An Arsenal blog from a coach’s perspective

I know that every game is different.

Watch Arsenal score four at Sunderland with some of the best and most accurate shooting you’ve seen in a while.

Players don’t forget how to shoot overnight.

Without knowing exactly what happens at training I have often wondered how elite coaches attempt to replicate the adrenaline and pressure that a player feels when they shoot.

I’m aware that what is posted on social media isn’t all of it. Clubs can’t reveal what they are doing not just because they don’t want opponents to see what they are preparing, but also they don’t want to give what might be unique drill ideas to the world.

I’ve always had a suspicion that although getting many reps on shooting under no pressure, or just a little, has great importance, but shooting in an actual game at any level is so very different.

You’ve got adrenaline, expectation, more competitive environment, significantly less space and time, normally at least one, if not 6 defenders trying to block it etc….

When I coach shooting, I do both.

Lots of reps to remind the mind of the correct technique. A short swing, or as I tell the boys, don’t let the keeper see what colour the soles of your boots are. Then we spend at least a third of the time challenging them by asking them to replicate the same technique and accuracy whilst the heart is beating quicker under pressure.

It’s not an Arsenal problem. Every team at every level has days where their shooting is off. I’ve always wondered if there is a way to make these days further apart.

I’ve always tried to have rewards or punishments for hitting the target or being off target. I think at the highest level the biggest problem by far is hitting the ball over the crossbar. It seems like around 60% of all shots hit somebody in the crowd.

What I’m doing with youngsters isn’t necessarily possible to replicate at the elite level, but I’ve always thought that every single training session should either have shooting practice at the end or those players that get to shoot in games have functional training by themselves to get hundreds of reps.

Not only was Arsenal’s shooting wild, but there were some really odd misses. Players using the wrong technique at the wrong time and essentially snatching at chances or trying to hit the ball too hard.

For what it’s worth, when a footballer gets to the age of 12 or 13 they are now capable of hitting it over the crossbar. They have sufficient power to score any kind of goal and it now becomes about controlling that power.

When I was coaching at the high school level, we found ourselves in this position where we were dominating most games, but our finishing was letting us down. The next season our emphasis was on the word ‘enough.’ When it’s time to shoot or finish, the players had to give consideration to what was ‘enough’ power because most were using all of the power that they possess and losing control of their body.

For those golfers out there, this thought process works well, especially when teeing off.

That’s always been my best thought regarding shooting and finishing. Elite players have more power than the rest of us and so in most cases if they use 50–60% of this power and focus more on accuracy then they would score significantly more goals.

Thankfully, Martin Odegaard was the exception and he hit a technically perfect short swing shot with a little less power and perfect accuracy.

I didn’t think it was going to be our day because the disease had spread around the entire team, but Odegaard is in fantastic form and most importantly, has found his composure and confidence in front of goal.

POSITIVES:

Odegaard:

I felt bad for him before we scored. He was the middle of everything. The conductor was back. He was creating everything that was good.

Saka:

Just wanted to mention that I saw him winning a couple of headers that he doesn’t normally try for. Especially because of what I said the other day. An improvement. Let’s not talk about his finishing though :/

Clean sheets:

Including the Community Shield that is four clean sheets in five games. Tonight was largely an off night, but this kind of ability to keep a clean sheet will allow us to have an off night and still win.

Hincapie:

He wasn’t super busy, but he was so incredibly on it. His  positioning was perfect and his ability to stay calm on transition and find an outlet pass rather than clearing was very evident.

NEEDS:

Gyokeres:

He made the game too physical tonight. Whenever we were in a clear crossing position, he was stapled to a defender and didn’t seem to have the savvy or movement to pull himself away and get open. A little concerning.

Watching him in these situations is odd for me. For a player who has banged so many goals in his career, he doesn’t seem to be able to shake his marker in a deep block scenario.

Eze:

He’s obviously going to play, but he should be concerned as to whether he is going to play because the coach needs Tzolis to rest or whether he’s going to play because he’s the best option.

He wasn’t bad, but he didn’t seem to be playing with a determination to grab that left wing jersey. He was a little too narrow in the first half and gave himself very little room. I think I speak for everybody when I say that we just want to see a more motivated player.

Rice:

I don’t know if Bruno couldn’t start  because of fitness and coming back from injury, but Zubimendi could have.

It just makes me a little nervous to see him starting a game where I didn’t feel he was necessary.

I figured that Arteta was going to do it and not rotate heavily because he never does. And I know that he wanted to start strong in the Champions League. I just don’t think that it’s worth the risk with Rice when your back ups are two players who are also world class or very close to it.

HOPES:

Barrios:

I wasn’t very aware of Pablo Barrios at Atletico Madrid until last season. There was a podcast talking about how they would’ve done much better against us if he was playing. I’ve been watching him recently and I doubt he’s going to be there much longer. Somebody is gonna pay 100 million or more for him. He makes that team tick and is the closest thing I’ve seen to Declan Rice in Europe.

Camera and McQueen:

They sound like a cop show.

A couple of players to keep an eye on. Both are wingers and both have a very high ceiling. Suleiman Camera plays for Slovan Bratislava. He scored their only goal against PSG yesterday. You might have seen it.

His goal sums up his ability. Extremely quick and skillful and he’s finished with perfection.

Ryan Kavuma McQueen is one of many Chelsea players out on loan. He’s at Portsmouth and much like Camera, he is a big talent.

Finneran:

Rorri Finneran will likely get to play at Newcastle. He is currently on loan at Notts County but with Newcastle rebuilding I would imagine that in around a year or so he will get an opportunity. A wonderfully talented Irishman with the most Irish name and all around game.

TWEETS and THOUGHTS:

I didn’t realize our XG was this good/bad. Definitely shooting camp time.

Barcelona in big financial trouble again. Look out for Arsenal potentially taking advantage of this in January. Raphinha, please.

Highlights what a great game he had.

Part of this is us not using him the way he needs to be used, but most of it is down to his movement in and around the 6 yard box.

We can all think of somebody that we’d love to share this information with.

So I’m not blind.

I wonder if this was a deliberate charm offensive because Arteta would love to have him as a rotational option.

Elite.

I wonder how much emphasis Arteta puts on keeping this number below 0.3, for example?

FINAL THOUGHT:

The game this weekend against Sunderland was a bit of a mess last season. A win would speak to what Martin Odegaard said after the game,” I think we are at another level now.”

The post Shooting camp for Arsenal (Positives Needs & Hopes) [NAP 0-1 ARS] first appeared on Gunners Town.

“Some managers inherit a squad. I inherited a crime scene and only Starboy survived the investigations.”

(Source, Mikel Arteta (honestly))

Goalkeepers

• Bernd Leno – the guy who made a world-class save look routine and a routine backpass look like a near-death experience.
• Emiliano Martínez – still as arrogant as ever, perfectly suited at Chelsea.
• Matt Macey – I checked and a reverse google search confirmed ‘yes, that is Matt Macey in the photo.’

Defenders

• Héctor Bellerín – the man, the legend, the mullet
• Kieran Tierney – his heart was always in the right place, shame the rest of him was always in the treatment room
• Sokratis – sounded like a Brazilian footballer but played like a Greek philosopher
• Rob Holding – once got named in Garth Crooks’ Team of the Week
• Shkodran Mustafi – didn’t need instructions to mark the striker. Just a compass and someone to tell him where the striker actually was.
• Calum Chambers – Not to be confused with the Australian rules footballer Callum Chambers
• David Luiz – Well he had great hair
• Sead Kolašinac – well he was better than Andre Santos

Midfielders

• Dani Ceballos – looked great on YouTube
• Mesut Özil – Turned up for Real Madrid in a friendly, disappeared against Wigan in the rain
• Lucas Torreira – The little Uruguayan who bit ankles for fun
• Ainsley Maitland-Niles – Winger, midfielder, right back, left back in the changing room
• Joe Willock  – Box-to-box energy, final-third amnesia
• Mattéo Guendouzi – Well he had great hair, just not as great as David Luiz
• Granit Xhaka – Two-footed in the best and worst ways possible
• Emile Smith Rowe – The Croydon De Bruyne, when his hamstrings allowed it

Forwards

• Alexandre Lacazette – Lyon to Arsenal for £52 million. Arsenal to Lyon for £0 million
• Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – unfortunately never learnt that you ‘play for the name in the front of shirt, not the one on the back
• Reiss Nelson – there will always be Bournemouth
• Gabriel Martinelli – Wrightys’ right, should have been treated better
• Nicolas Pépé – 72 million quid no one is getting back
• Bukayo Saka – Last man standing

The post They all rolled over and one was left… (Arteta’s 7-Year Arsenal Cull) first appeared on Gunners Town.

