Liverpool’s week just got worse + Best AFC defender of the last 25 years?

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Man, celebs are NOT immune to this bastard disease. It got to Idris Elba! Cannot believe it.

With all this serious stuff in the air, I’ve been pondering whether people need elite daily Arsenal content. Is it a distraction? Am I being insensitive to the ‘real’ news?

I settled on continuing.

It is my duty.

It is your RIGHT.

I WILL NOT let you down.

ONWARDS WE MARCH TOGETHER (safe spacing though, small march, no sneezers)

So until Boris J orders a blog shut down, I’ll be hitting the content harder than Marouane Chamakh hit Vegas that time.

So what have we today?

The FA’s exChief, Greg Dyke basically told Karen Brady she’s a toilet roll hoarder and needs to sanitize her self-serving mouth. Maybe a touch more eloquently, but the warning from The Big G is that the league cannot be nullified because Leeds fans are a bunch of hooligans.

“You might even have to play behind closed doors to fulfil the contracts for the broadcasters, otherwise they are just not going to pay up, and that could mean hundreds of millions of pounds. You may even have to play three matches a week just to get them done.

“I can see if you are a Norwich fan or of a team like West Ham, you might be delighted if the season was cancelled.

“At a club like Leeds, their fans would go nuts. You can also imagine clubs taking legal action, especially the more litigious ones.”

Oof, scary.

I think we’re going to have to see how Covid-19 performs over the coming weeks before we can start worrying about next season, but what we do know, is despite my mum telling me everyone is overreacting, the reality is this is pretty fucking serious and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

You know who else isn’t leaving anytime soon?

Gary O to the D.

Liverpool came in for him – which must mean he’s the best in the world – and he told them to do one. This from David Ornstein at the well priced Athletic you should certainly sign-up for:

Impassioned pleas by technical director Edu and head coach Mikel Arteta, in particular, helped convince the former Ireland rugby union medic not to leave. The development is seen across the industry as something of a coup, given the regard in which O’Driscoll is held.

Mikel Arteta apparently convinced him with this line.

‘Gary, you do know Liverpool is like, in Liverpool? No duck pâté with your goat milk latte there, son. It’s Nescafe with a slab of PUT THAT SUN NEWSPAPER IN THE BIN’

All you need to know about the man is that we lost our manager to the disease, but no one else. That’s the sort of defending we could do with in games, take note Mikel.

Not a lot of news today… which means… yep, you guessed it, some hot press from the billionaire playboy of Africa, Aliko Dangote. Football.London has obviously been slipped a few pennies to plant a story that connects a press release about our £650m valued squad, to the African ponying up for Arsenal one day. I like this quote from what he said in Jan.

“It is a team that yes I would like to buy someday, but what I keep saying is we have $20billion worth of projects and that’s what I really want to concentrate on,”

Sounds like a builder giving you the lowdown on when he can get to relaying your drive.

Big Tony Adams has been in the press with some good and some bad noise.

The good:

“He (Mikel Arteta) is doing a great job,”

“I really like the man and his enthusiasm. I am glad he is well and recovered from the virus.

“I have been speaking for the last 10 years about recruitment at the club and I think that really needs to up it’s game.

Then the bad:

“The coach is irrelevant. (Unai) Emery was a fantastic coach but recruitment let him down.

NO TONY! You cannot say the coach is irrelevant whilst desperately trying to get back into the game as a coach. Imagine his interview.

‘So Tony, what can you offer the club?’

‘Absolutely nothing sir’

Deary me. This notion that only players matter is so tired. YES elite players can take you a long way, but so can great training, well motivated player and a powerful vision. Julian Nagelsmann to Hoffenheim from nearly getting relegated to Champions League football in a year. That is not about elite players my friends.

Right, let’s play a game today, give me your fave defender of the last 25 years… in the below format. I’ll put the best comments in a post tomorrow.

Name:

Why you love them:

Best moment:

P.S.

