Are we going to see a Sesko v Gyokeres? I would love to. We are visiting Old Trafford today for our opening game of the season and it couldn’t have been more exciting for an Arsenal fan. We had finished 2nd thrice in a row, we have no intention to make it 4 and we will finally be playing with a proper striker up front. No Havertz – a makeshift striker, no Merino – a midfielder with a duty to score goals, no Trossard who plays better on the wings. We have a 65m striker who scored the most goals last season in any of the leagues that matters. A striker who dreamt of playing in red and white, who asked his agent to cut down his fees to facilitate the transfer, who hold ransom his old club for a move. We haven’t seen anything like that from quite some time, and in games when the scoreboard reads 0-0 in 65th minute, when the strategy you devised isn’t working, it’s the passion and fire in the players that wins you game. We have added more of that in our playing XI.
Right, what a way to start the season. A rejuvenated (take it with a pinch of salt) Manchester United under Amorin who got rid of some of the deadwoods, who brought in one of the striker we were initially interested in, is always dangerous. In fact, Man Utd is dangerous irrespective of the players or the manager if they are playing at home. They have already added some firepower with Cunha, Mbuemo, and Sesko.
In the team news, everyone’s fit except Gabriel Jesus. I would love a back 4 of Timber, Saliba, Gabriel and MLS with Zubimendi, Odegaard and Rice in the midfield. The front 3 from now on, should always be Saka – Gyokeres – Martinelli unless it’s an unimportant Carabao Cup game or one of them needs rest. There shouldn’t be a second thought to play Havertz or Merino in that role if Gyokeres says he is fit. Unless you want to play with two strikers, but that’s a thought for a different day.
In the pre-match conference, here’s what Arteta had to say about the pressure to win the title that stood out for me –
You keep digging, digging, digging. You have to keep digging because one day, the gold is going to be there. That’s all the time, what I’ve been taught, I’ve been educated and that’s it. For three seasons, we have more points than any other team in this league. It’s incredible, that’s why we have all the consistency. Now we have to do it in a season, to earn one more point or the same amount of points and more goals difference than any other team. That’s the objective.
source: Arsenal.com
No, we don’t have more points that any other team in the league in last 3 years combined, Man City has. Even if we did, it doesn’t matter because we came 2nd each time. I understand that we keep digging, digging and digging to get to our goal but if your goal is to keep digging for next 12 years in search of 1 title, that’s bonkers.
Anyways, I don’t give a fcuk how you twist your words Mikel. It’s your 6th full season, you have a billion dollar squad at your disposal, you have got 2 playing XIs that can play in Premier League and the missing piece is here. No excuses this time. The title is a must, unless you finish second and get us that Champions league trophy. And it’s start with a game against a team that finished in the bottom half of the table, is your rival and is a must win.
Lets go out there, beat them convincingly for the confidence that’s needed for the games to come and to be in the mix of the title. No, it’s not too early, both City and Liverpool has started their season with a win and you surely don’t want to play catch ups to them.
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Right, that’s all for today. We are playing Man Utd (A), Liverpool (A), Man City (H), Newcastle (A) in first 6 games of the season, and every one of these games will be important if you want to hold that trophy in your hand.
Before I wrap up, let me thanks Paul and Ray for some of the wonderful pictures they have shared with me. I will be using these at LiR. You can follow them on Twitter/X if you find them as refreshing as I do.
Thanks again, guys – if you are reading this, we would love to see you in comment section.
KP—totally agree…that was a pitiful performance by both sides, especially Everton in the first-half…the fact that Leeds had to rely on a late-game spot kick to secure all 3 points, at home no less, means that we should beat them soundly at the Emirates…if not, we’re in deep fucking shit…I guess we had better hope for a lot of fucking corners
if we’re waiting on the sale of players to bring in another forward, we might have to wait until next summer…Berta’s starting to figure out just how difficult it is to meet the ridiculous valuations we’ve placed on MA’s shitty purchases…when it comes to the “real” media it’s a fucking ghost town out there on the transfer front, minus the odd story about how we had best lower our demands if we want to rid ourselves of Vieira, Zinchenko etc…
I have been a big advocate of playing Saka in the position that he grew up playing ….wide left. If we want to get the best out of gyokeres then we need to have a winger who plays on his natural side , meaning he doesn’t continually cut back onto his favourite foot as we so often see with saka and martinelli which leads to frustration from the striker .
