You didn’t expect Wolves, who are sitting in 20th position, to do you a favor, did ya? Man City closed down the gap by 3 points today and it’s now in our hands to extend the lead back to 7 points by beating our legacy rivals. Man Utd are crap, lets be real. But they still sit at 5th position, ahead of Chelsea, Newcastle and Spurs. They are only a point behind Liverpool and they know few wins could get them into the Champions League. They have something to play for, so do we – and we will find out tomorrow who wants it more.
Calafiori and Hincapie will be assessed before the game but it’s fine to say we will have a fully fit squad for the first time this season. Mikel will have everyone in front of him to pick for his playing XI, and our next game in a not important CL games against Kairat. So, yeah – lets go for everything.
If I have to pick, I will do the usuals. Raya in goal, with Timber, Saliba, Gabriel and Calafiori in defence. A midfield of Odegaard, Zubimendi and Rice will do where Rice plays in a more advance role. I would pick Saka, Gyokeres and Martinelli as front 3, but won’t mind Trossard if Mikel finds him more contributing to our game.
16 games left. 7 points lead (4 but then City has played one extra game). A Premier League trophy we have been dreaming of since THE INVINCIBLES. That was in 2003-04, about 23 years ago. There are some Arsenal fans who can vote, marry and have a kid but haven’t seen us lift the trophy.
And then, we have a billion dollar squads, most of which have finished 2nd three seasons in a row. Most of them had the heart breaks, some of them were exhausted, some would have punched a wall. Some of them are on big fat wages, some renewed, some joined from other clubs to be a part of red and white in the hope of winning something. NOW IS THE TIME. Mikel and the team does all the talk, but we need to walk the walk.
I know there is still a long way to go, 16 weeks of Premier League football and we would see a lot of ups and downs, but I am not wrong to say it’s ours to lose now. Man Utd, under Carrick, will try their best to stop us. Can we sustain the pressure? Can we keep our winning run?
We will find out. See you in the comments.
Aitcho
“I didn’t like the four subs, it can be viewed as being decisive and addressing the issues but in my experience at varying levels of the game, it can transmit a sense of panic stations to the players on the pitch. Also, I’m not a fan of the overhaul in shape that 4 subs can do.”
Its one of the reasons international friendlies are so shit and I’ve been to far too many. Come the second half 5 / 6 changes are made and everyone wonders why the team is suddenly disjointed.
Vera, are you still banging the “xhaka was unfairly maligned” drum?
Massive lol. He was shit every season bar one when Tets played him up top to minimise the risks of his defensive gormlessness. That’s actually a great managerial shout.
He’s totemic of the banter era. Nobody rated him then and hindsight hasn’t caused anyone, but you, to re-evaluate. You may find it surprising but I’m yet to hear a cry of “if only we had Xhaka!” whenever we struggle against a low block or aggressive press.
That’s not to say I never will but right now you remain part of a niche group of football know nothings on the issue of Xhaka’s quality. Go back, rewatch, re read and address how you constantly come up with dopey opinions
Cheers squeaky
Achoo—you of all people should know that I was never in the pro-Xhaka camp, in fact quite the fucking opposite…if you weren’t such an obtuse shit for brains fucktard you would have realized that I wasn’t propping up Xhaka but highlighting just how badly MA fucked up when he brought in Havertz as his replacement…there’s no one who spent more time online pushing for Xhaka’s exodus than myself…that’s why you’re a know-nothing mouthpiece…you would think that after the whole stalking debacle you wouldn’t want to embarass yourself again…nice work clown!!!
Marc,
Were still top of the league, still storming through the champs league.
We wouldn’t be if Tets was a 2nd rate manager. The fans in stadium, mostly, from what I see around me at least, don’t think he’s second rate either. That’s a silly view to take.
We’re jittery because, like the players we don’t have that level of self belief that comes from being winners over time. Your view on why fans are jittery is another example of getting het up over something you made up yourself, like your drinking sand analogy.
It’s anecdotal I know but you’re the only person out of all the arsenal fans I know, socialise with and discuss our team with on a probably near daily basis in one context or another that has raised that as an issue or grounds to be nervous. I suspect that’s your answer to everything, “he’s a second rate manager!!” a bit over simplistic given how the season’s gone so far. You may disagree and sincerely believe a 2nd rate manager would smack up Bayern, Athletic Madrid, Inter and Real Madrid in a 12 month period. That’s a level of Cult like delusion like Trump fans who think hes not a sexual predator.
