Summer Transfer Shit and Everything Else

[Mac76]

So bored of seeing mindless criticism of Elneny, he is very clear about the type of player he is and what he can do for the team, he's a tidy, well-organised player who very rarely goves the ball away (are you watching Zinchenko) and also has a good shot on him. He's very useful for the squad and as every informed football watcher knows, it's important to have players like that

[Niall_Quinn]

I’m going to guess you watch England play even more seldom than you watch Arsenal play. But if you did you would see how when Henderson doesn’t play (and I don’t think Henderson is that great) Rice looks all at sea…doesn’t know whether to shit or wind his wrist watch. Honestly his level is about that of Elneny.

Has little to no acceleration, can’t deal with any kind of pressing or physicality. Compare that with Caicedo who genuinely thrives under pressure and I just don’t see what Arteta is seeing in him

And No he’s not this raw youngster he’s 24.

LOL, England? No.

Okay, we'll see what happens with Rice. After watching Martinelli go from raw to focused talent I have a bit more faith in Arteta, or whoever is doing the business on the training ground. So I'm going to predict hit rather than miss. The vital difference will be Rice will get the ball forward quicker. It's so frustrating to watch the current midfield plod around - except on the occasions they don't when suddenly they look half decent and effective. Rice will make that happen more, IMO.

[HCZ_Reborn]

So bored of seeing mindless criticism of Elneny, he is very clear about the type of player he is and what he can do for the team, he's a tidy, well-organised player who very rarely goves the ball away (are you watching Zinchenko) and also has a good shot on him. He's very useful for the squad and as every informed football watcher knows, it's important to have players like that

He’s none of these things…no technical ability, too easy to dispossess and for such a big lad can’t deal with physicality.

If he was any of the things you stated he was, there would have been some market for him but when we wanted rid three two-three years ago we could only ship him out to Turkey on loan.

Swiss Football was where he belonged

[Niall_Quinn]

So bored of seeing mindless criticism of Elneny, he is very clear about the type of player he is and what he can do for the team, he's a tidy, well-organised player who very rarely goves the ball away (are you watching Zinchenko) and also has a good shot on him. He's very useful for the squad and as every informed football watcher knows, it's important to have players like that

Well I'm not an informed football watcher so I'll have to stick with my opinion based on what I see. I've seen plenty of decent players and Elneny's name doesn't spring to mind when I'm making a list. He's not great. He's not shit. He's just one of those players that fills out the shirt when we need to make the numbers.

[Mac76]

I hope you're rifgt, my jury's out on the player but the prive was obvs very big.

Much as I criticise Arteta I do agree he can get the best out of a player when he puts his mind to it

Just been listening to a pod about Havertz btw and I can see how it could work in the 8 position if again he gets some good coaching plus beefs himself up a bit to push away defenders etc

[HCZ_Reborn]

LOL, England? No.

Okay, we'll see what happens with Rice. After watching Martinelli go from raw to focused talent I have a bit more faith in Arteta, or whoever is doing the business on the training ground. So I'm going to predict hit rather than miss. The vital difference will be Rice will get the ball forward quicker. It's so frustrating to watch the current midfield plod around - except on the occasions they don't when suddenly they look half decent and effective. Rice will make that happen more, IMO.

Martinelli was always an obvious talent, I don’t think Arteta takes any credit for his development…in fact if not for Arteta it would have emerged sooner.

Saliba, Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli…Balogun. It feels they’ve all developed despite Arteta not because of him


This is a man who ran Willian into the ground just to prove that he hadn’t made the club pay big wages for a dud

[Niall_Quinn]

I’m quite consistent that I never wanted Rice. Spending big money for the sake of it, might keep some of the social media simpletons happy but it does nothing for me. As far as I’m concerned I’m still living in hope that the gap over how the payment is made in terms of time scale becomes unbridgeable. If City had really wanted Rice they’d have got him, there’s no point fooling ourselves that we’ve pulled off some massive coup.
Just because people here were throwing Teddy out of the pram because they hung on every word put out about West Ham about how we wanted to structure the deal who I felt minded to make fun of. Doesn’t make this a good bit of business anymore than Havertz or Timber.
We’ve seen with Chelsea that spending big money means fuck all if you’re not spending it on the right players

