Well, it’s the North London Derby time. One of the best teams in the world is going to get into sh*t and hope to come out clean. September is a tough month for us, we already have dropped points against Brighton – thanks to the referees, and we are going to play Tottenham away next Saturday with City coming up next. With a bit of dent in our confidence, we need the win. I will go into the matchday details in a later post and let me use this one to vent out my frustration.
Declan Rice received 2 yellows and is suspended for the Tottenham game. Why? Because a ref decided to fuck up. I am not getting into the discussion of whether it was right or wrong call. If it was right, Joao Pedro did the same and should have been sent off as well and the game should have continued 10v10.
First off, Veltman appeared to quickly take the free kick but the ball was still moving, which makes it illegal. Ref should have had a talk with both players and should have said play on. If you are hell bent on giving a card, because it’s an Arsenal player, you miss (or ignore, choose your words) the illegality of that free kick that was about to be taken. And why was no card given to Pedro when he kicked the ball halfway through?
At this stage, we don’t even want the referees to be RIGHT. We just want them to be CONSISTENT in their POOR REFEREEING.
Saka had to say this to BBC Sport :
I thought it was a bit harsh for us. We just want some consistency. Joao Pedro booted the ball halfway across the pitch in the first half and got nothing for it, and Dec got the slightest touch and was sent off. It is what it is; I don’t want to put the whole game on the referee as we still had chances to win it. It has been a good start. Today is a disappointment, but it is a long season.
source : bbc sports
Mikel Arteta On Declan Rice’s red card…
I was amazed. Amazed, amazed, amazed because of how inconsistent decisions can be. In the first half, there were two incidents and nothing happened. Then, in a non-critical area, the ball hits Declan, he turns around, doesn’t see the player coming and touches the ball. By law, he can make that call, but by law then he needs to make the next call which is a red card. So we play 10 against 11. This amazed me, at this level.
source:Arsenal.com
It’s such a shame that nothing has changed yet again this season. The ref was from Manchester and I don’t need to guess if it can affect your decisions on the field. It’s high time for neutral European referees who don’t care if you are playing in blue or red. The PGMOL is a circus that needs disbanding.
Right, that was on the ref. The next one is on Mikel.
We haven’t heard from Mikel yet but there were injury concerns for Odegaard and Timber. Declan Rice is out for sure because of the 2 yellows. It’s okay that we have Thomas Partey but we have seen drop in performance after the 60min mark. Against Tottenham, it’s going to be a high intensity game which require a very high level of concentration. Can Thomas do that for 90min? I doubt that. Jorginho, the same thing. So, we haven’t got a DM that can play 90 with the same intensity, our only RCM could be ruled out for the game and for LCM, we would be playing Merino – his first game in Arsenal color.
You see why I was worried when we sold ESR and loaned Vieira? Odegaard. If our captain picks up an injury, no one is their to do half his job. ESR was the closest, Vieira could have still covered but there’s no one else to cover that position. Declan Rice / Thomas Partey / Jorginho / Merino – fight for the other two positions.
Third – we needed a CF. We missed chances in the Brighton half. A proper CF would have converted atleast one. A scoreline of 1-1 with 10 minutes sounds like the best thing, but we could still have won had we converted.
Right, I was gone for a week celebrating my birthday in Jaipur, the pink city and a lot had happened before transfer window closed. We brought Raheem Sterling on loan from Chelsea. A move I would have hated if he was to be our first choice but everyone and their dog know that he is going to play those 20 min when Saka needs the rest. Mikel Merino finally made it, Calafiori was done deal long back, the deal for that Spanish goalkeeper collapsed so we loaned Neto for a season. Reiss Nelson left, Nketiah is gone, Vieira sent on loan and Aaron Ramsdale joined Southampton on a permanent deal.
A good clean up but I am not satisfied with the incoming. I don’t know we may have to start a fundraise to bring a CF to the club. That’s it for the day, I will be okay by next weekend and I’m sure we are going to enjoy a beautiful win against our arch rivals.
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I don’t know why you’re worried – we’ve got ESR ready to go.
Of course the fan boys will make all the excuses for Arteta as its all terrible luck and not his fault after all the other teams never have players sent off or injured.
Just read the Norway manager saying he doesn’t expect Ode to be available for the next internationals on October 10. I thought every 4 weeks now we have international breaks?
It’s just plain stupid. Why not stop for 4 weeks in the winter, and then do a mini league and get all the games done in 4 weeks.
Then leave the home leagues to play without meaningless breaks. Forget friendlies. It’s the clubs who produce the stars for their countries and pay their wages and upkeep.
