Morning all.
Remember when Alexis Sanchez joined? Of course you do. Many over us were thrilled to bits to see such a talented footballer choose Arsenal and he did. Liverpool and Mourinho wanted him but despite the offer of a bigger salary, north London was his new home.
It wasn’t long before we could all see his work ethic, the players could see it too and withing weeks, months, different ones told the official site that having a player like him in the team and in training, helped them to work harder. A few did, for a while anyway.
Now it’s the turn of Sead Kolasinac. A player who is built like a brick outhouse. He’s six foot tall and full of muscle and unlike a number of our players, he doesn’t go to ground with the slightest of touch.
One player who has been impressed with our summer signing is Ashley Maitland-Niles:
Sead’s been like that since he came in, in the first day in training and every session, he works hard – 100 per cent.
He’s a nightmare to play against! He’s so strong physically, he’s very clever and he reads the game very well. He’s hard to play against but it makes you a better player, playing against him.
Not only is the Bosnian strong in defence but going forward too. He’s smart, quick and certainly gives Alexis the freedom to get further up the pitch. Against Koln that was clear during the second half. Arsene Wenger really did get us a great player imo. He simply has to start at Chelsea tomorrow and I suspect he will which is why Wenger opted to eave him out of the starting eleven on Thursday. I still don’t understand though why he was left on the bench at Anfield. Perhaps he’d have stopped us getting torn apart down our left!
Mustafi was another left out on that day although I think he’ll start tomorrow as we face a strong Chelsea side who will be out to repeat what they did last season and what Liverpool did just a few weeks ago.
There’s some big decisions for Wenger to make. Start shifting players around and out of position again and we’ll get a good hiding. He’s got to go there with a plan, a plan not to concede at any cost. He’s done that before, not often I know and although it might be boring, it might just bring us some success. It’s about time we beat that lot on their own turf….
Right, that’s enough from me, catch up in the comments…
Kolasinac needs to start every important game, he is a class above our alternatives. As for forward planning ,not Arsene’s high spot. He has done it before and it’s worked but all too often he has reverted straight after.
Morning all. Great article. What a great buy Seo has been. As a lifelong Arsenal supporter I have always dreamt of seeing a Bosnian compatriot play for us. Now we have one and a good one at that. Let’s hope the boys are up for the task tomorrow as it will be one of the toughest games of the season and a great way to show that we are able to compete..
Agree there Potter, I don’t understand why he doesn’t set us up to not concede at all the so called bigger clubs. Even if we drew against them away and win at home, we’d have a much better chance of winning the league. (Cough)
But he plays the same way regardless…
Thanks Adk. I wonder why he chose us though when he had the pick of many clubs. Darn glad he did though…
Hi Rico,
Good post.
I watched Kolasinac against Leicester and he stood out from the others.
He appears to be a natural leader and leads by example. Strong in the tackle, skilful,
and not afraid to get stuck in, something that we have been lacking in for a few seasons.
Lets hope that Wenger goes with a plan against Chelsea, and that the players are all up for this match.
Watched a Cologne player push Walcott out of the way and then bounce off him.Made me chuckle. However I remember when Alexis arrived the Ox waxing lyrical about his work rate .Shame he never got round to copying it.
Kola is tough, uncompromising, intelligent and hard-working. Expect to see him alongside Sanches on the bench then!
P.S. How did Merson get a job on TV?
Morning Rico and all.
Nice post there Rico. Have to agree with you about Kolasinac. Though, give him a season and the Manchester clubs and Chelsea will be tapping him up I would think. If only we could set up to be solid tomorrow and not play like the home team. I can’t remember the last time we did that away from home although perhaps against Man City a couple of seasons ago in that performance that I think was down to the players who probably decided among themselves that Wenger’s tactics would be a recipe for disaster.
They were right and we won.
