I know this is going to sound a bit pot-calling, but my pet peeve online at the minute is the fauxpert. Someone with just enough education to perform, taking a micro-moment and wrapping a story around it that isn’t there. Every detail pored over into some sort of divine insight.
‘Emery always gives his instructions to the right ear of his subs. More science to this than meets the eye. He’s trying to create a faster communications path to the analytical side of his brain. He’s saying, ‘this isn’t about emotions today Mr Rightside, this needs you to step forward, this is YOUR moment. Devil is in the detail, and the detail always needs the right ear.’
The fauxpert.
They quite often thrive in finished moments, because anything they say carries resonance. Like, say, going 2-0 down to a Simeone side. So you can imagine my ABSOLUTE delight last night when Allegri and Ronaldo double-teamed to put Simeone to the sword.
How many dickheads last week flooded the internet with ‘Ronaldo is the biggest fraud in the game.’ Giving in-depth 280 character assassinations of one of the greatest players EVER to have graced the planet? (yeah, I’ve read the accusations but we are ‘presumption of innocence’ until there’s a really good documentary about it)
How many nonsense machines went to town on Allegri?
‘How’s ur boyfrend pedro, dont look so elite now’
A manager who has made TWO Champions League finals in the last 5 years! Juventus are a huge club, sure, but they have nowhere near the financial power of City, Chelsea, United or Madrid. For him to power through to the final twice is a fucking miracle of exceptional management.
Anyway, I took a lot of pleasure in that game last night. Plenty of muppets scrubbing their social media presence of the worst hot takes of the year. Opinion sells, I understand better than most, but there is so much cheap extreme opinion out there these days.
The other game of the night saw City crank up into DESTRUCTION mode as they flicked Schalke away like you’d kick a feral dog away if no one was looking… right? You do that too? Anyway, all eyes on Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool side this evening. I would like to see Liverpool push through to the next round because that’s my shot of patriotism when I’m out here. That said, the increasingly wonky press conferences are starting to look like the friendly Ibiza loving German is losing control of his season. This response to whether it’d be a good idea to tank tonight against Bayern.
“This only happens if the manager is of Liverpool and the pundits are from Manchester United,”
“It is so easy to sit in an office or a studio and talk about things like that.
“We draw a season and say the best way to go through it is to go out of all the cup competitions early. You do that and in that moment the same people go for you like mad. It’s like: ‘You are disrespectful to the competition’.
“Now it is closer to the end of the season and it is allowed to go out of the Champions League without even trying to go through? That’s really mad.”
Though I agree with what he’s saying here, he should just keep those thoughts to himself. It makes him look week and unfocused.
GREAT NEWS for the Arsenal fans… Lacazette had his ban reduced to 3 games so he’ll be available to torment Rennes on Thursday. That’s a huge bonus for the team, he was MOM material against United. We need his swagger and edge if we’re to deal with Rennes in comfortable fashion. Mikhi may also be available.
This Thursday, Emery has the luxury of being able to go balls out again. International break arrives straight after, so any tired legs will be the challenge of the international coaches. Then it’s Newcastle at home when we return, which is a bloody lovely gift to come back to.
Right, more tomorrow, see you in the comments where you shall agree with everything I say all day. x
Sanmi obviously butthurt over yesterday lol.
Four PL teams in last eight, whilst we mess around in the lower reaches of Europe. The legacy of Wenger and IG continues to haunt. I am getting more depressed by the week.
Lyon dead
Now we can get Aouar or someone else
No way CR7 is a better player than R9, Ronaldinho, Maradona. It’s impossible.
Messi is better than them all. Skill wise he’s on par, goals he’s there, assists he’s there. CR7 is only there on goals.
Disagree sammi
Hate to say it but he is probarly best in my life time.
Literally single handed he pulls teams out of mire an up in class.
Well it’s all about the ping pong balls now.. see what transpires.
RSPC.
Are you saying CR7 is better than Messi, I need you to be clear. And state your reasons
Van Dijk was apparently “too arrogant” for the specialist in failure.
#WengerKnows lol
Messi scores!!!
Yea 2 and 2 from Messi today tops Ronaldo’s performance yesterday, just
I really hope that we’re lining up Brandt this summer. Cause Bayern Munich are about to be linked with every decent young German talent in Germany this summer
Game off. Messi passes to PK and PK taps it in.
Here’s the easiest way to look at GOAT.
How easy will it be to find a player like that in your lifetime, another CR7 will come, Henry was in the same mould (maybe not as driven as CR7 ) Henry is probably more talented.
