Arsenal seriously going backwards with the season starting this week by Konstantin Mitov
Well lovely Arsenal people, I wanted to take a break off Arsenal, because last season was really depressing. And after having a really nice trip around Europe I hoped to return more positive about Arsenal, but it really doesn’t look like much has changed. Every Arsenal fan and their mother know we lack creativity and it’s so evident in pre-season.
Yeah, it may be a friendly and all that, but it was Tottenham and we looked like we haven’t moved 1 inch further. The only positives came from Lokonga and White. Up front it’s increasingly worrying. Those contracts we gave Aubameyang and Willian now hurt us really badly, because those 2 players at their age don’t have time to improve. If they don’t deliver now, we should’ve never signed them.
Lacazette? We don’t give him a contract, yet we’re not selling him (by the look of it). Now we go back to the final year of the contract where we either let him leave for nothing or give him a huge deal and it’s the same story again with another aging player. Honestly at this point it’s a pure joke that nobody at Arsenal learned this lesson.
Our transfer policy is a joke. We wanted to sell Xhaka and had about 12 million pounds on the table, and we should’ve taken it. Now we’re giving him a new deal? A player that flipped the fans off, has a very poor red card record and a ton of mistakes that led to goals in our net? There’s more reasons to just get him out of the door than keep him. He’s 28, slow, and had a good Euro tournament, it was a chance to recoup some money on what has been a giant mistake, that has been the anchor of our midfield, that finished 8th twice in a row.
And if that isn’t enough, Bellerin is also here. Why? We promised him he’ll leave, he wanted to, we don’t need him, why are we playing him in the 2 friendlies before the season starts? Calum Chambers was doing alright at RB, although we still need a new face there, and we also have Cedric who was given a 4 year deal for no reason.
Where is the backup goalkeeper? If Leno gets injured we’ll be in deep trouble. And now to the problem that everyone and their mother knows – creative midfield. We wanted Buendia, but counted the pennies again and he went to Villa. We want Maddison, cough up 60 millions and he’ll be here, don’t offer dead players nobody wants.
We paid 50 millions for Ben White and I do think it’s a signing with the right profile that will be good… BUT, our defense was 3rd best in the league, we finished 8th. I think you can see that a lot of the problems came from the other end of the pitch. Why not spend more money there first and then go to the back? If Maddison is too expensive, Aouar for 25 million surely walks straight into our lineup, or we will languish waiting for the potential of Willian again?
I can blame Arteta all day, for incompetent decisions and I think he’ll be sacked before Christmas, because when the results are dry, the manager bites the dust, but this board is handling Arsenal worse than a child would. Chelsea want Lukaku? 75 mills not enough? Here’s 98 and boom, a deal will be agreed. The Champions League winners are replacing players, because they weren’t good enough, and 8th placed Arsenal is rewarding deadwood with new deals?
I do not see a vision from anyone, not even a bad one. It’s just chaos. You see Conte walked out of Inter after winning the title, because his squad will be ruined due to financial problems. If Arteta doesn’t have the money to do what he needs, why doesn’t he name the problem? If he doesn’t want Bellerin, play a youngster at RB, but show that you won’t accept mediocrity.
I wish we didn’t have amoebas running the football club, because that translates onto the pitch. I think we will sign one more player though. We’ll probably sell Willock, because he’s the only player we might get some money in for, and try and buy a cheap CAM, because we’re always cheap or we’ll cough up money for Maddison or Bernardo Silva, but honestly do you think anything will change with 1 more signing?
Is one signing the difference for us between 8th and 4th? Unless we sign Messi, which is never gonna happen, although you might see an article in the Mirror about how we “tried” but it wasn’t to be. we’re not going any further up the table. The game against Brentford will be a very tough one.
Here’s how I see the season panning out. Our start will be miserable again, we’ll probably make 1 more signing, which is far from enough and we’ll be out of contention in the league before Christmas – and that’s without European football to “distract” us. Arteta will be sacked, but then who’ll be the new manager? Which top manager will come without a guarantee of funds, to repair the sinking ship?
I hope I am wrong, but the signs aren’t there to convince me otherwise. You may win a game of football if you don’t play well and you can upset a big team by doing exceptional in one game, but that will never hold in a season of 38 games.
We do not have a plan, and we’re repeating the same mistakes as the past 5 or even 10 transfer windows. You can’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results. You reap what you saw and we again didn’t do enough.
Konstantin
Nothing has changed it’s been a joke for years and as long as fans keep paying it will stay that way
Mid table finish again and arteta will be gone and another puppet in charge
Exactly
The problems of the club is due to the way the club is run . I know that arteta isnt the greatest coach but realistically if we sack him , we will get another sucker for a coach who will run out of juice with these same old players .
No quality manager will take over Arsenal if he isn’t guaranteed signings .
Can you imagine that bellerin, holding kolasinac are still an Arsenal players.
We recruit poorly and struggle to sell them afterwards.
Exactly John…. it doesn’t really matter who is in charge… it’s going to be the same story all over again. I hoped we’d sign Conte before Emery or Arteta. But the management don’t seem to be ambitious at all. I think Emery went as far as he could, but wasn’t really working for both parties, I have a mixed feeling about Arteta, he’s had long enough to have an established XI, the team’s fluctuating under him, but I won’t disregard the fact that we showed some improvement towards the end of last season…… I’m hoping Arteta would be a massive success this season, but should he get the sack, I hope Conte would still be available then. Here’s to hoping for a great season… cheers!… COYG!
With all of three weeks still left to the end of the window, I’m willing to wait till then to give a definitive verdict
The article writer is Konstantin, so the moaning is expected
He should’ve remembered that Kroenke just purchased three new players worth around 75 M
75m is a lot…but it’s peanuts if you consider it’s spread over 3 players.
Compare that to our rivals that already have better squads than us. You need to look at the bigger picture.
