NAVIGATING THE RIGHT ROTATIONAL MIX

by .

I think I maybe took the misery a little bit too far on the post yesterday. We beat Leeds, a game most of us didn’t fancy, and I dominated the post with my concern over David Luiz and Willian.

It’s time to pick up the mood.

When things go well, you might as well enjoy them, because massive games like Manchester City are usually only a week or so away.

We’re playing in Rome on Thursday in a huge night out against… Benfica. Usually, we land a slightly easier tie in the last 32 of this competition, but to be honest, a night out in a nice stadium against a team with a name of prestige is good for the moment.

I genuinely think one of the first European games I ever remember Arsenal playing in was Benfica.

It felt sexy then and that sheen with Benfica has never worn off for me… even though they’re not the force they once were. The Portuguese side finished 2nd in their group to Rangers. They won 3 games and drew 3. Not exactly impressive when Poznan and Liege made up the other seats. They’re a long way off their best, sitting 4th in their league 13 points off the top of the table… which is pretty bad by their usually high standards.

The hope we all have going into the game is that some of the decisions made in the week will be remedied with the correct selections for that starting 11. This isn’t a small game. It’s a chance to win a place in the next season’s Champions League. I would like to see a good side rolled out.

That will hopefully mean minutes for Gabriel Martinelli and Nicolas Pepe.

Where he makes up the starters elsewhere will have a slightly different spin on things. We shed a lot of players in January, at the same time, it’s also pretty clear that we’re trying to shove a few other names out this summer. Does he continue to give minutes to players he doesn’t want? Or does he opt for something new? Is there any point in Reiss starting?

Whatever he does, it’s important that we use Thursday nights to maintain momentum. A win doesn’t usually matter, but I do think a loss can sometimes rattle the vibes around a club.

I would quite like to see Odegaard continue to build his fitness. Pablo Mari and Cal Chambers should be finding some minutes. It might also be interesting to see Flo Balogun in the side. At the minute, it seems like Arteta is unwilling to invest minutes in someone that might leave, if he’s so confident he’ll sign, is it time to let him shine again?

I certainly don’t want to see Tierney and Saka starting…

Our two Premier League games that are wedged between these Europa games are quite mega.

Manchester City is this Sunday. They are back to peak Pep-ball and they’re the only truly scary team in the league.

Then we have Leicester the Sunday after. They could be in the title race. I’m not sure they are, but they’ve certainly been excellent this season and for me, it’s a real winnable day out if we turn up.

Going away to Italy and then following that up with Greece is really, really rough… but we’ll have to deal with it. All four of those games are important. Arteta and his staff are going to have to be very, very cute with how they organise squad rotation.

You’d ideally like to take that first half against Leeds into the 90 and come away with a big lead… but to achieve that level, you need to play too many senior players to give yourself a chance on Sunday against a City side that has a day more to prepare and a short bus ride to contend with.

Overall though, we have to head into this next batch of matches feeling pretty positive. That Leeds game wasn’t a fluke, it had been brewing, as I had written in the weeks preceding.

We’re starting to look like a clever side with exciting attacking instincts. There’s still lots to do, obviously, but the coaching is starting to kick in, and it’s hard to ignore that it’s quite innovative. Even when our xG was low against Villa, you could see that the passing patterns and positions were finding weren’t far off where we needed to be.

This squad is young. ESR, Saka and Odegaard are very, very junior. They will work out a rhythm over the next few weeks and the attacking football on show will speed up and the finishing will start to happen.

Of key importance to all of that is ensuring that we still defend well. Tony Adams advertised once again why he doesn’t have a big job in the game with this comment.

‘We saw how fragile they are defensively. The defence has always been the weak link. As the sporting director of Arsenal, you wouldn’t be getting Ødegaard in, you’d be getting good, strong defenders into the team instead.’

There are only three teams in the league that have conceded less than us this season. I think in all comps we’re joint tied with Chelsea for the best defence in the league. Conceding hasn’t been a problem, size of defender isn’t an issue, nor is ability. Tony Adams is falling back on 2018 complaints.

