Morning all.
Arsenal face Brighton three times in October. The under 23’s kick things off tomorrow, a match which Arsenal.com are showing live, then it’s the first team on Saturday evening and on the last day of the month, the women play Brighton in the FA Cup Semi-Final after thrashing Toots 5-1 last night in the Quarter-Final.
Right across the club, things seem to be improving. The women have already thrashed Chelsea and Man City in the WSL and from what I’ve seen this season, they’re playing better football under new coach Jonas Eidevall. Last night’s battering of Totts was Arsenal eighth successive win under the new manager with 31 goals scored along the way. Wow!
I think I’m right in saying that the academy have lost just the one fixture and that was against West Ham. A horrid 6-1 defeat. Like the women, the under 23’s had a change of manager back in the summer as Kevin Betsy replaced Steve Bould. Dan Micciche’s under 18 are yet to lose a game.
It’s very early days in the 2021/22 season I know but if things stay the same or better still, continue to improve, the future of Arsenal looks promising.
Whilst the focus for many of us is on the first team, what goes on in the academy is equally important for the club because that’s Arsenal’s future in the making. New signings from overseas or other English clubs can be exciting but I think there’s nothing better than seeing one of our own make it. To hear Emile Smith Rowe say that beating Toots after scoring one of the goals was one of the best days of his life says it all. That kind of passion and love for the club can’t be bought in my opinion. Arsenal fans turned players are priceless.
If Arsenal kids who grew up watching Arsenal like his family before had chooses to leave then it suggests his heart is not in the club. Arsenal don’t need that kind of player regardless of how good he might think he is. 15 year old Harrison Parker has just done that after ditching Arsenal for Man Utd. According to reports, he rejected a new contract with Arsenal because he wanted a new challenge. Well good luck to him at a club which makes big money signings for the first team.
I know, Arsenal have just paid big money for a defender too but that was because Mikel Arteta probably wanted a specific type of defender for his style of football, a type of footballer he clearly believed wasn’t already at the club. Or if he was/is, he isn’t quite ready for the first team.
To get the maximum from a squad/team, every player has to want to be at the club, to wear the Arsenal colours with pride and perform to the best level they can in every game. Once a player’s interest in the club has gone, he’s of no use. Arsenal Wenger had to deal with a lot of players who suddenly developed itchy feet. Anelka, Reyes, Flamini, Fabregas, Adebayor, Nasri, Hleb – the list during his days was long. They wanted to win things they said but being the old cynic I am, I’m sure many players simply move around for the money. That’s why I admired Willian for his honesty when he decided to terminate his Arsenal contract so he could move on and be happy. Totally the opposite to one or two others who I’ll refrain from mentioning.
Now it seems Mikel Arteta has another player on his hands who doesn’t want to be at Arsenal any longer and that’s Bernd Leno. The Mirror/Bild quote him as saying:
There was no clear reason why I was out, but it had nothing to do with my performance. He [Arteta] is the trainer, he decides. Of course, it’s difficult for me. London is very nice; Milan is not bad either and closer to my home Stuttgart,
I do think him being dropped for Aaron Ramsdale was everything to do with his performances though and I’m sure he knows that too. As soon as Arsenal paid big money for a goalkeeper in the summer, the writing was on the wall for Leno in my opinion. Sitting on the Arsenal bench will do Leno’s World Cup hopes no good at all and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him leave in January.
At least Arsenal’s recruitment seems to have improved somewhat so another Runasson kind of deal should be a thing of the past…
See you in the comments.
I would expect Leno to sulk he shows he has passion good then it’s up to Leno to show his worth and get his spot back.
It must have come to him as a shock having seen off a better keeper in Martinez to suddenly find himself summarily dropped in favour of a newby.
We already have promising Keepers coming through that we don’t want to lose , Okonkwo and full international Hein , so back up to Ramsdale is not yet a problem.
Maybe he’s just a little lonely now that the Germanic influence has gone whatever his reasons if he wants out then ” don’t hit the door jam on the way “
Puts to bed the theory that Arteta plays favourites or even that he has any.
