Here we go again folks. I used to have a lot of respect for the Magpies but this has changed beyond recognising. Another oil dump in the country and it’s only a matter of time before they have become another Man City.
I wonder whether Wenger and the Board would have pushed for the new stadium so hard if they had known about the future arrival of sport-washing Arabs. It has set us back and it’s very hard to get back to where we belong.
Anyway, enough of the winching and let’s just focus on this game as if all is fair and sunny. We’ve got Arteta! 😁
Team
The Ram
Big Ben, Kiwior, Big Gab, Zinch
Jorginho, Granit
The Øde
Buka, GJ9, Marti
Come oon You Rip Roaring Gunners.
By TotalArsenal
Bergkampesque 
Arsenal XI: Ramsdale, White, Kiwior, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Jorginho, Odegaard, Xhaka, Saka, Martinelli, Jesus
Subs: Turner, Tierney, Partey, Smith Rowe, Nketiah, Holding, Trossard, Vieira, Nelson
Newcastle United XI: Pope, Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn, Guimaraes, Joelinton, Willock, Murphy, Isak, Wilson
Subs: Dubravka, Dummett, Gordon, Saint-Maximin, Lewis, Targett, Manquillo, Almiron, Anderson
Like we posited, Gabriel is available. I hope he had enough training time to be ready for this one.
COYG!
Crazy length of time taken to come to that “no penalty” decision. I ruled it out on second viewing.
Martinelli has to fight better to make his inclusion count. He is expected to run at Trippier.
What a banging goal by Odegaard! Keeper saw it late and the pace was too much for him.
Now, expect them to throw the kitchen sink at us.
Great grass cutter by the Ode. Come on You Rip Roaring Gunners
Nothing went our way in january, looks like it might just be the opposite today
What a pisspoor defending from the bar-codes on that one
COYG
Marti, oh Marti … we’re in for a hell of a football game, or so it seems
We’ve had two big chances now to go further ahead but first Martinelli amd then Saka have pasted the keeper’s body when there appeared enough goal to aim for.
Need to press any advantage we have.
The referee looks dodgy
Love these boys.
What a half
All hail our Viking skipper of course, but I love Jorginho too. Positioning, technique, brains, the man’s pure football
Just hope we won’t regret the missing opportunities (including the very last one, oh Martin you broke my heart) – if Jesus could rise again too, it’d be great, btw …
COYG
How did Guimares get away with two yellow card fouls?! The Saka one was simply nasty. The Rugby tackle v Jesus was also a yellow card.
Shout out for Kiwior too. Really mature performance. Pope is quite a keeper. He has real presence. But We should have scored at least one more by now.
* missed *
Aaron-Gordon Ramsdale-Banks
Kavanagh is from bloody Greater Manchester. How did he get this game?
This referee and VAR are a joke.
Thank goodness we’ve doubled our money here. I was starting to wonder if all those missed chances wouldn’t come back to bite us.
Own goal? I’d take that. So, the ref decides to show a yellow card? Poor.
The refereeing has been shocking. Maybe waiting for a player to get seriously hurt…
Martin Odegaard I salute you.
Hasn’t he just, Eris. I will check his performance ms out from now on.
I love this team
The referee was terrible
Kiwior, Gabriel, Jorginho, Jesus, Odegaard, Xhaka were all immense
Newcastle are the new Stoke/Bolton
Can we afford to let Tierney leave?
Carlito, Karim, & Co.
Would you be as kind as to oblige us with a little extra-time on Wed 17th?
Am not asking you to harm anyone, however winning the shootout ‘d be nice, too – thanks
These boys are just a lovely bunch and Arteta has somehow, managed to get them up for this game.. I salute all 11 players, the subs and the backroom staff who must have worked hard to get this win.
Probably our best performance this season, in terms of the passion, desire, grit and tenacity on display. Two well coached teams, mind. 👍
Tierney isn’t going anywhere fast. You don’t find such defensive quality easily.
Real Madrid are certainly going to give City something to think about. The EPL fixtures that CL exertions should affect City in would be away to Everton and home to Chelsea. Watch this space.
Eris, it’s still, in those memorable words ‘Up for Grabs now’
I’m just watching our new signing Declan…🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞
Mikel listened to Stu. 🙂
Bringing on Tierney was just right.