The big question is whether we can defend well when we’re opening up teams. The first half against Leeds seems to be how they want to go about it. Just nullify the opposition so they can’t attack in the first place. Manchester City has been doing that all season, I’d imagine that’s the path we’re going to take but on the cheap.

The Arsenal project is on the right path, what Arteta needs to do is navigate the next 6 weeks really well to stop the bi-weekly crisis sessions a particular section of the fanbase seems to revel in.

To keep the noise to a minimum, generally, you need to see good football, young players starting, combined with high energy output.

Let’s see what this week holds, could be exciting.

P.S. Le Grove fave Marco Rose landed a job at Dortmund next year. You see that? I’m getting better at this manager scouting malarkey.

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grooveydaddy

1st

grooveydaddy

And

grooveydaddy

The

grooveydaddy

Tr4phy

Gonsterous

Top 10?

kjelli

I would like to see Balugun and also Chambers play to rotate a bit and to give them minutes, as
I rate C. Chambers ..and we haven’t seen much of Folarin..

Gonsterous

Can we win 9 out of the remaining 13 PL games? That would give us a total of 61 points at the end of the campaign, is that good enough for top6?

If we end up outside the top 6, only the EL cup will give arteta the support of the kroenkes.

andy1886

Top ten? Generational!

Matt

Has nobody learnt by now, no chance Balogun gets a look in. Also Calum Chambers is average personified!!

andy1886

Pedro, no problem your positive vibes but when you stoop to lecturing fans and readers like a mini-Tony Attwood you really aren’t doing yourself any favours.

Back to the ‘standards’ discussion, as Arsenal fans can we at least agree that finishing below the Spuds should be a sackable offence? Or is that acceptable as long as you’re a ‘Superfan’?

Davey

Not getting the give him mins and rotate, this is Europa all in our only hope of a trophy and CL football.
We need to beat them and progress because making top 6 and Europa again does not cut it for me.

andy1886

Coming back to Pierre on his Martin Hayes point, it was hardly a bit of genius level insight to claim that you knew Hayes wasn’t very good despite the one season goal rush. As everyone was aware back then a large number of his goals were penalties, his overall play was very average. Any comparison with Martinelli is laughable, the two are not even remotely similar.

Savage

I think we’re going full strength against Benfica

Gonsterous

Savage

Yah, we need to. Get the win in the first leg and rest legs during the second. Though I have a feeling, we will only show up in the second leg, because we love making it harder for ourselves.

Emiratesstroller

Arsenal should be considering now its future transfer business and in particular the centre forward position. Personally I have no issue in retaining Aubameyang as our number 1 striker. He is still the most potent and gifted on our books. However, my viewpoint is that both Lacazette and Nketiah are not of the required quality to play for Arsenal and perhaps more importantly will be in final year of their contracts at end of this season. Coincidentally Nketiah’s agent also represents Balogun, which may explain why Arsenal have a problem in extending the contract of latter. There is a shortage… Read more »

DM

Have people heard about the new Europa Conference League starting next season? Must admit I didn’t know about it until I watched a video on it. Whilst it’s mostly a tournament for the smaller teams in the average European leagues, there will be one English side going into it, and it will also cause some repercussions for CL and EL… Third placed teams in CL group stages no longer go straight into Europa. Instead, they play a play-off against the second placed teams in EL group stages, with the winner progressing. So basically in EL next year you have to… Read more »

Pierre

I think it’s worth having a look at our signings over the past 2 seasons and this may give an indication as to why we are where we are in the league .Signings Martinelli….injured …out for 9 months Partey ….hardly played due to injury Tierney ..in and out of the team due to injury. Mari ..hardly played due to injury . Saliba …complete cock up all round ..hasnt played. Thats 5 new players who have had very limited game time mainly due to injury. Other incomings Willian …struggling Pepe…struggled Runarsson…words fail me Gabriel and Cedric are probably the only 2… Read more »

