This was a match which neither side could afford to lose, and it showed. As early as the first minute the recalled Laurent Koscielny gave us a taster of what was to follow as he snuffed out the first attack of the match. Last week without him we shipped four goals at home but his return also brought the best out of his defensive colleagues, most notably Rob Holding in only his second Premier League start.
At the other end Leicester’s back line also dominated, forcing the visitors to play a lot of sideways passes and look for gaps that didn’t appear. Santi Cazorla showed a willingness to have a dig from outside the box, and his in-swinging free-kick brought a last-ditch save out of Schmeichel.
After Vardy, keen to impress after turning the Gunners down this summer, had survived reprimand for a couple of ‘exuberant’ tackles, he went enthusiastically to ground under Coquelin’s first tackle of note. Mark Clattenburg was quick to show the yellow card, perhaps too quick, and it would come back to haunt him in the second-half. To be fair the referee made what was shown to be a wonderful decision to ignore howls for a penalty when Drinkwater hit the deck as the outstanding Koscielny made contact with the ball, and only the ball.
That the same eleven started the second-half was a little bit of a surprise with Coquelin on a yellow card, but the Gunners started brightly, though still lacking in pace on the break. Mahrez, like Vardy hoping to impress, was fouled by Coquelin and hit his free-kick just over. It wasn’t a yellow card offence, but still a risky one under the circumstances. At the other end Hector Bellerin tried his luck from outside the box but Schmeichel was equal to the effort.
When the substitutions arrived there were some puzzled faces that Coquelin remained on the pitch. Granit Xhaka was starting to feel the pace of his first Premiership start and made way for Jack Wilshere. Santi Cazorla was replaced by Mesut Ozil, who is being eased back into competitive action, not unreasonably. In his cameo appearance the German genius set up a chance for Theo Walcott and was denied at the near post by Scmeichel.
The match ended with a couple of controversial moments. Coquelin foolishly managed to tread on both the ankles of Mahrez with both of his feet, quite the achievement and surely worthy of a yellow. Much more so than his first, in fact, which may have been in Clattenburg’s mind. It’s the only explanation for the clemency. He had a bigger decision to make when Bellerin and Musa got in a tangle of legs and the Leicester man tumbled in the box. Perhaps we would have wanted that given at the other end?
Olivier Giroud got twelve minutes at the end, and immediately gave us a more balanced look. There is little doubt that Alexis has not enjoyed his two match stint up top. He may well be switching to one of the flanks for the short trip to training ground neighbours Watford. Which one will be interesting.
The travelling faithful were largely scathing at the end of the match, and the chant of “spend some flipping money”, or something like that, was understandable and to be expected. We don’t have a reliable alternative to Giroud up top, and although Rob Holding and Laurent Koscielny were indeed excellent today we are an injury to either of them away from looking very exposed in the centre of the defence again.
I know it isn’t as easy as finding a target, writing out a cheque, and hey presto, but we are making it look an impossible rather than a complicated task. The discontent of some, perfectly understandable when argued respectfully and with reason, will continue into the winter if we are unable to demonstrate our ambition to recover from a poor start to the season. We all want us to.
171 Responses to “Inevitably The Match Neither Side Could Afford To Lose Ends In A Stalemate”
*goes home with another wee paper bag o White Mice*
1st?
Good balanced review Holic!
Let’s hope we find those dancing shoes again the sooner the better for all the parties involved.
And please buy someone AW
Evening cba, Arthur.
I really don’t know whether that was a point gained or two lost.
Strange after last seasons 2-5.
Sanchez is either out of position, can’t be bothered and wants to leave or is tired out after an active summer.
Or all three 😉
He is out of position Cynic, which is bad news for Theo, I’m afraid.
Very fair report as usual Holic.
It wasn’t a really bad performance but a frustrating one .
We appear to be much worse affected by international tournaments , by injuries and by tiredness than other clubs. Basically we never seem to be ready to start at the beginning of the season, however well we do in pre- season. Our early results over the last few seasons are evidence of this.
As I said in the drinks just after the match I’m not going to judge Wenger until the window shuts. He has twelve days to get the structure of the squad right. Holic, very fairly outlined where it needs it.
I am also out of position.
Looooong season ahead I’m afraid.
I was at the game today. The travelling Gooners were magnificent in their whole hearted support for 90 minutes. Good banter with the Leicester fans. It was only as we began injury time that the cries of “”spend some f**king money” went up. Sadly there was some fighting near us at the end, mostly handbags but still sad.
Snap verdicts from the terraces: Back five terrific, Xhaka poor first ten minutes but good afterwards, Santi off the pace, Coq good but a red card waiting to happen, Theo abject and Sanchez not looking like a striker. Of the subs Ozil looked sublime (especially a Cruyff turn down the line) and Jack looked good.
I think the Boss is reaching the end of the line unless he pulls a couple of seriously good players out of the hat in the next ten days. It’s a poor start, and that no-one can deny.
Oh I expect Theo to be dropped at the first opportunity. The only way he will survive (and he was by a distance our best attacker today although that’s not saying much) is either as an Ozil Theo Sanchez trio up top or wide if Wenger decides to play Ozil rather than Cazorla.
Probly.
This did tickle me, from the BBC
“Wenger was urged, loudly and in very industrial terms, to start spending some money as Arsenal fought through a spell of late Leicester pressure.”
The same way I saw it Goonerholic. A lucky point in the bank next to the 200+ Million squids!
Two pelantys not given to the Foxes by a surprisingly poorly-performing and pro-AFC Clattenburg! I’d be pissed if I was Leicester.
Le Coq is a very lucky boy (twice!!!) and Arsene should also consider himself the very same lucky fecker this weekend.
Baby Holding did well alongside the superb & World Class Kos. Ozil is Ozil, in another league of “mercurial genius-dom”. Technical brilliance par-excellence!
Alexis is being well and truly mugged and fecked-off by Wenger! A lone striker up top?! My ass!
Back Up The Arse
AFCOF!
Maybe Alexis is feeling like 90 % of the fan base non plussed and completely baffled by our lack of any sort of coherent squad building – 5 points behind and only 2 games in, Season already fills like a battle for 4th – Oh the excitement ?
Fair play H
Very average game ,standard fare most of the time in the PL.
A lot of huffing and puffing,a few penalty shouts,some yellow cards,no real cutting edge from either side,and a point apiece.
Not the best of starts with 3 main rivals for top 4,already with 6 out of 6.
But it’s a long season,so no need to get too stressed this early.
As always,i reserve my feelings on what my expectations are for the Arse this season,until the transfer window closes.
There was plenty to discuss on the way home as we didn’t have seats together. All 3 of us enjoyed the game which had plenty of incident, we were all surprised that Le Coq was not red carded, he is an accident waiting to happen.
Kos ably supported by Holding held things together in the first half and the moment Ozil entered the fray in the second we looked a different team. Sanchez now operating from the left found himself on the end of some lovely balls from Mesut.
We had chances to win the game but Feo failed to convert when finding himself with only the goalkeeper to beat. The boys told me that there were some unpleasant incidents at the end of the game by people old enough to know better.
Hopefully Ozil can play a larger part in next week’s encounter at Watford and Kos does not have an adverse reaction to his MOTM performance today. We played much better than last week but a new decent striker looks just as important as a new defender, so come on Arsene surprise us all!
COYRs
“I will spend £300m if I find the right player, and we have £300m”
Ho-hum
If he has £300m and would spend £300m on the right player, go and buy Messi.
Mighty measured, maestro.
I think we are probably quite lucky to escape with 11 men and 1 point.
Our deficits are clear. Will they be addressed? I fear they will not be as they are so clear that our failure to do so hitherto is utterly inexplicable. If we fail to add a CF and experienced CB we will be in for an extremely torrid time both on and off the park.
Positives are the return of Kos and a very assured performance by Holding. Others have already identified the failings elsewhere.
Onward, hopefully clutching chequebook and pen.
Alexis is the new “André Arshavin at number 9” experiment.
We all remember how that piece of tactical genius-dom ended up!
It’s going to be a long season. What irritates most is our obvious unreadiness for the season compared to our top 4 rivals. The Mancs and chavs are all firing AK47s while all we have is water pistols.
I fear those desperate for Theo’s demise will be disappointed. One thing I thought we’d learned from transfer window rumours is that he’s been restored permanently (pending complete failure) to RW. Ox looked sharp, briefly, but faded as usual and I expect to see Electric Sanchez at LW against Watford.
Game changed markedly when Özilla and Jack came on. We almost looked good.
I too was surprised Le Coq didn’t score the red he seemed destined for, but not as much as I was to find him starting in the first place.
