Lets move on.
We begin our Carabao Cup journey today against the Boltons. Bolton Wanderers is one of the oldest English club based in Greater Manchester and currently plays in League One, third level of English football. They have some very rich history but not so rich recently when the club went into administration before an ownership change. For us, it’s a game to rotate and rotate heavily, give game time to those who can’t make the current Premier League / Champions League squad, and to give chances to the kids.
I was expecting a lot of changes in the line up and that’s what has happened
Jack Porter, a 16 year old who signed the scholarship this summer for Arsenal is going to play in the nets. The reason being Neto is cup-tied for the tournament as he played for Bournemouth against West Ham before his loan move and can’t represent any other team. We have a lot of injuries – Tierney, Odegaard, Merino, Zinchenko, Tomiyasu. We saw Raya, Calafiori, Timber all struggling physically in the City game and and only Calafiori seems to have recovered and made into the playing XI.
Is it the time for kids to shine?
Well, the kids are getting their chances today. The line up is out and we have switched to a 3-4-3 formation. We have Porter in the nets, Nichols, Kiwior, Calafiori in the defence, Lewis-Skelly, Rice, Jorginho and Nwaneri in the midfield and Saka, Sterling, Jesus as the front 3.
We have switched to a 3-4-3 line up probably because we wanted to rest our defence line after 3 huge games and I think it’s a good thing. White had injury concern, we need Saliba and Gabriel for much bigger games and Timber was also struggling against City towards the end.
There’s not much today except that it would be exciting to see some of the kids getting their chances and to see who picks up the most of it. It’s also good to be back at Emirates and the game SOLD OUT against a League 2 team in first round of Carabao cup.
I would love some trophies this season, so lets go out and do the usual boys.
COYG and fuck the spuds (yeah, spurs has nothing to do with it but it had been long me shouting that).
KP,
If you are reading this, we need some new pictures of Emirates and around it.
Ambarish—two points:
(1) I’m by no means defending the actions of the officials, as I’m of the belief that the professional standards have actually dipped since the introduction of VAR…that said, I think it’s important to note that things were already reaching a crisis point prior to it’s introduction, which directly impacted how this particularly flawed VAR model was going to be implemented…instead of choosing this papering over the cracks version they should have adopted the same model FIFA had used on the world’s stage…by not doing so, no outside eyes were allowed in the room, so the underlying issues continued to fester
until a new level of trust is forged between the players/managers and the officials, these problems will continue to not only persist, they’ll actually flourish, to the detriment of the product on the field…in order for any real change to come about an independent oversight committee needs to be formed to root out the systemic problems, then they can finally turn the page…to ensure future success I would tie their wages to a much higher level of accountability, so that although I would pay them vastly more, which would likewise lower the chances of any funny business, they would face far more severe ramifications, including termination, if they failed to live up to the newly established higher standards
on a side note, I would personally like to see some sort of “sin bin” situation in all of football, especially when it came to dealing with more minor, non-violent infractions
(2) no one is suggesting that MA should deploy an all-out blitzkrieg-like attacking model, but there are other ways to skin a possession-based cat…knowing full-well that City was always going to our biggest stumbling block, it was imperative that he devised a system that would be most effective against our chief competitor…if you look at the tape City is most vulnerable when playing against counter-attacking sides, so why not invest heavily in a side that could become the world standard when it came to countering with numbers and pace…instead he’s been hellbent on constructing a poor man’s version, which I find to be a rather depressing blunt instrument managerial model
as for today’s match, I can only hope we see the most unrecognizable starting 11 MA has ever selected
Best of luck to the youngster in goal – at 16 its a huge match to be dropped into.
why the fuck is Saka playing against fucking Bolton???
bad defending and a better quality Keeper probably makes that save, but 1 up nonetheless
it’s too bad that MA doesn’t use these types of matches to experiment tactically instead of having players who will likely never see the pitch performing within a dumbed-down version of the usual script…after all, he can figure out that other shit on the training pitch
so far they’ve had more touches in our box than we’ve had in theirs
I think Sterling has his boots on the wrong feet
That was some pass from Skelly.. Ethan Nwaneri on the scoresheet.
good for Ethan to get his first ever goal for the first team…finally Sterling contributed in some capacity
the colour man seems like a nice enough guy, but he’s so horny for all things Arsenal that he’s likely hiding his boner with a copy of Wenger’s book on his lap
Jorginho just might be the slowest man in the PL
another silver platter 4th, so this one’s done and dusted before the 70th…it should have been all sorted in the first half, considering the competition, but our rinse and repeat tactics don’t flatter us offensively…great to see a handful of kids getting some minutes though
Game was too late for me and am busy this week with work.
Good to see Ethan get a brace although it’s no surprise as what little I’ve seen of him has screamed out that he should have been given game time pst season.
Hopefully he and Skelly another promising talant will play the next few games and play Nwaneri at least agains PSG. Can always take him off if he flounders, but I don’t see that happening.
The kids playing and the win are the positives to take from last night from reading your commentary.
I’m in BKK tomorrow for the weekend so will get the game on my laptop as most hotels in BKK have the cheapest IPTV system with little or no sport including the 5 stars.
Game was too late for me and am busy this week with work.
Good to see Ethan get a brace although it’s no surprise as what little I’ve seen of him has screamed out that he should have been given game time pst season.
Hopefully he and Skelly another promising talant will play the next few games and play Nwaneri at least agains PSG. Can always take him off if he flounders, but I don’t see that happening.
The kids playing and the win are the positives to take from last night from reading your commentary.
I’m in BKK tomorrow for the weekend so will get the game on my laptop as most hotels in BKK have the cheapest IPTV system with little or no sport including the 5 stars.
Nwaneri is forcing me to put the Carabao Cup goals and assists data. :))
I will make it a top 3 in each section to not clutter the blog in coming days.
Just about back in the land of the living after a mega drive to N London.
A really fun night where the 3 young lads did themselves no harm at all. Nwaneri, Skelly and Nichols all showed their stuff to good effect and they must have been elated afterwards. The team was mixed with a good blend of the older pros.
There is a gulf in class between us and a third tier outfit like Bolton. Indeed, the game helpfully excised some of the lingering demons from the times when Rioch and fat corrupt Sam Allardyce taught us some lessons.
Generally positive environment in the crowd but full of fucking idiots not really watching the game and getting up and down every 2 minutes to take pictures of each other. We had seats in the East Stand at the top near the halfway line. We were at the end of a row do the constant fidgeting and moving about by wankers was more pronounced. I told two cunts to sit down and they meekly obliged. Nice pre game drink in the Gunners on Blackstock Road. But just like the rest of the area,it has probably gone a bit too posh and gentrified.
Got back to W Wales at 3am, happily entertained and with 2 smiling kids. Perfect!
Ambarish – my kids took numerous pictures which I’ll send on. I think you have my email address so can you please send me yours and I’ll put them together.
I’m thinking of a scheme to get to Deepdale for the Preston game. One of my favourite grounds in England. If anyone has any ideas?…
Sounded like a great trip, KP. Good memories to keep
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/willian-arsenal-chelsea-arteta-edu-33747246
After watching Williams earlier at Chelsea and later at Fulham , at both places he was an outstanding footballer who could make things happen.
The reason , besides a 3 year contract, tells ElB is a con artist par excellence. No wonder with all the wool pulled over their eyes the Kroenkes are shown as real idiots, not outstanding businessmen