Morning all.
His name is Mylo he said, my wife wouldn’t let him be called Bukayo, he added as I approached the man and his beautiful Beagle pup who I then found out was just 17 weeks old. His Arsenal logo’d top he was wearing gave him away. “What do you think of Thomas Partey at right back” I asked. “Ridiculous” was his swift reply. As his pup continued to mooch about, we talked more about Arsenal and at the end agreed, go back to what served us best last season, Ramsdale, White, Saliba, Gabriel and Zinchenko – especially for this weekend’s fixture against Manchester United.
If I had a pound for every time I’ve read ‘if only we had a midfield pairing similar to that of Vieira and Petit” I’d be living in a beachfront bungalow somewhere in Dorset. Perhaps even next door to old ‘Arry in millionaire row. Thomas Partey and Declan Rice are in my opinion, the closest midfield pairing Arsenal have had since that French dynamic duo yet we’re being deprived of seeing it.
Oleksandr Zinchenko was asked if Thomas Partey is better than Casemiro, he replied:
Listen, I don’t want to say something bad, he’s absolutely a world-class player as well, Casemiro, five Champions Leagues. But for me, if you wanted me to choose one, it would be Partey. I had the debate in my head, who is the best holding midfielder I have ever played with. It was between Fernandinho, Rodri and Partey. It’s a tough one. I watched Fernandinho when he was at Shakhtar and he helped me so much. I love him like an older brother, but Thomas Partey… I don’t know.
When pushed for who is the best, he chose his current teammate and advised Rio Ferdinand to watch him train to see why.
The debate about who is the best in the league could rumble on for years but it’ll never be definitive in my opinion because any player is only as good as what he does for the team he plays for in the moment. How important he is for them which in the case of those Zinchenko talks about, they are crucial. Take a player like Rob Holding who I think we’d all agree, isn’t right for the way Arsenal play but put him in a team which plays a different way, I’m pretty sure he’ll be a great asset. Mesut Ozil was brilliant for Real Madrid, Pepe the same at Lille and for those two examples, hundreds more could follow.
Mikel Arteta has been at Arsenal nearly four years now and under his management, the club has spent around £600 million, yet here we are, playing round pegs in square holes, something which Arsene Wenger was lambasted for doing. Ok, it’s 2023 so it suddenly makes sense? No, not to me either.
So, we drew Brentford in the League Cup at their place on 26th September (TBC). Last season, Mikel Arteta fielded a pretty strong team in both of the domestic cups but with the Champions League group fixtures kicking off this month too, I think we can expect to see more rotation throughout this EFL Cup campaign, assuming we don’t get knocked out at the first stage.
The draw is good for the so called lesser clubs because a number of Premiership clubs have been drawn against each other.
Aston Villa v Everton
Manchester United v Crystal Palace
Brentford v Arsenal
Chelsea v Brighton
Newcastle Utd v Man City
Liverpool v Leicester (tough one for Klopp’s team)
The Champions League draw took place yesterday.
The groups are:
Group A: Bayern Munich, Manchester United, FC Copenhagen, Galatasaray
Group B: Sevilla, Arsenal, PSV Eindhoven, RC Lens
Group C: Napoli, Real Madrid, Braga, Union Berlin
Group D: Benfica, Inter Milan, FC Salzburg, Real Sociedad
Group E: Feyenoord, Atletico Madrid, Lazio, Celtic
Group F: Paris Saint-Germain, Borussia Dortmund, AC Milan, Newcastle Utd
Group G: Manchester City, RB Leipzig, Red Star Belgrade, Young Boys
Group H: Barcelona, FC Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Royal Antwerp
Champions League fixture dates are as follows:
Matchday 1: 19/20 September 2023
Matchday 2: 3/4 October 2023
Matchday 3: 24/25 October 2023
Matchday 4: 7/8 November 2023
Matchday 5: 28/29 November 2023
Matchday 6: 12/13 December 2023
I imagine Barca, Man City and probably Arsenal too are reasonably happy but the rest of the groups are tough. Fancy Arsenal being lumped in with PSV again. Newcastle’s group is a stinker.
Today is deadline day and I’ve no idea if Arsenal will be signing anyone or not. Pepe, Cedric Tavares and Holding are expected to move, with the latter two seemingly close to a deal with a new club. Tavares a left back, Pepe a goal scorer – if only eh, if only. But as a club, we’ve moved on.
