(The not-so-temporary quite-official) Gooner Thread

I think it'll be getting used to a new way of working. When Wenger was doing e v e r y t h i n g we had less chance of this happening. Now it seems contracts were agreed prior to the managers arrival/too soon for him to intervene. The club has rightly secured their assets for the future, which is better than delaying until Emery could make a call.

Chambers was actually a great move. He has a good season at Fulham he's welcomed back. Has an OK season at Fulham and we should make a profit if we sell him. Similarly with Elneny we should turn a small profit it we let him go, but it would mean being ready to trust Guendouzi, Smith-Rowe etc, or even an indicator that Ramsey's about to sign an extension and we need to free up CM space.

Got a link Surge?

Really good points re: player contracts brumbys

None specifically, I just pulled out some Google-Fu on KSE and looked at a few different articles (mainly US) and some Wikipedia stuff. The lending is what blew my wee pea brain... even when looking at the value of AFC and the Rams the numbers are pretty big. I guess it's all in the leveraging.

Well, I'll be dammed. We didn't sign Dembele after all. LOL.

Campbell, Welbeck, and Ospina all still likely to leave, and good to see that we got some money for Perez.

Jenkinson/Bramall still on the books is concerning (even if I'm keen for a Coquellinesque revival for Bramall!) - can't see them going overseas so hopefully we can get another loan, or just pay out their contracts so they can find their own club as a free agent.

also, Everton with the deal of the summer. Mina & Gomes from Barca for 32m euros combined. Wouldn’t have been a bad gamble for us.

I would've taken Mina at this point, though I think Everton is about his level. He doesn't seem to like the pressure too much.

From what I've seen, Andre Gomes is kak.

Gomes was great before he joined barca.....Mina would have been very handy

Disappointed at the end, but overall I'd give our window a 7. 

Bought what we needed early, seemingly good value (total outlay about 60m?), and they've all had a full preseason with the squad as a result, except Torreira. 

Would've liked a winger and perhaps something different at CB, but we got Sokratis who is the one they earmarked, even if I've been underwhelmed by him in pre-season. 

Torreira, Lichtsteiner, Leno and Sokratis were all needed, and Guendouzi looks a potential gem. 

Would also like more sales, but they can still happen, so we'll see how that goes. 

Yeah, now's about the time when Wenger would say we would look for an 'internal' solution for a winger. That could look like the re-surgence of Welbeck/Campbells Arsenal careers, or more game time for youngsters like Nketiah and Nelson, or not playing with wingers and going into a narrow 4-1-2-1-2 type formation and push your full backs forward. 

Exploring that formation, I'd expect to see that DM as Torreira who can cover each full back as necessary, Xhaka and Ramsey setting the play behind Ozil, and our 2 favourite front me getting it done.

Seems like Ornstein was on the ball again. Said budget of 50-70m. (we spent 60m). Said we were done with incomings a month ago, turned out to be correct.

Campbell needs to go; imo he's not even good enough for a mid table EPL team.

Yep I've been proven wrong. I read a lot of info about that 50m figure which suggested to me the transfer fees are amortised over the length of the contract. The information seemed quite legit so I will have to try and research where that came from, it must've been b*llocks!

Or if it wasn't, then we left a lot of powder dry. 

Ornstein aye, that guy really is on the money. 

Read that too and also bought into it, but when you think about it logically - we spent 60m on Auba which was a massive outlay for us in comparison to how we've acted previously in the transfer market. That would've eaten into this transfer budget, no doubt.

Yup, that's 17.14m as it's a 3.5 year contract which leaves you with 32.86M for the rest of the window. Which, if you're amortizing, we probably were under.

Auba - 17.14m (60m @ 3.5 years)

Guendouzi - 1.75M (7m @ 4 years)

Leno - 4.4m (22m @ 5 years)

Torreira - 5.4m (27m @ 5 years)

Sokratis - 4.43 (17.7m @ 4 years) - length never revealed but described as 'long term'

Total - 33.12m outgoings.

