Well good morning my dears, what do we have to complain about today?
SAUCE.
No, not the sauce that comes with a good manager. Actual sauce.
Antonio Conte has banned sauce in the changing rooms. The kids that like calling things elite are calling this move elite. The Italian stallion who likes to win harder than peak-Churchill has made moves on the HP Sauce.
But here’s a secret…
It’s bollocks.
It’s not about performance. There’s no marginal gain to be had by taking sauce away. It’s a power move.
They say that Wenger banned it, but everyone I speak to says there was plenty of sauce around Colney. I believe Don Unai tried something similar banning juice from the players.
Whatever… it’s a weird thing to do to a broken dressing room straight off the bat. Imagine Harry Kane eating a dry sausage sandwich tomorrow morning? SAD.
We’ll see though, if they manage a shot on target in their next game, we’ll know he was right.
You know who does have sauce? Arsenal Women. They dropped an away day masterclass in front of an impressive 500 away fans. They won 5-1 in the Champions League, a stunning way to warm-up for a NLD derby this weekend.
On a roll of sauciness, isn’t Ben Foster’s Youtube channel good?
I love this interview with Aaron Ramsdale. They talk about the technical aspects of THAT freekick save. He also talks about ‘spray canning’ balls into midfield. Is that Sheffield for daisy-cutter? Amazing that when he first started doing that most of us thought he was duffing passes and getting away with it. Big questions here… is he the best distributor of the ball England has ever produced? Could be. I’ve never seen an English keeper pass like he does
Scott Willis over at Arseblog News had an interesting stat that might tell a story we might have in our head but can’t quite articulate. Arsenal have the 4th best xG when we’re at a stalemate in a game. What is this nonsense? Well, our overall xG has lagged this year. Despite us battering Spurs, we did badly because we sat into the game because we were so dominant. Well, apparently, when we are chasing the lead in game, we’re 4th best. When we’re losing, we’re pretty bad. When we’re winning we’re average.
If your strategy is to score early, then I guess this stat is kind of the new table post-Christmas?
As the team develops, what you want to see is that we get better xG when we’re winning. This is an experience thing. When we first started going into the lead in game day 4, we’d panic. Drop deep. Try and absorb that game. That improved as the games rolled on.
Where you want Arsenal to be is absolute smashing teams when we’re winning. A bit like City or Liverpool do on a good day. Plenty of time for that to happen.
I cannot believe this slipped the radar… but without libelling myself.
Think about Victor Oshimen moving to Napoli.
Then read about an investigation after an internal body of the Italian Football Federation, the Supervisory Commission on Professional Football Clubs, passed on a report to the Italian FA regarding suspicious transfer activities in the last two years.
“COVISOC has informed the FIGC of possible capital gains by inflated valuations, highlighting, among others, Victor Osimhen’s move from LOSC Lille to Napoli and Juventus’ exchange deal with Barcelona for Arthur Melo,”
“Included in the long list published by Il Tempo, the controversial negotiation that helped the Azzurri sign Osimhen is of course the standout case.
Oh my word!
Thank the lord Arsenal never purchased a player from a French club for an eye-watering fee that looked overvalued in the extreme. You’d have to sack someone for stuff like that. Could never be us.
Right, that’s me done, see you in the comments.
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST. Many nice comments. Gearing up the next Arsenal legend… it’ll be of a different sort, but a cracker as well.
ACAST | SPOTIFY | GOOGLE | CASTBOX
Bankz is here again for the tr4phy!
As good as Conte is, something tells me he is going to fail hard at Spurs.
Should never have taken up that appointment
Especially considering the fact United could come calling at any point in time. No way Ole survives the entire season and summer.
Tr4phy secured!
Suck on that DM.
An Italian that likes no sauce , strange.
That’s a bizarrely good interview
Football interviews are almost all so fucking bland because the interviewer takes it so seriously. That was way more fun
I got the 6trophy just now. Is that the shitty sub Europa League competition Spurs are in?
