Morning all.
Middlesbrough v Totts last night was entertaining. No, not the football churned out by Conte’s team but ‘Boro, and their 114th minute winner. The home team looked like Lady Luck was against them as so many golden opportunities went wide or over the bar but eventually, they got the job done. Fully deserved too in my opinion. Arsenal loanee Flo Balogun didn’t start this one but did come on during the second half. Shame he couldn’t get on the scoresheet but even so, it’s a 1-0 to an Arsenal player over Totts.
Liverpool and Manchester City could do Arsenal a favour this weekend as they both play at home against West Ham and Manchester Utd respectively. Totts host Everton on Monday night when Big Frank will be looking for some favourable officiating after Mike Riley had to issue an apology for a clear handball was not given against Man City by referee Paul Tierney or VAR referee Chris Kavanagh. The vast number of letters of apology to Arsenal must have been lost in the post, certainly the one after the game in which Everton’s Ben Godfrey stamped on Takehiro Tomiyasu’s face! Different decision on the day, different game and probably a different result than the 2-1 loss we suffered.
Talking of Tomiyasu, he was missing from yesterday’s training which took place on The Emirates pitch instead of London Colney. Well no doubt get an update on his injury problems from Mikel Arteta within the next day or two. Emile Smith Rowe is back though which is good news and joint the group were three academy players in Zach Awe, Omari Hutchinson and Zak Swanson. Both right-back Swanson (21) and midfielder Hutchinson (18) were in the squad for our last game. Swanson is an interesting one, not because I’ve seen him play but because of his age. It’s unusual for a player to get to 21 years old without having played some part in Cup matches at least, which as far as I know, he hasn’t. I’d imagine the three will be out on loan somewhere next season, along with a number of other players of a similar age group. Depending on where they are in their development of course.
Matteo Guendouzi won’t be returning to Arsenal according to reports in the Mirror. Well, according to the OM president Pablo Longoria really as during a recent interview, he’s said that Marseille will sign him in the summer, taking advantage of an option to buy included in his loan deal. £9 million is the fee mooted which isn’t much really and less than Arsenal paid for him originally I think. But, it’s better than leaving him in France for another season on loan then see him walk for free in the summer of 2024.
As many of us here have said time after time, Arsenal as a club have been dreadful when it comes to transfer dealings. We’ve tended to buy big and sell small. Or nothing. The only sales in recent years which have made the club any significant amount of money are Emi Martinez, Alex Iwobi and Joe Willock. At least they’re the only ones which stick in my mind. Not for one minute am I suggesting we sell our best players for big money but at least move away from signing older players who’ll expect huge wages so we’re stuck with them.
Credit where it’s due, I think the club are doing just that now. The summer signings were all much younger and aren’t disappointing at all. They’re not being paid silly wages so even if Arsenal have cause to sell them at any time it should be a much easier deal to make.
Maybe there’s the occasional time when a player’s age has to be pushed to one side though. The exceptional talent is always welcome I’m sure but other than Aubameyang, who was the last ‘mature’ player Arsenal signed who walked through the door and made a huge difference to an Arsenal team? Alexis Sanchez in my opinion and at the time of signing, he was 25 years old so hardly an oldie. Sead Kolasinac or Matthieu Debuchy perhaps? Maybe you can think of a player I’ve missed.
It certainly wasn’t Willian but if his transfer and short time with Arsenal taught the club a lesson then he was worth every penny we paid to sign him…
See you in the comments.
Good morning, Rico. Nice post as usual.
My candidate for best, (recent) old signing would be Lichtsteiner.
OK, I’m joking obviously. My man for the reward is Monreal, but even Nacho was ‘merely’ 27 when joined, and spent 6 fine years with the club. So he was pretty old when left, but in his peak years when signed. Same applies to Santi as he also wore the Arsenal jersey between the age of 27 and 33 – regardless him not wearing the jersey in the literal meaning in his last 2 years with the club.
David Luiz wasn’t the disaster as many remember – he had a few odd games and performances, too – but I think he supported the development of Holding big time, and maybe Mari to some extent.
Good morning Rico.
I may be wrong but I think the Riley apology is an historical first.