I thought all the substitutions were spot on by Arteta, although Eddie could have worked a bit harder when he came on, I mean if you can’t give it everything for 11 minutes then I’m not sure what that says?
Having a pushing match with Fabian Schar doesn’t really count.
Woohoo! That didn’t disappoint, feisty, ferocious, fabulous football.
We had much more balance in this team and I loved the way we did not give away space behind our defence.
Our attackers are all a bit out of form but they do work hard. Just imagine them hitting form as well?!
Great win very happy about it. Unfortunately since iam in UK cannot watch the game. Can’t even buy a game separately these days. Listened to the commentary on Arsenal.com. looks like we had the better of the chances.
Start of the season I said my expectation is to have 79 points with 20+ goal difference and probably a cup. So I guess I don’t have much to complain other than the cup. 81 points and 44+ goal difference is amazing with 3 more games left.
We won, so I won’t be losing any sleep tonight over Kavanagh’s tragic masquerade
I might start losing some over the 2 points Bankes and Mason took from us in February, when they decided Toney’s equalizer should stand, though
Yes, LG. Those two points combined with City’s financial shenanigans will leave a very poor taste if we have to settle for second. But I am keeping the faith. I can see us getting 9 points and City seven from the remaining fixtures.
Declan and the boys turned it on, wish they had fielded that team against City.
Great photo on the header, Total. Trust your time in Holland went well.
PB, Tedd vissza a segged a nyeregbe, haver. Észrevételeit nagyra értékeljük. .
David Moyes decided he only needed another win to guarantee an EPL place and rested Soucek, Rice and Benrahma, thus “throwing” that game against Citeh, in a way. But, you can’t blame him for being pragmatic, especially as it has paid off.
Yeah, Kev. It does look “up for grabs now”, fingers crossed.
Not a pub in Brum showing the game, Madhu??
There’s a link Pb gave us, which I’ve used myself a few times in order to watch French games, since I don’t have the Amazon Prime subscription. It worked out just fine:
https://time4tv.stream/soccer-streams.php
Our 2021-2022 captain might have had the greatest game of his career with his boyhood club today. Laca scored 4, including a 90’+10′ game-winning spot kick (wonderfully taken, too – 5-4 the final score).
About France, looks like Lens have a fair chance to make it to the CL after beating Marseilles yesterday night.
Lens is 130 miles away from Rouen, a 2(+) hour-drive …
Fun to watch the games feeling less pressure. It’s out of our hands now. Exciting record for Ødegaard with the non-pen goals. I think I’ll have him down as our player of the season. I expect Saka to get it for the academy and English bias.
Ødegaard should get a new contract with a raise as a reward.
I actually thought Martinelli was exhausted around the time he got the own goal. Jesus also looked tired.. Slightly earlier subs would’ve pleased me a little more.
I’m not judging Kiwior yet. A little hard to give an opinion watching defenders on tv. He seems to have some good qualities.
Any word on whether Saliba could use surgery or not? I hope there is a long term solution, because waiting is just not a good option.
He and Tomiyasu going down with major injuries in the same half game really screwed us. I had a feeling that was the beginning of problems for us.
Thanks for the link Le Gall. I was in a hotel untill Saturday where I could go watch not shifted to an apt. Looks like you can only watch premier league on Sky subscription. There isn’t any option for buying on a game basis. Since I am not going to be here for long buying subscription doesn’t make sense. Arsenal.com should enter into some kind of arrangement with broadcasters to allow fans to buy per game view as needed. That would be a huge help. I ended up listening to their commentary and watching Adrian Clarke breakdown.
I have prime subscription as well but in UK I don’t think you get games on Prime Video. Correcte it iam wrong.
Anyways only 3 more games and before the next season starts I will be in India and I can watch easily. I wouldn’t worry about giving a Tenner for each of those 3 games but that option doesn’t seem to exist.
BigBill’s back pains worried Kev from the start, J.
“L’Equipe” had it that it looked like nothin’ at all, then. Actually, they even suggested it might have just been an excuse to miss out on French team duty, since Deschamps has chosen the Konaté-Upamecano pair, and isn’t likely to budge on this.
Turns out our king of predictions might have had it right again, very unfortunately this time.
