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.
We do have the players to play 3-4-3. Just goes to show that there is still more room for growth for this young team. Lots of possibilities.
Is it just me who finds Fidel really annoying?
I know it’s wrong but there’s something about the guys face that really irks me every time I see him lol
His hair looks like it was drawn into his head with a marker. He somehow looks like a PS2 fifa depiction of a player rather than a real person. There’s something just really off looking about him lol
And yes it’s wrong and I’m a cunt for saying it but still…
Foden* not fidel lol
Midwest, If you compare minutes, it’s 920 vs 1915. I agree that he’s more unpredictable than Tierney and that he makes defenders think twice. But that goes for his team mates as well. Gabriel looks much shakier when he plays next to him, probably because he doesn’t trust him. It’s sheer luck that he hasn’t cost us more these past few games. To me, he looks more likely to cost us than contribute to more goals. He gets himself in decent positions offensively but the decision making and the execution is too poor. I’d love to see him go on… Read more »
China,
Nope, it’s not just you. The guy looks as purebred a chav as they come. The facial expressions, the mouth breathing, the works. A massive talent though.
Lovesausage
Is it Tavares making Gabriel nervous or his having a new baby. Yes I said baby. His form has not been top level since he had his baby. Was he present in the room when the baby came out of the womb. That business can f**k your head up for some time, especially if it’s a first experience.
We are also missing Tomiyasu who I think is our best pure defender.
Naija,
I had no idea he’s had a baby recently. I won’t speculate as to what he did or didn’t see as part of Junior’s delivery but fair point, that’ll change things.
Since we’re throwing out stats – here are two interesting numbers. Nuno is only in the 5th percentile for progressive passing but 90th percentile for progressive carries. Pure chaos.
LS- I’m not even saying we should play Nuno… but I wouldn’t be surprised if we did.. Because however you look at it we tend to get results, even if it’s the hard way. I think it’s partly what you just said. We don’t have very many progressive dribblers or direct players. Martinelli and Saka not many others.
Midwest,
I think we have a few more but the system takes it out of them. We prioritize fairly rigid positional play over verticality. Which only makes it more surprising that Arteta has given Nuno as many minutes as he has since I’m convinced he hasn’t given him the license to play the way he does.
I’d consider playing him as a wingback with a back 3 or when we’re chasing a game. Either way, he looks like a square peg in a round hole as a fullback. Probably a better fit as a winger.
I read Xhaka got POTM for April? I always bag on him for never even being in contention for these awards in all these years but I can’t argue this one. Against Chelsea he was great and that goal against Utd was *massive* When he scored that goal at Utd I was sitting in a sushi and steak bar (lol) in Beijing with a Canadian mate and when it flew it I started banging on the table and shouting ‘YOU FUCKING BRILLIANT PLAYER YOU!!’ 😂😂😂 He’d have to hold this level permanently for me to think he’s good enough for… Read more »
“Klopp stopped Sp*rs winning the CL. Case closed.”
Andy 1886 with the comment of the week! 😂
Midwest that stat about wins with Tavares is the most generalized I could imagine. 100 other elements could have more effect on the %.
I like Tavares and wanted to see more of him, as did Arteta when he kept playing him when Tierney became fit. But he must have seen something that made him lose trust, because he did like him for a while.
Still better than moving Xhaka to LB. I don’t mind if he slots in when Nuno is up the pitch though.
Tierneys importance shows in the struggling of Gabriel lately. That I think is unmistakable.
I’ve told my friends that I can’t stand Fodens look. Especially with the dyed blonde hair he did… that with the heroine chic circles under his eyes. I would have trouble liking him even if he played for us.
Yes that World Cup blonde hair cut was soooo annoying
Foden’s hair. Went looking for the Maximus, came home with the Lloyd.
Back 3 of Tomiyasu, Gabriel, White ?
Thoughts ?
Nigel.. it’s not generalized because it’s a comparison between two players who play in the exact same position. For the one stat that matters which is winning. As bad as Nuno looks at times you would think it would be skewed the other way around. pretty significantly. Also, It’s not a given That Gabriel plays worse because of Nuno ….no. Gabriel struggled at times before Nuno was even here last season.
But basically I just posted that stat because I wanted to talk about something that wasn’t as depressing as the line of comments that was going on.
