Ifrom what I read it seems like a pretty good idea. :). I saw some stats on the twitter respnse to Ødegaard in the Arsenal website which also shows he has a lot of the things that Ødegaard doesn't. Especially the ability to take people on and drive forwards from the midfield. He's pretty much one footed but I could see a lot more movement in attack if both he and Ødegaard were on the field.

So are you a country lad then? I had you pegged a city slicker, rather than someone who would know one end of a pig from the other.

https://amp.theguardian.com/football/20 ... ssion=true
.
Depressing

It really isn’t.

We have all the challenges of a very young side currently and we are very much in a moment of transition but we’ve spent more money than ever and had to acquire very shrewdly. some exciting young players have been brought in for the new season.

If you can’t get excited about a London Derby or our first home game then it’s time to find another pastime and you need to take a serious look at yourself. Football is fun

The only thing depressing is listening to people harp on. Let it play out and when it’s proven things haven’t worked out changes will occur.

Maybe memories of Sylvestre haunted Wenger? Arsenal: Where past it MUFC defenders come to die.
Or would he have been useful?

https://www.eurosport.com/football/premier-league/2021-2022/arsene-wenger-rejected-rio-ferdinand-when-the-defender-wanted-arsenal-move_sto8497040/story.shtml

ARSENE WENGER REJECTED RIO FERDINAND WHEN THE DEFENDER WANTED ARSENAL MOVE

Nah, more small town than country. More of a city slicker these days, been living in Stockholm for the past ten years. Never had any pets nor farm animals at the house growing up!

Seaman
"I was England’s number three at the World Cup in 1990, Ramsdale has just done the same (at the Euros).

“I started getting a load of stick because the fans didn’t want me. They were all singing ‘Lukic is better than Seaman’ and ‘You’ll never play for Arsenal’.

I hope the negative abuse Ramsdale has received online really galvanises the fans that go to the matches to get behind him

It was more the tone of the article that depressed me.

The Seaman quote is interesting. Don't really get the Ramsdale backlash. He's a back up keeper, not a starter. He may not be what some fans want and want a bit more quality but the level of acrimony doesn't quite make sense to me. I could understand if he was slated to start over Leno.

I’ve thought about the Ramsdale signing some more, and looked at the pictures of his official signing when he’s with his family, and it makes me even more annoyed at the toxic crap some arsenal fans are giving him online. I will admit on this forum I have questioned his signing and am not certain he is up to the quality we need based on the very limited stats and videos I’ve seen……but let’s all take a step back and realise this is a 23 year old GK who has moved from Bournemouth, to Sheff Utd to The Arsenal. What a massive move for him and his family. We are a huge club and I bet Ramsdale is absolutely on cloud 9 to be in the Arsenal set up. We need to give him our full support on the pitch. Whether we are fans that attend games or support from afar he’s one of us now and he deserves the support of the Arsenal fanbase…..we maybe underestimate how influential we can be on a matchday

I've long heard how Man Utd fans are entitled. They think the world revolves around them and they are always the victim despite the facts (such as PKs given).

Arsenal fans aren't making themselves look civil. There are other situations before as well. Some of the antics from participants on the AFTV didn't make Arsenal fans look good either.

Tottenham fans used to be seen as deluded. Maybe still are. Chelsea fans ignored their success due to a Russian sugar daddy.

But we are looking worse and worse...and don't even have a good team to fall back on.

Welcome Ramsdale!

The first goal Ramsdale lets in may see over the top criticism, no matter if he had no chance. Some fans will be waiting for him to make a mistake. Not a good situation to come into.

Don't know quite why but a lot of these so called supporters come across as idiots. Are they trolls or just opposition supporters trying to unsettle us,

Especially amongst the overseas supporters those eg supporting Saliba etc and saying from the beginning that Arteta should go. Fakes imo.

Reminiscing.

https://www.facebook.com/Arsenal/videos/752692151931064

I always thought the “Visit Rwanda” adverts to be a bit surreal especially in recent times.

But this takes it up a whole notch. https://newsjust24all.com/mikel-arteta- ... IPHjS-1ZeE

At times you have to wonder if this is real life. The Keanu reeves movie the matrix could actually be a documentary

Switching between Villa vs Newcastle and Palace vs Brentford games Wishing Martinez, Willock and Vieira the best. Latter game I like both clubs but wanting Vieira to do well a bit more.

It sometimes feels that way.

Never mind those games. It looks like we should be worrying about West Brom after 45 minutes so far today.

