The North London Derby has come early this year. I know most are not excited seeing these preseason games but I,for one, am extremely excited about this game. I think this game will determine how we start the premier League season.
The reason I think it would be devasating because after listening to some commentators, they were generally scared for us to play Brentford. One even going as far as to say he prefers to play the promoted sides after they have lost a few games and their confidence shattered. This is how far we have fallen our supporter was scared to play a newly promoted side.
Only being able to see first half of Tottenham game vs Chelsea they looked mediocre. So I was really shocked to see, when I reached home that the score was 2-2. We can’t allow this to happen, once we get a foot hold of a game we need to kill it off.
Both sides will be playing some variation of a 433 so they might cancel each other out. The winner would be basically down to who wants it more and is clinical infront of goal (YES am looking at you Aubameyang). Arsenal does have the added advantage because ‘Mr Bong to score against Arsenal’ will be missing the game.
With Partey out I expect a midfield of Xhaka and Elneny. I know most fans would like Aubameyang to be dropped and replaced with Eddie, knowing Arteta we he will go for his usual side and if he makes any changes, he might play Eddie over Laca.
Would love to see a midfield with Willock but this is feeling like EMI 2.0 where I’m calling for Arteta to give him a chance but instead of listening to me he lets him go on loan or worse still, he sells him and Newcastle finish in CL position with Willock winning golden boot.
Here’s my lineup …..
Leno
Chambers…White…Mari …Tierney
Xhaka Elneny
Pepe ESR Auba
Lacazette
Fred
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Thank you Fred.
A North London Derby is always important, pre-season or not. So don’t anyone let you think otherwise.
I was at The Emirates last week when we played Chelsea and although Chelsea probably didn’t need to get out of first gear we did create some lovely chances with ESR pulling the strings. Looking forward to more of the same today. And, as Fred says in the post, take your chances and score!!!!!!!
You did it Peaches!! Good morning to you, Fred, and all AAers on a day when I, personally, am proud as punch to be a Brit. As an Olympics comes to a close, I think the Japanese have done a fine job in general in organisation and the British team have been magnificent. My lasting thought, is how good is it, in a World currently in trauma, to see humans competing to their full potential, and with due respect to their competitors and their sports.
And back to your post, Fred. I thought you said you have given up with “commentators”, pundits and papers!😉. A win at the Armitage Shanks Stadium and then another to kick off the new hopeful, positive season, will do me. COYG, make us smile!😁
Fred ……. if you meant somone else to play on the wing, ie not Auba then you’d better let me know.
Eddie is out for a month
I’ve no idea who thought playing both the chavs and spuds in pre-season was a good idea, but hey ho.
No, the result isn’t important, it’s pre season. It’s about fitness and match sharpness etc. So playing our local rivals is a huge distraction and as we’ve seen already, likely to end in a few injuries!
unrelated
just watch messi presser, not sure what normal footballer make most i remember is our club which was mesut and Sanchez which was 400 a week
as a footballer would u reduce your wage to a normal footballer just to stay at your boyhood club or stick to your worth
Not bad then Fred.
Somehow, still got your right back there! Shame!
Fred
Messi could easily have stayed at Bqrca and played on a reduced salary.
Boo hoo! The pathetic baby’s credited tears. My heart bleeds. I bet all the nurses, teachers on shite salaries were all crying along with him.
*crocodile NOT credited ffs! 🤣
Arsenal being picked apart too easily when Spurs are attacking…Bellerin and Mari guilty of poor defending…
Good movements from Laca and Smithe-Rowe though
So who’s watching?
General discussion point – a totally different way of refereeing!!😯Problem for me is twofold firstly as was mentioned on commentary, if you are going to try to let every challenge go, there has also to be a balance to the effect on the “potentially aggrieved” team, and secondly you have got to get it right. The rules haven’t changed regarding tackling through a player from behind. Ali was booked for an awful tackle, but he was the only one, and that is where the injuries occur.
