Arsenal v Luton Town – it’s still in our hands!

most changes from a previous lineup ever, yet somehow, someway our giraffe on skates is still starting up top…pumped that ESR, Nelson and Partey are getting starts, but this could make things rather interesting if the tactics haven’t been tweaked due to the differing personnel

So Arteta rotates heavily – he really goes from one extreme to another.

Get this right and he’ll be lauded for having fresh legs etc for Brighton – get it wrong and he might have blown the season.

We’re gonna find out in a couple of hours.

Havertz has the first touch that only Welbeck’s mother could love

this is the first start for Nelson in 4 years…just think of the gobs of money we’ve wasted during MA’s time on players who’ve barely seen the pitch…as such, this is a failure at both the managerial and recruitment levels

thankfully Luton has their fairshare of injury concerns, so we should win this one rather easily

Ambarish—I do agree with you in regards to Ramsdale’s selection omission…everyone knows full-well that Raya’s MA’s favourite, rightly or wrongly, but why not put Ramsdale in the shop window so that we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past, like with Leno, who left for a pittance of what we paid for him due to his year long benching

Very nice the way ESR unloaded their midfielder.

thank goodness we’re finally on the board…even Havertz couldn’t fuck up that silver platter offering, as the defender gave up the only passing lane that mattered to the left-footed Ode

… And we’re sitting back…

certainly not a highlight reel goal, but I’ll gladly take the 2 tally cushion…should be smooth sailing from here

TRVL
Agreed. Luton are poorer than I thought they’d be, although we seem to be pretty fortunate timing-wise against clubs with injury crises this season. In my opinion we should continue to rotate in-game tonight in the second half ie players earmarked to start against Brighton should come off for some of those on the bench. Spread the load in other words.

“We paid Auba to leave.”

And then Chelsea paid Barca £10 million for him 6 odd months later.

Anyone in a real job who did that would be fired.

Main thing I can say after the first half is players like ESR can’t be dropped into massive games with zero match time but having had a part in both goals its obvious he’s good enough to be used as sub / start far more often.

Villa equalise!

KP—it reminds me of the first-half of last season when we had a whole mess of those father/son-like gifted affairs…it’s difficult to complain but it certainly can’t properly prepare us for those much tougher fixtures that will be coming down the pike in the coming weeks

we need to pot a third then get Ode, Havertz and likely Partey off the pitch…there’s no excuse for us not to see the likes of Vieira and Eddie for at least 30+ minutes

We need the third to change anything.. ESR is looking rusty to be frank.

Ambarish—I think MA’s making him stay on the pitch just long enough to reinjury himself so he doesn’t have to hear anymore ESR questions for the rest of the season lol…personally I’ve always been a fan of ESR but we had better sell him before his MV falls off the map…it’s clear that MA will never favour him and for some reason his lack of opportunities has made him even more susceptible to injuries

you could hear a fucking pin drop in the Emirates at times, which speaks to the level of play on the pitch by both teams

We really need someone with a car battery and a set of jump leads to connect the pair of them with Arteta’s scrotum and leave the power on until he promises to never ever play this fucking inverted fill back bollocks again.

dont get this whole Marts on the right gig, unless there’s more concerns about Saka than they’re letting on about…shit I would rather he put Eddie out there, Tross in the middle and Marts on the left, as you might as well cater to the only player who’s a regular starter

if teams are going to come to the Emirates with no bullets in the chamber, you had better put on a show for the home crowd…so far this has been rather dire

why not try some stretch passes or have a go from distance or see what it looks like when you commit more men into the box…if not now, when???

I can literally hear the players conversing with one another on the pitch…we’re fucking lucky the Luton from our last meeting didn’t show up in the second half

that was almost class-action lawsuit worthy

After the drama of Sunday, this was a perfunctory and prosaic display that did the job. Luton clearly show more fight in that poxy little ground of theirs than they do away from home. That Spurs really struggled against them for a while last time out is revealing.

One of the least remarkable games of the season. They’ll need to re-up their game on the south coast on Ssturday.

Nothing to see – an expected win – move on.

Morning all.
In rambling Arsenal mode.

