What gets lost is historybis that Wenger spent years battling Chelsea’s billions and City’s state money with kids, principles and a calculator, mocked for it, yet still competitive (apart from the last few years...don't have a go Pedro)
Now Arteta’s finishing that fight. From 8th to title challengers.
History in the making.
We suffered for this. We earned this.
It will ne great to be back at the Emirates tomorrow night.
City with a day less rest as well. Can he really start Rodri today after such a short turnaround..? Either way, they will be tired. But surely it's too much to ask that City drop points in three in a row...
Secretly hoping for a Welbz master class. And dipshit Hurzeler thrives being the underdog. I feel he not so secretly focuses his everything in doing an upset, and is way more erratic in games against similar or lower oppositions. He's a villain but I hope he does a job for us.
I have always been in favour of EPL Clubs being allowed to operate satellite clubs within the English League framework.
This is the model, which has been adopted by the leading Spanish Clubs like Real Madrid and
Barcelona.
It allows these clubs to develop home grown talent within a competitive league structure.
What I am less enthusiastic about is the modus operandi adopted by owners who buy clubs
like Chelsea, Man City and Newcastle United and operate clubs in different overseas leagues.
Arsenal are producing now a lot of home grown talent, but are struggling to hold onto these players. We have seen the recent departure of Heaven and Obi Martin and my concern is that
we could see the departure of Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly if they do not get more game time.
That sends out the wrong message to our Academy players.
Mattéo Guendouzi to Fenerbahçe, here we go! Verbal agreement in place for €29m package, add-ons included.
_______________________________________
I read it's something like €26+2m. Supposedly, we receive nothing as our 15% sell-on clause (from his 2022 move to Marseille) was already triggered and paid when Marseille sold him to Lazio in 2024 for ~€13m. Sad.
‘Look at the org chart. The Glazers remain majority owners. Ratcliffe controls football operations through his minority stake. Sir Dave Brailsford oversees INEOS’s company’s sports investments. Berrada runs the club as CEO. Wilcox handles football as director of football. Vivell manages recruitment. The head coach, when the club has one, reports to Wilcox.’
The above excerpt from article dissecting Amorim’s failures in his time as United head coach made me smile.
What a clusterfuck of a set up a new manager, or rather, a head coach faces whoever he might be.
"The transfer of Liam Rosenior marks another humiliating step in Racing's subservience to Chelsea. For two and a half years, along with others, we have been trying to raise the alarm about this.
"The problem goes far beyond the mid-season sporting impact and the ambitions of a young coach. It is structural; the future of French club football is at stake.
"Every additional contortion by Marc Keller, every extra minute spent at the helm of the club, is an insult to the tremendous work accomplished before 2023. What was seen by many as an outrageous move last September increasingly looks like sound advice: he must leave. Now.
"The FSRCS will coordinate closely with the three other associations actively fighting against multiple ownership, as well as all people of goodwill, to define the next steps."
___________________________________________
It's an interesting topic about the multi-club ownership.
A few days ago the news dropped how "Talks have accelerated between Strasbourg and Chelsea regarding Liam Rosenior's switch to Chelsea" when it's basically Todd Boehly having a conversation with himself. They can do whatever the fuck they want and it's clear which club will be their #1 priority in a similar way to Girona and how they "sold" Savinho to City.
I read Strasbourg needed to win their last 2 games in Ligue 1 to guarantee themselves a CL spot but that would have meant Chelsea would have missed out due to MCO rules and Villa would have taken their spot.
