Daily Bits and Bobs

It’s official. Don’t let emotion catch us out.

Posted on by rico

Morning all.

Unai Emery on how many players he hopes to sign before the end of the week…?

Nil or possibly two. Between nil and two. If they aren’t coming to help us like we want, then we would prefer them to not come. Two because we are looking at two different players who have the possibility to come here.

Arsenal.com

So there you have it. It’s official from Unai Emery. Nil or two players to sign within the next three days.

Why does it take Arsenal so long to get deals over the line? I’m sure the club identified who they want a while ago yet here we are with just three days to go and we’re still scrabbling around trying to get a couple of signings over the line. Also, if as Emery says he only wants players who will make a difference ‘now’ then we needed them at the beginning of the month, not the end.

But of course, signing players this month isn’t easy. I know that because Arsene Wenger told us many times and Unai Emery said the same during his press conference yesterday. About ten times! We’re not the only club though who are yet to make any signings this month so perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised we’re no different.

If Arsenal do manage to get two deals over the line, it’s not looking like either will be a defensive signings. Sokratis and Koscielny are ruled out of tonight’s match but both are expected to return in a couple of weeks and because of that, Emery has pretty much said that signing anyone else would leave us top heavy. In numbers maybe, but not in quality.

What Emery does next though is anyone’s guess. Hopefully we’ll see Mavropanos get his chance to prove he’s our here and now and not just the future. Medley could be in the squad too, just in case. Xhaka certainly isn’t the answer to our central defensive woes that’s for sure, or Monreal I’d have thought. Mavropanos and Medley might be young but at least central defence is their natural position.

There’s also the right back problem to deal with. You’d like to think we can cope with any one of our three alternative options against Cardiff but at the weekend when we travel to Man City, we’re going to have a big problem. Or at least it looks that way.

Cardiff are in the bottom three. Relegation looms unless they start winning and they’re dealing with the loss of Emiliano Sala who they’d signed for a record fee. Emotions will be high which if we’re not careful, could work against us.

This is it for us now, the league and hope by some miracle or luck elsewhere, we can secure a top four and Europa of course. I’d say the latter is more likely but even that seems out of our reach unless something seriously improves in the way we play.

Two attacking players might help our goal scoring figures but they’re not going to help the way in which we defend. But as I suggested a couple of days ago, perhaps the aim is to simply out score the opposition.

Three points for the home team tonight surely….

rico

41 thoughts on “It’s official. Don’t let emotion catch us out.”

  1. scottfromoz says:

    Morning Rico,
    The enigma that is Arsenal transfer dealings continues 🙂
    I used to hate it when people said it, but now I’ve fallen into the “wait until it appears on Arsenal.com” line lol
    I have to say that if we aren’t looking at defenders, and it appears we aren’t, a top class winger is something that would really help our strikers so maybe the theory of winning 5-4 may come to fruition for us lol

  3. Cicero says:

    Good morning Rico, good morning Scott.

    I would like to see at least one of Mavropanos and Medley start this evening, but if Emery doesn’t trust them or they don’t measure up, don’t be surprised to see Cahill in an Arsenal shirt by Thursday.

  4. scottfromoz says:

    As he should, Rico.
    Poor bugger deserves to build his own side over time, no question.
    The new shirt deal will help.

  5. scottfromoz says:

    Hi Cicero,
    I was dead against getting Cahill-mainly because of what he’s done to a few of our lads over the years-but I’ve come around to the belief we are bloody desperate for a proven CB and we need them now.

  6. potter says:

    If Cahill turns up , then Chelsea know something that we don’t. If he should be likely to be useful to us it would be stupid of Chelsea to help us improve to better them in the quest for the holy grail of Champions league. I would ask why he is not getting game time , could it be just because they have better and the manager doesn’t fancy him or perhaps he is carrying an injury ? If they string it out to the last minute there is more chance of a desperation signing with less stringent medical checks . As I get older the more cynical I get personally it’s a no for me.

  9. allezkev says:

    Afternoon Gooners
    Afternoon Rico

    I see that Barcelona are blaming Raul for the final breakdown in the deal for Suarez but it all sounds like BS to me as they find that they can’t unload a player they no longer want onto us.
    Good to see Raul playing hardball…

    Seems that Raul is determined not to spend what we can’t afford and save his finance for next summer. The last thing we need is another player that we don’t want long term on a big salary.

