An extraordinarily late and frankly undeserved goal from Neil Maupay who had earlier been involved in a controversial incident when Bernd Leno was seriously injured in a first half incident saw Arsenal fall to a second successive defeat since the restart of Premier League football. Maupay who scored the winner in the game in London in December also tried to get Matteo Guendouzi into trouble at the final whistle. A season that for me has been ghastly throughout seems to be getting worse and worse!
We moved from rainy Manchester to the sunny South Coast for our second game of the restarted season. Understandably Mikel Arteta rang the changes after a bitterly disappointing night at the Emptihad. What seemed like it might be a 4-4-2 line-up actually morphed straight into 4-3-3 with Saka playing in a central playmaking role, the berth Mesut Ozil, who was on the bench, might have expected to take. Kolasinac replaced Tierney who dropped to the bench with Rob Holding returning given our dearth of centre backs. Pepe was restored on the right hand side.
I was pleased that the commemoration of those who have lost their lives in the pandemic was greeted with a respectful silence. The clapping that was used to mark it at The Swamp on Friday is ok if you are acknowledging the retirement or death of a great servant of a club but not the death of over 41,000 people.
The first ten minutes were very open compared with the tentative opening on Wednesday. Saka and Guendouzi caught the eye early on. Saka rattled the bar in the seventh minute and two last – gasp challenges foiled Lacazette and a fine Ryan save to his left from a diving header from Lacazette kept the scoresheet blank. Then Leno in chasing a ball which he tried to catch while staying within the area was tipped off balance by a crafty but hardly malicious challenge from Maupay. It was another horror moment following so many in the past- Eduardo, Ramsey, Diaby , Holding, Bellerin, Chambers and now our excellent German custodian who angrily berated Maupay as he went off suggesting that the seemingly innocuous touch might have been the causation of his serious-looking injury.
Leno was replaced by Emi Martinez who was called into action early on to make an excellent save low down to his right from Mooy. We recovered some equilibrium towards the interval with Aubameyang and Lacazette combining well only to be thwarted by good defending by Webster for Brighton. A disjointed first-half ended goalless.
Half- time Brighton 0 Arsenal 0
The overall impression at this stage was that this Arsenal side is some way from the one that Arteta must desire. Inevitably with the shortage of centre backs we look vulnerable defensively to set pieces although Mustafi had a decent game next to a clearly very nervous Rob Holding. We started the second half trying to play at a faster pace and Aubameyang was ruled just offside after breaking from thirty- five yards out. VAR confirmed it was just offside.
Martinez made a good near- post save from Maupay and Ryan saved from Aubameyang after he combined well with Lacazette. Then on 67 minutes we saw the value of the inverted winger when Pepe moved inside and swung a delicious shot over Ryan into the top left – hand corner.
Brighton 0 Arsenal 1
If we felt that this was the catalyst for a more confident Arsenal display to emerge we were mistaken. Our vulnerability to high crosses is well – known but the short- corner routine on 75 minutes saw Ceballos fall asleep and Lacazette fail to provide right-side cover as Dunk threw himself at the cross from the left and speared it past a despairing Holding on the line.
Brighton 1 Arsenal 1
A raft of substitutions followed on each side although Arteta was prevented from bringing on Tierney with Nketiah by what seemed to be a slip by the fourth official. Eventually Tierney was joined by Willock and Nelson for Ceballos, Saka and Pepe.
Aubameyang strived hard to score with two deflected efforts and Mustafi had a header well saved by Ryan. Meanwhile Bissouma was named Man of the Match after an impressive performance of cynical blocking and several late tackles. That the hapless Atkinson could book Lacazette for one foul and excuse Bissouma numerous fouls was incomprehensible. Burn, booked early on was lucky to stay on after clattering Peoe on a couple of occasions.
Our afternoon turned completely tits-up in injury time when Brighton broke down the left and a smart move between McAllister, Connolly and Maupay saw the French striker score delicately at the near post.
Brighton 2 Arsenal 1
It was a nightmare end and in his after-match interview a clearly angry Arteta accused his side of failing to compete for the goals and missing too many chances. Time did not permit him further analysis but my initial conclusions are that this side requires serious surgery. Losing at Citeh in the odd circumstances of Wednesday’s game is one thing but to lose to an ordinary side of honest toilers like Brighton ( or in Bissouma’s case a purveyor of the dark arts albeit one that might improve our side ) is quite another. Certainly we need a strong midfield leader despite Guendouzi’s honest toil and clear quality, we must get a stronger defensive base and get much more convincing at playing out from the back. In the early stages it felt like the early days of Emery’s tenure and while Saka shows immense promise we need more creativity in midfield and must be more ruthless upfront.
From memory this is almost exactly what Bath said in his perceptive note yesterday. I hope we give Arteta a chance to build a proper framework although he will have to do so without being able to parachute in star names as our financial position won’t allow us to. Since Thursday we have lost Mari and Leno to injuries that may keep them out until the end of the year. That reduces his options still further because we were starting to feel those were two positions where we had solutions in place. The media love an Arsenal crisis and having watched Southampton yesterday we may find our game with them very taxing next week. This will generate lots of press negativity. I hope we realise we have a top-quality coach in place but we need to give him the time to find the tools to build a new Arsenal.
