Category Archives: Arsenal

Arsenal secure “Deal of the Summer”

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The transfer sort of came out of nowhere.

Pictures had circulated of the England international at London Colney, but no one really considered him as a realistic target due to the finances involved. Sterling was never going to take a drop on his reported £350k a week wages.

We had our attacking targets set out at the beginning of the season. I am certain they would have been Benjamin Sesko and Nico Williams. Deals for either player failed to materialise and the pair ended up staying at their current clubs.

Next on the list was seemingly the likes the Viktor Gyokeres, I van Toney, Victor Osimhen. These targets were always overpriced, or came with a lot of baggage. The fact that Toney is off to Saudi Arabia and Osimhen off to Turkey shows where their mentality is at.

Teams will not be focusing on one player at a time.

In London Colney, their will be a war room. A locked part of the complex that only Mikel Arteta, Edu, Josh Kroenke and a limited few others have access to. In the room will be white boards on the walls, with players name written on them. You will have one with the current squad, then one with the ideal squad for next year (with those players not wanted rubbed out), and then again for the year after.

There will also be long lists of transfer targets. Players that they will look to buy short, medium and long term. This will include stellar signings such as Nico Williams, and cheap back up keepers like Neto. The headache for the management is when deals for your top targets do not happen, how far down the list do you go?

The better Arsenal get, the smaller the pool of players that improve us gets.

If you go too far down the list, you end up at a Lucas Perez. Someone who no one really wanted, does not improve you, and will rarely play. Spending for the sake of money. Bringing in an extra body just because. And most of the time these deals just cost you a lot of money in the long term.

Arteta had always said that the team were ready if a favourable deal came up towards the end of the window. Whilst some will claim this made us reactionary, we were right to be.

We had worked hard all summer on deals on players we wanted, and had doors shut in the face. We opted not to buy players for the sake of it. That meant what we were then relying on was for a player who was not currently on the market to suddenly be on it. Think Mesut Ozil all those years ago.

The Sterling deal came up a couple of weeks ago when he was publically cast aside by the Chelsea manager. But it was not a deal we were hugely interested in.

We would have spoken to Sterling and his representatives, and he would have a great interest in joining us. However the deal would not progress if Chelsea were demanding his salary to be covered and a huge loan fee – I imagine it would have initially been in the region of £10m.

At this point, Arsenal would have walked away for the deal, but kept discussions open with Sterling. It would have been made clear that if a more suitable financial package could be agreed, then the deal would be on. Even if it meant taking the deal to the last moments of the transfer window.

In the last few days of the transfer window, journalists had been secpualting that there could be some great deals to be snapped up as “bigger clubs need to get unwanted players out of the training ground”. They were primarily talking about Sterling.

On deadline day, Arsenal struck a deal.

We would be paying significantly less than 50% of his salary for the duration of his loan, according to The Athletic – rumoured to be as low as £100k a week. There would be no loan fee, and no obligation to buy.

At 29-years-old, Sterling might well be coming to the end of his peak years. But it is clearly the bargain of the window.

We are getting an oven ready Premier League player. Someone that both knows the league, and Mikel Arteta’s playing style. With 8 goals in the Premier League last season, only 3 Arsenal players scored more. Reports are Sterling is a great trainer, and has a fabulous attitude when he feels love. Arteta will know how to deal with him, and he will be extra hungry to perform following the way Chelsea treated him.

Sterling is certainly an upgrade on Reiss Nelson and Emile Smith Rowe. And there is a debate to be had whether he is actually our best left winger. Is he a level above Gabriel Martinelli?

I do not expect Martinelli or Leandro Trossard to be usurped straight away, but it is one to keep an eye on and if it happens, it will be after the October window.

The next question will be “what for Martinelli and Trossard?”.

The Sterling deal is only a one year loan deal, so I do not expect us to just cast players aside. Instead, Martinelli will be able to learn from a player capped 81 times by his country. A man with over 600 career appearances and has 10 winners medals in his trophy cabinet.

