Let’s Do This Good Thing
Aug 9th, 2019 by 'holic
It has been the most amazing transfer window in a long time. We have undoubtedly signed some serious talent. We’ve lost players as well.
Defensively we do not appear to have improved significantly, and there is still the option of European clubs picking off UK players despite our window closing.
We have confirmed Kieran Tierney for a fee in the region of £25m from Celtic. The lad is said to be injured right now, but this is an area we need to address in the long term and this gives us potentially an exciting successor to Nacho Monreal and Sead Kolasinac. David Luiz is an interesting one for me and could go either way. Unai Emery knows him, so let’s trust his judgement for now.
The loss of Alex Iwobi is balanced by a reasonable fee, but is he really worth just half a slabhead? Everton will prove interesting opposition with him and Theo on the flanks this season. The opportunity his departure presents to his Academy successors is an exciting one. Good luck, Alex, and thank you for your service.
We have finally reached the first weekend of the Premier League season and I don’t mind admitting I’m rather excited about our prospects, but then I usually am. We’ve not spent as much money in a summer window before and Unai is now expected to produce a little more than last season, no? He has his team, by and large.
He won’t have all of them. Tierney is expected to be out for six weeks. Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding (both knee knack), Dinos Mavropanos, Emile Smith Rowe (both groin), Mohamed Elneny (late pre-season), Mesut Oil, and Sead Kolasinac (both worryingly security concerns) will not be starting on Sunday and their are doubts too about Alexandre Lacazette and new boy Nicolas Pepe.
That leaves a potential starting eleven of Bernd Leno, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, David Luiz, and Nacho Monreal. Granit Xhaka and Lucas Torreira. Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Dani Ceballos, and Reiss Nelson behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Not too shabby, surely?
For the Geordies record signing Joelinton is expected to start but returning striker Andy Carroll is ruled out. Steve Bruce faces a tough return to the north-east.
The ‘holic pound
Here we go again. Confidence is the name of the game in week one. I’m on 1-3 to the visitors at a slightly skinny 14/1. Here’s to a successful start to the season.
Have a great one, ‘holics.
62 Responses to “Let’s Do This Good Thing”
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ok, thirst. haven’t seen you in a while, holic, hope your walking P is gone and that you’re on track to see as many games as you can.
off to read the post 🙂
Wise words Holic. That’s a massive injury / unavailability list . We prepare extravagantly flying all over the place for preseason and we have at least eight out of the first game. I think Willock may start ( and will have a breakthrough season) . I think Lacazette will play and I’m not sure Mkhitaryan will start.
Any sort of win will be great news. I remember Gervinho being sent off there on his debut the last time we started there . We will se Emery’s team emerge by mid- October . Until then we need to be solid and make progress .
Thanks scruz. The walking is ok, but the lungs are an issue. Just been prescribed a new puffer with steroids. Hopefully this helps things.
[…] Original article: https://goonerholic.com/2019/08/lets-do-this-good-thing/ […]
sorry to hear that, holic. i’ve been fighting just a virus the last few days that make me cough like a seal barks; still was able to play basketball yesternoon, but can hardly breathe in the morning. so i feel ya. if this continues for me i’ll be at the dr. post haste, last thing i want is walking pneumonia…and you’re the second person i know this year who’s been whacked by it.
let us know how the puffer works. enjoy the game sunday! i’ll be up at sparrowfart (great term) sunday for a 45 minute drive to and from my “local” to hang out with the supporter’s club…red shirts and scarves and songs and guinness, at least starting from 6 am 🙂 “opening time is guinness time”, right?
Cheers H!
@ all above OLD!!! Gonna be a scrap all season but when they jelly scrumptious stuff!!! I like elbows in the back line, we can deceive and confuse with the hair twins! Be Positive!!!
Positively a possibility, that 1-3 score. Even more interesting with all the new players and youngsters coming through.!Willock is coming good. SoulcricketvI did not understand a word barring be positive so I will be. COYG
All Good! COYG
Forecast says it will rain all evening Saturday in Newcastle (I’m arriving about 3pm) and all day Sunday. Here’s to a wet weekend in Newcastle. Reminds me of going to Stoke couple of years ago in August and thinking at last a short sleeved game there. Soaked to the skin.
Right here we go again. Come on you Gunners!
Rumours that Arsenal just missed out on signing Charlie Chuck to complete their terrific tonsorial trio.
https://comedycv.co.uk/charliechuck/2003-january-charlie-chuck.jpg
Luiz may not receive international clearance to play on Sunday. Only Arsenal can sign six players and have none available for the first game !
