Points to prove, Emery v Arteta

Almunia & K’Phobe,
I feel the same Almunia when you and K’Phobe discuss sports and football where I wonder if I lived in some parallel universe and have somehow shifted over. I couldn’t help thinking Liam Brady would have been seriously considered as you discussed. I remember most of the names you discussed above, but would never have come up with them off the top of my head.

Tough one Almunia when it come to music as ,it’s so subjective and why our choices are so eclectic. I’m finding new music all the time and today as friend sent me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrFH0kSmLro A modern day Kraftwerk or Mike Oldfield with interesting beats and melodies touching into deep house and Madonna – very soothing.

I spend about 8 hours a day now I’m retired in my Room with my vast collection and Tidal and Qobuz and finding new music all the time. Music is my life outside my family it’s in my head all the time even when I’m not listening to music: one of the few pleasures of occupying the spectrum.

https://jhaudio.com & https://www.schiit.com buy what you can afford from these 2 companies and you will have an unparalleled sound stage in your ears that would replicate parts of my room. I use 2 Schiit DACs to run my 2 Meyer Aime sub channels with my Trinnov. I think they were about US$200 each. You could keep it all Jhaudio as they have the full range, too.

Just down to individual budgets. It’s immersive sound with decent adjustable bass on the top IEM models.

I spent 9 years in the industry as a sound engineer and later management. I’m a tech audiophile sound engineer still happily drowning in music. The new Rolling Stones Blu-Ray: Grrr is also excellent with Jonathon Meyer and Lady Gaga guesting.

if you’re a Bowie fan then this is a must:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Moonage-Daydream-Blu-ray-Region-Free/dp/B0B7SBHFWY

Back to the best of the Irish I’ll stay with Brady as he was a magician on the ball and Arsenal.

I’m in full music mode today, so off to my Room.

Have a good one lads.

Just noticed my post is awaiting moderation, Ambarish? Would you mind telling me why?

If you wish to censor me in any way, Ambarish, I’ll leave the blog and you can delete my presence here or the mention of future help.

I had enough with LG I can live without LIR or any football blog, as i’ll probably start wringing something I’ve been putting off.

Thanks for the platform anyway, Ambarish. Sorry lads but I’m not being moderated by any anyone I’m tapping out.

writing* – not Blog*

just testing…

KP,
Fell asleep last night before I could reply! Your selections are great,real food for thought. Going to do England first. I’m going to exclude the 66 team because they are before my time but for clarity,from all I’ve watched and read,3 of them would be in my top 3,Bobby Charlton,Banks and Bobby Moore. But I’m going to pick from 70’s onwards. Same for Wales and Scotland. England top 5 is
1. Gazza
2. Lineker
3.Barnes
4.Beckham.
5.Shilton.
A real mixed bag there. I wouldn’t have watched a fraction of England’s games that you have so I’d imagine I have made the mistake of picking brilliant club players who didn’t produce for England( Barnes?) But I would level that accusation St the entire golden generation of the noughties,bar Beckham. Keegan is an enigma for me,never really understood the hype. Loved Beardsley too but never seemed to do it in an England shirt. Owen was perhaps more consistent in fairness. Hate Rooney so my bias wins there! Of our boys Adams,Seaman and Wright were probably best. Dixon rarely let them down. Does Platt count as one of ours? Shearer was one of my all time favourite strikers but for me Lineker was the most consistent English striker in the really big games. Rarely went missing,rarely missed big chances.
Bound to have missed a load more ain’t I? Always liked Bryan Robson too,he played with utd before I began to truly detest them! Ince was another you’d rather have with you than against. I’ll shut up now,could go on for hours!

Tony,
Is it possible the site was having problems? If MB is moderating you we’re all in trouble. KP and I will be banned for boring the hole off everyone with our very lengthy strolls down memory lane!! I’d doubt very much you are being censored my friend, blame it on the machines.

Wales is easy.
1.Neville Southall.
2.Kevin Ratcliffe.
3.Gareth Bale.
4.Mark Hughes.
5.Ian Rush.
Rush is the most likely of these to fall into the great club player who didn’t always produce for his country category. Giggs can do one,pushed his country too far behind his club. Bellamy and Speed are probably the best two not to make it. I loved pat van den Hauwe also. John Charles too far before my time. Ramsey just a level below. Did I miss anyone really obvious?

