LIVERPOOL WOBBLE - GENERATIONAL BOTTLE JOB INCOMING?
DON UNAI FINALLY DOES ARSENAL A FAVOR!
I penned many hopeful words for you yesterday, but I deleted them all. I was just far too hyped about all the potential narratives that could come out of that Aston Villa vs Liverpool game last night. I didn’t want to curse it and get the blame.
Asensio, Disasi, and Rashford all looking for new clubs
Villa needing Champions League and sitting in 9th
Liverpool entering a run of three very tough games whilst looking a touch on the jaded side
THE CURSE DON UNAI HAS ON LE GROVE SINCE I PENNED THE MEAN WORDS.
But I decided not to. I was protecting you, but really, I was protecting my own pathetic feelings.
Well, it turns out I could have posted because Unai Emery's cobbled-together starting 11 somehow managed to extract a very well-deserved point against a pretty bland Liverpool side.
The xG (AVFC 0.8 | 3.05 LFC), for once, didn't really tell the true story. Liverpool played against a central defense of Mings and Disasi. There was no number 6 of note for them. Emery's side has shown signs of fatigue recently because injuries have not been their friend. But they were worth the entrance fee. They had two goals chalked off for very narrow offside calls. They were excellent in transition. The goals they conceded were the sort only Liverpool get this season. Garcia literally threaded a ball to Jota that was meant for Martinez, a criminal error that led to a simple Salah goal. The second one looked offside in the build-up, but it found its way into the net off a disgusting deflection.
Sure, at the end, Nunez missed a sitter that will be iconic if they lose the title... but outside that, three shots on target is not good output against an Emery defensive setup IMO.
Villa scored two lovely goals. Tielemans at the back post with a brilliant first-time strike he struck in off the ground. The second was devastating movement from Watkins with a late run to connect to a perfect cross.
This result was massive. It's the start of a very hard run of games that includes Champions League last 16 (PSG or Benfica), a League Cup final (Newcastle), City, Newcastle, Southampton, Everton, and Fulham in the Premier League. Liverpool have looked subpar fitness-wise the last few games. Arne Slot has defied father time this year by managing load better than anyone in the league... but his players looked gassed in the last three games.
The view of the night was the bench after Nunez missed his sitter. They thought they'd done it, Slot truly believed his team could ride out Everton as a blip and resume normal service of winning games with all the luck in the world. The team on the bench looked tense. Then the game ended with 2 points dropped and now the conversation is very, very different.
If Arsenal can beat West Ham on Saturday, the gap is 5 points.
5 points is not 9 points.
To quantify 5 points so it feels real to you, let me show you what the table looked like Feb 22nd last year.
We ended the season 7 points ahead of Liverpool after they collapsed because of too many games and a big old burnout.
Did we laugh? Yes, we did. But not too hard because we lost the Premier League on the last day of the season.
The overarching point is the critics that were writing Arsenal obituaries or crying on YouTube like big embarrassing man-children now have to accept that we're in a title race until at least Saturday evening.
Do I think we're going to win the league? I don't. We don't have an actual striker and the hype about Merino scoring 15 goals has mostly been generated by me.
... but, we can dream.
The club is going to have Martinelli available for the start of April... and maybe Saka. Merino and our fit forwards just need to get us through four Premier League games against teams who all have their own problems right now. West Ham are transitioning under Graham Potter, Forest are wobbling, Chelsea are being called frauds by their own fans, and United are a garbage fire of extreme proportions.
Get to April the first with 3 wins and a draw; we'll be in very good shape with two very capable players coming back into contention.
The key for Arteta and Arteta alone is this: Don't break anyone. Ethan and Merino don't have a lot of minutes under their belt, they should be good, but Arteta should resist the temptation to spend loads of time on the training pitch trying too hard to shape their minds.
Preserve their bodies, keep them fit and explosive, and try to take the battle to a higher ground that's coming in April.
The narrative of Bukayo Saka coming back to drive us to our first Premier League title is a thought too damn sexy to hold in my mind right now.
But right now, I can have that thought, because the boys didn't give up, they went 15 games unbeaten in the league, which would put them at a 93 point clip for the season.
Deep that, bro, deep that. We've been in better form with our best players out. Mad stuff.
City Watch:
Guardiola’s rebooted team conceded 6 goals over two legs against Madrid. A dreadful, dreadful performance. They were never in it. Mbappe was having a field day. The only hope we have for the weekend is that a lot of players were left on the bench. So again, to double down here, adding £260m to your squad seems to have NOT done the trick for Man City. Since the window closed, they’ve been finished in the Premier League by an injury-ravaged Arsenal, and put out of the Champions League by Madrid.
Do the ‘spend it all in January’ crowd want to explain this to me? The best-funded team in the world, with the best technical staff, who have won the most Premier Leagues over the last decade, seem to have messed this one up… but Barry from Chelmsford calling for the resignation of the whole Arsenal sporting department knew who’d make us better?
Striker Watch:
Ollie Watkins: Scored a goal for Villa that rattled Liverpool. I think I actually said that’s why I didn’t want him. The man was always a double agent.
Kolo Muani: Subbed off because he was rubbish against PSV. Juve lost 3-1. They’re out of the Champions League. To contextualise the levels in this game, Ivan Perisic was the best player on the pitch.
Dusan Vlahovic: Couldn’t get a start ahead of the average Muani. Missed a sitter from 3 yards in extra time.
Marcus Rashford: Total disaster-class. Didn’t really create, didn’t defend well, he was utterly average. The same Rashford we see for United.
Marmoush: Vs Madrid:
0 Goals
2 shots
11 Passes
0.17 xG
0 chances created
Stop me, I can’t breathe; people told me he was better than Mikel Merino. 😂
Champions League Next Round:
I didn’t realise it was another draw, I though it was about seeding. We have PSV or Feyenoord. Not easy, but also not Real Madrid or Inter Milan.
Ok, I'm easing back into things, so I'll leave things there, more tomorrow on the finances, Tomi, Ben White, and whatever else has been floating around.
P.S. Little reaction pod for the members. x
2nd....where Pool will end up this season
Liverpool didn't particularly play well last night. But they had so many guilt edged chances. Jota had a sitter and a free header, Nunez missed an open goal plus martinez tackled him outside the box, Szoboslai had one saved, even Salah decided to pass in the box when he could have taken a snap shot. That is why the XG looks like that.
I am so tired of Pedro shitting on every forward to make it look like we had no options in January. FFS we are playing Merino as a striker. Even Rashford on loan would have helped us because he is an attacker even though he would have been my last choice. We fucked up in Jan.
On Sunday, I think City will get a draw. Liverpool look tired. And City need a reaction to that Madrid game. If we win Saturday, it will be 6 points with a game in hand imo.