Day two and the pain is still pretty intense.
I find the defence of the manager quite baffling, especially considering how strong the evidence of his failings has been. Underlying and data and literally what you’ve been watching all season tells a clear story. So spare the detailed unpicking of his body language or the theorising over why he said nothing in the changing room after the game.
Granit Xhaka, a man who has been front and centre for most of the experience is even a touch deluded about it all.
“I think we had a good season, if you take off the five last games in the Premier League.”
Oh my Granit, oh my. That said, he refused to answer the question as to whether we improved this season under Unai Emery. Well Granit, I can answer you, simply, no we didn’t.
I’m stealing some of Gambon’s posts that explicitly lay this out with hard numbers.
Regardless of how the season ended, Emery has failed to move the needle in terms of performance. Less goals scored, the same conceded, less shots, more shots conceded, less big chances, more big chances conceded, lower xG, higher xGA, By all performance metrics it isnt working.
— Gambon (@TheMightyGambon) May 30, 2019
By all accounts, the above is pretty shocking. You can say what you will about Arsene Wenger, but it was clear the problem with him in his last 2-3 seasons was his drifting further and further away from the basics. We mostly blamed poor tactics, a lack of preparation, a blindness to squad needs (which Sven went a way to fixing) and a loss of fire that once drove him to greatness.
When we hired in the new person, we hired in a ‘coach.’ The point of a coach is that they should have the ability to move the club forward without spending £400m. We even had the argument last year that we couldn’t hire in someone like Allegri because he’d want NOW money. Emery was the coach. Training would be high energy, he was a prep machine and he wouldn’t allow the players to be cowards.
So aside from it being clear that performance indicators have dipped, and it being obvious that the culture of the club hasn’t been shifted in an entire year, the other item people keep on comparing to is Liverpool.
Klopp came in, moved Liverpool from 10th to 8th. A poor return they say, that was rectified with time, money and patience. Yes, but remember, those three elements are a reward for tangible progress.
Again, we are in single data point territory. Football fans are utterly terrible with stats, so let me paint a picture using someone else’s.
By contrast, this is what Jurgen Klopp did in his first 30 games, with no pre-season and no transfer window. Emery has had £70m and a full, long pre-season. Klopp was still able to improve performance levels with a poor squad that were not his players. pic.twitter.com/OlXzATNuXX
— Gambon (@TheMightyGambon) May 30, 2019
Just to add to the above. As the season wore on, Klopp’s Liverpool side greatly improved. His team scored 52% of its entires PL seasons goals in the last 13 games. The fans were being electrified with rock and roll football. You could clearly see that without buying players, that Klopp was impacting the players, the culture and the energy around the club.
Additionally harping back to the goals conceded issue, I find it slightly worrying that we’re expecting a coach with limited defensive pedigree to fix our defence. At Sevilla, over his three seasons in which he finished 5th, 5th and 7th… he averagely shipped 49 goals a year. He look over a defence at PSG that had conceded 19 goals, when it was handed over, it clocked up to 27, then 29 in his final year.
‘BUT WHO WOULD COME TO ARSENAL FOR £6M A YEAR’
I have to tell you Arsenal fans, this is the most middle class ‘I live in a bubble’ comment I read.
Arsenal is a powerhouse club. You can bitch about it, you can say its dead, you can say we’re not attractive… but you’d be so fucking wrong. If Liverpool can attract Jurgen Klopp to live on Merseyside with a team that was sitting in 10th, with the promise of zero net spend for 2 full seasons, then Arsenal are not going to have a problem hiring in a top manager to take us forward.
Yes, the owner didn’t go to the game. But really, what are you bitching about there? Its YOUR sentimentality you’re whining about. Stan K isn’t in the day to day of any of his clubs, and why would you want him to be? Raul and Vinai run the show.
Stan can be called many things, but uninterested seems a bit of a meek jab. He invested as much of Arsenal’s self-generated money as he could have, we are the 3rd highest net spenders in the league over 5 years and we have spent more net than Madrid over 10 years. We have a £230m wage bill compared to Spurs at £140m. We fired Arsene Wenger and his team at a cost of £17m last year. Stan signed off on Ozil at £350k a week. We built a new structure at the club at great expense, and to be fair, the structure is modern and forward thinking. We paid £2m for a head of high performance. We brought in Sven for £2m a year. We revamped the training facilities at great expense. We are not lacking money and the myth that Stan is all about profit just doesn’t stack up against any sort of inspection.
