Daily Bits and Bobs

Another departure with more expected. Arrivals too, three perhaps.

Posted on by rico

Morning all.

A slow news day which to be fair is inevitable. It’s midweek, Mikel Arteta hasn’t spoken to the media yet and as far as I can tell, there’s no update on the fitness of Lucas Torreira. When one looks at how key he is to our team under Mikel Arteta, it’s hard to fathom why Unai Emery played him so little. No pun intended, and when he did play him, his deployment was further up the pitch. He’s a tiger, a terrier who clearly thrives on getting stuck in and winning the ball. He’s pretty much the heartbeat of our team in my opinion because without him, there’s just something missing. Aubameyang being sent off against Crystal Palace hurt us, of course it did but not as much in my opinion, as Torreira needing to replaced at halftime. Unai Emery left him on the bench for the away fixture against Sheffield Utd and we lost. I’m not suggesting the result would have been different with him in the team but away from home against a newly promoted team causing a few surprises, every team needs their best defensive midfield player on the pitch. And that’s exactly what Torreira is. Even our playing out from the back has improved because he’s back there wanting the ball and as soon as he gets it, he’s looking forward, usually passing the ball in the same direction with intent. Stick Guendouzi in there and he looks for safety first, a sideways or backwards pass which is easy for the opposition. When the injury update is announced later today, fingers crossed Torreira has recovered.

Transfers, or rather rumours. Nothing new really but David Ornstein has offered up his opinion and it seems that opinion is as close to reality as we can get during a transfer window. He’s left the BBC so his gossip comes from Twitter, via The Daily Cannon.

“Arsenal are looking to make one or two loan signings during this January transfer window,” David Ornstein has revealed on Twitter.  “They’re not close on any of them just yet, I’m afraid. It would be a maximum of one to two loans, from what I’m told.

 

“My information was that one of those positions they’re looking to fill is left centre-half with a loan deal. There are also suggestions possibly of a central midfielder and maybe somebody to cover in the full-back areas – with the injuries they’ve got there.”

More players are expected to leave before the end of the month too with Mustafi being the most senior. Goalkeeper Deyan Iliev has gone, to Polish  side Jagiellonia Bialystok until the end of the season. At 24 years old and having signed a new contract back in July, he just needs to gain experience by playing week in week out. I’d imagine Eddie Nketiah will be next to go out on loan.

Finally, it seems most players are a lot happier playing their football under Mikel Arteta. It’s evident from watching that both individually and as a team, the players are more focussed, seem to know what their role is and are prepared to fight for each other and them coach.

Even Mesut Ozil:

“He knows what to say to us, how to give us a positive attitude and how to make us be successful. I can see he is really hungry, but at the same time he is very down to earth and that is a very good characteristic to make us be a successful team.

 

“It is basically getting us back to the old Arsenal virtues. Fighting and having possession, being in control of the game, having the ball all the time. These are the things that he is working on with us and you can see it – everyone is smiling, laughing, enjoying their time at the moment and this has made us be successful now.

 

“I think he is the right man at this club.”

’For the club’ Mesut, for….

Anyway, if Mesut has been inspired by our Spanish head coach, then there really is hope going forwards.

Catch up in the comments guys..

 

 

 

rico

39 thoughts on “Another departure with more expected. Arrivals too, three perhaps.”

  1. Cicero says:

    Good morning Rico and thank you for the post.

    Ornstein quote “Arsenal are looking to make one or two loan signings during this January transfer window,” “They’re not close on any of them just yet, I’m afraid. It would be a maximum of one to two loans, from what I’m told” That’s called “hedging your bets”. I don’t think he knows anything, it’s just guesswork.

  2. Adam says:

    Morning Rico and all. A couple of loan signings seems a sensible way to go. I’m sure that Arteta knows what he wants in the summer for a longer-term investment but doubt whether he can get those players right now. There’s also a lot of housekeeping to be done in getting loan players out and selling those who he doesn’t see as being part of whatever he is building. There’s also FFP to take into consideration.
    Watching on as we slip down the list of financial well-being is a sure sign that we’ve been operating, as a club, without any real long-term strategy, for way too long now.
    More creative buying is going to be urgently required in the summer. But, until then there are some serious challenges in the short-term.

  4. rico says:

    Morning Adam.

    Loans make sense to me too because this transfer window is a rip off for starters and clubs aren’t going sell good players when they have their own season to think about.

    Players who can’t get game time for whatever reason are keen to move just to prove themselves. I don’t mean a Kalstrom kind of signing though..

    FFP is something I believe gets forgotten when we fans discuss signings but from what I’ve read, we’re snookered and need to sell before making signings. The wages too are a problem. As of course is the lack of CL football.

