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.
One has to only look at how Everton cut the Spur’s backline into pieces in the first half to understand just how pathetic we are in the final third…this is why I take very little solace from our derby win, minus the much-needed 3 points of course
Thanks again Tony for the kind words…I posted that then crashed right after so I didn’t see your response
Madhu—I think it’s a bit more nuanced than that…there’s no doubt that Ode’s injury has played a role, as he was likely pushed into returning before he was at full health and it shows, in that even the most minor of knocks seem to affect him more nowadays, but our tactics have played an even more decisive role…he doesn’t really fit within our newfound bully-ball approach and the opposition knows full-well if they take Ode away we will struggle to unlock defences from open play…now he hasn’t helped himself in front of goal, but I never expect much from him in that regards, as he’s a bang average finisher…that’s why I still can’t figure out why he doesn’t either rotate sides on occasion or play more centrally, especially with Saka out, as I don’t think it’s necessary to deploy him on his preferred shooting side, it’s not like he’s fucking Robben
let’s face it, our whole tactical scheme is predicated on 3 individuals, Saka, Havertz and Rice…two of whom don’t have a world-class offensive bone in their bodies and the other is out for an extended period…I dare anyone to find a manager who would or has done likewise…MA makes Simeone seem insanely aggressive…in fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Athletico was MA’s inspriation for his tactical pursuits this season(with a dash of fucking Sociedad of course)…that said, if we were to find a complimentary piece to play opposite of Ode, it would open things up on both sides of the backline, as neither Rice nor Havertz are pulling defenders away…the only people who should be ecstatic about our recruitment strategy and subsequent tactically approach is our opposition week-in and week-out and Haaland, who’s agent undoubtedly used Havertz as a comp for his newly determined 600,000/week wages…based on that comparison his agent might of sold his client short
AF—maybe you didn’t see MA’s quotes following our United defeat, but the issue was clearly the BALL…nothing more, nothing less…I for one totally agree with this very commonsensical explanation and I would strongly suggest that we start a petition asap so we can overturn that result and secure ourselves a totally justified redo…what a fucking twat of a manager…the fact that he actually said that out loud suggests that he’s been so catered to and coddled here that he’s completely lost any sense of reality…this is what makes cult of personality management models so problematic, especially if you get it all wrong…this club acts as if Wenger’s grow on trees
two quick notes:
(1) to anyone who thinks that there’s no way our managerial midget would have done nothing in this window, even following Saka and GJ’s injury, think again…there’s a reason why he didn’t make a public pronouncement about our intentions until after the Villa match…so when you want to tear a strip out of a fellow fan when he/she suggests that it would be better if we lost, when it came to transfers, think twice before you proceed because that person is probably spot on with their assessment
(2) there’s a reason why MA hasn’t gone all-in with a world-class striker, besides their refusal to join of course, as he knows full-well that expectations on both himself and his chosen recruits will rise exponentially and they’re totally ill-equipped to meet said expectations…there’s no way anyone of real consequence is coming to a side who’s manager is determined to have Havertz and Rice up top each and every match, unless we overpaid them by some margin, especially considering MA’s mishandling of the Striker position since his first full season in charge
NORG
I bet last night’s dinner companion made a huge humble pie out of last night’s leftovers.
Our season might not be a rip roaring success but Manure and Spurs have combined to give me some golden moments of schadenfreude.
Good morning all
Great commentary from you all making good reading this morning.
I watched Forest comfortably demolish S’hampton this morning with Forest being up 3:0 by half time, playing simple, yet very effective football with fast counters, with several players who can score from outside the box with consummate ease, if given the space and time, which S’hampton duly obliged. Poor Ramsdale had little chance with all 3 goals landing just inside his right upright scraping the side netting.
Then, Nuno sides do what they do best, as he did with Wolves too often, in almost throwing away the 3 points when S’hampton got a deflected lucky goal, that gave them the impetus to score a 2nd, and make the last 20 minutes including +12 added time into an excellent end to end game to watch, which is why we love the game so much.
