I don’t know about you but I have been enjoying the Euros until now. Some good footie on display even though mamy of the big nations still have to find their groove.
The Euro-Gunners have been playing very well and are gaining great experience this summer. Saliba has been solid, Saka made the best of not playing with a Ben White and an Odegaard, and thus starved of ingenuity and those necessary triangles to release him. Kai is being played in the Arteta-Arsenal role and has been pivotal for Die Mannschaft. And Ricey has been solid in perhaps too deep a midfield role.
The best, most organised football, other than from Spain, has come from the Alpine countries, Austria and Switzerland. But in a tournament anything can happen, especially when entering the play-off games, when (lack of) luck can play a cruel role. The quarter finals are all exciting prospects, and it will be now or never for the older stars of those nations.
To re-engage on the blog, here are some questions for you:
- Which teams will get through to the semi-finals?
- Who would you like Arteta to add to Arsenal and why?
- Best defender in the Euros?
- Best midfielder in the Euros?
- Best attacker in the Euros?
- Why is England playing so slow and struggle to break through the lines?
- Best footballing team in the Euros until now?
- Who will win the Euros?
cheers,
TotalArsenal.
Bergkampesque 
Spain-France
England-Netherlands
First, let’s be clear, I’ve enjoyed every minute of Kai’s final months of the season in this position, BUT … I may be influenced by his current performances at the Euros, I don’t know, the truth is I have difficulty picturing him out as a CF – even in the very specific role MA had in store for him – for the rest of his career. I think he’ll always run the risk of being blamed for not being a real striker, I’m even afraid all the blame for a stretch of bad results may have every chance to be put on him only.
So … I’m surprised (but I might not have read enough about the above-mentioned speculations) no one seems to have considered Palace’s Mateta. I happen to have seen him play a couple of times when he played for Le Havre in Ligue 2, and he had really impressed me, he was head and shoulders above the rest (and Ligue 2 is a very tough environment for attackers to shine – a Ligue 2 game is not for purists’ eyes). It seems very easy to say that in the wake of the brilliant games he had at the end of last season, I know that – feel free to pick on me for it – but I was actually surprised he had not made that kind of impact sooner. I think he has not only the bulk, the technical abilities, the hunger for goals to make it in a top-level team, but I also think he has the mindset to survive – maybe even thrive – under MA’s unforgiving rule.
So, Jean-Philippe Mateta in the red-and-white … I’m all for it
big bill, Big Bill, BIG BILL!!!
Pickford
Walker-Stones-Guéhi-Saka
Palmer-Bellingham-Rice-Foden
Kane-Watkins
against Switzerland … but what do you know? he would tell me, of course
Yeh, I’m loving it, Total. That was a great performance from the Dutch, and your mate, Xhaka has been the metronome behind that Swiss efficiency.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/article/2024/jul/02/jude-bellingham-part-england-euro-2024-instability-gareth-southgate
fab contributions, guys. Will comment later.
pb, tell us more about Balde.
great answers by PB and Legall. Not too much to argue against, other than that Gakpo is limited in my opinion. He thrives in space but suffers in tighter environments, such as in the PL.
agreed that Saliba has been brilliant.
I like Mateta too,LG.
stu, have you really retires from your pastoral role? What’s up next?
all agreed on need for an Odegaard, Stuart.
omg, agreed on Doku
Waiting for a call from Mikel, Total…
Haha, Stu, he may well do that. 😀
Well, I thought Germany would do it, and probably deserved to do so. 17 cards! Those ref’s must be Cold Play fans. Love watching Kai, shame about that chip.
Agreed, Stu. The Spanish were just a bit more in control and think that did it in the end. The Kroos and Rodri battle was awesome.
Stu, I think even if you would demand a decent salary Arteta should hire you or fire his scouting department.
Before introducing Balde, you all know that I’m not that keen on buying players like if there were no tomorrow. I probably have bored you to near death by keep making points on we should sell/trim, promote youngsters (!) and rotate to improve/nurture our existing squad players.
I admit I might be biased towards the team, but I honestly think that we are full of world class and extremely good players. In my book Odegaard, Rice, Saka, Martinelli, Saliba and Gabriel are world class players, while Havertz, Jesus (!!) and Timber are excellent players. Even among those whom I have not mentioned Partey or Jorginho albeit 32 are yet to become liabilities, and White or Raya are good enough not to be the weak link in the team. (Furthermore I think we are blessed that we have players being humble and patient enough to sit on the bench without playing much and still provide quality alternatives like Tomiyasu, Trossard, Smith-Rowe, Kiwior and Nketiah.)
So basically we are set – apart from the left back position. That’s our only spot where we don’t necessary possess at least an excellent player. Tierney is fragile, Zinchenko has his shortcomings, Kiwior is mainly a CB, and Tavares is still an unfulfilled promise. We could only test Timber in pre-season and while he was insanely good in an unfamiliar position this is a small and unrepresentative sample to tick the LB position for the upcoming season. Although I wouldn’t mind if we did that, but I have to admit, that is a risk.