First.
Nice one TTG. The last line is especially resonant after a performance and result like today’s.
I had not realised Bissouma got MOTM after spending the entire game fouling whomever he wanted whilst Atkinson did nothing.
Well said, TTG (and congrats on underpromising but overdelivering on the speed of your match report).
The rest of the season may turn into a series of training matches in effect as Arteta schools his squad in how he wants it to play. I fear that could mean few points along the way. Given this season increasingly looks a write-off for us that may not matter, providing it yields results for 20/21.
On the challenge that led to Leno’s injury, I would say only that there is a reason that players can’t hit goalkeepers in the air after they have caught the ball. It is dangerous because keepers can’t use their hands to regain their balance.
Good stuff TTG.
I’m with Ned, but I remind people that a lot of our destiny remains in our hands.
If you believe this squad has class, then you must think that they will find form at some point. If you don’t believe that, then respectfully, I’m not sure that football fandom is for you. The big problem is that there isn’t much time left for them to turn things around.
I also think that it’s a little too early to write off the season completely and play the remaining games as super training matches. If we show no signs of a return to form in the next couple of matches, then perhaps time to consider the nuclear option.
Obscurely, if we did go down that route, I’d be slightly encouraged; it would likely bring down a media shitstorm, not to mention the reaction of the less well balanced parts of the fan base which will be obvious to all involved in the decision to take that approach. Thus, to treat in such a manner any “competitive” matches this season would suggest a long-term commitment both from Arteta and towards him.
COYG
That’s a top report TTG – extremely balanced, following in the traditions of the old maestro. I completely agree with your assessment regarding the massive rebuilding job facing Arteta and the club need to back him fully. I am glad you mentioned the hardwork of Guendouzi and it’s quite unfortunate that he is having to anchor this shaky midfield at such a young age. He has immense talent and I love the fact that he gives it everything and also takes risks trying to be inventive. I also liked the fact that he was furious with Maupay at the end because it shows that the defeat rankled him and those are the kind of players we need(of course he has to learn not to get carried away in anger and get cards for it!). During the lockdown in Cesc’s podcast interview with Arseblogger, he mentioned something pointedly about the young Arsenal squad during his later Arsenal years as to how their casual attitude after a defeat really angered Cesc when he himself was feeling sick of losing. Arteta himself talks about culture at the club a lot and these are the sort of intangibles which add up to forming that culture.
In the last drinks Doctor Faustus hit the nail on the head regarding the Arsenal midfield. Xhaka is a much criticised player because of his errors but what he does give us is structure in midfield. Guendouzi is far too young and inexperienced to play that role currently, especially when the other midfielders around him are not that good either. Xhaka also has a physical presence about him which was clearly lacking today in young Guendouzi and the lightweight Ceballos. The Spaniard was infuriating today with his constant nibbling at the ball and safe passes. He was also slow moving and slow to react on many occasions during the game. If we have already decided not buy Ceballos or extend his loan for one more year then I would like to see Maitland Niles given more time in midfiled instead of Ceballos. As much as results are critical, this is also a pre-season for next season. I would much rather see players who will definitely be with us next season and these games could be a good time to bed them into the eleven given how small the actual pre-season is going to be. Coming back to the topic of the Arsenal midfield, it is an area where we have struggled for quite sometime now. The absence of Xhaka diminishes our midfield further and it is going to be area where we will need very good recruitment. Midfield is where games are controlled from and it is no surprise we never seem to be controlling games. It is only going to get even more difficult because building out from the back is a critical aspect of controlling games and losing your best goalkeeper and the supposedly better passing central defender (Mari) doesn’t help that cause. Kolasinac is another player we must sell in the window because if Arteta wants to be a possession based team that builds from the back – Kola is a huge misfit. His passing ability especially with his weaker foot is astoundingly erroneous for a player at this level. Essentially Arteta has to mould this team in the style he wants them to play and that would require letting go of those who do not suit that style and buying only those who would synchronize well with the style. This agent contact based recruitment is not how one builds a team that plays a certain way.
When it was decided to finish the rest of this season in this rushed and abnormal sort of way, I was mentally prepared for us to not finish in the European places and thought these games would be a way for Arteta to build towards next season – in which we will need to start very strong. But seeing the way these two games have gone, I am just worried that these 8-9 games might do more harm than good for the squad and Arteta. He really has had a steep uphill climb filled with surprise traps ever since he became Arsenal manager. I really like his attitude and what he wants to do for the club – I just hope he finds some luck and a couple of commanding midfielders very soon. I also hope the club support him in the transfer market and through the ups and downs in results which are bound to happen during a rebuilding phase. I also wish that the fan base is patient with him because it is long and slow process and the he is a very young manager but also a manager with a real feel for the club.
Evening one and all. First of all, well done Everyone for all the efforts that has gone in to getting everything this far. An excellent job.
Today? Not sure what to add really? At the moment it’s a total and utter rudderless shambles. The challenge on Leno was one of those that is just horrendous. Totally innocuous and I have no doubt that there was zero intention to cause any injury. But it is stupid, reckless and With no intention to play the ball, and even less of a chance of actually making it. That is why it frustrates me so much. I just hope it’s not too serious.
