Tag Archives: She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

Did Arsenal spend enough in the summer?

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After the defeat against Manchester City, a lot of the post-game talk was just how far behind the Champions we were.

This was a City side with the likes of Kevin de Bruyne, Vincent Kompany & David Silva, but was by no means a B team.

The victory for them showed that even with a few key absentees, they have incredible strength in depth.

Take the missing Leroy Sane for example.

A lot of fuss was made during the summer over him not making the German squad at the World Cup. He was missed by his country, but not missed by his club.

In his place were Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling. Neither are exactly “B team” players; both would start for every side in the Premier League, just like both started for Manchester City at the weekend.

They might not have started Gabriel Jesus, but they did start Sergio Aguero.

And despite Vincent Kompany and Nicolás Otamendi being absent, the centre of their defence cost over £100million, forming the most expensive back four ever assembled in the history of the game.

Kyle Walker John Stones, Aymeric Laporte and Benjamin Mendy costing over £200m between them.

I am a firm believer that it is not what you spend; but who you buy, and Manchester City’s huge expenditure proves this.

They have spent a decade building what they have today. It has cost them over £1billion in transfer fees and they have bought an awful lot of duds.

Whilst most clubs have to buy sensibly, City have been able to chuck money out a player to see if he comes good, and if he doesn’t, discard him,

Think Robinho, Roque Santa Cruz, Stevan Jotevic, Eliaquim Mangala, Wilfried Bony. Nearly £150million spent on tripe.

What they have done over the last decade is filter out the rubbish and what they are left with is a ridiculously strong, expensively assembled squad.

So to Arsenal.

In the summer we spent £70million. The gulf between us and Manchester City was clear to see. So should Arsenal have spent more?

The easy answer is yes, of course we should. We should have gone and signed Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Antoine Griezzman. But this is not Football Manager, it is real life.

Manchester City’s empire was not built overnight.

They did not win their first league title until 3 years of that original investment, and it took Pep Gaurdiola 12 months and £500million to build the team that ran away with the league title last season.

Arsenal’s £70million spend took the total cost of the squad over the £400million mark. In comparison, both Manchester United and Manchester City’s squad cost them £800million.

It is unrealistic to think that Arsenal have – and will spend – £400million in a single summer to bridge that gap.

Arsenal’s average net spend over the last 5 years is £25million. With barely anything coming in this summer from outgoing players, this summers outlay will be one of our biggest “net spending” summers in history.

Only Liverpool, Chelsea and West Ham actually had a largest outlay than us – with Liverpool spending the Philipe Coutinho money.

So Arsenal did make huge outlays in terms of money spent.

You also do not want to buy too many players in a single window.

The problem for Arsenal is we are starting from a long way back.

For the foreseeable future, Manchester City only need to buy 1 or two players a year. This means that they can spend £70m a season on a single player, every year, and continue improving. Bringing in only Riyad Mahrez this summer is a perfect example of this.

Arsenal need to strengthen the entire squad. The first XI and the “B team”. We do not really want to go out every summer buying 10+ players spending £150million. We need to be sensible.

Spending £70million on 5 players was sensible recruitment. Buying too many players in a transfer window leads you to buying players you did not really want, ones lower down the list, perhaps have not been fully scouted properly.

Arsenal can not go out and buy a Riyad Mahrez for £70million, and then make the 5 other transfer we need for another £70million. We can not expect us to be spending £150million in a single window without bringing money in.

Eventually we hope that we can get to a position like Manchester City are in, or where Manchester United were in the late 90s/early 00s. Where you have the basis of a championship winning squad and just need to buy one or 2 top players each summer, improving the top end of the squad.

Until we get to that point, we are going to have to be buying 5 or 6 players every summer, slowly improving the squad.

https://twitter.com/KeenosAFC/status/1027536442099159040

The squad we have today is massively improved from 12 months ago. The majority of those who have come in are superior to those who they have replaced.

The trick is to keep going. Next summer get in a left back better than Nacho Monreal & Saed Kolasinac. A centre back to partner Sokratis (and replace Mustafi).

The squad was left in such a poor shape by Arsene Wenger that it might take 3 summer transfer windows to get rid of the poor players and replace them, and as a self-sufficient club, we will only have a spend of about £70-£100million a summer before sales.

I would have liked to have seen a natural wideman come in over the summer, but that is all I feel we are short at this time.

This is Jurgen Klopp’s 4th season at Liverpool. Mauricio Pochettino is into his 5th at Spurs. And Jose Mourinho has now had 3 summer transfer windows at Manchester United.

These managers with their clubs are still “building” to bridge that gap to Manchester City.

Rome was not built in a day.

Keenos

Too late to start protesting Stan Kroenke

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Boycotting and protests pointless for Arsenal fans

The time to protest was 6 years ago.

That is when the club went stale under the leadership of-then majority shareholder Stan Kroenke. It was 6 years ago Arsene Wenger should have left the club, and 6 years ago that Ivan Gazidis should have been held accountable and the ticket price inceases were a final straw for many.

