It has turned out to be such a strange season, that even after we playing at our best, beating teams for fun, winning at shite hart lane, keeping clean sheets more than any other teams, scoring more than anyone else – we are going to end up second! Man City just can’t lose can they?
Fulham can do us a favor, they can restrict Pep to a draw or win against them. I have zero confidence in Tottenham beating City and West Ham can’t go through them on the last day at Etihad. If something can happen, it’s today. Lets hope the gods favors us and Fulham and we get to see for once the sad face of Pep Guardiola. We have one of ours play for Fulham, Bernd Leno, who has promised that he will give his 100% to stop our competition.
There has been some happenings while I was missing. Jorginho signed the contract for another year, Mikel was full of praise for him and it basically confirms it’s time for Thomas Partey to go. I don’t believe Mikel wants to keep two 35 year olds to fight for one place when Declan Rice is a starter. If I was you Mikel, I would sell Thomas for whatever money we can get, and go into the market for a DM understudy to Rice/Jorginho.
Bayern did us dirty in the quarters. Saka was denied a clear penalty. Harry Kane got away with an elbow on Gabriel which should have been red. They weren’t so furious then about refereeing, but when it happened to them against Madrid when the offside whistle was blown a bit too early, all hell broke loose. Mr Tuchel, Karma is a bitch.
Next year’s kit has been leaked, and I am disappointed to say the least. Last season was best of Adidas, both Red and White, and the black ones were great. This season, the third kit was a standout and home one was fine too. I think I might skip the next season’s if the leaks are true.
A belated Happy Birthday to Dennis Bergkamp, you happened when I was playing cricket as 10 year old but looking back, I would have loved to see you play live. A gentlemen, a magician, red through and through.
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Fabrizio reported that we are monitoring the young 18 year old Ajax centre back Jorrel Hato. He has a deal till 2028 and he will be an investment for the future. We most certainly need a third regular CB to rotate with Saliba and Gabriel without hampering our game play. White/Tomi are CB but we haven’t seen them play there, and we don’t know if they will turn out to be equally good. If it costs us 10 odd million, I would say go for it.
Sacking news have started about Pochettino. He talked about an interview, the content doesn’t really matter but if the manager comes out and talks about it, either he is fearful he will be sacked, or he knows he will. Chelsea has just moved from a billionaire russian who managed to win things to a billionaire american who can’t make things happen. Loving it.
Right, and Ten Hag just can’t stop talking about us can he?
Norg
Love your stories keep them coming.
KP
If Eric Von stuck to guitar playing only you’d probably admire him. A I’ve said before musicians are wired differently, so we have to make allowances for their behavioral peccadilloes. They may play their instruments with elite aplomb, but that doesn’t qualify them to make sensible decisions we’d make here.
One also has to remember the decades of recreational usage that usually procures piss poor judgment when making decisions like asking Jimi Hendrix to guest at the Marque and them walk off stage throwing a hissy fit.
Our Eric has had his moments. Like me in a rare drunk moment stating to a girl that I loved the lyrics to Sam Par Ti by Santana, which is an instrumental. Bet you’ve done plenty in KP overdrive. I know I have.
I even corrected Dom Mintoff at his summer palace in Malta when he was explaining the tech of HDTV when it was new. The room went silent and the guard in the kitchen was unsure of his next move until Dom Mintoff started laughing as the kitchen followed. It was a long table in a big kitchen where Dom cooked over an open fire in 2 big pots. Food was amazing and lunch turned out to be fun with me talking tech to the table.
I feel sad KP for you by you denying such amazing music. His latest box set is to die for. Rock, Blues and Orchestra BluRays and vinyl. Sound is crazy good production with the best cast of musos imaginable.
Being a Bin Dipper does take some explaining, though, but he did think his sister was his mum for most of his young life. Got a great docu about that in my collection. He thought his mum was his aunty on her rare visits. Took solace in his guitar. That social conditioning is likely to make anyone a bit kooky, KP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sptQj1MPIwg Thought No regrets and this song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uyb67x1C2Dg Then thought Robbie for a modern take.