I continue to read how so many have faith in Arteta. I would love him to succeed and I seriously hope he is given the time and money to have a fair crack of the whip. For me, the jury is still well and truly out. So far he has only overseen 4 wins in the premier league. I can cope with the Citeh result. I don’t know anyone who thought we would get a result up there. But today was very different. Brighton offered nothing that should have caused us any issues at all.
Having huffed and puffed, we go one up. Then a shambolic corner just shows how far away we really are. Then came the moment of ultimate unprofessionalism for me. The Brighton 8 goes down with cramp. Not surprising considering the amount of fouls he’s given away. The Brighton player, running out of space as he continues to run up a blind alley, puts the ball out of play???? Life or death situation? Or an attempt to waste time?? I can’t be the only one who was infuriated that we gave the ball back to them??? Why??? The rest as they say is history. We concede another sloppy goal in the fifth minute of 3 added on.
Whilst the performance as a whole wasn’t even close to being acceptable, Arteta has to accept his share of the blame. According to my commentary If PEA had scored today then he would have reached 50 goals for Arsenal quicker than Henry? So why continue to play him wide? I’m sure that will really sway him to sign a new deal? The substitution when Tierney was due to come on was just embarrassing. 1 all with 5 minutes to go and we make three changes? What is the thought process behind that?? Ozil not fit enough to play midweek and unused today? Mesut who could not afford a drop in his £350k a week salary?
There are some massive challenges ahead and I just hope Arteta is up to the task. At the moment, I’m sat here wishing that the season had not restarted at all.
Excellent report of a deeply disappointing match, TTG. That was a tough one. I have nothing to add to the excellent comments above and expect nothing to change whilst Kroenke calls all the shots.
Much sense from Steve T above.
Sure, the jury might still, properly, be out on Mikel, but I dust off the question I asked so often in the latter Wenger years. If we get rid, who do we replace him with, and why should we expect him to be better?
Somewhat against my better judgement I found time to watch the second in the series of sausage machine matches being played out because of a £750M debt to SKY and Co. Even watching on fast forward interrupted the PGA transmission from Hilton Head, the game that should be played and watched in this season of sunshine. Anyone who has had the pleasure of playing Harbour Town will recognise the extent of the sacrifice and therefore the level of commitment to Arsenal involved 🙂
It seemed to me that we played for most of the match with ten men. Pepe was completely anonymous apart from an early run and cross and then his goal (I expect much more for £72M). We had sufficient chances to win comfortably today but neither Laca nor Auba are close to their sharpest, in their minds or their muscles. We played adequately but uninspiringly for the most part. The game had a 1-0 look to it throughout and so it should have finished. The defending that resulted in failure to accomplish that was poor.
It’s very easy to forget that the vector was pointedly toward the relegation zone when MA8 took over. He and some very promising young players are the current positives at Arsenal. Given support from all quarters he’ll succeed. It’s disappointing to see the extent of doubt sewing and sniping that has already begun.
Some very interesting comments and it is good to have Desi back . Desi , your observations are spot-on . I didn’t want these games and have been a miseryguts for weeks hoping the season would just end. My only crumb of satisfaction is that the Kroenkes, those most unsuitable owners for a great club like the Arsenal now have an asset that is seriously depreciating in value and will continue to do so unless they invest heavily in it. No wonder they wouldn’t sack Wenger as he obtained Champions League income at minimal outlay . The outlay is getting bigger for them each year and one wonders when the aggravation and cost will become too much .
Wenger made a very perceptive observation the other day that the effect of the pandemic as far as football is concerned would be that it would exacerbate the gap between rich and poor clubs. Arsenal should be one of the wealthier clubs with its fan base , heritage and set up but it was atrociously run by Gazidis and others and has haemorrhaged money ( Ozil, Sanchez/ Mkhitaryan,Luiz, Ramsey). I’d estimate those four deals have cost us around £160 million . No wonder we haven’t got a pot to piss in . Soares , Suarez and Lucas Perez have added a pretty penny more. . This was on Josh Kroenke’s Watch so in answer to the question ‘ What actual harm have the Kroenkes ever done to us? ‘ the foregoing would be a good start. The fact that the football is progressively less attractive and we have failed to qualify for the Champions League four years in a row just adds fuel to the flames .
The answer ? It can only be a new owner …but in a pandemic and given their unwillingness to sell their assets it doesn’t look likely
T
A very fair report / appraisal of the game and the reality of where the club stands at this moment in time TTG. The failings are all too clear to see and have been obvious for some time. I also have belief that the current coach is the right man for the job but it’s going to take some movement out of the current weaknesses and astute replacements for him to achieve this. With so much money having been staffed up the wall in the recent past I have little confidence the Kroenke’s are willing to support him with adequate finances. It’s gonna be an even more bumpy ride ahead folks.
Better to have a bumpy ride than no ride at all, it occurs to a former hitchhiker.
bt8,
🙂
it’s the sort of ride where you
get in and driver is a mostly
silent man who seems friendly
at first but then he asks you
to pay for all the petrol, then the
car breaks down and he tells you
there’s no money for repairs.
