Up the Arse! Goons Thread

[charcoalchicken]

He's probably the best CB in the prem at the moment let alone Arsenal. Never loses a thing and plays with composure beyond his years

Agree

Saliba is different gravy.

 

[lewdogs]

It's going to be interesting, seeing as the club has done such a great job in slashing their wage bill. Nketiah reportedly signed a 100K/week contract, which places a marker for the likes of Martinelli, Saka and Saliba. They would be worth 150K+/week each. Will the club loosen their purse strings or keep true to this 'salary structure' they've apparently implemented? I'd like to think they did away with the expensive deadwood so they could retain these young guns we have.

The handy thing is because the premier league is so far ahead of other leagues at the moment, if we become championship winning side again and start competing for the champions league then he's effectively at a massive club already (talking about Saliba here).

The fact that he's 21 is actually quite hard to believe. Probably the most valuable defender in the world right now.

 

[lewdogs]

Did Conte actually question the red card? What a joker.

 

[dirty2]

London is red.

Good win! This is what we need to do and press on! We have set a good foundation so far this season... We need to build on/take advantage of it.

 

[bok_party]

Did Conte actually question the red card? What a joker.

To be fair, I thought it was a tad harsh but I’m not complaining.

 

[HODGEYROAD]

I thought the red was harsh also, but wasn't he the one telling Arteta not to bitch in May ???

 

[windyhill]

Still celebrating.....

 

[glenferry23]

It's going to be interesting, seeing as the club has done such a great job in slashing their wage bill. Nketiah reportedly signed a 100K/week contract, which places a marker for the likes of Martinelli, Saka and Saliba. They would be worth 150K+/week each. Will the club loosen their purse strings or keep true to this 'salary structure' they've apparently implemented? I'd like to think they did away with the expensive deadwood so they could retain these young guns we have.

Yes the club has cleaned up that wage bill nicely and there's plenty of capacity to grow that organically within the current trajectory of the squad. The trio of Martinelli, Saka and Saliba who have contract renewals on the cards are all 21 and underpin the "project". 3 first XI players right there. Lock them down on medium/long term contracts and that's a massive statement, the onus is also on the club to match their ambition and so far that's very much palpable in what Arsenal are currently doing.

He's probably the best CB in the prem at the moment let alone Arsenal. Never loses a thing and plays with composure beyond his years

Honestly there were times last night when I thought "who is this bloke?", he was that ****ing good. When Arsenal lost their composure for the ten minutes after the equaliser, and guys much older/more experienced than him (like Gabriel for example) were a bit all over the shop, Saliba was the most composed of them all. That one move, inside his own box whilst under pressure in tight spaces, he glides through, ball glued to his feet, breaks the lines and we're out.

This guy is something else.

 

[dirty2]

Glad Saliba came back to us and didn't bugger off elsewhere. Bloody gem!

 

[bok_party]

Yes the club has cleaned up that wage bill nicely and there's plenty of capacity to grow that organically within the current trajectory of the squad. The trio of Martinelli, Saka and Saliba who have contract renewals on the cards are all 21 and underpin the "project". 3 first XI players right there. Lock them down on medium/long term contracts and that's a massive statement, the onus is also on the club to match their ambition and so far that's very much palpable in what Arsenal are currently doing.




Honestly there were times last night when I thought "who is this bloke?", he was that ******* good. When Arsenal lost their composure for the ten minutes after the equaliser, and guys much older/more experienced than him (like Gabriel for example) were a bit all over the shop, Saliba was the most composed of them all. That one move, inside his own box whilst under pressure in tight spaces, he glides through, ball glued to his feet, breaks the lines and we're out.

This guy is something else.

I’m honestly always more worried when Gabriel has the ball that Willy. It’s ridiculous.

 

[cogs2hawks]

Saw a stat, Saliba hasn’t been successfully dribbled past all season. Set the tone when he bodied Richarlison. Sign that contract asap and we’ll have the best defender in the world in a couple years.

 

[charcoalchicken]

I wonder what Northalives thoughts are on Saliba now?

 

[Cruyff14]

I wonder what Northalives thoughts are on Saliba now?

