No fight, no courage, no gameplan!

KP
I hear you the selling of hard earnt assets from many decades of toil is not an easy thing to do. Far different to buying a company and then selling it for simple profit. Your properties and businesses are your life’s work I would imagine, as our company is for Mrs T and in many respects myself.

Looking forward is the only way my friend. As much as you have forged memories all interlocked with the family there will also be a feeling of release, because in reality, you get the choice to hang onto the happy and crazy memories and the baggage disappears as if it never happened.

New start, new life adventure. To people like us that’s what it is. You and Mrs KP will find as you integrate, so opportunities will avail themselves to you.

You’re lucky if you’re 50 or under. The 50s are really our last hurrahs in terms of what our bodies can keep achieving. I kept my 6-pack until 65 and stopped training bar ropes at 66. Our kind stop when we drop. So I’ll be about 72 when we finally get to France, but the recording studio won’t be taxing, not at least for me.

Even if we close a deal by the end fo the year, Mrs T will have to do a 3-year handover.

I can see why you both feel enchanted by Girona looking at the Internet. At least you have a pin in the map now. For us I’ve drawn a line from the France Pyrenees across central France so anywhere south of the line is our hunting ground. Once we have the time frame set, I’ll start looking at properties in earnest starting with bank foreclosures and engaging a recommended lawyer to look into anything interesting within certain financial boundaries, although mostly well located properties to suit our lifestyle and business needs for the kids if they decide to work with a family business.

Mrs T and my ADHD never lets us rest so upmarket Gites and a Thai/French fusion boutique restaurant for the kids to run would be an easy thing to enjoy for Mrs T. The studio will be my and Junior’s jam.

Great minds lads as soon as I saw the Fat Sam’s Lazerous MK VI, and I thought we only need Pulis for the Holy Trinity of the THUG managers’ era. Just goes to show how bad reactive management is in the PL including ourselves.

On more serious news our daughter has just got back from her pre work holiday where she picked up her PADI license for 30 meters. Why is this serious? She’s moving down to BKK with Pumpkin is search of her first job on the 14th. Pumpkin has veery much become part of the family and what’s left of the furniture – the shredded look is in this season I tell myself & Mrs T with a gentle reminder of our daughter’s depression.

Pumpkin’s karma will materialize by the way of a reduction in living spaces from 850sq meters to about 60. He’s a Doll Face Persian who looks like he was dropped on his face from a great height when born, which is better than the other Persian that looks like Mike Tyson punched their faces at birth.

All I can say is if Pumpkin gets up to fun speed, as he does here then he’s in big trouble with his breaking distances where the wall might accrue a few or probably many dents. Pumpkin’s not the brightest, but is the dearest. Conclusion? The walls need padding up to 1 meter and covered in plastic chain mail link. Cats love plastic apparently.

Back to football and no surprise City beat West Ham at home if there were to be any doubt.

Arteta’s allegedly top list of transfers is Rice, Geughi, Zaha and Moussa Diaby. Add Cacaideo, Mitoma and Encisco to that list and I’ll feel the only other change we need to make is Arteta.

With a manager who has the tactical nous with the ability to command respect from youth and experienced players and we might just be challenging with a squad that has enough legs to finish a season strongly.

The latter would be a novelty.

KP
Junior asked where you were ;looking to settle so I showed him this and he loved it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_1d_o51K08

Thanks for sending that Tony. I hadn’t seen it. Girona is 100km north of Barcelona which is a massive tourist trap these days, almost all year round. The first time I went to Girona, it felt like a less busy version of Florence, another beautiful European city. I think we’ll go for somewhere slightly more rural but be within a short drive of Girona (which has numerous direct flights to Bristol).

I watched City and the Hammers last night with junior. Within seconds after him saying ‘I think WH could get a draw here’ their first goal went in at which point I lost interest. I can’t even be arsed to check who else they’re playing.

Junior and I and three of his mates are cramming into my little Peugeot on Monday for Cardiff’s final game of the season up at Turf Moor. Hoping to piss on Kompany and Ashley Barnes’s title winning chips. You never know now all the pressure is finally off for both teams.