So the only (!!!) position I would consider signing – including CF (where I would still go with Jesus, right, Stu?), and CM (where we have Rice and Odegard to start and we have Havertz for an attack-minded CM/AM and Partey to defend for the 3rd place) – is the left back; especially as we managed to throw away Lino Souse who could have been the long-term solution for at least the back-up left back.
Anyway let’s not get carried away players who wouldn’t consider a move to Arsenal as a step up like Nuno Mendez of PSG or Davies from Real Madrid. We are linked to Fenerbahce’s Ferdi Kadioglu, who was the highest valued and the 9th best player in Turkey last season (according to WhoScored) and the best LB there by a country mile. He has a strong Dutch pedigree (54 youth international games in 6 different age groups), and made a good account of himself in the Euros. However it is always a risk what the best players of an inferior league could do in the PL. We shouldn’t see farther than Lokonga; he was so good in Belgium…
So if I would have to pick someone who is young, plays in the top 5 leagues, primary a LB, strong with passes and crosses and could be interested in an Arsenal transfer (preferably both the player and the club) that would be FC Barcelona’s Alejandro Balde. Despite being only 20 he already has 7 Spanish caps under his belt. He was injured at the second half of the season hence he is not in Germany, but he seems like the Cesc Fabregas of the LB position.
The good point is that albeit Balde is not on anyone’s radar, we might be signing Riccardo Calafiori as the first real transfer (excluding Raya), who is very similar to my wish in the previous paragraph. He is young, plays in Italy (top 5), has already 3 silverware and a lot of youth caps (besides his 5 senior). Last season he played mostly LCB but altogether he has more LB games under his belt than CB. He defends very well – much better than Balde or Zinchenko – but less of a crosser. Nevertheless he is one of the very few players who would not only make our bench stronger, but even our starting line-up. And I wouldn’t say the same about Williams (!!!!), Toney, Sesko, Zubimendi, Eze, Gyökeres or Solanke.
In case of signing Calafiori, the challenge for Arteta will be (and I’m not optimistic) to start Timber as RB (or at least allow him to compete) and keep White as supersub – along with Tomiyasu. Plus find new teams and maybe a half-decent transfer fee for Tavares, Tierney and Zinchenko. But a Raya – Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori back 5 would be insane.
TA, you should know better than to ask me to tell you more. 🙂
a great response, PB. I thought Timber was supposed to be our nr1 left back, but the club seem indèe to be looking at getting a new one. Thank you for sharing your great insights.
Right, indeed, PB. One of my all time favourite tabloid headlines is, “Jesus in talks with Arsenal”. I worry a little about his physical fragility, but love the fella. If you know anything about his early life you’ll know he is an overcomer, but that street football in the favela’s can have long term affects upon the body.
Fine post, mate. You have a broad width on your radar. I’ll have a look at Balde.
Glad to see the back of Ronaldo, tho’ will miss the electric Leao. So many wonderful wingers in this tournie.
You up to watch the AB’s v England, LG?
Just got home with “baguette and croissants” for everyone
Coffee very black, very hot, just out of the moka pot
Couch all to myself – well, not for long, cat and dog are already circling around …
Ready
Agreed about the Kroos-Rodri showdown, TA. One caveat only: the Real legend should’ve been sent off 3 or 4 times. A contract was out on Pedri’s head, obviously. It’s a bit of a shame such a player as Kroos should exit this way … or he may have borne a grudge against the kid since after a “classico”, who knows?
Agree, mate. Kroos should have seen two yellows at the very least.
Squeaked home against the poms. and against the French… did you see the Under 20’s match?
Not exactly a classic, was it? Deserved win nevertheless; I guess tar and feathers were out for McKenzie, what was he thinking?
The two teams looked very tense, as though they had not entirely shaken off the WC disappointment; I’m pretty sure Eden Park’s revenge will be much more free-flowing
A thriller the U20 game must’ve been – I wasn’t watching, and haven’t even seen the highlights
England tonight … turn off your inner Deschamps, Gareth, please, and unleash these boys, at last!
TA, I also had the understanding that Timber was supposed to be our first choice LB; but to be honest it was always an interpretation (of the transfer and the following pre-season), not literally an understanding. His future could still be at the left flank, however in that case we have submitted an offer – in the region of €50M – and agreed with the player to be the understudy of Gabriel at LCB.
My guess is that we are jumping on the wagon – footballing trend – of playing CBs as full backs: see Gvardiol, Aké, Koundé, Lucas Hernández, Konsa, Geertrudia, Burn, etc. And we follow suit with Tomiyasu, White, Timber, and maybe with Kiwior and Calafiori, too.
