Tag: Match Reaction

Clown show at the Emirates again (Arsenal-Fulham reaction)

My life is an utter joke supporting this god-damn team. Back in the friendly confines of the Emirates, everyone is back and fully healthy, and then leave it to Arteta and Arsenal to absolutely stink up the joint with a 2-2 draw at home to Fulham. Not sure how I will make it the rest of the season, we are only 3 games in folks.

THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:

  1. This Kai Havertz experiment needs to end yesterday: Never made sense when we bought him, didn’t make sense when we played with him through the pre-season, and it still doesn’t make fucking sense why we bought this brother 3 games in. If you are Arteta, why the fuck, would you completely change our style of play to a guy who doesn’t create value in possession, doesn’t have elite goal-scoring prowess, and doesn’t combine well with the rest of the team. We have absoltely shoe-horned him into a side to the detriment of Thomas Partey, Gabriel Jesus, Zinchenko and Gabriel etc and many others. It isn’t a fucking accident that we almost immediately were more threatening and dangerous when Havertz left the pitch. Martinelli looks a completely different player when Havertz is on the pitch vs. somebody he can combine with such as Fabio Vieira. If you wanted someone to dilly-dally and float through a game, Havertz is your guy, but when you are trying to chase City for a Premier league title chase, don’t get me started on what Arteta and company were thinking of bringing this guy to the club. Pep must have been choking himself to death from laughing when he saw Arsenal go in and splash that mich money over this guy. United next week, stop playing around and put Partey-Rice-Ø in the midfield.
  2. Saka and Martinelli also stinking up the joint: What Saka must have been thinking when he just gave Fulham a goal out of absolutely nothing.

No one was even close to the ball. You’d like to think Saka rebounded after this but that would make too much sense for one of your best players to step up after a dreadful mistake. Him and Martinelli made Tete and Robinson look like perennial defenders the way they let them defend them. Martinelli, I’ll give more defense too cause he had absolutely nobody to play off of, Saka had no excuses for the horror show that ensued afterwards.

3. Partey-Rice-Ø midfield is the way forward: This experiment with Partey at RB to be our inverted fullback also needs to be stopped especially with Zinchenko back and fully healthy. I could see what Arteta was trying to do by putting Partey at RB to help get Havertz into the team but its not great, it is way different putting a midfielder into a defensive role than it is the other way around with Zinchenko being a midfielder turned into a LB. Arteta needs to put his pride aside and just admit he completely fucked up the Havertz deal and go back to what made us unstoppable last season, White-Saliba-Gabriel-Zinny at the back, Partey-Rice-Ø in the midfield with Saka-Martinelli-Jesus leading the line. Havertz and Fabio can give us a different look if needed but no way should we be toiling with Havertz in our starting XI. Think about it, This Arsenal team took were on pace for 100 points halfway through last season with a stellar squad and this season, to shoehorn Havertz into the squad, he has benched one of the best CBs in the league in Gabriel, moved Partey to RB which means Zinchenko can’t play. Just absolute madness

4. At the end of the day we probably deserved a draw and nothing more: Fabio did well to combine with Martinelli to create a penalty and the cross was sublime to take the lead but the build-up in that second goal had Saka absolutely fouling Bassey with one of the dirtiest plays every, very similar to what Ramos did to Salah in the CL final in 2018, and we played on and scored. We got away with one against VAR but Fulham then went on and equalized with 10-men afterwards. At the end of the day, our performance didn’t deserve a win but we definitely didn’t deserve to score that 2nd goal the way we did.

Continue reading “Clown show at the Emirates again (Arsenal-Fulham reaction)”

We better be working towards peaking in the back half of this season cause today was not it (Arsenal – Palace reaction)

As someone who knows firsthand that nothing is guaranteed in this god-forsaken league, I’ll take the 3 points where I can get them every day of the week and twice on Sunday but lord have mercy have we got away with it today. It wasn’t pretty, but Arsenal scraped by a tough Palace team to pick up a 1-0 win at Selhurst Park. Flashback to when Arsenal opened up last season at Selhurst Park to open the season, it was champagne football from Arteta’s men and today it was nothing close. It wasn’t the worst and there is a sense of overreaction but I will explain why I am so frustrated with today’s wack performance. With it being two games into the season, I’ll take 3 points every single time but willing to trade performances over results this part of the season for sure, all that being said, here were my thoughts on the match:

Continue reading “We better be working towards peaking in the back half of this season cause today was not it (Arsenal – Palace reaction)”

Not at our absolute best but we take it one game at a time (Arsenal-Forest reaction)

With Arsenal getting as close as we did last summer, the record signing Declan Rice stepping into our midfield, and highly touted Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber arriving at the Emirates, there is a lot of hype and pressure around Arsenal and their title credibility and deservedly so. Arsenal should only be thinking about overtaking City this season and any thing less than 2nd would be failure. With all that said, 3 points anyway they come is the mantra til we get everyone settled into the squad and it wasn’t pretty but Arsenal scraped over the line to collect our first win of the season over Forest with a score of 2-1. We weren’t at our scintillating best, we had our moments of brilliance, got bailed out a few times but fought well to collect the 3 points and move onto Palace next week.

THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:

  1. Arteta lineup for the season? With the positional versatility that our new signings bring the squad, there has been a lot of speculation of how the team would play this season, Declan Rice at the 6, Havertz at the 8, Partey replaced, Timber at RB and Ben White out, Timber at LB, Havertz at striker, we could go on and on about Arteta’s plan for the squad and I think we got our answer today: Arteta will mix it up quite often throughout the season. A lot will probably depend on our opponent, if we are at home or not, who is in form, tactical preference etc. The smart bet was to assume we would play like we did against City at the Community Shield, Ben White-Saliba-Gabriel-Timber across the back, Thomas with Declan, Odegaard Martinelli Saka and Havertz leading our line. Swap Jesus for Havertz and that is probably our strongest lineup but Arteta had other plans today with Partey slotting in at inverted RB, Nketiah coming into the team with no Gabriel. I can guarantee that Arteta will bring Gabriel back into the squad next week and with Timber coming down with a knee injury, who knows how Arteta will line up against Palace.
  2. Saka and Martinelli had their moments: Forest started out with a sturdy back 5 and an organized shape that was tough to break through. BUT this is why someone like Martinelli is invaluable to the squad, with Forest in their deep blocks of 5, Martinelli got the ball with momentum and took it on himself to take on two Forest defenders, back heel a ball into Eddie who did well to take on his defender and get the ball past Turner:
We don’t really have a player like Martinelli in the squad

Saka who was lively from the start did well to get on his left foot and curl a unstoppable strike top bins, more of that please from both of them this season.

3. Our left hand side might be an issue in possession: Not sure if it was a tactical decision but the bulk of our possession was hammered down our right with Thomas-Odegaard-Saka dictating a lot of our play down the right flank. We will have to wait and see if this trend occurs but it definitely creates a technical imbalance when we aren’t able to sustain possession and build-up from the right. Declan Rice isn’t the same player as Thomas on the ball, Saka> Martinelli and no Ødegaard type player on our right, that could change with Zinchenko slotted into our team but it was definitely noticeable how much we chose to play down our right flank. That being said, Martinelli was dangerous everytime he ran at Aurier so if Arteta wanted to keep the left side direct and our right to be our source for possession for the rest of the squad, so be it. I prefer more balance but will have to wait and see how we play in the next few weeks.

4. Kai Havertz is who he is at this point of his career: It’s hopeless to think he will change at this point, he comes from the Ozil family tree, technically brilliant, will come in and out of his games, massively frustrating, will have his moments but man, not sure if we can use him in big matches and in tough away grounds. When we play like we did today, Havertz just floated into the open space and I am not sure he or we knew where he was supposed to be in buildup. He wasn’t totally convincing today but will have to wait and give him and Arteta time.

5. Injuries already: Gabi Jesus and Zinchenko having injury niggles is not ideal but now with Timber going down, makes you thank God that Arsenal were efficient in their defense signings as we have Tomiyasu and Kiwior who can back up the LB position in the meanwhile. Didn’t make sense how when Timber went down the first time, we still kept him on. Definitely a black mark on the Arsenal training staff and depending on how bad his injury turns out to be.

6. Declan and Thomas Partey: Our best team has these two in there, Declan can run for days and Thomas on the ball is our best deep lying playmaker. When we needed to see the game out, it was nice seeing those two controlling the midfield. Need to get Timber/Zinny healthy so we can let the two of them cook.

