Well, we needed a win and we got a big one. 5-0 against any opponent is a great result irrespective of how poor the opposition is. Though, if you are thinking all is well now, you are on the wrong side of the fence.
Crystal Palace didn’t test us defensively. There’s nothing to talk about it. In the midfield, Jorginho’s assist to one of the Martinelli’s goal showed us why Thomas Partey was an integral part of our title chase last season. Declan Rice has been brilliant since joining us, but he either lacks those incisive passing or is restricted by the approach manager asks him to take. I am inclined towards later, because he was playing a much advance role at West Ham and was doing pretty well. We need better than that in the midfield.
Our first goal was a brilliant header from Gabriel. We have all missed to notice him as Saliba takes all the fame but he is as integral to the defence as anyone else. And he is still growing in that role. As they say, if you have nothing to talk about a defender, he has done a great job. Second goal should have been awarded to him, I have no idea why the Premier League decided to give it an own goal.
We were slow throughout the game, as if we were tired or saving energy for the future. As long as we win, I should not complain but we need to change gear in coming games. Third goal was a brilliant counter attack, Raya released the ball pretty fast and Trossard made sure to finish it. 4th and 5th goals were just the Brazilian doing his own thing; Martinelli decided to pay tribute to the Thierry Henry, twice under two minutes. Both were brilliant goals.
So, what’s the problem? In a 5-0 scoreline, your centre forwards remained goalless. Martinelli, who more often than not, hug the side line, drifted a bit to the middle and ended up with 2 goals.
We need a goal-scoring centre forward. There’s no beating around the bush anymore. Either that, or play Martinelli in the middle. Jesus is not scoring 20 goals a season for you but he can cover the wings and in a much better way than Martinelli or even Saka. Pep knew it, we can see it but Arteta needs to make that change. Also, once Thomas is back, please do not play him at RB to accommodate Rice and Havertz.
ESR got some minutes finally. He wasn’t great, nor was he bad. I saw him taking his trademark run with the ball but stopping suddenly in search of another player in red and white to pass. I mean what was that? For fuck sake, let them play a bit like humans and not machine. I may be wrong here, but Arteta’s reaction to Martinelli’s second goal was more of a ‘you are not doing what you have been told’.
—
I have some bad news, we haven’t done anything (yet) in the transfer market. I doubt if we have the money, but a CF would be great. There is no point keeping 2 world class GK, get rid of one. Eddie can fetch you some money. There’s no one else we can think of selling and can bring us some money. Cedric will probably go on free, so will Elneny. Lokonga, Tavares will finish their loans at end of the season and come back to us, giving some more headaches to Mikel. Marquinhos is back from his loan spell after we terminated it but either we find him another club or he will play in the U23.
—
Liverpool won without their 4 starting players. They sit 5 points ahead of us. Not good because a three horse race is even tougher to win. Mikel and Havertz can win something and I will eat the humble pie. Until then, I have my doubts.
Right, short one today. We are playing Forest next in a week’s time and Liverpool after that. A head to head game against Klopp will be a 6 pointer in current scenario and that would decide if we continue to be in the race. Hope you are doing well.
(from previous post, but the second paragrah likewise applies here)
KP-good thinking…Pedro likely won’t die on the Arteta Knows Best hill, but he will definitely take whatever measures necessary to curtail what he deems as negative commentaries being directed towards his managerial overlord, at least until it no longer serves him from a financial perspective…I know all about his vindictive self, as I can’t even view LG unless I go into full-bore VPN mode…on a side note, I do wonder if anyone was taking MA to task over his cringe-worthy Salt Bae video, which clearly didn’t sit well with some
as for more pressing concerns, we’re so far out of this transfer mix that instead of reading about any substantive links between us and any players of consequence, I’m being inundated with nothing burger articles about some potential outgoing periphery pieces, like Cedric, loan nonsense involving Nuno, Striker-related transfer speculation about the summer window and all sorts of seemingly “positive” reports about some short and long-term injured players…of course the first 3 points mean functionally nothing, as none of these issues will having any bearing on the business end of the season, but the latter point, regarding injury-related banter, suggests to me, once again, that this could be another “like a new signing” window at the Emirates…based on our collective experiences involving this old Wengerian trope, this could be another season defined by a litany of poor choices both on and off the field
TRVL
Arteta took All or Nothing very seriously I guess. You either play every game (Havertz, Odegaard), or you don’t play at all so your transfer fee is fucked.
