Morning all.
The signing of Ezri Konsa has kind of slipped by without much fuss. His arrival was announced just before Fridays opening game of the season and presented to the fans but the focus was probably more on the match and how we would fare in our first game as Premier League Champions. As it turned out, Arsenal fared pretty well.
That’s two 28 year old signings made this summer and both are from Premier League clubs. As said the other day, Guimaraes and Konsa might have cost a lot of money considering their age but they are for now. They are about experience, they are probably about not only defending our Premier League crown but going for the Champions League title too. Jon’s knows what it’s like to win a trophy in Europe, albeit not the biggest one on offer.
I read somewhere earlier in the summer that Arsenal needed evolution during this transfer window and not revolution and I think that’s exactly what the club has done. A few tweaks here and there but nothing drastic. At least not yet anyway but with the ongoing curiosity surrounding Gabriel Martinelli’s situation, perhaps even Viktor Gyokeres’ too, who knows what might happen over the next eight days. If nothing turns out to be the answer, I think the majority of Arsenal fans will be happy with the transfer business the club has completed this summer. Not only have we added players, one of whom is Tzolis who looks an absolute steal at £34m but we have Nwaneri back, a year older Dowman and a fully fit Saka, Havertz and Odegaard.
Back to Konsa though who I doubt we’ll see for a week or two yet as he needs a few training sessions after the summer break, Arsenal’s record of signing defenders has been very good of late. Calafiori, Hincapie, Timber, White, Mosquera and one of the first in under Arteta, Gabriel. Is there a defender you’d swap any of them for right now?
Konsa is recognised as being a right footed defender who can play central or at right-back. He’s not the quickest defender in the game but nevertheless, he’s quick. He’s confident playing out from the back as well as pushing out from the back with the ball. Shot blocking and clean tackling are his strengths, the latter with a ‘91% success rate and he’s as good in the air as he is on the ground. He made 48 appearances for Villa last season as well as playing for England in the World Cup.
All well and good of course but it’s replicating his strengths for Arsenal which counts now and in the future.
The Premier League threw up a couple interesting and quite amusing results yesterday. The first game of the day saw new promoted Hull City, who are only in the league because Southampton were kicked out of the playoffs, defeat Manchester Utd 2-0 and then in the last game of the day, Brentford thumped Totts 3-0 which could easily have been 6/7-0. Sangare was excellent in midfield and one to be aware of when we play Brentford.
I don’t think much can be taken from either result other than in Hull, they are strong at set-pieces and Totts were dire despite spending over £200m this summer and are still active in the transfer market.
We know what it’s like to lose on the opening day of the season to a newly promoted club but if my memory serves me right, we had a lot of players absent when we went to Brentford. But, I do think Carrick could struggle this season, in fact I wouldn’t bet against him being the first managerial casualty of this campaign.
Today’s fixtures see Newcastle Utd host Liverpool, Aston Villa travel to Brighton and in the final game of the day, Man City take on Bournemouth at The Etihad.
Catch up in the comments.
Is anyone else here using Safari and if so, are you having commenting problems please? I know Potter is.
yep. the until we score has been handed from SAF to the dippers. we just missed it because we were the piggy in the middle.
Some things never change, Dippers are awarded a very late penalty.
Afternoon Devil.
I think we’re bonkers chasing Alvarez if we are. If Josh is as rumoured, heading off to Spain tomorrow, I hope it’s for a different player and not a guy who wants to move to Barcelona.
Just keep Martinelli and Gyokeres and move on.
Good afternoon Rico and all
Thanks for the post Rico. Besides yesterday’s results, today’s also threw up a couple of good ones……Villa thrashed. dippers loosing and City struggled.
I am scared of only one team in the EPL and Europe….ourselves when we have a brain fart.
Just read that Arsenal and Atletico have reached an agreement between themselves on Alvarez. But the player is going to wait till deadline day for Barca. If Arsenal wait till then only to get turned down then they will only have themselves to blame.
