Morning all.
He’s our manager, he lives on the pitch with us. He lives every ball with us and when you have that and you see what he transmits from the sidelines to the pitch, it gives you so much confidence as a player. We’re really grateful we have him as our manager. – Declan Rice
Take that Celebration Police!
Jorginho, Mo Elneny, Cedric Soares and Karl Hein – all are out of contract this summer. The following summer, Thomas Partey and Takehiro Tomiyasu will be out of contract too although reports suggest Tomiyasu has agreed his new deal.
For Thomas Partey, I feel this really is the end of his Arsenal career. Not his fault that injuries have caught up with him but as a club, Arsenal simply cannot afford to pay a player who simply isn’t available for the majority of the season. Especially when that player is not only a huge player on the pitch but one of the clubs highest paid too. I’m not sure we’ll see him play again this season, let alone next in the colours of Arsenal.
Jorginho is a conundrum really because yes, he was brilliant against Liverpool and he has experience as well as calmness in his game but at 33 years old, which he will be in December, would it make sense to offer him another year? I think so, especially as Elneny is likely to go. It’s Partey who needs replacing first and foremost in my opinion. A fully fit Partey in a week, two or three time would be a huge boost to the squad but what Arsenal really need is a fully fit and firing player in May. On the last day of the season so that another club will think he’s a risk signing but one worth taking.
No idea what the club will do about Hein though because if both David Raya and Aaron Ramsdale are at the club come the start of next season, he’s unlikely to get any first team minutes either in the league or the domestic cups. He’s still only 21 though, he’s played 27 times for Estonia and he’s a tall lad at 6’ 4” – the tallest of all our current keepers. Who the best of the three is though is, in my opinion, up for debate. Mikel Arteta seems to favour the Spaniard though which, regardless of what we think, matters the most. I’m still hoping Arsenal don’t make the loan deal permanent though.
Using Spotrac.com as a guide for Arsenal’s player weekly wages:
Thomas Partey £200,000
Cedric Soares £75,000
Mo Elneny £55.000
Karl Hein £10,000
I add that up to make £340,000 a week paid to 4 players who I doubt have played ten matches between them this season. That’s an awful lot of money going down the drain. What’s staggering, at least it is to me is that Kai Havertz is now our highest paid player on £280,000 a week. More than Declan Rice, Captain Martin Odegaard, central defender William Saliba and our very own Bukayo Saka. Gabriel, our absolute rock in defence earns £100,000 a week, the same amount both Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah earn. William Saliba however, earns £190,000 a week.
I guess there’s a reason the wages are as random as they are but I really can’t see it.
Moving on to the here and now, JeorgeBird posted Arsenal’s revised Champions League squad yesterday: A-List:
Ramsdale, Raya, Hillson, Saliba, White, Gabriel, Timber, Kiwior, Cedric, Tomiyasu, Zinchenko, Partey, Odegaard, Trossard, Jorginho, Vieira, Elneny, Havertz, Rice, Saka, Jesus, Smith Rowe, Martinelli, Nketiah, Nelson.
B-List:
Hein, Ejeheri, Graczyk, Cooper, Rojas, Foran, Jeffcott, Quesada-Thorn, Robinson, Sweet, Walters, C. Ismail, Heaven, Brown, Nichols, Rosiak, Small, Clairmont, Gower, Henry-Francis, Lewis-Skelly, Nwaneri, I. Oulad M’Hand, Dudziak, Ryan, Akolbire, Casey, Copley, Butler-Oyedeji, Cozier-Duberry, Davies, Benjamin, Ferdinand, Forde, Kabia, Kamara, Bascoe-Fisher.
Jurrien Timber and Thomas Partey are in the squad which clearly means Mikel Arteta hopes there’s a chance of both playing a part in our Champions League challenge. Let’s hope we can beat Porto then because it’s unlikely either will be ready in two weeks time. No place for Marquinhos though so I guess he’s soon to head out on loan for the remainder of the season.
Catch up in the comments…
Re Jorginho , after his performance on Sunday there is a case for another year . However it’s about man management , Arteta has a habit of if something appears to work , he flogs it to death. Jorginho needs to be kept back for special occasions as it remains to be seen how often he can rise to the occasion.
Morning Rico and Co
Fortunately for Jorginho his style of play has never depended on the dynamic Rico, getting around the pitch making thundering challenges. His style of play is more about reading the game, being available in space, intelligent movement and finding those deft passes that open up the opposition and create pressure on their defence.
His game Rico is more in his head than his legs, which is handy as he isn’t exactly a Stevie G – more a BFG.
It’s a style that isn’t based around pace, as he’s never really had any, so he hasn’t got much to lose, he’s one of those players where age isn’t as vital to him as say a Partey, in fact a 33 year old Jorginho will probably be the same as a 28 year old Jorginho or for that matter a 36 year old Jorginho.
I guess the only question mark Rico is his fitness and can he retain it if he’s asked to perform twice in a week over a sustained period?
