Morning all.
What a day yesterday was. Ok, it rained hard all day on the south coast which was pretty miserable to say the least but out in Indore, India, England Women took on the hosts in the cricket World Cup. Whether you like the shorter game or not, or indeed women’s cricket at all, the game was a cracker. Made even better though with England producing a victory when they they’d looked beaten.
Two games of football took place in the afternoon, the first between Totts and Aston Villa, the second, Liverpool and Man Utd. I hoped for two away victories, I got two away victories. Do I care that both home clubs “should” have won? Absolutely not! With Arsenal winning on Saturday and Newcastle losing, the weekend in general has been good as far as the Premier League goes for an Arsenal fan. Just need Man City and Chelsea to go through a rough patch or five.
The count is on, no, not the one who might make an appearance in 11 days time, the “how many games is it since Viktor Gyokeres scored a goal” count. Which by the way, is 9. One more than Dennis Bergkamp took and the same as Thierry Henry after they arrived at Arsenal. Saying that, Gyokeres has scored for Arsenal since his arrival, three times, just not recently. How many goals have big money signings Isak, Sesko and Ekitke scored? Or Cunha and Mbeumo?
I’m sure Gyokeres is cheesed off that he’s not scored more goals but it’s not like he’s just jogging around hoping something will change. He’s grafting, and grafting hard.
The media cannot leave us alone can they? If it’s not over celebrating a win, it’s Mikel Arteta getting overly animated on the touch line. If we’re not over passing in search of a goal, we’re too reliant on set-pieces. Arsenal simply cannot win, not in the media’s eyes anyway.
However, Arsenal are winning and I don’t think they like it. So the more they moan and groan about Arteta, Gyokeres, Martinelli or any other player in Arsenal colours, the better we must be doing. One thing I think we can all agree on is that the media are irrelevant.
Another thing I suspect we will agree on is regardless of how many summer signings Arsenal made or however much we might improve over the weeks/months to come, no game is going to be easy to win. There was a day when Fulham would have been easy to beat at home and away, but not these days.
We have Crystal Palace up next and they are another club which has changed dramatically. Earlier this year we could only manage a 2-2 draw, whereas in 2024, we thrashed them 5-1 at their place. Oliver Glasner has certainly improved Palace since then. This season, they’ve thrashed Villa 3-0, defeated Liverpool 2-1 and drawn with Bournemouth, but, they’ve also been beaten by Everton away 2-1.
The Champions Leave is going to be just as tough, if not tougher, although the standard of officiating does seem to be better in the European fixtures. They will need to be red hot in our game against Atletico Madrid tomorrow night. Atletico are the masters of dark arts football.
More on them tomorrow.
Have a good Monday guys.
Quiet morning… 😜
Sorry Rico, I’ve been too busy gloating over the woes of Slot, Frank and others following a tumultuous weekend of football upsets. What was that MacDonald’s ad line? I’m luvin it! 😉
Yers it’s all quiet on the football front . The journos aren’t happy because we didn’t get a sending off to write about and also we got 3 points which their favourites didn’t .
The talk is of Saka’s non penalty the old ref’s brigade is doubling down on the VAR decision where ex players are saying it should have stood .
Their argument is that the on field award should not have been overturned as it was not clear and obvious . I think the point being made is that the players themselves do not know where they stand with it . They are just as confused as the rest of us.
It took to long to be decided and conveniently there was a breakdown of signal at Stockley Park.
Digital I.D anyone ???????
My goodness, Dyche to be the next Nottingham Forest manager….
Ha ha Cicero, you and me both.
I think the “clear and obvious” has gone out the window with VAR. These reviews should be taking less than a minute to look at because otherwise it’s not clear and obvious and the ref’s decision should stand imo.
The obvious choice Rico, Dyche lives within walking distance of Trent Bridge, once played for them and they won’t have to pay his taxi fare home when they sack him on Christmas Eve.
Good points Cicero, especially the taxi home. lol
We don’t play them until January so maybe we can be the final straw for him , If he hasn’t gone already,
If he doesn’t work, I hope they keep him..
I wonder if Marinakas has looked at Dyche’s previous team’s playing style and thought whether or not his players are capable of working that system. If not he will need to spend another fortune in January.
Does he even know what style of football he wants his team to play, let alone employing the man to do it. I think he was too quick to sack Nuno and Ange. Apparently, Nuno and Edu don’t like each other.
Afternoon Gooners and Rico, good post and to the point.
Arteta has definitely reigned in his arm waving and tried to be more chummy with the 4th official, it seems to be working and our players aren’t giving the officials opportunities to make negative decisions against us, the yellow card count have fallen dramatically and with it the red. A change in policy, Gabriel Heinz, who knows? But it’s working and the media hate it and so the focus on Gyokeres. It doesn’t bother me and it won’t bother Arsenal as long as we win.
And yes Rico, I haven’t forgotten Jesus, maybe he’ll have his Martin Hayes at Middlesbrough moment in April?
Shaun Dyche? Great news story. Gives all the media idiots something write and blab about and they can leave us alone…
Afternoon Kev, thanks.
There are plenty of games which Jesus could feature in, that is assuming he’s not sold in January. Even if he’s a 20 minute a game substitute for the wingers when able. The FA Cup, should it be kind to us is another option. But, I do think he’ll go if the right offer for him and Arsenal arrives.