Morning all.
Two very different England performances were on show yesterday. In the cricket, England defeated New Zealand by going on the attack. The run chase was 299 and at tea, England were already four wickets down with 139 runs on the board meaning 206 we’re still required in the 47 overs left in the day’s play. New Zealand were considered favourites. What followed was quite remarkable, especially from Jonny Bairstow who opened his shoulders, smashing ball after ball to the boundary. England romped home with many overs to spare leaving New Zealand scratching their heads I’m sure. After a first innings total of 553, the test looks theirs to lose but England had other ideas.
You’re probably wondering why I’m talking about cricket on a football website but there’s a relevance. It’s about a winning mentality, players who for the last year or so had been struggling to draw a game let alone win, out of form individuals regaining their inner belief and performing well. Even after the top four had been removed, others stepped up to carry the team home. Eleven players who all played their part over the five days.
I’m sure it’s not a coincidence that after England changed their captain and management team, a change in attitude and approach followed. The ridiculous decision to leave Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad out of the side last year was soon overturned too and neither disappointed. They seldom do.
Later in the day, England’s football team were awful and deservedly thrashed 4-0 by Hungary. Gareth Southgate must be wondering when he’ll be sacked. I’ve never really understood the level of praise he’s received because I find watching his teams quite boring but perhaps that’s just me. All these English players, some of whom have switched clubs for vast amounts of money, are better than the football they are collectively playing. Good or bad comes from the top and in a World Cup year, any suggestion that football might be coming home this autumn would be foolhardy. If the last few matches are anything to go by, England will struggle to get past the group stage.
Back at Arsenal meanwhile, any hope Lucas Torreira might have had on staying at Fiorentina seems to have gone down the drain.
The Italian club wanted him, Arsenal told them how much he’d cost and they said no. Tough. Arsenal are not a charity and even though the player can leave for free next summer, they have every right to expect a fee for him. £12.5 million is the figure quoted by the Mirror which is a snip for a 26 year old central midfielder of his quality. The same paper suggest Fiorentina’s offer was half that amount. I think his comment on Instagram is poor as it’s clearly a dig at Arsenal. The club he agreed to join a few years ago. Footballers eh!
In other news yesterday, the player many of us have suggested would fit right into our midfield Yves Bissouma, is heading to Totts for just £25m. Like Torreira, he has just one year left on his contract but I do wonder why Brighton are letting him leave for that amount. I also wonder why Arsenal aren’t all over this like a bad rash. Perhaps it’s because Bissouma has been in the news for the wrong reasons.
Anyway, Arsenal are after Youri Tielemans it seems and whilst he’s not as defence minded as Bissouma, what he does well is to get the ball up the pitch quickly. He’s got an edge to him which I quite like, although not when he’s playing against us. The stats will suggest Totts are getting the better player as far as defensive duties go but Tielemans doesn’t shy away from a challenge either. Honestly, I hope Arsenal can get this deal over the line. I’m even warming to the idea of Gabriel Jesus in a red and white kit too.
Catch up in the comments.
Try again…
England lose in a friendly that isn’t a friendly. Couldn’t give two hoots.
A year ago Southgate was the reincarnation of the messiah. Now he’s the muck on the bottom of your shoe. The truth, as always, lies somewhere in the middle. He has some good players at his disposal, but the tactics are pretty negative.
If Fiorentina are really that desperate to get Torreira they will pay up. Didn’t they just get a large transfer fee for Vlahovic?
The reality is the Italian clubs are broke. Even the big fish like Juve, Milan & Inter are all cooking their books.
This is the club that spent nearly £200m on 4 players Ozil Sanchez Lacazette and Aubameyang and let them go for free and now Arsenal fans are angry over a few million for Torreira. Banter FC rules OK
Morning rico, house, good post. Shame I had to fast forward the cricket as was out in the evening. But what a superb match. Wonder what England’s odds were after putting NZ in, and scoring over 500?
Never fully watched England’s friendlies now for about 4 years. So turgid. Wouldn’t mind Torreira back for a year as a backup alongside Elneny. As long as Arteta plays him in his correct DCM position.
Morning Pete, all.
My thoughts exactly re both topics really. England football is negative and boring, Fiorentina are having a laugh..
It’s not about the money Don, it’s about principle. For too long we’ve paid big and sold cheap.
Alexis didn’t go for free by the way.
Morning Andrew, thanks. The cricket was fantastic, about time Bairstow got his mojo back and I liked the way Lees started. Intent from the off.
