The weekend of results worked for Arsenal, mostly.
Newcastle dropped 2 against Wolves.
Chelsea LOST to Brentford… give me some ha ha haaaaas
… and United lost to Manchester City.
Now, that’s not a great result for us. But I still have unfinished business with all the people I fought with over EtH. He’s the last manager on the list that people said we should have hired.
My friends, where are you now? SPEAK UP!
Crying, again, because you went up against my agenda and ended up face-first in the mud with the folk that said things like
‘Conte is elite because he hates mayo in the dressing room’
‘Tuchelball is needed at the carpet’
‘Jose Mourinho is a changed man’
‘Emery is my daddy’
Now I own you, I ask just one thing of you… join me in feeding the Eddie Nketiah propaganda machine. I am sure we’re seeing heaven with this angle!
I’ve enjoyed watching Eddie get his flowers after his hat trick. I made an error yesterday, he’s won us THREE penalties this season and scored 7 goals. He is many things – but below the Arsenal standard? I don’t think so. What he does need is a run of goals. I want to see him impress more with his finishing and I want to see him show up more prominently in the bigger games he’ll have to play over the next three weeks.
Sorry… I diverged from where I was taking this.
Erik Ten Haag. The man is in deep, deep trouble at this point. His talent ID has been way off for starters. A prominent Arsenal podcaster actually argued with me on the internet that Ajax should PASS on teh £90m. Yep, that was a real argument and people chimed in and agreed. I think it’s time to cash that cheque… Ajax should be going to court for knowingly over-selling an asset. One of the worst signings in Premier League history, because this wasn’t even a Jadon like move, everyone know Antony was terrible… even Ajax fans. He didn’t have good numbers in Holland. You can’t be buying a player out of Eredivisie unless they’re dropping 35 assists and 22 goals a season. United did and it is utterly hilarious.
Then look at the rest of the players his bought. Mason Mount sat on the bench. Harry McGuire is back in the starting 11. Hojland is complaining in the media he’s only 20… fair, but come on, who blew £85m on a player that wasn’t ready to lead the line?
Mr Ten Haag. How have you landed on a line-up like this?
The man who said ‘we don’t do friendlies’ after his side beat us up in preseason has 15 points from 10 games. He’s lost 50% of his league games this season. The leaks from the United camp have never been more ferocious. Players are angry about the treatment of legends, there’s chatter of an agent who has had his fingers in too many transfer pies, and some of the limp decisions on ‘upgrades’ are stinging him.
What we are witnessing, in case you didn’t realise, is the slow march to managerial death.
If you can’t fix the culture after spending £400m, you are never going to do it. His biggest challenge there is he’s trying to cut out the toxic elements of the club… but he, himself, is a toxic manager. There’s always someone to blame. It’s never him. He dragged a player with mental health issues, tried to reintegrate a sullied player, binned De Gea when there was allegedly a deal on the table, but he still has 78 excuses as to why United are where they are.
I’m going to be bold here: He is not him.
The best managers in the league have social EQ in abundance.
I know, I know, we’ve critiqued Arteta on this a number of times. Our own manager is a savage. A brute. A sword-wielding football barbarian. But… when he swings, he kills. That’s not happening at United and now their manager is the one limping because he gave enemies a way back in. If you murder in football, you need to have buy-in. Mikel had that with Auba, not sure EtH had that with De Gea or some of the other decisions.
My one hope? That the big dawg media figures focus the blame on the Glazers and the toxic dressing room. Give EtH more time, he’ll do NOTHING with it. And that would please me.
Ok, get this podcast in your ears RIGHT NOW. x
There aren’t many better back up strikers of Eddie’s quality in the league. He’s been a reliable deputy when needed.
Given that Kai doesn’t look like the solution as Xhaka’s replacement, will Mikel try to buy one in January? Or can ESR stay fit and make the place his own? That is a more pertinent question than whether our hat trick hero is good enough to sit on the bench.
Coneteta: “‘Eddie is a later bloomer’…On what basis? Because it’s only you that’s pushing this agenda on his behalf.”
Eddie is played at CF ahead of Tross, Havertz and Martinelli.
A few times Arteta could have played Jesus at CF as well but decided to play him on the wings instead and play Eddie at CF – vs Spuds, Bournemouth and Chavs. Marti or Saka were injured in those games but we have other wingers Arteta could have used and put Jesus at CF. He didn’t.
Just food for thoughts. Since you said it’s only me.
Haaland is underperforming his PL xG this season, Eddie is outperforming his PL xG this season.
True facts.
Raptora
Literally none of that explains your assertion Nketiah is a late bloomer. Just say you’re speculating and be done with it.
GoonerDave
Charlie Patino is likely the heir to that inside left position.
He’s not there yet, but I’ve rarely been as convinced of a young players potential, Patino is outrageously talented.
Once he’s developed physically, and gains a base level of experience, his trajectory could be rapid.