‘he should write us a cheque for players!’
Look at what is happening to Manchester City with regards to flooding the club with cash injections that are allegedly not what they seem.
Anyway, my point being is this: It’s poor leadership to look at what Emery has done in his year, and think the right move is to carry on as is.
He was hired as a coach, his coaching has taken us backwards.
The easiest and most impactful thing we can do is change the manager. Rethink what we’ve lacked and make a bold decision. We will call it the Bruce Rioja moment.
We need a true leader. Someone who will bring some swagger back to the club. We need someone who the players want to fight for. Someone players desperately want to play under because they know they will improve. Someone in the mould of you know who down the road.
We also need someone with a distinct vision of how the game should be played. Emery’s chameleon approach is non-committal. How many teams have successfully been able to implement both possession football and counter-attacking at the same time? It’d be a monumental achievement to make that happen, and we certainly couldn’t do that on a budget.
My big worry is clearing out problematic players is all well and good, but if you are replacing into a blurred vision of football, you are actually further damaging the club. Emeryball is awful to watch. It’s not the next level. But we appear to be going hard at giving a failing manager the keys to our next 3 years. That is a terrifying prospect.
Is chameleon football part of The Arsenal DNA?
I had hoped not.
I was hoping that the good bits Wenger left would remain. I want Arsenal to play the most electric brand of football on the planet. I want Arsenal to embark on a transfer policy that prioritises the best young players that boast extreme technical capabilities, combined with outrageous power and pace. Give me what Ajax and Dortmund have, but bump it up two notches.
Instead, we’ll fall back on ‘class’, which is code for ‘lack of ambition’, and we’ll kick to tough decision can down the road for next season.
It’s a brutally miserable view, but the MD of the club apparently sent out an e-mail asking for people to get some perspective on yesterday. Someone ask Petr Cech whether that happens at CFC after an appalling showing at a final? Barcelona? Madrid?
The real perspective is we’re not built for success. We have a fancy structure, but as I keep on saying, if you do not fill that with the very best people, you are in trouble.
That said, the one HUGE positive I can give you is the noise around Edu is very positive. Firstly, there’s no kingmaker aspect to this hire. Raul is hiring him in because he’s good. You don’t do great things at Corinthians, then take a job with Brazil to be told by Raul you have to sign Ever Banega. Edu also has a lot of sauce about him, the guy looks money, and he knows the DNA of Arsenal and Brazil.
… but he has to be allowed to take an axe to the substandard people at Arsenal. He has to implement a vision, set aggressive targets and hold people accountable for delivering them. We cannot continue to skip along into the footballing abyss pretending our problems are going to be solved by throwing a boatload of cash at people that don’t know how to send it.
Right, that’s me done, see you in the comments.
Why the fuck would Maxi leave Celta only to go sit on the bench? Surely if he had a shred of ambition he’d leave for somewhere he would start.
Obviously you sell it to him. I don’t know why you’re fighting the idea of selling someone to potentially bring in two players. You know what forget it lets keep him and Auba and go again next season. Maybe he’ll get more than 13 league goals
If Atletico did come back in for him I’d ask for Partey and £25 Million I think.
I would rather sell Aubameyang for £70 millions than Lacazette. At least Lacazette work hard for the team and score against the big 6.
I doubt that any Spanish team bar Real could pay them the salary that they want €300kpw.
Athletico has been ruined by the salary they gave to Griezman €21 millions per year. Their early elimination of the CL has hit them more than most as they rely on that to compete in la Liga.
Barcelona has treasury issues and can’t afford Griezman demand on top of Messi and his clan annual request for a raise.
CA That makes me inclined to think that they’ll be less trigger happy to spend that sum of money again unless it’s on somebody that they are certain about. Everyone of their hierarchy must know that they made a big fat mistake spending such a wad on Coutinho. Even Dembele they overpaid for, although he’s been immense for them this season at times and will pay that fee back in the future be it at the club or should they decide to cash in. Is Lacazette any better than Suarez, even declined a little at 32? Of course not. And… Read more »
‘N’Dombele, Lo Celso and Maddison.’
Oh my word that would be depressing were it to materialise.