Lokonga, Tavares will be let go in not so distant future. Or may be, we get 2m for each. I don’t know why the journos are even talking about Cedric’s transfer, as if he is going to fund the Mbappe signing.
KP/TRVL
People love their echo chambers. It’s very difficult to make them change. I am trying something else to improve engagement, but it’s a slow process. Few months and things will be ‘more’ lively here.
Nice piece Ambarish.
Getting a result when playing badly is a good attribute for a team to have the issue is it can’t be a high percentage let alone a majority of games.
Arteta’s in his 4th full season and the truth is his first 2 were poor, last season looked great but we fell away so badly that the points reverse is embarrassing and this was in a season where all of the top teams had poor seasons.
Arteta’s purchasing is poor most of the time and he doesn’t improve players or take their games to the next level.
We could seriously be looking at finishing 5th but getting CL because the PL is awarded an extra place and the fanboys will celebrate.
The damage Arteta is doing to the club is huge and in 10 years people will look back and wonder how so many were fooled LIR will be one of the few places that had it right all along.
Ambarish-just wanted to ask how the Indian media is covering Sanjay Shah’s, CEO of Vistex, freak death at Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad…I guess they had travelled to India to celebrate their firm’s 25th anniversary and he and the company’s President, Raju Datla, had planned some sort of grand entrance from within a steel cage to be lowered from the rafters and supposedly the cable snapped…Cheers
TRVL
It was horrible. I have seen that video. There wasn’t many ‘IFs’ and ‘BUTs’ considered in the planning. Media likes such stories so they covered it everywhere.
Just noticed Chelsea is going to Wembley for a Carabao Cup final.
We had so much to fight for – FA Cup, Carabao Cup, PL, Champions League in the beginning.. and we both PL/CL are not going to be easy.
Ambarish
Palace were a beaten team before kick off. It should have been a good chance to improve our GD even further but our team have reigns on – controlled by the Manager. ESR must wonder what he has to do – play his natural game or stop mid move just to please the person shouting at him from the sidelines. 5-0 sounds as if Palace had their shorts pulled down but clearly that wasnt the case. The two goals from Martinelli were in injury time when the Palace players already had their chins on the floor. If we do not purchase a striker then Martinelli needs to be upfront. He will not score from every run but he will score more than GJ. GJ will probably improve his scoring record operating on the right.
There’s only one former manager in the whole wide world who’s elated about the dearth of business being conducted this window and you all know exactly who I’m talking about
“Most clubs have very professional recruitment departments, they use a lot of data. Everything they do in the window is planned well in advance.
So there’s not so much panic buying or selling that we saw in the good old days, or the bad old days, depending on what you think about the transfer market”
In the main, I would concur with the above sentiments, which is why we’re such an amateur hour organization…last year we clearly made two seriously flawed panic buys, which isn’t to suggest that Tross and/or Jorginho are hacks, it just means neither addressed our most pressing needs and their very presence has hurt our ability to make moves now…Tross simply doesn’t fit MA’s script, he’s not a like-for-like cover piece for Marts, as he lacks the pace, and he doesn’t have the defensive capabilities or distribution skills to be considered a proper Xhaka upgrade…worst of all, his obvious limitations ultimately led MA to purchase the underwhelming Havertz…as for Jorginho, he’s no scrub, as he can make the occasional needle moving pass and he’s a field general of sorts, but he’s undersized, too old and a liability in our final third, as such his acquisition made little to no sense
as for this season, anyone with two eyes and half a functioning brain could see that we weren’t playing at the same level this season than last…as such our not-so-dynamic duo should have been crafting a plan some months back regarding how we might best proceed come January…they should have been scouring the globe for viable transfer partners for the likes of Eddie, Ramsdale, Jorginho, Partey, Elneny and/or ESR in order to facilitate any subsequent TW moves, as all are considered periphery pieces by the manager or clearly insufficient options…unfortunately this duo has struggled mightily when it comes to this very crucial aspect of the business…not to mention, the only way they seem to attract any player of import, with other options, is by paying above the number on both the front and back ends, which has left the cupboards functionally bare…this poor planning falls on two individuals and two individuals alone, unless you want to point the finger of blame squarely towards ownership for putting these two learning curve rejects in charge…there’s no reason in the world we should be facing the exact same dilemma 3 years running yet we’re still devoid of real answers…simply put, it’s unacceptable
Frankly, I don’t believe in data. You give me a set of it, and you tell me how to present it – positive or negative and I can do that. Been doing it for 10 years of my career and 4 years of my college education.all this xG crap and shots on target are just that.