Something that also happens to us but we end up dropping points, as we did this weekend.
Even if our players want, MA doesn’t have the footballing nous/IQ to overtake Pool, and where I feel City and Pep have got over their blip with only 6 points to make up to take 2nd place. I don’t see City beating Pool this season to the PL trophy, but 2nd is within their grasp at our expense. Forest, Chavs with maybe B’mouth could very well upset our season leaving us outside the top 4.
Can any of us here say with hand on heart that that is not going to happen? It’s a distinct possibility with the way this season is going with MA riding his luck, living a charmed life, and literally scraping points together in games he had no right taking points from, playing repetitive boring tactics that simply are not working because MA is pandering to his biggest pet’s whimsical notions, that they are the final 3rd players we need to win games with, but reality is as TRVL said: they lose us points.
MA’s tactics and pet selections can never be wrong; so MA has a ready made conveyor belt of excuses, that only make sense to MA with his ludicrous, diatribe pressers, where MA does his utmost best to deflect all blame from himself.
What I find difficult to fathom is why the eclectic Nuno has Forest playing far batter football than us, and being level on points with us, albeit with half our goal difference?
However, we still have to go to Forest Feb 27, then we play Manure, Chavs & Fulham in sequence. No way we take maximum points from those games. We are not going to win all these games against in-form teams playing far better football, where MA continually sets us up to play the same boring controlled – must-not, lose football.
MA is too scared to play fast, counter attacking football, because firstly, Rice, Partey & Merino are too slow with transitions, but equally they have no pace to get back to defend, so MA likes slow build ups with very little end product keeping ridiculously high lines that are perfect for the PL’s counter speedsters to attack.
This season we’ve just been able to take advantage of the PL’s worst defensive serial offenders, such as Spuds and Manure et al.
In 22 games this season we have 44 points, losing an average of 1 point a game.
Does that mean we are going to drop a further 16 points to the end of the season?
If so, forget CL next season.
All we can hope for is that Mr Lewes & KSE are seeing what we are seeing and are asking questions at least privately.
MA will always be Graeme Sounesse’s “Nearly Man” because he is always grabbing at footballs’ straws when decision making, which can be seen over the last 5 years starting with blowing £800m on an unbalanced squad where too many “WHY” can be asked of MA on the following players: Havertz, Merino, Cala, Sterling, Maya (Emi), Tavares, Fabio Vieira, Jorginho, Cedric and others ………
How many other PL managers have a ‘shit transfers’ list’ as bad as that?
The only club that comes to mind is Manure, but they have pre-madonnas more than useless players, bar Anthony of course…..
I don’t see Amorim buying crap leftovers from the Chavs or any team, do you all?
Have a good week fellow Gooners…….
Tony – good points and the injury list now suggested as the reason we drop points is even more ludicrous. As I highlighted vislla had their best defensive pairing of Torres and Costa out. Thier captain and midfield lynchpin MC Ginn was out as well. So how did they manage to get a point against us. All these stupid reasons touted is a man clutching straws and knows that he has made bad decision in TW and now is facing the consequences. But he is too proud and egoistic to make amends and get in some fresh thinking. He had Edu removed and now the sole power center in all football matters. It boggles my mind to think that the club hierarchy is so naive to install a novice as a power center with nobody to challenge his actions. I don’t see how anyone can justify that.
I’m sorry if the website is intermittently unreachable for next couple of days. Bluehost UK is charging tons and I am wasting a lot of money in conversions as GBP to INR has reached an all time high. Moving it to the Indian hosting so bear with me please.
Ambarish
Moving to any platform the site would be accessible, so no issues.
And yes it was galling to see all kinds of additional charges for payments from India.
Ambarish
Moving to any platform the site would be accessible, so no issues.
And yes it was galling to see all kinds of additional charges for payments from India.
No problem Ambarish thanks for the warning
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