City crowned champions, Saka signed a new contract

Good post Ambarish and I echo KP’s sentiments for being a lenient and at times patient Blog owner, as occasionally we can let our emotions get the better of us all here.

Sunday’s game is a formality in that winning or losing doesn’t change our position.

I think Xhaka stole a living from us over his 9 years here with only one half decent season – this season. Arteta re-upped him instead of replacing, so that’s not Xhaka’s fault. He was never right for the PL. So, I’m ecstatic the balkan bone head is leaving for Germany, where he’ll do well with a slower pace if no one tackles him. Sorry Ambarish but that is Word!

Happy you got to get back to your family and hometown. The heat here is constant 45+*C like an oven outside with around 70% humidity. I feel for you when you’re in a large city that keeps the heat in long after the sun has gone down.

I thought I’d post the last part of my earlier post to see how you lads feel the managerial league will end up at the end of next season?

Reading all the posts from last night kind of got me to consolidate last night’s thinking and suggest balanced posts and a review in December where hopefully we are once again sitting at the top and ready to show us all how a run in should be.

From a human psychology aspect Arteta’s stress is there for all to see. Scratching his head unconsciously on the touchline eyes glazed looking into the distance far beyond the game; the first sign of cracks of disbelief in himself because he just couldn’t believe why the collapse had happened.

I’m not sure Arteta could take a 3rd collapse in a row. I think he would be too proud to stay if that happened.

My way of dealing with this balance is to only write about players we have bought or re-upped. We can only suppose how well the incoming players are going to work out, but our pre season friendly games will be anything but friendly with our old foes of Manure and Barca, so, a baptism by fire for new incoming players from outside the PL.

I know we’re all intelligent enough here to keep our personal feelings about Arteta the person out of our posts where judgement is purely on his footballing nous and results.

The below managers will all want to finish with a Euro Cup birth and win the league:

Pep
Klopp
Mikel Arteta
Ten Hag
Howe
Emery
Pochetinho
Emery
Arne Slot

It’s a formidable managerial line up (Arteta is there for achieving 2nd) – just for fun add your line up for finishing managers for May next year.

Mine is above.

Hi Tony

You praised Ambarish’s leniency so now I’m going to praise yours. Arteta third? Really? I hope you save me some of what you’ve been toking this evening! But fairs do’s Tony. Feeling any love for Tets after the last few weeks is admirable. I heard even his family were ready to send him to Coventry after the Southampton game!

It might be useful to recast those managers’ rankings against the money they’ve been gifted to spend on players, their overall success in that particular team, and the mess that they inherited and how quickly they turned it around. Also, you’ve not mentioned De Zerbi who, with Howe and Emery have helped their teams punch above their weight

PS
The Bournemouth guy (O’Neil) also deserves some recognition after the utter fucking cardigan wearing shitshow that was Scott Parker. They looked dead certs to drop when Parker was fired.

KP-just wanted to make a brief statement of support regarding the despicable manner by which our former echo chamber Commandant chose to remove those who didn’t prescribe to his tunnel vision script…in my case, he conjured up a completely false narrative, by suggesting that I was some sort of homophobe, after quickly erasing my post so that no one could decide for themselves, then removed me from the equation…as per usual, he followed that up with a disingenuous rant about what would and wouoldn’t be considered acceptable behaviour, thereby hanging me out to dry once again, then enagaged in a completely contrived back-and-forth amongst his various online personalities…I was never offered the opportunity to respond, except by private email, in which I informed him that he was lucky that I didn’t use my actually name online or he would have got an intimate view of my more litigious side, especially considering the rising tide of the cancel culturists at that time…just so you know, my posted comment was rather innocuous in that I simply said that Nigel was so in love with himself that if given the chance he would hire himself as his own personal fluffer…hardly a homophobic slur

I too want to personally thank Ambarish for his continued efforts and for providing us with a forum for discussing a plethora of matters both Arsenal related and beyond…I’ve been excommunicated from several prominent Arsenal blogs for expressing my oft-times contrarian views, since Arteta’s arrival on the scene, even those sites where I was a fairly regular article contributor, which speaks volumes about the changing nature of Arsenal’s PR landscape over the last couple years…Cheers