Fell asleep around midnight, so have just watched the game where, knock me over with a feather, ESR got MOTM particularly for his part in both goals. What really pissed me off is Zinchenko’s lack of vision when playing out, because so many times in the 2nd half ESR was free in space out wide left as an 8: his best position, only for the myopic Ukrainian to keep passing to our right and into more waiting Luton traffic.

Willie and Gabs followed suit with pushing our attacks down the right, when in fact our 2 goals came from ESR picking the Luton’s players pocket centrally, and a deft cut back from a LW mazy run that ESR seems to do in slow motion.

What upset me most was the look on ESR’s face when being subbed. Not a happy chappy!

The game panned out as expected and our collective perceived 2-goal margin win happened with relative ease and no major scares. Tight in defense as Norg says we probably have the best center back pairing for now.

Let’s not forget El B wanted to sell big Gabs at the beginning of the season, and wanted to sell Saliba when he was probably told he couldn’t. El B did his best to stop the pairing happening is the irony here.

ESR & Partey filled in nicely for Jorginho & Rice combination/pivot.

Why was Rice brought on? Partey had an easy game strolling most of the time.

ESR, apart from being far better than Havertz at 8 and false 9, he would also be a better 9 than Jesus and really when you look at his overall ability, where he can play anywhere across the front and central midfield. He is deceptively quick, but not really in Martinelli’s gazelle GT Turbo class for instant 0-60 acceleration, but no slouch for a big guy because he reads the game so well and so is a step ahead of the game.

I don’t know about you guys, but Raya worries me far more than Ramsdale who suddenly El B says he wants to keep as his 2nd. Shades of Emi all over again.

If El B hadn’t rotated yesterday, which I would imagine he was deeply pissed he had to, he would have been crucified if we’d lost Saka & Rice; the rotation Hill was not one El B was going to die on.

As TRVL summed up a per-functionary performance from us against a strong, hard working Luton home side, but also missing 12 regulars. When you look at that little nugget, we could ask ourselves what if Luton had had the missing 12 for selection?

How would we have lined up? Rotation?

Havertz proved yet again whey he should never have been bought. An assist for Ode as his crowning game glory with his so many pathetic moments culminating in him getting booked for a dive far from being Oscar worthy.

Tears of a Havertz clown comes to mind.

My continued view of Havertz? He is an embarrassment to our club being the highest player we didn’t need!!! He will be the reason we sell ESR: a proven player at youth level who was unlucky with injuries and having a myopic manager.

Sell, Zinchenko, Nkethia, Jesus and pay Havertz to leave would be my outgoings.

Buy a the Ajax LB. Buy a class striker, but not Toney, as although he would be a big improvement on Havertz and Jesus, he is not CL trophy winning level for us and a huge distance from Henry’s level.

I know Henry was a one off, but a 75% Henryesque player would still be 25% better than a current 100% Toney.

Ambarish thanks for your thoughts and news on another good blog’s demise.

To be honest, I only read LG until Pedro sold out to his corporate master, and became a ‘plonker’ that far exceeded ‘Rodney’s master class in acting in Only Fools & Horses. A good friend back in those days was a good friend to the stars and recreational mates with John Sullivan; legendary writer and very interesting character I was told.

The last I heard of my very good friend from my music industry days, was 20 years ago, he was sitting on his lawnmower with a skunk pipe in one hand and glass of wine in the other and knees on the steering wheel when it all went pear shaped and ended up in the river/canal at the side of his pretty French property replete with a small ‘pont’. Bing was his name who was one of the most laid back, but charismatic characters I’ve ever met in my life to date.

Sorry, I digress.

I think we police ourselves well here considering how outspoken we all can be. Non are shrinking violets and yet we can disagree intelligently or for merriment with some banter to enjoy amongst the ranks.

Hopefully more will join in particularly as KP said recently our Indian gooner brothers.

Until El B wins the PL or CL he is just another manager wanna be. El B may well end up like ‘no cups Potchetinho’ – getting close but always overthinking our near misses.

My mantra has always been for the last 2 seasons we have the squad to win the PL, but a clinical striker missing to win the CL. I don’t like El B as a human being or as manager it’s that simple.

