Well, it isn’t exactly the title decider yet, because there are games left and City can go on to lose some of them. But it does feel like one. Arsenal competing against Manchester City, with 5 point lead having played a game more. Beat City and we will most likely win it after 20 years. Lose against them, and we would have to involve Gods.
Premier League is ruthless! I was drafting article two weeks back about how going to Etihad with 11 point lead would be immense and even if we drop points against them, the league would still be ours to lose. Since then, we shared points with Liverpool, West Ham and Southampton. We have 6 more games left, some of them are tough – Chelsea (H), Newcastle (A), Brighton (H), Forest (A), Wolves (H). Only the last 2 can be termed easy ones, but then Southampton was bottom of the table and scored 3 past us at Emirates. Our run of games is surely tougher than City.
And this makes our game against City this Wednesday, a must WIN.
We have some problem going on, in our defence. Saliba is out injured, and we are leaking goals. Twitter wants Thomas Partey as an inverted RB and Ben White moved to CB. I’m not sure how useful that would be, when your midfield is gone and Ben White, who haven’t played at CB this season will suddenly have to face Haaland. In my opinion, Holding is what we have, and should start at CB. He wins headers, he is good defensively and his lack of pace needs to be covered up. How? I don’t know. Probably the same way Xhaka’s has been done whole season; it’s for the manager to think.
I doubt we will change anything. Arteta will stick to his playing XI. Tierney won’t be playing at RB, no it’s not going to happen. And rightly so. To fix one position, you are not going to ruin 3 more. Best way would be to give extra classes to Rob and hope he sees Diego Costa in Haaland.
One change I would like to see, is Trossard starting. He has been brilliant for us since January and he needs to be there in our most important game of this season. He can replace Vieira, can’t do any worse right? Though Xhaka would be back and everyone and their grandmother can guess who will start.
We need the best of Partey. The one where he was playing a single pivot, distributing beautiful passes to the front 3 and delivering a constant 8.5/10.
Lastly, we need Jesus. We spent 45million on a CF to score goals against big team, in games when it matters. Use your City departure as a motivation. Jesus wanted to have more game time as a CF, which was primary reason he left City. He needs to deliver when he is getting chances because I have seen Eddie doing equally well. If it’s only about the linkup play and dropping deep to support midfield, what changed between you and Lacazette? CF needs to score goals. Someone had to say it.
We have progressed this season. Even if you are Arteta hater, you will acknowledge that some of our games has been magnificent to watch. Our football has improved and the players have grown from 19 year boys to 22 year old men. Even if we don’t make it at the end, these players will have our support. Those songs in the away ends won’t die irrespective of the outcome.
We needed a fight to begin with, we have seen our lot fighting and winning. It’s a battle reduced to Master v Apprentice.
Right, that’s all I have for the City game. It’s not the size of the dog in a fight but the fight in a dog…
If you are feeling low thinking about our dropped points and about the rest of the season, here’s a news – Spu*s have appointed an interim manager in place of the sacked interim manager who was appointed after their manager Conte was let go.
Ambarish—Wednesday’s fixture presents us with one notable quandary…our tactical preference, with a singular DM, Zinchencko tucked inside, and both Xhaka and Ode in the midfield, feels a little too simian when going head-to-head with Pep, but with no viable alternatives, minus MA’s not so flattering 4-2-3-1 borefest, it’s likely either one or the other…this is why you simply have to make a concerted effort to experiment, tactically-speaking, on ocassion throughout the season…of course, consistency has it’s obvious benefits, as we would likely not be in this race if it weren’t for the fact that we’ve had the luxury of fielding MA’s “best” 11 night in and night out, relatively-speaking, but this is the time of year when one’s tactical rigidity can come home to roost
if it were up to me, I would opt for something a little different, so as to try and contain their most vital midfield assets, DeBruyne and Rodri…starting at the back, I would go with a much more mobile back 3 of White, Gabs and Tierney, then I would have Partey and Zinchenko providing cover and targeting the two aforementioned midfielders…this would provide us with ample pace and viable countering options, as all these players have the capacity to make a high quality pass…in the midfield I would have Marts and Saka out wider on each opposing side, with Ode and Trossard tucked inside and Jesus up top…this would likely require Rodri to sit deeper, depending on who they started at BCB and LCB
City aren’t a team who plays with an exorbinant amount of width and even when they play it out wide to Mahrez or Grealish, they typically want to come inside on their more dominant foot, so going with a back 4 simply spreads our coverage unnecessarily, thereby creating too many dangerous pockets of space for Haaland to exploit…in essence it would look like a 3-2-4-1, which might seem a tad unorthodox, but right now we typically play a 4-1-2-3, even though it’s referred to as a 4-3-3, where our RB and LB play way up the pitch anyways…the real beauty of my prefereed plan is it allows for some adjustments on the fly, albeit that’s not really MA’s MO, but it will require a substantial amount of running for both Saka and Marts, which likely means that at some point both Nelson and ESR will need to be brought on
that said, there’s no way such a plan will be deployed come Wednesday, which I get, as it’s likely something you would have liked to have seen during the season before unveiling it against our toughest competitor, but it’s too bad that our manager has been so tactically rigid, as I think it might be our best chance to secure all 3 points…Cheers
Ambarish
Sorry to bring you down but City have 2 games in hand – they beat us and it’ll be a 2 point lead whilst they still have 2 games in hand. Even a draw now will need a miracle for us to win the title.
