Right, we are out of Carabao Cup and FA Cup, but not everything is lost. We are 11 points clear of Man City in Premier League and we can take that lead to 12 points if we beat Bournemouth today. City do have 2 games in hand, but if they win both, we will still have a 6 point lead with only 6 games left for the season. In Champions League, we have a 1-0 advantage against Sporting and the second leg is at home. If we managed to get at least a draw, we will be playing Atletico (most likely) in the semi finals. I would rather play Atletico than Flick’s Barcelona.
The chance of lifting a trophy is still a possibility. And a win today will improve that possibility even more. Bournemouth are sitting in the bottom half of the table, and I hope we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot today.
Playing XI is out and I still don’t understand what has gotten into Arteta’s mind.
Why is Martinelli in the playing XI when you have Hincapie available. It’s not the time to be concerned about the injuries, because a loss in any of the games could mean a title. I’m OK with rest of the selection, Eze could have played ahead of Havertz but I’m not sure how much of his fitness is back.
I don’t understand the fact that we spend more than 250m on midfielders (Rice, Zubimendi, Norgaard, Havertz, Odegaard) and yet, we always have 2 DM-profile players and an option to choose from a non-performing Odegaard with a out-of-form Havertz. Anyway, that shouldn’t be a problem for a team sitting on 1st, playing against a bottom half team I suppose.
We need to win today. Man City has to visit Chelsea tomorrow and though I don’t have much confidence in Chelsea beating them, anything can happen. In last 3 seasons, we have always been the favorites going into last 7-8 games but have given it away. There are 7 games left, and 7 test of whether we have learned something over the years.
Right, game starts in an hour. See ya.
TH14 in his Paramount+ commentary after our semi final 1st leg said:
The PSG v Bayern was Total Football, The Arsenal v Madrid was Football, The Tuesday game was modern football the Wednesday game was old school football.
Using that logic makes Company a far superior manager then Arteta. That is just about right and just thinking about the money that has been pissed away in the past 6 years with nothing but ridicule from the footballing world to show for that is on KSE.
Summation of Wednesday’s semi final:
2 mediocre managers coached their teams to play yawning football and to share 2 penalties in 90 minutes.
Nice to see you making friends TRVL
(Lols)
Your logic is flawed Killjoy.
There’s no ‘better’ or ‘worse’ between total football or football. Arbitrary assessments and arbitrary perspective.
I don’t feel many people who know and understand football would describe either Simeone or Arteta as mediocre managers. Simeone has won league titles and been to UCL finals, he’s in the semi this year. Arteta has won less but top of the league and back to back UCL semis. Lots of great managers never achieved the latter.
In what bizarre world you inhabit would that be mediocre? You’re letting some self inflected, irrational dislike for Arteta allow, or maybe a neediness for group approval, alow you to make strange sounding comments.
I don’t think TH14 would describe either manager as mediocre. You’re being plain silly.
If we want to really know what Henry think about Arteta, just check, GIYF. Apparently he thinks Arteta is doing a “fantastic” job. Not a mediocre one
Why didn’t you check this before doing that Squeaky Vera thing of making things up to sound cool?
If TH14s thoughts are your reference points on managerial ability perhaps consider that he described Simeone as a “reference point” for all, all not some, coaches.
But yes, some needy kid on a blog considers him mediocre because he got to the UCL semis and doesn’t play kamikaze defence. Or his play is described as “football” which isn’t untrue.
Killjoy, you came online to make a non point and make yourself look silly.
The football World isn’t ridiculing Arsenal Killjoy, just some random angry guys on a blog
Most of the football world recognises that even coming second in the prem isn’t something a mug would achieve three times. Nor back to back UCL semis.
Perhaps your football world is dominated by people with all anger and no understanding. You probably don’t get out much or talk to proper supporters.
Don’t Iet internet nutters ruin your perspective.
…the real Killroy used to write mostly about rugby union with the occasional measured observation about Arteta and the club. It was readable and thought provoking. This is a distinctly ersatz version. It’s like an AI reworking of the original Killroy except that the, ‘I’ stands for inanity, insanity or insincerity. Or possibly all three.
