The winter break is OVER and the football can begin.
The good news is the squad will all boast a light bronze tan coming out of the Dubai camp, good for confidence. They’ll also have had some time to mentally recalibrate and they’ll no doubt have a bit more juice in the legs (legal juice).
The injury story is finally starting to look a little less bleak. The Newcastle game this weekend will see the return of Reiss Nelson, Saed Kola, and Bukayo Saka. Three crucial players to the Arteta model. Power and pace. Something we miss too often in this squad.
Pablo Mari is being earmarked for the Europa League game against Olympiacos on Thursday. Cedric has some work to do to get over his problems. Cal and Kieran are still a way off.
Quite a lot of the pre-game chat was about squad rebuilding for this summer. Mikel had this to say on the planning process.
“Absolutely, we have to plan,”
“We need to know the direction we want to head and to do that we need bear in mind different scenarios.
“With that in mind I have to tell the club what we need, where we think we can improve and where we need to aim.
“If we all aim for the same things, we put a plan in place to execute it, and make the process as short as possible.”
I suspect the direction of this summer will be far more pointed than it has been. Mikel seems much more clear in what his plan for the squad is and hopefully that will be reflected in the types of player we bring in, but more importantly, the emergence of Edu should ensure that this summer, things move a lot quicker.
The Mirror reckon we’ll likely move on a lot of the players with one year left on their deals. They expect to see Auba, Lacazette and Leno receive big money offers… and I’d be fine with that, provided we don’t bring in a load of bums in to replace them. Youth, power, pace and elite levels of football intelligence.
There’s a story doing the rounds that Saka is nowhere near on his deal negotiations. I know he’s a top talent, so the interest from other clubs is likely real, but I think he’d be made to leave a club that’s giving him what he wants: trust, coaching, game time. He has a good thing here, the fans love him, and he’s living in London.
The Newcastle game is big. I think we need to see an uptick in output. Arteta has been working his process through the club, he’s spent some time with the players, had some good moments, some bad.. but the squad is united.
Now let’s see what it has to offer.
Mesut Ozil has been taking a pasting from everyone this week. His output has declined at a rapid rate, and he’s under pressure for more than his body language. He needs to turn up, convert the effort into assists, and he has to start influencing games like he used to.
Overall, the team needs to be more ambitious in the final third. We have a very exciting front three however you package them. Better finishing, more ambition, and faster movement.
The next 5 games are about finding the balance. We are harder to beat, no doubt, but we’re not protagonists at the moment. We’re a little bit Wenger of a few years ago. It’s almost a tactical ploy to give us the ball, because we’ve no idea how to use the advantage. I think Nuno said he doesn’t believe in ‘pointless possession’, that’s where we are, we need some edge… and for me, there is no doubt we have the players to move to the next level there at this moment.
We have a pretty fair run of fixtures over the next two months. We need to make it count, get some wins, improve the football, and build some belief going into the summer.
See you in the comments. x
Dissenter nothing gets them more annoyed than seeing English teams (or England) do well. I don’t know what the root of the hate is but I’ve absolutely no time for it. It’s clear as day and the cunts need bringing down to earth, the lot of em
Marc
You do know that City are a bigger club than PSG?
City were getting 30,000 fans to division 2 games before PSG was founded in 1970.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the dwarf ex French President and corrupt Platini be t every rule to get the Qataris to but the club; the rest is history.
UEFA won’t blink an eyelid if Real plays Atletico in every CL final but the moment two English clubs meet in the final, they start making changes.
This city decision isn’t one of these ‘changes’ mentioned above. It’s an all powerful bloviating investigator who picks and choose the winners. That’s what the CAS is going to knock UEFA for.
Dissenter
I can’t make up my mind whether you’ve got a thing about PSG or quite like City.
PSG didn’t break the rules City did.
China
“Dissenter nothing gets them more annoyed than seeing English teams (or England) do well. I don’t know what the root of the hate is but I’ve absolutely no time for it. It’s clear as day and the cunts need bringing down to earth, the lot of em”
So it’s OK to say the Europeans hate the English when it comes to football but when someone makes the comment about the EU they’re being racist!
I don’t think the Europeans necessarily hate the English in football, I think uefa and fifa do
I’m not sure what the link is to race and the EU
China
I was joking
Marc You did read my comments about how much I detest city and their fans, right. Let’s just say I detest UEFA more than I detest. City. City have been giving them the middle finger for the past 5 years, their fans boo the CL anthem all the time. You’re obviously joking around when you keep writing that ‘PSG didn’t break rules’, that’s a the laugh of the day, maybe you meant to write PSG weren’t caught breaking the rules because UEFA didn’t scrutinize them properly. How did they pay 400 million for two players within a year?. The total… Read more »
Of all the Europeans I know inside and outside the UK, none hold any negativity towards the English outside of historic national team rivalry (my German friends).