J, with 24 goals and assists I think Buka would deserve to win player of the season on his own merit. Yes Martin has been brilliant too and so have others. 🙂
LeG, it’s always a worry with certain injuries especially when they seem too slow to mend and you also don’t want to be messing around with somebody’s back at anytime if you can avoid it and not least a young man’s back.
Billy is a big unit and that’s a lot of weight and stress on his spine so you give them time to recover because an operation has to be avoided at all costs but I’m not going to lie, when his back issue went beyond a couple of weeks I feared that an op might be the only option eventually.
I worry that Big Bills back might be an ongoing problem and may need to be managed by the manager much as Guardiola managed the guy who now manages Burnley.
The future for Bill might be one of where he gets regular breaks but is saved and rolled out for the biggest most important games.
Hello, people. 🙂
I will just try to focus on a few things I find most interesting and most important.
In order to build a championship winning squad, you need a team that is capable of delivering 30 victories. It’s been a case since 2016-17 when Antonio Conte’s Chelsea picked 93 points by winning 30 games, including a preposterous 13-game winning streak. They would have had the best attack if Spurs hadn’t scored 13 goals in their last two meaningless games v Leicester & Hull respectively. 14 Chelsea players scored at least a goal, two of them hit double digits and one of those two hit 20 goals.
Next season, Man C picked 100 points & scored 100 goals. They won 32 games, including a record-breaking 18-game winning streak. 13 different players scored goals for them, four of them hit double digits including our own Gabriel Jesus. Kun Agüero hit 21.
Man C had another big season in 2018-19, except this time they had rivals to almost match them. Man C pipped Liverpool to the title (98-97) thanks to winning 32 games. Liverpool lost just one game to City’s four defeats but Liverpool won “just” 30 games. City scored 95 goals with 15 different players scoring for them. Three of them hit double digits with Kun again scoring 21 thus surpassing 20-goal mark.
Liverpool gave us a good scare in 2019-20. They came close to break our 49-game record with their 45th game being a defeat at Watford. They won the league thanks to 32 wins including a quite incredible feat of 26 wins in first 27 league games. Their longest winning streak stopped at 18. They scored 85 goals shared between 17 different scorers. Salah (19) and Mane (18) hit double digits and came close to 20-goal mark.
2020-21 is an odd season and I wouldn’t take it for any sort of analysis. City won the league on a canter but it was so odd with no crowd allowed which resulted with a record number of away wins in the league. The biggest winning streak lasted 15 games. 16 players shared 83 goals between themselves with two of them reaching double digits.
2021-22 had another heartache-race between City and Liverpool that saw Liverpool finishing second despite losing just two games. Again, City prevailed thanks to their ability to turn draws into victories. They won 29 games, their biggest streak lasted 12 games and scored 99 goals shared between 16 players. Three of those 16 hit double digits.
So, what these numbers say where Arteta’s Arsenal are?
Answer: on the right way.
We have won 25 games in 35 – the best Wenger’s teams won 26 (2001-02 and 2003-04).
We have scored 83 goals in 35 – the best Wenger’s record was 87 (2004-05). Four players have already reached double digits but we probably won’t have our 20-goal man among them.
We have had our second season in a row of winning at least 22 games and the curve keeps going up.
We have won 12/18 away games which is huge. We won 10 out 13 against teams placed between 1st and 14th place. We did fail to win at Southampton, Everton and West Ham though and God only knows what will happen against Forest.
We have put up a winning streak of 7 games which is not ideal but that’s something to improve.
Basically, the whole difference between us and the title winning teams (including the one that is likely to win the league this season) lies in those three games we drew before a defeat at Etihad. If we had won those three, we would have a winning streak of 10 games & we would have been on a way to 30 league victories.
We are in a good place but our improvement will be slower and slower, as it happens when you are close to the very top. We need patience, we need to spend money wisely next summer and we need our core to stay together. It’s inevitable that we will eventually sell players that are either not good enough for a title-challenging team or too good to sit on the bench for most of the time. I remember how I was sad when we lost Gio Van Bronckhorst even if he didn’t set the world alight at Arsenal. Or when Wiltord left us for Lyon. But that’s what happens in clubs that want to win the league. Barcelona sold Alexis Sanchez to us when they had a chance to upgrade his position with Luis Suarez. Real Madrid sold Mesut Özil so they can buy Gareth Bale. Finally, Man City sold Gabriel Jesus to us because they got Erling Haaland.
Great comment, Admir. I actually have a slightly stronger belief that we will win the league than I did when you last visited the site. Citeh still have to play Brentford and Brighton, I think both are away.
But yes Forest away might see us falter again. Let’s try and win the last three games and I think we will get very close to City, maybe even end above them. 🙂
Hi, TA. 🙂
City have to play Everton away (a team that took a point at Etihad earlier this season), Brighton away (arguably the most positive football story in England), Chelsea at home (managed by the guy who took a point at Etihad with Everton) and, finally, Brentford away (a sole team that beat them Etihad this season).
Also, they have dropped points in just two home games this season. In one their opponents were managed by (Thomas) Frank and the other one by Frank (Lampard). They have one home game remaining and their opponents will be managed by Frank (Lampard).
To be Frank, that’s encouraging. 🙂
thanks for the insight on the back injury Kev.
Hey Admir, you should come around more often to sprinkle such optimism around😉. Hope springs eternal for me, reading your analyses.
I’d add to it the fact we also have another Frank (TA) here, rooting for the boys. WE ARE WINNING THE 22/23 LEAGUE TITLE, for sure! 💪🏾🏅🏆
Shout out to GunnerN5. Trust you are well. Not heard from you since that fine win by our boys.
“Importance being Frank” by Mikel Arteta 🙂
No problemo Johnno, it’s something I’ve tried to put to the back of my mind as the prospect of Bill’s back I find terrifying because he’s such a big generational talent.
Funnily enough nobody has been on the Saliba train recently and that’s because Jakub has put in two calming performances. Of course those with hindsight will say why didn’t Arteta bring him in sooner? Well they were probably the same critics who were losing their minds over Kiwior after his first two appearances in an Arsenal shirt, it takes time for Arteta to coach newbies up to speed – fortunately the insanity wasn’t on here J, but you know what I mean…
Hey Total, it’s gone a bit quiet from Canada, is everything ok with our quizmaster?
Encouraging rumours of a new contract announcement from the club regarding Bakayo, with a contract extension in the works for ‘large chips, ahhh’….
Which province does GN live in? I’ve seen (as most of you, probably) scary footage of wildfires in Alberta …
Great news about Buk … Real, who have no left-footed RW in their squad, worried me – all the more so since they’re rumoured to be about to land Bellingham, and what the kids have already done together in England colours, is very likely to have caught the eye of the Spanish Ogre.
I have emailed GN5. Hope all is well with him and family
Well done Frank 👍🏻
GN5 is in Kitchener, South Eastern Ontario.
Not like him to be late with the results of the quiz; plus, I don’t recall seeing his own predictions.
Hope we hear from him soon.
Guys,
This is the message I got from GN5’s daughter:
“Dad is presently in hospital and has been since last Thursday. He is stable but there are a few issues the doctors are presently dealing with. He asked me to let you know he is sorry, but for obvious reasons has not been able to do any work on the competition and, at present, is unsure when he will be able to resume. We are hoping he will be home by the end of this week, but it may take a bit longer.”
I am glad to hear he is stable and let’s all wish him to get better soon.
Stay strong, Cyril. 🙏💛
A (not so) quick reminder of the 1955 Arsenal fan’s etiquette will help cheer you up, GN (or so I hope):
“Next comes the important question of where you are going to stand. I am assuming that you are not one of the people who can afford a seat, like a banker or a dentist. You have two alternatives. The first is to get right at the front. To do this for the big match on Saturday you will have to stop work and start queuing at midday on the preceding Thursday. But you will be sure to enjoy a good view of the game, and may even get the ball in your face. Your enjoyment will be spoiled, however, by selfish people who lean on you from the back. Or of course, you can take your time about getting to the ground and squeeze in at the back. Here you will see hardly anything at all, but can make yourself comfortable by leaning on the people in front.
Perhaps the best method of all is to take a short course at a good dramatic school. Then you can pretend to faint. This will get you handed over the heads of the crowd, which is great fun, and you will then be laid out on the touch-line, from which you can see the match in perfect comfort.
Wherever you stand, you will be entertained by a band in gorgeous uniforms which probably comes from the local gasworks. Their programme will always include Colonel Bogey. You know, Da-Da, and the same to you. At the conclusion of their performance they will march round the ground, led by one of the number who carries a large silver walking stick. Every so often he will hurl this walking stick into the air and catch it as it comes down. This is where you and the rest of the crowd cheer like mad, hoping that one day this will make him drop it.
A few minutes later you’ll observe three men making their entrance in dark blazers and long shirts. One of these is your No. 1 target, the referee. He is the only one of the three not carrying a flag, although by the end of the match he may wish he had a white one. You can also distinguish the referee from his colleagues by the fact that he has the longest shorts and thinnest legs, and usually looks like a rather nervous solicitor.
Once things get started, he is fair game and may be insulted with any or all of the following standard phrases: ‘Wake up, Ref.’, ‘Play the game, Ref.’, ‘What’s the idea, Ref.’, and inevitably the most popular cry of all: ‘Get some glasses, Ref’. If any referee is unsporting enough to turn up with glasses, the cry is amended to: ‘Get some new glasses, Ref’. For advanced spectators, there are more subtle shouts, such as: ‘Got this one down as a Two, Ref?’ In other words, ‘Have you forecast this as an away win?’
All these taunts are designed to express the conviction honestly held by practically the entire crowd that the referee is either a complete nit-wit without the vaguest idea of the rules of football, or an utter scoundrel who is in the pay of the opposing team. To be in a football crowd on one of the rare occasions when the referee falls flat in the mud is to be in the presence of sublime happiness. For linesmen the same insults can be used, plus advice about the disposal of the flag.
The game starts and your real job begins. It is fairly simple of course. For everything your team does you cheer. The activities of their opponents you either meet with silence, or, at the slightest opportunity, you vigorously express your displeasure. As in the case of the referee there are a number of approved epithets for hurling at members of the other side. These either refer to the individuals’ character (e.g. ‘You filthy beast’) or to any physical peculiarity (e.g. Banana bonce). In special cases you will naturally throw doubts about his ancestry. Should a member of the opposition kick the ball out of play at any time, you shout: ‘Keep it on the island’. When one of your side does it, the cry is changed slightly to: ‘Well cleared, Joe.’
You must, of course, also urge your team on with such stirring appeals as: ‘Get stuck into ‘im, George’. Needless to say, should anyone be unsporting enough to get stuck into George, you raise your voice in an indignant appeal to the Ref to: ‘Send ‘im orf!’
Cardew Robinson, GunFlash 65, August 1955”
Every blessing for your quick recovery, Cyril, mate.
I remember you writing of a match at Highbury in the ’50’s? When you were sat right next to the corner flag and the players taking the corners would ruffle your hair before kicking the ball. If it were Jimmy Logie, I imagine you would have been tempted to never wash your hair again…
Great to hear he is stable. Thanks, TA.
You are in our prayers, GN5. By His stripes, you are healed.
GN5 (Cyril) get well soon mate and when you return to the fold, as I know you will, you should celebrate by posting a few of those black n white pictures of London buses that you were so fond of posting back in the day on AA.
Get well soon amigo.
Amen, Eris.
The Under 20 World Cup is being staged this summer with 24 countries taking part, England have Norton-Cuffy in its squad and he is the only player in the entire tournament coached and developed from the Arsenal Academy which I find quite disappointing. Marquinhos is representing Brazil but I don’t think that we can claim any credit in developing him as he’s only been with us one year and spent half of it at Carrow Road.
It poses the question to me about how good the scouting of schoolboys and the development of them has been over the last 10 years because this doesn’t happen overnight, hopefully the next batch of 15 & 16 year olds will be at a far higher level.
Maybe the changes in the clubs’ scouting network a few years ago was necessary?
I guess we’ll see over the next 5 to 7 years when that generation comes through our system.
I wonder what Brighton team will turn up this Sunday, I hope we don’t suffer on the rebound because that Everton result was just a fluke. Evan Ferguson will be a handful and the Japanese lad is a real threat, it won’t be a walk in the park.
There’s something about the U20 WC being “off-FIFA official fixture list” (don’t ask me what that means, exactly, I don’t know and haven’t checked out), which gives clubs every right to keep their players from heeding the call.
