It was a complete domination by Arsenal. We could have easily be 4-0 up by the end of the first half. We had 8 shots of target, 4 going in… and Eddie Howe looked lost because Bruno G was not able to punch someone in the face and get away with it.
The first leg was odd. We didn’t know what hit us by the time match was over. Newcastle were on a rampage, clearly instructed to be as physical as possible without getting a red card (through Bruno should have got one!). We learnt from it, and we responded brilliantly. It was us who showed aggression, us who scored and us who wanted to play the game in the other half of the pitch. Arteta decided to do a masterclass and Howe must have regretted his selection of the match & day.
Jorginho was brilliant in that midfield which served two purposes. He is a smart players with good passes in him and it allowed Declan Rice to play in a more advanced position. Ben White often shifted to wings, so does Rice, on either side of the pitch, allowing Saka and Havertz to play more centrally and crowd the opposition box. Newcastle had no plan against that. A goal each from Havertz, Saka and Kiwior (and an own goal from Botman) made sure we keep the big wins running in Premier League. It’s a shame we couldn’t keep a clean sheet with Willock scoring against his childhood club but hey I am not complaining today.
I have been talking about the difference in style of play in PL and CL. Last two games showed that. We managed zero shots on target against a much inferior team in Porto but we scored 4 against a good defensive unit with almost same team. Europe is unpredictable and Mikel need to pull another masterclass to qualify for quarter finals in CL. We need a 2-0 win at home on March 13th, not going to be easy but we made our life tougher by ourselves. A win against Porto would have given us leverage to rest some of the starting XI because we have Chelsea to play after 2 days.
Some very good discussion around Havertz in the previous post, a difference in opinion is healthy because it’s football and we all access things in our own way.
That’s all for today, hope you are having a good one!
good timing on the new post Ambarish, as it saved Aitcho any further embarassment
as to the difference between our PL and CL play, it comes down to two key factors: (1) MA’s lack of onions, tactically-speaking, when the pressure mounts, and (2) the fact that once the knockout rounds begins, opponents come to play, unlike in many from our more recent League fixtures
when you provide a coach/manager with an unusually lengthy period to prepare for an opponent there’s no excuse whatsoever when you show up and simply rollout the same tired plan…your opponents have been watching the film and making the necessary tactical adustments, so just imagine how chuffed they are when you’re actually doing the exact same things that you’ve prepared for…now this doesn’t mean that a better prepared yet lesser skilled opponent will ultimately win the day, but when the “better” team doesn’t have those who can craft their own grade A chances and/or aren’t near clinical enough in front of goal, what should have been a rather one-sided affair oft-times becomes a coin toss proposition…so all the possession in the world matters not if the opposing team, who prepared to attack on the counter, finds a way to craft the better chances with considerably less time on the ball…in the case of Porto, they should have scored on 3 of their 4 or 5 chances, then eventually scored from distance, which isn’t really in our repetoire, whereas we never even had a fucking shot on target
as to my second point, since the 20th of January we’ve had 4 functional “lay ups” in our last 6 League matches…now of course you still need to play the game and do enough to get a result, but it’s hardly the way one wants to prepare for a knockout round road fixture…the only recent match that should have helped in the preparation process was our February 4th matchup against Pool…unfortunately they were missing a whole host of their best players, which clearly impacted their performance…that said, MA certainly can’t control the efforts, or lack thereof, of our opponents, but he could have used many of those matches to rest his starters more and/or to experiment tactically, which could have injected some much-needed life into what was a rather lethargic CL outing
Another well-written piece Ambarish. Thanks. That win was one for the ages and reminiscent of the 7-3 in 2012 when Walcott looked like Mbappe. Referencing the game and looking back over our results against them, we’ve had some pleasingly convincing wins at home. Plus that FA Cup final when Anelka ran riot.
Newcastle are Northern England’s answer to Spurs – deluded fans and a club still dining out on mid 20th century success. In in the barcodes case, they’re still happy to wallow in the absolute myth that north eastern fans are somehow more passionate and that football means more to them than the rest of us. If anyone deserves that label among English clubs, it’s probably the bin dippers to be honest.
I hope the same thing happens when Villa visit.
For a team and manager playing its first Champs league in years it would be reasonable to expect some element of learning on the job.
Smashing the group stage against Euro seasoned teams shows how good they are. I don’t remember the last time we bossed a group stage.
Going on to the knockouts is another learning experience. Very few of the team have been here before. Here, in general, it’s small margins, tight games, moments of brilliance. Us being 3rd favourites, I believe seems unrealistic. Opponents still don’t always come to play,
Porto definitely didn’t. Come to the play, but credit where it’s due, they defended really well. They’re a team who usually make it past group stage and naturally that experience is going to benefit them. The one goal advantage from what was a stunning is probably deserved on XG but perhaps not on other stats. Nevertheless, it’s only one goal and nobody has any reason not to feel confident about the return leg given what we saw from them.
Porto result aside, we stormed through Jan and Feb. We played like we were capable, got our GD in order and made December’s results an irrelevance.
Some might say that winning your last six games with a GD of 22 shows that all the games were lay ups, without reaaon. I say, some people find reasons to be miserable about anything. Newcastle, Palace, Hammers don’t become layups simply by virtue of us winning them.
