Category: Uncategorized

As per previous post, what a TW Arsenal have had! I am glad we found a solution for the Koz situation and Jenkinson has wisely moved on to play regular football. I reckon there would have been plenty of game opportunity for Eddie at Arsenal but at Leeds he is likely to feature every week and that is just what he needs now. Funnily enough Eddie and Jenks may be playing each other in their first games for their clubs tomorrow when Forest play Leeds!!

I have no doubt that one or two players will still leave Arsenal before the various international TWs shut, especially Elneny and possibly Mustafi, Kolasinac and Mkhhi could still find another club. The net spend of the club is currently around £80m – £135m bought, £55m sold – and don’t be surprised if we end up with a figure around the £45m in the end…

Goodbye but not Farewell to Alex Iwobi

As elated as I am with the outcomes of the transfer window, I am still a bit sore about the loss of our very own Iwobi. This is what fellow BKers had to say about him:

Fellow Nigerian GoonerEris:

“Indeed, it’s a bit sad to find that a kid who has been with us for about 15 years now, since joining at the age of 7, had to make way while the likes of Mkhitaryan and Elneny stayed on. That’s the only dampener in what has been a fantastic window. But, I guess it had to do with money coming in and balancing the books, which Iwobi could guarantee with interest from Everton. I think Iwobi will be happy to go to a club where the scrutiny will be less and the fans less critical; where the demands are a modest top 6 finish, for now, in order to grow to that next phase of his development. I had hoped he could win the Europa league or the AFCON to get him into a mature frame of mind because he always looked to me like he hadn’t come to terms with the fact he is no longer in the academy. This move will serve him well and I do hope we have a buy-back clause of some sort or a good sell-on clause in that contract. He will have good company with Theo and Delph; I also expect him to enjoy playing with Moise Kean.” 

The Prof from Down-Under:

“Iwobi? I liked him but never took the world by storm. He’s a mid table teams star, but not ours. One look is to say our ability to sell him at a profit is a sign of our ambition and ability to take the best. It also shows we can sell high, which we’ve not done well or at all this last decade. Of course, if he does turn into that star… … “

And the calm and balanced AB wrote:

“Hmmm. Mixed feelings about today. Selling Iwobi takes a lot of gloss off for me. I can’t fault the logic given we have bought in this area and the price is good. But we are losing a home grown quality talent. Someone direct, strong and with an excellent injury record. And he has yet to reach his peak.”

I reckon Iwobi will have looked at the likes of Jenkinson and Walcott and have realised that it is a gamble to wait and see whether you can break through at Arsenal. With the arrival of Pepe and the hard knocks on the door from young competitors like Saka and Nelson but also Martinelli and ESR, it may have been a wise thing to go to Everton and work with a manager who clearly believes in him. I like to see it as a long ‘loan’ to the Toffees and Iwobi becoming a quality first team player and real man there; and I would not be surprised at all to see him return to the Home of Football in 3-5 years. For me it is goodbye but certainly not farewell, and I will look forward to seeing him play at Goodison Park, where I was also lucky to witness his first PL goal a few years ago.

Best of Luck, Alex, Koz, Jenks, Eddie!

Season Predictions

Okay let’s do a quick and dirty predictions for the season (and please give us yours in the comment section):

Top Six:

1. Man Citeh
2. Spuds (hate it but…)
3. Arsenal (but only if Emery gets the balance right in midfield)
4. Pool
5. Manure
6. Wolves

Goals For and Against:

82 – 38

Top scorers:

1. Pepe
2. Auba
3. Laca
4. Ceballos
5. Willock

Most man of the match (official):

1. Lacazette
2. Pepe
3. Ozil
4. Xhaka
5. Luiz/Auba

Most key passes (per Whoscored):

1. Ozil
2. Pepe
3. Ceballos
4. Xhaka
5. Luiz

Here are the BBC pundits predictions re top-four finishes…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49258004

By TotalArsenal

It seems a life time ago when Arsenal lost the Europa League final and finished a disappointing fifth in the league. At the end of the season most of us agreed that:

1. We were short of a quality winger. Iwobi was making progress but not enough to claim a wing position; Auba was not really suitable for wing-play but nevertheless did a decent job when asked to play there. Mkhi and Ozil were not really suitable for wing play either.
2. Kola fits into a 3-4-3 well enough but not so much in a back-four, and Nacho was struggling to keep producing the fine form of previous season game in game out.
3. Our defending was poor and we lacked a strong CB pairing.
4. Furthermore, our defending as a team was below par and this had to do with the balance of the team and tactics.
5. Our midfield lacked identity and consistency. Emery struggled to get the balance right between supporting our defence and aiding our attack throughout the season.

