The Twenty Tens – A sea change of a sort
Arsenal found themselves under pressure as the new decade opened. It had always seemed a matter of time before Cesc Fabregas returned to his boyhood club in Barcelona, and eventually he did make that move; only his loyalty to Wenger delayed it for a season or two. Barcelona managed by Guardiola and featuring several World Cup winners just had too big a pull for Cesc, who had signed a remarkable seven-year contract with Arsenal. Samir Nasri moved to the Etihad badmouthing Arsenal in the process. Good player but the prevailing feeling was good riddance. Wenger made some equivocal statements about big clubs not selling their best players but at the same time he seemed to accept the financial rationale for the major sales Arsenal were forced to make. City had already raided Arsenal for Clichy, Toure, and Adebayor.
The season after, to the disgust of many Gooners Robin van Persie, possibly the hottest striker in Europe, revealed a hitherto hidden affection for Manchester United. Viewed objectively it was a ruthless decision, just as was Sol Campbell’s a decade earlier, and it paid off as he immediately led United to the title. But it also underlined that Arsenal could no longer realise the ambitions of their best players and van Persie’s mind might have been made up by a catastrophic 8-2 defeat at Old Trafford the season before where a side quite unworthy of the traditions of Arsenal took the field against United. It was humiliating in the extreme and many thought it unnecessary that Arsenal should go into a season with such a threadbare squad. Though Wenger righted the ship as he so often did, bringing in Per Mertesacker and a Spanish lad called Arteta who were to play a huge part in the development of Arsenal (and still are), the feeling persisted that Arsenal were not serious title contenders anymore. It felt much worse to be patronised by Ferguson than it did to be hated by him! Arsenal embarked on a trolley-dash after the United humiliation (with very mixed results) but only after knowing that qualification for the Group stage of the Champions League was assured. That illustrated the financial pressure the club was under. It is probably fair to say that despite the massive debt that Spurs have incurred with their new stadium they appear to be under less financial pressure despite a significantly bigger debt burden than Arsenal were six years after moving into the Emirates. Is this a tribute to the better financial planning of Daniel Levy, a sign of the changing financial dynamics in high-level sport or might it be a condemnation of poor commercial management by Ivan Gazidis as Arsenal failed to generate anything like the funds Spurs have in terms of commercial revenue after moving, a move which was ostensibly to improve Arsenal’s financial situation?
On the football front , one of the most emotional returns we have seen at the club occurred in 2012 in the third round of the FA Cup. Thierry Henry had returned on loan from New York Red Bulls before the US season began and was on the bench for a third round tie with Leeds. The game was locked at 0-0 when the great man returned to a huge ovation. Superstars write their own scripts and to no one’s surprise a few minutes after he arrived, Thierry took a Song pass and slipped a trademark finish into the right hand corner for the only goal of the game. The ground erupted. Thierry hadn’t scored his last goal for the club as we feared four years before and even the Leeds fans seemed caught up in the drama of his return.
Tottenham achieved Champions league qualification again two years after their first spell in the competition but were generally eased out by Arsenal in this respect over the next few years, often on the last day of the season! Redknapp had made them competitive and had overseen their first victory at Arsenal for years when they recovered from a 2-0 deficit to triumph 3-2. But ‘Arry was jettisoned in favour of Andre Villas Boas, who remains a divisive figure both at Tottenham and at the Bus Stop to this day. Bale was sold to Real Madrid, a sale as inevitable as Fabregas’s sale to Barca, just as Arsenal brought in Madrid’s Mesut Özil, a record purchase to be followed by the addition of Alexis Sanchez the season after. Tottenham were accused of wasting the bounty produced by Bale’s transfer fee and there was a feeling that he would be impossible to replace. But Tottenham were still improving steadily. St. Totteringham’s Day arrived with increasing drama and uncertainty but Wenger’s Arsenal achieved a flurry of success winning the FA Cup against Hull in 2014 and Villa in 2015. In retrospect if Wenger had exited then his reputation would have been even higher among the fans. But then again he had built one of the best sides in the league — why leave at that moment?
The following year Spurs, having brought in Mauricio Pochettino, put in their best challenge for the title in most peoples’ living memory. It was the season when Leicester proved triumphant and Arsenal frustratingly dropped out of contention although they beat Leicester twice. Tottenham eventually handed the title to Leicester after a frenetic draw at the Bus Stop where they had led 2-0. Harry Kane was now the idol at White Hart Lane and was a formidable striker who liked to score against Arsenal despite a series of pictures suggesting that as a boy his first love was the Gunners! Arsenal had rejected him at eight years of age for being too tubby!
What gave the season an ironic twist was that having failed to match Leicester, Tottenham‘s form completely collapsed and they subsided to a 5-1 defeat at Newcastle on the last day of the season as Arsenal slipped by them into second and invited in St. Totteringham again. But Pocchetino was at last proving the leader that Tottenham had craved for years. Players like Kane, Dembele, Dele Alli, Eriksen, and Lloris gave them a quality squad, and Pochettino managed to remove the curse of St. Totteringham in 2017 as Tottenham finished second, albeit seven points behind champions Chelsea, their highest finish for almost sixty years. Arsenal failed to reach the Champions League for the first time in nineteen years but still won the FA Cup 2-1 at Wembley against Chelsea. Wenger used this as a springboard to negotiate a new contract with Stan Kroenke the day after the final. That was, in retrospect, a mistake for both parties. In 2019 Tottenham were the kings of North London and to everyone’s surprise, not least their own, came back from a 3-0 deficit against Ajax to reach the Champions League final in Madrid against Liverpool. This was the biggest moment in the club’s history and for a few weeks leading up to the final Arsenal fans were fearing that Spurs surely couldn’t land the Champions League, could they? They had a slightly fortuitous run to the final, looking likely to be eliminated at the group stage before Barcelona played a weakened side in their last game and being the beneficiary of some eccentric VAR decisions at the Etihad. Their win in Amsterdam was the stuff of pure legend as Lucas Moura notched an epic second half hat-trick.
When the final arrived Spurs were hugely unlucky to concede one of the softest penalties ever given in a major match in the first few minutes, Salah scoring, but in truth they gave a supine performance with Kane clearly not fit and lost 2-0. The Collins dictionary actually describes a condition called ‘Spursiness’ – to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory or to fall short with the prize in sight. Spurs showed their Spursy side in their last two League Cup finals and could have put up a much braver show in Madrid. But they seemed to lack intestinal fortitude under pressure.
Nevertheless, reaching the Champions League final underlined their progress in a major way. Plans advanced for a super stadium to be built on the existing site in Tottenham High Road, one of the least accessible places on earth. While the stadium was being built Spurs played at Wembley Stadium, a place that they had not visited very regularly before! To be fair Tottenham had overtaken Arsenal in terms of team quality even if Arsenal had retained the knack of winning trophies.
Arsenal’s failure to make the Champions League in 2017, was a huge blow to the club in both financial and status terms. There was a well of toxicity at the Emirates which made home games quite unpleasant experiences on occasions. It became a club divided. Marches in protest began as banners claiming ‘In Wenger we rust‘ were unfurled and were a very sad way for the Wenger era to unwind.
Arsene Wenger eventually left Arsenal in 2018 and was given the gold Premier League trophy in commemoration of his service to the club. It was so sad that his later years saw rancour and division. By the time of his departure most fans, certainly those who were regular attenders felt his time was up, indeed it was generally felt that it had been for some time, but there was an enormous well of affection and respect for a man who gave his life to the club and achieved so much. He was a visionary, a control freak, a man of huge integrity, and he gave Arsenal fans memories they will never forget. But he stayed too long.
His replacement , Unai Emery began well and almost achieved Champions League qualification in his first season; he led Arsenal to the Europa League final in Baku where the team gave an anaemic performance in a 4-1 thrashing by Chelsea. In his second season things deteriorated quickly with a very divided dressing room and some of the most highly-paid players at odds with the club. His eventual replacement, just in time for the new decade, was Mikel Arteta, the former captain of the club who had coached at Manchester City under Pep Guardiola after retiring from playing. His close friend Mauricio Pochettino looked set to lead Spurs up that final step but within a year football was hit with a crisis it could never have envisaged and had to adapt to a very different world.
2020 vision- what is the trajectory of the clubs?
