Bournemouth registered a goal against us in just under 9 seconds, the second fastest in Premier League history, and it looked like ‘one of those days’! We gave another one when the second half commenced, and with 2-0 down, it looked like an impossible task when all they had to do was put 10 players in defence, not giving any space for any of our forwards to create something.
However, there was a story to be written. In the 62nd minute, Partey scored of a tap-in from corner which ESR tried to head in. It didn’t take much time to level up, Ben White scored off a volley assisted by Nelson. Bournemouth wasted time, we were given 6 extra minutes to win the game, and it was the 97th, from the last corner of the game, when Nelson decided to score one of the best goals of this season off a clearance. What a shot! What a goal! And what a game!
That last goal meant we keep the 5 point lead from Manchester City. We remain at the top, and there’s only 12 games to go. We have a game in buffer, which, even if we lose, won’t allow City to go past us.
One thing that impressed me was Arteta’s in-game management. It had been poor in the past, but he has learnt his lessons. Bringing in Ben White in 46th minute for Tomiyasu, who mind you, wasn’t having a very sh*t day, turned out to be a very good move. Our attack on the right side improved, White has developed a very decent chemistry with Saka and them both overlapping created a mess to Bournemouth.
An injury to Trossard forced Arteta to bring in ESR, who was subbed out for Nelson. I mean you need to have guts to sub in and sub out a player during a game where the player is a fan-favorite. In the end, it mattered the most with Nelson scoring in the last seconds of the game, creating madness everywhere.
Nelson is out of contract at the end of this season, but there are media persons talking on his behalf that he is happy in North London and would love to sign da ting. I don’t think it will be a problem, he is a gooner and we need him. Having Saka, Nelson, Martinelli, Trossard gives us 4 very good options which can rotate on either side of the wings. If things get worse at some point, Jesus can cover too. That’s wings sorted for 5 years at the very least.
WE NEED A STRIKER! This is what happens when one of your CF gets a long term injury and the other one has a running nose. We either need someone proven, or we can try integrating Balogun. With Champions League football next season, it would be tough with 2, if one of them gets injured, you can’t play a CF twice a week.
Anyways, no complaints today. We are winning, luck is on our side and we are managing to earn all 3 points in games which we would have lost couple of seasons. Do you remember people walking away in 60th minute when 2-0 down not long ago? Yeah, that don’t happen anymore. We are bossing games even if we are behind.
Only 12 games to go. Some easy ones being Fulham (A), Crystal Palace (H), Leeds (H), Southampton (H), Brighton (H), Forest (A), Wolves (H). Games where we have to give everything and pray the VAR is in good mood – Liverpool (A), West Ham (A), Man City (A), Chelsea (H), New Castle (A). That’s 15 points that would require a fight. A lot to do still, but #COYG.
p.s. Hosting is renewed, domain registration extended for LiR. We remain independent for another year. Cheers!
just watched the Chelsea/Dortmund return fixture…still not exactly sure about the whole penalty encroachment gig, but Chelsea showed some much-needed fight for once…maybe it’s just me, but Chilwell is undoubtedly one of the most punchable players in the PL, probably in large part due to his Napoleonic complex
TRVL:
The Dortmund player that kicked the ball out of bounce had his head stuck inside the 18 yard box and therefore became active and encroached. If he would not have kicked the ball no encroachment, if another Chelsea player would have touched the ball first no encroachment. Anyhow Chelsea staying in the competition is to our advantage as it may weaken them when we play them.
As far as Osimhen is concerned,I agree De Laurentiis is very hard to deal with but he likes to make profits and doesn’t put a lot of money into the club, which is annoying to the Napoli supporters. Since Napoli most likely will win the Scudetto he might just be tempted to sell Osimhen especially if he can get £130m for the striker which is what is being bantered around the media. We don’t have the money that state sponsored clubs have but if we want to compete season after season we need elite players. There are 3 ways to get them, the academy, the scouting department and paying for elite players.
History has shown we are not very good at digging up gems, BHA seems to have a pipeline of developing elite players, Bissouma sold only to be replaced by Caicedo, we don’t have that kind of personnel to unearth these gems, so it is buying expensive players which is a risk. For me I would love to see Osimhen in AFC colors, even if he doesn’t come it is still good as my closest friend is an avid Napoli supporter.
