I read someone in the comments say I didn’t write match previews these days. It is true, as I’ve been gunning to do the match report right after the whistle, but today, I’m gonna do one for you DivineSherlock.
I’m very much buzzing for an FA Cup final. At this point, we’d probably have pitched up at The Greenman, 4 beers deep after a meet up at that ‘Spoons a Liverpool Street. I’d be meeting cousins, my dad, the extended Le Grove family. My brother would be leading the charge on pints, lapping me by at least 3. My dad would be holding court about Alex Song and Arsene Wenger.
‘No Dad, it’s ok, Wenger’s gone now’
We’d all laugh at the guy slumped in the corner that had wet himself, then we’d applaud as he got up in time for the walk to the stadium. The good times, the good times.
Ahh, I miss it. I miss hanging out with the Arsenal family. I’m gutted for all the kids that miss out on a day like today. Semi-Finals are iconic days out. They are special. You always remember them.
This year is different, no fans are allowed in the ground, so we’ll be watching the players battle it out to an empty stadium. That doesn’t mean it lacks importance. For Arsenal, a win defines our summer transfer window. Currently, it’s a roll of a dice as to whether we make it into the European positions. We can finish anywhere from 10th to 6th. The FA Cup guarantees us a place in the Thursday night trophy (sad that we’re pining for that level of comp these days).
Arteta was realistic in his presser. He knows Manchester City better than anyone. They’ve scored the most goals in the Premier League this season, on their day, for me, there’s still no better side technically. Peak Guardiola football is mesmeric. They also have a team of game-changers. The shapes, the off the ball movement, and the decisiveness in important moments makes our task daunting.
The gameplan versus Liverpool was not to get absolutely battered for 90 minutes, but that’s what happened. I don’t think we’ll be able to ride our luck like that for a second game in a week. Arsenal have to show up, they have to play a better game of football, we have to try and control their strengths, but also play to our own.
I don’t know how we change it up in this game, but we know there is a path forward, because the first half against Leicester showed that there is a football team that can express themselves like Arsenal somewhere hiding in the squad.
That’s what we’ll try to do as much as possible! Like any other team they have some weaknesses, as you mentioned, and as well it’s about stopping their strengths.
They have a lot. It’s part of any gameplan. It’s not about City, it’s about any other opponent we are facing. Tomorrow we will do exactly the same.
One of their weaknesses this season has been away days. They’ve been pitiful for their standards on the road. They are also susceptible at the back if you get at them with pace in the front line. I’d imagine we’re going to try and load up with pace, Auba, Saka, and maybe Pepe. Then it’s about bringing the most stable backline offering we have (👀). It’s really hard to decide what that looks like these days. Rob Holding grew immensely with the Liverpool game, he feels like a better option than Kola. I thought Cedric Soares looked off his game, does he get the nod over Bellerin, or dare I say it, AMN? This is what he said on the 22 year old.
He’s a player who can play in many different positions, we have discussed the things in my opinion that he can improve or adapt to his game because he has incredible quality. He has every quality that you need to be a football player to play the highest level and he just needs to do it in a little bit more of a consistent way, but he is someone who can adapt to any position as well.
AMN could be a very good player, he showed it against Wolves. Focus is his weakness though, that said, it’s hard to say that focus isn’t an issue with at least half the starting 11 we roll with game to game.
That also leads us to Mustafi, does he start? Probably. We have to hope that we get the best version of him, because the German Superman, flying into challenges, is not going to help against City.
In midfield, it’s pretty clear what we’ll do. Arteta was effusive about Ceballos.
Well that’s a conversation that we are having with the club, to see what we can do in the future with him. But I’m really, really happy with the progress and how much he’s improving and giving to the club.
I always give the example that he’s a loan player but when you see his celebrations for every goal, the way he trains every day, how much he cares, he’s fighting, he’s top. I’m really happy with him.
Dani has been excellent for us. He moves the ball forward and his defensive contributions get better with each game. Xhaka will no doubt sit next to him despite a little dip in form of late, likely due to fatigue. Then the question is whether Torreira starts. I suspect he will.
It’s extremely important we come out of the gates this time. Starting smartly generally leads us to better performances. Wolves and Leicester showed us that. We are a team that has fragile confidence. If the game plan looks good, we have a great chance. If it’s off, the players tend not to recover (Spurs). When we let Liverpool take control, we never took it back. I appreciate it’s Liverpool, but we’re not a team that should allow another side such a large chunk of possession. City with have more answers to a deep block than Liverpool.
