Here are the major outs:

• Runnarsson
• Bellerin (pbbly loan)
• Luiz (end of contract)
• Mavro (loan)
• Saliba (loan)
• Willock (sale)
• Willian (contract termination)
• Nelson (loan)

Here are the major ins:

• Ramsdale – 25 Mln
• Tomiyasu – 25 Mln
• B.White – 50 Mln
• Tavares – 19 Mln
• Lokonga – 15 Mln
• Odegaard – 30 Mln

Could still leave: Soares, Kolasinac, AMN, Nketiah

Unlikely to leave: Laca, Auba but you never know

Potential line up in the favoured 4231

Leno – Tomiyasu, White, Gabriel, Tierney – Partey, Xhaka – Saka, Ode, ESR – Auba

Ramsdale – Soares, Holding, Mari, Tavares – Lokonga, El Neny – Pepe, Laca, Martinelli – Balogun

Well well well…Xhaka just got a red card, not necessarily justified but could have gone either way…

Soares is having a horrible day at the office, Chambers and Auba too…

ESR and Odegaard not very good as part of the midfield three and Saka is just absent…Holding and Leno not being so bad given the circumstances but the weak links have been Soares, Chambers, Xhaka and Kola…

What will Arteta do at half-time? We were never going to win but we are not even contesting…this is a rout so far…

As Torreira is joining Fiorentina on a season-long loan, Arteta mentioned the club is working on exits and the following players have been linked with moves away:

• Willian to Corinthians once his contract is mutually terminated;
• Nketiah rumored to join Crystal Palace;
• Nelson could also join Crystal Palace but on-loan after signing a long-term contract with AFC;
• Kolasinac also on the potential out list but no concrete offers for him yet;
• Bellerin also on the potential out list but no concrete offers for him yet;
• Soares with an uncertain future with us as well;
• AMN, uncertain future but he may be keen to stay;
• Lacazette rumoured to be on the market for 15 Mln EUR but I think it is unlikely;
• Aubameyang supposedly monitored by Barcelona and Man City but I doubt he will leave.

So who do you think will leave?

So our Cup jousts start today with a EFL Cup game against West Brom…

Given our lack of European football and limited ambitions in the EPL, it is fair to say that Cups will be given more priority by AFC this season and that we could expect Arteta to field a strong line-up in national Cup competitions as clearly they represent a great chance for trophies, success and even European football.

So some have said that the team has been hit with bad luck through Covid-19, injuries…and others feel that Arteta needs to prove himself and turn the results around. In any case, everyone agrees that our season’s success may be largely determined by (i) a Top 8 (yet Top 8 :-() and (ii) Cup glory.

Make no mistake – West Brom is in good form under Ismael and have players to hurt us. It may be a repeat of the Brentford game …

So who will start for us today? Give your predicted and preferred line-up…and outcome:

Here are mine:

Predicted line-up: Leno – AMN, Chambers, Holding, Mari, Tavares – El Neny, Xhaka, Odegaard – Pepe, ESR – Laca

Preferred line-up: Ramsdale – AMN, Chambers, Xhaka, Holding, Tierney – Odegaard, El Neny, ESR – Pepe, Saka – Laca

Outcome: Arsenal to win. COYG!

Rather than drone on about how bad Arsenal were against Chelsea, I thought I’d give an account of my day at the stadium.

It’s been 17 long months since there has been a ‘full’ Emirates stadium. I managed to get to a game in December against Vienna. That occasion was a surreal experience sitting 3 seats from any other fans, only topped by having to order a ‘substantial meal’ with my beer that same day.

I passed up the chance of a beer pre-match and headed straight to the ground. The fans in general were in a boisterous mood aided by alcohol and a variety of other substances.

Those of us with season tickets will be aware of the new entry requirements to the Stadium with a new card and/or an App on the phone. I decided to bring both as my experience of dealing with Arsenal’s website and customer service department is akin to drinking petrol…not pleasant.

We were funneled along some queues where coats and bags were checked before getting to the concourse around the stadium. This seemed to work well as the usual queues at the turnstiles were a lot shorter than in pre-covid times. There were a few hold ups at the entrance as there were some Apps that didn’t work, but I got inside the stadium pretty quickly. The bar areas were packed, and the Arsenal fans were in good voice. I went into the seating area, took up my place and caught up with a number of familiar faces.

I would say that the Stadium was two thirds full. I know several people that have caught Covid recently so couldn’t make the game or were understandably reluctant to come along. Others are on holiday and more didn’t fancy it for reasons of their own. The game didn’t sell out, which meant season ticket holders were unable to put their tickets on the ticket exchange. Considering this was the first full capacity game in the stadium for some time and we were playing a traditional rival from London it speaks volumes of where Arsenal are at the moment. Many fans can’t be bothered to watch a team that has declined a long way from the previous highs of the early 2000s. This is natural, but it must make the powers that be nervous.

