Morning all.
The touch paper has been lit and the insults have begun after Arsenal were drawn against AC Milan in the next round of the Europa Cup. I can still remember them thumping us 4-0 in the San Siro back in 2012. That though was a Champions League fixture and another battering like so many in recent years. The performance that night was so very different from the one four years previous when we knocked the then holders of the big trophy out of the competition. The return leg at The Emirates in 2012 saw us come close, so very close to overturning the four goal deficit but despite Gary Neville passionately urging us on from the commentary box, we simply couldn’t get a fourth goal to take the game into added time. We went out but at least we gave it a good go. On Thursday though it was roles reversed as we were pathetic, yet still progressed into the next round.
AC Milan big wig Massimiliano Mirabelli has no doubt been keeping tabs on our performances of late because he’s waded in with arrogance and presumption:
“I’m sorry for Arsenal, who I’m sure would have liked to have continued in Europe. It would have been a nice final, but I’m happy. It’s best to face a big club like Arsenal now. We needed opponents like these.”
Club manager Christian Abbiati added:
“Facing Arsenal is a fascinating encounter. It’s bound to be a great tie.”
Well, one thing is for sure ahead of those two fixtures which take place next month on the 8th and 15th, there should be no sign of complacency. Milan might not be the team they once were but they’re no Ostersunds either. Treat these two matches with anything other than 100% focus, commitment and preparation, we’ll be goners. Anyway, that’s all for another day not too far away.
This weekend is about Wembley, Man City and the Carabao Cup Final.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan misses out as he’s cup tied, Ramsey should return but Iwobi, well, Wenger said he doesn’t know what state he’ll be in after picking up a knock on Thursday although I wouldn’t want to see him anywhere near the starting eleven on tomorrow. Mesut Ozil has tossed his ‘can I be bothered for this one’ coin and it seems it’s landed on ‘yes’ which I guess is good news. As is Aubameyang being back for this one. The rest, apart from Santi Cazorla and Alexandre Lacazette, are fighting fit and healthy.
Arsene Wenger has said he’ll select his strongest side available and I suspect Pep Guardiola will do the same. It’ll be us against the current best team in England and if that thought isn’t bad enough, we have to play them again on Thursday evening…
Football doesn’t get better than this eh, well, it shouldn’t and the kind of game City play ‘should’ be ideal for us. They won’t sit back and defend as that’s not in Guardiola’s DNA, just as it’s not in Wenger’s. No, tomorrow will be about which team is more clinical going forward. It should be a very open game, an entertaining game and if we can defend well, (coughs) we have a chance of upsetting the odds which are heavily stacked in City’s favour.
We did it back in May when no one gave us a chance and we can do it again tomorrow too and this time, we have Aubameyang….
Enjoy the sunshine guys as tomorrow it might be snowing.
1st ?
Off to read the post
Wow the mouth on that Italian cnut. Really?? Sorry for arsenal?? That alone should galvanize the team to ram one down his throat but which arsenal ‘ll show up?? The one that played Chelsea off the park or the one against Nottingham forest and osteriod? I really hope we can beat shitty tomorrow to put us in a good frame of mind for the rest of the season. Morning Rico great post. Let’s see what happens.
Was confident a few weeks ago we ‘ll tear shitty a new one but after the last 2 games am actually shitting myself. They have an almost fit team. Leroy sane and Gabriel Jesus is back. How ‘ll our defense cope with that onslaught???
second….
Or we win tomorrow or we lost tomorrow. I’t’s easy, no?
Or we win the League Cup or we not win nothing this season. It’s easy, no?
Our destiny at this time is traced tomorrow. We already know: 6th in the League, out of the next stage in the Euro Lague in the next round or the quarter finals, away from the other competitions prematurely.
Yo jm I see Porto is leading the pack in the super liga. I really hope benfica can get their acts together and win a 4th straight title. Anyone but Porto but sporting is too inconsistent. One week they look like barca next they look like us!!!
Morning Goonster, thanks.
Apparently so, that’s what he said. I’d print his words and pin them up in the dressing room…
I really hope Porto win this season. Benfica and Sporting play with more players all the games…
Jm, my head says we’ll win nothing, my heart though says different….
Rico this when we need tony Adams keown et al. If I was wenger i ‘ll let them into the dressing room 20 minutes before the game. They get this lot fired up. They need a rocket up their asses. We should thrashed these suckers Rico. The battle line is drawn. COYGS
Jm mario jardel made me hate porto then Maureen made me despise them. I hope they don’t win the league in the next 20 years. Lol
Jm why didn’t benfica just take back renato back from Bayern?? They are ruining him. He’s better off at the estadio de luz. With him in that current benfica side the league ‘ll have been wrapped up now.
Hope the heart wins
Renato? No money
Jardel was worst then Van Dost
I’m surprised to this day why one of our old boys isn’t involved Goonie. I know Bould is there but he’s been ‘Wenger’d’…
I reckon there were 15 club chairman in the chapel on their knees hands together pointing to the sky saying “” Let it be Arsenal “”
AC Milan’s chairman hasn’t said anything that we didn’t already know, we are there for the taking and last 16 is our level in Europe.
