Daily Bits and Bobs

Arsenal going big for Morata & Sissoko? Giroud and Walcott leading the line next season?

Posted on by rico

Morning all.

Just as I thought summer was on it’s way, this mornings weather suggests it’s not. Miserable!

A bit like my mood really as the very thought of Olivier Giroud again being our main striker next season just doesn’t thrill me at all. Neither do the reports out this morning which suggest Theo Walcott remains in the manager’s plans for the years ahead. Both could be nothing more than paper talk though and we have to hope so because this kind of thing sends out the wrong message. Whilst Ollie is our top goal scorer for the season, which in itself tells a story, he’s never going to fire us to success on his own and as much as Arsene Wenger was full of praise for him after his final day hat-trick, the thirteen match goal barren before then, cost us points. Top top strikers don’t go thirteen matches without scoring.

In any case, playing a big target man is hopeless when Arsenal play the way they do. Stick a couple of pacey wingers who can cross a ball into the squad and things might be different, that is of course if Ollie could keep up with them…

A pacey clinical striker would be the better option though and even Arsene Wenger should see that.

Ah, but that pacey striker was going to be Theo Walcott said the manager last summer and as we kicked off the season, there he was, running around everywhere, but not scoring. Stick him on the wing and struggles, especially when a team plays on the back foot. He simply can’t get past players and imo, unless he plays through the middle and the ball is played ahead of him, and between the two defenders, he’s poor. Even if that perfect ball is played to him, there’s no guarantee he’ll score. Five goals last season is a terrible return but he’s not the only attacking player guilty of not scoring enough.

No wonder Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez are thinking long and hard about sticking around. Both players are winners, one has lifted the World Cup, the other, the Copa America Cup and both arrived at Arsenal having been successful at their previous Spanish clubs. They’ve played alongside some of the best during their career and that just isn’t happening at Arsenal but it should. Yes we have some top players but not enough, not if Arsene Wenger wants to get back to winning ways. Arsenal need players who will work hard, players who know their role and perform each and every week and not just when they feel like it. Players who excel, not players who bottle tackles and turn their back on the ball. Players with a football brain and use their feet to demonstrate their quality.

The club are in a great place financially, they can afford to buy pretty much any player within reason but to do so they have to be bold and ambitious, not be haggling over an extra £1.5 million for Granit Xhaka as reports suggest.

Just get the deals done Arsenal and prove we are a club which wants not only to be in the Champions League, but to be there as Premier League Champions.

Well done to Petr Cech who picked up the Golden Glove award after David de Gea conceded a late goal last night against Bournemouth. The funny thing is it was an own goal too, scored by Chris Smalling and wasn’t he an Arsenal fan as a kid?

Transfer gossip:

Arsenal have made a mammoth offer for Alvaro Morata, according to Corriere dello Sport. Reports suggest the club are in talks with Real Madrid, who have an option to buy back the Juventus striker following his move from the Bernabeu in 2014. £51 million is the amount Arsenal have offered! Yeah right!!

This is more like it – Arsenal are leading the race to sign Moussa Sissoko from Newcastle, according to reports. The 26 year old could be snapped up for around £10 million after Newcastle were relegated.

As said before, read them, but don’t believe them…

rico

128 thoughts on “Arsenal going big for Morata & Sissoko? Giroud and Walcott leading the line next season?”

  1. rico says:

    Guys, writing something each day during the close season is going to be tough, certainly until any players are signed 😉 or the Euros so if anyone has a burning desire to write something about the squad, manager, the season gone by, next season – or just anything, please feel to do so and email me…

    Thanks in desperation and hope…. 😉

  4. Kel says:

    Morning rico Good post… is moratta worth 51m I have to say I haven’t really watched him tbh just the odd game in CL… didn’t look 51m to me.

    We talked before about Sissoko a really good player imo he has a lot of power something that has been missing in Arsenal’s midfield for yrs. He’d certainly give us a different option in midfield as the tippy tappy doesn’t always work. Imo Well worth 10 or 12m. I’d even make a punt for wijnaldum he looks a better player than Walcott tbh..

  5. bradster says:

    Morning all,

    Why are we not in for Wjinaldum, he seems more like the attacking midfielder we need that will get in the box and be on the end of things.
    Is Sissoko going to play as a left winger because I don’t see space for him in the Yaya Toure role with Ramsey, Sanchez and Ozil in the team.

  6. rico says:

    Morning Kel, Brad.