Bob-I hope you were able to read my response to you on the previous thread…take care

Tony-as per usual, your flattering words are always much appreciated…I likewise think that a more balanced blogscape would be the best case scenario, but that seems to be a bridge too far for those who’ve been inflicted by Artetamania, as most of us didn’t leave LG of our own accord, in fact, we were summarily dismissed for speaking our particular truths…hopefully those with differing views will continue to visit this venue so that we can partake in some potentially meaningful and highly nuanced debates

wouldn’t

as for any predictive managerial lists, I will wait until I see how this next window shakes out before offering up my two cents worth, as that could be an incredibly fluid proposition

“Thomas Partey is attracting interest from clubs in Serie A as Mikel Arteta plans his summer rebuild at Arsenal”

3 quick notes:

(1) really worried if we sell Partey, yet keep Elneny and Jorginho, regardless of who we bring in…this was one of my chief concerns when we settled for another Chelsea spare part in January

(2) “rebuild” why oh why would this term be floating out there if all the Kool-Aid crew members feel that we’re on the supposed precipice of doing great things on multiple fronts, especially after all the monies that have already been spent during Arteta’s tenure

(3) I’m not convinced that we’ll get any of our supposed rumoured targets…since our move to the Emirates I can only remember 1 logically conceived transfer of an individual who would have been coveted by others, if he hadn’t been signed before the opening of the window, and that was Sanchez…I would suggest that we should start looking way down our proverbial list to those sitting in the 8th through10th slots, as they might be the more likely transfer candidates…even Jesus’s transfer negotiations were a ridiculously lengthy endeavour, which was only secured once we sweetened the pot on two separate occasions

TRVL
He’s a level 6 arse.

Nothing to do with homophobia but a welcome and damming indictment of his Nigel alter ego, sentenced as a total wanker. Pedro falls into the same trap as a lot of people who publish things. They start to believe they’re cleverer and more relevant than other people and so their ego takes off. He’s a fraud and a bullshitter with a nasty streak when people school him.

Right, I’m going to attempt my managerial pecking order based on who’s still around at the end of this season and using my earlier criteria) . Fingers crossed Tony (and Bob) will still talk to me.

Guardiola
Klopp
De Zerbi
O’Neil
Tets (grrrrrrrr!) jointly with Unai (!)
Frank
Howe
Woy the (geriatric) Boy
Ten Hag
Cooper
Marco Silva
Dan Ackroyd lookalike Lopetegui
Moyes
Dean Smith
Dyche
Fat corrupt Sam

Not even quoted
Fat Frank
Ryan Mason
The Southampton guy

Pick the bones out of that!

The thing that annoys me most about being banned from Le Grove?

I’d gone head to head with him on loads of stuff, called him out for allowing the racist shit about Emery and god knows what else and then he banned me after I made a basic comment about generating revenue from sales was going to be tough after COVID with so many clubs (especially in Europe) struggling for money which wasn’t even something in Arteta’s purview.

My guess is he knew I wasn’t going to stop, that I was right and he can’t take handle it. If I’d have known he was going to ban me I would have explained in great detail precisely what a cunt he is.

If you’re going to be banned at least be banned for doing something full on is my view!

TRVL

I can’t remember who’s behind it but there’s a saying about as soon as someone brings the Nazi’s into an argument they’ve lost. Pedro’s a complete snowflake who will argue about the importance of freedom of speech, about how resorting to slurs or insults is the lowest form of intelligence and then be the first to start applying labels to people.

It’s just the modern version of calling someone a Nazi.

“(2) “rebuild” why oh why would this term be floating out there if all the Kool-Aid crew members feel that we’re on the supposed precipice of doing great things on multiple fronts, especially after all the monies that have already been spent during Arteta’s tenure”

Yep complete bullshit how can you rebuild a team that isn’t complete yet? Strengthen the squad – yes, improve the team – yes. Start selling the players you brought in because they’re not good enough? Then why the fuck did you buy them for so much money?

