Well good morning my darlings. I just wanted to say a HUGE thank you for all the lovely messages about my friend and the kind donations you made yesterday to the family. The Arsenal community has many faces, one of them is the outpouring of kindness about the important things.
One thing that did occur to me is that this site doesn’t do enough for good causes. We’ll be looking to address that over the coming months and I’d like it to be geared around suicide prevention and mental health. Any suggestions will be very much welcome in the comments, I’ve already had CALM sent my way.
Now, let’s pivot to something a little more joyous.
Arsenal might have found a new anthem.
I’m overwhelmed by the love The Angel is getting today. Thank you all so much for sharing and tweeting @Arsenal. Don’t stop now. North London forever 👊🏼❤️ pic.twitter.com/2BkF84dWuU
— Louis Dunford (@LouisDunford) April 29, 2022
This song entered the culture yesterday as a new Arsenal anthem. I love it. It speaks to local pride, the lyrics are simple, and it seems there’s a 100% YES from fans that we should make this our own. Massive congrats to Louis Dunford. They say every successful musician needs a song in an advert, a film placement, or an anthem for a team. Good work.
The internet is magic.
Mikel Arteta was in a game face kind of mood in the press conference. He wouldn’t be drawn in by any press questions that suggested this game would be easy. He knows we were utterly shite at The Olympic Stadium last season for the first 30 minutes, David Luiz didn’t fancy it, we were beasted, we went 3-0 down. The fightback was a sign of things to come for the team culture, it was the game we found out who this quiet Norwegian kid called Martin Odegaard was, and we exited with a point.
Arsenal players need to remember what West Ham is capable of. They are not in the semi-finals of a European comp because they are mugs. The David Moyes comeback tour with West Ham has been built on resistance and tactical nous. If we go into the Sunday game thinking we can take the 3 points without a fight, we’re going to be in big trouble.
Injury-wise, we’re in good shape. Bukayo Saka is available after recovering well from a knock in the United game. That is huge, he is in imperious form, he’s grown some MAN teeth this season and he looks ready for the next level.
Tomiyasu is now ready to play. Art De Roche asked a question about breaking the lines with his left peg, the response was intriguing.
‘Well, when we follow the player and we identify him as one of the candidates, obviously it one of the things that I came across and it gives you a lot of solutions. Not only because he can use both feet, but he can play right centre-back, left centre-back, he can play left-back so that gives you enormous variability and it’s the way they’ve been raised and coached since a really young age, that’s what he says so for him, left and right is the same.’
Was this question aimed at seeing if Mikel might be thinking about Tomi at left-back to give us more solidity and balance for a Spurs game that likely won’t see Nuno Tavares? I think it was.
Tomi at left-back… would you do it?
Arteta does have the chance to do something interesting tactically.
Things we know:
- West Ham will rest all their main players because they are chasing a Euro final and CL football
- Their squad is generally quite old, there might be a bit of self-preservation, even with the B team
- I suspect whatever side is put out will come for us, I don’t think they’ll sit back, they have to put on a show for the home fans, even if they do lose
- Their players will be emotionally and physically drained
- Moyes won’t have had much time to analyse Arsenal
The mission should be to hit them hard and fast. Score the first goal and it’s going to be very hard for them to get back into the game. The nightmare is if they score first and sit into a dirty deep block.
Arteta will understand this dynamic and might opt for something sexy. Might we see two strikers? Gabi and Eddie more central? Odegaard pushing up higher? West Ham having to pivot tactics because we bring something new to the party might be sharp, especially as they’ll not have a centre-back partnership of note.
Whatever happens, the boys will know that we have to cause problems, take our chances, and leave with 3 points. Leicester is likely going to get thumped by Conte, Kane likes it against them. Spurs haven’t had an answer to Harry Kane getting marked out of the game, but let’s be real, Brendan isn’t going to have a starting 11 capable of doing anything about the England striker and I struggle to believe there won’t be a forceful reaction to ZERO shots on target in two games.