Anonymous Commentator

I don’t get why we would rotate in preparation for the city game when they’re dove tailing. Play Saka and ESR against benfica surely, we need to try winning the EL. It’s against city where i would ring the changes, perhaps get Tierney back to fitness, give chambers some minutes, sample Balogun (ha, more likely it snows in Africa) and Martinelli, heck even start Willian against city cause we just aren’t realistically winning that game and he can be used to rest our valuable pairs of legs. The rest of the upcoming fixtures, even Liverpool, are winnable. Surely those are… Read more »

englandsbest

Arteta will pick players who he believes will win against Benfica. Who they will be is anybody’s guess but they will be his strongest eleven + subs. The reason is obvious: this is the most vital game of the season thus far because winning the Europa is a Go card into next season’s CL.

Captain Tierney

After Maguire moaning in the media, some interesting stats came out

VAR decisions overturned in favor of the big 6 this season

ManU at the top with 7

Arsenal at the bottom with 1.

Radio Raheem

I’d expect Leno, Mari, Holding, Pepe, Martinelli, Elneny and Lacazette to start on Thursday. We’ll which other 4 from the weekend join them.

Radio Raheem

*see

China1

Kris I didn’t but the comments on here from people who did were quite critical

Nelson

We have only two days rest before we play MC. We also have to travel to Rome. I am really worry about the player’s health.

China1

I don’t know if there’s an anti arsenal bias from refs but I do know there is a pro Utd one

In the old days people could dress it up as jealously because they were the best. We were all just sore losers right?

But even with Utd no longer doing shit they’re absolutely rocking every meaningful ref stats hard as fuck.

We don’t have any vested interest in being anti Utd these days as they’re basically irrelevant to the league title and CL every year, yet we’re still here complaining because the bias is so damn obvious

Danny

Can Ødegaard play against Benfica or is he cup tied or some bollocks like that?

Samesong

Apparently Willock got a 7 rating and he nearly scored yesterday.

shaun

willock was shocking and no way a 7 more like a 3

Jamie

Danny –

Pretty sure they removed the cup-tied rule in Europe a couple years ago.

Danny

Jamie

Thanks

Samesong

Willock – 6* – A lot of expectation for Willock after his terrific debut last weekend, however he had a tougher night here. Unlucky not to score a glancing header which was heading in the corner of the net, if it wasn’t for a good save from Kepa. Was energetic in the midfield and but not strong enough sometimes which let Chelsea drive through. Highest rating of the night, just shows how poor the team performance was

Don’t shoot the messenger
Ok a 6 don’t rate him that much but also don’t expect him to dominate against that Chelsea midfield.

Jaroda

For the last 10 seasons 2010/11 to 2019/20 penalties For Against and diff
Man City 78 28 +50
Man Utd 69 32 +37
Chelsea 60 26 +34
Liverpool 62 41 +21
Spuds 47 41 +6
Everton 44 41 +3
Arsenal 48 58 -10

All evens out in the end……. yeah

Jamie

We need to be beating Benfica comfortably over both legs.

Still in the competition:

Spuds
Leicester
Man U
Zlatan

Won’t be an easy ride to the final.

AFC Forever

Nelson “We have only two days rest before we play MC. We also have to travel to Rome. I am really worry about the player’s health”. Absolutely. It is preposterous we have to travel to Rome, then return Friday morning, and play again on Sunday. That is insufficient recovery time and it puts players physical health at risk. Various Managers have already been complaining about the fixtures and the effect on players bodies by not having a pre-season. Arteta himself made it clear he was concerned about young players being overplayed during these hectic rounds of games. This fortnight is… Read more »

AFC Forever

Jaroda It doesn’t even out. Mark Halsay, Graham Poll, Keith Hackett all very unhappy about the PGMOL lack of accountability and the ‘bias’ with regard to referee appointments. With the huge influence the betting company’s have, you have to make sure everything possible is done to ensure a level playing field. That can only happen with accountability. The fact Mike Dean made two blatant mistakes in a week, after reviewing monitors, proves these guys aren’t up to the job. He would have had a game the Weekend had he not deflected, mistakes and incompetence just brushed under the carpet. Worst… Read more »