But uefa and fifa as institutions have turned their noses up at the English time and time again. It’s been so frequent and obvious that I’m not sure it’s even contestable anymore
Oh sorry Marc lol
The internet and writing have a way of making things less obvious
Don’t mind me
Anyone here remember when platini and blatter used to publicly call out arsenal for signing European kids from teams like Barca, yet had nothing to say about a South American (Messi) being signed as a child by Barca?
That shit used to make my blood boil the bias was just so obvious
I remember Chelsea against inter several years ago (was probably the year Jose won the CL at inter)
and there was a Chelsea corner when no less than 6 inter players were blatantly holding the Chelsea players. Armed wrapped around them like a fucking cuddle
No penalty.
Inter won the tie. I recall drogba (who ironically was a cunt) being insensed, but that’s par the course when English teams get big European teams in the CL. 11 against 12
Dissenter,
You do realise that it’s possible to simultaneously be corrupt AND stay within the rules?
That’s why the (smart) ultra-rich pay their lawyers big bucks, and then (importantly, and unlike City) listen to the advice of their lawyers, even if it a bit unpalatable. And it’s why they try to maintain good relationships with regulators and other authorities.
And if they contravene the rules, they lobby their regulatory friends for the rules to be changed.
Only the stupid and/or the arrogant (I.e. the senior guys at City) don’t bother.
China1
The fix was on with PSG when Blatter was in charge of UEFA
That’s the same time they cooked the books for the World Cup too. PSG was Qatar’s down payment to Sacorzy and Platini.
Dissenter I no longer judge a lot of things that I used to too harshly because the world tends to exist in shades of grey, but Uefa, fifa, blatter, platini et al are as black and white as a Newcastle shirt
Words
You don’t think city have smart lawyers and accountants too.?
If you investigate one individual with a pen flashlight and the other with a 500,000 lumen flood light, surely you will find bodies buried.
Qatar played the smart game by doing soft paybacks. They embedded themselves into the UEFA body, with TV deals with BeIN and generous endorsement. They had the goddam French government and UEFA president [Platini] on their side. I believe UK society works differently, city can’t operate that same model.
Fancy arsenal -2.5 today
Pepe fgs…
The biggest fix was that Chelsea vs Barca CL 2009 game
I hated Chelsea with more than I hated Spuds because of his Mourhino had treated Wenger and also how they disrupted us when we moved to the Emirates.
That’s said, I love the game more than I hate any club. That’s one of the w\most bent game I have ever seen
The referee admitted his ‘mistakes’ afterwards.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/02/18/chelsea-barca-2009-semi-final-ref-admits-mistakes-says-cant/
Terra
May well be but,
There has been envy of 5he prem league and it’s monies.
Uefa have waited ages for this purposeful attack on city but also on the prem.
It’s the new boys syndrome buying a ticket at the top table.
Like juve, Barca, real, Bayern got in there ear .. spiteful jealousy.
Say for example it was suddenly real bets who had all the money pumped into the.
Nothing would be done…
Also what about Chelsea ?
Dissenter,
City’s primary mistake was that it didn’t bother to pretend or couldn’t show that “independent” UAE owned companies were the source of 100% of sponsorship monies and other sponsor support.
Sure City’s owners had access to the best legal advice. But as an owner you are not compelled to take the advice of your lawyers.
I think the Qataris were advised (behind closed doors) by UEFA and by their lawyers not to repeat City’s mistake.
Diss
match fixing someone should investigate …
Oh wait it’s just 5he tip of the ice berg…
All of football is corrupt from Top to bottom.
How about van persie’s Red card vs uefalona?
Bent as a coat hanger
Words
PSG had insider information, there’s another name for that corruption.
There’s a reason why the CAS exists
Let’s wait and see how it goes when City’s lawyers puts UEFA’s selective approach to scrutiny. They were expecting this ruling and have had time to develop their case.
It will be fun watching it. Chelsea found joy using the same approach with FIFA.
Diss,
Let’s see what happens at CAS. Have to say, I’m not that bothered either way…kind of like a heated dispute between The Don and Mitch McConnell.
Much more interested in today’s match: what’s your prediction?
The referee in our CL final against Barca was bent too.
