Ladies and Gentlemen, we took another trip around the Sun and celebrated like it’s the last one. But it’s not, and we have to get back to business in our personal, professional and football world. I will let you deal with the first two, but lets talk about football. We are playing Brentford today on their ground. It’s going to be a tough one because Brentford had a great home run in 2024, they are very well coached for set pieces and we have an injury to our best player.
It shouldn’t deter us though, we saw what happened with Chelsea after a great run and there’s a very good chance that Liverpool will have a bad phase sometime soon. We need to remain closer to them to take advantage of the situation and we need to win today for that.
Team news
Bukayo Saka is out injured for a long time. Sterling is suffering from a knee injury. Ben White and Tomiyasu have not recovered from their injuries as well. But there’s a surprize today in the lineup which we have been asking since long.
Here’s the line up to play –
Nwaneri starts at right wing. Timber and Calafiori are back in the defence so MLS has to sit this one out on bench. Declan Rice gets some rest for Merino with Thomas Partey anchoring that midfield, while Nwaneri and Martinelli starts on the wings and Jesus plays in the centre. There’s no Havertz today, not sure about the reason but I don’t have anything to complain.
We certainly are going to miss Bukayo but lets see what Ethan offers in his first ever Premier League start. I would have loved to see him play in midfield but if he benefits from Saka’s absence, he will have a big claim for that midfield position once starboy is back.
Right, I will keep it short today. Hope you had a blast and lets see out the first day of the year on the positive note with a massive WIN. Liverpool are not backing down and are probably in a place where they will go ahead and win this, but there’s always a chance and a win today will make sure we remain in the mix.
See you during the game.
Sorry TRVL I missed you post when I was writing re the MA ball comments.
My first thoughts were Isak and co clearly didn’t have the same problems getting the ball in our net: twice!
I see Rosicky’s name is back in the TD hat but can’t come until the summer. Am I right in thinking you liked Rosicky for being his own man who would stand up to MA?
“Mikel Arteta’s wasteful side could have played for hours without scoring one of the many opportunities that fell for them during the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg, while at the other end Newcastle – and Alexander Isak in particular- gave them a lesson in finishing…The fact is though that this is nothing new. It’s the story of the season for Arsenal. Yes, they have scored plenty of goals and produced some big wins. But there have also now been 13 games in all competitions where they have scored just one goal in a game or failed to score altogether. That’s 13 games out of 30, just under half…That just isn’t good enough and paints a clear picture about the inefficiency of the squad. They clearly lack players with that killer instinct in front of goal”
enough said…
Marc—sorry, I didn’t see your very apropos in-match post regarding our shoehorning fuckwit until this morning or I would have undoubtedly responded…never have I ever seen a manager attempt to construct a side that requires so many of it’s players to play out of position…in fact, I’m not even convinced that their being deployed in their 2nd best positions, which is why this whole experiment so fuckiing confounding
Tony—If Amorim had a better side, I would take him every day and twice on Sundays, as we’ve already seen him toy with our little “m” manager, but I still believe we’re a better side regardless of injuries…of course we still have to fucking score, but thankfully we won’t have that pesky Cup ball to deal with this time around…my greatest fear is that we somehow go off and the whole we don’t need anyone narrative dominates the headlines
Tony—I’m a massive Rosicky fan and he’s always been a take no shit guy, so I would highly doubt he’ll be arriving anytime soon, well at least not while Arteta still employed…the only way I can see this happening is if Big Stan finally grew a pair and this is his way of giving MA a genital cuffing for his managerial cock-ups
Tony—just wanted to quickly respond to your post before taking off for the day…have a good one bud
I’ve really heard everything now – the dopey cunt actually blamed the ball for our poor performance.
TRVL
Thanks, always I look forward too yours and others’ posts when I get up and you’re all snoozing.
I’d agree we have better players than UTD, but with the caveat that MA’s selection where all fit is a serious Krypton Factor, conundrum at best. To be depleted by injuries as we are I see another loss ALA Newcastle.
The press are saying Amorim has transfer littered (not wrong word) Rashford, Mainoo & Garnacho he wants gone this TW.
I don’t see Pool’s loss to Spuds last night as anything to judge Slot by. I think Spuds will be Spursy at Anfield in the 2nd leg. The loss will have given Slot things to improve …..
