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.
Morning Kev, that’s the best plan imo.
New post up now.
Morning Gunners, morning Rico and yeah, walk away, we have almost a week left, focus elsewhere now, still time to do a Hincapie type deal otherwise go with what we have.
£150m? He’s not worth a third of that imo.
Walk away Arsenal and stick with who we have or someone else..
Morning guys.
That is classy Geoff..
The Alvarez saga plods on, Athletic have stated the player is not for sale but a fee of £150 million would be acceptable if he was sold to Arsenal. The Athletic President says they will not sell him to Barca at any price.
Alvarez doesn’t want to move to Arsenal as his family could face visa problems if they wish to visit him in London.
Meanwhile the transfer window closure gets ever closer.
Good morning lovely people
Potter, the problem with Yildiz is that although he is a very good player, he gets injured often in the slow pace of Italian league. So imagine what would happen if he had to play in the EPL. He would beat Rosicky and Diaby by more than one mile.
So while I like him and enjoy seeing him play for Juventus I think we would do better than to sign him.
A nice story for once, Tzolis was invited back to his old club Brugge as a special guest to say goodbye to the fans and do a fake kick off to start the match, and going by reports the got a friendly cheer, I reckon it showed a bit of class from both the club and fans.
“Juve blow: Yildiz injury, he risks surgery and two months out“. That is the headline Gazzetta dello Sport has given to the breaking news on the condition of the Juventus number 10.
According multiple reports out of Italy on Monday, Yildiz made a visit to J Medical during the morning hours to have what is being described as some sort of injury to his left foot. Sky Sport Italia says that there is “serious concern” coming out of the Juventus camp that Yildiz will miss a good amount of time because of the injury he suffered during Sunday’s season-opening win over Frosinone. Both Sky Italia and La Gazzetta dello Sport report that surgery is a definite possibility for Yildiz, who would miss around two months if he were have to go under the knife.
Again, this has nothing related to his knee issue from the spring. This something new, and it is not what Juventus needed right now as they try and avoid another horrid start to a Serie A campaign
Seems an agreement is in place for Nelson to move to West Ham.
Phew…
Seems that Yildiz has crocked his knee and is undergoing surgery.
Kev, I agree we have a good team, and I also can’t see Alvarez really helping, and the players we have just brought can fill a lot of holes, it might be worth holding of buying any more players until mid season transfers open and find the right person then if we need anyone else.
Who could blame him Cicero, especially if he’s being forced out.
Morning Kev, exactly. Couldn’t agree more.
With Martinelli newly married and offers on the table from the Saudi Pro league perhaps he wants a quieter better paid and tax free life. 😉
G’day all.
Morning Rico, yeah, tbh I’d be content to leave our squad how it is, our squad after all is the Champions…
I can see the benefit in selling Martinelli if £60m is the actual price, but I’d be equally happy to see him stay as we don’t have much pace up front.
We didn’t lose the CL final vs PSG because we lacked a world class striker, we lost because we didn’t have a right-back and we were knackered. After all didn’t we a world class striker when we played Barcelona in 2006? That didn’t end well…
The simple answer Kev is bugger all.
Also, Arteta/Berta should think about how he performed against us which if memory serves me right, wasn’t very well. One goal I believe and that was a penalty. We already have one of the best penalty takers in the game in the squad.
I was looking at his goal to game ratio last night and he doesn’t fare as well as Gyokeres. Bearing in mind Spain is a less competitive league, I was surprised. I just don’t get what fuss is about him.
Maybe the main driver behind the Alvarez situation is Gabrielle Heinz, he is after all an Argie and probably knows him.
I think the biggest obstacle is the fee Atletico want, that’ll be one of the major drivers for not wanting to sell to Barcelona, Barca will only pay a much lower fee knowing the Alvarez wants them so Atletico prefer to sell to England where the fee will be considerably more. Atletico are still pissed off by the way we took Thomas Partey so they are going to give us a discount. Also there could still be some residual issues between Atletico and Berta.
i think it’s just too much to pay over £100m for a guy who isn’t prolific, good but not prolific, I mean what did he do in the World Cup?
During last season he scored 8 times in 29 league games apart from 1 goal against Barca and Real Madrid all his other games were from the bottom half teams. However in Champions league he scored 10 goals in 15 games ( 3 penalties )
This means that he is more effective in European football , rather like Martinelli.
The weekend gone was almost perfect, but the way Man City struggled reminded me of Arsenal in 22/23, going behind and somehow fighting back, but eventually it catches up with you and Liverpool, who are traditionally the luckiest team in England, cannot be lucky for an entire season, so there’s a lot to be encouraged by for Arsenal fans.
I think Alvarez will use us to get to Barcelona next summer and they will want him for a lot less than we have to pay and then we’ll have another sulky player on our hands. If we have to sign a wide player/striker, I’m sure there is someone more suited out there.
Morning all.
I can only assume that Arteta wants Alvarez because of his connection from Man City and comments made from within. Arteta had gone before Alvarez arrived but I am sure that there was still a dialogue between him and Guardiola.
His connection with City bought us Zinchenko and Jesus , one has gone and one we are having difficulty moving on .
Just how long will it be before Alvarez becomes albatross ?
My gut feeling is Martinelli will be sold and going by reports I have read Atletico Madrid are only interested in selling Alvarez to Arsenal and are 100% against selling him to any team in the same league. I hope we don’t get him as he has never showed interest playing for us
Agreed Rico.
Alvarez is just another “Vini Jr” Saga Part 2.
Look most likely Arsenal will sell Martinelli for “commercial reason”. It is a real pity that Martinelli failed to develop after 2022/23 season. The reason partly due to him being injury-prone and “glass leg”. How times we had seen him going down after a tactic, wriggling in pain clutching his leg?
What a waste of a player with vast potential.
I really don’t know Obi hence my “assuming it’s his choice” bit but like you, I’ll be disappointed to see him go, especially now our handbrake seems to have been released a little.
Tzolis seems a bargain right now..
Martinelli and Timber are my favorite Arsenal players now, so I will hate to see Martinelli leave. However, Rico to your point, don’t you think that the coaches probably tried to do that with him, especially during practice, move him more central? I watched an interview with MLS last season with Wright and Roy Keane and MLS said that all the time he wasn’t playing, Arteta and the coaches were working with him as a midfielder. I think many times the coaches see the same things we see but maybe the player is unwilling to change.
First time I saw Tzolis played was in the champions league, and I said to a friend, who’s this Alex Sanchez wanna be. He’s not there yet, but there’s a lot of Alex Sanchez in his game.
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.