Tag: Arsenal

All the times I would have sacked Arteta

(DISCLAIMER: If Mikel gets Top 4 this season, consider this post null and void. Mikel would have proven me wrong, credit to me for admitting that.)

I have been very vocal during Arteta’s tenure on how I would have gotten rid of him month(s) ago, even over a year ago. When Arteta took over Arsenal in late 2019, we were in 8th place. Arteta then worked a masterclass to have us finish the 2019-2020 season in 8th place. Amazing. Granted he did win the FA Cup miraculously over City and Chelsea which granted him deserved goodwill as Arsenal manager. However, Arteta brought that momentum from the FA Cup win to a hard fought 8th place finish in the 2020/2021 season. Finishing in 8th place for Arsenal Football Club is sackable in and of itself, imagine the outrage if Wenger or even Unai Emery finished that low. In the 2021/2022 season, despite Arsenal’s horrible start to the season, Arteta did well to get us back into Top 4 contention but these last fixtures has presumably put us out of Champions League football due to terrible losses to mid-lower table teams (Palace, Brighton, Southampton). Let me rank the times I believe Arteta should have been sacked as Arsenal manager.

  1. LOSS TO VILLARREAL IN EUROPA LEAGUE SEMIS – This is not even close. Let me give the appropriate context of this sackable loss. This loss to Villarreal took place at the end of the 2021 season where we were floundering in mid-table with no hope for Top 4 at this point. We were out of the FA Cup, with our only hope for European football being the Europa League title. In the SFs, we came across a Unai Emery led Villarreal and went on to lose 1-2 over two legs in embarrassing fashion which included a 0-0 draw at home. How Arteta kept his job after this tie, I have no idea, this loss solidified us not having European football for the first time in over 20 years. This loss also included LOSING TO THE MANAGER THAT HE REPLACED IN UNAI EMERY.
The satisfaction Emery must have felt eliminating the team that fired him.

If Arsenal had any respect for themselves, they would have fired him before he left the stadium that night. Unai Emery embarrassed everyone associated with Arsenal Football Club that night including Arteta, the owners, the players, and the fans and the Kroenke’s just took it like a bunch of losers (Unai also has Villarreal in the UCL SFs smh). If Roman Abramovich wasn’t too busy being sanctioned, I would have worried for Arteta’s safety with what Roman would have done if Arteta did this at Chelsea. Imagine City, Liverpool, United or Chelsea keeping this guy as their manager with two consecutive 8th place finishes as well as a loss to the former manager he replaced, despicable.

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We may never lose again

Only at this club can we lose 3 straight to Palace, Brighton, Southampton, and beat Chelsea and United like nothing happened. The performance wasn’t perfect, United was better for large stretches but I also just don’t give a fuck. Arsenal (3) – United (1) and I’m taking the 3 points and running off to enjoy my weekend. At this point of the season, it is only about the results and nothing else. The performances would be nice to have but at the end of the day, they mean fuck all if the results don’t follow. The 3 points for Arsenal have most likely put United out of the top 4 for good and keeps us on pace with the scum (Spurs).

PREMATCH/FIRST HALF: Mikel went with with pretty much the same XI that started against Chelsea with the lone change coming from Cédric coming in for Holding which pushed Ben White back next to Gabriel. The 7:30 am games are usually the ones where Arsenal loves to fuck me but instead, we came out and drew first blood thanks to the masterclass defending of Varane and Telles:

Nuno my guy, needs to work on that knee slide. Gotta be on the wet grass but he will learn in time.
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The next coming of Cavani? (The Darwin Núñez post)

With Lacazette shown himself to being pretty much useless as our lone central forward, Eddie not making the grade since coming from the Academy, Auba being ostracized to Barcelona, it’s almost a certainty that we will sign at the very least one center forward/striker to lead our line going into next season. With Vlahović taking his talents to Turin (Juventus) which is the correct decision and Arsenal not being impressed with injury-ridden Dominic Calvert-Lewin, a young Uruguayan playing for Benfica has come to the forefront of the Arsenal/Premier League transfer rumors.

The player being Darwin Nùñez out of Benfica with an impressive 37 goal campaign in all competitions for his club so far. Arsenal are in dire need of someone with a heartbeat providing some sort of goalscoring value in the center of our attacking line. All I’m asking is for double digits PL goals and someone who doesn’t make me want to bang my head against the wall. I want someone who at least makes the other teams center backs play some sort of defense, I am not asking for too much. Darwin Nùñez at first glance seems full of potential with raw technical ability that needs refinement.

THIERRY HENRY CHANNEL: What Arsenal massively lacks and hasn’t fully had since peak RVP is a striker who can create goals on their own by taking up the half-spaces on the channels to beat defenders. Aubameyang had his moments coming in from the left but he was more suited to getting on the end of crosses, poaching goals, etc. The Thierry Henry channel was refined and developed by King Thierry when he would find himself slightly out wide (right or left flank) with a defender and is able to face him up to either create a shot for himself, dribble past the defender, or find a teammate. That type of play has been nonexistent this season with Lacazette’s physical inability to dribble past players, let alone creating enough separation to even get in those dangerous positions. Below you can see Darwin finding himself isolated against Eric García, then is able to get back on his right and beat Ter Stegen at the near post.

