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.
Wicksy
Arteta’s feeling the pressure because he knows if he doesn’t win the PL this season he’s done and Pep’s breathing down his neck
He’s a bottle job – people take the piss out of us now because we keep doing it.
You “educating” me is a about as likely as MA growing a pair…good luck with that you slurpy fucktard…as for your commentary about Villa’s supposedly negative first-half, clearly you weren’t watching the match and/or simply couldn’t comprehend Unai’s tactical approach, which was to counter quickly from deeper-lying positions (it was almost as if he took a page out of Brentford’s old playbook)…after watching MA for the last several years you should know full-well the difference between ttruly negative tactics and those that appear to be negative but have a very positive goal in mind…it’s astonishing how little you actually know about this game
*truly
TRVL
Yes I did say that villa should concentrate more on playing football than trying to disrupt the game as they were playing a more composed game in the first half, I didn’t feel that they needed to go down in agony after every tackle as they are a very good football team , disrupting the rhythm of the game is unusual for them,.maybe it was villa who felt the pressure and were too hyped up similar to when we played Chelsea recently who were falling about like they’d been shot and constantly in the face of the ref.
Arsenal kept their composure throughout, kept trying to play football and in the end were rewarded, maybe villa could learn from the Arsenal mentality.
TRVL
as for educating you on why we let villa dictate the last 10 minutes , that still stands as we were preserving energy and sat off them as there was no reason to risk injury by throwing themselves into tackles ….the game was won.
TRVL
“…after watching MA for the last several years you should know full-well the difference between ttruly negative tactics and those that appear to be negative but have a very positive goal in mind…it’s astonishing how little you actually know about this game”
And yet Arteta’s “truly negative tactics” always produce more goals than Emery’s positive tactics …make sense of that.
something tells me that I am far more educated when it comes to understanding how and why a team scores more and concedes less than you and I will be proven right as Emery’s so called “positive ” brand of football will see them fade and die from the title race into probably a europa place which is Emery’s level.
“And yet Arteta’s “truly negative tactics” always produce more goals than Emery’s positive tactics …make sense of that.”
Er £1 BILLION spent?
The question you should ask is how many titles has the £1,000,000,000 spent brought in?
end of match protocol is for the managers to shake hands first and then celebrate or commiserate with their players. Somebody celebrated first and left the other manager no choice or he could have stood around like a spare part.
You cocksucking slag.
Watch it again,
The game was over about the 70th minute , there was not a last minute winner, where the managers can get caught up in it.
The moronic cunt should not have been lauding it with his own coaching staff , the first persons hand he should have shaken was Emery not theirs.
Emery was not in the wrong.
The cunt was.
You are a fucking wretch.
And get his cock out of your mouth this year.
Slag
Emery will be apologising, just wait and see.
He knows he was in the wrong by walking straight down the tunnel as soon as the final whistle was blown, he is normally an honest man with integrity so he will do the right thing and apologise at the next press conference.
When villa beat us a couple of weeks ago Arteta was on the pitch shaking hands and congratulating the villa players despite the disappointment of losing to a last minute winner, whereas Emery skulked away down the tunnel within seconds of the final whistle, an action I’m sure he regrets .
Basically it shows how disingenuous some are on here as Arteta would have been slaughtered if, like Emery, he had skulked off down the tunnel after being given a footballing lesson.
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1C3oRLUKBB/
Evidence
He fucking might apologise, does not fucking means its sincere or he means it.
Emery is a class act and respected manager and opponent. He will continue to manage Villa well.
in contrast to this cunt we have in charge.
The cunt was clearly out of order.
The game was won and the first person’s hand he should have shaken was the opposition managers hand not his own staff.
He can shake them after.
I fucking hope, you are not going to be a cunt all year again.
We are cunt outers on here.
AF
No abuses please.
Ambarish
But it’s only Wicksy.
Wicksy loves it .
Ambarish
I can remember the likes of Terry O Neill, Don Howe, GG , Rioch Wenger, Emery called far far worse by far far many than what I call this current cunt in charge .
People have gone very fucking soft and precious.
Wenger and GG got serious dogs abuse when they lost cup finals.
Graham lost to Luton once at Wembley.
This current cunt never gets to finals to find out.
Art Fraud
If he loves it , that other maneuver TRVL alluded to could have been the reason why the handshake was given a bye ?
El B might have been left with tooth marks down in Australia if he moved towards Emery.
Absolute shitshow over at Chelsea with them briefing against Maresca – just poor form and they don’t need to do it.
Whoever comes in has a really shitty fixture list to try and navigate.
UFraud
According to micky Flanagan it’s a term of endearment , nothing wrong in a bit of caual cunting.
He is fucking right, proper player.
Didn’t him and Derek Hales have it out on the pitch at The Valley once.
That’s how it should be.
Everyone is so fucking delicate these days.
You know, I am playing with you.
All these cunts are earning millions and 95% of fucking frauds.
The Chelsea fraud just sacked , will trouser another £10 million.
Bingo.
And he still won more trophies than our useless cunt.