Mikel wouldn’t be happy going into the biggest game of season – the North London Derby – after losing the first leg of a Carabao Cup final to Newcastle, crashing out of the FA Cup after a loss to Manchester United (of all), and dropping 2 points to Brighton when we needed a win to close the gap to Liverpool. He would also not be happy with the injuries and certain players’ form. But he knows a comfortable win today against Tottenham would make the fans forget the shite football we are playing and give him some relief. I always have a lot to complain, but not today because of the seriousness of the game and the opposition.
It’s the North London Derby Day!
First, when we had a chance to close the points gap twice this season, we failed to capitalise. In the previous match week, Manchester United restricted Liverpool to a 2-2 draw and it gave us a chance to close 2 point gap to the league leader. We gave it away by succumbing to Brighton. This weekday has been good again for us – Brentford’s 2 late goals made sure City shared points and Forest gave their everything to restrict Liverpool to a draw while Chelsea dropped points against Bournemouth at home. It has, again, come down to us to make the most of it. There’s 7 point difference with 20 games played between us and Liverpool, and winning us today will close the gap a bit.
And, what’s better than a London Derby at Emirates. Ange do not believe in a sit back and we love that as a team. Low blocks are a problem but not the one who likes to play ball.
Arsenal v Tottenham
Well, we haven’t lost to the Spuds at home in 14 years. Ange is having a tough time with only one win in his last 8 games. There are sitting on 13th position in the table, one better than Manchester United and that’s exactly where they belong.
In the team news, we have some set backs (probably for the good, let me be blunt). Saka, White, Nwaneri and Tomi are still not available for today while Calafiori will be judged before the game. Gabriel Jesus will be out for a very long time, and that’s a very bad thing for us – not because he is a star performer but we can’t sell him yet again this year.
I’m hoping a back 4 of Timber, Saliba, Gabriel and MLS (or, Calafiori in case he makes it). We might see a midfield of Partey, Rice and Odegaard with Martinelli, Havertz and Trossard up top.
Coming to the Jesus injury, we should accept that it’s not going to work anymore. He is either injured (unfortunate this time) or in a bad form. I don’t see him winning us more than couple of games in a calendar year so what’s the point. The problem is we can’t move him now, not in this window, not in the next one.
NLD is the most intense game of the season and we are going to miss out best player in Saka. I seriously hope the young blood understand what it means to the supporters and everyone around the club, and we go on to win by 4 goals minimum. We have been on the down slope of confidence after the FA Cup loss, extra time means we would be leggy but today’s not the day to find an excuse. It’s a war and I don’t care if you die for it.
Wrapping up
I’m sorry for not being available recently. Some family obligations and travel made me miss some of our games and I couldn’t post anything. I have returned to my den now and you would be hearing from me a lot more.
See you during the game, and thank you for all the support.
Cheers.
Madhu
I was calling for MA accountability back in the LG days before Pedro could take no more.
It took me some time, but I finally worked out Champagne Charlie as being Pedro; it was the CC that gave it away, and some questions he forgot he gave other answers to. Once I called Pedro out on it in LG CC disappeard for good. It was so funny he banned me soon after….
Poor Pedro no sense of humour once MA was hired.
It’s being reported Saliba is out for 2 weeks with a Hamstring issue. Hardly surprising the lack of rotation Saliba got. Our stars are dropping with Artetarization; I wonder who’s going to be next?
sounds like our wannabe Bond villian junior “owner” Josh is coming on Wednesday to witness our layup CL fixture against Zagreb and discuss what can and can’t be done in this window…they/he seems to prefer to visit when the chances for a victory are most likely, for obvious gutless reasons…now that Igor Jesus is back on our wishlist I’m not that confident that this window will supply anything of import…who the fuck goes after someone with no top division experience in this particular window?!? this is why you conduct your business in the off-season you twat…they’re actually those who are trying to defend MA’s current predicament under the guise that one might be required to pay a double premium for those targets who’re currently playing in the CL or Europa…this of course means jackshit because this was well understood by all involved back in the summer when a proper Striker deal should have been hashed out; after all it’s not like reinforcements weren’t needed long before GJ went down AGAIN…maybe if MA wasn’t so consumeed with trying to undermine Edu’s position at the club, we could have accomplished the then obvious task at hand…he’s such a passive aggressive power hungry fuck, as the below excerpt from a recent interview will attest to:
“Asked before the Aston Villa game how difficult it is to sign a forward when everyone knows we need one, Arteta said, “I think it’s more a question for Jason [Ayto]. I don’t know but I think we have to do what we think is right and what we can do as well…Arteta himself lauded Ayto’s efforts, calling him “phenomenal” for his work behind the scenes”
he’s probably couldn’t even pick the guy out in a police lineup lol
consumed
he probably
(PSA—this is why you don’t get high in the morning)
Christ as if things aren’t bad enough we’re now going to have to put up with Kroenkephobe going on about how amazing Trump is for the next 4 years.