Positives:- after the first ten minutes, dominated the play ( BUT, didnt convert). Lokonga had excellent first part of game, quieter in last ten mins. Ben White looks like the potential star we all hope for – dominant, controlling, confident. Smith-Rowe and Laca combining well, and towards the end of the half, Pepe more involved. Like to see Tierney taking the full back ( who is very quick) more on the outside. Doesn’t matter if it doesn’t always work. The cut back from byline is always the most dangerous for defenders.
Need the first goal and should run out winners.
AMN at RB boom
Surely willock better than sambi offers nothing going forward
Fred
AMN playing RB is excellent.
It wouldn’t be willock replacing Sambi, it’d be Xhaka for me.
Anyway looks like Willock is off.
There is not much creation from AFC in the second half…Very stale
Saka got a huge cheer I’m informed by my spud cousin
More frustration plus, plus ; with two comments only from me regarding second half. Spurs were a different team, as we were!😠 And, who is going to score our goals this season?
Not much to be positive about during pre-season…
Defending can get tighter but scoring goals 🙈🙈🙈
Well thank fuck that waste of a pre season game is over and seemingly no new injuries…
But… Oh man when is this club gonna have a decent central midfield again? Its been weak for years. People banging on about other areas of the pitch, including unbelievably, IMO, slating the likes of Auba and Laca, when the glaring hole in this team is and has been for flipping ages, the centre of the park.
Xhaka should have been sold 2 years ago. As much as I like el Neny, he always works his socks off, but he’s a squad player. Torreira is nowhere, Guendouzi’s never coming back and now it looks like Willock is going too and taking all the goals from midfield with him.
That leaves an injured Partey and Sambi, who I like, but surely wasn’t bought as our 1st choice DM?
And our right full back is at best good…but not creating much…We go and pay 50 Mln for White as a Central Defender while players like Hakimi (60 Mln) and Emerson Royale (30 Mln at most) were available…I heard we re approching Trippier, not a bad approach despite his past…
As for CM, I am still hoping for Partey to break the lines rather than his muscles
Peaches i think we should have kept my lineup with 2 Pepe
🤣
Our right full back does not know how to defend.
Peaches u still calling that person your cousin
Nice gesture my spurs though
No one cause or goal scorer apparently of to Newcastle
People raving about Ben but doesn’t he hold onto the ball to much and slows down or attack
Seems spurs would settle and we couldn’t get in behind
Don’t be blaming the RB, the whole side doesn’t know how to defend lol
Sorry Fred, not true Mari and White are a solid pairing, and you are surely not going to criticise Tierney. The problems today came from diagonals from Tottenham right to Moura on our right, with Bellerin too far forward and unable to get back. This led to White coming out of the middle to cover him.
To be fair berwign didn’t do anything whole game
I thought that Arteta had solved the defensive problems.
That is why he spent £50m on another CB.
Now we know why over the last t few seasons we went on the pre-season tours to US and the far east to make money.
Staying at home does not improve matters.
At least we manage 2 shots on target, one in each half.
If we keep that up this season, we may score a couple of goals.
This is really a huge match which could decide the fate of the league title and fans will have high hopes that their side can outperform the other on the night…
I bet we’re selling Willock because those tight arse italian clubs wouldn’t cough up for Xhaka and Bellerin!
£22 million for Willock sounds like good money, but I would have preferred to keep him for a season to find out if he could click in the side. He has goals from midfield, which we don’t have a lot of.
I would rather have got rid of Xhaka and kept Willock. Giving Xhaka a contract extension is bizarre. He was virtually on a plane to Rome at the end of the season.
Truth is that none of the European leagues can afford to take our dead wood from us. They’re all broke.
Pete
I agree with all of that mate.
With Partey out Injuried our current central midfield is looking pretty bang average. No offence to the new kid who looks decent, but we can’t expect him to be the main linchpin straight away anyways!!
I would Guendouzi or Torreira in midfield rather than Xhaka.
