Are we going to see a Sesko v Gyokeres? I would love to. We are visiting Old Trafford today for our opening game of the season and it couldn’t have been more exciting for an Arsenal fan. We had finished 2nd thrice in a row, we have no intention to make it 4 and we will finally be playing with a proper striker up front. No Havertz – a makeshift striker, no Merino – a midfielder with a duty to score goals, no Trossard who plays better on the wings. We have a 65m striker who scored the most goals last season in any of the leagues that matters. A striker who dreamt of playing in red and white, who asked his agent to cut down his fees to facilitate the transfer, who hold ransom his old club for a move. We haven’t seen anything like that from quite some time, and in games when the scoreboard reads 0-0 in 65th minute, when the strategy you devised isn’t working, it’s the passion and fire in the players that wins you game. We have added more of that in our playing XI.
Right, what a way to start the season. A rejuvenated (take it with a pinch of salt) Manchester United under Amorin who got rid of some of the deadwoods, who brought in one of the striker we were initially interested in, is always dangerous. In fact, Man Utd is dangerous irrespective of the players or the manager if they are playing at home. They have already added some firepower with Cunha, Mbuemo, and Sesko.
In the team news, everyone’s fit except Gabriel Jesus. I would love a back 4 of Timber, Saliba, Gabriel and MLS with Zubimendi, Odegaard and Rice in the midfield. The front 3 from now on, should always be Saka – Gyokeres – Martinelli unless it’s an unimportant Carabao Cup game or one of them needs rest. There shouldn’t be a second thought to play Havertz or Merino in that role if Gyokeres says he is fit. Unless you want to play with two strikers, but that’s a thought for a different day.
In the pre-match conference, here’s what Arteta had to say about the pressure to win the title that stood out for me –
You keep digging, digging, digging. You have to keep digging because one day, the gold is going to be there. That’s all the time, what I’ve been taught, I’ve been educated and that’s it. For three seasons, we have more points than any other team in this league. It’s incredible, that’s why we have all the consistency. Now we have to do it in a season, to earn one more point or the same amount of points and more goals difference than any other team. That’s the objective.
source: Arsenal.com
No, we don’t have more points that any other team in the league in last 3 years combined, Man City has. Even if we did, it doesn’t matter because we came 2nd each time. I understand that we keep digging, digging and digging to get to our goal but if your goal is to keep digging for next 12 years in search of 1 title, that’s bonkers.
Anyways, I don’t give a fcuk how you twist your words Mikel. It’s your 6th full season, you have a billion dollar squad at your disposal, you have got 2 playing XIs that can play in Premier League and the missing piece is here. No excuses this time. The title is a must, unless you finish second and get us that Champions league trophy. And it’s start with a game against a team that finished in the bottom half of the table, is your rival and is a must win.
Lets go out there, beat them convincingly for the confidence that’s needed for the games to come and to be in the mix of the title. No, it’s not too early, both City and Liverpool has started their season with a win and you surely don’t want to play catch ups to them.
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Right, that’s all for today. We are playing Man Utd (A), Liverpool (A), Man City (H), Newcastle (A) in first 6 games of the season, and every one of these games will be important if you want to hold that trophy in your hand.
Before I wrap up, let me thanks Paul and Ray for some of the wonderful pictures they have shared with me. I will be using these at LiR. You can follow them on Twitter/X if you find them as refreshing as I do.
Thanks again, guys – if you are reading this, we would love to see you in comment section.
TRVL
Give it a few weeks and they’ll be picking holes in things that aren’t even the issue.
The media is moronic – they’re either all in or criticise where there’s no reason to.
Marc—I think they’re primarily concerned with coaches/managers not dropping by to chat if they’re critical whatsoever…everyone’s so fragile nowadays
AF—we’ve got a binary code manager who appears more likely to solve world peace than devise a plan with offence in mind…you just know that as soon as VG was replaced Auba was sliding into his DMs with an empathetic message of support…unless we pair Ode and Ethan I don’t think we can unlock VG…otherwise we’ll be reduced to sending in a plethora of crosses from out wide and hoping that he can get his head on the odd one(kind of what we did with Merino up top)…problem is that’s not really his strong suit
TRVL
Gyokeres reminds me of John Hawley.