Burnley had only 19 – count ’em – 19 per cent of possession against Poo, and only 5 shots at goal compared to Poo’s 26.
Strange game, football.
Kudos to Mo Farah on his double double! At least one Gooner is firing at a high level.
Chris, agree with you on why Le Coq started. If you’re going to go with two holding midfielders, why not pair Xhaka with Elneny. The Egyptian gives you a semblance of offensive threat on top of his defensive duties.
Absolutely, BJ.
…And then he went on to deliver back to back FA cup titles but that doesn’t fit our narrative so let’s pretend it never happened.
Cheers H!
Mugged off? When he’s gonna get told to to jog on? Cant wait.
Dogman vs Dogshit?
Morning Esso,
Seems our old chum hasn’t learned the meaning of futility. 🙂
Average teams like Crystal Palace spending £30m on shit players like Benteke shows all that’s wrong with English football in 2016. Far too much money in circulation and it’s ruining the game. Will the next TV deal be so generous as the last one? Possibly not and it will spell disaster for the majority of Premier League clubs.
Good report, Guv’nor. Glad to see you in fine early season form.
I guess we won’t know for a couple of months if the clubs who have played their Euros stars from the get-go made the right or wrong call.
An away point against the reigning champions would normally be considered a decent result. But it looked as if that was two points dropped for lack of the proverbial cutting edge.
Otherwise, as Clive said @12, it’s a long season, so no need to get too stressed this early.
Dogman vs Dogshit?
Man vs Shit. You should sell that concept to a reality tv company. It’s a natural sequel to Man vs Food after all.
…And then he went on to deliver back to back FA cup titles but that doesn’t fit our narrative so let’s pretend it never happened.
Mo Farah? 😉
Thanks as ever, Holic – good stuff. ??
Conutryman100 @8 and Chippy. – Spot on.
That’s as far as I’ve got so far – have to complete later.
Nice report H. Also good to hear from those who made the effort to attend the game.
It would appear that we all watched pretty much the same game. Our lack of quality up front was again alarming. Sanchez is not right for that position. It seems a shame that two games into the season that we still are forced to play players out of position.
I’m not a fan of Le Coq. He’s another one that isn’t good enough. He highlighted how much we were missing a holding player. He covers a lot of ground and is strong in the tackle. But his distribution at times is woeful and every time he plays he looks like he could get sent off.
Ozil added some class when he came on but I still could not see us scoring. In the end I was pleased with a point.
The disappointment shown by the ever increasing majority of fans is totally understandable. Our lack of investment in the transfer market over several seasons now has left us both short and under prepared. We have needed a top striker since RVP departed. The fact that we have not addressed that has not only cost us in terms of performance but it will now cost us twice as much financially with the increase in transfer fees. It’s been a shambolic affair in my opinion. How it’s been allowed to continue I really have no idea.
I’m really not sure what happens at the club anymore. So many can see what is wrong. The few in charge however seem incapable of doing anything about it. As long as that apathy is allowed to fester then don’t expect anything significant to change.
We have Waford next weekend before the international break. If we have failed to add the quality by then and fail to get a result at Vicarage Road then do not expect things to get better.
We were told that we had to move to The Grove to allow us to compete with the big boys. Sadly, nothing seems to be further from the truth.
John Cross not impressed either it would seem??
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/10546292/arsene-wenger-has-been-an-absolute-shambles-says-the-daily-mirrors-john-cross
It’s been confirmed that another one of our NBT signings, Joel Campbell has joined Sporting Lisbon on a season long loan. This is his 5th loan spell since joining Arsenal in 2011.
This is one of many that we have obtained over the years that ends up spending the vast majority of their Arsenal career out of the UK on loan and never actually makes it.
It’s these kind of signings when we are woefully short of true class that drives fans to despair.
Hopefully this will be Wenger’s last year. Thank you for everything but Bro its time to go. Your arrogance is getting beyond ridiculous. No man should have this much power over a football club. You don’t own Arsenal.
This is an interesting analysis of the contrast in styles between us and Lesta and the outcome yesterday.
http://untold-arsenal.com/archives/55504?
There is little doubt that we would benefit from a striker to supplement the efforts of OG either in parallel or series. I fervently hope that the departure of Joel Campbell indicates the arrival of someone of that ilk and does not simply make space in the RW pecking order for Gnabry.
There’s still time though hope here is fading.
Interesting to note that Asano our Japanese acquisition is unable to gain a work permit and must go out on loan. If he doesn’t play in something like three quarters of Japan’s internationals he may never get one. Remember Pedro Botelho ? The Brazilian left back that like Wellington Silva never kicked a ball in the first team. I’m not sure he ever kicked a ball competitively in England! Joel Campbell seems to be another pointless signing. Almost every Gooner I know believes he has value to the squad but he approaches his fifth loan spell.
That Cross comment about the shambles would not normally interest me as its yet another tabloid sensation piece but I had a conversation yesterday with someone very well known in the news media who is an Arsenal Club level season ticket holder. His impression is that Wenger is exasperating the hell out of the staff working with him by constant changes of tack on players. Don’t think there’s something up his sleeve and he’s being economical with the truth, the reality is we might still do great business but only Mustafi is clearly on the horizon. Certainly he deserves to be judged at the end of the window but I haven’t been impressed by his performances at press conferences and interviews recently. I hope he can reinvent himself again despite the naysayers
Christ on a bike! since when did The Arsenal have to impress John Cross?
Coquelin isn’t good enough now? Pray tell who you would have us replace him with. Granted his passing isn’t up to Ozil or Cazorla levels but neither is Kante’s and I’m sure people would be over the moon if we signed him. Anyway, the club recognises that, that’s why Xhaka was signed. He is been eased in gently into the team and come the end of the season I won’t be surprised if he’s starting ahead of Coquelin.
Cent. Coquelin would not still be at the club if we had not been paying him as much. We tried to get rid of him prior to his loan spell at Charlton but there were no takers due to his wages.
Arsenal do not have to impress John Cross. But I for one think he makes a lot of valid points and is saying what a lot of supporters also believe.
Cent
Your loyalty and true support does you great credit. Arsenal need supporters like you and not those who twist in the wind after two ( difficult) games without a win. I’m a Wenger loyalist myself but I do think we have to at least take on board the arguments which suggest Wenger has not had a good transfer window and is under pressure in a number of ways.
I still hope and pray he can come through this but I confess I wouldn’t be hugely upset if he decides that this is his last season, mainly for the reason that he risks tarnishing a great legacy. But let’s see what he can do in this remaining days of the window before we get too despondent.
Holic,
No idea what caused your @36 and 37 as I’ve been out for a while.
Whatever it was, ignore it !
I’ve got used to doing that over the summer. Eventually, it helps. ?
Trev, I think that is the village idiot posting under holic’s pseudonym.
Steve, Coquelin was demoted and risked been sold because he wanted a more attacking role and wouldn’t knuckle down and do the defensive job he is very good at at. He got a 2nd chance and fell in line. I have no idea how much we are paying him but I would be surprised if it was much higher than what Schneiderlin, Drinkwater, Jonjo Shelvey, Eric Dier, Ward Prowse, Andy King, and Harry Kane were been paid prior to their breakthrough seasons or before the start of last season generally.
Cent. I know for a fact that Arsenal wanted to off load Coquelin. No one would pay his wages and he would not accept a pay cut. That was why he ended up at Charlton. The chances are that if we had not suffered long term injuries to various midfield players that he would never have kicked another ball for the club again.
GB finishing above China in the Olympics… strange year.
What next?… Arsenal winning the league??!
😀
one more thing, Steve mate, John Cross, like most Journos out there, doesn’t know jack shit about Arsenal’s transfer dealings. He makes up stories about Arsenal’s interest in random players to fill his columns then writes sequels to lament Arsenal’s reluctance to sign said players. It’s all a bug shit stirring cycle for most journos because sensationalism gets them clicks.
TTG, it’s obvious we are not the best team in the world and as a result we need to continue improving either by buying players or improving the ones we already have. At the end of the window we will find out the strategy the club chose to improve us. I suspect it is a mixture of the two considering we have brought in new players in Xhaka and Holding. I don’t know if it will work out perfectly or not but I will support the club now and take stock in May.
I don’t know when Arsene Wenger will go but I’m sure it will be soon enough as he can’t go on forever. Anyway, I will support him while he is here and remain indebted to him when he goes because he has done our club way more good than harm.
Cent. No ones support, devotion, loyalty etc is in question. I’m sure that through all of our different views and opinions, we all want the same thing.
