After a lot of deals on deadline day, there are still massive questions over the squad. by Konstantin Mitov
Well lovely Arsenal people, the transfer window ended and a mass exodus on deadline day was met by only one player coming in. So I’d like to say welcome to Arsenal Takehiro Tomiyasu. And I’d also like to say I feel sorry for you, because the mess we are in won’t be solved by one signing unfortunately.
I’m happy we at least signed someone and I wish Takehiro all the best at Arsenal. I haven’t seen much of him, since I don’t follow the Serie A, but people say he was one of the best defenders out there last year. A player who is a center back as far as I understand, but has been playing a lot as a right back.
It’s not hard to understand why we would strengthen there, especially when you remember how Chambers was beaten to a header by Gundogan, just a few days ago. But as usual with Arsenal these days, every supposed answer raises more questions. Why did we let Saliba leave on loan, when he is another right footed CB who can play as a RB? Is Tomiyasu a replacement for Bellerin? If he is, what is happening with Chambers and Cedric?
We also forced Ainsley Maitland-Niles to stay at Arsenal. Is he gonna battle it out for that RB spot? I don’t think we’ll play him in midfield. We made him train with the U23s, because of his social media post, which was a really poor display from Arsenal. The loan deal Everton offered isn’t something Arsenal are obliged to take. But last season we had 20 million on the table for him, opted not to sell and then we didn’t play him.
But bad player management does not end here. Under the radar, Lacazette entered the last year of his contract. Our top goalscorer last season, you wonder whether we should’ve either given him a deal or sold him and find a replacement? It’s like we learned nothing from the Alexis and Ozil contract drama. But guess which other striker we didn’t sell? Eddie Nketiah, that’s right. How many minutes will he get this campaign? A player we had 10 million on the table for from Crystal Palace, who instead bought Edouard which is the better deal for them in my humble opinion.
That’s already 3 players in AMN, Eddie and Laca that we could’ve cashed in on to help improve the squad, yet, I’m not sure if some of them are going to play at all. Last transfer window I celebrated the fact we managed to ship Kolasinac anywhere, he got relegated by the way with Schalke and now he’s staying. There are no excuses for me on this one, it’s a sackable offence. We bought Nuno Tavares to cover for Tierney, why is Sead still here?
The last player who sadly is still here is Elneny. Central midfield was an area where we desperately needed to improve. Last summer we wanted Housem Aouar so badly, we almost paid 50 million for him, now available for less than half the price and we don’t even bother? Renato Sanches was in talks with Wolves for a loan move. Surely Arsenal could have opted for him?
We are bottom of the league. It’s no joke we are 20th in the table and some people still say I’m “negative”, but the real negative is our goal difference of -9! This club desperately needs something to get the fans and even the players excited again. We spent almost 150 million pounds on 6 players and yet we field a squad from last year that’s performing even worse.
I look at Man Utd players after they’ve signed Ronaldo. The place is buzzing, I can see the energy and excitement and that can do a lot for a football club. I go to Arsenal, I see 6 new players and I wonder if one of them walks into our starting 11 straight away? Those decisions will cost Arteta his job very soon.
Willian is another example of such decisions. Lauded for his “talent” at 32 by Arteta, one year later, the guy terminated his contract and credit to him for that. He admitted it didn’t work out and also left a cheeky message that he wants to win. I don’t blame him, I won’t go to Arsenal if I want to win things and I’m a player in demand.
The system is just broken top to bottom. Kia Joorabchian came out with an attack on Arsenal and questioned if any player can succeed here. Why did Edu post pictures on social media having a barbecue with him? The guy gave us Willian and Cedric, two players we don’t need, and now he’s jumping to the defense of his buddy, because Edu is under pressure.
Arteta is an out of depth manager, clueless on the pitch and he will get his sack, albeit it being far too prolonged, but Edu and Vinai shouldn’t get away with it. They should’ve taken the money for Xhaka and Eddie instead of waiting. They should have sold Laca to fund money for a new striker. They should’ve prevented Kolasinac from staying, as well as sell unhappy players whenever an offer comes. They should’ve intervened with Saliba and instead of spending 50 millions on White, we should’ve bought another midfielder, but we didn’t. This is extremely poor management of the club. Instead of taking action, Vinai promoted Arteta to manager and everything went downhill.
As much as I would love to see Arteta sacked yesterday, the manager’s job offer should’ve been nowhere near him and it’s not his fault he took it. We just had people unwilling to take responsibility so we left it in the hands of a person who can’t deal with it. People thrive in a structure, where responsibilities are clear. Managers at Chelsea change, but they still come out fighting. They sacked Mourinho, they even sacked Lampard, a player who’s done so much more than Arteta. In the end it paid off, and they are Champions of Europe and we are bottom.
I look at Arsenal and I don’t know what the starting 11 will be. I don’t know what the formation will be, what the style of football is, nothing. Our latest signing is another “versatile” player that can play multiple positions. Honestly, seeing how bad we are in almost every position, I’d like to have 1 player who is really good at 1 position and knows what to do there.