1 minute from the end of last weekend’s game we saw saka pick up the ball on the left, glide past the full back and put in a superb cross with his left foot into the corridor of uncertainty between the keeper and centre back that Madueke almost finished, exactly the type of ball that a striker relishes.
Putting saka on the left would allow Madueke to play in his favourite position , plus of course we have Nwaneri/Dowman who have already shown they have the ability to create and score from the right.
Unfortunately I’m not sure Arteta would be that keen to take saka away from the right wing , but personally I am convinced that saka would love to return to the position he grew up playing so successfully and just that one take on and cross at the end of the game v united confirmed that as it was the only time in the game he escaped his marker and delivered such an inviting cross..
I doubt that most are not in favour of switching saka but surely during a game that he is not getting much change out of the left full back he could switch to right to present a different problem for the opposition..
Wicksy—I spoke about that very possibility some time back, but it seemed to be a non-starter for most on OTHER platforms due to the fact that he both plays on the right internationally and that it might severely limit his ability to produce goals…from the player’s perspective, it could negatively affect his MV, which is intimately tied to his wages…kind of like in baseball when a player refuses to move from shortstop to second base, as the former position commands a much higher salary
fact remains Saka isn’t a great finisher, so it might be worth a try, for the betterment of the whole…maybe have him play on the right to start a match, then bring Noni in after the break and flip Saka to the left side…there’s no doubt that this would maximize their respective skillsets and, as you stated, require the opposition to make adjustments…I’m with you on this point, at least from an experimental standpoint…just not sure any such changes are on our blunt instrument of a manager’s radar, even though he loves himself a good shoehorning (which this really wouldn’t be)
According to The Athletic:”Leandro Trossard has agreed a new contract at Arsenal which will grant him a significant pay rise. The 30-year-old has reached an agreement on a contract adjustment, increasing his salary but not extending the deal beyond its previous expiration of 2027. The Belgium international has been in talks with the club for some time over improved pay, with a view to bringing his salary in line with his valued role in the squad”
I just don’t get it, why would you not sell this diminishing asset and use that money to help acquire another bona fide wide side forward, which Tross is not…even worse, why pay substantially more to someone who clearly isn’t the answer on the left and is at best a 3rd or 4th option up top (in the manager’s eyes that is)
this likely signals the end of our window, at least from an offensive standpoint, and goes a long way in confirming my belief that Marts is on the outs…I find it difficult to believe that Tross went to all this effort without securing some assurances about playing time and we all know that MA wants to use Noni on his wrong side, so GM’s opportunities could be severely limited…maybe it means that the transfer script has flipped and we’ll only buy if Marts is sold
I guess I misread the room, as I felt that when Tross changed his representation it was done with the sole purpose of getting him a full-time gig elsewhere, but maybe it was just an elaborate bluff so that he could secure an undeserved raise and more playing time…if so, shame on us for falling for it…this means we’re likely stuck with him until the summer of 2027, as that raise will only further complicate any potential future move
maybe this was done simply to appease our fragile manager for the signing of VG, who clearly wasn’t his choice…regardless it’s another bad piece of business in my estimation
problem with MA’s annual tactical “tweaks” is that they don’t require much in the way of change when it comes to the opposition’s defensive plans…for example, the inverted backer is functionally the same role that Xhaka played a few years back, when he sat a bit deeper on the left then made advanced runs on occasion, so the blueprint was already out there for all to view
why didn’t we simply implement the plan from Xhaka’s last season, just with better players, when we drew the opposition out wide then committed more runners in and around the box…at least this plan put defences in a bind…if you didn’t respect our wide side players, Saka and Marts woulld eat against man coverage and if they sent double-teams we had a numbers advantage on the inside…all we needed then was a proper Xhaka upgrade, an AM who could shoot from distance and a clinical finisher up top
since that time, we’ve not acquired a single player who would fit any of the above-mentioned roles (still not sure VG is the latter quite yet)…fuck me, Xhaka almost had double digit goals(more than double his previous high) and Saka, Marts and Ode all had 15 goals…we finished 2nd even though MA didn’t buy a single readymade starter of note in either window, yet spent nearly 150M…what a missed opportunity, all due to the seemingly endless growing pains of our MIT…just some late night venting
…I guess we had better hope for a lot of fucking corners
Vieira
Nice one. I think we might all end up needing AFC official rosary beads autographed by Nicholas Jover as the season wears on…and on…and on.