🎙️Listen to the damn podcast. You’re not at work. Just play it in the background. Pretend we’re on a call.🎙️

Spotify | iTunes | Stitcher

238 Comments
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Emiratesstroller

Dissenter I am not talking to experts, but I am talking to friends who may have expertise. Regarding football I am mostly posing questions or my personal opinion. Whether you or others agree is another matter. Frankly I cannot see any short term solution for football. We know already that Premier League is closed until April, but since Government is proposing potential self isolation for 12 weeks that would suggest that the earliest that football season could reopen is mid June assuming that the Health Service is not still in crisis. Remember it is a legal requirement that public events… Read more »

Marc

Dissenter

Really I’ve been of one of the voices calling for calm and common sense – I crack a joke about having a bit of light relief and you’re talking about people growing a back bone.

You need to go through and re read my previous comments and what you’ve been posting.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

The express says that Barca want Auba, do not want to pay cash so..

We could choose alena 20 yo cb who plays with Saliba, and tordibo midfielder 21yo . Beast of a midfielder they say…

Anyone know owt about them…

2for 1 straight swap.

CG

Jamie “”””Then Wenger and his cronies should hand back the £17m severance package they all trousered on their way out after leaving us languishing in 6th.”””” Well if they never sacked him in the first place or used his services elsewhere in the club- the club would have saved themselves £17 million. Problem was- Gazidas, Raul and Vinny were so self absorbed with their own power grabs, they just wanted Wenger out to the detriment of the club. Absolute folly to pay off Wenger-Arsenal should have made him global ambassador and used his iconic name to showcase the club worldwide.… Read more »

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Marc

Injecting levity is a way of life for the English, don’t beat yourselve up about it…

What u know bout 2 young lads above.

David Smith

CG, agree, Emery is unworthy of a further penny of the clubs money, but hopefully he is just paid up until the end of this season and not beyond anyway. But, those who hired him without due diligence, those who changed policy and allowed him to bring in a very large backroom team, presumably still on the payroll, and in bringing emery in for the first place, compounding the error by refusing to bring in the type of players who Emery would choose ( which may be a blessing in itself when you mull over the names). How someone like… Read more »

Tom

Some 80k people have recovered from the covid -19 and since contracting the virus for the second time is highly unlikely, these are the people the PL should turn to to save the season. Each PL club gets a random pick of 25 covid-19 survivors who will get paid ten times their regular salary ( sorry Tom Hanks, these are the lean times, you are out) and the total pay packet would still be less than that of one Alexis Sanchez’s. The games will be played in empty stadiums for safety but the folks at home will get a CGI… Read more »

Spanishdave

Why can’t the elderly stay at home and everyone else go to work.
This is the same as flu with the elderly and if common sense prevails we can avoid this mass hysteria which is being whipped up by the media.
This is the internet doing its worst allowing everybody to spread fear, which is the real disease we are seeing.

Spanishdave

We could finish the league by playing table football or subuteo!
I am sure each club has experts.

CG

Smudger

“””””” How someone like Raul could rise to CEO of this club in such a short time is a real concern,””””””””””

if that doesn’t tell you how broken the club is, nothing will.

In times of crisis over the years- you could always count on Arsenal being at the forefront and getting it right.

Showing class and leadership.

Nowdays we have Josh, Raul, Edu and Vinny in charge.

they have not uttered one word.
or kept supporters informed us about MA condition

And Silent Stan has allowed all this under his watch.

Spanishdave

The tourism industry is now wrecked.
Football clubs in the lower leagues will be wrecked as most f them are now in trouble.
A lot of grounds are in the middle of towns and will be worth good money for flats and houses so the owners will be tempted to sell.
People travel the world to watch the EPL and they will not be coming over for along while.
This overreaction is going to wipe out the economy and people’s livelihoods.

underrated Coq

Well what are you waiting for Dave? Get your placards and your A4 sheets, march into the open streets and start educating the people against the lies of Govt ,Health Organizations and the media.

GunnerDNA

CG,

“Nowdays we have Josh, Raul, Edu and Vinny in charge

they have not uttered one word.
or kept supporters informed us about MA condition”

Make sure you’re following the necessary precautions to keep yourself safe. You’re probably the only one who wants to hear from all the medical experts you listed above.

