Champions 2017/18?

August 10, 2017

How do you think we will fare this season? Will the strengthening of the squad be enough to propel us to the Title? Will it be enough to regain our Top 4 status?

Here’s what BR thinks (subject to change depending upon results 🙂 )

Let’s look at the opposition, starting with:

Chelsea: We have recently  beaten them twice in two important games and lost a meaningless friendly. We are better than them – full stop. Yes, they may be Champions but I fear for them and doubt they can repeat their mid-season run of form which propelled them to the title. They are lacking in midfield (why sell Matic??), are half the side without Hazard and are about to sell their best attacker. Morata? €60m is a huge gamble on a man who has yet to play a full season in a first team (RM made €30m profit  on him after just 26 games!!).

We will finish above them.

Man City:  Spent a fortune – over €100m on just full backs! Almost €40m on a GK who has yet to gain a full International cap. If their first 11 stay fit and Stones starts to show why he is so highly rated they will do well.

Champions? A team with De Bruyne, Sterling, Aguero, Gundogan and Sane will not be far off but somehow, they just don’t do it for me.

Man Utd. Mourinho has to deliver. Winning the Europa was good but not considering the massive investment made in the summer of ’16, Finishing just 6th could have been a sackable offence. Over €150m spent (added to the €165m last summer) makes this a hugely expensive squad. They have managed to recoup less than €10m in sales! MU should have the best squad and if they had a manager who had the slightest intention to entertain we should be happy to see such wonderful talent in the PL BUT they don’t, and MU remain a dull team to watch. The purchase of Lukaku points to a Route One season They were awful in the Supercup where Real Madrid made them look amateur.

MU should be favourites in a financially doped league.

Spurs: If any other team had achieved what Spurs have I would be delighted and rooting for them to go one step further – but it isn’t, it is Spurs and I have an innate dislike of anything Blue & White – to the point where I will not even allow a blue & white toothbrush into my bathroom. FairPlay to them, they have managed to retain the bulk of their squad (so far), sold players for massive profits and look potential Champions. But, there are two huge problems , firstly, they are playing at Wembley, and secondly, and much more importantly, they are Spurs.

Relegation awaits.

Liverpool: Dark horses. On paper they look excellent. Solid in every position. If they can keep Coutinho it will be a signal of their intent. Salah is a good signing and if Sturridge can form a partnership with Mane, they are strong in attack. Klopp remains a terrific addition to the PL . Good enough to move on and win the title? Good enough to maintain a top 4 place?

I doubt it.

Everton: Given their ambitions and expenditure they have to be considered. Koeman is doing very well and has created an excellent defence, strengthened by Pickford and Keane. Given the loss of Lukaku how will they cope in attack? Will Rooney have the legs? Where does he fit into the team? Not in midfield where Everton have Schneiderlin, Barkley, Davies and Barry. Goalscoring could be problematic.

6th

Arsenal: If Sanchez, Ozil and Ox stay plus we sign another body, then the title is ours. The development of Iwobi and Xhaka, plus the purchase of Lacazette means that both Ozil and Sanchez can leave in 2018. However,they need another season to bed in. Rumour abounds about Gabriel being sold but I doubt it, nor Chambers who has a future at AFC. Mustafi has had a bedding in season and the 3-4-3 means that we have choices, especially given the exciting arrival of Kolasinac.

Champions

written by Big Raddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

Friday Night Football at the Emirates

August 9, 2017

For the first time in the Premier League history the season will kick off on Friday August 11th when Arsenal will host Leicester City at the Emirates with the game starting at 19:45.

We played our first game against Leicester 125 years ago on January 7th 1895 – back then the teams were known as Leicester Fosse and Woolwich Arsenal, we lost the game 3-1. Overall we have played 124 league games against each other with Arsenal having an overall record of – W58, D38, L28, GF247, GA169.

Woolwich Arsenal 1895 – courtesy Arsenal.com

We have not lost a league game against them for 23 years when Leicester beat us 2-1 at their ground on November 23rd 1994.