    No idea re Morata as I too have seen very little of him. Not even sure where that figure came from, other than on the internet..

    West Ham bid £31m for Lacazette and that was turned down. Shows where the prices are going…

  10. rico says:

    That article is interesting LC, looks like he’s begging for a move… 😉

    I think he’d be a typical Wenger signing myself, strong, athletic, cheap, French, cheap, French, cheap…. 😉

    But I do quite like the player…

  11. Adam says:

    All the more reason why players should have been bought last summer. We didn’t win anything and the prices have gone through the roof. The opinion/stance/experiment failed and not for the first time.

  13. Le Coq Monster says:

    Not to mislead you Rico as that article was from Jan`2015, but I was just showing that he “likes” Arsenal, mind you, seeing as he is at a Championship club now and wanting CL football he should be cheap and I like him too !.

  16. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Good Morning Lovelies and Hunkies

    Aye boss….we will chip in don’t worry.

    Morarta 51mill??? lollllllllll

    I will not pay more than 25 million for him. Icardi maybe but not Morata.

    You see…..told you we will got mentioned with a player or players from NUFC. Sissoko is strong……I have a feeling that AW will gettwo from Kante, Xhaka or Sissoko and if Ozil leaves he will push Aaron in the hole.

  17. rico says:

    Thanks Devil, would be a great help..

    I haven’t a clue who he’ll sign and trying to guess AW is like trying to work out the perfect lottery numbers…

  22. Joe says:

    Arsenal want to sign a player let’s say player X It’s days we have agreed personal terms the play wants to come we make an offer.
    The next thing you know arsenal won’t fork up the requisite amount of money the club wants for their player.
    Sounds about right it is Arsenal and wenger after all but it’s the same thing every bloody transfer season(windows) now I am calling it a season.
    Where do the media get their information out of a late drawer marked let’s take the pissue out of Arsenal fans.

  23. americangunnerfan says:

    I would offer one other quality that I would like to see in the type of player that Arsenal acquires: the drive to continually try to improve as a player.

    Look around the Arsenal squad and ask yourself, “how many of these players have significantly improved their games since coming to Arsenal or making it into the Arsenal first team”? Arsenal has developed some young players who made a splash when they first got into the first team, but how many have gotten significantly better since then? A professional athlete in any sport, on any club, should be working to get better at his job every day (obviously with older players improvement will be less than with younger players as age takes its toll on older players). How many Arsenal players appear to be doing that? How many seem to have regressed or become stagnant in the quality of their play? And, then, there is the obvious question: why is this the case?

    The manager and his staff are, at most, only partially to blame for this and the lesser part at that because it really comes down to the player, himself, and his inner drive (and professionalism) to be a better player today than he was yesterday and a better player tomorrow than he is today. Winning clubs in every sport have not just one or two players with that kind of drive, but a locker-room where that is the mentality and not the exception. IMHO, Arsenal needs more such players if it wants to win championships anytime soon.

  25. rico says:

    Joe, you’ve only got to listen to what Arsene has said over the years about how many players he ‘nearly’ signed to know there’s some truth in Arsenal haggling over transfer fees. Remember Cahill and Bolton?

  26. Adam says:

    Rico. The wage bills are going to rise I would think but ours might come down a bit if Sanchez and Ozil leave and swell the coffers.

  27. rico says:

    Welcome americangunnerfan – you make a good point but perhaps it’s all a bit too relaxed in training and the players become complacent, after all, it’s seldom we have a squad where players positions are truly being challenged by others….

    It seems to be if the face fits, they play at Arsenal…

  28. Hell Raising Devil says:

    I am not going to enter a debate whether or not we would be well off without one or both of Sanchez or Ozil, however Leicester have proved that when 11 players plus the rest of the squad work together for the benefit of the result and the team, there is a bigger chance of winning than dropping points.

    Ask yourself this question……what do we need most……two more superstars or a total of 11 players who are willing to work their asses of for the cause??

  29. rico says:

    Of course Adam and as a club, we struggle to match the likes of City, Chelsea and Utd. Mind you, the club does over pay a number of players who really don’t deserve it…

  30. Adam says:

    I agree Rico but very few players really feel for the club these days. They like the money and want to win things but most of them are essentially mercenaries. Not all though. It’s just the way the world is.

  32. Hell Raising Devil says:

    At the beginning of the season I pointed out how many goals I was expecting of each player to score. If anyone remembers correctly I said that I prefer it if we don’t have an outright scorer but an entire team which chips in with goals.