China
Xakha was always a much better player than he was give credit for but he was exposed by the systems of both wenger and Emery,
So even though he played well consistently his exposure inevitably lead to mistakes and bookings.
Put him a secure system and watch him flourish.
I still think it was appealing the way he was booed by our own fans that day and I feel the same way about eboue vs Wigan back in 08/09
Fortunately the support seems much more positive since covid. I hope that continues
Midwest
Totally agree with you on Gabriel. He had a good run this season but I thought he was ropey last season and ropey again since January this year
Switched off too much
Dives in too often. He’s still only 23/24 but he really needs to stay alert around the box. It may not be as obvious (yet) as Mustafi to the rest of the fan base but I can’t say I think he’s the answer there just yet
We still look more solid when big Rob plays
N
Being a bit harsh on foden when we had Aubameyang. Who looked like a horse crossed with a tropical plant at times with that hairdo
What about Alex song and his bleached Afro? Freddie and his pink stripe? As legendary as it was, it’s worse than just a bleached French crop.
So I’d asked this before , what happens if we finish on same points , GD and head to head record with Spurs at the end of season ? I dont seem to get any bonafide answers ( I know its a highly unlikely event to happen )
Un I disagree Xhaka was very poor under wenger Emery and arteta except when arteta literally built an entire system to protect him from himself. He was better then, but still never a stand out performer, just less likely to cost us the game than before – and even then he’s managed to cost us several times He looks good at the international level but I think that’s largely because it’s far slower and less intense, which takes the pressure (which he can’t handle) off him tactically I think people have greatly overrated his performances when he hasn’t cost us… Read more »
Genuinely good players make the difference on at least the semi regular
After most games you can pinpoint 1-5 players who you can say ‘this guy/these guys’ won us the game today. It’s never him
China
Yeah I just don’t think he was awful. Just badly exposed. Same with a lot of our centre halves. Koscielney in this team would be a giant.
Devine Sherlock, I believe that goals scored comes into it too. It’s how we won the title in 1989.
The weird point with him is when he plays and we lose (he’s been present for the huge majority of our bad defeats over the years), he gets to just blend into the background But whenever we lose and he’s not playing it’s because we missed him lol Perfect case in point we got fisted by palace with him at CM. He plays the next game at LB and we also lose and it was because we were missing him in CM apparently. Go figure lol But anyway he was great against Chelsea and utd. I’d much rather see him… Read more »
Some players are better in a fluid open team, like bergkamp, like grealish, like pires
Others like xakha are better suited to rigid tactical frame work.
China
Correct me if I wrong but isn’t our win percentage higher with him than without him
It’s fair to point out that Tierney tends to play the harder games and Nuno gets a run against lesser sides and lower divisions side in the cup which impacts the win percentages.
For example, Tierney played in both games against City, three of the four against Liverpool, and one of the Chelsea games. Nuno only played in two of eight games (league & cups) against the top three.
Un he plays 90% of all matches and the players who have historically stood in for him have not been top quality players either, so I wouldn’t read much into that
If we have a lower win record with el Neny for example that doesn’t say that Xhaka is good, only that we do better with him than el Neny who is not a starting 11 standard player himself
But I do think you’re right that at least as of a year back or whenever we had a higher %
China I doubt we will change each other’s minds here so probably a futile discussion I know you’ve been a big critic of xakha for years and I’m sure you will know I’ve often said that he’s not th biggest problem in our team and that, for me, he’s been better value for money than Paul Pogba has for United He’s a solid dependable midfielder. He never hides. And he’s unfairly picked on by refs in my opinion. Is he what I want as a first team midfielder? No. I want a Santi or a cesc or a jack style… Read more »
Ain’t no argument from me that in the last two games he was quality.
And if I can admit that anyone can
We need to upgrade on Xhaka, end of . He’s been at Arsenal long enough to see what he brings. If we’re serious about competing then he needs to be replaced by a quicker and more progressive player.
@China
Foden looks like he stepped out of one of Damon Albarn’s Guerrillas videos, and became a real boy. 😂
Mark
Not saying we don’t need another midfielder
If there’s one signing we make this summer I’d want it to be De Jong or Bellingham. But that’s not to say xakha hasn’t been unfairly criticised by our own fans.
I’d like to see what a second string pairing of Saliba and Holding could do.