That would be my take, too, TRVL.
Spending a little on Trossard this TW & not spending a lot on Eze. Now, it’s increasingly looking likely Eze will be Spuds bound, and a very big missing piece of Frank’s tactical jigsaw, as it should have been MA’s.
Merino, Rice, Trossard, Noni and Marts are our left sided hope for goals with the occasional Havertz’s pace adding to the mix. Ostentatiously, some would say riches to purr over, as all but one (Rice) has pace to burn, where all can score goals, but just not in the numeric level we need to win top honors.
Problem is MA is patting himself on the back, but suddenly realizing he still needs a speedster with a high footballing IQ LW. Marts hasn’t had the support over the last 2 seasons with rice as 8, and so has regressed rather than made the significant, goal-scoring-development, improvements to his pacy game.
Dare I say he’s looking more like Wally Walcott than the more needed Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, as our preseason & Manure opener has proved.
Had we bought Eze for £55m and sold Trossard & Merino, MA could have had time to see if Noni was indeed required. I think Noni can be decent for us over the next 2 seasons, but Trossard will deteriorate as he needs game time to be really effective and not getting any younger in probably the globe’s fastest and most physical league.
With Eze at 8 and Marts/Noni fighting for the LW starting slot and Rice anchoring at 6, we have a very cool left midfield and attack that will also need double teaming, and so pulling defenders out of position, which is a necessity when beating the 10 at the back defending, as in parking 2 busses.
MA wanted another option for the left attacking, and Bertha has given Trossard a pay increase, but no additional years after his contracted 2027, which is being reported online.
Welcome to the dark side Wicksy none of us enjoy being realistic in painting our negative reality views, but as I’ve said from when MA was in, not so secret talks with our CEO, that MA wouldn’t win a CL or PL trophy and almost 6 years on he hasn’t. I take no pleasure in being right.
We won’t win either top honor this season, where MA will quote his rallying war cry of “I still need 3 or 4 players to win next season” come next May.
Eze will greatly improve Frank’s rebuilding being a very important player, which we could have denied the Spuds. The stupidity is, we need Eze as much as Spuds do, which clearly MA does not see because Rice is our 8 and we have Noni and Trossard as back up.
At least the summer transfer window closes on September 1st at 7:00 pm, where no doubt we will we be up to our usual trolly dash tricks, only to just miss out with MA’s PR in full spin.
I thought Madueke was to be a replacement for Trossard?
To play the wide positions we have Saka, Martinelli, Nwaneri, Madueke and Trossard. Its too many players to keep them all happy plus paying excess salary that could be spent on other players.
My son has just messaged me saying Arsenal have an open training session with saka on the left Madueke on the right ..
Havertz injured apparently, could be out for a while, that’ll cheer up the majority on here , will have to go back into the market by the looks of it ….isak
Havertz knee injury
Oh Wicksy…and it was all going so well.
No Havertz, no cry. Play Nwan up front with VG and the goals will fly in.
PS Try and persuade Wickmeister junior to get on here. If he’s watching stuff like that it’ll really help our understanding and add some much needed insight.
What are his thoughts on the question of whither Arteta? Are you and he in lockstep?
Havertz – whilst doing a Charles Atlas pose in front of the mirror his knee pinged.
New post.