Stylistically he’s similar to FDJ + Cazorla, he’s got the ability to create space for himself and his teammates in central areas at an elite level.
We’re in a precarious contractual situation, so Arteta needs that PowerPoint presentation at the ready…
There’s potentially space for him with Elneny + Jorginho both out of contract, and Partey’s contract up in 2025, with his availability needing to be viewed as an excellent bonus, rather than anything we bank on.
Think our next 2 moves are likely to be a Zubimendi style player, and Patino back into the squad next summer.. I have no idea why there’s this idea we’ll sign Toney in January?..
Maybe a versatile right sided defender on loan to cover for Timber’s injury, I’d take Chalaboh until summer, if there’s no money for a permanent transfer due to FFP.
Coneteta,
He’s been substantially improving over the last 2 seasons from the age of 22 to 24. From a bench warmer, to trying to fit Trossard in his place, to playing Jesus on the wings. There is a progression there and it didn’t start at 17, or 18, or 19, or 20. He’s far from peaking btw. Not even close.
JamieOctober 30, 2023 18:57:12
Haaland is underperforming his PL xG this season, Eddie is outperforming his PL xG this season.True facts.
Jamie
Yeah Emile Heskey once scored 25 goals in a season for Liverpool
If Eddie can score goals more regularly for us from half chances then great
I’m all in
But he’s been pretty shit this season outside of hard work
Yeah his numbers look good after the weekend but if Jesus is injured or we need a goal from the bench then is he going to keep us at the top of the table? This is a genuine question
Rich
Patino is better from deep
With the game in front of him
He’s gonna be electric one day that boy
Un,
I’m not saying Eddie isn’t a flash in the pan with his recent hat trick, but Champagne Coneteta should come correct with xG stats. That’s all.
Do we want our centre forward to help facilitate the rest of our attack?… Or do we want our attack to facilitate our centre forward?….
Or something in between?…
I’m convinced that the way we’re currently setup, that our centre forward role is one of the least fashionable in the PL, and it’s actually designed to be that way.
“Do we want our centre forward to help facilitate the rest of our attack?… Or do we want our attack to facilitate our centre forward?….Or something in between?…”
The same question was being asked of city this time last season when Haaland arrived.
They tried the former but settled for the latter …the attack/team facilitated the centre forward and they never looked back..
Who’s to say we can’t give replicate city’s change of plan last season in giving the ball early to our striker’s to play to their strengths، especially Eddie’s.
Maybe last weekend will be Arteta’s “light bulb” .moment
and he will give his creative players more freedom to take more risks in the final third، especially now we have Rice as protection
Will just add that there is no reason why Odegaard can’t release the ball earlier ، he certainly has the ability and vision، maybe atm he is playing to Arteta’s instructions and it is restricting his creativity..
Jamie
Champagne supernova? My favourite song of all time
Mikel
Let’s have it
Are you CC?
Facilitating Haaland, is one thing… Having a freak who’s averaging a goal contribution every 70 minutes at City…
But securing one of those isn’t easy, even if clubs have money… Haaland + Mbappe. are the Messi + Ronaldo of this generation.
If we could secure a centre forward who delivered just 60% of that end product, would it be worth altering the way we attack?..
We’ve scored 1 more goal than City in the league this season, and we scored 6 less last season.
One system risks a single point of failure, the other system focuses on the collective, is more adaptable, and focuses of the collective.
It wasn’t out attack that derailed us last season, but losing 2 right sided defenders in the same game.
If we can secure one of the rare freaks, maybe there’s an argument?…
But stylistically I wouldn’t swap Jesus for peak Aubameyang’s superior goal output.
It doesn’t jist have to be one way of playing does it، It is possible to play one or the other depending on the opposition or whoever is our striker on the day..
Against weaker teams ، take risks، hit the striker early، against stronger teams retain possession.
I don’t recall Charlie ever going quite as hard at a player like Coneteta has with Eddie, but that could just be a part of the new persona to throw us off. There are similarities to the tone and text for sure though. Mikel would never give it up either way.
When Trossard played as striker last season ، that was possibly our most prolific spell offensively، though it has to be said that most of the opposition were weaker during that spell.
Charlie had much more football intelligence than Coneteta، he understood the game..
This Ballon d’Or trophy has become such a joke. Onana ahead of Bukayo for Inter winning the Italian Cup? Gvardiol same shit but in Germany. Kvara ahead of Bukayo for winning the Scudetto but Salah with nothing ahead of both of them? How does this shit work?! I swear it’s giga random.
Gunda pushed City to the title like always, won 3 trophies – placed behind Salah and Lewa and not even in top 10.
Im not sure what the Nketiah debate is even about at this stage… as you were.
CC will never admit it because he loves the faux duper’s delight on an already anonymous blog. He’s all over Bamford’s Twitter feed though. Couldn’t have known it existed if he wasn’t here on le-grove years ago under a different alias.
