Tag: Ben White

PICKING UP RIGHT WHERE WE LEFT OFF (ARSENAL-WEST HAM REACTION)

My biggest nightmare coming into this match is that all 0ur form up until the World Cup would wash over with a 6 week break. We lost Gabi Jesus to an injury, maybe our players returning to the World Cup would be too exhausted, and maybe it would take a game or two for our starters to get back into form, just so many variables up in the air that we could not afford with Man City on our ass. And damn straight, the boys picked up right where they left off with a resounding 3-1 over West Ham at home.

THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:

  1. This Arsenal team is built different: We went 0-1 down through a marshmallow-soft pen and even at that point, I was still 100% confident that we would get 3 points. From the first whistle, Arsenal asserted their dominance over West Ham. I was very shocked with how West Ham approached this game but it is a credit to Arsenal and Arteta up until this point of the season where teams need to sit back against this Arsenal team. Even though we went down 0-1 at half time with a pen against the run of play, Arsenal came out like gang busters in the 2nd half and ran West Ham off the pitch with 3 goals to complete our performance, what a win.
  2. Ødegaard keeps proving me wrong: If there was anybody that we needed to step up, it was Martin, no World Cup with the rest of the front line at the World Cup in Qatar, we would need him to lead us through his energy and passing and that is what he just did.
Sometimes, it’s better to be lucky than good, Ødegaard with the “assist” to Saka

With West Ham sitting in such a low block for the majority of the match, Ødegaard to his credit put the onus on himself to create something for us through his passing and movement.

The assist from Martin here is Ozil-like, such a deft touch and terrific from Eddie to roll Kehrer for the goal

I have been on Martin Ødegaard for much of the season for his performances away from home, but so far, this guy as shown up repeatedly for us as our captain and deserves nothing but credit from me and for me to shut up.

3. Fabianski needs to just stop:

Objectively one of the worst attempts I have seen from a professional keeper. To be beaten like this at your near post is just appalling and embarrassing at the same time.

4. Seeing Wenger celebrating an Arsenal goal had me emotional:

I have seen this clap from Wenger numerous times over the years, and it felt nostalgic to see it come from him again. First time back at the stadium since he left as Arsenal manager and I am happy for him that he got the reception he deserved.

5. Eddie Nketiah stepped up when we need him most: Everybody outside of the Arsenal fan base got what they wanted and it was “How Arsenal would fare without Gabriel Jesus?” Last season, towards the back of the season, to no fault of Eddie, we faltered and lost our Champions League spot with him leading our line. This season, the squad is way more revamped with most of our players much better than where we were last season, by default, Eddie should be better as well and it looks like we didn’t skip a beat with Eddie and no Gabi Jesus. However, it was only one game against a struggling opponent, with tougher games against Brighton and Newcastle coming up, Eddie will need to keep it up to keep Man City off our ass.

6. Transfers are 100% needed in January: For us to make a competent challenge in both the Premier League title and Europa League title (Thursday-Sunday turnaround), reinforcements are needed in January. Most likely, we need one in attack and one in midfield. In defense, we are set with Saliba, Gabriel, Tomiyasu, Ben White, Tierney, Zinchenko rotation. With Gabi Jesus going down and ESR not back yet from his injury, we are a Saka, Martinelli, Ødegaard injury from being in deep shit. The Mudryk fella from Ukraine would be a suitable transfer in for a decent price, nothing more than $40m. And we also need midfield replacement like Tielemans from Leicester. If Xhaka and god forbid Thomas Partey went down, Elneny and Lokonga wouldn’t be up to speed for the things we are competing for.

Featured image credits: Getty

Twitter credits: CBS Sports Golazo, Ao7er, VIP Arsenal, nickvann1987_, oneofakindESR

5 POINTS CLEAR AND WE CAN’T BE STOPPED….yet (Arsenal-Wolves reaction)

There is no point in being shy about it anymore, no point for Arsenal fans to be humble about it, no point to bring in any caveat and flat out just say that Arsenal is in this damn title race and we are not going anywhere. City dropped points to Brentford at home, which left the door wide open for Arsenal to go 5 points clear with last-place Wolves. Arsenal went on to 2-0 resounding win at Wolves and assured us being 5 points clear going into Boxing Day. I am not completely sure what is going on to be honest. I am not sure how to react as I have based my personality on Arsenal being bad and with us dominating the league at the moment, this is all surreal to witness that these clowns have turned it around like this.

THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:

  1. We all know our best XI: Ramsdale-Ben White-Saliba-Zinchenko-Thomas-Xhaka-Ø-Saka-Martinelli-GJ is our best XI going forward. We can make changes here and there depending on fitness and matchups but in the biggest matches, this is our best XI to get us to where we want.
  2. Ø shutting me up again lol: lmao I called him out the past few weeks to pick up the slack during this stretch and then he goes out and scores two away goals lol

I’ll just keep shitting on him all season long with the understanding I am doing it as a jinx and for Ødegaard to actually score goals in big moments.

3. Thomas Partey is everything to us: Thomas Partey is freedom for us. His skill and mastery allows us to play the way we want. He lets Saka, Martinelli, Ødegaard and company run around like fucking madmen cause they know they got their big brother Thomas Partey keeping everything in check. I say it every week but he is our best player and do not want to think about where we would be if we didn’t have him.

