Morning all.
If I knew how to remove Jurgen Klopp I would but I don’t so I can’t but the three others in the photo above could soon all be in the same again, but this time in the red and white of Arsenal. Oh, and pink, we can’t forget the pink. Just what were Puma thinking?
In case you didn’t know, just kidding, Sokratis Papastathopoulos is the one to make up the trio and if David Ornstein is to believed, a deal is close. He’s a bit of a tough nut apparently which is a quality that’s been missing from our team for a number of years. When I first read about Arsenal/Emery going for Lichtsteiner (34) and Papastathopoulos, (30 next month) I can’t say I was overly excited. Two older mature players, one especially but then the penny dropped. Yes I know, it takes me a while.
Our attacking unit is full of experienced players, Ozil, Auba, Lacazette, Welbeck, Mikki and even Ramsey but behind them in midfield and defence is where the squad is seriously lacking. Bellerin has been error strewn and the guy next to him in Mustafi hasn’t helped him out much and in any case, he too has struggled to carry out the most basic of defensive duties on the odd occasion or twenty. Koscielny is our most experienced central defender but he’s out of the game for the foreseeable and without sounding really negative, I doubt he’ll ever return to being at his best. Behind these two is Chambers, Holding and the man I think will overtake the last two, Mavropanos.
Right now I think it’s crucial to bring some experience into our defensive unit. We saw how effective Per Mertesacker was alongside young Rob Holding in the FA Cup Final last May. The two of them they barely put a foot wrong all game and that was despite Merts hardly kicking a ball all season. That’s what experience brings, the knowledge, the know how and the ability to communicate with the players around him. A leader, that’s what Per Mertesacker was and still is which is why he’s now looking after the Academy. What a great guy/player to have teaching our kids eh.
Merts was a superb guy good defender, just one who lacked pace, the ability to turn quickly, recover and catch the man who’d just beaten him to the ball and with the best teams in this league being all about pace up front, he struggled. Not always I know because he made up for his lack of pace with his other qualities. Going back to that day at Wembley, had Arsene Wenger opted against playing Merts, I very much doubt we’d have won the game. Pointless to say that now maybe, but for me it explains exactly why older defenders seem to be the preferred choice this summer.
After all, who will Holding, Chambers and Mavropanos benefit from playing alongside? Certainly not each other at this stage of their career and unless Unai Emery and his coaching staff can work miracles in a very short space of time which is all they’ll have this summer, it won’t be Mustafi either.
We’ve a similar situation in centre midfield too. Xhaka, Elneny and Wilshere. (if he stays) Where is the ‘Midfield Merts,’ the leader, organiser, the man to take the bull by it’s horns and keep our midfield disciplined, in shape and focused? Simple, there isn’t one so personally, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see an old head signed and stuck right into the heart of our midfield. N’Zonzi perhaps who Emery knows well and like Papastathopoulos, he’s a bit of a brute.
We have a great group of players coming through, we’ve already had a glimpse of some of them but they’re not going to learn on the pitch from players who need guidance themselves. Older heads and oodles of experience are what Arsenal are lacking, certainly in the two areas as mention.
Well, I think so anyway.
Good morning Rico, I’ll thank you for the post before criticising it just a little….”Merts was a superb defender, just one who lacked pace, the ability to turn quickly, recover and catch the man who’d just beaten him to the ball and with the best teams in this league being all about pace up front, he struggled” Sooo not such a superb defender then?
Morning Cicero, criticise away, I don’t mind.. 🙂
I was kind of referring to latterly during his Arsenal career. Big Tony wasn’t the quickest, but a leader of men he was and the pair of them could read the game which counts for a lot I think. Similar with Gilberto.
Our problem was having no one with the speed to make up for Merts lack of it. A bit like when Toure was in defence, his speed saved us on many occasion imo but he wasn’t the best defender (ability wise) we’ve ever had, yet in other ways he was superb.
Morning Rico, agree with Adam, are Arsenal the only team that make late bids?
Of course not, but only when Arsenal do it is it newsworthy…
It’s raining heavens hard out here in deepest, darkest Essex, but it feels nice and cool….
Rico, I’ve said many times in the past, we don’t have bad defenders but we have a bad defence. This is entirely down to a lack of a proper understanding of the art of defending allied to some very poor coaching and absence of defensive discipline. In other words Arsene Wenger.
