Morning all.
Mikel Arteta dished up a few team selection surprises for our trip to Man City with Willock and Nketiah preferred to the more experienced Lacazette and Ceballos. Mari was picked ahead of Luiz too.
I thought we started really well but then Granit Xhaka twisted his ankle. Off he went and on came Ceballos. The game remained pretty even with a few half chances for Arsenal and Leno stopping anything heading towards his goal. Mari was the next to suffer injury and soon followed Xhaka down the tunnel. A miserable night for both. Then in a flash, everything changed. On came Luiz and one of the first things he did was gift City their opener with a mistake. If it was tempting to forgive him, all forgiveness went right out of the window when he tugged down Mahrez and conceded a penalty. Taylor had little choice but to send him off.
Mikel Arteta and Arsenal Football Club are left with a simple decision to make. Bye bye David Luiz. Any chance of salvaging something from the game was gone the moment Luiz made his decision to lay a hand on Mahrez. Watch his eyes, he had no intention of doing anything other than tugging the City player over. If I was a cynic, I’d say his actions were deliberate, a big ‘f**k you Arteta, that’s for dropping me, that’s for not giving me another year.’
This is what you get from players with big egos, players who think they are better than the rest, players who think they are too good to be ‘dropped.’ Something I’d expect from Ozil, who interestingly didn’t even make the squad, but I thought Luiz was better than that. I thought he’d responded well since Arteta arrived. Clearly his contract issue has become just that, an issue. Well, not anymore I hope. The option to retain him for another season which according to Sky Sports, we have, shouldn’t be activated. If Ozil had a strop after being told he wasn’t started, tell him to find another club.
I think Aubameyang was dreadful too. Totally ineffective. Whilst Eddie was making good runs and finding space for Saka to play the ball into, our captain, yes, our captain did sod all. This was our first game back, a big game, a chance to get something at the Etihad, yet he was nowhere to be seen. Drop him and sell him. Tell him there’ll be no £300k a week contract for him. Lacazette is another who I wouldn’t shed a tear over if he was sold. Another who was really poor after coming on from the bench.
Interestingly, when Man City had a player on the ground for ten minutes, Ceballos was showing concern for him alongside other City players, Aubameyang was somewhere on his own, Lacazette was busy having a chat with Mendy (I think) whereas the younger players were having a kick about together, keeping warm, keeping focus. Doesn’t that say a lot?
I don’t care about the result, not this morning. What truly matters now is how Mikel Arteta reacts to what he and we all witnessed. He has bad apples in his squad and they need throwing away. If that means losing money on them in transfer fees, so be it because as sure as eggs are eggs, they’ll cost us a lot more if they stay.
Lastly, well played Bernd Leno who I thought was excellent and it was great to see Kieran Tierney back too.
Over to you guys…
Good morning Rico and everyone, Arteta needs to get his team up and running, he needs to clear up all the mistakes in this team cos we have too many of them. He should just get rid of sokratis, mustafi, Luis, auba(body language suggests we wants to leave), ozil, one of holding/chambers..
He needs to get his act together for next season and he needs to do that fast. Of course the management need to support him.
Morning Mexzy, all.
Edu is clearly right behind Mikel Arteta, he said so just a day ago and the two together are already planning the future it seems. They need financial backing from the Kroenke family of course but I think we still have a problem with our wage bill which means sales are needed.
No doubt we’ll all have our ‘for sale’ list but the most important one is Mikel’s.
Morning Rico and all. The details are unimportant to me this morning. Last night was an unmitigated disaster. I’ll leave who must go and who must stay to Mikel. Our injury problems not withstanding, Man City made Arsenal look like mugs yesterday as they have so many times before. Who knows what the financial situation is and just how far the Kroenke’s are prepared to go? But that team, that squad, looked disjointed, low on quality and very bitty to me from before kick-off. This whole COVID thing has compressed the end of the season Into a few weeks and the ins and outs into a small window that is playing out right now. Anger, resentment and dissatisfaction are never going to win anything. Either back Arteta properly or sell the bloody club to someone who will. Another season of this nonsense doesn’t bear thinking about.
Morning all.