As for letting a few of our old boys into the dressing room at Wembley , No chance . We will have 20 minutes of contemplation followed by a warm up and the encouraging words from our leader telling them to go out and express themselves and not to worry about De Bruyne or Aguerro , Jesus or Sterling etc.
It’s how we play that’s important.
Norfolk is sunny but very cold and awaiting the beast from the east, hopefully he will come with upmost fereocity and dump copious amounts of white stuff over Wembley so that either the game becomes an event at the winter Olympics or is put off forever.
You missed out the pre match yoga session….
Agree, Wenger doesn’t like big characters, no way would Adams or Keown ever get their foot in the door again. Not whilst Wenger is at the club anyway..
Rico I heard the reason keown was let go(after inspiring the team to the cl final without conceding a goal) was because he gave senderos an earful and Wenger being the “good father ” he is didn’t want his soft babies being “talked down” to had to tell Martin to leave. Don’t know how credible that story was but I heard that a while back. Seems odd to me that he let Martin leave. We played against juve Madrid and Villarreal without conceding a goal and guess what we had a make shift defense!!! Ashley Cole, Lauren and big sol were all injured so keown took a back line made up of flamster eboue(can you believe it) senderos and toure all the way to the final and there’s a catch….flamini played at left back. That defense faced some of the best players this planet has ever seen. The likes of zizou ronaldo Beckham figo Roberto Carlos pavel nedved trezeguet del piero riquelme etc. If Wenger had kept Martin for the 2007/2008 season we could have won the league!!! Still one of the weirdest decision he ever took.
Wasn’t really wierd when you understand the make up of the man.He is in his own eyes omnipotent , he is the one voice and he has a record for doing it before. I was at Highbury and saw Pat Rice leap to the touchline shouting at our defenders and he was pulled back and told to be quiet. Wenger does not like confrontation and that’s what breeds the situation where the players with winner in their blood eventually leave.
I wouldn’t be surprised goonie, that and the fact Keown got the praise for our defending which back then was good.
Beggars belief really Potter that there are still a large number of fans who think Wenger can do know wrong. I can’t see him doing a lot right these days…
Rico but we still see keown kissing his ass on tv every chance he gets. I don’t understand it. Call a spade a spade. We have been shit for more than a decade now and the sole reason we are is and still is Wenger.
I ‘ll really love to win the league cup tomorrow but it’s looking ominous. Rambo still not a 100 per cent fit. Ozil feigning sickness. Jack looking lost and iwobi being well iwobi. How are we going to match shitty’s fenardinho and KDB?? Kev summed elneny he’s been bang average since we signed him begs the question did we really scout him or just threw him in?
Still think there’s a player in there. Sergio busquets do the same thing elneny does for us which is recycling the ball. He’s a possession based making machine. I would have loved to see him with fabregas. We ‘ll be unplayable. No one ‘ll get close to us or ever get the ball off us. Elneny would have been spectacular in that 2007/08 team.
https://youtu.be/njjVaZbDhsM
That’s him at basle. Don’t remotely resemble what we currently have do he? Players are not being coached right Rico. It’s so glaring.
Most of the ex players do Goonster, gawd knows why….
Beats me Rico….Newcastle 2up want rafa to stay up so bad. He has one of the least talented squad in the league but can get them up for a game. They are winning where we lost a few weeks ago. Don’t forget they beat manure too at st James park.
Watching Elneny in your video what struck me was the number of lofted diagonal balls he was playing to runners. As you know that is not something that we do here as we are much too sophisticated and like to play short passes to feet. These of course are not a penetrative but they do keep up the passing rate percentages.and as we know when we lose by the odd goal we can always point to the fact that we were the better team.
We have been down this street so many times, Wenger buys a player then puts him in an unnatural position and tries to change his game. It has worked a couple of times with Henry and Lauren but normally it fails and the long list of the second group goes alphabetically from Arshavin to Wiltord.
I am sure that all we have needed over the past 6 or so years is a release from the tactic , the players do have natural ability but they are held back by a system that only the manager truly appreciates.
Not a fan of Newcastle Goonie…
Rather like Elneny. He used to shoot too when he first arrived, a bit like Xhaka but I guess that’s been put a stop to also…
Lol Rico you ‘re not a fan of a lot of teams I know that. I don’t like them either cause of that twat faced bastard shearer but I ve always had a soft spot for rafa. Liked him at Valencia he played the brand of football got me purring. Plus he’s a gentleman you ‘ll barely hear anything negative about him in the press.
Elneny much like xhaka tr7 etc. They eventually got wengerized after half a season.
Rafa reminds me of Liverpool though Goonie, don’t like them either…
Yes, so many have gone down that path, Gabriel being the latest who left…
Pool winning 3.1 that’s our top 4 hopes gone. We ‘re the new Liverpool Rico the sooner we admit it the easier it ‘ll be on the heart.
