Did you see that? The whole town was red, MLS sobbed for a few seconds and had to clear his nose, Ben White – the legend – dedicated a song to Hincapie, Mikel wore sunglasses, Saka and Martinelli – the OGs of this team – posed together and the best of all, rhe TShirts of all the players read CHAMPIONS.
Declan Rice was singing, “Set piece again, ole ole; set piece again, ole ole”. ‘Hincapie, get your bum out..’ were the words only Ben White can come up with. Dec Rice is a decent guy, with Ole, Ole, Ole, Ben White White…
It was disheartening to lose the Champions League final. And the way we lost it to PSG made it even worse. There are questions being asked, and Mikel is answering why Gabriel was the one taking the crucial penalty when you have Madueke and Zubimendi available but that’s for another day. I would like to celebrate the ‘Premiership’ for some more days, after all, we had the title of 22 fucking years and the best part of it all is, the best is yet to come.
No, I am not giving up. You have to be critical of things in life if you want improvements. And there’s a lot to improve still at Arsenal. You can always get better than yesterday in sports and we won’t let it go the late Wenger years way, not at LiR.
But, we did win the Premiership. Against a club that has been under the radar for cheating. Against a team that went on to spend 200m pounds and got Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez, Khusanov in a January transfer window and still fell short of us. Against another team that is color blind and thinks red is blue. I heard they joined the parade in red and white and were singing rice, rice baby. Sad bunch of the lots.
We finished as runner ups in the Champions League. We lost to the last year Champions and in the penalty shootout. The only one who saved a penalty was David Raya and only if Eze and Gabriel had put it in, we would have 2 trophies on that bus. We played with 10 men during the extra time, Hincapie could hardly move and yet, it was PSG who wanted it to end and go to the shootout. They registered their first shot on target in the 117th minute. So, yeah, we lost but it wasn’t a gran and run for PSG.
Only about 2 months ago, I was frustrated and writing about us getting ousted from the Carabao and FA cup in 15 days. The last 15 days however were totally different because we saw us lifting the Premier League trophy, ending the Champions League run as runner ups, and an open bus parade painting London in red as if the communists are back.
Could we have done better? Yes – but then PSG could have done better too. No shame in losing in penalty shootout, we will go again next season and with a better preparation. The next time we go into the competitions, we will have a team who knows what it takes and will have experience of winning a trophy.
I have been a critic of the Mikel regime. I will also be critical in the coming season(s), but for now, thanks to the club, manager, players for giving everything they could to lift the trophy. We did it.
Right, that’s all for today. Hope you are back in your senses if you were part of that parade.
If you were part of the parade, Champions League final or the last day of the Premier League and have some pics which you don’t mind sharing with me, please send it to bloggingwithmb@gmail.com. I’m already preparing for the next season.
Also, fuck the Spurs.
Norg
You can’t have 25 plus world class players – it just doesn’t work.
Wait till Jan when we’ve got some injuries and and excuses will about too many fixtures etc and needing a better backup.
Dismissing the World Cup’s effect (or lack of a break to be more precise) on players when someone like Rice has made 55 club appearances is fucking daft.
Marc
If El B had 25 first class players he would still shoehorn in Bambi. Saka really needed a break this summer – he is getting close to a physical break down.
Norg
Saka is proof that repeated over playing sooner or later (the longer it takes the more injury prone the player becomes) catches up with the player ending with regular injuries.
I’m far more concerned about how MA’s blunt instrument tactical pursuits have stifled his production…if you look at his numbers you can see a direct correlation between MA’s script change and his statistical regression…not to mention our new approach slows the game down even more so the.opposition can double him on the regular, which invariably leads to considerably more unnecessary contact…MA’s “system” doesn’t cater to the individual, which in and of itself isn’t problematic, as PSG likewise plays a more team-oriented brand of football, except that Enrique’s system favours the most talented amongst them, whereas MA’s favours the likes of Rice and Havertz without any logical offensive justification…as a result, Saka has failed the eye test for the better part of two seasons, which seems incredibly wasteful…if I were him I would be fucking furious that the manager hasn’t both brought in a more wingback-like RB to play along side him and established a much more balanced attack, so opposing defences couldn’t focus their attentions on his side of the pitch
Can someone please tell FIFA that putting in more shit teams does not make for a better world cup.