Scotland
1. Dalglish,no doubt.
2. Colin Hendry,braveheart.
3.Alan Hansen,rolls Royce.
4. Gramme Souness,crunch.
5.Ally McCoist,goals.
Much harder.Denis Law and Billy Bremner victims of my pre 70’s ignorance. 3 Celtic midfielders,all equally brilliant,very unlucky not to make it,Paul McStay,John Collins,Paul Lambert. Strikers like Frank Mcavennie and Big Dunc worth a shout. I never saw Fletcher have a bad game in a tartan shirt,nor Gary Macallister for that matter. David Speedie was another gem. Feck I forgot Pat Nevin,he was class also. Scotland have produced some gems haven’t they. Stevie Nicol too. I’ll stop!

Real have almost thrown this away already! Need Benzema to reproduce one of the many Lazarus-type performances that were the hallmark of their winning run last year. Can’t have Liverpool winning this trophy again!!

Nuts game. 2 all and it could have been more easily. Surprised at Allison,incredible keeper. Not so much Courtous,also brilliant but never as comfortable with his feet. Anfield is such an intimidating place to go,particularly on Euro nights,worth a goal to Liverpool every time. We miss that having left Highbury. Such a pity that the move was necessary. No title since then. No surprise really.

It’s not like I have anything personal against Elneny, as he appears to be a positive squad presence, but why exactly are we re-upping him…just doesn’t make much sense to me, especially with all the academy and loaned out pieces we have who need minutes moving forward…not to mention the fact that we need to properly address this particular position come the summer, regardless of the rather premature praise being heaped upon Jorginho, considering his incredibly brief sample size

on a side note,Tony, I would imagine your “moderation” predicament was merely a glitch, especially considering the fact that your post strongly opposing just such a scenario made it onto the site…I know how you feel though, as I’ve experienced a plethora of time in moderation hell over the years, which can be quite a triggering proposition

Almunia
We might have hit on something here that will help alleviate some late winter boredom. I think you’re much more efficient than me at pulling some important names out of your memory archives.

Boring the hole off of someone is a terrific turn of phrase!

Hi Tony
Almunia could well be right. See what Ambarish says but it’s unlike him. But if you were censored, you’ll be in good company – I’ve had a least three pieces not see the light of day. They were all admittedly rather offensive, decidedly anti-Arteta and not altogether relevant so I figured I deserved it. This is a great place to read and exchange thoughts. In the words of KC (and his sunshine band), please don’t go. At the very least, Ambarish doesn’t have loads of fucking alter egos like gloomy Ganesh, vindictive Virat or sarcastic Sachin. No twats called Zaheerarse either. We’re all good on here man.

Almunia

Moderation hell… For me it was blessed relief being disinvited to paranoid Pedro’s dick measuring party! I used to go on the Gooner a lot in the late Wengerian period and switched onto LG when it hit a massive brick wall when Kevin Whitcher left. LG was tolerable til Pedro became a malinche-esque turncoat.

This is one for the ages. How many teams come back on Euro night at Anfield from 2 down? Expect Liverpool onslaught now!

TRVL,
The Elneny extension is very ominous I fear. The idea that it’s a loyalty reward is nonsensical. That’s not how big clubs operate is it? More likely its with an eye on failing to secure top targets over the summer. Many Arsenal fans really haven’t fully analysed just how much money Arteta has been afforded in regenerating this team. He has spent a fortune with much of it wasted. There should be no shock if such financial backing is reduced going forward. Comparisons to City and Chelsea’s spending are lazy. Why not compare his spending to the other 17 prem clubs? People would soon begin to understand why many think top 4 was always too simplistic an aim in his 4th season after such huge investment.

KP–when I was referring to “moderation hell” I wasn’t speaking speficially of LG, which did occur on a couple of occasions, but what I have experienced on several overtly pro-Arteta payola hack sites…Pedro actually tried to oust me under the misplaced notion that I was being homophobic simply because I suggested that Nigel was such a self-absorbed twat that he had hired himself on as his own personal fluffer

So I think we can say no trophies for Liverpool this year. Oh dear, what a shame.