Our starting line up then was:

Goalkeeper David Seaman

Defender/Right back Lee Dixon

Defender Steve Bould

Centre back Martin Keown

Centre back Andy Linighan

Left back Nigel Winterburn

Midfielder Jimmy Carter

Midfielder Stefan Schwarz

Midfielder Ian Selley

Forward Paul Dickov

Forward Ian Wright

Ian Wright scored from a penalty in the 19th minute while Leicester’s goals came from Andy Linighan 16′ (og) and David Lowe 28′.

Here is our league record against Leicester for the past 40 seasons.

After our performance against Chelsea in the Community Shield I’m feeling very confident that we will win our opening game to set us on the right track for the season ahead.

Written by GunnerN5

(Ed – other notable Friday night Arsenal fixtures….)

Friday May 26th 1989

Friday April 16th 2004

 

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Posted by D.I. Bongo

Chelsea Preview

August 6, 2017

Tempus Fugit. Seems like yesterday  … actually it doesn’t, much talk and some action has taken place since season’s end, some good, some not so good, some still to happen. Has anyone left from the 1st team squad? Will they? Loans must be the order of the day as we try to clear the decks. We need more bodies etc etc

But today we have the little matter of a Wembley appearance, and we are good at Wembley, aren’t we? 8 wins on the bounce. Though we play for bragging rights and a Shield which isn’t really a trophy.

Unusually this is a repeat of last season’s Cup Final which was FAR more important and left Chelsea dreaming of the Double. On the day, we were so much the better team it was embarrassing and one was left to question how it was that Arsenal failed to achieve Top 4 (or even the title).

This is our 22nd appearance in the curtain raiser – a record.

Injuries abound which is worrying in a quiet International summer. Ozil, Sanchez, Cazorla, Gabriel, Mustafi, Koscielny, Wilshere and Coquelin are all knacked to some extent. If I were Mr Wenger I would be giving all concerned a rest or at most a bench seat.

I am excited by the current squad; the addition of Lacarazette and the other chap have given the boost we needed, one more body in midfield will see us cushtie and title pretenders.

Unknown-1.jpeg

3-4-3 this afternoon with Holding, BFG and Monreal at the back – it worked last time

Ospina

Holding    BFG   Monreal

Ox   Ramsey   Xhaka   Kolasinac

Ozil    Lacazette     Welbeck

As I have done little AFC study over the close season this team could be way off the mark but IMO it is a winning 11, particularly as we have such a strong bench.

Unknown.jpeg

Chelsea will be looking for Wembley revenge. Denuded by the loss of Costa (Conte must be mad to sell him) they have spent huge sums but look weaker on paper.

If you are lucky enough to be attending Wembley this afternoon, give the lads a cheer for us sad souls stuck on the sofa. The pre-kick-off rituals of Wembley are some of my finest footballing memories.

The serious business starts next week but another trophy/shield would be a great start to the campaign…

Let it be So.

COYRRG

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Posted by Erik the Red

Arsenal Decisively Indecisive?

August 3, 2017

Being decisive is usually recognised as recognising a problem, or identifying a need to improve a situation, and arriving at a decision to quickly and effectively act to resolve it.

And in some ways, that has happened, in that defensively we seemed to be all at sea last season, until realising that the absence of the wise old head of Per Mert and the continuing frustrating injuries affecting Kozzer, AW decided to change to a three at the back, primarily until the injured CBs returned to the roster the following season at which time he would review which formation fitted the team the best. And undoubtedly the change in formation worked very well.

The ‘3 at the back’ was self-evidently caused by the lack of resources in defence because in addition to the loss of Per and Kozzer, Chambers had been loaned out, Gabriel had shot himself in the foot, or something, and Holding was still learning his trade and making a good fist of it, but to cap it all there were injury problems in the backs as well.

So, good decisive reactions helped us to almost qualify for the CL, except for possibly one of the more inept performances seen in many a year, when we lost to a poor Crystal Palace team who every pundit expected us to put to the sword. The three points conceded there would have given us 4th place, instead of just missing out.

It was clear in a very confusing time, when even the Chief Executive Gazidis said it was a catalyst for a change meaning that there had to be a restructuring of the team personnel and the management, presumably in the close season.