If we are relying on Stan to save us, we are doomed but then, it’s been that way for a long, long time imo.
No, we need some miracle work by our scouts, negotiators and Arteta.
Morning Adam.
I think David Luiz made Arsenal look like mugs more than City last night. We all have our thoughts on the squad, individuals etc but what stood out for me was what happens when we suffer injuries. For Xhaka, love or loathe him, we had no replacement, same with Mari although I didn’t think for one minute that Luiz would be quite as bad even though I know he’s prone to make costly errors.
Seriously disappointed in Aubameyang and Lacazette too.
Imo, the club needs a big clear out before it starts adding to this squad. Personally I don’t think some of these players were good enough under Wenger or Emery and I don’t think they’ll do Mikel any favours either.
Rico. I agree that a clear-out would be great but the next bit is going to need the active participation of the owners. Watching Rodri and Aguero coming on late to play out the minutes was sobering. Quite why our players seem to exist in this hotbed of discontent with their contracts and their futures must be, to some extent, that they don’t believe in where the club is going or some over inflated opinion as to their quality and worth.
I never felt remotely confident that we would get anything from that game myself but Luiz was shocking I agree.
Morning all and thanks Rico.
I knew as soon as I turned on SS this morning that I would see MC scoring, we need someone else to lose badly before they stop showing it!
Although through seeing the highlights, I can tell that it was all going to go wrong as soon as I saw the Arsenal end empty seats start booing when Luiz came on as Arsenal empty seats know the stuff!.
It made me ask some searching questions though…………….
1) Has Ozil been furloughed?
2) Will Hector the Vector ever get to plant 3000 trees?
3) Will Mikel get help from his Mysterons?
4) How many lightbulbs does it take to change David Luiz?
5) Who put the smile on my cardboard cut out wifes face?
Morning Rico and All
No surprises for me last night other than the starting eleven
Surely we all know who’s who with this lot.
I thought the run out against Brentford when Micky chopped
and changed the players around showed we were well
Off course.
We were at the very least a yard off.
The Arab outfit after 20 minutes strolled around
We never got anywhere near them
The nutcracker lived up to her name..didn’t she
I wanna a new contract,I wannabe the main girl
Effing chav tosser My brother can’t stand her.
Experience counts for nothing with that attitude
Micky has to find some leadership on the pitch.
We may have to wait till he gets a few in now.
What about Pep lying about the fitness of his squad.
What about that rule of double treatment for pens
And sending offs….Still pissers me off That one.
Scott. We’re a self sustaining club and we have to accept that. This summer FFP is being relaxed apparently so we might see more money spent but if we don’t reduce our wage bill, I can see FFP coming down on us like a tonne of bricks one day.
Just my opinion of course.
Adam, I think we’ve signed the wrong players but hindsight is easy to work with. For sure, investment is needed, support in that department from the owners is paramount but, until we reduce our wages, which in a years time we will naturally, I think we’re snookered as far as signings go.
Mikki and Elneny should be gone this summer, Luiz too which will give the club some wriggle room but we really could do with losing the amount Ozil and Lacazette earn. Aubameyang too if I had my way.
We can hope the Kroenke family will invest all we like and trust me, I do but the buying might not be the isśue. Paying them is imo.
Morning Fred, I might be kidding myself but until Xhaka went off we were doing ok, then Mari was gone and the rest is history.
Weren’t Charlton and Brentford purely about everyone getting to stretch their legs? I didn’t read much into what happened in either of those games.
I had us down for a 3 – 1 loss on my predictor league so I was was not particularly surprised . It was inevitable as said last night that Sterling would score , nothing Arsenal likes more than to give a suffering player a little boost to their confidence .
It was interesting to see the original lineup , Mustafi over Luiz in the absence of Sokratis and it seems that Holding is way down the list . Willock was meant to be the engine in the middle but hardly featured along with Guendouzi just chasing shadows and Eddie the only bright spark up front .
Unfortunately it all went tits up within 20 minutes and had Taylor been as harsh on City as he was on Luiz when Eddie was manhandled as he went clear things might have been different .
