Tomorrow's game vs PSG will be very colorful, there are 3,000 PSG ultras expected to attend. They arte impressive once they get going.
If we don't play at our very best, they will beat us.
They have an elite midfield , one of the best in Europe- Vitinha, Joao Nedves and Fabian Ruiz. They are very technical.
We can't do the premier league style corner kick FC routines, European referees are going to blow once the goalie gores down feigning a foul in the mayhem that we create.
In retrospect maybe the bench at the Emirates pending a move to a better club wasn’t the worst idea lad. This Southampton experience will cost you an England spot for sure
Benni Blanco not in the training vid, I wonder what's happened with him. He must have tweaked a muscle or something.
And Arsenal go hard on SOBHA Realty, they make sure their signs are prominent in all training ground vids, they must have paid some serious £££ to get this much promotion.
Groin injury supposedly, but I would entertain the idea of him getting a rest to completely heal whatever knocks and niggles he might be carrying. An absolute warrior that has been our most consistently present defender.
Right now is a decent time to rest him and with the upcoming yet another international break, he'll be getting a solid one.
With that being said, Timber is a very important piece of the puzzle and we need to be very careful in overplaying him coming back from a tough ACL injury.
It's a thin line as Tomiyasu is the other option on the right and he's just so unreliable.
But it's great that White isn't being asked to play through his injury. With TT back able to reliably come on for 15 or 20 mins at the end of games, Timber won't need to play every minute. I have to say against Southampton, game dependent, but I'd really happy to see MLS pick up a few minutes.
Good news on Calafiori. There was fear of him getting injured at the end of the game vs Leicester but it's good.
I love that from Arteta btw:
"We missed Jurrien 11 months and Riccy wasn’t here. They are two players that have the football brain, adaptability and ability to occupy different spaces. That makes us unpredictable."
As I said a few days ago - these two are the next level in our game. A bit of a teething pain in the defensive side of their game, as it was literally our first game with the two starting together, but it'll be only up from here on.
That pair on the opposite flanks will make us impossible to defend against in any kind of strategy - high press, mid block or deep defensive block, you name it.
Calafiori and Timber will pop out in places you don't expect them, they will create havoc and they will help us find space that without them we might not be able to find at all.
They were involved in our first 2 goals - goals that will become a normality.
- Timber literally made a burst and went on the flank like a typical winger
- Calafiori was in the box for our second goal, occupied Faes' attention and Martinelli's assist went right past him to reach Trossard
With Calafiori, he's got abundance of quality but how quickly he's fit in the group is astonishing. Kudos to Jorginho for sure, no doubt he's been like a dad to him. When you see Calafiori celebrating our goals the way he does, the way he hugged Martinelli, I forget Martinelli is a year older big brother to Calafiori. I forget he's just 22 yo.
I really hope he can overcome the many injuries he's been having so far in his career. If he does, he'll be golden.
No big news. We have a training session later. We’re not expecting anyone to return.
On White and Calafiori
Those are the two players that are in contention and we have to review today.
On Calafiori
We didn’t do any training session yesterday. He was a bit emotional after the game. Let’s see how he is today.
On playing at home
Everybody is looking forward to it. We missed it for a number of years. The group stage is a bit different this season. The opposition we’re facing is probably at the highest level in European football. It’s a great opportunity.
On Luis Enrique
One word is honesty. He’s straight forward. He looks in your eyes and tells you what he thinks. I think players appreciate that. When someone can make you feel like that that’s a great thing.
On Timber and Calafiori's ability at full back
We missed Jurrien 11 months and Riccy wasn’t here. They are two players that have the football brain, adaptability and ability to occupy different spaces. That makes us unpredictable.
On PSG
They are really tough. They dominate every phase of play. They have very clear intentions. When they don’t have the ball they want it straight back and they confront you. That’s Luis. Anywhere he is, he plays the same context.
On the absence of Dembele
We just got the news before. I don’t know if It’s true or not, but we’ll prepare for every possible outcome.
