Liverpool FC is trying to have the Thursday night Carling Cup game cancelled due to COVID. They have reported that Pep L, their assistant coach, is ‘suspected’ of the plague.
A quick Google scan reveals there is a precedent for this type of issue. This below segment comes courtesy of Leyton Orient who had the same issues against Spurs in 2020.
IN ACCORDANCE WITH CARABAO CUP RULES, TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR HAVE BEEN AWARDED WITH A BYE TO PROGRESS TO ROUND FOUR OF THE CARABAO CUP AND WILL NOW PLAY CHELSEA ON TUESDAY 29 SEPTEMBER.
The Round Three tie scheduled for Tuesday 22 September between Leyton Orient and Tottenham Hotspur could not take place following the issue by Waltham Forest Borough Council of an order preventing the match being played as planned. This followed a number of Leyton Orient players testing positive for COVID-19.
The EFL Board has determined that in line with Carabao Cup Rule 5.1, the Club was unable to fulfil its obligations to complete the fixture by virtue of the Council’s order and shall therefore forfeit the tie.
If we’re going down the same path, let’s have the same outcome.
Liverpool doesn’t want to be in the Cup, they think it’s beneath them. Klopp has already made big complaints that he’d rather it be one game, but that was rejected. If Liverpool don’t want it, let’s make it super easy and give Arsenal a pass to the final.
Liverpool likely won’t get booted like Leyton Orient because they are a big club and big sponsors want to see their energy drinks up in lights next to a flying Sadio Mane elbow. It makes me really angry that the clubs with the most money, the most success, and the deepest pockets, whinge the most about losing talent.
I still can’t get over Pep Guardiola complaining about his bench after the Arsenal game… when it had a £100m player on it.
The game is big for Arsenal. It gives the squad a chance to get back to winning ways and it gives our young group of players the chance to bind their DNA a little tighter to Arsenal FC. I want to see the game as well and I know everyone would LOVE another cup final.
In transfer news, The Athletic are saying that Ainsley is very close to moving to Italy on a half-season loan. We all wanted a more ruthless Arsenal, we have it, we can’t complain when good young players don’t make the cut because there are other good young players at the club. I love Ains, but let’s be straight, he really made a mess of being offered the right-back role. Arsenal are the top end of what he’ll get in the Premier League, to reject the chance to start regularly when you’ve been good in a makeshift position shows that he’s been advised badly.
In business, if you lack talent, you can make fast progress by putting your hand up for things others don’t want to do and crushing them. I wasn’t trained in advertising to make TV spots but I wanted to be a Creative Director. I went where the porridge was cold and took all the internet bits the fancy people would physically vom at if shown in a brief. That made me a peasant in the creative hierarchy, but a king in the business one, because I could offer something of value that was hard to find, that clients wanted to buy. In advertising, Ainsley is the guy that wants to make Super Bowl spots for Nike, though he should have stick to viral Tweets for cookie brands.
At its simplest: Would you rather be average at something you like or the best at something you are good at? I think those with an elite mindset say the latter… those that say the former end up making internet commercials for hayfever tablets for a washed-up dictator.
Still, Roma will be a good experience for Ains. Outside working for a horrible human, he’ll eat better, experience another culture, and the Hinge seen will be fresher than whatever he’s looking at now.
BIG QUESTION: What the hell are we doing to our midfield?
I think it’ll be a loan or a low-key transfer, a bit like Tomiyasu. If we’re exiting someone from a light midfield, it means there’s a deal in place for someone new, because I don’t think there’s anyone below AMN that is ready for a jump in a moment like this.
It’s been surprisingly quiet elsewhere. There’s been very little movement for Auba, who is a guaranteed scorer in the right system. If you needed a new keeper, only the richest could ignore the talents of Leno. Surely there’s a club that wants a piece of Pablo Mari or Kolasinac.
Edu is pretty good at doing deals, we can’t knock him there, but he’s been next to useless whipping up a frenzy for the rest of our players.
I suspect Ben Knapper will be busy trying to find homes for some of the young kids that might have outgrown their current loans OR need a loan from U23 level because they are bossing it. Patino might be too young, but Folarin B, Tim Akinola, Moller, and Harry Clarke who came back from Ross County.
I did save one rumour until the end… Brighton is interested in Eddie. If that isn’t the most obvious transfer in history, I don’t know what is. How can a team that needs a fox in the box not have taken a look at Eddie this summer when they could have squeezed us further with Ben White.