We have to nip at City, we have to ask questions of their defence, and we have to play a more positive game.
Arteta was asked about Mesut Ozil again, his response was a terse, ‘he is in training.’ It’s clear there is very little chance of him returning this season. Fans remember the wrong Ozil when they don’t see him. This is a guy that was the best #10 in the world, he is not that now.
Here are his numbers.
Last 3 seasons:
68 Appearances
10 goals
13 assists
Last two seasons:
42 appearances
6 goals
4 assists
£350k p/w
3 Villa players have matched/more assists this season than Ozil has in had in 2 years (Grealish, Hourihane, El Ghazi). Andy Carrol has the same assist numbers this season as Ozil has had in 2 seasons.
He is the best chance creator in the team, still, but his 2.3 chances per game is more than half what it was back in the day, and those numbers don’t outweigh the negatives of having a player that regularly doesn’t show up in important games. Are we beating Liverpool with Mesut in the week? No chance.
Arteta also cleared up the SPEND SOME FUCKING MONEY comments he made in the week.
No, that was misinterpreted. It wasn’t my intention. We work so closely with everyone at the club, with the owners to put the plan that we need to take the club forward. Everybody has the same ambition, we are in all of this together. But if you ask me if I know right now what do I have and how can I do it, I’m sorry but I don’t know because there are a lot of questions that we can not resolve right now with the situation we have.
One is financially and the other one is because we do not know if we are in Europe, and because we have players that we don’t know what’s going to happen. That’s the reality. It’s not about sending a message, we all have the same objective which is to try to bring the club back as quickly as possible, fighting with the top teams in the country and in Europe and that’s it, and I want to do that as quickly as possible.
I don’t think you can knock a coach for pushing the club to give him funds to compete, though some obviously will. Hopefully, we’ll make Europe, that’s the first place to find some money, and if we don’t, Arteta will just have to deal with the consequences. His point about money is that it allows you to get there faster, which is an obvious statement, but one that is more important this summer because a little injection of credit could give us a lot of bang for our buck. As I said in the week, it’s new to hear an Arsenal manager fight for the football, and I welcome it. Stan K, for all his problems, is not an owner afraid to spend money, remember, Unai Emery had a higher net spend than Klopp and he was only with us for 18 months. Question is, can he afford to give the club an injection of cash when ALL sports are fucked from COVID and he’s a sports business guy? Doubtful.
Still, Madrid aren’t going on for Mbappe this summer, so if the Spanish big dogs are fucked, then he can hardly take offence at Arsenal not having a lot of cash to burn.
ALSO, I know people are uncomfortable that the manager keeps pumping players in press. I am too. Mostly because we’re unsure whether he means it. I am almost 100% sure he’s being a salesman here. He is pumping value, he is playing the reluctant seller, and you’ll see where his taste levels are at this summer when he has to move on big names.
Finally, before I go, I would ask you to all take a read of this from The Athletic. It’s a very well sourced piece about how we do business at Arsenal. I know plenty don’t believe things when they come from me, but hey, look where the mainstream media is going with something I’ve been banging the drum on for a while. If you are bored, take a read of this story about how we landed where we did. A nice compliment.
Enjoy the game, see you in the comments!
Lol, Martinez still droped crosses today, there was one in which torreira cleared out of the box six. For me Leno is still number 1.
Nice to have two quality keepers though.
If Sp*rs finish seventh and we win the cup we take away their EL place. Doubly sweet.
If Arteta can work out how to negate opponent’s strength even with our mostly inferior players what will happen if he is given the quality quality players he keeps harping on
I just hope the board can back him with the necessary and required players not some shiny toys but round pegs in round holes,we do have a chance of becoming that great team again sooner rather later
It’s game like this that announces a rookie coach like him and he hasn’t done badly at all
Well done Mikel Arteta
Well done the boys
Well done Arsenal
But before talking about binning Leno I would like to see him behind this well-drilled back 5 with the knowledge of Martinez ready to pounce at any mistake.
Could propel one of the 2 goalkeepers or hopefully both of them from near-world class to world class players.
Dont know Martinez has enough no. of games to be even be called near-world class yet but the few games he has played he has been astonishingly good.
