Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen. We are going to play our first home game today against a broken Leicester City and I’m not expecting anything less than a 4-0 win with a hattrick from Jesus. Okay, I am being too optimistic here, but hear me out – we have lost only once in our last 25 games at home against Leicester (W20, D4).
We are going to make it 26 today, at Emirates with a buzzing crowd and an in form team.
Team News
Reiss Nelson has picked up a muscle injury in training and will be out for some time.
Tomi, ESR and Vieira have all trained this week and could be part of the squad today. It would be exciting to see how Vieira is used, we have paid good money for him and he looks to be an Odegaard competition. We already had ESR competing in that area and if we have got another attacking midfielder, there must be something exciting about him.
Coming back to the team, I do not expect any changes to the playing XI we had against Crystal Palace. Back 4 of White, Saliba, Gabriel and Zinchenko looked solid, with Partey and Xhaka playing ahead of them. Saka on LW, Martinelli on RW and Odegaard playing centrally behind Jesus.
One thing Mikel needs to improve is his in-game management. Against Palace, everyone could see Jesus was exhausted after an hour and we had an in-form Eddie on the bench. It was a similar case with Zinchenko who was subsequently replaced by Tierney but that could have been earlier. We were 2-0 up and Lokonga was brought in, in 93rd minute which makes no sense unless you are holding on a 1-0 lead against a better team and want to waste time; could have been sooner again.
Premier League allows 5 subs, and there is no rule when you should do it – someone needs to update this to Mikel. Plus from what I hear, it’s a hot day today in London and Mikel has to be careful not to burn out one of the players so early in the season. If we are 2-0 up, have that confidence in your team and give it a break to the players who look exhausted. It’s as simple as that.
There are no set backs for us today. We are in form and it shouldn’t be a tough game against Leicester today. What are your expected team line up and score? Let us know in the comments.
Unfortunately, it’s busy days at home and work for another month but I will keep LiR running with your support. I am fcuking committed and passionate and have that energy level which Mikel talked about in All or Nothing, don’t worry 😉
I am also trying to change look and feel for LiR. I have been reached out by a reader mentioning it’s a bit off to read LiR on desktop, and yes, that needs improvement. You might find some part of the website behaving odd in next week, but it shouldn’t last longer. Suggestions are always welcome!
Don’t know what’s worse, United’s performance or their away kit
Just a few random thoughts on the match yesterday. Jesus looks like he loves the idea of being the “main man” and my guess is he’s also chasing the CF position for Brazil at the World Cup – which is a good thing for us. Saliba even with the mistake looks completely at home in the PL and if not a better CB than White already will be in weeks not years.
The most notable things about yesterday were the same old complaints – our central midfield is not good enough we just can’t control games with Xhaka in there. It was brutally hot yesterday and once again Arteta took far too long to make changes – this wasn’t about tactics it’s about a long season with a world cup bang in the middle of it we need to keep players fit and fresh.
Marc
Cheers mate. I couldn’t watch it live for once and this really fills the gaps. That phobia about using substitutes has plagued Arteta since he took over. It points to his conservative nature, his caution (which is a slightly different weakness) and, as everyone has noticed his evident lack of trust in others. He is also a ‘stobborn leetle focker’. Add in the hostile temperatures and he’s clearly building up trouble for him and the squad. You spend huge sums of money to acquire strength in depth. You train and drill players to know what’s required in each position and at various stages of the game. What we could see by the Jan TW is a worn out first XI with a group of underused, rusty and disaffected second XI. People around him need to stop being scared of him (although the eyebrows and beady eyes scare the crap out of me too! ) and speak truth to power before it’s too late. Some chance I know! There needs to be much more upwards and downwards mobility.
Oh, Marc before I forget. Did Tielemans impress you?
Kroenke
To be honest they all looked pretty ordinary.
They’ll be a lot of points that are decided this season by the managers who manage the World Cup players the best. When we had ESR, Nketiah, Tierney, Elneny, Tomi and Lokonga on the bench it’s not as if we were short of option.
They’ll be a lot of points that are decided this season by the managers who manage the World Cup players the best
Good point. And there’ll also be an advantage for teams with no/few players and those players from teams eliminated at the earlier stages.
Koulibaly just scored. Nicely taken goal. I think a Chelsea win slightly suits Arsenal. We’re more like to take points from them ourselves than we are against the other lot. Plus I dislike them less.
Chelsea Spud’s was just beginning to get tasty and the Spud’s have equalized and it’s kicking off!
