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What constitutes a successful signing? Is it the number of goals they score, the assists they make, the clean sheets they keep? Or, is it, in fact, the impact they have on the fans? The probable truth is that the status of every signing is nuanced and varies in the mind of each individual fan. We all have our own opinions on whether we rate a player or not. I can think of a few Arsenal players I’ve watched over the years who I didn’t rate at all yet the general consensus over player x was that he was a particularly good player more often than not. 

We have the signings whom everyone rates, the Ødegaards and Bergkamps of this world, and then we have the Nicolas Pépés and the Mustafis whom we prefer to block out of our memories because remembering their performances makes you want to eat a sack of cement. But there is a category of signings that carries more nuance and perhaps polarises opinion among the Goonerverse. This is what we will be exploring today.

I suppose when determining the success of each signing there are a few factors we ought to consider. Perhaps the most important is the price tag. When you make any transaction, you are looking for value for money. On the surface, a new winger who scores ten goals a season would appear to be a decent signing. But when this winger cost £72 million then you want a bit more than that. I suppose some players become a victim of their own price tag which I’d imagine is difficult for them to accept because no player decides not decide his own price tag. But football is football and business is business. The two are very much intertwined. 

But enough waffle. Let’s get down to it. The first player we will be looking at is the Gallic God, Olivier Giroud. Now I’m sure many of you, namely CER, will be thinking “21CG, what are you smoking? Of course, Giroud was a successful signing!” and I completely understand that POV. He is certainly an interesting player to dissect and truthfully, I do think Giroud was exceptionally good at what you’d expect him to be good at. His hold up and link up play was excellent; he was a huge threat in the air and his highlights reel will demonstrate that he was the scorer of a number of outrageously good goals. I suppose we better look at the numbers which tell us the Handsome French Bastard notched 105 goals in 253 appearances. That works out at roughly a goal every 2.4 games. So, no disgrace certainly but I don’t feel that would be enough for a club which supposedly had title aspirations. Giroud cost around £10 million to bring in from Montpellier in 2012 which even then, in fairness, was not an obscene amount of money. But he did undeniably miss a lot of sitters (Monaco in 2015) and many of those would prove to cost us dear. He was not a 20 goal a season striker although I will concede he wasn’t a million miles off that mark.

With Giroud I always felt he would’ve been more effective as a 2nd choice striker, coming off the bench perhaps when we needed a goal, giving us a different outlet when we needed to pump balls into the box towards his magnificent barnet. Just imagine we had signed Aubameyang a couple of years before we did, and were able to utilise Giroud as an impact sub… 

I strongly suspect that if that had materialised, there wouldn’t have been a Lestah “fairytale” in 2016 and it instead would’ve been us lifting number 14 with Giroud being praised to the heavens for his invaluable contribution to the cause. That would’ve been nice. I think with Giroud you must take the facts into account. Was he a prolific, clinical striker? Not especially. But has he not been effective for every side he has played for? Without a doubt. This is a player who has won trophies with every club he’s been at which I think often gets overlooked. Pre Arsenal, he won the Ligue one title with much unfancied Montpellier where he was the league’s top scorer. Quite a remarkable achievement it must be said. In N5 he won three FA Cups, assisting Ramsey’s winners in 2014 and 2017 as well as scoring against Villa in 2015. He won another FA Cup with Chelsea as well as both the Europa League and Champions League whilst at Stamford Hut. That does sting but you can’t knock it. He then won Serie A with Milan and then there is the small, insignificant World Cup victory with the French for whom he is remarkably their all-time record goal scorer. He is a player I have probably criticised more than most over the years, but his CV certainly contradicts many of my criticisms. 

