Injuries. As someone who worked as a strength and conditioning coach back in the day - one of my issues with football has always been the obsession for every member of the squad to maintain the same work load and rest periods, once they have been integrated back into the squad. Major ligament or joint injuries don't work like that, even once the ligament has been repaired/healed the body has imbalances that put more strain on connecting areas and opposing limbs. It would be tricky and expensive to do but really all players should have someone assessing & monitoring them separately. They should also be able to sit out and rest when their body tells them too.
The thing I like about Zinchenko is that he offers competition for LB and quality cover for LCM. With the 5 subs this Season he's going too get plenty of gametime.
A lot of the stuff I’m reading about Tielemans is that, whilst he is highly rated by the club, there needs to be some outgoings first before we sign him. In fact, Arteta said this after the Orlando City game. Outgoings have been very slow - slower than I expected. This is always the issue when you have players on huge wages that end up falling out of favour.
Yeah Arteta and Edu have both also said their ideal first team squad size is around 25. We currently have 33. Somehow they have to ship out.. Nelson, Maitland-Niles, Bellerin or Cedrick, Leno, Pepe, Mari, Runnarson. Don't get me wrong Tielemans would be a decent signing but in terms of midfielders.. Lucas Paqueta would be better, Milinkovic-Savic would also be a total game changer.
Not that it means much, but we beat Chelsea 4-0 this morning in the Florida Cup. Jesus, Odegaard, Saka and Lokonga the scorers. From what I saw in the highlights, we are clearly a lot sharper and physically prepared than Chelsea right now. Saliba also had Werner and Havertz in his back pocket the entire game from what I’ve read. We’ve won 5/5 pre-season games so far which is good preparation for the season coming. I try not to place too much stock in pre-season results because it’s more about fitness than anything else, but if the players have gained some confidence and momentum from this, hopefully we can carry it into next season. Anyway, Florida Cup Champions 2022
4-0 Great result and performance against a strong Chelsea side. William Saliba is the real deal. I've been hyping this guy since before we even signed him, he just looks to have all the ingredients. 6'5 - quick an absolute unit and can play. I actually thought.. White -- Saliba -- Gabriel -- Zinchenko looked soo good! I hope this is what we go with for Palace. Tomiyasu is expected to be back training soon - but I hope they don't rush him back. White seems more than capable in that role. Gabriel Jesus got a knock so only played 40 mins - still managed another quality goal though, chipping Mendy. I think he will end up being the signing of the Summer.
I really hope we still add another deep CM as we are definitely light in quality in that area. If Xhaka or Partey get injured we don't have the required quality in reverse.
I am concerned that Tomiyasu and Tierney still aren’t fit. It’s so typical that two of our best defenders are injury prone Still hoping we sign Tielemans as well. We’d better not fumble that one.
Rumours of Arthur Melo coming on a loan - with option to buy after one year for £25m. People will say he's a Juve reject or whatever but.. I like this signing for a lot of reasons: He's still only 25. Plays LCM (soo competition for Xhaka). At Barca he was superb, carries the ball well - technically excellent and can ping balls 50-60 yards with accuracy As much as I think Tielemans would be a solid signing I think Melo has higher potential. Tielemans is consistent but never a match winner. Melo is more of a risk, has had a hit & miss time at Juve but if things go well at Arsenal we get a potentially TOP class player for a very small transfer fee. If he doesn't do well - we don't exercise the option to buy.
Some news regarding potential outgoings: Nuno Tavares in talks with Atalanta on loan - he wants to go, but they want an option to buy, which Arsenal don’t want to include. Bernd Leno has agreement in principle with Fulham - £8m. Personal terms still to be agreed. That fee is far too low for Leno, we should be getting at least double that, but I guess there’s a balance between what’s good value and letting a player leave amicably.
Looks like he’s going to Marseille. I know he had a kamikaze year last season, but I do find it interesting how many clubs have expressed interest in him this Summer. They must see some potential in him.
I definitely think there’s a player in there. He’s rough around the edges and prone to errors, but he’s got the potential to be a really good LWB. A loan deal is just what he and we need
6 - 0 against a strong Seville side today. I hope Arteta starts this line-up on Friday. Jesus getting a hatrick (7 goals in 5 games for Arsenal) in his first home game - he looks soo sharp! I'm loving this backline - kinda mad to say with Tierney and Tomiyasu out but Zinchenko-Gabriel-Saliba-White looks absolutely rock solid.
Just got back home from the game. Whilst I never take pre-season games too seriously, I am happy that we look razor sharp and ready in time for the start of the 2022/23 season. We are playing some liquid football, dominating matches, all our players look comfortable on the ball and are happy to rotate/interchange positions. Zinchenko and Jesus both had superb games. They really are a breath of fresh air. Zinchenko's switches of play and line-breaking passes, as well as Jesus's sharpness in front of goal and pressing like a machine, is a vast improvement on what we were seeing last season. Goes to show how good City's squad is that two players who wouldn't even start regularly for them look a cut above their predecessors at Arsenal. Saliba had a monstrous game. Physically imposing, composed on the ball, aggressive and tenacious. Won every duel. Saka was excellent as always. Martinelli is someone who does concern me a bit in terms of his productivity. He looks very dangerous and definitely causes opposition fullbacks problems with his directness and speed, but his end product really is lacking. He needs to be more decisive in the final third. He spurned a lot of good opportunites for cutbacks and crosses because he doesn't look up enough. Needs to refine that aspect of his game. Overall, an enjoyable game to watch ahead of the season starting.
Right, now to address the (proverbial) elephant in the room. Partey starting the game today, in light of what's happened the last few days, was a very, very big surprise to me. He played well, but I really didn't feel comfortable with him on the pitch now that I know more about what's happened. And I'm even more surprised the club are handling it like this. It doesn't seem like Arsenal are going to do anything about it, due to some bizarre law change or stipulation, in how offences abroad are dealt with by UK police. For the women who work at the club, they surely cannot feel OK with Partey being around? It's all very grim. Every time he made an interception or tackle, I couldn't cheer or applaud him now I know more about his character.
Again Arsenal shouldn't suspend Partey until he's actually found guilty. (and yes I've seen the twitter posts and reactions)
There’s a difference between being guilty in a court of law and actually being guilty of the crime. Loads of people get away with stuff like this due to settlements, insufficient evidence or not going ahead with pressing charges. The woman has broken the terms of her NDA, is going to be sued hundreds of thousands of pounds, named and shamed the legal counsel at Arsenal who she felt let her down, and incriminated herself in these messages by admitting she faked Covid tests (which shows to me that both her and Partey’s replies were genuine because he didn’t expect her to expose their interactions). If what she says is true, Partey has gotten away with being convicted on a technicality; not because he didn’t do it. She actually said she won the civil case against him. The whole thing unnerves me greatly. Arsenal have a moral obligation to protect their wider community.