An Arsenal blog from a coach’s perspective 

Arsenal are in a brand new position for the first time in a few decades. They are hot favorites to win the Premier League.

This brings a different set of emotions. No longer are fans and Arsenal both wondering ‘can they?’

Motivation is tested after you finally win something. How much do you really want to experience that again? It’s different with every player, but if you have a great leader, as we do, then if you want to get on the field, then you must realize that a drop in standards won’t even see you in the squad.

Everybody wants to take your scalp. The coaches know that in this league, it is possible for anybody to beat anybody and so they dream of getting a big victory against the best team.  Nothing that they say will motivate greater than knowing you can beat anybody else because you beat the best.

You also have to deal with the feeling of superiority. How many times in our footballing journey have we said, “we were too complacent today, lads.” Complacency is a natural human reaction and you have to fight it. Premier League players have to fight it , also. It often creeps in after a string of difficult games. You end up playing a lower table team and the players feel a little too relaxed. It also happens during the game when you get two or more goals ahead.

Before this game started, I was concerned that we would give Chelsea an early season lift in belief. A big dose. It’s not necessarily what I thought would happen, but you can only imagine how Chelsea would have felt, with their new coach and new dreams, if they would’ve beaten the champions on their own turf.

Today Arsenal had to walk away having discouraged Chelsea. In the long term this was more important than anything else.

We don’t spend much time wondering what opposing teams and opposing fans feel and think, but with the media‘s help Chelsea would’ve been the new best thing after this game, if they would’ve won.

Now after the game has finished, I still feel more relieved that we discouraged them, than the fact that we won ourselves.

I suppose I’m well-versed in knowing that half of winning the league is discouraging your opponents rather than it just being all about you all the time.

At the beginning of the season, nobody expects brilliance. It’s all about three points. What is extra beautiful is that Chelsea were given the boost of scoring early and still lost. They saw Arsenal purring at times in the game and that doesn’t normally happen until October.

Chelsea and their fans have just gone home having again experienced not beating Arsenal.

Max just sent me this…

That’s a lot of discouragement

POSITIVES:

XG:

We haven’t even conceded 1.0

XG goal in our first three games combined.

Look at the numbers on that chart. The gap after three games is stark even between Arsenal in first and City in second.

Sometimes XG can drive me mad as there is too much focus on it. Too many people using it to sound smart rather than using it at the right time and in the right context.

I don’t know this for a fact, but I feel very strongly that there is a standard at Arsenal that is unmatched anywhere.

The penalty area is our castle. 

The standard has been set that you defend your castle with everything you have. You don’t leave it to somebody else to shoot the arrows, you take responsibility yourself. You are just as proud of your castle as you are of the arrows you shoot at them.

I think you’ll find that this thought is posted and preached frequently at Arsenal Football Club.

1. You don’t let them get into your box.
2. You don’t allow any chances whatsoever and if one happens then there has been a breakdown in the defense of the castle. I’m sure that David Raya would’ve saved that shot from range but Gabriel diving to head it out was like the last and bravest soldier defending the king.

Castle well protected.

Breaking it down even further. So very impressive.

Tzolis:

This was a more important game for him than likely anybody else. He is not yet established and Eze played fairly well when he replaced him against Villa. Actually, I thought that they would switch jobs for this game. He had to show better decision-making and a willingness to be as direct as he was against City and Coventry.

I can’t remember one bad decision that he made and this is his strength. He’s not as eye-catching as those that are considered to be the best in his position, but his technique, two footedness and consistent execution seems to be of the highest level.

In particular, I loved how calm he was under huge pressure. His touch bringing the ball down out of the air was faultless. He yet again set up too high XG chances and I’d say that this is probably the level expected for each game for a winger on top of his game.

Is it just me or does he look like a chef? Just a random thought.

Whilst I’m at it, Man. United’s goalkeeper looks like a bass guitarist who has a day job as a concierge.

Actually, let’s get really silly.… Did Chelsea bring on Pedro Neto’s twin brother to play left back?

Odegaard:

Pressure changes everything. Martin Odegard’s life changed a couple of years ago when he got married, had a kid and simultaneously had the pressure of trying to lead this team back to the top.

You saw in the summer and we see it now, a player who looks like he’s enjoying himself, dictating games, creating chances and scoring again. I’d imagine that all of this is largely to do with pressure. It’s certainly not experience and it’s certainly not an improved player because what he’s producing has been seen before. I do wonder if that dummy by Kai is something that they’ve worked on because we’ve seen it twice since the Community Shield.

Broadly speaking, here is an interesting discussion… Is Odegaard currently the best player in the Premier League?

Raya:

I know he’s not the talk of the town. I’m sure when I go on social media it will all be about the colour of London. If we were to watch that back, we would notice that he was more busy than in all of the other games this season combined. When you get up early in the morning and watch all the other Premier League games you get a greater appreciation of a player like David Raya.

He is so technically clean. Max and I have a joke when we often watch another team playing and say, “ David Raya would’ve caught that”

I’m not seeing a better goalkeeper in the world right now. I don’t even feel bold in saying that. I think he is clearly the best. He’s the best at commanding his box, especially from crossing situations. He frequently completely nullifies a promising attack with his positioning and handling from crosses. He has the fastest reactions that I think I’ve ever seen.  His match winning save from Estevao’s curler will go under the radar as Arsenal deserved to win but yet again he produces a wild class save.

He might well be the most important player at the club.

Havertz:

Were you surprised when the ball went in the net? Again, Max made the comment that Kai doesn’t normally even try to score from there. Let alone pull it off. I often wonder how he will be seen retrospectively. He is 8.5/10 in almost every area of the game apart from finishing. If he was to improve his finishing then he may go down as one of the best strikers in the modern era. That might sound a little crazy, but the other alternatives don’t have the footballing ability and all around game that he has. If he could compete in the scoring charts with Haaland then his football ability would far exceed that of his City rival.

Well, who would’ve thought this. Totally goes against the narrative.

Konsa

He looked very nervous at the beginning. He was given a tough assignment, essentially man marking Joao Pedro. He settled and started to dominate and I give credit to a player  who can go from looking like the only weak link when everybody else is playing well, to looking at the same level as the others on his debut.

Chance creation:

Breaking down the performance, what was so incredibly encouraging was the different types of chances that we were creating. We are now creating as much from the left as the right. We are more willing to shoot from outside the box. We are being cute with little dinks and cheeky flicks into the box, particularly Odegaard.

We have a lot of players that specialize in 1,2’s. Arsenal do them better than most because they are coached in the specifics. So many coaches spend an inordinate amount of time teaching their youth, collegiate and professional teams to incorporate this into their game as a main strategy. What they don’t realize is that they can be so easily picked off unless the two players involved are close to each other. As soon as the first player passes, then everybody that’s played the game knows that the receiving player will always have a 1,2 as an option. The better defenders follow the passer to stop it from happening and cut it off.

If you are a better coach, you identify that and tell your players not to do 1,2’s unless the players are within 5 yards of each other.

If you do them in close quarters, then you don’t give the defender a chance to react. We are doing this much more around the top of the box and especially on the right side.

In the first half much of the chance creation came from the rotation of Kai, Odegaard, Saka and White. It must be so hard to keep up with as the ball is pinging around so quickly and has far less predictability about it this season.

Calafiori:

There are people (i’m one of them) who rightly have suggested that over the years Arsenal’s weakness has been predictability. We are still a work in progress in that area.

What is so delightful is the introduction of Califiori as the roaming left back.

Last season, he was learning the role and you could see him wandering into central areas. Now that he’s learned when and where to attack and defend, you can see him being given more freedom to go most anywhere. We haven’t fully unleashed this beast as it is rarely said but it’s true, that he is an excellent finisher. We see it in the season highlights and remark that we forgot what a threat he is, but I think that he’s so dangerous in and around the box to the point where he could be an emergency centre forward if needed.

NEEDS:

Arteta’s outfits:

Have we had a game this season where Arteta has worn something different to the opposing coach?

