Fuckin’ hell, we haven’t seen proper football since ages. We have three world cup winners in our squad, though Raya couldn’t get a start (remains a mystery to me) and Zubimendi played just about the minute you needed to finish a plate of tikka masala. Mikel Merino outdid Ronaldo in the world cup in about 1/5th of the minutes he played, but hey, we surely don’t want to be in a situation to give him a start.
Right, fuck those Spursy cunts, I am happy football is back and thr starting line up is out.
Raya starts in the goal – no wonder there. We have gone with a back 4 of White, Mosquera, Gabriel, and Calafiori – which makes sense considering Saliba and Timber are out. Mikel has finally come to senses and given Lewis Skelly a start in the midfield alongside Rice and Odegaard. We have got Saka, Havertz and Tzolis starting up front. Gyokeres wouldn’t like it to be replaced by a part timer but you can’t really do much if your manager prefers someone else.
That bench looks solid as well, Hincapie, Eze, Gyokeres, Madueke, Nwaneri, Merino, Zubimendi, Dowman and Kepa are players fit to start in any of the Premier League teams. Maybe not Kepa, but he is a Premier League winner so who knows.
Coventry – a club that’s back in the Premier League after 25 years would be hoping to put up a fight at least, and the first days always have some surprises, but I am sure it won’t be this game. I am very interested to see the front 3 combination, whether Havertz has improved him scoring ability and how he links up with Tzolis and Saka.
No Martinelli on the bench means it’s over for the Brazillian. I always liked him, and I have nothing but praise for the kid. He would certainly be in the list of what could have been, just below Wilshere, if things have gone a bit differently.
Right, that’s me done. My laptop finally gave up to the extent of no return, that’s why you don’t see a complete makeover of London Is Red before the season begins. I am still searching for a good one.
See you in the comments.
So Rice and Saka rushed back with minimal pre season and Martinelli not even on the bench.
Marc
Yep, I have got used to it now, still remember pushing an injured, limping Partey on pitch.
Declan Rice deserved a month off to be frank. Zubimendi can stand the ground against Coventry I am sure.
Last week Arteta was saying that Bruno was hassling him as he was desperate to play v city and he picked up an injury, maybe in the future it would be wise to start players who are close to match fit to avoid unnecessary injuries and not listen to the player.
Personally I would have preferred Saka and Rice to be on the bench to call on if we are struggling as I doubt they are match fit…
Martinelli has probably played his last game for the club and if we are honest he hasn’t been consistent enough to warrant a place in the side, Tzolis has looked a better fit , he’s not as quick as Martinelli but he plays with his head up and is a better decision maker in the final third of the pitch though it is a little early to say if he will be a resounding success.
3-0
Lampard is managing Coventry? No wonder Mikel wants his best on the pitch lol
Wicksy
How can you say Tzolis has been a better fit? He hasn’t kicked a competitive ball, failed miserably in his previous skint in the PL and has come from the Belgium league.
How about we judge him after a season or so?
Personally I think starting Rice and Saka is stupid beyond belief – Arteta’s already turned Saka into an injury prone player he now runs the risk of doing the same with Rice.
Ambarish
“Declan Rice deserved a month off to be frank”
Its not about deserved its about keeping one of our top players, someone who will run all day fit. You run these guys into the ground and they end up with an injury problem that keeps reoccurring and they never get over it.
Well that’s highly irritating – I was hoping that Coventry having won the Championship by 11 points would at least look like they might stay up on the off chance the Spuddies have another shocking season and go down.
On tonight’s performance so far they’ll be lucky to make 30 points.
Oh Rice you beauty.. missed only by inches.
Wicksy,
I totally forgot about Bruno Guimaraes. Our midfield is indeed one of the best now.
MLS has added a new dimension totally. The kid can do what Thomas Partey used to do.
sorry but I had these on the last post:
Marc—for all the talk about our depth and how things will be different after winning, you just know our gutless fuck of a manager wanted his best “available” 11 on the pitch, even against lowly Coventry at home, regardless of the risks…I doubt anyone else would do likewise against this opponent in game 1…our little MIT still treats everything, except his tactics, like a sprint not a marathon
as for Bruno already being out, that’s so apropos considering our history with such matters…let’s not forget that he missed by far the most time as a professional last season with the dreaded hamstring injury (63 days—14 matches)
It’s quite interesting that the new boy is basically allowed to travel all over the pitch
lambs to slaughter thus far
that little sequence was MA’s Arsenal to a tee…first Skelly flops and gets a free kick then Havertz makes the same contact on a Coventry player and he goes down and everyone reacts as if the conspiracy is back on…this is the fucking cake and eat it too shit I despise
with commentators like Champion and Neville on the call, no wonder fucks like Pricksy don’t have a clue…the former gently cups our balls while Neville strokes us off like a true pro…if you closed your eyes you would swear that we’re the second coming of Pep’s Barca…this is why context matters, we’re playing a piss-poor side who don’t seem to have an offensive bone in their collective bodies, so grade A opportunities were always in the cards
Ambarish must have snuck in the new post while I was originally responding to Marc’s first post…I should have known better when I didn’t see any other posts…my bad
I’ll wait to properly evaluate our side until we play someone who will actually challenge our Saliba-less backline…only in a non-playoff based League would you put on such a one-sided affair to open things up
So we have got our CF, Winger and Attacking midfielder all on the scoreboard. Nice – lets score some more.
#COYG
when the commentator calls that kind of a soft one, you know there’s an agenda afoot…I would have been pissed if a 7 year old Keeper let that in
even at halftime when they interviewed Saka the first question was about how MA has taken the handbrakes off…really???? against this shit side at home in the opener…what are we doing here???