7. Still had a glimpses of last season with us having troubles closing out a 2-0 game – need to put out foot down the throats of our opponent’s necks smh

Player Ratings:

Ramsdale – 7/10 – nothing he could have done for the goal, solid

Thomas Partey – 7.5/10 – Technically brilliant, got caught a few times, showed his age, still pivotal to the team

Ben White – 6.5/10 – Nice to see him play more centrally, got caught out a bit on their goal but it was a mess from the whole team tbf

Saliba – 8/10 – Rolls Royce

Timber – 7/10 – Was good up until the injury, need him back

Declan Rice – 8/10 – Grew into the game, was too conservative at the start but was more expansive as the game went on. Total engine though

Kai Havertz – 6/10 – It’s like watching Ozil, floating in and out of games like a butterfly

Ødegaard – 7/10 – didn’t contribute to the goals but you can tell his influence is all over the team. technical brilliance

Saka – 8/10 – First half unplayable, second half playable

Martinelli – 8/10 – Nobody like him in the team

Nketiah – 7/10 – If he keeps scoring, I will shut up

Tomiyasu – 7/10 – Did well when he came on

Trossard – 7/10 – Same as Tomiyasu, hard done not to start

Gabriel – Not on long enough to rate

Haaland/City – 0/10 – Chill the fuck out pleaseeeeee

Arsenal ticket team – 0/10 – get your shit together

Kent’s mental wellbeing -7/10- fine for now, need to keep collecting the 3 points

THANK GOODNESS THIS DAMN SEASON IS OVER (Arsenal-Wolves reaction)

Maybe next week, maybe next month, I can reflect positively on what Arsenal achieved this season but seeing what the Arsenal social media team has put out as it pertains to glancing over the negative performances with positive meaningless fluff videos, none of the players apologizing or acknowledging how they bottled this season away, Arteta talking about how we are going to go back at it next season, it just makes my skins crawl. I’m not really blaming anybody because anybody would try to focus on the positives over the negatives, that is human nature, but the way the club and players, in my opinion, haven’t come out and acknowledge how they messed up doesn’t sit right with me. Instead, they are going to give these happy end of the season posts, thank the fans, all that BS after we smashed Wolves 5-0 to end the season and act like everything is good. All I ask for is some accountability from the club, players, and manager.

Nonetheless, Arsenal rolled over a very poor, lethargic Wolves side to finish the season in 2nd place on 84 points, a remarkable achievement with no context and when comparing against prior seasons, but with how we choked it away, it definitely will be something that will not go away anytime soon.

THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:

  1. XHAKA Farewell: I’ll keep all my thoughts on the season for another post and focus on what happened today, with Xhaka quietly announcing today will be his last game for the club, there is not a better way to say goodbye than with two goals to close his account as an Arsenal player. It is a shame he will not be with us next season when we play Champions League football as he was one of the main players that stuck through the tough times for this moment, but he is going to a wonderful manager in Xabi Alonso at Leverkusen with a country/league he is comfortable playing in, nothing but respect to the great Granit Xhaka. It wasn’t pretty, it got bad at some points, but he worked his ass off always, showed that he cared about the club and always stood up and took on responsibility when he didn’t have to. What a guy, Granit Xhaka.

2. No team shows up like last-game-of-season-Arsenal: These guys are shameless man, when the lights are off, and pressure gone, these guys have the audacity to smack 5 past Wolves and act like the past two months have not happened, you gotta laugh, otherwise you will cry. Xhaka had himself two goals, Saka with a delicious finish to the far post, Gabriel with a backpost header, Kiwior squeezing in a goal at the end, just shameless. Arteta went and put out Thomas Partey in a back 4 and it worked today but didn’t last week. Who knows if it would have saved our season ultimately but it would have saved us from not having to see Rob Holding back out there as an Arsenal player, that is for damn sure. All things considered though, Wolves were embarassing today.

3. Today’s game didn’t matter so will save all my thoughts on the actual season for next time.

PLAYER RATINGS:

Ramsdale: 8/10 – Didn’t have anything to do if I am not mistaken when it comes to saves

Thomas Partey: 8/10 – Much more comfortable today than last week, probably lots of random factors that come into that, but had more of his brilliance and influence on today’s game.

Ben White: 7/10 – He was good

Gabriel: 7/10 – So was Gabriel

Kiwior: 7/10 – Got himself a goal, not sure where he fits in long-term but his skills on the ball is something to behold.

Jorginho: 7/10 – Played a wonderful ball to Trossard for our 4th goal

Xhaka: 10/10 – What a guy

Saka: 6/10 – Had a wonderful goal but can’t get these past few months out of my head with him, needs to make it up next season.

Odegaard: 7/10 – What a season from him.

Trossard: 7/10 – Picked up two more assists today, what a signing he has been for us, will be massive next season when we are competing in both the league and the Champions League

Gabriel Jesus: 7.5/10 – had a goal to sign off his first season with us, will need much more from him next season.

