Saliba is staying

KP-Cheers…I guess I should have prefaced my comment by stating the positives, like his savvy in-match gamemanship or the fact that the only significant formational tweak he’s made was to play Xhaka in a more advanced position…let’s face it, in many regards Arteta didn’t have to be on the pitch for most matches as all he did was pick the same team, play the same tactics and make the same subs, depending on if we were winning or losing

obviously I’m being a tad facetious, as I know he’s not totally devoid of ideas and from all accounts he does put in the requisite amount of effort on the training pitch, but besides the passing/positional drills that he “borrowed” from Pep, I don’t see his particular stamp on these players…their respective strengths existed before his arrival and/or were honed elsewhere, whereas their individual deficiencies haven’t been weaned away during his numerous years in charge

take for example Saka, he’s always been a top drawer player when it comes to pace, on and off the ball, close control, with his left foot, making runs off the ball, crossing into the back post and the ability to create space in 1 v. 1 scenarios…so if I were in MA’s shoes I would first look to deploy tactics which best highlighted his strengths, which simply hasn’t been the case in the main, as Saka faces as many, if not more, double and triple teams than anyone in the PL…this can only happen if teams don’t believe your willing to employ the requisite amount of dummy or overlapping runs on his side of the pitch

then I would work specifically on those areas where considerable improvements could be made, like keeping defenders honest visa vie his right foot, which is a talent he’s certainly not devoid of, but should be better by this juncture, or by helping him to become a far more proficient striker of the ball, in and around the box, as he’s an average shooter at best…Saka has the potential to be one of the best forwards in world football, but this will never come to fruition if the aforementioned changes aren’t made…in fact, it’s far more likely that injuries will stymie he rise to the top as our current scheme requires him to endure way too much unnecessary contact

so this isn’t an attack on Arteta’s intentions, as I’m sure he would like nothing more than to be the manager of a title winning side, but who doesn’t desire such glorious ends…the bigger question is does he possess the means to achieve such lofty objectives…from what I’ve witnessed thus far it’s a definitive no…in fact, I would suggest that if you gave a more experienced and tactically savvy manager our roster, then likewise gave him the kind of funds at MA’s disposal, especially considering the amount of top 5 or 6 teams presently in disarray, I think we would have finished well within the top 4 last season and been titleholders this year…of course, this is just my personal opinion, so take that for what it’s worth

stymie his…

KP-sorry if that seemed like a rant directed in your general direction…that was definitely not my intention, as we’re typically on the same page when it comes to our present manager

No sweat Vieira. I have Broad shoulders. Any time mate.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/jun/14/everton-could-face-multi-million-pound-legal-bill-if-they-lose-ffp-case

An interesting development, with a pleasing symmetry with what’s happening against City at the top of the PL, it looks like our friends at Goodison are in equally deep shit over financial impropriety. A real headache for the City apologists this one.

Imagine the furore if poor destitute Everton go broke as a result of this and nothing happens to City for committing worse breaches. Either way, it’ll add some extra spice to the onfield action when the cases start to be heard. They both deserve the absolute worst.

I don’t know if the fact that the Rice story is starting to take a backseat to a potential Havertz move is simply a telltale sign that the former is almost assuredly heading our way or a clear indication that the latter rumour has legs…I’ve said my piece on Havertz, in that I’ve always rated him up until the time his demeanor and work ethic on the pitch took a decided turn, but ultimately I just want us to remain squarely focused on our most pressing needs first and foremost…I get that there’s a bit of a feeding frenzy when it comes to Chelsea, as everyone knows that they need to undergo a rather dramatic house cleaning, but I certainly don’t think that Havertz is in the same “fire sale” boat as some others, especially considering his present age and the fact that his contract doesn’t expire until the summer of 2025…so instead of wasting our time and efforts once again, especially towards a luxury purchase who according to some doesn’t favour us as a landing spot, let’s get our starting 11 sorted before we go shopping for expensive accessories

presently our priorities should be as follows:

(1) midfield-first and foremost a Xhaka upgrade
-second order of business is another midfielder

if we’re planning to play Rice in a more advanced position, then our 2nd midfielder acquisition must have defensive qualities and be groomed as Partey’s eventual replacement…if we’re planning on selling Partey then we need to invest heavily in that position with someone the likes of Caicedo…personally I would opt for a Rice/Caicedo/Partey trio, but that’s likely wishful thinking

(2) getting our backline sorted

if the season were to start today here are our projected starters and cover pieces:

White(RB) showed some fairly signifcant improvements, much to my surprise, but not his natural position…better suited as a RCB in a back 3
Saliba(CB) looks like our starting CB for the foreseeable future(sorted)
Gabs(CB) hopeful that he will continue to progress, which seems only logical if his above partner is on the pitch(sorted)
Zinchenko(LB) has an intriguing up-side but injured too often and a little too inconsistent for my liking…that said, not totally disturbed by the notion of him as our starter so long as there’s a viable option sitting in behind

Tomi-personally I would see him off but with his present injury he’s here until at least the winter window…I like him but he’s not available enough to trust moving forward
Holding-simply needs to go…just can’t handle the pressure that comes with this particular job…other than that I have nothing bad to say about this gem of a lad
Kiwor-has potential to be a viable cover piece so long as we can find him some velcro kicks
Tierney-looks as if he’s on the outs, but I would rather he stayed…he’s better defensively than Zinch but injured about as much…maybe it would be best if we had both considering all the variables involved, but I can see why we might sell if a sizeable offer was forthcoming, as he makes little sense in that more tucked in role
Nuno-if I fashioned myself a good Coach I would keep this kid as he’s got some skills you simply can’t teach…unfortunately he needs some serious coaching-up and the 2nd half of his loan certainly didn’t help matters
Cedric-adios, please and thanks
Marquinhos-I would imagine he’s destined to be sent on loan for at least one more season

as such, we must decide if we believe in our wide-side backers…if not, we might need a RB and a LB, if Tierney is exit stage left…if MA sticks with White and Zinchenko, we might only need some cover on the left so long as Tomi can return by the beginning of September…if Holding is on his way out we will definitely need another CB…probably best to get someone who can play both inside and out, to give us some positional coverage flexibility

(3) Forwards-right now we appear to have Saka, Marts, Jesus, Tross, Nelson, Eddie and Balo at our disposal(maybe even ESR and Vieira, albeit the latter makes way more sense in the midfield)
if I felt that we would have the finances to make the a big move up front and deal with our more pressing needs I would moved this into the 2 hole, but I don’t want anymore half measures like in the winter window…with this in mind, we should keep Balo and maybe deploy him at times out wide, as he appears to have the requisite pace and dribbling that position requires…now if we could find a way to rid ourselves of Eddie’s short-sighted contract, I would suggest that we gave minutes to Jesus, Tross and Balo up top, then purchased a proper cover piece for Marts…that way we could properly evaluate our Striker position next season, then if we fel that an overhaul of sorts was in order that would invariably become priority number one next summer

best case scenario
Rice-in large part because it appears to be a forgone conclusion, which isn’t to suggest I don’t rate him, I just don’t like the potential price tag
(the whole thing is like a surprise party that someone mistakenly told you about weeks before)
Caicedo-tenacious, skilled and proven PL performer, who could likewise provide us with some top drawer coverage in a couple key positions(like buying 2 players in 1)
RCB-time to go gem hunting, so do your job Edu
LB-needs to be a player who will not only push Zinchenko, but who can likewise supply some defensive coverage late in matches
Marts cover piece-a more youthful prospect with speed to burn

Cheers

WHU have rejected Arsenal’s 80 million quid offer for Rice. My advice? Make a slightly higher offer, and if they refuse that, drop it and tell Rice to stay put if he really wants to come to Arsenal when his contract runs out next year. Indeed, offer him a shopping signing on bonus for being patient.

