By Bulldog Drummond
It’s the weekend, a time when through the season I knock up a few bits and pieces about the forthcoming match – but for a few weeks we ain’t got a match so I can’t. But there is nothing in the rule books that says we can’t have a little snigger about Hugo Lloris, the captain of France and the Tiny Totts.
France lost 1-2 to Sweden and their squad included Koscielny, Griezmann (Mbappe 75), and Giroud. It wasn’t Koscielny’s fault we lost and Giroud certainly did his bit by scoring for France. But Lloris let in a chip from 45 yards out after he went walkabout away from his goal line. Extremely droll, unless you support France of course. (I include Griezmann/Mbappe in the above, just in case. Cos you never know).
Meanwhile Arsenal have Maitland Niles playing for England under 20s and appearing in the Under 20 World Cup final tomorrow at 11am, against Venezuela. The FA have apparently just woken up to the fact that the match is on and that England are involved and indeed that maybe some people in England might want to watch it, and so are involved in a desperate scramble to try and get the rights for sale to the non-subscription broadcasters. A bit late in the day, but par for the course.
But as always for every step forward there is a step back and Arsenal have announced three players who are being released: Kristopher Da Graca, Stefan O’Connor and Yaya Sanogo – the latter being the first member of the “25” – the official first team squad. He was the only player included in last season’s squad about whom eyebrows were raised, and I think it was part of the desire of the club to help the young man appreciate his potential and overcome his setbacks.
This means we are now back to 25 in the squad – you will recall that last season we were the only Premier League team to have a full 25 list, other clubs failing so to do because they did not have the “home grown” players necessary to make up the number.
Of course there is still huge daily speculation about MBappé and there are certainly quite a few people in Europe who tend to get these things right, and who do think he is on the way. This perhaps should not come as too big a shock – in the days when £40m was a lot of money Arsenal offered that and a pound for Suarez – of who Untold published a little more yesterday in relation to the doings of Liverpool.
And of course we beat everyone for Sanchez with a salary package that no one else was willing to match. It looks as if Arsène Wenger is wanting to make quite a statement for his final seasons. The one thing to be careful about, of course, is that if this is the case, we don’t do a Manchester United and throw everything at a final championship, and then leave the club in tatters. Not that Mr W is likely to behave as Sir F.
Meanwhile the opening thoughts about a line up for next season are starting to emerge. Of course we don’t actually know who will be in the squad nor indeed what sort of formation Arsenal will play. Here’s one version based on 4-2-1-3:
Szczesny
Bellerin Mustafi Kos Kolasinac
The Ox Xhaka
Ozil
Mahrez Alexis Mbappe
Of course we might not get the players and we might play five at the back, so I’ll have another bash later. Unless you want to do it for me.
Meanwhile the newly disempowered Daily Mail (at least that is how the BBC is gleefully presenting the failure of the neo-fascist newspapers to control the General Election in the UK as they have done for fifty years) are telling us that the Premier League is considering a new TV deal that would see games kick off at 11.30am as a sop to the Asian market.
This change isn’t due until 2019/20 with 22 games a season being moved to what the Mail laughingly calls “12pm”. There is of course no 12pm since noon and midnight are neither ante meridiem nor post medidiem but on the cusp of each. Anyway what they mean is before noon.
There is also chatter about what the media now call the Big Six (which is to say Arsenal, Chelsea, Tiny Totts, Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool!) and the rest of the League concerning overseas revenue. This is currently split evenly between the clubs but of course almost all the games shown to audiences of any size are those involving the larger clubs.
The talk says that these six teams are trying to present a united front which says that the income should relate to the number of games shown on TV or the size of the audience.
And thus there we are for this saturday morning. More anon.
- Arsenal: nine players arriving, five players staying, another five leaving, and two deals off.
- Liverpool and the notion of small-club mentality
- Conservative Party losses means government plan of taking over and running the internet likely to be shelved
- Saudi Arabia national team refuse to observe minute’s silence for those killed in London, before match.
