Do you ever wonder what the players think of the system? Have you ever thought, I wonder if someone as swanky as William Saliba detests that the artistry he’s asked to partake in is a little… brutalist. Well, Big Bill got into the details today with L’Équipe.

“The first season I arrived, we were playing incredible football. That was the season where I said we deserved the title. We finished second, and as usual, people made fun of us. The second season too, we were playing good football, and finished second. People made fun of us, ‘Bottle, bottle’. Last season too, we were playing well, even if we weren’t playing as well as the first two seasons, we still finished second. This season, even if I don’t agree with everything they say, as if there was only one team that was playing. Well, we’re playing football, except it’s true that sometimes we score a lot more from set-pieces. Now, in the Premier League, you see everyone does long throws, focuses on corners, it’s not just us.”

The inquisition had we not won the league would have been immensely boring and thorough this summer, so thank the lord we are Champions. But the deeper point here that everyone misses is the whole league is at it… everyone is trying to work the same margins we’re working… but we’re the best. No one takes corners like Declan and Saka. No one finishes them off like the whole Arsenal team. No team anywhere in the world innovates around the ref trends and rule changes.

It’s quite something.

The aesthetics crowd this season were amongst some of the most boring to have ever done it. We’re top of the league and people are sending me text messages asking if we can continue with the manager if we drop down to second. Are we winning? Yes. Then STFU, I’m trying to enjoy it. If it’s good enough for Saliba, who could have his pick of any club on the planet, then it can be good enough for all of us.

I try not to talk too much about the World Cup, but I am getting the bug, especially when I see Arsenal players doing well, or I spy content of Lamine Yamal in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Gets me right in the mood. I’ve seen Trossard pop a 30-yard screamer into the top corner, Martin Odegaard has been on the score sheet, and King Kai looked a boss for Germany… 40 g&a in 56 games for them. In the Premier League, he has 17 non-penalty goals and 10 assists in 35. I mean, if we were signing a player like that, we’d be very excited. Oh, Tuchel named Declan the vice-captain of the England football team. Big news!

Transfer gossip goes to bed for the weekend. I’m quite interested to see how many clubs do big deals before the World Cup and how many players push to see what the interest looks like after it.

Matheus Fernandes is a player who looks set to move this summer. West Ham have been relegated, one of their directors has been exited and Panorama’d (BBC version of 60 Minutes before it was taken over), and they’ll need some cash in the business. Arsenal have registered interest according to a few big names, but it does seem like the fee they’re expecting is going to be well beyond what most clubs will want to spend on him. £100m? Crazy. Even £80m would be a desperate move that even Chelsea might pass on.

Virgil was asked by a reporter who was the best Dutch player in the Premier League this season; he answered: Jurrien. Good man. I like that. Please stay at Liverpool one more year and be more disastrous.

All the rumblings doing the rounds at the moment seem to be that Mikel Arteta is going to look towards the Premier League for upgrades this summer and I’ve got to say that makes me happy. It’s not as sexy as Europe, but we need to be de-risking our signings. Morgan Gibbs-White and Morgan Rogers would be good additions to the squad this summer. Tonali and Livramento will no doubt be on the list. Though I will say, it’s hard to picture many Premier League players giving us the edge in our forward positions. Do we need more brute force safebreakers? Or do we need some of those lock-picking magicians?

Bradley Barcola and Julián Álvarez feel closer to the type of players we’re missing right now. Elite technicians, fast on the ball, and in the mind. Difference makers of the very highest calibre. Both players are deep-block breakers, they offer us extra layers of creativity, and they’re light on their feet which is good for free kicks around the area.

For Álvarez, the question is whether Barcelona have the money…

For Barcola, it’s a question of whether he’s robust enough for an Arteta system…

There is also the reality of the price. It’ll be fairly steep for Álvarez. The 26-year-old is commanding a fee of £108m. This is the age Liverpool signed Mo Salah. Another player who had a stint in England, moved, then boomeranged back. Bradley Barcola won’t cost that much money if we’re going by the ‘they don’t want him so you can’t command a big fee’ narrative that Arsenal has always faced when trying to offload decent players. His transfer value is €70m, he’s 23 years old, so I wouldn’t expect anything too discounted there.

We also have to look at the viability of our exits. I know, I know, you all hate it when I put values on players that are backed with chronic amounts of hopium, but it’s my blog and I’ll propagandise prices if I want to.

Player Value

Calafiori £80m

Zubi £70m

Martinelli £65m

Viktor £60m

Kai £60m

Ethan Nwaneri £60m

Madueke £30m

Fabio £15m

Trossard £20m

Norgaard £5m

Gabi Jesus £5m

Kepa £5m

Reiss £0.5m

Total £475.5m

Ok, that might be aggressive, but we can’t be the only club in history that can’t sell its players after winning a title. Arsenal players should have a premium now, there are almost no wasters, and they can all do the work.

That’s me done. Check out the latest members podcast and get signed up for the very good deals for the Premium writing this week.

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Here’s what’s inside:

🔥 Hottest of Takes — Matt’s take is about a player who barely featured in the final stretch of the season who could be absolutely unplayable by August. Pete’s take involves a South American who he thinks is going to be an Arsenal player before the window closes — and he’s going all in

💛 Julian Alvarez — Done Deal? — Pete has the data, the logic, and the insider feel. Berta knows the seller. Barcelona almost certainly don’t have the money. Arsenal do. And there’s a very specific role Pete can see him playing that nobody’s been talking about

🏥 The World Cup as a Pre-Season — Matt makes the case that some of Arsenal’s most important players will come back from the tournament sharper than anyone expects. The player he names at the centre of this theory is a brilliant shout

👶 Max Dowman — The Fabregas Moment — Tim Stillman planted the seed, Matt waters it. If World Cup absences open the door at the start of the season and Dowman walks through it, everything changes. Pete maps out exactly how that could happen

⚙️ Zubimendi — Put Some Respect On His Name — Pete and Matt push back on the discourse. Champions League final squad. Seamless Partey replacement. Matt makes the case that Arteta is going to need two Champions League-level players in every position next season, and Zubimendi is one of them

Members only — thank you for being part of the AOP family.

