Carabao Cup Quarter final – Arsenal v Crystal Palace

In 10 days we will see if there is an attempt to recognize our fucked up situation. It is anger to the max to see how hundreds of millions have been pissed away on half backed players. There is no way to believe we have scouts, this has to be player evaluation as done by the media.

How the fuck did we end up with Merino? He doesn’t fir in the modern game. He is slow and City was shown up of what happens when you have a pacy forward like Rogers tearing apart your defense. We do have better CBs but Saliba is not the standout he was last season.

I have always maintained that Arteta’s squad is one injury away from a disastrous collapse. Well, we have just arrived at that point. We will see how Ipswitch will setup against us with our new starting 11 and perhaps formation.

Killroy

“Slot will win the title in his 1st year, will give it a damn good fight in the CL and be crowned manager of the season”

Almost more damaging or embarrassing is Chelsea will very likely finish above us – another manager in his first season only difference is Chelsea were a basket case and Maresca has got them playing great football and looking like they’ll be challenging for years to come.

We look like we’re regressing and that’s before Saliba decides to leave for Madrid.

Killroy—the worst part about the Merino deal is that I think he brought him in to play deeper at times so as to help facilitate Rice’s misplaced final third dreams, yet Merino played in the 8-hole and Zubimendi was the deeper-lying 6 at Sociedad…this is why MA wanted the latter, as he would have made sense in that role…shoehorning clusterfuck, as per usual

Marc—both Slot and Enzo had more in the cupboards than MA, but if he were to finish below both of these first-timers, his free ride would likely come to an end…as the first “experimental” hire he’s been given a shitload of leeway regarding his decisions, both on and off the pitch, but if others were able to carve a similar or better path, in a fraction of the time, the narrative would definitely change…no longer would he be the presumptive poster boy, in fact, he would be resigned to that of a footnote…under those circumstances, even his most ardent supporters, as they’re much more susceptible than the average bear, would find it increasingly more difficult to stay the course…of course, I’m still holding out hope that something miraculous might happen, but if not, anything less than a championship run in 25-26 would be grounds for dismissal…we both know there’s no way he’s on the outs regardless of what happens this year, unless we fail to get a CL invite, so this is my most realistic take

I gave up all hope of Arsenal winning major trophies when Arteta’s contract was renewed. It then became very clear that this imposter of a manager will do fuck all with our club. Therefore, the only way out of this misery is to finish outside the CL places. KSE don’t give a shit as long as the CL money keeps rolling in, once that stops, they are forced to do a rethink, unless they don’t care and pour hundreds of millions into the club for the privilege of being called the owners.
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The upside is, that I will be drowned in Schadenfreude watching El-B getting the treatment of being a total failure. But there is this fear that I have, in some ways he reminds me of Ronald Regan, Arteta like him is a Teflon snake where no shit will stick to, because of mountains of excuses and lame explanations. I can’t believe how gullible people have become. Even in the Athletic columns you have idiot posters that highlight the good El-B has done and who believe in his projects. However I noticed recently an uptick of the voices of criticism.

I missed the Match as there’s hardly any network coverage here, spending some time with my wife in Uttarakhand, can see the Himalayas and the locals been predicting snowfall in the evening, so that’s another day of stay here now.

Still not worth missing out on a 5-1 win though.

Killroy

I’m in the same camp as you – Arteta’s never going to win the PL so might as well take a bit of pain now if it means getting rid of him.

I got kicked out of LG about 3 years ago for constantly stating that MA will not win anything of merit, such as a PL trophy or CL cup.

Charity shield & EFL or FA cups every 5 or so years maybe with lucky draws are MA’s level.

KP/TRVL
Thanks, it’s great to see and have long chats with my daughter where she’s off to China in the New Year to study Chinese, at a China Uni for a year. She started learning during covid.

TRVL
Didn’t realise Chav’s drew and I’d agree with you thinking. I watched the first half and went to bed. I could see Palmer moving, as he doesn’t look like he’s enjoying his football at the moment or fitting their system if I’m honest.

Watched the Spuds fiasco this morning and not sure what we can take from that other than Pool always looks like they are going to score more than their opponents.

Is there a definitive word on Saka or is MA playing his silly fake mind games games again…..

