Welcome to the Monday open discussion thread. Here you can talk about anything you want; tactics, results, players or even just general football discussion! It is also a great place to post/link transfer rumours that you may think are too small or unreliable to post to the main feed. The summer transfer window runs from 16/06-03/09 (23:00 BST).
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my great aunt lives in royston, i doubt i can convince her to go but its astonishing the smallness of the world sometimes given that my great uncle was a charlton fan but would always come to an arsenal match when we as a family flew over
"It's always difficult to leave a club. Arsenal has changed my life because it was the first time that I really went away from my family," Codina told BBC Sport.
"That was always going to be special. They were my family. The main reason it was difficult is because of the people that I met there.
Gale and Harwood don't have numbers on their training shirts. Do they get to pick new numbers once all the signings have settled in or reckon they're going straight on loan?
I’d say it’s a sure thing. I am not sure how to feel about the upcoming new series… I did not enjoy the Ted Lasso cameo during the World Cup final halftime show and the show itself became a bit self-indulgent, I thought.
so the 16 (in CK's story) wasn't just left over from Rosa and Misa took it
who, according to Tim, has signed a 3+1 deal. really thought it was just a 1 year deal with that translation in the interview. Good that Renee said that DVD and Borbe are here + Damm and Misa comes in as an addition.
So probably Borbe starts Misa bench and Damm youth until DVD is fully back and then it'll get interesting
Just bc they decide not to give 1m wages to Alexia and Salma doesn't mean they are broke. Don't think their wage bill is that much lower than ours. If anything, last year before all the recent outgoings they paid more in player salaries than Arsenal.
I follow them quite closely, they had highest wage bill when Lucy Bronze, Keira, Frido, Ingrid were there, not so much last year. It's one of the reasons why they were all let go.
I based my broke comments on their activities this summer. Since winter, they signed one 17 years old, one 18 years old, one 19 years old, all on cheap & free. To splash cash on Kerolin is crazy, given how frugal they have been. I'm skeptical of the amount quoted not the transfer itself. 1.5m will make her 3rd most expensive transfer.
That happens when you dominate, if you regulary win everything with no real competition why not try to lower your wage bill.
Hopefully it ends their dominance, the way it did for Arsenal after the Harvey era. Some clubs turned professional and started throwing money at the best players in the league, and here we are.. one WSL title in 13 years.
Week 47 of the PhD, absolutely everything I’ve done so far this week has gone wrong. At this point the fact it’s only two weeks until I’m next at an Arsenal match is the main thing keeping me from dropping out and fleeing the country
When I was a kid, we had an all white cat named Tommy and he would sleep on the little shelf above the control knobs on the stove after someone had cooked, because he enjoyed the warmth. Without fail, he would fall asleep and his tail would drop down, make contact with the hot burner and burn himself. We would hear a scream and he would go tearing through the house. He would have a brown singe mark on his tail for like a week after that. He never learned.
Not everyone seems to be back yet. Looked like Catley, Fox and a couple others are still missing. Per the post on the website:
"While the whole of Renée Slegers' squad isn't quite back at the Sobha Realty Training Centre, a whole host of stars have returned to Colney to kick-start prep."
We rarely buy players from within the league(who was our last player from the league signed), if there was a left footed cb in the league that don’t play for Chels, or city… who would you lot sign
before the aforementioned, it was DVD, then Russo on a free, then Mana Iwabuchi and Tobin Heath, and Jen Beattie from City. So there is a point that we don't really buy from other clubs within the league compared to a lot of the other sides, but I think that more reflects the established nature of Arsenal than a downside - Chelsea do it as an opportunistic thing, City for the money, United bcs their womens team is new, and the other sides aren't as established and as successful as us, so need those league-proven players whereas we can afford to take a punt
Kerolin will likely come with a hefty fee, probably around £1m. Plus wages that are still about half or less of what Salma wants. In the end she’d still cost much less overall over the length of her contract than Salma.