Rich

Our upturn in attacking output isn’t due to the coaching. We’ve now got 2 attacking midfielders. This isn’t a dig at Arteta, who I’ve always pled for patience with Smith-Rowe has just given us a different dynamic Odegaard has qualities we’ve been lacking, and will allow us to rest both Smith-Rowe + Saka more freely This has made Saka and Lacazette better, because they’ve got a mobile midfielder to play off The balance of our squad was wrong, going into the season without a fit or registered attacking midfielder was negligent Runarsson as our only alternative to Leno, negligent Not… Read more »

Graham62

AFC Forever

Totally agree.

AFC Forever

Graham, makes you wonder doesn’t it?

Pierre

“VAR decisions overturned in favor of the big 6 this seasonManU at the top with 7Arsenal at the bottom with 1.” “For the last 10 seasons 2010/11 to 2019/20 penalties For Against and diff Man City 78 28 +50 Man Utd 69 32 +37 Chelsea 60 26 +34 Liverpool 62 41 +21 Spuds 47 41 +6 Everton 44 41 +3 Arsenal 48 58 -10” This is just the tip of the iceberg in the bias against Arsenal . Red cards Yellow cards. Cards per foul Cards per tackle And these are just the decisions that you can check statistically… The… Read more »

Jaroda

Agreed. Its’ also never discussed as a wider talking point by those that broadcast it. (Though not that surprising as to find fault with the product they pay so heavily to sell would be shooting themselves in the foot). So yes it’s a massive fault that ref’s aren’t accountable to any other body and reporting media and broadcasters have no interest it highlighting their shortcomings.

Those penalty figures should put Arsenal in a +10 ish region based on the last 10 years performance (position and points achieved), somewhere below Liverpool and above Spurs. That’s a 20 penalty swing.

S Asoa

“ That will hopefully mean minutes for Gabriel Martinelli and Nicolas Pepe. Where he makes up the starters elsewhere will have a slightly different spin on things. We shed a lot of players in January, at the same time, it’s also pretty clear that we’re trying to shove a few other names out this summer. Does he continue to give minutes to players he doesn’t want? Or does he opt for something new? Is there any point in Reiss starting? Whatever he does, it’s important that we use Thursday nights to maintain momentum. A win doesn’t usually matter, but I… Read more »

Captain Tierney

Even Tony Adams at HT talk was saying the Saka penalty call by VAR was correct

Justification by him and his partner – There is obvious contact, the player is leaning over Saka which is probably why Saka is going down but the contact is too soft and therefore it shouldn’t be a pen.

Not just leaning but the defender also trips Saka. The refs continue to amaze us.

But one could say this poor decision was cancelled out later when Bamford was bought down in our box.

Pierre

Time out
“A man still convinced Arsene still top class manager and should be managing Arsenal, Ozil and Eddie should be leading the line for Arsenal is here to troll not give an opinion.”

It’s always telling when someone has to lie to put their point across.

Habesha Gooner

I would play a full strength team against benfica. We need to win handsomely to make sure we qualify for the next round. It won’t matter what we do against city. We are most probably going to lose. So we need to prioritize.

Pierre

Time up
“The Untold conspiracist and AKB are out in force now Pedro is the new Atwood. ”

How about looking at the figures to determine whether we are, or not being unfairly treated.

If you can come up with some figures to prove your point then there may be some substance to what you say .

Instead what we have is you and a few others using the untold Arsenal line , which is evidence that there are no figures to say that it evens itself out.

Winthorpe

Yes. These are going to be a tough 3 weeks but let’s remember how well Arteta did with his back to the wall last season against teams we feared in a lethal run We beat wolves Liverpool city and chelsea in that period. There’s no reason he can’t do it again now. He has the formula for big games, remember? Looking forward to the summer we have plenty of value in the squad to sell Nketiah, nelson, AMN, willock. All english, all £20-£25m each Torreira and Guendouzi. Both £25m each, easily. Lacazette. £20-25m Elneny £10m You’re looking at well over… Read more »

Pierre

Bamford and time up …the perfect match .