MADNESS.
I still have no idea what is going to happen upfront. I wonder if Arsenal might just ride it out. Whatever we have going right now works until there’s an injury. But even if there was an injury, could you switch Gabi into the middle and put ESR on the left? An overly simplistic idea that we’ve seen before.
Lacazette is the biggest worry. His style is pivotal to how operate. He’s unique, he’s difficult to replicate, and he’s in great form even if the goals aren’t there. The closer we get to June, the more he’ll be thinking about his ligaments mortality, and that 5% of worry can be huge. Lacazette, right now, is basically like driving uninsured when you want to be insured. It’s very risky and risk-averse players aren’t what you need when you are battling a fine margins Premier League table.
I’ve run out of things to say.
Listen to our podcast or watch the video.
AFC, Rich, I think I have shown pro Arsenal bias on many occasions here before.
Red card yellow card counts/ ratios, or individual ref decisions like McArtur’s Saka assault or Mane’s elbow on Tierney not punished with a straight red which btw many Liverpool fans thought wasn’t even a yellow ( I actually checked one of their blogs just for kicks right after lol)
I just think some of you guys just get carried away some but whatever. To each their own.
Can someone please explain to me the attraction of Saka joining Liverpool whose team/squad contains 12 players who are currently aged 29+ including many of their starting X1 stars. Liverpool do not fall into the same category as Manchester City or Chelsea whose owners can throw a billion pounds over 5 years at the transfer market. They have absolutely no track record of being able to outspend Arsenal in transfer market. Okay they managed to secure the transfer of Oxlade-Chamberlain, but it should be remembered that it was at the time when he was not a guaranteed starter at Arsenal.… Read more »
Emirates
Saka is just paper talk. The media are an absolute disgrace in this country, you can’t trust a word they say. Best ignore this clickbait nonsense.
Tom
I’ve made no complaints about games being postponed, all I wanted was a defined set of conditions that applied evenly to each club, on what could get a game postponed
We got that recently with the 13 + 1 keeper rule
As long as that’s applied evenly, then that’s fair
Postponements are inevitable, as is an outbreak at London Colony at some point, hopefully not before the NLD
AFC Forever
No-one disputes that Liverpool have a very good team at the moment and Klopp is one of
the best managers. However lets look at some stats:
EPL League Title only once in last 30 years.
FA Cup won last time in 2005/6
EPL Cup not won in last decade.
The only argument in their favour is that they have won recently the Champions League and we have not.
“Can someone please explain to me the attraction of Saka joining Liverpool whose team/squad contains 12 players who are currently aged 29+ including many of their starting X1 stars.“
From Liverpool’s perspective Saka would be an ideal Salah replacement if his contract talks fail because blowing up their wage structure even for him might seem unappealing.
From Saka’s perspective the obvious ones might be CL, possible title challenge, getting paid, and Klopp himself.
Although I’m not sure how much longer he’s going to be there.
https://www.empireofthekop.com/2022/01/05/liverpool-conspiracy-theories-rife-on-twitter-following-covid-postponement-carabao-cup-clash/
Tom
Liverpool are an ageing team. I suspect that in two years time they will be in a similar situation to what we were in at end of Wenger era.
My only concern is the agency that represents him.
AFC “Arsenal did request the game against Brentford be postponed. It was refused” Not sure you are right on that one. Yes it seems that Arsenal did engage with the PL re the COVID cases but it’s far from clear that the powers that be at Arsenal did indeed ask for a postponement of that Brentford game https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/59603139 Pedro The reason the Orient/ Spurs game was awarded to Spurs had nothing to do with Spurs being a big club at all quite simply that game was scheduled for the 22/9. Orient did indeed record 19 COVID positive tests but and… Read more »
The Saka stuff from Liverpool is nothing more than a quid pro quo for £40mill +1 bid from Wenger for Luis Suarez. We should take it as a recognition from them that he will every bit as good as Salah.
Klopp: I hope we can play a single semifinal leg in league cup vs Arsenal on their grounds ( with Salah and Mane away to AFCON)
Arsenal fans: clearly Liverpool asked to postpone the first leg of league cup semis vs Arsenal not because of COVID but so Klopp could have Salah and Mane back and available.
Tom
“From Saka’s perspective the obvious ones might be CL, possible title challenge, getting paid.”