Last seen Aug 29.

Saliba's great start to the season sent him into hibernation.

 

[dirty2]

Haven't seen norfa around... But the port board isn't a happy place so

 

[bok_party]

I wonder what Northalives thoughts are on Saliba now?

No need to fan the flames lads. We don’t know what goes on behind the scenes in peoples lives.

 

[lewdogs]

I thought the red was harsh also, but wasn't he the one telling Arteta not to bitch in May ???

I thought the red was clear as day. Absolutely shocking tackle.

 

[dirty2]

I thought the red was clear as day. Absolutely shocking tackle.

They like to target our skilled players so well deserved. (My opinion is biased but)

 

[glenferry23]

I’m honestly always more worried when Gabriel has the ball that Willy. It’s ridiculous.

Yes he’s almost the first player picked in the XI, what a ridiculously good integration into the team he’s had. Gabriel I’m a fan of however prone to rash moments and really needs to iron that out of his game.

Wouldn’t mind seeing Saliba partnered with White at some point and Tomiyasu to RB. Very nice options to have. Not too long ago our seasons used to derail with absences of full backs, and now we can bring on Tierney and Tomiyasu from the bench.

I thought the red was clear as day. Absolutely shocking tackle.

It looked fairly clumsy/late watching it live and didn’t think too much more of it at the time. Only when the replays were showed and slowed down (everything usually looks worse in slow motion or still images), can you see the studs going into Martinelli’s leg.

 

[Judd2Sewell]

Agree

Saliba is different gravy.

He ain't that packet powdered "just add water" gravy, he's that expensive bone broth with fresh herb gravy.

 

[Northalives]

I wonder what Northalives thoughts are on Saliba now?

I don't venture onto this board anymore or bother reading anything written on it but you summoned me to this board so it would be rude of me not too reply.

I left the carnage and distress of the public health system here in South Australia and went off hiking in the Grampians for a good period of time - no telephone, no internet, no telli, no radio. Since I've got back, I have checked out what the Arsenal have been doing.

My opinions on Saliba are there for all to read. Unfortunately, fan boys and the ignorant like Cruyff, didn't bother reading the substance of what I wrote nor replying to my observations of his strengths and weaknesses, they just saw someone criticising their latest fan boy crush and throwing their skirt over their head and going mental.

Stevie Wonder could see that he had enormous potential and that is exactly what I have been banging on about from the beginning!

I pointed out his strengths and weaknesses but do you reckon any of the fan boys engaged in that conversation? Nah, it was all outrage that anyone would dare suggest that the young fella wasn’t God like – it was sickening!

You fools weaponised Saliba and attacked, Arteta, the Club and, even though some where too stupid to realise, they were attacking White and Marghellas who were forming one of the top central defensive partnerships in the league.

Not a week would go by without some of you around here regurgitating the inflammatory bullshit that the gutter press and self serving social media opportunists were spewing instead of paying attention to what was happening at Arsenal. That is why I said "forget about Saliba", he's out on loan!

The God like Saliba was shown up to be the young, inexperienced, still lacking in certain areas player when it came to the business end of the Europa Conference leagues. He was terrible in the French Cup and he was targeted by both Austria and Croatia as the weakest link in the French backlines and exploited him to the max. It happened again last week!

He is still not proficient at heading – the own goal he scored showed that. Any player that was comfortable in the air would have nodded that over the byline but the young fella could not adjust his balance by using his arms and adjusting his feet to get into the right position to head that ball away. Any player comfortable in the air would have headed that away. He gets his head to the ball often enough in general play and that is a function of his height but his directing of the ball should be better but, as with other areas of his game, he will improve.

During pre-season against Everton, they played a ball over him to Calvert Lewin and any competent player would have easily cut that ball out but he allowed it to go over his head and it fell to the Everton forward. What was really pleasing though, was that he showed great improvement in being able to turn and get goal side and close and engage the Everton player and push him wide and averted danger. That was an aspect of his game that needed improving, that is, closing down quickly and jockeying players away from the danger zone (as I pointed out right from the beginning) and because he is now at an English club that addresses these issues swiftly, he has greatly improved. Full credit to him and the coaches.