It’s easy to point fingers at Luiz but really it was all over when first Xhaka was replaced and then Mari went off. I thought Ceballos was easy on the eye but the balance of the team was shattered albeit they managed to frustrate City for 45 minutes mainly due to Leno it has to be said .
Having said that it’s not to absolve Luiz from blame , his days with us are surely over but the acid test is what happens now with the next few games , how we set up and who he uses .
The run in to next season has started .
Rico, that’s why I say waiting for Stan to save us is a waste of time.
He won’t throw in and we can’t blame FFP for that, imo-he wouldn’t anyway.
Sell some of our “stars”, reduce the wage bill, buy some youngsters and build them up.
Show us a vision and fans will follow and support, imo, unless of course we see those players sold as soon as the right offer comes in, because then we are back to square one.
Ironically, every time I type Stan’s name in, I have to remove an A that my iPhone adds-I’m not joking 🙂 🙂
I know that generally he’s done ok, but yesterday must be about the 6th time that Aubameyang has played against Man City for Arsenal and every time he’s been total pants.
I know that he’s done it against Tottenham, but I can’t recall him scoring against Chelsea or Liverpool either, he’s played in two cup finals and been shit. So no, no big shiny new contract for Mr PEA…
Lacazette looked to me as if he couldn’t give a shit, that he was sulking, well if that’s the case we need to fcuk him off and pronto, that would be almost £400k per week we’d be saving…
RIP Dame Vera Lynn. What a wonderful lady she was.
But we were a self sustaining club long before Kroenke arrived Scott. At least I think we were.
I wasn’t surprised to see Mustafi start last night Potter, he’s done little wrong since Mikel arrived I think. I know people will think I’m mad but unless the club are intending to sign two top notch central defenders, I think he’d be one to keep.
The Kroenkes have spent but the legacy of the latter Wenger years is still hampering us financially and it will until Mesut, Miki, Elneny plus some of the existing squad etc have long gone. And, even then, unless we have the right manager, we might still struggle. Being a nice guy is really not anywhere near enough. It’s easy to blame them though but it diverts attention from the real issue that we just aren’t good enough to compete for the big prizes, by a long, long way. Look at some of the clubs above us. I do wonder how many of our squad are really invested in the club.
Yep. RIP Vera. Great lady and a meaningful life.
Agree Kev.
Absolutely Adam, he and Gazidis made some shocking signings and dished out a few terrible contract deals.
Rico, things have changed quite a lot in the last 10-15 years.
We just need to do better business.
We have no choice.
I’d also keep Mustafi as he’s been a totally different player since Arteta arrived.
Adam, I’ll stand by my opinion that Arteta is the right man for the job.
He needs to prove it, but he also needs the chance to.
This season has been something from out of this world lol
I’d say we will be looking at Xmas 2021 to really judge him fairly.
Our squad will be vastly different to what we see now, I’d say, and it needs to be 🙂
Hi Rico, Adam, Scott et al….
There are a lot of revisionists out there who tend to ignore the last few years under Arsene Wenger but that’s where the rot set in, under Arsene not under Emery or Ljungberg or now under Arteta.
Arsenal wanked away the advantage they had before the Petrodollar clubs got going, by trying to be too smart in the market. Meanwhile Ferguson was cute enough to adapt and still won titles whilst Wenger was too stubborn and we stagnated…
The lack of investment during the Kroenke/Usmanov era really killed us and now we’re so far behind it’ll take an investment of Saudi proportions to catch up.
Fenway showed it can be done, but Fenway are far smarter and more ambitious than KSE…
We can’t attract the really top top players anymore, they go to Chelsea and Man City.
Arsenal get the top players nobody else wants, and there’s a reason they don’t want them and that could be attitude, desire etc.
Aubameyang has had great moments for both Dortmund and Arsenal, but there’s reasons why at his peak he came to Arsenal and not Real or Barcelona, what did they see in him that we either didn’t or took a chance on?
There’s reasons why Giroud got into the French National team instead of Lacazette, maybe they we’re the reasons that Wenger was reluctant to sign him when he was a lot younger and only did it when his hand was forced?
Ozil is the legacy left us by Wenger and Gazides, I’m sick of him and I’m sick of his apologists, he is simply a bleeding sore at the heart of our club.
