![New season, new look [meta]](https://i0.wp.com/londonisred.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Arsenal.jpg?fit=1024%2C612&ssl=1)
We are only 20 days away from a new season and our first game against Wolves at home on Aug 17th. We have a tradition here at londonisred, where I check few layouts and settle for one during the breaks – keeps me busy in an otherwise boring time without football.
Well, here it is. I have settled with this new look, most of the things are working fine, the social media buttons need an update since I have a working X account for the blog, a Facebook page (obsolete but I am going to revive that) and a reddit community (started yesterday, hoping to connect with gooners there as well).
So, what changes? Nothing much in terms of what we do here. londonisred remains an open platform for every gooner out there, no discrimination based on your support or hate towards Mikel. A lot of change in the way we do that.
We have a working dark mode now, click on the moon to toggle between dark and light mode. A lot of us hate a white light while hiding phone from wife, trying not to wake her up and to read londonisred. I have made that easier.
The social media buttons will be fixed.
The fonts are more readable, the comment section is much cleaner. I have removed a lot of junk so the website will load a bit faster from the 2nd time you use it.
The footer section gives you brief about me, categories which are very helpful to switch between different posts and a cry for help.
These are the major changes, rest everything remains similar to what we have since March 2021.
We have about 3 weeks of boredom left. I will need your help to finetune it further, so use it and give a shoutout in the comments if something is broken, and if you don’t like something if it works. I will take it into consideration for the next iteration of fixes.
Cheers.
Hi Ambarish
Really like the new look of the blog – really don’t like the look of the incoming season!
Hi Marc
At worst, we have the same team that finished 2nd last season and went toe-to-toe with Man City. I’m hopeful for the coming season, I am sure getting a CM will fix the midfield and we either get a CF or Havertz is a confirmed in that position.
It’s not that bad, we just need that extra push to win. A CF certainly is on the list.
As Arsenal sat 15th and stared at an embarrassing relegation fight at Christmas in 2020 two youngsters stepped up to drag them out of the mire. Mikel Arteta turned to Emile Smith Rowe to inject creativity alongside the more established but still 19-year-old Bukayo Saka and a team that had taken two points from their previous seven games claimed an unlikely victory against Chelsea on Boxing Day.
Part of a longer piece in the Guardian about the imminent jettissoning of ESR, Reiss (the best looking player in our squad) and Eddie Unket. The above para succinctly explains how Emile saves Arteta’s culo in that game. I remember it vividly.
New layout looks very good Ambarish. The last one was even better in my luddite opinion.
Ambarish
That same team managed to pick up 27 points from the matches against City, Liverpool, ManU, Chelsea, Spud’s, Newcastle and Villa, including 6 points against ManU and 4 points against each of Liverpool, City, Chelsea and the Spud’s.
The chances of repeating that again are slim the chances without an additional striker are beyond remote.
Much nicer layout Ambarish.
I’m afraid I’m with Marc and very concerned about the coming season. It’s not about whether we hate or support the manager, Ambarish. It’s about supporting the club and what’s best for the club.
Manager’s come and go!
We can only post on what we witness. Then our povs are tainted by the colour of our emotions from what transpired where sometimes the emotions get the better of us because of the whole futility of what we have to endure with El B week in week out.
Do you honestly think Manure, Chavs, Pool, Villa, Spuds and City are going to have bad seasons or long dips in their seasons, Ambarish? Fulham, Palace, Newcastle and BHA will be stronger, too. All capable of taking points from us where fine margins win the league.
The fact we have the same team as last season when everyone has improved, and where we came very 2nd best, with the wheels coming off again in April, suggests to me we are not ready to win the league.
We all want the same thing, but let’s not go down the Wenger rabbit hole of excuses after excuses. We are 5 years in where the wheels kept coming off, in April for the last 3 seasons.
We badly need an 8 CAM and 9 CF before anything else, because Havertz as our 9 is not a PL winning decision. So, why get rid of ESR a very decent 8? Our play is right side centric and easy to defend against: double and triple team up on Sake and kick him in rotation to keep away from yellow cards early.
