CHASING THE PACK

Well good morning to you all. I made a passing comment about Flo Balogun in my post yesterday and everyone seems to have taken it like it’s the most important snippet in world football right now. I dislike some of the commentary that happens around these sort of things when it comes to ‘greed.’ Whatever... Read more »

Well good morning to you all. I made a passing comment about Flo Balogun in my post yesterday and everyone seems to have taken it like it’s the most important snippet in world football right now.

I dislike some of the commentary that happens around these sort of things when it comes to ‘greed.’ Whatever he’s asking for cannot be construed as that. In life, you get what you ask for. If you don’t hustle your boss for raises, they’ll tend not to dish them out. Same is true of football.

Also, think about the pros and cons of what he’s being offered.

Stay at Arsenal for: Less money, less minutes, more pressure, less chance of success

Go to Germany for: More money, more minutes, equal development, RIGHT NOW

Phil Foden, who in my opinion has the potential to be generational, is 20, was earning about £29k a week. It’s good money, he’ll get a bigger deal with the next one, but it’s just ok money.

Jadon Sancho, who is the same age, went to Dortmund, he’s played way more games, he has a huge profile, and he earns about £200k a week.

Now, you can easily go the way of Lookman, McGuane, or Chris Willock… a ticket to the Championship. But if you fail in Germany, it’s probably easier to get a job than if you fail in the Premier League.

The baller move is Arsenal, that’s vision, that’s the view of a player that truly believes he’s going to the top.

If he has doubts, Germany all the way.

The Arsenal way is probably the most realistic it’ll be for the next decade. The player is 18 years old. Eddie, Auba and Lacazette will all be gone within the next 2 years. He will land minutes, he’ll develop, then he’ll be ripe just as the squad opens for him.

Will he take the move? Who knows… because football is delicate and you need to wring it for what it’s worth.

A bit of bad news on the fixture front sees Arsenal traveling away to Greece again just before our derby game against Spurs. Jose managed to have his fixtures switched, so they’d avoid going to Zagreb before the big game. Arsenal weren’t so lucky because fans of the same club can’t be allowed to roam in the same city at the same time apparently.

That’s a massive blow. It’s a long plane journey, a shit nights sleep in a hotel if we leave in the morning, and limited preparation. Still, it is what it is. We’ll have to be sharp with rotation and hope the adrenaline of the game carries us through. We certainly didn’t look leggy against Leicester this weekend. Winning gives you an extra kick.

Arsenal really needs to make the next 5 games count. Escape with 3 wins in the Premier League and the backend of our season looks a lot more manageable. Also, we need to make sure the Spurs game has something on it. Beat them and the gap could close to 2 points. Lose and there’s no St Totteringham’s this season.

You gotta take the wins where you can….

Before we go, I don’t want to harp on about the past. But it’s been a month since we dropped off a lot of squad mess. What have we seen so far? Mustafi and Kola leading the charge to oust the manager of Schalke? Check. Mesut Ozil, THE SHACKLED GOD OF CREATIVITY, hasn’t registered a goal or an assist, his side are out of form, and the player went off injured.

I don’t miss any of them.

Worth noting that Saliba continues to land very promising reviews. He has a bit of a weird cult around him, but at least he’s knuckling down, staying fit, and improving game to game. It’d be very nice to see him fighting for that 4th CB spot next season. Same goes for Dino M over in Germany.

Right, short one today, see you in comments land.