Every time it happens, I noticed that Arteta’s version is nicer. I bet it’s the quality of cotton. Steamed that little bit longer and significantly more crisp. Xabi Alonso did his best to match Mikel but looked like he had been dumpster diving in the Lost and Found box. His black and black outfit was oversized and not straight out of the Armani packaging like Mikel’s.

Mikel did say that every detail matters, right?

Odegaard and Saka:

The last 15 minutes, Arsenal stopped winning their duels. These two were the major culprits and probably why Saka was taken off. I understand that your best players need to be careful going into physical challenges. They need to pick and choose. What is  inexcusable though is not making any effort whatsoever. You can jump for a header with no intention of actually winning the header but of making it difficult for your opponent. That is satisfactory for those two.. Chelsea went ahead because Odegaard didn’t even compete for the aerial ball.

The 90’s:

Actually, were shell suits from the 80s? I’m all for retro gear. I’ve got a lot of it. There are some things that need to be brought back. There are some things that should stay as an embarrassing memory. For me, shell suits are one of them. But only do they look like you are trying to be 14 years old, but they make that very annoying swishing sound when you walk. I remember many times trying to sneak out of the house in the shell suit and getting caught because of the swishing coming from my groinal zone.

Ref:

This was the easiest yellow card to give. Miles from the ball and stopping a counter attack.

Palmer should’ve been sent off when he got his yellow card.

The PGMOL can change their name to ProRef or do whatever the heck they want but we’re not stupid. If you can’t get easy decisions correct like this when you have video help and headsets to communicate with each other, then we will continue to think that your crap.

HOPES

Napoli:

On Friday night, I was in bed thinking about the Napoli game. Thinking about what team I would pick. I often do this.

This is what I came up with.

Arteta does have a habit of starting as strong as he can in the first game of a competition, but here’s the thing….. is this team actually weaker? It’s different and with different strengths and weaknesses, but it can beat Napoli away.

We are all experiencing the same emotion and making the same comments after each game. Our bench is as strong as the players on the field.

I really hope that this team is at least similar to what Arteta does. It’m not a master tactician coming up with a game plan, but simply resting players  when you have the opportunity.

There are a few things that may bring the title back to the Emirates again in May 2027. Less injuries might be top of the list, but rotation would be close.

They are linked as we know.

Absolutely no excuse whatsoever to not rotate when you’ve got players like Bruno and Eze not even getting on the field.

If we aren’t winning, then bring on what would be the strongest bench in Champions League history.

Ramsdale:

I think most Arsenal fans were a little concerned when we replaced Ramsdale. I think that was a fair emotion. He was very lovable, as well as being a very good goalkeeper. I suppose we didn’t know any better as we hadn’t had a better goalkeeper prior. We now see the difference but boy oh boy, his career has just plummeted. I have a friend who is a Southampton fan. He tells me that he is fourth choice goalkeeper.

I was hoping that we would sign him this summer as back up, but I’d have to assume that something is going on in his head and performance for a goalkeeper in their prime to drop off that far.

TWEETS and THOUGHTS:

How does Berta know Joao Pedro? I wonder…

A great description.

I’d not noticed this myself. Quite lovely to be able to shut the media up any time you can.

Only elite teams have players that do this. Pulling it off is not easy because your timing has to be perfect. Califiori obviously has a higher IQ and knows when to move defenders out of peoples way.

Makes me happy.

This is obviously intentional. Players often feel slighted when they are substituted. In the modern game, it can often be a compliment which it is in this case.

I remember thinking this at the time!

I think a lot of people are thinking this.

Shame.

FINAL THOUGHT:

Four away games in a row now. It’s lovely to be able to breathe after three straight wins.

I don’t like much about Troy Deeney, but I did just hear him say The Arsenal are a machine. Just finding ways to win.

All of that started in the second minute, Troy. No panic. No negativity. Just a positive mind and a very positive reaction.

Sometimes it’s not bad to go a goal down. As a coach, you get to see your team in one of the toughest positions in their football experience. We know they’re all good when the sun is shining, but Arsenal have a team that seem to have a refusal to lose.

Finally, I hate getting up because my son wants to watch Manchester United play. I told him on this occasion I would watch. If anyone knows Ainsley Maitland-Niles, please tell him thank you.

The post  ‘A win for discouragement’ (Positives Needs & Hopes) [ARS 2-1 CHE] first appeared on Gunners Town.

An Arsenal blog from a coach’s perspective

I couldn’t write after the Villa game and I wanted to pause before I wrote after the last day of the transfer window.

I always do better when I pause.

I come down on the fact that three things can be true at the same time.

Arsenal could have screwed up by not improving their attack enough.

The lack of new options could unlock more minutes for some very talented players that we already have.

As we sit, Arsenal have the best squad in the Premier League and have won their first two games and are the envy of the entire league.

The short story is that I am ok with the outcome. Not happy, but ok. I love a transfer. I spent way too much time thinking about who would improve Arsenal. Over the years I think I’ve got a better balance between wanting a shiny new toy and considering the toys that we already have.

In late July, I wrote a blog about changes that I thought that Arteta could make to give us a new look in attack. Some of it involved a new midfield structure and some was switching the wingers. Transfer suggestions were included.

Beyond transfers, I had settled on the fact that our strikers need at least one winger who takes the ball to the outside and crosses with their stronger foot. It takes away their ability to cut in and shoot themselves, but offers the other attackers better opportunities for one touch finishes from strong foot crosses.

Morgan Rogers on the left wasn’t my idea of the best solution. A player that is hard to stop, but not what I thought that Arsenal needed. As with all of the players that the club chased, I trust them and so I rest in that.

Vini Junior wasn’t going to be the type of winger that I was looking for, but the talent and productivity cannot be ignored. Ultimately, he is involved in more goals than the vast majority.

Julian Alvarez is a super footballer, but I didn’t shed one tear when that did not work out for two reasons. Firstly, because I think VG can get 20+ goals this season and secondly, this current group that seemed to have so much love and respect for each other looked like they could have a new teammate that wasn’t even close to being fully persuaded.

It is so very lovely that Arsenal are now in a position where they can attract interest from the very best players in world football. Because of that, I didn’t think it was too far-fetched to at least want Michael Olise. As much as I’m sure he is having a lot of fun in Munich, he is still a young man who was brought up in London and Arsenal represent the best of the Premier League and are one of the top three teams in world football and would represent a return to where he has spent most of his life and a chance to be back with family and friends.

My idea was that, at least for a part of each game/season, that Saka would play on the left. To this very day I still see a player who, even though he has it greatly improved his right foot, still struggles to pick out a player whilst he’s dribbling through the penalty area. The fresh look would add more goals and assists, and also more goals and assists from others. Saka on the left and Olise on the right. It would also give our opponents a brand new set of problems. It’s hard to watch Saka play these days and see him rip teams apart because our opponents know exactly what they need to prepare for.

So the window has shut, and even though we have numerically less attackers than last season, we have either deliberately or accidentally left ourselves with what I consider to be a rather interesting situation.

I would love for Noni Madueke to have a run of games on the left-hand side for the same reason that I’d like to see Saka played on that side every once in a while. This may now happen. Ebe Eze is another player that I think most Arsenal fans would like to see more of. If Odegaard is back to his best then Eze has two options. I’d imagine that Arteta will play him as a left eight against a low block and trust that Rice can do the dirty work without too much help from somebody like Bruno or Myles. More likely is that Eze will be first choice or second choice left-winger. It’s the side of the field that he prefers and given the confidence of the manager, it’s hard to deny that he has the ability to be a fantastic left-winger. Even if he has been hit or miss the few times that he has played there.

I feel more comfortable when Arsenal need a goal and he is on the field. He is undoubtedly one of the best players in Europe at shooting and finishing on target. Such reliability to get the ball on frame and ultimately that’s kind of the whole point of the game.

Tzolis looks like he is going to be one of the left-wing options and I really like the contrast between Noni and Eze. Certain game states require Noni’s directness and speed and desire to run behind. Other more technical games need a player like

Eze to pick the lock or finish from 15–20 yards.

As the summer was trundling along, my major concern was that Max Dowman wasn’t going to get more minutes than last season. I’m of the opinion that he is ready to take a greater role, even at the age of 16. The majority of 16-year-olds are absolutely not ready and need to be protected. Fabregas didn’t and I think Dowman is in the same category. He is physically ready to play on the wing and more often than not, looks like Arsenal‘s most dangerous winger when he’s on the field. I don’t know whether he needs to be used periodically due to his personality, but I just don’t get that impression.