One 6th 7th and the ultimate – bed wetting 8th. Suck on those wet sheets dickheads
Nice to talk about condiments rather than Arteta. It’s a sign of British catering prowess (!) that our two offerings to the world are called red and brown! 9h and instant gravy granules for posh occasions. No Hollandaise, bearnaise, wasabi, szechuan or chimichurri in sight. I imagine Conte’s going to educate them with his mum’s arrabiata and his own special potato juice additive…
I’ve just had some morrison’s brown sauce on crispy bacon, scrambled eggs with egg and dijon mustard and some fried herby tomatoes. Yum. Breakfast not of champions but perennial 8th place finishers.
Suck on those wet sheets dickheads
China
Genius! You might have hit on a new recipe for anti Arteta sauce lovers.
Arsene Wenger was up to every #saucy’ move when it came to mesmerising his players into believing in him. Nutrition was a fave of his. But he embellished that with vitamin injections, weirdo French medics, and that stuff in a tube whose ame I forget, but seem to remember began with letter ‘V’.
EB
Vaseline? I don’t think he ever got romantically involved with his players.
Ah – vosene. Petit had terrible dandruff didn’t he.
‘name’ – anybody remember?
“Dry sausage”.
Nothing sums up everyone on here, except me, better than that two word statement.
kp
No chance of romance – Arsene was in love with himself
Gerrard appointed Villa boss.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/59238635
Jamie
Hiya mate. That one’s going to be interesting isn’t it. Succeed and an LFC homecoming is almost guaranteed post Klopp. Anything less and it’ll be Tranmere Rovers. Success for Villa I reckon is the odd cup run and a shot at EL qualification in the next 2-3 years. They’ve gone badly backwards this season – not sure that was entirely Smith’s fault. The players looked underdone and demoralised when we played them.
EB
Do you actually mean creatine?
Good for Gerrard. Good for the league.
I think Aston Villa will benefit immensely. It’s great to see PL legends taking charge now.
Paddy V, Stevie G, Mickey A (lol).
I guess there will be more to come. If Rogers moves to Manutd, then Frank Lampard could be a decent option for Leicester.
Could see Rodgers at United if Ole continues to stink out the gaff
“bed wetting 8th. Suck on those wet sheets dickheads”
You da man China1 !!!
Pedro “COVISOC has informed the FIGC of possible capital gains by inflated valuations, highlighting, among others, Victor Osimhen’s move from LOSC Lille to Napoli and Juventus’ exchange deal with Barcelona for Arthur Melo,” I wrote about this a while ago, it was one of the reasons La Liga had enough with Barcelona. Summer 2020 Barca president realised their serious financial problems would not only impact on the club but on the directors. Member owned clubs in Spain have to meet a different set of rules; directors are obliged to pay losses out of their own pockets. So they worked out… Read more »
Hi kp, I think it’s a good move for him, and I agree that a decent 2-3 years with the odd deep run in a cup or qualification for the EL2 and he’s a shoo-in for Klopp’s vacated LCF job if/when he decides to leave (German national team perhaps?). Villa’s summer signings haven’t worked out too well for them, and losing Grealish was clearly a massive blow. I get why they wanted both Buendia and ESR, but fuck you Villa – ESR is exactly where he wants to be. Incidentally, I think ESR has just one less league goal so… Read more »
LFC*
been watching ben fsters you tube channel for a while he is really good at it and Ramsdale has featured on them at least a couple of times
Jamie Agree with that. I was partly expecting a repeat of that 3-0 last season but we played much better and they were hopeless. Those new signings of their’s have underwhelmed so far but I saw a little in Bailey that made him look like a much more finished article than Pepe. Still, I’ve little time for them as a club – I’m much more Forest and Leicester when it cones to Midlands clubs. It could work out for them but I’d argue that coaching the hun in a two team league (I know we’re both Hibees but I have… Read more »
Kroenke
You can’t claim that brekkie is saucy when there’s Dijon mustard on it!
If Brendan Rodger goes to United, I imagine Leicester will begin to self destruct. For one I can envisage Kasper Schmichael move there for sure, along with Tielemans and Fofana.
Obviously I want OGS to stay on for a loooooooong time.
*By United I meant to say Man United.
kp – I’m still in Edinburgh for the most part, mate. Just a few quick trips a month down to London these days. My wife loves being home, plus now she feels like she owes me one for being cool about our extended stay here, so she didn’t kick up a fuss last week when I fucked off to play golf in the sun for 4 days at super short notice. As for the SPL, it’s a little sad they’ve lost some star quality with Stevie’s departure. Although odds on favourite to replace him is former gunner Giovanni van Bronckhorst.… Read more »
See we’re linked with Tyler Adams( yes pleassssssseee) Very,very hot sauce.A younger & cheaper alternative to Bissouma.The kid is a machine.Hope they get him in jan.Has a £32 ish million buy out clause.Befor the vultures circle.Would be perfect DM
would Kessie improve arsenal ? only in the sense to make our squad deeper. AMN is getting better
and his confidence is growing. Henry Francis from u23 looks a prospect ..
OGS should stay for another 3 years. They should keep winning odd games to keep him in the job.
Rodgers has is eye on Man city seat rather than Man Utd. If Man Utd are lucky they might get Zindane, which would be hugely problematic for others in the league
When Arsenal were shitting in their pants , been watching Arsenal Women. Game is slower, but interlink is typical old Arsenal and hoped their coach could be put in charge of the Men’s team along with Miedema. Closest thing to Van Persia and as effortlessly clinical.
Last 3 games though things become a bit watchable here.with Ramsdale colones in full display. He has errors in him though. Hope they don’t come up.
Rangnick seems to be the likely new manager at Man U. Would need lot of shoehorning to get them play to his style. With Van Beek maybe off to Newcastle unless he waits for the new manager , Rangnick would miss a technical cog
England U-21 manager , not the duck Boyridge , thinks Balogun is beyond 23 year level, which might explain why he has stalled.
https://metro.co.uk/2021/11/11/england-under-21s-boss-urges-mikel-arteta-to-loan-out-arsenal-striker-folarin-balogun-15581587/
Sauce for the gander to ruminate upon
i’m still waiting for the real story behind sanllehi’s departure comes out. i hope it does!
An enjoyable post Pedro. Things must be bad at the Spuds if Conte is focusing on banning sauces. Not sure he can turn his magic on that shower of shite. I suspect the favourite outcome will be a massive fall out between him and Levy when he presents him with a list of players he wants and Levy says no. Conte is a manager for elite teams not the Spuds.
Gerrard, Lampard, Viera, Arteta, Xavi, Pirlo, Zidane, Guardiola – Modern midfield generals managing top flight clubs across Europe
Oh my word!
Thank the lord Arsenal never purchased a player from a French club for an eye-watering fee that looked overvalued in the extreme. You’d have to sack someone for stuff like that. Could never be us.”
Nicholas Pepe anyone?
Pedro, we thought sauce had been replaced by project🤣🤣🤣
I’d like to see this at Anfield: …………….Ramsdale ….…Tomi White Gabriel Niles Partey Sambi Tierney …….Saka……….Smith Rowe …..……Aubameyang Keep it tight, play the fine margins, we’ve enough quality to play through the press, and pace + quality to hurt them A pragmatic approach is likely our best bet, West Ham caused them all types of issues in behind and from set pieces It’s not the end of the world if we don’t take anything, I’d expect Liverpool to have much more of the ball at home, but it’d be nice if we can stay in the game, and offer some… Read more »
kp
Yeah, creatine. Thanks for that.
Er Eddie think peds was being sarcastic? No?
