The Premier League dropped the fixtures for some of the reworks needed before the end of the season… and they have not been kind to Arsenal or Aston Villa.
The big issue? The break Tottenham Hotspur has been given before meeting us.
Crazy as it might seem… they have been give 15 days.
Tottenham play Newcastle on April 13th.
Arsenal then play:
Aston Villa (h) Apr 14th
Bayern (a) Apr 17th
Wolves (a) Apr 20th
Chelsea (h) Apr 23rd
Culminating in the Spurs game Apr 28th (a)
For context, that Spurs break is the equivalent to the January break all Premier League clubs had. They could give the players a holiday and do a training camp in that time. Why is that significant? Because Arsenal came back from that break on absolute fire
Manchester City also plays a team that will have a monster break, but it’ll be Brighton on the 23rd.
Why didn’t the league reschedule the Spurs game in that patch of games?
Now the City vs Spurs game will get lumped at the end of the season because there’s nowhere else for it to go. The League could be over by then.
Arsenal has to play Spurs after a pounding schedule. Arsenal fans are saying things like ‘stop complaining’ like this sort of thing can be addressed by mentality. My question is this: how is it fair that Spurs get a break like that in April? They have no Europe and no cups, so why are they being given a favourable break? Aston Villa, a team in the top 4 race, also has 4 games in that gap. They are being given a disadvantage in the race for top 4.
Who decides these fixtures?
Absolutely crazy. Can you imagine if Klopp was served this sort of fairness?
Arsenal will be absolutely fuming. Once again, they have to do things the hard way as other teams get inexplicable advantages.
Let’s talk about England.
It wasn’t pleasant. It’s quite interesting to watch the whole circus and wonder if at a certain point… everything gets a little too comfortable? There’s a hardcore section of the press that will defend Southgate regardless. The manager seems to have lost all bearings when it comes to meritocratic selections. The football is turgid. And we’re being gaslit into believing that this is as good as it gets… like we’re imagining the status of some of these footballers in the best league in the world.
I wanted to state that some of the feedback I had on the post about the badge was very good. It seems that people centre right and centre left on this issue are all baffled by the flag… but the one things that came through time and time again was ‘don’t mess with the flag of any country.’
Worth noting that Germany is having a similar controversy at the moment, but with something even more abstract. There is fury that the DFB has moved the kit over to Nike. Adidas is a German company, on top of its game, and synonymous with some of the most iconic shirts in international football history. They’ve been binned for Nike. 89% of 66,000 German Kicker readers do not like the move.
‘It’s just a kit’
‘Go out and have a walk if it bothers you’
Please, if this is how you think about football, why are you even in the debate? Outside some of the more unsavory parts of this debacle, I love that this sort of thing matters, it means people are engaged in the beautiful game to extraordinary levels. Not all sports can boast that… especially Formula 1 that is having audience issues this season and people switch off.
Football has its problems, but engaged fans is not one of them.
*Saliba
It’s pretty well documented in French football that Deschamps is lacking a bit up top. He’s deficient in h of grey matter… At Chelsea it was revealed that he couldn’t read or write properly and it had quite the effect on his mannerisms and his temper. How he landed the job with France I do not know.
It’s really weird having the best 2 teams (individually speaking) – France and England – managed by Deschamps and Southgate.
I mean, people rightly say Wenger was not top anymore, but I bet he’ll still be a better manager when he’s 90 than those 2 clowns are now.
I was reading about the Rice comments re Benny in the papers this morning. I agree with the sentiment that he seemed a little to forthwith with the situation and getting more involved than he should do. And to be saying, “When I get back, I can have a conversation with him and see the ins and outs and see what he thinks” sounds like something like Southgate asked Rice to do. Rice does acknowledge that BW “keeps himself to himself” but once again all this is wrapped up in an indirect call by Southgate to get BW to join… Read more »
Deschamps is a champion
Raptora and dissenter have it right about Declan being a bit too chatty.
Not a major issue, but worth noting, especially in a boring interlull.
Ben should stick to his guns. If anything, its his loss he will have to live with. Whether he regrets it or not, is up to him, no one else. Rice should stop playing the in between role with Southgate and leave it. Ben is your teammate. Dont stir the pot with him.
I’m going to Wembley to watch the England v Belgium game.
As much as I am looking forward to seeing Declan lead the team tonight, I am in total agreement that I do not want to see him play the full 90 mins.
A 70th mins sub will be very welcome to allow him to rest and be ready for our big clash with Cheatty on Sunday evening considering how central he is to how Arsenal play.
And please, no injuries either.