Loved Eduardo but he’s wrong. This team is much more pragmatic and therefore less beautiful when it needs to be. The corollary of that is we no longer get thumped by 4 - 8 goals when away to top teams. Means we are much more likely to be title contenders and indeed have been much closer the last 2 years.
I remember a game against Wimbledon where Justin Fashanu had been in the news after he'd come out as gay(early 90s?). The North Bank was chanting along the lines of 'Your brother takes it up the arse" and John Fashanu, to his credit, turned his back on the fans, bent over and slapped his arse. The North Bank warmly applauded- pantomime at its best!
Ahh.The good old days.Terrace humour at its finest.Remember Stan Collymore coming in for a pasting after the Ulrika incident.Got slaughtered & hates us to this day.
Mystic Leaves, Benkind, Ciro off the top of my head.
I don't remember who but last season someone was saying Solanke is the real deal and the ideal striker for Arsenal. How he belongs to a top club and he can do it all. I'm sorry but it's funny. He's the ideal striker. For spuds.
This one is classic:
Mystic Leaves Aug 2
It will probably be easier for Arteta to swallow a cow than to swallow shame and buy a good striker this season.
I may not even go for Solanke if I were in charge. I may prefer Watkins, Alvarez, Isak who are ALL DEFINITELY better than Kai.
But you should know that availability or not of suitors for a play doesn't decide his quality. Solanke is a better CF than Kai.
I believe there were about 5+ people here that rated him above Havertz and since I'm absolutely sure you are very anti-Havertz, who you've called "lanky donkey" before, I assumed you rate Solanke above him.
I'm 100% sure for the other 2 fellas but I'm convinced there were more especially one die hard Solanke fan who used to push very hard for him but I can't seem to remember exactly who that was.
This is competitive sport, and teams will look to find any margins they can to try and win.“
Naive is probably the last adjective I’d use to describe myself.
As a matter of fact I’m probably the most clear eye, cynical cunt you’ll eve meet.
And I got news for you, football has always been competitive.
It’s not a recent phenomenon.
What is fairly recent though, is the public’s acceptance that 22 overpriced, overpaid athletes should use every trick in a book to get a leg up on competition so long the result of their trickery aligns with their particular colors.
But if that’s your position, I’m cool with it.
Just don’t expect a single ref work his way through all their bullshit without fail.
I watched him against Leverkusen, he plays midfield, I know it was only one game,buuuuuut I believe we got the talented twin. He didn't impose himself on the game and was not influencial, didn't make any telling passes and lost the ball a few times. His positioning wasn't good either. I don't think Arteta will be going for him.
Then you’re part of the problem and not just the refs.
I’m still searching in my memory bank when football took this unfortunate turn for the worse where it became acceptable to general public to watch grown men at peak of their powers act like little children.
The Italians were the ones who brought all the play acting in the 90's with their Oscar winning impression that they had been badly hurt to get the opponent carded before getting up and brushing themselves off.
just think about haaland throwing the ball at gabriels head. if gabriel had gone down, holding his head in imaginary pain, rolling around like he is nearly dying - the chances of haaland getting punished would still be slim but would be twice as high or higher
the problem is it helps. I would go as far as saying that if you stop acting lile your leg is broken there would be 80% less red cards for ‘serious foul’. you can argur that it’s bad - yeah, it is - but as long as refs do not only judge the foul but the consequence as well you are better off acting
true and as long as guys trying to play on get ‘punished’ by not getting a freekick or penalty it is better to go down and scream. I think it was last year or two years ago when bowen got a penalty after bill saliba caught him and he got off balance still trying to shoot - it was actually a good call from the ref although it was against us. shame is it happens rarely
People were wetting their pants in glee over Joshua Zirkzee. Now he is in the Prem and finding out that life is different from the laid back Dutch League.
