Tag Archives: Premier League

Mikel Arteta needs to start converting good seasons into more silverware

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I did not end up watching the FA Cup final yesterday.

Harlow Garden Centre was too sunny, too peaceful. By the time I had done a bit of shopping, grabbed meself some fresh lemonade and a slice of cake and got home it was already half time. At that point all I wanted to do was sit in my garden and relax.

Manchester United won which robs us of an August trip to Wembley.

Whilst I do not consider the Community Shield as a relevant trophy, it is still nice to have a semi-serious pre-season game at Wembley where we can all meet up, shake off the cobwebs and get ready for the next 9 months in the sunshine.

With Man U winning it, it raises the question of whether they (and Liverpool) have a better season than us.

I remember back in 2020 when we finished 8th and failed to win a trophy, those outside of the club continued with the narrative that we had a bad season. Meanwhile us fans did not care. We had a day out and lifted a trophy.

And imagine it is the same for Man u fans today.

They will not care one bit that they finished 8th, 31 points off their local rivals. All that matters is they won the FA Cup. And the record books only ever remember the winners.

So whilst we might sit there and mock Man U’s poor season, ultimately they won a trophy and we did not.

Whilst I am delighted about the progress on and off the pitch we have made from Mikel Arteta – I do not think some of our critics realise how bad the situation the club was in prior to his and Edu’s arrival – we have finished trophyless for the 4th successive season.

I am not going to jump on Arteta’s back, just like I did not jump on Arsene Wenger’s. But there is a slight concern that we might follow the route of Tottenham in those mid-late 2010s.

Tottenham finished 2nd, 3rd, 2nd, made 3 semi-finals and got to the Champions LEague final from 2016 to 2021, but they ultimately won nothing. All the progress we shown in the last 24 months will mean nothing if we do not start picking up trophies.

Now I am not saying I would rather finish 8th and win an FA Cup. What we need to do is start picking up cups whilst maintaining a title challenge. That way even if we finish 2nd, we still finish the season with some sort of glory.

I am sure the silverware will come. And as we continue to raise the ceiling and floor of the squad, we should be in a better position to compete on 4 fronts.

The consequence of Man U winning the FA Cup means that Chelsea only qualify for the Europa Conference (they will probably win it), and Newcastle have no European football. That could leave couple of their stars to looking elsewhere for European football. Could it open a door for Arsenal to sign a Bruno or Isak? Who knows.

We did brilliantly this season. But now we need to compete in the league whilst winning trophies.

The She Wore Shop is 10 years old today! Dunno where the time has gone….

 For those who don’t know, the shop was started 3 weeks after I had lost my job in 2014 with the last £50 we had left in the overdraft by buying 50 badgepins and putting some yellow ribbon behind it for the 2014 FA Cup final.

They sold in minutes, so we ordered more and more…

A lot has changed in 10 years. Items that were impossible to be made in the UK can now be made same day. Our clothing is still made to order and can take longer.

We are still nowhere near Amazon levels of speed – and also rely on Royal Mail rather than have a fleet of our own drivers!

I still use the same clothing supplier who made our very 1st polo shirts and he has become a close mate. In the last few years we have both been through some very dark times, but we built a great friendship and supported each other.

The shop has never made us fortunes. The car is 9 years old, we still count the pennies at the end of each month and the kids have never had an overseas holiday. The mortgage is paid on time and the kids do their sports clubs, play way to much Playstation and are happy. And that is what is important.

None of this would have been possible without the support and backing of you. We have all seen the meme about shopping local, and how you are paying for someones children’s ballet class, karate and school uniform. That is exactly what you are all doing when you buy something from our shop.

I am grateful to every single one of you. Whether you have bought once or are a regular buyer. Even just a RT, Like or Share means the world to me.

As a thank you, everything on the shop is 10% off for today and tomorrow. No code needed, the discount is automatically applied at check out: She Wore Shop

Have a great Bank Holiday weekend! And thanks again.

Gav

Arsenal look to “raise the ceiling and floor” this summer

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Morning!

FA Cup final weekend and I do not think I have ever been so disinterested in one.

Usually, I would be buzzing for the biggest day in the English footballing calendar. Today I will not even watch it. Instead I will be in a garden centre in Harlow.

A bit of Arsenal chatter today about ceilings and floors.