4. This team is different: Despite our dominance on the ball in the first half, nothing fell to us to get us the deserved lead however there was always a feeling I had deep down that we would get that goal, not a matter of “if” but a matter of when. That is infinitely times more than what I could say for past Arteta teams, this fixture last year we crawled to a 1-0 win and this year was a true dominant 2-0 pounding to bring us 5 points clear. The change is drastic from this year’s team to last and we can only hope to keep it up after the World Cup.

5. The World Cup could not come at a worse time for us: We are the team in-from in the country and this damn joke of a World Cup just has to come and ruin it for everyone. For the Arsenal player’s sake, I hope they get everything they want when representing their country at the World Cup but I hope so much that they stay healthy and fit for the 2nd half of this season. Praying Southgate stays an idiot and doesn’t play Saka (Lmao also Southgate won’t play Ramsdale or White, which is a massive joke but we will let his loss be our gain). If Tite wants to be annoying and play Richarlison instead of Gabi Jesus and Martinelli, not my problem (Gabriel M. not getting called up is also a joke). If Deschamps is blind and doesn’t start Saliba, be my guest. If Ghana get eliminated early but Thomas Partey is healthy and fit, I’d pay for that. Xhaka, Tomiyasu, and Turner will probably be our for sure nailed on starters at the World Cup.

6. Shut up about Gabriel Jesus: Funny how people are obsessed with Gabi’s goal-scoring record or lack there-of, “this is why Pep let him go”, blah blah blah. He is literally the main man of the team that is 5 points clear at the top, you can all sit down and shut up.

An apology from me to Mikel Arteta will be coming soon.

Featured image credits: Arsenal.com

Twitter credits: NBC Sports

NOTHING PERSONAL (Arsenal-Chelsea Reaction)

We are in a title challenge. I’ll say it again, we are in a title challenge. I won’t say it with sarcasm, I won’t say it with a “but”, I won’t say we will win the league, but damn it we are fighting for the title with 13 games played. Arsenal defeated Chelsea at the Bridge 1-0 and it was the most dominant 1-0 battering you will ever see this season. We were all over them from the start, just dominating them in their own backyard, Thomas was running the show, Saliba and Gabriel had Auba in their pockets (Auba just had 8 touches in the game), Ben White parenting Mason Mount, just spectacular performances all around from the boys.

Read more: NOTHING PERSONAL (Arsenal-Chelsea Reaction)

THOUGHTS ON THE GAME:

  1. Zinchenko came back at a perfect time: Zinchenko came back at a perfect time when Tomiyasu took a knock this past Thursday. I would have been fine if Tierney was asked to play instead but seeing Zinchenko back at his best despite the weeks off through injuries was a sight to sore eyes. Arteta came came out with the same XI everywhere else and we didn’t skip a beat. Ø I think and Saka at some parts were below par in spurts but all in all, can’t complain with how Arteta started the match.
  2. Thomas Partey is our best player: He just is. He was magnificent today, picking the right passes at the right time. Played his part defensively when he needed to. Nothing gets me more excited in sports than he plays his reverse passes. He was just perfect today in all aspects of his game. When Thomas Partey is at his best, I feel fully confident in the team. He gives us a freedom to be aggressive as long as we know he is patrolling things in the midfield. Just a spectacular performance from our best player.

3. Auba cracks me up man: Aubameyang, this clown had the audacity to come out with those Sky Sports adverts and say dumb stuff like it’s “Nothing Personal” and then goes out and puts a performance where our defense held him to 8 touches in 64 minutes.

Honestly, I don’t have ill will towards Auba since he did so much for us when he was here, but you can’t help but laugh at this stuff man. 8 touches all game, did Potter even select the guy today? Just a weird performance from him considering all that was on the line for him.

4. William Saliba, Gabriel, and Ben White are full of heavy pockets: Mason Mount, Auba, Sterling, and Kai Havertz all need to come out of our boy’s pockets now, it’s getting embarrassing. Just dreadful from their attacking players but masterful from our boys at the back. I still am examining if we were that good at the back or if Chelsea were that anemic going forward. They didn’t have a sniff towards Ramsdale. They had the rare counter but they really didn’t generate any real passage of play or cause Ramsdale any trouble. Any type of deep cross they had, the our men sniffed that stuff out easily. Just amazing stuff from the boys and proud of them but they need to let the kids out of their pockets now.

5. Gabriel Jesus will come good: I’m the first to rag on an Arsenal player if he is not performing to acceptable standards but this isn’t one of those cases. He hasn’t scored but I won’t acknowledge that cause he’s perfect and is doing everything else correctly. 🙂 Also since I am in such a good mood, I won’t come for Ø.

6. Arteta-Ball back in full force – There were a few passages of play where the boys were just straight messing with Chelsea, you love to see it.

Just perfection from everybody except the finish.

7. Need to finish the rest of the games off strong before the World Cup: We have Brighton in the EFL Cup, and Wolves next weekend at the Molineux Stadium. It’s never easy going there as we have seen in the past few years but they are fighting relegation which will be an interesting twist from past encounters. I expect Arteta to rotate as much as he can midweek against Brighton and go with our best XI against Wolves. At this point, every game is a must win to keep up with City so let’s hope the boys finish it off strong. It does feel weird to not complain about anything but here we are, straight vibing. You love to see it.