Message to the Gyokeres fan boys: Will be the same for your guy.
pgmol is business and union combined - can’t work. I don’t believe in conspiracies, there is simply a structure in place that would be destroyed on the free market within a short period of time. you will never see a company being run by a union member because at the end you are checking your own rules. as long as it is this way it will never improve
beside that - as 90% of those awful refs come from the northwest there is a bias - likely unconscious - that increases the already high chance of terrible decisions either through overcompensating or being biased. that is basically the reason ever successful company tries to diversify as much as possible to get different perspective. pgmol is basically responsible for a multi billion pound operation and if it had been run like that we would have a structure in place that ensures accountabilty, promotion and relegation depending on performance
Tomorrow's game vs PSG will be very colorful, there are 3,000 PSG ultras expected to attend. They arte impressive once they get going.
If we don't play at our very best, they will beat us.
They have an elite midfield , one of the best in Europe- Vitinha, Joao Nedves and Fabian Ruiz. They are very technical.
We can't do the premier league style corner kick FC routines, European referees are going to blow once the goalie gores down feigning a foul in the mayhem that we create.
Hoping for a good game and hope we turn up.
Tomorrow is PSG... and I am very confident.
Tets is going to push out a strong team tomorrow.
PSG without Mbappé are a much easier proposition to deal with.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Jesus upfront with Dekkers, Jorgi and Kai in MF with Marti on the LW and Saka on the RW.
The back four will be White, Saliba, Gabriel and Timber. (Raya in GK)
There is no way Tets doesn't play our strongest setup in our 1st game vs PSG to ensure a solid win.
Oh dear Ramsdale.
In retrospect maybe the bench at the Emirates pending a move to a better club wasn’t the worst idea lad. This Southampton experience will cost you an England spot for sure
Calafiori, Tomiyasu and Merino all took part in training-great news!
Benni Blanco not in the training vid, I wonder what's happened with him. He must have tweaked a muscle or something.
And Arsenal go hard on SOBHA Realty, they make sure their signs are prominent in all training ground vids, they must have paid some serious £££ to get this much promotion.
Groin injury supposedly, but I would entertain the idea of him getting a rest to completely heal whatever knocks and niggles he might be carrying. An absolute warrior that has been our most consistently present defender.
Right now is a decent time to rest him and with the upcoming yet another international break, he'll be getting a solid one.
With that being said, Timber is a very important piece of the puzzle and we need to be very careful in overplaying him coming back from a tough ACL injury.
It's a thin line as Tomiyasu is the other option on the right and he's just so unreliable.
But it's great that White isn't being asked to play through his injury. With TT back able to reliably come on for 15 or 20 mins at the end of games, Timber won't need to play every minute. I have to say against Southampton, game dependent, but I'd really happy to see MLS pick up a few minutes.
Thats fantastic. I cant wait for Ode to come back and see a trio of Ode, Merino and Rice in midfield.
Our left hand side with Calafiori, Merino and Martinelli will stand up nicely to our right!
Good news on Calafiori. There was fear of him getting injured at the end of the game vs Leicester but it's good.
I love that from Arteta btw:
"We missed Jurrien 11 months and Riccy wasn’t here. They are two players that have the football brain, adaptability and ability to occupy different spaces. That makes us unpredictable."
As I said a few days ago - these two are the next level in our game. A bit of a teething pain in the defensive side of their game, as it was literally our first game with the two starting together, but it'll be only up from here on.
That pair on the opposite flanks will make us impossible to defend against in any kind of strategy - high press, mid block or deep defensive block, you name it.
Calafiori and Timber will pop out in places you don't expect them, they will create havoc and they will help us find space that without them we might not be able to find at all.
They were involved in our first 2 goals - goals that will become a normality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmjMzNKcut8
- Timber literally made a burst and went on the flank like a typical winger
- Calafiori was in the box for our second goal, occupied Faes' attention and Martinelli's assist went right past him to reach Trossard
With Calafiori, he's got abundance of quality but how quickly he's fit in the group is astonishing. Kudos to Jorginho for sure, no doubt he's been like a dad to him. When you see Calafiori celebrating our goals the way he does, the way he hugged Martinelli, I forget Martinelli is a year older big brother to Calafiori. I forget he's just 22 yo.