Also heard the commentator say in the last match that Martinez has the highest save% in the Prem I think.
Sanm
“Does anyone still feel like selling Xhaka? ”
There are less problems with Xhaka and Luiz when they defend really deep like tonight because their lack of pace issues become nullified.
The question to ask you is do you want this really deep defending to become a mainstay in the side? For it to be employed every week?
Leno was our best player until he got injured. Its no his fault his replacement is doing well and we should be happy. If we get to Europa they can alternate games.
For me Leno is the better goal keeper.
Guendouzi, Bellerin, Torreira, should be on the block before Leno in terms of generating funds.
Add Kolasinac to the list also.
And probably Riess.
Told y’all, Pepe must play. He has the xfactor.
And that this game was made for Mustafi not Holding
Whats for sure is Leno’s with the club for next season with the injury, sure the better of the two will find the #1 next season, the other will wanna move on.
I’m with in here….I never really rated Leno that much.Sure he is good at stopping shosts and reactions but some of his other qualities like handling,coming out for crosses,distribution etc are very poor..’
Very poor? Are you high mate?
Maybe he is not as good with crosses as he is with his shot stopping but calling any aspect of Leno’s game very poor is a joke.
“Leno was our best player until he got injured. Its no his fault his replacement is doing well and we should be happy. If we get to Europa they can alternate games. For me Leno is the better goal keeper.”
Well said.
Also feel Luiz gets a lot of shit from fans and pundits. Most people have this notion of a defender being rough, gritty and someone who puts his body on the line. Luiz is a victim of this stereotype. Never seen a defender getting crucified in media for his mistakes as much as Luiz does.
Leno is a very good shot stopper but I don’t think he gives the defence overall a calming influence with his actual presence.
Martinez for me.
You have to win FA Cup to qualify for Europe. No place for runner up anymore goes to the league if winner has already qualified.
@TheLegendary
Of course Leno does have a problem with crosses.
All I was pointing is that some think
Martinez controls his box like Seaman in his prime.
It’s a minor issue with Martinez but just pointing it out
Sanmi
Yes – 2 good performances a season are not good enough no matter how good those performances are.
Thinking of Nigel Winterburn.KT ,plays like it is to be an honour to play for Arsenal, love him.
Ishola we have the squad and proper gameplan for each level of oppositions now
Db10
The team is much better now than it was two months ago so I don’t think that’s a fair comparison.
Martinez has been great, but no guarantee that’s his level from next season onwards, and similarly there’s nothing to say Leno won’t get a chance to come back in and be on another level himself with the competition and coaching.
Arsenal need a degree of ruthlessness in the window to generate money, we know that, but there’s much more eligible bachelors in this team than Leno.
zaco
———-
Sadly that’s not the way it works.
Great Performance tonight. As I posted earlier today Cup Games are one off performances and so it proved. Every player without exception pulled his weight in a fashion seldom shown in recent seasons. For those posters who keep on criticising Arteta he showed today very clearly how to coach and organise a team. I hope these posters who are consistently negative about him stop making their idiotic claims about his lack of experience and ability. Both Luiz and Aubameyang will of course be given credit for tonight’s performance, but I thought that one of the outstanding performances came from Xhaka.… Read more »
TR7
We just need Tony Adams to now take the piss out of Luiz before every game.
Sal
Not knowing who the number one goalie is can be very unsettling. I don’t think Arteta will dilly dally on that decision.
Letting them battle it out is tantamount to defensive unrest.
Ishola
“The question to ask you is do you want this really deep defending to become a mainstay in the side? For it to be employed every week?”
Hitting the nail on the head. It’s fine to do this now against the likes of City and Liverpool but we need to be able to dominate against lesser teams as well.
If Arteta switches to attacking formation next season with defenders playing a high line then Leno becomes a more important GK for the team. If we continue to play the way we are playing now then Martinez has an edge over Leno.
Emirates
” I hope these posters who are consistently
negative about him stop making their idiotic claims about his lack of experience”
Not really idiotic when the guy hadn’t managed a match before he took over.
Too many people far too locked into a mindset on here.