It was December 2012 the the Black Scarf Movement (BSM) were at their peak as a fans supporters group. Thousands signed up as members, making them the biggest Arsenal supporters group, and thousands turned up for a march through Islington showing their disgust at the way the club was run.

It was at this point that supporters groups should have come together, backing the BSM to create a collective voice. Twitter was in its infancy, but there were already key social media influencers. There were also countless bloggers and a few podcasters (not as many as now).

6 years ago was the time to rise up as one.

Instead, people looked after their own interest. Did other Supporters groups and influential bloggers also fail to back the march , was it in fear of losing their place at the top table and some nice custard creams with Ivan ?? who knows….

That meant the momentum from that original BSM march was lost. It failed to gain the backing of other groups and bloggers as they were scared of losing the feeling that they were important to the club. In recent years, those people who sucked up to Ivan et al have realised that the club do not care about them.

So what would boycotting or protesting Stan Kroenke taking full control of Arsenal get now?

Well it would not make Kroenke decide to call it a day, to sell up.

He is about to invest another £550million into the club. Why would he make that decision to then sell up because a few fans stand shouting on a round-a-bout?

As for people talking about boycotting, about hitting Kroenke “where it hurts in the pocket”, lets look at the facts…

  1. Season tickets for the season have been sold. Arsenal already have 3/4’s of the yearly gate receipts in the bank.
  2. The vast majority of revenue comes from TV companies. Boycotting will not stop TV companies paying our share.
  3. Emirates are secure as our shirt sponsor until 2024.
  4. The value of our new kit manufacturer deal is linked to how many units they will sell, not how many people turn up to a game.

So boycotting will not affect the 4 main revenue streams of the club. Not buying a pint or a scarf from the club shop has very little affect on revenue.

So why bite your nose off to spite your face? Why stay away when it changes nothing? Why stay away when the time to boycott and protest was 6 years ago.

On Sunday, turn up and support the team, the new regime. The changes at Arsenal in the last couple of months have been huge.

Boycotting and protesting will not make Kroenke suddenly decide to sell up and walk away. It will literally change nothing.

Myself, I am looking forward to Sunday. It is going to be a great season.

Keenos

Arsenal spend right rather than big

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As the transfer window trundles to a close today prior to the Premier League opener tomorrow, I thought I would share some thoughts on the market, and how Arsenal have performed.

My thought can be summed up in the statement it is not what you spend, but who you buy.

Fans can often become obsessed with the value of the player, rather than the ability of the player. Thinking that the more expensive the player, the better he must be. But with brilliant recruitment you can sign top class players at the fraction of what other clubs are spending.

It is dangerous to look at what other clubs have spent over what they have actually signed.

This summer West Ham, Everton, Fulham and Leicester City have all outspent Arsenal (at the time of writing – Wednesday lunchtime), and some people might use that fact to attack the club. But look at what the actually signed.

Everton spent £42million on Richarlison from Watford. He hasn’t scored since November, and no assists since December.

West Ham also went big on an attacking Brazilian, spending £38million on Felipe Anderson. The former wonderkid has never really developed into a consistent performer and £38million is a lot of money for a man who was restricted to just 9 starts last season due to a serious knee injury.

Leicester City signed James Maddison for £25m, Ricardo Pereira (who?) for £23million and Liverpools 9th choice goal keeper Danny Ward for £12.5million. Over £60million spent on Championship players.

Also buying Championship players are Fulham who have spent £37million on Aleksandar Mitrovic and Alfie Mawson – two players who have previously been found wanting in the Premier League.

Now lets shut our eyes and imagine Arsenal bought the 7 players mentioned in this blog. Nearly £180million spent. Would you say it is good business? No. It would be big money wasted.

Arsenal spent just £67million on Stephan Lichtsteiner, Bernd Leno, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Lucas Torreira & Mattéo Guendouzi.

What would be the better business? £67million on what Arsenal got, or the £180million on a bunch of tripe?

Perhaps what sums up what I am saying is 4 players signed by Arsenal and Chelsea. Two a piece.

Lucas Torreira + Bernd Leno =  £42million

Jorginho + Kepa Arrizabalaga = £130million

Now I am now saying Chelsea have made poor signings. Joringho is a very good central midfielder and Kepa a top young keeper. But are they much better than Torreira and Leno? Are they even actually any better?

Torreira and Jorginho both played in Italy last season, slightly different styles of play. They both bring a lot of ability to the middle of the park. For me, they are both equally as good as what they do. Torrieira defending, Jorginho keeping the ball moving.

As for the goal keepers, Arsenal are getting an experienced German keeper who is on the fringes of the national team, Chelsea a less experienced Spanish keeper who is on the fringes of the national team.

The uneducated amongst us will point to Chelsea and say “they have spent £130million, they have shown ambition” whilst criticising Arsenal for “going cheap”. But the reality is the quality of the players being bought in is not much different.

Arsenal have not gone cheap, they have bought the right players at a good price. Meanwhile Chelsea have probably over paid for what they have bought in.

I have always been a student of Soccernomics where you do not focus on what has been spent, but what has been bought in, and what Arsenal have bought in is plenty to be happy about.

Keenos