Well that didn’t end well. In fact very little went well for the entire 120 minutes really, other than a thing of beauty off Auba’s boot. I’m not cross, just really disappointed because we had so many opportunities to put the game to bed but our front men failed to pull the trigger, Pepe in particular.
I thought we were naive too after Aubameyang scored our only goal of the game. We had something like ten minutes to hang on but instead of remaining organised and disciplined in defence, we committed too many players forward in search of that extra goal which never came. Instead, we conceded again but this time, it looked too late to respond. That was until the ball fell to Aubameyang, but with the goal gaping, somehow he fired wide.
Our Europa challenge and the chance to return to the Champions League, gone.
There should have been a red card, of course there should and a very different outcome might have played out had the referee and/or VAR done their work properly but even so, Arsenal were poor. The defending for their first goal was abysmal, it really was. Not one player tracked their goal scorer, the tallest player on the pitch who was always going to be a threat on set-pieces.
Personally, I thought Mikel Arteta’s substitutions were questionable. He had no option but to change Mustafi for Sokratis but when it was clear we couldn’t score, Martinelli should have been the guy to turn to surely? Pepe, Lacazette, Ozil and even Aubameyang were all struggling. Any one of them could have gone off and not been missed. In fact barring Mustafi, no one had a particularly good game. Ceballos was marginally better than those around him and yet he was the first unforced change.
I lost count of the amount of passes which were misplaced and how many times Pepe thought yet another touch was better than shooting. In possession we looked static, in attack we looked slow and ponderous. Olympiacos defended well but we didn’t exactly make life difficult for them.
Simply put, Arsenal were awful, possibly the worst yet under Mikel Arteta and we got exactly what we deserved. Whether heavy legs played a part I don’t know but it sure looked like it. Either that or our lack of quality is being seriously exposed. Perhaps a bit of both.
Mikel Arteta said after the game that he and the players are hurting badly because we’d had the opportunities but weren’t ruthless enough. He said he was disappointed with the way we defended set-pieces and he’s right. Arsenal only have themselves to blame for the result last night but I see little point in going overboard with the criticism this morning. Arsenal as a club are running a marathon, not a sprint. Of course it’s disappointing, especially when we had the chance to nick a result at the end but that’s life. That’s football.
Mikel Arteta has the job of picking his players up again before Monday’s FA Cup match at Portsmouth. Especially Aubameyang who looked very dejected after seeing his final shot of the game go wide. This is when we’ll see what our Spanish head coach is made of, what this group of players are made of too.
Catch up in the comments guys.
Morning Rico…. I can’t believe we bowed out in the way we did – typical Arsenal! To do the hard work in the first leg.. that line up should’ve been more than enough to see us through. But to play like that at home was just unbelievable. The goals we conceded were shocking!! Fair play to Olympiacos.. they were clearly up for it from the start, whereas we weren’t. So I guess we got our just deserts!
So gutted for Auba…he looked distraught…
I don’t want to be too hard on him, as he’s carried us on so many occasions (his poor back 😄)
We’re just rubbish in Europe.. end of!
Morning Sue. I can’t blame Aubameyang either. He’ll relive that miss many times I’m sure.
What is it about Arsenal and not hanging on in Europe? Ten bloody minutes, that’s all but we lost all shape, discipline and it was like everyone wanted to score.
It’s no wonder we’re all nervous wrecks as the clock is counting down!! We never seem to kill games off… a major blunder is never far away… and now I’m dreading Monday night!!! One of my work colleagues said to me football isn’t good for your health – she’s bloody right!! 😄
I blame Mustafi. 😜
😂😂 Rico!!
Morning Rico. After last night’s shocking and embarrassing debacle lots of questions must surely be asked as to the way the manager and team approached the tie. Others will write it of as just one of those nights but it was so, so bad that that seems wrong to me. I reckon we must have wasted about 40 minutes with the same old square and backward passing that finished off Wenger and Emery. I had a feeling that our cavalier approach to the game time would bite us and it did. The only player who did anything of note was, incredibly, Mustafi who threw himself at everything and at least showed some signs of a winning attitude. The rest of them were shocking and the ‘rebuild’ looks deeper with every passing game. It’s pointless to go into how bad they all were but Mikel and his bizarre substitutions also factor into a game that it seemed to me the team never really took seriously.