There were pictures showing him in a Barca shit6 before the game but UEFA refused to change him.
He made a mistake of nit allowing play to continue after psycho Lehman committed that foul -it should have been a Barca goal and a yellow card for Lehman- that’s what the occasion deserved.
Instead, he sent off Lehman and then tried very hard to over-compensate by ruling against Arsenal, again and again.
Wenger and Henry tried to maul him after the game and earned suspensions.
What the hell happened to Mourhinos hair?
It looks like it was sheared off like a sheep !
I’ve been walking round most of today with a poorly disguised semi.
This normally means we are in for 3 points.
I reckon we will put 3 or 4 past them.
Words
I predict another draw.
The weather conditions, as a I understand don’t favor smooth passing football. Arteta and Pedro will complain about Storm Dennis 😀😀😀
Regardless of what happens today, we still can’t go above 10th place on the table.
Valentin
Mark Clattenberg should have been investigated about those remarks . They were right on the limit of admitting a corrupt outcome. I remember very little coming from Spurs though which to me was seriously odd
Walking around with a semi can be dangerous.Take care you don’t bump into anything.This information will cost you.
Dele Ali starting? Thought he was in the sin bin
Moray,
Shit, only a semi?
Hope that doesn’t mean that we’re in for yet another draw…..
Spuds scores but the wrong goal!
Words, that’s as good as it gets these days.
Still, a sign is a sign.
Spurs look so average.
Finally some Arsenal football again.
Can we win a match outright for once though? Please.
Dissenter, “Actually in a court of law, it does matter that your rule breaking neighbor got away free while you were selectively punished. It’s called the principle of precedent.” You are talking about Anglo-Saxon based law. UEFA is based in Switzerland. On that principle Swiss law are more akin to French law. The principle of precedent only applies from the result of previous trial and if the law is unclear or vague or deprecated. In that case case there is no previous trial, so it is the prosecutorial discretion. Unfortunately for ManCity you cannot use prosecutorial discretion as a defense… Read more »
Arteta to get his second win today
3-0
This is free of course.
Valentin – Dissenter has an idealistic version of how Anglo law courts work – you most certainly can be charged with a crime that other people are getting away with. Courts will often give one or two defendents overly harsh sentences in high profile case so that other lawbreakers will think twice.
I can’t believe Pepe Reina still playing, feels like lifetime ago I last heard of him. Good for him, goalies can last long time if they take care of their health.
I hate spurs but if you don’t punish these guys…..
Spurs Again get var assistance…
Var is a cunt.
Therebive said it.
It’s a way to control football and makes it corrupt,
It was a soft pen
But them Atkinson has history of being a cunt to teams.
Valentin
Actually I wrote that UEFA operate investigation the continental European manner. They use an all powerful bloviating prosecutor who gets to choose the winners and losers. There were concern about how the same man handled PSG’s case.
A court of law doesn’t work that way. Precedent is a universal principle of how law is laid. The CAS does not use any BS French system. It’s an international court with offices on three continents. They have judges from 21 countries.
Let’s wait and see what the CAS does.
Atkinson needs VAR a lot. He misses most of what happens on the field
He needs to retire ASAP
It seems it’s spuds that will benefit from the city ban.
How sweet would it be for them to finish 5th and UEFA gets overruled by the CAS..
Dissenter
Are you a secret city fan?
You should be happy that they have been caught out.
It’s such a dumb outlook you have. Its like saying because OJ got off his murder charge we should release/not charge anyone with murder.
Would be a travesty if England don’t take and start Grealish at the Euros
Pep will be off no matter what happens.
Every game now we say we must win but it never seems to happen, we have got stage fright.
If it’s cold and rainy don’t play Ozil he’s such a whimp.
It’s a keep it simple day today.
“How sweet would it be for them to finish 5th and UEFA gets overruled by the CAS..”
Sweet for us for a season. But terrible for football overall. We need City to be made an example off so more of this financial doping is prevented.
Team news yet?
Will they come in for art if pep goes ?
Arteta obsession with Ozil will be his downfall. I don’t know why this player is still starting games for Arsenal. We’re basically handing advantage to the opposition with Ozil starting
Line-up: Leno, Bellerin, Mustafi, Luiz, Saka, Xhaka, Ceballos, Ozil, Pepe, Nketiah, Aubameyang.
Subs: Martinez, Sokratis, Kolasinac, Torreira, Willock, Martinelli, Lacazette.