Our rivals managed to sell high and some of them are participating in European competitions, thus they have higher budget
Exactly.We can’t give our players away as they are on such high wages nobody wants them.
psg lost the title,
lost the champions league and cup
spend nothing…
messi free
ramos free
wijdalum free
Donnaruma free
Bought Hakimi for almost d size of our budget on 3 players, so don’t downplay their strategy
@PJA, our scouting is the problem and not the 75m, sincerely, we don’t need 50m Ben white, I swear saliba and Mav can do the job, the money should have been spend on Aouar and Daka( now in Leicester), look at Leicester spending, they didn’t spend up to us but they bought quality players and to the requirement they need for example: Daka yo replace ageing Vardy, a very strong b2b DM in Soumare and an experience free agent right back….. Before I always blame Kronke and co, but now I see that our recruit agent and the manager are our main problem, they don’t know how to scout a good prospect…….
You say moaning I say caring ,caring for the club he supports watching it go down the drain while fans like you hide you head in the sand and make really silly excuses for why we are where we are .
You could always write your own Article GAI explaining how we have fallen so low and what the postives are ,I’m sure it would be a ver short article .
He should’ve remembered about what happened to Real Madrid’s and Barcelona’s big financial problems. Our rivals managed to sell high and some of them are participating in European competitions, therefore they have higher budgets
We are suffering because of a series of bad decisions and we can’t turn it around in one transfer window only, so be patient
We were in European competition so that excuse doesn’t fly, your beloved Arteta is the reason we are currently not.
Also do you think it will be easier to sell Xhaka next season or more difficult? He has a longer contract, higher wages, will be old and even slower. Good business would’ve been to take whatever we could’ve for him but now we are stuck.
I’ve never met anyone that changes their word quite like you. Always a new excuse or timeline for MA or Xhaka
I am with you as usual and I strongly agree that being negative in the right context (not just for the sake of it) is one way of caring just as being positive (also in the right context not just for the sake of it) is caring.
I do believe as I have always been that the squad even without additions was good enough to at least challenge for top 4 with a tactical manager (not counting the 10 signings made in a year and a half).
I hope one of the points Bruno made above that any coach will fail under the current ownership will not be a new narrative if the current coach fails (I do not wish him to fail even though I am expecting it based on what I have seen so far and I welcome him to prove fans with similar mindset wrong).
I will be supporting him come Friday because it is a new season but that support will be based on good results only and will be withdrawn as fast as bad results come.
The signs aren’t promising, but with a new season on the horizon he gets a clean slate (now where have I heard that before? 😄)
He has to deliver!
Now Sue you have made me question the honest of my clean slate 😂😂
He has to deliver and what a perfect opportunity to start next weekend by beating Chelsea and give returning fans a welcome gift and boost confidence all around from himself to players and the fans.
😂 HH
He’s under pressure and we really can’t afford a slow start to the season.
The Emirates crowd can be very unforgiving and let’s face it, many of them he has to win over!
Excited about the predictions, HH. Can we go one better this time?! 😜
I am looking forward to it Sue. I don’t see why not. Certainly Dan Kit will find it harder this time.
Absolutely. some gunner fans just like to complain.
I’m looking at Chelsea’s team now that they have bought Lukaku and it’s frightening to think about playing them.
I’ll enjoy watching them this season I think (except against us) – having flashbacks to Drogba
Yes, very frightening indeed!
Sue it would have been even more frightening if they had bought Haaland!!! I don’t think they have finished yet.
For sure, Andrew!! 😬 It’ll be interesting to see where he (Haaland) ends up eventually – take his pick!!
I personally think Lukaku completes them, he’s such a unit.
A sad state of affairs indeed! Thanks Konstantine for telling it like it is and not sugar coating. Its one thing to get behind the team but crazy stupid to believe that giant forward steps have been taken. So far this transfer window has been all about consolidating a top 10 position. By the way notice how Roma acted quickly on Abrahms in contrast to the Xhaka fiasco. they can easily find someone to fill Xhaka’s role.
strange how many fees and transfers have been agreed but yet there are very few transfers…..hmm maybe some of the articles might be false. stop believing anything you read!
So far we have agreed a transfer for 23 players in the past 8 weeks….yet very little truth.
Joe. S, one can live in hope that Arteta after one and one half seasons can coach the players he has, particularly the young Hale End graduates. Arsenal can’t continue to fill squad places with “wantaways” like Willian, Bellerin, Xhaka, Torreira and Kolasinac, sell up and coming 21 year olds like Willock and loan Guendouzi and Saliba and to an extent even Moller, when the coach’s job is to get the best out of the assets he has.
Given the financial situation, Arsenal can’t afford to waste player resources, so for example playing Willian instead of Pepe, Martinelli, Saka, Nelson, Balogun or Nheketia should be avoided.
I don’t think our squad is terrible, it’s definitely improved since Emery managed a 5th place finish in my opinion.
I’d rather get a new manager then only new players rather than the other way around in all fairness.
Our squad is terrible, it’s not up to the standard it should be .
The only reason you think it’s better is because you haven’t compared it to squad of the other top teams ..
No quality coach will accept the job unless they are guaranteed proper investment in the transfer market and I doubt silent Stan will do that
I agree with Martenelli, our squad is not that bad and was definitely better then some teams who finished above us. We massively underachieved last season. As usual some fans are again blaming lack of funds as a reason but they need to look at figures which are facts. If funds are not available then how did Arteta & Edu blew £50 million on a CB? This means either they still have substantial amount available nor they completely misjudged/mismanaged the situation by wasting such a large amount on a position which was not critical. People have a look ath figures for last 4-5 seasons and compare them with other EPL teams you will know how much we have spent.
I would agree with MartinelliThe Bench too. We do not have a squad to challenge for the title in my opinion but we have some really solid player and some fantastic youngsters as well.
Saka, ESR, Balogun, Azeez, Partey, Lokonga, Pepe, Tierney, White, Gabriel, Martinelli
I would say with an experienced coach we could challenge for 4/5 place with the above players along with getting Auba firing again and using Nelson even.