Getting paid?
If it’s not challenging Arsenal fans about being too supportive of Arsenal, we now get the ridiculous ‘dig’ about Arsenal not having any money to pay players wages….!!
Your Conte adulation is bad enough but the constant digs at Arsenal and our fans are very weird to be quite truthful Tom. Why don’t you explain why Arsenal won’t be able to pay our players wages because you do need to explain that bollocks.
Spot on with AMN, Pedro.
He clearly has potential but with West Brom on loan he was very average with a poor team. He is a useful utility player but as a starter he belongs with a bottom-half Premier League team at best.
Rich “This is a pro-Arsenal blog, you shouldn’t be surprised that the majority of posters see things from a pro-Arsenal perspective, and that we tend to remember every injustice against us, and discard every decision that drops for us” This is a new phenomenon on Le Grove , to see things from an Arsenal perspective . Where have you been for the last 15 years , this blog has been about as anti Arsenal as one could be. I was nearly a loan voice on Le grove in defending the club/ manager /players against the media and officials. I christened… Read more »
Saka is undoubtedly our best player and it’s perfectly understandable why tabloid rumors are circulating. Honestly, Liverpool and al the other top teams will be committing malpractice if they didn’t probe around the edges to see if it was a doable transfer It would be a fileable offence for Saka’s agent to not start testing the market because everyone knows Saka is due for a hefty wage adjustment to match his status in the club. We have to just deal with the rumors, same way the club has to be proactive with the contracts of key players. They shouldn’t be… Read more »
Terraloon
Well, I assume they requested the game was postponed. According to Sky News Mikel Arteta says he was “surprised” Arsenal’s Premier League game against Brentford was not postponed
Arteta said: “Yes, I was surprised it wasn’t postponed, but the regulators decided the best thing to do was to play the game. What we did is what we had to do, through the club, through the club doctor as well. He explained the situation to them, how it developed, and the risk that we consider.”
“If I’m concerned about too many players leaving for up to a month, it’s not because I’m concerned about the practicalities of it, and how that could effect our season, it’s because I must be a racist…” Rich, I am not the one saying that, you are… If you can find a statement where I have called you such, then I’ll apologise but I don’t think I have. What I have said, however, is that you make these statements that you think are “objective facts” without researching what you’re talking about. Firstly, the point made in that article was that… Read more »
Any chance of putting a ban on Saka’s contract status until the summer? Let’s enjoy the season and worry when it’s over. If we make Top 4, he’s nailed on for an extension and if we don’t he’ll still probably sign but his agent will let his contract run down to summer 2023 to get maximum leverage.
Either way, let’s not feed the clickbait hyenas.
Can’t believe so much being made of phantom rumours of Saka to Liverpool. Do me a bloody favour man.
AFC, you’re missing the point completely.
The ridiculous situation of Saka’s wages isn’t that the club is destitute, it isn’t. But rather that we constantly piss money up the wall while our best player is on £30kpw
Name another top performer on any top club on anything close to that amount. I’ll wait.
My Conte adulation ? Lol.
Literally can’t stand the man.
All I ever said was his Tottenham appointment was bad for us because he’s a good manager.
Pierre
I agree with much of that. Tom’s comments are interesting because he is definitely in the camp you describe.
Burnley game put back till the Sunday.
Terraloon You are right about the Leyton Orient bye.That was awarded to Spuds because LO couldn’t play the game before the following round games. The EFL website states: “For example the Second Round of the Competition is scheduled to take place on 24 August 2021, in the event that a First Round Competition Match was postponed, the rearranged a match must take place by 23 August 2021. In the event that the match cannot be rearranged for a suitable date before 23 August 2021 then the Management Committee will award a bye in accordance with Rule 5.1.” Leyton Orient was… Read more »
Pierre This is where I don’t agree with you, which you’ve always known. Don’t look at yourself as the good of all good on this because imo, the reason Arsenal fell so far off the pace was because our infrastructure was being eroded by principles and philosophies that were damaging to our progress. The CL scenario had nothing to do with prioritising 4th place as a trophy, it was all to do with the way we accepted it all. Promoting not winning things is all well and good but those players who wanted more moved on because they knew we… Read more »
AFC
There are other news outlets beside the BBC that suggest that Arsenal didn’t ask to have the game cancelled and even that Sky report doesn’t actually say that a postponement was requested .