Marc—what possibly could go wrong when a tone deaf orange-haired fuckwit declares that “our sovereignty will be reclaimed”…the only saving grace is that the loudest and most glutinous Billionaires will finally get a voice in the room (said no one ever)…I guess I better refrain from saying anything more as I could be targeted by Trump’s makeshift army of toothless hillbilly fucks in suped-up Cybertrucks when they cross the 49th
Here’s hoping that we can push the Sesko deal over the line this month before any of his other potential suitors, like Barca, can get their financial house in order…I’m not convinced it can be done, considering the inherent costs, unless Sesko forces Leipzig’s hands, and the speed by which we normally operate when it comes to transfers…the silver lining might come in the form of assurances given, as that might be the only way this player helps to move the process along, which, if successful, would finally bring an end to the whole failed Havertz experiment…glory be to god if that were to happen…talk about two birds with one stone
TRVL
I can’t see I’ve seen anything of Sesko but my question is we buy a striker (something we desperately need) how does Arteta keep Havertz in the team? Drop him into midfield and you’re dropping Partey and Merino who we just paid £30 million for and certainly not strengthening it.
As always it seems to be that our transfer strategy is done with zero planning or foresight.
Marc—totally agree…Havertz will undoubtedly drop into the midfield or tuck in behind, but that will still mean that Kai and Rice will be relied upon in the final third, which makes no sense…it will functionally be the same plan that unfolded when Jesus had his little purple patch…foresight/strategic planning haven’t really been part of the equation since MA arrived…he typically flies by the seat of his pants, which is only possible because he’s been backed at an unprecedented level…chequebook manager 101…at least we’ll finally have a clinical finisher at the top of the pitch, if everything goes according to planned
we should be very afraid if there’s any truth to the rumours linking us to several stop-gaps options with greatly exaggerated evaluations…one Brighton-based “journalist” referred to Evan Ferguson as a 100M future prospect, then likened him to Kane, which is quite a fucking stretch, whereas another media outlet claimed that it would take around 80M to pry Cunha away from the Wolves, then proceeded to brag about his 65 career goals without even a mention of the 260 matches it took to reach that total…what we can’t do is shoot our financial load for a half-measure in January then find ourselves unable to get things righted come the off-season
I might be off-base but MA appears to be spending far more time trying to sign a young midfielder than addressing our much more pressing issues(and I’m not talking about Zubimendi)…some who pretend to be in the know will swear that Sverre Nypan, a 17 year old Norwegian, was our first choice, but it sounds like we only turned our attentions his way after Tom Bischof, a 19 year old Hoffenheim midfielder, rejected our overtures and committed to Bayern instead…as per usual, those who know where their bread’s buttered will continue to prop-up Zypan, without even mentioning Bischof, so as to not add yet another name onto an already sizeable list of those who’ve rejected our little MIT…maybe MA sees the writing on the wall and is simply trying to do run another youth initiative reboot, like he did after his Willian/Auba plans blew up in his face…fool me once shame on you, fool me twice…
on a more positive note, I’ll leave you with the following quote:
“questions are starting to emerge regarding whether Arteta has taken the team as far as he can…With the Gunners falling at the first hurdle in the FA Cup, trailing Newcastle 2-0 in the League Cup semi-finals, and their inconsistent league form, frustrations amongst the fanbase are starting to emerge…The biggest of those concerns? Arteta’s failure to sign a prolific striker”
looks like some more newbies could be entering the LIG fray in the coming weeks and months…well at least until they realize how batshit crazy some of us are…Cheers
Ambarish – the Indian Rs is falling like there is no tomorrow even after the central Banks efforts to prop it up by selling dollars. Our Forex has come down to record low levels yet the Rs claims new lows every day. I can understand your problem mate and if you need small contributions from us let us know. Iam sure we can contribute few dollars to keep the site up and running. After all for a small period of time I paid to read Pedro and his MA blog getting abused for questioning the God of Arsenal. I surely can contribute to your effort to provide a platform to air views without being abused!
