Well, we all knew we weren’t a match to Man City with their 33-goal scorer Haaland and the best midfielder on the planet in Kevin De Bruyne. But no one expected that we won’t show up for a fight. In the title race when a win was a 6 pointer, we lost and we lost badly. A 4-1 score is as bad as it gets, but the way we played it could have been worse.
So, where did it go wrong? As a starter, Arteta failed to adjust to the Pep’s tactics. Their first goal was a result of the free space De Bruyne was enjoying between our midfield and defence. In the first 30min, it happened couple of times when the pair of Haaland and De Bruyne were left with our CBs. I don’t think anyone can beat Haaland for the pace, it was a fight to be lost. We should have adapted, we should have dropped down and closed the space . We could have switched back to back 3 and fight on counters.
Second, we stuck to the playing XI which didn’t work against Liverpool, West Ham, and Southampton. Yes, Xhaka was back in place of Vieira but it doesn’t make any difference. Both are poor! If you say what options we had, I would like to point out that it’s our own doing. We haven’t been polishing the bench. We gave Vieira couple of matches in spite of his poor performance in his first, but we didn’t try an ESR. We haven’t tried a Partey + Jorginho midfield pairing. Saka looked knackered but we didn’t see Nelson allowing him some rest. Kiwior was brought into the fold against Liverpool, in last 20 min; I’m sure it wasn’t the perfect time to begin your premier league career.
Arteta’s stubbornness to play his favourites and not adapting to what’s in front, has cost us games. If you expect a player to deliver in 60 games a year, and if he don’t, you switch things up. Jesus might be great in compact spaces and running into 3 opposition players, but where’s the end result? If your CF do not have a goal in him, bring on Eddie. Revert to Trossard at the front who looks more clinical.
I don’t know, there has been a lot of things which we can see is wrong, but our manager sticks to the same old – same style, same player, same tactics.
Here’s the bitter truth. We didn’t lose the title because of this City game. We lost it against Pool (going 2-0 up), West Ham (going 2-0 up again), and Southampton (going 2-0 down at home in first 15min). I understand we are a young team, but young guns can fire too. It don’t matter if it’s your captain, if he is not having a good day, bring on your other no. #10, who saved your career at some point and was considered the next DeBruyne.
I’m not sure how much Arteta will learn from this but I’m sure of this – he is going to spend another 200m to bring some more enforcements, but with this stubbornness and Champions League + Premier League next season, we will have the same conundrum. Unless he buys another playing XI, which is not likely.
Here’s another one – if you think it’s a progress to finish 2nd this season, remember that Arteta was appointed as the head coach of Arsenal on 20th Dec, 2019. It’s been 3.5 years, with half a billion spent on a completely new playing XI bar our academy products. This season has been anomaly, Liverpool is having a bad one, Chelsea are sh*t, Spurs are spursy, and United is going through a rebuild under Tan Hag. If you think allowing 3 years for a manager, only to see him finish second after having a 9 point lead at some point, is considered a progress, then you have very low expectation.
With money coming in for New Castle, Chelsea appointing Poch probably, united getting stronger, Pool back in their form, what happens next? It would be tougher than this season. There will be 2 games a week and more Saliba-esque injuries. Who will we blame? Fixtures? Injuries? Bad weather? Because that’s what we have been doing apparently from like last 10 years.
We need an upgrade. We need an upgrade on Xhaka, whose average performance looks like a world class by his standards. We need a midfield, because you buy all the 50m defenders as you want, but it’s not gonna work if you don’t have functioning midfield. We need a better goal scorer if you don’t have confidence in Eddie. And we need an upgrade on the manager. Learning on the job is not a bad thing, but the pace is too slow for a club as big and as ambitious as Arsenal.
We need courage. We don’t need a captain who goes missing in big games, we have had enough of Ozil for years. We need the winning mentality, not the one we saw against West Ham of dropping performance after going 2-0 up. We need players who make fun of the opposition, on the pitch; who can bully the opposition, who are not satisfied with 2-0 lead at Anfield and want more.
Frankly, it has been a depressing month. We have thrown away the title and there’s no one else to blame. It was ours to lose, and we lost it. I’m angry, I’m frustrated and I’m sure you are, too. I hope the players feel the same, and motivates themselves to make the best of rest of the season.
