An observation about this weekend is spurs Arsenal really big game for any of the top clubs
Whilst any of our rivals could drop points, it’s fairly probable that city pool Utd Chelsea and Newcastle will all win. We don’t really concern ourselves when anyone except for city and pool but it does mean if we don’t beat spurs we drop points relative to those other teams too in all likelihood
But this is where Arteta has to earn his keep, right..? This is why I assume he buys all these players with versatility to play in so many different areas of the pitch. So be it Nwaneri, Trossard, Saka, Kai, Zinny, Timber, Jorginho... whatever he comes up with.. he has to figure out a way to make our midfield be effective enough to get the 3 points. It's definitely not ideal to be playing City during this time but also even if he had bought backup to Ode it's not like they would have had playing time and been in peak form to step right in regardless.
True Middy. However, his lack of rotation is gonna hurt. you are right. Nwaneri would not even play in prem games if Ode was fit. So, his hand is forced or shoe in someone else. The team is used to Ode though and a new body will be a bit more confusing. But oh well. here we go
Arsenal skipper Martin Odegaard required further tests on his injured ankle following an inconclusive scan on Tuesday. Swelling prevented clear reading yesterday but hope the midfielder won't be long-term absentee. There is hope today's tests will provide definitive details of the injury.
The Norway team doctor Ole Sand has predicted the lay-off could be around three weeks.
Sand said: 'Such ankle injuries often take at least three weeks. Anything other than that is just a bonus. And then it can take longer. What we have so far obtained from the MRI examination in London is that there is probably no fracture in the ankle.'
I would say we have higher chances of winning the game without Ode in the starting lineup. Rice is suspended though, Merino injured, I think Calafiori is a question mark for Spuds as well.
We should be winning versus them. It's a derby though so all logic goes down the drain. Even if Ode out gives us a better chance to win, if we make mistakes we'll suffer. I'm very optimistic about us winning. But anything is possible in such games.
If Jesus is fully back, I'd play him up front, with Kai very close to him so when Jesus drops deep or goes to the wings, Kai is there to attack the emptied space. If Jesus isn't ready, then I'd want Saka at AM and Sterling in his position but I know Arteta won't do that. Like 0.0001% chance we see Saka at AM/RAM.
I don’t think we’re ever stronger without him. What does happen is that he ends up deeper and gets cut off from the attack rather than being the orchestrator of the attack
Even in those games his energy and guile are still invaluable albeit in a deeper role and no one other than Rice puts in that kind of shift
Somebody needs to get this Free dumbass a basic economics lesson.. Apparently, he does not know the difference between top line revenue and bottom line profit after taxes. Arsenal have not made a profit for 5 seasons running for a loss of 300 mill over that time period, hence why we have to watch our transfer spending. And I'm sure , he is going to school Pedro on his "lies". LOL He is not exactly Swiss Ramble is he?
More like just Ramble.. I can feel the intelligence level in the comment section drop off a cliff every time Free posts one of his manifestos.
Ode's absence means we will have to change how we play. Not one player in the squad can press and apply the work rate that Ode does. We will have to play deeper and rely on quick counter attacks if we are to deploy Raheem, Saka and Martinelli. Jesus has to play as he presses second to Ode.
In a way, we can use Odegaard absence as a good reason to give away possession and rely on the counter game. It's guaranteed that Spurs will have a lot of space in behind and we just need to pack our defence and defensive mid tightly and use it upfront.
I think we need to put in-form players Saka and Havertz up top, and have Trossard help in the Odegaard role. Sterling can then be as a universal forward sub for whoever is needed. And in the midfield we can even put grandpas Partey and Jorginho, but not to run around and leave space, but rather for the lightning fast transition to the front 4, with the probable support of wing backs.
I know Saka and Havertz can play 10 and 8 correspondingly, but I think it is crucial that we leave the guys, who have most confidence to finish upfront.
Just to keep you posted.Hes actually a Boyhood Chav & remains so to the best of my knowledge.So I’d take the guff he comes out with large pinch of salt.