To add to the depression I must mention the truly awful Karen Carney in the commentary box with her droning on and on, ending every sentence with “isn’t it?” and just being a total irritant every time she felt the need to comment. .
It’s painful right now.
Morning Adam. I agree re Mustafi, I thought he was excellent. He might lack finesse at times but his commitment to his job was commendable really. I’d written him off but if what we’re now seeing from him is the real Mustafi then he’s a stayer I think.
Mikel was clearly unhappy with the way we were playing as he was barking orders from the touch line but it wasn’t happening on the pitch. My concern is whether or not certain individuals are reverting to their old ways already. Still, it’s nothing more than I expected really.
That was dismal to see gents earning 100k a week who couldn’t pass a bloody football 10 yards to a team mate!!!
Auba’s miss was like so many we’ve seen this season.
Luiz for their first goal was like a cardboard cutout!!
Awful.
Professional Players just have to be better than that.
Good morning Rico and all.
Did we have a plan for last night’s game? Was that plan to suck the life out of the crowd with a stultifying parade of slow, negative passing and an over generous attitude to ball possession? If that was the case then Arteta is in for a short and ugly tenure as Arsenal head coach.
I don’t think fatigue came into the equation, one would expect the first forty to sixty minutes to be played at a reasonable pace, only then should tiredness kick in. In fact apart from the first three to four minutes the Arsenal game looked like an advertisement for over sixties walking football. Only after the second Olympiacos goal did we show any sign of urgency.
Every season we have a meltdown fortnight, a bad result on Monday will continue the sequence.
Rico. I could see Mikel running around but attitude is partly down to him.
Lots of players with question marks against their names for when the great rebuild eventually starts.
He wasn’t much better for their second Scott.
Morning Cicero. Arteta said fatigue played its part, nevertheless, that’s when you let the ball do the work. We didn’t.
Rico. Arteta does himself no favours with excuses like that. Better to say nothing.
Adam, my only disappointment with Arteta is his changes. I’d have liked to see him be more ruthless and taken Pepe off, probably Ozil too because they we too slow against a team defending in the way Olympiacos were.
People talk about the sideways passing etc but isn’t that how City play? The difference being imo is that City then play a cutting pass through the middle or wide to breach the defence. Also, their movement off the ball is better.
He wasn’t blaming the poor performance on fatigue Adam, just said it didn’t help. He was quite critical of how the team played.
Rico, the difference is our sideways passes were actually directed at players up the pitch lol
Makes sense Scott. I thought our front three, four including Ozil were dreadful. If that’s what over £200m brings to a team, then I’d rather a £10m Martinelli any day of the week.
Rico. Yes, But City mix it up and aren’t allergic to the long ball either. What they don’t do is to sink into a collective negativity like this Arsenal team or fire 10 yard passes to each other at about 50 mph a la Xhaka last night. They also have a tendency to produce from individual players even when the team might be looking a bit down. There are just too many negatives at the moment and the little darlings must be tired.
ok so a few more fans are complaining about Arteta timing of changing players during a match that’s what I said a few weeks back and got my head bitten off nice to see people starting to agree with me.
Guys, If anyone can explain how subs and selections suddenly make players unable to pass a ball, then I’m all ears.
Sorry to say, but those who didn’t want Arteta before he got the gig are all over him at the first chance.
at least one good thing come out of last night match, Arteta has now seen who can play under pressure and how fit the players are when they have to play so many matches in a short period. this can only be good for the future. Now hopefully Kronke can get Arteta the players he want’s and sell the players he does not want.
Geoff, he’s most definitely improved things, but he can’t produce miracles that’s for sure.
Look at Mustafi for one.
No fan wanted him at the club 2 months ago, yet suddenly we miss him when he’s off the pitch.
Xhaka to a certain extent is a much better player.
