Oh my, it’s close. I have butterflies in my stomach this morning. Apparently, that light adrenaline loosens the bowels, so be careful if you have a long train journey into work… carry a plastic bag just in case.
This is most consequential week in North London history (I mean, I’m trying to hype over here). There is so much riding on it. Arsenal hasn’t won a European trophy since the CWC in 1994. We’ve lost three since. Zaragoza, Gala and Barcelona. It’s Unai Emery’s chance to make history in his first season.
The added complication of the week is that the scum down the road also has a big game against Liverpool. How will our WIN affect them? Will it ramp up the pressure on them to deliver? Could a win actually work in our favour? I mean, don’t be stupid, a win will ALWAYS work in our favour.
The team looks to be practising hard. Shout out to the Arsenal.com for this nerve calming beauty.
The squad looks fit, they look summer tanned, and the manager looks calm. He owns this trophy, Wednesday night HAS to be his.
Chelsea appear to be up to ‘mind games’ because Kante has travelled with the squad. I mean, if this were a Conte 11, I’d be bothered, but a more advanced Kante doesn’t quite add the same punch to a game of football as he used to sitting deeper.
I’m more concerned about Hazardaryan
It would appear my elite organic marketing campaign to raise awareness of his TRUE heritage did impact culture like I’d hoped. I feel like Yaxley Lennon right now. I deserve a milkshake thrown at my advertising credentials. Did the liberal elite of Chelsea shadow ban my social adverts? Or were my adverts just shit? Who knows, but I’m deeply suspicious about how my work could have failed.
… and really, he is the difference maker out there on Wednesday. The one truly world-class player. The big question is whether he’s up for it. Can a Chelsea squad that’s already seen their CL bonus paycheck muster the energy for one last roll of the dice in Baku for a midnight kickoff?
Oh, I also don’t like the idea that Hudson-Odoi could do something. The Englishman has a great story, would hate for him to turn it on.
Who knows. Part of me suspects the ultimate fuck you prize for Sarri would be to win the cup and fuck off the Juventus, so I wouldn’t rule out a big game.
Interesting to note that Chelsea has players in their squad that have won the trophy before, so the Europa magic doesn’t sit solely with our manager. David Luiz, Azpi and John Terry sure to be thrilled to be part of the game again.
The important issue of the day for us is our defence. Which will show up, the shit one, or, the shit one? It’s likely we won’t keep a clean sheet, having only managed that twice away from home all season… the second most important click moment has to be Auba and Lacazette. They are going to have to take their chances when they arrive.
I know that ‘feelings’ don’t matter when it comes to football… but I feel weirdly confident. Everything is rolling out way, I’m not sure Chelsea are a reliable team these days and I think we have ample firepower to cause damage if our big names show up on the day.
We’ll have to see, I’ll be back with a BANGER of a preview tomorrow.
BIG LOVE x
DM
2
Taking too long..
Tr4phy
Well that was easier than anticipated
Welbz , in the 90th minute . Scores with the ball bouncing off his shoulder . After Iwobi miscues his shot . You heard it here first .
Stop Hazard you stop Chelsea but Ramsey’s not playing
So I see this as being difficult.?
Hudson-Odoi is out injured Achilles
@Davey,
You beat me to it.
Hudson-Odoi is out injured for a few months.
He will be back, just before the end of the season ready to leave Chelsea on a free to Bayern.
“The important issue of the day for us is our defence. Which will show up, the shit one, or, the shit one?“ lol Welbeck scores a brace with a perfectly placed header off his shoulder and a classic volley off his shin pad to rescue the game and send it into penalties, where Cech dives five times the wrong way while Auba sends a slow roller straight at the Chelsea keeper. Pierre and Co call for Emery’s head ( again) for blowing an “easy” win, coining it the most titanic of coin toss losses ever recorded in football history. Le… Read more »
Pierre
From previous post.
I was being facetious.
As for comparing CG’s ongoing Emery attacks, to my anti-Wenger rhetoric, that’s your opinion.
I think though, based on all the available facts and information at hand, the majority of right minded people would see it slightly differently.
However, if you feel otherwise, that’s your prerogative.
Come on you Gunners!
We will concede.
We will score.
We will make mistakes.
So will Chelsea.
It will be close BUT………
We will win!!!
“””Nerves Jangling!”””””( AIOCTYFI)
It’s The discredited Loosers Cup in Azerbaijan…!!!
Show some fortitude man.. pull yourself together…
There will be more AFC support staff than actual Arsenal fans attending.
What we need is Chelsea’s Pedro to score the winning goal – to really round off this farce!
And it will bring about the beginning of the end of our Caretaker manager….