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Here’s what’s inside:

🔥 Hottest of Takes — Matt’s World Cup dark horse will raise eyebrows and he’s got the data to back it up. Pete goes with a Scandinavian option featuring two of Arsenal’s own and reasons why the heat might be their only enemy

💸 Fabio Vieira — The Cautionary Tale — rumours of a move for very modest money. Pete and Matt on what happens to a player’s value when a big club doesn’t work out, and why Berta will be pushing hard for more than he’s likely to get

🎯 Barcola vs Morgan Rogers — The Debate Continues — Pete drops a touch statistic on Rogers that will make you wince. Matt flip-flops live on air and ends up landing somewhere Pete didn’t expect. The Gareth Bale comparison gets floated

⚽ Morgan Gibbs-White — The Dark Horse Signing — Pete makes the case with numbers and it’s harder to dismiss than you’d think. Proven in the Premier League, high floor, goal threat, doesn’t get injured. Matt is almost convinced before Barcola pulls him back

🌍 World Cup Incoming — England vs Croatia is ten days away. Neither of them knows this until they Google it live. Neither of them particularly cares. They’ll be mainlining transfers regardless

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The powers that be have upgraded my technology. I’m convinced the only way you can truly feel the impact of progress is to not change your tools in 5-year increments. I feel like a Roman who’s been put in a Tesla. Endless possibilities at speed. I think… I could take over the world? But before I become your overlord, let’s get into what the world is talking about right now.

America. No, Americans. We gotta have a word about them. The build-up to the World Cup has been unsexy to say the least. High prices, micro-scandals all over the place, and a populace that just hasn’t really dialed in because the USMNT hasn’t exactly endeared itself to the gen pop.

But… the thing I feared most happened yesterday against Germany, a little moment that they could rally around. Some hope. America only really cares about sports they’re the best in, so when someone does something that looks like it’s the best, you’d best believe you’re going to awaken some of the worst casuals in world sport. I’m talking about the guys who go to the Waste Management Phoenix Open, the Buffalo Bills fans who jump through tables, the folk USAing at ice skating… the whole of Philly, and all of Boston’s worst.

The world is not ready for what is going to happen, they really aren’t.

You can’t deny them their moment… that goal, without doubt, is one of the best we’ve seen this year. But think about the geopolitical impact? Think of the power the American people are going to draw on here. Imagine the sound of USA USA USA dominating the world for the exact amount of time it’ll take them to get out of the group stages and get defeated in the round of 32.

America is the force it is in the world because of the insane optimism and belief in their greatness… and they’re about to show you how that translates into sport, in their backyard. How do you think that’s going to go for me? It took one draw against England in the last World Cup for my American brothers and sisters to start bringing up the Revolutionary War.

Antonee Robinson has ruined my week in a way I didn’t think was technically possible (literally, I didn’t think he had the capabilities to do something like that).

So let’s talk about Arsenal to numb the pain.

One of the drums I’ve been banging over the past 5 years is the Manchester City model for academy. They basically purchase best-in-class players at every age group through whatever means necessary, and they do this for three reasons.

1. The best young players in the world get trained in Pep ideals (makes them attractive).

2. The ones that serve a purpose at club level are elevated into the first team and they make a difference (O’Reilly).

3. Those that fail are sold off and generate £200m every 5 years in transfer fees which keeps the ‘net spend’ number down when they do their finances (Oscar Bobb and Emmanuel Frimpong).

Anyone can spend a lot of money, but what Man City have done better than anyone else is hire strategists who spend the cash in the most optimum way so they can dominate every specialism in the game.

Academy kids, no one can outspend them.

16-22, no one can outspend them.

23-27, no one can outspend them.

27+, they don’t really do it.

Arsenal have developed the way they coach and bring young players through, but it’s largely been organic, and we’ve done a terrible job harvesting kids for cash, and our loan approach has been diabolical.

Berta has exited all the people that built a system that could organically create a lot of elite talent, and he’s taken charge. Now he’s turbo-charging the types of names we bring to the club.

Edwin and Holger Quintero are our Ecuadorian twins, and they’re getting rave reviews. Max Dowman, the treasure of teenage football, is going to be the best player in the world. Marli Salmon will be back-up right back this season. Irish 17-year-old Victor Ozhianvuna was one of the early signings moving to a more Man City model.

Now the club are starting to move on bigger targets.

Jeremy Monga, a 16-year-old left winger, is a big move Arsenal are looking to do with Leicester.

He played 1,000 minutes for Leicester, who were relegated to League One. That is a crazy number of minutes. 2 assists and 1 goal doesn’t read like a lot on paper, but it’s really, really good. Arsenal are moving on a player who has difference maker written all over him, and when you think of Max on the right, it really does feel like the club are moving on players who are different to the monsters we’ve been looking at this season. Monga is more Cherki than Martinelli.

Arsenal have also been linked with another super teenager, Emmanuel Mbemba, PSG U19 captain, a left back.

The story is that he’ll be given the loan treatment, like Willy Saliba, then given a path into the first team that he apparently won’t get at PSG.

Neither of these moves guarantee you’ll have a player worth anything at the end. Teenagers might have all the raw ingredients to be world class, but the mental side of the game plays a huge role. Are you telling me if Emile had the same attitude as Saka he wouldn’t still be at Arsenal? Of course you aren’t. What this approach does is ensure that you’re investing coaching hours in players who are more likely to break into the first team, and if they don’t, they’re more likely to land a fee for the club.

Under the old model, we’d have one or two stars, and then leave the rest of the academy with filler players who could barely sustain a professional career. The approach now will likely be to move to a scenario where you’re getting 1 or 2 players who could compete for a squad place, with 4-6 who could command a fee.