You’re worried now but it’s too
late because the road sign says
1mile to Shit Creek, and though
you’ve never been there it doesn’t
sound auspicious. Your seatbelt
doesn’t work, the brakes have
gone and the engine’s set to
overload. You look to the silent
one and though he seems more sinister
now he smiles reassuringly and
tells you “don’t worry this happens
with all my cars but my son will
be here soon with enough petrol
to get us a mile down the road”
Great post TTG, far more
balanced and infinitely kinder
than I could hope to be.
Sound comments too. As MA
said afterwards that was just
unacceptable at this level.
MA also mentioned it will be
a tough job to lift the players
which I just don’t understand.
If that clusterfuck happened
to me I would be eager to get
out there again and make
someone pay.
Well played TTG. That result hit me far harder than I expected. It took me right back to all those defeats in April 2019. We are further off the status we proudly held for over 20 years. This is going to be a long, long road. Let’s start by beating Spurs and winning the Cup.
Uply, “I have little confidence the Kroenke’s are willing to support him with adequate finances”
Should we be surprised? Kronke said “Self-sustaining” on day one. The club realised £400 million in 2019. Effectively Kronke said “Go off and spend that £400M lads and win something. But don’t spend a penny more”. He isn’t the Milk Sheik of Abbly Dabbly, Chel$ki’s Evil Roman or the Thai chap who crashed his helicopter after bailing out Liecester, and he’s never pretended to be. He couldn’t have been clearer on his intent.
And is he any worse than Peter Hill Wood “We’re not going to break the bank to keep Robin Van Persie” when having done so would have resulted in a title win in the following season and changed the narrative of the later Wenger years completely?
I’ve never met Kronke and I don’t know/like/dislike him better than I do the Man in the Moon. However, had I bought Arsenal, I would have run it on the basis he does. HOWEVER, what I would have appointed a shit hot CEO and put his feet to the fire much better than happened with Gazidis (see TTG’s comments above), and yes, I would have been more directly involved.
Right now Kronke should be demanding to see how his player assets are going to be managed (out) to fund future improvements (in). He should also be pretty pissed off that £400M has brought the current level of reward. This should be informing the basis for his endorsement of spend for the coming season.
However, if he has any real regard for Arsenal’s wellbeing (as a trophy winning entity), this is most certainly the time to consider putting his hand in his pocket to provide Arteta with the support and belief that his potential merits. To do that will require him for the first time to break his “self sustaining” promise.
By the way, irrespective of League position (assuming we’re not relegated), I think Kronke need have no worry that he’ll sell Arsenal FC at a profit should he choose to do so. EPL clubs are vanity projects. The EPL has great potential to continue churning along as a money machine for years to come and making its owner a global ‘sports personality’. There a Chinese biliionaires lurking in the shadows of the forbidden city who will leap at the lustre and halo of fame associated with ownership of the brand should the opportunity arise.
Would I invest my hard cash? Not a chance. Arsenal’s profits on realisations of £400M never exceed £20M. Few would pay more than £300M unless they believed that assets (stadium, training ground, players) were likely to increase significantly in value. But a Chinese billionaire seeking fame and a plaything would.
Ozil’s brand is worth a LOT more to the club than £350k per week. Sure we expect more from him on the pitch, but without him we’d lose a huge portion of our global following which would knock us for hundreds of millions of pounds a year. I can’t help but feel a little annoyed when people keep referencing his salary.
What have Xhaka or Laca done this season to justify their huge wage packets and transfer fees? What has Luiz done to justify £24m worth of expense in one season? These people add nothing to the club financially or footballistically.
If anyone bothers to read the guff above they’ll be correct in pointing out that I omitted the current value of the clubs assets from my fag packet valuation. Too lazy to go find out what that is 🙂 and a 15 times multiple is a bit rich – but not for a billionaire.
Happy Father’s Day, old dads.
Great posts Btm.
My daughter has been rejoicing all week that she has bought a shiny new family car in Arsenal red . Facebook is replete with pictures of it . I’ve told her it has to go pronto…it’s a jinx.
The valuation of Arsenal is a very moot point. Pandemic aside ( as if that’s possible) , we have London’s biggest club , England’s third most successful club with a unique brand much embellished by Wenger’s great years with super transport communications in one of the most important cities in the world and a fine stadium ( although one I’ve never really warmed to because it wasn’t Highbury ) and one that has been cleverly financed and we are not mortgaged to the hilt like the Totts .
I’m not connected to a lot of people working in the club now and less who are in what I might call the cognoscenti who know most of the real gossip. Similarly I’m not in the City anymore ( when we were securitising the stadium loan I got a running commentary from several bankers ) so don’t know if there is major interest in purchasing ( but see the reasons for purchase just listed ). I do know that the African chap – ?Dangote- is a serious purchaser and I can’t believe that a Chinese billionaire , a very rich Sheikh from the Emirates , An American tech billionaire or one of the top names on the Sunday Times rich list wouldn’t be interested if we were up for sale .