And then we all can be Friends…
Farcical!
With RLC already out and Kante potentially injured, I wonder if Sarri would not change system.
Against a porous Arsenal defence and with only two midfielders with some defensive ability Jorginho and Kovacic, he may go for an all attack approach: 4-2-3-1.
I fancy Arsenal to win the Europa Final not because they are the better side – they are not – but because Emery has a habit of winning the trophy.
If so, whatever we blame him for, we must give him credit for that.
The two ‘pundits’ I miss most on telly are Rodney Marsh and Andy Gray. We had fun with them, not the pompous drivel we get now (even from Alan Shearer.)
Any time the presenter mentioned tactics they would make him look a chump. Andy’s wiggles with a kind of draught board and counters was simply hilarious.
“What we need is Chelsea’s Pedro to score the winning goal – to really round off this farce!”
The farce being a European cup final that qualifies you for the champions league and determines how much we can spend to improve the squad
Always a good read McNulty
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48422842
Well surmised.
Wasn’t CG warned that he would be banned if he continued wishing us to lose against Chelsea?
Maybe time to enforce that Pedro to get some of the drivel off the site before the final, it’s nervy enough without some fuckwit stirring things up from the loony bin.
CG, come of it boy! Your incessant rumbling used to be a troll but apparently has become a nuisance.
Tomorrow’s game will be won based on tactics and the ‘will’s to win
Go GUNNERS!!!!
Valentin
For whatever reason, Uzbek was ringing in my brain.. I should have been writing Azeri.
Thanks for the correction.
Bayern won’t need Hudson Odoi if they get Sane from city.
We’ll have an unlikely hero tomorrow, I suspect a Matteo screeeeamerrr in the 77th minute. Pragmatic 1-0 win with Chelsea missing a host of clear cut chances just so you shit your pants a bit.
The aftermath will be the Media will calling us lucky but we wont give a single shit coz we in the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE BABBYYY!!!!!! COYG!!!!!!!!
“What we need is Chelsea’s Pedro to score the winning goal – to really round off this farce!”
For fuck’s sake, CG. Do everyone here a favour and zip it with this ‘we need to lose’ shit.
We can all [just barely] stomach the rest of your content, including the way you bastardise the English language, but willing Arsenal to lose a final is too much. It isn’t clever or interesting. Please stop.
Thank you.
Wasn’t CG warned that he would be banned if he continued wishing us to lose against Chelsea?”
If this exact logic was applied over the years then there would barely be a handful of posters left here
We’ve prepared for this game a lot better than Chelsea, the Mykhi-drama notwithstanding.
Hopefully we want it more and our two strikers don’t stop scoring.
Don’t you love the way CG intentional refers to the EL as the looser’s cup.
Qualifying for the CL will mean we sign players like Umtiti, instead of relying on the myth of Mavrapanos for another season
So does the potential DOF of chavs start in goal for us against his future employers?
It could potentially mess with his head
I mean Leno is the better goalie and our future no1 for the foreseeable, he should 100% get the nod
But knowing Emery and his tendency to shrink away from making big decisions i fully expect to see Cech in goal
What do people see as our best 11 for tomorrow?
Will probably see something like so:
Cech
Niles,Sok,Kos, Monreal,Kolas
Xhaka,Torreira
Ozil
Auba ~Laca
3-5-2?
We absolutely don’t have capable full backs to play a flat 4
I’m sure CG is one of those gooners writing petitions for us to resigns Alexis Sanchez.
I think somebody hacked the internet, because I’ve just seen Barcelona linked with Roberto Martinez, Ronald Koeman, Unai Emery and Max Allegri.
Allegri I understand. But the rest of them?!
Vic
‘But knowing Emery and his tendency to shrink away from making big decisions i fully expect to see Cech in goal’
You mean like dropping Özil, repeatedly pulling out Lacazette and starting the season with Petr Cech?
I think its time to kick CG out
Hopefully Emery is doing his thing and his eoropa magic works and we play CL
p.s. spurs lose 3-0 to the Kop
Europa*
Nerves at play
I hope Unai is off to Barca
CG, last warning.
No talk like that allowed here.
Can I get out of moderation, please?
Dissenter
Chopping and changing players and shaking them about doesn’t exactly equate to making big decisions, what it does rather is a painful display of a confused manager who can’t stick to particular formula
Now replacing a goalie who has started all matches leading to the final with a much better keeper is what can be termed a big decision
Biggles, it’s literally the worst list you could ever imagine.
Even Allegri is mad… he doesn’t have the Barca flavor.