There may be readers of this analysis who were hitherto largely unfamiliar with the respective histories of the clubs. Trying to look objectively at Tottenham’s story it would seem that for years they had sought a leader who could bring the combination of stability and quality that Wenger had brought to Arsenal. In May 2019 Tottenham had contested the Champions League Final in Madrid. It was the high water mark for the club as it would be for almost any club and their manager Mauricio Pochettino had achieved it whilst recapturing the style of football that Spurs’ fans had claimed was the club’s birthright. But in November 2019 Daniel Levy decided to remove Poch, as a slow start saw some Spurs fans suggest he had ‘taken the club as far as he could’. How often that label has been pinned to managers who have radically overachieved at a club. They have usually gained access to new, unprecedented horizons by very good coaching. They replaced him with the controversial Jose Mourinho, that most abrasive and unpleasant of characters. If Arsenal fans had been polled to suggest the most divisive new coach for Tottenham, and one likely to create a stress fracture in the club, it would almost certainly have been Mourinho who they would have nominated.
Levy had overseen the move to Tottenham’s new stadium, the new White Hart Lane. It was completed some time behind schedule but it brought excitement to a club that were desperate for some sort of positive differentiation from their North London rivals. It had a number of state-of-the-art design features which enabled it to be used for NFL fixtures, Rugby league finals, boxing, and pop concerts. It was a very clear way of generating significantly increased revenue. In the dozen years since the Emirates opened, stadium features and technology had advanced a great deal. You could even now fill your beer glass upside down! It made the new stadium a goldmine. But a number of Tottenham fans were asking what was the point of generating this increased revenue whilst the side continued to underperform on the field.
ENIC Group is owned by the family trust of Joe Lewis. ENIC’s Bahamas-registered subsidiary, ENIC International Limited, currently holds 86.58% of the total issued share capital of Tottenham Hotspur. Daniel Levy and his family own 29.88% of the share capital of ENIC International Limited, while a discretionary trust of Lewis’s family owns 70.12%. Levy has become a very rich man during the almost quarter century that he has been in charge at Tottenham. A lot of simple Spurs folk claim with a mixture of pride and anguish that Daniel Levy ‘is a very good businessman‘ and ‘a great negotiator‘. But what he manifestly isn’t is a Chairman with a stellar record of onfield achievement. When he became chairman Tottenham had won eight FA Cups to Arsenal’s seven. Since he has been chairman Arsenal have won the trophy another seven times. Spurs have never reached the FA Cup Final during his tenure. One trophy in twenty three years (and that the least significant of the domestic triple ) is not a cause for celebration and makes it very hard for Spurs to claim that on playing record they are a really big club. They have a wonderful stadium and a tradition of fine football played by great players but they are not consistently in the mix for the big prizes.
Mourinho did get Tottenham to a League Cup Final in 2021 but was fired before the final where Ryan Mason took charge; Mason was then replaced by Nuno Espírito Santo, and then quickly afterwards by Antonio Conte. In a period of five years they have had (not including temporary sticking plasters ), five big name managers — as many as Arsenal have had in thirty-eight years. Hire and fire worked effectively for Chelsea in the Abramovich era but it was coupled with astute purchases in the transfer market. The sense is that Tottenham lack an effective touch in the market, and they are a harder sell to world-class players who like to fill their own trophy cabinets rather than just see the shareholders making themselves richer.
Arsenal had made Unai Emery their new manager, the successor to Wenger. Emery has an impressive record in Europe but seemed to become less and less effective in his second season and Arsenal replaced him with Mikel Arteta. KSE, Arsenal’s shareholders, were not warmly regarded by most Arsenal fans. Stan Kroenke was known as ‘Silent Stan’ because he was not a frequent or effusive communicator and his early strategy seemed to be to pile in behind Arsene Wenger who had turned Arsenal into a cash cow.
The choice of Arteta, who was seriously considered when Emery was appointed, was brave. It was his first managerial job and a few months into the job he was the first major soccer casualty of the Covid virus. He made a steady start with a woefully unbalanced squad and then had to face the extraordinary challenge of empty stadia and all that Covid brought. He halted a potential slide towards relegation and switching to three at the back took Arsenal to Wembley in the FA Cup where they first beat Manchester City in the semi final 2-0, and then overcame Chelsea 2-1. All four of the goals were scored by Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, who was subsequently given a huge contract which gave him in excess of £300k a week. It proved in hindsight to be a poor decision although Auba helped Arsenal to a Community Shield a few weeks later; but Arsenal’s form fell away thereafter. At the end of the season Arsenal finished 8th, out of Europe altogether, and Spurs qualified for the Conference League in 7th. Bale returned on loan to clinch the poison chalice of Europa Conference League football.
Towards the end of the 2020/ 21 season 12 European football clubs collectively issued a letter of intent to form a new European so-called ‘Super League’, of which they would be the founder members. Spurs and Arsenal both signed up to a project that unravelled almost as quickly as it appeared. Both North London clubs distanced themselves from the project fairly quickly and in apologetic terms which seemed to presage a different approach to the fans at both clubs. One could be forgiven for thinking that Arsenal in particular had felt a penny drop about what English football fans expected of their club owners. The ESL project is certainly not dead, but is currently quiescent and it will be interesting to see what might happen if Manchester City are heavily sanctioned by the Premier League if found guilty of the charges lined up against them. The ESL debacle threatened to undermine the relationship between owners and fans but it seems that it may, inadvertently, have improved owner understandIng of what constitutes a football club, especially a Premier League club situated in North London.
Antonio Conte was a successful winning manager who had just helped Inter Milan to the Italian title but he was not reticent about making public pronouncements about the support he expected from his board. Arsenal‘s board was effectively irrelevant in the decision-making process after KSE became the only shareholder in the club, and changes were made with Raul Sanllehi following Ivan Gazidis and Sven Mislintat out of the club. Tim Lewis was playing a much bigger role in the governance of the club, and Josh Kroenke was appearing to be an emotionally very intelligent and supportive confidante of Arteta, who needed one as Arsenal began the 21/22 season disastrously. Arsenal lost the first three games, the last a humiliation at the Etihad. Josh kept the faith, refusing to panic, and he was proved right. Arsenal almost made it back into the Champions League at the end of that season. In mid-season Arteta insisted the club get rid of Aubameyang and the owners backed him. What made it very painful was that Tottenham overtook Arsenal to claim the 4th place and Champions League football, winning a crunch match at the Lane 3-0. In that match Tottenham looked a much more mature match-winning machine than Arsenal, who fielded players like Cedric and Rob Holding (who was sent off early on). But overall Arsenal had shown progress and it continued the next season as Arsenal raced into a huge lead in the League, in a season interrupted by a winter World Cup. City eventually overtook Arsenal but the Gunners were in a clear second place and did the double over Tottenham who finished out of the European places after they disposed of Conte. There was again a feeling that Arsenal had stability and vision and Tottenham were back to square one looking for a Messiah to lead them out of the football wilderness.
They chose as their Messiah Ange Postecoglou, the Celtic manager and a straight-speaking Aussie. A lover of the high press but someone whose inability to make eye contact was reminiscent of a previous Spurs manager, Gerry Francis.
Arsenal built ambitiously on their fine season in 22/23 with the huge purchases of Declan Rice and Kai Havertz. Postecoglou bought well too, obtaining the rapid Dutch defender Micky Van de Ven, and Vicario an upgrade on Lloris in goal. But the loss of their record goalscorer Harry Kane to Bayern Munich was a grievous pre-season blow. Arsenal carried their challenge to City right through to the end of the season but City put together win after win until with two games to go they travelled to the Lane where they had an atrocious league record. The preamble to that game encapsulated all of the toxicity we have noted accumulating over the years between the clubs. Surveys in the media and articles in the press suggested Spurs’ supporters would prefer relegation to Arsenal winning the league. To his credit Postecoglou rubbished this attitude but one sensed he was shocked by the way this obsession with Arsenal defined Tottenham in their fans’ eyes. Spurs played well on the night but Son clean through with an easy chance near the end saw Ortega make a fine save, and Arsenal’s chance of the title was gone as City triumphed 2-0.
I had many bitter discussions with Spurs fans around this time. The gist of their argument was that Arsenal are deeply arrogant and they could not take more songs about winning the title at the Lane or stealing away Tottenham’s captain on a free or seeing Arsenal emerge supreme in the Premier League. It is hard not to feel that their obsession with Arsenal limits the potential of the club. Sixty plus years without a title has taken its toll but beyond that they have only won two League Cups in thirty five years . They start next season outside an expanded Champions League when a few weeks before they looked likely to finish above Aston Villa. Can Postecoglou reverse this inferiority complex and can Arteta take Arsenal beyond City at the third attempt?
The present day – Business as usual?
This has been a much deeper dive into Arsenal/Tottenham history than I expected it to be. I wouldn’t claim for a second that it is a truly balanced view, but I have genuinely tried to discover and reveal the culture and traditions of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club as well as those of Arsenal. I haven’t touched on things like the ‘Y’ word and why Tottenham consider themselves the club who represent the Jewish community in North London, when there is evidence that Arsenal has just as many Jewish supporters. One senses Tottenham crave a unique identity even if it is not truly authentic.
