It has been a three horse title race so far. Liverpool sits at the top with 51 points, keeping a 5 point lead against both Man City and Arsenal. City has played a game less than us, and sits at 2nd position. An Arsenal v Liverpool game at this stage is going to be very crucial for both the teams (and City) and will decide whether all 3 teams will be in the mix or it becomes a Pep v Klopp for one last time in Premier League.
Klopp has already put down his papers and will be leaving at the end of the season which makes things very difficult for everyone else. Pep is a serial winner, a master tactician, is always ahead of his peers and commands his players’ respect. Klopp, on the other hand, EARNS it. Pep had fall outs, a lot of them – Aguero, Jesus, Cancelo, Yaya Toure and some pre-City ones like Zlatan, and Samuel Eto’o. Klopp on the other hand, maintains good relations with his players, groom them and manages them well. I don’t think anyone in Liverpool squad has anything bad to say against him. The reason I am highlighting this, is because, his resignation announcement will give that extra motivation to the players. Salah must be thinking about a farewell trophy, so does VVD, Jota, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alisson and others. It will work in favor of Klopp!
When Sadio Mane was at Liverpool, he praised Jurgen’s influence on the team and pointed out he is like a father figure the players in the dressing room. That’s something to say when things changes in a day in football.
Mikel Arteta has to not only beat Klopp tactically but also nullify the extra motivation they would be carrying to Emirates. In the team news, Gabriel Jesus is back with the team but it’s most likely the end of Thomas Partey at Arsenal. Seems like he has picked up another injury (?) which club waited for the transfer window to be over to confirm. I have no idea why but lets move on.
It going to be the usual I guess but I would love to see more of Martinelli in the center and if you are playing Jesus, let him switch often with Marti. At this point, everyone knows GM and LT are more dangerous in front of the goal than Jesus or Eddie. We saw ESR play the LCM role, he did okay but again, it’s not his favorite position. He should rotate with Odegaard.
And since it’s a home game, where it would be more about passion and life than the tactics, stick to Ramsdale. Tell him to be his natural self, after all there is not much difference between Raya and him. Sorry, I was excited about Raya initially but it has died down. Mikel style of play will always have errors in goal keeping and both Raya and Ramsdale are about the same in shot stopping and ball distributions.
A win for Arsenal would mean we remain in the mix. A loss would make it a Pep v Klopp. Mikel’s 4 years of work with players he has spent north of half a billion against a team that is fighting for one more time – is going to decide the fate of our manager.
Short one today, hope the weekend started on a positive note and we finish it even better. See you tomorrow during the game.
Well we’ll get in
Terrible Havertz effort
Daka got a goaaaal
I was watching the Zirkzee kid again last evening, who was a tad more impressive with the ball at his feet than in his previous affair, I noticed the former Hibs LB, Doig, who could be the perfect Tierney replacement and even challenge Zinchenko for minutes…presently he has a 7M market value, but I doubt he could be pried away for less than double that figure…he’s quick, decisive and tidy on the ball
Ok we need 2 more before half time to be reasonably sure of 3 points
Imagine if Saka weren’t there to put in the rebound after Havertz’s usual amateur hour effort
Pool look rather disjointed thus far so we must go after the jugular before they make the necessary adjustments…we should have Jorginho tucked inside out left, Ode out right and Rice primarily bossing the middle of the pitch, so why not have Zinchenko take on a more traditional wide side role, especially knowing how TAA typically struggles against Marts…not to mention, of all days this might be the one where some crosses into the box might make some sense, since we have Havertz up top…after all, even a broken clock is right twice a day
White got a card for dawdling on a free kick
Ode better pick up his offensive output because he’s a total lightweight when it comes to the defensive end of things…right now you have to go to page 4 on the PL stat site before you see his measly 4 assists
what the hell was that Havertz?…padding your stats you fucking wanker
The Albatross Havertz does it again. From 3 m in front of the goal
we simply must take our chances before Nunez comes in and can challenge our backers with his pace…hopefully he’s too banged up to be overly effective in that capacity…by the sounds of things he left their last match with a protective boot on
we should be in full attack mode considering their lack of a true DM and the fact that they don’t have the requisite pace to counter in their usual fashion
Can we produce a 2nd half as good as the first is the burning question?
And as I write we shoot ourselves in the foot
Saliba might have been a little casual, but where the fuck is our “number 1” Keeper, he should have come as soon as he saw the defender turning to protect…we couldn’t even wait until the second half to cock things up
The whole club has a soft streak running through it. They just needed to hoof it clear. Fuck!
Is it a self goal by Big Gabs ?
Incidentally he also handled the ball. There was a discernable tap movement of the hand. That was just before the ball bounced off him into the goal.
Goal given ,so no penalty 😂
We need a big 2nd half but we generally run on empty around 70 minutes and 5 subs don’t help. Why that is, is a complete mystery only known by Arteta. Havertz has been Pool’s best player by being absent in midfield where Jesus normally plays, so no change of tactics then.
Raya lacks the commanding presence required in the box…I doubt Ramsdake would have been so slow to react and we all know GD well that Emi would have been all over that ball
Ramsdale