If we track a player for a month, and then deep dive in his stats, fine. But otherwise, it’s just crap. Eyes are the best judgement. Jesus failed at CF for City. Zinchenko was error prone.
Marc
Are you based in London? If yes, I would suggest you to visit East Ham.. there is a shop in front of Ruskin Avenue, shame that sports bar got closed few years back for tax evasion, there’s a Pakistani shop just in front. Ask him a bottle of Old Monk, 17£ it was 2 years back. Made in India, less than 100km from where I stay. Make sure you take it with tap water.
It’s cold. It’s rum. That’s all.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/24/joe-lewis-billionaire-tottenham-hotspur-pleads-guilty
When you plainly don’t have a cat in hell’s chance of avoiding justice, make a cloying apology and plead guilty. Old white guy and billionaire will get white man’s justice in the fuck-awful country that is modern day US. Tottenham spiv – he’s as bad as the Kroenkes.
Klopp leaving Liverpool at the end of the season.
Highly likely that will mean Liverpool winning the PL although its a huge opportunity for Arsenal to kill two birds with one stone.
Liverpool replace Klopp with Arteta and we’ve got rid of a shit manager and fucked Liverpool at the same time.
Marc
2, two …😂😂 birds with one stone
Marc
The odds on Alonso being the next Liverpool manager are low already. Arteta will manage Real Sociedad when he leaves AFC – if he is lucky.
Ivan G had good meetings with both Klopp & Pep but unfortunately Stan was still in Love with Wenger.
Right
Likely Alonso will sign as the new Liverpool manager. Klop incidentally has clarified that he will not manage any other English Club besides Liverpool. Quite decent of him. But with an option to be available to Liverpool in case they bomb. Liverpool were lucky to see out Gerard capabilities elsewhere. In that sense Chelsea were unlucky, so also Arsenal. Arteta has managed to keep his nose out of the water only because of the Kroenkes massive cash infusion. The team is too good to fail . Arsenal were fortunate Saliba proved his mettle beyond doubts to become irreplaceable. Just imagine if there was another loan as Gerenational was thinking loudly about when Saliba came back !
I’d rather have a clapped-out Klopp than more Arteta torture…. I’ll get my coat
Maybe the bin dippers will get Woy out of cryogenic suspension.
The only thing worse than watching MA trip over his dick time and time again, is the knowledge that Klopp won’t be replacing him anytime soon, if ever…as the modern day kings of self-inflicted wounds, I always felt one of our biggest cock-ups was not cutting ties earlier with Wenger then aggressively pursuing Klopp, once his Dortmund gig had run it’s course…he was the perfect replacement, as his larger-than-life personality would have been a breath of fresh air on the heels of the antiseptic latter day Wenger years, and his style of play would have likewise put the kibosh of our seemingly endless sideways tactical predilictions…quite frankly, I’d rather have Klopp managing from the comforts of his abode, vis-a-vis a big screen Zoom call, than retaining our endlessly “still learning” one trick pony…just imagine Klopp’s big head on a 70, 000 square foot, dual-sided video board, like the one at Kroenke’s 5+Billion NFL Sofi Palace…that image alone would likely scare the living shit out of half our opponents before the match even started
The sad fact that’s being missed on here is Klopp’s replacement will not only be better but will win trophies sooner than Arteta whilst spending less.