The toxicity that I allude to often is a product of modern society. Local rivalries all over the country seem to be channelled into more and more aggressive, a confrontational aggression illustrating a keen lack of respect for the other club. Social media facilitates this…
I was in Norwich recently, and the rivalry with Ipswich is deep and heartfelt and very uncompromising. Southampton and Portsmouth reflect the strong city rivalries through their football teams. United and City in Manchester, and Liverpool and Everton, are very strong rivalries and reflect intense tribalism. Frankly I don’t feel that strongly about Spurs as rivals because consistently over the last fifty years Arsenal have out-performed them. I certainly wouldn’t prefer Arsenal to be relegated to Spurs winning the league. It is a ludicrous notion and maybe that is why I don’t consider it seriously. I suspect most sane Arsenal fans feel the same.
This season Arsenal are genuine contenders for the league title but much will depend on what punishment (if any) is meted out to City. Tottenham are probably not contenders for the title but they could be a top four side, although Postecoglou’s naive ideas on high lines and when and how to press may prove their undoing if they continue to be ultra-aggressive. If Tottenham don’t start well Postecoglou will come under pressure. His popularity waned a little as last season went on and Tottenham dropped several home points or made heavy weather of beating struggling teams. One day Tottenham have to find a good manager, back him and stick with him or the rinse and repeat cycle will go on. And while Spurs fans have to regard Arsenal as rivals they must not allow Arsenal to live rent-free in their heads, nor to decide whether Spurs have a good season or not by how well Arsenal have done.
It is an intense rivalry, frankly it is too intense, and last year’s City debacle underlined how obsessional and toxic things have got. But in the frenzy of competition I don’t expect that to change any time soon. The two North London giants are great clubs but given the size of their followings a peaceful co- existence is unlikely!
Arsenal have a motto ‘Victoria Concordia Crescit‘ (Victory through Harmony) which is a fair and meaningful assessment of how to succeed in football (and in life). Tottenham’s motto ‘Audere est Facere’ (To Dare is to Do) has always bemused me largely because, unless I am missing something, it is effectively meaningless. It seems to speak to a bold, gladiatorial approach to life, and Postecoglou certainly has rekindled that passion, but that isn’t really what the motto says. It is ill-defined and one would expect that if it correlated to the football approach they have, the motto might change slightly every few years and never quite epitomise what the club wants to be about.
The rivalry continues, often producing the most exciting head-to-head derbies in the league, and the passion and dread of defeat never wanes. One thing that unites almost all Spuds and Gooners is that before each Derby they dread the outcome. It is a wonderful game to win but a hideous one to lose. It is a rivalry that is white-hot and bitter.
Underneath it all I choose to remember those eminently decent Spurs fans gently bowing their heads in 2001 as a stadium wept for Rocky. Decency writ large. I hope that respect and understanding can always underpin the passion but recent events suggest it is a forlorn hope.
Enjoy the new season playing the Goonerholicsforever Prediction Contest, in aid of the Willow Foundation!
Can you harness your inner Mystic Meg and out-predict defending champion Pangloss in foreseeing the final Premier League table for the 2024-25 season?
Will you be more clairvoyant than CER and GSD were last season in predicting the FA Cup winner? Or TTG and Uply when it comes to the League Cup?
What’s your bet on the first manager to get the tin tack this season? Have you got a better inside track or insight than Dr F. Jnr?
You can only find out by entering the 2024-25 edition of the GHF Predictathon.
Again, the purpose of the contest is twofold. Firstly, it is to increase your enjoyment of the upcoming season by providing a degree of light-hearted competitive rivalry as the season progresses. Secondly, it will enable us to support the Willow Foundation with a further source of charitable funding.
Check out the “GHF Contests” tab at the top of the page for The Rules, the entry blank and information about how to enter the contest, and how the contest will be scored.
Good luck!
Reposted from the bottom of the last drinks, an appropriate anthem to TTG’s magnificent trilogy.
Bravo TTG! The rivalry wouldn’t be particularly sharpened by it but long may a Spurs downward spiral continue.
A more than worthy conclusion to an excellent trilogy, TTG. I enjoyed reading every word of it, even if some of the memories were a bit painful.
C100@1: 👍
That’s a great trilogy, TTG – a superb overview of the last 60 years and well worth reading time and again. It’s also a chronicle of our lives and their highs and lows. Superbly done, sir. A case of your favourite tipple awaits you on the virtual bar.
A fine conclusion to a superb series, TTG.
Your analysis of the Spurs motto is spot on. At the very least it seems to be written back to front – and literally translated it means nothing. Spurs always claim to have a “way” of playing but, in reality, in the Premier League era they have tried promising, upcoming managers with no record of success, and everything in between up to and including Conte and Mourinho. They have done the same with players and been equally unsuccessful. Ironically, the only manager who managed to break their long barren run was George Graham. Faced with a pragmatic but successful playing style and / or the demands to actually improve and build in the success, they took the almost, for them, inevitable decision to sack him. Spursy, did someone say ?
A supreme effort TTG
The man hours needed to put those 3 stellar posts together doesn’t bear thinking about.
It’s such a shame that it will only be read by the dwindling band of diehard Gooners that inhabit the Holic bar.
Is there a way this could be posted on the wider web, as it deserves to be read by a much wider audience.
It has certainly helped to fill the cultural desert that the off season has been, even allowing for a very humdrum Euro Comp.
Your timing is perfect, as we now enter the lead up to the new season, now only 23 days away, with our US Tour about to start, and I am sure we will now see also the main activity in the transfer market start to heat up as well.
If i sniff the wind, i can just get the scent of new mown grass at the Ems.
The Giant is stirring, getting ready for the new season, and with it the hopes and dreams of all Gooners, as we prepare for another shot at the Holy Grail.
Arsenal XI v. Bournemouth in Los Angeles (front to back more or less):
Nketiah, Vieira, Nelson, Nwaneri, M’Hand, Partey, Lewis-Skelly, Heaven, White, Timber, Hein.
Subs: Odegaard, Jesus, Zinchenko, Kiwior, Jorginho, Trossard, Smith Rowe.
The teams were posted at least three hours before game time on the arsenal site, and the list of available subs was actually considerably larger than the list above. The complete list was: Subs: Setford, Nygaard, Rojas, Zinchenko, Nichols, Kiwior, Rekik, Jorginho, Rosiak, Odegaard, Smith Rowe, Gower, Trossard, Sagoe Jr, Jesus.
Ornstein has said ESR is moving to Fulham for £35m. Much as it grieves me to see him go, this is a good deal for all parties.
Any chance of a Crystal Tips and Alistair gazump?
Clive and others
Thankyou so much for your kind words and appreciation. It was a labour of love that just grew and grew! I am talking with Layth at the Gooner about running it in longer form. My intention and timing were exactly as Clive describes .
I agree with C100 about ESR and it’s a decent price and I hope he does very well. I like the lad and am most grateful for his service to the club. The key is if he can stay fit .
We look like we may sell Nelson to Leicester , Nketiah to Marseille , ESR to Fulham and Kiwior to Italy . If they are all sales we might net £90 million plus . Ramsdale needs to move but nobody who needs him can afford the price ! If we did sell him we’d certainly achieve the £120 m I speculated in my Silly Season article . I understand Sambi and Tavares are on loans with no obligation to buy. We really need money in for those players . If we lose Sambi, ESR , Elneny and possibly Partey we would need more than one midfielder coming in
Its been a great read TTG, many familiar memories but also so many new insights. Very much appreciated. Having just passed 50 yrs as a resident in Oz, i’m brought back to my 1 year at Finchley Grammar where i think i was the only known Gooner (or Gunner in those days) c 1961/2. I never wavered, coming from N19 and my family’s support from way back dot. Still recall leaving my job in Fleet Street 10 mins early to get to WH Lane for 71 crowning…got on the train at Liverpool Street & never got off…there were thousands milling in the streets. We all live in a troubled world but back when i arrived in Perth in Feb 73 you couldn’t find the ‘Soccer’ results in the paper…ive always railed against ‘Soccer’…anyhow now i can get up at 0800, have my coffee and porridge and watch it on my computer. A lot ‘aint what it used to be…but some things are…just more better! I read GHF every day and its such a great place…long may it reign.. 2024/25 will we win it?…prob not…but ive been with AFC since my first visit in 1955, Metropolitan League with my Grandpop…so i just love The Arsenal….no more to be said, except keep up the great work guys…there’s many of us all over who love what you do
Thanks TTG, many have already said what a great trilogy it has been and I can only echo their fine words.
