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.
You used to be angry at Arteta, once I blew up your stupidity, you’ve got all angry at me. At least you’ve sussed out that Tets isn’t a bum. You took your time, rage got in your way.
You ought to be grateful, I was only trying to help a little man in need. It’s kind of worked I suppose, you post less of your dozy football takes. Your attempts to cope with my insight, wit and repartee is comes at no cost to me and saves us all having to read your constant stream of role play gooner daftness.
Cheers squeaky, have fun this morning, yank time, if you can bear to watch.
Why dont you slags go skipping down to the ‘Ems ‘with your Cunt and Win the Dog half and half scarves.
I used to go to Highbury and it was fucking rocking, now its full of plastic ponces , tourists and wankers.
As I said last week.
This cunt is still 2 successive defeats away from the sack.
A Madrid and West Ham.
Unlike Fulham , at least they will be fighting like Everton did brilliantly last night
Slag/Cunt
Delete where appropriate.
City deserved to lose last evening, even though they salvaged a tie with some late game heroics. and not just because of their comedy of errors, but due to Pep’s all-too-familiar chicken shit tactics…once again he tried to hold on to a first-half one goal lead in a gutless fashion…sound like anyone you know…that’s a difficult enough ask when you have a world-class CB tandem, let alone when you have clowns like Khusanov in your backline…even though it was ultimately Guehi who opened the floodgates, Khusanov made a plethora of amateur hour errors that really set the tone…instead of changing things up, once it became evident that Everton weren’t going to allow them to possess their way to a relatively easy victory, he simply stayed the course and paid the price
as I’ve said on a number of occasions, I believe that Pep would have already moved on if it weren’t for the ongoing investigation…it’s clear that the PL has no real interest in raking who many perceive to be one of the greatest managers in footballing history over the coals and both City and Pep know this, but if he were to exit stage left I’m fairly certain the PL powers that be would adopt a completely different stance…so he needs to stay on until these issues fade into the background because even a post-Pep scandal could potentially sully his name for years to come…so whereas he wants to win, his not all-in and you can see that in the way he’s managing and by his unusually erratic body language…it reminds me a bit of his final year at Bayern
on the pitch, without his once reliable spine of KDB & a fully healthy Rodri, he plays his favourites and opts for a boring brand of sideways football…this is why Silva is on the pitch 24/7 and he’s not near good enough to move the needle for a top club, unless your plan was to confuse the opposition by dribbling in endless circles…of course I’m not suggesting that Silva isn’t a skilled player, but he can no longer be the key cog on a side chasing major trophies…not to mention, he’s fucking atrocious defensively…regardless, when your heart isn’t in it or you haven’t the acumen, like his former cone boy, you tend to opt for what you perceive to be as the safest bet, chicken shit tactics and putting your favourites on the pitch. which tends to come home to roost against the better and/or fully engaged sides
TVRL
If Guardiola stopped gobbing all evening and being his usual arrogant cunt of himself.
Sometimes he even surpasses our moronic cunt in the cunt stakes.
He should have switched Doku and Haaland’s position in the second half.
It would have meant their centre halfs would have split and the danger man Doku would have been free in the middle and stopped taking hits from the Everton lumps of lard.
Thats the problem with the mainstream media and the modern fans , they are fucking gormless cunts who dont really understand the cunting game.
We have two absolute belters on here for starters
Who know fuck all about fuck all.
But have to give Moyes credit.
He really does get his lads fired up week in week out and he is working with some right cack.
I ve seen better players on the Marshes, than most of his lot.
BBC website showing Skelly starting in CM and Zubi on the bench.
I can only assume that either the BBC have fucked up for Zubi’s carrying a knock.
Starting line up has MLS in it with Zubi on the bench. Why? It is Arteta Pep’s gimp who chooses the starting XI.
Killroy
You can only assume either Zubi’s carrying a knock or Arteta’s prioritising the league.
he’s playing to the crowd and leaning into a narrative that became quite prominent after our match against a pathetic Fulham side, which was that Skelly was a revelation in the midfield…of course that’s not like MA, who’s a stubborn cunt, but when you score 3 goals from open play after a host of rather dire outings, you roll with it and hope for the best…let’s keep in mind that it’s not too dissimilar from that inverted backer role and the fact that Zubi has had some rather pedestrian performances lately
TRVL you got this spot on and added to this is that Fulham had nothing to play for they were already vacationing at the beach.
TRVL
The intelligent fan would then ask if Skelly is so good in midfield then why the fuck haven’t you played him there in other matches.
Others (no names mentioned) will declare it a tactical masterclass.
our midfield was exposed when Simeone switched to.a back 3, so he probably wanted someone with a bit more pace in there…not to mention, MA has been known to run things back on the heels of a good result
AF—in my mind Pep hasn’t been the same since that CL semi-final a few years back against Madrid…now the difference between him and our gutless fuck is that Pep earned some considerable leeway when it comes to evaluating him as a manager, as his chock full trophy cabinet would attest, but when you can’t find a way to properly tweek your tactical approach when you have a generational Striker up top, then the whole chequebook narrative gains some traction…just imagine what things might have looked like if KDB was in his prime with that fucking cat up top, as the former would have forced some much-needed directness into their attack…to prove my point, until just recently, City was at the bottom of the League when it came to crosses into the box, which seems unthinkable with a man of his stature and skills in the final third
we were rather fortunate there
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Gabs shooting from that distance…it’s clear MA didn’t like what he saw in the film room from our last encounter (speaking specifically about the second-half)
how there was nobody on the end of that Skelly ball is dumbfounding
thank goodness they’re overpassing in the box
fuck me I wish we would run the channels like them sometimes
maybe instead of Gabs at the edge of the box we could have someone else, like Eze or Cala positioned there
we’re not going to be given any 50/50s if we keep flopping while looking at the ref
there’s little doubt that Diego has spent some time with his players discussing how to counter our set piece dark arts, thus the short corners