Arteta fucked it – at 2 nil up against Liverpool it was ours (the PL) to win. At 2 nil up against West Ham we had our destiny in our own hands. Southampton was an embarrassment on the same level as what happened to the Spud’s yesterday.
We’ll get battered on Wednesday and then drop more points in matches we shouldn’t.
After spending £350 odd million, having a season where so many teams have been off the boil to give it away is disgraceful.
We might be laughing at the Spud’s today but remember when we laughed at “7UP and you fucked it up” well that was for 4th – we’ve done it for the title.
Ambarish
Good and well thought out post Ambarish. Sorry to say Marc is right about the 2 games in hand, so tomorrow’s game is our biggest in Arteta’s history I would imagine.
TRVL
Saved me a post 🙂 It’s the most logical and perhaps unexpected by Pep? Logic dictates that the game will be pacy so our speed challenged players should be benched. Cutting off their supply to our final 3rd, be it out wide to drift in or through the center. We need to stifle their service from midfield where turn overs are our first priority when being dispossessed and not let any City player time on the ball.
Our game off the ball is probably more important than when we are in possession, as we need to fill holes City want to use to distribute the ball. Only 2 issues will be our fitness over 95+ minutes and mental resilience/concentration.
A lapse in the latter and we will be royally screwed with Ramsdale picking the ball out of our net more than once.
Adrenaline should be the extra in our tanks that will help us to overpower City if Arteta has instilled the type of fortitude that is going to get us points out of the game. Now, more than ever Arteta needs to be a leader, not an installer of fear and anger, but a conveyor of a winning vision, feasible enough to win the game. Not some half baked notion of fantasy football Arteta has floating around in his mind.
The sorcerer and his ex apprentice lock horns tomorrow night in the epic battle of the advantage Title winning steaks that have never been higher for us Gooners with our 20+ year drought, and yet just another day at the office for the master cheque book, footballing wizard and another title to add to Pepe’s trophy cabinet.
The reality is City averages around 4+ goals against rivals at the Etihad. As far as I can remember, only Everton took a point from Etihad in the PL. Call the game whatever you want: our Waterloo, our Anfield 89 or simply a must win game to put pressure on City going forward by adding doubts that they are no longer invincible.
Can Arteta do this? Stranger things have happened and we can hope, for it’s all we have.
Marc
Whether Wenger post 2008/9 or Arteta today the pain never gets any easier too endure because anger is our byproduct of their ineffectiveness.
Both dogmatically stubborn to a fault driven by pure narcissism, disguised as passion with the end result always the same – just never quite making it.
Has Arteta gone completely mad? He’s using Xhaka as gamesmanship saying he might be a doubt.
It will be a blessing if Arteta is still sick, we’ll stand a better chance of getting a result.
Haha sorry guys. I should have proofread it before posting.
2 games for City. They need to lose one of them for us to have a chance.
Ambarish
Actually they need to lose one and drop points to us or drop points in 2 matches.