That squad was good enough to get top 4 ,shame the manager fcked it up with his gobshite tactics .
👍
I’m with you on the quality of our squad….. some on here believe it’s way better than it is, but when you compare, the lack in quality is obvious. I also do agree that Arteta’s tactics (or micromanagement, that some on here accuse him of) might be stifling some players, and when I say some, I can only think of one; Aubameyang. Individual errors also played a huge role in our terrible run of games last season, but there’s no denying that some improvement was shown towards the end.
I’m not an totally against Arteta. But, I’m certainly against replacing Arteta.
The club have invested time and considerable money (for a club that finished twice 8th in the league) in the playing squad under Arteta. And all those signings are “bespoke”. Handpicked by Arteta himself.
No more huge investments in the playing squad, at least until Arteta shows that the investments made under his leadership are showing improvements, individually and collectively as a team.
Get a new manager? To coach Leno, Bellerin, Kolasinac, Holding, Marri, Xhaka, Elneny, Nelson, Pepe, Laca, Eddie? That is a team headed for relegation my friend. The only good ones are Tierney (when fit) ESR,Saka and now Ben White. Auba had a woeful year, but he will bounce back.
It remains a mystery how Mikel got us 8th spot with all that dross.
With Rafa at Everton and Villa spending well, 10th spot is what the minimum we should try this season
It’s just not only the coaching front Arteta has failed on. What about managing and coaching young players, what about the tactics in critical matches, what about the over all football style & strategies?? What about our football identity and team selection? There are a lot what about and you still think Arteta is the man when he has caused all these questions.
LC, I consider you have been unfair to
Pepe in your list, because when given opportunities (ie not benched for Willian) he has shown improvement each season. Also Partey has shown again in preseason what he can do if kept fit. Willock came back off an impressive loan spell but is to be sold. Lacazette also played well, given how deep he had to play for Arteta.
leno, laca have been good under emery and wenger, arteta chose to buy mari and keep holding and loaned saliba, he chose to keep elneny and played him in many games last season instead of willock same with xhaka , pepe was good last year yet willian was starting ahead of him who was bought by arteta too , nketiah and nelson are just 22 and didn’t get much opportunities last season.
It’s obvious arteta is a below average manager and should go. a better manager will get way more out of our squad.
Sure there is no change at arsenal right now. Saliba out and White in; Willock and Gundozi out, and Lokonga in; Ozil, yet not replaced; Elneny, runs like a headless chicken; Partey; another glassware, Bellerin not reaching his height, Laca and Auba not performing well. Xhaka, hmmm. Only five players have shown consistency: Saka, Pepe, Martinelli, ESR, and Leno.
pepe and consistency are not two words i would expect to see in one sense sentence .. basically of the regulars we have 2 consistently good players saka and tiernay a few consistently decent including smith rowe holding partey and perhaps leno the rest are erratic or consistently poor … thats a frightening state of affairs going in to a new season … and can ultimately be blamed on the owner who doesnt care and a manager who doesnt know
Too true RW1. We’ll never see true consistency from Pepe. We should always expect the one really bad game in three where every decision he makes is wrong, not passing quickly enough, easily dispossessed, getting trapped in a corner etc. He needs consistent players around him who will help minimise the damage he may cause as an occasional non participant.
I’ll take Pepe’s improving stat’s any day, which he has achieved will no help from the manager eg benching him after he scores goals the previous match.
I agree with you Ozziegunner. I’m surprised some fans still think Pepe is inconsistent. He was scoring goals towards the end of last season.
The blame is still on the manager.
I’m struggling to understand why we have not signed Aouar.
I don’t understand why we are yet to sell Bellerin, Kolasinac and AMN.
We should loan out Nketiah and Play Martinelli as a 9.
Offer Lacazette a 2 year contract.
A 442 formation is the ideal formation that can accommodate Auba and Lacazette in the starting line up.
We should have sold Xhaka.
We need a new midfield combination going into the season.
And talking about creativity, we need 2 new creative players(Aoaur and Bernardo Silva)
Also, what are we doing as per Torrera? Is he in Arteta’s plan for the season?
So you want to both wait to sign maddison or silva but at the same time just go and spend money willy nilly and fill those positions with other players like Aouar (whether he turns out to be good or not).
Maybe you need to read up on how the economy works, or maybe you would be wasting more then 100million each window until you go broke just because you will bow to the demands of any seller….not like there is 3 weeks left of the window in which there has been very very few transfers so far globally.
Wah Wah wah wah wah like a baby.
I am getting sick and tired of the constant bashing of this transfer window, because it hasn’t even finished yet!!!!!!
There is still 3 weeks left of the window, so plenty of time to make signings.
Fans also need to start being realistic about the current situation. It was a nightmare trying to offload our deadwood pre Covid, so clearly it’s even tougher now, given the current economic climate. Clubs just don’t have money at the moment. We should also remember that a lot of business usually happens at the end of the window.
Looking at our own business so far, and in relation to our rivals, it’s actually been ok. Was a CB a priority? Probably not, but are we happy with White? A big fat yes! We also needed Tavares, and Lokonga. Obviously more signings are needed, but very good so far.
Chelsea haven’t signed anyone (although it looks as if Lukuka is imminent).
Leicester has done similar business to ourselves. Liverpool have only signed one player.
City have only signed Grealish, which is a strange one considering how many midfielders they already have, and their desperate need for a striker.
Utd have done good business so far.
Spurs only have a couple of permanent signings.
Another complaint is why are we not selling players? I have already pointed out the difficult financial period that every club is in at the moment, but what sales have our rivals made so far? Or any club?
Selling has been a nightmare! So it’s baffling when even more complaints come in for selling a squad player for around 25m who’s barely done anything in an Arsenal shirt. We have to sell at some point!
Stop getting your knickers in a twist, and judge our business in 3 weeks time when the window shuts!
Finally somebody with a brain and a reality check!