Clubs from the PL that participate in the Carling cup can't be serious complaining about size of games when they haven't deregistered from the trophy supposedly no one from the PL cares about.
Solution to league cup being a low priority is simply field the kids. Wenger did and it was a great night out for them and us as fans to see a team 75% built of kiddos and fringe players
My dad used to let me skip school once or twice a year so I could coach up to London where he worked. I’d meet him from work at his local tube station, then we’d go to highbury. Fish and chips somewhere on Holloway road then watch the league cup
Brilliant memories.
Kanu destroying Man U in the worthington cup…. The Arsenal under 15s (which were so fun in those days) tearing it up against lesser prem teams…
Who can forget the good old days when we had the NEXT BIG THING guys? Lansbury, Randall, Hoyte brothers, Vela, Lupoli, Bentdner, Bentley etc
That’s what we will do but also to add, we shouldn’t be upset at all about editing the competition as early as possible as the semi finals of the league cup would be around the same time as the final 2 champions league stage games. I think that is obviously the priority and another league cup game in the mix with that would make for a very busy January along with the fa cup.
Now the champions league has been expanded the league cup may be one of those things that has to go, or teams competing in Europe just withdraw.
The nation's League didn't create any additional matches nor international breaks. The UEFA just simply was creative enough to give meaning and competition to some otherwise meaningless friendly matches.
Players from nations like England and Spain and Portugal may scoff at the nations League because they easily qualify for Euros and world cup but for nations like Andorra, Lichtenstein, Luxemburg and even Albania, Greece, Ireland, the Nations league is very significant for them as it gives them a sense of competition and importance from time to time.
I'm a PL fan that cares so much about my national team. I believe they are millions of fans like me. I'd rather a trophy for my country than a trophy for Arsenal, honestly speaking.
Arsenal over England for me. International football is a bore and dominates too much of the fixture list. The summer tournaments are great but that’s it
Fair enough, to each their own. Are you from England/one of the European footballing ‘powers’ that go into tournaments as a contender or are you from a country that isn’t expected to compete for the euros, World Cup etc? As if it’s the latter it makes more logical sense to me.
As an Englishman myself I’d be very glad for us to win the nations league just like I’d like Arsenal al to win the league cup. But I wouldn’t be able to stand putting the PL on hold for several weeks each year just to make space for the league cup. At least we fit the league cup in mid week without having to pause everything bigger
Your take makes sense and I agree. But I was thinking as an England fan, just any trophy would do since there's been a lull since 66.
I'm from Nigeria. We are expected to compete in the latter stages of the Afcon and I cherish every win. And of course I don't take any body here that asks Partey to retire from Ghana duties so he can be fresh for Arsenal seriously lol.
It’s true England would love a trophy, but I think the nations league would only feel like a stepping stone towards a bigger trophy, same as a league cup. Definitely would like to win it and better than nothing, but not something many English are losing sleep over
For Nigeria I get it more as Afcon is a major tournament and Nigeria is in it to win it. The World Cup Nigeria are normally always present and have had some really decent teams over the years. But does Africa have a nations league equivalent? Something a fraction of the significance of AFCON
We really don't have. There's the African nations championship where the nations line up with their home-based players. This tournament is not recognised ny fifa so it doesn't really count on the calender. Also there's the regional cups. Again mostly played by home based players so again, doesn't really disturb the international club calender.
Any formation or personel changes that sees Jesus play in CF position is a hindrance to us.
I'm excited to see Haverts in the R8 or exclusively 10 role but I'd rather Trossard or Sterling or even Nwaneri in CF if that happens.
If we play duble pivot of Partey and Jogi with Kai at 10 that means we have to play Cala or Kiwior at LB cos we'd need more overlapping and width than inverting.
Was reading Twitter and saw these comments from Pedro from years ago:
Quote 1
"... Trophies matter. Football clubs exist to win them. No one will look back on the last 5 years and talk about commercials and being marginally better in the league. They’ll look at what they won.