Merts, of two seasons ago, with a fully fit Koscielny beside him would have worked. So might that, slightly younger, version of Merts and Mustafi.
I just hope our new man can produce a coherent defensive plan and get the defenders to carry it out.
…………… The sun breaking through the overcast here in an arid Norfolk. pleasantly warm.
Good Morning All:
Good post Rico. Papastathopoulos, has declined especially the past season. Imo, he was no different than Mustafi, but hopefully he can regain his “class” with us. N’Zonzi has been terrific for Sevilla and we know he can play in the EPL, from the years with Stokes.
On Mert I agree with you. I think Arsenal fans did not appreciate him, as we should have. It takes more than pace to be a terrific defender. He struggled sometimes with us because of our defensive set up and the paring AW used. Watch Mert with Germany, he needs DM in front of him
(like most good defenders) and a partner with pace which he didn’t have at Arsenal.
Morning Kev.
I’m not even sure I believe that we went in late for him. Agree though re the press..
Cicero,
I often read about diamonds, formations, pivots and all that kind of stuff but I’ve no idea what these people are on about half the time and imo, it’s making football overly complicated.
To me it’s about pairings from the back to the front and I think that’s when and why we were successful.
Thanks Obi, sometimes a switch of clubs and a new challenge is all it takes.. Look at Debuchy…
Merts was a joke and a coward as a defender. Just count how many times he turned away from shots. One good FA Cup Final does not a classy defender make.
That wasn’t his only good game though Martin. There must have been a reason he played so many games for Germany.
Perhaps my ‘superb defender’ comment in the post was written wrong, he was certainly a great defender as far as playing alongside lesser players who needed guidance on the pitch.
Martin you’re being a little selective there. How many players DON’T turn away from shots?
Javi Garcia, the new goalkeeping coach Rico, and not before time.
Apparently PSG aren’t happy to lose him, so that’s positive.
A new physio, a new fitness coach, a new kit man, possibly replacements for Bould, Lehman and Primorac?
Still a lot for Unai to deal with although I’d suspect that Burgess will hire the medical staff.
Very good point Cicero..
Great news Kev, I thought Garcia was a DM… 😉
It looks as though we are after Seville’s goal keeper Sergio Rico, aged twenty-four he will replace Cech. Any relation to you Rico? ?
Evening all and another fine post Rico, seeing as Cicero can criticise so will I………………it was Fabinho who Bindippers have bought from last post…………………..you got the “ho” bit right ! 🙂
The penny may have dropped with you Rico, but I`m still waiting !………………………………..just looked up Dortmund`s goals against and it was 47………….and from 34 games as they only have 18 teams in their league, so on a par with us last season, lets hope Papastathopoulos isn`t the Greek Mustafi !……………………..yes he looks a brute, but that is down to his up bringing where he had to get tough quickly at his Greek school after being bullied for having a short name.
I will give Dick a chance, but to tell the truth, I find the “rumoured” Lichtsteiner(£0) and Papastathopoulos(£16M) also a little underwhelming and imo he is loading the gun with bullets for us fans to fire if he carries on in the same vein and doesn`t produce.
I`m not personally after any more attackers although an out and out fast tricky winger wouldn`t go amiss, I want a top central defender, a top DM and a brute of a goalie………………if we are going to spend £50M on one player, then try and get Oblak !
Evening all
Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Arsenal a match made in heaven.Dortmund have conceded 49 goals, he is short, fiery, so will double up nicely with Xhaka.
La Liga star Rico, who has one cap for Spain, was already expected to exit his home country this summer.
And now Arsenal appear favourites to land the 6ft 5ins keeper, who is under contract until 2021 .This story doesn’t go away.No nothing about him except he is taller than Ospina.
I see that Dortmund conceded 2 more goals since my comment !……………….hahaha
I wish Cicero, he could pay off my mortgage… lol
Ah yes Lc, full of errors today is me… oops…
You’re your usual cheery self then Kelsey… ?
Hi rico. .
I remember socratis was strongly inked to us before he joined Dortmund..then cued the snub headlines from the press. .I think we bought Gabriel in that window. .shame AW didn’t improve (cough cough ruined )him and he left. .
