Arsenal have a very big and very loyal fan base. That can only be seen as a positive. Sadly, it also means that there are unlikely to be enough empty seats over a long enough period to make Kroenke sell up. I can see it getting managers the sack. Indeed, I firmly believe the empty seats contributed to getting Wenger the sack. But the extent to which it would have to happen to make Kroenke sell up is, I suspect, on a completely different level.

Although I think our problems can be traced back significantly further, I think around 2015 was where the wheels really began to come off, that summer where we only signed Čech while near £200M was sitting in the bank really has to go down as a disaster, a ruthless owner would have got rid of Wenger and allowed the new manager (structure) to invest the money, instead he stuck with Wenger out of some misplaced sentiment and I also think lack of other ideas, displaying here what a 'hands-off' unambitious, disinterested owner really is like.

A year later we panic bought the likes of Mustafi, Xhaka and Perez for near £100M, we might as well have set fire to the money for what it achieved, well we might get £20-30M of that back I suppose, now we have drained the cash reserves by over-paying average players and we are left with the double-whammy of not being able to shift them because no one else is silly enough to pay them double what they are worth, sorry I mean triple-whammy because they are average players they are no longer good enough to get us in the CL either!.

You can rightly blame Ivan and Arsene for this mess but ultimately it happened under Kroenke's watch (obvious by now he wasn't really 'watching') so it falls on him to sort it out, unfortunately I think his idea of sorting it out is handing it over to Josh and saying cut costs, that will get us back to being self-sustaining alright but we'll also be bang average in the process, just like all of KSE's portfolio of dross sports franchises.

You didn't need to be nostradamus to see this coming..

Guess how many direct free kicks arsenal had where the shot from that free kick was on target in the prem last season?


4

And we scored from 3 of them.

The idea of us holding back and keeping our powder dry is even more absurd when prices for players were and are still going up and up each year. £30m got you a Sanchez back in 2014-15, now it gets you Tyrone Mings.

We were caught sleeping for far too long with no one with enough balls to challenge or rock the boat. My view at the time (2014/15) was that every season we kept wenger was now doing 2 years worth of damage to the club when he eventually went. Somewhere in the region of 6-8 years to stabilise the club - I don’t think that is a dramatic guess

Lots of press saying we’ve tied up the Saliba deal. €25m, he’ll go back on loan to St Etienne and crucially the fee won’t come out of this seasons transfer budget - or only a very nominal amount. Makes total sense. Now to sign a proper CB for this season!

I’m never keen to overpay for a player but it seems Tierney is our primary LB target and we’re only about £5-6m short of their valuation.
For such a relatively small amount we should pay it to get the deal done.

If we were willing to bid £40m for Zaha I’m hopeful that we see in change in what we usually do if we can’t make that deal happen. Usually we ‘try’ all the way up to the deadline, being strung along by the selling club and end up not signing him or anyone else.
Without doubt there are a lot of good young, exciting wide players out there who would cost £40m or less. I’d love a real versatile young talent who is quick, direct, dribbles and scores and can play right left and central. No idea who that would be though

So now Man U and Arsenal are submitting signing enquiries for Gabon Southampton, 25 yr old midfield player, Mario Lemina. He came from Juve to Southampton 2 years ago. Quite possibly Aubameyang knows him.

This was the guy Wenger turned his nose up at to irritate the new regime at the time ..

https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/footba ... 06371.html

Bernard the same comments about loyal supporters can be directed towards Sunderland, Newcastle, Portsmouth, Sheffield Wednesday. Sadly it means the owners get to hide while the slide continues.

We all share your total frustration. Still when we are on the overseas tour why would you want new players to actually meet their teammates and form some combinations. Much better to have a trolley dash just before the first game and it will take the new players until about October to intergrate. Just go with what you have always done despite the fact it has been a failure for 20 years.

True, people will keep turning up regardless and empty seats will probably just get the manager sacked. Which is even more depressing because how do you get rid of Kroenke? Mike Ashley has been universally hated for a while by the Geordies and yet he's still there.

Having all the national champions visit the White House is relatively new (80s). Prior it was sporadic depending on the President and his proclivities. That said, although there were individual players who declined a visit along with their team, not until Trump has the whole team in a variety of sports declined the visit.

Anyway, this is hilarious. Expat Americans and visiting fans chanting 'F*ck Trump' to the Fox News commentator. This was live as well. (PS: couldn't get the youtube preview to appear)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DEjfUHN4K8&t=329s

A similar situation at Newcastle - no funds for transfers; share value probably actually increases and total disconnect between owner and fans. At least Ashley knows he is despised - he just takes no notice of it.

Emile Smith Rowe joins Willock (28), Nketiah (30) and Nelson (24) in receiving a first-team number for next season. He’ll be number 32 this season.

Emery barely gave them a sniff last year so if he goes into this year hoping they'll become instant PL material then he's a bigger gambler than Wenger. They may do ok and it would be great to see it but it's very very rare for young players like that to be able to maintain any form over a season. Iwobi started well and regressed. Guendouzi started well and then got overplayed. Torreirra started well and then according to reports got homesick.

I wonder what we're going to see in the first couple of months with Liverpool, Tottenham and Man U in the fixture list to October.

No guarantees with young players but I'd still rather see any of those 4 in the team rather than Xhaka and Mkhitaryan strolling around not giving a *%^@. Around £300k a week going out of the club to those two in wages. Laughable. Except it isn't.

Edu officially unveiled as Technical Director. Not exactly a surprise but good that it is confirmed. Knows Arsenal, young enough to have fresh ideas but still has decent experience from the Brazil role. Hopefully he can help us tap in to the South American market because there are bargains and money to be made there.

