Well, football gods aren’t treating us well so far this year. We started well against Brentford with a 3-1 away win but then gave away the advantage by drawing to Brighton at home. Newcastle beat us 2-0 at Emirates in the first leg of Carabao Cup semi final, we then lost to Man Utd at home in a penalty shootout which ended our FA Cup run. We did beat Spurs in the North London Derby but Emery made sure we grieve again against Villa. We are plagued with injuries with Bukayo Saka side-lined for a very long time, Jesus as well.
On one side, we have been out of FA cup and Carabao cup looks almost impossible since we have to visit Newcastle in the second leg and they have a 2 goal advantage. In the Premier League, we have been giving away points and chances to catch up to Liverpool who are sitting on a 6 point lead to us and got a game in hand.
On the other side, we are sitting 5th in the Champions League table with 13 points in 6 games and we have next two games against Dinamo Zagreb and Monaco. These are relatively easier games, though European nights are very unpredictable. A win against Dinamo today will make it easy for us to qualify for knockout stage.
William Saliba will miss the game due to the hamstring injury he picked up last week and it would take couple more weeks for him to recover. Calafiori and Nwaneri were back in training but they will need another evaluation before the game. The usuals – Saka, White, Tomiyasu, Jesus remains unavailable.
Arteta in his press conference gave the reason for playing Partey at RB – unavailability of players. Now I can understand that, when Timber was injured and we didn’t have anyone to play on the left. Recently, MLS has been sensational in the LB position and Timber is back at RB, but he has got another problem with Saliba’s injury. Take it with a pinch of salt but some of the publications were reporting that he might try Declan Rice at CB. Rice was playing in that position at West Ham academy. I would take that over playing Thomas Partey at RB.
Here’s what Mikel had to say about playing Thomas at RB.
I had no choice, I didn’t have another right full-back, just Jurrien, nobody else. Who plays when Jurrien isn’t available for his load is too high? The other day was the first time [he moved Jurrien to centre-back] but in relation to the way we have to play, we cannot have a right-footed player defending a right winger. I didn’t have another right-sided centre-back.
source : Arsenal.com
RW is another problem. Martinelli is not cutting it and I have no idea why we got Sterling in first place. A sane manager would send him back to Chelsea and recall Nelson.
Right, I am looking forward to the game. Mathematically there are 16 other clubs competing for top 8 with us, and a win today will make it smaller.
Lets do it. #COYG
Fuck me City’s new CB has given away a daft goal and then got a booking for a separate event in under 4 minutes.
Just back from a physical but deserved 3-2 win for County against Y Bala…A clear red card in that game for an appalling challenge.
Really enjoyed reading everyone’s comments on what sounds like a controversial nail biter.
All my teams win today but the main highlight of the afternoon? Marc’s belated conversion to radical left wing politics! Power to the people mate…I knew you’d eventually see sense! I’ve got some wicked muesli recipes and yak wool crochet patterns if you want to come fully over
from the dark side….
Kroenke
You wore me down!
Have you seen the Skelly red card yet?
I’d be interested in your thoughts on it.
MA has put Ethan on the ESR service diet, so it’s difficult to see what he has to offer…let’s hope he’s as forgiving as his former teammate or he might look elsewhere…I know there was some talk about a potential re-up a month or so ago, but I’ve yet to hear what actually transpired in that regards…clearly he had a minimal role today, as there’s no way he would have been taken off, regardless of the red, if the offence was being run through him like Ode…he needs to be encouraged to take chances, like Saka was at a similar age, before MA’s defence-first tendencies stifle his growth and his confidence erodes
Havertz was his own worst enemy today, after his failure to make good on his 3 or 4 chances, a couple of which would have been of the gimme variety for a real Striker…I can’t remember him having so many headers in one match and not ducking out of the way or totally butchering his chances, yet he still couldn’t get one over the line…surely that outing will provide us with some impetus to make a move of some significance
personally I feel that MA fears the Striker position above all others, when it comes to his monopolistic inklings, which likely stems from his experiences involving Auba…sadly many of those concerns were just figments of his imagination and he simply made a mountain out of a molehill so as to facilitate/justify his subsequent ousting…this very fact makes it even more pertinent that we bring someone in who can hold MA even somewhat accountable for his actions…the only way this might happen now is if a few of our best players sought employment elsewhere, which would in turn shatter the current facade, but by then it would be too late
on the bright side, we got all 3 points, deserved or otherwise, so at least the whole referee conspiratorial nonsense won’t dominate proceedings for the remainder of the week
Marc
It wasn’t a red. Never. Everyone and their car knew Michael Oliver will try to fuck us.. PGMOL is doing it on purpose now.
I was fuming last night watching it on a big screen near by, and boy do we need a CF who can fucking score from a header. Calafiori saved the day for Havertz, Mikel and probably Oliver too.
Half of the Arsenal fan base will take Lacazette over Havertz and that is some saying and a half.
