In the words of Peaky Fucking Blinders, we have got a curse. Call it The Emery Curse, or the Emi’s, but we have one.
Last season, in the first game against Villa, we lost 1-0 after they scored in 07th minute and we never recovered. They were coming off of a win at City and they beat us. We did create some chances later on but never converted it. In the home game, we lost 0-2 when we conceded both goals in last 10 minutes. We were just 2 points behind Man City with 6 games to go, and a loss to Villa confirmed our title challenge was over. We needed a win so much at that point and they denied us. I hate them more than Spurs these days. The two losses costed us the title at the end.
Anyways, it’s a new season and a new fight. We take on Aston Villa at Villa Park today in a 5.30 evening kick off.
In the team news, there would be some surprises. Fabio Vieira is most likely going back to Porto on a loan so won’t feature today. Tomiyasu and Tierney remains unavailable due to injuries. We are most likely going ahead with the same team that featured against Wolves. A back 4 of White, Gabriel, Saliba and Zinchenko; a midfield of Partey, Rice, and Odegaard; a front 3 of Saka, Havertz and Martinelli. I would love to see Timber in place of Zinchenko starting today though, he is one for the future and improves our left side by a margin. Martinelli hardly gets any support from Zinchenko and that’s the difference between the outputs of him and Saka.
Gabriel Jesus is also not available as the rumours goes.
Mikel Arteta had to say this in the pre-match conference yesterday,
on how big of a test Villa away is so early in the season:
It’s one of the toughest places to go for sure. We know that, we’ve prepared really well to understand what we have to do to go there and win the game.
on the importance of getting a result against Unai Emery personally:
Personally? I don’t do things personally, I just have the will to win and prepare the team in the best possible way, regardless of who we are playing against.
source: Arsenal.com
It’s tough because we lost both games against Villa in the best season of Mikel Arteta. For the Unai Emery question, Mikel is fooling everyone including himself. He would have sleepless nights thinking how Emery got the better of him and I am hoping he has an answer to that today.
There are some things happening in the transfer window. Forest looks really interested in Eddie Nketiah and we have rejected a £25m and Forest will agree for £30m me thinks.
Fabio Vieira is going on a loan to Porto (from where we got him 2 years back). This one is a strange move, because we have sold ESR already and we would be left with only Odegaard as an attacking mid with no back up or competition. There are talks that the management is very impressed with Ethan Nwaneri and he would deputize Odegaard.
Merino deal is almost confirmed, he will be joining us from Real Sociedad for a £28m free. I have not seen much of him, but we know Rice is more of a #6 and we needed a #8 after Mikel decided to shift Kai up top.
We have also rejected a Wolves move for Aaron Ramsdale on loan + option to buy. We are in a favor of a permanent move for Aaron, and we have already decided a replacement in Joan Garcia from Espanyol.
Hardly a week left, there would be some chaos at the end, lets see how it pans out for us.
Right, that’s all for today. See you during the game.
Goober? I think you probably know what I mean. 😉
KP
8 from 10 – the lottery from yesteryear. The pools companies (Liverpool based) were doomed as soon as Major gave the thumbs up to the National Lottery.
Interestingly pub games I remember from my early drinking days are now making a comeback – mainly in rural community pubs.
KP – I wonder what happened to Whitcher? His match reports were often very good.
NORG
Agreed. I had a great deal of respect for Kevin Whicher. He ran the site expertly producing some fantastic material along with the likes of Robert Exley (Simon Rose not so much for me).He trod a careful line between AKBs and AMGs and his stuff was always very readable. I think he was thoroughly in the AMG camp by the end but I think the diplomacy and umpiring of opinion understandably wore him down. He passed it over to someone called Laith Yousef iirc and it quickly morphed into an even duller version of the club programme.
Hi Ambarish – there might be a potential subject there for an article if you can track him down, ie a q and a with Kevin. Really knowledgeable bloke.
Shove ‘apenny, bar billiards, cheese skittles. I’ve loved like a drunken tosser trying all of those.
Remember Fred Truman and Indoor League? Great TV from arguably better times.
Aal sithee!