Socratis had a season to forget. .he was really awful in CL 2 legs aginst the spuds.
To me he looked no better than our own mustafi.
Surely we can’t keep both in the squad. .
New Arsenal boss Unai Emery is set to bring in a host of the coaches who worked under him at Paris Saint-Germain to form his backroom staff in north London.
The Spaniard has agreed to bring goalkeeping coach Javi Garcia to the Emirates Stadium while his trusted assistants Juan Carlos Carcedo and Pablo Villa are also set to become part of his team.
As first revealed by Goal , physical trainer Julen Masach and video analyst Victor Manas will also join Emery’s staff, and it is understood that the 46-year-old is keen on keeping many of the internal staff who know the club well, though it remains to be seen whether Steve Bould and Jens Lehmann – who both worked under Arsene Wenger – will retain their roles.
Coaches Tony Colbert, Boro Primorac, Neil Banfield and Gerry Peyton have all left Arsenal in the past few weeks along with long-serving physio Colin Lewin.
Lewin, who had been at the club since 1995, was made redundant after 23 years as part of a restructure overseen by head of elite performance Darren Burgess, who joined the club in the summer of 2017.
Over the past year chief executive Ivan Gazidis has made significant changes off the pitch, with the likes of Burgess, Sven Mislintat (Head of Recruitment), Raul Sanllehi (Head of Football Relations), Sal Bibbo (Goalkeeping coach), Tom Allen (lead sport scientist), Huss Fahmy (contracts expert) and Richard Allison (nutritionist) all arriving at the club.
Former Borussia Dortmund chief scout Mislintat has already played an integral role in the Gunners recruitment drive over the past six months, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Konstantinos Mavropanos and the imminent arrival of Sokratis Papastathopoulos all masterminded by one of Europe’s most respected player recruitment experts.
Arsenal are also hopeful of securing a deal for Stephan Lichtsteiner having held talks with the Switzerland international after he opted not to renew his contract at Juventus.
Just in case anyone cares what I think ( not that I’m bothered either way) I’m giving Unai Emery 2 years, it’s gonna take him that long to look and what he’s got, to coach them, to either decide if they can be part of what he wants to do or to decide to move them on – this includes young players and fringe players who he might see some value in.
He’s seen our problem area, the defence, and has moved to bring in experience and toughness to do a short term job while he gets a chance to work with our young defenders, that makes sense to me.
We still have two months in which to do our business, I don’t expect to see us involved in deadline day, last minute .com deals, those days are hopefully gone for good.
I was listening to the Arsenal Vision podcast yesterday and one of the guys made a good point about Guardiola and his first season, all the ITK’s were laughing at him at the end of 2016/17, some even called him ‘Fraudiola’…
Well, move on 12 months and all his critics have vanished…
So if Emery has a slow start I’m not going to panic, many on Twitter will but then that’s Twitter for you. The Press will also stir the shit as will all the ITK’s on SKY, BT and MotD…
Yep, 2 years I reckon, then see where are…
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Morning Rico
I think your judgement on me is unfair implying I am always pessimestic.Last season 37 points behind City, 13 Away defeats and time and time again schoolboy errors in defence.The signs had been there for two or three seasons but we had a once respected manager being a dictator and of course he broke his own social democratic wage policy which in itself will lead to unrest. Jack is out of contract tomorrow and good luck to him but I can’t see people wanting to pay him 100K a week even on a free.
allezkev speaks a lot of sense but being Arsenal I think Emery will be given the full 3 year contract. We are now being run by committee with a head coach and I sincerely hope he can improve players and gets rid of others.
Prices of players will keep on rising and kroenke won’t invest so how can we get back to really compete.Top 4 most probably would suit him but we have lost 70 million in two seasons ,twice by not being in the CL at 30 million and Wenger gtting a 10 million pay off
.
Emery has brought in so many people and as allezkev says we have got rid of practically all the backroom staff, (will be interesting to see what happens to Bould) but if it doesn’t work out with Emery what happens to all thee people he is bringing in.
My hunch is the 70 million available will have to be supplemented and if guessing Ramsey might be sold, to buy a minimum of three players
. We are already getting a free who is over 30 and Wenger may have gone but I don’t see a dramatic change in policy.
