenal and its owners.

Thanks Ambarish

Ambarish I was more thinking about helping you keep the blog Independent and when the time comes look at lessening the adverts without loss of income for you.

I’ve always liked the independency entrepreneurs live by myself included. Sounds like you have international business interests with your business and you’ve just got married. Then there is the blog you’ve put your heart and soul into.

We’re all human although in our 30s we drive harder than in our 20s. Right now I can help with posts. I can’t speak for the others but I feel sure they will help time permitting.

I’m wrapped up in business negotiations myself at the moment something I really enjoy as it resembles battles/games of chess and in for the long game.

K’phobe, I think you and Almiunia will appreciate this being fathers; junior running his Kone dance movements in his head while walking through a door slipped crashing into the glass ending up with 41 stitches. 2 cuts one along his cheek bone and the other long his jar bone will look ok in a rugged way. The hand one is nasty but the Dr have strapped it sufficiently for him to play his lead role in the Kone Dance this Friday. The understudy gave up months ago citing it too difficult.

Ambarish, excellent point about how long Arteta would have lasted at other big clubs in Europe’s other leagues. He either is dazzling KSE with bull shit or is on borrowed time.

Either way AFC deserves better.

Tony—sorry to hear about Junior…as both a father and someone who’s had 100s of stitches, over the years, I feel for yours and Junior’s plight…thankfully it hasn’t put the kibosh on the lead role gig…good luck and take care

I still don’t get the outrage here over not getting our top targets in the window. Or at least not getting our top targets at semi realistic prices. No doubt we could have offered £20m more than Chelsea and landed Mudryk but that would have been the height of stupidity. It seems the sticking point was money, not the competence of the management team. Likewise, with Caicedo, we could have made an offer too good to turn down. Would £100m do it? Perhaps.

We didn’t get those. We could cry and buy nobody, a la late stage Wenger, or move on to other targets. Maybe not as good, that’s why they wee second choices, but still capable of doing a job. Having a plan B is sensible. We could speculate they weren’t plan B or not even planned but that seems no more than guesswork for the sake of being angry again.

Call it ‘woke’ as some old white fellas do with anything that upsets them or call it pragmatic team building. If there’s a stick to beat Tets and Edu with, not getting Mudryk and Caicedo isn’t it. Neither is not buying only young players on only older players.

While Arsenal have always been a big club, we’ve never been THE powerhouse. Admittedly I only go back to the 80s and pre GG days, the 30s were more fun as I understand it. We’ve been there or thereabouts with one or two others. We went 18 years before wining in 72. We’ve had the same now, half of that time was under Wenger. We had to indulge him because we were brassick.

I’m prepared to forget back to back 8th places and 5th places if we get better. So far we have. No doubt we could have just sacked Tets for those finishes but that chopping and changing only seems to work at the bank rolled clubs. We’d dropped two in 18months for no discernable improvement. ManU, arguably bigger than us have been trying that trick, so did Lolerpool. It hasn’t been effective for them, I don’t feel it was any more likely to have worked for us. Klopp was a good example of a less wealthy club trying a route back to glory with stability and creating a more effective culture. Klopp admittedly had more past success to draw on than Tets but he had some lousy finishes before he created his powerhouse.

If we’re going to criticise we ought to keep it grounded in some sort if reality. Those who are happy to move forward with Tets aren’t all drinking Kool Aid or sucking the teat of LG propaganda, its just an acknowledgement that for the first time in ages we’re playing the best football in the league. Who wouldn’t enjoy that and give praise where it’s due?

We started off buying crappy old timers, then turned the focus on youngsters, now we’re back to buying more experienced heads. It cam be viewed as either an incoherent strategy or simply adjusting our targets according to our needs or resources at any given time. Or adjusting to what’s available. That’s smart.

Let’s give up on framing our views with reference to LG. Peds was wrong when Tets was sh*t. Now he isn’t hes not. I was right when Tets was sh*t but when the facts change I didn’t need to be dogmatic. I had to shut my trap for a while when we won the FA Cup as we had a trophy. It bought him time and now we’re reaping the rewards of that time in the form of better performances.