Players that raise the ceiling are those that make the top end of the team better, and therefore raise the ceiling of the team. Think Declan Rice.

Meanwhile, players that raise the floor are those that come in at the bottom end of the squad, improving on those firing players. You can also raise the floor by signing “raise the ceiling” players, demoting a current starter to a back-up dancer and letting go the current squad player.

An example of this was seen last season when we signed Declan Rice. That one player raised both the ceiling and floor.

Rice was better than anything we had in midfield. But his recruitment also meant that Thomas Partey became 2nd choice, Jorginho 3rd choice and Mohamed Elneny a fringe player.

Jorginho as 3rd choice is a huge upgrade on Elneny who was previously 3rd choice. We also saw Albert Sambi Lokonga depart on loan.

If you raise the floor and ceiling at the same time, you are both improving the starting XI and improving the squad depth.

Talk is that Arsenal are looking to recruit one “ceiling” player. My bet is it will be that striker. The club will then look for 2-3 players that will raise the floor. I would imagine that will be a central midfielder and maybe another centre back.

This really shows how clear Arsenal, Edu and Mikel Arteta are thinking right now.

No longer does it feel like we are working without a plan, waiting to see who becomes available or is offered to us. We are determining our targets and going out and getting them.

Of course, it could be all for nothing as once against Manchester City will be outspending everyone.

There is already talk that they are looking to dump Matheus Nunes this summer. The former-Wolves midfielder was signed for £53m when they failed to secure Declan Rice. The fact the can discard £50m+ players like they are Uno cards highlights their financial doping.

We do not beat Manchester City by outspending them. We beat them through smarter recruitment.

Raising the ceiling and floor is good recruitment.

In other news, I see Lucas Paqueta could be in deep trouble having been charged with getting booked deliberately for “the improper purpose of affecting the betting market”. Could not happen to a nicer player at a nicer club.

West Ham got a little too big for their boots after a couple of seasons of finishing top 7, and then winning the Intertwobob Conference League thing. They then celebrated last year as they “did Arsenal out of £100m” whilst ceiling the only player that made them relevant.

Having pushed David Moyes out, they have recruited a Wolves reject. Their star midfielder is looking at a long, long ban and, with no Europe, the likes of Jarod Bowen and Mohamed Kudos might not be around much longer. I would take both at Arsenal as cover for Bukayo Saka. Their ceiling players are our raise the floor ones.

I would not be surprised if in 12-months time we are sitting here and West Ham and their god awful stadium have been relegated to the Championship.

But hey, you will always have that day you sold your star to Mikel Arteta.

Enjoy your Bank Holiday weekend.

Keenos

Sesko “the one for Arsenal”

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A new striker is top of our list this summer. Despite us scoring more league goals in a single season than any other in our history, the forward line is an area that can be improved.

After much searching, amateur scouting and watching YouTube clips, Benjamin Sesko is the one I want for Arsenal.

Kai Havertz shows the way

I often cast my mind back to the January window in 2022 as Arsenal searched for a replacement for Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang. We were heavily linked with Dominic Calvert Lewin, Dusan Vlahovic and Alexander Isak; three strikers of a very distinct profile.

It was clear at this point that Arteta basically wanted a “more mobile Giroud” to lead his line. Someone who could work a defence with their movement, whilst also provide a physical presence in the box.

After missing out on Vlahovic, Arsenal turned down the opportunity to sign Isak in the summer and plumped for Gabriel Jesus.

Jesus was a completely different profile to the players we were previously looking at. Smaller, quicker, trickier. Although his hold up play is actually underrated.

In 2023 Arteta was focused on signing players that he thought would take us to the top 4. Jesus would be fine if we just wanted a top 4 challenge. But now we are title chasers and that means a new striker and a return to Arteta’s original plan.

In the second half of the season, due to injury and form, Kai Havertz was pushed further forward, replacing Jesus. Havertz would grab himself 8 goals and 7 assists in 13 games. This showed that a bigger, mobile, technically gifted striker is the way to go.

Sesko playing style

I have previously described Sesko as a “more mobile Dimitar Berbatov”.

Whilst he is not an out and out goal scorer or powerhouse forward in the Erling Haaland mould (who is?), he is a technically gifted player who has a great touch, great movement and a decent bit of pace.