0 🏆 "
Quote 2:
AW Trophies 🏆
1. Top 4 trophy
2. Europe erry year trophy
3. Half year champs
4. Away points champs
5. Financial fair play
6. Emirates cup ...... "
Quote 3
Be interesting to see what happens to the crop of managers at top PL clubs offering up just progress without trophies.
Klopp, Poch and Mourinho all moved their teams forward, but how long until their owners need something more? ..."
Very interesting. Phase 5, 1 trophy in 5.5 years. Last final in 2020. Very interesting that Pedro is now an AKB.
Pedro is in a love relationship wth Arteta. There's absolutely no objectivity to his posts. He's still asking that management give Arteta the best possible salary for a manager. All that for "progress without trophies".
What Wenger was up against in his time is at worst, the same as what Arteta is up against now. Pedro didn't take no prisoners and rightly so. Where's that objectivity gone? Your guess is as good as mine.
An observation about this weekend is spurs Arsenal really big game for any of the top clubs
Whilst any of our rivals could drop points, it’s fairly probable that city pool Utd Chelsea and Newcastle will all win. We don’t really concern ourselves when anyone except for city and pool but it does mean if we don’t beat spurs we drop points relative to those other teams too in all likelihood
“Free” is the flat-earther equivalent of football finances. No point arguing with an idiot
Will be interesting the next 3-4 weeks. Not buying cover is gonna bite Mike in the arse
But this is where Arteta has to earn his keep, right..? This is why I assume he buys all these players with versatility to play in so many different areas of the pitch. So be it Nwaneri, Trossard, Saka, Kai, Zinny, Timber, Jorginho... whatever he comes up with.. he has to figure out a way to make our midfield be effective enough to get the 3 points. It's definitely not ideal to be playing City during this time but also even if he had bought backup to Ode it's not like they would have had playing time and been in peak form to step right in regardless.
True Middy. However, his lack of rotation is gonna hurt. you are right. Nwaneri would not even play in prem games if Ode was fit. So, his hand is forced or shoe in someone else. The team is used to Ode though and a new body will be a bit more confusing. But oh well. here we go
Sami Mokbel
Arsenal skipper Martin Odegaard required further tests on his injured ankle following an inconclusive scan on Tuesday. Swelling prevented clear reading yesterday but hope the midfielder won't be long-term absentee. There is hope today's tests will provide definitive details of the injury.
The Norway team doctor Ole Sand has predicted the lay-off could be around three weeks.
Sand said: 'Such ankle injuries often take at least three weeks. Anything other than that is just a bonus. And then it can take longer. What we have so far obtained from the MRI examination in London is that there is probably no fracture in the ankle.'
With Ode out we should be cruising to victory vs Spuds, am I right raps?
I would say we have higher chances of winning the game without Ode in the starting lineup. Rice is suspended though, Merino injured, I think Calafiori is a question mark for Spuds as well.
We should be winning versus them. It's a derby though so all logic goes down the drain. Even if Ode out gives us a better chance to win, if we make mistakes we'll suffer. I'm very optimistic about us winning. But anything is possible in such games.
If Jesus is fully back, I'd play him up front, with Kai very close to him so when Jesus drops deep or goes to the wings, Kai is there to attack the emptied space. If Jesus isn't ready, then I'd want Saka at AM and Sterling in his position but I know Arteta won't do that. Like 0.0001% chance we see Saka at AM/RAM.
You think we are stronger without Ode in the team???
Pierre is that you? Haha
In some certain games cos he doesn't really contribute anything there. It's an argument that could be entertained...
I don’t think we’re ever stronger without him. What does happen is that he ends up deeper and gets cut off from the attack rather than being the orchestrator of the attack
Even in those games his energy and guile are still invaluable albeit in a deeper role and no one other than Rice puts in that kind of shift
Somebody needs to get this Free dumbass a basic economics lesson.. Apparently, he does not know the difference between top line revenue and bottom line profit after taxes. Arsenal have not made a profit for 5 seasons running for a loss of 300 mill over that time period, hence why we have to watch our transfer spending. And I'm sure , he is going to school Pedro on his "lies". LOL He is not exactly Swiss Ramble is he?
