No minutes for Ramsdale

Our former number one didn’t return to first team training until last weekend due to England’s exploits at the Euro’s. This meant he was unavailable for all but two of our pre-season friendlies.

Mikel Arteta opted to play David Raya for 90 minutes against both Leverkusen and Lyon rather than give Rambo some game time. A clear indication that the Spaniard is still first choice.

The future is unclear for Ramsdale now.

No club has yet come in for him and not got a minute for Arsenal in pre-season

Having not played a single minute at the Euro’s, you have to wonder whether Ramsdale could have got himself back to training earlier and played a part in those initial friendlies. That would have put him in the shop window for a move.

Zinchenko looking good

I have never been on the “Zinny is a bad player” bandwagon. He is clearly a fantastic footballer, with many of the issues around his positioning being due to the way Arteta was asking him to play.

The Ukrainian has looked fantastic in pre-season. Whilst Riccardo Calafiori played the final game, I would not be surprised if Zinny starts the first game of the season.

With White and Timber, Calafiori and Zinchenko, Arteta has the choice of playing an inverted full back, pushed further into midfield, on either side. Expect Mikel to chop and change throughout the season depending on opponent.

Havertz number 9

The early days of pre-season saw Gabriel Jesus play through the middle. When Kai Havertz did play it was in a deeper role.

Against Lyon Arteta went with Havertz up front, and I think that is how he Weill start against Wolves.

We are seeing a lot of forwards who are inferior to Havertz moving for £60m+. He will get us 20+ league goals if he starts consistently down the middle this season. And that is without penalties.

Jesus then becomes an impact sub. Someone to offer us something different when chasing a game. The Brazilian is also an option on both wings.

Nwaneri ready

Whilst a lot of talk this summer was about Chido Obi Martin and Amario Cozier-Dubbery departing, one teenage Arsenal star was getting plenty of pre-season minutes.

Ethan Nwaneri has shown if you have the talent, and apply yourself yourself in training, you will get opportunities.

He now needs to keep working hard on the training pitch, improving day in, say out.

With fitness concerns for Fabio Vieira and Bukayo Saka being an army of one on the right, there will be opportunities for Nwaneri if he works hard for them.

Life is different at Arsenal these days. To get a shot at our first team squad it is not just good enough to be one of the best youth players in the country. You need to be looking at being one footballers in the country.

Nwaneri is on the brink. He now just needs to keep pushing himself.

Set piece kings

I always remember Big Sam Allardyce talking about set pieces.

His philosophy was to not overcomplicate things. Just swing the ball in at pace, aiming for the centre of the 6 yard-box, and have your best headers attacking the front post, back post and middle.

Ball drops a little short, and your first man knocks it in, it goes deep and the fella at the far post gets it. If it’s a perfect ball the one in the middle scores.

We saw Declan Rice do this last season to great success, and with two goals from corners against Lyon, it looks like set pieces will be key again.

Final thoughts

We look no weaker than last season. And whilst we are starting this campaign with much of the same squad, so are Liverpool and Manchester City.

A key difference is that our young squad is a year more experienced, whilst their ageing squads are a year older.

During pre-season we have played games against high quality opposition.

The “worst” team we faced was Bournemouth, who are still a Premier League side. Playing top opposition allowed Arteta to know exactly where his squad is throughout.

We could have taken an easier pre-season against Scottish and lower league clubs before a tour to the Far East to face glorified charity teams. That would have led to a load of hype for youngsters and false hope before it all came crashing down in the first proper friendly against a top European side.

Our preparations have been spot on. We now need to start off fast against Wolves!

UTA

Keenos

Every Arsenal fan that plays non-league football deserves a set of these custom shin pads! Designed for us by @SheWore https://t.co/K0MAsBNJ1R pic.twitter.com/mQQTBGryST

— Kick Off Merchants (@KOMerchants) August 2, 2024

We have been linked with Pedro Neto longer than I can remember. Although with the amount of beer I drink last night in the sunshine that is not very long!

There is no doubting the Portuguese mans natural ability, but he has always been someone who I have wanted us to stay away from signing.

Injury history

Spending £60m on a player that has missed 102 games injured in the last 4 seasons is a huge risk.

Neto is pretty much guaranteed 4 months out injured. And the types of injuries he has had – to his knees and hamstring – take their toll on the body. A player that relies a lot on explosive pace, you have to wonder what is left in the tank after 2 hamstring injuries last season.

Average output

Even before his knee injury towards the end of 2020/21, I struggled to get the hype with Neto.