Besides his catchy name I think Jesus is underappreciated. He might be prone to botch chances, but that should not be a foundation for his departure. My arguments are as follows:
agreed, Legaĺl, Kroos got away with it yesterday. I think Rodri was magnificent.
legall, love the description of your breakfast shopping. What do you have on your croissants and baguette?
we were in Lille, Avignon, Nimes and Montpellier last month, and the breakfasts were a daily highlight.
a great defense of Jesus, PB. I think he and Arteta have fallen out a bit, and his decision making often frustrates me, but he has still so much to offer and I hope he will stay.
A big battle between Rice and Xhaka awaits us.
Amen, PB. You’re in the groove, mate.
Our Starboy: goal scorer, penalty scorer, player of the match, trusts in God, heading for sainthood, is loved by all, is one of ours…
Our Declan: goal assister, tackles, intercepts, picks up his fallen foes, one of ours.
Dutch looking good, Total. If they win who will you support in the semi? Torn, I imagine.
No, not much of a game, LG. You are right, both teams seem to be wearing that shroud of disappointment. I’ve never seen a ref call time on a penalty kick before. McKenzie’s a humble lad and has taken it as a lesson learnt. The ref gave him a heads up earlier in the match telling Damien that he had 20 seconds left. A shot clock is the answer.
Veerman-Malen on wouldn’t be a bad idea, or so I think
Game on
“Thumping” header if ever there was one, but what a peach of a cross this was, too
I think Turkey played well and deserved an equaliser. Some last ditch, quality defending saved the Dutch. That was a chaotic game and I still don’t know whether the Dutch have a good team or not. We will find out against England.
stu, I don’t care that much anymore about who wins these international tournaments. But I support the Dutch first, then Scotland and finally SakaRiceland.
so happy with Sakas equaliser, what a beauty. We can be proud of our players, including Saliba for France. They are all pivotal to their teams.
thanks for Yankee yodel, Legall. I enjoyed that.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/article/2024/jul/09/meek-defeat-could-spell-the-end-for-the-non-football-of-didier-deschamps
if only, Barney, if only … but Aimé Jacquet’s triumph in ’98 has left what looks like an indelible stain on French football”, namely “only negative football can win”
looking forward to tonight’s game, goals galore on the menu, you read it first
*read it here*
Thanks LG. Barney writes with great cleverness, can be very amusing, tho’ at times a tad cruel. But writers at times must butchers be. Ollie G deserved a better swan song than this, he is limited in pace but has a beautiful touch and has scored some glorious goals for all the teams he has played for. I always thought the old T Rex song, “Metal guru” could be turned into an ode to Ollie. “Ollie Giroud, is it you, yeh yeh yeh.”
“Goals galore” eh? I’m leaning towards 1-1 with England through on penalties.
Congratulations, England. That was a thumping finish by Watkins.
Guess it is better luck next time, TA.
Loving tthe Euros, so far.
SakaRiceLand on the march…
Yes On the march. Overall deserved but pen decision a real spoiler. Really missed Frenkie de Jong’s technical leadership in this game. Spanish are two levels up from both teams.
Harry Kane’s rolling around on the pitch was probably his most meaningful contribution on the night, perhaps of the tournament. It was a soft one, Total, but would likely have been considered a foul any where else on the pitch, but that may be the English genes my maternal great grand mother gifted me speaking.
Xavi’s goal is up there with Shakiri’s, Yamal’s and Saka’s for goal of the tournie.
I fancied England from the start and can see Rice doing a job on Olmo. Shaw and Walker containing Yamal and Williams. That first half was England’s best showing until Koeman’s clever tactical change shifted the midfield balance and stifled Foden. A day less to rest before the final but no injuries, no suspensions and hitting form at the business end…
Right, I’m off for a game of lawn bowls with Sir Francis.
Time repeats itself in an everlasting loop, doesn’ it? … I hadn’t seen such a “Müllerean” goal in what? 50 years? Very well done, young man …
England have found their groove, Palmer and Watking are given more playing time, the final should be great fun. What a way a title would be for Bukayo, Declan, Aaron, to put an end to such an exhausting season …
Indeed a Mullerean blow, legall. Incredible, the late changes of fortune the England team have had in this tournament. The new Germans!!
The Oranje would have been spared such a hangover, had De Vrij been shown a few reruns of our glorious back-five “offside trap”, though …
LG, tthat last video made me smile. Tony Adams indeed had the highest hand. 😁
Hi Eris, really good to see you commenting on here again. Hope you are doing well?
Hi, Total. I am doing well, thank you. Trust you are well too. Just been doing my best to adapt to new demanding conditions. Still, I found time to peek in here, from time to time.
Good to hear it, Eris. Yes take your time and also allow yourself time to grieve your recent big loss my friend.
Good luck to all our English BKers.
58 years of hurt. Our sorrow no longer the islands but the sea.
It’s scapegoat time for all those nonentities online and in certain sections of the media:
So step forward Declan Rice, written off as useless by some bang average Dutch footballer who did and won feck all during his brief and uneventful time in the Premier League.
