I have never seen our fanbase so divided over anything. Was it two important points lost against Liverpool, when we are in a title race against side that has been on the top from like last 5 years? Or was it a point gained at Anfield, where we haven’t won since 2012? We were competing against a team built by Klopp, regularly competing at the top.
It’s tough to decide, but lets talk about the positives first!
We went to Anfield, we dominated them in the first half and scored 2 against the likes of Virjil Van-Dijk. Klopp looked awestruck with our performance; we could have easily scored more, had Jesus managed to keep the ball down of Saka’s cross in 17th minute. Martinelli could have had a better pass in the end, and Saka would have scored. There was another Gabriel header that landed into Allison’s hand but he could have done better. Going to Anfield is never an easy job, not just for us. They have great home-record and if you consider the fact that Manchester City lost there, one points sounds as a good result.
Another positive was Ramsdale. What a business that was, I wasn’t happy with buying a Goal Keeper who was part of team that got relegated. I loved Bernd Leno and why shouldn’t I when he was our best player before his injuries and emergence of Emi Martinez. I wasn’t happy selling Leno for cheap and then spending 24m in cash for a goal keeper. I was proved wrong. Ramsdale is the reason we didn’t lose 4-2. He made some brilliant saves, he keeps the enthusiasm high and he can fu*king celebrate like TH14 whenever he wants. We need passion, he has it in abundance.
Another positive to take from the match was our front 3. Jesus is back and he is looking in his best shape. I doubt he will ever be a prolific 25-goals a season CF but he keeps defences busy. He creates chances, open up spaces for others and is very very good in tight spaces. He has another Brazilian on one side and Saka on the other. This front 3 will grow to be a Salah-Firmino-Mane in coming time and that time isn’t far away.
Negatives? A lot.
One point sounds like a win but if you consider the fact that were 2-0 up, and then blew it away, it’s not good enough. We are not a top 4 battle but fighting for the title and every point dropped is a loss. This loss brought us to just 6 points difference when City has a game in hand, a game against us at their home ground and a better goal difference. From ‘ours to lose’ to ‘theirs’s to lose’ now, just because we didn’t manage to keep our 2-0 lead.
We also ran out of gas in second half. Zinchenko had a bad game, Saka didn’t look like the one we are used to watching, and our midfield didn’t impose on the game. About 20mins before and after half time, Liverpool played in our half and we didn’t have any answer. They missed chances, Ramsdale had to make some brilliant saves, Salah don’t usually miss a penalty but he did, and none of this should have happened. If your best player on the pitch is your Goalkeeper, it ain’t good.
Arteta’s subs were dubious. Tierney should have replaced Zinchenko much earlier, there was no need to give Kiwior his league debut against Pool at Anfield for last 15min when all they will do is attack. Saliba was missed. Odegaard wasn’t having a great game and Trossard should have been brought in the game earlier in my opinion.
I run a poll and majority of the readers were happy with one points. We still have 6 points lead and even if City wins their game in hand, they won’t go on and win all of their remaining games. They have Champions League fixtures, and points will be dropped.
Are you happy with one point considering our past record at Anfield?
— London Is Red (@LondonIsRedCom) April 9, 2023
If you ask me, I wasn’t happy. This has sorted Pep’s life in Manchester. He don’t need to depend on our results & luck anymore, they can win all games and run away with trophy. What we need to do is, to improve our GD, we are 5 short of City and if we manage to make it better than them, we can lose at Etihad and still be crowned.
However, I don’t want to see it. I want us to beat them at their home. I want those 3 points. I’m sure Mikel and company has the same in mind.
Lets keep our hope, we will still make it.
Nice piece Ambarish.
For me if you’d have offered me a draw before kickoff I would have bitten your hand off but was that the correct view? If we’re genuine title challengers who are in great form against opposition who have been piss poor all season bar the odd result shouldn’t we be more ambitious?