Strasbourg were on a streak of 1 defeat in 19 games (13 wins), including a win against PSG right before the last two rounds had to determine if they make it to the CL. They had to play the 14th and 16th in the standings (Ligue 1 has 18 teams), both teams in horrible position. They lost both games. It's obvious what happened, isn't it? (cannot be proven but Le Havre were saved from relegation play-offs because of their win against Strasbourg)
On the flipside, I am reading BlueCo is taking good care of their unfavored child. Looking at their transfermarkt, Strasbourg had an all-time expenditure on players in the region of €100m, in all of the seasons they've existed ever. Just in 2.5 years, they've spent €330m and currently have a team with a lot of young talents and with the exception of their backup goalkeepers, every single one of their players is under 23 yo. They are already treating Strasbourg like a mini-Chav gig and for a league where heavy investment isn't that common, they will surely benefit as painful as it is to suck it up and feel second best.
Fans got nothing to do with the decisions though. Their president/owner Mark Keller signed the deal and it even let him keep his position as president.
Thanks Northbanker-I wanted to address the doping upfront because it really has been a crucial reason behind City's success. I also agree with you that they've had the advantage of being the cycle through expensive bad transfers and keep buying until players hit
I was told Osimhen had no asterisks next to his name in terms of discipline and stuff. It was all in the notion of "Arteta can't manage characters like him", which is another angle flaming Arteta and how just because of him we weren't going for Osimhen, without thinking that not a single top club went for him, meaning that no top club or manager wanted to deal with him.
Watching the scenes at the AFCON where at 3:0 for his team, Lookman decides to shoot instead of pass to Osimhen, already on two goals, makes it really obvious doesn't it.
I'm not surprised no one has talked about it. Not one top team in Europe. Not one. He is wasting his prime football years over in Turkey. It's wild.
Are we really in for Brahim Diaz or it's also a click bait. I love his feistiness and think our attack will benefit from his unpredictability a lot. Plays more like a speedy playmaker on the wings rather than our not-so-fast wingers.
BTW, happy new years Grovers. May this be our year. I will manage only the EPL because we need to get that monkey off our backs. Any other thing on top I'll consider a bonus.
And what brave, honest leGrover will be the first to say that Nigel Tufnel was really correct about Madueke.
I expect some of you to deny it because he hasn't scored much.. but he has been so impressive in every appearance, starts or subs.
I told you all he's an extremely exciting player with an incredibly high ceiling, and that he was going to be a gooner favorite. He's young and there's a lot more to come from him.
I think I would like Pedro to be the first one to say it.
I think most reactions on here are concerned with whether we properly negotiate with Chelsea over price especially when they’re so over-stocked they’re desperate to offload. Same issue with Kai. We could have done better than £52m IF that is what we really paid.
Secondly our budget wasn’t unlimited and there was great concern that the funds we had and mgmt time involved would stop us buying a CF which was the priority. Arguably it did hamper as we went for a cheap option who is proving to be a limited player to say the least.
Thirdly RW wasn’t the priority at all as we were developing a great talent as back up to Saka in Ethan Nwaneri (despite his ambition to play CM - I’m sure he would have preferred game time over what is happening now).
All that said and done the petition group against Madueke was a disgrace and those people are not proper Arsenal supporters.
I was happy to give the benefit of the doubt despite all of that and Maddie has been a great addition to the squad albeit he has finishing flaws. He will in a few weeks be 24 so time for improvement grows considerably shorter!
Try harder to clean it up, same as Pedro. 90 percent here were whinging for those reasons and more... And yet you knew nothing about the player and his attributes.
Now you all know.
I clocked his talent in early 24/25, and told my chelsea friend that I want him if Chelsea keeps buying wingers.
For that talent, under Artetas coaching. The price was appropriate and may end up damn cheap.
He was getting races early in the season, and now he's back torching defenders and giving Saka rest, and everyone feels fine when they see his name on the team sheet instead.
not sure I understand what exactly you are arguing Nigel. Is it simply that you think you watched Madueke more at Chelsea than I did? Probably yes as I don’t watch Chelsea that much other than when they play us. The times I did see him play he seemed nothing special. But that wasn’t my point - it was that most of us felt we A didn’t need him because of Nwaneri and B our priority was a striker. If he had arrived after Gyokeres and Eze I imagine it would have happened without a murmur. He’s made a contribution to date for sure but the overall impact on our season to date has been marginal.
