Well, here we are my darlings, another day of planning our way out of this mess. This will be a joy-scroll, buckle up, it’ll be fun.
So, let’s get the bad news out of the way. It’s not good times on the injury front for Thomas Partey. If he’s fucked the same thing he fucked before, he’s going to be out of contention for maybe 8 weeks. That would be a huge blow to the project. You can understand why Mikel and his team took the chance. A willing player and a shit situation, but the reality is, they took a huge risk on a game we weren’t likely to win. Short term thinking to save a sinking season. Now the ship is sunk, then gamble looks a poor one.
The shame is that Gabriel M will be back early. He safely passed through 45 minutes of football and he’s well on his way to the first team. A huge moment for the team. He is the exact profile of player you want to see Arsenal stock up on going forward. He’s young, he’s hungry, he’s terrifying because he works like a dog, he wants to grow with the team.
As we move into December, Mikel Arteta needs to reshape the way he operates. He needs to bin the players who let him down, even if they’re the good guys behind the scenes. The fragility in this squad is both attitude, and sadly, functional purpose to the system.
Thomas Partey exiting the starting 11 should not be another opportunity for players that have been given countless chances under countless managers. It’s time to try something new.
The most obvious candidate for a run in the side is Ainsley Maitland-Niles. I can not longer tolerate the idea that he isn’t the correct choice for our midfield. I have seen the others fail, I know what the best is with them, it’s time to give someone a career here and coach the bad bits out.
Ainsley has the correct athletic profile. We’ve seen him pocket Traore. We’ve seen him control City attackers. When he is on, he is something we don’t have in the squad at Arsenal. He’s mobile, he’s dynamic, he has an underrated passing range and he should be developed.
The mistakes Arteta has made are clear. He wanted to shortcut to the Champions League and he made bum decisions that should have been rectified by a strong Technical Director. David Luiz, Auba, and Willian were not good decisions. Thinking he could take a squad where the senior players were either dreaming of their retirement or Bosman signings was fanciful.
The first stage of rectifying bad phase in the workplace is to identify the biggest problems you have. I don’t think Mikel has looked at himself, I don’t think he has people in his staff that are correcting him, but if he wants to escape this moment, it’s time to admit where it’s going wrong.
If you put 100 problems up on a wall at Arsenal and found the core patterns, you’d land on:
- Senior players letting the club down because they don’t give a fuck on and off the pitch. Auba is in the mixer I’m afraid.
- The wrong talent profile of players to operate a coherrant system so it’s functional
- Young players not ready to hit the heights of the ambition the club promised in the summer
Now, clearly it’s an oversimplification, but I write a blog, I don’t run corporate workshops of beleaguered football clubs.
But solve those three problems and you steady the fanbase, you show true leadership by admitting your vision wasn’t right, and you give people a taste of where things are going in a lower pressure environment.
The young players aren’t ready.
That’s a major problem if you are kidding the world Arsenal will be more than a midtable side this season. If Arteta starts dealing in truth, namely, the squad he enabled for another season is not fit for purpose, we can move forward.
If he sets out a new plan, one that works to his strengths, the fans might buy it. Arteta is a great coach, he will work better with kids than senior players who don’t care for developing, so focus on the kids.
At this point, most of us would be over the moon if we shifted to a Hale-Enders project. Fuck the players that never change. Give me a kid that sees Arsenal as the biggest opportunity in their world. Fuck the players thinking about their retirement fund and unauthorised weekends away with Salt Bae. Fuck the player that think they are too good for Europa. We are tired of those that think their seniority and past achievements mean they don’t have to hit the required level.
Being honest gives Arteta permission to play the system he wants to play. Will it make top 4? No. Will we get spanked occasionally? Yes. Will there be days when we turn it on and everyone salivates? Absolutely. The mission here is to show the fans where the football could go when we bring in more quality players that can do the things required.
The Hale-Enders aren’t perfect, but they sure as hell give more of a shit than the preferred starting 11 on offer now. You think Balogun is going to fuck his chance to be a big player? You think ESR would be static when a midfielder breaks the lines from deep? You think Reiss Nelson isn’t going to bleed to be a part of Arsenal’s future?