Extending Elneny, irrespective of his fitness is a monumentally stupid idea. It’ll disenfranchise Patino, Azeez and the even younger ones and there are thousands of younger versions of Elneny at clubs the world over. Arteta morphs into a sentimental late Wenger conveniently missing a period of club success. What the fuck are they doing?

Sorry TRVL
In my dotage, I thought it was Almunia that was referring to his own moderation hell. We’ve all been there it seems…

Different case from your but nevertheless an example of Pedro’s arrogance and stupidity. I got thoroughly sick of him using Emery’s relatively limited English as a stick/shtick to beat him with. All that good ebening shite you’ll doubtless remember, which was lapped up by his sycophants. I told him him it was poor behaviour on his part to be exhibiting such discrimatory bigoted rubbish to attack Emery.

His response? How can you say I’m racist when my gf is from Latin America. What a fucking dimwit.

No doubt Almuniasaynomore…the concerns you’ve raised regarding “wasted” monies already spent shouldn’t be overlooked by the fanbase, which is why I’ve exhausted considerable energy discussing our overpayment for the likes of White, Ramsdale, Vieira, among others, plus the “real” financials surrounding the January window (ie both fees and wage bill)…furthermore, Elneny has had some rather significant injury concerns over the past couple of years, which is unacceptable for a bit part player who’s best ability is availability

it was like Pool woke the sleeping dragon…fun affair to watch as a neutral, minus the piss-poor Keeper assisted goals by each side

KP—Pedro suffers from the same afflicition our former manager did, in that he’s surrounded himself with “yes” man types so he’s lost all meaningful perspective…how ironic considering that he made his hay by attacking Wenger for doing some of the very things he himself is now guilty of…the difference being that whereas Arsene had earned some benefit of the doubt due to his tireless efforts, Pedro was simply another talking head trying to carve out a name for himself in an already crowded debate space…his girlfriend comment is so rich, considering the oh so tired cliche about how I can’t be racist because my best friend is…

Yeah,so much for the Liverpool ‘onslaught ‘! Chippy is on irish TV duty here and he reckons that VVD simply never recovered full fitness after his injury. Also reckons Wijnaldum was never properly replaced. Good calls. I see Napoli won. With an 18 point lead in serie A they are a team who can seriously prioritise the champs lge this year A very good bet I would say as most will now be tossing a coin between real and Bayern. Might check that out tomorrow.
As for pool I’d be surprised if Klopp was there next year. Stevie G to return and the club to struggle is my guess. All this less than a year after coming within a hair’s breadth of an astounding quadruple. Proof that football has to be about the now. Arteta and ‘the youngest squad’ brigade take note!!

Almuniasaynomore—if Klopp left Pool, I would give my left nut to have him patrolling our sidelines…personally I believe that it would have to be him pulling the shute, as they would have to be absolutely insane to usher him out the door…we all knew that they would have a bit of a decline with Mane gone and the amount of key injuries they’ve endured, but he’s put them back on the map as a team of consequence and I think they’re one midfield move away from challenging next season for major trophies

chute

I was just thinking about how incredibly important our next week and a half might be in the title race, with 3 matches over an 8 day period…we have 3 winnable games, with LC as the toughest on paper, followed by Everton and Bournemouth at home…at the very least we should earn ourselves 7 of 9 available points, but since we’ve already shown that Everton is never an easy fixture for us, in more recent times, we must be careful not to look another gift horse in the mouth

hopefully Partey will be back in the fold by the weekend, but even if that’s the case there’s no way MA will have him involved in all 3 fixtures, so squad rotation will be inevitable…the problem is the most logical rotation would see Partey play against LC then not again until the following weekend against Bournemouth, which would require Jorginho to occupy the deep-lying pivot role against an Everton side…unfortunately, they have the kind of midfield that might overpower and out pace our diminutive Italian DM

what’s even more worrying is the thought that MA might take an even more cautious approach, especially on the heels of Jorginho’s seemingly positive impact against Villa, and play Jorginho in the bookend weekend games and have Partey only start the Everton affair, which I think could be rather problematic…keeping in mind that it’s not uncommon for Arteta to use the injury card as an excuse to unnecessarily bench a player, as we’ve witnessed this on numerous occasions since his hiring