That’s the reason why France will play their “B” team for instance, since almost all “A” team guys are first-choice in their respective clubs’ first teams, so that they will be held on to in this “money-time” period. I don’t know if it’s the same in England – haven’t heard of it, anyway – and if it’s the reason why we might have refused to release some of our players …
I think the real reason is that the squad is very close to being exactly the same as the 2022 U19 Euro winning squad, in which Brooke was the only Arsenal man. This makes sense, even though this is disappointing, I agree with you.
Now, Walters-Sousa-LewisSkelly-CozierDuberry-Nwaneri have all excelled every time they donned the England colours (as well as Rosiak the Poland’s) so the current generation looks much more promising indeed.
Youth development has never been, and will never be an exact science anyway. I think I found the perfect metaphor for it in “Chimp Empire”, an extraordinary wildlife documentary that came out on Netflix lately. It deals with 2 rival communities of chimps in Uganda’s Ngogo forest, and at the heart of their rivalry there is …
… Chrysophyllum, the: “richest bounty of Ngogo, which appears in a massive crop once every few years. It’s unpredictable, but when it happens it provides more food than the chimps can eat …”
Unpredictability: yes, of course. But provided the forest is preserved, protected, taken care of … fought for, too, it always happens, eventually. And when it does, manna from heaven it is.
LeG, I did read that BNC is not joining up with the England squad immediately and may miss one or two of the initial games as he is involved with Coventry City as they try to win the play-offs.
Isn’t Charlie Patino in that age bracket, I’m not sure but I don’t think he’s over 21 yet?
Surely he’s good enough to play for England ami
Goalkeepers: James Beadle (Brighton & Hove Albion), Matthew Cox (Brentford), Teddy Sharman-Lowe (Chelsea)
Defenders: Callum Doyle (Coventry City, loan from Manchester City)*, Ronnie Edwards (Peterborough United)*, Bashir Humphreys (Paderborn, loan from Chelsea), Brooke Norton-Cuffy (Coventry City, loan from Arsenal)*, Daniel Oyegoke (Brentford), Jarell Quansah (Liverpool), Imari Samuels (Brighton & Hove Albion)
Midfielders: Carney Chukwuemeka (Chelsea), Alfie Devine (Tottenham Hotspur), Sam Edozie (Southampton), Darko Gyabi (Leeds United), Aaron Ramsey (Middlesbrough, loan from Aston Villa)*, Alex Scott (Bristol City), Harvey Vale (Chelsea)
Forwards: Liam Delap (Manchester City), Daniel Jebbison (Sheffield United), Mateo Joseph (Leeds United), Dane Scarlett (Tottenham Hotspur).
I’ve been to some dire football stadiums over the years, Wrexham’s Racecourse Ground was pretty basic, Cold Blow Lane Millwall wax an experience, The Baseball Ground Derby wax a right dump, I stood on railway sleepers at Notts County which were probably there in the 1890’s, Chelsea was a slum miles away from the pitch and Carlisle United was a throwback to the 1930’s but the dump of all dumps was and still is Kenilworth Road, what a tip and they could be in the Premier League next season!
I thought about Charlie, too, I’m not sure about the age, either. I don’t think he has been called up for England this season. I read something once (don’t remember where) about his having played much more for Blackpool this season than was expected by both Arsenal and the Seasiders. There are 2 Championship games scheduled on Bein France every week-end, so I watched Charlie every time I could. Technically, the boy was on another planet, a ballet dancer among a buffalo herd, but you could feel the toll the physicality of the Championship was taking on him, so maybe there’s been an agreement between Arsenal and the FA aiming at giving our lad the time his body needs to recover from such exertion. That’d make a lot of sense, and I’d tip my hat to it, but right now, it’s nothing more than one of my own personal guessing games …
Via David Ornstein:“Arsenal defenders William Saliba + Oleksandr Zinchenko out for rest of season. Saliba has not recovered sufficiently from back injury & Zinchenko picked up calf problem at Newcastle. Better news is neither expected to require surgery”
Get well soon GN5. Thank God he is stable. Hope he gets well soon and back.