After all he is a fake manager winning nothing in 5 years just capitulating bar a covid FA cup. You reading Pedro, lmfao at your Walter Mitty MA beliefs…keeps us in laughs anyway..

When MA is fired there is going to be some serious PTSD on LG…..

The Telegraph is reporting that Saka is out for “many weeks” with a torn hamstring, apparently Sterling is also injured.

According to what I read of the article we were looking to sign a defender in Jan but will now look at attacking options.

So our usual joined up thinking and long term planning in the transfer market.

Tony

“When MA is fired there is going to be some serious PTSD on LG…..”

It’ll be interesting how dopey handles it. Full on meltdown, denial and turning on the Kroenke’s will look daft my guess is he’ll go full Spuddie, rewrite history and push a narrative that Arteta made us competitive again (spending over €800 million I should fucking hope so) and we can now attract a manager to take us to the next level.

Dredging up of the ‘be careful what you wish for’ dirge.

I know he’s had a tumultuous first few weeks at Manure but Amorim looks like a proper coach and winner to me

Apparently, Pep is starting to be thought of as expendable at City. It couldn’t happen, could it?

Kroenke

Its going to take time at ManU it seems to pretty much be a shit show from top to bottom but I agree I think they’ve got their guy this time.

As for Pep – if you’d walked into a bookies in August and tried to place a bet on their recent run of form you’d have been sectioned.

Its got to be more than just a couple of players off form and the odd injury, City’s form at the moment isn’t even relegation like its worse.

I’d love to know what’s going on behind the scenes.

Marc
“It’ll be interesting how dopey handles it.”
He started already. Edu arrived at AFC before Arteta. Once Edu left dopey (Pedro) called him the worst sporting director in Arsenal’s history, thus shifting all the fucked up decisions of El-B onto Edu. The meltdown on Le-Arteta will be among the posters, dopey has nailed his future on EL-B’s mast and therefore becomes by definition Arteta’s gimp. In addition by just scrolling through the posters names it looks like that trying to monetize his shit blog has cost him massively in posters. After a bad result there were always in access of a thousand posts, now just barely a few hundreds.
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There is so much fucking wrong at our club that it is mind boggling. I have no idea why our players are so injury prone. I watched an interview with Chris Smalling and he talked about his diet change to plant based (Vegan). He noticed that his energy level was higher, that his injuries lessened, but most important, that his drastically recovery time after matches was drastically reduced. I can only imagine that Arteta with his training and preparations for matches, reduces our players to walking wounded.
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In any occasion, Six Nations just around the corner January 31st France v Wales. Feel sorry for all the Wales supporters on the blog but Wales has suffered the Biggest World Rugby Rankings points loss in 2024 namely 6.69%. England in 7th with 3.15%.

This should put the nail into the coffin and will guarantee another trophy less season as our best player is in difficulties. According to a DM column:
“Saka has suffered three hamstring complaints already this season, though the current injury – believed to be a tear – is the most serious. With that in mind the club is keen to investigate the issue further externally. However, Mail Sport understands the initial concerns are that Saka’s lay-off may stretch into late February, even early March.
Arsenal medics are currently reluctant to put a definitive recovery timescale on Saka’s return and much will depend on how quickly he heals. But the fact that this is his third hamstring injury of the season will see Arsenal approach Saka’s recovery with caution.”
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/Playing Taps for our trophy haul!

Killroy

The Telegraph is reporting similar although they added both that Sterling is also injured so we’re shifting our Jan target away from a defender to an attacker.

Marc—why the fuck were we contemplating another defender in the first place…that’s MA in a nutshell…he just doesn’t get it…as for Saka, you know it’s serious when news about his injury hits the “ticker” in Canada, as it’s fairly rare to see any EPL info on the running ticker, minus the weekend scores…all it said was that Saka was out for “many weeks”, which is a rather unfamiliar phrase around these parts when it comes to projecting the length of an injury…our club under MA loves to manage narratives, so I’m assuming this is their way of trying to lower any transfer window expectations before a more lengthy timeline is offered up later in the month…frankly I’m a little worried about opening the chequebook again for MA, as I have no faith in his ability to identify/acquire the right pieces…thank fucking god ManU has said that they won’t sell Rashford to another English side, as I think he’s a bag of toys, mentally speaking, right now

Kilroy
Always good to read your posts here. I’m looking forward to the Rugby next year where I’ll be living in a Sydney suburb while I work our my relocation with Junior. I’ll finally be able to enjoy the rugby and go to games in the southern hemisphere. A first for me.