I sense a bandwagon heading off towards Indian country so if you’re desperate to get some mentions on NewsNow in an attempt to be relevant (you are not) then come on down and say something dumb – it should be easy for you…
Btw, the above was a general comment and certainly not aimed at anyone on here.
I half agree with you, Kev.
First and foremost I think Rice has been one of the standout players of England at the Euros. And my good friend WhoScored agrees with me, as it shows only 3 players with an average rating above the rest of the squad: Bellingham, Rice and Saka. Declan didn’t have a single average game at the whole tournament, and while Bukayo did produce magnificent, acceptable and mediocre performances, he doesn’t have to be ashamed at all.
On the other hand I don’t think that formulating an opinion – even a critical one – should be restricted only to former world class players. I believe the majority of the active bloggers here at BK put at least some blame on Southgate for limiting his elite squad (with the highest market value not only in Europe but the whole world) in both creativity and freedom, not to mention the exciting factor of the game. Yet even the best of us has less credentials than a bang average footballer.
Hell, even the king of England sent a message to Southgate and his team by stating that reaching the final was a great achievement beyond expectations. And taking into account that The Three Lions played against Serbia, Denmark, Slovenia, Slovakia, Switzerland and the Netherlands (as opposed to Spain meeting Croatia, Italy, Germany and France), and England couldn’t beat any of them by more than a single goal makes me proud of being smarter than his highness.
So maybe the Dutch guy was a moron, or his opinion a short-sighted one. But it’s either because his limited cognitive skills, or his possible bias against the team that beat his compatriots somewhat undeservedly; and had little to do with his lack of major trophies.
Good to hear from you, Kevinski. A Dutchman annoying you,surely not?! 😀
It’s a gift you seem to have from the land of bicycles, dykes and clogs Total, it’s part of your charm. 😁
Karl Hein vs Man U at the So-Fi stadium, that’ll be one to watch.
Jurrien Timber is just like a new signing and he’s exactly what we need with so many players needing to be eased into the maelstrom of probably our most difficult start to a season I can remember after an exhausting 12 months.
And I have absolutely no idea where he’ll play and that’s probably the beauty of it as he can play in 4 or 5 different positions, a Swiss Army knife footballer of top top quality and invaluable to Mikel.
Another player who has tended to give us glimpses, in between his many injuries, but hasn’t really put together a consistent run of performances for us yet.
Yep, come on down Gabriel Jesus, the time is right for you to rise up to the challenge.
Swiss army knive footballer… you are in fine form today, Kev.
A maelstrom indeed, Kev. Tough opening games, but I tend to agree with LG that this will be our season. Our star boy will be needing some rest beforehand but with two silvers in the past two Euro’s and two runners up in the past two EPL seasons, he’ll be more keen than ever for gold.
I’m going up for the Leverkusen match before we fly home at the end of August. I hope to see Jurrien in action.
Stu, I will be at the Lyon game with my family, so it’ll be a relaxing stressless day out in Gods own borough of N.5. I’m also hopeful of seeing Jurrien although I saw him a year ago at Wembley, so hopefully this time will be the beginning of a wonderful relationship?
I’m also hopeful on the same day of of seeing Califiore and Merino in the red and white of Arsenal 🙏🏻
Alejandro Balde, left-back, £34m!
Does that mean the Califiori deal is on life-support?
you seem to know something, Kev. I have no idea who is coming in.
Just watched the highlights of the pre-season (extremely, or so it seemed to me) friendly against The Os …
I’ve never had any sympathy for yellow-and-black teams, ever since my teenage years when I played for the FC Rouen (red-and-white, of course) youth teams (from 1973 to 1978), as our bitter foes back then were the said yellow-and-black US Quevilly (on a par with the skyblue-navyblue Le Havre AC), whose stade Lozai was barely one-mile-as-the bird-flies from our own “Terrain de la Ferme”.
BUT I have to admit the little I saw of their GK made an impression on me, so much so I’ve just checked his wikipedia page. The lad won “West Ham’s Young Hammer of the Year award” when he was 17, in 2014. Taking a look at what was in store for him after that achievement, does make you wonder about the tricks of fate such a career must have hinged on …
Anyway, it’s good to see the lads back on track; I’ll try and watch all of the pre-season games. As far as pitches are concerned the late Copa America was a shameful mess; I hope Philly’s and LA’s will have been looked after, so our boys might be kept out of harm’s way. With what we have on our plate at the start of the season, any of our first-choice player being injured would be a terrible blow …
COYG
Some good keeping, LG. Also nice to see Emile still wearing the number 10 shirt.
A lot of youths on the plane to the U.S. filling in the many various vacancies caused by the Euros and the Copa America.
A few surprising picks and a few surprising absences among the youngsters. Pleased to see Jimi Gower on the trip, I’ve always enjoyed watching him, he is quite skilful in an understated manner and works enormously hard in games.