Let’s move on from constant tears over LG. Let’s move on from dogmatic criticism of Tets. If it isn’t some Ped hating dogma, it comes across that way It’s not a great look. I’ve been blocked on LG for calling things as I see them. Iit’s one blog among many, I’m one commenter among many.

I’d prefer a discussion that isn’t constantly harking back to Tets when he was a humble trainee learning on our watch. The important thing is he seems to be learning.

We’ve had some good transfer windows. The proof is in the team being better. We always want more but I don’t frame not getting everyone or everything we desire as a massive crisis in leadership and talent.

We may still not won the league. If we don’t I’ll be asking questions but the answer might not necessarily be chop the manager and it might not be buy all the players.

Just getting it off my chest. Non football days create space to ramble at leisure. I used to hate LG framing everything with a ‘Wenger is sh*t, it’s all his fault” applied to anything that didn’t go how Peds in his wisdom or sense of entitlement thought it should. If this page is an antidote to that it ought to be by more than just substituting Tets for Wenger.

Aitcho-to each his own…you might want to have a quick rethink about the whole old white guy woke nonsense though…just saying…have a good one

Aitcho

Having a plan B isn’t being called “woke” in fact many of us have complained for years about not having a plan B in the transfer market.

The complaints aren’t even about Trossard who I personally think could be a decent squad signing although you can consider back up costing £27 million as being expensive.

The howls of anger are about Jorginho. Many of us have been pushing for Xhaka’s exit for years (and we’ve had good offers) now we have two of the fuckers.

Cheers Mark—I feel like I’ve been a bit harsh on Aitcho in the past, so I didn’t want to double-down today, but “wokeness” has nothing whatosever to do with the matters at hand, so I’m not sure why such a nonsensical take even entered the fray…in fact, some could logically suggets that his whole soliloquy was “wokeness” personified…I digress

I do agree that Trossard has something in his toolbox that could come in handy in the run-up, but I’m not a fan of the financials involved and/or the opportunity costs, in that it appears that he’s come to primarily supplant Marts and not Xhaka, which is a more than a little disconcerting…as for Jorginho, my thoughts are totally in line with yours, as whom in their right mind would not only make our midfiled smaller and less mobile, but also help one of our crosstown rivals secure a blue chip replacement in the closing hours of the TW…of course, that doesn’t mean Jorgiho is a scrub, it just means he’s an ill-advised and expensive rolling of the dice proposition…not to mention, I’m totally convinced that some potentionally problematic assurances were given to both the vets we acquired in the window

Yeah, sorry guys. You dudes wailing about woke over the course of 4 or so posts gets a bit tiresome.

It’s generally a bugbear of old white guys. Seeing ‘wokeness’ everywhere. Go back and check your comments and ask yourself how tears about things being ‘woke’ are relevant to the transfer window.

It’s just another thing to feel sorry for yourselves about. Lose the victim mentality guys.

I don’t think I’ll need a rethink TRVL. Feel free to double down if you want, it’s an online forum, if it makes you feel better be my guest. It’ll be okay, I’m not overfussed about it.

Marc, I’m inclined to think, given Xhakas rehabilitation, having two of the fuckers might be no bad thing. Jorginho was a quality player, not seen much of him recently, I doubt most if us have as we pay more attention to Arsenal, he might still be. On paper it’s a sound purchase. I suspect most of the anguish over his purchase is because it’s an Arteta buy and he bought Willian, and played him. Three years ago.

He’s also bought lots of other players who’ve done better than Willian, White, Jesus, Ode, Zinny, got rid of a whole lot of dross, Ozil, Auba, Willian, etc. And as a result, we’re better. It’s not complicated and we ought to be less miserable.

Let’s not forget, we were pretty crap back then in general but ‘never forgetting’ 8th place, don’t recall who said it, one of the anti woke wailers or other just seems a bit petty.

Anyway, as you were, you fight the woke wherever you find it and good luck.