I very very much doubt that the league would postpone a game without a request and I still am very much of the opinion that the 4 positive tests ( 2 of which were from players that were named in the 21/22 squad ) would have been enough for the PL to agree to a postponement
Pierre
I do agree with your take on the referees though.
AFC
There’s no where in that article that suggest that Arsenal formally ask for the Brentford game to be postponed
It will be inconceivable that citing “health and safety” reasons wont be enough to cancel a game in the COVID era. You formally request and publicly make a fuss about it.
We didn’t do that, in retrospect we tend to overdo the ‘”classiness” that is associated with Arsenal.
Terraloon
When Arteta says the ‘Regulators’ perhaps he is referring to somebody else other than the PL? I know he wasn’t happy about Covid disruption and he did say the club Doctor was involved. It would seem daft the club didn’t ask for a postponement.
I am sure that Arsenal will be negotiating with both Martinelli and Saka new contracts.
Both are now “regular” starters in the team and their new contracts will also coincide with
some of our top wage earners departures.
Most of Arsenal’s young or newly recruited players are on contracts ending June 2005 or 2006
and I believe that some of these contracts have also got 1 year extension options.
I can just see it now.. at the Pool training grounds.. Anyone want to play Arsenal now? no Mane no.. Salah. no .. nobody…? Ok then.. Bring in the Covid positive players…
GROUP HUG!!!!! ok that should do it.
I can definitely see how that covid crises at Arsenal wasn’t handled properly
The relative inexperience of the team and the fact that they were buried in transfers would have taken their eyes off the ball in August.
Arsenal wasn’t pushy and forceful enough. That wasn’t on the premier league, it may just have been us not being decisive.
Anyways, the amazon prime documentary will tell us what happened.
By all accounts Arsenal were party to the decision to postpone tomorrow’s game. They did not object to postponent.
Saka isn’t leaving. He is 20. He will sign a new contract. He will see where we are going to get to over the next 2 to 3 years. If we aren’t achieving anything by then, he will start looking around the market. Kane took it too far but he was from their academy and he wanted to win something at Tottenham. Too bad they are Tottenham. Saka will be the same. He will want win something with Arsenal. Same with ESR. They are young and they have time on their side. That is why they will stay for now.… Read more »
I knew the authorities are scared of forcing clubs to play with covid soon after Brendan Rodgers publicly called the premier league out for valuing money over safety. They quivered behind their desks and cancelled the Leicester game within the hour after the press conference.
Same with Benitez’s public denouncing of Everton being focred to play.
Once the club throws out “health and safety” , it’s like whispering “suicide” in the emergency room. Everyone has to take you seriously.
Anyhow.. with all these delays.. I hope the management team and the transfer team… Take this time to get some transfer activity done.. Doing nothing… doesn’t seem like the right thing to do when we are short on CF’s and midfielders and we have the opportunity to compete realistically for 4th possibly even 3rd.
If we have to transfer people out first … to bring some in,,, then so be it.. Make it happen.
Dissenter
I would like to know what Arteta means by: “I was surprised but the regulations or the regulators decided the best thing to do was play.” As you say, we may find out when we see the Amazon documentary.
Pierre
No, coming 4th in PL is not a trophy – it’s not even nearly winning a trophy, that belongs to the team in second place.
Habesha
I don’t think anyone is suggesting, even remotely that Saka will leave Arsenal anytime soon.
The point being made is that we shouldn’t be providing the seeds of disgruntlement by leaving your best player on one of the low wages in the squad.
Interesting to see if the match at Anfield next week goes ahead. Could do with that being called off as we have the trophy dodgers on Sunday. This weekend’s team selection for the Forest game could be interesting now.
Gerrard in for Coutinho; no surprise there he knows how good he is. I can see that happenning.
Yep 4th is not a trophy for sure.. It a stepping stone to win trophies.. via financials and opportunity to win more trophies. and making the Club more attractive to incoming players But getting 4th in itself should not be the endgame and with Wenger too many times it was.. he failed to push the boat out so many times it became a joke.. and the ghosr of that attitude still lingers at times. I do feel like Arteta wants to win and just doing enough … is not good enough.. And I do respect him for that.
*Ghost
Personally I think that Arsenal will be quite happy not to play this week against Liverpool
in Carabao Cup.
For a start Gabriel’s suspension will now cover the Nottingham Forest Game. We can afford
to play Holding and Chambers as CBs in that game.
