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.
of course, I wouldn’t be surprised if Salah scored twice now that I said that…
TRVL & Marc
The PSG game was too much for Pool. They have been leggy and 2nd best all game.
Happy for Newcastle good for their fans.
Pool are not going to lose 5 games out of 10 is it? As you say Marc MA is the specialist at that…
with tommorow being what it is, London had better be prepared for two days of sloppy drunks & sloppy cunts
Fuck me Newcastle made hard work of the last 10 odd minutes.
Watching Athletti Madrid be Barca and did know our Szczesny plays for Barca now.
Barca look very tidy and accurate with their play.
Great game with Barca overturning 2 goals to win 4:2 if only we could play that level of football by both teams.
Tony—at this very minute they’re my favourites to win the CL, but the margins are still rather thin, so it’s subject to change based on the remaining sides respective form moving forward…frankly, after what I witnessed from PSG against Pool, they just might be my 1B (this might be a bit of a recency bias take though)…of course, all this indecisiveness speaks to the glaring lack of truly dominant sides in Europe right now, which is why our day late and a dollar short multi-phase plan might be our undoing…Cheers
The league cup final showed us what a difficult side Newcastle are to play against when they play with such physicality and intensity..a thoroughly deserved victory in a game that Liverpool were very disappointing.
What liverpool’s recent run of poor form has shown is that if you are in contention for the title, never give up belief because any side can have a drop off in form at any given time despite looking unbeatable for months prior.
Unfortunately we haven’t been able to exert the necessary pressure on Liverpool as I always believed that they were catchable as they fell off a cliff in the 2nd half of last season.
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Merino could do a giroud type job for us up top and that it is how it has transpired with 4 goals and an assist in 6 starts as a striker.
His header v Chelsea was a very clever glance off his head after excellent movement off the ball to lose his man .
I did also remark on our lack of goals from set pieces recently and advocated attacking the near post more which of course led to the winner v Chelsea, we had become too predictable.
Our final ball v Chelsea was poor and the overrated Odegaard should shoulder much of the blame as his weight of pass and decision making was poor despite at times finding himself in space to damage the opposition, the more you see Odegaard the more you realise that the Injury to saka has affected his game which was basically receive the ball and feed saka asap, though Odegaard tends to be very good when we have a comfortable lead , not so good when the game is tight.
Martinelli was lively , what he gives the team compared to Nwaneri is a greater hunger for the ball and the confidence to demand the ball off his team mates , Nwaneri due to his age probably is still rather timid off the ball and tends to play on the periphery of the game , in some(not all ) games he is reluctant to demand the ball to make more of an impact ..
TRVL
Barca looked comfortable all game and never panicked. AM played their contain and counter brand of football to great effect, but you can park a bus against great sides such as Barca or PSG.
Don’t get me wrong AM is a great side where most teams will struggle to break then down and why they are still in the mix with RM & Barca for their league trophy.
I just really enjoyed the football as I never got to see it in Thailand.
Hard to choose between Barca or RM for the title, but I haven’t seen enough games to judge as you have. Both can look off their game, then suddenly force errors and score. I’ll watch them play each other first if they still have a game left.
Tony—on another note, as rumours are swirling regarding our potential off-season acquisitions, I’m starting to get a little worried that we might go full-Simeone and target players that have a decided edge to them, like Cunha and Nunez…it’s not as if I don’t think they have noteworthy qualities, it’s just that neither answer our piss-poor finishing questions…now if we were contemplating the notion of ridding ourselves of Havertz and Jesus, which seems incredobly unlikely, then deploying Cunha tucked in behind a new Striker, I wouldn’t be upset by that notion, but I think both of the players above are more Richarlison than Diego Costa (circa 2013-17), from a goalscoring capacity, which won’t get it done
I do think if someone can figure out a way to reign in Nunez’s now almost spastic-like nature, there’s a player of some note in there…it’s just a difficult needle to thread, in that if you neuter him too much, he might become another flopping Havertz-type, especially considering his similar struggles when it comes to converting premium chances…fact remains, with our Berta hire we might have left the beautiful game behind us, which is a rather depressing thought…here’s hoping that he left Atleti because he was sick and tired of playing second and third fiddle to the likes of Real and Barca, so he was coming here with a revamped blueprint that emulated the practices of the aforementioned clubs…fat chance!
Salah without Trent Arnold is very similar to Odegaard without Saka.
Both Salah and Odegaard look lost without the one player in their lives that bring the best out of them.
You could also look at Cole Palmer’s form since Jackson’s injury, Palmer without Jackson’s movement in front of him seems to second guess everything he does , his natural game is suffering.
Of course this could all be just a coincidence but I’m not so sure, Haaland without Debruyne looks a shadow of himself..
So what is the answer for a manager, from the outside it looks like even the top managers don’t have the answer as pep , Arteta and Slot struggle to get the best out of their most creative players.
Looking at Odegaard play atm I get the impression that he doesn’t trust Nwaneri or whoever plays outside him, so without Saka there for him to feed with simple 5-10 yard passes it has moved him out of his comfort zone as he tries something different.