ArseholeSaurus Allardyce, diplodocus Dyche, Pterodactyl Pulis (no, that doesn’t work) and Megalodon McCarthy saving the PL from all those nasty garlic eating fancy’ forrin’ managers. Just what Ingerland needs on coronation weekend. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Despite being subbed ignominiously at half time the other night, it was heartening to see Aubameyang put in a far stronger performance for Chelsea than anything he achieved in his last year at Arsenal….

I’ll get me coat…

No way Arteta would ever sign Zaha. He’d have to face the wrath of paranoidPedro and all those other twats on LG celebrating the (second) youngest squad in the PL trophy.

KP
One of the reasons I suggested you explore Morocco;

https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2013/05/13/ab-bourdain-parts-unknown-hashish-morocco.cnn

That and Moroccan chocolate made from the best tricomes.

Great stuff KP what a night out Monday will be. Probably need it after the Newcastle Sunday game.

The late great Anthony Bourdain. No one did ennui and cynicism quite like him. Yeah, one of the attractions of Spain is it’s accessibility to N Africa. Another destination on my list despite being less than impressed with a whistle stop tour around Tangier many years ago. My mate swears by the authenticity of Rabat rather than marrakech and casablanca. I don’t know if you were a fan of 60s enfant terrible playwright Joe Orton but his diaries retelling his time in Morocco with his boyfriend (and ultimately his murderer) Ken Halliwell and dear old Kenneth Williams made for entertaining if at times disturbing reading… Carry on spiffing and molesting!

Tony
I’m chancing it a bit, but I think we’ll beat the barcodes. They’ll attack and leave gaps. Their fans won’t tolerate home shit-housing although as a small mentality club they’ll do it away if needs be. Pumpkin needs to do us all proud before he ups sticks and moves home with your daughter.

KP
Been playing this in my room and it never gets old.

Bridges to Bremen https://g.co/kgs/K1nHaU

Just talking to Junior where junior was unsure of Zaha working out for us because of his personality being too big for Arteta to handle. My input was if Zaha hits the ground running and being the impetus for getting us points Arteta will be promoting Zaha’s larger than life persona telling others’ to be more like him.

However, it will always be a thin line between Arteta & Zaha where things could go south very quickly as Zaha if nothing else if outspoken.

From online it’s looking like Arteta’s got a 6-player wish list.

Finally, whether Patino is ready to make the step up at this stage of his development is unclear with mixed reports from his Blackpool loan. Apparently, Ferdinand has Patino signed to his agency with this to say:

“Ferdinand has a vested interest in Patino’s progress, given he signed up to his New Era agency last year. And the England icon believes his move to the Championship has paid dividends.”

Junior said we’ll probably see Patino at Manure in a couple of seasons.

Tony-I’ve got to agree with Junior on the Zaha front and not just because of the obvious personality clash, but likewise from a positional sense, as he plays primarily out wide left and he certainly wouldn’t be signing up simply to be a periphery player behind Marts, especially at this point in his career…just imagine how much of a locker room headache he would be if he wasn’t getting significant minutes…personally I don’t rate him enough to even put out any feelers…I think the only reason he would appeal to our management team is the fact that he’s on an expiring contract and we both know MA loves him some free transfers…problem is they aren’t free, as we tend to pay through the nose from both a wage and term perspective, and we can’t afford to have another aging luxury piece on the wage bill for the next 2 or 3+ years

talk today seemed to be focused on supposed Rice alternatives, which seems like a classic Arsenal maneuver, talk about a 80-100M player then pay over the number for a 20-30M underwhelming project…right now Zubimendi appears to be front and center…I’ve seen him play a handful or so matches for Sociedad and I do like what I’ve seen, but not convinced that he can handle the rigors of the PL…I find it difficult to judge players from LIga in the last couple of seasons as I think the level of play has drastically dipped, which doesn’t mean he’s a fraudulent option, it just means I would tread very carefully…not to mention he appears to be more of a Partey replacement option than a Xhaka one

the others being discussed are Valencia’s Musah, who’s release clause is ridiculous and that team has been an unmitigated shit show this season…his release clause is 86M and his market value is 22M, which speaks volumes…I get that he’s a former academy player and only 20, but that means jackshit to me, as he’s not ready to be the kind of seminal player we desperately need…there’s also talk about Southampton’s Lavia, Mount and Caicedo, the latter of whom is the only real logical consideration, as he’s readymade and positionally versatile…furthermore, he would functionally guarantee the end of the Xhaka era