Morning Guys….. Good to see people giving Sead his props. Having seen him played several times before he came to Arsenal, I remember posting here that he will increase Arsenal’s toughness by 110%. I also said that whenever I saw him played he was a walking red card waiting to happen except that he never gets one, and if the refs lets him play we have something sepecial….. I was quiet surprise that AW was intetested in him to be honest. Let’s just hope AW doesn’t do to him what he did to Gabriel and now Elneny.
On AW starting him tomorrow, he would probably start him as a center forward and Lacazette at CB…..
I agree with you Adam. The City game was a bit of a shock in terms of tactical nous.
Still do not understand why Wenger decided to bench Kolasinac against Liverpool… It’s these odd decisions that will cost Arsenal dearly over the coming season.
Morning all.
The guys an absolute gun.
Maybe He sees something at the club most fans don’t, or maybe he’s just missing something but either way, he’s ours.
Not many of our guys fall in a heap at the slightest touch.
The main one is our want away.
DB10
There is a trend amongst TV and radio to try to appeal to the lowest common denominator like the tabloid press. Hence the likes of Merse, Savage, Mills, Owen, Collymore, Gale, Allen, Sutton, Adam, etc, are given jobs with nothing of value to say and probably not a GCSE between them!
Hi Marinello, Adam. Thanks re the post..
Agree there too Adam. I bet Wenger put them in the naughty corner afterwards…
You mean Ozil Scott? He drops like a fly…
Hi Marinello. Yes, when things don’t make sense it’s understandable that questions will be rightly asked. There have been too many questions for too long and as Wenger’s tenure draws to an inevitably drawn-out conclusion they will mount further I should imagine.
Well said Bob 🙂
Rico, Ozil may be easily knocked over, but the other one is the diver 🙂 🙂
He does cop heaps though, no question.
We need a few more hard heads likes Kolasinac.
Probably Scott is referring to our Chilean goal machine .He does go down but doesn’t often stay there.At least he doesn’t roll about for 2 minutes getting a rest and usually there is contact.
I knew who you meant Scott. I was being ironic, but a diver Alexis is not, although I know you think he is regardless of your emoji.
Exactly Potter. Unlike Ozil who sits on the floor in protest and sulking..
Potter, spot on-USUALLY there is contact lol
Anyway, old ground.
He’s with us so I will hope he gives his all and scores more rippers like he did the other day.
Afternoon Rico, nice post, I liked Kolasinac as soon as I saw some highlights of him playing for Schalke.
He’s just what we need, the tenacity of Nigel Winterburn allied to the hardness of Lauren, the complete package. They breed them tough in Bosnia obviously.
Now if we can find a Bosnian def/mid and a Bosnian c/h we’ll be good to go…
Any predictions of the score tomorrow?
Afternoon Kev, thanks. I didn’t see him play at Schalke, but I like him at Arsenal… 😉
If the rest from his country are like him, yep, get those positions filled. Who are the Bosnian CH’s/DM’s, any idea?
On Bosnia DM, we should signed Muhammed Besic before he went to Everton. I think Miralem Pjanic would be a good replacement for Santi.
What about Gojko Cimirot Obi, do you know much about him? He’s in the Bosnia squad as DM.
How’s you Marinello, a wise ole owl called it last week, we’d be lucky if we won the toss tomorrow !
rico, irony….you either get it or you don’t !
Exactly Micko. Well, I think I get it.. lol
Peps lot are scoring plenty of goals.. 6-0 ?
That’s because they have some outstandingly good players and the Pep er mint has got them playing like a ‘team’ !
Just like the chavs last season they look unstoppable but……..football’s a funny old game. We’ll have to judge them in May! Hahahahahahaha ……oh mr Wenger what do you want, ( a line from an old music hall song, you can make up the rest).
Haha Wavy…
Have a good Saturday night guys, catch up tomorrow…. or at some unearthly hour later… lol
Evening all and thank`s El Rico.
Ironing………..my wife doesn`t get it……………………….tumble dryer……………… dries clothes and makes pop corn !.
