We started our FA cup campaign in the third round and lost to Manchester United on the penalties. We did last a bit longer in Carabao Cup and reached to semi-finals when Newcastle thrashed us over 2 legs with a 4-0 aggregate. We simply didn’t have an answer to the Eddie Howe’s plan and Isak’s pace.
In the Premier League, we are sitting on 67 points with 3 games in hand. Liverpool has already won it and we will most likely finish in the top 4. We have finished 2nd in previous seasons consecutively and this would be the third time when we lacked that extra push to lift the trophy. I will talk about that extra push a little bit later.
Champions League provided some relief. I am contended with our run, PSG were simply brilliant over 2 legs and losing to them doesn’t bring any shame. The players will have more experience going into the big games and we will do better next time.
Positives, first. We are a serious team and we can beat anyone on a given day. We have a bunch of world class players who are still young enough to improve and get us some money if they decide to move on. Good for the business, good for the football. We made it to the semi-finals in two of the competitions, and we kept Liverpool on toes for almost 30 weeks. Anything can happen in a penalty shootout, so I will not give much importance to the FA cup defeat.
The players we have? Saka, Martinelli, Saliba, Gabriel M, Timber, MLS, Calafiori, White, Rice, Havertz, Odegaard (half-heartedly tbf)! All of them are on the positive side of their age and all of them are committed to win trophies at Arsenal.
Negatives? We won fuck-all again! The only ones who remembers when you come second are your wife and your dog (probably why we got win-the dog at Emirates). It’s not the FA cup or the Champions League that has rattled me.
Carabao Cup game against Newcastle was a failure from the manager. Over 2 legs, he couldn’t figure out a way to deal with their pace and counter attack.
We were sitting 2nd, very close to Liverpool in December. Everyone and their landlady knew we needed to sign someone who can score goals. Watkins was thrown at us for 60m, and we ignored it. We brought no one, when we were suffering from injuries and lack of goalscoring. It was the manager, the club and Kroenke’s because if you can’t see what’s in front of your eyes, you are either blind or you don’t want to. We needed a push and Watkins or a Gyokeres could have got us that.
Next, some of the football we are playing is very one-directional and boring. Sideways and back passes in the name of possession percentage is not good. Football is a robust game, let the players shine by not sticking them to the side line (Martinelli comes to my mind) and by not letting them express themselves (we saw what Declan Rice can do with those free kicks).
Next, we need improvements in some positions and we need to stop ignoring a CF signing. Scoring goals win you games. We did score a lot of them, spread among the Marts, Saka, Havertz, Trossard etc but you know what was the difference between us and Liverpool? Salah scored 28 goals, and won a handful of games for Liverpool on his own. We don’t do that here at Arsenal.
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How to fix this?
Be more direct, develop a fall back plan when your usual strategy do not work, bring in a CF and a midfielder, rotate when playing 2 games a week because the likes of MLS can do better than Calafiori and Zinchenko, and get an Odegaard’s competition. As simple as that.
Right, we have a game today against Liverpool. India-UK have worked on a trade deal and that could bring Guinesse here, so I won’t complain much if we lose.
Hope you are doing well, see you during the game.
Almunia
Its not even Mutton its 3 week old unidentifiable road kill that’s being served up.
There’s a story Henry tells about when he was at Barca – he scores a great goal and Pep subs him straight off, he asks Pep “what I just scored a great goal and you sub me” Pep’s response is “you weren’t supposed to be in that position you were supposed to be in position X”.
At least we know where Arteta gets it from.
Almunia—couldn’t agree more, as I’m sure you’re well-aware…although it’s certainly not impossible to believe that Berta was also an admirer of Zubi’s, as he saw plenty of him while at Atleti and there were a few rumours over the years about their potential interest, from both an optics and pressing needs perspective, the very thought of this being Berta’s first deal rubs me the wrong way…it reminds me of the whole Havertz debacle, when short-sighted selfish decisions were made to the detriment of the greater good(Jeremy Bentham would be rolling in his grave)…that move forever changed our wage landscape, as I can’t even imagine being the likes of Saka and Saliba and playing on far less wages than that gangly German hump…if it wasn’t for MA’s burning desire to prove that players of some ilk, of which Havertz is not, except in his brain due to a fictitious rumour about Real having interest, we would have likely invested in a bona fide Striker that summer or in the one following…instead we’re left watching the most expensive turgid brand of football ever assembled, which has never been a pathway to glory in the modern era…even Jose’s Inter had Eto’o in 2010…Cheers
Marc,
It’s actually becoming shockingly apparent how little independent thinking Arteta is capable of. I’d love someone who sees it to explain to me what this world class coach has brought to the game,what his legacy is. The like for like sub? The doughnut ball? Can anyone actually describe the clothes their emperor is wearing?
TRVL,
I’m actually ignoring Berta’s appointment because as things stand I’m convinced our club’s fortunes (on the pitch) are fundamentally in the hands of one man. The army of staff are only there to apportion blame when something goes wrong. But who comes in,who’s sold,who’s renewed and who isn’t,these are all decided by one man. You will only hear his supporters introduce other names into the conversation when things are going wrong. If Zubi is here it’s because Arteta wanted him. It’s a most depressing realisation I can tell you!
