Random Arsenal Shit (When it's not worth starting a thread)

[SMatthews]

I’m all for stability and continuity when we’re talking about selectively building on a established side and a proven system, but I don’t think we’ve got a great deal to worry about in that respect just yet - we’re still very much a WIP, and are still very much working out who we are and how we want to play.

The cohesion we’ve found as a unit all seems to be built on a shape and system that we’re unlikely to persist with next season, and I have major doubts over whether many of our current players will be able to adapt to anything different - as soon as we stop playing a 3-man defence with wing backs and a traditional no. 10 I think a lot of players will instantly look like square pegs in round holes again, and much of that cohesion will evaporate anyway.

Plus the overwhelming vibe I’m getting from the guys at the top (the owners, the CEO and the MD) is that cuts have to happen, regardless of what it means for stability. Ramsey, Welbeck and Cech are definitely going and I think we can assume that Lichsteiner and Elneny are toast - those are all decisions that have been made before we even know if we’ll have CL income next year, so it looks like someone there is doing the math and working out where we’re not getting value for money. I really can’t see it stopping at those five - perhaps it will stop short of double-figures, but I would be surprised if we didn’t see at least a couple more departures from the senior squad.

Xhaka I agree will probably stay - he’s nowhere near the worst offender, and we’re already losing 2 CMs, so wages and space have already been freed up there. Mustafi might be in the firing line though? Emery is on record as saying he wants a new CB this summer and no one had departed from that area yet?

There also has to be some realism about the size of the job at hand and how long it will take. Given the players that are guaranteed to leave, along with those who we want to replace, combined with the potential funds available (even if we get into the CL) one summer won’t do it. Probably not even two. I’ve seen lists of ten or more players that some fans want replacing this summer, which is ludicrous. No team can hope to maintain forward momentum by dropping almost half a squad in one go. That’s why you’ll see 3/4 additions at most teams, because continuity in a team game is everything. And that doesn’t just mean the tactical approach or style of football, but how the players gel as a group, work and communicate with the coaching staff and manager - transplanting in ten or more new faces and personalities into any working environment and getting it to hit the ground running in a few months is unrealistic. Not that it will matter to fans who are blinded by their myopic hatred of certain players, their desperation for success at all costs, and a complete lack of understanding of how anything beyond the borders of the pitch actually works on a human level.

[Özim]

Xhaka should be one of the first names sold if we can get any money for him, he's a real liability causing quite a few goals, since he's been here he's shown nothing.

I agree that he's so poor we may not be able to sell him, but personally I'd try to flog him back to Germany where he somehow managed to gain a decent reputation, we may get 15 million for him, but I'd take that and run.

[I am invisible]

There also has to be some realism about the size of the job at hand and how long it will take. Given the players that are guaranteed to leave, along with those who we want to replace, combined with the potential funds available (even if we get into the CL) one summer won’t do it. Probably not even two. I’ve seen lists of ten or more players that some fans want replacing this summer, which is ludicrous. No team can hope to maintain forward momentum by dropping almost half a squad in one go. That’s why you’ll see 3/4 additions at most teams, because continuity in a team game is everything. And that doesn’t just mean the tactical approach or style of football, but how the players gel as a group, work and communicate with the coaching staff and manager - transplanting in ten or more new faces and personalities into any working environment and getting it to hit the ground running in a few months is unrealistic. Not that it will matter to fans who are blinded by their myopic hatred of certain players, their desperation for success at all costs, and a complete lack of understanding of how anything beyond the borders of the pitch actually works on a human level.

Oh, I agree that we’ll see a maximum of 3-4 new signings - setting the integration aspect aside, there simply aren’t the funds for anything more. I also expect that at least half of those signings will be long-terms prospects that we’re investing in early (i.e. more Guendouzi-level signings).

Beyond that, I think we’re looking at a drive (possibly even a directive from above) to make better use of the players that we’re producing ourselves and resources that we already possess (which is why I started this whole thing by talking about how we shouldn’t be sniffy about giving players like Bielik and Chambers a final look this summer). All of these players are existing faces and personalities who everyone should be familiar with on a personal level, and most of them have them have probably been part of the culture of this club longer than most of the senior playing staff, the coaching staff, the CEO and the MD!