How about this for a team for the early rounds of the Europa League and I’m not using your players
GK – Cech
Right wing back – Maitland-Niles
Left wing back – Nacho Monreal
Centre Backs – Holding, Per and Chambers
DM – Coquelin
MF – Reine- Adelaide
Attack – Theo, Danny, Nketiah
A reasonable mix of youth and experience which should be able to get through the league stage of the competition without too much difficulty.
At left wing back I would be just as happy with Gibbs if he is still at the club or Cohen Bramall. Right wing back is a trickier proposition asChiori Johnson the normal U23 right back is, in my opinion, far more suited to a back 4 than a back 3 as he is a far more defensive player – he actually likes defending. Maitland-Niles is a general purpose midfielder who seems to be able to play anywhere and this would give him a chance to make a position his own (at least for now).
Up front I have included Eddie Nketiah who is the most prolific young striker we have, I would love to see him on this stage. It would probably take him a game or two to find his feet but after that he would be scoring his customary goal a game. He doesn’t have the physicality of Giroud or Mbappe but boy does he know where the goal is.
12pm is generally understood to be midday, since all times between then and 1300 hours are pm e.g 12.15 pm, 12.39 pm etc; just as 12 am is understood to be midnight, by similar reasoning
Just because the Daily Mail (an excrable rag, I agree) refers to it as such does not make it laughable or incorrect
Yes, I know, I am a pedant
And I am an Arsenal supporter (since 1967)
Does that make all Arsenal supporters pedants?
Neo-fascist newspapers, eh? Much better to have the Election manipulated by the indolent rabble-rousers of Momentum and, of course, our own beloved BBC with its constant stream of pro-left, anti-British politics. Perhaps soon we can all look forward to a Communist Utopia in this green and pleasant land, following in the footsteps of such communist idylls such as, er, oh let me see… no, can’t think of one at the moment. Perhaps you could enlighten me. (Remember, this Election was called because of the attacks on democracy itself in wishing to deny the electorate their decision last year.)
Okay, Sanogo is out and Kolasinac is reportedly in. But that still leaves Arsenal with a full 25 man senior team squad that includes the home grown ones. I think for Arsenal to sign in any more senior new players this summer if they would, they will have to sell or loan out one or two Gunners currently in their 25 man senior team squad this summer. And who’ll that one or two Gunners be is subject to speculations despite the debating issue of the likely return to the club this summer of Szczsney and Chambers out of the many senior team squad loanees who have all returned to the club at the end of last season. Tough work on the hands of Le Prof to do and sort out correctly before the new coming season starts I should imagine.
Arsenal will not sign Kylian Mbappe at the outrageous transfer fee in excess of €100m reported in the media. Arsenal have never done this kind of signing at outrageous transfer fee before. Because it has never been in the tradition of the club to spend that very big to get one new player transferred at such an outrageous transfer fee. I know there is always the first time to break from traditions and go contemporary if that break will enabled to get what is neededly wanted. But not until Arsenal sign Mbappe will I believe they’ve signed him.
Bulldog,
you could have mentionned the sheer thing of beauty Olie scored. A real screamer.
Anyone can find it on youtube.
If Arsenal have a reported £200 million pounds in the bank and we claw back £50 million pounds plus for Sanchez, Mbappe’s fee is not beyond reality.
The only stumbling block may be the breaking of the wage structure, but this seems to have already gone with the wage demands of Ozil and Sanchez.
Also if reports are true about Emirates pulling out of shirt deals we can negotiate a better deal and if the contract is tied to stadium naming rights perhaps that also.
We also have the new sleeve sponser deals which means more dosh.
Running a clubs finances must be a very tricky balance at the moment.
Chris ..
What a cracking goal.. very Liam Brady 23/12/78.
Knobby
The shirt (two years to run) & stadium naming deals are separate, and yes we could get a much better shirt deal than the one we have, so good news really.
Anyway, Arsenal is finally in the position to spend big if they want to without damaging the club, and this is not because of the “antis”, or banners or protests.
