Picture courtesy of Istockphoto.com
Arsenal were held by Burnley in a frustrating goalless draw at the Emirates on a bitterly cold January afternoon. Arteta made just the one change from Thursday’s disappointing league cup exit to Liverpool, with Rob Holding coming in for Takehiro Tomiyasu, who clearly wasn’t fully fit on Thursday. Due to Cedric also being unavailable, Ben White was shunted out to right back, a position he played in our Boxing Day thumping of Norwich.
There was a sense of pre match trepidation for this one; We were yet to win a game in 2022 and had exited both cup competitions in a matter of days. That said, this was our first league match since that exemplar of daylight robbery on New Year’s Day against Citeh. Burnley won the coin toss and made the typically spiteful decision to switch ends. The crowd groaned. I’m not sure if it’s just because I prefer it when we attack the North Bank in the second half, but we don’t seem to have a great record of winning when that happens. We kicked off and the Rugby League Rejects took all of six minutes to start time wasting. We still dominated possession although we struggled to find any sort of rhythm. Burnley had the first attempt of sorts as they worked the ball out to the left and Dwight McNeil, probably the only Burnley player who doesn’t look like he has a forklift truck license, struck a cross-cum-shot which Ramsdale palmed behind. We had our first real chance of the game when Ødegaard, Smith Rowe and Lacazette exchanged passes, with the ball then breaking back to Smith Rowe off a Burnley player. He cut it back to Odegaard who struck it hard and low, but it was saved by the leg of Nick Pope. The ball then broke to Lacazette in line with the penalty spot, who checked inside and saw his goal bound effort blocked by Ben Mee. Finally, a spark of life in what had been a drab affair thus far.
The game continued to drift along without a great deal of urgency from either side. Just before the break, we did manage to carve out another decent chance on goal. Tierney’s long pass found Smith Rowe who fed Ødegaard. The Norwegian, who always seems to play the right pass, played in Saka who cut inside onto his favoured left peg, and fired an effort narrowly wide of the far post. No goals at the break.
The second half began with Arsenal continuing to dominate possession without much thrust and Burnley looking for any sort of counterattack to catch us out. Their incessant time-wasting tactics continued with Nick Pope taking his sweet time over every goal kick. Clacking out his studs on the post on that state-of-the-art pitch will have enraged the groundmen I’m sure. Clearly, Pope is a big fan of those reruns of games from those 70’s games on ITV4 where there’s more mud than pitch. England’s fourth choice ‘keeper indeed. Arsenal plodded on trying to break down the resolute Burnley defence who, to their credit, stuck to their task. Sean Dyche has clearly introduced his gravel and earthworms’ diet to his players. On the hour we won a freekick practically on the 18-yard line. Ødegaard and Lacazette stood over it. The Norwegian skipper, who scored a brilliant free kick in the fixture at Turf Moor in September, almost repeated the trick with his effort skimming the roof of the net. Unlucky.
We then began a ten-minute siege on the Burnley goal where it seemed a goal was inevitable, but it just never arrived. We won yet another corner and Ødegaard’s quick thinking allowed him to fire in a sizzling low pass to Smith Rowe who was steaming into the box, but the England international’s well struck effort was brilliantly saved by Nick Pope. The Hale End graduate was at the epicentre of our next move which was really our best chance of the match. Tierney played another long pass down the left-hand side to Smith Rowe who peeled off the back of James Tarkowski and steamed past him, leaving the one capped England defender in the dust. ESR stormed into the box and cut it back to Lacazette who somehow stabbed it agonisingly past the far post when it seemed easier to score than miss. In fairness to the Frenchman, he was put under pressure at the last second by Ben Mee, but a striker of his quality has to be burying those. A real head in hands moment.
Arteta then made the questionable decision to take off Smith Rowe for Nketiah. I’m an Eddie fan but it really killed any momentum we had left. In fairness to Arteta, we had a real lack of options due to injuries and Afcon (no false positives here, Jurgen) which had decimated our squad in recent weeks. In fact, Nketiah was our only attacking option who had played in the Premier League. We had five academy players on the bench yet to make their premier league debuts (Alebiosu, Patino, Salah Eddine, Hutchinson and Biereth) and in fact Patino was the only one of those who had any sort of minutes for the first team and even he had less than 90 minutes under his belt. Is Arteta cutting off his nose to spite his face with the Aubameyang situation? There’s every chance the skipper could have made a difference today, he has an excellent record against Burnley, but fair play to the manager for sticking to his guns. However, the fact that the Eddie sub was the only change we made all game was telling. Our need for a central midfielder that doesn’t get sent off every other game and a twenty goal a season striker is getting more obvious by the game. A week left until the transfer window shuts. Tick tock, Edu, tick tock.