It now looks like Saka and Dowman and Madueke will compete for the right wing spot and because we have one less attacker, Dowman should get more minutes which I think will be greatly to Arsenal’s benefit.

When we get into a state and want to shout at our laptops and phones, I think it is really important to understand what the fallout will be if a shiny new toy arrives.

If I was to tell you that Max Dowman was pissed off because he felt like he deserved more opportunities and wasn’t getting them and was considering moving elsewhere, then I’m sure you would be very concerned. Arsenal have a very special young man that needs to be played if and when he is ready. If we believe that he is going to be one of the world‘s best in a few years time, which he very well could be, then you have to give him a pathway to more minutes this season, even more minutes the following season and so on.

If a player comes in with a huge price tag, which is what was looking  likely to happen, the coach is under pressure to make it work. So this player plays, even if he is in a slump. These are the realities of bringing in new players that most people don’t want to consider. They’ll just get mad at their screens when they find out that one of the most talented players that the club has ever produced does not want to continue at the club. Without looking back and taking any responsibility themselves, they will continue to shout until they get what they want. Arteta and the club cannot act this way. They have to live in the reality of repercussions. No matter how convincing you are as a coach and a club, it is very difficult to persuade a player that knows he could start at 95% of any club in world football, that he needs to be patient much longer. We all know that the modern day player lacks patience and only a few possess it.

Another benefit, this time in not replacing Gabriel Jesus, is that we get to showcase a player that every squad in Europe would want. Mikel Merino.

He’s too good to not play, but now we’ve opened another opportunity for him. Was Gabriel Jesus a better striker option than Merino over the last two years? Absolutely not. The more opportunities we have to get him on the field then the better chances we have to score and control games because his technique offers genius levels of composure in both areas.

If this doesn’t work out, then I think people are forgetting that we only have to suffer this issue for four months. I’d love to think that we can avoid an injury crisis within that period.

Retrospectively, there is every chance that we look back on this particular season and feel glad that we gave minutes to deserving current players and waited for a player of the talent of Kroupi and didn’t panic buy in August. This is a very likely scenario and quite possibly a favorable idea even if there is risk involved.

Again, it’s really important to remember that there is risk involved in bringing in players to an elite squad. Most everybody is playing to an elite level and so the new player has to do the same. One player comes in and so one or two players lose minutes and opportunities. It’s not so long ago that Arsenal tried to Band-Aid the situation and we were stuck with a player for four years who we couldn’t sell for more than Alex Oxlade Chamberlain.

It’s also interesting to note that our main three rivals also have fans that are dissatisfied.

I know City fans who are very concerned that they have replaced elite players with very good ones. They also sold their backup striker and now only have Haaland. Relying on Phil Foden to be a back up false nine hasn’t worked for a rather long time.

Semenyo has played there in pieces but not for a good while.

Liverpool, once again, spent all their money on the attack and are playing a four man defense with two wing backs who aren’t natural full backs and it’s not working out.

Chelsea have quite hilariously been left short in midfield. This seems impossible when a couple of weeks ago they had 41 squad players, but that is their reality. They tried to sign one of Europe’s best young players, Lamine Kamara on deadline day and got 98% of the way to signing him before Monaco backed out. Chelsea are short. Their best player over the last couple of seasons, Marc Cucerella is no longer there and their defense doesn’t even come close to what we have at Arsenal. Lots of shiny new toys and options but just another group of 7.5/10 players. Nowhere near Saliba levels.

United are still wide open, especially at home on their big pitch. There is no way that a team playing 90s football can win the Premier league in 2027.

The disappointment of the last week of the transfer window has caused a form of dementia in Arsenal fans. Many thought that the purchase of Bruno, Konsa and Tzolis put Arsenal one player away from having the best transfer window.

Not getting this player cannot possibly mean that the transfer window was a flop.

It’s just not ideal and it’s not perfect but it’s far from being a problem yet, especially looking at how we have started.

Bruno might end up being the best signing of the season. The shortlist for that award will always include a list of players that are ‘exactly what the club needed.’

Arsenal can be very one paced and lacking in verticality, especially in their passing. In the short time that Bruno has been at Arsenal, there have been at least five beautiful passes leading to goal scoring opportunities.

Here’s another cheeky thought… Did Arteta pause on signing another left-winger because he wants to see the Bruno/Eze link up on the left-hand side. On paper that could be very dangerous..

Konsa is the same as Bruno.

Exactly the right player that the team needed. Such little risk and so difficult to find a player of similar level to Saliba. If you look at the statistics in the Premier League, especially in duel winning and progressive passes, Konsa is number one. What an excellent option we have there.

Tzolis has started extremely well. He was poor against Villa, but we’ve seen plenty enough to see a productivity machine as an option on the left.

We’ve got rid of every player that we needed to move on and don’t have deadwood sitting around. That is an achievement that even though fans ridicule, has been very difficult for Arsenal for many years to get a good fee or even a fee at all for players with high wages, who are only worth 50% of those wages since their drop off.

The biggest signing of the season could end up being stealing Aston Villa’s medical staff.

None of us really know who is to blame for our ‘one back, one injured’ injury habit. The ridiculous amount of games is probably number one in this chart, but I’m guessing with the turnover this summer there must’ve been another problem.

If this medical team can keep us from big injuries, especially in the first four months, then Arsenal should win the Premier League again.

There may be a few beautiful surprises this season, also.

Marli Salmon might just be 17 years of age, but has never looked out of place during his minutes last season and this preseason.

We have turned over many Academy players and brought in some very interesting signings.

The most interesting one may never play for our Academy. Much like Max Dowman, he may go straight into first team training and actually become a true option on the left wing. His name is Andria Bartishvilli.

What an incredibly talented dribbler we have acquired.

I’m sure we will see him quite soon in the early Carabao Cup games and easier Champions League games.

A good coach is never going to tell the public that the solution to the problem that everybody sees is a 17-year-old who’s just arrived in the country, but he might be thinking it.

Another truth that we may come to realize is that we nearly won the two big trophies without a whole lot of positive participation from Saka and Odegaard. If they play at their level, then that one positive change could be enough for us to secure both trophies this season.

Finally, I wanted to comment on the blog title and the thought behind it.

It is so incredibly rare for anyone in the media or online to mention coaching as a way of improving players, teams, and the club situation.

Arteta’s ability to improve almost every single player and turn our players and club from a miserable eighth place finish to Premier League champions, and everybody’s favourite to repeat, is largely based on his coaching ability.

If there was any coach in the league that I would want to have to solve what many see as a crisis on the left wing, it would be Mikel.

Arsenal need some new attacking patterns anyway, and we have almost forced ourselves into that with the decision we have made in attack.

A player like Eze could be about to explode. A player with the highest technical ability, the experience and a year learning Arteta’s system should be perfectly placed to coach that final piece of consistent productivity and become the solution.

It’s not just Nicholas Jover that finds solutions. We have a coaching staff who are more than capable of turning an imperfect situation into the perfect one.

All of this might be too positive.

The truth about what happened is that Rogers was a risk because he’s not an out and out left-winger. Chelsea have overpaid and we weren’t willing to. I’m OK with that.

Arsenal did exactly what the coach and the fans wanted. They went after the best of the best and they got really close. The truth is that Vini Junior didn’t reject Arsenal, he accepted Real Madrid. No shame in that.

Julien Alvarez had a dream. His dream is identical to the vast majority of footballers. To play for Barcelona. He’s been to England and he didn’t particularly like it so it was always going to be a large risk bringing him back to the same country. We tried and then we tried again and it didn’t work out.

We gave both of these players time because their decision could go one way or the other way. That meant that we didn’t have a whole lot of time left. That’s just the way that it panned out and I can respect it.

If Berta gets fired, then that story will tell itself.

I really appreciate my club doing exactly what everybody wanted the club to do. If it was a shopping trip and they went to the wrong mall, then the social media reaction would be fine until it wasn’t. Arsenal went to the right mall and tried to make elite purchases and on this occasion they weren’t available.

Maybe one day we will become bullies in the transfer market and get players to run down their contract so we can sign them for free like Real Madrid do. That we will also get players to take half of their salary like Barcelona do.