Sad, I gave him significantly more credit back in the day.
Ballon d’Or is a popularity / bung contest at this stage, it’s been suspect for decades christ Nedved outdid Henry in 03 playing for match fixing Juventus whom got relegated couple years later for the plaudits of that season.
That Haaland 54 goal compilation was difficult to watch… endless tap ins and penalties.
Lol, I just saw Emi Martinez won the Lev Yashin trophy for the best GK. But was #15 compared to #13 Bono for the Ballon d’Or. They are actually trolling.
Un
No, but the same few think it’s a point scored so whatever floats it.
“but Champagne Coneteta should come correct with xG stats. That’s all.“
https://understat.com/player/8260
Buck’s Fizz Coneteta used this source which shows Haaland has outperformed his xG the last 4 seasons and sits on 11 from 11.10 xG this season with the general consensus being he’s yet to get going. I know where the even money is on his finishing over 38 games.
But his league career to date shows a massive over performance ie exactly what was said.
Shout out to the Arsenal opinion Pod for the David Seaman (coup) interview, quality stuff and timed to perfection with content.
What was the point of hosting the Ballon D’or in Paris
Why didn’t they just move the ceremony to Messi’s backyard?
Yeah it’s a bit strange that Coneteta won’t admit to being Champagne Charlie under a new name.
Their writing style and personality are near identical, far too much of a coincidence for it not to be the case.
Messi winning the Ballon Dor is silly, it discredits the award and diminishes the 7 others that were thoroughly deserved to award it based off of a 7 match international tournament.
Haaland or KDB clearly were more deserving, the best players on by far the best team that cleaned house.
It’s very weird when posters disappear on a Moniker only to reappear under a new name and deny to the ground the existence of their old one.
We’ve seen it so many times. Un still denies being Done as does AFC Forever denies being Revving Kevin or whatever it was.
You guys have watched so much football over the years and still think Haaland deserved to win the Ballon D’or scoring tons of goals from 2-3 yards out from the goal ? KDB, Bernardo, Gundogan put it on a platter for Haaland and he obliged.
Ballon D’or is given to the best footballer, not to the most prolific scorer.
All the players and managers who understand the game agree Messi deserved it. Halland’s manager Pep, his colleagues Rodri, Bernardo Silva have said Messi deserves it even though they play with Haaland.
Henry, Brazilian Ronaldo, Michael Owen, Griezmann….you name it. Don’t tell me they don’t understand the game.
Yeah, pretty sure only Luteo is cool talking about his previous monikers because theye’re always a bantz amalgamation of two player names, and he doesn’t change monikers because he’s embarrassed himself.
Sancho Monzorla (or something similar) was his previous I think?
If I’m wrong, my bad.
“Messi winning the Ballon Dor is silly, it discredits the award and diminishes the 7 others that were thoroughly deserved to award it based off of a 7 match international tournament”
Messi was in the Ligue one team of the year and had 20 plus assists and goals for them. I am sure for someone who follows a lot of European football you are aware. Most goal plus assists, most dribbles, most man of the match and most clutch moments in big games.
Haaland had zero goals in CL final, in 2 legs in CL semi final against Real, zero goals in FA Cup final. He ghosted in so many big games.
Football is much more than no of goals scored.
Football is a beautiful game which evokes emotions.
The best player should have great stat and should also meet the eye test.
Messi led his team, Haaland was one of the many cogs.
Anyone I shouldn’t waste my energy, the wise men have already decided.
TR7
I wouldn’t pay too much attention to what public figures say, they’re all media trained to within an inch of their life.
They’ll all be trained to be gracious in victory and gracious in defeat.
They’re hardly going to create an unwanted headline by saying:
“It’s ridiculous that Messi who now plays in some tinpot league, has won the trophy just based a 7 game knockout competition”…
They’ll all just toe the line…. Stick to the narrative, and under no circumstances created unwanted headlines.. Particularly players who were competing against Messi, won’t want to look bitter or petty.
Messi is the greatest player of a generation, but had that penalty shootout gone the other way…. Mbappe would have won it tonight, and there’d be few calls for Messi.
Maybe they just wanted to celebrate his career with one more crowning glory?… But the idea Messi has been the best player over the course of the last calendar year… I’m just not buying it,
Do we want our centre forward to help facilitate the rest of our attack?… Or do we want our attack to facilitate our centre forward?
I believe arteta wants to test the possibility of Eddie turning into a complete striker. A bit like how lutaro Martinez. Tbh I think it’s a safe bet as the quality of cf around Europe is poor and mostly isn’t worth discarding Eddie for as he’s proven to be up to every challenge so far. People just like to overlook the amount of improvement Eddie has undergone since arteta came over, he’s a credit to himself and the club and I can’t wait to see how it ends
“Messi is the greatest player of a generation, but had that penalty shootout gone the other way…. Mbappe would have won it tonight, and there’d be few calls for Messi.”
