Author: BBandbeyond BBandbeyond

Oh deary me. What a catastrophe. This is truly going to be a long hard season. And not just for fans. For Mr. Arteta. I fear this was a game that reenforced all the negatives that have been hurled at him. Today we were officially out thought and out tacticed – if there is such a word.

We are also the unluckiest team I know. Faced with a slim chance of getting any points we have Tierney as our referee. The fouls were all called against us and the penalty was not given. Not that we deserved much. But we have no luck. That and COVID. No Ben White. He was missed.  Who selected Cedric? Not me. He kept everyone on side for that first goal and was generally crap. Bellerin must surely be headed out (which we know he is) if Cedric is picked ahead of him (maybe Hector was injured – maybe one of his tattoos turned septic). But why not play Maitland-Niles. This is don’t get. I don’t care what AMN wants. He’s out best right back. Play him – we already pay him.

Mari was pretty shit as well. Two games and there’s no real evidence he should be starting. I know we have Gabriel to come back but Mari lacks physicality. I know Lukaku is a beast – a la Drogba – but Mari still thinks he’s playing in a European league where if you flop over the ref will award a free-kick. Mari has been around long enough to know better.

Saka looked way off today. His first touch was not there. And he did not provide Tesco Tierney with any cover. And, of course, like everyone else, this is where we are all wondering why Arteta could not see this imbalance on our left. The majority of these opportunities and both goals came from the imbalance on the left. Yes, positionally Holding and Cedric – and Mari – should have been smarter but James had the freedom of the park on their right. And nothing changed throughout the entire games. Again, this speaks to the claims that Arteta can’t make in game adjustments. It’s hard to argue against that point after todays performance.

We started pretty decently. We pressed – inconsistently – and have a higher energy level than last week. That is, we were marginally better than lifeless and dead. The crowd was behind the team. The opportunity was there. At least for 14 minutes.

It all seemed so predictable. So depressingly familiar. They just played like a coordinated team whereas we were disjointed. There were only a few passages of play where we linked up and applied any pressure. We don’t look like a team. And they did. And we did not last week. Whereas even Brentford did. This, unfortunately, is on Arteta. This is what is so worrying. It’s a long, long season. But the pressure will now mount. And unnecessarily so. It feels like the Arteta that set up the team to beat Chelsea last year and the Arteta that figured out how to win the F. A. Cup has disappeared. The cohesion that he introduced seems to have vanished. We seem to be going backwards. Albeit with better players.

Sambi was, again, excellent. He made a couple of stunning long, cross-field passes. In both cases Saka and Martinelli wasted their chances. Both times their touch let them down. Both of them seem way off their games. Prior to getting injured Martinelli was in-effective as center-forward; only when he went out to the left did he liven up.

Pepe remains an enigma. At times he will be brilliant. Today was not one of those days. He barely defended and did not aggressively close down when we were trying to press. For our most expensive signing he infuriates.

ESR was the only one who seemed focused and determined to take the games to them. His close ball control is excellent. Only when he linked up with Sambi did we generate any momentum. And that usually involved Tierney as well.

We were so exposed to their counter-attack today. Sambi played up field on the right and Xhaka on the left. There was too little cover directly in front of the defense. Maybe if we had Partey it would be different. Maybe if we have Cigarette. Maybe if we had White. But we did not need Ramsdale. Today, Leno was at his shot stopping best. It’s hard to blame him for either goal. But he made one world-class save from Lukaku – who really should have scored. And a number of other saves. Of course, his distribution remained pretty iffy. But, today, he was not our problem.

When they played it out of the back they had Jorghino dropping short and others making themselves available. When we try to play it out it would too often be up to Mari or Holding to play the ball through the lines. That is not how it should work. Also, we have a toothless attack. Martinelli and then Balogun are no Aubameyang or Cigarette. They carried no threat. Even in that first half when Tierny was crossing the ball we were too late at getting into the box.  

So, where is the identify of this team? Where were todays tactics? After a display like this – and with Man City next up – the pressure will mount on Arteta. And, to be honest, today was the first time I’ve started to worry about him. Sure, we miss some key players. But I don’t get what he was trying to do and how he could not correct what he was seeing on the pitch. Tierney was so exposed today. He had no help. Saka was not tuned in. Arteta should have made an adjustment. But here we are no points and no goals. The media momentum will just pile on the pressure. Luckily our owners are tone deaf and nothing will happen in the short-term. But once we’re into October and after the NLD, if this team does not demonstrate some identify Arteta will be on a very short leash.

We have a superior squad now. We have White, Sambi and Partey as new additions in the last 12 months. We have a brand spanking new GK. ESR and Saka have come on leaps and bounds. But yet, we seemed to be lost and aimless. You can see the pressure and strain on Arteta. I want him to succeed. He’s intelligent, articulate and passionate about Arsenal. But that’s not enough. Other managers have landed in other clubs and within less than a year have had a positive impact. Arguably that was true of Arteta. But here we are, worried and unsure as to whether we can progress. And, for once, here when I say “we” I mean me. Brentford, for me, was a freak result. The kind of results we’d seen before at Bolton. Stoke and Burnley. We also had lost Aubameyang and Cigarette to COVID. But today, minus White, we were shape-less and clue-less. Much more worrying. Not that I thought we’d beat Chelsea. But the first game at home for a new season, the first game at home with a crowd after 18 months. You’d expect more. We could not create, and we could not defend. There is no balance to this team.

Sure, Chelsea are a good team but we never really tested them. Their goalie had but one or two real saves. Too many of our players underperformed. That was one of the weakest games I’ve seen from Holding. Likewise from Tierney and Saka. And I worry that some of that is down to our shape and tactics. And our lack of ability to adjust intra-game. And that, unfortunately, comes down to Arteta.

I am a patient man. Sometimes. And I’ll remain a supporter of Arteta for a while longer. Let him get all his players back fit and healthy. Let’s see how the next 8 to 10 games play out. By then I think we’ll see whether he has managed to stabilize this team. Whether the progress and gains of last season have been built on – that the trajectory has changed. But, this is an unforgiving league. With unforgiving – and shit – referees. For a manager that has no luck with the health of his players and refs that never gives us any decisions that is a tough spot to be in. And one that, for a young, inexperienced manager, I worry about.

So I’ve not least faith yet. But it’s beginning to crack. And, for that, I’m angry. This should not be where we are. I like the developments on the transfer side. I like the new additions. I’m sure we’ll remove a few redundant players. To be clear, it’s not the lack of points. Or goals. It’s only two games. Rather it’s the aimless and unstructured football that we’re playing. It’s our lack of identity. This is something we had in the early part of Arteta’s reign. I worry that Arteta has lost his mojo. And there’s no mini-me to help him rediscover it.

-LB7

Ouch. That was painful. Friday 13^th – unlucky for some. Certainly for me. What a way to start the season. We should expect to be bottom of the table after 3 games now. No points after three games. I just hope Arteta can survive beyond the first 10 games.

This performance was too similar to all our pre-season games. Those could be written off as pre-season but unfortunately we are seeing that the past does influence the future. The patterns established – i.e. losing against Hibernian etc – flowed through into the season. Sure we had key players missing. But this is Brentford. And the worrying part is that player for player we better. The value of the players in our team dwarfs them. So how can they beat us like that? I fear some of it comes down to coaching – and of course a few players.

