Morning all.
Most of us will have seen the replay or highlights of of the 5-3 defeat of Barcelona by now. In attack, we were brilliant at times but defensively, there’s room for improvement. Trossard scored two fabulous goals, the second was just outrageously good. Vieira’s was pretty special too. Saka and Havertz scored the other two, Saka robbing Barcelona of the ball in their own box before finishing at his near post and then he turned provider for Havertz to tap home from close range. I don’t care that Barca are earlier in their pre-season training than us, a 5-3 spanking of them is something to be happy about. It could have been 6-3 but Saka couldn’t convert his spot kick.
Obviously it’s pre-season but it got very, very competitive at the end. When you play a team with the stature of Barcelona, you have to be at it. I think the players showed a great level today, we did a lot of positive things, with our intensity our desire and the quality that we showed as well, especially in the attacking moments, it was impressive. – Mikel Arteta.
We have one more pre-season fixture to play which is against Monaco on Wednesday night at 6pm. The last game in which Arteta is likely to mix his players up because after then, the new campaign begins. A chance to win the first trophy on offer this season. FA Community Shield it might be but it’d do this group of players the world of good to defeat a Man City side which has lost a number of experienced players. I’m not sure Grealish has stopped partying in Ibiza yet either. Lol
Arsene deserves a statue. In October 1996, I bet there was many a club manager having a private chuckle over the appointment of Wenger because he was unknown in England. Even the Arsenal players wondered who the heck was this Frenchman David Dein had brought to the club.
In 1997/98, his first full season in charge, Arsène became the first ever non-British manager to win the league title and FA Cup in the same season. We won three league championships in all under his management, including an unbeaten season which despite all the money City, Chelsea, Utd etc etc have invested, has never been repeated. During his time, Arsenal won the FA Cup seven times.
Arsene Wenger’s work went beyond just coaching the squad. “He was instrumental in the design and building of our London Colney training centre, which opened its doors in October 1999, and also played a key role in many of the design elements in our move from Highbury to Emirates Stadium in 2006”. (Arsenal.com) I know he banned chocolate, alcohol and any other foods which had a negative impact on a players health.
Tim Lewis, our Executive Vice Chair, said:
We’re delighted to recognise and celebrate Arsène Wenger’s outstanding leadership and career at Arsenal Football Club. Arsène’s contribution to, and achievements with, the club mark him out as the club’s greatest manager. He treated the club and its supporters to many trophies and fantastic memories and brought a revolution in the running of the club, an unbeaten season and the move to Emirates Stadium.
I think Wenger’s time at Arsenal can be divided into two periods. Highbury and The Emirates, three with David Dein by his side and without, pre Abramovich and post Abramovich, as well as other free spending owners who followed him to the Premier League. He was once ridiculed for bringing in many foreign players, yet now, the rest of England is doing the same. I’m sure that if there was no ‘home grown’ rule in place, Arsene fielding a non English starting eleven would have been repeated time and time again in the Premier League.
Anyway, there’s no doubting the Frenchman changed Arsenal FC for the better. He brought a number of great players to the club, prolonged the careers of our back five, gave us wonderful football to watch and with it, a few trophies too. Not enough though. Lol
Back to the here and now, it seems injuries have struck early and a number of them. According to The Premier League website, Lokonga, Elneny, Rice, Zinchenko, Holding, Trossard, Nelson and Balogun are a doubt for the Monaco match. None are reported to be serious so they should all be back very soon. In any case, four of the injured are supposedly leaving this summer and with our squad depth, I don’t think there’s a need to panic just yet.
I just typed Eddie Nketiah’s name into Google and there are plenty of stories about Crystal Palace wanting to sign him. I think he’s been linked to Palace before so this is perhaps one to keep an eye on. If he moves, perhaps Flo Balogun will stay…
Catch up in the comments.
Good day Rico, Wenger certainly changed football and not just at Arsenal. He brought a scientific approach to the way players trained and lived, cutting out alcohol and eating a healthy diet, both of which I personally have not taken to.
