Daily Bits and Bobs

Speculate to accumulate, whilst the going is good.

Posted on by rico

Morning all.

Still on cloud nine? Get off it because tomorrow it’s back to the League as Aston Villa await our arrival. Relegation looms large for the West Midlands club and I’d like to think Arsenal will do them no favours.

With just two League fixtures left, and an FA Cup Final, the next part of Mikel Arteta’s plan is the first summer transfer window. This isn’t a time for Raul to stamp his authority over who the club signs, it’s a time for him to listen and act accordingly. Arsenal don’t need players who are offered to them by a mate. Arsenal need players who Mikel Arteta wants. Who his squad needs. What those players cost is irrelevant, within reason.

I read this headline yesterday – ‘José Mourinho says it is hard to compete with clubs that ‘just break the rules’.

Amusing on so many levels, especially on a day when the tight fisted north London club have just beaten both Liverpool and Man City within a few days of each other. Also though, because without the vast amounts of money Roman Abramavic threw his way a few years ago, the so called ‘special one’ would probably have been rather average. But of course, FFP wasn’t in place then. He’s bitter, of course he is, just as every other disgruntled club is because the rules were broken, but then it was decided they weren’t.

Maybe it’s simple, Man City didn’t break the rules we were led to believe they did. Or just had excellent lawyers who took advantage of a loophole. Don’t blame Man City, blame those who wrote and implemented the laws and those who didn’t include the small print.

Arsenal fans can’t really begrudge Man City spending money, or any club for that matter, certainly not those who bemoan KSE for not investing any of their own money into the club. If he/they did, we’d be just another Man City.

Arsenal need to trim the squad, reduce the wage bill and reinvest in areas where we’re lacking. Whether that be by using the loan system or permanent signings, it matters not in my opinion. I actually quite like the loan deals, especially the ones with the option to buy included because there’s nothing to lose really and at least we don’t get stuck with a player who we then can’t move on. Yes, him, he needs to leave, as does Guendouzi.

A week today the transfer window will be open and Arsenal need to be busy early doors.

Back to the game itself, yesterday’s in particular where Chelsea thrashed Man Utd to secure their place in the FA Cup Final. I’d hoped Chelsea were still in with a realistic chance of winning the Champions League so Lampard would be thinking about that competition but heading to Bayern Munich 3-0 down suggests not. Chelsea will pose a very different threat to our defence on the 1st August as unlike both City and Liverpool, they have the big target man. Oliver Giroud! Saying that, it was his silky footwork which earned his team the lead yesterday. Assisted by a huge gaff from de Gea.

Arsenal need a miracle to secure Europa League football next season as far as the Premiership goes. If Burnley, Wolves and Sheffield Utd lose their final game(s) and we win both of ours, we’ll finish 7th. If Toots lose their final fixture too, we’ll finish 6th. Arsenal have to do their job first though otherwise it’s FA Cup winners or bust.

What will be will be but even if we’re not in Europe next season, all is not lost. The £40 odd million earnings will be but we can’t sit and wonder what if because nothing will change history. The whole idea of starting again with a new manager is to wipe the slate clean and begin again. Of course we’ll look at results against Brighton recently and Leicester too but as said before, the damage was done long before those two fixtures came along. The Arsenal board are largely at fault for that because they dithered over replacing Unai Emery for far too long. Something I hope they don’t do again. Something I hope they don’t need to do again for a long time.

I saw this on PlanetFootball, posted three days ago. It’s how the League table would look if it began when Mikel Arteta first took charge of Arsenal against Bournemouth on Boxing Day.

1. Liverpool – 41 points
2. Man City – 37 points
3. Man Utd –  37 points
4. Chelsea –  31 points
5. Arsenal –   30 points
6. Wolves –   29 points
7. Toots    –    29 points
8. Southampton – 28 points
9. Everton – 27 points
10. Burnley – 27 points
11. Sheffield United – 26 points
12. Leicester – 23 points
13. Watford – 22 points
14. Crystal Palace – 19 points
15. Newcastle – 18 points
16. Brighton – 17 points
17. Aston Villa – 16 points
18. West Ham – 15 points
19. Bournemouth – 12 points
20. Norwich – 9 points

But like those disgruntled clubs who feel hard done by after City won their appeal, the Arsenal board have to move on from it. Look to the future, invest in the squad and give Mikel Arteta the best chance of returning Arsenal back to the top four he can have. Player valuations should be lower than before, FFP has been relaxed for every club and not just Man City so it’s the best transfer opportunity Arsenal will have for a while I think.