Key mistakes killed us. But we’ve seen that many times before. As much as I love Chambers he was at fault three on the first goal. He was too slow in coming out when he cleared the ball from the by-lane – and he cleared it into the center of the pitch. And then he did not get close enough to their attacker to block the shot. As much as I like Chambers though I dislike Leno. He was at fault for both goals though I’m being a little harsh on the first goal. But that second goal tells you all you need to know about Leno. He is not suited to the physical English game. He allowed himself to get tied up with their player. He does not assert himself and dominate in the air. That throw-in should have been won in the air by Mari but Leno should have gotten their first and punched it away.

Last year we tried to buy their goalie and ended up with Runnerson instead. You can see why we should have bought him. If we were prepared to pay upwards of £25 for Ramsdale then we clearly made a mistake by paying up for Raya. Of the two goals one was comfortable with the ball at his feet, able to distribute to his players calmly and not put them under pressure. And that same goalie was able to dominate in the air. And that goalie was not Leno. Please oh please can we sell him now before the window shuts. He is a great shot stopped – as he showed again today – but he undermines the defense. Leno should have been born 10 years earlier. Then he’d have played in an era when goalies were not expected to play out from the back. He missed his time.

Clearly we were toothless up front. Martinelli was barely in the game and Balogun hardly touched the ball. He had one chance in the box in the first half and he overran the ball. Of course, we did not create too much for him. Having said that we put in a number of crosses – mainly from the wonderful Tierney. There was just no-one in the box. To be fair (and for the first game of the season, why not) he looks like he has a nice touch and is intelligent in his passing. But, like a number of our players, it’s too easy to ease him off the ball or out muscle him. Which for a center forward is not so great.

On the cheerful side, of wait, there are not reasons to be cheerful. Ok, on the marginally less negative side White again demonstrated why we needed him. Sure he also made a few mistakes but overall you can see why he is a natural replacement for David Luiz. Sambi had a strong game. Working hard, tracking back and also linking up well in midfield. He is a very similar player to Partey but just maybe a bit more skillful. Xhaka was solid bunt, as ever, defensively venerable because of his slowness. Pepe had the usual flashes of enterprise but just could not get pass his man. I felt a little sorry for ESR. He was full of endeavor just lack a willing runner in front of him. He had a golden chance in the second half but lacked conviction. Overall though he was one of the few players that shone.

It’s not like they ripped us apart and peppered our goal. But you can’t lose to them. Not the first game of the season. We were not aggressive enough, not pressing enough and lacking and real end product. And some of this does fall on Arteta. A lot falls on Edu. They had three months to get new signings in and move our other players. Why do we still have four right backs? Why do we not have a back up goalie or a Leno replacement in place already? This is what will frustrate the screaming masses. And it will just heap pressure on Arteta. He is safe for 10+ games. But after today it’s going to be a month of pressure because we won’t have any points until after Manchester City. It’s such a waste of the momentum we built at the end of last season.

I mean, you can’t lose to Brentford. Under any circumstances. And today it looked like we got out coached. They got more out of their players than we did out of ours. I’m still all-in with Arteta but the Arteta Out Brigade (AOB) will be in full voice now.  Come Chelski it will be interesting to see how much tolerance there is if we quickly go behind or male the usual mistakes. There seems to be a mental frailty in this team that Arteta has yet to cure.

It was good to see Saka back. You can see how the dynamic of the team changed with him on the pitch. The interplay with ESR and Tierney was much the best of the entire team. Pepe does not have that understanding with others. If we had a forward who could shot on target we might have stood a better chance. There were periods where we retained possession but lacked any threat in the box. And it’s not clear that Aubameyang, when he returns, will solve that issue. But I believe Cigarette can.

What a terrible way to start the season. And let’s not ignore how embarrassing this result is. Losing to a non-existent club from West London who’ve never been in the Premier League. This time last year we smacked a new promoted team – Fulham. This year they smacked us. How can that happen? What happened in the last year. Because we have a better squad now. This is where all eyes turn to Arteta.

We have to be patient though. It’s a long long season. And this year, without the distraction of Europe, there will be time to get this right. The season is not decided with our first game. It will take Arteta time to sort this out. And Edu has three weeks to fix this squad. He is the one that should be – literally – in the firing line; not Arteta.

What a terrible way to start the season. That was dreary and draining. It was like suffering through a repeat of playing against Stoke with all those long throws. But it’s just sucks any enthusiasm out of the start of the new season when you sit through a performance like that. There is a lot of work to be done before the end of this month. And Arteta has to pace himself. The owners will want to give him as much time as possible. But I fear that our own fans will be up in arms after the next few games. It’s the fans who forget that their role is to be supporters of the club and no FIFA managers. But as long as we make the stupid mistakes we made today that hands them a rod for his own back.  

What a terrible way to start the season. Depressing. And did I mention embarrassing. Now we have a week to regroup. We will have a find a way to take our chances next week. We have to find someone who can score for us. Maybe we can sign that ugly, big chinned England captain. I hear he wants to sign for a team that can compete at the highest level. He just needs to emulate Sol Campbell and he’ll be fine. He would win medals galore. If that is, he could wait around for another 10 years.

On the bright side. It can only get better from here.

-LB7

And I’m back. Welcome to a new season. Consider this article as part of this websites pre-season. This is where I’m trying out new formations, words and generally tuning up for the upcoming season. Though truth be told the content will be full of the usual drivel and crap. In the background I’ll continue to work on new signings. There are rumors of new blood being added out of Spain but, with Brexit and currency movements this one now fills like a long shot. Anyway, I think we have enough left sided contributors already (if you know what I mean, wink wink). Adding yet another prima-donnas could provide an overload of gayness for this site.

Apologizes for the lack of wrap up on last season. I’m sure that ruined many a fine summer break as people were so desperate to hear my thoughts and insights. I’ve heard rumours that Arteta was severely impacted by my lack of guidance and advice as he moved into this crucial period of his tenure. So let me help him out with a quick summary. Fuck Willian. Fuck Leno. Love Saka. Love ESR. Good-bye David Luiz. Get me a few more players and you’ll be fine. That’s it. With that feedback I think Arteta can exhale and relax now. All will be good.

It’s funny (in a not funny way) how last season is being re-cast. All the mainstream media repeat ad nauseam cliches about how the season was a failure, a tragic disappointment, a disaster. Really? A disaster? For me a disaster is having a moron in the White House. A disaster is having right wing dictators running too many major countries. A disaster is seeing society devastated by a pandemic. A disaster is Partey being injured yet again. But failing to qualify for Europe by a point (care of Leno v Everton) does not equal a disaster. Try watching Arsenal in the late 70s’ post Brady. Try watching an Arsenal team in the ‘80s with Stewart Robson. Or any Arsenal team with Cygan. Last season should be assessed pre-Chelski and post-Chelski – where we smashed them at home in December. The pre-Chelski team were dour, drab and lacking identity. Post-Chelski we discovered our rhythm and finesse. Sure, there were still some crummy results. But the trajectory for this team changed. Consider the points gained, goals scored and the solidity of the defense. We ended up as a possible top 4 team. The overall position was more or less in-line with expectations. Missing out on the EvenWorseThanNoHopaConferenceLeague is a blessing. Both Chelski and Liverpool spent seasons out of Europe. It’s not the end of the world. And it’s not a disaster.

