We have a game against PSG on April 29 and Thomas Partey, due to his idiotic yellow against Real Madrid, will be suspended from the game. Mikel, in his last press conference, wasn’t sure about Jorginho’s availability for the PSG game. So, we don’t have a DM for the biggest game of our season, the semi-final in Champions League. However, the positive thing is that we can use today’s game and the game against Crystal Palace on 23rd to find a solution.
There’s a problem as well to this. We are sitting on 2nd position and Liverpool has a 13 points lead with 6 games to go. We won’t catch up to them, lets be real. Also, there’s a very good chance (still) that we end up outside top 5 and don’t qualify for the Champions League next season . Forest is sitting on 5th position, only 6 points behind us. We have to not only prepare for the PSG game, but we have to make sure we don’t lose games, confidence and our form while doing so. A conundrum Mikel needs to go through!
Ipswich are a tight team. They will most likely get relegated after a sensational Premier League promotion but they can make fun of you sometimes. They don’t have anything to lose and this gives them some freedom to cause chaos. We have to manage this chaos, from the midfield. I’m a big Partey fan but we have only 2 games to find a solution for PSG game, and I would rather let him sit on bench. There are a few options we can try –
Move Timber to LB, put Ben White back to RB and promote MLS to midfield. A midfield of Odegaard, Declan Rice and MLS should be able to hold the fort against Ipswich and if it clicks, we find a solution.
The second option is to keep the defence line as it is, with Kiwior + Saliba as CBs, Timber on the right and MLS on left and introduce Nwaneri in the midfield. This is the best solution according to me, we are disturbing only 1 position (Thomas Partey) and keeping the rest of the winning squad in their position.
Mikel might also bring back Merino in the midfield and put Trossard up top, this is the most likely solution but I have never been convinced with Trossard as a striker. Against PSG, with Donnaruma in their goal, he wouldn’t be so much effective.
Back to today’s game. Calafiori will not be available along with the usuals – Havertz, Tomiyasu, Gabriel M and Jesus. It’s Ipswich last chance to survive the relegation and I am pretty sure they will put up a fight. This is the third consecutive year where we are playing on a Easter Sunday, and we have drawn the last 2. It makes me nervous a bit, but we should go through.
Also, it would be exciting to see one of the Nwaneri or MLS start in the midfield, because (I know you will come after me) ultimately we would have to improve on Odegaard.
We need to win, and we can do that in first half. Lets start the usuals, score couple of goals and then introduce Nwaneri / MLS in the midfield. We can start with that line up against Crystal Palace to practice one more time.
What’s the weather there? We have been suffering with this heat and the only thing keeping me sane is football. See you during the game, I have my set up ready.
tbf MA shouldn’t be the only coach/manager coming under fire…if Forest could find a way to stay within striking distance for 2/3rds of the season, this should still be a 5 or 6 horse race…in general, the football has been rather basic for a plethora of sides, which speaks to the poor recruitment practices and tactical skittishness that has permeated the footballing world
MA’s the gift that keeps giving, especially if you find him to be a fraudulent manager…first he remarked that he didn’t think our victory over Real would help in the recruiting process because “we can attract any player” already, which is such.a delusional take in light of all the contrary evidence, and then he went on to state that the only things holding us back are “squad quality, and availability”…what a complete fuckwad…who does he think is to blame for such things…he’s the one that bought these players, many of whom were ill-suited for the task at hand, and then overplayed them, thereby making them susceptible to picking up an injury…maybe he’s under the mistaken belief that everyone bought his bullshit story about how he wasn’t involved when it came to our last fruitless window…talk about a glaring lack of self-awareness
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/ethan-nwaneri-mentoring-arsenal-players-35091403
If both the mentioned were not so indispensable…..just saying
“Arsenal supporters have enjoyed some high points this season, not least the momentous triumph against Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals. Yet beneath the euphoria lies a more sobering reality: this Premier League season was theirs for the taking, and they’ve let it slip away.
The win at Portman Road stretched Arsenal’s unbeaten streak to 11 matches across all competitions—a response of sorts to February’s limp 1-0 defeat at home to West Ham United, which effectively ended any serious title hopes. Since then, consistency has returned, but the urgency to capitalise on a rare drop-off from both Manchester City and Liverpool came too late.