Speculate to accumulate. That’s it…

See you in the comments guys.

 

 

 

rico

51 thoughts on “Speculate to accumulate, whilst the going is good.”

  1. Cicero says:

    Good morning Rico.

    Dani Ceballos is asking the Real Madrid president to allow him to stay on loan with us for another season. I hope that as Real have just won the La Ligue title, El Presidente will be in an accommodating mood.

    Is Nketiah available for Tuesday’s game? He could be vital if Lacazette and Aubameyang are tired after their efforts in beating the two best teams in Europe over four days.

  2. Mexzy says:

    Good morning Rico and everyone…
    @rico I suggest you let me enjoy this moment as I have chosen to remain on cloud nine and hope to move to higher clouds after we win the FA cup come Aug 1st.

    As for the team I really want to see arteta play the league from start to finish, I’m really optimistic about next season and hope he is given the required support in terms of players and the likes. Top 3 is my target for next season.

    As for Aston villa, we will whoop their ass😁😁

  3. Sue says:

    Spot on, Rico 👍
    Please let me stay up here, just a little longer… will come down tomorrow around 7.15pm to check the team news 😂

  5. ScottfromOz says:

    Morning all.
    I’m as elated as any Arsenal fan on the planet, believe me, but we still need to stay grounded.
    Our squad is looking a lot better with the right coaching, but realistically, we are a few seasons away from truly competing for a full season with LFC and City, imo.
    Saying that, we mightn’t be quite as far off as we all thought even a month or so back 🙂

  6. rico says:

    Morning Cicero, Mexzy and all.

    Enjoy away, I am. 😂

    Dani has the Arsenal bug I reckon. He likes the feeling of being wanted. Fingers crossed we keep him on loan, with an option to buy at today’s price.

  8. Mexzy says:

    Really nice news on Ceballos, will you take back cazorla for a year if given the opportunity? @ rico

  9. Sue says:

    That was hilarious, Le Coq!! That guy with the beard 😂👍👍👍 Very similar to what went down in my living room – the cushion was launched and my dog was petrified!! She dreads match days 😂

  11. jod says:

    Funny how comfortable football fans are with corruption. Der Spiegal laid out exactly what City had done, their evidence was excluded from the court case. So the judges found the charges not proven knowing that City were in fact guilty.

  12. allezkev says:

    Morning All.

    Sue, I know that Pearson was on a short term contract which ran out when the season ended, but Watford’s actions seem ludicrous with on two games left. I doubt that Pearson will have much trouble getting a job for next season?

    Fred, the Cowley brothers did a fantastic job at Lincoln, they turned that club around and now the Imps are in a much better place.

    Huddersfield were in turmoil after relegation and the Cowley’s steadied the ship and I’m sure that next season would have seen them push up the table, but maybe there was a falling out, it’s a club that seems to be run along similar lines to Watford with unrealistic owners showing a complete lack of understanding of where they are in the food chain.
    Some clubs really deserve all they get for the stupid way they’re run – and we moan about Arsenal…

    What was the general view around Southend about the job that Sol Campbell did Fred, we get a free paper in my area but oddly it’s full of news about Chelmsford and therefore goes straight into the recycling after a quick glance, we don’t really get any Southend news despite how close we are.

    Are Southend still without a manager?
    If so Fred then yes, Southend would be a good pick for the Cowley brothers, it’s a club that’s never really lived up to its potential, the catchment area is huge so a successful Southend team would soon draw in good crowds, but it’s never seemed to me that they’ve been run very well they lurch from one crisis to another. I think maybe the Cowley’s could look at a bigger project, but you never know? Wherever they go I’m sure that Arsenal would look to them to loan players to as they know that our kids will be well looked after and get a good education.

  13. allezkev says:

    Jod, I’m not saying it’s right what Man City have done, or Chelsea before them, or the tax evading scams Real Madrid and Barcelona have been involved in, things like selling training grounds etc. Then cast your mind back to when Serie A were kings of european football, can you remember Berlusconi and his media empire artificially subsidising Milan or Fiat pouring money into Juventus etc, I can’t remember German news agencies doing exposes on Spanish and Italian clubs, maybe old friendships and all that jazz.

    It’s been this way since professionalism began in football, the only difference is the amounts and old money feeling undermined by new money…

    I’d be more concerned about a World Cup in Qatar…

  14. Le Coq Monster says:

    Yes, Sue, the guy with the beard was brilliant and his Nan wearing possibly the worst Arsenal shirt ever !
    😆

  15. allezkev says:

    Morning Rico and good post btw.

