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?
Aitcho
He looked a but lightweight but he could kick unstoppable shots. I can remember one against West Ham when he unleashed one from 35yards. It curved this way and that sending the goalkeeper the wrong way. He didnt score many goals but that one was a beauty.
Norg
Back in the 80s I was a project director running a project for the ex greek minister of tourism. He was talking to me one day at his house about Greek politics, and I think the then Energy minister. Any Christos was telling me that the minister had syphoned off £3m and was laughing. When I asked why he was laughing Christos replied the malaka should have taken £2m and no one would have bothered.
When Greece went bankrupt I was not in the last surprised.
I’ve only been to Dubrovnik back in the late 80s I think or a few years before the civil war. I met a group of newly graduated doctors and had a great day and night with them. We swapped letter until the war and I never heard from them again.
Today there’s been all sorts of selective memory bullshit being spouted by our manager and, of course, our resident LG correspondent…for those with the darkest of Kool-Aid mustachios, what’s on offer likely rings true, whereas for those with a firm grasp of reality, they’re simply a constant reminder of how frightfully contrived narratives have become since MA’s hiring…in that vein, he first spoke of having to be “very brave” when pushing your OWN ideas as a manager, which even he can’t honestly believe, as he hasn’t brought even a sliver of innovation to the equation…following that nonsense, he then veered into a diatribe about his singularly focused plan from the onset, which belies logic considering his more veteran-dependent agenda in year 2…tbf the more he talks, the more deeply concerned I become about our upcoming recruitment plans
of course, I still hold out hope that we can buck history and finish in the catbird seat, but it does seem rather unlikely…I will say this though, there has been times when City has lost when they appeared to be on the cusp of winning, albeit that is more of a CL gig, and there has likewise been a couple occasions when they’ve lifted the title due to some incredibly fortuitous late game heroics, which might not be the case this time around, so there’s still a flicker of hope, no matter how faint
Aitcho
The context I view our being losers for the last 2 seasons is because it’s been 20+ years since we got a sniff of a title, and we can’t do it when the other big clubs are shitting the bed 2 years running.
If we had a win cycle of 1 3 1 2 4 1, I’d see that as being and elite team with an elite manager.
Now 2 2 5 8 8 only brings poor visibility when you consider we should have won this and last season but for El B’s repeated mistakes.
You’ll find some joy if we come 2nd or 3rd next season. If you do, then fair play to you. People who settle for less are generally happier in life. Their life is the status quo for mediocrity. Everyone is different.
Where I start letting loose with an AC10 canon is when I’m expected to read and then comment on pure loser mentality drivel.
It’s as bad as a Jehovah’s Witness knocking on your door or any other god squad ramming piety down people’s throats. I’ll pray for you they say. It will happen when it’s God’s will is another classic. Then the one that really gets me is God made the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th.
I say when you look up at the billions of stars you get the meaning when they say God’s work is never done.
Course it isn’t, the figment of imaginations of the many who mostly use the big R as a crutch, is still busy building planets and probably doesn’t get Sundays off these days. I wondered if he’s got the Holy ghost hood carrying and running the mixer. Mary on the dumper.
Apologies to any christians who maybe offended. To those who chose a religious path again I mean no offense. Like I said I’m a Jim Jeffery fan.
As aforementioned I like a challenge and I challenge myself all the time. My current one is my 6-pack back at 69. I’m 4kg away and am thankful for muscle memory and being a gym rat.
Aitcho you’re wasting your time with me. I’d say try TRVL but that does’t seem to be working out for you either. But there it is you like losing, so happy to bark but when bitten you scuttle away.
I’m starting to feel sorry for you, Aitcho.
I live in a country where it is a challenge to live here all the time. Paradox and irony rule but it is also still a free country compared to CCTV UK. Money and name rules in Thailand. When I was consulting to the govt I was given a name card with a prestigious educational govt agency with Ajarn in big letter on the back in fancy gold lettering. When I was stopped for speeding on most trips I would give my name card and the officer would salute and thank me for helping Thai people and could I possibly go a little slower from now on. Wash rinse repeat at the next speed check.
One late night in Phuket I was stopped on a time road and asked if I was drinky drivey, which really tickled me that I had to get out of the car, as I was laughing so much and getting cramp. The little policeman with the little lantern was laughing with me, but had no idea why. Tears streaming down his contorted face.
Cost me 2000 baht but for entertainment value worth every penny of the £40.
Hod carrying*
“I’d say try TRVL but that does’t seem to be working out for you either.”
And, as if right on cue TRVL you hand Aicho’s sorry arse on a plate.
Norg
While in comic mood. Another sardonic duo were Bird & Fortune:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd7ziJsnnvo
Wonderfully written and delivered. Enjoy
For the record Rory B has quite severe ADHD which makes it all the more amazing for Rory to be able to focus long enough to write and act. His Horizon documentary was excellent. It taught junior a lot of how to cope because he understood it better.
Petrovic was soooo lightweight, he made Fabio Vieira look like Giant Haystack(s). NORG – was he intended as a cheap alternative to Sir Liam of Brady or did they both play in the same team? All in all, we haven’t generally done well with Eastern European imports over the years. Arshavin, Stepanovs, Luzhny, Suker hardly hit the heights consistently. He’s a little more til he started smoking like a laboratory beagle.