Nice to be reading the preview
again Guvnor !
With no Luiz plus the other
injuries the team will
have a pre season look and
be fairly defensive I guess
Leno
AMN, Calum, Papa, Nacho
Xhaka, Guen, Willock,
Mkhi
Laca, Auba
No Nelson, Ceballos or Pepe for
an away start at Newcastle
2-1 to The Arsenal
Nice preview Guvna but a chilling list of absentees.
I don’t have a clue who UE will choose around the predictable spine of Leno – Papa – Xhaka – PEA. Xhaka is his choice, not mine. I hope whoever we put out is too strong for the Barcodes.
Like TTG, I expect Willock to have a breakthrough season and hope to see him start tomorrow. With so many of the first-team out I suspect we may see a few more of the yoof on the field tomorrow.
I hope your season begins with a winning punt. COYG
Ned,
I was musing on signings from Chelsea since I’ve been a supporter.
I got George Graham, Colin Pates, Petr Cech and now Luiz. Did I miss any ?
TTG@15:
John Hollins
Whisper it:
William Gallas
We’re never the best starters in the league. An away win at Newcastle in our opening fixture will do very nicely for me, irrespective of the scoreline.
TTG
Benayoun on loan
Diarra?
Wasn’t Hollins from QPR?
Hudson? But he wasn’t direct
either if I remember rightly
OM@19: You are right about Lassana Diarra and John Holins coming via QPR. Alan Hudson came via Stoke.
TTG, this might predate you but there was Tommy Lawton and Bill Dickson in the mid-50s.
Also we have just signed a teenage CB from Chelsea, Jason Sraha, for the U-17s
So the full list for senior players within living memory is:
Lawton, Dickson, Graham, Pates, Diarra, Gallas, Benayoun (loan), Cech and Luiz.
So Graham, Pates, Gallas, Diarra,
Cech and Luiz – well GG was a
success. Can Luiz be worse than
Gallas or Pates?
I’ll leave Lawton and Dickson to
the old folk.
Good preview to get the season underway, Guv’nor. It will be a makeshift team at St James’s but should still be good enough for three points. Here’s hoping the ‘Holic pound also gets off to a flying start.
Didn’t enjoy the Wham /
Shitty game at all.
Jack played for 55 minutes
looking depressingly unJack
like.
Was going to watch Iwobi
and Theo vs Zaha but none
of them are playing
VAR Mike Riley’s mother, and comprehensively please.
FFL crisis in the first week as I unwittingly played my triple captain bonus, and that on a player who ended up scoring only two points anyway. Team living down to its name, Casual Clunkers. What more can they do??
Ramsey not playing for Juve tonight. Injured already?
Thanks Ned et al.
Zech Medley also came from Chelsea. I remembered Diarra a few days ago because my friend was involved in the transfer which was a very last minute plunge by Wenger. Then forgot him again. Completely forgot Yossi who did a decent job for us.
Forgot Gallas because I was ashamed he ever played for us after his tantrum at Birmingham.Hollins was via QPR and Hudson via Stoke. As Ned kindly suggests even I am too young to remember Lawton and Dickson .
My main memory was the Graham transfer which was a partial swap with Tommy Baldwin . He took a while to get going but it was a very important transfer ( if he hadn’t played for us would he have managed us?) He was a very classy player and on the times I’ve met him a nice fella too .
Good catch on Medley, TTG. Joined the U18s from Chelsea’s U18s on a free.
iBtM@27: Apparently Ramsey is still not fully recovered from the biceps femoris muscle injury he suffered in April.
I spent the close season managing fairly successfully not to think much about the Arsenal and I am delighted to approach opening weekend in a rather relaxed and positive frame of mind.
Very sorry to hear your health problems are not yet completely behind you, Guv’nor.
Very, very disappointed that none of the newly promoted teams managed a win on the opening weekend.
Otherwise, all is good.
COYG
FFL crisis
Go easy, Chelsea haven’t kicked a ball yet!
🙂
I m not sure if I envy you or not Pangloss. I was very unhappy with Arsenal at the end of last season and adopted a similar approach to you until after spending a day at a Big Cat sanctuary with my Spud grandson he was very dismissive of our transfer activity. I then glanced at my phone to see that Ornstein was claiming we had signed Pépé – and that ignited my interest again. On TDD I was avidly refreshing News M
Now to ensure that we had signed Tierney and Luiz. I’m far too old to be this interested in what my wife refers to as ‘ 22 men chasing around after a bladder of wind’.