My two ideals for the end of this season are for us to head into the Spurs game not needing a win because we beat West Ham and Leeds… and I’d rather the decider not rest on Everton’s fate. It just had too much juicy bullshit narrative written over it.
Before I leave you, there’s a great podcast on Sky Sports with Mikel, he talks about managing players, and the plan for the summer. He was asked whether we were going to make VVD and Alisson moves this summer, he said, ‘we are not in a position to do that.’
Things to note from that:
- We’re not at the cherry-on-top phase of the project, we don’t even have Champions League football sewn-up
- He’s telling you very clearly that there’s finite cash to spend this summer, so don’t expect a mega blowout
- Liverpool under Klopp took until 17/18 to go massively beyond a £50m net spend. The two prior seasons to the blowout, they had a positive net spend.
Arteta says we can’t do what Liverpool did in that one window, but what we can do is build out a sustainable approach to our transfer business. That means coaching our players to better, bringing through elite kids from the academy, and doing something crazy: sell players for actual cash instead of giving them away.
The plan is to attack Liverpool and City for the league within 3 years.
We’ll do that by:
- Keeping our best players
- Spending the money we do have with absolute precision
- Getting into the Champions League and staying there
- Striking when the moment is HOT
Getting to the top in a league like this one takes 5 years minimum, we might get there in 6 (the amount of time Ralf R said you need), you could chalk that up to a strategic fuck up, a novice management group, or the worst non-war mitigating circumstance in sporting history.
No one will care if we continue progressing the way we are, just look at these real puuurdy graphs.
Right, on that note, jump into our podcast preview of the West Ham game and slide into man-like-Matt-Kandela’s DMs because he’ll be at the away game this weekend.
When everything is looking in our favour. Like a team haven’t scored in x amount of games or not won in 10 etc, is usually when we mess up!
West Ham should have full focus on europa but I’m nervous for this game. We so close to top 4 and it will be massive for us.
Boom. Good post!
Tres…
Tr4phy!
Good Morning All. Not nervous for the Hammers game for a change.
Hig game, but they are all big games now.
Great news if Saka is fit.
Does anyone know if Saka is ok for tomo?
I like the song.. Simple enough.
Pedro, you forgot the ‘Shots on Target’ data from that Sky table 😜
Absolutely agree that if we can start fast and get our noses in front we should take the three points.
And ‘no’ to Tomi at LB. Keep it simple! No galaxy brain!!
I hate digging out young players, but Tavares should be nowhere near our starting 11.
He could have given away 3 penalties against United, he did give away 1.
We were getting murdered down our left, he unsettles the whole team, even if the offensive positions he takes up, certainly cause our opponents issues.
He’s an accident waiting to happen, and at this stage of the season, the margins are far too fine to take this type of risk, we’d be playing Russian Roulette with our season…
Love that Anthem. You may want to listen to his song boys do cry which could be your anthem for mens mental health.
Gabriel for me has looked shakey
He’s been letting men run off him in the box for months now
At fault for one of the chelsea goals
And for both the valid and offside goal CR7 scored last week
Never been convinced by him
I still say big rob is our best centre back defensively
Saka is ‘expected the be involved’ tomorrow
However Partey likely out for the season.
Tavares should never play in back 4, just like Alonso at Chelsea. He plays better when we play back 5. I hope Arteta won’t throw away the top 4 position in order to develop Tavares, that would be suicidal.
Against Spud I’ll play with back 5. Get Holdinho to dominate the crosses the Spud will deliver and hit them with counter attack and pace.
With Time up on this one.For Tommorrow bring in Holdinho.Soares as left back?
And disagree with peds.All the noise coming from the spammers indicates they won’t be resting anyone.Still see top 6 as a target/safety net if they f**k up the Europa.Add to that they us. as a big scalp,Moyes has no love for us & Mike Deane final chance to f** k us over as a going away pressie & you can see the risks.
‘The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday—but never jam today’
“Mikel might be thinking about Tomi at left-back to give us more solidity and balance for a Spurs game”
——————————————————————————————————————————–
That is a NO for me. Son attacks from our right side. We need Tomi at right back to stop Son.
