Morning all.
Arsenal know what they have to do tonight. Win!
Nothing else will be good enough if we want to head into the final day of the season with 4th place still in our hands. That final fixture is of course, against Everton who were beaten by Brentford yesterday afternoon so still need a win to guarantee Premier League football. They face Crystal Palace on Thursday, their game in hand, but I can’t see them getting much from that fixture.
Another dubious decision was made yesterday as Burnley conceded a penalty which Kane scored from. That was the only goal of the game which left manager Mike Jackson frustrated. Justifiably too but that’s the PGMOL at work once more. They clearly prefer Totts to finish 4th rather than Arsenal and there’s nothing we can do about it other than to not give the officials decisions to make. I feel like I’ve been writing that for years but then I probably have. Honestly, I sometimes wonder whats between certain players ears.
Newcastle have injuries, Arsenal have them too. Neither Gabriel or Ben White were spotted in training yesterday according to a couple of headlines on NN but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not fit for tonight’s fixture. At least I hope it doesn’t. Either way, there’s nothing Mikel Arteta can do about it. Not now anyway.
Eddie Howe has turned Newcastle around. Amazing what a few quid can do eh? Yes they got thumped by Man City last time out but this is at their place, their last home game of the season and they’ll want to go out with a bang. The threat of relegation is long gone and St James Park will be rocking with fans full of expectation ahead of another busy transfer window. FFP? You’re ‘avin’ a larf!
Train with the first team they might but Mikel Arteta is unlikely to call on any of them to start:
We will have to modify certain positions to try to make it work, because we don’t have more defenders and even though we have academy players, they haven’t experienced a lot of those positions because they’re not specified central defenders, so it’s something that we will try to find a way.
Not being pedantic here but other than the three central defenders we potentially have missing, there aren’t any ‘specified central defenders’ in the first team squad either.
Looking at Newcastle’s results, they don’t score many goals but they don’t concede many either, not at St James Park anyway. Liverpool huffed and puffed their way to a 1-0 victory up there so it’s not going to be easy. All Mikel Arteta can do is be prepare his players well and then it’s over to them to be disciplined, smart and committed. Oh, and take the chances which might come our way.
COYG’S – take this fight for 4th to the last day.
Morning RIco
It’s going to be TENSE
Saw some interesting comments about Italy and Pie n Mash on here.
Italy – a beautiful country.
Manzi/Manze is a famous name in the pie n mash scene. Most have gone. Some of the Manzi’s have done very well. They used to have a box at Highbury back in the day. One of my relatives used to sneak in there whenever they could.
Morning Pete. It’s sofa time. 😂
Pie and mash was a regular on the market where my family had a greengrocers shop . Used to have it at least once a week and it’s still my go to hangover cure . As I moved around London it was strange how the liquor changed south of the river was more of a runny parsley sauce.North was thicker.
Funny how we are avoiding talking football isn’t it?
Afternoon Rico and all
Big match tonight, Leno will have to be on his toes tonight, a win and the players lift for the last match loose then 5th it is,
Either way I expected us to finish 5th or 6th so I am happy from that point but we still need to be more consistent.
Tottenham were not only helped by VAR for the penalty but again another loose elbow by one of there players left there opponent bleeding from the forehead and no red card. amazing they are not top of the ladder the way the ref’s look after them.
Listen, there’s no point getting all stressed out about this evenings game because if that wise pundit Gary Neville doesn’t trust Arsenal then nor should we…
Sky and BT have decided that it isn’t Arsenal’s time, the PGMOL have been informed of their decision and Arsenal must pay for having the audacity of cancelling the NLD, we should know our place, in fact I do wonder why we’re even bothering to go up to the North East as it’s been preordained that Tottenham will finish 4th. But I guess that the advertising has been sold by Sky so we’ll just have to go through the pretence of this being a fair competition and turn up for our ritual execution – whilst the old has-been yells ‘and it’s live’…
4th or more likely 5th is still progress for me and Edu can still manage to do some good business and strengthen the squad for next season.
Enjoy the game – I will…. 😬
Afternoon, like to skip to 10pm and know our fate!
Geoff, you suggesting Ramsdale be dropped, or injured?
Fair assessment Kev . I’m off to watch it at my son’s with a couple of beers and whatever happens ……..Happens.
Afternoon all.
Very good Kev.
Is Ramsdale injured? Not seen that written anywhere.
White and Gabriel have travelled apparently.
Gabriel, White, Tomiyasu and Tavares in defence.