Frustrated fans reacted with a glimmer of hope that a decisive reaction had come at a time when Arsene was indecisively stalling on renewing his contract. Again – action and reaction – yin and yang – decisive and indecisive.

Last summer the club should have reacted decisively to the failure of Özil, Sanchez and Chamberlain to extend their contracts, but instead there was a sense of apathy and indecision throughout the summer 2016 transfer window, and eventually AW announced he was sure contracts would be signed during the season, and anyway there was still 2 years left in which to negotiate. Wishy washy? Selling such important players under 2017 transfer window pressure and attempting to buy top replacements has been predictably difficult.

And what has happened to the reinforcement of the CBs? Kozzer has what is known as a chronic injury that is not going to go away, Per has announced that he will retire soon, and although he has the right mental attitude to play, his physical decline has continued as was clear in the pre-season and he is unlikely to be able to play regularly – and both are getting older.

To add to that, there is still no sign that Gabriel is likely to recover from his injury any time soon, and with Calum on the ‘to sell’ list, not much attention seems to have been shown in shoring up a key area for the team. Decisive? I think not.

AW explained quite clearly that he did not like other clubs continually asking for Sanchez, Chamberlain and Özil, and ignoring his decisive message that they were not for sale.

He went on to declare that Arsenal’s policy was that when we wanted a player we would inquire if that player was available for sale, but, if told they were not for sale, then the club would respect that and walk away.

But hold you hard. How does that decisive statement square up with the rumoured bids for Lemar when it seems Arsenal have been told he is not for sale, and yet we appear to have been going back with increased offers in trying to acquire him. Not taking ‘no’ for an answer there then.

It beggars belief that Arsenal will reject the prospect of possibly making £150m in sale proceeds for selling the above-named trio this summer, and simply lose all that money next summer, as they walk away on ‘frees’.

Either the manager will decide late on in this window that he will sell after all, and probably find it difficult, if not impossible, to buy replacements at short notice, or we will be without 3 key players next summer, and to make matters worse – also without that £150m needed to buy the equivalent replacements.

Does anyone feel a little tremor of indecision creeping into the Arsenal thought processes – especially from Kroenke, the man whose money it is?

Me too.

Written by Zee

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Posted by D.I. Bongo

Arsenal: Tight Fisted Scrooges or Profligate Wastrels?

July 31, 2017

The Emirates Cup was a strange mixture of youthful carefree enjoyment in a deeply satisfying and fun filled first game against Benfica, and an inhibited and surprisingly chaotic lurch into the tippy tappy football of the older more experienced players who did not appear to gell in the second game.

It would be pointless to read too much into the games with many different variables conflating to make it impossible to predict what will be the strongest team that AW will put out for the start of the season.

We meet the Chavs, again, next weekend in the pre-season FA Community Shield, with donations going to the Grenfell Tower support fund, a worthy cause.

The problem is that Chelsea gave a very youthful Arsenal team a bit of a pasting 3 : 0 in an earlier pre-season, so-called friendly, and now they will look to go into the new season on a high by repeating the dose at the weekend and in doing so have the opposite effect on our lads.

So what can we make of all that? Well to start with we had several players making appearances in the Ems Cup who may, or may not, be sold on or let go this summer. Confusingly we also had players who played who are looking to leave us, although the manager has resolutely maintained that every one of them, including the ‘flu stricken one, and his dog, will stay, come what may.

All I can say to that is …… hmmmmm?

The stance by Arsene is at least a gamble, because keeping players who are disillusioned with the club, or who are mendaciously wanting to stick their snouts deeper into the money trough demanding increases to their already sky high salaries is risky because angry employees, and they are only employees, cannot be relied upon when the going gets tough.

An interesting side note is that if we keep Sanchez (boo, hiss) and Özil (brilliant but spasmodic) and the Ox (excellent – in patches) then at a market guesstimate, of £60m + £60m + £3om the club stands to ‘lose’ £150m.

Does that ‘don’t care’ attitude sound like the club, or Wenger? Experience tells me no way, José.