Marc If you think Xhaka has only had 2 good games this season, you’ve not been paying attention. Since arteta came in, Xhaka has not had a bad game. Because Arteta did what good coaches do, play to the strength of your team. Xhaka lacks pace and not fast with feet, but he is positionally disciplined, has a good range of pass and scores occasional worldie. Therefore play him deep when defending, when attacking he starts from left in between luiz and Tierney, then when we are in position in opposition half he sit on the edge of their 18… Read more »
I feel greedy for wanting to win the cup now.
WasiJuly 18, 2020 21:33:29 I’m with in here….I never really rated Leno that much.Sure he is good at stopping shosts and reactions but some of his other qualities like handling,coming out for crosses,distribution etc are very poor..’Very poor? Are you high mate? Maybe he is not as good with crosses as he is with his shot stopping but calling any aspect of Leno’s game very poor is a joke. @Wasi you can call it a joke or whatever you but the number of times Leno punches the ball straight into danger is appalling….when was the last time Leno found a… Read more »
Just Another Customer “we have the squad and proper gameplan for each level of oppositions now” No that is a trap that can be fallen into. Every EPL team can do damage. Arteta has got two good results by playing underdog tactics and defending deep and countering and he has done this really well especially tonight. But players like Xhaka and Luiz can be caught out again when the team revert to more familiar tactics against teams not right at the top of the table i.e not defending really deep and pushing up more. All I will say is that… Read more »
The entire team dug in… wow.
how many crosses did Luiz and Mustafi header out of the box????
Second game in row with missiles incoming
I haven’t seen the numbers but I’m pretty sure Ceballos covers the most goring on the team.
Having him next to Xhaka has helped Xhaka somewhat.
I’m glad that we have in Ceballos a midfielder that sends Ozil on vacation for his last season.
We will need to play a different way against Villa and Watford Marc so I guess we will know the answers then.
This was the way to play against City, the Liverpool game not so much as that was pure luck. Nothing lucky here, City’s weakness is that defense, odd thing to say as Pep has spent 466m on defenders alone., and it was ruthlessly exploited.
We will see stage two of the process in the games were we are not the underdogs.
Love Tierney, real commuted fighter with quality.
Ishola
How many times have I told you Xhaka is the best midfielder we have currently. No way he is being sold.
Dissenter
Pretty confident Arteta will find his man regarding Leno and Emi without letting the side fall to pieces.
“For those posters who keep on criticising Arteta he showed today very clearly how to coach and organise a team. I hope these posters who are consistently
negative about him stop making their idiotic claims about his lack of experience and ability.”
ES
This is Le grove, we don’t sing Kumbaya from the same hymn sheet. We are all going to party today but tomorrow, we resume calling each other cunts and arguing about anything and everything.
Samni
I think that with the right partner(s) in midfield Xhaka will become a completely
different player to what we have seen in the past.
Emirates’
You’re being dramatic really.
The lack of experience was a a reasonable reason for anyone to be cautious of Arteta. There’s nothing wrong with hesitating because you don’t have enough information yet.
I am guessing Argentina will soon come calling for Martinez?
Are we forgetting that Martinez almost cost us a goal against Liverpool with his kick to Firmino, I guess if that went in then the narrative changes.
We are better defensively now than January, February so shot on goal are Limited.
Also, none of Martinez kick actually found his man against Liverpool and Mancity.
There is a problem though with first phase possession regarding the Arsenal midfield which can be a problem further down the road. Both Xhaka and Ceballos like plenty of time on the ball when first receiving it. Ceballos got caught on the ball inside the first 5 minutes right in front of his own penalty area because he wanted too much time on the ball. City had a big chance because of that and could easily have taken an early lead. We have seen Xhaka before get caught on the ball as he isn’t the most nimble. My concern is… Read more »
Martinez must stay.
One shot on target- saved by his left hand….
amazing reflexes for a massive man
The Godfather If you are comparing our GKs with Seaman well i can only agree with you. 🙂 On a more serious note I still think Emi deserves it more than Leno … in the PL. I won’t deny that Leno is good, I just feel that he is not suited to our team. What I am trying to say is this: what we neef right now is a GK that is confident to help our defense be equally confident. Until his injury, he was part of our defensive issues: he did not bring any confidence whatsoever to a defence… Read more »
“We are all going to party today but tomorrow, we resume calling each other cunts and arguing about anything and everything.”
All Hail Le Grove…. so saucy it stings.
TR7
I actually think Martinez is more offensively attuned than Leno. He’s better with his feet and distributes the ball better. He comes out and makes the right choices. I like Leno too and he’s saved our bacon too many times.
