GOOD MORNING AND WELCOME TO BIG GAME SUNDAY.
Yes, we have to play Crystal Palace at home in a HUUUUGE game that is going to go a long way to deciding where in the top 3 we finish.
Spurs shat the bed when they played City for the 3rd time in 10 days. That’s great news for us because it gives the opportunity to move into third by two points. It’ll also be super funny to laugh at how their greatest ever season saw them potless and a place behind us in the league (dream big).
Chelsea are level points with us now, so things really are getting tight…
Palace has lost 3 of their last 6. They sit 14th in the league. This shouldn’t be an ordeal.
However, you have to be real. We just went away to Napoli and Watford this week, we’re going to be drained and Palace is about as exciting as a trip to B&Q with your da when you’re young. Amirite? Wasn’t that shit?
‘Be a real man Pete and pick up that brick for me’
‘Bitch, back the fuck up… I just want to play computer games. One day, people will sit on the internet and watch the best gamers and it’ll be a thing. They’ll literally make millions from the ad revenue’
‘Pete, no one is ever going to make money from gaming, now show your dad how manly you are by loading up 10 bags of sand onto this trolley you absolute pussy’
Anyway, my point is that Palace is a banana skin because they aren’t interesting. They also have a good away record at the minute, sitting 4th in the table over the last 6 games.
The manager isn’t worried, which is grand.
I didn’t use this excuse in my career. I worked a lot in similar situations in France and Spain. Here, we came back last night at three o’clock and we came in this morning at 10am. But really, today I am coming here with a small smile because the players worked very well and gave me confidence for Sunday.
The players who didn’t play yesterday, today after this travel, they were working good and with the focus for Sunday and knowing that today in training, some players are going to play Sunday. After the last match, some players need to rest or to do a rotation with them, or with one player like Aaron Ramsey, he is injured. Also, Sokratis continues to be suspended. But this is the spirit I want. Like this morning, after the travelling yesterday. How we trained this morning and how we can have confidence to use players against Crystal Palace.
That said, we have a terrific home record, if we win today it’s our 11th on the bounce which is a record for us. We are defending better as a team, since March 10th, the only person to breach our back line is Phil Jagielka (6 clean sheets in 7 games). We are a much better team than them and the players can literally taste top 3 blood in the water (that taste isn’t blood, it’s bonus money fam).
We need to see a strong start tomorrow. The fans are going to be a massive help to the players, and hopefully, we channel some of that fight we’ve been showing of late. The only real worry is the lack of a Ramsey, and the auto-inclusion of Mustafi because of the Sokratis suspension. Still, Mustafi was pretty safe against Watford. Also, you saw that clip of him being fancy? Do I like him now? No. But that was cool.
Just @MustafiOfficial magic 😱 @Arsenal pic.twitter.com/NFtPw99jR5
— 433 (@official433) April 19, 2019
Finally, some Wenger cucks were giving me grief about my post yesterday about Wenger cucks, a few mentioned that my traffic must be down. WRONG. Post Wenger traffic has been fucking amazing, more people are coming to the site than ever before… and to make things even rosier, the comments section is having a record year on a comments per day basis. You know why? People like football more when things are going well, which is all this site ever wanted.
Thank you for not abandoning me, I love you all very much, even the Wenger cucks that are desperate for us to fail. #MerciIvan
P.S. The Sun reckon we’re in for Joan Jordan to replace Rambo. Daily Mail reckon Edu is back on the radar… just wish we’d bite the bullet and nab Luis Campos or Paul Mitchell. Paul looks like a proper facking geezer. Not that that matters of course.
Tony
I would think of Jenks as “prudent” rather greedy.
If someone signs me up to clean the toilet for lots of money, I ain’t letting him bail. Especially if I know he is rich.