25 Mln EUR for Willock is nothing given the fact that he is a home-grown talent…Furthermore, the kid just scored 8 goals in half a season for Newcastle…So:
1. Why did we get rid of HG talent that has actually done great on loan in the EPL?
2. Given that our midfielders are not scoring much, wouldn’t it make sense to keep Willock in our squad?
I am tryingto figure out why we got Ben White , loaned out Saliba and now selling Willock…and on top of it, we re extending Xhaka…Bizarre window to be honest
and then if we spend 40 Mln on Maddison, all hope is lost…
RC
You are not for convincing are you!!! Because Saliba is not ready, sir.
@RC78 I totally agree on Maddison. He spent a lot of last season injured and sitting on the subs bench. He also had disciplinary problems with Big Nose.
There are better players available at lower prices.
And so the rumour mill continues- Jesse Lingard instead of Maddison at£25m.
LBG – playing in the Ligue 1 for yet another season may not help Saliba turn into a solid EPL performer…I m ok with him being loaned out but to a Ligue 1 outfit? What’s the point?
Dexter I would prefer no one to play in midfield rather than xhaka
@LBG if that idiot Lingard is signed we’re all doomed…
Silly season hopefully
RC
Agree totally with that……..which is why I flagged up the comment, from Saliba himself, that HE had rejected Arsenal’s attempts to get him a loan to a PL Club, and his determination to go to Marseilles. I also suggested, Saliba’s problem might be similar to Guendouzi ie one of attitude/ arrogance.
Fred
You surprise me! That sounds more like me regarding the Swiss oil tanker😁. I almost agree, however.
Hello Peeps
After taking a chunk of the summer off from all things Arsenal I am now looking forward to the new season and feeling very positive about our chances of improving significantly on last season’s effort.
Welcome back RL!
I am not as positive as you on our season but I am equally excited by it 🙂
Thanks RC
We were the second best team in the EPL in the second half of last season. I see no reason to think we can’t maintain that form in the season ahead…
Morning all. I must admit that I don’t know how to think about this summers transfer business and the rumours regarding our remaining targets.
I still refer to our overall league form from boxing day as something positive to take into next season, and that any transfer business that adds strength to the squad should enhance this further.
Surely we should not be buying any more defensive midfielders now especially as both Chambers and White can add options to that position.
I’m not sure we need another right full back even if Bellerin leaves. Again with options from Chambers, Soares, AMN and White do we not have options from within?
The reported Ramsdale chase doesn’t add up either with the figures being quoted. Why would we spend that much on a back up keeper to Leno? Does this suggest something is going on with Leno?
It feels to me like our remaining priorities are in attack. If Lacazette stays do we really need another striker though? We would have him, Aubamayeng, Martinelli, Ballogun and Nketieh. What do we think about that in terms of quality? Do we need an upgrade?
If we are looking at Abraham and Martinez then at least one of those others needs to leave. Would the incoming players guarantee more goals than the outgoing ones?
The attacking midfield needs the main remaining additions in both creativity and goals. Does the rather expensive Maddison provide both? I’m not sure his goal tally is that prolific.
Players like Auoer and maybe even Ramsey would likely provide a bigger goal threat. Ir do some business with Palace and get Zaha to come in as one of our left side attacking options.
Rocky, it is great to have your positive outlook back on the site. Its been somewhat difficult for a month or to to listen to our resident doom merchants!😁 Whatever, hopefully we can agree that the slate is clean to start the season and, when the squad is finalised, we can get on with ” supporting” the team we all/ some love. COYG.
Navas – Hakimi, Ramos, Marquinhos, Bernat – Wijnaldum, Paredes, Verratti – Mbappe, Messi, Neymar
Donnarruma – Dagba, Danilo, Kimpembe, Diallo – Herrerra, Gueye – Di Maria, Draxler, Kalimuendo – Kean (or Icardi)
PSG squad for next year…Believe me or not but I don’t believe that getting Ramos or Messi is helping our cause with the CL…The best recruits for PSG so far have been Hakimi and Wijnaldum
Hello, this is one of the doom merchants.