Throw machetes on pitch – the viewing figures would go mental!
The World Cup is truly fucked with Taylor refereeing. WTF no foul on Havertz and Cucurella’s hair pulling. Anyhow excellent game and next to best result for us.
Definitely got the better deal in Jesus and Zinchenko is better then Cucurella and cheaper. Excellent season to come and 6 points ahead of last year’s season. This time we can start with the 1st game instead of the 4th.
Hi Killroy
This time we can start with the 1st game instead of the 4th.
Unless we have a really ordinary next few months in which it’ll start on boxing day. That’ll make us nailed on favourites for a top finish in the calendar year trophy.
Did you watch SA v ABs by any chance? Too early to say they’re turning a corner?
Just wondering if Manure were to have a fire sale, are there any players in that squad that would hypothetically improve Arsenal? I’m happily struggling to think of a single player.
All that animosity in SW London. It always reminds me that there are other clubs that hate Tottenham as much as we do. I’ve got friends who are Hammers and Chelsea fans who loathe the cockerel jockeys with a vengeance. In effect, they have 6 full on derbies every season.
Kroenke
The only people who don’t think the Spud’s are complete cunts are Spud’s, Scousers and Sky / BT!
LOL
Make that 36 full-on derbies then! You’ve got a point because I used to go to WHL quite often in the 80s when we were playing away. I saw Everton, Manure, other northern clubs and even QPR fans get really fired up and antagonistic towards Spurs fans. The whole place had a sinister threatening atmosphere.
I know we’ve been unpopular at times but hatred towards Arsenal is in direct proportion to our periods of success. In the 90s, only Manure were disliked more than us. In the 70s and 80s I reckon other teams were scared of our players frankly if not the actual fanbase. At other times, such as now, we’re either laughed at or patronised.
What must it feel like to be perennially shit AND hated/mocked irrespective of success? Serves them right – awful club with dull, deluded and vile supporters. You must have a few of them as neighbours in your neck of the woods.
I lived in Haringey on the ladder for part of the 80s – right on the edge of the Gooner triangle as it was known. Always an interesting atmosphere in the pubs when we ventured up to Turnpike Lane and Wood Green.
@KP
“Did you watch SA v ABs by any chance?”
Is the Pope Catholic? Of course, I have access to the Across The Tasman tracker which has all the Rugby Union and Cricket games you care to watch. Not into cricket but got a 720p/50Hz 4GB cap of the 2:25h ABs broadcast from NZL Sky Sports and it was a fantastic match. Not the same thrills as Tuchel v Conte but off the seat stuff. Will watch now the ARG v AUS game also from the same tracker.
In two hours MOTD2 should be available on the Reddit Highlights subreddit want to see the Tuchel v Conte tussle again plus Conte did not speak after the game but Tuchel laid into Taylor and the refs rightly so. We only have 3 teams competing for 2 spots in the top 4 as Man Utd is truly abysmal to put it mildly. It is in our hands to get CL at least at this point.
Jamie Vardy, your wife is a grass.
Great vibes at the Emirates yesterday and a great start to the season.
The crowd were really up for it and that makes a difference. Love the Zinchenko tune but that might just be an age thing.
For the first time in ages we went out and I thought, very simply, “we’re better than them, we should win this”
Aitcho
It sounds like the general mood is lifting. I had a sense of that pre-game optimism too, not least because Leicester seem to be drifting to put it mildly. What were your and other people’s thoughts about the lack of substitutions?
I was struck by that thing the England rugby coach Eddie Jones said about replacements talking about starters and finishers almost suggesting they were equally important to a team. There’ll soon come a time when we’ll be ahead against better opposition in a tighter game. They need to start using subs much more intelligently. It seems perverse now to have more subs available and be using them even less often. The odd times I’ve coached teams, I found my self spending the entire second half wondering about how my subs would make an impact. It must be the same at PL level surely?
I love the song about the money grubbing Vardys – what a grim couple. They even made WR and his other half look virtuous in that bullshit legal case.
If Barcelona sell Aubameyang, Arsenal should fine Arteta exactly the same amount as the fee as a punishment for completely focking Auba’s transfer value.
KP
The EPL could learn a lot from Rugby. To start with have the communication between the Ref and the VAR person be audible in the stadium. But then on the other hand the crowds in the stadium for a Rugby match seem to show a little more respect to the Ref than in football.
In addition a Rugby match is won by 23 players and some of them that have gone to the bench can come back on in certain situation. One of the reasons I am warming more and more to Rugby is the shit show the EPL refs present us week in week out and it is no better in the other leagues.