Ramsdale is fit, healthy and in goal.
ESR in for Martinelli.
It’s now or never, I’ve got a big mug of tea and I’m laying upstairs on top of the bed contemplating something or other, but mainly hiding under the bed, don’t have nightmares. 😄
Squash for me Kev, and a great big pillow…
Good evening.
According to Italian sources Arsenal have agreed a 21million deal to sign Aaron Hickey.
Signing Hickey can mean one of two options……
A) Tavares to be sold and Hickey Tierney rotate the LB spot between them while Tomi and Cedric play RB
B) Tavares stays and shares the LB spot with Hickey while Tierney is drafted in at CB and shares the LCB spot with Gabriel
I dont think that Tavares will be sold though. More likely that Tierney will be moved as a CB
Tomi has gone off to be subbed by Cedric.
Hamstring
I hope he recovers well for Everton (which I doubt) but hopefully he will have a good summer’s rest
since NUFC couldn’t score we contrive to give them a helping hand so that they will score and we get to play Europa league football.
Spurs need only a point as things stand now.
Yes we have progressed with regards placing. But we still blow hot and cold.
Cant see us winning this one.
Great finish Ben, never see one of our strikers put those away.
What is it ‘they’ say?
It’s the hope that kills you….
Night all.
This change gas really unbalanced the team. Here comes a second
Pathetic.
We cant even find the switch let alone take it to the wire.
Europa league then. The only positive is that in the groups we can get to play the kids and fringe players to give them experience. In the CL we wouldnt have had that chance.
I think we all expected that . I knew that we lost it against Spurs and I reckon so did the players.
It’s gone unless Delia cooks a special lasagna on our behalf.
Andrew I meant Ramsdale but looking at the results it didn’t matter who we used.
I wonder if the results last night and against Tottenham would have been different if the club didn’t announce Arteta contract extension until the end of the season
It was meant to galvanise the players and to give a message that things were going in the right direction. Sadly it had the affect of empowering those that are his first picks safe in the knowledge that their places are guaranteed.
Injuries didn’t help but the players with the experience didn’t step up and hung the young ones out to dry.
It seems that Xhaka said after the game that certain players did not follow the game plan . Sounds as if he is trying to lay the blame elsewhere when in fact it was a collective failure .
It’s a shame that we couldn’t carry so many deficiencies but the squad needs a shake up . In effect we are back to the end of the Wenger era ,5th and in need of about 4 or 5 players .
To me we just ran out of steam, I’ve never seen Smith Rowe be more ineffective, Odegaard looked like he was running on empty, Saka looks washed out, Nketiah was invisible, Elneny was really average and Xhaka was so busy trying to cover for everyone else that he forgot to do his own job and did nothing.
I thought Tavares did ok and Gabriel gave it all he had but was he even fit? As for White he looked off the pace which given he’s just returned isn’t a shock but he was fine with Tomiyasu alongside him, Tomi looked rusty but he’s been brilliant this season, Soares just ain’t good enough but we’ll probably have him next season. Ramsdale looked nervous an£ his kicking wasn’t great but then he probably picked that up from the discomfort of those in front of him.
Martinelli needs to start scoring goals again, but he was an improvement when he came on, which ain’t saying much, Lacazette is on the train out of town and what is the point of Pepe, I mean what is the point?
You know just bring on one of the kids because Pepe is a complete waste of time…
‘morning all. So we shoot ourselves in the foot and come up short yet again.
Next season there can be no excuses, Saka, Martinelli, ESR, Ramsdale etc will no longer be able to hide behind the “young and inexperienced” tag. Arteta and Edu have a job to do this summer to get in the reinforcements needed.
Wasn’t it Alan Hansen who said “you win nothing with kids”.
ps. Baggage arrived in Milan yesterday morning., Naples yesterday lunchtime, expected delivery this morning.
Cicero glad your luggage is turning up can you please check it as some of our players went missing yesterday and there double didn’t do too well LOL
I am really ashamed and disappointed. In the boys, in Arteta (2x) and in the club’s leadership.
The OGAAT principle failed us yet again.
I would refrain from blaming Pepe, as he played 134 minutes in March, April and May combined, so he had all the reason not to be in form. In the meanwhile Saka played 1087 minutes in the same 2.5 months and similarly had the reason to be equally ineffective. That’s not how you rotate a squad to bring out the maximum performance.
Sorry, I have to rephrase: it is not how a decent club with an average coach maximizes result, nor how they develop academy players.
