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
KP—I totally agree, which was one of the reasons why I posted that excerpt…it speaks to the lack of REAL change that has occurred here since Wenger’s ousting…in fact, even though the author of that piece appears to be on our side of the Arteta debate, he’s clearly a late to the party type, who actually hasn’t connected the dots between this regime and the latter Wenger one, especially when it comes to butchering the transfer market…I should have addressed it directly, my bad…Cheers
No sweat Vieira. I always enjoy reprising the imagery around his Royal chihuahua-headedness. Most non-Arsenal intelligentsia always think people like us get a forest full of wood 🪵🪵🪵 every time his name is reverently mentioned. They’re a little disappointed and quite considerably bored when I start crapping on about 8-2, coat zips and Igors fucking Stepanovs…opening a can of worms or a Pandora’s Box doesn’t begin to describe it.
You watching Shit on the Villa later? I still want the Parisian pimps to prevail, but I hope Emery will tell his manboys to go and kick seven colours of merde out of his former club. I might flick between that and the women’s game against the Filberts.
At some stage, I’d be really interested to hear your take on the upcoming elections. It’s boiling up nicely as far as I can see, and the Carney substitution for Trudeau seems to have reversed the Liberals’ fortunes. I know that like me you’re often hesitant to offer opinions (!) but I’d enjoy reading your take
Oh dear, the trophy masturbating hijo de puts has coughed one up.
If, after tonight, we’re the last club left in the CL, then another bit of wengerian nostalgia will be in order.
Eeef zer was a trophy for ze last Eeeengleesh team left in ze ligue de champions, zen we would ween eet n’est-ce pas? 🇫🇷
Hijo de puta of course.
Gulp. PSG are rather good aren’t they. 0-2.
Hoopah
I had enough of the fan boys from LG and the Brentford game was the last straw for me.
That game was embarrassing with MAs stupidity where nothing is going to change for at least the next 2 years.
If I’m wrong and Berta is in control of Arteta, then il come back to post. At almost 70 life is too short to put up with what I have no belief in.
Our club has had its ups and downs in my 60 years as a dedicated Gooner, but I have better things to enjoy in life with my remaining years.
Arteta’s 5 years and Wenger’s last 12 years have ripped the soul out of our club that I have loved so much.
I’ll never stop supporting my club, but if we play the same shit different day football, then I’ll watch teams who play quality football, such as PSG, and enjoy such games for football being the art form it can be, such as PSG’s right back just scoring in Paris to make it 4:1 and counting.
I’ll happily return once Arteta has left the building.
TRVL
I’ll be in touch as always and enjoy private chats with you, as we are very similar in our beliefs with all things Arsenal and many areas in life.
Ambarish
Thanks for the platform to offer my thoughts and Arteta rants but supporting my club should be a pleasure even through tough times, but for me it’s just depressing watching us play knowing what the outcome is going to be season after season.
KP
You know me well by now and I can see why you enjoy local football so much. It all makes perfect sense to me to see you happy being engrossed in the local teams you support.
Marc & Madhu
Really enjoyed our exchanges especially with you Marc here and in Pedro-Pete’s days over the years.
I’ll be back once El B has gone.
Tony
Sorry to hear you won’t be on here (hopefully only for a short period) but I completely understand – I haven’t been since October and right now I’m 50 50 on renewing in the summer.
Keep well and I look forward to catching up with you when you’re back.
Kroenke
I’m not watching tonight but from what I saw against Liverpool and Villa in the first legs – they’re not rather good they’re bloody good!
Marc
It’s the speed of their inter passing and their overall energy. Completely unlike the team we faced in the qualifying round.
Kroenke
We should go all out for Enrique – with a few improvements to the squad he’d win the PL within a season.
Fair shout. I’d even take a fully funded Emery back for a second go instead of the present incumbent.
Tony
You’re right. Following football – any football -without the involvement of Arteta is a fucking joy. Don’t withdraw now though – it’s the coños of Madrid tomorrow. Semi-final of the CL at stake.
