Here is what I am looking forward to: the development and PL conquering of our very own young Musketeers.
Musketeer Characters:
D’ARTAGNAN: Our hero; eighteen years old. Raised in French province of Gascony, leaves home to go to Paris. Brave, excellent swordsman, and enthusiastic to become a musketeer but also impulsive, hotheaded, and inexperienced. Falls in love with Constance Bonacieux.
ATHOS: Leader of the three musketeers. Full of shadows, intelligent, courageous; precise in his sword fighting.
PORTHOS: One of the three musketeers. Humorous, vain, slave to fashion, good-hearted; comical and jaunty in his sword fighting.
ARAMIS: One of the three musketeers. Romantic, handsome, hot tempered, studying to be a priest; melodramatic in his swordfighting.
Emile (ARAMIS)
Of Latin origin and a variant spelling of the name Emil, which itself is derived from the Latin ‘Aemilius’ meaning ‘rival, trying to equal or excel, emulating‘.
Yes ESR is a competitor and is always looking for ways to get better, just like DB 10 used to do. The healthy competition with Odegaard (and Saka) will do him good. Together they will push each other to dizzying heights. We all have seen the great potential in Emile and this year I hope to see further development in getting a menacing cutting edge. More goals and assists would be bliss.
Bukayo (D’Artagnan)
Meaning of name: Adds to happiness
Yes Bukayo’s smile always adds to my happiness, but it’s his football that’s really Happiness-Plus. Saka is the epitome of the modern footballer: he can play everywhere and reads the game so well, is a great passer of the ball and has a sumptuous left foot. On top of all of this, Bukayo has perhaps the greatest quality in football: the ability to break the lines with the ball at his feet and thus to make things happen anywhere on the pitch. That’s what gets me off my seat and ask my daughter to please go and marry him. Also hoping that Saka will score and assist more this season.
Martin (Porthos)
The name comes from the Latin name Martinus, which is a late derived form of the name of the Roman god Mars, the protective godhead of the Latins, and therefore the god of war. The meaning is usually rendered in reference to the god as “of Mars”, or “of war/warlike” (“martial”).
Yes there is something warlike about Martin. It’s in the way he chases the ball and opponents, the way he always aims to move forward, find the killer ball and shoots on goal. Odegaard never lacks hunger or purpose; it’s simple, he want to win through beautiful yet efficient football. We also need more goals and assists grin the Ode.
Together they can work with Our Leaders in attack, Laca or Auba ‘Athos’ and gradually conquer the PL the Arsenal Way.
What a feast of an adventure to look forward to.
CoyrrGs 🌋 🌋 🌋 🌋 🌋
By TotalArsenal
Bergkampesque 
Shame you can’t run a similar piece on our midfield or defence
Hmmmm. That’s a very strong, even merited, depiction of those young men who carry this team today. If they can live up to those reputations even by half, it will be great to see.
I am not saying they fall short either, but rather viewing things from the current state of things. We need some heroes now, more than ever so, I’d like to have these boys at the peak of their powers again. I know it is about 3 musketeers but I will like to see a rejuvenated Gabriel Martinelli as well.
Bukayo shields the ball like no other and when he’s on it, only by fouling him can he be dispossessed. He needs to resume with those mazey runs and pinpoint crossing. Martin Odegaard loves to press high and force errors. True, against sides like City, he is unlikely to get much joy unless the press is done in unison with the front four, but with the rest of the league, I would like to see that fire in him again. He looked to be playing with the handbrake on, for Norway as soon as the points looked secure. That was good to see because it meant he cared to do well for the club.
As for Emil, what’s there to add? Arsenal, through and through and always showing a desire to go forward, break lines and shoot. We need to start winning things to send the message to these youngsters that the process is for real and can yield success.
Ref for the game is Michael Oliver. I won’t worry much about him but with Mike Dean as VAR, I just wonder at such a combo for such a crucial game for us. Just says we have to make our own destiny, for this one.
Back with the league already.
My predictions for the weekend:
Crystal Palace v Totttenham * D (1-1)
Arsenal v Norwich H
Leicester v Manchester City * A (1-3)
Watford v Wolves D
Leeds v Liverpool A
Napoli v Juventus * H (2-1)
Crystal Palace v Totttenham * A (0-2)
Arsenal v Norwich H
Leicester v Manchester City * A (0-2)
Watford v Wolves A
Leeds v Liverpool D
Napoli v Juventus * D (0-0)
Great comment, Eris. Yes there is hope for Martinelli too.
Mentioning the refs makes me both nervy and annoyed. Why does the best league in the world have such poor referees?
Now that it’s creativity T. I hope to see the same from our 11 and manager this week.
