Things have been going pretty well for us this transfer window. We have managed to sign Declan Rice, a right profile 24-year old with loads of experience and hungry to achieve more. I don’t know if Rice would be able to fix the problem Thomas had last season, but we have tried to address it. We have got Timber, which allows us the flexibility to use White as CB if and when needed. Last season, we ran out of ideas and bodies when both Tomiyasu and Saliba were out, injured. We had to play Holding because White couldn’t be shifted to CB, and Kiwior is still raw to adapt to the style of play Arsenal does. We have also addressed Xhaka’s immobility with Kai Havertz. Despite his Chelsea’s performances, I am hopeful on this. Kai will prove to be a much better player for us, and will certainly have more runs in him than Xhaka.
We have stop gaps in other places, Tierney is a very decent defender if Zinchenko get injured (again), Nelson/Jesus can cover for Saka at RW, Trossard provides a cover for Martinelli and can play up top too. We have ESR in the mix this season, who can cover for Odegaard. We have a solid, young team who just finished 2nd and is going to fight till death to improve it. They are going to play at the grandest of the stages in Champions League and I’m sure players who fought to get the #10 and #7 shirts at Arsenal would want to prove they deserved it.
So, what is this reality check?
First, we are playing in one of the toughest leagues in the world. Second, last season was a transitional/poor season for most of the top 6 and they are aggressively fixing their problems. Third, it’s not a one-game-a-week for us and Mikel is not very good at rotation I’m afraid. Lets get into the details.
First point is evident. It doesn’t matter if you are Manchester City, Liverpool or Arsenals of the world, you are not guaranteed to win against the likes of Brentford, Brighton or Wolves. Even a newly promoted side like Forests can restrict City to share points. We didn’t make it last season not because we lost to Man City or Liverpool, but because Everton beat us, Brentford restricted us to a draw at home and we couldn’t get past the Southampton defence twice. There’s no guarantee in March 2024 that a team which sits on top can easily beat a team fighting for relegation. This is what makes Premier League exciting and is something you can’t do much about, than to concentrate on your game and improve as much.
Second point is concerning.
- Liverpool – Last season Liverpool fell of the cliff after Mane left. They had a very old and tired midfield too. They have let go Firmino, Milner, Keita and Chamberlain while strengthening their midfield by getting deals done for Szoboszlai and Mac Allister. Again, the same philosophy as ours, bring in young legs but experienced. I’m sure Klopp would be serious to get back into the mix after having missed the Champions League spot.
- Man City – Well, Man City have only brought in Kovacic as of now and half of their title winning team is off to Saudi. That’s a good news till you check that Pep is still there and he can build a team from scratch whenever he wants. All the money that is coming in, he will use it to fix what’s getting broken. They have unlimited money and one of the best managers in the world.
- Chelsea – The best transfer for Chelsea has been their manager. They have brought in Pochetino, who is great in building a solid team playing a definitive football. All the talents in the world and they were poor because there wasn’t anyone to manage them. Now, they have one and they have let go of the players that weren’t performing in their system. Mason Mount, Havertz Pulisic, Koulibaly, Kovacic, Mendy are all gone and it’s the last transfer window that will help them. The likes of Mudryk from last season are going to improve, and there recruitment is still going on. I personally think they will be the ones to watch out for, and are going to make life tough for everyone around.
- Man United – Well, Ten Hag is doing what Arteta has done at Arsenal. He is another non-emotional manager, has let go of De Gea and replaced him with Onana. Maguire has already been stripped of captaincy and he has brought in Mason Mount from Chelsea to strengthen his midfield. United are in Champions League, they have added motivation to invest and ETH is a very capable manager in building a team which can fight. They are going to be a pain in the arse, as always for us Arsenal.
- Newcastle United – They are the new addition in top 6. David Howe has gotten them the Champions League spot, after bringing the likes of Guimaraes. They are yet again in the market trying to improve on their 4th place finish, and has already brought in Sandro Tonali from AC Milan. Another oil money club to fight against, with virtually unlimited money and a manager who has done pretty well after taking over a relegation fighting Newcastle a year and half back.
- Tottenham – Well, they are going to be sh*t always, so nothing to worry about them.
It’s not going to be easier this season, that’s for sure.
Coming to the last point – we are all aware of Arteta’s stubbornness in playing a fixed starting XI, with last 10 minutes subs. It has it’s Pros and Cons. When these players play together regularly, they develop a chemistry and understanding about each other’s game. Also, a winning team is very high in confidence and any changes to it likely causes a small disruption. However, not all players are built like Saka or White, and playing them week-in, week-out can cause them fatigue and injuries. We have seen Partey broken, we have seen Saka not playing to his best, and we have also seen what happens when a player not rotated enough comes back in the fold when one of such cases happens (with Holding).