But another messi or Ronaldinho? You probably will never see another one in your lifetime.
A Rashford if he’s driven like CR7 and works hard can easily be a CR7. and score loads of goals. But no matter how hard you work, you just can’t do what messi or Ronaldinho do.
Messi is the GOAT. He’s super talented and he’s driven as well.
How many assists Messi is getting. Poor Leon GK.
Exciting Last 8.
Looking forward to the draw!!!
😋😋😋 😆
Messi doesn’t do any defensive duty. Once he got the ball, he is so dangerous.
Bayern have been off the boil for a while it seems.
I mean goodness, today’s the first time I have seen or heard of Lewandowski in a Loooooong while.
And for ribery to still be rolling about…
Lewandowski is overhyped
Congratulations to all the British teams in the CL.
Hopefully, Arsenal will do their bit tomorrow evening.
Confident they’ll do it.
UEFA will be having kittens with 4 British teams in the last eight.
I sense a bit of manipulation is on the cards.
This rubbish Bayern side with the aging Ribery and lewandowsky would ‘ve still smashed us 10/2 under you know who…
QF draw..
Liv vs city
Tot v manure
Porto v Barca
Juve v Ajax
You heard it here 1st..
G8
Oh so true.
I’m with you on the draw.
Messi
Is just so boss though not as clutch as Ronaldo but far more influential in terms of orchestrating play.
Both incredible superstars
G8 has nailed the draw with the corruptness abounding in FIFA.
Knowing that hope its Liverpool vs United and City vs Spurs.
Upstate Tosser
This is a soccerball blog
You fucking hypocrite
Four English clubs in the Champions League quarterfinals.
Elsewhere, Brexit chaos (deal/no deal. Extend deadline/don’t extend. Canada plus plus, Norway minus. Blah bla blah
Britain/England: a place where football clubs are better run than Government or Parliament.
One day, just one day, they need to put Messi and Ronaldo on the same team.
It will be so awesome and so unfair
HillWood
March 13, 2019 23:13:02
Upstate Tosser
This is a soccerball blog
You fucking hypocrite.
It used to be until you told me that it’s not, rugby boy. So shut up, buttmunch 😀.
Pedro
Stereophonics simply class especially this CD:
https://www.grooves.land/stereophonics-best-decade-the-sun-mercury-cd-pZZa1-1897658677.html?language=en¤cy=EUR&utm_source=froogle_th&utm_campaign=froogle_th&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-vremdSA4QIVkRmPCh2nSQaoEAYYASABEgK5hPD_BwE
Also made some cool live DVDs
For any posters who don’t know this site, it’s a cool place to get cheap CDs but not many in Hi Res.
I guess that doesn’t matter for those who want music on their phones, iPads and Sonos etc.
https://www.murfie.com
For more expensive Hi Res and good streaming I’m sure Valentin knows this one:
https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/close/th-en
Has the making of a cracker tonight , this is when the Emirates crowd are at their best .
Let’s hope they can manage to get there in time for the kick off.
Pierre
Are you going to the game?
Pedro
If Ronaldo is greatest on the planet , Then Messi is obviously from a different dimension ! Its so unfortunate that people actually think there’s a comparison between them. Messi is Class apart from all of them .
Two different players but both such exceptional talents.
The fact that CR7 has proven himself in three different leagues will sway it for many.
Not me though.
Full credit to Ronaldo and allegri, I wasn’t one of those ones shitting on either Regardless, the praise is a little overboard about allegri outside of that being a fantastic result (it was) Making the cL final twice in 5 years is not a miracle with juventus, they always have an absolutely elite team Whether it cost a lot or a little, their squad is always top tier They also have an easy league which most seasons they stroll through without breaking a sweat and have a winter break so help their late season CL push. They also have one… Read more »
Only in spirit Graham unfortunately……this game is season defining in many ways. Some posters on here seem to think it wouldn’t us any harm to go out of the competition…I disagree. We are playing with confidence at the moment despite that cock up in Rennes. A Victory tonight will take a lot of the pressure off the team and the manager and erase a few of the doubts that the fan base have about them. Although we played wing backs against United a player very well , I am expecting to see a 4-2-3-1 as I think we need Lacazette,Mhkitaryan,Ozil… Read more »
China
especially the poor part, How is dropping 80mil on Higuain considered poor ? They are not a poor club. They’ve always been Elite in their league and European level . Pedro rewriting all of this just to suit Allegri . Ronaldo for all his talent won the league title in Spain only twice. Ronaldo is a goalscorer, Messi is the complete package
Ronaldo and Messi’s numbers have been greatly assisted by the format of the competition.
