The big one is tomorrow. Arteta rolled the entire season on Europa League. He has to deliver.
My big fear?
Galaxy brain.
There are so many temptations and potential traps that could down us.
Do you bring David ‘BIG GAME’ Luiz back in the mixer?
Does Auba start?
Does he risk Tierney or Lacazette despite them having no game time?
Internet people are saying we should roll all the dice. For me, that’s dim thinking. Nothing wrecks an Arsenal plan worse than an early smack in the face. Losing players that are important to the system isn’t good for the system. Also, losing players for the final would also be disastrous.
I’d prefer to lessen the risk by playing fit players who want to perform.
The biggest galaxy brain worry is rolling out a Villareal tactical plan built for Manchester City level players. We’re not there yet. 20-year-olds in the false 9 role is not going to work tomorrow. We need to have a simple plan every single player can follow. That means the right players in the right positions. We have enough fitness to deliver on that vision.
Auba is fit, he wants to lead, he’ll have horrendous memories of his miss last year, that desire to prove the world wrong will be key. That feels like a huge boost.
Martinelli was on fire at the weekend, he’s in form, he should land a starting role.
Odegaard created 5 chances against Newcastle, if you’re playing Auba, you need him on the pitch.
Then it’s tough because you have Lacazette, Saka, and Pepe pushing for starts.
We need to win 1-0. Simple as that. Then we’re through. I would prefer destruction. I’m not sure we’ll get that, but we certainly did away for Slavia Prague.
If we win, Arteta has made a second final in two of the toughest ever seasons. That’s good work. He’ll still need to win the final, but it certainly takes the edge off the league season.
I don’t even want to contemplate a loss.
Whatever the result, there’s still a lot of introspection about this season to be had. It’s not been good enough. A trophy won’t change that.
… but, it’ll go a long way. It’s the memory zapper in MIB. We all need a memory zapper for this season.
Fingers crossed Arteta has something special lined up.
Massive game. Let’s turn up
We need the win
Hopefully auba starts
Coyg
I would start auba ode and Thierney
Come on real do the Chavs
Odegaard over ESR, tough call. Pepe- PEA- Saka seems most likely.
Should we go Odegaard and ESR ahead of Partey?
Should Saka play LB if KT not available?
Bob xhaka should not play lb whatever happens
Well I hope all of you here are Hala Madrid right now .
Yep cmon Madrid
If they score one we need three to go through or penalties.
Our defense is not that good, so it will be difficult.
What bullshit from that real player there cheating bastard
Today everyone will understand why I call Tuchel the “almost” manager, much like Pochetino.
Watch how Chelsea fuck this up tonight
Chelsea is looking good.
Tommy Tikkle has shown us what a very good manager can do —- this Chelsea team are far superior to what they were before he arrived
We’d be a fantastic team with a a manger like him. Regardless of what happens tomorrow, Arteta has been very, very poor
If Xhaka starts at left back again, we all know what’s happening
Agree with Matt B… regardless if he geta his second final in 2 years as Pedro says… no vision, no man management , no learning from his mistakes, and the coaching staff he brought in is awful, at least that is what I feel. I am observing the same thing as when Wenger was here. His coaching staff was outdating but he kept on going with them. Now we are observing the same with the goalkeeping coach, but Arteta is gutless , nevermind what he says, won’t change him for the good of the football club
Outdated* and ‘yes’ man… *
Yea I’m sure if the billions they spent is why we’ve been so so horrible all season
Or our manager doesn’t seem to have any discernible tactics whatsoever after over a year in charge
Top post Pedro, hoping big MA can pull another one out his arse as he seems to be able to do in times of need ! Curious for your thoughts beyond the game tomorrow though, what do you make of the keeper situation? Both in terms of do we play Leno anymore this season (especially in the final) and in terms of who would replace him. Talk of Wojech coming back seems like a rehash of all the current managements worst decisions a la mssrs William & Luiz. Maignan looks to be the hot ticket this summer, would we get… Read more »
Cazorla: The only point I was making was that a better manager would get more out of these players.
As TT has done at Chelsea — I made no comparison of the teams, I only highlighted the difference a good manager can make
I think pretty much any manager in the league this season would have had us higher than 9th and a europa cup final nowhere near ‘takes the edge off’ a shit season like this. Only the trophy will.
After what arteta said about Tierney and martinelli he won’t start both together I don’t think. If Tierney is fit he will bench martinelli and xhaka will go back to CM. ESR left wing and ode centre.
Arteta will play it safe and it could go either way. It’ll depend how good vilareal are on the night more than how we play.
