Morning all.
Well that was funny wasn’t it? Utd 2-0 down against League Two club Grimsby Town, 2-2 at full time and then knocked out of the League Cup on penalties. Poor old Chido Obi isn’t getting any minutes this season, Heaven played on the left of a back three and was oiked off just after the hour mark so it’s all quite amusing really. Even more amusing though was seeing both Mbeumo and Cunha miss one of their penalties. Amorim must already be fearing his Man Utd career is hanging by a thread. I wonder who they will try next….
After the game, Arsenal were drawn against League One Port Vale away from home. The fixture will take place in the week commencing 22nd September, sandwiched between our home game against Man City and a trip to St James Park to face Newcastle Utd. The last time we played The Valiants was back in the 1997/98 season when we needed a replay and penalties to get past them before going on to win the Cup and the Premier League under Arsene Wenger. A good omen perhaps…
Another draw takes place today, the Champions League so we will soon know who we’re going to face in the league phase. The fixtures begin on September 16-18, 2025 and end on January 28th 2026.
Who can we face? Two clubs from each pot excluding Premier League clubs which leaves:
Pot 1
Paris
Real Madrid
Bayern München
Inter
Borussia Dortmund
Barcelona
Pot 2
Arsenal
Leverkusen
Atleti
Benfica
Atalanta
Villarreal
Juventus
Frankfurt
Club Brugge
Pot 3
PSV Eindhoven
Ajax
Napoli
Sporting CP
Olympiacos
Slavia Praha
Bodø/Glimt
Marseille
Pot 4
Copenhagen
Monaco
Galatasaray
Union SG
Qarabağ
Athletic Club
Pafos
Kairat Almaty
What are the odds of us drawing Sporting from Pot 3 I wonder… Pot 1 consists of top clubs, any one of them will be difficult to play against but the remaining pots contain clubs we shouldn’t fear. Respect yes but fear, absolutely not!
The draw takes place at 5pm today and it’s live on TNT Sport and will be streamed on UEFA’s official website. Let’s hope the computer is kind to us…
Catch up in the comments.
Good Morning Rico and all
thanks for the post Lady. The CL and CC cups. Big ears vs small ears. I would love them both besides the EPL and FA Cup.
My preference for opponents would be…..Barca, PSG, Club Brugge, Benfica, PSV, Slavia Prague, USG.
The reason for the above choice is 1) Travelling time, 2) chance to play all the other players, 3) their style works well in our favour as none of them are nasty teams although I feel that Barca and Benfica will pull all the tricks to con the ref.
Morning Devil..
I’m not really fussed who we draw in the CL, we’ll probably get a mix as we did last time.
Not too shabby a draw in the CL, the stronger teams are coming to N5 except for Inter, no long away trips and don’t forget after last season they’ll be more scared of us than us of them.
We need to shake off these negative feelings we have in European games – and yes I hold my hand up because I’ve been Mr Negative in the past – but you never get Chelsea or Liverpool or United fans expecting to go out, they expect to win, even if they don’t.
I suppose if you expect the worst then that’s what you’ll get, so roll on Budapest…
As for the League Cup, I still think that we’ll get a mix Dev, some of those players you mentioned will be on the bench, Kepa in goal, Nordgaard if fit, White if fit, Merino, Nwaneri perhaps depending of Odegaard’s fitness, Harriman Annous leading the attack maybe, Dowman for sure, Kabia?
Yeah respect Port Vale, don’t be complacent but they aren’t Real Madrid.
Good morning everyone
and the site is back…..I couldnt access it since yesterday at around 13.00.
I am not happy with that draw….but as Kev pointed out after last year they are more scared of us than we are of them. But anyway…while it will be welcome to win the CL for me the EPL is more important.
seems that Dan Casey is off to Crystal Palace who are close to agreeing a compensation package for him. He is highly rated at Hale End.
Good morning all.
Havertz underwent “minor” surgery on a knee yesterday. It is expected that he will be out for weeks rather than months. Both Saka and Odegaard are doubtful for the trip to Anfield.
Morning all.
The WordPress updates crashed the site yesterday..
I hope White and Norgaard are soon fit to play.
Morning Rico, WordPress eh? Don’t get me started on them…
Yeah Cicero I wonder if it’s what is sometimes described as ‘washing out’ the joint, you know there might be some ‘bits’ floating about and just go in and clean it up. I’m thinking 6 weeks perhaps to fully recover, so no Martinelli sale.
Dev, Dan Casey might take the Eze route, it’s a shame as he was banging in the goals last season but at least he’ll be going to a club that’ll develop him unlike Obi Martin who went for the dough. Notice that he wasn’t involved against Grimsby?!
Morning Kev, Obi Martin hasn’t had any minutes this season. The grass certainly wasn’t greener for him. Idiot..
Just a question to everyone here……need a bit of fantasy to answer properly while keeping realistic
what do you think would have happened if Arteta had Andrea Berta two years earlier instead of Edu?? Edu used to hold him back a bit imo, but what is your opinion if Arteta had Berta before instead of after??
Think of the players who might not have joined Arsenal had Edu not been at the club. Edu was a huge support to Arteta during really tough times and I don’t think we should forget that.
