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.
From previous post just in case it was missed out.
Tony and TVRL- agree with you both completely. For a couple of seasons now some of the negative points of MA are clearly evident if people wants to see it. They are
1. His obvious blind spots to squad requirements both in quantity and qualities
2. His over coaching and suppressing the natural abilities of attackers primary example being Martinelli.
3. He cannot build a good attacking unit while he has proved he can fix the defence no doubt
4. His appalling handling of academy prospects I would go as far as mentioning that MA has a particular disdain for our academy graduates.
5. His in-game management is not existent and mostly a punt
6. His handling of personalities or let’s say he doesn’t like personalities , but it’s the personalities that always bring the x-factor which we clearly lack
7. His penchant for fitting square pegs in round holes and vise versa when not needed to the detriment of the team.
These are for everyone to see and the worst that be are not performing their roles if they are not cognizant of the above and working to overcome it by augmenting him with support of a DoF to provide checks and balances.
Where I do differ is the comparison with Wenger. Wenger is a legend and still the last Arsenal manager to have won the PL that took unbeaten when Fergie was at his peak and had all referees in his pocket. He built his credit and after the 05 season of CL he started his project of building Emirates. It’s almost like he was managing the P&,L of AFC. He was more a CFO than a manager and it’s the failure of the mgmt which was fighting control battles to notice this. If you honestly look at that period Wenger managed books and built the club to be self sufficient tat we we are now because of his ability to manage the stadium finances and the team. In that period he won FA cups, finished PL second couple of times. It’s another matter if he should have been the person doing all these. Finally he should really have left the club after the year 2008 when we finished second the season when the young team were brutalized by the horrific leg break of Eduardo. The team witnessed it from close quarters and I still remember the look on Cesc face. After that we drew 4 games in a row if I remember correctly and lost the league. That squad was excellent and could have done wonders but that brutality of Eduardos injury meant that the squad was mentally broken and Wenger could do nothing. He should have left then and some fresh manager might have done something different. But again that was a period when the owners were fighting their own battles.
Madhu
With Wenger, had he left around 2008/9 he would have been seen for his legendary improvements he brought to the game. I doubt there would have been a bad word said against the man, just fans’ adulations.
Sadly, Wenger’s ego took our club to new depths until MA came along breaking all the negative records one after the other. However, Arsene kept KSE in profit where that was all that really mattered to KSE, at the time. They’re waiting to buy all of the club before investing.
Arsene rode the bottom line coattails very well until the CL wheels fell off, and KSE suddenly woke up to ask WTF and then soon dispensed Arsne on his way to never manage again, which says it all really.
My footballing managerial love was George Graham. Loved him as a player and for winning in Europe when it was much harder, and we spent very little on players compared to Europe in those days. George put a team of crafty, cheeky beer swilling louts together mostly, who left it all out on the pitch as a team to a man. There was a camaraderie in the squad where the banter was fierce as were comments if you were off your game. George was a no nonsense manager; very different to a non-negotiable manager.
The 2nd half of Wenger’s tenure destroyed Wenger’s legacy for me.
His derision of the fans was appalling, as was how deep he took our club down in class and ability to win. Thee were times he could have walked and held his head up but for £100m over 10 years that was money very poorly spent when we could have had Pep in his prime and Klopp. Wenger was in charge of the club and KSE were happy. We were never going to get a winning manager and still haven’t.
MA is Wenger’s last 11 years copy, not the first 10 years. For ther advantages Wenger had he should have won more and in Europe which means he’s not and never was elite. Stats here speak for themselves. Wenger wouldn’t spend and we paid the price by never winning anything of note for 12 years.
Madhu
In something unrelated how would someone who needs to open a bank account online know if the online application used is real or not?
Is there a way of checking?
Tony – Typically the link to online application will be either sent from Official Bank email or available on official website. Either ways, its better to cross check with bank branch or call them if you can.
Which bank are you applying for? I can check as well
Thanks Madhu for your advice.
Lloyds Bank International
E: onboardingteam@lloydsbankinternational.com
1ST Floor, Villiers House, 2 Victoria Street, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 2LN
I got a call from Bangalore at 22:20 last night from this also:
Exclusive Case Manager | HSBC Bank PLC
Banking Services – GSC Bangalore
HSBC Digital Business Services
Email: online.applications.ntb@hsbc.com
both looks Legit Tony. Obviously they are from reputed banks. AS long as nobody asks your bank account no’s, OPT, passwords etc you are safe.
Madhu
I told the HSBC lady from Bangalore I’d find a HSBC branch and open an account in person by email and didn’t hear back making me more suspicious. Not because it was from India as India is known for its IT and call centers.
Just want to be safe.
Completely Understand Tony. By the way India is a digital scam capital of the world. with all my IT expertise i have lost money due to bank frauds.
Yes its always better to open Bank accounts by going to a branch. If that’s not an option it can be opened online. When i was in Brisbane, i opened a bank account in 10 min online complete with a/c no and online logins. Nowadays everything is made hard, even opening online will be made hard.