Most importantly, last season was Artetas first full season even if that was disrupted by the cloud of COVID. When you hire a promising but young, inexperienced coach you need to give them leeway to make mistakes, evolve and develop. And for this season we need to give him time. None of this retarded Arteta out shit. Wait. Be patient. Don’t let our club mimic ManU that continued to precipitously chase out decent managers – and end up with one who is barely decent. Irrespective of where we are mid-season, or even after 10 games, we have to stick with Arteta. Maybe not having fans helped Arteta last year. But it also gave more air to the morons on twitter and Instagram. This year, with fans, will hopefully help Arteta. He is our future. And we all need to support him. I’m all-in on Arteta and won’t reconsider until this new season is done and dusted.

So far we’ve managed to tie down ESR – an under appreciated move given the obvious cash that Aston Villa knew they’d have at their disposal because of Grealish. And then our new signings also speak to the concerns about how little Kroneke invests in this team. Another bogus narrative. They have always put their hands in their pockets. How did we get Aubameyang? CIgarette, Partey, Tierney? Did we pay in luncheon vouchers or with an IOU? I think not. And now with White we’ve put down sizable money to re-enforce the style of our play. Hopefully White can become our John Stones (without the gaffs).

More fan hypocrisy was evident with Xhaka. Everyone complains that we don’t sell our players for what they are worth. So here we decided not to cave into Roma and Darth Vader because they wanted Xhaka on the cheap. How would it help us to sell him for £20m and then have to pay £40m to replace him (if we could find someone). Until we can complete 2 summer transfer windows, we can’t afford to lose Xhaka. We need depth and experience. Do I want him as my main midfielder – no, but  I’d keep him for the squad.

We need to step back and look at the squad overhaul that we’re in the midst of. And it’s not finished. Hopefully we’ll be able to bring in an Odergaard replacement and one more midfield player. And of course we’ll lose some players. Kolinsac has to go. Please leave him outside the stadium in a trash can. And Hector needs a chance elsewhere. Hopefully with Lukaku returning to Chelski – another fine financial transaction sell him for £80m and buy him back at £115m) – that money will allow Inter to make some Hector signings. Cedric is another one who should be moved on. And obviously Willian. Maybe we can send him to Inter?

My biggest worry is Leno. As good a shot-stopper that he is I fear he is not suited to our direction of travel. He is not suited to playing out from the back. There is nothing more scary than when the ball is at his feet. I know the Chelski game last weekend was just a pre-season game and his first one back but his distribution was atrocious. He can’t make decisions under pressure. He repeats the same mistakes. It was like watching him put Xhaka under pressure away at Burnley. Leno can’t help himself. The game has changed and he can’t. The decision made to shift Martinez to Aston Villa was, at the time, the right decision. Given the knowledge we had at the time keeping Leno was the right choice. And if I could go back in time I’d still make that same decision. But it was the wrong one. But we can’t get Emilo back. But we can’t stick with Leno. He can’t play out from the back and he will put our players in tight, pressurized situations. The only question I have is how can our GK staff have had Martinez at the club for 10 years and not know what a talent he was? They saw him every day in training. That is the only place I’d be looking at to better understand how we sold the wrong goalie. And then whilst we’re looking at that someone should also look into the Runnerson deal as well. And now we’ve lost Ryan we must have an adequate backup. Paying £30m for Ramsdale seems like a bad piece of business – selling Martinez for £20m and buying back Ramsdale for £30m – but Kroneke has demonstrated his willingness to support this team so hopefully we’ll get someone worthy.

Aubameyang better not score tomorrow. I’d like his drought to continue for one more game. Nothing matters tomorrow (aside from staying injury free). He is a natural goalscorer and he will find his touch. Let him find it when it matters – against Brentford. It’s a shame Eddie is injured now. He was looking better in pre-season and now we can’t sell him. And we have to decide what to do with Willock and AMN. I want to keep AMN but only if he is prepared to be a squad player. His versatility could be invaluable for us. Arguably we missed him last year when our full backs got injured. But I don’t really see the rationale for chasing various Italian forwards. I can’t think of one that has worked out in the premier league. But give me another midfield player. Preferably a defensive one to give us cover for Partey. And not just for now but also for when he goes off to the ANC in January.

For this season, I expect us to be more competitive. We won’t win the league – Man City will have that. But we should be pushing towards the top 4 but will likely end up in the top 6 with re-entry to the NoHoppaCup. We’ll benefit from Everton losing their manager. Villa will be more threatening. And Leicester will be a threat. But, as we re-build our squad, we will continue to improve. We will give away stupid points and we will have to listen to our own moronic, juvenile, ADHD supporters bleat about every little thing. Those same fans that claimed that the Great and Imperious Wenger could only get us into the top 4 and top 4 was not a trophy are the same retards that are complaining that Arteta is not good enough for our club. Whereas, it’s exactly the opposite. These fans are not good enough for our club. Arteta is not the problem – they are. They look for any opportunity to complain and moan. They are not even glass is half-empty. They can’t even see the glass.

I though remain optimistic. I see numerous positive developments. And I believe in Arteta. From the changes to the U18 and U23 coaching staff, to the signing of younger players through to Kroenke spending bundles of money we are a better club than we were in the last 5 years. No more Gazidis. No more accountant. No more Mustafa nor Ozil. In another 12 months we will have a truly competitive team and a deep squad with balance and two players in each position. In three years we’ll be competing for the title. But then I’m an optimist.

Watch out for VAR this season. It was interesting to see how it was used during the Euros. No drama. No uproars. Funny that. Seems like the technology works right? So how comes it was such an abortion in the EPL? Just listen to Mike Riley and you’ll pretty quickly know. Their latest Einsteinne idea is to no longer show the fans (in the stadium or on TV) the lines they use to decide on offside. Really? Remove any transparency to their decisions? That’s their solution? Guaranteed they will have to walk this one back before Christmas. No question. I’ve always believed it would take them time to get VAR right. But the Euros proves it’s possible. It’s the people that are the problem not the technology. It’s how you use it. And when you have Riley and PGMOL making the decisions then you know you’re fucked. Shame about England though. They were so desperate not to lose that they forgot to win. Southgate – a smart man and a definitive improvement over previous managers – forgot to use the talent on the bench. He was too conservative and wasted a chance to win a trophy for the first time in a generation or two. Let’s see whether in WC22 he plays to win. Semi finals in last WC then losing in the final of the Euros sets up expectations for WC22.

And, to wrap up, the last word goes to our North London rivals. Wankers. Complete wankers (ok, that’s two). Talking about having no strategy and vision. How can you fire Darth Vader in-season and not hire a manager for 3 months – and then after everyone has turned you down. Then when it’s clear to even a blind man that you big-nosed, big-chinned skipper wants to bail you refuse to cash in but hold out for a few extra pounds. The result is a unstable team and the likely influx of the transfer money coming in too late to sign new players. So, it will be either an unhappy skipper or an inflated bank balance. And we think we’ve got problems.

Phew, that was a lot that I needed to get off my chest. I feel suitably warmed up now. Fingers are fully flexed, righteous indignation nicely coming to the boil and looking forward to an injury free game tomorrow. And more to come from me before the Brentford game.

-LB7

Dreary, dogged, dour Arsenal eek out three points. That was simultaneously painful and invigorating to watch. One commentator compared us to Sheffield United. The same commentator would previously decries Arsenal as not having a backbone. We’re either boring and defensive yet gaining points. Or they complain we can’t tough it out and win games.