I’d definitely extend his contract, take up that one year option to his present deal especially if Elneny and Partey leave. He’s a good influence on the squad and he has bags of experience which will become more and more important when and if Partey and Elneny, two of our more experienced players, are released this summer.
I’m furious! Livid! Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the new part owner of Man. U. Wants to tear down the Old Toilet and build “The Wembley of the North” A state of the art ninety thousand capacity super stadium. So far all well and good. BUT! He wants government money to pay for it! There is no such thing as “government money” it is public money! Money that we have all payed in taxes of one kind or another. Income tax, Value added tax. Road tax, fuel tax, death duties, stamp duty, insurance tax, and many others including little publicised stealth taxes. I did not work for over 50 years and pay taxes, which I still do, in order to pay for vanity projects for already wealthy football clubs. If the multi Billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants his super stadium, let him pay for it himself! This country is trillions in debt, it can’t afford to feed primary school children, it can’t afford to provide a fully functioning health service for it’s population. Nor can it afford to pay for an effective force to defend the countries borders let alone take on middle eastern terrorist organisations that threaten our vital imports of food and fuel. The country certainly cannot afford to build a very wealthy man’s fantasy stadium, nor should it!
Jorginho might also want one last big contract. He might already be looking elsewhere.
Morning Kev, I’m in favour of Jorginho staying for another year, especially as Elneny is likely to leave. The only problem I foresee is injury as the older we get, the tougher it is to recover.
I’m in agreement with Potter too re Arteta. He’s still not rotating his players that much. Saka, Rice, Gabriel, Saliba – they play every game more or less.
Rant over, now we are off to lunch at The Ivy in Norwich to celebrate my wife’s birthday.
Morning Rico and all,
Personally I can see Ramsdale leaving, Unless we get a new goal keeper coach who really wants Ramsdale back but Arteta does prefer Raya.
Morning Geoff. Who could blame him really? If he’s thinking about England, he’ll go imo.
Rico the amount of 340,000£ for players who never play is really tiny compared to our competitors. I can’t imagine what the similar tally would be for United, Chelsea, City. I think Edu is doing a good job on that front. Consider that the largest part of the 340 is down to injuries, then he’s doing even better.
Also, Havertz is on around 200k per week. If he hit a long list of incentives in his deal he’d be near 280.
It’s the bad media reporting the sensational amount rather than the real salary. 200 is still high.. but the reporting near 300k is 50% over estimated.
I know Nigel but I’m not bothered about them. Sorry if that sounds harsh. lol
Arsenal aren’t like some of the other clubs, not Liverpool, city, Chelsea etc as not only have they been in the CL for the last few years which we haven’t, they’ve thrown money around like it’s going out of fashion. For a club like Arsenal, saving every penny when and where we can is crucial imo.
I’ve listened to a lot of analysis of the game, especially Arsenal podcasts, and I’m surprised that people who analise our first goal aren’t more understanding of Havertz run and shot… they say he should’ve scored, and on first glance I see that… but nobody mentions that he had to shoot with his right foot, because he was being chased closely from his left.
We all know he’s pretty left footed and he got off a a strong shot on target with his right….. a strong enough shot that Alisson had to react just to save it, and only could get it as far as Saka.
A 2 footed guy like Trossard or Saka in Kai’s position would have more likely scored from there with their off foot, but I think he did well enough for the team with his right. I think people should note that a bit.
Allison didnt have much to do as it was virtually straight at him . Saka got him off the hook .
Right or left, Havertz should have buried that chance in my opinion. I thought he was duel footed anyway..
I’ve only just realised Tomiyasu should be home by now as Japan have been knocked out of the Asia Cup. I must have been asleep for four days. lol
Either Villa are dire tonight or Chelsea have hit some form. 2-0 up already and they are playing some pretty speedy football.
I for one would be very pissed off if we extended Elneny contract.
Running at full pace with your off foot, against Alisson… let’s see how Jesus does there. Does he blast it over the bar? Quite possible, and you know it.
Does Nketiah push it outside the post if he has to use his left? Maybe not even close … you could easily imagine that, can’t you?
Ødegaard on his right foot in that situation? Almost no chance.
Kai hits the target hard enough to make it get parried right to Saka. I wish Havertz had scored so the same constant critics would stop whinging.
Perhaps if Havertz scored a few more goals his missed chances would not be such an obvious source of criticism.
I’ve no idea what Havertz is paid as neither Arsenal or the player have released any financial details of his contract. Whatever the true amount is he needs to quickly start earning it. Last season he was Chelsea’s higher scorer of Premiership goals with the entirely underwhelming total of seven. So far for Arsenal, with less than half the season to go and playing in a better side, he has managed just four Premiership goals.
Under the present circumstances a little whinging is perfectly understandable.
Agreed Cicero, and how many golden opportunities has he missed? Some, for a player at this level, were sitters.
I’m not anti Havertz but other than his height, I’m not sure what all the fuss is about. Tricky to play against I’m sure but I’m not seeing £65 million worth of football in him.