Right now, this is where we are and I understand it.

Would love to hear from you as to what you think? Even though I do lean on the positive side, I challenge anybody to argue that any of these ideas are not possible.

I suppose it depends on the lens that you look through and I support a team that is the envy of everyone in world football and I could list many, many reasons why.

The post “Time for the Coach to coach…” – A Transfer Window summary for rational Gooners first appeared on Gunners Town.

Codename:  00-17.

Agency:  The Arsenal.

Mission:  Infiltrate the Premier League title defence, disarm a newly promoted Coventry City, and do it all with the kind of nonchalant cool that makes M sigh and reach for the paperwork anyway.

Tzolis arrived at the Emirates not as some rookie double-0 fumbling his first assignment, but as a man who’d clearly read the file, memorised the exits, and already knew where the enemy kept their weaknesses.

Sixty thousand people in the stands were his Miss Moneypenny, swooning every time he touched the ball.

GOLDENEYE ON THE LEFT WING

Early doors, our man showed his hand — cutting inside like he was defusing a bomb with four seconds left, before curling an effort just over the bar. Not quite mission accomplished, but enough to make Coventry’s back four check their own pockets for hidden gadgets.

Then came the real espionage. Tzolis didn’t need to pull the trigger himself to leave bodies on the floor. He nicked possession in the final third with the quiet efficiency of a man bluffing at a poker table, teeing up Kai Havertz to open the scoring.

No micro expressions, no give away tells — just a ghost in a red and white shirt, vanishing before the cameras could catch him celebrating.

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN CROSS

For his second act of sabotage, he swapped the Walther PPK for a delivery so precise it should have come with its own gadget briefing. His cross was so venomous that poor Carl Rushworth, Coventry’s man in goal, fumbled it like a henchman dropping the detonator switch — straight into the path of Bukayo Saka, who finished with the ruthlessness of someone who’d been told this was a two-man job all along.

Four shots on the night, none of them particularly close, all of them beside the point. Because in this script, the real gadgets weren’t the finishes — they were the chaos he caused simply by existing in Coventry’s peripheral vision.

LICENCE TO CHILL

By full time it was 3-0, Frank Lampard’s men left staring at the wreckage of their long-awaited Premier League return like a Spectre lair after Bond’s already left the building. Tzolis strolled off with the calm of a man who knew the mission had gone exactly to plan — no exploding pen required, just a cool head, a devastating final ball, and the kind of assured Emirates debut that suggests this particular agent isn’t just licensed to kill, he’s also licensed to thrill.

The post Quantum of Tzolis first appeared on Gunners Town.

         An Arsenal blog from a coach’s perspective 

August 13, 2021…

… Where were you? 

I was in a hotel room in Chattanooga, Tennessee and sort of looking forward to the first game of the season. Another Friday night, but against Brentford at their Community Stadium.

I can go into the details of the game, but I’m sure you remember it. Let’s not sit there too long. We lost 0–2 and we were essentially rubbish.

Lacking belief, lacking fight, lacking aggression, and sadly lacking quality.

The lack of energy and fight was particularly troubling as you go into the season with hope. Squashed after one game and if I remember, it didn’t get a whole lot better in the next game, either. Bottom of the league and shortly about to get smacked up 5–0 at the Etihad. 

Well, that’s enough of that.

I don’t need Mikel Arteta to get more credit than he does because he will get it one day. People will realize that they were manipulated by the media who picked Arsenal as their club to go after. Whether it was red cards, style of play, the fanbase or whatever else, many will feel foolish when it’s all said and done because Arteta has been primarily responsible for changing EVERYTHING at Arsenal Football Club. Those above him have been smart enough to let him do it, also. 

If I stay on Mikel, I’m not going to end up talking about the game, but my main takeaway from the game was the illuminating contrast from the last Friday night opening game of the season in 2021 and what I’ve just seen.

EVERYTHING is better now, not just a reliance on the fantastic transfer of Billy McGoalmachine strapping the team on his back and lifting our fortunes.

Mikel has written the unwritten textbook of how you take a team heading south and make them the star on the Christmas tree.

Just to think, Arsenal played that game in second gear against a side that will upset other big teams this season.

Made it look very straightforward and more than anything else, gave us an extremely enjoyable evening as our boys strolled through the park.

Apart from predicting that Arsenal will win the Premier League, my other prediction is that there will be many, many more games like this. Games that are wrapped up nice and early and become inevitable by halftime. Games where the score will be far north of 3–0 and more days and nights of relaxation and happiness.

Arsenal Football Club are now a team who have done it, know that they are very good, but yet have the humility and fight to go again the right way. There has been much talk about Arsenal playing more expansive football this season. I would say that, even if that isn’t what is intended, then this is what will happen, anyway. The shoulders are so much more relaxed, and the trust in each other is so strong that the best of many of these players will be seen on a regular basis. 

When you de-stress an elite athlete, then joy and happiness becomes the product. 

It’s hard not to think that we are just at the beginning of a long period of greatness. A team and club that will be compared to the Liverpool team when I was young, the long period of United dominance and even though they’ve cheated to get there, the City side of the last few years.

I will now take a break from writing to go outside and make a daisy chain whilst intermittently sipping a long glass of Pimms and lemonade whilst simultaneously singing ‘Beautiful Day’ by U2.

POSITIVES:

WHITE

It did seem a little odd to me that so many people wanted Arsenal to move on from Ben White. His career could quite possibly continue to be riddled with injury. His career could also step up a level or two. Defenders don’t normally prime until their early 30’s anyway. It would be hard to find a right back who not only understands our system and has such incredibly good timing of runs on the outside of Saka. I am more than willing to believe that he will stay largely injury free mainly because he will be managed better with the introduction of Konsa. I don’t think Arteta will play White or Timber in back to back games every 3 days. Once a week giving their bodies time to recover.

Also, that he will grow as a player and become even more appreciated as he plays through his prime years.

CORNERS 

Our short corners in the past have been largely pants.

Every corner today led to an opportunity. That cheeky split pass to Ben White has been seen before and is hard to defend. Glad that Jover has spent his summer wisely

TZOLIS

Well, well, well! What do we have here? The phrase that Mikel used in his interview was a ‘total player.’ 

I suppose that means a player that can do everything. Right foot, left foot, assists, goals with both feet, elite decision-making, directness, and very good dribbling skills.

These have been my observations so far and he’s just shown up.

Even though he has just shown up, he already makes me feel like he’s going to pick out the right pass every time he gets it. I suppose that’s what top quality does. All players take a different route to the summit of their career and even though being a substitute at a crap Norwich team and then go and play in Holland then onto Belgium and Arsenal doesn’t give you the confidence that he is good enough. He is proof however that if you look below the radar there are hidden gems. Players who have such dedication to their craft and believe in themselves and if you take off the ugly yellow and green jersey and just look at the player without biased eyes you might see something shiny and bright.

MLS

Bossed the midfield. Again. What a compliment it is to say that, regardless of the stature and ability of Zubimendi and Bruno, Lewis–Skelly is gonna be extremely difficult to move out of the first team.

Did you see he yet again played a cheeky through ball to Calafiori ?

KAI’S FINISH

The first goal was obviously a huge relief, but it was more than that for me personally.

Kai‘s finishing can be scattered and if he wants to become the total striker, then this has to change. He is one of the best strikers in Europe as far as being a total footballer is concerned, but his end product must become reliable.

Anyone that’s played the game will tell you that hitting the first time ball that’s coming across your body with your 1st foot is not easy. Not easy to keep under the crossbar. Not easy to connect with the right part of your foot. Not easy to put in the bottom corner. Here is hoping that this will give him a great confidence.

KONSA

A very intelligent signing. ‘Plug and play’ is the phrase, I believe. 

If we didn’t have Salmon, then it might be different, but the age difference is perfect to encourage Salmon to believe that he will get to be an Arsenal player.

It is also perfect that he can help the rotation and rest of Timber and White as well as compete with Mosquera

NEEDS:

SHOT TAKING 

No complaint really, but just an observation that there were multiple times when players refused to hit first time shots when it was their best option. Also, passes hit too hard or to the wrong foot in order for the player to have the opportunity to do so.

You can’t judge much on the first game of the season so I’m not concerned, but just noticed a theme of slight reluctance. The quality of the pass will improve, but the receiving player cannot be reluctant to try their luck when it’s only 18 yards out.

HOPES:

LEFT WING

Has this run across your mind?

Do Arsenal need to purchase a first choice left winger now? I kind of doubt that Tzolis was supposed to be this. I think that he was the rotational option as I suppose is proven by the pursuit of Vini Junior.

I would be perfectly happy with him now being first choice and Arsenal purchasing a player to back him up.

All of the wingers on the market that everybody wants are all fast and shiny, but I’m not seeing anybody that looks like they will have the same end product as Christos.

ALVAREZ 

My understanding of this situation is that he is reluctant to come back to England because his extended family cannot get visas. His immediate family are allowed to come with him, but he likes a large and tight community around him and that might not be possible.

Not sure if this is a dealbreaker, but everybody is different and none of us really know his personality.

If he’s going to come and not be particularly happy and want to have a clause in his contract, which allows him to go to Barcelona in two years then I’m really not in favor. I don’t care how good he is. I’m perfectly content with VG.

I think that Mikel might be a little lovestruck because Alvarez is almost the perfect striker in a rotational system. He loves to pop up on the left-hand side of the penalty area and this will make picking up our players more elusive.

After building such an impressive squad of players that seem to absolutely love being at Arsenal, it would be really odd to bring somebody in that isn’t sure about it.

RAPHINHA 

Just got a lovely feeling

TWEETS and THOUGHTS :

Martinelli:

maybe Gabi isn’t being communicated with. That would not be cool if he’s being ignored. It could however be a story as straightforward as what Femi suggests.

Tzolis:

Makes you proud that we chose him and proud of having such a good character.

Nobody really mentioned his insane end product when he signed. 

New top:

I hope this isn’t AI. I can’t find it anywhere.

FINAL THOUGHT:

Does Konsa come in alongside Gabriel now? Does it happen against Villa, which could prove to be quite the hostile atmosphere. I suppose it depends on his personality and whether he would thrive in this environment or be intimidated.

The joy in all of this is that I really don’t care. I trust the club, I trust the coach and I trust Mosquera.

The post  ‘Five years later’ (Positives Needs & Hopes) [ARS 3-0 COV] first appeared on Gunners Town.

An Arsenal blog from a coach’s perspective

Well, here is the first blog of the new season and I give full credit to Max McDonald for the title.

I spent way too long thinking of something intelligent to write about in this opening piece, but Max told me that this was much better. I cede to my son.

It really tells a story though. That game really felt like ‘big brother, little brother.’

City fans getting way too overexcited about their rebuild and potentially spending a country’s annual budget on three players. Arsenal forcing them to go to their bedroom after a good beating. Much like some of us used to do to our little brothers as soon as Mum and Dad weren’t looking.

This was also encapsulated by the lineup and the substitutions. Apparently that was City’s best 11. Much like offering your little brother the one pair of boxing gloves that your dad purchased for you when your Mum was at Tesco. 

You’re only allowed to slap and he can punch.

My favourite part of the game was watching Saka and Rice come on the field. Not only were we winning and controlling the game but here come arguably our two best players.

So your little brother got the boxing gloves and two free swings and still he is dominated. He then gives up when you bring out your two best slap moves that you have perfected mostly in your dreams after years of being second best.

Forget my silly analogy, that might have been the Community Shield, but it felt like the official passing of the baton. I write exactly as I watch Odegaard’s goal which absolutely took the mickey and flexed our status as the superior force.

To add to this statement of superiority, what is even more hilarious is that if Ciity signed Bouaddi and Enzo Fernandez for £220M, it will give them a deeper squad but I don’t see their first team being better than the one they put out today.

That’s a lot of money to still end up being the li’l bro!

POSITIVES:

Odegaard:

I’m not sure if I fully analyzed what we did last season. I was just so happy to have finally won the league that I don’t think I cared how we did it. We were talking in the the Arsenal pub in Knoxville today about how we won the Premier League without a group of our starting players ever getting close to their best form.

Martin Odegaard was most certainly one of them.

After his wife had their child, he seemed to lose weight and perhaps a little of his football focus. He certainly lost his daring and he got to the point where a player that we love and who has just lifted the trophy is one that a decent percentage of the  fanbase were suggesting needs to leave. That really isn’t normal.

During the World Cup, preseason and certainly today, he looked like the player from two years ago. A player that we saw as arguably the best one in our team and who had clearly elevated himself to being one of the best attacking midfielders in world football. He is now entering his prime and whatever the problem actually was seems to have gone away or been put behind a locked door. This was summed up not only by his goal, but by the fact that a player who had been snatching at shots for two seasons, sat the Italian down as if he was playing six aside with his family members.

Looking back, I wonder if the weight of expectation and the frustration of not winning was what changed his game and his physique? He doesn’t seem to be your average captain. He seems to feel it in a way that Arteta does and so maybe his shoulders were just too heavy.

Tzolis:

We have a really interesting situation here with Tzolis. After seeing the pursuit of Vini Junior, it seems obvious that he was bought in as a secondary left-winger. That may still be the case, based on the size of the transfer fee that we might end up paying for somebody like Yildiz or Barcola. He doesn’t look like a second choice player, though.

Hope comes in various packages. Hope can come in energy and excitement, and it can also come in security and knowing.

An electric winger, like the two I suggested, would bring the former and are ordinarily the choice of a football fan because we tend to put excitement as the most needed adjective to describe what we want and don’t have.

Tzolis is similar in style to Trossard but sticking my neck out it looks like he might be more inevitable in creating goalscoring opportunities than Leo. It wasn’t just his two assists today, though. I found this quite amazing statistic……

I ‎WhatsApp messaged Elliott Smith from Arsenal Vision during his Instant Reaction and he opened his ‘stock rising section’ by using it.

A statistic that is hard to ignore. Many of these teams might be weaker opponents, but 19 games in a row must be close to some kind of record.

Ultimately, when Arsenal really need a goal, I think most football fans would go with the security of knowing that there is a player on the field who is an assist specialist. A player who gives them that feeling of knowing. That his inevitability will produce one or two clear chances.

Let’s remember that you could break a top football team down in to four different needs. You need a goalkeeper who is brilliant at keeping the ball out of the net. A defender or two who are experts in denying. A midfielder with brilliant decision-making. A lucid and deadly striker and a creative genius that uses whatever tools he has to consistently create.

If this level of creation continues, then whoever Arsenal sign and no matter if he cost £100M or more, they are going to have a hard time elbowing Tzolis out of the team.

MLS:

I don’t want to scare you, but I’m anticipating Arsenal getting a bid in the 60 million range for Lewis–Skelly before the end of the window.

Everybody will have watched that game and much like Tzolis, he is making it mighty difficult to sit him down in the most competitive midfield in world football. Arsenal better bat any bid away because if Lewis-Skelly can look as accomplished in a period where we needed what would normally be an experienced player to help you win the league then start the Champions League final, and now produce such a dominant performance against City and all at the age of 19. In five years time he won’t even be close to his prime and how good will he be then if he’s already good enough now to play for one of the best three teams in the world.

Our opponents will most certainly see this and so silly bids of 40M will now change to at least 60M and possibly more, so there will be certain folks at Arsenal that will feel very tempted by that pure profit. 

I might go and have a nap until September and someone can wake me up with happy news that this almost fully polished 19 year-old gem is staying and has signed an improved contract.

One of the greatest needs Arsenal had from last season was capitalizing on Califiori and his wanderings. He was hard to pick up and so it seems somewhat of a waste to have the extra player not be the one with the goal scoring opportunity. He has a natural instinct in front of goal, and I saw that before he even came to Arsenal. I believe he played striker as a youth player. MLS’s pass wasn’t just perfection but was the exact kind of pass that we lack. A perfectly weighted ball behind the defense for a one-on-one with the goalkeeper. May that sunny day happen regularly.

Havertz:

Kai is the player that I forget about his qualities more than any other. A player who can do a little of everything and rather well. I could’ve told you that before today, though. I was looking for improvement. I saw it in his movement. I’ve seen it all preseason. Far more deceptive and elusive both in and outside the box. Far more use of the slow, fast method of getting away from your defender and zigzagging his runs. Watch him off the ball and you’ll start to see Van Persie like levels of movement. Sorry if you don’t like Robin Van Persie. I loved him and especially how bloody intelligent he was inside the box.