I just can’t understand it. His previous teams shot from distance. Pires scored a lot of scorchers from 30 yards my favorite was the one at arnfield. Henry DB10 and even Romford pele scored a lot ofof rangers. This piss poor dilly dally side ways football only started 3 or 4 years ago. We need to revert to form. It’s sucking the life out of arsenal and killing us as a brand.
* long rangers
It’s painful watching Liverpool lately. Am so envious of their style of football. Fast energetic and direct. That was us Rico. Now we look a shadow of our former selves. Pool 4.1 on west ham. God this hurts.
Agree re the tippy tippy sideways, backwards garbage…
We’ll get there Goonie, once Wenger’s gone…
I know we will rico but we ‘ve been left behind by the our rivals. That pool side ‘ll only get better. Pep ‘ll want to replicate this unbelievable season. Manure as always will throw tons of cash to around to buy the league. Chelsea ‘ll also be on the prowl. Even with a new manager it ‘ll take a mammoth effort to get us on top again. This malaise has been left for too long. It ‘ll take 2 to 3 seasons before the rot ‘ll be stemmed. Wenger has ruined us.
I sound like a broken record I know but imo, I reckon we’ll improve overnight with a new manager.
Just hope you ‘re right. Can’t imagine watching this same stale football next season. Wenger should leave at the end of the season. Josh, gazidis and the board needs to pull their thumbs out of their asses.
Ends 2 a piece…damn was hoping the magpies would hold on for the win.
Fingers crossed they do eh..
Catch up tomorrow Goonie, all..
Arsenal playing in a Cup final tomorrow and it’s dead online.
Nobody cares.
That’s what Wenger has done to us!
Evening all and thank you Rico.
Micko……………………….Carbis Bay is lovely and you can get a train along the coast to St. Ives or walk it (about 2/3 miles I think ).
Christ, it’s like the Marie Celeste on here tonight! There was me wearing my Flak jacket too!
Are we all hunkered down in the bunkers waiting? Can we just have a fun game with city in no man’s land? I know it’s not Christmas but who carees?
I can’t remember the last time I felt such trepidation going into any game. It’s not really the fear of losing, because that’s a given, it’s the fear of total humiliation. I wonder if the main man is losing any sleep tonight, coz we certainly will be. I sometimes think Wenger is on another level, where criticism can’t touch him.
Well Pep is certainly ringing his praises today, that will perk him up a bit.
So, which Arsenal will turn up? it’s about frickin’ time they grew some, and got stuck in to a team, then done them on the break. Is Ozil blowing out again ‘feeling ill’ Christ he has sent in a few sicknotes this season already.
The Ox played well today, in what was a scintilating game of football. Liverpool have temporarily borrowed our crown for the team everyone enjoys watching. Except they are also winning. They have scored nearly as many goals as City, and are far better than manure. They should knock napoleon off his second place perch with a bit of luck. Then Ox can give the little Chilean shite the finger, and he can then cry all the way to the bank.
Oh we’ll, into the Valley of Death tomorrow.
What’s the worst that can happen? Yer, I know, to be slaughtered 6-0.
Potter I just saw your 4.16 was so bummed out. Yeah elneny played a lot of cross field passes, shoots from distance and could run with the ball but with us he’s worse than Denilson!
Meerkat I still think we might pull a surprise. If we could shot down KDB we have a chance. It’s just one game and the winner takes all. When we met earlier in the season it took 2 dubious goals to beat us. If Wenger had started with laca maybe just maybe we could have come away with a point or all 3. Am sticking my neck out it’s 2.1 to the arsenal ????
Morning Rico and all
Morning Rico and all. I’m trying to get myself ‘up for the cup’. With little success.
Morning Goonie and all.
Are we playing today. ?
Morning Adam. Can’t say I’m very enthusiastic about the match either…
Rico. It might be ok and we win heralding the offer of a new contract. 🙂
Morning Rico,Adam and all…
Hi BT.
Ha ha Adam. If his future really is based on a result today then I’ll be cheering on City… ?
Morning Bt, how are you stranger?
Kev you’re quite right. Wenger has killed the hope, optimism and expectation.
Years ago we’d have thought, rightly that we had a more than good reason to think we’d win. Now how many of us, seriously think that Arsenal will be displaying the caribou cup in the silver vault? No, nor me either! That’s how far we’ve been allowed to fall from grace.
Wenger out…..now. When we lose later today he should be told to pack his bags and hit the highway.
COYGs prove me wrong. Give old Arsene something worthwhile before he catches the P 45 out of the Emirates.
Cold and clear here, just waiting for the snow to arrive!
Morning all , tinternet very quiet today, seems to be little enthusiasm for anything at the moment.Maybe it will pick up a bit later , but until the teams are announced there’s not much to say or do. Off to the boat to check the winterising before the freeze sets in . Don’t want a water pump or head gasket going.
I don’t think many if any Arsenal fans think we have a cat in hells chance of winning today. Just have to hope City have a a really bad day and we have a better than normal one…
New post up now.