No fucking way. No one has forgotten the last time we played City and Etihad. Man City took the lead in the 9th minute when Erling Haaland scored from the centre of the box. We took the charge and played some attacking football thereafter and Calafiori levelled up from his left footed shot from outside the box of an assist from Gabriel Martinelli in 22nd minute. We kept playing some good football till the half time. Things changed a lot in those extra minutes. Guess who was the referee? Michael Oliver!
Oliver decided to award a staggering 10 extra minutes for the first half. Gabriel Megalhaes scored a brilliant header first and just before the extra time ended, Oliver gave a very controversial second yellow to Leandro Trossard to send him off. Reason being, Trossard cleared the ball after a challenge on Bernardo Silva within a fraction of a second after Michael Oliver had blown the whistle. The same referee who had not given a second yellow to Mateo Kovacic in a previous encounter between the same teams because he didn’t want to influence the game badly, gave a second yellow for Arsenal because the player kicked the ball in less than a second before the whistle was blown. Also, we haven’t seen a yellow for kicking the ball away after that day.
We were down to 10 men and we had a whooping 45 minutes to play against a lethal attacking Man City. Mikel went full Mourinho and substituted Bukayo Saka with Ben White at the start of second half.
In the 65th minutes, Myles Lewis-Skelly got his first yellow card in Premier League without even making his debut. Imagine the hate from Michael Oliver for a player in red and white that he awarded a yellow for a player on the bench. It was not like MLS was fighting someone, or causing any trouble. He was shouting to his team mate. Yes, everyone on the touchline shouts. Every god damn fucking minute of the 90.
Anyways, it was a day of attack and defence. Gabriel gave his best while City attacking every other minute. We kept our cool, never looked nervy and with some luck, we managed to keep our 2-1 lead till the 90th. There were 7 extra minutes awarded to the game and we all knew what was coming after seeing that. John Stones scored the leveller for City in the 9th minute of 7 extra minutes and the scoreline read 2-2 at the end. Haaland believed, after the game, that he was the descendent of King Leonidas of Sparta and started giving lectures to Mikel Arteta to stay humble. After a 2-2 draw. At Home. Against a 10-men Arsenal. With Michael Oliver as their 12th man. He might be the most lethal striker on the planet, earning more than anyone else in footballing world, but that age showed in his behaviour.
Team News
We are playing City again, tomorrow. At a very crucial time when we need the win to keep ourselves in the title race. And this time, the war is at our home, and without Michael Oliver. We have not forgotten and we will add to their miseries.
Myles Lewis Skelly red card was rescinded so he is available to play. Raya missed the Champions League game against Girona with a muscular injury and will be assessed before the game. I don’t want to see Neto between the sticks, he was very poor and lacked confidence in our last game and we need David Raya back to calm the defence down.
The usuals, Ben White, Tomiyasu, Saka and Jesus will be missing out the game. Saka is the one we will miss the most, as he has been prolific on that right side and he has always been the main figure in big games. Hopefully, Nwaneri won’t let us miss him after his brilliant Saka-esque goal against Girona. I am hoping Raya starts in the goal with a back 4 of Timber, Saliba, Gabriel and Calafiori. We will most likely see a midfield of Odegaard, Thomas Partey and Declan Rice. Nwaneri should start at RW, Martinelli on the left and Havertz in the middle.
No show (yet) in transfer window?
Well, we haven’t done anything at all in the transfer window so far. Only a couple of days left before it shuts down, and we went to Aston Villa in the pursuit of Ollie Watkins with 60m GBP which was rejected. So, we have the money but we are looking for a profile. 60m and some change would get you Sesko, or Mbeumo but Arteta likes players who can do the defensive job and I don’t see him getting an outright predator anytime soon. Watkins bid was a strange one, we need it more than ever but no one would have expected Mikel would go after him after showing so much trust in Havertz.
In the press conference today, here’s what he had to say when asked about bringing a striker –
It doesn’t depend on us. We have the intention, purpose and ambition to try to help the team and support the squad to be better and to finish the season really strong, and we are actively trying to do that.
source : Arsenal.com
This confirms the club and the manager are aware that we are lacking up top. With only 2 days left before transfer window shut, we will know whether it’s just intention or if we do something in real.