I’m in the favor of sticking to a playing XI but not that rigidly. It’s as simple as subbing out Saka a little bit earlier if we are 2-0 up against Forest. Showing a little bit of confidence for the bench players against the bottom half teams can keep these players fresh for the important games.
This season is going to test Arteta on his rotational skill. We are going to play twice a week and it’s not like no one would care this time. He will have to manage players in a way that they do not get injured, do not get stale, do not feel dejected; all while keeping them motivated for every minute they play.
As I said the last time, it’s going to be a tough season for the Manager, having to manage the team in two important competitions while improving on the last season’s performance; players after staying on top of the table for around 30 weeks and not winning; fans because we have seen improvement and the frustration and anger has changed to hope.
Right, see you in the comments.
Marc
Two good examples. Tinker the film and the TV series were gripping. Different but similar. Gary Oldman was as good at capturing the essence of Smiley in the film as Alec Guinness was in the TV series. Le Carre would be my specialist subject if I was ever arrogant enough to try Mastermind.
Oh Almunia that reminds me – I read Le Carre’s (real name David Cornwell) autobiography, ‘the Pigeon Tunnel’ as my main book on holiday. I’m not a huge fane of autobiographies but always happy to make an exception for him. Plus some JG Ballard which always makes sense in Spanish holiday resorts.
From the Athletic an article about Arteta targets unpredictability as Arsenal’s tactics enter chameleon phase. So what is next? Arteta’s answer is to transform Arsenal into a footballing chameleon.
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Pep’s version of tinkering and over thinking. Be prepared for a season of Galaxie brain.
PS
Marc – I’ve always wanted to delve deeper into Stephen King’s work. Is it best to read his work chronologically or doesn’t it matter? I’m guessing he’s produced 60 plus novels in his time so I better get my skates on.
Killroy
A fucking chameleon with plucked eyebrows and whose only colour is black.
Kroenke
My mine thing with King is the Dark Tower series – tripped into it by lack of choice believe it or not. I’ve read a few volumes of his short stories which I’d recommend some are proper horror some aren’t even close plus some other stand alone books. There’s a huge amount he’s written that I haven’t even got close to.
The Dark Tower is a strange mix of genre’s – its something you’ll either fall in love with or hate massively. My only recommendation is I read the 2nd one first and got hooked, if I’d read them in order I might not have bothered after the first but if you decide to start them make sure you at least get into the 2nd one.
Killroy
For fucks sake – he’s already giving interviews about the squad with new additions not gelling until they’ve had 55 matches together – he’s not even just writing off this season with his record in Cup competitions he’s writing off part of 24/25 which of course will have to be extended because of new signings next summer.
It staggers me people fall for it so easily.
KP-here’s a good guide to follow when it comes to Stephen King—wade into his world by reading Night Shift, which is a collection of 4 short stories, which might of actually been published under his pen name, Richard Bachman—then to better understand his Sybil-like relationship with the world at large read The Dark Half, which was his demented attempt to come to terms with his aforementioned alter ego…in the author’s notes he paid tribute to the late Richard Bachman…to provide a little bit of balance to this undertaking, watch Shawshank Redemption and Green Mile, making sure to not watch them back-to-back…top it all off with The Stand…there’s other good works, including the Gunslinger 8 book series, but this should satisfy any curiosities you might have…Cheers
Almunia-thanks again for reiterating our concerns over a potential rehashing of the whole cult of personality narrative that became such a stumbling block during Wenger’s latter reign…it’s mindboggling to me that some can’t even fathom the obvious parallels…take care
Marc, I’d read and enjoyed the first two Games of Thrones and then bought 3 and 4. I got through 150 pages or so and was so confused, I then realised I was reading book 4 not book 3 – I gave up!
Killroy,
A thousand apologies, I missed your post directed to me,must have been composing one of my own at the time. I’m located in the south east of Ireland in a county called Wexford,about a 2 hr bus journey from Dublin. I’ve heard others comment on that arrangement that Dublin has with regard to US immigration, very handy indeed. A seven week tour of Europe sounds tremendous, hope you enjoy it greatly. I’m pretty sure Wenger Eagle ,of Dublin and le grove, has relocated to Seville,might be worth asking him for advice on places to go,he always seems most approachable to me.
I did warn you that irish rugby is a terrible financial investment, never back them at the world cups! Still I did say that I felt the French u-20’s were awesome so I can’t be too critical of our lads. If you’re a gambling man I would advice a few quid on the French in September.
As KP said,let us know how you’re getting on as your tour progresses. Best of luck.