So, overall 2022 hasn’t been great for our lads. Stuart Atwell and Jurgen Klopp will pay for their sins one way or another. Another disappointing result against Burnley today. As William Makenzie said in the Inbetweeners movie, “I like football but not Burnley. Burnley can f*ck off.” Truly a sentiment we can all agree with wholeheartedly. Onto Wolves away in about 100 days’ time. Hope Burnley get relegated.
Excellent match report, 21CG. You capture the game that I mostly saw on a stream that was intermittently dodgy and frozen for the rest of the time. A 20-goals-a season striker and a central midfielder are exactly what we need.
Congratulations on a lively report on what was, in truth, a very dull game 21CG. I appreciate that we are spoiled as Arsenal fans (most of the time) but if I had to watch Burnley every week, I think my love of football would curdle.
So I’m not going to talk about the game. Dave Faber, in his latter years, when late Wenger toxicity was at its height, used to say that he came to games more for the social side than for the match. Yesterday was one of those days. Pregame, five of us gathered in a family run trattoria on Holloway Road five minutes from the stadium. The famous five were the author of this piece, 21st century Gooner, his Dad, Clock End Rider, myself and my son, and the estimable TTG. Our ages ranged from 20 to 71 and as the pasta, red wine and Peroni went down (not CER, who is doing dry January, and who mournfully nursed a coke whilst making covetous eyes at my glass of red), the stories flowed freely. The lads were respectful of their elders (quite right too as we were paying for lunch), but very willing to give their contributions, thoughts and opinions. How Dave would have loved being there, seeing the torch being passed to a new generation of Arsenal mad supporters. The GHF community is a great gift. As we come out of lockdown, may there be many more GHF get togethers, pre or post game.
Hear, hear, C100. I can’t help but think time would have been spent better staying in the restaurant rather than going to the game!
Firstly , may I say by way of correction that the ages ranged up to 70 ….until tomorrow!
But it was a delight to break bread before the game despite the agony of seeing one of our number negotiating Dry January!
There’s not much to say that 21CGooner hasn’t said in his quite excellent, amusing and occasionally acerbic report . He is a very welcome addition to our pool of writers. But I will flag one thing that touches on a point GSD made in the Liverpool Away semi report . That is Ramsdale . I love the vibrancy he has brought to the club. He is a goalkeeper with personality in abundance and has made some wonderful saves this season . But his standards are slipping . He wasn’t good at Liverpool , he let in the softest of goals last week and he flapped at a corner yesterday like Larry Grayson trying to hire a mini cab . It could have added to the gloom if Rob Holding hadn’t been on hand .
We have a resident goalkeeping expert who occasionally joins us on here and he has been delighted with Aaron’s introduction. But he was pleased that Dave Seaman has taken him under his wing ( at Aaron’s request apparently ) . My own view is that Ramsdale is probably the showiest Arsenal goalkeeper I’ve ever seen and he could do with a bit of Seaman’s calm and composure . He also took longer to take a goal kick yesterday than Pope! It’s just an observation but Aaron needs a very slight reset in my view particularly on dealing with crosses.
My other point was that the referee was pathetic in dealing with the time wasting , weak in letting Burnley kick lumps out of Saka and negligent in letting Wedgwood stay on the pitch after his forearm smash , having been booked already . Thank goodness for that bunfight at the Trattoria!
A fine effort, 21 CG, and a very readable report of what sounded like a very tedious game.
Sounded, because I couldn’t even find a stuttering or frozen stream yesterday. Why is it that you can travel almost anywhere in the world and find television coverage of English Premier League matches – anywhere except England, of course ? I’m not aware of problems with attendance at Premier League matches, so why the embargo on live transmission ? I could understand Burnley being averse to their matches going out on TV as it would give their attendees the perfect excuse to abscond. Most of their fans are only there because it’s part of their community service judgements, or an alternative to imprisonment for their continued shouty, screamy, ignorant, anti-social behaviour, most of which ironically was perpetrated from within Turf Moor in the first place.