Why are you comparing transfer windows of a 8th place club to Champions of Europe Chelsea, Champions of Europe Liverpool or title holders City? Dont you think a 8th place team should do A LOT MORE business than those teams?
Leicester have done, much better than us LOL. And for several windows for that matter. Thats why they are a top 4 team now and we are top 8 team.
It seems like you have a groundhog-memory:
> Finish the season coming up short
> Start summer with high hopes and fed up lies
> Hopes fade, “we still have 2 weeks left”
> Window closes, squad still short like last season
> Outrage until season ends
> Repeat
Clockwork. Every year. Same story. And can you admin finally publish my message?
This is what you guys always say, judge the management next season then season after that, judge the transfer policy next window then it goes to window after that, judge the players next season then season after that, judge the manager policy of completely ignoring and booting out young players from team in 3-4 years time not now. So let me say this if we are suppose to judge everything in future then what are we doing now, we should just pack up and go home. I mean why participate in any tournament when results don’t matter and you are not accountable. This judging in future is an excuse to hide the failures of the club. That is why we are sitting out of Europe and finished in 8th because season before people said judge Arteta at end of full season , then judge him once he had two complete transfer window, then judge him in Christmas time ….it goes on and on.
We haven’t sold players because frankly most of these players who we wish to move on aren’t particularly good.Add ridiculously high wages to their lack of ability,a difficult market,and historically poor negotiation skills and Arsenal are struggling to sell the likes of:-
Torreira
Kolasinac
Lacazette
Bellerin
Soares
The younger “Hale-enders” haven’t helped their causes either… ( with the exception of Willock) as they’ve either refused loans or have been loaned to the wrong side (AMN)
I wouldn’t say the players are not good. They are good enough and most teams will want to have them. The problem is Arsenal’s generous competitive salaries which other teams won’t pay for the concerned players. And rightly so in my opinion.
Take Ben White for example. He was on a 30,000k per week at Brighton last season but Arsenal are paying him 120,000k per week. If he fails to live up to the expectations (God forbid) he will be another player hard to sell.
I totally take your point HH.
Some of the surplus would have some resale value but Covid has clearly affected most clubs ability to offload. Ozil’s contract let the genie out of the bottle and now many past it players are still on top whack. White if as you say is on £120kpw – it’s high but not crazy due to his age and I don’t want to contemplate him not working out – gulp
Ben is just an example. I am looking forward to enjoy his performance. The salary issue is for all Arsenal players and it didn’t start with the current management (Pepe and Kolasinac are other good examples) We are on par, slightly less or even more in some cases on wage bills with most of the top clubs across Europe.
Comparing our performance to that of fellow big clubs we do not get the value of what we pay for.
Another example is Partey. He is earning 250k at Arsenal which is four times more than what he earned at Atletico with Atletico getting the value of his wages while we are not at the moment even though we pay him way more.
The salary figures I found online I am not sure if they are correct figures.
I agree ThirdmanJW
We extended Xhaka’s contract and even gave him a raise. Who needs to do more business after that?
I’m also convinced that decisions like that definitely don’t contribute to our difficulties in selling players or having available funds 😊
👍 M.S
The “selling” part is spot on. No club is able to move players out swiftly until now. Things will pick up once we get closer to the end of the transfer window.
But, any signing made after the season gets underway, during the closing stages transfer window clearly indicates the state of affairs at the club.
A well managed club would have identified their primary targets and at least a couple of alternatives even before the transfer window opens. And they would have moved swiftly to close the deal once the transfer window opens.
If a club is still on the lookout for a player in the market, a handful of days before the season kick-starts, it’s truly in a miserable state.
So you’re saying no well run club will make signings only days before and/or after the season starts?
I’ll hold you to that comment on 31 Aug VasC.
If the management claimed that they’ve identified the positions that needed improvements and the players needed to address those deficiencies in the close season, personally, getting those players over the line well in advance before the season kick-starts is the best practice.
Anything other than that is just a gamble or the management haven’t done their homework and made a false claim.
But, I’ll be here waiting for you on 31 Aug, ThirdManJW!
Replying to your comments brings to my mind a football related “urban legend”. I don’t know if it’s for real or just a made up thing, just like an urban legend. Read somewhere that even before Arsene Wenger arrived at Arsenal, he requested our management to get Patrick Vieira for him and they did. And like everybody else say, the rest is history. Now, that’s how a transfer dealing must happen.
I think we are still hoping for odegaard. Great if we secure him, but it is a dangerous game of chicken. We will see
We will do VasC. I would bet my life that Chelsea, City, Utd, Spurs, Liverpool, Real, Bayern, Juv, Inter, etc wil sign at least one player after their respective seasons start.
I hear what you’re saying, ThirdManJW, but based on Xhaka getting a new contract and Bellerin still here, do you think MA is still keeping his word. MA talked identifying the problems within the squad and knowing what needs to be done. Yet he has done little so far to fix the main issue. Going forward as an attacking team. Everyone in the world can tell you what the problems are.
Like you though, I am not going to attack MA yet as there is still time to get things done. But, what I will say is, based on what has happened so far this summer I am not that confident much will change. I hope I’m wrong.
Our biggest issue is getting players out but that seems difficult. I accept that. They are average at best most of them. Why would you give long contracts to them if you know they are not going to improve the squad? I can only guess that the owners are just not stumping up the cash and MA does not have the full backing as he himself said he did? He is either stuck with what he has because there is no cash. Or, he really doesn’t have a scooby doo!
All the teams you have named finished way above us! And some distance better!
Kenya spurs only finished 3 points above us and Leicester finished 6 above us lol hardly “way above us”
Maybe with low interest rates and a buyers market for players, the owner could borrow and invest in the team in the short term, fill the stadium and repay the loan?
For how long are people going to fool themselves believing in us having the 3rd best defence in the league. If that is the truth why are the same people clamoring for replacing Leno and the need for a new RB and DM. Never heard of any team having the 3rd best defensive record in the league without a proper GK, RB and DM in the line-up.
