Reiss Nelson leaving?

Nacho, captain of Real Madrid misses out on receiving his long duty gold watch as he leaves after spending 24years with the club.

Can’t figure out if I’m drinking too much or not enough – are Portugal really losing 2 nil to Georgia?

This has been a strange competition.

Not sure if Barca are feigning interest in Mikel Merino so they can pursue their real Sociedad midfield target, Zubimendi, undisturbed, but it certainly wouldn’t be the worst strategy considering how fake news regarding Real’s supposed interest led MA to pay well-above the number for Havertz…surely he couldn’t be duped two years running, as I find it very difficult to believe that Barca see this 28 year old player with a 77% passing accuracy last term as the next Busquets…regardless, the last thing we need is two underwhelming fucking Mikels

Marc-Georgia absorbed pressure exceptionally well, albeit against Portugal’s second stringers, then countered with pace…Kvaratskhelia, the Napoli forward who lit up Serie A during their title run in 2023, had a stellar performance, whereas Antonio Siva, the Benfica CB, had an absolute shocker…he setup the first tally with a brain fart giveaway, then conceded a penalty in the second half

as of right now, not a single Arsenal player has performed well in either the Euros or the Copa…Rice and Saka have been rather pedestrian, regardless of Southgate’s Arteta-like tactics, Trossard has been a complete non-factor, Havertz is Havertz, whereas his closest competition, Fullkrug, has been electric, and the rest have either been benched, like Zinchenko and Gabs, or only considered a depth piece, such as Marts…that said, Brazil might look to mix things up, after a poor first outing, so maybe Marts will get a chance to start their next match

the more I watch the Euros the more I realize that our recruitment should address three specific areas where we need to improve:

(1) team speed up top—which isn’t to suggest that we’re a slow team, but if we’re going to take things to the next level we need players who can attack more directly, especially against the likes of City and other top CL sides…we’re simply not clinical enough to slow play our way through organized sides sitting in a low block

(2) striking from distance–we desperately need a player or two who can threaten opposing teams from outside the box…ultimately this will help our less clinical players, as when the opposition adjusts to this new threat it will invariably open things up in behind the backline and in wider spaces

(3) unlocking defences–we need someone besides Ode who can unlock defences from our midfield…there’s no way we can rely upon the likes of Rice or Havertz, should he be deployed in the midfield again, to thread the proverbial needle against good sides…not to mention, Ode spends most of his time on the right, so we could really use some more balance in our attack

Cheers

TRVL

Against other top teams Odegaard often is anonymous. Another partner with similar abilities would provide a better outcome.

“German football fans have overwhelmingly called for Kai Havertz to be kicked out of the starting line-up. A poll of almost 140,000 supporters found that 90 per cent wanted the Arsenal star to be dropped for Borussia Dortmund battering ram Niclas Fullkrug. Havertz scored a penalty in Germany’s 5-1 demolition of Scotland but has since drawn two blanks. He only managed one effort on target during the 1-1 draw with Switzerland despite having six attempts in all, with newspaper BILD giving him a match score of five… with six being the worst-possible rating”

Enough said!!!

keeping in mind, it’s not like he has Klinsmann or Klose behind him, his positional competition is a late developer, who only made his international debut in November 2022, making him the oldest outfield player(31)to make his German debut in 20 years

TRVL
I’m of the opinion that Havertz flatters to deceive against poor opposition generally, as Ozil did with us.

His average needing 3/4 chances to score is what he’s really about. He gets better service from our right dominated midfield than he did with the Chavs.

What is concerning me far more is that El B and Edu are not attracting the players we really need. No one of elite or near elite quality has said they want too play for El B.

Even rough diamonds are saying no thanks.

Why do you think that is TRVL?

Me? I think because El B is a bottler where he goes galaxy brain re their best positions and round pegs into square holes seem appropriate here.

I wouldn’t want to play for El B to be serial second best or worse.

Very worrying from my thinking and shows why El B & Edu don’t have real plans, as their targets are not interested in us.

Wonder what Josh & daddy think about this?

However, if Eze roles up by our season start, I’ll eat some humble pie here. I won’t get the recipe out just yet, though……

Hope you’re well and KP enjoying the cricket with junior?

Often think about you Almunia and hope all is well on The emerald isle.

I just booked a similar villa from next Friday for a week to chill. Less than you’d think at £180 a night and comes with a private chef as extra. You can get 3 and 4-bed luxury villas for similar prices in Samui. I mean £180 to £200 a night for a family of 6? In complete luxury? What’s not to like… The villa company is very good and multi lingual.

https://www.inspiringvillas.com/luxury-villas/the-wave-2-duplex-2-BR-&-kid-room/chaweng-noi-koh-samui-thailand.html

Some great deals to be had in Thailand.

