Arsenal Need a Sagna Beast at R-FB: Three Options

58 thoughts on “Arsenal Need a Sagna Beast at R-FB: Three Options”

• Agreed that Arsenal are in very desperate need of a right back but just can’t agree with some of your other perspectives.
  Soares – no other EPL club would want him as a backup right back. We know that because Southampton could barely give him away. The Southampton board apparently laughed when they found out we gave him a 4 year contract. If it hadn’t been for the Edu, Raul, Kia collusion fest – that deal would never have happened.
  Chambers – probably good enough to play CM for a bottom 5 EPM club but that’s it. Seeing him mistime a looping head in the 6 yard box, with his body closed off to the attacker shows that he couldn’t even play RB or CB for a schoolboy team. You learn how to do that in your first year.
  AMN, Bellerin – neither want to play RB for Arsenal. You just can’t rely on players that don’t want to be there.

  The situation is absolutely dire at RB and highlights what a shambles is as a club.

  As for Arteta’s plan – that’s over. As soon as the Kroenkes wake up and realise Vinai and Edu has sold them a rotten bill of goods in Arteta, all 3 will be out.

  I watched all of pre-season and the 3 opening league games. The lack of fight, desire, structure, belief, tactics… everything…. was just astonishing. This has nothing to do with a few key players missing through injury – if your team repeatedly plays like that, it shows the players no longer trust the manager and when that happens, times up. Now it’s just a waiting game for the owners to realise.

• Cheers Ben, a bleak view on things but well expressed.

  I rate Soares, especially for his attacking contributions. Perfect nr2 in my view.

  Very harsh on Chambers. Agreed, he was poor recently but so was the whole defence. Still a really good squad player to have.

• I do wonder why so many Arsenal “fans” are so vitriolic and call for sackings of some description most of the time – Wenger out became Emery out and now Arteta out!
  Some of us have been following the club since the 1960’s and know we have no devine right to succeed every time- it would be great if we did but just not a God given right: those who think otherwise should maybe follow a Man City or Chelsea and jump on that bandwagon

• AMN might just stay back looking at the shambles we are in. Don’t write off AMN in the midfield yet. He will be better than Elneny and Xhaka. He will get his chance during AFCON to nail his place. I have a feeling we will retain AMN and if Arteta can convince him to put a shift in right , we can let go others.
  I don’t see any rumour for another CM and I wouldn’t trust Xhaka to play during AFCON. We seriously need to look at that position in the squad during AFCON.

• Good stuff, Gungadin. Patience is a rare commodity these days

• Madhu, AMN has potential indeed.

• Gungadin, i say it again as a person who has given reasons why i don’t feel Arteta is the man to carry us forward. I have followed this club and spent money on it for 25 years and haven’t ever thought of shifting my loyalties. So please this righteousness and asking fans who questions to go support some other club is not warranted. Its like in my country i question my PM or the Govt i am trolled and asked to go to some other country.
  I say it again and again, Arteta is not Arsenal and Arsenal is not Arteta. Arteta is not synonymous to Arsenals just like Arsene was not synonymous to Arsenal. If you are proponent of Arteta i respect your right, but at the same time if iam not i demand the same respect and not told to follow another club or called me entitled. Who am i to be entitled to anything?

• Agree that we need a RB who is as good as Tierney at LB. A lot of harsh comments about almost every Arsenal player except two or three in the heat of 3 losses. What about the perspective that we missed half of the first team players and some just prior to matches which can affect the performance of any team. Arteta using unfamiliar formations did not help as understanding between players would be affected as seen from the gaps in between players. Then there are some very controversial decisions in all the 3 matches which worsens the scoreline though not saying that Arsenal would have won without them. I think we have a very good set of first teamers except for the RB position and about half of the reserve players are decent enough to back-up as substitutes.

• It would be great if AMN wanted to play full back full time. He could be a good premier league full back but at best he’s a championship CM.

• I think we need a new ownership,board,coach and quality players that’s how to solve our problem.

