I’ll tell you what friends: I’m absolutely bricking it

Does anyone actually know what’s up with Calafiori?

Villa and City scoring a combined 5 goals from a combined 0.89xG. Cool cool cool.

Mammoth let off

A horrible 45. Most of the team below par, but particularly disappointed with Zubi and Gyok. If we’re going to spam crosses, corners, long throws etc might as well have Merino on. And don’t get me started on White’s hammy… Big response needed.

That was fucking incredible. Most pumped I’ve been about a result since… Real? And before that maybe Spurs (A) last season

I'm sorry but Kelly McJunkin Blaha and R. Otto Maly do not seem like real people.

Slightly diminish a book: Relatively Large Expectations

Spurs’ process has been a mess, and they’ve had some big embarrassments - but Simons for €60m is better for them than either MGW or Eze. Just looking at signings, not sentiment, they’ve had a good summer IMO.

A slightly different view of the Trossard extension: If you told me at the end of the season that Leo would be our 7th attacker to replace Sterling minutes, I would've been happy. The issue is I expected the people who came in above him to be bigger upgrades.

The last week of the transfer window is going to be a face off between PL clubs desperate for reinforcements (West Ham, Palace, Fulham, etc) and PL clubs desperate to offload players (United, Arsenal, Chelsea, etc). Who will blink first?

A random assortment of PL predictions: Liverpool win the league Arsenal 3rd, but < 3 points between top 3. Chelsea 4th, Estevao wins YPOTY Spurs 5th. Bournemouth finish 13th, Iraola leaves in Summer. All 3 promoted teams go back down again. Xhaka injures Bruno G in a Tyne-Wear derby.

Saw this simple table in @thetransferflow.bsky.social Arsenal Season Preview, and IMO neatly summed up what we've tried to do this summer. Obvious caveats to the stats apply, but we've prioritised Goals & Assists✅ Impact ✅ Availability ✅ Fingers crossed it translates

Hey @towells.bsky.social @alexcollings.bsky.social @watman.bsky.social really enjoying the Snapshots (as usual) – was wondering, was there a Mosquera one that I missed? Or was he skipped?

Arsenal have made big gambles this summer. On quantity over elite quality On older players w/ little resale value And perhaps the biggest, on a DoF who ‘prizes relationships over data’ Not what I would do and I worry it’ll set us back long term. But if we win something major, will have paid off 🤞

Newcastle’s implosion would be SO much more enjoyable if they weren’t selling their best players to our biggest competitors.

Honestly quite disappointed with how we've approached the whole Isak thing. Caved far too early, rather than acting like a big club and trying – at least trying! – to force the issue. Also: Newcastle, quite pathetic for all their chat beforehand.

Liverpool are going to sell Diaz and Nunez and sign Isak, aren't they. It's going to really piss me off, ngl.

Honestly feel that if our summer shopping ends with Gyokeres joining, we've had a 6/10 window. Kepa, Norgaard, Mosquera smart deals for backups. Madueke a good addition IMO, but not an improvement on Martinelli at LW currently. Gyok I have huge doubts over. Zubi the only level-raiser.

Looks like Arsenal have gone for numbers and variety of profiles with Noni + Eze alongside Gyokeres. As opposed to pure ceiling-raising talent with Rodrygo alongside VG. I get the rationale, but I find it a bit disappointing – and it's not the route I would've taken.

I so, so hope that I’m wrong on this, but I really hate this Gyokeres deal for us.

One thing I will say; looks like we might be going more direct more quickly next season. Potential signings of Gyok and Madueke have a lot more to offer like that than the slower football we played last season. Zubi prob helps with it too.

The other thing is I don’t think it is positive we’ve spent 2 years chasing Šeško & Williams to get neither. And could’ve signed Gyok & Eze last year for basically same fee, but didn’t. It’s been the same names for 3-4 windows now and little to show for it (Zubi excepted)

NGL I just don’t really love the squad building we seem to be doing with our attacking options. Hope there’s more surprises to come, but right now I don’t think it’s smart.

My unwelcome take: I really, really like Eze. I think he has lots of qualities Arsenal need. I think there are a few things we need in a LW he doesn't have, though not insurmountable. But I have reservations about spending ~£70m on a 27yo.