There are others but we still make some stupid errors when under pressure and that’ll take quite a while to fix.
Let’s just give the guy a chance and not stick the boot in at the first chance.
When we signed Emery, most seemed so related to give the guy 3-4 Transfer windows to show something.
Arteta has had one, and a January window at that.
The culture of losing or at least failing under pressure is a hard one to turn around.
Hi Scott I will judge Arteta at the end of the year and only on FA Cup and Home and away matches were a lot clubs have changed coaches and not on European matches as most these club have had the same coach and players for a couple of years
Scott. I see it as a team contagion. Watching Torreira come on yesterday, I swear I saw him look forward at first. But there was no movement and no believable plan so he passed it back to Luiz who then exchanged a half-dozen back and forth passes with Mustafi before turning it back to Leno to initiate the tedium once again. This sort of stuff went on the whole game. Nobody felt capable of moving the ball forward. The Greeks sat back and admired our pass count in our own half. They had obligingly made a little right-wing cul de sac for Pepe to run into and he didn’t disappoint them. There seem to be very few occasions when he finds himself in a position to use the ball without coming to a complete standstill before trying to dribble past at least 2 players first. If we had a hold-up player who liked to receive the ball with his back to goal, the trait might be reversed but we have Laca instead who has gone downhill so fast it is frightening.
The Emery reign ended with the ball inside the full back for Kolasinac to run onto as our rather laughable defining attacking move. Other teams understood this and closed that door. Olympiacos just turned us off last night and we had no alternatives. It goes deep and unless Mikel can address it, then he’ll be a goner, no matter how much we like him and how good a game he talks.
That’s what I was alluding to Adam. The difference between the two is the type of pass and the movement going on in front of those passes. Our lot are far too static which shuts down the options.
Luiz likes a long ball. Too long much of the time. 😂
Rico. Then we are in agreement again. 😃
Adam, if we had a Santi or Rosicky, we’d never be so static in midfield but we lack that type of player atm.
That’s what I believe Arteta must address.
These passes for the sake passing is ridiculous, and you’re right, little movement off the ball is a killer but with the right man on the ball, we will head the right way.
Lots to do in the summer, but Arteta is the right man for the job and imo will prove it.
I’m not at all Scott.
My view hasn’t changed on him. He has a group of players he inherited and he’s improved a lot imo in a short space of time.
I mentioned subs because I’d like him to be more ruthless with under performing players during a match. Pepe or Lacazette should have gone imo and Martinelli on. He’d have added more pace and energy but no, he wouldn’t have made a difference to the passing other than perhaps being an outlet for Ozil.
One great win doesn’t define a season, neither does one loss.
Rico, don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting he has not made mistakes, just that this performance, especially the schoolboy errors and terrible technical blunders are down to players imo.
We are Adam. 😂
But I don’t blame Mikel Arteta for that, not right now anyway. If things are the same around Christmas and after he’s been back by the board in the transfer window, then yes, clearly something is wrong.
I realised Scott.
Said on the last post and a couple of days ago, we need a player who will take us forwards from midfield. Santi, Rosicky, Hleb etc, that kind of player because of all the midfielders we have, not one can do that.
But then as said, when the front three aren’t moving, switching, or trying something less bleedin obvious, we’re never going to rip good defensive sides apart.
Agreed, Rico.
We were terrible.
That can happen, and the hurt the players and manager obviously felt after the game at least shows the performance was due to a lack of trying.
Sometimes it’s the odd one or two players having a bad game Scott, Arteta needed ten subs last night.. lol
Yeah it was quite strange to watch so many play so poorly.
Afternoon Rico/everyone,
well that was a Greek tragedy and no mistake.The only players I’m not blaming are Leno,Bellerin, Mustafi & Aubameyang, Bellerin can’t be judged until next season, the other 2 have been great this season,we would have been out already if not for Aubameyang,Leno is probably still traumatized from the Emery era.Mustafi was good.Everyone else had a nightmare, especially Luiz,Ozil,Lacazette.
The game was crying out for Martinelli.He also did well when he came on.