• AMN is pure class and worth playing right wing back until we get a permanent right back. But Tavares can and should play that role with AMN and Lokonga in midfield. We should have let Xhaka go and maybe his red card will open up for AMN in midfield. However Arteta is a stubborn mule/mini Franco who thinks he’s right when he’s not. He won’t see how City could no
  Longer get down the left once AMN came in hence the 1 goal they scored after his introduction was down the right. His treatment of Saliba, Guendouzi, Torreira and Willock are testament to his failed mindset. Last season should have been the transition season without Auba, Laca, Xhaka, Mustafi, Elneny, Kolasinac and in with Balogun, Azeez, Martinelli, AMN, Willock and Reiss Nelson. Instead we got Willian.

• Fine comment, Elisha.

• Paul, agreed. AMN should embrace the RFB challenge.

• Morning all,

  Here are the results of our prediction competition:-

  1st PB with 6/6 plus 4 bonus points = 10
  2nd GN5 & OX10 with 3/6 = 3points
  4th Total, Eris & Madhu with 2/6 = 2 points
  7th Kev with 1/6 =1 point

  A huge week for PB predicting all 6 games correctly – well done my friend.

  “”””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
  Season to date:-

  1st PB with 23
  2nd OX10 with 16.33
  3rd Madhu with 11.33
  4th GN5 with 8.00
  5th Eris with 7.33
  6th Kev with 5.00
  7th Total with 3.00
  8th NJK with 1.00

  ””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””

• He was suspiciously late with his picks, GN5…. A bit of insider trading going on here, hey PB?! 🤩 🤩 🤩 🤩

• A change of pace this week, World Cup Qualifiers and Women’s Super League.

  Scotland V Moldova
  Belarus v Wales *
  Switzerland v Italy
  Belgium v Czech Republic *
  England V Andorra
  Arsenal Women v Chelsea Women *

• Yes Total it made me wonder what tricks he had up his sleeve?

• 😀

• Scotland V Moldova – H
  Belarus v Wales * – 1-1
  Switzerland v Italy – A
  Belgium v Czech Republic * – 2-0
  England V Andorra – H
  Arsenal Women v Chelsea Women * 2-1

• No insider trading at all. 🙂
  But if you’ve seen the movie ‘The Color of Money’ (or the famous pool scene from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) you know that real hustlers give their best only when some dough is involved. 😉

• Scotland V Moldova – H
  Belarus v Wales * – A: 0-2
  Switzerland v Italy – D
  Belgium v Czech Republic * – H: 4-0
  England V Andorra – H
  Arsenal Women v Chelsea Women * – A: 1-2

• It’s amazing about what’s hapening to AMN. He has gone public. Sad it’s come to this.

• Well I think you are contradicting yourself there, PB, as no dough is involved and yet you peaked like a meerkat.

• Scotland V Moldova H
  Belarus v Wales * 2-1
  Switzerland v Italy D
  Belgium v Czech Republic * 2-1
  England V Andorra H
  Arsenal Women v Chelsea Women * 2-1

• Yeah, I know, I’m quite newbie to hustling.
  But everybody has to start somewhere. 🙂

• My predictions.

  Scotland V Moldova H
  Belarus v Wales * A (0-2)
  Switzerland v Italy D
  Belgium v Czech Republic * D (1-1)
  England V Andorra H
  Arsenal Women v Chelsea Women * H (2.0)

• Scotland V Moldova H
  Belarus v Wales * A (0-2)
  Switzerland v Italy D
  Belgium v Czech Republic * D (1-1)
  England V Andorra H
  Arsenal Women v Chelsea Women * H (2.0)

• Strange happenings. Ornstein the oracle reporting AMN asked to play RB, not midfield. We were led to believe the opposite, and most of us liked him there. The Willian thing is also strange if you think about the whole saga. Good news he’s left though. I didn’t want him, but I could swear I thought he was trying hard when used as a sub last year. Escaping the salary is fantastic news though.

  Also Saliba and Guendouzi in the ligue 1 team of the week. But neither of them good enough for a team with a negative 9 goal differential.

  Sorry, I know the media is just piling on right now, but there have been things happening that just don’t make sense.

• I believe AMN and Bellerin are capable to play for the club. They have shown many times how talented they are. Problem is Arteta who is making every player worse than what he is. Arteta must go the a new coach can buy new players. Even if you buy the best ingredients it doesn’t make a bad cook give you something delicious.

  We are no longer in the era of Wenger and Fergie where you had time to build a team. Now you must deliver or show progress in a short period of time. Teams like City and Chelsea will always beef up their team with good players every season.

