To be honest, the only reason I created this blog was to remind everyone that LONDON IS RED. The best of the lot is fighting for the league title, while the other one is trying to overtake Aston Villa for a 4th place finish to qualify for Champions League. Do you remember the first 10 games? Ange was the next big thing in the world, Spurs were competing for the title and some of the pundits (trust me, I will do a better job) were claiming that City reign has come to an end. Nothing like that has happened, mate.
Liverpool dropped points again and Salah couldn’t hold his anger towards Klopp. Statistically, they are still in contention but realistically, they are out. It’s either Man City or Arsenal. We are sitting a point ahead of City having played an extra game. They are a winning team, and they have easy run of games. No one will be surprised if they go on and win all their games in hand and ultimately the title. However, the least we can do is, keep them on their toes, a win today will give us a 4 point lead, and they won’t be able to afford any slip ups. We are better in goal difference as well.
But for that to happen, we must beat Tottenham today. Will it be tough? No – if we don’t go out to shoot ourselves in the foot. We are far superior than those c*nts.
Team News
We have a fit squad except Timber. Jurrien played an U21 game but he still need some time to make into the match day squad. Thomas Partey is back, and is in form.
When we signed Declan Rice from West Ham, everyone expected a midfield of Odegaard, Partey and Rice where Thomas takes the defensive role, and Rice plays in an advanced position. However, Mikel did a Mikel and started Partey at RB at the beginning of this season, who then got injured. Jorginho played that role in few games, Rice played the defensive role while Havertz supported him otherwise. Against Chelsea, we saw what we expected and we won 5-0 (which could have been much worse for the blues). I am hoping we get to see that midfield again.
Defensively, we are set. Saliba and Gabriel with White as RB and Tomiyasu/Kiwior as LB. I would love to see Martinelli starting today, Saka is going to start and I would prefer Havertz over Jesus in the CF role.
We all have forgotten about Ramsdale.
Game plan
I am not the manager. I don’t have any game plans except for no-fuck ups, and scoring 5 goals at minimum. And yes, don’t forget the clean sheet.
Here’s the thing, Ange likes possession and he likes to press. Our defence is press resistance and with Partey’s addition, we get that extra threat where he just comes up with a perfect balanced pass that no one would have thought of. The key would be to score an early goal, get tight defensively and hit them on the counter like we were doing against Aston Villa in the first half.
There will be some moments in the game where we will not receive the ball. Spurs have the 2nd best possession percentage after City, and in those moments, it’s very crucial that we maintain our defensive structure and not let them break it.
One very positive thing about today’s NLD is that we don’t get to see Harry Kane. He has been a c*nt against us.
Wrapping Up
Make sure to order an extra pint today, because we are winning and that means we get to celebrate the St. Totteringham Day.
I am hoping for a good game today, and a win keeps us in the title race. City will drop points if the gods are not happy with those 115 charges.
Right, see you during the game. Don’t forget to share your starting XI and predictions in the comment section.
TRVL
You are right – the stumbling block is high wages. Not sure what Emile earns but Nelson & Eddie are both overpaid. For any team to take them their negotiators will factor the wages. There will be demand for ESR – he is quality. The purchasing team will cite his injury record (as stated by AFC) even when the player said recently – what injury?
KP / Aitcho
Ange P is, I believe, an Aussie Greek/Cypriot – could be a mix of all three.
My brief knowledge of all 3 languages – I’ve lived and worked in Greece and on the Gold coast – would be “Kiwis sans brains’ malakas” Everyone is a malaka in Greece anyway. In NZ, they call Aussis “Kiwis with no brains”.
Hard to disagree really if you’ve met enough indigenous souls from both countries as I have.
6 months in Australia was all I could take without putting one of the dumb fucks in hospital with their persistent pom bashing. I would have happily sent one to A&E to have a surgeon searching internally for the Aussie’s nuts for an hour or two. Krav Maga is very effective and worth learning skill. Even the basics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMMX9AuBiFc
I have no wish to return to the “Convicts’ isle”, but I will get to photograph the NZ south islands.
Junior is now a black belt TKD first dan at 15. Krav Maga is his next discipline he wants to learn, which I believe, it was started by the Israeli special forces and then adopted and improved by the Brazilians.
I imagine TRVL you did this skill when you were enjoying your MMA years? Anything worth adding?
Yesterday I found my self acquiring a season of American Funniest Videos, and Have I got News for You.
Both best at observational simplistic humour, as people and animals making idiots of themselves, and really fast super intelligent and often sardonic humour of supposedly intelligent people making idiots of themselves.
A must to watch before bed for people with depression. Can’t be depressed when you’re crying with laughter.
Marc
Marketing 101 for football clubs should be at grass roots level. They should almost give the jerseys away making the quality lower because kids grow out of them so quick. The spin you could use to get kids in club kits is immense starting with competitions to win kits by being club junior members.
I wonder if Ratcliffe or father Tod will cotton on?
I’ve always said there is nowhere near the requisite marketing attention aimed at the young; the most important market.