Also Arsenal’s real priorities this month are the Spurs and Burnley games in EPL. We need
to play our best team available in those two games.
IAT Robbie If all but 1 referee is British, and the average age is 40+ And 41 years ago, the UK was 98%+ ethnically white country Then take into account that that roughly 1 in 2 ethnic minorities, were likely women, and there’s no female referees in the men’s game Then that explains that why in an industry where the average age is north of 40, and the nationality British Why there’s no ethnic minority referees in these position Otherwise you open up to the counter argument, which is a really dangerous one, that if there was 4/20 ethnic minority… Read more »
Rich sounds like Gambon.
Using ‘avg age’ as though it meant something
What a dumbshit argument
Rich should also post a tl;dr…
btw I’m just kidding man.
Note to self: don’t get Rich going on racism or economy
Dont get anyone on here going about race religion or politics really.. It never ends well and you don’t want to know what people really think on it. AT least they are Arsenal fans is the way I look at it… they made one good life decision.
Good to see we’ve learned the lesson for avoiding an obligation (Mavrapanos) or option (Guendouzi) to buy at a discounted price.
I think the Guendouzi deal might go down as one of the worst we’ve ever seen at the club. I agree that we should have moved him on based on his behaviour but to give Marseille a low cost loan with only an option to buy at a low price will almost certainly come back to haunt us.
Midwest You are right about stepping stones. Fourth would be a major achievement with this new young team and would give us a better market to fish in. You need that stepping stone to start attracting the best players, like Odegaards mate Haaland. Wenger was right about 4th place having the value of a trophy, it does. A few too many idiots didn’t get it but that’s football fans for you. 4th place is better than some trophies; tell Haaland we won the Carabao Cup and he’ll laugh in your face when you wave a contract at him. Tell him… Read more »
Hey Midwest, I’m assuming you want Tottenham to trounce Chelski today.
At least you have a solid excuse of your obnoxious Chelsea supporting brother for rooting for them……….me, I’d get accused of Conte adulation.
Midwest
Exactly, we are all red and white here. We could have been a spu*s supporter and what a waste of life that would have been.
Dissenter
Yeah his wages should be closer to 90k or a 100k. He is performing better than players we have on those wages. He will definitely be happy with that.
AFC –
Yes 4th place has a lot of value.. I just felt like Wenger stopped trying at some point to utilize that value to do anything else. Anyhow, it wasnt meant as a lets start bashing Wenger thing.. Moreso… I think people do see the value in finishing 4th but when you say it is a trophy.. it adds that stigmatism that built up from the late Wenger banter years.
Lets differentiate prejudice and racism, A person of colour cannot be racist
Im telling you for free!
Dissenter Fair point. It’s a tough one because with his wages being low, there might be an incentive for him to sign a new deal this summer to get an immediate bump. The way he gets targeted by opponents might make a new bumper 5 year deal look attractive this summer. At the same time, the club could give him an immediate bump in salary to acknowledge his efforts for the club. If he’s really on 30k per week and we know he’s most likely a 150-200k per week player, giving him a bump to 60k per week for the… Read more »
Tom yes when Spuds play Chelski it’s a difficult one.. I want both sides to lose so much.. If I had to choose though I would want Chelski to suffer more, yes.
Englandbest “No, coming 4th in PL is not a trophy – it’s not even nearly winning a trophy, that belongs to the team in second place.” 21 years Net spend 250 million 10 trophies 10 runners up 18 years on the bounce qualified for champions league. Since he left 3 years and counting Already a larger net spend in 3 years than Wenger’s 21 years.. No champions league football Finished 5th , 8th , 8th. And our 2 best players are wenger protégés saka and smith rowe who learnt the game the wenger way. We are showing improvement though and… Read more »
He was ridiculed for infering that qualifying for champions league was a top priority at the start of the season…..the only ones who look ridiculous now are the entitled fans who expected Arsenal to win the league with little or no money to compete against the billions of cuty, chelsea and united.
spot on comment….ungrateful,spiteful fans….. i still remember the way people ridiculed wenger when he fell at that train station….shaweful, cowardly act.
Nonsense Sid. A person of color can be racist, for example against another person of color. The increase in attacks on Asians in the United States by African-Americans etc have largely been based on racism.
Midwest, Arsenal would do better against the spuds, assuming we get past Liverpool, so that’s my motivation for rooting against Chelsea.
