The Em’ Curse!

Rumours that Palace are still interested in Nkeitah.

Now I may be turning cynical into an order for extra thick tinfoil but Palace is local to where Eddie was born he’s a London boy why the fuck would you want to move to Nottingham?

So Eddie / his agent let’s it be known to Palace that they’re his prefered option, plays hardball on terms with Nottingham etc winding down the clock so with Palace the only option and the clock ticking Arsenal are forced to reduce the fee etc. Eddie keeps his £100k per week, Palace save a chunk on the fee and fuckwit and co wonder why they couldn’t sell a glass of chilled water in the desert.

£30 million? If we get £20 million I’ll be shocked.

Tony

You should have heard the Sky commentators on Saturday talking about Havertz – you’d have thought we had the reincarnation of Henry who’d just had an off spell with Chelsea.

Marc—agree on both counts…Sky are the same outlet that somehow suggested we “lured” Havertz from Chelsea, thereby giving the wholly misguided impression that they were determined to keep him no matter the cost…we haven’t witnessed such delusional coverage of a player since Xhaka became everyone’s favourite player after a half decade or so of below average play…in the end, he did manage one viable season, albeit not nearly as fantasic as some would suggest…only at Arsenal could we replace one underwhelming player with an even more underwhelming one, yet be so fucking elated about it

as for Eddie, I’m of a similar belief regarding the whole Forest v. Palace gig…hopefully Palace’s early struggles will encourage them to buy him outright or at the very least take on his full wages in a loan agreement with an option to buy…I must admit I’m a bit concerned that if this were to happen we might opt for a lesser option simply for coverage purposes, as I discussed in my late night post

in regards to Sterling, even though a good chunk of pundits have connected the dots between MA and the former City standout, I was pleasantly surprised that when asked about the possibility of pursuing him MA responded with an emphatic”No”…now we all know you have to take everything he says with a large grain of salt, but the fact he didn’t beat around the bush is encouraging

finally, there’s been some chatter regarding our potential pursuit of Evan Ferguson, seemingly on a one year loan…not a big fan of this for two reasons…firstly, his form has dropped off significantly since his stellar rookie campaign and secondly, he seems as if he might be injury-prone, as he missed 15 matches last season…tbh anyone who can’t supplant Welbeck, especially at this juncture, isn’t someone I want to rely on for goals

I always find it encouraging whenever I can find an actual balanced account of our performances, so with that in mind here’s how ESPN viewed our win against Villa, “this wasn’t a case of Arsenal imposing themselves on the opposition; it was a case of two teams with markedly different styles going at it and one of them, Villa, stumbling when it most mattered”…far too often nowadays nuance is largely ignored, especially when a club, like ours, is determined to push a particular narrative regardless of the mitigating facts…if we really want to achieve greatness, this sort of honest self-reflection is pertinent, otherwise we will continue to fall victim to the same old trappings that plagued us under our former skipper

at this exact moment, I unequivocally believe that we’re the second best side in the PL…of course, Pool isn’t far behind, especially if they can add a piece or two this week…as for the rest of the pretenders, it’s difficult to predict who will rise to the occasion….I will say this though, if Chelsea can somehow repeat the performance they put on yesterday week-in and week-out, all bets are off, but I very much doubt that will transpire

where I have a beef with this club and our manager is the fact that they don’t seem to know how to and/or care enough about taking this organization to the highest of heights…right now we’re a top 10 side who on our best day, with a little luck, can beat anybody on the planet, but only if there’s nothing truly at stake…that’s the fucking rub…that’s why this reminds me of the summer of Cech…it’s not like I don’t understand why Calafiori and Merino were brought in, it’s just that you don’t make these kind of purchases until you properly redress our most pressing needs, especially if Zinchenko, Gabs, Timber, Partey, Tomi and Jorginho are all staying…as such, the strategy seems far more like the Wenger trophy years than a legit attempt to restore, or even better, what was on offer a decade prior…as you’re all well-aware, I despise the very notion of having a built-in excuse for failure, which has happened 3 years running now…so the last thing I want to hear is our manager speaking about our need for a readymade Striker if we come up short again

top 10 side in Europe

I wish I shared your optimism TRVL, but the Chavs looked the real deal against Wolves like a sleeping giant waking up for the first time since RA left the club. The Chavs are reportedly in for VO, where if that happens I see the Chavs outscoring everyone in the PL.

Their win wasn’t luck; they tore Wolves to shreds, but were sloppy defensively in the first half.

In Enzo Maresca they have a very experienced manager who Father Todd trusts, a novelty I know, but they are buying the right profile players to add to the squad, and are getting rid of players nearing being past their prime, as in Sterling. Madueke was on fire and can become a much better consistent version of Sterling or that’s what Enzo thinks and was right to play the worthy off his hat-rick lad.