All assuming we win all of the matches after tomorrow.
it will be a blessing if Xhaka*
Tony-unfortunately for far too many bloggers, like the Boot Room, “he’s undoubtedly one of the most important players and he would be massively missed”…this speaks to the enabling and settling tendencies of a sizeable contingency from within our fanbase, in that Xhaka’s supposed “worth” is intimately tied to the fact that opposing teams have largely ignored his presence, yet his numbers are still rather pedestrian considering, and for much of his tenure, especially during the predominantly sideways dependent period, MA has leaned way too heavily on this plodding and rather ineffectual player, so the surface level analytics are incredibly skewed
of course, he’s contributed more this season than any of his previous half dozen, but in and of itself that doesn’t make him a player of great import, as I can literally think of 30+ players in Europe whom I would rather have out there, which includes players on our current roster, former players and a bevy of individuals who ply their respective trades in the PL…in my opinion, it’s an indebtment on our current manager’s inability to incorporate other players into the mix, so that they’re properly prepared to replace or supplant Xhaka, and/or on his overwhelming tactical rigidity which has sadly left us far too relient on one of our weakest links
just think about this, since his arrival there has been 2 known suitors for this player, one was from a midtable Bundesliga outfit and the other was Jose at Roma, neither of whom were willing to go above 12M, so that should tell you what the footballing world really feels about this particular individual…now if the Xhaka who showed up for the past two Euros suddenly appeared in an Arsenal kit, then maybe I would have a bit of a rethink, but we all know that international football is far more suited for a time-dependent deeper sitting midfielder, who with the Swiss flag on his chest was known for precision stretch passes and the occasional screamer from distance….breath
TRVL
I will let you know why Xhaka I suddenly important. Because Arteta loves him. The day he decides to drop him for couple of matches, everyone will prove you and me why Xhaka is not at Arsenal level.
I remember Willian.
I don’t know why but this has become a trend in past few years. People have started attaching their belief to a person, instead of the idea or the act. Mikel loans Saliba and plays Mustafi? It’s for the players developement. Mikel buys Willian, we need that Brazilian experience. Mikel then switch to a project youth, brilliant!
It was with Trump, too.
May be because that’s what sells. If I say Mikel was wrong with Willian, and right to switch to project youth, I’m not saying anything against the majority’s belief.
Ambarish
Its some kind of personality cult thing – and it is everywhere. Not to go into politics but we’re about to watch the 3rd American election between Trump vs Clinton / Biden – how can a country of 300 odd million not manage 2 better candidates in over a decade.
With Arsenal its become a major problem and its getting worse – everything Arteta does is amazing and exceeds expectations no matter how low the bar is set. We blow the title this season and it’ll be “well we never expected to challenge” (forget once you are to follow it through) when Arteta told William he’d win the CL this season. We finish 5th next season which is a reasonable possibility City will be there, Newcastle will spend big, Utd will spend and be better, Liverpool and Chelsea will see at least one of them be much better and we’ll hear excuses of we can’t compete with Oil money.
Its dangerous for the club and the fans (many of them at least) seem to have been overtaken by some kind of mass hysteria.