Look at the insanity of the sales Man City dropped last season. They do this on the DL and that’s why they don’t get as much scrutiny for their net spend. But how do they get to those players? Because they are one of the top spenders to get those names to the club when they are nobodies. Sverre Nypan last year, a player Arteta didn’t even meet because he didn’t want him in the squad, was hoovered up by Man City for big money, and shipped out. This is a player Arsenal thought could compete with Odegaard one day. Now he’s part of the teenage farm at Man City. If he makes it, great. If he doesn’t, say hello to a £30m move to Southampton in 3 years.

We need to be that club, that’s why I really like these moves.

Summer sales seem to be the most dominant conversation right now. When I shortened the word dominant, did it come across sexual? I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to ruin your day that way.

Back to it…

Martinelli left an end-of-season tweet that kind of felt like a goodbye. I’m ok with it. He’s been here 7 years. He’s given his all to the cause. A player Klopp called “talent of the century” might be ready for the next move. The only thing I need to make sure of is that we land a good fee. This is a player who has won the Premier League, he starts for Brazil, he had 18 G&A this season… I am not going to allow him to move to Bayern for £45m. This is a £65m player, especially after we saw Anthony Gordon move to Barca for €80m. I want that Rhian Brewster premium. Our players are winners, they work like dogs, they’re better tactically drilled than most… it’s time for the big fees.

The scariest exit of the summer will potentially be Zubimendi. He played all the Premier League games last season and… we won the Premier League. I can’t hear that he’s not at the level. It’s the worst kind of Arsenal discourse. He’s a monster. Did he get tired? Sure. But do we want him in the squad? Yes we do.

But… there are headwinds. Myles is… kind of the guy now. 18 years old, more mature, and more suited to playing next to a bunch of beasts like Declan. Myles is a little more technical, a little more ambitious in his passing, and a touch more saucy. Is a player who starts for Spain going to accept being Norgaard next season? I don’t know. Especially not if he’s homesick for Spain… with those Madrid players chirping in his ears, this might be the shock of the summer for Arsenal.

An interesting incoming transfer is that of Morgan Gibbs-White. The English attacking midfielder is a funny old player. Clearly very talented like Morgan Rogers, but you can’t quite put your finger on it. Just one of those guys that can make the difference if he’s in the mood. Predominantly an attacking midfielder, he was responsible for 18 goals and 7 assists for a Forest side that went through 3 managers this season. That is… incredible.

The numbers above are overall grades. But they are baked against the size of the sample set. Your Gradient shooting number only goes high if you take a lot of shots. You can’t score one worldie from one shot and get a 75. It’s kind of like percentiles, but the people you’re graded against have to be people that shoot a lot. Make sense? Good.

Morgan Gibbs-White is kind of good at everything you want in an attacking midfielder. He’s more attack-focused than defensively. Ranked, in totality, against the 35 players who play the same role as him, he’s 9th in the league playing for Forest.

Dig into the data, he’s ranked 7th in the attacking midfielder category for pressured shot quality — a good number for a deep-block team like Arsenal. He’s 5th in the league for open play shooting. 14th for touch… but a lot higher than Morgan Rogers for the same metric (133rd of 136 AMs and CMs).

If the role we’re trying to fill here is someone who can break defences and do a lot of things really well, with power, pace, and aggression… then I can see why MGW is in the mixer. Could be an exciting move. Can’t write him off just because Spurs missed out on him, he’s a great player in his prime.

Can’t imagine the wildest owner in the Premier League is going to let him go for anything lower than £75m, but we’ll see!

Ok, that’s mostly all I have. You come back tomorrow, you hear? x

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Here’s what’s inside:

🔥 Hottest of Takes — Jacob is not sold on Morgan Rogers and has receipts from Villa fan forums to back it up. Pete’s take is about Kepa: the slander has to stop, and he makes the case that Arsenal still have the best backup goalkeeper in the league by some distance

⚽ Do We Sell A Striker? — Pete floats the idea early and Jacob can barely believe it. But the logic is hard to argue with. If you spend big on Alvarez or Kruppi, something has to give. The Atlético Madrid connection comes back up and one name feels very familiar

🏟️ Real Madrid In Crisis — Florentino Pérez is doing long, Trumpian press conferences about the deep state. A 37-year-old wants the presidency. Mourinho is in. And Calafiori’s name keeps coming up in ways that make Pete very nervous

😤 Spurs’ Rebuild — De Zerbi is in, they’ve signed Sánchez from Bournemouth, and they’re going after Van de Ven’s defensive partner from Brighton. Pete and Jacob give it three windows before Spurs are anyone’s problem

🔴 Man United — Cause For Concern? — Carrick is in. They’ve signed a midfielder from Atalanta who Pete immediately compares to Ugarte. Jacob is not worried. Bruno Fernandes to Mourinho’s Madrid gets floated

💰 The Arteta Contract — How Big? — he’s already one of the highest paid managers on the planet. Jacob thinks it could go significantly higher. Pete makes the case for why that number is completely worth it

Members only — thank you for being part of the AOP family. See you next Friday.

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Here’s what’s inside:

🔥 Hottest of Takes — Jacob drops a cold shower on the most talked-about transfer target of the summer and makes the case for someone else entirely. Pete pumps the brakes on the whole conversation and reminds everyone what this team just actually did

🌊 Bradley Barcola — Weapon of Mass Destruction — PSG are moving him on. Pete makes the full-throated case for why he’s the missing piece on that left-hand side. Jacob is very much on board

🤔 Do We Actually Have A Left Side Problem? — Martinelli was brilliant in Europe. Trossard is beloved. So why is everyone in such a rush to sell them? Pete and Jacob dig into whether the problem is as bad as the discourse suggests

🏭 The Academy Pipeline — six players aged 16-17 banging on the door. Jacob makes the case that signing certain types of players is now a waste of money when you’ve got what’s coming through. He uses Madüeke as the example and does not hold back

😂 Don’t Let The Clowns Get You Down — Jacob is now officially part of the TalkSport network and has some thoughts on how to protect your Arsenal joy. His description of the TalkSport presenting style is one of the lines of the summer

🌍 The World Cup — Jacob is faking his enthusiasm. Pete can tell. They get it out the way quickly

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Oh thank you, that’s so kind of you to say, happy transfer window season to one and all!

