Champions League Night, at Home. Beautiful.
We are playing Real Madrid at home in about 30 min in Champions League quarter finals. This is THE biggest game of the season, considering PL trophy is out of sight. Madrid is probably the toughest opponent you can get in Champions League over two legs. They will be 3-0 down on aggregate with 10 minutes on clock, and go on to win 4-3. With the likes of Mbappe, Rodrygo and Vinicious up front, and a midfield of Modric, Camavinga and Bellingham, they are one of the best attacking sides in the world and they have got a very good defence as well.
We, on the other hand, are going into the game with Merino as a CF. Jakub Kiwior in defence is another problem for me, as Gabriel M has picked up an injury and will be out for the rest of the season. We have a 17 year old at LB and a new CB partnership. That’s a bit concerning but you know, going into a game as under-dogs has it’s own benefits. The good thing is, Madrid will play an attacking game and we have been relatively good against the likes of Liverpool and City who tries to play their way. It’s the low blocks we suffer against.
And we are at home, so the crowd will be behind us. Boys have dreamt of this, to play against the best teams in the world, at the grandest stage, and I’m sure they are going to prove today that they deserve to be here. I don’t care about the second leg, we win today with 2 goal margin and we can play with 6 defenders in the away game.
Talking about the strategy Mikel would have put up …. well I don’t care. Lets go, play our game with freedom, give our 100% and see where it ends.
A very short one today, but I will be alive during the game today.
#COYG
Wicksy
So prescient…it was truly brilliant watching those young Arsenal players dismantle Real Madrid.
You’re doing that thing other Arteta idolators do by suggesting dissenters are not worthy as fans because we dare to criticise him.
I’ve been fucking obsessed about Arsenal since I was about 6 or 7 (ie 1970 or so), I had a Highbury season ticket for about 10 years and saw them play everywhere including in Europe.
Let me be clear…we’ve won an FA Cup final in the 5 years since your fwend (aaah, football fwend for Wicksy) took over. You think that’s enough. I happen to disagree given the millions of fans’ money that has been spent and the fact that we’re the 6th (?) richest club in the world.
I’m delighted you’re on here Wicksy. No really. I’m a big one for pluralism in all facets of life. I’m trying to get a handle however on your history as a Gooner because it helps to frame the debate. I’m not trying to chat you up but could you give me a rough idea of your age and the types of games/eras that you’ve watched Arsenal play, home and away? It just helps me to understand where you’re coming from. Please also rank and explain where you put the following managers in terms of their importance to the club and it’s history. Set out in alphabetical order.
Arteta
Herbert Chapman
George Graham
Don Howe
Terry O’Neill
Arsenal Wenger
I’m a 60 year old Gemini by the way who loves puppies and wants world peace! I can also lick my own eyebrows although, as I say, I’m not trying to chat you up…
Here’s a not so bold prediction for the Ipswich game.
Stubborn el Bastardo over thinks his team selection and gets the wrong combination of players on the park. Style of play is unimaginative and passing is glacially slow. We score from a set piece and Omari Hutchinson equalises in the 85th minute. A couple of vain attempts to make it 2-1 follow but it finishes 1-1. Gap narrows between us and third. Liverpool win at a canter. Arteta blames tiredness, lasagne, stitching on the football. Wicksy blames ref but still calls it a good result for Arteta FC. Rinse and repeat
Try to imagine a world where this dim-witted Pricksy fuck ever had a single solitary revelatory or original thought…I bet you can’t…many of us here spoke about the very real possibility of us taking down a rather pedestrian Real side, so long as MA didn’t pull out the tactical script from last season’s Bayern tie…likewise no one was surprised whatsoever that we would get ample countering opportunities against a side who were going to have to take considerable chances in order to overturn a 3 goal deficit…yet somehow this lightweight fucktard actually declared himself as the de facto expert on all things football related for simply regurgitating the sometimes insightful words of others (in a dumbed-down manner, I might add)…the only thing you’ve proved on here is that any idiot can throw shit against the wall and hope that something sticks…no wonder you’re such a fan of our MIT,…let’s not forget that our fearless leader was far from convinced that he or we had it in us, or why else would he expend so much time and energy laying the “excuse” groundwork, during his recent woe is me press tour, just in case things went awry…stay in your lane (the slow one), you mental midget…have a great day!
Ignore dipstick – its all about diverting from another season of failure from Arteta.
He’s been helped by the fact that the level of general football chat on here (about other teams etc in the PL) is down because everyone knows the PL is over.
He’ll come back at me with “so you think getting to the semi’s of the CL is failure?” so to save everyone having to read his idiotic comment I’ll answer it with a question “would Pep remain in the job (or would Klopp have keep his job) if their record was an FA Cup 5 seasons ago followed by several seasons out of the top 4 followed by 3 seasons of bottling it in the PL with 1 appearance in a CL semi all with a BILLION £ squad?”
KP
I’m a football fan who enjoys the banter , whether it’s with Tottenham/chelsea/west ham/Liverpool/city mates or the entitled Arsenal fans that usually you would find online.
I’m happy to take the abuse from trvl for my opinions ,it’s water off a duck’s back, he’s an intelligent man(I presume) but his obsession with Arteta seems to have scrambled his brain.