The commentators on arsenal dot com were extremely frustrated by Burnley’s time wasting and the referee’s refusal to do anything about it or, indeed, the constant fouling of Saka in particular and others in general. It seems our own gripes may be some of the least provoked by the weekend’s officiating – at least we weren’t denied obvious penalties or punished by over harsh decisions, but the appalling standard of refereeing has to change. It really has reached a stage now where it reeks of corruption. It won’t change, of course, until the cartel of mates who alternate between pitch and VAR screen each week or so, are swept away and replaced by actual competent professionals. Don’t hold your breath.
Burnley are an ugly trial to watch but, to give the players their due, they are created in the image of their master – an oversized, over colour saturated, subterranean creature from H G Wells’ The Time Machine – just for you Dr Faustus ! 😉. They stick to their task with grim determination – at least, every time they play us – and are a blight on the football landscape. Hopefully, May will see them sink to the Championship, if not all the way back underground.
TTG,
I think that Burnley player’s name is Westwood, not Wedgwood, my old China ! 😉
Trev,
I don’t think I have ever seen a more sparsely populated away section at the Ems as I did yesterday. C100 at one point wondered whether they all came down on the same minibus. Clearly the people of Burnley don’t rate their own team worthy of watching away even at the weekend. I don’t blame them.
That Burnley away section:
Oh. Sorry. That went wrong. Can someone fix it?
Trev
Just when I think I’ve got through a comment piece without an autocorrect blooper one rears it’s head , Thankyou for the correction . At least it proves what a sophisticated auto correct I have!
Thanks 21CG, your final sentence summed up my thoughts about Burnley perfectly. It’d be the most welcome relegation since Stoke went down.
CER ,
My nephew ( who lives in Beijing) runs a travel company who run tours to North Korea . Clearly security is very heavy especially as several North Koreans try ( understandably ) to find their way out . I think Burnley is in a similar situation. Not many are allowed out of the town because they’d not want to go back afterwards!
Runs a travel company to North Korea – ?
Must be the least busy man in the world 😳
Great report 21cg! Also, ILFBNB and BCFO.
TTG: No question that Ramsdale is not playing as well as he did earlier in the season, and it is not just his command of the box but his long distribution. However, the question is, is that a drop in form or a reversion to the mean?
As an outsider it sounds like competition for places could be the solution to the Ramsdale dip in form. Leno is still with the club so why not use him in a significant way if only to push Ramsdale to greater things?
I note the comments about the paucity of Burnley supporters at Sunday’s game with interest as the commentator on my dodgy stream repeatedly remarked on what he said were 5,000 Burnley fans outsinging the ‘subdued’ home crowd.
I don’t think the overall standard of the commentary was of the highest. The wizened old-pro ‘expert analyst’ only seemed to have these few words of English: ‘there’s not enough in that for a foul, for me’ every time one of ours got clattered.
Ned that is such bollocks. The normal premier league assignment is 5% or 3000. That takes up four blocks. As can be seen Burnley took up half that (so 1500) and they didn’t more than half fill that as the picture shows. I would guess about 800.
As this link says. 5000 my arse.
https://www.awaygames.co.uk/away-day-guides/arsenal-away/
Thanks, 21CG, for a report that is more interesting than that frustrating match itself. I suspect your culinary observations on Dyche and his disgusting drongos is entirely accurate though looking at the beef on them I fear the worm population of the British Isles is at risk of extinction with resulting deterioration of the soil and its agricultural productivity.
I have sat through many similar matches where the entire ambition of our opposition was to stifle Arsenal’s attack by fair means and foul and to hope for one productive moment from a breakaway or a set piece. We have frequently been suckered when pushing on for a winner and that vulnerability extends well into the Wenger era. The positive from this game is that that did not happen. In truth, we worked very hard, created several lovely moves but Lady Luck deserted us and with a modicum of her favours we could have been 3 up well before the game’s end. Tired minds and tired legs sapped our efforts and I have no criticism of the efforts of the team.
We certainly need reinforcements but our AFCON contingent will be returning shortly as will our suspendees and the need to fill the midfield and striker gaps with ‘just anybody with a decent Youtube sequence has passed. I hope we have learnt from the later Wenger years that just getting ‘a body’ in rather than the ‘right player’ has medium to longterm consequences on our ability to build a team to challenge at the very top. I will not rent my raiment if we fail to make a signing this January.
I’m glad to hear that the lunch was good, gents. For several of my last years as a ST-holder, a nice lunch was far more often than not the most enjoyable part of the day and towards the end became the primary reason for me going to a match.