Liverpool had 10 shots on target and they only scored one. Didn’t see the game but how did Newcastle come out of that conceding just one goal ?
To be honest if Klopp end up winning a quadruple, you gotta wonder how Pep reacts to that. Because he will try to outdo Klopp the next season.
Gabriel is ideal covering Kane. Kane may lose control and get a Yellow early.
Klopp is already outperforming pep. Pep has an unlimited budget. And he still hasn’t won a CL without Messi
China1
I get what you are trying to say there, but Klopp would have to win the title ahead of Pep for it to be obvious. And that’s what I m worried about. If Klopp wins the title ahead of Klopp, most likely Pep will try to go one further.
There already talks of Haaland moving to Man City. Another over-powered player playing under Pep. Thats gonna be Pep’s new Messi.
are*
Mino Raiola dead at 54
Naija + soccer Haaland looks like a top striker, but Dortmund still trail Bayern by 11 points, they still finished 3rd last season, 14 points behind Bayern, and 1 point behind RB Leipzig Many thought Messi playing with Mbappe + Neymar would be special, but it never really happened. Sancho went to United for a lot of money with an excellent CV, there’s plenty of time for him to turn it around, but so far he’s struggled. Havertz was brilliant in the Bundesliga, he’s a really top talent, but it’s taken him a while to adjust to the PL I… Read more »
yesterday’s post about mental health issues was a great reminder. It’s something I am going through and I appreciate it. I think we should beat westham. Zomua is the only CB available and he isn’t even fit. Dawson is out because of a suspension. They are likely to play with Academy CBs and fullbacks as make shift CBs. It should be Eddie’s bread and butter. I think we should go all in if we qualify for Champions League. We are 3 or 4 top quality players away from being a permanent top 4 team for the next 3 to 5… Read more »
Yes, we had a blip that almost derailed our goal this month, that being said we have done well to come back into it, and some results have swung back in our favour. For those reasons, I hope we do not take our foot off the pedal now, we’re in the final stretch of games and we must go into every game with 100% focus and commitment.
It’s been too long for us with CL football.
Rich
I get where you are coming from but you have to think even now, Man City are guaranteed title winners/contenders so please just imagine adding Erling Haaland to that mix. I think they will go up another level personally.
Then you ve got Liverpool as well to worry about. It’s not gonna be easy winning the title in this league while those two are here.
The only thing that can stop Haaland excelling in the Premier league is injuries. If he stays fit, he’s gonna be dynamo.
Made for this league and all that.
But Naija Klopp has already beaten Pep to a title, and a CL. In one or two of the years that pep won the league liverpool were barely a few points behind them Pep is an incredibly talented manager but Klopp has absolutely outperformed him. It’s like imagine if you have two boxers and one of them has metal hidden in their gloves. But over 10 fights it’s only 7-3 and of those 7, 2 of them were mad close. Factoring in the unfair advantage pep holds and how close Klopp has made it, it’s clear as day imo that… Read more »
Also as good as Man City are, they lack a certain explosiveness and aggression. Liverpool have that in spades,, that’s why they ve won the Champions League too and why City have yet to win it.. This is also why they can compete with Man City despite the latter having more resources.
So back to Haaland, I believe that he will bring that explosiveness and aggression that City have been missing.
Would love haaland in the PL tho it is genuinely frightening to think how unfair that could make city lol
Take care Habesha
China1
I also think overall Klopp is the better manager but I wouldn’t go as far as saying he has ‘outperformed’ Pep. At least I think not yet. Pep still has way more trophies and titles than Klopp even if you factoring in the fact that Pep’s been at better resourced clubs. Klopp has to win a few more before we can claim outrightly that he’s outperformed Guardiola.
Naija that’s true but my question would be how many trophies do you think Pep would’ve won if he’d been at the same clubs as Klopp? And how many trophies might Klopp have if he’d only managed Barca, Bayern and city?
Obviously we can’t know but I think he’d have done better than pep
Klopp stopped Sp*rs winning the CL. Case closed.