We may beat Norwich, although they’ve at least scored this season and they are probably looking at getting some easy points off us. Then it’s Burnley, then Tottenham. If we don’t see 9 points off those games, he should be out. The fact he is still here is so sad, but it shows what the owners are all about. They rewarded mediocrity and failure with 150 million pounds. I hope I am wrong, but I’ve said this so many times, the worst is yet to come.
Konstantin
Well trying to look at the positives and overall picture
Arsenal were the biggest spenders in the English Premier League in the 2021/22 summer transfer window. The North London club spent €143m on six players, with four likely to be starters for Mikel Arteta.
Arsenal’s summer transfers:
• Ben White (from Brighton) – €50m
• Martin Odegaard (from Real Madrid) – €30m
• Aaron Ramsdale (from Sheffield United) – €24m
• Takehiro Tomiyasu (from Bologna) – €17m
• Albert Sambi Lokonga (from Anderlecht) – €15m
• Nuno Tavares (from Benfica) – €7m
We managed to offload about five players before the transfer deadline on Tuesday 31st August.
• Lucas Torreira joined the Italian side, Fiorentina on loan.
• Willian terminated his contract with Arsenal to join his boyhood club Corinthians.
• Reiss Nelson and Hector Bellerin joined Feyenoord and Real Betis on loan respectively.
After the International break, Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, will have all his first-team players available for selection, for their next premier league match against Norwich City on September 11th.
Arteta will still go on with the front four of Saka, Odegaard, Smith Rowe and Aubameyang, to see if Arsenal will be able to score their first goal of the 2021/22 premier league season.
Leno
Talkaman white Gabriel tieney
Partay sambi
Saka. Odeguard smith
Auba
With the exception of pepe and lacazette this is our most realistic starting xi
Arsenal’s next five fixtures:
• Norwich (H) – 11 Sept
• Burnley (A) – 18 Sept
• AFC Wimbledon (H) – 21 Sept
• Tottenham (H) – 26 Sept
• Brighton (A) – 2 Oct
If things go well with the squad available arsenal could win all this matches considering that they are playing Tottenham at home
That’s been positive but with arsenal you never know what is coming
We also played Chelsea at home and got battered..
Off topic to everyone:
Some people here think Conte would require massive budget to work with. Just FYI to anyone under this misconception, Conte’s net spend over 2 years at Chelsea was -80 millions. At Inter over 2 years net spend was -130 million but noteworthy is that at Inter, year later after purchasing his most expensive players Hakimi and Lukaku, they were sold on for ~50 million profit.
In comparison, our rookies net spend over 1 and half years has been close to 200 million.
Conte is a project coach, he makes most players better, but the media and a lot of fans seem to think, he will demand millions of pounds to revamp the squad even before he arrives, and while we currently, don’t have a squad to compete for the title, in the hands of a experienced and prosperous coach this squad can be extremely competitive. instead of being swiped aside by teams.
👍 👍
Pounds not euros which means more than you even stated.
Loaning is not offloading players, it’s the opposite. It lowers the values of assets as their contracts run down.
Youngsters being loaned is different obviously
Thank you for providing some balance to the discussion Gundown. With the huge task needed at Arsenal it would be crazy to expect everything to have been sorted in this window with a budget of 80m per player and allowing other players to go for next-to-nothing.
*without [a budget of 80m per player]
I am not entirely for this regime
But at least once in a while i try not to criticise and look at the positives….
There has been many critism from every part which i am part of but once in a while i try to be positive better for our health
I have criticised this regime for many things
Imagine if this project on youths started atleast last season after ending 8th weeks would have accepted 8th place finish with kids and would have had kids who played together for a season who will only get better but no we didn’t
What did we spend last season doing?
What was the plan prior to this window?
What was the process that they said we should trust?
At least this window and season is clear that they are now fully building a young team
Which is why i asked initially what was the process and did the first process fail and we have to start another process…..
Regardless i believe it’s better to see positives and still try to be optimistic as it’s better to find positive sometimes than criticising at every article doesn’t impact health positively….