I do not agree with Tufnel the saddo who keeps wanting people to agree that he "knows" everything. It's the usual bs. Madueke provided a backheel to White who crossed for the goal against Brentford, a worldie against Brugge and the run that set up Gabriel against Bournemouth. Apart from that SFA since he's been here. A £52m that could have been better spent rather than on a player who usually fluffs his cross, shot or pass after beating his full back. In addition, he can't play on the left- that's why Arteta tried it and then stopped. So why did we buy this work-in-progress?!
It appears that “brave, honest leGrover” Nigel Tufnel was “the first to say that Nigel Tufnel was really correct,” eliminating that possibility for the rest. Sort of a self-defeating post in that sense…
Good point! But honestly, you should have added something about the player Madueke..... that he makes us significantly better by taking the strain and pressure off Saka, and is dangerous in his own right. Any honest person would admit that they feel pretty good when the lineup comes out and he's in place of Saka. How many teams have that privileged situation.
Only miserable people would deny when a player looks great for us when he gets on the pitch.
Do we get that QUICK equalizer by Gabriel with a spectacular play by Madueke?
Be fair now... as you're probably one who was screeching when he was linked.
I was the opposite of that majority here, with maybe 2 other grovers.. But even they were not nearly as positive as I was.
So how about odegaard since he's returned to fitness in the last 3 matches since shaking off the rust??
...maybe not man of the match in any one of the games, but his collective contribution for all three is better than anyone else in the squad.
It's what makes him a perfect captain. Won't always get the headlines, but is facilitating for everyone else in the squad especially in his pressing and energy levels. He's still busting his ass and sprinting in games when Saka is beginning to fatigue.
Where are the guys who were saying that Eze would take Odegaards shirt? There wasn't a lot of people saying that but there were definitely a couple of geniuses here.
And what has happened to Eze? I was the only one here pointing out that he was playing like hot wet garbage in 90% of his starts, except for Tottenham.
Wasn't combining well in the middle, actually very poor in trying to dribble through mid blocks and deep blocks... Thats a fool's mission in the premier League... And a giant hole in the press.
It seems that our manager and coaches agreed with me. Word from good sources in the media are saying that he's having trouble adjusting to our complicated tactics and responsibilities.
We will see him again soon probably off the left, but Ethan is a better replacement for our captains position. Maybe Havertz. Not Eze there.
But I will say it was a mistake to start Martinelli. I would have gone with Eze. I'm not sure if I said it here already but Martinelli is useless as a starter against deep blocks... this is three seasons of watching him underperform there. It's like playing with 10 and a half Men. I give Martinelli that half because he's very good in tracking back, but that's generous still because he's a lousy passer when he gets the ball in midfield.
I love Little Gabby but let's just keep him as a spark off the bench against tired defenders when teams are opening up to chase our leads. Eze can give some respite to my boy Trossard.
Pedro, I hate that you put me in the untenable position of having to defend Pep and City, but facts are facts. Of course we all know how City financially doped their way to league titles for many years and so had a built-in squad advantage, but they are actually 8th in the Premier League net spend table over the last 5 years. Quite hilariously Man United are 1st in net spend, Tottenham are 4th and West Ham (!!!) are in 7th.
To address any likely counter-arguments, this net spend table is for transfer activity only so insane wages being paid to the likes of Haaland don't factor in, but pretty much every major club has seriously increased their wage cap. Even so, when Man United have a 5 year net spend of -684.61m vs Man City's -346.56m, that's a lot of salaries to make up that difference.