as I’ve always professed, I think MA doesn’t know how to recruit and/or retain more veteran players without adding short-sighted assurances during the negotiation phase…it’s why I believe that Marts should be significantly concerned about Trossard’s presence, unless the latter starts to play in place of Xhaka…it’s likewise why Partey, who’s had a couple niggling injuries recently, shouldn’t be surprised whatsoever if he found himself in a timeshare of sorts with Jorginho…MA is a not only a creature of habit, to a fault,I might add, but also someone who’s shown a propensity to allow his pseudo-superstitious inklings to influence his selection process, whereas a more experienced individual would generally rely more on their managerial guile…that said, it will be very intriguing to watch how MA navigates his way through what should be a godsent stretch of games, if it weren’t for the fact that we have been exceedingly wonky lately and that our most recent victory came with both of his new acquisitions on the pitch

Ambarish, TRVL & K’phobe
It did trigger me badly.

Arteta triggers us most and is why we come here to voice a different voice. It’s your prerogative, Ambarish, to police your blog as you sees fit.

However, Ambarish try to communicate better with your posters through your email if necessary.

If you ask for certain topics to be less virulent or toxic you only have to let me or I imagine the group you have attracted know, which all have concerns regarding Arteta, as a person and manager. The awfully difficult thing keeping the reality language tone down is because so many of us saw the issues well before Arteta, but his naiveté in ‘I know best’ has cost us dearly the since Arteta’s arrival and still does. Knowing when to use advice is easier road to success and shows maturity in a leader.

It’s life’s (business) & football’s valuable experience we lean on to to make our POV’s known on your blog. We’ve all held high positions in business and been ‘Suits’, an academic or professorial role or senior govt roles in multiple countries. Some have played sport to a very high level (not me) or just played or coached.

We all keep things cordial although many of us have had years together on LG. We share our experiences and family life but not on game days or post game days normally it’s during the no-news days.

Some of us multiple roles mentioned. Most have followed The Arsenal for more than 40 years barring Marc, who I think I remember being around 40, thankfully gives us his pitch side POV’s.

If you feel you need more balance during a blip or complete fcuk up, then tell us, as we’re as nervous as a one legged man navigating a minefield without crutches and one eye with this season & Arteta’s track history of last season. Emotions get the better of us; however, we respect your rules, Ambarish.

My choice for manager: Ten Hag who I banged the drum for all last season and well before has got Manure clicking again: Rashford is scoring for fun, and the team has balance in midfield and without the hapless McGuire shoring up its defense. They are capable on going on a run and are primed to do so. Other teams will definitely want to spoil their and our title party, especially the relegation battlers.

To be perfectly honest and not just for balance: so are We!

Bring Bolagun back and with Jorginho being far better than I and others worried about is showing Xhaka doesn’t have a key role in the team any longer other than supr-sub and I use the term loosely.

We’ve seen a cameo and a starting place in 2 games where Jorginho has settled us and directed traffic through the midfield to the final third via channels or directly. Yes! I was worried, but now I’m not with hindsight. I should have kept my own council and watched a couple of games first. My bad.

They are my main worry, not City. Watching United’s recent games you can see Ten Hag has the dressing room firmly believing in his footballing way, and why not his Ajax CV is excellent.

Ambarish, some Arsenal fans will never see another title because of age, poor health or life’s bad luck.

This season if you think you’re going through the emotional wringer, spare a thought for us oldies with pretty serious health issues. This topsy turvy season could well be some fan’s last chance of a title. The same big teams will not be slipping up next season and will be active in the TW.

2016 and now 2023 will the next need for rebuilds, poor form, injuries et al happen in 2030? I guess it’s possible.

Ambarish, I will keep a balance of the good, bad and ugly from Arteta.

Xhaka is the only player who should never have played for The Arsenal, let alone for so many years when Kante was the option. He’s the only one I lambast if another player has a bad day at the office it’s normally Arteta we are upset with for not subbing the poor performing player, not the player because Arteta runs our players into the red without compunction during his tenure as manager.

White is a strange one and looks unhappy or just not geared up for this type of pressure in a game you don’t like very much, but the money is good. Recently his performances have been patchy from very good to ordinary/poor. That’s for Arteta to fix as he was his buy.