Jamie Gio back at Ibrox? I’ll have to look him up and see where he’s been cutting his teeth. Back in Holland I assume. His time with us was a little under the radar. I rather liked him – neat, technical but hard player who got stuck in when needed. I’ve got this image of at outrageous left footed screamer from miles outside the box that he scored. He never fully integrated before Barca came calling to rob another of our stars. That golf trip sounds like it was fun. And living between English and Scottish capitals must be nice.… Read more »
Positive
Is Adams a better prospect than McKennie at Juve? Is the latter a bit of a hot head? I’m still in the Guen camp, not least because he’s ours already and there’s also Bissouma who’s strong in that role.
Not sure if Spurs’ lack of sauce truly warrants coverage to be honest. Any chance that despite the drab results, Conte is already making you nervous Pedro? I thought his appointment didn’t bother you🤔 Considering that both Foster and Ramsdale are from the West Midlands, I doubt their choice of lingo has anything to do with Sheffield. I can understand some of the Watford fans complaints regarding Foster and his vlogs. Imagine if Leno did a hearty interview with Edouard Mendy after the 0-2 loss to Chelsea. I’m not sure if our fanbase would be appreciative of such content even… Read more »
Doesn’t Guen have a buy clause at end of loan? Same as the Greek lad on loan?
Think that’s true Muppetman. Would hope there’s a future sell on clause but maybe wishful!
Kroenkephobe, I wrote a response to your normal negative poison yesterday. This was my post to you, quoting IAT Bamford : IAT , kroenkephobe: IAT-RobbieNovember 10, 2021 03:25:43 @Nigel TufnelThat is as incendiary a comment as one could possibly make. Not sure why you take it so personally that some of us aren’t convinced by Arteta. Then this I wrote…. RE: Arteta’s 100 game tally Yes, his number of wins is undoubtedly bolstered by cup competitions, which includes the Europa League. What you losers can’t get through your thick skulls is that it’s so obvious to Pedro and most of… Read more »
Stevie G getting his pre-interview for the Klopp replacement job… which might come up sooner than many expect.
Hey everyone, let’s lower the temp.
Arsenal are on a good footing now, so we can all get on one as well.
Blog of love.
Good call. Poor old Nige is simmering to a boil over here.
Where’s Klopp going next? Too classy for PSG. Juve/Madrid/German National Team?
Canaries in talks with Lamps. Not sure he’ll be any better than Farke.
Is Adams a better prospect than McKennie at Juve? Is the latter a bit of a hot head? I’m still in the Guen camp, not least because he’s ours already and there’s also Bissouma who’s strong in that role. _________ I can answer that… They are both amazing prospects … about equal in their talent .. but they play a slightly different,, role. Mckennie is more like Partey.. able to transition from defending to attack more easily and skillful enough to score some goals can also play fullback if necessary. He is a bit more of Maverick as far as… Read more »
nice article on the Athletic about Edwards leaving and who will deal with the aftermath of Klopp leaving…
https://theathletic.com/2947111/2021/11/10/losing-michael-edwards-will-be-a-big-step-into-the-unknown-for-liverpool-he-has-laid-the-blueprint-for-success/?article_source=search&search_query=edwards
Arsenal linked with Dejan Kulusevski again
Can’t see it, he’s another lefty who likes to cut in from the right, we already have 3 of those with Saka, Pepe + Odegaard
Hopefully Nelson finds some fitness and consistent football at Feyenoord, big talent
But needs a Smith Rowe dropping the Nando’s + Chocolate moment of his own
I think any CF that looks good in a skirt should be our priority!
Jamie, where he’ll get control. So who knows. Would love to see him rebuild Madrid.
Pedro
That’s a bit of a laugh mate. I wrote two neutral, non-sweary, uncontentious responses to the poster who sometimes calls himself Nigel (wink wink) and you see fit to delete those but keep his mildly offensive post about me and IAT. What gives? You’re going to have to up your justice game. Surely I have the same rights as Nigel (sob!).
Cheers Mid
Sounds like the US NT have a bright future with those two. Very useful insight.