    I pointed out that I was expecting roughly (in the EPL only) Ollie to score at least 15, Alexis 15, Theo 10, Danny 10, Ollie 7, Aaron 5, Ox 5, Cazorla 5, Coquelin 1, Bellerin 2, Koscielny 3, Mert 2, Nacho 1 and around another 8 from the rest of the players like Campbell, Flamini etc.

    That makes it 84 goals.

    Now be honest with yourselves and ask the question……Why do we keep putting the blame on Ollie when clearly the other players failed to live up to expectations and deliver

  33. rico says:

    I tend to lean towards the latter Devil, but doesn’t Alexis work his backside off for the team?

    Ozil is one of those players who looks likes he’s not trying but he’s just so good and if he had the right players ahead of him, I doubt he’d be even thinking about leaving and we fans wouldn’t be concerned that he might…

  34. rico says:

    Have to agree there Adam. That’s half the problem with having so many overseas players instead of the home grown born and bred Arsenal players…

  35. Adam says:

    Rico. I believe that he was let down last year by broken promises and this year he would like to see action before committing.
    I am fairly neutral about the whole situation which doesn’t mean that I don’t rate him or Alexis.

  37. Adam says:

    Yes Rico. Those of us who were born in North London sometimes forget how international the game has become. Not many Islington boys coming through the ranks these days.

  39. Adam says:

    I know Rico. It’s odd how Wenger’s reign seems to be coming full circle. If he does spend, as you think he will, perhaps he will be breaking the mould that he has adhered to for so many years.

  40. rico says:

    Because Devil, he’s missed so many chances in front of goal. As said in the post, he’s not the only one who’s failing in front of goal but all the time the idea is to walk the ball into the net, it’s hardly surprising…

    I kind of agree with what Wath said the other day, Ollie is a decent striker to have on the bench but he’s not the one to win us things….

  41. rico says:

    It’s the same at many top clubs Adam, it’s all too easy to throw money at getting the best but why aren’t clubs focussing on improving those coming through the ranks who just get left to rot out on loan or dumped without ever really getting a chance…

  43. Adam says:

    Rico. As far as the big clubs are concerned I imagine that the pressure of trying to win something mitigates against too many opportunities being granted to young players. Wenger traditionally used to use the Carling Cup for young players didn’t he?

  44. rico says:

    Seems it could be Adam. Yes, I really do think he’ll spend this summer for a number of reasons really.

    His comment about Stan Kroenke, the unrest amongst fans and the Ozil/Sanchez situation which if both were to leave because the club/Wenger refuse to be ambitious, the place will be even more hostile next season and despite him standing up on 12 minutes against Norwich, which in itself was arrogant I thought, he’ll be hurting inside I’m sure.

    Only he can put things right, or get somewhere near to doing so…

  46. rico says:

    🙂 Adam…

    Agree, they have ambitious owners who didn’t get into football for the fun of it. They want big things in terms of trophies and global success and coming 4th doesn’t get that. 😉

    He did re the young players but he seems to have gone away from that lately… Not sure why though because the first team haven’t managed to win it so why not carry on with the younger ones…

    Saying that, I think it was a younger team which played last season, who lost against a Championship side….

  53. Merlin96 says:

    Giroud is a very much under-rated player for the role that Wenger envisaged as the Lone Striker that will hold up the ball and play his team-mate in to score goals.

    Generally, the sharing of scoring goals under WengerBall is:
    50% from Strikeforce or Forward-line;
    40% from Midfield;
    10% from Defence and Own-Goal.

    Giroud had done his part but the rest of the forward-line in Walcott, Welbeck, Alexis, Campbell and OX flopped.

    Midfield is not helping with Ramsey and Ozil not reaching double-figure, and Cazorla had not even scored a league goal.

    The Defence had over-performed and contributed goals plus we had 3 own-goals.
    If we don’t shoot more often, we will not “create” more than 3 own-goals per season.

    What Wenger needs to buy is another 20+ league goal scorer to takeover when Giroud hits a slump or with Alexis off-form or injured.

    Walcott is still an enigma and may hit form next season if he can groove into the team and Ozil understands his movement and his needs.

    DO notice that last season, Ozil has no opportunity to develop understanding with Walcott, Welbeck and Alexis due to injuries to those players, plus Alexis suffering from “2nd season syndrome”.

