RIGHT BACK SOLVE?

by .

Gooooood morning!

I’m flying into London tomorrow, there’s a snow storm here, BAD times.

… but if you can all think positively for me, maybe, just maybe we’ll pull this off?

I’m still here sitting about channelling some peak victimhood. I just simply cannot fathom Martinelli getting sent of for two fouls in one passage of play… but Scott McTominay can drop 6, one which was a flying elbow that BURST open a players face, and he doesn’t get sent off.

Look at the smirk. He’s just seen a player getting brutally savaged, there’s blood pouring from his head, the player is so injured he needed to exit the field 10 minutes later… and… err… it’s… funny?

This is where we are with referees. They follow a similar path to politicians that are in power for too long, in the end, they get used to the privilege of running the biggest games, and they become smug, arrogant, and lawless. This is a prime example of ref privilege in action.

On loan watch, Ainsley Maitland Niles is getting a pounding in the Italian media.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles has has failed to make any impact so far at Roma & is ‘showing technical limitation’. Unless he improves quickly, he will be seen as a ‘real flop’.

Yikes. I don’t think he’s played a game in midfield yet. I think Matt Kandela, podcast hero of The AO, said: ‘Trust the Progress’… I think I would go one step further… trust the talent ID. If Ainsley was the answer in midfield for Arsenal, he’d be playing there. If Auba could do what we needed him to do with the right attitude, he’d be starting games. If we exited a whole group of players in January, it’s because they’re not good enough.

People need to stop challenging every player that can’t get in at Arsenal. It’s supposed to be hard. We need to be a club where it’s hard to make the cut. Not everyone can be saved.

You know I’m big into platforming next level propaganda, the excellent James of Twitter.com had this post yesterday.

Look at those numbers… how are we living in a world where people need convincing that what is going on is pretty damn sexy and dare I say it?

Saucy.

One of the sauciest defenders ever to grace the Premier League – Rio – had this to saying on the project.

“Mikel Arteta is creating an environment that I feel players are going to want to play in. I think this window is going to be big for them, they’ve got to get it right, it depends where they finish & what type of player they’re going to have to go for”

When you have a man from a rival club looking in on the project with envious eyes, you know you’re in good shape. No doubt he knows a few of the players and coaches, it’s good to get a bit of outside perspective.

Mikel Arteta was widely lambasted for playing ESR in a false #9 role for the semi of the Europa League. Crazy ideas are generally only accepted if they work. Well, he’s trying to put that idea back in our heads, suggesting the Englishman would be a good #9.

WHO SAW THIS COMING?

I kind of like the thinking.

ESR is 6ft 0.4 inches. He’s fast. He can play with his back to goal, he can pass around corners, he can float in from the right or the left, and he has a taste for goals. It’s pretty clear that if the worst happens to Lacazette, ESR is most likely the option. It’s also an interesting idea because it would allow a structure to exist that contains ESR, Odegaard, Martinelli, and Bukayo Saka.

I’d be down to see how that played out at some point.

Finally, were you out here demanding Arsenal sign Djed Spence? Get in the bin, it’s Brooke Norton-Cuffy for me.

What a performance here, their manager says he’ll be a Premier League right back. Speed, power, the ability to beat people. I love it when a young player takes their chance!

Ok, if you haven’t already, get in on this podcast.

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DivineSherlock

Tony/Goober

I agree ESR at #9 is decision made so we can focus our attack more centrally , It might not be his best position but it allows us to play Martinelli , Ødegaard and Saka in their best positions. Which is quite tasty , I have to see it once this season .

Also did anyone catch Chelsea Lille ? How good was Jonathan David, any scouting reports ?

bacaryisgod

I don’t see Arteta dropping Laca, at least not while we’re on a decent run of form. Just like Giroud with France, the end result rather than individual stats matter. However, what does make sense is to have Laca work himself into the ground for 60-70 mins and then take him off.