So, my Giroud Verdict? I must confess, when I began planning for this article and drew up the players I would be looking into, my first instinct was to place Giroud into the unsuccessful category. However, the more I have thought about it I have decided to change my mind. I said at the start of the article, value for money is the most important thing and with Giroud I believe we certainly got that. I think it’s possible many of my previous criticisms of him stem from the fact he went on to enjoy success with one of our biggest rivals which shouldn’t have a bearing on the success he had with us. No unconscious bias here. I do hope David Coote, Howard Webb and the rest of the merry men from PGMOL HQ are reading this. I digress. Whilst Giroud wasn’t exactly universally popular amongst the fan base, the majority appreciated the qualities he brought and over a century of goals in five and a half seasons, whilst winning a few trophies along the way has ensured that in the years and decades to come Giroud will likely be remembered quite fondly by most of the Arsenal family. You just can’t hate a man with a perfectly chiselled jawline and a head of hair so perfectly maintained it was enough to drive even Super Mik green with envy. 

21CG verdict: Successful signing (just about)

The next man on the agenda is a player who perhaps polarised opinion amongst Arsenal fans like no other. A no-nonsense, (well there was a fair bit of self-inflicted nonsense from him in fairness) tough tackling, all action midfielder. I am of course referring to a certain Granit Xhaka. Signed from Borussia Monchengladbach for a hefty £35 million back in the sweet summer of ’16, Granit spent seven years in N5 before returning to the Bundesliga with Leverkusen the summer before last. He spent most of his years with us playing the deep lying 6 role, in which he often struggled at times. He developed a very unwelcome habit of giving the ball away in dangerous areas, a habit which often cost us. A real concern that Xhaka never really managed to shake off was his discipline. In 225 PL appearances, Xhaka was shown 4 red cards and 57 yellow cards. This equates to approximately a card every 3.6 games. In all fairness to Xhaka two of those reds came in his first season so he was only sent off twice in his final five seasons. 

Interestingly, all his dismissals were straight reds. His first two were both alleged ‘studs up tackles’ in the opposition half, and if you watch them back, I think the majority of you would agree that most players would receive a booking and a booking only. I say “most players” because Xhaka arrived at the club with a reputation of a player with discipline issues. In 58 Bundesliga games for ‘Gladbach, Xhaka received 4 reds and 18 yellows which equates to a card every 2.6 games. That is quite a hefty record and one you would assume the club was aware of. However, I would say that if you watched Xhaka regularly, which we all did, you probably wouldn’t think he was a dirty player. The English media did seem to enjoy lambasting him, he was once branded a “brainless idiot” by none other than Gary Neville. Takes one to know one, eh Gary? This was clearly something that affected Granit. He was certainly a vocal character both on and off the pitch and in an interview, he hit back at the media pointing out that “this is football, not ballet.” I think he did have a point.

But the real low point of Xhaka’s time in N5 was surprisingly non card related. Upon his substitution in a home game vs Crystal Palace in October 2019, a game in which he was booed off by the fans, he hit back by quite blatantly telling us to f*k off. Not a great look but it wasn’t exactly unprovoked on Xhaka’s part. To make matters worse, he had recently been appointed club captain in the infinite wisdom of then gaffer, Unai Emery. He was quickly stripped of the captaincy and not seen for a number of weeks. A short while later, Unai was given his P45 and after a few weeks of Freddie interimming (don’t think that’s a real word and now I’ve typed it out I can see why), Super Mik came to Granit’s rescue. We don’t know exactly what Arteta said but we do know that Xhaka had his heart set on a move away (I seem to remember a move to Inter being on the cards at the time) and “his bags were packed”. But whatever Arteta said, it worked as Xhaka stayed and ahead of the 22/23 season, he was shifted further forwards into the left 8 position. We were not seeing the same Xhaka, this was clearly a completely reformed player. Xhaka’s new role helped him add goals to his game as well as being able to enhance the game of many of his teammates. By being moved up the pitch Xhaka’s lack of pace was less apparent and when he did give the ball away it tended to be in the final third as opposed to the edge of his own penalty area.

He turned things around to such an extent that many fans wanted him to stay on. Before his final game for the club, it was basically settled he was off to Leverkusen and his send off was quite remarkable. He scored a brace in a 5-0 win over Wolves and there were raucous chants of “Granit Xhaka, we want you to stay”, ringing round Ashburton Grove. He was clearly somewhat moved by the reception, but I think he’d had enough of London life and the vulturous, often repulsive English media. He never publicly apologised for his outburst, but I suppose his upturn in performances was kind of an apology. But was one exceptional season enough to make up for six very mixed and error strewn campaigns? I wouldn’t say so personally. And was his £35 million fee really value for money? For me it’s a ‘no’ but he’s far from the worst signing we’ve ever made. I never imagined being a little sad when he left and that’s testament to the strong-minded character of Granit Xhaka. He will always be welcome back in N5, but I remain scarred by some of his earlier performances and I don’t think I’m alone in that regard. 

