Arsenal Player Ratings v Sevilla – Emirates Cup 2022 by ken1945
I just thought I would give you my take on the above game as a supporter who has not been sold on the Arteta project yet.
First of all, and in typical Arsenal fashion, tributes were paid to Terry Neill and Jose Reyes by the Gooners lucky enough to be at the game.
It was brilliant to see young families with children wearing the various Arsenal strips…. though with prices ranging from £70 to £100 for an adult top, it must cost them a fortune to kit a family of four out.
I was also expecting to see some long-needed TLC having been done on the tired looking Emirates, but all I could see was some work being carried out on one of the main screens… very disappointing to say the least.
Anyway, on to the game and the fans.
What a fantastic atmosphere there was before a ball was kicked and when the squad/team was announced.
All the new summer signings, bar the keeper, were named in the first eleven and were greeted with a tremendous ovation.
The first half was like taking a step back to the attractive and attacking football most of us remember and love.
It was amazing to see the link up play – the way we pressed our opponents – the understanding from each player to their teammates positioning and runs, the football just flowed from one side to the other and from the back, through midfield and to the front.
There was no let-up in those first forty-five minutes, and it was obvious that our opponents would come out and play better… and they did.
For the first time, we were able to see how our defence would look under pressure and they looked great!!
The 6-0 result was no fluke result and here’s why, with my personal points out of 10 in brackets:
Ramsdale (7) had nothing really to do, because of Saliba (8) and Gabriel (8) looked very solid, without doing anything spectacular… just hard-working CB’s.
White (7) will not be our RB but played well going forward and Zinchenko (8) will be more than just a cover for Tierney.
Xhaka (8) and Partey (8) linked up well and kept driving forward.
Our new captain Odegaard (8) was brilliant today, but I’m not sure he is captain material like Adams or Vieira.
Up front, Saka (9) was just superb, while Martinelli (9) was just as effective and fed my MOTM Jesus (10) everything he needed to be just that!!
But it was also his running and 100% effort that stood out today… he was just brilliant.
So, do I now believe that the “process” will bring us back to being a top four club and winning trophies?
Strangely enough, I’m still not 100% sure!!
Why?
I really don’t know, but with Tomi, Partey and ESR being fit and another top midfield signing, it should persuade an old cynical supporter like me!
Before anyone has a go at me, judge our excellent performance versus that Community Shield match – we’re re not up there yet, but we’re also within touching distance – let the Premier League unfold and see how close we really are.
Meanwhile, keep up the good work Mikel!!
Ken1945
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Definitely no fluke Ken. I hope our ‘three musketeers, Jesus, Martinelli and Saka, plus their D’Artagnan, Martin Odegaard stay injury free. Very exciting. I hope we stop calling it ‘the process’ which makes me think of plastic ‘processed’ cheese. I hope that term can be left away from the ‘naturalness’ of the enlivening attitude of ‘Three Musketeers’
Gud article Admin Pat, but Sean Williams is legendary.
Our 3 musketeers ❤❤🙏🏾❗
No, it wasn’t a fluke, we played them off the park.
It was incredible in the first 45 and the last 20 minutes – just what the doctor ordered!!!
Ken
I beleive this squad is better the last year and the best squad for many a season.
We have better depth and most of all and I understand it is only pre season games but we look well drilled and definitely look at it from the first whistle
A big 38 games coming up for us as team and especially our manager who will have to walk if he fails to deliver and that means min 4th spot
I would say win a cup but there are 4 cups to go around and most of them apart from the league as the league seldom lies and the best team wins over 38 games but cups you need the rub of the green, luck and a deep squad to go on and win one but never say never and we have done it before.
I beleive we will finish minimum 3rd this season with this squad of players we have.
