I had no idea these existed.

"If you build it, they will come."

Was waiting for that chip to fall and it did.

Kelly has this to also contend with.

Keep in mind, Kelly is still facing another federal case out of Illinois, plus a state trial in Minnesota.

Must admit I haven’t yet. Any good?

My father was a boxing fan. Some of the best moments as very small boy I had was watching fights on tv with my dad. He was animated, yelling at the tv, cheering, jeering, and my brothers and I ate it up. He was a huge fan of Ali. I thought he was always a fan of Ali but my mother admitted that both he and her were cheering big for Patterson when they fought. My dad was a Deacon at our church. Ali was a moslem, Patterson a Christian. Simple as that for my dad. My mom thought Patterson was handsome, that's the extent of it. Just like she thought Ingemar Johansson was. She chose her favorite boxers by their beauty...lol.

I liked Ali because he was iconic. He may or may not be the greatest heavyweight fighter ever but he is the greatest heavyweight, boxer in general, if that makes any sense.

'I went to New York to win the championship. I wouldn't have gone if I did not think I could win. I was confident. But Ali beat me at my own game.
He did the same thing to Liston. Williams, another big puncher, Ali knocked him out in short order. Terrell, the great jabber, what happened to him? He got outjabbed. And Patterson, the guy with superspeed hands, couldn't match Ali and just stood around and got punched to pieces.
The right hands Ali hit me with just had no business landing—but they did. They came from nowhere. Many times he was in the wrong position but he hit me anyway. Blatt! and the punch connected. I've never seen anyone who could do that. The knockdown punch was so fast that I never saw it.
He has lots of snap, and when the punches land they dizzy your head; they fuzz up your mind. The first time I went down, I wasn't hurt, but I didn't know what had happened.
Suddenly I became aware of the noise and then I saw Ali standing over me, and I figured I was down. So I wheeled around to look at my corner, to find out the count. I kept thinking, was that a right hand he hit me with? So what did he do but hit me with the same punch again in the seventh round and knock me out. I can't believe it, but that's what he did.
He's smart. The trickiest fighter I've seen. He's had 29 fights and acts like he's had a hundred. He could write the book on boxing, and anyone that fights him should be made to read it first.
I did things to Ali that have never been done before. He missed more punches and landed fewer than with all of those other guys he's been in with. I also cut the ring on him, reduced it so consistently that he chose to stand and fight. He's a safety-first fighter, no matter how foolish he looks. And I made him fight. That could have been my worst mistake, making him fight.
I hurt him to the body, but he's tough. You can tell from the way he's put together that he's got pride. The man's a real fighter. Look at the way he acts out of the ring and you can see that. In the ring the guy doesn't show when he's been hurt. Not even the smallest sign, the way most fighters do. He beat me good, but he didn't beat me bad.
There's just no way to train yourself for what he does: the moves, the speed, the punches and the way he changes style every time you think you got him figured. Wendell Newton, my sparring partner, jumped around and he was awkward, but he wasn't Ali. Ali is something else.
I fought middleweights, even smaller men and they weren't as fast. This guy has a style all of his own. It's far ahead of any fighter's around today, so how could those oldtime fighters, you know, Dempsey, Tunney or any of them keep up? Louis wouldn't have a chance—he was too slow. Marciano couldn't get to him, and he would never get away from Ali's jab.
The only one who would have a good chance was Ezzard Charles, a real fast heavyweight who was smart and was perhaps the best combination puncher of them all.'
- Zora Folley

Do you think they are waiting until 1 July to announce Jesus. There may be something in his current contract about yearly bonuses.

I wouldn't be too sure about that. I was reading somewhere he has HPV.

Spurs close to signing Lenglet on loan from Barca and also Richarlison, I’d be intrigued by the fee for Richarlison - I reckon it will be close to £60m. I know a few spurs fans who are not happy with that.

Yes I read that post as well. But then I remembered the admission by that same person on 7 March 2022 -'just ignore everything I say'. The most coherent post he has ever made. I commend that post to you.

I'll wait until after 1 July 2022, then may get a little more worried.