Marko
I’m not, I was actually an advocate of the idea on here before it was even hip.
Maxi Gomez being one of the two wouldn’t be a good idea is all I’m saying.
“L’Equipe reporting that Spurs has bid for Tanguy NDombele, but that Lyon wants a minimum basic of €60 millions.”
But what have the Spud’s bid? They were doing this last summer with Grealish, low balling bids when the selling club had already stated what they would sell for.
The Spud’s will buy a couple of players this summer but I really think it’ll be more money in than out.
Meunier and Ziyech would be massive upgrades on what we have.
And we could snag the two of them for less than 50 million. That’s called being prudent with your money.
Azed “Emery has not been known to use a back 3 in his coaching career but he used a lot this season because the player had required him to change.” Are you sure you are not talking bullshit to defend Emery because , unless I was mistaken , the first time we played 3 at the back in the league was away to Bournemouth with a full squad of players to choose from so what’s all this ” players had required him to change” crap. Up until this change of formation we had played 4-2-3-1 and was on an impressive… Read more »
If you prefer Joelinton and his 19 goals in two seasons then by all means do but I was merely noting the strikers we’ve been linked with and they’re goals the last two seasons compared to Lacazette’s at Arsenal. Obviously it’s not a case of just replacing his goals but replacing his goals is something we can do and selling him could get us a replacement ST and money towards another player
I would say we should go for a midfield rebuild.. but we never built one in the first place. Our best midfield pairing in recent memory was Santi and Coquelin. That should tell you how bad it’s been. And they were paired strictly by accident due to injuries.
WE Have to see if anyone is interested. All I’m saying is I would milk this market, Sanllehi is apparently and absolute shit to negotiate with (in a good way for us) as well, so we will see. I agree on Meunier and Ziyech. Not really even a discussion, is it? There are ways for us to assemble a good team smartly this summer, but we basically have to make every penny count. We have to hope as well that scouts like Saliba come off, if we buy him obviously. I don’t think we will be shopping in the £50… Read more »
Griezman and Lacazette are not really comparable as they don’t have the same role in a team. If you compare purely in term of goals, then the stats will favour Lacazette. Griezman take the penalties for his team which skews his stats. Including penalties, in la Liga he scored only 15 goals this season, 19 the year before and 16 two seasons ago. So hardly the most prolific. Griezman is not really a 9, without a burly striker to act as pivot he is a lot less effective. It was the same at the world Cup with France. Without Giroud,… Read more »
Pedro
I don’t like flattery, it’s a weaselly way of getting the most out of people.
Someone tells you what a great guy are, make sure your wallet stays in your pocket.
@Midwest,
Actually that pairing Cazorla-Coquelin was the reason why we had accrued the most points during the calendar year 2015. Coquelin was recalled around the new year from Charlton. Once Cazorla was injured the following year the game was up.
Wild rumor time
@MrArsenicTM reporting a source have details of how Adidas helped juventus get Pep and that Pochettino has agreed to take over at City next season
Crazy I know
RB is not really a major issue. with finance tight, I would rather, we concentrate on a LB and a dominant central midfielder to replace Elneny and push Xhaka on the bench.
Sell Kolasinac and Mhikitarian and buy a proper left winger.
@RH,
I thought that Sarri was on his way to Juventus.
What about the reports that Sarri has just asked Chelsea to release from his contract?
https://metro.co.uk/2019/05/31/maurizio-sarri-asks-released-chelsea-contract-agreeing-juventus-move-9770376/
Ins:
Meunier: 15-20 million [last year of contract]
Ziyech: 25 million [release clause]
LB/LWB: Grimaldo, Theo Hernandez, Alex Telles, Gaya, Aaron Martin, Halstenberg, Amavi, Kostic.
Free Agents that we should be looking at: Hector Herrera, Yacine Brahimi, Max Kruse, David Luiz.
Could probably pull in 4-6 players there including the frees for a total spend of 60-70 million, what we spend last summer funnily enough.
Receding haven’t you heard Poch is signing nearly 200 million worth of CMs for Spurs. And Arteta is being lined up for the City job
always has been. It seems more likely to be Sarri.
I do prefer Joelinton actually but with funds pretty tight I’d put him on the shelf for this summer considering we desperately need defenders and midfielders.