You worry how this will affect the rest of the season.As someone else Mentioned we would often implode at this time of year, certainly the Portsmouth game now becomes much bigger,lose that and all hell breaks out.Its deja vu all over again,only in previous years we would often go on a winning run last few games,to sneak into 3rd/4th place.
Afternoon Rico and all
I’m not going to dwell on last night. It was a very poor display of our national game. And, the poorest of them all was Lacazette. What has happened to him? He’s a shadow of the player he once was. The result was not down to him though, he was just the pinnacle of our failures, imo. (If that’s not a contradiction of terms!)
Draw being made now Olympiacos have drawn Wolves. I wonder if they are thinking oh good another easy premiership, pushover team. I’m of the opinion that Wolves will expose us for the frail side that we are and spank the Greeks good and proper. That’ll learn ’em.
Well, back to counting the falling raindrops!
My question is why was the ball played back to Leno in the first place?
Once again a misplaced pass putting him under unnecessary pressure.with so little time left I criticise Martinelli for taking a shot when possession is key.It wasn’t just bad passing but a lack of common sense and I am putting Xhaka at the front of the headless chickens closely followed by Pepe
Olympiacos drew Wolves!!!
Afternoon Limey, Wavy.
Monday night will certainly tell us more about where we are Limey. I’m hoping we see Pablo and Martinelli start.
Wolves will despatch Olympiacos with ease I suspect. In some ways, I’m glad we’re not facing Wolves..
At one corner Saka was eye to navel with the centre back just after he scored.Who was organising?
Afternoon all, good accurate post rico, not long before you had to write a depressing one!
I reckon Arteta had told the players to be sharper in their passes rather than ponderous. They hit a few bullets early on and the ball went out or couldn’t be controlled. Happened many times so they went back to safe and sideways.
Really lacked intelligence and game management. How had the Greeks scored through the whole two legs? A corner. So with two minutes left they should have been thinking anything but a corner or dangerous free kick should be given away. But then they do just that. Really wasn’t surprised they scored as I was still shouting for giving the corner away. We really do shoot ourselves in the foot.
And credit for once to the referee, for allowing another minute due to the extended celebrations in extra time for the goal. Should have been critical and a different story.
Torreira too at one stage Potter. Talk about a mismatch…
Thanks Andrew, good point re the ref. So often they get heavily criticised and usually rightly so but other than the block on Pepe and the probable red card which he didn’t give, he had a decent game..
I bet Aubameyang still can’t believe he didn’t tuck that chance away.
Afternoon Rico, thanks for the post.
I’ve gone to the Emirates twice this season and on both occasions I’ve noticed how muted the crowd are.
Now this could be just a symptom of several years of Un dynamic football at the The Grove from late Arsene Wenger and up to Uni the Unintelligible gradually draining the enthusiasm from the fans. There’s also a tangible nervousness whenever we’re under pressure, no doubt brought on by a litany of fcuk ups by our defenders in recent seasons, but I also feel that the crowd has changed, maybe the British football fan has changed in general, the Olympiarkos fans certainly put us to shame. My son and his friends desperately tried to generate some noise in the area we were in, from what is laughingly called the ‘singing section’ but many of the old timers have gone, gone for good and the new fans who’ve replaced them, well they just watch.
I have to admit that I was myself pretty much bored to tears, it was, after all Arsenal in Europe, predictably underperforming, following in a long tradition of 25 years of European failure, why are we surprised?
God knows what it must have been like in the Upper Tiers, probably like a day trip to Eastbourne.
The only positive we could take and I’m grasping at straws here, is no more bloody Thursday football, a few less midweek games and more time for Arteta to work with his squad.
In general he’s worked miracles with this squad, it’s been a tough job for him trying to rescue our season after the club drifted for years under the dead hand of Stan, who left Arsene in charge too long and whose lack of interest, in stark comparison to Fenway, has left us where we are. Raul has a big big job on his hands this summer, that’s if he wants to keep his job because the fans ire could soon have him in their crosshairs.
Rico I agree, Wolves would have knocked us out anyway, but watching how Wolves deal with Olympiarkos will be embarrassing.