Tony—Slot certainly can’t be pleased by their last two results, especially being held scoreless by a Spurs side that gave up 6 to them just 3 weeks ago…that said, if I was going to have a stinker I would much rather it come in a cup tie than in League play or in Europe, where they currently sit atop the standings…I didn’t watch their Spurs match so I’m not going to comment on what might have gone wrong, but as I said some time ago, Slot’s biggest challenge will be how he navigates his pending “free agents”
Pool forced Salah to bet on himself, which could have been messy as fuck if he struggled for goals early…the fact that he’s thrived under the challenge has undoubtedly put his mind at ease, as he’s going to get paid a shitload no matter where he lands…now there will be those within the fanbase who’re scared shitless by his expiring deal, but the fact their winning on all fronts has made things exceedingly more palatable…at least for the time being…Slot had no choice but to eat a little shit, a fact he undoubtedly understood coming in, which simply means that he had to placate Salah’s desire for maximum minutes, even on days when he’s a bit off…fortunately for him those times have been few and far between…it will be interesting to see what transpires should his goals dry up for an extended period
VVD seems to have fully bought in…without him as your eyes and ears in the locker room and an extension of your voice on the pitch, you’re fucking screwed, so however he managed to cultivate this relationship was pure brilliance on his part, from a man management standpoint…if you asked me, it appears as if Slot has reinvigorated his captain, which is a dangerous proposition for the opposition…he’s a Mount Rushmore level CB in my eyes and from what I’ve seen this season, he looks to still have a lot of tread on his tires
the most difficult needle to thread appears to be TTA…serious cracks had already appeared during Klopp’s last season and even though he started well under Slot, some of those old concerns have cropped up lately…he came be a tad petulant, depending on his form, which is rather problematic considering that he runs hot and cold on the pitch…not too dissimilar from Salah, he requires a certain amount of freedom, which presents you with a serious conundrum when he’s not producing up top and/or getting exposed at the back…to make matters worse, there’s some chatter about him being on Real’s wishlist, which will always be in the forefront of TAA’s mind everytime he’s not selected to start or subbed off “too early”…thankfully, he’s the least important of the 3
I would be surprised if all 3 were back next season, unless they pulled off the double and at least one of the 3 were willing to take a hometown discount so they could run it back…can you even imagine what MA might have done with these 3 players if he was in the same position…that would have been an absolute shit show!! Cheers
“I go back to a couple of years ago, before Declan Rice came. That midfield of Odegaard and [Thomas] Partey and [Granit] Xhaka was functioning so much better than any midfield that I’ve seen for the last couple of years from Arsenal. They were so much more efficient in how they played. At the moment, it’s not an easy watch when you see Arsenal.”
Ok, I generally don’t make a habit of quoting Rednapp, for obvious reasons, but he’s spot on here, which is such a painful admission, as who would have thunk, besides most everyone on LIR, that MA could have cocked up such an easily achievable transfer brief, especially in light of the unprecedented backing…one step forward, 2 back, seems to be par for the course with our MIT at the helm
Bryan Mbeumo is supposedly back on our radar, which I wouldn’t mind so much if he was coming asap to provide some much-needed help up front…problem is that most are suggesting he’s a summer window get…sorry, not for me…I like him as a player, but he’s not a big time summertime target, as he’s best position is on the right, which is Saka’s domain, and I’m likewise not convinced that MA could get the best out of him, as his PL success has relied heavily on Brentford’s counter-dependent scheme…now if we’re planning to have a tactical rethink, I might think differently, especially if he was coming as a depth piece, as that would be a serious club kind of maneuver..on the other hand, if he’s coming here simply to be another in a long list of shoehorned wonderfucks, thanks but no thanks
Well Well, strange score line last night. Spurs not conceding is like Arsenal scoring 5 goals in a match. Talking to my Pool mate at work, he is nervous about wheels coming off. He is planning to put a 50 to hedge his bets on Arsenal and Man City winning the league. He feels next match against Forest is very crucial and they have to get a result. After all the misses and MA’s tapestry we are still genuine contenders. Beggars belief but thats Premier league for you.
TRVL
Agree with all your thinking above, some good points raised. Below from the Mirror TW update.
Madhu
I think the weather played its part in the Pool loss being just a single goal, which Poll will pull back at Anfield. There might be the odd stumble, but as TRVL says about VVD, Pool have good leaders on the pitch and are playing quality football. They are bound to have the odd off game.
I’d love us to sign Williams but he’s a LW not a 9.
“Arsenal still want Williams
Arsenal’s chances of signing Nico Williams from Athletic Bilbao this month are being hampered by financial issues, writes John Cross.
Williams is Mikel Arteta’s No.1 transfer target this month and has a £50million release clause in his contract. The problem, however, is his £300,000-a-week wage demands and Spanish tax law, which would require him to be paid a gigantic contract in the Premier League in order for a move to go ahead.
Arsenal’s considerations of Profit and Sustainability rules make a January move extremely difficult too. They are still keeping tabs on Benjamin Sesko, but a quiet January appears the most likely outcome.”
