Away at Newcastle

Away at Newcastle

Well, we lost a game against Bournemouth, we couldn’t win against Liverpool when we should have and have fallen 5 points behind the leader Man City in the league table. Things aren’t going our way, with the injury list as big as it can get and some very unfortunate red cards shown to us. And to top it off, we get to play the third game in a week against a very physical, aggressive Newcastle side away from home.

But, I’m sure Arteta would be showing our last visit to St. James’ Park when we were shoved (Gabriel – Bruno), had verbal altercations (Rice – Bruno) and wrong ref/VAR calls were given (the only goal of that game). There’s only one thing we can’t control, but we are going to counter their physicality with our ‘Dark Arts’ and I’m sure players Kai Havertz would have been giving lectures.

It’s a very important game for us, Newcastle are vulnerable at the moment and if we manage to win, it keeps us in the title challenge.

Team News

In the team news, Big Gabi is doubtful to make it to the playing XI after missing out the game against Preston. William Saliba is the only surety in that backline, after serving the red against Liverpool which he picked up in the Bournemouth game. Ben White has picked up a joint injury and didn’t train this week, so he could also miss out. It will be a conundrum for Mikel to pick the back 4. Kiwior, Zinchenko, Saliba, Timber are available for sure, Thomas Partey could make it at the RB if Mikel tries to be smart and sacrifices one of Kiwior or Zinchenko.

Odegaard, Tomiyasu, Tierney and Calafiori will not be available.

Zinchenko made the Preston game so he is most likely to start at LB position And Timber should start on the right side. It’s going to be a very tough, physical, intense game and I hate to say it but Calafiori was more suited for this than Zinchenko. Newcastle are a tough team and they play a good attacking, pressing game. Kiwior dropped a good performance against Preston and if it’s up to me, I would rather see him play than Zinchenko.

Midfield? It’s going to be usuals – Thomas Partey, Declan Rice and Mikel Merino. Partey still has his footballing vision intact but he has lost some of his athleticism and is pushed off the ball very easily. In a physical game, we need players than can shield the ball from opposition and take those blows without affecting one own’s performance. Declan Rice can do that but Partey can’t. I would rather fix Rice as a DM, Merino by his side in the defensive duty and let Nwaneri play an advance role like Odegaard used to do.

Front 3 should be back to basics, Marts, Havertz and Saka. Lets not try to be smart here.

Wrapping Up

We had beaten Newcastle 4-1 at home the last time we played in Premier League. Havertz, Saka and Kiwior were on the scoresheet with the 4th goal being an own goal from Botman. Willock scored from the Newcastle side. We had lost the first tie when Anthony Gordon’s controversial goal was the highlight of the day. The ball was out of play, ref and VAR decided it wasn’t and it was given a goal against us.

We have a problem physically if Ben White is not available today. Newcastle and Bruno G in particular are going to be physically intimidating. Declan Rice, and Thomas Partey can sustain that a bit but we need someone to be on offensive side. Havertz is the only one left with ‘Dark Arts’ and I would surely miss Ben if he don’t make it today.

I want us to thrash them, humble them a bit at their home and I want us to move closer to the top of the league.

Right, that’s all for today. See you during the match.

131 Comments

  1. Hoopah.

    Only Saka and Nhwari have the skillset to get an impossible goal. Today ,now Saka looks clobbered , not fully fit

  2. The Real Vieira Lynn

    blunt instrument anyone?

  3. We could be 7th Monday if we don’t get a point here and others win….

  4. Ambarish K

    100m dollars and he can’t fucking put that in nets.

  5. Ambarish K

    Tony

    Not me, that’s what Mikel Arteta thought.

  6. Hoopah.

    Saka’s cross was meant for giraffe who stood crouched. For Rice it was unexpected , but Rice is not much good in headers

  7. The Real Vieira Lynn

    how many times can our MIT get so easily outmanaged before someone in America takes notice???

  8. Wasn’t this season the one we win the PL?

    Wheels are off the wagon early November and I’m not one bit surprised.

    Sorry Ambarish MA needs to join Ten Hag.

  9. Marc

    Compared to last season like for like results we’re 4 points down, scored 2 less and conceded 4 more.

  10. I feel for the traveling fans gutting more for them.

    Inter and Chavs next…..

  11. The Real Vieira Lynn

    dropped points in 5 of our last 8

  12. Marc

    We’re not in the title fight this season we’re fighting for 3rd or 4th at best.

    We’re away at Chelsea next week – they beat us and we could be 5 points behind them, a team who were a complete basket case 4 months ago with a new manager.

  13. Hoopah.

    ElB virtually stormed out sort of ignoring Howe and stretched hand.
    Yeah , likely today might be why we will be again also -rans….in spite of a Billion £ squad .( Don’t convert into € ),. Those Europe teams can twist ElB knickers into knots with his crucial in

  14. The Real Vieira Lynn

    I still believe the Havertz experiment will lead to his demise…unfortunately we’re going to have to feel the full brunt of that decision too

  15. Ambarish K

    That was one of worst performances from us in a long time…

    And we played Bournemouth not so long ago.