5000? Yeah right. Closer to 500 as C100 says. On the part of the commentator that is either a blatant untruth or he has difficulty assessing large numbers.
By his estimation, there must have been around 600,000 in attendance.
Cheers 21CG. Fair report and conclusions as ever.
I agree with Matt @10.
In fact Stoke and Burnley are welcome to play each other every week.
Bath @ 19 hopefully we can be breaking bread together before a game soon!
I look forward to it, C100.
Trev,
Amazingly he’s besieged with enquiries and is a very wealthy young man ( who I hope remembers his poor old uncle TTG) . Most of them are Chinese residents who are keen to see the regime there but I’ve had British people approach me to see if they might get visas to travel . My nephew has made two films with the BBC about North Korea , one of which looked at their 1966 World Cup team and what happened next , the other a nutter from the US who defected to Pyongyang! He was also consulted by the BBC as one of the few people who knows anything about North Korean football when they last qualified for the World Cup finals . One of his best mates over there is Ian Walker who used to keep goal ( not very well ) for the Scum
Claudio’s got the tin tack at Watford.
There was a rather good Michael Palin BBC documentary about North Korea recently. I heard him speak at a book launch event not long afterwards (not a book about the series) and he was asked about it. He said he and his producer did their best, but it was really difficult to get under the skin of the country, have real people express candid opinions, or escape the iron grip of their state minders.
My nephew who has lived in Beijing for over twenty years ( and he has just become a Dad for the first time ) is probably one of the most connected Westerners with NK . He is very fond of it in some ways ( because of the people not the regime )
I used to worry about his vulnerability when travelling there but he seems to move around freely although Covid restrictions have halted this for some time . It’s certainly a very strange place
Excellent and amusing report 21CG. I missed the whole match, so I’m especially grateful for the view from inside the stadium.
Ollie @21 has hit upon the best idea for innovation in English football in many years. Well done, sir.
I would further suggest that Mike Dean should ref every match.
C100, CER, thank you for your confirmation of the lack of numbers. It certainly didn’t sound from the background audio that you were all being outsung, even in the quieter moments. Now you prompt me to think about it, I can’t recall the camera panning to take in the wide sweep of the Burnley multitude. I wonder why.
I did think the expert analysis (but not particularly the commentary) was depressingly biased against us. I neither recognised the name when it was introduced nor now recall it, but beyond every rotational clog committed by Burnley having ‘not enough in that for a foul, for me’, including the Westwood arm on Gabriel, there was an endless repetition of all the old tropes.
Usually I am reasonably sanguine about transfer activity especially at the moment when we appear to have a coherent plan …BUT it’s no exaggeration to say that if we don’t sign a striker there is little prospect of us finishing high up in the league . Auba seemingly gone . Laca way past his goalscoring best , Balogun on loan and Eddie not good enough. I don’t think Martinelli is big enough to play through the middle personally .
If we do buy someone he has to be good in the air. Yesterday underlined how pointless banging crosses in against big centre backs when you have a small striker . My preferred option is DCL but not if he can’t come until the summer . Jovic on loan might be another option but I suspect we might look at Cabral or De Tomas a cheaper option
C100@25: Watford must buy their tin tacks by the gross. Ranieri makes it 14 managers gone in 10 years.
TTG: I took a quick look at Ramsdale’s numbers, which, of course, confirm your observations. They have been softening compared to earlier in the season since the game at Old Trafford, particularly those for successful long-distance passing and dealing with crosses.
However, his numbers are all still more than decent despite the dip in form. They show him being more successful at dealing with crosses than Mendy, de Gea and Ederson, for example, which isn’t shabby company.
In the Opta composite performance scores, he has slipped from the 25th best keeper in the top five European leagues over the past six months to the 51st best over the past month. Perversely, his ranking score has gone up from 75.9 to 76.3, although his peak score this season was 79.0.
By the yardstick of how many goals he lets in given the goals the opposition could be expected to score, he is still overperforming in line with the same margins as has done all season. However, all these numerical comparisons exclude league cup games, and his performance in the second leg against Liverpool was probably his poorest game of the season.
TTG@30: We shouldn’t be lumping in many crosses whatever the height of our strikers. We are more threatening when we get behind opposing defences and cut back low. If we are to play inverted wingers, we need overlapping full-backs to go wide and behind. Playing Martinelli down the middle would give Tierney more space for that on the left. Getting Tomi fit and healthy or Pepe replicating his Ivory Coast form for us would help on the right.