That’s off the top of my head but I’m sure something better to be worked out that gives clubs a winter break, too.
Marc
ESR was always going to come back and bite El B. As TRVL said we had very few injuries last season but fanboys conveniently forget there is also a law of averages. Our players averages are much higher from red zone playing.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-13833255/Martin-Odegaard-pictured-using-crutches-limps-private-jet-picking-bad-ankle-injury-just-six-days-Arsenals-north-London-derby.html
Our Señor Emery is convinced he can turn Jhaon Duran from Chicago Fire in America into a world class striker in 12 months. When has El B ever said such a thing?
“Aston Villa ‘rejected FORTY offers for a highly-rated youngster’ during the summer transfer window… with Unai Emery convinced he can turn the star, 20, into one of the best in the world.
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery is reportedly very excited about one young striker Villa received widespread interest over the summer and rejected multiple offers”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-13833181/Aston-Villa-rejected-FORTY-offers-highly-rated-youngster-summer-transfer-window-Unai-Emery-convinced-turn-star-20-one-best-world.html
If that’s ligament damage he could be out from weeks to months – our season (which hasn’t been very impressive to put it mildly) will quickly turn sour.
Tony—I wasn’t expressing my selection preferences, just what I thought might happen….I would likewise start Nwaneri in the derby, if Ode isn’t available, as I think he would make more sense than Kai in that right-sided role…we have quite an upcoming schedule, with 3 crucial away games in the next 7 days and 7 total matches in the next 21 days, so the sooner we start handing minutes to our bench players the better, as we might need to rely upon several of them in the coming weeks…of course, the next 3 weeks likely won’t define our whole season, but it could definitely set the tone…hopefully MA will somehow grow a pair before we run this gauntlet or we could be in for some overtly boring gameplans, which could prove problematic, as those tend to be more physical affairs and that could lead to further injuries…Cheers
TRVL
I thought your selection choices were what El B would choose, and also saw it that way. My addition was what and I you would would prefer as El B’s tactical and selection critics.
We’ve both been highly critical once again of our TW. If we compared our buys to a Monopoly board, we bought London Stations while other teams, such as City with Ilkay, got Pall Mall and similar.
Now our trains are running badly with break downs.
I Was banging the biggest timpani drums all summer about our MF and the need for an Ode injury stand in. Eze was the obvious choice who we could have easily afforded instead of Merino and Calafiori.
I think Eze’s buyout clause was about £63m? The perfect MF and false 9 Swiss Army Knife player. An attacking force not really noted for his defensive work, but that’s why we have enough DMs in the squad. El B allows Partey to give Rice freedom as 8, but doing so with Eze would be far more goal prosperous.
Nwaneri can because he got the minutes last season to be ready this season ….. oh wait …….. I was only dreaming; that is what Klopp or Pep and Emery would do. El B hasn’t got the far in his rookie 101 how to be generational book.
Got a few hundred chapters to go as he’s still working his way through Sunday league tactics and player recruitment.
I’m no all seeing mystic who can see the future, I just looked at the law of averages that Ode would miss games this season through injury. The kid has been played to death by club and country, so it was inevitable he would be sidelined through injury at some stage this season. The same as it is believed that after every 40K miles driven it is deemed likely the driver will have an accident be it minor or otherwise. I read once that 40K miles was the accident benchmark.
Had Nwaneri got a few games under his belt last season after his very decent showing with the few minutes he did get, he would be ready for the NLD, and give Spuds something new to deal with. Nwaneri has 2 quick feet and has the Kanu glide if you know what I mean even without the Kanu lengthy gait, and size 15 plates of meat.
With Jorginho, everyone and their dog knows his ponderous play, and also potential slide rule passes if he has enough time on the ball. The skills are still there, but in PL pace terms he operates in slo mo and easily nullified and dispossessed, which with our inverted walk-about fullbacks, is worrying and too much added pressure for Saliba and Big Gabs especially getting flustered when facing tricky pacy forwards.
Our biggest plus is Arry is in Germany. The lisping, easy crumbling diver isn’t our problem any more, and Son is a fading star who is still dangerous, but I feel now a little off the PL pace this season.
Our biggest problem is El B trying to overcomplicate in making missing stars’ compensations. It wouldn’t surprise me if El B wasn’t running musical chairs to get the starting line up. Our new keeper started as a 9, I believe. I hope no one told El B.
We will have to wait until around 1pm Sunday to see how we are going to line up to be able to hazard some form of prediction.
