Of course I am pretty excited for the North London Derby tomorrow at Shite Hart Lane, hence the title. To make it more interesting, Manchester United has just beaten City 2-1 at Old Trafford. I have never been happy in my life seeing United win except for today. Not letting City have those 3 points means there will a minimum of 5 points difference after tomorrow’s North London Derby. I am pretty confident we gonna improve that point difference to 8 f*king points!
We need to win tomorrow and we will! We are in some great form, Spu*s have been shit and ESR is back. A backline of White, Gabriel, Saliba and Zinchenko.. fully fit midfield of Partey and Xhaka and the front 4 of Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli and Eddie will going to be too much for the Tottenham. Our Captain, Martin, has won the Premier League Player Of The Month and Mikel, the manager of the month for Nov/Dec; Saka and Martinelli has been high on confidence and playing some of the best football of their life; Eddie has been scoring and didn’t let us miss Jesus till now. I’m sure they would be buzzing for a North London Derby and I’m sure they all want to score tomorrow.
On top of that, we will have ESR on bench, who comes as a sub and makes an instant impact. We have a fully fit Tomiyasu and Tierney in case we need them. Midfield has been a concern but I am not in a mood to complain today.
There are couple of things to worry. We haven’t won against Spu*s in our last 8 PL games at Sh*te Hart Lane, having lost 6 and sharing points on other 2 occasions. We need to change that. The other concerning thing is the refereeing and Kane/Son going down like they love the smell of the grass. If you are an Arsenal fan, you know at some point there will a tiny touch from one of our players, a dive from Kane or Son and Referee pointing to the spot. VAR will not find it important to take a look, or even if they do, they will use only couple of angles which lets the penalty stand and they score. Unfortunately, that’s what happens!
Irrespective of it, I am excited for the Derby. A 4.30 PM start for our UK readers (10 PM Indian Standard Time) is a perfect way to end weekend with a win and 8 point lead at the top.
Lets do it, lets thrash them! Lets go for the league.
as for Declan Rice, I truly believe that ship has sailed for us, in that if we were really wanted this player we needed to make our push some time ago…he should have replaced Xhaka in year 1 of this 4 year plan, which would have allowed us to deploy Partey in more advanced positions and then likewise pursue a more forward thinking RB, like Dumfries, knowing that we had Rice playing in deeper-lying positions in front of our CBs…I just don’t believe we will enter into an obvious bidding war with clubs who splash the cash without much hesitation
TRVL
I’d love to see Rice replace Xhaka but I can’t see him going anywhere but Chelsea.
Marc, I’m just worried that they’re thinking that Rice is Partey’s replacement not Xhaka’s…that said, I do agree with the likelihood that he’s destined for someone other than us, whether that’s Chelsea or not, I’m not sure
Rice would do for me this window. That and bring back Bolagun I’ve been banging that drum for a long time. I prefer Bolagun to Eddie, but would like to see them play together.
We can invest in the right attacker in the summer TW.
TRVL
I’d see Rice as both and more a versatile player, as he has many strengths as in playing 6/8 and a makeshift 10 if Ode & Vieira were injured.
ESR/Viera/Zinch/Azeez/Patino cam all fill in for Xhaka if Rice fills in for an injured Partey.
After we beat United and we should being at home as well, there will be 19 games to go.
With us beating Manure Sunday, we’ll be on 50 points. Of the 57 points on offer how many do we at LIR think we will end up with?
Can we get over 100 points? With the right buys in this TW, I believe it’s achievable at a stretch, but not without at least 2 quality additions now.
Hope I’m not tempting fate or letting my Arteta guard down too early.
12 days and counting!
Tony
The opening quarter of the manure game will be telling. If we can smother them and stop them moving the ball upfield as we successfully achieved against the cockerel jockeys (and bag a goal or two) we should be in business. I’ll get my crystal ball out before the game.
Transfer activity (or the lack of) will have a bearing on how many points we muster I suspect. Frankly, I’m more interested in our final position than the maths. We have a golden opportunity right now – look at it as an 8 point lead to play only 20 games.