I’m starting to get the sense that we might be attempting to rebuild our midfield engine room, which is a very appealing proposition, albeit a scary one too…if we were to try and recoup something for Partey, then sold off the seemingly unselectable ESR and our purchases weren’t spot on, we could be left relying too heavily on players the likes of Vieira, Elneny and Lokonga, which could be an unmitigated disaster…of course, I’m assuming that Xhaka is on his way elsewhere, but with this management lot I wouldn’t be surprised if that two-time wantaway git was starting week one…fact remains this has to be a summer of seminal-level moves, if not I’m top 4 won’t be a forgone conclusion this time next season

on a bit of a side note, there was some talk again about the possibility of Raphina being on our radar, with the thought that maybe Saka would give way out wide right and instead play along side Ode, which seems a bit far-fetched…I’m sure Saka can play just about anywhere and perform at an exceedingly high level, but why would you move someone who’s been far more productive in order to accommodate a less effective player…Cheers

if not top 4…

TRVL
“but why would you move someone who’s been far more productive in order to accommodate a less effective player”

Exactly, the point about Arteta and his galaxy football brain.

Junior is making sense with his football talk and playing football manager, he’s my stat man during games. He’s got his ipad on the go during games giving stats; it’s a fun way to watch and learn about football.

Junior thinks Newcastle and Howe will take the points Sunday where I sadly feel he could well be right with a new CB pairing.

Way to go Arteta.

TRVL & KP
Well, both interested parties blinked first over the last few days, so MrsT and I will be meeting both companies in Europe and America, in June for negotiations and pre meeting holidays.

It’s a big step in the right direction for our French adventure, so naturally we’re all very happy.

See the bin Dippers have just brought out their new kit at £75 a shirt. I mean that’s a lot of hub caps.

Congratulations Tony to you and the boss (Mrs T)! The virtues of patience, holding your collective nerves and having confidence in what you’re selling. I’m pleased for you both.

I’d be interested to hear more about junior’s statistical analysis of the barcodes game and why we might lose. I tend to think that with the pressure off, Arsenal is capable of beating anyone (except the cheating oily bastards) in a one-off game. Junior obviously favours empirical science over the superstitious hoodoo of the creed of Pumpkinism and his vacant pelotas. The lad will go far!

Tony-great to hear that things are trending in the right direction…fingers-crossed you can get things over the line in a somewhat timely manner…have a good one

Thanks KP. Now the fun begins.

Junior says that Newcastle have a height advantage for corners and set pieces, especially is Gabriel is out leaving Kiwior and Holding as an untested pairing. He adds that it depends who plays midfield for us, but is thinking it will be the dynamic pivot of Xhaka and Jorginho and Ode who won’t get the time he likes on the ball.

Our young sage says Willock and Guimares will be too quick and our weakness will be on our left side. Zinchenko is a poor defender and will also succumb to Newcastle’s press. Joelinton’s move to midfield and coming from deeper positions has been his making. Junior spotted this last time we watched the Geordies. Junior feels Joeliton’s presence outside and inside the box will be too much for Holding.

When you add Amiron, Murphy, the mesmerizing runs of Isak on the left and with Gordon covering every blade picking Xhaka’s pockets, we will tire and eventually get overrun.

On top of that the road runner Saint – Maximin who confuses everyone including himself at top speed will be looking to be an impact sub.