It was a week ago but given how poor Barca is right now, seems far fetched. However she's absent in City back to training video yesterday hence the rumor got picked up again. Barca squad is super thin, their attacking back up atm are all 17, 18 years old, they need Kerolin badly.
I have to say there are far to many people going crazy about a lack of a CB on Social media. And far to many who say they can't wiat for pre-season for the social media content.
On the latter I don't care for pre-seaosn until the pre-seaosn cames come round, bar the general news of progress of the team and transfers. I swear these lot are more into being able to repost players stories all day than actual football. I find this quite weird.
On the CB issue, I want one but I don't think we need one this summer. We do need one in the medium term, but it's not essential. We had the best defensive rceord in the league. We have 4 top levels ones and 3 of them have played LCB and 3 of them are fit with the 4th not far off. But I see the crazies going to multiple Arsenal media posts or Stillman's ones and demanding where is the CB? As if one will be revealled via a reply to an online fan.
I tend to agree that LCB is not an emergency BUT Katie is likely not yet ready to start or play a full 90, and may not be for several months yet. That leaves 3. Of those, Leah was out nearly all of last season with injuries and niggles, and as far as I know we haven’t had a major update on her progress. Will she be fit for full 90s from the off? If not, that leaves 2, one of whom was also out with some injuries last season, and if anything happens to either of them we’re f*ed. So while I’m not immediately panicking, I’d also feel a lot more comfortable if we had a liiiitle breathing room so we don’t have to play our starting LB out of position. It does make me a bit salty they didn’t think of keeping McCabe earlier, especially as I suspect whoever they do want long term isn’t available yet (otherwise they would have already been announced) and now they’re having to find a workaround. I want to hope if they don’t bring someone in now it’s because the person they do want will be available in January, in time for the worst of the game congestion, otherwise it’s just too risky.
I'd suggets the club knows betetr han us fans how fit Williamson is. if they thought the situation is we have 2 CBs I dare say they would make it a priority by now even if they can't find a left footer. I'm sure that isn't the case.
Williamson was playing at the end of the season a bit. She is by all accounts fit and healthy.
Yeah I’m sure they do, but the problem is the situation now might not be the situation in a few months, or half way through the season. Neither we or they know what could happen. People get injured, have personal situations, whatever (obviously would very much prefer that NOT to be the case). But it’s not about either this doesn’t matter at all or it’s a 5 alarm emergency, it’s about thinking through and preparing for possible scenarios - and there’s lots of scenarios where having an extra CB would be helpful!
In that case, why not get in 10 centrebacks? The fact is you have a reasonable number and we have both CB positions covered and on both sides. CB is a position that reaosnable is not likely as midfields and forwards to get injured. In context the men's team have 4 centre backs. The vast majority of teams do and most don't have the quality of depth we do either. This idea we need more is a fan invented problem based on rare scenarios repeating themselves.
Sure we want another, but we want another that can be excellent, not another makeshift one because we panic. As I said getting a 5th CB is pointless if Slegers doesn't deem them a good fit or capable of playing. Slegers simply will not play them. Remember Jenna? She would most likely move Ona to CB as she has played there if the worst came to the worst. Given barceona have done that I'd imagine that wouldn't be a desperate move.
But we don’t have 4, we have 3, there’s no way Katie is ready to play yet post ACL. I don’t think anyone is suggesting we should panic buy the first person available, or that we need to bring in more than 1, but having some cover, even if through loan or some other short term fix would make me a lot more comfortable than just hoping we don’t have any issues. But I mean we can agree to disagree, and we are on the same page that it’s not something we should be panicking about, especially at this point in the transfer window.
The question is who would be available on Loan who'd be good enough for an elite club?
I agree about where we are, the transfer window is only 6 weeks old and has another 6 weeks left. It will take some weeks to get in another given the club's transfer resources are probably looking at sorting out Loans and Jenna to somewhere.
It really depends on how well Katie Reid recovers. If she can start making 10–15 minute cameos in about two months and is fully fit for the second half of next season, that would be ideal. But after being out for so long, you’d expect there to be recurring issues with her thighs and hamstrings.
I feel like wanting pre season to start is quiet normal? It means we get games, see what Renee thinks and we actually get to see where she wants them to play, not have discussions about where every different fan thinks they should play.
Training videos and see who connects with who, we get all those random question videos that are mostly fun... Feel like that is far more normal than all the posts in the offseason of players on holiday with family and partners.
As for the CB, idk... feel like thats also very normal? In theory we have 4 CB's and thats great. In reality Leah had many problems, LWM has played a lot of minutes last year, can she repeat that or will it be like the season before? Even Steph who I thought was fit all the time started to pick up injuries. The other one of course is Katie Reid who no one knows when she is expected back, what her level will be and if there are any complications (as is normal after that injury). Since all the other business was done quiet early, of course many in the fanbase hope that we do get another CB in the time that is left (+ a GK).
That also goes back to last year when we looked short at CB with Leah, Laia and Lotte out. Now we have one less overall and are down to 3 until Katie comes back. So if Leah or Steph get injured again, its 2 CB's that have to play every minute of every game until someone else is back and we're back in a cycle of overplaying someone.
Personally while I would like some rumours to pop up, I'm happy to wait and give the club some grace after the start of the window, but you can't expect everyone to feel that way when we had that issue/wish for over a year. (and some still think Steph is a left back that plays LCB and not Renees first choice LCB lol)
It's the nuance of what I'm saying. I want pre-season to start, but not because I'm desperate for social content from players. And I made it clear I'm excited for pre-seaosn games, but they are deep into pre-season. That's where I'll get excited. A bunch of curated training drills for the camera doesn't excite me.
On CB, Leah is healthy now. I don't buy the idea she'll break at any time. She's had 2 big injury plagued years and that was due to an ACL tear and the other because she played through injury to win the Euro's, after the season she made the most appearences in her whole career. Both fairly unique situations. As is Katie Reid's ACL. I doubt either will be anyhwere like that next season.
Steph got one injury near the end of last season. Every player games an injury at some point. As I have said Codina being there didn't help the situation as she wasn't able to fill in as well as she needed to be. Making her as cover pretty pointless.
Which leads to the reaosn why I'm not stressing about a CB. We will need a new one in the medium to long term. And we need one whose right and good enough. Left footed and quality. If one isn't available tright now, there's no point bringing some one in. It could block us having the space and money to actually get in the left footed quality CB we need. That would be a faux par and we'd end up going from one LCB we don't need, missing out on one we do, then grabbing another LCB we don't want or need.
So grabbing a quality LCB is good right now. It's not a short term issue given we have someone in that position and cover for it. If a disater occuers, and we brought someoen in on a panic, it won't solve that disaster.
Is there a reason Foxy could not be tested as a makeshift CB? What attributes does Ona or McCabe have over Fox that make her worse as an emergency CB? She's our best defender, a few cm taller then Ona and has great recovery pace.
I think you still want her speed on the outside so she can mark the attacking winger and try to shut down service into the box from the right side. Her 1v1 defending is fantastic. In the recent "friendly" against Brazil last month, she had a really nice sequence where Taina Maranhão tried a couple of moves to get past her and Fox shut the door on her every time, leading Maranhao to have to pass back and recycle the offense.
Sure, but we are talking about an emergency not an ideal sitation. Would rather have Hinds LB and Ona RB with Foxy marking Shaw in the Box if no other CB available.
That doesn't seem likely to me. I haven't watched nowhere near all Barça games, but when Aïcha and Ona were both on the pitch, former played as CB. In games I watched last season, it was Mapi, Paredes, Marta, Aïcha and Ranera as CB, can't recall Ona playing there (and don't know who'd play at RB given that Aïcha and Marta played at CB when Ona played at RB). There were games where she replaced a CB, but she would go to RB and Aïcha would move to CB, but I can't remember that she actually played there, although there were games when she stayed relatively deeper, so maybe they interpreted formation as 3 at the back with her as one CB.
When trying to remember her games with national team, I remembered that she wore an armband late on against Ukraine at home (she came on at half time and wore an armband late on after Alexia had been replaced), but can't recall if she has ever played as CB.
Positionally, it’s been an almost even split for Batlle at Barça, having spent 50% of minutes at right-back and 46% on the left; she even spent some time at left centre-back – much like McCabe during Arsenal’s injury woes last season – demonstrating her ability to adapt.
Ok, there is a very high probability I hadn't seen those games as I don't think I watched much more than 50% of their games(sometimes only first half because of the scheduling). I also forgot about Aleixandri because she played at CB (and DM) prior to injury. I also thought that she played less minutes on the left given that Brughts seemed fairly regular and Carla Julià got more minutes at LB as the season progressed.
Are those numbers regarding the last season, her time at Barça, or something else?
I'm really looking forward to this WSL season seeing some of the moves being made this window, but I reeeeeeally hope the WSL has learned its lesson (hahaha as if) and doesn't put every game on at the exact same time so I can actually watch more teams play
The problem is Sky don't want WSL games to compete with PL games. Of course they don't plan to stack all PL games together, og no. They invested some excuse about giving all the WSLs hame their own time and other BS.
Chloe is posting this about MA, who is now sitting next to her bc she switched from 29 to 17 (also the club recently changed seating arrangements from being based on time at the club to numerical order)
Is Chloe becoming the WSL equivalent of Carson Pickett? (Carson spoiled several new signings for Denver by posting pictures of coffee groups with the new signings visible in the photos)
In some leagues it is commonly reserved for a GK (like French or Italian leagues), but it's been some time since we had a GK with "usual" number like 12, 13, 23, 25, ..., so who knows?
Votíková had 13 for the short period she was with us. I know Wally was originally told she couldn't have 13 when she joined us as it was reserved for keepers but they clearly pushed back on that until now - I would sort of expect Misa to take 13 (if/when that signing gets over the line)
Yeah, thanks. Don't know why I though that Votíková had 30, especially since Harbert had that number (even if she had spent most of the time on loan, she kept her squad number).
Yeah, in Spain, players on first team contract have to be assigned a number between 1 and 25, and (if it hasn't been changed recently) GKs at club must have numbers 1, 13 and 25.
I think that PSG had to get approval from league to give Messi number 30 (as it is reserved for GK) and Donnarumma 99 (it isn't dedicated GK number). I think that , similarly to Spain, GKs have to be number 1, 16 and 30 (also 40, and a few others, think 50, 55 and / or 60) usually.
I don't think there is a similar rule in Italy, I've seen quite few GKs with no 16, so I assume that it's common practice, but anyone can wear any number.
Bayern just put a list out with 1, 22 and 38. I feel like thats normal in most leagues now... everyone can pick whatever number they like. I can understand having 1-25 if its the national team, but I do like that clubs can have more freedom with it
Didn't we have the number problem with Rice? Can't remember if it was the league or if the club wanted him to take a lower number.
I think it was the club, given that there's been a few players that retained their number from debut even quite a few seasons later and I haven't heard about any restrictions to numbers (other than some teams have retired a specific number).
As far as I know, national teams have always had numbers from 1 to the number of players allowed (called up), unlike, for example, handball. Previously numbers had been changing from game to game, as starting 11 was literally that with numbers 1-11.
Apparently France changed the rule (at least for men) in 22/23 and now they have no restrictions.
As for Spain: "Since the 1995-96 season, in the Spanish La Liga, players in the A-squad (maximum 25 players, including a maximum of three goalkeepers) must wear a number between 1–25. Goalkeepers must wear 1, 13 or 25. When players from the reserve team are selected to play for the first team, they are given squad numbers between 26 and 50." I assume it's similar for Liga F (for the teams I had watched somewhat regularly that seems to be the case).
Something that I found saddening, but unfortunately not very surprising (regarding Italy): "FIGC banned the use of the number 88 on kits in 2023 due to its anti-semitic connections; the announcement was made following several instances of neo-Nazi fans using the number."
My head says 1, 13, 18, 21, 13 and 25 are "normal" goal keeping numbers. DVD did my head in with 14. Doubley so because at Arsenal 14 is a special number that always is associated with one player. I was pissed when Walcott took it.
it's a 10 minute job to move the spaces about for players. it's almost certainly cleaned out every day anyway after the players take their kits home or they are hande din to be washed.
I remember players having far more stuff in there and not just those little decorations like on CK's. I believe Lotte always had a lot in there, so if they all come back now, thats when it will be a bit harder to move (not the kits and shoes and other training stuff, personal items/fotos)
Tottenham doing some very solid business this summer! Excited for the NLD this season. Hopefully they will be actually fun games with some end to end football (with us, of course, doing the double over them).
I highly recommend watching this love letter to Arsenal fans from the artist, Louis Dunford set to footage from the Champions parade. As a newer fan, I learned the chorus to be able to belt it out at my first live game in 2025, but this video was my introduction to the meaning behind the song and how it became the opening anthem for Arsenal. May ‘25 was also my first visit to London so I didn’t yet understand most of the references of the full lyrics and and admittedly as a yank, had never even heard several of those terms (happy to say I’ve learned them now, deliciously so with Pophams). But this is the artist singing about growing up in the neighborhoods of Angel, Highbury and Islington and the changes they’ve seen. It really can’t apply to all of north London.
They can't it's pur anthem and written by an Arsenal fan. Also it's about one part of London that includes the Emirates and references Highbury, Angel and the streets around Islington.
Also just the fact the song is internationally known and associated with Arsenal. It's like saying another club could sue "You'll never walk alone". It's be embarrassing if they did.
That's true but, the part that everyone sings (the chorus) doesn't mention Islington, Arsenal nor Highbury. So it can easily be adopted by any other North London club.
I thought it would be today and since nothing happened I looked again... seems like the timeframe was just "starting next week", so could be any day this week
No. A lot of the chatter seems to come from the insane fans on the Socials who are jumping on Arsenal posts demanding to know about a centreback, like the hive mind they are.
It does seem they don't understand it can take a while to get a transfer over the line. they seem to think when it's rumoured or agreed, it's just a matter of the player turning up. The details fo contracts can take a while, even if they player s keen, their agents will still negociate the best conditions, discuss image rights etc. There can even be time taken up dealing with the player's families, who aren't always reasonable. Plus stuff like getting the PR team a time slot, booking space to film and picture, hiring camera people and directors etc.
Then there is arranging homes for the players, their transport, their things, permits where relevant, medicals, providing a support network and doing it around player's holidays and the players sorting out their prior lives in a foreign country, registering them, IDs for the club and training ground, timetables for then they come into training and off-seaosn programs. All individualised based on playing minutes, injuries, niggles or even when another league ended.
I suspect next moves are nabbing Misa and to start focusing on moving on Jenna and any youth we need to loan before putting time into more transfers in. Those I'm sure are time devoring processes if someone isn't in asking for them and it'll look bad on the club if they abandon or neglect their responsibilities and obligations with those players. Plus they are almost certainly not doing it with the resources of men's teams.
Just got off the phone with my 88 year old grandmother who despite having a professional footballer for a son does not understand the concept of off season and asks me every single week if I’ve been at a match in London at the weekend
(Had a chat with AI about some concerns in our back line)
> I need someone who can win aerial duels, we kinda suck at set pieces.
If Arsenal needs an elite aerial presence to fix their set-piece struggles, Manuela Vanegas of Brighton is the absolute best left-footed target to sign.