Yes, he looked brilliant on the ball, full of trickery and pace, but his output was very poor.

His first two seasons in the Premier League saw him grab 8 goals and 9 assists. And since then he has added a further 3 goals and 10 assists. That gives him a grand total of 11 goals and 19 assists in 5 seasons (and 111 games) of Premier League football.

To compare, Bukayo Saka has scored 11 or more goals in each of the last 3 Premier League seasons, and a total of 41. Plus 27 assists to throw in.

For those that will now say “but Neto has been injured”. That is part of the point – why go for someone who is so injury prone? And that statement is nul and void when you consider Saka has played 111 Premier League games in 3 years; the same as Neto in 5.

So in the same amount of games, Saka has 30 more goals and 8 more assists.

Neto’s statistics are also vastly inferior to Gabriel Martinelli. The Brazilian had a tough time of it last campaign, scoring just 6 goals. That was more than Neto has ever scored in a single season in his career.

And it is easy to forget that Pedro Neto is older than both Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli! Can we really be talking about a 24-year-olds potential and what he “might do if he stayed fit”.

Final thoughts

Had we signed Neto, he would have been a back up winger for Saka and Martinelli.

£60m for a back up dancer is huge money, especially when you consider his injury record. There are simply more suitable players out there, who cost less, and will not spend 40% of the season out injured.

Neto joins Chelsea’s bloated squad, and I for one will not lose any sleep over it!

Keenos

Every Arsenal fan that plays non-league football deserves a set of these custom shin pads! Designed for us by @SheWore https://t.co/K0MAsBNJ1R pic.twitter.com/mQQTBGryST

— Kick Off Merchants (@KOMerchants) August 2, 2024

It is Friday, and we are on the cusp of a scortching hot weekend! It is also the last weekend before proper football returns!

Up next in pre-season is Lyon on Sunday. Our final friendly as Mikel Arteta’s preparations for the new season are reaching their climax.

On Wednesday we thrashed Bayer Leverkusen 4-1. A great performance and result against the German invincibles. Although it is just a friendly and they are a week behind us in their preperations.

Against Lyon I would expect Arteta to start with the team he looks to play against Wolves. But he has a few headaches.

Defenders fitness

Neither Jurrien Timber or Riccardo Calafiori were part of the midweek squad.

Timber was given a break as he continues his rehabilitation from a season out injured. Expect his game time to continue to be managed whilst he rebuilds fitness and trust in his knee.

Calafiori was also given a few days off following his whirlwind move to Arsenal.

He basically flew from Bologna to London, had his medical the went straight out to America. I imagine he was using this week to settle himself and his family in London. I do not think we always respect how tough it can be for players to move country at the drop of a hat – yes, they get paid well but they are still human!

With Takehiro Tomiyasu struggling again with a strain (how much longer do we persist with him?), I would expect the back 4 to be White Saliba Gabriel Calafiori going into the new season, with Timber being eased in and rotated across the back 4.

Kai Havertz back to midfield?

I have made it clear that I think Kai Havertz is our best striker. But then Gabriel Jesus has looked sharp up top and Havertz provided two assists and a goal from midfield against Leverkusen.

Calafiori strengthens the left defensively, and the result could see Havertz drop deeper again. But this time he is free’d up from his defensive duties and we will not be exposed by Olexsander Zinchenko’s positioning.

With the Mikel Merino deal not yet done, we could see Havertz drop deeper for the start of the season.

Or will it be Zinchenko?

The Ukrainian was excellent against Leverkusen, and he showed with his goal how he can influence the game from more advanced positions.

I would still not be surprised to see Zinchenko start the season in the left handed central midfield role, if the decision is to play Havertz up top.

A lot of fans have written off Zinchenko, but he is certainly an option for Granit Xhaka’s former position, and if you are looking for “two players for every position” I can certainly see him and Merino dovetailing nicely.

And what for the Euro boys?

Those lads that went to the euro final only returned to training last weekend, but I expect all of them to start Sunday.

This is not the 70s or 80s where players would turn back up to pre-season overweight and the first 2 or 3 weeks would be sweating off their over consumption. Players look after themselves a lot better these days.

Expect them all to get a 60 minute run out Sunday, and then be ready to start against Wolves.

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Not sure if I will get a blog out over the weekend. Things are quiet right now as the club put the finishing touches on pre-season.

I would expect Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson to depart next week, and we should see Merino come in. Any further transfers could depend on if selling clubs drop their asking prices (keep an eye on Ivan Toney with one year left on his contract).

Enjoy your Friday.

Keenos