It’s over for me, but we fight again tomorrow.
amounts
btw, in case you haven’t noticed, Newcastle is only 10 back, with a game in hand, and we still need to face them…based on their present form versus ours, that could be a highly problematic fixture…if we lose to them, even 2nd place isn’t a foregone conclusion
my apologies, Newcastle doesn’t have a game in hand, that’s United, who’re 12 points back…my bad
The thing with Arteta ,which is quite amazing considering how quickly he has followed Wenger in managing the club, is that just like Arsene he is going to depart the club and his legacy will forever polarise the fanbase. To some he will have returned the club to the elite and given hope back to disillusioned gooners everywhere. To others he will forever be a charlatan, bluffing his way into the job and then spinning his ‘achievements’ through clever manipulation of the media. Like Wenger his name will be added to the list of subjects(politics,religion,brexit) that should never be talked about in a pub,especially amongst gooners.
For me,the following points are decisive in my mind,though I accept they might not be in a court of law!
1. Project Youth. An argument that is rarely made and one that I find very powerful is this. When Arteta applied/ interviewed for the job he would have had to put forward his vision for the club. Given his actions upon his appointment it is clear that this vision was not a youth project. His signing of Willian, extension of Auba,xhaka,Luiz etc. His refusal to play ESR or Martinelli. His treatment of Saliba( that is really going to bite us in the arse btw). So therefore those who backed his appointment from the beginning and have happily claimed to have been aware of his generational talent,we’re actually backing that original plan,which needless to say was appalling. Unless of course they are claiming that they knew all along that the original plan was doomed to fail and would then spawn a successful project youth plan B. Given the nature of some of his supporters such a claim would not surprise me.
2. Transfers. Three simple observations here which I won’t go into too much detail on,you all know the facts. Firstly he has been backed by the board in an unprecedented manner to the tune of hundreds of millions. Secondly his incomings have been very average for huge expense. I struggle to name any player who has yet justified their price tag. This should not be confused with performance. Ben White has been solid for example. But has he been a 50 million quid player? Not for me. Add to that Ramsdale,Vieira, Jesus,lokonga,Jorgihno,zinchenko, etc. In fact the only value for money signing is probably Trossard as things stand. Jury is still out on Ode, his disappearing acts in big games is becoming concerning. Thirdly,outgoings. Abject. The cost of expelling huge earners because of Arteta’s inability to manage them has been frightening. In some cases it was he who gave them the new contracts. The collapse in player values because of Arteta’s inability to rotate has also been staggering. Giving players away,failing to sell when possible or simply paying players to leave has cost this club a fortune.
3.Best performers. Who are Arsenal’s best players? Saka,Saliba,Martinelli,Partey. We can fight over d rest. How many of them are performing to this level because Arteta as their coach has made them better? How many are improving despite him? How many players are going backwards or stalling in their careers? What has he done to justify the argument that he’s a great coach? The team is better of course. But is it better because hundreds of millions have been spent? Or because Arteta is working his magic?
4.Expectations. This is the real thorn in my side. The argument that we are now exceeding expectations. CL qualification was this years goal etc. Some simple observations. How come Eddie Howe achieved this in his first full season with a far more limited Newcastle squad? Also,context please. When people say we’d have taken this if offered at the start of the season,would it also have been explained to us that every single big 6 club bar Man City and ourselves would implode and be out of the race before Xmas and that we would have an 11 point lead over City? No? Thought not. Good job Leicester didn’t have that mentality. But then again I keep forgetting what a tiny underdog club we are! Furthermore,and this particularly irks me, why is it that no Arsenal fan or top pundit had great expectations for us this year?? Yes, that’s right,because they had seen the depths to which Artea had dragged us over the last 3 seasons. Now,having spent a fortune and merely restored us to our rightful place in English football ,he is the messiah? I think not. His record began the day he took over as did the record of all Arsenal managers and he will be judged on that record in it’s entirety. If this trophyless season is his pinnacle,then God help those who would laud him for it. If the belief is that next year will see a further improvement ask yourself this,do you really believe such an opportunity will be presented to us again? Oh and how many more players are required this window for our generational coach to get it right?
I have grown further opposed to Arteta because of the weakness of the arguments being used to support him and the aggressive defensive stance of his supporters whose idea of debate is to shout and ridicule. W B Yeats would have referred to their constant repetition of weak yet populist arguments as’ The catch-cries of the clown’. I’m inclined to agree with him.