Where i come from fans take football to heart far too much and arsenal have given many people high bp and i pity the victims
I stand in totality here with kostantin. He is spot on concerning the quagmire we are presently in. Arteta should never have been promoted to managerial status with his burgeoning lack of experience in management. A seasoned manager will not let the club spend 27mil on a defender only to loan him out twice and then go and buy an average one again for double the price. It smacks of crass stupidity and bad investment. Arteta doesn’t know he has fractured the dressing room with his handling of players that wants to leave and were not granted. Some players are already seeing a pattern of arteta disliking players who stand up to him and then discarding them. Edu too is culpable . He has zero experience in club management and that is why we are in the mess that we are in. A serious club would have dispensed with players not wanted here ; terminate the contract of Chambers, Cedric, kolasnac, holding; sell xhaka, nketiah, elneny , lacazett, bellerin, for what ever…just to free funds to get quality and not quantity…am exasperated
I agree about Saliba, who’d most likely be better in the air than White and Chambers. According to John Cross, Maitland-Niles has talked to Arteta and he’d likely be given a chance to play in midfield while Partey/ Xhaka are still unavailable
About Lacazette, I believe no club is willing to pay 20 M for him and the cost of replacing him would likely be bigger than that. Renato Sanches has just undergone a knee surgery, his injury records are horrible and we’ve already gotten many homegrown DMs
About Nketiah, Fabrizio Romano said Patrick Vieira only wanted Odsonne Edouard. So I guess Palace weren’t really interested in Nketiah
Quite a good window in my opinion apart from one position, attacking midfield. Lakonga, Tomiyasu and White are picks of the signings followed by Ramsdale, Tavares and Ødegaard.
Good news from a bad situation is that Xhaka is out for 3 games and Lakonga and Partey can forge a strong base in midfield. Tomiyasu won’t have time to integrate himself in the team after the interlul though which is a pity. I hope Ramsdale gets his chance soon.
Agree Dec. Could of course have been better but I have no issues with any of the purchases.
My concerns are much more with If, and if so how Arteta uses them.
Having ignored completely Lokonga, Tavares and Ramsdale (who for me will improve the whole defensive organisation) for the City match I am wary of who will get game time, because Arteta’s tactics are all over the place.
guy, I’m with you regarding lack of confidence in Mikel Arteta’s ability to manage and coach this squad.
By 2nd Oct,we will have known whether 132M pounds given to Arteta was a rope to hang himself or a rope to climb out of a ditch.
Best comment by all sense and standards. I love this
I don’t think the window has been a shambles.
Considering the mess we were in and the
almost impossible to sell market we did well.
We bought six young promising players.
We loaned six and one has left.
Guendouzie 22 and Saliba 20 are at a top French club where they will learn and not lose any value.
Mavro 23 is doing well in Germany..
Azeez is at Portsmouth +Nelson in the Netherlands both free English players who
will only increase in value.
However Allowing Nketiah to enter his final year and not selling or trading either of Lacca or Auba
is puzzling.
One assumes that there is something to be revealed about why Kolasinac is still here.
May be Tierney Tavarez or Saka have some health issues? May be there is a late deal being worked?
When the squad is healthy match fit and match ready I expect us to go on a good run of success.
10 wins 3 Draws 3 Losses the next 16 fixtures,
33 pints and 7th place by Boxing day.
2nd half of the season = 37 points
70 points and 4th/5th place
Your comments doesn’t stop amusing me……
I am sure you never predicted 0 win and bottom of the table with 9 goals conceded and non scored after the 1st 3 games
As regarding to Saliba, you can’t loan out a player like saliba and guendouzi who are doing well and are within age bracket of what you are trying to build them spending nearly 70 in the same position as saliba and that is even without giving him a sniff of a chance to at least fail
We had opportunity to cash in on xhaka,bellerin last season, Niles last season and nkettiah for a total of 70+m but we didn’t now we may lose those players for peanut or nothing
Most of your comments are out of love for arteta(reasons i don’t know) rather than engaging simple facts and what is visible for a to see…..
It’s good to be optimistic but there is no way you can tell a man who doesn’t have a problem with his sight that black is white…
After watching game 1-3 of EPL this season it’s hard to even at this point think arsenal is in any way going to best at least 8 of the Teams currently above them.
And Gundown, Guendouzi was OT good enough for Arteta at Arsenal, yet at Marseille he has been brought into the French squad. Arsenal will be forced to sell a French international midfielder for £9 million, when Marseille enforces the option to buy.
Wait until Saliba is selected too, as he is playing well at Marseille, while Arteta prefers Kolasinac and Chambers to play CB at Arsenal.
So much for the “process” of developing youth, when such players are discarded as a manager’s whim.
“not good enough”
fairfan, that was not a good window at all. the only area we have stengthened is cover at left back and gk. lakonga is good long term prospect for CM, but anyone who looks at that and doesnt see the glaring issues in midfield is mad. xhaka and elneny should be no where near this team, there is no control, creativity or strength in that midfield which makes the whole squad look poor, especially as partey is always injured. are lakonga and elneny/amn going to be that driving force in next few games, i highly doubt it.
white is ok, but not vital when you had saliba on the books who looks like he could do a job there .
all in all was a shocking window and not much hope for this season.
The trouble with Arsenal is everybody looks at the negatives without even considering the reality of either business, contracts or availability. They are convinced there’s never any positives
The problems in the club began in 2006 with the stadium build and started becoming unacceptable in 2016. For five years they have deteriorated mainly due to lack of planing, investment and the negativity fed by everyone who can muster a self satisfying opinion based on what they see regardless of the real situation.