Odegaard is the archetypal pre programned Arteta footballer who(unless the team is winning comfortably) , will stick to the script, which probably 8 times out of 10 is a 5 yard pass to saka , receive the ball back , give another 5 yard pass to saka and let him supply the magic..
To be honest it works quite well , so I have no qualms with them repeating the same move but as we have seen it becomes a problem when Saka is out of the side.
Maybe Odegaard just needs to use Nwaneri more or maybe Nwaneri’s body position when out wide needs to be looked at , other than that Arteta needs to find the answer, as does pep and Slot.
Tony—it looks like Simeone agrees with our Barca assessment…here’s what he said at the post-match presser the other evening:
“I’ve said it before and I can repeat today: Barcelona is the team that plays the best football. It’s also the team that combines the best team play, and has distinguished players on an individual level.”
he’s certainly not one to throw around compliments…just thought it was apropos in light of our previous posts…Cheers
Wicksy – based on your assessment of players and dynamics between ode and Saka the manager earns their money by identifying the single point of failures early and fix them. I am an IT architect and iam looking this like one. We use the word single point of failures as any component within the architecture that doesn’t have any redundancies. Any failure in that component will bring down the entire system. It’s something that is discussed at length when we design and of there is a single point of failures then the risks are articulated and accepted by everyone. Surely this is the same that would be done in a high performing club. Peps failure is not to identify alternatives to De Bruyne and same with Arteta for Ode. For slot the jury is still out if they start faltering in Pl then he will be culpable as well.
At our club many of us have been clamouring for a partner for Ode to share his creative role but MA is loathe to this unless ode breaks our. Even then he will rock up the midfield with defensive minded players. That’s his nature and I don’t see how it will change. He has a single point of failure in his Architecture and I guess he and everyone has accepted the risk.
TRVL
Quick answer to your posts as I head for the Madrid airport.
Junior was telling me about Nunes and a couple of other players that have slipped my mind.
Totally agree we need more skillful players that can utilize Ethan and Skelly’s football Brian skills. Not many in our squad have the required football nous.
If we buy more like Havertz from Pool’s cast offs we are just moving from Chavs to Pool. Chavs want to sell us Sterling.
What is it with MA wanting to buy other teams bench players?
Will catch up with you later good buddy. Simione always tells it like it is. It’s what I like about him.
Test
To see why no posts
Hoopah
Where the fuck is everyone? I know there’s no real football this weekend but surely there’s something to slag Arteta off about anyway!
Just need a football and Arteta break I guess
Hi Madhu, Hoopah and Marc
Yes, I’m definitely taking a rest from thinking about the little guy. I’ve also been stewarding quite a bit at County who look set to finish third in the Welsh League this year. Plus there are loads of Pembrokeshire finals being played at our ground which often brings in crowds of over a thousand (which I know sounds insignificant but is big for around here).
Do you watch the women’s team much? They dominated Liverpool last night and won 4-0.
I’m not an Ingerland follower as you know but it was truly heartwarming to hear about Skelly’s goal on his debut. He must be ecstatic – there was a lovely picture of Sir Declan hugging him after the game.
Marc et al the Woke guys.
Yes , it gives so much satisfaction slaging ElB for fucking up the spirit of Arsenal.
Same – same as colloquially spoken in India.
Actually , had dropped in to express the satisfaction Arsenal Women bring to the club. Will try to watch the highlights on Utube. They swamped Liverpool it is said.
Good day everyone
Skelly goal was a very accurate strike. But credit to Bellingham who delivered a sliding pass between the gap of 2-3 players. Skelly put it in between the legs of the defender and beyond the goalkeeper.
It is nice Decclan Rice supporting and encouraging the youngsters , like what Auba used to do which irritated El B no end since it affected his domination of the weakest. El B for a reason. We thank KP for the apt moniker.
Hi Hoopah
Good stuff mate. Especially the bit about Marc being woke. He’s also a muesli-eating, tree-hugging, virtue signalling snowflake who now loves the Labour Party.
Damn it Kroenke you’ve found out my secret identity!