Mbappe would have won it then and rightly so. By the way he also plays in the same tinpot league.
I am sure you remember R9 being largely injured in 2002, coming back from injury and winning the Ballon D’or on the back of solely his WC campaign. Cannavaro won it due to his world cup exploits.
World Cup is not just a 7 game tournament, it’s the biggest spectacle. Much of adulation for Maradona, R9 and Zidane emanates from their world cup exploits. That’s how it has always been.
Lol, I rate your football knowledge normally TR7 but you have the blinders on when it comes to Messi and you are spouting complete nonsense up there.
Is this the same Ligue 1 that Lacazette had 30+ GA last season? Messi was way below par post World Cup (very understandable, clearly) compared to his club form before it. The stats also support this claim.
The Ballon D’or in its essence is supposed to be awarded for the player who had the best season/year with their club. If it was simply an award for the best player in the world then Messi would have won 12+ of them by now as he’d simply be awarded it every year from 2008-2021.
Same goes for the MVP award in the NBA. LeBron has won it 4 times in his career despite having been the best player in the league for 10+ years.
If it is simply given to the best performing player at a World Cup then Iniesta or Xavi should have won it in 2010.
Haaland a cog? Are you mental? He scored over 50 goals last season. You should know better than to pull out the old ‘no G/A in SF/Finals’ chestnut when Ronaldo shits all over Messi for Champions League knockout stage goals and more importantly, SF and Final goals.
Like I said before, Messi deservedly won the Golden Ball already to recognise his World Cup efforts. But to now award him being the best performing player of the year? When he was completely MIA once again in the CL is just wrong.
Jamie
Yeah look I get it, sometimes posters want to freshen things up with a new name. No issues with that.
It’s just when they deny existence of their old moniker that I find it odd, are they ashamed of it or is it a rush for them to pretend to be someone else?
Football is a beautiful game which evokes emotions.The best player should have great stat and should also meet the eye test.Messi led his team, Haaland was one of the many cogs.Anyone I shouldn’t waste my energy, the wise men have already decided.
This is a disingenuous way of looking at things. How isn’t haaland passing the eye test? There isn’t one way to be effective. variety they say is the spice of life. If haaland has perfected the art of using basic cf skill and brutr force and hunger to reach the apex then he should be applauded for it just like Messi married his other wordly technical skill with hunger and determination. Individual awards are just opinions and publicity stunts haaland is just as effective in his club as Messi is/was for his. Hindsight has taught us that xavi and iniesta were the most important influences in barca/Spain playing the best football in history but it would have been a sacrilege if they had won the balon dor over Messi or Ronaldo in that period.
I mean fuck me, I haven’t particularly liked my moniker on here for many a year now and wouldn’t have minded changing it considering I made it a decade ago as a smooth-brained teenager but it’s my identity on here despite it being an anonymous blog.
Would feel too weird to change it.
.”Mbappe would have won it then and rightly so. By the way he also plays in the same tinpot league.”
This is so incredibly stupid. So a penalty shoot-out in which he took 1 of 10 penalties dictates a year-long best player award?
For such a logical and rational guy TR7 it’s pretty funny how all of that flies out the window when it comes to the topics of Messi or Rafa Nadal.
“If it is simply given to the best performing player at a World Cup then Iniesta or Xavi should have won it in 2010.”
You really think Iniesta and Xavi had the World cup campaign like Messi had ? Messi’s World cup campaign is at par with Maradona’s 1986 campaign.
Henry has a terrible records in finals, r9 never dominated the cl either. Zizou had rubbish stat, papin isn’t even spoken about enough and he had Amazing stat, totti never got his flowers because of the club he represented etc. Haaland is on his to been the most prolific striker the pl ever seen and we’re debating the merits of him winning the balon d’or? Lol
Imagine if we had the actual list of long time grovers that talked about the Hag like he was the most brilliant mind in football.
I don’t search old posts like some weirdos here… but let’s just admit…. it was a lot of you lol.
The worst thing Hag did was to say he didn’t want to work with Rangnick on squad decisions.
Rangnick had some idea of the rotten culture and could’ve helped him by preventing Hags bad choices of buys.
Arrogant, and thinks he’s smarter than he actually is. Like how they had Arsenal figured out, but needed the refs to give them a home win last season.
TR7: “the wise men have already decided”
First time I hear anyone call journos that way. This trophy has been a joke for years but since it’s Messi winning, they are “the wise men”!
Raul
See Haaland is effective of course otherwise the best manager in the world wouldn’t have bought him and played him in all the games.
You think Haaland deserved it over Messi ? I am not going to argue about it anymore because like you said awards are very subjective and people can have differing opinion.
You really think Iniesta and Xavi had the World cup campaign like Messi had ? Messi’s World cup campaign is at par with Maradona’s 1986 campaign.