I have consistently written about Arsenal not being honest about their situation over the years. We have constantly let our ‘rep’ get in the way of the rebuild. In messy business rebuild, you have to go to the bottom to build back up. The foundations need to be set properly. You need good process. Then you build the right talent density to move things up a level. You get some things right, some wrong, but if the mission is clear, your rectify mistakes early and move incrementally forward on a quarterly basis
Arsenal has been unwilling to do the hard work. So many of our decisions are half baked. Ivan goes? Give the job to two unqualified people. Sven Mislintat quits because he was horrified by the antics of a horror show of a Football Director. What do we do? We let that soiled director carry on and replace scouting expertise with a coterie of shite super agents. We then hire a Technical Director that arrived via a super agent. Hire an inexperienced manager, watch him do some great work, then PROMOTE HIM almost immediately to a manager on the same level as the Technical Director people don’t rate.
Wow… the banter of that paragraph was intense.
Arsenal do not like hard work. They do not like a plan. They cannot be honest about the path forward being hard, so they shortcut it over and over. The hardest thing to do in football is to admit to fans that things are going to be shit for a bit, to show patience, and commit to something that makes sense.
We should be re-upping Project Youth. Imagine that team with the spine we have now? We’d be a top 3 side.
Arsenal should move to a Dortmund+ model. Come to Arsenal, give us 3 seasons, we’ll give you game time at the best stadium in London, and we’ll make you famous. Then you can fuck off for £100m.
Sign athletes. Sign players that care more about self-improvement than money (Balogun is agitating for game time, not £90k a week). Sign players with high ceilings. Make Arsenal a destination for progressive football.
I would buy that vision. You would buy that vision. It’d be exciting. It’d allow us to get back to an identity. It’d bring in a new fanbase. It would mean when we do make the Champions League, we’d actually have a squad that could compete for it, not disintegrate because they were injecting themselves with horse placenta to make it to the team bus.
Strong leadership is needed to admit that what is going on right now is not taking us the promised land. We need a new direction. Tough decisions need to be made around staffing, players, and the hard work ahead. The only way Arteta gets back on track is to do something different. He fucked the summer, his ambitions were too big for his belly, his idea has no chance of success, he has to change that now and craft a path forward and save his career.
Time to roll up the sleeves. He can do it. Does he have the cajones to? Jury is out…
LISTEN TO OUR NEW PODCAST. Matt and I talk about the root cause of our issues. Leadership, hard work, and lack of strategy… still. We also talk some positives as well.
Luteo
Maybe in league one or two. That’s his level.
Or back to putting out cones for pep
He has absolutely no business being Arsenal’s manager.
Zero.
““I said a week or so back the challenge for him will be reining his ego”It seems to be getting out of control in truth, he was practically glaring at the post match interviewer after the match like can’t you see i am doing a good job“ ———- Klopp and Pep are the only two managers I regularly go out of my way to listen to when they speak pre and post game. Granted, a lot of it is just proforma platitudes most managers spew from the podium , but even still neither one is afraid to say “ I… Read more »
Snowkid,
I would rather have a manager like Wenger who cares about the club and does not want to leave it in a financial ditch.
The issue qas the club own making by not replacing David Dein. Trying to do it on the cheap by basically requiring Wenger to do everything is exactly what started the decline.
“It started with wenger. When he , as a football manager, started to care more about the money side of the football club than the the footballing side.”
Exactly the attitude that KSE demands. If they can win a trophy or two, deflects away temporarily from the true objective.
You don’t honestly believe that KSE invested in AFC because they love Football?
The Ref for the PSG game is someone from Nederland.
Honestly can we stop slagging off Wenger.
His successors have done more harm in 2 years that he did in 12 years, at least with Wenger he left you some wonderful memories.
Danny
A new manager bounce could see us pick up 6 – 9 points over the next 4 matches (or better) which would get us at least back in contention for a EL place, the right manager then gets hold of the squad and we start to see some genuine improvement and momentum.
The whole atmosphere around the club would change in no time.
Well said Dissenter.
Talking of AW,
His last home match was against Burnley only 90 odd games ago.
A 5 zero howitzer.
We have not reallly made much progress since….
I wonder if this will be Artetas?
Obviously the ideal guy to run a football club would be a footballing guy. And the ideal guy to run a global football club in an era where sports, and football especially, is about to go parabolic, is a footballing guy who has a wealth of experience building global entertainment franchises…. … and the short list for that profile is more or less zero. The person does not exist. The nearest thing would be a Mayweather or De La Hoya in boxing. Hence, you need to compromise somewhere and for me that would mean go find the best CEO to… Read more »
He has a 0% record of successfully executing a plan anywhere on the planet but you want to hang your hat on that plan.
