Ray wrote:

Didn't realise you could call back play like that for VAR, after play has carried on, for a pen.

That's how it works. In Bundesliga last season there was a match that went into half time 0-0, the ref reviewed VAR during half time and when the teams came out for 2nd half he called a penalty for the incident in the first half. 😆

Bennacer nearly made himself a hero there with a last minute rocket onto the bar.

We really should go in for Bennacer, absolutely dominated the midfield.

Lol @ the defender laying on the ground behind the wall

That's amazing from Mahrez, tough luck Nigeria

Yeah Bennacer was quality. Pushing the team forward and quality passing all round

Ricky1985 wrote:

Bennacer was excellent today.

Milan is getting an absolutely bargain for him for just 16m. Amazing we don't want to trigger that first option

Is it unfair for me to think the keeper should be getting a hand to that?

Algeria clear favourites for the cup now, imo.

Clrnc wrote:
Ricky1985 wrote:

Bennacer was excellent today.

Milan is getting an absolutely bargain for him for just 16m. Amazing we don't want to trigger that first option

Yep peanuts, we can still come in with a bid.

I seem to remember him as a nothing player in our youth team.
@Ricky Do i remember wrong or has he improved after leaving us?

He seemed like an ok player here as a winger, but as a CM he seems to have developed into someone who can drive the midfield.

Clrnc wrote:
Ricky1985 wrote:

Bennacer was excellent today.

Milan is getting an absolutely bargain for him for just 16m. Amazing we don't want to trigger that first option

The stupidity never ends when it comes to this club. Napoli had a £10 million bid accepted in January too (but ultimately couldn't raise the funds) and we reportedly turned down that chance too. Imagine if we had brought in Bennacer instead of Suarez.

Bold Tone wrote:

I seem to remember him as a nothing player in our youth team.
@Ricky Do i remember wrong or has he improved after leaving us?

He stood out as having a good left foot, being decent technically and was a tenacious little fella as well.

He seems to have grown considerably; looked about 5'8 or 5'9" to me today, but was tiny when at Arsenal. I think that's linked to what has changed for him; he looks a good athlete, quick, agile and strong for his size. Add that physical prowess to his tenacity and he really looks like he can compete in there now.

So i'm not mistaken as that's close to how i remember him.
Technically good (as were all Wenger midfielders) but lightweight and ineffective amongst the big boys.
I suppose he is an example of youth players developing at different speeds.

He's 21 Tone. Only about 15 months older than Nketiah.

That's my point.
Some players develop later.
We gave up on him too early as he wasn't as developed Emile Smith Rowe at 19 years of age.

We did include a buy-back clause and a hefty 30% sell-on clause, so it's fair to say the club recognised he had talent.

I do wonder why a)Milan are the only club currently in for him, b)why Empoli are happy to only get €10m for him and c)why the club aren't in for him when they've put it out there that they are trying to sign a centre midfielder. Espeically when money is tight and we could effectively sign him for €10m.

I'm not doubting you know what you're talking about, Klaus, and he looked a player to me today. It just seems odd.

Bold Tone wrote:

That's my point.
Some players develop later.
We gave up on him too early as he wasn't as developed Emile Smith Rowe at 19 years of age.

I'm not sure that's true though. We sold him to Empoli and he went straight into their team. Granted they were in Serie B at the time, but they were one of the best teams in it and gained promotion immediately with him being one of their best players. Struggling to think of any youngster in recent memory who has played regularly on loan at a better club, aside from Reiss Nelson.

We did include a buyback clause like Ricky says (which we have now declined to use twice) but the whole thing is just odd. Why ship him off at 19? It's not like the road to the first team was particularly blocked either. I'd love to know who the fuckup is who didn't rate him.

Ricky1985 wrote:

I do wonder why a)Milan are the only club currently in for him, b)why Empoli are happy to only get €10m for him and c)why the club aren't in for him when they've put it out there that they are trying to sign a centre midfielder. Espeically when money is tight and we could effectively sign him for €10m.

I'm not doubting you know what you're talking about, Klaus, and he looked a player to me today. It just seems odd.

Empoli were relegated this season and I think they had some form of agreement to let him leave if they went back to Serie B, not sure if it was a handshake or written down but there seems to have been something. €16 million is a lot of money for them too, even if they have to give us a chunk of it. I don't have any facts to back it up but my gut feeling is that it's one of the biggest transfers they've ever made.

I think it's mostly a case of his profile not being very high outside of Italy though, which probably also explains why Milan moved as soon as he started getting attention during the ACN. Napoli were very interested but spent €35 million on Manolas instead (which I think is another excellent transfer that we'll regret), and they have limited funds. You saw how they haggled with us over a few million when it came to David Ospina.

I bow to your greater knowledge as i've not followed his career away from us.
As to whose fuck up, i can't look further than our coaches.
Maybe i'm being unfair but i minded to think the Empoli coaches did a better job than ours would have?
We seem to get many players to a decent level at 18 but, for some reason, they never seem to bridge the gap to the first team.

Yeah, there's a gap between 18 and 21 that a lot of players seem to just disappear into. Historically I think we've been really lousy to find good loans for our players and I'm not really sure why. Maybe Ricky has greater insight? You're looking at Nketiah right now for instance and wonder if he hadn't been better off on loan to a League One or Championship club over the last 18 months.

I do know we've appointed Ben Knapper as 'loan manager' this summer, so it's something we seem to be aware of at least.

There's no great insight needed: It's just another example of the incompetence that has run through many areas of the club.

The new loan manager and the role Freddie Ljungberg has taken up shows the club are well aware of their failings and are trying to address it.

More generally, I do think that at clubs like Arsenal, it is extremely difficult to take a talented 18 year old and then carve a path for him to becoming a regular first team player. The standard is high (hehe), the pressure is great and it's difficult for loans to lower level teams to prepare young players for those difficulties.

That said, the loans prior to last seasom have been disgustingly misguided and far too many minutes have gone to shitsters in our squad when they could have been invaluable experience for some of the younger players we have--and that has got to stop.

Klaus wrote:
Ricky1985 wrote:

I do wonder why a)Milan are the only club currently in for him, b)why Empoli are happy to only get €10m for him and c)why the club aren't in for him when they've put it out there that they are trying to sign a centre midfielder. Espeically when money is tight and we could effectively sign him for €10m.

I'm not doubting you know what you're talking about, Klaus, and he looked a player to me today. It just seems odd.

You saw how they haggled with us over a few million when it came to David Ospina.

I read somewhere that the actual fee was 5m in the end and the delay was because we haggled them for more than agreed 

Penalty saves

Tunisia own goal

VAR reversing penalty decision

Final score
Senegal 1 - 0 Tunisia

Bennacer looks quality.

Watched it. Wasn't a great game. You didn't miss much.

Bennacer assisted Algeria's goal apparently.

Okay, that goal was an insane fluke 😆

For those who missed it: