CamSaint

Ferry, Ramsey & Watts played for the U-23s today. They were all on the bench against Everton which suggests that KWP, Diallo & Minamino will at least be in tomorrow's match day squad.

Actually they didn't. They brought in KWP on loan to replace Cedric. In fairness, KWP was injured when he arrived, but he started his first match for us at home against Burnley on Feb 15 2020. I don't know if Valery was injured, but JWP played RB in the few games before KWP's debut & Valery wasn't even on the bench. KWP got hooked in the Burnley match & didn't start a match for us again until the 3rd match after lockdown against Watford, having replaced Valery at 1/2 time in the previous match at home to Arsenal. In the 3 matches before lockdown following KWP's debut, JWP played RB twice & Valery once. Valery started ahead of KWP immediately after lockdown at Norwich and then again against Arsenal.

The free agent market doesn't really solve any problems - you're not going to find anyone who's match fit & ready to go. Even if you could get someone without any work permit issues you'd have to ask whether, even when fully fit (& that could take some time), would they offer anything better than our current 'square peg' solutions such as Stephens? After all, on paper, you'd say Martina would be the obvious choice - PL experience with Saints & Everton - and an actual RB. But would anyone really want him back here? Unless KWP is going to be out for a very long time, bringing in a free agent will just add to the wage bill for someone who may never be in a position to get any game time.

Its an interesting conundrum. You're right that Romeu has only missed the one game, but before his return in the Villa game he was out for about 4 weeks (he last played before that on 29th December against West Ham). KWP, on the other hand, last played against Arsenal in the cup on Jan 23rd, so although he's missed 3 matches, he's only been out for 2 weeks. Of course, we have no way of assessing the extent of the injuries they suffered. I agree with you about Vestergaard. It wasn't even clear if he has returned to full training, so I'd be very surprised if he was risked, but who knows? (Ralph, I suppose!)

When we got our first win of the season at Turf Moor, Burnley were without Tarkowski, Mee, Gudmundsson, Cork & Rodriguez through injury and their bench was so young the commentators kept referring to the fact that they only had a tiny number of PL appearance between them. I think Burnley's injury problems hit them hard at the beginning of the season.

We won the PL U-21 League Cup in 2015. Some may remember the screamer Gallagher got in the 94th minute in the 2nd leg to win it. You can find the full line up at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014–15_Under-21_Premier_League_Cup, but the squad included Gazzaniga, Targett, Gallagher, Reed, Seager, Hesketh, McQueen, Sims, Sinclair & Slattery. That was almost 6 years ago, and I seem to remember that we thought that we had a pretty good cohort there. Yet only Targett has really developed into a PL player. Reed might establish himself in PL depending on Fulham's fortunes. I seem to remember that group playing together for the U-21s regularly, creating a 'team' but now the minute anyone seems to show any promise they are promoted to the first team squad & actually play far less football. Does being thrown into the first team pool too early inhibit their progress or is it a basic lack of the 'spark' that's needed? After all, if some of the awful signings that we have made had turned out to be decent, we wouldn't be relying on the youngsters - we would be waiting for one or two of them to force their way into contention.

Unfortunately presumably Tierney will be back for them as well to go marauding down the right hand side of our defence.☹️

Interesting choice for the bench. Given the OP's premise that everyone is fit, I guess Nlundulu, Salisu, Smallbone & Obefami could also be in contention, without even considering Long!

Although.....it all makes perfect sense (as Roger Waters once sang). Arsenal get to recreate the dream defence of Cedric & Ryan on the training ground (not sure either would get much first team football) AND Ryan & Danny can car share on the way up to training in North London!😀

No trying to unsettle anyone before the next 2 matches then? (Yes I know RB can't play on Tuesday but I would hope he'd play tomorrow).

'W' Formation: 1 GK 2 & 3 RB & LB 4 & 6 Right Half & Left Half 5 Centre Half 8 & 10 Inside Right & Inside Left 7 & 11 Right Wing & Left Wing 9 Centre Forward No substitutes

While this has been a bit of a strange season, it is difficult to imagine that Arsenal would finish top 4. Not impossible, of course, but probably unlikely. So unless they win the Europa League, they wouldn't be able to offer CL football next season. So that would just leave Spurs, who have more than a decent chance of finishing top 4.....