Rant over!

For me too early to call a next may finish because of what will happen in the summer TW as well as the different clubs buying and selling of players. In addition I am a bit leery about Saliba because of his injury will it plague him next season plus will he sign a new contract..

However I will say if Pep wins the treble, for me he is manager of the season, if not Howe would be my choice closely followed by Di Zerbi and ETH then Arteta. Arteta would have been higher would it not have been for the implosion at the season’s end.

KP-funny thing is, if Nigel were an actual living, breathing human, he should have been even more pissed than me by Pedro’s erroneous claims, as either he was just “outed” or meant to look as if he needed Positive Pete to swoop in and save his fragile ass (oops, was that homophobic LOL)

Marc-if it makes you feel any better I spoke directly to Pedro about his seemingly incessant cuntitude, then I reiterated this fact on another high traffic Arsenal site…unfortunately I was subsequently excommunicated from Just Arsenal shortly thereafter, as they too started to adopt a similar Arteta-based double standard when it came to admonishing posters…if you were a pro-Arteta poster you basically had carte blanche, whereas if you fell on the other side of the equation you couldn’t say jackshit without being publicly scolded

Marc
I think you’re referring to Godwin’s law.

if for some reason LG’s not so intrepid representative, Senor Aitcho, makes his way back into the LIR fold, I just want to make note of Pep’s views on the manager you were so disparaging about, “Roberto is one of the most influential managers in the last 20 years.” He then went on to shower this same individual with a whole host of superlatives usually reserved for those on the Mount Rushmore of managers…just saying

otherwise known as Godwin’s rule of Hitler analogies…spot on once again KP

TRVL, you’re just trolling. I hope you are.

I was banned from LG years ago, start of the Arteta regime as it happens, for being less than convinced about Arteta’s potential. The circumstances were relatively humourous, you may disagree if I told you.I just don’t take my appearance on a blog as seriously as you seem to and moved on.

Relax on the Zerbi love in. Like I said, it’s way too early to say. Brighton are doing well, they did well under Potter. It’s no more than a deluxe new manager bounce. That’s not disparaging, have some proportion. I’m just not going overboard for the latest shiny new manager. Anyone on here or elsewhere who says categorically they’re convinced Zerb would do a better job at Arsenal, at this stage, is nothing more than another blog worthy waffler.

What would be nice is less of the binary nonsense. LG made its name from telling us Wenger was a senile c*nt for years and couldn’t manage for toffee. That was rubbish as evidenced by Tet’s first two seasons. Tets being the ‘future’ and ‘generational’ was also rubbish. His football in seasons 1-3 was evidence of that. He’s got better, he’s had assistance. For what it’s worth, I still believe Emery is a better coach, I long thought Howe was too and advocated for him the last two times. I accept the Howe was based on how he did with Bournemouth, a slightly larger sample than Zerbs had but including a relegation. He’s also done well, as Emery seems to, by being a coach.

Anyway, if you want to call me out, don’t base it on a bullshit quote from a manager who goes where, to quote Jose, the ‘tea lady’ can win the league.

And if you want to label someone an ‘intrepid representative’ of a site, check they’re not banned from same site.

Ultimately, maybe take your participation on any blog less seriously, you’re giving off jilted boyfriend vibes. Emailing blog owners? Grow a backbone.

now that was the most noteworthy post you’ve ever offered up…as such, I’m happy that I took a shot across the proverbial bow…at least now your LIR persona has some actual depth and context…now your chirping game leaves much to be desired, but that certainly wasn’t an epiphanic realization, as you’ve tried a similar tact in the past and failed rather miserably then too…I will say this, what Pep said about DeZerbi went far beyond the usual pre-match lip service banter and it’s clear that he’s drawn Pep’s attention long before he arrived on Brighton’s shores, so I think your “bullshit quote” take will fall on deaf ears…btw the email, as you remember, was the only way to have a back-and-forth as I was banished from the site. so I’m not sure how that could possibly infer that I was lacking any backbone…sweet dreams little guy