We got 4m for Lucas, and 1m for Chambers which brings that down to 28.12m.

Could have gone all out for Dembele after all...or a proper CB lol

Auba was signed before the magic 50m was quoted?

Not quite how it always works, though - sometimes transfers come with lump sum payment options and can't always be amortised as above AFAIK

And I didn’t do wages too, which is key in all of this.

Very true. Nice to get Perez and Ospina off the books; hopefully Campbell and Jenko follow

irrelevant imo, we would've had a yearly budget, and it would've eaten into that. We don't usually sign like that in the Jan window.

Emery names his "five captains". Koscielny is club captain, with Cech,  Ramsey,  Xhaka and Ozil the others. 
Saw a rumour that cech will start and wear the armband tomorrow,  not sure how reliable.

beat me to it Paul. Given Kosc is likely in his final season with us im disappointed he didn’t go for Ramsey, Xaka, or Ozil to be the club captain. Be good for the new era to begin with a new skipper that’s coming into their prime and has been around for a couple of seasons.

I kinda hoped for Ramsey but am happy with the selection. 

The only minor surprise of the 5 was probably the omission of Monreal.

Xhaka seems to be a natural leader, I'm not surprised by his inclusion.

on reflection, Liverpool & Chelsea spending big on new keepers ought to lessen the pressure on Leno

The concern for me is that when we look at the 'main' new signings - Leno, Sokratis, Torreira - only one of them I look at and think "yes, I want this man starting every game" (Torreira).

Liverpool signed Allison and there is no argument over who the no.1 will be, is there? Same with Kepa at Chelsea. Leno, we're 50/50 on whether we want him to replace an error-prone Cech who had a poor season last year. It's a bit strange. 

Not sure if anyone watched the Fulham game but Chambers had a bit of a shocker. Was culpable for both goals and shown up for a lack of pace, especially in the 2nd v Zaha. I like Chambers, and think he's a good player, but perhaps his natural lack of pace means he will never be a top defender at the Prem level. It's actually why I am worried about Sokratis - he's like a bus, turns slowly and runs like a turtle. I think recovery speed is one of the most important attributes in a CB, and I think only Mustafi and maybe Mavro have that.

I think we need to give them so competitive matches before assuming they’re not good enough. Chelsea lost their number 1 so it was an easy replacement. Liverpool has 2 blokes that weren’t up for it. For us we’ve got a guy who used to be World Class against an up and comer. A good battle to watch, but one I think Leno should win. We won’t know until seasons through, but we also don’t need to know.

Yeah you're probably right -  I really just wanted us to go all out and sign someone who everyone wanted to immediately start as it's not been a position we've been confident in for many years; but I guess in reality we are a Europa League team, and we are signing Europa League level players. Nothing wrong with that as long as 1) We get back to the CL quickly and B) those players improve.

Agreed! I’m sure tomorrow could be a massacre but I’m still fizzing to see it unfold!

As long as we don't get thrashed I'm ok. I don't expect anything, really. I fully expect a rough 6-8 months at least under Emery, much like what happened to 'Pool and Klopp. What I'm hoping is we can squeak into the top 4 or win Europa, then we'll be very well placed.

Excited and looking forward to the season ahead for the first time in quite a few years. I don't expect us to win the league but a change and the passion back is for me. Happy with doing our transfer business early in areas we needed strengthening, whether they are good enough we will know in 12 months - Torreira the best for me. Finish in the top 4, beat the yids twice and competitive in the big games will do it for me. Come on you rip roaring reds. 

Well that was almost like a pre-season game to watch! Guendouzi starting was a bit of a shock, but for a 19 year old who was playing Ligue 2 in France last year he didn't bomb like you'd expect, although he lost Sterling for the first goal and wasn't in occupying the space you needed him to for the 2nd.

Our back 4 looked more assured than I anticipated. Was gutting to see AMN go off, who had done the best he could with no support from the left hand winger. It was interesting to see how quickly the game changed when Ramsey came off and Laca came on, we looked a different beast.