We’ve added White and that’s hailed as an improvement. Does that mean our defence is going to be better than last season, like the 2nd best or the best defence in the league this season?
Our defence improved last season at the expense of our attack. Auba and Laca are roasted without mercy for their lack of goals last season, when they were primarily tasked with helping out their defence.
It doesn’t matter if we sign Aouar, Maddison or Messi, as long as this “Clean-sheet FIRST; Scoring NEXT” tactics is our main motto this season.
You said it all👍 Aubumeyang, lacazette and Pepe are not the reason why we ain’t scoring, they haven’t lost there scoring touches..the problem is they do a lot of defending and find themselves on the back foot and then you get just one player in the opposition box when we have the ball. Arteta is ruining those players for his own selfish interests
White was signed because he is a true upgrade which also helps the offense. Like that bit of business
55 goals for, says it all.
CANT AGREE LESS RIGHT ON POINT WE ARE SINKING EVERYDAY
I’m not sure how any fan could trust this manager and his sidekick with the decisions they are making .
Signs Xhaka to a new and approved contact therefore already given us a handicap before the season starts ,apparently he played better last season than the previous ones I mean that wouldn’t be hard would it .
Spends all summer going after a goalkeeper Who as been relegated 3 times and is priced at 30million ,and he can’t even get that deal done .
Lied to the fans at the end of the season that they had already identified players that would upgrade the team …where are they ?3 days till season opener .
White was a like for like replacement not an upgrade .
Where’s Edu ?
Holidaying abroad on his 4th summer holiday ,shouldn’t he be here working for his massive wage he takes home .
Let me guess his son will tweet a cringe pic again with him holding his phone with the caption “working hard “
Once again our top 6 rivals have all strengthened while while we wait to pick up the cast offs on the last day of the window .
But be patient and trust the process😂😂
Yea good one ✊
Those words resonate we me too, Dan. I remember MA talking about identifying the areas that need to be improved. I believe he said “the squad needs to change”. He identified the mistakes and where things could improve over the summer.
I can’t wait for Friday tbh. We will see then how much has improved. And then, when the transfer window closes. Let’s see then how well MA has done over the summer. I wouldn’t go to the bookies and make a sizeable bet that things will be much different based on what has happened already!
👍 👍
They still haven’t solved the salary problem which make it hard to sell players. They are actually adding to it.
I am not against the signing of Ben White (I am in favour of it even though we have been mugged by that fee as per our transfers recent tradition). But what has he done in Arsenal shirt to deserve 120k a 400% increase to what he was earning just a few weeks before?
👍 The salary structure is ridiculous, when compared to other EPL clubs, above and below.
Arsenal, the cozy Club, where you get well paid to sit on the bench.
GunneRay
When Arteta spoke those words i said let’s give him a chance , but nothing has changed he lied to the fans , I’m sorry i just can’t trust him any more
We are going no where this season as well. Only one argument was left that was we will do great if we are not in Europe at all as we will play less matches. So that will come to pass as well this season. Let’s see where we finish end of this season then we can finally put that argument to bed as well. While we are not doing great on football front but we are doing great on creativity front with regards to excuses. We have become a laughing stock for every fan of EPL teams specially when some of our fans try to sell project Arteta to them and show stubborness on how great we will be under him. No one takes us seriously and fans are responsible for it as well.
I will wait till the transfer window closes. Hopefully MA/Edu will bring in a couple of top quality players but I have been let down before so my hopes aren’t high
BUT so far we have only improved our defence which was really good last season anyway and 2 good squad players (potentially 1st teamers)
We should have another good defence this year but what about GOALS? You need goals to win matches lol
And last season we lacked goals
In my opinion we need more creativity in midfield and sort out our attack
Even if we just get Maddison, I don’t see us as a Top 4 team.
A couple more good quality players who are creative and/or score goals would make this a very good window but if that will happen, I have no idea
Is Auba such bad that he can not bang in goals any longer. I think something is wrong with the coaching side…, or maybe something is missing that requires immediate surgery.
And age is also a factor. A striker above 30 will decline any time. Some may go on for years and some will not.
Still with Auba it has been very drastic so I agree with you something may be the matter. If he does not rediscover his form this season we can safely assume he is done for.
@ Highbury hero, how old is Suares, Aguero, the best striker in the world right now Lewandowski, Vardy, even lukakau, harry kane( are both close to 30 and see how much Chelsea bought lukakau and how much city is demanding for kane). With this arsenal squad, if we have kane or Lewandowski or vardy, they will just be like passengers in our team because they didn’t have anybody to feed them regularly, for example, Lewandowski have Gnabri, Sane, Conan, Millar etc with him with attacking football mentality, Kane has Lucas, Son, Stephens,Ali, etc with him, Lukakau has Martinez, Sanchez, Barrella, etc with him but who does Auba has( William, Smith, Pepe, Saka with him) can you compare any of our players with these I mentioned above?( capital NO).
In Chelsea, Lukaku will have Warner, Pulisic, Mount, Harverts, jorghinho etc and you expect him not to score or perform well? When Auba scored 22 goals, he had iwobi, ozil, mikhi, Ramsey in which atleast three of them can create very well and they focused mostly on attack and not defending all the time…..
If you want to know that Arteta is more of defensive than attacking, go and rewatch our game against Liverpool, city, Chelsea( 2nd leg), you will understand that any striker we find it difficult to score( only if its by luck or half chance like the goal against Chelsea).
Arteta should not be afraid of any team again and allow his players to play freely with their attack game and also defend as a team.
I watched city vs Leicester game in the community sheet and I was telling my friend that how I wished arsenal could play against city like this( even though we loose) I will be happy, Leicester attacked city as a team and defended as a team..
👍Wale, you are right on.
“It’s the midfield, stupid! “
BEN
OR maybe he doesn’t want to play for Arteta anymore.