Ter Stegen should have done better for sure and the contact isn’t the cleanest from Darwin but you’ll find me dead before Laca or Eddie do anything of the like. Here, you’ll see Darwin on the right flank using his sneaky athleticism to stop-go past a defender and create an opportunity for his teammate:

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There’s no point anymore

ARTETA OUT. Get this fraud and Edu out of my club. Easy scissors to the throat stuff from Arsenal Football Club. Just absolute kill yourself stuff from the boys today. Arsenal has dropped another game 1-0 to Southampton at Saint Mary’s and now our season is over again if it wasn’t over last week. We were granted a lifeline today with Spurs losing their match with Brighton earlier today which meant a win would have put us back in the driver’s seat for today’s match a win. And in typical Arsenal fashion, we choke our guts out. Now after’s today match here is where the standings have us in the chase for Top 4:

Down to 6th with a game in hand after this loss, but doesn’t really matter cause we are making this game up against Chelsea on Wednesday and we all know how that will end.

PREMATCH: Now this is important. This tweet by Orbinho is my life as an Arsenal fan encapsulated into one tweet:

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What went wrong this past week

It was just a week ago when we were flying high in pole position for the final Champions League spot. who knows, maybe we could have challenged Chelsea for that 3rd spot. In a span of two games where we lost 3-0 to Palace and 2-1 to Brighton at home, we have more than likely squandered Champions League football for next season with Spurs winning two games on the bounce against Newcastle and Aston Villa. In typical Arsenal fashion, we have choked away success, this in a different manner than how we usually did it with Wenger but regardless, we still had everything to play for and shat the bed. Let me go into the main issues that confronted and why our season is essentially over

  1. We didn’t score more goals than the opponent: Doesn’t get simpler than this. To win games, you gotta score more goals than the other team and for some damn reason, we didn’t do that. Not sure if Arteta’s instructions to the team were to in fact not score goals, and if that was the case, they implemented that plan to perfection. Definitely an issue I’d like to be addressed going into the next games.
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Drowning in bleach is would be less painful than watching Arsenal finish this season

(Disclaimer: This whole post will be very dramatic with little rationale)

WHAT A FUCKING SHIT SHOW. It wasn’t enough that we showed up to Palace with little desire, one could say no desire to win. It wasn’t enough that our Japanese right-back (Tomiyasu) hasn’t played in for us in months. It wasn’t enough that our star left-back (Tierney) had season-ending knee surgery. It wasn’t enough that our beautiful Ghanaian center midfielder and our best player is out for months in our Top 4 run-in to end the season. It wasn’t enough that Japan drew SPAIN and GERMANY in the World Cup draw. IT WASN’T ENOUGH THAT OUR SEASON DEPENDS ON OUR GAME AGAINST SPURS AWAY. IT WASN”T ENOUGH THAT ARSENAL BROUGHT ME ALL THIS HOPE TO SCREW IT RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. IT IS NEVER ENOUGH WITH THIS TEAM.

I SWEAR IF I HAVE TO WATCH ARSENAL IN THE EUROPA LEAGUE SOCCER FOR ONE MORE GOD DAMN SEASON. (I’d still watch). BUT I’D BE PISSED DOING IT.

(please beat Brighton tomorrow and make Top 4, thanks).

Featured image credits: Getty

Arsenal’s April Outlook

Who would have thought as March comes to a close, that I would have to worry about Arsenal having a chance to compete for a Top 4 spot? For the past few years, I have been stuck hoping Arsenal win Europa League knockout rounds against Eastern European farmers such as Slavia Prague to make our season worthwhile. Usually at this point of the season, we are out of the running for Top 4 and I am just causing pain to myself by watching meaningless April games for absolutely no fucking reason. With the international break taking place coming to a close, our Top 4 hopes more than likely will rely on how we perform in these April fixtures outlined below:

I’ll go into what we can expect going into each match and the context that will be taking place around us and our opponents.

CRYSTAL PALACE: As long as Crystal Palace have Patrick Vieira as their manager, they will always be my 2nd favorite team. This game will be hard for me to watch as I’ve enjoyed watching Palace play this season but this is a must-win game for the Gunners. The game will be at Selhurst Park which has given us trouble in the past. Fortunately for us, their two wingers Wilfried Zaha and the talented Michael Olise both picked up knocks over the International break so Patty V needs to chill and let his stars recover after Monday. Even if we get lucky and Zaha and Olise are out, Palace still have an in-form Conor Gallagher who is in my current PL TOTY with how well he has played. Back when we played them in October, it was a back and forth 2-2 draw with Mikel playing Ødegaard in a deep playmaking role next to Thomas. Both teams have changed drastically so no point in delving too much into that game but as long as we somehow get revenge on James McCarthur if he touches the field, I’ll be happy. Such a fuckm that guy. PREDICTION Arsenal 1 – Crystal Palance 0, ESR to get our goal off the bench.

