Morning all.
I’m pretty sure that was the strongest team Mikel Arteta could field out their last night. Jurgen Klopp too. Clearly, both managers want to be at Wembley next month.
Another big match and another red card for an Arsenal player. This time it was Granit Xhaka. Michael Oliver had only one thing in his mind when Xhaka’s clumsy left boot went into the chest of Jota. Out came the red card and Xhaka was gone.
I want to apologise to everyone. I am so proud of my team and the spirit they they showed to keep a clean sheet tonight. – Granit Xhaka on social media.
No doubt like me, most Arsenal fans feared a Liverpool goal fest afterwards.
Instead of crumbling though, or feeling sorry for themselves, every single Arsenal player went into ‘defend at all costs’ mode. I’m going to heap a tonne of praise on Calum Chambers this morning because having not played for such a long time, he came off the bench to replace Cedric Soares and played as if his life depended on him playing well. I thought he was superb.
Arsenal, with ten men, restricted Liverpool to just one shot on target all game which says everything really about the way the players dug in. Yes it was scrappy at times, but it didn’t matter.
For all the possession Liverpool had for over an hour, the best chance fell to Arsenal with around 20 minutes left on the clock. Alex Lacazette, doing his defensive duties, played the ball to Kieran Tierney who lofted a ball into the box, over the head of a Liverpool defender and into Bukayo Saka’s feet. Saka’s first touch was heavy which allowed Alisson time to get off his line to smother his shot.
Right at the end of normal time, Minamimo blasted his shot over the bar and into the stands when it looked easier to score than miss. Cue laughter in my house and every other Arsenal fan’s I suspect.
“Liverpool were awful” – that’s the headlines today. Without Salah and Mane they were different, of course they were but then so is every other team who’re missing players because of the ACON. We ourselves have players away on international duty. We also have injuries and Covid 19 impacting on squad in a big way. ESR, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Martin Odegaard to name a few who if fit, would have featured last night I’m sure, as would Thomas Partey, Mo Elneny and Pepe. The media forget that.
Instead of focusing on how poor Liverpool were, if they were of course, I prefer to look at last night’s performance and praise our players and manager for cramping Jurgen Klopp’s side for over an hour. Not many other teams have managed that achievement with eleven players let alone ten.
Cedric Soares and Bukayo Saka went off injured during the match and with Granit Xhaka now banned for a couple of fixtures, our squad really is down to the bare bones. I think Arsenal will try and get this weekend’s NLD postponed, something he was asked about in his post match interview:
I don’t know. It’s a possibility in any game from our side, from the opponents’ side, because of the amount of issues that everybody is having and because it’s happening every week, but we try to prepare for the games thinking that we’re going to play. If something happens along the way, it is what it is.
Anyway, we’re in with a really good chance of making it to Wembley next month if we can make home advance count in a week’s time.
Arsenal really need to move quickly in this transfer window though because we need a midfielder sharpish. Like, today!
Paper Talk from Sky Sports:
- Juventus are ready to make an offer for Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang after losing Federico Chiesa to a season-ending injury. The Sun.
- Udinese are closing on a deal to sign out-of-favour Arsenal defender Pablo Mari on loan for the second half of the season. Daily Mail.
- Arsenal are ready to make a second offer for Palmeiras midfielder Danilo, but the Brazilian club are not keen on selling the player before February’s Club World Cup. The Express.
- Juventus midfielder Arthur Melo is confident that he will join Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal in the January transfer window. Daily Mail/HITC.
If Juventus really do want Aubameyang, Melo moving to Arsenal is a possibility I suppose.
Negotiations between Arsenal and Juventus for Arthur Melo will continue in the coming hours. Arsenal offering loan deal plus full salary covered until June – no obligation to buy clause included, as of now. 🇧🇷 #AFC
Juventus are not accepting until they find a replacement.
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 14, 2022
See you in the comments.
Morning all.
It’s performances like this, under immense pressure and against all odds, that show exactly how much influence Arteta has had on the squad and players.
They’re giving their all and then some for him.
Don’t think that players at other clubs don’t notice these things.
Good times ahead.
I bet you weren’t saying that after the Everton, Utd and Notts Forest games…
Morning Rico and all
What last nights game shows was take 1 or 2 players out of Liverpool’s team they are not unbeatable.
It’s amazing how we can dig out a draw against Liverpool, yet we stuffed up against Forest and get kicked out of the FA Cup
Morning Geoff. I know, it’s annoying we lost the FA Cup game, even with the team we put out.
Rico, I remain consistent in my belief and unless you can prove otherwise……well, you can’t so don’t bother trying lol
I don’t swing week to week.
Arteta in.
Arteta out.
I leave that to others 🙂
Geoff, I do believe our inconsistency is down to the immature and inexperienced squad.
A year or two down the track and those poor performances will become a rarity imo
Wonderful defensive performance from the lads. Nobody hid and Ben White was outstanding at the back.
Liverpool virtually at full strength following their tsunami of covid. Not the same team without Salah.
Next week will be interesting.
The Nottm Forest and Liverpool games were totally different, you can’t really compare them, we dominated Forest but failed to break them down and got mugged and the Liverpool game was a reversal. The players were probably overconfident vs Forest where as vsLiverpool they were motivated and determined, probably off of the back of the Forest game.
I noticed that Klopp at the end made a bee line for Saka and put his arm around him, probably whispering sweet nothings in his shell like?
Ben White was amazing, every inch an Arsenal captain in the making and wasn’t it great to have Gabriel back in the team.
Well Scott, no one here swings from week to week so there you go.
It will Pete, hopefully by then it’ll be us with our injured/Covid absentees back.
Hiya Kev,
Klopp is a grub.
Superb manager, but a grub.
I missed that Kev. Klopp is a right old git at times.