Gutted about the news of Saliba and Zin. Saliba is a strange one he played 20 odd mins in the Europa League game and that’s it. Wonder if he hadn’t played that game and rested would he have been back? It didn’t look any in-game injury might have happened earlier. From reports looks like it’s was in Fulham game. Hope he is back for pre season else it looks scary.
My thoughts are with you GN5. An xG table and article on The Athletic should interest PB and others interested in stats. Obviously each PL has played a different number of games. However, Arsenal are top with 13.9 goals above expectation followed by the Manc Oilers (13.1) and the Spuds (11.5). With the latter two, this is attributed to Haaland and Kane’s efficiency. The Athletic highlight the contributions of Marti and Ode but it is heartening that so many players have chipped in with goals this season so that we are not overly reliant on one player.
Lens 0 Balo 1
A pen, but the boy hadn’t scored in quite some time, so this one’ll come as a relief to him. He was good lately, but also … profligate
It took some guts to take and score that spot-kick, too. Samba is an outstanding GK (Maignan’s backup for France, actually), and the Lens crowd didn’t like the ref’s (correct) decision one bit, so vociferous they were, to say the least
Happy for the kid, I’d love it for him to score another one, from open play this time
OX10, you have to include Bukayo. Our king of assists and double figures goal scorer.
Absolutely agree TA!
Good morning, fine fellow Gooners. I hope that GN5 is getting better and was able to leave the hospital.
We have a great game of football to look forward to regardless of what the Oilers do before we will kick off. But of course it would be sweet if the Toffees, who need the points desperately, could do us a big favour in the process.
That fabulous, somewhat unexpected, win at the barcode-Oilers has given us renewed hope to win the League. It ain’t over till the fat Las sings. 🙂
Let’s hope GN5 is in front of his big screen alongside his son for this next fascinating instalment of 2023 Arsenal. What a season! COYGunners and COYToffeemen.
Watching the Singers-Boro game, which is very likely to not go down in history for anything else but the final score, but BNC has been the best player of a team that completely refused to play until the 30th minute.
It was one of our kid’s raids along the touchline which woke them up – a little – so far it had been all Boro, but without clearcut chances created. What is asked of Brooke is terribly demanding, physically, he actually has to look after the whole length of the right flank. That might explain why he had one or two heavy touches, but otherwise he’s been focused, fierce defensively and always a threat for the reds when in possession. I had not seen him play that often with Arsenal youth teams, but from what I can recall he seems to have improved dramatically (my memories of him were those of a kid who was above the others, but mainly because of his greater physicality).
In the Boro side, Akpom has been almost invisible, but he did deliver a wonderful through pass at some point but the goal which ensued was ruled out for a very marginal offside position of Boro’s RW.
Tick-tock tick-tock … COYG
I am an Toffees fan for about 90 to 110 minutes, today.
Come on, you toffees!! Come on, Agent Iwobi!!
I am a Toffees fan*
…. and from that perspective, it’s been “so far, so good”. City are getting frustrated by the Everton tactics of sitting deep, being aggressive under threat, looking to counter and seeking set-piece opportunities as a route to a goal.
Shucks! It is 0-2 to the Oilers after a promising start by the home side. Needed a touch of brilliance by Gundogan to break Everton’s resolve.
All this City team need is some rattling….a goal conceded, the fans vociferous and they may wilt.
The worry is that we do have an unpredictable opponent today…
Yeah, Everton are showing too much respect for Citeh, Eris. And having De Bruijne and Gundogan in the squad is of course a luxury only the stinking rich can afford.
I do hope this result has no effect on the atmosphere at the Emirates today.
City are just such a good, well oiled side, who don’t allow nerves to affect their focus. To see Pep looking so excited about this tells you he knows the significance of this win; signalling to the away fans 2 more wins to go. However, they still have games to navigate. Let’s see how it all pans out.
Arsenal:
Ramsdale; White, Kiwior, Gabriel, Tierney; Jorginho, Odegaard, Xhaka; Saka, Jesus, Martinelli
Subs: Turner, Holding, Walters, Partey, Vieira, Smith Rowe, Nelson, Nketiah, Trossard
Brighton & Hove Albion:
Steele; Gross, Dunk, Colwill, Estupinan; Caicedo, Gilmour; Enciso, Mac Allister, Mitoma; Ferguson
Subs: McGill, Welbeck, Undav, Buonanotte, Offiah, Moran, Ayari, Van Hecke, Peupion
Here we go. Two great proper football teams. No oil involved, as yet.
