Morning all.
Not for one minute do I believe that another clubs loss justifies our own but come on, seeing Utd under Jose Mourinho get battered by Brighton is funny. No, it’s hilarious, great and boy I laughed. This is a bloke who labels himself ‘The Special One’, the same bloke who has spend millions since he’s been in Manchester and yet he still moans and has still won nothing of any great consequence. Yes ok, he won the Europa League but that’s because he put all his eggs in that basket knowing full well it was his only chance of returning to Champions League football. The further that bloke takes Utd down the table, the better.
I know Arsenal have won nothing either of late but Arsene Wenger never swaned around thinking he was the best and nor did he ever speak as if he was. He was stubborn, too old to change and had a few more faults too but he was a man heading towards the end of his managerial days, not one who still talks like he’s the best there is. Let’s not forget either that Mourinho has a glut of super players at his disposal, some of whom I’d love to see in an Arsenal kit but he hasn’t a clue how to get the best out of them. Pogba, Martial, Rashford are just three who should be ripping up teams but two of them spend much of their time on the bench.
We’ve lost our opening two fixtures which the press love of course, especially the way they can continue their ‘they still can’t defend’ agenda and although they’re right, they’d be idiots to not realise that Arsenal are going through major changes, changes which clubs like Totts, Liverpool and City have gone through too albeit around three seasons ago if not longer. City aside, two have done bugger all to brag about apart from ending the season in the top four. We achieved that for twenty odd years and as we know because the media told us, it meant nothing. Pff!!
One could and probably will say that Chelsea are in a similar situation as us as they too are going through a change of manager/coaching etc but the two clubs cannot be compared imo. Chelsea were League Champions just two years ago, they have great players all over the pitch with game changers on the bench. Arsenal haven’t looked like a team ready to win the league since the day we last did and Unai Emery doesn’t have the luxury of having top notch players on his bench, not yet anyway.
If we as a club are in a similar situation around this time next season, then that’s the time to be concerned I believe but there’s absolutely no guarantee that that amount of time will be long enough, but I base that time scale on Pep Guardiola and what he did at Man City. Pep sets the bar wherever he goes, not Klopp, Mourinho, Poch, Pep. Although I reckon Sarri will do well in time.
Hope all we like but Arsenal under an American owner will not spend the kind of money Man City do, at least I don’t believe they will because that’s not how the club runs. Arsenal have a number of players who unless some kind of miracle takes place over the never few months, really need selling and replacing. Mustafi, Bellerin, Xhaka and even Sokratis because they are just not the kind of players who will improve us. Ramsey and Ozil too have a big question mark over them I’d have thought with one soon to be out of contract, the other simply not cutting it. None will make us vast amounts of money though, not now. I reckon we’d be lucky to get £70-90 million for the lot, less if Ramsey holds on until next summer when he can walk away for free.
If and I know it’s a big if the above players are sold and the money reinvested it’ll be a start. Add to that whatever the transfer kitty is and Sven might just have around £150-200 million to work with. On paper it sounds easy doesn’t it? lol
I know I’ve said it before, but if Emery isn’t given the backing to improve his squad in January and again next summer, then the poop is only going to be flung one way and that’s across the ocean to a posh ranch deep in Texas.
He won’t like or want that to happen surely…
Great post, Rico.
Lets be honest, who thinks anyone can match Mansour City ?……………………not even Utd can and they are with Real the biggest teams in the world, so it`s hardly surprising imo that Manure are struggling, we all are compared to City……………the biggest wallet and best manager, not a bad situation, a winning combination if ever there was one.
We may even laugh or moan at Dippers and Manure, but if City weren`t so rich we would be looking at them two as the best and bench marks, it`s only that City are so out in front that we ridicule what the former two have or are doing !
I`d take what Manure have done under Moronho, Europa League and League Cup……a double of sorts and and last year !…………………same Brighton team beat us last season aswell and I`m not going to gripe about Dick as I do honestly believe he has an enormous task ahead of him and one I think is an impossible one because of Kroenke.
Yes we can sell to buy, but we haven`t got anyone who is going to raise the money like Dippers got for Coutinho have we !. Look at who we have so far got rid of……..loans and free transfers and probably raised £10M if we`re lucky, only good point is getting the wages reduced.
Poor old Dick has to try and convert players who have had an easy ride under the last manager into a pressing team and ith some of the ego`s it will be interesting to say the least.
