Morning all.
I always believed that if one day Ryan Shawcross suffered a serious injury I’d celebrate. Not literally of course but in a smug kind of way. What he did to Aaron Ramsey deserved a bit of karma in my book but having seen him foot get stuck in the turf, his ankle bent and the clear agony he was in, I almost felt sorry for him. Actually, I did. For a few seconds. No joy inside though, just a kind of ‘now you know how it feels’ kind of thing. In reality though, the injuries the two players suffered couldn’t be further apart by comparison. One was reckless and brutal, yet unsurprising because of the type of player he is, the other was simply self inflicted through bad luck. Similar to Danny Welbeck I think whose boot also got stuck in the turf. Bellerin too if memory serves me right and I think another player has suffered injury in the same way during this pre season. I can’t recall his name or who he plays for though. Too much watering of the pitch or the wrong studs? It certainly needs looking into in my opinion. Anyway, I would say I’d like to wish Shawcross a speedy recovery, however….
The Emirates Cup takes place today with the women playing Bayern Munich at 12.30pm followed by the men against Lyon at 3.15pm in what is a very different format. I think it’s great to see the newly crowned Women’s Super League Champions in action on the same day as the men and I hope the stadium is already full by the time they kick off. Ceballos and Martinelli should experience their first minutes of playing in front of their home fans.
This match today along with two more against Angers and Barcelona respectively, are our final pre-season fixtures. For a few players I’d imagine it’s their last opportunity to impress Unai Emery. Joe Willock is a certainty for the first team squad in my opinion but for others, their could be a loan deal or even a permanent move away from the club, like Amaechi who has left us for Hamburg. Saka, Nelson and Eddie, maybe one or two others must surely believe they’re in contention too. With four competitions to compete in, we’ll need them. I really hope to see Eddie and Saka stay and play. If the rumour about Nelson being offered to Palace as part of a deal for Zaha was true, then his Arsenal career could be hanging in the balance. All will be one clearer once Arsenal get round to updating the squad details on the official website.
By which time, Nicolas Pépé might be on the page. That’s if Sky Sports and David Ornstein are right as both say that the club have agreed a deal with Lille to sign the winger.
“All the good clubs in the world are watching Pepe and that is normal. But for me, with my experience in football, I think that if a big club comes with a big offer and is able to convince the player… €80m (£72.45m) is his price.” (Lille sporting director Luis Campos)
£72 million is the fee we’ve agreed according to both outlets which is more than we offered for Zaha. Pépé is younger though and he certainly scores more goals. But a deal is not done so I’m not getting overly excited. Any club could yet come in and offer more money. The player himself might not fancy Arsenal in any case so there’s a lot to be done yet. Lastly, the Kieran Tierney saga rumbles on. There’s been no third bid from Arsenal according to Sky Sports but it’s coming they say and when it does, a deal is likely to be done.
Still no suggestion of a central defender though. Chambers, Bielik or Medley might fancy their chances. One of them or Mustafi? Tough call I think…
Have a good Sunday guys….
Goodmorning Rico and everyone, it’s good to see arsenal being seriously linked with high profile players and not the $2 kid of players, I hope some of these deals pull through, if not for quality sake but for reputation sake… I’m beginning to see some little light. As for our defence having chambers and holding is a good thing (please don’t mention mustafi and I still hope he leaves) and with our new buy coming in fully next season we will look great and the back. My worry is still the defensive midfield, I really hope torriera and Guendozi step up and hold it, Xhaka is no DM and will probably never be.
Morning Mexy.
If we get Pépé I’ll be thrilled. Seems we have plenty of players who can play across the back line but not one who can be our Vvd, Kompany, Adams etc etc. Same in midfield with Petit, Gilberto, Paddy etc.
Looks like Emery is going for scoring goals, not defending them… lol
There has to be a few sales coming soon…
I am no expert and I must say the lawn outside my house will never look like Wembley Stadium even after the horse of the year show that cost us so dearly against Swindon all those years ago.
However you pose the question about the injuries , whether the pitches are wet or the wrong studs are being used but I remember reading that to keep the grass on modern stadium pitches looking good for television a kind of nylon weave is used to bind the grass together. If there is a kind of net just below the surface is it possible that this is responsible for the studs gettting caught ?
Just asking .
Anyhow Shawcross picking up his injury is sad in one way but that’s life and shows the way it comes round to bite you on the bum . No doubt his mum will be at his bedside shedding tears and pleading how tragic the whole thing is .At 31 he probably will be rebuilt but most likely his career at whatever level he is might be over.