Anyhow.. Im going to miss the Scum versus Scum match today.. Family duties… call. But it wouldnt be too much to ask for Son to get a muscle pull that lasts a month.. I don’t think. 😀
Pierre,
You’ve already stated you think forcing Wenger out was the right decision. He’s widely acknowledged as our greatest manager so not sure the point here.
His Xhaka, Mustafi, Lucas Perez, Asano transfer class essentially finished him off. It was clear he was flailing. His greatness is undisputed but the fact that we’ve been a disaster since he left isn’t an argument for why he should have stayed.
Pierre
Excellent as always.
It seems to me, Arsenal post Wenger are trying to achieve exactly what he got continually criticised for.
And he did not cheat either , leave the grass too long or ask games to be cancelled either.
I thought he was replaced to kick on from all these boring top 4 finishes and tedious FA Cup wins.
Mb “We could have been a spu*s supporter and what a waste of life that would have been…” How old would you have to be to have seen Spuds lift the league title? It was 1961 so that’s 61 years ago. Assuming you would have to have been, let’s say 8 at the time to remember it, you’re a man approaching 70. If it’s an FA Cup then you’re looking for a man approaching 40. In other words bald-headed men who look like Spuds (Potatoes to those who don’t get it). Just imagine wanting to inflict all that suffering on… Read more »
“it adds that stigmatism that built up from the late Wenger banter years”
MidwestGun, I definitely agree.
The late Wenger banter years make up the majority of my Arsenal fanhood so that truly was a banter era for me. I remember every Arsenal fan at school getting the piss taken out of us when Wenger said that. It wasn’t easy defending the man at times.
The worst time was starting the school year just after that 8-2 defeat to United. Even the teachers joined in😁
Arteta looks like he has turned the corner in his decision making , though i am a little confused as to why we would let AMN leave at this particular time as he has proved pefectly good enough whenever he has played this season….non negotiables? I am also a little concerned about smith rowe , though i do understand that it is difficult for Arteta to put him in the side at present, i am hoping that Arteta creates a pathway for smith rowe to get back in the side. Nothing wrong in smith rowe having time to recharge his… Read more »
Can we pulleeez stop going on about Saka to Liverpool. What would be the price? 150? He’s not going anywhere, I don’t think at his age there would be anything beneficial about him making a move. Remember, he is only of an age where he would be in his second year at university.
He certainly needs, and will get, a payrise. Arsenal is his family, just look at the YouTube video of his wall of cards.
IAT
””””’The worst time was starting the school year just after that 8-2 defeat to United. Even the teachers joined in😁”””’
And what did he do. His response.
He dusted himself down, did not sulk, got on with his job, bought some players and had us coming home in 3rd.
I can not remember if he won the Cup that year.
ps. Klopp took a 7 -2 last season & 6 home defeats in a row.
He too recovered.
Bacaryisgod “You’ve already stated you think forcing Wenger out was the right decision.” There is a difference between saying that it was time for wenger to go(and it was) and forcing him out. I would have been more than happy to see pep come in when he left Barcelona as I’ve always believed he is the best. Again , that doesn’t mean i would ever disrespect wenger , the joy he brought to Arsenal fans over the years,, even the final years when he brought us 3 trophies in 4 years, the football was still a joy to watch despite… Read more »
@Bacary, you are speaking of prejudice, racism is systemic,
Who of the to is disadvantaged in judicial system, education, employment, housing, healthcare etc
*two
CG I think everyone now knows that finishing 4th place is as good, in fact better, than some trophies. Wenger was right but people were desperate to get at him to undermine finishing fourth. That’s all it was. Now all anyone talks about is finishing in the top 4, the same people who ridiculed it including the media. Hypocrites. Try telling anyone in football that winning the Carabao Cup is better than playing in the Champions League and you will get shoved into a strait jacket and thrown into one of those places with padded cells. Try telling Haaland when… Read more »
“He dusted himself down, did not sulk, got on with his job, bought some players and had us coming home in 3rd.”
Oh CG, I am not disputing that and in hindsight I am very proud of that. I just remember what the post-match atmosphere was like back at school where football was life or death. That was also the season we beat Chelsea 3-5 at theirs, so rest assured, we took the opportunity to let the Chelsea fans have some. It’s a shame we didn’t have any Spurs supporters in our class. That would have been a glorious day.
The concept of racialization did not take hold until the 1690s
Its more of a social category than a body characteristic.