That’s exactly what we did. Did we have some luck. Sure. Maybe it’s payback for Everton, Wolves and countless other games when we were genuinely unlucky. Here, we defended and forced Chelski to play sideways and backwards. We made them look like us when we lost to Leicester. Except then were were savaged by the media and Leicester were acclaimed for their tactical masterpiece. How Brendan had outsmarted Arteta. That’s just the hypocrisy we have to live with. And, worst of all, it’s compounded by our own fans. We won. We got 3 points. And I bet all we’ll hear is how it’s too little too late. How our style was abject – which, of course – it was. So what. Those fans that chased out Wenger are now intent on repeating the same trick with Arteta. They have made up their little minds and just want to complain. We actually beat Chelsea twice this season. But instead we’ll hear about the Everton, Leicester etc results.

More on this later. Back to this game. We were organized and dour. But Arteta clearly had a plan. This was like the approach he adopted that won us the F. A Cup last year. Tactics tuned to the specific opposition. He re-introduced a back three. Thus we had to see both Gabriel and Mari consistently give the ball away with their wayward distribution. But they defended solidly with able assistance from Holding. They were always under pressure and weren’t helped by Leno who would often take too long to pass the ball. But that’s because he’s indecisive and was not built to play this way. He’s more old school. He blocks shots (most of the time) and stuff like that. He does not do so well with the ball at his feet.

Of course, their high press was more smothering than ours. But then we really just had one forward. But the little pressing we did resulted in our sole goal and sole shot in the first half. It was the exact outcome that we would have expected from our defense trying to play it out the back. In the second half we continued to gift them the ball outside of our penalty area. For example Elneny tee’ing up Giroud. Or Gabriel on numerous occasions giving them the ball. We were overrun for long periods but we played a deep blocked and gave them no chance to really test Leno. It as tough to watch but they lacked the creativity to unlock our defense. Again, it was a role reversal for Arsenal. And it worked. We will not play like this in every game and even when we do we’ll lose quite often. But needs must. We – like them – were knackered. Saka is done. He’s on empty at this point. Odergaard is already on his holidays. And Tierney is one step away from another injury. And now Bellerin has likely played his last game for us. It’s a shame to see him leave in these circumstances. He’s given us 10 years and deserves the opportunity to play elsewhere.

Elneny was so industrious today. He never stopped running and working hard. Partey started the game by making two errant passes but then seemed to settle down. He really is a very good defensive midfielder though. He shielded the back three and understands how to best position himself. Together they helped snuff out Chelsea. Smith-Rowe ran himself into the ground and did his best to help Tierney. On the other side Saka got so little help from Odergaard. The latter reminds me of Ozil when he defends. He never tracks his player preferring to point to the player and expect someone else to track back. A better team would have exploited that. Holding really was solid again today. He is very underrated. He’s had a remarkable season given his previous injury. There’s no way he could have expected to have played this number of games this season.  Mari made his usual one cock-up per game but somehow their most expensive of strikers managed to find the empty stand. That and when they hit the cross-bar twice towards the end of the 90 minutes indicated that today was destined to be ours.

We as fans are so myopic. We (well, not me, of course) decide on a narrative and then fit all the data to re-enforce our prior view. Whether it be that Arteta can’t take this team forward to us needing new owners to invest in the team. Yet when we’ve invested – Partey, Aubameyang contract, Odergaard – that is ignored because it does not support peoples priors. And Arerta, we’re told, has had a miserable season and needs to be replaced. And yet, those same supporters also want stability and growth. But seem unaware of the contradiction with replacing your manager in less than 18 months. Sure we should have beaten Villarreal but let’s not kid ourselves we’re a Champions League team (yet). Judge Arteta after 3+ years. Support him now. Support the team. But it seems our fans view the glass as half empty. Yes, we’re a mid-table team. What did you think would happen this year. We always knew we needed 3 or 4 transfer windows to fix this team. Look how much better Chelski were today. That’s because they spent trillions of dollars every minute on buying everyone. We should focus on building around Saka and ESR. Of course it was this reverse fixture that saw the two illuminate our team and give us hope. And maybe it was that hope that blinded us to the known reality. It caused us to raise our expectations. And now everyone is pissed off because we’re not in the top 4.

It seems this cloud of pessimism has overtaken our club. Maybe it’s because people have lost faith in Arteta. But it seems that there’s this perception that we’ve had a disastrous season. Really? We got to the semi-finals of the NoHoppaCup. We’ve had some wonderful performances. We hear people harp on about losing so many games – 13 – and saying that’s unacceptable. Really? Have you seen the other teams in this league. All season long – without fans in the stadiums – teams have lost more games at home and we’ve seen more surprising results. The media get paid to push these story lines. That Arsenal is in disarray. That Arenal have had a terrible season. Yet the season is not quite over. And I wonder if they’ve been watching what’s been going on with that other lot. Now that really is what I’d call a car wreck. And they are about to lose their once in a generation captain. Not that that’s the benchmark. But, again, for Arsenal it’s not the end of the world. Yet. And it’s the same people that chased out Wenger. They have the attention span and patience of a fly. And the selective memory of a fly. Sorry all those flies reading this blog. But then you’ll forget this in another second anyway.

After an unexpected and valuable win at Chelski rather than be uplifted and happy (well I’m a little uplifted), instead, like our manager, I’m pissed off. He’s after match interview was instructive. He was aggressive and unhappy. I feel the same way. I’m pissed off. We were never as bad as our own fans have claimed nor as good as they thought when we put together a winning streak. How can any team be effective when you have Willian, Ceballos, Eddie in your squad. We’ve finally dumped Mustafi, Kolinsac, Sokratis and Ozil. Come back in 12 months and we’d have cleaned out 5 more players. But we knew all this. So why are our fans so unhappy with Arteta now? They need to channel their frustration to Kroneke. Because that’s a match made in heaven. Our deaf owner and our loud-mouth idiot fans.

So, well done Arteta for gaining three unearned points. It’s about time we won against the balance of the play. It’s about time we had some luck. They say over the course of a season that decisions average out. This was our make up game. Enjoy it. I’m sure normal service will be resumed again Palace.

A word on one of my favorite subjects. VAR. Today it felt like they made some changes such that all VAR decisions were rapid. No long delays and no stupid decisions. Maybe that was luck as well.

-LB7

Gdansk is gone. Until the 75^th minute I had thought we’d sneak a goal. But then I realized the gods and ourselves were against us. Who would have guessed we would keep a clean sheet. Or that we would not have scored. We had some chances and on another day – or in a few years – ESR will show more composure in front of goal.

As frustrating as it is it’s not clear that we would have benefits from going to Gdansk to lose in the final again. And we’re certainly not a Champions League team. Maybe, as painful as it is to accept, we might benefit by being out of Europe for one year. It will be the ultimate test for Arteta. There won’t be any hiding of acceptance of us being unable to win something or finish in the top 6. Anything else next year and he’ll be gone. Not that I agree. One benefit of tone deaf owners is that they won’t change the manager this summer. There will be pleas to bring in someone else. That would be a disaster. Though it’s not clear what manager would now want to come to a team that is not in Europe next year. Maybe that’s another blessing for Arteta. He needs a couple of windows to re-fit this team. Let’s not forget he did win a cup last year. And this year has been crazy.

Back to todays game. They swamped our creativity and we did take advantage of the few chances we had. We looked tired and limited.