    Gary Cahill? Not for me, maybe on a 6 month loan but certainly not a permanent deal, he’s been good but not anymore. I thought he was going to Fulham anyway? What happened there? Could it possible be the finance required to sign him? Let Chelsea pay his wages while he sits in the stands, they can afford it, we can’t….

    As it stands we have options for centre back, not great options but no worse than Cahill.
    Mavropanos has his opportunity now to show what he can do, hopefully he’ll be as effective as Holding, but we’ll never know if he doesn’t play.

    Pleguezuelo is a tidy player who can come in and do a job, if he was 6” taller I think he’d have had more games, maybe one for BATE Borisov where the ball will stay on the pitch more.

    I’d like to see Medley on the bench for tonight’s game, try easing him into things in games like Cardiff and the like. Again, he needs the chance to play, who knows, he might turn out to be another Bellerin and save us a big fee for some La Liga wonderboy?

    I don’t want to see Lichtsteiner in the middle, play him right back or don’t play him.

    Not sure what’s happened to Monreal, but I’ll be surprised if he’s still an Arsenal player next season.

    AMN at right back again this evening I guess, although I wouldn’t mind giving Jenkinson a go, see if he’s improved under the coaching of Emery enough to be seriously considered.
    Carl isn’t great but he isn’t as bad as some say he is…

    I bet that there’s going to be a shed load of empty seats in the stadium tonight.
    I hope it doesn’t panic the club into doing some stupid last minute transfer business.
    Act in haste repent in leisure…

  11. potter says:

    Denis Suárez renueva hasta 2021 y se marcha cedido al Arsenal

    Los dos clubs están negociando los detalles, pero el acuerdo se firmará en las próximas horas

    El Mundo deportivo 29/1/19 @ 14.25 horas.

    Roughly translated :- He has signed a new contract with Barca until 2021 but is coming to us on loan until the end of the season. To be announced later today.
    The article goes on to say that the option to buy is there but not mandatory. However he has signed a 1 year extension to prevent an end of contract walk off .

  14. Le Coq Monster says:

    Evening all and thanks Rico.

    I`ve never I used ……………“wait until it appears on Arsenal.com”…………………….I prefer some thing more concrete like wait until Ornstein speaks ! 🙂

    Has anyone actually seen Medley play ?………………………people keep going on about him, but I`ve not only not seen him play, but haven`t even read anything about him in reports apart from his adulation on here !
    😆

    Think even with all our injuries in defence we should beat Cardiff quite easily, they too have injuries with one of them probably being at the bottom of the English Chanel !

  16. scottfromoz says:

    Morning all.
    Sala has been included in the Cardiff squad in the match day program.
    We may get plenty wrong, but no club shows class and respect like the Arsenal.

  20. Le Coq Monster says:

    Wasn`t meant to mock, Rico, as I have no idea about him……………shows how much I`ve been watching if he`s played in EL !………………………by your words he sounds good potential !…………………………as young as he is surely he`s better than Xhaka at CB !

  22. rico says:

    I didn’t think you were Lc, I just answered your question. I know he’s young and there’s a risk playing him but what have we got to lose…

  23. potter says:

    By conversation :- One day after the announcement that our head groundsman has resigned we announce that Rugby League is to played at the stadium in the 2021 world cup.

    Coincidence ???

  29. Wavy says:

    JM, that’s 3 more than our last game! Must be warming to see such exciting forward play! Hahahaha……….

    1-0 to the Arsenal then, if we’re being so mean with our attempts on goal😂

  34. Joaquim Moreira says:

    I have doubts in 2 plays in our penalty area.
    Once again what jumps in sight: Liechteiner and Ozil have no rhythm to this competitive level.
    Another penalty to United. No comments

  39. Adam says:

    Terrible news about James Ingram. I heard him on the radio in the car just the other day. RIP.
    Me too Rico. The first half was really barrel-scraping stuff.

  40. potter says:

    We’ve got white stuff and the consequential traffic foul ups .All good fun.

    We scraped home last night making Cardiff look almost respectable in the process. What ever happened to driving at teams and puitting them on the back foot. ?

    It comes to something when we have to bring on Iwobi to run at defenders , Ozil I am afraid was slowing things down as his first touch usually encompasses a turn either one way or back on himself and the player looking for the return pass has to come back from an offside position .

    We have two consumate finishers both quality goalscorers for crying out loud give them the ball where they can hurt.

  41. rico says:

    Agree on Ozil, he does our attacking play no good whatsoever imo.

    Same here re the snow. Just taken over an hour to complete what normally takes twenty five mins…

    New post up now.

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