Thats unfair I am sure he executed Pep’s cone layout plan successfully several times!
Arteta would be long gone had Emery been sacked for football reasons.
Foxy
He also got his morning coffee order right – most mornings.
Marc
We didn’t even get the new manager bounce with arteta
The writing was on the wall then
Snowkid
We got a new manager hign with Arteta – The FA cup
Problem is that we rewrote the constitution for him and made him omni potential manager for life.
Marc Faber, You are wrong on many counts. 1) “the ideal guy to run a global football club in an era where sports, and football especially, is about to go parabolic, is a footballing guy who has a wealth of experience building global entertainment franchise” You don’t need to have experience in building entertain franchise. This is a English club not the WWE. I would say even experience in the MLS or other US Sport Franchise could even be an hindrance because the setup is completely different. There is no salary cap, no global draft, no global marketing strategy or… Read more »
Arsenal have gone from.
Wenger to Arteta
Ken Friar to Edu
David Dein to Vinny
Denis Hill Wood to Silent Stan.
Highbury to The Emirates.
Marc Honestly, an entertainer will manage Arsenal better provided he had very clear expectation and goals. You can’t separate sports from entertainment and cannot remove entertainment from sports. It’s one package. Dana White built the UFC into a billion dollar organization in 2 decades. There’s no way Dana White would have let Sanchez not be sold. There’s no way he would have given a waster like Ozil a club record deal, or let Ramsey leave for free. Dana White won’t have made all this stupid errors, certainly not coronate a newbie manager with an open contract. Dana White deals with… Read more »
Snowkid
That’s what I used to think but I’ve come round to the idea that actually we did – getting 8 points from 7 matches is better than what Arteta’s doing now.
South African Gooner
Graham to Arteta.
Atalanta looking nervy, as weird as it sounds being in their situation and only needing a draw can sometimes nearly be worse than having to win as in Ajax’s case.
Invites pressure and nerves and once the dam bursts the momentum is all with the team needing to win.
Martin Edwards seemed to do a pretty decent job at ManU back in the day.
It’s not about being a “football man” it’s about understanding good business practice, seeing opportunities and what the paying customers – fans want.
Most businesses don’t have customers who have an emotional attachment to their product.
The Vulchers are circling over arteta…
I think if he axes big names he could survive
WE
Are you saying not having a clear objective can cause problems?
Emery had a better win % than Arteta does.
RSPC
Who are the big names?
8 out of 21 points 😂😂😂
You’re right. It is better than he’s doing now.
The special sauce bounce
Arsenal Football Club didn’t just lose its soul when it left Highbury, it also lost its spirit and desire to win. The day we accepted financial sustainability above a winning culture was the day we regressed as a club. Chelski and MC had nothing to do with how poorly Arsenal have been run these past 14 years. That’s a cop out. Top 4 should never have been our goal. Winning the league and competing at the highest level should have been our main objective and with that financial security and sustainability would have been assured. Creating a fair and ethical… Read more »
Well it was nice to be back for a few but when Floyd Mayweather and Dana White are brought up as examples during a conversation on how to best run a football club, that’s my cue to leave.
Well said Graham
Everything was spot on
You need someone who knows how to build an global brand/franchise for a global audience and competing against rivals with world class commercial setups. As an example, let us look at Bayern, the obvious role model given Gazidis’ utterances a while back. As well as footballing ‘faces’, the brains trust includes Herbert Hainer who ran Adidas for the best part of 15 years… a short bio: “… Hainer headed the international sporting goods group of 55,000 employees and 110 subsidiaries for 15 years. During this time, the value of the company increased twelvefold from €3 billion to €36 billion, sales… Read more »
Graham talking out of his arse as per usual,
People forget that the Liverpool owner didn’t have football background.
He just extended all the left field money ball approaches that had worked for the Boston Redsox to European football.
We have to do things outside he box to rebuild this club. I understand why Arteta was give a chance because he sort of seemed to break the system down to rebuild it but he’s a gutless and insipid manager who’s not ready for prime time.