  What guarantees does Arteta have that the young players will hang around foe half a decade to achieve results. What guarantees does he have that he will attract more good players when we are not in Europe.

  It is wrong to say that we lost because of injuries. We played City and Chelsea who had players out because of injuries too. The team will always have injured and suspended players but they are expected to put in DECENT performances.

  Arteta had money to improve the team but is wasting the money with Edu. How can a team that finished 8th bring in more substitute players when what the team needs are players to replace the ones who have failed to deliver.

  Odegaard was with us last season and he didn’t do enough to justify signing him permanently.

  I certainly don’t trust Arteta to bring in a better right back.

• If you take out oil funded PSG the French top league is pretty poor, but nice for Guendouzi and Saliba (and good for their transfer value 😊).

  I thought AMN was quite average for West Brom. Maybe we have been overrating him. Don’t like players putting out tweets.

• I’m fed up with the continuous “expert” opinions from pundits and pseudo supporters.

  We are only 3 (.079%) games into our season and people are talking as though our season is already irretrievable – that’s fecking nonsense!!

  None of us are happy about being bottom of the league but one game was against the 2020 EPL champions and one was against the 2020 European Champions – it cannot get tougher than that when we have key injuries and new players.

  Why don’t you ” pseudo experts” sharpen your support instead of your knives.

  Our leader (Total) is going out of his way to create a harmonious site for us – so why don’t we show him more respect.

  That is not to say that we cannot have differing opinions – simply express them fairly and differently.

  I pick on nobody in particular but if you feel slightly responsible – than it might be you.

  Respectfully

  GunnerN5

• Cheers GN5, I understand your irritation and thanks for all the support.

  It would be nice if we could all sing from the same hymn sheet, but some see it differently and are allowed to express their views just as much as you and I are allowed to ignore them.

  Unhappiness expresses itself in all sorts of ways and we are all hurting right now. This blog looks at the big picture and prefers to support rather than to seek blame. But I understand that some think the big picture is that Arteta will not make it at Arsenal. They may well be right and are entitled to say so, but for now I have no interest in that point of view.

  We cannot all see it the same, especially not in difficult times. Some need to let of steam, others prefer to get even more behind the team and manager. It’s the way of life.

  Come ON You Rip Roaring Gunnners 🌋🌋🌋

• TA and GN5, why is that you guys think that people like me so called Psuedo experts don’t suport the club. Why is that your way of.expressing support to the manager is right and we sticking behind the club as a whole but not supporting the manager is scorned upon. If the so called pseudo experts cannot express thier concern because they haven’t managed football club then all kind of thinking on any topic would have to stop. As a common man then I can only talk about my field of expertise.
  Without criticizing us the naysayers why can’t you guys put your theory. Also when the next match comes we the naysayers will still cheer for our club. We love our club and support them, but also introspect on why things are going wrong.

• Madhu, not sure what you are on about. Never called you a pseudo expert. I find you overly negative at times, but I accept that you are just expressing your views and feelings. That’s is the way you are wired and I respect that. 🙂

• Madhu, you are entitled to express you opinions as we all are.

  I used the “pseudo experts” more at pundits on the media and in the newspapers – they have the ability to reach a large audience that sows the seeds of discontent – and I find that very disturbing.

  I’m not known to criticize either individual players or managers – as I’m just a mere supporter with no inside knowledge of the true facts.

  I’ve witnessed many. many years of poor football being played by Arsenal and IMHO the very best was under Arsene Wenger – yet he was driven out of the club in an extremely disrespectful manner. I’ve always felt that the media drove him out by their constant bleating that turned the supporters.

  Keep blogging my friend – I hope that in time your views mellow as we improve – but personally I don’t expect us to be in the top six – but time is still on our side.

• Hmm, if someone called me pseudo anything I think I’d take as a bit of a compliment, after all it’s better than being called ordinary…

  Therefore I am a pseudo tea pot.

  Cheers 🍮

• Cheers TA and GN5 may be the positivity from you guys will rub on to me. It’s the reason I come here often 🙂
  Good night fellow gooners.