Martinez makes playing from the back more drama- free. He’s had his moments too though tbh.
Ishola
The fact you’re trying to qualify any praise for Xhaka is testament to your bias. Your campaign against him is a failure, give up.
What a great week for Arteta! Got lucky against Liverpool and a deserved win tonight. He really has shown that good coaching and a well executed plan with a limited team can upset the so called big boys. Great performance.
Sanmi
Xhaka not looking as bad came at the expense of other players looking good.
He was outstanding tonight but he hardly had to move. If we want to progress and be able to control matches he’s simply not good enough.
I’ll ask the same question I asked earlier – If Xhaka was available for £1 million and only wanted £50k per week who would be interested in him?
A result like this is why we love cup games! Everyone put in a solid shift.
We seem to have mastered one of the oldest tricks in football – if a team defend properly as a unit, they’re difficult to break down.
And once more, Auba has shown that he’s worth his weight in gold.
He’s often accused of being a tap-in merchant but even those are not easy to put away. Ask Traore (Wolves) who’s missed a couple recently.
Champagne
We all know that Xhaka is more comfortable defending deeper.
It’s no mystery.
And I have praised him highly for his deep defending tonight.
Just like I have praised Luiz for his deep defending tonight.
Great win today…
I think Arteta just earned one star today on his way to becoming a full fledged four star general in the manager’s chair.
There was talk that Emi was on the verge of getting a call up to the Argentinian national team. If that happens then it just turns on the pressure on Arteta because he won’t be content with idling away on the bench.
Let’s see how Arsenal adapt when the shoe is on the other foot against Aston Villa
Ahhh fuck with the arguing…
We…
Are…
Going…
To…
WEMBLEY!! WEMBLEY!!!
We are the boys in Red and White and we are fucking dynamite!!!
Ishola I’m just saying about the squad poverty
sure we are just skint in the creativity in the midfield other positions look settled more or less
Dissenter I am not being dramatic at all, but then I am not a fair weather supporter who keeps on making negative comments about the coach and players. I kept my counsel about Emery last season notwithstanding that he was the wrong coach for club and team. As I said at the time I would give him a maximum of 18 months to prove himself. Yet the team was playing garbage football in the first half of this season. As I posted on several occasions Arsenal did not deserve to win a single game including those we won. As soon… Read more »
Rodney
It’s why the FA Cup is the greatest Club Cup competition in the world.
Ishola
You shouldn’t try to water down the praise for Xhaka
No ifs, ands or buts.
No ‘ Just like I have praised Luiz for his deep defending tonight’
Those that think we should sell Auba are so wrong. Without him we would not be in another FA cup final. Xhaka was immense too I thought. I love watching them play as a team after so long at last. They really wanted it and they deserved the win.
I really like Leno as a keeper. Active, agile and great reflexes.
But goalkeeping is mostly a calming confidence business.
Ederson is over confident. Allison is confident but not really calm.
Emi behaves like a surgeon during games…super calming confidence in the exact right measure, and his effect is healing nervous wrecks like Mustafi.
Then we need the money. Top goalkeepers are fucking expensive. Leno is a top top goalkeeper. Teams like Juve, Inter and PSG need good goalkeepers. Sell for £70m.
Dissenter
“You shouldn’t try to water down the praise for Xhaka”
All I am pointing out is that Xhaka becomes less of a defensive problem when he is defending deep in his own penalty area like tonight.
He was really, really good in his defensive plays inside his own penalty area.
That’s the reality.
He can become more of a defensive liability the further he is drawn away from his own penalty area if we are talking in purely defensive matters.
Both Xhaka and Luiz had excellent games tonight.
Arteta song
Nah na nah na na, na na na na naah
Here comes the Arteta , tactical master,
Here comes the Arteta, Arsenal Gaffer
“Back oass Almost?? Oh dear. How many goals has Leno cost I’m last two seasons?I can think of theee that mattered One vs pool last season A game that had we won we would have qualified. He spilled the equaliser And two vs chelsea this season Another 3 points Crucial” Oh shit, you mean none under Arteta? I love the the guy, been here for 10years…but there is a reason he doesn’t start for us prior to Leno’s injury and for Argentina… Armani who is absolutely dreadful still starts for them. He is grabbing this opportunity with both hand as… Read more »
Un/Cc,
Some prefer Leno; others Martinez.