You know nothing gets my gears grinding harder than transfer season. It’s a time of great hope, of renewal, a dreamy haze of research, YouTube scouting, and largely disappointment.

… but this summer, we’re a serious club, with big ambitions, and an ownership group moving beyond the war chest stories of the 2010s right to the WE ARE GOING BIG phase of global domination.

We’ll see how things shake out over the next few months, but there are a few things we must remember about how Andrea Berta rocks so we can all be singing from the same page.

1. Optionality

The big pivot from the old guard to the new is that Andrea Berta doesn’t believe in the idea that you’re better off not spending than missing your target. His view is that you should have multiple targets on the go at the same time and you should use that variation to keep clubs guessing on fees. Some would say he does this to get the best price, but I would argue that outside Mosquera last summer, we largely paid the valuation or we overpaid. I think he does this to keep options open while the club assesses things like desire and agents. But probably the biggest advantage of having multiple players on the go is that if Madrid or United come steaming in, you have other places to put your cash. He also recognized that squad depth was more important than outright quality and that mindset tipped us over the line in the Premier League because the mass injury issues we had all season didn’t hurt us like it had done in the past.

2. Opportunism

I think there will likely be a part of the summer that is baked, but some of the summer will remain unplanned so the club can assess exciting options that occur when new managers, going into big clubs, make an assessment of who they want to keep and who they want to bin. José Mourinho at Madrid will most certainly make a splash by decapitating one or two stars. Iraola might bin some of last summer’s big moves to raise capital… like Alex Isak. You just don’t know. But Eberechi Eze was a last-minute trolley dash last year and I suspect being open to phone calls from the big agents, and making decisive moves, is why the big super agents like Berta.

3. New Media

Andrea Berta is probably the most progressive innovator in new media I’ve seen, globally. The Hand of Arsenal account has been a very shrewd way of Arsenal bypassing media spin and headline generators. Angsty fans are kept in the loop with regards to the targets, the details of the deals, and how things are progressing. I’ve never seen anything like it, but it prevents fans from being dragged into the world of random fake ITK accounts, and it gives clarity to what we’re looking at and how we’re moving.

4. Clarity of the rebuild

We also kind of know the shape of the summer already. David Ornstein and Miguel Delaney, the best informed journalists, have been signaling how the squad rebuild will be shaped.

We know there will be an attacking midfielder of sorts and Morgan Rogers is setting the tone for what that’ll look like. An all-action ball-carrying powerhouse with rich output.

We’ll be looking at some sort of forward who can play as a second striker or on the wings. That’ll look like an Álvarez or a Junior Kroupi. Two players that, according to Delaney, are attracting big interest from PSG this summer.

We know that the right back position is likely open, though I have heard there’s a chance Ben White stays on, particularly with that knee injury, and some of the very good performances at the tail end of the season.

We know there’s a strong likelihood that we’ll need to look at a new 8 and a 6.

5. Sales drive spaces

Andrea Berta has been known for finding gems, but he’s also been known for doing very good business on exits. Arsenal have been notoriously weak on this front, but at some point, you have to imagine that narrative changes because we’re, you know, Champions of England with the best coach in the world. These squad players took us all the way this season, how can there be a market for Anthony Gordon, but not Martinelli?

Players to keep an eye on this summer are the whole of the left side of midfield. Martin Odegaard, who had a strained relationship with Arteta at phases of this season. Martin Zubimendi who fell out of favour, but also, a man we know suffers with homesickness. Then there are other players who might just find suitors you didn’t expect. If Madrid come in with a huge number for injury-prone Calafiori, would the club opt to find someone more robust?

There are also big questions to be asked of our forward line. Kai has struggled with injuries, Gabi Jesus doesn’t have it anymore, and Viktor Gyokeres, despite a good final month of the season, trails in so many of the major numbers an Arsenal striker should be at the top of, it’s quite painful. How quickly does the new regime recognise errors in some of the moves we made last year? How ruthless will they actually be? Noting that the only signing of last summer that made the Champions League final starting 11 was Mosquera, who was in for an injured Jurrien Timber.

These are the 4 grounding principles I’m looking at this summer. Should be an interesting one. We have to navigate a hectic one because the World Cup will be starting very soon and that’ll block a lot of the best players from talking. Will Berta get deals done fast or will we fight with everyone at the back end of the tournament?

Plenty to think about. But, while you’re mulling those items — Jacob managed to snag the mighty Tim Stillman, one of the best thinkers on Arsenal for 20 odd years, for an excellent episode of The Dugout that is free for your ears right now. Check it out ad free now! x

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Here’s what’s inside:

🔥 Hottest of Takes — Tim opens with a claim that will provoke debate: Myles Lewis-Skelly starts in central midfield next season. Permanently. And Zubimendi quietly finds himself in a Jorginho role. Jacob asks whether we might be watching a repeat of Ben White at right back — accidental permanence

💸 The Transfer Market Is Broken — Jacob’s hot take: there are no players worth a hundred million pounds, which means every player costs a hundred million pounds. Tim has a lot of sympathy for what Berta is trying to do this summer and explains why in a way that makes you feel slightly better about everything

⚽ Gyökeres — The Honest Assessment — Tim fell on Pete’s side. And then Gyökeres just quietly got on with it. No side changing the outcome of the argument, but undeniably no title without him. Where does he fit next year?

🌟 Max Dowman — The Fabregas Comparison — Tim goes there. Carefully. Jacob talks about a World Cup preseason and what happened to a certain Spanish teenager in the summer of 2004

🔴 What Does Arsenal Actually Need This Summer? — the left wing spot, the striker question, and why Tim thinks Arteta might have to sacrifice one of his principles to find the attacker that changes everything

🌱 Calafiori — Keep Him — Tim’s horse-without-a-jockey analogy will become the definitive description of watching Calafiori run at full pelt down the right wing having started at left back. The lads agree: don’t sell this man

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Here’s what’s inside:

🏆 Player of the Year — Timber wins it for the second year running. Johnny makes the case that the most consistent player at Arsenal this season …

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Clawing my way back to normality after all the madness we’ve partaken in over the past few weeks.

