The world do not run on ‘what if’. You can console yourself thinking what if Saka wouldn’t have missed the penalty, or if one of the headers of Jesus would have landed in the nets. There were about 10 of these what-if moments but then why count only ours. Pool could have scored some more against us, West Ham might have taken advantages of one of the counter attacks. I don’t think you will remember what happened during the game after a month, but you would surely not forget that we lost 2 important points each against Liverpool and West Ham after going 2-0 up.
Why? Because we lacked the winning mentality on those days. Nelson screamer won us a game in the last minute because we fought through out the game. Compare it to the last two games, when we stopped playing and fighting after going 2-0 up. As a result, we earned 2 points out of possible 6, in a time when we are fighting for the league against a team which has won 4 times in last 5 seasons. I’m devasted, league title is still open but winners do not give up a 2 goal lead. City, after going 2-0 up, would make sure they score few more before the final whistle. Arsenal, on the other hand, became complacent. Call it a young squad, call it a young manager, call it mere luck or bad referee decision; I’m a football fan and I hated to see it.
Where’s the manager? You are on the touch line. You can see Saka is having an off day, you have Nelson, Trossard and ESR to give a try but you go on and replace two of your threats in Martinelli and Jesus. If Partey is not playing well, you shouldn’t care about his price tag and/or his last 28 match performance. He is having a bad day, where is his back up? If you were so sure about Jorgihno, why wasn’t he brought on the field?
Where are the players? Showboating somewhere. 2-0 up do not give you a license to start taking things lightly. Tricks, miss passes, no cover, giving up on duels. What the f*ck.
League is not over yet. If City wins their game in hand, we will be 1 point ahead of them with 7 games remaining. One of them being a head-to-head at Etihad. As a player, as a manager, if you want to be called winners and lift the prestigious trophy, go and beat them fair and square and then win remaining 6 games. I will do it next season, we would have a matured squad, we will buy couple of midfielders, City will have Champions League games, City will play three games a week, Arsenal will have a good rest — are for a reason – bollocks.
Lift your head up, if you see Kevin De Bruyne in front of you, make sure you run faster than him, make sure you jump higher than him and if need be, make sure you push him against the wall to show who the boss is… on that field. There’s no place for meek and gentle in any competitive sport.
And remember, finishing second is not a trophy. The only ones who remember you when you come second are your wife and your dog!
Rant over.
Tony-I’m reading that there’s some real concern surrounding his abiliity to return at all this season, although Arteta has hinted otherwise…I would suggest that the problematic history between player and manager certainly isn’t helping, as Saliba might not trust that Arteta has his best interest at heart…I’m by no means suggesting that Saliba is “faking” the seriousness of his injury or that MA and William haven’t mended some fences, I just think that in the modern era players are more apt to err on the side of caution, even more so when there’s a big contract pending…this is why when you have a blue chipper, who feels like he’s been mistreated, rightly or wrongly, you communicate with them on the regular when they’re out on loan, especially when they’re supposedly part of your future plans (lol)
I would agree that we should be able to handle tomorrow’s fixture without Saliba and Zinchenko, but after what I’ve witnessed in our last 2 affairs anything is possible…after all, our back-to-back second half collapses surely must have emboldened any future opponents, regardless of their respective positions in the table
will surely embolden NOT must have emboldened
Just a comment on the potential fee for Rice – the £150 million is either the media or West Ham trying to bump his value but with a year left on his contract only an idiot would pay anything close to that.
Where it gets complicated is the English premium – if Ben White was French or Eastern European he would have cost £10 – £15 million and we even overpaid for the English Premium bit.
The question is can West Ham afford to lose Rice on a free and have a season where his commitment is massively reduced because a bad injury would see all future earnings go up in smoke.
Marc-there’s no doubting the fact that the150M being quoted is an extremely wishful figure, which no one in their right mind would even contemplate for a player in their final year, even if a bidding war ensued…that said, after the transfer fee paid by City for Grealish and the most recent 100+M purchase of Enzo by Chelsea, nothing would surprise me…of course, there’s little to no chance that we would be involved in any 100+M transfer, especially in a position that we’ve wrongly undervalued since Vieira’s departure…that said, I wouldn’t even pay half of that ludicrous evaluation for this particular player unless we were likewise spending a similar amount to properly replace Xhaka
on a side note, a few have suggested that the whole scenario is simply a wag the dog ploy by our club so as to get others of the scent of our true targets, which seems a bit of a stretch even after what transpired with Mudryk in the winter…that said, it wouldn’t totally surprise me, as this was a technique deployed during Wenger’s second term in office, much to the chagrin of many within the fanbase, as when one dangles the likes of Benzama then Chamakh ultimately arrives, one has to question why anyone thought this was a good idea
TRVL
It’ll be season ticket renewal time in 6 odd weeks. Arsenal win the PL and fuck the cost of living crises, Arteta does an Arteta and manages to finish closer to 3rd than first after where we were with a typical Arteta end of season collapse and the club might just be trying to keep the fans excited to keep the cash flowing.
why oh why would the term “revenge” be bandied about by our manager when talking about a Hampton fixture…it’s just more clueless and ill-suited banter by our grasping at straws, scared shitless skipper…how about instead of focusing on some sort of ficticious “revenge” narrative you prepare a gameplan for a full 90+ minutes and not just for the first 45…not to mention, if you throw the term “revenge” around too often our halfwit former captain will do something incredibly stupid and receive a red card in the process…time to take the handbrakes off and allow our much better roster to run the opposition off the pitch
Found these points from an Article in the Athletic most interesting as it somewhat gives me an idea how BHA achieves its success in unearthing gems of players.