But then I look at the estimable Countryman and his pilgrimage to the North- East and I realise I’m not alone . May that be a great trip and may this be a season that has us all following avidly . COYG!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9s_CQx4ylU
TTG – I continue in my “rather relaxed and positive frame of mind” which I expect to continue for around another 18 hours.
I’m expect that Oxonne would agree with your wife, although she would probably not concede that anyone was young enough to be as interested as we both are.
I also envy Countryman his trip, and I hope to read a report in a bar near here real soon now.
I’m fear that my frame of mind wouldn’t be improved by a massive back-drink. Has anything much been going on in bar over the past 10 weeks or so? Any notable Births, Marriages or Deaths? Can I expect to read more soon from our farming and Ireland correspondent, the estimable Mr Arsed?
COYG
Villa the little teases, I almost
liked them.
@26 bt8 I was wondering about
your triple captain as I nosily
looked through the teams –
unorthodox leadership was my
first thought!
Benfica home kit, man. GREAT! (adidas and fly E)
Dare to Create
pre-old school
fuck off chelsea
chelsea fuck off
geordies boycott
boycott geordies
Nice stuff H. The transfer window was an interesting affair. For once we seemed both focused and determined, knowing exactly what and who we wanted. Perhaps more pleasing was that their seemed to be a plan B. We have strengthened at the back. Luiz can make mistakes but I think he is a decent acquisition. He will also bring much needed experience and leadership to the team. I’m also glad we didn’t hit the panic button and try and get lesser players in. The likes of Dunk and Tarkowski were mentioned on these pages and I for one am glad that that was just tittle tattle.
On to the Geordies. Rumours of the normal Geordie protests are circulating. You never know how these will materialise but that shouldn’t affect us. I’m hoping for a rip roaring start to the season. I hope your selection is correct. It would be great to see Nelson start.
3-0 to the Gunners. Bring it on.
Thanks Holic, for the first preview of yet another season !
Great anticipation and hope for the new season after a summer that exceeded all expectations following the announcement of what seemed a meagre budget in present day terms.
So to match day one and …….. they’re all unavailable ?
Cheer up TTG. Luiz might make it and I can’t see why Ceballos should be ruled out. Martinelli, presumably wouldn’t have expected to start yet but looks like he might already have the talent to do so.
I would love to see the hardworking and defensively sharp Willock getting a start and would prefer to see the Nelsons and Sakas given a chance ahead of any of the tired old, slapdash performers of last season.
We should have decent competition in the squad now. Please, Mr Emery, let them now perform with their quality and their personality in THIS moment.
COYG ! 1-3 sounds marvellous.
PS good to see Soulcricket, if it’s who I think it is ! ?
Bt8, Even if Ramsey has played yesterday it may have made little difference considering the crafty nature of the opposition. Atletico Madrid’s new star is named Joao Felix which translates as “John Cat.”
Talking to myself it seems but 42 was an intended response to ibtm.
Damn spillchucker is in mid season form already, and has moved on to autocorrecting proper names.
Leno
AMN, Calum, Papa, Nacho
Guen, Willock, Xhaka
Mkhi, Auba, Nelson
4-3-3 or 4-5-1
Laca and Pepe on the bench
so some firepower if needed
A real positive to see Chambers, Willock and Nelson in the starting line up. How great it would be to see each of them have a major contribution in our future??
COYGS!!!!!
C’mon boys three points!
Clear yellow for the foul
on Nelson.
Still a yellow for the dive
Sloppy passing is letting them
into the game
Good chance for Mkhi
Skied
Just let their bloke walk
through the centre of our
defence.
Scrappy sort of game but we
look the better team
No consistency in the yellow
card for Nelson.
How is that foul on Willock not a yellow card, wanker Atkinson.
Kaboom!!
Get in, Auba!!!
Atkinson is not giving a yellow card against New Castle, whatever the nature or severity of the foul. He books Arsenal players for lesser fouls.
Pepe and Ceballos on – Nelson
and Willock off.
I thought they both did well in
a scrappy game.
Mkhi was lucky to stay on
really.
Be nice if we stopped giving
the ball away and scored a
second.
Need one more goal to calm nerves.
On cue the ref books Xhaka.
another booking for us
more fouls with no booking
for them
Martinelli on
Clean sheet!
Great win and three points ensured. Away clean sheet is very satisfying.
Top of the league. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>