Well, that sort of aggregate takes away the fun from a game but it’s a good thing for us Gooners. We are in a 6 goal lead and playing at home. In the first leg, six of our players scored, Martin Odegaard twice and made sure we qualify for the quarter finals without worrying about the 2nd leg.
Martinelli is back in the fold after getting some minutes against Manchester United. Saka, Jesus, Havertz, Tomiyasu remains unavailable. Not much to talk about the game knowing that we are going to play either Atletico or Madrid in the quarter finals. Since we don’t have a fit CF to play, I would suggest that we put Martinelli back in the middle with Nwaneri and Trossard on either side but I know it’s not going to happen in this lifetime.
Rice and Partey should get some rest. Not much here but a lot to discuss about other things, lets go.
So, we failed to score against Forest, scored 7 against PSV and then saw a Declan Rice’s brilliant goal against United which led to us sharing points with our rivals; which brings me to the conclusion that we were lucky and luck runs out at some point. Still remember Mikel Merino’s 2 goals in his first game as CF? Well, he has failed since, and the 7 goals against PSV was an exception, not the norm. We will still struggle to score, after seeing the Liverpool v PSG games, you know how tough the Champions League run is going to be.
But hey, the club is trying to fix this infatuation of defence by bringing Andrea Berta as the new Sporting Director. I have no idea how successful Berta would be at Arsenal but there’s 2 things about him that excites me. First, he has worked with Simeone who enjoys a similar freedom to Arteta. One or the other won but that’s okay, I don’t want to see another YES man around the manager. Second, he was responsible for bringing in Griezmann, Oblak, Rodri to Atletico when they were little known. That’s a good CV for me. During Wenger years, I would have never thought that I would want my manager to forget about defence and invest in attack. What a turnaround.
PSG was brilliant last night. And in the first leg when they were unlucky to convert their chances. Arne Slot blaming it on the Champions League format because they got to play PSG even after finishing top in the group stages was funny. What did he expect? Enrique has done some good work with the Paris team and getting rid of Messi, Mbappe and Neymar has let others play with more freedom. I think they are going to be a very tough competition for any team who is chasing the Cup.
We have got Barcelona, Inter, Bayern and PSG qualified for the Quarters. Aston Villa and Arsenal will do today. One of the LOSC and Dortmund for the 7th place. Madrid will play against Atletico with a 2-1 aggregate and there won’t be any surprises I am guessing.
That’s a good bunch of teams. Next round will be spicy and the fact that we will play one of Atletico or Madrid in the quarters makes it even more interesting.
Saliba in the press conference before the second leg, said he wants to stay and win trophies with Arsenal. He is not bothered with the fact that his contract is expiring in 2 years and he will not leave before winning something. Big up for the lad. What it also means is that, he has got 2 years to give his everything and see the ambition of the club for winning trophies. If we do, he will stay. If not, he will re-evaluate his options. In modern football, no one is playing for a club because of their loyalty towards it (except may be Jamie Vardy). It’s either money or the ambition to win trophies. Arteta could very well be in his 67th phase but he has only two years to make them stay.
I think the club knows this, and I think that’s why we are seeing Berta being brought on. The club might have seen the money thrown away at the defence while we keep losing because no one can score a bloody goal.
Right, that’s it for today. See you during the game.
Arteta’s contract expires at the same time as the giraffe. Two more years of boredom.
What a glorious comeback by the women team in overturning 2 goals deficit against Real Madrid. Take a bow Rene Sleger she was interim coach but her performance has forced the mgmt to make her full time first team coach. Fantastic achievement by the ladies to enter semis of Champions League. They will meet Lyon now who defeated BM by a aggregate score of 6-1. Lyon is a powerhouse in women football and it would require another giant killing by the women team to make it to finals. I would be surely watching and cheering them.
Hi Madhu
Agreed. It was an opportune moment for the women to overcome a 2-0 defeat by RM and then beat them so convincingly. Some very high quality performances all over the pitch.
The one thing that surprised me? Only 22k fans at the game. I might try and persuade my twin daughters to come for the Lyon semi final.
Watching Fulham getting outclassed by Palace. Eze with a great goal with Sat and Nketiah adding.
Fulham and ESR 2nd best all over the park, especially in Palace’s final 3rd. OG palaces manager doing a good job on a shoestring budget.
Tony—I thought you might like what you saw from Eze today…beautiful strike to start the scoring, then a silver platter assist on Palace’s second tally…to be fair to ESR, he didn’t come on until late, which seemed somewhat short-sighted on Silva’s part, as they had a shit ton of possession but no one making progressive runs in the middle of the pitch (sound familiar)…I think they said that Palace has won their last 11 away fixtures, with clean sheets in all but one…Cheers
TRVL
Agreed Fulham were toothless with about 65% possession. Too familiar.
I wanted Olise however BM saw him as important to their ambitions where he pulled up forests last seasonbut MA preferred Merino. I’d have loved to get Eze too, but MA does love his imports who are generally not our level.
Will Berta make a difference? No idea so we’ll see after the summer TW.
Looking forward to Brighton v Forest should be a lively game. Hope you’re well mate. Looking forward to our interactions again.
Forest v BHA living up to expectations very close game where Forest has dominated but reduced to one decent effort on goal. Brighton also making forests keeper to pull off a tricky save.
Great first half 0:0
Tony
Unfortunately what we won’t likely know / get to find out is who’s pulling the strings. I can’t see Arteta accepting someone else having influence but after another season of second best someone’s got to start asking questions.
I don’t know if its purely a coincidence, it being a midweek game, people being careful with money with the Labour Government scaring everyone shitless on the economy or a sign that fans think the season’s over but I stuck my Fulham ticket up on ticket exchange and it hasn’t sold – they usually go within a day or so.
New post, for a change