Like Hawley, he was not the answer.
But at least Hawley cost 30 grand and a bag of balls not £60 million.
Isak was the player.
And fuck me, if the cunts bided their time and not shot their load on him and another Chelsea scrote they could have landed him..
AF—for me it’s far more about the dire tactics than VG, although I totally agree with your Isak sentiments…our whole offensive scheme is predicated on getting the ball to the likes of Rice, Havertz and Ode in advantageous positions…we don’t do enough to get Saka or Marts into those spaces and Noni being played on his wrong side means that he’s only there to cross the ball in…only MA would put the focus so squarely on those without a clinical bone in their respective bodies (minus Rice’s wet dream of an outing against Real)…like I said, I get it though, it’s far easier to devise a plan that stops the opposition from scoring than one that’s designed to outscore the other side…it’s the very basis behind the whole park the bus mentality…Cheers
TRVL
When we beat Southampton last season.
The paper nabbed a close up picture of his tactics he had written down on an envelope.
You would think we were playing Liverpool of old the absolute shit he had written down on it.
He is a typical busy body no good cunt.
Adams called him out as well this week.
Well done Tony.
AF—nothing against Tony Adams but I so wish those comments had come from someone who was a little more understated/measured with their words…maybe Bergkamp, so that the message might resonate more with some of the Kool-Aiders…of course, it’s highly unlikely that DB would ever say any such things in a public setting
personally I don’t think MA’s been given a “win now” mandate by the powers that be, so the only way he realistically gets the axe is if something happens that actually negatively impacts the Kroenke’s bottom line…now some might say that MA’s unprecedented spending practices have done just that, but those funds aren’t coming out of Big Stan’s pocket, they’re “loans” that will be paid back in full, with a sizeable amount of interest to boot…this is a long-term investment, so as long as our MV continues to rise there likely won’t be a sense of urgency when it comes to sacking the manager
the only other possible pressure points could come in either the form of some sort of widespread fanbase protest, much like what transpired under Wenger, or him being plucked away by another club…I highly doubt this fanbase has the collective desire and/or stomach to pursue the former anytime soon and what are the chances that he would go anywhere else without having similar carte blanche assurances, which rarely happens at the kind of clubs he would covet
sadly, we’re likely stuck with this fraudulent fuck for the foreseeable future, which is why I always say that we need to acquire players who can win in spite of the manager…hopefully Berta recognizes this and acts accordingly, which is a moot fucking point if he’s just another MA minion with a plastic title
I think Tony A’s views do resonate with the fanbase. We’ve had dozens of heroes over the years but TA and Frank McClintock are players I’d be happy to call ‘Mr Arsenal’ in their time. I think PV replaced Tony in that role for me. Tony only played for the Arsenal and he’s an eloquent voice on the club and other issues that are important to him, e.g. addiction and recovery.
I watched so many games at Highbury where TA, along with Spider or Bouldy simply suffocated attacking threats and allowed our mf and attack to flourish. I imagine Chelsea Fans’ love of that cunt John Terry is much the same.
I certainly pay attention when TA speaks. I think of all of our players over the years, he is the geezer that embodies Arsenal for me.
Just an opinion
TRVL
My sentiments entirely. MA is going to be around until the bottom line is affected enough for Stan to pull the plug, as he did with Wenger.
What we witnessed yesterday was the usual wash, rinse, repeat style of MA’s limited thinking, which will remain limited until he has one elite 6 and 2 gifted AMs. Ode can be one AM, so long as he has a Eze level and type at 8.
Rice for the first time looked uncomfortable at 8. Maybe he knows deep down we need an elite 8 to win a major trophy. Granted he’s still finding his fitness, but………
After seeing Reinjnders play for City as if he’s been there a couple of seasons on Saturday, I seriously question the logic of buying Zubi? Sure he was adequate, but we have Rice and Norgaard!
