Morning all.
Last night was a huge disappointment for England and it’s fans. A place in the final could have been theirs, perhaps should have been theirs had they been able to convert the chances which presented themselves in the first half. The worst miss was possibly from Harry Kane who had a glorious opportunity to make it 2-0 but he got his header so badly wrong. Stones saw a cracking header saved by the Croatian goal keeper, more chances were spurned to, especially in the first half when England looked strong. The second half saw Croatia draw level after England’s defending looked a bit disorganised and in extra time, that same defence went to sleep at the wrong moment. 2-1 and England are out. Imo, the occasion got to them as a number of players, mostly from the other side of north London, failed to impress. Croatia were the first really tough test, too tough as it turned out. One last match to play for them although I’d imagine those who’ve yet to get much, if any playing time in Russia this summer, will play in that one.
I wonder why the World Cup has a third place playoff though, after all, what does it really mean? Apart from those commenting on the next big international tournament, will the match ever be referred to again? Probably not. No one really cares about who came third, winning is all that really counts. I get in in other competitions like F1, Olympics etc as either points or a bronze medal are awarded but you won’t see a third/fourth place playoff at Wimbledon this weekend, just the four finals. You don’t see it in European football competitions either. I think it’s just another ninety minutes of football in the heat which no player really needs. They should be allowed home, or to jet off on their holidays before returning to their club in order to prepare for the coming season.
Back to Arsenal and all things more positive which I think it is. Look at what’s been done by the recruitment team already and there’s still around three weeks of this transfer window left to go.
Already signed are:
| Matteo Guendouzi | Lorient | £8.0m |
| Bernd Leno | Unassigned Players | Undisclosed |
| Stephan Lichtsteiner | Juventus | Free |
| Sokratis Papastathopoulos | Borussia Dortmund | Undisclosed |
| Lucas Torreira | Sampdoria | Undisclosed |
One German international goalkeeper, two defence minded midfielders, one experienced international right back and a vastly experienced centre back all snapped up during a World Cup summer, something we’ve often been told it’s very difficult to do. More than three signings too, surely that’s just not on!
I jest of course. Needs must and this Arsenal squad had plenty of needs and most were either in midfield and defence. Unai Emery has addressed that now. There might be one more central defender signed, certainly If Mustafi is sold or Chambers/Holding/Mavropanos go out on loan. Experience is still a bit short at the back right now imo, but if the midfield proves to be strong, the less pressure our defence will face. The general consensus seems to be we’re missing a wide player, one with real pace who can seriously trouble defenders. There’s time to sign one, but there’s also time to see if Perez and Nelson can solve that problem.
Pre-season kicks off this weekend at Boreham Wood and Emery plans to taking a strong squad on the short trip. His philosophy is to treat young and older players the same. They train together, sit together and lunch together which I think is how it should be. Separation can create a divide but take away their wages, they all want the same. No, not for lunch but for Arsenal. They want to be playing for the club, winning matches and winning trophies so the more they mix, the better they get to know each other and strong relationships off the pitch transfer onto the pitch. A divide conquers nothing in sport.
Have a good Thursday guys, check out the clips of the boys in training on the official Arsenal website, don’t they all look happy?
Can’t wait for the new season to kick off! COYG! Bring back the smiles. We long suffering Gooners are due for a change! Boy, we need it!
Not long now Ogban.
I like the way he’s securing up the weak side of this Arsenal squad. All those he’s signed seem to have a bit about them, certainly from the clips found on the internet. Hats off to Guendouzi too, signed one minute, trained the next as if he’d been at the club for yonks.
Morning rico, all.
Just looked at that training video and pictures, nice.
Is it my imagination, or do Arsenal seem to be a bit more ‘open’, communicating what they are doing to fans, showing the video drills etc? A bit like England achieved this time. Maybe a new era now someone who controlled too much is gone?
Its going to be a great season, I’m not expecting much asides finishing in the top 4 or winning the Europa league but this is the first time in a long time I’m actually on the edge of my seat before a new season commences. Hopefully this present crop of players won’t throw in the towel so easily. I’m I the only one not comfortable still seeing mustafi in arsenal?
Howdy Rico what amazes me is how bulked up chambers, Eddie and the Jeff looks in dem pictures. Wow the intensity must be new to them all. You could already tell the dressing room ‘ll be a different place this season. Lots of seasoned pros in one spot can only be good for us. For the first time in eons I won’t be looking forward to the season in trepidation. Plus one we know our season won’t be over by November 😉😉😉 am in love with the arsenal again. Bring on the EPL. Come you rip roaring reds.
