Wednesday night kick-off at 7.30 PM, we are going to play Crystal Palace in the Carabao (EFL) cup quarter finals. We have probably got the easiest draw out of the 8 teams and as frustrated as I am with our Premier League run and football we are playing in general, there’s still some hope. I had written enough about my frustration in my last post so it’s time to see the brighter side in this one.
First, we are doing well so far in Champions League. If we win another game there, we will most likely qualify for round of 16. Though we have been shit in Premier League lately, we are sitting third behind Pool and Chelsea and on a 6 points difference to Liverpool who have a game in hand. Lets say they win that and we would be 9 points behind but there is still 22 games left and it can go any side. We should be concerned about our game and the way we have been dropping points against small teams but it’s not over yet.
I’m sure you would agree to me if I say that Premier League and Champions League takes the priority over Carabao Cup, but there’s a very important factor here – CONFIDENCE! If we win against Crystal Palace at home, it would not only put us closer to a title where Newcastle, Tottenham, Manchester United and Liverpool are competing but can also give us back some of that confidence which we are lacking lately. A loss would further demoralise the players and the manager and there’s a hell lot of game still left that will decide our season in December itself.
So, lets go out and win this, and let us use that confidence of a win in Premier League games.
Arsenal v Crystal Palace
Carabao cup is interesting this season. No nonsense in quarter finals.
Newcastle will take on Brentford, Liverpool will visit Southampton and Man Utd and Spuds will compete against each other to make into the last 4.
The single biggest reason we should try and win this, is that Spuds are in contention and we don’t want them their hands on a trophy however small it is.
In the team news, we won’t have Ben White or Calafiori available. Mikel subbed Declan Rice against Everton due to a nibble so he would probably get a rest. Jorginho can start along side Partey and Odegaard and frankly I want to see us field the best XI available simply to win this and grow our confidence back but Nwaneri has been dominating the Carabao Cup for us with 3 goals and he deserves to bench Odegaard for this game. Ode, after back from an injury, shouldn’t be playing 2 games a week when there are much important games left plus Nwaneri has been very good so far whenever he has been given minutes. He is direct, looks more to score than Ode and we surely can develop him with these game minutes.
Injuries are a concern but if you were to play your best playing XI in a Carabao cup game against Crystal Palace at home when you are competing in both PL and CL, then you were wrong to begin with. Lets be clear here, our 2nd team is also a Mikel-bought one and if we are paying the likes of Jorgi, Sterling, Merino some good money and if they can’t win us a game against Crystal Palace, then the manager have to take the blame.
It’s a crucial one, this game. Lose and our confidence goes down through lift. A win here would give us some much needed confidence and that could help us play better in coming days.
Short one today, hope Winter is treating you well. See you during the game tomorrow.
Happy holiday season wishes to one and all…I for one have just returned home after completing phase 1 of my usual 4 phase family Christmas bonanza…I’m not complaining, as I’m thankful to have loved ones around and available to celebrate the season, but it’s a bit too Groundhog Day-esque for my liking sometimes…I kind of think someone in a very similar situation was likely the inventor of the “gummy”, which I generally don’t take except at this time of year…by this time tomorrow I’m going to be higher than a kite and stuffed to the gills with holiday meats and sugar treats…shit, now that I’m thinking about it, this might be the best Christmas ever!! Cheers
Tony, I’m going to reserve judgement regarding the severity of Saka’s injury until some more definitive information emerges…problem is, we might never get any real info unless Saka offers something up on his socials…I do agree though with your sentiments regarding MA likely being warned by the medical staff about the potential of this happening, due to his prior hamstring issues…regardless, we both know that there’s no way MA would have acted any differently considering his overreliance on Saka in the final third…here’s hoping that he’s a fast healer and nothing longer term is in the cards….best wishes to you and yours bud
Good Morning Dear Gooners. Wish you a very Merry Christmas. May this coming year bring good health, happiness and hopefully more Peace and Love to this world.
Regarding Saka my feeling is that we have been lucky to have him at the peak for last 3 seasons with no injuries despite MA having him running to the ground. We had face this situation sometimes or the other. It’s a serious dereliction of duty when we ignore a proper back up for Saka all these years. Let’s see what MA does but it’s yet another instance of a club as a whole not doing enough to question the manager who is a rookie and needs proper checks and balances.
Good morning all
Guess we’re lucky we are home to Ipswich Town where their name (Town) suggest a long history in the leagues with very little of it being illustrious.
LLLWL sums up their last 5 pitiful games.
On paper even without our talisman: Saka, we should have enough to have MA crooning at his tactical prowess being a masterclass using fringe players to win a very difficult game.
MA rarely sees a game the way most Gooners do which is obvious by his post game diatribes that make only sense to him and dopey at Le Arteta and his fan boy bots.
Next up on Jan 2 are Brentford away. Now, Franc being one of the leagues smarter managers, Thomas is going to plan for our loss of Saka.
This will be a far more difficult test for MA’s repetitive tactics and a game for both Ode and Ethan to start with Partey at 6.
Forgetting the Newcastle game EFL cup game for a moment, our next PL New Year openers are Manure home and Spuds home on Jan 16.
We got lucky with our Xmas program with home games, so let’s home we use our home advantage well.
Simply put, we can’t afford to drop any more points if we want a CL birth, as I don’t see the wheels coming off Pool’s or The Chav’s wagons any time soon.
I don’t see us winning the PL this season unless we buy and elite 8 and 9 in January and win every game from then…..
Anyone think differently?
Another crazy day of results ManU, Chelsea (didn’t see that one coming) and the Spuddies all lose and City drop points again at home, their record in the PL is 5 points from the last 27 available.
We should be beating Ipswich at home comfortably, Brentford could be another matter especially without Saka.
Ambarish—just setting up a new laptop
no hitches whatsoever
with all the rumours swirling it makes me think that either we’re going to do sweet fuck all or something incredibly stupid, much like with our last gasp Sterling reach…if history tells us anything, the more the chatter, the less the meaningful action…now if we were a serious club we would have Ethan out wide for the next couple matches, then base our transfer decisions on how well he performed…in order for this test period to be considered valid though he would have to allow Ethan to have similar-type opportunities as Saka and not simply deploy him as a space filler, like he did when he replaced Ode in the Cup fixture…if he’s simply going to handcuff the shit out of him or ignore him altogether, he might as well skip the charade and go a completely different way
Marc
Me neither, I watched both Chav’s and Pool’s games this morning and always enjoy Slot’s rollercoaster of you-can-score-but-we’ll-score-more-by-the-end football. It makes for very entertaining viewing if you can forget it’s the Bin Dippers player.
Pool has got to drop points some time but they’ll probably be too far ahead by then.
The Chav’s are a different story.
The Palmer goal was sublime picking up the ball about 40 meters out and brushing off 2 tackles to find the keenest of margins to pass the ball into the next centimeters from the upright but too far for the keeper.
I see Ethan being more than capable of scoring that goal in maybe 18 months time, under a different manager.
The Chav’s defending is woeful at times, but midfield and up top they can be devastating and will be next season.
That leaves us to tonight’s game and 03:15 hours for me here so another coffee and watch on the computer in the morning.
Agree with you we should see Ipswich off and bag the 3 points to put us into 2nd one point above the Chavs.
I mean that should be a no brainer, right? Even without Saka, as we’re not a one man team. are we?
Hope you’ve had a great Xmas, Marc, did you do the cooking?
KP
Did you take your hip flask on a day out yesterday?
Madhu & TRVL
Hope the festive period continues to be fun.
Match day post is live.