Also worth noting is the fact chavs are trying to play mind games by stupidly leaking the news of Cech potential hire to probably disrupt our preparation which is of course not aided by Cech’s admission to be ‘coy’ about the offer
Pedro
CG, last warning.No talk like that allowed here’
Not in anyway in support of CG.. But where was your backbone when a large swath of posters over the years were willing us to lose games after games,even cup finals?
Ofc CG is wrong on this,no genuine fan would want us to lose tomorrow then again what do you now make of the actions of some jokes calling themselves fans on here all these years?
Good post Pedro,
I don’t know about anybody else but I’m excited. The last time we were in a European final was the same year my son was born so hopefully this time around we win.
This playing of the 2nd goalkeeper in cup matches excluding CL is not unique to Emery or Arsenal.
Other clubs have done this as well.
And Emery inherited this from Wenger.
But yes it’s a decision for him to make. Playing 2nd keeper gives the impression that these cup matches are of secondary importance but we know this final is of the absolutely first importance.
If Cech has not been seen as having been weak in other Europa League ties so far then he will probably continue to get the nod for the final as well.
DM,
You had 10 minutes to set an unprecedented record dude. What happened?
“I don’t know about anybody else but I’m excited”
Personally I’m bricking it!
What’s the Loosers cup?
The players play with their shoelaces not tied properly?
Baggy shorts falling down?
Or wobbly handles on the trophy?
Victorious
Wanting Arsenal to lose in order to get rid of a past-it dinosaur who made a mockery of the club every time he opened his mouth is a very different thing from wanting Arsenal to lose in order to get rid of a brand new manager who finished seven points better and one place higher than the previous and who has us in a European final.
The former made some sense; the latter makes no sense whatsoever.
Tension is getting into me already. Will be praying “Give us this day oh lord” tomorrow
“Don’t you love the way CG intentional refers to the EL as the looser’s cup.”
Strange how CG talks up Mourinho when the EL is the last trophy he won and yet slags off the competition.
Pierre,
Your long winded post last night read like
Blah
Blah
Blah
I want Wenger
Charlie Brown school teacher
Blah
Charlie Brown school teacher
I want Wenger.
You said you don’t want a coach who isn’t afraid to change tactics to suit the opposition.
You want a coach who’s rigid and uncompromising.
You want a coach who’s set in their ways and won’t adapt
Basically your post was a whole load of I want Wenger back waffle.
“If Cech has not been seen as having been weak in other Europa League ties so far then he will probably continue to get the nod for the final as well.”
This is really some corporate talk,i understand you not wanting to stick a neck out early because you rate the coach
But what would you do really considering this match is of absolutely first importance?
vickingz
Problem is the stress doesn’t end tomorrow. What ever the result we’ve got the CL final on Saturday as well.
I’m not convinced that playing cech tomorrow is a good idea, I mean this is cech, the same cech we have seen so inconsistent throughout the tournament. Whether or not he plays in d final doesn’t add anything to him, he should be rested. We need our backline playing with confidence and not under fright of our GK
Victorious, I’ve always had the same stance on people wanting Arsenal to lose.
Have you always had the same clarity on bad managers?
@marc, bro i’m only concerned about arsenal o,,, though i’d love Liverpool get hold of the ucl cup though but should klopp lose it, ain’t gonna have a sleepless night
Marc,
But why does he spell it looser as in he unscrewed the screw to make the bracket looser.
Does he know he’s spelling it wrong?
Also, it plain to me he’s come over from Untold to troll the blog after we forced Wenger out.
Some on here, not me and I always disagreed, wanted us to lose games to force Wenger out early and that is blatantly what the Untold agent is doing here.
Vic
Who said I highly rate Unai?
What I am all for with him is that he is trying to move the club on from Arsene Wenger but there are still aspects that he hasn’t dropped. The playing of 2nd keeper in cup matches is one of them as are the multiple captains and he hasn’t ditched the deep lying playmaker yet either. So there is more to eradicate relating to Wenger.
If you don’t understand why Cech may not be dropped from the squad then you don’t understand squad/group dynamics.
You’re so salty over our Unai Vic.
vickingz
Not sure I can handle spending the rest of eternity with Spud’s fans lording it over us.
**May not be dropped for the final**
https://twitter.com/HectorBellerin/status/1133007321397964801
I’ll buy.
Vic
If you can’t see the difference between wanting your team to lose to get rid of someone after 22 years, who’s had almost complete control of all footballing decisions and for the last decade has failed at most of them, setting the club back years in squad quality and hundreds of millions in transfer budgets, and a head coach that you disliked from the beginning because his name isn’t Arsene and he doesn’t speak english. Well you can join Pierre in that club then, he’s also completely clueless.
benny
Agree on CG trolling. His spelling is strange on a number of things ie Pedro it’s always the same and did you see what he wrote instead of sin bin the other day?
