Morning all.
Well that was a bit disappointing wasn’t it? We were all over Everton when Leandro Trossard scored a lovely goal and afterwards, Everton looked like a team full of players thinking about which sunny resort to visit this summer. That was until the referee decided to give them a reason to believe.
I can’t recall seeing such a soft penalty given as the one Everton were awarded yesterday. I was quietly confident VAR wouldn’t suggest Darren England checked the pitch side monitor but they should have because the decision was farcical. Especially as the little 50-50 tussle, if one can call it that, began outside the area.
Ndiaye converted the penalty and Everton came alive. Before Trossard had given us the lead, we’d spurned a few opportunities to score but couldn’t take them. Mind you, neither did Everton, not that they really threatened our goal.
Mikel Arteta’s team selection shouted “Real Madrid” as Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli were on the bench. I was surprised really bearing in mind Champions League football isn’t yet a certainty. Saying that, the eleven who started created enough to win the game and but for the officials, our single goal would have been enough.
Mikel Arteta said after the game:
It’s disappointing not to get the three points because we conceded nothing,” he said. “But when you come here, you know that the margin is going to be so small, and you’re going to have to deal with a lot of direct play. It was a very physical game with second balls and you’re going have to dominate that and have sequences of play and momentum throughout. We adapted really well in parts, especially in the first half.
We have some big openings that we didn’t finish. We’re 1-0 up, you want to go into a second half understanding they’re going to be more aggressive, more spaces and we’re going to play the game that we want. We started very poorly, giving the ball away straight to the keeper, then direct play, a problem, it come back, direct play, and the referee decides to give a penalty that, after watching 15 times, in my opinion, is never a penalty.
Injuries, well they are part of the game and we’ve had a lot. How we’re still in second place I don’t know but we are and that says something about this group of player and Arteta. Officials, well they seem to be a law unto themselves as they pick and choose which decisions they make and when. Raheem Sterling was fouled twice, England waved his pleas for a free kick away but instead of treating the so called penalty incident in the same way, he couldn’t wait to stick the knife into Arsenal. As said the other day, the officiating in this league is atrocious.
Later in the day, Nottingham Forest were beaten 2-1 by Aston Villa which made our draw seem a little better as far as the table goes but it’s Chelsea, Man City and Newcastle who pose a threat too.
City and Chelsea are in action later today with City’s 12th man Michael Oliver refereeing the London derby game between Brentford and Chelsea whilst at Old Trafford, John Brooks has the whistle. He’s the man who didn’t know where to draw the lines for an offside review.
If my maths is right, 12 points from our remaining games would be enough to secure second place.
Those fixtures are:
- Brentford – Home
- Ipswich – Away
- Crystal Palace – Home
- Bournemouth – Home
- Liverpool – Away
- Newcastle – Home
- Southampton – Away
I had to laugh reading a headline about how Arsenal suffered “big knock’ in title challenge. Our title challenge was over long before yesterday, as was every other clubs.
Honestly, I’ll be glad when this season is over because from day one, the playing field hasn’t been level.
Catch up in the comments.
Morning all, morning Rico, what can you do eh? The media normally wash over the officiating especially if Arsenal are on the receiving end, one channel makes the head of the PGMOL into a kind TV personality, not that I’ve ever watched the Howard Webb Excuses Show, the thought of listening to that fraud is nauseating.
Not content with sabotaging our challenge for the Premier League the PGMOL it seems is looking to knock us out of the top three, you know make sure we have to qualify for CL next season.
That said, it’s really up to Arsenal to make sure that the incompetence of the officials don’t have any influence and another 45 minutes of not being efficient in front of goal is the real reason we dropped points again. Arsenal should have gone in at half-time 3-0 to the good, but, well, you all know the story.
Until our finishing is improved we’re going to wash and repeat this post match scenario.
Enjoy the sunshine…
Morning Kev.
That’s something I’ve always believed, don’t give the officials a decision to make because we know they’ll make it.
Sickens me though…
JM We are staying on the, Rua de Firmenza . which I believe is fairly central , any information will be helpful . Thanks.
Yesterday was the revenge stitch up , it’s no coincidence that England managed to stick the knife into Lewis Skelly after his public admonishment ,one might even think that it was pre-planned.
How we get past this I don’t know but someone needs to be talking to MLS to calm him down or we will have another Vieira / Xhaka type target player and a return to the number of sendings off in the Arteta era just like we had under Wenger.