What missing out on European football could cost Arsenal next season
Charles Watts
Arsenal Correspondent
The Gunners now face a battle to qualify for the Europa League next season, with Mikel Arteta’s side currently sitting ninth in the Premier League
It was about an hour after full-time on Thursday night when Josh Kroenke and Raul Sanllehi made their way out of the Emirates having watched Arsenal crash out of the Europa League to Olympiacos.
Sanllehi, Arsenal’s head of football, and Josh, the son of owner Stan, didn’t mutter a word as they hurriedly wandered past the assembled media with their heads bowed.
But they will have been aware more than most just how costly Arsenal’s shock defeat against the Greek league leaders could be going forward.
Winning the Europa League was undoubtedly the Gunners’ best chance at earning a spot in next season’s Champions League and returning to Europe’s elite competition for the first time since 2017.
But that opportunity has gone now and with Mikel Arteta’s side sitting ninth in the Premier League with just 11 games to go, there is a very real possibility that Arsenal could find themselves without European football altogether next season for the first time since the 1995-96 campaign.
There is an argument that not having to worry about European games could be a good thing as it would allow Arteta and his players to focus fully on domestic matters. There would be minimal fixture congestion and the squad would be well rested between games – something both Leicester City and Chelsea have benefited from in their recent title-winning seasons.
For Arteta, the free weeks would give him ample time to work with his players and to drill his ideas into them at the training ground, but whilst that would certainly be a positive, the financial cost of missing out on European football would be a huge blow to a club that on Friday announced its first opertaing loss since 2002 – publishing accounts for 2018-19 which revealed a loss after tax of £27.1 million (€31.8m/$34.8m).
The Europa League may not bring in the riches that the Champions League does, but it still provides a much-needed revenue stream which could strengthen a squad that is in desperate need of a rebuild.
Failure to even qualify for the Europa League in the 2020-21 campaign would not only have a big impact on the transfer budget for the summer, but it would also see the financial gap grow wider between Arsenal and the teams finishing in the Champions League spots.
Football finance expert Kieron O’Connor from the Swiss Ramble website said: “Even when Arsenal reached the final of the Europa League last season, their £34m (€39.8/$43.6) earnings were much lower than the English representatives in the Champions League: Liverpool £98m (€114.7/$125.8m), Tottenham Hotspur £92m (€107.7/$118m), Manchester City £82m (€95.9/$105.2m) and Manchester United £82m (€95.9/$105.2m).
“This is a key point: as well as the direct impact on Arsenal’s revenue of their under-performance in Europe, there is the fact that rivals also benefit. In fact, most painfully, Tottenham’s revenue of £459m (€537m/$589m) has already overtaken Arsenal’s revenue of £393m (€460m/$504m) in 2018-19.”
Arsenal’s shock exit to Olympiacos in the last 32-stage on Thursday night means this season’s total earnings from the Europa League will be drastically less than the £34m that was generated from last season’s run to the final.
Distribution in the Europa League is much the same as the Champions League, with each of the 48 clubs involved in the group stages receiving a participation fee of €2.75m (£2.4m/$3.1m), with each victory in the group stage earning €570,000 (£492,000 / $632,000) and each draw earning €190,000 (£164,000/$211,000).
“As Arsenal won three games and drew two, they received €2.1m (£1.8m/$2.3m) here,” O’Connor explained. “There is also a share of the money saved from all the draws at the group stage, worth €212,000 (£183,000/$235,000) for Arsenal.
“In the Europa League there is an additional bonus for teams that qualify for the knock-out stages, with the group winners earning €1m (£860,000/$1.1m) and runners-up £431,000. As Arsenal won their group, that’s another £860,000. They also got another €500,000 (£431,000/$553,000) for reaching the last 32, so that means a total of €3.8m (£3.3m/$4.2m) in prize money.”
A new distribution method based on club performances in Europe over the last 10 years was introduced by UEFA last season and Arsenal top the Europa League rankings, something that earned them an extra €3.4m (£2.9m/$3.8m) from the UEFA coefficient this season.
