Maitland-Niles is an interesting one for me. Other than Saka I think he's our most talented academy player. He has pace to burn and can hold his own physically. His weaknesses can be (and are) being coached by Arteta. If you asked me a few months ago I would have said sell him and get a decent price. But now I think he has a lot to offer, he's improved a lot since Arteta spelled out his non negotiables to the team.
It might be he is a player the club feel they have to sell if they get a good enough offer, but I think he can be an important player for us. Wing back seems to suit him, especially in this Arteta system where wing backs can come inside to be midfielders. I'm not sure where he gits in a 4-2-3-1 formation quite yet, but plenty of others should leave before him.

I've read a fair bit about the injuries Chelsea suffered in the game, it is tough as we know. I think Azpilicueta pulled his hamstring from constantly having to sprint back to balls over his head. The new season kicks off on September 12. That's only 5-6 weeks away, any muscle pull now is ruling players out of pre-season (whatever form that takes) and the start of next season.

Also, worth noting with I'm sure Arteta's preferred back 3 would be Mustafi/Luiz/Mari so we were missing two of those and also have Martinelli injured so we weren't without our own problems.

I agree, Rich, that hands behind the back thing is just so lame. It affects the balance and the reaction time.

The other thing that is so annoying is players turning their backs or duck their heads when a shot comes in. They are payed millions to defend but don't want to get hit.

Having secured the cup and a european place and the extra money that brings I would really like to see us push on now.

Chelsea are making some great signings (at least on paper) and that Pulisic looks like a player. United look likely to snare Sancho amongst others.

I really hope we don't end up with Chelsea's cast-offs or Sanhelli's contact book signings because we really risk falling farther behind and with more players on big salaries who we can't get rid of.

Let's do some proper old school scouting and look at the likes of the french league to find a few potential gems before their value gets too high.

I'm not sure calling out your own players after losing a cup final is to be admired. Bizarrely, he accused them of playing short passes, like that is some footballing offence. Arteta had his number yesterday.

I guess as the losing manager you have certain options:

1. blame the ref;
2. moan about bad luck;
3. say you were deservedly beaten by a much better team;
4. rationalise your own team's shortcomings on the day.

From what I have seen he opted for number 4 when he could have quite easily shouted 1 and 2.

Hi Rich. I checked this. The initial FA Cup final was won by a club called Wanderers (not to be confused with Wolverhampton Wanderers as they were from Upper Norwood, London) in 1872. The FA Cup continued until 1915, following which it was suspended due to the First World War.

It resumed again in 1919, with the first post-war final held in 1920. It continued until 1939, following which it was replaced by something called the Football League War Cup due to the Second World War. The FA Cup resumed again in 1945, with the first post-war final being won in 1946. It has continued ever since.

So from 1872 to 1915 there were 44 FA Cups awarded. From 1920 to 1939 there were 20 FA Cups awarded. From 1946 to 2020 there have been 75 FA Cups awarded. So 44 + 20 + 75 = 139. Arsenal have won it 14 times, so 9.93% rounded up, perfectly reasonably, to the 10% you heard.

Be interesting to see that percentage over the last 50 years. And the last 25. We have a tremendous record in the Cup

Hi Andy. That’s a nice easy one to do. Over the last 50 years we’ve won it 11 times in 1971, 1979, 1993, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2020. 11 is 22% of 50.

For the last 25 years everything before our win in 1998 (so from the above list 1971, 1979 and 1993) gets removed from the equation. Leaves us with 8 out of 25, which 32%.

Whoops. It’s 10.07%, not 9.93%.

Thank you Bernard. In recent times 32 per cent or (almost) a third of all FA Cups is pretty astonishing

So 11 Cup wins since I’ve been supporting them and this last one was pretty satisfying ....I still have Charlie’s winner and Alan Sunderland’s winner as the two best ever. I moved to Philadelphia in 1990 so the last 9 have been viewed at a distance

In finals that I’ve actually attended I’m 50/50. The two above offset by West Ham and Ipswich
I’m 67 in December so with reasonable luck I hope to see a few more...mind you I’d give up any future League and Cup wins to win the European Cup/Champions League just once.

AMN instead of Kola anytime. The element of age counts very significantly as well.

What is so frustrating is that Arteta needs just a few more players. If Saliba is as promising as advertised, get him a quality partner he can learn from as well as being effective. A fast, tough DM who can read the game and we are basically in business. We could use more but just as is, and we have a very decent squad. If we got another defender and Partey we would be tough to beat.
It looks like we won't get him but I would have done anything for Upamecano. Holding has gone backwards it seems, enough said about Luiz and Mustafi.
I think Martinelli can lead the line if Aubameyang goes. Not as well obviously but good enough to make us a constant threat. Lets offer Monaco a swap, Özil for Cesc , throw in Mustafi as a sweetener.