Random thought, but if we were to sign Hato, I think that in terms of quality & depth (not necessarily profiles/availability) this is probably the best defensive group in the world? Lewis-Skelly & Hato Gabriel & Calafiori Saliba & Tomiyasu Timber & White

I read the Guehi > Liverpool news last night just before bed. Had a dream where we'd missed out on him and Huijsen, so we decided to cross-breed Saliba and Timber. We then had these two 18yo CBs called Salimber and Tiba. Unsurprisingly, they were excellent.

With Nico W, Barcola, and Leao all out, just thinking about LW options if Rodrygo is also a no-go. Increasingly coming round to the idea of Semenyo as the best of the rest. Don't think he's a ceiling-raiser like the others but offers a lot of what we need, in a PL-proven package.

A small thing, but tonight I'm playing football for the first time in 6 months after an incredibly frustrating series of hip issues. A bit nervous but also so excited to finally be able to play again 🙌 ⚽

Appreciate it’s still early in the window so caveats apply. But the way things have been going with other targets think the main factors of whether our window is successful will come down to: Do we sign Rodrygo? (Good) Do we sign Gyökeres? (Bad)

Agree with something @mixedknuts.bsky.social said recently: I really wish Arsenal would mix up their transfer targets. For the past 3 windows it's been Sesko, Nico Williams, Zubimendi, Hato. (And to a lesser extent Gordon, Gyokeres, Guehi, Sane.) Would love some new options / alternatives.

Yup. bsky.app/profile/naph...

Predicted this with Nypan 6 months ago. Shame, that.

Talking about this on *the other place* but think Chelsea's squad is quietly looking pretty good for next year. Maignan, Delap, and Gittens all good additions – v possibly followed by Ekitike whom I really like. Then they're adding Estevao, Andrey Santos, Essugo, and Quenda on top. Just need a CB.

Quansah - £50m Diaz - £70m Kelleher - £20m Doak - £25m I know there's lots of speculation, and numbers are not concrete, but if Liverpool can sell squad players for those sums that's extraordinary business that sets them up (annoyingly) well.

Andre Onana reportedly agreed to join a Saudi team. Nunez, Jota, and Diaz all seriously linked with Saudi teams. Previously Chelsea & Pool miraculously offloaded their old'uns to Saudi. Would really appreciate a sweet Saudi double-swoop for Zinny and Trossard. Call it a fair £60m for both.

All I have to say about the kit launch is that I quite like David Raya's new lemon sherbert flavour kit.

Think the best, somewhat-realistic window we could have IMO would be something like: Rodrygo Sesko Zubi [Young defender] Garcia Would love another AM too – could be someone young & promising like El Khannouss – but think it's a stretch.

This is some really, really dumb shit

God I can’t believe I’m going to have to support United in a final

Nope. Best two CL ties I’ve ever seen. Just so entertaining and such high quality. Loved it.

Two random observations: 1. These 1.5 Inter-Barca games have been the most enjoyable (non-Arsenal) football matches I've watched this season. 2. In the unlikely event Arteta leaves anytime soon, would 100% want Inzaghi as my no.1 pick to replace him. So impressive what he's done with Inter.

PSG are very very good. We can’t match them technically. And they press so well. But we can beat them physically. And the key to things turning was Timber, Myles and Saka dribbling out of pressure. BIG 45. I feel sick.

I have watched 40 out of 48 minutes of this women’s match and somehow missed all three goals 🙃

My hot take is that renewing Partey on a 1+1 would actually be pretty good from the club *purely from a footballing perspective*. Sadly there are other more important aspects, that the club clearly doesn’t care about.

I couldn't sleep last night so naturally started thinking about Zinchenko. I'm increasingly convinced we'll keep him. With Partey, Jorginho, Tierney – and possibly Kiwior – all going we're reducing cover in midfield and at LB. Think keeping him for one final year as quality backup makes sense.

One of the best football trailers/edits I’ve ever seen. Beautifully done ❤️🤍

I know we acknowledge it, but I don't think we appreciate just how crazy it is that MLS is so physically dominant against literally the top 0.1% of footballers at 18. Not just his raw physical form (which eg Saliba had at a similar age), but how well he uses his strength and his body already.