I thought you was talking about me, Rico, when you wrote………. full of muscle !……….The Cornish Kolasinac !……………..Sea Gulls dont mess with me down in St. Ives, one flex of the pecs and my Pasty is safe and a look at my Quadraceps will mean my MooMaid Ship Wreck (Salted Caramel Ice Cream) is just a wet dream for them !
Kev`s the same, one flex of his muscular finger could send an Uber driver into a coma ! hahaha
Pep er Pigged all the money, he should win it every season………….started last seaon he same, wait `till he comes up against the mighty Arsene ! .
I`ve thought of a great way to up the atmosphere at The Em`s……………………………….make Cologne fans attend all home games !……………….just get Ambassador Podolski onto it and if we believe a lot of the rumours that they(Cologne fans) signed up as Red Members to get tickets, then they are already Gooners !…………………..I need to get onto a Cologne site and with my excellant German accent…….Schnell ! Achtung ! Wunderbar !……….see, I told you it was good !……………beg them to attend all games !
Spuds with still no win in league at our home ground……..sorry……..Wembley ! 😆
Superb result by Swansea seeing as The Spuds brought on Mike Dean from the 1st minute !…………….he created most chances and run the furthest !
‘Arry dun good, he signed fourteen, yes 14, players in the summer. ‘e’s had a triffic time up north, even though he doesn’t speak the language. Now though, he and Birmingham have parted company (read sacked) wiv a nice little touch of compo to keep the wolves from the door. I wonder how his knees are?
He will be back on TV next week, posing as a pro pundit. Stan will be after him soon, ‘as it goes. Both duckers and divers, money mad, a match made in heaven.
Come on you little goonettes, show Conte what you can do tomorrow.
Come on Arsene, pick the right players for their correct positions, light the blue touchpaper, and stand well back;-)
Meerkat,
If Arsene gets things right, we can knock them off.
If 🙂
Lc. Koeman has spent millions too hasn’t he? But unlike Pep, he can’t get his team firing. Credit where it’s due eh….
‘If Arsene gets things right’…. Flip me, that would be a first…
Not sure I would compare the players Koeman and Pep have at their disposal, even given Koemans spending which was probably not as much as people think when you take how much they got for Lukaku !
Come off it, Rico.
He did fine in the FA cup lol
In all seriousness, We have seen little glimpses of Arsene bailing tactics but it’s only been a few times a season at best.
We can’t seriously compare what Pep has spent to Koemans outlay-also, Pep had last season to flash the cash and Koeman has not been at the club long enough to make a call on his others, especially as he’s brought in so many new faces.
If Pep can’t run away with the League this season, he’s totally over rated.
If he does, then hats off to him-he will have done what any top manager should do with the tools he has at his disposal-400 odd million spent in 12-14 months is a handy little start lol
They are looking deadly, though, no question but it’s a long season ahead.
Now, now rico. You know you mean that, lol.
Ahem, what about the FA cup final, and the Charity Shield? That’s twice already!!
Be afraid Chavs, be very afraid, lol.
According to one paper………………Everton net spend……..£54.2M………………………………. Pep Piggy Bank………….£138.1M…………and I bet Pep spent a lot in his first season !
This was from July 16th 2017
“Pep Guardiola has now spent nearly £1BILLION in transfer fees during management spells at Manchester City, Barcelona and Bayern Munich”
He may indeed be a decent coach, but come on, with that sort of money even I could get results………………….and half of that would be spent on women ! hahaha
Blimey. just watched Man City game on MoTD. They are like a well oiled machine, and they must be favourites for the league title, and the number of goals scored! That’s probably making Napoleon’s bum squeak a bit.
When do we play them? Cech will have his work cut out if our defence go awol again.
rico, easy tiger, everyone deserves a 2nd, 3rd, 4th , 5th, 6th, 7th chance, take the summer we signed only Cech, the same ole numpties were saying what only if we can get to Christmas and still be up there with a shout in January……….gotta laugh.