Website is live now on the new host. Things should work as usual, but do let me know if anything is broken – images don’t load, links don’t work, problem in commenting etc.
@Madhu – much appreciated. Coffees have helped covering some of the costs in running londonisred. You can find the link in sidebar or at the bottom, but it’s solely at your discretion. We will remain open and free.
Arteta: “Calafiori and Nwaneri are back, very positive news. They will be available for the game”.
“Saliba is evolving well the last few days, but this game comes a little bit too early for him”.
–
So that fixes the defence and the wing wing positions. Now, go and get a CF.
there appears to be some emerging news regarding the potential signing of Cuhna which suggests that we’ve agreed terms with the player and he’s actually willing to push for the move…besides the obvious complications for his present club, as he supposedly verbally committed to a re-up and they can hardly afford to lose someone of consequence in January, the problem for us is more tactical in nature…unlike some of our other targets, like Sesko or Viktor, this player can play anywhere across the frontline, which likely means that Havertz will still be starting up top…the only players who will be negatively impacted are Sterling, who’s been a terrible get, and Ethan, who’s now back in training…in regards to the latter, he needs to get some significant minutes out wide during Saka’s absence or this would be another missed opportunity on MA’s part, kind of like with ESR and Marts when Willian and Tross were purchased…as such, we should steer clear from any move that doesn’t bring in an out-and-out Striker, regardless of how it might affect Havertz
TRVL,
Cunha has got 10 goals, 4 assists for the Wolves side. If he is coming to play in the middle, I can live with that. If he is coming to replace/rotate with one of the Saka or Martinelli, then it’s again the whole Calafiori thing. No complaints for Calafiori but we spent 35m on him and MLS is doing a better job currently at the LB. Arteta should have recognised that and funnelled that money to the CF role.
Ambarish bought you a coffee will do monthly.
Why would any club allow Thier striker to come to Arsenal in mid season especially Wolves when they have been struggling to get results. Also we are coming towards the end of the window if Wolves allow Cunha now they don’t have time to recruit anyone else. Unless they want to pocket the money and willing to go back to Championship. Everyone knows our desperation we will be asked to pay a ransom.
Looks like there is some caching issue. If you don’t see your comments, just refresh the page once more. The comment counts is not refreshing properly.
Will fix it first thing in morning.
Much appreciated Madhu.
Cunha is hesitant to sign a new deal and keeping Wolves on ransom. They would have to sell if he refuses completely.
Madhu—of course he’s not coming to replace Saka long-term, but you know how much MA loves him some shoehorning, so as soon as his paid hacks started to get all slurpy over his supposed positional flexibility, I was immediately concerned…not to mention, the numbers been floated out there are in the 70-80M range, which would definitely hinder our ability to go back into the market for a bona fide CF at season’s end…I’m telling you, MA can’t handle the tactical responsibility that comes with having a world-class Striker, so that’s why he’s stayed the course with some lesser light tweeners like Havertz and Jesus…it’s not like I have a personal issue with Cunha, but he’s far from a prolific scorer, which means he’s not good enough to flip MA’s script…just think about it, do you think Haaland would be playing out wide if he were to come here? of course not…we need someone who can come good in spite of the manager
as for Cala, he was never good enough to warrant a move here as a LB…he only became transfer-worthy when he was deployed as a LCB who had the luxury to make runs into the final third on occasion…if we had brought him in for those tactical purposes, then I would have no issue with this transaction, but we already had a well-established CB tandem, so this is the very definition of a luxury buy…if you look back at his career so far you will notice that he had some serious injury concerns when he was deployed otherwise…now if Gabs was on the outs and Rice was being deployed properly, I would be all for this move, as it would fit nicely in a system with a stay-at-home defensive partner like Saliba and Rice in the 6 hole…then we could drop the whole inverted backer nonsense and instead have the LB provide some much-needed width, which would both help Marts and allow Cala to get forward at times
In a revealing pre-match interview Arteta proved that either he’s a pathological liar or a delusional fuck…if he actually believes what he said, he needs professional help, if not, he thinks we’re all a bunch of harebrained idiots..either way I’ve had just about enough of this fantasy camp-like managerial experiment…check this shit out:
Mikel Arteta admits Arsenal haven’t prioritised signing players in forward areas like other teams, with so much change needed elsewhere in the team. Arsenal fans have voiced their concerns at the lack of a recognised goalscorer with the Gunners missing so many gilt-edged chances in recent weeks. And, although Arteta has recognised the need for improvement in front of goal, the Arsenal boss has also made it clear that the club have been forced to target other areas of the pitch in recent transfer windows.