Twitter credits: ArmeriaGunner, iskaholic

Forest was the perfect team Arsenal to rebound (Arsenal-Forest reaction)

After the disappointing 2-0 defeat to PSV in Europa League play where we got absolutely battered, we needed a team to turn over and Forest was the perfect team for that. Leeds away and Southampton away were dreadful performances so it was nice for us to bring out a 5-0 demolition on relegation fodder. We still have everything to play for with Chelsea coming up next weekend who will be looking to rebound from a humiliating 4-1 defeat at Brighton.

THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:

  1. Arteta picking Tomiyasu today paid off but he has Forest to thank. I have been harping for weeks now that Arteta needs to put Tierney at LB but Tomiyasu was brilliant today so can’t say anything about that today. However, Forest were so pathetic going forward and didn’t press us at all which gave Tomiyasu acres of space to operate and didn’t feel any pressure in possession. If the Forest manager, Steve Cooper, had any competence, he would’ve forced Tomiyasu as the basis for their press which is what Leeds and Southampton did to trouble us and get us off our rhythm. Much easier said than done when Leeds and Soton were at home but regardless, Forest just played into our hands fortunately by sitting back and trying to hit us on the counter. The rest of the lineup spoke for itself with everybody playing well. Next week will be interesting with the game being at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea, my guess is he will pick Tomiyasu for defensive purposes, but nobody is a bigger advocate than me on us needing to insert Tierney before it costs us.
  2. Thomas Partey masterclass. First off I understand it was last place Forest, but Thomas Partey was by far the best player on the pitch and played like a Top 5 CDM in world football today, 2nd clearly behind Rodri. His long ball passing was on point all day, he made the right passes at the right times, the tempo of his passing was perfect, he scored a peach of a goal. Just an all-around performance from our best player to get us back on track. We absolutely need him to produce something similar against Chelsea since their midfield depth is lacking at the moment, need him and Xhaka to run things at the Bridge next weekend. Love this man
Almost carbon copy of his goal against Spurs, you love to see it

3. These are the performances title challengers put in over a 38-game season. 100%, you can’t expect teams to put in performances like this, 5-0 demolitions, but sometimes, when you see relegation fodder at your home stadium, you just need to put up a whacking to send a signal out to the league that you are for real, this was 100% one of those games to get us back on track but also to let the league know that the Leeds and Southampton were blips rather than being permanent.

4. The goals will come for Gabriel Jesus. It is more than fair to say that Gabriel Jesus is going through a cold patch with goals but damn it the performances are there. It just sounds like I am making excuses for the guy, which I am, but he’s tracking back, he’s getting assists (2 assists today), he’s working his ass for the team. It’s all there except for the finishing, some could argue it is the biggest part, I am not but some will, but he will get there. I am calling it now, my man Gabriel Jesus is getting a brace against Chelsea, it is coming, I feel it. Just give him 90 minutes with Trev and Thiago and it will put Gabriel Jesus back on track as our talismanic striker.

5. REISS NELSON, GO OFF KING. My boy Reiss Nelson, proud of the kid. When Saka went off for an injury, I was pissed cause it felt like Eddie Nketiah was coming on but too everyone’s shock, he chose to bring on Reiss, and it did not disappoint. Credit to Mikel for getting this decision spot on, cause Reiss was perfect, providing two goals and an assist in just over a half of football.

The fluidity in the box, the cut in to his left, just brilliant from Reiss
Great from Reiss to read the passage of play and get in front of his man at the front post for the clever finish

Not sure after this match, why Mikel hasn’t given him more in the Europa League games, but my word if he keeps this up, this is the depth we needed with a World Cup looming, happy for Reiss cause he hasn’t had many opportunities and happy he hasn’t let this one pass him by.

6. This thing where the referees let defenders and opposing players kick Saka for fun with no repercussions is the most annoying thing going on in football and needs to stop now. If the Premier League and English FA had any hope for England in the World Cup, it is keeping their best player fit and healthy, not as target practice for neanderthals like Steve Cook.

7. God bless Pablo Mari and glad he’s doing alright after the horrific events in Milan.

Featured image credits: PA

Twitter credits: NBC Sports

WE MIGHT AS WELL HAVE LOST (Arsenal – Southampton reaction)

Arsenal drew 1-1 at St. Mary’s to Southampton and I do feel ill. You can say that it is a good thing that I feel like this as we lost to this team last year at St. Mary’s and all things considered, this is a game we probably would have lost last season. Anyways this is a game where we absolutely dominated in the first half with Southampton not even coming close to touching us then in the second half, inexplicably falling apart and giving up the 3 points. We were more than fortunate to get the 3 points against Leeds last week which probably evens things out for us to pick up a draw today, however, the performance in and of itself makes the draw so frustrating as it was 100% 2 points lost instead of 1 point gained. We have Forest next week at home, which basically means 3 points or Kent questions everything.