Tony—I wish I didn’t agree with your window assessment, as that would be unwise from an organizational standpoint, but it appears to be the most likely outcome…even if we did make a move it would probably be another defender, especially if we lose one or two backline players (Tierney, Kiwior or Zinchenko)
I’m starting to think that in order for us to get someone of consequence up top we might need to employ reverse psychology, as MA’s simply the fucktard version of Wenger, in that the more those outside of the organization called for particular positional upgrades, the less likely it would happen…it’s clear that MA harbours many of the same egomaniacal inklings as his former boss, which is why he refuses to do anything that might seem too pedestrian or obvious, even when it would make the most sense…thus the reason why he continually shoehorns the fuck out of a side that would be far better off if he simply deployed everyone in their best respective positions then acquired world-class options to fill in the blanks…it’s all quite sad really
call for
TRVL – good post. There are things coming out of closet on Edus departure which is linked to MA contract and his increasing power. It does really points to the owners inability to understand how to run football club which is definitely different from running US sports clubs. uS sports is strangely socialist in a sense due to drafting player trades and salary caps. The drafting system essentially provides a strange level playing field which means that all clubs have a cycle where they can win something. Player trades and salary caps means that the commercial aspect becomes a bit easy to manage.
The English clubs and generally football clubs around the world is a dog eats dog setup where the bigger clubs have natural advantage of finances and power. The saudi owners did disrupt the power balance a bit especially in the case of Man U but that again can be pointed to bad manager appointment of Man U. Otherwise its a cutthroat world with powerful clubs show no mercy on smaller clubs and it’s almost impossible for smaller clubs to make any serious headway into the power circle. This nuance is important to understand from a owners perspective and you would think these billionaires will have advisers to advise them. You need a good institutional setup of cheks and balances tk run a football club. You could say it’s Org 101 but still that’s seriously lacking in Arsenal. That gave rise to Wenger 2.0 post Dein and MA now. It’s baffling that with single powerful owner with no other part owner pulling in opposite direction we can be some disorganised to be able to give power to a rookie manager. MA must be in seventh heaven to land such a cushy job first up. It’s like you land from Uni straight into C position in a company.
We have a super example of Dein-Wenger duo that delivered super results in ayer acquisition and on field trophies only to be ditched for sub optimal single man show. Doest that reel of poor understanding of how to run football club. It’s baffling to say the least. Isn’t it simple to understand that can MA a single power center it’s impossible to handle all things. Does he concentrate on setting up team for Man U over the weekend or start looking for players to buy in TW. It’s not that he can ignore either and hence the need for others to assist him, challenge him when he buys 7 left backs . The thing I cannot understand is Raya buy. The simple fact is that we came second when Ramsdale was in goal and repeated the same when Raya came in last season. That is where a proper DOF will question how this acquisition will give the team and incremental push from coming in Second to a league winner. It’s a fancy project if you ask me along with all the lies that said in press about using both GKs within a single match blah blah.
Iam convinced unless we fix the whole Arsenal Institution with proper checks and balances with no one holding all powers including a proper strategy of using the academy we will not win anything meaningful.
TRVL
Apparently, we can’t afford Isak this summer, so, no chance this window. We have spent £800M+ and we can’t afford Isak? The same Mirror piece said Jesus is up for sale this summer and Zinny can go this month. There is a god!
Would hate to see their player values, and what they produced for their prices. Partey is being told he’s done after his contract expires, so the club can take back his £150K a week.
This leads to Madhu’s good post regarding how The Arsenal being worth around £5b+ is run by a rookie manager who’s won nothing for 5 years, and cost the club its player assets that I lost count after the pay offs for Edu, Auba and Willian. That the lost millions in the keeper fiasco where Leno is doing well at Fulham and Maya is not as good as Emi the world cup winner. Add Ramsdale’s costs, and it’s a lot of money down the MA asset player drain all over one position.
Was our LB fiasco any better? KT, Cala, Kiwior & Timber, as White is always our RB.
Now, we need the 8 we’ve needed for since Xhaka, but really after Vieira left, and 9 since Henry vacated the coveted position, we can’t seem to fill 15+ years later.
Wenger could have replaced the idols many times according to him, but never gave a believable reason why he didn’t buy. Now, future stars are bypassing MA, so he has to want established PL stars we can’t afford.
Totally right Madhu, a PL club is nothing like a US sporting enterprise. The only answer I can offer is KSE are happy with the club’s finances as a real estate value more than a winning football club.
All fine and dandy until we are out of the CL again. Then see KSE pointing fingers at their club’s fiscal losses’ culprit: the one and only MA. Edu escaped in the nick of time.
Could well happen this season. The usual winter form stalls are in progress, but who will pull out of the seasonal doldrums quickest attaining the most points?
My money is still on Slot.