“Arteta himself has openly discussed the issue, admitting the need for reinforcements but emphasising the importance of finding the right fit. “We lack goals, we lack people, we lack options in the frontline, it’s clear,” Arteta said. “We were short already, and now we are even shorter.”
besides the Captain Obvious of it all, the most telling bit was the last line where MA admits for the first time that he didn’t really.favour his options up top from the get-go, which begs the question, why didn’t he do something about it when he had the chance
up until now he had been unwavering in his support of his handpicked options, but by his own admission that was nothing short of a lie…it appears he knew full-well that he had fucked up by snubbing conventional wisdom once again, yet instead of doing everything within his power to make amends for his wanton negligence, he’s been busy preparing his next multi-phased ruse on company time
maybe this is why some of our more senior members, Partey and Jorginho, are out of contract and likely leaving on a free, and why he’s focusing his transfer energies on lowering our age profile again in the summer by acquiring the likes of Sesko and Nypan…in and if itself, that’s not all bad, as there’s better options out there than our aforementioned duo and there’s certainly nothing wrong with thinking about the future, but for me it’s a bizarro world cart before the horse gig
one typically doesn’t keep veterans on expiring contracts for a couple of reasons, (1) pure economics, as they tend to cost more and you could lose them without getting anything in return, and (2) for the obvious roster construction and player development implications…in our specific scenario, the only logical reason why MA would pursue this course is if he was seriously pursuing major silverware, so the ends justified the means, otherwise he should have tried to get something in return for them last summer then replaced them with younger options on longer term contracts…so you would think if that was the plan he would have put our best foot forward this season, which would have been reflected in his off-season transfer pursuits…instead MA dithered and tinkered his way into a regression…so now he might have set things back a couple years, as it will likely take time for this more youthful retool to compete at the highest of levels…as such this might be nothing more than another wasteful half-assed venture by our manager who appears wholly incapable of navigating these unchartered waters
mark my words, there will be rumours by morning about us being linked to Ansu Fati…Barca are trying desperately to offload this longstanding underperformer so they can reinforce during this window
TRVL
I’m guessing the Havertz experiment was like the Zinchenko one from Mikel. Get someone average for now and get a better one when the club permits.
I’m more furious with Edu or whoever the fuck is handling footballing operations and sanctioning these transfers. You can’t spend 65m and 300k+ in weekly wages for a stop gap and then ask for another ton.
He is forcing the club through these media rants because most certainly the club has denied his request. We would have seen some activity so far otherwise. The club will give in against the tantrums throwing child. If you have got like 20 of your own players, you can’t fix only one position left?
Good stuff guys I said my thoughts during the game. We got lucky in a game we should have won 4:0 as Pool or City would have done with their goal mongers.
Lucky seems to be MA’s middle name, although I’d hazard a guess that AF would say Cnuty is a better fit and many would agree. Any other offerings? KP? Something Latinesque colloquialisms, petetre?
City now still misfiring a little, at times are only 6 points and 5GD behind us with only 7 points between us and 7th. We lose to City and the gap is one game, mounting the pressure back on hapless MA to keep up or at least 4th+.
Girona away next Wednesday night, then City home Sunday, and 2nd leg EFL against Newcastle away, looking to get back from a 2-goal deficit.
LCFC away on the 15th completes the next 2 weeks games.
For me I’m guessing: WLLW leaving City only 3 points behind us and closer on GD.
What do you all think?
Ambarish it’s very easy to blame the owners for not sanctioning buys but that’s least if the problem. the squad assembly is lopsided with too many defenders. Let’s not fool ourselves MA considers Kai as the tall striker that we are all calling for.nits another matter that he is not scoring and have never been a striker. MA is talking about signings only when we lost Saka and he is feeling the pinch as he was our first attacking outlet. Saka was expected to score 20+ goals and since his absence MA is nervous about who will fill that gap.
Coming to ref and the same narrative of Arsenal bias, if there is any semblance if such a thing why doesn’t AFC complain to PL. There are only two options either you lodge a formal complaint with dossier if evidence of bias or shit uo and carry on. This narrative after every game on Refs is frankly childish. With no formal complaint being raised against refs the chatter is only from fan base. Iam gearing this northern bias again Arsenal from the 90s. Nothing has changed which means it’s more of a fan base chatter than anything else. As I said you ask fans of any football clubs they will point to enough instances to say that ref is biased against their club. If there is any evidence supporting this all clubs by now would be up in arms. Now and then every manager makes a statement in the press but then it fizzles out. An exception is probably the Liverpool one when the audio tape got leaked other than that in my 25 yes if following Pl I haven’t seen any serious complaint by any club tool today against the so called Ref bias.
Why don’t we break the bank and get Isak or Kluivert or both and play Kluivert at 8?
Pay off Havertz while auctioning him off, sell Jesus if he actually returns injury free, and give Sterling back, and we are good up top and better when Saka returns.
Isak 9, Kluivert 8/false 9, Marts LW and Saka RW with Ode in support and we might just overtake Pool. Partey and Rice share 6. Sell Zinny and KT to balance the checks and that would be a great window for us.
What do you think LIR? I’m sure if we threw 110m at Newcastle they’d nibble, and 70m for Kluivert where B’mouth would be biting our hands off for the money, as they are a poor club income wise, but playing exciting and intelligent football. Forest are a tough team to beat this season and B’mouth made it look very easy yesterday.
Tony – a rheotirical question. Say iam a Kluivert or an Isak if MA comes calling would I be interested in joining knowing the track record or MA and his setup? Sure as a striker I will get some chances purely due to possession percentages but do I really want to play for MA as an attacking player?
Madhu
It’s the question elite players are asking themselves and declining MA.
A man can dream, though 😉 as Gooners it’s all we have🙏
So true Tony.
https://youtu.be/TnLeb_HH-1E?si=xQHanCG5xcWM-_to
If you want to see a properly justified red card, check out the second half of County’s game yesterday against Y Bala. Oh, and 5 goals in a strong 3-2 victory.
Thanks KP will look later. Good to hear all your clubs did you proud this weekend.
Madhu
Not blaming the owners at all, but they should have stopped a manager to hoard defenders. They should have also stopped the Havertz move if the manager wasn’t sure if he is midfielder or a CF.
Of course they will not sanction another move because they have had done many of those in last 3 years, and we are playing catch up.
“sell Jesus if he actually returns injury free”
Too much optimism, Tony?