Sorry, TRVL, going to have to disagree with you here, a novelty I know because I highly respect your footballing views from your years in then game, but we are not the 2nd best side in the league today. We would have been had we bought Eze and VO.

My prediction for the league come May.

City
Pool
Chavs
Us/one of four other teams

I see us potentially dropping points against the following teams:

City home and away
Pool home and away
Brighton away
Spuds away
Newcastle away
Chavs maybe home and away
Manure away and maybe a draw at home.
Bournemouth away
Palace away

Our run in is as follows from March 8:

Manure Away
Chavs Home
Fulham Home
Everton away – what are the odds Dyche grabs a draw?
Brentford Home
Ipswich Away
Palace Home
Bournemouth Home
Liverpool Away
Newcastle Home
Southampton Away – another past banana skin game where Southampton have been a bogey team from the past.

Probably our toughest run in since El B arrived where we have City home on Feb 1st.

I think we can maintain another decent home form this season, but if El B keeps playing Timber LB and White RB I foresee problems because although decent at times, White is not a natural RB: he’s a very good CB and Calafiori and Kwior are good for out LB.

White doesn’t have that natural balance on the ball in that he’s not comfortable and why he makes so many mistakes. Same with Rice also not a natural on the ball but can be direct in a bulldozing way moving vertically up the pitch asa Vieira of old but nowhere near as good.

Timber is defensively sound and has good movement on the ball where I see Timber a much better fit for Saka in the final third. Will El B see this? It means dropping White, so a resounding NO!

Pets ‘R El B I’m afraid where form has little value compared to El B’s ‘Pets’ status where there is much previous El B form here, such as Willian and now Havertz with several in-between.

Zinchenko is well past his use by date, and why no other club wants him or his dumb wages: take a bow our dream team for never learning that players on top wages who are below what we need by some margin, cannot be sold without our paying players off to leave.

If, and it’s a very big if for me we can take points from City, Chavs, Pool and Manure in our run in, where we will deserve to win the league providing we haven’t dropped unnecessary points over the darkest part of winter, including the Xmas fixtures, which are much kinder, in that we play lower teams bar January.

Everton home on Dec 14
Palace Away Dec 21
Ipswich Home Dec 26
Brentford Away Dec 29
Brighton Away Jan 4th
Spuds Home Jan 15

All winnable games with Palace & BHA away and Spuds being our toughest tests. Will Eddie make us pay for selling him? BHA look hard to beat at home if the Manure game was anything to go by.

In my mind we have 4 days to save our winning the PL trophy season with the right incoming players. Merino and one other of similar level is not the key to unlocking the PL trophy cabinet, and us winning the League for the first time in over 20 years.

We will continue to be unbalanced on our left and Marts will be rendered to be at about 50% of his potential through lack of support. This means we are easier to defend against on our right side with double and triple teams on Saka, and closing their triangle spaces we like to manoeuvre around in tight areas, in the final third.

Havertz will score, but nowhere near enough, and when Ode fades from being in the red zone after New Year or is injured we will have big problems in servicing our front 3.

I’m sticking with 4th or worse, TRVL: I hope I am hopelessly wrong, but from what we’ve witnessed so far in the first couple of games, our first 2 wins were far from convincing where we could easily have dropped points if Wolves and Villa hd taken their chances.

We look far from convincing playing that same wash, rinse and repeat football that comes as no surprise when you look at our incomings.

Same again this season, we’ll look like champions in many games until we play the top 8, especially away, and then our wheels will start to come off as we drop points.

We are tight defensively but could be tighter with RB and LB players in their best positions.

We are a mess in midfield bar Ode and either Partey or Rice at 6. We have no specialist 8 AMF which makes our LW ineffective unless cutting into the box as Trossard does, but I think Marts is not allowed and has to be hugging the touchline.

We lack first time potency in the final 3rd. Havertz needs at least 3 clawer chances to score. Saka can score at will when not overwhelmed by defenders. White isn’t a tricky midfielder with 2 quick feet. He’s a lumbering CB with some reasonable skills in his locker, but not for RB. Same for Rice when in the final 3rd does Xhaka impersonations.

4th is my best prediction for this season maybe 5th?

This is on the basis of current play for the last 2 games.