As a coach he has overall improved us greatly in defense, but it has taken nearly 5 years, and we have won one paltry FA covid cup. It took 4+ years to sort out our midfield and we still have no world class striker.

5 years to get into the CL and an average Bayern next will be interesting over 2 legs.

8 PL games to go with Brighton away as our Saturday early evening game.

Clearly with that timeline we had to rotate last night. Personally, I’d give Nelson & ESR a start, as he they should be even sharper than last night and ready for BHA. Ditto Partey, but starting with Rice.

De Zerbi’s Brighton will always give you a hard game home and away where you have to beat them. No parking buses, but they play honest and intelligent football win or lose, and why I’m thankful the press are saying De Zerbi has ruled himself out for the Pool job. Click bait it may be, but one can be hopeful.

I think De Zerbi will wait for a continental giant while enjoying his time at a really well run club with probably the best algorithm led recruitment team, and brilliant much loved, club owner to work with who shares the dream.

Brighton will have to be beaten well because they won’t lie down and capitulate. De Zerbi has a unique knack of raising levels to match and contain even City and Pool away. They sneak wins they have no right winning other than for collective and incredible match industry at full tilt until the fat lady sings her last breath.

Brighton are still fighting for a Euro birth to add to their coffers and attract players they are going to make exceptional future profits from.

It will be a tough test on our title aspirations where we already need Pool to drop 2 points to hand us back the rightful lead our squad deserves.

This season for me has the old feel of the seasons from the 80s & 90s of trying to topple United or Liverpool where we were the poor relative player wise, but not financially.

8 cup finals left if we exclude the CL games. We have the squad, but an erratic manager prone to making repetitive and selection mistakes, plays not to lose, and doesn’t fully believe in his squad even when a new starter gets MOTM.

We just have to win 8 games and see what the others do. It’s that simple.

A win is a win but against a bottom 3 side with a long injury list it should have been a goal fest. Playing ESR in his best position would have shown what we are missing. El B has inherited Wengers stubborn streak and he will never change.
All the time we are in a strong position in the league our absentee owners are happy as they only see dollar signs in their eyes. They could be even happier but do not realise it.
Ambarish – another player to add to the list – Willian. The propaganda says he left for free and did not make a claim for the rest of his contract. He was paid £12million.

Hi Ambarish
Just caught up with your piece, for which many thanks as usual. I’d never seen or heard of ‘7am’ but nevertheless I’m sad to see it go. I spent lots of time in my career as a de-facto paid writer, especially when I was in London, and sympathise with you and Tim. I was usually writing about grim issues in places like Iraq, north Korea and the former Yugoslavia (which is arguably a little tougher and harder work for one’s creative talents than the goings-on in N5 of course) . Although the wages came in handy. 😁

Without sounding too exploitative, maybe you should go on to 7am,perhaps with Tim’s support and see if anyone wants to redirect themselves to LiR where Tim and his readers will be guaranteed a warm welcome?

I also wanted to say that I think we’re all very happy here Ambarish and we’re not expecting masses of output from you. Your job is insane by the sounds of it and although the world is more joined-up than ever, you’re slightly more distanced from the PL football media circus where you are.

In 2 words, don’t worry. You’re treating us like royalty by providing LiR as a forum. And if there’s ever anything we can do to help, just say the word mate.

Morning NORG

I agree that it was far from inspiring. As much as I like Nelson, and can see he continues to improve, he’s not at the same level as Saka. Until Arsenal scored, the team looked a bit rusty. But at the very least it was a return to winning ways. No injuries picked up, apparently, and TP showed signs that he close to being back to his best. I’ll be interested to see the team he picks for Brighton, presumably with half an eye on Munich. Maybe Stubborn el Bastardo is learning that rotation can be a positive…

Your final point about Willian made me wince.

ManU 2 nil down after 20 minutes.

If we don’t get 3 points against them later in the season it’ll be a terrible result.

ManU 2 – 2 Chelsea.

If we don’t get 3 points against both of them it’ll be terrible results!

Went last night, bit dull, three points, no drama, job done. I’ll take that for the next eight games.