The situation we are in will not be resolved by a £500 million spending spree, it will take a couple of years of continuous progress with a plan based on players capable of improvement and careful additions, much like Leicester have done.
This doesn’t sound great to all those who expect instant results but the time when £200 million would fix the squad passed a few years ago.
Negativity is not something that players and managers can’t be shielded from and it creates an environment in which people are afraid of making mistakes which mean they try and play safe. I am sure you will agree this is no way to win football matches.
It is sad to see our great team hit this level but unless the negativity stops we will just continue to slide.
The season has started, the players are the players #Suppoett the team
Very well said mate!! 👍👍
Great stuff
The fact that you believe that a 500M spending, spree, if spent properly, wouldn’t resolve our present plight is such a ridiculous statement that it severely tarnishes anything else you’re professing…btw this isn’t a chicken or the egg argument, as the continued indifference and mismanagement, from all levels, is what precipitated the negativity around the club, so until this organization acts in a responsible and professional manner, there will be those individuals, and rightly so, who will continue to publicly address their concerns in whatever manner they see fit, within reason of course
those players who actually care about being part of a winning organization should not be deterred by this well-intentioned cause, as this is likely their best chance of obtaining their ultimate goals…for those who are part of the problem, they will likely face the justifiable barbs from those who continue to financial support their mediocre contributions, once again within reason of course
the problems that exist at this club will not get solved by the fanbase putting their collective blinders on and zipping their respective lips…btw it’s certainly no surprise who responded positively to your pleas, as they’re willing to excuse just about any behaviour by our current regime, irrespective of the potential damage it most likely will cause
Mike, £500 million would buy 11 players of Yves Bissouma quality in the present market, with change left over to bring in the manager of choice.
The most important issue is your point of having management, who are competent to implement “continuous progress with a plan based on players capable of improvement”. Where is the evidence of a plan, system and style of play, tactics, physical and mental strength and commitment to the cause?
if fans are aftering big name and big tag signings then they are disappointed….
the club appears to be focusing developin and building a core of young players together with a few experience ones (late 20s and early 30s)…
build the core, play them together for 2 to 3 seasons and bear the fruits
Reading your comments, I think you miss represent a lot fans and do so on a regular basis. Now a lot of fans wanted Bissouma(£40m) or Max Aarons(£30m) 0r Aouar(25m) 0r Koopmeuners(£18m) or Sanches(£30m) are these suggestions big name, big money signings NO!
And what prove do you have that this current management can develop youths
Are you saying this on what evidence
Good points John
The recruitment definitely shows that the club is building a young squad which should be competitive in years to come.
Unfortunately several experienced players are not playing at a high enough level.
We will have a better sense of the level of the team after the international break.
I think this window shows we are going down another ‘youth project’ the and fans are rightly sceptical about another ‘youth project’ as we’ve been here before. First we had the era of Fabregas 2006-2011 where we did well to finish top 4 and had some what of a title push 2007-2008 where injuries derailed us and 2010-2011 Injuries again but ultimately put the nail in the coffin was the collapse after the shock defeat to Birmingham in the Carling Cup final, remember there was talk about doing the quadruple at that time! Then there was the ‘British core’ era which didn’t quite work out either. Bottom line is there wasn’t enough ‘Top quality’ experience to support the talented youngsters especially in the earlier Emirates era. Fast forward to the present and it looks like we are about to repeat the same mistakes by resting our hopes on Saka S. Rowe etc which adds unnecessary pressure on their shoulders when we should have proper experienced leaders to lead the way and I’m not talking about Xhaka or Elneny or Auba or Laca…
We are dependent on Thomas Partey staying fit. The nightmare scenario is Elneny and Xhaka playing together. Lokonga is a good player, but he has to hit the ground running. The major problem is…..can we supply Auba and Laca. We didn’t get our stated original plan, a midfield creative maestro. That is a hard one to understand. Arteta is on thin ice. can our new defence gel. Tomiyasu, White, Gabriel, Tierney, maybe sometimes as a three, and sometimes with Tavares. Can we create an intensity going forward and supplying Laca…Auba….our season depends on it. Can Odegaard or Lokonga become that Midfield Maestro and orchestrate the team. Xhaka/Elneny are proven failures at anything remotely like it. Hopefully they will all gel. I still find it hard that the ”big man’ Saliba was loaned out, but that’s how it is. I really hope there is a clear improvement in our pattern of play. Only time will tell. Will Arteta be here in 3 months? Completely dependent on having a winning run.
Hi Sean, yes Partey is critical, and I for one think a big part of his injury issues come from how Arteta puts to much responsibilty on him. He has to be everywhere as he has had no support.
Odegaard is supposed to be the creative maestro if you hadn’t noticed! Whilst I like the players we got in, not only do they have to learn to play together, they are still young and must improve, and our talent pool is paper thin. One injury and we have to put rubbish into the team. If they stay fit the team will start to look better, but if it does I will give the kudos to the players more than Arteta, because he is stumbling around in the dark.