He still has a lot to learn but given how he is showing that he is eager to learn and is listening, I’m very confident he will continue to improve. The first couple of games he played for us, he dwelt on the ball a bit long and dragged a player to him and then gave the ball to a team mate. Now that isn’t a bad thing if you are going to play a wall pass or you’re in midfield and trying to render an opponent irrelevant but at the back, as a sweeper, the longer he held the ball, the more time he gave the opposition to clog up spaces and get close to Arsenal players. Over the next few games, this aspect of his play improved immeasurably which is credit to the coach and Saliba.

He is still a very young man and when the pressure is really on, he does not have the experience nor the guile to adapt and he does become overwhelmed. Look no further than Man U and the latest International. It’s when oppositions up the anti and/or there is a change of formation by us or the opponents that he struggles but this will come; I am certain of it.

Arteta said during pre-season that he was really happy with Saliba’s attitude, hunger to learn and improve and that he is a humble young man. That was brilliant and music to my ears.

The penny dropped for Saliba after the French Cup Final and the European and Europa nightmares when he realised that he was far from being a top-class player. He landed with a thud and to his great credit, he put his head down, was not forthcoming to the social media click bait sharks and the gutter press when they asked him loaded questions with his answer to all the questions being, “I am concentrating on my game and wanting to improve.” or words to that effect. I wonder if you and Cruyff and the other fan boys realise this profound change in this young man? Nah!! you lot were still too busy playing with yourselves whilst ogling your Saliba posters on your bedroom walls and now, that he has come to Arsenal and is playing really well, you're in a complete and utter frenzy!

For me, when players are going good, that means that the team is going good. If the players are going bad, then that means the team is going bad and I am sad. For me, names don’t mean much at all. The players are there for the club, not the other way around and at the minute, I could not be happier with Saliba and the side. I support and am loyal to the Arsenal, not any individuals regardless of their names or reputations; actual or imagined.

I have been absolutely consistent with my appraisal of Saliba and I said time and time again, the boy has great potential and if he gets his head down, listens and does what is asked of him by the coach(s), he will be a top-class player. I said that his attitude was rubbish and that he would not be at Arsenal unless he smartened his ideas up and pulled his head in.

Arteta is always in contact with the loaned out players who figure in his plans and you can bet your bottom dollar that he used all of his man management skills and patience, to help the young man become a young man instead of the adolescent know-all whose ego was way out of proportion to his knowledge and ability (sounds a lot like some of you around here).

If you and the others around here are saying words to the effect, “see, he should have been with us last year”, then you are just as thick and ignorant as ever. Saliba would have spent most of his time on the bench; something that Arteta has said on a few occasions. His progress as a player would have been even far greater if he had been on loan in England - of that, I am sure but things are the way they are and I am enjoying no end his progress and performances.

I can't let this one off opportunity pass without asking you charcoalchicken and the others around here if you have been suitably humbled by how the Club and Arteta have performed? You know Arteta? the one that the cigar chomper said that if he and Edu stayed at the club, then we would be failures? The Arteta whom some of you took out your disappointment on and wished him to fail because the likes of Allegri, Simeone, Conte, Mourinho etc weren't appointed.

Honestly, It was completely baffling, and quite funny actually, that some of you thought that coaches of that ilk would even consider coming to The Arsenal - there was absolutely no chance! They’ve done the hard yards and would never ever, consider going to a club with a massively substandard squad and owners who would never ever, give them 300, 400 million to spend on players but that didn't matter, let's all transfer our hate onto Arteta!

Arteta has brought in people who are at the cutting edge in their field and even though I, in detail, pointed this out on here, you social media captives completely ignored it. You couldn't even see that Arteta was re-establishing the disciplines and standards that were once synonymous with Arsenal but ebbed away post Invincibles. Some of you think that running a professional football club is like fantasy football where you can just bring in and take out players from your squad instantaneously and that completely re-establishing a Club back to it's rightful place happens overnight!

I am absolutely wrapped at how The Arsenal are going and I can only see a long, and successful era at Arsenal in the years to come and I really do hope that all of you on this Arsenal board, are as happy and proud of how the club is going as I am.