Word on the street is we ‘re not even done yet. We are apparently chasing a marquee signing. One that ‘ll blow us all out of the water. Keep your fingers crossed people. It’s going to be a great season. One thing is for sure Raul and sven didn’t join for us to make up the numbers. Do i dare dream??? Dembele??? 😉😉😉😉
Goonster, Dumbell from the Spuds? Yer ‘avin a larf!
Nah bro dembouz from barca. It’s written in the stars mate. Sven to make it happen.😁
Hi Andrew, Goonster.
Good PR Andrew, the club probably now they’ve got a lot of work to do getting the fans back, little do they know though that just changing manager has possibly done that already..
Afternoon all
Happy with what we’ve got, so far! More quality to come, bring it on!
Before the window slams shut there surely have to be a number of leavers. Who and how many that will be only Dick will know. So far we’ve only lost Wilshere……I’m sure there are plenty of Championship clubs who would want our cast offs, plenty!
Sun has just arrived here. Another sizzling afternoon.
So far Arsenal has spent approximately 55m on players. Last year we bid 90m for Lamer n later bought Aub for about 54m. That’s roughly 110m spent.
If Goonster @ 12:12 is true, which I have heard also, then that 200m in the bank that we have heard for years that AW was sitting on is becoming believable.
I don’t think the club have finished either yet Wavy.
Only £30 million really though Obi as as the £90 million was including the £60 we’d planned on getting for Alexis. Don’t forget Kroenke is tight, or so it’s been said… lol
Despite what people would like , we are not in the £ 100 million purchase group . We never have been and probably will not until the artificially financed clubs have upped the ante even further.
Ekmery appears to be cutting his cloth to get a wide range of changes to bolster a squad that on the surface is stronger than it has been for a few years. Our problem has been not so much poor players but a lack of direction . If he can rectify this then a natural changeover of players can take place over time.
Remember that Emery has been given 2 years with an extra one depending on performance , so he has to get a team up and running quickly.
His target is top four so that the gravy train can come back to the coffers then perhaps we will see more mega purchases at Alexis and Ozil’ s price range but Mbappe / Ronaldo / Messi will always be out of our reach .
Whether it’s Kroenke or Gazidis or the board or the manager the club does not play championship manager and lives within a budget that it can afford.
Rico, really? I thought the Lemar bid came as Alexis was heading out for a rumored 40m. At anyrate I think Potter is right about not buying the 100m players, but I think the players in the 50-60m range are those you build a team with along with those with good work rate, 20m and above. If this Arsenal team for instance get a quality fast pace winger like, Costa, Suso, Guedes or Lozano, it will be a very competitive team.
Afternoon all and thank you Rico.
Pissed off with last night, the draw opened up for us(England) and we blew it, Adams was right, the Spuds choked !……………………………Last tournament beaten by Iceland and this one by Croatia, a country of 4 million…………………..half of Wenger`s last salary !.
Excited for new season even though I personally am not going mad over new signings as none are marquee so all that remains is whether Dick can get the better out of some already talented players than Wenger did !……………………….I dont think he can do any worse than Wenger`s last season, but will it be good enough for CL or trophy ………who knows?
One thing is for sure, if Mansour City had had a season like we had last season they would be spending something astronomical to rectify it !
Going back to England, I dont get al this…..”it will be a great tournament if we get to the quarters “……………….as professionals they enter the WC planning on winning it !…………………….transfer that to the EPL !………………………Mansour City expect to win it………………………….Arsenal ?……………………………the management should expect the same, but some how I doubt it…………………………Kroenke will be happy as long as we are self sustainable and stay in EPL, ……………………………………as he has previously said !
Kroenke will be happy as long as we are self sustainable and get back into the Champions league .
That’s Emery’s brief . He has two years to do it.
I think so Obi, but I do agree re not signing the £100m players, certainly not right now but as others have already said, not every great player costs that much. We could have afforded most the players City, Utd and even Liverpool signed last summer but Wenger chose not to.
He’s also he wants the club to win trophies Lc.
Well, as expected, Roman has fired Conte. Met Conte’s demand that he must be paid in full for the remaining year.
That club is a circus.
Just a reminder for Saturday !………………………you have a choice of watching probably some more choking spuds Vs Belgium or……………………………..
https://www.arsenal.com/news/watch-unai-emerys-first-game-live-on-arsenalcom
Rico.
First and foremost Kroenke wants Arsenal to be self sufficient………….if they make a profit even better……………so even though they have no chance of winning CL Kroenke would rather we get top 4 rather than say win the FA Cup !……………………so trophies are not the priority as he once said !…………………………….personally I`d rather win FA Cup than get top 4 !………………………..explains why I was so angry at Wenger`s team selection against Forest !
In your opinion though Lc… 😀
Come on Rico I`m almost Ornsteinesque in my opinions …… 😆
And you know what I think of him Lc.. 😉
New post up.