Other Football 2021/22

[aws]

Never rated him. 

[dockers_strike]

The club that keeps giving

 

The Emirates Stadium will be fully open on Sunday for the first time in 18 months, for no less than the visit of Chelsea, yet match tickets were still available on Saturday on the club website for platinum and gold members, silver and red members, junior Gunners, “friends and family”, and anyone else at a loose end that afternoon.

 

This was once English football’s greatest show, so much so that they built a new stadium to stage it all. These days, however, one cannot be sure that even the Arsenal players want to watch Arsenal. How else to explain the tweet at half-time of Friday’s defeat to Brentford by Lucas Torreira, one of many excommunicated squad members, who was at a theme park in Madrid. 

 

Earlier, the alleged Arsenal midfielder Willian, also absent from Friday’s squad, had posted a picture of himself training alone on a gym bike. At least the president of Rwanda Paul Kagame, who interrupted official government business to tweet a critique of the performance, was actually watching the game.

 

No detail in Friday’s explanation for the absence of Pierre-Emerick Aubemeyang, Alexandre Lacazette or indeed the back-up goalkeeper Alex Runarsson, and no clues yet when they will be back in training ahead of the Chelsea game. Aubameyang’s last social media appearance appears to be at a birthday party this week for one of his children, chronicled by his wife on Instagram. Arsenal need him for Sunday. The club will not say whether he or any others are isolating with Covid.

 

Either way it is hard for Mikel Arteta even to generate a mood of competency. He promised that this would be a “ruthless” summer of reorganisation and so far his sporting director Edu has sold Joe Willock. As for the scale of the proposed clear-out, it would be easier to list those the club would not sell. 

 

In addition to the summer signings, one imagines they would listen to offers for anyone other than Kieran Tierney, Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe, Gabriel Martinelli and Thomas Partey. The rest, even Aubemeyang, are surely available.

With the club in such a state of flux, and the manager under pressure from the first defeat of the season this will be a true test of the strength of the relationship of Arteta and Edu. Both go into the next two weeks under intense pressure and, as ever in these situations, if one suspects the other of shifting blame then the whole house can fall.

 

For all that, Arsenal had a strong second half of last season, the third best record in the Premier League, and there have been new deals for Tierney and Smith Rowe this summer although little accompanying optimism. 

 

After the years of rebuild and relaunch, the propping up of late Wengerism into the short-lived experiment of Unai Emery and now Arteta they emerge into a Covid transfer market with a shadow squad of players no-one wants to buy. Some of the squad do not even appear not to have access to a fixture list for their parent club.

Torreira, Willian and Sead Kolasinac all seem to be cast out. So too William Saliba whose Arsenal decline has been an extreme version of the norm in that he has progressed from promising young signing, to surplus-to-requirements without ever playing a competitive game for Arsenal. Hector Bellerin appears to be on his way out. Ainsley Maitland-Niles has requested clarity on his future with a preference to go elsewhere. 

 

Both of those two primarily play at right-back, as does a third substitute from Friday night’s defeat, Cedric Soares. Yet when the moment came against Brentford to replace the starting right-back Calum Chambers – who primarily regards himself as a centre-half – on came the newly-signed second-choice left-back Nuno Tavares.

 

Of course, Arteta seeing these players every day in training, and having his own ideas about the in-game requirements, knows much more about form and readiness. But then that begs the question: how off the pace are some of those he chooses to overlook?

 

Already this year Mesut Ozil, Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis have been carved out the picture with expensive pay-offs. This is a club that seems in a perpetual state of self-repair, taking the hit on contracts it should never have agreed with players it no longer wants. 

With that in mind, it is hard to see how Arsenal went from the consensus that it was time for Granit Xhaka to leave, to now restoring him to the captaincy in Aubemeyang’s absence and potentially agreeing a new deal.

 

As for the Aubameyang contract, agreed last September to make him the best-paid player at the club until 2023, it felt like a trap which Arsenal were incapable of avoiding. 

 

Faced with the choice between the hit to their status that came with losing the Aubameyang of 2019-2020 or the prospect of investing heavily in a declining asset duly they took the latter. Those are the choices that modern Arsenal is creating for itself.

 

Friday’s bench was a trip back through different eras for Arsenal. There was Mohamed Elneny, who was on his way out two years ago, and others like Rob Holding whose position in the hierarchy is now unclear. He played 30 league games last season and signed a new contract but appears, for now at least, to be behind Ben White and Pablo Mari. 

 

There is always a new era at Arsenal looming, a clear-out to be performed, a realignment of those who are the future and those who were the future. It can be hard to recall who is in which camp. The club seem to live every day battling the mistakes of the past.

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2021/08/14/even-arsenal-spectacular-day-one-crisis-club-going-nowhere/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

[manwiththestick]

Fuck 'em.