    Jose Mourinho is the only fly in the Arsenal ointment at the moment, he always finds a way either tactically or with enormous good fortune to upset the Arsenal applecart. Just when we thought we’d finish in the top seven Tottenham find some form, mainly on the back of a major Kolasinac gaffe and now they’ll probably steal 6th spot.

    Mourinho complaining about clubs who financially dope to get success is laughable given his history of animosity with Wenger on that matter, but I’m sure he knows the hypocrisy of his gripes it’s after all all about Jose being in the headlines. He knows he’s at a team that can only compete in the cups, once more, and that’s what he’ll do. In twelve months time Arteta will leave him in his slipstream even if we can’t beat Tottenham.

  21. rico says:

    Hi Kev, thanks. Totally agree re Mourinho. He’s a bitter and twister little man who’s running out of managerial options. I bet Toots sack him before Christmas.

  23. Cicero says:

    So we have an all London Cup Final.

    After seeing the chaos in Liverpool when fans turned out in force to celebrate their Premiership title and the fact that 7,000 Leeds fans went berserk last night celebrating their promotion to the Premiership, you can bet your life the F A are already sizing up the situation. How are they going to prevent fans from both Arsenal and Chelsea from congregating outside Wembley?

    The solution is obvious, since the game will be played behind closed doors there will be no ticket income to lose, so move the final to another venue as far from London as possible, Newcastle for instance but not as far as Baku. 😉

  26. Sue says:

    I couldn’t stop bloody laughing at that, Le Coq… “Can you help me with my flies” 🤣🤣🤣🤣 love the voices too…. bloody hilarious …. nice one, Le Coq… I’m gonna have to share it 🤣🤣

  27. Sue says:

    Wavy was right 👍 Cazorla isn’t coming home, well not next season anyway… he’s off to play for Qatar’s Al-Sadd

  29. rico says:

    Leeds get promoted to the PL and their coach is reportedly ready to quit and take the Huddersfield job. Not something we read every day…

  30. Sue says:

    🤣 Rico!!

    Sheff Utd lost again…..
    Not Bielsa, Rico??? Surely not…is it one of his backroom staff? If not, that is absolutely mental!!! And I will question what he thinks about while sat on that bucket 🤣🤣🤣

  32. Wavy says:

    I read it and assumed it was one of the back room staff, not the barmy South American.

    Shame about Santi not returning but probably just as well. He’ll make a shed load of cash in the Middle East, top up all those win bonuses he lost out on when he was on the menders table! Good luck to him.

  34. Le Coq Monster says:

    One for Scott! 😆

    Reporter: “Mikel, do you get nervous watching us play out from the back?”

    Arteta: “No. I get nervous when we kick the ball long.”

  38. Sue says:

    I’m watching the darts, Rico. My boyfriend (Gerwyn Price, I’ve missed him!) is on next… although I turn over to the football during the ads 😆

  39. Le Coq Monster says:

    Can see why Sue stalks Gerwyn Price………………..he looks like the Kolasinac of Darts!
    😆

  41. Sue says:

    😆 Le Coq 💪

    Hahaha Rico… he’s so hench, look at the size of his arms 😍 Plus, his walk on music is ‘Ice Ice Baby’……..perfect!

  42. Sue says:

    🤬🤬🤬 I waited months for that… what a load of crap! So disappointed 🥺
    And bloody Wolves are winning……

  43. allezkev says:

    Gerwyn Price, I’ve never heard of him, but I feel that now I know all about him…

    Looks as if we’ve gotta win our last two games and score a stack of goals and hope that Chelsea stuff Wolves at the Bridge…

    Mourinho will find a way to get the point or more that he needs, I’d hate to miss out on goals scored to them…

  45. allezkev says:

    Arsenal are currently 6 goals worse than the Spuds and 5 goals worse than Wolves, so we probably need 6 or 7 goals minimum from our last two games and to win them of course and hope that either Wolves or the other mob slip up…

    Giving Aston Villa a good hiding would help, I hope Arteta goes with Saka, Nketiah and Nelson up top and just let’s them rip for an hour or so then if need be he could bring Auba or Laca or Pepe on, maybe all of them?

  47. Sue says:

    Sorry Kev, I get a bit carried away 😆

    What a bummer, about the spuds, goes to show that result, (yes THAT result),was massive…. and it still hurts!

  50. Aussie Geoff says:

    Hi Rico and all from what I have read Santi may be coming back to Arsenal not as a player but in a coaching role, who knows if his son keeps going the way he is we might even sign him up to our academy when he is old enough.

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