Tony—I certainly understand why you might believe otherwise and I obviously agree that we don’t have enough clinical passing/finishing up top, but I do think we’re a cut above our closest competitors when it comes to the defensive end of the pitch, minus City of course…now this dynamic could change if Saliba suffers a significant injury or MA starts playing musical chairs with our backline, now that we have so many starting options

Pool has already started two different CBs beside VVD, several of Chelsea’s best defenders have been incredibly injury-prone and United still starts Harry and Casimiro…as for Villa, I do respect the CB duo of Konsa and Pau, but I think they’re very beatable on the edges, unless Maatsen maintains his form from last season at Dortmund…the story is very similar when it comes to the Spurs, although I think they’re a notch below Villa at all 4 positions…that said, I do like the paciness of their left side defenders when van de Ven and Porro are paired up

truth be told our settled nature, when it comes to 3 of our 4 backline positions, has given us a decided advantage, which is why it was so perplexing that we brought Calafiori onboard, especially if our intention was to have Timber takeover for Zinchenko…this simply bolsters my view that the former Bologna man was brought here to replace Gabs, which if true we should have pushed to get him in earlier so we could start the season with our supposed best 4 defender options on the pitch…btw I agree with the notion of starting Timber on the right with Saka, as the former’s ability to play out wide and tuck inside would create serious headaches for any opposition…this is why I discussed the possibility of deploying a back 3 with wingbacks when we first signed Timber, considering that White was a RCB at BHA

all that said, I would much rather we pursued a far more offensive course by bringing in an Ode-type player for the left side of the pitch, along with a readymade Striker, but what are the chances of that happening with MA in charge…in order to do that he would have to be willing to use Havertz as more of a bench option, go back on the assurances he gave Rice about his nonsensical final third dreams and be willing to concede possession cheaply at times, which happens more often when you attack/counter with pace…I can’t even imagine one of those things happening, let alone all 3…so even though there’s been a lot of chatter regarding VO, now that it appears as if he can be had for vastly cheaper than originally thought, I think if we do buy a Striker it will be someone who’s more of a cover piece with a Havertz-like profile…in my estimation, this would be a serious mistake both for this season and beyond, as it might negatively impact our ability to get a “real” Striker next off-season

TRVL
You make a compelling case for being positive, and hard to disagree with our back four’s resoluteness. They will maintain the possibility of keeping up with the pack, but just not over 38 games with the imbalance in MF and attack.

Pool will settle defensively, as will Manure and the Chavs. Villa as you say are better equipped now, especially as Onana gets used to Emery’s play.

We have the players to challenge, but not in their best positions where we are still very susceptible if we get key injuries. We’re playing Russian football roulette once again, particularly with Saka, Ode, Partey and Saliba. Rice is also a potential for that list. Tomi and Jesus are already injured after we were told Jesus looked his strongest and fittest during the Wolves game.

As good as our defense was Maya still had to pull off a string of top drawer saves to keep us in both games.

We were no better defensively than the other top 8 teams imho. It’s looking like Maya is going to have to bring an Emi-at-his-best season because of our weakness at LB and RB inversions because of galaxy brain. To correct this he has to drop White: one of his most coveted pets. An injury to Saliba and everyone gets to play in their best positions including White.

Are we getting ready for the inevitable RM calling and as you say Calafiori the ready made Gabs replacement?

Nwaneri and Jorginho are our back up 7 & 8s. Someone recently said Nwaneri is Ode’s back up now, and good enough. With only about 30 minutes PL time under his belt, I fail to see the logic in that PR spin doctoring.

I’m a big Nwaneri fan, but let’s get a few full games under his belt to be up to PL speed, and then make such an assessment.

Let’s see who comes in and leaves in the next 4 days.

If I were to make and educated guess I’d say Ivan Toney will be leading Manure’s line this season and will be hard to stop with Manure’s supporting cast.

Victor Osimhen is reported to be coveted by us and the Chavs but father Todd is baulking at Osimhen’s wages we are led to believe by the bookies using click bait to garner bets.

If we are genuinely in for VO and get him that’s a game changer for us except Havertz will play 8, where he is actually shit. He’s not then right fit for 8. Merino will do a better job there but is more defensively minded at the moment, but El B may change that.

If we get Merino and VO, we have to hope they both hit the ground running to give us a real chance at lifting the trophy come May.

Federico Chiesa is the player the Chavs are interested in over Osimhen and Barca want but their finances are limiting them too much to land the player reports say.

I like Chiesa and think he’d be good for us. Could also fit nicely as a false 9 and AMF8. I’d prefer Chiesa over Merino, and still buy Osimhen and we’d be making the right TW statement with Calafiori. We could be Italian playing through our left side with Marts fat better supported.

It not only would give us balance, but also offer a really good bench with players who can actually change games. Now there’s a novelty.

Tony
If big Gabriel Magalhaes goes to Real this year , it might be a precursor for Saliba leaving next year. Real might have notified the sum of their parts because both compliment each other. Furthermore, Mbape is pals with Saliba whom Mbape dad coached as a kid.
Real is playing a real good Russian roulette

Hoopah

Saliba has had an ambition to play for RM since he was a schoolboy. People that know him from his time at Marseilles confirm his ambition – before he returned to North London he was hoping that RM may have called. If we do not win anything this season then he could be on his bike.