Don't distract me. I'm still trying to get to grips withe the country about to exit from EU transition rules.

I'm not sure I entirely agree with that. Ralph's signings to date have been Danso, Djenepo, Adams, KWP, Diallo, Walcott & Salisu. I suppose Danso made a bit of an impact but for all the wrong reasons. Djenepo got his wonder goal against Sheffield Untied, but he wasn't really a regular starter. I know that he has had injury problems which didn't help, but I'm not sure that Ralph expected him to slot in as a permanent starter straight away. KWP came on loan in January (injured, of course) but didn't get a start until Burnley at home. He got hooked in the 2nd half when we were chasing the game and thereafter played 2nd fiddle to Valery and even JWP at times. Even when we restarted after the lockdown Valery got the nod for the Norwich & Arsenal games. It wasn't until Valery was hooked at half time against Arsenal that KWP came in and made the spot his own, which obviously has continued this season. Diallo clearly isn't going to displace JWP or Romeu in the starting line up any time soon but hopefully will be a useful sub option/fill in for injury or suspension. Adams is slightly different, as if I remember correctly, he was a regular starter at the beginning of last season but got relegated to the bench as his confidence disappeared. Since he got his second chance he has blossomed into an excellent player. Walcott, with his experience, is most likely to make an immediate impact, especially with the injury to Ings. I seem to remember when we signed Salisu that someone said he was 'one for the future'. I can't remember whether that was Ralph or one of the ITKers on here. Clearly it is disappointing not to have seen him even on the bench so far, but our decent start has given the club more breathing space. I guess we just have to hope that we don't experience any injuries/suspensions/major drop in form with the current CBs until he is ready. I wonder whether the first time we see him might be the 3rd round FA Cup game in early January.

This is true, but he also scored the first 3 of our 14 PL goals this season so he has a total of 5 so far - Burnley, Spurs(2), Chelsea & Villa. (The other scorers are JWP 3, Adams 2, Vestergaard 2, Djenepo & Romeu).

A couple of years ago I went on a 'Legends' tour of the Emirates Stadium hosted by Charlie George. In the Q&A session at the end, I asked him if he thought he would have been able to deal with the fitness levels needed in the modern game. He said that, growing up, all he ever wanted to do was play for Arsenal and he would have done whatever it took took to try to achieve that ambition. If that meant improving fitness he would have worked at it. I imagine MLT would have been the same - despite his incredible skill, I guess he would worked to reach whatever fitness levels were needed to play at the highest level. It might not have been at Ralph's standard of fitness, of course! Incidentally, Charlie George was a superb host for the tour - he's a real character and was very entertaining. He made an effort to speak to everyone individually as we went round. The tour happened to take place one Saturday lunchtime when Arsenal were playing at White Hart Lane in a 12.00 KO & he kept checking his phone for the score updates - he wasn't a happy bunny as Arsenal lost 2-0!

One would have thought that when Salisu is eventually declared fit he would need at least one outing in the B team to prove that fitness before he got anywhere near the first team matchday squad.

Davies playing for Everton this afternoon & Walcott on the bench.

I suppose another possibility is that someone on Lazio's medical team has tested positive and the others are self-isolating so they can't actually carry out the medical?

I think I read somewhere that Spurs want a loan fee and all of his wages covered.

Apologies!

Someone - @LeG or maybe @Dan Sheldon - said that, given his injury (unspecified), he could be available mid-October - so probably after the next international break, if selected. Didn't see any signs of him in this week's training pics.

Wonder if he tested positive for Covid? He could have had a test before he left yesterday and the result came through today or could have had a 'quick response' test this morning before the medical?

Still, look on the bright side - at least Bale wasn't fit & available!

Well, Oliver Holt in last week's Mail on Sunday had Saints down to be relegated along with Fulham and West Brom! 🤣 Interesting that Ralph said in the week that the team were not as fit as when they came back after lockdown and I think that that edge in fitness played a key role in our performances at the end of last season. Hopefully that sharpness will return soon.