I didn’t watch 86 but xavi was the best player closely followed by iniesta in 2010 world cup and xavi performance in the final was one of the best midfield display I’ve seen in my life. He totally dominated the entire dutch midfield for 120min and the dutch put so really really rough challenges out that day. Maybe it isn’t as eye catching as Messi’s occasional brilliance in the last final but it was more dominant and decisive imo
Talks about Haaland’s ugly goals when Messi at the WC scored 7 – 4 pens and 1 tap in.
On par with Maradona haha!
“are they ashamed of it or is it a rush for them to pretend to be someone else?”
Either, depending on the poster I think. Except when it’s to freshen things up like you said.
I kept it simple when I joined and used my first name because I couldn’t be fucked coming up with something clever. Plus Pedro was happy to share his face/name with me, so I did the same with him.
Nigel
There’s a few clips of Rangnick doing the rounds, where he absolutely nails it…
I said at the time they should have listened to him, backed him through the eye of the storm to deconstruct what wasn’t working, and to create something that did.
Put his own guy in, and then start building towards a clear playing philosophy + identity.
Thankfully United are bonkers, and in spite of throwing money around like confetti, lack anything resembling a cohesive philosophy or strategy…
Long may it continue.
You think Haaland deserved it over Messi ? I am not going to argue about it anymore because like you said awards are very subjective and people can have differing opinion.
I think if Messi had the season haaland had and vice versa Messi would have won today still and to me is where the award loses relevance. How do you measure defenders contributions then? Or midfielders who aren’t stats relevant but are to the team in a way they’re almost irreplaceable?
Talks about Haaland’s ugly goals when Messi at the WC scored 7 – 4 pens and 1 tap in.On par with Maradona haha!
Tbf Messi was the one responsible for everything good Argentina did in attack. Dribbles,key passes, chances created, assists, carries,.even deep progresions. He was absolutely outstanding at the world cup I can’t argue but the golden ball was enough. Balon dor shouldn’t be an award determined by a tournament of 12 games or.whatever when over 70games were played across a season
“Talks about Haaland’s ugly goals when Messi at the WC scored 7 – 4 pens and 1 tap in.”
You don’t get it, do you. Had Lauturo/Alvarez taken all the penalty instead of Messi even then it wouldn’t have diminished Messi’s impact.
Argentina were bowing out against Mexico until Messi scored a screamer. Everything good against Poland and Australia came largely from Messi. His pass against Netherland was out of the world. Against Croatia he was average but still produced a magical moment to embarrass the best young defender of the tournament. In the final he was effective again his goal notwithstanding. There were phases in the game after Mbappe equalized when Argentina looked directionless and dead on the feet, Messi led in those dicey moments. Although you can say Di Maria was the standout player in the first half but Messi was very very critical in the final match as well.
So simplistic to look at no of penalties and dismiss what was an unbelievable campaign.
Raul
I understand what are you trying to say with regard to Messi having Haaland’s season but in 2018 that’s what exactly happened.
Messi had the most goals, most goals plus assists, most trophies and yet he was 5th because his national team lost to France in 2018 QF. So World cup does have its premium, always has been the case.
Do people still think we need a striker? Imo if we can’t get a top top level striker then we should invest in Eddie and trust the quality and variety of our attackers. Kai, tross, Eddie and even martinelli against 85% of teams shouldn’t be too shabby. We should focus our efforts on getting a high quality and a rb. We can be lucky if esr picks up the pace in his development quickly then we can sppash on an attacker instead but rn we have a midfield conundrum without partey as jorginho looks like he can’t take in too many minutes and he’s lost a step too
Waiting to comment
Messi had the most goals, most goals plus assists, most trophies and yet he was 5th because his national team lost to France in 2018 QF. So World cup does have its premium, always has been the case.
Tbh I agree with you that Messi is the goat and he doesn’t need any balon dor to prove it. There’s a reason the pfa or other league awards don’t take domestic cups performances into question when evaluating etc. The world cup at the end of the day is a knock out competition and luck can be a major deciding factor especially when there’s no enough games to even things out. I know it’s a spectacule for the unpredictability and whatnot but that’s why it has its award for the best and it shouldn’t be a major determinant on an overall scale is all I’m saying. Haaland couldn’t even get to show his level in the world cup ffs lol isn’t that unfair advantage already? What he did in his first season at that age is a stuff of dreams and shouldn’t be downplayed at all even slightly
The World Cup was held in the Qatar, the country of the owners of PSG, Messi’s club team, and also the owners of beIN Sports.