I don’t think he should be sulky, for the want of me using a better word, he should be fighting for his place back.
I just wish Arteta had dropped him when Martinez was still at the club.
G’day all.
I think Leno has missed the Milan bus. Inter, who were interested in him have switched to Onana. Karl Hein, at only 19 is getting some rave reviews, he would be a good back-up option in a few months if Leno goes in January.
Hein seems to be the more advanced in experience but he’s still very young in years. Didn’t stop de Gea though. If either of our two younger keepers are good enough, then yep, let one of them take over from Leno.
Afternoon Petrolheads, filled up on the way home early hours this morning so I’m alright jack, things do seem to be loosening up on the fuel front.
Berndt Leno sulking? Well who says, the media and are we expected to believe them? 🤔
Look he’s not going to be happy at losing his place as No.1 is he and anyway good goalkeepers have to be confident and a bit arrogant, it goes with the territory, so if he’s been grumbling so what?
He’s got a job to do in the League Cup and if we don’t get an acceptable offer in January he stays and is part of our FACup team, end of story. But I suppose it gives those idiots on Football.London and Just Arsenal News the opportunity to put up 20 posts a day about him.
Guendouzi is kicking off again in Marseilles so the rumours go, apparently upsetting his team mates and being a drama queen in training – who’d of thought it – all the same I do hope we can move him on in the summer.
Or course it could be a ploy from the French club to try and reduce his value and the fee?
Filled our car up this morning too Kev so happy days.
Still think he’ll push for a move away in January unless something happens in the meantime. I say that purely because of the World Cup.
Yeah, I get that Rico, he’ll probably have to take a pay cut to force through a deal so let’s see how desperate he is on that front.
I wonder what kind of fee we’d get for him in these deflated times, we paid about £26m for him and that, at the time if I recall, was seen as a good price especially when Chelsea were paying £71m for a goalie?
He’s what 29 now, so at his peak, a German International so a high value player, therefore £20m perhaps, a bit more even?
Let’s see, but Inter are already playing games – remember Bellerin – so fcuk them off.
We’d have to take what we can really Kev, he’s only got 18 months on his contract. 5/6years left at the top, he can afford to wait for a freebie.
18 months is actually a long time in football Rico a lot can change, goalkeepers get long term injuries and we suddenly have a very valuable and attainable asset that other clubs covet.
Ignore the media crap, they had us selling Xhaka for £8m so let’s see?
I did say unless something happens in the meantime Kev. 😆
I wonder where the Leno ‘quotes’ came from.
We have been seen as a pretty soft touch in the transfer market for quite a long time going back to Monsieur Wenger who let players go cheaply as some sort of altruistic grandaddy..
Once a player decided to go we as a club never stood in their way and seemed to help them get their move often at a cost to us .
We never seemed to get what they were worth. The only time I can think of that we held out for money was over Van Persie where we forced an extra £ 2 million out of United which they got back in spades by winning the title.
That’s what you get for pleading poverty , people take advantage
Hi Rico.. Nice read 👍 I really enjoyed that game last night; our first 4 goals were scored without Miedema/Mead on the pitch!! The squad depth is incredible and fair play to Jonas – an excellent start.
At least during this (boring) International break, we’ll have their CL games against Barca/Hoffenheim to keep us going!
I’ve just seen that roly-poly Moss is officiating our game at the Amex on Saturday… urgh it had to happen.. despite that I’m feeling quite optimistic though 😄
Let’s hope White has a good game and keeps Maupay (can’t stand him) quiet.
And what’s happened to Dexter? Thought he’d be ripping it out of me for having doubts over Ramsdale 🤣
Hi Sue, thanks. Moss will need VAR a lot as he won’t be able to keep up with the game..
Totally agree Potter. The Fabregas to Barca fee was a joke and that’s just one.
That is if he makes it there, Rico – plenty of eateries by the Amex 🤣
Good evening Rico and the House.
Having trouble with my keyboard and English.
Sent you a E-mail
can you take a look and see if you can see if its gone wrong
😂 Sue
Evening Rick. The email is fine, would you like me to use it for a post?
Morning all
New post up now