Danny: Your point about it depending on how good Villarreal are on the night, pretty much sums up how poor a manager Arteta is
This Chelsea team is a million miles away from the team we beat on Boxing Day ‘to turn our season around’
That was one helluva false dawn
Madrid are not at the races tonight. Chelsea looking very comfortable. Hope I spoke too soon and Madrid prove me wrong
Matt He hasn’t exactly been good no and the sad thing is you can’t really even see the progress he was attempting to make last season. It’s been one massive stall and a whole host of (repeated) mistakes. The constant shuffling of players is irritating to me, let alone the players I bet and the in game management is amateurish to say the least. I want us to win this comp and get back in the champs league just out of sheer pride and wanting my team to succeed but you know it’ll buy Arteta another season at least. My… Read more »
Chelsea wasted three 1 v 1 chances to score.
Danny: Yes, I agree with all of that. I’m usually very positive about Arsenal, but the joy has been sapped by MAs tinkering and shite man-management.
Even if we win, I will take a lot of what he does in the remaining EPL games to determine his worth. It’s always mattered even if we are in an important final
Chelsea very wastefull they need a proper striker next season
@TheBayingMob Sorry for pouring acid into our old wounds lol. I guess it’s early signs of nerves for tomorrow. The funny thing is it seems we both went crazy when Ade scored. I was running in circles screaming blatant nonsense, happy as hell. 5mins later and i was so shocked i couldn’t even remember how i got home. @Kroenkephobe Domestically speaking, my worst three matches (off tops) were the 50th match at Old Trafford. I almost cried out of anger at the way the ref was behaving. The way United kicked Reyes out the game was mad. And the penalty….… Read more »
Fucking hell how many chances are Chavski going to miss here!!?
Oh Lord, am depressed watching Chelsea. The gap between us and Chelsea in just a few 3 months is staggering.
Game over. 2 – 0
Pierre The Michael Owen Cup final in 2001 leaves a particularly bad taste in my mouth” I have a funny story about that final, well just after that. Well others can decied whether it’s funny … We played Newcastle away the next week after that gut wrenching cup final, it was a midweek game and I had been offered a few tickets from a mate, I was working in Hull at the time (don’t ask! Long story), anyway … the seats were right on the edge of the away section next to the line of filth separating us from the… Read more »
Kanté is back to his best.
Oh Lord, am depressed watching Chelsea. The gap between us and Chelsea in just a few 3 months is staggering.”
Ye can’t disagree … Tuchel has them playing extremely well in a short period, crazy …
“Today everyone will understand why I call Tuchel the “almost” manager, much like Pochetino.”
Buzzy are you Pedro?
You are about as clueless as him in assessing and nicknaming managers (almost as Tuchel for you, generational for Arteta for him).
As good as City were, I fancy Chelsea if they play at this level. Envious stuff …
I like Mount. He has so much energy.
Could have been 5-0 easy
So almost a clean sweep of European final places for The Premier League yet again. All down to Us now to complete the Quartet.
I fell confident – 3 1 win I think.
You watch Xhaka will be at LB & Martinelli on the bench as Arteta likes playing Russian Roulette
Chelsea has a very fast attack.
Moe
That’s what is really depressing me also. How have we fallen so far behind? Sparta Prague and Villarreal would struggle to get out of the championship yet there are those who will try to tell us that victories against those teams should be taken as a sign that we are being lead to the promised land by a genius. He’s a fraud and every Arsenal manager in my lifetime has been held to account for his performances in the league. Those who are trying to make an exception for Arteta are betraying those standards.
*led to the promised land
All english CL final, if we rectify our situation tomorrow and nothing crazy happens with United then we could have all english european finals like a few years back.
Not only Chelsea wins, they out classed Real. Their defense really looks solid.
Chelsea looked good, should have got way more goals and Real looked really leggy and old today.
TBM: Haha, loved that — always a tad embarrassing being put in your place by a copper 😂
We’ll see how far we’ve come/fallen when we face Chelsea in a few weeks
Matt B, you’re right … in my mind I don’t think I have ever quite got over the embarrassment …
Chelsea deserved it but I am pissed off.
I hate those fuckers
I doubt it Matt. Chelski playing 2 big cup finals and Arsenal in one also( should be anyway). Highly unlikely either club will be risking players in a match that will be seriously devalued. Even if Chelski need points to secure cl football, Arteta wont be risking players to deny them.