I also agree with you and C100 about ESR.
C100@9: Spot on.
I share the widespread sadness about the prospect of ESR leaving the club. He made such a huge contribution in the middle of 2020-21 turning around the club’s stuttering start to the season and at that point seemed to have a nailed on place in the side.
However injuries and rumours of re-fuelling issues have interrupted his progress and last season, despite regaining fitness, he barely played. At his age and stage of development Emile clearly needs to play regularly and the prospect of that at Arsenal looks bleak. Fulham need to replace Willian as midfield playmaker and Emile could nail down that role alongside ex-youth team colleague Alex Iwobi.
Good luck for the future, Emile, if the rumour of a deal proves true.
ESR’s situation, and those of Nelson and Nketiah, also speak to how much our first team has improved over the past couple of seasons. All three are perfectly capable of holding down starting places at two-thirds of the clubs in the PL, just not at the elite teams in the top third.
I was struck by an unsourced comment in the BBC’s report of the Bournemouth friendly: The Gunners are putting a renewed focus on youth development as they look to close the gap on Manchester City after successive second-place Premier League finishes. It means they will try to improve the standard of player going into their academy and, more importantly, the regularity with which they make impacts at the highest level.
It will be interesting to see what that means in practice, especially the recruitment part.
Fantastic work, TTG. Cheers!
Bordeaux has folded. Very sad. They gave us Silvain Wiltord.
The European Clubs Association has just published a study of football Academies in Europe and the transition to the first team. It lays out starkly what a mountain it is to climb for an aspiring young footballer. Two eye-catching statistics: three-quarters of the youngsters who sign scholarship contracts with English clubs fail to go on to play professionally at any level, and if an Academy player has not made the transition to his club’s first team by the time he is 20, odds are he will not make it at all.
As for Arsenal, it is a top-30 among European clubs at getting players from its Academy into senior football. However, over the five years studied, it has only given a handful of youngsters senior debuts.
Here is an executive summary of the report:
https://3.0.app.azavista.com/asset/669ac88456fcb20b1bb64fa7/ECA%20Transition%20from%20Academy%20to%20First%20Team%20Football_Executive%20Summary_final_2024.pdf
Superb trilogy, TTG. Stellar job, interesting and thought provoking.
Here’s a bucket of cold water to assuage the angst about selling ESR and to cool down the critics of Edu’s abilities in the marketplace:
Bath
There is no doubt that despite our fondness for him ESR isn’t able to stay fit . I suspect his ability to keep playing last year was because he wasn’t actually playing much . There are many veiled theories that his off-field lifestyle isn’t optimal but I suspect they are rumours rather than fact .
We all wish him well but Keenos analyses his injuries very clearly . Five long-term injuries suggest you cannot rely on him. I woukd think this sale is the one necessary to trigger the Ruiz deal. We’ve parted company with Elneny , Lokonga , ESR ( pending ) and I suspect may move on Partey . That’s after losing Xhaka the year before . We only have as 6 and 8s – Rice , Jorginho and Vieira so we really need two players
bath@31: Thanks for the link. That piece lays out a cogent case for why ESR should be sold. Incidentally, in the ECA report I mentioned @19 about the transition from Academy to first team, there is an interview with Wenger, who talks about the importance of managing the strain on young bodies from senior football and his regrets over career-diminishing recurrent injuries to some of the youngsters of his time. Perhaps he had Jack Wilshere in mind.
TTG@22: I would be delighted to acquire Fabian Ruiz, with whom we were linked when he was at Napoli. The numbers suggest that PSG didn’t get the best out of him even though at 26-27, he should have been at the peak of his career there. Arteta should be able to return him to elite level.
As for vacant first-team midfield slots, should we not assume that the youngsters in the US touring party — Michal Rosiak, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ethan Nwaneri, Salah–Eddine Oulad M’Hand and Jimi Gower — are auditioning for the part?
Mike McDonalds view on the US game v Bournemouth. Thought provoking as always.
https://gunnerstown.com/arsenal/2024/07/26/the-road-to-perfection-positives-needs-hopes-ars-1-5-1-4-bou/
Sound player assessments from Mike McDonald, as ever.
Ned,
To be honest I think only Nwaneri and Lewis- Skelly are anywhere near the squad and both probably need a loan before putting first-team responsibilities on their shoulders . One of the slight frustrations of modern football , certainly Artetaball is that the gap between reserve/youth and first team football grows ever wider . I think Nwaneri might be a potential understudy as a 10 who could also come on as sub to play wide . Lewis – Skelly played inverted left-back and Arteta may have a plan for him to play in a different role rather than a conventional 8 ( if Arsenal have a conventional anyone )
I think the PS&R rules might need revisiting as they encourage teams to cash in on their home-produced talent rather than nurturing them through the reserves into league football. When you think of Arsenal stars , Saka emerges as the shining home-produced star, but over the years it is salutary to think that players like George ,Simpson, P. Rice , Brady, Rix, Davis, Rocastle , Campbell, Adams, O’Leary , Merson , Fabregas and Szczesny might have been sacrificed early in their careers if the rules had been in operation then
Watching the Euros , the only time I felt Declan Rice struggled was against the technical quality of the Spanish quartet in midfield . It might be that next season C115y have Rodri and Olmo in midfield and we have Ruiz and Merino ( and Rice – and Odegaard!) .
I don’t share Mike’s view that we will sign Gyokeres . If we sign a striker and I’m not sure we will it may be Gimenez . Portuguese strikers ( like some of their wine ) don’t travel well- Silva, Nunes , Felix, Gonçalo Ramos , Eder have torn it up in Portugal but not when they’ve moved . But he may have info I haven’t ( I haven’t got any!)
TTG@26: Fair points on Nwaneri and MLS. On the latter, modern thinking on the development of wingers is to play them as full-backs and wingbacks as they come up through the ranks so they get a better understanding of the defensive roles they will be expected to perform in senior football, and of how they are likely to be defended against when they are attacking. Such versatility hasn’t done Saka any harm.
Most of your list of golden oldies had the good fortune to grow up when there was still a reserve side to blood them in senior football, an option no longer available. Sorry to bang on like an old drum, but we need a B side playing in the Football League or a portfolio of feeder clubs across Europe where our promising youngsters can get introduced into senior football in a more systematic way than the rather hit-and-miss loans system.
Just a hunch, but when I saw Nwaneri make his debut for us a couple of seasons ago, I thought he was going to be a great player. He is comfortable on the ball and has all the tools he needs.
Ned
Bang on all you like . Your point is absolutely right . World footballing authorities might look at the network being created by some clubs like one who might be thrown out of the Premier League next season and the opportunity it gives such clubs to develop players . We are at present denied this opportunity and it will hinder our ability to develop players . Looking at young Settford and Hein it is hard to see how they get match experience at Arsenal and this can’t be a good thing
I may be an outlier on the ESR conundrum, but i do wonder whether there is more to it, than just injuries.
We are not privy to what goes on in the intensive training sessions at the Ems, but i do wonder whether ESR is another player that just cannot adapt mentally to the intricate in game Arteta driven automatisms that players need to have that dictate how we play, in both attack and defence.
I remember an interview KT did when we went to Spain, where he said that when Zinny got injured and he was asked to play the inverted role, he said he was all at sea.
He was so used to just bombing up and down the touchline as a standard fullback, that no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t get his head round the new role.
I also remember the Barcelona coach saying that when Fabregas joined them, it took him ages to instil in Fab that in their system, he wasn’t to keep roaming chasing the ball, he was to be patient and wait, and the ball to come to him.
Many players just don’t have the mental faculties to absorb and execute the technical apsects of the game required at the highest level, and i do wonder if ESR could be a victim of this.
My two cents on ESR and other players that have come up through the Academy. ESR still has the attacking skills to succeed but he is a terrible defender. He doesn’t understand when and how to press, which is a key to Arteta-ball. I see the same thing with Nketiah and Nelson. Pressing is so key when we are out of possession. Obviously Odegaard is the poster boy on how to press, and along with Kai, Jesus, Rice, Martinelli, and Trossard, were key to our success last year. Even Saka is good at pressing, maybe not great, but he developed the skill over the past few years whereas the others haven’t.
I wonder if we are also seeing the last few players that came through the Academy during the late Wenger years, when attacking players having to defend wasn’t necessarily a key skill for Arsene. Maybe we will see a shift in the recruitment side of the Academy with a focus on players are willing to do the hard work, and being taught how and when to press in a complicated system. Attacking players have to be defenders when we don’t have the ball and defenders have to attacking players when we do have the ball.
