On this Sunday afternoon, every team will play their 38th game, the last one of this season 2023-24. Premier League never disappoints you, who will be crowned the champion is not decided, yet! There’s not much to play for the other teams however.
Relegation battle : We already know the three teams that would be relegated. Luton, Burnley and a piss poor Sheffield United are going down.
Europe qualifiers : Newcastle and Man United are hoping Chelsea loses it’s last game and that they can win (while the other one should also lose) to secure a place in Europa League. Aston Villa have already qualified to Champions League football next season, so a 5th position Tottenham can’t do much about it.
Title challenge : This is the most important bit. Man City and Arsenal have two points difference, and there are 4 conditions that can happen.
- City loses, Arsenal Wins – We run away with the title. For this to happen, David Moyes needs to do us a favor, while we need to get pass the Dyche’s football.
- City draws, Arsenal wins – We win again since we have a better goal difference to City (60 to 61).
- City wins – irrespective of what happens with any other teams, if City wins, Pep will have another trophy to show in his cabinet.
- Arsenal draw / loss – If we draw against Everton or in worst case lose, City will be crowned Champions irrespective of their result against Moyes.
If you ask me personally, I would love the second scenario, a nerve breaking one where we beat the best team on the planet on goal difference of just ONE, on the final day of the league. That would be a WOW! moment. It’s not happening though, don’t keep your hopes high.
The best part of all of this is, that we are in contention for the title. The worst of it all, we depend on West Ham to beat City for us, and it’s not happening. Not on the final day, not when City needs a win to secure 4th title in a row, not at Etihad. There’s a very slim chance the west London club do us a favor, since Spurs and Son went on full Spursy mode against Pep. A very slim that one, but it won’t let me not be all excited for the game.
I was full ballistic in December when we dropped a lot of points. I was mad when we let Emery school us when we needed a win. The lads couldn’t sustain the pressure, nor the manager towards the end of the last season, but we have improved in that area. We have hold the fort since our Dubai’s training, and we have been giving some sleepless nights to Pep.
Lets not underestimate our achievements. Klopp fought against Pep for 8 seasons and only won one of those titles. He was second with 97 points in one of them. He had the best front 3 in last decade, Salah , Mane and Firmino and along with the best defender in VVD, he still couldn’t win more than once. Arteta has a lot to do before he matches Klopp. He is learning, and we are improving. I hated the pace at which we did, and I still do, but now since that bad phase has gone, I am very optimistic about the club in coming days.
Doesn’t mean I am not critical how we are letting go of Reuell Walters for free. A 19- year old Right Back, who made the Arsenal bench numerous times but couldn’t make it should still cost a couple million dollars in the market. Arthur Okonkwo is also leaving as a free agent, he should have costed more than a couple of millions. Aaron Ramsdale have been dropping hints of his transfers, and in his latest Instagram post, we saw a farewell message to him. The rumours points out a 15m fees to Newcastle. Now, how in the hell do you sell a player who was starting every game last season, and who is not playing not because his form dipped but because Mikel prefers David Raya over him, for only 15 million to a club that has all the money in the world. It’s not like we are selling him to Crystal Palace or Bournemouth.
Elneny and Cedric are leaving at the end of this season. I’m okay with that, they had their time here, and it’s over now.
In other news, Arne Slot will be the new Liverpool manager after Klopp. He is currently managing Feyenoord and is considered a top manager. We have seen what happens to those ‘top managers’ in the premier league – Ten Haag, Ralph Ragnik, Ange – and I will not have kept my hopes high if I was a Liverpool supporter. Plus, they will go through a rebuild now. Man United is in shambles, Chelsea are shit, Spurs will remain Spurs for the foreseeable future, and it’s going to be another City v Arsenal.
Right, that’s all for today. If you have a lucky charm in your house, hold on to it for 90 dear god minutes tomorrow, and pray West Ham sees Milwall in City. We also would have to win against Everton for sure. Lets close the season on a banger, irrespective of what happens.
See you tomorrow.
Hoopah
Arteta taking over and then they’re kicked out of the league structure having to re join in the regional leagues would be most amusing.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/article/2024/may/28/jurgen-klopp-drops-city-charges-hint-as-he-bids-farewell-to-liverpool
Full respect to Herr Klopp for saying what most managers wouldn’t, at least serving ones. Notable of course that he left it til he himself was off the bindippers’ payroll. Liverpool would stand to gain most from asterisk – gate I should think.
I wonder if City will claw back the win bonuses they paid Arteta while he stood on the deck of that ship of corrupt fools? That would be an even sweeter outcome for Tets in his hoped for role as Guardiola’s replacement. Talk about a poisoned chalice… 🧋
Someone should do an analysis of what we coulda/woulda/shoulda won if City’s efforts are expunged. 2 titles, 1 league cup, some 5th placed finishes that ought to be CL qualification…
Hi Kroenke,
Hope things are well.