The message is there now large and clear , it’s all well and good having what I term nice touchy players but we need a driving force , We thought we had it in Partey but a man that played almost uninterrupted for Atletico and Ghana for the best part of 170 games has barely averaged 25 a season whilst here.
When we go to market that’s what we need most , I don’t particularly want another player to come and block the progress of what we are developing ourselves .
Quite rightly Kev said that Smith Rowe was inneffective but I think that the worst thing to happen to him was the arrival of Odegaard and I think that he was so out of touch last night and did not really know where he was meant to fit in the team.
If it goes on like this I would not be surprised to see him move on in January or at the end of next season and that would be a tragic waste.
I said last night that we are 5 players off the pace but they have to be the right ones and some most definitely have to leave , there has to be a set purpose in their jobs . Bringing back Saliba probably shores up the back line with Partey and Tierney as our new permacrocks and Xhaka pointing out everyone elses mistakes it’s experience that we need our next leader has to be in the Adams , McLintock mould , not the most stylish , but a leader of men on the pitch , because we sure as hell don’t have one
Just relax and take it steady Cicero , that part of Italy can be rugged but it’s beautiful . Lots of Ice cream and red wine and you will be fine. Oh and change those socks and underpants .
Cicero (I’m happy that the luggage saga is likely to reach a happy ending), the ‘next season there can be no excuses’ is feckin square 1!
Let’s face it, the overwhelming majority of the fans are biased. In this case they either worship Arteta as a former club legend and as a person or simply have a (false and often subconscious) belief that sticking up for your beloved team is synonymous with being loyal to the coach. Either way if somebody is pro-Arteta there will always be excuses.
After his first 6 month – and after a sensational FA Cup victory and a largely underwhelming PL finish, where Arsenal lost the same 10 games (!) as in Emery’s maiden campaign – we said: OK, he didn’t start the year, he couldn’t have a proper pre-season, it shouldn’t count. But now he had a second transfer window, a couple of month for preparation, ‘next season there can be no excuses’.
Well, the club spent 80M, lost Martinez (gave away 4 players for free) and managed to finish at the same 8th position – this time with 13 defeats – but without the cup victory lost out on European football. For the first time in 20+ years. And instead of firing his sorry ass we said, OK, the squad is thin; let’s give him a shitload of money to implement his own footballing philosophy, but ‘next season there can be no excuses’.
Should I continue? The club spent an unprecedented 150M, (and paid 20M+ to give away 4 players for free), had a decent pre-season, had no European distraction, lost the same 13 games as last season (I don’t think our game against Everton will add to this), provided 79 (!) senior minutes to academy players – Balogun’s 133 excluded as he was already part of the first team; but even with that it’s rather pathetic – and achieved neither the point tally nor the table finish targets any decent individual appointed if they took the trouble to lay down the EXPECTATIONS BEFORE THE SEASON STARTED.
We can come back to the ‘next season there can be no excuses’ cliché on the account of his new signings didn’t have the time and chemistry to perfectly cooperate with the rest of the team, but this is a never-ending vicious circle. We are about to make serious reinforcements this summer, primary in the attack and in central midfield. If they need the same time as Aaron and Ben, we cannot really say no more excuses, can we?
My apologies, Cicero. I could have – probably should have – addressed my fulmination to anybody/everybody.
Please don’t take it personally. You did nothing wrong – apart from ignoring the wisdom from the xG stats. 🙂
pbarany :- I take your point on rotation and in fact very much agree with you on the subjec tof Pepe and Saka . I have been saying for weeks that Saka is mentally and physically shot . for a kid that has barely turned 20 years old to have played in nearly 150 games for club and country already , is it any wonder ?
I also see your argument about Arteta and excuses , there should not have been a new contract just yet , merely the carrot of one .
It will be argued that we would have settled for 5th at the outset of the season but !
At various times we were in position to do so much better 3rd was there iif we had not imploded twice. Seven away games when we’ve gone behind,Seven defeats ,with no goals scored , thirteen league games lost already . We are only where we are because everyone else is as bad as us.
Save for the three teams with bottomless pits and Newcastle who will be there spending heavily too KSE will have to make up for the lost Champions League income if we are going to improve next year.
Still a heavily depleted Everton will arrive next week and if Burnley lose to Villa midweek they will probably only need a point to survive and they will probably get it in a tepid draw to close the season and our pampered stars will have a few weeks to contemplate.
Most likely on which new tattoo to get to show off to their mates..
Good morning to you all.
I’ve said my bit in todays post which is up now.