  16. The Real Vieira Lynn

    not so fast Ambarish, according to the number crunching fucks we won that match 1.1-0.6

  17. Guys we know it was coming during the summer when we couldn’t land a striker of note.

    Apart from the City game, Spuds and Villa games, we have looked the same impotent play as today for 95 minutes.

    We need a striker or we are a one many team: Ode! Only Ode is out being the player of note. Tomi and Calafiori are not starters for us.

  18. Got to
    Love B’mouth giving Pep a living nightmare with City a goal down….

  19. Pool a goal down to Brighton will do nicely

  20. Ambarish K

    As things stand, we are behind Brighton and Forrest in 10 rounds (shy of 45 min). Liverpool and City both will overturn that score I’m afraid. If they don’t, Mikel will surely buy a round of Guinness for Fabian and Nuno Espirito Santo.

  21. Ambarish K

    Amazon should produce a documentary about Martinelli’s downfall. I hate to believe he suddenly forgot what he was doing at 19 years of age just 2 seasons ago.

  22. Can always hope City and Pool drop points Ambarish, big hope but hope nevertheless.

  23. The Real Vieira Lynn

    Tony—of course seeing those above us flounder a bit is always appealing, but instead of emboldening me with hope, it simply reminds me of how MA’s has missed the mark regarding his transfers and tactics…this goes all the way back to the Tross/Jorginho moves…this isn’t about the fees and wages, it’s about him constantly acquiring players who don’t move the needle and who likewise prevent you from properly redressing more pressing needs…both Tross and Havertz were luxury moves that were ill-suited for what should have been the plan once Xhaka moved on…somehow we’ve spent a shitload yet we’ve actually regressed in many ways…Havertz has never scored when it matters most, he simply fluffs up an already advantageous scoreline, and we paid a fortune for a DM who wants to be Bellingham yet has none of the requisite skills…don’t get me wrong, I like Rice, but only in his natural position, and I like what Cala and Timber can bring to the mix, when healthy, but none of these or any other moves should have happened before we shored up our AM and Striker positions…as such, we’ve totally mismanaged our window of opportunity because we’ve giving the keys to the kingdom to a fucking wannabe fraudulent candidate

  24. The Real Vieira Lynn

    Ambarish—surely you can’t lay blame at the feet of Marts…please remember that he’s been on the inverted side since the beginning of that shit plan, but when Cala first showed some width and movement up the left flanks things appeared better…he’s been left for dead over there with little help and no real target man to hit once the doubles come his way

  25. The Real Vieira Lynn

    we’ve given the keys

  26. Ambarish K

    Well, Mo Salah won it for Liverpool and Gvardion just made it 2-1, with about 20min of football left…

  27. Ambarish K

    TRVL

    Big fan of him, I have 0% confidence it’s because of his form. He is being told to stick to the sideline and he is fearful to disobey the almighty.

  28. Ambarish K

    Ok, only 5 points off the top. Odegaard will be back by next week.. We are still in the fight guys, lets keep our hopes up.

  29. Ambarish K

    🗣️Emmanuel Petit is unhappy with some of #Arsenal’s new signings: “Arsenal need an attacking midfielder, it’s the position they’re missing at the moment. When it’s Rice, Mikel Merino and Leandro Trossard in the midfield, there is no creativity there. Because Kai Havertz roams about the pitch, there is not a consistent pass to the striker. A solution could have been Emile Smith Rowe, but he’s gone to Fulham.

    “I watched the game with William Gallas, we agreed Arsenal have a quality squad but not many quality players. When the spine gets injured, the team struggles. If that happens to Manchester City or Liverpool, they don’t struggle. I think the new Arsenal signings have looked average, but I won’t point any fingers.”

    Speaking our mind.

  30. Kroenkephobe

    Hmmmm. Just back from seeing County who won 4-1 btw. I’m sensing I should avoid watching the Arsenal lowlights of the game…Another Arteta inspired cluster fuck by the sound of it.

  31. Kroenkephobe

    Hi Hoopah
    Just read your comment about your dogs. Given probably none of us want to talk AFC right now, I’d love to hear more about your canine buddies. 🐕

  32. The Real Vieira Lynn

    Anbarish—7 points off the top and now behind the likes of Forest…good teams find a way to win, like Pool did today…if Slot pips Arteta to a title the latter should be sacked immediately

  33. Marc

    So Arteta’s facing one of two basic scenarios this season – one’s bad the others really bad. Bad is Slot finishes above him in his first season. Really bad is Slot wins the PL in his first season.

    After that its combinations of where we finish and who else finishes above us that’ll just twist the knife.

    Can’t wait for the fanboys excuses it’ll make them look an even bigger bunch of cunts than Arteta.