I’m interested to know though how you know everything about John Cross? How do you know what he actually knows? I’m not a fan of journalists either but to say that he knows Jack Shit about happenings at the club sounds a tad petulant to me.
Steve, I don’t know how you know that as a fact but I won’t doubt your honesty. Anyway, it’s normal to want to get rid of players who aren’t cutting it. If the situation changes, they get a 2nd chance and do well then it’s also normal to keep them. We can’t complain about the club hanging on to “deadwood” for too long then laugh at Manure for buying back a player they let go for free for 100M. Sometimes the club have to take this risks. take Gnabry for example, he asked to be sent out on loan against the club’s wishes, the loan didn’t work out, we could have recalled him but we left him there to teach him a lesson. Fast forward to this summer, he is having a good tournament at the Olympics and people are asking why he wasn’t giving a lot of chances at Arsenal. Truth is he was giving a chance but he wanted another kind of chance, it doesn’t mean the club doesn’t value him or that they wanted to get rid of him. The two parties just couldn’t agree on the path to take for his development, if he comes back from the Olympics and agrees with the club’s plan then he will get another chance with us.
1. It’s no secret that Arsenal like to conduct transfer business in private. I see no reason why they would invite John Cross into the Diamond club, sit him down and spoon feed him information about our transfer business that they would prefer to be kept quiet.
2. John Cross, like most other Journos, have a track record of speculating, and failing miserably, to predict our signings. take the Ozil signing for example, they were all going on about Higuain and the club turned up with the German. They were all spouting off about how Arsene was too busy playing beach volley to do any transfer business and the club delivered Alexis Sanchez.
Great review, Holic.
Holding really is the bee’s knees. One can see why Wenger was reluctant to buy a central defender until Gabriel’s injury. With the imminent arrival of Mustafi, Chambers and Gabriel might just find themselves surplus to requirements. Gabriel has had problems adjusting to the culture and language and his performances on the field haven’t been top notch. Chambers must be smarting at the snub but only has himself to blame for not taking his chances.
Xhaka has a unique blend of grace and brawn. A good footballing brain housed in a powerful body. He is just what we need to complete the best midfield in Europe(my opinion of course). Any manager would have a split headache trying to choose a pair for his midfield base from the riches Arsenal have available.
Unfortunately, it’s been revealed that Asano has been denied a work permit. It would have been nice to see if he could slot into the team as seamlessly as the other two recent purchases have.
Wenger may not have bought the striker we all know the team needs in the here and now but he still has an eye for talent.
Just to add to Cent’s drink @ 43, Coquelin does a very good defensive job. In actual fact, outside his indiscretions (and thank God for Clattenburg’s leniency/ ineptitude), he was one of the better players on the pitch yesterday.
We were disciplined in defence and midfield while uncharacteristically disjointed in attack. Ox is wasted on the left-hand side in my opinion but playing him there can be understood when viewed through the need to rest Giroud and accommodate Sanchez and Walcott in the same team. Walcott can only play from the right and was our greatest goal threat.
In conclusion, we did alright but can do much better. There is the sense that there is still so much more to come from this team.
Now if only we could get a very fast and strong clinical finisher.
UTA
Cent
John Cross, like Amy Lawrence have a history with Arsene Wenger.
In fact, John Cross is Wenger’s biographer while Amy worked in PR at Highbury back in the day.
Cross has obviously lost faith in AW and is probably like any other supporter that has his opinions on the goings-on at the club today. I’m not sure if he has AW’s ear though.
has @ 51
Cent. Gnabry is another next best thing that has failed to deliver. Will he ever be good enough? Who knows. I would however suggest that s good showing in the olympics does not necessarily make him a top player. From memory he only has a year left on his contract. It will be interesting so see where he plays his football this year. It may be more interesting to see where he starts next season.
I’m not a lover of journalists or the media. There is loads of speculation that is totally unfounded. Some are obviously better that others. You mention Higuain? Do you not think we were in for him then? I certainly do. I think it’s yet another classic Arsenal deal that fell apart because we would not pay the money. My understanding of the Ozil deal was that it was dependant on the Bale deal being completed. There were numerous stories saying that this was one of the reasons that Levy was playing hard ball with Real. To stop us from concluding the deal.
Please don’t tell me that you think no one else is involved in the potential player deals than the manager? Do you not think that others at the club are involved? Then there are the agents? Most journalists will have their sources. How reliable they turn out to be will be anyone’s guess.
Football is all about opinions. It’s my opinion that our transfer policy over the last 5years plus, has been on the whole, shambolic. I think we are now very much paying the price for our failings of several years now and it’s becoming increasingly difficult by the day. I will welcome any new signings to the club but quite frankly it’s all too late. Unless there are some drastic developments in the next 10 days then I think we will have a real job to finish in the top 4.
Like you I have always been a massive AW fan. He has been truly magnificent for this great club of ours. I would hate to see him leave on a really sour note as he deserves a lot better than that. I also have very little confidence in the board trying to sort out his replacement when he does eventually call it a day.
Steve
I think you hit an important nail on the head with your last comment. Our board is very lacking in football nous. They so miss Dein’s contacts and expertise. He and he alone identified Wenger as the man for us and it was an inspired appointment. The other option is a Wenger protege. We have no idea if Steve Bould is capable of the step- up but it is to be hoped that Gazidis focused on this issue because it is huge for the club
Good stuff, Holic. “Perhaps we would have wanted that given at the other end?” – perhaps we would have.
Bravo seems to be coming to Man City. Surprised Barca is willing to let him go.
Speaking of City, I see Negredo is now playing for Middlesbrough…on loan from Valencia.
Maybe the day is not far off when we will see an aging Messi playing for big Sam in a newly promoted Bolton colors for that final pay check.
As Joel leaves on loan we are left with Giroud, Alexis, Theo, Ox and Iwobi as our forward line at the start of the season. Maybe we will throw in Serge too as he returns from Olympic. That is a thin squad not only in proven qualities but also in numbers. Hopefully it means there is going to be one more proven attacker — preferably someone who can also play centrally so that we don’t have to mule drive Giroud again — joining in.
Our attack was disjointed and uninspired yesterday. Except for a few matches our collective pass-and-move game have lacked incisiveness and surprise for majority of last season, especially when Ozil was out. Either a double bank of four or high octane pressing game was enough for our opposition to keep us at bay. We ended up relying a little too much on the headed goals from Giroud. We are no longer playing the most attractive football in PL and the Arsenal board may think long and hard about losing brand identity while not wining competition and its potential impact on the revenue stream.
I truly do not see us buying a striker at this point in time. Especially a good one, forget world class. None of them is moving and if they were, we sure cant afford them. Wenger can say all he wants about only paying for top talent, but can we really spend 80million on a griezemann/Aubamenyang/ Lewandoski. I highly doubt it. I also don’t think Lacazette for 40million plus is that bad a price. He is their captain and best player what do you expect?. How much will wenger want for Ozil if he hits the market? if Crystal palace is paying 30million plus for fucking Benteke.
@ Steve T #51. All what you said. I have to give you credit, you have consistently said that not spending on the squad is only going to cost us more as the years go because prices will keep getting crazy unfortunately. We might as well start blooding in Akpom because he is going to be needed this season.
Steve, sorry for the delayed response, I was out for a walk. like I said earlier, Gnabry is very talented but talent alone can only take him so far. It’s really up to him to make the sacrifices need to take him to the top. I still trust he will come through in our colours.
I agree with you that journalist have their sources, now imagine if John Cross’, for example, sources are the agents, whose agenda do you think they will give him information to suit?
John Cross may have written a book on Arsene Wenger but it wasn’t, to the best of my knowledge, commissioned by Arsene. I could write a book on the Pope if I chose, everything in it will of course be my opinion and might all be correct or all wrong but the Pope will probably not care enough to correct the errors if they don’t do him very serious damage.
I don’t think our transfer business over the past 5 seasons have been excellent, I don’t think it has been shambolic either. Considering the fact that I know next to nothing about their inner workings and all other caveats I would rate it a 7 over 10.
Over the past 3 seasons we have won 2 FA cups and finished 4th, 3rd and 2nd respectively. I could be wrong but that looks like progress to me. No one gave us a chance to do any of that at the beginning of each of those seasons because we didn’t win the transfer window. I’m quite happy to continue losing the transfer window and exceeding people’s expectations at the end of every seson while progressing.
Cent @56: We also won two community shields, against City and Chelsea. The shield wins are not that important in themselves except for demonstrating that if we put our mind to it we can prepare ourselves well for the season despite all distractions.