“Newcastle, Palace Hammers don’t become layups simply by virtue of us wonning them”…No, they became lay ups by virtue of the way they played, which anyone with even one functioning eye could plainly see…Palace and the Hammers were so bad that many within their respective fanbases passionately discussed the very real possibility that both of their managers should be facing the axe…as for Howe, similar chatter has picked up steam on the heels of their anemic showing…your general disdain for reality is rather mindboggling…Cheers
Games become layups when we play, really really well. Credit to the manage and team for doing that. Klopp isn’t getting sacked despite losing to us, don’t worry. Moyes and Howe are both still in a job. It’s unfortunate that our drubbing gave Woy heart palpitations.
Football can be a really simple game when we strip away the misery and conjecture.
Cheers.
KP, agreed on the bar codes and their fans. Football only means more to them because there’s sod all else to enjoy up there.
They’re just lucky their neighbours are even worse. In both local amenities and football teams.
Does anyone else find Alan Shearer a really fucking annoying bastard?
He’s punditting (made up word) tonight for the Barcodes’ cup tie against Blackburn. He laughably sought to diminish our win at the weekend by saying it was the worst Newcastle performance this season (I thought they always played like that😂).
Here he is at his reductionist best explaining his secret diet to the masses…
https://youtu.be/9uEXRPIJbhQ?si=_zs1PZoGTFDjLpIQ
My mates and I derived hours of fun from this back in day. Hadaway and shite wi yer chicken n beanz ya Geordie bastad!
Aitcho
Yeah, Sunderland too are a massive joke. Crying, deluded mackems (ie ersatz Geordies) crapping on about how they deserve to be at the top of the football tree because their fans are the most passionate blah blah blah.
Have you watched the Netflix series about them? A beautiful riches to rags tale… The latest one shows them winning at Wembley (in a playoff final against fucking Wycombe and their cruiserweight CF Akinfenwa) after 10 previous losing attempts since they beat Leeds in 73 (great final that one). Anyway, there’s this teary monologue of someone saying how great the fans are while they’re losing at home to some club like Crewe Alexandra and the stands are almost empty. Out of the three clubs in that godforsaken corner of the country, I think M’boro are the most genuine.
Aitcho-your rinse and repeat drivel has become tiresome, so I think I’ll be the bigger man and simply ignore your low hanging fruit, Arteta knows best blather…have a good one
Good idea Trdl.
You’re getting far too emotional over minor differences of opinion.
Try enjoying the wins.
Cheers and have a good one.
KP
Give Boro their due. They’ve won something in my lifetime and their fans know their place. But it’s also a god awful place.
A friend of mine was part of the production team on that series. He sent out trailers and previews on the group WhatsApp. We congratulated him as it was the right thing to do but I can’t his say his sneak previews provoked much enthusiasm.
Aitcho-no emotions coming from my end bud…I’m all for a good back-and-forth, I just need a worthy adversary…to use a pugilist analogy, your way out of your weight class…it’s all good though
just watched a Pep-inspired, Haaland/DeBruyne masterclass against a game but overmatched Luton side…that’s the kind of tactical flexibility I so wish his little grasshopper would display on occasion…Luton went full bore high press, with a man-up tucked in behind, so Pep attacked them directly through the middle of the pitch
not only did he show why it’s imperative that you have someone who can unlock defences from your own side of the midfield stripe, he likewise highlighted just how important it is to have a clinical Striker when it comes to diversifying your attacking tactical options…just think of the freedom our wide-side players would have if we had someone of consequence up top
regardless of the rumours involving our other supposed positional needs, properly redressing our Striker position is by far our most pressing need…I’m sure MA thought he was alleviating some of those concerns with his Havertz reach, but he’s clearly not the answer to that question moving forward…maybe we can totally reinvent that position this summer by finding some willing suitors for both Jesus and Eddie, that’s if their respective wages don’t scare everyone off, then buy a readymade finisher and a more youthful option with a bit different skillset
now this doesn’t mean we can’t remain in the race, far from it in fact, as both City and Pool aren’t nearly the juggernauts of years prior, but if I had to hesitate a guess I would suspect that we’re more likely a 3rd place finisher than a 1st…Pool has no European obligations, City’s far healthier now than during the first-half of the season, and we have some serious banana skin matches in both March and April…so in order for us to come out on top we’ll need some help from others and a few more unexpected lay ups along the way…of course, we’ll have inifintely more prep time if we can’t find a way to completely reverse our previous CL outing, which certainly is doable…that said, it would be a crushing blow if we crashed out to this particular Porto side
I think your mate and his colleagues did a decent job on that documentary. I think it probably made Sunderland fans feel OK about themselves for supporting such a dire team and gave the rest of the football supporting public a healthy dose of schadenfreude.
Ever had that feeling of remorse when you’re thinking seriously about going to an away game and something trivial ends up getting in the way and you don’t go, only to find out they’ve won? (a bit convoluted but you know what I mean). I’ve had that twice with Sunderland in the past two seasons where Cardiff miraculously squeaked 2 rare away wins. In mitigation, I don’t even live in the Welsh capital but over 100 miles to the west meaning mackemland is a nearly 8 hour drive. Norwich? Leeds? Preston? All fine but I bottled out of the northeast to my chagrin.
I think I’m a secret ‘doing the 92’-er at heart.
Trlv,
Liverpool have European obligations. They’re playing next week. If that’s part of your equation for us coming third you might want to reassess your expectations.
ManC spank Luton, relegation fodder, and it’s a masterclass, we spank anyone, literally anyone, and it’s a mere layup. I’m beginning to see a bizarre pattern here that impacts your credibility.
Cheers
New post and a lot to read.
Aitcho-of course I meant CL obligations, as they might have superceded their desire for a PL title…as for the difference bewteen our lay ups and City’s FA masterclass, their opponent was “game” whereas ours’ were lame…see you next Tuesday