The final element of revenue is earned through the TV pool, which is based on performance in the previous season’s domestic competitions and half on progress in this season’s Europa League.
“The latter element is partly dependent on how far Manchester United and Wolves progress,” explained O’Connor. “My rough estimate is that Arsenal will receive €11.8m (£10.2m/$13.1m) here.
“That would mean total revenue for Arsenal from this season’s Europa League of €21.7m (£19m/$24.4m).”
For a club of Arsenal’s stature, whose business model and wage structure is based on Champions League revenues, that is a minimal return. If they fail to even reach the Europa League in 2020-21, it’s still £19m (£24m) more than they will bring in next season.
And missing out on qualifying for Europe’s second-tier competition would also have an adverse impact on other revenue streams such as sponsorship deals and matchday income.
Defeat on Thursday night already means Arsenal face the prospect of having to pay out millions in rebates to season ticket holders who, as part of their ticket, get seven home cup ties included.
Well summed up Rico!
For me Mustafi was our best player: blocking, tackling, heading out and of course with his distribution; just the first goal missed the top of his head by an inch as he attacked it before the unmarked 2m man came in.
You could see Mikel”s frustration throughout the match so I’m sure he will have learnt a lot about his players last night and that’s a positive!
I think it was Adam who said he’d had one window – no money, just loans for players unwanted in the main does not sit right with me as a window of opportunity, esp backed up to FFP.
Talking of FFP: the guy who heads AST said Kroenke could do something to ease our stress legally. If he paid off our stadium debt which most think is done we’d have an extra £25M to spend each year instead of servicing a debt – food for thought!
Looking on the positive side, we’ve now more prep time to rest and win our remaining games as ManU & Wolves play extra games and Totts hopefully slide to oblivion. We’ve the same loading as Sheffield and Chelsea now I think. Let’s see what comes out of all this. I’m still very positive!
But having now exited the Europa League and with only one more potential FA Cup home tie to come this season, the maximum fans will be able to get is six.
So rebates will have to be given to approximately 46,000 season ticket holders, with the club potentially having to refund more than £4.5m ($5.9m).
Supporters have the option of redeeming the cash or they can have the money they are owed deducted from the price of their season ticket for the 2020-21 campaign.
“It should be said that there will also be a reduction in the wage bill, due to lower performance-related bonus payments,” noted O’Connor, highlighting one rare potential positive.
But overall, failure to secure European football would be a huge blow financially for a club. It would severely restrict the business that could be done in the summer window and would also limit what they could offer in terms of contract renewals.
And that could cause major problems, with talks due to take place with talismanic striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, as well as the likes of Alexandre Lacazette, Matteo Guendouzi and Bukayo Saka.
So although the Europa League may not bring with it the riches and the glamour of the Champions League, Arsenal are not in a position financially to just gleefully wave it goodbye for a season. The only realistic way of making up the shortfall that would come from missing out of Europe would be to sell at least one of the squad’s prized assets.
Josh Kroenke knows it and so does Sanllehi, which perhaps explains their long faces as they shuffled out of the Emirates following Thursday night’s disastrous defeat.
Financially speaking one good thing to come out of last night’s defeat is that we almost certainly won’t be paying out two hundred thousand pounds per week to Aubameyang next season and may well be banking a tidy sum from his transfer fee.
Evening Rico and the House.
The U13 are at home to Man C tonight
This is the side,
Macey, Swanson, Clarke(c)Mari Medley,
Smith, Azeez, Cottrell
AMN, Balogun Coyle.
Subs
Hein, Holding, Nelson, Mcenef Omole.
Looks like Mari Holding AMN and Nelson playing 45mins each
Last night was nearly as disappointing as a Freemason entering a grand lodge and being told a ban has been enforced to stop secret handshakes because of the Corona Virus!……………………and as confusing as when me and the hideously deformed VCC entered a funfair house of mirrors and the mirrors made him look normal!
No Europe next season may be a financial disaster but the silver lining will be imo guarenteed us top 4!