Habesha Gooner

Argh. Why do we need to debate this over and over again. If COVID 19 isn’t quarantined It will kill a lot more than seasonal flu that’s for sure. Every person with a chronic disease will become a target. Elderly people are also at risk because of age related diseases. It has already killed over 8000 people with governments doing their best to treat patients. Why are people trying to downplay it I will never know. You want to find out how much it’s going to kill with a “let it spread, the young will be fine” approach? What’s actually… Read more »

Andy1886

Pierre, not sure why you feel the need to stir things up again after Tony and Benny reached a mutual understanding, anyone would think that you enjoy doing it.

ES, thanks for your insights but I’ll continue to have a healthily sceptical approach to government pronouncements & policy as well as any ‘in the know’ type briefings from anyone.

Finally a big up to Un and his community spirit. If there is a silver lining in this it’s that we’ll find out who the good people are and who are the bog roll hoarders.

Spanishdave

Understated I didn’t say lies you made that up it shows what people are doing.
Experts like the ones who said the general election was going to be close.
The Experts who are now over exaggerating numbers to get attention and are pouring oil on the fire.
Calmness and practicality usually is bettet

underrated Coq

Dave, they are being practical, calm and extremely clear. Hence the preventive measures now to avoid any potential shit hit the fan scenarios.

CG

gunner “””””Make sure you’re following the necessary precautions to keep yourself safe.”””” I will. I intend to. I’ve been in semi self isolation for about 5 years anyway- since the the last wife was dismissed for insubordination. And I hope all my fellow Le grove patients do likewise. Meditation, meditation, meditation is the key……and steer clear of reading apocalyptic news. Just an occasional listen of Billy Joels- “” We didnt start the fire”” helps too. A reminder the world has always been tumultuous- and we have survived. I will be here for a good while yet- to inform, entertain,educate &… Read more »

Spanishdave

What gets me is the country has already undertaken extreme measures to reduce passing this virus around , like never before in our history. We have 2000 cases of which half have been recovered. And yet these idiots are saying 250,000 people Could die. Based on what?
That scares people and is not calm and collected.
Barnet have issue redundancy notices to all the staff, many lower league clubs will follow.

GunnerDNA

CG,

“I’ve been in semi self isolation for about 5 years anyway- since the the last wife was dismissed for insubordination”

I fully understand why you’re like that, be safe Pops!

Redtruth

A piddling £300 billion given to supposedly help those in need during this crisis compared to the £500 billion given to bail out the banks during the global crash.

One rule for the rich and another for the rest of us.

underrated Coq

Dave, Supply and Demand logic works for healthcare too. Except you can’t ‘produce’ medical staff like you might as any other goods.

About 3% of the people who get this Virus die and this percentage will increase if there is an increase in demand for medical care.

Which is why Govts everywhere are fighting to keeping numbers manageable.

Make sense or you still need help?

Emiratesstroller

Dissenter

There is such a thing as a phone. I may be in isolation but I do use it!

jwl

Spanishdave – I think a lot of people are fear mongering because they want to increase their department’s government funding, apocalyptic scenarios make general public afraid and think we should give them all the money they want.

China1

Spanish Dave if your elderly relatives are unfortunate enough to come close or actually die then the fate of football clubs will stop seeming like the primary priority in your life.

But hey that’s just me, preferring to have my parents and grandma, you know… alive and safe

A strange outlook, I know

China1

I get that people were sceptical about the impact of this virus at first, but with each passing day there is less and less excuse for people not to understand. It used to just be a couple of us far away posters out in Asia banging this drum each day and now you have every government on the planet slowly reaching the same conclusions and taking the same measures supported by a general global consensus on how serious this is It sucks. It ain’t nice one little bit. The measures taken will cause untold disruption to the lives of almost… Read more »

China1

Also the whole ‘kids aren’t at risks so schools should stay open’ logic doesn’t stack up Kids can catch and transmit the virus even if they are incredibly unlikely to be badly hurt by it. My kid goes to school with a mild case of the virus and unaware. He gives it to your kid. Your kid goes home and a couple of days later has given it to his grandparents etc Most of the world has come to terms with this reality, not wanting to close schools is a political point because it’s a massive pain in the ass… Read more »

