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Nothing quite like a Friday night game to hype the cockles of your heart. Ole G to the S brings his band of now merry men to The Grove to duke it out with an Unai on FIRE. A trophy for the Norwegian would help him secure the contract he so desires, for Emery, it’ll keep melts like me off his back for another week.
Let’s get down to brass tacks.
Arsenal is fresh of the back of a victory against Chelsea, who just went to a final of their own, beating the GREATEST EVER SPURS SIDE on penalties.
I am greatly amused by journalists crying like grown men who’ve just seen their first ever vegan sausage roll because everyone is taking the piss out of Poch.
“SUPPOSE YOU THINK THAT MEANS HE’S SHIT. WELL, HE IS NOT LET ME TELL YOU. BUT YOU ARE. FOR YOUR VIEWS THAT RUN COUNTER TO DATA’
Take a fucking CBD latte precious one, it’s ok to laugh at the masters of marginal gains, and their hero manager for once again inflicting a cold backhanded slap of reality to ‘this is our year’ Spurs fans. I also think it’s amusing how many excuses people make for Poch, like he’s some sort of charity case. He has consistently tanked at important junctures with great players, after a while, it starts to look Spursy.
Anyway, where was I?
Ahh… Arsenal has a tough game against United. Unai Emery is going to have to reach into his metaphorical pot of wet look gel and activate more than just a great hairstyle. He’s going to have to, you know, pull out some tactics as well. Arsenal cannot roll with a 4-4-2 like we did against Chelsea. United have a livewire front three that will absolutely obliterate our slow defence. We also won’t get away with pushing them out wide, because their crosses are going to be met by players with more height and in box aggression than Hazard and Pedro.
Good news is Manchester United can’t pull off their most effective tactical move because De Gea didn’t travel south with the rest of the team. For all the glory the press are hyping around United, they’ve not been great. Their run stinks of Unai Emery’s if you ask me, lots of cracks there waiting to be exposed. There’s obviously a little more joy about the way they play now. Ole G has installed a more defined football identity, but the buzz there is the same as it was for us at the start of the season. He has Pogba enjoying his football again and Rashford has been reborn now he doesn’t have a manager flicking dog poo at him for motivational reasons.
This is a big one for Emery. In his excitement, how did he prepare? Did he flog his players with double sessions all week, or did he rest them hoping for another explosive start? How is he planning on using Ramsey? Did he communicate his ideas with clarity? How will he nullify that United front three? How is he going to control those long balls in behind our defense? How is he going to set up the defence without Bellerin?
IS HE EVEN THINKING ABOUT CARDIFF AND CITY AFTER!
We’ll see. An FA Cup win would take a lot of pressure off the manager. This will be important to him. I just wonder how our renewed top 4 bid will affect his thinking. He has to have a fresh team that beats Cardiff, and puts on a show against City.
In other news, the MIGHTY John Cross reckons Monchi could join this summer. I. would. be. game.
David Ornstein says Arsenal are in for Paris livewire, Nkunku. Do I know much about the midfielder? Absolutely not. But I have seen this video twice.
He looks fast, powerful and mobile. He’s a risky signing, but he’d certainly be more interesting than punting on Suarez. He can play across the midfield, even right back. I am game for these sorts of risks. The move is still hugely complex apparently – when are they not when it comes to Arsenal?! But still, at least we’re trying and exploring options. Thomas T has also sanctioned the deal.
Finally, Thierry Henry has been suspended by Monaco as they prepare to fire him. Or he’s already fired. Whatever, he’s done there. It seems like all the things you feared Thierry would be as a manager were true. This from GFFN.
He, he is supposed to be worth €10m?” All of the substitutes heard. The message he sent to the players was very negative.”
Another anonymous source close to the Monaco 1st team group added: “He would speak badly to the players, it is a fact. He would also make examples of people and that annoyed a lot of people, he gave this haughty impression as if he would not consider anyone else’s opinion.”
It looked like he might be going off on a weird tangent when he made that kid come back to tuck his chair in. I’m all for high standards, but humiliating a player in front of the media over a chair is a misunderstanding of people. Don’t get me wrong, it was a crowd pleaser, but you can’t embarrass people to make yourself look powerful, that’s petty. He topped it off with another awful prezzer where he told the sitting journalists he was removing the squad “of individuals who only care about their own futures”.