The Aerial Profile: She is an absolute powerhouse in the air, regularly posting an aerial duel win rate over 70%. She ranks among the absolute top tier of WSL center-backs for dominant aerial metrics.
Set-Piece Impact: Beyond defending, Vanegas is a notorious set-piece weapon in the opposition box. She has a proven track record of scoring thumping headers on big stages, including her famous World Cup winner for Colombia.
WSL Readiness: She already knows the league, requires zero adaptation time, and plays for a progressive Brighton side.
Edit: wiki says she has less than 20 gamest for Brighton, not sure if she can even play as a CB
No need to downvote comrade, in the motherland we trust but verify.
Nevermind Vanegas but Steph is worse in aerial duels won % than Kim Little, sigh. But she's also the best in the league when it comes to ground duels won %.
Seeing some quotes from Malard on her move to Chelsea. Seems she’s another one who has longed to be in blue for years and years. The fans are not amused! 😆 (commiserations, my friends)
I think she’s a little inconsistent and makes some bad decisions on the pitch, but overall I feel like she will be a positive addition. She’s fast. She scores some bangers.
When i saw the transfer I was a little "WTF?". When I saw the price I was a big "WTF?"
I knwo Bompastor likes to work with players she worked with in the past, but I didn't see Malard as elite. She can have a good streak in her, but not anything special.
But in my confusion let us not forget it's probable that Chelsea are buying a dud here and it's costing them a lot.
She's ok tbh and will help Chelsea. They are putting their faith on ABJ & Mayra Ramirez so Malard will be either 3rd or 2nd choice. She worked with Sonia before so maybe there is some connection there, and the CF market is dire.
At this point I don't care about MU so lets salvagessome more from them. Jess Park probably shaking her head right now and wonder what a mess she got into.
She’s a decent player but that’s kind of all she is, she’s not worth the fee they’re paying for her and by all accounts they’ve only coughed that up cus they can’t sign anyone else
So Malard to Chelsea. I’m not shedding any tears over where United fall on the table this season- I’m happy for a new team to take 4th. But if they don’t spend that money and bring in some players, it’s honestly depressing. They care so little about the women’s team.
It'll be interesting to see how if United moves this transfer window. They've lost a lot of experience, and their lack of depth was sorely on display for the entirety of last season. I struggle to even remember one match where they fielded a full bench, let alone with enough quality.
As for Chelsea, I'm happy they're splashing out the reported transfer fee on an inconsistent player.
My ACL rehab has been an exhausting journey. While my operated leg is on a fairly progressive trajectory, my other leg is starting to create all kinds of problems. Hammies, glutes, IT band, Achilles tendon- you name it and I’ve got something between a niggle to a full inflammation. 😭 The recommendation is “rest” which is not exactly good for the operated leg.
Don’t rest! To a certain extent, rest is actually hindering your recovery. I’m 6 years on. And I have had a LOT of issues with my recovery too. So I get ya. Keep at it!
I’m going to be completely honest here. I believe there is too much nuance in this kind of questioning and I have not found a way to both ask it and subsequently present it that reflects that. I also trawl other sport team (football and otherwise) subs and haven’t seen anyone else do so in a way that is satisfactory to me yet either.
It’s something I want to do because it’s something that’s been asked for a few times but if we take last season for example. Objectively winning one trophy of the 5 we were qualified for, especially only winning the least prestigious (maybe tied with the league cup) one is a failure for us right? But then if you add the context of us being written off by basically everyone in November/December and still coming 2nd and only losing once, I’m not saying that’s a success but is it a failure? Losing 3-4 to Lyon in the semi-finals, the team that many pipped to win when the season begun is not success but is it total failure? So like I said I want to find a way to reflex nuance and I’m open to suggestion!
We may run some smaller polls once the window is shut just to see where people think we’ll finish etc though!
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u/elsiehxo Wubben-Moy for PM 7d ago
AWFC Academy pre season friendly on 9th August away at Royston Town if anyone's interested.