It is because the money is now available and there is now also backup funds(which many forget is needed in case of problems).
//
It’s painful to see that people still think their vote has any say in who becomes PM.
My feeling is that Özil will stay, Sanchez won’t. We have the money for one Mega signing at around £100m plus and one at £50 to £70m both with associated wages. Any other arrivals will be funded by player sales
What positions they will play in is anyone’s guess, although I can’t see any more major changes to our defence unless Per does decide to hang up his boots this summer which i think would be premature.
I hope that both Alexis and Ozil will stay.
Persuading Alexis to stay after he was a victim of unreasonable and orchestrated attacks from the positive Arsenal fans would be a massive victory for Arsenal FC, Arsene and Alexis. Replacing one of only eight players in Top 5 European leagues with double digits in both goals and assists would be a massive task and extremely expensive one, especially if we take into account that any new signing would have to go through his first season at Arsenal while Alexis has been here for three years already.
I reckon that signing Mbappe would be enough to persuade both Alexis and Ozil to stay. I wouldn’t mind if Arsene does the unexpected and sign Griezmann instead of the lovely young striker from AS Monaco. Thomas Lemar of Monaco would also be a great signing – two goals in two victories over Spuds are the best recommendation letter a youngster can bring for a job interview at Arsenal!
@Andrew
What about Lucas Perez, Alex Iwobi and Mohamed Elneny?
Nitram
Tks for your note i recieved through the back channel.
I humbly apologse for the mistaken identity but i dare to say that your posts look so similar to the ones our common friend here was posting till last year.
I hope you will forgive me for my mistake and wish we can find our missing freind sooner than later.
Keep on the good work.
Coyg.
About the really stupid goal conceded by Lloris during the Sweden v France match Bulldog said: “Extremely droll, unless you support France of course.” Well actually, I’m french and found it really droll too! Maybe because I’m a gooner fan, and the mistake came from the Tot’s keeper. 🙂
What you have to know is that Lloris made that in Sweden in a 1-1 draw when in stopping time (94) and 5 (really) seconds left. https://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/Video-la-boulette-de-lloris-qui-coute-la-defaite-a-la-france/809124
Giroud was the only scorer for France. A nice goal. https://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/Video-le-magnifique-but-en-reprise-de-volee-d-olivier-giroud-face-a-la-suede/809083
Another spicy detail: the two sweddish scorers are Durmaz and Toivonen. Both playing in ligue1 club Toulouse, France .
And also… guess who was the ref… that old chap Atkinson! 😀
Rosicky@arsenal
No problem at all my friend.
I too am still hoping for his return.
If Aron can keep himself fit he will be a 100% starter in the team, it pleased me to see tha partnership with Xhaka was very good the last 10 or so games.
My lineup for next season would be :
Czech
Mustafi Kos Monreal
The Ox Ramsey Xhaka Kolasinac
Ozil
Welbeck Giroud Mbappe
There is a rumour that chileanan newspaper reports that Alexis have agreed personal term with Manchester City!!!???? If that is true, the ONLY reason that i can understand for that transfer is that we get Mbappe and let Man City pay 70-80m pounds for Alexis so that we can finance a world record 120m pound transfer for Mbappe. But Arsenal never spend big so it cannot happen 🙂
If Aron can keep himself fit he will be a 100% starter in the team, it pleased me to see tha partnership with Xhaka was very good the last 10 or so games.
My lineup for next season would be :
Czech
Mustafi Kos Monreal
The Ox Ramsey Xhaka Kolasinac
Ozil
Welbeck Giroud Mbappe
There is a rumour that chileanan newspaper reports that Alexis have agreed personal term with Manchester City!!!???? If that is true, the ONLY reason that i can understand for that transfer is that we get Mbappe and let Man City pay 70-80m pounds for Alexis so that we can finance a world record 120m pound transfer for Mbappe. But Arsenal never spend big so it cannot happen 🙂