If we better our tally of more then 22 wins reduces our loses which we are more than capable of with our front 3 or 4 firing then we will be in for a tough but good and successful season
Onwards and upwards eh AB – fingers crossed 🤞
The proof will be in the pudding, but i do feel like we’re on a good track atm. Injuries and the level of competition will likely be decisive. If we’re lucky, we could finish third this year, unlucky and we could slip to 6th (if say, utd and spurs improve a lot and Chelsea at least stay the same). I guess that’s true of any season tbf. Overall, I think we’re back on track and moving in the right direction.
Also, while xhaka has looked good in preseason, I think odegaard should be looked at for that role in the side. I think he’d be better suited to a box to box role, and we may have more potent AMs in the squad to play higher up the pitch now (Vieira and ESR) – this may be something that could happen in the longer term
Davi I don’t think Odegaard will be suited to the ‘Xhaka role’ for the reason that Xhaka is usually expected to slot in temporarily at LB when the LB is attacking- I’m not convinced Ode can do that. Besides,Ode seems to be forming a good partnership further forward with Jesus and we don’t want to break that. From what I’ve seen in Pre-season so far,the player being groomed for that role is Lokonga.
In the past xhaka has played like that, (filling in at LB), but if he continues make forward runs like this, Ode might be a good fit.
We also played with Zinchenko and white filling in at CM when on the attack – this is a different system
We are better than last season for sure.
Can understand the concern by the writer , in my opinion two more quality singing in a winger and midfield will inspire lots of confidence.
But we are a better outfit now and I will tell you why.
1) Jesus second goal we haven’t score like that for many moons
2) We haven’t won with such large margin for some time.
3) The Chelsea match in the Camping Arena told told me a few unfortunate team is going to get a drubbing.
4) In the pass we started well and fail to finish off opponents.
5) For the first time in awhile we seems to have a second gear.
A addition of a next striker, winger and midfield general could take us close
I agree with everything you have said Gunsmoke and the team work leading up to the goals, had us out of our seats, applauding what we were seeing.
I just can’t put my finger on why I’m still sitting on the fence, maybe it’s the “midfield general” that would be the missing part of the puzzle?
We had two excellent full backs out injure and a great midfield player missing yesterday, so the squad is looking very strong… if only Patrick could come back, or even Petit at his best, then I would feel so much more confident – let’s see how we perform in our first three PL fixtures!!!
I should have added in the article that the crowd were absolutely behind the players, hence MA, and that was so good to see and hear.
I would like to bring in Cody Gakpo from PSV for the wing or Jonathan David from Lille , they might even take Pepe back which brings Davids price down and we get rid of Pepe!
Teilimans is still there to be snapped up and we need to move players on so I am sure Leicester will be looking for incoming midfield players as they lose both Youri & James Maddison, so why not add AMN to sweeten the deal and bring the price down. Its a win – win all round.
All 3 would finish this team off in David, Teilimans & Gakpo, plus getting them for cheaper price bar the latter while getting Pepe & AMN out of the club and off the books. Just need to find homes for Hector, Lucas, Nelson, Leno & loans for a few.
Getting a few players on new deals too like Saliba, Saka, GabrielM & Partey would make this window probably one of the best in our history.
If I were someone who knew nothing about our club but based my opinions on Kens view as a “cynical old supporter”( even allowing that the headline is written by Ad PAT AND NOT KEN) and a “supporter who is not sold on the Arteta project yet” as ken himself writes, I would find the conclusion and thrpositivemess of thr actual article completely and puzzlingly at odds.
Most regulars on JA know that no manager, present or future, will EVER measure up to the affection and esteem that KEN STILL FEELS,to his credit some may well think, for WENGER.
I also feel great esteem for AW andfor what he did all those years ago, but I have move on and look forward with conviction, not cynicism or ” not being sold”, to the sparkling future I much believe MA is proving our club will have , with excitement and conviction.
It must be said that in life, some are born optimistic, some are relentlessly negative and pessimistic, like Dismal DAN SMITH AND HIS DEPRESSING ILK; and yet others , like KEN, see the progress but just cannot bring themselves to properly endorse it.