• Sleep tight, Madhu 🌉🌆

• A pseudo tea pot, Kev. Lol 😂

• Now I doubt that there’s any real chance that the club has escaped totally Scott free and I’m sure that the agent has pocketed a nice sum to boot and maybe Willian has got a loyalty bonus or something but he seems to have walked away from the remainder of his contract and left Arsenal a space to fill in the foreign contingent of our squad and taken a big lump off of our annual salary bill.

  So thanks for that Billy boy, although I have to say that we real,y won’t miss you at all and I’m sure you won’t miss us either…

• In other news Miguel Azeez has taken the well trodden path of young Arsenal players into the safe keeping and considerate coaching of the Cowley brothers at Portsmouth. I look forward to seeing him blossom.

• Hats off to Willian. It didn’t work out for him with us as (nearly) everybody hoped and he has accepted that in a dignified manner. I wish him well. Here is his statement:

  “I would like to thank Arsenal for the opportunity they have given to me and for the warm welcome received by everybody at the club.

  “Unfortunately things on the pitch didn’t go the way we had all planned and hoped, I received a lot of criticism especially from some members of the press that I had come here for financial reasons.

  “I hope with my actions today explain to those people and they now understand that was not the case. I hope it teaches some people that they should not be so quick to pass judgement and create bad environments to make themselves important even though I accept that’s part of the game.

  “All my career I have done everything to be the best I can be. I always want to win and I find it hard to accept not doing so. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen for me at Arsenal and I am sorry about that.

  “I came to England in 2013 and I have enjoyed every minute of my time here. I want to thank everyone who has helped me along the way to play in this wonderful league that is full of heart and spirit.”

• Hello, people. 🙂

  Our RB position has been kinda jinxed since Lauren’s injury. Arguably the most reliable yet the most under-the-radar Invincible did everything he was asked to do. When he first came, I thought he’d replace Petit in the midfield and Luzhny would replace Dixon. Lauren ended up as our RB beast who gave maximum support and feeling of safety to Freddie.

  Then he picked a nasty injury that forced Wenger to play Eboue. For what turned out to be a tale with very unfortunate end, Eboue was actually great during our CL 2006 run without conceding despite playing with a make-shift defence for most of the time (Eboue-Toure-Senderos-Flamini).

  Then Sagna arrived and raised our RB position to another level. For all the talk about Eduardo’s horrific injury, it was Sagna’s exit v Chavs in a game he got us the lead that cost us the title. He did well in the next few seasons despite two leg-breaks and even played a game in which he was switched through all three defensive positions (RB, CB, LB – Sunderland 4-1, 2013-14). In 2014-15 he signed for Man City so we had to pay big money to replace him. Neither of his TWO replacement got lucky – Wenger realized Chambers can’t play as a RB against speedsters and Debuchy was between a rock (adjustment to Premier League) and hard place (injuries, including Marko Arnautović’s assault). So, as it goes in the movies, it was our youngster Hector Bellerin who took the chance with both of his hands. He made that position his own until thanks to his extraordinary recovery pace but there has always been a missing part in his game. His technique wasn’t remotely reliable as his pace. He looked great under Emery until that expensive 2-0 victory over Chavs. That injury turned Kolašinac into our main wide asset as Lichtensteiner was basically a retired player at Arsenal.

  Now, Bellerin is nowhere near his best days even if he did earn us a draw at Stamford Bridge in 2019-20 and a penalty for our 1-0 victory at Old Trafford last season. Cedric, one of weird transfers Edu has made (and I’ll come to Edu soon), should have never played for a club of Arsenal stature but Bellerin’s decline – among other things – gave him a chance to do so. Chambers is still slower than any winger in the league. As for Maitland Niles, he is a lad with issues that follow him off the pitch. Nick Bendtner had also shown glimpses of promises before it turned out his arrogancy exceeds his football qualities.

  Buying a top RB is difficult even if you have money and time. I’m not sure Arsenal have either at the moment.

  And it seems my long-term hints about Edu may come out true very soon.

• Ox10 that Willian statement was excellent. I know we did t escape without some cost, but if he left a good amount of money on the table, he is a very special person. Most players would have been happy to sit on the bench and collect 2 years of maximum pay. Rare individual indeed.

  He mentioned the press criticizing him about the contract. That’s likely more the buffoons on the radio, and obnoxious gooners online and tweeting. I never thought he wasn’t trying even when not producing, and I believed he was professional when called on to be used as a sub. We never needed the signing, and the expense, but once he was with us, people should have cheered for him to encourage him, especially after a slow start.