We needed a Reijnders/Eze, but bought a 2nd rate Rice who is probably around Norgaard’s level. For me and no offense meant to Zubi who is a very decent player, I just see him as just not what we needed.
I’m hoping Bertha can see what we see that we need Eze or his level plus to mount a serious challenge, because then Rice can anchor at 6 with the odd box to box gallop when the situation can be crafted.
Can Rice be the new Paddy at 6? That’s where he’s worth £105m+. Not trying to emulate Pires.
As you guys posted above we’ve gone backwards or at least we haven’t pushed the needle in the direction we needed to. Merino looks like he’d be more comfortable in the Addam’s Family first 11, than at 8 or 9 for us.
Unless he can hit Reijnders levels, he should be a bench back up only. Then Noni I feel could play 8 better then Merino.
What we all feared would happen has happened this summer where now, the player we need most is more likely to join Frank’s new Spud’s rebuild. I liked Frank as a manager, but not his gum eating habits. He will get Spuds purring at a reasonable level, as he did Brentford, but with more transfer funds to play with.
Pep and Slot have both made statements of intent in their opening games and TW dealings. Watching them play each other is going to be mouthwatering; just for the football alone.
Enzo still has the Chavs misfiring, but has the pieces to mount a challenge and certainly top 4 worthy when they click, as they did in the club world cup. Just need tightening at the back.
We are still at least a couple of elite players missing to mount a sustained challenge is my humble view. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m a little uneasy with Skelly at LB, especially against speedsters. He’s prone to overcompensating for his mistakes either getting booked/red carded or losing possession, which can lead to goal scoring chances.
Probably just needs experience, but Cauliflower isn’t the right cover while being better in more advanced positions, but doesn’t have the pace to recover. Kiwior is the better left sided defender but less effective inverting.
Looking at the weekend’s football and taking pre-seasons into account I think it’s between us and Chavs for 3rd and 4th place, unless Manure or Spuds can punch above their current weight more consistently for this season, during their rebuilds.
Supposedly, Edu/Forest have a £100m war chest for Edu to spend. How true? I know not, but if it is, it will be interesting to see who Edu buys?
That’s my inflation busting 20 pence’s worth, which I’ll try not to keep repeating.
Just think if MA had bought Isak, Ekitike, Reijnders and Eze?
Then paid off Havertz, Jesus, Zinny, and told Rice he’s having the team built around him at 6 to placate his AM ego telling him he can still take corners and free kicks as well as make the right Paddy V like marauding runs from deep in our half to become the cult hero, he so desperately wants to be.
In a couple of months we will have our own version of, “Now is the winter of discontent”…….. Ho hum!
There was very little to get excited about yesterday other than the result.
Gyokeres looked like he had 2 left feet, Rice looked like he had a bag of cement on his shoulders, Martinelli was Martinelli and saka was a yard off the pace. Odegaard at least tried to take the fight to united with very little support,
Where was the control , where was the composure on the ball , we looked hurried in everything we done all over the pitch..
We should consider ourselves very fortunate to walk away with the 3 points, basically united totally outplayed us , cunha and mbueno had a massive influence on the game as did Amad when he came on , for Arsenal there were more questions than answers, though it has to be said that the referee gave Arsenal sweet fa which made it very difficult for us as it was a case of if an Arsenal player went down he waved play on but if a united player went down it was a free kick .
Artfraud compared Gyokeres to John Hawley which is a bit harsh ……on Hawley…but seriously Lee Chapman springs to mind when looking at Gyokeres and unless we give him the right service we will have a lee Chapman on our hands who went to Leeds and won a league title under Howard Wilkinson.
To be fair to Gyokeres he was given no protection from the ref but I can tell you now that the opposition away fans will slaughter him if he doesn’t improve on yesterday’s performance, Leeds at home next week should see him given a few chances in front of goal so I wouldn’t write him off after one very tough away game at old Trafford….silky and smooth on the ball he is definitely not .
Wicksy
Getting in the real world at fucking last.
Well done.
Your man is a cunt.
Gyokeres is John Hawley without the fucking goals.