[TD_LFC]

Shaqiri might be having a change of heart.

 

Lyon being battered 3-0 by Angers and down to 10 men.

[Elite]

I'd sooner keep Shaqiri if we have no plans to bring someone in.

[Anubis]

Stripes go one nil up against Bubbles. St Maximan making the Bubbles’ defence look like clowns.

[Grinch]

Quality from Saint maximus.

[Dr Nowt]

Let’s just for a second ignore his we actually spent £40m on Grealish because we brought £60m in first and that’s the only reason we could afford it, risible bollocks.

 

How come you’ve also offered £100m for Kane then, and as everyone knows you will are primed to make a vastly improved offer in the final week of the transfer window? Where’s the sales which offset that?

Much as you don’t want to dignify the little turd insulting everyone’s intelligence, these journalists not asking him the above on camera so we can all watch him self-destruct speaks volumes.

[Elite]

14 minutes ago, Grinch said:

Quality from Saint maximus.

It was top class.

 

If he can find a consistent end product, he'll be a very useful player.

[Elite]

5 minutes ago, Dr Nowt said:

Let’s just for a second ignore his we actually spent £40m on Grealish because we brought £60m in first and that’s the only reason we could afford it, risible bollocks.

 

How come you’ve also offered £100m for Kane then, and as everyone knows you will are primed to make a vastly improved offer in the final week of the transfer window?

These journalists not asking him the above on camera so we can all watch him self-destruct speaks volumes.

He should just own the fact that he's got all the cards stacked in his favour. He can't though, too much ego.

[Pidge]

Poor from Rice for the goal, but got very little support. 

[Grinch]

Quick correct decision.  Var done right.

[Anubis]

Bowen a lucky boy that the ball was across the line.

[Stickman]

15 hours ago, Jairzinho said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/58216727

 

Pep going full Pep.

Could pretty much guarantee you if that BBC article was relating to how much Klopp and Liverpool had spent at the bottom it would be open to comments ..

[Elite]

It's been a better game than I expected this so far. Nicely poised.

[Elite]

Bowen looking good here 

[Anubis]

Good game this. Neither side defending well.

[TD_LFC]

Are SKY playing St Maxim at double speed?

 

Seen the best and worst of him in this game so far, build up to the goal and then needless stepovers in midfield without going anywhere only to lose possession.

[Redder Lurtz]

Saint Maximan is some player. 

[lifetime fan]

10 minutes ago, Dr Nowt said:

Let’s just for a second ignore his we actually spent £40m on Grealish because we brought £60m in first and that’s the only reason we could afford it, risible bollocks.

 

How come you’ve also offered £100m for Kane then, and as everyone knows you will are primed to make a vastly improved offer in the final week of the transfer window? Where’s the sales which offset that?

Much as you don’t want to dignify the little turd insulting everyone’s intelligence, these journalists not asking him the above on camera so we can all watch him self-destruct speaks volumes.

Much like political ‘journalists’ they know where their bread is buttered. 
 

They’ll never offend for fear of being left out of the clique, their twatter clicks drop, the ad revenues drop and they’re dropped/demoted/not promoted by their papers/media channels. 
 

I mean look at James Pearce, a piss poor writer who grew up in the footballing hotbed that is Bath! 
 

Connections mean everything, ability and talent less and less. 

[Scott_M]

21 minutes ago, Dr Nowt said:

Let’s just for a second ignore his we actually spent £40m on Grealish because we brought £60m in first and that’s the only reason we could afford it, risible bollocks.

 

How come you’ve also offered £100m for Kane then, and as everyone knows you will are primed to make a vastly improved offer in the final week of the transfer window? Where’s the sales which offset that?

Much as you don’t want to dignify the little turd insulting everyone’s intelligence, these journalists not asking him the above on camera so we can all watch him self-destruct speaks volumes.

They might have brought in £60m last summer but they also spent £120m. 
 

Somebody should ask him about that.

[3 Stacks]

Funny the dislike people have of Traore but then they rate St-Maximin. They're like the same player.

[lifetime fan]

2 minutes ago, Scott_M said:

They might have brought in £60m last summer but they also spent £120m. 
 

Somebody should ask him about that.

So you think accounts can be manipulated? 

[TD_LFC]

1 minute ago, 3 Stacks said:

Funny the dislike people have of Traore but then they rate St-Maximin. They're like the same player.

Nah, Traore's more of an up and down runner, Maxim is a bit more of a show pony.

 

Don't think either suit what we need.

[Scott_M]

1 minute ago, lifetime fan said:

So you think accounts can be manipulated? 

I’m sure their accounts and headline figures are accurate enough. 
 

Their hugely inflated sponsorship deals and other dodgy incomes are a different matter.