after a brief sidebar it’s time to get back to the matters at hand….I have some real skepticism surrounding the possibiity of us getting Rice and/or Caicedo…I strongly feel that in order to get Rice several things must occur: (1) the Hammers having a genuine desire to make this an amicable situation, (2) Rice choosing us as his clear choice, (3) these first two things making it possible for a less traditional/preferred course of action being pursued, which might include another player(s) and/or a more flexible payment schedule, (4) us not taking this unique situation for granted and trying to lowball them at the table anyways and (5) us not dithering so much that it opens the door for another team to make them an offer they simply couldn’t refuse, which is a very real possibility…all in all that seems like a lot variables to maneuver

in regards to Caicedo, as I’ve mentioned before, I have a strong suspicion that we ruffled some serious feathers in January and this might make it increasingly more difficult to make a return trip to the bargaining table…this might be a moot point if this player didn’t have other suitors with deep pockets, as we’ve been known to give them everything they want and more, but with the monies being bandied about I highly doubt we’ll being going in with the kind of bid that will scare others off

TRVL
You took the words out of my mouth regarding Caicedo. ,We put on an amateur hour show in January where Brighton must have asked themselves which part of NO don’t these idiots not understand? As it turned out he was instrumental in getting BHA into the Europa league and they played that card extremely smart. Extended his contract and can demand a higher transfer fee now.

It became apparent to the public how bad Edu & Arteta are when it comes to negotiations when Chelsea gazumped us in signing Mydruck, that was so unprofessional and provincial by those two amateurs. So I seriously doubt that we will get our targets when other elite clubs will also bid for them.

Regarding Rice and for that matter any other English player, there is the additional factor of being familiar with family and home environment, starting with cough, cough British cuisine.

Also all things being equal there is the additional attraction of the manager. To what degree will he develop my talents and skills that I am a sure selection for my countries international competitions. We are so screwed in that department. Say what you want but Wenger did attract talent, maybe not in his later years. Tets has nothing to show for yet, except temper tantrums ans shutting out players he doesn’t like or care for whatever reason.

On a very positive note because of Juve having 10 points deducted we have almost secured a place in Pot2 of the CL draw.

Guys,

Let us not hate each other. There is enough of non-sense to deal with, in everyone’s life.

Criticizing a team whom we support in bad times, not agreeing with managerial decisions, not liking the football, the transfer window and everything else related to football are subjective. One person may find Arteta generational, the other don’t. It won’t take away the fact that both loves Arsenal.

We are up for a healthy discussion, disagreements and criticism. We are also up for celebrating like no one will, when we win. We just don’t wanna be another AFTV.

Killroy,

There are tweets mentioning pot 2 is going to be tougher than pot 3. Juve’s point deduction is not good for us.

But then, you don’t compete and win leagues by hiding away behind smaller teams. Come who may.

agreed Ambarish, but to be fair I originally only used the phrase “not so intrepid representative”, which would barely qualify as an expedition in “hating” on someone…in response, the poster in question took things to a far more personal level, so I simply responded in kind…I will refrain from doing so in the future…Cheers

Killroy-there’s no doubting we’re amateur hour personified when it comes to all things asset management related, which undoubtedly includes asset acquisitions…we’re such a messy bitch, in that one minute we’ll pay well over the number for what some might describe as off the radar targets, like White and Vieira, then the next we will dither about and/or submit lowball bids for far more seminal and widely desired targets…fact remains, we’ll know when we’re ready to be serious contenders on multiple fronts because we’ll target world class players, who best fit our particular script, then do whatever is necessary to bring them into the fold in a timely fashion…unfortunately, just like in the days leading up to the ribbon cutting outside the Emirates, we’re still expected to shut up, pay the highest prices in the land and trust the process

Morning all
Great lively night of comments LIR is beginning to build up traffic that’s ALL cool to read with my coffee.

KP
OMG shoot me. I had De Zerbi on my notes list and got an email about France and got distracted. I absolutely love the guy. Unless De Zerbi drops off a cliff next season, he is my pick to take over at Arsenal not just for his excellent football identity but his close relationship with Tony Bloom. I could see Arsenal with De Zerbi having 1st pick from Bloom’s nuggets.