I’ve been thinking about re- reading the novels and have actually been enjoying the BBC series from a few years ago. Pretty good for television unlike some of the horrible films.
There are few absolutes in life, but there will never, ever be a cast close to Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain, Michael York, ,Raquel Welch. Even Dunaway and Heston.
Back to Arsenal, I was about to say, managing our midfielders will be key, but maybe motivation will be more important. I hope Mikel doesn’t over complicate things. I do get the feeling that’s one thing that’s been hurting our play.
It’s a great book by Dumas, J. So much better than any film. But yes that is a good cast too.
Our central midfielders are indeed key, but that’s for another post. Stability is the main word here. If Partey has a good season then so will the whole team.
Fun fact: Porthos has just completed 12 key passes against Gibraltar in Norway’s World Cup Qualification game.
Yes, it was against a poor opponent, especially playing at home, but I have never seen 12 key passes in a single match delivered by the same player. In fact 12 key passes combined is a better than average output for an entire team.
And while Martin didn’t have an assist at the end of the game, he got a WhoScored rating of 9, which is quite reassuring for the months to come.
https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1516211/LiveStatistics/International-FIFA-World-Cup-2021-2022-Norway-Gibraltar
Nice one, PB. 🙂
Thanks, TA. I might have delivered 2 or 3 myself, but these are on Martin. 😀
Pb,
I don’t even worry about Martin, the talent is there, the player is already there. He only needs a functioning group of players around him. I truly believe we have enough quality in front of and around him, especially if Partey can stay relatively fit.
What I’m talking about is Artetas coaching and game tactics. If this group were under Wenger, and quite a few other managers, they would be playing some fun football, — yes, conceding more, but it would still be an improvement …. not winning the league of course, but they wouldn’t depress me to watch. Basically I’m saying Martin would be magical in the right setup … and maybe he will be with healthy White, Partey, Aubameyang, Lacazette. Not even to mention Saka and ESR. A couple inspiring performances will get us rolling and have confidence when we play Spurs.
Aramis – a popular aftershave of 80s vintage. Associated with an unbuttoned shirt and a manly chest wig.
Lol 😂
You don’t have to convince, J. I’m with you 100%.
The talent is obviously there. While Arsenal’s squad value is at #7 (worth ~493M, currently below Tottenham and Leicester) now; I think this is due to the poor results as well as mishandling valuable players including but not limited to Guendouzi (45M/18M), Torreira (50M/18M) and Saliba (23M/16M). I’m sure that with Wenger and some top managers this squad would be challenging the title (probably never winning, but playing for the CL each year and reaching the quarter/semi finals every now and then). What I’m not sure is whether we need a manager from the top percentile, or someone from the top quartile would do it. Mikel is obviously isn’t top quartile, but he is young and he might develop to become one (even though with the recent transfer activities and pathetic season start he is already on a course which if he cannot turn around no half-decent club will ever employ him again). The big question is: can we afford to allow Arteta to learn the tricks of the trade at Arsenal, if he keeps destroying club property by drifting away from Europe, depreciating players’ market value, small-time sales and alienating academy youngsters.
Yes, I know that TA (along with many residents from this blog) celebrated the transfer window, but he is like a spokesperson. Not in the meaning he is employed by the club, but he will never openly criticize Arteta and Edu. The emphasis is not on the ‘openly’ here; his kind spirit and optimistic personality makes him believe that spending 80M on White & Ramsdale were shrewd business, and signing an affordable player yet unknown to almost everyone on this blog as a first choice (!) right back was a smart move, superior to Tottenham’s buying La Liga’s best RB (based on last year’s WS ratings) only for a few millions more. He even saluted the club for doing “well to reduce the squad through sales and season long loans” (!!) when we ended up with 3 LBs, 4 RBs and 4 STs in a formation which needs only a single center forward. (And we seriously considered to sign more strikers.) I appreciate the positive attitude, I honestly do, but it doesn’t make a wet glass half full.
Unfortunately you are right, J, that it’s not only about coaching, tactics and game management. Similarly – or maybe even first of all – it is about motivation. This squad is so fecking strong (including Holding, Xhaka, Pepe and Nketiah), that these miserable results AS WELL AS the soulless, joyless performances cannot be attributed solely to wrong tactic, or bad luck. This squad is far stronger than any from the last 5 years. While maybe some of our competitors managed to strengthen their team even better by investing more in proper reinforcements (Fernandes, Havertz, Allison, Diaz, Sancho, Maddison, Fofana, Rodriguez, Luiz, Martinez, Neto, Dendoncker, Soucek, Bowen, etc.), but our displays against mid-table and worse teams have been deteriorated, so I think the issue is bringing the best and most out of the players both individually (motivation) and as a team (tactics, cohesion building).