Hoopah
Big Gabs wants to go back to Brazil and play for I think River Plate. He made no secret of wishing to return to Brazil last season, which surprised me knowing how El B would see this as being disloyal. It was probably why Gabs was benched early last season.

Hence the arrival of Calafiori at the expense of Victor Osimhen or Eze. El B can’t risk his defensive efficiency of last season when his midfield is unbalanced making our attack lop sided and mostly one dimensional.

We are already vulnerable down our left, so we’ll see what happens in the TW’s remaining days.

I doubt El B can survive another trophy less season, so a lot to consider for our key players.

I’d be very surprised if RM don’t want Ode back with his seasons’ improvement year on year.

This season and next summer could be a lot of upheaval unless the Kroenkes have a replacement managerial plan in place now or El B actually wins the league.

I’d take either happily but prefer the trophy and let El B go to Barca or RM.

Tony—by “cut above” I meant settled, for the most part, and possibly even better, this year from last, if Timber stays healthy…our possession-based system goes hand-in-hand with MA’s “defend as a team” approach, which is just another attempt by our blunt instrument of a manager to mimic his former City boss…I, like you, see this poor man’s version as a problematic course of action, unless Pep leaves or City gets Juve’d out of the top division…in reality, we aren’t too far apart in our views, as I wasn’t attempting to suggest there’s a wide gulf between us and those sitting 3 through 6, in fact, fine margins would better describe the situation at hand…take for instance your Villa example…I do believe they’re better defensively with Onana, but less so from an offensive capcaity, as I feel that Luiz made considerably more sense as a pivot in their counter-heavy approach…of course, only time will tell

as for Chiesa, I believe he’s on his way to Barca, although that could change as he’s given them a 24 hour deadline to finalize things…from the sounds of things he was really pushing for this move, so much so that he was willing to restructure his current deal to get this deal over the line…imagine if anyone cared that much to come here that they would actually lower their wage demands…that’s what should have happened with the then struggling Havertz, who was clearly on the outs at Chelsea and had few, if any, suitors(certainly none that would have ever offered the wages we gladly gifted him)

with Merino in mind, the club has suggested that “Mikel was a key target for us this summer, and we identified him as a player who can fit perfectly into our squad”…at first blush this sounds outstanding, but only if one totally forgets the fact that the real target was his deeper-lying teammate Zubimendi…so our original intention was to get another 6 so that the world’s most expensive 6 ever could live his ill-suited dreams as an 8, then when that didn’t pan out, we opted instead to buy an 8 to play the 6 to allow our 6 to play as an 8…only at MA’s Arsenal…maybe I’m wrong and we’ll return to the good old days when our backers would lauch endless crosses into the box, which would make more sense with Merino and Havertz in the box, but this would still be an incredibly flawed plan…don’t get me wrong, I think Merino has some positives, both on the pitch and in the locker room, but not if this is going to be another shoehorning fustercluck

we better not be contemplating a move for the oft-injured and underwhelming Calvert-Lewin, as some are suggesting…that’s not what’s needed here!!

“we better not be contemplating a move for the oft-injured and underwhelming Calvert-Lewin, as some are suggesting…that’s not what’s needed here!!”

So that’s a done deal then!

So the Merino deal’s done – does that mean A) Partey’s off? B) our desperate need for a striker will not be dealt with this summer?

Morning all
Good stuff TRVL we are mostly in accord, but with a few grey areas we feel may be different in the final analyses come May.

Merino has joined, so good luck to your time with us Mikel, and hope you can make the 8 your own, and be an attacking force with Marts for our left side, and not a 6 centric/8 afterthought, as TRVL and I have been concerned about.

Partey, Merino, Rice and Kiwior can all play 6. I’d even suggest Timber and Calafiori can also rock up a decent 6 if asked.

Calvert Lewin oh paleeeeaase dear god that is a NO!

We need a decent striker, and not a basement bargain like Merino who I hope is much better than RM’s Ceballos with an even better mindset. Ceballos was as negative and unpleasant as they came and why we didn’t keep him.

I just hope Merino isn’t the new Ceballos, so time will tell.