Rico, that is a long list of players in your opinion who should be got rid of and some I agree with, but it would take a lot of money to replace them, maybe the way forward is to fcuk the lot(or most) of them and paly the exciting hungry kids like Manure did back in a day, I`d rather that than some more dross brought in.it really will take a lot of money, look at who Dippers and City have spent some big money on………..defenders/goalies !…………………..honestly rather have played Chambers and Holding instead of the current two CB`s, yet we let one go, both are pacier and ball players !.
We are what we are and it`s a sad fact that we and most others will never be able to match Mansour City, apart from an anomaly “Leicester”, most of us are cup teams and CL, Europa qualifiers …………anything else requires an enormous amount of money as proven in almost every league in the world !
And this is the simple fact of what money can do……………
EPL winners since we last won it in 2004
Chavs 5
Manure 5
Mansour City 3
An anomaly 1
Take the biggest club in the world out of the equation and what do we see ?…………………two clubs who have had an enormous investment since 2005 and won it 8 times between them, previously with no investment they had won it 3 times between them in over a hundred years !
It`s all about the money, to think it`s about anything else is delusion imo……………………..we are looking at a dynasty in the blue half of Manchester !…………………………….although there is a slight chance of the anomaly once in a while . 🙂
Hope that was doomy enough for Kev !
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Pep may be a brilliant manager, but wherever he goes he does seem to have the cards stacked in his favour. Without the funding would he be given the time or have the ability to turn round QPR for instance.
I feel sorry for Emery. In a time of runaway transfer fees we must be the only club making a substantial loss on all the players we may want to sell. It’s ironic that Wenger and Gazidis kept banging on about self-sufficiency while demonstrating how not to run a self-sufficient operation.
I think you’re underestimating Pep there Lc, I really do. Look at the managers City had before with the same bottomless pit but they didn’t get anywhere near what Pep is doing.
Some of it is about being able to buy the best but again, I don’t think there’s a player we can’t afford to sign apart from the obvious ones like Messi etc, but it’s also about managerial skills, tactics etc etc.
I agree re some of our younger players and by the time Emery gets rid of the players we believe he should, albeit we all might differ slightly, those younger guys will have had another year of learning the Emery way and they’re going to be easier to change than many of our older players who have been stuck in autopilot for a long time.
It’s a tough road ahead, but at the end of it, money might not prove to be the only winner.
Morning all.
Steve, I think we are self sufficient, but I do wonder if it’s oossible to be self sufficient and ultra competitive all at once.
We haven’t achieved that yet, no question.
LC, gloomy indeed lol
We seem to have a damn good batch of kids coming through, but if we do give them all their chance and try to bring the entire group through, they’ll surely have their collective heads turned by their agents at some point-Utd never had to endure that way back when.
Good to see the Aussie lad doing his best to keep Utd out 🙂
I always thought Matt Ryan is just 2-3 inches short of being a truly world class keeper.
Steve, couldn’t the same be applied to every manager at the better clubs though?
With the money clubs make from TV, sponsorships, ticket, food and merchandise sales etc, I reckon it’s possible to be self sufficient and competitive. The club/board/owner surely realise that the more successful it is, the more money it’ll make.
Rico, it’s a tough one.
If the owners of Citeh now decide to cut spending and become self sufficient, they’re in a great position to do so because they have a world class squad, so can now sell players for big money to fund new purchases, so it becomes a matter of maintaining what they already have.
I reckon this is exactly what Chelsea have done and the reason Ibramovich wanted FFP to happen.
Good point Scott re City selling players but they’ll have a problem like us because of wages. If by some miracle all the wealthy owners stop spending big bucks, clubs won’t want to fork out for wages either..
https://www.totalsportek.com/money/manchester-city-player-salaries/
https://www.totalsportek.com/money/arsenal-player-salaries/
Still unsure as to why we’re rumoured to need a wage trim.
rico, Kalasinic double Monreal!
Not knocking Emery at all, but wouldn’t it be great if we could know what the scores of these two matches would have been if Arteta, as so nearly happened, had been manager?
It’s a good job the RAF didn’t have the same level of already-defeated negativity when they took to the skies to save this country from Nazi invasion in 1940.
We can’t compete financially so we have to do it a different way. If you think you’re beaten before you start then beaten you will surely be.
We don’t have to beat Man City to be successful. We just have to do extremely well against all the other teams most of them with less money than us.
That’s a big question Andrew, good one too.
I guess Kolasinac is on more because there was no signing on fee and to be fair, when he first arrived he looked very very good. Same as Gabriel but we know what happened next…
Afternoon all!
Hope we change our way how we defend next game.