Did Wenger stay a season or two too long? Probably!
When using so many players who are not yet match fit injuries, or more likely “niggles”, are inevitable.
England 130 for 1 in 25 overs at a rate of 5.2 at lunch, 118 ahead on day three.
Well deserved accolade to Arsene Wenger and a good post by Rico.
A big 4 weeks coming up for Edu, he has to move on a lot of players from the senior squad and academy, as for signings, well I think we could be done..
Hi Cicero, Kev.
I think Arsene stayed five years too long. Ideally he’d have left after one of our/his many FA Cup victories.
Thanks Kev. I reckon our main targets are in but wouldn’t be surprised to see one, maybe two more depending on who leaves. If Eddie and Balogun go, surely a striker will arrive.
Edu may have missed a trick with our pre-season itinerary, could it be possible to put on a demonstration match featuring only those players surplus to requirements in Saudi Arabia. Instead of shirt numbers they could carry numbers denoting how many millions of Dollars we want for them.
….with an on-pitch auction at full time. 😉
Cicero :- Like it
Possibly Rico, no doubt Edu is in discussions with his opposite number at the clubs enquiring about the players we have available or who could become available if the price is reasonable. From what we’ve gathered from those In The Know both Cedric Soares and Nicholas Pepe have been told to find new clubs, Partey and Tierney have both been talking up remaining at Arsenal – that must come from discussions had with Arteta I’d imagine – and a few academy lads over 21 have been made available for loan or permanent transfer. Loans at the 11th hour might be the only answer if players don’t or won’t leave.
Nketiah and Balogun both look to be in flux, but I’m not sure we need anymore signings?
Yes, I get what you say about goalscoring but with Saka, Martinelli, Havertz, Jesus, Odegaard, Trossard, Smith Rowe and maybe, just maybe, Vieira, we have a lot of goals, probably more than last season…
If Nketiah leaves this summer then we’ve replaced him with Havertz in terms of goals with the added advantage of height and variation in attack, on top of that our young players will all be a year older, more experienced and able to hopefully provide even more goals than a year ago. I think the plan is to go in big next summer for a striker, maybe this January even. I guess when and if depends very much on what occurs with Eddie and Flo?
Sounds like a plan Cicero.. lol
You’re probably right Kev. I just like a proper striker. Lol
A lead of 450 at The Oval should do the trick.
Not quite Kev only 377 but if Jiimmy and Stuart can knock off 23 more runs in the morning I think Australia will struggle to survive the fourth day.
Think the weather might play a part again..
377 with one to fall , be lucky to make 400
Stuart Broad has announced that he will retire from cricket at the end of the present test match. I wish him a long and happy retirement.
Did you see him when he went out to bat Cicero? He looked like a player about to retire in the way he looked into the stands, taking it all in.
At least the announcement is done and he can enjoy himself tomorrow with the weight of the decision announcement off his shoulders. Smack a few fours and then rip through the Aussies with the ball. I don’t think Jimmy will be far behind him in retirement.
Evening rico, House. I expected Anderson to be the one to make an announcement before the end of this series. That was a surprise. Both great servants. But hopefully bowlers replacing them will add a few more runs than we have seen in recent years from 9,10 and 11. Broad never been the same since he was hit. Robinson looks a little better but we need more lower order batters who can bat like Woakes. Wood does hit it cleanly, and I love him, but you never think any of them are going to stay around long.
I get what Broad said about going out at the top but I reckon he had one more year in him, all the same, what an amazing career and how lucky we’ve been to watch two such top bowlers as Anderson and Broad.
It would be the icing on the cake if Broad could get Aussie opener Warner out one more time. He’s done it seventeen times in tests so far.
Morning Rico and all.
I am very happy with what we have done so far but I still believe we are going to bring in one more, hopefully a designated striker.
Wenger may have stayed a few years too long, but I am very happy the club paid tribute to him by the form of a statue.
Hi all.
Seems Turner could be going to Forest, Lokonga to Burnley and Raya to Arsenal…
New post up