I know it was a while ago Soc, but Steve Bould was a 26 year-old second division player and a non-international when he signed for us.

You never know.

everything-you-need-to-know-about-arsenal-target-pablo-mari

https://www.planetfootball.com/quick-re ... ablo-mari/

I'm a bit annoyed at the attitude of some so called supporters, we have been calling for a centre back for ages, we get one and he's being wrote off as rubbish before even kicking a ball,we haven't got Upmecano money, not till summer anyway, bet these doom mongers were spouting off about Martinelli, never heard of him etc, not so noisy now are they, so let's get behind him, the team and the manager, any way must be better than Mustafi.

Hi Dray,

Not sure anyone is writing him off as rubbish. I couldn't possibly call him rubbish because I haven't seen him play, other than the Youtube highlights reel. I obviously hope he's a worldbeater.

I am intrigued by the signing but I do understand fans being slightly sceptical when by all rational thought, based on his career to date, it seems highly unlikely he will be the top, top CB we crave.

That said, CB's do tend to hit their peak later in their careers than midfielders and forwards so he could be a late developer.

Fingers crossed eh.

It's the 25th and the last week of the transfer window. I'm optimistic but also concerned.

If they are I bet Mike Riley’s refs give them a lot more decisions than we get. I suppose it helps if u speak the same lingo.

Just to correct you. There is really silly money available at the club but it is invested in a stadium in Trumpland.

With Martinelli we already had Aubameyang and Lacazette.

By contrast, we have a completely disastrous situation at CB and we are going for the bargain basement yet again.

I hope that your optimism is justified but this does feel a bit Hail Mary.

Doesn’t getting behind the team include getting behind Mustafi?

"...not be the quickest, but he reads the game well, organises the back four and shows excellent positional awareness to make up for his lack of pace." A bit like Mertesacker then?

Koscielny was a bit younger and had played only one season in Ligue 1 when Wenger signed him. Turned out pretty good too.

Someone like Djene Dakonam would have instilled a bit more confidence in the supporters. Not as exciting as Upamecano but more of a name compared to Mari.

Little wind up merchant .... " a bit like Mertesacker "

999 , 999 ,999 Arsenal supporters would hope not .

From the clip ; he's excellent in the air , aggressive , has great anticipation ..... that makes him the polar opposite to Per .

He's left-footed. So more of a Cygan?

Did we sign Mari? I didn't see any announcements. Given the state of our central defense situation (and quality available), any reasonable CB signing is a good signing.

Apart from ManU I think we'd beat all of them as well over 2 legs
Last year we got to the Final and without Hazard would have won

As for the cognitive therapy...there are much more needy candidates on the Forum

Yes, the commercialism from his seat in Club Level, and then the 'gofundme' with no money on it yet

As you say so perfectly, a wrong 'un

There's a suggestion on the blog, but it's fact, isn't it.
We're going the "super-agent" way
It's just 2 different ways of looking for something.

Wenger searching remote jungles in South America and Africa for a cheap herbal cure for his rash, when he could have gone to Boots the Chemist and asked the pharmacist for a tried and tested cream.

Although for us it still boils down to the same thing...
Wait and see what happens and just hope that the itching stops

While it was a long time ago and he was not one of ours - Tony Book at Manchester City
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Book

I always loved this story.

After stupidly getting involved with your ridiculous Mancini wind up, I’m going to ignore your pathetic Mertesacker wind up. By the way, if you want to know the opinions of most fans on Per, try reading the latest Gooner. It wasn’t by me and it part of a wider article on the club’s central defenders, but in my view got it right.

"Wenger searching remote jungles in South America and Africa for a cheap herbal cure for his rash, when he could have gone to Boots the Chemist and asked the pharmacist for a tried and tested cream."

This one takes the cake

I just watched the compilation for the wonder passes from Cesc & Santi. Those were wonderful days of Arsenal football. Noticed that we had so many runners in those games, and lots of understanding amongst the players. Even the midfielders were running in to score off the second ball. We no longer have sufficient off-the-ball runners. And of course, none in this midfield can pass like these 2.

Watching the highlights reel of Pablo Mari it seems he is tall, quite physical and likes a slide tackle.

It appears this guy has not played any high level football outside of Brazil so it would be amazing if he can mkae a big impact in the PL.

However, there have been many examples of where players have come into the PL and been excellent despite spending most of their formative years in lower league football but generally it seems to happen more at mid to lower table PL sides than at the elite clubs.

Let's hope that Arteta knows him well from his time at Man City and that this is an inspired signing rather than a a last minute deal done because basically all our other transfer options fell by the wayside.

Meanwhile in NZ Mrs Kiwi says 'what in the world are you rubbing on your private parts. Are you mad.
it stinks.'
Husband who has just come in from repairing the V8 'I read on the internet that a dash of penguin urine plus a large helping of semen from an 8 year old seal can cure anything. Wasn't easy going collecting the samples but I am resilent. I refuse to pay for anything from the bloody chemist. Hes a witch doctor.'

Of course the optimal method would be to know all the ingredients needed to mix up this potion, and then grow them in your own back garden, so that you always have an abundant home-grown supply.

The drawback being that penguins and seals are not the easiest things to grow in your back garden.

Probably already started construction of the penguin enclosure

I'm actually more concerned with how to obtain large helpings of semen from the seal at regular intervals

penguins are the easy ones

Or maybe not....

As much of a witch doctor as the person who makes that claim about “a dash of penguin urine plus a large helping of semen from an 8 year old seal”? Does a single ejaculation provide enough for a large helping, or do you need to combine the semen from multiple ejaculations? And why does the seal have to be eight years old? What’s different about it from a seven or nine year old seal?

Yes Bernard, these are the questions we're all asking ourselves.

All you'd need Greeny would be a bucket of fish and a friendly smile

I agree. I would imagine we’d start favourites against any of them apart from Manchester United, and we’d certainly have a good chance of beating United as well.

Perhaps I’m alone but I do think some people here are exaggerating how bad we are. We have a number of very fine players and I just don’t think we’re as far away from having a splendid team as some make out.