I’m not sure they strip titles etc – I think it looks a bit mickey mouse to start announcing who was champion etc 6 years ago but who knows.
Its the effect on their future that any punishment has that will be interesting – a small points deduction or fine just makes it into a handicap system “OK so we lose 20 points this season but won 6 PL’s, 1 CL , however FA Cups it was worth it” etc. If they’re kicked out of the league structure they’re bust and won’t survive, if they go down a couple of leagues how do they balance the books because straight away they’re breaking FFP rules because their income has just dropped by a hundred million plus?
What ever happens it has to be enough to not only stop City doing it again but also from Newcastle doing it in future.
Hi Marc
Yeah, it’s possibly not the right starting point to compare any likely sanctions on City against what happened with the likes of Juve and Rangers. But if there are to be any RETROACTIVE deductions of points, then they have to count in that respective season’s points tally surely? It’s not just the direct losers to City of trophies either – it needs to be the likes of all the also rans (eg. Spurs, Norwich, WBA – anyone!) claiming to have lost out financially albeit by one place in the table. There’s also the question of having missed out on euro qualification and – if the points deductions are big enough – of avoiding relegation.
Once the evidence all comes to light, and if City are perceived to have been treated leniently, the PL and English Football’s credibility more generally will plummet. The Superleague boys will sniff blood, but by that time an entire generation of fans except the few cunts that support City may be completely alienated. You can expect Clubs owned by US oligarchs to press for tough punishment, but Saudi owned Newcastle may react differently.
In other words, it’s State Capitalism versus Western private Capitalism. Sit back and enjoy watching them eat each other while lawyers bleed them dry.
Kroenke
That’s the reason I’m not sure they’ll look at retrospective punishments – you get into team A were relegated but would have stayed up etc as well as CL / EL positions.
Easier to apply something to next season whether it be a fine, points deduction, relegation and leave history where it is.
It’ll also piss off the scousers no end to not be given 2 league titles.
“The case’s complexity suggests a lengthy legal battle, potentially dragging on for years”
“Clubs in England’s top-flight previously voted to fast-track independent commissions for teams accused of overspending.That was to ensure any potential punishment would be as close as possible to any breach, hence why Everton and Forest have already been punished over breaking Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).But the Premier League say the City case is different – according to The Telegraph – because of the depth, scale and complexity of the 115 charges against them”
“While FFP violations by Everton and Nottingham Forest have been identified, charged, and penalties handed out, City are still waiting for their case to be heard. The lack of transparency on how the case is progressing has caused frustration from all quarters.”Our rulebook requires these commissions to be held in private, and everything to be confidential.”
“Not all of these breaches relate to financial issues. Thirty-five relate to the club’s alleged failure to co-operate with the Premier League investigation from 2018 up until February 2023.The financial allegations go back to 2009 and were highlighted in leaked material published by German newspaper Der Spiegel. City have always said these leaked emails were obtained illegally”
Just a few quotes from some reputable sources regarding the case against City…as you can see this case will not be resolved for a considerable period of time unless some sort of “deal” can be made in the meantime…the most likely reason that the other two cases, against both Forest and Everton, were concluded in a much more timely fashion was that they willingly complied with investigators, likely due to the fact that they were assured if they did so it would lessen their respective penalties…all attempts to encourage City to do likewise have failed, including those 35 additional charges related to their refusal to cooperate, which will likely be quashed prior to the penalty phase of the hearings…it’s not too dissimilar from the strategies that are commonly deployed during a Rico trial, where the prosecution uses these sort of charges as a leverage play…not sure how this will all pan out, but I would suspect that “illegally obtained” argument could be a crucial red herring in the whole proceedings…now this isn’t being meted out in a criminal court setting, so that argument might fall on deaf ears, but if I had to hazard a guess, this will not be settled until at least after next season and will somehow depend on whether Pep signs an extension, as the optics involved would be vastly different if he were physically out of the picture…just my thoughts, although they could change drastically should new information emerge…Cheers
here are a few excerpts from an interview with Edu about the upcoming window:
‘This has to be a process that takes weeks and weeks. There on my desk, I have reports with more than 180 pages on a player…It’s really detailed stuff. Physical, technical, mental profile, if you have Premier League experience, if you will be able to adapt. It has everything…What I am going to do now, we have been discussing since January. It’s not my decision or Mikel’s alone. It belongs to a whole group…From recruitment and objectives to renewals. Mikel did a great job and achieved his goals”