Regardless, the odds that our 4 musketeers will all be fit and available at the same time for a long stretch of games is unlikely.

Habesha Gooner

Tony I am not judging Tielemans’s ability on a few games. I have watched him for the past 3 seasons. I didn’t even think we stood a chance to sign him because Leicester were performing better than us. Now they have dropped off a cliff, we can get him. And he will have a year left in the summer. I believe he wouldn’t look out of place in Man city’s or Liverpool’s midfield. That’s how highly I rate him. He probably would bench all of Liverpool’s other CMs bar Thiago and Fabinho. At at man city there is a bit… Read more »

Habesha Gooner

Oh I have left out Foden, Barella, Fabian Ruiz and Bellingham that are also in that category. And all would cost 50 mil+ and are virtually unattainable.

kjelli

Tieleman is a bit of a bore. We need excitement and speed..

Terraloon

Divine

Also did anyone catch Chelsea Lille ? How good was Jonathan David, any scouting reports ?

Chelsea’s back three were far too good for him. Silva in particular just sat off him and when David and come to that all the Lille forwards played in front of Chelsea their threat was snuffed out with ease

Graham62

I’ve always liked Cedric.
Great attitude, excellent work rate and offers us something different.
Far better than Bellerin and imo, could have been used far more.

TheLegendaryDB10

@ Pedro

I was just reading Arseblog and they are saying that Arteta has spoken to “officials” yesterday about some of the refereeing decisions that we have been getting compared to other teams this season.

I am really curious about the outcome of that meeting considering that we have the biggest arsehole in Atkinson refereeing our game tomorrow.

Has anyone else read about this?

Invincibles

LegDB10

I read the article as saying “ After the Wolves game a couple of weeks ago, when Gabriel Martinelli picked up his ludicrous double-yellow red card, the manager said he was due to speak to ‘officials’ about some of the decisions Arsenal have been on the end of this season. I wonder if that happened, and I wonder too about whether or not it will have done any good.” which implies AB has no idea if the meeting has taken place.

WinOrDie

About Brooke Norton-Cuffy,
was super excited to see that he is on loan from arsenal.

Invincibles

The real bonus with Norton-Cuffy is he is only 18 so promoting him to the first team will help with the “youngest squad in the league” trophy which I understand from next year will lead to automatic Champions League qualification.

bacaryisgod

Habesha,

Roght on the money about Tielemans. To have him and Partey in central midfield would be a dream. My only concern about him was that he might be a little too passive but watching him pump up the crowd against West Ham showed that he’s got the passion to thrive for us.

raptora

The weekly Tielemans bigging up. Not what we need.

Tidy player but a jack of all trades, master of none. Superior to Xhaka of course but that doesn’t mean much.

DivineSherlock

Terraloon

I guess we’ve moved on from David , with reports about Joao Felix coming in . Guess we’ll scout him today 😉

Also Tielemans is class and an instant upgrade on our midfield , dont let anyone tell you otherwise .

Habesha Gooner

Bacary We haven’t had a creator in that CM position since Cazorla departed. Tielemans is exactly that. He needs some work of the ball but he isn’t a lazy player. What we would get would be the tool to convincingly hammer teams we are supposed to beat. Tielemans, Partey, Odegaard/ESR would be creating left right and center. And because of that he might make us main stays in the top 4 and we can go from there. Only Fabian Ruiz is the other gettable CM (It is still Napoli) that is in the same class and It is not a… Read more »

TheLegendaryDB10

Thanks Invincibles

So we don’t even know whether that meeting ever took place.

Is PGMOL avoiding that meeting???

If they are, it says it all. This looks more and more like they have no actual official explanation on the inconsistency in referring Arsenal compared to other teams.

I really wish something was dine about it. Refereeing should be impartial, as it is in rugby.

Crazy in these days that no EPL brass wants this.

Graham62

TheLegendaryDB10

There’s obviously no accountability.

Imo, I think all refs should be reviewed and assessed after each game.