Since Mislintat left our transfer business has been very slow. Mislintat oversaw a huge turnaround in selling and buying players in his year or so at the club. Apparently at Stuttgart he’s already bought 4 and sold 11.
I’m not sure of our greater need, to sell the chaff in the squad or to buy some decent players

Selling the chaff is far more important but much harder because of the high wages they are on.
No one else will touch them because they are *%^@ and/or on a stupidly high wage.

What is hilarious ............... is that for all your continued raving you are going to have him for for another term .

Elizabeth Warren , Tim Ryan , Kamala Harris , Nancy Polosi in the opposition .... then there's his cohorts John Bolton , Mike Pompeo .....

what is the pre requisite for being a politician in the good ole Land of Apple Pie ............. being inherently stupid ...?

Hi Wirral. Is selling the chaff more important though? If we don’t sign any decent players, who else is there to put in the team that’s any better?

I think they are a drag on the team and they are holding us back. We both remember GG getting rid of the so called stars and bringing in young players. We need this again as there really is no alternative with our measly budget. £45 million on a couple of really strong defenders and if we get any money for the chaff invest that in some creative players e.g. midfield and winger.

This current team is not going to win much and they are costing us a fortune in wages. We may as well give some of the kids a go. They will not win either but it is the start of a rebuild that may take us somewhere better

Sadly it’s not inconceivable they could take us somewhere worse either. It’s very tempting to rate a player too highly just because he’s a teenager. Of the guys given squad numbers today I have more confidence in Nelson and Willock than Smith Rowe or Nketiah.

I would not disagree with you. We could end up worse. We also may end up worse with Özil, Mustafi, Kolasinac, Xkaka and Mhiki still in the team. I really do not see a future for these players at Arsenal. The only one I would keep would be Kolasinac and that is only if we do not get Tierney from Celtic.

Btw I would have Nelson and Willock as first choice at the moment. The so called stars are just not worth it anymore. Throw them in, give them a run in the team. Most of my favourite players started young. How old was Brady when he made his debut?

From memory 17. Came on as a fairly early sub against Birmingham. But even if he was that young, he may not be a fair comparator. Brady was one of the very best players to wear the shirt and in my view is actually the best home grown youngster. On a completely different level to the modern guys.

Fair enough-a bad example (or a very good example that no one will ever compare to). But if we do not give them a go then we will never know just how good they may be.

After that empty seats if it all goes wrong.

Massively off the topic of how excruciating this transfer window is, anyone wondering what happened to Dan Crowley - much vaunted Arsenal youngster player recruited from Villa or somebody from a couple of years ago - really interesting article on how he’s doing at Willem II.

I remember reports on him and really looked forward to seeing anything of him in Carling cup fixtures or what have you, but he went on loan and reports of bad attitude meant he was sent home early irrc. Hodd seemed to suggest the reports might have some truth to them and he was moved on.

Anyway if you’re interested the article’s here. https://worldfootballindex.com/2019/07/ ... i-arsenal/

Very limited appearances from all of them to judge whether I think they will make it. But, from what I have seen of Smith Rowe, he may be one of those players who is just in the right place at the right time. Maybe even right now, when there is no money in the transfer budget, he is in the right place to get game time. I don't know what it is with some players but they have the knack. At vital times even a deflection falls to them and it changes games. Time will tell but a lot will depend if they actually have the confidence in their abilities to play to the maximum. Whether they actually have the ability is a different question but if they have made the squad they should do.

However one area of concern is that having watched highlights of the Boreham Wood game, I didn't see much quality in the youth squads so these could be interesting times.

Whether fans will cut slack to young players I am not sure. You give them some lead in time but after that enough is enough. There are 2 players who really have had played get out of jail free card and need to deliver consistent performances this season- Iwobi and N-M.

I’d completely forgotten all about him. But now you’ve mentioned him, the name has come back to me. As you imply he was talked about as the next big thing a while back.

AC Milan allegedly interested in Bielik.

All I can say is if we are prepared to sell a young, promising talent who shone at Charlton and the Euro u21 tournament then let's get a transfer fee that reflects that potential. £15m ought to be a starting point not £5m or something stupid.

Yep. But why isn't he in our squad. Can play defensive midfield or in defensive roles. He had a better season that Chambers so I would put him ahead of him.

Reminds me when George who was a spendthrift spunked all that money on Helder, kiwomya and Hartson. A final throw of the dice that was too late.

Wengers last throw of the dice was Xhaka, Mustafi and mhikitaryan it’s been so costly. Modern day contracts mean that if a manager makes a mistake that mistake can sit within plain sight for some time and thoughout his tenure. We could be stuck with Özil, mhikitaryan and Mustafi until their contracts end in 2021. It’s going to get so boring

To be fair to Chambers he was terrible in defence (‘not fit for the shirt’, and that’s a Fulham shirt) was how my Fulham supporting relatives described him. But he was much better in midfield. Indeed, he won their player of the season award on the strength of his midfield displays, although I accept they were relegated so he couldn’t have been up against much.

At least Fulham were in the Premier League though. What league were Charlton in? So can we be sure Bielik had a better season than Chambers?

Lets fix the defense first.

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/footb ... urs-Gossip
Arsenal offered £18m deal for Real Madrid misfit Mariano Diaz

If by N-M you mean Maitland-Niles, this kid has been played out of position for most of his first team career. Perhaps if he was played in his natural position of centre mid he would be able to show us if he is a player or not (which I personally think he is). And again I'd rather see him in there than Xhaka, all day long.

Second that, I have been impressed by him and I keep thinking he needs a consistent run of games and he'll shine. I felt the same about Gnabry before he was sold.

Did you? When was this? I don't remember you clamouring for Gnabry's return - and an extended run in the first team - while he was warming the bench in 2015/16 at West Brom, not long before his departure.