GEORDIE CUP FINAL

by .

Welcome to Saturday; let’s talk about some things.

I do find it quite incredible that there is a certain section of the fanbase that think refereeing decisions aren’t of interest and shouldn’t be part of the conversation.

The referee that sent off Rob Holding for a shoulder barge, let Harry Kane get away with this.

Does that challenge look like Harry Kane playing the dark-arts with ninja like subtlety? I don’t think so.

Simple fact with referees this season is that shocking decisions go against us more often than they do other teams. Some call it a conspiracy theory chatter, I’d say just look at how we’ve been treated, look at the mad decisions that have gone against us, and tell me how 1 soft penalty against United makes it better?

The reffing has been so bad for us this season we’ve actually had moments when the refs have invented new ways to fuck us… remember Martinelli getting two yellows in the same passage of play? How about Tomi getting his face stamped on with no action? How about Palace booting Saka in the air? How about the Xhaka sending off? The list goes on. We are treated differently.

If Rob Holding is sent off for standing his ground on 26 minutes, then Son should be sent off for throwing an elbow. The main difference seems to be that Bob Holding doesn’t scream like he’s been hit with a wet towel in the snow.

Paul Tierney had to really want to ruin that game to do what he did and the only people who think differently on that seem to have a history of wanting to see this Arsenal team fail this season. Embarrassing.

Ok, I’m done moaning.

Let’s take a moment to accept where we are right now: IN CONTROL OF TOP 4.

My view is that if we beat Newcastle, Champions League is ours.

The Geordies are THE banana skin game.

Eddie Howe will ask questions of us.

We have to treat this like our Cup Final.

They are no mugs in 2022. Below is the half-season table. It looks pretty close to what we did last season.

The positives we can take from this is their 3 tough games against Liverpool, Spurs and City have seen them beaten. They conceded 10 between Spurs and City alone.

The negative is this is their last home game of the season, it’ll be under the floodlights, their players will want to sign off in style, they have nothing to play for, so they’ll fly into us to put on a show.

The hope is that the news from the medical team is positive. Our players have been quite good at tapping themselves out early this season. Ben White sat on the bench at Spurs which was smart. Gabriel is quite robust, hopefully he took himself off the same way Bukayo did in the game prior. Having actual centre backs feels like an important part of the day… The thought of Tomiyasu and Big Mo in the middle with Lord Of Chaos starting fires on the left makes feel a little queezy I have to say.

The other worry I have is around fatigue. Saka looked blitzed the other night. A few of our players looked tired. 10 men for 65 minutes isn’t ideal. If we go to Newcastle tired, they’ll use their freshness to rattle into us. All the great managers say tiredness is part of the job, our young men need to find their inner Red Bull, crack it open, and let the wings carry them through the 90.

Ok, I apologise for that last line. Not my best.

If we play with the mindset we started the Spurs game with; we’ll be in good shape come the end of the 90. The absolute key is to not let the moment get to us, like it did Rob Holding. We need to control our emotions and manage the moments. Make it to half time without conceding and we’ll be in a solid spot to take the game from there. Arsenal away fans will be huge, I just hope they are prepared to suffer for a chunk of the game.

My pragmatic view of Top 4 is that if we can’t be Newcastle, we just weren’t ready to take the club to the Champions League this season.

If that happens, there will be recriminations with weirdo fans that have been gagging for a bit of bad news, but the reality is, we are at the start of this project and we know VERY clearly what we have to do to get better.

I thought this comment from Pep was really good as some preparation if things don’t go well.

‘Character’ and ‘bottle job’ comments at these players cannot be sitting in people’s drafts. The Premier League is the highest standard of football on the planet. What this squad of players has done this season has been exceptional. We can still finish with 72 points, with an average age of 23 years old. That is a marvel. If we make Champions League, it is a huge overachievement, if we don’t make it, it’s just a learning XP moment for a young squad of players with an outrageously high ceiling.

Being in control at this moment shows character, delivering on Monday merely demonstrates we got it right on the day, no broad-brush slander is going to land however things go.

