Well, we were on a happy run before a sh*t Everton decided to bring in Sean Dyche, who made them play like they have never played before, this season. We not only lost 3 important points in the title run, but also went into a bad run of games where we dropped points against Brentford and lost to City. Martinelli started dropping stinkers, can you believe it? So yeah, it’s time for the payback. Everton tried to derail our title run, lets make sure they remain in the relegation battle after today’s game.
Lets talk about Arsenal. Aston Villa was a thrilling encounter which kept us off our feet for the complete game. Going behind twice and then winning 4-2 against Emery’s side was sweet. Against Leicester, it was a boring 1-0 where we made sure we have the control of the game and the score line do not do justice. I am more of a ‘get me a boring 1-0 win’ than a thrilling encounter which can go either way. We need to control the game, we need to cut down the errors and our CF needs to bury the chances they get. We did the first two against Leicester, we didn’t bury the chances we should have though.
There are some positives, Partey is back in the mix, ESR is making to the bench, Trossard looks really mature and Martinelli scored in back to back games now. There are talks of Saka agreeing to a deal to extend after Martinelli. Fabrizio reported earlier that Saliba is happy with Arsenal and a contract extension will be agreed soon. So, we tie up three of our best players who are in their early 20s and have at least 10 good years in them. Brilliant!
Coming back to the game, Mikel tried a Trossard + Martinelli which we had asked for. It didn’t prove to be a miracle but it was the first game where they both played together. I think it was just a temporary arrangement, once Jesus is back it’s either Nketiah or him at CF. Bring in Balogun in the mix and we have two potential strikers and Jesus.
I have been complaining about rotation from Mikel the whole last season. However, I don’t want to see it now. We had nothing to lose last season, we needed to give game time to every players for their growth. Today, we are in a situation where a mistake can cost us the title. Lets play to our strength, make rotation only when it’s necessary. These 11 players have gelled in perfectly, and you can mix things up at 60th minute with Jorginho, ESR, Tomiyasu, Tierney on the bench.
If you ask me, I will say it’s a 4-0 win for us. Nketiah proves every one of us wrong today, with 2 to his name. Saka and Martinelli scores one each. I am happy this morning, so I am only wishing 4 goals for us. It could have been worse, after what they did to us and our title challenge.
Anyways, we are still at the top, and I can’t finish my article without the custom – it’s very lonely at the top and I am loving it 😉
I have had problems with the hosting, I had taken it up when I was in UK, and it took me some time to move it. If you see any slowness, or the website not working – please let me know through comments or shoot me an email. It will probably, hence the ask.
Nelson gets the winning goal 50 seconds after extended time.
Nigel Winterburn going nuts on Arsenal. Com
And noone allowed to see it on TV here – a fucking disgrace.
Tony—as a young boy I was a massive boxing fan, as it was a golden age for the middlewieght division, with the likes of Hagler, Hitman Hearns, Sugar Ray and Duran, (the heavyweight division had endured a considerable downturn with the end of the Ali era giving rise to the anticlimatic rise of Holmes) so I was always intrigued about the possibility of pursuing an amateur boxing gig…unfortunately there were few viable local options in this regards, minus a local native community center, which was rather gritty…my parents were deeply concerned about my “vile” pursuits and the fact that this was the only gig in town didn’t help matters…of course, this never stopped me, in fact, it might have encouraged me even more
one rather fateful Saturday afternoon, a man by the name of Jean-Yves Theriault made an appearance at the club…he just so happened to be the reigning world kickboxing champion and was offering up fully headgeared sparring sessions for anyone willing to allow him to use his feet…of course, he wasn’t going full bore, but he beat me senseless and left my face a bit of a bloody mess, as I had braces at the time…I was hooked immediately…my pursuits were never more than an “underground” side hustle, but I trained vigorously for a good half decade…so years later, when a buddy of mine, who was a former Olympic wrestler, opened a mixed martial arts gym, I jumped at the opportunity
sadly, for myself, it was little more than a glorified grappling venue, as most invloved were his former wrestling mates…I had some experience with that sport during my high school years, but nowhere near what was required, considering the competition at hand…as such, I would usually get a couple good licks in, both hands and feet, then they would invariably tuck their respective heads, take my hips, then punish me on the ground…I always wished there was considerably more stand-up involved, no matter, it was always a great workout and certainly helped me in my other sporting endeavours…in the end though, some blood-related health concerns, due to previously unknown genetic protien deficiency in my blood, put the kibosh on things, as a couple clots appeared in my lower extremities, which ultimately travelled to my lungs…since that time I’ve been on thinners, so I’ve tried to curtail those activities which require an excessive amount of bodily contact…I’m sure we will chat more about this in the future…Cheers
BTW WHAT A FUCKING FINISH!!! so happy for Nelson, as he’s toiled with little to show for it under the present regime…funny, in that, if it weren’t for all the injuries, I very much doubt he would have ever seen the pitch today
Spuds lost. And the Bluebirds beat the shit (bristol city)
Meanwhile
Poster are ejaculation non stop on Le Porridge
Everything inanimate for 2 columns now
My take away on today’s game and some observance on players. The comeback has the earmarks of a title contender, when you win games like this you strike the fear of god into the opposition. In addition you could see on the pitch there is a real chemistry among the players and it gives of the vibe this is the team everyone wants to be in. Should make it easier to attract talent as well as making it easier at contracts renewal time.