Please don't skim over what I have written because I have been as honest and forthcoming as I always have been and would appreciate it if you would at least just read what I have written above.

Go The Arsenal!!

 

[Gambit78]

ManC look like absolute monsters.

Look, I don't want to get ahead of myself or anything, but...




Anyone else hanging for the Saliba v Haaland show?

 

[charcoalchicken]

I don't venture onto this board anymore or bother reading anything written on it but you summoned me to this board so it would be rude of me not too reply.

I left the carnage and distress of the public health system here in South Australia and went off hiking in the Grampians for a good period of time - no telephone, no internet, no telli, no radio. Since I've got back, I have checked out what the Arsenal have been doing.

My opinions on Saliba are there for all to read. Unfortunately, fan boys and the ignorant like Cruyff, didn't bother reading the substance of what I wrote nor replying to my observations of his strengths and weaknesses, they just saw someone criticising their latest fan boy crush and throwing their skirt over their head and going mental.

Stevie Wonder could see that he had enormous potential and that is exactly what I have been banging on about from the beginning!

I pointed out his strengths and weaknesses but do you reckon any of the fan boys engaged in that conversation? Nah, it was all outrage that anyone would dare suggest that the young fella wasn’t God like – it was sickening!

You fools weaponised Saliba and attacked, Arteta, the Club and, even though some where too stupid to realise, they were attacking White and Marghellas who were forming one of the top central defensive partnerships in the league.

Not a week would go by without some of you around here regurgitating the inflammatory bullshit that the gutter press and self serving social media opportunists were spewing instead of paying attention to what was happening at Arsenal. That is why I said "forget about Saliba", he's out on loan!

The God like Saliba was shown up to be the young, inexperienced, still lacking in certain areas player when it came to the business end of the Europa Conference leagues. He was terrible in the French Cup and he was targeted by both Austria and Croatia as the weakest link in the French backlines and exploited him to the max. It happened again last week!

He is still not proficient at heading – the own goal he scored showed that. Any player that was comfortable in the air would have nodded that over the byline but the young fella could not adjust his balance by using his arms and adjusting his feet to get into the right position to head that ball away. Any player comfortable in the air would have headed that away. He gets his head to the ball often enough in general play and that is a function of his height but his directing of the ball should be better but, as with other areas of his game, he will improve.

During pre-season against Everton, they played a ball over him to Calvert Lewin and any competent player would have easily cut that ball out but he allowed it to go over his head and it fell to the Everton forward. What was really pleasing though, was that he showed great improvement in being able to turn and get goal side and close and engage the Everton player and push him wide and averted danger. That was an aspect of his game that needed improving, that is, closing down quickly and jockeying players away from the danger zone (as I pointed out right from the beginning) and because he is now at an English club that addresses these issues swiftly, he has greatly improved. Full credit to him and the coaches.

He still has a lot to learn but given how he is showing that he is eager to learn and is listening, I’m very confident he will continue to improve. The first couple of games he played for us, he dwelt on the ball a bit long and dragged a player to him and then gave the ball to a team mate. Now that isn’t a bad thing if you are going to play a wall pass or you’re in midfield and trying to render an opponent irrelevant but at the back, as a sweeper, the longer he held the ball, the more time he gave the opposition to clog up spaces and get close to Arsenal players. Over the next few games, this aspect of his play improved immeasurably which is credit to the coach and Saliba.

He is still a very young man and when the pressure is really on, he does not have the experience nor the guile to adapt and he does become overwhelmed. Look no further than Man U and the latest International. It’s when oppositions up the anti and/or there is a change of formation by us or the opponents that he struggles but this will come; I am certain of it.

Arteta said during pre-season that he was really happy with Saliba’s attitude, hunger to learn and improve and that he is a humble young man. That was brilliant and music to my ears.