THOUGHTS ON THE GAME:

  1. PLEASE PLAY TIERNEY AT LB – I love love love Tomiyasu more than anybody but can we please stop experimenting with a RB at left-back and instead play our left-footed international LB. Just like last week, Tomiyasu is just so easy to press and defend at LB as he will always look to go inside or backward with no threat down the left flank, not his fault, it is just how it is. Arteta went with the same starting XI that played against Leeds and Liverpool but he needs to see the light with Tierney. No excuse to see it next week against Forest.
  2. NOBODY NEEDS A GOAL MORE THAN JESUS – the performances are there, he is doing everything we need, except scoring goals. The opportunities are there, they are just not cleanly coming off him. He seems to be scuffing and hurriedly taking his chances. He also doesn’t get nearly the service he should be getting from Ø but that is a completely separate discussion I will have later.
  3. THE REFEREE TODAY WAS ABYSMAL – Essentially, our players got outwardly mauled today in the 18 yard box and nothing was done at all.

Continue reading “WE MIGHT AS WELL HAVE LOST (Arsenal – Southampton reaction)”

WE ARE BACK BABY (Arsenal – Liverpool Reaction)

I am going to be so insufferable and need somebody to humble Arsenal quick cause I am FEELING myself. Arsenal got rid of our Klopp voodoo curse and pulled out a 3-2 win at the Emirates over Liverpool. Klopp has essentially owned me and Arsenal since he stepped foot in England, you can say since Klopp arrived at Liverpool, this was the first time we have convincingly beaten him over 90 minutes in a football match. Just outrageous but we managed to pull it off today. Two goals from Saka and a early one from Martinelli carried us to victory despite Liverpool able to peg us back twice.

It’s tight at the league’s top, but this victory puts us back on top. We are well entrenched into this “title” race as long as the standings say so but more importantly, it more than entrenches us into the Top 4 race as we are all on stand-by with Haaland wrecking City to the title. THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:

  1. My guy Tomiyasu is back – Arteta went with pretty much the same XI that has carried us this season in the league except for one huge change, at LB with Zinchenko out due to injury, he selected RB Tomiyasu at left back instead of Tierney. Huge call by Arteta which would cause controversy anyway it turned out and it turned out in his favor today. Tomiyasu absolutely pocketed Salah from the start. Salah basically went missing for the duration of match and a search team is absolutely needed to find his whereabouts. Just a tactical masterclass by Arteta using the defensive-minded Tomi to keep an eye on Salah knowing full-well Tomiyasu has experience playing as a left-sided CB for his country 🙂 . Happy for Tomi, his performance today made me think that whenever we play a match, he is part of our best XI, not sure where he belongs, but it definitely on the pitch.
  2. Martinelli is a problem – Every chance Martinelli got, you could see him wipe his tongue across his face as he knew it was time to feast on poor Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Martinelli’s pause on Arsenal’s 2nd goal sent Henderson and TAA back to Liverpool as it completely took them out of the game and left it on a plate for Saka to finish. Every time we needed a consistent threat, Martinelli was there for the call, whether it be Gomez, TAA, or Henderson, he cooked them all. It was so bad, Klopp subbed out TAA at halftime (he said it was cause of injuries, probably wasn’t), subbed off the RCB (Matip) , and subbed on another CM for coverage. What a game for Martinelli.

3. Thomas Partey Masterclass – outside of Rodri, is there a better CDM in the league? I thought he was brilliant, especially in the second half. We do not have one individual who can do half of what this man does for us. His timing and pacing of his passing just keep us ticking and going all match long. He did everything required to keep us on top throughout the match, making tackles, resisting their press, pinging balls out wide that you wouldn’t even notice if you didn’t pay attention. I just love this man so much. Just watch this comp and admire his greatness. I want Arsenal staff at his beck and call 24/7. I want all of his needs attended to at all times of the day. When he eats, when he dresses, when he goes down the stairs, we must all come together to make sure Thomas stays healthy for the whole season cause without him we are hopeless.

4. Calm down – When we scored within the minute, you could feel the buzz throughout the stadium and that transferred to the players undoubtedly. However, that only hindered our performance as we were all gas no brakes when we should have slowed down and our stamp into the game. Too many times after we got out to the 1-0 lead, we were just directly feeding our front line instead of building our possession through the midfield. This allowed Liverpool back into the game and getting the deserved goal to draw level at 1-1. Too many times when Thomas received the ball and had no support from Xhaka and Ø as an outlet which then would cause him to play back to the defenders who would then hoove the ball forward. Just played right into the hands of Liverpool which allowed Henderson and Thiago time and space to operate despite being in poor form this season. There was s glimpse of that naivety that ran its ugly head during the United game, we were able to counter with a second goal before the half but we need to see these moments better in future games. To be fair, we were much better in the second half, when we asserted our dominance, you can tell, the midfield trio of Ø, Xhaka and Thomas get more involved within the game, Martinelli and Saka get isolated onto their defenders etc. We were a better team throughout the full 90, just need to see the tough moments out better.

5. Martin Ødegaard confuses me – He had that minor injury right before the international break which hindered his form a bit but there were times throughout the game when I felt like he went missing. Especially in the first half where Liverpool grew into the game, we needed to find our playmakers to take the sting out of their momentum but he was nowhere to be found. However he played the sumptuous ball to Martinelli on the first goal. He will have moments of pure brilliance out of nowhere but its the consistency throughout the match where I feels like he goes missing at times. As our captain we need him showing for the ball and putting his stamp on the game, I don’t care if he loses it, we need his touches on the ball regardless cause more times than not, his touches on the game are pure quality.