“Seeing Messi lift the trophy in what could be his last World Cup would be something really special for us organisers.” – Hasan Al Thawadi (Chairman of the 2022 FIFA World Cup LLC)
“It would be an injustice if Messi retired without winning the World Cup.” – Gianni Infantino (President of FIFA)
https://twitter.com/laligafrauds/status/1606598930304679936
One of the most ridiculous pens you will ever see. Ball’s already headed, goes far far away from the goal, our boy Woj eventually touches Messi and a pen was given.
https://twitter.com/laligafrauds/status/1606598939167412226
One of the most blatant second yellow cards not given to Paredes vs the Dutch. It doesn’t get more obvious that this really.
https://twitter.com/laligafrauds/status/1606598941247766528
Messi literally makes a move with his hand towards the ball but no yellow is given. He eventually gets another booking that could have been his 2nd.
There are more examples, most less obvious, so but I’ll stop here.
Raptora
You really believe that a World cup can be rigged ? Despite all the rigging Kolo Muani could have scored in the last minute of extra time against Martinez and Messi would have been left empty handed. You are reading too many tweets from CR7 fanboys on Twitter.
Anybody who watched the games knows that Argentina pretty much owned Netherlands and France and Croatia and they were deserving winners anyway. Argentina have lost only one game in what 40-50 games and that too a freak loss against Saudi Arabia. So they didn’t need to buy referees to win games.
Delete your Twitter account and make your own arguments. Don’t copy paste others conspiracy theories.
Raul
Largely agreeing with what you have been saying in the last few posts and I respect the arguments you are making although still believe Messi deserved it because it was a World’ cup year. Any other year Haaland would have won it.
P:S : We have had many acrimonious tit for tat in the past but enjoyed your posts today. 👍
TR7: “they were deserving winners anyway”
Wtf does this even mean bro? There is no “this team deserved it more” in football. Why? Because they played pretty? You lose, you lose. End of. 5 pens in 7 games. Red cards not given. Yes, France might have won it, doesn’t mean Argentina wasn’t helped in every step of the way.
As much as you like Messi and Argentina, Netherlands were massively screwed in that game. If everything was fair they might have won and it would have been the end. Anyways.
Argentina wouldn’t have won that WC without Emi Martinez’s antics and brilliance
That’s what I think of Messi’s Ballon D’Or .
He should have decline of these nonsensical awards that dint sd anything to his legacy.
He wasn’t the best performing footballer of last season.
The Ballon d’Or is a farce… The only way I’d tune in, is if the got Gervais to host it.
Lol at the ballon d’or rankings
On what planet was Julian Alvarez the 7th best player in the world last season?
For reference he came 7th whilst Saka came 24th…
He’s a good striker but that’s charity just because he’s in the city and Argentina squads I’m afraid. He ranked higher than osimhen and even gundogan and Bernardo Silva. That’s charity
People too harsh on Eddie.
Some points in his favor:
He’s a totally different player from the box poacher who was loaned to Leeds.
He changed his physique with hard work, and added work rate farther back to win over Arteta.
I always ask who are the better backup strikers in this money loaded league?
He cost us nothing, and his wage is average for a big club forward, even though (was it Izzo?) and others wanted to make his salary sound outrageous.
If you don’t think he scores enough, I say look at how Arteta has him dropping deep and working in midfield.
How many goals did Lacazette put up when he was playing that role? None? Maybe one in a whole season? Alexandre was a team player, but couldn’t come close to what Eddie is doing with work rate and still scoring 1 in 2 roughly.
Great for a second choice.
If you don’t think he’s important, then think about why he was chosen to start the biggest game of the season. -Man City….. and Havertz was an option .. but Eddie won/earned the opportunity. Obviously, it worked out, because his work helped disrupt City.
He’d score more than that turd Ivan Toney if he was being serviced by his whole team for 30+ games.
As acting captain giving his chance for a 4th goal to somebody else…. Eddie is a class act.
I would prefer to see more of Trossard personally, but I appreciate Eddie a lot. Either way it shows great depth and not all of it was bought for big money. Eddie was transformed and is being utilized very well by Arteta.
Trophies won by the teams you play for always overly influence the rankings of individual players – as tho each individual who plays in a winning team has put the team on their back
It’s like in international tournaments they give 90% of the best player awards to someone from the overall winning team, completely ignoring players who played better but got knocked out in the semis or quarters most of the time
Also big credit for the guys who admitted wanting Ten Hag. Respect for that.
He’s even been worse than I thought he’d be. That club, like Chelsea, is a rotten culture. Both need an Arteta type house cleaning.
Genuinely slightly warms my cold heart to see TR7 and Raulishuss forging an unlikely friendship.
Raul put across the Haaland argument well and why despite Messi dominating the World Cup, he was already deservedly awarded the Golden Ball for his efforts.
Was he the best performing player over the past 12 months? Would have to be a resounding no, hence imo the undeserved Ballon Dor.
It wasn’t like a lifetime achievement award anyway like when they gave old man Ryan Giggs the PFA Player of the Year (complete joke), Messi already has 7 Ballon Dors for fuck sake it’s not like he desperately needed another one.