With De Zerbi rightfully in the line up I’ve asterrisked De Zerbi and Arteta as I’ll have a better idea when as you say the ink is dry on the transfers. De Zerbi rotated and took a point off Pep, says much.

Pep
Klopp
Mikel Arteta*
De Zerbi*
Ten Hag
Howe
Emery
Pochetinho
Emery
Arne Slot

TRVL
It would be good to see more tactical reviews of games for both players and Tets, which will help us all to improve our understanding of the game today. I believe this is something we can draw on from your coaching days to be able to add more weight to the discussions. I’m always about learning from others. Leaving Tet’s personal being out of the posts should leave only tactical debating and general football talk.

Ambarish has Pedro’s monikers tied up in knots where they are lashing out at us, so we must pose a concern to LG. Personally, from a music industry observation I’d say Pedro is enjoying far too much of recreational life all too readily available in the USA. That and Josh’s PR spin team are looking to control the narrative through the Arsenal blogs.

I’m not going to mention LG going forwards, as it only serves to promote LG’s blog. All publicity is good publicity so long as they spell your name right. As regards discrediting, LG appeals to a certain intelligence level who seem to be happy posting as ‘invented characters’ rather than faceless, real people.

I understand Bob’s frustration on LG and equally here, which was why I’ve opted for a more football focus on Arteta and the players. I popped in LG last night read Mr. Serge’s best and worst for the season and Bob’s rightful frustration and left and came to the conclusion LG is just not worth my time.

Conversely, I’l do all I can to help LIR realise Ambarish’s goals for the site, as I know us lifers here will do also.

LIR: The Arsenal thinking fan’s blog.

Marc
I remember your jousts with Pedro and the Marc with a C posters et al. I would imagine Pedro was just starting to be part of the PR spin when you got binned. I got Covid concerned with your such long absence, so was happy to see you here.

The Arsenal has fully become a corporate machine where those of us who have had the displeasure of being part of a corporate structure in their working lives know how badly run most of the corporate world is run. Glossy exteriors do not equate to well run interiors of corporate companies and conglomerates. Most are run by narcissistic egomaniacs, or power mad accountants. My MC club’s founding member was the CEO of Pfizer where we’ve had some very interesting convos about corporate life.

Aicho
Good to see you still read LIR and your views are always welcome. What are your views on De Zerbi after this season?

If not De Zerbi who would your Arteta replacement be if Tets is 8th by Xmas or similar and needing to leave?

Obviously, De Zerbi wouldn’t be my pick if he’s down the bottom of the table either. It’s going to be a credit to De Zerbi’s coaching and tactical nous if he loses at least 4 of his best starters to the summer TW and then De Zerbi continues on where he left off this season in his quest for top 4 next season. Will be an interesting one to watch.

There’s no hidden agenda here Aicho; only our club winning is our collective concern. Who takes us to the winner’s circle is of no concern to me, I only care about our club and the football it plays and meeting like minded Gooners here.

To all
Just trying to read behind the TW lines where the signs are Arteta wants some kind of radical overhaul. My concern is that next season it will be ok to miss out on CL because it’s a new team gelling together, That’s the next spin I’m expecting with Arteta’s next contract extension this October when he hits 4 years with only a FA cup and one CL showing.

I think you’ll find the Nazi thing derived from LG’s leading racist: Un, Raulishuss, Don, Aubergine et al. Banned the most times and yet still licking Pedro’s arse. I’m beginning to think Un is also Pedro for Un’s puppy love for CC who I called out as Pedro and who immediately left. Now Pedro’s Conetta is struggling to find a persona away from CC, but Pedro isn’t clever enough to write in a different style. I think Jamie is close to calling Conetta out.

We are, in my book, a corporate entity poorly run from top to bottom whose only recourse is to keep throwing money at the problem: £750m+ in 2 years, which only goes to prove Arteta is nothing like Pep and never will be. The club will continue to haemorrhage money through Arteta’s and Edu’s TW dealings.