What have I learned?

I will go to the next Champions League final. I hemmed and hawed over it. I put family over football. I shuddered over the immense cost of it all.

I let myself down. I soiled my reputation. I’ll never do it again. Very rarely do I feel jealousy as an emotion, but all my friends, 9 pints deep before breakfast, sharing their pictures… it got me bad. I’m booking my Madrid tickets tomorrow.

Then there was the game. We’ve all spent too much time this season worrying about outcomes vs enjoying the things that happen before them. The Champions League final was one of the first games I tried to engage with without worrying about the final score. It was a privilege to be at the top of the game, it was an outrageous feeling to know it was Arsenal battling it out with PSG, and the feeling of being 1-0 up for that amount of time was spectacular.

This is the way to enjoy football. The pressure is now firmly off with regards to all the bullsh*t around Arsenal being bottle jobs. Moving forward, it’s all about enjoying this little moment in time where Arsenal might be a force in English football.

There’s a great piece doing the rounds of TalkSport speaking to an Arsenal fan who basically called out the Simon Jordan show, but more broadly, TalkSport for being a primary cause of spoiling the Arsenal experience this season. Raging at a channel designed to have you raging is kind of pointless.

People have accused this site of rage-baiting. I write Le Grove from the perspective of my real opinion because in polite society, the given is that you’ll offer a balanced perspective… but honestly, there’s nothing more boring than looking at something from every angle, especially if you only believe in one of them. When you’re with your friends, you are unfiltered, and that’s why it’s more fun being with your friends than giving an opinion at an office Lunch and Learn. So raging about a sports radio channel for dialing up the rhetoric around the most popular club in the most affluent part of London is going to fall on deaf ears… people like to hear big opinions; we can’t be angry. TalkSport have monetized that.

But… the deeper point here is this… why do we fall for it if it’s making us ill?

Yes, I’m saying ill here. It is a sickness if you look at and listen to things that make you fall out of love with what you love. You are abusing yourself for the wrong sort of dopamine hits. This is what social media does to the body. You look at loads of clips, carefully crafted for your caveman brain, and you walk away saying… is London burning? Are my organic berries stewed in cancer bleach? Are you supposed to say boooooosh after every sentence when you go back to Essex?

But more to the point…

Should I be angry that Arteta doesn’t play the exact brand of football I want?

Are we undeserving Champions?

Is leaving your technical area actually a capital crime?

Are Arsenal fans really annoying and should it be a priority to make sure Chelsea fans like me?

Why isn’t it illegal to make tifos?

Is it cheating if you don’t get a red card?

Is win-at-all-costs mentality not elite when it’s Arteta doing it?

Is it barbaric to scrum in the penalty box?

Should we stop scoring goals from setpieces because we are the best at them?

Should I be concerned that Northern teams don’t like it up them?

Is it actually good for football that plucky nations state-run clubs win the biggest trophies?

Was Laura Woods unprofessional for being the only sports broadcaster in history to share that she favored a club?

Should partisan Arsenal fans be banned from telly?

Is the word ‘project’ an affront to the native Brits?

This list goes on and on.

But it’s not TalkSport’s fault. They are there to engage you, warp your mind, make you join the negative army of Arsenal haters… and they succeeded for chunks of the season.

‘We’ve got to ask questions of Arteta because I can’t handle the football’ after the Wolves game. Booing in the stadium. We can all celebrate how amazing things were in the week we won the Premier League, but don’t forget some of the dark times… and that they were induced by the most terminally online fan base mainlining all the bad commentary about their own team.

You don’t need to listen to it. There are 400 Arsenal podcasts. 200 places to read about Arsenal. You can insulate yourself by unfollowing clippers on short-form platforms that don’t say nice things about your club.

Build up walls. Stop searching out things to argue about. Or train yourself to be better about what the algorithm and the shapers are trying to do to you.

Arsenal just won the Premier League to the backdrop of one of the worst media propaganda campaigns of all time. It’s time to break the habit and realise that you are being taken for a ride. Your emotions are being choked to make you doubt what you are seeing. It just simply can’t continue this way. You are giving your joy away in an era where things really are pretty amazing.

Antonio Conte, one of the biggest sufferball merchants of all time… media darling.

José Mourinho, didn’t want the ball, sufferball king, dark arts monster, savage man… media darling.

Pep G, one of the most overpowered managers in football history… media darling.

Eddie Howe, media darling. Big Ange, media darling.

Arteta, who doesn’t say offensive things, answers questions with depth, gives soundbites, rarely complains, built the club back to greatness the hard way… has media literally saying they want to punch him.

Says it all.

Time to shake yourself down. You saw all the people dancing on the streets. We are undeniably massive. Arsenal are champions. We just made a Champions League final and went unbeaten in open play. There is no doubt, we are one of the best teams on the planet and the club is about to invest even more in taking us to the next level.

This makes me feel alive, and I am not going to let platforms designed to enrage me move the needle.

Propagandise yourself, live the good life, have a great summer. x

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Here’s what’s inside:

🔥 Hottest of Takes — Matt makes the case for selling Ethan Nwaneri this summer and using him to fund the hot boy window. Pete’s take is that we do one more year with Gyökeres — but he’s getting relegated to third choice striker next season

😤 Arsenal Derangement Syndrome — The Telegraph. The Athletic’s alternate table. Paul Scholes picking Man United to win the league. Pete and Matt go through every piece of nonsense still being thrown at the champions and explain why they actually want it to continue

😬 Saliba’s Back Injury — the most worrying piece of news to emerge from the final. Pete and Matt try not to catastrophise and settle on a silver lining involving Mosquera

🌟 Calafiori — Don’t You Dare Sell Him — Juventus and Roma are sniffing. Matt and Pete make the case for keeping a total unicorn. Arteta used the phrase “individual action” after the final. They both think they know who he means

