Most often than not, you will get disappointed if you expect others to do the work for you. Son decided that he hated Arsenal more than he loved Spurs because no way in hell, he could have not scored that one. Ange was furious in his post match conference, but we have seen the part 1 and part 2 of that already. Media was quick to single out Jose, saying he was a ‘has-been’ and knows only complaining, then Conte came with the winning DNA and went on a rant. English media still supported that club but with Ange – who talks positive, plays positive, and looks to be a very decent person, away from the politics – there was no escape. No one could counter the things he said, and what everyone and their nanny knew is now being accepted by the media and people around that club.
Good. We all love the spursy-ness of that club.
Though West Ham, a much better club than Spurs, will still not be enough to beat Man City on the last day of Premier League when the title is on the line. We will finish second, no worries, we will pick ourselves up and try not to repeat the December-like run which basically cost us the title. We played well, we went toe-to-toe against one of the best assembled teams in the world, led by one of the best managers in the world, and we will do it again.
Lets take a moment to think where we stand. 2nd is never enough in a competitive sports. But we have managed to improve a lot in last couple of years. We doubted Ben White, Ramsdale and Raya, we were crucial of getting Rice for 100 odd millions, we doubted Kai Havertz and we (I, personally) wanted to see ESR ahead of Odegaard. We were mostly wrong, and hats off to Arteta and Co. for proving that to us. Now, he can go ahead and win some titles next season and I will eat that humble pie and make my neighbour eat it too.
Right, a very short one today. Things have been busy at work, and the temperature here is 46 degrees. No, not Fahrenheit but Celsius if you are British reading this. I will be back before the last game of the season, and I am planning to do a makeover of London Is Red in terms of appearance in coming days. Hopefully.
Hope everything is alright at your end. Cheers.
KP-the reason I said Columbia, Missouri had nothing to do with anyone’s preferred NFL team, as sadly I’ve been a Browns fan since the Cardiac Kids of the 70s, so if your’s is made of glass, my house must be constructed of something considerably more penetrable, like maybe paper mache, it’s actually the birthplace of one Enos Stanley Kroenke…there was a similarly “styled” poster that I butted heads on another Arsenal blog, who presented himself as the supposed voice of reason, until covid hit, then he quickly emerged as a tin foil hat wearing Trump sympathizer with a penchant for racist rhetoric…I’m not suggested that the poster in question here is the same individual or even a full-blown carbon copy, but he does use some very similar phrases when on the offensive and employs the same divide and conquer techniques…Cheers
Tony-just to set the record straight, I’m not a big Sesko fan, which isn’t to say that I don’t think he could develop into a Striker of some note in the years to come…my concern with this particular player was that he appeared to be a cheaper option, who was a little too similar to our gangly giraffe…as such, I was worried that he would only be brought in as a backup, thus leaving Havertz as our primary Striker…not to mention, he was seen by some as a poor man’s Haaland, due in large part to the fact that he’s tall, was “discovered” by Salzburg, like his Norwegian counterpart, then likewise went to the Bundesliga shortly thereafter…in and of itself, this certainly isn’t the end of the world, except that it fits a settling narrative where MA seems to be always chasing Pep’s scraps or “lesser version” players and it likely doesn’t give us a viable Plan A or Plan B option that would provide us with a much-needed different kind of Striker option
no harm, no foul of course, as I do produce some lengthy posts at times, so I can see why one might misremember on occasion…have a good one
Tony-I have some similar concerns about Zirkzee, even though I do like what he’s accomplished at Bologna, as he’s been key cog in their unexpected rise in Serie A, considering that they’re typically a middling to lower half club…he to me is Jesus on steriods, as he plays a little deeper, with his back to goal, and has considerable link-up capabilities, but isn’t likely to score 20+ goals on a regular basis…I think he has more goals in his boots than our German tweener, if he was deployed a little differently, but I very much doubt MA would ever opt for a more Striker-centric tactical philosophy…with this in mind, he would likely be another Havertz backup option or, even worse, be shoehorned into a role that wouldn’t get the best out of him…just another potential rinse and repeat nightmare…it’s too bad though, in that if MA wasn’t married to Havertz, I could see this player really fitting in nicely with Saka and Marts, especially if we got another CAM and kept Rice in his rightful position
Anbarish—who am I to begrudge you the opportunity to at the very least break even on this blog venture…just do whatever you feel makes the most sense for you…thanks again for everything
“We doubted Ben White, Ramsdale and Raya, we were crucial of getting Rice for 100 odd millions, we doubted Kai Havertz and we (I, personally) wanted to see ESR ahead of Odegaard.”