Bad times, but deep down, you know it was very predictable. Still, he’s getting a fucking huge payout apparently. So he’ll be ok.
Right, that’s me done. Enjoy this evening!
COME ON YOU REDS! x
Here
For
The
Tr4phy
Trofee
🙂
Damn it DM
😯
Monaco bring Jardim back, 3 months after sacking him, absolute nonsense.
Very worried about Sanchez for tonight.
I fear he could be rejuvenate by Ole.
Just like Pogba…
Good post, Pedro.
And by the way, an FA Cup game, especially a clash between 2 big clubs, on a friday night…
Still don’t understand this fixture.
Unai beginning Jeckinson to stay!
*begging*
Dark hei
He’s more productive than ozil for me. Not just in silly stats but he turns up. Scores goals, makes things happen and he’s free!!!
It’s not like we are spoiled for choice here
The question for tonight:Who wants to lose it more?
The FA Cup is of no importance since the Cup Winners Cup competition was cancelled and therefore for Man U and us it will only be an interference for the final 15 league games. They unlike us are still in the Champions League so it means even less to them.
Hopefully Emery will let a lot of fringe players play tonight.
The c*nt Sanchez will score at least 1 goal tonight.
But De Gea not being a part of the opposition is pleasant news.
@Danny : don’t forget manure is always motivated by the possibility to humiliate us.
@Danny : don’t forget manure is always motivated by the possibility to humiliate us.
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I don’t know, in the league for sure but the cup? Remember some seasons ago at Old Trafford when Welbeck scored the winner, they didn’t care then so I’ll doubt they will tonight. The fact as Pedro wrote De Gea isn’t in the squad says a lot.
Ok… I thought De Gea was ill or injured.
Theirry does not have the personality to be a manager. He is both egotistic and bland , a really bad combination of traits for an aspiring manager. Hopefully he can now get off his high horse and be a good student of the game.
Agree with you TR7, but he took charge of a team in such a poor state…
Henry or not, it will be hugely hard for them to avoid relegation this season.
I reckon tonight’s match will be entertaining especially for the neutral, I mean a chance to Sanchez back at the Emirates should be fun, but I expect the standard will be nothing much. Of course if Emery has decided to try and win the FA Cup then we’ll win but I so hope it’s not a priority for him, lets just try and win as many of those final 15 matches and get top 4.
‘Their run stinks of Unai Emery’s if you ask me, lots of cracks there waiting to be exposed’
Customary pop at Unai – check!
lol
Can see us going with quite a strong side, wouldn’t usually but the strength of the opposition calls for it in my opinion.
No chance of Mata signing for Arsenal…. Not an Emery type player at all .
Fans may as well ignore any speculation about us signing good technical players who don’t have the energy and physicality to run all day.
We could be going back to the days of hillier, Selley, morrow or further back Brian Talbot , Peter Nicholas, Stewart Robson…
All of those would run all day but ask em to put a ball on a sixpence ….no chance .
They wouldn’t know the meaning of having a good “First touch ” .
“Spotted the usual Arteta quips, typically embarrassing input from the same names. No idea why he’s worth a mention.”
Sorry, CC! I alluded to him because I couldn’t help myself. Low-hanging fruit and all that.
Pedro The one thing that Arsenal are learning is that our so-called former top players eg Adams, Bergkamp and Henry are not management material. It remains to be seen whether Patrick Vieira is also in the same mould. The only former player that I would consider as a possible Head Coach in the future might be Arteta but in view of how the others have panned out I would like to see him first do a job elsewhere. I would like now to turn to Paul Merson’s recent comments about Torreira. Bluntly Merson is and has always been an “idiot”.… Read more »
Didn’t know some people still listen to Merson’s bullshit.
Just rechecked Torreira’s position in DMF rankings. He is now 4th but they have removed Kante from list and added him to CMF LIST.
I mentioned yesterday that Merson isn’t worth even mentioning. One of the few things that unite fan bases across the country is the agreement that Merson genuinely has no idea of what he’s speaking about. The man claimed we would lose to Chelsea, then after we won said we should have thrown the game as it won’t do our top 4 chances and we should focus on the Europa League. This is the same guy who said Van Dijk wouldn’t improve Liverpool because he had been playing at Celtic etc, I could go on on and on, he’s an utter… Read more »
*his
Danny
I agree.
In the greater scheme of things, losing tonight would be no big deal.