Cheers Killroy—I was watching the game whilst on a Zoom call, so I didn’t have any volume on…they kept showing the replay but what they kept showing didn’t make sense without the accompanying verbiage…thanks for clearing that up
in regards to Osimhen we’re in total agreement, as he was in my TW bucket list last summer, along with Nkunku and Haaland, which we knew very early on was never going to happen (that very fact speaks volumes about who we are in the minds of the best and brightest, which is what we need to change)…as you know, I’m a firm believer in the notion that we need to go big game hunting if we hope to reinvent our organizational wheel…since the time of our move to the Emirates we haven’t acquired a readymade seminal player minus Ozil and Auba, which were both horribly mismanaged in the end…these largely self-inflicted cockups should in no way deter us from pursuing other big fish, instead they should simply provide us with invaluable insight into how to best avoid the mistakes of the past
as I’ve said on countless occasions, I would rather we spend 150M on 2 seminal players than the same amount on 5, 6 or 7 coin toss propositions…in fact, and much like the present day QB centric business model in the NFL, we needed to find a way to bring in top-end complimentary pieces before our budding blue chippers became vastly more expensive propositions…most managers aren’t fortunate enough to have such a confluence of circumstances like MA, who inherited several bargain basement priced high ceiling prospects on term…unfortunately, MA fell in love with his own headlines, after our very fortuitous FA Cup victory, so we wasted a couple years trying to force-feed his rather selfish retool shortcut initiative…live and learn, I guess??
Good points Killroy & TRVL.
Ambarish, Discipline Really?
Guendouzi had a go at Malpay(?) in the tunnel for a very bad tackle on Leno that sidelined him. I would expect that from a petulant and talented kid sticking up for a team mate, wouldn’t you?
What does Arteta do? Brandish his non-negotiables card and banish Guendouzi instead of putting an arm around the young lad and getting the resident sports psychologist to find out what triggers Guendouzi and find a solution.
Simple man management 101.
Handled correctly as Guen was at Marseilles he became captain and a regular in the FN side starter. Will probably go onto captain the French team in future world and Euro cups.
How is this ok, Ambarish?
Let’s not rewrite history here young man.
Have you ever thought why top young players don’t want to play for Arteta? We can pretty much match salaries and deals if KSE wants to? £70+ for Mudryk and the player turned us down, but if he had said yes, Father Ted would have gone home empty handed with suit cases of cash no matter what he offered as cash inducement.
Reality is Jesus and Zinchenko were surplus to requirements at City, and Arteta was a good home to find as they would be his pets. Both are quality players as are most of City’s surplus talent compared to Xhaka who Arteta has as chief pet.
Willock being sold was a travesty and the reason? We needed money BS.
Omari Hutchinson couldn’t be developed now struggling with the Chavs while Ted B is going for the Guinness Book of Records in player acquisitions. A good right wing apparently.
As those who have man managed or team managed at any level will tell you it’s not rocket science, it’s the understanding of others’ abilities and temperaments especially their triggers. Our Thai company employs over 100 engineers and admin long term staff, so I have a good idea how management works. That and corporate and management consultant work for start ups and £multi million concerns.
From my experience I can tell you Arteta is no manager. A decent coach maybe. How much money has Arteta lost Arsenal in lost assets (players) revenue alone. How many players have turned Arteta down?
Ambarish, by all means get intoxicated by our current position and dare to dream, but keep hold of a little reality for your own sanity’s sake if we finish 2nd or 3rd, as most of us aging Goonerholics have learnt to do. 2015/2016 Leicester?
We will all be going through the cauldron of emotions on a weekly basis until season’s end. Probably best not to praise Arteta’s continued poor decisions. If you do, wear a flak jacket and tin (not foil) helmet.
We’ve seen nothing but excuses in the last 3.4 years: I’m hoping LIR won’t stand for excuses any more.
I won’t and haven’t since last season.
Looks like the exSpud Lineker maybe on his way to his brother’s Balaric clubs. Can’t stand him and never have. I’m up for: #Wrighty for Lineker’s job 🙂
Some talk of Jesus being on the bench at the weekend. I hope he’s not rushed back by Jesus’s demands to play or Arteta doing a Partey on Jesus.
Finally, it’s reported we are in contract talks with Reis Nelson, which is probably because Nice have said they want him on a free as other clubs will. I hope Reis does well in the EL cup against Sporting Lisbon. He will probably get a run of games, so I hope he continues his promising performances this season.