Can anyone put forward any advantages in us owning a 60,000 capacity stadium in London only don’t leave it too long as the scum will have a big say in that matter shortly.
Koeman`s less than one season also cant be compared to what Mansour City have been doing sinnce the Mansours took over in what was it 2008?
No advantage whatsoever now days Micko !………………………..Mansour City have less capacity, make less on a match day and it wouldn`t matter a zilch if Mansour City`s capacity was 5,000 when their Royal Family is worth what is it………. £500B !
Arsenal`s big ground move only meant something with FFP working, we will continually demise as a force whilst we have an owner who doesn`t put a penny…………..dime …….into the club.
If people cant see that the difference between us and Man City is the owners money input, then they need to be hospitalised…you know……….white coats and stuff ! hahaha
Hats off to Sean Dyche today, probably knows if you do your home-work there’s every chance you can come away with a result !
LC, people see exactly what they want to, Especially when it comes to Wenger.
Ignore some facts when it suits, focus on other facts that show him in a poor light but remember that criticising him relentlessly will always attract support.
Pep and Napoleon are no doubt top managers/coaches, but it must help that you can buy la creme de la creme, of the footballing world.
Money is no object, they write their shopping lists, give it to the board, and hey presto.
Strange though, as I said the other day, Pep didn’t want Sanchez at Barca, and the little bigman got shot of Lukaku to Everton. Now, they have been improved, they both want them.
Why couldn’t they coach them to suit their needs when they had them, if they are so bloody wonderful?
Who’d have thought leaving Highbury would have been so detrimental? It was meant to be the start of greater things. If attracting tourists was their aim, they have probably succeeded in the short term, but without investment in top players, it won’t last long.
Ah but, man chitty have ‘manipulated their sponsors to such an extent that they do have a large percentage of the 500b available to their club, without breaking the so called FFP rules! So they can spend, pretty much what they want on players. No clubs can compete with their financial backing, no matter how ‘doped’ it is.
And as for Stan dipping in his pocket, well…..you are more likely to see a flying pig. The club gave up really trying in 2002 when the Russian Mafiosi bought chelski! Our lot are a load of losers, negative, deep pocketed skin flints who are only interested in skimming the profits for as long as they can……….the story of moderate achievement goes on…..and….on.
Meerkat, it’s easy for people to suggest those gents would do better at Arsenal than Wenger is, but they wouldn’t even take the chance to risk damaging their reputation by taking on the job.
They take soft options which obviously they’re entitled to, but Wenger could easily have done the same as we know he’s had offers from clubs where spending isn’t an issue.
Wavy, what a shame UEFA haven’t got the balls to enforce FFP.
If they did, we’d be a major force, imo.
Micko, add a few more there with the chances… lol
Citing how much money City and Pep have spent is imo just deflecting the wrong doings of Wenger. Of course I’d love our club to be as ambitious financially but Wenger doesn’t spend what he has, let alone spend the likes of what City have.
Also, is it always about the money? If it was, Wenger would have won the league more times than he has because he’s certainly spend a large amount of money over recent years. The problem with Wenger is he either wastes money by rewarding average players, or once he does sign them, he ruins them or at least doesn’t improve them..
Rather than compare money certain clubs spend, compare what the managers do with the players and then you’ll see the real difference.
Take today. Will Wenger send his team out to play like he would if this were a home fixture? Probably. Will he select the right team, one in which every player will fight as much for the ball out of possession as they will when in it? Probably not.
Will he have prepared the players to defend first and foremost and not concede, hoping to hit Chelsea on the break. Probably not.
Money doesn’t buy tactics or knowhow, common sense and knowing what you are doing does…
Morning…
Another thing. Wenger bleats on about how he could have left Arsenal many times to go to bigger clubs but why didn’t he?
I’m sure he loves the club but I don’t buy that reason alone for him staying put. At other clubs he’d be given more money we assume, just as we’d assume such vast amounts of money spent would bring him success. Well, certain people do, but I don’t and probably, neither does he.
