Champions League night against Shakhtar Donetsk

Champions League night against Shakhtar Donetsk

It’s Champions League night. A loss against Bournemouth was devastating and a win today will wash out a bit of that. We are playing Shakhtar Donetsk at home, and a win today will also bring us back in the top 8.

Playing XI is out. Mikel has fixed 2 of my complaints with whatever was available. Trossard makes into the midfield in place of Merino, so we are not going with three DMs today. Martinelli is back into the team with Havertz up top and Jesus in place of Saka. Sterling should be a ‘give him 15 min in a 2-0 game’ option, not a starter.

Line up looks okay to me.

European nights are always nervy. There are upsets but we should be winning against Shakhtar comfortably and I am hoping to see all 3 of our forwards scoring today. I hate to say it but a 1-0 win is not going to fix our confidence. We need the attacking football back today, we need to be in control for the whole 90 min, we need to show that we can win without making any errors.

And the seniors needs to take that responsibility. Trossard has played enough game, Jesus was brought for his huge experience and was believed to mentor the likes of Martinelli and Saka And Thomas Partey needs to keep control of that midfield. It’s Champions League night, couple years back – these same set of players were dreaming of these nights and when you got one, you need to show that with your actions.

Right, there is one more very important thing I have been talking about. We need to finish in top 8 of the group stage at any cost. I don’t want us to see playing 2 qualification games later in the stage.

It’s too early to say anything but there is some serious competition. And the fact that Bayern, Barcelona and Real Madrid are on the same points with us and are going to compete for the top is going to make our life difficult. What can we do? Win the easy ones and put fights against the best teams in Europe.

We have an easy one today. Lets go out in red and white and WIN this. Lets beat them 4-0 and get back our confidence.

See you during the match. #COYG

188 Comments

  1. I’m going to take our 2:1 lead and go to sleep happy. If we lose the 2nd half it’ll be 3am before I find sleep. Enjoy the game I’ll catch the 2nd half around 7am my time.

  2. Kroenkephobe

    Really strong half, their corner notwithstanding. Maybe the best half we’ve played this season along with first half versus City.

  3. Kroenkephobe

    Nice one Marc,

    Spurs have lost four (four!) games already this season.

  4. The Real Vieira Lynn

    I think Slot was a little surprised that MA didn’t go full-turtle…I’ll be interested to see what adjustments they make, espeically when it comes to subs in the middle and up top

  5. Marc

    Kroenke

    That’s one of my issues with Arteta – he knows he has to perform and attack against the bigger teams but godown to 10 men against a “small” team and he hides.

  6. Marc

    Kroenke

    Think of the fat Aussie bastard!

  7. The Real Vieira Lynn

    he had better not go off…worries me when the players keep looking at the sidelines

  8. The Real Vieira Lynn

    that’s worrisome

  9. Marc

    Get Gabs off – losing him for 45 minutes might not be good fucking up his knee and losing him for months would be a disaster.

  10. Hoopah.

    We did well keeping play in their half. Without Saliba and injury to Gabriel , it would be a nightmare to defend against Salah and Darwin if he gets on top. Currently he is deputed to marshal the back.
    Luis Diaz is showing how it can be

  11. The Real Vieira Lynn

    this Gabs injury could be problematic if Calafiori is out for an extended period

  12. Marc

    If we go full turtle we’ll concede more goals – I’m not suggesting going gung ho but sometimes the best form of defence is attack.

  13. Hoopah.

    Liverpool is doing substitution. Likely Salah, A.arnold and Mac Allister Will go out

  14. Ambarish K

    Martinelli has lost some of his pace..

  15. Ambarish K

    Hoopah

    Darwin is Lacazette of Liverpool. Salah, I am worried.

  16. Marc

    Ambarish

    Sterling might be a good option for 20 odd minutes – being against an old club as well.

  17. Ambarish K

    Ref will start red carding the fans in the stadium pretty soon

    That’s the only thing left.

  18. Ambarish K

    Never been a fan of Sterling..

  19. Marc

    Ambarish

    I’m on my 12th of the season already and we’ve only had a handful of home games.

  20. Ambarish K

    We have lost control of the game.. I’m not feeling good about this….

  21. Kroenkephobe

    Ref becoming very Liverpooly.

  22. Ambarish K

    Marc

    If you are IN there, can you just shout out a c*nt to Salah. Always wanted to, never got a chance while I was in England. That bugger has scored against us in last 7 seasons.

  23. Ambarish K

    Ask a Liverpool fan who the best player ever, they will say Salah. And he can’t fucking beat Martinelli lol…

  24. Ambarish K

    That was a very poor first touch from Marti..

  25. Ambarish K

    Skelly coming on for Timber.. the only thing that can force Arteta to trust a player he hasn’t bought, is injury!

  26. Hoopah.

    Havertz cost us 3 likely goals in this match.

  27. Ambarish K

    And Salah scored against.. wanker.

  28. Ambarish K

    *again

  29. Ambarish K

    Hoopah,

    You didn’t get the memo? He is a versatile player who can play in midfield and as a CF.. he is doing great and is one of the most important player for Arsenal..

    He can’t fucking score though…

  30. Ambarish K

    If we can’t beat the likes of Pool and Citeh at Home, we don’t deserve the title…

  31. Ambarish K

    Nwaneri coming in 85th minute. He has got a lot of minutes to do something…

  32. Ambarish K

    Anthony Taylor, the bald cunt..

  33. Hoopah.

    Did Havertz handle the ball ?

  34. Ambarish K

    Nope, no idea why a free kick was given. The commentators were more interested in pointing out that it was given before the final shot… They didn’t have a reason as well

  35. Ambarish K

    30 sec left, a corner is given a goal kick…

  36. Ambarish K

    2-2.. not good for us.. we should have been won this.

  37. Hoopah.

    A draw is a good result.
    Basically Liverpool still has a heavy metal players. But A. Arnold is slowing them down. The way all players were deferring to Arnold leaving him the ball ,looks like Slot tailored around Arnold.
    Everyone has their Achilles, even Pep , who perchance is more brutal.
    Game has left us with a defensive quite impacted. But look like injuries have not been too bad , except Gabriel knee

  38. The Real Vieira Lynn

    a draw is a good result for them, not so much us…Slot got a couple things wrong but managed to secure the tie, whereas we needed to go all out for the winner once everything was square, but we didn’t have the required horses on the pitch

  39. Ambarish K

    We should have won. A draw is not good enough at home when you are challenging for the title. That’s 2 point lost…

    When we go to Etihad or Anfield, a draw is enough.. not at home..

  40. The Real Vieira Lynn

    positives:

    (1) we showed some resilience, especially in light of our defensive personnel issues
    (2) Rice was better from the set piece spot, as we could have easily scored twice
    (3) we weren’t overtly defensive from the off and actually came to play, at least early on

    negatives:

    (1) besides Saka’s individual brilliance, we still displayed a glaring lack of quality finishing up top
    (2) injuries, injuries, injuries.
    (3) MA’s lack of faith in Ethan as an Ode alternative
    (4) we needed all 3 and only got 1

    when oh when are we going to put it altogether for a full 90+minutes this season??

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