Zirconia Eye Junior – Diamond Eye’s future successor says that’s how he sees it, and if you put money on it, he can’t be held responsible being a minor.

by the sounds of things Partey will be back in the lineup come Sunday and Trossard will be in again for Marts…if this were to be the case, I’m not only deeply concerned about the middle of the pitch, for the reasons duly stated above by Junior et al, I’m equally anxious about the left-side of the pitch…with the triumvarite of Zinchenko, Xhaka and Trossard predominantly on that side of the pitch, Newcastle will gladly bomb up and down the left flanks with little care or concern for us attacking with any pace and/or width…this will force Gabs to shift his primary focus to his left, thus leaving Holding/Kiwor incredibly exposed on the right half of the pitch

of course these selection choices aren’t a given, as any reports at this juncture are largely speculative in nature…with that in mind, it wouldn’t surprise me whatsoever if he rolled out the same lineup from Tuesday, as we actually secured 3 points for the first time in a month, even though I wouldn’t really use that fixture as a barometer for future success considering just how fucking dire Chelsea were that evening…as such, I don’t have a good feeling about this affair, as I get the impression that they somehow care infinitely more about getting results lately, which is a terribly sad commentary in light of our supposed title race

Big-Head Sam stated at his Leed’s unveiling that “nobody” was ahead of him “in football terms”, name-checking Guardiola, Klopp and Arteta.

“In terms of knowledge and depth of knowledge, I’m up there with them,” Allardyce said. “I’m not saying I’m better than them, but certainly as good as they are.”

I don’t know if I’m more disturbed by his delusional managerial comparisons or the fact that he included our totally unproven one-trick skipper in a list of that ilk…WTF

TRVL

He can’t even blame it on going senile – he’s thought he’s a top manager all along who’s just been fucked over by foreign managers who’ve been given all the money. What he can’t seem to understand is he plays shit football that no one wants to watch.

Pep will destroy Leeds tomorrow.

Marc-at least if he wants to lean into a marginally logical narrative he could discuss his success rate when it comes to those facing relegation, but no, not him, he goes straight tin foil hat bat shit crazy…like I said, I find it very disurbing that Arteta somehow got lumped in with this very prestigous crowd…could it be possible that our PR team is actually behind this ridiculous hot take, as we know Sam’s not totally adverse to the notion of a little payola now and then

TRVL

I think much of the media is more guilty of group think than many of our fans – with the media its a mix of building him up to knock him down, people like Neville who don’t want to criticise managers because of his own record, journalists / pundits who are just thick and nearly all of them incapable of having the balls or intellect to put forward an intelligent original thought.

Marc-so far Sam’s proven that he’s equal to or better than only one of the managers he named at his introductory presser and we all know which one I’m referring to…btw I would take a one-legged Gundogan over a healthy Xhaka any day of the week

TRVL
Thanks for the congrats. There are, of course, plausible reasons for delay after delay, I just want to get to France now and have been looking at Wunder studio mixing desks. Junior has started on his French and is talking electrical engineering and sound engineering for Uni. There’s a bit of a buzz going now even though it will have to be 4 years at least before the final move when Junior goes to Uni.

I feel like I have a new lease of life.

Fat Sam getting a better result to Arteta as you alluded to, is hilarious after his “I am Sam equal to all managers” he should have added “if I were better I’d be a manager full time”.

Leeds would probably do better with calling ghost busters than Fat Sam.

Spuds drags teams down to their level of shite football. Palace were doing good under Woy.

Tony

Great to hear things are going well and of course now you won’t have any excuse to not pop over for a match or two.

Thanks Marc. One of the reasons for choosing France and near Marseille so get the train there to London with Junior a few times a season and of course CL ties.

Time to come back to reality in my old age. 🙂

Want to see Brentford take points off the bin dippers.