Richarlison having a medical at Spurs, £50m plus £10m in add ons

So that’s
Richarlison £50/60m
Bissouma £25m
Romero £40m loan made permanent
Kulesevski £35m loan made permanent (possibly delayed another year)
Perisic free but big wages no doubt
Foster free

Busy window for spurs. Very much a Conte ‘must win now’ window

They're signing good players, and it looks like a hard fight for 3rd/4th place between us, Tottenham and Chelsea. The difference between us and Tottenham though, is that I don't see much of a future with this team - so much revolves around Son and Kane, and they will probably start to decline in a few years.

It seems much more sensible to me to build a squad with an eye on the future rather than going 'win now' when the best you can do 'now' is 3rd place.

I don’t know about that decline stuff. With the new signings they look to have a bit of strength in depth there now spurs. Certainly with Richarlisom onboard they have options

Kulesevski Was a decent signing and for that money I do wonder if we had a look at him.

Also it is worth pointing out Kane is only 29 next season and his game isn’t based on pace as he’s always been more of a positional target man striker lethal but very good at link up play. There’s no reason he can’t play on a high level for another 4-5 years I’m afraid.

Right now assuming they have signed Richarlison and the other players rich referenced I’m sorry to say I believe they still have the slight edge on us in terms of personnel.

Should we have looked at Richarlison? Would have been an interesting option.

Richarlison and Bissouma are 25. Romero is 24 and Kulusevski is 22. Lenglet is 27. So every single one of them is probably not at their peak yet. We've already seen that Romero and Kulusevski were good signings and on paper, the others look like very good business too. Would we not like to have signed Bissouma and Richarlison this summer?

Both would've been good additions, but I haven't seen anyone claim they aren't good signings for Tottenham too?

Isn't the narrative that Tottenham are buying for instant success and not engaging in effective squad building? So thereby criticising Tottenham's transfer business? I listed the ages of the players above. They all have the potential to be at their current levels for the next 4 or 5 years. Most contracts are for 4 years these days anyway so having a team of 22 year olds doesn't mean you will have them for 7 or 8 years, although it obviously helps in terms of potential sale values.

Honestly I think Bissouma at 29 million would have been a no brainier for us.

I do wonder if we might have dropped to the ball in pursuing a hugely expensive wide player that was unlikely to happen.

We could have signed Bissouma and tielemans for less than the Raphina asking price and transformed the entire middle of our midfield. (I bet Tielemans ends up elsewhere too btw)

Signing Jesus was essential but Vieira feels a bit indulgent and Raphina would feel very indulgent.

Out of our 2 biggest problem areas last year up front and midfield we have only addressed one so far and there seems little links suggesting fixing the other is a priority

That's quite the leap there. Better to engage with what people are actually saying.

What I mean when I say I don't see much of a future with their team is that they don't have that special quality youngster behind Son and Kane - a Saka, Martinelli, Saliba etc. I doubt players like Richarlison and Bissouma become much better than their current level (and I would say the same for Gabriel Jesus) and I don't see Kulusevski becoming that player. You need more than good players to challenge Liverpool and City.

That being said, if one or two of their attacking players can raise their game a level or two, that would be huge for them.

Bissouma

still no announcement eh! funny that.

#TGknows #warts

You can see from the way he's walking that something is up, he doesn't look comfortable

Far from conclusive that is actually him.

Why is announcing a player so important anyway.

Why do you need some divvy video before you can announce something the world and it’s mother already knows anyway.

Surely just wanky marketing to keep people and PR and marketing earning their pointless salaries a bit longer

It’s probably so that they dispel fake rumours about the player.

My point about Conte signing for the here and now is two fold. 1. It is historically what Conte does, he typically doesn’t stay at clubs long and so why should he worry about progressing younger players or the state he leave the club in when he leaves in 3 years (Mourinho is the same) and 2. Signing a player like Perisic alongside 3 prem ready players is very much for the ‘now’.
In a way it is sensible for them to do this because if they built long term like we have they may fail to get anything out of Son and Kane of any use. I mean they’ve failed so far with that so they have to give it one last throw before those two start to decline. Add Lloris in there as well.

Their signings give them depth but it is still the case that you can take Son and/or Kane out of their team and it isn’t scary at all, it is barely top 6. If we get our window done how we should we’d have the better balance. Spurs would argue we lack the match winners - which is a fair argument right now.

Richarlison for £60m or re-signing Nketiah- let alone a comparison to £45m Jesus. Nketiah got the same number of goals as Richarlison last year in 1/4 of the season, and Richarlison relied on a few pens at the end. I’ve always thought he was decent but lacked a bit of a cutting edge in front of goal.