Mitoma from Brighton could be available for 60_65 . Proven, chaos creator like Jesus and Brighton play like us a bit , though more perfectly
Now here’s the real story of last weekend:
“Eighty per cent of toilets at last weekend’s Premier League derbies tested positive for cocaine, a shocking MailOnline investigation has found”
Not sure what this says about the state of the game and/or life in general in the year 2023…crystal meth should be ashamed of itself LOL
The more details emerge of the Mudryk deal the worst it gets and the more incompetent the dynamic duo appears. From the Athletic article “Inside Chelsea’s Mudryk deal”
Admittedly, the £97,000 salary the Ukrainian will pick up at Stamford Bridge is bigger than that proposed by Arsenal, but not astronomically so. That may surprise those who assume the only reason Chelsea beat Arsenal to the signature is they offered a significantly larger financial package.
Arsenal had been speaking to him since October and their contract offer was within £10,000 per week of that eventually accepted across town he will be earning over £5million a year until at least 2030. Arsenal offered the same amounts and split as Chelsea, albeit the speed at which the various installments would be paid was markedly different on their bid.
Edu and Tets don’t learn if plan A doesn’t work there is nothing else. Last TW Vlah or nothing. Summer TW Raphinha or nothing and they refused to go for Mudryk which was on their list and instead went for Partey back up how did that work out? Fucking morons in the front office.
Nothing has changed as this Athletic statement shows “Arsenal were still confident a compromise could be struck for a lower fee” what is the stooges problem? Is Wenger standing behind them with a gun to their head demanding lower fees to be offered? Looks to me like a repeat when Mbappe confirmed in 2018 that he had the desire to be managed by Wenger.
Almunia you have so much material to go with this saga, PLEASE help us to lessen our hurt in case Mudryk turns out to be the next MBappe.
Hi Hoopah
That’s a lot of money for another practically unproven player. He did well against us but he’s still got a lot to prove. And I doubt BHA need to sell him. Moussa on the other hand looks a real goalscoring threat. But I still think CM is the main need.
TRVL
That coke and football thing is massive these days. In the 90s in London when everyone was going from football to house music clubs (and back again), going to games represented a chance to take a break from ecstasy and blow.
Someone said earlier this season that toilets in the away end are starting to look like busy launderettes at the end of a day’s business. It goes on at all levels too. I watch plenty of Cardiff away games – half the spectators have looks on their faces like Al Pacino in Scarface. The rest are absolutely spannered. They must travel on buses… Unfortunately, I’m always the designated driver because I’ve always got my kids and their mates.
That late Palace goal was a joy to behold. The look on eth’s face and that tosser fernandez made my evening.
KP-in a world where common sense is little more than a fallback plan, nothing surprises me anymore…of course, I have no axe to grind with those who partake, as the pot should never call the kettle black, but the fact that the levels of usage are such that a team of toilet inspectors needed to be rounded up and dispersed, like an army of fecal-caked minions, is a little unsettling…I’m not sure if I empathize more with the plight of those who can’t help but parade to the shitter every 20 minutes or the hazmat warriors who’re waiting in the wings…with the pace of most matches this season, I would suggest that a pipeload of old school white widow would be a far more intuitive choice…Cheers
Killroy, time to move on; dwelling on what could or should have been is a waste of negative time/energy. Apparently, we’re looking at Trossard along with Chelsea and the Spuds. Plus a host of others.
K’phobe
Recreational drugs are and have been rampant since the 60s as you know :). Coke was only affordable to the masses from the mid 80s onwards then Ecstasy & MDMA soon after as the club music started to dominate. There’s a club in Berlin where you go straight from work Friday evening and then leave the club Monday morning to go straight to work. Was reported there were rooms for everything whatever anything is for todays generation. I’m guessing a modern version of Sex Drugs & Rock & roll.
Designated driver is another term for waiting until after the kids are asleep. 🙂 🙂
I left the music industry to get away from drug addled executives and musos. Jarvis Cocker once said he wished he’d waited until he was over 30 before trying drugs: a wise remark from the legendary, ambidextrous hoover.
