Author Archives: keenosafc

Arsenal’s shocking transfer dealings exposed

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https://shewore.mysupadupa.com/Throughout all of the Wenger stuff, one thing has become increasingly clear. Our transfer dealings this season have been atrocious.

When the summer transfer window shut, I was fairly optimistic about our season ahead. And part of the reasoning behind this was due to our transfer dealings.

Arsenal had signed two excellent experienced players Granit Xhaka and Shkdoran Mustafi, a talented young centre back in Rob Holding, and a fairly unknown forward who had excellent statistics in Lucas Perez. But it all seems to have unravelled. £93million spent on some exciting talents.

Granit Xhaka

When we signed Granit Xhaka, I was excited. I had followed him since his Basel days and was excited that we had signed him.

He looked the complete midfielder. Defensive awareness mixed with a fantastic range of passing. He would add steal to our midfield, protection to our defence, but would also be the man to start our attacks. He was the leader in the middle of the park that we had missed for so long. It seemed he had no weaknesses.

But then it all began to fall apart. His ill discipline that had hampered his early career reared its head once more. Rash into a tackle, he was clumsy rather than ferocious. 2 red cards and 9 yellows this season. And it could have been more.

Yes, he was unlucky to see red against Swansea, but there have been other times when he has been lucky to stay on the pitch.

He has probably not been as bad as it seems, but his position is made to seem worse due to the fact we picked Xhaka over N’Golo Kante, who has taken another huge step forward at Chelsea and is now the best defensive midfielder in world football.

With Xhaka, we are peering over the fence at our numbers Chelsea, seeing what we could have had, and it feels we picked the wrong option.

Shkodran Mustafi

I questioned Shkodran Mustafi’s ability back in December. At the time he had no lost a single game at Arsenal which he had played in. I was mocked in the comments o nthe blog, on Twitter and Facebook. How could I be criticising a player who had yet to lose in an Arsenal shirt?

Well at the time I looked beyond the results of the team and was looking at the performances of the defence.

At the time, Arsenal had not kept a clean sheet for 10 games, with just 4 all season – 3 of which had Mustafi in defence, and the Mustafi / Koscielny partnership was conceding at a rate of a goal a game.

I ended the blog with;

Arsenal defensive frailties have become worse this season. Mustafi has solved one problem but created another.

4 months on and he was part of a centreback partnership against Crystal Palace that failed to make a single tackle. Two crude tackles in the 1st half meant he probably should have seen red. He was lucky to stay on the pitch.

Mustafi has played 17 games in 2017, Arsenal have conceded 31 goals. We have conceded more 3 or more goals on 7 occasions this calendar year. We have kept just 6 clean sheets. 3 of which have been in the FA Cup.

It is not just Mustafi’s fault. The entire defence from Bellerin across to Monreal has been shocking. But Mustafi has shown as huge technical issues which worry.

He tends to chase the ball. He is a poor judge of a high ball. His headers rarely reach a team mate. He dives in to tackles. He is beaten too easily.

I still think he will turn out to be a good player at Arsenal, but at £35,000,000 you would expect better performances than the Sunday League level ones he is putting in at the moment.

Lucas Perez

It is easy to forget the Lucas Perez is an Arsenal player. He ha splayed just 265 minutes in the Premier League this season.

Whether this is because he is a poor player, Wenger does not fancy him, Wenger is misusing him, or a mixture of everything, it will probably never be known.

It would not surprise me of Perez was shipped out this summer with Arsenal recouping what they spent on him.

A hat trick against Basel in the Champions League has been his career highlight thus far. His other goals coming against Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth and Sutton.

He was clearly a panic buy when it became obvious that Danny Welbeck was going to be out longer then expected. With just Olivier Giroud up top, we lacked a pacey option and Perez was bought in.

Perez has been hampered by the decision to play Alexis Sanchez through the middle. Whilst this did work out for the good, it has meant less game time for Perez. Walcott has had a very good season wide right (18 goals this season) but I perhaps would have liked to see Perez get a run out ahead of Alex Iwobi in a few games on the left hand side.

With Welbeck back fit, Perez is currently behind Welbeck, Giroud, Sanchez, Walcott & Oxlade-Chamberlain to get game time. You would struggle to make a justification for him to start ahead of any of those.

A very expensive panic buy. Not good enough to challenge for the 1st team when everyone is fit.

Rob Holding

It would be unfair on Rob Holding to label him a flop. He is just 21 and has shown good signs when called upon. At just £2million, he was clearly signed with the future in mind.

Unlike Calum Chambers, he does not have the hefty price tag over his head which will lead for calls for him to be ready for the first team.