A decision will then be made whether we look to upgrade on Martinelli permanently, or whether the Brazilian has stepped up with the arrival of Sterling and back to the form of 2 seasons ago. Regardless, Martinelli will still have a role to play in the squad as “at worst” he will be 2nd choice on the left wing, 2nd choice on the right wing and, in 12 months time, potentially 3rd choice up front if Gabriel Jesus departs and a new striker comes in.

Meanwhile, Trossard has been linked with a move to Saudi Arabia in the last few days. Arsenal are likely to turn down the advances as he still has a role to play. He has shown himself to be a fantastic supersub, and he can cover left wing, right wing, upfront and in behind. If we start games with Sterling, Saka, Havertz, Odegaard and Merino as a front 5, we would then have Martinelli, Trossard and Jesus to come out to provide us new attacking impetus.

But there will be a breaking point with Trossard.

Right now the finances of the deal do not make sense. €5 m loan deal with an obligation to buy for €20-25m is not great. But what if that permanent fee gets doubled? We get offered €40-50m upfront? And then what if the offer on the table to Trossard is £300k+ a week, more than doubling his current contract. then we might be tempted.

Nearly €50m for Trossard, who turns 30 in December, will be very hard to turn down,. Especially if he is currently 4th choice winger, and we are looking for a permanent solution to the left wing next summer. That sort of money could easily finance the move for Nico Williams.

My gut is Trossard will stay, and what Saudi are doing is making the initial approach ahead of a bigger offer next summer. That is when I can see the Belgium leaving us.

So Sterling is a short term solution to our left wing problem. An experienced Premier League player who can provide an option across the front 3. We are paying him just £100k a week and have no obligation to buy, nor a loan fee.

That means our investment in Sterling is negligible. And the result is it is money banked for next summer when we return once more to our primary targets.

Sterling is better than Joao Felix, Desire Doue, Wilson Odobert, Crysencio Summerville, Luis Sinisterra and Federico Chiesa. After Kylian Mbappe, he is the best left winger to have moved clubs this season. We could not have got anyone better. And for basically nothing!

Welcome to The Arsenal Raheem.

Keenos

Match Report: Arsenal 1 – 1 Brighton

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Arsenal starting XI: Raya (GK), White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber; Partey, Rice (red card 49’), Odegaard; Saka, Havertz, Trossard.

Brighton starting XI: Verbruggen (GK), Veltman, Van Hecke, Dunk, Hinshelwood; Milner, Baleba; Minteh, João Pedro, Mitoma; Welbeck.

Match Officials:
Referee : Chris Kavanagh.
Assistant Referee: Lee Betts.
Assistant Referee: Richard West.
Fourth Official: John Busby.
Video Assistant Referee: Andrew Madley.
Additional Video Assistant Referee: Steven Meredith.

Premier League 
Emirates Stadium
Saturday 31st August 2024
KO: 12:30 (UK)

The Gunners return for another Premier League fixture at home to Brighton looking to build on to two positive first games with two 2-0 victories at home to Wolves and the week prior away at Aston Villa. The opposition for today’s game, Brighton have also kicked off their season in good form under their new young manager Fabian Hürzeler with a 3-0 away win to Everton on the opening day of the season and a dramatic 2-1 victory over Manchester United last week with João Pedro grabbing the winner 5 minutes into injury time. 

They also had a carabao cup fixture midweek on Tuesday against Crawley where they came out 4-0 winners however, suffered a huge injury blow to their new signing Matt O’Riley 6 minutes into the game giving him a nightmare debut for the Seagulls. 

Arteta and the board have also been busy on the final week of transfer deadline day. New signing Merino was officially announced by the club on Tuesday however, after only his first training session, he succumbed to an injury after Arteta reported that Gabriel had fallen on top of Merino and caused pain to Merino’s shoulder leaving him out for a few weeks. Along with some departures, Fabio Vieira completed his season-long loan to Porto as well as Reiss Nelson completing a loan move to Fulham on deadline day. The main two permanent departures consisted of Eddie Nketiah’s move down to the South of London to Crystal Palace for £30 million. Personally I think this is a great move for Eddie and both clubs as he was gradually falling down the pecking order under Arteta and a move to Crystal Palace allows him to show his true potential in a good side and hopefully he can kick on. 