If he knew what he was doing, by now we’d have a proper midfielder but we haven’t since Gilberto left. We’d have a strong commanding centre-back, or two even, but we haven’t, not since the day Big Sol left. He’d have found a world class keeper, but again, he has since Mad Jens left and as for a top top centre forward, how long was it before he finally signed one in Lacazette?
No, don’t blame Man City for spending money, blame Wenger for not spending money on the players we need. After all, who else would have a big striker like Giroud but not play to his strengths…?
Wenger, no one else!
Morning Rico. Well said.
Morning Adam. Thank you.
It just seems to me that people are using any excuse in order to defend our own problems. It’s their right of course but I just think it’s naive to believe giving Wenger £200m would solve our problems…
Rico,
Who is blaming other clubs for spending?
Nobody is.
Everyone here has said Wenger has failed dismally in recent transfer windows, and we’ve all criticised him for his tactics so the points your trying to make are ones we all agree on.
The old red herring of Wenger ruining his players is folly, imo.
As Meerkat said, Pep sold Alexis and now desperately wants him back.
Ox was ruined yet we got 40 million???
If that’s ruining a player then let’s ruin them all lol
Two quick ones yet how many have actually been ruined?
How many have gone elsewhere and become better players?
Very, very few.
Plenty haven’t been given enough chances, imo, but then, we go back to the fact that when they left and did get their chance, they didn’t do much.
No, that’s a common one for Wengers detractors to use without any real basis, imo.
I’ll add that some of you will use any statistic/theory/opinion or myth that suits to criticise the man so who is right, and who is wrong??
As with most debates, the truth lies somewhere in the middle, but you wont get a WOB to admit that.
Rico. Do you have the heating on yet? 🙂
Oh I don’t think I need to find any myth Scott, the last ten years of watching Wenger on and off the pitch is enough for me to make my own option thank you.
My point was, instead of blaming the lack of FFP, the alleged lack of money Wenger has, who Pep has, does or doesn’t want to sign, why not stick to things which are closer to home..
Again you are using examples to justify Wengers failing when it comes to players leaving etc etc. How about listing the players Wenger has improved. Maybe then you’ll convince me he’s doing a good job with his players…
Certainly do Adam. It’s chilly in the countryside ?
Rico, I think Wenger and the club relied or trusted in FFP, so made plans based on it happening and were caught out well and truly when it fell apart.
When that happened, they’ve panicked and haven’t handled things at all well.
You’re asking me to name the players we’ve improved because I’m questioning your suggestion that we constantly ruin them?
As for me sticking closer to home,well, i think we are all guilty of using outside examples to justify ourselves and our opinions.
Every one of us.
It was very Autumnal here this morning Rico. Not quite heating weather yet though.
Heating on here too. Looks like hot chocolate and a log fire for 1.30.
Morning all…………….maybe I should have added that I dont think even with the money Wenger would improve us as I dont rate im as a coach, to me, soemone who`s philosophy is to attack attack attack with no regard for trying to be hard to beat is deluded.
I do think certain managers would make us better even without the money, but at the end of the day we will still be up against it without competing on the transfer front with the likes of thee big 3 and only a new big spending owner will sort out that problem.
Look at Man Cities players, none of them cheap buys and Pep Piggy Bank would never win the league without such players, seriously think he would win the league with say Palaces players ?……………………….hahaha
Sunny here and will be all day, but last night the heating was on too……what`s cbest ?…………being nice and cosy in the warm……….or windows open letting some refreshing cool air in in the summer ? 🙂
I was interested to see who you’d thought he’d improved Scott. Tricky one though eh…
Pep apparently spent £58 million on both Sane and Jesus. That’s not cheap but, right now, it doesn’t look that expensive to me. But he has created a tactical shape where they can both operate and that’s probably more important.
Just a thought.