Too many players did not step up. Saka was muted as was ESR. Odergaard was none existent. Bellerin rather than Chambers was our threat on the right. Hence most of our creativity play came from the left. Tierney was restrained and played within himself – there was no way he was fully fit. Aubameyang was clearly not there either. Put it all together – one long excuse I know – No Xhaka, Aubeyang and Odergaard and Tierney not quite fit. Saka drained after a long season. And Pepe being Pepe. We did not have enough force or stamina or luck to get that goal

Maybe we saved ourselves that trip to Gdanks to only have to loose to Man U. I feel like this team is strung out and needs a rest. Well, boy, will we get one next year. No Europe for us. Arsenal truly bought into the idea of Brex-it. Or in this case Arse-it

Loosing Xhaka clearly changed the balance of the team. Having a single holding midfielder – Partey – was limiting. Neither ESR or Odergaard could penetrate their packed midfield. We barely tested their goalkeeper. We are a feast or famine team. And today, in the most important game, we were famine. There were a few periods where we generated momentum – mainly in the second half – and each time Villarreal shut us down. Slowing the game days, faking injuries and basically showing how to manage a game out.

If you had a choice of Coquelin or Partey for your defensive midfield player who would you pick? Based on todays evidence it’s not obvious. Party was piss poor today. Too often caught on the ball. Too often slowing the game down. He rarely made a forward pass (aside from a few long balls). He seemed like a liability. He was one of our biggest disappointments today. After his contributions early in the season I think he’s lost his way with this team. And maybe that’s happened since he lost Xhaka alongside him. But today was one of his more careless and error prone performances. Not what you’d expect in such a big game.

Another questions is, based on these two games (and the balance of the season) would we have done better if Emery was our manager. No fucking way. Shoot me now. I’d be dead from boredom. Never would I want him back. Yet he’s been more successful at Villarreal in a shorter period of time than Arteta has had at Arsenal. Yet most people would argue that player for players Arsenal are superior to Villarreal. So how to make sense of this. I can’t.

I should be more upset – writing this a few hours after the game helps – but this was always going to be a long project. The last thing we can afford now is to change managers yet again. We have to stick with Arteta for at least another year. Let’s see what changes happen in the summer. It’s time for an improved midfield. Someone to compete with Partey. Someone to displace Xhaka. And someone to replace Ceballos.

But before we dissect the entire season – there will be plenty of time for that – we need to understand how we could be so tepid for such long periods of the game today. No-one seemed to want take on responsibility for trying to create. Again, I’m convinced Odergaard has not fully recovered from his injury and ESR was marginalized. And Saka looks down and out after a long season. Take those 3 out and add in a Tierney who could barely get up and down the touchline and we would have problems. And did I mention that Aubameyang and Cigarette are not fit either. Yes, more excuses.

Most fans though will go after Arteta. He’ll handle that. And so will Kroneke. My hope is the mistakes he’s made – the false 9 in the first leg – will be experiences he can learn from. Because once the fans return the pressure will mount on him. Maybe I’m being too loyal to him. Maybe he is not the right manager. But, we need more time to make that judgment. We can’t afford the revolving door that was ManU or that lot down the road. We have to stick by him and be patient. We have no other choice. Sorry.

So herein endeth our season. What a meek way to go out. No crashing everything into their goal. No breakneck finish. No do or die. Just die. Maybe that’s where we missed the fans. But finishing with Willian and Eddie on the pitch is not exactly what you’d need to snatch a goal. Such a shame. I really thought we’d get through this tie. It really is a little embarrassing for the club. Not missing out on a final but more how quietly we went out. Where were our on field leaders today? None that I could see. Maybe we should have had Martinelli on earlier. And it’s preferable for him to operate on the left. See him collide with Cigarette in their penalty area just smacked of panic. They were both player the same position at that point. And yet we’d lost Ska to left back. That’s on Arteta. Let’s hope he learns.

I need to take a break. I’m getting more negative the more I think about this. Just as I’d started to recover and convince myself we could use this experience to focus next year on building our league position. It brings us back to Arteta. So let’s leave that for another day.

-LB7

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy. I’m sure I’ve said this before but I’m sure we’d win the Premier League if we could only play Newcastle each week. They really are a weak and directionless team. Thankfully. The perfect opponent for us. How bad are they I hear you ask? They are so bad that Ceballos looked like a moderately plausible excuse of a football player.

Our favorite Egyptian snatched the first one after another Aubameyang shanked shot. And then after more good work by Martinelli Aubameyang went all Karate Kid to grab the second. We kept a clean sheet but lost David Luiz, I fear, for the season and, with his contract running down, for ever. It’s a shame because as annoying as he is there is no-one who quite reads the game like him.

I’d hoped to see Cedric at left back. But it seems that Xhaka is stuck there for a while longer. I’m pretty sure neither Tierney not Cigarrette will be back for Thursday. So maybe Elneny will join Partey in midfield on Thursday. This would have been a fine time to let Xhaka return to midfield against the nonexistence threat of Newcastle. I can barely remember the steady midget that is Matt Ryan had a save to make. Ryan’s distribution is quicker and more decisive. If only he was 2 inches taller.

Bellerin finally got some minutes. He continues to play like Hector – a thinking mans Walcott. All speed with little football IQ. All speed but no control. With Gabriel making up the defense a ½ way decent team would surely scored. Thankfully Newcastle aren’t ½ decent. We torched them down the left hand side via Martinelli. Even with idiot boy Ceballos  dithering on the ball too long we still manage to create down the left. Whereas on the right the lethal combination of Bellerin and Willian was sufficient to put everyone else to sleep. Backwards and sideways. Except for Bellerin helping with the first goal. So I’m being a little unfair on him. But not on Willian. After being benched for many weeks this was time to shine. Except he’s too dull to shine. He’s too lazy to track back and too slow to attack and beat his man. Relatively speaking he came alive a little in the second half when, with a swath of substitutions, he moved move infield.

Getting minutes for Odergaard was important. With the weaker players alongside him it was harder but it was good that he got to develop his match fitness. It’s not clear whether he’ll start on Thursday. But at least it’s clear that Willian won’t. And we’ll somehow have to survive without Ceballos.

So today should have been a pleasant, relaxing experience. Cruising past a dormant Newcastle. Except we had to deal with the interruption from Old Trafford with breaking news that their fans are fucking retards operating under the banner of being against the Glaziers. How does that work? What are they complaining about? That team remain in a Champions League spot, recently won the NoHopaCup and were in the Champions League this year. They continue to invest/spend millions on Pogba, Fernandez, Maquire, Shaw, Cavani, Wan Bissaka and that Dutch player. So what are they complaining about? That they are American? He’s the reality. They are scum. They are thugs. They are idiots. They are morons. They should be banned for live. The trespassed. They should be held accountable. They are yobs just drinking bear and behaving like “lads”. I hope, but fear otherwise, that the media won’t give them the oxygen to hear their complaints. Whatever they are. Maybe it’s that they have no brains. Or dicks. BTW, did you notice the colour complexion? And gender make-up? This lot could have been part of the storming of the Capital on January 6^th. Same kind of fucked up mentality. And, worse of all, this shit interrupted the Newcastle game. Unforgivable.

Like the Storming of the Capital, where the fuck were the police? How did these morons get to break into the stadium and then wander around uninterrupted for an hours. Run onto the pitch, grab TV cameras and break them? And then return an hour later? How is this possible? Surely even the police watch TV. Why didn’t someone call them in early? And then it took just 7 of them to clear the stadium? I don’t get any of this. Unless, inside United, there were conspirators – just like with the Capital Storming. Have you ever tried to gain access to a football stadium? It’s nearly impossible. And yet here, the United fans had been talking about this for weeks. So where was the surprise in what they did? Why was there no planning or preparation for this event? How did they make it so easy? And then we had to watch all the stewards stand around and watch the invasion take place? Who is running this club?

