Category Archives: Arsenal

Lazy Sunday for The Arsenal

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Morning and happy Sunday.

Feeling a little rough this morning. Ran out of beer whilst watching the cricket last night. Found some cans of Strongbow Dark Fruits in the back of the fridge. Their best before was July 2021. Tasted alright. But feeling it this morning.

This time time next week we will all be getting ready for the Community Shield game.

Long term readers of the blog will know that I think the game is no more than a glorified friendly. A semi-competitive run out to round off pre-season.

Last season, Liverpool ran out easy winners against Manchester City. That led many pundits to predict the Scousers for the title.

Liverpool finished 5th, 22 points behind Manchester City.

It will be a good day though, a chance to shake off those last few cobwebs for both players and fans.

I will be doing my tried and tested pre-Wembley routine; Meet in the White Swan, overground to West Hampstead, toilet break on Billy Fury Way, grab a can from the off licence before getting on the underground to Wembley. As I type this, I should check there are no strikes or other train issues!

Yesterday’s blog mentioned a lack of relevant Arsenal news floating about, and today is even quieter. It is to the point where those news outlets that rely on clickbait are really trying to twist some old stories into new ones.

Much of the news is from a Paul Merson interview where he predicts Harry Kane to be top Premier League goalscorer this season.

It is not too ludicrous of a shout, if you ignore the fact he is probably going to join Bayern Munich.

What I find laughable is those outlets who have used this in an attempt to mention Arsenal.

“Arsenal pair don’t get close to incredible Tottenham star” says Arsenal legend, was one headline I saw.

During the interview, Merson mentions Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli. He says that “they couldn’t have played any better and didn’t get close to Haaland or Kane”.

Well that is probably because they are wingers and Kane and Haaland are out and out strikers.

Put Kane or Haaland on the wing and they would not get close to what Martinelli or Saka did last season. It really is a pointless comparison.

I imagine this week we might see some more speculation on departures. I do find it surprising that we have not seen more than just Granit Xhaka and Pablo Mari leave. But then it does feel the transfer market has stalled a bit.

West Ham have got a big chunk of cash from Arsenal, but seem unwilling (or unable?) to spend it, whilst Brighton are unlikely to spend much more than they have already until they sell Moises Caicedo.

Leicester City got a decent fee for James Maddison, but having been relegated they are unlikely to be a destination for any of our players.

Newcastle’s spending spree has not begun yet, whilst others such as Crystal Palace seem to need to sell before they can buy. And this all leads to statement.

I think once a few more deals begin to go through (Caicedo, Michael Olise), we will then see these lower clubs start to make their signings.

With new loan rules in place (a blog for another day), we could be in for a hectic transfer deadline day as clubs try to secure themselves a bargain.

The likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and others could be in a situation where they have players they can not loan out as they have hit their limit, but also no longer want. This could lead to their transfer value plummeting. More on this another day I think…

Enjoy your lazy Sunday. Should be a good day for the cricket. Max Verstappen will win the Belgium Grand Prix. And that’s your lot.

Keenos

https://twitter.com/shewore/status/1685200841093840897?s=46&t=NnmMnpIdEx5zWqnbfbhYSw

Arsenal planning statue park?

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Morning.

Bit of a later blog than normal today. Blame it on a couple too many beers last night.

It is not like you I missed much though by being a bit later than normal. There really isn’t much happening in Arsenal-world right now.

Our incoming transfer business is done. I do not expect us to sign anyone else unless someone big leaves. And as it stands Thomas Partey is going nowhere.

As for outgoings, everything is very quiet.

We have over £100m in players that are likely to leave this summer, but so far the only players we’ve sold is Granit Xhaka and Pablo Mari. What is strange is that our players are not even being linked elsewhere.

Yesterday Arsene Wenger had his statue unveiled.

Regardless of how it ended, Wenger is an Arsenal legend deserving is his statue.

7 FA Cups, 3 Premier League titles and an unbeaten season. He is a huge reason we are what we are now.

If it was not for Wenger, we could have easily become an Everton level club in the late 90s/early 00s and fallen further behind.

Whenever a new statue is unveiled, it always comes with some fans saying “XYZ player should have a statue”. It is usually George Graham or Rocky and Wrighty.

I agree they should have statues (although Graham did manage that lot). And just because they do not have one now, does not mean they will not get one in the future.

Recently I went to Oslo and they have the world’s largest sculpture park made by a single artist. I walked over an hour from my hotel in Central Oslo to visit it. Around 2 million visit it a year.