.
Now this has NOTHING to do with the not so generational one, this is all on the individuals that are on the pitch and forming a real positive atmosphere and by now they also must feel the title is theirs to loose.
.
On the other hand I have a gripe with Viera, looks to me like that signing was a total waste of money for me he has not had any impact. Martinelli is giant egotistical prick and needs to be more of a team player instead off going for glory. Excellent to see the injured players coming back AND contributing.
.
Read that Caicedo, showed what a total waister he is, for signing a new contract with BHA and handing all the power to the club now. Bye, Bye and enjoy looking at the club that could have given you trophies. This was an amazing and record breaking u-turn by his agent for making up with the club, fucking despicable. What is it with this generation of young players who have mastered the art of brain farts and has mush between their ears and a total void of thinking ability where common sense should be residing.
Killroy—agree with your “earmarks” assessment, although I would be a tad more enthusiastic if it were against a different opponent…there’s no doubt that some of City’s title winning seasons were achieved on the backs of these sort of last minute heroics
as for Vieira, I stand by my earlier claims that we paid well above the number for this relatively unpolished player…that said, I feel like the Vieira I saw in Portugal looks vastly different than the one we’ve witnessed thus far…he seems too robotic with his movement and lacking in confidence with the ball at his feet, which has been an all too familiar refrain when it comes to younger players under MA’s tutelage, at least early on…I feel like MA’s tendency to micromanage can have a stifling effect on some players until they get enough playing time under their respective belts…I would still rather see him than Xhaka playing in more advanced spaces, as I think he can both create opportunities for others and score from distance if he’s able to shed some of that bench rust
as a final note, I thought it was fucking hilarious that MA suggested that Nelson could play a considerable role in the run-up, especially considering that he hasn’t really been on his managerial radar for the better part of 3+ years, minus a very brief run of games…I’ve always believed that a manager should never publicly milk an emotionally-charged narrative based solely on recency bias…as the best coach I’ve ever had the privilege of playing for always used to say “act like you’ve been there before”
regardless, great win today, as that gives us the full 9 points in a week I believed when couldn’t afford anything less than 7
we NOT when couldn’t afford…
Well put RVL
REAL accurate stuff
Great posts guys: junior and I were drunk on the win. Real Roy of the Rovers shit right there!!!!
I thought I was going to have to take the L this morning after such a disastrous prediction of us dispatching Bournemouth with a high number of goals (4+). In the end I got the goal tally right just not all of the goals being ours.
I promise I will do better. ):
OMG what a game!!! Junior and I were kicking and heading every ball over the 97 minutes.
That is what football is all about. For the neutral.
For us Gooners with and without ailments not so much until the fat lady sang her most beautiful three high shrill peeps to signal the war was over and Bournemouth had been left dead and blooded by a single goal from the most unlikeliest of sources: Reis Nelson.
I would call that Reis Nelson having an immortal ESR moment to save Arteta’s rancid arse and even more bizarre selection/sub management.
Why not Jorginho instead of Vieira? He’s hardly in the red zone and makes us tick. 60 minutes and then put ESR on.
Why not Reis when Trossard went off?
Why put Xhaka on period? He just got in the way.