This kind of clickbait nonsense really grinds my gears.
How can you compare Chelsea to The Arsenal?
Chelsea have an interest free loan to the tune of 1.3 BILLION from their owner which is separate from the football club’s finances to underpin their success. They can pay £98m for Lukaku and there’s no FFP issue. They can buy whoever they want and have spent almost as much on sacking managers in the last 10 years as most other premier league clubs have spent on transfers.
We can all play FM or FIFA with unlimited money and win the Champions league with Sutton United – what’s the point though?
As for the other points, you want Granit Xhaka sold for £12m – who do we buy to replace him for that kind of money?
You want us to sell Bellerin when the only clubs that want him (according to the media) want a loan with an option to buy? Who do we get in to replace him? Max Aarons at £30m? Where does the money come from?
We should just cough up £60m for Maddison? A player on a long term contract with a team that finished above us for the last 2 years that’s under no pressure to sell?
You also mention Aouar – Don’t you think there might be some other reason why clubs are unwilling to buy him for the reported £25m? He’s had a very average season, seems to have a few issues with his attitude and despite so many teams needing a creative midfielder, nobody wants him?
I can’t cover every point you made in your “article” but you also take issue with Cedric Soares. why? For free, we signed an experienced international player to be a backup right back at a time when we needed a backup right back. How can anyone take issue with that?
One more point – The Ben White transfer. You have such a simplistic view on the football world and think that a defender’s role in to stop us conceding goals – that’s not the case. A defender is the base of the attacking pyramid and also the last line of defense in the defensive pyramid. Our slow build up play is largely due to the defenders not having the ability to play between the lines, not having the ability to take a man out of the game and not having the ability to create space.
The whole notion of building from the back is that you commit the attackers and play beyond them, you then commit the midfielders and play beyond them leaving your attacking players with less obstacles. We currently play the ball around between our defenders but we rarely take anyone out of the game. Watch Spu*s last season and you’ll see loads of situations where Alderweireld receives the ball deep and plays the ball over the top leaving them in a counter attack with 6 players taken out by the pass. Watch White for Brighton, same thing. In fact, if you look at most of the best defenders in an attacking sense, it’s more about creating space for the midfielders than anything else.
This whole article is a reaction piece based on nothing except some scewed logic that the real world is the same as a computer game.
@Dave,
I think you make excellent points, which on many I agree. However, I would like to “argue” with you on few points:
Ben White transfer + Nuno/ASL. So based on what we’ve seen this summer, our transfer budget was AT LEAST £75 millions, 2/3 of it used on the pyramid defender.
Our biggest issue last season was creativity. There is absolutely no way around it, and no one can deny this. Basically every meaningful stat supports this (key passes, chances created, big chances created, shots). We were bottom of the barrel on these, thus just scoring 55 goals.
Most glaring issue, creativity, has not been dealt with in the past 3 months the season has been done. No activity, at all so far. To add creativity, we didnt’ need to sell players first. We had the budget of now spent £75 million.
The budget has been spent on forward-thinking CB (while I don’t argue White can’t become an important player), back up LB and Guendouzi replacement (ASL is not creative).
How so? Why have we not tackled our biggest issue with the money we had? We had time. We had money. We had space. We even had player interest.
Nothing has been done, and now the excuse is “we need to sell first..”. Why haven’t MA/Edu sorted our creativity issue?
As a side note, we spent 6-7 million on back up LB, while Kolasinac still have 1 year left on his contract. So far we have no buyers. IF Arsenal wants to move him on, but won’t get a transfer fee, we will need to terminate his contract. That means Arsenal FC will PAY his wages from the WHOLE YEAR (this is exactly what we did with Özil).
My point being: if our budget is so little, why did we spent some of it on back up LB, with Kolasinac still around, IF we still end up paying Kolasinac’s wages for a year? I mean if money is tight, I would rather have Kolasinac as back up LB rather than spend money on replacement and rip up his contract.
Such a fantastic response, PLEASE post more….
The board DESPERATELY needs it.
👍👍👍
we are going down every year..Edu is not going for the right players.the midfield is still very poor
What frustrates me is that we need more goals and a new striker. Yet we wait until Spurs sells Kane for big money and will replace him with strikers we are looking at and the same goes for Lukaku. We know these big ticket sales will live Inter and Spurs with enough money to pick up the best available alternatives.
If we wanted to buy a striker we should have acted quickly and not wait for Lukaku and Kane to be sold and trigger a scramble for replacement strikers.
The window is not closed yet, we can still rescue our summer window but the signs are not good.
We need goals and have added no players who really can add goals for us.
Lokonga looks promissing but we have to see if he will be played once Partey returns. It looks suspiciously like he was bought for the future but we by luck discovered he might be one for today.
We seem to be lagging some of our competitors in terms of the number of quality signings. Villa showed it is possible to get some business done early in the window.
We could/should have signed Buendia instead we watched him go to Villa. IMO we needed a Bissouma yet we have done nothing to get a PL proven partner for Partey. Our midfield has barely been upgraded. Our forwards/strikers have not been upgraded at all.
This window looks indeed poor but it is not closed yet
(PS I think it would have been wrong to let Xhaka go for £12 million. We had not signed a replacement like Bissouma and Xhaka unfortunately is our 2nd best midfield player and would do great in Italy. Selling him for less than £20 would have been a sin IMO)
I genuinely believe the Arsenal Management job is way too big for Arteta and Edu. Unlike clubs like Leicester who ‘see’ the players they need…..and directly get them, Arteta and Edu are ‘Paralysed’. Garlick-Man is useless, shame we don’t have Dein-Man any more. To be four days away from our Brentford game with Xhaka and Elneny still our midfield is tear inducing. Even the most hopeful amongst us must be realising something is not right at the club. Edu and Arteta are reactive and not pro-active, the same for the Kroenke’s. Our present ‘dilly-dallying’ will cost us big time. Once again ‘Elneny and Xhaka’…..absolutely insane. 4 years more of Xhaka is Hara-kiri, self harm, Arsenal harm.