Loved = looked. Too many pale ales this afternoon while arm wrestling Ms Kroenkephobe in’t pub…
Shove ‘apenny and bar billiards were everywherein our town when I started on the beer. In NE Kent they used to have a bat and ball league. I havent come across the game anywhere else in the country.
Apparently Merino is reported to be out for 2 months with his broken shoulder. Then a month to get back to match fitness if he’s not thrown into the mix through desperation to balance our tactics.
I know TRVL was expecting longer as was I. If he’s back for the Xmas period, I would imagine we’d be needing any fresh extra man by then.
In other news Wrighty is saying loaning Sterling was a masterstroke. Not a word I’d associate with the piece of Chav’s right off purchase, but time will be the eventual Sterling acid test.
Another hope against hope for me. That’s a lot of fcuking hope for only 3 games in.
From today’s Guardian.
Last week, Chelsea asked one of their biggest rivals to take one of their best players for no fee, with no obligation to buy and with Chelsea still paying most of his wages.
For all this, there are plenty of people out there who will tell you that Chelsea’s decision to play Raheem Sterling in all six of their pre-season fixtures, then decide to sell him, then fail to sell him, then pay him £200,000 a week to play
If true, this makes the Sterling deal slightly more palatable I suppose (although my hunch is he’ll add less value that Cech and Willian).
This period of Chelsea ownership will go down in history. Boehly is a fucking loon. I bet old Marina Granovskaya is relieved she dodged that bullet, although providing BJs for Roman Abramovich on some creaky old gin palace in the Black Sea can’t be fun either.
Tony & KP—all the euphoria surrounding the Sterling hire appears to be predicated on the notion that Chelsea didn’t require a fee and they’re supposedly paying at least half of his astronomical wages; so much so that one online media hack had the gall to suggest we were only paying a “tiny” chunk of his weekly salary…obviously the less we pay for this out of form winger the better, but typically when a managerial “masterstroke” occurs the focus is on what the player brings to the footballing equation, not the financials…in that regards, I’m not sure how this reach will pan out, but I’m certainly not of the belief that he’s here simply to be a Saka cover piece…in fact, I would suspect that he’s going to be taking Marts spot, as Sterling makes little sense on the right anymore…this will leave Tross as his cover and Marts as Saka’s…this is why this could be a messy situation
the only other possibility I can envision, considering MA’s propensity to shoehorn, is that Sterling ends up in the 8 spot, on occasion, if MA can convince Rice to temper his golden boot dreams…tbh Sterling just don’t fit our MO, as we don’t counter with pace, he’s not a viable assist man and he’s prone to giving up the ball cheaply, which can’t be good in our more possession-based system…so unless MA changes his tactics, this doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but maybe such tweaks were all part of the negotiations, as we all know our manager loves himself some assurances, except when it comes to arguably the best Keeper in the world
as for Merino, I suspect he has a long road ahead of him, especially now that the reports regarding his recovery period have greatly lengthened…this tells me that the injury is much more structural in nature, which means that it’s not just a case of him healing up then getting right back out there…for someone who wants to bring a more physical style of play, as was the oversold company line immediately upon his arrival, he will need to be 100% both physically and mentally before being wrongly deployed as an 8
Hi Vieira
The Merino thing is infuriating. You’d think the club would tell/oblige new signings to go easy at the start and integrate themselves gradually into the system, ie take it fucking easy for the first few sessions.
One would imagine/hope Los Kroenkes will be deeply unimpressed with Amazing³.
from someone who works at SW3 – 40% of Sterlings wages are being paid by Chelsea. He miss’s Marina.
TRVL
I was thinking along similar lines. Merino is a 6 more than 8, same as Rice, but more naturally footed than Rice. The injury may well be reoccurring with the force and combativeness of the PL. Time will tell with this. Shoulders tend to hit the ground first when tumbling so we’ll see how Merinos injury holds up.
KP
I just can’t use the word amazing in the same sentence as El B. The only fit would be amazing cnut, but that could be positive as well, so doesn’t fit. The papers are lauding our first 3 games as a good start, but we have looked less than convincing in all 3 games where results could have easily gone against us with more dropped points.