What’s happened with Chelsea is what happens when you sack an incompetent manager mid way into the season with so much to play for and not make decisions based on sentiments or values or whatever other tripe Arsenal use to justify their inaction these days
Chelsea’s 3 rs final in 10 years we are so far behind them it’s depressing
All me in-laws blues fans … Man’s happy for them
Serge could be our 3rd in 4 years tomorrow
Of course they spent a lot of money in the summer but all of that didn’t click till they got in a proper manager.
We on the other hand have improved on a squad that came 5th not too long ago and got to a European final and all but gone backwards due to having the wrong manager in charge
That said, we should have enough to get past Villarreal tomorrow
Your ball, Arteta! Stand up and be counted or fuck off back to Manchester.
Rspca sorry I mean 3rd CL final in 10 years
Am not settling for anything short of winning Europa and getting back into CL. No stupid moral victories.
Man thinks BB will have da boys ready to roll tomorrow… Just hope him not to experimental….
So glad Buzzy told us Tuchel is the ‘nearly’ manager
Serge .. yep the money f
Certainly made men out of boys.
Oh well, at least we are getting Sarri if Arteta screws up, allegedly
Not sure I want Sarri
Sarri is better than Mike Arteta, but ideally not the right fit for us I feel
Buzzy got mugged off lol
Tuchel has always been a good manager I was a bit jealous when Chavs got him
Tomorrow is sink or swim for Arteta hopefully he does not screw our season up
So many selection headaches for tomorrow. And just like Pedro pointed out, we cant gamble on Tierney and have him subbed out at 20 mins due to injury, changing the entire game plan. I believe we can take a risk with Laca but I would rather play Auba up top. That Villareal backline is ridiculously slow. After that it has to be Pepe, Ode/ESR, Saka. Would love to see Gabi but we can’t bench Pepe. He has been our best player in the EL campaign and thoroughly deserves to start on his recent form. Saka is an automatic starter though… Read more »
Most of LG posters are better than Mike A.
He should pop his head in here from time to time and get some good advice
Hazard moved to Madrid for 100 million and massive wages.
Another example of a player not performing after landing that massive ‘My life is Complete’ deal.
So many in recent years.
I think we will win… but I am feeling a little uneasy. I feel they will score.
Heaps of pressure then. Be a real shoot out… but that back line hopefully will crumble.
Just cannot let them score… play SOARES for fucks sake
Xhaka back to CM
No experimenting Mike
As good as kovacic is, I can’t see him getting back into this Chelsea side for the final. Kante and Jorginho are undroppable in Central midfield as Is mount.. Havertz is quality , all they need is kane up top and they win the league next season . As much as I hate chelsea, you have to admire the quality and movement in their football. Very reminiscent of Wenger’s football when we used to keep pushing forward with quick one and 2 touch football. Sadly our football is not good to watch apart from the odd good game.. Tomorrow night… Read more »
“Hazard moved to Madrid for 100 million and massive wages.
Another example of a player not performing after landing that massive ‘My life is Complete’ deal.
So many in recent years.”
Nor that I give a flying fuck about Hazard or RM but I think that’s unfair, he’s had huge injury problems at RM … I think he’s barely been able to play for them
https://www.espn.com/soccer/real-madrid/story/4338766/real-madrids-zidane-cant-explain-hazards-latest-injury-setback
Unless you’re saying he’s just putting it on because he’s on a fair wad of cash and can’t be bothered?
“As much as I hate chelsea, you have to admire the quality and movement in their football.
Very reminiscent of Wenger’s football when we used to keep pushing forward with quick one and 2 touch football.”
Last seen at Arsenal circa 2008 …
Almunia: In that case, Chelsea Arsenal is the perfect opportunity for MA to play Balogun, Azeez, and Chambers at centre half. That would be doing something worthwhile and something that would garner him respect from the fans.
But he won’t, will he….
H Berlin have sacked Jens L …
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/56967418
Middle of the Chelsea poor run of form Lampard was lambasting his players for not putting in enough effort, as if that’s all that’s needed at this level.
His pressers then had a similar undertones as if to say the players aren’t not trying hard enough, what else can I do?
From the same I need six more new players Arteta playbook.
I was wrong about Tuchel btw, he’s all saucy all over.
I hope these Sarri rumours are not true.
Would be so so underwhelming.
Totally the wrong fit for us.
I’d rather someone like Graham Potter or Steven Gerrard or if experience then Rafa.
First choice would be Rodgers but he wont come.
Wishful thinking alright Matt, just checked there, that match is a Wednesday night, Chelski playing fa cup final on d Saturday. I’d love to see those young lads get a chance, see what they can bring,as you said,nothing to lose.