Trying to finish top 4 takes priority.
Looking forward to an exciting game with a fair few goals.
If you had to bet, would you put your money on us finishing top 4 or winning the Europa League?
“In the greater scheme of things, losing tonight would be no big deal.”
But a win would be a HUGE orgasm.
lol
Really good post Pedrito. About the game I am confident we will win especially at home because United haven’t been all that lately and we seem to be beey strong at the Emirates. I watched the 8-2mauling yesterday and it was really atrocuious what wenger wanted to do that season. Started with backline of jenkinson djourou Kos and traore (who had no cover from Arshavin all through the match. At times he was faced with 3 players) with Coquelin as the screen. Then he brought in an 18 year old Chamberlain in the 2nd half. He thoroughly deserved to lose… Read more »
Because it’s manure.
Because of Sanchez.
Because I hate them so much…
“We could be going back to the days of hillier, Selley, morrow or further back Brian Talbot , Peter Nicholas, Stewart Robson…”
Stewart Robson? He was a superb player before his injury. Next big thing at the time
Hard to focus on work when we’re playing the fucking mancs later.
I really want Alexis to have a miserable game. Not very classy, I know. But fuck it, and fuck him.
If you had to bet, would you put your money on us finishing top 4 or winning the Europa League?
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I think we have more chance of top 4 simply because Spurs and Chelsea are they for the taking. Us and Man U could both replace them.
Obviously Emery is the master of the Europa League but I can’t see us beating Inter.
Danny, if inter are your problem, then we don’t have any at all. We will easily beat them over 2 legs. Moreover, what if we don’t get to play them?
I think it’s easier to win Europa for us this season. No better strike force than Lacayang in the El this season
Leftsidesnach
Merson also said that none of our players were good enough to play for Spurs and forecast that we would lose to Spurs .
We know that Arsenal is not an outstanding team, but sometimes these so-called media pundits need to be objective. The club needs investment, but on
a good day they can compete with almost any team in League particularly at home.
mysticleaves
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I was thinking of in the final, that is hoping we don’t get Chelsea in the q.f or s.f.
Graham 62
We know Arsenal’s limitations.
It is going to be a difficult game tonight.
I will be there and hopefully we get right result.
Valentin, concerning your post in the previous thread, it doesn’t matter if you have 2 or 3 home grown players as far as you don’t have more than 17 foreign players. So the rule is more about the foreign than it is about the home grown.
Also under 21 players don’t need registered in the pl (whether or not they stayed with a club years or less) however in the European competitions any u21 player that hasn’t stayed up to 3 years has to be registered for the competition.
Except the rules changed very recently.
What does it say about Jardim if he returns to the club that sacked him just 20 games ago?? He was supposed to walk into another top job not be the rebound for a lover who dumped him.
Danny
ok, though I still inter won’t be a problem. Chelsea is much more of a bigger threat than them. there’s Napoli too but I’d be pretty confident against them too
In the grand scheme of things, losing tonight would not hurt Emery. But, he loves the cups and knows a win tonight will remove a lot of pressure from the media.
Expect Koscielny, Torreira, Ramsey and one of Lacazette/Aubameyang to be on the bench or not in the squad. We’ve had three season ending injuries already. Can’t have another
thanks for the post PedRo. Sound, Torreira’s test will be tonight against the rampaging Pogba and Lingard et al. Has he the athleticism (not the technical ability) to cope with Man U speedsters? Just hope Emery keeps mostly the same team against Chelsea and does not over complicate with team selection.(or subs- laca etc) tonight – will be a full house and what with the TV money and a worldwide audience Arsenal must be grossing near £4 million for this fixture. so for those who say do not take this game seriously. thats a huge amount of money – and… Read more »
tonight – will be a full house
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No it wont. First of all it’s Friday night and lots of fans have better things to do. Secondly it’s “only” the FA Cup which has lost most of it’s “glory”.
in defence of Paul Merson- why do fans get so annoyed with his comments?
Because – you don t agree with them?
Isn’t that the idea of good punditry?
give me him everyday rather than Alan Smith/Shearer and co.
(there must be some delicate flowers out there, these days- i am guessing)
The fact that your defending him speaks further volumes about you CG.
