Morning all.
Just before Arsenal kicked off against Man City, David Ornstein stole the headlines by announcing Gabriel Martinelli has agreed to stay at the club for another four and a half years. Excellent news and hopefully, Bukayo Saka and William Saliba will be next. I know a new signing or three are always exciting but tying the above three down to new contracts is equally, if not more important.
Talking of new signings, Fabrizio Romano caused a flurry of excitement by announcing on social media that Arsenal had submitted a £60 million offer for Brighton player Moises Caicedo which was quickly rejected. All sorts of speculation about the player telling Brighton he wanted to move to Arsenal and was prepared to submit a transfer request to do so followed, but then came this from the player himself on Instagram:
I am grateful to Mr Bloom and Brighton for giving me the chance to come to the Premier League and I feel I have always done my best for them. I always play football with a smile and with heart.I am the youngest of 10 siblings from a poor upbringing in Santa Domingo in Ecuador.
My dream is always to be the most decorated player in the history of Ecuador. The fans have taken me into their hearts and they will always be in my heart so I hope they can understand why I want to take up this magnificent opportunity.
The only question in my mind is which magnificent opportunity is he talking about? Helping Arsenal to push hard to win the league and working with Mikel Arteta or joining up with his old manager at Chelsea, a club behaving like kids in a sweet shop after being handed a fiver? Is it the offer made by Arsenal which has made him speak out….
We were beaten 1-0 by Man City last night meaning were out of the FA Cup for another season. For once, I’m not bothered. Mikel Arteta made six changes to the team which started against Man Utd, Pep Guardiola made just two. Thomas Partey started but by half-time, injury had struck and had to be replaced with Sambi Lokonga. Nathan Ake scored City’s winner but in my opinion, other than the goal, there was nothing between the two sides. Rob Holding battled hard against Haaland and for 45 minutes, did well but eventually, his shirt pulling and general bullying of the big striker, earned him a booking. No doubt fearing a repeat of what happed against Totts last season, Mikel Arteta did the smart thing by replacing him at half-time with William Saliba. By the end of the game, Gabriel Martinelli, Martin Odegaard and Oleksandr Zinchenko were on the pitch but the scoreline remained the same.
We had goal scoring opportunities though and quite a few but just lacked the killer instinct when they came.
I think we could have got much more out of the game. We had big situations in the game and we didn’t put them away. We can take a lot of positives, I think the way we approached the game and competed. It is really difficult to win against this team but we went head to head with them. In the big moments, in big matches, you have the make the difference. That is how you win these games. – Mikel Arteta.
I thought Matt Turner was very good, Leandro Trossard too, the latter played like he’d been at the club for a long longer than a week or two.
Arsenal still have to play City twice in the Premier League and although the media believe City now hold the advantage after last nights result, I think that suggestion is poppycock. As already mentioned, six of who I believe are Mikel Arteta’s first choice players weren’t in the starting eleven last night so Arsenal were far from being at their best. Pep’s strongest against Mikel’s strongest and I think we’ll see a very different game. At The Emirates, Arsenal will have their twelfth man and they can make a difference. Saying that, one might have thought the match was at The Emirates last night because the away fans were fantastic. Far louder and more supportive than City had from their own fans.
That’s it then, just the Premier League and Europa League Cup left for Arsenal to fight for. Six more weeks of League fixtures before Thursday/Sunday football returns. City however have the FA Cup, the League and Champions League fixtures to contend with. The latter of which restart in a couple of weeks time.
Our next six fixtures are:
Everton – Away
Brentford – Home
Man City – Home
Aston Villa – Away
Leicester City – Away
Bournemouth – Home
Everton will be tough, especially as Sean Dyche will have had a week with his players. We’ll need a strong referee for that one.
Thomas Partey is having a scan either today or tomorrow so keep everything you can cross, crossed. We need him. I’m hoping his ‘injury’ is Mikel telling the board to sign a midfielder. I can hope can’t I?
See you in the comments.
Let me hope Thomas party injury is not that big.because at the moment we need him so much . arsenal also need to buy somebody who can cover party because sambi perfemance showed us alot of weakness when party was off the pitch
Good morning Rico, if the injury suffered by Partey is anything more than a slight knock then Edu must make Brighton an offer they can’t refuse. Using Lokonga in Partey’s role is a accident waiting to happen. He is just not good enough.