What an idiot he is and to make it more ridiculous, just got a yellow for a blatant kick to Saka’s legs.
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Arsenal has England rattled!

Feed me the tears, feed me all the tears!!! If you know anything about my history with supporting Arsenal, I am the first one to call out the club for their incompetence on and off the field. When we started the season with 3 straight losses to Brentford, Chelsea, and Man City, I was on the verge of my annual mental breakdown from supporting this club. After solidifying our summer transfer window, Arsenal have gone on an unexpected run to pole position for the coveted 4th spot in the league, right now ahead of Man United, Spurs, West Ham and Wolves. This climb up the table to a Champions League spot and hopping over our rivals has every other club rattled and it is fucking hilarious.

For context, Arsenal has been doing this thing this season where they are winning soccer matches instead of disappointing draws or frustrating losses. And weirdly after these matches that Arsenal are winning, they are doing this thing where they celebrate with each other to express happiness after the matches. Let me show you the absurd acts that Arsenal have been committing after matches they win:

Rob Holding and Ben White rush to congratulate Bernd Leno on the clean sheet, Gabriel goes down to his knees to celebrate. Granit Xhaka celebrates with egregious celebration by jumping in the air.
Arsenal teammates strangely celebrate with Bernd Leno after the full time whistle to celebrate a win?
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Arsenal – Aston Villa Reaction

Get the fuck in! In a week where we play Leicester at home, Liverpool at home, and Villa away; to take 6/9 points from these 3 fixtures is nothing short of impressive. Through a goal in the 30th minute from Bukayo Saka, Arsenal traveled up to Villa Park and nabbed a 1-0 victory to extend our lead in the race for Top 4. For me, it never bothered me that we loss to Liverpool midweek, those results will happen to teams that are better than you. It was always going to be how we respond to losses that mattered and I have to give credit when it’s due, Mikel got the boys ready to play and they delivered massively. A well timed win going into the International break with the table looking like this:

PREMATCH/FIRST HALF – Mikel went with an almost unchanged lineup from the team that lost to Liverpool midweek with Leno, and Smith Rowe coming in for Ramsdale and Martinelli. Ramsdale is suffering from a hip injury that will most likely keep him out of the England camp. Martinelli came up with an illness that let ESR step into the team for the first time in awhile. Steven Gerrard went with a mostly unchanged side that lost to West Ham last week with Buendia, Konsa, and Ashley Young coming in for Ings, Chambers and Digne. From the start, Arsenal were all over Villa just like the old Wenger teams would do. I was pleased with how early Arteta got the boys to assert their dominance over an inferior opponent. Every time Arsenal wanted to, you felt like they were a threat especially with Saka down the right flank. Arsenal were then able to break through with a goal from Saka at the top of the box to give us the lead.

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Arsenal – Liverpool Reaction (Premier League)

If you made a carbon copy of our 2nd leg in the Carabao Cup semifinals against Liverpool, you’d come up with the exact same match today. Arsenal came up short today in what is very common against Liverpool as of late with a score of 0-2 with goals from Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino being the difference. There is just a gulf in class between the two sides that we can’t overcome at the moment. In no way shape or form did Arsenal play poor today, there was just a better side on the other side and I can live with that. I predicted a 3-1 loss to Liverpool so a 2-0 scoreline feels pretty much expected with how things turned out. Liverpool are just more experienced and composed in these big-time matchups compared to us. One could say Liverpool didn’t play that well today, if you looked at Jürgen Klopp’s reaction throughout the match, he never looked please at all and they still were dragging our asses up and down the field. Everytime we looked to pose a threat, they were able to snuff out all of what we were trying to create offensively and smartly chose their moments to press and hit us on the counter when it seemed fit.

Table Outlook:

With all that being said, I think even Mikel Arteta at his core would’ve nailed this game as a loss, especially with a Liverpool team that has everything to play for in obtaining the league title. Arsenal still controls their destiny but matchups with Chelsea and Spurs away are not a given but it is more than what I could ask for going into this season so I’ll take what I can get despite this loss.

PREMATCH-FIRST HALF: Mikel put out an unchanged side from the team that beat Leicester on Sunday which was expected. I mentioned that I wouldn’t have minded if he switched to a back 3 for this game but don’t blame if for going with the lineup that has got us to this point. My hypocritical ass would have been the first one to come for him if he switched things up and it didn’t work. Klopp benched Salah for today’s game which was a surprise but when you have Jota, Mané and Luis Diaz leading your line, you’ll probably be just fine. The game started with Liverpool retaining a good amount of the possession. Arsenal then grew into the game and would say had most of the chances for bulk of the first half. Martinelli was having his way with Trent down the left flank just like in the Carabao Cup ties and was our main source of threat in the first half as shown below:

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