By Sir Hardly Anyone
So let us start with the silliest insult of the day. There are of course many to choose from but having had a look through a mindblowing selection I give the award today for “Under Wenger, Arsenal have become boring”. A bit of an odd statement really having had Alexis and Ozil in the team for a while, and now Mkhitaryan, Aubamameyang and Ozil. That was from Football Tavern, but each to his own.
And in contrast the best of the day. This from Pain in the Arsenal who have given us the thought that “Experts” aren’t really experts, but they will always act like they are. And so say all of us.
And now the days tattle and tittle.
1: From Sportsmole: a daily race
Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur have “reportedly” joined the race to sign a highly-rate defender from the mighty Stevenage. And it must be important because it is not a stroll, not a negotiation but probably not a race.
The 18 year old in question is Ben Wilmot and he has played eight times in the League so far according to Wikipedia. The Sun apparently says that both clubs made bids in January and they were turned down.
2: From the Daily Mirror who blame a publication we don’t read
Arsenal are watching Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly, and that is “according to reports”. And this is because we desperately need defenders even though Chambers is coming back to form and Holding is still an excellent prospect, and even though (again) no one predicted that in January we would sign Mavropanos. Which is interesting – all these predictions and the transfer that happens is… missed.
Anyway, “According to Calciomercato, Arsenal sent a team of scouts to watch Koulibaly in Napoli’s Europa League clash with RB Leipzig on Thursday night.”
3: From Sport 360 and the Canon’s disaster
This is actually in most “publications”: Arsenal are contemplating splashing £25 million into the hands of Manchester United in order to get Chris Smalling. Sport 360 are blaming the Daily Star for this one.
And with Man U going to buy Toby Alderweireld from the Tiny Totts in the summer, Smalling is seen to be done for.
Preparing for its daily assault on the ability and integrity of everyone associated with Arsenal, and the all-encompassing knowledge of their own team the Daily Canon give us “Arsenal told to pay Manchester United £25m for disaster defender.” Smalling is experienced: 31 England games and over 170 for Man United.
4: Football London speak of obsession
“Arsene Wenger ‘obsessed’ with sealing summer free transfer” they say in the headline although by the time we get to the body of the text we have “Arsene Wenger is ‘almost obsessed’ with signing Oguzhan Ozyakup in the summer. What is an almost obsession? A mild interest? And an “almost obsession”? A passing thought perhaps.
“That is the view from Turkey, with reports suggesting the Arsenal boss is desperate to secure the signature of his former player, who spent four years at the Emirates as a youth player.” Hmmmm.
5: Football Fancast misreads Italian
“As reported by Italian outlet CalcioMercato.it, Arsenal have recently sent scouts to the track the progress of Napoli attacker Lorenzo Insigne.” Well, actually that’s not how the article reads to me because the opening of the article translates as “AN OBSERVER OF THE GUNNERS TONIGHT AT THE STADIUM TO VIEW THE SARRI PLAYERS”.
But never mind. He (the player not the observer) is 26, he is an attacking midfielder, and he has played 187 times for Napoli and 21 for Italy.
6: Arsenal Mania still reading those dodgy reports.
“According to reports, Arsenal are ready to snap up RB Leipzig forward Timo Werner this summer.”
Now they blame this one of the Sun claiming the player is of “heavy interest from Arsenal” whatever that means. Oh and Arsenal had him “monitored”. Hmmm. Sounds a bit underhand. Anyway he is a German international who has scored seven goals in 10 games which is rather interesting, he is 21 and has scored 31 goals in 51 games for Leipzig. Pretty impressive.
7: Football London’s belief
“Arsenal are believed to be one of the clubs keeping tabs on Lyon youngster Willem Geubbels, according to reports from Spain.”
Apparently this player was previously being perused by Chelsea and the Tiny Totts but allegedly Mundo Deportivo say that Barcelona and Leipzig want him – which doesn’t really explain where Arsenal come into the reckoning.
He is 16 and has so far played twice for Lyon. Speaking of whom…
8: Arsenal Mania and the Fekir
Reading the Daily Mail (sponsors of one of the most dubious of all anti-Arsenal sites) is not recommended for the more upstanding members of society, but I am told by the Mania that the Mail claim we are “chasing” Olympique Lyonnais’ Nabil Fekir.
And this is serious because “Arsene Wenger has reportedly made Fekir his main transfer target for the summer as he looks to continue his squad revamp.”
Fekir was the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year a few years back. He has since made over 100 appearances for the team and is captain as well as making his debut for France in 2015.
And that’s today tittle, with a pot of tattle added.
Exposing the second libel against Henry Norris: the summer of 1920.
What Bellerin said, Toddler Brain Habits and making money from criticising Arsenal
How football on Italian TV is revolutionary, leaving Sky and BT Sprout way behind
Why is the media making the next summer transfer window an issue for the clubs to contend with when it isn’t July yet when clubs will start getting busy on which players they’ll want to sign and which ones they will like to sell?
It’s embarrassing to read of players being linked with clubs signning them in the media when the clubs have barely come out of a transfer window and counting their gains and loses not up to a month the last window was closed?
Are clubs primary function players transfer or play the games? Since the clubs are signning players to enhance their games winning capacity, I think the media should allow them a breathing space to breath after just come out of a window business that has just closed so that the clubs will focus on the businnes of playing games for which they’ve signed players or sold for. And not the other way round to make players transfer the main focus.
If only the media will become patient and calm down and be watchful of players performance during the World Cup finals in Russia this year, they can start to speculate on who are players Arsenal should sign. And they will hear or read about Arsenal likely selling and signing new players during the next summer transfer window. So, my advice to the media is, let them please be patient and be calmed until the beginning of the month of July 2018 when it will be appropriate to start the next Arsenal summer transfer window rumours. But for now, it is too early to start doing these rumours. And I don’t think Arsenal are interested in transfers at the moment as they’re not in that mode. But are in the very mode of winning the 2nd leg match of their Europa League Cup clash with Ostersunds FK at the Ems on Thursday night. Then thlereafter, redirect their focus on beating Man City in the Carabao cup final match at Wembley and beat them again in the League at the Ems within days and from there move on in the rest of their League and ELC campaigns.. .
On VAR, Hawke Eye who produce the system fdor the league, have stated that the ‘wonky’ lines displayed on BT Sport were not in fact the ones used for VAR decision and it was a technical issue which led to the images being displayed on BT Sport.
It sounds like sabotage to me, how do they end up with an inaccurate image, fi the ones used were accurate?
Why the lengthy delay, and surely the goal was offside, so how was it missed, when the decision was marginal?
Smalling I’d take, but I don’t know about how he fits into the defensive line, as an option, why are we sudden;y doing business repeatedly with a direct rival, who is offiliated only to the owner via the Republican party?
In other news, Trump collusion is unquestionable and affected the outcome of the election, brexit and the independence vote in Catalonia.
What concerns me more is, how did the representatives, from a rigged system fail to represent their state vote?
all of it smells fishy to me.
The biggest interest this summer will be the manager.
After confirming that the uncertainty of his position was partially to blame for last seasons poor showing, will he leave this summer or will the club announce an extension for a further year (which wouldn’t be ‘used’)?