If after a year on loan at Swansea, where he was in and out of the team, Charlie Patino doesn’t make the cut then it doesn’t look great for him. Maybe ‘his people’ are working on a move away?
Total, regarding Balde, maybe Edu was looking at alternatives in case the Califiori deal broke down, which happily now seems to be back on, as a left-back seems very much on the managers agenda.
The knee injury, out of nowhere, to Tomiyasu puts into focus the probable need Mikel has in that left-back area. We have a lot of players who can play left-back but they’re all at different levels of effectiveness and reliability of fitness. We don’t even know if Timber is going to be back to his best yet?
In an ideal world Mikel would like a mirror image on the left to Ben White, a strong, resilient and technically sound footballer who is available all season and who is also versatile. Califiori looks to be that guy…
Erik Ten Hag has boasted that he is the best manager in the Premier League after Guardiola. Despite finishing 8th and saving his job by winning the FACup.
Oddly enough he overlooked the fact that Arteta was the only manager to face Guardiola three times last season and not lose!
No doubt if Man United beat Arsenal in LA he’ll be doing also of honour? In the words of my old mate Chris, Ten Hag is a pillock.
a lap of honour
Kev, Ten Hag Is a bit simple and lacks humility. He will not survive much longer as his man management skills are poor and he buys the wrong sort of players constantly. Arteta soars way above him.
I’m always aware Total that when I see a manager making excuses and blaming everyone else except himself when his team loses that he isn’t going to last long as he’ll eventually lose the dressing room.
Players don’t need to be told when they’ve underperformed but they notice when they’re hung out to dry and Ten Hag has a habit of that.
Far from Ten Hag blowing his own trumpet about winning the League Cup and FACup over the last two years I think it’s an indictment of his poor coaching, selection and leadership because those two finals showed what his squad was capable of on odd occasions and when self-motivated but their performances in the league are the true barometer of his leadership – or lack of.
I hope he stays at OT for the next 10 years
Manchester City’s elite development squad analyst Darren Rogerson is leaving the club to join Arsenal’s first team.
Rogerson is due to start working with Mikel Arteta’s squad in the first few months of the upcoming Premier League season.
He has been at City for three years following spells at the academies of Sheffield United, Rangers and Derby County.
Having spent a year working in the academy he was promoted to Under-18s performance analyst before working with the elite development squad — the level below Pep Guardiola’s first team.
Rogerson is highly thought of inside City and is said to have been particularly impressive in developing relationships with the players.
He will join Ben Chadwick, Arsenal’s head of analysis, who also joined from City after holding the same position in the Under-23s.
Great to see that we beat Bournemouth 5-4 on penalties, after a 1-1 draw at full time (penalties were going to decide the game, either way). The kids had a good work-out while the likes of Partey, Nketiah (captain) Timber, Nelson, Vieira, etc started as the senior citizens of the team. It is all about fitness, at this time.
On tthe Balde rumours, I feel it may have been put out there to remind Bologna (and all the clubs hanging on for sell-on fees) that we had options. Worked a treat too.
Bootstrap Erik, stuck at OT by Kev’s curse
I really hope so LeG
Interesting to see Salah Eddine getting some flowers from the podcast guys who saw the game. It was difficult to pick out who was who in that new kit and the commentators were hopeless, but from what I could glean Salah E was quite tidy alongside Ethan, the passing was really sharp and you could see Artetaball is gradually permeating the whole club…
Don’t start me up on the away k(sh)it, Kev.
Please.
Wtf is wrong about the one and only yellow-and-blue I’d like to know …
Wow, Legall, that was some opening ceremony in Paris yesterday. What do the French people make of it?
Exactly LeG, yellow and blue every time for the second strip, something classic with historical relevance, somebody described the black kit as making our guys look like they work in a pizza parlour.
It’d deserve a long, detailed answer about this country in general – not that ceremony only – or nothing.
I’ll try and do my best asap, T. … but I don’t want to bother anyone, so if you don’t feel like reading about the loony bin Macron has turned my homeland into, do let me know, BKers, that’ll be fine with me.
No pressure, Legall. Take your time my friend.
Hein
White-Timber-Heaven-Zinchenko
Jorginho
Nelson-Nwaneri-Odegaard-Trossard
Jesus
(I think)
subs:
Setford-Nygaard-Rojas; Nichols; Gabriel-Kiwior; Rekik; Lewis-Skelly; Partey-Rosiak-SalahEddine; Havertz-Nketiah; Gower-Nketiah; Martinelli-SagoeJr.