He ha sonly played a handful of games this season, and could do with going on loan to a Premier League side next season to get some game time.

We could have a decent player on our hand, but he needs game time.

Takuma Asano

Does he even have a work permit yet? Throw him in the box with the likes of Joel Campbell, Wellington Silva, Samuel Galindo, Pedro Botelho & Carlos Vela. Players who we signed, spent years getting them valid work rights, and they ultimately turned out to be useless.

Kelechi Nwakali

Just a baby. We would moan if we signed him, and then moan if, after a trial, we turned him down and he became Yaya Toure.

£3,000,000 is a lot of money for a player who had only every played on sandy fields in Africa, but that is the cost of talented young players these days..

Cohen Bramall

Would be completely unfair to judge him as a flop. And I will not do so.

What he does highlight is just how poor our transfers have been this summer. He was the only signing in January, and he highlights just how little business we did in January. Just a young, non-league full back.

We have barely won a game in 2017. Not signing a single senior player in January is now looking like a ridiculous decision.

 

£93,000,000 spent. Money not well spent.

There is no point moving to the new stadium, having a big load of money to spend, if we are not going to spend it correctly. Just another reason why it is time for Wenger to go.

Keenos

Done with football, done with Arsenal, done with Arsene

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I am done with football.

My relationship with the game is dead.

My relationship with Arsenal is strained.

My relationship with Arsene Wenger is over.

I have tried to remain loyal. Tried to work through the problems. Tried look on the bright side, find that silver lining. I have naively thoughts things would improve. Clung on to great memories of the past. Even some good memories of the recent past. But like many a relationship, it is time to call it a day.

I am drained, emotionally and physically. There are only so many beatings I can take. Only so many times I can get knocked down and get back up again. I need to walk away. Get a fresh start. Learn to love again.

Football is something I fell out of a love with a long time ago. The way fans are treated by all clubs, no matter if you are Chelsea at the top of the league or Leyton Orient at the bottom is nothing short of a disgrace.

Clubs simply do not care about regular match day fans. And the authorities, the Premier League, the FA, the Football League, care even less than the clubs.

The commercialisation of the game, the globalisation of it, has ruined it for match day fans. The clubs concern is no longer the well being of the thousands that go through the gates every season, and have done for years, but their extended reach. For a decade now they have cared about income, cared about attracting more foreign fans, than cared about their most loyal fans who would stay with the club no matter the situation.

Fans who go week in week out are trodden on by all clubs as they chase the dollar, yen or riyal. Clubs would rather 60,000 different people turn up to each game, all spending £100 a ticket, going into the club shop, spending many more hundreds, than 45,000 season ticket holders, who go in and out, have a grumble, don’t spend much at the ground, but are happy(ish) to pay their £1,000+.

Ticket prices are not just an Arsenal thing, but a football things. Leyton Orient, the leagues lowers club, currently charge £20 – £39. How is that right? And they are a club that are currently being ruined.

The FA have a fit and proper person test. I would love to know what it actually is as the likes of Leyton Orient have been badly let down. As the clubs chase foreign investment, it seems both them and the football league do not care how shady this money is, or even if it exists. Coventry, Leeds, Leyton Orient, Portsmouth, and more. The list of clubs with dodgy owners gets longer every year.

Add in the TV companies, changing times not matter if fans can get too / from games all for prime time viewing. Add rail companies and airlines hiking up prices as soon as a game is announced. It all leads to a feeling of not being loved. Everyone is out to make their buck. Their slice of the pay. And we as fans are the mugs. We are the ones no one cares about. Yet we are the ones who travel up and down the country week in, week out.

I have not enjoyed football for some time, but what dragged me back was my love for Arsenal. And now that is dwindling.

I moved house early in the year and it has meant that I have been unable to go to as many games in 2017 as I would have liked. It is damning that I have not actually missed football.

2 weekends ago, when Arsenal were playing Manchester City, I did not even watch the game on TV. I was busy in my garden, in the sunshine, painting a fence. I only realised the game was in with about 10 minutes to go.

The fact is, when I have not been at football, I have not missed it.

A few years ago, I made an attempt to go to every Premier League game. I ended up one short. I planed holidays around football. I sacked off family gatherings for Arsenal. My life was about football.

The year before that, I was up at 2am in Thailand watching games. I would not dream of missing a game, whether it be at the ground or on TV. I would get itchy if I was close to missing a game. And if I did miss one, I would spend the entire time refreshing my phone, annoyed that I had missed a game.

But things have now changed. I no longer care. Arsenal do not care about me. Why should I care about Arsenal? I am merely a number. A body through the door. I am not even a bum on the seat, as if I do not take my seat, the club has already got my money.