It’s now fourteen years since there has been any need to unlock the Spurs’ trophy cabinet, they’ve probably lost the key by now. 😉
Chelsea up for sale, no new stadium and massive debts if Abramovich is forced to sell the club.
Everton take a financial hit as Usmanov is sanctioned and forced to withdraw from involvement with the club.
We live in interesting times.
Pbarany… Lichtsteiner!! Argh, I was trying to forget him!
It certainly wasn’t Cech either – he was past it!
Hi Rico.. Nice read 👍 Up the Boro, hey?! Loved it..
Looks like we’ve made a profit on Guendouzi (wonders will never cease 🤣). I believe we bought him for around 7m? 9m is peanuts; however I wish him well, and will miss him!
Will be cheering on Norwich tonight – there’s talk of Liverpool doing the quadruple – NO, just no!!!! ✖ Sunday was bad enough…
The Spuds- 5120 days since a trophy… 🙂
Morning Pbarany, Cicero, Sue, all.
Good shout re Monreal. He was a good mature signing. Santi too, but I don’t think the latter was that old when he joined was he?
None who came from Chelsea though, all of them have been dire.
Thanks Sue. Loved seeing that lot knocked out but in some ways I wish they had more fixtures than us to deal with. More Conte rants…
Lichtsteiner was a disaster and Luiz a red card waiting to happen.
It’s a shame we won’t get a big fee for Guendouzi. He is clearly very talented, but has a lack of discipline which will follow him around for the rest of his career.
Marseilles are skint, so will probably sign him them sell immediately for a higher price. Some of our transfer dealings have been diabolical for the past 10 years.
As I’ve previously said it’s the only day you can get away with calling someone a to$$er, Rico, so very apt they were battered on pancake day 🤣
Yes I agree, but they’re all over the place at the moment..couple more losses and they’ll be in free fall!
Luiz sometimes played a good ball to Auba though Cicero. 😆
Nothing would surprise me Pete re Guendouzi.
😀 Sue
He wasn’t all bad Rico but he cost us a number of points through his indiscipline. Peta Cech never saved a penalty for us. Willian was a laughably bad signing and as for Gallas……
Cech saved one penalty, Cicero – Troy Deeney’s – I almost passed out in the family section haha! Bar that he was rubbish!!
I must have blinked Sue. 😉
I initially read that as you passed out in the family bar. I do hope Arsenal aren’t promoting under age drinking. 😊
A bit like Xhaka Cicero..
Cicero 😂😂
We’re partial to a donkey, Rico!
We are Sue, or at least we were… 🤞
I think most of us were quite happy when we signed Petr Cech, who did he replace between the sticks?
He was ok at the beginning but when everyone started playing out from the back he was buggered.
If Stuttgart get relegated we’ll get Mavropanos back and that might be handy as we could get a half decent fee for him?
I know they have an obligation to sign him (3m) if they remain in the Bundesliga, but I thought Stuttgart also had an option to buy him if they are relegated, Kev… ?
Maybe that’s the case Sue?
Well said, Kev.
I’m not aware of any option that Stuttgart could trigger, but probably the details are confidential.
Nevertheless I find Mavropanos a better defender than Saliba (and White as a matter of fact), so I would prefer Dinos to stay with us and challenge the group for the PL/CL spots next year, but I’m probably daydreaming.
Anyway he is already valued at 15.3M (€17M, and TransferMarkt keeps using the 10% exchange rate discount), and taking into account that he is Bundesliga’s
– #2 in clearances
– #6 in interceptions
– #15 in blocks, and
– #33 in tackles (which is more of a full back defensive stat anyway)
his market worth is expected to re-evaluated – surely increased even if the club gets relegated – once more around the end of the season.
Needless to say that his statistics are better than any of our current players in every single category bar Holding’s blocking record, but it’s easier to keep a good run in 426 league minutes (Holding) than 1842 (KM).
Plus only 2 players earned more MotM awards than Mavro (4): Levandowski (7) and Nkunku (6), making him the only CB – out of the 22 players in Germany – to receive at least 3 MotM.
Kev.. https://theathletic.com/news/arsenal-transfer-konstantinos-mavropanos-stuttgart/k0dod0UHpfNE/
Agree on Cech Kev but I don’t think he made a big impact. His better days were far behind himimo.