Socratis was good, four years ago…
One year ago, we were talking about Ox, Walcott, Alexis, Metsacker, Gibbs,… where they are now? Were there so important? top class?
I think we suppose we have very good players; No. We have good players but they must be improve for playing like a team and win confident.
But isn’t that what most of us are saying Adam? It’s about doing the best with what’s available..
Jm, I hope we improve on finishing too because that too has cost us points so far.
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G’day all,
Thanks, Rico, for a fine tell-it-as-it-is post. Just Right.
JM, The OX, long term injury but was doing well at Liverpool and would have been at the World Cup for England.
Walcott, doing well at Everton, where they know how to use him.
Alexis, currently being ruined by Mourinho at Man U.
Mertesacker, retired.
Gibbs, after a good season at West Brom he’s attracting attention from a top Portuguese club.
JM, Alexis gone from a one-dimensional, stubborn manager to a horrible, stubborn one. Might be alone but would still love him back, his dogs loved it here!
Ox, well just unlucky.
Merts, well he’s on Arsenal’s payroll.
Gibbs and Walcott? Both their names on scoresheet Saturday in winning teams!
Afternoon Gooners
Afternoon Rico, Bellerin at right back against West Ham this weekend, but how about bringing in Lichtsteiner for the trips to Cardiff and Newcastle?
Rico. Perhaps. We didn’t lose against Chelsea because of their superior financial resources. We lost because we made silly mistakes, as has been the case for a long time now. Who knows if Unai Emery has got what it takes to turn us into title contenders? But, we have to give him a chance and he needs to demand what finances he needs and we clearly need some proper defenders. I cannot believe he agreed to take the job with first getting some assurances over backing. I like some of the stuff I am seeing from him though.
I hope the anticipated turnaround of players doesn’t drag on over several windows myself and personally I would like to see big changes made in our buying and selling philosophy so we don’t get held to ransom by players like Ozil and Ramsey, neither of whom may have much of a future at the club. The powers that be simply have to get a grip on players running the show where contracts are concerned.
I’m hoping that, by the end of this season, we are a different outfit and far from the gravy train that Wenger presided over for the past several seasons.
I wonder if Alexis now wishes he’d been more patient Cicero.
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I don’t think we have replaced the Ox, but he was only a frequently injured bit part player anyway.
Are we any better off with Man U cast-off Mkhitaryan, instead of Walcott? Neither are much inclined to do the defensive work, but at least Walcott could take the occasional freekick.
Alexis was more or less surplus to requirements with the arrival of Aubameyang, but on the evidence so far this season he needs to up his game considerably.
Sokratis is a like for like replacement for Merts. Not much pace but good positional sense.
Gibbs, couldn’t we do with him now?
Afternoon Kev, good shout re Lichtsteiner, he won’t let the likes of Cardiff bully us, mind you, I doubt Sokratis will either.
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Adam, Nothing to do with money we lost because we failed to take the chances presented to us by a very poor defence.
Adam, I know re the Chelsea result. Sloppy defensive errors and the same up front after creating such great openings.
They’ve spent a bit to get the players they have though, more than us I’m sure.
I’m with you though, by the end of next summer, I anticipate seeing a different Arsenal squad than the one we have now. Just hope the reason the club opted for Emery wasn’t because of him winning the Europa Cup three times on a low budget.
Surely Sven and Raul would want similar assurances too, especially when one considers where them came from.
Cicero. Agreed. Really is enormously frustrating, especially when you look at th free kick that lead (through a mistake by Lacazette) to their winning goal. Diabolical piece of cheating from Kovacic. Would VAR do anything about such incidents.
Rico. I’m with you. Emery should take full advantage of the licence he has to change the whole ‘character’ and perception of Arsenal.
I’m fed up with the club being seen as a flakey soft touch myself.
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Adam, under Wenger we were bullied right from the time that George Graham’s back four departed. He was never able to replace the likes of Bould, Keown and Adams, only Sol Campbell came close. just look down a list of the mediocre defenders he signed, I don’t think he understood defending, he certainly didn’t have a clue when it came to coaching a defence. Apart from Campbell, the best he could do were Vermaelen, Koscielny and Mustafi. Top class? Yer ‘avin a larf!
As am I Adam, Emery needs some characters on the pitch and soon.
Cicero, he did sign one though, Gabriel and the knocked the stuffing out of him. Debuchy was no flake either imo. Kolasinac too.
Gabriel !……………..a strange case if ever there was one !, just what we needed, but somehow Wenger didn`t see it !………………………………………I like Kolasinac, he looks and sounds like a weapon ! hahaha
Carry on, I`m just having a rest between cutting the grass !