DG, didn’t Edu get us Gabriel and Martinelli?
Another thing, Edu wasn’t on his own making transfer decisions, it was a team, just as it is now.
He helped get rid of Aubameyang and Ozil as well Cicero.
It’s hard to make comparisons, let’s see how the Berta buys turn out.
was Edu around hen we bought Declan Rice?
Was Edu around when we bought Declan Rice? That should have read. 😕
Arsenal are on the verge of signing Piero Hincapié! Bayer Leverkusen have accepted a loan deal with an obligation to buy — final details on the fee structure are being ironed out [#FabrizioRomano
Yep, I’m pretty sure he was re Rice..
The website should be loading quicker now, I’m deleting all the old YouTube clips in posts over the last 15 years. Housekeeping I think it’s called. I’ve neglected it. 😜
In Italy we have a saying…..Aprile fa i fiori e Maggio prende gl’onori…..which means April plants the flowers but May takes the honours (because they bloom in that month)….so maybe Edu planted the seeds and Andrea is going to take all the honours. However, up till now it seems that Berta has a cutting edge which seems to be sharper than that of Edu.
We will see with the outgoings now.
some shorties found around the FB sites…..
Mikel Arteta has confirmed Christian Nørgaard, Ben White and Leandro Trossard are all doubts to face Liverpool.
Marseille are working on a deal to sign Oleksandr Zinchenko. Their interest at present relates to a potential permanent transfer, but Zinchenko’s salary presents a significant issue that will need to be overcome if the situation is to advance.
Arteta: “Bukayo Saka is feeling better, but he’ll be out for a few weeks. His injury is to the hamstrings and doesn’t require surgery.”
Rice, Lewis Skelly, Madueke and Eze have been called by England.
Arsenal are closing in on Piero Hincapié deal with Bayer, here we go soon! Agreement almost done as Bayer accept loan with obligation to buy for Hincapié as formula wanted byAFC.
Details on fee structure being sorted
Jakub Kiwior to Porto €2m loan fee
• €17m obligation to buy
• Add-ons that could take the potential fee to €25m-€27m
• Sell-on clause
[Fabrizio Romano]
I’m not convinced. IMO, it’s more likely to be about how much money the club could spend and who was available. Edu did all the donkey work for Zubimendi if stories are right. Sesko too but in the end, we went for Gyokeres.
Hincapie makes sense, a central defender and left back, 6 foot tall and only twenty-three. One for now, rather than the near future as we’ve needed a dedicated left back for a while, no disrespect to M L S and Calafiori who are destined for midfield positions in the long term.
The site is definitely working better since your housekeeping session Rico.
It’s slow and boring to do though Cicero, 15 of YouTube videos to delete and photos. 😜
A bit of Spring cleaning at the end of the Summer, it always works for me Rico, but you have been busy.
So, we’re pretty much selling Kiwior for what we signed him for. 🤔
I guess that the add-ons will make up for any inflation?
Hincapie seems a very smart move and who knows who else we might snap up on deadline day?
Another loan-obligation deal perhaps?
It’s going to be a busy couple of days plus.
Might be worth it this year following the deadline day show?
I’m into the Mustafi era 😳
Dev, regarding any comparison between Edu and Berta I’m minded to how happy we were with Edu’s predecessor, that was until we found out how bent he was, is he still in football?
Arsenal was Edu’s first job as the Director of Footieball, he did some good stuff, did some not so good but had his head turned a year ago or maybe longer and his performance maybe was affected.
A year ago we seemed more focused on selling and our PSR, that allowed us to splash out this summer, let’s see what Berta does over the next 2 or 3 windows, but I have been impressed with his work so far…
Hold your nose Rico
😜 Kev
If Hincapie comes then you would have to love his mentality. He took a look at Arsenal and in the positions he plays he sees Gabriel Malgaheas, Ricardo Calafiori, Jurien Timber, and Myles Lewis-Skelly…………and still says ‘That is where I want to play. That is where I want to compete.’
That mentality is one of a monster.
So you got to love his attitude.
Ben White wants to play for England again after talks with Thomas Tuchel. He would have been in today’s squad but he has a niggling injury which is also likely to see him sidelined for Sunday’s trip to Liverpool.
While its always great to have your players getting international recognition, its even better knowing that one of our major players is getting a good fortnight’s rest.
Totts have signed Simons, thought he was heading to Chelsea.
I’d rather White was fully fit and going off with England. Especially as it would make him available for Sunday.
Devil @ 6:02. I compared Hincapie with Sesko. Sesko wanted guaranteed playing time before he would sign, but Hincapie knowing the competition that he has to deal with, says I want Arsenal because I know my abilities. That’s who you who want on your team.
Good morning all.
An interesting statistic in view of our current injury situation, Arsenal have reported 75 different injuries since the start of the 2023-24 campaign, compared to the Premier League average of 54. A hint of why we finished second on two occasions?
Morning Cicero, probably because our players get kicked more. lol
On a serious note, there has to be an underlying problem and not necessarily anything to do with the players fitness. I could be something simple like the training pitches, the turf, footwear etc etc.
New post up.