Hi Guy
Thanks for the response. Maybe Odegaard has the potential to be that central midfield controller. At the moment Arteta has not, and does not, play him that way. He would have to get a dominating mindset and play a more central, pivotal role. Maybe as he feels more comfortable here he will take charge of that role?
👍 👍 Two midfielders short: either Matheus Pereira, Houssem Auoar or Marcel Sabitzer and either Yves Bissouma or Bruno Guimaraes.
Plus a manager/coach to bring out the best in the squad.
Without even looking to see the author, whenever I see a doom laden headline such as this articles one, I know for certain the writer will be Konstntin!!
TBH, I am geeting thouroughly sick off his relentless gloom and also from very many other “Gooners” on here who never contribute anything but gloom woe and strife!
You would think their whole world had imploded, instead of their football club having troubles.
IT DOES HAVE TROUBLES, AS WE ALL KNOW, but I am crying out to get some proper perspective and logical, balanced argument.
Not simply unrelenting woes ALL THE TIME!
It is simplistic writing and childish in its never changing content and I dislike a site that seems to always feature the arch doom monger Konstantin almost daily.
For GODS SAKE KONSTANTIN, take notice of what I say to you, as there will be many other real loyal and wise Gooners who think as I do , MANY OF WHOM WILL BE PUT OFF CONTRIBUTING AND WILL READ BUT NOT POST.
You and your pessimistic ilk do NOT represent all Gooner opinion, neither on here nor at large.
I always look for reasoned argument , logical thinking and a balanced view of the problems we definitely DO have and have had ever since KROENKE bought our club.
But to expect them from Konstantin is like expecting bricks to float.
Dear Grandpa Fox,
ALL we have to show for your “balanced” support for Arteta is THREE STRAIGHT LOSSES, ZERO points, and Zero goals scored.
After TWO eight placed finishes – the second of which means that we do not even get to play in the UEFA Conference.
First game of the season, and not a single goal against Brentford? ONE shot ALL game against City?
How you are so comfortable with such mediocrity is entirely beyond me.
But then again, one look at the sizes of your respective egos, and the disdain for others who disagree with you, and I suppose it’s not so hard to find the common ground between your not-so-humble-self, and Mr. Mikel “Invisible Process” Arteta.
When a post starts with the three deliberately insulting words that your does, I do not bother reading further as I PREFER DEBATING WITH ADULT MINDS, NOT JUVENILE ONES!
I do have to laugh though at how your first name of Pius is so inappropriate for your aggressive and unthinking character.
Dear Fox,
Everyone is entitled to their own views. Just as you have come on here blasting the OP for not being a REAL FAN, so too can others express how they truly feel about the club.
This site does not belong to you. If you don’t have constructive criticism or any REAL COUNTER ARGUMENT to what is being said, just keep quiet.
Regards,
A NOT SO REAL FAN.
Time to draw breath with the break in our midst, on the face of it we are in a mess, I have seen promise from Tavares and Lakonga and Ramsdale may get a shout sooner rather than later but all in all I think that we have to look at why we are not winning, and to me the buck stops with Arteta we keep hearing about his vision, a lot of clubs would have sacked him by now, but unless they can prise Brendan Rodgers from Leicester we may as well stick with it and hope this Vision starts to actually work very soon.
Well, the article is right per se, but there are a few perspectives overloooked.
1. We talk about outgoings, but how many of our players are in demand and how many are affordable in terms of their pay packages in this covid era.
2. I think if out of the 6 new signings, if 5 are defensive players, it shows the direction, tactics and thinking of MA that he wants to play with 3 at the back. If that is the case, than what happens to Odegaard and ESR, because than AMN/Tomiyasu and Tierney/Tavares will be used as wingbacks and Saka/Pepe/Mrtinelli/Auba as wingers.
What are you talking about then Q3 gooner? You are rubbishing everyone at Arsenal! How would you want the team to be? How do you determine a good buy from a bad one before they play a few games? Do you use a player’s fame to determine if he is a good purchase?
I must admit I had never heard of most of the players Arsenal bought because they came from different leagues which I don’t take time to follow or know anything about. However my ignorance should not be used for measuring a player’s quality. I believe many of those rubbishing our new acquisitions are in my category although they are not humble enough to admit it. They pretend to know it all which is unfortunate. Let us give our new players a chance and judge them at the end of the year.
My friend, you have completely missed my point. I welcome all the new signings we have made this summer. I was disputing John Ibrahim’s claim that fans ‘just want big name signings’ which is not true and I gave examples of players fans wanted our club to sign who are not ‘big names’
Im not sure what Arsenal fans expect!! For years Ive listened to people in the stadium constantly saying this squad needs a good clear out and we need new faces. Fact is our owners are not Oligarchs or Qatari oil barons we have a tight American business man who has renewed 6 squad members for less than some teams spend on one player.