I just can’t seem to help myself, the overthinker in me wants to make sense of those who continue to ignore the obvious when it comes to our longstanding managerial experiment…I get that we progressed from year 1 to year 3, but considering where we were, the monies we’ve spent, the players he inherited and the struggles that many of the “big” clubs have endured, surely this achievement alone shouldn’t have earned him such blind allegiance from within the fanbase and by ownership
is it really so hard to believe that he’s simply maxed out his managerial capabilities and now it’s time to find someone who’s actually capable of completing the task at hand…this certainly isn’t a new concept, it happens all the time in the world of sports, coaches come in and stabilize a franchise then hand over the reigns when the objectives become decidedly loftier…instead we appear totally resigned to the notion of standing pat and continuing to spin our wheels…surely our plan can’t be to endlessly hope that we can win something due to the foibles of others, as that’s not a logical/sustainable path to securing elite status…after all wasn’t that what we were promised some 20+ years ago when we broke ground…fuck me it’s been so long that we’ve actually reached the point where massive renovations are in the offing, which guarantees us sweet fuck-all if the wrong individuals remain in charge
so what is it about this particular manager? is it that some see him as someone who can replicate Pep’s success in North London due to some sort of managerial osmosis? is it simply a logical outgrowth of our post-Wenger PTSD, which makes us far more susceptible to psychological trappings of a cult of personality ruse? is there a significant contingency within the fanbase who’s under the mistaken impression that MA’s some sort of coaching savant? or is it simply an extension of our underlying fear that we could actually subject ourselves to a United-like post-Fergie slide, so we would rather endure a Wenger Cup-esque reboot than run the risk? If I had to hazard a guess, it’s likely a combination of all of the above
problem is when you examine all the facts we’re far more likely to slip back or stay on our current bride’s maid course, than push through…even if you look at our recent DOF hire, his transfer pursuits are far more aligned with MA’s desire to maintain one’s contender status than taking the footballing world by storm…unless his exodus from Atleti was intimately tied to the fact that he felt he was being held back by Simeone’s rather stringent blueprint, I just don’t see him providing us with a viable remedy for either our current roster construction issues or MA’s incessant tactical tweaks that seem to only favour the least equipped among us
case in point, if the rumours are to be believed, Berta, like MA, is a big fan of Zubi’s, which means that Rice’s role up top will be forged in stone…likewise, if we pursue Berta’s former recruit, Cunha, he’s neither a logical wide side forward nor a Striker, as he’s most effective tucked in behind the Striker, so does this mean another year of Havertz up top…imagine if we spent another 120+M for these two players and still never got a true talisman…let’s face it, that would be the exact sort of thing Atleti would do…
just a little follow-up, I read an article today from some so-called “insiders” which stated that the above two transfer targets would somehow constitute a show of “bold ambition” on our part and that Berta actually views them “as essential to the next phase of the project”…sorry that doesn’t cut it for me…there’s no reason to believe that Zubi’s an immediate upgrade to Partey and even though Cunha’s an interesting player, he’s not a real Striker, so who the fuck knows what his role will be…this looks to me like moves that are only being green lit because MA’s intends to lean even further into his half-brained plans regarding Rice and Havertz…so long as they’re offensive pillars the chances of us winning anything of consequence is slim to none, unless we can craft 25+ chances each and every game regardless of the level of competition…WTF
TRVL
I think Partey’s leaving in the summer so a replacement makes sense to some degree as we both know Arteta’s never going to willingly change direction.
So it would look like Cunha replacing Martinelli and Zubi replacing Partey with Havertz cemented in as our forward / striker.
Does anyone serious think we’ll ever win the PL with a forward who will only score a maximum of 12 – 15 PL goals a season and a big chunk on those either against lower teams or the 3rd (or higher goal) in a win that’s already a done deal?
Marc—I’m well-aware of the pending Partey departure, although nothing is totally guaranteed…my point is that instead of replacing Partey with an unproven PL entity like Zubi, why aren’t we playing our 100+M DM Rice in that position, as he’s better defensively and at least on par with Zubi from an offensive standpoint…as for Cunha, he’s not a proven PL level wide side forward or a Striker, so if we were looking for a like-for-like Marts replacement, this isn’t the guy…that said, he would be a suitable Tross replacement, but what are the chances that MA’s going to have our LBs, who typically play in an inverted capacity, providing the necesssary width…Cheers
TRVL
You misunderstood my comment – I wasn’t saying you were wrong more that Arteta won’t change direction on a player like Rice because he always knows best.
The other players I’d make a judgement on once they’d put some time it.
Marc—my bad…if we really want to take things to the next logical level we need to offload Havertz in the summer, which might be difficult due to his injury, and put that money towards a proper Striker…he’s too expensive, wage-wise, to be coming off the bench and I would suspect, if we bring other forwards in, his MV will never be this high again…Cheers
I cannot think of any sensible manager that would want to purchase a bow legged giraffe who is on a massive salary. Havertz contract has two more years to run – what a waste. Song please Mr Dury.
TRVL
That’s very worrying if Berta is aligned with MA’s choices. Is that enough to get us over the line to win a PL trophy?
If each of the big clubs didn’t improve and maybe if they continued to have bad seasons we’d have a small chance.
Realistically, all the top 6 are going to improve this summer. Manure are reportedly wanting a fire sale of 10 players. The Chavs are only a decent striker away from scoring the goals they need.
Who is going to buy Isak?
Pool will improve with some players going, Salah has been showing signs his form is dipping as defenders are handling him. Although still not bad with 27 PL goals where 9 were pens and 17 assists. Only 11 from open play. The rest tap ins and fast breaks.
Will be interesting to see what Slot does this summer. TAA maybe RM bound.
Newcastle can improve and we’ll see what Edu does for Forest.
City won’t allow another poor season, so will keep buying quality where their younger incumbents will have a season’s experience going forward.
Buying Cunha and Zubi when taking the above into account really doesn’t move the needle, and as you say they are not PL tested so could take a season to bed in.
All in all not what we had hoped for, especially when taking injuries into equation.
Good to see Skelly and Ethan shine for their England sides.
I guess it will be results by Xmas where we are sitting, and I hope KSE are going to take the last 3 capitulations into account by waiting before giving MA a contract.