Category Archives: Arsenal

Nygaard, Garcia, Ramsdale and More…

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It’s Friday! Well done for getting through another working week Another 5 days closer to retirement!

Yesterday we had some actual transfer news. Sort of.

The club announced Danish keeper Lucas Nygaard would be joining the academy. I know nothing about the 18-year-old, and anyone who claims they have seen him play is a liar.

We have a log history of signing young goalkeepers from foreign shores, but to date none have ever progressed to become a first team regular. So excuse me if I am not exactly excited about his arrival (and nor should I be. He is a kid!)

Staying with goalkeepers, we have been heavily linked with Espanyol’s Joan Garcia.

The 23-year-old played a key role last season as his club won promotion back to La Liga, making 21 club appearances.

A quick Google of his name shows that in the last 24 hours he has also “signed” for Real Madrid, Liverpool and Tottenham. This one feels like an agent using big clubs to get his clients name in the press.

At the same time as the Garcia story, speculation is rising around the departure of Aaron Ramsdale.

Newcastle United seems to be the club he is being linked with the most, although they are also reportedly very close to signing Burnley’s James Trafford.

I did laugh at one article which stated “Newcastle value Ramsdale at £15m”. If this was the other way round, social media would be filled with crying Geordies complaining about the “Red Cartel”, PSR and that Arsenal are a disgrace for trying to by someone for less than they vlue him at.

Of course, the transfer fee mooted in media speculation is often wrong and can differ widely depending on the outlet. I am not sure why so many get their knickers in a twist.

Ramsdale’s book value is currently £8m, so anything above that will be profit for The Arsenal. I would expect any fee for the Englishman to both cover his remaining book value, and the cash needed to pay for his replacement.

The fee being floated for Joan Garcia is £21million, so I would expect Ramsdale to go for around £30m if that will be the cost of his replacement.

One last bit of Arsenal news surrounds Omari Hutchinson.

The former graduate joined Chelsea two years ago. He preferred to move to West London for “first team football” rather than sign a new deal with Arsenal and go out on-loan.

Hutchinson then proceeded to rot in Chelsea’s reserves for a year before going out on loan to Ipswich Town. The move to Chelsea basically cost him a year of his career.

The 20-year-old is now being linked with a permanent move to Ipswich in a deal that could be worth as much as £22m. Unconfirmed rumours are we will get 50% of any transfer fee.

Today it is a case of getting work completed as quickly as possible before heading to the pub. Pre-season starts this weekend with my annual BBQ.

Keenos

Saka left back for England

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After the dismal bore draw against Slovenia, Ian Wright floated the idea of Bukayo Saka being moved to left back. This idea has been derided by many. But is it really as crazy as it seems?

A lot of (mainly Arsenal fans), gave Wrighty some abuse for his suggestion. They saw his comments as both a slant on Saka’s form and that Wright would be sacrificing the Arsenal man to et Cole Palmer into the team. Neither of these are true.

A major issue for England this tournament is the team has lacked balance.

Take way that Southgate is playing the wrong formation (he should go 4141) and tactics (why play so defensive minded when we have so many great attackers?), the left hand side has been one of England’s biggest problems.

Kieran Trippier was lucky to make the squad.

He had an average season for Newcastle United, which led to many Geordies calling for him to be dropped. At 33-years-old, his decline this season has been rapid. Were it not for Ben White’s falling out and Reece James’ injury, I do not think Trippier would have been in Southgate’s final squad.

The former Spurs and Burnley player is also not a left back. A quick search of Transfermarkt shows that he ha splayed just one game domestically in that position – a League Cup tie against Barnsley back in 2017.

Trippier offers nothing going forward on that left hand side. He does not use his left foot, does not even pretend to go down the outside and does not hug the touchline. It makes England very narrow and predictable.

Ahead of him, you have Phil Foden.

Foden is a fantastic player. You do not win Premier League Player of the Year being average. But he is best suited centrally, either as the sole 10 or on the right hand side of a pair of 8s.

When Foden plays on that left hand side, he always looks to come inside to get more involved. He is just not your typical “chalk on the boots” winger.

Trippier not being able to play on the outside and Foden looking to come inside all the time has made our left wing almost non-existent. we are basically playing in just 70% of the pitch, which in turn allows teams to defend narrower and restrict our space.

Southgate needs to get width into the team.

