Up the Arse! Goons Thread

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Apr 14, 2008
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It’d surely spell the end for Lacazette, and all is quiet on that front. It’s difficult doing transactions with the Italian clubs in the current climate, so maybe Bellerin is perhaps part of the discussions for this.

So much still to do on many fronts. Going to be a hectic last couple of weeks.
Martinez wants to play Champions League and has ruled out Arsenal.
 
Aug 31, 2008
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Partey injured, yet again, this time for up to two months.

This means, in 2021, our midfield ******* pairing going in to the season will be El-*******-Neny and the Xhaka.

Is this real life?

Edu needs to sign at least one more class midfielder - or sack himself. I'm not saying the injury is his fault, but he's building this mid-table squad with the worst midfield pairing in the entire league. It's absolutely laughable.
 
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May 10, 2007
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Partey injured, yet again, this time for up to two months.

This means, in 2021, our midfield ******* pairing going in to the season will be El-*******-Neny and the Xhaka.

Is this real life?

Edu needs to sign at least one more class midfielder - or sack himself. I'm not saying the injury is his fault, but he's build this mid-table squad with the worst midfield pairing in the entire league. It's absolutely laughable.

Man it's deflating as *, Xhaka / Elneny pivot for an extended period we know it's another besat case scenario of 6th or 7th.

I like Partey as a player but if you spend 50 mill on a 27 year old and get two injury hit seasons in a row it'll go down as a flop sadly.
 
Aug 31, 2008
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Arteta has promised us that White will not be the last big signing - so hopefully that means Edu has something ready to go, otherwise they've made each other looks like fools.

Presumably Arteta wouldn't make such a claim without Edu telling him that it's OK to say that.

And I will not accept Ramsdale as the "big" signing.
 

glenferry23

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Partey has been well and truly Arsenal’d. Hardly missed a game in previous years with Atletico.

Arteta confirmed Xhaka is staying. Whilst I’d like to think that shouldn’t preclude Arsenal making a significant upgrade in that position and pushing Xhaka to the Ceballos spot (3rd choice),

I don’t see it happening. I get the sense, with such a large and bloated squad, that many sales/outgoings need to happen first before bringing in additional players.
 

Northalives

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Partey's injury is an impact injury and there is absolutely nothing you can do about that.

We won't be signing Abraham - bet your balls on it.

I am no fan of Xhaka but here's the thing, some were freaking out that we were "only" going to get x amount of pounds for him and now some are freaking out that we didn't sell him because the price wasn't right.

For all the massive, massive talk about transfer goings on everywhere in the Premier League let alone Arsenal (80+ players linked to us at last count), there haven't been 100's in and out of the Premier League. From what I can make out, we and Palace have each got ourselves 3 players in outright, that is, not on loan or frees. That's 6 out of the 17 as far as I can make out that have been bought by all clubs.

With the goalkeeper, there is far more chance of us bringing in Sam Johnstone from West Brom than Ramsdale. In my opinion, Johnstone is a better 'keeper than Ramsdale and by some way.

Wheeling and dealing in the transfer window is not straight forward - NO WAY, and thinking that you can bring players in and transfer players out at the snap of the fingers is grossly naive. Xhaka is a case in point. We have been connected with Bissouma and Neves for a quite a long time but the problem is if you can't offload Xhaka and get the money you value him at, then it is prudent to wait. The transfer window shuts on the 31st of August and we will probably be connected with another 80 players between then and now. I think that the majority of business, especially the outs, will happen very close to deadline day.

PS. I would love to be a psychologist to Arsenal fans - I'd always be in work given the OCD and pessimism that afflicts many.
 
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Partey's injury is an impact injury and there is absolutely nothing you can do about that.

We won't be signing Abraham - bet your balls on it.

I am no fan of Xhaka but here's the thing, some were freaking out that we were "only" going to get x amount of pounds for him and now some are freaking out that we didn't sell him because the price wasn't right.

For all the massive, massive talk about transfer goings on everywhere in the Premier League let alone Arsenal (80+ players linked to us at last count), there haven't been 100's in and out of the Premier League. From what I can make out, we and Palace have each got ourselves 3 players in outright, that is, not on loan or frees. That's 6 out of the 17 as far as I can make out that have been bought by all clubs.

With the goalkeeper, there is far more chance of us bringing in Sam Johnstone from West Brom than Ramsdale. In my opinion, Johnstone is a better 'keeper than Ramsdale and by some way.

