Morning all.
Roberto De Zerbi has left Marseille with immediate effect, the Ligue 1 club have announced this morning. The Italian has been linked with the Man Utd job since Amorim departed but not for one minute did I see things turning sour at Marseille this quickly. Apparently an exit from the Champions League at the hands of Club Brugge followed by a 5-0 defeat to PSG was too much.
What now for Ethan Nwaneri? Do Arsenal recall him or just wait and see who replaces De Zerbi before making a decision? Personally, I think we could still do with him at Arsenal and always have but with Odegaard and Saka injured, it makes even more sense for him to return.
The plan for our midfielder/winger was made clear by Mikel Arteta, it was about De Zerbi being the manager. Now it seems there will be an interim manager appointed and who knows what his plan will be for Nwaneri. One thing Arsenal cannot afford to do in my opinion is let him stay in France and sit on the bench because like many Arsenal fans I’m sure, I think he’d better off sitting in Arsenal’s bench alongside his mates.
I guess this is a watch this space moment.
As for De Zerbi, I hope he doesn’t end up at Totts should they sack Thomas Frank after he oversaw a home defeat at the hands of Newcastle Utd last night. At least not until after the NLD. In other results last night, Leeds came back from being 2-0 down at Stamford Bridge to take a point against Chelsea. West Ham let a 1-0 lead slip in the 96th minute against Man Utd to draw 1-1 and Bournemouth defeated Everton 2-1 on Merseyside.
Both Aston Villa and Man City play at home this evening against Brighton and Fulham respectively. I can’t see either club slipping up in front of their own fans so it’s likely we’ll head to Brentford tomorrow with just a three point lead at the top of the table.
It matters not though because if Arsenal are to be crowned league champions in May, I want it to be because we deserve it. Because we have won the points to win it rather than others collapsing or referees giving us a hand. Mikel Arteta and his players can only focus on what they are doing and who they are playing. Don’t look down, look up.
Keeping players fit, rested/rotated as much as is possible is key to the three and a half months of football and if that means being sneaky when the international break comes along, then do it. After all, most of the international fixtures next month are friendlies in any case. Personally, I think it’s a ridiculous idea to have international fixtures at this stage of the season.
Lastly, the women are back in action tonight with a trip to OH Leuven in the Champions League quarter-final play-off. Kick off is a 5-45pm in case you’re planning on watching and it’s being televised on Disney. Highlights tomorrow it is then..
Catch up in the comments.
Well that was prescient Rico. Frank sacked a moment ago….. de Zerbi in the way???? Who knows? May be a more testing game to come against the tots?? Hey ho
Good morning all
Twas written in the stars
I think Nwaneri should be brought home. The plan has not worked out due to Zerbi’s sacking, who may well end up at Tottenham as Frank was sacked this morning.
Ha ha Wavy. Shame they’ve sacked him though..
It was, relegation is a real threat right now. I was hoping we would be the club to put the final nail in Franks managerial coffin.
Morning Rico/all
I didn’t know that about De Zerbi,seems a bit harsh but dropping out of the Champions league is costly I suppose.
In my opinion he’s way too good to end up at Spurs (Ryan Mason is available I think)
I wouldn’t be surprised if he takes over at Man City after Pep,although Vincent Kompany must be favourite.
I’m trying not to laugh too much about Chelsea until we have dealt with Brentford.
Morning Limey. I know what you mean about Chelsea, powder dry and all that..
I too think it the CL, especially a 3-0 defeat to Brugge. As you say, it’s costly.
Morning Gooners
Morning Rico, it’s all happening today, chaos everywhere except at the Good Ship Arsenal as we sail serenely on.
I guess that the club will be in contact with Ethan to see how he is feeling about things and then depending on who Marseilles give the job to? I’d like to think that Arsenal inserted enough get-out clauses to bring Ethan home if need be but as a club we don’t have a lot of luck with our loans. I mean you’d have imagined that di Zerbi was rock solid on the cote de whatever, but other managers just seem to get the chop around the Gunners.
Thomas the Gooner getting the sack was fairly predictable after the way the Spuds slumped to Newcastle. I’m not sure it’ll make any difference when we play them?
So Arsenal play 3 times before the Spurs game,they have a mid season break.
Morning Kev, we certainly don’t seem to get much luck with loans in or out. Saliba being to exception I think.
Are Spurs out of the FACup?
Yep 🤔
Why aren’t Man City playing their rearranged game the same time we play Wolves?
G’day all.
Yep, if it’s possible to include Nwaneri in our various squads, I agree he should return to Arsenal immediately.
Rather surprised that Spurs have sacked Thomas Frank, the bloke has barely got his feet under the table, has half the squad out injured and has just started to get them to play his way. Now the Lewis family will appoint some other poor mug, who will inherit a group of players both dazed and confused, who will then have a very short time to learn and understand another different system, at the same time trying to avoid dropping into the relegation zone.
Any manager/chief coach should be wary of taking on such a poisoned chalice with no chance of being able to bring in new players, while also being under great pressure to improve results.
That said there are no lack of masochists out there who would jump at the chance of a few highly paid months of employment.
Good question Kev…
Fan pressure re Frank I guess, they were booed off again last night.
I would love spuds to employ Gary Neville as manager with Paul Scholes as his assistant. Roy Keane as physical trainer and Wayne Rooney as ball boy manager and the Old Ladies Circle plus Phil Neville as women’s football team manager with John Terry as his assistant.
Good evening Rico and lads.
Good post boss.
Nwaneri back?? I wished he never went on loan to be honest.
Evening Devil, I think we all feel the same..
Good win for the women. 4-0 with a home leg to play.
Rico, who was right and predicted what happened?
The main objective of the Totts this year is to prevent Arsenal from becoming champions.
Just a bit of fun Jm because Frank was sacked as the post went live.
Totts are still in the CL though, not that I think they have a chance of winning it.
Havertz out with muscle injury I’m hearing, ever since Nwaneri went on loan the injuries have stacked up.
Eze to start tonight?
Morning all.
Ornstein reported it Kev. Just as he and Gyokeres were clicking. Rotten news for him and the team.
New post up.