My recorder has arrived so no more missed games. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Ambarish
I think Willock has grown at the barcodes as a player in a different system. I’m not sure he was ever going to cut it playing in the company of Ode, Saka, Martinelli and Jesus. I also think he’s lacking when his team doesn’t have the ball. We got a good fee form him considering. Iwobi ditto.
I agree with Tony that Guen is an altogether different kettle of poisson 🐟🐟. Scapegoated by the club and appallingly treated by the basque bantamweight, I think its not an overestimation to think he could have gone on to be PV4 or Emmanuel Petit Mark 2. He’s kind of doing that for Marseille now isn’t he? Poor Gunnerdouzi sadly became a casualty of Tets’s small man arrogance and aggression. A big error by the club.
One of the many indictments that will be levelled at Tets is the dreadful way in which he’s systematically trashed player values.
K’phobe
You’re right Willock was never going to be an elite player, but with our midfield being short & clearly Mikel had no plans to buy, it was very short sighted of Arteta. If you look at Emi being sold, they were 2 players who had we had last season and Saliba, we wouldn’t have missed 4th.
In a way I can see why Emi was let go going by his world cup antics and leaving snipes. A great keeper maybe, but very short of decency on human levels from his displays.
When you look through Arteta’s tenure today 2 x 8th 1 x 5 and an FA cup for what? £700m spent? It’s layered with rookie errors and still is.
We hear about the process, but all I see is chaos from Arteta being adapted to a process by the players now they don’t play by numbers. We have more nuances about our play that comes from Zinchenko and Ode primarily and Jesus and Vieira when he finally gets up to speed. Jorginho will be a great influence on Vieira as we’ll see on the coming months and next season.
I see Mitoma is firing well still for Brighton. Shame Arteta pissed off Mr. Bloom.
Anyway, I ended up frying my new recorder. Everything was in Japanese so translate was working overtime and I overlooked that Japan has 100 volts and we have between 200 and 260 so voltage surge protectors are required. However, they don’t cover for a numpty not checking what voltage was required.
Then Junior looking very please-don’t-kill-me-dad like holding one end of an HMDI. The one that stopped the old recorder working no less. Don’t worry junior is still alive, just. It’s Mrs T he has to fear to the tune of £400 including ridiculous import duty.
To be fair I should have checked the voltage for the new one from Japan. Good lesson for junior to learn as well.
Considering my levels in tech you couldn’t make it up. I should vape first. 🙂
As a variation on the old misogynist terrace favourite ‘get yer tits out’, and to properly commemorate the fact that it’s international women’s day today, here’s this which proves how much of a feminist the wonderful ex-Spurs and current Citeh favourite is…
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/mar/08/kyle-walker-could-face-police-action-after-exposing-himself-in-a-bar
Man City’s apparent response that its his own business shames a club that also cheats on the field to succeed. In a sane world, that sort of behaviour merits being put on the register.
The report suggests that Walker engaged in conversation with the two victims after he exposed himself to them. Might be fun to have a caption style competition. I’m sure the players on their women’s team will ve thrilled to be in the same organisation as him. This after he broke covid rules with sex workers. Kin ell.
Sorry to hear about your tech travails Tony. Tell Junior that if he’s getting fined by you and Mrs T, I’ll chip in to any crowd funding!
Amazing to think of a sophisticated place like Japan running on only 100V.
Walker to women – After that display, any chance I’ll be doing the double tonight?
Women – Yes Kyle – sexual assault and gross indecency you scumbag.
KP–just read about the latest cock-up, or should I say cock-out, by the former Spurs and current City RB…one has to wonder what’s behind the seemingly habitual fucked up actions of this clown, especially considering the fact that everyone and their brother knows that very few things in public life go unnoticed nowadays…is he just an out of control egomaniac who doesn’t give a flying fuck or does he have some sort of diagnosable chemical imbalance that becomes even more heightened when under the influence..either way consequences are required, as the previous hand slap option has clearly failed to register
as to our previous discussion regarding JW, I think it’s important to reiterate the fact that we functionally replaced WIllock with Lokonga, as the fee we received from Newcastle was not too dissimilar from what we paid for the young Belgian…so my point wasn’t that I felt JW was the missing link to unlocking our flailing offence, but he was clearly better prepared to help in that regards than the unpolished Sambi…not to mention, the notion that we didn’t have monies in the coffers unless we sold the likes of Emi and Willock is absolutely ludicrous in retrospect…just another club-spun narrative so as to justify the rather unjustifable, from a footballing perspective anyways
TRVL
Sambi was punted onto us by Tets’s old Man City protégée Kompany wasn’t he? I’m still not sure about whether he has a future with us – the current prognosis can’t be positive given all the other runners and riders (including the sinecure offered to the geezer from giza) . He seems to have made an impact at Palace, where he can only get getter under Vieira’s guidance.