Marc,
I may have recommended this to you before but if you’re looking for something in the fantasy genre(aside from the post Christmas table) my own favourite is assassin’s apprentice by Robin Hobb. It’s told over three trilogies with each trilogy telling a different story but important nonetheless to read them in order. Nothing to do with the computer game assassin’s creed btw. Otherwise the world of Raymond Feist is simply amazing, starting with ‘the magician’.
In 1984 my dad bought a vhs player with 3 videos. He never bought another one! So for three years(when we were able to buy some ourselves) we survived on ‘airplane 2-the sequel’, ‘mutiny on the bounty'(hopkins/gibson) and ‘day of the jackal'(Edward Fox, vastly superior to the later Gere/Willis effort). As a result I never bothered to read the Jackal and you have confirmed what I always suspected, that although books are superior to films,in this case the film was so good it actually did the book justice.
Also I stumbled across a 1990 film last week which I thoroughly enjoyed called ‘State of Grace’ featuring a young Gary Oldman,equally young Sean Penn and a not too old Ed Harris. Anyone with a dodgy stick/ box ( no metaphors pls) should check it out.
Bob,
Not just me with Catch 22 then. Good to know……
Would be well worth your while to revisit those GOT books or look into Hobb or Feist if you like the odd venture into fantasy.
TRVL,
I’m like KP,haven’t really found my way into the Stephen King world. Will take your advice,cheers.
KP,
I’m having no luck finding you a link. What I can tell you is that the documentary was titled “Liam Brady-the Irishman abroad” and was produced by RTE. It was aired in February 2023 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Brady signing schoolboy forms with Arsenal. I know you haven’t had any luck with this in the past but you should be able to access it if you download the RTE Player app. I hope you get to watch it someday,a must for all Brady fans.
Almunia-some other older movies to consider: Sean Penn in Bad Boys(1983), Gary Oldman’s Romeo is Bleeding(1994), Momento(2000), Requiem for a Dream(2001), To Live and Die in LA(1985), Glengarry Glen Ross(1992), The Young Poisoner’s Handbook(1996) & Aronofsky’s Pi(1975)
State of Grace was a glorious film which somehow went relatively unnoticed at the time
TRVL,
Some good ones there,have seen the first four only,will search for the others. Memento has been in my top 10 since the first time I saw it(just don’t ever ask me to name my top 10). You’ll obviously have seen Mystic River then,another that mysteriously was never really celebrated. Was watching ‘The Hustler’ today,much to the bemusement of my children who can’t understand why anyone would voluntarily watch something in black and white. I love it and even though ‘The color of money’ is a drop in standard I enjoy that also. Did you ever see Billy Bob Thornton in ‘Swingblade’? Unusual film but a fantastic performance I thought.
Right,that’s me done for the night,early start tomorrow, hope we’re all here to do it all over again!
really enjoyed Mystic River and Sling Blade…just a few more options: American Beauty, Being John Malkovivh, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation & Rushmore…all stellar offerings…have a good one
as someone who has travelled extensively, for both sports and business related reasons, combined with the fact that I slept about 2 hours a night for the better part of 30 years, due in large part to my overactive brain(not a positive btw) and my various drug dependencies(prior to 10 years ago), I’ve watched and read an absolute shit-ton of movies/tv series and books…if it wasn’t for these outlets I very much doubt I would have survived my dog’s years-like existence…with this in mind, here’s my list of most influential authors:
(1) Ian McEwan—the older the offerings, the better(including The Comfort of Strangers)
(2) Neal Stephenson—up to and including Reamde
(3) Kurt Vonnegut—making sure you don’t skip over Cat’s Cradle
(4) Chuck Palahniuk—first 5 novels, from Fight Club to Lullaby
(5) Christopher Hitchens—almost anything he touched was worthy of consumption
Cheers
Here’s a conspiracy theory – the Saudi offer of 300m is to force Madrid to pay a huge sum for Mbappe or let Mbappe choose between going to Saudi and undoing his work, or rot on bench for a year.
This definitely need some pop corn.
Cheers Almunia and thanks for looking again. I’ll have another go myself.
I’m really enjoying these cultural discussions and getting ideas for new directions to take.
Ambarish – that Mbappe story is just unreal isn’t it? Almost a silly season distraction. What next? Theo Walcott coming out of enforced retirement to lead our line?
Vieira – Hitchens had a truly brilliant mind and wasn’t afraid to exercise it on all sorts of bullshitters. A terrible shame that he died relatively early. I was once sat on a transatlantic flight near him. I didn’t bother him but sat and watched him out of the corner of my eye as he demolished numerous miniatures of spirits, not unlike Wormold and Captain Segura playing draughts (drafts?) in ‘Our man in Havana’. As impressive a drinker as he was a combative and hugely intelligent debater.
