Mikel completed his 6 years as the Arsenal manager 4 days back and he won his only trophy – an FA cup – in Aug 2020. It’s been a long journey for him and the club and of course the supporters, we have spend more than a billion GBP and have 2 playing XI that would finish in top half of the table. But as the former British F1 Champion, Damon Hill, used to say, “the only ones who remember when you come second are your wife and your dog”, finishing 2nd and making into the semi finals means nothing.
And in the pursuit of greatness and the trophies, Mikel and Co. are going head to head against Crystal Palace in about an hour in Carabao Cup. Newcastle and Man City have already qualified and will play each other in the semi final and if we win today, we would be playing Chelsea. It’s not going to be easy, but to come to that stage, we must beat Crystal Palace first.
We have beaten them in Premier League at home, thanks to an Eze goal and we can do that again. The line up is out and Mikel has gone with some changes –
Kepa gets his start today in the goal. Timber and Saliba keeps their position while Calafiori shifts to CB to make way for MLS at LB. We will see a midfield of Norgaard, Merino and Eze. Saka gets some rest and Madueke starts in his place, Martinelli gets the nod ahead of Trossard and Gabriel Jesus makes his first start after 23 years and 6 months. With all the players we have, Mikel couldn’t have picked up a weaker playing XI that us. A midfield without Declan Rice or Zubimendi will struggle and Calafiori / MLS are LBs and only one should be on the pitch at any point of time. Also, I am not sure how fit Jesus is, and will he hold on for 90 minutes. If he can’t, there was no point playing him ahead of Gyokeres.
But, hey, I won’t care if we come up with a win. Personally I think Nwaneri could have started ahead of Merino and must be sulking to not make into the playing XI. We have a strong bench though, so Mikel can certainly make some changes if something goes wrong.
WE NEED A TROPHY. See you during the game.
TRVL
That long analytical piece is out. Damn good , results oriented without prevaricating bullshit.
I moot TRVL has head coach and the other geezer to pasture.
Assure it will be 3 birds with one shot . The gizzard as described.
The other 2 guess will self destruct out of frustration 🤣
Will Arteta break the duck ir just consume it on Christmas Day? Just over half of the teams top at Christmas have gone on to win the league however Arsenal have been in that position 4 times but have never kicked on from there.
Cheers Hoopah…Happy Holidays to you and yours bud!!
Merry Christmas Everyone🎄🎁
Odegaard finally scored one… after ages…
#COYG
Looks like everyone’s still celebrating… lol
Arsenal start threateningly…score…and then put the handbrake on.
Get the second and keep going at them. Liverpool styleee.
We surely need the second, it’s always difficult to hold on to 1-0 if you score very early like today. We are only going to put a lot of pressure on ourselves.
Lets make it 2-0
Rice is having a bad game today, what was that from him
Rice is a liability up front . His shooting is atrocious
Period
I don’t understand the infatuation of putting everyone in final third. Odegaard and Merino from midfield are helping front 3. When one of your defenders and midfielders goes upfront, Gyokeres and Trossard has to drop back which is not a good thing.
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This is what Rice is good at.. not trying to score goals every now and then.
And we never pass to Gyokeres. Saka was selfish there.
How did that not go in?
I seriously hope we don’t regret these missed chances. City has already won their game, and we need to win to reclaim the top spot.
Rice is trying to figure out how he can play right back and second Striker…he looks like he needs an oxygen tank…VG’s has spent too much time watching the flop brothers, Kai and Merino…clearly he figures MA favours such antics…regardless this BHA team is so out of form that this should be easy pickings
Should have been a RED, it was a reckless challenge. Fucking bellends those refs
TRVL
Now we know why Arteta has always been against an out n out striker. If you think Havertz / Jesus would better suit into this system when you have Gyokeres, the tactics are not a CF friendly.
Should have been a red card.
Plus, Saka / Trossard / Odegaard are yet to learn to feed the ball to a striker.
Ambarish—when the focus of your offensive tactics revolves around a bevy of low percentage finishers and endless crosses into the box, you had better send everyone forward…that’s blunt instrument 101…it’s like set pieces from open play