I’m feeling bullish about the game. If we can put out a well-balanced side and the team can channel their grievances in a productive manner, we’ll exit with a win.

If we exit with a win, then we have to beat an Everton that will be safe, and properly on the beach.

Let’s see what the boys have got. We’ll be doing a BEFORE THE WHISTLE tomorrow after the Spurs win against Burnley. So be sure to tune in… but before, check out the Spurs post-game analysis.

Give us a 5* rating as well. x

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Leftside

Yeah can’t stand Son, but its up to the refs to make correct decisions and defenders need to be more streetwise against him

Jonko

14 min of Spursy…just the 76 to go

Ray+in+LA

Bob N16: agree that if we accumulate the fourth highest total of points we will have ‘earned’ fourth place — no matter how unconvincing the journey using ‘worthy’ implied that we would be very lucky to get into the CL and almost certainly outclassed if we did you are also correct that you can’t ‘cherry pick’ results as every team, as you point out, had their good and bad results — it was losing three on the trot without making significant adjustments that rankled me…if the games had been interspersed with the unconvincing victories against Chelsea, Man U and WestHam… Read more »

Samesong

Burnley more impressive than us so far defensively.

Leftside

Same,

Burnley doing what we should have done.

China1

A draw for Spurs won’t do us any good. Pretty please for a burnley win today so all we need is 3 points from the remaining 2 games

Samesong

Corner got to score there.

Benjamin

A draw for Spurs won’t do us any good.

Disagree, we can draw ar Newcastle and beat
Everton at home.

Jonko

A draw would mean we don’t have to be perfect tomorrow

So close burnley

Bob N16

Tony, you don’t need to be a repetitive d*ck about me being on the fence or treehouse or whatever, just because I don’t take a bipartisan view on all things Arsenal. This needing to be ‘right’ and being able to say “I told you so’ without being willing to be flexible in your opinions, gets the world into all sorts of sh*t. Being intransigent and linking your viewpoint too heavily to your own self-esteem causes so much of what is currently wrong in the world. People not willing to except a middle way at times. I think Arteta f*cked up… Read more »

Leftside

Being honest though I want us to show up knowing we need a result, we play better that way. When there is a hint of complacency we struggle.

China1

The problem with the refs is just the lack of accountability. Players and managers are hauled in front of the media to explain things. Why aren’t refs? The truth is we know it’s because it would expose a combination of them not knowing what the hell they are doing half the time and then outright refusing to be consistent others. Much easier for them to say nothing and blend into the background than own the decisions they make Like if I was interviewing a ref after a typical game the first question I’d be asking would likely be ‘considering the… Read more »

andy1886

@China – if Sp*rs draw we only need a win and a draw rather than two wins so yes it would help us.

Bob N16

Leftside. I don’t think we’ve been complacent it’s just that our squad depth in certain key positions is really poor. Having a back up to an injury-prone LB who is defensively weak damages us badly. TT being overplayed in his first season so he gets injured and has to be replaced with a far weaker player has all also contributed to our frailties. Partey, injury prone ditto. We did a lot in last season’s TW but we need another good window to make up for these clear issues. I like the sound of Hickey for example who looks a real… Read more »

Positive pete

Batistuta.I’ll hold you to that one mate.Every side in the prem? I’m sure a survey could be done or is there a stat site who analyses contentious decisions each match? Anyway,would be extremely interesting.Might finally be the answer to the great debate on here with regards to “ dodgy decisions,incidents ignored etc.😷

Bob N16

China1, agree with your ref accountability point. Over protection of the referees actually harms their credibility if VAR can’t be seen to be supporting their decisions rather than undermining them.

https://www.mapsinternational.co.uk/blog/premier-league-referees-map-revealed/
or
https://www.reddit.com/r/Gunners/comments/t3nshw/map_of_premier_league_referees_place_of_birth/

Don’t think this is ideal either!

Emiratesstroller

The penalty conceded by Soares was soft.