But don’t loose sight of the fact that these so-called fans are just piss-heads. No brains and no ideas. If they really hated the way United is run they have many avenues to pursue.

• They could go and support the New Manchester FC that other fans actually created as a new club
• They could organize a scheme to by shares in United and gain a voice
• The could demonstrate outside the ground peacefully.

But they won’t do that because they are fucking retards, too stupid and just piss-heads who have gotten their 15 minutes of fame. They are hooligans and drunks. They were jumping on the goals and taking pictures. This had nothing to do with a demonstration and more to do with anarchy and piss-heads taking selfies while on the pitch. This was young kids having a lark. Don’t think there is anything noble going on here.

And again, what are they complaining about? If anyone should be demonstrating it should be Newcastle supporters. Now there is a club that is truly screwing their fans. Nearly all United fans are Jonny-come-latelys. They are so used to success they think it’s their inherent right. And yet, aside from suffering under Murinho, Moyes and LVG, they are still spending billions of dollars on players. What is their problem? I don’t understand. How would they have felt if the ESL had proceeded without them? Fuck them. I hate United even more now. If that’s possible. They are despicable. Bot their fans and their organization. At least with our fans demonstrate (aside from the morons at ATV) it’s more logical – we are a club in decline. But even our fans ignore the amount of money Kroneke is putting into the club. And, it was the fans who prematurely chased Wenger out of the club.

This is why you never want to listen to fans when it comes to your own club. The ESL was different because that was a common cause across all clubs – it was unifying call to action. Today we just saw a throwback to the painful thug days of the 80’s. The days prior to the success of the EPL. It can’t be condoned and can’t be accepted. This fans who stormed Old Trafford have to be held accountable. But I bet there is no appetite to do so. Because that club is losing its identify and has no backbone. They are now scared of their own fans. At least with Arsenal we know that’s not true of our owners. No, not at Arsenal. The owners are not scared. Because they don’t care. They are not listening. Welcome to Arsenal.

So, onto Thursday. This has been an interesting few weeks. First the ESL and now United thugs. The sooner this lockdown is unlocked the better. Then these idiots can just go down the pub and get hammered.

Maybe we can storm the Emirates on Thursday once Villarreal score a goal. Or sacrifice Ceballos on an alter outside the ground as an offering to the football gods. We need this one. Surely we can be as bad as we were last Thursday. And Villarreal can be as bad as Newcastle were. If only.

-LB7

We were better with 10 men than when we had eleven. Thankfully, the referee after denying us a penalty finally took sympathy on us. You could see him look around the pitch and realize that Arteta would not make any necessary changes. So, the ref took matters into his own hands. He felt pity for Arsenal supporters and that he, like all of us, had had enough of Ceballos and so he sent him off. Best move of the game. This monumental cunt was getting roasted by a right back that can’t even get into the Sp*rs team. He gave the ball away consistently and exposed our meager defense of all sorts of problems. For once I also attribute blame to Arteta. After that rank first half he should have brought on Cedric and pushed Xhaka into midfield.  But back to Ceballos, I struggle to remember a bigger wanker. Someone who flatters to deceive. He slows down our game and flits around as though he’s an important player. He contributes nothing. He kills our game. Please, please give him back.

Can we beat them in the second leg? Here’s why we can – Ceballos is ineligible! What a trade losing both Ceballos and Capuoe. A double win for us.

Of course this does not excuse or ignore the horrible first half performance. Dire would be an understatement. We barely put any passes together and had no shape I could discern. Even then we nearly stole a penalty. VAR really does not like us. Yes, Pepe handled the ball but I did not know VAR could go that far back. I thought it could just review the foul for the penalty. Anyway, twice now in one week we’ve lost penalties to VAR.

Once we discarded Ceballos our play improved and we looked more threatening. Tonight was not one of Artetas’ better nights. His selection was wrong as was his tactics. And he was far too slow to adapt. Glad though I was to see Eddie on the bench the false 9 think did not work. Smith-Rowe was barely involved. But once we dropped into the #10 slot he started work get involved. And Saka, while remaining our primary threat, had a quiet night. But even then he got one penalty and should have had two.

There was a general sloppiness to our play. Chambers miss-controlled the ball on a couple of occasions and Holding was a little careless. But nothing is as careless as passing to Partey when he’s near their goal. I have yet to see any shot of his be on target let along cause a goalie to make a save. And his distribution was off as well. But part of that is because he had no-one with him in midfield. And there were few options ahead of him. When there were – once Aubameyang came on – he threaded the ball through to our club captain to tie the game up and Aubameyang fluffed his lines. Just as he has done previously in the NoHopaCup. This was a costly miss. But not as costly as all the misses of Villarreal. They should have put this game away in the first half as they were so dominant then. In fact, this game reminded me of the PSG v Man City game – except we had Ceballos and not DeBruyne. PSG should have been 3-0 up at half time and eliminated Man City in one half of football. Likewise for Emery. Instead they came out in the second half and went conservative – as any good accountant would – and allowed us back into the tie.

But let’s be fair, they will score against us. So we’ll have to score at least twice at the Emirates. We will have a one man advantage because Ceballos can’t play. So we’ll have a chance. Which we did not deserve after todays performance.

Arteta now has a week to figure this out. He can’t make as many mistakes as he made today. Sure the second half was better and we had chances to tie this up. It’s good to see Willian on the bench. It’s good that Martinelli is our first sub. But we have to figure out the right balance in midfield. We need to put Xhaka back there.

By the way did I mention that Ceballos was at fault for the first goal? Did I mention he’s a complete tosser.

Since my last review we’ve seen the complete implosion of the ESL and the continued disaster of VAR steal points from us. The issue with ESL was that it was dreamt up by people who literally have more money than brains. It proves you don’t have to be smart to be rich. I’m relieved this thing has collapsed. But don’t be fooled. The issues remain. And that is that Barcelona and Real Madrid are bankrupt and they need money. And they, like the other continental teams, are in leagues with no competitive balance. And, most importantly, no TV revenues to speak of. So, I don’t understand why the English teams joined in. While it might have generated more money for them it would also help a competitor that is in greater need while also destroying our EPL – which is the cash cow. So the fans saved them from their own mistake. But the need for money does not go away. There has to be consequences for not having match-day revenues for a year. And for the English top six, this would have been a quick fix. But it would have been disastrous.

But before I subscribe to #KroenkeOut I’d first propose #CeballosOut. And I’d have more chance of success. There is no way Kroenke is leaving. Ever. He’s never left a US team. He uprooted his NFL team and did not care in the slightest at the reaction of those fans. He’s not just Silent Stan he’s also Deaf Stan. So, get used to him, because he’s not going anywhere.

And here’s the thing. I’m happy that Arsenal were part of the ESL. Be honest, if the ESL had somehow manage to give birth and Arsenal were not involved – and even worse, Sp*rs were – how would these same fans react then? We had to be part of this. You could not afford to miss out on this. Let’s be clear we are not a top 6 English team at the moment (not that that lot are either). We were “honoured” to be included. But let’s not kid ourselves, we were there to make up the numbers. We were not the driver of this initiative. Whether we were in or out did not have any impact on the success of the ESL No-one was listening to our viewpoint. We did not make or break this. But, we had to be involved just in case it somehow succeeded. It’s always better to be on the inside rather than the outside.

