Morning all.
The agent of Arsenal’s new signing Jakub Kiwior, Pawel Zimonczyk has been talking about his client’s welcome to his new club:
The thing that captured me was the openness of the people who work at Arsenal. You can see that they form one big family there. I think they welcomed Kuba in from the first minute. Kuba’s entrance into the dressing room wasn’t planned, but as soon as Oleksandr Zinchenko saw him he called out: ‘If you’re already with us, you’re already with us! I’m sure it was a cool experience for him too, after such an important win he could feel the atmosphere from the Premier League leaders’ dressing room. I think when he saw what kind of atmosphere there was he already wanted to join in on the pitch, to enjoy Arsenal’s push to reach the next round of the FA Cup [against Manchester City on Friday night].
Napoli, AC Milan and Juventus wanted him but as Del Boy once muttered, “he who hesitates….” Apparently Jakub Kiwior is a bit quick on his feet, has a really high agility jump as well as being able to jump might high from a standing position. I still think we’re just as likely to see him in the centre of midfield as we are in central defence. After all, we’ve lost two with Mo Elneny injured and Sambi Lokonga now on loan but we only gained one with the signing of Jorginho so in theory, we’re still one down.
The pre Everton training photos on the official website yesterday but there was no sign of Thomas Partey, Emile Smith Rowe or Jorginho. Reiss Nelson was back out there though, as was Leandro Trossard.
Football takes a break at the end of March as the international game returns. Arsenal have eight League fixtures in that time as well as two Europa League fixtures. By the time the domestic game restarts on April Fool’s Day, we’ll know if we’re still in the race for the League title or not.
Everton – away
Brentford – home
Man City – home (midweek)
Aston Villa – away
Leicester – away
Bournemouth – home
Europa League Cup
Fulham – away
Europa League Cup
Crystal Palace – home
A few tasty fixtures in that list above. April and May see us head to Anfield, St James’ Park and The Etihad but whilst they might appear to be the toughest fixtures, the most important in Arsenal’s season is always the next one which for now is Everton. A team which might just up their game after the appointment of new manager Sean Dyche. A new manager can have that affect. One thing history tells us is that a team coached by Dyche is often tough to break down and tough in general. Physically tough.
Arsenal needed to strengthen the squad last month and they did which is great but as many of us have said, keeping certain players is also important, perhaps even more so. Sending Sambi Lokonga out on loan is much smarter than just selling him in my opinion because when he first arrived, he looked pretty good but once Thomas Partey was fit and he dropped to the bench, his performances dropped whenever he was next required. Some players simply need to play to do well. How long was it before we were singing Thomas Partey’s praises? Half a season at Crystal Palace under Patrick Vieira could prove to be the making of him.
A few weeks ago, David Ornstein broke the news that Gabriel Martinelli had agreed a new long term deal with Arsenal. Yesterday, he went one step further by writing that the new contract has now been signed. Ornstein isn’t often wrong so this is great news. Hopefully he’ll soon be writing about William Saliba and Bukayo Saka agreeing a similar deal.
I saw the below on Twitter which I’ve nicked.
🗣️| Tomiyasu on Mikel Arteta: “He’s the best manager I’ve ever played with.” #afc pic.twitter.com/O38mKgXD7n
— Arsenal Buzz (@ArsenalBuzzCom) February 3, 2023
The full interview with Takehiro Tomiyasu is on Goal.com. If every player feels the way our Japanese defender does then happy days eh. Even Jorginho cited Mikel Arteta as one of the reasons he wanted to make the switch to Arsenal. Arsenal FC are and always will be bigger than any player or manager but, when the relationship between players, a manager and his team are as good as what I think it is right now, it’s a recipe for good things. Great things even.
Catch up in the comments.
Morning Rico and all,
If Kiwior manager meant what he said, then hopefully he may consider us for more of his top players in the future.
I am glad Lokonga is getting a second chance, I was hoping we would pick him up, but for some reason he has not taken that next step who knows why, hopefully it’s just lack of game time and confidents, hopefully Vieira can help him.
Good morning Rico.
I’m pleased that the squad are welcoming new members, if they’re happy to see new players then those new players will be happy to.
Arteta is steadily building his reputation as a manager and head of the family. After initial doubts, I think even the worst of the sports hacks are coming round to the idea that Arsenal have a top manager. One who could, in time, rival that French guy we had a few years back.
I think it will take Dyche more than a few days to instil some belief in the Everton squad and get them playing as a team rather than the collection of disillusioned misfits they appear at the moment.
Morning Geoff, Cicero.
Apparently Dyche has got his players to fill in a questionnaire about what they think has gone wrong… 😂
Root canal treatment is not very nice
https://www.arsenal.com/news/gabriel-martinelli-signs-new-long-term-contract
It’s official…
Mike Arteta wins another manager of the month award. Hard luck Unai
Deserved too.
Someone must like him , I bet Richard Keys didn’t get a vote .
Rico and team, kindly allow me to post this😂
There is never a dull moment im the social media space!!!. Came across this article about an incident where our new signing that is Jorginho supposedly got outran by a certain a match referee during past EPL match. What a fun moment 🤣.
https://talksport.com/football/1320138/jorginho-referee-sprint-video-arsenal-chelsea/
Ha ha, Keys detests him doesn’t he.
Kyalo, that’s an old one. Lol
I don’t think Arsenal have bought him for his pace. Gilberto wasn’t quick but he was intelligent and knew where to be and when. Hopefully Jorginho is the same.
Tomorrow’s referee David Coote of recent cup match against Oxford where we got fined for upsetting his sensibilities .
Doesn’t bode well.
Just writing that for tomorrow. He’s the worst in the league, closely followed by the Australian.
Sorry didn’t mean to spike your guns
You didn’t Potter, not at all.
Rico Thank you for rating the Ozzie ref so high, I was convinced he was the worst ref, but I must have been wrong again.
Our former striker Aubameyang is not a happy bunny at Chelsea, he didn’t even make the bench at last night’s 0 – 0 draw with Fulham and has been left out of Chelsea’s Champions League squad.
New post up n