I really can’t argue with Kosta’s article and it makes depressing reading, but I will add some positives, which although they don’t totally lift the despair, at least give it some perspective and us a little hope.
I will start though by answering some Arteta critics here – the vast majority of those saying give Arteta time are NOT moving the goalposts. We have almost to a man said we will judge on where we are table and performance wise in November/December – NOT during the pre-season friendlies!
We are NOT blindly following Arteta – read the comments and we criticise almost as much as you do, but we simply delay final judgement for a few months.
Now my personal minor plusses:
It’s pre-season which anyone with knowledge of how football clubs run will know are one step up from training sessions and the preparation, players chosen, seriousness, concentration, fitness bears practically no relation to league games – they are basically kickabouts with people watching.
We have made three in my opinion really excellent signings. We know that’s not enough but Rome wasn’t built in a day, and anyone saying they haven’t improved us is mistaken.
We have three weeks left in the window. That’s a long time, and the later we get the quicker deals get done, and the faster previously stalled deals get resolved. Pretty sure we will sign between one and three more players, and offload two or three more. Needs must, not just for us.
Downside? Missing Martinelli, Gabriel, Partey at the weekend Atrocious attack still, currently only one top class defender, sleep inducing football, as yet no obvious improvement in play. signings in and out disappointingly slow. Need 4 or 5 positions filled but in reality in won’t happen (I’ve never known a top team to buy in 7 or 8 first teamers in one close season). But the real football starts this weekend, not last weekend.
Good points guy but regarding the transfers one of the negatives during the great Arsene time as much as I love him was waiting until the last hour to get the player we needed. It is something I am still seeing with this transfer window.
It would’ve been nice if the important positions to fill would have been addressed first. This has many benefits including having time to look elsewhere if one deal fail. Shopping at the last hour give the selling party all the power including demanding over the odds fee.
It also give the player time to integrate in the team without the pressure to deliver when the league has already started. If we get the creative player needed when the league has already started and fail to deliver quickly with the negativity surrounding the club now they might lose confidence and as we have seen not all players are capable of overcoming that mental challenge quickly.
Totally agree HH – lots of huffing and puffing but no houses blown down. I think for a variety of reasons: 1 Edu trying to be too smart and careful at the same time. For the sake of 2-3 mil we could have got several over the line eg Onana, Xhaka 2 holding on for no 1 choice rather than moving on. I worry we will lose Aouar waiting for Odegaard/Maddison for example 3 Over emphasis on pricey lower quality English players. After falling foul of the limit last season it’s become an obsession – Ramsdale ffs! 4 chasing too many players at once has made us necessarily pennypinchers 5 MA/Edu buy plan not as clearcut as they said it was. Looks chaotic to me! 6 Other clubs holding out until last moment for max cash – look how long White took
Dajuhi.
Totally agree
spot on HH
exactly HH…I’ve been clamoring about those two exact points for the better part of the off-season…for a team with such a problematic history regarding prioritizing NEED purchases and acting in an expedient fashion for integration purposes, it’s mindboggling that we continue to conduct business in such a counter-intuitive manner…to change the culture, you need to redress these crippling and debilitating narratives…it’s become so commonplace that one can’t help but conclude that it’s a systemic problem which may require some sort of organizational intervention in order to bring about real change
How very much we thinking fans love REAL perspective. I cannot find a single word of yours with which to disagree, guy!
guy, I much hope my reply to you which, as usual, has disappeared, eventually reappears as they generally, though not always, do!
Auba should have been put up for sale not Laca who always puts a shift in not like Auba and then to top it off Auba missed 2 easy chances Arteta wants to get is act together and EDU wants to get off that bloody jet ski and get back here and get his arse in gear or bugger off
this has gone on for many seasons now, this watching and waiting, for a bargain,at the last minute. regardless of the manager it seems to be our policy to hold off and see. what i cannot understand with this logic is when we buy late then the top teams have a jump start on us , because we have to blood our new, last minute purchases into the team, and that can take til november. so , already, we are chasing the pack, as it were.right now, we are mid table, at best, with what we have . my question to the board would be, are you satisfied with this lowly finish .
I believe Konstantin puts his case for the prosecution rather well. I do not say I agree with all he says, far from it, but neither can I write an honest case for the defence, as I simply don’t feel that would be an honest summation either.
The only disappointment for me is GK. I don’t understand why we let Ryan leave, or are we prepared to finally rely on Runnarson. Maybe, just maybe because of less competition we are relying on Leno alone.
For other positions, I think fans priority is different from Arteta priority, fans still think we are in Wenger era where we rely on CAM to produce goalscoring chances but I feel Arteta isn’t interested in Attacking tactics, I think his tactics expects creativity from the wing, that’s why KT excell, same as Saka and Pepe but his letdown his the striker. In such Tactics the strikers needs to be prolific and the wingers dynamic. He is shooting himself at the foot for playing Auba ahead of Saka and Pepe.
He needs reliable Rb to work the tactics out but it’s unfortunate
Total Arsenal BS About what we are going to do this summer and the plan. Well nothing at Arsenal has changed. With this set up we are doomed.
I swear i can’t remember my arsenal. Imagine roy keane saying we are a step backwards for maddison as if that was not a enough rio ferdinand saying arsenal are no longer a threat to any team hmm my fellow gooners are we not really touched by all this things happening or are we cursed? is there a calabash somewhere at the emirates and its environs.
The future of Arsenal is bleak under Kroenke.Unfortunately,we the Arsenal fans in Nigeria can’t do anything.
The Arsenal fans in London should force Kroenke to sell the club.