Tony-hard to argue with that deal…last time I was in NY it cost me more than that for our room service breakfast, so you can just imagine the ridiculous nightly room fees

as to the relative disinterest shown by players to come here, the reasons are both plentiful and frustratingly predictable:

(1) lack of rotation
(2) the “besties” initiative
(3) problematic playing time assurances already given
(4) late season failures
(5) Arteta’s maltreatment/mismanagement of other prospects/players
(6) our inadequacies when it comes to the recruitment/negotiation process
(7) robotic tactics/lack of tactical nous
(8) egoistic managerial inklings

if you look at who has come here and why you will quickly discover 3 rather depressing narratives:
(1) historical connections during his previous employment, like with Jesus and Zinchenko, both of whom were periphery pieces without a future at their previous club…we still paid over the number, especially when you include their respective wages, yet they were clearly stop-gap pieces
(2) they had no other viable suitors, especially considering their expectant fees and/or desired wages, like with White, Vieira, Ramsdale and Havertz
(3) we were the only one’s willing to provide incoming players with significant playing time assurances, like with Raya, Havertz and Willian, seemingly without care or concern for positional competition(even when things went sideways or at least didn’t go according to planned)…not to mention, it’s quite fucking obvious that we gave Rice assurances about playing in more advanced spaces, even though no one would ever pay 100+M for Rice the CAM, as he’s never shown a propensity for finishing or unlocking defences in and around the box

of course I could go on and on when it comes to this particular subject matter, but that’s probably more than enough for one evening…Cheers

“No one of elite or near elite quality has said they want too play for El B.

Even rough diamonds are saying no thanks.

Why do you think that is TRVL?”

Why because what players think isn’t the same as the bullshit that gets pushed by the media. If you’re a young player (or their agent / parent etc) you look at Arsenal and say what young players has Arteta developed? None – Martinelli and Saka where already first team fixtures, Saliba was a Mislintat diamond who Arteta tried to force out only to be backed into a corner when he was forced with injury problems. Academy players don’t get a look in during League Cup fixtures – who’s on our radar to watch for next season? Who might be the next player to make it through? Chances are no one will because they’ll never get the chance under Arteta.

You then get into his general treatment of senior players – he has favourites who play no matter what and then you have the treatment of Ramsdale. This type of behaviour gets noticed and players talk to each other.

Finally his tactics are pound shop Pep – I’m guessing next season the inverted full back experiment (disaster) will be gone and he’ll look to copy the CB stepping into CM. Because that’s what Pep does.

I love Arsenal – outside of family members they are the longest relationship in my life but the truth is right now if one of my nephews was being looked at by a couple of PL clubs including Arsenal I’d advise them to not pick Arsenal.

Marc
If El B isn’t successful this coming season a few players will want away. They are likely to be the stars – as they approach their mid twenties they will be wanting to have winners medals in the frame on the wall next to a photo of them holding the trophy aloft.

TRVL
Summed up perfectly.

You’re right about the deals 6 bed ‘Forbes level’ villas are between US$1500 to 3000 a day to sleep 12. 6 mates or couples make the piece ridiculous.

10 nights works out at US$500 a night for a $10m villa where you get a chef and butler for $3000+ a night.

For me better than the Maldives. More to do but similar settings. Samui is quieter than Phuket.

Marc
I agree why let a kid be wasted with Arteta. If the nephew was say 14 then time with Jacky boy could be an advantage. By all accounts from the web Jack is doing good job and well respected like Lujndberg was, is still.

I think the youth job has settled Jack and given him new purpose.

But if around 17+ then no way I’d let a relative suffer what others have suffered before as El B clearly doesn’t have the propensity to change.

Press reports ESR wants out. Best 8 we’ve got. Get’s MOTM from a very rare start, then benched and hardly used again. I really feel for the lad. Hope he pulls tress up with his next club.

It’s so frustrating that we have the money and pliable owners – too pliable in El B’s case. Surely after 3 summer TWs with only Rice, who wanted London, to show for our recruitment if we’re talking game changing players.

I’m just secretly praying Eze wants to stay in London, and doesn’t fancy the Chavs or Manure/City.