Marc—you bring up an interesting point regarding the status of Partey…personally I’ve always felt that he was destined to leave here on a free…his age, injury history, exorbinant wages and contract situation make him a rather problematic transfer prospect…no one’s going to pay what he’s truly worth, so he might have more value to us as a depth piece, in case we suffer any significant injuries…how fucking ironic is that?!?

as to your Calvert-Lewin response, the possibility of this coming to fruition, not matter how slim the chances, greatly concerns me…you’re talking about a guy who’s scored a grand total of 15 goals in the past 3 seasons and has missed almost 70 matches during that same span…now he was involved in 38 matches last season, but only tallied a rather meagre 8 goals and 3 assists

we know his name was mentioned around these parts a few years back, after he potted 16 in 20/21, but that seems like a lifetime ago, especially when it comes to his form…problem is he reeks like a late-window reach, especially knowing that he wants out and the club would love to get something for him before he leaves on a free next summer…kind of a perfect storm nightmare

don’t know what I hate more, the notion of us making such a middling maneuver or having to listen/read a bunch of overtly bias Kool-Aid junkies telling me why this was somehow another genius move…when you completely ignore the elephant in the room, it tends to create such a desperate “anything is better than nothing” environment, which is such a shit way to conduct business

Tony—as you can see we’re in complete agreement when it comes to Mr. Lewin…of course, that very fact might actually make it far more likely, as I think Marc was suggesting…sadly, all of the options I’ve been hearing about don’t rise to the level one should expect if we’re supposedly serious about contending on multiple fronts…I want to believe that our Striker bar is significantly higher, but that might be fool-hearted on my part, as this is the same duo who paid a King’s ransom for Havertz

Sorry all – been quiet lately due to the small matter of certain family members conspiring to lose my phone in the most bizarre of circumstances. I suspect it currently resides in a swampy car park just outside a dance music festival site in Cheshire. There you have it. I saw the Villa game and thought we did well but it could just as easily have gone the other way.

KP
Sorry to hear of your loss. Losing a trusty phone is like losing your life or parts of it. Hope it was all backed up. Just good to know you’re not stuck down some ravine with no mobile signal and rationing the hip flask contents.

Some good reads above I’m sure you’ll enjoy catching up with and with 3 days to go in the TW I’m expecting to read we made every effort to sign VO but time beat us once again.

I mean do we forget the window has been open for months?

Am I missing something here while we’re making derisory offers for a young Wolves keeper to replace Ramsdale, Federico Chiesa is going to join Liverpool for £10.9m, which I may add is less than Havertz wages for one season sans any bonuses.

Remind me what we need again? A striker not a keeper.

In 2022 Chiesa was considered elite in the making after an excellent Euros. An injury has blighted his career since, but one of Wenger’s well made gambles was buying Overmars when everyone and his don was saying will never be the same after doing his cruciate ligaments.

History proved them all wrong and Overmars was brilliant for us and I was gutted when he left for Barca.

I think Chiesa is going to be the same. He was a pitbull of a forward: what Jesus always hoped he’d be. Low center of gravity and very quick with both feet if memory serves me well.

Obviously the overriding question is can Fredrico find his early career form? Liverpool seem to think so as do I. For £10.9m it’s hardly a gamble, and I question why we we’re not at those races? Ilkay slides smoothly into Pep’s loving arms again in a matter of days of resuming their unconditional love for each other.

Meanwhile we sell Patino for a paltry £1m to Deportivo La Caruna who his dad apparently supports.

Back to missed opportunities my feeling is a Chiesa @ 60% of previous form will show to be better than 100% of Havertz this season.

Frederico is a natural striker I doubt Slott of all people is making a mistake so early into his career and first TW.

Less than 3 days to go and our window is looking very light and once again the glaring issues have been left unaddressed.

WTF does El B have against having a quality 8 ATM? He’s had 5 years to find the right player but we get Lakonga and the other muppet who’s been moved on now.

Can anyone explain what Vieira, who’s back in Portugal now, was all about?

We’re stuck once again with players on far too high wages who will offer little this season.

Why are Jesus and Zinchenko still at the club?

Tony—the whole Chiesa to Pool gig is an intriguing one, unless the deal involved a re-up with a considerable raise…he can play in multiple positions, although he would much rather play out wide, on either side, than as a Striker or tucked in behind…right now Pool has Salah on the right and several options on the left, including Diaz, Gakpo, and Jota, who might be deployed as a 9 this season…so my first inkling is that he’s coming to provide cover for Salah, then if he meets or exceeds expectations he could become his eventual replacement

so the question becomes why didn’t we try to lure him to the Emirates…his fee of 10-12M is peanuts, considering his up-side, and he’s presently making about 1/3rd the wages of Havertz, which makes me think that he’s been given some assurances that we aren’t willing to provide…this is likely the same conundrum any club will face if they brought in any of the other “available” veteran players, such as Coman, Sane and Sterling…for me personally, he would be our best forward option on the left and could provide us with some much-needed Saka cover…my only concern with this particular player is his form since his ACL injury, although I think his recent statistical dropoff was largely down to Juve’s previous manager, as Allegri’s tactical MO doesn’t really fit Chiesa’s preferred script

I’ve always been a fan of this player, especially if he hasn’t lost the technical gifts that were regularly on display before his move to Turin…in a way his footballing journey is quite similar to Kai’s, in that both failed to meet expectations once they moved to their first “big” clubs…with this in mind, I so wish we had taken a chance on Chiesa, then earmarked the money we didn’t waste on Havertz towards a readymade Striker, as I still believe that this latter deal will be MA’s undoing…now this might seem like a silver lining, considering my thoughts on our current manager, but that’s simply not the case because if we fuck up our current championship “window” who knows when one might open again