You mentioned Modric in 2018 TR7 and I agree he shouldn’t have won it but at least he performed at an exceptional level for a year at club and national level winning the CL and leading Croatia to a Runner-Up medal in the WC Final.
Alvarez was the 27th top scorer in the PL last season with 8 but is apparently the 8th best player in the world
Apparently being a good player and being in squads that win the World Cup and the treble is far more important than being the 7th best player in the world
He scored one more goal than the much maligned have etc and scored the same number of goals as pascal groß lol
Fucking autocorrect
7th best*
Havertz*
If arsenal had managed to scramble over the finish line to the PL title (only needed 2 more wins) and if city lost the CL and FA cup finals, along with France winning the WC, alavarez would drop 25 places down the list and all arsenal players would magically jump 20 places
The way they design these rankings is total nonsense. Might as well just give the awards to the teams and say who their personal favourite players from the title winning teams were instead of pretending these are proper individual player rankings.
Far too much charity in this list
Ah, I missed the Balloon D’Or again, damn it, happens every year and it’s such an incredibly important award, awarded to anyone who plays football outside of the Premier League….
Ye, was about to say what kev just said. Let’s pretend like the people giving the award are perfectly unbiased towards the PL. Except they aren’t.
Wonder what would be the narrative if Kolo Muani had buried his sitter instead of shooting at Emi with the last kick and the whole net to aim at
“Yeah, pretty sure only Luteo is cool talking about his previous monikers because theye’re always a bantz amalgamation of two player names, and he doesn’t change monikers because he’s embarrassed himself.”
Yeah Jamie is spot on, I was Sancho Monzorla until Jadon left Dortmund. When he arrived to England I was almost certain he would be a household name and that it would be confusing to share a moniker with a player who would constantly be popping up in conversations, so I changed it up. Boy was I wrong, premature to say the least. It’s not to the level of regret but I much preferred the Sancho handle, it referenced two much better Arsenal players and not a combination of a couple irrelevant members in the annals of Arsenal.
Also apparently Guenreira autocorrects to gonorrhea if you’ve had it enough times to talk about it on your phone, like what happened to Ernest Reed.
Messi.. shocker.
TR7 was inevitably going to hit the board tonight in full flex, ironically Novak was giving an award out in Paris, guess that had to be for a bit of balance.
My favourite post in recent times is a TR7 penned statement of intent regarding Ødegaard in the early days, so outlandish it was shared beyond the blog.
FYI Luteo Gonorrhea is the speed of sound next to Sancho Monzorla…. keep up the good work.
Highest Non-Penalty xG per 90 in the Premier League since 2021/22 (played 900+ mins):
◎ 0.76 – Erling Haaland
◎ 0.68 – Darwin Núñez
◎ 0.59 – Diogo Jota
◎ 0.59 – Callum Wilson
◎ 0.58 – Sadio Mané
◎ 0.54 – Mohamed Salah
◉ 0.54 – Eddie Nketiah
Up there with the best.
https://youtu.be/If5WsMbgeDI?si=BEUVHxXglenITcp-
Watching this conversation of Thierry Henry talking about wenger had me thinking that maybe Arteta could coach the Arsenal strikers to learn a little in how to adapt their game when playing with different players around them..
Henry was saying how wenger said that he needed to make different runs for different players as not all players see the same picture، for instance Ljundberg plays with his head down and Bergkamp plays with his head up ، so making the same runs for each player is futile as Freddie doesn’t see the whole of the pitch، similar to Martinelli really who has a similar game to Freddie so it is important to make the run in Freddie/Martinelli’s eye line.
This makes sense to me and Henry also said that Pires likes to play the ball short with quick give and goes so it is important to play close to that play to get the benefit، similar to smith rowe at the weekend with Eddie’s 3rd goal when Eddie came towards smith rowe to receive the ball and smith rowe will always roll the ball into the striker and make the run off him . …similar to Pires..
It is all about relationships on a football pitch and a striker needs to have an outstanding relationship with the creative force in the team like Henry/Bergkamp…Haaland/Debruyne….Ozil/Ronaldo.
Odegaard’s best relationship on the pitch I think it’s fair to say is with Saka ، and I also think it’s fair to say that he hasn’t what you would call a great on field relationship with either of our strikers، though of course this could be because he is playing to the manager’s instructions who wants him to play it wide to saka or square to Rice or Havertz to avoid turnovers
So maybe the likes of Eddie and jesus could learn from Henry’s comments and adapt their game to the creative players around them and not make the same runs whether it is Odegaard، smith rowe or Vieira on the ball in a more central area.
31, 2023 00:43:13
Genuinely slightly warms my cold heart to see TR7 and Raulishuss forging an unlikely friendship.