Of course the fan boys will make their excuses about whoever taking over a team at the top but will conveniently forget that Liverpool finished 17 points behind us last season.
Klop has shown his loyalty. He stated that he will not coach any English team besides Liverpool.
Besides Klop at the end of his Dortmund days , remember even Pep stated he is taking an year sabbatical when talk of Wenger Leaving after an year were going on. However absolute power corrupts absolutely and Wenger well past it hung on leaving the Kroenkes in their wet diapers looking lost and clueless.
They now spent very heavily to patch up the incompetence of the Manager. That itself , no matter what, indicates Kroenkes have been bad for a great Club
Marc
Alonso a former Liverpool great will likely be their next manager . He has been very successful in Germany in his the first year of his tenure, unlike our Generational Flop
Hoopah
At least Alonso actually has had a management job – Arteta went from tea / cone boy to manager in one step.
‘Arsenal makes you a better person’ says Women’s team coach Jonas Eidevall. A really nice quote which made me feel happy for him.
Arteta, on the other hand, has become an even bigger slag since he became the Men’s coach.
Now to persuade Barca to replace Xavi with Arteta when Xavi leaves at the end of the season.
NORG
We must all pray to the Football Gods to deliver us from the evil of Arteta.
NORG and Marc
Now you’re talking. I’ll even offer to write his CV cutting and pasting all the lying cack spouted by plastic Pedro.
You watching the Wolves – Baggies game?Looks to me like much ado about nothing – some coked up Wolves fans in the WBA end. So much for fan registration schemes eh? Can’t believe they haven’t got the players back on yet.
We must all pray to the Football Gods to deliver us from the evil of Arteta
Marc I’m an avowed atheist but ‘Amen’ to that. 🙏🙏🙏
now where do I put that prayer mat?
Although I hate to suggest it, I think Barca’s present financial woes will be the stumbling block for our chequebook MIT…it looks as if Marquez is the most likely to replace the departing Xavi…I would be happier than a pig in shit if I were wrong on this account and our tactically stale Pep wannabe was ripe for a Barca wooing, but why would he want to subject himself to that managerial turnstile gig when he’s been given everything he’s ever wanted in North London…now if he does cock things up for a 3rd year running, he might face just enough criticism that he opts to take his thin-skinned self elsewhere, which would be a glorious outcome…of course, I would feel infinitely better about that very possibility if Klopp hadn’t said what he did about not managing another PL side
TRVL
The financial situation at Barca will be the perfect foil for Arteta’s inadequencies. He can blame the lack of spending power instead of looking in the mirror.
NORG
Arteta wouldn’t last 5 minutes at Barca – the fans would be rioting in the streets and force him out.
Norg & Marc—what I find rather interesting is the whole “coming home” narrative, as Arteta was, for all intent and purposes, an academy failure, who was shipped to PSG then forced to play his less preferred position…as such, I would suggest that it’s his own people who’ve planted little “easter eggs” in this regards for egoistic and leverage purposes…furthermore, no one has even uttered his name in the Catalan capital since he was shown the door…one only has to look at the way he was constantly snubbed by the national team to fully comprehend how they truly feel about our manager, as players of far lesser ilk have seen vastly more call-ups simply because of their respective connection to either Real or Barca…god knows I wish it weren’t the case
Hi all apologies for my absence but much going on in this part of the world
Has the Kroenke’s finally seen sense in not handing Arteta more money to throw at the ‘Process’ wall?
Klopp’s summer departure announcement is likely to up the Scousers’ fire to win a last PL trophy. It’s being debated that a Klopp leaving bounce is likely to start at the Emirates at 17:30 on the dot.
I thought the Highbury Faithful were a bit quiet from being subdued or more likely bored rigid as yours faithfully here did.
I can see us getting hammered if Pool really are up for it. Start as you mean to go on lads is all Klopp’s pearly white gnashers are going to megawatt shout.
Still a few days to go in the window to get another Havertz, Lakonga or Cedric signing.