We have had an average start sitting in 4th with Brighton above us. Early days, of course, but this should be our winning season after coming 2nd twice. I said we’d Finnish 4th or below where the early signs look that it’s a meaningful prediction unless El B turns Sterling into our golden goose goal machine……
What are the chances of that happening?
Sterling was a panic buy when we sold Eddie with injury prone Jesus as back up, and new German vice captain Havertz at 9. El B HAD to buy Sterling or we were very light up top for a 60-game season.
I think Sterling will get the new bounce scoring touch, and be heralded by the fanboys as a genius loan, but the Sterling wheels will fall off as his form did with the Chavs and City in the end. I think Enzo Maresca played Sterling in 5 preseason games to see if he was the quality he needed and clearly wasn’t so was binned and told to find another club.
El B thought there is a god and snapped his first and only protege up.
Sterling looks fat to me, not some highly tuned, elite PL winger/striker and scorer of at least 10 goals and similar assists numbers a season………
Enzo saw nothing in Sterling at £350 a week and got rid of pronto. Like we obliged with, Willian and later Havertz, we have now done with Sterling……..
Can Sterling perform? Not as an 8 that’s for sure and losing possession at 8 will cost us dearly down our left side. Timber is not looking safe at LB with his inverting.
https://www.chelseafc.com/en/teams/profile/enzo-maresca
How does El B’s managerial career compare?
Who would you believe about Sterlings current abilities, Enzo or El B?
El B had no choice where Sterling was a still expensive loan we’re led to believe, and chubby basement bargain who I believe will cost us rather than help us win the PL trophy.
Can you imagine the Jan TW BS that’s going to unfold?
Still 4th or lower for me………..
Marc
You ok, unusual not tom get your match reports? Hope you’re well ……..
Hi Tony,
I’m fine mate (well depressed about the state of Arsenal but what’s new there!). After the weekends typical performance I just didn’t have the energy to rant about it.
One small point is in the upper stand where I sit no one was really sure why Rice was shown the second yellow – I thought he’d kicked the ball away, several weren’t sure and a few thought it was for Rice actually fouling the guy.
Is it really that difficult for ref’s etc to make it clear why / what decision they’ve made?
Tony—good points, as per….just one clarification, Merino is far more of an 8 than a 6, as his CV would strongly attest…MA’s real first choice, Zubimendi, played the 6 for RS, not Merino, who played further up the pitch…the whole “duels won” narrative, which ultimately led to Merino’s injury in his first practice, was created by Arteta’s PR minions in the hopes of selling yet another shoehorning move by our egomaniacal manager…it’s only a matter of time before Raya’s deployed as a false 9, likely with his gloves still on
Marc—it’s certainly understandable why some Artetites would be looking for their tin foil hats after that red, but I personally believe that Rice made matters worse for himself by flopping around after the BHA player makes contact…maybe he felt that he was already in deep shit and tried to use this as a means to deflect attention away from himself, but that was a grave mistake, as it forced the ref into acting, even if he wasn’t going to in the first place
Marc
Good to see it’s only temporary depression; join the club. We are all feeling it.
KP
Thanks for the heads up I’d read we were going to deploy him as a 6 somewhere and assumed Rice was still earmarked for 8. Maybe got my wires crossed; won’t be the first time.
I didn’t bother to investigate, but there was an online heading that the shirt number Serling is getting suggests he’s going to be a false 9. I assume when Havertz goes off on this defensive duties, Sterling will step up – going to be interesting to see how Sterling is going to be deployed. With Jesus so injury prone Sterling will be the 2nd striker to Havertz.
I still can’t believe after only 3 games we have the internationals.
Tony—that was me not KP…you likely did read that Merino could be in the 6 and Rice in the 8, as I think that’s what MA’s intended to do…problem is that Rice is a natural 6 and Merino more of an 8…welcome to Mr. Arteta’s wild shoehorning ride
what MA originally intended
Thanks TRVL I’ve been baking testing recently to very good results. Thoroughly recommend hybrids: Biscotti, White Truffle, Pave and Green Lantern if all are organically grown with the right soil mix.
An oncologist friend grows certain strains for his patients who can’t afford cancer meds, for free. One of the really good guys in medicine here. Too many here won’t treat who can’t pay because money is their only interest in life.
Let’s hope Merino is a decent attacking 8, and not more defensively minded as something else I seem to remember reading a while ago.