We didn’t need Calafiori unless Gabs is going. Kiwior was adequate and improving with Tomi as back up and White who is a CB first and foremost. Timber is a RB.
I really like what I saw of Nico Williams, but can he hit the ground running and live with the continual, brutal assaults ALA Saka style on him? Can he deal with the pace and physically?
The overwhelming factor here is El B is a serial error strewn manager, mostly repeating his mistakes, as the facts are laid bare there for our last 3 seasons: 522 finishes all from collapses we all saw coming here.
I’m longing for a manager I can get behind and respect and one who takes us forward winning major trophies and challenging when we don’t.
El B is not that manager for me, and most for here; not for hateful personal reasons, but for the last 5 years of abject failure with over £600m spent, and a squad worth over £1B.
Just one Covid FA cup to show for it……..
I’ll try to keep my posts balanced, Ambarish, same as above, which is factual unfortunately.
The fact that we’re being linked with Nico Williams demonstrates everything that is wrong with Arteta running the club (and that is what he’s doing). Nothing to do with whether Williams is a good or bad player he’s a winger – we don’t need another winger, especially one who’s going to cost north of £50 million when we have Saka, Martinelli and Trossard.
In football the hard truth is any player is dispensable if a better player is available but an even harder truth is you don’t go out and buy new curtains for your house if the roof’s blown off and you haven’t replaced it.
Arteta has a serious issue with his psychology – he believes his own bullshit.
It will not end well.
I expect when El B was young and played with jig-saws when he couldnt get a piece to fit out would come the sandpaper. He still plays the same today and tries to fit a piece where it does not go.
Sells ESR and keeps Viera – puzzling.
Norg
Weren’t there rumours that Vieira wanted to leave as well?
Good job with the site Ambarish. Very lucid and readable. Looks like LiR is up there with City – a winner and nevertheless improving all the time.
On a lighter note El B is trending . Have not seen that gaffer’s name here for a long time.
Chapeu Kroenkephobe
That’s funny Hoopah – kudos KP.
Just looking at the preseason and the Manure game is 7am tomorrow then the Liverpool game is Thursday 6:30 am.
Not sure we’ll learn much with Saka and others still on their much needed holidays. Still, it’s always good to take some preseason scalps for psychological advantage when the season begins.
Who will get into whose heads in those 2 games will be interesting. The Pool game will give us a good look Arne Slott, and how he’s doing with the L’pool players?
Those times were Thai times.
Marc
Probably been given a renewed contract with an over inflated wage – after another year El B will realise everyone else was right and he will try and get rid.
Marseilles want Eddie but not his wage. They are miles apart player value wise – get the deck of cards out boys – AFC need to sign Coren-Mitchell if they want to win that game.
Norg
That’s the problem with putting players like Eddie on 100K per week – it limits their sales destinations to a handful of clubs outside the PL.
I wonder how much we’ll pay him to leave.
Marc
Rumours have it that we want £45M – I expect we will agree to £25M (undisclosed figure is usually what is quoted).
Ambarish
the new set up is good and obviously your logo is set looking over a cool landscape where as we all have logos showing us from the planet Tharg.
Hi Norg
Nice analogy with Stubborn El Bastardo (to honour him with his full moniker) and his jigsaw puzzle travails. When he got to the end, he’d just hammer random pieces in with his Trump-sized fists and the entire thing would look like a bag of shite. But Kroenke junior would still admire his work ethic…
Alternatively, he’d start in the middle instead of getting the corners and edges all aligned before throwing it in the bin and admitting defeat.
He’d also be absolute bollocks when it came to other boardgames.
Monopoly – buying everything going and selling nothing along the way until he was bankrupt.
Cluedo – Being a smartarse accusing the first person whose name card he was shown and giving them the cold shoulder a la Guendouzi/Torreira.
Subbuteo – spraying it about in a horseshoe without ever putting the goalie under pressure. No forward with any -‘flick to kick’ ability.
Twister – playing naked with Edu, Josh and Stan getting the latter’s dangly bits draped across his forehead (yuck)
Etc. Etc. Sorry, it’s been a slow summer.
New post.