Ambarish
Strange take – doubting the signing of Ben White as a CB (which is what he was signed to be) was completely justified he’s turned into a very good RB but that wasn’t some piece of zen like managerial skill from Arteta he tripped into it. Anyone who was cynical about Ramsdale’s signing was correct because he was replaced after a single season. I don’t know anyone who thought the Rice signing was a bad move – a lot of money yes buts that the English premium plus the PL premium. Raya still doesn’t convince me because I know we’ll be having the same conversation about Raya in a couple of season as we’ve just had about Ramsdale.
As for Havertz? If we’d signed a striker for £65 million who had PL experience we’d have expected a lot more than 12 league goals (closer to double that), Solanke at Bournemouth has scored 19 to put it in perspective. We’re being linked with a striker again this summer if we sign one where does Havertz fit in? A midfield of Ode, RIce and Havertz is too light weight for a lot of PL matches it would also shift the position Rice has played for us this season from box to box to DM.
ESR not being given any time will crash his value (where have we seen Arteta do that before?) and he could have been used even if from the bench far more than he has.
In a years time we’re going to be sitting here having basically the same conversation and I say that as someone who’s about to fork out circa £1500 on my season ticket. Maybe when the new Liverpool or ManU manager wins the PL before Arteta people will wake up.
“Guys, do you mind if I try some pop ups ads? The ads revenue is so poor that it don’t cover even the domain renewal, let alone the hosting costs.”
Will I earn any commission?
Just kidding! Ambarish the time you put in shows you love the club but that doesn’t mean your bank manager does – do what it takes to make it work best for you.
Marc
My sentiments exactly. Where would be if Chelsea , Man U and er Liverpool were at their best. If Poch stays he will be aiming for 2nd as he never wins anything. Ratcliffe will be supreme ruler of Man U before long – he will shaft the Glazers and they will not realise until it is too late. He doesnt take prisoners and only likes winning and he gets what he likes.
Norg
As per my comment the other day we took 6 points off ManU and 4 off City, Chelsea, Liverpool and the Spud’s. Repeating that next season will be nigh on impossible and if ManU, Liverpool, Chelsea and the Spud’s are better against us they’ll be better against other teams.
If you can’t win the PL when a clutch of your opposition are a shambles what hope do you have of doing it when they get their shit together?