Ambarish-at the time of Arteta’s suspect hiring the prevailing sentiment, amongst those without blinders on, was that this was going to be a full-blown rebuild not a reboot, which would allow him to learn and grow with an exceedingly youthful nucleus….if this was going to be a cultural reinvention it couldn’t be done with another half-baked retool like those under the auspices of both Wenger and Emery, even though I do have a certain amount of empathy for the latter coach as he was unduly abused and wasn’t even given any say in personnel matters
fact remains that each time we chose the retool path we wasted huge sums of money, both in the transfer market and by re-upping undesrved individuals, to little or no avail…so the fact that Arteta, immediately upon having his head unjustifiably swollen following our fortuitous FA Cup victory, opted for the same short-sighted and self-serving plan, with the re-upping of the ill-suited Auba, the purchasing of Willian and several other bang average defenders, was inexcusable in my estimation
now some might say that these aforementioned decisions were forced upon him from on high and/or that he deserved a vocational mulligan when things failed miserably, due to his glaring lack of experience, I would suggest otherwise on both accounts, as he was given the managerial mantle that very first summer, which means that this was undoubtedly his vision and as such he should have been held accountable
not only were his feet not held to the flames, he made a quick self-preservation mode pivot and started to champion the whole youth narrative as soon as things went south…keeping in mind, he had not properly encouraged the development of our blue chip prospects, except for continuing to do what anyone with half a brain would do in regards to Saka…in fact, both Marts and ESR were in his proverbial doghouse for much of his early tenure, the later of whom only saw the field as a result of a myriad of injuries
now that we’ve seen what several managers with little or no PL experience and far less backing have done. in exceedingly less time, it’s imperative that MA finds a way to win the crown, as I’m already concerned about some of his recent deviations from the youthful initiative, with some questionable re-ups and what transpired in our most recent window, and the fact that he’s wilting once again when things matter most, which is troubling considering that running this back next season or beyond will likely be a far more arduous task
Marc-the most unusal component of this whole cult of personality narrative is that some of the very people who were the most ardent critics of Wenger, like LG’s Sybil-like figurehead, are the one’s backing our current poor man’s version…of course a psychologist would have an absolute heyday with such a Freudian-like confluence of circumstances…I would suggest that this is a reap what you sow clusterfuck, as our absentee landlord allowed an ill-equipped and increasingly monopolistic Wenger to rule the roost for far too long, which ultimately led to a dangerously deep divide within the fanbase…when such anamolous situations occur bizarro world shit is bound to happen
Morning all
Great reading this morning and…………… tonight’s the night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTGjVvQPVWg
Not so well known remastered version.
Pep is saying we’re wounded and dangerous. He really does have a future in comedy after football. Right now the only people we are dangerous to are ourselves, as we’ve become expert at shooting ourselves in the foot with Arteta’s selections and in-game management leading to poor tactics and hanging one for a point.
The players? Holding? No, not the problem. Team selection and squad management is!
LG and LIR have toyed with the 3 at the back idea from when we last beat City, but LG are unanimous in selecting the great Xhaka if fit, of course, as they the ‘Nervous Nellies’ fret at Xhaka’s lack of availability. LIR, of course, are praying for Xhaka’s inclusion on the bench or better recover for our slightly less difficult games away to Brighton, The Bar Codes’ fortress and Stanford Bridge with possibly Mauricio Pochettino at the helm causing a bounce.
Nagelsmann threw a hissy fit when he learnt he had competition for the job and pulled out to be……… well….er……. Spursy. They will be a good match and another decent manager for Levy to throw under the bus when the time is right. WTF is Nagelsmann thinking?
So, what can we expect from this monumental David v Goliath game? Goals! And plenty of them.
City like to bury at least 4 goals at home, in the PL and will see this evening to put us in our rightful place below them, and the lower the better in their murderous eyes.
To counter that Arteta is clueless of how to play a defense without Saliba holding Gabs hand in defense keeping our back line organized, mobile and focussed for the full 95+minutes each game.
Arteta just loves him a ‘Let’s-defend-the-defender or cover-for-our-midfielder’ to keep their mistakes to a minimum, as opposed to playing to our strengths with a White – Gabs – KT back three. A Xhaka and Jorginho free midfield picks itself and Trossard has to start because we haven’t lost yet with Trossard starting and giving City a big headache to deal with.
Let this sink in, If Holding & Xhaka started we would effectively playing with 9 young men because 2 of our young players will be tactically dispersed to cover for Holding and Xhaka’s mistakes or when out of position.
I’m not buying it that Pep is going to or needs to invest in adult diapers for this game. In fact, Pep doesn’t look like he’s got a decent shit in him, unlike Arteta who is full of it.
Ah well, in the name of science and things that go bump in the night – no not Pedro humping his Arteta doll – we’ll keep Pumpkin up to watch the game live because we need to witness this miracle with our own eyes whether Arteta miraculously gets it right or through divine intervention from Jesus’s dad or just pure Karma giving the FFP dopers their comeuppance. This needs to be a real time experience or not depending on the outcome.
This Gooner house will not be considered the cause or any such game negativity (we leave that to Arteta’s in-game management) only full on emotional bravado while Pumpkin wears ear plugs will prevail. It won’t matter that it’s 2am here Junior and I will be heard far into the golden triangle if we win, ney scratch that when we win. We, no doubt, will wake Mrs T, but that’s ok because Junior is nearest to the access door and Mrs T is a lousy aim and I’ve had much practice at ducking.