The second major departure was Aaron Ramsdale’s move to Southampton for £18 million with £7 million to be paid in add-ons by the Saints. Again, I think this is another great move for Aaron and both clubs. Aaron had been a great player for us and we knew exactly what we would get out of him week in , week out he proved to the fans that he was worth his price after he signed and his personality and character cemented his relationship with the fans. 

Two other signings were made by the Gunners. Following the departure of Ramsdale, Arsenal have brought in Bournemouth goalkeeper Neto on a season-long loan deal. 

The main talk of Arsenal’s deadline day transfer business was the signing of Raheem Sterling from Chelsea again on a season-long loan. I think this is a good signing for us as Sterling is a prove player in the Premier League and can show his ability when given the opportunity. Although he may not be at his top level anymore, he is still at a great level and is good for covering either of our wings and will step up to the plate when needed.

Ex-Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck kicked us off with The Gunners shooting towards the Clock End. Through his he first moments of the game Brighton had set up with a very high press however, Arsenal were able to break through the lines and Saka was able to use a sharp change of direction to get in and behind the Brighton left-back Himsheldwood before firing an attempt from an acute angle straight into the Brighton goalkeeper Verbruggen. 

Brighton also seemed to have set up to play through the Arsenal press and play out from the back managing to progress their play through Baleba who makes a start following Billy Gilmour’s departure to Napoli. Havertz had been battling early with Brighton centre-back Van Hecke and his knock down made its way into the path of Leo Trossard whose cross was overhit. As Brighton continued to try and play out from the back Partey put in a strong tackle on the right hand side and the ball ricocheted to Bukayo Saka who was then fouled on the right hand side of the box. 

His freekick was hit low into the wall, and bounced back out to him as he recycled the ball out to Martin Ødegaard who played an exceptional lofted pass to Bukayo Saka whose attempt again was hit straight at Verbruggen. Arsenal began to ramp up the pressure and another long ball made its way over the top to Saka who tried to cross the ball over to Havertz however, his pass was wayward. 10 minutes in and Saka was giving Hinshelwood a schooling , again beating him and Kaoru Mitoma but huddled cross  was partially cleared out to Ben White whose powerful attempt appeared to strike the arm of Brighton centre-half Lewis Dunk however, VAR deemed his arm to be in a natural position. Personally I think that it was a 50/50 chance of being given I guess you never know nowadays! 

Brighton had overcome the few minutes of Arsenal pressure and were able to carve out a chance of their own a whipped cross from João Pedro , to the back post was met by Yankuba Minteh who towered over Jurrien Timber however, his attempt was parried away to safety by David Raya. A couple of minutes later, Brighton midfielder James Milner went down forcing Brighton into an early change as he was replaced by the 20 year-old Yasin Ayari. Arsenal still were on top and a beautiful diagonal pass over to Trossard from Ben White was brought down and Trossard’s ball in was met by Ødegaard whose attempt went straight into the hands of Verbruggen. After a 50/50 challenge between Minteh and Ødegaard, Minteh appeared to catch our captain however, he managed to get back up off of his feet and play restarted. 

With both teams still battling, Brighton were able to slow down the game and invite Arsenal pressure managing to hold the ball and progress through the middle of the park. A sloppy pass from Thomas Partey made it’s way to Baleba who’s ball was slightly delayed through to Minteh who was able to bring it down and loft it into the area however, the ball was headed away to Kai Havertz whose header went straight back into our area to Mitoma whose volley whistled past Raya and the post. As both teams began to settle down and maintain possession, Trossard was well defended again by Joel Veltman exciting the away crowd who had been booing him for the majority of the game. However, a long ball up to Saka who was tussling with Dunk was won by our star boy as poor defending from Dunk allowed Bukayo to beat Van Hecke to the ball and he played the ball through to Havertz who lifted the ball over Verbruggen and into an empty net; a great finish for his second of the season. 

