When the season began, I was positive and happy that we were competing for 4 trophies – FA Cup, Carabao Cup, Premier League and Champions League. I was hoping we would pick at least one of the them and put an end to our trophy drought. But things have not panned out as we expected.
Things started going wrong from January. We were ousted by Manchester United in FA Cup third round on penalty. City is most likely going to win this now.
Next was our Carabao Cup run coming to an end in semi finals, where Newcastle beat us twice – both home and away – with 2 to nil.
West Ham (loss) and Forest (draw) have killed our Premier League title chase. Yes, it’s still mathematically possible but we are 13 points behind Liverpool with a game in hand. Even if we win ours, that would be 10 points difference with only 10 games to go. I doubt Liverpool are going to drop that many points and I doubt we are going to take advantage of that situation.
That leaves us with the Champions League.
We are visiting the Dutch side PSV Eindhoven in the last-16 today for the first leg. Champions League are usually very unpredictable and you can’t take lightly any of the games. We have seen City only somehow managing to get into the knockout games of group stage, and we have seen some big teams losing out to qualify.
And the fact that we have a non-existent attack further complicates it for Mikel and team. We are going into the game without our StarBoy Bukayo Saka, our left winger Martinelli and without a CF (even a make shift Havertz). Defence looks okay, Ben White is back from his injury and MLS is back from his suspension. Saliba and Gabriel will hold the fort for us.
It’s not tough to guess who would be starting today, Trossard, Nwaneri and Sterling and it’s not a good sight for the Arsenal fans. We should try scoring first and hold on to the lead because we often complicate it for ourselves and I don’t want to see us leave everything for the 2nd leg.
The players must have been demoralised with the recent run of games and when asked about it, this is what Mikel had to say :
on how to instill belief into the players:
Well, try to explain how we’re going to do it and why we do things, and they try to deliver that in the best possible way. In the last two results it’s been very different, in terms of performance as well, not getting the right result that we want, but we’ve certainly been better, especially in the last game with the opposition. And the fact we still have gears, even with the players that we have, some of them have gears to take us to a different level. When it comes to that stage, it’s about lifting the level and the standards, every individual has to be at their best. When we do that, with the team that we have and the connection we have between us, we are a really strong team.source : Arsenal.com
If we manage to get past the PSV in round of 16, we would face one of the Real Madrid or Atletico in quarters.
Right, so with whatever is available for today, I would personally love a back 4 of White, Saliba, Gabriel and MLS. Cala has been making some mistakes lately so MLS sounds a better option to me. Timber has been doing well but if White is fit, he has got better runs in overlaps and I would try him. Keep Timber on bench in case we need him later in the game.
A midfield of Thomas Partey, Declan Rice and Merino will start but I would never be happy with both Rice and Partey starting in a game. Pick Jorginho ahead of Declan and stick Merino on the left.
Front 3 has been a conundrum but the only option we have is, Trossard in the middle, Sterling and Nwaneri on either side of the pitch. Lets not put Merino up top and lets not expect him to score 2 goals every game.
Right, that’s all for today. The game’s a bit late for me, but I will be up and will see you during the game.
Cheers!
Last night was really nice to have Junior with me watching the football. It’s something I’ve really missed over the last few years.
I love winning big, but I also wanted to watch the RM game as I have watched Pool when our games have been dire. Like you all I hate Pool and keep away from scousers, but I love watching football played well with skill and quick paced.
The commentators for the RM game last night were discussing AM’s style where they said Simione sounds an arm in training if a player has more than 3 touches. How true I don’t know? This is all new to me, but they all do seem to take 2 or one touch before passing.
It’s a tactic we badly need.
So, we flicked between games getting the best of both worlds here. We paid Euros 20 for a month here for Tazz TV, as the apartment doesn’t have football channels. Madrid was a ghost town while the game was on; a new experience for us. I remember it used to be like that in the 70s and 80s for the FA cup finals.
It’s difficult to know what to take from our game because PSV had such a bad day at the office, especially so after reading KP’s post about PSV’s home record stat last night. It looked like we got in their heads, as I think they were expecting us to go there and struggle for goals because of our PL form. But Dutch football is dire, so our PL form shined through their league levels of play.
Is that a false dichotomy? I guess we’ll find out on Sunday against Manure? If we can score 7 in a CL game, we can put 3 past the hapless Manure where Maguire has been lorded for his performances.
TRVL you mentioned Rice laying deeper works best for us. I feel he confuses things up top more than adds to our attack but that’s just my opinion.
If you asked me after watching both games who we will be playing I have no idea. The return is 4KM away at AM’s stadium, so, much like us and Spuds. At 2:1 RM has a slender advantage, but AM also looked strong and presses harder who can park a perfect GG bus when needed in record time. AM just do it seamlessly which is kudos to Simione’s tactics and training, but he has been there forever and is paid Euros 31m a year.