You are also correct ES that that game was a very big loss and dent in our CL qualification quest. It’s not so much about us playing Barca, RM and Bayern; we will likely be embarrassed by them as we are a long way off replicating Ajax, but it’s the loss of CL revenue that is much needed when we have an owner not interested in investing in his UK asset. Let’s be clear player acquisition is investing in a clubs assets that should accrue in value in the future. The problem for the Kroenkes is that Wenger and Gazidis… Read more »
Leeds I am with you. I wouldn’t blame the fringe players nor Emery. At anytime during a season, you have 1 or 2 games where all the fringe players come together to make hay and you get a massive headache. That is ok to me because that will eventually happen. You just minimize the amount of time it happens and credit to Emery, it has only happen once this season, which is now. I still remember the days when our roster management was rubbish and the fringe players were forced to play game after game because the first and second… Read more »
Jenkinson had good loan spells and at one point, West Ham wanted him and offered £12m for him. Guess who said no. It wasn’t Jenkinson… I will give a clue. His name began with a “W” I think…?
Black Hei
You do have a point regarding Jenks cheating the club out of money pretending to be a PL quality RB.
Classic con job or let’s say he lacks principles where his moral compass it a bit skewed where he says he’s a life long Gooner but ………… his actions say differently by not acting in the club’s best financial interests.
Jenks is championship level at best.
Leeds
I couldn’t remember the exact story so I’m assuming Jenks wanted the transfer?
DH
I don’t blame Emery particularly although I do blame three players mentioned for their mistakes.
Like I said, they really should have known better to make the mistakes they did.
Our mistakes defeated us as much as the opposition.
Tony
I believe Jenkinson wanted to go… but Wenger said no because West Ham dIdn’t meet his valuation.
Leeds
Maybe I’m doing Jenks a disservice then.
Emery is supposedly an addict of video analysis so why on earth would he ( and his coaches ) tolerate the stupid mistakes from the defenders that continue to conceding cheap FKs and sometimes yellow cards. Mustafi, Papa, Kolac (even Monreal at times) have all been culprits. Most of the time, pushing /shoving someone at the back when the opposition was facing the wrong way. What for?? Mav’s foul led straight to the first goal yesterday but that more about poor/ inexperienced defending.. Papa’s yellow on his last PL game was a foul near the half way line ffs. So… Read more »
Tony If you look at my earlier posts I criticised Emery in team selections yesterday. The point I am making is that our current “squad” is substandard. That is clearly not his fault.. Let’s be clear he has got three players out injured since November in Welbeck Holding and Bellerin. Suarez was recruited who has barely played a game since his arrival plus Jenkinson, Lichsteiner,Mavropanos and Elneny who have played virtually no football this season, because they are not good enough. That is 25% of the squad out injured or not fit for purpose before you start talking about injuries… Read more »
Emery not Elneny’s mistake.
Emery screwed up his selection yesterday. I’m a great believer in putting your best players out to start and taking off ‘red zone’ players when you have control of the game. There is no way he should have started Guendouzi and Elneny. This was clear after the Everton game. Emery himself acknowledged how poorly they had complimented each other. Mustafi and Jenkinson should not start for Arsenal again. I must admit being surprised when Mavrapanos was subbed at half time, I though been okay. It doesn’t say much but of our starting back 5, only Kos had been better. Kolasinac… Read more »
Tony Arsenal are not going to change half their squad in the summer transfer window. That is completely unrealistic and also bluntly unproductive. Some of the changes suggested by others such as offloading Welbeck and Koscielny are pointless, because they are not going to generate transfer fees if they leave. Koscielny as fourth or fifth option centre back is fine and Welbeck providing that he recovers from his injury is a useful bench player. I don’t agree with you about Ozil or Kolasinac. My opinion about Ozil has always been different from that of most other posters. He was the… Read more »
I would still like an explanation why we switched to a pure man marking system to defend corners. Our combination of zonal marking and man marking worked fine all last season and this season, despite Sunday two goals we still have the best record at set pieces. Arsenal just does not have the height in personnel to go full man marking against the majority of the PL team. Because Mavrapanos was substituted, we ended up with Torreira (smallest player on our side) marking Scott Dann. Personally I think that man marking at set pieces is a relic from another era… Read more »
Valentin
Your observation about our positioning on set pieces and corners is absolutely spot on particularly if you compare our recent performances against both Napoli and Watford where we defended well.