🙂
Sorry Rico, but LC is 100% correct about Pep. Very good manager but never been tested uqnder pressure. He came into City after having an ever loaded bank account at Barca and took over a squad already worth up to 450 million. He. Was then given any amount to spend he desired and did so. If he had come to Arsenal with our miserly spend he would struggle. He is an updated Mourihno who is now being found out despite double the AFC budget and a squad valued at over £440 million he is turning manure into manure. Give old Dick some time and he will come up with a formula that will suit us until January.
I believe Mourinho is finding out that having a lot of money to spend brings its own pressures.
The bad news Pete, Pep is only just breaking into his stride, Citeh will have disappeared over the horizon again by Christmas !
Still it’s not all bad news, Emery will finally take charge this weekend, the previous 2 games didn’t count apparently, will we turn the corner, we need to if we wanna limp into the top 6 this season.
Adam, he’s not exactly football’s Mr Chuckles is he, just a matter of time before he completely cracks I’d say.
I’m not denying Pep has always had loads of money Pete but look at it the other way round. Would Big Sam, Pulis, Warnock etc etc or even Wenger that matter, have been able to do at the same clubs as Pep with the same kind of money?
Imo, no chance.
Hold on a sec` !………………..I`ve only praised Pep as the best manager since Adam converted me………………no, he didn`t kick me between two up right posts !…………………………but that money he has spent is something else and I have to disagree Rico, Fat Sam and Wenger would win the league with the current City squad, bit like when we had the invincibles, no need to coach them, just let them do their thing !………………………..also, I think you will find that the two previous titles won by City were by two different managers …………..Mancini and Pellergrini.
Like me and Goonster conferred, our grannies could win the title with City`s money and as I said, my grannie has been dead for 30 years, but that would be no problem as I frequently talk to her via a spiritualist and can relay her messages to Arteta .
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Evening Rico and the House
Looks like the heatwave is Back.
U23s in action at the Ems in an hours time.
Hoping Reiss Eddy Willock Dino and Smith Rowe will be in the team
See u latta
Micko. You might be right about him. The miserable bastard.
LC. It’s an nteresting concept but I doubt Wenger would win the PL with City’s squad myself.
Evening Rick.
Me neither Adam, not Big Sam either, hoof ball at its worst.
Team Iliev,Tutu, Ballard, Plegue, Bramall. Gilmour, Willock, Amaechi, Smith Rowe, Nelson, Nketiah.
Brighton undefeated in 11 have not conceeded in 4.
Ex gunners Moore and Keto in the the squad
Should be Tough Game
First half goalless
Nelson, Nketieh and Smith Rowe below par.
Bramall having good game.
Finished 1-1
Nelson scored on 86mins Brighton on 90 mins.
Ilieve brilliant save on 92 mins to stop the Bighton winner.
OK Rico and Adam we will agree to disagree about Wenger being a theoretical title winner at City, but what about mine and Goonsters grannies ? 😆
Interesting conversation and I get what Neville is saying, but to me the problem will be the investment side !
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11661/11477992/gary-neville-and-jamie-carraghers-heated-debate-over-unai-emerys-arsenal
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Le Coq, did they com to blows? I can’ be bothered to read it. Two ex players who do nothing but criticise. Neville proved to be an absolute disaster as a manager and was sacked from the only job he got. Carragher hasn’t the guts to even try managing.
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Oh and neither your granny Le Coq, nor Adam’s would get a look in at City because my Granny would be there on a life long contract and would win the title for the next ten seasons.
Le Coq 9.47, if it’s any consolation we probably would have won the league in 2008 with either of them two in charge lol !
A name from the past has just popped up in the A league-Adam Lefondre (spelling).
He looked damn good a few years back and then disappeared.
Rico, yes, high wages will be a leveller for clubs like City, for sure, but those buggers will manage lol
Arsene at City-who knows what he’d have done but I’d have been more interested to see Pep at Arsenal, to be honest.
Emery is our man now and must be supported.
How anyone could be questioning him atm is strange to me as he’s obviously going to take time to mark his territory at the club, so to speak, as good or bad, Wenger was at the club over 20 years so his shadow will be lurking for a while yet.
Ramsey should be told to sign or sat on the bench and sold in January.
I understand players want to earn as much as they can, but they shouldn’t be seen to be holding the club to ransom.
It’s not a good look and marks them as a mercenary.
Morning Scott, all.
New post up now, an early one for a change.
Micko, that’s funny re 2008. Probably not far from the truth either.. lol