  I’m afraid these “fans” will treat Ben White and Ramsdale the same way if things don’t go perfectly right away.

  I will support anyone that plays and tries to win for us. Kolasinac, Mari, El Neny, Runnarson. Anyone. I don’t care. We’re all free to criticize players, coaches, executives, owners too. As long as it’s with facts and without malice.

• Good on you Willian. Respect to such players. It requires an enormous amount of pride in one’s performance and standing to terminate a contract with such financial gain over the next two years. For this alone he will remain in the memory of Arsenal fans.
  Edu needs to learn a lesson from this and resist such deala going forward. May be it’s time to bring back Arsenes policy of one year deals for players above 30 or introduce more stringent contract clauses for players over 30. Make termination of contracts with no transfer fee at the end of the season a clause as soon as they enter into thier 30s.
  All the best Willian.

• I agree with Jnyc that if some ‘fans’ hurl excessive calls against the likes of Ben and other new recruits when their performance is seen as not good enough, then it will have a negative effect on some players. Some pressure is good but when too excessive, some will crumble. Probably explains why it seems Arteta is panicking because he is overdoing formation and personnel changes and not keeping them as simple as possible (causing some players to be confused as in the last days of Emery’s tenure) and the defense is very nervous and that affects decision making and response time. I still think Holding and Chambers are good squad players as they performed well in most matches last season. I hope these problems are sorted out with cool heads.

• Hey Kev, we wish Miguel luck in Portsmouth. Should be a good experience.

• OX10, thanks for sharing the statement. That is class by Willian. It was a difficult year with Covid etc and I agree with J that he tried hard to make it work. It just didn’t unfortunately.

• Thanks J. We did indeed have a gem of a player and human being in Willian. Twice player of the season at Chelsea, he was signed to offer shade for Emil and Bukayu to develop under. Mysteriously he underperformed as a player, but in every other way he was a consummate professional, and in laying down the remainder of his lucrative contract he demonstrates that his faith, integrity and the well being of the Club counted more to him than anything.
  Deus te abençoê Willian.

• Admir, that is a brilliant piece of RB recent history. Your mind and/or ability for quick research are very impressive.

  Fully agreed re Lauren and Sagna, both have been very important players for us.

• That’s it, J, if a player wears the shirt with pride and gives their all, I will support them with all I have.

• Madhu, good point about contracts for 30+ players.

• Great comment, Elisha. I also noticed how nervous our defence was in recent games. We missed Big Gab I think and the games were very challenging, but it was still worrying.

• Don’t take it personally, Madhu. GN5 would never insult somebody from this blog this way.
  Pseudo experts and pundits are former players who make a living from sharing their views in the studios, via interviews or tweets. But having a career as a professional athlete or having the ability to kick a straight into a ball doesn’t make one an automatic expert on strategy, transfers, game management or anything. Typical pseudo pundit is Kevin Campbell. He is so dumb, that is beyond words…

  You and me are no pseudo experts, Madhu. We are no experts at all. But it doesn’t mean we cannot be right sometimes, or even most of the time. But if we are, it isn’t because of our past football achievements, but only for facts, data and arguments.

• Pb, GN, TA I think that being a fan when times are tuff is really a true test. Fans who genuinely love their clubs will never have second thoughts when times are going tuff. They will rant, get upset and in my case get depressed. But our love for the club is always there and there in lies a fierce desire for our club to succeed.
  You know my wife who doesn’t have a clue of Football but still riles me and my 14 yr old by being a spurs fan. She watches me closely and predicts how Arsenal are performing :). Well even after these years I am still unable to control my emotions. Trying hard to get there though.

• It affects us all and your wife makes me laugh, Madhu. It’s hard to be zen-like all the time, and I love your contributions to the blog.

  Keep trucking 🚛 🚛 🚛 🚛 🚛

• Looks like Hector Bellerin is on his way to Real Betis on a season long loan.

  Reiss Nelson to sign a 2 year contract extension, then off to Feyenoord on a season long loan.

• New Post 🙂🙂🙂

Leave a Reply

Enter your comment here...

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Email (Address never made public)

Name

Website

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

Notify me of new comments via email.

Notify me of new posts via email.

Δ