I really hope he can overcome the many injuries he's been having so far in his career. If he does, he'll be golden.
Arteta on injuries
No big news. We have a training session later. We’re not expecting anyone to return.
On White and Calafiori
Those are the two players that are in contention and we have to review today.
On Calafiori
We didn’t do any training session yesterday. He was a bit emotional after the game. Let’s see how he is today.
On playing at home
Everybody is looking forward to it. We missed it for a number of years. The group stage is a bit different this season. The opposition we’re facing is probably at the highest level in European football. It’s a great opportunity.
On Luis Enrique
One word is honesty. He’s straight forward. He looks in your eyes and tells you what he thinks. I think players appreciate that. When someone can make you feel like that that’s a great thing.
On Timber and Calafiori's ability at full back
We missed Jurrien 11 months and Riccy wasn’t here. They are two players that have the football brain, adaptability and ability to occupy different spaces. That makes us unpredictable.
On PSG
They are really tough. They dominate every phase of play. They have very clear intentions. When they don’t have the ball they want it straight back and they confront you. That’s Luis. Anywhere he is, he plays the same context.
On the absence of Dembele
We just got the news before. I don’t know if It’s true or not, but we’ll prepare for every possible outcome.
On set pieces
Every team has his own strengths and weaknesses.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/4310019/2023/04/06/eduardo-da-silva-arsenal-premier-league-title/#
JLT
Loved Eduardo but he’s wrong. This team is much more pragmatic and therefore less beautiful when it needs to be. The corollary of that is we no longer get thumped by 4 - 8 goals when away to top teams. Means we are much more likely to be title contenders and indeed have been much closer the last 2 years.
https://youtu.be/4hX89EFHJWk?si=GGRVhli0DPvZXaP0
Club has made a statement and this will be an issue. Don’t even know what to say
“ It is understood to have read: "Dom Solanke is f*** class, Mik Arteta takes it up the a***, 60 million down the drain, Dom Solanke scores again."”
Apparently Tottenham have been reported to the FA for this chant and the police are being involved. Wow.
No further comment from me smh.
This was a fallout from the United game yesterday
No need to give oxygen to some stupid people, who are not even able to create their own song !!
What a bunch of fools. This chant just shows that they have no class whatsoever.
Compared to our version for Kai, which has a real party vibe to it, this is just gutter level garbage.
Not as bad as chants I remember in the 80s.
I remember a couple of particularly mean chants directed at Watford one Saturday
I remember a game against Wimbledon where Justin Fashanu had been in the news after he'd come out as gay(early 90s?). The North Bank was chanting along the lines of 'Your brother takes it up the arse" and John Fashanu, to his credit, turned his back on the fans, bent over and slapped his arse. The North Bank warmly applauded- pantomime at its best!
Ahh.The good old days.Terrace humour at its finest.Remember Stan Collymore coming in for a pasting after the Ulrika incident.Got slaughtered & hates us to this day.
Rooney 'Granny Shagger' went on for years!
I don't really give a damn since it's a fan chant, it's whatever.
But imagine having Solanke as the counter to Arteta. Solanke is a mid striker. And that's literally the best they can do as their team is shite.
I can't believe there were a few in here pushing for Solanke as a Havertz upgrade. I can't stop laughing.
No way?
Who wanted Solanke here??
Name and Shame ‘em 🤣🤣
Mystic Leaves, Benkind, Ciro off the top of my head.
I don't remember who but last season someone was saying Solanke is the real deal and the ideal striker for Arsenal. How he belongs to a top club and he can do it all. I'm sorry but it's funny. He's the ideal striker. For spuds.
This one is classic:
Mystic Leaves Aug 2
It will probably be easier for Arteta to swallow a cow than to swallow shame and buy a good striker this season.
I may not even go for Solanke if I were in charge. I may prefer Watkins, Alvarez, Isak who are ALL DEFINITELY better than Kai.
But you should know that availability or not of suitors for a play doesn't decide his quality. Solanke is a better CF than Kai.