There’s really something not right about him.
Should read PedRo not Pedro.
Harry Kane is back and declared himself fit.
This could actually work against Tottenham and in Liverpool’s favour as when Kane plays they lose their team fluidity and it all goes through Kane, a bit like how it developed when we had Wright.
I’m actually more worried about the CL final than our own!
How bad is that?
But the prospect of Spurs beating us to it is horrific and they will always have it over us and we will never be able to undo it.
Harry Kane early return is either hattrick hero or pulling up after 5mins.
If you don’t understand why Cech may not be dropped from the squad then you don’t understand squad/group dynamics” Oga what I understand here is the fact we have a very huge game tomorrow that will seriously have some financial implications to our already migre budget.its more to do with the future of the club and less of certain individuals Its a one off game and you give yourself more chance of success by fielding your best personnel as possible as you can Emery isn’t a fan of group dynamics by the way he’s on a run of having not… Read more »
Can see where Freddie is coming from.
I would never condone wanting Arsenal to lose though.
However, the hypocrisy amongst Arsene diehards who have gone from not being able to see terminal decline, to now have utter clarity on all the bits about the game they were blind to only a year ago is a sight to behold.
Shameless.
In Pierre’s case, really poor, because I agree with most of his observations on Emery… so the whole time he was watching Wenger he knew.
Stop beating Unai with that stick Vic.
Especially when there is this final looming.
Get behind our Unai instead of lashing out at him all the time.
Pedro,
Yes that’s what I was thinking as well, he is prone to rushing back and injuring himself.
“Also, it plain to me he’s come over from Untold to troll the blog after we forced Wenger out.“
I wouldn’t pat yourself too hard on the back there mate. You did fuck all, it wasn’t your internet words that did the business.
Wenger isn’t here because he spent two years outside the top 4 gravy train and that finally got Stan’s attention. Nothing more.
As said before Vic the dropping of Cech could have a negative affect on others in the team.
The group dynamic.
Or should we say the Europa League group dynamic and Cech has been part of that from the start of the campaign for this coveted trophy.
If this exact logic was applied over the years then there would barely be a handful of posters left here
Yeah you would have been banned Vic for that time you wanted Huddersfield to beat us at home. And now you’re complaining about people who wanted Arsene to lose games in the past. Here look up the word irony or ironic. And the word gobshite while you’re at it
Pete –
Pierre would’ve chastised any new manager (barring Pep, Allegri, Klopp, perhaps Tuchel or Artetasauce) coming in to replace Wenger.
You’ll see how he carries on with the next guy who isn’t box office. It’ll be the same criticisms levied, so he isn’t showing clarity with his assessment of Emery, he’s bashing the first guy he can in order to prop up Wenger’s last 10 years.
He isn’t on your side, he’s pro-Wenger, anti everyone else, which just happens to marry up with your view on Emery’s ability. True facts.
Freddie
Yea you don’t get to “logik” your way out of something reprehensible (seeing us lose a final).
You’ve no evidence or clout that meant you knew a final loss was the difference maker in Wenger’s future.it was pure invention on your part to justify wanting him to fail.
Any fan of any club should want their team to be as successful as possible. It’s up to the leadership to judge matters on a macro level and hold the manager accountable win or lose a final.
Jamie,
We’ll see what happens when we hire the next coach.
Need to get through Wednesday to see where we land!
As for Wednesday I don’t know how to feel. I feel confident because our two strikers are in such great form but that was 17 days ago. Chelsea missing Kante and Loftus Cheek is big too as well as the speculation surrounding both Hazard and the manager. But at the end of the day we’re a Jekyll and Hyde team
CC, I think a final win would have made it tough to fire Wenger. Though I suspect they’d made up their minds in Feb.
Pete –
I’m so jacked for it. So much riding on this game. Shame it’s come down to this.
https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/chelsea/petr-cech-interview-arsenal-chelsea-europa-league-final-a4146831.html
Same old same old.
Shame Emery can’t infuse pressure into the squad after a season.
Hopefully the players are feeling the heat on Wednesday (money on the line no doubt they’ll be up for it).
Auba will be eying up another Lambo with his win bonus.
CC,
Aww didums did I trigger you?
I meant we as in LeGrove. Geoff and Pedro were calling Wenger out years ago and their pressure snowballed and enabled mainstream to catch up and add even more pressure.
Pundits and the writers were then regurgitating what we on LG were saying for years.
Truth hurts.
Pedro
You’re bang on about Pierre.