KP
Not much Rugby going on at the moment since the Six Nations competition finished and I am that much into Club Rugby as the Premiership is not really brilliant. I will watch the European Champions cup if Bath faces Leinster.
However the Rugby Nations Championship starts in the Southern Hemisphere in July and then in the Northern Hemisphere in November followed by playoffs in London. So looking forward to that since the Paramount Streaming service has the rights for it as well as the CL rights in the US.
Apparently Arteta’s bringing in an independent expert (who also happens to be a personal friend) to try and figure out why we get so many injuries.
Of course it has to be a friend – any truly subjective review would come back with “its the cunt in charge”.
If results go the right way this weekend the Spuddies could find themselves 5 points adrift of safety with 3 games left 2 of which are Chelsea away and Everton at home.
Marc, put aside your rage and try to explain, you can swear if it helps you verbalise your muddled thoughts, why Arteta is to blame for injuries.
I’d say, let’s see what the findings of the report are.
Your anger towards a man you never met who manages a team you don’t support won’t be one. Of course I could do a Squeaky and give you a ‘if reports (that never have credible sources) are to believed” the equivalent of Trump’s “some people say” and make up a reason why it’s Tets’ fault. That would be highly daft however.
Killroy—there’s no doubt that Tuesday’s affair was vastly more entertaining than our match in Madrid…that said, I would suggest that after Simeone’s halftime adjustments (shifting into a back 3), they played a far more attractive brand of football…the scoreline easily could have been 3-1 for them, or 3-2, if you’re convinced that a second penalty should have been given…the whole “controversy” was more of a procedural one than what did or did not happen on the pitch, as most of the so-called experts were far more concerned about VAR’s involvement than whether or not another penalty was justified … personally I wouldn’t be shocked if our growing reputation as a side that goes to ground way too easily factored into the equation
as for the second leg, if this were a few years back when away goals mattered, I would be incredibly confident, but if Alvarez and Sorloth, who didn’t play in our mid-week fixture, are healthy, I’m far less convinced about the outcome…now I’m assuming that MA will be less conservative at home, as is typically the case, but if we can’t find a way to get out of our recent funk, MA’s predictable tweaks might not be enough…if we come out and do our usual gig, by pressing high for the first 15 then revert back to our possession-happy malaise, we could open ourselves up to the counter…it’s not as if we didn’t provide them with ample opportunities, that they simply failed to convert, when we were in defence-first mode…even so I would still favour us by a cunt hair
Marc—when you’re running a “yes man” operation you can’t afford to have “outsiders” in the building…so whereas we hope that this “investigation” will provide some valuable insights, if his friend determines that it has somethng to do with MA’s training methods or the fact that he’s playing players when they aren’t fully fit, I very much doubt those results will be made public or acted upon
TRVL
That was my point – Arteta’s moving into cover my arse territory. He knows if he fails to win either the PL or CL chances are he’s gone so he’s trying to pre prepare excuses why it wasn’t his fault.
If he’s so fucking good you’d think he would have asked these questions in one of the previous seasons we’ve seen key players break down at critical times.
Marc—I wasn’t suggesting otherwise, I was just agreeing with some of your sentiments…of course I’ll reserve judgement until the investigation has been conducted and an official statement has been made
MLS starting in the midfield.
Arsenal up 3-0
No one up ?
Hoopah—playing a little catch-up, started 15 minutes late so I didn’t want to come on until I was watching in real time…good on Saka and VG for taking their chances…Fulham have been atrocious at the back, especially on their left side, and poor going forward…this performance might have cost them any hope of playing in Europe next year…if I was a club looking to hire on Silva, who’s contract expires at season’s end, I might think twice after watching this one, as he got his tactics all wrong…as for us, this could be an important result from a goal differential standpoint…I would still rather be in our position, with a 6 point lead, than chasing things with 2 in hand…if City go hunting for goals they could leave themselves exposed at the back on the counter, which is a weakness of theirs
this one’s done and dusted…good to see some more goals on the board…Fulham deserved nothing on the day…enough said on that…Cheers