Had to fly in here after seeing Spurs lose to Sporting Lisbon. Finally, a dreadful performance catches Conte out. Only Don Unai was better at making winning look so damn painful.
Reasons to love Spurs losing? It means there’s more chance they’ll have to put a proper team out for the last games of the group stages. I want to see tired Harry thinking about the World Cup and mailing it in.
Arsenal lost their Thursday night fixture against PSV. The game was postponed because of Royal things. Not much you can do about something like that, but if we can’t get is back in the mixer, we forfeit the result.
Some folk are talking like passing on the three points is a good option, versus taking the game back on and causing fatigue in the system during a fixture pile-on. I’d rather just play it to avoid the whiners jumping on us because we took advantage. I’m also not sure UEFA would like that move. Clubs could just cancel games in easy groups if they let us do that.
Our game on Sunday is still on. Brentford is 12pm. That’s very early, especially for me in America. But at least the game is on and our return is not against Spurs.
Arsenal might consider some friendly minutes to avoid having under-cooked players. We’d normally play Brentford, but that might not happen, so let’s see what happens there.
The good news about these two delays is our squad will be a little closer to full fitness and any niggles or discomforts have the chance to heal themselves.
The best news is having Thomas Partey back in the mixer. He’s the difference-maker. We’re better with him in our side. The job now is to make sure we keep him fit. There’s a Brazil vs Ghana game that I think is being played in France. Then Ghana go to Murcia in Spain to play Nicaragua. Does Thomas need to play those two games? Do Ghana really need to see anything new? Will Arsenal allow it?
Hopefully, we learn from last season, Thomas doesn’t travel well, and I think he likes to have a little too much fun. Keep him at the club.
VAR is amending rules to allow some fancy tech to take over.
They use AI to build a better picture of whether something is offside or not.
Do I hate it? I think so. But if it’s semi-automated, at least we’ll get to a decision nice and quick. I just hope the fans are brought into it instead of letting them sit around like lemons not knowing what’s going on.
None of these fancy tools are much good in the wrong hands though. Until we’re willing to accept that Premier League refs are terrible, we’ll keep putting lipstick on that fat pig hoping it’ll look a bit prettier.
Ok, not a lot on for obvious reasons. We’ll be on with a podcast tomorrow. Come join the party!
GET ON THE PATREON TODAY. Also, make sure you subscribe to our podcast. Shout out the guy who accidentally gave us a 4* review and went in and changed it. My hero. xx
China
Yeah the post goal numbness has ruined football.
China for PGMOL!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32LZ-JwBuIQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90sAE82i0_A
Partey back in the mixer? This is great news, but I’m not seeing it anywear.
Willy,
Interesting stats… any besides Ramsdale you noticed there?
I always say Rambo is under appreciated for his excellent distribution .. to me he’s either the best at it, or equal to Ederson.
The critics here talk about his brain farts, but whenever I watch a whole Liverpool or City match… I see Alison and Ederson do the same things.
That never gets taken into account by gooners who just go by reputation or just dismiss it when they see it. Then they jump on Aaron’s back every time.
I’d say the risks Rambo takes are what contribute to our build up from deep because he sucks in pressers.
Rich
Yep what a player he is but we already knew that.
Legend in the making.
On the fixtures, there is too much doom and gloom…
the only one that bothers me for good reason is Everton…. because DCL was going to be out as usual, but even more importantly, Pickford was out I think… that’s rare and he’s their best player.
The knock on effect is that Ramsdale may have to play more for England. I hope the hamstring is ok.
China.
Spot on mate.
VAR was initially implemented to review “clear and obvious errors” in four game-changing incidents:-
1. goals
2. penalties
3. straight red cards
4. mistaken identity.
However, changes have been made throughout the three years of operation and before the start of last season, while Riley kept promising VAR would be “dialled back” with officials told not to penalise “trivial things”. We have one of the former muppets on BT, Walton, constantly repeating the line that VAR isn’t about getting correct decisions but stopping clear and obvious mistakes.