MLS has all the attributes to be the mainstay of both Arsenal’s and England’s midfield for the forseeable future but we have to realise that he will not be offered the leniency that players like Scholes or Gerrard received throughout their careers..
In MLS defence though, he did little wrong. Just as he didn’t when Oliver sent him off for the type of cynical tackle which goes on every week. He’ll learn to be smarter I’m sure but he’s young, enthusiastic and determined.
I just cheeses me off that we have to play the officials as well as the eleven men..
Good morning Rico and all.
Never a penalty in my view. A fifty fifty tussle outside the box, that the clown of the day did not think worthy of a whistle, as soon as the players crossed the line into the box he blew for a penalty.
As I said yesterday, consistently incompetent refereeing.
A terrible decision for the penalty,I thought the Everton player should have been booked for diving. Sadly I have seen similarly soft penalties( probably half the ones Liverpool get for a start) It’s ridiculous when you think how high the threshold is sometimes.
It’s clear to me that Lewis-Skelly is marked out for special treatment. Funny enough I too was thinking he’s in danger of becoming another Xhaka – unfairly targeted by the refs. Xhaka could have been a lot smarter and hopefully Lewis-Skelly will be. It annoys me though when commentators say he has 2 red cards,the first was chalked out and nobody apart from the ref/Var thought it should have been a red.
It was great to see Ben White back and a great goal from Trossard.Those 2 were super motivated to try and get some minutes against Real Madrid,otherwise the whole thing was a bit flat.
I have no doubt we will finish top 4,but as said we need to be careful of finishing weakly,that sort of thing can carry over into the next season.
I see Real Madrid lost,and missed a penalty I hear.
Morning Cicero, I think I’ve run out of words when it comes to the PGMOL. Well, ones I’m happy to write down on here. Lol
Typical end of season game really Limey, clearly the Real fixture is the priority in Arteta’s mind.
Forest losing yesterday was handy as it keeps them at arms length, the FACup and the Europas should get in the way of anyone below us making a concerted attempt to finish above us, I think we deserve a 2nd place finish at least.
Would be nice if Arteta can find it in his heart to maybe give some of our youngsters a few minutes in our remaining games.
He might once 2nd place secured..
Potter: yes, it is in the city centre and well located. How many people are going? You can buy a daily or multi-day pass, which allows you to use the metro and bus. The hotel should be able to tell you. One of the closest metro stations is Trindade. To get to Fino Golf Club, take the blue line (line A) towards Senhor de Matosinhos and get off at Matosinhos Sul or Brito Capelo. I think Matosinhos Sul is the best option. The address is:
Fino Golf Club
Rua de Tomaz Ribeiro, 237
Matosinhos.
Taxi is another option, preferably touristy, going all the way down Avenida da Boavista. I will try to get more information.
Thanks but we will use the metro more fun getting lost , you never know what you might find.
Wonderful how after England and Atwell gave them the league yesterday Liverpool get beaten at Fulham .Chelsea drawing keeps them at arms length too.
potter: They will be there from 5pm. For confirmation purposes, it is best to ask at the accommodation what is the best way to get there. How many people are going?
Good result at Craven Cottage, and at Brentford.
Are we back in the title race? 😝
Two to watch football , the women will leave us to it.
Rico take your tongue out of your cheek but we are 1 point closer.
😂 Potter.
Mendy y Ceballos no llegan al partido de Londres contra el Arsenal.
En el once inicial solo hay 2 dudas:
❓Courtois o Lunin;
❓Modric o Lucas Vázquez, dependiendo de la posición de Valverde.
🟥 Tchouameni está sancionado.
Basically Mendy and Ceballos are out Tchouameni is suspended the rest is conjecture.
Shame there isn’t a few more on that list.
Good evening lady and gentlemen
So we gain a point on the dippers it seems.
Basically….IF the refs didn’t fuck up the season, IF we didn’t have all those injuries, IF we didn’t fart around the box, IF this IF that ….. we would already be champions by now and we would be looking at another season unbeaten
Good podcast on Arseblog featuring Ian Wright…
https://arseblog.com/2025/04/episode-825-ian-wright/
That’s about it Devil.. Oddly.. lol
I think POGMOL are becoming embarrassed by how easy they have made it for Liverpool to win the Premiership title. They didn’t rule out any of the three Fulham goals and for the first game for yonks they didn’t award them the regulation penalty.
Perhaps we will see a more even playing field where ref’s decisions are concerned in Liverpool games for the rest of the season.