Then there were those playing like Chambers and El Neney and Ospina and Giroud and Le Coq who were heavily rumoured to be playing their last games for the Gunners – although we all know how much bollix is spouted through bloody rumours.
What was the point of playing them – if the rumours were accurate?

To cap that, we had oodles of Tyros, young wannabees playing at the tender ages of 17 to 20, many of whom like Reiss Nelson and Joe Willock and Nketiah and Maitland-Niles were making a good fist of their chances to impress the manager – but frankly for all their skill, energy and enthusiasm have not got Chas’ cats’ chances in hell of playing in anything but cup games next season.

Confused? Me too.

Then there is the other side of the club, or Arsene, (indistinguishable?) we spent what seemed to be weeks negotiating the purchase of La Caz, and that tactic revolved around bidding the lowest figure possible, having it rejected and increasing the bid incrementally.
Look it is a seller’s market – ask them what they want – evaluate it and pay it or leave it.
But no – this is the parsimonious side of deal making and it is ineffectual.

Lesson learned? Nope. We are allegedly trying to buy Lemar a very highly rated young midfielder – and blow me down — the same ‘negotiating’ tactic is being used with the lowest, and most implausible bid offered to start with, which predictably gets refused and is currently creeping up in incremental bands.

These club owners are mostly already billionaires – they are not billionaires because they are stupid. They will say what they want – give it to them or gracefully walk away, and stop getting our hopes up.

There we have it – two sides of the same coin – prepared to blow £150m on a year’s worth of playing time from three reluctant if not recalcitrant ‘stars’ who are not for bending, but then farting around over £5m or £10m for Mr Lemar, a player many of us believe is essential for our chances next season – and that defies logic.

So, what is it? Parsimonious nitwits, or profligate spenders throwing good money after bad?

If the various rumours and leaks are mostly correct in these cases, I would sell SOO for £150m (you work it out) – sell Chambers, Giro etc for £50m (if that is what the powers that be have decided) and reinvest that dead £200m into completing the deal for Lemar and then buying at least two others to stiffen the spine (as we pundits call it 🙂 ) at CB and CF and hey presto we are in good shape – if not I will blame Terry. 😀

Written by Zee

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Posted by D.I. Bongo

The Ups and Downs of Arsenal

July 28, 2017

This is the time of the year when Arsenal, and every other club, seem to be caught in the footballing equivalent of the doldrums, once the bane of every sailing ship known to man, where a relatively calm period occurs out of nowhere, and during which time no wind has the temerity to stick its nose in, and indeed prefers to disappear like ice cream in a hot oven, trapping sailing ships for lengthy periods lasting days, weeks and sometimes months, where for what seemed an eternity to their crews – nothing happened.

The transfer window is the fans version of the fabled doldrums, where during a tedious and seemingly never-ending period, dozens of transfer rumours are offered up by the media and many blogsites, on a daily basis, and then roundly condemned and ridiculed as nonsense by the very same blogsites and sports media who started the stupid stories running in the first place.

Then just to give us a short break, these same rumour mongers announce stories, designed to add more click bait to bolster their media and blog site advertising revenues, they feed us cute stories which are hard to prove, or disprove, as falsehoods often are. The trick here is to base the rumours on stories with just a smidgeon of possible truths, and embellish them with wild abandon and make them into something far more juicy.

Instances of this are: Injured Cazorla out until February 2018 – Lucas disgusted with Wenger for pinching his #9 shirt and giving it to someone else – Wenger bids €100m for Mbappe – and then these gems are swiftly followed up by: Cazorla trains with team, back soon – Lucas to leave for more game time – Wenger denies making any bid for Mbappe – and away we go, with fans pointlessly arguing for or against whichever nonsense proposition catches their eye.

And still the transfer doldrums bear down, trying to suffocate us with their mediocrity.

But wait – from out of left field the clubs decide to join in and titivate our sensibilities by entering the spirit of this nonsense and allegedly willy-nilly start to offer kings’ ransoms for this player or that.