3 interesting bits and pieces:

(1) looks like the mad Rammer might be on his way to Southampton for roughly half the amount we originally paid…sound familiar?!?…tbh I’ve never seen a manager deal so poorly with this particular position in such a relatively short period of time…anyone who doesn’t see this as a jusification of his chequebook manager tag must be high as fuck…can you even imagine another top club wasting so much time on the shipping and receiving of more Keepers when we have much bigger fish to fry…hopefully Raya will continue to perform as he has in more recent times so that we never need to rely on one of MA’s flavour of the week selections

(2) Nico Williams—could he be another bum-rush Partey-esque last second get? if so, that would be quite a statement of intent…with a release clause in play, there’s no guessing what the fees are, just like with Partey, so the only remaining questions pertains to his exorbitant wage demands and his desire to move anywhere besides Barca…interestingly enough there are reports that he’s been inexplicably benched by his manager this week, which is an intriguing development, if true…I can totally see our attention thirsty manager frothing at the mouth over the possibility of just such a coup…of course, he knows full-well that he needs to employ this sort of sneaky approach due to his piss-poor record when it comes to competing for players of this ilk with any managers/clubs of note

(3) Darwin Nunez—I must say I’m surprised by this rumour, even though I’m not shocked that Pool might be willing to let him go elsewhere, especially on the heels of the COPA debacle and the fact that Jota has expressed interest in playing up top…regardless, I would gladly take him over Havertz, but I’m just not sure they make sense on the same side…now Nunez can be slotted in out wide, which makes him far more positionally flexible than Kai, and he’s considerably more clinical, even though the Pool fanbase might think otherwise, but I just don’t see it happening

TRVL
What a shit show with Chiesa where I thought you would be in favour of the little £10.9m punt on the firebrand of a player. He, as you mentioned can play, 7, 8, false 9 and 9 as well as either flank being reasonably 2-footed and pacy. He can pivot 6 with any midfield player because defensively he’s excellent off the ball and in the tackle; hence the pitfall reference. Chiesa will be a good buy for Pool, and a big miss by us, but looking at our buys this window, WTF does Edu and El B know what our real needs are?

Clearly the 8 and 9 positions are considered unimportant with Rice, untested in the PL Merino and haphazard Havertz with Jesus up top; both require multiple clear cut chances to score.

Then we have no decent cover for the above positions or for Ode, Saka and Maya once Ramsdale leaves.

We have 6 LBs: Kiwior, Zinchenko, Calafiori Tierney, Timber and Tomi, and have bought as many keepers since El B got rid of Emi by far our best keeper since Mad Jens.

An injury to any number of our guaranteed starters, and we are in trouble particularly if the injury is a lengthy one unless it’s at LB.

So, this fan is disgruntled as much as any fan can be looking forward to another Groundhog Day of a season similar to the last 88522 finishes with us imploding around March if not before.

If Benitez and Ancelotti were and are considered ‘Spanish Waiters’, by English fans, then El B must be the dish washer or vegetable preparer by consideration of the aforementioned winning managers’ multiple countries’ league and cup triumphs.

El B has one covid FA cup where Emi was the hero with Auba, and we all know what happened to them for their winning displays, they got kicked out of our club where Auba cost us dearly to get rid of to Barca, who then sold Auba to the Chavs for profit, such is what our dream team’s abilities’ have mustered.

We pay our players to go to other clubs, that is if we can offload them in the first place for a pittance of what we paid for them. Let that sink in

Emi helped Emery achieve CL football in his first season with Villa.

Whatever way I look at El B, he has to go and this season unless he wins the league, he really does have to go. The only position acceptable to goners across ther globe after being 2nd twice id winning the league.

This LIR poster is far from convinced El B can bring home the PL trophy this season, far from it indeed is my clear thinking based on the past 5 seasons and our current TW buys.

Two TW days to go………

As I said look at Overmars who was considered on the cruciate slag heap by all footballing brains bar Wenger – one of his better transfer decisions at that time.

According to the quick skim through the usual suspects of online papers, where we are still reportedly looking for a winger, so VO was a pipe dream that maybe marched out again next May when the ST’s spin is required again.

Havertz is our 9 for this season. Can he nail 20+ PL goals? If he gets 60 to 80 clear chances then yes he can. Havertz reminds me of Welbeck when he moved to us; he couldn’t score for love or money. Always off target netting 16 goals in 46 appearances basically a goal in 1:3 games as our striker. Sound familiar?