Joke Wednesday Two 90-year-old men, Graham and Pierre, have been friends all of their lives. When it’s clear that Pierre is dying, Graham visits him every day. One day Graham says, “Pierre, we both loved football all our lives, and we played football on Saturdays together for so many years. Please do me one favour, when you get to Heaven, somehow you must let me know if there’s football there.” Pierre looks up at Graham from his death bed and says, “Graham, you’ve been my best friend for many years. If it’s at all possible, I’ll do this favour for… Read more »
Snowboy
“The biggest slap in the face is the way Spurs are dealing with the stadium move..”
I could have sworn that we have already one trophy since Tottenham’s stadium move ..
You get nothing for being top a third of the way through the season .
It’s all about the trophies, tottenham 2 league cups in 29 years .
Arsenal.
I’ve lost count of how many trophies we have won during that period ..
Come back snowboy ,when Tottenham have won a few trophies .
LG
That’s funny
LG
That would have been quite good if it had a decent punchline..
Luteo
Thanks for the lagh
Will you be ready to cheep up the Arsenal squad via zoom tomorrow
… I know a guy
Luteo
Thanks for the laughs
Will you be ready to cheep up the Arsenal squad via zoom tomorrow
… I know a guy
Safe to say that Pierre doesn’t appreciate being the guy who passed away in that joke..
Whats up guys. How do we see the rest of the season going?
In pierres heaven, Wenger and Ozil will be waiting fir him in his boudoir, naked and smothered in baby oil.
Luteo
That was good.
“Dana White built the UFC into a billion dollar organization in 2 decades. There’s no way Dana White would have let Sanchez not be sold. There’s no way he would have given a waster like Ozil a club record deal, or let Ramsey leave for free. Dana White won’t have made all this stupid errors, certainly not coronate a newbie manager with an open contract. Dana White deals with some very crazy and complex fighters eye ball to eye ball, he doesn’t flinch from making tough decisions. He’s the cunt you want on your side.” Of all the stupid shit… Read more »
Dissenter
Not all ..it just wasn’t particularly funny…..
Not at all
Granted, on the evidence of only one game , one Liverpool had very little riding on, Jens Cajuste – a 21 year old Sweed playing holding mid for Midtjylland- had a better holding mid performance than anyone in Arsenal shirt in that position the entire season, or more.
Physical, tall, strong in a challenge and good on the ball, he bossed Keita and other Liverpool players today.
Now maybe it was a one off for him but since Arsenal dismantled their scouting network we might never know.
Alex cutter
I appreciate that alternate view of the UFC
Did you follow MMAs in the 1990s and early 2000s before the UFC became the dominants force?
It was a backwater sport that many never imagined would become a global phenom. You have fighters in the UFC that are more recognizable that heavyweight boxers.
Many of the best fighters are super rich too and have translated that wealth to the box office.
Luteo
That was funny.
Pierre
Chill out
Arsenal are the worst run club, based on resources and infrastructure, in world football.
Been the case since 2006.
Those that think it started in 2018 are only kidding themselves.
I think we should fire the Arsenal medical team. First, it is Luiz. Then it is Partey. Now you can’t trust what they say about the condition of our player.
For a minute there I considered the possibility that Pierre has no sense of humour, then I remembered all the hilarious stuff he’s posted down the years.
andy
I don’t know why Pierre got upset? It’s not as if anyone booked the Tolly for a huge party and started sending out invitations to all the Le Grover’s to celebrate Pierre dying is it?
Nelson
What have they done now?
King Benz getting done for Madrid.
Marc
They told Arteta that that Luiz can continue to play. That was Arteta’s defense to keep Luiz on the pitch. Now they said that Luiz shouldn’t play for at least another week.
As for Partey, they again told Arteta that Partey was fit to play. Now he is out for a few games.
Sal
Only 2 Champions League goals behind the big dog Raul now, 69 in 125 apps.
He has always been elite in Europe.
Marc
Couldn’t be more chilled , thanks for your concern.
As for being “upset” , I get more upset at missing a 3 foot putt that anything anyone says on here …
Pierre
You’d swap the FA Cup for a top 4 trophy.
Arteta is 38 years of age.
He must understand the principles of basic First Aid when it comes to head injuries.
He is the manager and coach.
He should have used his own footballing knowledge and experience to prevent Luiz from returning to the action. We all saw it, why didn’t he?
It was basic common sense.
Pierre
I should hope so as well
WengerEagle
It the past greats had as many games in Europe as the new crop, they’d have 200 goals .
Graham
The initial conversation was about Luiz being fit enough from a concussion and mental state. One of the things what surprised me was that the ref did do something when blood was soaking through the bandage in fair amounts.