The least said about swinging the better , you never know what people do in their private time.
I noticed Klippety going straight to Saka too Kev . It was shown on twitter :- https://mobile.twitter.com/WelBeast/status/1481920191529369602
hopefully that will work.
I just hope that they get the time to recover for Sunday at least Middlesex is not too far away.
Good morning all.
Now that we have lost our regular first choice midfield pairing, Xhaka and Partey, maybe Arteta will finally see some sense in using Chambers in midfield and why not Holding alongside him? It would beef up an area that is certainly weak at the moment.
If Tomiyasu is not fit, swapping Tavares to the right back role will fill the gap and hopefully ESR can return in the number ten position. giving us a front three of Saka, Martinelli and Lacazette. Ramsdale, White, Gabriel and Tierney pick themselves.
Nice one, Rico. Klopp can sod right off – go and tap some other youngster up!!
Arsenal are now in advanced talks to sign midfielder Arthur Melo on loan from Juventus but he will only be allowed to leave only if his club can find a replacement. Arthur wants to join Arsenal and is excited to work under manager Mikel Arteta. #Arteta #Melo #Juventus [Transfer Exchange] We shall see….
I think there’s more chance of White starting in midfield than Chambers.
Thanks Sue. Klopp couldn’t afford Saka..
Juventus want a replacement ? How about Xhaka ? I really do believe that for his own career he needs to get away from the PGMOL . They just can’t wait to get a red for him whether deserved or not..
When you consider and compare his misdemeaners to others we see week in week out he is a red card magnet and we suffer because of it .
I nearly added that suggestion to the post today but I’ve lost my tin hat. Lol
Gabon v Ghana today.
Burnley v Leicester City off.
With little or no midfield I see no reason for not going three at the back at Tottenham, I’d take a draw if you offered it me now, we just need to get through it without anymore damage.
Scott/Rico, he knows exactly what he is doing, I’m sure that Saka’s agent has had preliminary talks with Liverpool, but Arsenal pay more money so I think we’re ok on that score.
Liverpool will need to fund an enormous package to keep Salah and Mane for that matter, we could all see how vital those two are to how Liverpool play. Liverpool have a lot of big players on big salaries, they’re a great team but they’re getting old, give it two years and they’ll be finished, just as it was 30 years ago when Dalgliesh’s team fell apart.
And a mention in dispatches for Albert Lokonga, he had a torrid time at Forest but he rolled up his sleeves and got stuck in, credit to the lad, he’s still settling into a new country and a much more competitive league so he needs time.
Do you think it’ll go ahead then Kev, I’m not. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Saka went off just so his name was added to the injury list.
For sure Klopp knew what he was doing, sly old so and so..
Just a remark.
Klopp needs or rather will need a replacement for Salah, sooner rather than later. I suspect he’s got his eye on Saka because he’s the nearest thing both in ability and potential to Salah. So, an easy fit, if he can afford him.
The TAP starts dripping now!
Can’t see Saka leaving though. London? Liverpool? Mmm!
Klopp was sowing the seed in Saka mind that he is too good for us, hoping he will want to leave or demand a huge pay rise when his contract is due next that we Can’t afford.
Nice to see Lacazette pick up the PL goal of the month for his strike against Southampton.
Arthur Melo has agreed to join Arsenal but the Gunners are still waiting for Juventus to make a final decision over the midfielder’s future.
Mikel Arteta is desperate to add reinforcements to his squad before the end of the January transfer window and has made the signing of a central midfielder one of his top priorities.
Lyon’s Bruno Guimaraes is also on Arsenal’s shortlist but the French club are demanding a €45 million (£37.5m) fee for the Brazilian.
Arsenal have stepped up their pursuit of Arthur this week and according to Goal Brazil, an agreement is now in place between the player and the club.
The report claims that Arteta and Arsenal’s technical director Edu, who already has a relationship with Arthur following his time at Brazil’s Football Federation (CBF), have both held positive talks with the midfielder.
However, Juventus remain reluctant to allow Arthur to leave until a replacement is lined up.
https://dailycannon.com/2022/01/north-london-derby-postponement/
I hope it’s true.
I wonder who told Goal Brazil that little nugget 😂
Arteta on possible NLD postponement
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta when asked if there is a possibility the north London derby could be postponed on Sunday…
“We are having communications every game around the situation. We always need to play, when we have a fair assessment the Premier League will make a decision.”
Arteta goes on to say Arsenal are “very short” on numbers.
Yeah Rico, I’ve seen the rumours about the NLD being postponed, I reckon that Liverpool would object the same as Tottenham, but even so we know that there’s one rule for Arsenal and different rules for everyone else, I expect us to be playing on Sunday – Sky Sports will insist…
Any news on the NLD yet, Rico? I’ve just binged After Life on Netflix – am an emotional wreck right now 🤣
We can confirm we’ve made an application to the Premier League to postpone Sunday’s north London derby. #TOTARS
Watch this space!
It’s official now Kev, decision for the game to go ahead is to be announced tomorrow. Lol
How spooky Sue, I’ve just done the same this afternoon. Brilliant wasn’t it, no dry eyes though.
Toots are livid apparently.
Great minds, Rico 😉 I loved it; once I started blubbering I couldn’t stop!! Sad it’s come to an end… although this time next week we’ll be glued to Ozark haha!
Been waiting for it Sue, brilliant programme but yep, shame it’s come to an end. I didn’t realise Ozark is back next week. Excellent news, thanks.
Fiorentina are close to accepting £58 million offer from Arsenal for striker Vlahovic., and we are in “advanced” talks with Juventus for a six months loan deal for Arthur Melo.
But does the player want to join Arsenal? Melo does if the back pages are to be believed.
Morning Cicero.
New post up now