Well we nearly got fooled again by a simple gung ho overload our left and overrun us to the back of the net at their highest tempo. Bravo, a brilliant one-off tactic for this season.
That was such a pulsating game that will see a large drop in Ultra Exlax colon cleanser sales for this week. Still, good news for plumbers I guess. 🙂
So, now Reis is our planned saviour – always was – just kept top secret – in fact so top secret that Reis and the backline crew were simply clueless. I mean put a goal scorer on after Xhaka says it all, right?
Arteta’s hail Mary came up trumps and no one looked more shocked than…….. come on think about it ………… of course, Arteta, the generational one when really it was junior furiously scratching Pumpkin’s belly in injury time. Facts are facts and it’s a good job Pumpkin is Ball-less because Pumpkin’s purring was the loudest I’ve heard with a grin ear to ear. Poor thing only having memories.
I’m assuming after the first 10 seconds Don Un put the largest butt plug in to stop his are gushing blood. He never did answer my question if it happened on the regular, such as every 30 days?
Yes I can be glib about our win now because the 3 points are in the bag with a far better performance than City proffered before our game.
Let this sink in, if Xhaka had started we would have lost that game. They would have still scored their 9-second blitzkrieg goal.
It looks like we will have to win the league in spite of Arteta the Clueless.
We have a Band of Brothers squad building with each and every player, and TRUSTING each other as if their lives depend on it.
That is the credentials of a Title winning team in the making who believe they can win together.
I am one happy Gooner this morning.
TRVL
Really interesting life in sport you’ve had thanks for sharing. Talk more in quieter times. 🙂
Hi KP/Tony,
Sorry for the delay, I would be happy to send the code Tony have sent if you could send me an email at bloggingwithmb@gmail.com.
Reason being, it’s unethical to use the email address passed on as part of posting comments without permission. If you send me one, that would turn out to be a email communication and I will do it.
Alternatively, you can DM me on Twitter if you don’t want that.
https://twitter.com/LondonIsRedCom
What a match it was, I was watching with some friends in the sports section and I don’t know how many of us threw our drinks away out of celebration.
It’s morning, and I’m still buzzing. We are IN for the title, guys. You guys have seen it all, but it will ve my first trophy since I started following football and became a gooner.
Think about me and my joy. My girl don’t know anything about football except that Nelson is a god.
Ambarish
No problem and I like that your moral compass keeps true.
K’phobe can use the IPTV route for about US10 a month, which is better than the one requiring a code. The code is a paid for legit for the app. It cost me £10 but I can use the code here so no problem. I was just trying to help as it’s frustrating not seeing the games live in your own country with the best league.
I hear you Ambarish but I guess we can help pointing out why we nearly lost a game we should have won comfortably.
I’m at that dare to hope stage. In the past we’ve had managers who led the win to the title and cup doubles. This time we still have a myopic rookie. Be honest Ambarish, would you have put Xhaka on chasing a goal instead of a zippy forward?
Magnify yesterday’s win emotions’ by a factor of 100 and you’re still not close to the feeling of winning the league. I have no problems with the players and rarely cast aspersions on an off day at the office. Most of the time this happens is preceded by Arteta mismanagement: round pegs in square holes.
City and United are the only clubs who can spoil our PL title win with in reason numerically. We simply can’t and shouldn’t make hard work of mid and low table clubs.
I see the EL cup as a secondary competition where everything has to be put into keeping winning PL games for the trophy.
Ambarish, we have the players where bringing back Bolagun right now would be a master piece with 3 strikers out injured or just simple common sense, you choose. 🙂
I’m on board the title train with the squad, just very concerned about Arteta nearly 4 years in.
5 points is a slender lead my friend, but it’s a lead. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Tony
Agree with the performance, I hate such thrilling ones because it can go either way. Give me a boring game where we win 1-0.
I know it’s the hope that kills you, but just 12 more to go. Fingers crossed.
Ambarish
You would have loved the George Graham days of 1:0 to the Arsenal.
TRVL
Good cards this weekend with the UFC prelims and main card. Loved that Grasso trained to get inside the spinning kick grabbing Shevchenko’s back getting both hooks in so quickly.
A while ago this year I watched a French special forces officer who just took apart (dismantled) his opponent in the first round. Pretty sure it was either a prelim or first fight on the main card as this guy’s new, possibly from Dana’s contenders. Not Benoit but similar weight. Senior moment here as I said to myself I must remember this guy.