Optimism breeds further optimism and a welcome sense of happiness , but depressing pessimism breeds self induced misery and unhappiness.
The slowly decreasing band of regular pessimists on JA will look very foolish in a little while from now, in my view. But then , I am an optimist by nature and thank God I have been blessed to be so.
C’est la vie!
As I haven’t mentioned Arsene once in my article, I fail to see what my views on the man have to do with anything.
What I wanted to do with this article, was to convey to the reader how my thoughts unfolded from approaching The Emirates, the atmosphere, the football on show, the commitment, the individual performances and how I over viewed the experience.
Now, I’m very aware that some of our fans cannot, for many reasons, attend games and I am very lucky to be able to do so – I try to pass on my opinions to them and hope they will get a feeling of being there themselves.
I don’t know what the crowd size was, but I would estimate it at around the 40,000 mark, so there were seats to be had, if one could have got there.
But the crowd made up for those empty seats, with the backing they gave and it was good to hear and see.
In actual fact, there can be no excuses whatsoever if Mikel fails to deliver this season and who, in their right mind and if they are real supporters, would want him to fail?
By pointing out my personal doubts and opinions, doesn’t make me a pessimist, it makes me a realist – someone who has an opinion and will give it.
I’m looking forward to the season, as it seems like we are making progress, but let’s see how we perform against Palace first.
It is well known that their fans are very noisy, self opinionated and get carried away with themselves – I would like to think that I’m a little bit more of a supporter of The Arsenal than that.
Nothing more than three points now Mikel, we’re all behind The Arsenal!!
“Optimism breeds further optimism and a welcome sense of happiness”
And yet with all your optimism you cannot seem to write a comment without complaining about Dan or someone else. If you’re so happy and optimistic, why can you not just let it go? Something doesn’t add up here…
Maybe people just like to complain – some are focusing on the team in that regard, and some about the lack of uniformity of opinion among arsenal fans. It’s all very strange to me.
DAVI Factually untrue! You chooe to omit MENTIONING my many posts praising other posts and articleS written too.
Odd how you see only one side of things., THE SIDE YOU WISH TO SEE, and ignore what does not suit your fallacious argument!
Try a balanced view and you might get nearer the REAL truth.
I couldn’t conceive of a more obvious deflection from the main point – ok, you don’t mention Dan or whoever in every single one of your comments, just a lot of them. So sorry I used a little hyperbole.
I’ll ignore then the nonsense (and ironic) accusations.
Anyway, the key question I asked is *If you’re so happy and optimistic, why can you not just let it go?*
Jon, I am always torn in between you and your opposite number Ken1945 because you are the two people I respect most on this site. Perhaps a curious observer may want to ask why that is so. I respect Jon because of his forthright manner coupled with his sarcastic humour. He is a self avowed realist! Even though at times he is provocative I still believe this is for good reason. Jon suffers no fools. He calls it a spade not a shovel.
As for Ken, I love his consistency and the ability to remain unwavering in his views. His strong support for Arsene Wenger marks him out as a very loyal man who will stand up for what he believes to be correct. Many of us ardent Arsenal supporters will always be eternally grateful to Arsene Wenger for turning our club into a global brand. The cynics may disagree but facts can’t be wished away. I further respect Ken for being able to change his opinion of Mikel Artetaand to give him the benefit of the doubt. This is in total contrast to people like Dan Smith who never see anything positive in Arteta.
My appeal to Admin Pat is to continue giving Ken and Jon more opportunity and space so that they can impart their knowledge to the young Gooners.
Our pre season has been very encouraging, but Fridays match against Palace will be a true test of how we have improved or otherwise.As to Odegaard being appointed Captain, to me he was the logical choice, after all he does the job for Norway and he is more or less, a guaranteed first team pick for Arsenal.When he arrived in North London, his lack of pace and inability to win the ball worried me but during the past 6 months he has been able to hold his own physically and his impressive ball control, passing and creativity more than make up for him not being quick without the ball.I wish him and his team all the best for the coming season.