Both players appearances would have been limited under the old format which would have resulted in a much reduced goals output
Redtruth
Even then in terms of pure skills , Messi is way better than Ronaldo . Wouldn’t you agree ?
Ronaldo still king, even though he’s getting on in years. What drive. Messi is more naturally talented but Ronaldo is a machine. How bad were Bayern? Having the pick of German players is great when Germany is producing talent, but it could be a long time before they see a generation like the last one. Bayern, Barca, Real etc. are not at the level they used to be. The English teams have more money and are dominating the CL. If we could achieve top 4 this season, it might be the start of our revival. And if we could do… Read more »
Lyon’s president has already said that he is willing to listen to offers for NDombele if he is available for 50 millions, we should definitely go him.
An midfield axis of him and Guendouzi looks delicious. Or even better a triple combination of him, Torreira and Guendouzi further up.
He is the player Xhaka dreams to be.
Against Barcelona, he had 96 touches of the ball with 91.8% completed passes, 11 recovered balls, 3 interceptions, drawn 3 fouls 1 shot slightly off target. Greats stats that don’t express the extend of his talent.
Well Sherlock I won’t compare Messi and Ronaldo because they’re both straight 10/10 players and exist in a different universe to absolutely everyone else, so who is better isn’t important to me personally But I do take issue with juve being sold short. Based on the article from Pedro you’d think they were a relatively small club like Atlético or Dortmund punching above their weight Allegri is a class act and a quality manager but he’s achieving what is expected of a Juve manager, not more. And dare I say if he keeps repeating this level and they keep losing… Read more »
Seeing Liverpool swat off Bayern reactivated my Post Wenger stress disorder.
The Bayern teams that beat us 10-2 wasn’t that much better that the one that was dismissed so easily by Liverpool.
Perre
‘Tonight is a night for Leno not cech as we may need a sweeper keeper who is quick off his line and brave.’
I’ve never understood why Emery keeps leaving out the better keeeper. We need a keeper that gives us a chance to play out from the back.
I agree wholeheartedly with your post.
Emery’s press conferences have a bit of comedy to them, in a good way.
His English has improved a lot I have to say
I think playing both Kola and Monreal is not a bad idea. Kola will be playing more like a winger initially. He’ll draw Saar back to defend. Once we are leading by 2 to 3 goals, Kola can come back and we’ll have a 5 men defense.
Cech is a legend of the game but he’s now a bit of a dinosaur
Just play Leno and be done with it as far as I’m concerned
Aldeweireld is available before 26 millions this summer. He has a release clause that cannot be opposed by the club just by the player. I would love us to submit a bit that Spurs could not refuse just to annoy them.
Sell Mustafi for the same amount and you have improved the defense at zero cost.
Valentin
You want us to buy another 30 year old keeper just to annoy Spuds?
We will also be infuriating common sense in addition to Spuds.
***30 year old defender , not keeper
“Seeing Liverpool swat off Bayern reactivated my Post Wenger stress disorder.”
lol
Valentin,
Eric Bailey is the defender to go all out for
He turns 25 years old in April and has only in year left on his contract.
@Dissenter,
Improve the team at zero cost while weakening a rival!
Aldeweireld is on a lower salary than Mustafi, so we won’t increase the wage bill either.
My preference would be one young hungry defender with huge potential, but I know that most supporters would rather we go after experience centre back. Personally I think that most are overpriced. Players between 30 to 45 millions are not necessarily better than what we have in Sokratis, Koscielny and Holding. As we can’t afford a 70 millions CBs, let’s go for the player who make the most sense financially.
Eric Bailey will go for between 15-20 million this summer.
Valentin
I don’t think we can afford Alderweireld . He’s massively underpaid at Spuds and will want the same pay as a Van Dijk at his new club.
His low transfer fees will make United or Madrid offer him 200-250k weekly wages.
Madrid are reverting to their Zidane and Pavon system. They will pay top money to star players, others are just support cast who will be underpaid for the honour of playing for Real Madrid. I doubt that Aldeweireld would get 250kpw at Real Madrid as that would be more than Varane who is a favourite of Perez. He may be able to negotiate that with ManUtd, but I think overpaying Sanchez has led to the inflated demand by other players. DeGea is now asking for parity or near parity with Sanchez. I think that ManUtd will make a line in… Read more »
Valentin
United bought Bailly for 30 million, his contract expires in 2020 so they do have to sell him.