Wishing you and your family a happy Xmas where, may the most you are hoping for become the least you experience in 2025………

TRVL & LIR
The news I’ve read this morning from MA’s mouth is that Saka is out for 2 months, and will miss 10 matches at least.

Reading between the lines Saka is out until March, so you can bet MA is going to rush Saka back for the March 8 & Manure away where as KP says Amorim will have solved his defensive riddle: got rid of Maguire to begin with: EeeAw has run out of carrots there. Shame because Maguire was always good for a laugh with his ponderous lethargic defending with his comedy of errors style and turning.

The next game is Chavs home March 15th, so I’ll wager MA is sweating on this matches for Saka or as you said Vieira we’ve lost our goal machine but what’s worse is we’ve lost our king of assists (10). That will be the bigger loss.

Marc
Another defender? Surely the fan-boys or LG bots would be asking striker questions?

Looks like We are going to go for Nico Williams next month who MA was jizzing about all last summer. I think Nico would best play 8AM with Marts LW where they can interchange and Marts & Nico can switch to 9 or false 9 to more tactical variance.

KP
Hope you get to go to a game Boxing Day as always good to burn Xmas Day off somehow.

Hip flasking is definitely the way to go for you. You’d have to put me on the roof rack to vape lol or you’d end up in Lands End with passive smoking.

We are in big trouble with Saka out. Our worst nightmare becomes our Xmas present.

10 games missed? My biggest worry is MA gets off another salvo of excuses KSE believes until, as said above we fall out of the CL with inflated CL wages. Then when it hits KSE’s pockets, they will act?

I’m not so sure look how we spunked £800m and still have no 8 or 9 or Ode back up as Ethan is obviously not considered good enough to play with or for Ode.

LIR
Anyone want to hazard a guess of our next starting 11? Sterling is also out injured: shocker!

TRVL
Obviously I had no idea Saka would be out for 10 to 12 games where I claimed my 8 points total but I’m wondering if we will get 8 now managers don’t have to double and triple team Saka who I see as on par with Salah for best RW.

What’s your tactical thinking here now?

Tony
To keep my mind of the shit show that is being served up from Arsenal, I find solace at the Rugby tournaments. If you are in Sydney you are in for a some treat.

The British & Irish Lions are touring Australia in 2025 starting on Saturday June 28th with the Western Force v British & Irish Lions in Perth. The 1st match in Sydney is on Saturday July 5th between the NSW Waratahs v British & Irish Lions at the Allianz Stadium in Sydney. There are 3 test matches between the Wallabies and the Lions with the 3rd and final one on Saturday August 2nd at Accor Stadium in Sydney. The Wallabies have been very good during this year’s Autumn Series and the tickets are going fast for the Lions tour in Australia. Remember the Lions tour is being held every 4 years. If you can’t make it to a venue the TV coverage should be fantastic.

I don’t think people realize the damage this injury has done to Saka, he may never be the same again. This hamstring injury is his 3rd this season and a tear in the muscle is serious. After he has healed and recovered, the first time he will be again on the pitch, starts a sprint or a speedy run into space, in his head he will think will it tear again, what is the situation and his mind will play tricks on him and he will question his own body. That is the testimony of those that have played the game and had a hamstring tear and what went through their head when they tested their peak performance.

Arteta may not only have fucked over the club but also may have done in Starboy one of our best academy graduates. No one would have thought that Arteta will be that damaging to the club. Serves KSE right to appoint a clueless wanker as AFC’s manager.