I feel the Pool game could be the beginning of the end for Arteta. Not even sure he’ll last the season. He doesn’t deserve to stay.
Our faux pas table position of 3rd on GD above Emery must have Arteta’s and Pedro’s bum cheeks chapped from all the clenching to stop them shitting themselves with such lacklustre performances this season.
Let’s hope I’m wrong, but can anyone here honestly see us beating Pool even though we are at home?
A lucky draw maybe 🤔
Hope all’s well with the LIR faithful and families 🙏
We can hope and I’d be like KP and put a hold on my atheism to pray Arteta is Barca bound.
“Barca think they can tempt Arteta
Mikel Arteta is on Barcelona’s hit list to replace departing boss Xavi.
Arteta has 18 months left on his deal with Arsenal but the rebuilding job at the Emirates has won him plenty of admirers at the ailing Catalan giants. The Spaniard has transformed Arsenal from also rans into genuine title contenders since taking over from Unai Emery, and also lead them to FA Cup glory in 2020.
And Arsenal are convinced he remains happy at the Emirates and is in for the long-haul because of his deep affection for the club and desire to keep on challenging”
Tony
“Has the Kroenke’s finally seen sense in not handing Arteta more money to throw at the ‘Process’ wall?”
The reason we haven’t spent in Jan is because we don’t have any money to spend – we had to loan Raya in the Summer to avoid breaching FFP rules, I doubt there’s been any change in our financial position in a few months and our financial year will run over a similar period to the season.
Now the real question is “have the Kroenke’s seen that Arteta having spent to such a degree that we’re pushing the FFP rules with no improvement in performance etc (last season was a reverse blip) decided that his judgement cannot be trusted”?
No way Barca are interested in Arteta – more likely that its media who are pro Arteta putting a false story out there to start a “we’re so lucky to have him at Arsenal / he turned down Barca to stay at Arsenal”.
Marc-as I stated in my previous post, I’m still of the belief that such rumours were actually started from within MA’s camp…besides the obvious “egoistic” and “leverage” angles, this could likewise be a classic “wag the dog” tactic to take some attention away from our glaring lack of transfer activity, thus the plethora of “lucky to have him” nonsense you spoke about in your above post…the whole thing is really quite sad, as his attempts to manage public opinion are almost as predictable as his tactical approach on the pitch…according to my count, this is the 3rd time we’ve been down the whole “wanted elsewhere” delusional path…considering that MA has no original thoughts of his own, there’s no doubt in my mind that this idea came straight from our former manager’s guide to manipulating one’s base, as he loved to speak about how many times he turned down every big name managerial suitor known to mankind
TRVL
We’re on the same page although I don’t think this is a diversion for a lack of spending – he’s tapped out the clubs credit card. I think the diversion is from the poor results and even poorer performances.
If Liverpool beat us on Sunday (assuming we win tonight) we’ll be 8 points off them with a recent form guide of 2 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses.
You’ll know when Arteta is really squirming because he’ll start to brief or have briefed for him about lack of support from the owners.
Marc-it will be interesting to see what transpires should we lose tonight, which I very much doubt, considering that the window closes some 48 hours later…can MA really afford to sit on his hands, knowing full-well that we face the League leaders come the weekend…we could legit be 11 points off the top, if Pool beat Chelsea tomorrow, which would be a frightening prospect for a manager who’s already feeling some heat…as for your cupboards are bare narrative, I understand what’s going on from a FFP standpoint, but that wouldn’t be the case if we weren’t so inept when it came to selling off periphery and/or out of favour pieces…Cheers
“The Athletic’s David Ornstein has now confirmed how much Havertz earns per week and Premier League fans will be shocked to hear that it is a basic salary of £275,000 per week” (which doesn’t include some playing time bonuses, according to some reputable sources)
this means he’s the highest paid Arsenal player and in the top 10 league-wide…if this isn’t a sack-worthy cock-up, I don’t know what is…somehow his most ardent apologists will put a positive spin on this by saying they actually thought he was getting closer to 350, 000/wk, so we actually have more to spend next summer…fucking hell