Two top quality keepers of equivalent talent, confidence and ability.
Two number ones. Do we need two number ones?
If finances are indeed stretched, then selling one of the two makes sense in order to raise money for areas where the squad is lacking in depth.
I’ll ask the same question I asked earlier – If Xhaka was available for £1 million and only wanted £50k per week who would be interested in him?
Marc
Only half the PL clubs and probably entire Bundesliga save maybe the Bayern.
Not to mention most Italian clubs.
Gentlebris why not sell Martinez then? If you are selling your top top goalkeeper because his backup happened to have a great run of form what happens if that ends?
Goal keeping is a funny thing, all it takes is one high profile error and you begin to doubt to yourself. Leno has shown he can come back strong from errors that lead to goals, can Martinez?
I never knew a day would return that we would beat those bullish Pep’s monsters, and to do it in a semi and knock them out!
Caraboooooobo is all they will get this term, the monsters.
CL goes to Bayern.
@TheLegendary
“ I won’t deny that Leno is good, I just feel that he is not suited to our team.”
Cmon men you can’t be serious
Tom
So the bottom half of the PL, piss poor German clubs – if you think Dortmund would buy him why didn’t they put a bid in in Jan when it looked like he was going to Berlin. As for Serie A – only a much slower league.
So not a single club of worth but yet he’s too good for us to sell.
Fuck wit!
Woab
I’m fine with that….next summer. I’d be amazed to see the club sell Leno on the back of two months form from Martinez. It’s no doubt done enough to keep him at the club, but it’s a stretch to think the club will dispose of an asset like Leno imo.
There’s numerous square pegs for Arteta’s view of the game, it’s another Laca/Auba situation. Fine to pull the trigger if pushed, but can near guarantee we’ll be looking to offload others before entertaining it.
Next season will establish the number 1, and we’ll resume from there me thinks.
TR7 “If Arteta switches to attacking formation next season with defenders playing a high line then Leno becomes a more important GK for the team” Yes Leno looks better with one on ones with attackers bearing down on goal. The question that may be asked though is it wise to defend with a high line with these players? Luiz is not quick to be polite and neither is Xhaka. Early look at Mari suggests pace is not his best attribute either. Then again Arteta has told us that the team must become the dominant team in matches. To enforce their… Read more »
Leno number 2. you cannot tell Emi he is not a starter from now on.
We win the FA then its going to be a really hard conversation to have
Now Areta can relegate two teams in a row and then win the cup. This guy knows football, guys. Hope to God that Arsenal gets Watford and Deeney relegated on the last day. Still has to sell the overpaid dross: Mustafi, Xhaka, Ozil. Xhaka not as bad as Ozil but a lot better can be had for his wages. If a buyer comes for Pepe, pls unload, too lazy and one dimensional. Bellerin, Chambers and Kolasinac are pants, sell all and rebuild. Keep Nelson pls, learnt anything from the Gnabry fiasco by the French toad?
@ Marc:
“Xhaka not looking as bad came at the expense of other players looking good.He was outstanding tonight but he hardly had to move. If we want to progress and be able to control matches he’s simply not good enough.“
Very well said!
I remember Martinez not making a single save in the 5-5 against Liverpool this season.
Juan musso would still be picked ahead of him if they get bored of Armani..
SF
But a good conversation – we’ve got 2 good keepers who do we pick is miles better than picking the lesser of two evils.
Bring on Chelsea
I want a revenge of the EL final.
I hope they win against Manure….
Back pass
There are many instances where the goal keeping baton is passed on by happenstance because the main keeper got injured.
I never rated Martinez but I’m pleasantly surprised that one so good was idling away.
Leno had a reputation for clangers before he came to Arsenal so people aren’t just making stuff up. He’s a very good keeper too but no way Martinez is worse than he is.
I’m getting hot for smash and grab football
Anyway looking to the finals: I’d rather face Chelsea.
United’s defense especially on the counter is a blazing nightmare
“Leno number 2. you cannot tell Emi he is not a starter from now on.
We win the FA then its going to be a really hard conversation to have”
Well, you certainly can’t tell him he is the number 1 either. If we want to be playing ultra defensive and 3-ATB formation next season then fair enough.