He’s premier league tested and young
Even if we spend up to 25 million,he will still be worth it. We can sell Mustafi for 10-15 million to make it happen;
Who will want to buy Mustafi at this price ??
Seriously, the guy is finished.
lol
VVD really is a monster defender. I watched the game last night with a scouse mate. He stood up and called the VVD goal 1 min before it happened.
We could use a player like him next season. Is Eric Bailly the best we can do?
ManUtd have already make clear that they will not sell Eric Bailly to Arsenal.
I also think that he will sign a new contract.
However if we can get him at this price on reasonable wage, I am all in favour.
However we need a left footed CB or one adept at playing on the left of the defense. Koscielny and Holding are both right footed but favour playing on the left side of the defense. Monreal should really be looked as a last resort option or in back 3.
Don’t want to see PL teams dominating the CL, unless we are one of them. The thought that one of the current batch winning the competition sickens me, especially if it proved to be Spurs.
Jamie
Eric Bailly is a top class defender that can be as good as VVD
Can you think of any better defender that is within Arsena’s range?
speaking of top class defenders, I really like vermealen when he played in beast mode for us. What happened to him ?
He still clean the bench at Barcelona, waiting to be sold in China.
By the way, considering Vermaelen as a “top class defender” – even in his prime…
Are you serious ?? lol
the vermenator, TV5, ultimate hardman, 🙂
Another favourite defender of mine was sagna. Still remember my friends and I went to the wardens room to watch the start of a new PL campaign. Laughed our ass off when we saw sagnas hair, but he had a great debut game and I liked him almost immediately.
highbury
I rated him as a top defender, unlike kos who I always felt was too accident prone, Kos of course outgrew that and turned into a good defender. TV5> Kos in their prime for me.
Thomas Vermaelen was a favourite of mine.
Injuries especially hamstring ruined him. He then rushed back and kept re-injuring himself.
However his aggressive style could not hide his positional placement and with injuries robbing him of pace his performance have deteriorated to unacceptable level.
He is still at Barcelona but Umtiti is clearly the number left sided CB.
Looks like it is his last season there, before I suspect a return to English football with a mid level club.
Vermalen was shite chaps. Not as bad as the current crop of hapless twits, but he wasn’t good either. People have fond memories but they are wrong.
Ask yourself this question: would (insert name) get into our best defences over the years?
Sagna was also okay but couldn’t cross for bobbins.
massive game tonight, it’ll be airing at 1 in the morning here so of course ill be in dream land. Big win tonight, go into the international break on a high and hopefully no injuries.
As for Kos. He wouldn’t make a bench during our great defensive years.
What game is tonight? All the big teams played yesterday.
Is there a charity match on this evening?
No matter what happens tonight, I really hope the powers that be at Arsenal are gearing themselves up for a clear out. If it is true that we have only £40m to spend it is imperative that we sell our fringe/inconsistent players well and for good value. If even if we can’t sell players for a transfer fee I think we need to be ruthless about letting people go so we can free up room on the wage bill. With Zidane back at Real Madrid I suspect Hazard will be heading there soon… which means some of their players from… Read more »
I just watching aaron ramsey soccer am team mates video. I am sure it was a few years ago
he mentioned ozil being the teachers pet aka wenger for time off all the time and skipping training
this says it all really
Ozil used to be spoon fed by wenger and now emery is not taking any crap on him
“Thomas Vermaelen was a favourite of mine.”
Of course Valentin, of course…
“Is there a charity match on this evening?”
lol Guns.
Vinicius is the present and future of Real Madrid. Why would RM or him agree to a loan?
Next season, he will just learn from Zidane and Hazard.
@HighburyLegend,
I make no bones that my appreciation of Vermaelen was incorrect. He was always positionally suspect even in his better year. However I liked his aggressive beast mode, as he reminded me of Martin Keown.
Our team was full of nice people who kept getting slapped around and he was a throwback to bygone era.
Vermalens greatest claim to fame is that he resembles Jude Law.
“The Bayern teams that beat us 10-2 wasn’t that much better that the one that was dismissed so easily by Liverpool”
They def were. This Bayern team is distinctly average, paceless, and their stars are legless. Not the same as a Bayern with Costa, Coman, and prime Lewandowski. Not to mention Robben and Ribery still having some puff, and Vidal roaming midfield.
Arsenal weren’t near this Liverpool side for quality, but give me a break that Bayern are a similar beast. They’re pony
Jude law ? not even close. He resembles elijah wood more.