Two and a half months later, the club has bought and sold players and these are my initial eight conclusions:

1. All the gaps left by departing players, whether it’s Koz or Rambo etc, have been more than adequately filled, but the loss of our very own Iwobi is painful from an emotional point of view. We’ve got good money for him and it remained to be see whether he would break through soon for us, but it was great to see him grow and become a man and I liked his enthusiasm and pride for the shirt… He will be missed!
2. With Pepe we have added a winger of great quality, promise and fab stats for Lille in France. The Ivory Coast superstar is not just a good winger but also suitable for playing as CF. This is exactly the sort of player we needed to add and so well done Emery and co. It was also an important statement by the club and took not just Gooners by surprise!
3. With Tierney we have a copy of Bellerin on the other flank. Once Vector Hector and Tierney are fully fit to play, the team will literally and figuratively get wings, and evenly so: this will give us both thrust and balance and it will make a real difference.
4. With the arrival of Martinelli and possible inclusion in the squad of Nelson and Saka this season, Arsenal have added more attacking energy and penetration to the team. Yes these boys are young and likely not to score and assist a lot initially, but they will learn from the experienced ‘PALs’ and may grow a lot this season.
5. The important thing to see here as well is that Arsenal are not just investing in the coming season but are also safeguarding the future: Martinelli, Pepe, Tierney and Saliba should all be first team players well into the next decade, all going well.
6. Saliba looks like a player who will be claiming a first team CB spot when he finally comes to Arsenal. Holding is another player who is likely to become first choice CB this, or at least next, season. Sok and Chambers are also close to first team football but especially the latter may only be good enough for back-up/the cup games. With Koz’s self-forced departure, Arsenal needed a CB with leadership skills, PL and CL experience and just for a couple of years… The signing of Luiz, therefore, makes perfect sense: quality CBs are hard to find and they all demand to play… Emery can pick his strongest CB pairing this season from: Holding, Luiz, Chambers, Mustafi and Sokratis. We should be okay.
7. Ceballos is highly rated in Europe and Willock is looking ready to play in the first team. The modern game does not require a full-blooded DM anymore, however much we would like to have one. We need balance in midfield through multi-skilled midfielders and with the addition of Ceballos and Willock to the squad, Emery can pick the right pair for different kind of games – depending on strength of the opponent and whether we play them home or away. I expect our core pairing to be Xhaka and Torreira: for top-five encounters and many away games. If we are looking at a more typical box to box player next to Xhaka or Torreira, either Ceballos or Willock, or maybe even AMN or Guendouzi, may just make the difference. The combo of Torreira and Willock may suit us best when we are pushing the opponent high into their own half and we need quick, mobile and aggressive midfield players for if and when we need to avoid a turnover. This combo, or one of them with Ceballos, could also work well against teams like Pool and Citeh as they often succeed in pushing us right back into our own half.
8. I wrote in previous posts that Mesut will play more midfield-to-box this season (supporting the two more deep midfielders continuously). He cannot do this game in game out for ninety minutes, so we need back up. And that man is most likely to be Ceballos, who is quite similar to Mesut it seems (need to see more of him of course). I have also high hopes for Smith-Rowe in this position. The key thing is Emery has much more midfield options to get the balance right this season – and I have not even spoken about the possibility of playing the likes of Chambers, Mustafi or Luiz in midfield if we wanted to add a bit more DM bite to it.

So consider me very excited about the possibilities of this squad and potential for the future. It is now up to Unai to work his magic with it and time will tell whether he will be successful.