The reality is that was all bollocks. Smoke and mirrors.
A clear and obvious mistake does not take 2 to 3 minutes to decipher – a trivial or objective one does. They turned VAR into a joke of long delays, while we suspend our emotions looking around at each other, hoping the goal will stand. The clock ticks on, while we wait in silence as they look desperately for a reason to overturn a goal, freezing frames, moving lines and ultimately trying to manipulate a result – because that is what they are doing. Measuring parts of the body for offside; well I’ve never seen a head or armpit stand in an offside position, what kind of fucking advantage is that?!!
This is a group of mates using VAR as an inconvenient nuisance and not as something to help them make better decisions. The fact that the geographical bias has never been addressed, despite all the concerns raised by former referees and the former head of PGMOL, surprises nobody. Utterly useless.
Masters acted quickly after Scudamore’s departure. He sacked the ‘Goal Killer’ Riley (the Premier League nickname for him). He has replaced him with Howard Webb but I think it needs to go much further than that. It’s an old boys club with no accountability.
All the hangers on need to go; like retired Lee Mason (Newcastle goal), retired Mike Dean (Cucurella hair pull) & Chris Kavanagh (Kanes not a red at Liverpool). Those decisions are just too bad and too obvious to ignore. Recruit from other Counties across the UK and let’s know who they and their families support so we don’t get what we have now biased decisions. Bring in punishments when they fuck up badly. Put a time limit on VAR reviews for goals, say 15 seconds, and broadcast conversations between VAR and the referee along with the replays for transparency. And stop measuring if someones armpit is 2 mm offside….!!! Those are the only things that would change my mind that results aren’t being manipulated. I’ve been convinced of this for years, I’ve met former referees at coaching sessions (before they all had to sign NDA’s as they do now ) and they all shake their heads at Riley & his disdain for VAR. It’s not VAR that’s the problem, VAR could be brilliant. It’s the incompetent, corrupt idiots operating it that’s the problem led by Goal Killer Riley who thankfully has been booted out of the door. Like he should have been when he stitched us up in the game at Old Trafford with what is the most biased and disgraceful referees performance I have ever seen in my life.
Some great comments- hence why after 40 years- I will be only occasionally going to the club even tho I have ST. Friends etc have my ticket. It’s awful watching and I realised very early on pre covid when VAR started- how much of a fool it was making us fans in the stadium as we jumped up and celebrated and then were put neatly back in our boxes. When we are paying north of a thousand to watch these matches- we DO NOT expect to be made to look like fools.’ Oh yes it is- oh no it isn’t. It’s a pantomime. Thank you to whoever needs to be thanked for RUINING everything….
Anyone watching Mudryk he just scored. He looks a talent very quick. And Skillful.
Nigel
There’s always an element of risk vs reward when coaches ask their players to play through the press, and dictate play from deep.
The best teams create territorial advantages with a combination of the technical + physical qualities of their players in deeper areas, which makes the pitch smaller, and allows them to cover the space in behind quickly + aggressively,
The better quality that teams have to build play from deep, and push the last line of defence towards the halfway line, the more players they can keep forward.
The more players they leave forward, the more defensive players the opposition will need in order to not leave themselves outnumbered, there’s different ways of doing it, but this is how the best teams pin the opposition in their own half and smoother them.
Then it’s about having a combination of elite technicians, and aggressive counter pressers in the forward positions, so instead of defending on the back foot, they defend on the front foot as much as possible.
Having a ball playing keeper is vital to this, as is the technical quality of the 5 outfield players in deeper areas,
The keeper makes the 6th man in possession to play around the press, this causes a problem, because if they send 5 players to press high, the keeper creates the overload, and if they play through that press, it’s then 5 vs 5 at the other end.
This is why a ball playing keeper is vital to creating territorial advantages.
The best teams with the best players will gamble that they can first play through the press, and they then have the superior quality to score goals if they end up in 5 v 5 situations, if the opposition have been brave in the areas they try to win the ball back.