6. Gabriel man, I don’t know what I am going to do with this guy – This guy man, he is straight out of a Six Flags amusement park, a damn roller coaster. He takes you through all the emotions. He will have moments of pure madness, gives the penalty away against Spurs, gives the goal away against Fulham etc. but then he will turn around and produce brilliant moments such as his goal against Fulham to win the match and then his dummy to set up Saka. Just an absolutely mad player that isn’t healthy for me. He got away with a questionable hand ball today as well in our box.

7. Rotation is key right now for Mikel – with the Europa League games coming hard and fast, that means the Thursday-Sunday cycle is well and truly on, so he needs to start resting players like Martinelli, Gabriel, Xhaka (maybe or maybe not) in order to preserve our player’s health through this busy part of the season. The back four I’m not too worried about as we have Ben White, Tomiyasu, Gabriel, Saliba, Zinchenko, Tierney and Holding for four spots. It’s the midfield that worries me as Sambi is the only replacement we have when Xhaka and Thomas goes down. I’d like for him to try a Sambi- Fabio pivot during the Europa League games, see if he can cut it as a deeper 8. The front 3 speaks for itself as we have Marquinhos and Reiss now back into the fold for our wide position with Eddie backing up Gabriel Jesus.

8. Got my eyes on you Jordan Henderson – Undoubtedly, this is the game of the year so far in the Premier League. Emotions were running high for both teams. There are rumors circulating of an incident between Gabriel and Jordan Henderson that had racism stemmed in there, whether it’s true or not, who knows but hopefully more details come out in regards to it.

9. I LOVE GABRIEL JESUS

VERY TOP. GOOD SENSATION

Featured image credits: Reuters

Video credits: NBC Sports, Iskaholic, Terry Flewers

BACK TO TOP OF THE LEAGUE (Arsenal-Brentford)

After the United loss over Labor Day weekend, it was always going to be interesting how we’d respond, and thank goodness we played a sorry Brentford team today, winning the game 3-0 at Brentford. I’d usually wax lyrical about how much quality we had going forward, how we dominated from the start, etc. but Brentford were so bad, I’m not even sure if Arsenal played well today. Zinchenko and Ødegaard missed out due to injuries but Tierney and Vieira stepped in and kept the train going. I’ll take the 3 points for what they are for sure, keeps us in pace with the Top 4 and the league, and puts us in the right direction before the International Break.

  1. Brentford showed everybody what not to do against Arsenal. Usually, I’m the first to tell people if Arsenal were shit or not shit, never giving the other team acknowledgment on an Arsenal game but my word Brentford were terrible. These guys came into the game on the top half of the table respectively but played like relegation fodder. They smoked us last year to open the regular season with a 2-0 drubbing and you’d think they would look to replicate that game if possible. In our faces, winning their individual battles, pressing from the start, using the crowd to energize them. But they did the opposite, they sat back instead of getting in our faces, showed us WAY too much respect and tried to hit us on the counter. The problem with that is, once you concede early, which they did through a Saliba header, it puts all the onus back on you to get on level terms and they never coped with it. Arsenal never got out of 2nd gear, but we never had to, Brentford’s midfield was nonexistent, defenders stagnant, attackers isolated. Just a shit and weird performance from a usually respectable Thomas Frank side.

2. Gabriel Jesus is back to his dancing and goal-scoring ways. It was an 8/10 performance from Gabi, consistent with how he has performed and carried us this season. He could have had more as well with just a little more time and quality on his 1 on 1 opportunities but I won’t complain about his performance, just so much quality on his header for our 2nd goal.

It’s a splendid ball from Xhaka to find Gabi, but how Gabi had the strength in his neck to divert the ball back across the face of the goal is sickening. Just unreal from my #9. I love him.

3. Saliba is still the greatest to ever do it. Besides adding Ivan Toney as one of his victims, he scored another unreal goal, this time straight off a corner with a flicked header. The goal angle is absurd and makes no sense when you look at where he was on the front post. Adding another goal to his legend.

4. The medical and physio staff need to get their shit together. Gary O’Driscoll, Arsenal’s head of medical services, and his staff need to sort this crap out. I am tired of seeing these last-minute updates on how Zinchenko and Ødegaard missed out due to calf injuries suffered in training. Tomiyasu missed the second half of last season with a calf injury as well. We all know Thomas Partey is always a liability to get hurt. Gabriel Magalhães and Gabi Jesus both spent time down injured at different points of the game, like bruh, this club and staff need to do something about these non-contact injuries, unacceptable at this point.

5. Ødegaard, come outside, we need to have a chat. With Martin missing out due to an injury, stepped in Fábio Vieira who delivered a 30-yard stunner to open his account at Arsenal. Something I have been annoying about all over this site is how Ødegaard doesn’t shoot enough for himself or the team, well here you go dude, you weren’t in the game and we didn’t skip a beat away from home. Vieira had a relatively quiet first half but his goal came right after half-time and put the game to bed. Obviously Martin is still our guy in the 10 spot but he should keep an eye out on this Portuguese guy lurking for his spot.

Just a beauty from outside the box. Love this guy already

6. Our next two games are Spurs and Liverpool at home and 6 points is the only acceptable result. I honestly have butterflies thinking about Spurs at home. We have to win, we have to win, we have to win. A draw at home to Spurs, and you might as well off me at this point cause I don’t have the strength to live if we don’t win. Yes, I am overexaggerating and being dramatic, but I don’t give a damn, I unfortunately put too much time and thought into these clowns and they better not let me down when Spurs come to town.