But, back to Ode and our Swiss cheese midfield now Ode is missing, and inverters not working because Ange Knows what’s coming. Not that they work anyway – remind me what have we won with this overplayed tactic Pep dropped 2 seasons ago?
Spuds down in 10th and misfiring means nothing in this NLD game because bragging rights are up for grabs. NLDs are lottery cup final games – each and every one of them, same Pool and Toffees and Manure and Shitty.
These games come down to who wants it more and dominates most controlling the frantic paced game.
We can only dominate for short periods in the first half generally. After about 30 minutes we fade from our gung-ho, guns blazing assault on our opponents, where they know if they can contain us, and keep the score level or be down by a goal by half time, they know they can get at us in the second half as Wolves, Villa and Brighton did and who were lucky not to take points from us.
Now we have City and NLD with Atlanta away in the middle minus Ode, Merino and Calafiori. Let’s hope no more are added to our walking and crutch aided wounded from training.
In other Havertz ass blowing smoke news, the German manager has stated that he believes Havertz is going to be elite and world class in several positions soon.
Now, the Germans are not normally noted for their humour, but their manager sounds like a right comedian.
Had me laughing with that one ………….
Have a good one LIR.
Tony—I thought that might have been the case…just thought it best to clarify…agree with your Ode take…in fact, we’ve been quite fortunate that Norway has been piss-poor on the international scene or he likely would have been injured much sooner…if Ode isn’t available, I have a feeling that Jorginho will play a more advanced role, as he can pick a pass on occasion…surely he’s the far more more palatable option, considering MA’s risk-averse tendencies, which is why many of our most prominent academy pieces have sought opportunities elsewhere
I’m likewise a strong proponent of your Eze initiative…unfortunately he doesn’t fit MA’s MO, as he’s a player who tends to be selfish in front of goal, which certainly isn’t a negative, he can score from distance, so he could likewise be our first set piece specialist in quite some time, and he can also create his own chances in tight quarters on occasion, which could be an invaluable quality against all those bus parking fucks…frankly I’m quite astonished that no one triggered his release clause, so maybe he wasn’t actively advocating for a move away…personally I’m of the belief that City would have been more aggressive in their approach if Gundo hadn’t been gifted to them…funny things is, we opted for the older, less clinical option, at least nowadays, when we brought in Sterling, which makes me wonder why we didn’t aggressively pursue that sort of profile piece during the off-season…as for all the bullshit about us getting Sesko and Nico next summer, I highly doubt that, unless they have shit seasons…if we can’t get them when the ask is significantly lower and there’s less real competition for their services, why would we be more successful should those two variables drastically change
Well put TRVL…..
TRVL
There were City noises about Eze but as you say Ilkay filled the void perfectly if you can call it a void?
After being spurned by all his forward line choices, and then having to bargain basement shop what we didn’t need, you can imagine that El B thought Sterling was a “hallelujah” moment when he heard his first love and protege was surplus to requirements having been ceremoniously dumped in the nuclear bin by Maresca and told to fond another club.
El B, the being spurned lover by the many he had courted with Edu, he knew that Sterling would still love him to run back into his mentor’s arms again.
You can picture at the Emirates to the Love Story music – the slo mo of El B and Sterling running towards each other gayly hopping in air to wave at each other, with that knowing love in their eyes of their earlier time together. What a sight that must have been.
Now, there is just a small matter of can Sterling deliver? Pizza, Chinese and Indian sure, but what about goals and assists I hear you ask, as is my own thinking? Can Sterling still do those jinxing little runs at pace into the box and then go arse akimbo at the merest hint of a breezy touch by a defender. Didn’t he do same to our hapless Xhaka in the box for a pen?
Prime Sterling at City were dazzling and Oscar filled performances brought 18, 17, 20 10 and 13 goal seasons from 32 games a season with 32 assists, so not too shabby at all.
However, at the Chavs his tallies tanked to 2022/23 6 PL goals and 3 assists from 28 PL games. 2023/24 he was similar with 8 PL goals and 4 assists from 31 games.
It’s easy to see why he wasn’t fancied, so El B has rekindled his love affair with his first student, so let’s hope El B and Sterling can revive Sterling’s flagging career and deliver with goals and assists; the Oscars I could do without with cameras everywhere and refs adopting the letter of he law.
Looking forward to Sterling wreaking havoc against the Spud’s defenders if we can get him the service.
Reports that Ode will miss both the Spud’s and City with the ankle injury taking 3 weeks to heal.