I don’t know about you, but I call bullshit on what appears to be an attempt by Edu to oversell their efforts in both the transfer market and from a asset management perspective…firstly, if he wants me to believe that they had a 180 page dossier on the likes of Vieira, Jesus, Zinchenko, Jorginho, Trossard, Havertz and Lokonga, he had better send me some of that kind bud he’s been puffing so that I might be in a better frame of mind to accept this utter nonsense…now if there’s any truth to these claims, everyone involved in these forest killing misadventures should be fired immediately
secondly, his “great job with renewals” claim is incredibly baffling…in the last 12 months alone he’s re-upped and/or gave handsome raises to Elneny, Eddie, Nelson, Jorginho and Ramsdale, none of whom really matter in the grand scheme, except for maybe Jorginho, but that’s really only because Partey is so injury-prone…4 of those 5 barely saw the pitch, which wouldn’t be so tragic if this was all part of a long-term developmental plan, but we’re now looking to sell 3 of the 4, which will be exponentially more difficult due to their unjustifiable wages
finally, after making claims regarding the “whole group” making decisions, he later on states that Mikel alone did a “great job” with recruitment and renewals…so what is it Edu, a group decision or a monopolistic one? after all, if we had slipped down the standings and Edu had said the exact same words, it would appear as if he was laying blame at the feet of the manager…regardless, one has to only look at the rumours ciruclating around MA’s own re-up to see who’s clearly running this show…as of right now MA makes approximately 9M/yr, whereas Pep makes about 20M, but it the rumours are to be believed his new salary with look far more like Pep’s than his current one…maybe we should be vastly more concerned with getting this window right, from a recruitment standpoint, than stuffing more millions into the pocket of our resident consolation prize expert…just saying
oh dear god. A pay rise for coming 2nd.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-13472615/Mikel-Arteta-arsenal-contract-pay-rise.html
Tony
They will probably double his salary as they love paying over the odds for second best.
Ramsdale given a decent increase only to be removed from the number 1 goalie spot almost immediately. Newcastle want him as their number two – because of his wage they are prepared to offer £15M.
There’s apt to be plenty of chatter, especially by the most ardent Kool-Aiders amongst us, if and when Havertz gets the nod up top for Germany this summer…before you get too chesty about it though please keep in mind his present competition, Maximilian Beier, Niclas Fullkrug.,Thomas Muller and Deniz Undav…hardly a whos who of the best forwards in Europe…keeping in mind that Muller will be celebrating his 107th birthday in the fall…context matters
who’s who
There on my desk, I have reports with more than 180 pages on a player…
Vieira
Well, he should learn to fucking speed read then shouldn’t he? With all that money I’m sure he could get a pretty good coach. What a massive, incontinent whining Brazilian baby!
I can’t remember which Woody Allen film it was, but there’s a scene where he tells a woman that he has speed read ‘War and Peace’. The woman is impressed and says, ‘So what’s it about?’ So WA replies. ‘it’s all about these people who fall out and make up at the end.’
Imagine Edu or Tets finding that little story funny? No, me neither. Not a shred of self-awareness in either of them.
Boo hoo. I’ve got to read a long report for work – woe is me!
How do you read Tolstoy at scan speed – I have the Russian film version – 9 hours of bumbling Pierre Besuhov (incorrect spelling) and a bloody great big bit of war with a short Frenchie.
I have read it three times.
Gasper likes his role – he can mix with the slimy super agents that screw the players and the teams. Why does the PL league not take action against agents (or any other league for that matter)
KP-if one were to believe that these “reports” actually exist, your point is well-taken…I would suggest it’s more of an attempt to cover-up MA’s wild and sporadic lusting over a whole host of players, many of whom weren’t even discussed at length, let alone the subject of some sort of meticulous review process
Norg-the acceptance of the whole agent nonsense can be traced back to those times when owners badly mistreated their respective players…it’s like a reparations campaign being perpetrated by a class of individuals who might be even more weaselly than those aforementioned owners…as is often the case, a well-intentioned act becomes a monetized nightmare over time
Hi NORG
I’ve discovered another thing I admire about you! War and Peace is scary just to look at. When placed flat on a table, most versions must be at least 4 inches high! Tolstoy isn’t my thing. Far too wordy for me and for Woody.
I started with Dostoevski and drew a line after reading Crime and Punishment and the Brothers Karamatzov. All that snow, violence, poverty and human cruelty! No wonder Russia is so fucked if their literary canon seems so miserable. If it’s 19th century weighty literature, then it has to be France and Zola in my opinion.
Moscow and Tblisi were my final overseas work trips. Not exactly a glamorous swansong. Middle of winter, getting followed everywhere, and eating nasty things that looked and tasted like medium rare equine testicles. Not for me. I was glad to get home although I felt a bit like a minor character in a Le Carre novel.
At least the UK has produced some of the greatest spy-related literature. I worship JLC and was affected by his death a few years ago.
KP – Book 1 of W&P is a good read book 2 is war and a bit more war. I haven’t read a book in years – perhaps I will when I eventually retire.
Apparently Tblisi has become a hot venue for city breaks – Ryanair must be serving the place with flights at £10 a go.
Le Carre is a good read – trouble is you cant put the book down once you start.
KP
Any chance to put a story to the background on how you derived to the El B moniker?