7. Absolutely love Arteta using Toney’s tweet from last season as motivation still. Here is the timeline:

After they beat us to to open the season last year
Before the Brentford match at home, he used the tweet as motivation
After we beat them at the Emirates last season, Laca went in on Toney
Gabriel today talking his shit.

I absolutely love the shit-talking from the boys, just need them to keep that same energy with the big teams. Please don’t let me down.

8. Xhaka is my captain. For obvious reasons, he could never be our captain but we all know deep down, he runs this team. Not as a slight to Ødegaard as he is not a natural vocal leader, and that is not a bad thing. Watching the Amazon documentary just made it uber clear that Xhaka runs the locker room. He is the first to call the boys out when we have been terrible, he holds himself accountable as well, he is dependable (most of the time), and is always available for selection. He got the armband today, and if I had it my way, he’d be our captain full-time.

I also know that I went on and on about how we needed a Xhaka replacement this past summer but now I can’t imagine life without the guy. At the moment, he has gotta be the first name on the team sheet and has proved to be irreplaceable for the team at the moment, on and off the pitch. Xhaka has pretty much bitch slapped me and told me shut up. Good for him. Credit to me for admitting I was wrong on the guy.

Twitter credits: NBC Sports, Amazon, Gabriel Magalhaes 🙂

We lost a game and I am not having a mental breakdown…..yet (Arsenal-United Reaction)

We lost to United 3-1 at Old Trafford and I am in the mud. We came to Old Trafford, played our brand of football, dominated most of the game, and still lost. It very much so felt like a classic Arsene Wenger – Sir Alex Ferguson or Pep Guardiola – OGS game where Arsenal/City play the better quality of football, dominate most of the possession and due to pieces of naivety and collapses in concentration, they lose the match to the more clinical/ruthless United side. This isn’t a Kent mental breakdown like our game against Spurs and Newcastle last year where we were utterly useless and toothless, but more so disappointed with the result and content with the performance. We MUST get 3 points against Everton, I will have a mental breakdown for sure if we get anything less than 3 points.

THOUGHTS ON THE GAME:

  1. Disappointed with the result, content with the performance: I mentioned it earlier but the Arsenal performance was more than fine, especially for a young team going into Old Trafford as league leaders. For large parts of the game, we were the much better team, we had better spells of play, had nice passages of one-touch football, pressed well whenever we lost etc. After the first 10 minutes, I would say form minute 10-60, we played them off the pitch, even when going a goal down. *Insert dumb United fan telling me to look at the scoreboard. But at the end of the day, all that matters is who puts the ball in the back of the net and that is what United did and we didn’t. They caught us on the break, and we had lapses in judgement which cost us as all 3 of their goals were basically tap-ins. United were ruthless and clinical, credit to them, but the 3-2 scoreline might be a bit harsh with the type of football Arsenal produced. Somtimes you play well and you lose, that happens in sport and that is what happened today. If Arsenal played this United team 10 times, I’d say we beat them 6-7 times, this was one of those days where United were the better team and that is okay. I’m proud of how the team played, but we need to shore up some lapses in judgement defensively if we want to take that next step, the football is there, we just need those final touches offensively and defensively to take that next step.
  2. VAR continues to own me: In the 13th minute, Ødegaard clips the back of Eriksen’s foot which causes him to lose the ball to Saka who controls the ball and plays in a delicious pass to Martinelli for the left-footed finish. Now in clear time to me and many others, its a clear foul that Ødegaard puts on Eriksen, no question about it. However Tierney for whatever reason, mostly him being an incompetent fool, doesn’t call it which allows us to counter and get a goal. VAR however intervenes, calls back the goal due to a foul and 0-0 is restored. That is such a sick joke and is not how VAR should be utilized. When VAR calls down to Paul Tierney to look at that foul, it already puts it in his head that Paul made a mistake. And 9/10, referees are going to overturn their decision if VAR tells them to look at it again. VAR should be there to give the referee another perspective on his original decision, not to completely change it. Only if it is a clear and obvious foul/occurrence should things be reversed, since Tierney made that decision to not call the foul, there wasn’t enough in it for me to overturn the original call. There needs to be a complete overhaul on how VAR is utilized for decisions that do not pertain to offside. Also, Yes I am 100% salty and biased.
  3. Lapses in judgment killed us: Gabriel has got to make that tackle or foul and stop the play, no way should he have left Arsenal exposed like that for the first goal. On the 2nd United goal, we should have played it out defensively more, not been so keen on getting the 2nd goal and gave United an opportunity to hit us on the counter. The 3rd United goal, we had 20 minutes left to get a tying goal, no way should we have been so high to get that 2nd goal as well. Just a bit naive on how we approached the game in important moments left us exposed.
  4. United were ruthless: They had 3 chances to hit us on the counter and scored all 3 times. Credit to them, and they won the match. Whether it is a credit to ETH or Arteta’s naiveness, we will see as the season plays out.
  5. Everton is all that matters: Us losing a match at Old Trafford isn’t a problem, it is just how we respond at home to Everton this weekend. 3 points is a must and the only thing that is acceptable next weekend.
  6. I miss Thomas Partey: and we need to get his injury recorded sorted out, ridiculous how often this man gets injured. No way should he be getting hurt during training. Figure it out Mikel and Edu. He should have been playing this match.
  7. Fábio Vieira time to show out on Thursday: Vieira had a slight cameo against United for 20 minutes but I am excited to see how he fares this Thursday in the Europa League. Might be a decent reinforcement in the middle of the park with Thomas and Elneny out.
  8. Please win this Sunday against Everton for my livelohood