RB is not really a major issu
Please fucking stop with the numbskullery. Our options are AMN, Lichtsteiner and an injured Bellerin we absolutely need a RB. And no Osei Tutu isn’t an option
Hector Herrera is off to Atletico, isn’t he?
Your points stands though, WE, there’s deals we can do.
Have to be aggressive with the outs though, so important.
CA
It’s incredible think how much we could improve the squad just looking for little things like release clauses, last year of contract players, free agents and preying on smaller clubs in much less prosperous Euro leagues that are always desperate to sell.
It’s why it boggles my mind that some people only pay attention to PL transfers. And makes you wonder what our recruiting panel are up to Monday-Friday if we can point this out.
Free Agents that we should be looking at: Hector Herrera, Yacine Brahimi, Max Kruse, David Luiz.
Herrera is joining Atletico and Luiz as signed up for Chelsea again
The entire defence, including RB, is a massive issue.
Bellerin has always been suspect defensively, he’s out until October, pace was his weapon and he’s coming back from a bad ACL.
That a good look?
Not to mention if we don’t address RB we are starting off the season committed to tethered swimming again, because we will have to play wingbacks with Maitland Niles or go for untested youth for 3 months.
Rip that entire defence out and start again.
WE
Absolutely.
You could bring in Ziyech, Saliba, Sarr, Claude Maurice, Meunier and Sarabia and I doubt any of them would cost over £25 Million.
Brahimi and Kruse are miles ahead of Iwobi and the boys Marko, both would improve us greatly adding goals, creativity and 1 vs 1 dribbling ability in Brahimi’s case.
I wouldn’t touch Max Kruse. We have a problem with not having enough reasonably aged players particularly in attack and free agents would demand a good wage. At 31 if it didn’t work out we’d be stuck with another overpaid player we can’t shift
Valentin its a useless rumor. Pep looked quite angry when asked about Juventus.
Sarri is the one Juventus want, although in a league where Sarri and Conte are the two top managers I fancy Conte for the title
I don’t know why we’re worried anyway.
Edu looks great in the TD role and smells a bit of sauce so Martinelli is basically the next Messi…for £5 Million as well.
I thought it was confirmed Ziyech didn’t have a clause after all?
I don’t discount brahimi. I would prefer others honestly.
CA
There’s so much turnaround needed on ins and outs that it’s just not going to happen this summer and we’re all bound to be disappointed. If it’s only a little disappointed, say we get rid of 3-4 of Kola, Ozil, Mustafi, Elneny, Xhaka, Miki and bring in 4-5 new additions, I’ll take it.
Not that I hold out much hope that we’ll even manage to shift on 3 of that lot.
11 goals and 10 assists in the BL do nothing to warm the cockles for you Marko eh?
Fuck me we were paying Bendtner 60k for years not to mention Park 50k, Diaby fuck knows how much over the years, Chamakh 60k, and don’t even get me started on the current salaries.
Who cares if we pay Kruse 50-100k if he scores/creates 15-20 goals? Not like he wouldn’t have earned it.
Well obviously, I’m talking players that would improve the squad.
Brahimi is miles better than Iwobi. Does he compare to Mane? Of course he doesn’t, we’re going to have to pay decent money to have a hope of producing a player that good.
Well we’re already forced into changes and we’ve already heard about the new 2 years left sign up or go stuff and they want to bring down the wages so with that in mind I expect us to be very busy and I do genuinely believe that you will see the back of Mhiki, Ozil and Mustafi this summer
Conte isn’t winning anything Serie A with that Inter side.
Juventus with Ronaldo are far too strong, they absolutely blitzed the competition this season. Even Sarri will manage that elusive first Scudetto.
Ozil will still be here next season.. The Banter Gods have spoken.. it is fate.
Eagle I suspect that inter side will be much changed come August
I’ll believe it when I see it with re to Ozil. Who in their right mind takes on that kind of contract for a much declined over 30 coaster?
Mustafi and Miki I could see.
WE I’m thinking more 31 what if it doesn’t work out
RH
They do have Chinese owners backing them from what I remember.
I really like Conte but it would be even more impressive than his Juventus tenure if he won the league with Inter. Outside of Icardi [who’s had a shit season] and Skriniar they don’t have anyone better than who Juventus have. And I’m being generous with Icardi because Ronaldo plays as the CF for Juve but I’m comparing him to Mandzukic.