The posters on here appear to be Arteta obsessive and were probably also wenger obsessives, mainly due to their entitlement of believing that Arsenal have a divine right to win the league without taking into consideration other factors such as Chelsea and City having literally a bottomless pit of money, hence why they have dominated the premier league for the last 20 years.
Do I like what Arteta is doing at present of course , only a fool with an agenda would fail to recognise that he has brought us back to the elite in Europe.
Did I think Arteta was the right man for the job after his first 2/3 years in charge of course not , the football was abysmal, his signings were poor and for me he was a very vindictive person.
However, Arteta has improved in all areas of his management, his in game management has improved , he is tactically one of the best managers in the world and I like what I see now, thankfully I am a person who is honest enough to admit that my original opinion of Arteta was wrong, which means, unlike others I can watch and enjoy our gradual rise to the top which hopefully will bring the trophies that this club deserves.
Here are my top Arsenal managers.
1) Wenger
2)Chapman
3)George graham
4)Bertie Mee
5)Arteta ( could rise higher)
6)Terry Neil
7)Don Howe(great coach under Bertie Mee and Neil).
The dream as a supporter is to return to the one and 2 touch football that wenger preached, I am sure that won’t happen under Arteta as his football is all about control and discipline , maybe if Artetaball and wengerball met somewhere in the middle we would have the perfect football team..
We have a saying about persistent verbal diarrhea. It is objectified as the persistence of a duck’s arse.
Just saying…only turning the duck around
KP
You must have a magnificent tongue to be able to lick your eyebrows – are you Havertz in disguise.
Best manager has to be GG. I had the pleasure of meeting him a few times – a real gentleman who upset the toff. My first visit to Highbury was 59years ago.
Worst PM – I first became interested in politics when Alec Douglas Hume was PM. It was a dot on the card he would lose the 64 election. There have been a few decent ministers in the past 60 years but not many.
NORG
Without baiting Kroenke to go on a rant but the general quality / ability of politicians seems to be decreasing at an alarming rate on both sides of the political divide.
Villa vs Newcastle could be an interesting match later – Newcastle get a result and they’ll start putting pressure on 2nd place.
At least we can relax knowing how well Arteta handles the pressure – can you imagine the fun Fergie would have had with him?
Marc
A minister is often in a job where he/she is on a massive learning curve and are reliant on civil servants. It sounds as if Starmer realises a massive change to the governing civil service is required.
Marc
Newcastle have hit a vein of form and are one of the teams we meet in the run in. Could they grab second?
Marc—as you know I’ve been ignoring our “new” meddling twat for quite some time now, but it just so happens I was conversing with Tony two nights ago about the patterned behaviour of these trolling fucksticks, so I set in motion a little plan to prove my point…with this in mind, I planted a couple of seeds and lo and behold he responded just as I predicted…as such, I can sleep much easier knowing that the experimental rat is still in his cage
KP—you never cease to amaze me with your uncanny ability to turn a phrase ( I know I’ve said it before but I strongly believe it needs to be said every so often to hopefully stoke your flames)
Hoopah—you’re the unsung hero of this travelling roadshow…big fan of your contributions
Cheers
Norg
” It sounds as if Starmer realises a massive change to the governing civil service is required.”
I think it was under the Bliar Government the Home Office was described as not fit for purpose and here we are over 15 years later with the exact same problems only on a larger scale. I always thought our system of the Civil Service was superior to the American system but when you look at how some of the civil service operate they need booting out – you had the Civil Service union taking legal action to stop the last Tory Governments extradition policies, its fucking ridiculous.
It will take a Government with a serious pair of balls (and ability!) to make the changes we need.
Norg
We also have to go to Anfield – Mourinho used to love using the League Cup as a spring board of pushing a team on in the later part of the season.
We may just see Newcastle do the same.
TRVL
There’s some fucking strange people out there – they can’t be content with believing in something or supporting a team / manager etc they have to convert others to what they believe and in extreme cases they won’t take any criticism of said subject / person.
The internet / social media has just dumped a huge amount of fuel onto the fire.
Guys, let’s keep it only to football and no personal remarks.
I hardly get readers, I can’t afford to lose one 🙂
Diversity in opinion is healthy.
Bruno G is a cunt. From the looks, from his attitude, from his fucking hair.
And Emery teaching those cunts some decency
Hi Ambarish
Absolutely – differing views are healthy but should not be critical of the person making them (in print).
A good friend and fellow Gooner has only recently changed his mind about El B but thinks the giraffe is a good player. We will not fall out over our different opinions.
Meanwhile at Villa Park our former manager is helping us retain our second place trophy.
NORG
Spot on. It has to be GG. Followed by Chapman, Bertie M and then maybe Wengo for his first decade.
Wicksy – big up yourself for not fluffing Arteta. We’re you tempted or was discretion the better part of valour? Don Howe was a brilliant man as far as I’m concerned too. He was at the helm when the Hill Woods were at their tightest.
At the very least the debate has been good on here lately.
Off to Berlin tmrw with 2 if the kids which I’m hugely looking forward to. I haven’t been for years. THE most interesting city in the world and always will be. 🇩🇪