Morning all.
I didn’t see last night’s game but by all accounts, it wasn’t good from an Arsenal perspective. I’ve seen the goals, two of which should decide Kepa’s fate. Illan Meslier is unlikely be our third keeper once the new campaign gets going, of that I’m pretty confident.
Starting XI: Kepa, White, Mosquera, Hincapie, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly, Havertz, Nwaneri, Dowman, Gyokeres, Tzolis
Subbed on: Copley, Salmon, Gabriel, Vieira, Nelson, Jesus, Martinelli, Julienne, Meslier, Ibrahim, Ogunnaike, Clarke, Kabia, O’Neill
A midfield of Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ethan Nwaneri and Kai Havertz was always likely to struggle against a Betis side which finished 5th in La Liga last season. Lewis-Skelly is very good but he’s not superman is he? I read that 70 of his 74 passes found a teammate.
Mikel Arteta said after the game:
I’m disappointed with the result, obviously, because we are here to win football matches, We had some fantastic moments in the first half, the way we played, the way we opened them up. We have to score first, clearly, in the two chances that we had before the score.
I’m very disappointed in the manner that we conceded the first goal, the two giveaways leading to the other two goals. It’s true that the finishing quality from them was exceptional, but to win a football match, you have to compete at a different level, especially in those areas of the pitch and that’s the learning from today.
Arteta said the players were upset over the result and performance. Fuming too which he thinks is a good thing. It brings fire to the players belly he added. Well, pre-season is certainly the time to get rid of all of rustiness and mistakes although in Kepa’s case, mistakes seems to be his middle name.
Of course it’s disappointing to lose but honestly, I never take pre-season results seriously, especially when so many key players are still on their summer break. These games are about little more than building up fitness ahead of the new campaign and sorting the wheat from the chaff and let’s be honest, we have a few players who sit in the latter category. There is 25 days left for the club to sell them.
Christian Norgaard has officially left the building as yesterday he signed on the dotted line for Everton. I wish him well, apart from we play Everton of course. Hopefully, Jesus, Kepa, Vieira and Nelson will soon follow him.
Just two more fixtures of pre-season remain and both are at The Emirates. The first is against Borussia Dortmund on Sunday, the second is against Cesc Fabregas’ Como 1907. Then of course it’s the curtain raiser ahead of the new campaign with Arsenal taking on Man City in the Community Shield in Cardiff.
Premier League Champions v FA Cup winners and for the first time in a long long time, it’s The Arsenal going into this fixture as reigning Champions. By then, our expected £75 million new signing Bruno Guimarães should be ready to make his debut. Perhaps one or two other new signings too.
Yep, my glass is definitely half full, despite the shenanigans of last night.
Catch up in the comments.
Maybe it’s been sorted, I hope so for his sake. I thought he was very good for us…
New post up.
Didn’t Tomiyasu, have an injury that wouldn’t heal properly, and if so, maybe Arteta was concerned that he could break down again, as Potter said it’s a shame because he showed a lot of promise,
Might have been a good idea to bring him back on a free in any case. He played right back and centre back for us and Japan.
Good player shame it didnt work out at our place , had he been a right back it might have been an option to hsvd him back .
As for the media , I expected nothing less had we signed them both we would have overpaid for them . It’s the way that they are .
Tomiyasu has joined Palace permanently..
You know what really cheeses me off is how the media manipulate the truth. Arsenal chose not to break the bank for Rogers because clearly they didn’t think he was worth the money. We didn’t miss out on Vinicius because he was never really for sale. There’s nothing like the truth to ruin a good story eh..
Interview in The Telegraph today with the new head coach of Oxford United, one Aaron Ramsey.
There’s also a photo of the aftermath of the Shawcross leg breaking tackle which left Aaron fearing that he would never walk again. He still suffers pain from the steelwork in the leg but has since run two marathons the first, the London version in a fraction over his target of three hours the second, the second in Stockholm when he achieved his target time by a matter of seconds.
He speaks of being inspired to management by encouragement from friend and former team mate Mikel Arteta.
I wish him the very best of luck in his new career.
I am glad we didn’t get Vinicius, if his reported weekly fee is close to the truth then how many of our top players would have ask for a similar pay or they will leave.
If Napoli really want Jesus, I then wonder if they have a younger player who we could do a straight swap, just to get him off the books.
Morning Kev, Stuart.
I wouldn’t want their castoffs anyway. He’s not even that good..
Love the vid put up on Arsenal.com announcing the new deal. Wouldn’t mind one of those Ollie G clocks.
I believe so Rico and good morning, but I doubt that the Spuds would sell him to us, they’re losing their minds on Arseblog News about it, most of them obviously don’t recall Steve Walford and Willie Young or Pat Jennings for that matter!
That’s good news Cicero.
Morning to you and all.
Arsenal have extended the Emirates sponsorship deal until 2035.
The announcement came on the twentieth anniversary of the original deal.
Romero is wanted by Atletico isn’t he?
Sounds like a plan Kev.
I’m not fussed about Vinicius. Great player and all that but I think he best off where he is rather than in north London.
I hope you’re right about transfers Potter. Arteta has certainly hinted at a few more players coming in.
Apparently Napoli would like to sign Gabriel Jesus this summer, player likes the idea of moving to them – Arsenal are asking for €20million however according to Corrieredello sport their main target is Lukaku .