Indeed – when I hear people complain of lack of speed in a midfielder, Andrea Pirlo springs to mind.
I don’t think he ever broke into a trot, but he always found space to receive the ball and routinely found superb passes to create goals from nowhere – all at the top level of the game for Italy and various top clubs.
First, a small point – I’m not sure “all the new players except the ‘keeper” were in the squad since Vieira is still not available?
Since I started posting here I’ve come to realise that Ken is in the “difficult to convince” camp regarding “the Arteta project” (although I think it’s an Arsenal project as Edu pointed out recently, he and Arteta are just part of it).
It’s to his credit that he can be open-minded enough to be convinced at some point, although that point in time is clearly not quite now.
I’m also a fan of Wenger, who turned me from someone who loathed Arsenal (in the days of “One-nil to The Arsenal” boring defensive style) into a supporter, since I support anyone who finds a way to play open attacking football – and win. And since Wenger is no longer there and there’s not been much evidence of that style of play for years, that why “I Don’t Know Why I Care” is my account name.
But I’m also a supporter of any manager of Arsenal, hoping for a return to the football of Wenger’s tenure.
A key point that have to realise is that football has changed massively since the glory days leading up to 2004.
1. The stadium rebuild completed in 2006 and it was a massive drain on finances, since Arsenal financed it themselves via loans and the cost soared from £200m to £400m. I believe £163m is still owed to Kroenke’s holding company KSE (they shifted the loan from the original lenders to KSE).
2. Wenger’s emphasis on fitness has now been adopted by every club. The days when we faced opponents who’d just “eaten a Mars bar for energy” afer a night out drinking are well and truly over. Every PL player is now as fit as they can be.
3. The injections of capital into other clubs which Wenger called “financial doping” have made a massive difference. As Wenger put it, their spending power is no longer related to their historical performance on the field – they short-circuited a few decades of succesful building.
This was happening while Arsenal were financially struggling (as mentioned above) and the Usmanov-Kroenke issue was being resolved.
4. The Kroenkes only took over fully in Aug 2018 and are only recently making money available for a rebuild. But…
5. The monies made available are not being given as “equity injections” but as loans from KSE, whereas City and Chelsea were given a number of gifts which allows them to skirt around FFP rules.
This is a sword of Damocles hanging over Arsenal’s future, including the £603m that was (strangely?) “loaned” to the club from KSE to buy out Usmanov’s shares.
Another point is that Kroenke injected iirc £1.23bn into the Rams for their stadium rebuild but everything Arsenal get is loans. You have to wonder why.
6. More clubs are now getting a heap of money made available – Leicester, Everton, Newcastle which makes life much more difficult than it was in 2004.
So we’re no longer on the same financial playing field. The problem is that all these owners lending money via holding companies will one day leave and the clubs will be left holding massive debt but in the meantime it’s difficult to compete with so many clubs in the same position.
I’m pretty sure that when clubs started floating on world stock exchanges to generate extra capital, they didn’t expect that all the shares would end up in the hands of a single owner, such that effectively they sold the club to an owner in return for almost nothing but loans – at interest rates set by the owner (just the stadium loan alone sees an annual interest payment of £11m to KSE).
Why mention this? Because any success will be really difficult with the financial competition, you can’t really compare it to the years up to 2004 – AND it will be followed by some years of difficulty after the Kroenkes have gone and loans are due to be repaid, so prepare yourself for that, Gunners.
I expect law suits throughout football in the future, but that’s another story and I’ve probably already written too much.
In the meantime, let’s hope for success on the field… without trashing the club’s future to achieve it.
Apologies, I didn’t realise I’d written that much!
