We have always been famous for not doing it early in the transfer window. However, the window is slow for others as well this time. Chelsea have got couple of incomings for free from Fulham and Liverpool, Man United and Man City are yet to make a move. Newcastle bought Lewis Hall from Chelsea in a 28m deal but that’s going to complicate things for them even further, they need to sell some players to not break FFP rules.
We did have a clear-out though. We have let go of Mohamed Elneny and Cedric Soares from the first team. Contracts for them ended at the end of the season and we have no reasons to renew it now. We have also released some of the youngsters in Kido Taylor-Hart, Tyreece John-Jules, Arthur Okonkwo, Henry Davies. These are some names we have heard, seen on bench and thought they will have a bright future a year back. Teams like City, Man Utd, Newcastle, Madrid, Bayern, Chelsea have made it tough for anyone else to grow a pair and give time to young guns. When the margins are negligible between the winner and the 2nd place, you can’t afford to drop points because you played few 18 year old kids against Forrest.
We need ready made players who can make an impact from the first game in red and white. We have tightly coupled team, no one important is going anywhere and we have challenged for the title for consecutive season. We need a player or two who can push us that extra bit.
Right, so what’s my expectation?
Assuming we don’t have enough free money to spend, we would have to generate some first.
Goalkeepers
We have Aaron Ramsdale, David Raya and Karl Hein on the books. There is already some money owed to Brentford for Raya, and if you remember, we did a loan + buy because we needed to comply with FFP.
I think Aaron will make a move. The rumours of us putting a 50m price tag on him is absurd. He will fetch a handsome 35 odd million pounds, and we will go again in the market and get his replacement. We are not going to splurge a lot of money, since Raya will be the main man next season.
Me, personally would ask Ramsdale to continue. We will play a lot of games and it’s not like he is that bad with his feet that he can’t play at all. He was our main man a season back.
Mikel, when asked last season about having 2 GK, said ‘WHY NOT’! Well, we will find out if he meant that.
Defenders
We have Saliba + Gabriel CB partership, Ben White at RB and Timber is going to be the preferred player at LB. Tomiyasu is a great utility player who can play both sides, and is primarily a CB. Kiwior played some brilliant games at that LB position so that’s that. I think we are covered on both sides but we might need a CB to assist both Gabriel and Saliba. Saliba played all minutes last season, but it’s not going to be that every season. Gabriel gets fatigued as well.
Even if Mikel decides to try out Ben White or Tomiyasu at that CB, we need a back up. How are going to do that? By selling Zinchenko (sorry mate).
Midfielders
Our preferred ine up is Odegaard on the right, Partey in the middle and Rice on the left. havertz can cover that left side andRice can play in the middle but we do not have a competition for Odegaard. We saw our captain drop some bad games, and any injury to him can jeopardise our chances.
I still believe Emile Smith Rowe should have been developed as a competition to Odegaard but that ship has sailed in Mikel’s book. Fabio Vieira showed some glimpse but he still can’t do it for 90 minutes. We need a starting XI player who can take up what Odegaard does without a drop in quality.
Oh, and I forgot Jorginho whom we renewed. He is here to stay, and is going to be a part of that midfield. I fail to see both him and Partey continuing this year, so this is probably an end to the Ghanaian’s days in red and white. We get some money hopefully, we encash ESR and we bring in a midfielder is what I hope. I can be happy if we keep Vieira for one more season, see what he does except getting injured.
Forwards
Saka on the right, Martinelli on the left and Jesus/Havertz in the middle. I know the club is trying to bring a specialist CF and I hope we do it as early as possible. Getting a CF gives us that edge in the middle and allows Havertz to rotate and cover in the midfield if the need be. For Gabriel Jesus can compete on the wings where he plays best.
We have Trossard as well. A very important utility player, who loves to score. He can cover the bad days of Martinelli.
Reiss Nelson and Nketiah needs to be sold. The money we get will help us get that CF.
On loan
Right, we do have some players that we sent on loan. Tierney is back with the squad, and I am guessing he will be sold as well. Tavares was bright prospect when he came in initially, but he is not going to make it in that playing XI. Lokonga will be sold as well. That’s about 50m of money that can be spent on filling the spaces that gets vacant when do a clear out.
We can generate some money. We don’t need a complete overhaul in our playing XI. A decent CF can fix the playing XI and it will be a matter of getting back ups and/or competition in different places, which can be achieved without shelling 100m.
Lets see what Edu and Mikel has in mind.
Wrapping up
Sorry for ghosting you guys. The work’s always hectic and I need to take care of my health seriously.
As a tradition, I have revamped the website before the new season begin. I might change it further in coming days, but if you see/face any issues, give me a shoutout.