Shopping? Whopping!

KP-“One source has described the way in which Arsenal’s offer was structured as “embarrassing”.

now that’s the Arsenal I know…it was probably more like 60M spread over 12 years and a dog we valued at another 20M because we declared that it’s mere presence would guarantee them substantially more “wins”

TRVL

More like the offers £80 million but reduces to £250 if Arteta bottles the end of next season.

Funny how West Ham didn’t go for that?

Rice has one year on his contract left plus WHU can extend it for another year, so he has 2 years to go, that is my understanding. He should do what MBappe he gave a letter to PSG 6 weeks after he signed a new contract that he will not opt in for the last year, now he sent an official letter he will not sign an extension and it may put a bit of pressure on WHU or do a personal understanding with AFC. However there may be other suitors in a year or so.

Fixture lists for next season

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-12197353/Chelsea-Fixtures-Premier-League-2023-24-Pochettinos-receive-favourable-run-in.html

Oops

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-12197859/Premier-League-fixtures-team-hardest-softest-six-games.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-12197301/Arsenal-face-tough-run-trips-Tottenham-Man-United-four-games-2023-24.html

We are definitely going to need to finish strong next season to win the league

Tony

Just checking mate in case you’re having a senior moment – you do realise who our manager is?

as per usual, we’re amateur hour personified when it comes to conducting our transfer business…of course I get that under normal circumstances no one wants to pay over “their” number for any player, but this particular situation is far from normal…we’ve clearly identifed Rice as our priority signing, on the heels of another end of season cock-up, knowing full-well that the Hammers have valued their captain at upwards of 120M or 100M plus a player add-on…whether or not you agree with their evaluation matters not because as soon as we showed our hand most of our bargaining leverage went out the fucking window…so instead of coming to the table with a good faith offering we did what we normally do when it involves in-demand players of consequence, we insult you from the offing…I agree that the notion of a 80M bid being insulting seems ludicrous in the real world, but this ain’t the fucking real world, it’s the PL…furthermore, why do we always seem to adopt a more frugal stance when it involves potentially seminal hires…we certainly didn’t balk at paying above the number for White, Ramsdale, Vieira, Jesus, Tross and of course Pepe…meanwhile, it appears as if we’re out of the Caicedo wars, whom I rate more, and we seem to be engaged in active talks with Chelsea about a player who’s missing the very thing we most covet up top, a clinical finisher, and who likewise has a strikingly similar disposition to one of our former players, the highly divisive Ozil…now unless we have a 300M transfer kitty that I’m totally unaware of, what the fucking fuck are we doing

TRVL

Its very easy to say we’re doing what we always do – harder to sit back and watch it happen again.

As you say why are we so happy to throw money at certain players and yet baulk when at face value what did you expect with an England International, 24 and the Captain of the club we’re looking for buy from?

Marc-I get that it’s a negotiation and that we don’t know how reliable the reporting is, but would anyone really be surprised if we tried to play hardball then either lost the player or wasted a month nickel and diming only to pay full ask in the end…not to mention, we’re the kind of club who can’t seem to walk and chew gum simultaneously, so maybe it would be best if we just went in with our best and final then focused our energies on other transfer matters…opportunity costs matter!!