21CG verdict: unsuccessful signing but not a “flop”

Thirdly and finally, we have a mercurial talent, perhaps the last truly great number 10 in football, a former club record signing, I am of course talking about Mesut Özil. Again, in many people’s eyes, Özil’s Arsenal status requires no questioning given the ridiculous level of talent he possessed. This is certainly a player analysis that requires context and a certain amount of nuance to determine how successful Özil’s time with Arsenal really was. This is one I’m sure will spark a good deal of healthy debate in the drinks. Here we go.

First and foremost, I have been watching Arsenal for just over 15 years now and I’ve been a season ticket holder for 14 years, a privilege I certainly do not take for granted. I have seen some great players don the famous red and white strip in that time and in terms of pure talent, Mesut is the finest Arsenal player I’ve had the pleasure of watching in that time. He truly is one of the finest players we’ve ever had in 138 years of rich history and tradition. In total he was an Arsenal player for seven and a half years, but his final appearance came ten months before he departed so for the sake of fairness, I will call it seven years. Özil’s first two campaigns in North London provided plenty of evidence of his stupendous ability to pick a pass, we just didn’t see it often enough. I will put this down to adapting to the physicality and pace of the English game as well as adapting to a new country in which he was not initially comfortable with the language. But there’s nothing wrong with that and it certainly wasn’t down to a lack of effort despite what some of the troglodytes in the media said about his application. It was true that he had a languid running style which often made him look a bit lethargic when he actually covered more ground and made more sprints than most. 

But it was Özil’s third season in which we finally saw the absolute best of him on a weekly basis. By the end of 2015, the German had amassed a staggering 16 PL assists with half the season to go. It looked for all the world that Özil was going to smash Henry’s record of 20 PL assists in a season. But Özil only accrued three more assists and ended the season on what was still a hugely impressive 19 assists. Unfortunately, our then annual February-March dip would prove fatal for our title challenge as we rather embarrassingly finished ten points behind plucky little Lestah in second place. Not that Özil’s performance levels dipped. He was still creating chances and key passes at an otherworldly high rate. I would argue it was down to the collectively poor finishing and downturn in form of the likes of Sanchez, Giroud and Walcott. But no one was in any doubt about the sheer quality of Mesut Özil. 

Over the next couple of years Özil could generally be relied upon to perform at a high level consistently. 16/17 was his most fruitful season in front of goal and a good few times a season he would produce a goal/assist or a cheeky bit of skill that was so outrageous even the opposition couldn’t help but admire Özil’s elegance. His unique finish away to Ludogorets in the Champion’s League where he flicked the ball over the ‘keeper then sent two defenders for a Doner Kebab before passing the ball into an empty net and THAT performance at home to Lestah in 2018 were just two reminders of his class. And Özil also won four FA Cups playing in three finals, being an integral part of all those winning campaigns. He is indeed our most decorated player post Highbury. 

But upon his bumper £350k a week new deal in January 2018, it seemed Özil’s magic was waning. His output levels decreased, and he seemed to let a lot of games pass him by with little influence. In fairness Özil was never the type of player to take a game by the scruff of the neck, that was more in Alexis’ ballpark. But those moments of magic he used to produce became increasingly few and far between. Shortly after Arteta’s arrival Covid hit and Özil was allegedly the only Arsenal player to refuse to take a 12.5% pay cut to help with the Club’s finances during that difficult period. He reportedly paid Gunnersaurus’ wages after the T-rex mascot was furloughed by Arsenal. (In fairness, if you’ve seen Gunnersaurus’ feeble attempts to save the Junior Gunner’s penalties at half time in every home game, you will understand why the club made that decision.) but Arteta deemed this to be an act worthy of exile from the first team squad. He did not appear for the first team following the resumption of the season and was not even registered for the Premier League or Europa League squads at the start of the 2020/21 season. Özil’s final Arsenal appearance proved to be the 1-0 win over West Ham on March 7th, 2020. Perhaps it was fitting that one of his final acts in an Arsenal shirt was to provide a cushioned headed assist for Lacazette to win the game. Mesut and the club came to the agreement to cancel his contract and pay out the rest of his wages as he departed meekly on a free transfer to Fenerbahçe in Turkey. 