I consider both to be more of a centre backs centre back than white and Gabriel. Less progressive but more solid defensively.
Top teams have a CB who can execute accurate long passes to the wingers a la VVD. That is how you open up a defense with low block. That’s why Arteta paid big to get White. Holding is only good when we want to shut up shop.
With Odegaard in the team we are basically playing with 10 men, so I didn’t bother adding his name to my lineup. (jk)
We have seen so many times that our attack is slow and boring against teams with low block. Odegaard’s control attack usually hits a brick wall. The unpredictability of Tavares could be helpful. It also allows ESR to get inside the box to pick up a lose ball.
Odegaard has created more chances from open plan than any other PL player since November
He was instrumental in fighting back from 3-0 down against West Ham last season.
Against United he put Nketiah clean through 1 v1 with a brilliant flick on the edge of the box, he played Saka in for the penalty…
But Odegaard can’t play against a deep block….
I’m sure some of you either don’t watch the games, or are just trolling…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y718OV1EMes
I am sure Arteta will likely start next season with Gabriel and White, and after all, why not, that has got us this far and still has a lot of potential as a partnership. I would however be interested to see how a Saliba and White combination would get along.
Either way we have centre back covered next season, assuming we see Saliba return. Gabriel, White, Saliba and Holding is a versatile set of options for us.
Yeah I don’t understand the Odegaard criticism above either. He has stats that reflect his quality, there are others that could be used to detract but it simply doesn’t offer the whole picture. What I see with my own eyes, watching him for us, is a classy, creative and influential player who is exactly the type we need to unlock defences. Its not going to happen everytime like clockwork. Although I would love to see more of our academy player slink up on the pitch, that has resulted in some of our best plays, for example, ESR, Saka and Nketiah… Read more »
The Ode criticism is plain ignorance. He has lots of room to improve agreed, but hes only 23. He’s a steal at £30m.
Leicester rest key players as expected:
Tielemans, Barnes, Justin, Fofana, Lookman, Vardy, all on the bench, Maddison not in the squad.
Kulusevski drops to the bench for the Spuds
Interesting that certain players/managers attract the obsessives as Pierre calls them (and he should know!). Easy to spot, when someone posts the slightest criticism or doesn’t agree that said player/manager is the next greatest thing ever they immediately leap to that individuals defence including claims that the ‘offender’ is a ‘know-nothing’ (another Pierre-ism I think), an idiot, or too thick to understand what said player/manager brings to the table.
Those who criticise Odegaard at this stage of his development would be the very same who’d slag off Brady.Look how that turned out.
Brendan going all in for Conference league , knowing thats his chance for Europa . I hope we get a draw atleast . lets go Leicester 😉
The Odegaard criticism is just people who doubted him doubling down for self vindication. Nothing more
He’s been excellent and is the most gifted natural footballer in the team.
Brendan is really not doing us any favours today. They’ll get stuffed.
Odegaard is one of the best creators in the world already and still has gears t go through
Bergkamp didn’t arrive until he was 25 (as a striker) and didn’t become the lead creator until after 28/29 at arsenal.
Ode sometimes looks a bit inefficient against low blocks. I’ve been occasionally frustrated that he takes too many touches. But he’s not necessarily the problem. We haven’t had a mobile #9 all season. Plus, we often play a very slow and horizontal brand of football. You need collective speed and verticality to unlock low blocks. Ode isn’t and will never be a quick player. But if he had more such players around him, he’d be more efficient.
Fully expect the spammers to play everyone available.Unlike Leicester.
Love sausage
Put efficient movers and finishers in front of him as he’s leading the assist charts this year
I’ve noticed a lot of mistakes in the play of Gabriel recently which have often led to goals. He’s still young and learning but I think Saliba is good enough to break into Gabriel/Whyte partnership
Yes love sausage.Brendan giving us a “ Rogering” with that selection.
On Xhaka…. I guess he is a real career genius to have been playing exclusively for teams and managers (at least 5) that have him starting every single game without fail. He must have Epstein type blackmail photos on all of them. There’s also Mourinhos comments about what he as a manager, observes about Xhaka, and what he does for the team… that he said fans don’t see (including me). I suspect there’s a lot in that. I know the Xhaka haters will say he didn’t offer real money for Xhaka, but I assume Roma had other budget priorities. The… Read more »
Song whips these in those set pieces better than anybody. Hate him.
