I wrote a 500 word article about the things Pep taught everyone around him and then it hit me that you can’t beat him to his own game, so I started fresh.
Two managers, playing the same brand of football with equally technical players drilled for years are set to face each other in a major cup final for the first time and we will see who outclasses whom. Both of ’em have been fighting for the Premier League with Mikel falling short of his guru every single fucking time – but could this be a season where he can win the title and a beat him in a cup final? It starts today.
First, you can’t beat Pep to his own game. If Mikel has a game plan totally based on what Pep taught him during his City game, it’s not going to end well for us. He has to ‘unlearn’ some of that, take a leaf out of Wenger’s attacking football, score a couple and park the fucking bus like Mourinho used to. If you can’t score one, you have your own set piece strategy, make use of that. I won’t mind us winning 1-0 from a corner because it has been ages since we won something of importance.
Some Pep v Mikel stats
Ever since Mikel took over as Arsenal manager, we have faced City 12 times in the Premier League, Pep won the first 7, while in the last 5 games – Mikel won 2 and we have shared points the other 3 times.
In the FA cup, Mikel beat him in the 2020 season semi finals when we went ahead to win the only title under him. We lost to them 1-0 in 2023 though in the 4th round.
In the Carabao Cup, we only faced City once where Pep outclassed Mikel in a thumping 4-1 win in 2020.
The only other game where they both faced wach other was the 2023 community shield which ended in a 1-1 draw and we won it with penalties but I don’t give a fuck about it. Let Pep count it as a major trophy because he believes it counted as a quadruple for him.
9 wins for Pep, 3 for Mikel while they both shared points for the other 4 times. Mikel has been able to get points of the City in recent years so it’s not as bad as it looks. There’s a chance today.
Team News
We look fine. Except for Odegaard and Timber, everyone is available while both of them will be assessed before the game. I think Eze will play ahead of Ode even if the captain is fit but we do need Timber to make it. White had looked rusty, I love him but I have more confidence in Timber recently.
Kepa has been the keeper of the Carabao Cup. The tradition calls him to play today while a team that’s looking to win a trophy should play the best XI available. Is Mikel picking up Raya ahead of Kepa – it would be an interesting decision from him. I would go with Raya. There is no need for emotional crap when there’s a trophy on the line. Pick your best XI and Kepa will get his medal if you win.
Gyokeres is certainly starting for me. I won’t mind if we go with Madueke in place of Saka since the starboy has struggled a bit recently form-wise.
Wrapping Up
Right, a win today will boost the confidence of the lads and will motivate them to win some more. We are doing well in all 4 competitions and today could be a deciding factor of how we end up in PL, CL and FA Cup.
We are already competing with City in the Premier League – 9 points difference with 7 games to go and City has a game in hand. There is an Etihad visit lined up for us, so they are still in the mix.
In the FA cup, there is a very high probability that we would face them in semis or finals. They play Liverpool while we are against Southampton in the Quarter Finals.
Today’s not the end of it. It’s only the beginning and whoever wins it, will count it as first and use it for motivation for the rest of the season.
See you during the game.
On another note, BBC and Netflix have ruined the Peaky Blinders movie. It’s shite.
Cunt.
Southampton different fucking class.
The team’s confidence, coherence, form and unity is in tatters. Cuntyballs is entirely to blame.
he’s so good at losing Jose might apologize to Wenger
Kp
“The team’s confidence, coherence, form and unity is in tatters”
I wouldn’t disagree with that, defensively we were abysmal and apart from Dowman looked devoid of ideas up front.
Our only hope is that the likes of Saka, Timber, Rice , Hincape , Trossard, Gabriel and Eze are nearing fitness so we can get some stability back and manage to limp towards the finishing line in the league…..
“The team’s confidence, coherence, form and unity is in tatters”
We’ve also got key players either carrying knocks, looking burnout or both. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a key player (Gabs, Rice, Saka etc) pick up an injury that sees them miss the run in at some point over the next couple of weeks.
Its the same fucking thing every fucking season – when are the fanboys going to get it?
“and manage to limp towards the finishing line in the league…..”
I thought we were 9 points in front, in control with City being so inconsistent?
Now we’re praying that we can trip over the line? That fucking changed in a few hours.
Marc
The fanboys will never get it, thats because they are fucking fanboys
Take this slag on here
Always excuses
They are all cunts and are led by the biggest cunt in the game.
Tell me , who gets a highly paid group of so called athletes a fucking brown labrador puppy and takes it into the training ground and calls it Win?
And then wins fuck all every season?
Yesterday I mentioned about the importance of City being clinical in front of goal ….4 goals from 12 shots with 7 on target , and last night was a perfect example of the opposite from Arsenal …one goal from 24 shots with 9 on target..
Last night also highlighted our naive defending for Southampton’s winner.
When Dowman was dribbling into a dangerous area he was chopped down everytime and yet we allowed the Southampton player to waltz through our defence to set up the winner, all Norgaard had to do was clip his heels and he would have gone down for a free kick outside the area…naive.
Ben White had a nightmare and Skelly wasn’t much better and our 2 centre backs never looked comfortable all night…
Playing kepa in goal has given the defence indecision and what it has shown is how we have relied on Raya to bring a calmness to the defence, we looked reluctant to pass the ball back to kepa and consequently the indecision led to sloppy passing which allowed Southampton to hit us in transition and we never really came to terms with that all game.
The domestic cup competitions have never been top of the list but losing football matches with poor performances will bring massive pressure on Arteta and the players.
Yesterday, apart from Gabriel it was our 2nd string starting the game so it will be interesting to see who is fit for sporting in the week, Arteta will have many questions to answer if he gambled with last night’s starting line up which I find strange.
I suppose we will now see what Arteta and the players are made of in the next few weeks, I’m sure our performance last night will put a spring in the step of City but this season has been very unpredictable though some will say Arsenal falling at the final hurdle is totally predictable.
I have said before that Arteta will walk if we don’t get over the line this season ,though I’d like to think that the squad is good enough to win the league from this position, next weekend’s games will give us a good indication to how the league will play out.
Wicksy
How much did that second string cost? I’d also like to hear what Ode thinks of you relegating him to our second string.
They are all Arteta players – if they’re not good enough or more likely if Arteta can’t manage and motivate the players then that’s a manager issue not player.
In spite of the manager I think we’ll likely find a way to win the League…at this juncture, the point differential seems almost insurmountable, even with our cock-up king patrolling the sidelines…the question then becomes does this achievement sweep all of MA’s obvious shortcomings under the rug, as I just can’t fathom Stan cutting him loose if the silverware objective is met…now stranger things have happened, but unless another top side is dumb enough to lure him away, I’m afraid he might be around for some time…if that were to be the case, one can only hope that with the monkey off his back he grows.a pair and makes some fairly significant changes…just don’t think that’s in the cards based on the present construction of this side, the unlikelihood of finding a suitable buyer for a couple of our overpaid hacks and his blunt instrument tactical tendencies…as to that latter point, what needle-moving offensive players would be willing to come our way without the kind of tactical assurances that our self-absorbed manager would never willingly provide
TRVL
The 9 points is not the gulf that everyone is talking about – City win their game in hand and beat us and its 3 points.
Even the goal difference could be cut to next to nothing – they win both the game in hand and beat us 2 nil and the plus 7 is suddenly only 3.
Marc—I get that it’s not a forefone conclusion but I just don’t feel as if City have shown the kind of consisitency required to overcome such a deficit, even with the game in hand and the head-to-head still to come…of course anything is possible with fucktard in charge
Pep has the smirk – El B needs to change his trousers.
TRVL
City beat Chelsea and then us and Arteta’s dry cleaners are going to refuse to serve him.
We get a draw or better at City and its game over.
The West Ham vs Leeds match is entertaining.
Norg
I wrote my last comment without seeing yours – obviously Arteta’s got a reputation!
