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.
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.
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 😀