AFC
””””’Mind you when Arteta won the FA Cup half the people on here were belittling it as nothing special and a fluke.””””’
Not me, I congratulated Arteta. Although I actually (possibly harshly ) say Wenger did really win x 8 FA Cups , not x 7. It was mostly his team except Luiz .
But as I always say, Wenger made managing Arsenal , especially under KSE look just a bit too easy for his own good.
Nobody disputes the value of CL qualification but football is about winning, and for an elite club, that means winning trophies and competitions. And no manager knew that better than Wenger, a manager who had grown accustomed to success. Calling 4th (or 3rd or 2nd) in PL a trophy was a cop-out for him. But the offer of total football control of Arsenal was too seductive to resist. And there was the promise of lotsa dough when the Club could afford it. And for that to happen, qualification for CL was a priority. Hence, it became his benchmark of success.… Read more »
Pierre
What about the 12 years from 2006-2018?
What were the figures like for that period?
You and CG can gloat in the achievements but from 2006 onwards things changed dramatically at the club.
Chris Wheatley is reporting we are monitoring Johnathan David for a move. I can’t say I am surprised. He is more of a pacy Lacazette profile player. And he would be a good fit for us.
Liverpool game off, evidently they could only get 20 fit players for the game……cheating bar stewards!
Be fair Graham, who knew that Almunia was rubbish (everyone but AW it seems), that we needed a DM (see previous answer), that we needed a top striker (obviously not the guy who paid more for another #10 than we offered for Suarez), or that Gervinho wasn’t a patch on Hazard (who we were linked with eighteen months before Chelsea swooped). Don’t forget the stadium cost though (okay we doubled match day income from £50m to £100m and the stadium payments maxed our around £24m a year, which to us innumerates looks like a net gain), and I’m sure that… Read more »
I dispute Wenger’s greatness. My candidate for greatness is George Graham. He took over when the Club had not experienced success for fifteen years. The squad he inherited was average at best. By force of will he moulded the finest defence Arsenal has ever had. It was the foundation for a team that won trophies and titles in England and in Europe. And, but for the meanness of BoD, he would have gone on winning things. Contrast with Wenger. He inherited GG’s team plus Bergkamp and Platt. He came armed with inside knowledge of Frech football when the country was… Read more »
Not sure how anyone can dispute his greatness, all you have to do is look at what he won and some of the sides he produced but each to their own
Spurs looking pretty average. THey cant seem to string more than 2-3 passes together
LMAO
Textbook defending Spurs
Scum (Spurs) with the OG Loc… hilarious defending
One of the best own goals ive ever seen
EB
Even the most harshest critics of Wenger don’t deny his legacy. The man was greatness personified. He just stayed too long. You wouldn’t have those players waxing lyrical about him if he wasn’t so great.
Well said Pierre
Spot on
Englandbest “Contrast with Wenger. He inherited GG’s team plus Bergkamp and Platt. He came armed with inside knowledge of Frech football when the country was producing the best players in Europe. Even so, he brought in as many bad players as good, and persisted with them beyond belief. And, worst of all, he left a squad not fit for purpose” You do talk a load of bollocks sometimes , and you have exceeded yourself there.. For a start , the squad not fit fit for purpose went 23 games unbeaten until Emery started his silly games by freezing ozil, ramsey… Read more »
Wish the Spuds fixtures wasn’t that far away
I think we’re going to absolutely batter them.
lol forgot about Torreira’s spell at #10. Emery truly is a nutter
I’d fancy us more against spurs if we get to the final but this is amusing to watch them fall apart. I was hoping for more blood n thunder, injuries and cards aplenty. I loved GG more than Wenger. He transformed a club in dire straights and created winning teams through sheer willpower. Way I see it is that between them GG and Wenger climbed a footballing mountain. GG took us 70% of the way but Wenger brought us to the peak, no doubt. I don’t think either man could have done the job the other did, they both came… Read more »
Avi that has to be the expectation. We perform like we have been lately and we have every reason to be optimistic
EB You can’t big up arteta and try to be little arsene wenger, it’s hilarious and seriously unarsenal. Wenger was the best thing to happen to arsenal and even the epl as a whole. He raised the standard.
It is impossible to win with Tottenham. They have a loser mentality as a club that will never let them win 😂😂😂.
ALMUNIA
The arsenal to that is bobby pires…. xd