Full house at the SoFi
COYG
HT
AFC 1 (Jesus 26th) MU 1 (Højlund 10th)
Well, well, well, a friendly which is anything but …
The two teams look PL-ready already to me, our boys in particular look like they’ve spent quite some time muscling up the upper part of their bodies
A half of two halves it was, the first was United’s but there’s no way they would have scored that goal with Tequila Bill on the pitch; Heaven was clearly bullied by Højlund on that one … but the kid was excellent on the ball all half long and he shouldn’t have been the one trailing the Dane, our whole right-hand side was depleted, neither Timber nor Bennie were where at least one of them should’ve been. Hein was unlucky to see the ball roll past him through his open legs, but this kind of sucker punch of a shot from within the six-yard box is what GKs’ nightmares are made of … He had two great saves, one denying Diallo the other Mount.
The very good news is GJ’s performance upfront, it made me think of his first pre-season’s games with us, what a great piece of news it’d be if he got back to what he was back then – a lethal CF CBs just can’t keep quiet. What an assist that was from Nwaneri – the kid sure is a fast-thinker and his left foot and passes are like the bow and arrows of a skilled hunter
An interested second half this is going to be
COYG
Salah-Eddine for Nwaneri
Kiwior for Heaven
63′
Hein
White-Kiwior-Gabriel-LSkelly
Partey-Salah-Eddine
Vieira-ØDEGAARD_Nelson
GJ9
Nichols for White, too
70′
Hein
Nichols-Kiwior-Gabriel-Lskelly
Partey-S-Eddine
Vieira-Havertz-Martinelli
Nketiah
All those substitutions make it mpossible for the game to pick up any momentum … too bad, it started so well
Waiting for the shootout now
2-1 to the Arsenal
Martinelli had a nice stroll through MU’s 3rd or 4th choice defence (at least it’d better be for them, otherwise they’re in BIG trouble) to score the winner.
Salah-Eddine standout performer of the 2nd half, what an intelligent, skilful midfielder this boy is …
MU 4 AFC 3 (pen shootout) Havertz and Kiwior (!!) made a mess of theirs
Pleasant pre-season game, we’ll be firing on all cylinders from the getgo
COYG, G’Night BKers
I thought that Heaven was unlucky, Hojlund got goalside and Ayden could have only stopped him by giving away a penalty, Timber should have been on our right anyway and Hein needed to do better.
Nwaneri did ok but wasn’t as influential which is ok as he’s only 17, as is Heaven!
Lewis Skelly did ok, was in central midfield most of the time but young Josh Nichols again caught my eye, very quick and very economical with his tackles, just turned 18 but he looks a proper Arsenal player.
As does Salah Eddine, I thought this kid was on the way to another club but he’s looked really tidy and very composed. Just goes to show when you put a youngster in with his elders they can just look the part, that’s if they have the quality.
We’ve got Heaven
Heaven in our hands
He’s got arms, and he’s got legs
And we’ve got Heaven
Great comments from Legall and the London night rider. Thank you, especially to our Rouen rocker. Sounds like a good test and it’s especially good to hear that GJ9 is looking sharp.
Fine ccommentary/posts, LG. I could only rely on highlights and match reports so I am chuffed we got the win, friendly or not. It is Manchester United and they sure we’re physical and aggressive (Maguire tried to steal an equaliser by fouling Hein, our young keeper).
With wwhat I am reading about the sharpness of GJ9, Ode, Timber and even Partey,…along with the level of readiness of Martinelli, Gabriel, and Kai, we should be a stronger unit when the likes of Saliba, Saka, Rice and Raya return to the fold, along with the additions we have on the way.
What I really like Eris is how the youngsters just fit in, they don’t look out of place with the seniors and although it’s taken a few years to develop the Arteta style, it now seems to be a theme running throughout from academy to 1st team.
Even if our youngsters don’t make it into the Arsenal 1st team they’ll get a great education and hopefully we’ll begin to start selling them for decent returns.
Agreed, Kev. It was great to see the kids hold their own, playing with the first team. It does look like the Arteta philosophy has permeated the entire Arsenal structure. Even the leaders look to have caught on. Long may it last.
Calafiori is a Gunner!!!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/crg5p3vg7pjo
Yessssss! Saw a video of Arteta introducing him to his team mates out in the US. Nice to see he speaks the English language (unless he rehearsed for it).
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c250lww2nzgo
Sadly, ESR on his way out. 😢
https://www.theguardian.com/football/who-scored-blog/article/2024/jul/30/spain-midfielder-mikel-merino-ideal-arsenal-mikel-arteta
Pb, what is your opinion about Merino?
Le Gall, I trust that you’ll be on duty later today, early tomorrow for the last game of the US tour…
Without prejudice to PB’s submission, I’d say Merino could be a useful addition for squad depth. However, I do prefer the man who kept him out of the Spain starting line up at the last Euro tournament: Fabian Ruiz. Didn’t we hear PSG are thinking to send him out on loan.
I wish I were an expert on the Spanish midfielders, but I am unfortunately not.
I have read about these guys, and both of them are geniuses, no doubt about that. Merino was the best player in the top 5 leagues when it comes to winning duels (though this is not a critical skill, it is nevertheless hugely impressive), and Ruiz has the passing ability and tactical maturity of prime Xavi.