The point that many reasonable fans have been alluding to is that as an organisation the club betrays a lack of urgency towards footballing excellence. We seem to operate in a mindset — reasonable, pragmatic and dare I say more ethical mindset — where other things are of higher priority than immediately winning the big honors: a very long term concern for stability especially against the inevitable burst of the football bubble, player development and loyalty to the “family” players, continuity and consistency etc.
I personally have no problem with this approach but I share Steve’s and TTG’s concern whether that conservatism will hurt us while finding Arsene’s replacement and given the catch-up game we are still playing couple of mistakes in that decision will see us fall behind significantly, becoming a Liverpool like club, not even making the CL.
I want us to play attractive football, but also tactically disciplined and well organised one to again become good at what we were most known for in the early 2000s: one of the most enjoyable and intelligent football team to watch.
TTG @35,
I have to say, unfortunately, that I heard the same thing as you about AW in the transfer window last summer.
My ‘informant’ is not just anyone – he works in the thick of things at the club and said that the manager is constantly on the phone discussing players but every time they all think a deal is about to be done he changes his mind.
I’ve also heard that there are lists of players that the club is aware of / interested in, should the need arise. Four players in each position, in order of preference.
All seems very organised but ………..
I’m not a big fan of The Gooner but this may be of interest to those that believe we have, and are, making progress. I did post this a few weeks back but worth a read if you missed it.
http://www.onlinegooner.com/article.php?section=exclusive&id=3492#.V7oPGFR4WnN
Trev and TTG. I remember your previous post with regards to this issue. This in my opinion is where we miss David Dein. I can’t for one second imagine Ivan having anything remotely close to relevant to a players ability etc. I’m also not confident that he has the ability to go toe to toe with the big boys and come out victorious.
Cent. Re Gnabry. I’m not that sure we will get the option. It won’t be long before he is free to speak with other clubs.
The Lauren intervew in The Gooner is really good and our American friends would appreciate the tour report, as it’s largely about the awesome fans the chap who wrote it met out there.
Example Lauren quote :
The day I left Arsenal I was finished even though I went to Portsmouth. Arsenal was more than football. It was family. It wasn’t like you played for the club, you got your money and then you went home. No, no, no. It was far more than that. It was family. And when I left it felt like I was leaving my own house, my own family, my own friends – my people. Everything. I should apologise to Portsmouth because my heart wasn’t there but when I left Arsenal, for me that was it.
Nice one Cynic, thank you.
There’s lots more like that, H. He admits he wasn’t fit and was mentally fucked (his words) because he thought he could do another three or four years at Arsenal but it was made clear to him that he wasn’t going to be in the team.
We need to stop saying we need a world class striker. We cant afford a world class striker, we just need a good damn striker.
We don’t really need any new players. We just need a modern competent and better man-manager, head coach and footballing-tactician once again. We used to have that but now we only have an accountant in that job. ?
Excellent post, Dr F (#57).
Unfortunately I fear the lack of urgency you describe has affected the players and that factions may be developing behind the scenes, or just a general confusion has set in.
One thing is very apparent; the cohesiveness that epitomised AW’s teams at their best has evaporated along with all hope of improvement. Many times in recent seasons I have bemoaned the lack of passing accuracy – either straight to the player instead of to the space he will run into, or too short or too hard. It’s not the worst you see but nothing like the fluid flow we used to see in Wenger’s heyday.
We don’t have such a bad squad. Perhaps the players would benefit from a change of management. It can’t be easy playing for yesterday’s hero.
Thanks Chris.
I really wanted Arsene to leave — I would assume most Arsenal fans did — in a blaze of glory, with his head held high and proving that even after 20 years of extraordinary consistency he still has the drive left for one final self-reinvention. It still might happen but as you said the players seem somewhat bereft of ideas and cohesion.
I still think with one or two more signings, drilled in tactical discipline and a managerial ruthlessness that only takes into account performance and less forgiving to lapse in concentration and focus we should still be fighting for PL this year.
Dr. F @69,
“Drive” is one thing but capacity is another; and the latter is far more important. I certainly wouldn’t perform an invasive surgical procedure on a patient if my basic manual-dexterity skills were still not up to the task; even if I’ve been a Consultant Surgeon for over 40 years.
DanC @ 70: I am assuming you are a surgeon. I think that analogy, though very attractive, doesn’t quite apply. The skill you are talking about is an acquired muscle memory that after a certain age becomes highly unlikely to acquire. No matter how much you practice and how much dedication you have you are not going to sound like Pablo Casals if you start playing cello when you are fifty, even if you have been say an excellent trumpet player. Neuroplasticity is not limitless.
However self-reinvention in a profession that is essentially intelligence, intellect and discipline driven — football management — doesn’t involve newer reflexes or muscles or even that many newer neural pathways. Primarily a strong desire to learn and use more contemporary idioms and practices. It is more akin to a CEO of a brick-and-mortar business successfully transitioning into say the CEO of an technology startup. Or a classically trained chef becoming a master in molecular gastronomy. ?
sometimes it seems le boss is the the captain of this ship. he has set sail to a destination, to a wondrous paradise. he doesn’t give a hoot to shifting winds and ominous clouds that precede a storm. and we fans on board are afraid for our lives but hopefully sojourn at shelters of our captain’s experience. on board is the owner of the ship, financier of the voyage, he has to be, who else will sell the legacy of such a marvel. and count profit too, for the journey isn’t cheap, buoyed by the belief his ship is by far more art than vessel. it’s a floating beauty. but it begins ,water sips in, and frailties begin to tell and panic sets in. even rust begins to blanket the once spit shined metal. edging close to the promised land, and stopovers to smaller breath taking islands half fill the bottles of promise. as sea sickness set in, a voyager wonders aloud, “this shit used to be fun, do you know they have planes now?”
http://www.football365.com/news/wenger-hopes-mustafi-deal-will-be-done-shortly
Maybe we can still believe
My first reaction is, why are we sending Joel Campbell out on loan?
I enjoyed your post @71Kenyanconnection. I am still an optimist and believer and it will take a lot more than one poor but unsurprising defeat to Liverpool to sway me. All mutineers to be made to walk the plank!
Dr. F @71,
Yes, I’m both a Vascular Surgeon and an Interventional Radiologist, and my younger brother (who’s also a Gooner and season ticket holder) is a Neurosurgeon and Neuroscientist. We both disagree with your comparison.
In any professional post that impacts on the success and outcomes for others and not just one’s self (football coaching/management fits this bill unless of course the making of profits for the owners of the club is the sole purpose of being the first team head-coach and man-manager, a target which Arsene Wenger has met quite well in recent years above much else), one must personally acknowledge when his/her talents and skills have waned significantly to cease to make the desired successful outcomes for the key stakeholders one represents (again, unless these key stakeholders are the owners of the football club and not the ordinary fans?!).
In summary, this is why we have these two parameters in play within our profession, and they are also within several others:
1. A mandatory fixed age of retirement (which I agree doesn’t exist in Association football management).
2. Regular and career-long formal appraisal and revalidation processes of one’s competency in their daily-practice, undertaken by equally competent and independent third-parties (now this does exist in Association Football, albeit not always undertaken via a formal and regular appraisal process, and certainly not by competent and independent third-parties without their very own conflicting self-interests – i.e. the owners and the board at one extreme of the revalidation process, and the “Wenger-Out” fans at the other.
Correction; Dr.F @70. ?
“The market’s as hard as I’ve ever seen it. I’ve spoken to a couple of people I trust in the game and they say they’ve never seen it as brutally tough. It’s really a seller’s market and everyone who’s selling is asking for huge prices, and then there are contracts and agents and the minefield it can be. Sometimes it’s not. But it’s as hard as I’ve seen it, particularly for clubs like us. We’re always really open and honest about this – I’m used to it here but it is tough.”
Sean Dyche, Burnley manager
I know a lot of us have criticised Wenger for his slowness in signing people, myself included, and he’s not off the hook by any means, but this does at least corroborate what he says about the difficulty of making good transfers.
That said, if he can’t deal with those difficulties…
King GT – It doesn’t surprise me. He obviously has no future at this club if he can play reasonably well and still not even get on the bench, so why did we bother giving him a new contract last season?
I completely understand that there is a huge difficulty in finding very good players and bringing a deal to a close. Huge prices which seem to grow from season to season have proven that already.
However I’m fed up with the constant excuses and using Rob Holding is just pathetic! Using 600 employees is pathetic too and spending 300m is even worse. Excuses is all we get and nothing happens anyway, it’s been like this for some time now.
Letting go the hardest working player on loan is just baffling too!
No one is asking to spend all of it on players, no one is asking for miracles and no one wants semi decent players in the squad but if you are telling me that there is no player of Jamie Vardy’s status in Europe then we are facing a bigger problem indeed.
