Arseblog

Happy Friday to you all. Let’s round up the Euros. The first game was one of those on in the background ones when I was doing other stuff, but Ukraine’s 2-1 over North Macedonia was pretty entertaining. Decent goals, penalty saves, and a game that went to the wire, so ... read more

Welcome to another episode of the Arsecast – the Arsenal podcast. On this week’s show I chat to Lewis Ambrose about the European Championships, links to certain players, the lack of Arsenal involvement, and whether that’s a good or a bad thing. Then we examine some of the big transfer ... read more

Players with high end-product tend to unbalance a team tactically, this is a broad truism that all football coaches must grapple with. Even the best attackers in history require accommodation- Messi and Ronaldo need structures around them that allow them to remain in advanced positions at all times. The principal ... read more

What a fun day at Euro 2020 except in 2021 yesterday. Let’s work backwards. Italy 3-0 Switzerland Let’s be honest. Switzerland aren’t up to much. Poor Granit in midfield looked pedestrian, and I saw people suggest he’d had a nightmare game. I don’t think he did. He was his usual ... read more

Morning all. Blog in two parts this morning. Euro 2020 except in 2021 In the ‘early’ game, Portugal left it late to score three times to beat Hungary in Budapest. There was an own goal, a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty which he celebrated with typical modesty, and then a really lovely ... read more

Morning. There was no Kieran Tierney for Scotland yesterday, which removed some of the interest in the game for me, but I think we saw the goal of the tournament already as the Czech Republic ran out 2-0 winners. Patrik made our Scottish friends Schick to their schtomachs with an ... read more

Welcome to another Arsecast Extra, the Arsenal podcast, with myself and James from @gunnerblog. In this episode we start off with chat about the European Championships. James was at Wembley to see England beat Croatia, there’s discussion of some of the other games over the weekend plus what happened with ... read more

Welcome to Monday. It was the hottest day of the year in Ireland yesterday, so I spent most of it in the back garden cooking food and drinking drinks. There may be an element of *boilk* this morning. There was football too. England beat Croatia 1-0 and, without wanting to ... read more

The first thing to say this morning is thank goodness Christian Eriksen is alive. The few seconds where he staggered, then stumbled, then collapsed to the ground were harrowing to watch, as was what followed. I’m still not sure I’m right this morning, and I watched this from afar. I ... read more

A quick Saturday round-up for you. Starting with: Euro 2020 except in 2021 The Euros started last night, and Italy spanked Turkey 3-0. I thought Italy were decent; Roberto Mancini prowled the sideline looking like a cabaret club owner who has poured everything into one last show to generate enough ... read more

Morning. A very quick one today because there’s not a lot going on, I have to be somewhere early this morning, and I’ve used up a lot of creative juice this week. Thank goodness for the Euros to provide some football talking points over the next few weeks. Have we ... read more

Welcome to another episode of the Arsecast – the Arsenal podcast. On this week’s show I chat to Clive Palmer about the transfer window ahead, what the work we do will tell us about the people doing it and the direction they’re pushing us in, changing some of the old ... read more

As we all know by now, Arsenal have quite a lot of work to do this summer. The more reasonable among us accept that there isn’t the time, the bandwidth or the cash money to do everything that needs to be done in one transfer window. Arsenal’s squad will not ... read more

This, I think, is going to be the most mental transfer window of all time. Yesterday, there was a social media sighting of Edu in Portugal, on holidays with his family (why is he having holidays when there’s so much work to do etc etc, it’s a disgrace and so ... read more

“If it works out it works out, if it doesn’t then kiss Arsenal goodbye.” So said Ainsley Maitland-Niles yesterday in an interview with the Telegraph. The 23 year old is keen to sort out his future, so much so that barely two weeks after the dust has barely settled on ... read more

Morning. Still very quiet from an Arsenal perspective but a few bits doing the rounds this morning. First up, reports of a bid from Roma for Granit Xhaka, believed to be around €15m, which sounds a bit low. Then there’s talk of €20m plus bonuses which sounds close enough to ... read more

Welcome to another Arsecast Extra, the Arsenal podcast, with myself and James from @gunnerblog. In this episode we chat about the reaction to Arsenal ‘missing out’ on Emi Buendia, as the Norwich man is set to join Aston Villa. We examine why it felt to many like a big blow, ... read more

Morning all. Hope you had a nice weekend, it’s a bank holiday here in Ireland. Tempers have been frayed over the Emi Buendia stuff. Depending on your point of view, or what you choose to believe: We Lost out to Aston Villa We couldn’t compete with Aston Villa The ... read more

I have to say, I’m outraged this morning. Furious. Incandescent with rage. A football club is buying a player and it’s not us. How can this be happening? What is the reason for this inertia? It’s like a cruel joke. I mean, it’s entirely possible that all the stories linking ... read more

Morning all, a very quick Saturday round-up for you, because I hurt. I went for a run on Thursday, which is all kinds of bad, but then followed that up with 5-a-side last night in blinding sun. Some small advice for men of a particular age: allow your decrepit body ... read more

Hey, there’s another week done and dusted, welcome to Friday. It’s pretty quiet, although there seem to be a couple of things bubbling away in the background ahead of the transfer window opening next week. There’s some chat, via the AFCBell, that Arsenal and Norwich are in talks over Emi ... read more

Welcome to another episode of the Arsecast – the Arsenal podcast. In this episode I’m joined by Lewis Ambrose to discuss the issue of squad depth. With no Europe next season, how far do we need to trim the numbers – at times last year Arsenal had a 33+ man ... read more

It’s been a strange inaugural season for Thomas Partey at Arsenal. Signed from Atletico Madrid on transfer deadline day in October, the Ghanaian midfielder responded to Arsenal’s SOM (Save Our Midfield) in a deal worth around £45m. Where Arsenal are concerned, that isn’t pocket change- especially as the gap between ... read more

It seems impossible to start a blog this week without Bukayo Saka. I am grateful for his football talent, and for his #content. It’s been a good week for him. He’s been nominated for Player of the Season at Arsenal, an award he’s likely to win; he got nominated for ... read more

Well, it turns out the first part of yesterday’s post about Bukayo Saka was off the mark: he did make the England squad for Euro 2020, so first and foremost congratulations to him. Second and last-most, the other part of yesterday’s post is still relevant so if you haven’t had ... read more

It’s going to be a busy summer at Arsenal. Having finished eighth in the Premier League for a second year running, yet another overhaul is required. Mikel Arteta has been in charge of the team for two transfer windows so far, both overshadowed by the pandemic, and a third is ... read more

Good morning, welcome to a brand new month. In June the transfer window opens, which will be the main focus for most people, but also Euro 2020 begins. A year late, but still called Euro 2020, and cleverly being played all over Europe despite the ongoing pandemic. Anyway, it looks ... read more

Welcome to another Arsecast Extra, the Arsenal podcast, with myself and James from @gunnerblog. In this episode we chat about the European finals that took place over the last week, instilling a winning culture at a club, being smarter with resources, what the constant centre-half rumours might mean for William ... read more

At the end of a season in which we finished 8th, the spotlight shines heavily on Mikel Arteta, and for good reason. As we go into the summer though, working off the assumption that he is the man who will be in charge going forward, we have to examine who ... read more

Morning all. Pretty quiet one today. Nothing of any significance happened in the world of football in the last 24 hours, so there’s a dearth of news or incident to reflect on. Oh, silly me. Of course. Congratulations to Brentford who earned promotion to the Premier League, beating Swansea 2-0 ... read more