You know what I thought was very amusing? The story in The Sun leaked by senior players in the team who feel like they’re taking the fall for being shite. They dropped a similar thing in the same paper before the Chelsea game on boxing day. One of their big swipes was about the role Thomas Partey plays… then he goes and drops a 9/10 MOTM performance.

Senior players at Arsenal need to understand this: No one gives a fuck what you think. No one. The star boys are all under 25.

Bigger picture, Arteta needs to stop propping these schemers. Willian has ‘great potential’, Pierre ‘late for NLD team meetings’ Auba is committed… he always goes to bat for his big names, and they rarely repay the faith.

Telling a journalist Arteta blames them feels so far from reality. He never throws players under the bus. He takes the blame so often, it’s almost problematic. The worst flaying he’s dished out was Pepe when he headbutted someone at Leeds. Dropping big names for shit performances all the fans watch with fury is not throwing players under the bus. It is a very, very weird bubble these guys live in.

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Well, that was a little better.

Arsenal beat Sheffield United with ease.

You can say we should be beating teams like that and you’d be right… but we did not beat a similarly bad Aston Villa side last season when we had our minds on a different competition. The players didn’t show up that time because they were saw the game as a punishment fixture.

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Here we are, match day blog time.

Mikel Arteta has finally caved to Martinelli in the starting 11. All the noise I hear is that he’s been electric in training. He needs to channel some of that ESR mentality. Play like you belong, don’t give an inch to the manager, and take the chances afforded.

Nicolas Pepe has also been rewarded after his cameo on Thursday. He’s another one that needs to keep showing that he can be relevant for 90 minutes. He needs to take his chances, impose his bag of madness on a weak defence, and be decisive.

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We’ve entered the deadzone part of the season.

There’s nothing to play for. The football has gone back to being shit again. Arteta is playing the November hits because he’s more concerned over proving out his fantasies that his big summer misses will click for him.

A lot of fans didn’t like what I penned yesterday. Many people preferred to focus on the woodwork and missed chances. I can’t have it.

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Well, sometimes you go big for an idea… and you get absolutely spanked for it.

I went big for Arteta this season (week), excited by the things he’d learned at City, happy he’d dealt with some of our major issues, hoping that he’d be a fast learner.

The faith was absolutely rocked last night.

We drew 1-1 against Slavia Prague. Not the worst result we’ll ever have, but it was a very, very bad game for Arteta. It’s all about performances now for our rookie manager. Every game is an opportunity to make good with the fans, show them the trend is linnear in the right direction, a chance to earn back some of the cratered capital he lost in the winter.

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There is a story doing the rounds via Eurosport that basically states Martin Ødegaard isn’t quite sure about Arsenal next season because though he buys into the project Arteta is selling, there are some other players that don’t.

Now, Eurosport has zero credibility for stories like this but as with most made up rumours, there’s a grain of truth that makes it believable. Arsenal boast a small collection of handsomely paid senior players that do not give a fuck and their bad behaviour tends to only be inconsequential when the hungry young kids put on a show.

This is where the football equations about the future of Arteta start kicking into gear.

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It was quite the scene watching Real Madrid pick Liverpool to pieces last night… and once again, really highlighted the job we need to do this summer in the transfer market.

Madrid controlled the press, they were obviously extrememly efficient in midfield with Kroos and Modric pulling strings, and they moved the ball accurately at speed.

Who in our team, bar Xhaka on a very, very good day, could pick out Vinicius with a 2 yard advantage on Trent?

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