By TotalArsenal.

We are just about 19 hours away from the TW closure, and as it looks the following is likely to happen:

1. Tierney will join as our nr1 LB – a deal has been agreed with the club and the rest looks easy to get sorted/ player on his way to the home of football as we speak;
2. Iwobi may get sold to the Toffees if the price is right – books will need to be balanced;
3. Rumours are growing re David Luiz joining us and this looks very much like  the Petr Cech situation a few seasons ago. The Luiz-Holding partnership would be strong with back up from Sok, Chambers and Mustafi;
4. The latter may still leave the club if the offer is right for him (but I would use him as squad player in a number of defensive positions/ RB to start with until Bels is fully fit;
5. Coutinho may join but I cannot see it happening (only if Ozil were to leave us which is also unlikely).
6. Eddie will go on a season-long loan, possibly to Leeds. Will do him good.

As a result of the above, I reckon ‘our strongest team’ (on paper, due to some fitness issues) would be:

Well that would work fine for me. The PL and CL experience of Luiz next to the calm of Holding. The hunger and drive of proper wingbacks Bels and Tierney. The refreshed and ready to rock combo of TorKa in midfield and the European powerhouse attack of Ozil and his PALs!

And our ‘cups’/’second’ team would not look too shabby either:

Of course over the season there could well be changes to our strongest 11 due to competition and form of players as well as injuries and suspensions: nothing is carved in stone and Emery will, no doubt, have his own views! In fact it will be just as much about how he will use the players and what style of play and tactics he will apply. But that’s for a future post!

Come on you Rip Roaring GUNNERS!!!

By TotalArsenal. 

Well, well… about 27 hours to go before the TW slams close and it’s starting to heat up in and around the club.

It looks like DC United are keen on MO10 and let’s hope this is all a bit of nonsense. No doubt there is some truth in this but I would be very surprised if Mesut would agree to move to the States and leave all his remaining pride and ambition behind. He is only 30 so why move to a B-competition nation now? Yet I have to say I am a bit concerned about this as Mesut is so hard to gauge and he may want a change from the ongoing fan and media pressure in the UK. It may also explain why we have been linked with a loan-move for Coutinho in recent days. Clearly, there is no need for him at Arsenal with so many creative midfielders in our squad, unless of course Ozil could be on his way out….

Koz my man you were a joy to watch over the years but your silly shirt-swap trick was distasteful and unworthy of you. I guess there was a reason you’ve seldom appeared on TV for the team, even though you were our captain. It wasn’t just a lack of control over your employer’s language but lack of intelligence too, no doubt. That makes me wonder what our good fellow blogger 17Highbury Terrace is going to do with the LK he won on BK a few years ago… Koz, thanks for the service and the joy you brought us and I sincerely hope you will never have to return to those smoking bridges you left behind.

Everton have put in a bit for Iwobi and that is another worry. This is what the BBC reported re Everton’s approach to Arsenal:

“Everton have had a £30m bid for Arsenal winger Alex Iwobi and a loan offer for Manchester United defender Chris Smalling rejected.

The Toffees are expected to return with an improved bid for 23-year-old Nigeria international Iwobi – but it is likely to have to exceed £40m to be accepted.

Iwobi is not agitating to leave but is willing to move if a deal is agreed.”

I have high hopes for Alex and this should be his breakthrough year…. But we also have Nelson and Martinelli and then there was a fine LW performance by Saka v Barca on Sunday. Pepe will have to be squeezed in and an all-out attack of the PALs is highly likely. Ceballos, Willock and Guendouzi are further competition for the nr10 position, and so Iwobi may feel a move to Everton now may be the best thing for him. Should we cash in? The Toffees are very keen to get a left winger and Zaha, their main target, is being priced at an incredible £100m by Palace so we may get a good price for him now… Tough one..

All of this should not distract us from sorting the defence out before the deadline, of course. The management team have got their work cut out and who knows what our squad will be come 5pm tomorrow…

By TotalArsenal.