Hopefully inter bids for Xhaka
Marko
Don’t sign him up to a 3 year deal then, you really think he’d turn down the opportunity to play for Arsenal in London on a 1-2 year deal?
I’m still trying to come to terms with 600 backroom staff. If it’s true, 500 of them must be spending most of the time trying to look busy.
Remember when Arsenal had the reputation of being England’s best-run football club? The Bank of England Club?
£230m on salaries? The mind boggles.
What is it about Football clubs? They seem to turn hard-eyed business men into blundering nincompoops.
Shit, I wish I had £2,000,000,000. I’d give it all to Stan and show how a football club should be run.
Laca spotted in Barca today
A question for the elite posters on Le Grove. Why would a manager play Mesut Ozil in a cup final to use him to man mark jorginho…..that was his role he was asked to play for the team last night and that was the role he played. He was rarely more than 5 yards away from Jorginho and they cancelled eachother out .. Jorginho was quiet as was Ozil ….all of the Chelsea play came through kovasic, Pedro, Hazard and Giroud. I have been waiting all day for someone on Le Grove to say something honest and insightful about Ozil’s… Read more »
WE
Rumour going round is that Arsenal are willing to subsidies some of Ozil’s wages to get rid of him.
Anyway you look at it, that contract was one of the worst decisions in football.
Pierre, Pierre, Pierre,
Whenever I picture the “strengths of Ozil’s game” my mind automatically applies a sepia filter……those strengths are like a pleasant distant nostalgic historical memory, really lovely, but irrelevant now.
‘I have a foreboding about tomorrow’s game
Just dark feelings that we are about to be eclipsed and that we will forever be the banter club.’
If the guys down the street win, then ‘forever’ is really appropriate.
Can you imagine us ever winning the CL?
Strange that no one wants to talk about a cup final we played in 24 hours ago …it’s like it never happened…
doses anyone know why Ozil was played as a man marker …
CA
Since he’s signed that godforsaken contract he’s averaged less than 2 key passes a match across all comps, that’s the one stat that his die-hard brigade use to wank themselves silly over.
That’s less than Cazorla who’s 34 and has been a semi-cripple for years.
Was up there as the single worst act committed by the football club. Insane, a cynical bastard would nearly earmark it as AW’s personal last fuck you to the fans calling for his head as AW and Ozil disdain pretty much went hand in hand.
Ah..the aptly named WOB
Could you explain why Emery played Ozil as a man marker in European cup final.
Took you almost two days to come out with an excuse why your man crush had a horrible game Pierre
That should tell you it’s time to give up.
Apparently the Azerbaijani authorities opened the turnstiles at halftime so that the empty seats could be filled.
What an unmitigated disaster.
Is UEFA going to offer all those fans who bothered to pay and travel a full refund?
WE
You are regarded as an elite poster on Le Grove.
Ozil , man marker , why ?
Can you put any logic to that decision .
That Ozil contract was the specialist in failures last “fuck you” to the fans before he fucked off.
Pierre,
Do you get paid by Ozil’s social media team to defend his reputation?
Cos it certainly feels like you have a financial interest in keeping the Great Man’s Flame Alive.
Newsflash: no one is paying any attention.
The flame has long since been extinguished
Give it up Pierre, he was absolutely useless Wednesday night. Lost the ball more than anyone off of either side and he only played 75 mins. Didn’t have a single shot at goal and contributed a sole ‘key pass’.
Hilarious and predictable that you’re playing off his anonymity to performing a ‘man-marking’ job on Jorginho, Chelsea least threatening midfielder.
RH
Even though you are not regarded as an elite poster, I’m sure with your outstanding knowledge of the game you give an explanation …I’ve been waiting 24 hours for someone to analyse his performance …
WE
How do you see us getting rid of him?
I just don’t know how we do it?
We know he’s gutless as well and will quite happily sit it out pretending his failings are everyone’s fault but his.
Who is going to take that wage on, even half of it at £175 000 a week is too much for him.
