I’m not a big fan of Arteta and his football. But I wasn’t a fan of Pep and his football either and all the titles him and City won do get counted, still. So, if we win something – and there is a very good chance now that we will – I will celebrate it as if Mikel is a phenomenon that only happens once in a century.
It’s been 22 years since we last won the Premier League title. As for the Champions League, we have never won it, having played our only final in 2006 losing to Barcelona 2-1 after going down to 10 men in the 18th minute. I was too young to even remember it, and more into cricket that time.
We are 3 games away from the league title – West Ham (A), Burnley (H), Palace (A). All 3 games are winnable. David Moyes did Arteta a favor after Everton limited Man City to a draw and gave us the upper hand. It’s in our hand, we go on and win our games and what City do of theirs won’t even matter.
The harder one of the two trophies is the Champions League. PSG under Enrique has been brilliant and is playing some of the best football right now. They beat Bayern in the semis and I would say they will be the favorites in Budapest. But, hey, it’s a 90 min game and whoever is ready to kill and die on the pitch that day will walk away with the trophy. Whoever wants it more, will decide the outcome.
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We are in a wonderful place. We can surely win the league title and we can surely go out and choke PSG in the finals. However, this also means that a couple of bad performances will leave us with no trophy, and the only improvement will be of playing finals instead of semis compared to last season.
If you would have told Mikel and the players that they can win the title by beating West Ham, Palace and Burnley and Champions League by beating PSG at a neutral venue, at the beginning of the season, they would have bite your hand.
Hopefully they would be dreaming of it. The manager, the players because we fans surely are.
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West Ham today, they have their own relegation battle so anything can happen. I hope we don’t mess it up but it’s not the time anymore to do speculations, guess what can happen, who will start and what kind of football we play. The only thing that matters is, 11 players on the pitch and a win.
We can do it. We have come close three seasons earlier and we can do it the 4th time. I am keeping my hopes high.
#COYG
Ambarish—don’t think for a second that MA really wanted to deploy MLS in the midfield or lean on VG, these moves were all predicated on injury concerns involving Havertz, Ode, Eze and likely Zubi (the latter hit a bit of a wall, as his performances would attest)…so it was only a matter of time before his preferred 11 were on the pitch, minus Timber of course
I hope he understands the maths here. If we drop points, City wins the league. There’s no if and buts after that.
Ambarish
Yes but then we can sack the cunt.
this lineup should be more than enough to secure a decisive victory, regardless of the low block they’ll undoubtedly face…if Burnley were so effective at defending en masse they wouldn’t be a bottom 2 side…just look at the shit ton of away goals they’ve conceded
Why was Trossard not booked there?
Can’t afford a nonsensical red card, especially early on
Yeah, Havertz gonna miss that. Ask his nan.
Marc—we’re the favoured “nation”, so to speak
In news so stunning I can barely believe it happened Havertz fell over his own legs.
It’s not as if Havertz can’t score against such a putrid side, even though he needs 3 to 4 times as many chances, but this sort of matchup has VG written all over it
TRVL
As I said earlier Arteta needs Havertz to have more minutes under his belt to justify starting him in the CL final.
we’re the worst when it comes to going to ground…read the opposing teams lips each and every time…it always starts with “what the fuck”
TRVL
I can live with players going to ground in the box for a slight touch (everyone does it) its the falling over your own feet and expecting a free kick on the half way line that drives me nuts.
Marc—I’m not sure about that, although things could change if he found a way to score against these fucking lightweights…remember he could start him in the midfield tucked in behind
TRVL
You wait and see.
Marc—I agree…I’m not suggesting that no one should ever go down or that every single time we do it’s a fucking flop…it’s the way in which we embelish the fuck out of contact, with all the remonstrating and ridiculous body language…not everyone of course but VG, Havertz, Noni, Gabs, Merino and Hip…ironically the majority of our most physical players…that’s some cake and eat it too bullshit…you don’t see Rice playing that way
Only Havertz can drive into the box and everyone’s still far more worried about who he might pass to than him being a scoring threat at close range
TRVL
There used to be a guy who sat a few rows behind me who really disliked Giroud. Every time Giroud flopped over and sat there with that “what happened there” look on his face you’d here this roar “Get that French tart off”.
If the fans did that with the players you mention it’d be the most regular chant.
Ode looks up for it tonight.
Havertz has missed 12 of the 9 passes.. so far.