Elijah Law
Jude Wood
Zidane isn’t mucking about. Barely in the door and they sign up Eder Militao for 50 million euros in the summer. Excellent signing. Porto didn’t do too bad either making a nearly 40 million profit on a player after getting him last summer
At least Zizou didn’t go to Man Utd… that would have been depressing.
Must be good now he cost 50 mil, whereas last summer at 10 mil he wasn’t, naturally.
Arsenal need a bunch of 50 mil players this summer, these 10 mil ones that go for 50 within two years are rubbish….until sold.
Bayern today is not even close to the team they were when they beat us 10-2 on aggregate. First of all, both Muller and Kimmich were suspended. Robben (injured) and Ribery are way past it. Vidal is nowhere near of Kroos’ and Xabi Alonso’s quality. And Neuer – talk about going from hero to zero. The guy is a shadow of himself. Once a Ballon d’Or candidate is now not even in top 20 keepers in the world. So yeah, I think we could play this Bayern team and get a result from them just like Pool did. Vermaelen –… Read more »
If it means that we get a proper left back and centre back this summer I think I could live with promoting Reiss Nelson, ESR and Bukayo Saka as our wingers… and see how they do. If we stop leaking as many goals it will have the same same effect as buying a scoring winger, imo, because we will be drawing more games rather than losing them and winning more games than winning them. Plus it would be be good see Joe W.illock be given more game time especially with Ramsey now heading out the door. With Welbeck out, Nketiah… Read more »
*winning more games than drawing them
Dissenter –
Fair enough, I guess I haven’t seen enough of Bailly to rate him effectively. Virtually anyone is a better option than Mustafi though.
Mustafi should have never been bought in the first place. When we did buy him, we paid at least £20m over the market value for him because Wenger dithered and found himself in a defensive crisis with Per and Gabriel falling to long term injuries at the same time.
The selling club then had us over a barrel and took us to the cleaners.
Did you know the £35m we paid for him is the most we paid for any defender?
Arsenal need a bunch of 50 mil players this summer, these 10 mil ones that go for 50 within two years are rubbish….until sold. Is that what is being argued? You dumb cunt. No. I would suggest you continue to be exactly what you are and continue to demand instant success while signing up 10-25 million players and then complain endlessly if they don’t have us competent right away. I assume that you used up all your patience on the previous manager and now you have none. Wait and see well you waited and you saw for 10 years and… Read more »
Still waiting on the list of 10-25 million defenders that are going to take us back to the holy grail
Marko,
CC dangled that bait right in front of you…and you swallowed it.
He set the trap and walked away and here you are – ensnared.
What’s this business about Bailly potentially being as good as VVD? Based on what?
He can’t get in a Man United side with no notable defenders, the same United side that he’s surplus to requirements with.
I don’t recall VVD leaving a top 6 club at 25 because he couldn’t get a game.
CC dangled that bait right in front of you…and you swallowed it.
He set the trap and walked away and here you are – ensnared.
Also objective unbiased and doesn’t look for arguments that one. But yeah. It’s cause Bamford’s not about he’s bored
£10m-£12m defenders?
What about the championship? Lower leagues? Scotland? A certain VVD was at Celtic and until Liverpool paid £70m he was cheap.
There are so many leagues that are untapped around the world. Probability says that there simply HAS to be great defenders out there at good prices. It’s the job of the scout/directors to locate them.
It’s lazy to think that only good things cost huge amounts of money.
Vermaelen’s goals masked his defensive deficiencies. Useful for elite sides as he’s a lefty who’s decent on the ball. I’m not a fan of short CBs. He is under 6 feet
Shhhh Guns, only good players out there are 50 mil players lighting up FIFA 19.
Don’t worry about Real Madrid just paying 50 mil for a guy bought for 10 but a year ago. He’s a totally different guy now with that fee, it’s all about the fee you see. Mustafi is proof you get what you pay for….
CC
There’s a interesting little thing called ‘paradox of value’. I’m not sure if it relates to what is being discussed but it goes like this.
Why is water so cheap even though every single living thing needs it?
But diamonds, which no one needs, are so expensive.
CC You’re on a rampage today. What’s up. You do know what “potentially” means, There’s a lot of hoopla about Van Dijk, maybe it’s his transfer fee. Would you be raving about him if Southampton had folded a la Wenger and sold him for 40 million in the summer of 2017? Van Dijk is a very good defender but there have been better defenders before him and there will be better defenders after him. Kevin De Bruyne left Chelsea because he didn’t get a game Salah left Chelsea because he couldn’t get games We ran Wojciech Szczęsny out of town… Read more »