Not your boring common or garden £80m or £100m offers for a striker, or two, obviously, but €200m for Neymar or Mbappe (yes him again) and we all laugh holding our bellies, and scoffing at these crazy stories, until, in keeping with this cornucopia of scrumptious jelly and cream La La Land make believe, the reality squirts out from the asshole of the transfer window – Citeh sign Walker – yes that Walker – from the Spuds, for £55m – now that is both unbelievable and incredible, and shows reality can outshine even the most fanciful banality. Yee Gods.

Any sense of reality just evaporates with that news – but hold on, one of the blogsites today insists that Wenger is still in the hunt for Mbappe. Who could credit that? Tomorrow – Wenger denies bid for Mbappe – and off we go again.

I am on record in saying the transfer window should start after the season ends, and finishes on the 31st July – but I am not so sure. Much as I am consecutively annoyed, intrigued, baffled or sneer at these farcical stories, they do actually give me something to fill the doldrums betwixt the ending of one season and the start of the new one – so let the good times roll.

What say you? 😂

Written by Zee

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Posted by D.I. Bongo

All Aboard the Transfer Merry-Go-Round

July 24, 2017

What is going on with these transfer bids — and rebids?

A juicy rumour appears out of nowhere linking Arsenal to a player we can all see is exactly what the team need – you know you have seen those tidbits many times – right?
Then the next snippet comes out saying ‘club x’ refuses the bid.

Umm? Usually in short order another juicy morsel floats across the screen saying that ‘Arsenal make an improved offer for player x’ and we await with baited breath for the news that the offer has been accepted and the player to eventually be unveiled at the Emirates.

Except the media swiftly announce with unseemly glee that the new super dooper improved offer has been rejected, too.

That normally cues the delightful blogger rants about tight fisted Arsenal, or dithering AW, or …. Well you get the drift. So, what is really going on?

The above sequence is, of course, made worse by the news that Madrid or Chelsea or Manure or Citeh have smartly collared various top class (and some not too top class) players who will almost certainly improve their squads and simultaneously reduce our chances of winning the premier league.

It is clear that Arsenal are intent on buying new players and have already shown that by spending around £52m on La Caz, but seem to have run into trouble when making offers for Lemar and others, which has increased the fans’ frustration – and let’s be honest the Arsenal fans’ frustration does not take much to be unleashed.

Back to the earlier question; ‘what is really going on?’

Allowance has to be made for the media’s eagerness to invent stories to boost their ‘hits’ and many of the stories of various players that Arsenal have been linked with are absolutely and self-evidently untrue.

However, there are other stories that are so detailed that even the most cynical are led to believe there is some truth in them, no matter how unlikely.
Take for example the stories about Mbappe, and the very detailed news about how much we have offered for him, and the improved offers after the seemingly inevitable rejection and the ‘facts’ that other clubs are also interested or have lost interest in him and so on and so forth.

Like a juicy worm attracting a fish, with the fatal hook artfully concealed, the Gooner fans are drawn into believing that there is something intriguingly possible about this story and fatally their hopes are increased that a super talent is to be ours, only for Arsene to reveal in an interview that no bid has been made for Mbappe, let alone an increased bid, and none will be made as he is sure the youngster will either stay with his club or join one of the Gulf state clubs, Citeh, PSG, or a Spanish club, and you could hear the hopes of the fans crash to the floor.

Leaving aside the manipulation of the media and some copy cat blogs, there must be something else going on, because Arsenal’s campaign to buy La Caz ambled through much the same type of bid-rejection-increased bid- rejection-successful bid before agreeing personal terms with our new centre forward.

On to Lemar, our much desired target, wanted to perhaps replace Santi Cazorla, and we see much the same process being enacted, if the rumours are true in this case.

Why do we need to struggle so much to arrive at the willing buyer/willing seller scenario so that we can acquire the player? Are we really being financially mean? Is Mr Wenger really dithering by being undecided as to whether we need Lemar – or should it perhaps be Mahrez? Oh, why can’t Wenger just simply agree to pay whatever the amount the other club are asking for the player from the outset. After all is said and done (again) they have the power in these circumstances, don’t they?