Odd atmosphere though, I think in part, because many regulars couldn’t make it. Saw more unfamiliar faces than usual, bumped into a friend on the way who hadn’t been all season, I was able to get tix for both my kids rather them fighting over the odd one that comes up. Also, the dull game played its part. No jeopardy, most passion was for booing Townsend. When were doing “we’re the North Bank…” you know the crowd has checked out from the game. We were doing that at 20 mins.

Talking of Townsend, mostly in relation to Zinny, for all his attributes he’s really not a very good defender. Townsend and the other no mark on their right gave him worries. You’d think, as lacking as he is as a defender, Luton shouldn’t be the chore for him that it was.

Rotation was fine, subs were fine. Would have liked a look at Viera as I think he could be a player but don’t have enough to go on. Nelson, I think the same, he could be a player and perhaps only because I remember him tearing up the youths rather than his contributions in the first team. He seems to play within himself these days, hinting at what he might be able to do, and isn’t aggressive enough, as if he’s still that promising youth player trying to break through. He needs to be ready to take his chances when they come.

ESR, started sprightly but faded. Lack of game time may play a part. But he showed why it would be a shame to sell him. However that’s a big bag of FFP busting transfer chest money. He did much more than Reiss to justify his selection.

Which brings me to Eddie. Enough of this. Maybe like me and Reiss, Tets has memories of him tearing up the youths, he was a bully then, and he gets games on what temp . Now he just gets bullied. Imagine if he was our striker during banter years? He would be slaughtered. As it is, we’re doing okay so his lack of contribution isn’t harmful apart for a GD point of view. The crowd just watch him find new ways to run about a bit and do nothing. ESR running from our own half gets us more excited than Eddie on the edge of the their box. Sometimes we can look and think there’s a player in there. Not with him for me. The crowd around me don’t seem to have any expectations either apart from him losing the ball.

Defence, Zinny aside, were tidy. I think Luton’s near misses this season, against us and others l, gave me the impression they’d make things harder for us. They were actually terrible.

Upfront was a bit makeshift, Havertz got his assist, lost moments where he could have been more positive or selfish and chose to play meaningless half pre assist passes badly. I saw him play for Germany during the break and he seems the same for them, nuisance value just from good awareness and positioning and being aggressive and I’m not knocking that. Workrate can paper of a multitude of flaws. He works smart as well as hard. I’m not going to check but I bet half his yellows were the petty type however.. But when we thought he was going to be suspended after his nonsense yellow, more than a few people around me expressed annoyance at his pettiness and dismay at at the idea he’d be out for two games. Yesterday’s card was totally unnecessary and he does need to think about doing more than winning the odd free kick in dangerous areas.

Just watched ManU/Chelsea. I put it on for lol-age value. They’ve both been really entertaining this season but I’m laughing more at than with, I even watched a Carabo Cup final just for the bantz. Neither team lets me down with their crapness. Without Palmer, Chelsea would be fighting relegation and praying that the FFP police don’t come along and Dock them point top

I’m telling you, Liverpool are doing an us last season. Emotional late winners aren’t sustainable as we know well. We have to get into City Terminator in the rear mirror mode and keep grinding. I’ll take low key efficient performances all the way..

Chelsea v. United was quite an enjoyable watch from a neutral observer perspective…defintely sloppy at times, as Chelsea gifted United two goals and Palmer had two penalties plus a heavily deflected winner, but a 4-3 affair between two (former) titans, with some late-match heroics to boot, is all you could hope for when you have no skin in the game…still think Poch, with a little patience, has a better shot at righting that ship, so long as he can offload several valued periphery pieces and shore up the center of that backline, than ten Hag, who’s the odds on favourite to be the first off-season casualty of new ownership

to be frank, tH never really had a chance to put his stamp on things, as the circumstances surrounding the protracted sale made it nearly impossible to go scortched earth…they likely brought him in under the guise that he would be the focal point of a fairly substantial rebuild of sorts, but with an already agitated and increasingly more organized fanbase demanding wholesale ownership changes, he should have known that was never in the cards…I bet he wishes he had an absentee landlord and a blank cheque like ONE of his contemporaries…regardless, he’s never looked comfortable in his own skin on the ManU sidelines…whether it was too much, too soon or the fact that it would be difficult for anyone to thread that fucked up organizational needle, matters not, as he’s almost assuredly a dead man walking