What did Eric Von do that fuels the flames when his name is uttered?
Tony,
Every manger has flaws. Pep suffered his overdoses of galaxy brain when he first started his prem and CL career with City.
Tets rotational nous has been noted by others here and elsewhere. Partly because we haven’t had the capacity to rotate with the degree of comfort Pep has, partly because those he had available he didn’t trust. Both are connected.
We’ve done much better this season than last. The numbers are there for us all to see. We’ve been far more consistent. We’ve not lost to Pep in the last three meetings. Only us Villa and Wolves have beaten them this season. Clearly it shows Emery’s and Villa’s progress. It also shows ours.
Attributing this season’s outcomes to nothing more than PMA is simplistic and ignores everything we’ve done well. It also ignores the progress adjustments from last season.
Given the evidence of the last four windows, while never a guarantee, there’s Every chance in the world we’ll do well with inward transfers.
Unlikely we’ll sell for silly money given the outgoings will be dead wood or 2nd tier in the cases of players like Jesus, Zinny or Rambo.
Of course, given the trajectory Arteta is likely to improve. He’s come on leaps and bounds since 2020. We’re actually good now.
Havertz as a nominal 9 for the full season. Would love to see it. Wouldn’t say no to another quality option as well but your 25+ guarantees are few and very pricey. Havertz at 65m may well end up being a bargain if he hits close to that.
Facts are facts. We’ve actually out performed XG. Shows a degree of striking efficiency and the need to improvement will be another marginal gain much like Raya in was.
Tets gets it right more than occasionally and more than a stopped clock. Go back, look at the table, looks at the numbers, saying our manager has no clue is plain dopey.
Go get your seals old fella.
Tony
“El B”
that explains. Like an unknown parentage so the consistent fuckups. What else can one expect.
OK some can be enamored by the type. Some type of Stockholm Syndrome. These as we can hear loud and clear , they too exist.
Out with the old and in with the new.
This season has seen a few new managers introduced to the premiership and on the whole they have done well and mostly on small budgets. Bournemouth were relegation fodder but now sit comfortably in mid table. Even Luton gave most teams a fright and it will be a pity to see them go. The new face at Palace and even Big Ange at Spurs could all provide a hiccup to the big boys next season. We need to get it right in this transfer window – we may not have much room to manouver because of the last big spend.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/unai-emery-aston-villa-ucl-32815471
Ode to Emery good ebening
( Good-bye LG ,RIP )
Hoopah
Unai has done well and I expect him to continue to rise. He failed at Arsenal because he refused to lick Raul’s arse and accept the players thrust upon him. In his early time at the club his successor did lick Raul’s arse – tongue right up to his tonsils. Luckily for him Gasper and Josh persevered with him and removed Raul.
Unai has already done some shopping and has a couple of players to be announced in a couple of weeks.
Norg,
Yes, I’m now come on you irons, no caps, no exclamations marks. Accepting reality.
Those Ashburton Army goons letting off fireworks at the ManC hotel would have been better advised sneaking into the kitchen.
I hope Chelsea and Newcs both win good this eve and pip Spuds for the Conference spots. Teach them a bloody lesson.
Aitcho
Many moons ago 77 / 78 I was in the east stand lower watching Arsenal vs West Ham. Having had a few beers in the Compton before the game I was probably more outgoing than my normal self. In front of me were a few WHU supporters who kept on singing come on you irons. As they were from the east end I made reference to rhyming slang for iron – iron hoof = poof. So I questioned them about their chant and said are you referring your team as poofs (not politically acceptable these days) – it didn’t go down too well but they were ok in the end.
Aitcho
We are different characters. I simply don’t accept loss. 2nd is losing in my world. El B has lost the last 3 seasons and I think we played better football at our best last season. We are predictable and only generally have one good half in us.