Will be fascinating sub plot to see how quickly the moronic cunt in charge dumps him and blames the other cunt sitting in the stands who bought him.
That will be more entertaining than his watching his drab football.
Will just point out that comparing Gyokeres to Lee Chapman is not a compliment as I regard Chapman as probable the 2nd worse striker (behind Hawley) that I have seen at the club.
and Lee Chapman had a lovely wife – just ask Eric.
NORG
Pre or post plastic surgery?😁 Leslie was ill advised to go down that route. Cantona was some boy no? Wasn’t he another of the multitudes of world class footballers that Wengo could’ve signed?
Wicksy – I’m going to out Wicksy you here. It’s way too early to get hung up on performances. Winning up there is a massive fucking thing. I think your analysis of our front 5 is spot on. Their football was ill-focussed and incoherent but we beat them. After we scored I thought they offered little to no threat. They got progressively worse. As much as I hate manure, they’ll be a tough proposition to many teams at their shitty ground this season.
I’ve just called my psychoanalyst and booked an urgent appointment. The subject of our meeting? How the fuck have I become less critical of Arsenal than Wicksy?
Whatever you’re taking Herr Wickmeister, I’m impressed by your Damascene Conversion. 💉💊💉
KP
When United signed Eric I was overseeing an update to our Manchester depot which was just around the corner from Old Toilet. Everyweek I spent 2 – 3 days in Manchester and stayed at the Novotel, Worsley – as did Eric.
He was pampered by the French Manager and the French Chef. He was quite good company – he hated Wenger. His fling with Lesley was pre her lip job, though it may have been a request of his.
When the affair had blown over we saw the Chapman family in the Sun at Dedham – the atmosphere seemed a bit strained between Lee & Lesley.
As for yesterday – we were shit and El B has no idea what he is doing. Man U are a goalkeeper away from finishing level with us.
For once I agree with Wicksy – whatever next? Kroenke writing love poems about Trump!
KP & AF—first and foremost I want to acknowledge my screw-up…when Adams was initially brought up my brain instantly went to the comments made by Keown, regarding the whole trophy or bust narrative, and not TA’s comments involving Ode’s captaincy…my bad
I don’t disagree with TA’s sentiments, although I would have felt even stronger about the notion if Rice had helped at the negotiation table and hadn’t come with a nonsensical agenda in mind…sadly, Ode makes perfect sense in this revamped AKB squad, where there’s only one voice in the room that truly matters, so the armband is of little real significance…Arteta’s player vote-inspired argument is about as legit as a Russian election
so even though my premise regarding the import of the messenger over the message doesn’t totally apply here, as TA’s comments were far less divisive than Keown’s, I’m still of the belief that the words of someone with DB’s demeanor would resonate more with the Kool-Aiders than any former player who have more media-related baggage…that doesn’t make it right of course, as I, like you, don’t disregard the thoughts of others simply because we might not be aligned on everything…Cheers
Tony—spot on regarding the whole roster construction narrative…if he really wanted VG to reach his full potential he would have provided him with the kind of midfielders that can unlock/spread defences…right now we have one such individual, who actually gets regular minutes, and that’s Ode, which is rather problematic as he’s been bang average for some time now…maybe Ethan will get a chance to play along side him, but that seems unlikely as that would require Zubi to be benched and Rice to be deployed as the DM, which shouldn’t be such a far-fetched notion considering that we paid over 100M for him to do just that(or so we thought)…it appears as if Arteta’s Arsenal is where creativity goes to die…long live the master of the blunt instrument
Nice one Vieira. Sounds right.
KP—Keown took so much grief over his “trophy or bust” narrative that he subsequently tipped us to win the title, which is something he’s never done with MA at the helm…sounds like he got run up on by a dozen or so little guys in skinny pants wearing Nixon-like Arteta masks…only someone feeling the “squeeze” would ever draw such a conclusion after watching that insipid performance
Having seen the bullshitball served up by Leeds and Everton last night (shockingly bad game) I will be slightly more concerned after Saturday evening if we don’t beat the former comfortably. 4-0 up by half time I predict.