I’m finally done with the rituals that comes with having a kid in our culture. A month at my ancestral village, with AQI in double digits, fruits and veggies from the farm, empty roads and no honking, clear and visible night sky – things that are “normal” for them were something “awesome” for me. Made up my mind, 10 years and I will go back to where I was born.
But, before that, are we going to WIN? City are only 2 points behind us with 10 games to go. Last couple of months have looked familiar, we have seen it 3 times under Mikel and we dropped points to Wolves and Brentford. We did win NLD but hey, their ex-manager is calling them ‘spursy’ on podcasts these days and it’s hardly a contest in recent time.
Today’s a challenge. Anything but a win and City will be level on points. I don’t see us making it from there, Pep knows how to win things when it matters. And Chelsea are not going to make it easy for us. All we have to do is win our games, let them drop points before we do, and then we can think of winning the league this year.
Kai and Merino are out. Ben White is a doubt but hopefully we won’t miss him. I would personally go with the same playing XI we had against Tottenham. Calafiori in place of Hincapie can be OK, but lets not go back to Odegaard. Eze did well, and he needs couple of games in the #10 role to truely dominate games. He is our only players apart from Martinelli who got creativity outside of Mikel’s system and can do something on his own. The first goal against Spurs was a brilliant one and that short of ball wins you game.
Gyokeres has finally picked up. He scored 2 brilliant goals against Spurs and was moving better through out the game. Frankly I was disappointed so far with him, but he has got 10 games + CL + FA Cup + Carabao Cup games to prove me wrong.
Right, I will keep it short but I promise I will be more active. 3 very exciting months ahead for us, where we can win everything. Lets hope we do.
Good save by Raya . This GK is saving us lot of points.
On the other hand don’t know why Chelsea sticking with Sanchez who is a jack- in- the -box GK in spite of his occasional acrobatics
Joao Pedro was clearly offside
not sure why we can’t figure out a way to stem this Chelsea tide when we have an extra man on the pitch, but it speaks volumes about the fear that’s permeating the club under our cock-up King
RVL
Look at the cock up king on the sidelines, it is satisfying for what he is causing in the fans
But his fear is contagious. Just look at players they look as if just missed getting hit by a bus
Instead of being confidently celebrating all look like phew…
Arteta’s living a charmed life at the moment – we’re winning but even against the Spud’s we didn’t look at ease until they had a complete meltdown.
Not all teams will do that.
It’s about time we scored a couple of set piece goals, it has become a little monotonous seeing us score so many open play goals from free flowing football in the past few weeks.
Chelsea are a decent side that haven’t beaten us in more than 5 years, they put in a good performance and on another day chelsea could have got something out of the game so it was pleasing that we have maintained our 5 point league after 2 London derbys.
It seems to me that there is more pressure when we play in the league so our cup games v Mansfield, Leverkusen and city will be a welcome distraction both for the players and the fans..
The important game is always the next game and away to Brighton in the week is another tough game, city play forest at home , a game they should win, maintaining that 5 point gap is good psychologically as after the Brighton game we are down to the final 8 games ( 5 at home 3 away) whilst city will be down to their final 9 games ( 4 at home 5 away)..
Hoopah—no one wants to see that underpants cam…I wouldn’t be surprised if he put a Cosco-sized cork in before each and every match…as Marc suggests not every team tripped over their own dicks and gifts us thin margin victories, but there’s only a few sides with the kind of clinical finishing up top that would enable them to take full advantage of the few opportunities this dumbed-down brand of football affords you
not every team will trip over
Wicksy
Why do you insist on inferring the League Cup final won’t have a bearing on the title run in?
The truth is the pressure will be huge and a win will be seen as laying down a marker. My guess is it’ll be an incredibly dull game unless there’s a couple of early goals in the same direction.
Marc
I do agree that unless there is an early goal it will probably be a tactical game, the fact that we are unbeaten in 6 v city may also have a bearing on how city approach the game, let’s not forget that they parked the bus at the Emirates earlier in the season
Unlike the majority on here I look at the positives more than the negatives and losing to city in the final shouldn’t affect us as we have shown this season that everytime we have lost a game we have bounced back with long unbeaten runs , at present we are 9 unbeaten after the united defeat.
If we do beat city in the final it will mean we go into the league game at the etihad unbeaten in 7 against them , so for me it is City who will be more affected by a defeat than Arsenal.
City look like they are relying on the players that have been there and done it Silva, Rodri and Dias……pep will be praying that they remain injury free until the end of the season , though of course Donnarummar and Haaland are a vital part of the spine of the side, these are the 5 pep will be relying on, but due to amount of really tough games they are facing in March and April I doubt they will suffer in some way
Newcastle away
Chelsea away
Arsenal final
Arsenal league
Real Madrid home and away
Bayern munich home and away (possible)
Vieira
You wanted a song to celebrate our regular scorers. This, to the tune of ‘rockin all over the world’ by those miserable spurs-supporting cunts Status Quo. Previously applied to Saka and Emile Smith-Rowe before stubborn reduced their talent.