If the opposition aren’t brave in the areas they try to win the ball back, that inevitably means they’ll sit much deeper, and the better teams will gamble they have the superior quality to breakdown deep blocks.
Mudryk vs conor mcgregor…ufc in uc
Btw he looks bloody good
Mudryk has a bit of Pires going one.
Best thing about the CL format for TV couple of early games so you can pretty much watch two games back to back.
Mudryk yep, looks a player Celtic doubling up on him but he’s rapid and doesn’t stay in his position happy to drift inside for work.Good game so far.
Loves Jesus tattoo if thats not a come and get me to Arsenal don’t know what is!
– on
Mudryk looks qualiteh but I am more excited about the Khvica lad over at Napoli, he looks a ridiculous talent.
He won’t be in Naples beyond next summer.
Sweet of Pedro to post artwork from his local primary school.
Mudryk doing the business in the CL yet some are questioning why we’re after him saying they’ve never seen him play nonsense. You can watch any game online so get off your lazy ass and scout.
Nigel
Those stats confirm my view that Ndika or Gvardiol needs to be our rotation option for LCB. Ndicka is much better value, but Gvardiol’s ceiling is ridiculous.
It says to me that Zubimendi (not sure who he is) may be worth a look as DM option if danilo doesn’t come through. Likewise Nicolas Seiwald and Enzo Fernandez are also now on my radar, although I’m setting my sights higher for CM.
Looking at the role of infiltrator creator suggests its one of the most important on the pitch, and it backs up my view that Theo Hernandez is one of the best LBs in the world (and probably the most under-rated). He would be my shout to replace Tierney.
Whoever Davide Fratessi is, looks like a bargain to be had by someone.
Bukayo keeping some sensational company on that shooter/creator leaderboard!
Yeremi Pino looks like he’s as good as his youtube videos suggest, and a future world beater.
Ferran Torres looks like he’s as good as I had hoped. Someone should explore how much Zaracho is.
Overall reflects very well on the arsenal squad.
Odegaard certainly has some sublime touches , just a pity that he can’t bring the all important killer ball into his game.
Maybe he’s trying too hard as you would think he has the technique and vision to supply the killer ball, it will probably be the one part of his game that wiill stop him reaching the elite level like Bergkamp, Ozil , Debruyne..
Everything is in place for him to pick the pass…..good movement in front of him , many touches of the ball in the final third, a manager that trusts him, and yet he hasn’t an assist this season , and that is why he will probably end up playing a little deeper to allow someone like Vieira or smith rowe to take over the mantle of chief creator.
Nevertheless, Odegaard is a good team player and a joy to watch at times , especially when we are dominating the ball.
WW
You have the similar ideas to me in terms of how we control the game from deep.
Gvardiol is likely out of our reach, he’d cost a hell of a lot of money.
Colwill who’s on loan at Brighton is very highly rated, we’ve apparently been looking at him for a while, I doubt Chelsea would sell to us, but if they sign Gvardiol, then maybe they’ll need to offset that fee somehow.
Colwill may be less likely to sign a new deal if Chelsea spunk €100 million on a player in his position, after signing Koulibaly this summer, and having Chilwell + Cucerella competing to the left of that.
Potter will be more than aware of his talents though, having taken him on loan at Brighton.
The other player who’s apparently a similar profile is Inacio from Sporting, he played really well against the Spuds yesterday, brilliant passing range, has the versatility to play centre back in a 4, and also step into midfield as an inverted left back.
Wish Potter had a tougher first game. They’ll win as they would have under any other manager but Twitter would be unbearable to an unimaginable degree. Hate rival manager bounce commotion and its pretty regular with em chavs lol
Rich
I’ll look out for inacio, great to know there are options!
I have a feeling that within the next 12 months, we are going to buy someone close to 100 mil , as Arteta knows that to compete with the very best we need to sign the very best, i think the club will give him whatever he requires to bring in the elite talent.