Norg
It’s a mystery to me how a blue chip plus company is run so badly. They let managers & directors disparage their fans when they complain asking why we’re not winning trophies. Their American run influences of “Bottom Line” cost cutting is both laughable and infuriating for ST holders except E-Stroller defender of all things Arsenal. On principle I’d have gone in 2008 had I had a ticket. I don’t see that “Nice guy” so many toss about to label Wenger.
You only use Nice when there is no other way of describing something positively amirite, KP?
Our TW dealings are just beyond any rational thinking. We let a novice manager lose us maybe close to £200m on players and paying them off to leave, and we still give 2nd string players far more than they are worth, and then adding insult to injury we don’t play them.
Have I missed anything here other then the too many Zinchenko/Vieira/Tavares type poor buys we need to shift on starting with Jesus?
The logical argument here would be to say “well we have to buy young to try to find gems”. That would be true if we actually played the kids, which we don’t. They get a sink or swim quick cursory run out, and then it’s bench and loans, which the latter only works if they stay in the PL to learn how to adapt.
We are almost 5 years in with El B, so I don’t see any changes for the future. Only more cheque book signings; always paying high including salaries to keep them, which quite simply is flawed logic.
Rewarding effort, loyalty and brilliance once proven seems to be something we overlook. El B gives it all at the beginning to buy loyalty that mostly isn’t needed in the end. Meaning a few more million pounds down the drain.
Think of all the lost millions and then think if someone smart had those millions to start a global grass roots level youth investments in Arsenal schools of footballing excellence.
What would we have got for £300m investment?
How many of El Bs young buys have made the grade other than Ode who was obvious for those who understood even football basics? Saliba wasn’t an El B buy; he wanted rid of the young French star but was prevented.
Am I right in thinking NONE?
£600m+ and only aforementioned Ode? Being generous I’ll include White, but he wasn’t a kid, just a rookie from lower clubs who’s taken 3 seasons to become a £55m+ today maybe more.
Let’s hope that Havertz is a late bloomer like White. I would love to admit I was wrong about him at the end of next season if he has an Adebyor 30-goal season. It would almost certainly win us the PL trophy to add to the irony than Havertz brings.
Havertz needs strength conditioning for me. He’s too lightweight so needs to be stronger with his fleet of foot. Needs better timing, which could be his frailty preventing him getting it right.
To me it’s incredulous that this is acceptable for a club worth £5b+ Blue Chip 10 times over?
TRVL
You laid it out well with all good points.
Tony
Agree 100% get them hooked for free and then reel them in.
TRVL
Again I agree – Eddie and Nelson on wages that are disproportionate to their level, add our abysmal PTR in selling (isn’t the Ox still our record fee?) with a final nail of clubs will know we need to sell to raise money and I think we’ll end up with £50 million or less.
Cheers to you Norg, Tony & Marc
of course this is all speculative, but there’s enough meat on this bone to make some logical inferences…remember that Eddie saw exactly what the market thought about him when he was free to go elsewhere last offseason…so why would there be more suitors this time around after a season that saw him get a substantial raise then struggle for minutes…similarly with Nelson, who did garner some interest, but obviously nothing with a comparable wage package and/or assurances about playing time…ESR is the one wild card, but we will undoubtedly scare off some with our evaluation
the fact remains, both Eddie & Reiss received nonsensical raises because MA/Edu would rather overpay someone who has proven that they will shut up and sit than have to roll the dice with an “outsider” …now there’s nothing wrong with placing a value on continuity, but only if the players in question make the most sense both tactically and fiscally, which clearly wasn’t the case…both have been around for some time and neither were viable cover pieces who could have been relied upon if Jesus and/or Saka went down for an extended period…as such, their respective re-uppings were both lazy and short-sighted, which has become an all too common refrain ever since Arteta’s closed shop approach to managing arrived in North London
simply put, nuance and context matters
regardless of Kai’s uptick in his last TWO matches, he’s still not the answer to our Striker quandary, so when I read some of the following excerpts, from various sources, I’m more than a little concerned about how we might procede in the upcoming window
“The centre-forward has become far less of a priority following the success of Kai Havertz”
“He’s been criminally overlooked this season despite ranking in the top 10 best performers in midfield”
(must be nice being judged against midfielders even though you’ve been playing up top for quite some time now—the use of the term “criminally” is a massive stretch and speaks to the agendized motives of the author in question)
“I understand why the fans are asking for [a No.9] but we already have our targets planned, we know what we’re going to face, and I’d be worried if we weren’t scoring goals or creating chances, but we are doing that right now” (Edu)
“Jesus is reportedly happy in north London and willing to fight for his place in Arteta’s side”
“A few months ago, Arsenal might have considered paying huge money for someone of the Ivan Toney ilk to do this job and they can probably reallocate that resource elsewhere now…I would be wary about writing off someone like Gabriel Jesus just yet however” (hardly what you want to hear considering how MA has struggled mightily to incorporate Strikers since his arrival—let’s keep in mind that after he left City Pep acquired the best up-and-coming Striker in the world, then went on to secure his first treble—now there’s a lesson I wish MA had learned from his former boss)
just saying…
roll up, roll up – two players for the price of one. Get your cheap players here.
Edu Gasper will be heard shouting the above outside of the Emirates when the TW opens.