Cech deserved to start with that performance, although his almost first time pass come shot attempt was a little concerning, but he made up for it with some big saves (Aguero 1:1, double save off the free kick, Sterling acute angle).

Ramsey & Xhaka's substitutions were very interesting. I would have thought he'd have taken Mhki off instead of Ramsey, and possibly Guendouzi.

For all our concerns about defence, it was our offence that looked the least coordinated. Ozil didn't seem in sync with Auba or Mhiki in particular, while our finishing/shooting was fairly bland.

The pressing side of things didn't catch us out as much as I thought it might, but playing out from the back seemed to have less scary moments than I anticipated - but there were still a few.

Final comment, wtf was Laca do when Ozil intercepted it so high up? I'm assuming he thought he was off side, even though he was well on.

Need to bin off Xhaka before Chelsea. If we start him there against their midfield we are already on the back foot.

Probably need to start Leno if we are doing this whole play out from the keeper thing. Cech isn't capable of doing so safely, or properly.

Need to show a lot more in attack as well. Conceding two against City is about par for the course, they are frightening going forward. But they are still liable in defence. The only reason they don't concede more is they have possession about 3/4s of most games. We had chances literally put on a plate for us and couldn't finish. Need to take any good chances we get against Chelsea.

Lichsteiner looked solid when he came on. Probably a blessing that AMN went off injured. A shame to see it happen but he was getting toyed with down that side, could tell he was not a natural full back.

Just need to put all focus on this Chelsea game now. Need to try pick up a point or points somehow. Don't want to be pointless after two matches.

I think Laca didn't know the keeper was coming brumbys, so he thought they had time, and Ozil would've had the best shot in that scenario, hence he left it for him. The commentators said they needed to communicate but there was so little time to do so, I think it was pretty unlucky. The initial issue was Ozil's heavy touch! Normal Ozil should've just bought that immediately under control and had a pop. He had a few of those touches in the game, he was rusty. Same with Mhki, and to a lesser extent Rambo.  

Agree with pretty much everything you've said there Brumbys. 

City got really sloppy in the last half hour, we had our opportunities. 

They were by far and away the better side, but the truth is we had better chances than the ones they scored from, so we could've got something from that if we'd been more clinical. Likewise City could've put 2 or 3 more on us had they had been more clinical. 

It was very annoying to see us do a lot of the "new" stuff right, but then to have our experienced forward line looking rusty and out of sync. I thought we actually defended ok overall, because City were on their game, they have 100% hit the ground running, it's pretty scary. 

Brumbys I think the Ramsey/Xhaka subs were fitness driven. Xhaka just came back after the world cup and Ramsey was out for the last week with a niggle. 

Passing out from the back against City was always going to be tough, we should get better at it, but I was pleased to see us stick to it. Cech had some hairy moments but overall was excellent this morning. Made some really big saves. 

I loved Guendouzi. Yes he made a couple of errors but I thought he looked right at home. Never stopped wanting the ball, mostly played the right passes, he has a great range too. On that evidence I wouldn't be taking him out at all. I think Ozil and Xhaka's spots should be most at risk, to be honest. 

New recruits looked good. Torreira looked decent when he got in, and I was very impressed with Lichtsteiner. He was excellent when he came on, Mahrez went quiet all of a sudden, then swapped sides, then got subbed. 

Team for Chelsea next week? I don't know if I'd do it because of the fallout it would create, but if I'm honest, I'd be dropping Ozil for Lacazette... and probably Xhaka for Torreira as well... 

I know we got smashed, but for me, there's a lot of positives there. Man City are the best team in the land and I think we were playing at around about 60% of what we actually could do, save for some poor passing options and general play.

- Mustafi and Sokratis weren't terrible!

- Cech played very well, except with his feet

- By the end of the 2nd  half, we had worked out how to press a bit. Man City made 3 or 4 mistakes we should've capitalised on.