I wasn't in the least bit interested in the negotiations for Rice and still don't care how his fee will be structured. All I'm saying is for years people wanted us to bid the big money at the big table instead of flinging last minute under-bids around. And maybe City couldn't have landed Rice, if the latest news about their creative funding during their glorious rise is to be believed. Maybe it took that extra bid to force them to think about how it would look if they engaged money cheat code when all eyes are on them. Speculation, but what's the point in saying City could have had him if they wanted? They did want. They didn't get. Could be many reasons for the outcome, but Arsenal still bid what was necessary to land their top target despite the fact the money clubs were nosing around. It's better than the alternative, a £30mill bid for Mbappe.

[Niall_Quinn]

Martinelli was always an obvious talent, I don’t think Arteta takes any credit for his development…in fact if not for Arteta it would have emerged sooner.

Saliba, Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli…Balogun. It feels they’ve all developed despite Arteta not because of him


This is a man who ran Willian into the ground just to prove that he hadn’t made the club pay big wages for a dud

Martinelli was an over-charged box of chaos and randomness with a head that exploded at the critical moment. All that energy and directness had to be focused and disciplined. Who or how is not something we'll know. But Arteta must have had some hand in it.

At a bit of a loss here. It's very strange. For years I moaned on about transfers and the lack of ambition and the soul sapping style of play, the lack of a serious challenge, etc, etc. Others did too.

In the last few years, sadly after I finally lost interest, mostly due to the horrific cynicism and corruption running through the game, we finally see a shift in the play, we see some ambition, we see the shoots of a potential title challenge. We see the club wake up and smell the bullshit that is the modern PL and finally get stuck in with a shovel. We're part of the process again, rather than nailed-on also-rans.

So we are supposed to conclude this has happened despite the manager? Does that make much sense?

[HCZ_Reborn]

I wasn't in the least bit interested in the negotiations for Rice and still don't care how his fee will be structured. All I'm saying is for years people wanted us to bid the big money at the big table instead of flinging last minute under-bids around. And maybe City couldn't have landed Rice, if the latest news about their creative funding during their glorious rise is to be believed. Maybe it took that extra bid to force them to think about how it would look if they engaged money cheat code when all eyes are on them. Speculation, but what's the point in saying City could have had him if they wanted? They did want. They didn't get. Could be many reasons for the outcome, but Arsenal still bid what was necessary to land their top target despite the fact the money clubs were nosing around. It's better than the alternative, a £30mill bid for Mbappe.

City had a passing interest in him nothing more, West Ham essentially name dropped them to get us to up the bid…would not be surprised if City obliged with an offer that they knew wouldn’t be accepted

Well I accept it’s possible that City have issues because of their quaint insistence on falsifying their figures, when you’ve already lied to get around FFP probably wise not to be too brazen.

My point is I never cared about big money transfers just in the way I don’t care about collecting pannini stickers

I care about bringing in players that I believe will improve us. The best we can say about our summer transfers is “well i hope I’m proved wrong”

[WMUG]

Martinelli was an over-charged box of chaos and randomness with a head that exploded at the critical moment. All that energy and directness had to be focused and disciplined. Who or how is not something we'll know. But Arteta must have had some hand in it.

At a bit of a loss here. It's very strange. For years I moaned on about transfers and the lack of ambition and the soul sapping style of play, the lack of a serious challenge, etc, etc. Others did too.

In the last few years, sadly after I finally lost interest, mostly due to the horrific cynicism and corruption running through the game, we finally see a shift in the play, we see some ambition, we see the shoots of a potential title challenge. We see the club wake up and smell the bullshit that is the modern PL and finally get stuck in with a shovel. We're part of the process again, rather than nailed-on also-rans.

So we are supposed to conclude this has happened despite the manager? Does that make much sense?

It's nice to see you with some hope for once