It was a sad and depressing end to Özil’s Arsenal career. He really ought to have achieved so much more with Arsenal. But despite that he will still look back on a career that saw him win cups in England and Germany and Spain, the La Liga title with Real Madrid and most notably, the 2014 World Cup with Germany in which he started every match for an exceptional Germany side where he was undoubtedly one of the players of the tournament. For me he was one of, if not the finest playmaker of the 2010’s. Perhaps his one regret was not achieving a league title with Arsenal and how his time with us ended. It was a sour end to what was ultimately a sweet and fruitful career for both club and country. It is no secret that Özil experienced his fair share of off the pitch controversies but we are assessing his footballing abilities and achievements here so it wouldn’t be fair to include these here. 

Whilst Özil didn’t achieve as much as we had hoped or expected when we smashed our club record fee to sign him in 2013, I would argue that he provided us with enough magic to prove himself as a successful signing. If you had asked me two or three years ago, I almost certainly would’ve given you a quite different answer, but time is the most powerful healer of wounds as they say. Quite simply, I would’ve paid to watch Özil tie his shoelaces, he was that good. Perhaps the true marker of how good/successful a player is/was for your club is measured by how they make you feel when they play. Özil was a true joy to watch, and it was a pleasure to have him at Arsenal for the majority of his time in N5.

21CG verdict: successful signing but should’ve achieved more.

I hope this article filled an Arsenal shaped hole in yet another interminably dull Interlull, and I look forward to much healthy debate in the drinks below. You might agree with much of what I said, you might think I’ve been too harsh or lenient on certain players, all opinions are welcome. As always, happy reading and I hope this whets your appetite for the rollercoaster ride we will no doubt be embarking on starting on Saturday with a classic 3pm appointment with Nottingham Forest. Lastly, I would like to apologise for any Granit Xhaka related PTSD episodes my article may have caused you. 

COYG!!!

32 Drinks to “Flop or Not, That is the Question!”

  1. 1
    bt8 says:

    Many thanks 21cg for this nuanced and thoughtful evaluation of the impact of these three signings. The way they left us certainly would argue for a higher rating of Xhaka and a lower one for Giroud and Ozil, but I can’t help but say that Xhaka’s time must be divided in two, with the first longer one being unsuccessful and the last couple of years being much the opposite. Ozil’s influence on the squad, on the other hand was in my mind mixed at best, and why was he always missing from the squad on those midweek trips to Bolton and Blackburn, or was that just my memory playing tricks? Giroud remains for me the most unqualified success of the three, but that may just be his HFB magic rubbing off on me, and his success after leaving us certainly adds to his aura.

    Great piece in any case, and again, thanks for the memories.

  2. 2
    Gunnersaurus Stunt Double says:

    Nice one 21CG. Thoughtful and balanced views, and extremely well written. A couple of nice humourous touches too – the interrimming gag made me laugh audibly.

    I’d agree with much of your assessment. I’ve never been so ashamed and furious at an Arsenal player as I was when Xhaka had a meltdown against Palace, and I’ve got far less time than some for the idea that because some people on social media said some mean things that his behaviour to the match day fans was anything other than vile. It was the only time I’ve ever booed an Arsenal player and it gave me no pleasure. But that behaviour was not fit for the shirt.
    That said, we all make mistakes, and he showed a lot of character to turn it around, although not quite enough to front up and make an apology. He left at the right time, but I was there at his last game, singing his song. He earned it.

    What I would add to your assessment is perhaps one more negative point, but not one that was his fault. The years we spent working out where to play Xhaka and what he was good at cost us in the sense that we never went out and bought the other midfielder(s) we needed because we were trying to shoehorn him into the role. His presence and the fee we’d paid for him meant we stuck with him for seven years, and, like you, I don’t think the one good season at the end was worth it. He blocked us from making a signing we needed, and that might have been another valuable piece, especially in that Lesta year where we had a great chance and didn’t make it count.

