Morning all.
What’s going on at Arsenal, 6 goals conceded in two games is unheard of. It’s time to hit the panic button! I jest of course. There’s no denying we are going to seriously miss William Saliba, Jurrien Timber too but as said after the Real Betis game, one defence minded midfielder on the pitch isn’t enough but right now, that’s all Mikel Arteta has available. Once Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice and the newly signed Bruno Guimarães are back in the squad, the defence shouldn’t be under the cosh as much as it has been during pre-season. At least I hope it isn’t…
Martin Odegaard made his return to the side yesterday but not for long. He looked good though, as did Ethan Nwaneri who replaced him. He certainly took his goal well and worked hard at both ends of the pitch. Christos Tzolis looked good too I thought as did Max Dowman although I wish he’d stay on his feet a bit more.
As rusty as we looked in defence, we weren’t much better up front really as a few really good opportunities went begging.
Viktor Gyokeres fired home his spot kick with perfection and but for a wrongly raised offside flag by the now retired Sian Massey-Ellis, the game would have ended 3-3. The abuse directed at her on Twitter (X) was horrid.
On the hour mark, Marli Salmon came on from the bench and didn’t disappoint, nor did Theo Julienne, Josh Ogunnaike, Ceadach O’Neill and Ife Ibrahim who came on with just over ten minutes to go.
Our final pre-season is on Wednesday against Cesc Fabregas’ Como 1907. The game kicks off at 7.30pm.
After yesterdays match, Mikel Arteta gave an update on both Jurrien Timber and William Saliba:
No, I cannot be very precise with that. Jurrien is progressing really well. He’s on the pitch, he’s doing quite a lot right now, but it’s still weeks away. I cannot tell you how much. William Saliba is in rest mode at the moment for two weeks. He had to do almost nothing, an aggravated injury, so it’s going to take some time to heal. We know that. And as soon as we have more news, we can inform you.
As previously said, these two are huge misses for Arsenal going into the new campaign and I don’t think the club can afford not to sign a right sided central defender before the transfer window closes. Ben White might be for now but if his body breaks again, we really would be up the creek without a paddle. I’m pretty sure none of us want to see square pegs forced into round holes again this season, ie; Declan Rice at right back because it doesn’t work.
Arteta on if supporters should expect more additions to the squad:
Well, that’s what we’re trying to do. It has to be the right player in the market to make us much better. We are very much looking forward to that.
The rest of the squad return to the club today which is basically our Spanish and English players. Arteta said that everyone (not Timber or Saliba) should be available for the opening game of the season so I imagine some of them will get a few minutes on the pitch on Wednesday or Sunday in the Community Shield.
Come on Andrea, go and get us a defender. We need one. A darn good one too…
Catch up in the comments.
The lady linesman may have made an error in calling offside, but at the end of the day we can’t blame anyone else but our self we had plenty of chances but did not take them
Morning Cicero, thank you as always.
I just hope Arteta doesn’t throw the late arrivals in for the Community Shield. Baby steps, especially for Declan Rice. Saka said at the WC that he was fully fit and wanted to play more so hopefully that’s still the case. Zubimendi and Raya must be chomping at the bit having been overlooked in the summer.
Good morning all, thanks for the post Rico ***** as always.👌
What’s that I can hear, a bugle call? The cavalry are coming!
Look out Como and City.
I guess that’s why we’re linked to Konsa as on paper, he’s the perfect fit.
Seems a shame that her last decision was wrong but Xaito es la vida as they say.
We need cover at the back but we need experience , already we have a youngster that is learning . I would prefer to spend the cash there rather than splurge on a headline catching forward.
There seems to be a lot of quality coming through the academy and I’m loving it.
Spot on re the mistakes. That’s why imo people are often quick to knock the defence whereas mistakes further up the pitch can be rectified by players behind them. I hope our front men soon find their shooting boots.
Morning Kev, totally agree. The abuse is so ridiculous.
I like Massey, she got Keys and Gray the sack 😜
Of course the Arteta out brigade (yes they do exist in the recesses of the dark web), who often use his reluctance to play young players, regardless of their individual quality or lack of, will be enraged by how many young players have got minutes this summer, Mikel has had to use many 16, 17, 18 and 19 year olds during this preseason and many of them have had serious game time and had the benefits of being coached by our elite coaching staff. I’ve seen a definite improvement from Borehamwood to yesterday.
Being the Emirates Cup and a friendly, the stadium was full of ‘day-trippers’ and families, the club absolutely loves these days because the shop (the queue before kick-off and at full-time was enormous) does a rip-roaring trade £££. My son brought his two nippers to their 2nd games and my daughter-in-law was resplendent in her Arsenal attire. We had a great day out even if the football was a bit mixed, you know the good, the bad and the not so good.
I loved the walk to the stadium watching all the excited youngsters with their parents, the future generations, trying to take it all in as the club is absolutely exploding at all levels across the globe, a long long way from some of the crowds I was a part of back in the days of the last drought.
Do we miss our big-hitters? Of course we do none more than Declan Rice, he truly is as influential as Patrick Vieira was back in the late 1990’s. All the talk of Zubimendi leaving is I hope just that, talk. Ethan did his prospects no harm at all, his super-power is scoring goals, do that and everyone is happy!
Now, Mosquera, still very young and raw but another mistake and another goal, maybe the clearest indication why Arsenal sent a young and raw William Saliba on loan for two years. Young players make mistakes the major difference is Max Dowman makes a mistake and it’s repairable, Cristian makes a mistake and it’s a goal, as was the case in Budapest…
Morning Rico and morning Gunners, the lineswoman made an error, it happens, no VAR and no need for any excessive abuse on any platform, generally she’s been pretty good, certainly no worse than any of her male counterparts and she is after all the genuine article – which can be quite a contentious issue in sport in these confused days.