Anyway, some quality bouts.
A Manure and Bin Dippers draw would be ok as well as a Manure loss.
Hi Tony
Let’s dare to dream… Wins for forest and the bin dippers. I think the Anfield game is a complete lottery and could come down to an error.
Hi Ambarish
I’ll email you later. Thanks and to you again Tony for your generosity. Being the in the UK (the 6th largest economy in the world) and not being able to watch your own football league is antediluvian to say the least. Sold out Saturday afternoon games should be monetised – you’d think the money grubbing cunts running the PL could have solved this by now.
Kroenke
I think the “ban” on not showing Saturday 3pm kickoff’s is more about protecting the lower leagues than making more money for the PL.
With that in mind you can download some apps on a Firestick that will give you access to BEIN Sports who show pretty much all the matches.
Marc—Fubo Sports on the Firestick shows all the PL matches regardless of regional circumstances…they also show Ligue 1, Serie A and a collection of matches from the Eredivisie, the Belgium first division and the Brazilian Serie A…well worth the investment
Tony—any card with the MMA GOAT on it is worthy of watching…Bones Jones is a force of nature who should never be trifled with, regardless of any extended layoff…he’s on my Mount Rushmore of fighters, which likewise includes Bas Rutten, Wanderlei Silva and Fedor…special consideration goes to Kimbo Slice, not for what he did in the ring, but for his heroics in the underground, backyard you tube realm, as only he and maybe Brock Lesnar brought more “new” eyes to the octagon
Hi Marc
Recovered from yesterday’s drama? That game provided me with a gamut of emotions in my living room. Christ knows how it must’ve been in the stadium.
I know there are plans afoot to relax the rules on 3pm Saturday PL kickoffs (and I get the point about lower league football) but one would have imagined the PL executives would have been a bit more forceful in increasing TV coverage. After all, they’re the ones holding all the financial trump cards. Maybe the solution is to do it and give the lower league teams a kickback from the proceeds? It’d be interesting to gauge how many fans would stop watching lower league footy if everyone could access PL Saturday games.
TRVL
Cheers mate I’ve got a Firestick but the app I used to use has gone pear shaped.
Liverpool are absolutely thumping ManU – it really is a strange season reminding me more and more of 15/16.
Spurs, Barcodes and Manure all dropping points is a further narrowing of the field.
Kroenke
I’m in 2 massively different emotions about yesterday. On one hand you’ve got the basic fact that (Liverpool just gone 4 nil up!) no one remembers the scrappy wins if you win the League on the other it was Bournemouth for fuck sake who could have had at least 2 more if it weren’t for 2 very good saves from Ramsdale.
no doubt Marc—I’ve spoke of the similarities on several occasions, which is why I was so distraught that we didn’t aim much higher during our most recent TW, as we wll know that was the year Wenger wrongly thought that Cech was all the reinforcements we needed…this Pool/United fixture, albeit unexpected, just might mean that this is now officially a 2 horse race, which I think helps us immensely…it’s likewise a not-so-gentle reminder to any supposed Pool fans that you don’t throw out a manager of Klopp’s ilk with the bath water
KP—“In that particular instance, it was not televised due to the fact it was a rearranged fixture, with the original date postponed following the death of Queen Elizabeth II back in September. It was not chosen to be shown on TV for the original date, and rearranged fixtures must stick to that same broadcasting schedule” I read this online yesterday
ten Hag will use this game-tape as a constant reminder to his players that you can never rest on your laurels, whereas MA would have found a way to blame the officiating…thankfully there might be too many points between us now to matter for this particular title race, but it will undoubtedly become an important teachable moment moving forward
What the fuck – I turned over at 6pm to watch Andrew Neil when it was 4 nil only just realised Liverpool put 7 past ManU.
That is a proper thumping – I can’t remember them having a result that bad before couple of time they conceded 6 to Southampton and there was the time City scored 6 but bloody hell.
Hi Marc
😀
It serves you right for watching that lying, climate change denying, brillo-headed wanker. Fucking terrible right wing cunt that guy.
But don’t worry, given the media’s enduring fondness for Liverpool, I’m sure there will repeats a-plenty in the coming days. ETH looked like a thinner, equally angry version of Dyche by the end.
Kroenke
Its strange I’ve always found him incredibly left wing!