    I always liked Giroud. I think he was about the exact quality of striker that our team deserved and some people gave him stick because they wanted to think we were better than we were. A more prolific striker wouldn’t have papered over the problems in the teams he played for, and he took some unfair pelters in eyes.

    Ozil, spot on. Didn’t do enough but, on his day, a wizard and a joy to watch.

    Well done, great article.

  3. 3
    TTG says:

    Bravo 21CG this is the sort of article that I love to read and muse over . It’s interesting that we have so many players who could be up for debate – Arshavin, Aubameyang , Nasri ,Walcott , Hleb- the list goes on and on . Is that actually a thing at every club or have we just had more of that sort of hard to sum up player?
    Briefly I think all three players had their moments and two were definite value for money .
    Giroud for £10 million was a very underrated player and the success he has enjoyed with France and other clubs suggests to me he was a very impressive player. N9 pace and not much of a right foot but he was a very useful man to bring on with twenty minutes to go.
    Xhaka was the bane of my life for years . He was never more than 6/10 as a holding midfielder. He slowed the team down , had a mistake in him on a regular basis and could always attract a card. But in his last eighteen months Arteta worked out how best to use him and he was excellent- and he played in two Cup Finals and turned up in both of them. £35 m when we bought him was too much but he redeemed himself almost ( given that Palace faux pas) . But as GSD said his presence denied us buying a better player .
    As for Ozil he was the ultimate enigma . He was quite brilliant at times – eg at home to Leicester in 2018 , that Ludogorets game or that early CL game with Napoli . He faded ultimately just as we gave him an extraordinary contract but he was truly world-class and I’m very glad I got to see him play for the Arsenal

  4. 4
    Bathgooner says:

    That’s a tremendous piece, 21CG. I can hear Dave chuckling over his celestial pint.

    My own perspectives are not very different.

    I found Giroud an astonishingly frustrating player in that he was ALMOST the complete centre forward despite his relative lack of pace but I have lost count of the number of times I wanted to pummel him as he pounded the ground in frustration at another missed ‘easy’ (from where I was sitting) chance. Your final analysis on him is spot on. He was like the almost beautiful painting with a flaw that makes it less than it should be. At the time, I was glad to replace him with Aubameyang who would be another subject for your study but didn’t prove a fraction of the servant to the Arsenal that Giroud was. I was wrong.

    I totally agree on Xhaka. bt8 is right. He was so different in those last two seasons from the error-strewn, clumsy oaf that lumbered in deep midfield that he should be considered in two separate parts, or, as you almost say, as two separate players – the first an irritating waste of money and as GSD observes, an obstacle to sorting out the midfield
    and the second as a revelation who added to the high press, contributed to early stifling of breaks and added goals to his game. The second Xhaka was an unqualified success and a veritable LANS.

    I am now less critical of Xhaka’s abreaction to his substitution that day than GSD. I too was there. He was having a mare and deserved the substitution but the boos that rang round the ground were shocking and I recognised the reaction as one from an emotional guy at the end of his tether. There was a lot of high dudgeon from fans who are not slow to offer poisonous abuse and when I learnt subsequently about the online abuse that he and his wife had received shortly before that episode, I was, and still am, prepared to cut him even more slack. We have some vermin in our ranks.

    You chose all three of your examples well, each a curate’s egg, and none more so than Özil. What talent, what languid style (belying as you say an impressive workrate) and what a terrible ending. Who knows what made him such a poisonous presence in the dressing room (allegedly) turning from practically the first name on the team sheet to the last person you wanted around the team. The rot had set in during (or maybe even before) Emery’s tenure and Arteta gave him the chance to redeem himself but he wouldn’t deliver on the non-negotiables and allegedly became so awkward to deal with that he had to be exiled. I sense that he just lost his love for the game – things with the German FA, coach and press did not help when he was made the fall-guy for Germany’s disastrous World Cup showing in 2018 – and found more pleasure in other things. I too am glad to have seen him play in red and white and saddened by how things came to pass – ironic phrase given that he could produce a perfect pass without looking!