Dont know why Cesc gets bad vibes from Gooners as he say`s Arsene had first refusal and didn`t make contact……………in fact Barca had to inform Arsenal that Cesc was available first…………he sat waiting for a week for contact and got none, then Maureen made him feel welcome at Chavs……………………………………I`d take a draw today as a good result considering our abysma record against the so called other top 5 !.
I’ve not ventured out yet Adam. Lol
Lc, none of Peps signings have cost vast amounts either have they? Not when we consider a few years ago we paid £42m for Ozil and prices have gone up a lot since then..
Same here Potter, no hot chocolate though…
Probably because of the manner in which he left Lc…
That’s the thing about transfer fees Rico. If the player really works out then a year or so later they seem reasonable. De Bruyne is another that I really admire and it’s mildly irritating that we don’t make those sort of moves in the market.
Rico, and I am asking that you should supply a list of who he’s ruined.
You’ve sidestepped a few times yet say it like its fact, so where are they all?
Alexis has-Pep Wants him now, didn’t want him then.
Koscielny.
Ramsey.
Giroud.
Back in the day Thierry went ok.
The list goes on.
LC, I reckon it was more to do with Cesc refusing to play to force his way out.
Oops forgot about his departure !
Thing is Rico, we will buy one £40M player, but City will buy half a dozen !………as per the last TW………….we make £30M and they spend £138M !……………the figures talk for themselves.
Sounds like some want Pep Piggy Bank to do well just to justify that he maybe a great coach……………………….I want him to fail miserably and as I`ve said plenty of times….anyone of us could do well with the money he has to hand, we may well not be coaches, but we know who are great players given all the money Pepper has I would just delegate the coaching to someone like Arsene ……..here`s Messi and Ronaldo, coach me a winning team ! hahaha
Funny how many supporters now see the clubs lack of ambition as a fact yet still pillory the players that left for the very same reason . Of the players that have gone in recent times some went for the money and deserve a certain amount of stick but those that went abroad to win things ? really ?
I’m with you there Adam.
LC, the irony is people believed Wenger was a great tactical manager back in day where I think his success was built on other things-professionalism and scouting.
Imagine telling TA to take care at the back, and Dennis and Thierry just to do their thing.
He hasn’t lost it, tactically speaking, he never really had it, imo.
I’m with you though that there are plenty of managers who’d succeed with the squads Pep’s been in control of.
Too many to mention Scott.
Mind you, I don’t think Ramsey has improved much, neither Kos or Giroud. In fact I’d say Ramsey has gone downhill if anything. But I don’t blame the players, it’s the way they are used, after all most go off and do well for their country…
Potter. I agree but you know how tribal football is. Many supporters have no problems with such dilemmas and probably don’t understand that most players don’t feel the way that we do about our club.
Potter, how many took a pay cut?
It was money as much as nothing else, imo.
The worst for mine will always be RVP.
“Lack of ambition” was his excuse.
Fukker never questioned the clubs ambition 6 years sitting in the stands injured!!!
New post up.
Rico, of course those guys have improved since they joined us.
You called me out and I named some yet you say too many to mention?
I’ll use that one next time 🙂
It`s simple to me, Scott, when we had the invincibles, we had the best players and like you say, do you tell that lot how to play ?…………money came in and other clubs spent more on better players, whilst we had a stadium move and had to sell players, now we dont have to sell players, but dont buy enough either……………….. quite simple really !.
Gabriel, Mustafi, Ramsey, Wilshere, Walcott, Ozil, Xhaka and that’s just off the top of my head…
I see that shit manager Guardiola is under scrutiny, he addresses his teams shortcomings and does tactics…..meanwhile over at Arsenal. I mean what moron would not buy a single outfield player, not one?!
Wenger seems to be on some sort of crusade and it’s definitely to the detriment of Arsenal.
How much will we have spend to replace Sanchez and Ozil plus other players are entering their final year.
As for the game today, I reckon Ozil will be picked and disappear like he does against decent teams and we’ll come second. If we get thumped I suppose it’ll mean we’re closer to getting a new manager.
Ooooh to be an all that.