Thanks China. Klopp is a better manager if you have the same playing field of resources. But I feel like Pep could build a great team just like klopp if he wanted to, he just chooses not to. You almost never see him signing superstars. he turns good players in to great players. It is undeniable that he improves most of his players. That is why you almost never see city selling the players they bought for less. I also feel like Klopp wants to build slowly. I would say they are the same level if you gave them the… Read more »
Klopp is a better manager if you consider just the resources*
My condolences on your loss Pedro
It’s crazy how prevalent this is now. Most of us have lost people we knew personally in a similar fashion.
Can you email or direct me to the link for contributions?
Thanks
A win on Sunday guarantees us 6th place minimum.
Obviously feel sad for Raiola’s family ………but that’s about it.
“Does anyone know if Saka is ok for tomo?”
Tell me you didn’t read the post without telling me you didn’t read the post.
Just checked Le Grove after a few days away.
Peter, I hope you’re coping with what is undoubtedly an unexpected loss. My deepest sympathies to you and your friend’s loved ones. Although a small mercy, the outpour of support has been wonderful to see.
Sly,
https://www.gofundme.com/f/for-the-family-of-douglas-tetreau
China1 Like Habesha said, Guardiola can build a team from scratch if he wants to. Let’s not act like he’s always buying superstars. Like Klopp, he buys or inherits good players and make them great players. If anything he tends to get rid of the Super stars in his team and replace them with a less achieved player who often go on to become a great player. I think both coaches are the best of their generation and they are similar level with Klopp maybe a little ahead thanks to his charisma which I think is underrated. But no I… Read more »
Why Liverpool always playing before Man City? That’s added pressure on them to win every weekend
Burnley winning.
Everton, and Leeds, are in big peril now. Leeds’ fixtures in particular look daunting.
Mourihno is best manager of his generation, all Pep has done is inherit the best team in each league he worked and then doesn’t cock things up. Obviously Pep is decent manager but he never been tested to see what he could do with ordinary players. Mourihno got multiple league and champ league titles in four different countries. Best managers improve their squads to punch above their weight while Pep has never really been tested.
Condolences on the loss of your business partner Pedro.
Re Klopp/Pep comparo…..three Liverpool players came with a price tag higher than $50m under Klopp.
Thirteen City players cost over $50m in Pep’s squad.
Pep has outspent Klopp two to one.
So after two seasons of pushing the narrative Liverpool’s blueprint was the one we follow……. now, apparently we can’t?
Isn’t Kroenke three times as wealthy as John Henry?
sorry to hear about your friend pete. ❤️
Good point Tom, get the cash out again this summer Stan and push us on. Strike while the iron is hot 🔥
City can afford to spend £100m on a player they didn’t need and who’s barely contributed to their cause
(Grealish – 2goals 2assists), and no one cares.
Klopp spends £70m on a key player( VVD) and everyone talks about it for three/four seasons straight.
That, in a nutshell, is the difference between the two clubs.
Thank IAT
China,
Exactly right the way you framed Klopps outperformance over Pep.
All the money in the world, and taking over a team with David Silva, Aguero, de Bruyne, Kompany?
Klopp had a better squad than Emery or Arteta, but nothing like Man City who were already winning titles. I only count Alison and van Dyke as cash splurges. The rest have been reasonable prices.
Having said that, I’m cheering Pep on to win over Klopp. I’m sick of Klopp whinging and celebrating. F – him and his new contract.
Of course I wish he was ours.
If Leeds play like this against us next week, we’re going to be in for a difficult afternoon.
Sterling is such a waste..consistently too lol
Really Rich? I think that they’ve been pretty poor.
Tom, you used the right stats about spending between Pep and Klopp. I do believe our owners are looking at the Liverpool model, because it’s reasonable financially. It’s the only one that makes sense if you’re not petrodollars or a sovereign wealth fund. We are just unfortunate to be in a league with Klopp and Pep. Let’s hope they are at least half way through their reigns. We can still improve year on year with solid spending like last summer, but now focused on the big pieces we need. Next year, i expect us in fighting for top 3, gaining… Read more »
Andy
They’ve generally controlled the game well, just lacking cutting edge.
Dallas stretchered off , Cooper did his hamstring in the warm up, and Firpo picked up his 10th yellow
Hopefully that makes our job a bit easier…
Keep in mind Arteta and Edu have to be coy about our ability to spend… not the same as under Wenger though.
It’s just prudent to do that publicly if you have a budget and finite resources. Only gluttonous spenders like PSG and Man City don’t have to pretend to worry about a few million extra around the margins.
Anything that helps us is a bonus, I’d like to see a Leeds win obviously but that’s not at all likely. It seems that Leeds are just about keeping City at bay but Pep’s side are barely out of first gear. I expect them to pick it up in the second half and win by three or four (unfortunately).
Looks like Everton re going to open that new stadium in the championship after all.
Seems like city have weathered the storm and at 56 minutes in the Leeds energy levels will drop quickly.
The reputation as dirty Leeds lives on their players have good engines but lack a lot. It’s rush rush and more rush.
Pedro: “Think there’s some misunderstanding regarding ‘we can’t copy Liverpool’ headlines.
Short answer: we won’t spend £160m on 2 players”
And neither did Liverpool.
Assuming we are talking about VVD and Allison…….with add ons, they cost Liverpool £140m combined.
But the initial outlay was closer to £130m.
We spent more than half of that on Pepe.
I agree with Rich that’s it’s going to be difficult for us to cope with Leeds frenetic energy next week.
We have to score two early goals to make them chill out.
Leeds are the energizer bunny of the league.
Mino Raiola dead at 54
Oh shit did he kill himself too?
…maybe too soon but I couldn’t help myself haha
“Mino Raiola dead at 54Oh shit did he kill himself too?“
Most likely he did.
He looked about 50lb too fat, which btw is about 3.5 stone if you’re a Brit.
Here’s my question to my British friends though: how do you condescend to the entire world while announcing your weight in boulders?
Raiola was a parasite in football terms, who served absolutely no purpose as far as the game is concerned, yet the same people who said the world is overreacting to the plight of Ukrainians seem heartbroken about his demise.
Weird.
Tom, I can have some sympathy for his family but I had no time for the guy himself for reasons that you’ve mentioned.
Stones as a measure of weight literally comes from the practice of using boulders (stones) in trade to establish the relative weight of produce/goods.
So 0-4, pretty much expected.
Given Leeds’ fixtures sadly I see them going down and not Everton.
andy
I find your comments about Riola’s weight to be uninformed and uncharitable, considering the man just died
Do you understand that sometimes obesity is the consequence of a medical illnesses in itself.
Got to remember that he still someone’s father, brother and friend at the end of the day.
No need for that type of ugliness for a man you didn’t know personally.
Dissenter, is greed sometimes a consequence of a medical condition?
Leeds will be a tough game. They have survival to fight for. And we have the top 4 to fight for. It all will depend on who has the will to do it.
Just like Dissenter, I also find it distasteful to speak ill of a man who just died. You may not like who he was and what he did for a living but show some respect please.
Diss, I didn’t mention his weight, and regards the man himself I mentioned that I’d have sympathy for his family. Perhaps you should re-read the comments.
“I had never experienced anything like this,” he added. “When I got close to the tunnel, I looked up at the fans sitting there, and this is the part that I will always remember. When I close my eyes now, I can still see their faces. I can see their anger. It’s not that they don’t like me. No, it’s different. This is hate. Pure hate. I am really not exaggerating this. To feel that level of hatred and disrespect, I wouldn’t want it for my worst enemy.” This from Xhaka describing how he felt just before he told the… Read more »
“You may not like who he was and what he did for a living but show some respect please.”
Apparently Raiola asked for €55 to broker the Haaland to City deal.
#respect
Pedro
Heartfelt sympathies to you and to the other friends and family of your mate . Thankfully we are trying to understand the motivations for suicide better and to destigmatise mental health issues. It’s a huge and growing concern
May your friend rest in peace
€55m
Thanks Bertie!