Ultimately once 2 nil up and Liverpool looking lost we threw 2 points away through pure stupidity and Arteta’s typical negative substitutions.
Exactly Mark. I doubt anyone’s not happy with one point but it’s the manner in which we lost our 2-0 lead has saddened us. We could have been 8 points clear had we played the second half like we did the first.
Ambarish
That is a superb piece today. Mature, balanced and dripping of Arsenal love.
LONDON IS RED
Thank you, Hoopah. Inspite of criticism, I still have my faith in our team. We just have to beat the oil money, the gods must be bored.
much like I expressed on an earlier thread, context matters…I had predicted that a tie was our best case scenario, but all bets were off once we performed so admirably in the first 40…frankly I find it astounding that you, Ambarish, didn’t make one mention of the clear-cut turning point moment provided by our brain fart-prone former captain, as not even the matchday commentators could avoid making note of the obvious connection…anyways, once we were in the lead and looking for more, it was imperative that we proved our titular worth by finding a way to leave Anfield with all 3 points
the eagerness by some to accept 2nd best, even when new and vitally important information has emerged, speaks to just how far we still must go in order to change the culture at this longstanding settling club…keeping in mind, it’s not my fault that I was a tad pessimistic about our chances, considering the plethora of evidence that clearly supported the conclusions I had drawn, as it’s up to this franchise and it’s 3 dressed up as a 9 manager to flip that pessimistic script and Sunday’s fixture provided us with another opportunity to do so…instead the same old, same old reared it’s ugly head, due in large part to the gutless inklings of our tactically naive manager…after all, it’s not difficult to be aggressive in the 2nd half of matches when you’re behind and/or playing inferior competition, but if you want to create a winning culture and compete against the best Europe has to offer, you have to be able to crush necks when the match calls for it…as such, I would have replaced our Swiss miss with Trossard at the start of the second half and even though they might have potted a couple more, I believe that we would have done likewise, which would have seen us leaving the pitch with a well-earned 4-3 victory…Cheers
Hi Marc,
I left both Xhaka and Refereeing out of this on purpose. We can’t do anything with the officials, they have been f*cking us from God knows when now.
Regarding Xhaka incident, if you provoke a player and crowd at Anfield, you should match the same with your performance. Our second half performance was not good enough, you can call it outright bad if you compare it with the first half. Though I do feel we and media have been trying to ignore the reality because Xhaka’s story sells better. Konate was fouling left and right, Jesus was being handled every now and then. Players do get frustrated. Plus Xhaka being Xhaka but others were sh*t too. If you have asked me, I would have gotten Trossard in place of Ode and not Xhaka, and that tells some story.
We need the winning culture. We can’t let go one 2-0 lead at Anfield as one incident, because comes the next season, we would be playing in champions league against teams like Bayern, Madrid, Barca, Atletico, PSG, Dortmund and our owns. All games will be like a visit to Anfield. We can have a bad day, lose against Bournemouth but consistently losing against the likes of City and Liverpool when you know you have to play them in Champions league in coming season needs an upgrade in the inferior positions. Xhaka being one.
Ambarish
I think your writing goes from strength to strength. This piece is particularly good because it encourages debate. I was pleased to see your poll attracted over 50 votes. Are you able to ping something back to all of your ‘electorate’ encouraging them to come on here and offer their opinions. That could be a useful strategy for growing readership. Personally, I really love to hear from new people on here as well as the old stagers. We all have a different relationship with the club and come from varied backgrounds, but we’re evidently united in our Goonerdom. It kind of points to one of Tony’s points about making LiR a global forum reflecting the reach that this team has.
Ambarish-I take it you were responding to me, not Marc…if so, I get that Xhaka-based narratives inherently get more clicks, justified or otherwise, but in this particular case it would be disingenuous to completely omit his actions from any post-match summary…sometimes in the past he has been used as a scapegoat unfairly, at least regarding the level of his actual blameworthiness, but in this instance I would take a contratrian view, as not only did he wake the bear, he functionally pissed on it’s sleepy cubs, then did nothing in the remaining minutes to redeem himself…Cheers
Thanks KP, Twitter users are tough for engagement but I do get some views from there. Building it slowly, some of their takes are just brilliant over there.