- Guendouzi grew into the game. Very raw, but you can see the potential. He's a player who get better game to game. It was hugely impressive that even after errors, he did not let those compound and 'define' him in the match - he pushed hard until the end, and by the end of the game looked like a player who belonged.

- Torreira made a difference coming on. Expect him to start next week in place of Xhaka.

- Lich did quite well at FB even though he obviously felt unnatural there.

- Laca did well after coming on. Made a huge positive difference to our structure, which Ramsey really was struggling with.

 Now, the big negatives;

- Ramsey. Ran hard, pressed OK, but left HUGE gaps at the back. Ozil was forced to track because of this (because Mkhi never really did).

- Ozil. This was his time to step up, but he was, quite frankly, horrid going forward. There were a number of opportunities to put Auba through and he never even got close. Really disappointing.

- Mkhi. Barely tracked back. Poor going forward. Just typical Mkhi inconsistency. 

- Xhaka. I don't think he should be in the first team at all, and was shown how to play by a bloody 19 year old. Largely anonymous except for his mistakes, he didn't add anything to the team defensively or offensively and is perhaps the most pressable player in the league.

-Cech and passing out from the back. He played terrifically overall and kept us in it, but he's never going to learn how to pass like a 'modern' keeper now. This is why we bought Leno. Either be confident in him, or do not play like that.

A lot to work on, but for me - mostly personnel issues. The general idea of how we're playing, I can certainly get around.

Same old same, never really in the game.  But it's not these games that will lose us the season, it's the unacceptable performances at places like Bournemouth and Wolves that will need to change this season. Just a real shame for Emery to have to play City and Chelsea first up so the media will be banging on about us being in crisis and under pressure already.

This is a great summary imo, agree with 99% of that. Perhaps I wouldn't be as harsh on Xhaka and Rambo, but still agree with the general gist of the points you made about them. 

From my reading of it we lined up like this

                Auba

Mhiki        Ramsey     Ozil

Ozil was out of position trying to come in from the right but at least he tracked. Ramsey didn't know what he was doing playing in the hole. Mhiki wasn't tracking enough which left AMN extra exposed against Walker's bombing runs forward.

Defensively we didn't do enough for our full backs, which was concerning. I think Torreira will help with that, but at the same time we'll need more from our guys out wide coming back.

I'd be dropping Mhiki for Laca and lining up like this:

                Laca

Auba       Ozil       Ramsey

Laca's hold up play is critical for the 3 behind him which Auba didn't bring, plus Auba's desire to get in behind works better out wide with less chance of the balls in behind going straight to the keeper. Ramsey's engine will get him up and down supporting Bellerin, and hopefully Ozil can influence the game more.

Edit: I'm not sure I'd play Guendouzi again next weekend. He was good, full of potential, but we need to protect the kid a bit and ease him in. For all his midfield 'good' he lost Sterling for the first and wasn't occupying the space Silva ran into for the 2nd. Swap him for Torreira and give the Xhaka/Torreira axis a go.

The source of many of the issues were at left back (or not, as it turned out). Xhaka; for all his faults, did do his best to support AMN especially but that in turn pulled him away from Guendouzi. 

All in all, it was much as expected. Change takes time - and especially given it's been over 20yrs of the Big Weng. 

<insert Rachel Hunter quote>

So I *almost* got the lineup right but Ramsey was ruled fit - for Chelsea I really do not know who will play. Torreira and Laca made huge differences to our play, so I'd expect them to start - but who will they force out? And is playing 2 strikers against Chelsea away from home really that wise?

Perhaps;

Cech

Bellerin Mustafi Sokratis Maitland-Niles/(Lich if AMN is injured)

Guendouzi Torreira 

Ramsey

Ozil Laca Auba

I would take a solid draw in this one - we just need to get on the board, really.

Looks like Arsenal Fan TV were sent a cease and desist from the club

https://twitter.com/KeenosAFC/status/1028943508109...

Not surprising given how negative they can be, but hopefully not the begining of more media crack down.