Devil your’e the Italian football expert ?
We were only close to the wind if we were to sign Vinicius. The vast sums involved would have pushed us there . However if you look at his supposed fee approx £140 million plus wages. As he is not coming it leaves us quite a lot of room for other deals .
Now that the deal has fallen through I think the transfer window will take off.
I reckon people have been not doing deals until they knew what was happening at Arsenal. There will be players that have been hoping to join that have held other clubs off hoping for a deal with us.
Let’s not do an Ozil like after we lost out on Suarez…
Let’s be honest, in our heart of hearts it always felt like we were a stalking horse
Cristian Romero for £40m sounds very improbable but he’d be £10m cheaper than Konsa and is a far better player…
Sol Campbell revisited perhaps?
Vinicius new Real deal confirmed. As if there was ever any doubt.
What I don’t get is if Arsenal are sailing close to the financial window, how could the club afford a player like Vinicius? Also, Konsa, if signed, isn’t going to come cheap.
All paths seem to lead to selling one of our homegrown players.
Every little bit helps.. 😜
I thought about asking AI to write articles for me. Lol
It would make a difference but because he has been with us for 4 of his 5 years his retained book value is small . . We bought him for 45 million and have had 4 years at 11 and a bit a year, if we sold him for 18 million we would only be able to write down about 7 million .. We would save the wages too but they now come under the SCR which is squad cost ratio . which would help with wages for new players but not with thr PSR in Europe or at home .
You have to love what you can find out asking A.I.
The big one is Jesus. If we can offload his wages it’ll make a big difference.
Having perused the figures of Premier League and UEFA’s financial rules it seems that if we pay £ 80 million for Guimaraes and £125 million for Vinicius we would including their reported wages just creep in on the safe side but for UEFA we would be perilously close. To be completely safe we would need to generate £35 to £40 million clear profit in sales . Obviously the players that can generate this are the ones that we have developed ourselves ,Nelson , Nwaneri and Martinelli. or anyone straight out of Hale end .
If we want to do anything else we are in a one in one out system.
Spot on imo.
As I see it Madueke looks more dynamic than Nwaneri but 9 times out of 10 gets into the desired position but fails to find the required end product. Nwaneri isn:t as pacy, he is better on the ball but I see him more as a replacement for Odegaard than Saka. He is more likely to create from the corner of the penalty box than the goal line .
I don;t want to sell him and I understand people that would choose him over Madueke , In fairness I would too but I can’t see Arteta getting shot of Madueke so soon after coughing up for him. It would be seen as questioning his judgement.
Totally agree re Nwaneri, it’s easy to forget he’s played hardly any football for the last 6/8 months. He has a lot of catching up to do. Trouble is, he’s pure profit whereas Madueke would go at a loss imo.
Over the last few days I’ve read a few reports we are looking to cash in on Nwaneri. In my view he is a much better player than Madueke. His position is wide right not midfield. I’ve only seen a few highlights but apparently he really struggled – in midfield. I’m not criticising anyone,all managers like players to be flexible,but surely you’ve got to put players in their best position.
Proper football weather Stuart , Here we are losing our apples and grapes just not enough water to ripen them . Filled 2 wheelbarrows today of the ones on the ground but strangely no wasps or flies .usually we are spending most of our time fending them off but pollinators are hard to come by. Our well is dry and the river is as low as I can remember . We sure need rain but if it comes too hard it will not soak in and there will be quite a lot of surface water and maybe flash floods.
Then there is football to think about too .
Afternoon Stuart, Cicero.
I do like the yellow and blue, great combination imo.
Me neither re Rice, Saka etc. Zubimendi should be fine though as he barely played at the WC. We should have him, Bruno and MLS available which makes for a strong midfield.
G’day Rico.
Yep two games to go before the serious matter of the Community Shield. I do hope that by the time we get to Cardiff Arteta will have a better idea of a decent starting line-up.
I don’t expect to see the likes of Rice, Saka, Raya, Gabriel, Odegaard, Eze, Madueke, Zubimendi, Merino or, if he’s ours, Bruno for a couple more weeks.
Shifting a few on, wouldn’t be a bad thing either.
Thanks for the post Rico.
Afternoon, Rico. You do like that blue and yellow, mate.
According to The Athletic, Real have signed Diomande and are aiming to get Rodri. Interesting moves on the Euro football chess board.
Met a fellow wearing an Arsenal shirt in Glastonbury yesterday. He has tickets for the Friday evening opener against Coventry and thinks Vini J will be starting on the left for us. More likely Tzolis or Gabby IMO. I’ll be back in NZ for that one watching over my Saturday morning breakfast with a fire in the grate and frost on the windows.
Didn’t tell us much more than we already know. I’m still very skeptical about Kepa as backup goalie and I think we need to sell Jesus, Vieira and Nelson.
The only other thing is that now the Vini Jr saga is over Berta can more on to his other targets.
Morning Geoff, I’d be concerned if they weren’t.
Bruno in London apparently, mixed reports that he’s set to undergo his medical whereas others suggest he’s already completed it.
Morning Rico and all, although it was a practice match, it was good read that the players were disappointed with the result and their performance. looking forward to the start of the season.