Never have a decent word to say about the Arsenal .

Captain Tierney

Pedro

Your pod mates are usually smart and funny but the one with the hot take of Willian at #5. No words.

Anonymous Commentator

I’m pretty sure our penalty numbers are what they are because our players are too honest, I recall that being a common complaint while Wenger was at the helm. Liverpool have salah tripping himself on defenders laces. VAR United is a bizzarity but that one can be explained by their abundance of dribblers and attacking flair… No doubt a few players channeling Salah. City are just that dangerous. Chelsea no doubt are stat padded thanks to the Hazard and Costa years. Don’t be mistaken, we have had plenty of garbage var reversals directed our way, but I hear other fanbases… Read more »

Pierre

Windthorpe This summer’s transfer window will make or break Arteta . If he isn’t going to play certain players then sell .. You’re right , Eddie and willock ( plus nelson) will bring in decent money to help with the rebuild. Personally, i would also sell Martinelli and Saliba if Arteta isn’t going to play them .. Pointless keeping players that are surplus to requirements. Arteta made the mistake of keeping AMN when an offer came in . All these players could bring in good money and all are players that are sellable.. Let Arteta bring in the players he… Read more »

Pierre

Time up
It’s a low point when Bamford becomes your main ally on Le Grove.
Let that sink in.

Bertie Mee

The Europa League is arguably our priority this season . We are much stronger than Benfica but are most unlikely to beat Citeh. I think this team could work against Benfica
Ryan
Chambers Holding Marí Soares
Ceballos Elneny
Pepe Odegaard Martinelli
Lacazette

Subs – Leno , Luiz , Gabriel , Bellerin , Xhaka , Nketiah , Nelson , ESR,, Balogun

But I think he will start Aubameyang and may start Xhaka

Na me ooo

Saka is starting to give you that warm feeling that people you can trust give you. His ability to make the right decisions almost every time. I m giddy…

Batistuta

Reading we’re planning to extend David Luiz’s contract. No further explanations as to why we’re gonna be stuck in mid table for a while yet if that’s true

Matt

We play this game every year of calculating how much we could recoup if we sold x, y, z player. There is no way we sell 6 or 7 players in one window. Even in ‘normal’ conditions it wouldn’t happen, let alone in an economic situation that has been decimated by Covid!

I would be surprised if we were able to move on more than 3 of the players from the lists being compiled.

Na me ooo

We should be Top 3 in that Penalty won table based on our style of play alone. Yet we are 7th in the table behind Spurs ?

AFC Forever

Pierre

Bamfords not the only one. There are a number of those on here. It is a shame because, without the regular trolls (pretend fans), the Arteta in and out could probably have more sensible dialogue. Their behaviour tends to force extreme views.

Anonymous Commentator

ESR, saka and odegaard have transformed our attack, we’ve been a low activity team in the final third for majority of the season until ESR finally got picked. Now the activity has picked up tenfold with the addition of MO, and our striker on the day doesn’t have to add activity to our attacking patterns by dropping deep. We are now ready to evaluate what our level finally is, unfortunately for arteta the near future will simply be what it is considering the fixtures. Would love to see Pepe inserted up top with the three younguns behind him, but baby… Read more »

AFC Forever

Batistuta

Luiz was man of the match by some margin against Man Utd and Man City. He is just another player used as a scapegoat, it used to be Xhaka. They might extend him for a year it won’t be longer. By all accounts, the young players look up to him – sometimes we forget the value experienced players who have won top prizes bring to the training ground and changing room. Just saying.