But forgetting the flaws or wonderful manager you feel El B is becoming the fact of the matter is we lost the league to City when we should have won. Ditto last season and the fall off the season before that.
I follow sport and The Arsenal to win and El B hasn’t done his job, especially as he told Willian he was going to win the CL in 3 years and now he’s been here almost 5.
It’s Wenger all over again. If you’re happy us throwing the season away again, then I can’t help you.
In sport there is only winning and losing and El B is a proven PL loser over 5 years. Oh well another half a billion should get our squad all tikity boo.
I am taking a wild guess this is a fav of yours, Aitcho: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_-q9xeOgG4
Don’t worry it’s not a seal. You haven’t sunken to the depths again. Mind you with your abilities it could be like the Voice where you get a 4 seal turn for your posts.
Seriously, Aitcho, if you’re happy, then who am I to want to stop your mirth and merriment at being 2nd?
Genuine question, if El B blows the title again next season, would you want to give him another? If so, where do you draw the line?
Emery was always a good manager. Even with us, he worked out we weren’t good enough to achieve what we thought we deserved at the time . A lot of the fan base hadn’t got used to the idea. He had them singing we had our Arsenal ‘back’ three months into the season, we had that unbeaten run that the stats told us was masking the shoddy football.
When the shoddy football was matched by shoddy stats, we flipped on him. The fifth place finish and loss in Baku did for him. But fans weren’t being realistic at the time. We weren’t ready to accept our place in the scheme of things.
Tets got away with far worse in respect of stats, and shoddy football. But he was prepared, possibly given more latitude.to deal with our reality. The FA Cup win bought him that freedom. I’m sure if not we that, he’d have been out by Dec that year. Possibly the fact we had no live games for people to vent their displeasure also insulated him.
Or maybe the Kroenkes just realised the club had structural problems and sacking a third manager in three years wasn’t going to address that. ManU are still to work out the problem is them, the revolving door of managers is a symptom not the cause of how shit they are. It would have been the same for us. We wised up quicker..
A lot was made of Unai simply being wrong place, wrong time, he had to win over Wenger devotees who still believed we could do it his way, people who’d grown up with us being good, Arteta drum bangers who for some reason thought a rookie was the answer for the same silly reason we thought Freddie might be, he played for us. Fans of all clubs can be thick that way. Fat Frank at Chelsea, King Kenny part 2 at Lolerpool etc.
The people who thought we’d got our arsenal back under Emery were being needy. The people who indulged in calling him a bum and the ‘good ebening ‘nonsense were a disgrace.
He was appointed because he had a track record with underdog teams. People weren’t ready to accept that’s what we had become. Who’s to say how it would have panned out if the management had given him the same indulgences and even money. You to respect a guy who comes in with a dossier and promises to make the dross we had better through the magical power of his coaching.
No surprise he’s got Villa fourth spot, still pissed about hiking all the way to Baku to get walloped and look forward to seeing how he’ll fare in big boy competition next season. The fact he’s beaten one semi finalist and one quarter finalist in the league this season bodes well for him.
Tony
2nd isn’t losing. You’re being way too dramatic. We’ve been winning a lot, you’ve seen the table.
Life and sports aren’t some cheap cliche, ‘nobody remembers 2nd place’, if you’re not first, you’re nowhere’, etc. You can’t live your sporting life through outdated Facebook quotes.
I recall Vera saying Pepe was a winner.and Tets wasn’t because “winners win”. Someone’s they do and sometimes they don’t.
If you follow Arsenal to feel like a winner, like fans of most clubs, you’re going to be disappointed. We didn’t lose the league to city, they won it like they have seven out the last eight season. 89 points isn’t throwing a league away. Have you only started watching football last year? We were only one of three teams to beat last season’s champions.