At the start of the game the sun was shining, and the fans were making a lot of noise. Unfortunately, the sun disappeared behind the clouds, the heavens opened, and it didn’t stop pouring for about 30 minutes.

Near where I sit in the North Bank there was a broken gutter high up on the Stadium roof, which meant that bucket-loads of water tipped down on some unsuspecting fans below. This isn’t a cattle shed or Stamford Bridge in the 80s, it’s not a good look. It was interesting to note that the Stadium looked a bit washed out. The seats and murals have become sun-bleached like a lot of the cheap seats in a US Baseball Park. Considering the Stadium is only 15 years old it looks a bit jaded. Just like the team really.

You know what happened in the game, so no need for further analysis here. The fans dripped away as they tend to do at Arsenal leaving a half empty stadium at the final whistle.

The crowds outside trudged along slowly towards Arsenal tube and the other destinations. A few half-witted Chelsea fans (are there any that aren’t half-witted?) aggressively chanted their way down the road, then disappeared in another direction.

My group visited a few local hostelries. The atmosphere was upbeat in these pubs. The Arsenal fans know that the team is in bad state and will tolerate the poor fare on offer for a while before things turn toxic. Lose at home to Norwich and the mood could change quickly.

I really enjoyed my day out. It’s been a long journey to get back to full stadiums. I think most fans in attendance enjoyed the novelty of watching a game in person. Here’s hoping this carries on…

Up the Arsenal! Courtesy of: Pete the Thirst

Arteta has been saying that since he arrived 20 months ago, he had to change many things at the club in terms of the way it operates, its culture…and to be fair, some positivity and changes were visible in his first 6 months with a new-found defensive resilience and 2 Trophies: An FA Cup and a Charity Shield. To win both, big teams had to be beaten so when we started last season, there was a sense that we could consolidate our gains and build on Arteta’s early success with our club and with the signings of Willian, Partey and Gabriel, there was a “feel good atmosphere” around our club especially after our demolition of Fulham away with a few assists from Willian…

Then the season 2020-1 was what it was with a poor League position, performances in the Cups were not great and our run in the Europa League ended against Emery…who went on to win the Europa League

By then, Arteta had been able to shape the team to his liking to a certain extent…This summer, he managed to make new additions: Ramsdale, White, Tavares, Lokonga and Odegaard. He also managed to extend Tierney and Smithe-Rowe while Saka signed on last year. All seem to have a similar profile: young players, good potential and a good engine. Tierney, Odegaard and Saka have got some international experience too.

So Edu-Arteta say that we are building a team for the future with solid foundations but they are two major assumptions here:

1. They will play and improve with us
2. They will want to stay with us in 12 or 24 months because they (still) believe in the project/in our club.

And I am not taking into account external assumptions related to other clubs also strengthening

I am sure that Arteta will give them the necessary playing time to develop and that our coaching staff will also help them improve but I am not sure that players like Tierney, ESR and Saka would like to stick with us, if we do not (i) contend for trophies, (ii) win trophies), (iii) finish Top 4 or Top 6 especially if clubs like City, Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea, Real, Bayern, Barcelona, Juve, PSG come knocking at the door for them…

PSG needs a LB – they could easily approach Tierney. Would Tierney not want to play with Mbappy, Neymar and Messi?

Liverpool and City always looking to bolster their wingers’ option, wouldn’t Saka want to be coached by Guardiola or Klopp?

So, I understand that Edu-Arteta want more time (basically this season) but their project also need to include more instant success to ensure that the club is still competitive this season and that we can retain the younger talent extended and recruited…Otherwhise, their whole vision is doomed to fail…

Do you honestly believe that Arteta can make the following team (based on acquisition and Arteta’s formations since last year) compete for a Top 4 finish and a Cup Win this season:

Leno – Chambers, White, Gabriel, Tierney – Partey, Xhaka – Saka, Odegaard, ESR – Auba (or Laca)

I have my doubts…We had our best results with Arteta playing with a back 3 and I would be more comfortable going back to this set-up especially given the fact that we are conceding goals and chances like no one’s business….

Sometimes you just know, don’t you?

I am 100% confident that we will beat the West London pretenders this afternoon and that will it be a VERY GOOD THING for a number of reasons.

Obviously, any Arsenal win is to be celebrated, but victory today will also silence (temporarily at least) the cacophony of negativity that has been echoing round the club since defeat at Brentford.