When Liverpool edge closer to the title despite a season of narrow wins and unconvincing performances, Arsenal are left to ponder what might have been. The Merseyside club added just one player—Federico Chiesa, who has barely featured—yet appear set to lift the Premier League trophy. It’s a stinging reality check for a team that should have seized the moment”
talk about looking a gift window in the mouth again…this might be the most agregious missed opportunity yet, which says a lot considering what has transpired in the previous two seasons…of course, if we manage to lift the CL crown that will inevitably take some of the sting away from our previous self-inflicted cock-ups, but I think it’s important to note thay any such victory will have far more to do with the “weakened” state of European football, than the logical result of some sort of ingenious plan concocted by our manager…just saying
The Pope meets J D Vance on Sunday and…………….
maybe, as a favour to Trump, Vance was allowed to dip into Putin’s arsenal of exotic poisons…sometimes all it requires is the briefest of contact
The Spuddies are being very spursy – quarter of an hour in and they’re 2 nil down and Forest have had a goal disallowed for a tight (but correct) offside call.
We totally missed the biggest of the cunt – Richarlison.
Odegaard is back In his comfort zone now that saka is back, I don’t think he had a particularly good game away to Madrid as his ball protection under pressure was suspect.
As we all should know , Odegaard’s favourite pass is the 5 to 10 yard no risk ball to saka on the wing and in fairness it works as the more that saka is on the ball the better our chance of creating havoc to the opposition defence.
I have always thought of Martinelli as a player who runs down blind alleys and struggles to beat his marker out wide but since returning from injury I am having 2nd thoughts on him as his wing play has certainly gone up a level, plus his ability to arrive in the box on cue is something he has always had.
To get the best out of him it would be good to see him make the diagonal run more often from out to in similar to the winner v Madrid, Martinelli is probably our best player faced one on one with the keeper , unfortunately he is rarely found within the width of the penalty area due the constraints of being asked to create width by hugging the touch line.
Since Rice scored the 2 goals at home to Madrid, we have not been awarded a free kick in a similar position whilst he has been on the pitch. My theory is it is due to our lack of playing centrally through the lines to entice the centre backs into making a challenge, our play is designed to bringing our wide players into the game so consequently the ball is rarely fed into the striker in or outside the area.
Arteta’s football is all about control and he knows if the ball is played centrally to the striker and is intercepted then we would be open to the counter , hence why there is the constant sideways and backward passing. For arteta , giving the ball away out wide high up the pitch is not a crime as we can quickly get our shape back , but for him, giving the ball away in the central area of the pitch is a no no and unless we are chasing the game it will be a lot of no risk football and patience.
It’s no use moaning about how we play , Arteta isn’t going to change for the time being , although it is possible if we win the champions league we will see more swagger in our play and I would be the first to applaud a more open brand of football
Wicksy
Perhaps El B should take a trip up the M1 to the Forest training ground – possession not a word that features much in their managers mind set.
Wicksy
One of the reason for that is, Martinelli hardly gets any support when surrounded by 3 defenders. Saka gets help from Odegaard, and Timber/White often overlaps with him.
Our left back shifts to midfield rather than providing help to Martinelli. We fans see it as a bad thing because Martinelli often loses the ball while trying to do something creative, but I am guessing (purely) that it’s by design and that is why Mikel keeps him in the playing XI every game ahead of Trossard.
meanwhile at Carrow Road Jack W will be head coach for the last two games of the season. Perhaps his house purchase will be put on hold.
NORG
He could be the new Cesar Menotti. Nervously smoking 40 fags from the touchline. One of his two games is against Cardiff. I’m hoping he’ll lose but expecting he’ll win.
Resting Saka – 100% on board with.
Starting Sterling instead of Nwaneri – Arteta you are a cunt.
Stunning header by Kiwor there.
palace are thinking of there next game
Looking very shaky at the back.
Palace have come back to life – Eddie still cannot score
Economic question. Is Sterling’s plummeting value deleteriously affecting productivity.? I’ve not seen a player lose it so badly since we acquired that other Chelsea reject Willian.
Expect Rocket Raheem to join Fulham next year and improve immeasurably.
That equaliser has been coming since we scored.