The weird thing about Tito is that he was from what is now known as Slovenia iirc. I suppose being neither Serb nor Croat, Chetnik, Partizan nor Ustashe probably helped. The break up of the country was caused by Germany (quelle surprise) who then did nothing to prevent it spreading on the ground. The Americans like their foreign adventures to be about good guys and bad guys like a corny old western flick. The problem in Jug of Saliva was that it was a three sided war comprising ethnic, religious and nationalist groups all of whom had wiped their balkan arsehole with the Geneva Convention and wanted to settle age old scores (a bit like LiR these days… ). Three sided? Just a little complicated? No wonder the west struggled. You also need to throw in the fact that there was not only plenty of arms from all over the world but that everyone was tanked up on Slivovitz aka Plum Brandy which even turned people like Boutros Boutros Ghali into a street brawler.
Happy memories from the FCO!
I visited there in Tito’s time and did a fucking mad road trip through Mostar, Sarajevo and Dubrovnik. All in a rickety Renault 4 (remember them – with the gear stick coming out of the dashboard?
He’s equals Ches
My DB6 with the bullet proof screen changeable number plate and ejector seat button on the gear knob was having its MOT done hence the Renault….
Tony
I like Rory Bremner. He and that other bearded guy he teamed up with were often spotted at Highbury. And Bird and Fortune were very dry, cerebral and properly satirical.
Bird & Fortune – amazing. One of their sketches in the Secret Policemans ball about the gents in Notting Hill Gate? Absolutely brilliant. I have been trying to find it on you tube but never have success.
Renault 4 – what a machine. A girl friends mum had one – whilst changing gear with the trombone she pulled it back into second and the whole stick kept on coming – she was so amazed she almost ran off the road.
I think they only existed in two colours -light blue or beige.
Rory McGrath…
Tony
Your comments could do with 65% less fantasy and more football. But I get why you don’t.
If we come as close next season as we did this then I won’t be happy at the result but I’m sure I’ll, like most fans have being doing, enjoy the ride. No big team shit the bed, this is you coping with being wrong about things, most things. It’s not my fault if you don’t recognise what league tables and simple data show you and rant because you can’t cope with data and evidence showing you up. Not me, the data.
If you haven’t enjoyed this season because we didn’t win the league, you should try and find joy elsewhere. This football thing isn’t for you. It’s not settling for less in life to acknowledge the team I support may not win the league. That’s a really sad perspective. I don’t feel you should connect feelings of self worth or success to how a team you don’t control play.
Your ambition appears to be limited to “hand arses on a plate” with a fellow fantastist. Don’t bother with footballing opinions and stick to the insults and fantasy. You and Trvl can do your ‘Falling Down’ homage in tandem. I’ll stick to the logic.
8, 8, 5, 2, 2 with improving metrics shows progress. For a pretend project manager you ought to at least try and pretend to understand processes take time, that’s why we call it ‘process’ not ‘magic’. It really is as simple as that.
Time for you to get back on David Owen’s shoulder.
KP
Even now a Dubrovnik, Mostar, Sarajevo road trip would be hair raising. It was probably slightly more nuts then. I’ve done it in part, only by car where there was no sensible train option however.
The region seems less nuts, safe but still not worth talking politics out there. They’re a long way from truth and reconciliation. Having to explain to the kids, the relevance of chants at games, graffiti they saw or slogans on t-shirts without pissing off a local who might happen to be listening was always a bit tense. How is Kosovo Serbija Dad? Who’s that soldier painted on the side of the stadium. Why are there Nazi signs on the wall?
Serb enclaves in Croatian regions of Bosnia, Bosnian towns in Serbia, Albanian Macedonians, Kosovo itself of course, working out who’s in charge by whether it’s Cyrillic or Roman script first on the signs, all good fun and a good for the kids learning to switch sides at the drop of a bus ride.
Doing it in an R5 seems negligent but I’d fancy it’s chances on the mountain more than a DB6
R4. Less sporty. More hardy
KP
I don’t think Petrovic played with Brady. He may have been a replacement. I just remember, possibly jingoistic, frustration towards him. I never saw Brady live so I didn’t have the same benchmark to spark my annoyance.
Achole—for someone “enjoying the ride” so fucking much, it seems incredibly peculiar that you would choose this specific blog to frequent when there are so many possible “like-minded” options…so either you’re a trolling dipshit or you simply don’t know how to navigate the internet, which I know can’t possibly be the case as you clearly do your homework before posting one your tall tales(see above)…maybe someday you’ll exhibit some real courage and reveal your true intentions, although, based on your managerial predilictions, I very much doubt that will be in the offing…tbf I’m fairly certain you’re a Trump-loving American, likely from Columbia, Missouri, due to your linebacker and Falling Down references…how’s that for using “the logic”
TRVL
I’m not sure he’s even bright enough to be a Trump supporter – more likely some current David Koresh type given his everything Arteta does is wonderful mindset.
Marc—it’s been a minute since I’ve seen or heard a wacko from Waco reference…how apropos as he too was an arrogant git and a tale spinning twat