I can definitely see a time when we have 15-20 statues around the stadium celebrating legends and key figures in our club. It will then become an “attraction” with fans coming from all over to take a walk around the “Arsenal statue park”.

World’s largest football statue park has some ring to it.

Enjoy your Saturday. Watch cricket and relax. that’s the plan.

Keenos

https://twitter.com/shewore/status/1685200841093840897?s=46&t=NnmMnpIdEx5zWqnbfbhYSw

Winners and losers of Arsenal in the USA

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Winners

Leandro Trossard

I am not sure why, but a couple of weeks ago I read some Arsenal fans questioning the future of Leandro Trossard.

It baffled me, and I still don’t understand the point they were making.

It was something about him not being good enough for us. Not quick enough to play on the wing, not technical enough to play inside and not strong enough to play up top.

With 3 goals in America, he comes home as our “top scorer” for this stage of pre-season.

Trossard is the Mr Versatile in our attack.

He provides brilliant cover and competition for Gabriel Martinelli, can also cover Bukayo Saka and is an option in the middle both as a number 9 and someone to play deeper.

This season Trossard will be a super sub. He has the ability to change a game from the bench.

In America, he showed his fabulous ball striking from the edge of the area. You can certainly see him making an impact to help unlock deep defence.s.

Kai Havertz

He started the tour of America by being kicked by Arsenal fans for his performance in a charity skills challenge.

It was clear to anyone with a brain that he was taking it easy so that Arsenal did not run away with the competition.

In actual games of football, he showed what he is all about.

He did struggle early on as he adapts to Mikel Arteta’s way of playing, but the way he performed against Barcelona shows that he is improving at a rapid rate.

Havertz was influential in that game, a controlling force on the left hand side, and scored a great poachers goal. Granit Xhaka would not have been in the position Havertz was at that far post to tap in.

The German will only grow and get better. He will prove himself to be a fantastic option when we want to be more attacking.

Bukayo Saka

Missed penalty aside, Bukayo Saka was the best player on the pitch everytime he was out there.

If anyone thought last season was just a hot streak, then they are in for a rude awakening.

Saka looks to have added even more to his game, and he is now up there with Mo Salah for his ability to come in off the left and strike the ball.

When he cuts in on the left, he can bend it into the far top corner, or roll it into the bottom. He can smash it hard to the near post or clip over a cross for a teammate. This will keep goal keepers guessing and in that split second of hesitation Saka has scored.

By the end of this season, there will be no discussion. Saka will be the best right winger in the world.

Losers

Olexsandr Zinchenko

Zinny is clearly a wonderful football, but he failed to play a minute in America due to injury.

Last season he had two extended spells on the sidelines with calf problems. Throughout his Manchester City career he has always had niggling problems.

I was concerned when we signed him if he had the “man strength” to play a full Premier League campaign. He had never played more than 1500 minutes in a single Premier League season.

He played 2135 Premier League minutes last season, missing close to 40% of the game time.

Zinchenko’s injuries are a worry and he is not starting this season in a positive manner.

Kieran Tierney

Despite Zinchenko not playing a single game, our other left back in the squad also failed to start a game.

Kiwior, Tomiyasu and Timber all started the 3 US games at left back. Tierney was off the bench on all 3.

Now I get that pre-season is about trying new things out, but you would think our 2nd choice left back would have started at least one game.

Has his lack of starts shown that he is set to leave? And what Arteta was doing was looking at the options to replace him as back up left back this season?

Folarin Balogun

Flo would have been hoping for a staring role in the country of his birth.

He is all about building this “all-American hero” persona, for marketing purposes of course.

Balogun did not see a second of play time during the trip to America. That will disappoint him considering he made the decision to abandon his country for this summers Gold Cup.

He put himself before his nation to focus on pre-season and put himself in the shop window for a big summer move.

Instead, he failed to play a minute in the two more competitive games and when asked why he was not playing, Arteta was short and sharp in his response: “he first needs to be fit and available to play minutes.”

There have been no reports about Balogun being injured, so you have to assume that it is a conditioning issue.

I do not think he will get the big move he hopes for. He will end up at West Ham, Crystal Palace or Fulham. Maybe even a move to Spurs to replace Harry Kane?

So there we have it, our 3 winners and losers from the tour of America.

Ultimately, you can not read a huge amount into individual performances as you never know where a player is in their fitness and development.

On Wednesday we are back in Islington for the game against Monaco, before our final friendly of the season against Manchester City at Wembley.

Have a good Friday.

Keenos