Now this, I think, is where many of the club’s detractors, and of course Wenger’s too, simply overlook a simple and obvious fact – the majority of the top clubs, and some of those in the second tier, from whom we want to buy relevant top players, are owned by incredibly rich men, known as oligarchs for a good reason, or bottomless money pits, known as state-owned clubs, and we all know who they are, simply do not need the money, however much is offered.

The only way these mega rich clubs will sell their players is if they have a vested interest in doing so – the manager does not see the player fitting in with the team selection or style — the player and the manager do not get on – the player is not getting as much playing time as he wants and is agitating for a move – and so on.

So, these stories of bids and rejections and improved bids are unlikely to be true – it is more than likely a club has to register an interest in a player they want to buy, and wait to see if his club makes its mind up to sell – and letting the other clubs and the player’s agent know, and then sit back and await the club who are prepared to match their transfer valuation and meet the player’s personal terms, while they go through the same process to recruit a replacement.

Financial meanness or dithering do not come into it, so those people giving the club or the manager grief should take a breath and give them, and him, a break. It’s not transfer money that is key here – even £200m for someone like Neymar is just petty cash to these ultra-wealthy club owners – the key is, they will only sell when and if the player is deemed to be no longer of benefit to them.

There are always wheels within wheels in these things!

Written by Zee

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Posted by D.I. Bongo

Arsenal v Western Sydney Wanderers

July 15, 2017

Lacazette has a new Arsenal striker competitor up front….

…from Per Mertesacker. Thats right, after a fantastic, stand out performance in the FA Cup final, it took Per only 4 minutes to get on the scorers sheet.

courtesy of the Arsenal Gentleman

Welcome to the land Down Under Arsenal. And a great start to the tour with Lacazette also finding the back of the net.

We now turn our attention to how Arsenal will fare in their next game against the Western Sydney Wanderers on Saturday night.

But first a bit of background before kick-off

Two of the biggest exports of Australian football to the EPL were Mark Viduka and Mark Bosnich. Both with Croatian backgrounds and both products of the old Australian NSL (National Soccer League) which has been replaced with the new A-League. Another example of this breed of Australian Football export was Tony Popovic and Ante Milicic. Both with Croatian heritage, both played for Australia and in their retirement as players, both becoming key players in the development and success of the Western Sydney Wanderers. Popovic is coach and Milicic was his assistant (he is now assistant coach of the Australian Team).

Tony Popovic played 123 games for Crystal Palace, was an integral part of the Palace defence and became club captain. Tony also played 58 games for Australia. As head coach of Wanderers (Crystal Palace were at one stage chasing him) since the clubs inception and his background as a player in charge of the defence, this Arsenal game against the Wanderers will be a very different one from the one against Sydney FC on Thursday night.

Firstly, the Wanderers are only 6 years old but already boast one of the biggest and most passionate fanbases in Australian Football (the Red and Black Army) and they are the only Australian football team that have won the Asian Champions League on a budget that would make Arsene Wenger cry.

Secondly, Arsenal might feel obliged to throw a game for good will.

Personally I am hoping that Arsene plays a 3, 2, 5 –

Cech

Monreal, Per, Kolasinac

Xhaka, Ramsey

Wellbeck, Ozil, Lacazette, Giroud, Ox

Its going to be a great game for football fans everywhere.

COYG!

Written by VP of Oz

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Posted by D.I. Bongo

Arsenal in Australia from 1977 to 2017

July 11, 2017

Let’s start with extracts from Wiki and Original 1977 Programme

The tournament was the idea of English entrepreneur Reg Lambourne, Strata Travel owner Tom Lawrence and Red Star Belgrade FC Secretary General Dr Miroljub Stojkovic and consisted of two competitions. The first (also known as Metro 20th Anniversary Tournament) was a straight knock-out tournament in Singapore, and the second was a mini-league in which the top two teams would play in the final. The first trophy was won by Red Star Belgrade (FK Crvena zvezda) and the second by Celtic, and was the last ever trophy Jock Stein would ever lift for Celtic.