One of the most enlightening articles to feature on JA for some time.As someone who spent his career in the Banking industry, I am amazed that FFP has not been scrutinised in depth by the EU authorities as the current arrangements appear to be open to misappropriation.The chickens will come home to roost in the not too distant future and we as fans will have to share the burden of responsibility for urging Owners to invest in our Clubs in the pursuit of “success at all costs”.Thank you IDK for your info and words of wisdom.
May thanks Grandad – I have a feeling that the skills of people like yourself, retired or not, will be needed in the future when Supporters’ Trusts start taking over football clubs and trying to untangle the web of financial and legal ruin these “rich owner” years are creating.
What crosses my mind in legal terms is that if KSE lent the money to buy Usmanov’s shares to AFC, then AFC owns those shares, not Kroenke or KSE. That’s a fight for another day though 🙂
IDKWIC, firstly my apologies for forgetting Vieria – with so many new signings, he passed me by!?!!
Secondly, I appreciate your breakdown of the Emirates build and it’s implications with regards to the club going forward – we tend to forget the burden that hangs over us still
.
Not sure that Kronkie taking full control in 2018 has any bearing though, as he still had a controlling interest with his 69(?)% holding anyway.
As for being open minded, you, at least, got where I was coming from.
I don’t know if you were there, but that first half performance was quite stunning..
There were no real issues, except White at RB, but that’s not his natural position.
I suppose it goes back to the Invincible , where there were no weaknesses and we all knew that the squad was good enough to cover each other.
I don’t get that same sense of security with today’s squad, despite the huge outlay for the undeniable talent that Mikel has brought in this transfer window.
As I said, we are getting closer to the likes of city, pool and chelsea, but so are the spuds and it gives me concern with regards to the elusive CL position we all want back.
I can’t recall the number of times I have gone from pro to anti Mikel status, it’s just a situation where I really can’t make up my mind.
Thanks for your input.
You’re welcome Ken – and no need to apologise re Vieira, I was only correcting the record for completeness sake,it wasn’t a real criticism and not really the main thrust of your piece anyway.
As you say, it may be useful for me to clarify my point regarding the Aug 2018 takeover.
Although Kroenke had achieved a 62% holding in April 2011, Usmanov and his R&W group stated that they would not sell. This was important because, in order to change the corporate structure, the thresholds Kroenke needed to cross were 75% and 90%.
He later cross the 70% threshold by buying up smaller holdings, and was then obliged to make a formal offer for the remaining shares. Usmanov finally admitted defeat at that point and the takeover was completed in Aug 2018.
I’ll post a link to an article that explains the goings-on up to 2016 below (in a separate post since it will go to moderation until Pat’s checked it). That article is pretty much as per my understanding of the facts, although the author does exprerss a few personal views and comments on a couple of unknowns.
It’s an interesting read (for those who like that sort of drama), showing how what happens on the field is often determined by what happens in the financial history of a club.
The article suggests that the catalyst for all of this was Dein being panicked by the arrival of Abramovic at Chelsea. Usmanov himself is/was an oligarch, so if he’d taken over we might now be where Chelsea are – under new management.
In a sense, you can trace all of this back to Putin’s cabal and their kleptocracy in Russia. The difference with Usmanov and Abramovic is that they were just rich blokes playing fantasy football with real clubs, putting their own money in for success. Kroenke has made it clear that he wants to make money from sports investment and for that to happen, winning championships is not a priority (although it helps of course,. marketing-wise).
Anyway, I’m in danger of writing too much, I’ll post the link, I’d be interested in people’s thoughts.
Thanks for posting a useful article that gives us the opportunity to discuss these important matters. Most supporters only care about on-field success at any price, blissfully unaware of that there is a price to pay (as Leeds found out when they bet the house on CL qualification a few years ago – and lost, lok where they’ve been since).
That old saying springs to mind: “Be careful what you wish for”.