HerbsArmy

There has long been a national psyche of rivalry between the North – South divide in Britain, and we do tend to be quite London centric.
Almost all the PL referees are from the North of England, and anyone who watches football will have seen this bias too.
Arsenal have suffered some horrendous officiating down the years, particularly against United and Liverpool. They used to let teams like Stoke and Bolton kick us off the park.
A root and branch overhaul has been needed for decades.

Na me ooo

Anonymous C, I thought about Pepe playing up top too. I think he would cause a lot of damage and score lots with Saka, ESR, and Oden behind him.

I also think he would be quite devastating in the support striker/ behind striker position.

Batistuta

AFC

We have Mavropanos doing bits with Stuttgart, we have Saliba doing well with Nice, we have Gabriel who’s been brilliant and Rob Holding who’s steady. We also know Luiz is due to make even more costly errors in games that’ll hurt us. We have Auba who’s an older head and also captain.

There’s no need to renew Luiz’s contract for any reason whatsoever

Kroenkephobe

I hope there is a sports psychologist working with the team in the margins this week. This double header against Benfica will be a pretty new experience for everyone. 2 apparently away games on foreign territory. But if the players can be persuaded to treat them mentally as 2 home games and if they look confident and up for it in front of the Portuguese, then it should put the team on the front foot. I assume the away goals rule will still count for this charade, but getting the team in the right mindset could be a small marginal… Read more »

AFC Forever

Anonymous “ESR, saka and Odegaard have transformed our attack, we’ve been a low activity team in the final third for the majority of the season. Now the activity has picked up tenfold with the addition of MO, and our striker on the day doesn’t have to add activity to our attacking patterns by dropping deep” Well said. I said before Christmas the biggest problem we had was the lack of a link player. Everyone was caning Xhaka but there was so little movement in front of him, it was difficult not to go sideways. It was the one thing we… Read more »

Batistuta

We can’t keep the same set of players who have in one way or another contributed to getting us to where we are at the moment and think every season would be different, we need to move on a good number of players if we’re ever going to seriously compete again.

Enough of other teams rejects especially Chelsea’s

Nelson

Penalty: Arsenal 48 58 -10, It is shocking. Thanks to Mustafi, Xhaka and now Luiz…

Compared to Manure +37
I can understand the high no. for MC. They have the ball a lot of times in your box. But for Manure, they are just good divers.

Rich

Winthorpe You’re in dreamland with those valuations Outside of Bayern Munich, clubs with incredibly wealthy backers, and clubs who benefit from sales to those clubs There’s no money, clubs are haemorrhaging cash We have no idea when fans will be back in the stadium, or what effects the dip in the economy will have on ticket prices, merchandise, and tv subscriptions The idea that clubs are going to be throwing around tens of millions this summer, is bonkers We’re about to see huge deflation in transfer fee’s and wages Loans Loans where the parent club still pays a percentage of… Read more »

AFC Forever

Herbs Army, “There has long been a national psyche of rivalry between the North – South divide in Britain, and we do tend to be quite London centric. Almost all the PL referees are from the North of England, and anyone who watches football will have seen this bias too” This was actually the concern the former head of PGMOL had. They conducted research that showed Manchester-based referees (there were 6 at the time) were doing Manchester games. The concern wasn’t about deliberate bias, because you can’t referee the team you support, but about the impact of the local environment… Read more »

Anonymous Commentator

AFC I am still not a fan of xhaka, but he isn’t our worst midfielder currently, so he’s not the first one to get axed . I agree that our static attacking unit was no doubt problematic for him to work with, it would be problematic for any of our midfielders to work with as is evidenced by Partey and ceballos carrying the ball waiting for options to show for the ball but nothing emerging in earlier matches. Of course in those matches no one showed for the ball, because we were low on confidence and willian just frankly can’t… Read more »

Crimson

Do we need Luiz to stay next year?
Does Arteta want him?
Will he take a paycut?
Does his influence behind the scenes make him worthy of a contract?
5 Central defenders at most are needed.

Pablo Mari
Gabriel
Holding
Chambers
Saliba
Mavropanos
Ballard
Mcguinnes
Medley
Rekik
Luiz????