“This has come as a complete shock as I have never knowingly used any banned substances or broken any rules, and am working closely with my team to investigate how this could have happened,” Mudryk wrote on Instagram.
On his failed drug test..
Tony
https://www.lloydsbank.com/international/contact-us.html
This should work for Lloyds Bank. I used to work for them in my previous org.
If it’s for a small sum and convenience, I had an account with Monzo. Everything was online and super easy with them. HSBC too, but needed some paperworks. Lloyds is the toughest, I wasn’t able to open one even when I was working for them.
Madhu
Yep, financial frauds are creeping up everywhere these days.
The best way to always reach a bank is through their website. And if you are searching for it in google, avoid the first 2/3 ‘sponsored results’. Google ads are notoriously unchecking about it.
Ambarish – HSBC is tough to open account. Monzo for some reason rejected my online application. Finally i went to Halifax and they opened it for me instantly. This is despite my company having tie up with HSBC. What i have understood with my experience of having first hand seen 2008 financial crisis (i was in US during this time) and the state of banks from there on, everything is different if you are HNI and ready to borrow large. The system is designed to make it easy for you. If you are normal salaried employee, trying to meet ends, with a mortgage and save some for college then its a struggle for everything with your financial institutions.
Thanks Madhu appreciate the help.
Ambarish
So speedy Gonzales mud flaps is chemically energetically modified? Is that the thinking? Would explain the low footballing IQ perhaps?
No idea about the result v Palace, as Palace will likely field a full strength side, so will take some besting, as they have slightly better stats of WDW vs our DWD for last 3 games.
Just hope Ethan starts being a cup game but MA will want a cup to crow about to hold onto his job if we end up 5th.
I’ll catch it Thursday morning.
“avoid the first 2/3 ‘sponsored results’.”
Thanks I only knew because a had a google engineer do some SEO work for my some years ago. I think I have a pretty good grasp on life considering my age, but it aint easy I have to confess. I appreciate both yours and Madhu’s help. I’m through the online application ok on 1st attempt but there was a glitch for them to begin with, then when I needed an OTP to open a portal, it wouldn’t work. So I thought better t be safe than sorry and enlist help.
They’ve come back to me checking my phone number so hopefully things will be smooth from here.
Smooth now there a cool song:
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=smoothe+song&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Madhu—as Tony has so astutely stated, I too have no beef with the pre-Emirates Wenger, it’s his second term in office that I have issue with…much like our present manager he avoided anyone with a type A personality like the plague, which led to us having a glaring lack of in-house leadership, and cared infinitely more about catering to his own selfishly-motivated iclinations than doing whatever it took to field the best side…at least Wenger had earned a longer leash, but that doesn’t absolve him from any responsibility for staying on long past his best before date…Cheers
Madhu
“Finally i went to Halifax and they opened it for me instantly”
The irony, in LBG, Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland is what I worked for.. the process was too complicated for me to open an account lol..
Morning all
Ambarish & Madhu thanks for your thoughts and advice. Lloyds IOM came back to me explaining a digit was missing in the safe portal upload links.
This morning 2 other mainstream banks have appraised my eligibility and asked I open with them.
Should all be straight forward from here on in.
Ambarish
What we discussed privately a year ago, by the end of next year we can talk again if you want.
TRVL
Well put people forget Wenger’s last 11 years of turmoil and pain.
What are your thought for tonight? MA is bleating on about injuries that no-one listens to but MA and his fan boys.
I wouldn’t like to call it either way.
And there it is for all to read as I predicted the Bad cup is a high priority to claim silverware to hang on to his job.
2 community shields wins is what he says is success. I’m surprised he didn’t include the pre season Emirates cup wins.
The shit MA spews is relentless where we all just laugh at it as being incomprehensible twaddle except the fan boys lap it up to regurgitate to any who will listen but most on deaf ears want more than the League tin pot cup.
How is this loser still our manager? Shouldn’t generational managers have won a title in 5 years or CL?
“Mikel Arteta defends his Arsenal trophy record by highlighting their TWO Community Shield triumphs – as he insists Carabao Cup silverware can ‘get the momentum going’ for more”
“Arsenal have not won a silverware since their first season under Mikel Arteta”
The Gunners face Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup quarter-final on Wednes
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-14202305/Mikel-Arteta-defends-Arsenal-trophy-record-highlighting-TWO-Community-Shield-triumphs-insists-Carabao-Cup-silverware-momentum-going-more.html?ico=topics_pagination_desktop
Tony—difficult to assess, as I’m not sure what each lineup will look like considering that we play again in 3 days time…of course, there’s a couple different ways MA might navigate this rather unusual scenario…he could play his 1A lineup, or a close approximate, which could bite him in the ass should we stumble again and/or suffer further injuries…if he chooses this particular course it would seem to suggest that he’s most concerned about changing his current “lack of hardware” narrative, even if that meant jeopardizing our much more significant pursuits
on the other hand, he could field a mixed-bag side, which included several academy pieces…this would imply that he’s squarely focused on going big game hunting…that said, I just can’t see him starting a lineup that included the likes of Kiwior, Tierney, Jorginho, Sterling and a bunch of kids, some of whom have never even played first team football yet…in the end, we all know MA’s a desperate fuck, even though he suggests otherwise below, so he’ll likely opt for the first option:
“It’s been over three decades since the London powerhouse last lifted the League Cup trophy.