🕵️ The Southampton Spying Scandal — Tonda Ecker caught cheating, keeps his job, delivers an 8-minute-43-second apology that makes things considerably worse. Pete and Matt on what it does to a dressing room when the gaffer gets caught

📺 16.2 Million Illegal Streams — Keir Starmer asked TNT to make the final free to air. TNT said no. Pete and Matt have a lot of feelings about how football fans get treated

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Here’s what’s inside:

🔥 Hottest of Takes — Matt goes two-footed at the celebrity fans crawling out the woodwork. Jason Sudeikis at the final without doing the hard yards. 21 Savage not knowing a single Arsenal chant. Pete has thoughts on who passes the test and who doesn’t

💸 The Most Savage Summer Of The Decade — Pete makes the case that Andrea Berta was hired for his selling ability as much as his buying. Champions League money, players at peak value, and Arteta talking about being ruthless. Pete thinks some exits are coming that will shock everyone

🏆 Matt’s Budapest Story — the fan zone, the march to the stadium, The Killers rolling on and off in six minutes flat, Kai’s goal going in, the beer flying over the tier below. Matt was there for all of it and has the full debrief

😤 Saka — The Honest Assessment — Matt’s biggest regret from the final isn’t the penalty or the ref. It’s the one player who was waiting to make a fine margins difference and didn’t. He names him. Pete agrees

🤔 The Odegaard Question — the most interesting potential sale of the summer. Pete and Matt can see why you’d sell. They struggle to name who replaces him. Musiala comes up

🇪🇸 Anthony Gordon Goes Full Spanish — learned the language, looked incredible in Barcelona, glowing like he was born there. Pete and Matt love to see it. A full McTominay glow-up incoming

Members only — thank you for being part of the AOP family.

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I woke up feeling more defiant than when I went to bed. I’m still proud of the boys. The only unbeaten team in the Champions League lost the final on penalties. That’s upsetting, but hard to get too upset about. PSG are an immense side, if you’re going to lose to a team, that’s the group.

Football is a little bit like gardening. Spend enough time doing it, even without a degree in horticulture, you will eventually get a feel for knowing what’s sprouting through the ground and whether it’s worth persisting with. We all knew, inherently, that making the 2006 Champions League final 20 years ago was more luck than judgment. We were looking at a garden that was dying, it had no hope of making it through the summer.

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Here’s what’s inside:

🔥 Hottest of Takes — Johnny holds two things at once: enormous pride in what this team achieved, and real hunger for what comes next. Pete’s take cuts straight to the summer — the attack needs addressing, and he’s not being gentle about it

💔 The Champions League Final — Honest Debrief — Kai’s goal was a worldie. Mosquera was brave. The penalty decisions were shocking. Johnny goes through what he liked, what he didn’t, and is honest about the moments that cost us

🟥 The Referee — Pete and Johnny have a lot of feelings. The Noni penalty. The corner at the end of the first half. The yellow for Saka. Johnny chooses his words very carefully. Pete does not

💸 The Summer Window — Kruppi, Morgan Rogers, Alex Isak, and a Bellingham question that has Johnny very excited. Why Premier League-proven players are the only names Pete wants to hear this summer

😤 Everybody Hates Arsenal — Chelsea’s trophy post. Nottingham Forest. Jed Spence. Johnny and Pete on why rival clubs need to have a serious word with themselves

🚀 This Feels Like The Beginning — 2006 felt like the end of an era. This feels like the start of one. Declan Rice after the game said we’ll be back. Pete and Johnny believe him

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Felt the need to just bang out a few words before we get into the inquisition phase of the project, mostly because I am immensely proud of Arsenal. The team, the players, the manager, the backroom staff, the fans, everyone who made this season one of the most memorable on record.

The Champions League, once a team is in the semi-finals, is a roll of the dice. You don’t need me to tell you that, just listen to Luis Enrique before the game, stating with seriousness that 10 teams can win it.

Paris is run by a man of class. I love Enrique; he’s one of the true role models in the game, and he’s been through absolute hell in his personal life.

But the club? The most monied on the planet. They are underpinned by unlimited funds, a compliant league that gives them rest between games, and they are also blessed to be disgracefully overpowered compared to their local competitors. You have to add up the wage bills of the FIVE teams behind Paris to get close to their wages, which are higher than Man City’s. It’s a nation-state club, and its whole existence is geared towards winning one trophy, and they won it.

We took that team to penalties; they had three shots on target, and two of those were errant crosses, and the other was a penalty. You have to salute the defensive lockdown of Paris.

Arsenal were also refereed very differently in the second half. It was incredible. We got absolutely nothing. I will never stop thinking about the refs' mindset for not revisiting that Noni foul in the box. Doesn’t matter if the Mendes arm was held, it went over the player, and there was no attempt at the ball. Absolutely disgusting officiating.

We’re well beyond crucifying players for missed penalties. It is what it is. The only thing you ask for is that players at least make the keeper work and we didn’t twice. You’d hope that someone other than Big Gabi would be taking number five, but the fact he stepped up deserves all the credit in the world.

I’m not hammering anyone today.

If there is a clear vision for phase 6 of Arsenal, it’s that we need to find players with more about them in the final third. That’s something that we’ve needed in the league. But, let’s be clear, Kvara was rubbish bar winning a penalty. Dembélé was nowhere. Can’t remember Doué doing anything of note all game. These are three of the best attackers in the game. They didn’t make much of a difference.

Defensively, we were monstrous. No arguments. Every single member of the starting 11 did their job. Maximal concentration all game. No major errors. No real scares, bar a couple of mazy runs by Barcola when he came on. Arsenal were so good defensively, PSG kind of gave up after 80 minutes and the game rolled into a stalemate.

Where would I have liked to have seen more good times up top? We didn’t create much all game. Arsenal have been better against PSG in the past. But we were quite focused on this game being a grind fest. Saka wasn’t great, nor was Martin, and I think Trossard struggled. It felt like a game that Max would have been more appropriate as a sub as well.