KP
It’s a such a shame on Mbappe part, he could have done things better but wants more money by leaving on a bossman. At some point, everyone’s gonna get frustrated.
Definitely unreal.
“State of Grace was a glorious film which somehow went relatively unnoticed at the time”
One of my favourites and something an awful lot of people haven’t seen / heard of.
Almunia,
12 Angry Men is one of my favourite films (B & W) as is, for very different reasons, ‘Dead men don’t wear plaid’.
Almunia
Very exciting Rugby matches ahead like all the warm up matches for the RWC. I do like Ireland but they got a Worldcup hoodoo hopefully this time they will make it into the finals.
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Otherwise the All Blacks seem to be peaking just in time and a France v ABs would also be tasty and I’ll be back in the US for that.
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At the moment we are in Seville staying at the Eurostars Torre Sevilla on the 22nd floor overlooking the city having a blast. Next stop Cadiz for some excellent fish.
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14 days in Germany plus 18 days in the UK. Took me a week to find an eSIM for my phone to have a UK phone number plus roaming in all the different countries with having a dual SIM phone.
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For movies one must not forget the “3rd man” with a young Orson Wells plus “From here to Eternity” in addition loved the original “Blade Runner”. Recent TV series “A spy among friends” with Damien Lewis was entertaining.
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With the Mbappe we could not have wished for a more entertaining TW even though I hope we are not finished yet. A proper striker anyone?
Lads
Heard the news? It’s making me a little moist to be honest.
Cardiff are taking to Arsenal about taking Charlie P on loan.
Kroenke
That would be a very good outcome when the talk a couple of months ago was he wanted to leave permanently.
Marc
Agreed. Arsenal were negligent frankly when they loaned him to Blackpool. I think they started the season with a sensible manager (Neil Critchley?) but the plug should have been pulled as soon as Mick McCarthy was named as his replacement. (Sorry Almunia – I know we disagree about Mick’s bona fides, but at least I have a certain R Keane on my side!).
I think Luton are also in the hunt so given their PL status and the fact that it’s CP’s home town, the Bluebirds may sadly miss out. I’d love to see him in Wales and I think the fans would warm to him instantly.
KP-you’ll enjoy this little brush with greatness…I was fortunate enough to see Hitchens on 3 seperate debate occasions, twice in Toronto and once in NYC…the one was entitled “Hate speech is a right”, which was a bit too nuanced for some of the overtly thirsty university students and I believe it actually contributed to the rise of the more nefarious version of Jordan Peterson…of more pertinance to you, I saw him debate Tony Blair during his post-God is not Great years, when he was still fairly active on the circuit following his cancer diagnosis…this series, or Munk Debates, were based on whether Religion was a force for good or evil in the world…needless to say this wasn’t a fair fight, even though Blair’s a rather eloquent speaker…anyways, I had gone with a fellow Professor friend of mine, who had a very, very minor contributing role in both Hitchens works involving Mother Theresa and Kissinger…as such, I was able to meet him briefly, although I was primarily just an abserver to their conversation…he would tragically pass almost a year to the day later…fuck it would have been brilliant if he were around during the Trump presidency and the covid period…Cheers
Kroenke
Our record on loans hasn’t been great the last few seasons. We need to improve on this side of things as well as our transfer process – not talking about the players we buy just fees paid or faffy about getting the deal done.
pertinence
Vieira
Thanks for sharing that. I never saw him in his milieu which I regret.
The weird thing is he has a brother in the UK, a small minded, misanthropic peddlar of little England viciousness called Peter who is such a whore, he has side hustles on BBC opinion programmes as well as other right wing so-called journalism like the daily mail. Blame England’s ills on single mothers, too much permissiveness, but who also thinks there should be a libertarian drugs market and a free speech world that allows for overt racism and misogny. An equally bad version of Peterson.
Fuck knows what it must have been like for the two of them growing up. I wouldn’t shit diarrhoea on Peter if he was aflame, but Christopher is already being missed.
Marc
I think you’re right. It cannot be that difficult to manage 6-8 kids remotely every year by putting them into decently run clubs and keeping tabs on their progress. They should also hold their nerve and bring these players back or reassign them if they perceive that their careers are being deleteriously affected. I wonder if that’s down to Mertesacker and his people or whether it’s a more contractual issue. Patino, Azeez and Coyle, among others, have all suffered in one way or another.
Thanks for VPNs will be able to watch in Cadiz part of Newcastle v Chelsea before switching to Barca v AFC. If Barca does a number on us we will have the LG meltdown entertainment to follow.