Although it’s not from my favourite newspaper this follows in from my observations yesterday . I’ve not seen many goalies berate their back four like Ramsdale did
https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1555206/Arsenal-news-Aaron-Ramsdale-warned-conduct-matches-Gunners-Premier-League
But it’s extremely difficult to get in behind when you take ten minutes to inch up the pitch.
That was to Ned @ 33
Ned,
Thanks for those stats . I’m just a little bit instinctively uneasy . He’s done amazingly coming into a new side at a much bigger club .
Seaman’s first season in 1990/1 was phenomenal and possibly the best sustained form I have seen from an Arsenal goalkeeper . He wasn’t bad after that either !
As the actress said to the bishop, Trev.
TTG: Indeed. It is probably worth remembering that Seaman was in his late 20s when he joined and had 300 or so senior games under his belt. Ramsdale is still 23 with barely 100 appearances. A young man with still plenty to learn.
21cg. Looking at that picture has made me come to realize, now more than ever, that “You are what you eat.” 🤮
I hope not. I had a distinctly dreadful vegan beef and onion pie today. Would have been better off eating the box.
what does vegan taste like, cynic? i’d’ve thought chicken.
21stcg, bravo. a turgid game described with alacrity and humor. i was so bummed when laca’s from esr didn’t go in. ah well, fourth is still in sight if we batter those spuds. probably ought to eat the cardboard box on that order, eh cynic?
Cynic@40: vegan beef? Need I say more?
The “beef” bit possibly wasn’t as dreadful as it tasted, but the problem I find with meat substitutes is that they tend to absorb and intensify flavour in a most unpleasant way. So having onion in a pie with that kind of thing was asking for trouble.
Lesson learned.
Vlahovic was never going to come to Arsenal – his own statements last autumn were clear enough. We were simply being used by his agents to prepare the way for Juve.
The smart money is now on a Luka Jovic loan deal possibly with an option as DCL is too difficult to prise away from Everton this month and Isak is far too expensive for unproven potential – we cannot waste another £70m plus top level wages on a promising one season wonder.
Unless Jovic comes and proves himself in the PL as Ødegaard did, DCL is by far the best option for a summer striker acquisition – PL proven, mobile, links well, leads the line well, good goal scoring record. Balogun can provide back up but unless we think Martinelli is ready to move centrally (I don’t think so yet), we probably need another option.
We may of course still have Auba (who is going to pick up that salary?). If he doesn’t leave this week, the hatchets should be buried asap and he should be re-integrated into the squad as a striking option for as long as he’s on the payroll.
Cynic. My experience in the kitchen tells me that if your basic ingredients have really good flavors then intensifying them is normally not a problem. 21cg might have had the same general idea in mind with that picture, if we can imagine Sean Dyche as your onion.
…
Oh.
Sorry about that one.
Karl Hein is off to Reading on loan. This suggests to me that Leno is going nowhere in this window.
Excellent match report 21 CG.
And a lot of great comments from the regulars.
If we don’t get a striker this window — Patrick Schick would be my choice if we are not looking to spend a lot of money, Giroud like qualities but much faster off the ball — we will then have to find a way to rehabilitate Auba in the squad (even if to come on as a sub) as we cannot just rely on Laca-Eddie and maybe Martinelli alone to get us through the end of the season.
As a very desperate measure Pépé can play centrally. He has a decent header and is possibly the second best finisher — after a fully fit Auba — in and around the penalty box in the squad. He won’t of course be able to drop as deep as Laca does but in terms of counter-attacking pace be more in sync with Saka/Martinelli/ESR/Martin. Has been in good form in AFCON and as a confidence player that would help.
But I would of course rather have a new striker. Someone who can be in the same wavelength with our four young attacking players.
Best of luck to Tyreece John-Jules on his loan at Sheffield Wednesday, hopefully it goes better than the Blackpool loan.
Good call on Schick, Dr.
Interesting back drinking and I’m very much in agreement with Bath re the way forwards . It’s hard to get a great deal in January. Odegaard was the exception. He followed the lamentable Dennis Suarez and the injured Kim Kjallstrom . Elneny and Gabriel Paulista were signed in this window but I think our last major deal was Arshavin .
