Forgive me for I have been busy a lot and I’m typing this on my mobile while returning home and my work shift starts at 6 in the morning, almost 6 hours from now
BUT… I can’t skip a NLD match day can I?
Am I selfish in hoping we will be 4-0 up by half time so that I can sleep early?
Biggest match of this season, win this and we get to celebrate the St. Totteringham day after years, and we do it at Shite Hart Lane. We also qualify for Champions League without going into any permutations and combinations.
Good news is, Saka’s injury was a minor one and he is back in playing XI. White could only make it to bench but I would prefer Holding anyday over him. Rob is good in the air and can counter Harry Kane efficiently.
It’s sad to see ESR on bench, it must be a dream for those 2 kids to score in as many NLDs as possible but I’ve a feeling it’s one of those matches when Martinelli proves why he deserves to start every fucking game.
Eddie, if scores today, should be given a knighthood and declared better than Bruno Fernandes for a decade.
Our only problem will be the duo of Kane and Son. Son has a habit of scoring against us and it would be challenging to stop them. A lot depends on Gabriel and Holding, we might see a deep block where Xhaka supports in defence. Ode has lost his form a bit in recent games and we need his best today.
I will keep it short today. We win 3-0, a goal from Eddie and 2 from Martinelli.
What’s your prediction? Let me know in the comments.
I’m not even disappointed (yet!)
Just utterly shocked at his poor this ref is. A fucking joke.
Holding had got away with 2 before his first yellow – it’s easy to look at the second and think it’s close to an elbow.
If that had happened at the other end you’d have Pedro and his choir of fan boys screaming for a straight red.
The statistics were always against us. Last 5 games at the Sp*ds stadium, them 4 wins 1 draw, so this just confirms it we can’t win at WHL or the toilet bowl.
Well here we go win against Newcastle & Everton a must now.
Kroenke
The ref’s been the usual standard – that isn’t good enough but it’s been that way for decades.
Need to get to half time now.
It wasn’t a penalty. Mike dean at VAR, of course he is not going to revert it.
Kroenkephobe,
Agree with you on the pen,it was soft,though still a foul. But Holding could have had 3 yellows and a straight red. The fact he only got two yellows leaves little room for complaint. The whole thing is beyond disappointing though.
My point about the pen is that the ball is nowhere near either player. And Son wouldn’t have reached it with a metric tonne of mustard powder up his arse. So in effect the coming together is a collision involving both parties. I’d almost go so far as to say Son’s face is looking to connect with Holding’s elbow.
I’d consider myself far from being a ref conspiracy theorist. The ref to my mind had just got a number of judgments wrong
Almunia
Arteta’s sent Holding out to rattle Son – that’s fine but you’ve got to be able to communicate to a player when to back off.
It’s as if no ones ever heard of rotational fouling.
Sorry. Not the pen I mean the red card decision. The pen by the way is equally mystifying in my view.
Kroenke
You’ve got both pairs of your Arsenal goggles on tonight. You’ll look at the highlights over the weekend and take a more measured view.
We just can’t shake off this tendency to play snakes and ladders with our form/ performances. That’s the type of inconsistency that top managers rid you of. Regardless of the ref we are back playing shite again when the pressure is on,infuriating.
Almunia
That’s the fear – Arteta often goes on losing runs – barring a massive comeback we’ll need 2 wins after tonight.
Remember old derbies when refs tended to give both teams a bit more leeway?
This buffoon has gone the other way sadly.
Nice to see Big Pat Jennings looking so well. Honestly,I don’t want to watch the 2nd half,all we can hope for is no more injuries,suspensions.
Oh fuck.
We could conceivably end the season the way we started it, loosing the next 2. Hopefully NOT.
Remember Conte’s a terrible manager – Pedro and the fan boys said so.
Xhaka’s going to get roasted, then bum fucked and then sent off.
Almunia
Agreed. Pat looks a bottle or two of grecian 2000 away from looking the way he did in his 70s pomp.
I still think we beat Barcodes and Everton so keep the faith. This game is a total fucking dud. I seldom do it but I’m checking out. Time for the Walking Dead and a different bunch of zombies.
Marc
You’ve got both pairs of your Arsenal goggles on tonight
You’re right mate. I’m honest enough to admit when I’m wrong. Have a good one.
Kroenkephobe,
Enjoy that,this is torture to watch. Catch you tomorrow.
Kroenke
Wasn’t an attack or even criticism – just like telling a mate that ugly girl don’t do it for the love of god don’t do it.
I can’t see Everton still needing points on the last day so it’s the Newcastle game for me. The fact that it’s a night game really worries me. I have a suspicion that if we looked back over the season our record in night games would be very poor.
Why the fuck has Lokonga disappeared from existence?
Anyone watching Arteta’s interview?? The interviewer can’t get any sense out of him at all, it’d be funny if he wasn’t manager of our club.
Almunia
Turned off at the final whistle – what’s the clown saying?
Wouldn’t speak,implied it was the referee’s fault entirely and he couldn’t comment or he’d be suspended. Monosyllabic responses and insane mutterings and soundbites for the rest of it. I was embarrassed for him actually.
#was meant to be innane mutterings but maybe autocorrect got it right….
#inane!! Crikey.
I was a bit emotional last night while the game got completely away from us, but nothing compared to what I’m reading about Tets. What a fucking wanker – he’s really unfit for high level football management. And getting (justifiably) told off by the equally hot-headed Conte is farcical. No excuses now – they have to win the last two games.
Kroenkephobe,
Of course you were annoyed, it was hugely frustrating, the problem for me is that between the last decade of Wenger and now Arteta we,the fans, seem to be stuck in an endless loop of false dawns and shattering reality. Being infuriated by that is totally natural. The problem comes when ,to escape it,we start to disconnect from the club. I think that’s happening to me to be honest.