Right, that’s me done. It’s going to be a great watch tomorrow, and I am pretty sure we will come out on top. We need the bragging rights for next 6 months, and I mean a 3-0 win bragging right, not a 2-2 at home against a 10-men bragging right.
Also, I am pretty sure non of those players and the manager has forgotten the child-like behaviour from Erling Haaland and the cunt-like behaviour from Bernardo Silva. I want to see them faces sulked, embarrassed and hopeless.
#COYG
Tweener gets his 4th chance in
Ok, Kai. I take back my words, you are better than Nketiah.
Madhu
Its more than that – there’s something wrong at City beyond missing 1 player.
Come the final whistle every Arsenal player should walk up to Haarland give him a wink and say “stay humble”.
This is going to be embarrassing for Pep.
KDB appears to be suffering from being marginalized during training since players no longer defer to him
Marc,
I had that feeling earlier that Pep is just seeing out the season but then they are in the market buying players and it would surely be Pep’s decision.
Marc it’s just not about Man C. Look at his record in a one team German league. Rubbish. He has managed always the top teams in every league and with just one Rodri missing this is his team. Absolute crap of a team and you wonder no other coach can set them up better?
Ambarish
City don’t operate like us they’ll have a transfer committee where Pep has input but more than one voice decides who’s bought.
You’ve also got to bear in mind if they don’t get their heads out of their arses they’ll miss out of CL football – that will really fuck their FFP.
Marc – they have spent 150M already in this window and this is the crap he puts together. All those nonsense JDP is all BS. Football is a simple and beautiful game. The more you complicate it the more it bites you. MA better watch out. He better doesn’t stifle the likes of MLS and Ethan.
Halaand – what’s the point of him? I haven’t any other striker who does as little as him throughout the game. They play with 9 outfield players and yet they don’t cross that much to him as well.
Madhu
That’s my point – something isn’t right. I have no idea what it is – Pep’s split up with his wife, the FFP trial outcome is iminent, maybe Pep’s just hung on too long but its more than losing one player.
Fuck me talk about saving the best till last!
Marc – sorry he is not that great. He has to prove it with a lowly team. He has worked only with team with huge funding and top of their leagues. Take that another one from Nwaneri and academy kid. That’s what they bring because they are taught the Arsenal way. That’s the DNA we have.
Arsenal game finally graduated to do your own thing.
Nwari ,what a power bOOm
Nwaneri joining the party with a brilliant goal.
5-1.
Perfect! Nothing more needed.
What a way to finish the Sunday evening. MLS and Nwaneri doing the Haaland celebration in his face…
The north remembers. Fuck them cunts.
Madhu
You’re missing my point – Pep’s done it with big teams and won four consecutive PL titles with City that isn’t something you can dismiss.
There’s something wrong that runs deeper than having a player injured. They’re 15 points off Liverpool who have a game in hand.
No one scores more nothing burger goals than Havertz…WTF though, the commentator then proceeds to slurp it up and suggests that we don’t need a Striker…shut the fuck up
you know it’s a bad side when MA brings in 4 offensively-minded subs…never have I ever
if MA can’t find a way to have Ethan in his starting 11 he’s an even bigger joke than I’ve suspected all along
great for the kids to score a couple and we end up securing maybe the 3 easiest points of the season
If only Heaven waited – he may have thought twice about signing for the poorer team in Manchester – on todays performance City are almost as bad as United. Our poor patch means we are still 9 points behind Liverpool if they win their game in hand. A 3-0 result on Wednesday may help.
Marc – yes he has won PLs but that’s with Rodri and De Bruyne in the side. More Rodri than De Bruyne. Everytime Rodri misses his team is in trouble and that’s been evident all along.
What about his record in BM. Not winning a CL with them. He has spent 150 M this TW already.
Madhu
I’m not going to tell you Pep’s a shit manager – losing a top player will hurt any team and affect results but 1 player doesn’t make the difference in results that we’re seeing here.
Marc – iam not saying Pep is shit but he is overrated. The problem is that I see the same traits in MA. Man C football is as turgid as it gets. There was one moment which defined why this brand of football is so painful to watch. There was a through balla nd someone in the right was released. He run the channel and got to the ball near almost our corner flag and 3 passes later it was back to their keeper. Forward and way back to GK?
Arsenal Women won 4-3 against city today as well..overall a great day for Club Arsenal with our academy kids contributing heavily in Men’s team MLS was brilliant and stood out to Halaand the school yard bully.