Btw,thanks for the welcome back. I’m just blowing off a bit of steam above but I’ve tried to keep up with the blog and all things Arsenal. Agree with all those thanking Ambarish for his work and giving us this place to talk,read,vent and share. Thanks Ambarish.
Kp. I have taken advantage of time off work and am watching the snooker religiously. I am hoping Selby does it. I appreciate the joy of watching Brecel and as a Higgins and White fan I love his cavalier style. But there is something about the steely determination of Selby,the grit he shows ,that I find compulsive.
Hope you and yours are all well. I was delighted to read that you were over in Catalonia. Make it happen asap my friend,the years go by too quickly. The bluebirds are also testing your patience and loyalty I see,hang on in there, might be an American actor or two with an eye on the Welsh capital. Knowing Cardiff’s luck they’d get Will Ferrel and Adam Sandler who’d use the takeover to make an awful comedy then feck off and leave someone else to clean up the mess. Ok, bedtime. Good night.
Almunia-nice mic drop post…much to my chagrin, these commonsensical takes never seem to resonate with either the powers that be or with those who eagerly lap up the Kool-Aid, even if JIm Jones is the one making it…so even when I feel like I’ve got something off my chest, that accompanying euphoric feeling is rather fleeting as it feels like I’m putting it into a bottomless pit diguised as a suggestion box…the only tangible silver lining is the fact that there’s a good group of like-minded cerebral folk who congregate here, so all is certainly not lost…take care
whenever Wales enters the fray for some reason it always reminds me of an old bake-head Danny Boyle flick, Twin Town
Welcome back Almunia you could hardly call the truth a rant. 🙂 LIR is all the better for your re-emergence and thankfully improved health.
I’ve missed you good buddy along with the rest of LIR.
TRVL
NT aka Pedro and his other monikers can’t be beaten because they are not real, just personas of a very weird and narcissistic rich kid who thinks he’s Mr. ITK Arsenal. His scrawling isn’t up to the level needed to pretend to be other people. Pedro-Pete does not have that keyboard/writing skills to pull such a feat off and slips out of character all too often. His posts as Pedro all follow a tried and tested formula most likely from self help writing books.
LG has become boring bar a few very good posters, whereas 4+ years ago LG was a hotbed of passion of warring factions having their say: WOB & Wenger Apologists. Back in those days I’d read most posters, many times laughing out loud at some of the #GATES with Bamford the leading light in such things. LG was fun and Arsenal escapism as Wenger hate fermented into our PTSD.
What took some time to read LG now takes minutes. A quick skim to check outage remaining few posters worth reading. What’s even funnier is that Pedro’s dad started the blog with Pedro riding his coat tails and money of course. I’s hazard a guess if Geoff came back so would many of the old monikers.
At the end of the day LG is Pedro’s vehicle to drive his success in his working environ to which he’s done with good success. I believe Pedro is infatuated with Arteta in that they are similar ages and they both suffer illusions of grandeur.
Like most of us Pedro is a success whore, I know I am, as is Mrs T. I would say most if not all of us here are always wanting to do better and the rewards that comes with such a mindset. The difference is with LIR as opposed to LG is that LIR has a consistent level of intelligence which is following only one agenda and that is the success of our club.
The irony is that LIR with Ambarish’s ambition with LIR, we are becoming the #Artetaout blog as LG was of the #Wengerout infamy. We are Gooners for life with expert BS radar inbuilt and speak the truth as we see it. No rose tinted specs in LIR just the hard facts of reality that sadly, are rarely wrong.
The TW rumblings sound just as confusing as they always do with Arteta’s serial ability to find players who don’t want to play for us and who would blame them? It’s like he takes it so personally, such is his narcissism.
Another Arteta season to drag ourselves through the trenches of the same mistake strewn management incompetencies throughout the club. If Josh an co were on the ball, the’d see through the Arteta BS.
Ambarish
I wondered how a well travelled, youngish Indian lad would fare with an Arsenal blog where you can colour me suitably impressed, Ambarish. I think we all see a little bit of ourselves in you, in some way or other. As an old and crotchety Gooner at times, LIR is somewhat cathartic, it’s a pleasure to add ours to your Arsenal dream here, as it most definitely aligns with mine, and I would venture to keenly suggest the others here who grace the blog with excellent points of ire and humour.