I’ve waffled long enough.
Hi Rico, good post. I agree, the experiment of playing Partey at right back has not proved beneficial to the team. So let’s put him where he plays best, in midfield. Sometimes tinkering, even at this stage of the season, can cost you later.
Hi Marinello – too much tinkering does little good at all. Havertz playing isn’t really working well either.
Palace and Luton want Rob Holding.
So do Sevilla apparently , in our Champions league group
Sky Sports
Nuno Tavares has joined Nottingham Forest on loan from Arsenal.
The defender completed a medical on Thursday night and a full agreement was reached over a £2m loan fee with a £12m option to buy.
I just hope he goes so he can get playing again.
Hi Rico
Artetta is using a system where one fullback moves into midfield when we have the ball, if Zinchenko starts he will do that job and Ben White will start at right back.
It’s lucky Arsenal with the CL draw. Seville are in disarray and will probably sack their manager on Monday. They are bottom of La Liga with no points and play away at Athletico Madrid on Sunday, and they won their last match 7-0.
Looking forward to Sunday 🙂
Hi Brian, but is the system working?
Rico
It works when Volodymyrovych plays. It’s not the system that’s wrong, it’s the fact we have been suffering from Third-goal-phobia. We play great, score two goals, then somehow never manage to get the third to pet the game away. It was the same at the end of last season.
Volodymyrovych Brian?
I’m not convinced it’s a mental thing.
Lurton may be interested in Lokonga
I think it might be , all those years getting stuffed at Everton have had their affect. When we get 2 ahead he seems to get all protective and drops back , brings on defenders and hands the .initiative to the other team .
Our bombing on full backs get to the halfway line and stop and pass inside or back and we flood the midfield and abandon the wings where we do so much damage.
A two goal lead is never enough because if you give one away , it’s the Alamo for the rest of the game .
Surely though, the past is long gone and we have a different group of players. The mindset, tactics, etc etc, sure comes from the manager? It did when Wenger and Emery were at the club.. #justsayin….
£150m bid for Salah rejected? Wow, Liverpool must be bonkers if true.
Holding to Palace, £4 million.
Mikel Arteta
On tactical changes this season…
I think we discuss formations in a different way. In the other game, there were 36 different formations in the match, against Manchester City there were 43, so I don’t know what formation you’re talking about. For me, it’s something very different.
On why he’s changed the defence this season…
The personnel is different. We played differently against Manchester City and there were 43 different structures in different phases. Every morning I come from my house to Colney, sometimes I leave at six and I need to wipe the windscreen because it’s icy and at six o’clock normally I go down one road because it’s faster, now it’s 20 miles an hour, so sometimes I take a back road and then I go on the M25, but depending on if it’s a school ride, then I take one exit, if it’s after seven o’clock I take a different exit. One day I have a flat tyre and what do you do? You have to replace it and take a different road because the garage is there, so every game is a different story.
Arteta relies on the players he has, with a shortage of lateral defenders, a midfield that is not very solid due to the circumstances and a lack of a central striker. Let’s hope that, contrary to what is customary, we will not be trying to overcome weaknesses in January. I hope not and we can achieve our objectives with this squad. However, as someone said, “Judge me in the end.”
At least Arteta is aware of the fans disgruntlement, but I suspect that he is too stubborn to acknowledge that putting square pegs in round holes is a recipe for disaster. Wenger was a stubborn man and that didn’t end well.
All it takes is an injury or two Jm and we’re back to square one.
Agreed Cicero.
I’m disappointed in the way this transfer window has turned out. Started well but now only Liverpool have signed less players than us. Plus, we’ve let a few good players go.
Okonkwo gone then. Wrexham on loan for a season and then out of contract.
Holding – Palace
Lokonga on loan to Luton
At only £4 million Palace have got a bargain in Rob Holding. I’m sorry to see him go.😕
Omar Rekik to Wigan on loan.
Apparently Rob Holding was the last player left from the 2020 FA Cup line up,Eddie was on the bench.
Some turnover.
Elneny must be the longest serving player left,I think Arteta likes him though.
The only Arsene Wenger signing left too I think Limey. I’m pleased for Holding although I hope he’s awful when he returns to the Emirates. Lol
New post up.