I think it’s difficult, nearly impossible to compare current defenders (eg only) with those playing out on loan overseas as it’s like comparing chalk and cheese. Certain players might look great in one league, but not so great in another.
Just my opinion of course.
A report on Football London suggests that Arsenal are preparing to offer an extended contract and a higher wage to Saka in the summer. The player has recently said that he’s “really happy at the club”.
I hope that the club are also working with ESR with a similar offer.
Just one of the drawbacks with relying on statistics Rico. Different leagues, different playing styles and, most of all with defenders, different refereeing standards.
Rico, we probably agree, albeit I would rather say that it is quite simple to compare defenders, but you have to accept and understand that these comparisons have major limitations.
It is true that a defender’s exposure to tackling and interception situations is influenced by the tactics of his team as well as the style of play of the opponents. Just like a tall fella has a lot more opportunities for headed clearances if playing against a ‘byline crossing’ type of team than a creative team preferring 121-s or dribbles.
So a direct comparison has indeed some limitations, no doubt about that. Yet the fact that Mavropanos’ 4 defensive stats are superior with all (but 1) of the 28 similar stats of our 7 current defenders, the 4 goals he scored and the 4 MotM awards are making the case on his behalf. True, in a poor team the importance of a defender is much more critical than in a team aspiring for CL places, but being on the ‘team of the Bundesliga’ should mean something, especially as the ‘team of the Premier League’ consist only Liverpool and Manchester City defenders.
Anyway, I wasn’t demanding that the 2022/23 team sheet must start with Konstantinos. But with all those data supporting and implying that it practically should, I think it is not such a crazy though that he gets a (last) chance to prove himself, as – taking into account that he left for Germany 3 weeks after Arteta took over – it is safe to say that Mikel didn’t see him train or play (much).
I believe that Kolasinac was in the team of the Bundesliga the year before he came to us year too . However I have nothing against bringing Mavropanus back but a decision has to be made regarding Him, Saliba , Holding , Ballard , Gabriel and White all of whom except Gabriel are naturally right footed .
Of these only three are full internationals not that it means much as it depends on the team .
However it is decision for someone to make. I just hope that they take advice from Mertesacker who knows a bit about the position.
A defenders ability to block shots is certainly and advantage, but what the statistics fail to show is the outcome of those blocks. Did the result of the block lead to a clearance? Or did the ball fall to the opposition striker who then popped the ball into the net?
Just one example of why I distrust statistics.
I think they’ll both sign too Cicero, and Martinelli.
Totally agree re the stats.
We’ll have to agree to differ Pbarany, the game in England is very different to any other League I think. The officials, the weather, the style of football and the pace. From what I remember, on the few occasions Mavropanos played for us, he looked a bit slow.
Me neither Potter, and see how he fits in but I think he’ll be down the pecking order, otherwise I doubt an option to buy would be in his current loan deal.
No problem with disagreeing from time to time, Rico. And theoretically you may be right about the PL being a different challenge for a defender, but the performances don’t reflect that (this season).
The best defenders in the PL this campaign – based on average player ratings alone – are:
– Joel Matip, Cameroon moved to the PL from the Bundesliga
– Joao Cancelo, Portugal, moved from Spain and Italy
– Virgil van Dijk, Holland and Scotland
– Trent Alexander-Arnold, OK, he was born and raised in the PL
– Thiago Silva, Brazil, Italy & France
– César Azpilicueta, Spain & France
– James Tarkowski England again
– Mohammed Salisu from Ghana through Spain
– Romain Saïss from France
Mavro could have been slow the last time we saw, but he played 90 minutes for Ljungberg and 149 under Emery, so he could have been just rusty 3 years ago…
I can’t comment on how he’s played this season Pbarany as I’ve not watched him. I suppose though, it’s what Arteta sees rather than stats or our view and who knows what he’ll be thinking.
A good four nil win for Arsenal Women against Reading tonight. Sorry Rico. 😉
Ha ha, I’m pleased Cicero.
Check the latest ‘The chat’ with Holding and Tierney having fun.
https://player.arsenal.com/video/slip-treasured-shirts-and-pope-rob-holding-x-kt
You gotta love those guys.
Just watched it Pbarany, they’re two of my favourite players.
New post up now