Well here we are and here we are
And here we go
Arteta’s a wanker and his style’s so dull
Here we go-o…
Corner kicks and tragic own goals!
Tudor the Tottenham manager is critical of the ref for not giving a foul for what he regarded as a blatant push on a Tottenham player that led to fulham’s first goal, and yet he was critical of the ref last week for giving a foul for the push on Gabriel last week.
He needs to make up his mind, either he believes a push in the back with both hands is a foul or he doesn’t.
You make yourself look stupid if you want a different decision from the ref for very similar incidents, I said last week that pushing with 2 hands on the back should constitute a foul and yes I believe that the Fulham goal should have been disallowed.
I get that Tudor was bemoaning the lack of consistency but he was adamant that the slight push today was a foul just as was adamant that the slight push on Gabriel wasn’t a foul, maybe before managers criticise the inconsistency of refs they should also be consistent in their analysis of incidents.
KP—I went online to get a feel for the tune and the first recording I found was an acoustic version they did maybe a dozen years ago in their fucking birthday suits, like a geriatrics version of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers without the cock socks…needless to say I could have done without that, but I can definitely see how your lyrics could fit nicely within the framework of that song…thanks for providing me with a little levity on an otherwise dull as fuck day…Cheers
They made an acoustic version?…oh, the horror. A truly dreadful, repetitive bunch of shit peddlers. Amazing think that back in the day, they really got close to buying the spuds.
Chas and Dave tried too, but they’re a completely different kettle of fishy spurs fans. Try checking out their video of a song they made called ‘gertcha’…cockney comedy at its finest.
https://youtu.be/OtYnm4Vwd-E?si=lsBHN2kLzSNDrYoz
Enjoy!
These two cockernee ball bags used to get the gig singing Spurs songs before their very rare appearances at cup finals etc., including the catchily titled ‘there’s glory for Spurs when the year ends in ‘1’. Talk about a hostage to fortune…
KP, love me some Chas and Dave back in the day, proper wordsmiths. I found it easier to appreciate them when Spurs hit the doldrums during the Wenger era and St Totts became a fixture in the season calender, going as far as going to see them live a couple of times.
Pete Doherty was a C and D disciple and they got props from the British Hip Hop community. Rappers like Skinnyman, no less talented a rhymer and a legend of of the UK rap scene held them up as OGs. I saw Skinnyman live in Brixton last week and he’s flying the flag for British lyricists.
Here’s a couple of UK stalwarts giving big ups and love to Chas and Dave
https://www.facebook.com/KillaKela/videos/493448785025032/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v
Football wise, not much between us and the Mancs in respect of ‘getting the job done towards the run in. Pleased to see set pieces and own goals being decisive in our games once more. I was miffed we didnt get any v Totts.
Earlier in the season I suspected this wouldn’t be sustainable, perhaps I didn’t account for the fact we’re really good at set pieces. I hope we get into the 20s for ‘bantz’ purposes alone. Like Reform party getting mugged off by the Greens, how bad must the rest of the league be to let ‘set piece fc’ take the title?
Of more interest was watching the a chunk of both the Hamburg and Marseille games.
Vieira, who’s grown into the season got himself another and MOM. His quality does stand out but for us to take him back, I’d want to see a bit more at the lower end to the Bundesliga. Hamburg look safe and they’re still a relatively wealthy club so hopefully they’ll be able to stump up a fee no too far off what we paid him. Lokonga, while not all that yesterday has had an okay-ish season but probably not enough for us to hope for any windfall from his sell on clause.
Nwaneri a good chunk of the second half for OM and last minute assist for Auba. A tidy half hour or so. AMN still sticking it out at OL as a defender after all his demands not to with us. I got it, he was a more than decent midfielder at the academy, I saw him a few times when the youth teams used to play at the Ems regularly but never convinced there when he stepped up.
A reasonable run of games coming up. Tailor made for Gyokeres I reckon. Brighton are decent as always but I can’t be over concerned with Dat Guy Welbz as their top scorer.
KP
Chas & Dave used the same accountant as me at the end of the 70’s and early 80’s. Trevor Brooking was also a client. Every Christmas the accountant had a party C & D provided the entertainment. Only one of them was a Spurs supporter but I cant remember which one. Brooking had a habit of reminding me every year of how he slipped and the ball hit his head and it went in. My seat at that final was it line with him at the time. C & D had a lucky break when one of their songs was used in an advert – Gertcha and then others – a pint of Courage anyone?