A panel of football minded people should be the ones overseeing this, not other referees.

As it stands there is no structure set in place to monitor what is going on and I think Mike Riley has to be seriously questioned in these matters.

Mark

https://www.footballinsider247.com/arsenal-news-campbell-fumes-over-premier-league-agenda-after-emirates-controversy-analysed/

The more light shed on this the better. I’m glad people are beginning to call this shit out.

TheLegendaryDB10

Graham I think Mike Riley has to be seriously questioned in these matters. I 100% agree. Not sure how we can make that happen by we need to press the EPL brass for some changes. This just can’t go on forever and is frankly very anti-sport. I posted that thought at some insane time a couple of weeks ago so I’ll re-type it now: My belief is that we are getting serious payback from our home game vs Man City. For those who were there (and for those who watched and hopefully heard on TV) we did berate Start Atwell… Read more »

kjelli

Cuffy looks a beast in the making..the future suddenly looks brighter !!

AFC Forever

Invincibles PGMOL won’t meet with Arsenal. Mike Riley runs that organisation with the same efficiency & integrity as he refereed that bent game at Old Trafford, which ended our unbeaten run. That game convinced me the game isn’t as honest as I had always believed. Nobody knows how Riley got the job. Hackett and Halsey are probably his most vocal critics, calling him incompetent. For a number of reasons: When Chris Kavanagh, who was behind VAR, decided Harry Kane’s red-card challenge on Liverpool’s Robertson wasn’t a red there was media outcry. Kavanagh is from Manchester. This made Hackett uneasy because… Read more »

AFC Forever

By the way.

Darren England has a Manchester United tattoo across his shoulder. In the run-in for fourth place, how comfortable would you feel if you knew he was doing VAR for one or more of our games?

Positive pete

The only response ,if any,that will come from PGMOL will be dismissive.I assure you.Will prob also point out that Arteta & Arsenal are paranoid.They’ll leak that to the media & c** ts like Adrian Durham will have a field day.
If Arsenal can hope for any response,they are going to have to go after the prem top brass.Surely by now the club must have a dossier full of incidents that require explanation?

Positive pete

How so Danny?

Kroenkephobe

AFCF
Everyone to their own and all that, but I’d be intrigued to know what you were doing standing behind that geezer reading his tattoos on his naked shoulders.

AFC Forever

Kroenkephobe
Unfortunately, Darren England isn’t a smart guy. PGMOL made him remove a lot of content from his social media channels, that guy is a Man Utd fanatic..! It makes a valid point though, we forget these referees are football fans too and have their own bias. Like us.

AFC Forever

Pete Referee appointment system. That needs looking at because selecting the referee and the VAR official is key if you want to play the odds. From a betting perspective, that can be a better guide to form. Did you see Mike Riley has appointed Martin Atkinson to our match with Wolves? We’ve received a red card or conceded a penalty in every game he’s officiated this season. He has handed out more cards to Arsenal than any other team in the PL. Over the course of the Premier League, no referee has given more penalties against Arsenal than Martin Atkinson.… Read more »

G8

At the moment Gunnersaurus would be a better #9 option than Lacazette and Nketiah ..
Try Martinelle or ESR or Pepe, do something different!

Most here knew AMN was not up to the standards, question is why did we turned away 20 million for his sale?

Positive pete

Yes AFC.Agree.I pointed it out in an earlier blog that what I feared most against wolves was the ref appt.& Lo & behold.Up steps Atkinson.Now that IS a deliberate ploy by Riley & the PGMOL who know full well that he’ll deliver the goods for them.He is right up there with a Mike Dean for me.Hates us.& I fully expect at least One Major ,potential game changing decision to go against us.& I’m curious.How many matches this season have we had him?

zaco

Diss
“Joao Felix is 22 and his stock has gone down since Simeone has no idea how to use him. He won’t be costing a fortune 60 mill should be enough”

why should anyone pay 60m for Joa Felix? if you are paying 60m for him that’s because you are putting into consideration what he cost Athletico rather than what he has done in the past few years. he hasn’t done anything to show that he is a 60M striker.