Sorry TRVL, I mixed it. 😐
Yes, we shouldn’t have woken up the Anfield crowd, specially after the Arteta’s dramatic scenes last time we visited them and lost. Though I think the other issues had more to do with our loss. Second half performance, Ode and Partey missing, Xhaka being Xhaka, poor management and subs, and couple of easy misses.
Anyone watching City v Bayern?
Grealish is just brilliant today.
Ambarish-earlier in the season I remarked that Grealish just might be the worst big money signing of Pep’s City tenure…since that time he’s improved measurably, even though his uptick in form appears to have negatively impacted Foden, who I still think has a bigger up-side…I think Grealish makes a bit more sense with Haaland, as he’s far more concerned with providing him with quality service than Phil, who cares infinitely more about his goalscoring stats
before the latest draw I had Munich as the favourites, but since that time Munich made their greasy managerial maneuver and City found their best form of the season…even though I rate Tuchel, it would be a karmic wet dream if they were soundly defeated…not to mention, I’m all in favour of having City’s thoughts elsewhere, as we all know how thirsty Pep is for a CL title
Munich is in full-blown amateur hour mode…they look like Pool in the first 40 on Sunday LOL
Tony-if you’re anything like me you’ll still be sniffing around this site…if so, please reconsider your position as I’ve been a Norm-like regular on many an Arsenal forums, but this one has the most potential from both a cerebral and an eclectic knowledge-based perspective…of course, it definitely has room for improvement, but losing you certainly won’t help in that capacity…hopefully you will have a bit of a rethink and we’ll be shooting the shit, as per usual, in no time…Take care
Couple of interesting bits of news:
(1) our match versus Chelsea, which was originally scheduled for April 26th, appears to have been moved to May 2nd…it’s a little fishy, as it’s been moved due to a “request” by Metro police, who for some reason wanted to have a rethink about a fixture they had already be given the go ahead to months earlier…now I know that matches have been rescheduled before for “safety” reasons, so that’s not incredibly fishy in and of itself, it’s the fact that Arsenal are “officially” suggesting that they’re “very disappointed” that really caught my attention…why would we be upset by not playing a 3rd match in a 9 day period, especially when the Chelsea fixture was originally slated to take place 3 days after our potentially year-defining trip to City…methinks someone within our offices might have reached out to police services in order to get a few days reprieve…of course, I could be wrong, but I very much doubt it after the chickenshit tactics I witnessed this past Sunday
(2) for the first time I’m starting to read rumours surrounding the possibility that MA et al are seriously contemplating the notion of selling Balogun this off-season in order to raise funds…now this would seem to be incredibly short-sighted considering his form while on loan, as he’s potted 18 goals in 26 outings(plus 3 off the bench), a total only bettered by the likes of Mbappe and David…whom in their right mind would offload “one of the best young forwards in European football’s top five leagues”, especially considering that he fits our supposed age profile and our need for more goals from the Striker position
if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say that the only reasons why this report has any validity are (1) the ridiculous Eddie deal, which complicates matters due to his unjustified wages and the lengthy term he was gifted; not to mention that Trossard is likewise on term and has been playing up top more recently, and (2) we all know that MA is a spiteful man, so there’s little doubt that he hasn’t forgotten how Balo, visa vie his agent, toyed with him before signing his most recent extension…of course, the reports suggest that Balo has no interest in re-upping, which could be the truth, but that would only matter if his deal was up next season, not in 2025, as is the case
could these just be another couple of examples of how our PR-dependent organization utilizes the full breadth of their media “partners” so as to twist narratives as they see fit or, conversely, the latter “insider info” could just be an easter egg left by a thirsty media type looking to generate clicks, but surely they could have found far more thought-provoking fodder…I guess only time will tell
Morning all – Ambarish this will help you understand me more, because for many it’s not easy.
