Tag Archives: She Wore

3 loanees compete for second chance at Arsenal

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Lucas Perez

There has already been plenty of talk that Unai Emery fancies a bit of Lucas Perez.

The squad that finished the season last year was one attacker short. A wide man. We need someone to fill the talent gap between Alex Iwobi and Henrik Mkhitaryan. We need a winger who is also comfortable inside.

A budget solution will be Lucas Perez returning to the squad.

The 30-year-old Spaniard joined Arsenal in 2016 for £17.1 million from Deportivo, but struggled for game time.

7 goals in 21 games was not the worst, but 5 of those goals came in two games – against Nottingham Forest and FC Basel.

Last year, he was shipped back to Deportivo where he struggled to find the form that led to his big transfer to Arsenal.

His struggles back in Spain have been well document, with Deportivo writing “Get out of our club” on his former house in the Spanish city.

Despite struggling, he still contributed 8 goals and 6 assists in La Liga last season.

I would not be entirely happy if he returned, but we should not sell him until we get in that extra attacker.

Joel Campbell

Despite being told many years ago to “get out whilst you can Joel”, the Costa Rican forward is some how still on the books at Arsenal.

He created a lot of debate whilst at the club, with many claiming he should have got more game time.

Having struggled to get a work permit after agreeing to join the club in 2011, Campbell played 40 games in the two seasons he was part of the first team squad – scoring just 4 goals.

Since then, he has struggled on loan deals in Spain (for Villarreal & Real Betis) and Portugal (for sporting) – perhaps showing that he does not quite have it for the top level.

At all 3 clubs, he struggled to become a first team regular, scoring just 6 goals in 59 games. His career is pretty much 1 in 10.

For the same reason as we might keep hold of Lucas Perez, Joel Campbell might get a second life at Arsenal if we do not recruit the forward that we need.

It would take Arsenal to not sign anyone, and cash in on Lucas Perez, but there is an outside chance that he might still be at Arsenal when the transfer window shuts in early August.

No longer a youngster – he recently turned 25 – Campbell played 90 minutes against Switzerland (his first start of this World Cup). He looked quite impressive. Assisted the first goal and won the penalty for the second.

There is confusion as to whether his contract runs out in 2018 or 2019.

If it is 2018, today will be the last day he is at arsenal making these 281 word pointless.

Jeff Reine-Adélaïde

It is 3 summers since Frenchman Jeff Reine-Adelaide had an impressive pre season that got a lot of Arsenal fans exicted. He has since shown how hard it is to go from talented teenager to established senior pro.

Now 20, he spent the second half of last season on loan to Angers in the French Ligue 1, where he failed to score or assist in 443 minutes of football; his light being a man of the Match performance against Bordeaux.

In 2017 he looked on the verge of breaking into the first team squad, but an injury in January ruled him out for nearly 12 months.

Arsenal might decide that rather than spend big on a talented youngster to provide the width and competition, to give one of their own a chance.

Personally, I would like us to still sign someone between Iwobi and Mkhitaryan (Jeff is not as good as Iwobi) and then keep Jeff in the squad for the Europa League – at 20-years-old he does not take up a first team squad place.

https://twitter.com/KeenosAFC/status/1012340940953047040

Keenos

England, Granit Xhaka & Liam Gallagher

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England

Well that was not fun was it.

After plenty of excitement in the World Cup recently, England defeat was a boring defeat as both B teams struggled to try and win.

Eventually England lost, which might be good, but might be bad. We will find that one out once we play Columbia.

After the 6-1 win over Panama, England were back to their boring best.

Granit Xhaka

I have blogged a few times about how much I rate Granit Xhaka. That he is a top player. Just played out of position.

Since joining Arsenal two years ago, he has had to deal with a lot of criticism from fans and the media.

Xhaka gets a lot of blame for the team being set up unbalanced. He has never really played as the deepest central midfielder.

He needs to be allowed to press and be aggressive. Sitting deep never suited him. He does not deserve the abuse he gets.

At the World cup for Switzerland, he is playing in his more natural position, with a deeper midfielder behind him.

By having someone behind him will allow him to get further forward, to be more aggressive in the middle of the park, and know he has a safety net behind him.

Against Costa Rica he was terrific once more.