Pierre
We’ve got 3 holes in our squad to fill first, before going for a cherry on top type of signing.
The success rate of big transfers isn’t great, there’s plenty of good value options on the market with good scouting.
We’ll likely steer well away from wages north of £200k p/w, and it sounds like we’re now paying our squad players significantly less than previously.
The reason we’re rubbish sellers is because the clubs who can afford our cast off’s, don’t want anything to do with them, and the clubs that might want out cast off’s, can’t afford to pay them, let alone pay a fee on top.
We have to adapt to the market.
Unless an amazing opportunity presented itself, I think we’ll stay in our own lane in terms of fees + wages, that’ll mean relying on excellent scouting, and playing the medium term game in terms of investment.
We need to identify + secure superstars, before they become superstars, then manage their trajectory astutely into the first team picture.
Our business model is now buying young + hungry players on an upward trajectory, who’ll add value, and avoiding players due to hit a downward spiral.
We need to tie down Saka, Martinelli + Saliba ASAP, the sharks will already be circling.
Damn Jude Bellingham is a player.
Should’ve never let Dortmund get him.
He is exactly what we need in midfield
I really thought Grealish would be a better player at City.
It’s just not clicking so far!
But I guess there’s time.
City really need true pass on the wings and
that’s what’s holding them from winning the champions
league.
I thought Mudryk was good.. but not like amazing..good. Martinelli makes me say wow… a lot. Mudryk was marked out of the game second half and seemed to run out of steam. He did show pace and power on his goal the first half.
Atually, Murdyk reminds me of Julian Draxler .. quality player for sure in his day who we seemed linked with forever.
Good to see my boy Gio Reyna back playing after a year off injured.. hope he is healthy for the World Cup and in form.
GD4
He was a big fish in a small pond at Villa- he’s surrounded by superstars now. I think he’ll fail badly- not just because of his ability- but his application and his off field antics. He’s a naughty boy.
Pretty sleepy Champion’s League night so far compared to last night.
Lol he was marked out second half”. Doesn’t that tell you something about the player??? As cover for Martinelli and Saka think we would be making the right decision to sign him while the rest we currently have such as Marquinhos develop. ESR is a crock. I don’t count him anymore unless he’s able to overcome these injuries.”
Chelsea look worse under Potter..very scattered approach so far and Kepa playing out of the back is always a guge risk..looks so nervous always
Grealish is simply taking easy options square inside passes and lacking confidence at present.
He is also a player that used to ‘buy’ a lot of cheap free kicks in and around the box, ref’s instructed thankfully not to give them anymore.
He needs to take more risks a very good player but he’s not clicked at City and simply not enough goal threat to make up for quiet games.
Marco Reus,
Does all the amazing hard work and can’t curl the ball into the net with Ederson at his mercy.
Dortmund’s coach can’t believe it.
What a counter.
I’m telling ya, if we add one or two quality players in that central midfield and avoid any catastrophic injuries to key players we have nothing to be afraid of.
Izzo ,.. he might be ok.. I guess I’m hard to impress these days.
So far it’s been so easy for Dortmund.
City playing with a lot of lethargy and sluggishness
but with them you never know.
They can strike with the lethal touch of a Viper but so far they’ve been stymied ..
So far it’s been so easy for Dortmund.
City playing with a lot of lethargy and sluggishness
but with them you never know.
They can strike with the lethal touch of a Viper but so far they’ve been stymied ..
0-1 Dortmund
Jonko
Judging a systems coach on his first match after 6 days is a bit premature! Potter needs 18-24 months to get them properly firing i suspect. That said, would love it for them to flounder and then for Boehly to pull the ripcord!
Pierre
I wouldn’t be surprised either, but I agree with Rich that we will want to maintain wage integrity. If Bellingham is going to liverpool, i can’t imagine they’re offering him more than 250k per week. If that’s the case then i think that’s totally justifiable even with our model. Its more about being strong enough as a club to attract worthwhile £100m talents. Rich is also right that the success rate is not that great…believe its 45% so due dil becomes massively important.