We have to also recognize how poor Arsenal have been for many years at selling players. Credit to Mikel and the ownership for biting the bullet with players like Ozil and Aubameyang. The decisions were right even if they were major overall financial losses. When you look at the amounts City, Chelsea and Liverpool have made from selling their average players vs. ours, it's clearly been an issue for us. We're on the upswing now, and in retrospect our best recent success has been in selling our younger English players who were struggling for time. The ESR, Willock, Ramsdale and Balogun sales all look like we got the best end of those deals. Maybe a sign of what's coming for Ethan and maybe MLS, even if we are all rightly attached to their youth, background and potential right now.
Not a fan of the ‘ Net spend’ arguement,school of thought.Only see the shed load of cash that the oilers have spent through “ alleged” financial doping ,cough,cough.Since they were founded in 2008.Way beyond reality….Its your ability to spend unlimited sums that allow you to get the best & dominate.
But that's the point isn't is, Positive Pete? City got into that position through unlimited and unaccountable spending but that has changed over the last five years, and it has created space for clubs like Arsenal to catch up. I stated in my post that you have to view net spending in a broader context (including their wage bill etc) but it's still a relevant fact that City's transfer net spend has been less than West Ham's in the last five years.
Look at Declan's signing. Obviously his preference was to join us and we recruited him impeccably, but if City had blown us out of the water with an offer to West Ham, he would have had to go there.
My point to Pedro was that while past is prologue, it is not the present. Finally we have something approaching an even playing field. The reason City might be in a position to bring in Semenyo and/or Guehi this month is because their net spend for 2025-26 has so far been 150m below ours.
As much as we all agree that City have cheated over the years, they were aided by our ownership mess. It makes sense that the Kroenkes didn't want to invest to the degree they have recently when they had minority owner partners like Usmanov. Now we're arguably the best run club in football and City look like they are the ones scrambling.
You can’t look at the 5 years in a vacuum. City were able to achieve that net spend amount by the previous years of doping and buying success. So they had better players and better academy and that helped A. fuel their sales (everybody wanted to buy their successful players ) and B. not have to buy manically afterwards once into the 5 years but just to top up purchases to keep the squad on their toes. Totally different story when you’re chasing City. Get one or two major purchases wrong on the way (as we did with Pepe) and you’re screwed. Pool got their buying much more zoned until recently.
BG - I thought I had ; I wasn’t arguing against what you were saying. I probably should have begun by saying I agree. My issue has always been about discussing 5 years net spend tables that everyone keep throwing out for reasons given.
Totally overlooked Eddie's sale too. Not a single one of them has seen their transfer value increase even though they should all be getting close to their peak years now (24-27). I was most worried that Balogun would see his value explode but he's shown limitations since his breakout loan season at Reims.
This serves the hammers right for rocking up at the Emirates and turning us over a few seasons ago , having 3 shots on target while we battered them senseless ... wankers ... fuck off to the championship!!
Used to have a soft spot for the ammers.No longer.They appear to have developed that London club affliction of hating us for some unbeknown reason( Rice sale excluded) & heading towards the spursy,chavvy class of club.
Tonight we might see the changing of the gaurd.
Tomorrow night might see some revisonist history.
What gets lost is historybis that Wenger spent years battling Chelsea’s billions and City’s state money with kids, principles and a calculator, mocked for it, yet still competitive (apart from the last few years...don't have a go Pedro)
Now Arteta’s finishing that fight. From 8th to title challengers.
History in the making.
We suffered for this. We earned this.
It will ne great to be back at the Emirates tomorrow night.
Now is our time.
COYGs
Brighton have to flex today
I hope Fabian Hürzeler goes for them full throttle.
City are wide open at the back today.
Agent Welbeck will have fun today.
City with a day less rest as well. Can he really start Rodri today after such a short turnaround..? Either way, they will be tired. But surely it's too much to ask that City drop points in three in a row...
Secretly hoping for a Welbz master class. And dipshit Hurzeler thrives being the underdog. I feel he not so secretly focuses his everything in doing an upset, and is way more erratic in games against similar or lower oppositions. He's a villain but I hope he does a job for us.
Dat guy Welbz! You never know Diss.
