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!
Will be interesting to see who is the boss of whom? Andrea Berta or MA?
“Arsenal reach agreement with new sporting director after devising four-man shortlist to replace Edu. Arsenal have reached an agreement with their new sporting director
The 53-year-old specialist is set to replace Edu, who left in November last year.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-14478477/Arsenal-agreement-sporting-director-Edu-shortlist.html
Its odd coming in to todays early kick off and thinking easy win for the Spuddies then to remember Bournemouth are 10 points above them in the table!
Tony
About wondering how Slot has been a winner in his first season at EPL , this article gives an insight into his thinking
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arne-slot-liverpool-lineup-southampton-34823680
Tony
I wouldn’t claim to have any special information on Berta but the one difference between him and Edu is Edu didn’t have much experience in that type of role before starting at Arsenal. Berta is not going to come in to play second fiddle to a third rate manager.
Tony—the timing of that article isn’t lost on me, as it comes on the heels of an anomalous 7-1 CL result and on the eve of us facing a really poor United side…if only MA had spent as much time on roster construction as he has on cultivating relationships within the “press” we just might have won something by now…not to mention, those who prop-up our plastic manager love to dig a bit deeper when it comes to providing him with plausible excuses, yet fail to do so when it comes to truly analyzing his tenure, like their unwillingness to give proper attention to the watered down nature of the top 4, so the old Wengerian excuses about facing several financial juggernauts no longer applies…this cake and eat it too motherfucker wants all the flowers with none of the accountability that generally accompanies such a highly paid gig
Marc—as far as I can tell Berta was Simeone’s bitch, so why would he not be amenable to doing likewise with Arteta…let’s hope he’s not coming here simply to be MA’s whipping boy, which could easily be the case considering how our MIT has been trying to sell the farcical notion that he has nothing to do with transfers
Tony–Let’s face it, if anyone actually believed our most recent scoreline was a proper reflection of where we’ve been or where we’re likely heading, no one would have to hard sell our future under this particular manager, as it would sell itself…even during Wenger’s latter years, when the fanbase was very much divided, a result like that in Europe would have silenced his critics for a period of time with or without the “help” of the media, whereas nowadays we can’t swing a dead cat without hitting another article attempting to sugarcoat MA’s very mediocre tenure, considering what he inherited and what has been spent
regardless of MA’s obvious flaws, we should easily win this match today against a bang average side where everyone on the pitch, rightly or wrongly, wants the manager fired, including the manager himself
no surprises with our lineup today…same as our mid-week CL fixtuer except that Cala starts for Skelly, which makes some sense considering his more recent misadventures…somewhere on the continent Nuno’s trying to figure out how the fuck he’s even on the bench
fixture
Marts is back on the bench, which means we actually have a non-defender bench option
TRVL
Atletico were successful during Berta’s time there – now how much influence / effect he had on that who knows?
TRVL
Mate I know it’s difficult to believe but we actually have someone in todays squad who could be considered a striker!
It appears as if Amorim has presented us with quite a gift, as that’s one of the shittiest lineups he’s deployed since arriving in Manchester…maybe we can finally seek revenge for that 8-2 thrashing some years back
Marc—I’m so hoping that he was substantially more than Simeone’s puppet, but when I look at how that side was constructed in the manager’s image and the fact that he worked his way through the ranks there, it does give me cause for pause
Evening all MA had the luxury of not worrying about the visit of PSG midweek.
Should be a comfortable 3 points for us.
Agree TRVL Manure’s line up is poor. The Utd fans are quiet probably worried as they should be with their form
Merino had time to pick hot spot
My car company mate said he heard from reliable sources that Obi at Hale End had a bit of an attitude problem and why he was sold.
Would be true to form if MA got to know.
This is going to be the easiest match for Arsenal in EPL.
Amorin is a pig headed A–h–le. His job was to device a play style with the current set of players. Instead went around antagonising everyone. Sporting he delivered with a set of energetic players. If he was bent on only playing that style could have introduced a full set of youngsters on the wings and frontline. At worst , the results would have been the same he is getting. But likely , would hit the jackpot.
Kido is on the bench ,which is right since Arsenal know his game
Hoopah
Thanks for the Slot link. He’s a very honest and transparent man probably why he’s so well liked.
Rice fulmination about being a striker are pure delusion.
He just lumbered along and could not connect to an excellent pass by Cauliflower
One shot on target against a soft Manure side is not good enough.
Merino is too slow to play 9
Zero press from Manure content to park the bus and counter
We look as poor as Pool did yesterday in their first half.
Need MA to do a Slot half time talk and put Mary’s up top at least for Merino
Marts
Martinelli on the bench !
Thought he still needed some more time. El B™ is exceedingly cautious to the point of damaging players.
At the current rate we’ll finish 20 odd points behind Liverpool.
One shot on target and a goal
Faaa … what a strike from Bruno. Bent it like Roberto Carlos with pace
MA can’t afford to let Amorim punk him yet again, especially with a midifled that includes both Erikson and Casemiro
I saw this as another draw before the game, still think we’ll score one not sure about 2, though.
Need changes so take a chance with Marts and our Ethan to 9.
Rice and Merino are too slow to make the needed runs and movement to pull defenders out of position.