I don’t think we can sign DCL or Isak and Vlahovic was never on. Isak is not a prolific goal scorer and we already have a lot of that type of player 😀
Jovic hasn’t shone at Real Madrid but lots of players struggle there in a political maelstrom. He is a quality player and worth a punt. We have to have someone if we hope to challenge for fourth , and we can’t unload Auba with our current striking resources. If Wijnaldum isn’t too badly injured he would be worth a punt too. That would enable us to build effectively in the summer hopefully with CL football to offer. If Jovic and Wijnaldum work out well they might be able to be signed permanently . I’m sure PSG would fancy a swap deal – Gini for Granit .
Good half-ton, TTG.
Yeah, I think we’ll struggle for a striker, maybe Jovic on lone is not a bat punt indeed.
Rumours about Wijnaldum do not seem very insistent (from this side of the Channel anyway), probably not helped by his injury. Initial prognosis was three weeks off. Wait and see. Only six days to go.
On loan even.
Well in for the half-ton, TTG.
Jovic strikes me as a stop-gap, no more. He hasn’t been a prolific goal scorer since he played for Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga in 2018-19. I know he has had limited opportunities in Madrid and maybe regular football would reinvigorate him, but that would be a punt.
all these punts and you’d think we were talking american football.
well in for the half, ttg.
i like the idea of schick, having a giroud-type with a bit quicker feet would give us an option inside to receive the crosses kt3 and saka seem to want to put in, let alone the touchline passes. good call, dr. faustus.
Ned,
Your point is a good one but we haven’t got many options .
I know one Real Madrid follower and he thinks Jovic has been neglected partly because of politics at Real ( the influence of Ronaldo and Benzema ) and partly because Zidane seemed to take against him and when Ancelotti came in he used Benzema as the spearhead . Odegaard’s experience is a fair example of how a very talented player can be marginalised . At the moment Real have Isco and Ceballos who they’d like to move on in midfield and I understand they’d like to get Jovic off the wage bill . If you remember the Ødegaard saga in the summer impressions of the Norwegian seemed to change every day. It must be a very unsettling club to play for .
I saw Jovic score in the Madrid derby recently and my impression is that the lad needs regular football . Strikers can’t normally come in and immediately hit the ground running . I remember how dismissive Inter were about Bergkamp and how negative the moronic tabloid press over here were initially after he joined . You only needed to see Dennis control the ball once and you could see he was a genius. I’d rather go with someone who had a real pedigree and is still young than get in someone older like De Tomas or Cabral who is unlikely to be top quality especially if it’s on loan . Lacazette and Nketiah will struggle to get five goals in open play between them until the end of the season. I’d give Jovic a go….but I understand Benzema is injured .
Everton surely won’t sell us DCL in their situation
In other news, L’Équipe are reporting that Newcastle have bid €40m for Bruno Guimaraes (were we linked to him or was it just a suggestion I read about?)
It seems that Benzema’s injury has put the kibosh on Jovic going out on loan. Back to the drawing board, chaps!
So erratic and unreliable is the news about the big Spanish clubs that I wouldn’t rule anything out at this stage . Remember the prospects of signing Odegaard in ty3 summer changed daily. Ancelotti excluded him , then he included him then he wasn’t taken on tour, then he joined the tour. Arsenal have a good relationship with Real. They’ve done three loan deals and one transfer in the last three seasons so I will wait to see what develops.
It was interesting that Arteta was in Denver with Stan Kroenke last night. That may be to discuss a new contract , transfer targets or something else but if I was flying from London to Dubai I wouldn’t go via Denver ! ( unless I really wanted the air miles )
Sitting on porch steps, chawin’ a plug and sippin’ a beverage whilst watching tumbleweed roll down mainstreet, Arsenal.
No signs of life, not even a ‘roach, let alone another firing neurone.
However it’s when Arsenal news is this quiet that we often discover there’s been activity behind the scenes.
*Prays*
Given that Josh Kroenke and Tim Lewis are Stan’s consiglieri in N5, it does cause an eyebrow to be raised that Arteta has gone, or has been summoned to the United States.
Premier League winter break fact sheet for all of us wondering where all the football matches went: https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/premier-league-winter-break-dates-26033402.amp
Please pardon the Daily Mirror link.
Bath, I cannot, under any circumstances, visualise you “chawin a plug”.
Now this may be true, or it may not ..
C100@63: Even if it is not true, it should be.
On Auba (Ozil, Willian redux), Wenger’s policy of not giving longer than one-year contract extensions to over-30s, so derided at the time, now looks so sensible in retrospect.