When you hear that a week later the cut was too severe to play in another match someone needs to answer what information was Arteta provided? If Arteta overrode the doctors advice that’s shocking, if the doctor gave the wrong advice that’s a concern that needs to be dealt with as well.
didn’t do something
Think I need Santa to bring me a typing course for Christmas
Graham62
Arteta;s failure was not recognizing the footballing impact of Luiz injury and waiting until two needless goals were conceded.
Luiz could not head the ball properly after the incident. He should have been hauled off.
Graham/Marc
In Australian Rules Football there is a very simple ‘blood rule’. If any part of the anatomy is bleeding the player is off the pitch until the blood flow is stemmed. If the blood can’t be stopped the player is finished. It is a very simple rule that avoids any cross contamination. It can not be disputed, Luiz would never have been allowed back on the pitch – the decision would have been taken away from the coach.
“Did you follow MMAs in the 1990s and early 2000s before the UFC became the dominants force? It was a backwater sport that many never imagined would become a global phenom. You have fighters in the UFC that are more recognizable that heavyweight boxers.” Yes. Right out of college I saw a tape of the first UFC in Denver while at a bachelor party in vegas. At that time it wasn’t available on PPV as we know it today. You needed to have a satellite dish. I loved it, and pitched an article idea about the “sport” to the magazine… Read more »
Madrid coasting past Rose here, they owned that 90.
Crazy how much of a choke job Conte led teams are in the Champions League, how many group exits is that now for him?
Inter not even going into Europa
Wow Conte crashing all the way out of Europe, don’t have to worry about drawing them in the Europa.
Manure and Ajax definitely the pick of the bunch from the EL qualified sides.
Rest are pretty weak with the exceprion of Salzburg who are good.
What happened to the Ajax manager Ten Hag? He was supposed to be the next big thing, no? Bayern, Barca linked…
Interesting read Alex, didn’t realise that you were so involved in UFC at a point.
Ever interact with Rogan? Think he started before Dana evennwas involved in late 90s.
We better watch out for Shakhtar in the Europa League. Seems they were absoutely hellbent in getting third place in the group. They could have got second place and CL football with a win tonight with the way the other tie went but they were not interested at all. Totally played for the 0-0 going down like flies in the later stages to waste time and their manager celebrated the result at the final whistle. Shakhar euphoric over Europa League qualification showed no interest tonight in qualifying for CL. And Inter were disappointing. They only really started to go for… Read more »
They were stripped bare Dani, all of their star men in De Ligt, De Jong, Van De Beek and Ziyech.
Replacements havent been quite up to par. To be fair to them as well Liverpool and Atalanta is hell of a tough group.
Alex cutter
I know you don’t seem to like Dana White but he pulled off a major fat in unifying some of the diverse talents of MMA into one umbrella
Dutch Kickboxing
Muay Thai kick boxing
Brazilian Jujitsu
Russian Sambo wrestling that’s strongest in the caucuses
Western boxing
Karate
Judo
I used to watch these Dutch kick boxers in the Kickboxing World Grand Prix Championship circuit before UFC just came and swallowed them up.
The merchandize that MMA generates is already more than basketball and baseball combined.
Lukaka showed tonight why he is not a real top class CF.
He may go on some scoring streaks from time to time but seen too many non-performances from him tonight.
His lack of footballing intelligence was very evident tonight. Thick as a plank.
Ishola
They are not a good side, Inter battered them in the Europa only a couple of months back.
Wins over Real were a bit fluky.
I got that WE – just very surprised Ten Hag is still there. He was meant to be the successor to Niko Kovac @ Bayern but Flick did so well it never happened.
Weagle
“They are not a good side, ”
And what are Arsenal atm a “good” side?
If Arteta can fall to Olympiakos last season he could easily go out over two legs to Shakhtar as well in what is a shitty season for Arsenal and that’s me not overly rating Shakhtar.
My point was that Shakhtar only had interest in Europa League qualification tonight whe there was a chance for them to go for CL qualification and they celebrated their Europa League qualification at the final whistle.
Looks like Shakhatar value that Europa League highly.
Champions league rejects drop down into the reject cup.
I was quite impressed with the young Israeli Shakhtar have got Manor Solomon predominately left winger.
He’s a two footed player, 21 yo and shows some good strength and composure on the ball. He’s scored a couple of goals against Real Madrid in the CL this season over their two ties.