We then ramped up the tempo as Declan Rice’s sliding challenge was late as he received a booking. After Rice’s challenge, Fabian Hurzeler , the Brighton coach managed to acquire his first ever yellow card as he lost his head with the fourth official. Brighton then were able to get a free kick however, João Pedro’s attempt went over and behind for a goal kick. We were now into 4 minutes of added time and Saka played a nice ball over to Trossard whose ball was cut out by a Brighton defender however, Leo was able to fire a shot straight at Verbruggen. 

At the brink of the half-time whistle, Partey pulled down João Pedro on the edge of the area and received a booking, our second of the game. Hinshelwood stepped up to take it and his effort was fizzed in but cleared by Gabriel and the referee blew the half-time whistle. 

Half time views: 

A nervy start for us however, going into the break 1-0 up will hopefully bring out some more confidence in the second half. Another goal for Kai Havertz showing how clinical he can be and what Arteta has formed him into. Also Saka has been playing exceptionally well in the first half always putting us on the front foot when on the attack. An overall comfortable first-half performance and Arteta will be looking to push for more in the second-half. 

As we kicked off the second half, we were straight on the front foot with Rice delivering a cross which resulted in a corner where Rice’s ball was met by Gabriel who headed wide. Brighton won a free kick after Rice committed a foul however, he ended up on the floor after appearing to slightly nudge the ball away from Veltman. As a result, Rice was shown a second yellow card and sent off! A very controversial moment and it is clear as to why Rice was against the referee’s decision. Rice’s sending off changed the momentum of the game as they straight away began an attack which was shut down by the Arsenal  defenders as the ball rolled into the hands of Raya. 

As Brighton held onto the ball, a long ball over the top from Dunk, made its way through to Minteh who managed to get away from Gabriel and fire a shot at Raya. The ball came straight back into the path of João Pedro who slotted it past Raya into an empty net. Trossard was then replaced by Riccardo Calafiori as Brighton again looked for an an attack with Hinshelwood’s effort going wide. We began to look less convincing with Havertz becoming isolated up top. Brighton again attacked through Mitoma whose cross was cleared by Gabriel as Ødegaard looked to counter. This was our first few moments of possession following Rice’s red card. 

We were able to overturn the ball and Havertz led the counter attack who played a ball to Ødegaard however, his ball to Calafiori was intercepted by Veltman. Brighton then counter attacked as Van Hecke played a nice diagonal pass over to Mitoma whose ball to Welbeck was nearly net and was cleared for a corner. 

Brighton’s corner was swung in straight into the hands of Raya however, Brighton were able to win the ball back as Saka is overcrowded. Timber was then another Arsenal player to be put in the book after a late challenge on Minteh. Brighton made their first changes of the game as Minteh and Veltman were replaced by new signing Georginio Rutter and Pervis Estupinan. Ødegaard is also replaced by Mikel as a change for Gabi Martinelli. 

As play resumed, Welbeck lost the ball on the edge of our area and the ball was cleared long up to Havertz who took a brilliant touch past the Brighton defender as he put himself through on goal however, pressure from Van Hecke forced a weak attempt from our German as Verbruggen stuck  out a foot to save. Then down the other end for Brighton, Ayari takes a shot straight at Raya. A few moments later, a smart ball from Havertz over to Saka is met by our star boy however, his attempt was straight at the keeper. 

Timber had gone down for treatment and as a result he had to come off and was replaced by Oleksandr Zinchenko. Brighton again were on the attack however, Ben White’s sliding challenge stopped Mitoma from receiving the ball. The game began to simmer out as Brighton began to frustrate us by delaying play. Brighton also made another substitution with Julio Enciso and Simon Adingra replacing Welbeck and Mitoma. However, Brighton were still pushing for a winner as Baleba’s shot was blocked by Gabriel. 