All we need now is for Arnautovic now playing in China to get shoved off the great wall and break his shoulder and all will be at peace in the world.
Good question about the netting but surely they allow for stud lengths before deciding how deep it should be placed. I think it’s a worry though and whatever is causing these injuries needs to be looked into.
I like the Arnautovic bit, made me chuckle…
Is it just me or doesn’t anyone else think that if we sign Pépé for £72m, one of Lacazette, Aubameyang or another player with a high valuation might be sold?
Or am I just thinking about how it used to be too much…
A 4-3-3 system , bellerin – sokratis – holding – tierney
chambers – torriera – ceballos
pepe – lacazette – Aubameyang
Would have a balance once everyone is fit.
Good morning Rico and thanks for the post.
I wouldn’t wish a career ending injury on any player no, not even Shawcross.
If we are to get the Pepe deal over the line it will need to be done quickly to allow time to sell a player or three before the transfer window slams shut.
The fact that we have agreed an instalment plan payment leaves a bit of cash for the Tierney deal, but I can’t see beyond that as far as signing defenders goes.
It’s typical of Arsenal to have flogged the TV rights of the Emirates Cup to yet another subscription broadcaster, in this case Premier Sports. Let me know if anyone can find a live stream please.
Everyone being fit is a while away yet though…
Morning Cicero, is it on YouTube?
Premier Sports ?
We all know that as far as Arsenal are concerned we are a bottomless pit of money and they view ” the matchday experience ” on a par with a west end show.
The difference is though that although you may go to see Les Miserables once ,you sometimes are watching The Arsenal 3 times in a week.
Whilst we remain on the must see tourist bucket lists their policy will work but if we get overtaken and slip down the must go list , we will return to the old 30,000 that used to frequent Highbury in the good times and maybe the 18,000 in the average and heaven forbid the 6000 of us that turned out to get rid of Billy Wright.
potter…. I love the great wall of China gag.
What about Karma for Rashford?
potter …. your line up looks sexy. The only negative thing that stands out is there is no Dominant header of a ball on show?
Rumours are we’re after Juve CB Rugani on loan.
Morning all.
A lady I know runs a football equipment store.
She refuses to sell any boot that has blades after reading a study that showed something like 85% of bad knee and ankle injuries in Aussie Rules had this type of boot in common-no football code has more of these type of injuries than that one, so it’s a decent study to look at.
Are footballers wearing them, or is this statistic irrelevant to our code?
Rashford has to live in Manchester and that’s punishment in itself .
As for heading the ball , the only player we have that can cross on the run is Jenkinson and he is persona non gratis . So it looks like moving in the box will be the way we go.
Rico I’ve been on “the” tube, I used to school on it in the fifties and to and from work on it in the sixties but I’ve never knowingly appeared on You Tube, nor on Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat or any of the numerous social media sites. My only current contribution to the wider world of the internet is courtesy of your own excellent website.
Just between the two of us, where on You Tube did you think you saw me. Shh! I might sneak a look. 😉
I didn’t Cicero but Youtube is just a streaming channel and you said you wanted one hence my comment.
Afternoon all and thanks Rico.
Karma indeed………….I have nothing against Shawcross and hope that he has a long painfull recovery.
I`d swap Kamara for Rashford !……………….is Chris still playing ?
http://bfst.to/emb/soccer.php
Lacazette injured then ☹️
https://metro.co.uk/2019/07/28/sami-khedira-spotted-emirates-stadium-ahead-arsenal-vs-lyon-10474449/
😂
Hmm, Arsenal 1 – 2 Lyon. Martinelli’s first goal for the club ruled out by grossly overweight referee Jonathon Moss.
I’m pleased to see that Emery has paid a visit to Specsavers and invested in a pair of glasses, perhaps now he will be able to see clearly just how bad Mustafi is at defending.
He’s always worn glasses Cicero, just maybe not on a match day. Like his haircut though.. lol
on if Arsenal should buy more defenders instead of attacking players…
Emery:
We are deciding how we can improve. At the beginning we were thinking to do one player to achieve the possibility to sign, but only if we can really, really improve this position. It’s one centre back, one midfielder and one winger and we are going to [try] to do that. We are thinking the same. I want a team that is better than last year, so the players can achieve a lot being with us this season. Also we have a very good team. Only the players that can improve and help the squad [will be brought in].