They won the FA Cup in 2019/20, which remains Arteta’s only major title in charge of the Gunners.
However, the Spaniard has a different opinion.
Despite many dismissing the Community Shield as a minor trophy, Arteta sees it as part of his highly-scrutinised tenure at the Emirates Stadium.
When questioned about winning only one trophy during his five years at Arsenal, Arteta reminded the interviewer of his two Community Shield victories, adding, “The Charity Shield as well twice, no? So, it’s 3”
WTF…of course he went on to say that we’ve set our sights much higher, but not before he tried to fluff-up his own CV in a rather fraudulent manner…classic Arteta-speak
who knows though, maybe he’ll start Ethan and his academy mates…maybe he’ll actually have him lead the line…check this shit out from our all talk no action skipper::
“He can play right attacking midfielder, he can play left attacking midfielder, he can play right winger, there is another position that I think he can develop into in a few years time, so there are options here. Nine [on which position he thinks Nwaneri could develop into]. When he’s got the goal in front of him, he just looks at the goal. He has a tremendous ability to put the ball into the back of the net.”
great to hear, but I’ll believe it when I see it…so far we’ve only seen him on the right side, even when we were ravished with injuries, lacking any real intent on the left and searching desperately for any goal production from the Striker spot…if I were Ethan I would be very skeptical, as MA tends to say all the right things when it’s re-up time, then quickly forgets, unless the player in question holds out for some ironclad assurances…how ironic that ever since he ousted Emi for even asking, he’s handed out assurances like old school Oprah on speed
Cheers
Tony—great minds think alike, as I was typing this when you had already posted some of the exact same shit…time to crash…take care
Tony and TVRL- great so we are now being fed that community shield is a trophy. After Wengers 4th is a trophy narrative this is a new one. Great then we should start including Wengers 7 charity shields as well. Doesn’t this narrative makes us a small club mentality? Instead of focusing on the actual trophies building a narrative that favours you is so modern day headline mgmt. Wow that next we will have open bus parade for charity shields?
Madhu
Sad but true but will have to keep the dwindling fan boys happy……..
TRVL
All week, we’ve had MA diatribes while the serious press ask more delving questions as to “why” this season, like the last 3 seasons is going pear shaped with Henry telling it like it is tactically, and the Mail expelling why we have a goal drought.
Maybe they read LIR or just fans who can see what’s in front of them when understanding the rudiments of football and the game.
I was thinking the other day with VAR tech and operators improving tin foil companies maybe feeling the pinch and happy for the festive season hoping for controversial decisions that would be the company’s best Xmas present.
“how ironic that ever since he ousted Emi for even asking, he’s handed out assurances like old school Oprah on speed”
That had me chuckling at the right time.
Not sure how many of you follow Arsenal Women, but Arteta is glorifying his achievements, wonder how do we look at Women team’s achievements?
Arsenal sacked coach Jonas Eideval midway due to his losing streak after winning trophies and reaching CL semis. Now new coach Slegers is on an unbeaten run and having qualifies for CL quarters as well. League is lost though.
seemingly every pundit has a new Striker at the top of our wishlist, even those who’ve been Arteta apologists over the past couple of seasons…just not sure if I can say the same about our tone deaf manager’s wishlist…even so, a good point was raised by Keown about one of our supposed leading candidates, VG, who’s been scoring for fun at Sporting again this season…MK’s concerned that this particular option might not have the required pace, which is why Isak makes infinitely more sense…in order to properly effect change we need acquire someone who could take the top off the pitch, then hope that MA will know how to properly utilize this type of player, which might be easier said than done
Isak would be a great pick for us bar his injury records.
HSBCnet,com may be helpful for global banking.
Tony – Exquisite summary of GG and what he meant to Gooners of our vintage.
Just getting back to normality after Málaga. Very nice little break. I’d have liked to have extended beyond Christmas but no joy. Spain does Jesus’s birthday in a far more understated way than the UK.
Hoping for a solid straightforward win tonight. Don’t need any frills, we just need to progress. Lying el Bastardo has said he’s aiming for Carabao joy this year. Yeah right…
Did you know it’s 31 years since we last won it. Against the 🦉s I think. I got properly pissed that day.
Well, the rules a bit changed today. It will go to penalty directly if it remains a draw at the end of 90min.
Raya
Partey, Timber, Kiwior, Tierney
Jorginho, Merino, Nwaneri
Sterling, Trossard, Jesus
—
We have picked up a very weak team today. One of the worst games to rotate, when you need a comfortable win to get back that lost confidence!
Hopefully, it’s still enough for the Palace. #COYG
when I lived in North London my wife and I frequently visited Abbetone, an Italian restaurant in Winchmore Hill. GG was a regular visitor there – always immaculately dressed and open to chat with the other diners.