Morning all.
Arsenal’s fixture against Liverpool, which comes right after this international break, has been moved from Sunday 4th April to Saturday 3rd at 8pm. Why? Because Liverpool have a Champions League fixture just a few days later. Moving the fixture is no big deal for us because we’ll get the extra day off before playing Slavia Prague but the following week, we play the return fixture in Prague before facing Fulham at 3pm on Saturday. Europa League football has always been Sunday/Thursday, not Thursday/Saturday. Either the FA/PL have royally cocked up or the Fulham fixture has been overlooked. Arsenal simply can’t be expected to play after just one full day of rest between matches. Man Utd are also scheduled to play on the Saturday after their Thursday fixture so perhaps BT Sport and Sky Sports are still battling it out the right to televise the matches.
Mikel Arteta turns 38 years old today. It’s hard to believe he’s where he is in his career at such a young age but then Pep Guardiola was managing Barcelona at his age so I suppose it shouldn’t come as such a shock. Personally, I think it’s good to have young managers in the game because older ones can get stuck in their ways, frightened to change. Arsene Wenger was an example of just that as is Mourinho today with his boring and predictable defensive tactics.
The Daily Mail report that discussions are being held over changing the transfer window this summer and the final three fixtures of the season.
At yesterday’s Premier League clubs’ meeting, Chelsea are reported to have proposed the existing transfer window be pushed back a week so it opens on June 16 with a week then added to the August 31 deadline to allow for deals between Premier League and EFL teams. Basically, it’d be similar to last summer. Considering many clubs seal transfers from the day the season ends, I don’t see a lot of point of having a ‘begin’ date other than 1st June. Why is there a need for the extra week for domestic transfer only? If a club can’t get their business completed in the three months of the transfer window, one week isn’t going to make much of a difference.
As far as the fixture change goes, the FA are considering cramming the final three games into nine days instead of the scheduled twelve days. This would allow all clubs to have fans, albeit a limited number, back in their own stadium at least once. Apparently Steve Bruce has said no, I’d imagine a lot of managers will say the same.
See you in the comments.
Good afternoon Rico. Some good questions arise from the post. Thanks
With regards the last one…..cramming 3 fixtures in 9 days…..I guess that if the managers cote for it then it will show what hypocrites they are….as they shot down the 5 sub rule. If they dont have enough players for 5 subs then they dont have enough players for 3 games in 9 days especially after a long hard season slog. because in the final days injuries are more likely to occur than for example in December.
So as you said I dont think they will vote for it.
With regards the players we have…..next season we will lose Pepe, Auba, PARTEY and Elneny. Of these four we will miss most Partey…..so Arteta has to fill in for them. Hopefully, fingers crossed, touch wood he only buys European players and not Africans. I really hate it when they have to go to AFCON for two months…..because we lose them. We will miss Partey most as the other three are either misfiring or just squad players. If we have Auba and Laca still with us next season (????) I will be happy to see him go…..at least that is an excuse to see how the team will fare without him. But Partey will be missed.
Afternoon Devil. I’ve been popping on to see if anyone is around and here you are. Lol
Good point re the ACON next year, Partey will be a huge miss. Hopefully by then, we’ll have another player similar to him in the squad.
This is what money does for you , the clubs need it , the mangers not so much . I think the managers will want to protect their players but the clubs probably their bank balances . Should interesting to see how it pans out..
The ACON has always been a problem and we have always suffered with the number of African players in our squads. Now however we are bringing through from Hale End many players of African descent , if they don’t choose England in the future we could end up with a sizeable number of African internationals disappearing mid season.
38 eh . Feliz Cumpleanos Mikel.
Thanks Rico,
Surely the Fulham game will be put back…
The 3 games in 9 days will be interesting,managers will be opposed but clubs are desperate for income,when some were allowed 2000 fans,clubs were losing money,chairman/owners could be in favour.
Afternoon Rico and the House.
Have you watched the one dayer.
That was a fantastic innings by Stokes.
SAF realized it when he went through it. The resulting decision??? He no longer signed African players. End of.
I saw highlights of the game that Gabon played against Congo. And tbh I never saw Auba run for us as much as he did yesterday. He scored a goal and had an assist. He was the fulcrum of attack. That is the Auba we want to see. Unfortunately he does not do so for us.
You’d have thought so Limey but they’re leaving it a bit late. Good job fans aren’t having to make travel arrangements.
Afternoon Rick, I’ve had a lazy day and watched most of the ODI. Bairstow too was hitting big. Annoying about the runout a# I’d hoped Roy and he would cleanup.
Potter, isn’t the ACON meant to be moving to the summer? If so, it might not be such an issue in the future.
You saying that about Auba Devil makes his performances for the club even worse. If he can give everything for his country, he should be doing 5he same for the club.
Exactly Rico. So its not a question of him having something going on in his personal life. He did it for Gabon.
So it just boils down to one of the following things…….
Either he is fed up at the club and wants to go somewhere else.
Or he is happy just happy collecting money and taking life easy.
Or he is not suited to our tactics.
I think he has a problem with Arteta Devil.
Anybody about this evening?
Saka has left the England camp. Good.
Not many of us Rick.
If he has a problem then it will be better for all that he goes in the summer.
Saka has left England camp??? Good and not so good maybe.
Good because he can rest and recover. It would do him good that he gets a break for about two weeks. But not so good is because I have that gnawing thought that it might be something serious. I hope not.
Arsenal and Saka just being smart I hope.
Saka did not join up with England.
He has been at Colnry all week having treatment.
It looks like Mikal has done what others have been doing for along time
I just whish he had done the same fot ESR he needs a rest
He’s actually withdrawn from the squad now though Rick.
The finals were due to be played january and february 2021 but have been postponed for a year until january 2022.
HI Rico and All. Personally I don’t think Auba wants to be at the club and the only reason why he signed was that the money we offered was too good to turn down also he and his manager new that no other club really wanted him at the last transfer market.
Hi Geoff.
But in the future they’re in the summer aren’t they?
New post up now
No it’s not…. ☹️
https://highbury-house.com/2021/03/27/another-nld-today-azeez-faces-arsenal/
Just for you Kev.
Hooray 😀