However I am not in favor for either transfers. I don’t think they would squeeze out any of Rice, Havertz and Odegaard from our current midfield. And even if Kai’s long-term position is the false 9 I would rather have a defensive midfielder to support Rice, and neither of the Spaniards operate at DM. But mostly both of them are 28 years old. Even if we only contract them for 4 years they’ll be 32 by the time the contract runs out, making any of the 2 unsaleable and probably too old to play on a competitive level – see Jorginho this season. Let’s face it, neither of them fit the profile to become long-term improvement of Arteta’s project. And since we are in the phase of losing squad value, I wouldn’t go after players above 26.
Yes, I am usually against direct-to-bench transfers, especially if they are expensive and demand a hefty salary. Since our starting line-up is full I would close the transfer window if it was up to me. (I’m quite afraid that we might remake the Pepe mistake with Gyökeres.)
So since we have Partey, Jorginho and Vieira, we need nobody else to our midfield. Plus we have MLS and Nwaneri in the making (I have no illusions about Salah-Eddine unfortunately, and most likely Patino’s ship has already sailed). Anyway, if we get rid of some the senior players I would still go after Joey Veerman, but I would still prefer to do that next summer.
Hein
White-Kiwior-Gabriel-Zinchenko
Partey
Nelson-Ødegaard-Havertz-Martinelli
Jesus
(Rojas-Setford-Martin; Nichols; Heaven; Rekik; LSkelly; Vieira; Rosiak-SalahEddine-Jorginho; Nketiah; Nwaneri-Gower; SagoeJr.-Trossard)
4-1-4-1 yet again
Shape of things to come? Doubt it, though
No kids in the starting XI, this time …
COYG
Finally got a feed, only missed a couple of minutes. Salah has had Zinchenko on toast a few times. Jesus looks very sharp, almost scored. Salah scores, looked offside, none of the replays should the move on.
showed the move side on…
30′ Water-break
‘Pool 1 (Salah 13’) AFC 0
Not a bright start, to say the least – such a classic Klopp-era direct move (Kelleher-Jota-Elliott- Salah) it’s hard to believe we were caught with our pants down by it.
The last ten minutes were a bit better, with two opportunities coming from the wings, great wing play and delightful cutback from Reiss, which GJ9 should have anticipated better first, then wonderful through ball from our Viking skipper to Marti who should’ve played it one touch for Jesus to get a tap-in imo
Onnthe othe rhand, Jota has just hit the post … which is an improvement, I guess – he has hurt us so many times under Klopp, that boy
Wonder what’s wrong with Timber
COYG
0-2 another defensive masterclass not…
Nice pressure around the edge of their box, pulled them from side to side and opened them up like a can of sardines. Havertz 1-2
Half-time.
No Califiori or Timber.
Precautionary hopefully.
‘Pool 2 (Carvalho 34’) AFC 1 Kai’s first goal odf the season has given us a lifeline. Back in midfield, he had a great half, looks like he’s donning the outfit of one of the team’s leaders.
The Nelson-Tsimikas duel was typical winger-full back PL stuff, very interesting to watch, he keeps maturing, our boy, £15m for him is an insulting offer imo
Zinchenko out-Zinched himself, excellent on the ball but oh so fragile defensively it’s painful to watch; Partey no longer kas what it takes to hold our midfield by himself (has he ever had?)
So … should we worry? Well, I do, a little … They miss so many players this XI is actually very close to their “B” team … Too bad the time has come for musical chairs now, the end of the half was a lil’ bit more encouraging
COYG
Nelson, Marti out
Vieira, Trossard in
70′ Zinchenko-Havertz out
Lewis-Skelly – Nwaneri in
‘Pool are playing their “C” team now …
we’ve dominated possession, but without fire, passion; we didn’t create much – good right-footed attempt from Vieira, a few minutes ago, though
75′ last water break
don’t really know what to make of what we’ve seen
to me it looks like the kind of game coming on top of a week of very hard physical work, when the legs just can’t do what the brains order
I know you shouldn’t read too much into a preseason game but from what I’ve seen after 75 mins Liverpool are looking as if they’re going to be a problem next season. Looking at their first five games they could be off to a flyer.
FT 2-1
That’s one I’ll will into oblivion.
Bring on Bayer!
G’Nite BKers
Liverpool celebrating as if it meant a lot to them and maybe it does with a new manager in charge. I felt we allowed ourselves to not exactly be bullied but pushed around a bit, the referee was typical MLS fare, yes he pretty average, missed a lot, ignored a lot, standard dumb ass.
I can’t help liking Nichols, only a small sample size but again great anticipation and excellent tackles.
Shame we didn’t see Salah Eddine, but pleased to see Heaven join the party as well as Ethan and Myles.