There was no performance to analyze hence your long wait
And I am very happy you don’t consider me an elite poster Pierre, you consider ozil an elite footballer in 2019,I don’t wanna be smeared with that brush
CA The only real hope is either an absurd offer from China [less likely imo, he’s earning 350k a week living in London playing PL football, would have to be at least double that to even tempt him] or Istanbul Basaksehir, the government financially backed Turkish club [interesting story, should give them a look. Really odious club that has practically no fans and no pedigree but is Erdogan’s team and they’ve signed a heap of has-beens including convicted rapist Robinho, racist Emre, asshole Arda Turan, Adebayor, Inler, Demba Ba, Clichy, list goes on]. They could pay him substantial wages, it’s… Read more »
Ozil played his role to the manager’s orders , man mark jorginho ..and that is what he did. He played for the team , was never more than 5 yards away from jorginho….Emery must have been very pleased by Ozil’s performance as he did what the manager asked him to do …..nullify jorginho’s influence in the game and that is exactly what he did . It is confirmation to me that Emery really hasn’t got a clue….I can’t think of any other manager in the world who would give Mesut Ozil a man marking job in a final.. Can anyone… Read more »
Jenkinson will spend another year getting £45,000 per week for training.
Some of the salary bandied seems to be the basic without the bonus clause (win bonus, selection bonus, goal scored, assists, …).
https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/players/arsenal-transfer-news-mesut-ozil-15681342
WE
I remember reading a little about them before but not in any great detail. Sounds charming.
That may be one of the only options we have. Ozil might even be willing to accept slightly less wages to live in Turkey and doubtlessly be a star playing, as you say, League 2 standard football.
How can Everton be linked to Malcolm and Bertrand Traoré while Arsenal is linked to ‘Google his name’.
Interesting read, but, Yesthe club have spent money over the years. Yes , as far as we know, Stan takes nothing out apart from a one off 3m. But the charge sheet against Stan, where do you start? The repeated renewal, against all advice and logic of Wenger and his merry men. Keeping twats like Dick Law and Ivan Gazidis in positions of power and influence. A complete lack of leadership and ambition. Then, after suffering key injuries around Xmas, reports of Emery wanting various widemen, it turns out we can only afford Mr Suarez. Stan has made Arsenal just… Read more »
Vale tin,
In answer to your question, please google “self sustaining model”
If Emery covets the jobs many believe he does, he will leave this sinking ship this summer before Stans lack of ambition ruins him for good, then we will see what grade of manager is interested in this club
CA
In all seriousness mate how nervous are you about tomorrow?
It’s bad enough that you have Spurs family, I hope that you at least live out of home because if not then it’s a wrap if they win the CL for you.
Lmao… I’m sure Emery said man mark Jorgihno and do fuck all otherwise. Todays modern game every player has to be able to attack and defend. There are no one way players anymore and if they are ,.. they are dinosaurs. Even CF’s are expected to defend. Especially on set pieces. CB’s are expected to be able to use their feet and join and start attacks.. Hell even Keepers are expected to attack. Your so clueless and myopic Pierre.. it’ not even funny. Ozil was expected to mark Jorginho AND link up play in attack.. David Silva could have done… Read more »
Do we want Bertrand Traoare. I don’t
What’s the betting that this summer Everton acquires Malcom and Bertrand Traore, Wolves acquires João Shithotino, whilst Arsenal acquires Google Hisname and Youwhat?
I think he marked Jorginho for about 5 mins and then went back to be an utterly irrelevant footballer on the pitch. And he’s got googly eyes to boot
WE
I’m shitting myself.
I can see Liverpool being 1-0 up, absolutely smashing them, then a deflected corner bounces off of Kane’s shovel face and goes in on the 88th minute, then in the 90th minute Son’s dives for the penalty winner.
The Daily Mail goes with ‘The Kane in Spain’ and I emigrate to Australia.
I’ve been invited round for a BBQ tomorrow with the family. I think ‘go f**k yourself’ was my response.
Marko,
Yeah, Jorginho was really flustered – he’d never been man-marked by a butterfly before
I think he was frightened of Ozil being that close. He saw Total Recall the night before
I know I have the ball…. but I’m going to pass it to the other team so I can …man mark Jorginho…. Hey guys don’t pass me the ball … I’m marking Jorghino… I know you want me to make a run into space.. I can’t I’m marking Jorginho… and it takes all my concentration…
Pierre in full scale Jackanory mode.
Who said Emery deployed Ozil to man mark Jorginho?
Pierre did after 48 hrs of thinking up an excuse to justify Ozil’s usual shitness.