Almunia
Good to see you back.
The question about the fanbase is an interesting one. What happens if Arteta does an Arteta and finishes 5th next season? As it stands we could easily finish closer to 3rd than 1st which to me says our “title challenge” was all that its been cranked up to be. With ManU and at least one of Chelsea or Liverpool being better next season, Newcastle spending big and Arteta’s inability to rotate a squad when he’s now got to deal with CL matches that will have far more impact than EL on fitness levels.
I know the fan boys will make excuses and waive their pom poms but fans are fickle and many could easily see Arteta for what he is.
wasn’t all its cranked up to be!
Let’s realise that Fraudeta cannot coach and develop young players,so he seeks to buy settled players from other clubs. Often it is rejects who we pay through the nose. Here is an insight into his characteristics
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsenal-charlie-patino-mikel-arteta-29859962
Succinctly put up by AlumiasnoMore , think in point 4
Marc
It’s funny seeing the fan boys already. Dissension in the LG rank and file is slowly gaining with Pedro-Pete churning out Arteta PR spin posts like they’re going out of fashion.
No matter what the fan boys say, the end result can’t be hidden and poor attempts at excusing it.
Hoopah
Your comedic takes have Junior and me laughing. Keep em coming.
Tony
One of the guys who sits near me is an old boy who’s been going forever – he won’t blame Arteta but criticises the players for tactics. A mate of mine who’s been a season ticket holder since the early 80’s reflected on our players looking tired at the end of the City game – I said its going to be worse next season being in the CL and Arteta not being able to rotate players – my mates response Arteta doesn’t just the other players when I pointed out that its his squad he’s spent a fortune and he’s been in charge for 3 and a half seasons he couldn’t come up with an answer.
I think outside of the genuine fan boys we’ve got a section of the fan base in denial because they want it to be true – when they see the light they’ll go for blood.
The fan boys would be praising Arteta if ended up in League 2.
trust not just!
David Ornstein all but confirmed in the Athletic that Charlie Patino will leave this summer. Most likely Balagon will follow and the 3 stooges will do the usual, get taken for chumps on the valuation of the players. Ever since Arteta became manager it has been well established that he decimates the value of players but especially young ones, Guen comes to mind.
For me I have taken the attitude to chill a bit my interest in AFC until either Execs or Owners have changed. In the meantime this is the year of the Rugby WC in the fall and that holds my interest until the shit show at Arsenal is gone or has improved. Nothing to get exited about a novice at the helm of The Arsenal. Fucking waste of life, time and space.
Why the hell would we sell Patino? Wasn’t he being described as one of the best talents to come out of the academy only a little while ago?
Aside from losing a very talented young player this sends out a terrible signal to other academy players or youngsters weighing up which academy to sign up for.
as I’m watching the relegation battle between Everton and LC, which btw is far more entertaining than expected, it reminded me of the fact that we only secured 5 of a potential 12 points against the two teams currently occupying the lowest positions in the table…these are the kinds of lost opportunities that generally come back to bite you in the ass, especially when you know that at some point a team with a far superior manager is going to test your mettle…now of course, this becomes vastly more problematic when in your first 5 matches in April you manage to only get 6 of an available 15…the whole situation is terribly disappointing, not just because of the performances on offer, but the very fact that it was so totally predictable, as we’re like the Groundhog Day of footballing clubs
as for our pending off-season maneuverings, the only reason talks of this nature are consuming more and more of the oxygen in the room is due to our putrid form as of late…if we were still sitting in the catbird seat, with a reasonably logical buffer to boot, the vast majority of the chatter would be focused on the here and the now…unfortunately we’ve made an absolute mess of things, so the talk naturally turns to our future endeavours…personally I believe that when MA reverted back to his earlier transfer inklings, when he signed two off radar older players, to term no less, it was bound to cost us when it comes time to making future decisions about players, both incoming and outgoing…at least if we purchased a player or two who fit the supposed profile, like Caicedo, we would have injected some much-needed life into the “right” places on the pitch and the potential loss of an academy piece like Patino would be a much easier pill to swallow
here and now
Tony-always a good read when you take Positive Pete to task…the very fact that someone who held such obvious disdain for those who wouldn’t even engage in an honest managerial rethink, when Wenger was at the helm, would so vehemently stifle debate surrounding our current manager, who had neither the CV nor the shared history of success, seems almost unconscionable…of course, one might try to defend his hypocritical behaviour by claiming that he simply couldn’t fathom the notion of being on the debating floor once again, as it certainly can be an exhausting endeavour, but only a moron would believe it, especially when you consider the exorbitant amount of energy he’s exerted trying to shine his preferred managerial turd while simultaneously removing any dissenting voices of consequence…maybe he just didn’t have the required foresight to do the mental math before embarking on his Spanish-inspired propaganda crusade…it’s likely why he created a cast of rather dimwitted fictitious characters, as who else would consistently prop-up his every take with the occasional strategic hint of apprehension simply for optics-sake…sadly, if you took Pedro’s horse and pony show out of the equation and combined LiG’s and LG’s best and brightest, the result would be an epic forum for all matters football-related and otherwise…how ironic, as that’s the same sort of debilitating dynamic that has stymied our ability to restore our organizational greatness for the last two plus decades…take care
TRVL
Simply brilliantly put.