Why get a sleeve sponsorship of 30 million over 3 years from a country which is ruled by a despot, has concentration camps, people earn £1 a week and poverty is rife.That Rwanda has beauty and gets tourism is irrelevant to me.I have spoken to friends who now live in Africa, and they are united in being against this deal.
I and many others on here have been in business all my working life and one has to speculate to accumulate.
When did we last buy a top drawer defender ? When did we last have a leader on the pitch?. When did we last have a truly great keeper.When did we last see the whole defence as a unit ?
I wish Emery luck but he has a momentous task ahead.We will see. I am realistic not negative..
what happeneed to my long rant ?
…………’morning Kelsey, is it a good rant? I look forward to reading it. ?
I posted it, it was long, but it’s vanished.Can’t remember all the details now..It alsso told me afterwards the site was down. So maybe a glitch
No idea Kelsey but if your comment was pasted, you can always paste it again.. the site hasn’t been down though, not for me anyway…
Morning all..
I’m interested Kev and I reckon it’s pretty much the same for me. This coming season is already a write off imo, there’s so much for Emery to do off the field he’ll need time. If we get top four and improve on the pitch, we’ll be heading the right way.
Any more than that would be a bonus.
Kelsey,
Your comment went into spam although why I don’t know.
Dear me, I thought you’d recognise my humour as we’d known of each other for a while now. Clearly not.
I guess I sit in a very different camp to you. Instead on looking back on what has gone by, I choose to look forward. We have a new manager, new coaches, a team of three, two of whom are extremely well respected in football and we have a group of players who I believe aren’t as bad as they’ve sometimes looked.
I see little to be negative about right now as the club moves forward.
As I’ve said before, the money we have wasn’t spent by AW because he chose not to, imo opinion anyway and over the next few seasons we’ll see if that’s true or not. For once, I’m comfortable waiting until the transfer window is shut to see how we look, just as I am waiting to see how we play after Emery and co have had time with the players in training.
I can only see improvement but if you choose to continue to see things bleakly, then fine, it makes little difference to me..
I guess we’re all different but my cup in overflowing…
Of course we know each other in blog world a long time but I see things differently if you reread my post. let’s wait and see.Every year we had a fraction to spen compared to what was then the top 4 and we always had to sell our prize possessions.
I think long term Kroenke remains the problem whoever is our manager but honestly I wish Emery all the best.Last seasonwas really hard to watch.
I guess I just prefer to look forward with hope that what’s gone on has gone. My gripe with Kroenke was not sacking Wenger, now we’ll see what he’s really like as an owner but I’m not really sure now what he’s doing wrong. Time will tell..
I’m actually quite optimistic about next season providing, that is, Emery is able to stabilise the defence.
To me it’s quite clear that Wenger ruined good defenders. Chambers had a good season on loan at Middlesbrough and got into the England set-up only to regress horribly once he came back. Holding was doing well before we bought him, look at him now, confused and lacking confidence. Gabriel an experienced international destroyed in half a season. Mustafi a regular in the German side, gone to the dogs. Behind them all two ‘keepers, one on his last legs the other mediocre at best. Both lacked concentration and consistency. Coaching seemed to have no effect on them.
I’ve made no mention of Monreal, Bellerin and Kolasinac, but it’s clear they have all plateaued. Monreal by being swapped continually between full back, wing back and centre back. Bellerin who seems to have forgotten all he knew about defending and Kolasinac who has hardly had a look in, only getting to play when Monreal was either injured or standing in at centre back, and even then usurped by Maitland-Niles on more than one occasion.
Sort that lot out and we can start to compete for the Top Four Trophy and Europa League. Premiership? No Chance!
Nice one Cicero.
You never know though, Emery might just shock us and do a Ranieri. Do something totally different, confuse other managers and win the league… ?
One point in Emery’s favour, not many of the squad are going to be stuck in Russia for the summer so he can get on with the rebuild, starting with creating a coherent defensive unit.
New post up now.
Absolutely 3 years Kelsey, I totally agree, for me it’s so refreshing to see us under a new management regime.
Although I’m not sure that the Twitter generation will be as patient unfortunately.
And of course the click-bait sites pick up on that negativity and run with it to create a fcuked up atmosphere around the club.
Fortunately being from the press button A or B generation I don’t go on Twitter and I don’t honestly think that I’m missing too much intellectual inspiration by not doing so…