My spectrum dwelling often is extremely difficult to contain when communication is slow or indifferent.
Since my days of foster homes and orphanages and then adoption I’ve been a survivor, which in turn turned me into mean powerhouse in making things happen. Music Industry, Corporate, Property Development and a Business Consultancy. In everything I did I was a ‘Rain Maker’ making companies and myself millions.
When I decide to do something, it gets done. Period!
As an example I walked into the biggest MC club’s bar in S A Asia knowing no-one, but within a week we were discussing making videos of rides that’s never been done before anywhere, where in the end I made 13 videos with the president and International president becoming very good friends. That’s who I am. Most people would have been ignored by the 60 or so bikers in the bar at the time. Few would have the balls to enter in the first place.
The beatings in the orphanages taught me to conquer fear which others feel through one’s inward confidence and constant alertness. The eyes tell all.
The funny thing was at the time I had no idea how to make videos; I was a very competent photographer, so how hard could it be? Fcking hard, so I enlisted the help of a Stanford professor to go one on one with me to learn Final Cut Pro. Furthermore, I contacted the owner of Colorfinale to get colour grading advice who pointed me to a colorist who helped me match up the 5 different cameras we used on the rides.
Lastly, I found Thai cameraman and the Thai film industry’s top drone pilot I could work with and got seriously good results for a Run-n-Gun videography and the £20K of video equipment I bought for this hobby.
We had a blast over 4 years in various countries in S A Asia.
I did exactly the same in the music industry started carrying speakers cabs and ended up working with the top musicians a year or so later enjoying working around the world with crazy people as spectrumed up as I was.
That’s who I am Ambarish; my drive and ambition knows no boundaries.
I was the same with you and LIR and couldn’t help myself. I quickly assessed you were young and newly wed enjoying all that a happy union brings to your lives and building your business.
Me? I’m soon to be 68 with a wife 20 years younger who’s a force to be reckoned with in business who also keeps me young, which in turn keeps me hungry for feeding my success junky needs.
Sadly, you were in my sights and my ADHD said Yipeee let’s make LIR globally successful, as KP alluded to. I was gung ho full of ideas and happy to do all the work and send to you to put live. I didn’t care if you just put LIR or your name. I wanted to help you get results.
It’s no fun waking up with no Gooners on LIR in my time zone, Ambarish, so the blog doesn’t work for me.
Rather than do nothing I tried unsuccessfully to fire you up, but instead threw cold water on the glowing embers. Face to face it would have been much different being more lively and inspirational creating energy to drive forward.
That’s the way life goes. I get LIR is your hobby and understand.
Maybe you’ll be different once this season is over win or lose, I guarantee your passion will have increased because of the roller coaster emotions you’re going to feel and they will change you forever.
TRVL, KP, Marc & Kilroy, Once we move to Europe, the time zone will work better for me. I’ve started looking at properties around the middle to the south of France with Junior last night. That’s going to keep me busy for the foreseeable future.
I’ll keep an eye on the blog, as I do for the few LG’s posters I like.
Unless I’m in my Audio Visual Room, I have to be engaged in something creative or worthwhile, such as my botanic genetics mixing or planning my next Room and writing studio.
I wish you the best, Ambarish and I wouldn’t have written the above if I didn’t respect you.
Today’s post is a big improvement, but omitting Xhaka’s & Arteta’s stupidity that lost us the game is where I have issues.
Be strong in your writing, Ambarish. Tell it like it is and why you believe it to be so. You’ll feel all the more empowered if you do and for some of us it’s cathartic. Don’t fence sit you’ll end up with Piles. Ask Bob N19.
Cheers
Read Tony’s comments last night and thought, give it some time before jumping in with my own personal opinion. Normally Tony and I see eye to eye but on his ideas in the previous post I do have a slightly different take.