Welcome back Rocky, but with respect, we were far from being the 2nd best team in the league in the 2nd half of the season.
If you call parking the bus and playing turgid, dire football, having 1 or 2 shots on target per game 2nd best, then the 1st best must be pretty awful.
You are welcome to be confident for the upcoming season, although I suspect the poor displays in our last 2 games may very well have opened your eyes.
I hope that you can enjoy the forthcoming season because I suspect that I will not.
Rc78 dey mighten win CL, but I will have fun playing FIFA with them
PSG is a joke now…it s like fantasy football…lol
I am happy we have a strong financial backbone but I feel that it is misused and misdirected – PSG never had issues scoring goals with Mbappe up front…or creating goals through Neymar and Di Maria. Our main issues were Full-Backs and then once the ball is recovered, we need someone in the middle of the park to break the lines through intelligent passing or dribbling – I think Wijnaldum will be that player for us and he will be supplemented by Verratti in that aspect. Now, one profile we are missing up front is a profile like Lukaku, Giroud…at the moment, no one can score with their head not Icardi nor Kean and their game with their back to the goal is good but not great…Anyways, a very odd transfer window for PSG:
Donnarumma, Hakimi, Ramos, Wijnaldum, Messi…
That’s it for me then. Cannot see the point in slagging off everything and everyone on a site that is surely meant to bring something positive into lives. And I certainly dont want to read your continual negativity, Jigsol.
Thank you for your kind words, LBG.
I hope you are correct and that I am wrong (apart from my pointing out that we were not the second-best team during the 2nd half of the season, in respect of which I know I am correct).
And if you are correct and we make 4th or higher, I shall be happy to politely acknowledge my error and your rectitude.
I trust that you will do the same if we do not.
well come back Rocky. I look forward to your ever present effervescence.
should be a great season, cant wait.
maybe we will see a train trip or two from the Ant nation
GoonerB
I agree on some of your points.
Let’s take it by position, from the back…
GK. We need another keeper and ideally someone to challenge Leno and not just a body! Initially I was unui.pressed by the Ramsdale rumours, but I’ve been reading up on him, from his time at Bournemouth and Sheff Utd. Both seasons he was their player of the season and the fans think really highly of him.
Therefore, for me, if he is a target, then I’d be happy with that and he’s yet another home grown player.
RB: I agree, even if Bellerin (Inter get your dusty wallet out!) And Soqres leVe, we are set with AMN (hopefully) and Chambers.
DM: here I disagree as I’d say we don’t actually have a 1st choice calibre player to call upon. Lockonga looks promising, but is he ready? Elneny is a great dependable squad player, while there’s nothing to suggest Arteta would even consider playing Chambers or White there.
Verdict. We need BISSOUMA!!! 🤣
CM; selling Willock again means we don’t have a creative spark or goal threat in central
midfield. Partey is a quality player and would be 1st choice when fit, but he’s hardly a goal machine! If we dont sign anyone, then the front 4 and fullbacks will need to really step up!
Verdict: sign either Aoaur or Maddison (his stats are excellent BTW!) PLEASE!
CAM: yes ESR has signed da ting and been given the number 10 shirt, but he shouldn’t have all the pressure put on him to be the fulcrum of our attack.
Verdict: if we sign Aouar or Maddison then we’re set! I don’t really rate Odegaard.
Forwards: unlike a lot of people it seems, I think we’re well covered in attack. Saka, Pepe, Martinelli, Auba and Laca and possibly Balogun.
Verdict: were sorted.
So a keeper, a DM and CAM still be be signed please Arteta!!
Hi Dexter, for me:
– We need a GK, one that is better than Leno and Ramsdale. Why not approach Henderson or try our luck with Sommer?
– We need a RB, one that is better than Bellerin, Chambers and AMN. This is really a weak point. I think Bellerin should be sold. We need someone dependable at the back and going forward. If they are true, I am not too unhappy about the rumours linking us with Trippier.
– At CB, I suppose we are sorted.