WE
I love tr7 but he isn’t always fair on players or managers he doesn’t fancy that’s all
raptoraOctober 31, 2023 07:16:15
Highest Non-Penalty xG per 90 in the Premier League since 2021/22 (played 900+ mins):◎ 0.76 – Erling Haaland
◎ 0.68 – Darwin Núñez
◎ 0.59 – Diogo Jota
◎ 0.59 – Callum Wilson
◎ 0.58 – Sadio Mané
◎ 0.54 – Mohamed Salah
◉ 0.54 – Eddie NketiahUp there with the best.
Like teta said, nketiah can finish alright. He’s been challenged to add levels to his game and he’s absolutely up to it. Thing with nketiah is the club has absolutely nothing to lose with him staying and the upside is huge. I won’t bet against eddie thats for sure. He’s different to Jesus and that isnt à bad thing. Jesus almost feels like he’s not going to be relied on to play up top on a regularly basis so it’s time Eddie steps up or we’ll be getting a new guy in and using Jesus and a utility option in attack.
Raptora
Do you still want tomi sold? Remember I was really baffled when you were adamant he wasn’t a good purchase. He’s going to be absolutely pivotal even with timber in the team, don’t think timber is good in the air certainly not as good as tomi and white among our full backs and it’s a handy tool to have, also tomi is just a far more solid option than any of the full backs we have. Think he was unlucky to get freak injury last season, he’s not that injury prone actually and is a much safer bet health wise than zinc.
So maybe the likes of Eddie and jesus could learn from Henry’s comments and adapt their game to the creative players around them and not make the same runs whether it is Odegaard، smith rowe or Vieira on the ball in a more central area.
Think Jesus links very well with ode and pretty much everyone else(he’s already developing a nice little relationship with rice). While Jesus drops deep af and congests everywhere so ode can be devastating in pockets and small areas, Eddie is always eager to make the run thus making the pitch bigger. Problem here is if ode doesn’t have the pass early then he’s easily caught up with and ode doesn’t like open space he finds it difficult to control transitions in such scenarios, think him second guessing himself has mostly worked against him as he still gives the ball away regardless. Guessing I’m just trying to say Jesus benefits ode as he himself loves congested areas while ødegaard doesn’t fully trust himself yet or maybe he isn’t really adapted to nketiah quick movements. Either ways he has to add that little variety in his play to become more creativity rn he’s too dependant on the half space he should trust his vision more and just execute it first time when he sees it de bryune is master at this, he looses so many balls but he catches defenses off guard plenty too
PierreOctober 31, 2023 09:44:27
https://youtu.be/If5WsMbgeDI?si=BEUVHxXglenITcp-
Pierre
Fantastic, insightful post
Like your old self
Much prefer when you’re like this than swiping at Odegaard and Ramsdale
Eddie is always eager to make the run thus making the pitch bigger. Problem here is if ode doesn’t have the pass early then he’s easily caught up with and ode doesn’t like open space he finds it difficult to control transitions in such scenarios,
Huss
I think Arteta demands not to make that early pass and risk letting the opposition have the ball
He’s all about ball retention
We very rarely slip a ball behind into deep space and when we do it’s usually always a sure thing and a blistering run from martinelli
RaulishussOctober 31, 2023 11:50:46
Raptora
Do you still want tomi sold? Remember I was really baffled when you were adamant he wasn’t a good purchase.
Yet another mutton brained call from our resident captain hindsight
If raptors predicts something, the opposite happens 9/10
That Henry video is good… Like he says, and I’m paraphrasing… it’s all about the team.
A striker who scores a lot of goals, doesn’t necessarily mean we become a better team…. It could do, but it’s not a guarantee.
Van Nistelrooy was prolific, but there’s a strong argument he never made United a better team.
We scored more PL goals last season than ever before, and no player got more than 15.
I really like our current forward options, we’ve got a nice blend of different qualities…
Firmino wasn’t prolific, he was designed to facilitate the rest of Liverpool’s attack.
When Aguero wasn’t playing much towards the end, City had no issues still creating chances and scoring goals, without a recognised centre forward.
If we did anything in the forward line, I’d be more inclined to go for a rapid winger, rather than another centre forward… Unless we can identify and secure a truly elite one from somewhere.
Much of our forwards jobs are to defend, as much as they are to attack, just they do the majority of their defending in our attacking and middle third.
Only City have allowed the opposition less touches in their own defensive third this season, and we’re also amongst the teams who take the least amount of touch in our own half.
It’s clear that Arteta, Guardiola, Klopp, believe the best way to defend, is to control the game both with bad without the ball, in the attack abd middle third…. And to do that the players who operate in our front line need to stop attacks from generating from the front.
Either through applying pressures, or gambling that if we commit more players to attack, the opposition need to commit more players to defend, and that’s how you created territorial advantages.
https://youtu.be/l1dnqKGuezo?si=siZdivO8uqTfwBX0
https://youtu.be/l1dnqKGuezo?si=5OaOyiUCYas4xF3x