  34. Marc

    TRVL

    We’ve got Chelsea away next week – we lose that and we’re in a spiral.

  35. Killroy-TM

    /on soap box
    The Sun just released the Premier League Managers wages with Pep on £20mill and next Arteta on £10mill followed by Don Unai on £8mill. £10mill flushed down the toilet on our Apprentice Manager, KSE must love to burn money. The last two seasons Arteta bottled it late in the season, however this season he is starting early.

    WTF is this with Saka and Partey on the right side why did ElB break up the Saka and White combo? I can’t wait until this turd of a manager is being flushed down the sewer. The powers to be at AFC did not trust ElB after Wenger was walked out of the door and their gut feeling should have stayed with them.

    On the positive side the Rugby Autumn Nations competition is on through Nov 30 and today’s England v New Zealand was a cracker. I find solace in that sport as less shit housery and ref incompetence is present there. A massive decision had to be made and the entire Twickenham stadium heard the on field Ref and the TMO conversation on how they came to a conclusion. Brilliant transparency. Fuck PGMOL and VAR.

    /off soap box

  36. Killroy-TM

    Arsenal now look more like the flaky, getatable sides of Wenger’s latter days and are now battling for CL qualification, as it was for over a decade under Wenger. The title hopes are gone and we are now fighting for the 4th place trophy or should the EPL be lucky the 5th place trophy. What a fucking mess Arsenal has become under this fake manager.

  37. Great stuff guys.

    I watched the City & Pool highlights this morning and, as I went to bed last night, I thought City would lose and Pool would win when I read your post Ambarish saying both would be eventual winners.

    I also thought we’d get a point at Newcastle as well, so only got one result right in the end. It’s why I don’t gamble.

    I posted recently that City can be got at, and Andoni didn’t disappoint where B’mouth were worthy of their win with 6 shots on target to City’s 4. Not often you witness that, but without KDB and Rodri City are a different team and more ordinary in their play.

    Seeing Noel G’s face looking like a bulldog sucking on lemons in the City crowd was priceless.

    TRVL, you made a point about what happens if Slot hits a slump where I seriously questioned how that would likely happen and, after yesterday’s highlights, I thought it can only come through injuries, because even with Salah being nondescript for most of the 90 minutes, he still has the fire to win games with aplomb as with Pool’s 2nd goal and Slots subs change games the way they were sent on to do.

    We Only have Nwaneri with that kind of potential, but he needs to start games as he’s 17, so needs time to warm into the game and adjust to the game’s tempo. That’s didn’t happen yesterday and won’t if Ethan is used as a hopeful sub being told to “win it for us”.

    In my mind it’s better to get 60 minutes from Ethan as a starter, as I feel he’ll be more productive and not be forced to try so hard playing catch up as he starts to dictate play, especially with Ode back, and where Merino can be the back-up or to help close games out; he is not the 8 AM we need from what we’ve seen thus far, and so far Calafiori looks better than Merino going forward to support Marts as you said.

    There is talk of Trossard going to Saudi and we want to offer £90m for West Ham’s Kudus.

    90M? A great player I’ve admired for sure and levels better than Kai. Still a bit raw where MA is not the nurturing manager type. Then what happens to Kai and his assurances along with Jesus and Zinchenko’s? We will be starting to build the Wenger like dross we can’t get rid of and have to wait for contracts to expire or buy them out ala Ozil, Willian and Auba plays too many others.

    What do you lads think?

    Ambarish, poor Marts is a victim of MA’s myopic and continued right sided attacks with Saka. Merino is to midfield what Kai is to be a striker: simply not good enough starters to win the title, but decent bench players, and better than Zinchenko and Jesus.

    The above, imho, supports TRVL’s recruitment issue’s post above where we both have repeatedly named players who would be keeping us challenging; however, either they don’t want to play for MA or MA doesn’t want elite players who will see right through him and his zero PL trophy wins, in 5 years that has Souness labelling MA The Nearly Man.

    Elite players want to play for elite managers where their agents nurture their careers, it’s that simple. MA needs to win the CL and PL and then the cream of the crop players will come, then go to RM after a few seasons.

    Lads, the 2 long-term question are:

    “How much longer do we have to suffer what only MA & Edu think are the right tactics and recruitment policies for our £billion+ squad?

    “Are the owners happy with our poor start this season after rewarding MA with a new contract?”

    The 2 short-term questions are:

    “Can Ode save MA’s losing streak and damp squib title challenge?”

    “Is Ode being rushed back too quick risking a longer lay off?”

    Time will tell………

  38. Kilroy
    I concur the game against the All blacks yesterday was exhilarating rugby at it’s best.

    Bothwick is doing well where I was questioning at first, but can’t fault losing to the Kiwis by 2 points where, if Ford could have done what Rob Andrew and John Wilkinson and Owen Farrel could do with the last ditch drop goal, we would have won.

    The autumn internationals could be the best yet……..

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *