For the week the Premier League begins again, it’s quiet. It’s calm. Almost eerily so. Was it always thus? What was it like on August 12th in years gone by? For today’s blog, let’s dip into the archives to find out.
August 12th 2021
Obviously clubs cannot and should not make decisions based on how outraged people on Twitter get about it, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen greater opposition to an incoming transfer in my life. If he had signed, he’d have had a tough job convincing supporters he was up for it, and in that sense I really felt for the player himself.
That was when we were actively pursuing the signing of Aaron Ramsdale from Sheffield United. At this point, negotiations were at something of a stalemate, and it looked as if the deal might not happen. I guess there are some parallels with this summer and the reaction in some quarters to the signing of Noni Madueke. Ramsdale worked out pretty well until Mikel Arteta and Inaki Cana decided they needed David Raya, and then the manager told us straight-faced he might sub a goalkeeper in an actual game that matters and people spent more time they should have thinking ‘Oooh, will he really do that?!’
Of course not!
August 12th 2018
Getting ready for Unai Emery’s first game in charge. I wrote:
In terms of today’s team, we’re a little in the dark about what exactly he’s going to do, but if I had to guess I’d go with: Cech, Bellerin, Mustafi, Sokratis, Maitland-Niles, Torreira, Xhaka, Ramsey, Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Aubameyang.
That’s a back four that on paper looks a bit suspect, but perhaps its one which will be offered a bit more protection than we’ve seen in the past, both from an organisational point of view and the fact that this summer we’ve signed a defensively minded midfielder.
I got it wrong. He didn’t start Torreira, he started Matteo Guendouzi, football’s woolliest headless chicken. And despite signing Bernd Leno that summer, he started Petr Cech who almost scored an own goal trying to play the ball out from the back. Cech trying to play passes was like watching a ballerina trying to perform Swan Lake in wellies having drunk half a bottle of cheap vodka on top of a load of sleeping pills.
As for that back four, whatever issues people have about our squad going into the new season, look back on this, weep softly if you must, but remember we’ve come a long way.
August 12th 2015
What is is they say about falling off a horse? You should get back on the horse right away, but don’t punch the horse because punching horses is wrong.
Many Arsenal fans this week would like to punch a horse. Metaphorically speaking, of course. Anyone who harbours genuine intent to sock one of our noble, equine friends, should take a good long look at themselves and question why they’d want to cause harm and suffering to an animal that isn’t a wasp, because wasps are absolute arseholes but are very difficult to punch.
We’d lost our opening game to West Ham a few days previously. Sometimes I use the blog as a coping mechanism. Don’t judge me.
August 12th 2011
The main thrust of this morning’s reportage is that the manager has sanctioned the sales of both Cesc and $amir Na$ri to Barcelona and Man City respectively. Cesc, I will miss. Back in 2003, a youthful, sprightly and slightly less balding Arseblog was the first site to confirm the arrival of the young Catalan. Regardless of anything else I feel sad that he’s going.
The Guardian throws out the name of Juan Mata again and, in typical Arsene fashion, a little-known Brazilian named Jadson, playing in the Ukraine for Shaktar, was one of the first players to be linked with us. I mean, it’s just so Wenger.
I maintain there’s a book to be written about that summer. Arsene told the official site the night before:
It is very difficult to speak about possible transfers but we are in a situation where we have to make decisions one way or the other. Ideally you want it to be sorted out before the season starts.
Cesc left, I was sad. Nasri left, I struggled to care too much about him personally, but obviously the situation was bad because of how it dominated the summer. He eventually joined Man City. We did get transfers done, but not until after that infamous 8-2 at Old Trafford. It is worth pointing out that two of the players we signed in that trolley dash are now very important at Arsenal, but even all that time doesn’t fully heal the wounds of that summer.
As for Jadson, I looked him up and he had a decent career at Shaktar Donetsk and back in Brazil. We’ll never know if he’d have been a success at Arsenal, but at least in missing out on him we also allowed ourselves to miss out on Juan Mata but did sign Andre Santos. Fun times!
—
Fun times indeed. Hopefully that hasn’t scratched at too many wounds for you, but it is interesting how varied our readiness for the start of the new seasons has been. It ranges from ‘pretty ready’ to ‘absolute omnishambles wtf are we doing here?!’. I think this summer we’re quite a bit more aligned with the pretty ready than the alternative, and that should be some comfort.
Right, I’ll leave it there. There’s a new Arsecast Extra below if you haven’t had a chance to listen yet. For now, have a good one.