Tony—when I posted my last comment I hadn’t yet seen the “new” Arteta update, if you can even call it that…who says “many weeks”, instead of “several months”, then follows that up with another word soup special:

“Asked if Saka’s season could be over, Arteta said: “No. In football, with injuries you cannot put 10 fingers there but I am very optimistic that he will be well back before the end of the season.”

good on the reporter for calling him to the carpet for his wordplay nonsense…I can only assume that he got word that something was about to be leaked, so he tried to get ahead of it, that way he could package it in his typical half Tony Robbins/half woe is me fashion:

“it will be a good exercise for all of us to overcome another challenge, because we’ve had a lot in the season.”

the only real challenge we’ve faced, minus Ode’s injury, is his misguided summer recruitment practices and his baffling tactical pursuits…based on the results thus far he should just hand over the reigns to our set piece guru, as a fucking monkey with a well-manicured toupee and a shmedium vest could do his job

speaking of tactics, I would suspect that his first instincts will be to rinse and repeat, so Marts will flip sides, Tross will play on the left and Jesus will likely keep getting rolled out there until he runs dry or gets injured, which will mean a whole lot of Havertz being shoehorned into the midfield

if he were to deviate from this plan, it would likely be for defensive reasons, as he might want to shore up things with a Partey/Rice midfield combo…this might mean that Havertz would replace Saka out wide and Marts/Tross would continue to split the left-side role…if this were to happen I can see Kai tucking inside more often, almost like front 2, and Timber pushing farther up the pitch

the worst possible outcomes, from a playing style standpoint, would see Partey at RB, Ode/Rice/Havertz in the midfield and Tross/Jesus/Marts up top or Ode/Rice/Merino with Tross/Havertz/Jesus up top…both incarnations could be difficult to watch

as you can see I didn’t mention Ethan’s name once, as I’m a bit concerned about how MA might use or not use him under the present circumstances…the one saving grace in this equation is that he actually mentioned Ethan by name when he spoke of potential Saka alternatives, but that list also included Jesus, Havertz, Marts and Tross, so it didn’t fill me with the utmost of confidence…I hope I’m wrong because Ethan, if used properly, could be the most likely candidate to help us out of this mess…thank goodness we don’t have the most difficult of schedules coming up…Cheers

“almost like a front two, with Timber”

Kilroy
Thanks for the heads up, I haven’t given direct thought to the rugby other than there will be great games to go and see with junior.

Totally, agree 5 goals and 10 assists in 17 games taken away from us for the next say 16 games as it would take Saka to find his devastating his form again.

TRVL
What you’ve laid out are our best versions if you insert Ethan to play AM/RW assisting with Ode shifting to the left more. Would be a new tactic for managers to get their heads round to defend again. Right now Ethan is an unknown quantity other than knowing he can score from nowhere, in and instant and has the right goal getting/assisting creativity in his boots and footballing IQ to match.

Just that MA doesn’t see this with his myopic vision to accommodate his pets.

Bet he’s more terrified now than before. 10 fingers? Fish or something else? WTF?

Have a good Xmas Eve with the family …..cheers

Good morning Gooners. It was treat to read all the posts and the impact of Sakas injury. In my mind MA will go a complete defensive approach. We will try to get Partey, Rice and Merino on the pitch. Jesus and Kai will always play. Ode will be the only creator most times. That leaves one of Mart or Tross available to play as wingers. His instinct will be to get his fav players on pitch and setup defensive. The players will then have to fit the 433 system or jugo whatever nonsense is that. MA is a master of fitting square peg in a round hole and round peg in a square whole. So I am afraid Ethan may not get much time playing. Any good coach would have used this opportunity to integrate Ethan into the team completely but doubt MA will do that.

Tony

“Another defender? Surely the fan-boys or LG bots would be asking striker questions?”

Our transfer dealings are so muddled who knows what strange ideas Areta’s got going round in his head. One issue with the glaring need for a striker – what does he do with Havertz? Ode and Rice are undroppable, a midfield three of Havertz, Ode and Rice firstly restricts Rice’s ambitions to get forward and secondly I personally think would be too lightweight for a lot of matches – certainly away ones. It also means we have Partey and Merino as backup – why would you spend £40 million on a player last summer who’s completely surplus to requirements a handful of months later?

We have some very good players but our transfer dealings and setup is bonkers hence us now regressing.

Kilroy
“The meltdown on Le-Arteta will be among the posters, dopey has nailed his future on EL-B’s mast and therefore becomes by definition Arteta’s gimp ”
Maybe Spellcheck changed it to ” gimp ” ?
But , what was intended was more appropriate, must say.