We have an awful lot of fans who don’t deserve a slap but support their team. They don’t wail incessantly about manufactured points of outrage to justify their inability to move past their anger at Tets’ appointment in 2019.
It’s been 6 years, people have moved on. You don’t want to because you can’t move on but we both know, your ticket will fly off ticket excnhange once you post it because people know better than you and are less wedded to their old, incorrect it transpires, opinions.
Perspective is needed , Raya has conceded 4 unbelievable goals from distance in his last 5 games, Bournemouth, inter and the 2 yesterday, this is not normal, I’m not usually one for xg but united expected goals yesterday was 0.78 .
The worrying aspect for me is that we have given away 2 very soft goals against Bournemouth and united with misplaced passes at the back from gabriel and Zubimendi, we got away with it against Bournemouth but not yesterday.
There is no point pressing the panic button after one defeat in over 2 months, we have a nice easy champions league game on Wednesday to erase part of yesterday and then a difficult trip to Leeds, a game we should win.
Winning the league was never going to be a walk in the park , we are still in a great position , in fact a better position than at Christmas, we bounced back after our blip v villa and Sunderland back in November and I see no reason why we can’t bounce back again .
Arteta’s main job is to find the right balance in attack , calafiori coming back is a bonus as he gave us good width offensively before his injury, Odegard gives us very little so maybe this is the time for Eze to step up to the plate, although I’m more inclined to think that Arteta will bring in Merino to replace Odegard , also martinelli with his pace should be a good option away to Leeds .
City and villa have dropped points and will continue to drop points as we will in a very tough demanding league, it’s all about perspective when we win or lose, for me it is building to be a very exciting and tense last 4 months of the season .
It basically makes no difference where or how the goals ccome from but our lack of creativity is a concern and appears to coincide with the return of odegaard and the benching of Eze , a mistake by Arteta in my opinion.
Eze has become a shadow of the player he was earlier in the season and a large part of the blame should fall at the feet of Arteta .
Basically since odegaard came back all our forwards have struggled to score in the league
Saka, 0 goals in the last 13 PL games.
Gyokeres, 0 non-penalty goals in his last 13 PL outings.
Martinelli, 0 goals in his last 13 PL appearances.
Madueke, 0 goals in his last 25 PL appearances.
Eze has contributed nothing in the Premier League since November 23rd.
Trossard, 1 goal in his last 11 outings.
Martin Odegaard has 1 goal all season and just 4 assists..
There was no reason to bench Eze and to freeze Nwaneri out of the side this season, a player who had 11 goal contributions in 15 starts last season.
I have always believed that Odegaard is overrated , when you talk about weak mentality look no further than odegaard, but Arteta loves him but sooner or later Arteta will have to make a decision on him the way he has to make a decision on gyokeres as our season could hit the buffer.
I’m not sure Arteta trusts the likes of Eze or Nwaneri and that could provide a problem as a creative player will always need the trust of his manager to produce his best football as a creative player like debruyne or Bruno have to take risks which means occasionally losing the ball , and that is a non negotiable for Arteta as it’s all about keeping possession with him.
We may just get over the line this season playing this way due to our defensive structure and no team dominating the league but for the future Arteta needs to allow the more creative players to take risks with the ball in the final third as we have players like nwaneri and dowman coming through who have the potential to be top level .
The way the 3 are deployed when things go batshit , think the gorms are worms of same parentage ?
Too intriguing .
Careful Wicksy keep looking at things objectively and before you know it you’ll be calling Arteta a cunt.
“”I have always believed that Odegaard is overrated , when you talk about weak mentality look no further than odegaard””
Truer words have never been said.
Aitcho
We don’t have that level of self belief but we are in 6th season of Mikel. Saka, Martinelli, Odegaard, Gabriel, Saliba have been there since beginning.
We have upgraded GK from Leno to Ramsdale to Raya. We have upgraded the defence from White to Timber and Tierney to Calafiori. We have upgraded midfield from Partey to Rice to Zubimendi. We have upgraded the striker from Auba to Jesus to Havertz to Gyokeres.