We have been inundated with an infestation of pundits vying to outbid each other in their forecasts of doom.

Like ants they have been crawling all over social media spewing rhetoric that gets ever more heated: Arsenal are one of the favourites for relegation; the clock is ticking for Arteta; Ramsdale is a waste of money; Odegaard is ‘bang average;’ our transfer activity has been terrible.

It’s time to call in Rent-o-Chill.

And so to today. Entertaining a strongly fancied team like Chelsea is the perfect scenario after the opening day disappointment.

Of course, seeing our injury-weakened team capitulate at Brentford was depressing, but to write off a season on the basis of a single result is a form of foolishness that any sensible supporter should know to ignore.

The same would be true if we’d beaten Brentford 5-0. No doubt people would have been praising Arteta and saying that Arsenal were outsider contenders for the title. That would have been equally foolish.

Team news remains mixed. By all accounts Odegaard is available to play and we can assume Ramsdale will be on the bench. 

Ode showed enough talent with us last season to convince this observer at least that we have secured a real gem for what will turn out to be a bargain price. Yes, there’s some crossover with Smith Rowe, but they have already shown they can work well together (so it’s not an either/or situation) and, in any case, they have quite different styles of play.

As for Ramsdale, he has clearly been brought in to replace Leno in due course. I expect the move to happen in January when we sell the German and bring in a cheaper back-up or promote a goalie from the Hale End Academy.

Auba is potentially available after being Covid-pinged, but Partey and Gabriel are both still out with injury. 

Worryingly, Willian is “being assessed,” but surely Arteta would not dare bring on the useless Brazilian bog-brush in front a real, actual crowd of supporters?

Torreira is back in the squad but I don’t expect him to feature as I imagine we’re still trying to move him on in this window.

Also, I would not rule out the possibility of another major transfer move as the window winds to a close at the end of the month, possibly a striker.

So let’s stop the moaning, get behind the manager and the team and enjoy a first home win of what promises to be an exciting campaign.

Predicted Line-Up:

Leno

Chambers – White – Mari – Tierney

Xhaka – Lokonga

Pepe – Odegaard – Aubameyang

Martinelli

Come on You Gunners

RockyLives

So it seems that we have:

• Invested 35 Mln EUR in our back-up GK, Ramsdale
• Invested 50 Mln EUR for a Centre-back, White
• Invested 8 Mln EUR (plus add-ons) for our back-up Left-Back, Tavares
• Invested 17.5 Mln EUR (plus 4.5 Mln add ons) for our back-up Central Midfielder, Sambi
• Invested 35 Mln EUR (plus 5 Mln EUR in add-ons) for a central midfielder, Odegaard
• Extended Xhaka and Balogun

So we spent roughly 145 Mln EUR for 2 starters (85 Mln: White, Odegaard) and 3 squad players (60 Mln: Ramsdale, Tavares, Sambi).

Do you feel like the transfer window as it stands (i) is successful? (ii) helped us address our issues? (iii) needs to see the arrival of further players?

This post is purely about arrivals but feel free to discuss departures as well

Potential line-ups based on the transfer window as it stands:

Team A: Leno – Chambers, White, Mari, Tierney – Partey, Xhaka – Saka, ESR, Odegaard – Auba

Team B: Ramsdale – Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Tavares – AMN, El Neny, Sambi – Pepe, Balogun, Martinelli

Rumors are that Barcelona want to add to their attacking threat and are keeping a close eye on Auba and supposedly Laca too…

Now, our forward options at the moment are:

FW: Pepe, Saka, Nelsson / Auba, Martinelli, Willian

CF: Laca, Balogun, Nketiah

Ideally and by the end of the transfer window, we would be left with 6 options rather than 9. Players that could be allowed to leave on loan are Nelsson and Nketiah and players that could be sold are Willian, Nketiah (yes him again) and probably one between Laca and Auba…

Auba was named captain and handed a hefty contract about a year ago but has not done so well since…Shall we then allow him to leave and join Barcelona? If so, what would be a good transfer value? Is it too risky to let him go, knowing that prior to the previous season he has been our leading scorer for a few seasons in a row…

Some say that we should let him go, some say that we should keep him…I am on the fence to be honest as he may just rediscover his form and be our leading scorer again…

In all honesty, if we were to let one forward go to raise some capital between Auba and Laca and based on last season only, I d say keep Laca and let Auba go but if you look at their records over the last 3 seasons, Auba is the definite keeper! What to do…

Can someone tell me why we are pursuing Odegaard to rejoin us for about 35-40 Mln EUR and we let Willock go for 25 Mln Pounds please? I am failing to understand…Thank you