I just hope Arsenal can get out of this phase of football in one (financial) piece. These loans from KSE mean it’s not “Kroenke’s money” we’re spending, it’s AFC’s future revenues, at interest rates set by KSE 🙁
On the subject of your article, I believe that Arteta’s performance (or any other manager’s) has to be measured taking all this into account, across all the football clubs and their finances over a number of years.
Link:
http://www.thearsenalhistory.com/?p=13265
That’s the Kroenke vs Usmanov years.
The earlier years are in a previous article (there’s a link to it at the top of that one).
It’s interesting too, going back to the year dot – and inlcudes the 1991 decision to float the club on the stock market due to the Board’s fears. I wish they’d never done that.
IDKWIC, No apologies needed nor wanted! Just praise for an enlightening and shrewdly written article.
It backs my decades long held and OFT EXPRESSED personal view . That view is that while players are routinely paid such obscenely undeserved sums and crazy wage contracts AND ludicrously high transfer fees are in operation, then elite level football is, sooner or later, on the sure road to a financial almighty crash.
This will of necessity, for footballs survival, be followed by a necessary compete redrawing and vastly lowering in monies paid out, of all financial values and monies paid to agents players and owners.
Very well done for explaining that so clearly to folk who have not our own finanical worldly knowledge, ie ordinary, decent but put upon fans of ALL big clubs , esp in the PREM.
Our present financial system is, in climate terms, the deadly toxic carbon footprint that will kill, at least until its necessary rebirth, our current MAD football planet. The only unpredictable thing is precisely when, NOT IF, the crash occurs
.But it will affect the WHOLE football world , MASSIVELY.
Thanks Jon and I agree, the house of cards will come crashing down.
It’s all financed by TV money. When the PL started a (sealed) bidding process for games and Sky bid over £3bn, the rot began.
Of course, that cost had to be passed on by Sky to its sports subscribers and at first they paid up. As time went on and the monthly cost went up, subscriber numbers dropped.
Around the same time, along came BT, later Amazon Prime taking some of the games away to other platforms, further reducing the value for money on Sky Sports.
The response was to put football in a pay-per-view of its own. Even that is starting to buckle with a cost of living squeeze, inflation etc.
Many people I know have given up watching live football unless they happen to have Prime for other reasons. As the subscribers drop, the price TV companies can pay will also drop and of course this directly impacts what clubs can pay players.
There are too many platforms now for a subscription model to work – even Netflix is rushing out an advert-based system as their subscriber base plummets. Few people will be happy or able to pay multiple subscriptions of £7.99 a month to watch some subset of TV or subset of sport.
Personally I only have Prime these days and I’m looking hard at that. I don’t even have a TV licence since I rarely watch live TV (and it’s taking a stance against the BBC’s draconian model and their bias, but that’s another story).
So there’s hope that this problem is self-correctng as we speak, due to people voting with their wallets, but…
Where does that leave clubs who are massively indebted to rich owners’ holding companies? And also have the rich owner making all the decisions.
Probably bankrupt at some stage, as Rangers were.
The question is then, what will arise from the ashes? My hope is ownership by Supporters Groups such as the Green Bay Packers in the NFL or Barcelona (but without the strange board/presidency elections they have where they over-promise and over-spend).
Certainly they must not be publicly traded on a stock exchange so that they can be bought up by individuals. These clubs are more than mere businesses, they are often the focus of a community, sometimes a world-wide community, they are not meant to be the plaything or the cash cow of one overly rich individual.
When the crash comes, as you say, it will also affect the whole football world since many foreign clubs leech the PL money by selling their own players at higher prices to the PL. Barcelona, for example, will struggle to repay £1.5bn debt if finances return to more sensible levels.
IDKWIC, Are you, as I am, (let alone those others who see clearly the coming crash and necessary rebirth), filled with dread at the surety of the coming crash, while also being very glad, as I also am, that when that crash comes and then the eventual rebirth, with totally different financial boundaries, our game will , eventually,once again become fiancially honourable, financially healthy and not in financial hock to the greed barons , such as most of those who own all our top clubs , our own club included?