What a shame, for Martinelli to leave the game so early from a freak tackle which looked innocuous at first.
Trossard on to face his old mates. Brighton are a confident team and appear to be luring us into that press. We would need to take chances which come to us.
They can get physical too, this Brighton side.
Stop start, messy game until now. Tactically a great watch, though. Referee is once again rubbish, but what’s new, hey?!
2nd half should be a cracker! Come On You Rip Roaring Gunners!!!
Other than how we let City close an 8 point gap, in retrospect, we have had a great season giving City a run for their money, to within 3 games to the end of the season.
Today, we just couldn’t handle the Brighton hunger and passion. Their manager wanted them to bounce back from their last loss and they responded. How they confidently play from the back, keeper even delaying his pass till the last; keeper’s distribution was also unbelievably precise.
We have to go again in the summer and learn from this.
Today was the first time this season when I watched our boys and didn’t have that buzz of anticipation, Man City have stranglethe joy out of it for me.
The result from Goodison Park must have been like a punch in the guts, our lads just looked beaten, worn down by the weight of a money-laundered opponent who could afford to have KdB, Grealish, Bernado Silva and Stones to name a few, on the bench, financially doped, aManchester referee as usual and no injuries – what chance did we really have?
Andy Madley has to be one of the most weak, inept and indecisive referees I’ve seen this season and I’ve seen some right pillocks in the middle. Apparently he’s done Brighton 17 times including today and they’ve won all 17. Seems a bit suspicious to me!
No excuse fo4 not using some of our better youngsters in the final two games.
Not at the races today, boys. Love tears us apart sometimes, but love endures all things.
We love you Arsenal, we do…
All good points, Kev, and Eris. I am grateful for the enormous progress this season, but Brighton outsmarted us today. A few players were walking on their last legs and one or two are just not sharp enough at the moment.
The Seagulls’ midfield was very strong and also allowed to kick our players off the pitch. Still, they were the better team and we will learn from this. Two more games to go and let’s try and en them. 🙂
“And so castles made of sand
Melt into the sea
Eventually”
Thanks a million for the ride, boys, anyway
Let’s hope our lads will find the strength to just have fun, both at the City Ground, and against the Mendes bunch
Agree with everything you just wrote, Kevin. Watching Madley is like watching an apocryphal Mr. Bean episode, one which was rejected because none of the gags actually worked out …
The Buk is worn out. Give the kid a break, please, Mick. If Southgate should give him a leave of absence, too, he’d have my gratitude forever after (Malta? Macedonia? C’mon, Gareth!)
Everton’s shadow-boxing was a sucker punch the lads didn’t recover from – I hate the robotic Pep bunch a little more every day. The more I think of it, the more I believe teams playing by what very little’s left of sportsmanship rules in professional football should play their U21s against those franchises.
You want your titles, have ’em, and choke on ’em …
Axis, Bold as Love.
I’m going to be so supporting Real Madrid this Wednesday that I might get myself some castanets.
I guess that as there’s still a mathematical chance that it’ll be the same old faces at The City Ground next Saturday.
But the last game vs Wolves is an opportunity Mikel, give Reuell Walters his debut, even from the bench if you have to and maybe go out on a limb and include Cozier-Duberry and bring him on for Saka for say 20 minutes at the end?
Mikel, I’ve fought your corner this season as I trust in the process and I don’t believe that debuts should be handed out like sweets but really earned – but if these boys are our future then f*cking well give them a chance.
Brilliant final lines, Legall. I am all for it. Here you go Citeh we are giving you the silverware. You’ve won. Now let us play our football competition which you have already won but will never really win.
The word is that Bayer Leverkusen have tacitly agreed a fee of €15m for Granit Xhaka who’ll sign a 4 year contract with the Bundesliga team, apparently Granits wife wanted to return to Germany…
Well I’ll miss him, Kev. If true. It would make sense.
Entrance to the away end at Luton, Kev … Yummy, ain’t it?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FwTpIIQXsAEozr7?format=jpg&name=medium
New Post 🙂