I'm sorry if I made it up that you like Solanke.
I believe there were about 5+ people here that rated him above Havertz and since I'm absolutely sure you are very anti-Havertz, who you've called "lanky donkey" before, I assumed you rate Solanke above him.
I'm 100% sure for the other 2 fellas but I'm convinced there were more especially one die hard Solanke fan who used to push very hard for him but I can't seem to remember exactly who that was.
Soy lattes didn’t exist then!
Rich
1 hr ago
“No.. You’re just incredibly naive.
This is competitive sport, and teams will look to find any margins they can to try and win.“
Naive is probably the last adjective I’d use to describe myself.
As a matter of fact I’m probably the most clear eye, cynical cunt you’ll eve meet.
And I got news for you, football has always been competitive.
It’s not a recent phenomenon.
What is fairly recent though, is the public’s acceptance that 22 overpriced, overpaid athletes should use every trick in a book to get a leg up on competition so long the result of their trickery aligns with their particular colors.
But if that’s your position, I’m cool with it.
Just don’t expect a single ref work his way through all their bullshit without fail.
A few can.
Just think of a hundred thousand watching that gash. You'll be able to hear the boos from north London. Long may it continue.
Early prediction-we're letting Thomas Partey's contract run out so next summer we'll sign Quinten Timber to team up with his twin.
I watched him against Leverkusen, he plays midfield, I know it was only one game,buuuuuut I believe we got the talented twin. He didn't impose himself on the game and was not influencial, didn't make any telling passes and lost the ball a few times. His positioning wasn't good either. I don't think Arteta will be going for him.
I think there is a good possibility although we’re rumoured to be going after Wirtz so won’t have any budget left if true
Never a red card but funny not one single comment lambasting Madison for playacting* to make it look more severe than it really was.
*also called being professional
Then you’re part of the problem and not just the refs.
I’m still searching in my memory bank when football took this unfortunate turn for the worse where it became acceptable to general public to watch grown men at peak of their powers act like little children.
The Italians were the ones who brought all the play acting in the 90's with their Oscar winning impression that they had been badly hurt to get the opponent carded before getting up and brushing themselves off.
actually long before then - Argentina in the 1960s showed great expertise at this new skill set
add to my prev comment
just think about haaland throwing the ball at gabriels head. if gabriel had gone down, holding his head in imaginary pain, rolling around like he is nearly dying - the chances of haaland getting punished would still be slim but would be twice as high or higher
the problem is it helps. I would go as far as saying that if you stop acting lile your leg is broken there would be 80% less red cards for ‘serious foul’. you can argur that it’s bad - yeah, it is - but as long as refs do not only judge the foul but the consequence as well you are better off acting
true and as long as guys trying to play on get ‘punished’ by not getting a freekick or penalty it is better to go down and scream. I think it was last year or two years ago when bowen got a penalty after bill saliba caught him and he got off balance still trying to shoot - it was actually a good call from the ref although it was against us. shame is it happens rarely
Man United just made Spurs look like prime Barcelona.
ETH's legs are probably shaking.
People were wetting their pants in glee over Joshua Zirkzee. Now he is in the Prem and finding out that life is different from the laid back Dutch League.
Message to the Gyokeres fan boys: Will be the same for your guy.
pgmol is business and union combined - can’t work. I don’t believe in conspiracies, there is simply a structure in place that would be destroyed on the free market within a short period of time. you will never see a company being run by a union member because at the end you are checking your own rules. as long as it is this way it will never improve
beside that - as 90% of those awful refs come from the northwest there is a bias - likely unconscious - that increases the already high chance of terrible decisions either through overcompensating or being biased. that is basically the reason ever successful company tries to diversify as much as possible to get different perspective. pgmol is basically responsible for a multi billion pound operation and if it had been run like that we would have a structure in place that ensures accountabilty, promotion and relegation depending on performance
Emirates stadium decided to play catch your breath (WWE song) at the start of 2nd half.
Ohhhh my we caught out breath.