The two yellow cards resulting in red resulting in sending off of Holding was I am afraid correct. I disagree with Pedro’s opinion.

Both these players had in my opinion a poor game. Arsenal’s defence has been affected by
the injuries to Tomiyasu, White, Gabriel, Partey and Tierney.

We lost the game against Spurs primarily because our defence has been impacted by the
weakness of our squad players.

I would have preferred that Arteta had chosen not to criticise the referee. It does not help our
cause by doing so.

Samesong

Here we go VAR last seconds of game.

raptora

Barnes is an imbecile but the ball hits him from 40 cm. What the fuck can he do?!

Samesong

What the hell is Ashley Barnes doing?

Kevin is not our friend…they really don’t want us getting fourth…

G

What a surprise.. penalty spurs

Samesong

This is not written for us to finish fourth.

Leftside

When its going against you, it really goes against you. We know what we need to do.

raptora

Incredible penalty but that farcical decision can decide more than the UCL team, but also who gets relegated. Absolutely abominable decision. No one even protested about it either. Dipshits shitting on Burnley’s hard work throughout 36 rounds.

Mr Serge

Soft pen again

Muppetman

Barnes has his arm out got a little tug before and wasn’t far from the ball when he got struck. Such a soft pen, if var didn’t get involved no one would give a shit. Soft as fuck!

raptora

Based on the book it’s a 100% penalty but the rules are garbage. That’s the issue.

roaaary

Spurs looking awful so VAR is sent to help them. Cheating scum

LoveSausage

This place is really turning into Untold. Tinfoil hat takes all over the place. You can have opinions about the laws of the game (some are pretty stupid) but that’s a textbook spot kick. There’s nothing shady about the decision. Move along.

GunnerWomble

Point blank range – how the hell is Barnes supposed to get his hand out of the way? So basically all a striker has to do is whack the ball against a defender’s hand and penalty – just crazy!!!!

Chika

China1

“A draw for Spurs won’t do us any good.”

Are you okay?

EdTheRed

For those with longer memory, I’ve said as soon as Scum was allowed to forefit Conference League without any consequences, that there seem to be some serious forces willing them onto Top4 finish. So however abysmal, this decision was not unexpected.

But remember guys, it’s all in our hands. No room for any fuck ups anymore, perhaps that scenario suits our mentality the best. COYG!

raptora

It’s “all in our hands” but another referee cock up in 1 of our 2 games and goodbye top 4. God, I hate how corrupted football is.

Leftside

Exactly Ed, we win our next two games and whatever happens in this game is immaterial.

G

Thing is love sausage, there’s been games where the ball has hit an arm but not been given.. reds sees the play and doesn’t give it ..pathetic

G8

Shocking and disgraceful decision by the VAR ,ref and PGMOL..
Really scandalous
What’s new!
Its obvious they want Harry Kane captain of England in the CL .
The PL has become a joke!

Tom

Weren’t Burnley the PGMO’s most favorite team ……..according to yellow and red cards per fouls statistics?
Weird.

Left Testicle

LoveSausage
100% correct on the Untold comparison. Have a critically objective opinion on Arteta and you’re considered anti Arsenal.

Ishola70

No point in moaning about handball pens.

I have hated them ever since the intentional and unintentional ruling was thrown in the bin and any handball in the area is ruled as a pen or virtually nearly every one.

I have hated seeing players defend with their arms theatrically placed behind their backs because of the scrapping of the unintentional handball.

And yet I didn’t see to much criticism about it on here previously.

Reality check

Pedro acting as if he doesn’t know the club are satisfied already. Hilarious. Top level marketing diversion tactics. We’ve been systematically trimming the wage bill down to a europa League level for years. We’re still not 100% there yet. However the progress lego has made is remarkable. According the the board of course. Let me spell it out for those who don’t get it. Arsenal are a Europa League team. Arteta has qualified for the Europa League. Job done. Don’t be fooled by the smoke and mirrors propaganda perpetuated by the club to convince you Top4 is/was a target and… Read more »

EdTheRed

Raptora

We can discuss that possible scenario if it happens.