    Great work, 21CG!

  5. 5
    Ollie says:

    Cheers, 21CG! Entertaining and engaging write-up.
    It’s true that the ‘point of leaving’ could easily colour judgments, Xhaka and Özil offering a great contrast there, and I found myself nodding a lot to your overall assessment, which offers the fair reflection of time.
    Giroud was definitely a different beast, more hard work sometimes in the face of big adversity, but considering where we were, he certainly offered excellent value for money for us. The trophies and achievements during the rest of his career also speak for him.
    Annoyingly, all three won League titles, not with us (but also, not in England, to be fair).

  6. 6
    Ollie says:

    P.S: I wasn’t at that match, but I tend to agree with bath’s overall take on the Xhaka ‘incident’.

  7. 7
    OsakaMatt says:

    Thanks 21CG, a very enjoyable read.

    Some excellent points already made above and so I won’t rehash but very basically my tuppenceworth is HFB’s barren spells cost us dear several times and in hindsight we shouldn’t have persevered for so long. unsuccessful.

    Xhaka , as with others comments one good season isn’t enough, unsuccessful.

    Olio. Was I not entertained? Successful

  8. 8
    Gunnersaurus Stunt Double says:

    Baff and Ollie see the Xhaka/Palace thing differently to me, and that’s fair enough.

    What I would say though is that we needed a goal and we needed Xhaka to hurry off the pitch. His number came up and I, along with most people I saw, began to applaud him off. The boos Baff describes only started AFTER he began walking slowly off like he played for Palace and was looking to waste time. He then responded to those boos.

    He was our captain and he was actively and deliberately acting to hurt our chances of winning the game. That’s how the crowd felt and that’s why he got pelters. He made it all about him, when it was really about Arsenal.

    If he’d just run off the pitch with some urgency then he would have continued to be clapped off, nothing else would have happened and it would have been as unremarkable as every other substitution.

    Also, for the record, if you are prepared to treat 60,000 people with contempt because of a few idiots on social media then you should not be on social media. There will always be idiots there.

    Anyway. I still feel strongly about that day but I’m glad he turned it round in the end. Arteta must take a lot of credit.

  9. 9
    Ollie says:

    Are you still in Italy, Matt? 😉

  10. 10
    TTG says:

    Should you not have seen it this was Ozil’s masterclass against Leicester in 2018
    On his day he could be very special https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC1K_wBmS4s

  11. 11
    Bathgooner says:

    GSD @8, indeed, differing opinions are the spice of social networking.

    Your memory of the sequence of events in Xhaka’s meltdown against Palace is far clearer than mine but your detailed description does chime with my residual wisps as being exactly how it happened. I now remember my own personal irritation that he was sauntering off when the clock was not our friend. Did he not also take off his shirt as he left the field and perhaps even throw it to the ground? Or, am I imagining that?

    I remain incredulous that footballers venture into the snakepit that is social media of every hue. I wasn’t surprised that Xhaka was stripped of the captaincy (though he did wear the armband on a couple of subsequent occasions) and think that was an entirely appropriate sanction given the furore generated though I disagreed with those who howled that he should never play for the club again. Nor was I surprised that Xhaka wanted to leave the club asap and was impressed that Arteta persuaded him to stay which, of course, worked out far, far better than anyone might have had reason to expect.

  12. 12
    ClockEndRider says:

    Great article, 21CG. Thoroughly enjoyed that.
    TTG, thanks for linking to that Ozil performance. I remember watching Ozil in a Germany U21 game, while he was still with Werder Bremen and thinking how great it would be to see him in the red and white. When he moved at the end of that season to Madrid, I chided myself for such an unrealistic thought. He then proceeded to be absolutely central to the success of Real to the extent that apparently Ronaldo was most irate that he was sold to us in 2013. He was outstanding for Germany in the 2014 Brazil World Cup, having helped us win that season’s FA Cup. For me, he was the best natural playmaker we had had since Bergkamp, and in the same long tradition of beautiful languid footballers as Brady and the Dutchman. Much like 21CG, I’d happily have paid to watch him train. It was a real pity things went so sour at the end but he was always somewhat mercurial and perhaps that’s why Madrid sold in the first place.
    Anyway, some very happy memories rekindled. Thanks again, 21CG.