Bob, we definitely have differences in what we’re looking for in a striker….. I’d rather a snarling predator in the Suarez mould
Give Eddie the No9 and create a pathway would be my preference
Pedro seems to think we want a target man in the mould of DCL
A lot of fans seem to have gone full circle on this, they’ve gone from wanting a more mobile option to the underrated Giroud, to now wanting to move away from a mobile penalty box striker, back to a target man
Jamie
We talked about Stevie G taking a bit of a risk earlier on but Fat Frankie going to Carrow Road is a proper gamble. This season is as good as lost for the boys from the mustard city. Hard to see Delia giving him a decent budget – they’re a team destined to remain in limbo between the PL and championship. He’s more likely to get a recipe for cheese soufflé and some HP sauce on top.
Too shit for the top heap, too good for the shit heap. It must make their supporters almost bi polar.
“Give Eddie the No9 and create a pathway would be my preference Pedro seems to think we want a target man in the mould of DCL“
Put Eddie in DCL’s latest get up and he too will become a target man.
Rich, a snarling predator who is in touch with their feminine side, too much to ask?
Seriously though, an athletic, great in the air, hard working, good with back to goal, links well CF is what’s needed. I don’t want any sort of compromise e.g. Giroud type- who ticked a fair few boxes but was painfully slow.
If we continue to improve and we can get top 4, we’ll be a really attractive prospect,
KPhobe-… Yes the US team expectation leve is probably at an all time high. But also because it is very young. We honestly have no senior players with World Cup experience, anymore. We have been waaaay up and waay down. like a roller coaster. Our midfield is Mckennie and Adams. Creative midfielder is Gio Reyna of Dortmund Fullback is Dest of Barca and our stiker is 18 yrs old Pepi. Pulisic is considered the old man of the team, haha Anyhow. injuries have been brutal as well. But there are a record number of players playing at bigger clubs in… Read more »
Nigel, the angriest positive man alive.
kp –
Absolutely, it’s a huge gamble. I’ve no idea why they think Frank’s the guy to turn things around for them, but they do have some decent players.
Delia’s going to be drinking the cooking wine if Project Frank doesn’t keep them up.
p.s. You had a comment censored? I can hook you up with some pampers, the pull-up kind. Helps keep the sheets dry but a little snug around the cubes..
Are you all sitting down? Anyone who’s had a bad day and hates international breaks, don’t read the following.
Next season, the PL will stop on the weekend of 12/13 November and not resume until boxing day. Thanks to our friends at Fifa and the fucking World Cup in Qatar.
I dont mind angry posters… but I dont understand why they always have to bring back lengthy posts from days ago… to pick fights with people who aren’t even here at the moment when they post. . That to me is trolling.. PHD used to do the same thing from a different perspective .. kind of drove me nuts. We don’t need a copy paste version … of some soap opera drama.. It’s hard to wade thru and honestly do we need to break down every comment of every poster you don’t like from days ago.? Anyhow.. it’s been going… Read more »
Jamie,
I’ll pass on the pampers thanks mate. I’m trying to keep my bed perma-moist to fit the Arteta lovers’ narrative about people who understand football and love the Arsenal.
I’ve got a wicked rash and trench foot, and my family and friends have all deserted me (sob again) but I’m soldiering on to keep it real for the genius that is Nigel ‘nutty’ Tufnell.
“and not resume until boxing day”
FIFA trying to take the ‘since Christmas table’ a little too literally.
Honestly though, a WC in the gulf at any time of year is beyond madness. I was just there, 35 degrees during the day in November.
Mid I lived in the US from 02 to 07 (in DC) and was astonished by the amount of kids that played and the high quality of the facilities. I concluded that it wouldn’t be long before the men’s team would join the women’s team towards the top of the tree. It’s taken longer than I expected but it sounds like they’re going up another level with players like that. I hope they and all the other teams (and supporters) are going to cope with the high humidity and temperatures. Some of those T20 cricket matches in the Emirates this… Read more »
Midwest, you might be pleased to know you’re amongst the handful of posters I’ll read if they post anything longer than a few paragraphs.