This bloke wouldn’t hear one word of criticism toward Arsene Wenger even in his last season and yet he was on Emery’s back from the 2nd game of the season.
If we were still in the CL (by way of Wenger winning the EL, or by clinching the tr4phy), he’d still be in charge. No doubt in my mind.
Kroenke cut him loose after it became clear he could no longer deliver CL cash. That’s the remit. Going beyond relies on the manager self-motivating himself to do better than the minimum.
Emery is walking the tightest of ropes.
Aww didums did I trigger you?
Did you mention Arsene? Then you triggered him.
“CC, I think a final win would have made it tough to fire Wenger. Though I suspect they’d made up their minds in Feb.“ I think it would’ve given weak leadership an easy out. The idea Wenger’s job was reliant on an FA cup final (because that’s the previous examples of some asking for a loss) is laughable to me. Like people at home genuinely thought he got a contract on the strength of an FA cup final? Lol really? It was always related to top 4, and the second that was lost we perked up. Hence why a good… Read more »
CC Go ahead halfwit, show me where I have said that I wished us to lose any finals. I probably was only a season away though, the decline was just too drawn out. Not in any way whatsoever comparable to the situation we’re in now, most of you Wenger fanboys made up your mind before the season even started. Also, it’s been 1 fucking season, with a poor squad, and the manager has limited input in what’s happening at the club. He doesn’t hire his bosses, he doesn’t decide all the salaries, he doesn’t need to be involved in every… Read more »
Marko,
Lol! Yes. I said how CG is an agent of Untold here to exact revenge for LeGrove setting the wheels in motion for Wenger’s ousting, and CC then butts in as per usual telling me not to pay myself on the back like I was saying it was down to me.
It wasn’t but I never said it was, I said we, as in the great Wenger slaying LG community.
Truth hurts.
Anyway, must dash. Laters.
*PAT myself, not pay.
To lump CC in with the rest isn’t cricket. Agree or disagree with him, he’s no fool.
Pains me when some of my favourite contributors don’t get along. Blog of lube.
Jamie
common man, he’s been running defence for his lord Wenger for years on here, always arguing with everyone, sometimes with himself if no one else is around, a Keyser lite if you wish, just more annoying and hypocritical.
He’s been very quick to judge now though, only took the removal of Wenger for him to open his eyes. Imagine that.
That is undeniable
Freddie –
I know, he was a Wenger supporter. We all run interference for those we support, some with more vigour than others.
Keyser was the next level is the next level.
Jamie
That’s the thing though, these halfwits are blind to the shite squad that Wenger built from the ground up, exactly in his image, not replacing players that were too old or just not good enough and now they blame the state of the team on the new manager because he (well not even him) got to spend what a midtable club spends, after 1 window. It’s just mindblowing in it’s hypocrisy.
p.s. Marko makes my list of great posters too, just for some balance and to avoid being labelled as a CCKB!
Freddie –
We’re in total agreement about Wenger’s mounting failings over the last half-dozen years. He was done when he tried and failed to drag us back into the CL (with completely his squad) in back-to-back seasons.
Emery will face the same fate if he fails by this time next year as well.
What I don’t understand from the likes of Pierre is just how long did they think Wenger could go on for the guy’s pushing 70 for fuck sake.
Freddie,
It’s fair to call CC an Emery sceptic, and critical of some (not all) Wenger detractors, preferring to lay the more of the blame of Arsenal’s late Wenger era decline on Kroenke/Gazidis than on Arsene himself
But (even if he is sometimes prone to swearing at some posters) he is no anti-Emery ultra and makes good points about the management, the squad, tactics, Emery etc, and he can’t be dismissed as a Wenger nostalgist mindlessly calling for Emery’s head.
Freddie L
Er what? How am I a hypocrite exactly? Not sure how many times I have to clearly state I wanted wenger gone when he sold van Persie but on you go. Assign whatever it is you want me to be onto me
The wenger hate- football’s very own McCarthyism
Just saying someone is a hypocrite doesn’t make it a fact no matter how much you want it to be. What a plonker
Just by reaching the Europa Cup final in the first year, Emery has met the expectation. Raul hasn’t done anything meaningful for Arsenal yet. I want to see his performance in this Summer TW.
I am surprised that the game will start at 11 pm local time. Is that their normal life?
“common man, he’s been running defence for his lord Wenger for years on here, always arguing with everyone, sometimes with himself if no one else is around, a Keyser lite if you wish, just more annoying and hypocritical.He’s been very quick to judge now though, only took the removal of Wenger for him to open his eyes. Imagine that.”
No one can argue with this
Charlie thinks he has everyone fooled but he is wrong
Left to him we will change everyone including the owner before we touch Wenger