Ask, maybe. But not make.

Since no one else is going to give me credit might as well toot the old horn myself. Called it!

Apparently Elneny made a huge mistake for Watford’s goal today, tried to dribble out of the box and got tackled. If Elneny is 4th choice CM some may see that as fine but we need to remember this is a player who we sent on loan for 2 years because he wasn’t up to scratch and only came back because the severe lack of numbers in midfield. I’d rather Azeez had his position in the squad.

Thanks for all you continue to do Rog.

Very much appreciated.

.. also he’s only got 12 months on his contract left so he’s in the same position as Lacazette but we have no chance of finding a taker for him.

If Lacazette goes he’s going to miss Scott’s in Mayfair where I’ve seen him twice.

I didn’t pay anything

ltg?

Elneny has had random decent/good game but nothing consistently enough to warrant a permanent position for our ambitions. Seems a decent guy but we need skill not a best mate.

I don't a lot of stock in pre-season. I am happy to see the squad and certain players do well and its a good omen for the upcoming season but I adjust for the situation, preseason, often/usually against much weaker side who themselves are working out the kinks (waves at Ray Davies )

I do see a lot of value in players who were underperforming (Willian, and a couple others) who are playing well in preseason. I am not as concerned if Smith Rowe or Saka have less than ideal games. I would expect them to do what they have been doing in the season proper.

Dusty Hill, bearded bassist of blues trio ZZ Top, dies at age 72

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-29/ ... /100332334

Awful news - Great band.

Years ago a major razor company in the states offered him an incredible amount of money to shave it off in an advert.

"Sharp Dressed Man" was one of my faves when I first started working and had to wear a tie.

Thank you so much!

Thanks Warrior, you are pure gold.

and before you ask......no, this does not entitle you to yet another pay rise!

Rog, How the heck are you coping with lockdown? I see that it’s been extended for another four weeks.

So, a question for the forum.....2 options:


1. Sign Maddison for £70m

2. Sign Ødegaard for £35m and Aouar for £25m

Which is the best option with the most potential?


It's a difficult one because Maddison is more dynamic and offers the ability go past players, not to mention score goals and make assists.

Ødegaard and Aouar are at an earlier stage of their careers but are maybe slower and less dynamic with less goal threat at the moment.

I think the perfect scenario would be Maddison with Ødegaard or Aouar on loan with an option (not obligation) to buy. Can't see Real or Lyon being open to that, though.

Hi Soc,

Option 2 for me without a doubt. Two young players with lots of potential. Maddison is good but €70m is too much. That is close to what Man U are paying for Sancho. If it was Tielemans, that would be a different story.

This article was sent to me and may be of interest to those of you who enjoy the history stuff. Henry Boyd not only qualifies for the underrated Arsenal player vote, but most probably the largely unknown list! Quite a character.

https://www.ussoccerhistory.org/talente ... s-1891-92/

Cam across this on twitter of all the assists Tierney could have had with better finishing from others. Not all easy but there are some in here that are on a plate

I’d never come across that name (although I’d bet that Exiled has). What an amazing story. The ultimate mercenary, albeit looking after number one.

Definitely number 2 for me as well. I rate Odegaards potential higher than Maddisons, even though Maddison is a very good player. Don't see him hitting another level compared to now, which is very good but not elite. For the price quoted we need to get elite potential at least.

Maddison for £70m or both Ødegaard and Aouar for a combined £60m? To be honest I don’t think it is a difficult one. It’s option 2 by a comfortable margin in my view. Talk of £70m for Maddison might even be madder than £50m for White.

The question almost answers itself: option 2. However, my caveat with option 2 is Ødegaard seems the type that will want out to a "big" club if he has a great season.

He didn't show much interest in staying despite getting way more playing time than he would at RM. He fancies himself good enough for RM. Fair enough, he is talented. Let's face the facts. It's very unlikely he'll get much playing time there. RM bought a young gem who didn't come as good as they expected.

Also, would he start ahead of Aouar? Or would they play together? (trying to figure out that set up if so). I dont' see Ødegaard buying into our project. I don't know enough about Aouar to suggest one way or the other.

1 but there’s really not much in it.

No way will Madrid accept just 35 million for Ødegaard and likewise Lyon 25 for Aour

Out of the 3 players mentioned Maddison is the probably the most ready to compete at the level we need right now and has played in the league and wouldn’t need much adaption. Also homegrown and would add to the comradeship within the squad with our growing collection of revolting Englishman

Btw Aour strikes me as a Nasri type who would ditch us at the first opportunity and his agent is his own brother who has a reputation as a troublemaker in France and was asking prospective clubs for a 20 million fee for his services alone nevermind the transfer fee

Two I also like are Got Me Under Pressure and Legs.

RIP. A really great band.

Arteta securing a build up of high maintenance players overtime possibly. Quality players for future attractive sell on or loan value buys when contracts end and/or not renewed. Player decides to move on. No guarantee getting into CL or even EL end of next season irregardless. Would have to be a very plausible attractive project sell with highly redeeming goals and direction obviously.

Some strong links to Bruno Guimaraes from Lyon. Lyon under a lot of pressure to make sales. I haven’t seen him play but reading about Guimaraes style and statistical analysis of his game he looks good. Would be a partner for Partey rather than an out and out attacking mid

Interesting that he apparently had his medical yesterday, the transfer fee has allegedly been agreed between the two clubs, and the terms of the contract has supposedly been agreed between Arsenal and White. I was expecting the deal to be confirmed on Arsenal.com today, but it’s now the evening and it hasn’t been.