When I’m having a little looksee at our present roster, loanees included, and making some projections about the coming off-season I’ve drawn the following speculative conclusions:

Keeper-we re-up Ramsdale as the workhorse and likely stay the course
-I don’t have a big problem with this but I do worry about not having any real competition behind a Keeper who has shown some cracks in recent times

Defenders-I would suspect that White, Gabs, Zinchenko and Kiwor will be returning next season, but there could be some roster turnover in this position
-I would be keeping Saliba at all costs but if he balks at re-upping before the window opens we might be forced into selling him in a very bullish market…Arteta’s karmic fuck-ups could come back to haunt again
-on a side note, if I wasn’t so uncertain about Saliba, I wouldn’t be surprised if Gabs was shipped
-not sure about Holding, as he’s not up to par, even as injury cover, so it might be time to get something for him
-I would be shocked if Tierney was here come the start of the new season…it’s clear he’s not in Arteta’s plans, so it’s best to cash in while there are still some serious suitors
-personally I would bring back Nuno, as he’s chock full of attacking potential, but I think he’s worn out his welcome with our current skipper
-finally, I think some tough decisions have to be made about Tomi, whom I appreciate, especially with his positional flexibility, but it’s pretty obvious he can’t handle the rigors of the PL

if my assessment was even 80% accurate that would mean we could be looking for at least 2 CBs and cover for both the left and right side, which seems like a rather arduous task, considering our other pressing needs…as such, I would suspect that we might make some typical half measures and keep our most inexpensive options, like Holding and Tomi, add a CB and a somewhat versatile LB/RB option, then keep Saliba, thereby risking that he just might leave on a free the following summer

Midfield-this is clearly the biggest area of interest
-right now we have Partey, Jorginho, Vieira, Ode, Xhaka, Elneny and a returning Lokonga
-I pray that we finally eliminate Xhaka from the equation, loan out Lokonga again and go get two seminal players, but I doubt this will be in the cards unless we sell off Partey, as Jorginho, Ode and Vieira are likely going nowhere
-Jorginho is likely here to stay because we stupidly gave him term, Ode is a main cog for Arteta and Vieira’s market value is so depreciated it makes no sense but to keep him and hope for the best…the former and the latter could be considerable stumbling blocks when it comes time to properly recruit, so the greatest likelihood is that we offload ESR and replace him with our 4th or 5th TW option, who will likely be a lesser option than our former academy standout

Forwards-currently we have Jesus, Saka, Marts, Trossard, Nelson, Balogun and Eddie
-I would suspect that both Balogun and Nelson could be on the move, with the former being wrongly sold off and the latter leaving on a free
-sadly, Nelson is the more likely to stay, for frugality reasons, which would be a mistake as he has all the leverage now, so he will get an unjustified pay hike, term and some equally unwise assurances…as we witnessed with Eddie this is how we poorly conduct our business
-in the end we will likely treat Trossard as Marts cover/competition and Nelson as Saka’s, then get another Striker option who’s too similar to Jesus

so even with all the ongoing chatter about our 150+m transfer kitty and the unlikely notion that big time player agents are constantly hounding Edu, we will likely end up losing more quality players than we acquire
-with this in mind, I can see us selling Tierney, Balogun, ESR and even Partey, then only getting one name brand midfielder, one future midfielder, who will be sold to the fanbase as Xhaka’s eventual replacement, which means our Swiss miss will remain in the fold, and a couple relatively unknown defender options
-the fact that this kitty will be largely dependent upon us selling off assets, which is always a ridiculously time-consuming process for us in particular, which likely means we will be bargain shopping at the latter part of the window
-as pessimistic as it might seem this is the Arsenal way, at least for the better part of the last two decades
-the worst part of this situation is that it means the PR team will be working overtime trying to oversell our off-season antics, the thought of which makes me want to fucking vomit
-as per usual, I hope I’m wrong and this is the time we finally get it right, but my spidey-senses suggets otherwise

as for today’s clash, I’m hoping that we can somehow match Newcastle’s intensity because if we come out flat it could be a long day…my other concern is that we come out and press high for the first 10, thus giving the impression that we give a flying fuck, then slowly but surely revert back to our overtly scared tactics that have been on display for large chunks of the last month, minus our last affair against a wretched Chelsea squad…Cheers

Tony not to forget that France has some of the best rugby teams in the world and can afford to buy the best players and the Top 14 league is absolutely fantastic. Many of the matches are broadcast in English and Toulon is only 65km away and has a good team. The rugby atmosphere in the south of France is unprecedented.