There are two big questions. One would they pay the premium Stan would ( reasonably) demand ? Two would they be fit and proper owners in these times with the justifiable focus on business morality ? The Kroenkes have to pump more into Arsenal because they’ve chosen the wrong CEOs or in the current situation possibly two , but the PL version of FFP makes it more difficult to do this than you might imagine . But the purchase of Usmanov’s stake suggests to me that Stan is ( sadly) in this for the long haul
Forbes’s pre-coronavirus valuation of the club was $2.3 billion, a multiple of 4.5 times revenue and 22.5 times operating income. Those multiples are broadly in line with Chelsea’s. Best estimates of those who know follow these things are that the pandemic has knocked approaching 20% off the collective valuation of Premiership clubs. The Saudi bid for Newcastle values the club at 21% less than its pre-pandemic estimated valuation (but the Saudis will be paying much lower revenue and operating income multiples). On that basis, Arsenal would sell today for $1.85 billion. As TTG says, plenty of wealthy parties could afford that for either personal or national self-aggrandisation. Premiership clubs are a relatively rare asset, premium ones like ours, even if in need of a bit of burnishing now, even more so.
Arsenal cost Kroenke a tad more than £1 billion if you add up all the share purchases. That is $1.25 billion at current exchange rates, but the purchases go back a decade, during which the exchange rate was less favourable to him, plus there is any borrowing to finance his purchases (eg, when he bought out Usmanov) to factor in, plus the time value of money. So his true dollar cost would be a bit higher. At a sale price of $1.85 billion, he would still come out ahead by at least several hundred million dollars, but that may well not be an attractive enough return for a decade’s investment to induce him to sell.
Thanks for that, Ned, I had hoped the monks might enable you to pop up. I would have done my valuation on:
Min : (Stad + Train Camp + Players + Other Prop – Debts) + (8 x Income).
Max : (Stad + T Camp + Players + Other Prop + Brand – Debts) + (20 x Income).
22.5 x Income implies you really want the business and (if it’s not just a vanity project) see a way of increasing income that current management doesn’t.
My Max would have an income component of only £400M, suggesting that the rest would need to be worth £1.1Bn to £1.5Bn. Fairly realistic. BUT I would borrow from the hilt from Bath, repaying him with premier home distilled hooch, and then go with my Min offer 🙂
This kind of money is peanuts to the likes of Chinese billionaires and the Milk Sheik of course 🙂
We crossed there. More good info thanks. I suspect he/his family have so much money that a few hundred million one way or the other wouldn’t drive his decision. If it “stops being fun” they’ll sell and hope to make some money on the way out but won’t lose sleep over a few hundred million that they’ll write off using the Donald’s generous tax system for multi-billionaires in need of a helping hand.
I think we’re stuck with him. That implies we’re stuck with “self financing”. That implies in turn that Kronke (or his CEO on the basis of his management behaviour to date) needs to get much better at 1) managing his player assets 2) identifying nascent talent 3) striking commercial deals.
Buckle up for a bouncy ride.
Ah, TTG, so your Arsenal red family car is the problem and the cause of lost sleep and mental turmoil for C100?
In 2011/12 Many City won the EPL for the first time. Citeh’s financial report for the year revealed a loss of £97.9M. Citeh fans celebrated and didn’t care. The Milk Sheik of Abbly Dabbly shrugged (“A pee in the Arabian Gulf” he said) as yet another grossly underpaid Bangladeshi labourer fell to his death off a rickety scaffold just outside his palace window.
Arsene Wenger elevated his FFP critique. “Sacre bleu! FFP ne marche pas.”
Fans of clubs other than Chel$ki coined the phrase, “If you can’t win it, buy it”.
Peter Hill Wood announced “We won’t break the bank to keep Robin V Persie”.
So Robin duly moved to ManU in August 2012 for the “bank breaking” sum of £24M. He finished the 2012/13 as the league’s top scorer with 26 goals, winning his second consecutive Golden Boot award and ManU won the League.
“Suck that up, Arsene and earn us another £20M” said the good Peter.
Back then I had some faith that Arsene’s hopes would be realised by rule tightening which would make “self financing” the EPL norm. The years have rolled on and Citeh now stand in the dock awaiting UEFA justice. Sadly, my suspicions are that Citeh’s case will fall into the “too difficult” category and they will wriggle off the hook. If the Citeh case dies, the notion of FFP will too, I fear.
A focus on business morality? Yes, there is that.
But dress up a bid with grand promises of a ‘national trading partnership post-brexit’, ‘significant inward investment’, ‘a track and trace system to track and trace whatever you want to track and trace’ a ‘commitment to employ almost exclusively BAME staff and pay them minimum wage’ and ‘under no circumstances deploy Huawei technology in our telephone system’ and the tenderer of the offer, said Chinese billionaire of very doubtful repute, will be welcomed in with open arms, kissed by Boris on both cheeks and all of Arteta’s intellectual property tactical nouse will mysteriously appear at Beijing United overnight. 🙂
And yes, sadly (or not) Stan’s in it for the long run. Arsenal is now part of his family dynasty. 🙁
Reading your excellent report was considerably more enjoyable than watching the match. For some reason the intensity and coherence we had started to exhibit under Arteta in the last days before pandemic upended our lives have gone away. We need a few relentless type of players in the team who can energize the rest of the lackluster squad. I don’t know if Gabi is injured or not but against an opposition like Brighton his style of play would have led to many more turnovers in their half and better penetration in the final third.
Kieran, Gabi, Saka, Reiss, Eddie … I think these guys all have the right attitude to go with their potential. They need to be surrounded by senior players who lead by examples.