This is it, the pinnacle of our top spot hold on the PL trophy where City have 2 games in hand over out 5 point lead & +7GD.
Our destiny is still in our hands where we have Pedro’s generational, acclaimed Arteta, so that stands for something, other than BS, right?
3 points should be in the bag then. See you at the game.
Whether it’s recent history of fixtures, each team’s current trajectory or the quality of the players, the cause for optimism is diminishing fast. Who the fuck fails to beat Scumpton at home except Spurs?
Based on his patchy record at Arsenal since he took over, it’s tough to imagine Tets doing a GG 89 moment isn’t it? I’m expecting any signs of fight and determination tonight to come from the players, not the Basque Bantamweight. At the very least let’s show some fight and fucking resilience tonight. A draw may not be enough in the grand scheme of things, but a defeat will be the end.
Tony – if we’re all smiling by the end of tonight. I’ll join you in the golden triangle for some mind bending chemicals. See you later mate.
I like his songwriting but I’ve always found Neil Young a tough listen. But tonight sure is the night. Maybe our biggest game since Barca 2006?
A momentary lapse in football concentration.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB6OlJqV1rQ
Over the decades people have asked me why I have dedicated so much of my life to music and one of the better reasons is this track and it’s origin with George Harrison on lead slide guitar.
Read below, because it’s working with creative geniuses that is what continues drives me on towards a studio in France.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB6OlJqV1rQ
From the album ‘Keep On Rockin’ (originally ‘NINETEENNINETYFOUR’, 1993)
Alvin says… one of my favourite tracks from my album ‘1994’. It has George Harrison on slide guitar and is one of the best solos he ever played. It’s a masterpiece, so sensitive. Hearing George made me play more sensitive too!
I’m very proud of this one. It was recently voted one of the best blues songs ever recorded. I’m sure B.B”King wouldn’t agree with that! It’s got a classical style piano played by Steve Grant, and George Harrison plays a slide guitar solo that is one of my all time favourites. He created such a tender, melodic solo and I had been playing kind of angry solos, y’know? After hearing George I had to change my whole approach and started to play much more melodically. As a result, I played a great solo too. George may not have been the most clever and nimble of guitarists, but he didn’t just wiggle his fingers and play a succession of notes, he actually I wrote a tune while doing a solo. He was so eloquent on guitar that he inspired me to play something eloquent too.
KP
Good to have you back and hope the Catalona expedition went according or better than planned, something tres difficile in Espana.
In Hebrew they say Man plans and God laughs, but I only know the English translation. Mind you if God was to put in a belated, beneficial appearance, tonight would be the perfect night for it to happen in Manchester.
I agree about Neal Young although Like a Hurricane live was as rough as it gets in places but the high notes take you to places that are difficult to get to, such as Haitian Divorce, So Afraid Fleetwood Mac live and so many others. It’s an acquired taste but one that celebrates the Woodstock era in its coolness of feel over quality guitar playing.
However, Alvin Lee is a true musician as his words above illiterates.
So here goes. Rodri gets a red for a studs high lunge on Saka and we scrape a 5:4 win in a thriller of VAR screw ups against City disallowing 4 more of City’s goals.
Common, Arteta plays fantasy football on the pitch, I only play it in my head. 🙂
Iterates*
Hmm Xhaka looks anything but ill.
/Users/admin/Desktop/0_PAY-JS297834404-copy.jpg
In earth shattering news all of the Daily Telegraphs sports writers have picked their combined best 11 ahead of tonight and not one of them (brace yourselves guys) has picked Xhaka.
Seen first hand how opinions can be crafted and directed using a committed ( read that as paid ) media . With Wenger and now MA the manager has been having a lot of discretion in how the monies are deployed ( remember how a counter plane flying a Wenger-in banner could be financed ). So the blog with the largest readership becomes the medium ..
Fortunately LiR came up due to the passion of Ambarish. The best posters migrated here and dare say LiR has attained a reputation for intelligent discussions , bit like 7 amKickoff.
The other “ thing” is reduced to a square of strays snarling at each other instead of leading intelligent discourse. But then the Blog master leads.