I both dread the moment but KNOW IN MY HEART that it is NECESSARY,in order for the survival of our sport at elite level.
In short, gross greed is the poison that is steadily killing our sport but the eventual outcome, after the crash, and then the subsequent cure, will rescue our sport from otherwise certain ethical and financial death!
I probably should have used a different word than “crash” – the current situation could take a while to change and it could change in various ways.
When people stop paying sports channels, those channels can pay/bid less for broadcast rights, then clubs can’t cover wages, transfer fees reduce – and that downward spiral forces change.
What that change looks like is hard to predict. At the moment what we’re seeing is the PL not really vetting owners very well to let more money into the game, trying to stem the tide (I don’t believe the Newcastle takeover should have been allowed for example).
They can do things like that to prop it up for a while, perhaps a few years or even decades – but artifical structures always fail in the end.
When people stop paying them to watch and all the money is coming from rich guys, sooner or later some clubs will go bust. Some owners can afford to keep stumping up their own money, others not – owners like Kroenke will try to sell when he can no longer make money in football but he may not find a buyer in that market (not one that will let him break even anyway).
That will be the beginning of the end. What happens next is anyone’s guess. I hope supporters will “bring football home” – by buying up their clubs and running them properly. Time will tell, but I’m not all that optimistic – there will still be massive interest in football which means there’s money to be made and sadly there are too many greedy people around for me to believe that what comes next will necessarily be better.
Getting the shares out of so-called “public” ownership would be a necessary step to prevent a re-run of the current problems, but it will also be very difficult. Perhaps football will never be what it was.
@idkwic:speaking of Netflix ,i have read that they are planning or are going to stop the sharing of passwords??if true that’s bad.
Yes there was a time when they didn’t have to care, they were happy to get the revenue but now they’re losing a large number of subscribers every month, so they’re changing their ways.
Partly it’s due to people not wanting to pay for subscriptions any more (cost of living etc) and partly because there are just so many subscription services now that the user base is spread thin.
There’s also an effect from the deal with the royals that seems to have alienated more customers than it attracted.
One way or another, they’re leeching subscribers at a high rate, which they see as a long-term change in the market so they are cutting down on account sharing and apparently also rushing to get out a service using the “new” business model – which is the old one, of advertising instead of subscription.
Having seen how IMDb (now Freevee) can offer decent content with just a few ads, it’s a much better way to do it to my mind, from a customer perspective. At least that way people can see all the content, not just the bit they can pay for (if they can afford any subscription at all).
Just need to end the enforced BBC subscription now 🙂
Link:
http://www.thearsenalhistory.com/?p=13265
That’s the Kroenke vs Usmanov years.
The earlier years are in a previous article (there’s a link to it at the top of that one).
It’s interesting too, going back to the year dot – and inlcudes the 1991 decision to float the club on the stock market due to the Board’s fears. I wish they’d never done that.
Pat – sorry I meant to post the above as a reply to my own post.
I’ve now posted it again as a reply, so you can delete the above. 🙂
Thanks for this – it clears up some points I wasn’t too sure about.
It also reminded me about the board fleecing the fans, while not putting any of their own money into the club – meanwhile we knock Kronkie!!
Good rating Ken which pretty much summed my own thoughts on the game .
Glad you enjoyed the day ,I actually got to watch it in the end and was pleasantly surprised ,let’s hope once the pressure is on this manager and team do not crumble like the past few seasons .
Thanks DK, glad you got to watch it.
good to hear about white performance as a RB.my worry every time someone mentioned him as RB back up has been his offensive input or lack of it.i believe that with him,we would lose some that threat from the right side.lastly,regarding Saliba many fans were worried about his heading which was seen as his weakness.i could be mistaken but having watched the highlights on the official site,it doesn’t seem to be a problem,no??