China1

Also how would you any of you lot be if you were a teacher being exposed to potentially hundreds of children in a single day, on a daily basis, just because parents (who will be at home anyway) don’t want their kids back home and their kids won’t die of it. Not only will the risk to teachers become enormous that they will catch it off one of their students, but it then directly puts the teachers’ household and families directly at risk As a former teacher myself, I’m afraid the fact that your kid will be fine if he… Read more »

Spanishdave

China I am 70 and I have to fly home soon to get further prostate cancer test. Don’t know when my wife and I can get a flight. At my age a lot of things can kill me but like the majority of people at our age we enjoy life to the full. Younger people who have careers will loose their jobs, get minimum redundancy money. I have been through three recessions and this will be the worse . I feel sorry for them and you guys here. That’s why the calmness in important now, but the media won’t let… Read more »

China1

Dave all the best to you. I hope you get the test you need soon and you’re all clear.

Re the redundancies, these have sadly already begun so we can only hope that the increasing government intervention in the economy can salvage something from this.

I live in hope and I do think the enormous effort globally going into vaccines will bear fruit faster than expected. So many countries are already working on them, China has 8 already on human testing trials.

Let’s hope for everyone’s sake…

Gentlebris

‘I’ve been in semi self isolation for about 5 years anyway- since the the last wife was dismissed for insubordination.’

We now know the last wife was ‘dismissed for insubordination’, but what about the one(s) before the last?
What was the charge sheet like?

How are you anyway?

SA is not really hit, so you shouldn’t really need more than your semi isolation.

Be safe, man.

China1

Un na you can’t say this is a lefties’ issue when you just admitted that your conservative government did less than the bare minimum to manage this in the first months of the outbreak Boris has demonstrated that he can take the necessary measures in the public interest as he has started doing so now, so you should be wondering why he wasn’t doing that earlier. Its a huge issue but it’s not a left vs right issue. I’m a little left of centre but nobody has championed the need for strong measures on here more than me. And I… Read more »

China1

Another ironic twist of fate is based on the latest comments from the governor of the Bank of England, boris’ conservative government may yet be one of the first in the world to provide a universal basic income in the weeks/months to come. This is Scandinavian level (literally) ‘socialism’ and a long term goal many on the left have been promoting for ages. I wonder if conservatives would reject this so called act of socialism or if they’d think it’s actually rather good after all We are just about to enter the twilight zone of politics where left is right… Read more »

Valentin

RSPC, Jean-Clair Todibo can play as defensive midfielder but by trade he is a CB. He is very talented and like Dessailly can play both role intelligently. He was one of the CBs that I mentioned that was available from Toulouse in 2018. That idea was then rubbished by the same here and then hold behold Barcelona went for him in January 2019. Made him sign a pre-season contract. That pissed off Toulouse so much that they immediately froze him out of the team, so during the same transfer window Barcelona paid TFC 500k to release him six month earlier.… Read more »

China1

I really hope that people take this opportunity to notice that good policies are not determined by the colour if the tie of the politician who is making them Politics has been the absolutely toxic realm where so many people will declare their ‘side’ are the good guys and the ‘other side’ are some kind of evil wrongdoers which is patently ridiculous Boris started this situation very poorly and conservatives should recognise this from his constant flip flopping and contradicting his own advice and policies compared with just even a few days ago However he’s now starting to handle it… Read more »

Valentin

China1, Despite the chancellor trying to pretend otherwise, this is exactly an issue of ideology and left Vs right. The question is really about what kind of society people want. It is just that the extremity of the situation forces decisions that people would not consider otherwise. The fall of communism and the Berlin Wall created that false narrative that pure capitalism was the only way forward. The market was always right. Government should interfere as little as possible. What disasters are now showing that let to their own device, the market will not necessarily work for the benefit of… Read more »

moray

@ China A universal basic income is something that would have had to be implemented anyway, as the automation of our industries continues. The same is true for limited hour weeks and gvt supported lifelong learning. A mandatory globally enforced reduction in travel, localisation of markets etc. are also measures that would have needed to be rolled out to combat the critical issue of climate change. Many of these will no doubt push forward because of COVID-19 and may be the biggest long term benefit of this whole situation. It would be amazing if the UK government had the forethought… Read more »