I mean…. what?

“Almuniasaynomore, the “wokeness” brigade is such an intellectually-stunted collective endeavour that I fear what the response to this pseudo-Dark Age might actually look like when the pendulum invariably swings full-bore”

It’s not swinging exepct in your hopes and expectations. Move on

People being anti discriminatory is an ‘attack’?

Perhaps you’re seeing too much into randoms commenting on a forum. Or perhaps you’re just randomly jumbling together stuff you don’t like. Arteta, anti racism, anti sexism, Edu, Pedro from Legrove. It’s all part of the tyranny of ‘woke’ to you. Wild.

“whole concept that many label as Woke,which I see as being an attack on intellectual independence”

I made my comments on woke because it seems such a bizarre thing to vent about on an Arsenal forum. Even if you’re racist, sexist etc, you can just hide it here.

Having said that, while your odd philosophies and fault finding may seem odd, I’m going to agree with something mentioned.;
We are an elite club, at least now and we should regularly if not always, always is a hard ask, nothing lasts forever, be in the hunt for trophies.

We usually are. Even in late stage Wenger days we were winning the odd trophy or getting close.and we’re in the hunt again this season. It’s fine to criticise the negative but seeing negative or making up reasons to be negative seems pointless.

Aitcho—the conversation was obviously too nuanced for your narrow-minded sensibilities…if you had done your due diligence you would have understood that discussions on here have a tendency to extend far beyond the footballing realm…if that’s too triggering for you, please steer clear from the deep end of the pool…as for all of your victim card banter, what an amusingly self-absorbed take coming from the “pot” himself…good day to you kind sir

Aicho in business as well as elite sport pragmatism plays its part if used correctly. Equally, procrastination is a winner’s biggest nemesis. You’ll find LIR’s posters to be proactive in their views, more so because of the widening gap between title wins.

An even longer gap between a Euro trophy. You are very correct that that we are more senior in our years to say LG’s posters, but that also means more wisdom regarding the sport and the running of a sporting company/business. It’s here where we discuss our views and hopes for TWs, and hoping against all odds that this is our season.

If our left side selections are Zinchenko, Trossard and Martinelli with Xhaka on the bench, you’ll find most here, if not all, will be very happy that our sloth like player: Xhaka is finally on the bench because what’s worrying is we’ve been out of Europe since Xhaka arrived. That’s not rhetoric, but sadly the truth and nothing but the truth of Xhaka’s history with us.

Aitcho, if you’re happy with Jorginho then that’s your prerogative where time will tell if you are right. None of us are too high and mighty to admit when we are wrong and when to concede a point.

If you believe the ‘Everton loss’ was a one off and you are vindicated with those views over time, then your views here will be looked upon more favorably, as we are open to debate and seek more of your take of what’s needed going forward. I mean that with sincerity, as we all want The Arsenal to win major trophies.

You maybe of the view that the older one gets, the more one becomes senile or have softer sensibilities that woke becomes a get out of jail free option. That would be LG’s way of thinking and why we all happily vacated to come here.

You seem to take our comments as gospel where much is just banter erring on the side of satire. We get serious when Arteta & Edu compromise our ability to win the PL, which has happened in the last 2 January TWs. The comparison between our current player plight and poor squad management to last season is too close for comfort: hence our what seems to be negativity when sitting at the top of the league.

Aitcho, thanks for posting here. We welcome your views and you’ll always get an answer sans agenda other than wanting The Arsenal — our Arsenal we ALL love and support in our own ways to get back to its glory days.

Speaking of which:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vQpW9XRiyM

At LIR we are all Gooners who don’t take ourselves too seriously; we leave that banality to Pedro and other blogs, such as Untold.

As TRVL said our posts are oft nuanced that can easily be missed and ergo the point ion what is being made.

I promise you, Aitcho, we all want to win the PL and CL in our lifetime, just some have less years to witness than others.

Happy you favour some of our concerns and welcome your restraint in making your reasonable opposition views here.

Have a good one.