I think the ship has sailed for Torreira, it’s a shame though as he’s a good player imo.
Morning Rico, I don’t think that Torrieira was having a pop at Arsenal more like a dig at the Fiorentina Board for letting him down.
I’ve not really read anywhere that he actually hated England and the Arsenal fans were always good to him it’s just that his wife was unhappy in the U.K. and as most of us know a happy wife is quite important.
I’m sure that other Serie A teams would be interested in taking him and maybe even some teams in Spain but I doubt that we’ll get the €15m but as far as Fiorentina is concerned that’s a relationship that’s irreparable.
Morning Kev, I didn’t think of it that way. Apparently the £12m fee was included in the loan agreement and Fiorentina didn’t agree to it.
Don’t mention Ozil, Don. You know it won’t end well!
It certainly hasn’t for him Pete. Lol
If it’s true that Mrs Toreira wasn’t happy in London then I see no chance of him returning to Arsenal. Perhaps another year on loan somewhere? Of course his transfer value will be nil at the end of it, but then again it’s not much above zero right now.
If we are serious about wanting him off the books, we’ll just have to accept what ever is on offer, learn the lesson, again, and move on.
The only problem Cicero with accepting any offer is that Torrieira and his agent will almost certainly want some kind of financial inducement to leave, you know, like paying up the last year of his contract and by the end of that he’ll be leaving for feck all in any case.
They know they can sit tight as Arsenal want rid…
I’ve a feeling that we’re in for a similar charade with Nicolas Pepe and Hector Bellerin.
Arsenal are the club that gives you money to leave and a free transfer, everyone knows it and everyone takes advantage of it.
The only way to change that view is to make hard decisions like bringing them back and registering them for the League Cup and Europa but not the Premier League.
We’re gonna lose them for feck all anyway so at least get one years use out of them…
If we do that Kev, we’ll have discontented want-ways filling squad places in which we need motivated and enthusiastic players and we’ve all seen where that leads, just look at Ozil and Aubameyang.
I don’t know any think about the team Toreira was playing for but just wondering if they had any players that could help us so we could make some sort of deal, as for him wanting to leave I remember a story from last year were he said he like being at Arsenal but his wife either didn’t like or didn’t feel safe in England plus she was missing her family.
What’s that old saying – you can take a person out of the country but you cant take the country out of a person
Good Morning Rico and all
Geoff….I follow the Italian League very closely. I see most of the games when I can. So I know a little bit about the players. With regards to your question…..maybe a player exchange for Torreira….the answer is none of their players are good enough for the EPL. Certainly not Arsenal. Torreira is not a bad player, rather he is quite a good one and was the stand out performer for Fiorentina. And the fans loved him because he played his heart out for them.
Imo, as KEv pointed out, A happy wife means a happy life….and had she been happy I assume that Torreira would have been an Arsenal star because he is suited to the short passing style game and is quite aggressive in the middle of the park. However, his family play quite an important part in his life so the fact that his wife is unhappy has played a lot in his unhappiness in England.
I feel that Arsenal should offer him to any Italian club in the Serie A and just ask for a youth player in exchange. There are several very good young ones in Italy, especially defenders and midfielders, provided that the youth player wants to come to Hale End. In that way Arsenal will be protecting themselves because they will be getting a player who might turn out to be a good signing. If Torreira decides to sit out or go on loan again Arsenal will be getting nothing. So at least get a youth player from a club …..at least they will be getting something.
Today its fixtures day.
Fingers crossed we get good fixtures on the first day and on the Sundays after Europa leagues. But I am not holding my breath.
I just hope we get Bournemouth (H), Everton (A), Brighton (H) Chelsea (H) Newcastle (A) Villa (A) in that order in the first 6 games. Let’s see how many I may guess.
Our first game of the season is against Crystal Palace away on 5th August.
August 5
Crystal Palace v Arsenal
August 6
Bournemouth v Aston Villa
Everton v Chelsea
Fulham v Liverpool
Leeds v Wolves
Leicester v Brentford
Newcastle v Nottingham Forest
Tottenham v Southampton
August 7
Man Utd v Brighton
West Ham v Man City
Palace (A)
Leicester (H)
Bournemouth (A)
Fulham (H)
Villa (A)9a0
Man UTd
Everton (H)
Brentford (A)
These are the first eight games.
Morning Devil.
The fixtures are in the new post which is up now.