6 minutes were added and Brighton kept us quiet with consistent pressure as Enciso fired a cross into Ritter whose header went straight into the ground. The full time whistle was blown by the referee over the gloomy sky of the Emirates reflecting on our dull second-half performance.

Full time views:

A very disappointing result for us after a very positive first half. 

Now to talk about the red card, which ultimately changed the course of the game. Personally, I do not think that it is a red card due to the fact that the ball was currently rolling meaning that even if Rice didn’t touch it, Veltman wouldn’t have kicked the ball anyway. Second of all, the direction of the ball has not changed from where the player was kicking the ball and the free kick was also being taken by Veltman a long way front of where the foul was committed. 

I’m sure there will be a lot of talk about this incident over the weekend and again some more inconsistency from the referees as João Pedro also booted the ball away into the stands in the first half receiving no booking however, when nudges the ball an inch away he receives a second booking and is sent off. 

Although for me, Arsenal’s overall second half performance could have still been a lot better as our attackers became isolated inviting more Brighton pressure.

Anyway, onwards and upwards and we’ve got the little lads next door in two weeks away so hopefully we can finish them off and get back onto a good run. Onto Spurs…

COYG

Hudson

Manchester “Black Cartel” cost Arsenal points again

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I do not buy into the claims that our referees are corrupt. I just think they are incompetent. And their incompetence goes unchallenged by the equally incopometent Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL).

The PGMOL is essentialy an old boys club where a bunch of mates from Manchester support and promote each other. They control the refereeing of the game, and back each others incorrect decisions to ensure they remain in charge. Whenever an error is made, they batten down the hatches to ensure that they can not be questioned. It is not about getting a decision right or wrong, and all about keeping themselves and their mats in power.

People talk about the “Red Cartel” of Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal being too influential in the game (note: this was coined by Everton fans who for whatever reason seem to back Manchester City and Chelsea purely because they are facing / have face financial charges). The truth is, the most influential group in football right now is the Manchester based Black Cartel.

Birthplace of 2021/22 Premier League referees

I do believe that throughout time and space, poor decisions will even themselves out. Many teams have had poor decisions go their way which have won them games that led to lifting a trophy, and also had poor decisions go against them hat have cost them a shot of glory. It is sometimes easy to forget the poor decisions that go your way – especially when you are feeling raw about a recent decision going against you.

However, it does feel Arsenal are often on the bad end of the same sort of poor decisions.

Every season, the PGMOL decide to crack down on something. Clubs are told. And for a few weeks they referee incidents more strictly, before forgetting their briefing and going back to normal. It seems whenever this happens, it is Arsenal that ends up on the rough end.

Granit Xhaka v Swansea City – Back in 2016, referees were supposedly cracking down on fouls where an opponent was making no realistic attempt to win the ball. It was supposed to be a straight red. But only one red was given out to a player for failing to attempt to win the ball – to Granit Xhaka.

It was not a dangerous challenge, not was it reckless. Xhaka had just tripped his man making no attempt to win the ball. It happens all the time in football and Neville et al actually praise teams for what they call a “smart foul”.

To my memory, no other player was sent off for committing a foul without attempting to play for the ball and the “rule” was quickly scrapped.

Gabriel Martinelli v Wolves – In 2022, referees received instruction that they were to issue a two yellow cards if a player committed two yellow card worthy offences in the same phase of player. Only once did we see it happen. To Martinelli against Wolves.

I personally agree with this rule. It is a frustration of mine when a player commits a yellow card worthy challenge and a scuffle then ensues between the fouled and fouler. Both players then tend to get booked for the scuffle, but the original foul then goes unpunished. The fouler should be receiving a yellow card for a foul, and then a yellow card for the hand bags – or neither player should receive a card for the handbags and just one yellow dished out for the foul.

Martinelli received two yellows for two challenges one after the other. Every other time a player has committed two yellow card challenges before the ref has had a chance to blow the whistle (or waved play on), he has received just a single yellow. The double punishment has been dished out just once.

