Been some time, innit? Almost a month since I last showed up, but then I have moved to my hometown and the friends and family is keeping my busy. And the work, as usual.
A lot has happened in last 30 days. We have won 6 out of 6 games in Champions League and remains the only team who hasn’t lost yet. Gabriel Martinelli became the only Arsenal player to score in 5 consecutive CL games, as part of this run. We are in the quarter finals in Carabao cup, and got to play Crystal Palace in 3 days. Our FA cup run is yet to begin.
But tonight, in about an hour, we are playing Everton and we are back to ‘the’ situation that has led us to finish 2nd three seasons in a row. We have been very good so far, lost a game against Unai Emery in the last minute and Pep got a chance to catch up. That bald cunt never misses such opportunity and it’s the first since we moved to the top that someone has replaced us. They are a point ahead of us, and if we don’t win, they will stay up top.
And we haven’t been good in catching up. We have seen this unfold 3 seasons in a row, and tonight is a test for Mikel to show whether he has worked on it, whether the players that has been brought IN do not give up to the pressure and whether the likes of Zubimendi, Eze and Gyokeres has got the flair to move us from 2nd to 1st. City will test us every week from now on.
In the team news, our defensive woes continue. White is out for few weeks, Gabriel and Mosquera hasn’t returned from their respective injuries. Only good thing is that Calafiori will be back for the game. The midfield and front 3 are not a difficult pick for Mikel, Rice / Zubi + Odegaard with a front 3 of Saka, Martinelli and Gyokeres will do.
A win is a must, because if you drop points today, City and Pep are not going to let you get away with it. We will get to know whether Mikel and the new players can fix the things that led us miss out on the title last season, and the season before that.
See you during the game.
Wicksy
And how much in sales has Arteta generated?
As for your list of most valuable squads – really I’m trying to be polite but don’t be a cunt.
Last few seasons:
Arsenal – bottled it repeatedly.
Real Madrid – 2 league titles and 2 CL.
Man City – 1 FA Cup, 1 CL and 2 PL.
PSG – 4 league titles, 2 domestic cups and 1 CL setting a record for the biggest win and playing some of the best football I’ve ever seen.
Your defence of Arteta actually highlights what a useless cunt he is.
Do you actually think about what you’re commenting before you write it?
Marc
We didn’t bottle it last season as, like the rest of the league, we were never in it to bottle it.
The season before we never bottled it as we won something Like 18 or our last 19 games , we were just beaten by city on the last day of the season who also went on an unbelievable run.
The season before that , I agree we did bottle it , we were something Like 7 points clear and threw away 2 goal leads to both Liverpool and West ham and then drew with Southampton all in the title run in.
Let’s not forget that we had three 2nd place finishes under wenger from 1999 to 2001 and then won the double, though to be fair we did have a peak Thierry Henry whereas now we have gyokeres which doesn’t fill me with confidence if we persevere with him.
What I do agree with is that compared to the great Arsene Wenger , Arteta has bottled a number of semi finals during his time at the club, though he did win the fa cup with a team predominantly built by Wenger.
Let’s see how this season transpires, city have hit a rich vein of form as has villa.
Although we have won 4 of our last 5 games our form needs to improve, we have had some tough physical away games recently and those sort of away games are very demanding, 3 home games this week with lots of rotation , especially in attack is a healthier situation, palace , Brighton and villa will pose their problems but as I have emphasised all season it is those tough physical away games that will provide the problem for the top sides.
Arsenal currently are top of the away form table with villa 5th and city in 6th place, so let’s see where we are in the next week or so as villa and city have 2 away games each compared to our 2 home games.
Villa play chelsea and Arsenal away and if they come through those 2 fixtures unscathed then we can call them serious title challengers.
City have forest and Sunderland ,which on paper look easier but we shall see.
Wicksy
If we weren’t in it or didn’t bottle it but still didn’t win it give me one reason why we should keep Arteta?
All you’re doing now is giving reasons to sack Arteta with your excuses for him.
Wicksy
Net spend for 2025 Chelsea bottom of the pile at 9.5GBP guess who is at the top.
Norg
Remind me what was Liverpool’s spend summer 24? You know the summer before they won the PL.
Marc
The astronomically high figure of Zero. After the same period Arteta finished a magnificent 8th and then followed up with another 8th placed finish despite bringing in super star players such as Willian and resigning on a super deal the extreme liability that was Luiz. Arteta then hit his full blown Vivian Nicholson form and spent, spent, spent.
Norg
Don’t be ridiculous – everyone knows you need a squad that costs over a billion just to get top 4. Arteta’s the only genius who’s managed it on a lower sum.
As for winning the PL who knows what that takes £2 billion? £5 billion? 10 years? 20 years? The fanboys will bow before the brilliance of Arteta for as long as it takes.
Marc—thanks for bringing some much-needed context to the equation…in a similar vein to our tactically-challenged manager, many of his most ardent apologists are blunt instrument-types, which is likely why they’re so quick to come to his defence…anyone with half a fucking brain can trace MA’s issues all the way back to his first two seasons here, when he proved himself wholly incapable of devising a plausible long-term recruitment plan that would enable us to develop into a top quality side at both ends of the pitch…even a delusional fuck like MA wouldn’t try to suggest that his plan all along was to spend a King’s ransom so that a half decade later we would be known as the functional equivalent of Tony Pulis’s wet dream…if he had even uttered that notion a few years back, when he fucked up the relatively simple Xhaka replacement brief, even the slurpiest of Artetites would have started to turn…instead he kept his thin margins gutless strategy to himself and proceeded with his day late and a dollar short recruitment practices…if it weren’t for the fact that the football has been so watered down for the past couple of years, both here and abroad, he would be facing considerably more scrutiny for his Plan Z approach…it will be interesting to see if the kit gloves come off, when it comes to the punditry, if City continues to roll and/or we face some adversity in the next round of the CL due to MA’s typically underwhelming road tactics
Marc
I didnt watch or listen to the game against Everton and by all accounts I didn’t miss much. However whilst working the following day I kept abreast of the game at Villa Park. The BBC Website had several posters stating that if Emery was given half the amount of funding that has been afforded to El B we would have won the league a couple of times by now. I tend to agree.
Match day post is live.