I’ve not even heard the expert on what’s happening later the same day Ornstein saying it’s happening today. Wonder what the delay was?

Talk that Arsenal really do want Ramsdale and will go back with a 3rd bid in the region of £25m. It is supposedly our GK coach who is really pushing for this - assume the same coach who recommended Runnarsson!

Of all the links to players and prices we've heard this summer this is the one I really struggle to get my head around. No club spend £20m+ on a back up GK. They might buy a £20m GK and decide to upgrade with another expensive GK but you don't spend that on a back up so he must be being bought in to be first choice if not now then very soon.

Sometimes I think the homegrown status is given too much weight. Would we be going for Ramsdale if he was Spanish and just got relegated from La Liga? I know we need to fill the 8 home grown spots in the squad - Saka, Emile Smith Rowe, Holding, White, Chambers, Balogun, Azeez, Okonkwo and I think Saliba and Martinelli would count when they are 21. and that is even if we sell all of Bellerin, Nkeitah, Nelson, Willock, AMN.

Look at some of the signings the top clubs have made for the GK position in recent years, Man U just signed Tom Heaton, Spurs signed Joe Hart, City signed Scott Carson, Chelsea have just signed Marcus Bettinelli - all of them home grown and none of them really top class, but all experienced and can fill a spot in the squad that wont get much playing time.

There will be english experienced GK who can come in a do a job and not take up valuable funds.

I completely agree with you, Rich. We all remember how Almunia weakened the side. Keeper is such an important position that you just can't mess around with it. For the money being quoted, you would think Leno is on the way out and Ramsdale will be No.1. If he is being brought in as a No.2 it's a stupid extravagance.

The thing is we don't really need homegrown players right now. Looking at the first team squad on arsenal.com we have precisely 17 that are non-homegrown, which is the maximum you're allowed to have. And that includes Runarsson, Kolasinac, Willian, Torreira and Xhaka, who are all rumoured to be leaving. Even if we only sell or loan out two of them, that would still leave room for two signings that are not homegrown - a central midfielder and a creative midfielder for example.

With regards to Ramsdale, it's hard to know how to judge him. He didn't seem to have a good season at Sheffield United, but that being said it's hard to know how to assess a goalkeeper's performance in such a poor team. The Sheffield fans seem to really rate him, and by all accounts he had a great season for Bournemouth in 19/20. He's still just 23 too, which is no age for a keeper. It's the fee that boggles the mind. Only thing I can make out of it is that we have a lot more money available than most thought going into the summer, because I can't see us signing Ramsdale and then not afford the central midfielder we need.

I agree with Top Gun that Steve Williams and Pail Davis were underrated. But I’m not sure Anders Limpar was. He was a top player, but the impression I always got is that he was widely considered as exactly that. All three of Williams, Davis and Limpar were high quality players. I’m not sure Williams and Davis were perceived as good as they were. That makes them underrated. But I’d say Limpar was perceived as top quality, so I’ve never seen him as underrated.

I completely agree with Hazuki that Per Mertesacker was grossly underrated. Nacho Monreal was as well.

Amazing story. I was wondering why it was in an American soccer site until I read the story. He may have been in my neck of the woods (Philly).

As for underrated players, I thought Giroud was under appreciated if not underrated. I think Kols is underrated to some degree. Perhaps the most underrated for me in my time as a fan may have been Edu, when he got a game he looked very good.

I didn't know who he was. Not bad from the usually biased youtube videos.

It always strikes me as funny how strong opinions some have about players. I've seen som rubbish these links, saying Guimaraes isn't that good etc. Apart from the fact that I doubt many Arsenal fans watch Lyon regularly, he's a 23 year old player who has one season in France since coming over from the Brazilian league, not sure how anyone can definitely say he won't be good enough.

Profile wise he looks like exactly what we need to me, said to be good defensively but also gifted with the ball and able to beat the press and go past players in midfield. Perfect age too.

Truth be told unless they are a really high profile player I doubt many people have watched many players who don't or haven't played in the prem. I watch the odd CL game even though we're not in it but I don't tune in to the other European leagues - so we really are just going by the very basic facts and profile of the players linked.

Tavares and Lokonga - I'd be amazed if anyone had heard of them before this summer, but both are 21, physically decent, quick enough, and they look sharp and mobile and neither cost a lot of money. The profile was right. They may or may not work out but as a fan who knows little about them you can see the logic in the signings.

Limpar was a class player for us and for me easily is in our top 5 wide players of all time. However for me he’s isn’t held in wide enough acclaim, he rarely gets a mention in flashback, people’s favourite sides and stuff like that and when George was demonising the player our fans never seemed that hacked off about it. He used to sub him off every week despite his efforts and it never really seems to bother folks as much as it should have.

I’ve spoke before about when Anders was brought back into the side in his final days in a game againest saints set up all 4 goals I think and was dropped the next match. No uproar

When he was sold there should have been uproar also but George didn’t even offer him a new contract. He then won the fa cup for Everton where he set up the winner.

For me he wasn’t highly regarded enough slightly but outside of Arsenal he definitely isn’t mentioned enough and was underrated

So we have spent 76 million ish including white and are being linked with the following players...

Maddison about 60
Ramsdale 25 ish let’s say
Guimaraes for 30

I mean that’s the best part of 200 million. Seems a lot for us right ? Selling a few players would compensate a bit but still. All these links seem strong ones too. Wonder what’s going to happen