Arsenal Football Club is rotten from the top down. We have owners and a board who seem happy sitting round their oak table smoking cigars unable to actually make a decision. We have management, coaches, players, all of whom see the club as an employee. A way to become millionaires. They do not care.

We have fans who I can not relate too. And it is not just the selfie holding foreign fans who I can not stand. It is the majority of our fan base. What ever happened to going to a game, having a pint, enjoying time with your mates.

Every is now vying for their bit of attention. Waving to the camera. Trying to be front and centre. Everyone wants their 5 minutes of fame, even if it embarrasses themselves, their family, their children, their club, their fellow Arsenal fans in doing so. Everyone wants to be a celebrity.

No club has fans like Arsenal Football Club. More interested self publicity. Making a quick buck off the club whilst slagging it off. It is all just embarrassing. This isn’t Arsenal.

I always thought I was a fan who stuck with the side through thick and thin. Would stay to the end, no matter what the result. The first time I walked out on a game was the 3-0 defeat to Everton in 2014. I went as the 3rd went on. I have now walked out of the last 3 away games.

At Liverpool it was a couple of minutes before the end. I could not bare listen to the Scousers sing You’ll Never Walk Alone. WBA I went at 3-1. I was surprised when I got back to the pub that a couple of my mates were already in there.

Last night I went at 2-0. I just did not want to be there anymore. I wanted to go home. It was a Monday night. I had a 90 minute train journey to look forward too. I just wanted out of their, I did not like the toxic atmosphere. The toxic performance.

I do feel like a fraud. I should be there through thick and thin. But if the players and management do not care for Arsenal, why should I care for them?

Then we have Arsene Wenger himself.

Those that know me will know I have wanted him going for a few years now. Whilst I will not shout abuse, wish death on him, or undermine his legendary status at the club, I have quietly wanted him gone whilst keeping an unbiased view point with no agenda. I have attempted to be level headed.

The man has now lost it. His selfishness shows no bounds. He sits smugly stating he “knows the future” when it comes to his contract, yet will not tell anyone. He thinks he can do no wrong. He is turning into a Scouser, it is never his fault.

His arrogance, his selfishness, his stubbornness, it is all becoming sickening. It is getting to a point where he is ruining his own legacy.

Whilst remove Wenger from his position as manager will not change the club overnight, he is one of many rotten apples, it would be a start. He should have resigned last night.

He claims to have dignity, class, but if he did he would fall on his own sword. Admit things are not good enough, and leave now. Sadly, he has £8million reasons not to leave. Why would you throw away £16million+ over the next two years if there is no pressure from above to do so?

Wenger has always presented himself as a gentleman of the game. He is now an old man who screams at his long suffering wife to get him a cup of tea, despite him being right next to the kettle.

It is never nice seeing a grand parent slowly losing their marbles, becoming a horrible person, as you have to love them no matter what. As their mind go’s downhill land they become more abusive, you still have to love them. But you will just start visiting them less. Stay for shorter periods. You turn up out of duty rather than love. That is what it feels like with Arsenal and Arsene Wenger.

There are only 2 games left this season I have interest in. Spurs away and the FA Cup semi final. I doubt I will go to any other game this season.

The sad thing is in a month it will be season ticket renewal time. I will renew my home season ticket. I will renew my away season ticker. And I will go again. I will return home, to a one sided relationship where VI know I ma going to get abused. But there is still love in the heart. And it is that love that will keep me going through the bad times.

I am, like many others like me, a mug.

Keenos

Mirror caught out lying over Ozil to Man U transfer “exclusive”

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So this mornings Arsenal related transfer news to hit the BBC Gossip Column was that Jose Mourinho was lining up a big money move for Mesut Ozil in the summer.

The report came from the Sunday Mirror, who declared it an Exclusive that Mourinho was looking to add another number 10 to his Manchester United squad. He had worked with Mesut Ozil at Real Madrid, has spoken fondly in the past about him, and clearly rates him highly.

It would have been a fairly easy story to write. One which might have had some truth in it. Until journalist Tom Hopkinson decided to use his creative writing degree and basically make stuff up to fill his article out. And it ended up back firing as it has exposed him as at best, unknowledgeable and incompetent. At worst a liar.

Tom Hopkinson completely missed the fact Real Madrid announced on May 20th 2013 that Jose Mourinho was set to leave the club at the end of the season. He joined Chelsea on June 3rd 2013, and Mesut Ozil joined Arsenal on September 2nd 2013.

So how could Mourinho have been “furious” at Real Madrid bigwigs, when he had already left the club?

Proof, really, if any was needed, that this new breed of young journalists make up transfer speculation to get noticed, and have an inability to check their facts.

Have a good Sunday

Keenos