Interesting that Klopp is also against anymore signings after some failures… sellers market now and anyone buying will have to pay through their noses.
That being said we do need new blood… so pays we will have to!
Tick! Tock! the clock goes…!
😀
ATG I agree, it’s pretty clear that making signings isn’t easy but it is, y’know, something that Wenger is paid to be able to do.
Not signing people and then moaning about how hard it is, is a bit like a doctor failing to wrap a patient’s sprained ankle then saying ‘I tried, but getting the right bandage is so rare, then there’s the technique of wrapping it round which is always tricky…”
Ok that’s a terrible simile and I’m sure there are other better ones!
Cynic, you’re guess is as good as mine. He’s a good grafter!
Nice of Wenger to disclose Mustafi’s name to the French media. Of course the British media is the one that brainwashes us dumb fans in UK/Ireland who can’t think for ourselves (it’s what he said at the weekend) so I assume that’s why those journos are always told he never mentions names or individual deals. That, or the deal has fallen through and he’s covering his ass by leaking details of another of the many deals he tried to do, buying targets that, er, in fact we don’t need after all because our squad is good enough. Let’s face it folks, he just isn’t very good at this. Then Henry’s comments become relevant, targets start losing interest in joining us, even if it’s related to not paying the going rate. The Sean Dyche quote by the way is 100% irrelevant for a financial powerhouse and merely goes to show that the rich clubs have an open goal here to distance themselves from the smaller clubs, kind of reversing the compression in the League we saw last year. Good luck to Joel, he was a great fellow, key in keeping us in the Champions League last year I’d say. He set the tempo that night even if Ollie got the hat-trick. At least he won’t be submitted to the indulgence of Theo and Sanogo at his expense anymore. Oh and what a looming f*ck up by the way, letting him go before we sign another striker….unless of course in typical fashion we reward Gnabry who couldn’t have been bothered at West Brom and will need 5 weeks rest after the Olympics anyway ! Sorry for the continual negativity Holic. I was prepared to abide by the democratic will of the Emirates crowd on “A4 sheet” day, but the least we all could have expected after that was a bit more humility and graft from the manager. Or was it the ringing endorsement he wanted ? Does he care ? Here we are 5 points adrift of 3 key rivals. I’m sick of it. COYG.
scgooner
Agree with you on all the things you have mentioned, instead of having the team already prepared for the season and perhaps getting that one extra player in we are on red alert because we look bare up front and at the back.
Yet again we are here in “I told you so” scenario, unless we spend all that 200m in eight days? I doubt that very much!
When a Coach start talking about paying “600” staff then you know we got big problems. He is the damn coach why in the hell is he worried about other employees of the club. I thought we have people that deals with stuff like that. I keep saying that Wenger got too much power within this club. When have you ever heard other top managers talking about some staff members?. that’ shouldn’t be in their fucking job description . What the hell is going on? Wenger, your job is to coach/manage the football team. What a joke! excuses is piling up now.
I’ve heard many managers talk about being sorriest for the staff members who have lost their jobs when clubs are relegated and have to cut their pay-rolls and similarly at clubs that go into administration retain their playing staff but hammer the support staff.
As we get older we become more cautious and risk-averse. We look back at some decisions and actions we took when we were younger and think, “Phew, I’m glad I got away with that but I wouldn’t try it again.”
I think that is where Arsene is now. Wenger spoke of the 600 staff because he is aware of how profligate signings and debt sometimes driven by the media or fans, as at Leeds and Portsmouth, drives a club into debt and administration. He has seen it happen to other clubs several times in his career. He is also very aware of the risks that Arsenal took to get the new stadium built and the austerity he signed up to has clearly changed his approach. Arsene is even more aware as a result of personal experience how big money buys can fail to deliver and how bargain buys rarely prove to be masterstrokes.
Arsene was always cautious and his heyday at Arsenal came in tandem with the cavalier David Dein whose risk-taking caused his own downfall. He is almost certainly even more risk-averse now, will neither pay a ridiculous sum for a player he thinks vastly overvalued nor take a punt on a new player when he thinks he has an in house solution in whom he has faith.
Rumours of indecisiveness add to his problem. Unless he can find the gem he is seeking, at a price he is prepared to spend, I’m not confident that we will sign the players we need.
Perhaps this is what our current players need to make them world class?
http://www.imgrum.net/media/1264719235616647243_2272810553
Then again, this is a very interesting take on our approach to the transfer market:
http://positivelyarsenal.com/2016/08/22/fear-and-despair-vs-the-arsenal/
DanC: Thanks. Will post a response later. I think people can continue their psychological and intellectual evolution very late in life. Kandinsky or Jose Saramago are good examples.
Scgooner et al., you are spot on about Gnabry being Joel’s replacement. Arsene has always rated Serge very highly and hopefully he will be able to step up, stay fit, and then stay in the club. I also think Arsene in his mind has Rambo as a potential right winger. He is Arsene’s perennial favorite and I highly doubt a fit Rambo will sit on the bench. He will either play box to box behind Ozil or if we need more defensive screening he will play on the right as he has often done.
I know Joel isn’t kind of player — yet — to inspire a team to top of the table, but I think the combination of his attitude, tactical discipline and fitness is very refreshing for Arsenal where some of our more established wingers have often demonstrated a lack of all three.
Bath@86, if Wenger has become risk averse, why would he spend £5M on Japanese player, Takuma, who’s only made 5 appearances for the Japanese national team, only to fail getting a work permit?
It’s not like his previous Japanese signings, Inamoto and Miyachi were that successful, he knows the work permit rules. It’s just another sign of Wenger’s stubbornness I’m afraid.
COYG.
bath@86- I still don’t think he should be bringing up 600 staffs as a reason for not spending in the transfer market. A club as big as ours shouldn’t have their manager talking shit like that to the press. If he is so worried about the staffs maybe he should take a pay cut. Problem solved right? like I said its just excuses for a once brilliant manager.
“According to the Forbes’ list of the most valuable football clubs in nine years the value of the club has more than doubled and so has revenues.” The club was recently valued at beng worth in excess of £2 billion.
Considering all of that if I was one of the 600, assuming I was doing my job correctly, I wouldn’t have too many worries about my wages not being paid each month.
Mustafi deal now in doubt????
Who would have thought that?
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/10547695/shkodran-mustafi-set-to-stay-at-valencia-and-frustrate-arsenal-says-guillem-balague
bath @ 88: that is a fact based article even though the underlying premise is not anything new. Chris and I were talking about this in earlier post: the club operates under a different set of strategic goals if financial growth and stability that they wouldn’t sacrifice for tactical gains in the short term, like statement making signing or going fully desperate on PL win. It doesn’t make us happy as supporters of Arsenal football club and not stockholders, but that strategy is what makes Arsene say things that no other football manager would ever do.
I’m sure that if Gnabry was on the books of Man City and you were watching him in the olympics, you’d be asking why we couldn’t be signing someone like that. With maybe the exception of his penalty-taking, he looked absolutely superb. Here is a young player who must be brimming with confidence, and isn’t anything like the very quick, but very green teen of a few years ago, yet the manager wants him out on loan to gain more experience. If this were last summer, we’d be talking about him about to go under the expert tutelage of Tony Pulis! Truth is, how many of these supposedly outstanding young talents ever gets a real chance in the first team. Campbell, although slightly older, hasn’t ever had a fair crack. One problem is that we have so many very good players who would be first picks if fit, but get crocked again as soon as they are up to speed. Do we need to cull some of them to prevent a logjam. Do we admit defeat with the OX or even Jack if they can only ever play half the season, although I’d hate to see them burning it up for someone else.
The Mustafi transfer saga is moving into strange territory. It’s a deal we could and should have tied-up weeks ago, but we are now asked to believe that valencia don’ want to sell after all. Even the respected Guilem Balague has fallen victim to it all. Last week he assured us that valencia have to sell Mustafi if they want to bring in any new players, which I believe to be correct, since they have no money; but now he tells us that they don’t want to sell, and that if they do It’ll only be for for 50m euro. I suspect that Valencia have somewhat overplayed their hand and think they have Wenger so desperate they think they can get him to pay up. They don’t know Le Boss like we do however, and I would leave Dick Law and our negotiating team in Valencia if only to muddy the waters further.
One final thing: Jonny Evans – Sylvestre with knobs on. NO! NO! NO!
Silvestre, I think.
