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.
Liverpudlians have been asking to sack Arne Slot on all over reddit lol, can’t win against a 10 men Spurs
Apologies for Jinxing it.
Team news –
Raya
Timber, Saliba, Hincapie, Calafiori
Rice, Zubimendi, Odegaards
Saka, Gyokeres, Trossard
bench – Kepa, MLS, Norgaard, Eze, Nwaneri, Merino, Martinelli, Madueke, Jesus.
For a change, the bench looks is forward looking than defensive players with 2 goal keepers.
Ambarish
How’s the family?
We’ve got plenty of attacking options either starting or available from the bench tonight – no excuse to not win although the fanboys will be getting them ready for when Arteta does an Arteta.
Everything’s good Marc, thank you. How’s things at your end…
Yep, the bench looks hot, there is no way we should be dropping points today.
That’s a blatant handball.
That it’s taking VAR more than a split second to decide tells you everything about the state of our refs.
Ambarish
Things are good – finished up work so I’ve got a couple of weeks off over Christmas, I’m going to chill, do some cooking and I might just have a beer or two!
He absolutely lashed that.
it’s been like a fucking ghost town on here for close to a week…this is what happens when numpty know-nothing fucks take over the airwaves…I’m still dealing with the same medical shit, plus I’ve got family in the city for the holidays, so I just took a bit if a breather
I kind of felt this was going to be a rather boring affair and, for the most part, it’s lived up to that billing…our sideways borefests tend to afford us the luxury of only having to withstand a 10 or so minute push by “lower” tier opposing sides…that said, it unnecessarily leaves the door open for teams that don’t deserve any such favours…it’s all too blunt instrument for my liking…on a side note, someone should look into any unusual penalty-related prop bets considering the absolute ludicrous manner in which they conceded that penalty
Cheers to you, Ambarish and Marc, for at least reporting for duty…best wishes to both of you this holiday season!!
this is horrible football from an eye test perspective, which is clearly our specialty…that doesn’t mean there wasn’t any periods where we had some decent ball movement, not to mention we did hit the iron a couple times, but I could have listened to this one on the radio and seemingly missed out on next to nothing
TRVL
“Horrible football ”
Yes , it is very difficult for the away team to play open , expansive football when the home side put 11 behind the ball and never even managed a shot on target, but let’s blame Arsenal for the horrible football as it suits the narrative.
There we’re a couple of contentious penalty decisions , both were penalties in my opinion , gyokeres was pushed from behind a yard from goal when he had the simple job of nodding the ball into the empty bet , of course this would have also resulted in a definite red card but var bottled it.
Maybe that had a bearing on var not giving the Everton penalty when saliba quite clearly kicked the Everton striker, so I suppose it evened itself in the end to a degree , though Everton being down to ten men after half hour would certainly made it easier for Arsenal.
Unsurprisingly the pundits barely mentioned Arsenal’s penalty appeal and red card and tried to give the impression that Arsenal were fortunate as they highlighted everton’s appeal , plus of course moyes was moaning about it whilst conveniently forgetting that Everton got away with one.
The 3 home games coming up this week come at a good time for the club after a number of tough physical away games which brought us mixed results, heavy rotation in the league cup is a certainty though shortage of defenders may make it difficult to rotate too much, I expect palace to field a strong side
TRVL
” but I could have listened to this one on the radio and seemingly missed out on next to nothing”
I’ve watched too many league games over the years that have meant absolutely nothing in terms of challenging for the title , so to watch a tension filled game like today when the result really mattered are the games that proper fans (not the entitled one’s) enjoy despite the football not being overly exciting , the enjoyment is mainly due to getting the 3 points to stay top of the league…
clueless slurptard fans like yourself are the reason why they can peddle this nonsense…the fact that you actually thought that love-tap on VG warranted a penalty says everything…by hook or by crook isn’t a billion dollar strategy, except on the odd occasion against a quality side…Everton, no matter the location, is by no means a quality side…thanks again for lowering the bar “proper” fan
No one has to make excuses for teams that play good football having to grind out a result on occasions. They only have to make excuses when shit football is served up week in week out – home or away doesn’t make a difference.
We would have dropped points last season or the season before. Tens of ways we would have fucked up. This season so far, I think we did only against Emery but that’s a curse and we have to live with that.
–
Boring or attractive football, we are getting the results in our favor. We are finishing 1-0 in games against teams that are playing low blocks.
We might just turn out to be lucky this season, guys. A trophy is coming and Kroenkes are waiting for it to extend Mikel contract.
They didn’t take a day to let Edu go, who brought us CL money. They said ‘yes’ to whatever Mikel asked, a LB – ok, a CF – ok, Trossard wage increase – ok, Madueke – ok, Eze – ok. Zubimendi – ok.
https://x.com/i/status/2002276657395065269
:))
I would rather neat drink lepers pus than watch more of this moronic cunts football.
Ditto the above scrotes essays.
And he is supposed to be a world class coach? Where is the skill, flair and craft?
He is a Spanish clone of Moyes.
Difference is Moyes is likeable.
Relying on own goals and scabby penalties.
I fucking hope they lose every game until we get someone like Cescy in and get us playing like you should in 2025/6 with all the inbuilt advantages a club like ours , have over 90% of the sides.
Art Fraud
Moyes hasn’t spent a billion quid and didn’t inherit players of the quality of Saka, Saliba, Smith Rowe, Martinelli etc.
Arteta’s more like the Spanish Allardyce or Pulis.