Chelsea won the champions league and then paid £97.5 Million on a striker. City paid £100 Million for Grealish, Real madrid offered £187 Million for Mbappe but reality is we are not in that league. Our club as usual have tried to do it on the cheap. The only saving grace for me as that this time they have tried to buy young players with lots of potential and high ceilings price wise. Makes a nice change from buying in over the hill Chelsea and Man Utd players looking for a nice place to retire or cheap imports with a broken back!!
No-one seems to be looking at the bigger picture. Last season our defence was the 3rd best in the premier league. From Christmas onwards only City got more points than Arsenal thats over 20 games!! Arteta has binned many of the players we all wanted gone and replaced them with young hungry players.
When the fixyrures were announced we all new it was a tough start and we certainly expected better performances but what about having so many injuries and illnesses through the team with key players down the spine of the team like White, Gabriel, Partey, Aubameyang and Lacazette not to mention the others..
We are three games in and our supporters (laughable description) are all ready calling for the managers head and listening to all the media bullshit.
Be real about where we are and what we are trying to do. We are not City who in Pep’s first summer window were able to spend massive amounts buying the best RB, LB, CB, GK and winger available to sort out his team.
Give the team a chance, support them and at the very least wait until we have had 15 to19 games to really see where we are after we have played everyone once. Then if there’s no progression I would understand the negativity but after 3 games and under the circumstances I think its all premature especially after the way the second half of last season went.
Explain Brentford to me. Explain how we could not score ONE goal against a newly promoted side.
Explain a 0 points haul, and a – 9 goal difference after just 3 games.
Explain ONE shot against City.
Explain NO genuine attacking addition, besides a kid who contributed all of 2 goals and 2 assists last season.
Explain keeping Xhaka, Kola, Chambers, etc – and exiling Saliba and Guendouzi, only to buy a Ben White who can’t even make a proper defensive jump to save his life.
Explain any of it. Make it make sense. Please.
Explain William Saliba, compulsory loan to St Ettienne, then playing one trial against Milton Keynes and then being loaned out for the third season, yet Arteta chooses Kolasinac at CB against Manchester City away
Thanks Tony, for a balanced post. I suspect there are still a significant minority who agree with your perspective.
At the moment these voices are being drowned out by the relentless negativity being churned out by several contributors and fans on this and other sites. This is not helped by the media and pundits of course.
It is far too early to judge this season. It is also unbecoming to be insulting the manager in the way this contributor consistently does.
DAVID I write as a long term and older fan who has recently changed mind and who now prefers , not demands, but simply prefers, a new manager, whenever that happens.
In the meantime, I WILLCONTINUE TO SUPPORT MA and our club , as a true SUPPORTER SHOULD DO!
I also recognise that it may not happen anytime soon, though think it more probable than not that MA will be sacked within months, though not days nor even a few weeks.
I also cling to the hope, albeit now a diminishing one, that MA may yet prove me and also all the doommongers who poison this site to be wrong.
I do firmly agree with your post in its moderate tone and its sensible perspective.
I INTENSELY DISLIKE, not “hate” but intensely dislike- being a lover and advocate of accurate language – hysteria and rants, which are lowering the general quality of JA far too quickly for my taste.
jon fox I agree . the window has closed and now we must get behind the team and what happens will happen there is nothing we can do just support and hope we get out of this terrible mess
👍 Spot on, hopefully Arteta can start showing he can manage and coach.
Well said!
That is all
This piece completely represents my opinion and what i have always said about Arsenal, thecv only thing that is missing is how corrupt and morally bankrupt Edu and Arsenal management are. They bought Pepe for 76.million, can Pepe make the Liverpool team, or Tottenham ? Guindozi, a player who who won many man of the match award while playing for Arsenal, Arteta is incompetent, lacks managerial ability and can’t even read games.
Against Chelsea, we all saw that the left side if the defense was problematic but he left it till the two goals came from the same wing. Williams Soliba is not good enough to play for Arsenal in a defense that has conceded 9 goals, if Saliba is that bad, how about Soares ,
Well I totally agree with you that Arsenal are at the bottom of the league but I disagree that they will move out of the basement soon. From all indications, they are going to be there for the season long because they are not better than anything in the premiership.
Ben White is not worth 50m Pepe is not worth 76m, Can Lokanda make crystal palace team?
In fact Arsenal is paying the price of mediocrity
This piece completely represents my opinion and what i have always said about Arsenal, the only thing that is missing is how corrupt and morally bankrupt Edu and Arsenal management are. They bought Pepe for 76.million, can Pepe make the Liverpool team, or Tottenham ? Guindozi, a player who won many man of the match award while playing for Arsenal, was sent away by Arteta for a reason that is mot good enough to convince an idiot . Arteta is incompetent, lacks managerial ability and can’t even read games.
Against Chelsea, we all saw that the left side if the defense was problematic but he left it till the two goals came from the same wing. Williams Soliba is not good enough to play for Arsenal in a defense that has conceded 9 goals, if Saliba is that bad, how about Soares ,
Well I totally agree with you that Arsenal are at the bottom of the league but I disagree that they will move out of the basement soon. From all indications, they are going to be there for the season long because they are not better than anything in the premiership.