Most others I just skip over.
So if anyone wants to insult me and expect a retort, keep it short please.
Kroenke
World Cup is a a bit more exciting than a normal international break.
That said it is and was a complete disgrace that Qatar originally ‘got picked’ on the basis of a June/July WC and then was allowed to move it to November as though the weather in those months suddenly became unreasonably hot!
Thanks Tom.. for the most part I read everything.. I figure if somebody takes the time to write it… it means something. to them at the very least. But like I said … some of it is hard to get through. I even used to read Rhys Jagger’s long uni-bomber diatribes.
What’s with the sky sports ad that keeps repeating on here ?
‘Copy and pasting’ historical posts are an automatic scroll down for me – I don’t find them in the slightest bit interesting as they’re almost always directed to someone to support some argument that is between that person and the poster.
We should be jumping up and down in glee not tearing each other apart. Arsenal are easily the most progressive side in PL. Some – City, Chelsea, Liverpool – are re-running , or trying to re-run, what they’ve done before. Others – Spurs Man U,.Leicester- are failing re-run what they nearly did before. A few – West Ham, Brighton – are over-reaching themselves. The rest are going nowhere good. Only Arsenal are making in-roads, moving forward, improving game by game. All this is easy to see, much harder not to see. So why do we get people on here ripping… Read more »
Ok, then we are in agreement, no more dredging old posts… I also don’t like copy-pasting posts to reply to them. Too much thumb scrolling.
We are in agreement.
englandsbest, because people take time to move on from extreme opinions.
Though most don’t, as evidenced by the change of tone on here.
There are two posters who I just don’t bother to read at all. It has made my LG experience so much better
EB
It’s the opposite of hubris surely. And as they say, hubris (yours) is followed by nemesis. Pride comes before a fall.
Have the negative posters who usually try and shut the positive posters down or have they been removed ?
Pedro lived the Perry groves podcast he was not the most talented player but my god you needed him in a Tuesday night in Stoke
He was part of the squad that won that night at anfield and for that he will always be a legend
I was there btw as a naive 19 year old that got lucky and got a ticket from an uncle that could not make it
Surely something will happen to stop the idiocy – and criminality – of a Qatar WC. An invasion? A drought? Players refusing to go? Clubs billing their countries for their players wages? Something, surely.
Shifting the venue to, say, UK the following summer must surely be a better option.
I mean have they left or got kicked
Who’s the other one again Taylor?
Those adverts are annoying why are they on a loop popping up once is enough please
EB
A plague of locusts? Frogs raining from the sky? A parting of the Arabian gulf? Too late mate – Blatter and Platini and their mates have already blown their bribes on hookers, blue diamond tablets and class As.
kp
Much more to my taste. Less peppery, sweeter, with a hint of peaches and cream
Balogun just bagged one for the under 21s, sharp finish
England 3-0 up, only 30 minutes gone
There’s some brilliant young talent in this country
The change in tone is due to a conscious decision to ban posters who don’t agree with the party line, Mr Trump.
Balogun scored his first goal for Eng U21. The loan manager ought to be getting creative for this Jan – looks such a good prospect- not going to benefit from age group football now.
Slade, that’s one way of putting it!
Mr Serge, they aren’t banned… they’ve just gone into hiding.
Thank you for listening to the podcast. Perry was superb. You’ll like the next guest we are lining up as well.
Listened to the podcast this morning. Really impressed with Perry G – far more articulate and incisive than I was expecting
Very impressed and a really absorbing podcast
Anyone else getting a really annoying video pop up keep appearing and blocking the mobile screen on Le Grove?
Pedro you need to get rid of this as it’s driving me mad
Northbanker, Do you not think that the ad is helping pay for the cost of the site? I don’t think it’s accidental.
Hopefully Almunia comes back, loved that guy, brilliant sense of humour, and balanced posts