It’s finely balanced here in Madrid where the return leg could easily go to penalties.
I’m looking forward to the Manure game now we have found our goalscoring form, especially with Ode netting a brace. He needed that and I hope that is the catalyst for more goals from him, as he is baron in the PL.
Have a good one guys.
“It’s sometimes easy to forget what a very good team and good group of players this Arsenal team is.”
Shame the managers a bottlejob.
He’d fit in brilliantly at the Spud’s although I don’t think Levy would let him spend £75 million let alone almost £750 million.
Marc—my wee hours post was put out there purposely to see if our trolling little fuckwad Pricksy would take the bait…as expected, he did just that…what a predictable low hanging fruit of a twat…he represents everything that’s wrong with our fanbase and there’s no doubt in my mind that he has LG blood coursing through his veins…talk about a passive aggressive cherry-picking fuck, considering that we’ve had 3 or 4 performances of note all season long…no one on here doesn’t realize what might have been if it weren’t for our resident clown of a manager, so he can go fuck himself with his “easy to forget” nonsense…we all know we have talented individuals, we just wish they would be deployed in their best respective positions and surrounded by the necessary talent up top, which could have been easily achieved considering the unprecendented backing…Cheers
TRVL
Agree – the win last night was great but trying to use it as any sort of measure for other matches is daft I can’t remember the last time we played a team who were so poor.
The Pool v PSG game has started lively end to end. Should be a cracker
Ha ha , only one person taking the bait Vera…hook line and sinker .
Pool almost one down with PSG knowing what Pool is doing so closing down the space not allowing Pool to get out or keep the ball.
I see pool losing this tie by a couple of goals if PSG can keep to their tactics. Marquinhos has Salah very subdued.
That’s the hope as maybe it will give Pool a hangover in the PL.
I’ve been reading a lot of pressers involving the likes of Merino, Timber, Ode and Rice, who actually suggested that yesterday’s match was par for the course this season, and I would simply say this, how about we stop with all the MA-inspired false bravado and act like we’ve been there before…as someone who’s played competitive sports all my life I fully understand the need for self-confidence, so I get why it might be difficult to not let loose after a prolonged dry spell, but a proper manager, with larger goals in mind, should have instructed his players to do otherwise…to be fair, I probably shouldn’t have lumped Ode into that group, as he was rather tame and level-headed with his commentary, but the other 3 should have known better, especially the two former captains, Rice and Merino…in my opinion, we’re much better suited for the David role than the Goliath…let Real or Athletico have to feel all the pressure that naturally comes with being the heavy favourite, then we can sneak up and shock them when they least expect it…just saying
this PSG/Pool match has been pacey and full of flare thus far…what a weird situation, with us to having to face Real or Athleti in the quarters and Pool playing PSG already…it’s difficult to see the benefits of finishing so high in the standings if this is the rewards…that ought to cause some fishiness by some moving forward
thanks for revealing yourself little Pricksy…I knew you couldn’t resist such a juicy worm you fucking rube! lol
TRVL
PSG are a level above pool all over the pitch. Great game to watch.
Didn’t see the pressers I never bother.
Prefer to do our talking on the pitch.
With such bravado we should dispatch Manure easily.
Wicksey our average is one point a game so what you crowing about? You lonely down in your mum’s basement? Looking for attention?
Tony
I’m only half watching but it looks like PSG are battering the Scousers – they’re lucky its still nil nil.
Was just going to post Marc Poll are lucky not to be 2 down. Slot is going to need some half time talk to get Pool back in this game. PSG are so fast blocking of spaces they are forcing Pool
Into error after error.
Tony—this certainly isn’t the PSG side we faced early on…Pool are in one now…I’m sure Slot would be pleased with a road draw, but this one feels like goals will be scored in the 2nd half…frankly I’m surprised that there haven’t been a couple already…we should have poached Krav from Napoli when we had the chance
what an interesting little tactical ploy to start the second half by Enrique to kick it out of bounds high up the pitch…I’ve only seen that a couple times before…in the grand scheme it’s a bit of a nothing burger, but it’s clear that Enrique knows that Pool is struggling to clear their lines, so why not remind them right from the off
Kvara NOT Krav
Agree TRVL on all points. PSG are far better than when they had Mbappe and Neymar.
Good game to enjoy. Haven’t see live CL for 10+years. Junior is kicking every ball for PSG. Has a few mates who follow Pool.
Tony—we should have been so lucky as to get Enrique here…just think this PSG side didn’t cost nearly as much, now that they’ve completely revamped their roster construction model…we could have easily done likewise, with speed up the wings and a real 8 to boot…I was a little concerned at first about what Enrique might do, tactically-speaking, especially during that early wonky period, but now that he’s established himself as the outright alpha, this side plays a very attractive brand of football…fuck me, Alisson’s been brilliant tonight
strangely enough, Salah has been atrocious…he’s been so bad that he actually got subbed off