Hi Kev..got to disagree with you on the PEA.
Percentage playwise against the Aabs we hardly
ever see the the ball,thats what happens I
think when we say the good teams,
strikers have to be feed,our teams the ten
years or more are not good enough,now.
The PEA has scored 49 goals 03/02/2018..23/022020.
prolific in my opinion.We hav’nt the money to replace
that stat,just yet.
On last nights game he played left wing/midfield and
got back more than forward,reason we never had the
ball.
Just my opinion regarding him and Eddie,if he had been
central on that occasion,I think he would have got away
from that young defender.
Away from home I think he should play down the middle.
Even with all that cardboard about.
Kev,
I’ll still blame those above Wenger for allowing him so much power.
No top football club is run that way imo and yes, Wenger made a lot of errors, but he was allowed to.
Actually, he was forced to, because nobody else was capable if even trying to make a decision.
Honestly, show me any top club in any code that’s been run in such a way.
Scott, I would see little point in changing again, not all the time the squad remains similar to it has been for a while. Certainly for the last 4/5 seasons. Anyway, this is just the beginning for Arteta, and if money remains a struggle, he’ll need longer than three years. 😂
When we signed Ozil, Alexis, Auba and Lacazette, none of them were on the upward spiral.
They were as good as they were ever going to be.
Liverpool signed Suarez and Coutinho at the right time and that was the difference-the on sale value was there.
Not only that, but when they sold, they spent the money brilliantly.
Hi Kev. I wonder which, if either, of our last two managers demanded money from the board/owners? Reading Edu’s recent comments, it seems Arteta will get all the support he can possibly get. What the owners and our model will allow anyway.
But, it’s funny how after just one fixture after the restart, we’re talking about the players yet at the beginning of this season, and the end of last, Emery was to blame.
I’ll get my tin hat on….
Rico, your post was pretty damning of those same players, wasn’t it 🙂
Hi Rico and all We need to sort out our finance’s before we do any thing lets face it.
we can complain as much as we like about Ozil payments but if we can not afford to pay the players top money they will not stay in the players eye’s money comes first Trophies second
Alexis could have been sold for £60 million Scott, Ramsey £50 million but….
Prior to then though, I thought we made a few big money sales to City mainly but that was then. Since the really big money came in, we’ve spent big on ready made players which to be fair, fans were crying out for. Now though we’re paying the price.
Imo, it’s the wrong time to sell youth/younger players. Wait until the market has picked up and then get the kind of prices we should for them as long as they continue to improve.
Remove the high earners, then be smarter with who we sign. Younger players without an ego, players who Arteta can coach, not those who think there’s is nothing he can teach them.
Scott, more often than not, I’ve been critical of the same players I’m moaning about today. Barring Mustafi. 😂
Seriously, all I’m trying to say is that it’s easy to sack a manager but sometimes, perhaps it’s not he who needs sacking.
Rico, I don’t want us to sell any I’d the youngsters.
They’re our only chance of future success imo.
Keep them, sell the big guns and build something.
I can’t see another way
Rico, agreed, but Emery clearly showed he wasn’t the man for the job.
Couple of seasons ago I found myself watching
a lot of french games two players stood out to me,
Mbappe and Pepe…One def worldclass the other maybe?
we paid… broke our record I think 72mil…
Who at The Arsenal thought the same as me,that
Pepe would somehow replace Uber.
Maybe thats the reason why his contract dispute
has sort of drifted around in circles.
Fred,
Rico,
Everyone…….this is why I think we pulled the right reign when signing Saliba.
He’s young, has enormous potential, and could end up a brilliant signing for us.
Plenty of fans criticised it, suggesting we should buy a ready made CB, but really, what were we going to get for 25-30 million???
If we waited, and he improved as most thought he would, we couldn’t afford him.
Yes, it was a gamble-what signing isn’t though-but the upside is enormous for a relatively small outlay.
That’s the type of deal we need to be making.
Hi Rico… wasn’t worth the wait, was it?