Bit late though isn’t it.
Back in the title race???
The “hidden forces” would never allow it…
potter: Rua Tomás Ribeiro in Matosinhos is a long street perpendicular to the beach and before reaching the fishing port.
There is usually no problem with taxi drivers, but you can ask at your accommodation, which sometimes has acquaintances who work as taxi drivers.
If you opt for a taxi, I recommend that you ask to go all the way along Av. da Boavista to Castelo do Queijo (next to the sea and river), where on one side is Porto and on the other is Matosinhos.
If the weather is good, it is worth it.
When you get there, they told me to just join the crowd. It is the Arsenal Portugal Supporters Club. I spoke to Mr. Ricardo.
JM thank you.
On the bright side at least Liverpool got beat,
After Liverpool’s loss yesterday, Arsenal will be “kickin” themselves over Everton.
Interesting piece on Arseblog, puts things into perspective.
https://arseblog.com/2025/04/drawing-your-own-conclusions/
Basically Luckypool have had all the good luck that’s been going around and Arsenal have had very little. It’s actually quite an achievement, given all of our misfortunes, that we’re still 2nd in the table…
Good afternoon Rico and all
Laura…..we shouldn’t be kicking ourselves over the Everton game…..we should and would kick ourselves over the course of the whole season. I still stand by my comment earlier…IF we didnt get as many injuries, suspensions and the refs did their job well we may have been looking at another unbeaten season. Because I still believe that with our squad and tactics we would be going through a whole season unbeaten. Keep in mind that (as Kev pointed out) in spite of all this we are still 2nd and in qf of CL.
This season will always remain in a bad taste, like some other seasons as well, in that we could have won the title. Since 2004 I feel we should have won at least 4-5 more titles including this year and last. But our own naivety, dark refereeing arts and injuries have contrived to not winning more.
At least we saw the emergence of Nwaneri and MLS. Fingers crossed it will be more if the occasion arises.
Kev…..”Not content with sabotaging our challenge for the Premier League the PGMOL it seems is looking to knock us out of the top three, you know make sure we have to qualify for CL next season.”
can you imagine their faces if we win it??
As you said though….if we don’t score we make their life easier. its useless farting around the box and not scoring.
Exactly Coach, whatever you might think of Luckypool they have three decent and one world class forward in Diaz, Jota, Salah and Nunez the guy who misses sitters. Any one of the decent amigos would start in our team now and they also stay fit. We basically went into this season with one decent striker, a sick note striker and a punt of a reject striker that flopped. The answer is going to be expensive but it’s logically the only answer. We need to strengthen in other departments but the attack is first and foremost.
Afternoon Devil, all
Nice to hear Saka say he wants to win things with Arsenal and he’s happy..
Imo, we went into this season without a striker and we didn’t need one according to a few.
Plus, I would say the scales were tipped in favour of getting injuries because of last season when we got off relatively lightly other than the usual suspects and Timber.
the emergence of Nwaneri and MLS has provided Arteta with two positions which are filled now. So on the wings its already Martinelli, Nwaneri and Saka as regulars. Next season they will be year older and more experienced.
Havertz is already there as a CF but we need another top notch CF.
In midfield we need cover for Partey and Jorginho. And its here that is a bit puzzling…..does MLS continue as a LB or will he be a midfielder next season???
Former Premier League ref Mark Halsey has had his say on the controversial decision to award Everton a penalty against Arsenal – a decision Mikel Arteta was left FUMING at.
“They were both tussling for the ball and it was difficult to see who was fouling who – or if there was any foul at all – with contact also beginning well outside the penalty area.
“Not one Everton player appealed for a penalty – Harrison got straight back up to play the ball – but VAR Stuart Attwell was never going to recommend a review as it was not a clear and obvious error.
“It was one of those subjective calls where if it goes against you, you certainly feel hard done by. And had it not been given it would certainly have stayed not given.”
I don’t see Havertz as a striker, he’s not clinical enough imo.
Neither do I but he has scored 9 in 20 EPL games. He would be a good option when the CF we will have needs to be rested. He can also cover for Odegaard in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Maybe, but Havertz won’t be fit in time for the new season, nor will Jesus.
As for an Odegaard deputy, perhaps Nwaneri is eyed for that role.
We need to develop some new set piece tactics, something that doesn’t resemble a twenty-one man wrestlemania rehearsal.
A few new open play tactics wouldn’t go amiss either…
New post up.