Ben White is not worth 50m Pepe is not worth 76m, Can Lokanda make crystal palace team?
In fact Arsenal is paying the price of mediocrity
I will go with Jon and Tony’s views because they are more balanced. Most of the other contributions are either lamentations, messages of doom or unrealistic expectations. There is just no way a team can be written off after only 3 games out of 38! It is statistically possible for Arsenal to win EPL this season though I am not suggesting it will happen.
I strongly feel that being pessimistic is the greatest disservice to the team. Mitov and all the other Arsenal fans support the team on their own free accord. Nobody forced them to support the team. Thus if they feel the team has not lived up to their expectations they can switch allegiance to another club but their continued attacks against the club are becoming too much for some supporters to bear. Each of us has an opinion and it is not right for some people to seek to impose their negative views on everyone else. It is not fair.
“A complete shambles” – Only for those who still hold on to the idea of Arsenal being a top 4 club. For a mid-table club in need of a “reset” for a few seasons, it’s a good start. Would have been a whole lot better, had we signed a CF with a profile currently unavailable in our squad, even on a season long loan deal.
Pius Victor
I thought I did explain we had most of the spine of the team missing.
I thought I did explain how a Chelsea team that won the champions league paid £97.5 Million for a striker and on the day we played them had a squad available that cost them £970 Million pounds beat us without our best two centre halves and our best centre midfielder and no Odegaard, No Lacazette, Auba playing after only two training sessions after having covid. Wake up man!!
I am sure you could see we had teams banging down our doors trying to pay the players we had sitting on fat contracts. No one wanted them. I do however agree they should have let Xhaka go I think he is liability and it was an opportunity to upgrade.
As for Guendouzi, I liked him but you cannot accept a bad attitude if you want to change the mentality in the squad. Hes had problems everywhere hes been including Hertha Berlin on loan last season. I hope he changes and comes back better but wouldn’t put money on it. Note that noone was banging down the door to buy him last year or this one.
Saliba, Bags of potential and looks very good in a poor league but can you tell me any top club in one of the best leagues rocking up with a 20 year old centre back every week? I don’t know any. Why? because young CB’s make mistakes that cost games. I am sure he would be better than some of our back up players but I also think he is better off getting games very week to improve. I question why he stayed in the safety net of France with only two teams to beat. In his shoes I’d of gone on loan in England in the premier league. I’d of learnt the language, gained experience and put myself under Arteta’s nose in the premier league to show him how good I was but no he took the easy road. Does that say confident leader ready to boss our defence? not for me.
You have seen White play once and already know he can jump to save his life. Clearly you can read the internet experts lol.. please explain why you aren’t a coach at the top with that amazing foresight?
Well said before and on this post. All sense of reason goes out of the door in many cases
I wish you were commenting here more often..
Saliba’s ex CB partner Wesley Fofana now at Leicester City for one (26 starts last season close to “every match” ). Last time I looked they are in the EPL and finished ahead of Arsenal. Going back in time at Arsenal, David O’Leary, Tony Adams and Martin Keown, so the precedent is there even in England.
Where did you get your inspiration from to write this article?
Talk sports ( the daily arsenal) sky sports pundits, the daily tabloids ?
We have had none stop arsenal bashing from every media outlet since arsenal gave up a 4 goal lead at Newcastle. They have turned us against our own club against our own players.
Anyway it’s your opinion but it has become repetitively boring.
i do not buy the whole tought start and what to expect argument.
while i agree i wasnt neccessarily expecting a result against chelsea and man city, especially with players out, it was the abject performance that worries me. if they fought well and lost it is acceptable, but there was no fight, no visible playing style, no plan to deal with obvious glaring issues and no one willing to try and take the game to them.
Konstantin. yes, you’ve raised a lot of questions questioning the success of the last Arsenal summer incoming and outgoing transfer deals that were done for the club under the stewardship of Edu and Arteta.
But I for one have taken positive on the last Arsenal summer transfers that came to an end yesterday’s night. And I believe us will reap in considerable dividends on the revamping of the club”s senior team squad with those transfers done that Edu amf Arteta have jointly carried out for the club during the last summer window.
I think for a stronger option and cover at the leftback in the team, Kolasinac staying this summer is good if us take into consideration of what happened at the position last season when Tierney was not available and Cedric and Xhaka who are not specialist LBs had to be dragged there to play.
And Arteta and Edu retaining Chambers, Nkethia and AMN This summer but not sell any of them is not only good for home grown quota purpose, but as well good to provide cover and option in the positions they play from. And besides, the trio Gunners are top quality players who miggh be having some challengers in their game to deal with at the moment to overcome them as the season pans on. But do you remember that Chambers was one of our best defenders last season?
