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.
Norg—sadly that might be the lowest percentage option of the bunch considering our struggles in front of goal
I can live with that. 1-1 and the second leg at home, it won’t be easy but we are in the game and at the positive end of it.
“a bit of a lucky escape”—what an understatement
Really ordinary against a reasonably well-drilled team. I think we’ll beat them in London but I was impressed by that young centre forward. Advantage Arsenal, but any performance better than that and we could have won.
I thought the (Turkish) ref was fucking shocking. Numerous poor judgements, too many unwarranted yellow cards and a sense that his melodramatic behaviour was an attempt to make himself centre of attention. Piss poor. Both sides will be justifiably fucked off with him.
a really questionable penalty call, but I will say this, more bad things than good things can happen when you slide tackle from behind inside the box
Their CF caused us problems all night, our CF caused them problems innthe first 5 minutes and from then on we never fed the ball into his feet so he could use his strength to turn the CB.
I thought the pen was soft and was surprised when it was given and equally surprised when VAR didn’t overturn it.
Saka’s decision making was abysmal , credit to madueke for coming on and making a difference , have to say Leverkusen were very good defensively and dangerous on the break , they may cause us problems in the return unless we get an early goal and take control of the game.
No doubt Arsenal will be criticised for tonight’s performance but for me that was a decent first leg performance away from home.
What you’ll see is teams like Chelsea and city who will take the game to psg and city but will leave themselves vulnerable at the back
Psg and Madrid
RM just scored against City. It would be fun to see them out of CL and we beating them in Premier League for the title.
Humans are generally optimistic. I’m a human.
2-0 Madrid. That’s what some exciting football does to your possession obsessed shite.
3-0 now.. lol
Ambarish
…and there was me thinking all these years that you were some kind of AI bot 🤖🤖🤖
I imagine Chelsea fans spent the whole day in Paris laughing about Spurs being so shite to have lost 5-2. Oops.
City concede 3
Chelsea concede 5
It’s as if someone(me) predicted they would both be vulnerable at the back.
I don’t suppose anyone will be criticising Arsenal now ,that is anyone who understands the game.
After the first legs, it looks as if only we and the barcodes as PL teams emerged with a creditable result. Liverpool could and should pull it round, but City, Chelsea and the Spuds are already fucked and bombed.
Tonight’s city result makes Arsenal’s 5-1 demolition of Madrid a year ago look even more special.
Last night’s results for English clubs could easily have had different outcomes which shows the small margins that can decide a game of football.
In a first leg tie away from home it is all about the tactics set out by the manager, Arsenal were one down and showed they have learnt the art of in game management, we didn’t throw the kitchen sink at trying to get back in the game , if that was the case Arteta would have taken Zubimendi off when bringing on Havertz, instead he took gyokeres off and in doing so we remained compact and played controlled football and were rewarded with a late penalty.
Chelsea were 2-2 after 70 mins and they showed how not to manage a game of football away from home in the first leg of the champions league..
It was obvious that PSG were pressing very high without the ball and yet the chelsea keeper and defence continued to fanny about with the ball at the back and suffered for it.
3-2 wouldn’t have been a bad result for Chelsea but instead of managing the game the way Arsenal and Arteta did , Chelsea decided to look for the equaliser and were caught short at the back which led to them losing 5-2.
I can guarantee you that any Chelsea fan when they were 2-2 would be horrified to see them commit suicide by trying to play out from the back.
As for City , they were on fire in the first 20 minutes and should have been a couple of goals up , similar to Liverpool the night before, City then made the mistake of over committing players forward and Real Madrid picked them off and made them pay with some outstanding finishes.
Last night showed how important a manager is when managing a side that concedes a goal to go behind, Arteta handled it perfectly, the penalty was a bonus but going to the Emirates 1 down would not have been disastrous.
Compare that with pep and Liam Rosenoir who made the mistake of trying to win the game and over commiting against teams that are lethal on the counter.
Leverkusen are also a very good counter attacking side so Arsenal will need to be on their guard next week , that’s why the first goal is so important as an early goal for Arsenal will bring Leverkusen out and then the gaps will appear , should be a good game.
TRVL
“—we wasted Saka’s time on the pitch…instead of taking him off for Noni, we should have taken off Zubi, sat Rice deeper and had Saka play in the midfield…he and Saka would have caused some real problems for them out on the right”
And Leverkusen would have walked through our midfield, thankfully we have a manager that understands the game.
Wicksy
What happened to the PL being the strongest league in Europe and it being a really strong season? Your predictions are like throwing mud at a wall.
As it stands I think Liverpool will go through, the Spuddie’s, Chelsea and City are out. Us and Newcastle – its a coin toss and could go either way.