Can’t disguise that I’m stupidly excited about tomorrow’s game.

And I’m guessing for the first time since turn-up-and-pay was outlawed, an Arse v Chavs game is not sold out.

Sign of the times, I think.

Not just us then !

My kids are absolutely buzzing about going to the game tomorrow.

I’m concerned they haven’t micro analysed the benefits of not signing a back up keeper enough.

I was dreading Sunday's match. Anything is possible obviously. Make or break, here's to an exciting one!

Rwanda (and also Medellin, Colombia) are two places that are still trying to live down their place in history. Kigali (the capital) is actually a lovely place and one would never know that it was a place of a genocide. One of the fastest growing economies I hear as well, where entrepreneurism is big.

Medellin is a hidden gem I hope Americans don't discover because wed ruin it. Safe, friendly, even artsy in parts.

As for the article, the president is speaking as a fan but I would have cautioned him that from his platform he would have been wiser to keep the comments among friends at the local pub. I'm sure Akio Dangote the Nigerian billionaire we are often linked to as a possible buyer isn't happy with the performances but he knows wiser than to publicly berate the manager or club.

The Rwandan president let his emotion as a fan get the best of him.

I just want to get the d@mn thing over with. Not expecting anything out the game. Hate to sound like a pessimist. I'll be cheering us on, willing us on, but not expecting anything. A point would be nice. Too afraid of hoping for much more.

Where we are right now and where Chelsea is, at this time, I'm not too confident, even at home. I'm hoping having fans will make a bigger difference than it normally does.

Good luck to The Arsenal though, won't ever stop wishing and hoping.

Going for a 1-1 draw. Like to see us play a back 3 but I think if we play as well as we can then I think we will be right in this game. Home advantage and the knowledge we are playing a top side should make all the players play to their potential.

I am really looking forward to seeing how this season plays out.

If I had to sum up the signings this window I would say they are exciting, surprising, confusing and expensive.

If you had asked any fan at the end of the season who we might bring in this summer the names we have would probably not have featured very highly on anyone's list, apart from Ødegaard maybe.

I think most of us thought that youngish players with plenty of potential was the way forward but not many would have anticipated spending £50m on Ben White and £24m+ on Aaron Ramsdale. Our recruitment team have certainly put their money where their mouth is.

If we've got this right we might surprise a lot of people, if we haven't I suspect Arteta will be on his bike. I really wish we had more than one game a week because I think these signings will take time to bed-in and one game a week is not helpful in that respect, although it does allow more time on the training ground.

If I am honest, I worry where the goals will come from and wish we had brought in another striker or at the very least a goalscoring winger type. We may have to hope that Martinelli or Balogun come good, especially if Aubameyang fails to recapture his form.

I am not expecting too much this afternoon, if Aubameyang doesn't start I have little confidence in Martinelli or Balogun leading the line because at this moment in time neither seem anywhere near ready but perhaps they can surprise us.

Ben white has covid and will miss out, that’s what 4 or 5 players in 2 weeks now.

Like I said earlier this summer. This will be a major issue this season

Holding v Lukaku now

That’s a shame. The nicest thing one can say about White’s debut, in terms of his own performance rather than that of the team, is disappointing. Holding isn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination and he can have decent games. But I think it’s fair to see him as a bit underwhelming much of the time. Having him in the team instead of White, based purely on the latter’s reputation rather than how he played at Brentford, makes me less confident about the result than I was before reading your post.

So if White is out then we’re missing our first choice CB pairing, our main man in CM and our pair of senior strikers
Or £235m worth of players. Incredible really.

Where did you see that TG?

Hopefully my missus isn't reading the forum. She hates the mere mention of Seaman.

I think we'll win this one but then again, Chelsea could just as easily take the 3 points.

That being said, a draw may be on the cards also.

Waves to AG

Given my tipping skills, I will confidently predict we'll lose.
That should give us a chance.

Forgive me, but I like Man Utds away kit today.

Man U have gone 26 away games unbeaten in the league, the record is 27 held by the Invincibles team

Kolasinac seems close to a move to Fenerbache. Unlikely to be much or any fee for us but getting his £100k off the books is key

Leno, Tierney, Mari, Holding, Soares, Sambi Lokanga, Xhaka, Smith Rowe, Saka, Pépé, Martinelli.

Subs: Ramsdale, Aubameyang, Maitland-Niles, Tavares, Chambers, Nelson, Elneny, Balogun, Kolasinac

Lukaku starts for Chelsea