  13. 13
    Noosa Gooner says:

    Thanks 21st for an interesting Interlull gap filler.
    Re: Ozil – this is not the original clip I remember but still quite good regarding the signing of Ozil for those who haven’t seen it.

    UTA

  14. 14
    TTG says:

    Worrying news that Trossard sustained a hamstring injury playing for Belgium last night and has returned to the club for assessment

  15. 15
    OsakaMatt says:

    @9 yeah, still here for a couple of weeks Ollie, based in the 15th century movie set that is Arezzo old town. Off to Ravenna for a 3 nights tomorrow, it’s been fantastic though I can’t remember the last time I missed so many Arsenal matches 😄

  16. 16
    Gunnersaurus Stunt Double says:

    @Baff.

    After Xhaka began walking off at a snail’s pace, the boos started. He responded to them, as I remember, by gesturing and telling the crowd to fuck off (his specific words were not discernable until later but his meaning was very clear). I think he threw the armband to the floor. He certainly threw his shirt to the floor once off the pitch and I think he immediately went to the showers. His worst offences began after the boos, which began after he began dawdling off.

    Frankly, I think that behaviour warrants an apology from him. Perhaps he will ask where is the apology to him, but no-one else was captaining Arsenal at the time of the incident. In that context, I think it showed a lack of character to stick to his guns and refuse to accept responsibility for his behaviour. Then again, I’m sure Xhaka feels strongly about it himself, and once it became clear he was not going to apologise it seemed pointless to hold it against him. I was pleased when he rehabilitated himself under Arteta and contributed positively to The Arsenal, despite my difference in opinion with him about the appropriate way to front up and take responsibility after getting something badly wrong.

  17. 17
    Gunnersaurus Stunt Double says:

    https://www.arsenal.com/news/arsenals-first-economic-and-social-impact-report

    Well worth a look. More great work from our club.

    Cheers TTG for the link to Ozil destroying Lesta. On form like that there have been few who come close to him.

  18. 18
    Ollie says:

    Good stuff, Matt, enjoy! I hope the weather is treating you well (he said, on a particularly miserable Parisian day).
    (and I was wondering if Olio was a local product of….spillchuck).

    GSD, thanks for the details/contextualisation. I have to admit I had removed the exact sequence for my memory, greatly helped, I suspect, by not being in attendance that day.
    That doesn’t necessarily lead to a big reconsideration of my current standpoint overall, but certainly makes me even more understanding of the less forgiving point of views!

  19. 19
    Trev says:

    Thanks 21CG – interesting assessments if a bit of a memory test after all these years.
    I do have some comments on all three players but I’ll have to come back later as work calls – again 😡

  20. 20
    BtM says:

    Great read 21CG. I enjoyed that.

    If I recall correctly, we bought both Giroud and Podolski with the £28M funds resulting from the sale of RvP to Manure (Peter Hill-Wood “We’re not going to break the bank to keep Van Persie at Arsenal”). As a consequence, the red mancs won the League in the following season and we didn’t. Podolski, I thought, was a ruptured duck and, rather unfairly, I found myself comparing HFB to the departed Dutchman, a comparison his lesser talents never justified. However, to his credit, he was mostly always available (no horse placenta required on his chocolate ankles – they were French after all) and a scoring rate of 1 per 2.4 ain’t half bad. But yes, those ‘easy’ missed chances, which could have easily been rectified by a poofteenth more pace, frustrated the hell out of me. Still, two thumbs up for me, a great value/servant who, arguably, was let go a little too early.