More like just Ramble.. I can feel the intelligence level in the comment section drop off a cliff every time Free posts one of his manifestos.
Free is one of life's simpletons stuck in his mums house eating cornflakes out of a box and it's made him very angry.
Best to skip over his bollocks and just give him a "you daft tit" response every so often.
I really wanted to do that,... but my typing fingers got the best of me, again.
Ode's absence means we will have to change how we play. Not one player in the squad can press and apply the work rate that Ode does. We will have to play deeper and rely on quick counter attacks if we are to deploy Raheem, Saka and Martinelli. Jesus has to play as he presses second to Ode.
Odegaard out at least 3 weeks according to BBC.
In a way, we can use Odegaard absence as a good reason to give away possession and rely on the counter game. It's guaranteed that Spurs will have a lot of space in behind and we just need to pack our defence and defensive mid tightly and use it upfront.
I think we need to put in-form players Saka and Havertz up top, and have Trossard help in the Odegaard role. Sterling can then be as a universal forward sub for whoever is needed. And in the midfield we can even put grandpas Partey and Jorginho, but not to run around and leave space, but rather for the lightning fast transition to the front 4, with the probable support of wing backs.
I know Saka and Havertz can play 10 and 8 correspondingly, but I think it is crucial that we leave the guys, who have most confidence to finish upfront.
He might be ex Arsenal but Paul Merson is a prick and makes bold statements and hardly gets anything correct.
If you see him in the after dinner circuit he’s worth listen as he is usually hilarious
But as a pundit he’s terrible and nearly all his calls are 100% wrong
He wound me up with waxing lyrical over Willian when I was fuming that we may have got a dud , (but I took no pleasure in being right )
Couldn't agree more! He does have his moments though:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NycPDm8gYq0
Just to keep you posted.Hes actually a Boyhood Chav & remains so to the best of my knowledge.So I’d take the guff he comes out with large pinch of salt.
Fuck merson
He's very irritating. Skysports should bin him. Hate all his takes.
Quiz: Every Arsenal PL goalscorer at Tottenham
Read at: https://arsenal.page.link/KWxAB6W47gZzeDst8
Clubs from the PL that participate in the Carling cup can't be serious complaining about size of games when they haven't deregistered from the trophy supposedly no one from the PL cares about.
Solution to league cup being a low priority is simply field the kids. Wenger did and it was a great night out for them and us as fans to see a team 75% built of kiddos and fringe players
I used to love the League Cup for that very reason. If we got a serious run Wenger would gradually add more experience
I hope Arteta does do that starting with Setford in goal
My dad used to let me skip school once or twice a year so I could coach up to London where he worked. I’d meet him from work at his local tube station, then we’d go to highbury. Fish and chips somewhere on Holloway road then watch the league cup
Brilliant memories.
Kanu destroying Man U in the worthington cup…. The Arsenal under 15s (which were so fun in those days) tearing it up against lesser prem teams…
Who can forget the good old days when we had the NEXT BIG THING guys? Lansbury, Randall, Hoyte brothers, Vela, Lupoli, Bentdner, Bentley etc
I loved those teams
That’s what we will do but also to add, we shouldn’t be upset at all about editing the competition as early as possible as the semi finals of the league cup would be around the same time as the final 2 champions league stage games. I think that is obviously the priority and another league cup game in the mix with that would make for a very busy January along with the fa cup.
Now the champions league has been expanded the league cup may be one of those things that has to go, or teams competing in Europe just withdraw.
Something has to give somewhere
The nation's League didn't create any additional matches nor international breaks. The UEFA just simply was creative enough to give meaning and competition to some otherwise meaningless friendly matches.
Players from nations like England and Spain and Portugal may scoff at the nations League because they easily qualify for Euros and world cup but for nations like Andorra, Lichtenstein, Luxemburg and even Albania, Greece, Ireland, the Nations league is very significant for them as it gives them a sense of competition and importance from time to time.