    Thinking of writing an article on Giroud! 😀

  56. rico says:

    ‘Wengerball’ is long gone Merlin. Now it’s ‘passpasspasstheball’….. 😉

    An article on Giroud, that should be interesting… Will you be able to manage 50 words? lol

  59. Merlin96 says:

    Most likely 500 words! 😀

    Currently, compiling Giroud’s Arsenal stats and thinking of the comparison to WC1998 Stephane Guivarc’h who was considered the worst centre-forward in World Cup 1998.

  61. Merlin96 says:

    Walcott intending to stay to fight for his place?
    That is a contradiction as in 2016, his body language was that he could hardly wait tog et out of Arsenal FC and is not putting in effort, fighting with commitment and that English grits to keep swinging even when you are down and He behaved just … well, being professional on the pitch.

    Wenger intended to keep him?
    Another contradiction as Walcott hardly figure in the last 2 months and I think played only 100-minutes of league football.

    Iwobi ahead of him in pecking order, with Ramsey, Campbell and OX preferred ay right-flank and even Wilshere played right-flank against Villa, it is as good as saying Walcott does not figure in Wenger’s future plan at all.

    Has the long-term injury to Welbeck changed both Wenger and Walcott’s mind?

  62. allezkev says:

    Afternoon All…
    Afternoon Rico…

    Sissoko seems a decent upgrade on Flamini, a squad player, someone who can be drafted in when we visit Stoke or West Brom, a good athlete to come off of the bench if we’re defending a narrow lead…

    Xhaka, if they can bring themselves to stop fannying about and just do the deal would replace Arteta I guess and one of the kids, Toral possibly, to replace Rosicky…

    That would be us standing still…

    To move forward they need an upgrade on Walcott and Giroud, plus a couple of young defenders who can cover for Monreal and BFG/Koz. I have my doubts about Gabriel but let’s see how he does next season.

    So in a perfect world, for me, that would be six signings…

    Not gonna happen though…

    Same old, same old for 2016-17..

  63. Obi says:

    Good Day All:

    Alavaro Morata for 51M? Maybe there is a lot of potential somewhere – I don’t know. But if we are slating Giroud, Morata is not better than Giroud specially playing in the EPL. I watched Juve played 20+ times this year and Pogba and Morata are imho overrated. I don’t even think Moarta scored 10 goals playing for Juve in SERIE A!!! Even at 25m as Devil suggested may be too high. You have 51m to spend, get Marchisio now thats a player . Is interesting that most of us are concern with strikers/ forward in TW, but the Defensive is very unreliable. I would address that first, and I think Sissoko will help a lot because none of our midfielders except Coq tackles there must be someone who is willing to break up plays to help out the D. But then again whats the point? Arsene got his eyes on the 15 year old French-Malian who will be a star in 10 years. Kev is right, “Same old,….”

  66. rico says:

    Merlin, why not compare Giroud with the best rather than the worst? One shouldn’t justify a players ability by a player who was considered to be one of the worst…

    And football has moved on a lot since 1998……

  68. allezkev says:

    Tbh Obi, if you’ve got £51 million to spend, why not push the boat out a little bit more, say £60 million and get Lewandowski???

  69. allezkev says:

    Hi Rico, I’ll try and motivate myself to write some stuff for you over the summer…

    Maybe we should nominate someone, each week, take a vote on it..?

    Hmm, decisions, decisions?

  70. allezkev says:

    How about Ginge doing a post on Mi5..?

    Lee could do a post on greenhouses.

    Costco is a subject that Adam could write on endlessly.

    Er, Micko could do a post on pot noodles.

    Wavy could do a post on spellcheckers.

    Potter could do a post on interesting things to do on a car journey from North London to The Wash…

    Just saying…. ?

  73. Joe says:

    Re earlier post it is true wenger has stated that a number of high quality players have got away.But we are linked to hundreds every transfer window as I said Imo. .. its a formula just to pissed us fans off.
    Or is it worse ?

  74. Rick says:

    Afternoon Rico and the house.
    Just a short visit .
    If my keyboard behaves I will do one for you Rico
    Latta

  75. rico says:

    Joe, do you honestly think any of us truly believe the garbage which hits the papers? The papers write what they do to sell their product, fans who run blogs repeat that garbage, me included because for me, it’s hilarious…

    But listening to AW tell us about players he missed out on really cheeses me off because most of the time, it’s been down to penny pinching…

  78. Wavy says:

    Rico Kev, I’ll see if I can focus on a suitable topic and I’ll set about the case! ( if I can restore my iPad with all it’s weird smellings!! Leave it with me.