Some might say it was “only Costa Rica” but it was only Panama who Harry kane scored a hat trick against. It was only Costa Rica that England drew 0-0 with at the last World Cup.

Next season, with Lucas Torreira set to be behind him, I expexct a big season from the Swiss man.

Liam Gallagher

Anyone else off to see Liam Gallagher at Finsbury Park today? Should be plenty of Arsenal about taking into account its location.

Pity The George has now shut down as it would have been the ideal back street boozer for a few pre-gig pints that not many would know about. Plenty of Oasis, Stone Roses and Courteneers on the juke box. It would have gone off in there.

Instead it will probably be one of the upmarket bars on Upper Street around Canonbury.

LG is not due on until 9pm, so my bet is an afternoon boozing before heading in for between 6 & 7.

I went to Alexandra Palace when he was performing there, it was a top gig. But the great mans voice is going. I watched his performance at BBC Music’s Biggest Weekend and it was underwhelming as he struggled to project his vocals in a huge, outdoor arena.

Regardless, with Liam, it has never really been about his vocals and more about the performance. He is the greatest front man of my generation and I am buzzing for today.

Keenos

https://twitter.com/TheRetroKits/status/1012062751664082944

Everyone needs to let go of Arsene Wenger

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Arsene Wenger has left us. Gone. It is a new era at Arsenal. The future is bright. It is exciting. We have had record season ticket renewals. But some people just can not get over that he has left.

https://twitter.com/WengerOut_Bot/status/1011302901044645888

Whoever this is pretending to be a bot whilst they continue to slag off Wenger 6 weeks after he left needs to really evaluate their life.

The Tweet is absolute rubbish for two reasons

“It’s the World Cup no one is available”

It is a complete myth that Arsenal did not sign any players during (prior or just after) World Cups as Arsene Wenger was working for TV companies.

At the 2014 World cup, Arsenal signed Alexis Sanchez whilst Wenger was lying on a beach.

In fact, in 2014, Arsenal spent nearly £80m on players as in came:

Alexis Sanchez
Mathieu Debuchy
David Ospina
Calum Chambers
Danny Welbeck

4 years prior it was:

Marouane Chamakh
Laurent Koscielny
Sébastien Squillaci

Maybe not the most inspiring list of names in hindsight, but Chamakh was considered an exciting talent, and Squillaci went to the World Cup with France.

In 2006, Arsenal were moving into their new stadium and high loan repayments had begun. This caused the club to tighten its belt during that summer.

Regardless, we still signed Tomas Rosicky before the World cup had even started. He was one of the top players at that tournament. Alex Song was also signed.

2002 saw Arsenal secure the services of Gilberto Silva, an ever present in Brazil’s World Cup winning team. They also added Pascal Cygan to the squad.

So in the 4 World Cups from 2002 – 2014 Arsenal bought 11 players prior to, during or just after the World Cup – I have excluded dead line day signings like Julio Baptista and William Gallas. That works out at 3 players during my loose time period.

“announcing players mid tournament”

So the Tweeter has claimed how much better things are since Arsene Wenger has gone as we are actually announcing players mid tournament.

Have I missed something?

So far Arsenal have announced two signings.

Stephan Lichtsteiner
Bernd Leno

We do have deals for Sokratis and Lucas Torreira in place, but these have not yet been announced.

Of the two players we signed, one was a free transfer – Stephan Lichsteiner. The Second – Bernd Leno – has not gone to the World Cup.

Sokratis is expected to join in a matter of days, like Leno he has not gone to the World Cup. As for the Torreira, reports are he is not actually available and therefore will not be announced until after the World Cup.

Arsenal are doing some brilliant business this summer, if it all comes off. But lets not pretend that Arsenal did not sign the likes of Rosicky, Sanchez & Koscielny in World cup years.

The problem with some people is that they defined their support of Arsenal by the manager. Being “Wenger In” or “Wenger Out” literally became more important than supporting Arsenal.

Since Wenger has gone, people on both sides of the extreme have found themselves homeless, without an opinion. They are struggling.

Many built a huge social media following based on their blind faith following or continual criticism of Wenger. Since he left they have been shown up for having little knowledge of football, adding nothing to the debate.

Instead of moving forward, they are stuck in the past. Constantly bringing Wenger up in every conversation.

Move on lads, move on.

Keenoshttps://twitter.com/TheRetroKits/status/1002294513518424069