I guess if the plan was to have Havertz replace Xhaka in more advanced positions, as that’s more in line with his positional success at Bayer, then I kind of get the thought process…it does raise a few concerns though, as I kind of thought that one of the main reasons why Rice favoured us was that he was being lined up as Xhaka’s direct replacement, even though the DM position better suits his skillset, and I’m likewise not sure that the oft-times “lazy” Havertz can handle the box-to-box rigours of this particular plan…all I know is if the plan is to have Rice lying deep, we better keep Partey, especially if Caicedo is off the transfer table, because relying on the likes of Jorginho and Elneny for cover could be a big mistake considering what’s on tap next season

must admit I’ll be incredibly pissed if we drop the ball regarding Caicedo, especially if we functionally provide Chelsea with the monies they will need to make this purchase by taking a player of periphery interest to Poch…not to mention, we will be paying more for Havertz than they paid for Nkunku, who will undoubtedly replace Havertz in their starting 11…we’re always chasing fucking shadows

Morning all
Marc
I was about to fall asleep, which was how I posted the Chavs first. Then a quick glance at our run in, and thought it best if I wake for the start of the 24/25 season. Sadly, cryogenics are not that far advanced. You’re right, though, it’s Groundhog Day coming to The Arsenal soon.

TRVL
Better get used to being pissed off as Caicedo now prefers the Chavs and Tony Bloom is going to drop father Todd’s pants and spank his fat arse with players going to Brighton in exchange.

KP
Thought I’d find a song for you to serenade Mrs KP with the lyrics to help. How’s your tenor timbre, boyo? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgWsgPwuDJ4

The following song is for the afterglow of the moon on the sand while Mrs KP recovers from your crooning.

LIR
Well we know what our coming season looks like now, and the challenges it’s going to present our commander in chief with all competitions. You’d think we’d just say fuck it and pay for Rice and Caicedo instead of us doing the all talk and no action.

Arteta is likely to beat Wenger’s “I could have signed…………..”

Personally, I think there are better out there for £100+M, but Arteta is wrapped up in his dogmatic thinking and now going back to form wanting Canceleo who can’t defend, Rice as an 8 who doesn’t play that position naturally, rating Havertz to be the reincarnation of Drogba who is who is a multi purpose utility player who plays every position with? Well er not much purpose.

Xhaka posted more goals and assists last season. KH had 7 goals and 1 assist where Arteta wants this powder puff technical snowflake as our 6’4″ striker . Wouldn’t we want a 20+ goals per season from our CF?

Ah well, it’ll be amusing watching Tony Bloom pick Todd’s Bs bones clean. As for our window I’ll go back to my football hibernation and concentrate on our music future.

About 8 weeks to normality then if there is anything normal about being a Gunner.

TRVL
Sadly we never had the Caicedo ball to drop in the first place, but you knew that, didn’t you?

Here’s one for you: name one great player who completely fitted the position bought by Arteta? Edu bought Partey and he’s crocked anyway.

Then name the players Arteta can’t appear to work with we have that are good. Players who got little to no game time last season.

Looking at the quality of the players we are likely to sign I’d say we’ll be lucky to secure CL next season, but the ink is still in the pen, so we’ll have to wait and see.

The more our supposed “definitive” plan unfolds the more I don’t fucking believe one ever really existed…so if you’ve been slurping the Kool-Aid, at least in regards to the planning side of things, you would have to believe the following things:
(btw these are but a few of the many)

(1) that even though MA ultimately wanted to play out from the back it made more sense to sell the kind of Keeper you coveted, Emi, keep the one without that skillset, Leno, then pay above the number for a coin toss proposition in Ramsdale…as an added touch of individual brilliance he then benched Leno so that we couldn’t even recoup some of those funds…I get it though, as MA was learning on the job, which is a common refrain at “big” clubs, isn’t it??

(2) that MA’s plan all along was to pay way above the number for the supposed up-and-coming RCB White with the full understanding that, instead of buying a world class RB, he intended to play our biggest defensive investment ever out of position for his entire sophomore season because our little managerial maestro knew full-well that a little LIgue 1 polishing would enable his best bud Saliba to make a triumphant return some 12 months later as our true starting RCB moving forward…pure genius, wouldn’t you say