The penny dropped for Saliba after the French Cup Final and the European and Europa nightmares when he realised that he was far from being a top-class player. He landed with a thud and to his great credit, he put his head down, was not forthcoming to the social media click bait sharks and the gutter press when they asked him loaded questions with his answer to all the questions being, “I am concentrating on my game and wanting to improve.” or words to that effect. I wonder if you and Cruyff and the other fan boys realise this profound change in this young man? Nah!! you lot were still too busy playing with yourselves whilst ogling your Saliba posters on your bedroom walls and now, that he has come to Arsenal and is playing really well, you're in a complete and utter frenzy!

For me, when players are going good, that means that the team is going good. If the players are going bad, then that means the team is going bad and I am sad. For me, names don’t mean much at all. The players are there for the club, not the other way around and at the minute, I could not be happier with Saliba and the side. I support and am loyal to the Arsenal, not any individuals regardless of their names or reputations; actual or imagined.

I have been absolutely consistent with my appraisal of Saliba and I said time and time again, the boy has great potential and if he gets his head down, listens and does what is asked of him by the coach(s), he will be a top-class player. I said that his attitude was rubbish and that he would not be at Arsenal unless he smartened his ideas up and pulled his head in.

Arteta is always in contact with the loaned out players who figure in his plans and you can bet your bottom dollar that he used all of his man management skills and patience, to help the young man become a young man instead of the adolescent know-all whose ego was way out of proportion to his knowledge and ability (sounds a lot like some of you around here).

If you and the others around here are saying words to the effect, “see, he should have been with us last year”, then you are just as thick and ignorant as ever. Saliba would have spent most of his time on the bench; something that Arteta has said on a few occasions. His progress as a player would have been even far greater if he had been on loan in England - of that, I am sure but things are the way they are and I am enjoying no end his progress and performances.

I can't let this one off opportunity pass without asking you charcoalchicken and the others around here if you have been suitably humbled by how the Club and Arteta have performed? You know Arteta? the one that the cigar chomper said that if he and Edu stayed at the club, then we would be failures? The Arteta whom some of you took out your disappointment on and wished him to fail because the likes of Allegri, Simeone, Conte, Mourinho etc weren't appointed.

Honestly, It was completely baffling, and quite funny actually, that some of you thought that coaches of that ilk would even consider coming to The Arsenal - there was absolutely no chance! They’ve done the hard yards and would never ever, consider going to a club with a massively substandard squad and owners who would never ever, give them 300, 400 million to spend on players but that didn't matter, let's all transfer our hate onto Arteta!

Arteta has brought in people who are at the cutting edge in their field and even though I, in detail, pointed this out on here, you social media captives completely ignored it. You couldn't even see that Arteta was re-establishing the disciplines and standards that were once synonymous with Arsenal but ebbed away post Invincibles. Some of you think that running a professional football club is like fantasy football where you can just bring in and take out players from your squad instantaneously and that completely re-establishing a Club back to it's rightful place happens overnight!

I am absolutely wrapped at how The Arsenal are going and I can only see a long, and successful era at Arsenal in the years to come and I really do hope that all of you on this Arsenal board, are as happy and proud of how the club is going as I am.

Please don't skim over what I have written because I have been as honest and forthcoming as I always have been and would appreciate it if you would at least just read what I have written above.

Go The Arsenal!!

I never had a dig at arteta, one of the few people that was happy to back him in and understood it was going to take some time, appreciate the post though

 

[Cruyff14]

ManC look like absolute monsters.

Look, I don't want to get ahead of myself or anything, but...




Anyone else hanging for the Saliba v Haaland show?

Unfortunately I think Haaland will monster him. The guy is a machine.

 

[HODGEYROAD]

So do we believe we can finish 2nd this season ? Or still too early to say and our lack of depth will cause us grief over the duration of the campaign ?

 

[Gambit78]

So do we believe we can finish 2nd this season ? Or still too early to say and our lack of depth will cause us grief over the duration of the campaign ?

If our injury profile at the moment is the worst it gets this season, I reckon we're an absolute shot at 2nd. But that's a big if, unfortunately...

ESR, Elneney and Cedric our only injuries, which means our possible 2nd eleven for Europa this week could be:

Turner/Tomiyasu, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney/Lokongo, Xhaka/Marquinhos, Viera, Nelson/Nketiah

If we can hold this amount of rotations, I think we'll be okay.