About Pepe, he needs to learn to step up and press more. But we almost never try to leverage his strength. No one in the midfield makes a timely pass to him to get him one-on-one with the defender, Bellerin rarely makes a run outside off him, and when he has the ball rarely anyone makes them available for one-twos …
Auba and Laca both have given us many great goals and performances, but their overall leadership in the attacking third has been questionable this season.
Cheers TTG!
No news on Leno yet but knowing our luck it will be a lot longer than the customary 3 weeks. If it’s as serious as something like an ACL then we all know that’s like to be 9 months at least. If tray is the case, do we go and sign Joe Hart on a free for a year as cover?
Steve I’d rather stick with our existing back ups. There’s a reason that Hart’s career is in free fall.
The Maupay foul has been rankling with me and not just because if it’s a cruciate ligament we won’t see much of Leno for a year. It’s slyness reminded me of a foul that I recalled just now. It was when Arnautovic pushed Debuchy and seriously injured his shoulder.a few years ago when we played Stoke . Again it wasn’t punished but it was full of malicious intent and effectively ended Debuchy’s career at Arsenal. That sort of nastiness deserves to be recognised for what it is . I suspect we may see Joe Hart at the Emirates next season as a consequence of Mauoay’s sly challenge
Not Hart. No more like Hart.
No more Lichts, Luiz’s or Cech’s
for that matter.
Agree with TTG though, the
Arnautivic foul on Debuchy has
always annoyed me too. If you
push someone over the hoardings
then regardless of intent it risks
a serious injury.
Steve T may correct me but I think
in rugby you can’t tackle the player
with the ball in the air. I believe that
rule is for safety reasons. Regardless
of intent to cause serious injury Maupay
jumped into him when it wasn’t
necessary. The ball was already in
Leno’s hands. Why? To rough up the
keeper, show him he was there
etc etc. In other words a deliberate
foul that has probably caused a
bad injury. It is a tricky one because
we want Arsenal players to show
aggression too but in general I
think people should suffer the
consequences of their actions.
Maupay won’t I think as the FA
will do nothing just like Atkinson.
ttg, a tough writing assignment you met with dave-like standards. thank you! i saw pretty much the same, and am in mild despair. mostly about hector’s lost pace, and leno’s soon-to-be lost season. maupay was a snake and knew he’d done wrong. atkinson should have tossed him for dangerous play. not even a card.
arteta needs more than a dozen or two games broken by a pandemic. as pang suggests @8 above, who do we get that would do better? i think he needs to, as we do, take it a game at a time. and learn who really wants it, and get rid of who doesn’t.
barack, yours at 17 was caught in the filter for some reason. did you used to be o’barman?
Guendouzi is facing a three match suspension for shaking Maupay warmly by the throat at the end of the game. Depends on whether the referee includes it in his report evidently.
Ironic I suppose if Atkinson saw
Guen at the end there, he saw
fuck all else for 90 minutes
Too sadly true, OM
There has been talk of both Martinez and Macey leaving so there could be a keeper already in the pipeline. I can see the argument for bringing in an experienced shot-stopper to cover until Leno is back, but if it came to a choice between Martinez and Hart, I would stick with Martinez. An extended run in the team might be just what he needs to show he can deliver the potential he was always deemed to have. However, neither he nor Hart is particularly deft with their feet, which may make Arteta look elsewhere.
However, even a loan deal will be another unwanted drain on our limited rebuilding transfer budget.
Internally, we’ve got Deyan Iliev out on loan. The U-23s have a bunch of well-regarded young keepers: James Hillson, Karl Hein, Arthur Okonkwo and Tom Smith, but it would be a huge step up into first-team football for any of them, even as a No 3.
C100@35 & OM@33: So it turns out Atkinson was consistent in seeing nothing after all.
We’ll have to give him that Ned
😄
I’m surprised that he didn’t see Gwen strangling that ‘orrible little shit that assaulted Leno as his vision was good enough to see Nelson’s ‘push’ on some Brighton twat so that he didn’t have to award a penalty to Arsenal and break his pledge to PGMOL.
i’m not convinced we should be blaming the ref, but yeah, he didn’t have a great game. glad his blinkers were on during the post-game festivities.
the problem with the nelson “push” is that there was contact…just not convinced it was any more or less than the usual contact in the box. so convenient for atkinson, though.
and watching the city-burnley game in the background, we’re not doing much worse than burnley…right?
except that i doubt any dumb bastard would be trailing a “white lives matter” banner over the grove. yeesh.
Matt@30.
You are spot on. You can’t tackle a player in the air for those exact reasons. In fact the general rule of thumb is that you would be lucky to stay on the pitch if you do.
Thanks Steve T.
An obvious and common sense
rule. That pretty much rules it
out for the PL then.
Fast start and 6 points for Man
Shitty. How I hate them.
I understand that OM@44 as Shitteh represent everyhing we were when we became the Invincibles. For multiple reasons, not least the new stadium, we let it all slip and my fear is that the consequence of the decisions taken around that period will in time be seen to have precipitated the demise of this great club. Watching Shitteh now is therefore the equivalent of a man who was once handsome and debonair but is now a gin-soaked wreck looking at a photograph of himself in his pomp and shedding a tear.