This week is becoming far busier from selling our companies than I expected. We’re being courted by 2 companies from different countries. I’m about to get up to my eyes with my wife with lawyers, accountants and suits at the negotiating table, which could and most probably will go on for months.

Ambarish I believe there is balance in the above words. Nothing needs censoring because what is written is the truth.

I guess I’ll see by what you actually publish. Maybe I was a little hasty with tapping out, but I didn’t know others were being moderated as well, so, I’m of the understanding that I wasn’t alone now.

I wondered whether the club was trying to censor you?

Hi Tony

Far be it from me to offer any cast iron advice to you or Ms Tony about your business negotiations. You’ve probably bought and sold more enterprises than I’ve had hot dinners (although we are in the midst of selling one right now – it’s a huge amount of fun by the way because the buyer really wants what we’re selling which is a perfectly placed and hugely successful beachside catering place).

But give it as much focus as you can to make sure you and the family get the best outcome. Caution and care with the details and the legal niceties, and studiously working out the consequences each time there’s a change is the way to go. Ours is being run along those lines because the buyer is a little bit too pushy and bullshitty. Plus, he’s one of those typical idiots in the UK who thinks he’s intellectually superior to everyone because he talks in business clichés. A pound shop, even arsier version of Alan Sugar. The people you’re dealing with sound a lot more switched on so take your time mate.

The tautology being used to justify the Elneny extension is nauseating. If the man himself read it, I’m sure he’d find it humiliating, patronising and ultimately insulting. As a player reaching the inevitable end of your career, you don’t want to be talked about as (just) a good egg or good in the dressing room (which also has a creepy dimension). Its hypocritical and it gives the lie to the club’s ethos about its playing values and success from adopting a policy if playing youngsters. Moreover, it suggests that neither Tets, Round nor Stuivenberg are capable of offering positive mentoring. Poor Charlie P and Azeez.

Hi K’phobe
Really good to hear your news re your sale, which I hope facilitates your Barcelona move quicker.

Both companies are worth billions from different continents.

The negotiating isn’t the issue and they contacted us, so leverage is on our side. Thailand as you know is a law unto itself. When your accounts are filed for the financial year, you have to tell the tax dept how much turnover you expect for the coming year? If you are more than 10% out you have to pay a fine to the tax dept. We were 12% out and they wanted £30k, which Mrs T got down to £10K. As big as the companies are they will have to jump through hoops for the legalities and accounting.

The buying and selling will be corporate straight forward where the only big concern will, be how long they want Mrs T for the hand over?

Really hope your business reaps you all you want.

Nothing gets the juices flowing more than when Tony goes full Glengarry Glen Ross, especially on the heels of a few late evening BTs of hashish…great to hear about all the good things that appear to be on both of your horizons, KP & Tony, hopefully everything pans out accordingly…sounds like maybe you two might be on the brink of putting in a sizeable bid for our beloved club…if you’re looking for someone to head up a much-needed PR department revamp, don’t hesitate to ask, as I can’t imagine a more enticing proposition than joining you Merry Pranksters in what would undoubtedly be a very Kesey-like surreal collective

Looking forward to watching Gvardiol at cb for Leipzig v City tonight. He’ll be in the prem next season,prob at Chelsea,but utd,City and Liverpool will all be in the hunt also( as will we if ,God forbid, Saliba doesn’t sign a new contract). He’s only 21 which is a baby for a cb but he really impressed me during the WC. Need City to win and go as deep as possible in this,keep their resources spread as thinly as possible.

TRVL
Kersey-like would be spot on if we bastards ever got together in the same room.

Tony – that turnover predicting business sounds like a great wheeze for sucking profits out of local businesses and encouraging the ever greater spread of corruption. Your wife is a gem for setting them partially right – I congratulate here for her acumen. I assume one is penalised for over OR under estimating. Kin ell – the mind boggles. I bet the Thai revenue made a fortune out of covid and are still doing nicely thanks to the chaos in Ukraine.

Yeah that sale and three or four others need to happen before Catalonia beckons. I’m looking forward to calling most of my places in (including my flat in Highbury) and re-embracing a life of relative excess!

HI Almunia
After this year’s and last year’s games, I’m starting develop a healthy dislike of City and their own moaning little twerp of a manager. Tets was a good fit there no?