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BHA signed Caicedo for £4mill in the January 2021 from Independiente del Valle in his homeland. They bought Mac Allister from Argentinos Juniors for £8mill. Mitoma, arrived from Kawasaki Frontale in the J1 League for £3mill in August 2021. Ferguson, 18 years old was signed for the academy from Bohemians in January 2021. The club will make huge profits when Ferguson, Caicedo, Mac Allister and Mitoma are sold.
The way Brighton operate is making a big impression on recruitment specialists, executives, managers and agents throughout the football industry. So, how do they do it and is their model sustainable?
The starting point for Brighton’s ability to source low-cost gems is the worldwide data on players of owner-chairman Tony Bloom, which nobody else can replicate. He has his own software that filters the whole market. The algorithm is a secret, kept even from those inside the club.
BHA got a different process to a lot of clubs, they don’t charge around the world, constantly watching matches looking at players, which is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
They focus on the areas for improvement, focus on the players that they feel can fill that gap and then send their eyes-on scouts to look specifically at those players.
Brighton cannot compete with the wealthiest clubs on fees and wages. The most they have paid for a player was £20mill in August 2019.
South American players see Brighton as an environment where they can grow before moving on because they can offer salaries three times what all but 3 of La Liga clubs can afford.
Premier League survival was the aim for the first two seasons following promotion which ended 34 years out of the top flight. The new vision was to establish Brighton as a top-10 club. That meant not only a more refined style of play, but building a younger squad.
Brighton are an attractive proposition. If players move onto bigger and better clubs, there’s then a desire from the next players that jump into those vacated roles and think, Brighton is going to give me the opportunity to go to Manchester City, Real Madrid or Barcelona.
That model of losing players for huge money to maintain sustainability at the club actually contributes to how great the model is. They’re growing their product.
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Kind of sad that we don’t have something like that dedication at AFC.
MA has admitted that Saliba is not progressing as quickly as hoped in his recovery from injury and his participation again this season is far from certain.
For me, no Saliba, no title.
A final gem for the day before hitting the retiring. Buying Newcastle was cheaper than Chelsea’s TW buying spree.
Chelsea spent over £600 mill on new players, and will likely miss out on Europe next season. For less than that, the Saudis bought for £543 mill an entire club and some upgrades and will likely be in Europe next season.
So glad that there is Chelsea to look at them and smile. Now Chelsea, save your season by beating City and prove that the next season will be better.
Morning all
KP
Really happy the Bluebirds are keeping their heads up towards safety. Have a great time in Catalunya in making headway for your end game move. Pumpkin cannot be at fault for Arteta’s poor squad management and repeat failures through making the same mistakes. I mean poor Pumpkin is not even human although sometimes I think he’s smarter.
At the time of setting the recorder Pumpkin will be pampered, scratched and sat before the Buddha shrine before going to bed with our daughter. Junior and I will watch early morning our time.
TRVL & Marc
Karen Brady is no fool who I would stay is in Marina G’s league for women in senior club football positions. Marina was reported to earn £34m for Father Ted’s deal with The Chavs before leaving. Nice leaving bonus.
Question is; is Rice double or treble the player Ben White was when he was bought for £50+m? Better yes, but not even double of our Benny Blanco. On this logic I wouldn’t pay more than £70 to 75m for Rice and would probably want Caicedo & Mitoma for around £100m and then go for a quality young RB.
Game Night
We need to come back and make a statement once again and prove we are worthy of our place at the head of the table. Anything less will be regarded as bottling with a capital B. If Arteta can’t produce a team and tactics to make Southampton look ordinary while scoring at least 3 goals, then Arteta should go to RM and the cheque book football that awaits him.
Fait Accompli for Arteta gaining his experience from us.
All I want to see is fight for 90+ minutes to at least give City something to think about for next Wednesday.
Whatever Saliba needs should be done now particularly if it means an operation. Forget Saliba for this season and get him fighting fit for next season.
Kilroy
Thanks for the Atheletic piece on Tony Bloom. What a difference between Ted B and Tony B as owners. Tony Bloom always look serious and businesses like even when watching his team intently. It came as no shock that Tony Bloom has his own algorithm for scouting. There had to be a technical digital stats’ based logic behind so many rough diamonds that BHA were finding.
Pedro will be all over this being his ultra fav: Stats. Yet all Pedro’s stats reek of Arteta agenda BS, so will never make sense to anyone other than Pedro and his Pedro-Pete bots.
I hope Tony Bloom has got his prized asset hack free.
Tony B has done what Edu has failed at: a conveyor belt of south American talent to make millions off and flirt with Europe places at the same time, as well as playing extremely attractive pacy football and are worthy of their PL position.
I’d definitely go 343 or 352 tonight as Southampton should be dominated in midfield.
Ramsdale
White Gabs KT
Ode Partey ESR Martinelli
Nelson Jesus Trossard
One can hope, but Arteta is predictable every game.
I’d see Partey playing more a 6 role, as there are enough chaos making players to hold the MF and create turnovers for our interchanging front 3.
Should be a game we can cope well with and win in style. 4:1.
Match day blog is live.