Tony—after such an underwhelming window, considering our sloth-like maneuvering and how many of our supposed first choices totally rejected MA’s advances, he needed something that could be packaged to the fanbase in a favourable light…Sterling fit that script perfectly, especially for those who were already well within his camp…not only did they have a previous connection, he was likewise in the store window at MA’s favourite department store, at a vastly reduced price to boot…now if you’re under the misplaced belief that MA’s has done a stellar job when he’s conducted business with our crosstown rivals, then you’ll be happier than a pig in shit over this 11th hour get, but if you think that MA has spent far too much monies on our main competitor’s sloppy seconds, this will feel like the cherry on MA’s shit sundae
as for myself, I sit somewhere in between these two extremes…he could have done worse, especially if the wage rumours are to be believed, as RS could rediscover his form of a few years back, but he could have done much better by triggering Nico’s or Eze’s release clauses a month or so back, then worked diligently to get either one under contract in a timely fashion…this would have been a statement of intent both for the now and the future
the fact remains, regardless of our back-to-back 2nd place finishes, in arguably the best League in world football, MA can’t seem to attract players of any real consequence to the Emirates; keeping in mind that Ode was a coin toss proposition at that time, Rice wanted the kind of assurances no one else would have agreed to, at least not at that price point, and both Calafiori and Merino weren’t the kind of players that “big” clubs wouldn’t exceed their internal evaluations to acquire…so why aren’t we considered an attractive option, unless we offer up assurnaces and massive wages? there’s only one plausible explanation, no one truly buys all the managerial hype that we’ve spent so handsomely on over the last couple of years…so although I hope that Sterling comes good, I wouldn’t be surprised if he shit the bed when it mattered most…sad part is no matter what transpires we will undoubtedly be inundated with a whole host of Havertz-like positive storylines along the way, which will be infuriating if he too fails the all-important eye test
btw, it sounds like those within the Norwegian medical camp are suggesting that Ode could be out for 3 weeks or so…not sure how much stock I would put in this preliminary report, but any time missed will be very problematic in light of our upcoming packed schedule
Well reasoned TRVL.
The word today in the Mirror is that the initial scan shows no damage so the early prognosis may be a little hasty and Ode could be fitter City?
I’m hoping this isn’t PR spin for Ode to be rushed back early as is El B’s propensity when under the pump.
“Arsenal handed Martin Odegaard injury boost ahead of North London derby
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard was injured on international duty whilst playing for Norway this week and is now a doubt for Sunday’s North London Derby against Tottenham and possibly further matches to come”
“Arsenal are hopeful Martin Odegaard is NOT facing a lengthy lay-off.”
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/martin-odegaard-injury-latest-update-33647546
If Ode is back for City, I hope he is 100% fit and recovered or we’ll risk an even more lengthy lay off if not season ending damage.
The news we were all waiting for …Amazing³ has put pen to a three year deal. As the BBC report says, in rather unflattering terms, he’s won 2 community shields and an FACup. As dear old Ian Dury would have said, ‘What a Waste’.
KP
not a reason to be cheerful now our half clever bastard has signed on for another 3 years. He can still be sacked.
Unless there’s some sort of release clause baked into this contract, which seems incredibly unlikely, he ain’t going anywhere for at least the next two seasons…at 20 million per he could pull a Spud-like shit surprise in Stan’s master fucking bedroom and still be on the sidelines the following weekend…talk about horrible timing considering our injury issues and upcoming schedule…I would imagine it was MA’s people who read the room and reached out, just in case things were to go sideways over the next few weeks
So our generational at failure has another 3 years with 12 month of his existing contract to run. That’s the staggering nonsense that has just transpired they couldn’t wait to reward failure with a pay hike close to Pep’s deal.
Sounds to me as if they’ve already bought into the injury excuses that could very well derail our season before Xmas leaving El B with another safety net to go into next season unless he really gets found out this season badly enough for Daddy to clip junior’s wings and finding him another smaller entity run.
Another 4 years of El B?
What do you say blog mister? This deserves a new post with the NLD preview, nes pas?
It was inevitable with the board we have, so we shouldn’t feel that outraged, but I feel sick to my stomach knowing we’re going to have to endure El B for longer than is necessary unless, of course, he wins the PL this season.
Right then, Sterling to the rescue…….
I thought this was apt:
“Clowns to the left of me and jokers to the right of me here I am stuck in the middle with you……..”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln7Vn_WKkWU
The Kroenke’s are honestly worried Pep could go and twat would be on their radar to replace him so gave him a new contract.
Arteta will have to be forcibly removed from Arsenal – it’ll be interesting just how much of a bucket of cold water Slot finishing above us this season his first with a tiny transfer spend will be to the Kroenke’s.