Same mistakes from the usual suspects… we’re a million miles away from competing with the big boys… I don’t want to be that team that is there to just make the numbers up, but until we spend.. and spend big, nothing will change. and I hate to think how much further we’ll plummet!
Yes, I was a little surprised by a couple picked to start, but what can MA do? We have a bang average squad, bar 1 or 2. Look at our subs compared to theirs!! We can’t keep spending a few million on someone, hoping they’ll be our saviour, quality doesn’t come cheap… and we need to bring in some quality players, well that is if we can attract them, not hopeful of that right now!!
The injuries didn’t help.. not saying we’d have won if they’d stayed on, but at least we wouldn’t have had to witness that train wreck!! We never have any luck… and so much for fans on Twitter saying no fans in the stadiums will be an advantage for us!! We’re still waiting for an away win V a top 6 side… and I’m even more so worried about going to the Amex!! As much as this hurts to say… we’re just not that good anymore….
So gutted and disappointed..
And Le Coq, no trees will be planted any time soon 😂👍
Maybe Scott..Micky will blood him early as
GG done with Big Tone.
The trouble with us Gooners is we all want
and expect to be up top.
Arsene a few years ago thought he cracked it,
he dished out big contracts to our Englishmen,
you know Jackyboy,theoooo that lot,and paraded
them on every photo shoot going,as if he just
invented it..He called it the Core of our team.
We all knew Purple hooter had aready done that,
years before.
Arsene also come with The Little Guys FiveFooters
lot,as if he invented that.
We all knew that TippyTappy barca had already done that.
Like you said earlier Scott the mickymousers have got it
bang on.
My worry is we try to copy them,ie..Big signings.
How I see it with what I read,see and hear is we
are looking long term,and need experienced heads for now.
Fred, we must look long term imo, because we are years way from success.
Ditto scott re the younger players. I think they all need a full season at least of Arteta’s coaching.
Emery might have done better had he been able to learn English better than he did.
Fred, definitely not before we signed Pepe, because I’d seen very very little of him but since we signed him, yes. Absolutely.
Agree Scott, Saliba is exactly the kind of signing we should be making. Gabriel too. I’m not a fan of any old big name dropping in, or a player who costs multi millions just because.. The right player is more important than their name or price imo.
I agree with all that..But
Forgetting for a mo all that cardboard around the ground
Season ticket holders and corperate the smoke salmon and
fizzy drunks,will just stop going.
Don’t mean to bring it up once again,But
I was around in the days when we had gates of
under 10,000 fans trying to stump up some noise,
you would not believe some of the players we had
then..
To be realistic I think we would have to drop down to
achieve starting over again.
Just my humble opinion.
Hi Sue. Yes, it was worth the wait for me and I mean that. Had the season ended prematurely, it might have been tempting to think that Auba was still brilliant, Luiz had changed and Lacazette would soon be back in the team.
We top the table in most red cards, most yellow cards and joint top in most penalties conceded this season….. smh…..
We need to limp through to the end of the season, and have faith in Arteta.
We have no choice but to lol
Rico, let’s hope we can find a few more like those lads.
6-7 should do lol
Well I for one am proud of the way our players were not ignorant to the 2m social distancing rules!
Fair enough Fred, but he did have a chance and preceded to blast it miles over the bar, look mate I like him, but that’s what I liked about Alexis, he did it in the big games and against the big sides.
Maybe you’re right about playing him through the middle, but the last big game he ‘did it’ in was Valencia (a).
I’m not just picking on him Fred and yes he has a great scoring record, but, well, I guess I’m just just pissed off… ☹️
Just made myself one of these…………….delicious if I say so myself, if them women from SAGA and WI find out I`m a good cook too I will probably be abducted!
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/vegan-mug-cake
Scott, I don’t agree on Alexis, we could have sold him to Man City for £60m, he was still a top player, we overpaid for Lacazette because that’s how Lyon do their business, Ozil left Madrid because they signed Bale for £90m, Aubameyang had missed the boat as far as La Liga giants are concerned, next best was the EPL I suppose.;
Gotter be honest Kev
everytime I saw Auba I thought he was crap
thats true.
Went and watched a couple times live full 90,
was amazed at his work rate,not just the goals.