I, for one, will never accept Alvarez even if he singlehandedly wins us the EPL and CL plus the rest of domestic trophies. Because he will be getting itchy feet from April onwards. Unless Arsenal and Barca have an agreement that they will give us a player in exchange for Alvarez after one season. Maybe Yamal?? dream on Dev.
Jammy devils Geoff..
City win 2-1 after Bournemouth kept kicking the ball backward to their own keeper.
@David_Ornstein
🚨 Al Hilal pursuing deal to sign Gabriel Martinelli from Arsenal. No agreement yet but talks ongoing between clubs + with 25yo winger. #AFC want in region of £60m & Brazil international open to #AlHilal possibility after turning down Turkey
@TheAthleticFC
£40m Gomes gets sent off on his debut. He won’t be playing against us.
Arteta could put Eze outside him and he’ll have Bruno behind him 😜
Seriously though, why not use him as a striker as and when needed, he’s best when he doesn’t have time to think, just give him the ball and he goes for goal.
35 minutes in Brighton 4 Aston villa 0 while 35 minutes in Bournemouth 1 Man C nil maybe some upsets coming.
He had Vinicius outside him , Guimareas behind and replaced Cunha up front and came on and did a Merino
Good point, Martinelli’s goal at the WC was brilliant but then he didn’t hug the left wing. He could be doing that for us if allowed a bit more freedom. Assuming it’s not his choice to stay out wide.
Sorry I have been offline for a few days but this was in my copy and paste.
I can see the likeness to Marwood but I would add in a bit of Limpar’s pace and Armstrong’s accuracy , he looks to be a steal at the price but he is just one man and an injury could derail us very quickly.
As I said before , he seems to have licence to roam and unlike the Marmite Martinelli ,appears not to have been told to stick to the touchline.
My worry is that we now spend a fortune to get another body to fill the shirt and end up with someone no better than what we already have were the shackles taken off .
We miss Freddie and Jack Kev, we were better under them.
Morning Kev, Cicero, Geoff, all.
I’m not convinced by Konsa but hope I turn out to be wrong. It’s good the academy are focusing on talent, we’ll need them in the future. For now though, it seems Myles and Ethan are staying which is great news. They, along with Max are our future as well as now.
Old Arsenal player Matthew Joseph coaches our coaches, is he doing a bad job, who knows? Our U16’s and younger seem to do ok it only seems to go wrong at U18’s and U21’s, why is that? Is it mentality, the players in particular, do they feel they’ve made it or do they have that modern symptom of entitlement? You know, the focus becomes the car and the blonde girlfriend? Are young players as hungry as their predecessors, are they getting too much too soon?
Morning Rico and all, not a bad weekend, we won, a young Aussie making his debut for Hull with a win against Man U and all that money Toots spent only to continue their losing way, and hopefully Man City lose too
Good morning Rico, sunny and warm here this morning and no rain, that makes a change. 😉
Fine post, thanks.
Totts in trouble and their next two target signings are both unwanted City players Savinho and Marmoush (spelling)? If they couldn’t do well at a club like City they are unlikely to set the World on fire at a mid-table club at the Wrong end of Seven Sisters Road.
Morning Rico and Gunners, good post, yes Rico the emphasis is definitely on the here and now but replying to Dev re: Tyjon, the Academy is working hard to upgrade the U21’s and U18’s who seem to underwhelm with regularity.
Many think it’s the coaches at fault, even though many of the Academy coaches they blame seem to go onto successful jobs in senior football when they leave Arsenal, like Mehmet Ali, a key member of the Brentford coaching staff. Max Porter his successor as U21 coach spent 9 years at Arsenal but was routinely criticised, yet he is now the assistant manager at Stoke. Who knows more, the people who run Stoke and Brentford or those casual amateurs who blog online, like me?
I’ve been unpopular because I point the finger at our youth recruitment at Hale End and the overall quality of our players.