Our whole policy when it comes to trying to buy defenders I have always found puzzling. Paul Merson is hardly the sharpest tool in the box, but his recent comments relating to the purchase of defenders was nail hit on head. With the exception of Kos,Sol and maybe Per, we have spent a lot of money on average players. We have persisted with the likes of Cygan, Stepanovs, Squilachi, Slvestre, Senderos, Oleg the Horse along with many others. In recent years the departure of Bacs saw us bring in Debuchy and Chambers. Add to that Belerin and The Jenk and all of a sudden we have 4 right backs on the books. Then when chambers is really a centre half apparently, we spend even more money on Gabriel. Nearly £50 million spent on defenders that aren’t good enough to start when we are told that money is tight????
Our one stand out defender is Kos. He is a shoe in to start. Arsene then makes Per captain. With that one can assume that this is because that when fit, AW sees him starting? If not then why make him captain? That being the case, if we do pull of the Mustafi signing, what happens to him? It’s all very bizarre to me. Just think. We could have Saved the £50 million spent on Chambers, Debuchy and paulista any bought Hummels instead?
As much as I hate Maureen just look at what he has already done to United. He has given them something that every club needs to be successful in that he had bought a spine to his team. He has a top class keeper. He has added a top quality centre back, central midfield player and a world class centre forward. I wonder if that philosophy is something that we should consider adopting????
Just a thought.
Biscuit. The situation re Gnabry is interesting. I have always been in favour of developing players from within. Back in the good old days when we had a squad brimming with quality it was much easier I believe. To start with it must be far better for development if the players around you are of a certain standard. It is also easier to give youngsters an opportunity if you are winning games by 3 or 4 goal margins. 3 up with 15 to play means you can throw on a youngster. We rately have that luxury anymore. We certainly don’t have the strength or depth in the squad.
I have no idea what will happen to Gnabry but I would not be at all surprised if he was not with us next season.
Shall I? Shall I?????
Get in.
CBA’d it. Top corner.
If Valencia are seriously expecting us to fork out £50 million for Mustafi , I sure hope we say no. Gabriel was said to be out for 6 to 8 weeks two weeks ago, so should be back shortly after the international break. I would rather persist with Holding than be screwed by any team. The same with strikers. I disagree with the myth that Wenger is afraid to spend money. He did so with Ozil three years ago, a record for a midfielder at the time and then bought Sanchez two years ago. I fully agree with him that we should only buy players who will improve the team. There is a lot of expensive dross out there and fortunately we have a manager strong enough to ignore the pressure from the media and some supporters.
You’re right Devon Stu, he paid 5 million pounds for a Japanese unknown who can’t get a work permit. 16 million pounds for Callum Chambers who is now surplus to requirements having garnered far better early reviews than Holding is currently getting. 12 million on Debuchy who we can’t even seem to get out on loan let alone sell him on at a reasonable loss. He’s not afraid to spend money alright. Do you think that 33 million would have come in useful this window ?
Not having Oneleg as not worth having. Guy was a fucking legend. Loved him. FA Cup final 2003 his finest hour.
What Esso said. He was worth having for his hair alone.
Cynic @78, we gave Campbell a new contract so that whenever we sell him, we can demand a good price. Simple as that. And if he indeed does improve leaps and bounds by getting a continuous run in a team out on loan – then we could keep him. Simple as that. Every club does it so I don’t get why you should be questioning us doing it with Campbell.
Steve T @97, Are you suggesting that the Baily guy(don’t recollect his exact name) that Maureen has bought is a better defender than Gabriel? I would wait for a few more games to even start comparing. And Gabriel unfortunately has not got a long continuous run in the team because of injuries and suspensions which has prevented him from showing his true potential. And the problem with your theory of buying one Hummels instead of 3 or 4 other defenders is precisely that – when Hummels gets injured you are left with no cover. Also we never bought Bellerin – he is a credit to our youth teams and Arsene promoting him at the right time. Chambers was always brought as a Centre Back. He only played at right back when both Debuchy and Bellerin were injured.
Ah, the great Pascal Cygan. The only player I ever bet on to score an own goal. Can’t remember what the odds were but I certainly thought it worth a fiver of my hard-earned at the time.
Zinadine Cygan as he was affectionately known.
After a fine brace at Highbury early season he was actually the league’s joint top scorer for a short while.
Okay, I will give you The Horse. Reluctant but I will concede on that one.
I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine at work today. He was sat in block 1 for the Liverpool game and was at Leicester on Saturday. He said that at 4-1 down there were people actually running down trying to get to AW and vent their anger. There were big rows with various stewards and several were ejected.
On Saturday the away support was generally good but at the end of the game there was real anger and big cries for the boss to go.
It’s fair to say that the locals appear to be getting more agitated by the day.
Scgooner @102, When we bought Debuchy he was ahead of Sagna in the French national squad and he started his Arsenal career really well. First he had a foot injury and then when he came back he was pushed over nastily into the advertisement boards by Arnautovic. In between he also filled in admirably at Centre back when we were short there due to injuries. It was only after Bellerin usurped his place in the starting eleven that his attitude problems started. But when we bought him, he was very good value for money. But then why let facts come in the way of your negative agenda.
Devon, I agree with most of what you say, certainly about Holding. Wenger has been genuinely surprised at the rapid progress he’s made since he joined us, let alone where he was this time last year, but he is young and inexperienced and will learn from any mistakes. Of course there are teams out there paying fortunes for mediocrity, but what will you be saying if, after all his pronouncements about not paying over the odds for players who wouldn’t add to the team, Wenger spends the final day of this window desperately trying to sign another Stepanovs quality defender, and being asked to cough up silly money. Perhaps an experienced good quality defender on a seasons loan is the answer.
Wenger isn’t afraid to spend the money, but because he is always looking for value and making silly lowball offers for players, he gets nowhere. £60m would have secured Morata shortly after he had returned to Real, and Lacazette would have been ours last month if Wenger had been prepared to shell out £40m. Also he refuses to compete with Chelsea and the Mancs for players, and ergo has given Arsenal an inferiority complex in the market against these teams.
It is true, Steve T. Many of the locals are revolting.
The worm he doth turn!
This has left me speechless. A Telegraph Sport headline ‘ARSENAL SUFFER ANOTHER SET BACK AS WEST BROM DEMAND £25m FOR JONNY EVANS’ ????? Mad doesn’t even begin to cover it. This is surely raising taking the piss to a new art form. Will Wenger be busting a gut to get this over the line with a last second fax to the FA?
Nice post as ever Holic with a balanced perspective. Leicester got a lot of unfair penalty calls last season and I felt Clattenburg got most decisions right.
Bath – your post @ 86 is a voice of reason. I think we’re very fortunate to have a manager as intelligent and as prudent as Wenger in times where intelligence and prudence are very scare.
Like everyone, I hope we find 2 players before the window closes and while I have no reason to be confident, for some reason, I am prepared to wait until the window closes before passing judgement.
If I was to be critical of anything, it would be the work rate of the players on the field. In seeing both Manchester games so far, there is a quantum difference in work rate and application in comparison to how they applied themselves last season. I also feel that Chelsea being out of Europe is a huge advantage and I rate Conte highly as a manager. So this season, the work ethic off the ball is going to have to change otherwise I fear we could really struggle irrespective of who we sign!
The so called financial bonanza fuelled primarily by Sky TV and now BT Sport has been something of a mirage as transfer fees and wage inflation have risen to alarming degrees.
Football is in danger of exploding through its own gluttony. Compare our performances in the generally underwhelming Euros with the quality and integrity of the Olympics just ended. Football is rapidly reaching the point where even hardened followers like myself will lose their love for the game as it sees loathsome agents and characters like Mourinho profit from the game’s excess. I’m finding that through a combination of work and holiday I’m likely to miss four of our next five games and frankly I don’t give a toss if I can recoup the basic cost. I don’t really care too much even if I don’t . I’m not the only Arsenal fan I know feeling like this.
A combination of the state of the game and a lack of belief that we can be successful with the current regime in place are causing me to reconsider whether I wish to continue attending matches. It would be very different if we’d managed to engender enthusiasm in the close season but all that’s happened is that we feel ever more taken for a ride because of the ineptitude of our planning. I’ve had several wobbles over the years but haven’t felt this pessimistic before. I will always love this club with a passion but it’s easier to imagine it becoming a longer- distance love soon.
ttg, it must be shown, then:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxRnenQYG7I
i believe the waiter is mino raiola and his ilk.
Mustafi starts on the bench for Valencia tonight!
West Brom demand £25 million for Jonny Evans? Why wouldn’t they? Apart from the massive rise in transfer fees there is one other thing that the club and the board do not seem to have thought of? I get the impression that they all thought that with the ridiculous increase in the money generated by TV that it would only be us and the chosen few that would benefit. What they failed to see what that clubs previously known as selling clubs now would be in a position where they don’t have to sell. Because they have all benefited none of them actually need the money. Earlier on in this window Watford turned down £30 million plus for Troy Deaney.