Marc & Killroy
The narcissist Arteta having been in the press for negative reasons will want to start advertising his next big show stopping moments in the coming TW because he needs adulation to survive: it’s his life’s source. To support this further Arteta is claiming the Title is still in our hands when he should be talking only about how to beat the Chavs tonight. Right now the title is a mathematical equation with advantage very much with City.
Simply put, deep down Arteta thinks he is now better than Pep and should be lauded as so. Losing to City hurt Arteta deeply because of how Arteta sees himself.
For Arteta he has the TW to be front and center for our club. His mistake ridden season will be forgotten and swept under the carpet as some unlucky injuries derailing out title aspirations. Squad management will never come to the fore as the ultimate reason Arteta choked two seasons in a row.
This is where the portion of the fans fit in Marc as you said. They only see what they want to see. Bob N15 is the more intelligent version. The guy prepares himself for any loss or frail draws, and then justifies our anomaly and loss of points. Marc it’s their lives as it is Bob’s. Arsenal is at their very core of existence where every match dictates and restricts their life’s movements. In the off season they are glued to the Internet for any notion of we are looking at someone.
The Arsenal is like a religion to them with regular worship times of there being only one of The Arsenal.
In our own ways from afar we are similar only on different time lines, but are we Marc? we are because we have lives and family who most definitely come first in my life. The Arsenal is my 2nd love after family and friends from real tangible people with no agendas. The Arsenal is also a good learning curve for junior as a sport and as for a kind of behavioral study with Arteta being an excellent arsehole type to study and appraise Arteta’s actions towards people.
Because of the The Arsenal Junior has been lucky to meet many people he normally wouldn’t from both LG and LIR. It’s painfully taught him early on about flat earthers and trolls, which he’s said has helped him at school and by his conversations has a really good read on people for a 14yo. He adores you lot here and rightly so, which makes this place our nightly round up before bed in my office where I can honestly say so much learning between the two of us and from talking about posts has helped junior to grow faster inch areas that might normally be difficult for him and his ADHD. So, that’s a mighty big thanks to you at LIR from both junior and me.
Honestly speaking with the amount of youth names Arteta seems hell bent on getting rid of because if they’re not here he can’t be blamed for not playing them which he hates for some unfathomable reason.
It’s HIS squad!!!!!!!
Howe can you take a manager seriously who will play Arteta to the very last game and then sell him. Can anyone explain that to me why Arteta is still the first name of the team sheet if Xhaka being offered for sale? Why not EDR as he’s supposed to be for sale?
Looks like this time we are going to have a youth fire sale. Project youth hasn’t worked where, in Arteta’s mind, they the players will have let Arteta down big time. Not anything to do with the perfect flawless narcissist: Arteta. Pep had nothing to do with City’s win.
The Arteta saga sadly has at least another 6 months to run. The first 4 months of next season will tell us if we have to suffer another 6 months of the great pretender.
I would love TRVL and Killroy to sit down with Josh in North Anmerica to find out if Josh really is that dumb as to not see through Arteta.
2:2 is my prediction for this evening and we’ll record it for the morning.
ESR*
who will play Xhaka*
Killroy
Junior and I are looking forward to the rugby WC but will have to record many of the games as it’s in France, southern hemisphere world cups are more suitable time wise.