Slow start
After 2mins Balogun scores 1-0
Wrighty’s response to Auba…..❤
https://mobile.twitter.com/afcSource/status/1233429528258711553/photo/1
Morning all.
Rick, get out there and fire the lads up 🙂
Yes, we’ve replaced our manager with someone I do believe will achieve great things, but that’s only one part of the puzzle.
He needs to be supported by the owner, and as Rico often correctly points out, that can only be done to a certain extent as FFP rules restrict that, but again, we also need to allow Arteta the 18 months to 2 years to build his squad.
All I ask over that period is a steady rate of improvement and imo, that’s where Emery lost out as after a reasonably decent start, we were declining.
It’s not about winning trophies atm as we simply aren’t good enough, but that constant Improvement is what we need to see.
We must support Arteta 100% right now because we could easily fall into the trap if other clubs where the position of manager becomes a revolving door, a situation which does nobody any good.
H/t 1-1
62min 2-1 Balogun again
H/t Holding on for Mari and Nelson on for AM
Amn played left back
Honest post Rico, Hi All.
Just so disappointed about our attitude last night. No press and lazy, lazy passing.
I just don’t like Pepe. I feel sorry for Bellerin every time he plays with him. He very rarely tracks back and never…NEVER puts in a tackle.
Why Arteta didn’t swap him for Martinelli, God only knows.
If someone would offer us 70 million for him we should jump at the chance. I know I’ve never taken to him, but what does he offer?
We could have got somebody so much better for that price!
Goals in the 79th-84thand 88 min have given Man C a 4-2 win.
Very poor 2nd half Macey and Medley at fault for 2 goals.
Kev the 18 year olds Swanson Clarke Smith and Balogana had good games.
Really surprised at Norwich beating Leicester!
Portsmouth won 3-0 at home.. bet they’re buzzing about Monday! 😬
I agree about Pepe, Mike. He does my bloody head in… I expected so much more for that sort of money. I bet Lille are laughing all the way to the bank!
I guess that there’s really no point in rotating for the rest of this season, Arteta has to go with his strongest team in every game, mind you would Lacazette make anyone’s strongest team atm?
Maybe some fresh legs and fresh minds are just the ticket with Martinez to start at Fratton Park next Monday and Nketiah probably?
Is it a game for Mesut Ozil, a small old fashioned stadium with some very aggressive fans and against a very physical opponent, the man with tens of millions of followers on social media usually disappears in these games?
What about Ceballos, is it the kind of game for the man from Madrid, I don’t think so?
So for me in would come Willock, being a English player he’ll be more at ease in that kind of atmosphere. Guendouzi also, he likes a bit of rough and tumble, maybe with Torrieira as anchor allowing Joe and Matt to get forward.
Martinelli and Pepe on the wings.
Is Mari ready to make his debut, could be risky so I’d stick with Luiz and Sokratis as Mustafi is probably not fit. At full back AMN on the left, Bellerin on the right.
Bad news for Liverpool, should the government ban all sports events for a period of two months over the Coronavirus there is no guarantee that Liverpool would be named Champions. There are no rules in place to deal with such a scenario. The FA and Premier League are having meetings to sort out the situation. Promotion and relegation will also be affected.
I don’t think we’ll see Martinez starting up front with Nketiah Kev, Martinelli possibly though. 😉
Among measures to counteract the spread of Coronavirus the FA should introduce an immediate ban on on-pitch spitting and nose clearing. Hand sanitisers should be placed at strategic points around touchlines and all hand shaking should be banned.
Any other suggestions?
Afternoon all!
About the title: both and lack of class!
Nice one Cicero, I did laugh, but read it again mate. 😉
Morning btw.
Cicero, we’ve been here before, in a way, wasn’t it 1963 when all sports were postponed during the big freeze, we may well end up with games being played at the end of May and possibly into June? Even if we don’t postpone games, UEFA will almost certainly have to, so it will affect the likes of Wolves, Chelsea, Mancs X2, Micky Mousers and Spuds
20 cases of Coronavirus so far, it’s going to get worse for sure.