“So the bottom half of the PL, piss poor German clubs – if you think Dortmund would buy him why didn’t they put a bid in in Jan when it looked like he was going to Berlin. As for Serie A – only a much slower league.So not a single club of worth but yet he’s too good for us to sell.Fuck wit!”
He was going to Berlin for reported 20m
20m is more than 1m mentioned by you by about 19m last time I checked.
Fuck wit!
A few people on here need to eat some humble pie…
Un,
That auba always fluffs his lines against big teams.
Gobfather,
😂… now let’s see what Liverpool and city do to us.
They both lost big man.
Up the fucking Arsenal.
‘Gentlebris why not sell Martinez then? If you are selling your top top goalkeeper because his backup happened to have a great run of form what happens if that ends?’ R.H, Emi wouldn’t fetch as much money as Leno. Every game Emi has played, it’s not just the performance that I see, it’s the personality. I rate Leno so highly, but Emi for me. If we get £70m for Leno, we could look around and smartly invest £10m back into the goalkeeping department…so if Emi has a problem, we have a £10m huge potential to bring to the stage. Chelsea… Read more »
I dont care who or what we play at the back as long as we improve and get wins
I think it a good problem to have… Leno and Emi.
Emi has not made unforced errors like Leno thus far. Seems much more confident than Leno
Godfather
Problem on here for a lot of posters (the same for a lot of people in the wider world) is they judge everyone else on their own preconceptions.
I’d love it if Xhaka became a world class CM but I’ve watched him for almost 4 years now and he’s not good enough. It’s not ego, it’s not me trying to prove to a load of tags on a blog that I’ll never meet that I’m right and they’re wrong.
It’s about Arsenal winning matches and trophies. I couldn’t give a toss about anything or anyone else on here.
“If we get £70m for Leno”
Are you a fucking moron?
https://twitter.com/goonerviews/status/1284591231658610690?s=12 hahahaah 😂
What can you say after a game like this?
Consistency.
Excellent wins against Liverpool and City… we are well in the way from dropping the flat track bullies label that stuck to us recently.
However we need to do so against Villa and Watford.
As great as this result was we need to see the job through. We haven’t won the cup yet!
‘Anyway looking to the finals: I’d rather face Chelsea.
United’s defense especially on the counter is a blazing nightmare’
Didn’t we just do Citey upon Liverpool?
I don’t care who comes…but I prefer United.
Stop Bruno, and deny Rashford a space to run into and United are sitting ducks.
Martial and Greenwood?
They have plenty firepower up front
Marc
Seem a bit aggressive after a great win like this aren’t you.
Fuckwit, moron, what’s a matter , did a street beggar tell you off after you rolled your window down to preach to him personal responsibility and hard work ethics?
Tom “He was going to Berlin for reported 20m 20m is more than 1m mentioned by you by about 19m last time I checked. Fuck wit!” Oh dear little moron – made my point. The only club interested in him is a mid table German club – where were Madrid, Barca, Liverpool, City, ManU, Juve, Milan, Inter, Chelsea, Atletico, the Dog and Duck, Spud’s, Wolves, Leicester, PSG and Burnley? I said £1 million because no decent club would touch him with a barge pole even at that price. Fuck me most clubs wouldn’t take him if you said you pay… Read more »
Still remember Emi having a shocker against Reading when we came back from 4-0 down to win 5-7. A lot has changed
Tom
Nah just a low tolerance level for retards.
Lets get back at Olly.
No Hazard
Chelsea run most everything through Pulisic and Willian
We can nullify them easier
Also the 2-2 draw wtih 10 men… I fancy our chances now against them…
I want revenge
Marc,
I could make you retire for the night but Arsenal just beat Citey in a semi final, so do your thing….unopposed. I’m all for the joy of the moment.
Fuck me Marc, yea it’s not about ego with you whatsoever.
Just twatted City, Xhaka was immense, and you’re regurgitating your nonsense about what clubs would take him for 1 million. State of you
Brixton
That’s brilliant.
Dissenter
“Back pass
There are many instances where the goal keeping baton is passed on by happenstance because the main keeper got injured.
I never rated Martinez but I’m pleasantly surprised that one so good was idling away.”
He is taking his chances now, fair play but to claim he is better than Leno who has been one of our standout performance this season based on one month in which our team performance has been better.
He is not exactly young, when he shows it for long period of time then we can start proclaiming he is better than Leno.