Batistuta

While we get our fair share of wrong calls, a bit more than every other team, I’d rather really just focus on playing our best football, doing our bit and getting results. Some of the stuff here can come across as conspiracy and setting up excuses ahead and even before a ball is kicked.

This is my view of it all anyway. Saturday, we played well, didn’t get some calls but ultimately our good performance saw us through. Just do us, don’t make dumb decisions on the pitch.

Again, all of this is my own opinion

TheLegendaryDB10

Positive Pete

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.sportsmole.co.uk/people/martin-atkinson/

3 games so far, so tomorrow will be his 4th as per the above link.

Talk about a balanced appointment….

They’re all just bent bastards at PGMOL.

I used to exclude Michael Oliver from tht lot as he used to be OK with us up until that BS double yellow on Martinelli.

Dissenter

Batistuta ‘ While we get our fair share of wrong calls, a bit more than every other team, I’d rather really just focus on playing our best football, doing our bit and getting results. Some of the stuff here can come across as conspiracy and setting up excuses ahead and even before a ball is kicked.’ You echo my feelings 100% You want the team to have a siege mentality but it’s a bit too much to expect these level of over-valued ideas about a conspiracy to cheat Arsenal. We need to focus on our game and stop making it… Read more »

Positive pete

Thanks TLGB10-so that’s nearly 25% of our matches so far if my maths is right?& there’s 22 referees.That stat alone would tell you something is fishy?Does the club never question these things.Fergie would be demanding any ref that upsets him ,never refs any of their( manure) games in the future.And he’d get away with it?

Positive pete

Sorry Diss.But we’ve been down that passive aggressive route over the years.Doing our best to ignore it.But hey even neutrals are starting to comment on it.Why should they be let off the hook?Theyve ruined many a season with a lot of dodgy calls.So f** k em!

Rich

Joao Felix’s stock must be low, they paid a reported £115 million for him, and signed him on a 7yr contract He’s still only 22, he’s got a decent amount of experience, I don’t know what he’s like away from the pitch, but if he’s a good professional, he might be worth a £30-£40 million punt, but I don’t see anyone paying more than that. What were they thinking paying £115million for a player who’d played just 43 games for Benfica? If City were to sign Haaland, I’d keep an eye on Gabriel Jesus who’s down to the last 12… Read more »

Dissenter

Positive Pete’
So what exactly are you doing about it, besides concocting more allegations of a conspiracy and spinning yourself into a mothball?

We need to play our game and not do dumb stuff that makes it easy for referees to hurt us.
Against Wolves, Partey and Xhaka got yellows within minutes ….and they are supposed to be the leaders.
Let’s take care of the basics and stop beating war drums

G8

Wonder if this UK and EU sanctions against Russia would affect Putin’s best pal and his club Chelsea!
Or there would be a conflict of interest like in Newcastle and Man city?

Mark

Diss, got to disagree with you there, 2 stoe wall penalties were not awarded to us. Which have been mentioned by pundits and ex- referees. By raising awareness of the issue, it makes it harder for refs to get away with this shit as they feel they are under more scrutiny than normal. TIf they have to think twice, then they won’t be so quick to dish out cards or feel they have to even it up by booking our opposition.
We’ve stayed silent too long.

Mark

Diss, we get yellows. Whereas other teams get no sanction whatsoever. It’s not right, and won’t balance out over the season.
It’s not an excuse. I think lots of people can agree we’ve been getting shafted by the refs for years now.

Gonsterous

That Norton lad looks good but I would like him to go out on loan to a bottom half PL team.

Most youngsters play well in the championship but the PL is a big jump from the championship.

Get some PL experience and maybe he can be back up to tomiyasu.

Dissenter

Gonsterous
“Most youngsters play well in the championship but the PL is a big jump from the championship.”