Guns of SF I don’t think Benny sees it as a loss as he probably would have weighed the pros and cons of whether he wants to be there in the first place. A lot of people say how he is missing out and that it is an honour to wear the 3 Lions shirt (it is tbh), with this point reinforced on Saturday night when they were talking about the kids, Gordon and Konza, getting their first caps for England. But it seems that Benny is seeing it very differently. His aversion to football outside of the pitch and… Read more »
Deschamps is a water carrier
Marky Mark
A “water carrier” who’s won the WC as captain and as manager?
He wants Saliba to make some adjustments that you’re not aware of, but a successful international manager is a “water carrier”?
Maybe Deschamps is trying to get a rise out of Saliba, no different from Arteta not thinking he wasn’t ready till 2 seasons back.
Saliba comes from the school of hard knocks, the burden is for him to convince the manager
Via Charles Watts: “As far as I’m aware, Ethan Nwaneri’s first professional deal will be confirmed very soon. It’s been agreed for a long time & he has now turned 17, so confirmation should follow imminently.” “There was a time not so long ago that people at the club were resigned to losing him. Both Chelsea & Manchester City were pushing very hard to get him & it was looking very likely that he would leave.” “But Arsenal kept trying to persuade him to resist what they were offering & to stay put & I understand Mikel Arteta took a… Read more »
There’s probably more conservative CB tactics and positioning that Saliba is not accustomed to. I have always said that Saliba (and Gabriel) loves Arteta’s system because it’s the most aggressive, interesting style a talented, pacey defender with great passing skills could ask for….. playing in the opponents half very often… Probably hard to just hang back deep in traditional setups like all national teams play. It’s also one of the reasons Rice chose Arsenal of any team in the world. He wanted to enjoy exciting football, and express himself more from both the 6 or 8 spot. Getting key passes,… Read more »
Rich
Thanks for the update re Nwaneri.
Nice to see one of our kids stay with us.
It seems that Tets has done his magic again.
A little anecdote for you all, on my way to the ground, I noted some people wearing The Arsenal crest.
Nice to see some Gooners happily show their true allegiance!!
Lewis Dunk making Maguire look like prime Maldini. England’s defence has not been very good over the two friendlies. Don’t like to say it but Mainoo looks good.
Foden nowhere near Saka’s level in an England shirt
It looks like Rice will play the full 90 mins.
Yep thanks for that Southgate
Southgate needs to get Rice off. We need him for Sunday. Mainoo does look a gem.
Southgate plays Rice for another 90 minutes
Shameful
Shame we couldn’t have added Bellingham to our team – great player
Nice to see them Playing right to the end, well done for salvaging a draw.
I thought Bellingham was a bit poor over the 2 games. He got a goal at the death tonight, but he didn’t create much over the 2 games, and at times he wasted some promising positions. A couple of time when you thought he might be in, he was too slow to get a shot away and was smothered. I am sure he is a top player – his stats say so – but first time I’ve seen him play and I can’t say I was blown away. Thought Bowen played really well tonight, as did Mainoo. Felt Belgium had… Read more »
Outstanding Saliba against Chile!
DesCHUMP is an ass, how he rates that lump Upemecano above Saliba is a mystery, but then again don’t think I ever saw him pass forward in his playing days
I don’t recall ever seeing foden look elite for England
It’s one thing being great when you’re playing in the best performing team, but I’m not sure he’s able to do as much when his team don’t make it easy for him
Same is not true of saka who has put previous, shit arsenal teams on his back for years even as a teenager, and is usually excellent for England
Keeping nwaneri is fantastic but I hope the club get more serious about integrating our best kids Wenger would’ve given a talent like that a fair chunk more in the way of opportunities by now Now saying he should be an automatic starter or anything silly, but we went on a long run of crushing everyone by 3-6 goals and I’d have had him making second half appearances in a least a few of those Think he only managed maybe 15 mins in total Our squad is really good now and doesn’t need major surgery. We should be using transfer… Read more »
Well fuck me this was a very drab game. Yes, we salvaged a draw, but this was not deserved.
This game showed how limited Southgate is tactically with the players he has at his disposal. He counts on the players to bail him out. And so they did today.
Agreed. Shameful from Southgate for not subbing off Declan after 70 mins.
Managing to get Saka out of these crap games looks even more prescient than ever. Southgate would have also played him for the full 90 mins had we left him playing for England.
Whisper it. England are missing Saka
How could Rice be made to play 90 minutes ? Fuck sake Southgate
Southgate is the scapegoat.
Southgate is a sheep
Dissenter – I take no credit for my water carrier comment- step forward Eric Cantona. It’s not necessarily an insult but it suggests limitations.
As a manager yep been good for France but then haven’t France had some of the cream of world football talent at their disposal for not one but two generations?
I suspect he’s going dinosaur