Luteoo, I truly hope you didn’t aim that comment at my last post.
JWL, Pep gets the best players because he’s the best coach in the world.
Jose had a great period, but then regressed hard.
Pep still setting the benchmarks.
Luteo, That comment was absolutely disgusting. The Internet never ceases to underwhelm. I’m sad to see Mino go. As someone already said, he represented much of what’s wrong with football. On the other side, the man was an absolute character in a game that gets more corporate and has fewer of them each year. And it’s hardly his fault that FIFA and UEFA are so fucking corrupt that they can’t do something as simple as regulate agent fees. I really hope Arteta doesn’t galaxy brain the run in. If we’re going with our regular setup with 4 at the back,… Read more »
Tom
Grealish needs to play in a team with a bit more fluidity and by that I mean less tactical rigidity
He’d have been excellent in a wenger/Ferguson side
We are no in the era of extreme micro managers though and tactical discipline is the order of the day at the top end of the game. I personally find it strangles the game and am looking forward to a more creative era
Football is cyclical so it will happen. One day.
Love sausage
I think Arteta should start with wing backs and switch to 4 during games using tomi or white as rcb or rb and Saka rwb or rw like we did against chelsea
I do worry about Tavares being targeted and Gabriel looks a lot weaker without Tierney beside him
Here’s a fun fact for y’all…. When Tierney plays for us this season our win percentage is 56.5%… When Nuno Tavarez plays for us our win percentage is 62.1% So while I agree he is all over the map.. with his positioning he adds a bit of unpredictability and drive where we seem to score more and win more. So I don’t agree that there is no way he should play as some have said. I think he has to be managed sensibly and situationally depending on the gameday opponent. And also what his role is going to be. In… Read more »
Un
I know exactly how.you feel. I have come to accept that ‘pressing football’ is the order of the day. But give me that no-holds, creative and inventive football over this micro-managing style and era.
Can’t wait for the swing to come around.
Midwest
I m not even surprised to see that stat. Tavares comes with an element of threat. There is an explosiveness to his game that keeps opponent on their toes and in check.
If only he can stop being a threat to his own team, he would be dynamo.
Naija… Yep pretty much… We don’t loft in a million crosses either. Nuno is the classic double edged sword. He is going to score goals like he did against United where he just pops up unexpectedly and probably out of position and then on the other end he is going to get pulled around as he plays like many of the youth players I used to help coach… where they see ball, go to ball;, everything else be damned. But right now I think we need players who attack and take risks as we have a limited number.
Midwestgun
Gotta say, I don’t miss the million crosses, though I love Tierney. Plus I hated seeing a former Wenger team reduced to relying on a left back crosses for offense.
Our team can have this rigid moments. It’s nice having a free-spirited energizer guy in the team to contrast that. Hopefully Arteta can help him improve the defensive side of his game.
Nuno is made for a wing back is what it is. I’d be interested to see a lineup like this:
Rams
White Holding Gabriel
Saka Xhaka Elneny Nuno
Nketiah Martinelli
Looks good on paper to me.
Rap
Your lineup is missing one player.
Midwest,
Causality and correlation are two very different things. And even if you believe that there’s causality between having Nuno on the pitch and winning, he has played too few games to put any stock in those kinds of numbers.
Chelsea 09/10 team finished with 86 points but what’s interesting is that they had a +71 GD.
Un, I’d be 100% onboard with a back 3 if it weren’t for the fact that we have 5 games left in the season and we haven’t played this system before. We do have the players for 3-4-3. You could argue that with the players available, it would be a better fit than a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1. Saka and Martinelli have all the skills to play wingbacks. I just don’t know how much of a learning curve it would be. Nuno is already being targeted. Ronaldo was spending a lot of time in the space between Gabriel and Nuno.… Read more »
LS – I’m aware but there is only a 4 appearance difference between Tierney and Nuno.. 22 to 18. So I think there is a big enough sample to say it is relevant. He has appeared in over half our matches.
Raptora
Add Odegaard to that team with one of Martinelli or ESR and we are having a clean sweep for the rest of the season.