Marc—I get the math and I certainly think our lead will shrink before it’s all said and done, I just believe that when City failed to take all 3 a few weeks back it put their title chances on life support…as you know I have absolutely no faith whatsoever in MA’s managerial abilities, but I get the feeling that this time we’ll finally find a way to win in spite of the manager…it makes sense as the PL has never been more watered down and devoid of alpha/legit sides…when they speak of this season(which they won’t except on the rarest of occasions) I can only hope they focus more on the fact that it’s been so long since we last won instead of some fake-ass narrative about MA’s managerial exploits…the last thing anyone needs is other potential top sides trying to emulate MA’s bar lowering tactical/roster construction methodologies, as that could lead to an era of almost unwatchable football
btw I was watching that Leeds/Hammers gig and I almost shut things down before it turned into an actual match late on…the last 10 and extra time was extremely entertaining…no one was more ecstatic about the result than the Leed’s Keeper, who almost gifted the semis to the Hammers with what can only be described as an inexcusable bone-headed maneuver…maybe it was just me but the Hammers Keeper looked like he was fucking 12
TRVL
He’s 12 and a half!
City are hitting their customary end of season stride while we’re spluttering to the finish line.
Watched the match with a couple of non arsenal friends, one’s Liverpool. It’s always interesting catching non bubble, non click-needing, perspective.
Of course, their narratives are usually based on less thorough watching, this same friend told me for years how he wished they would buy Walcott from us. He didn’t have to watch that plum do nothing game in game out.
He started the eve saying he’d take Benny white, changed his tune, then tried to explain why Madueke would be a better choice than Saka for Tuchel’s WC squad.
Thankfully, watching the game meant I didn’t need to have that pointless argument. With Noni, at some stage “there’s a player in there” will reach Walcott levels of disappointment. I’m not there yet but it’s a strange feeling not getting excited when your winger flies into the box. “I know how it ends” is how I explained it.
Not trying to make him a scapegoat, there was a whole lot wrong. Havertz to Gyokeres wasn’t one of them and I think they actually work well together, I haven’t looked at any numbers to confirm so happy to hear alternative views aside from “Our German international starter is useless”. I can’t suffer fools gladly on this one.
The numbers don’t suggest us being outplayed so I’m not going full hysterical. However, what ever team we put out, and even the one we did put out, we should be winning this. I get they’re flying high in the Championship but still.
I don’t think the squad or players were the main issue. I think some of this comes down to how the squad’s been managed. If we’re going to do heavy rotation for cups, at least make sure that players aren’t coming in rusty. I think Norgaard’s good enough to handle things at Soton but he’s barely been played. Same for MLS. Bringing rusty players into a rotated team, I include Ode in this, is potential trouble. Jesus, I can’t tell if he’s rusty or just Sterling levels of bust at this stage.
Either way, Tete still isn’t the best at rotation and needs to trust those players he signed more rather than doing sub dump every now and then and being surprised that things don’t click.
It’s April and none of those four have seen meaningful minutes over the last four months. Add that to Havertz easing back in and Kepa distributing his own unique brand of chaos. The back four was Wembley levels of disjointedness and he doesn’t help.
Hopefully Tets can now be more tightly focused. Play the best players from now until season end. Anyone performing badly, take a seat, anyone starting or coming on, be sure to justify it.
I still think we’ll win the league and that’s what we’re going to assess the season on. We won’t do it blowing teams away, that was obvious from last season, but I’m chilled with us being GG style, scraping those results and even invincibles style scraping the draws we need.
The hardest teams we face now, we do at our place, that helps. ManC still have to catch up and they’ll be playing with even less margin for error than us with marginally trickier games.
We aren’t where we are today because we’re a crap team and Tets is a crap manager. You don’t come 2nd 3 times being crap. That’s talksport levels of silly reductiveness and AfTv levels of kneejerk.
Let’s try our best to he less angsty for the next seven games. We were hardly likely to do a treble, quadruple or even a double. As I said weeks ago here, they’re really hard to achieve and we were we were near certain come up short by losing here and there. We haven’t won the Carabao or FA Cups, neither has anyone else, ManC may win a cup double but that’s old hat for us.
Aitcho
Plenty don’t rate Havertz – whether you do or not where do you start him – who do you drop when everyone / most players are fit?
Arteta’s really lost the plot this time – got the players training by holding pens between them.