In addition if Tets benches White we are proven right that the 50 mil for him was not needed as an expense.
Killroy
Good stuff. And individually there seems an intellectual chasm between rugby refs and their vastly inferior football counterparts.
“If Barcelona sell Aubameyang, Arsenal should fine Arteta exactly the same amount as the fee as a punishment for completely focking Auba’s transfer value.”
Ambarish
There you go mate – you ticket to a fortune a new website called Arteta Roulette where people bet on how much will Arteta reduce a players value in the transfer market.
I do expect 10%!
Palace look like they’re going to lose this heavily. Their forwards look utterly disinterested. Hate to say it but Liverpool look a constant threat and should win easily.
Marc
With your 10% of LiRoulette (gotta bet on red right?) and my 30% cut of Arteta’s fine, we could organise a serious Edu-level Bunga Bunga party for all of Ambarish’s readers.
I’d hate to be a teammate of Saha’s. Fuck me! He’s just scored…
Kroenke
I’m up for that!
Hey Kroenkephobe,
Just checking in my friend. I’m ok thanks,the aul body is creaking in places but I will survive (Gloria had it right). I’m really missing out on some great stories but that Amazon documentary is robbing me of all the comic material! How can I take the piss with that thing bringing satire to a whole new level? If I created a scene with Arteta’s diagram or the hand rubbing it would look ott. And don’t mention the Anfield conditioning!
Anyway,I’m on the way back pls God, get some energy again and I’ll be back taking the piss.
So how are tricks in Wales? Cardiff off to a decent start,are you getting to the home games? Jesus has had an explosive start,are you daring to dream yet or are the battle scars of the last two decades still itching? Got to be honest,I still expect it all to result in disappointment but I wish I didn’t. I’m like Robert the Bruce in Braveheart ” I want to believe!!”
Almunia
Glad you’re on the mend now man up and write something funny!
“Got to be honest,I still expect it all to result in disappointment but I wish I didn’t. I’m like Robert the Bruce in Braveheart ” I want to believe!!””
Right now my view is Arteta’s like someone playing Football Manager (you should see my team) just because you can buy talent – and Arteta isn’t picking up the unknown diamonds like Wenger did when he joined – doesn’t mean you can coach or manage them.
Finished watching ESPN-FC and a good point was made about yesterday’s Sp*ds game there are 4 officials on the pitch plus Mike Dean and no one saw the hair pulling incident? The EPL is truly fucked with the PGMOL clowns they put on the pitch. Just waiting until we get a game where two goals would be allowed against us when they shouldn’t. Mark Clattenburg said both goals should not have stood.
Anyhow it was a match that was entertaining and full of passion.
From ESPN “Barcelona are seeking a transfer fee of €30m if they’re to sanction the departure of forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, reports Fabrizio Romano.”
Arsenal is really shitty at selling and if this comes to fruition we will loose all bargaining positions. Mavro is another example which we sold for 3m and West Ham was interested in him for 20m. We are doing well on the pitch but in the player sales business we are bottom of the table.
Great news Almunia. Keep taking it easy when you can because I know things get more hectic for you in autumn.
You’re right about AoN. It’s really nothing more than a pastiche of the earlier ones. Loads of cutaways of tastelessly dressed young men getting in and out of ridiculous motors or walking up and down corridors doing those elbows bent hand slapping greetings. I remember watching the Spurs one thinking it would be amusing to keep count of the handshakes and now of course its become stuck in my mind.
And it’s strange how your first impressions of players based on snapshots of games and interviews are reinforced by seeing them slightly (only slightly) closer in this format. For example, ESR and Saka come across as genuinely nice decent lads, Ramsdale and his awful dad immature and solipsistic, Xhaka and White as frauds (I loved the way BW recounted that story about being told he was shit without humour or irony). And Arteta comes off badly (Round and Stuivenberg slightly better I think). You possibly saw some of that UK TV programme ‘the office’. Comparisons between Tets and David Brent are credible. IE Not in touch with the players, nor Kroenke (in front of whom he seems nervous and even more uptight) nor his coaching staff who are wary and stiff around him. And those beady little eyes remind me of portraits in those 70s horror films that move and follow people around a room. Kicking off post Forest in the cup (should’ve done it at half time!), reminded me of that biggus dickus/incontinentia buttox sketch in the Life of Brian. Hope you’ve seen that otherwise its going to make me look a bit weird! People not giving him eye contact but probably on the verge of laughing at him.