Personally I put our poor performance yesterday to making six changes [3 in
defence and 3 in midfield] which obviously impacted on our solidity.
Unless I am mistaken, I thought that Wellbeck has already been told that he is not going to be offered a new contract.
Kolasinac is a one trick pony, but he can be very good in a limited set of systems. He should work on his final ball. Also in game like Sunday, we miss Olivier Giroud who gave us a threat at crosses rather than cut-back. I remember reading a while ago the stat that this season we were second from bottom for headed goals from open play.
Valentin
I have not heard anything about Welbeck’s position. So far as I am aware the only player who was officially told that his contract would not be renewed is Ramsey.
@EmiratesRoller,
Thanks.
Still the club must have made a decision by now. Entering negotiation or releasing him. I hope that the club has communicated its decision to Wellbeck who deserves to be treated with respect.
Surely by now the club has already its target for next season and be in a position to determine whether Wellbeck is in its plan. If the club is unsure whether he will fully recover, then a pay as you play deal for a year could still be proposed.
“””””So far as I am aware the only player who was officially told that his contract would not be renewed is Ramsey”””””
And people still have faith in this New Regime?
he prefers Elneny.
Next season if he is charge – will be The Worst Arsenal Watch since the Rapheal Meade/Gus Caeasr days since the early 1980s.
This man – ( emery) will lead us into a Europa Cup cul-de- sac season after season- unless we give him the boot.
Patrick Vieira is waiting for us,
Get a warrior in- and Get this wally out!
Valentin
I understood that Welbeck was actually making good progress fitness wise.
Personally I would extend his contract for a couple of years provided that he did not seek an increase in wages.
Arsenal appear to have a number of strikers coming through the system such as Nkietah and Balogun who are probably not ready to join first team squad in
that time frame, but might well be long term prospects.
Balogun appears to be lethal at Academy level if you look at his goal scoring stats.
Canny manager Hodgson told Bentake “don’t worry Christian, Arsenal are coming up, you won’t have a better opportunity to break your scoring drought than against this shit defence” and boy was he proved right. All football supporters are deluded to some extent expecting our teams will achieve things when logic suggest this is extremely unlikely. . eg we should beat Leicster and Wolves away, and of course we could, this is football after all, but given that we have the worse away record in the all the divisions is this really likely. The fact is we are a club in… Read more »
Balogun has scored 24 goals in 18 games in the Premier U18 League. Whilst that
does not guarantee success at EPL level those are goalscoring stats not to be ignored for a 17 year old.
Great Post Lamai
off course – Emery is not this manager.
Anyone with one iota of footballing nous- knew that from day one.
The day we announce – Patrick Vieria – the whole dynamic- changes around our football club.
We will no longer be non descript.
Big Pat is a winner, a warrior- he will lead by example
Every AFC fan will be behind him,
WE would have moved on from post Wenger- The right way.
Vieria has played under: Wenger/Ancelotti/Mancini/Mourinhio.
He Captained our Invincibles.
Let him try and manage The New Invincibles,
Everybody agrees Arsenal have a sub-standard squad, everybody is aware of long- and short-term injuries, everybody knows that regular players need a break – all of which are outside the manager’s control. And yet people blame him.
Let’s admit that he has done better that any of us reasonably expected, and let us hope that this summer he will be given the tools to do the job properly.
The squad needs strengthening in all areas – defence, midfield, attack.
If Emery learned anything yesterday his back up is not up to the job especially if their going to be used wholesale . Clear the likes of Jenks ,el nenn& the likes ..inc mastafi on the cheap free up their wages and get in at least one half decent replacement leaving the summer transfer money such as it free for the bigger signings
Pierre
You may feel empowered by yesterday’s loss, but much of your criticism of Emery is plain silly.
Of course he can attract top players to arsenal. He needs money to do that though, and lots of it.
Whether he’ll get it or not is the issue.
Overall, I think this summer transfer window is particularly important for arse nal fc.
@EmiratesStroller,
Balogun is the same type of striker than Lacazette, he may even have better technics but I don’t think that he is physically ready to play senior football.