In essence, he started quite strongly in N5 but then got Arteta’ed, ie fucked and bombed. I would be surprised if he’s not already on the summer sales list. As with too many others during Tets’s reign, we’ll probably be hit for a loss. Fine Arteta the exact amount of any amortised deficit!
KP—the whole scenario is rather analogous to when a horribly mismanaged multi-billion dollar corporation receives a massive governmental bailout, in that MA/Edu’s ineptitude cost us a considerable fortune, due to their piss-poor asset mismangement and propensity to pay above the number in the transfer market, yet somehow, someway they not only received a king’s ransom, they were likewise given substantial raises…now if we’re able to secure the title and find a way to compete for things next season, these financial misdeeds will likely become little more than a footnote in the annals of the Arsenal Football Club, as winning is usually the ultimate cure-all
personally, I will judge them according to their actions or lack thereof when it comes to getting our house in proper order, which includes all facets of organizational life…this simply can’t be a one-off gig, especially after the monies already invested, as our expectations must align with those of the big boys and not with the LC’s of the footballing world, which means there must be tangible growth year-in and year-out…keeping in mind, that if they do accomplish these very arduous tasks, I will have no problem whatsoever eating my words…in fact, I would like nothing else, as this would mean that we would have gotten our Arsenal back
Romero sent off for the spuds. Who could have seen that coming?
Analogous to when a horribly mismanaged multi-billion dollar corporation receives a massive governmental bailout
Over here, that might mean paragons of the free market economy such as tricky dicky Branson or the so-called brain behind Dyson vacuum cleaners (a significant donor to the Tory party naturally). Two of the biggest blood suckers in UK industry, both if whom avoid tax by living abroad. Neither are backwards in coming forwards when it comes to cheap or free UK government money or dodgy privatisation related subsidies.
Marc and I are poles apart on economic and industrial policy, but I’m certain he’d agree with me that these two are massive parasites that help to keep his and my tax bills high.
the PSG experiment continues to fluonder when it matters most…in a way I wanted them to progress now that Neymar has been removed from the equation, as I find his antics on the pitch rather despicable, even though he’s undoubtedly a highly skilled individual…their performance today, much like in the first leg, was rather listless and lacking in any notable invention, which seems difficult to fathom considering their current roster…maybe there’s something to the whole narrative about how Ligue ! doesn’t properly prepare one for the rigours of the Champions League…I’m more inclined to believe that for far too long this club has tried to assemble a team made up of largely self-serving individuals who simply lack the togetherness that’s generally required to win the day against a more cohesive well-managed squad…no wonder no manager/coach can survive more than a couple campaigns in the French capital
on a side note, is the Spur’s Romero the most brain-dead fuck on the continent…his record of yellow and red cards for appearances made is unrivalled…he’s even surpassed our bull in a china shop former skipper…say goodnight Spurs!!!
flounder
Wicked! This moment every season arguably means more than when we enjoyed beating spurs in the league.
Another trophy less season. 1961 since they won the title. Fewer spuds fans with each passing year who were alive to witness it. They are THE biggest underperformers in English football. Lovely.
TRVL
Or it could be a case of
Properly run, historic big club beats oil kleptocracy packed with cynical, disinterested money grubbing turds. And (still) my main man Serge Gnabry scored.
KP—Britain’s got nothing on my North American corporate brethren, as you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting some unjustified rich c**t who pays no taxes and who’s whole business model depends on loopholes and corporate welfare gifts from the state…not only do the rich get richer, but they do so on the backs of those with the least to give…when the covid gig hit and the government tried to help those “most” in need, 70+% went to the richest 10%…of course, they all have lawyers and accountants on retainer who spend every waking hour finding ways to fuck the system for the sole purpose of stuffing their respective boss’s already overflowing pockets…of course, this form of unbridled greed knows no geographic boundaries, but I do feel that it’s become an elitist sport nowadays in my part of the western world