Fuck me that’s grim lad, hope that you’re working on your Australian if that’s the case hehe.
‘Family BBQ’= ‘Mercilessly roast the shit out of CA, even get the neighbours in on the fun’, they probably have the wall plastered with live-sized Giroud shots of his winning header and his infamous spaff-face that MidwestGun is so fond of as well as French cuisine.
I can just picture Kane bagging the winner and it makes me feel physically sick. The little chubby Arsenal lad, winning the CL 15 years later- for the Spuds.
Pedro,
One of your Tweets was featured in the Daily Mail online regarding some Arsenal fans wanting Emery sacked.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-7086231/Arsenal-fans-call-Unai-Emery-sacked-Europa-League-final-defeat-Chelsea.html
WE
I worry it will get physical, in all seriousness. With my brother and some of his Spurs supporting friends it nearly has before.
I’m one of those where it’s all laughs and jokes and then someone just goes too far or pushes too much and it’s all over.
I will be in the gym come kick off I think and wait to see whether any messages come through. Train station is nearby, Heathrow then Melbourne.
So, Penalzette is in Barcelona. Could be a holiday or it could be that he’s joining them.
I must say, I will be sad to see him leave the club. But our available funds to turn around a failing team are not nearly sufficient so we will have to sell off some of the family silver and make some tough decisions elsewhere. I can see our wage bill coming down hugely too over the next couple of years.
Cesc-
Just remember to record anything that goes down… Justifiable homicide. Any judge would agree .
Cesc,
Melbourne is too (culturally) close. You still risk running into some Spuds.
You really need somewhere a little more distant and foreign.
Ulan Bator? Ho Chi Minh City?
CA, the problem is that they will always have this over us if they win the CL before us. It’s not just a one-off.
RH,
Pep has already come out and categorically flat out denied any interest in the Juventus job and has said he is staying at City for the remaining 2 yrs of his contract at least.
BennyD,
Pep has everything set up just right for him at ManC.
And he won’t feel his job is done until he Champions League there.
MidWest
I’m not going to it, totally serious. I am locking myself away.
WOAB
Good point.
I could go into the sticks out there? Live off the land, go native.
Moray
Maybe you lot.
I will be in the outback wrestling crocodiles and saving damsels in distress from dingos.
*He wins the Champions League there
CA I funnily enough have the opposite over here, I’m sure you can relate Marko. Completely surrounded wall to wall by Liverpool and Man United pondlife. Luckily the United fans have piped down considerably these past few years, only the Scousers have gotten that much mouthier which is even worse tbh, I’m nearly yearning for the Fergie era level of Manc arrogance again as they never bleated on as much as Pool supporters who are the absolute worst bar none. Breathed a massive sigh of relief when Citeh held their nerve for the PL, tomorrow is clearly a lose-lose so… Read more »
I hope we don’t sell Lacazette, who will we replace him with. This is the transfer team who bought us D Suarez after all. Unless he is part of the deal, I wouldn’t even rule that out with this club these days
Lol, just picturing CA getting some banana-picking job in the outer arse end of northern Queensland and the owner of the plantation being… a Spud fan.
Only marginally preferable to a Wolf-Creek situation.
WE
I mean it’s shit for humanity either way, isn’t it?
But considering Spurs are a club that brought out posters celebrating being ‘UCL Semi-Finalists’ I shudder to think what will happen if they win it.
This is a team that still lauds Rose’s debut goal against Arsenal.
We have to think of the children at some point here.
Cesc,
Haha – yeah, riding a double humped camel, competing in the All-Mongolia National wrestling competition, you might even begin to forget that The Greatest Living Englishman Kane and The Greatest Argentinian Living in London existed, whilst luxuriating in the knowledge that Le Grovers we’re still passionately debating the merits of Arsenal’s devastatingly ooor Expected Goal statistics….
Cold shower and scrub job with TH14 solo goal vs Spuds playing on loop if they win tomorrow night no doubt.
Which was in… 2003. Arrrgh, we’re becoming pre-Klopp Liverpool.
WOAB
Haha!
I will come back in 10 years and Pedro will be advocating Guardiola’s son for manager because of the football talks at breakfast with his dad and the fact he likes ketchup with his full English which means he’s got hitherto undreamed of sauce.