No surprise there, since you’ve burst on the Le-Grove scene it’s debatable whether any of your posts have made sense yet alone added value so we can see why you resonate with Merson.
left
Everyone has to burst onto the scene at some stage-Left
I do not necessarily agree with him. But I do defend his right to be controversial/outspoken and contrarian.- and not just come out with banalities
like so many fans would rather hear. He is a hugely decorated ex- footballer and has even sampled a player mangers role.
I do think his arguments do carry some weight.
You clearly do not!
i think its fair – to put you in the delicate flower category, then!
“Because – you don t agree with them? Isn’t that the idea of good punditry?” No the idea is to be objective, not say things just for a reaction. Comment on what actually happens in games – not to make comments based on bias or assumptions you have made of a player before you have seen them play. If you have an opinion based on observations, but further observations go against your original assessment, then change your assessment, its no good to stick blindly to it, things change so can your opinion/assessment. Know your subject. How often have these pundits… Read more »
Pierre is such a bore especially when he starts his Emery doesn’t like technical players rant, such a weird fellow
With Godin joining Inter, we better focus more on top 4 finish.
CG, delicate flower would assume I’ve taken offence to what he says, I don’t take offence to almost everything people say/do so the title doesn’t suit.
At least from reading your justification of him, we can see why you continually say the things you do so I’ve learned something from this exchange.
Nelson, I thought he was signing a pre-contract to join in the Summer?
With u mystic on that old toilet mauling of 8- 2.will NEVER forgive wenger for it.The side he put out & tactics used were suicidal.He went at them.Absolute madness.we,the fans have had to live with the shame of it for evermore.of all the places to not turn up.only Whl could be worse……
Man management is an important skill to be a manager. TH is not mature enough. Like it or not, I find Pochettino is always very calm. So many Spud players like him.
I might add any other manager would surely have resigned after that shaming.
The fact that your defending him speaks further volumes about you CG.
I don’t know why you guys keep engaging him. As someone who mostly reads people’s comments, I have learned to just skip when I sight his name on a comment.
You should try it. Good for your peace of mind
@Left Yes. You are right. He only joins Inter at the end of the season.
Left is right.
Sorry, couldn’t resist…
Agreed CountryBoy re: charlie george – a first class loon and crackpot if ever I came across one – its a shame there is no block feature on here like facebook – I just scroll past his comments as he has absolutely nothing of sense nor merit to contribute.
“you can’t embarrass people to make yourself look powerful, that’s petty”
Reminds me of someone we used to know very well not so long ago… but damn, who ??
(lolz)
(*a clue : he’s still looking for a job)
Still think the Europa league is a surer route back to the champions league, we should be able to raise our game against most of the teams left, don’t trust us in the league that much
Ole will tactic the shit out of emery tonight.
3-0 United.
Why should anyone want to boo Sanchez this evening?
If it wasn’t for him, maybe Wenger would still be at the club.
He was the catalyst for change.
Thanks Alex.
No rookie will get the better of Emery
What’s all this Inter talk here
Such a disastrous team, why would anyone be scared of them??
I organised a big Friday night out tonight before I realised this game was scheduled then. Damn!
Don’t understand all these ‘focus on…’ discussions
I don’t see any reason why the mentality should not be ALL of top 4 place, win the FA Cup and win the Europa Cup. Starting tonight…..
What exactly are Spurs achieving as a top 4 side.
Inter would be tough obviously but Chelsea and Napoli would likely be harder ties. Hopefully we can avoid tricky teams for as long as possible. In my opinion a Europa League and top 6 finish is mission accomplished this season for Emery. Back in the top European competition with all that brings and another European title for the club. 25 years is too long a wait.
Make no bones about it – if Emery leads us to an EL victory, he gets an A+ on his end of year report card.
It would be nothing short of miraculous, and a much more rewarding way of getting back into the CL than finishing in the top 4 in my view.
Spurs’ lack of any silverware during their ‘most successful’ period in living memory must be getting embarrassing for their supporters. They’d take anything at this point. A Europa League cup for us when we’re cack would be hilarious.
Chris
Napoli are my favourites for the Europa league.
Chelski and ourselves will be fighting for top 4, but I’d still put them ahead of us over two legs.
Inter are also tough opposition, as are Shakhtar.
Im not sure “miraculous” is the best way to describe winning the EL
Us and Chelsea were by far the best teams in the competition, and as of yet we havent faced even a championship level team.
It is however a serious chance to get into the top 4. I think Chelsea are the only team that can beat us.