Raya:

Just more of the same really. That’s all I want to ever say about him moving forward. Your goalkeeper has to be consistent. All of them can make impressive saves. That’s why they made it to the professional level. Can they do it consistently though or just sometimes? 

He is consistently saving shots by hitting the ground at the speed of lightning. I’ve never done a study or focused too heavily on it, but I can’t ever remember seeing a goalkeeper in my entire lifetime that gets down so fast to the ground. I’d also say that I’ve seen goalkeepers dominate their box in the air and whoever is in that group is in it with David Raya.

NEEDS:

Saka:

There is a bad habit creeping into his game. A selfishness in shooting from acute angles when somebody has a tap in. When you play for an elite team, regardless of whether you are the elite of the elite players on the team, the guy behind you will never be that far behind. As long as he keeps his lovely humility and equal joy in assisting as well as scoring, then this won’t ever become a problem.

HOPES

Defender:

The need for a right sided defender is greater than a left winger.

White and Timber honestly feel like half a player each because of their physical issues. With Saliba likely out until 2027, there is a lot of weight on Mosquera right now. If being patient with Marli Salmon is a serious concern then there is no doubt that we will see a right centre back or right back come in and probably this week before the first game.

We all complain about what we don’t have as football fans, and even though Arsenal‘s lack is so much smaller than everybody else’s, it would seem incredibly unnecessary to take the risk and start the season with only two fit right sided players in White and Mosquera.

A list of rumors is developing. 

Wilfred Singo is a physical, athletic and versatile beast at Galatasary and might be available on loan. Very tempting option.

Jules Kounde at Barcelona would be the best talent that we could sign but why would he leave being first choice at Barcelona to be a squad option at Arsenal?

Jarrell Quansah is a fantastic option as he offers the versatility that we saw in the summer, but does him being 23 years of age stop the development of Salmon, who is clearly going to be a gem? Ezri Konsa is the safest option and therefore probably the best. Being five years older than Quansa we would get him at the beginning of the prime of a centre back who normally peak in their early 30s. It would also give hope to Salmon and not stifle his progress.

Alternatively, we could try to get another new Saliba. Almost like a Marli Salmon in a few years time. 

The one that stands out is Ismael Ganiou at Lens. Who was just part of beating PSG today in the Super Cup.

A 21-year-old natural defender, who can also play on the right side.

Ultimately, I think it will be Ezri Konsa as he seems to be the first choice option and if Ethan goes to Villa, then they might soften their stance that we are as unlikable as they think.

In attack I think there will be one or two things happen. 

Arsenal will either keep VG and purchase Kaua Elias at Shaktar to replace Jesus.

If Julian Alvarez becomes available to Arsenal, then I think we will get him and send VG to Barcelona. This is not what I want. It might be driven by the club wanting two different types of striker rather than two big guys.

What is stinging is we could lose a player who is hugely motivated to play for Arsenal and does not want to leave and gain a player who wanted to go to Barcelona and we were second choice.

On the wing, I think the club will sign Yildiz from Juventus.

A player that Arsenal had hoped that Martinelli would end up consistently becoming.

On the other hand, I can see that Arsenal might be playing the long game with Bradley Barcola. Allowing PSG to sign Ferran Torres and Mika Godts, leaving PSG with too many wingers and driving the price down.

I still think that Arteta would do wonders with Raphael Leao and I think Raphinha would almost guarantee you the league. N’diaye at Everton will now probably be expensive but is the profile that we need.

In midfield, I can absolutely see how Zubimendi would be attracted to go to Real Madrid after they missed out on Rodri. It just makes too much sense for the backup to Rodri for Spain, becoming the second choice target for Real.

I’d love for that to not happen, but if it does, then I think the rumors of Hinshelwood at Brighton have legs because he is so versatile and improving.

I’m gonna stick my neck out and say that there could be a transfer merry-go-round in this situation.

Barcelona get Rodri, which puts Frenkie DeJong on the bench. Zubimendi goes to Real Madrid leaving an opening at Arsenal and De Jong goes to Arsenal.

I also think that there’s a possibility that we sign a young and upcoming attacking midfielder. Keep an eye on this one. Abdella Ouazane at Ajax. The 17 year-old with a wonderful natural gift.

TWEETS and THOUGHTS:

What a perfect picture of Martin Odegaard

And this one of Ben White is equally as good (Photo Credit: Glyn Kirk/Getty).

And this might be the best of all. Cocky Cherki

FINAL THOUGHT:

Arsenal were a little scary today. Scary with swagger no less.

Bring it on!

The post  ‘Stick it, li’l bro!’ – (Positives Needs & Hopes) [ARS 3-0 MCI Community Shield] first appeared on Gunners Town.

“Arsenal lied about Saka’s fitness.

Arsenal overplayed Rice.

Saka and Rice need to choose Country over Club.

Blame Arsenal for England’s exit.”

Imagine accusing the same Saka who has played through injuries, been kicked black and blue for club and country, stepped up after Euro 2020, and never once hid from wearing an England shirt.

Imagine questioning Rice, a player who’s barely missed a game in years and has run himself into the ground every time he’s pulled on the Three Lions shirt.

The checklist inside Durham’s head when England underachieve:

Don’t question the tactics.
Don’t question the coaching.
Don’t question the selections.
Blame Arsenal.

It’s pathetic, even for Adrian Durham

Arsenal are good enough to be blamed for England’s failures but never given credit for producing two of England’s best players.

Funny how that works.

Saka and Rice don’t need lectures about loyalty from a, washed up pundit chasing relevancy.

If England keep wasting generational talent, that’s on the people picking the team and setting them up—not the club that turned them into elite footballers.

The only thing Adrian Durham exposed with those comments was how desperate he is to manufacture an anti-Arsenal narrative, because actual football analysis is clearly too difficult.

The post Adrian Durham, because actual football analysis is clearly too difficult first appeared on Gunners Town.

End of Season Review (Part 3/3)

HOPES:

Arrivals:

Before we start, Santi Cazorla as an assistant coach.

Would bring so much joy to the fanbase and inspiration for the players. Would encourage others to value improving their weak foot more than anything else.

I’ll start with my personal choices.

If you know how much time I’ve spent thinking about this, you would be embarrassed for me.

When considering what the team needs I try to do what the club will be doing also, which is understand the weaknesses and needs of the team.

Arsenal primarily need more reliable goal-scorers.

Arsenal need players to unlock a low block. Elite passers and/or elite combination players.

Arsenal need magic.

If you consider the energy that our fan base have proven that they can offer, it is vital that we take advantage of that.

If you have a player on the field that gives the fans hope then there will always be energy. You saw it when we were struggling and brought on Dowman. He may be only 16 years of age, but the fans saw a player that could do it by himself. When Arsenal are struggling, it is ordinarily because we are circulating the ball and passing the buck to each other. Nobody really wanting to make the difference and take a risk.

Arsenal need a magician and deserve one.

Because we have non-negotiables and proper accountability at the club I think it is worth taking the risk in bringing in a player that has a history of a lack of work ethic, but is in the highest bracket of ‘magician.’

If it was the other way around it would be pointless. You can teach work ethic, but you cannot teach someone to be an elite magician. You need blessings from above, natural talent.

Not only is Rafael Leao arguably the player with the highest ceiling on the market, but alongside Kvara he is probably the player with the most talent. He is also a half or even 70% cheaper than other players who have a similar level. This would allow Arsenal to go big in more areas. Also, he has the same energy as Ebe Eze. A natural joy for life. Easy to love.

If you can imagine having to play Saka on one side and Leao on the other side, you are looking talent-wise at two equivalents. If you’re trying to coach against that, then you can’t focus solely on Saka, which has hindered him and us both. You don’t want Arsenal to go to the right and now you don’t want Arsenal to go to the left either.

If Emery was our coach, I probably wouldn’t go for him. Arteta improves players. All of them. The only one that hasn’t really improved is the guy that Leao would replace. Mikel could make this young man achieve his full potential, and therefore Arsenal would be huge beneficiaries.

The midfield situation is interesting.

In pre-season I’d try Odegaard deeper as a central midfielder. If you watch clips of him as a right winger at Real Madrid he was a far more adventurous player.

Under Mikel he has become a structural piece. That has had its benefits but it doesn’t exhibit his best. Both he and Rice have been tried higher and neither are goal scorers even if their profile, and especially technical level, would suggest they should be. Rice is better cleaning up which leans into his number one quality.