Balogun putting it in effortlessly for USA vs Paraguay speaks volumes about our fake El Bastardo who succeeded in outing him. Fortunately didn’t succeed with Saliba in spite of a 3 year vendetta
on the transfer front a couple interesting names have emerged:
(1) Christos Tzolis—24 year old Brugge winger—seems like a Tross replacement, as he likes to tuck inside a bit more…clinical iin front of goal, shoots from distance with power and accuracy and has shown the capacity to provide high level service to others…his stat line last season was 17 & 23….keeping in mind that this was in the Jupiter League, so take that for what it’s worth…on a side note, I’m not sure why we’re not in the Diomande sweepstakes, as he’s a logical Marts replacement, who’s pacey, can finish, loves to take on defenders and fits the preferred age profile(19)
(2) Ayyoub Bouaddi—18 year old Lille midfielder(DM/pivot)—not sure why we would be spending so much on this player unless we’re contemplating shipping Zubi out after one season…he seems like a talented kid with a big up-side, but we should be prioritizing other positions before pursuing another defendively-minded option…he’s on the radars of a lot of other top sides, but unlike all of them we have a DM who we paid over 100M for…I would hate to see us sepnding gobs of money again just so Rice can once again chase his more advanced dreams
btw according to the Athletic the Tzolis hire won’t impact our potential pursuit of a big money forward option, like Rogers or Bacola…not sure I totally buy that, unless we offload several players for a considerable profit…all I care about is that we finally get the left-side forward position sorted and buy a readymade AM who can unlock defences and pot some goals, especially considering that it’s looking more and more likely that Ethan will be shipped out…if this in fact happens, it would be another incredibly short-sighted decision
Hoopah—and he’s a true two-footed Striker….when was the last time we had that in the building…I don’t really see him as a bona fide number 1 on a top-top side, but I would have kept him as a valuable depth piece, due to his vastly different skillset than our currently rostered shoehorn options…not to mention his substantially lower wages…Cheers
VG’s been energetic and productive against Tunisia, but a fully fit Isak is a top drawer beast of a Striker…maybe only behind Haaland and Mbappe…if I could guarantee his health, which is an impossible ask, I think I would take Isak over Mbappe, as the latter seems to be a rather problematic figure both on and off the pitch
Pricksy—read the following then feel free to take your foot out of your mouth and your head out of your ass, you know-nothing fucktard
“One of Arsenal’s top priorities this summer is signing a left-winger. They have been stepping up their interest in Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers, although his future will not be determined until after the World Cup with England”
Ray Parlour said: “I think Rogers is a fantastic player. He can play off the left-hand side as well. I think we need someone off the left”
“Reinforcements out wide are the priority for Arsenal this summer, according to wide reports. The Gunners are eyeing moves for Bradley Barcola, Christos Tzolis, Morgan Rogers, and Ander Barrenetxea”
We’re looking at Bradley Barcola?
Why would you go from playing for the best manager in the world who plays free flowing attacking football to a second rate by the numbers control freak who’s a combination of defective clone of Mourinho and lovechild of Pulis and Allardyce?
watching Spain v. Cape Verde was like MA boxing a clone of himself…the best version of his sideways offence, with 74% possession and 11 corners, versus his typical gameplan against anyone of quality, by sitting 11 men behind the ball…result = 0-0
Marc—the only way he would come here is if he received ironclad assurances about playing time, as that’s a concern for him at PSG…I’m still not convinced that he’s an upgrade over Marts, unless we altered our tactics
You beat me to the punch Vieira. I was going to say the Spanish FA has urgently sent for Stubborn because after drawing to Cabo Verde, they think the path to success lies in slowing down the passing, collectively playing with next to no energy, and having no gumption when it comes to playing bus parkers…
this was in the Jupiter League
Any chance the Kroenkes could send Sr Stubborn Cuntyballs to manage a team in the Jupiter league? He’d love the chronic lack of atmosphere. I’d even chip in to pay for his taxi 🚀💫⭐⭐
Hope you’re having a good summer mate and that you’re enjoying the world cup.
KP—generally speaking I’m not a big fan of the group stage, even less so now that they’ve expanded the draw, but there’s always a handful of worthy matches if you’re willing to wade through all the park the bus crap…so far Sweden and the US have impressed, since they both beat sides who’re known for their supposed defensive prowess
of course, having some of the games on home soil has certainly helps matters…I went to Canada’s opening match versus Bosnia, too bad both Dzeko and Alphonso didn’t play…regardless it was quite the spectacle…I’m going back for the Croatia/Panama match on the 23rd…not sure it will be worth the efforts, as the roads are a shit show in the 6 at the best of times, but I couldn’t say no to some prime gifted tickets…hope all is well with you too bud…Cheers
TRVL
Assurances on playing time and trebling his salary (he’s on about £100k per week).
Under the right coach (a clue is he’s playing for him already!) and I’d be all over it – I doubt we could afford or be on the radar of Kvaratskhelia who’ll end up moving to Madrid or Barca.
Don’t hide little Pricksy…here’s another quote from Sky:
“So Arsenal will likely have to target someone else who can predominantly play on the left wing, and they have been stepping up interest in Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers, although his future will not be determined until after the World Cup with England”
looks like my government won’t let Mr. Partey into the country…good on them for not trying to sweep his indiscretions under the rug like MA…he still might get in, vis-a-vis a Federal Court appeal, but at least he had to put his business on front street
Didier Arteta is back at it again with his overly defensive midfield selections…how Rabiot is on the fucking pitch and not Cherki speaks volumes about this chickenshit manager…all the talk has been about Mbappe’s willingness to come back and defend, yet he deploys a midfield with no real linkup play capabilities, so now they’re playing long balls like a team with a fraction of the talent…it will be interesting to see what transpires once the political nonsense of club Didier are removed from the equation…all that said, they still have the individual talent to win in spite of the manager, as they’ve done before
World Cup 2026: Why India, a country of 1.4 billion, is not in the tournament – BBC News https://share.google/yOebVSQ7vpt47r7qD
Hi Hoopah and Ambarish
I’m sure there’s nothing new in this article about the Indian National Football Team but I thought you might nevertheless be interested. It helps explain why Bharat is not at the world cup.