I would suspect he might need a new gig where the lights aren’t so bright and where he can surround himself with a more receptive and youth-oriented squad, who require considerably less non-footballing maintenance…there’s no doubt his present appointment has negatively impacted his love of the game…maybe he’ll simply return to the Netherlands, but personally I would like to see him at BHA, once DeZerbi gets his much-deserved shot with one of the “big” boys …now onto more important matters…

I’m a little worried about our style of play moving forward…it started with our rather lackluster performances in the CL, albeit we ultimately prevailed, then continued against City and a banged up Luton side…with Bayern on the horizon, who will undoubtedly scare our oft-times timid manager into adopting an exceedingly defensive posture, and a whole host of must-win League matches on the docket, I worry about our ability to produce goals if our style of play provides considerably less grade A chances

with this on mind, I’m sick and tired of hearing fans, pundits and even former players, like Keown, trying to convince anyone who will listen that Havertz is coming good…to this I can only say WTF…one has to really wonder what’s going on behind the scenes when such energies are being exerted trying to slather lipstick on this gangly pig…no one in their right mind would have paid those fees and wages if they knew that this was in the offing…in fact, if we were 2-3 spots lower in the standings, it would have been a fireable offence…furthermore, don’t try to sell me on the more nuanced aspects of his “game”, like his movement off the ball or the fact that he supposedly puts in a shift each time out, as if we paid way above the number for an inverted DM, whatever the fuck that is, because it’s pure nonsense…as right now, he wouldn’t even be a guaranteed starter on a Championship side, even if his wages were a 1/4 of their present rate…all I hope is that his presence doesn’t prevent us from investing properly in a readymade Striker come the summer, which I fear it might

Thanks Aitcho for your interesting pitch-side thoughts. I agree 8 more wins like that, and I’d be happy, too. I hadn’t noticed ESR dropping off a bit, only that our movement was predominantly down our right side when ESR was wide open on the left.

Just scanning the FFP enigma news this morning.

This is my take. In a few years we will have a superleague whether we like it or not. For many here we remember the old Barclays Leagues; one to four where the dark arts of today were legal or semi legal or just not classed as free-kick fouls, and overlooked way back when.

Did there game have to change that much?

For me, it’s too little contact allowed today that has created the need for football oscars. Havertz notwithstanding, because his diving antics are just so pathetically poor and as TRVL suggests: Havertz is a very expensive waste of space who will eventually be paid to leave. The only question for me is when he goes, and I hope it’s this summer.

I also don’t condone the grabbing of players nuts ala Vinny and Gazza even if it is still funny seeing Gazza’s pictured contorted face.

My first question to my peers is: has the game gone too soft?

Onto FFP where the idea was a noble one, but the execution is always going to be marred by the financial power clubs owned by countries or deep pocketed billionaires who can basically screw the system by overloading its legal arguments by keeping the courts working overtime, where the eventual penalty will nowhere near match the level of financial doping.

My feeling is to simply scrap FFP.

If power clubs can’t keep up it won’t matter because of the impending super league, especially is there is no relegation from said Super-League. It would surprise me if the likes of Division 3 and lower will become amateur clubs again as we see another football revolution appear without even asking us fans.

My 2nd question to you all is:

What would you do with FFP now we can see only the poorer clubs will be hit the hardest on evidence thus far?

Super-league and FFP? Not a chance they go together.

lower financed clubs*

I hadn’t seen this before my post, but if ratified, will that just give City’s Saudi owner’s the loop hole to throw obscene money in fines, but no points deductions for their mind boggling transgressions since owning the club?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-13273785/NBA-style-luxury-tax-benefit-richest-Premier-League-clubs-Mail-Sport-MIKE-KEEGAN.html

Maybe we should test that theory and flip FFP the Kroenke bird, and go spend another £400m on getting Emi back or better, but Emi behind our back four would be exactly what we need a brave commanding his area keeper, as Emi is. That way our defense becomes even tighter with the added confidence in the keeper. Not something we have with either current 1st & 2nd keeper.

Let’s not forget Emi’s vision with his distribution.

We need a LB cover & striker. If we keep Partey, maybe an extra back four utility player as Tomi is, but is too injury prone each season.