My earlier observation that nothing will change whilst Kroenke’s dead hand is on the tiller still stands notwithstanding BtM’s entirely rational defence @16 of the self-sustaining philosophy. I too would take that position. In part because I am not made of money and see a fan running a football club as ‘feeding the crocodile’ though I did join the AST fanshare scheme as I though it was important that fans own part of the club. I would also not lend BtM a bean to invest in either of the football clubs he supports though I will be happy to offer him a spare ticket every now and again. My issue with Kroenke and his spawn is the self-professed philosophy that, and I paraphrase as I do not have a record of his exact words, “You wouldn’t invest in a football club if you wanted to win things”.
Here you have the philosophy that has, like a virus, crept throughout Arsenal FC. Kroenke has not publicly held CEO’s/Directors of Football to account for a litany of terrible decisions on contracts, purchases, sales and free departures. I think that is in part because of his hands-off philosophy – he doesn’t see it as wasting ‘his’ money. They are wasting the funds from the self-sustaining investment vehicle that he has purchased. He was content to watch the value of his investment continu to grow while Arsene Wenger was able to work miracles with a squad declining in quality. He clearly feels remote from the fray. Indeed so remote that he has given the club to his son to play with. The boy may be bright enough but clearly cannot have the senior management expertise to run an organisation like Arsenal FC (it’s not genetic – it’s about experience) but the likes of Raul will see him and respond to him as ‘the owner’s son’.
While I wouldn’t want a meddling owner who interferes with elements in the club in which he has no expertise, I would much prefer an owner who cares and shows he wants the club to win trophies. I wonder what it will take for Stan to wake up and smell the coffee. Big clubs have become small clubs throughout the history of English football.
Unless I am very mistaken, we are in for many years in the wilderness.
Speaking of big clubs becoming small clubs, next season we may witness the first occasion of a second tier club playing in a 60,000-seater stadium. Not to equate our situation with West Ham’s yet.
Bath,
Your description of me shedding a tear in my gin-soaked misery ( except in my case it is whisky,whiskey, beer and wine ) hit home . That’s how I feel about Citeh .
I’m interested in taking issue on a couple of things . Firstly we have to accept we will have to take less than optimal solutions in the transfer market . If we can get Joe Hart in as understudy to EMI for half a season or so that may be the sort of pragmatic deal we need to do . The key would be not to pay him a ridiculous signing-on fee. Leno was one of the few who didn’t need replacing and we can’t splurge on a short – term solution for him.Similarly having just bought Mari ( which is a deal we have done apparently ) we need to look at how we might replace him if his injury keeps him out for part of next season . Again the solution would have to be a low-budget one ( nb, contrast with Citeh’s situation)
I’m also a bit mystified about how we are benefiting financially from having Ozil on the books as per Barack’s contention @17 .
I don’t know if we own his image rights but I would contend that even in Turkey he is no longer a man who sells Arsenal jerseys or in any other way I can think of brings any sort of serious money into the club. He is regarded with huge distrust and animosity in Germany so I doubt he has recruited many Teutonic fans. He is a huge drain on our limited finances who seems to pick and choose when he wants to play , was the most reluctant of the players to accept any sort of pay cut and has clearly now added Arteta to the ranks of managers who don’t trust him to play.
Barack , if you can explain to me how much he is bringing into the club I will accept Ivan Gazidis is an underestimated genius who has created untold wealth for Arsenal . I suspect a better description is of a massive millstone that has dragged the club down over the last two and a half seasons in possibly the most serious personnel miscalculation we have ever made .
Great news and bad news.
https://www.arsenal.com/news/team-news-leno-xhaka-sokratis-and-more
I doubt we are making much from merchandising Mesut at this point. Ozil is building his own llifestyle and sportswear brand, M10, which embraces his esports team started in 2018, which competes on the EA Sports FIFA and Fortnite platforms (ask your kids). M10 recently launched its online shop (hoodies, caps, tops) and will reportedly be expanding his lines in the coming months.
I would imaging that £350,000 a week is useful working capital for his business.
As for Ozil’s image rights, they are owned, according to a tax investigation into him in Spain when he was ar Real Madrid, by Özil Marketing GmbH, a company he set up in 2008 and wholly owns. When he signed for us, the club licensed his image rights from Özil Marketing GmbH for 1.5 million euros a year. That deal lasted until 2018. I imagine it would have been renewed as part of his contract renewal. It is likely true that in 2018 Ozil’s was the best selling Arsenal shirt (there are some credible reports to that effect plus one in the Daily Express, though just a ranking not the number of sales). It looks as if now, however, he has fallen to eighth-best-selling among the first=team squad.
scum: clean up in aisle 50, if you would, as the post appears to have doubled up.
oops, that should have been scruz. apologies. spill chucker is going awol today.
scum has done the cleanup 😀 how tragic that my spillchucker nom is so…so…that 😀
bath@48, the worst news there (aside from, perhaps, xhaka being fit again) is how full our bloody treatment room is already after just two games. yikes.
scruz: many thanks. what do you think of spill chuckers…
bath@48: Good news about Leno is that he should be back for next season so no need to pursue a fill-in like Hart. However, we’ve clearly seen the last of Mari for the season, and its sounds like the same will be true for Martinelli. I doubt also we’ll see much if anything of Torriera.
ned@54… shingle!