C100 @62, you are of course correct but it was such a beguiling image as I thought of tumbleweed rolling through a Western town and sitting on a porch step, it seemed the only appropriate activity. I must confess to never having tried chewing tobacco. I have smelt it – that was enugh for me. I have tried snuff (a gift from a wee Glesca lady patient who was an aficionado) – it didn’t become a habit.
Ned @64, correct on both statements.
Ivory Coast loses on penalties so Pépé is next on the plane home.
Given we have two games in the next six weeks it’s not too pressing to get our AFCON players home
Heh, good point TTG. I had conveniently forgotten about our gruyère calendar.
*plans weekends differently*
Interesting to see the managerial turnover at each club, and the points per game achieved by each manager. I was struck by how Chris Hughton did much better at Brighton than their current manager, who somehow seems to be the darling of the press. Also, Mikel trails Unai but not by a meaningful number.
Looks like the covid postponement rules are changing already.
Arsenal appear to be in a real bind as the transfer window appears to be coming to an end At this stage of our main squad we have loaned Mari, AMN , Hein and Balogun and Kolasinac has left . We have received very little income for any of these deals but presumably most of their wages are being paid by the club who has acquired them ? The only realistic signing at present it seems is the American goalkeeper Turner . As Leno appears to be at the club until the summer and we have no cup games to offer him it doesn’t appear worth taking him over the Atlantic until the summer .
It’s easy to compile wish lists but in the January window they are worthless as so few serious deals are done . Pragmatically we will have four midfielders who can cover central midfield for the rest of the season . I rate only two of them but we are trying to be realistic.
We have several centre backs on loan but could use Holding, Chambers and Tomayisu as back-up .But If Auba is effectively out of the door and we have two strikers out of contract in July and we haven’t seen a striker score a first team goal in the league since Boxing Day ( that was a penalty ) we are desperately short . Clearly much needs to be done in the summer but from what I saw on Sunday if we don’t sign a decent striker ( one capable of scoring at least ten league goals between now and the end of the season we are unlikely to finish above eighth place .
I do hope Edu has got something worthwhile in place . We are in a very difficult situation
On Auba (Ozil, Willian redux), Wenger’s policy of not giving longer than one-year contract extensions to over-30s, so derided at the time, now looks so sensible in retrospect.
Not when it was a policy made at a time when we had proven world class players in the team, rather than pretenders.
Re this issue of giving longer ( and very lucrative ) contracts to older players I think I come down between the original writer and what Cynic says above . Wenger was brilliant at selling players when they reached their sell by date . We weren’t greatly damaged by selling Vieira, Henry , Overmars , Seaman and Petit . We had the best of them .
Looking back it was tough not to renew Ozil and Aubameyang . In Ozil’s case we mismanaged the Sanchez situation and losing both of our elite players would have sent a very negative message .There was a huge clamour to renew the hottest striker in the league ( someone who had played a huge part in winning us the Cup ) . If we had t done it Arsenal would have been accused of lacking ambition .
The problem was that both players declined rapidly after they were given the new contract Some people with contacts at the club are suggesting Auba’s behaviour has become increasingly disrespectful and Gabon have used ‘ cardiac lesions and the need to investigate them ‘ as a smokescreen to send him and other players home after bad behaviour pre AFCON. Peter Wood has a lot to say on that from his sources .
Signing Willian was a very bad mistake but in all three cases it seems the desire to maintain the same level of physical commitment disappeared . I’m struggling to remember too many players who we sold after 30 whose achievements came back to bite us .
I agree with all that, TTG @73. I am sure we are working to mitigate our striker problem even if it’s not the long term solution.
Auba being left behind suggests the bridges have all been burned and his transgression has been terminal.
TTG@73: To your point, some research in baseball shows that on the whole baseball players get their biggest contracts just after their peak year.
If the reports are true that Auba wants his current salary matched by any suitor, we are going to have the utmost trouble giving him away in the summer, let alone this window.
Calum Chambers off to Villa. A three and a half year deal for an undisclosed sum. So another one out the door, another £50,000 a week off the wage bill, but still no one arriving that we know of.
So long Calum. It seems like yesterday that I read the news we had signed a right back from Southampton and it wasn’t Nathaniel Clyne. Th sum seemed inordinate, and in retrospect it seems to have been just that for all the (few) games you started for us. Villa seem to see it differently. I anxiously await news that Douglas Luiz is the secret reason the deal was made.