For now, the task ahead could not be any clearer – win next two games.

Left Testicle

Arms were in an unnatural position = penalty. No conspiracy.

LoveSausage

G,

Sure, there are times when referees don’t give a penalty there. And that’s the wrong decision. According to the laws, if the arm is in an unnatural position, it’s a penalty. I don’t particularly like the law but it is what it is. It opens up for some arbitrary decisions about what’s natural. But look at his arm there. It’s 100% in an unnatural position. If we were playing Burnley and it wasn’t given, people would be yelling about conspiracies.

Nigel Tufnel

“Arsenal supporters” Pedro is a fan, and he sees things through Arsenal lenses like all normal, mainstream fans. Then you have guys on Legrave who come to be anti- Arsenal and blame our players and manager for a result after our game is handed to spurs. We’re only awarded penalties in games where it helps us minimally, meaning we already have a lead… and we never receive them in big games against big teams. In those games, we are actually victimized. And never receive one like they gave on Cedric. Never. That was beyond soft. Not happy with Arteta, but… Read more »

Prior to the penalty, spurs were starting to look a little jaded.

Left Testicle

Burnley get an equaliser and the spuds will shit themselves.

G

Left… I suppose you think Sons elbow to Holding was ok as well

Left Testicle

Collins has looked useful.

LoveSausage

Testicle,

Yup, there are several self-appointed arbiters here of who’s a “real fan” and who isn’t. It seems like the definition of fake fans is now expanding. It used to be you were fake if you dared criticise Arteta. Now you’re a quisling if you’re not buying conspiracy theories.

Leftside

Burnley need to make the most of this mini spell ontop

Left Testicle

Elbow? Back of the arm maybe.
I rest my case.

gnarleygeorge9

So if it’s 1-2 to Burnley @ the end of 90 minutes will they keep adding on minutes again til spuds score😂

G

How was that not a foul by Sanchez..

Leftside

Ahh, thought that was in. Goodness.

Avi

Fcking Spuds have all the luck going for them at a very crucial time

I think the referee for tomorrow will fck arsenal up tomorrow, really preparing myself for the worst outcome now

Failing to get a result at Spuds will ultimately cost us,Can’t just see the lads having the bottle to win at Newcastle sorry

Left Testicle

Spurs are staring to look a bit more spursey.

Left Testicle

*starting

Samesong

Avi either a sending off tomorrow or penalty against us?

Leftside

Tomorrow I’m going for a 2-1 to us.

Left Testicle

It’s over 24 hours until the Newcastle game and we’re already blaming the ref for a defeat.

LoveSausage

Great game by Pope. Some good teams will be in for him if Burnley get relegated.

Avi

Avi either a sending off tomorrow or penalty against us?”

Yeah I’m splitting money on either Xhaka seeing a red or Arsenal conceding a controversial pen

Whatever Im telling you arsenal isn’t getting a straightforward win tomorrow, we are likely dropping points and end all top4 talk tomorrow

Ishola70

There is a very big lack of confidence on this blog regarding Arsenal getting 4th place and this Spurs match isn’t even over yet as well today.

As a few others have said if we can’t beat Newcastle and Everton in the last two matches when it is on the line then we are not deserving of a CL place anyway.

Let’s do the job in the real worthy way by winning these last two matches instead of relying on others.

Massive lack of confidence in Arteta and the team on here.

LoveSausage

I don’t get the defeatist attitude. I’m not saying it’ll be easy come on. It’s a cup final for us and means nothing for them. If we go into the game with the right attitude we’ll win it.

Left Testicle

Cornet hasn’t offered anything for Burnley. Hopefully Weghorst will be more of a threat.

Avi

Massive lack of confidence in Arteta and the team on here.”

I think a good few are just concerned about the mentality of the players at this time and how the team is running on fumes at the moment, we have no fit CB coupled with the fact both Cedric and Tavarez will start and there is literally no way we wont concede goals with such level of players.

Left Testicle

Cornet stays on over Barnes?

Left Testicle

Cunte wants a slap.