Believe me, I’m not expecting it to be immediately pretty or successful - it may even set us back a step to begin with, as the squad gels and the younger players find their feet at this level - but it needs to happen, if we’re operating on a self-sustaining model. Unfortunately, the time to start doing this in easily-digestible instalments was probably 2 years ago, when we first dropped out of the CL spots - instead, we tried to dig our way out with a load of big signings and even bigger contracts. That didn’t work, and now it has to be paid for - maybe a little less brutally if we manage to beat Chelsea tonight, but it’s still coming.

[SMatthews]

Oh, I agree that we’ll see a maximum of 3-4 new signings - setting the integration aspect aside, there simply aren’t the funds for anything more. I also expect that at least half of those signings will be long-terms prospects that we’re investing in early (i.e. more Guendouzi-level signings).

Beyond that, I think we’re looking at a drive (possibly even a directive from above) to make better use of the players that we’re producing ourselves and resources that we already possess (which is why I started this whole thing by talking about how we shouldn’t be sniffy about giving players like Bielik and Chambers a final look this summer). All of these players are existing faces and personalities who everyone should be familiar with on a personal level, and most of them have them have probably been part of the culture of this club longer than most of the senior playing staff, the coaching staff, the CEO and the MD!

Believe me, I’m not expecting it to be immediately pretty or successful - it may even set us back a step to begin with, as the squad gels and the younger players find their feet at this level - but it needs to happen, if we’re operating on a self-sustaining model. Unfortunately, the time to start doing this in easily-digestible instalments was probably 2 years ago, when we first dropped out of the CL spots - instead, we tried to dig our way out with a load of big signings and even bigger contracts. That didn’t work, and now it has to be paid for - maybe a little less brutally if we manage to beat Chelsea tonight, but it’s still coming.

You seem like a level-headed guy, so my comment was directed more at fans who just don’t get it. Then again, getting a scale of the real world via the Internet is pretty stupid of me.

The key word used during the recent interview with the top brass was ‘effecency’, so that will be underpinning everything we do for the foreseeable future. And yes, as you say, many of the ‘new’ faces will come from the youth set-up or returning loanees.

The Auba signing and Ozil/Micki contracts were really the last throw of the dice as you mention and we are paying the price for that on top of the signings during the previous summer, at a time when our revenues have dropped quite a bit outside of the CL. While it’s a bit late, hopefully the structure we’re putting in place will reap the benefits over the next few years, whether it’s Emery in charge or not.

[I am invisible]

You seem like a level-headed guy, so my comment was directed more at fans who just don’t get it. Then again, getting a scale of the real world via the Internet is pretty stupid of me...

Hey, no offense taken, honestly - I know what the internet is like.

If other posters are anything like me, then half the time they probably use GW as a sounding board for their random thoughts and ideas and then say something completely different down the pub with their mates! (Or they’ll use it as a form of primal scream therapy, and rage it out here so they’re not taking it home with them!)

The problem with forums is, because you necessarily have to write and publish everything in order to talk, then every thought and utterance becomes a matter of permanent record, even stuff said in the heat of the moment, and each post gradually builds up into a profile of your forum-self that maybe bears no resemblance to who you are in real world. Is poster A always angry and unreasonable, or do they just lose their cool at particularly low moments before calming down again? Is poster B an annoyingly blind optimist, or are they just chucking ideas out there, desperately looking for something - anything - to cling to because they’re actually quite down about it all? No way of ever knowing really.

Plus everyone’s views tend to get more extreme on the internet in general. You can almost guarantee that someone else out there will agree with, and therefore validate, any stray thought you have, and when you’re not talking face-to-face then you can’t pick up on the subtle cues of body language and facial expressions that would normally let you know when it’s time to rein it in. Chuck in the cover of anonymity and the internet becomes a really dodgy means of getting a scale of anything. I’d take everything said with a massive pinch of salt.

[Ralpheroo72]

Jose Antonio Reyes has died in a car accident

[dostoy]

Jose Antonio Reyes has died in a car accident

I've just read that and I'm shocked.

He was a fantastic player at his best and its a tragedy for him and his poor family.

I think he had young children as well.

RIP

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Fucking hell. RIP.

[dazthegooner]

RIP He was ony 35

[Letters]

Jose Antonio Reyes has died in a car accident

Just saw that.
Really sad.

RIP