July is but a few days away.

minus our very public failure regarding a particular Slovenian Striker, it seems like most of our window thus far has involved a myriad of nonsesncial recruitment endeavours:

(1) the search for ANOTHER Keeper, which can only be described as yet another WTF recruitment moment, considering what’s transpired here since MA’s arrival…just to recap, we sold off one, if not the best, Keepers in the world for 17M, bought Leno for 25+M, even though he didn’t fit the tactical script, then we completely ghosted him after paying well-above the number to get yet another Keeper, Ramsdale, which, in turn, cut Leno’s MV in half…in the meantime, we made every effort to prop-up Ramsdale in the press, rightly or wrongly, even though he, like his predecessor, wasn’t really suited to play out from the back…all the heels of all that, we gave him a sizeable raise in the summer, when it wasn’t required, only to bring in Raya in the 11th hour of the very same window…we then proceded to repeat the mistakes of the past by benching Ramsdale, minus against Brentford, due to our loan obligations, yet somehow placed a ludicrously high valuation on him, thus making it exceedingly more difficult to get him off the books…now we’re wasting valuable time trying to secure another Keeper, who will either never see the pitch or somehow, someway completely usurp our season-long starter from last year…what a fucking gong show

(2) the seeming endless pursuit of another CB, which would only really make sense if Gabs was being shipped, as his pairing with Saliba saw us concede the least amount of goals in the PL, earning them both a spot in the PL team of the year; not to mention, MA never rotated his CBs following a very brief, early period of backline experimentation…now there has been some chatter, for a couple seasons running, regarding the possibility of Gabs moving on, and he’s likewise in need of a re-up, which would see him get a substantial raise, but unless there’s any truth to those aforementioned rumours or we’re unwilling to meet Gabs wage demands, MA should be focusing on far more pressing needs…with Tomi, White, Timber and Kiwior all available for cover duty, we seem to be sorted…maybe this is simply a sign that the latter CB is going to be heading back to Serie A, as there appears to be ample interest

(3) more youthful prospects, which likely won’t provide us with the necessary push forward, at least not in the immediate future…recent rumours surrounding the likes of Archie Gray and Semih Kilicsoy, who’re both 18, don’t make a lot of sense, considering MA’s shortcomings, at least thus far, when it comes to incorporating young blood into the lineup…of course, I certainly don’t have any issue with the notion of filling up the cupboards, with the future in mind, but I would much rather MA expend his energies on finding readymade pieces that can help us now, instead of those more pie-in-the-sky prospects, who may or may not make an impact this season or next…just look at what’s transpired with the likes of ESR, Vieira and Marts, amongst others, combined with the glaring lack of first team opportunities being offered up to our academy blue chippers, which is likely why some have eagerly sought greener pastures…with this in mind, I saw Balo score a screamer in the Copa that neither Havertz nor Jesus could ever duplicate even in their wildest dreams

rant over…Cheers

btw, by readymade I don’t mean the increasingly fragile, annoyingly petulant and incessantly flopping Neymar, who at 32 simply isn’t worth the anguish…that said, If Al-Hilal want to make a straight swap with us for Havertz, I’m all for it

if MA had half a brain he would be using Ramsdale to lower Isak’s fees, as he would be a brilliant upgrade at the Striker position

Tony-likewise a fan of Eze, as he could provide cover at a variety of positions, plus if he were to be deployed in the 8, that would see Rice back in his rightful position as an 8…just can’t see it happening, for the above reason, and the fact that he might not be a good fit alongside our present “Striker” options…that said, if we could acquire him and Isak, I would be over the fucking moon

I wouldn’t blame Vieira for wanting out – the question is what could we get for him?

We’re looking at a huge loss – a £10 million loss would actually be a good result when you consider Arteta’s previous record.

If we break even on Ramsdale it’ll be a good result.

Nketiah will go for way under the price we’re asking.

These idiots couldn’t sell a life jacket to a drowning man.

No way that’s a handball but fuck wit (why are English refs so completely useless?) has given it.

Nagelsmann speaking on Havertz:

“He has a clear job in many games, which means that he doesn’t have many ball actions because he should create space for others. He did that exceptionally well…it’s not always just about scoring a goal”

some will undoubtedly read this and wrongly surmise that I’ve missed the point of MA’s little Havertz initiative, as Nagelemann, who’s a manager of some note, appears to be in lockstep with our skipper in this particular regards…to that I would simply say, it’s a bit more nuanced than that

with the national side Musiala and Wirtz, their primary goal-producers, are tucked inside, then their backers take up more advanced positions on the flanks in order to stretch the opposition’s backline…with Havertz on the pitch the hope is that his movement off the ball can provide little pockets of space, in those exceedingly tight quarters, by manipulating the movement of one or both of the opposition’s CBs…in many ways, it makes good sense for their particular tactical model, as just behind Musiala and Wirtz, sits both Gundogan and Kross, who can not only pick a pass but tend to take up the attentions of those deeper-lying midfielders, who must now choose between helping their CBs or trying to shutdown the aforementioned midfield duo…if they choose the latter, they will undoubtedly leave openings for the tucked in forwards to create favourable 1v1 or 2v1 mismatches, should Havertz’s create the desired diversion