England haven’t got a prayer under Bothwick, as it’ll be another Martin Johnson type failure. I don’t follow club rugby so I’m clueless as to what emerging talent is at club level, but I played at a thinking man’s game mens club level at 16 and London Counties trials as U15. Essentially, my rugby was better than my football that was only schoolboy county level.
It’s strange really because I was never in one area long enough to play for local clubs, and yet I followed Arsenal and not the England team whereas I follow our England Rugby Union side and no clubs or rugby league.
I picked France 2 years ago as I thought they were on the right trajectory and similar to when they we’re beaten in 2011 by the All Blacks. France were at the time in fights with their manager. Shocker, but it was a close fought game at Eden Park.
This time they will likely fight it out in Paris.
Should Arteta as perceived by us renegades here be fcuking things up royally in the PL, the WRWC will be a fascinating diversion for me and junior when time permits from school studies.
France
New Zealand
Ireland
South Africa
That’s my 1 to 4th, Killroy.
I haven’t really looked at the fixtures and groups, but if it’s possible in the knock outs that’s how I see the world’s current teams finishing the World cup.
I like your takes on the game, also. Who do you see as the final 4?
Marc and others
I’ve seen Patino play two full games this year for Blackpool (as well as several times on the box) and while it’s not scientific, he was poor on both occasions. Passing, positioning, weight of his touches were all awry. I’m not sure who the seasiders coaches were at the start of this season but leaving CP in situ when McCarthy took over was unforgiveable.
This was as far from Jack W’s revelatory season at Bolton as you’re ever likely to get. He could become another young player whose value and future has been trashed as a result of poor management. The kid’s confidence must be shot to pieces.
Arteta is having his icarus moment. He was flying high for the shortest and most inconsequential part of the season (ie anytime except the tail end) and the heat is melting his waxy, feathery wings and about to bring him crashing down. So much money, so little to show for it. There’s nothing money grubbing cunts like the Kroenkes like less than spunking moolah down the drain.
I think the Supermik song is unlikely to be heard again this season.
By the way, lots of thought-provoking stuff being written on here at the moment. Thanks to all of you.
Tony
I agree with your rugby top 4 but would alter the order.
Ireland
SA
NZ
France
Ireland are terrific right now and if they keep Sexton free of injury they’ll win in my opinion. Ingerland, Scotland, Argentina and Australia to lose in the quarters.
Pep
Klopp
Howe
De Zerbi
Pochettino? Chavs
Nagelsmann? Spuds
Ten Hag
Arteta
Currently, we now have a potential top 8 managers with Newcastle and BHA entering the fray. Could Villa catch up next season with Emery to make it 9?
For the neutral the PL is nothing more than spectacular. Rarely do you see boring game where the better dispersal of the TV rights monies is leveling the playing field, as normally mid level clubs can start competing with the top 8/9 seats at the top table.
Next will be the streaming rights for each club personally. I think Amazon or similar will be the first to globally stream the PL, but ultimately it only makes the best financial prudence for clubs to stream their own games. Just how far that goes down the leagues for financial viability, I have no idea. Clearly, the PL clubs will bag riches only dreamed of to make them competitive – the increasing club TV rights’ financials illustrate this all too well.
We’ll end up with a super competitive league where rules will be changed got encourage more goals and thus excitement.
50 years ago when I were almost 18 where the FA cup final pretty much brought a stop to the country with TV coverage starting around 11am. Shops would have TVs and radios at the ready, as the whole country would be invested to some part even if not a fan of the competing sides.
Today it’s of little consequence unless you support one of the teams when you consider how the footballing stage has changed with technology and more importantly: money.
Fast forward 30 years and where do you think football will be then? Continental Super-leagues?
For Arsenal’s 200th anniversary, will football be driven by AI? It’s still 66+ years away with a tech advancing at crazy speeds.
We can recreate surround immersion sound with remarkable auditory clarity whether it’s recreating live music to be tonality wise, far better than live – particularly open air arenas. However, Line Source speakers has improved live sound dramatically.
I would imagine holograms are going to be the visual immersive tool for visual surround, as if you were in a stadium. They already have some version of this from the Internet, so in 66 years it’s not much of a stretch people will be able to afford such technology in their homes.