Arteta is the best manager in Europe for subs of consequence and you felt he let a very hot game go a little too long before making a sub. Getting Timber on at 60 would have been better. He wouldn’t have lunged in like Mosquera did. Life could have been different. But, again, this is a guy who has had next to no minutes. Can you bring him on at 60 knowing he could have to play 50 minutes with extra time? But… let’s be clear, Mosquera was absolutely incredible bar the penalty give away. It was his best game, so I’m not down about that.

We will win the Champions League under Arteta. If we upgrade our attackers to be better passers and more aggressive about final output, we’ll win the comp. We’re an incredible team. Arteta is an incredible manager. The only silver lining I can wrap into this afternoon is that winning it all at once might lead to a flat new season… now we have something to keep us motivated.

Final thought goes to the Arsenal fans. They were incredible. The vibrancy of our fan base over the last week has really shown the world how big this club is. More of that next season.

I also want to thank all of you who read this website. The folk I fight with in the comments. The people who send nice messages. Those who send mean ones. Those who say hi when we’re in London. I love you all, and I’m so happy we’ve been on this mad journey together.

We’ll get some down time this summer, the club will spend some money, and we’ll have another crazy one next year knowing we’ve won at least one major trophy.

This is the start of a dynasty, let’s see how far the club can take it, I can’t wait. x

P.S. Dropped a little bonus OTW with Jacob. Sound isn’t great because he was out in London. But we did it anyway.

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The biggest game of the century is nearly upon us. After 20 long years, hanging out in the wilderness, we have arrived at the very top of the game, to play 90 glorious minutes against one of the best teams ever assembled.

“I think it’s the opportunity to own the moment because it’s the second time in our history that we are here.

“We have the opportunity tomorrow to write a new chapter in the history of this football club.

“In order to do that, we have to play with such clarity, a lot of courage and a relentless desire to win. We have those three aspects and I’m sure that we’re going to be close to winning.”

This is why we do it. The very pinnacle of world football, and it’s our players, and our manager, who have the chance to write a new history for The Arsenal.

The press conferences from Bukayo, Martin, and Mikel read calm, assured, and very confident in the job that needs to be done. They all say the Premier League hasn’t changed them, but you know damn well that the early win will have done wonders for the belief. No one wanted to head into the Paris game with another 2nd place on the books.

It also sounds like Mikel has run the videos back of our last three games and realised that we’ve actually been far better against Paris than the 2 losses and 1 win would suggest. 5+ shots on target in each of the games. Narrow margins. Loads of injuries to deal with in the semi-finals.

The game today is going to be very different. For the first time in an absolute age, we have the majority of our squad ready to go. Ben White is the only major absence we’re dealing with at the moment. The biggest piece of winning news we have is that, according to reports, Jurrien Timber is available. It’s the biggest drama we’ll have to deal with pre-game. My view is that this is f*ckery. But, the main caveat is that Jurrien is a warrior and will put his body on the line to be in the mixer. So who knows, it’s good news that he’s at least on the bench. My main concern here is Jurrien potentially representing the one galaxy brain opportunity of the evening… do you dare risk someone with no match fitness against Kvara? That feels like a step too far regardless of the talent on offer… but, I’m also a little bit scared that if it’s not him, it’ll be Martin Zubimendi in an unfavoured position, which also feels a little bit galaxy-brained… but so does putting a lanky right-sided centre back there… it’s honestly breaking my fragile brain right now.

The rest of the team kind of picks itself. Or does it?

Calafiori gives us a crazy dimension of attacking options at full back, but Hincapie is a lockdown beast against crazy fast attackers. Trossard feels like the form guy on the left, but Eze gives you edge-of-the-box magic. I don’t think there can be much doubt about starting Kai because he can control the ball and hold it up. He’s also a major threat from corners and we might need to be bullies in the box.

The view is that we’ll sit back and absorb the waves of attack, but I think we might surprise a few people and be more front-footed and aggressive.

The key is not to let them transition against you. No errors in the final third. No loose balls or bad crosses.

Paris are also one of the worst teams in the Champions League for turnovers in their own third. They can be rattled, so having our press at optimum levels is going to be essential, because there will be pounceable moments.

There’s also their keeper who I’m not quite sure about. He’s not a superstar by any stretch, and he let some howlers in against Bayern Munich. We have to test him early and we have to get at him mentally.

I’m extremely happy to be anywhere near a game like this after so long on the sidelines. We have to accept that these sorts of outings are very rare; the next time this comes along could be another 20 years, and I’ll be retired from the workplace with kids in their first jobs. You have to treasure these moments.

The other side of that is that the players have to realise that they are stepping into a moment that might only come once for them. Some players never get here. Do you want to play with fear and regret that? Or do you want to put it all on the line, play with freedom, and create a history that can never be taken from you?

I’ll be proud of the team, whatever happens. This game will involve bouts of suffering. There will be near misses, moments of magic, maybe a horrible error… but it will be a day spent in the margins, we just have to hope we can dominate those margins, and finish out the day with a win for the ages.

This is special. We’ve come a long way together. Not many of us dreamed there would be days like this again. But here we are, holding hands one last time on this epic journey.

Good luck… time to drink 5 pints and start believing. See you on the other side and in the comments. COME ON ARSENAL x

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Here’s what’s inside:

🌳 The Timber Question — Jacob made his call in therapy. Does Pete agree?

🔒 Locking Down Paris — how do you stop the fastest transition team in Europe?

🧤 A Test of Keepers — Raya vs Matvéi Safónov. The gloves that could decide it all

⚙️ Myles or Zubimendi? — the most important selection call of the season

🔮 Predictions — the lads go on record. One last time

Members only — thank you for being part of the AOP family. On The Whistle drops Sunday. God speed. 🔴

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Here’s what’s inside:

🔥 Hottest of Takes — Jacob goes full conviction on the team sheet. Pete’s take is about a game plan that will shock everyone expecting Arsenal to sit deep

📊 Are We Sleeping On Noni? — gradient data that will make you reconsider. Where Madüeke ranks in the Champions League for on-ball attacking is genuinely surprising

💸 The Summer Window Opens Early — Rogers, Alvarez, Kruppi, Barcola, Jesus, Martinelli, Ethan to Chelsea. Pete and Jacob go through every name with data

🤔 Alvarez vs Kruppi — Pete puts Jacob on the spot. Proven Premier League winner or elite 19-year-old with frightening shooting numbers? Jacob makes his call

😬 Ethan Nwaneri — the Marseille loan has quietly told Arteta everything he needed to know. Jacob thinks it’s over

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Love it when a new turn of phrase catches on.