But we are not interested in a decent 9 let alone and elite one unless our dream team have been keeping mum over secret protracted negotiations to sign a 9, which I have zero faith in happening.

Therefore, unless we bring in VO or similar my season prediction remains 4th or lower. Chiesa will make Pool stronger where I see them keeping Nunes who is a different player all round to Chiesa. Slott will make Nunes a better player.

The only silver lining in being 4th or lower is that El B will finally have to leave. I’m sure the Kroenkes will assess El B with other managers’s skill sets and see El B is woefully lacking who still makes his rookie mistakes and has no idea about the talent we need, which includes Edu when you look at our current window incomings.

I’m sure El B is convinced of his own BS, in that we scored so many goals last season, that we will have no problem racking up big wins agains the PL minnows again. If that were the case, we would have emulated the Chav’s Wolves scoreline, but as has been said here, the result could have been much different: we were far from convincing in both our opening games.

Basically, we’ve had another poor window compared to our competitors who have all strengthened and may add more targeted, important additions to help with their title aspirations.

We might buy another young keeper, I know Marc what you’re thinking. Try White Truffles to reduce your ire as I do. An excellent way to forget when you need to. Biscotti is another new hybrid worth trying.

Should White be benched in favour of Timber?

If the answer is yes, then Timber at RB and Calafiori, assuming he’s good enough, at LB balances us much better. Timber, we’ve recently witnessed naturally has more triangle playing skills to fit with Ode and Saka. He’s a very tricky pacy player and probably our best RB since Sagna and Eboue. Could we say the same for White at RB? Rhetorically no!

Merino is a natural left footed player who fits 8 better than Rice, Havertz & Trossard.

This is what I see a new manager doing in his first game post El B. The new manager I hope would address the immediate need for an 8 and 9.

That and I agree with TRVL’s 3 at the back with wing backs where again Timber would excel. The conundrum here would be who are our best options for 3 at the back?

Willie S, Big Gabs and Calafiori would get my nod. White can be aerially challenged and is why his job is to interfere with opposition keepers more than to be airborne in the 6-yard box.

TRVL do you have any thoughts here? What would you or a new manager do for his first 3 games?

I feel a Calafiori, Merino and Marts on our left balances us with natural left footers throughout who can or supposedly can play intricate triangles at pace and one and two touch football we play down our right side.

It makes no sense to play Timber at LB when we have so many LBs and only one really natural RB in Timber.

We need to cease with the square pegs in round holes nonsense and play to players’ natural strengths wouldn’t that be a novelty considering the last 5 years?

Tony—you know MA hasn’t read the room when his fluffer from a different mother, Pedro, starts to seriously question his transfer practices…immediately followng my rather dramatic excommunication that limp dick fuck blocked me from even viewing his poor excuse for an echo chamber, but when he adopted a subscription-based model I guess things changed in that regards…so when I was scanning through a series of articles on arsenal newsnow today I noticed that there was an entry by none other than LG…for whatever reason it piqued my interest, so I clicked on it and needless to say I was pleasantly surprised by what I discovered, at least in part…of course, it was still laced will all sorts of apologist rhetoric, but the fact that he actually took a shot at the manager speaks volumes about the potential fallout should MA not come with the goods, especially if he then proceeds to trip over his dick again…check out the following excerpt:

“The big miss of this window, as it stands, is the lack of a forward. Arteta is allergic to signing forwards. Kai, Trossard, and Willian are quite a poor showing numbers-wise, considering this will be Arteta’s 5th year. For context, he’s signed four keepers in that time and about 78 defenders. Exiting this window without legitimate coverage for Saka would start to feel like negligence. I can’t be reading that a move is dependent on Reiss Nelson going—and I don’t like the ‘internal solutions’ because that’ll be a baby or moving a left-sided player to the right. Arsenal fans know what they need—something explosive, direct, magical, and for me—experienced…I refuse to believe Arsenal would take the team to the edge of glory and blow it by not making a decision on a winger in a market full of them…so let’s see something”

now he’s obviously adopted a far more diplomatic approach than I, but there’s something about the underlying tone of this quote that reminds me of a much earlier time when Pedro, before he had his balls clipped, started to express his displeasure about the manner in which Wenger continually conducted his business…of course, in and of itself his words mean jacksquat, but the fact that the rank and file are getting restless has to mean something…for the sake of the team, I can only hope that MA comes to his senses real quick and rectifies his past mistakes, but if he doesn’t and the predictable happens, this had better be considered a sackable offence

Brilliant, TRVL, great post.

Pedro’s mantra was to go semi nuclear on El B for a couple off posts until there was a redeeming quality to put El B back up on his lofty rimming, pedal-stall high enough for Pedro to blow smoke up El B’s arse with faux praise until the natives became restless again, the was rinse repeat.

This could well be the same old same old. Pedro has always been one to try to keep his minions onside, but also have an escape route for his money making business. He can’t be seal sending worthy all the time.

