Well, football gods aren’t treating us well so far this year. We started well against Brentford with a 3-1 away win but then gave away the advantage by drawing to Brighton at home. Newcastle beat us 2-0 at Emirates in the first leg of Carabao Cup semi final, we then lost to Man Utd at home in a penalty shootout which ended our FA Cup run. We did beat Spurs in the North London Derby but Emery made sure we grieve again against Villa. We are plagued with injuries with Bukayo Saka side-lined for a very long time, Jesus as well.
On one side, we have been out of FA cup and Carabao cup looks almost impossible since we have to visit Newcastle in the second leg and they have a 2 goal advantage. In the Premier League, we have been giving away points and chances to catch up to Liverpool who are sitting on a 6 point lead to us and got a game in hand.
On the other side, we are sitting 5th in the Champions League table with 13 points in 6 games and we have next two games against Dinamo Zagreb and Monaco. These are relatively easier games, though European nights are very unpredictable. A win against Dinamo today will make it easy for us to qualify for knockout stage.
William Saliba will miss the game due to the hamstring injury he picked up last week and it would take couple more weeks for him to recover. Calafiori and Nwaneri were back in training but they will need another evaluation before the game. The usuals – Saka, White, Tomiyasu, Jesus remains unavailable.
Arteta in his press conference gave the reason for playing Partey at RB – unavailability of players. Now I can understand that, when Timber was injured and we didn’t have anyone to play on the left. Recently, MLS has been sensational in the LB position and Timber is back at RB, but he has got another problem with Saliba’s injury. Take it with a pinch of salt but some of the publications were reporting that he might try Declan Rice at CB. Rice was playing in that position at West Ham academy. I would take that over playing Thomas Partey at RB.
Here’s what Mikel had to say about playing Thomas at RB.
I had no choice, I didn’t have another right full-back, just Jurrien, nobody else. Who plays when Jurrien isn’t available for his load is too high? The other day was the first time [he moved Jurrien to centre-back] but in relation to the way we have to play, we cannot have a right-footed player defending a right winger. I didn’t have another right-sided centre-back.
source : Arsenal.com
RW is another problem. Martinelli is not cutting it and I have no idea why we got Sterling in first place. A sane manager would send him back to Chelsea and recall Nelson.
Right, I am looking forward to the game. Mathematically there are 16 other clubs competing for top 8 with us, and a win today will make it smaller.
Lets do it. #COYG
can you even imagine a team who’s exhausted so much time and energy trying to convince anyone and everyone that they’ve had a definitive plan would be so unsure of themselves with less than a week to go in another window…this time last year Edu spoke at length about the plethora of 180 page dossiers that littered his office, yet since that time we failed on the Striker front once again and brought in a largely spent Sterling in the 11th hour…hardly the kind of maneuverings that would bolster their well-oiled machine narrative, in fact, quite the opposite
of course, I’m sure they’ve already prepared their response, should this window fail to yield the desired results…if I had to hazard a guess, they’ll likely hang their proverbial hats on the lateness of Jesus’s injury, even though everyone knew we needed a talisman long before his most recent injury, and/or the ludicrous notion that we couldn’t find the right fit, which couldn’t be more laughable in light of his earlier ill-suited choices and crack-like shoehorning addiction…we’re like a classic scene from an Abbott and Costello movie where Lou thinks he’s buying a brand new house, but as soon as the money is handed over the front facade drives away and an old broken down piece of shit caravan is revealed
Morning all
Genoa this evening or 3am mornin g my time. It should be a win for us in Spain.
Other than that there is very little to write about where we should be waxing lyrical over the elite 9 we’ve just added to the squad. Should have, would have, and could have but didn’t.
Anyone think we’ll buy anyone of note in the remaining 3 TW days?
I don’t, so it’s a wait and see as it always is.
Ambarish
A little harsh on Marts I feel The kid has been left to fend for himself and probably told to hug the line for width and not cut in as he should.
MA is mart’s problem, not his balling skills. Give Marts Nwaneri to play with with Skelly joining in and we’ll have a balanced attack, which Marts performing better.
Better still, as TRVL said, play Ode left and Nwaneri right midfield.
Very interesting take on football things in the UK and Arsenal in particular.
“£2.7bn plot cited as Stan Kroenke’s main ally at Arsenal told it’s ‘already too’ late for U-turn”
https://tbrfootball.com/2-7bn-plot-cited-as-stan-kroenkes-main-ally-at-arsenal-told-its-already-too-late-for-u-turn/
A couple of quotes:
“In 2024-25, Liverpool’s lead over the Gunners is not unassailable but another silver medal is the more likely outcome.
“Arsenal will probably therefore remain the only major enterprise in Kroenke’s empire who are yet to win the ultimate prize in their sport…. Kroenke knows that the NFL’s salary cap, revenue sharing, and closed league system means he is quite literally guaranteed a profit every single year. NFL teams posted combined annual profits of approximately £3.5bn at the last count. Premier League clubs? They lost almost £850m…. However, aversion to risk is probably the central pillar of Kroenke-ism. Spending even more to take Arsenal to the next level is, seen through a financial lens, a massive risk…. The owners back every recruitment decision up with a risk-return analysis. And no, their thinking is not led by concerns around PSR.”
Then the article ends with this sub topic “Arsenal have inflicted independent football regulator (IFR) on themselves, says finance expert.” The IFR has cross-party support – is making its way through Parliament and is expected to become law either late this year or in early 2025 (I presume that this is a typo meaning 2026). Arsenal aren’t happy about it…
Killroy—some interesting quotes, including those found in the provided link, but I would say this, Kroenke has diverted from his typically more conservative fiscal policies with every major club(Rams, Avalanche and Nuggets)whenever he felt that they were on the precipice of winning their respective championships…so much so that with the Nuggets he was actually willing to pay a luxury tax in their title winning season…the question then becomes does he think we’re close enough to winning that he’s willing to push his chips in again…maybe he feels that he’s already done enough, monetarily speaking, considering the unprecedented backing he’s provided, especially in that Rice/Havertz/Timber window, which MA cocked-up…if so, we could be looking at a more frugal approach moving forward, as everyone of the aforementioned clubs have seen their payrolls shrink since their victories
the Rams lost their best and most expensive defensive lineman and several other higher paid veteran players, but instead of replacing them with like-for-like options, they opted for some cheaper recruits, primarily through the draft…The Nuggets got rid of a few key contributors, as Big Stan was unwilling to pay the requisite luxury tax a second year running, and the Avalanche just traded their second best forward, Mikko Rantanen, who was a pending free agent…this came as a complete surprise to both his longtime linemates and their bench boss, who were under the mistaken impression that he was just about to sign another longer term contract…this latter move really caught my eye, as he was a top 5 scorer in the League at the time of his move and Vegas had them as a top 3-4 favourite to win the Cup…this could happen here if MA can’t get over the major silverware hump, as we have a few players who could fetch a pretty penny, especially if Stan’s “people” felt we missed our window and it was time to recoup some of his prior misappropriated investments…Cheers
Great link, thanks Kilroy. Ditto TRVL was good reading.
Let’s hope KSE is looking for a manager who knows how to spend his money wisely and still get success, like Slot is doing this season. Klopp laid the foundations and work ethics and Slot has taken Pool up a level where when he get’s his back line sorted, they will be even harder to beat.
MA will be playing catch up to Slot until City takes back over – wash rinse repeat…..
New post.