If we were looking for a short term fix we should have bought Ashley Williams. As a stop gap he would have done a job for a few seasons.
TTG@114. I’m very much with you. I was away for Liverpool. I have already given up my ticket for Soton and will probably do the same for Chelsea. I have tickets for the legends game on the 3rd but really have no major interest at the moment in making the effort to get to other games.
Bath@110. We have drunk with quite a few.
?
Mustafi now on the pitch!
Mustafi now picking his nose! 😆
Mustafi now blowing a bubble! 😆
Mustafi now scratching his head! 😆
TTG and Steve
Clubs is not making an effort fans will follow and get fed that’s the model, we are a huge club now and they don’t care there will be some one else in your place. Seems to me winning the majors is not top priority and as long as we keep on making dollar the board is more than happy to keep things going as they are.
Good one Scuz! 😀
Having moved to near the suffolk coast, I now suffer hourly trains to Ipswich, then, on Sundays a 2 hourly service, which doesn’t connect, and last season attended no home games which started after 4.30. This is mainly due to me not wanting my 2 dogs keeping the dog-sitter up very late. I re-sold very few tickets, but I didn’t mind too much either, although I am happily in a position where I don’t have to worry about the cost. If we ever get a team capable of winning the title, you won’t be able to keep me away.
Sorry, I meant hourly trains from my starting station.
Apologies I was mean to say: Scruz not Scuz my bad!
Dr F@89: Question is, does AW see Rambo as this generations’ Ray Parlour or Freddie Ljungberg.
Biscuitbum@95: Selling clubs can now hold out for astronomical sums. So why wouldn’t they?
Steve T: Transfers are maddeningly bizarre. Squillachi was bought when we were clamoring for an experienced European-trophy-winning back-up international defender. Which is what he was, but he bombed with us. Equally when Sagna went to City, we bought the full-back who had displaced him from the French national team. But then Debuchy got injured, twice, and has never been the same player since. Hector wouldn’t have got a look in had Debuchy not been crocked. Senderos was bought as an 18 year old and was a regular in the back line that got us to the CL final. Difficult to say that any of those was a misjudged purchase, though all eventually turned out to be less than spectacular buys.
As for Kos, bought as a relative unknown for £10 million and now one of the best CBs in Europe. Go figure.
You employ a dog-sitter, Biscuitb? Your dogs don’t know how lucky they are … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYvMeT2GC14
Of course you’re right North, but the truth is, when clubs like Palace can, and do, pay the sort of sums Wenger baulks at, there is only one outcome. We no longer sup at the top table, but are sitting next to the likes of West Ham and Everton. Correct me, but the only other EPL team interested in Lacazette were the Hammers and even with the advantage of CL football, we still couldn’t do the business.
Like many here, I will judge the manager on who comes in before this window closes. If, for example, Lewandowski were to walk through our portals, I would cheer from the rooftops, “Oh I’m so sorry we misjudged you Mr. Wenger, sir. There were we thinking you were hoping to get away without spending any more of Stan’s money, and all along you were working on this fabulous transfer”. Unfortunately, the truth is probably that only a new manager, without wenger’s certainties (delusions?), will ever spend the sort of money required to attract the truly top talent this club needs.
You’ve read this no doubt, but it’s worth bringing it into the dialogue. From Patrick Vieira:
“I quite admire that, in the world where some clubs have so much money, they go and buy players who are £40m and are worth £10m. [Arsenal doesn’t] But on the other side the team is not doing as good as it used to and you need to win football matches. They’ve been disappointing, losing games they should have won.
“My generation had lots of physically strong players. In this last five or six years Arsenal went more with this type of mobile, technical players. Now when I watch Arsenal, yes they play good football but I just have a feeling they are missing something – the physical presence, the personality, this is what they’re missing.“
Kind of sums things up, no?
What TTG and others said about current motivation.
Aint been able to afford to attend except sporadically for years, however would never miss a match – TV/Radio/Stream etc. Last Saturday it was a real effort to turn over from T20 Blast finals day at 5.30. I did, but it was a real effort and I kept flicking back to see what was happening in the cricket.
I’ve always said the day I’m done with Arsenal, I’m done with football. Never thought it would happen. It has n’t yet, but I never thought it would get this close either.
Biscuitbum@129. West Ham reportedly bid £31 million for Lacazette. We had bid £29 million. Both offers were rejected. Neither club raised their bid. Lyon put out a club statement saying they are not selling the player full stop as he is too important to the club. Lyon has got over its recent financial problems so it doesn’t have to sell. It is far from clear how easy it is to get any business done in the absence of a willing seller.
Bayonne Jean@130: Aren’t Xhaka and Elneny meant to add some physicality?
Futile
Football has hitched its star to the broadcasters. If their profits collapse — and there will inevitably come a time when the growth of their subscriber base will top out or some unexpected negative event happens — they will no longer have the money to pay the ever bigger fees for the rights that are inflating wages and transfer fees. That might still be aways off, but it will come one day.
NBN @ 135, And wont I rejoice when that day comes ! Only watched bits and pieces of the first two games as just cannot gather any enthusiasm at all this season, Spend my season ticket money on fancy holiday these days far better value for money 🙂
James @ 134, Not sure what Wengers done to you to deserve such vitriol, But wanting Arsenal to lose you can Fuck off with that, Yes im no plussed with the football now, Yes I hate what weve become and Yes I think Wengers time was up a few seasons back but I can also remember what came before, Wanting us to lose, Never.
As for the summer transfer business it looks more and more likely that the singings are not coming over the hill and if that’s the case I can see only one outcome and its not going to be a pretty end, The club have bought it on themselves mind with a total lack of any sort of strategic plan in the past few summers, Most fans would quite rightly understand a reluctance to spend big on average this summer if it was in isolation, but alas on the back of the past two summers any wriggle room has been well and truly used up, Such a shame its come to this,
If It does transpire that a new man is at the helm this summer at least some semblance of excitement may return and a divided fanbase may become united again.
Up The Arse
Will the village that has lost it’s idiot, please call?
Answers to the name “James”.
I see things like this and I just think, “You’re not 12. You twat”
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CqfsjPQWAAAjrMJ.jpg
That sort of thing sums up modern players for me. Showing off the new haircut or the latest tattoo seems to be more important than football to some of them.
But it’s worse when they take that peacock attitude out onto the pitch with them, as Ramsey does with his back flicks on the edge of his own box, or playing the Hollywood pass when a simple ball is on.
I really don’t like this guy at all. Sorry folks.
you’re a harsh man , cynic
.
bet you’ve got decades worth of unreturned neighbours kids footballs in your garden shed
.
nice one
?
What ‘James’ and his ilk have forgotten is it is a handful of home games since they sought to protest ‘en masse’ at a home game. All 1000 (and I’m being generous there) of them and their A4 laminates in a 60000 crowd. You can be the loudest minority on social media and give each other a reach around, but that will never mean a jot.
Futile.
Haha @ Cynic 138
But this is what really important for them now their bloody haircuts!
Holic,
You’ve got me thinking of good old fashioned Protests only 3 I can really recall were,
When Seamen Replaced Johnny Lukic – Didn’t turn out bad
The north bank debenture scheme – Sit down protests were all the rage
And of course the end of the Terry Neil regime – Always seemed a tad brutal that, But I was probably still to young to really understand
Anymore good ones spring to mind – Not really ones for protests are we 🙂
I just want our lot to stop preening themselves, on and off the pitch, cba.
If he’d done anything of note as a player it would be easier to take (though not much) but he’s done nothing.
My disgust for the modern player is only amplified by recent research into a local side’s history. The more I read about the players they had, who were all amateurs and never got paid (not even the cost of a bus ticket) the more today’s players diminish.
Stories such as having an order for one million bricks (they were a works team) which they fulfilled in a week, shifting the lot from kilns and storage yards to the trucks on hand carts, and then playing a match on the Saturday.
I know that’s a bit Four Yorkshiremen, but seriously.. fuck off with your poncey haircut and “body art”
no stranger to the mirror mirror on the wall indeed cynic
but
the thought of
“Can we have our ball back please Mr Cynic ?”