A ‘B team’ playing the same kind of game as our first team would clearly facilitate our youth players bridging the gap to the first team. A few years ago, I thought we were supposed to be developing a close relationship with a Belgian club – Standard Liege? – with a view to such an arrangement but I guess that fell through. Apart from the Colorado team in the USA, I don’t think KSE own another club and that would be a key element in such an arrangement. Meanwhile I guess we are stuck with asking young prospects to make the leap to the first team squad as Saka did or sending them on loan to a club with a coach who is deemed simpatico to Artetaball. At least we were reported a couple of years ago to have appointed a coach to keep an eye on loanee progress.
Fifteen of the 20 leading European leagues allow B teams in their lower leagues. Of the Big Five leagues, Spain has the most (7), followed by Germany (2) and Italy (1). France allows them but has none. England does not allow them. In the next tier of leagues, Belgium has eight, the Netherlands has seven and Portugal has four. Czechia is the outlier with 14.
Most of the Spanish B teams started out as local amateur/semi-professional clubs that increasingly fell under the sway of or were acquired by a big club, enabling them to move up the pyramid to the second or third tier, until eventually being formalised as the club’s B team. That would probably have to be the model for PL clubs as I doubt the EFL would be happy with having half a dozen PL clubs parachute B teams into Leagues One and Two.
Owning a portfolio of clubs across multiple leagues works in much the same way, minus the eventually formulation as a B team, but on a broader geographical scale.
Just an observation about the hominids in c100’s link @1.
They never seem to age. 🤣🤣🤣
Among the most insightful points of The Athletic’s coverage of the Paris Olympics opening ceremonies: “At some point in any rainstorm, we devolve to whatever amphibian link exists in our evolutionary chain. The realization sets in that the water has won. You are wet, you are going to get more wet, so be wet.”
Jesus and Martinelli scored for us to beat Manure 2-1, didn’t see any of the game but hopefully it was a good workout. We lost the penalty shootout practice as Kiwior and Kai failed to score – extra practice after games this week.
My comment is awaiting moderation? Is this a new thing?
OM – I watched the match. A rather chippy match for a friendly. For the most part we played well. A good mixture of first-teamers and youth. Nwaneri had an excellent assist for Jesus’ goal and was generally very good. Zinchenko was generally poor with bad passes and losing the ball in dangerous positions. Martinelli was dangerous and looks to have found his mojo over the summer. Of the youngsters, Salah-Eddine was solid – he came on in the second half for Nwaneri. I think Nwaneri is going to see some playing time this season.
I also saw the game. It was played at relatively high intensity for a pre-season friendly, but there is little love lost between the two clubs.
I agree with ecg on Nwaneri and Salah-Eddine. I also thought Lewis-Skelly gave a good account of himself at left back after coming on for the second half. Adyen Heaven looked OK at centre-back in his 45 minutes, although he won’t be displacing Saliba by a long chalk; if Hein had saved Højlund’s goal, I think we would have commended Heaven for shepherding the Dane wide on the breakaway and into shooting from a narrow angle, but as Hein didn’t, Heaven will be blamed for letting him get the shot off. The inexperience of youth. The next time Højland tried to get a shot off, he had Benny Blanco in close attendance and had to withdraw from the field of play for the rest of the evening. Btw, Hein is very good with his feet (and, as in the Bournemouth game, made a couple of good saves with his hands). Timber played as the other CB until Gabriel came on in the second half. Martinelli was as sharp as mustard after coming on late on. He clearly wants his starting place back.
Thanks ecg, Ned. Good to hear the youngsters did well and it will be excellent if Gabi M is back to his dangerous best this season.
OM @38, I have had a look inside WordPress and I have no idea why your post was held for moderation. The only thing that seems likely is that an upgrade to WordPress must have incorporated an AI filter that has identified your IP address as a source of seditious ideas.
Mikel on Manweri
“It’s always in the hands of the players, so show what you can do. Show that ambition, that determination, that quality and things will happen naturally. Tomorrow he’s going to train with us again and if he continues to play like that he’s going to play some minutes on Wednesday for sure.”
I suspect ESR never quite reached those heights behind the scenes, at least in MA8’s eyes. Very sorry to see him go, but equally happy to see this new young talent emerging. Can he match Cesc’s introduction at 17?
Nwaneri even.
Spot on, BtM. The King is dead, long live the King.
@42 I think you’re right Bath, it must be a warning shot from our new masters, damn their silicon hides.
A hint of a half-ton in prospect, me thinks…
While no one is looking, quietly rolls a ball into the middle of the pitch from behind the bleachers…
Just manages to make a slight redirection out of the reach of the keeper for the onrushing…
It’s me, me , me
Brilliant goal OM!! I’m still at a loss to understand how you managed to do a bicycle kick and a scorpion kick at the same time for the goal!!!
It’s all the gym training with Simone Biles that I have been doing recently mate.
Worked wonders for my double reverse twist.
A bit late to the party but thanks TTG for your exploration of a rivalry that in truth has been a bit lukewarm for some time now – always in our shadow, never better epitomized than in their fans reaction to what might have been at the end of last season and that some of their best players came to us over the years. Ned might correct me, but I can’t think offhand of any of ours that we valued who crossed over to the dark side.
I don’t mind Ange but I can’t see him lasting the coming season with them and they’ll be on the scramble for yet another manager to maintain their Spursiness.
UTA.
Noosa,
Think you’re right about Ange, I don’t see him lasting either. They have no strategy other a financial one.
Well in for the half-ton, OM. Extraordinary goal.
Seems like we have a potential contender in Ange for the coming season’s tin-tack award in the GHF Predictathon 2024-25. There are only three weeks to go to the new season and the August 16 deadline for the Predictathon, so it’s time to start polishing your crystal balls. New season’s rules (spoiler alert: they are the same as last season) and a link for downloading the entry blank to be found under the GHF Contests tab. Get to it.
To add to Ned’s spoiler alert @55 about no changes in the Predictathon rules, participants in the new season’s FFL You Ropey League contest should check out the Premier League fantasy website because that contest actually does have some interesting tweaks to its
rules.
Sky Sports are reporting that everything bar medical is agreed for ESR to move to Fulham for £27m + £7m = £34m.
Bath and BtM can watch him regularly at the cottage.
442’s Adam Clery on Calafiori, who is now officially an Arsenal player
btw, Arteta looks like a cat who got the cream in the pics of him with Calafiori.
You get a bonus point if you know that Califiori’s number, 33, which he wore at Bologna and Basel, was last used by Arthur Okonkwo and Matt Ryan, Matt Macey and Petr Cech before him. It also once graced the back of the TGSTEL.
RC33 sounds like a good base for a chant.
If Califiori is pencilled in for left back and Arteta is happy to have White, Gabriel and Saliba as first choice, what happens to Timber?
No idea, C100 at 62, but hopefully the idea is not to cut him from the squad.
Great goal, OM.
I’ll take Calafiori’s number as homage to la Gironde. Big week to decide on the exact fate of Les Girondins.
C100@62: 38 PL games, 8-17 CL games and 1-6 ties in both the FA and League Cups. Plenty of football to go round — and to have to stay fit for.
Also, I suspect we’ll see some novel formations from Arteta, especially but not exclusively against teams that play a low block, which will require specific personnel, and that Timber, White and Calafiori will spend some time playing in positions that look nothing like a traditional back four/three defender.
White, Tomi, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Zin, Kiwior is probably the best collection of defenders we have ever had. Obviously the famous first choice back fours from the early seventies and the nineties were outstanding but we didn’t keep such high quality squads then. Hopefully the improved depth / skilllsets will allow more rotations for the variety of opponents we face.
As bt8 mentions @56, the HolicsRopeyLeague has now opened its doors and is ready to fulfill all your fantasy needs!
Our Holic rules remain unchanged
– at least one Arsenal player in your squad
– nary a Spud to be seen ever
Apart from that please fill your boots, everyone is welcome!
If you joined before your team will automatically renew.
For the many thousands of potential new managers please just post a
Request to join on the site and I will send you the entry code 👍🥂🏆🏆🏆🏆
One quick correction already – if you joined before the your team does not automatically renew anymore , instead an icon with “renew previous leagues” will appear on your screen once you have completed assembling your squad. Press that renew button and all will be done swiftly.
ESR gone to Fulham for £34 million.
Sad to see him go. Hope things improve for him, his injuries heal and he has a very successful second part of his career 🤞🏻🤞🏻
I do think Clive is on the right track @31 – or on ‘a’ right track.