And as for the righteous indignation from FIFA and UEFA was something to behold. This ESL idea was so inept it could make these two organizations actually seem less corrupt and self-serving that we all know them to be.

So, lastly for tonight – VAR. I’ve always been an early adopter of technology. And I’m all in favour of it being used in football. At the moment it’s just not working. Not in the EPL anyway. The decisions I’m seeing make no sense and are not rational. And that’s because of the VAR referee. This person needs to be pitch-side and exposed to the crowd (when it returns) and accountable for their decisions. The one against Everton was fucking retarded. In reviewing the actual foul they looked back 20 plus second to find a microscopic offside that occurred in a different passage of play. Who asked them to do that? And how long did they take over that – 3+ minutes. How is that a clear and obvious error. We need to fix VAR and there are four ways to do this:

• Junk it entirely
• Limit the amount of time VAR has to make a decision to <20 seconds
• Make the VAR assistant sit pitch side
• Automate all VAR decisions right into the refs earpiece or watch (like goal-line technology).

Now we head up to play Newcastle. I’d hope we rotate a ton of players and relax. Maybe VAR will, now it’s done it’s damage, decide to give us a few decisions. It’s a shame it’s an irrelevant game. But hopefully some of the players can find their mojo again. And maybe someone can point out to Partey where the goal is.

-LB7

Disaster averted in the last second. I was convinced we’d never score today. From the first minute when Martinelli missed a chance to lob the ball in to the Pepe header – and two disallowed goals – it seemed the gods would not allow us to score.

But here’s the question, would you have taken the one point in exchange for loosing Cigarette for the rest of the season? That’s not a trade I want. I was resigned to loosing this game against VAR but not loosing Cigarette.

The first 20 minutes was reminiscent of the 7 minutes in Prague – without the goals. We were creative and exploited the ESR and Saka partnership. But over time Fulham crept back into the game. Even against a relegation team it’s hard to have both Elneny and Ceballos as your midfield. Too often these two are comfortable passing sideways and backwards. Only infrequently did they play through the lines.

It’s hard to be too critical after Thursday. The team selection was about right given the circumstances. I was happy to see Ryan in goal. And inevitable that Bellerin was due for a game. And happy Willian was bolted to the bench. And even happier when Bellerin came off. I’m sure I’ve said this before but Hector – as lovable as he is – is really a clone of Walcott. If Theo had played right-back this is how he would have played. His first touch is awful and his distribution is about the same. He does not read the game and positionally he is exposed. He disrupted our play down the right. There is not the natural fluency we have when he’s not there. We need to play him to both rest players and have him in the shop window. He’s clearly in the departure lounge given that we both need money from sales and that he’s really not developed his game over the last few years. One of our longest servants it’s time for him to explore new pastures and for ours to be able to re-invest that money. Hopefully we can get in excess of £20 for him.

Gabriel is a mystery. He’s very young and great in the air. But he has mental lapses. And today he was the culprit for the inevitable defensive mistake. I did not think this was a penalty though I could see how it was given. The attacker – some no-name tosspot – decided to fall over Gabriels boot. There was minimal contact but he initiated that contact and decided to go down like Harry Kane. But Gabriel should know better. Maybe that will come with experience.

With the introduction of Partey and Pepe – and the removal of Bellerin and Elneny – there was total domination. But by then Saka and ESR had tired and we lacked finishing. Eddie came on as a poor man replacement for Cigarette. Eddie is just not ready for Arsenal. He is great at poaching and saved our day right at the end. But he had a few changes before then – a lob on the goalie and a through ball from Saka and his first touch let him down both times.  But I was also disappointed in Martinelli. He had a couple of chances today and was not clinical enough. He is no Greenwood or Rashford. And fans clamoring for him to play are misguided in their optimism. He’s still very raw. And I’m not sure what his best position is. Left wing does not seem the best place for him. Maybe against Everton with no Cigarette or Aubamyang, then Martinelli can start as the #9. Because I don’t want to see Eddie there. Eddie will score goals but does not fit this team as grateful as I am for todays goal.  

Poor old Scotty. I have some sympathy for him. If that was up the other end I’d also be screaming for off-side. It’s hard to see how Holding – within the 6 yard area – was not effecting the peripheral vision of their goalie.  But given all the borderline VAR calls we suffered under today it was time one went our way. I was so sure we’d loose all three points. We seemed completely cursed today. It was a throw-back game for the ages where we just could not score. We’ve seen this before but not for a few season. And with Ryan in goal this would have been his second 1-0 lose. I’ve never been a fan of having the goalie come up for corners but he contributed with his little flick on and helped save our day. And then I was sure VAR would take this one away again. They really do need to speed up this VAR thing – it must be automated. Once the fans are back it will become so disruptive. Look at the way Ceballos celebrated the first non-goal. If the fans had been present their anger and frustration would have boiled over. You can’t let fans wait to celebrate a goal for 3 minutes nor let them celebrate for 3 minutes and then take away the goal.

It’s not clear we learned too much today. It was a game that should have been important for us. It should have been 3 points and a chance to get closer to automatic qualification. But, it’s not obvious we’ve ever been in a shot of that. It would have been nice to win – we had the chances early on – but it’s the 3 games in the NoHopaCup that are important. Which is why the loss of Cigarette along with Tierney is more worrying.

If we had taken our early chances we would have been out of sight today and we could have protected Cigarette. His performances in the last few weeks (aside from Liverpool) have helped glue Saka and ESR into the team. Without him I fear for our interplay as we try and create. This is why you need a deep squad. And we don’t have one.

We can be thankful that Willian did not come on and that ESR/Saka were not injured. Beyond that, it’s about Villareal now. Though Everton will be interesting. They won’t come and play defense. They need the points and have some decent players. This might suite our counterattacking game better. And it will give Martinelli a chance to get more game time and allow him to tune his scoring boots. Because we will need those. Again, I get the excitement about him and he’s certainly an upgrade of Eddie but I’m not sure how natural a goal scorer he is.

Sounds like the European Super League is back on the table. Maybe we should be fortunate to be considered part of that. It’s a terrible idea. But one that won’t go away. Of course it comes from the biggest continental teams because they play in leagues with no fans and few competitive teams in their league. The Premier League is the premier league in Europe. And this will just dilute that. It’s the connection between the fans and the team that propels the league. It’s the rivalries and history. It’s the close proximity of the teams. It’s the ease, cost and time for the fans to get to games that count. Having to play in Italy, Germany, France and Spain on a regular basis is not an affordable option for Premier League fans.

From a competitive point of few it’s basically a transfer of money to those clubs that have a ceiling on their upside. Why help your competitor out of a tough spot. If the likes of ManU/C, Liverpool (and us) held their ground and stayed in the existing structure they would have more incremental upside than a Juventus or Bayern. This new Super League helps them out because their leagues are shit and helps diminish the gap to our Premier League. It will alienate English fans and take us to the place where even when fans could return they won’t return. It’s not clear how this is stopped but this is not what is needed. The strength and appeal of English football is not what happens in Europe. Our strength is based on the bedrock of our teams and fans. And the useless FA need to manage and control this. Not by shutting it down but by providing creative solutions. In the same way FIFA/EUFA are generating variations on the same theme. The FA rather than reacting need to proactively think through how the Premier League can be improved. Maybe dropping one team and removing 2 games. Maybe redistributing revenues. But don’t sit around, doing nothing and wait for the other leagues to disrupt your league.