(3) that even though we coveted two youthful blue chip prospects, in Mudryk and Caicedo, leading up to the winter window, in the hopes of both adding some much-needed juice and depth for both our pending title run and the foreseeable future, our supposed plan B was to add a wantaway forward, who wasn’t a like-for-like Marts cover piece, and an older, slower DM, who wasn’t going to shore up our defensive zone coverage should Partey suffer another injury…makes perfect sense, to nobody

(4) we entered the off-season with the club-inspired belief that our primary objective was to finally revamp our midfield by first ridding ourselves of our Swiss albatross and then proving once and for all that our seemingly endless talk about ushering in a new era wasn’t simply lip service by aggressively pursuing 2 of the most coveted midfielders in Europe…yet within the first 48 hours of the window our savvy manager still has Xhaka on the books, even though he’s said his good-byes and a deal exists, embarassed himself at the bargaining table once again, flipped the script on our desire for Caicedo and started to aggressively pursue another tweener midfielder/forward who disappears far too often and further deepens our finishing concerns…if this is the learning curve everyone’s been raving about, maybe a fucking managerial tutor should be next on our organizational docket

it’s important to remember that I didn’t even mention the most obvious example of MA’s fly by the seat of your pants approach to planning, which goes all the way back to the whole Auba re-upping and WIllian signing, that likewise saw several of our younger blue chippers placed firmly on the back burner, as I’m still infuriated by the fact that this incredibly insightful example has been mistakenly tossed into the beating a dead horse bin in light of our uptick in results…oops I guess I did just mention it…fabricating shit must be fucking contagious

what’s next, Arteta-inspired LG articles about how we should just ignore the whole Caicedo gig, even though this could be our Kante 2.0, and instead lean into the already tiresome and far from over Rice transfer narrative

Tony-not a direct answer to your question but what I’ve written above is much in the same vein…Cheers

TRVL
It says it all and makes me despair that we can be so myopic in the boardroom. I saw Caicedo as The Chav’s Kante replacement.

I’m not in favour of Rice at £100m+++ – he’s just not that elite, runs like an ostrich and is not agile in the final third to play quick triangles et al. Is Rice better than Partey when he’s playing well? Not for me. There are better and cheaper option out there.

Arteta said several times in the press, “We have to get this window right”. The way it’s looking our ‘Right’ is far different to Arteta’s & Edus’. It’s clear Mikel is a Sinatra fan with ‘My Way’ being Arteta’s top tune. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQzdAsjWGPg

I’m assuming we don’t need a marque signing for the ST renewals; being 2nd and straw promises were enough.

Tony and TRVL
Not sure how much you’re into cricket, but the Ashes start today. I reckon Ben Stokes could do a decent job in our midfield. 🏏

One thing I’ve always wondered about TWs since Wenger, the great penny pincher, was at Arsenal – do you think clubs sometimes hold back on making expensive signings for financial reasons? In other words, if we signed Rice today, we’d be paying him a few million in wages before even pre season training begin. There’s also this international nonsense over the next few days, so it possibly makes sense to delay buying someone in case they get a serious injury. Fuck, I sound like Pedro’s alter ego Nigel Cuntfluff with my club apologist stance. Nurse!

According to the DT shares in ManU have been suspended – highly likely a buyout is imminent.

We need to get deals done before ManUs’ transfer budget is tripled.

KP
Foo-bar as the Bad Boys used with their police captain try a few of those add some Belvedere to the sangria mix should fix it, that and Mrs KP with a stethoscope and the perfect song :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6oYyG0KcvQ

I’m actually hoping we get gazumped for Rice then we’ll see the panic set in. Maybe we’ll find someone far better in spite of the A&E dept.

Cricket & ADHD have never been a god mix. The one day events are lively enough to keep my attention. I had my school’s batting record of 6 golden ducks in a row. As a fielder I was deadly accurate with short and long balls thrown.

Practice Foo-Barrrrr KP and breath deeply though the nose and out the mouth while trying to forget about the TW and get with the reggae and chocolate – zero zero if possible. Up there with the best in the world. 🙂