In the case of Lacazette not being sold last summer window to bring in a new top quality striker to replace him. But I believe you know how invaluable Laca can be to the Arsenal team on the field of play with his unique hold-up play to bring others into action. And I think Arteta must have considered this as an asset to the team. And he wouldn’t want to lose that. More so, if the club did not find a suitable young striker that is better than him to sign during the window to replace him with. So, Arteta opting to not sell Laca last summer should be order. But if he comes very good this season in PL matches for the club better than he came last season, I believe he could be rewarded with a new contract extension for two 2 years to still remain at the club beyond next summer. Let him score up to 10 PL goals during the first half of this season. And us we see him getting rewarded for that.
But I think Arsenal currently has 28 senior team players on their books after the last summer transfer window has ended for their Premier League 25 players list registrations. But that will be over blotted list if the summit all the 28 which of course they won’t.
But is Runarsson still at the club?
List:
GKs: Leno, Ramsdale, Runarsson? & Okonkwo.
RBs: Chambers, AMN, Cedric & Timo’.
CBs: White, Gabriel, Holding & Mari.
LBs: Tierney, Kolasinac & Taveres.
Midfieldes: Partey, Xhaka, Elneny, ESR, Lokonga & Odegaard.
Forwards: Aubameyang Lacazette, Pepe, Nkethia, Saka, Martinelli & Balogun.
Those are 28 Gunners on the Arsenal senior team books I’ve listed. But who will be the 3 of them that will be excluded from them to get the 25 if Runarsson is still at the club? But if he’s been sold or loaned out, who will then be the 2 that will be dropped to limit to the 25? Okonkwo and who else? But it will be risky to have only 2 goalkepeers for the PL season campaign imo.
Anyway, I believe Arteta and Edu know exactly what to do on this matter.
Saliba was benching Fofana at Saint Etienne. Yes. Same Fofana at Leicester city. That’s a young defender rocking up for the club every week. DeLigt is doing same at Juventus. White has always been poor in the air. That’s the major issue with his game. It’s nothing new. So if you were the coach, you’ll continue to send Saliba on loan? Why won’t he go where he’s used to? I’ll do the same if I was him. Odegaard is here because he’s used to us, and not because we’re the best place he could have gone so leave Saliba alone. As for Guendouzi, I feel he should have been flogged, hanged and flogged again. He misbehaved. But MA handling of the situation reeks of “ego”, especially for a novice. Moreover, in case you’re not aware, after the first game of last season against Fulham, arsenal.players weren’t happy with Arteta o er Willian. Willian left for Dubai without the club’s permission and was not fined. He even started the Fulham match. Aubameyang was benched for late arrival. Guendouzi as flogged off after one bad behaviour. Pepe was lambasted by Arteta in the press after his red card while the same Arteta made excuses for Xhaka for doing the exact same thing. Talk about half measures. As for transfers, we should have gotten at least two game changers and not many prospects. Liverpool bought many players with Suarez’s money while Tottenham used Vale’s money to buy many also. I’m sure you know how all that went for both clubs. My point is that the club should be doing much better that this.
dgr8xt
Leicester conceded 50 last year, 9 more than they did the previous season before Fofana and 11 more than we did last season. I believe we should be aiming higher.
DeLigt is a rare case but much like France its a league far less competitive and a damn sight slower than the premier league.
Incidentally I’m not picking on Saliba. I know all the keyboard experts have watched a few french games and think hes the messiah but I am just saying be real. He would not be first choice at the moment so playing week in week out would be best for his development. Personally I would have liked him to try the premier league but games will make him better and I believe we will get a better player more ready next season with or without Arteta.
I assume you work at Arsenal with all of the insight into the goings on at the club. I mean surely you are not basing your opinions on what you have read on the internet.
What message does it send out if there is no discipline. You say Guendouzi misbehaved once. Are you denying he has had problems everywhere hes been? why does noone want to buy this amazing well behaved young man?
Comparing what liverpool dis with money from suarez or spurs with money from Bale to this season is ridiculous. I used to be able to buy a pint for less than a pound but cant any more. Prices are way higher now. I would have loved to bring in the 3 or 4 world class players we need but Kroenke was never going to spend £400 million.
We all want the club to do more, to be better, to bring in better players but we also have to look at the reality that our club is now paying the price for years of mismanagement and under funding. In the last few years Kroenke has spent money but after being poorly run for years we have a big gap to make up. As well as upgrading the squad players like we have we needed to bring in at least a couple of top drawer players to enhance the starting 11 but as usual Kroenke went to the halfway house.
My point was and still is as supporters we should support the team. We should get behind them and then if things don’t progress then be negative all you like but after three games with an obliterated squad I am not ready to judge the players who have just joined the club.
We need articles from you to help neutralise the negativity.
It’s unfortunate most fans don’t care about logic.
I believe they all reacting because of the results
Thanks, I’d be happy to write as its a subject I am passionate about but im not sure too many want to hear my views 🙂