HerbsArmy

AFC

There is indisputably a Northern bias when it comes to refereeing in the PL.
I would say that it has definitely had some influence on where United and Liverpool stand today in terms of their trophy count.

Vintage Gun

“Nketiah, nelson, AMN, willock. All english, all £20-£25m each” Thought that at the start of the season, but now i’d say £15m each as none have kicked on this season. “£150-£200m for a striker, 2 midfielders, a back up left back and right back is more than enough to take this team from 10th to top 3” If we could ever raise close to £200m (which i doubt) i;d drop half of it on Jack Grealish. He’d be perfect for young Saka and Smith Rowe to grow with. With the rest i’d grab Hakimi for RB (Inter are broke again)… Read more »

Anonymous Commentator

Chambers needs to be sold, he can never stay fit.
Real shame for him cause I rate he’s better than Holding but any time he’s about to put a run of games together he gets crocked.
Promote Saliba or Konstantinos to replace him.

AFC Forever

Annonymous “At this point I can’t wait to see Tierney and Partey back in the team to play with our dynamic trio. That left side should be terrifying for most sides to play against when Tierney is back to fitness, and it can surely only get better cause Odegaard isn’t even integrated properly yet” It’s funny, my mate and I were discussing this the other day. The side has lacked balance and sometimes it just takes a tweek or a new addition. If you haven’t got the right players then that makes it very difficult. The left-hand side has been… Read more »

AFC Forever

*there

Nelson

Vintage

I find getting a LB and a DM are more urgent now if we can keep Ødegaard. Otherwise, we’ll need an ACM first.

AFC Forever

Herbs

Anyone watching the highlights of Mike Riley in our 50th game, who hasn’t already seen it, will have their eyes opened. The Youtube highlights are a real eye-opener that prove he should not be doing that job of his. To this day, I still don’t know how he got away with that.

HerbsArmy

Factor in that from the very first season (1888-89), it took 42 years for a southern club to win the First Division title – Arsenal in 1931.

TheBayingMob

I went to that Benfica game with my dad. It was always my older brother and dad who were the big Arsenal fans so it was a big thing for me to go on my own with dad. I was 17 at the time. I genuinely remember feeling bemused that we were played off the park in ET having scored first. There was a sense of disbelief top side. Having had to get the train into London it was touch and go for us to get home AET. I think this changed GG reign at the club. It was after… Read more »

HerbsArmy

Agreed AFC, somebody clearly didn’t want Arsenal going 50+ games unbeaten, Riley must have had a cushty pay day for that one.

Anonymous Commentator

AFC I think arteta still doesn’t know who his best midfield duo are when all players are fit, we haven’t been afforded all our midfielders being fit for prolonged periods. I think it’s a ceballos and Partey partnership, with xhaka and elneny as the backups in that order, but I don’t know that cause we don’t have the film, arteta no doubt has snapshots from training but that’s likely a handful of sessions. Get Jordan Reece or O’Driscoll massaging Partey’s legs 24/7 till he’s fit. Also gotta get ms. Andrews to watch Partey’s diet, he’s allegedly a big fan of… Read more »

Chris

https://www.planetfootball.com/nostalgia/a-forensic-analysis-of-mike-rileys-performance-in-man-utd-2-0-arsenal-2004/

Read this the other day and found my blood boiling again,

And this guy Riley is the head of referees, and we wonder why such incompetence is dug into our refs like knotweed.

The Premier League should hire from overseas (those with high competence in English language). Just get the best people for this rather important job regardless of.nationality. Less Northerners with their beer bellies panting around the pitch and more competent and knowledgable refs who couldn’t give a monkeys about northern or southern bias.

HerbsArmy

If people had any doubt that football is fixed they just need to watch that Riley performance.
I agree with you Chris, we need to be more open and accountable about the way football is officiated, it needs to be a completely level playing-field, and the only way to do that is to introduce good referees from around the globe, with as you say, a good command of our language.