Ishola
The way that we are playing you would fancy most half decent sides in the EL like Napoli, Sociedad, Villarreal, Roma, Benfica, AC Milan, Lille, Leverkusen to beat us over 2 legs.
Doesn’t say a lot for Shakhtar. And of course they are pleased, would they have rathered a potential deep run in the EL or to get pasted by 5+ goals over 2 legs by a PSG, Bayern, Liverpool, City or Juventus?
“Dutch Kickboxing
Muay Thai kick boxing
Brazilian Jujitsu
Russian Sambo wrestling that’s strongest in the caucuses
Western boxing
Karate
Judo”
All of the above were represented in the UFC/Pride prior to the thumb’s involvement.
Weagle
“would they have rathered a potential deep run in the EL”
Goes back to my original point then doesn’t it that they may be a team to look out for.
They obviously fancy themselves as you put it for a “deep” run in the Europa League.
Dani
He may not be beyond the season, they are smashing records in the Eredivisie. Few top clubs will be in need if a gaffer.
I see Favre getting sacked at Dortmund, probably Conte at Inter Milan if he implodes when they bottle the league, Tuchel is on his last legs in Paris, Ole at Utd.
Ishola
Fancying it is one thing and it being realistic is quite another.
Any of United, Ajax, AC Milan, Napoli and Villarreal would destroy them.
Yeah Shakhtar got smashed over the two games against Moechengladbach bur=t did quite well in the other four matches.
You seem to be dwelling on the two matches against one opponent rather than their four other performances against two other sides in the group.
The Portuguese scout Jose Bhutto scouted Solomon the young Israeli at Shakhtar.
And Bhutto has very good form and was widely respected for the scouting he undertook when at Benfica.
Why don’t Arsenal get in Bhutto? Oh I forgot we don’t do scouts now. We sacked all ours.
Apparently Allegri is top of the shortlist should Arteta be sacked. Lol….Only Arsenal could look a gift horse in the mouth.
The Sun says Arteta has 3 games to save his job or else it’s Allegri!
Jesus Christ, I gave Dana White as an example of people of wrong type of person to run Arsenal and now some idiots genuinely believe that this is the right type of person. Dana White made money by promoting illegal fighting. He literally build his fortune on the back of people who are now destitute and physically broken. Soon we will have people advocating to hire the founder of Bumfight who was paying homeless people to fight so he can film and sell the videos. Comparing the rebuilding of Arsenal and taking the top job at Bayern is ridiculous. Bayern… Read more »
Jesus Christ – I stop reading the comments for a few hours and the next thing I learn is that both Pierre and Graham have died and gone to heaven and are happily playing football together.
Bastards!
They’re enjoying their football more than Arsenal footballers are at the moment.
I wonder who is managing them…..
Wenger Eagle
You seem to follow Europe’s other top leagues, who do you see as clear favorites for EL this season , having seen who just dropped down from the CL.
I’m not tipping Shakhtar for Europa League glory btw.
Just said in original post that Arsenal could easily go out to them.
But as was mentioned Arsenal could go out to quite a few teams this season couldn’t they and not just the bigger name teams.
Mikel Arteta; “The demands for this football club are the highest. We are not getting the results in the league that we all expect, of course, the pressure is increasing. But more than the pressure, I would say the responsibility of all of us to make it happen next Sunday and start winning football matches, which is the most important thing.”
…yawn sauce
Not overly impressed with them. Were even dominated in their wins against Real Madrid hence them being a little fluky.
Inter should have won both draws too, completely outplayed them.
But they do have a few dangerous players like the lad that you mentioned, Marlos, Moraes, Taison, Tete.
Dissenter,
And in order to win the game, I have instructed the players to stay grouped in front of the goal except for Aubameyang who will tasked to dribble the entire Burnley team and then score from his own cross.
Tom From what I have seen AC Milan definitely are right up there as contenders when Zlatan is fit and firing. Really well balanced team with plenty of goals sources and creativity. Also you have to say Spurs and United. After that, Napoli under Gattuso are scary on their day. Have battered Atalanta and Roma this season as well as Lazio at the end of last season. Inconsistent but a very dangerous Cup side and better than the one that we beat 2 years ago. Early days in Lille but they also look the real deal in Europe and League… Read more »
Valentin
add to that:
” I have directed three players to interchange passes at the corner flag before firing a cross to Auba who crowded out by four Burney players.