Marc-as your undoubtedly aware, I’m in agreement with much of your 8:12 posting
White was undoubtedly a fortuitous situation that simply fell into MA’s lap…in fact, MA’s very own actions, or lack thereof, involving Saliba, seemed to suggest that the former BHA CB was going to be our RCB for the foreseeable future…if it wasn’t for Saliba’s stellar loan gig and some other rather peculiar circumstances that kept him in the public eye, MA likely would have sold him for a song, relatively-speaking
as for Ramsdale, he was never going to fit MA’s preferred script, which begs the obvious question, why would you pay above the number for a square peg, then likewise re-up said player, with a raise to boot, in the very same window that you were actively seeking his replacement…now I might think differently if MA had a competition in mind, but that clearly wasn’t the case, so not only did he potentially hurt Ramsdale’s MV, he likewise made him more difficult to offload, from purely a dollar and cents perspective…we shouldn’t be that surprised though, as he did almost the exact same thing with Leno, who we ultimately sold for pennies on the dollar
agree in full with the Havertz take…he set the bar so low early on that Artetites were eagerly overpraising him at every chance…fact remains he looked the part for a couple late-season matches, but never when it mattered most, like against City or Bayern…nothing he did came close to justifing the initial payout or his astronmical wages…to make matters worse, as you’ve correctly stated, he will become a stumbling block when it comes time to recruit…his favoured status means that he’s going to be on the pitch in some capacity game in and game out…if he’s up top, which seems the most likely, as playing him in the midfield could disrupt Rice’s final third aspirations, why would we invest heavily in a REAL Striker
your Rice take, about having him deployed as a box-to-box, is where our views diverge…although I see some benefits in Rice pursuing more advanced spaces against the bus sitters and/or weaker sides, I’m not a fan of paying 100+M for one of the best DMs going then have him overly concerned with non-defensive matters…I would much rather we get a readymade CAM, with goals in his boots, then have Rice venture forward when the match calls for some tactical deviations…unfortunately that would mean that fucking Havertz was our starting Striker
as for this weekend, maybe City’s counting their chickens body language, following their midweek feature, will come back to haunt them…if I was Moyes, I would use that as motivation, even though his pending “termination” should provide them with all the motivation they should need, especially for those who actually give a flying fuck about him being shown the door…it would have been a far more interesting fixture if it were at their home park, as his ousting has produced far more debate from within their fanbase than I expected
as “you’re” undoubtedly
It rumour time in overdrive. One of todays broadsheets has Ramsdale to Newcastle for a massive £15M.
Rumours are rumours and I do not take any notice of them but this one caught my eye and made laugh.
TRVL
Sun dried and not baked properly is an answer I know you will understand as my apology for getting my wires crossed. I remembered your mentioning of the name, but got the context wrong, and I when I delved in to look, I came to the same conclusions as you; he looks Havertz 2.0 in a slower league. Reminds me of our Smithy, too if he was more polished.
Zirkee does look a more robust version of Jesus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Px_YJmqkaU
I’ll use the Euros as my shop window and comment here with you and LIR about who, is or isn’t worthy. It would be interesting to see everyone’s views and their reasoning.
Maybe a fun topic to keep our need for our game addiction fed. My only current pics would be Branthwaite LB and Olli Watkins (devout gunner) at 9. Unai would leave first I would imagine, but I feel he’d be a great fit. Olise would be another who would become better with our service.
Ambarish
As the season draws to a close I want to thank you for your time and patience and will donate when my company sells. Not only have you created a well balanced Arsenal blog, but also united a group of people who, through the years together at LG (RIP) are now here with good friendships made. I say balanced because we all recognize the improvements, but also witness the repetitive mistakes and lack of game intelligence Pep & Klopp have. The past 5 seasons results speak for themselves: 88522
As a case in point below is the elite managers top 10 for 2024:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/premier-league-managers-season-ranked-32814885
Arteta is 4th with Emery 2nd after Pep.
Marc
I salute your belief, patience and resolve.
The Arsenal will always be my club, but 2nd half Wenger and 5 years of Arteta would have been testing my business resolve in questioning VFM?
Very easily I’d be thinking I can do this with that money and still support my beloved but misguided club. Then easy to say for me 6000km away being an armchair fan.
” Will I earn any commission?” (What? my life already! 🙂 ) Had me laughing with that, Marc.
Norg
I just read that, and then saw Ramsdale’s response of “News to me”. Bless him. I really feel for the guy.
El B has no clue about man management other than pet fed myopia. There are so many ways he could motivate 100% of the squad instead of 60% with the 40% left deflated knowing, no matter what, they have no chance of starting let along coming off the bench.
If they get a rare game to get MOTM, they are back on the bench for an indeterminate length of time; normally when there is an emergency with a pet.
It’s why El B is 4th on the manager’s list and not top.
Tony
It is very unlikely that Stan will pick up todays Mirror and see Unai two places above his current manager. Good to see the Bournemouth guy is up there – he has his team playing exciting football most of the time – just imagine what he could do with better quality players. Another is Glaznor at CP – in just a short while he has changed that side completely – now he has to keep his stars on side.
New post.