Madhu—you might want to slow your roll a bit when it comes to Pep, as I would take him in a heartbeat over our current option…it was only a matter of time for cracks to show, especially with injuries to both an aging KDB and Rodri, who’s the best in the world for a reason….that said, it’s not all about them…his replacements out wide since Mahrez have let him down…Doku has had a tough time scoring goals and Grealish has bottomed out…if they didn’t have Haaland they would be lucky to be 10th
his style of play requires a different level of connectivity amongst the players and when your world-class key cogs are lost, it’s bound to get messy…for me, Real spends far more, on a per buy basis, than City, and no one’s calling out their 6 managers in the same time period…many of whom are still highly coveted…if I had one criticism of Pep it would be his inablity to finish out a championship game with a lead….now that’s bled into his League play…they’ve allowed 4+ goals times and he’s tied his record for most losses in a season, yet they still have a shot at a European invite…remember it’s not like they’ve been winning the Wenger Cup or the bride’s maid badge of honour, they’ve actually won real hardware…the settling narrative only applies when you haven’t won jackshit…Cheers
Let’s not forget the contribution of David Raya with those 2 world class saves in the first half..
In the first half I thought city were there for the taking but we were too passive , once again we needed to concede to spark us into action, the last half hour was nearly as good as it gets as city didn’t have a clue how to stop wave after wave of attacks.
It’s time for us to steam roller teams in the run in for the title , yes we will have the usual poor decisions go against us but the way to beat it is by putting the foot down , take the hand brake off and destroy teams.
A few weeks back I said it will become transparent as to how Nwaneri’s game has traits of Messi, his 2 very similar goals this week are evidence of that.
I know most on here have already recognised his ability, but people shouldn’t get fooled into thinking Nwaneri is a one trick pony because of the similarities in those 2 goals, play him through the middle and he will see the complete picture in front of him , he is capable of the slide rule defence splitting pass, he is capable of the disguised pass, and he is more than capable with with his quick feet and tight control to score Hazard /Messi like goals, plus he has an incredible effortless shooting technique.
Saka , Skelly and Nwaneri have years ahead of them and have literally saved the club hundreds of millions of pounds and they are Arsenal through and through.
there’s nothing wrong with celebrating any victory against City, even when it’s clear this side is the weakest on his watch…I’m never going to look that gift horse in the mouth…that said, it means considerably less than a win when best-on-best was required…between the miscues of two of their most senior players and their inability to craft chances in open play, without the use of crosses, they were in for one, unless we squandered all of our grade A chances(lord knows we tried)…far too often this season we’ve kept opposing teams in the match by our wasteful play, which is why injecting the kids into the lineup needs to be vigorously maintained, as they’re clean slates in that regards
furthermore, we had better find a way to have Ethan re-upped before season’s end (if it hasn’t happened already)…we can’t appear to be experiencing a mass youth exodus, especially after losing a couple of our highest rated prospects…it’ll be interesting to see how MA will attempt to spin that nonsense…bottom line is, nothing that happened today changes anything about our need for a proper Striker
Wicksy—just so things don’t get twisted, most of us on here are massive Ethan fans and have been calling for him to get significant minutes for quite some time now…he’s our purest scorer, by a good margin, even with Saka healthy…the only thing anyone said in opposition to your earlier post was that it was way too earlier to make such insanely lofty comparisons, which didn’t change after today’s tally…persoanlly I would have him starting along side Ode on the regular, even though I understand his usage out wide with Saka down and out…Cheers
Viera – the fact that you are alluding to Peps style and specific players playing it makes it clear that it’s not something that’s natural. He may have won all the things you talk about but it’s been with teams who have already had pedigree in their leagues and in CL. What kind of system is that when a player is not there the whole team becomes less effective and you might say they drop down several notches. Iam not comparing him to our current coach or any other. All I am saying is that if he needs a whole lot of money, specific players and can afford to suck up loss of millions on players as in Grealish, Doku, Kalvin Phillips etc to trail on his system that makes it impossible for him to coach many clubs bar a few handful.
Let’s not forget Partey today. He was pristine and his best. The way he glides with the ball in the midfield is a sight behold. Rice cannot replace him in this form and when he leaves I wonder even if it’s Xubi comes in he can do half of what Partey does. Absolute wonderful he was today.