We could have done the double last year had we not lost to Man City in the finals. The loss to Man City was a disappointing one for us. Nico O’Reilly scored twice and ruined some of the fun that was about to come later. We also lost to PSG in the Champions League finals, and missed the treble. The getaway was that you shouldn’t lose finals but to learn from those losses, we must reach there again.
And the journey begins today. We are visiting Ipswich Town today in the third round of Carabao Cup / EFL cup. There are some good teams competing this time – Chelsea, Bournemouth, Sunderland, Palace, Newcastle have already made it to the next round. The fate of Arsenal, Man Utd, City, Liverpool and Spurs will be decided today.
We are unbeaten so far this season. 4 Premier League wins and a CL win so far, and we can add another one today. And it’s the second last game before we go into the international break, so the manager is under no duress to rest players. Though, I would like to see the likes of Max Dowman getting some game time today, Mikel likely prefers to go with the best fit XI.
Wenger used these cups to develop academy players and he would find some gems often. He invested his time and also cost the club a few points in doing so. But we are way past the development phase and we can spend 60m on players that would be second fiddle to Saliba and Rice, so don’t expect anything interesting. The best we can do is, WIN, and move on to the next round.
Every trophy matters. We have the best squad in the Premier League and we have already won the Premier League. The next target is to win more, and not just settle with the title this season.
In the team news, we would probably see Kepa back in the goals. There’s so much to do for Raya, so he will get some rest. We can also see a midfield of MLS and Guimaraes, with Merino in the Odegaard role. Madueke is a candidate to get a start and we might see Eze over Tzolis. Gyokeres could also get his start. I don’t care frankly who starts and if he is fatigued, we have got at least 2 players for each position and that removes the injury anxiety for me.
That’s all for today, see you during the game.
Art
I agree with a fair bit of that. COVID had a massive negative effect on the way people now interact with each other. Road rage has been around for 30 odd years now but COVID has brought about a kind of pedestrian rage where people are just persistently fucking horrible either in person or online (not counting the likes of us of course!). Add to that the fall in standards and adherence to the truth of TV and newspaper media and the spreading of utter bollocks online, I think you’re right to hint at a failing society. Don’t get me started on algorithms. The empire started to crumble in the late 40s to the relief of millions around the world. Unchecked greed and selfishness are also on the rise, not helped by the kind of bastards you mention in your latest post.
I wonder though if people of the same age that we are now we’re saying this in the 70s and 80s? I might try and cure my societal malaise by watching Songs of Praise tomorrow…what could go wrong?
KP
Cameron is probably no 1 but Truss is the bottom of the pile. She was full of radical ideas but had know idea how to implement them without causing a major upheaval. Number 8 has to be Blair – a conman and a liar. The early years of Brown(Chancellor) were stable but he struggled with the Iraq war which I think he privately thought was wrong. May & Sunak are kind of equal. Bozo dreamt of being a new Churchill but Covid and the the Russian invasion of Ukraine absolutely smashed our country (and others) to bits. These two caused the countries to take action and borrow big time which is now biting us in the arse. In reality the current Middle East problem is not as major as the previous two crisis. Oil still flows from other parts of the world – the main problem is traders who make a fortune at the first sign of an issue – take the traders away and you take the problems away.
That cunt Burnham can not get away with this City sleaze.
He and his wife are balls deep in UAE City dirty money.
The dirty pair of cunts need to be in the fuckin dock, not waiving Everton scarfs , taking punters for mugs
Sick of the hypocrisy, sleaze naked greed and corruption in the game.
Reminds me of the moronic cunt and Partey.
Greedy no good cunts.
AF
The Qatari’s have more money than sense – they do not mind losing money but they hate losing face. They have sunk a fortune into City and a poor region of Manchester (Longsite). Burnham looked good as Mayor because of the financial interest from City’s owners but now it is getting interesting – they lose and they will no doubt disclose what has happened outside of football.
NORG
The horrible snidy cunt Burnham is up to his neck in City/ Man City sleaze and corruption.
His whole persona , the Cunt of the North and Manchesterism is an utter charade and lie
And he slags Thatchers economics , yet he makes her look a commie the way he has been selling off public controlled assets to to the trillionaire Sheiks.
These slags are unbelievable.
Burnham’s must be bricking it. He’s going to have a giant spotlight shone on every transaction and deal he did as Mayor and like all lefties he just won’t have been able to help himself.
Labour has over 400 MP’s and still had to parachute that cunt in to take over from Starmer and now he’s going to be found to have been on the take.
Delicious.
Marc
I think you will find UAE/City money men parachuted the snidy , sleazy cunt in.
How convenient, he is the PM when the sham verdict dropped.
They own the sleazy crooked cunt lock stock and fucking barrel.
He makes that cunt Johnson look clean and respectful.
Cunt.
We need some fuckin integrity .
Never trust a man with a side parting (disguised) (I excuse Bobby & Ralph). Burnham is starting to sweat – he acts like a leader of a trade union – next ‘brothers’ will appear in his speeches. Another side part (disguised) specialist (Starmer) must be glad he is out of the circus. He is obviously a clever man but outside of a courtroom he is a lost sole. Luckily for him top barristers / silks do not practice his department of legal affairs.
soul not sole – something fishy going on with my laptop or I have had too much red wine.
Ambarish – I have somebody coming to London to see me at the end of the month. She works for a large Indian Company in Odisha and is a Director – I expect I will be asked to visit – I guess it is the wrong side of the country for you?