1. Foremost, if Arsenal win the title, how does that change anything in my real life? Nada, Zip, Naught, Niente!!!
2. For me posting and reading the thoughts of others here is a pleasure, an entertainment and a distraction from real life stress. Just to spend some time to take a deep breath, refocus and live through another day.
3. The reason I don’t want to post on LG is simple, you have to scroll through endless comments posted by village idiots, followed by lengthy posts of wishful dreaming and setting up next season’s Arsenal Fantasy Squad. Among LG’s pages for each post, but especially on game days and post match discussions you get the few and in between comments that are of interest, make sense and have a resemblance of reality.
The time wasting of getting to those few eyeball worthy comments on LG, plus the blog police and total disregard for other persons opinions is not worthy of my time considering that daring to disagree gets you binned because Pedro only skims over the lines and doesn’t get the points that are being made. Life is too short to waste it on bad coffee, terrible wine and LG.
4. Ambarish,LiR is your baby and you run it the way it fits into your real life schedule. Consider LiR as a place were friends shoot the breeze (Good American Expression) about Arsenal, football and exchange of ideas. Just to give you an idea why I am here. I live in the US in Maryland and there is no one that has any interest in the real football. The wife and I watched in my home theater on a 136″ screen the World Cups, Euros, CL and EPL matches by ourselves. So posting here for me is a way of sharing my joy and feelings about football with others that are on the same page.
5. Finally, since I visit LiR from a PC with all kinds of ad blockers active, I don’t see any ads, however on my phone, forget it because the ads can be real annoying and I refrain visiting LiR from my mobile devices. Having experienced a similar situation with support of a forum for the best in audio and video media content, several of us donated regularly to keep the forum running now for over 15 years. It has become home to many. Maybe you want to consider something similar and I have no aversion to contributing to keeping the domain name and LiR alive.
Appreciate your efforts and hopefully we get a few others that will either comment or write a piece for you to publish. Hopefully Almunia will do a piece after the season is over regardless of whether we won the title or not.
Phir Milenge
Kilroy all fair comments but we’ll have to agree to disagree regarding winning your first Title, because as a supporter it does set your expectations to continue winning.
Conversely, losing a run in when we should have won from our long sat ascendency, as we did with 4th last season, where now once again we are conceding our position dropping points through Arteta’s persistence with Xhaka. When next in a similar position I feel previous fears will be compounded by the haunting memories of the last lost run in.
Whereas a fierce run in after winning the season before heralds more experienced positive feelings during the course of the run in.
Ask any Leicester fan what winning the title meant to them and how it’s still s big deal in their history.
Winning or losing changes people, Kilroy in my experience. Maybe you’re one of the few exceptions.
Winning the title is an accomplishment that gives you a feelgood factor and I get it that it will provide years of discussion among friends plus fond memories. I do believe that Arsenal can pull off what Ranieri did for Leicester.
However it will not change anything that is pressing in my life. It will not help with the bills, schedules, priority tasks, health, improve time spent with family members, it will do my soul a lot of good. Yet the day to day chores are still their on the schedule and agenda. Like Ambarish said for me it is more of a hobby and it can endanger the relationship of those who are nearest to us and don’t share the priority nor the enthusiasm about football.
On this blog everyone is entitled to their opinion and we are what we think. Thank goodness the blog is poster police free and a glaring absence of village idiots with mind boggling rationals.
Tony, if everyone would agree with everyone’s opinion where would the variety be and how would one improve and learn? Like the saying states “Keep your friends (same opinion) close, keep your enemies (disagreeing opinion) closer.
All the best to you and your family as you have introduced them to us. Any chance you are watching Ted Lasso? Started watching it after season 3 started airing. A very funny cameo appearance by Ian Wright.
Ads are reduced to bare minimum now, will take effect in couple hours though.
Unfortunately, Google has stopped giving options to set it to a number, just a slider that shows minimum or maximum so I don’t know how many will be there, but it’s minimum for sure now 😅