Junior has Oculus Quest which is good, but still a long way to go, as has 3D.
KP
I agree with your rugby top 4 but would alter the order 😆
Ireland
France
SA
NZ
For me it will be a well deserved change from all things shitty Edu & the stooges. If Sexton is healthy and Kolisi is still not up to full speed plus Dupont having a better game than he had against Leinster the order should be just about correct.
I do have an advantage as far as getting games because a dedicated Rugby community posts the most excellent quality on the Across the Tasman P2P tracker but I do not have any invitations. The following is a link where also excellent qualities are posted.
https://www.sport-video.org.ua/rugby.html
The USA has the Peacock streaming service but the studio personnel as well as post game coverage is not there, looks just like a bare world feed. So with a VPN I have watched matches on RTE, BBC as well as ITVX. A VPN is worth the money in addition I tried the free VPN extension from Windscribe for the Chrome browser and it works like a charm.
KP
Interesting choice and I agree if Sexton is fit and mobile Ireland could snatch it.
Thanks for the links. The top end of the world cup games will be on our True Visions satellite which has a dedicated rugby channel. It’s just the timing here being 6 or 7 hours in front. I’ve also got IPTV untested as yet, but making bold claims for US$10 a month.
I’m having a fight to keep interest in Arteta’s games now just knowing it’s the same old song from the same tired singers. It gets to the point where it’s difficult making a prediction at home. What a sorry state to be in.
Sorry Kilroy trying to do too many things at once. reply was for you obviously.
Think I was having a senior moment day KP/Killroy with refresh issues and posts appearing where they weren’t and getting mixed up.
Anyone got thoughts or predictions for tonight? Junior says 3:2 home win. Would be so right for us to keep Fat frank waiting for his first material points.
KP
It’s not Patino so much it’s the blatant disregard for youth in general. It sounds like Patino went tot he wrong club in the end for his loan. The Balogun situation smacks of the Saliba unpleasantness. ESL can’t get minutes, it’s an all too familiar Arteta way. Only now it can be dressed as we need higher quality now we’re in the CL.
Now we need more experienced youth and whatever that is will become the next stage of the Process.
We are expected to be all like Viva Espania for Arteta choking another season blindly following him into the next. Sadly as Marc said recently it’s weird how supporters just don’t know what they see with Arteta.
KP/Killroy
I think this year’s rugby world cup should be the best yet with so many teams developing at the same time. Pack led attempts at slowing rugby won’t fare well in this WC. The best supply to the fastest players will win the contest. The 4 we’ve agreed on in differing levels all play expansive rugby at crazy speeds.
It’ll be a great spectacle.
Hi Tony
Classic wengo-era style Arsenal win tonight. A pyrhhic 3 nil victory with Arteta trying to claim all the credit and offering a wholly false narrative that the PL can still be won. Utterly meaningless of course. Either that or he and fat Frank spontaneously combust and my corner of west Wales parties like it’s 1999. But if Chelsea score first, the TV will be switched off. Poor old Pumpkin – his hopes for a smoked salmon and double cream championship celebration have gone up in smoke too I guess.
We are still playing BHA and Newcastle, can’t see how we will get 6 points from that 4 at the most but more likely 0 or 2.
We need a new DoF and manager because the recruiting and player purchases in the TW plus the the negligence of youth players warrants that change.
KP-would love to agree with your prediction but I just got a gander at our starting 11 and it doesn’t fill me with a lot of confidence…it’s clear that MA has placed more onus on having our regular 11 available for the Newcastle affair on the 7th, but I’m not convinced that having the slowest midfield in the footballing world, in front of a newbie CB no less, is a wise managerial choice, especially knowing that he’s not going to properly tweek the tactics…furthermore, we will struggle for width on the left, with Trossard starting in place of Marts and Zinchenko tucked inside too often…this will allow Chelsea to doubleteam the living shit out of Saka, unless White is being deployed in much more advanced positions than normally…this might be the kind of match where Jesus’s ability to hit the GD net will dictate the outcome, so let’s hope he’s tossed his misfiring boots from his last couple of starts…fingers-crossed from beginning to end
Sky just put up we paid £20 million for Kiwior – is that right?
Because if it is any moans about Saliba being out are bollocks. How much money does Arteta have to spend before people think we got more than 14 odd players who can be used.