So now we have 5 days until Everton. Let’s hope that I’m wrong about the severity of Cigarettes injury. Let’s hope our medical team have a good week and can patch him back up. We’ll need him Spain and beyond.

-LB7

Anonymous Arsenal. Barely able to make three complete passes in a row. For once I wished the International break could have lasted even long. Then we would not have to force ourselves to stay awake as Arsenal slumbered their way through this game. We can come onto individual performances (or lack of) a little later. Overall there was nothing going on with this team. It was like that first half against West Ham but worse. There was not second half rebound here.

Sure Liverpool aren’t a shabby team and they have some good players. But how is it they won every single 50:50 ball? How is it that we could never hold onto the ball. We were unable to link up and create anything. We were so passive. We were, as last week, more like Spu*s than Arsenal.

All team have shitty matches. We seem to have more than our fair share. And, as ever, we can’t overreact. But, on the other hand. What the fuck. This was dreary and pointless. There was no believe. Which team turns up is so random. We’re like Jekyll and Hyde. We’re like Henry and Jeffers. Or Lehman and Alumina.

What did we learn today (aside from not watching such dross)? Not that much. Everything we’ve seen in the past we saw today. Though it’s rare to see it all unravel so quickly. It reminded me of the NoHopaCup v Chelski. We hung in there, defended stoutly and then made too many mistakes.

I like Gabriel as a defender; he’s young, physically strong and good in the air. But today two mistakes cost us two important goals. For the Salah goal I thought Leno could have done better – as he could with the first. It has me still wondering whether there is a buy-back clause on Martinez.

I understand that Chambers provides ariel strength against a team that cross the ball but his passing today was sideways and backwards. And he and Holding left their men free. And for that all important first goal – as he did with Sterling against Manchester City – he lost his man and got beaten in the air by someone ½ his size. After all the hard work defending that had proceeded, it was such a lame way to concede.

But the writing was on the wall. We ceded so much space and territory to them. We were playing like Bolton or Burnley. Except that both these teams would have had more fight, grit and determination.

Ironically when Ceballos finally got replaced it was still 0-0. He was by far our worst player today but it’s only when he left the field that we lost the game. Ceballos has no future with Arsenal. He takes so many touches when he could just lay the ball off. He losses the ball in dangerous positions on the pitch and he can’t defend. I am so desperate to see him join Mustafi, Kolinsac and the others. We’ve had him now for nearly two years and, with time, just like a wine that is not fine, he has not aged and improved. He’s going backwards. Hopefully all the way to Madrid.

So how do all those fans who’ve tried to chase Xhaka out of this club feel now? He was so clearly missing today. His ability to pick the ball off the backline and create was what we so desperately missed. And his ability to fill in behind Tierney was also missing. This is why Gabriel got into so much trouble today. There was no-one near him to receive the ball.

Partey looked dead on his feet today. When is he ever going to be ready to play a full 90 minutes? Once we’d lost this game (at 2-0) he should have been protected and removed. I’m convinced he is still not fully fit. Our season is all about the NoHopaCup. Protect him for that please.

Pepe was ineffectual and lost the ball at key times. He is so lacking in physical strength. You could blow and he’d fall over. He is too easy to push off the ball and is a risk we can’t carry. Here was another chance for him to excel but he failed. He offered no outlet today. It’s inconceivable we paid so much money for him. At some point, even though he’s young, we have to off-load him. I don’t believe he’s ever going to work out for us.

Losing three points is frustrating but not surprising. But losing Tierney is far more worrying. We can’t progress without him. Sure Cedric was reasonable but it’s not the same. We need Tesco-boy. And losing him today would be way more impactful than losing three points. We’ve seen every team have bad games and lose games they should not (cough cough Chelski) but it was the timid way in which we played today that is so worrying. Aubameyang was not involved at all. Cigarette could not hold onto the ball or pass to our players. And poor old (or young) Odergaard must have wondered why he’d want to be part of this team. We could not get him the ball. And when we did all he could do was pass sideways or backwards. There was no-one making any good runs. It was all so static.

As good as Partey can be though it demonstrates the value of Xhaka. Not only is the replacement (Ceballos or Elneny) too below the required level. But, just as Partey makes other better players so does Xhaka. He’s not perfect by any stretch – he’s too slow and too one footed. But he’s the 2^nd best midfield player. And we clearly need a couple more.

Hector must be wondering why he’s in the dog house. He’s behind Chambers now and possibly Cedric. It’s not clear why. I’m not entirely happy with Hector but he offers us something we otherwise don’t have.

It also shows us what happens when you remove both Saka and Smith-Rowe from the team. These were the two catalysts for all the good things that happened from the Chelksi game onwards. And today you could see we missed their energy, drive and aggressive. Their willingness to take the game to the opposition. Their quick interplay and one touch passing is in stark contrast to the belabored rubbish we saw today. Again, with them Odergaard is wasted and unnecessary.

Games like this do make you wonder about Arteta. He was not responsible for any of the goals. But he was slow to change up our shape. I suppose we have to remember he is learning on the job and he’ll make mistakes. At least he pulled Ceballos quickly. But the shape and tactics – as excellent as they were last year against Liverpool – were absent today.

So it’s onto Thursday. We need Tierney back along with Saka and Smith Rowe. And, even, the much criticized David Luiz. This team is three players away from being competitive on a regular basis. It’s can’t happen when we so vulnerable to particular players being unavailable. We have wasted too much money over the last few years on Pepe and others to be able to recover in a year. It’s a long shot that we’ll find any way into Europe next year. Like other clubs we could use the absence to complete the rebuild. Or it could be an other step towards oblivion. Days like this one give me pause but I’m still optimistic as long as we can remain patient.

– LB7

While we potter about during the enforced useless international break and just before players are sent back with multi-variants of the COVID virus to infect their teammates, I thought now might be a good time to review some proposals emanating from FIFA.

Regular readers – or irregular readers – or readers who are irregular – and anyone who can read, will know the high esteem in which I hold FIFA. It’s up there with the United Nations, UNICEF as a force for good in this world.

From what I’ve been able to assess there are some of the more interesting ideas being generated. And, this time, we have our ex glorious leader – The Right Honourable, Sir AW – for helping along this process. He was always quite the Renaissance man; intellectual, cerebral, multi-lingual and philosophical. The Harry Redknapp anthesis.

So let’s review, in no particular order, some of the best ideas coming out of FIFA:

• Introduction of a square ball. With the increase in skills of all players of all age groups, this proposal would challenge players and force adaption.
• Give points for away goals scored. To encourage more attacking play a team could lose, away from home 4-3 and still gain three points.
• League table tie-breaks to be resolved by alphabetical ordering of the team rather than goal difference.
• In order to create equal opportunities for left-footed players, require each team to have an equal balance of right footed players and left footed ones with the 11^th played being ambidextrous.
• Increase the goal size. This would enable certain teams – Sheffield United, Sp*rs to improve their fans experience
• Increase the length of games to 120 minutes and increase the number of substitutes. This would allow teams/clubs to add more players to their roster and the players union also would like this idea
• Split the game into quarters not halfs. This would allow for more advertising revenue and therefore reflate the economics of the game
• Allow VAR to be reviewed next day so that referee mistakes can be adjusted 24 hours after the game. This would allow for goals to be nullified and scores to changes after the completion of the game (with adjustments for day light savings time)

These ideas would certainly impact the existing establishment and challenge the staid, conservative football authorities. Let’s see how they digest these. And remember also to enjoy the beginning of a new month. If memory serves me correctly it should be April 1st today.

-LB7