Yeah, wasting their time in the CL for a few months until they cone crashing down and fail to win would suit us fine. It’s interesting to imagine what their legacy will be if they get more than a mild rebuke from the PL. For me, their antics have sullied football and greatly diminished its worth.

Gvardiol was the hairy guy who wore a face mask at the WC right? He didn’t impress me but I spent most of the tournament in a stupor of indifference.

Yeah,that’s him. Messi actually made a bit of a tit of him in the semi but he looks d real deal to me (which means sweet fuck all,I know!).
I still haven’t readjusted my hate-o-meter to recalibrate for city’s rise. It’s still utd,pool and chelski for me,in that order. I’ve explained the spurs thing to you at length,they are a non entity over here. If anything city have saved me listening to some serious utd/pool wankers over the last decade or so

I envy you in some ways for your ambivalence towards the neighbours. I saw quite a bit of them at WHL in the 80s and almost tolerated them for a while. But that evaporated a long time ago and I now get almost as much pleasure from them losing as I do Arsenal winning. There’s no avoiding the fact that they’re a biggish club. but the perennial lack of success is a huge comfort to me. I was losing sleep a few days before they lost that CL final to Liverpool. It would have been unthinkable.

It’s also comforting to know they’ve not gained a foothold in Ireland by the sounds of it despite having a smattering of good Irish players.

By the way, your extra info about the Chippy story was terrific. I never knew his ma came over to London with him. He was never the most healthy looking of lads but he never stopped running.

Fuck me,fell asleep again. I see Gvardiol scored but in truth I’ve hardly seen him this game. This must be what happened to the guy they sent to check out Runnarson. Any luck with RTE Player KP?

It’s weird. I can get RTE player easily enough but the show (I think it’s called ‘the Irishman Abroad’ comes up with nothing. It looks like a brilliant film that will confirm my admiration for the man. I’ll keep looking.

Apparently there is some beautiful footage of Italy.

Almunia, don’t you just hate that when you fall asleep waiting to watch something important? Being either 6 (more preferable) or 7 hours in front really screws with late kick offs and evening games. You have my sympathy my friend. I, too, have missed many. I finally located a DVD player/recorder to replace our old one, so late night games will no longer be a problem the next morning with my coffee.

TVRL
Glenn Gary Glenn Ross really had me laughing. I had no idea K’Phobe was selling a successful business, as I thought he was still forensic accounting after the launderers et al. Makes me feel a little easier talking about life here.

In my own way I envy K’phobe’s Barcelona move, but in a good way, as that part of the coast going into the Pyrenees is a magical area with unbelievable vistas. An upmarket LA with culturally improved Spanish style with great beaches and skiing an hour or so away. I seem to remember Northbanker from LG saying he is the other side of the Pyrenees in France.

I am considering continuing my consultancy work, as an Elite Sound & Vision consultant for Thailand for people who want to build a room from the ground up designed to their individual style with perfect acoustics and the world’s elite tech.

Starting price would be around US$400k for everything in Thailand. It would be a hobby job where it would be fun educating people about sound and vision. Each room would take around 3 to 4 months to build, acoustically treat internally and instal with 3-day calibration and tests. I wouldn’t expect to be busy where it wouldn’t matter.

We’ll see what happens with how long my wife will be required for the handover, and the tax implications because forecasting to begin with would be impossible with such high value items.

Not had time to really take notice of the CL because of the game times and being busy.

I did wonder off the top of my head what the chances are of meeting Manure in the EL cup final if they get past Barca or vice versa?

I also worry when I see us connected to Youri Tielemans. Not the player he was 2/3 seasons ago and not our intended level.

RIP John Motson a legend of commentating throughout my lifetime.

Yep,Motty was alongside Brian Moore as the two voices of football for me. Seemed a gent. RIP.

Anyone watching nantes v Juve? Di Maria just scored an absolute stunner. What an enigmatic player he is. I suppose we should be hoping Nantes win, but realistically I’ve already accepted that Arteta isn’t going to try and win the Europa,no point in even worrying about it.

Tony,
Recording games and then trying to avoid the scores reminds me of the early 80’s when my dad bought our first vcr. Magical times,half way through a match only to discover my sister had recorded an episode of corrie or some such. 1st world problems!