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.
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
Good job PSV had an off night last week. That said our line up was more like our B side being the bench starting.
In Madrid it’s extra time either way Athletic asking all the questions and have stunned RM. They cut off Mbappe’s supply rendering RM ineffective in front of AM’s goal. AM also doubling up on ant threat from out wide.
RM it is then. Athleti poor in the penalties but deserved to win.
Now that was a crazy penalty shootout!!
Stylistically I actually favour a matchup against Real over Atleti, which might appear foolhardy to some and I certainly wouldn’t hold it against them for thinking so, as they always seem to find a way to get shit done whenever the stakes are highest…I just think Atleti would have tried to bully us off the pitch and even though we’ve adopted a similar approach at times this season, they’re far more versed in those particular dark arts…let’s face it, if they can hold that Real side to two goals over two legs, we could have struggled mightily to break through their lines, even if Saka returned to full health…not to mention, if we can find a way to pull off the bigger upset, literally anything is possible
let’s face it, these are the kind of statement wins that any club with higher aspirations needs on their resume, especially for recruitment purposes, just not sure MA has the acumen or onions required…one has to only look back at what he conjured up against a lesser Munich side this time last year…who knows, maybe all this experimental “forced” shit will actually help in some capacity…at least Real won’t have that much on tape..that said, we can’t do what we did against United, after thrashing that piss-poor PSV side, when we didn’t significantly tweak things that were already on film
personally I would adopt a “playing with house money” approach and take the match to them from the off…this Real side hasn’t quite discovered the best version of themselves, so if we can frustrate them they just might implode…there’s a lot of mismanaged egos on that squad and when those forwards are forced into defending too much they tend to get overly selfish in attack and pissy when things don’t pan out…in addition, hopefully MA will adopt the same tactics as Atleti when it comes to breaking their press, which will require us to use a shit ton of cross-field passes…now we haven’t been very proficient in that department this year, so MA’s personnel/positional choices will be crucial in this regards…if he’s not able to adapt, we could find ourselves on the wrong end of bad scoreline…regardless, we can’t be so fearful of that result that we just go through the motions like last year…simply put, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take
Tye last instance we played RM in CL one Thierry Henry just took the game by the scruff of its neck and bull dozed his way from midfield and scored a wonder at the Bernabeau. In the return leg a defence of Eboue, Toure, Sendy and Flamini kept a clean sheet. Ok fact over two legs this defence kept a clean sheet. Can a much celebrated defence of today do the same, then we can surely beat RM.
I agree that playing Real rather than Atletico is probably the better option.
This Real Madrid side are nothing compared to the one we beat before, a side that included casillas, Roberto Carlos, Ramos, Zidane, Beckham, Robinho, Guti and Ronaldo.
Madrid are there for the taking going by last night’s performance from them, although I doubt if their front 3 can be as poor again when we meet them.
I’m not sure if the home and away legs have been decided yet but of course it is usually an advantage to play your home leg 2nd .
To win the champions league it looks like we will have to play possibly Real Madrid, PSG and Barcelona which is daunting but not impossible, we have already beaten PSG this season so we should not fear them that’s for sure , Real Madrid are nothing special , a lot will depend on whether Vinicious and/ or Mbappy perform over the 2 legs, Barcelona in the final would be perfect…
Saka coming back from injury would be a bonus as will martinelli regaining full fitness but it is essential we go into these games with a settled midfield and back four to enable us to control the game, if we can starve their front 3 of the ball it will provide us with the platform to win the tie.
We also need to rediscover our ability to create and score at set pieces as the goals have dried up in the last couple of months , maybe we have become too predicable and need to mix it up a little to allow Gabriel to have a realistic chance of getting on the end of a cross as he takes up the same position every time and the opposition have found a way to block him. Personally I’d like to see him make a few more near post runs as this has been very profitable for him previously.
This Real Madrid side are nothing compared to the one we beat before, a side that included casillas, Roberto Carlos, Ramos, Zidane, Beckham, Robinho, Guti and Ronaldo.
Wicksy – talk about the falsest of dichotomies. Wenger wasn’t on a drip the last time we beat RM and was even known to be able to zip his coat up if the wind was blowing in the right direction and Pat Rice was on hand to help. Back then, our team was graced by the likes of TH, Bergo, a fit and firing Anelka, Gilberto, The Real (Patrick) Vieira Lynn, Ljungberg, Konig Jens Lehmann, King Tony of Adams etc. etc. What is your point exactly?
If we do beat them over 2 legs, then some of our current stars will deserve greater accolades but let’s wait and see. Arteta by contrast can go and fuck himself after all the time and money he’s spunked into the Andrex of oblivion!
Madhu
Good points mate. Was that really the back 4 that night? Christ, and there was me thinking TA was involved.
KP yes mate and it’s the same defense that kept clean sheet both again RM and Villarreal over 4 matches leading to finals. Infact that defense had the best record across the CL season going into finals against Barca.
Quite baffling all the negativity towards Arsenal for the upcoming tie v Real Madrid..
A couple of months ago we hammered City 5-1 who were considered amongst the elite until we demolished them .
We beat PSG 2-0 at a stroll , we made them look very average and now they are being talked about as potential winners .
We beat PSV 9(nine) -3 on aggregate, who had just convincingly beat and knocked out juventus , plus of course they had already beaten Liverpool in the group stage.
Our record recently against what is usually regarded as the the top 6 sides is second to none in the premier league
We are unbeaten v city since 2023
We are unbeaten v Chelsea since 2021
We are unbeaten v united since 2022
We are unbeaten v Liverpool since 2022.
We are unbeaten v tottenham since 2022 .
What do these sides have in common….they all tend to play on the front foot and don’t play with a deep block and hit on the break, consequently I think real madrid could be the ideal opponent as the teams we have struggled with recently are sides like Newcastle, forest, west ham and even villa who all tend to play very deep against the Arsenal.
I think the madrid defence can be got at if we are clinical in the final third, Rudiger and Asensio are quality but I’m not sure they have good protection.