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.
Ambarish
Yeah I saw that Saliba article too and was impressed. Deeds, not words of course but it was positive the way he explained his desire to win something at Arsenal. Only need to get around the manager problem.
Can it be true that all we know about Berta is from his time at AM. There must be something else about him out there. Maybe he bought Arteta a watch
?
Hopefully Berta has a bigger pair than El B. Perhaps Berta will employ TH14 and his black mamba and beat him around the head.
Ambarish—to be fair, Pool were the better side for much of that match, minus some effective countering on PSG’s part and during the last 15+ minutes of extra time…in many ways this one played out much like their first leg match, with the more dominant team ending up on the wrong side of a 1-0 scoreline…that said, Enrique outmanaged his less experienced counterpart…as for Slot’s comments, I kind of get it, as this CL season was kind of weird considering how many traditionally sides performed poorly in the preliminary round, which led to some unusually tough match-ups for some and some cake walks for others…think about it, Atleti got Real and Pool got PSG, meanwhile Barca got Benfica, Inter got Feynoord, Villa got Brugge and we landed PSV…such is the luck of the draw sometimes…I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some “reseeding” tweaks moving forward…regardless, I have little empathy for those complaining about those types of situations because if you’re a serious club you have to be willing to take on all comers no matter the time or place
as for our second leg gig, it looks like MA has been busy in the lab working on his next shoehorning wet dream, with Zinchenko becoming our next great midfielder…why the fuck not? he was kind of doing that anyways during his previous inverted gig…shit, we could deploy Raya as our midfield pivot and Gabs as our Striker and still advance with relative ease, so have it you tinkering twat
traditionally more dominant sides
as for the whole Berta hiring, I’m a little worried about our style of play moving forward, as that Atleti side wasn’t always known for playing the most expansive or attractive brand of football…living in the shadows of both Real and Barca kind of forced them into constructing a more defensively-minded/gritty squad, as they never felt like they could go toe-to-toe with them at the other end of the pitch…the last thing we need is to lean further into our newfound bully-ball gig, as the current PL lineup is nothing like those La Liga years when Messi’s Barca and Ronaldo’s Real were the dominant sides
case in point, some are saying that Cunha is Berta’s priority signing, which might make sense if he were still at his former club, but he’s not the kind of Striker that’s going to raise our profile, in fact, he’s not even an actual Striker…so if he’s meant to be our sole Striker signing of the summer and no one else is coming in, thanks but no thanks…now if he’s coming to tuck in behind a Sesko or an Isak, then I’m all for it, but I highly doubt that’s in the cards…furthermore, he’s the kind of an emotional basket case that would fit his former side to a tee, as he’s like a younger version of Rodrigo De Paul, but I’m not sure I want to see a reboot of De Paul and Morata with Cunha and Havertz up top…that said, I’m still trying to maintain a positive frame of mind, as who knows maybe he left because he had some different plans in mind which could never come to fruition with Simeone taking up all the oxygen in the room…fingers-crossed
Can I have Luis Enrique as Arsenal manager for Christmas (without the wait)?
confirmed lineup: Raya, White, Kiwior, Gabs, Skelly, Jorginho, Rice, Zinchenko, Sterling, Tierney and Merino
MA must be walking around with a permanent half-chub with this shoehorned LB-heavy lineup on tap…I feel like he might need to see someone about his LB infatuations
That’s 4 LBs on the pitch lol. Anyone’s up for a KT hattrick?
KP
Not much I know about him, read an interview somewhere on reddit of an Atleti fan, Berta seems to be one of those contradictory types and that’s a good thing for us. We don’t want another Wenger stint with yes men around the manager.
As for the style of play, it was Someone and we all know how he likes.
Simeone** bloody autocorrect.
Marc – plus one to that.
Here’s my primary concerns with Berta:
(1) MA’s input in the process:
“First-team head coach Mikel Arteta is said to have had an ‘input’ throughout the process”
(2) the lack of titles during his time at Atleti—if our main priority is to stay within the top 3, full marks for this get, as he appears to know just what to do to guarantee that, but if it’s major silverware you crave, this might not be the DOF you want in charge
(3) he’s been far more successful when it comes to selling players than buying them and turning them into bona fide stars…he seems to like half-measure and aging Strikers a bit too much for my liking, which worries me considering MA’s anti-Striker inklings
this PSV team is the gift that keeps on giving…do they not even know how to close down on players when they’re on their favoured foot
KP—quick read about how Berta’s time at Atleti ended:
“Berta, who first joined Atlético as a scout in 2013, has served as the club’s sporting director since 2017. He has been at the center of the shifting dynamics within Atlético’s front office over the past year — ever since former agent Carlos Bucero and former LaLiga executive Óscar Mayo joined the club as its new director of football and its new director of operations, respectively.
Bucero’s appointment in January created tension with Berta and led to a power struggle (detailed in Relevo) between the two men — and Bucero emerged from the summer transfer window with his position successfully consolidated after several high-profile players arrived (Julián Alvarez chief among them) and several high-profile players departed (Saúl, Memphis, João Félix among them). That position has been strengthened even further by Atlético’s recent form — Los Rojiblancos have won 11 consecutive games and are joint-top of LaLiga entering Saturday’s tilt with Barcelona.
(Additionally, Relevo has since reported that Berta’s relationship with Diego Simeone broke down over the signings of three players: João Félix, Arthur Vermeeren, and Brazilian winger Marcos Paulo.)
Berta’s contract does not expire until June 2025, but he has decided to leave after being “sidelined” in recent months, with Relevo claiming that he had been prohibited from entering the dressing room — although he can be seen standing at the entrance of the tunnel behind the dugouts at the Metropolitano when Atlético play at home”
Sounds like he got the full Diamond Eye treatment!!
I wonder what kind of intel Berta can provide should we face Atleti in the quarters, especially after Atleti scored an early equalizer
I felt the Madrid derby would go to penalties hoping as well.
My thoughts for our game is we’ll win but by a respectable score line. No way we lose this so enjoying watching the Madrid derby.
Had my haircut today by a guy who was at Barca for the game. Was interesting seeing his delight from their win.
this PSV is so bad they’re making Sterling look good
Good stuff guys re Berta made good reading.
Athletic bossing the game so far. RM have ruffled feathers no cohesive at al
Cohesive play
Tony—Barca just might be the one to beat, which does open the door for someone like us, as they’re certainly not a juggernaut at this point…like I said all along, the most depressing part about our transfer window fuck-ups is the fact that there’s no truly dominant teams presently, so we could have helped to fill that void…after this season, several teams will take a decided jump in class and that door won’t be nearly as open
Can someone please tell me how that was even a foul let alone a booking by Kiwior?
I’m flicking back and forth between the matches…Real has difficulties sometimes against other sides that likewise want to invite pressure, as it makes it difficult to attack them on the counter
let’s hope we see our young Striker in the second-half
That Berta history was good to read but far from inspiring. I’m not getting a chub Vieira (nice colloquialism by the way).
Mbappe magic and pace draws a penalty and Junior fires it wide
KP—if, like myself, you were feeling upbeat because you believed that he had changed his frontline philosophy, with the Alvarez acquisition, it’s crushing when you find out that wasn’t of his doing…in fact, it might have been his undoing
Junior might be looking for a new address if that becomes the deciding factor…I still would want my supposed talisman taking that one
Our game stats are pretty even with PSV