It’s not that far a leap. I would argue it’s a lot closer than signing players from the Bundesliga.
A player from the championship just has to step up to match quality, won’t struggle with the culture, weather or language.

We need to be signing more promising players from the championship, you only have look at what Westham are doing with Jared Bowen.

AFC Forever

Mark “By raising awareness of the issue, it makes it harder for refs to get away with this shit as they feel they are under more scrutiny than normal. If they have to think twice, then they won’t be so quick to dish out cards or feel they have to even it up by booking our opposition. We’ve stayed silent too long” This. Trying to be virtuous is BS. You have to call out something if you’re not happy with it – not bend over and let someone do it twice as hard. This argument that it is something we… Read more »

Zacharse

reading a n interveiw w Seb Haller: “I’m not one to go on long, dribbling runs either because I’m not good at it! It’s a pity but also a blessing. I always have to think twice about which choice I make, have to make room in a different way, really time my runs because it’s difficult for me to overtake a defender. There were 10,000 boys with more talent on the streets where I come from. But it’s the choices you make that make the difference.” first obviously a very wise kid, second what does this say about what might… Read more »

The Bard

I think the view that AMN is a failure is a bit harsh. He probably doesn’t speak the language and I don’t expect he has travelled much. My guess is he has had a good deal of trouble settling in. Throw in the racism in Italy and I suspect he is struggling.
As Ian Rush is allegedly quoted as saying ‘being in Italy is like being in a foreign country’.

Bob N16

The Bard, don’t know if you ever read Rush’s ghosted diary of his time in Italy, hilarious.
Don’t know if he got past ciao!

Graham62

The one incident that sticks out for me this season was the one at Goodison Park when Ben Godfrey stamped on Tomiyasu’s face.

How the fudge was that not a red card.

Can’t remember but didn’t it go to VAR for review?

Zacharse

anyone know why ESR wasnt in training?

The Bard

Bob I havent but might do now. Not the brightest but a fantastic goalscorer.

Zacharse

Le Grove crowd sourced funding for an investigation into riley! 😂

i will ask my friend who investigates fraud, let’s bring him down haha

Positive pete

Diss.Not too many agree with you .Seems unlike you.we’ve had a belly full.But if you don’t mind an extremely odd match changing decision going against your team on a fairly regular basis with no explanation I admire your fortitude.

TheLegendaryDB10

Graham

There was no VAR review at all!!

I don’t think it was even a yellow card that stamp on Tomi’s face.

//

We’ve stayed silent too long

I agree.

I think all of us at the Emirates should carry on berating / putting pressure on refs as it is getting far to obvious this season that they are trying to deny us fouls / pens and more importantly not carding violent conduct wjen this happens on our players on opposition players (Saka / Tomi incidents).

Kroenkephobe

I think this implicit belief amongst some on here about referees needs some perspective. I watch a lot of Cardiff City games, home and away. For the uninitiated about the UK constitution, Cardiff and Swansea are not English teams although they play in the English leagues. They are from Wales and the rivalry between English and Welsh clubs is palpable. This is also evidenced in other sports particularly rugby. If you’re sceptical, watch this weekend’s rugby match between the two. Neither are countries in the proper sense, nor nations, but each has a national identity which riles up the other… Read more »

Dissenter

Positive PTE I think it’s easy to misconstrue poor officiating, which pervades the premier league with some type of vendetta against Arsenal. The shambolic refereeing is on display on all premier league games and is not particularly directed at Arsenal. Big teams get the better calls because they have better player that typically invite rough treatment. We used to benefit from these dubious calls when we were a top 2-3 team in England. Go watch the game against Pompey in our Invisible season and then tell me we didn’t benefit from dubious refereeing. The dubious officiating helped preserve our unbeaten… Read more »

Dissenter

**Are the refs taking incompetence to a new level, absolutely

Jun

Actually Gabriel Martinelli just said in an interview that Djed was the toughest opponent he’s faced, so it might be a good idea to get him.