I have always been in favour of EPL Clubs being allowed to operate satellite clubs within the English League framework.
This is the model, which has been adopted by the leading Spanish Clubs like Real Madrid and
Barcelona.
It allows these clubs to develop home grown talent within a competitive league structure.
What I am less enthusiastic about is the modus operandi adopted by owners who buy clubs
like Chelsea, Man City and Newcastle United and operate clubs in different overseas leagues.
Arsenal are producing now a lot of home grown talent, but are struggling to hold onto these players. We have seen the recent departure of Heaven and Obi Martin and my concern is that
we could see the departure of Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly if they do not get more game time.
That sends out the wrong message to our Academy players.
Fabrizio Romano
Mattéo Guendouzi to Fenerbahçe, here we go! Verbal agreement in place for €29m package, add-ons included.
_______________________________________
I read it's something like €26+2m. Supposedly, we receive nothing as our 15% sell-on clause (from his 2022 move to Marseille) was already triggered and paid when Marseille sold him to Lazio in 2024 for ~€13m. Sad.
‘Look at the org chart. The Glazers remain majority owners. Ratcliffe controls football operations through his minority stake. Sir Dave Brailsford oversees INEOS’s company’s sports investments. Berrada runs the club as CEO. Wilcox handles football as director of football. Vivell manages recruitment. The head coach, when the club has one, reports to Wilcox.’
The above excerpt from article dissecting Amorim’s failures in his time as United head coach made me smile.
What a clusterfuck of a set up a new manager, or rather, a head coach faces whoever he might be.
Glazers?! In other words, same old same old...
Crazy.
Statement from Strasbourg supporters federation:
"The transfer of Liam Rosenior marks another humiliating step in Racing's subservience to Chelsea. For two and a half years, along with others, we have been trying to raise the alarm about this.
"The problem goes far beyond the mid-season sporting impact and the ambitions of a young coach. It is structural; the future of French club football is at stake.
"Every additional contortion by Marc Keller, every extra minute spent at the helm of the club, is an insult to the tremendous work accomplished before 2023. What was seen by many as an outrageous move last September increasingly looks like sound advice: he must leave. Now.
"The FSRCS will coordinate closely with the three other associations actively fighting against multiple ownership, as well as all people of goodwill, to define the next steps."
___________________________________________
It's an interesting topic about the multi-club ownership.
A few days ago the news dropped how "Talks have accelerated between Strasbourg and Chelsea regarding Liam Rosenior's switch to Chelsea" when it's basically Todd Boehly having a conversation with himself. They can do whatever the fuck they want and it's clear which club will be their #1 priority in a similar way to Girona and how they "sold" Savinho to City.
I read Strasbourg needed to win their last 2 games in Ligue 1 to guarantee themselves a CL spot but that would have meant Chelsea would have missed out due to MCO rules and Villa would have taken their spot.
Strasbourg were on a streak of 1 defeat in 19 games (13 wins), including a win against PSG right before the last two rounds had to determine if they make it to the CL. They had to play the 14th and 16th in the standings (Ligue 1 has 18 teams), both teams in horrible position. They lost both games. It's obvious what happened, isn't it? (cannot be proven but Le Havre were saved from relegation play-offs because of their win against Strasbourg)
On the flipside, I am reading BlueCo is taking good care of their unfavored child. Looking at their transfermarkt, Strasbourg had an all-time expenditure on players in the region of €100m, in all of the seasons they've existed ever. Just in 2.5 years, they've spent €330m and currently have a team with a lot of young talents and with the exception of their backup goalkeepers, every single one of their players is under 23 yo. They are already treating Strasbourg like a mini-Chav gig and for a league where heavy investment isn't that common, they will surely benefit as painful as it is to suck it up and feel second best.
Well, the point is, Rosenior isn't complaining
Well if you’re going to get into bed with the Devil.Expect to be shafted good & proper.They took the $ & now the reality kicks in.Zero sympathy.