For a supposed legendary sportsman with a son who’s supposedly good enough to win Wimbledon, Ryder Cup and Grand National you don’t half come across like someone who’s never played or even been involved in competitive sport in their life at all
Genuine question, which flavour of month manager would you have instead this season? Least season you were telling us all how De Zerbi was the master. A few injuries later, he’s what I told you, flash in the pan.
I can see why you’re Vera’s David Steel, you’re both as basic and reactionary as each other.
Leave the “2nd is nowhere” nonsense for teenage try hards and angry wall punching ‘Fathers for Justice’ oddballs. Try some proper analysis for once. If you’re capable.
Or bring us one of ‘junior’s’ seals. I don’t bother opening youtube links, they don’t add to the discussion.
Read the room Tony
Nobody is happy to come second. But I feel this year like I did in 89. A lot of fans seem to share that. Then, Liverpool were the machine.
I remember being in a pub near the stadium, in case we did it. At 88 mins it was handshakes, shrug shoulders, we gave it a good run. Not saying we’re going to do an 89 this year. Out of our hands and thats a one-off, don’t give me that Agueroo was even remotely comparable. Beat QPR won the league isn’t the same.
I haven’t spoken to any Gooner friends, family, randoms who are angry calling Tets a loser and trying to claim we have so many flaws.
I know there’s always the possibility of plain group think. Or maybe, as the stats tell us, we’re actually quite good. We could be better, so could ManC, Lolerpool, and anyone else who didn’t win the league or Champs league. But to claim we’re good because everyone else is rubbish, our idiot manager got lucky two seasons in a row or because of our fourth highest net spend is a joke.
You need to watch more football to get why we’re good and spend less time creating imaginary sporting glories for yourself, then you’d get why wining trophies is hard and most managers don’t ever achieve that.
Some good quality analysis, debate and history/raconteur’ing on here today everyone. Helped in part by my absence for most of the day. It’s good too that the general level is one of optimism.
NORG
The cockney rhyming slang thing also came to the fore in the 80s when WH’s kit was provided by Pony. For the uninitiated, Pony equals Pony and Trap equals Crap. Representing an area of the UK that spawned cockney rhyming slang, it ain’t a good look me old China!
I’m hoping by Sunday evening that that old bastard Moyes will be grinning like a Cheshire cat having steered his charges to a plucky scoreless draw. They comfortably beat us at home so who knows?
Hi Aitcho
Stick your Gregory Peck out a bit… Who would you have as Arsenal manager in lieu of Tets?
Hi Tony
If you Google Eric Clapton/Enoch Powell/Drunken racist rant/rock against Racism it’s all on there. Uttered live in Birmingham in the mid to late 70s. You were probably aware of the RAR movement in the late 70s that formed from the fallout 9f what E ssid. The Clash played some truly wonderful outdoor gigs at the time so Clapton, at the very least, helped bring those gigs about.
His musical oeuvre of course is something else and I know you appreciate his guitar playing. I have a collection of Hitler’s water colours so I’m in the same boat (not really). You watching Manure v Barcodes later?
KP 1976 I think Clapton said what he said. I suppose he can blame too many beers in a hot summer. I was a cream fan when I was 15 going on 16. nobody else in the class liked them. Crossroads is still something I play when I need a short burst of LOUD music.
I mentioned a friend of mine who is accountant for Simon Philips. Simon lived in Bures and Jack Bruce lived in a little hamlet just outside. Jack was skint having been conned out of his wealth. Colin managed to sort him out financially so that he had some comfort in his final years – he was in his early seventies when he died.
So just taking a quick overview of the season (some from a neutral point of view)and where it leaves us for next season and where we’re heading. We have no idea who we’ll be buying / selling etc so pointless discussing incoming players beyond what we think we need position wise.
Its been another odd season – Liverpool falling off a cliff, Chelsea really poor, ManU abysmal, Spud’s new manager and very hit and miss, Newcastle gone backwards, City been City. Probably the only team to exceed expectations is Villa and well done to them.