EdTheRed

Ironic isn’t it, that “moaner” and “Arsenal hater” such as me, keeps telling you to forget moaning about the fucking refs (Have you actually lived through Ferguson era???) and concentrate on the task ahead – beat Newcastle and Everton.

If anything those constantly moaning about refs are the ones not showing trust in manager and players.

It’s in our hands. So let’s fucking go for it!

raptora

It was obvious, the other day, that spuds have a stronger team than us, more balanced, more complete at this time of the two clubs’ history. Ours have more potential alright, but they were visibly better than us. Problem is that it wasn’t the case when the January transfer window started. You take away spuds business in the winter tw, and they wouldn’t have been in this position, absolutely no way. Kulusevski and Bentancur along with Conte’s solid work have turned their season around and gave them the chance to have a go at finishing in top 4. Our great… Read more »

Habesha Gooner

Well it will be left to us to do the job and get top 4. No more pity party. Newcastle is below mid table as of right now. So we need to go there and get the win. If we do that, we won’t have any problems with the Everton game at home. By the looks of it Everton will be safe and sound by the time we play them. Burnley are losing here and Leeds are in trouble so it will be one of those teams.

Ishola70

I’ve already stated my opinion on this race for 4th place. Spurs at this time are a better overall team than Arsenal and if we finish above them then it is failure on their part but we can’t be concerned about the failures of others and in Spurs case we can of course rejoice at their failure if it happens. But if we don’t get the 4th place from this position now when we were in a very good position to capitalise on their failures throughout the season then we can only look at ourselves and say we were not… Read more »

Habesha Gooner

It would be a massive help if Burnley score now though. We would only need 4 points if that were to happen.

Nigel Tufnel

Like a lot of people are saying, there won’t be any shame if we narrowly miss out on top 4. We didn’t expect to get this close, this soon.

This league is incredibly competitive, we were not handed any gifts, and we’re still right up there.

We will continue to improve, and part of that will be the experience gained from this season.. both the manager and the young players.

Benjamin

Like a lot of people are saying, there won’t be any shame if we narrowly miss out on top 4. We didn’t expect to get this close, this soon.

Looser attitude!

David Smith

Do Spurs ever not get the rub of the green these days?

Leftside

Yes as I’ve said all week, we can and must beat Newcastle away, who have only beaten us twice home/ away in 12 years and Everton who have recorded two wins away from Goodison park all season. There are no excuses.

Leftside

A lot of our fans are meek and have no stomach for a fight, thankfully whilst somewhat naive and lacking in experience I think by and large the mentality of this current group is good and doesn’t mirror the tame fans we have nowadays.

Samesong

Don’t think you can blame the fans they only looking at games that on paper looked winnable. Even though nothing is guaranteed

Fans are skeptical and have every right to question the mentality of whether the team can do it?

Forget about the past if we can’t bewt the two teams in front of then we don’t deserve CL

Le Sauce

I really don’t understand this loser attitude jibe. It seems some on here are incredibly dim that context is never applied when analysing certain situations. A full strength Arsenal team should be beating Newcastle and Everton, failure to do the above would lead to severe and we’ll deserved criticism. What we have on ground is a situation whereby two of our very best players in Partey and Tierney are out, our CB pairing are injured and would only be available if they pass a late fitness test, we have no available senior Center back as things stand and we might… Read more »

Samesong

Le Sauce

Spot on!

G8

Well , the tiny totts got their undeserved push from the PGMOL and the media
But we could only blame ourselves for loosing those games and points when we should have at least got a draw!
Arteta has a lot to answer for too, insisting with out of form players on those games and applying amateur tactics and complicated formation!

Samesong

Is there a situation where Xhaka might be CB?