 

Two days till the TW deadline and things are heating up in terms of players leaving and joining the club. We have a five-star attack and wonderful options in midfield this season, but our defence remains the problem child and we are all hoping for some decent reinforcements come Thursday 6pm.

It looks like Laurent Koscielny is on his way to sunny Bordeaux, and I am not sure what to think. At times Koz was awesome and he always played with his heart on his sleeve for us. He is a player in the vain of Keown and Kolo: a first soldier, always battle-ready, energetic and mostly a good decision maker. He had his best time when paired up with the imperfect BFG whose key skills of organising the defence, bringing calm to the proceedings and aerial dominance really helped the Frenchman to be successful in the mighty red and white shirt. But why leave like this after playing the main part of your career at the home of football? It shows a lack of maturity of our former captain and it saddens me. We don’t of course know all the facts and the club may well have been unreasonable to him, but something stinks here and Laurent will now have a stain on his reputation. A player we loved so much and played so long for us, should not go like this.  😦 😦 😦

It also looks Jenkinson is off and this is of course a good thing. The man still has a chance to get his football career going at a club of his level. Carl is a Gooner and so he would never have had any doubt to join Arsenal when the club came calling, but he would have done much better to join a Championship team back then, in hindsight. I hope he will join Nottingham Forest and pull out many trees there during the remainder of his career.

It also looks like Eddie will go out on loan and that is always a good thing (as long as they get played regularly). Yes he could learn a lot from Laca, Auba and Pepe but nothing compares to regular football to cut your teeth. Bristol City is among the clubs interested, and as they have been so close to the end-of-season play-off games in recent years, he could well make the difference and help them to promotion this time round. I have little doubt that this guy will make it and I will miss him this season, so good luck to him wherever he will end up.

Who will join us?

Well the Guardian are reporting that we are after either Upamecano from RB Leipzig or Juventus’ Rugani – the latter on a season-long:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/aug/05/arsenal-target-dayot-upamecano-or-daniele-rugani-to-improve-defence

Given that we are letting go of Koz, it looks like one of these will come through before the deadline. The loan deal for Rugani probably makes most sense but I would not pooh-pooh another high-profile signing of course. I must admit to know next to nothing about these players, but if you do please make a comment.

Finally, the rumours re Tierney joining are not entirely dead and it would not surprise me if we get him just before the TW shuts.

Oh and the delightful and multi-talented Alex Scott will be on Strictly this Autumn! 😀

https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/strictlycomedancing/entries/922b3c45-82db-494f-8d34-7425fd55a0a0

Now we just need to await the other formal announcements!

 

By TotalArsenal.

Barcelona 2 – 1 Arsenal: Eight Observations.

Arsenal’s final pre-season game was at the packed Nou Camp and the boys did us proud. In these sorts of games we should only really look at one half – the one with the strongest team put out by Emery – and at a few individual performances during the other one. Players will be careful not to get injured as the season’s start is only a week away and there really is no point in going all out in a friendly against a team that is just starting their pre-season campaign. What matters most is team structure, positional play, tidiness and ability to create chances. And what I saw was once again promising.

Observations:

1. Emery started with Xhaka as the captain (a logical choice if there ever was one) and combined him with Willock. Now this is promising in terms of getting the balance right in midfield. Willock is wonderfully all-round in his midfield play: he can stay deep with Xhaka to give him the needed extra protection, can make the B2B runs AND offers an attacking threat too. I love this guy and what he does to free up Xhaka to run/give structure to our game. Torreira has a bit of a fight on his hand to force himself back into the team.
2. Ainsley Maitland Niles has made progress. Yes he scored a howler of an own-goal, but these things have happened to the very best players. Forget about it and let it not cloud your judgement of what this man has to offer to us. His natural calm, upper-body strength, and effective wing-play where at times a joy to watch (if only Auba was stronger in the air…). Defensively there is room for improvement of course, but at times he looked majestic and much older than he is. I have no doubt that AMN will become a top player, but we need to remain a bit patient with him, and not judge his natural calm nature as him being lackadaisical.
3. Chambers and Big Sok looked strong and organised. It suited them of course that we had to play very deep and so they had much more protection from midfield than usually – a luxury that will not be available a lot this season – but I liked the chemistry and relative calm of both of them. Many will blame Mustafi for the late Barca winner – confirmation bias is sooo appealing – but it was of course a mistake by the whole ‘defence’. Nobody picked up the shoulder muncher from midfield and both CBs left far too much space between them. Not good but quite understandable given there just had been a CB substitution.
4. Leno had a good game. We know that he is technically a gifted GK but he also had personality in the box and put attackers off. We have a quality nr1 goalie this season.
5. Pierre is Auba-bang-bang in form at the moment. What a fine Henry-esque goal he scored last night. Xhaka-Ozil-Auba combined to surprise the Barca defence with quick, high quality passes and a thumping finish. Many will not have noticed Xhaka’s contribution but that is exactly what he does so well: quickly moving on the ball, finding the best man and play the ball into their feet. Mesut’s disguised pass to Auba was perfectly weighted, giving Auba the time to free himself into a shooting position and then the best part of 100k spectators where reminded where to put their postage stamps: an all-round fab goal.
6. Saka deserved an assist and Martinelli got very, very close to winning the game for us late on. Nelson also had a decent game. All impressed me with their energy and fearlessness. There is a lovely calm in Saka’s play and I love Martinelli’s Reyes-esque drive and thrust in his attacking play. We need a bit more bite where and when it matters from Nelson. Early days of course but there seems a lot of potential in all three of them.
7. Emery’s decision to sit deep and play compact against Barca made of course sense, but we could have done with a bit more bravura in the second half. We were pushed deeper and deeper and became totally reliant on our counter-attacks. Not having Laca and Pepe available was of course a big miss as our midfielders lacked options to play themselves out of the Barca-press, but this is an area for improvement for the team. Of course it also does not help that in friendly games too many changes are made, totally disturbing the flow and intensity of formation/tactical approach.
8. But the boys did us proud and with Holding getting closer to first team football, Torreira and Ceballos to strengthen the midfield further and Laca and Pepe to be added to our attacking line, we are looking pretty good in almost all departments..

By TotalArsenal.

beat Barca the Barcelona-way…

Our final pre-season friendly is at the Nou Camp v THE team of the 21st century so far, Barcelona. Over the years, we had some fabulous games against the Catalans, and even though this is just a harmless pre-season game we should expect a high tempo, multi-goal encounter in which we have to aim to outscore the hosts.

There is no point for us to sit back and play tight, defensive footie. We have never been good at this and let’s face it, it’s not Emery’s game either. Besides, Arsenal have some fine weapons at their disposal and have just bought the explosive Pepe. There is also the possibility of playing two ‘ex’-Los Blancos players next to each other, and that will surely add a little bit of extra spice to the match.

In fact, we have the players to do a little experiment and play Barca the Barcelona way. Why not? Torreira can be our Busquests and Mesut and Ceballos could play the Xavi and Iniesta roles…. Pepe could be our free-attacker and dribbler ala Messi and Laca and Auba will surely add total attacking prowess to our team in such a set-up.

It would look like this:

Now I don’t know exactly who has travelled to Barcelona and who is fit to play. Emery will need to ease players like Torreira and Pepe into the team and so it is not highly likely that we will start with these 11. But at some point of the game I reckon we will be close to the above 11 being on the pitch, and I am looking forward to it.

What would be your favourite starting 11/playing strategy tomorrow?

By TotalArsenal.

 

In a recent interview with Arsenal.com, the snow-white-headed Mesut Ozil looked calm and content. He got married during the summer and it looks like he and Emery have found some common ground on playing style and the German’s role in the mighty red and white team. He is of course an introvert and not a champion of verbosity, but I could tell he was looking forward to the coming season; and that was before the announcement of the very exciting NP19 signing!

In an earlier post I wrote that the combo of Xhaka/Willock looked strong, especially against the top teams during our friendlies’ season. It looks like Willock is ready to be strong competition for both Torreira and Xhaka and Emery also has Ceballos (and Guendouzi, although I remain less convinced about him) to play in the (D)M-pivot. It will be good to see how these midfield players will fit into Emery’s thinking – and I still believe it will be this midfield conundrum that will make or break the Basque’s fate at the club.