I just think if we’d have made the signings Spurs have so far Arsenal fans would be calling for Edu to go. They’ve missed big targets in CB and settled for Lenglet on loan. Bissouma is good for them, I’ll concede that but he’d only be a back up for Partey for us

Read a few reports about Martinelli signing a new deal to 2027 with a further year option. He’s been given the No.11 shirt this year too.

Getting Martinelli, Saka and Saliba tied to nee deals is as if not more important than any signing we make from now

If we wanted a here and now winger I’d be really tempted by a bid for Zaha. He’s only got 1 year left on his deal. You might be able to get him for £20-25m late in the window as Palace panic they might lose him for free in 12 months.
Of course he’s 29 so any fee you pay you won’t get anything back and there is the risk of decline but whenever I’ve seen him play he looks fit, quick and quite injury free. One issue is I think he tends to play more from the left to cut in on his right foot and we’re looking for a right winger really. He’d come to us in an instant as well!

Thanks for posting that AG - Folley was a class act. He fought our Henry Cooper twice - losing on points in 1958 but winning by KO in 1961. As a boy I recall my dad using Toby's gym off Tower Bridge Road, and him telling me he had seen Ezzard Charles training there.

Richarlison can be a nasty player at times. Wouldn't hurt to have one like that.

Hi Bernard
Trailer is only about 30 secs. So far seems ok.

"Better to engage with what people are actually saying." Both yourself and Rich described their transfer dealings as "must win now" and you literally said you don't see much of a future for their team. Yet it is some leap on my part to interpret that as criticism of their transfer activity?

Obviously, you have since expanded on what you meant by saying that you didn't see much of a future for them, namely that they haven't addressed replacements for Kane and Son.

In my view, they have bought a bunch of players in their mid 20s who have improved both their first team and their squad. Also, Kane is 28. He's younger than Thomas Partey. Son has just come off arguably his best ever season. It would be great if both of them declined rapidly, but we are likely years away from that happening.

Of course, it could all go pear-shaped on them, as they are Spurs after all.

Thanks, always something interesting mentioned when you comment. I watch a lot of old videos. Cooper and Frazier had 2 of the best left hooks I've ever seen. Both men tagged Ali pretty good with it. Their second fight was at Highbury, wasn't it? Or do I have it wrong. I thought I read that once.

It's not a criticism, it's just simply stating where their squad is at - built around two world class attacking players approaching 30. Several of the core players in our squad still have years before they're at the age where players usually peak; Saka, Ødegaard, Martinelli, Saliba, you can throw in most of our other defenders there too, and we still almost beat them to 4th place.

Richarlison adds much needed attacking depth for them, and Bissouma should improve their rather mediocre midfield, but they will once again depend on their two stars to remain fit and firing to repeat what they did last season. Behind those two I don't see anyone capable of stepping up and leading the team forward.

Yes it was at Highbury - a one-sided affair ending in a stoppage because of bloody minces, as some of Cooper's fights did. The Achilles eye, and a relatively glassy jaw, meant Henry was never a serious world title contender, though his left hook was dynamite.

The other thing is add against Spurs (and of course we’re biased and want them to fail) but their play is quite one dimensional and I think after a successful season of one dimensional play opposition coaches will pay more attention to it and work out a better plan.
The best teams have an aggressive not passive tactical set up and work on the basis that they have the ball and can create and beat the other team no matter what the other team do. Spurs kind of rely on the other team to come at them for them to do what they’re good at.

For everyone saying Srsenal now have European football and two games a week to deal with the same applies to spurs, they hardly played in Europe at all last year and actually being in the CL means they’re more likely to play their best 11 midweek as well where we’ll have a much better chance to rotate heavily in the early europa rounds

Hope it is true, I like Martinelli a lot. He is the new Alexis for us. Always driving forward and lots of energy.

I can't take this titled (and I corrected the title which said 21th online) 'Arsenal Team of the 21st Century seriously. Just off top of the top of my head no Pires? A few others as well.

Hate to say it but Fergie is the man. I wonder what history would have been like in the PL if Palace had beaten them in the '90 FA cup final?

As well as what you say LTG, announcing a player as a confirmed signing means as well as terms being agreed with the selling club and player, it means there were no hitches with the medical.