Fucking Chavs on the brink of another CL, ugh.
Real were shit tonight. Zidane far too conservative with that line-up, created absolutely nothing after that early Benzema chance.
Tuchel will fancy his chances of upsetting Pep again.
How bad did Hazard look tonight as well? Unrecognisable from his Chelsea self, looks 20 lbs heavier and yards slower.
We need to get to the final but watching us against Utd would be unbearable.
Couldnt handle another Chelsea Baku style hammering.
2nd year in 3 that all 4 CL Finalists/EL Finalists will be English if we get the job done tommorow.
Probably speaks more to a lack of quality on the continent tbh. You look at Barca, Real, Juventus and Dortmund/Atletico and they are all a shadow of what they were.a few years ago.
Tuchel’s Chelsea players are like Arteta’s Arsenal players on a mixture of ecstacy and crystal meth – simultaneously much more relaxed, powerful and speedy.
Every cloud and all that.
Tonight is about as big a fuck you to Florentino Perez as we could have hoped for.
For all the money they have spunked, Chelsea battered them over the 180 mins. 3-1 absolutely flattered Real.
I have a bad feeling that tomorrow Arteta will try out another one of his Baldrick cunning plans – El Neney at false 9?
Sacking Lamps worked well for Chelsea. If only Arsenal could make good moves.
Who should play is a conundrum nobody on here can solve. People disagree on practically every player, and pinions change after practically every game.
The decision, of course, is Arteta’s. But nobody is better placed to make that decision. A statement of the obvious. He is the coach, he knows the players, their capabilities, their weaknesses, in far more detail than anyone.
I am happy with that.
His MO will depend on the players he chooses. I hope Tierney is available, and the team are aggressive throughout.
The Kroenkes are a conundrum: billionaires, yes.
But billionaires who lack ambition,
And billionaires who lack competence.
Spot on to point out that we have enough fit players in the right positions for tomorrow…
Unfortunately we do not appear to have a fit manager who could make the right decisions for tomorrow…
Tuchel seems to wear out his welcome after a couple of years. Basically makes him the perfect fit for Abramovich.
BayingMob Agreed he has suffered with injuries a lot. But the common denominator is Hazard. For example just look back at the early pre-season training pictures when he signed for Madrid. He had gained so much bellyfat he didn’t even look like a proper footballer let alone one of the best wingers itw. Would he put on so much weight and relax if he hadn’t signed on off on huge wages and a long term contract. I bed he’d still be on his tippytoes, working hard to get his dream move to Madrid. All I’m saying is it is becoming… Read more »
Here we are again facing a season changing game at home against a slightly above average Spanish side and a cup team manager who still likes to consolidate a lead by taking off his strikers for DMs and defenders. On paper it really shouldn’t be a contest, but Arteta is just as likely to make it one unless he changes his tactical master plan whatever that was supposed to be in Spain. Auba has given a typical club ‘Please forgive me’ PR interview talking about dear old mum, malaria and being axed for the Spud’s game. Seems like he’s fit… Read more »
Thankfully, Tuchel is showing Stan what an experienced manager can achieve over a young manager with brief lower league experience or in Arteta’s case zero previous management experience.
Not that it will make any difference to wiggy’s thinking: he’s still making money off his Arsenal investment.
Tony
What on earth made Arsenal bend over backwards to get Arteta? I mean who hyped this man so much that it was like he was the second coming of Pep or Zidane or Sir Alex???
How on earth did we end up with him??? So much so Vinai met him in a midnight meeting at his home after we canned Emery.
WEird just weird.
Not sure the Arteta love in… but we have seen the results.
We need a new midfield, and a new manager
we need a back up LB ( Soares?), a starting RB, a starting LW and another DM ( Bissouma?)
A new starting GK would be great too
A busy summer ahead
My bad, a back up LW, but then again, we have the wonderful Willian
I don’t think making but losing the EL final would take the edge off the season
It would be our worst season in several decades
Guns “How on earth did we end up with him??? So much so Vinai met him in a midnight meeting at his home after we canned Emery.” I’d say it was at the cheapest option/gamble and Arteta is a ‘lip service’ specialist. Added to that Raul’s sticky fingers were all over the hire, as he probably felt he could control Arteta and the new signings Arteta would want with Raul’s making the lucrative deals with his agent friends. “Arsenal’s head of football Raul Sanllehi said the Premier League club met “several top-class candidates” before choosing Arteta as Emery’s replacement.” Says… Read more »