Assoon as I tuned in, Spurs scored from a terrible lapse of defending
One great positive about Xhaka though is that he’s for the most part injury-free. For an Arsenal fan, that’s a necessity. Too bad he’s limited in other areas. Can you imagine what an injury-free Cazorla could have done for Arsenal ?
Leceister are shit on defending set pieces.
Leicester just bend over for Kane, every time
Well Leicester won’t do us any favors. We have to do it the hard way by only relying on ourselves. Games against Leeds, Newcastle, and Everton to come after this besides the NLD. If we win every other game with out spurs, we will still make it. But Everton fighting for their lives and Newcastle at home will be tough.
Havyn
Glad I’m not the only one. I’m not convinced at all by Gabriel and never have been. He could prove me wrong as there’s enough in his game to work out the kinks in his concentration.
Not sure about Lakonga either personally. Still not seeing why he’s rated so highly by others.
Can you imagine what an injury-free Cazorla could have done for Arsenal ?
Naija
We’d have won the league in 2016
Mason Mount needs someone to cut him to size
He commits lots of vicious fouls and gets away with them because he’s English
I expect West Ham to go as full strength as possible which is fine. We know we have to beat them, an under strength side would probably see us show up not expecting a tricky game.
Anything other than a defeat for Leicester could be massive for us.
Come on Leicester, even a point would be brilliant for us.
I’d actually be curious to see stats on the more injury free players in the PL
I think it’s safe to say xhaka would be in the top 10 over the last 5 years. He is literally always available
Mason Mount needs someone to cut him to size
Havertz is also dirty and Rudiger.
Dissenter
Mane and that rat faced shit bag Fernandes get away with it too. Not English.
Some players are just lucky I guess.
Dissenter
Also, Italian and Spanish teams have been world class at it for years. And the Argentinians.
Lol Diss Delph heard you.
I do agree though, Mount gets given fee too much slack wit fouls
I don’t like him. Another rat
Leicester lost this game before it even started. That line-up is quite underwhelming. Where’s Ndidi, Maddison, shrewbury-hall(spell check?), Vardy, Barnes.
Far too much*
Dewsbury-Hall
No Marko, CC, Marc, Freddie here any more? Ishola?
Some very dodgy defending from Tottenham. Barnes would have had a field day. Daka is just a shit Eddie Nketiah.
Un
Marko is around when hes not in Pedros bad books, and so is Freddie. Haven’t seen CC or Marc here in months.
Leicester have had chances too, anyway we essentially just have to focus on ourselves.
Leicester truly are done as a club that competes for Europe. Vardy will retire in a few seasons. And their best players are itching to go up a level. We need to take Youri Tielemans though. We would have a beast of a midfield with him, Partey and Odegaard. Maddison will also want out. The last one that will be left will be fofana. Great talent but he just signed a new contract and he will stay for a while. It is funny how they bend over for Kane every time.
Oh there is also Barnes. Hood player but not there yet.
Everton are really fighting for their lives. I reckon they win this by a small margin.
Everton are really fighting for their lives. I reckon they win this by a small margin
They need to sort out their final ball. Chelsea were kept up by fireworks by an Everton fan last night lol
I’m here Don, did you miss me?:)
Haven’t seen CC around for a while, Marko and Ish still around sometimes though.
Now that Xhaka hasn’t been a total liability Ish just has less reason to post I guess)
looking forward to the game today, 3 points a must… we need that CL spot to keep building the team up.
You just know the bottler Rodger is throwing the game when you read he’s made 8 changes against the spuds, wanker.
The only thing that hamper us today is being nervous and going into our shells again. London stadium a intimating place for the youngsters.
Everton up early here second half
Everton up early here second half
Charity FC lol
Everton will go all out against us.
That really should have been two there, fell to the wrong man who should have went across goal.
If Chelsea lose today it maybe brings them back into sight
Big big game today but don’t think Moyes will be going all Brendan on us
What a save
Such a shame we lost those three very winnable games
Need to win now, spuds 2 up
Leicester are awful. Remember when Soyuncu was the hot shit? Mostly looks like the second coming of Mustafi these days.
It’s difficult to cheer on any Mourinho teams, but I really hope Roma stuff Leicester on Thursday..
Yep Rodgers really screwed himself, and us with this poor team selection
Me too Rich
I third that