  5. Positive Kev says:

    David Ornstein isn’t exactly giving us a world exclusive is he?
    I mean anyone could have guessed what our January business will be.

    Arsenal will get criticised if we don’t sign a couple of players, but I don’t see anyone else splashing out, but we know that Arsenal will be the only club criticised in the media.

    Arteta is still working on his current squad, seeing what he can get from what he presently has, I won’t be too bothered if we don’t sign anyone, the players on offer atm and who we could realistically get don’t exactly set the pulse racing…

    Arteta is pushing the players we have, seeing what they’ve got to offer, saying the right things, telling everyone how important they are, maybe increasing their value by saying how important they are before he decides who to move on next summer.

    Sadly, I reckon that we’ll still be lumbered with Mustafi after January 31st…

    Thanks for the post Rico…

  6. Positive Kev says:

    Interesting to see how gradually Arteta has sidelined the youngsters and goes with his most experienced players, maybe the youngsters are a year away from being more consistent and reliable and Arteta needs to see exactly what he can get out of his seniors on the big wedge before deciding who to jettison and replace.

    He knows that he has Holding, Tierney and Bellerin to return after their debilitating injuries and he also has Mkhitarayan if he can’t sell him in the summer and Elneny…

    The youngsters will come again, probably as we progress in both cups and fight our way up towards 5th/6th…

  7. Limey says:

    Afternoon Rico/all,
    totally agree about Torreira, I hope he’s back soon. Sheffield United is such a big game, closely followed by Chelsea away on Tuesday night, we owe them after outplaying them recently.
    I think Torreira will play both games, strikes me as a warrior.

  8. Positive Kev says:

    If we can’t bring in the required players next summer then I wouldn’t be adverse to reintegrating Mo and Henrik, who knows what extra that Arteta could get from them?

  9. rico says:

    Good point Kev, he must be checking out who wants to work hard and improve and who doesn’t with the latter sold in the summer.

    We might see the younger players in the Cups..

    Afternoon Limey.

  10. Aussie Geoff says:

    Hi All I think we should look to loan a defensive player with the option to buy at the end of the year and save our money possible sell 1 or 2 players but I would not buy now I would wait until the end of the season and see who wants to work hard and play under Arteta and let our injured players get fit with out rushing them back and see who we have out on loan that are due to come back.

  12. Cicero says:

    Nice to see that you’re back on line Rico.

    I’m not sure we can afford to wait until the summer before getting one or two reinforcements in. The loss of Torreira against Palace showed how vulnerable we are in midfield.

    Guendouzi is not yet up to standing in for our terrier and there appears little chance that some other talent will emerge from the academy.

    I rather suspect that Arteta, like Guardiola, will not be averse to seeking an older, more experienced solution to our midfield defensive problem. Moving Luiz up could have been an option, but with Mavropanos gone, Mustafi going and Chambers out for perhaps the rest of the season, there seems little likelihood of that happening.

  22. rico says:

    Hi all.

    Eddie staying is interesting. Look forward to seeing him play under Mikel Arteta. He might turn out to be the poacher striker we’re missing. Time will tell…

  29. ScottfromOz says:

    Hahaha Sanogo.
    My son cracked a joke about him the other day but I said the lad won more major trophies with us than all current Spurs players combined 🙂 🙂
    He did change the momentum in that FA cup final, though.
    He was like a giraffe on roller skates-no idea how to handle his own body.
    Anyway, Arteta will improve Kurzke’s and just about player we bring in 🙂 🙂

  31. Limey says:

    Reading up on Kurzawa – a lot of injuries, including surgery on a herniated disc.Thats a serious operation in any walk of life, much less for a footballer.

  32. ScottfromOz says:

    Limey,
    If he had a microdiscectomy, it’s a very short turn around with no real ongoing problems.
    I had one 10 years ago with a herniated disc and after not being able to walk one step without the most ridiculous pain, I woke up after surgery and walked down three flights of stairs 🙂
    Keyhole surgery is incredible but if he had something more sinister then yes, it’s a real concern, and on occasions, keyhole surgery isn’t an option.

  34. Limey says:

    That’s good to know Scott, apparently the op was in summer 2018, more worrying is a long list of niggly injuries (transfermarket.com) I suppose any signing is a risk,if they can do it low cost,it might be worth a shot.
    Coincidentally I’ve had spinal surgery too,it wasn’t keyhole but I was fighting fit within a few weeks,that was nearly 4 years ago.
    I’m glad to hear you’ve had some rain.

  37. ScottfromOz says:

    Limey,
    It’s pelting down in a lot of areas that need it!!
    Hallelujah.
    Kev, I have mate with the surname Kurzke so can only think the phone recognises it.
    He’s a woeful footballer though 🙂

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