I don’t demand Mikel to be sacked – yet – as he deserves a chance to see if indeed White, Tomiyasu and Ramsdale were the missing links between quality defense and efficient attack. But if the U-turn in play and results don’t start to happen, and – as Madhu pointed out insightfully – after 18-19 games Arsenal will not have 35 points I seriously think we should conclude this experiment and upgrade to a decent coach. Because while it is disappointing to see many fans convincing themselves there is some visible improvement (there clearly isn’t; Wenger’s and Emery’s teams played a better, more creative and exciting, signature Arsenal free-flowing, attacking football), it is equally disappointing that smart people keep chanting time-time-time, as they should know that albeit time does heal flesh wounds, it doesn’t joint broken bones. Unfortunately time and patience are not miracles, that guarantee the desired outcome eventually, especial if something fundamental is missing.
I’m not saying it with full conviction and 100% certainty that there is something fundamental missing, but it is a possibility, that shouldn’t be disregarded when demanding support for the manager (not the club!). Let’s give Arteta a few games, and let’s hope for things to improve. But if they not, we – especially the board – need to have the intelligence and the decency to bring the Arteta-project to the end, and try with something new, maybe with somebody proven, less experimental.
We need to see much more of this in sport. Well done Sebastian
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/58453220
Looking forward to Poland v England. Hopefully no repeat from the disgraceful rasist scenes in Hungary and a start for Add to Happiness, Bukayo.
Great stuff Pb,
I love the way you described the performances as soulless and joyless. It’s not even about the points, but the turgid play, even in the few wins.
I’ve said before it’s not the raw results I’m watching, but the quality of play.
We have to give the coach some time to cook some meals with his new ingredients.
A famous NFL coach once used that analogy when complaining that he didn’t have enough say in “shopping” for the groceries, but was still expected to cook the dinner.
I can see the thought that went in for paying for certain attributes in White, Lokonga, espscially Ramsdale. The keeper will improve the distribution in a big way, and be braver coming for high balls. To be honest, I can’t wait to see him take over. There can always be an error here or there, but I’ll forgive because I know that he really wants to be Arsenals keeper. Leno just doesn’t care anymore.
Maybe what we see is a reflection of our inner state when it comes to Arsenal
Pb and J, at the risk of being accused of being too negative, my worry is that we might get into relegation dog fight. Make no mistake this squad is good and definetly can get into top six. I am willing to along with Arteta but league table never lies. I just want to see some upward mobility. But I will refrain from negativity and support Arteta. Hope he can unlock the talent in this team.
For the moment though Arsenal Womens team is playing sumptous football and I am enjoying it. The real ray of hope for silverware.
Madhu my friend, yes…..
Yes, you are being too negative. Haha. But seriously, we are not going to be anywhere near relegation.
We do have to fear falling into irrelevance and long term mediocrity, which could eventually lead to relegation. I don’t think the American owners will allow that (same as I said last year, correctly).
The proof is the amount they allowed to be spent on players, even with almost no player sales.
Kroenke would lose his wig in panic if he thought his investment was going to tank in value through relegation.
What keeps me going too is the fact that I believe the team does have quality to challenge as soon as they pull themselves together and trust one another, playing in a system that suits their collective strength. That’s why I feel Arteta should be given till December, by the management; personally, I’d give him 7 more games (by Game week 10) to make up my mind about his ability to take this team where we desire.
No sentiments about this; it is a scary thought that this club may start falling into irrelevance, gradually. We deserve better with all the efforts put into building a world class club side, attractive to foreign and domestic interests, as a global brand. Empires do rise and fall, but Arsenal just has not acquired “empire” status yet and still has some way to go towards achieving that status (we need to win the domestic league and UEFA Champions league a couple of times, at the least), so it shouldn’t be “falling” now. The players are too good for that!
J my friend I hope we don’t get into relegation dog fight. But remembering the trauma of last season when we were struggling to get to 40 points. Finally we did get 20 more but last December looked really dodgy.
I agree that KSE will not allow their investments to go down the drain. That’s why I find it astonishing that given their lack of European footbal understanding they would be smart business men to have few experienced football men in high places. I fear we are already going down the pecking order and slowly KSEs investment value is sliding.
Despite many of you gooner friends being optimistic about our position going forward I am nervous and anxious. I can’t help it waking up at night sweating about Arsenal:).
Iam actually relaxed in other aspects of life but Arsenal makes me nervous. Let’s just hope for the sake of youngsters we start stitching together some wins which will give much needed momentum to the team.
New Post 🙂