The thing that makes me most happy is I believe our talent ID is now absolutely A1. So I trust them to get it right and I can have fun playing pretend manager without having to get invested in certain players coming. It’s a joyous feeling.
Dortmund been the better team.. defended well and their midfield is very .. very talented.
I do enjoy a good Juventus… ass kicken.. not gonna lie. Hope Benfica put a few more on them.
Is that the Neres that scored at the Bernabeu for Ajax a few years ago that’s just after scoring vs Juve ?
What is he doing at Benfica? He looked a good player for Ajax.
This has to be the most boring Juventus side in a long time.
Very narrow midfield, two old-school widemen in Cuadrado, who is ancient and Kostic and then two classic 9s up top in Vlahovic and Milik neither of whom are particularly dynamic or mobile.
Eagle yep.. I do like Weston Mckennie though.. but I really can’t stand Juventus in general.. So I like to see them struggle.
More VAR madness at Ibrox. What are they thinking? It feels like every VAR booth is filled with the footballing equivalent of Michael Masi!
Mid
Personally think that letting Dybala walk was madness. May not have ever became the player he looked like he would at 21/22 but he’s technically superb and a goal scorer/provider.
Messi is something else…pure natural talent even at this age
In fairness PSG should destroy that team.. Great goal by Mbappe though.
Yep, no longer a goal a game machine but Messi’s creative genius compensates for it and he’s still a key figure for PSG.
Mbappe is their best player now but Messi is far from done in this here game even at 35 and without his pace.
I get the political and security issues but I feel sorry for the Israeli clubs and national teams. No what they should be playing in European tournaments but they don’t have an option I guess.
Salzburg just equalised against the dirty Chav cunts.
Chavs lol
Nice Salzburg leveling.
Wait is that former Arsenal starlet Donyell Malin? Thought he was in Holland blew out his knee when he was on fire .. didn’t know Dortmund had snagged him up. These guys are so resourceful
On cue he picks up a yellow lol
GD4
Yeah they paid good money for him and i think we earned a decent bit of wedge from the sell-on clause
What an equalizer by John Stones
They paid a hefty sum for Malen, like 30m.
So far he has been underwhelming for Dortmund. Just shows you how tough the step up outside of the Eredivisie is, especially for guys playing for Ajax and PSV who crush their domestic competition.
Wow King Haaland!
Unbelievable
Who else but Haaland.
15 goals for City this season and it is mid September, what the fuck lol. Kid was made in a lab.
Haaland kid aint bad 😭
Yep… too many weapons.. Can you imagine the text messages Haaland was going to get if he lost to his old team and failed to score?. He pretty much had to score.
Neymar scored now.. Hat- trick of expensive dudes.
It’s just so bizarre how a bang average player can spawn a son that is generationally great and is literally going to smash records his whole career.
Potter is held to a tie in his first game.
Results better start improving …welcome to the big time GP.
I mean he has averaged a goal a game everywhere he has played from Austria to Germany to England, the CL and international level.
6 foot 4 and a faster sprinter than literally every defender he is up against.
Damn Juve go down to Benfica
Juve are shit now, not a surprise.
Allegri has seemingly been found out a bit. He is great when he has a top squad of players to work with but he is useless at a rebuild/imposing his ideas on a different group.
Conte laid down the foundations for him in his first spell there, he had elite talent to work with like Pirlo, Vidal, Tevez, Chiellini, Buffon, etc.
I wonder if Vlahovic and Locatelli are beginning to regret being so enamoured by The Old Lady. Would rather Jesus than Dusan, but I wouldn’t mind a bit of Locatelli….
Jesus is looking a much better signing already and I wouldn’t even entertaining trading him with any other ST that moved in the last year outside of Haaland.
The demon scores again. He’s not human. He’s basically Messi/Ronaldo in their prime without the football skills but that ability to just score anywhere in the box. The only way to stop him is deny City chances into the box for 90+mins otherwise its just futile he’s always going to score.