It is however a serious chance to get into the top 4. I think Chelsea are the only team that can beat us.
Over two legs maybe, if it boils down to the final, a one off game, my money will be on us.
Im not sure “miraculous” is the best way to describe winning the EL
Yes nothing miraculous about it, If not for one of Kos moments in the semifinal we would have won it last season.
Yeah a final with Chelsea will be 50/50
Over 2 legs you just have to say we will make too many mistakes. We struggle to stay calm over 90 mins, let alone 180.
Thanks Mystic leaves, Here is the list of non-home grown players who have played for Arsenal in the first half of the season. GK: Leno, Cech RB: Lichsteiner CB: Mustafi, Sokratis, Koscielny, Mavrapanos LB: Montreal, Kolasinac CM: Xhaka, Guendouzi, Torreira, Elnany AM: Mhikitarian, Özil ST: Lacazette, Aubameyang That is 17 players. Like I suspected if we were to get Nkunku, either we leave him out of the premiership squad list or we have to get rid of one player from that list. Ramsey is considered as a home grown players and as such is not part of the 17. Same… Read more »
https://mobile.twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/1088795525472755717
Receding
So you it us ahead of Napoli?
Interesting.
put
Valentin
Has Mavrapanos played this season? I don’t think he has.
So you it us ahead of Napoli?
@Graham
We would not have stood a chance against Sarri’s Napoli funny enough
Ancellotti’s Napoli though yes, i have us ahead of them but only just
Such a shame that ESR is out still… he would have been perfect for the game tonight.
Spurs, didn’t fail to disappoint, as far as I’m concerned. They bottled it, like they always do.
As for my prediction tonight?
3-2 to the Arsenal.
Nketiah and Saka apparently trained with the first team in preparation for this game.
Worth noting the new commerical deals coupled with hopefully getting back into the Champions League this season aren’t included into Swiss rambles ramblings. Still can’t see where the 30 million to spend this summer stuff comes from. But one things for sure the wage bill has to be addressed (it is) and expect even more changes in the summer.
Inter are loaning Cedric for a half a million with an option to buy for 9.5 million.
He’s a risky signing
A loan with an option to buy for a highly rated 21 year old is not remotely risky.
We will win today.
Marko I had a look through the accounts yesterday.Its nonsense that we will have £30m to spend. We had £65m to spend this year and our revenue increases dramatically next season. We also dont need to lower the wage bill, although we certainly should, its far from neccessary. Its pretty easy to work out how much we have to spend. The club pretty much spends all its money on either players or infrastructure, and last year said there are no significant infrastructure requirements after we spent £45m upgrading the academy and training ground. if we can keep our wage bill… Read more »
” That will be 3 years out of the CL, and drastic action will need to be taken.”
No better drastic action than spending money on young talents between the ages 23-26.
The worst about Thierry’s dismissal is that he is likely to reappear on Sky (just like Gary did), and bore us with the same repetitious crap (just as Gary is.)
It takes real arrogance to pontificate when you have failed so miserably yourself.
I loved Thierry as a footballer but I’d love him even more if he stays in la belle France and prates to the people there.
Henry looked more concerned with his touchline fancy coats and sneakers than actually managing the football team ….trying to be Pep without the tactical know how
We also dont need to lower the wage bill, although we certainly should, its far from neccessary. Not necessarily lower but because of our revenue stream and FFP rules we can’t just keep adding and adding to it. But that’s absolutely being addressed by the new team. Ramsey, Welbeck, Lichtsteiner, Cech and likely Koscielny and Monreal in the summer will help dramatically with what we’re going to do in the summer and that’s even before you get to Ozil who’ll certainly be ditched in the summer. Basically in the summer you’ll be expecting more squad turnover coupled with much more… Read more »
But i have no idea what the club plans to do if we miss out on CL football. That will be 3 years out of the CL, and drastic action will need to be taken
I personally would be shocked if they didn’t plan on another season in the Europa League as a precaution at least. There’s was no guarantee whoever came in that they got us back into the Champions league and I’d imagine that thought about that.
@NorthBanker,
I think that he has one appearance as a substitute.
Anyway as Emery has already said that he will play between now and the end of the season, he still needs to be on that list for the second half of the season.
Out of the list I have mentioned, the only players that we could lose and be replaced by a young player without lowering the quality of the squad are Lichsteiner and Elneny.
None of them would fetch a lot of money.