AFC Forever

Chris

Nobody can watch that match and not reach the conclusion it was bent. Rio’s last man red on Ljungberg, Nisteloorooys disgusting studs-up red on Cole, Reyes getting scythed by the Nevilles without bookings and the Rooney dive. These highlights and Andy Grays commentary. How did Riley get promoted after this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM747L9Wf8M

Tom

Those penalties stats are maddening. I’m writing a strongly worded letter ( some call them death threats) to PGMO and don’t care what people , and especially Pedro, think.
The one I wrote to Mike Dean clearly worked didn’t it.

David Boyle

We’re starting to look like a clever side, the arteta project is on the right path. Am I missing something We’re 11th in the table ,in the bottom half you wanted emery gone for less

Aussie+Gooner

Chris

Disgusting watching this again. Thanks to Alex Brooker – true Gooner! The Neville scum admitted that they were instructed to target Reyes (RIP) to put him out of the game – they couldn’t handle his skill level (great nutmeg btw!). Manc scum supported by Fergies mate Old Mother Riley!

China1

That 50th match was bent as fuck

Watching it back makes me so fucking angry. Remember it like it was yesterday. One if the most openly bent reffing performances you’ll ever see. Looked like something you’d see in North Korea lol

China1

Yeah that game was the one where I think Reyes gave up on England

You could see he was on fire in that game but how many takes can you get cunted on by the Neville brothers without recourse before you say what’s the point and fuck off back to Spain?

Hard to blame the guy. RIP Reyes. Much love forever

China1

Tom if you’re writing angry letters then good for you

If you’re writing actual death threats then you’re a complete tool. I hope it’s the former

Nelson

The other day, I have asked Tom whether he has also sent an “angry letter” to Arteta. He denied it.

Winthorpe

Rich Vintage Gun Rhian Brewster went for £25m. Hasn’t scored one goal for Liverpool. Nketiah is u21 all time top scorer with 17 senior career goals getting snippets of football. If Brewster is 25m so is Nketiah. Leeds spent €70m this summer gone on 4 players Spurs spent €90m on 4 players Everton bought Ben Godfrey for £27m Palace bought eze, a kid who’s never played in the premier league for £18m Chelsea bought chilwell, a left back for £50m Villa bought Watkins for £30m and hadn’t played in the premier league. Bought matty cash, a right back for £15m… Read more »

Winthorpe

Ruud the mule faced Cunt as well as Neville and Ferdinand should have all seen red in the first half hour that day
Disgusting protection from the officials
It’s always been the way

Winthorpe

Kris

Same. I want to get my boots on and get on that field so badly
How Ashley Cole or Paddy V could control themselves when that ref gave Cole a yellow like that was commendable. I don’t think I’d have been able to walk away and keep my mouth shut
Just as well I’m not a premier league footballer

TeeCee

If Arteta wants Luiz around because of his experience and because the young lads look up to him – give him a job as a coach, just get him away from the playing surface during games!!!

BlackStock

Pedro
“The Arsenal project is on the right path, what Arteta needs to do is navigate the next 6 weeks really well to stop the bi-weekly crisis sessions a particular section of the fanbase seems to revel in”

What you really mean is damage limitation.

shaun

seriously that is joke business , I have seen about three Red cards and haven’t even finished watching the clip .Some one needs to bring this up the riley dude is definitely on the fergie payroll

Graham62

Imagine if Collina has referred that game at OT.

Arsenal would have won it 100%. Utd would have had 2 reds and probably we’d have gone unbeaten for another 50.

Never mind.

Zacharse

10 years ago. The most excitement ive ever had as a gooner since it was almost impossible to watch games in the us before 06 or so… While my friends were still celebrating the SF Giants winning the world series same way leicester won the league (dodgers fan)i was trying to drag them all outto celebrate, no one knew what the fuxk i wastalkingabout butwere morethan happy to accept the rounds I was buying at that puke scented german beer bar on haight st… heres hoping for some more of that to end our season with… who’s the real conpetition… Read more »

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