Arteta has made comments more than once about ESR having the ability to “be whatever he wants to be “. There was clearly a missing element being his commitment or desire to get fit enough, stay fit enough, or possibly be prepared, or have the confidence to play through the final stages of rehabilitation of his injuries.
Maybe Clive is spot on and he just couldn’t adjust to the complexity of Arteta’s systems. Unless ESR himself speaks out we’ll probably never know. Always sad to see one of your own leave, especially a good one. Fingers crossed for him.
Trev@68: You and Clive have put your finger on something about the mental attitudes, footballing intelligence and adaptability expected of young players today. That is especially true at the elite clubs, which are now so intricately coached, and every player has superior technical skills. Ability alone is no longer sufficient for a successful career at a top club. As fans, we judge footballers based on what we see on matchdays. We tend to forget that it is still a full-time job away from the stadium, and that is where a young player’s self-discipline, hard work and determination to succeed get measured.
@58, C100 – Arsenal’s manic ticketing department has canceled my silver ticket without notice, despite earlier flagging that it would auto-renew. They refuse to be moved by any reference to 23 yeas of loyalty. I think they’ve fallen out of love with me completely.
Do you think Fulham fans will be OK with me wearing my red Smith Rowe 10 top whenever I go along to the Cottage?
BtM@70. Oh that’s terrible! I never trust the auto renew promise and always renew manually. Presumably you still have a red membership? I will remember you if Aidan is off gallivanting.
BtM – that’s terrible – to repeat C100.
You’ve had some really shoddy treatment over recent seasons and any club needs to set more worth with such loyal supporters than this.
You’re much better versed in things marketing than I am so I wouldn’t suggest a strategy, but don’t give up !
Btm
That’s outrageous! I was told my season ticket would auto renew this year and it didn5 because of a fault with a regularly used credit card . Arsenal IT is not up to the standard of its back four.
I would write to Richard Garlick . It’s a very poor do
Scans the field for a 3/4 ton goal poacher and lofts an arcing drive into the box
Bang!
BtM, I’m very sorry to hear how shabbily you have been treated by the Arsenal ticketing people, and hope they have a change of heart soon. They and you should really not be in these circumstances considering all you have given to the club including your many years of wonderful contributions here and to Goonerholic.
@74-75: A harbinger of Odegaard and Gabriel’s antics this season? Finely struck, TTG.
Thanks for the teasing, floated cross Bt8. Never miss from six feet !
I was just going to join the general lament for ESR. Some of my recent favourite players are gone or are leaving .
Tierney will be off , ESR is gone and I expect Eddie will be gone soon. Of all of those ESR may be the most missed but if he enjoys the same luck with injuries he has with us it will be a sound decision from Arteta . My first view of him was in a Youth Cup semi against Blackpool. He beat seven men , was brought down for a penalty and finished it himself . A real talent but at least he has gone to a club I like. The PSR rules force clubs to see ‘ their own’ as they get full credit for the sale . Chav fans I know are hugely concerned that Gallagher and Chalobah are likely to be sold while foreign imports of lesser quality are retained . Personally I’d rather we’d sold Vieira but I think Fulham wouldn’t pay £34m for him.
42 Carp this morning.
A roach of one and a half pounds and beautiful summer sunshine . Retirement isn’t all bad
Speaking of retirement, TTG, I was musing on the question of What is the ideal number of Black-eyed Susans to plant in one morning. FYI, this morning I planted three which was satisfying enough in my rather unambitious way. 😎
BtM@70: That is shameful on the club’s part. Any decently run auto-renew progamme flags if a credit card on file will expire before the renewal date, and I can’t imagine any other defensible reason for not auto-renewing a membership set to auto-renew. I second TTG’s suggestion of a stiff letter to the top, and a bit of social media stirring if that is possible.
TTG@79: I trust that was a roach with fins, TTG, and not one of the sort that crawls out of walls. If it was one made from rolled cardboard, no wonder you’re smiling in the sun, whatever the weather.
BtM @70, that is absolutely shocking behaviour from the club. An utterly disgraceful way to treat a loyal fan of a quarter of a century standing through thick nd thin. I do think TTG’s suggestion of a finely crafted letter to Richard Garlick would be appropriate. The soullessness and lack of customer service, let alone recognition of fan loyalty, of large organisations is extremely depressing.
Interesting that Obi- Martin claims that he left us to join United because he couldn’t see a pathway to our first team. When we played that dead rubber in Eindhoven it was a poor look for a club trying to convince young stars to commit themselves to Arsenal. We’ve lost ACD and Walters – neither played a second for the first team and one can see why OM might not see a future at the club( on a day when ESR leaves as well). It’s a tough one for Arteta but I continue to wonder what our youth policy is .
Also interesting that Calafiori watched the Palace game in January as a guest of the club. I’d never heard of him then and the media had no idea he was here . We courted him very surreptitiously.
BTM
Sorry to hear about your ongoing issues with the Club re tickets.
I assume you don’t live in London, so an in person visit to the Club to voice your concerns is out of the question. ??
If that is the case, does anyone answer the phone, or reply to strongly worded emails, ??
There must be some way to talk to someone to sort this farce out. ?
Hopefully you can get it sorted.
For those interested,
There is a long interview by James Olley on ESPN with Josh Kroenke and some interesting insights into the remaking of the Arsenal.
!0yrs in charge, and lots of things achieved, and more in the pipeline to look forward to.
Well worth a read.
I’m sure one of the usual suspects can post it in the bar.
G-54 – Just finished reading the article. The relationship between the managers/coaches of the various teams in Kroenke sporting group is fascinating. Here’s a link:
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/40676836/how-josh-kroenke-kse-revitalised-arsenal-title-interview
Thnks ecg
Much obliged.
Should make for interesting conversation in the bar.
It’s sounding like Eddie could be on his way to Marseille
Bt8
Marseille have agreed terms with him but are offering only £16.8m. That’s a derisory bid. I’d hope we get £25-30 million for him
The offer for Eddie looks low to me but we’ll see I suppose.
Thanks for the link Clive, ecg.
I was certainly very negative about the Kroenke’s myself as they didn’t
invest enough and made a number of poor decisions that burned the club and
the supporters but they are redeeming their reputation both here and
in the US with some success I guess. Mostly our supporters will soon forget
if we win the league but to be honest I doubt Silent Stan has actually
changed he’s just got a bit luckier recently.
Clive & ECG @35 & 36, thanks for the heads-up and link. I’ll get to that later.
OM @91, I share your scepticism about Silent Stan’s commitment though Josh and the largesse in recent years do seem of a different order to the tight wad who couldn’t see the club’s need for a bit of generosity when we were losing our talent and had to shop at Paddy’s market/the Barras/Brick Lane – choose your cheap and nasty venue. Perhaps sole ownership made the difference once the fat Uzbek had left the building.
Bath @92
I think the Kroenkes had their eyes opened by the reaction to the abortive ESL
experiment . As I said in the article Stan basically just let Wenger do his thing but he probably needed to exercise a bit more direction as Arsene’s powers faded .
I think Josh is much more emotionally intelligent than his Dad and the big decision to stick with Arteta comes from managing big sports teams and recognising the right stuff in coaches .
Rolls the ball along the 6 yard line to our ball-playing, handsome, Italian stallion…..
Clive@85: Thanks for the heads-up about the ESPN interview with Josh Kroenke. What caught my eye was his comment that KSE couldn’t run the club as it wanted until Usmanov was bought out, and it had the full ownership that is standard in US pro sports. That may explain why it took so long to clear out Gazidis and then Sahllehi and the rest of a malfunctioning senior administration, although one would have thought that majority control would have allowed that to be forced through if the Kroenke’s had really wanted it.
I have also often wondered if Stan Kroenke’s attention, and cheque book, wasn’t massively diverted from his other sporting investments by the colossal task of moving his Rams to LA and building the So-Fi Stadium.
Josh is proving to be a much better provincial governor for his father in the terra incognita of English football than the Glazier sons were at Man U.
…who passes it to some donkey who hoofs it upfield…
Evades a clumsy offside trap, controls the ball deftly and plays it into the penalty area
Accepts TTG’s measured pass, executes a Cruyff turn to evade some clumsy oaf and slips the ball square to….
Jumps over the ball executing a superb dummy which completely flummoxes the defenders leaving a simple tap in for……….
Am I the only one who thinks Eddie is worth more than 100 posts?
Nice ton SP. And yes, you are. Eddie has proven that he is not a top drawer striker. I think we should sell if Marseille can stretch to £20m. Keep him as a third choice striker if no-one meets that price. PL clubs are clearly not interested – not even Wet Spam.