Trossard has reportedly fallen out with Desevi at BHA, so I guess it’s a straight pick of who Trossard wants to play for: Conte, Arteta or Potter his last manager who brought his skills to prominence.
Edu and Arteta – Edu’s prize star is down 2:0 thus far from last summer and this TW. I guess being top of the PL doesn’t have as bigger pull as Arteta thought it would and Josh says it’s a real head scratcher?
After first seeing Mitoma, Junior I thought he could play 8 for us as well as across our forward line. Hoopah added his weight to the POV – thinking the same. A modern version of Carzola perhaps? Xhaka has license to plod around the front third and occasionally gets an assist or goal even more occasional. Zinchenko makes this possible at LB.
Mitoma could service Eddie and Saka feeding their runs far more intelligently than Xhaka whose brain is slower than his feet while scoring himself. Far more importantly, Martinelli would have someone better to play off/with and build an interesting duo, each playing off each other. We need to spread attacks across the final thirst. Martinelli needs a support player.
If we’ve got £70m, then I’d be happy with the Mitoma experiment as our sole purchase and PL ready.
Could Trossard do the same as Mitoma, possibly he could.
Killroy
” pipeload of old school white widow would be a far more intuitive choice” I like your choice of word ‘Old School” because there is an auto grow version these days that grows from seed to harvest in 12 weeks. WW was an 80s creation and still highly respected today in the weed world.
The WWW is packed with wonderful information these days.
Stadiums should give out gummies at half time so everyone goes home happily whether lost or not, but not too potent or nobody will be able to remember where they live. 🙂
Tony—my favourite 80s treat was a hybrid blend of WW and AK47…best served after an evening with a tab or two of california sunshine or some white mic…have a good one
Casimero picked up a yellow against a hard fighting Palace earning a draw from Olise’s brilliant free kick last night. Another player we should be looking at. We can expect even more rotational fouling from the Manc scum than usual, as their talisman CDM is out for the game.
I felt we could get at them with our special brand of tag-team pressing high up the field even with Casimero, but his absence is going to be a big Manure miss, I’m delighted to say. United get rattled too easily as Fergie’s Team did to others, we can do to them. I can see a red card for the Reds if we rattle them enough.
This needs to be a 90+ minute game of full intensity with clever subs for those tiring early in the 2nd half to keep the intensity momentum and not sit back and defend.
We have 16 players who can be part of the 90.
Many of Ten Hag’s starters played a hard game against Palace, so hopefully will be leggy against our fresher legs and minds.
KP, Pumpkin will get his lucky scratch where hopefully the cute wee little fella will be 2 for 2 by Monday morning.
Sounds very enlightening, Kilroy, particularly at the time.
Thai was crossed with sinsemilla in the 80s to create that unbeatable gaiety. Not being a drinker I’ve been a keen botanist for several decades seeking knowledge with like minded people like your very own John Belushi in Oregon with his BB brand. For me it’s been nature’s way for slowing down my ADHD when not working.
Tony—it’s TRVL not Killroy, not that it really matters, in the grand scheme…years later I ordered something quite similar, in seed form of course, from an advertisement in HIgh Times related to the Amsterdam Olympics…never actually thought they would ever arrive, or even worse, but they did and they generously included a bluberry blend that was equally outstanding
You’d need something way stronger to talk to John Belushi – mescal & Peyote. My bad! I was referring to his Blues Bros brother Jim who has a legal farm in Oregon. Daft but entertaining 3-episode show on his farm was made that’s worth a watch.
My apologies TRVL.
Excellent, Blueberry is very pleasant as an auto, but autos at their best are about 50% of a photoid’s potential if grown correctly. I much prefer sativas to indicas as a rule. Some very interesting crosses. What’s interesting, though, for a weed, they are not very hardy plants. Seed sales is a profitable business.
As a retirement hobby it’s a lot of fun and one you never stop learning from. Like minded people all want to help offering wisdom from decades of experience.
If you ever get the chance to sample Nepalese Temple Balls from the highest fields in Nepal. That is if you’re still so inclined to enjoy the benefits of good plants.