That's up to Xhaka.

and what style is that exactly ... ?

Ahhh yes .... the ability to execute laser accurate sideways / backwards passes

........ but going forward ; couldn't hit a bull in the arse with a handful of wheat from three paces .

I'm curious how French clubs seem to keep getting the cream of the crop when it comes to young talent before turning them into the next big thing and offloading for huge fees.

Is it simply a matter of being able to make them seem like world beaters in a weaker league which is much harder than for young potential in the PL?

Bit hard to fire laser accurate forward passes when there's no-one to pass it to.

I know the hard arses from back in the day would have tried it but I personally wouldn't want to try hitting a bull in the arse from three passes with a handful of wheat.



and for those who may be mystified by the recurrence of some good Aussie slang, here's a guide to a few sayings... a few of which I will see if I can slot into my next boring meeting.

https://www.theland.com.au/story/512202 ... sie-slang/

That’s true. If he gets another straight red this season it will hand him a 5 game ban.

Few rumours linking us to Douglas Luiz from Villa. He only has 18 months left on his contract.

He’s clearly not as glamorous as other names we’ve been linked with but after the summer when nearly all the players we bought were less glamorous than other names maybe we need to trust the club if it happens

The guy Edu should be signing is this 15 year old Brazilian kid Endrick. Touted to be the next big thing.

Sadly, it looks like Madrid are at the front of the queue.

Why is Edu not snapping up young brazilian and south american talent. I thought his experience and contacts in Brazil was going to give up the edge in this market.

Think he's a good player, and cerainly fits the profile age wise. Would be a big step up moving to Arsenal, but he is proven in the league and probably wouldn't need much time to adapt.

To be honest I can’t really dig the guy out about anything. Apparently he wanted to sign Neto and Emerson but arteta wanted Ramsdale and Tommy. Can’t argue with that Decision.

I think the inclusion of white and Ramsdale has added focus and determination to the side. I think it helps that there’s now quite a few British based players in the squad so it means there’s more of a cost to losing. If he wanted to sign that Brazilian fella from Lyon though I wouldn’t complain.

Please god put us out of our misery ..


Says we are interested in Ruben Neves as well



https://www.corrieredellosport.it/news/ ... er_gennaio

I don’t think many Brazilian or other Sth American youth would dream of playing for Arsenal. Very similar culture in Spain would also make the transition for a young player much much easier. Martinelli I think is a bit of an exception.

Who was our left back? He got owned.

Flint

Top Gun here, borrowing Bernard’s computer. I’m sure Xhaka was our left back for that game in 1965.

Always a great game to watch again.

Flint got skinned. Other than this match, was he any good?

ltg's link says McCullough

Was Flint a nickname? We’ve never had a player with the surname Flint.

Billy McCullough was from from Norn Irn. Pretty average fullback even to my young eyes. I first saw him in the Reserves a few years earlier. I heard him speak - like you do when you're down the front and the ground's mostly empty. He didn't speak like anyone I knew. Confusing to me since I honestly thought all our players came from the streets around the ground.

Got nicknamed 'Flint' after a character in Wagon Train - popular TV programme of the time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Horton_(actor)

Strange thing is that despite having seen him play I had no recollection of him whatsoever.

That's hilarious ltg. But I believe it. There are players from my childhood teams that I don't recall at all.

He was substitute in my Drought Years team: "At one time there were lots of Mc’s at Arsenal and one of my favourites was Billy McCullough from Woodburn, Northern Ireland. He was the sort of attacking left-back fans love, often seen way beyond the halfway line looking for something he rarely found. It made for great adventure. Billy was not the best defender Arsenal ever had but he was fun. How we enjoyed the aggression in him too. ‘He won’t eat you’ was a commonplace phrase of my youth. In Billy’s case a winger could not be sure of the truth of the statement. The McCullough was a man of strength. His crooked nose was indisputable evidence of how he was willing to put himself in harm’s way. Acres of power lay within his robust body, and it may not be myth that the north wind was tattooed on his chest."

Cheers, omoh.

Even weirder when I can clearly recall Ian Ure on Quiz Ball.

I have to say that the impending failure to land Guimaraes is really depressing.

We seem to spend forever checking players out only for them to not want to come or to be seduced elsewhere. The fact that it is Newcastle waving their dosh about adds hugely to the sense of desolation.

And the end of the transfer window is accelerating towards us.

I think the list of players we’re linked to must be huge, the list of players the club is genuinely interested in and actively following wouldn’t be as big but would also be very big. And from that list we’re looking to make one signing in a particular position so naturally there are going to be huge numbers of players we move on from or decide aren’t as good for us as the one we do go for/get.
£33m for Guimaraes doesn’t seem like that much money and I would hope and expect that if he was our No.1 midfield target we’d be in there matching the bid and then if the player still wanted Newcastle it would be simply due to the extortionate wages we wouldn’t be willing to match - and then we’d say do we really want a player with that sort of priority?

We seem to be unable to attract because we aren’t at the pointy end anymore, or unable to attract because some clubs seem to have inexhaustible pockets.

And most players would have that sort of priority. It’s their job.

Can't really see anyone of note coming in now unless we do a Partey and trigger someone's release clause. That would mean paying the whole amount upfront, though.

More chance of a squadfilling loan.

If we don’t strengthen the forward line it’ll seem like a big opportunity missed, which will be a miss made even bigger by not recruiting in midfield. The thing is, the miss in midfield was made worse by getting rid of Mainland-Niles for this season. He’s not brilliant but isn’t far off Lokonga as a back up.

I think we really had a good chance of a top four place this season and to let it slip, if we do, seems rather incompetent.

Personally I think Ainsley is a better player in midfield than Lokonga from what we’ve seen so far so it’s a little frustrating he seems to be on his way out.

Problem with him seems to be personal (I know but won’t comment) and commercial (his agent is a wrong un)

On the transfer stuff I find it a little hard to dig the club out too much. We need to get a lot of dross off the wage books and we seem to be doing this but the main problem is up front where Aubameyang and lacazette have seen their form unexpectedly drop right off. I mean these guys should be performing better than they are even considering their ages. They are still relatively Young enough to perform at this level and I can’t really blame the club for not foreseeing such a drop in form. We should have had enough to get through the season but it seems not.

Chambers sold to Villa!!

Good signing for Villa.
I like Chambers.
Better than Cédric

Matt Turner is a done deal but for the summer £7m

If Chambers to Villa is true that seems strange. I don’t think he’s good enough for us and I’d expect his position in the squad to be taken by Saliba and a back up right back in the summer…..but that is in the summer and he’s back up in those positions for the next 17 games.

We’re stripping the squad bare in a year when a volatile virus can spread like wildfire through a squad

Chambers is a free transfer with up to £2m add ins. He was free in the summer anyway. Are we that desperate to shift 6 months of his wages and the possibility but no guarantee of £2m? You’d have to think that with each position in the prem worth at least £1m per place that it might have been more sensible to keep him and lose for free in the summer

Amazing that not a single journalist picked up on the chambers transfer before it happened. Very rare

It is true Rich. It’s confirmed on Aston Villa’s official website. With Maitland-Niles already gone it leaves Cédric as the only right back when Tomiyasu is out.

https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2022/januar ... s-signing/

Does Mari on loan and Chambers gone leave us with just 3 cbs and Tomiyasu who can play there at a push? Tierney as well I guess.