“Winning” fouls and getting opposition players booked is not securing us any points. Perhaps if he could shift his manoeuvres a little further up the pitch into the box, for instance, there may be greater awards on offer.
Our problem is none of our strikers are finding the back of the net enought this season.
Havertz is a Marmite player, you either like him or you don’t. What I will say is that he’s been involved and played a crucial part in all of our best results against the top sides this season.
I think he was absolutely key to pinning the Liverpool centre backs and preventing Liverpool getting any momentum from their defence in terms of build-up. He gave Konate as many problems as anyone this season including Haaland and eventually got him sent off.
It’s taken awhile for Arsenal fans to forget that Jorginho was ex-Chelsea, now most of us like him, it took a long time for some Arsenal fans to get over Ben White’s transfer fee, that isn’t mentioned anymore and it’ll take awhile longer for Havertz to be accepted.
Morning Rico btw and Co.
I’ll tell you something else that has gone under the radar and that was the performance of Kiwior on Sunday. He fitted in seamlessly and almost scored an unlikely goal.
Maybe Arteta has been spending some extra time working on his ability to fit into the Arsenal system?
Also the tweaks in midfield will have helped him with less responsibility to push up alongside Rice a la Zinchenko?
Morning Kev. I too thought Kiwior was very good. He should have scored though. 😜😜
I thought signing Jorginho was a master stroke at the time as we needed midfield reinforcements. Havertz however, all I’ll say is I’m yet to be convinced. He’s an Arsenal player though, so I’ll always want him to succeed.
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/33799/13066615/mikel-arteta-deserves-praise-not-celebration-ridicule-at-arsenal-rasmus-hojlund-adapts-at-man-utd-the-radar
Backing for Arteta’s enthusiastic celebrations but not a word of criticism for their own pundit who ranks as one of the worst when it comes being a kill joy, JC.
I think the article criticises JC and all those who knock Arsenal imo. In a roundabout kind of way..
Cicero,
If you don’t like the player, just say so. But saying that “winning fouls and getting opponentss booked is not getting us any points” is ridiculous… because I guarantee Arteta would laugh at that statement. Imagine all that hard work being dismissed by any manager?
Classic goal highlight “expert”. A person who doesn’t recognize what’s going on in midfield and defense. But the shots on goal make the highlight reels, so that’s all you focus on.
People are not satisfied with Havertz goal production so far for Arsenal, I agree it could be better…
But you are you aware he’s a central midfielder, not a striker?
Just to let you know, in the same position last season over 38 games Xhaka had 7 goals in the league… 2 of the seven came in a meaningless game 38.
So he had 5 goals or less up until game 37. …….But Havertz is horrible with 4 goals so far to this point?
Everyone raves about Szooboslai for Liverpool.. in the same position he has 3 goals.
Also you didn’t answer about how our other players would have taken that goal on their off foot, curiously. Jesus, or Eddie on his left? Ødegaard on his right against Alison? Not good odds and we know it.
Where did you read that I don’t like Havertz NT? Or did you just make it up to suit your own agenda? “winning fouls and getting opponentss (sic) booked is not getting us any points” Well is it? “Also you didn’t answer about how our other players would have taken that goal on their off foot, curiously. Jesus, or Eddie on his left? Ødegaard on his right against Alison?” Was it a question? It just read as slagging off players for the sake of it.
“Classic goal highlight “expert”. A person who doesn’t recognize what’s going on in midfield and defense (sic) But the shots on goal make the highlight reels, so that’s all you focus on.” You know nothing about my football watching habits, yet are happy about inventing some a totally bogus fact, again to suit your own agenda.
I can see why you are so unpopular on another site.
Nigel, HH isn’t like other blogs you might frequent. We respect each other and their opinion on here. You can’t assume you know what one of us thinks of a player or not, nowhere has anyone suggested they dislike Havertz, just think he can do better.
Plus, stuff like this,
“Classic goal highlight “expert”. A person who doesn’t recognize what’s going on in midfield and defense. But the shots on goal make the highlight reels, so that’s all you focus on.”
Really isn’t welcome on here….
Just another day on the internet Rico. 😉
Sorry if anyone can’t admit that saying putting 2 defenders on yellows early in a possible title deciding match
(So that they have to adjust the way they press, compete, and defend, for the rest of the game) … and then an actual red card on top of it…..
……..Saying that it doesn’t help us get 3 points?
Let me leave you with this surprising fact. Helping us get a win DOES actually earn 3 points.
And maybe you should look at the goal stats of other midfielders that I provided.
You are aware that he’s not a CF, right?
Bloody hell calm down everyone this ain’t Le Grove…
I’ll be interested to see the interview of Vlad Putin with Tucker Carlsson.
I can’t help thinking that there’s going to be some kind of manoeuvres soon, behind the scenes, to arrange a ceasefire and some kind of peace treaty as the West grows bored with the war.
I believe all players should be able to score simple goals, after all don’t they pass the ball around an apponent to another team member, so why can’t they sneak the ball around the keeper into the net.
A good striker makes a goal from nothing.
New post up.