It’s not additional games but truth is no PL fan gives a crap about the nations league. It’s as important to PL fans as the Europa conference league
I'm a PL fan that cares so much about my national team. I believe they are millions of fans like me. I'd rather a trophy for my country than a trophy for Arsenal, honestly speaking.
Arsenal over England for me. International football is a bore and dominates too much of the fixture list. The summer tournaments are great but that’s it
There’s no passion like there is at club level
Fair enough, to each their own. Are you from England/one of the European footballing ‘powers’ that go into tournaments as a contender or are you from a country that isn’t expected to compete for the euros, World Cup etc? As if it’s the latter it makes more logical sense to me.
As an Englishman myself I’d be very glad for us to win the nations league just like I’d like Arsenal al to win the league cup. But I wouldn’t be able to stand putting the PL on hold for several weeks each year just to make space for the league cup. At least we fit the league cup in mid week without having to pause everything bigger
Your take makes sense and I agree. But I was thinking as an England fan, just any trophy would do since there's been a lull since 66.
I'm from Nigeria. We are expected to compete in the latter stages of the Afcon and I cherish every win. And of course I don't take any body here that asks Partey to retire from Ghana duties so he can be fresh for Arsenal seriously lol.
It’s true England would love a trophy, but I think the nations league would only feel like a stepping stone towards a bigger trophy, same as a league cup. Definitely would like to win it and better than nothing, but not something many English are losing sleep over
For Nigeria I get it more as Afcon is a major tournament and Nigeria is in it to win it. The World Cup Nigeria are normally always present and have had some really decent teams over the years. But does Africa have a nations league equivalent? Something a fraction of the significance of AFCON
We really don't have. There's the African nations championship where the nations line up with their home-based players. This tournament is not recognised ny fifa so it doesn't really count on the calender. Also there's the regional cups. Again mostly played by home based players so again, doesn't really disturb the international club calender.
Any formation or personel changes that sees Jesus play in CF position is a hindrance to us.
I'm excited to see Haverts in the R8 or exclusively 10 role but I'd rather Trossard or Sterling or even Nwaneri in CF if that happens.
If we play duble pivot of Partey and Jogi with Kai at 10 that means we have to play Cala or Kiwior at LB cos we'd need more overlapping and width than inverting.
Surely Timber has the athleticism to do the overlapping role probably the best of all our LBs?
Please No Zinchenko against Odobert
Was reading Twitter and saw these comments from Pedro from years ago:
Quote 1
"... Trophies matter. Football clubs exist to win them. No one will look back on the last 5 years and talk about commercials and being marginally better in the league. They’ll look at what they won.
0 🏆 "
Quote 2:
AW Trophies 🏆
1. Top 4 trophy
2. Europe erry year trophy
3. Half year champs
4. Away points champs
5. Financial fair play
6. Emirates cup ...... "
Quote 3
Be interesting to see what happens to the crop of managers at top PL clubs offering up just progress without trophies.
Klopp, Poch and Mourinho all moved their teams forward, but how long until their owners need something more? ..."
Very interesting. Phase 5, 1 trophy in 5.5 years. Last final in 2020. Very interesting that Pedro is now an AKB.
Pedro is in a love relationship wth Arteta. There's absolutely no objectivity to his posts. He's still asking that management give Arteta the best possible salary for a manager. All that for "progress without trophies".
What Wenger was up against in his time is at worst, the same as what Arteta is up against now. Pedro didn't take no prisoners and rightly so. Where's that objectivity gone? Your guess is as good as mine.
Peter jumped the shark when Arteta took the job.
Don't expect any hard hitting opinions any more on Le Grove. All you get are fluff pieces propping up this useless manager.
You got him there
Without Odegaard(he gives the signal by touching his socks) and Rice to whip the setpieces our chances to score reduce further
Sid.What about one of your socks? Maybe the one on the longstuff!