Act quickly and we can recoup some of the increased fee by selling Lokonga to Unai Emery’s Aston Villa and Cedric to Fulham.
Certainly in the period where we had Lokonga and Vieira in midfield was the period that we lost the game . What’s more Saka was completely out of sorts , I would have had him off and left Trossard on and switched him to the right and had Martinelli on the left . Maybe that’s a tactic for a couple of weeks time .
We have had a good look at City and they have watched us on TV. Pep double banked Saka , we know that Martinelli has the beating of Walker or Lewis so if he has to double up on him it drains his midfield.
I thought that Holding was unlucky to get booked because Haaland set out to be physical and was doing just as much pushing and shoving but like Grealish he is more adept at looking like he is being fouled and Tierney fell for it . Should have let them scrap it out in the way things used to be.
As for the game it was a tight tactical battle but one army was much stronger than the other.
Morning Rico and all,
I don’t know how the media can say Man city’s win gives them the edge, when you consider that we had dropped 6 players from our normal starting team and most importantly we stopped their number one striker Haaland.
If anything, I reckon we still have a slight edge on them.
Morning Cicero, Potter, Geoff all.
I think Saka was missing Odegaard.
Just read that Brighton have told Moises to stay away from the training camp until the transfer window has shut.
It’s funny how we see things Potter, I was surprised Holding didn’t get booked earlier. Perhaps I’m just too used to referees going to their pocket early when we’re playing.
Hi Rico
Like you I’m not too worried about last night, I think City have more to worry about than we do. Holding did a great job on Haarland, as Tierney did on De Bruyne and Mahrez.
We had a weakness in midfield with Viera, I think he will be a proper player next season after six months in the gym, but for now he’s too easy to dispossess. Where was ESR? He should have been Odegaard’s replacement, I’m a bit worried about him.
ESR is injured again , and I too am worried about him . Haalands first move is reminiscent of the big centre forwards of yesteryear , he leans into the marker and pushes and then reacts to the response. The difference is the refereeing , You used to see Ferguson and Keown battling it out and refs just said “” Get on with it “” . Now their cards are burning a hole in their pockets.
I bet Big Dunc and Tone or Bouldy had a beer in the bar afterwards.
Hi Brian, he needs to bulk up a bit imo, but I think next season we’ll see a better Vieira.
Bring back those days, so much better than the stop start games we have now when someone falls over.
I’ve crossed my arms, my legs, my fingers and my eyes for TP’s MRI
Nothing else? 😜
Apparently, we’ve upped our offer to £70m for Caicedo.
Crossing my legs seemed to work as it’s been reportedthat Partey is ok and will be available for Everton
Brighton still aren’t budging, maybe one last bid on Monday will do it?
And then Fatboy Boehly will swoop in… 🤦♂️
Everton sign Sean Dyche,
If Brighton don’t want to sell Caucedo then why tell him to stay away from club until transfer season over, Makes no sense.
What’s giving on in the Arsenal Women’s team? Two first team players have left so far in this transfer window, Jordan Nobbs to Villa and Iwabuchi on loan to Spurs, and Katie McCabe is said to be open to a move away following interest from Chelsea.
Losing three senior players at this stage of the transfer window means there is little opportunity to replace them and we still have three competitions to get through, the WFA Cup, The Champions League and, of course, The WSL.
Worrying?
Cicero I agree something funny going on with the lady’s team, only 1 win away from equal top spot with a game in hand, someone has rocked the apple cart.
Arsenal have said no to Chelsea apparently. Would be crazy to sell McCabe to them, especially now.
Well what ever is happening with the Arsenal Women team it not affecting their performance, three nil up at half-time home to Leeds United in the cup.
Not sure what the stats are but at a guess, 85/90 % possession, innumerable corners, any number of chances and four or five good saves by the Leeds ‘keeper. Leeds, not a single attempt on goal, corners nil.
One negative comment, about the TV coverage, a hopeless camera position no view at all of the near side of the pitch or of the near side corners.
Here we go, 2nd half.
I’m following Brighton-Liverpool and you don’t understand the refereeing and Var!!! Everything goes in favor of Liverpool!
75 mins 7 – 0
Full-time, 9 – 0
Excellent result.
Could have been three red cards couldn’t it Jm?
yes rico
Running out of time to find Partey’s back up.
What do you mean Geoff, two days is plenty of time. 😆
New post up now