Nkethia had the same problem, with marvellous movement but a slight frame. However he has now developed his upper body strength. His link-up and hold-up play is quite good even against big defenders.
Effective rotation is part of management, an integral part more and more so.
What this season has highlighted is you can’t ‘freeze out’ or ignore players and then expect those same players to suddenly perform to the level required when your usual lot are suspended/broken.
Elneny, Jenks, Mavrapanos, and the like, should have far more minutes this season (if they’re the ones deemed serviceable squad members) than they do. It’s not been done well at all, which could prove costly at this stage of the season.
What top young pro soccer player would want to play for Emery- if other coaches also want the same player?
what does he offer young players? A Clipboard?
he has just loaned out an injured ESR? Who has now returned – INJURED still( by all accounts)
If we had Vieria- everyone young KID would want to play for this Iconic Superstar.
Frankly- anyone who is backing Emery- must be delusional.
I made it clear in my post that neither academy striker is ready for first team football at this stage of their career, which is why I would keep Welbeck on the books. However, at some stage Arsenal need to gamble that some of their youngsters are good enough to progress into first team. If they are not then there is little point in investing millions in our Academy programme. Arsenal need now to create both short and long term strategies of investment to build a first team squad fit for purpose. The short term is to get us into… Read more »
Charlie George I do not disagree that Patrick Vieira may well be the one ex Arsenal player who turns out to be a good Manager/Head Coach. Whether he would choose to manage at Arsenal in preference to Man City or a Continental team is debatable. However, I would not write off Emery just yet, simply because he has made a couple of team miscalculations in recent games. What yesterday proved beyond all reasonable doubt is that there is an awful lot of dross in our squad which he has inherited. The squad is not fit for purpose and that is… Read more »
Alexander
Lol, damn straight!
Its money that attracts agents, not coaches.
To be blunt, Arsenal have few players that measure up to Man C/Liverpool standards – and one of them is off to Juventus. To acquire, overnight, a team of that calibre (on paper) would require the far side of half a billion pounds in the transfer market. The common view is that the most Emery will get is circa £40m net – IMO it will be less. So no quick fix. We all have possible solutions – mine would be to get rid of Stan. But the key decision is Emery’s. By now he must know the size of the… Read more »
I think that Nkethia is ready for first team football. I also believe that he would be a better fit than Aubameyang, Especially now that we have abandoned that high pressing tactic. Aubameyang is a pure penalty box finisher. His movement there is lethal, however his contribution to Arsenal play outside the box is non-existent. When played in combination with Lacazette, He is wasted on the left side.
Tony Jenks was seen as a cheap backup to Sagna who was out standing. The difficulty was bringing in someone in who is willing to play that backup role. Down the line, he won an England Cap due to his performances. His wage package was a reflection of that, and plus he is HG. We have seen a lot of this in the market and given players limited money-making years, they got to take it while it lasts. You see the likes of Drinkwater and who was that Aston Villa guy who went off to City, pull the same thing.… Read more »
englandsbest
I agree with a lot of what you wrote apart from your comment about Ozil.
Ozil is a symptom of the problem, but not its cause and at 30 with a wage packet of £350K pw is unsaleable. You cannot afford to shit out both Ramsey and Ozil on freebies in one transfer window and hope to replace them with equivalent players .
Personally I would keep Ozil one more year and focus on recruiting in defence
and a replacement for Ramsey.
E S
The day we move Emery out
Is the day we can move forward
With Vieria
With youth
With pace and power
and with a United AFC fan base.
If you want stodge- Emery is your man.
Let’s go video analysis. I watched all of the Palace goals again and it’s actually not hard to identify the issues. 1st goal. Instead of moving up with Kos et al, Jenk moved back towards goal and made Benteke onside. Unlike first impression (real time), it wasn’t Mustafi per se. Jenk’s lack of playing time or just not good enough? 2nd goal. Clearly a ‘Mustafi case’. Beneteke flicked the route 1 ball and it landed near the goal side of Mustafi around 25+ yard out. Bread and butter stuff for most PL defenders except Mustafi stopped like having a heart… Read more »