He could play Saka on the left wing, but like Foden he will probably look to drop inside to be more involved. The solution therefore could be to move Saka to left back.

Often during his youth career, Saka would play at left back. And when he first broke into the first team, he was utilised both at left back and left wing back. I must say that these were emergency cases and the club always saw him as an attacking player.

Whilst you might lose some of Saka’s attacking contributions on the right hand side, you gain by having a natural left footer at left back. Someone that has the discipline and game awareness to provide width, get chalk on his boots, and make those runs in behind Foden.

It might not be a long-term solution as better teams will look to exploit Saka’s defensive weakness, however against Slovakia this has to be an option.

Slovakia are unlikely to attack us much, so doubling up with Foden and Saka on the left hand side could turn it into a strength.

Southgate then has the option of either Cole Palmer or Jarrod Bowen on the right hand side – whilst they might not be at our mans level, they can both certainly do a decent enough job on that wing.

In my view, you gain more upgrading from Trippier to Saka at left back, then you lose from downgrading from Saka to Palmer/Bowen on the right wing.

Wrighty’s (and mine) comments should not be seen as disrespect for Saka. it is not him being pushed back into defence due to his form. It is a compliment to the young mans versatility that he should be a genuine option there. And sometimes as a player you need to make a sacrifice for the betterment of the team.

Over the years I think of Thierry Henry playing left wing for France, Sergio Ramos playing right back for Spain, Javier Mascherano playing centre back for Barcelona and many others who have been pushed out of their natural position to do a job elsewhere.

I would be surprised if Southgate does select Saka at left back. the knock out stages of an international tournament is not really the time or place to be experimenting. But we can also not keep going with Trippier when he offers so little in attacking positions.

Enjoy your Thursday. Cricket starts at 15:30. Hopefully we smash the Indians!

Keenos

Southgate has England playing like West Ham when we should be playing like The Arsenal

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No one should be surprised by England’s dour performances at the European Championships. It has always been like this under Gareth Southgate.

In Harry Kane, we have the Bundesliga top scorer. Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden were named Player of the Year in La Liga and the Premier League last season. These are some of the best attacking talents on the world.

Add in Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, John Stones and Kyle Walker, we have some truly world class players by anyone’s standards.

The issue is not the players. It is the manager.

Southgate is simply not a top a manager. He is of the mindset of a David Moyes or Roy Hodgson. He sets his teams up to “not lose” a game, rather than to win.

Ask Crystal Palace fans about Hodgson, or Weat Ham about Moyes. Their annoyance is that they set up defensively regardless of whether they are playing Manchester City at the top of the league or Sheffield United at the bottom.

These world class talents have flourished under Pep Guardiola, Thomas Tuchel, Carlo Ancelotti and Mikel Arteta.

Four of the best managers in the world who play front foot, attacking football.

All Southgate had to do was adopt the tactics of Arsenal or Manchester City, and say to the players “go out and play how you do for your clubs”. Instead, he adopts the tactics of West Ham and we wonder we brilliant attacking players are underperforming.

Crystal Palace are a perfect example of the impact of coaches.

In the likes of Michael Olise, Eberechi Eze, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Odsonne Édouard, they have some fabulous attackers. But under Hodgson, they scored just 28 goals in 25 games last season, winning only 6 games.

Hodgson was sacked after 25 games and Oliver Glasner took over.

In the final 13 games of the season, Palace scored 29 goals and won 7 games.

They were the 5th highest goal scorers in the Premier League under Glasner against the 4th lowest scorers under Hodgson.

Southgate is wasting some of the best attacking players in world footba by telling them to play cautiously, so pass sideways and backwards.

Yes, he has had some “success” for England. But is that success due to his tactics or the players England have?

Many England fans celebrate Southgate for getting us to a Euro’s final and World Cup semi final. But in both of the games we were were knocked out, we played too defensively, invited opponents on. A better manager would have achieved more.

And most of the fans backing him support smaller clubs who have never seen any success on their life. So their barometer on what is a good tournament would be lower than a fan of Arsenal, Liverpool or Manchester City.

England need to be dominating teams, playing in the final 3rd and taking risks to score goals.

My only hope is this is Southgate’s last tournament. That his replacement is someone who plays front foot football.

Before we know it, this generation of players will be gone. Retired. And who knows what is coming through next?

Southgate, Moyes and Hodgson are all great for teams who just want to survive. They are not the managers to make a team thrive.

Keenos