Starting XI: Leno, Bellerin, Mustafi, Luiz, Saka, Xhaka, Ceballos, Ozil, Pepe, Nketiah, Aubameyang.
Subs: Martinez, Sokratis, Kolasinac, Torreira, Willock, Martinelli, Lacazette.
Ozil still starting games, amazing.
Big game for Arteta, needs a win after two weeks break and he had time with players to implement ideas, questions going to be asked if Arsenal don’t pull their finger out soon.
Not overjoyed by team
But let’s see.
Seems all our coaches have issues picking the right players per week. What kinda team selection is this?
And is auba our only source of goals out wide for Eddie?
Anyway, hope for the three points.
That is an attacking lineup. No Torr and Martinelli? I wonder whether the formation will be 4 3 3 with Xhaka the lone DM?
What’s happening at Arsenal 🤣🤣🤣
No midfield to protect our defenders.
Ain’t gonna work.
Nketiah could get a game at Leeds, now he’s our main attacker ffs
Get ready for another draw.
Wet windy day and a team of softies
Nketiah will score today.
We will have enough possession in and around the penalty box. Eddie will sniff out chances and score.
I like his alertness and opportunism.2-1 to the ARSENAL.
Want to get behind Arteta but these team selections make it hard.
Why not just play your best striker in his best position?
Hopefully Eddie has a good game.
Good to see Ceballos starting too
Watching villa vs spurs….
Im Sold on Grealish.
Getting the same feeling I had whenever I saw Emery’s lineups with Arteta. I’d rather win games than watch him align himself with our most maligned players in some kind of revenge of the nerds mission.
Arteta still doing team selection base on performances in training instead of the opposition.
We will win comfortably today.
Spurs are dire by the way, can’t believe Villa haven’t scored from any of their numerous chances
Guns
He’s an absolute baller
That midfield looks weak.
Not happy with this XI. Let’s hope we win
That’s a very weak spine.
FFS Ozil!
How can this lineup be based on training and Ozil starting?
Ozil, Xhaka and Mustafi.
FUCK THIS SHIT.
Left testicle
“That midfield looks weak.”
Not to me , it’s a midfield that should dominate the ball.
Left side
“And is auba our only source of goals out wide for Eddie?”
Pepe.?
For our attack to be move effective, Pepe and Ozil need to balance out their plays. Currently, Ozil only recycles the ball. Pepe hangs onto the ball and tried to defeat a defender.
Pepe needs to play more one touch football or overlap with Bellerin to get going.
Ozil needs to carry the ball inside the final third and draws defenders to him before passing the ball. Currently, he passed the ball to an attacker who is already marked by multiple defenders.
Jammy jammy Spurs
FFS
Pierre, Pepe at present doesn’t get many.
“Want to get behind Arteta but these team selections make it hard.”
Are you referring to your tiny penis?
Bloody hell Villa, shocking error
Gotta feel for Villa there.
Dissenter, You may call it French BS, but I have checked and it is the same in most country legal system. Prosecutorial discretion also exists in British and US Law. The investigator may decide that yes PSG committed some infractions, but 1) it will be very difficult to prove it, 2) previous punishment have been effective. And so based on that refuse to go to trial. Unless a previous trial took place and somebody was acquitted or convicted of a lesser charge, it is not legal to use that as a defense argument. The “I am a crook but that… Read more »
What a gift for Spurs, Pepe Reina should get medival on his defence, he earned it…
Wish folk will stfu and get behind the team already,
Bonus point: Lacazette gets a deserved reality check, good to see his fat arse on the bench until he reach for his shooting boot again.
Xhakalson and ozil in midfield, Auba on the wings? The best to expect is a draw.
You can take this to the bank
Telling you this foe free!
Son and Liverpool’s run making this a season to cherish!
Victorious
Folks are allowed to criticise and still support the team yea?
Villa spurned so many chances knew they’d pay for it in the end
Spuds are the most jammy fvckers you’ll ever find as a club! Unbelievable.
Problem is that Nkettiah doesn’t play like he’s desperate. There’s no aggression in the lad. He doesn’t occupy defenders at all.
He plays like he’s a nice bloke.
Bit rich coming from you Victorious as well.
You’ve described most of this squad there Dissenter
3 away wins all season for spurs they are poo. Need a win today.
Dissenter,
“Problem is that Nkettiah doesn’t play like he’s desperate. There’s no aggression in the lad. He doesn’t occupy defenders at all.
He plays like he’s a nice bloke”
I don’t think he’s good enough to be honest
Ceballos playing deep is a risk. He gets bypassed easily.