Featured image credits: Getty images

Arsenal win their first 5 league games and idk how to act (Arsenal-Villa reaction)

I do not really know how to process what is going on right now. I can’t complain about anything Arsenal are doing right now. My only personality usually is complaining about Arsenal but I can’t do that. They play well, start fast and score goals. Legit the 3 things I only want in life. Arsenal has started the league campaign winning 5/5 games and sitting firmly atop the Premier League standings (Yes, I understand City is right on our ass but let me have today). We found Aston Villa in terrible form and it showed tremendously as we dominated them in a 2-1 victory. Villa were terrible, we were awesome for the most part and find ourselves ready to hopefully bring United back to Earth this weekend.

THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:

  1. Gabi Jesus has been the best player in the league this season not named Haaland. He was absolutely splendid tonight. Despite the short rest, he was energetic throughout, going out of his way to get involved in the game, and just absolutely destroying Mings and Konsa throughout. Gabriel Jesus has absolutely mastered the timing of his shoulder budges as multiple times throughout the night he bodied the much bigger Mings and Konsa off the ball using his lower body of strength. He was rewarded for his work with a goal off the spaz (Emi Martinez). I love him. I can easily say outside of my girlfriend and immediate family, the most important person in my life right now is Gabriel Jesus.
Another plus on the night was him getting in the head of the clown that is Emi Martinez

2. I straight up might be cheering for Brazil in the World Cup. The performances of Gabriel Jesus, Martinelli, and Gabriel have gotten me pretty much a shoo-in to cheer for the Seleção this winter in Qatar. Gabriel Jesus is self-explanatory as I am essentially in love with him at this point. Martinelli has played so well this season that he has essentially made Emile Smith Rowe irrelevant at the moment and essentially made Pépé go back to France. He got his third goal of the season and has cemented himself at the time being to the starting XI with his energy and goal output. Gabriel has formed a formidable duo with Saliba at the moment. Despite his blunder last week against Fulham, he responded immediately with a goal of his own to win us the game.

3. Ødegaard owns me at this point. Especially in the first half, he was absolutely magnificent. He was on another level, everything we did in the dominant first half went through the Norwegian. He ran his balls off to get his foot on the ball, and he showed himself to Sambi as an outlet and was the outlet for every attacking player that sensed some sort of pressure. My Captain 😉

4. Despite the 1-0 scoreline, we could have scored 10 in the first half, we were a different class. The best part of this Arsenal squad this season is how fast we have become at starting matches. In every game this season, we have come out and put our stamp on the game from the start, dominating possession, and relentless pressing to make sure we got the ball back. I do not think that Ramsdale had to touch the ball with his hands or had to make a save in the first half. We just need to make sure in these spells of dominance, that we make it count with multiple goals and balance out that energy to ensure we keep it up for 90 minutes instead of 30 minutes.

5. I am biased and I don’t understand how Ramsdale wasn’t fouled on this goal. Was Ramsdale supposed to knock Kamara out, was he supposed to run over Kamara? I don’t understand. Kamara was essentially inhibiting Ramsdale’s movement on that goal. Robert Jones and VAR are clowns for letting that goal stand. Ramsdale should have done better for sure but a foul is a foul. Ramsdale next time needs to put a defender between him and the other team or just truck the player on the other team as the keeper usually gets the benefit of the doubt on those plays.

6. Cédric got called for a penalty for touching Son last season but nothing was called for Mings performing a WWE move on Saka, what a sick joke from VAR and the officiating.

7. John McGinn is such a cunt. With Sadio Mané in Germany now, John McGinn has to be the clear leader in the league for the dirtiest player. He’s such a dirty cunt, the way he goes into tackles so late with an extra cleat or body barge to make sure he gets a hold of everybody that goes up for a tackle against him. Such a bastard really.

8. Tomiyasu looks really good, like really good. If Arteta wanted to insert Tomiyasu into the starting lineup, I wouldn’t mind. Obviously, it is tough for Arteta to switch anything up with how well we have played with White-Saliba-Gabriel-Tierney/Zinchenko but Tomiyasu offers us something White doesn’t going forward. I am not saying he has to make the change now, I’m just saying Tomiyasu looked solid.

9. I absolutely feel for Ollie Watkins for being stuck in Saliba’s pocket all night. I watched all 90 minutes of this game and can’t remember one thing that Ollie Watkins did. Like I can’t tell you one thing that he did, which just shows you how well our Rolls Royce of a defender in Saliba shut him out. Just amazing.

10. I’m sick of Thomas Partey being injured. We need to sign reinforcements in this window badly if Thomas is out for an extended period. Can’t be cheap in the window and rely on our young players to carry us through, we need depth at midfield and a winger with the departure of Pépé.

Twitter credits: NBC Sports, ArsNoContext

We may never lose again (Arsenal-Fulham reaction)

I understand with that title, I am begging for Arsenal to lose their next match which is to Villa, and to that, I’d like to say I just don’t give a fuck. This Arsenal team is different (I’ll pay for this in the future). Arsenal snuck past a tough Fulham team at home 2-1 to keep up their 4-game winning streak to start the season which has us top of the league for the time being. This is a game where we probably would have faltered in last season 100%. Just a different feeling around the team at the moment, not sure if I can explain, cause I don’t want it to end but that is not how it works as an Arsenal fan.