    I think Xhaka was poorly scouted. He was never a box to box player (Arsene thought he was) and his complete inability to tackle properly made him a defective 6 and an even worse LB (do we still call those 3s?). For me he was in the Kolasinac, Lichsteiner, Mustafi, Squillacci, Sokratis group of lesser talents who really shouldn’t have been anywhere near Arsenal but for the burdensome challenge of funding the NHOF. Having said all of that, Xhaka was superb under Arteta but I would have had him gone long before MA8 entered the fray. (My recollection of the Palace fiasco was: 1) We got in late because of too much pizza/red wine, coffee, limoncello at Papa’s 2) we were already 2-0 up by that time 3) we played like shit and let in two goals, one by Ayew that even I could have defended better – I think that lit Xhaka’s fuse 4) I was pissed off, everyone else was pissed off, Xhaka was pissed off…….and then he was called off 5) a late goal by Chambers was chalked off for no good reason, making the complete day a total pisser for me!). Two thumbs down for Granit from this corner of East Herts.

    Ozil, I loved the guy in his early years. At his best, one of the most naturally talented players to grace the red and white. Had we had a more potent squad at the time (e.g. had Cesc, RvP, Nasri stayed around) he could have been the mainspring to drive magnificence. I was really glad we had him at his best, like most, I was very glad to see the later years, jaundiced version, of him depart. Really glad we had him, but would I rather Fabregas had stayed? – Yep, every day of the week. A fairly solid one thumb for value. He put lots of bums on seats and I suspect sold lots of shirts as well as making all of those assists.

  21. 21
    TTG says:

    These are statistics which show the value of Arsenal to Islington in particular and London and the UK economy as well –
    • We delivered £616 million in economic value* (GVA) to the UK economy, with £425 million contributed in our home borough of Islington
    • We helped generate £228 million in UK tax revenue
    • More than 4,400 jobs in the UK and 1,600 local jobs in Islington were supported
    That is a very substantial contribution and if we factored in overseas revenues we can see how the business has grown in the last few years . And why Islington Vouncilmight be sympathetic to the plans to enlarge the stadium!

  22. 22
    TTG says:

    Council not Vouncil !

  23. 23
    OsakaMatt says:

    @18 thanks Ollie, weather had been
    holding up well until today. I’m hoping
    normal service will resume shortly.
    Just like The Arsenal…..

  24. 24
    OsakaMatt says:

    Nuno seems to have 8 assists in 9 games for Lazio!

  25. 25
    Countryman100 says:

    I’ve been to the Tottenham Hotspur stadium twice in the last two seasons. One thing you immediately notice is the vast numbers of young Korean women, usually wearing a Son 7 shirt. Here’s a view from a Tottenham fan on the Bentacur affair.

    https://unexpecteddelirium.substack.com/p/the-tottenham-way-damage-your-brand

  26. 26
    OsakaMatt says:

    That was a well-argued piece thanks C100.

  27. 27
    bt8 says:

    Bentancur angling for a post-foitball bureaucratic position in an authoritarian regime in a small South American regime. How appropriate considering how fast his football career appears to be declining. Scum returning to scum.

  28. 28
  29. 29
    TTG says:

    C100
    Thankyou for attaching that well written and cogently argued piece . It’s interesting that we have begun to regard racism increasingly seriously ( absolute correctly in my view) in a world where two of its most powerful men – Trump and Musk- appear to be impervious to any criticism for blatant racist positions .
    That’s an aside to the Tottnumb situation. I used to write Arsene Wenger’s diary for the Gooner and in one column made a reference to that Korean striker we scarcely ever played which I bitterly regret now . At the time several people contacted me to say how hilarious it was and nobody expressed any disapproval. Nowadays that would be very different although the Gooner would almost certainly have censored the comment before it came to print . In the world we live in now Tottnumb have an indefensible position and most of their fans I know wish they would acknowledge their mistake and move on .

  30. 30
    OsakaMatt says:

    Thanks TTG, sadly even Sam Dean’s optimism isn’t enough to persuade me to give the Torygraph my money.
    On the other hand I just wanted to say I do admire your willingness to own the mistakes of yesteryear, the pace of change has been gratifyingly quick in terms of awareness of what is racist and what is xenophobic and it is true I think that many of us of a certain age probably thoughtlessly said things which we now regret.

  31. 31
    Sancho Panza says:

    I read it for free OM but I can’t say it provided me with any new insights. A win tomorrow is a must.

  32. 32
    Bathgooner says:

    >>>>>>>