One has to wonder whether KSE is blindly overturning the board’s advice on financial matters because they control the purse strings? If that’s the case, a hard line sports CEO wouldn’t be needed. Our cuddly smiley incumbent is all KSE needs.

Have a good one.

Bielsa is missing from the list.. I loved Leeds under him, though his measures are extreme but they are for players who are 0.001% top earners.

He has some exciting wins, some very exciting losses, but the football was never bland. He will go aggressive against a pep side. I wished to see him more in Premier League.

Thanks TRVL. Frankly le-grove was an inspiration in the day to start LiR. They are doing great, just not in line to what I believe. We can co-exists.

Ambarish
Don’t know where you got that impression from that pot 2 would be more difficult. As it stands now since these teams are in pot 2 we can’t be drawn against them
Real
Bayern
Leipzig
Inter (If they loose the CL Final)
Athletico
Porto

But could face from pot 1:
Barca
Dortmund
Napoli
PSG
Benfica
Winner EL (Sevilla or Roma)

Look at the projection of the pots and in pot 3 the only one that I have a question about is AC Milan we should beat every other team, but then we do have Arteta who could go all Galaxy brain on us again.

Tribuna
https://tribuna.com/en/news/arsenal-2023-05-23-arsenal-could-be-in-pot-2-for-the-champions-league-draw-it-all-depends-on-borussia-dortmu/

Thinking about this radical rebuild where we need at least 6 incoming. I’m assuming the £250m we have to spend is because we have CL income now is further belief Josh has in Arteta and Edu from our 2nd position finish this season.

Now I’m a reasonably adventurous kind of guy financially where Mrs T is the family CFO she says in case of a senior moment – well she is 20 years younger and I’m still CEO of the family last time I checked, but we all know what happens when we pull rank on our significant others? It doesn’t usually end well for us.

I feel I’d want to see how we do in our first CL outing before committing such a big number again. I’d also want to see if we finish next season with a CL birth? I’d certainly want a lot more convincing than our clearly overachieved 2nd (4th would have been more realistic) and the car crash run in.

Won’t we be back to Emery days if we fail to be in the CL the season after?

CL salaries for Europa or worse; no Europe that Stan complained about after Wenger was fired. I’d certainly want to know the risks and critical thinking behind automatically paying CL wages to our stars. I’d want caveats in the contracts to revert to a lower package if no CL just to make fiduciary sense.

I guess we’ll see in the coming months how financially smart our board and KSE are. I’m far from complaining about spending money on our continued rebuild, but I do worry about what we spend being leveraged against our club, and thus the old buy now pay later America has always thrived on and continually bitten by.

Unfortunately, our pay later is building steadily.

Killroy,

Got it, I only saw couple tweets about it, didn’t check myself. Pot 2 sounds good then..

Killroy
Sorry wasn’t ignoring you, but a busy morning in-dispersed with incomings.

I agree with you our TWs have been relatively poor for compared to our real needs. All the more reason to keep De Zerbi in Arsenal’s sights as has been reported previously. As mentioned earlier a direct line to Tony Bloom’s conveyor belt with first options would be really worth having if their recent history is anything to go by.

Regarding the pots I feel we have to play who we have to play. I accept that meeting one of Europe’s giants early isn’t advisable, but if we go out and beat what’s in front of us, we’ll carve ourselves a fearsome rep going through the competition.

No point in thinking about the CL until the TW closes for me. I find it easier to work with tangibles and not what ifs. However, I agree with your thoughts towards Arteta and Edu in the TW’s where Arteta’s management style is well known and appears not liked by the players he wants to sign.

If I were Josh, I’d be asking serious questions personally to the players’ and their agents’. Our board seem to overlook the simple things, such as sales and non sales thorough due diligence debriefing from an independent source vetted by Tim Lewis and the board.

Apparently Slot has turned down the Spud’s.

I’m not laughing – honest I’m not I am however available if Levy wants to pick up the phone.

Marc
You couldn’t make it up.