Arsenal (assuming we win on Sunday) have drawn 5 and lost 5 matches this season – 4 of the draws and 3 of the losses to the teams above. The fact is we took 25 points from a possible 42 – if you knock Newcastle and Villa off the list we didn’t lose a match against the traditional “big” teams.
Now next season Liverpool and ManU are going to have new managers, Chelsea could well have and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Levy and the Fat Aussie Bastard fall out at some stage so how those teams are going to perform is difficult to know.
What I do know is its going to be really difficult if not impossible to take 22 points from ManU, City, Spud’s, Liverpool and Chelsea. We might offset a few of those by getting something from Villa and turning a loss against Newcastle into a draw isn’t unreasonable.
Either way repeating something like 89 points is going to take some doing. For the second successive season we had the title in our own hands late in the season and blew it.
I’m not sure the PL is going to give is an easier ride next season so what’s next?
Marc you make it sound easier than it really is.
While it’s unfair to think the teams with new managers, shit managers, shit teams already going to be as bad but I get you that it’s unrealistic to think they’re going to go from 30 points behind us to top 4 rivals. Or even, in Liverpool’s case, 3rd place to champions.
If only ManC out the big teams are going to be a challenge, given the respective upheavals/inadequacy of they others, we sinply need to deal with the likes of Fulham and West Ham better adequately to close that gap.
City are going to face the same challenges we do as well as a record of not being able to beat us and losing to Villa. We’ll be 2nd faves for the title with all the pundits, trust me.
I like your thinking though. It’ll be even easier next season.
Chelsea, 12th couple of months back, knocking on Europa door. If only to knock Spurs off the perch, I hope they do it.
Newcastle’s dalliance with European football nights was short lived shitness.
Welbeck’s doing fox in the box now, well I never. Take it back, De Zerbi’s taught him how to be a striker. Two year contract well earned then.
KP,
You’ve forgotten to switch Spud love mode off. But the streets don’t forget, Spuds also had a Pony kit.
I hear they go for good money in the collector’s market and there’s a sense of perverse pride among the fans who still have them. Very perverse..
I just remember us boys picking on Spud fans at school and football team. Not particularly biting wit but “your top/shirt/shorts are pony mate” was as good as it needed to be. I can even name names who got it in the neck. Don’t feel bad for them, they’re Spud fans and those were the days when they felt they were proper rivals.
One thing I did miss during the day’s of Good Wenger was the proper rivalry. They weren’t taken seriously and my animosity became more a role play to mask my pity.
Can’t lie, Pony did have a moment. I had a pair of Miami Dolphins themed Pony Linebacker trainers. Before they became tainted by Spud I hasten to add.
As for alternatives to Tets, scratching my loaf, apart from the obvious name brands, ain’t got a scooby. Anyone else is as much a gamble as Tets was.
We can all throw out names with a bit of hype in the moment with just as little to base it on as the cheerleaders for Tets had. Being cone boy for Pep and former player in our banter era were the most ridiculous grounds to hire him. I’d like to think those didn’t form any part of the recruitment process. He suited what the management thought they needed and probably came with less risk.
Being impressive at Swansea/Brighton/Feyenoord even Czechoslovakia (RIP Dr Joszef) is a totally different beast to impressing at a proper big club. So I’m going to hold off with the Motta, Cesc, shout outs for just a minute.
Aitcho
You really aren’t very bright because you managed to miss my entire point – for example we lose the match we drew against Liverpool and we’re 1 point worse off and they’re 1 point better off, fine margins make an enormous difference because if they improve in that match they’ll improve elsewhere and take points from other teams all of a sudden that 7 point gap is gone.
Repeat that over a couple of teams and 2 wins become 2 draws and that’s 4 points lost which easily can turn to 6 points lost.
We’ve had 2 golden chances to win the PL and Arteta FUCKED them both up – give me a straight answer do you have next seasons excuse already lined up or do you make them up as you go along?