A loud and clear ‘attaboy’ to Nichols for his US tour indeed, Kev …
thanks PB, good arguments. I think that Partey, giving his fitness issues every season, is not enough and I expect him to move on anyway. Key for me is that Merino has great fitness levels, so we can some consistency in that position.
Nice match comments, fellas. Shame we lost but it is just a preseason practice session.
To me Le Gall, young Nichols is the major plus to come out of the tour, we all knew about Ethan, Ayden and Myles but Josh was a nice surprise as we Salah Eddine.
We so need a bit of that old Wenger magic with the cup draws so that these lads can get some more senior minutes if not loaned out.
TA, if Partey moves on that makes it a different story. That case I would be all in for a midfield reinforcement (however would still prefer someone younger, but if Merino is indeed such a beast I am open to re-evaluate). However, if Thomas stays with us for his final year and unnecessarily huge salary, then a Merino/Ruiz transfer – regardless of MLS and Nwaneri whos involvement might only be the fetish of LG and myself – would mean that Arteta extended the contract of the #6 midfielder (Jorginho). Consequently would it imply that he was either so keen on Calafiori that he wouldn’t mind keeping his 32y compatriot here as a buddy/bait or that he hasn’t learned from the Elneny mistake. Which was a classy gesture from the human(e) aspect, but pretty unsmart from business and footballing points of view.
Arsenal U21’s lose 2-1 at Lincoln City and Arsenal U18’s lose 1-0 at Hitchin Town
Bobby Clark, ever heard of him?
Well he’s a 19 year old midfielder at Liverpool and a couple of European clubs are after him.
Liverpool are thought to want £12m and will probably get a figure close to that.
Now how much would Arsenal get for Charlie Patino?
Same age, position etc
Marseilles don’t want to give us a fair price for Nketiah but Atletico seem happy to spend around €90m on Alvarez, both are internationals…
All good points, Kev. The money for Alvarez is insane.
A “we mean business” starting XI
4-1-4-1 yet again … maybe there’s more to it than I thought, after all
Maybe even Vieira will end up convincing me, who knows? …
COYG
Stu, where are you in there?
Timber and Calafiori nowhere to be seen again
Should we be worried?
What a new squad number can do …
Trossard’s dummy should be counted an assist
10′ 2-0
Stu, I want you to be a season ticket holder
3-0
Deserved goal for GJ9, simple counterattack stuff after a long spell of possession by Bayer – their GK might have nightmare about this a few hours from now, though
Havertz looks very happy in midfield, wouldn’t be surprised if Wolves had to face something like:
Raya
White-Saliba-Gabriel-Zinchenko
Rice
Saka-Ødegaard-Havertz-Trossard
Jesus
Not one second of ET
Zinch-Trossard very convincing pair on the left; Tequila Bill-Gab Mag already impressive. We could/should see more of Ødegaard-Vieira imo; is our skipper about Havetz gnawing at “his” pace I start wondering …
They’re very subdued, these German Invincibles; just as I thought of Arsenal against ‘Pool in Philly, I wouldn’t be surprised finding out they’re caught right in the middle of very hard physical work, at this point in their pre-season
Nwaneri? Lewis-Skelly? now … please Mikel
COYG
is our skipper upset …
Raya
White-Kiwior-Gabriel-LewisSkelly
Jorginho-Rice
Saka-Ødegaard-Trossard
Havertz
Musical chairs time …
Raya
White-Kiwior-Gabriel-LSkelly
Partey-Rice
Saka-Nwaneri-Trossard
Havertz
Kai’s first of the season, and a right-footed one too – how could Bayer’s LB leave so much space to Bukayo at the start of the move?? Strange kind of assist for Granit, he won’t be happy with that
Nwaneri’s first would be great …
Nichols-Heaven-Eddie on …
Keeping a clean sheet with that kindergarten back-four’d be great
No clean sheet after all … too bad
10 minutes for Marti
Could have been brought on before, maybe; we didn’t see much of Trossard in that second half
Thanks Legall, great comments.
4-1 it is
Not bad for a first home game, isn’t it?
Waiting from Stu’s insider’s report now
Bring on Lyon, COYG
Great comments LeG, I had to hop around YouTube to see the game, saw most of it despite some feeds being taken down. I started with a German commentary then an English one and finished with Arabic, so I covered all the bases.
Lewis Skelly impressed me the most, he has no fear and you can see that his team mates trust him.
It’ll be interesting to see who gets the most minutes out of Myles and Ethan in what is basically their debut season as a 1st teamer.
Fine play-by-play reporting, LG. Didn’t see the game from the start and only saw snippets of action from both halves, in between heavy buffering and Ad blocks. But, from what I saw, Zinchenko Havertz, Lewis-Skelly, Jesus, Gab and Saliba had fairly solid performances.
Bodes well for the season and happy to look forward to some game time for a couple of the academy lads, in the course of the season. Looks like Timber is injured again; hopefully, nothing serious. Good work-out in the end.
Lyon are next and ready for the season afterwards.
New post 🙂