Wheeling and dealing in the transfer window is not straight forward - NO WAY, and thinking that you can bring players in and transfer players out at the snap of the fingers is grossly naive. Xhaka is a case in point. We have been connected with Bissouma and Neves for a quite a long time but the problem is if you can't offload Xhaka and get the money you value him at, then it is prudent to wait. The transfer window shuts on the 31st of August and we will probably be connected with another 80 players between then and now. I think that the majority of business, especially the outs, will happen very close to deadline day.

PS. I would love to be a psychologist to Arsenal fans - I'd always be in work given the OCD and pessimism that afflicts many.

Lets's be frank the pessimism is more or less realism.

Haven't got 80 points in the league or a proper title challenge since 2008.

Haven't made the last 8 of the CL since 2010.

Haven't been in the CL since 2017.

Last 5 seasons finished 5th, 6th, 5th, 8th and 8th.

Always start seasons with an underdone squad and several key players missing.
 

Northalives

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Lets's be frank the pessimism is more or less realism.

Haven't got 80 points in the league or a proper title challenge since 2008.

Haven't made the last 8 of the CL since 2010.

Haven't been in the CL since 2017.

Last 5 seasons finished 5th, 6th, 5th, 8th and 8th.

Always start seasons with an underdone squad and several key players missing.
Yep to everything except the first and last paragraph.

The season hasn't started yet so we don't know if the squad is "underdone" and apart from Partey's unfortunate injury, it's only Saka that's been missing like all players who took part in the Euros.

We have fallen away and we can't be looked upon as a the top side - you are absolutely correct. We have arrived at this point in time because of years of neglect and I, like you and everyone else I reckon, am not best pleased and the problem is, that it's going to take some time to get us back to being what we were in 2008.

I am not pessimistic about this year. I have seen signs that suggest we are on the right track and we certainly have put in place the right structitres off the pitch to get us back amongst the very best.

Arteta may turn out to not be successful but the things that have been put in place for the long term will provide the coach, whoever that may be, with the proper, modern and sophisticated programs which are the norm at places like Bayern Munich and others in Germany, the top clubs in Spain, Holland and Belgium, not to mention Man. City and Liverpool. We are no longer a laissez faire type club where individual players lacked discipline and a team ethos. We now have a never-say-die attitude that permeates throughout the playing group and even though some of the performances aren't of the best quality/players making mistakes, their commitment to the guernsey/shirt is now unquestioned and that is the absolute minimum requirement - something that was not in evidence all the time in the past.
 

Northalives

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Gabriel, Saka and Partey potentially not available to start the season, which begins in 10 days incredibly. That’s come by so quickly.
You wait 'till you get old mate, then tell me how quickly the year goes by. It flies by Glen! My nieces and nephews were pubescent bright sparks yesterday and today, they're f****ng married and well into their twenties!

Except for Partey who got injured "domestically", Saka's on holiday which he really deserved and it'll do him the world of good and he'll be right to go you'd think, at least off the bench first up and we've got others who can cause damage to Brentford in the area's he operates in. As for Gabriel, the poor bastard copped the injury whilst away with Brazil - that's show biz and again, we've got cover for that lad as well. He too will benefit from the break and given he also scored himself Covid and looked very lethargic when he came back although being injured isn't a good way to get a "rest".

Partey's injury is the great concern though and we may see Lokonga in the side much earlier than expected. He was learning the ropes so to speak and now we'll get to see what he's learnt.
 

glenferry23

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Lokonga hopefully will get the nod, anything but an Elneny/Xhaka midfield pairing please. Even Willock is an option, albeit Arsenal’s current system doesn’t really suit him.

But something has to give. Can’t go into the new season deploying Elneny and Xhaka together.
 

Northalives

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Lokonga hopefully will get the nod, anything but an Elneny/Xhaka midfield pairing please. Even Willock is an option, albeit Arsenal’s current system doesn’t really suit him.

But something has to give. Can’t go into the new season deploying Elneny and Xhaka together.
Yeah, I'm with you. I don't like Elneny/Xhaka midfield pairing. We play Tottenham on Sunday in the last practice match before the season proper and it will be interesting to see who plays and where. I have a feeling that Maitland-Niles may come in and play alongside Xhaka against Brentford if he gets some game time on Sunday.

Just looking at the line ups during pre-season, Maitland-Niles seems to have been earmarked as the cover for Partey so if that's the thinking, then he'll play against Brentford and that will be a huge, huge opportunity for him to put in a top performance in the position he reckons is his best. Sunday's game will be interesting.
 
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