Saliba is currently being touted as the principal player responsible for the Arsenal good run. And conversely his absence is caused Arsenal go off the boil recently. His quick and precise passing , his speed and accuracy in tackles have been highlighted as his qualities … all these by the Pedrosi guy who for 3 years was howling support for the shabby treatment of Saliba who begged to be judged on a couple of games and not 40 minutes of his shaky game time. Saliba cost 30 million euros , an appropriate cost for a young outstanding talent.
But do agree that going on loan to Marseille was the best thing because our limited Fakeroo has not shown any coaching ability , besides the hearsay development of Sterling. Our team players improved drastically since the Set-Piece coach was recruited.
Mertesaker will prove a revelation when the fraud is sacked
Tony & KP—Young has always evoked an “acquire taste” vibe, but I’ll take a pillar to post version of Rust Never Sleeps any day of the week and twice on Sundays
Still not sure what has to happen for us to leave the Etihad with all 3 points tonight, but in order for us to have any chance of achieving the unexpected we can’t be our usual wasteful selves in front of goal and/or gift them anything remotely similar to what was on offer against our last opponents…there’s no doubt that City can be had, regardless of their recent form, but just not sure if MA has either the cojones or the tactical nous required, especially in a fixture of such obvious import…this one might come down to the ability of our players to find a way to win in spite of what might be on offer from our inceasingly frazzled and frantic pitchman…my heart says draw, my head says something decidely less optimistic…here’s hoping that the weightiness of our recent failures is simply clouding my vision…Cheers
acquired
We will win tonight…with the score line 3-1…Hope for the best 🤞
Divyanshu Karan
You missed a bit. 🙂
Hope for the best, plan for the worst!
Well, we’re all here in eager anticipation so that’s something. Any other Gooners coming on here tonight, speak up and say hello. It might prove to be a lucky intervention! 🍀Yes, I’m down to running on fumes as far as optimism is concerned. It feels like an even bigger mountain to climb than 89 but I could be exaggerating.
Marc – I was reading your comment about the best XI from a combo of both teams and was expecting to see the words ‘any Arsenal player’. That it was only ‘Xhaka’ came as a relief and cheered me up to think that some of our lads would make that team. Obviously I can’t check for myself because the Daily Telegraph is a right wing spunk rag!
I just hope we can break the mould, match them physically and put our chances away. I’ll also be watching from behind the sofa if we start pissing about with the ball in our own half.
Thinking of our previous managers from the past 50 odd years… I’d rather have Bertie Mee, Terry O’Neil, Don Howe, George Graham, Bruce Rioch or Emery (the king of getting wins in one off games til he joined us) preparing the team tonight.
A Rodri red card would be perfect (a redri?) but an early bath for any of their cheating wankers would be fine. Who’s the bastard with the whistle tonight?
KP & TRVL
The anticipation is numbing especially at 12:50 hours this morning. Looks like Xhaka has made a timely recovery from his illness to be the invisible man again tonight. We’ll know soon how Arteta is going to handle Saliba’s absence.
Looks like no change then:
Manchester City XI: Ederson; Akanji, Dias, Laporte; Stones, Rodri; Mahrez, Gundogan, De Bruyne, Grealish; Haaland.
Arsenal XI: Ramsdale; White, Holding, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Xhaka, Partey; Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli; Jesus.
Tony beat me to it.
Xhaka is back, for the first time in my life I’m happy seeing him because I don’t have to see Vieira in the line up.
Decent line-up. Everything depends on how we take care of De bruyne and Haaland.
KP
Michael Oliver is the match referee with David Coote in charge of VAR. Could be worse.
Ambarish
Should be Trossard for Xhaka or ESR
Tony
Yes, but I’ve given up now.
Anyways, we are going to fight and fight hard, it’s the title on the line and we are playing against ‘what’s wrong with the football world’.
Kroenke
We’ve all seen you trying to balance opening the front door whilst concealing your copy of the DT like a kid with a porno mag!
Now the anticipation or realisation more like of what is about to play out before our eyes is disturbing to say the least. Honestly, with that line up how differently are we going to play? What surprises has superfly Arteta got in stall for his old master?
My guess is a whole load of none. So, we’re back to praying and I’m a fcuking atheist. Me praying will be as useful as tits on a bull. So Junior is talking to old Red down stairs to see what deals he’s got cooking in Manchester.