All the best on your move and I get what you are trying to do as myself I have settle down now because of advanced age and travel when I get antsy to places that are interesting and enjoyable. Will do 6 weeks and 4 countries in Europe this year from the US

Kilroy
Thanks for the good wishes and enjoy your Europe travels. Junior said to me how will I feel when we finally move in about 4 years and I replied like I survived ‘Lost!’

Our French home will be hub of close friends and family and upmarket travelers for the Gites plus musicians in the studio. That and a 30 seater boutique Thai/French fusion cuisine.

Will suit an old loquacious countries’ mongrel like me. 🙂

Rugby, Monaco grand prix, CL football and whatever is the local team et al Maybe get to watch some loanees.

Three hours to kick off and I’m wondering why so quiet here? The it dawned on me, how do we make predictions without knowing who’s fit and who is starting? We know Doris the tea lady won’t step in at RB, don’t we?

We’ve had a big banner poster outside there Emirates all week saying Right Back required apply within. Main requirements being able to run for 90 minutes and scrub tramlines from Arteta boxers if he doesn’t do exactly as told by the master of fuck ups; 2nd place Arteta.

Say to anyone on Le Grove, “You’d have taken it being 2nd if offered at the beginning of the season, wouldn’t you?” The le grovettes would sing in unison with 4 part harmonies YEEEEESSSSSSSSSSS! Fcuking A, You Fcuking kidding me? Sure I thought 5 for sure and other such choker comments.

I say and I have it on good authority my fellow posters would whole heartedly agree when I say>

” YOU FUCKING PLASTIC FANS’ LOSER BOTTLE JOBS”

Of course there will be a minority of who this patently doesn’t apply whatsoever, fence sitter Bob will be looking for nuances and gray areas with the loser bottle jobs to find some way of spinning you Fucking Plastic fans. It’ll take Bob a long while, but he’ll finally arrive at the word Anal to substitute with Plastic and all will be well on the fence with balance restored owing to Bob’s considerable fat arse.

Meanwhile, the fenceless sages of LIR eagerly await the starting line up before even beginning to try to see what the fuck Arteta has set up this time.

Further news to follow.

Tony

I never expected us to mount a title challenge this season (or any under Arteta to be honest) but once we were in a position 2 nil up away at Liverpool followed by the results against West Ham and Southampton we’ve completely thrown it away and any excuse is in no way acceptable.

Arteta is a bottle job – he bottled 4th last season and he bottled the title this season. He’s going to really struggle next season when we’ll be in a far more competitive league with CL football on top.

Marc
The really sad thing is it’s all true what you say. I ask myself have we really moved on from Wenger? In truth, we haven’t other than not playing tippy tappy football any more. Now we play well in patches and get lucky with others faltering.

Tony

Not only all of the above but I’m getting seriously worried about Saliba not extending.

If he goes all the fan boys are going to tie themselves up in all sorts of knots blaming his absence on not winning the title and then claiming he’s not good enough so Arteta sold him.

Marc-the very fact that there’s chatter about White playing more centrallly next season means that either Saliba isn’t going to sign or that one of either Saliba or Gabs are on their way out this summer…more likely Saliba, considering MA’s desire to have right-footed defenders playing primarily on their stronger side…something seems fishy about this whole back gig, unless we’re not privy to some rather pertinent particulars regarding his specific injury

confirmed lineup now availiable…Partey’s omission from the starting 11 for the 2nd straight match, without any injury designation, speaks volumes about MA’s new pecking order…I now strongly believe that Partey is on the chopping block come the summer…it will be interesting to see how Howe counters a midfield 3 of jorginho, Xhaka and Ode…any team who doesn’t setup to punish that triumvarite shouldn’t be employed in the PL, especially with Zinchenko’s obvious defenisve deficiencies and us being without Saliba

TRVL
Shit or bust tactics.

Very thankful for 3 phase wiring as it’s high 40s centigrade and the power grids couldn’t get more power even if Enterprise Scotty was in control.

Relegated to family room with internet and ac only working on the live phase.

At least we’ll get to see the game