Note : I went through the 470+ comments on my previous post and some older ones. I expect that we respect each other’s opinions and we don’t make it personal. Readers come here to feel good in a rather distressing time, and lets not make it worse for each other.
Lets keep it to football. It’s the views / opinions / ideas that should be criticized, not the person. I will keep a tab of such, and please refrain from doing so.
after watching only 70+ minutes of Sesko, it’s clear to me that he’s miles ahead of Havertz in front of goal…if only MA hadn’t overpaid for the German giraffe there’s little doubt that the Slovenian Striker would be leading our line for the upcoming season
btw Marc, this is me in “chill out” mode…Cheers
As the regular’s on here are well aware I am a Prophet of the Football Gods.
They have now revealed to me the punishment the PL is going to place on City for the 115 FFP charges they are facing.
They have ruled that Gareth Southgate take over from Pep when he leaves at the end of the coming season.
Marc—that seems a tad gratuitous, after all the fans shouldn’t be unduly punished for the actions of others…GS is like MA’s brother from a different mother…only Scotland has had less shots on the tourney thus far
in the tourney
Marc
At the same time city will be opening a clinic for insomniacs. Each patient will receive at least 19 sessions per season and City will guarantee success.
I wonder if Gasper watched the England and wondered why he turned down the chance to sign Bellingham for £5M.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/gallery/2024/jun/15/kevin-campbell-a-life-in-pictures
I’m still feeling a little affected by Super Kevin Campbell. Only 54 (and I’ve turned 60 today). A very nice photographic tribute. He was hugely popular everywhere he played it seems although his main association will always be with Arsenal in my view. Last time I saw him doing punditry on TV he looked in full health. Very sad.
KP
Campbell was 18years my junior – at 54 and in this day and age it is very young.
Footballers rarely reach an average age of dying in first world countries – there must be many reasons they do not. Their current lifestyles are vastly different from the decades up to the early nineties – Wenger was partly responsible for diet change etc although Brooking was already using his own diet and fitness regime in the eighties. He will probably last longer than most of his peers.
KP
Enjoy your day.
Happy 60th KP
Have a good one bud
Lunin was absolutely atrocious today, so it’s hardly a surprise that he’s at the top of MA’s list of potential Ramsdale replacements
Saliba does not look comfortable playing on the left hand side of central defence.
looks like our former used car salesman of chief Raul is heading to South Beach to join up with Messi again…if I was Beckham I would make sure that he wasn’t allowed to make any deals without a credible co-signer in the room, especially if there’s alcohol anywhere on the premises…maybe Pepe can resurrect his career in Miami
14th September – Spurs away
21st September – City away.
Tough September.
Norg
Our second match of the season is away at Villa – Arteta needs to improve his record here or he’ll be under pressure early on.
Marc
A good early indication of how the season will pan out. El B will play it with caution and Emery with gusto.
Norg
If Emery gets another win over Arteta (how many does he need before he officially owns his arse?) then other teams will start to look at Emery’s tactics as a format on how to play against us.
It’ll take Arteta a season to adjust.
If you get a chance watch the Turkey/Georgia match…breathless moments throughout and some quality finishing to boot…best match so far by a good margin
“The Athletic have outlined that strengthening in midfield is now a priority, with Arsenal likely to target a No.6. The club signed Declan Rice for a record £105million last year, but his marauding performances have convinced Arteta to give the England star a permanent license to roam”
since MA cocked-up the whole Sesko gig, due in large part to the presence of Havertz, it appears that we’ve had a complete rethink regarding our transfer plans…so let me get this straight, at one point the focal point of our entire window was to acquire a bona fide Striker, but when our first attempt failed, instead of finding a plausible alternative, we’re now looking to rely even more heavily on Havertz and Rice in the final third, yet neither has a clinical bone in their respective bodies
if this is to be believed, which we won’t know for certain until we see what happens in the coming weeks and months, I have even more concerns about the possibility of MA having what it takes to get things done here…how is it fucking possible that MA’s inabiity to secure the services of a 21 year old Slovenian Striker could derail things to just such a level that our only backup plan was to simply add a depth piece or two and run this failed project back again…fuck, if he was so vitally important that you were willing to put all your eggs in his basket, you get his people in a room and you don’t let them leave until he’s signed on the dotted line
personally I would suspect that either our little egomaniac was reading his own headlines again and thought he could lowball the kid, with no definitive assurances, even though he had ample options, or this was simply another half-baked plan that was destined to fail from the off, which makes me seriously wonder if he ever really intended to acquire a Striker in the first place…tbh this has all the feels of a latter days Wenger maneuver, where whenever a sizeable contingent from within the fanbase and punditry clamored for a positional upgrade, the likelihood of it ever coming to fruition was slim to none…I sure hope I’m wrong, but if not, that’s some short-sighted ego-driven bullshit
TRVL
I caught the highlights of the Turkey vs Georgia game – 4 good goals that we will never see scored by our German No 9. The first goal – a screamer hit on the volley, the equaliser, a clever flick into goal. The next from a 19year old looked straight out of the TH14 catalogue and the last one required a flat out full length run down the pitch.