Well in for the ton, SP.
bath@101: I don’t disagree with you that Eddie is not an elite CF but he is high-level and will look a lot better in a team where he is playing regularly. Unfortunately, it is a buyer’s market.
@SP nice ton 🥂
Hopefully the negotiation with Marseille is just to drive the price up for Palace.
The fact that Eddie played this evening suggests a Marseille deal is not imminent and we are looking for a bigger fee. Same with Nelson.
Another good fitness workout against Pool.
Had good share of possession just couldn’t convert.
My only concern was the complete absence of Timber from the squad.
Which one assumes he was either unwell, or has picked up an injury.
No mention of him in Arteta post or pre match conference, so fingers crossed.
Didn’t see anything of the game but as Clive said, a good workout. Vieira played too I noticed so I assume he isn’t close to going either.
I sat up to watch the match live. That was a fool’s errand. We had a low key performance apart from half a dozen slick quick-fire moves that began each half that suggested we would tear the Mickies a new one but we then settled into a pretty flat first half performance in which the Mickies had the bulk of possession and Jesus missed a couple of chances he should have buried. Salah scored their first after racing past a lax Zinchenko to meet a sumptuous Elliot pass from deep and Carvalho scored their second after running through our defence onto a nice chip by Elliot. Jota (what a horrible little rat he is – constantly grabbing Kiwior around the head and shoulders – Jota must be Portuguese for ‘rat’) hit the post when he should have scored and Hein made a couple of good saves. The Mickies were clearly worried about Gabriel at corners as first Bradley (another proper Jota) and then some ginger sub were wrestling him to the ground every time.
We pulled one back before half time after Ødegaard (who was excellent throughout) calmly juggled the ball deep in the Mickie box then slipped it to Havertz to stroke it home. We dominated possession in the second half without creating any clear chances though throughout the match cutbacks from the bye-line consistently failed to find a teammate. There were multiple late subs on both sides but the game drifted off to a draw.
It was definitely a good run out. There will be sore legs this morning.
Hein: no chance with either goal, commanded his box well, confident with the ball at his feet;
White: overlapped well, occasionally awol when they found their left winger with a long ball; a couple of sloppy turnovers;
Kiwior: a solid deputy for Saliba; got on the end of a late header but it sailed over;
Gabriel: solid enough performance; clearly scared the Mickies.
Zinchenko: skinned by Salah for the first goal but very effective with the ball especially in the second half;
Partey: took a while to get up to speed but gave glimpses of the old TP5 in the second half with strong runs and incisive passes forward;
Ødegaard: worked his socks off and, especially in the second half, pretty much directed traffic;
Havertz: started in the left 8 position but was everywhere; tracked back to make a couple of key tackles and made several penetrative runs on the left;
Nelson: a typical Nelson vignette; occasionally threatened with some good runs but not enough; subbed at HT;
Jesus: ran around a lot and showed some nice footwork but failed to take two reasonable chances early on;
Martinelli: started on fire and remained our most threatening attacker until subbed at HT.
Subs: Vieira (for Nelson at HT) stood out with some nice footwork, good interplay with Øde and a couple of decent shots from the right; Trossard (for Martinelli at HT) worked hard but didn’t get any breaks; Nwaneri (for Havertz @70) looked confident and skilful without making major impact; Lewis-Skelly (for Zinchenko @70) likewise. The cluster of later subs, Jorginho for Partey and Nketiah for Jesus @78 didn’t let themselves down but didn’t change the flow of the game while Nichols (for White @78) and Heaven (for Gabriel @78) slotted in without major difficulty.
To the tune of Amore
🎶When he,
plays at the back,
he will stop your attack,
Calafiori,
he chose Red over blue,
plays for Mik and Edu,
Calafiori.🎶
Thanks Bath for the report and C100 for the song 🎵
The same tune of course was used memorably by the Fulham fans of their own Bobby Zamora.
When the ball hits your head
And it goes in row Z
That’s Zamora.
And by QPR fans.
When the ball hits your car
As you pass QPR
That’s Zamora
Clive@105: According to reports, Timber was rested for the ‘Pool game. It was pre-planned as part of his managed rehabilitation from last season’s ACL injury.
bath@107: Fair player assessments. Kiwior underlined how important Saliba’s speed is to our ability to keep a high line and at the same time deal with balls knocked over the top, which ‘Pool were continually trying to play.
Overall, I thought it was a disjointed display, especially in the first half. Typical pre-season game.
Re: Bath , I only saw the first 20 months nutes so many thanks for the player reviews which are10x more informative than the numerical ratings that we typically see.
Re: c100, That Calafiori jingles scans perfectly and I suspect it will get alot of air time.👍🏼👍🏼
months nutes = minutes
Great song, C100 @108. That’s got a good chance of catching on.
***Delays submitting Predictathon entry form so as to allow maximum information gathering time, and for others to submit their early entries.***
I wonder how effective that will be. 🤣🤣😂
Thanks for a trilogy of long but informative reading TTG, I really enjoyed it even if it did take me a dogs age to read it all.
Same with the drinks, thanks to everybody who replied and added more memories and thoughts as it helps fill in the gaps for others like me who may read but never comment.
With the Arsenal news so far I’m pumped by the signing of Calafiori, depressed by losing ESR who I long hoped would be a future Arsenal captain and non plussed if we lose Eddie, he shows commitment to the cause but sadly I do not really think he is up to the task of leading the line for a truly top team.
I’m bouncing today with energy after a hospital visit so fully expect to crash and burn for the next few days, take it easy all and heres to the rip roaring free scoring never boring Gunners!
@118 hi DG, pretty much my own thoughts too, though I never saw ESR as captain material to be honest I did always think he would make it somehow at The Arsenal. Merino seems to be close so midfield reinforcements as well.
@117 I hope it works bt8 as it is my strategy too…..
DG,
Lovely to hear from you. I hope things are on an upward curve for you
Bath,
That is dedication to the cause . I don’t take friendlies very seriously but I am at the Leverkusen game next week.
Mrs TTG and I were stopped in a local garden centre by a friend who travels up to Arsenal with me quite often , while our wives bemoaned being ‘ football widows’ and wondered what we see in the game he told me that at the Lyon game next week he and his son have day membership of the Diamond Club .They get a Cordon Bleu meal and sit in the directors box . Cost was around £259 each. As we walked away my wife said she was glad I didn’t sign up for things like that It sounds like quite an experience .
Finally C100 is the new Burt Bacharach. Who knew?
In case you weren’t aware, Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was one of those who was released in the massive prisoner swap with Russia announced today, is a massive Gooner. There have been #FREEEVAN banners hoisted at the Ems. Good to see one of our own getting to go home.
DG@118: It’s good to see you in. Like OM, I share your assessments of Calafiori, ESR and Eddie. ESR had his moment a couple of seasons ago. If he had kicked on then, who knows how his career might have gone? But on such breaks does life turn.
TTG@120: The more cynical in the bar might read that post as a testimony to your skill at keeping your cheque book tightly under wraps…
Ned,
Moi! No I want my wife to think I keep it under wraps. I’m generosity itself. I bought a round of drinks last year…I’m sure !
Praise be that Evan Gershkovich is free. I knew he was a Gooner and hope we see him at the ground soon. The Times had a piece every day underlining hus days of imprisonment. He deserves some R& R and I’m sure the club will respond
TTG@124: 🙂
ESR to Fulham now official.
https://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2024/august/02/fulham-sign-smith-rowe/
Yeah, sad day. Best of luck to him of course. I know it all makes sense and is for the best but I can’t remember the last time I was this sorry to seea player go.
All the best to Emile. Had a tough few years. Hope your luck changes.
Conor Gallagher, a homegrown player at Chelsea is being forced out. He’s happy to sign a new contract (he played 37 of their 38 premier league games last season) but they need the money from his sale. He’s been told he won’t be training with the first team and doesn’t fit into their plans.
Compare and contrast with ESR.
The emphasis on discarding homegrown talent in the PSR rules will almost certainly have to change . Gallagher is a good case in point , one would have thought at such an unstable club he would have been someone they need to hold onto. We are possibly selling Nketiah to Marseille but the lad needs to move on and he may rediscover his touch playing regularly in Ligue 1 .
May I wish ESR a happy and successful stay at Fulham. He’s a fine player .
I was told the Spuds were confident of signing Gallagher and he was offered to us . A lot of English talent may move abroad . It looks like the law of unintended consequences to me
C100@130: We weren’t very warm and fuzzy a couple of years back when a number of players who didn’t fit Arteta’s plans were summarily dismissed. Arteta’s valedictory comments about ESR were warm beyond the usual perfunctory remarks in such circumstances. I think that, like many fans, he wanted ESR to make the grade with us, but for whatever reason, it didn’t happen.