  81. potter says:

    You took the wrong turn at Thetford you have to get to Norwich and turn right for the broads.Interesting things on the journey well , there’s the wild bean near Cambridge, Thetford Forest centre parks , the English whisky distillery at Attleborough and of course the A11 police traffic cop hang out at Wymondham ( pronounced Wind-ham ) where they always catch away supporters heading for Carrow Road. Then it’s turn right at Norwich onto the Great Yarmouth road which if you have any sense you will turn off at Acle and head into the Norfolk Broads national Park and avoid Yarmouth like the plague. Takes about 2 1/2 hours from Clissold Park, the first hour usually getting to the M11 at Redbridge.

  85. Joe says:

    That may be true but the fact is I’ve seen posts by regulars on HH spend days doing a rare old job on our manager because of something derogatory in the media that turns out to be not true.
    Never seen any apologies mind you and I’ll guess I never will but these posts come from posters who want the manager out of our club.
    Is it because these media reports validate their opinions of the manager.
    Todays favourite Arsenal won’t stump up just £1.5 extra to get a player the weekends was that Arsenal had not offered Arteta a coaching role at the club ( not true) how does the media know thsee things or are they are just lies.

  86. Joe says:

    How is it you haven’t asked me to write a post, maybe not you know your customers ?
    Off to support Liverpool who knows we may need the extra coefficient points the next time we finish 4th ?

  88. rico says:

    Oh, and yet again, most on here take newspaper stuff with a huge pinch of salt and you’ve been on here long enough to know that Joe….

  89. Joe says:

    I know if I produced a post you would publish it if it was up to scratch ?but come on there are 5-6 regulars on this site who ignore every thing I post unless I call someone or a group of people an idiot or idiots.

  90. rico says:

    You are right Joe, you write something and of course I’ll post it…

    Does it really matter what others think? You have your view and you’re entitled to express it… That’s what this site is about….

  93. Joe says:

    Watching the europa cup and liverpool have just gone 1 up seconds later the commutator says the champions league is calling not that Liverpool have a great chance of winning a cup.
    These same guys ridiculed or manager for pointing out that forth place was more important than winning cups.

  99. potter says:

    So lyon wouldn’t take a deal from state aid for Lacazette but want Debach ………Deal?

  101. allezkev says:

    Thank God for Seville, now we don’t have to listen to all those sanctimonious, professional Scouser’s droning on all summer about Liverpool ‘being back’….

  102. obi says:

    Just wondering is Joe and Scott the same person? Oh yes Kel, Benega is for real I have never seen him have an off day.

  103. Lee says:

    Professional scousers will be hiding….. how beautiful is that?

    Makes up for the Henchoz handball in 2001 hahahahahahahaha!

    Best served cold

  106. rico says:

    Phew, good old Seville… 🙂

    Morning Lee, Adam, Joe and all..

    Scott is just taking a few weeks away, he’ll be back…

  117. allezkev says:

    Debuchy to West Ham is an interesting option, get rid of his salery and bring Jenkinson back as cover for Bellerin.

    Have we signed Xhaka yet? ?

    Morning All
    Morning Rico

    I think Scott has gone ‘walkabout’, he’s out there in the ‘bush’ trying to find his inner self… ?

  118. potter says:

    I was more thinking of Debuchy to Lyon in a cash plus swop for Lacazette. In the past Aulas has not wanted to deal with Wenger but now he wants Debuchy so the door is opening. Who knows ? but it’s as good a rumour as any.

  120. allezkev says:

    If Wenger wants Lacazette then that’s a great idea Potter.
    But if he doesn’t, then I wouldn’t do any business with Lyon, fcuk ’em.

    Didn’t they recently turn down £31m from West Ham?

    Trying to deal with Lyon is a waste of time.

    But I do like Lacazette and if we could get him, then I’d be up for that.
    Finance it by moving on Theo.

  124. rico says:

    Thanks Brad, that’s good enough for me..

    I’ll wait until our first summer signing comes in…..

    Could be a long wait… 😉

  127. bradster says:

    I watched Sky sports this morning, Spain has dominated Europe the last 3 years.
    Champions league 13/14 Real; 14/15 Barca ; 15/16 one of Madrid teams
    Europa 13/14-15/16 Sevilla

  128. rico says:

    No surprise there Brad – Yet they say the PL is the place to be. Can’t see why…

    New post up now.. I had one in drafts I’d forgotten about… 😉

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