Apparently somebody at the top is not happy that a very promising youngster is leaving for free to join Bayern Munich.
Nagelsmann is already getting bored of watching the useless tit, Havertz, up top…subbed off even earlier today, after another lacklustre performance…it’s only a matter of time before he’s rightfully replaced in the starting lineup by the 31 year old Fullkrug, who btw wasn’t even on the national team radar until this year…I can only hope that MA does likewise by finding us a real Striker in the summer window
“Arsenal have reportedly shelved plans for a new striker amid links with Victor Osimhen and Santiago Gimenez, instead looking at a more versatile option in attack as Pedro Neto returns to the table”
concerning news on both fronts…as I stated above, we can’t move forward with Havertz and the oft-injured Neto isn’t likely to move our collective needle either
TRVL
We’ve just got to sit back and let demand enough rope to hang himself. He’s been lucky the last couple of seasons that he hasn’t been challenged by Liverpool, ManU or Chelsea.
Between his limited ability and the fact that at least one of them will get their acts together he’ll be in trouble sooner rather than later and as with all charlatans when the pressure hits them they really lose the plot.
The closest to EPL
England vs Denmark.
England is up goal by Kane ,assist by Saka ,but credit for the goal and pre-assist to Walker who sprinted up as Saka gave up, won the ball and..etc
Wake up you guys
Southgate is a one trick pony with total stress on raking long passes. As the pass traverses the field it gets read and intercepted. An occasional of such pass has surprise in it and serves the purpose. But totally playing same way is pony trot – trot. Cute ,but useless.
If that dodo Southgate were to take over Manure
Fuck a long ground shot in and is 1-1
Hoopah
Southgate has a trick?
Well he needs to use it!
How does a manager take players of the quality of Foden, Kane, Saka, Rice, Bellingham etc etc and make them play so badly not in one match but across 3 halves of 2 matches?
Scatter brain football after 4 substitutions. But Denmark played with equal energy ,bit maintained shape. So England looking less lethal and Bellingham feeling lost in the scatter brain football.
Think Denmark players been auditioning themselves for lucrative contracts in England.
This sort of negative performance has Southgate’s prints all over it…does his one trick pony approach remind you of any??? they both deploy that miserable 4-2-3-1, yet they’ve got bags of pace, and like MA, there’s very little countering to speak of…pathetic
TRVL
Southgate makes Arteta look like a top manager.
I really didn’t think there was anyone who could manage that.
Marc-not sure about that, as I can see MA deploying the exact same tactics in this sort of tournament format…just look what MA’s done in Europe…it does make me appreciate Ode even more, as this team moves very similarly to ours once the opposition is allowed to organize in the low block, so you need someone that can properly unlock defences
Marc
No trick just pony.
A nation with a meagre population of just under 6million stood their ground against the mighty England. Southgate hasn’t got a clue and yes TRVL he does remind me of someone.
“No trick just pony.”
Christ that should be put on Southgate’s headstone.
Marc
Southgate reminds me of the sketch with John Major eating peas. Little did we know Mr boring was shafting Edwina at the time. Perhaps Southgate is having the time of his life with the wags – no.
Hoopah
Not good evening entertainment for you – is it broadcast in Goa or the good old BBC.
Norg
Best joke I ever heard about Major was on “the New Statesman” (that’s the story about my political hero Alan B’Stard not the magazine etc) where he describes Major as being so boring he’s the only boy to run away from the circus to join a firm of accounts.
if it keeps happening, this could be known as the European own goal championship
So far VAR has been good at the Euro’s and decisions have been made quickly and on the whole correctly.
Then we get the PL morons involved and its shit.
Its not VAR its the cunts who are in charge of it who are the problem.
The Euros feature the best Refs of the best in Europe. For that reason, no English referee should ever be allowed to oversee a match. PGMOL have incompetent morons as their referees.
For long periods that France/Netherlands match was painful to watch…that’s what tends to happen when you have two organized teams without clinical finishers up top…there’s no doubt Mbappe’s potting one of those 3-4 Greizmann chances and Depay should be at best a depth piece for any contending side…way too negative for my liking
Killroy
The PL brings in the best players from around world and the best managers from around the world – why not bring in Ref’s from overseas?
If it costs more just take a fixed amount from each clubs TV money to fund it.
New post!