I’ve got a ticket for the West Ham game which might be the last at the Emirates for awhile if things get a lot worse in the U.K…
Kev, It was a bit early and I was reading it on a Kindle, that’s my excuse anyway. 😉
I guess if the FA are forced to suspend the leagues then there is not much chance of Euro 2020, due to start 12th June, avoiding the chop.
It’s the FA Womens League Cup Final this evening Arsenal Vs Chelsea kick off 17.30 live on BT Sport 1.
##BREAKING NEWS##……………..Tottenham is to be quarentined!………………..not because of Coronavirus, but because it`s a shit hole!
ESR has been replaced due to an injury…. hope it isn’t too bad.
Interesting day of football…. Hammers beating Saints…. Bournemouth drawing with Chelsea…. Newcastle drawing with Burnley … dare I mention Watford?! 🙏
Good luck to our women, be tough against the Chavs…. come on Miedema!!
Oh happy days!!!!! Watford have made my bloody year!!!
5minutes left yet
Watford, everyone’s second favourite team 🙂
A cup final and there’s no VAR. We should have had a first half penalty, farcical situation.
Woohoo!!!! Thank you, Watford 👏👏👏👏
But in he words of Mick Jagger it’s all over now
Liverpool stung by The Hornets. Boom boom!
Paul McCartney, Cilla Black, Jimmy Tarbuck, Ken Dodd, Kenny Dalglish your boys took a hell of a beating
Limey 😁
https://mobile.twitter.com/AfcSxm/status/1233835751529472000?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
Love it!!
Happy Invincibles Day !
Oh and happy …….”49 games undefeated” Day”
29th of February.of 2020.
The next attempt will be in 4 years
Is VVD In trouble for his rugby tackle that saw Defoleu (spelling???) carried off???
I only saw the replay once, but to say it looked pretty crude is being kind.
😆
https://twitter.com/FootyHumour/status/1233830772471160832
Love it, Le Coq! Diego Salah 😂😂😂😂
Would I be very mistaken in predicting that today’s post might just have an Invincible slant to it with the number 49 appearing somewhere…? 😄
https://twitter.com/jeorgebird/status/1233835704381255683/photo/1
https://mobile.twitter.com/charles_watts/status/1233835742838886400/photo/3
https://mobile.twitter.com/charles_watts/status/1233835742838886400/photo/2
https://mobile.twitter.com/BeanymanSports/status/1233875375534608384/photo/1
I thought I was posting some pictures, sorry about all the other rubbish.
Bloody Twitter!
Bindippers were worried about the Coronavirus when the real threat was Sarr`s…………………….get back to Brookside and start again!
They did well though, 44 games, they wont get a Gold trophy, but they could melt down some hub caps and make something!
😂😂 imagine all those cars in and around Watford this morning Le Coq…. trashed!!
We should not tar all Scousers with the same brush, Sue, some are law abiding citizens and can be found in a straight jacket in Arkham Asylum!…………………………did you know that when Everton and Bindippers met in the 1989 FA Cup Final a few years ago it was marked down as a Guiness Book of Record for the worlds largest ever Police Identity Parade!
Love to chat but Gym calls……………Cardio and Leg workout, I shall attempt 200KG on the leg press, I can hear the machine groaning at the thought of my quads destroying it ! hahaha
No one ever drowned from sweat!
😂😂!!! Good luck with that (not to you, but to the leg press!!) Haha!
Rico, I tried to post something and it came back ‘invalid token’ – what does that mean?
Other than my token is invalid. 🙂
It means your blue badge is out of date, Kev. Lol
Liverpool. M United and Totts, in case of doubt, always benefit from the referees.
It’s a green badge Wavy… 😉
Yellow for the suburbs.
I wonder what Ancelotti said to the referee?
Our final game against Watford looks tough, especially if they need a result to stay up,at least it’s at the Emirates.
Morning all.
Morning Scott.
Should be interesting tonight
No replays, extra time and penalties tonight.
‘morning all.
We have Mike Dean though 😕
Not happy with this Vegan diet !………………………….am I going to have this problem every time I try to get a Vegan into the oven, they put more of a fight than Chicken!
New post up now