in our case, we’ve typically deployed Marts and Saka in wider spaces, with our RB providing the odd overlapping run, whereas our LB tends to sit deeper, as an inverted backer…under these circumstances, as teams will generally double-up our wide side players, Havertz’s movement off the ball doesn’t really provide our supposed primary contributors with the space they require to get Grade A goalscoring opportunities…in fact, Havertz naturally becomes much more of a target man, as our heavily defended wide-side forwards now look to send more crosses into a less populated box…knowing Havertz’s lack of finishing prowess, this seems totally counterintuitive, unlike when he’s playing with his German compatriots

this problematic dynamic is likely why MA dropped Marts, even after he was back to full health, as not only does Tross tuck inside more, our inverted backer allows Rice to push further forward…problem is this tactical configuration actually favours our least clinical players, as it gives Havertz and Rice more opportunities, while leaving our wide side players more isolated and constantly facing a barrage of double-teams..so if you’re not comfortable with the notion of having to rely on a three-pack of Havertz, Rice and Tross to continually manufacturing goals against top quality sides, then you, like myself, had better hope to God that we get this window fucking right

in order to achieve this ends, we first need a top-notch Striker, who can create his own chances, clinically finish and draw his fairshare of double-teams, thus opening up pockets of space in and around the box…next we need a readymade attacking midfielder to play opposite of Ode, who can be far more effective in the final third than Rice from both a service and finishing capacity…then last but not least, we need to either dedicate ourselves to getting Marts back on track or find a readymade like-for-like alternative…as of right now, we’re like the poor man’s version of a world-class team

btw I did see Havertz split two Danish defenders today, albeit their positioning was amateur hour personified, and although this was undeniably positive, you can’t ignore that fact that he failed with all three of his grade A chances…now he did ultimately score from the spot, but that in no way offsets his inadequacies when it comes to converting from open play…furthermore, he was unnecessarily offisde on a multitude of occasions and quite fortunate not to have given up a penalty in the lead-up to the Danes disallowed tally

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/arsenal-transfer-emile-smith-rowe-33137110

Arteta spoke of his “love” for Smith Rowe and challenged him to use his recent struggles as a motivator going forward. “I love him as a player, he is a joy to watch,” Arteta said.

“How he moves, changes direction and how physical he was today without the ball. He went into duels and won a lot of them and was thinking with that killer instinct to play forward and make things happen.

“When Emile is in that moment, it’s very difficult to stop him. Today he helped us a lot to win the game.
SoB why the hell are you not playing him then ?

Hoopah—you can’t believe a single word that comes out of either side of his mouth…until he stops packaging the “truth” in such a contrived and self-serving manner he will never gain the respect of those on the outside looking in, which clearly includes a whole host of players whom we’ve clearly coveted…Cheers

England concede expectedly. The team is just set-up to chase shadows at the back. The speed at which Slovakia is attacking why the hell Rice is playing so high up where he has no skills to score in a tap -in

Arry Kane had either deteriorated rapidly or is playing some politics on Southgate. That pass to Eze appeared purposely hit under.
Also Dubreka just so good in the air ,gets every ball up there. So wtf continuing the same same

England can win if Harry Kane is substituted.

Sorry
It was Harry Kane with the header at extra time
Bellingham is crucial. Has the cutting edge. Qualifies as a Galáctico

Bellingham should be the captain for England. Even now motivates players.
Guess used to feel stranded with Southgate tactics.
Southgate is a decent man , with excellent manners ,but average intelligence. So the System feels comfortable with Southgate.

Strange tournament – England with a great midfield and forward line bang average and Spain 1 nil down.

Bellingham – what a star and Gasper (who) turned down the opportunity to sign him for 5million GBP.

considering how we tend to play some rather dire and negative football when it matters most, you can see why we need our own Bellingham and Kane…clinical finishing is so crucial when you’re dealing with such fine margins

Spain v. Germany on Friday should be an intriguing affair

I watched the first half and fell asleep as it was an 11pm KO.

Why? because it was like watching El B’s tactics and being a yard off the pace and clueless.

I went to bed.

Granted the KO times are poor for me, but when the play is that boring I can only reiterate my feelings that Southgate should replace Ten Hag at Manure.

That should set Manure back another 3 years at least.

Hoopah I with you 100% re ESR.