Habesha Gooner

We need to win. Simple as that. No meek excuses. Our season has come down to this. And Arteta needs to drill this to these players. He needs to tell them that if we win, our next seasons can only be better. If not and we will lose a year of progress. A lot of spurs fans seem to think that we will drop points at St. James park. We need to prove everyone wrong again one last time. No one gave us a chance after those three defeats against Palace, Soton and Brighton. We got ourselves back up. We… Read more »

David Smith

Perhaps we will get handed a couple of soft pens as well in the next two games,

Leftside

Nonsense. I read on here bullish fans celebrating 4th prematurely and predicting that we would beat Spurs who are a far more capable outfit than Newcastle and Everton. Spurs have the players to punish teams at their best and we haven’t won there since Rosicky’s early strike if I remember well. Yet, many fans are fearful of our prospects in our final two games? I haven’t said anyone is a loser I said a lot of our fans are meek. Why are we questioning the attitude of this side, this season? Did we not pick up a crucial 1-0 away… Read more »

Samesong

Bowen a baller

Ishola70

Why should it be about Arteta out Le Sauce? If we don’t get 4th place from here it would mean that we were not good enough throughout the WHOLE season and if we are at the bare bones at this stage of the season then the season has caught up with us. And who is genuinely going to be really angry if we don’t get 4th place? The bar at this club was lowered several seasons ago so there will not be a sense that we have been deprived of CL football when we were absolutely deserving of it. There… Read more »

Ishola70

G8

“the media”

The media? Shithouses.

Are you not of an age yet when you can see the media for the shit they are for the most part?

Unfortunately they hold great sway with teenagers and adults with teenager mentality.

Benjamin

@ Le Sauce

All i hear is excusses, either the the refs are
corrupt or injuries and that our players are
jaded!
We havent played that many games?
We went out in 3 round og FA Cup and
People were saying thats ok because the
4th place is what matters.
And some of our Young players have been
In High pressure situations before.
Saka played in a Europian final?

Samesong

All those games Left you talk about we had White and Gabriel as our central pairing. Both fit at the time.

White is recovering , Gabriel looks like he has a tight hamstring. Holding is banned. I’m very worried. And with the added pressure of having to get the win.

Newcastle can smell blood. We better be ready for tomorrow that’s all I’ve got to say.

raptora

I mean Tavares was here in the winter and Tierney has been a crock the moment he stepped here. We had: Tavares as 2nd choice LB, Lacazette and Eddie as our CF options, Elneny and Lokonga as our MF reserves, Holding as our only CB option. We said let’s hope for the best and took a dive. Obviously we were perfectly happy with finishing outside of UCL places. We went with a lot of money for an impossible transfer, when that failed we should have brought in if not starters, then better reserves. No one to blame if we don’t… Read more »

Leftside

Same, those points are valid. I think both Gabriel and White will be in tomorrow mind you. Not at 100% of course, but I don’t think Saka and a couple others have been 100% for a couple of weeks for what its worth but we have still been getting over the line. There is clarity in what we have to do, win the remaining games and we are in the “promised land”. Newcastle can smell blood all they like, we also will smell blood. Our need is greater than theirs and we are the superior side, even not at full… Read more »

Samesong

Left

That post is reassuring. Let’s get the W.

Samesong

2-0 Hammers

Le Sauce

“If we don’t get 4th place from here it would mean that we were not good enough throughout the WHOLE season and if we are at the bare bones at this stage of the season then the season has caught up with us.” Good enough for what exactly, can you honestly say you penciled down Arsenal for a top four finish right at the beginning especially after our summer transfer window. You’re being disingenuous if you said we aren’t good enough just because we narrowly missed out on fourth (I hope we make top four though), what a lot of… Read more »

WengerEagle

Bowen is a class player.

Could do a lot worse than sign him.

Samesong

WE
He is. Think he’ll be even better next season too. He’s got that Vardy grit and determination.

Le Sauce

Benjamin Saka played in an high pressure final and LOST, that in itself is enough to cause self doubts in some players. The kid is 19 for Chirst sake, has had a wonderful season (PFA young player of the year nomination) and he was still in the academy when we last finished fourth. Win lose or draw the last two games, those kids have done well and in fact they’ve never let us down this season, the reason a lot of us went against Pedro when he said the rest of the season should be a write-off after the three… Read more »