KP—i’ve become increasingly skeptical of any polls ever since the lead-up to the 2016 American election, so although I believe the Liberal party is much better positioned with Trudeau gone, I wouldn’t be surprised whatsoever if Poilievre emerged with a minority mandate…the tricky part about the latter possibility is that there’s only one party in Canada that would prop-up this version of the Conservative Party, the Bloc Quebecois, who would only do so if some particularly problematic conditions were met, which would undoubtedly lead to a no confidence vote within a matter of months
btw Poilievre isn’t a french-canadian, even though his name would suggest so, he’s actually from Alberta, which is the epicenter of far right political life…in fact, Alberta separatists have seen their numbers swell to 1 in 4, as many on the right would rather hitch their oil-rich wagons to the human Cheeto south of the border than have to endure another Liberal-led regime
one saving grace is the fact that there’s hasn’t been a long run-up…that said, Carney could quite easily face a similar fate to that of Kamala, as he not only has close ties to the former leader, which certainly didn’t do her any favours, he’s likewise a relatively unknown entity with some low hanging fruit skeletons in play…even so, his willingness, rightly or wrongly, to do an aboutface when it came to a highly contentious initiative that was very close to his heart, the carbon tax, appears to have helped him immeasurably…by putting it on the backburner, at least for the time being, he’s brought some much-needed relief to those fearing the worst in this new era of shock & awe tariff warfare…there’s no doubt in my mind that this has bought him some votes…not to mention, the Conservatives spent the bulk of their campaign monies attacking issues that were effectively neutered by Trudeau leaving office, Carney’s carbon tax reversal and the fact that the only candidate Trump had anything nice to say about was actually Carney…I’m still not sure what the fuck that means
it should be an interesting couple of weeks…Cheers
Nice one Vieira. I enjoyed reading that. Polls clearly aren’t to be trusted anywhere and one can never rule out Russian/Chinese interference. Putin would want Poilievre while China might fancy Carney I imagine.
I see there’s also a party called the NPD polling at around 8 to 10 percent in the polls who could become kingmakers. It’s being banded around like the insult it ought to be, but are the conservatives really Canada’s answer to MAGA, if not directly then certainly ideologically? I’ve heard Poilievre’s antipathy to the 51st state bollocks sound just as loud as Carney’s but I can see Poilievre is a nasty right wing fanatic if the bullshit he spouts in Ottawa is anything to go by.
Really interesting election shaping up which seems Carney’s to lose. Massive implications for Canada but also for your southern cunty neighbours who will see it as a verdict on MAGA.
MCRA – Make Canada Resist America.
Would love to get any more thoughts as the fun rumbles on.
KP—the NDP are the party that was in bed with the Liberals during their last two minority wins…unfortunately that union was how Poilievre came into prominence…the NDP is the farther left leaning party, as the Liberals have typically been more centrist in nature…in order to maintain his oft-times tenuous power the NDP have required Trudeai to adopt some positions that rubbed many of his traditional supporters the wrong way, as they were deemed too far left of center…ironically, many NDP supporters attacked their own party for not pushing him far enough…in many ways, it’s not too dissimilar from what has transpired below the 49th parallel, except that we have more parties in play…mind you, only two of them could ever truly form a government at the national level, which tells you just how low Conservatve support has dipped in recent years because all the other parties take votes away from the Liberals…btw Alberta is Texas with a Napoleonic complex
A champions league semi final up for grabs tonight so I thought I’d have a quick look at the miserable lot on LIR to get an insight on the game and what do find they are talking about ….
POLITICS…what a bunch of jokers.
I suppose you can’t bear a team managed by someone you obviously hate destroying Madrid again to set up a semi final against the flavour of the month Enrique and PSG, who almost blew a 4 goal lead against a 7th placed Premier league side but survived thanks to a man of the match performance by their keeper .
There will be a few red faces on here tonight after we outplay Madrid and destroy them with counter attacking football, I can’t see any other result than a comfortable Arsenal victory and then on to the overrated PSG who were outclassed by villa last night.
Wassamadder Wicksy? Do politics make your brain ache? I bet you’d get right on it if Arteta decided to run as a councillor in North London or wherever the fuck he resides.
PSG weren’t outclassed by Villa last night. We’re you in the temazepan again? It was a classic game of two halves (you’ll recognise that cliché I hope). The Parisians fucked Villa in the first half. The second was, as the French might say, ‘volte face’. It must have been galling (gauling?) for you to watch Arteta’s master and our erstwhile manager secure a win for Shit on the Villa in such style.
Generally, your being a bit hubristic ce soir. I’ll be delighted if we go through, ideally by winning again in the Bernabeu but I suspect there’ll be hiccoughs along the way.
Your equals you’re. Unforgivable.
Not complaining about being given the pen but how long did it take to bring it to the ref’s attention?
ooops