No significant investment in the club for the new season n yet,some re hoping we do well next.No false hope
pepe and consistency are not two words i would expect to see in one sense sentence .. basically of the regulars we have 2 consistently good players saka and tiernay a few consistently decent including smith rowe holding partey and perhaps leno the rest are erratic or consistently poor … thats a frightening state of affairs going in to a new season … and can ultimately be blamed on the owner who doesnt care and a manager who doesnt know
To get into the Champions league you have to think big and spend big, Chelsea are about to go big on Lukaku and last season brought Havertz , Werner and Zyeche, Man U have gone big on Sancho and Varane,and Man city got Grealish and probably Kane by the end of the window, big thinking and big spending owners and these will all be in the champions league again at the end of the season, with Kroenke at the helm I am afraid all we will get is mediocrity in the transfer market as well as on the pitch,I like the fact that Arteta is trying to build something here but you have to have big players to help that process along.
Why don’t we pay messi 700,00 a week to get some much needed creativity? (Not that he’d come;) We paid ozil 300k to warm the bench and have zero impact after all..
Re the transfer window it is, as it has been for as long as I can remember very underwhelming. Lethargic, unfocused movement without clear plan or direction it seems much like our team.
We have some great young talent that will eventually go elsewhere to win stuff and ply their trade because our owners are awol their selected management; naive , inexperienced and over cooking everything it seem in most if not all departments from transfer dealing to on-field strategy.
There is time left for some rushed last minute buys to address our glaring deficiencies but I won’t hold my breath. Experience teaches me not to and nothing has changed in either ownership or management so I expect more of the same.
ArseOver, We’d all like to wake up with the news that Messi is now an Arsenal player ,with a photo of him wearing the new shirt but know full well that Edu has not been spending his time in secret negotiates with him but rather tanning himself on the world’s beaches,in preparation for the long dark winter ahead.
I noticed in one of the comments above, that our lack of creativity last season was cited as a major issue going forward into the new season.
If that is true (and it looks so according to the stats quoted) why does it seem that Arsenal are still chasing Odegaard, a player who was charged with that creativity role for much of last season?
I still maintain that our real problem last season was not so much the creation of chances, but the taking of those chances.
If we truly had only $75m to spend in this window, without selling some of our other assets (known affectionately as deadwood), I think the signing of Ben White for $50m was a reckless act!
I think most of that money should have gone to buying a proven goal scorer. I think if we had acted early enough we could have got Martinez from Inter Milan, before the Lukaku transfer was started. But dithering still seems to be our transfer modus operandi.
If the “AFC Brains Trust” thought we had issues at the back with the 3rd best defense in the EPL last season, I suggest that buying a defensive midfielder like Bissouma would be a better and cheaper option than bringing in Ben White.
I should add that I think Ben White is a good player, but not what AFC needed right now!
JW, Arsenal has “proven goalscorer in Aubameyang, Lacazette, Pepe and Martinelli yet the goals have dried up from previous seasons.
Have all Arsenal’s forwards suddenly become poor, or is it:
1) the lack of quick progression from defence to attack, lack of creativity in passing down the lanes and into space for the forwards to run on to and the lac of goal scoring contribution from midfield. In other words the midfield needs upgrading; and/or
2) the system of play and set up of the team is not conducive to scoring goals, because of the emphasis on defense?
Should I be surprised that almost half the posts above are from fans who still believe in the process? Of course there are still three weeks to go in the window and undoubtedly someone will be brought in, but it will be another rush job based on who is still available at cut price, rather than the systematic targeting aimed at strengthening the team with the best quality. I fear more deadwood.
What process? The one that maintains mediocrity maybe?
So if we sign Maddison it will be a”rushed job” then??
Arsenal are NEGOTIATING with clubs and if you think a click of the fingers is enough to get a deal done, think again.
How long has it taken United to seal the varon deal, chelsea the LUKAKA deal and City are still trying to get the Kane deal over the line.
We have signed three players in positions that needed strengthening and working on other areas – why would Leicester make it easy for us to buy their player?
Judge at the end of August re. transfers and the end of the season re. Arteta.
Arteta does not have a true creator in midfield yet, yes I know ESR, but he is growing into that type of player, but we need another for sure.
You need to have players who can move the ball forward, either directly or indirectly. Dribble drive past a man quickly and or move the ball straight through the lines to runners. (Archetype Carzola)
So if we sign Maddison it will be a”rushed job” then??
Arsenal are NEGOTIATING with clubs and if you think a click of the fingers is enough to get a deal done, think again.
How long has it taken United to seal the varon deal, chelsea the LUKAKA deal and City are still trying to get the Kane deal over the line.
We have signed three players in positions that needed strengthening and working on other areas – why would Leicester make it easy for us to buy their player?
Judge at the end of August re. transfers and the end of the season re. Arteta.
Our transfer policy over the last 8 to 10 years has probably been the worst in the Premier League and “those chickens are definitely coming home to roost”.
That said virually everything we’ve done as a Club seems to have been carried out without any kind of plan.
Wenger needed to be replaced…the Club dithered and dithered whilst other top coaches were available and we ended up with someone who might be a reasonable tactician but was wholly unable to communicate with his players…Then replaced him with someone who had absolutely no experience , an over-inflated ego,and precious few ideas.
The thinking in the Boardroom has similarly remained confused at best.Dubious deals were carried out via even more untrustworthy agents.Changes were made and the new incumbents have been seen to be devoid of any real experience or knowledge of the Premier League.
The Owners are seen as absentee landlords and uncaring…Whilst they probably do care …its the lack of return on their investment which causes them palpitations rather than Arsenal’s steady decline as a Football Club.
There really doesn’t seem to be any accountability from top to bottom.A player doesn’t perform and he still finds himself in the match day squad being paid far more than he’s worth.The manager doesn’t perform and he keeps his job backed up by a litany of excuses.The Technical Director doesn’t perform…he just goes off for another holiday…The whole scenario stinks and its the fans who have to sit down…take a deep breath and inhale!!
JOEL, you missed out Unai Emery, before you got to Mikel Arteta.
Must agree; for example the succession planning for replacing Arsene Wenger was abysmal for a multi billion business entity.
Just support the club…..who ever we sign
…..just support them