‘Lock in’

I’m just saying it all the time. This is better than when the word ‘lit’ hit the streets. This sort of language is crack cocaine for men in their 40s who work in offices with younger people.

‘Yo team. Lock in’

I can say it? Why? It just lands so well. No one thinks I’m cringe. They think I’m connected to the cool things like Parisian workwear and matcha raves.

‘Bro, you play Fortnite too and you use the word bro to greet people?’

Yeah. I’m locked in on this Champions League final. I’m deeply satisfied with where this season has landed already. Two Cup finals and a Premier League win. Whatever way the weekend goes, this season has been a roaring success.

I’m also a big fan of Arsenal being massively underestimated. Most of the Premier League crowd doesn’t want to see us crowned into immortality, but I suspect a lot of Europeans are keen to see us put in a performance and wrestle the Champions League from a team that just machine guns money at their squad with the sole purpose of doing well in one big game a year.

Before we get into thoughts on the MEGA game, it’s worth updating on transfers, because it would seem that Newcastle has already made its first big sale of the summer… Anothony Gordon looks like he’s heading to Barcelona for 80m euros. Quite something. The most Scottish-looking Englishman in the world will be slathering on the SPF 95 and heading to Catalunya to get a McTominay glow-up in one of the most beautiful capitals on the planet.

The move still baffles me a little bit… his power, pace, and ball carrying in La Liga is going to make him look a man amongst weak, malnourished soy boys. Good for him, but secretly, I am quite pleased we’re not bringing him to the carpet, I’d hope we could do a little better… though I do think we naturally underrate him because he looks like the kid who asks to borrow a pound when you’re outside a Tesco Express in Southwark.

Transfer exits are also talk of the town at the moment. The word from Arsenal insider Hand Of Arsenal is that the club is going to make sure they’re getting good fees for our players. Love the stance, but £20m for Gabriel Jesus, a man with paper hamstrings, and no pace, on £250k a week… seems ambitious to me. John Cross has also indicated that Jesus is more interested in getting British Citizenship than heading back to London. This is the thing with older players and why it’s always risky to sign late 20s players… football careers are short, priorities change, and you have to start thinking about the big picture… which is 50 years NOT playing the beautiful game. Don’t blame him for wanting to secure his family in London. But, it is annoying that we’ll have another season of him clogging up a place that could go to someone more suited to our future.

Let’s talk about injuries. Arsenal have had lots of them over the last two years. This below chart shows just how many we’ve had over the past two season.

When you are trying to quantify the quality of coaching at Arsenal, it really is quite astonishing that Arsenal has suffered incredible amounts of downtime from big-name players and…

Finished 2nd, made a Champions League semi-final, made a League Cup final, won a Premier League, and about to play a Champions League final.

Spurs top the list… 17th twice.

Chelsea 3rd in the list… out of the Champions League and Europe.

Newcastle 4th in the league… out of the Champions League and Europe.

Celebrating how well your car survived a car crash you helped cause might not be the total flex I’m painting it as… but the deeper story here is one of marginal gains. If you’re telling the world that creating AI music was a win for the squad, maybe you should ask why so many injuries occur every April and… fix it.

If Arsenal keep the key players they lost to injury this year… fit. They will hit 90 points next season and win the league. The biggest maximal gain we can achieve next season is to dial back the intensity of how we train our players. Fitter players, more points, less fine margin games. It’s a simple win.

Let’s talk about Myles Lewis Skelly. Simply put, he has become a revelation since moving into midfield.

Look at those numbers. Astonishing. No mistakes. Great passing. A boldness with how he operates that is putting Zubimendi in the shadows. When the Champions League selections come in… would you be shocked to see Myles getting the nod in midfield? No, you wouldn’t. What does that mean for the summer of midfield movers and shakers? Don’t you dare ask me before a big Champions League game.

This graphic from Opta is quite telling.

Arsenal players have been clocking insane minutes all season because the Premier League is so high-quality. PSG, meanwhile, uses Ligue 1 as a training facility so they can be fresh for big games. Never forget, they moved a top-of-the-table clash against RC Lens, against the wishes of Lens, so they could be fresh for Liverpool. Just crazy. Especially while we’re out here celebrating a 6-day break between games like it’s a preseason.

The absolute hottest news off the press is the training session Jurrien Timber took part in went well, he will be on the plane to Budapest, he is, apparently in contention.

I’ll roll with it… but I have doubts. It’s in the clubs interest to make sure people think there’s a chance one of the most unique right back profiles in the world could be available for the game… I’m just not sure how viable a start or even 20 mins is going to be after no game time since mid-March. He won’t be fit by a long shot, and if he starts, PSG will actively target his rustiness. Is it worth the risk? Even just the issue of him reinjuring himself is a worry. I’d still color the chances of him starting at a 3 out of 10. But who knows, the man is a warrior.

One of the keys to whatever happens in the final is the fact Luis Enrique and his team of analysts has no idea what Arteta is going to do. A full squad to choose from. That is going to make things tough for him. There are loads of configurations that’ll require different ways of looking at the game. This is a huge bonus. One Arteta has rarely had the luxury of. So let’s see where it goes.

Ok, two things to share before I leave… one of my favorite pieces of content post Premier League win is this from Sky. Just great broadcasting.

Fair play to Gary Neville, the way he handled this, with Ian Wright, was exceptional. Everything just feels so different now we’re winners.

Now get on the latest podcast. There are some deals on memberships if you want to sign up ahead of a beastly summer of hardcore transfer news. I don’t have anyone to do the Champions League final podcast with. So, probably not getting to that until Sunday.

Have a GREAT day. x

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