As for Havertz it seems to me that some of the more delusional have forgotten about him altogether. Do they really believe Arteta won’t shoehorn his prize buy back into the team? So where does this new striker go? Or what happens to the midfield when Havertz is stuffed backed in? Or are we going to stick another monster earner on the bench while screaming about how our project isn’t being supported? I would love for someone to give me a glimpse of ‘The Plan’.
Almunia
Watching the match in the pub last Sunday with a mate who’s been a ST holder for over 30 years who has a terrible habit of not ever being judgemental I asked him what the fuck do you see in Arteta his response was “year on year improvement” when I counted less goals scores, less points and more conceded his response was “we got to a CL semi”.
The simple truth is some fans just won’t see the wood for the trees. I don’t understand how someone can think they’re supporting the club by supporting destructive behaviour – its like thinking you’re a good parent because you indulge you kids and let them play on a motorway.
Almunia—just to clarify, I wasn’t suggesting that Berta had any real say regarding Zubi, even though I get how you might have arrived at that based on what was on offer…I, like yourself, believe wholeheartedly that every decision is run through Arteta in much the same way as Wenger post-Highbury…as for Havertz, this is what our stunned cunt of a manager said yesterday,”We know how important Kai is for us”
be afraid, be very afraid
Marc,
It’s mad isn’t it? I’ve met them also. Is it a case of having nailed their colours to the mast they refuse to consider he might not be the saviour they professed him to be? Or is it more evidence of the immense power of social media who,as you’ve pointed out, have given Artea a very easy ride til now? Or something else entirely? I’m certainly struggling to understand.
TRVL,
I am bloody afraid. Worse case scenario (and I can really see this happening) is that a lot of money is chucked his way,glorious failure ensues,this time with goals but defensive frailties cost us. The dawn of a new age is announced, a new stage is declared as underway and as Del Amitri would sing ” The needle returns to the start of the song and we all sing along like before”.
in my estimation there are two main reasons why our infinite-phase fuckwad has faced such little criticism:
(1) a “payola” model PR approach—just look at what has transpired at AFTV or even at a pissant blog like LG since the end of Wenger’s highly divisive final term in office—it only made sense that the organization took a far more proactive approach in this regards—if only we spent so much time and energy on scouting
(2) the fear or irrelevance—now we might not have learned much from the post-Fergie era, at least when it came time to devise a proper succession blueprint, but there’s a whole host of entitled Wenger Trophy-loving pricks who would much rather that we matter in some capacity than fall off the footballing map like United (like these are the only two options?!?)…as such, Arteta’s Punxsutawney bride’s maid tour will more than suffice
Why do I get the feeling the cunt is shitting himself right now.
KSE have the media, the blogs, fanzines all tied up. That’s why this cunt gets away with murder.
90% of our support these days, know fuck all about football, sport or life, so naturally they think this cunt is the second coming. Just look at this cunt Wicksy.
As for that long streak of lanky German Chelsea piece of piss, I have always suspected that will be the one that bites his arse. It has totally fucked him.
AF—as to your last comment, we can only hope…hopefully we don’t fall too far down the PL pecking order before we rid ourselves of MA and his support animal giraffe
speaking of our spout first, think later wannabe manager, he appears to be on a gaslighting tour of epic proportions…one minute he’s talking about our desperate need for a Striker, even going so far as to say we might need to break our budget to get things done, then the next minute he’s praising Havertz to the hilt, talking thirstily about his physical transformation during his recovery period (“destroying all the weight room metrics”) and actually suggesting that our German wage thief is “a goal threat whenever he plays”…so where the fuck will Havertz be shoehorned in with a new Striker supposedly coming in and our 100+M DM being wrongly deployed as our starting 8???
not to mention, MA seems far more enamoured with fake-ass Strikers, like Cunha and Joao Pedro, the latter of whom has been given a 100M valuation by BHA after a season in which he potted 10, had 6 assists and was oft-times replaced in the lineup by fucking Welbeck, than the real deal…so the question remains, what the fuck does our offensively-stunted MIT know about Strikers anyways???…frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if he bought a forward/winger with “positional flexibility”, then used him as Havertz’s cover piece…of course, that little 2 for 1 positional shit show would enable him to do what he loves to do best, sign more defensive players and another GD Keeper or two
“”KSE have the media, the blogs, fanzines all tied up””
All that money and they still can’t buy LiR. Lol
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We have officially qualified for the Champions League since 5 teams from PL would make it to the group stage.
I will lose my mind if we go for Sesko over Gyokeres since Iska is unattainable now. Sesko has got 13 goals in 32 games in Bundesliga. Gyokeres has 38 in 32 games in Portugese league.
Havertz has got 9 goals in 21 games for Arsenal, we would just be upgrading from one Havertz to another.
How poor we are in selling players is beyond my understanding.
We bought an unknown talent in Nuno Tavares for 7.5 million, he started games for Arsenal, he went on loan, he developed on our payroll and the team got too good for him but it doesn’t take away the fact that we developed him for 3-4 years.
And we are selling him to Lazio for 7.5m. Certainly we could have done better?
New post.