Merry christmas guys 🎄🎇

There’s some rumours presently circulated which suggests that we’ve turned our attentions towards Atalanta’s Mateo Retegui, the 25 year old Italian Striker…not sure if there’s any merit to these rumours as he’s never been a player with a ton of “build-up” skills, which seems counterintuitive considering MA’s tactical predilictions, but his goalscoring numbers have been quite impressive this season…personally I don’t see him as someone who answers our Striker questions, unless we’re simply looking for a cheaper option than the usual suspects…furthermore, it’s certainly not uncommon for Strikers to have their best years under Gasperini, just look at what Scamacca did last season, but rarely, if ever, do these players match or exceed expectations once they’ve moved on…the fact remains Gasperini is a master tactician, whereas we have the complete opposite in charge here…as I’ve said all along, what we need is a readymade pacey Striker who can succeed in spite of the manager and I’m not convinced this particular player fits the bill…btw he’s currently injured and out for at least a couple of weeks, so maybe he makes perfect sense lol

Hoopah
No spellcheck correction, my intended definition of “gimp” for dopey Pedro was this:
“A person who takes a submissive or subservient role in bondage, domination, sadomasochism or similar sexual activities, typically while wearing a mask.”
I think that sums up dopey’s relationship with EL-B.

TRVL
Read in the media that another possibility is getting PSG’s Kolo Muani on loan. We can’t get another loan from the EPL as our two spots are filled by Neto and Sterling. Muani on loan with NO obligation to buy. Julien Laurens said on ESPN+ that PSG wants to offload Muani and he wants to leave. Don’t know enough of the player but since our bar for forwards is so low, what could go wrong in his loan move. El-B perhaps shoehorning him in as a LB.

Killroy—I’ve likewise seen those rumours, but never took them too seriously as it always felt like an agent-inspired ploy due to Muani’s lack of playing time, which has become an all-too-familiar tactic at PSG ever since the arrival of Neymar…now if he truly wants out, I can see him being on our radar, as he’s over 6 feet, pacey and can be deployed up top or on both wings…personally I feel he’s too much of a hot/cold player, who’s struggled for significant minutes on a PSG side who’s been desperately looking for answers in the final third

now this doesn’t mean I don’t think he could thrive under the right circumstances, as he was far more productive in 21/22 and 22/23, albeit when the lights weren’t so bright, but I just think there’s far better higher percentage options out there…not to mention, I’ve always been of the mind that serious clubs loan players out, not the other way around, unless they’re facing some sort of serious financial crisis…but that’s just me

furthermore, he doesn’t even guarantee that the Havertz experiment would come to a much-needed end, as he would likely be deployed out wide by our “win it my way” fucktard…this is why I truly believe that we will never turn the proverbial corner until someone of consequence is signed up top, as their mere presence will place the focus squarely on MA’s tactical nous…so either he proves that he’s got what it takes or he’s exposed to the fucking light once and for all…Cheers

as for Vlahovic and MA’s supposed continued interest, his numbers aren’t exactly stellar, even though he’s potted 12 goals this term:

“Vlahovic has a shot-to-goal conversion rate of only 14 percent in Serie A this term. He has been guilty of squandering 11 big chances in the league”

thanks but no thanks Dusan…we’ve already got enough players on ridiculous wages with a similar or worse statline…the only thing I admire about this particular player was his outright public snubbing of our little project manager

Happy Christmas everyone and special thanks Ambarish for allowing us to air our thoughts good and bad about MA and our beloved club.

What are you guys hoping for this Xmas? MA getting fired would make my 2024 Xmas the most memorable Xmas gooner moment of the last decade at least.

TRVL & Kilroy
What is going to be interesting with the names now being linked with MA, such as Nico, Wiliams and the guys you’ve both mentioned.

Saw that City want Florian Wirtz from BL for £124m+? How is this possible with the current law suits being contested?

Finally, Vieira with Saka now finally tearing his hammy after a few strains that clearly don;lt worry MA or his physics and doctor? Or was MA warned repeatedly that Saka needed to be managed better and clearly wasn’t and hence the tear.

Michael Own was never the same after his tear(s). I worry Saka will go the same way as Saka’s phenom abilities sten from his lightning acceleration: ergo, his standing stands are likely to tear again too easily.

How much of a reality do you think that will be with Saka bearing in mind He will owe rushed back by MA with little care for Saka’s career and body.

MA is like a desperate animal and will do anything to save his managerial neck.

Sake as finally been “Artertarized” with Marts recently. Who’s next?