Fans got nothing to do with the decisions though. Their president/owner Mark Keller signed the deal and it even let him keep his position as president.
Thanks Northbanker-I wanted to address the doping upfront because it really has been a crucial reason behind City's success. I also agree with you that they've had the advantage of being the cycle through expensive bad transfers and keep buying until players hit
I was told Osimhen had no asterisks next to his name in terms of discipline and stuff. It was all in the notion of "Arteta can't manage characters like him", which is another angle flaming Arteta and how just because of him we weren't going for Osimhen, without thinking that not a single top club went for him, meaning that no top club or manager wanted to deal with him.
Watching the scenes at the AFCON where at 3:0 for his team, Lookman decides to shoot instead of pass to Osimhen, already on two goals, makes it really obvious doesn't it.
I'm not surprised no one has talked about it. Not one top team in Europe. Not one. He is wasting his prime football years over in Turkey. It's wild.
You are absolutely right Rap. His reaction on that day really betrayed the fears in several quarters to be wary of him.
I thought he had mature but I guess it was a wrong assumption...
Are we really in for Brahim Diaz or it's also a click bait. I love his feistiness and think our attack will benefit from his unpredictability a lot. Plays more like a speedy playmaker on the wings rather than our not-so-fast wingers.
BTW, happy new years Grovers. May this be our year. I will manage only the EPL because we need to get that monkey off our backs. Any other thing on top I'll consider a bonus.
Does he not primarily play on the right? And if so, does this mean Arteta has moved on from leftbacks and is now looking to stockpile right wingers?
I think he's the 3rd Madrid players being linked to us since before Xmas ...
Alonso is next lol
FFS it’s Madrid trying to flog their cast offs.An upgrade Danny Ceballos.Avoid the midget like the plague.
A deep reserve at Real Madrid. If he was to join Arsenal it would be to be a deep reserve here instead.
We can do better than that. We've got Nwaneri and he's been warming the bench for so long, he's practically grown roots into it.
3-0 to the Arsenal.
Book it.
Raptora,
Shut up mate.
And what brave, honest leGrover will be the first to say that Nigel Tufnel was really correct about Madueke.
I expect some of you to deny it because he hasn't scored much.. but he has been so impressive in every appearance, starts or subs.
I told you all he's an extremely exciting player with an incredibly high ceiling, and that he was going to be a gooner favorite. He's young and there's a lot more to come from him.
I think I would like Pedro to be the first one to say it.
I think most reactions on here are concerned with whether we properly negotiate with Chelsea over price especially when they’re so over-stocked they’re desperate to offload. Same issue with Kai. We could have done better than £52m IF that is what we really paid.
Secondly our budget wasn’t unlimited and there was great concern that the funds we had and mgmt time involved would stop us buying a CF which was the priority. Arguably it did hamper as we went for a cheap option who is proving to be a limited player to say the least.
Thirdly RW wasn’t the priority at all as we were developing a great talent as back up to Saka in Ethan Nwaneri (despite his ambition to play CM - I’m sure he would have preferred game time over what is happening now).
All that said and done the petition group against Madueke was a disgrace and those people are not proper Arsenal supporters.
I was happy to give the benefit of the doubt despite all of that and Maddie has been a great addition to the squad albeit he has finishing flaws. He will in a few weeks be 24 so time for improvement grows considerably shorter!
Try harder to clean it up, same as Pedro. 90 percent here were whinging for those reasons and more... And yet you knew nothing about the player and his attributes.
Now you all know.
I clocked his talent in early 24/25, and told my chelsea friend that I want him if Chelsea keeps buying wingers.
For that talent, under Artetas coaching. The price was appropriate and may end up damn cheap.
He was getting races early in the season, and now he's back torching defenders and giving Saka rest, and everyone feels fine when they see his name on the team sheet instead.
That's saying a lot.
not sure I understand what exactly you are arguing Nigel. Is it simply that you think you watched Madueke more at Chelsea than I did? Probably yes as I don’t watch Chelsea that much other than when they play us. The times I did see him play he seemed nothing special. But that wasn’t my point - it was that most of us felt we A didn’t need him because of Nwaneri and B our priority was a striker. If he had arrived after Gyokeres and Eze I imagine it would have happened without a murmur. He’s made a contribution to date for sure but the overall impact on our season to date has been marginal.
I do not agree with Tufnel the saddo who keeps wanting people to agree that he "knows" everything. It's the usual bs. Madueke provided a backheel to White who crossed for the goal against Brentford, a worldie against Brugge and the run that set up Gabriel against Bournemouth. Apart from that SFA since he's been here. A £52m that could have been better spent rather than on a player who usually fluffs his cross, shot or pass after beating his full back. In addition, he can't play on the left- that's why Arteta tried it and then stopped. So why did we buy this work-in-progress?!
It appears that “brave, honest leGrover” Nigel Tufnel was “the first to say that Nigel Tufnel was really correct,” eliminating that possibility for the rest. Sort of a self-defeating post in that sense…
Good point! But honestly, you should have added something about the player Madueke..... that he makes us significantly better by taking the strain and pressure off Saka, and is dangerous in his own right. Any honest person would admit that they feel pretty good when the lineup comes out and he's in place of Saka. How many teams have that privileged situation.
Only miserable people would deny when a player looks great for us when he gets on the pitch.
Do we get that QUICK equalizer by Gabriel with a spectacular play by Madueke?
Be fair now... as you're probably one who was screeching when he was linked.
I was the opposite of that majority here, with maybe 2 other grovers.. But even they were not nearly as positive as I was.
Fair point. And actually I rate Maduke highly, for the reasons you say. I was and remain delighted with the signing.
So how about odegaard since he's returned to fitness in the last 3 matches since shaking off the rust??
...maybe not man of the match in any one of the games, but his collective contribution for all three is better than anyone else in the squad.
It's what makes him a perfect captain. Won't always get the headlines, but is facilitating for everyone else in the squad especially in his pressing and energy levels. He's still busting his ass and sprinting in games when Saka is beginning to fatigue.
Where are the guys who were saying that Eze would take Odegaards shirt? There wasn't a lot of people saying that but there were definitely a couple of geniuses here.
And what has happened to Eze? I was the only one here pointing out that he was playing like hot wet garbage in 90% of his starts, except for Tottenham.
Wasn't combining well in the middle, actually very poor in trying to dribble through mid blocks and deep blocks... Thats a fool's mission in the premier League... And a giant hole in the press.
It seems that our manager and coaches agreed with me. Word from good sources in the media are saying that he's having trouble adjusting to our complicated tactics and responsibilities.
We will see him again soon probably off the left, but Ethan is a better replacement for our captains position. Maybe Havertz. Not Eze there.
But I will say it was a mistake to start Martinelli. I would have gone with Eze. I'm not sure if I said it here already but Martinelli is useless as a starter against deep blocks... this is three seasons of watching him underperform there. It's like playing with 10 and a half Men. I give Martinelli that half because he's very good in tracking back, but that's generous still because he's a lousy passer when he gets the ball in midfield.
I love Little Gabby but let's just keep him as a spark off the bench against tired defenders when teams are opening up to chase our leads. Eze can give some respite to my boy Trossard.
Gyokeres multiple goal game tomorrow. Fact.
And we will never hear from Rap again
You're a breath of fresh air
Whether it's correct is another thing but keep pushing him back
I stand behind the players on my team unlike Rap
I’m preparing my hat with various seasoning on standby.
Pedro, I hate that you put me in the untenable position of having to defend Pep and City, but facts are facts. Of course we all know how City financially doped their way to league titles for many years and so had a built-in squad advantage, but they are actually 8th in the Premier League net spend table over the last 5 years. Quite hilariously Man United are 1st in net spend, Tottenham are 4th and West Ham (!!!) are in 7th.
To address any likely counter-arguments, this net spend table is for transfer activity only so insane wages being paid to the likes of Haaland don't factor in, but pretty much every major club has seriously increased their wage cap. Even so, when Man United have a 5 year net spend of -684.61m vs Man City's -346.56m, that's a lot of salaries to make up that difference.
We have to also recognize how poor Arsenal have been for many years at selling players. Credit to Mikel and the ownership for biting the bullet with players like Ozil and Aubameyang. The decisions were right even if they were major overall financial losses. When you look at the amounts City, Chelsea and Liverpool have made from selling their average players vs. ours, it's clearly been an issue for us. We're on the upswing now, and in retrospect our best recent success has been in selling our younger English players who were struggling for time. The ESR, Willock, Ramsdale and Balogun sales all look like we got the best end of those deals. Maybe a sign of what's coming for Ethan and maybe MLS, even if we are all rightly attached to their youth, background and potential right now.
Not a fan of the ‘ Net spend’ arguement,school of thought.Only see the shed load of cash that the oilers have spent through “ alleged” financial doping ,cough,cough.Since they were founded in 2008.Way beyond reality….Its your ability to spend unlimited sums that allow you to get the best & dominate.
But that's the point isn't is, Positive Pete? City got into that position through unlimited and unaccountable spending but that has changed over the last five years, and it has created space for clubs like Arsenal to catch up. I stated in my post that you have to view net spending in a broader context (including their wage bill etc) but it's still a relevant fact that City's transfer net spend has been less than West Ham's in the last five years.
Look at Declan's signing. Obviously his preference was to join us and we recruited him impeccably, but if City had blown us out of the water with an offer to West Ham, he would have had to go there.
My point to Pedro was that while past is prologue, it is not the present. Finally we have something approaching an even playing field. The reason City might be in a position to bring in Semenyo and/or Guehi this month is because their net spend for 2025-26 has so far been 150m below ours.
As much as we all agree that City have cheated over the years, they were aided by our ownership mess. It makes sense that the Kroenkes didn't want to invest to the degree they have recently when they had minority owner partners like Usmanov. Now we're arguably the best run club in football and City look like they are the ones scrambling.
You can’t look at the 5 years in a vacuum. City were able to achieve that net spend amount by the previous years of doping and buying success. So they had better players and better academy and that helped A. fuel their sales (everybody wanted to buy their successful players ) and B. not have to buy manically afterwards once into the 5 years but just to top up purchases to keep the squad on their toes. Totally different story when you’re chasing City. Get one or two major purchases wrong on the way (as we did with Pepe) and you’re screwed. Pool got their buying much more zoned until recently.
i wish you read my post in full, Northbanker.
BG - I thought I had ; I wasn’t arguing against what you were saying. I probably should have begun by saying I agree. My issue has always been about discussing 5 years net spend tables that everyone keep throwing out for reasons given.
The Nketiah sale was pretty good too. I remember how a lot of people attacked Arsenal for holding their nerve [THANKFULLY] for more money.
Totally overlooked Eddie's sale too. Not a single one of them has seen their transfer value increase even though they should all be getting close to their peak years now (24-27). I was most worried that Balogun would see his value explode but he's shown limitations since his breakout loan season at Reims.
West Ham's recruitment is the worst I've ever seen
When you see what newly promoted clubs like Sunderland have done with less money, you realize that Westham belongs in league one.
This serves the hammers right for rocking up at the Emirates and turning us over a few seasons ago , having 3 shots on target while we battered them senseless ... wankers ... fuck off to the championship!!
Used to have a soft spot for the ammers.No longer.They appear to have developed that London club affliction of hating us for some unbeknown reason( Rice sale excluded) & heading towards the spursy,chavvy class of club.