Arne Slot has just gone right up in my estimation. lmao. Quickest way to screw your CV for an up and coming manager looking for his first PL job is to take Spuds and Levy on. I say bring Tim Sherwood back.

Imagine having a name like Slot and feeling that you wouldn’t fit it…. Tumbleweed moment….

I’m expecting a desperation call from Levy myself along the lines of…

Look Mr Kroenkephobe, despite your obvious and longstanding love of Arsenal, your name might go down well with our few remaining fans. There’s a real job market crisis at the moment so you’re my last resort except for those 2 northern cnuts, Dyche and Allardyce who’ve been bugging me. If you move back to London, I’ll even personally pay for your bus pass up the seven sisters road every day. And I’ll throw in a free salt beef sandwich and some industrial antispit goggles for your discussions with Sir Harold of Kane. I know you’ve only ever managed your kids’ football teams in Pembrokeshire but we also like your offensive shoutiness and renowned anti-Arteta-ism plus your strident language about our secret agent paranoid Pedro. We also think you might have some influence with Cardiff City as we plan to spend millions on their cast offs this summer

9 million quid a year tax free in addition to those other perks. Otherwise, we’ll have to keep Ryan Mason at this rate and my head might explode.

Tony
I’d gauge Sherwood as a footballing genius compared to Christian Gross, Nuno, Villas Boas or Juande Ramos. And never get me started on that grubby little whoremeister David Pleat.

But rumour has it Sherwood is from a massive Gooner family so he probably considered he was doing his duty by fucking them up so thoroughly.

KP
Shades of Almunia there, take a well deserved bow 🙇‍♀️ sir.

Cheers Tony, but I could never fill the great man’s satirical boots. Spurs is a club that keeps on giving. When the dust has fully settled on this season, I think we’ll look back at how we’ve restored our superiority. This enduring failure to secure a good manager will be steadily eroding confidence among everyone at that miserable club and could well precipitate Kane and Son’s departures. Bad time to be a cockerel jockey. 😊

Tony-DeZerbi plays something akin to a possession-based tightroping exercise, in that he provokes his opponents into overstretching and committing one too many to the press, at which point they deploy their exit strategy and easily play their way out…of course this is easier said than done, so when it fails it can leave you exposed at the back, but when it’s on point it can wreak havoc in those open spaces it creates…ultimately it was a logical tactical reaction to the high press/quick transition game, that emerged out the ashes of the tiki-taka era, which dangerously attempts to draw the opponents onto them before releasing passes to the “free” man…as such, the scheme isn’t based nearly as dependent on your own movements, as those of your opponent

this is why our one trick pony of a manager got so badly outcoached in our most recent affair…what he should have done was feign a high press, only to drop-off as soon as they made their first pass out from the back, then resumed our pressing on our side of the pitch, where the field starts to shrink, thereby making it vastly easier to maintain one’s defensive shape…by doing so you force them to commit more players farther up the pitch, especially their defenders, whom are vitally important to this particular scheme, which leaves them open to the counter…unfortunately MA appears to despise playing with any semblance of directness, so this too might not have yielded the desired results…Cheers

btw Arne Slot probably saved himself a lot of anguish by declining the Spurs gig, as they will likely continue to struggle until the stench of Levy has left the building…that said, I wouldn’t be surprised if he got a major appointment in the next year or two, especially if he can continue to be successful within a high turnover operation like Feynoord

there’s talk circulating again about our interest in Antonio Sanabria, a 27 year old Torino Striker of Paraguayan descent…don’t know that much about him except that he potted 12 this season, which is his best first division total at any point in his career…he’s not that big, at 5’11, so it doesn’t appear to be about tactical flexibility, surprise surprise, although there’s some suggestion he’s been on our organizational radar since he emerged on the scene at 17…just don’t get why we would potentially ship Balo, a far younger in-house prospect who now appears to have come good, and replace him with a less productive and considerably older version…btw we supposedly offered 25 for a player with a current market value somewhere around 7, which I find difficult to believe….can’t help but think, if there’s any truth to this rumour, that it has everything to do with the grudge MA still holds against Balo and/or his agent when they wisely played hardball during his last re-up