According to the BBC it was a free transfer.
Calum’s a Gooner. Thank you for your service and good luck in the future.
Edunomics
Mkhitaryan free
Mustafi free
Ozil free
Sokratis free
Macey free
Kolasinac free
Willian free
Chambers free
Martinez 15m –
Willock 26m –
Likely summer transfers
Nketiah free
Lacazette free
Aubameyang free
Elneny free
Leno 15 m
Mari 6 m
AMN 8m
Guendouzi – 9m
Mavropanos – 3m
Torreira – 12m
Not a pretty or encouraging picture is it but the saving on wages is possibly around 100 m a year
The word Stateside is that a deal has been struck for Matt Turner to join in the summer. The fee is said to be £5.25 million with another £1.5 million in add-ons.
I guess Leno won’t decide on the Newcastle offer until he knows whether they are staying up.
I read a nominal* 2m quid somewhere, but either way his contract was running down and we weren’t going to get anything much. 122 games since he joined in 2014 although that’s with two seasons off on loan. Not the worst value signing we’ve made I suppose. After a bright start and a couple of games for England he could never make the step up from squad player. On the other hand when he did play I never thought he wasn’t giving it a 100% and so the best of luck to him at Villa.
* I wouldn’t mind a nominal 2m quid
OM: Chambers would have been out of contract in the summer, so we have saved 22 weeks of wages (at £50,000 a week) which, with the non-wage costs, comes out to around £1.4 million in the club’s piggy bank more than it would have had had he not gone. As you say, he never gave less than 100% when called on. We do seem to be letting our utility players go with abandon, however.
Ned,
Yes, not sure I’d have let both AMN and Calum move this window, Mari gone too so we’re a bit short for a natural left centre back. To be fair, MA has had a good look at all three and not selected them most of the time. We’ve certainly freed up some funds but it’s difficult to see a CM or forward available right now.
Anyway, a risk but we are out of both cups and so only PL to play for the rest of this season.
OM, The departures leave a Saliba-shaped space in the squad, however.
Can we really believe that Nketiah , Auba and Xhaka might leave ? Is Bath’s jest about trying to get games called off because we can’t raise a team not far from reality ?
If we are looking to offload the two strikers we have to have a back-up plan . I also think the Xhaka stuff is mischief making by Moaninho. I’d love to see Xhaka leave but I just can’t see it and we’d need someone experienced in the wings to replace him. Unless the whispers have been magically suppressed I just don’t see it .
I do understand that our new goalkeeper has a very decorative girlfriend who is a cheerleader for the New England Patriots . That’s nice for him
Still miss this fella
Ultra free kick, Santiago!
Fantastic player, SSY, and by all accounts fantastic bloke too.
Ned, OM
Frankly I am totally bemused by what is going on. We accumulated very carefully and innovatively in the summer . There was a clear plan .I’m really struggling to understand a new plan that leaves you without any experienced strikers next season. And we are going to be desperately struggling to score for the rest of the season .
By all means cull the deadwood but you need to balance a cull with new growth and we haven’t got youngsters remotely ready to fill in . It’s way too late to set up the right deals now . They’ve allowed Vlahovic to dick them around and the cost of that could be enormous.
TTG@89: I think there was a plan and Vlahovic would have fitted it, probably in the summer, coming in to replace the out of contract Laca and the probably departing Nketiah. However, the Auba situation advanced our plans and either Vlahovic or more likely his agents seized the opportunity to play a different and suddenly strengthened hand. Do we have any other cards up our sleeve? At this point, I doubt it. Top-quality young strikers are scarcely two a penny, especially in January and even more so ones that nobody else has noticed. Assuming no last-minute pleasant surprises, we are going to need goals out of ESR, Saka and Ødegaard if we are going to have European football next season. I am more sanguine about letting Chambers, Mari and Kola go, as they were scarcely even getting time on the bench. AMN is a slightly different case.
I note in the training pictures from Dubai that JW is wearing a training shirt with a squad number on it (12). That is the first time he has been pictured like that; his previous training kits have just had JW on them. There may be less to it than meets the eye as all the youngsters are wearing kit with low numbers unused by the first-team squad.
One of the pictures contains the U-18s captain, Taylor Foran who looks a man-mountain for an 18-year old.
Not sure how many goals the Corporal scored for us in his time but I see he notched one on his debut for Melbourne City last weekend.
Bring back the Corporal.
UTA.
>>>>>>>