Odegaard’s best quality has evolved from creator to a press resistant tempo setting central player. That’s a mouthful.

If we try it pre-season and get a rash because he won’t tackle then maybe we move in the market.

Looking at the needs of the team, we need a risk taker who is willing to have a lower pass completion but will frequently unlock defense’s.

When I watch Adam Wharton, this is what I see. The timing is perfect as is the age profile. He will be ambitious and would offer a more natural option to the left of Rice than Rice himself.

I’m with the club on the striker choices. Julian Alvarez and Jr. Kroupi are the upgrades we need.

Alvarez is the reliable finisher that would win us games where all we need is quality.

I’m skeptical that he wants to come as he seemed homesick in Manchester and refused to learn the language. That wouldn’t fly with Mikel. Especially for €150M.

Kroupi would be half the price and is younger and has similar gifts in front of goal. Logically he wouldn’t feel aggrieved to wait for his time on the bench which would fit the spirit we have.

I think Kroupi is a better fit.

There is a slightly cheaper option and the player that could be a one year loan. Endrick seems to have hit his groove on loan at Lyon. I’d be surprised if Arsenal purchased him, but as you know they’ve done the loan thing before.

I love shiny new toys, and so it’s tempting in my mind to sell both Martinelli and Trossard, but I think that Leo has more to give at Arsenal. I also think that the addition of a higher level left-winger would raise his game even further.

It’s so important for us to sometimes take the reputation away and just look at the output of an attacker. If they are consistently providing attacking threat whether that be through threat itself or assists and goals, then perhaps it is foolish to think that you can find somebody better. I’m not saying that he is as good as the other options out there, but he is established and up until January. He has been a consistent threat and consistently available. I won’t be upset if we kept him. I’d say that as a fairly intelligent decision, especially if you are bringing in a player that you do not know if he will be able to produce even Leo‘s level.

There is a player in a situation that would be an upgrade, but difficult to make happen. A player of the same age bracket as Leo with Premier League experience and absolutely of the elite level. Raphinha. 

Barcelona do mad things and I know that he was upset last season when he was benched for a while. I believe that Barcelona is his dream club, but if he is going to be second choice and not even a rotational option, then I’m sure he would be tempted by Arsenal.

Who wouldn’t right now?

He would be the closest thing you could find to a ready-made upgrade. A very un–Arsenal thing to do, but with the incoming special talent, Jeremy Monga, it might be smart to get an older player that isn’t going to be around to stop the pathway of a very talented young player.

Another with the right profile is Illiman N’Diaye.

Using the same logic as Rafael Leao, I think the more magic we can bring to the Emirates the quicker we get to an even higher level.

This player was born to dribble, and even though Martinelli and Trossard are good dribblers, I really feel like we need more unpredictability. Trossard uses fakes to create space which is good. Martinelli uses a quick change of pace, but blended with his lack of ability to pick his head up early enough, often doesn’t lead to a goalscoring situation. A natural dribbler has more tricks, is more unpredictable, and therefore gives themselves an extra split second to create or finish.

Another interesting pick could be Kaoru Mitoma. Even though he is 29, like Raphinha, he has also perfected the art of dribbling. Leo had never played for a big club before he came to Arsenal and showed he was worthy. Mitoma is a far better and more direct dribbler and an equal goalscoring threat. His age, injuries are a fair concern though.

Mika Godts at Ajax and the Kvara compared Bosnian, Kerim Alajbegovic are both potential superstars. The argument would be that ordinarily they would go to a club like Brighton first, but then the transfer fee doubles if they prove that they can play at a higher level.

The other need we have is a slightly different profile of technical attacking midfielder. A Santi Cazorla in his prime.

Dani Olmo would be a wonderful addition to the attacking midfield or inside left position. Ready to go player. The kind of player that you could not see failing. Just a bloody good footballer.

This next option is largely unfashionable, but have you ever thought about how a certain player would look if you put them around players that are three times better than the ones they’ve ever played with?

Bilal El Khannouss is the guy.

He showed his glorious feet and balance at Leicester and I believe has recently signed with obligation to Stuttgart for €15 million. I would offer them double that and plop him in a brand new elite environment where his potentially elite foot skills belong.

I think that Andreas Schjelderup is going to the very top. The Benfica and Norwegian international is a highly technical winger/attacking midfielder and could shine at The Emirates.

This would be my squad of 25

REALITY:

I think Arsenal will sign the following players;

Jeremy Monga (Leicester)

Potentially a better version of Jeremy Doku

Morgan Rogers (Villa)

Can play all the way across the front line and is the powerful dribbler that Arteta likes.

He’s a regular XG over performer, who can pick corners in tight spaces and destroy a man to man press.

Emmanuel Mbemba (PSG)

Gabriel replacement in four years. Loaned out to French team like Saliba,

Marco Carnesecchi: (Atalanta)

Expensive back up, but super talented.

Julian Alvarez (A.Madrid)

Changes our quality of finishing.

Sandro Tonali (Newcastle)

Midfielder capable of playing six and eight.

Dani Olmo (Barcelona) OR Ander Barrenetxea: (Real Sociedad) OR Brahim Diaz (Real Madrid).

Left-wing and technical attacking midfielder options.

The most expensive transfer window ever but at the same time I believe that we’re going to make some proper money from sales.

FINAL THOUGHT:

For those in the praying community, I’d appreciate prayers for a new job. I’d love to write full time. Preferably about Arsenal but I need to find a publisher for my kids books I’ve written too.

I’m meeting with Clive Palmer and Adrian Clarke when I get to England and I have what I think is a good idea. It involves Ian Wright and Arsenal Football Club. A long shot, of course.

I’m a small fish in the Arsenal contact community, but I love to dream big and it’s always served me well.

If this idea comes to fruition, then the respect for Arsenal Football Club will rise even higher, and the Arsenal community will be blessed.

If you have a connection at the club, I’d love to hear from you. If my contact with Clive and Adrian doesn’t pan out then I’m considering camping out at the entrance to the training ground and that might be a little too humiliating.

The post Season Review Part 3/3 – “Undebatably Elite” – (Positives Needs & Hopes) [Arsenal: Champions!] first appeared on Gunners Town.

This is the great contradiction of the 2025/26 season:

The Champions League is being contested at the highest level, actual silverware is being lifted, and yet the loudest reaction in certain corners is still, “Yes, but Arsenal didn’t win it.”

Incredible. A truly historic achievement. Somewhere, a DVD is being printed as we speak.

And let’s be honest, if Arsenal falling short in Europe is the emotional peak of your season, then your own campaign probably needs a careful audit.

Chelsea, for example, true to the traditions, got through 3 managers and spent £275 million assembling what was described as a “project,”

To what end? … finish 9th and watch the Champions League on television.

Over a quarter of a billion to host a very expensive ‘haters watch along’ party.

But yes, by all means, focus on Arsenal.

And Spurs… well, Spurs achieved something far rarer: consistency.

Seventeenth. Again. It takes real dedication to treat the relegation zone like a reserved parking space.

Spurs, to their credit, did set a Premier League record this season. The first team to have the same number of managers as home wins in one season.

But sure, Arsenal’s European disappointment is definitely the story here.

The Arsenal, of course, played their part. We flirted with the idea of actually winning the Champions League, which is always dangerous. We built belief, created momentum, and just when it started to feel serious, delivered the familiar twist. A wobble at the wrong time, a result that didn’t quite land, and suddenly the dream dissolves into “maybe next year” conversations.

But here’s the thing: Arsenal not winning the Champions League does not automatically upgrade your season into something meaningful.

It doesn’t turn 9th into progress.

It doesn’t turn 17th into strategy.

It doesn’t turn failure into success just because someone else also fell short of perfection.

And that’s the real comedy of it all.

Arsenal may fall short on the biggest stage, but we still dominate the emotional bandwidth of clubs who should be far more concerned with their own situation.

Imagine spending your entire season achieving very little, only to celebrate someone else not achieving everything.

So go on, celebrate it.

Replay the missed chances. Post the memes. Frame it as your moment.

But if Arsenal not lifting the Champions League is the headline of your season, then your season was already a joke, a punchline — Arsenal just happened to deliver it.

The post Reflect on yourselves before deflecting onto The Arsenal first appeared on Gunners Town.