Afraid to say many are going to be pissed when they wake up and get their time zone morning PL news feed. Xhaka clone is about right but this new improved slower-than-refs Jorginho is just as costly brain fart stupid at times. Xhaka and Jorginho pivoting is likely to resemble something out of Fantasia and the dancing Hippos. Shouldn’t take more than 3 minutes or the time it takes to birth a super yacht sideways onto the dock to complete the pivot.
19 games to pray to whomever is your deity that Xhaka and Jorginho don’t play together in midfield. Do we remember how easy it was to have Jorginho in Ramsey’s(?) back pocket, in Wenger’s last FA cup win? Jorginho was completely ineffective and that was over 3 years ago. Does Arteta and Edu think Jorginho has improved? To anywhere close to Partey’s level?
We were after the ‘Dogs Gonads’ and ended up with the neutered version no one wanted, and on the put down list, to be cast off in the next 5 months into football’s player wastelands: better known as Sunday League football parks.
So what does this season now offer for us in light of our revelatory Jan TW?
I think we were our usual incompetent selves overworking our vast PR machine who deserve a pay increase and a reduction of hours to just 20 a day. 22 is far too much but with The Arsenal and Arteta and Edu very necessary to keep a semblance of our tradition in TWs from Wenger’s last dozen years of almost signing the world’s elite players: who all turned us down. Now Arteta and Edu are forming their own nearly-signed list to match Wenger’s in less time, only they’ve added a gazumped column now as well.
If you were talking to a complete football ignoramus or blinkered cricket mate and said “My club has just been gazumped by Chelsea for a player we really needed above all other players, and then a few weeks later we went to Chelsea to give them money for their worst and slowest player they were replacing with the gazumped player, which in turn helped Chelsea to buy one of the world’s top young talents.”
What answer do you think you’d get?
Now try that with a savvy PL club supporter and watch them collapse in the snow/ground laughing uncontrollably. Poor Junior is putting out fires all over his school, as more hot banter is hurled his way. Thai kids give no quarter. Before Junior went to school he had his well prepared “Well where are you in the league?”
I didn’t have the heart to tell him it wouldn’t be enough because he’s been giving them belters all season. All I could offer was keep your noise cancelling ear pods in your ears and talk to girls who don’t follow football.
So how did we really fare?
We got a watered down version of Mickey Mudflaps but… one acclimatised to the rigors of the PL but a far lower ceiling. For our title ambitions Trossard fits the bill being one of those nuisance players that buzz around the box breaking the concentration of defenders, as Trossard brings our other attackers into play.
Trossard has an eye for goal and an assist and that’s exactly what we need right now someone with goals and assists this season and who seamlessly fitted in after one training session. Jesus will love playing with Trossard’s, especially for his movement.
He can also play 8/10 and on each wing. Trossard’s a Duracell Bunny player whose gas tank rarely empties. Arteta got lucky; Trossard had been a bad boy upsetting De Zerbi in the process who wanted rid of the player in quick time and Edu obliged for £21+++.
In a normal TW situation Mr. Bloom would have wanted £40+++ and Edu would have not gone near Brighton because he was floundering on what to do in the wake of Mickey Mudflaps debacle until the bargain basement player & price appeared. Edu grasped with both hands thinking there is a god!
Jacub Kiwior just 23 is unknown to me but Zinchenko seems to rate the Pole highly, so perhaps we’ve got a semi-polished diamond who can fit equally well as a CB and CDM. I would imagine Jacub is a vastly improved Holding who may well move on in the summer.
It’s too early to be predicting winning the title or what effect if any (if Partey stays fit) Jorginho is going to have on our summit defence. More likely the EL cup will be Jorginho’s brief. Europe comes into the mix in February, which generally causes pain for a few of the competing clubs with injuries and playing players in the red zone: something Arteta does often without consequential thought for our long-term strategy: see last season.
It wasn’t a bad window just embarrassing once again for Edu and Arteta with them being snubbed by the players they needed.
In the end we couldn’t go through a transfer window without our usual trolly dash in this case Jorginho as our panic buy. What are the odds on Xhaka playing all remaining 19 games if fit?
Buckle up lads/lassies it’s going to be a rough ride to when the fat lady sings for the last time this season.
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!!