–
The system is a problem. Saka has lost his flair. Martinelli looks a 1/10th of his potential. Gyokeres was the hottest striker on the planer before coming to Arsenal. Rice was brilliant and he is still is.
We have only looked better defensively. Gabriel and Saliba has been outstanding, Calafiori is a find and Timber is a brilliant player but you don’t win titles keeping that defensive line under pressure.
I personally think Mikel can still get something out of this season. Every trophy is still achievable. 4 points clear of City, round of 16 in CL, semo finals in Carabao and FA cup.
If we don’t do it, I think the club should make a decision. I can give you an example – Ben White was one of the best RBs in the League. He still is, and can make into any playing XI. But we upgraded on him and got ourselves Timber.
There is no shame in doing so, for a manager who has won fuck all in 7 seasons at the club. And yes – I don’t count an FA cup because that was an Emery team.
The corrupted mugs in the media and the KSE funded blogs have not realised , that the bullshit era of Fraudiola and his fucking lickspittle little cunt , that manages us is officialy over as of last week.
They just have not realised it.
A thick vacant Geordie with hardly any experience has mugged them both playing traditional English football using traditional methods and basic motivation.
Well done Carrick and being true to yourself and the game and not making out , you are some sort of fucking genius like those Catalan fraudsters.
Cunts.
It feels like we have been here before as in November questions were being asked of this squad after we drew with Chelsea and Sunderland and lost to villa , and how did we respond ? We went on a 12 game unbeaten run (winning 10) and in doing so stretched our lead in the prem to 7pts , qualified in top spot from the champions league, have one foot in the league cup final and are through to the 4th round of the fa cup with a home tie v wigan .
Who’s to say we can’t do similar again , kairat on Wednesday should be a formality, Leeds at the weekend will be tough , followed by league cup semi, Sunderland, Brentford, wigan and Spurs.
There should be no excuses this time around , we have a fit squad that can be rotated, we have played villa , Liverpool and United twice so on paper the fixtures are in our favour so now is the time when the manager shows his capabilities in his team selection, tactics and ability to motivate the squad to get it done.
Am I confident…of course, it isn’t possible that the opposition can keep scoring from unstoppable strikes from 20-30 yards as has happened the last few weeks, the only real chances we are conceding are from sloppy passing at the back , but what we need is one or 2 of our offensive players to hit a purple patch , if not we will struggle to score meaning we struggle to win games, although I will say it is not as bad as some seem to think , we have scored 19 goals in our last 8 games at a rate of nearly 2 and half a game , though of course it is the cup games where we have been prolific.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cj3vprzg387o
Art,
Are you ready to jump on the ‘fun boat’ with Arteta and Win? As you might say…cunt!
Most of the comments below-the-line could have been written by LiR’ers. Worth a quick once over.
KP
You could write the lyrics and set it ‘Love Shack’ B52s. ‘Come on down to the Fun Boat baby’.
…with Captain Stubborn cruising for a bit of rough. As Jim Royle would have said if he were a Gooner, ‘fun boat my arse!’
Kroenkephobe /NORG
I will be on the fucking fun boat when this cunt is miles away from the club.
I had my bit of fun Sunday, when Carrick mugged the cunt.
With the likes of Sesko, Mbueno, Amad, Fenrnadez and Cunha , I reckon Carrick will be entertaining the United faithful for a while while we will continue to have to suffer the usual own goal/ set piece shite.
“I will be on the fucking fun boat when this cunt is miles away from the club.”
Art I look forward to buying you a beer on board mate.
“we’re going to live and play with enjoyment, with a lot of courage and with the conviction that we’re going to win it”
how fucking ironic considering his cowardly and robotic tactical inklings…he should be saying this self-affirmation horseshit to himself while looking into a fucking mirror
two points of interest:
(1) I must admit I’m totally flabbergasted that he didn’t lean into his usual tin foil hat should have been a penalty bullshit after our last match, so maybe just maybe he’s starting to realize that the constant bitching and moaning is hurting not helping matters
(2) only the most gutless of fucks would get so chesty before playing what should be our easiest match of the entire season…what a poser cunt