He is not too dissimilar to Havertz, but has better instinct in the box and will be able to sniff out those goalscoring positions that Kai does not.

Age profile

In the back end of this season, Kai Havertz showed he is a genuine option as a striker for Arsenal, alongside Gabriel Jesus. That means that we no longer need to look for the “finished article” and that we could look for someone a little bit younger, a little bit rawer.

Sesko is just 20 years old (turns 21 in a week).

With the situation we are now in, we could afford to sign someone like Sesko and take our time developing. The Slovakian can play in tandem with Havertz, rather than be expected to come straight in and replace him.

A very high ceiling

Last summer, Sesko moved from Red Bull Salzburg to RB Leipzig for £20million. It was a huge step up from Austria to Germany.

Sesko started the first half of the season slowly, often coming off the bench for his new team. But as the season progressed, he established himself as their first choice striker and finished the season on a 7 game scoring streak.

14 goals in 31 Bundesliga games might not excite many, but 11 of those came in the last 16 games. Sesko proved he has that ability to step up to the next level.

The Premier League is a step up from the Bundesliga (gap not as big as Austria to Germany though). Sesko will need to continue working hard and step up again if he wants to be a regular starter for one of the best teams in Europe.

I believe he has the potential to become one of the best in Europe, and his 2nd half of the season form in Germany has shown he has the hunger to work hard on his game.

Again, with Kai Havertz at the club, we will not need Sesko to make the impact on day one. We can afford to take it slowly with Sesko and for Mikel Arteta to build him into the striker he wants.

Cost

My main concern with the links with Viktor Gyokeres was the price tag.

I was not sure paying £70m+ on a 25-year-old who was playing in the Championship 12 months ago made much sense. And as we have seen with other recent Liga Portugal imports (Darwin Nunez), the step up to England from Portugal is huge.

Isak would have been a good option this summer, but considering at Newcastle spent on him (£70m) you can not see us getting him for less than £100m. That would mean less investment elsewhere in the squad.

Finally, I was also always uncomfortable spending big on Ivan Toney considering his age.

Sesko has a £55m release clause, making him the cheapest player I have mentioned in this blog. He is also the youngest and has the highest ceiling. It is a deal that makes most sense.

And what for Kai Havertz?

When we signed Havertz, I always saw his recruitment as a utility forward. Someone who could play in multiple positions.

He has excelled up front in the second half of the season, and considering Sesko’s age and rawness, he will play a big part upfront next season.

Havertz would still remain an option playing deeper (just not with Olexsandr Zinchenko in the same team – a blog for another day) when we want to set up more attacking.

Next season we need to compete on 4 fronts. That means we need to be prepared to play 60 games. There will be more than enough to go around.

And Jesus’s future?

Some reading this might think “Jesus is gone then”. Incorrect.

Jesus joined us from Manchester City after years of being a squad player. He wanted an opportunity to show he could be a regular starter. Unfortunately, injury and form resulted in him returning to that squad role he had with Man City.

The Brazilian basically has a choice – stay at Arsenal and accept a squad role, or push for a move and hope it is “3rd time lucky” in his dream to be a regular starter.

Jesus would still have a big role to play at Arsenal.

Havertz and Sesko would be two similar style strikers. There would be games when we might want an alternative option. Someone a bit trickier and quicker. That would be Jesus. Likewise, he could be a game changer off the bench with the way he buzzes around.

Gabi is also an option on the wing.

Previously, I spoke about need a striker who could also be an option on the wing. Alternatively, we needed to target a new winger. By signing Sesko, it would free up Jesus to play on the wing.

Jesus can play both right and left wing, providing cover and competition for Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard. I would not be unhappy if any of those 4 started out wide.

It also allows us to continue assessing our wing options.

Saka is a guaranteed starter on the right, but the left wing might need to be addressed in a years time.

Martinelli’s tough season can not be ignored, and whilst it is not an issue going into next season it is a situation to keep an eye on. Trossard also turns 30 and will have a year left come 2025.

In 12 months, if Martinelli does not return to form, I would not be surprised if we turn our focus on a new left winger, with Martinelli becoming the cover and competition. By using Jesus outside, it means we do not need to address the issue this summer and can allow Martinelli to continue his develop.

Final thoughts

Sesko is the one for Arsenal.

Keenos