But what I also noticed was the encouraging development of Mesut Ozil being given a free role in which he moves from box to box to make things happen. Against Bayern he came deep regularly to get the ball and he also made it into the German box time and again. A free, creative role is what gets the best of our German maestro, and now he has not only Auba and Laca to play with but also Pepe. Pepe, Auba and Laca: Ozil’s favourite PALs!

It was clear to most of us that what we need is a strong option on the wings. Mkhi had a few decent games but is not really a winger; Auba is okay if there is plenty of space but he is also not a winger; and Iwobi was most effective on the wing but he still needs to break through (with more goals and assists). So the arrival of Pepe is music to MO10’s ears. Remember when he played at Real Madrid and was able to feed the likes of Higuaín, Ronaldo and Benzema? Well things could not be much better with his new PALs now, could they?!

Having said all of this, I cannot see Emery playing all of PAL in each and every game. We may need a bit more balance and Mesut may need some creative support in certain games. A line up of ‘happy PIL’ – Pepe, Iwobi and Laca – may well give us better balance in the team going forward. NP19 will no doubt help raise Iwobi’s wing-play and there is also no doubt that the Nigerian has the ability to find the killer passes from the centre of midfield. I predict a very good Iwobi this season.

All in all, the attacking options are simply mouth-watering (and I haven’t even mentioned the likes of Eddie, Nelson and Martinelli… and ESR of course). Now let’s hope that the defence gets strengthened too and then we can really look forward to kick-off day next weekend. COYRRGs!

By TotalArsenal.

This is a quick and dirty discussion post. Say the Pepe deal is done, where and how will we play him?

Admir wrote in the previous post:

“As for Pepe, like every other YT scout, I have become an expert on him and noticed that he is (too) reliant on his left foot, including moments when using right foot would be, er, right. It doesn’t have to be a bad thing – Robben, a benchmark for a world-class winger, used his right foot only for driving. Pepe’s shooting technique is not exactly a mouth-watering but his ability to properly perform a counter-attack is. That sort of defending – pin down opponents’ full-backs so that they soil themselves before they dare to overlap – might be important in the Bellerin-less weeks, especially at Anfield where we have lost 4-0 and 5-1 respectively in the last two seasons.“

The comment shows what a weapon we are getting with Pepe (subject to contract completion), and we need to use it properly. It would not surprise me if we play a variant of 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 this season. With Laca as the more centrally based CF and either Auba or Pepe being the free runner around him. Yes there will be games we will play all three of them but I would expect Emery to play mostly two of them in a game. And that could just as well be both Auba and Pepe together.

Something like these options could well be our best starting 11 this season (as per Emery’s motto of outscoring the opponents is all that matters…):

Just some ideas there, and not necessarily my favourite ones, but how would you use Pepe and who would make way?

By TotalArsenal.

 

 

Nelson or Martinelli…. is my educated guess!

A squad of 20 players have travelled to Angers, a city  in Western France not far from Nantes where I was only a few weeks ago (would have loved to attend tonight). I guess it is another friendly for Emery to test his youngsters as he is literally taking a whole busload of them. The squad in full (8 starting with ‘M’):

Martinez, Macey, Maitland-Niles, Mustafi, Medley, Monreal, Mkhi, Martinelli, Chambers, Sokratis, Thompson, Guendouzi, Xhaka, Willock, Burton, Olayinka, Auba, Nelson, Nketiah and John-Jules.

So assuming that Emery would like to start with the strongest available eleven from this lot, who would you put on the team sheet:

In goal to avoid a mess, it has to be Martinez.

At back to show no crack (if only LOL): Maitland-Niles, Chambers, Sok, Monreal – Maybe Mustafi for AMN at RB.

In the middle will Emery solve the riddle? Xhaka-Wilson?

Attack(ing) for a Angers’ sack(ing): Mkhi in the middle feeding Nelson/Martinelli, Auba and Nketiah.

Yep that would work for me:

By TotalArsenal.