RocktheCasbah wrote:
Shady wrote:

Di Matteo won the Champions League with Chelsea and then proved to be not good enough. So what?

So, it's not accurate to say - as you did - that Arteta has achieved "fuck all". That's all. 

It's hyperbole. I know he won that, and he did well to win that. But 3-4 decent wins in a cup competition only buys you so much time. 

For what it's worth I do think Xhaka has the right to feel angry over the way he's been treated as a person, just like Mustafi, Eboue and so forth have every right to speak up. I'm not very keen on making excuses for social media mobs. These things transgress what's acceptable and what's not in a social context and they should be dealt with more forcefully than the club has done.

He's a right idiot on the pitch though, and that's always going to be the main thing that prevents anyone from taking to him. He has a very annoying set of limitations and plays in a way that tends to exaggerate them. He's also only got himself to blame when he spends all summer talking up Mourinho over a move that fails to materialise.

Can't wait to see this thread after he plays LB again this weekend.

Can't wait for this thread to be locked because he's finally fucked off.

I've been waiting 4 or 5 years now.

jones wrote:

You know the argument's getting tired when you start mentioning the generational wealth a player has provided to his family. Couldn't make it up oof let's go champ.

Who are you to have an opinion about anything? You don't earn more money than Xhaka. 

MistaT wrote:

Can't wait to see this thread after he plays LB again this weekend.

Looks like Arteta was justifying that call at his presser.  

[Twitter][/Twitter]

Fair enough if he sees Nuno in training and he's completely devoid of confidence (wonder why), he shouldn't start. Why is Saka not even an option though? He might actually perform better than Tierney at LB and Pépé can play at RW and be the one to come into the team for Tierney, which is a lot better than playing Tavares, or ESR in midfield, where he's been shit every time. It's the obvious solution if Tavares isn't up for it. But I guess Arteta would rather weaken midfield and left back before giving Pépé a start. He might lose the ball trying to dribble past someone, imagine that.

There's definitely money available, we went big for Vlahovic and also Raul De Tomas.

Clrnc wrote:

There's definitely money available, we went big for Vlahovic and also Raul De Tomas.

I should have said no money made available.
Recently there has been a suggestion the club required a 1 Out 1 In policy on transfers, not just in numbers but also in positions/roles.  As such if we need to sell to gain access to the funds in order to buy.  
I think the plan was to sell PEA/Laca in Jan to be able to sign Vlahovic, but in the end we had to give PEA away but it was done too late.  I also think it likely the same applied last summer when we wanted to sign Locatelli, but again it fell through when we didn't accept Roma's offer for Xhaka.  I suspect that failure impacted the decision to let PEA depart for no fee in order to try to make things happen re Vlahovic.  This would also explain why there was no money to sign Guimaraes as again we failed to move Xhaka before hand.

No, Locatelli almost definitely fell through because he wanted to go to Juve. Where is this suggestion coming from? 

He may have preferred Juve but they were not in a position to do anything immediately when we were making our negotiations and agreeing terms. As they say money talks and BS walks.

Have seen it in a couple of different articles from London football for at least 1 article regarding no money available for Guimaraes, and not sure if the 1 Out 1 In transfer policy was also from them of an AFC blog like LeGrove etc.
It may all be 1+1=3 but it does fit the scenarios and explains decisions and actions taken and why we have been so keen to get players off the books seemingly at any price.

What a performance.

Quincy Abeyie wrote:
jones wrote:

You know the argument's getting tired when you start mentioning the generational wealth a player has provided to his family. Couldn't make it up oof let's go champ.

Who are you to have an opinion about anything? You don't earn more money than Xhaka. 

Shit, sorry boys. Missed this one.

Threw that tidbit in there to show that not only is he a good player, but he’s actually been one for quite a while. Bit of a thinker that one. Unfair of me, i know.

I love this double act you guys have going on. It’s cute. Two birds with one stone situation over here so works for me too. Almost feels like cheating when both of you miss the point.

If this guy had some agility he would be a really good player. Alas.

Bosscielny wrote:
Quincy Abeyie wrote:

Who are you to have an opinion about anything? You don't earn more money than Xhaka. 

Shit, sorry boys. Missed this one.

Threw that tidbit in there to show that not only is he a good player, but he’s actually been one for quite a while. Bit of a thinker that one. Unfair of me, i know.

I love this double act you guys have going on. It’s cute. Two birds with one stone situation over here so works for me too. Almost feels like cheating when both of you miss the point.

I'm glad to miss any "point" you try to make.

Anyway had a good game yesterday, only one bar the kids in attack.

Massive performance from him yesterday, with Partey pretty much out of the season gonna need him to play out of his skin for the rest of the season.

Xhaka has been good for a while though I must admit, I was concerned how long that would last without Partey there to carry the creative burden. He was great yesterday though, particularly liked how often he looked for Odegaard and even used his right foot to find him on a couple of occasions. I don't think we actively seek out our most creative players often enough.