“What we couldn’t do, we couldn’t do. That’s it,” Arteta spoke ahead of Arsenal’s Champions League clash against Dinamo Zagreb. “I look at a lot of positives and the things we have been able to do in the market because we’ve had so much to do in the last few years. We haven’t invested really in the things that other teams have done in the front players, but we put it in other areas that we believed were very necessary and we have to develop players to a really high standard as well. Every case is different and I’m very happy with what we have.”
Arteta also revealed that he is in constant contact with the owners regarding new signings.
“We are in constant contact obviously,” he added. “They understand the situation and how the team is evolving. They’ve been super supportive and they continue to be. It’s about backing the club and themselves because we all want the best. The decisions we make are not to back anybody. If it’s something that makes sense and is going to improve the squad and give us the ability to perform to the level and to win the things that we want to do, if that’s the case and we have the resources to do it, we will try.”
Marc
Nice one. The guys shits Terry’s chocolate oranges as far as I’m concerned. Yum! 😋
I read somewhere the other day that he’s actually incontinent and prone to defecating when attending to daily life. People who get close to him say he truly stinks of his own shit. All those semi-putrified big macs. Comedy gold.
America is truly fucked. Can you imagine the fun of watching it crumble with Wolf Blitzer on CNN when China has finally had enough? A pariah state, just like Israel.
You must be thrilled when Farage eulogises him between blow jobs!
As if Win the ejaculating Labrador, hand rubbing, and you’ll never walk alone weren’t bad enough, der cockmeister has now turned to music in a vain attempt to muster the troops. Read this and weep salty canine tears and, errr, dog ‘dna’.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/jan/21/mikel-arteta-turns-to-tunes-to-change-our-mood-before-arsenals-zagreb-test
Here’s my top 3, and all happen to be Bee Gees tunes.
1. ‘Tragedy’ of course. Why the fuck was he ever deemed good enough to run our club and be given all that cash?
2. ‘Jive Talkin’ because he’s such a mega fraud. You can tell he’s lying – it’s when he’s moving his lips. Boom boom
3. And lastly, a love song to Josh Kroenke and a devotional to the joys of fisting, the ever poignant ‘How deep is your (g)love?’
Right lads, thinking caps on for Arteta’s top three dressing room ditties… let’s be having you!
(1) We are Fucking Fucked—Muse
(2) Fuckin with my head—Beck
(3) Free Fallin’—Tom Petty
*loved your 3rd selection KP—can’t even imagine how much our little make-a-wish Bond villian would enjoy Arteta putting on a farmer’s rectal palpation glove then shoving his hand so deep that he could actually tickle the black market kidney his Daddy bought him for his 9th bday…I think they call it the “Muppet’s Puppet”
“Former Arsenal sporting director Edu reportedly completed the groundwork on a £30m transfer for Brazilian talent Igor Jesus before departing”.
this seems far more likely than any of the big name options who’ve been bandied about, which were likely just part of a Wenger-esque ruse to make it seems as if we put in the work…plus it will save the club a few bucks if we just give him GJ’s unused jerseys
KP
Son of Orange County was written by Zappa about Tricky Dicky Nixon. I am sure we can change a few words to fit Trump – like missing the O in County etc etc
Kroenke
You say America is truly fucked? I’d much rather live in a world where we had real politicians who at best inspired you or you could at least respect even if you didn’t agree with them but I look at America’s prospects under Trump and ours under Starmer and I’ll bet you a cold beer on a sunny day it won’t be America who’s in recession in a couple of months.
As for hatred of Trump – the Democrats really need to get their heads out of their arses. Harris doesn’t even qualify as a joke, Biden was a joke – where are the Statesmen? The likes of JFK, LBJ, FDR I’ve always wondered what would’ve have happened if RFK hadn’t have been killed?
You can’t field lightweights in a heavyweight fight.
Match day post is live.