“NO YOU FUCKIN BLOODY WELL CAN NOT !”
brought a seldom grin to my gloomy mug ?
it’s an oversimplification North, to say that if a club doesn’t want to sell etc. but I’m sure Manure were told just that when they were first in for pogba that he was not for sale. You could argue that in reality he was always for sale, but isn’t that the case for so many transfers. As in life, if you throw enough money at a problem, it will go away. We have a management unable, for whatever reason, to unloosen the purse strings, and it is killing the mighty Arsenal.
all this greediness means that Arsenal will have to look elsewhere. So now they’re eyeing Monaco’s Congolese defender, Marcel Tisserand, whose prospective move to Espanyol might just be on the rocks once he discovers that there’s an opportunity to see Aaron Ramsey’s new haircut first hand.
😀
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/23/football-transfer-rumours-arsenal-marcel-tisserand-monaco
Cynic @141. I did like the guy when he played to his full capacity and ran the game. However it’s been a while since he’s done that in an Arsenal shirt.
This peacock behaviour diminishes him and suggests that he is beginning to believe his own publicity. It’s about time Real Madrid approached us and offered a swap deal for him.
*aaron gets off of his bmx outside the barber’s*
.
“ssshhhh , here he comes , here he comes”
“right, straight faces everyone when i’m talking him into this”
Chippy
The most unpleasant atmosphere I can remember before this was in the last days of Billy Wright. I was not one of the 4,000 ish v Leeds when they lit bonfires on the terraces but I went to plenty of other games around then. The chant ‘ Wright must go’ would start up around the terraces and reach a crescendo ( albeit it a muted crescendo with 16,000 chanting it. It was an awful time for a club that refused to play its two best ( by a country mile) players and was tough for young players coming through like Radford, Sammels and Armstrong.Wright went at the end of the season. He’d won nothing, never looked like doing it but we scored and conceded lots of goals. But attending games in a toxic atmosphere was no fun
We turned to the club Physio ( imagine Chad Forsyth taking over now?)The rest is history
Wright
I have been at a business meeting with a fellow massive Gooner, a hugely successful businessman. After concluding business we is cussed the current scenario which descended quickly into gallows humour. He was a very keen away supporter but can’t get tickets very often. When he does he finds himself sitting next o people without season tickets who buy tickets from season ticket holders with away credits who finance their own ticket by selling away tickets at a huge profit. Watford tickets are apparently being offered at £350, would anyone be that stupid?
We wondered as people who do a lot of negotiation if we could be flies on the wall when Dick Law gets going. It might be quite instructive to see him undercut the obvious price level by about 50%!
We are both determined to defer judgement until the window is over but it’s proving difficult!
TTG,
Was that the night of a big international match – Think that may have been attributed to the small crowd as well >?
Haha lighting fires on the Terraces Hey, You cannot even spark up a lighter these days, Maybe they were just cold 😉 ! Yep that sounds pretty toxic,does no one any favours when it gets to that stage
Id hazard a guess in any other line of work/business Dickie Law would have been outed already as not for for purpose !
TTG,
Done a bit of research – Google is a wonderful Thing ! And we think things are bad now 😉 Fingers In Goal and Ure in the back 4 they really were bad days
Goalkeeper Jim Furnell
Defender/Midfielder Terry Neill
Defender/Midfielder Peter Storey
Full back Roy Pack
Centre half Ian Ure
Midfielder George Armstrong
Midfielder David Court
Midfielder Jimmy McGill
Midfielder Jon Sammels
Forward Tommy Baldwin
Inside forward George Eastham
Starting lineup:
Comments:
Roy Pack made his one and only appearance after joining as an apprentice. Moved to Portsmouth in July. Jimmy McGill made his debut after joining from Possilpark Juniors in July 1965.
Score 3-0 to Leeds United
Competition League Division One
Venue Highbury
Attendance 4,554
View Arsenal v Leeds United head to head
This was the lowest-ever attendance for a senior Arsenal game at Highbury. On the same night, the 1966 European Cup Winners’ Cup final between Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool was screened live on television, a comparatively rare event for the time. Meanwhile, in cold and wet conditions, the visit of Leeds United match had no significant bearing on either team’s fortunes as the Gunners were about to conclude the season in their lowest league position for 36 years.
Barcelona’s #1 goalkeeper undergoing a medical today and about to leave them and join Citeh up in sunny Manchester!
And all because of a new man at the helm, and a progressive head-coach, called Pep Guardiola! ?
Oh what could’ve been! ?
I must admit even I will have a sneaking, perverse admiration for Wenger if he can persuade Stan, Ivan and certain fans that Holding, Asano and Gnabry are the men to fill the identified gaps, that we needed a 3rd DM in Xhaka for 30 odd mill, that we didn’t sell anybody despite HUGE prices everywhere because we are not a selling club anymore (truth ; nobody tried to buy) and, finally, that what we really need to rally the troops when the window snaps shut with our extremities hanging out is our 3rd non-playing captain in almost as many years. Con job of the century. Hang on, is this really all happening ? Or not happening as the case may be.. Couldn’t feckin make it up. Mind you I don’t completely rule out a 40-50 mill scramble into Evans and Bony…. That’s what we’re looking at as long shot, best-case. They don’t even have that nice brunette in her yellow deadline day dress on Sky anymore do they ?
@158 – Players are available, and top quality players too, if you want them and if you have the balls to get them. Unfortunately, we haven’t got the bottle to do so.
@159 – She was replaced by Kate Abdo last time, which was a complete outrage.
Warning – link includes Jim Shite.
http://cdn.c.photoshelter.com/img-get2/I0000BKBujghwliQ/fit=1000×750/sky-sports80.jpg
It’s really odd with us and transfers. We are simultaneously ultra-careful about spending money and also completely reckless with the cash.
It’s how we miss out on players but throw big money away on the likes of Chambers.
If we spent £25m on Evans, would anyone be really shocked?
It feels like we set ourselves a price and find someone to buy afterwards.
“I’m not paying more than £25m for a centre back”
“Valencia want £26m for their guy”
“I said £25m is our limit”
“Well they’ve upped it to £35m anyway. We’ve bid £15m for Evans”
“And?”
“They are asking £25m”
“He’s within our budget”
Evans signs.
Thank you @161. That is what I call a true value-add. Your @162 is fair and simply known as acting the smart arse (manager not your good self).
Only Arsenal could become not a selling club anymore when prices go through the roof????
Go Ivan.
?
The Tories in power for the next 20-30 years, Donald Trump a live prospect for the White House, and Jonny Evans signing for the Arsenal. What’s not to like?
Biscuitbum@149: It is one thing saying it in the privacy of a negotiation, or even leaking it to a friendly journalist unattributedly; another issuing a public statement.
~@164: 🙂
Chippy
Great detective work. That was indeed the night of the Liverpool match and certainly that contributed to the attendance but things were dire then.
It was a bad time and tends to give a sense of perspective so that when the more venerable members of this bar fail to see fourth in the league as an absolute crisis we can point to events like this to show that times have been much tougher.
The following season we won our first three games and I remember a really great vibe at Highbury for our first Saturday game. In the midweek game we had beaten West Ham with their three World Cup winners at home and although we struggled for a few months afterwards we brought in George Graham and Bob McNab who joined us in preference to Liverpool because he preferred Bertie Mee to Bill Shankly because Shankly used bad language in front of the female staff when he went for an interview. How times have changed eh!
That was the beginning of one of the greatest chapters in our history which I suppose suggests that changing the manager can sometimes be the right decision. Arsenal had Dave Sexton as coach then but Don Howe took over from him when he left for Chelsea.
The rest is history!
TTG,
Thanks but the detective work was no greater than typing a few words into a search engine 😉 Hehe I know what you mean I was to young to really get the late 70s so my first memory’s are of the early 80s – Not great on the pitch but wouldn’t swap them for the world ! How times change hey, Then again the clubs make a rod for their own backs these days !!
As for the trip down memory lane thanks for that always good to hear from people that actually lived it, That’s a rather good memory 🙂 Especially loved the Bob Mcnab part,how different from today indeed let’s hope if a change is a coming it’s as successful as that one !!
Up The Arse,
Chippy,
Bob McNab spoke to a do I was at and told Bob Wilson that he was injured in the second game of the double season but didn’t tell the management in case he lost his place. He played about 60 games with the injury and still performed really consistently. How different today is!
In other news TGSTEL is likely to join QPR. There’s always a team worse off than you!
Used to be a football pitch not a bloody catwalk.
TTG,
Haha certainly rings true – I’d also go as far as to say players certainly know when they are in with a chance of the big prizes and that may help on concentrating the mind when it comes to a sitting out and letting someone else in ! I’ve also never bought into modern players are tired – Yes the games quicker but nowhere near as physical, Pitches are far far better and the ball and boots far lighter add to that they play less games as squad sizes are so much bigger and it just does not ring true,
Win some tickets to the Legends fixture. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>