  • Celtic FC Latchford, McGrain, Burns, Stanton, McDonald, Aitken, Wilson, Conn, Glavin, Edvaldsson, Lennox, Doyl, Kay (Manager Jock Stein)
  • Red Star Belgrade Stojanović, Jelikić, Jovanović, Muslin, Bogićević, Novković, Nikolić, Petrović, Savić, SuÅ¡ić, Filipović, Å estić, Lukić (Manager Gojko Zec)
  • Arsenal Rimmer, Rice, Nelson, Powling, O’Leary, Young, Brady, Hudson, Macdonald, Stapleton, Armstrong, Rix, Mathews (Manager Terry Neill)
  • A select XI from the host nation
  • Australia Reilly, Harris, Wilson, Bennett, Williams, Harding, Barnes, Rooney, Kosmina, Ollerton, Sharne, Nyskohus, Maher, Abonyi (Manager Jimmy Shoulder)

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Posted by Rasp

Life without Sanchez

July 6, 2017

So before talking about options for life without Sanchez lets just talk about what happens if he stays. Personally I think this is rather easy. He lines up as the left sided of our double number 10’s (with Ozil as 1st choice to the right of centre) behind our new boy Lacazette. That front 3 should have creativity and goals in it and would be exciting to watch. It could be a title defining front 3 in a formation where they all compliment each other. There is also excellent back up to each of the front 3 players.

In essence I hope Alexis stays but this is far from certain and the most recent rumours are of him demanding £400,000pw. This could just be paper talk of course with no basis whatsoever, but if it were true I am giving it the thumbs down. At that point I am looking to get us the best deal, but what is that?

Probably the worst deal would be a straight cash deal with an EPL rival. A straight cash deal would be better with an overseas club. Probably the best deal would be a swap with another big club. If it were Munich could we nab Lewandowski in return? One of our bloggers described Lacazette as a true 9 ½ so could he adopt the left sided 10 role behind a prolific 9 like Lewandowski? Ditto with Aguero. Could that happen?

Both of those latter mentioned deals would still leave us looking pretty strong with a lot of fire-power even without Alexis. Other possible considerations could be Sterling or De-Bruyne but for some reason they don’t appeal to me quite as much.

With all the Sanchez talk there is another player issue that, although receiving some media coverage, is flying slightly more under the radar. We are in danger of losing Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, a player I really like. It is hard to believe that he has been with us since 2011 yet is still only 23 years old.

In many senses he hasn’t had a dissimilar pathway to Sanchez had to their respective 23rd year. The stats for both are not hugely different, where Sanchez was with Udinese to 23. Sanchez has slightly more favourable stats but then I have always maintained that AOC has been a slight victim of covering a multitude of positions, so a significant amount of games would have been in less favourable positions that would allow him to boost his goal-scoring stats.

Sanchez really only started to thrive as a goal-scoring wing forward from his 23rd year when he moved to Barca. It is time to nail down a regular position for AOC or risk losing him. He was excellent at right wing back but I am still not certain this is the position where we will see the best of him. Similarly I don’t think it is the position he feels is really best for him. We have Bellerin, who is excellent there in our back 3 formation, and I am sure we can find other alternative cover there.

I say that if we lose Sanchez then it is time to unleash the Ox. Give him the opportunity that Sanchez had at that same age to show the world that there is a world class left inside forward in there waiting to burst through, one that as his confidence increases in the position is full of goals and pacey attacking intent.

Is it a risk? Some would say yes and that we need to get some big foreign player to replace someone like Sanchez. But there is a risk there as well. Even some celebrated names have historically struggled in the EPL. There is as much risk in any player coming in as there is in one of our own changing to a new role.

Back up would be required, but Welbeck is adept from the left attacking position. We may need to bring another in though. Perhaps a player that can cover this position but could also cover Ramseys more attacking of the central 2 role. I like the look of Lemar at Monaco but I also like the look of the lad Golovin from CSKA that we have been linked with. World of football describes his strengths as dribbling, acceleration, flair and passing. What is not to like? Even better when listing preferred foot their answer was both.

I wouldn’t be unhappy if AW released AOC and just see if at 23 he is primed to become our own English Sanchez. There are no guarantees in football and sometimes you just have to be brave enough to take a chance on a player and put your faith in them.

Written by GoonerB

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

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