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.
How the fuck can ManU lose 3 nil at home to Bournemouth?
Thought Chelsea would get a win against Everton.
KP—living under my roof, where I never let him win anything after the age of 7, he naturally chose a side that he knew would get under my skin, so he’s a City fan…he doesn’t really follow them religiously anymore, as once he moved out of the house the impetus was lost, but he will still chirp me whenever we suffer a loss or cock up a title run-in…he never followed in my athletic footsteps, although he was given every opportunity…that said, we always focused on academia first and foremost, so when he opted out of organized sports after grade school it came as no surprise…I have a feeling you cultivated a less “cut-throat” ultra-competitive environment, of which I’m a little jealous of in retrospect, but I do think it has helped him get where he is today…he’s a kinder, gentler version of myself, which makes me exceedingly proud…hope you and yours have an incredible holiday season
Tony—today’s Chelsea/Everton affair was indicative of why I felt the former might be a year away…Enzo got the lineup all wrong and chose not to make significant changes until it was too late…so he went full-Arteta and lost 2 points as a result…if it weren’t for a save on the line late on by a Chelsea defender, they could have easily left that shit hole empty-handed
as a first year manager you have to pick your battles and that fact cost them today…the front 4 of Sancho, Jackson, Neto and Palmer were sleepwalking for much of this one, especially the latter, but it’s nearly impossible for a new manager to take out any or all of them early on without paying a price and he wasn’t willing to pay that price today…I get it, as they should be able to win against Everton even on an off night, but if I were him I would have come out of the tunnel at half with at least a couple changes up top…unlike us, they have a stable full of potential game-changers, but if he doesn’t have carte blanche to use them as he sees fit, these sort of hiccups will continue to happen, which could derail any future title plans
so glad to hear that things are going well on the holiday season front bud…Cheers
Vieira
In that case, you’ll love this. Very funny because it can often be true.
https://youtu.be/h2x_DI7tzNQ?si=ubaxHtxPHcNfDR0S
I coached junior’s football team pretty hard so he got it from me on that side. I once told him (the only Gooner in the team) and all his team mates to go out in the second half and play like 11 Francis Coquelins. Half were nonplussed, the other half who knew FC and were Pool and Manure fans laughed in my face.
But yeah, I beat all three of them rigorously at games, ranging from adult trivial pursuit to cluedo to watching university challenge! Character building stuff. Fuck ’em if they often cried themselves to sleep in humiliation and anger. At least that’s the version of events I’m holding onto.
Vieira junior sounds like a shrewd chip off the old block. He went for MC probably to cause you maximum footballing pain. A rite of passage type thing. You might get the last laugh though if the PL comes to it senses.
Tony – I’m toying with venturing out on boxing day to see County play up at Newtown in mid Wales, near the Ingerlish border. I think I’ll see how the weather is though because it involves a number of twisty mountain roads. One of the kids might drive so it’ll be hipflask a go-go. Glad to know you spent some time with your daughter.
KP—so maybe we’re two pees in a pod after all…I was the kind of guy who Mutombo’ed the kids, with a finger wag to boot, checked all comers into the boards when on the ice and danced like Deion whenever a TD was scored…now I did it all with a smile on my face, so it didn’t seem nearly so malicious, but there were times when I needed to force my kids into participating, as they knew full-well what was in the cards
strangely enough my schtick did endear me to most of the neighbourhood kids and not because they would get a pass, in fact, oft-times they faced an even worse fate, but most were quite talented athletes and seemed to enjoy the raising of the stakes…one of them went on to play professional football in the CFL and another was drafted into the NHL, although he hasn’t been called up to the show as of yet…whenever I run into any of them they always talk fondly about those younger years…different strokes for different folks I guess…Cheers
two peas in a pod lol
Spuddies 3 Liverpool 6 with probably another 10 minutes to play with injury time.
Utterly bonkers team.
Anyone still believing that Liverpool will implode? YES, you find it on Le-Arteta where the delusional and the Kool-Aid Arteta fanboys will spout out there nonsense.
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, while Arteta will stand there with his dick in his hand waving a 100 quid bill in his hand waiting for a blow job.
Transfers in summer 2023 Szoboszlai went to Liverpool for £60m, Mac Allister for £35m and Gravenberch for £34.3m total of £130m. At the same time we got Rice for £105m, Havertz for £65m, Timber for £34m total of £204m. who got the better deal of that? Arteta fucked up his previous TWs and now needs a few more to win the title or the CL. That is the definition of insanity. Way to go Pep’s gimp.
With Saka out, we are in the FUBB situation, Fucked Up Beyond Believe. The opposition no longer have to double team our right side, we have no credible wingers on the right or the left, with Jesus blowing hot and cold, our midfield having passengers and the fullbacks are injury prone, we have a massive fight on our hand to get CL next season considering the form forest, Villa and Bournemouth are in.
The ONLY Plan Arteta has had, find Ode who passes it to Saka, than hope he can conjure up some magic. If not get a set piece and score a goal. The Saka part is done and dusted, so the opposition ONLY needs to concentrate on how to stop us from scoring from set pieces which was done excellently by Everton and I am sure has been noticed by the opposition. This is the perfect definition of FUBB.
Killroy—It’s beginning to look a Slot like Christmas….we all know that commentators love them a cliche, but this is the 4th time I’ve heard “a performance of the highest order” during a Pool match this season…frankly I can’t remember the last time I heard any such reference to one of our performances…our best two outings this year were against an undermanned PSG side at home and a Sporting side that had just undergone a massive managerial transition…great performances nonetheless, but not comparable whatsoever to what I just witnessed today…not to mention, they still have a game in hand on both us and Chelsea
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.
.
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.