To be fair I think it’s only Edu and El B who don’t think we need a striker while the footballing world looks on incredulously.

Pedro, the PR spin slut, will soon be Jizzing about El B’s brilliance soon, such as if we beat BHA at home, on Saturday, especially if kai bags a brace from 6 clear chances.

El B will be canonized once again on LG by Pedro and his trusty bots.

then wash rinse repeat…

TRVL
Here’s a question for you and LIR it seems the Nico Williams name dropping isn’t going away from the world of click bait.

If you could buy Chiesa or Williams to suit our Current needs, who would you choose? Nico’s buyout clause is reported to be £58m.

Williams would consign Marts to the bench and being sold I feel. Right footed with 8 goals and 15 assists last season, young and for the future

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eJlVpbrcVY

Chiesa as previously posted is a high quality Swiss Army knife type of player. More an unselfish version of our Alexis Sanchez and much more a team player.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_xy2hNLPjQ

My view would be Chiesa because, while Williams would be a good back up to Saka, Nico being right footed out left would mean always cutting into the box to favor his right peg.

Would mean another square peg in a round hole with Williams unless Nico plays 9.

Cheisa’s going to Slott’s revolution, so it’s all immaterial now. A big miss for us.

Bolton – at home – in the carabao.

Is that drivable for you KP from Wales?

It’s in London Tony but I have relatives in N5 who can sometimes get tickets for games like this. I went to a carabao cup game against Leeds a few years ago with junior. I’ll let you know if I go.

It’s mostly County stuff for me at the moment. They’ve played 4 games and have amassed 8 points against top half teams which is fantastic. They’re having a synthetic pitch laid at the moment so home games are switched to Carmarthen, a mere 40 miles from where I live. West Wales means suffering for your art if live football is your thing.

Cardiff got a battling draw at Swansea at the weekend so they at least have troubled the scoreboard as it were.

Are you fully recovered now after your illness mate?

Sounds good KP. Good when your live teams start to do well. Maybe Cardiff will kick on now.

The virus/covid is still lingering. Body metrics such as stress, HRV, blood ox and sleep are finally back to normal but the weakness continues although slowly getting stronger each week. The silver lining is I dropped below 80kg so getting very close to my 6-pack appearing again (77kg). That’s the beauty of muscle memory. The abs simply get hidden beneath fat mostly never to be seen again. I’ve trained for 50+ years so what I built is still there, and like a dropping reservoir water level where things reappear, same is happening to me where muscles are seeing the light of day again.

Haven’t been in the gym much at all this years, just dieted down from 92kg. Should have my 6-pack back by the time I’m 69.

Good to hear your footballing travel stories.

What are your thoughts on our season and TW, KP?

Tony—with the short-term in mind, I think maybe Chiesa, but if I was taking a longer view Nico seems like the savvier pick…btw Nico isn’t a cut inside only kind of forward, as he’s more assist man than pure scorer…I think what makes him so intriguing is that there’s several fairly astute industry-types who feel like he’s got considerably more goals in his boots if he were on a better side; much like when a clean-up hitter gets more hittable pitches whenever the 3 & 5-hole batters are upgraded

as to your earlier questions, you know I’m a big fan of Timber on the right, as I think he and Saka together is an inside/outside nightmare for opposing defences…whereas, in regards to our almost laughable unbalanced attacking strategy, I’m not even convinced that Merino will be deployed as a left-sided 8…on first blush it would seem like a slam dunk choice, but most of the pro-Tet slurpy-fucks think he’s destined to replace Partey, who plays primarily on the right, so that Rice can venture forward…just find it difficult to believe that anyone could be so arrogant as to shoehorn that many into their starting 11

Me too, TRVL I just can’t understand what is blatantly obvious.

Nico 8 goals in 46 games but 15 assists makes Nico an obvious buy being young as well. I would have fancied Chiesa for immediacy.

Maybe Nico can slot into 8 or switch with Ode on the right with Saka.

We could deploy Saka as a 9 with Nico right and Marts left.

The next few weeks are going to be interesting to see how we line up, especially if we but Nico.

TRVL
What’s your take on Company managing Bayern Munich?

KP
Were you and Oasis fan?

Can’t stand them myself, it was when they claimed they were better than the Beatles I thought what arrogant arseholes. The Beatles and Rolling Stones changed the face of British music that launched many bands where London because the music capitol of the world breaking America’s domination.

Both bands had prolific songwriters who churned out hit after hit for decades.

Oasis had Wonderwall and couple of others I can’t remember, but I could recite so many of the Stones and Beatles hits without hesitation.

I guess they were part of a generation I missed working away and am probably better off for it.

Too busy enjoying Prince:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS53KOcFmjo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvnYmWpD_T8