TTG@131: The word from the Bus Stop (or at least the word being put out from there) is that Gallagher does not fit the profile of the sort of player Maresca wants for his possession-based side. The contract Gallagher was offered was for two years, which strikes me as a ‘hmm, let’s see how it goes’ deal rather than a ringing endorsement of the long-term value of one of its own, especially given the length of some of the contracts Boehly has been doling out. So you can see how things have got to the point they have. My two cents is that is why he is being offloaded, not PSR. On unwanted players moving abroad, Chelsea does not want to sell to prospective PL rivals. Nketiah will probably end up on the French Mediterranean coast because English clubs that want him can’t match his Arsenal wages.
At last a bit of speculation that makes sense and accords with a comment Ihad from someone. Joao Pedro is much admired by Arteta apparently and is a decent price.I woukd t expect Osimhen or Gyokeres over tge threshold in N5 but I think Joao Pedro is flexible enough to be a real option upfront . I’d expect Merino to be our left 8 and then we just need a back-up keeper . I’m hearing Dubravka mentioned . I think he’d be decent but not home grown like Bentley
Interesting titbits, TTG – unsurprising from such a well-connected source and no-doubt longstanding subscriber to the magazine of the same name.
I’ve seen a little of Pedro and liked the look of him – will BHA tango? Could we offer BHA a sweetener?
Dubravka would be an excellent back-up, if he’s happy in that role.
A very good piece by Pedro this morning:
https://www.le-grove.co.uk/p/why-so-slow-arsenal-transfer-strategy
It is apparently the 25th anniversary of Thierry Henry’s signing for The Arsenal.
A dignified display amongst all the shenanigans last night from the great man,
remembered who he was.
Joao Pedro looks more like a Jesus replacement than someone who would provide cover for Saka or be a Plan B at centre-forward. His stats show that he gets more shots off than Jesus, but fewer are on target, and their conversion rates are a wash. However, if Arteta likes him, that probably means he sees something in the player that he can develop to improve the team.
Merino looks more obviously a readymade fit for the squad, but as a Partey replacement, playing alongside and to the right of Declan Rice, rather than a left 8, surely?
re: Gallagher. This Four Four Two video explains well why Chelsea want to offload him.
I disagree with Four Four Two’s assessment of Chelsea. Any team that has Marc Chupacabra is not to be feared. Btw, did you know chupacabra translates to “goat sucker”? I rest my case.
Nice piece by Amy Lawrence on Arsenal’s links with Italy
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5674460/2024/08/04/riccardo-calafiori-italy-arsenal-transfer/
Re: c100 @140 (and, a couple of days ago, @108):
Once again you are one or two steps ahead of us with your knowledge of player chants, and in Calafiori’s case, before he has ever played a match for the club. This comes from the Amy Lawrence article you cited above:
“I like how he already has a chant to the song, ‘That’s Amore’, which is welcoming him with his Italian culture to north London,” says Cico Tagliavini, who lives in Highbury and has family roots in Bologna.
Bravissimo!
C100, always on the cusp, possibly even over the edge…
I see in the comments to Amy’s piece an alternative chant, ‘I wish we all could have Calafiori’s curls’, presumably to the tune of the Beach Boys’ I Wish They All Could Be California Girls.
Ned ,
I’m interested in how Arteta intends to use Merino.He is not a manager to restrict players to very proscribed roles but at Sociedad, Zubimendi plays a deeper holding role and Merino appears to play a left-sided role as he did for Spain. His goal against Germany suggests he gets into quite advanced positions , but Merino looks( like Rice ) capable of playing a variety of roles .
You could play Rice and Merino in a double pivot , play Rice at 6 and Merino at 8 , or vice versa . But we do seem to have slightly surplus resource on our left side – I can’t think we will retain all of Zinchenko, Tierney and Kiwior. I also have strong reservations about Tomi’s fitness ( that probably accounts for his shorter contract extension ) . But as Peter Wood points out in the article Bath enclosed , the transfer market is much slower than it was and teams seem very risk averse in ther trading
But while they won’t ( and shouldn’t ) all be sold I think there is a possibility that we could move on a number of …..Ramsdale , Kiwior,Tierney, Partey,Nelson , Jesus , Nketiah , Rekik and Oulad M’Hand ( maybe 6 of these ) . We need to ensure we have an adequate number of homegrown players.
TTG@143: Merino is indeed versatile. My impression is that for Real Sociedad, he plays as a right 6 or a left 8, which is why I said I saw him as a Partey cover/replacement, as our need for right-sided 6s is greater than left-sided 8s.
Separately, it seems remarkable in this market that Man City got 25 million euros for Yan Couto, who did not make one first-team appearance for the club. But being able to farm him out to Girona, another City Group team, for a couple of seasons suggests another benefit of the multi-club model.
Ned, the benefits of the multi-club model to the likes of Man City are clear. They can effectively buy and sell to themselves, at inflated / deflated sums, depending on the current needs to get their balance sheet in order. I appreciate you are perfectly aware of this but any and all of C137y’s misdeeds need calling out in unmistakable detail.
C137y = C115y + 22 instances over the last 3 seasons of delaying kick offs ( in case this hasn’t been spelled out in the drinks – apologies for not being able to keep completely up to date)
Ned, TTG, C137y may have gotten €25m for Couto but I’m sure TTG especially will be delighted to see that “bloody” Edu got £34m for ESR (😢) after two injury ravaged seasons, where Chelsea are reportedly selling Gallagher to Atletico Madrid for only £33m after two full seasons and appearances in the Euros.
By the skin of my teeth (credit wise) managed to get tickets to Villa. First away game of the season. We’re up at the back of the Gods but we’re up and running!
C100@147: Good news. Already savouring the prospect of the first awayday report of the season from curry country.
Trev@145 & 146: I was thinking more of the development than the financial benefits that the multiclub model brings. UEFA has rules about transfer fees between affiliated clubs having to be made at fair market prices, although, as you indicate, rules are not always universally adhered to.
Atletico got Gallagher on the cheap, no doubt. Shows how much Chelsea wanted shot of him. Once they decided they wouldn’t sell to another PL club, it was a buyer’s market.
Congrats to C100 on grabbing a ticket or two!
C100 with the tickets and congrats on the 150, Matt!
Trev,
One senses a tightening on Arsenal’s approach to sales. ESR is much more exciting than Gallagher but his injury history is against him.
I will start to be impressed if we get reasonable fees for Nketiah, Nelson , Ramsdale and Patino .( £ 80 million would be ok ). Our financial position must be better than last season with the CL money
Ned, TTG, I think ESR has a far higher ceiling than Gallagher if he remains fit which explains his valuation compared to Gallagher.
Chelsea’s finances are a mess and they need to gain as much income as possible. Therefore the players who represent the best profit are the most likely to be sold. Gallagher cost nothing as one of their own, while selling over expensive imports at less than they paid for them would be a disaster in their position under the PSR rules.
Hopefully they’ll be left with not much more than their overpriced, overpaid, under performing stars like Mudryk 😉
There are three elements to the price we get for a player. Don’t just go on the headline figure. The second, after the headline, is the payment terms. As always in business, cash is king. The third, increasingly important element, is the sell on terms. Increasingly we are seeing chunky sell ons of 20-50%. Very important if a player trains on at a new club. .
Well in for the ton and a half, OM. Nonchalantly played.
Holics one and all: The new season is less than two weekends away, and thus, so is the deadline for entries for the 2024-25 edition of the GHF Predictathon. An entry has already flooded in — and no, it is not from a Mrs Trellis of North Wales — so don’t dally.
You can download the entry blank using this link: https://www.goonerholicsforever.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/predictathon24-25_entry_blank.xlsx.
Complete it and return it to ghfpredict@yahoo.com no later than one hour before the new season kicks off on August 16.
The rules, such as they are, and the info about donating to Bob Wilson’s Willow Foundation, the charity the Predictathon supports, are to be found in the GHF Contests tab.
TTG and I hope to see the return of all last season’s seers with newfound 20/20 foresight and, of course, welcome new players.
Ned @155, I suspect that the relatively tardy transfer activity of most clubs in this window to date may have convinced punters to wait until the last minute to finalise their predictions as per the philosophy espoused by bt8 @117 and seconded by OM @119.
Bath @ 156. I think you are correct. But there are others, like me, who never missed a deadline in their lives, professionally, but also took pride in getting as close to it as safely possible.
Prudent procrastination!
C100 @157, a deadline junkie like myself. Exams, lecture preparation, chapters, books, trains and airlines, though with the latter I’ve been somewhat more diligent at getting to the airport in good time in the last few years.
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