Takehiro Tomiyasu v Crystal Palace – Last season the instruction to referees was to crack down on time wasting. This consisted of the instruction of refs to be quicker to flash a yellow card for time wasting offences, and an increase in time added on.

The season started with most games going into their 100th minute. By the time we reached the second half of the season, the PGMOL had scrapped this and time added on was back to normal.

Referees failed to dish out quick yellow cards, continuing to allow goal keepers (Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope and others) to take an age over goal kicks (note: I always think if they got booked for the first offence, no matter how early in the game it was, it would speed up the game dramatically). Only once was a player sent off for time wasting.

Tomiyasu got a second yellow card against Crystal Palace early on in the season. His offence was taking a whole 8 seconds to take a throw in. After the decision was roundly condemned by everyone (except former officials), we saw no one else suffer Tomiyasu’s fate. Once again, a PGMOL experiment had failed with Arsenal being the victims.

Declan Rice v Brighton – In a repeated of something that happened in the 00s, referees have been instructed to crack down on players kicking the ball away and obstructing the kick taking of free kicks. The experiment failed in the 00s as teams would literally smash the ball into an opponent to get them booked, with refs giving no thought as to whether a player could physically get out of the way of the free kick, or was deliberately obstructing.

This weekend, we saw Joao Pedro kick the ball away and receive no punishment. the new Brighton managers defence of his man not receiving a card whilst also saying Rice’s was a “clear “red” was laughable. I look forward to his tears as the season goes on when Brighton get a player sent off due to a bad decision.

Also yesterday, a Bournemouth player booted the ball half the length of the pitch when a free kick went against them. No yellow card.

Declan Rice should never have received a yellow card. The Brighton defender threw the ball at him, and then attempted to kick a moving ball, missed it and kicked Rice. I sit right next to the incident and most fans were calling for a red for the Brighton lad (I defended him by saying it was not malicious and just an accident).

No Brighton player seemed to be calling for a second yellow card. In fact most were attempting to defend their forward. The exception was Danny Welbeck. And having seen the Manchester born forward influence the ref and call for a yellow card (which in itself is a yellow card offence), I am gutted that I clapped him off.

I doubt we will see another player sent off for the ball hitting them and it moving about a foot this season. Refs crack down on these things earlier in the season, then forget to do it. Once again we are the ones punished by the PGMOL trying something out.

I do wonder sometimes if when the PGMOL try an initiative and decide to crack down on something, they pick a handful of games to do it in rather than apply that rule across all games. And Arsenal is always one of those games that they decide to do it in. This is the only way I can explain why Manchester born Chris Kavvangh “applied the letter of the law” against us, whilst countless similar incidents this weekend did not receive a booking.

Football is a tribal game, I get that. And we have seen online fans of opposing clubs support the decision to send Declan Rice off. But this shows a level of immaturity.

Instead of defending poor decisions because they went against a rival, we should be calling out poor, inconsistent refereeing regardless of who is victim.

If Rice’s was a yellow card, then why was no other player booked for kicking the ball away in a Premier League game on Saturday? And if the ref was officiating by the “exact letter of the law”, why did he not book Joao Pedro for kicking the ball away, or Danny Welbeck for demanding an opponent be booked?

And finally, if the ref was officiating by the exact letter of the law, then it he should not have booked Rice for delaying the start of the game. The ball was moving when the Brighton lad tried to kick it. It was never still. Therefore play was never in a legitimate place to restart.

Had the Brighton lad not missed the ball, and they gone on to score a goal, it would have been disallowed due to the ball moving. If play was not ready to be restarted, how could Rice be booked for delaying the restart?

It is all just a farce. The Black Cartel doing their own thing and making things up as they go along. Nothing will happen to Kavanagh , and in fact he will receive pats on the back and support from his colleagues who will celebrate his decision.

The best refs are those that do not make the game about themselves. Yesterday, for whatever reason, Kavanagh decided he wanted to influence the result of the game.

Keenos