Dead right Hodd. A Chelsea supporting cousin of mine posted this on Facebook after the final. “Very sad unlucky Chelsea. Some *%^@ decisions against us. At least we are in champions league.”

I hope he enjoys their fourth place finish as much as I enjoyed the winning of a trophy, because I know he won’t. Give me the choice between coming fourth (or second or third) to get in the Champions League but not winning anything, or winning the FA Cup to get in the Europa League, I know which I’d choose. The winning the FA Cup option every time. Trophies wins are what I remember, not coming fourth to qualify for next season’s Champions League. I’d make a completely different decision between winning the title or the FA Cup, but not for coming second, third or fourth.

He then went on to moan about the handball decision. I had to politely point out that television replays showed the ball hadn’t crossed the line. While the majority of Martinez’ body was outside the area, his hands and thus the ball were on the line, so the correct decision was not to give the free kick or to send Martinez off.

Being so fair I did accept the second booking was wrong with the sending off, but I also mentioned that Aubameyang being pulled down when through on goal could easily have been given as a sending off. Rudiger wouldn’t have got to Aubameyang in time. So the most dodgy decisions arguably went both ways.

EDIT: He actually wrote ‘sh it’ without the space for the word blanked out here from his Facebook post.

The Community shield is on August 29th, the players will be in the middle of pre-season and the seasons doesn't start until Sept 12th. Lots of talk of both teams playing the kids to protect the first team.
Next season will have a ridiculously crammed schedule, even more so now we're in Europa, teams are going to have to manage their squad more carefully than ever.

Agreed, It is far more than 'a few' we need. We need to have a 4 out of 5 success rate with our transfers over the next 2 or 3 windows. If you look through the squad and count the number of players who could be in a title winning squad and it isn't many, then count how many could be first 11 for a title winning team and its fewer still.
I'm worried there is a lot of expectation being put on Saliba's shoulders to suddenly fix our defence. He's 19, he will need time and patience.

Spot on
They were also unlucky with the Pulisic injury, but that can happen to any player in any match

If the season starts on the 12th, you have to seriously question the decision to play the community shield 2 weeks earlier, given the fact that it would then only just enable a 4 week gap between matches.

Preliminary rounds of the Europa Cup start on 20th August - 17 days hence. I think Spurs might dodge that round but they'll probably be in the 1st Qualifying round on 27th August. 2nd & 3rd Qualifying rounds are 17th and 24th September respectively so straight after the PL kick-off. Final Qualifying Play-offs to get into the Group Stages (where we start) are on 1st October.

Better news for our neighbours is that all the qualifying ties are single-leg.

Man U and Wolves play later this week and if they succeed (they should), they play each other Monday or Tuesday next week with the final on 21st August. Doesn't leave long before 12th Sept.

Not sure it's ever happened before in any competition - next year's fixtures start before this year's cup has been won.

Completely agree we are a few seasons away from a title and that is contingent on us getting quantity as well as quality right on transfers.
What I'm referring is to be among the top clubs next season. We aren't going to get anywhere close to challenging for the title, but we can get top 4 with a few more players. If we got a good defender and a good DM alone, we could make a serious run at top 4 to top 6 and make it tough for Liverpool and City to get points off us.

As far as titles, we are a long way off. Especially given how loaded City and Liverpool are and how the transfers Man Utd and Chelsea are going to bring in. Not to mention, Tottenham, Leicester and even Wolves already have decent squads.

Aubameyang is presently one of the best strikers in the world. No one is going to adequately replace him unless you are willing to spend nearer to 100 million than 50 million. That said, I am very excited about Martinelli. The little I've seen him says he's going to be very, very good. Not as good as Henry or Aubameyang or even RvP but he doesn't need to be. He is young, hungry, skillful and driven. The ingredients are there. With him Pépé, Lacazette (if he stays) and a creative center mid who can find him and the forward line fine each other, we will be okay I think.

The defense is what is the most pressing.

I've been looking over stats, etc, and since '98, we've won 7 out of 8 cup finals. Incredible rate.

...that's FA cup finals for the pedants lurking out there.

We've actually won nine of our last 10 FA Cup finals: the only defeat against Liverpool in 2001. In League Cup finals, on the other hand ...

If there is any veracity to the rumours, but if we lost Aubameyang, a huge loss but pick up Willian, a forward line of Willian, Lacazette, Martinlli may not be that bad.