I’m dead against letting players go for peanuts
but at the moment,if some way can be found
to keep him without the Ozil million a month
I would try to keep him another season.
Kev have you read Wrighty and Michael Owens
thoughts on last nights game.
Kev, Alexis wanted out so we know how those situations play out but yes, we missed the boat a bit when we tried to keep him-we lost out.
Still, he wasn’t a kid we paid 15-20 million for.
That’s what we should be targeting imo.
Good afternoon all.
It’ was quite difficult to come to terms with the disappointment of last night’s performance but on refection perhaps our expectations were unreasonable.
Facing a side that has been demonstrably superior to us over the last couple of seasons, shouldn’t have given rise to any serious level of optimism on our part.
The injuries to Xhaka and Mari disrupted the side and led to the fielding of the disaster that is David Luiz the rest as they say was history, as are our hopes of Champions League football next season.
I think that we will have to win the FA Cup to get into the Europa League.
I watched the first half with the benefit (?) of the dubbed crowd noise and the second half, more enjoyably, without it.
A successfull season will be imho………………
No1………….The priority…….Winning The Arsenal FA Cup
No2………….ManU not winning The Arsenal FA Cup, otherwise we will have to share it!
No3………….A St.Totteringham Day.
Hey Girls!…………………..you watching Love Island Australia?…………………lots of binging on other stuff in lockdown, but I have missed watching a programme where personallity goes out the window and only body and looks count, I haven`t seen so much shallowness since I last looked in the mirror! hahaha
Hi Geoff, sorry, I missed you earlier.
Agree re Alexis Kev, big game player. Even Walcott was a bigger big game player than some of our current crop. Certainly the experienced ones.
I saw a bit of Wrighty and Owen on You Tube Fred, they were quite scathing about Luiz…
Now imagine Fred if Holding isn’t fit for Brighton, what’s the options?
Mari, Luiz and Sokratis are unavailable so what does Arteta do at centre back?
Tierney alongside Mustafi with Kolasinac at left back?
Or
Medley alongside Mustafi?
Don’t have nightmares…. 😄
Yeah, Theo scored in a couple of cup finals Rico, even Henry didn’t manage that…
Or for that matter Bergkamp, not for Arsenal anyway…
rico, it’s a bit like throwing apples into the orchard only the Afc orchard is already full lol.
I think yesterday was a taste of the new normal for us Gooners sadly.
Ornstein reckons a new Saka contract is close, but also says, you never know!
Weird thing is, when reading the post headline this morning, my son walked past the window carrying 2 apple trees he had just bought………………….£13 each…………..one was a Worcester Pearmain and the other ?………………………my apple trees have gone mad this year fruiting!………….delishhhh!
Ramsey was another I think Kev, must have be3n their Southampton upbringing. 😂
I’m not convinced it is Micko, we knew things wouldn’t improve overnight.
Ha ha re the orchard.
Mari out for season….
The rest of this one or next?
David Ornstein
@David_Ornstein
· 3h
Arsenal have lost Pablo Mari for rest of season with serious ankle ligament/tendon injury suffered in defeat at Man City, may need surgery. Granit Xhaka also picked up an ankle problem but may return before campaign ends. Rob Holding in contention for Brighton @TheAthleticUK #AFC
It’s possible that he might not be fit for next season Rico…
a) We lost 4 players for the next game and two for the entire season.
b) We have many consecutive games, which can bring more complications
c) Luiz did not leave Chelsea because he was excellent or an example at PSG. I already knew him from Benfica (he was much younger), he played as he played, but as he was from Benfica, everything was allowed
d) It is obvious that we have to dismiss several players
e) Today, Sporting renewed the contract with an 18 year old (made today) for another four years with a clause of 45 million for anyone who wants to buy it.
Here’s a bit of news to cheer up Silent Stan, Uefa have suspended FFP rules across European football.
FFP break even assessments for 2020 will be postponed for 12 months.
So, hopefully, Stan can dig deep and provide some much needed dosh.
Morning Cicero,
No chance 🙂 🙂
I reckon he will release more funds, as long as the squad is chopped too.
Morning chaps.
New post up.