Great work on Ozil Ned or as Scruz would call you by way of revenge Nerd 😃😃
Your monks are in fine form . Overall the news re Leno is pretty good. We can see if Emi is up to an extended run in the team . Pity about Martinelli.
As Scruz ( Scum) says it is amazing we have so many people injured after two games. I understand that Soares and Mari have both been signed but will not be announced yet .
i think we’re headed to next season at this point, ttg. play the kids with some rotation of the elders, bring back esr, and teach the lessons arteta wants to teach. get rid of dross in the summer, try to find some gold in the pan, and start 20-21 season on fire. with no one in the treatment room, excepting perhaps chambo.
the oracle reporting luiz for a year, and our injured brethren marí and soares for 4 years each. how the hell do we know for soares? thank goodness luiz only for a year.
what about SAKA?
Scuz@56 and TTG@57: 🙂
I guess Soares must have impressed sufficiently before he broke his nose in training. At least that sort of injury should not reoccur/be a persistent niggle/take a yard of pace off him etc. We reportedly paid a £5 million loan fee for him, which is hefty given he was going out of contract at Southampton. I assume we are getting him on a free. Back-up for Hector or replacement?
If it is a year for Luiz, then at least two of our eight CBs must be moving on. Sokratis and Mapravanos? That would leave for next season Luiz, Mari and Holding for the left side and Mustafi and Saliba on the right, with Chambers’s future up in the air (perhaps competing with Holding to be Mari’s back-up). One of the youngsters, Medley, Ballard or Clarke, could make a breakthrough.
i’d have to believe mustafi and sokratis, though mus has had some sort of renaissance under mikel. so probably mavro. holding looked good against brighton, with mus by his side. unless he’s totally crocked, i could see chambo coming back and competing for a dm position, and letting one of the youngsters through as a third backup.
as for hecate, i am so sad for him. his blistering recovery pace is gone, and he doesn’t have good enough instincts for positioning to be in that position for us. but i can’t believe soares is much better, but he might offer a more defensive option that forces us to rely less on our center backs to keep things tidy.
i also wonder on the left, if we’re going to stick with saka and tierney, and get rid of kola, or keep kola and make sure saka is plying mid or front three in every game. SIGN HIM. we certainly could use an upgrade to kola, but saka isn’t it.
Scruz
I think we may see Osei- Tutu return from loan and claim a place in the first -team squad. Young Swanson is highly thought of but probably needs a loan . ESR should challenge for the no.10 role next season.
We have to look at saleable , expendable assets who wouldn’t be in the first team regularly and who may generate fees…or save significant wages.
These might be
Chambers ( complicated by his injury)
Kolasinac
Mustafi
Sokratis
Maitland- Niles
Mavropanos
Mkhitaryan
Elneny
Guendouzi ( there is much talk about problems behind the scenes with him )
Lacazette
Ozil ???
Ceballos will return to Madrid
You may see one or two youngsters leave who could generate fees too.
That leaves Aubameyang. If he won’t sign a new contract they have to decide what fee he could generate. In a depressed market they may feel he is worth keeping to attempt to get back into the CL. .
Not all of these players will go but many of them will and we will need to replace them by clever scouting going below the radar and promoting young talent .
I expect us to sign Partey and I suspect we will try for another midfielder . We may need a striker if Aubameyang and Lacazette go to supplement Nketiah and Martinelli .
Massive change!
Lots of interesting points.
I feel a wastebasket full of
ill-thought out waffle coming on……
By position seems the way to
go in remembrance of the
much-missed cba’s exhortation
to keep it short…..
Good news in goal on Leno’s
injury. A chance to get a good
look at Emi. If he does well
then great, if not then time to
move him on. No Hart.
@scruz, ned
Soares is signed for 4 years as
we always planned according to
MA who also said he will add
squad depth – hardly a ringing
endorsement but perhaps said
with an eye to Hector.
Our FBs don’t seem to get forward
as much under MA excepting Saka
which may have been a one-off.
That’s not Hector’s strength and
may suit Soares more, making
Hector a possible sale with Osei-Tutu
to come back as cover.
Kieran and Kola are quite different
types and I could see us keeping
both. As with Hector/Soares really.
Depends how much we need the
money in the end.
@62 Ned
Agree with your assessment of
the 2 CBs to move on.
Doesn’t Saliba play on the left?
Though he’s so young I suppose
nothing is fixed yet.
Xhaka is back for good or ill in
centre midfield. I think it’s fair
to say Dani/Guen has not looked
any better.
Agree with everyone that we
need reinforcements there.
I’d also add Torreira to TTG’s list
@64. Terrific player I think but it
is not working for him at the
moment and he would generate
funds.
Shame about Martinelli’s injury
but we seem well-stocked for
wide players.
I expect one of Laca/Auba to leave this
year. But both would be a real gamble.
A good possibles list from TTG covers
it I think. Though I wonder if we can
sell Kola – it is financially advantageous
for players who arrive on a free and
they must be very tempted to simply
do the same thing again.
Is it better financially for agents if a
fee is involved? That could be a factor
I suppose.
Anyone who reads Arseblog this morning is unlikely to feel happier for having done so.
You were right BtM.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>