It wasn’t pretty, we gave up a sloppy goal but fought back for the 2-1 victory. This Fulham game was the first time something didn’t go our way this season and it definitely had me wondering how we would react to troubling times and we handled it like champions do 😉. We never wavered, we kept fighting and grabbed two late goals to get the 3 points. I said this before and I will continue to say this, outside of City and maybe Liverpool, all games at home must be 3 points which shows how important result is in the grand scheme of things, gives us more margin of error for tricky away fixtures.

THOUGHTS ON THE GAME:

  1. Thank you Kent for motivating Ødegaard – this Norwegian is a man on a mission to shut me the fuck up and I love every single minute of it. After not being convinced of his first two games, especially being our captain, I was asking for Ødegaard to step up and that would be an understatement with how the past two games have gone, two goals against Bournemouth and a MOTM performance and a goal against Fulham. I first thought he didn’t have urgency to start the game, passing up shots, trying to complete the perfect assist instead of putting shots on target. As the game grew though, so did his influence. Everything we did offensively ran through him, very much so like a classic Ozil performance at his best. He has been terrific these past two games and would love for him to continue to shut me up and sit me down. #ThankyouKent for motivating Ødegaard to new heights.

2. Gabriel is a mentality monster. After giving up the weakest goal to Mitrovic by stumbling over the ball in the back where all Mitrovic had to do is step right in and take the ball, he redeemed himself greatly by nabbing the winner off a corner to secure the 3 points. What a redemption story.

So so sloppy from Gabriel

All in all, I still believe in Gabriel wholeheartedly as our LCB. Yes, he’s rash, irrational at times, and over-aggressive at times. HOWEVER, he’s MY rash, irrational, over-aggressive CB. He scores a great amount for a defender (5 goals last year), he’s a no-nonsense defender, has decent pace for his size, and is just an absolute mentality monster.

3. The Ben White block on Reid was incredible. Benjamin White, you are an absolute beauty. In a tied game, Mitrovic forces a save from Ramsdale where the rebound fell to Reid who quickly shot the ball where Ben White then put his body on the line and blocked the shot. Just everything you can ask from your defender. Putting his body on the line like John Terry to defend our goal. Something that Virgil Van Dijk can not relate to that absolute hand-behind-his-back fraud.

4. Zinchenko and Thomas need to come back. Thomas more so than Zinchenko. Kieran Tierney is more than an adequate left-back for us, in some instances, a better left back but he and Zinchenko are completely different players. Tierney loves hugging the touchline and overlapping the LW to put in crosses with Zinchenko preferring to tuck in to CM and create overloads that way. To my surprise, Arteta had Tierney tuck in to CM which is not his game at all. If you asked me, I preferred we played to Tierney’s strength than forcing him to play a way he doesn’t usually, which is the job of the manager, to fit to the players system if possible, not the other way around. When it comes to Thomas, we have nobody like him in the squad and we absolutely choked with him not in the squad, we got away with it yesterday but we need him back ASAP.

5. Saka is on my shit list now. It’s my turn now to shift my jinx over to Saka to step the fuck up. I have always been one to say Saka is a bit overrated based on how highly Arsenal rates the boy. I just need him to be more ruthless in front of the goal. I want him to take over the game by the scruff of its neck like I know he can. He sometimes seems too passive. Nobody questions the talent, we just need more end product to his name. Vinicius Jr’s development at Real Madrid is a perfect example of what Saka could be if he refines his mindset to be an absolutely ruthless killer. Half of it is the team’s fault by not getting the back to him quick enough which allows 2-3 players to shade over and defend Saka. But there are more than enough times where he needs to just take players on to create goals. He is more than capable of doing it, just needs to develop that killer instinct. Arteta echoed similar sentiments below:

Arteta tells Bukayo Saka to become “A ruthless winner. That’s it. Simple”

6. Villa and the United game can have me dreaming. These dumb idiots at other clubs see Arsenal’s start to the season and love to remind us how we have not played anybody good. Well I guess with Villa struggling mightily and United being what they are, I guess we will have to wait past these two games still to see if we can beat a “good opponent” ;). But anyways, these next two games will be a great indicator on how we have grown as a team to start this season. The Villa game will be a quick midweek turnaround with a Villa team eager to steer their season in the right direction. United will look to continue their trajectory out the shit hole they were in after Brentford by beating “Title challengers” Arsenal 🙂 . I’d love nothing more than to shit down their throat at Old Trafford with Arteta-Ball, similar to how we dominated Palace at the start of the season.

7. Haaland is a cheat code. Man City has this Norwegian freak as the star striker and he is absolutely terrifying. He is the Thanos of the Premier League. That man is inevitable. He already has a hat-trick to start his City tenure and it doesn’t look like he is stopping anytime soon. I’m not sure if there is anybody or anything that can stop City with that freak leading the lines. Speed, strength, technical ability, awareness of a world-class #9. He has it all and has me terrified of when we play him.

Featured image credits: GETTY

Video Credits: NBC Sports, DYAKU_, braa_meloo, iskaholic

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