I’m hoping Rice will have proved he’s not an 8 by the time Merino is fit again, but this will also have cost us points, so I’m not saying it lightly; just expectantly.
In 2 months El B will be desperate to balance our midfield is my thinking, so Merino will be an AM and will need to hit the ground running.
What we can expect from El B is the MF and attacking 3, soft shoe shuffle, which is El B’s way of working out which is the best combination for the final shoehorning, on the fly, because we mostly fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants tactics from the past 3 seasons.
Honestly, what has changed tactically in 3 seasons?
Nothing really is the answer. We can’t blame injuries because our TWs have been meh bar Rice and a few others. Timber is looking suspect now at LB, poor lad, after looking good in RB cameos.
We bought much absolute crap, so let’s not mince our words here, and now we are trying to polish turds into diamonds.
Havertz – Could have bought much better for £60+M and on non salable wages….
Needs 3+ clear chances to score and not a natural finisher, but can finish when gifted goals and under no defensive pressure or he crumbles legs & arms flailing, akimbo.
Ben White – a player we didn’t need instead of an AM8……..
His shoehorning has been to his and our teams disadvantage. He is a decent CB, not Saliba’s level, but ok as Willie’s back up. He is not a RB or an AM of any description. Recently, he’s been found out, and is better tracked by opponents making White largely ineffective with Saka & Ode.
White simply doesn’t have the needed dexterity in his feet to play that far forward all the time. The occasional foray is something that could be useful, but not with almost every attack.
Because we play this tactic continuously we have become very proficient with the law of averages rule for goals, but as shown in our first 3 games, our right centric attack is being contained because it’s expected; therefore, it’s not enough to win the league with.
Gabriel Jesus – should never have been bought let alone on his high wages. Like Havertz needs 3+ chances tom score and way too often injured
Zinchenko – Ditto Jesus re being bought on silly wages
Another El B yes man he needs in the dressing room and a complete liability in defense. Bought to invert where he gets in the way, and slows our play down so eventually the ball gets recycled to our right where there are waiting defenders with Saka.
Fabian Vieira – simple question is why did we buy him?
An obvious lightweight for the PL and waste of money when players are supposed to be investments.
Raya, Ramsdale, Leno, & Emi – no words needed here and hope Raya can maintain his form with he PL’s best defense in front of him.
Jakub Kiwior – for me another WHY? when we needed an AM8 so badly.
We had back up for big Gabs with Tomi. So we bought a rookie who now is surplus to requirements with Calafiori on board. Transfer market says Kiwior’s current worth is £30m which would represent a £10m profit should we sell the player whose main positions are: Centre-Back, Left-Back & Defensive Midfield.
Sambi Lakonga – Terrible buy and now sold at a loss
Jorginho – Another Chav’s reject and well past his sell by date where we should have bought better.
Slow and ponderous, but if given space and time can deliver a slide ruler pass. We needed better it’s that simple, not another pet yes man.
Pablo Mari – Another waste of money now in Italy.
Mat Turner – a decent back up keeper so why sell?
Marquinhos – another why?
El B doesn’t play kids and lets our best academy players leave so why buy this 19 year old who is back in Brazil on another loan.
Runner Alex Runarsson – A comedy central buy
Auston Trusty – we made around a £4m profit on a player who was only ever loaned out. Now in Celtic after being sold by Sheffield United.
Cedric Soares – Unwanted by all, but El B saw fit to give a player a 4-year contract when his club was pleading with us to take him on a near free loan? Only just left us to be a sommelier perhaps, has the right look. El B and Edu our dream team working their magic once again. Garlick and Lewes head scratching no doubt like we were.
Willian – Another why and Chav’s reject. Willian was told we’d win the CL in 3 years, but then El B has always been a poor comedian. Still waiting for the PL trophy after 5 years – tells the real story.
His contract cancellation has various interpretations and an unnecessary & disastrous buy for us. El B really embarrassed himself with Willian with his non stop game time.
We have Neto a rookie as our back up keeper and Sterling as El B’s latest acquisitions.
The outcome of those 2 along with Merino and Calafiori is still yet to be determined by game time and how they are utilized best.