...and conversely since '98, basically the Wenger era forward, we are 0-3 in league cup finals. Looking at the past finals, we didn't fare too well in that competition save a couple notable wins.

I've yet to see us win that competition. A thoroughly winnable one considering our FA cup victories.

I was thinking maybe Amazon wished they chose Arsenal for their fly on the wall documentary series - but thinking about Spurs season they'll probably get good value for money out of that as well. Was it 7-2 v Bayern at home? Seems such a long time ago

Oh it definitely will.

https://www-football-london.cdn.ampproj ... a-18705507

Didn’t realise Willian is 32 next week. That transfer just makes absolutely no sense.

None. He is not what we need to spend money on. The Luiz transfer had some logic to it after the Koscielny debacle. We are not short of wide attackers. Central midfield and centre back is where we need to invest.

Hi TG,

I agree. I will be dumbfounded if we are offering him a 3 year deal.

Very good player but in the twilight of his career and not that good to merit such a deal.

If he was one of say one of 6 major signings then fair enough but if he's one of 3 then its hard to see any logic at all. I would much prefer to spend the money on a promising young talent.

That's an optimistic way of putting it, Goonie. I don't think Nketiah is good enough to have a long term future at Arsenal. Martinelli is a different story but he is very young. There's no way he can replace Aubameyang at this stage of his career.

I actually think Aubameyang will stay.

https://arseblog.com/2020/08/tactics-co ... th-fa-cup/

Good read on Arsenal's tactics. Some of the stills are pretty interesting and show things you miss in the game, but the inside positioning of AMN and the consistent holding of the width are very Pep-like ideas

I think that's where I stand. Willian as a bonus type signing is fine, but we know Arsenal can't make bonus type signings. A 3 year commitment to Willian would cost £30m and would return us £0m. The upside would be a certain degree of guarantee of performance and knowledge of the league, at least until his legs go. But I too would rather invest that same money in a young player at £20m fee and £65k a year wages which is the same £30m outlay for 3 years but you have an asset on your books at the end of it.

Must be weird for Saliba to watch his old club lose a cup final then immediately be sat watching his new one win one. The experience can’t hurt in feeling good about his move.

Talking of defenders even if all of ours were fit I have no idea who starts the first game of the season, I’m not even sure what formation we’re likely to be in. You’ve got to think Saliba will be bedded in slowly, Mari and Mustafi coming back from injuries. Do we buy another CB? And start them? In a few weeks time?

I think we might be looking at the cup final defensive line up for a substantial part of the beginning of next season.

Man U reportedly close to signing Jadon Sancho for £110m. This emphasises the exact point I’ve made before about the super rich never needing to have to pay for or live with their mistakes in the market.

They signed Sanchez, at the time one the best players in the world in his position and committed £25m a year in salary to him. It completely blew up and Man U can not only afford to send Sanchez out on loan covering most of that salary, and now seemingly ship him off for a free two years before his contract is up then can cover it all up with a £110m signing.

Every other club must be perfect in the market, Man U can fail fail and fail again and still not feel the effect. Of course they will get it right eventually, they’re shopping at that end of the market where it’s impossible not to get it right eventually

Isn't that it though? We need to invest in midfield and defense, so we're going for players in creative positions that doesn't affect our transfer budget and will only cost us wages. If this allows us to spend more money on a centre back and central midfielder I'm all for it, Willian is a really good player coming off one of his best seasons for Chelsea.

Looks like the Willian deal is going to be done. Ornstein reporting it is between Arsenal and 1 other club. 3 year deal. I wonder how hard Arsenal pushed the wages? For example Luiz was given his 1 year extension but on reduced wages. Maybe a bit different for a guy signing on a free.

I think signing Willian is one of those strange transfers that can potentially only be judged as a good move or poor move based on what other business we do this summer. If we get the top class CB and top class midfielder we need and the Willian £0 transfer fee means we can do those bigger purchases in key areas then it's worth it. But if Willian's wages mean that we're having to go cheap on those key positions again then it isnt a move we should be making.

The age thing is interesting, he's the same age as Aubumeyang, seems like he keeps himself in very good nick. According to transfermarket Willian has only missed 13 games due to injury since 2013!
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/willian ... eler/52769

If his agent wasn't who he is the deal would sit more comfortably with me

It wouldn't be the most exciting signing, but according to Ornstein it was Arteta who requested it. That settles it for me. We can't talk about how the club needs to back the manager and then complain when they try to sign a player Arteta wants just because we don't like the profile of said player.