– At LB, I suppose we are sorted.
– At DM, we have Xhaka and El Neny. I am happy to let any of them two go and to get a better player. You mention Bissouma, I d also consider Rice, Philipps and Ward-Prowse.
– At CM, we have Partey and Lockonga. There is not much goal in them and we ve let Willock go for some odd reason. I would think that another player like Tchouameni, Sabitzer, Ramsey for example could do.
– At CAM, we are sorted with ESR and so many players like Laca, Saka, Pepe, Willian that could play there.
– At RW, we have Saka, Pepe and Nelsson
– At LW, we have Martinelli, Willian.
– As FW, we have Auba, Laca, Balogun, Nketiah
So there you go, we would still need a proper GK, a proper RB, a proper DM, a reliable CM.
Henderson – Trippier, White, Gabriel, Tierney – Partey, Ward-Prowse – Saka, ESR, Pepe – Laca
Leno – AMN, Holding, Mari, Tavares – Xhaka, Lockonga – Willian, Ramsey, Martinelli – Auba
I think Ramsdale is as good, if not better than Henderson, who I think benefited as much from Sheff Utds excellent debut season as much as Ramsdale has seemingly been devalued by their shite 2nd season!
I’ve been reading up on him (Ramsdale) and he’s extremely highly rated by coaches and fans of Bournemouth and Sheff Utd alike.
ManU would probably with more than what we’ll get Ramsdale for anyway.
I think AMN could turn into an excellent RB if his ego allows him to play there!
Trippier is a very short term option and it seems like the club are looking longer term.
And for alternatives in midfield, we could probably get Zakaria and Sabitzer for less than the price of Bissouma! 🤣🤣🤣
Villarreal looking good second half
Good morning, good fellows,
It was nice to see my long-time friend Rocky has made a brief and welcome return from his well earned, and unpaid sabbatical from blogging, and his exquisite post-writing.
As a close friend, I felt the need, some years back, to teach him everything I knew about the requisite vernacular writing commensurate with the needs of the star-studded denizens of AA.
And as a close friend, he kindly reciprocated by thanking me profusely — and then later, far far away from the public eye, he discretely shucked off all the vicarious tuition I had nebulously proffered to him, and having done so, he happily continued to ensconce himself once more in the lexicon that legions of bloggers have grown to love.
As a consequence, I have for some time reverted back to the
old- school tutelage of Gooner B’s best friend, Cedric the camel, who has a nice turn of phrase such as “hold tight, strong winds imminent”.
Anybody excited about tomorrow’s game?
I am having issues with connecting to write the posts for some reason, hence the lack of posting from my side.
Here is my expected line up:
Leno – Bellerin, White, Mari, Tierney – Lockonga, El Neny – Pepe, ESR, Auba – Laca
A must win against a newly promoted team
RC
I don’t imagine the team will be much different to that, mainly due to injuries, unless Arteta plays 3 at the back, which would be too risky given we currently have 3 fit CBs!
Well win 3-1!!
I have an interview with Emiliano Martinez then take a look at Jane Hill’s wife.
Random stuff.
Can’t wait for tomorrow’s game…
Let us see if Arteta starts Chambers ahead of Bellerin.
Man City offers 150 Mln EUR for Kane…
Ederson – Walker, Stones, Dias, Cancelo – Dr Bruyne, Rodri, Gundogan – Mahrez, Kane, Grealish
Knowing that they have Laporte, Ake, Zinchenko, Foden, Torres, Gabriel, Sterling on the bench amongst others, it is a bit crazy
Here is the deal, if AFC scores 55 goals or less, 10th place or worse.
Score 15 more goals, keep defense close to the same, than we will be competitive.
The club has done nothing in the middle of the park to increase scoring chances for Auba, that is not good.
If Arteta continues with the Auba, Laca and Xhaka combination and no new CAM then for sure less than 55 goals.
Not sure in preseason pea looked alright, better than he looked last year, so if he could just get that one goal would be a game changer I think
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