New Arsenal Jersey: 6/10 – The jersey itself is fine, I hate the gold shoulder stripes, I’m more old-school about it with any bold gold markings on a jersey should be saved for titles, not anniversaries.

Wolves: 10/10 – Literally went out and there and didn’t give a fuck, I gotta respect it.

END THE SEASON (Arsenal-Brighton reaction)

It has been real, it has been fun, but it hasn’t been real fun. In the most embarrassing way possible, Arsenal bowed out of the title race at home by getting dogwalked by Brighton 3-0 . Completely outclassed, outworked, outthought, outfought by a superior Brighton team. Just embarrassing from start to finish by the supposed title challengers.

THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:

  1. Arteta might actually just be an idiot: He has done well to get us to this point but I am starting to think this guy might just be a clown. Arteta went out and played the same starting XI he did against Newcastle which is all fine and dandy when you look at it high-level, but when you are playing an up and running, physical Newcastle side where you might need a Jorginho to bring some control to a game. But when you are at home and are playing a Brighton side that plays similar to how Arsenal do with their high press – build from the back style, you might want to try something different than playing a Xhaka-Jorginho pivot. The Brighton midfield trio of Gilmour, Gross and Mac Allister absolutely took the piss out of the Arsenal midfield today by their inability to ever lose the ball, nip and tuck fouls to stagger the Arsenal play and pretty much overrunning the unathletic immobile duo of Xhaka and Jorginho. Arsenal could never get a grip in the center of the pitch and Arsenal paid the price. If only we had a more athletic, phyiscally imposing and simply better player on our bench that could help (We did, and his name is Thomas Partey).
  2. We need to have a discussion on Saka: This has become really really bad. This man hasn’t turned up for what feels like a month now, essentially when we have needed him most, he has completely non-existent and nobody says or does anything about it. For example, you could make the argument that he was the worst player on the pitch but somehow he was the only one that didn’t get subbed off. This protection of Saka is strange and is definitely warrants questions that need to be asked of why he gets so much protection from the media and Arteta. Supposedly, our best player but doesn’t show up when we need him most, weird.
  3. Arsenal bottled it, straight up: I don’t want to hear anything about City, Arsenal weren’t supposed to be here or anything like that. In a 7 game stretch where you play Liverpool, West Ham, Southampton, City, Chelsea Newcastle, and Brighton and you only win 2 of the games, nah, I’m not sorry, you choked. You want to win the title, how about you win some games, how about that? You want to win the title but get slapped up by your main rivals home and away? Nah, not how it works. Even the Klopp Liverpool sides that lost out to City, they at least defended their home fixture and gave City something to worry about, we just continually get cooked by City home and away, it doesn’t matter. So high level, of course you can say Arsenal didn’t choke cause we were never supposed to be here but that is now how this works. You perform the way we did in the last 7 games, win 2/7 games, dropping 12 points out of a 21 possible in the meat end of the season, nothing other than a chokejob.
  4. Saliba about to be a very rich man: There are many reasons we are in the position we are in at the moment, dropping 12/21 points, embarrassing performances at the Emirates etc. and it all be attributed to when we lost William Saliba to injury. You can argue that since we lost to him to that Sporting tie, shit hasn’t been the same, you can make an argument that we replcaed him with a useless piece of life in Rob Holding but regardless, once the spine of our team fell apart, so did our title chances. Thomas Partey hasn’t quite been at his best without Saliba behind him. And with Saliba now fighting for a new contract with Arsenal, all he has to do is show the last 7 games and Arsenal can’t really do much else than to pay this guy.
  5. If you think Jorginho is better than Thomas Partey, you are the problem.
  6. I can’t even get mad at the ref for being incompetent at his job because we were so shit today: When Alexis stepped on Kiwior, how was that not looked at? Don’t get me started on the assistant referee trying to flag Trossard offside on an throw-in, can’t make this shit up.
  7. END THE SEASON
Continue reading “END THE SEASON (Arsenal-Brighton reaction)”

My life was on the line and Arteta chose to defend it with Rob Holding, someone actually kill me (Arsenal-City reaction)

(Let me preface this reaction with that Man City were by the far the superior team man for man, tactically, physically, mentally, energetic performance, in all areas on and off the pitch, they get paid higher wages, probably have better looking wives/gfs, just in all areas, City were the better team today. Just a straight up, ole fashioned ass whooping, boys against men, insert any saying that resembles someone getting dominated by their opponent. So while I going in on Arsenal keep it all in mind that most of it wouldn’t have mattered anyway cause City are just better.)

Imagine a world where Arsenal were in a title hunt with about 8 or 9 games left to go in the season with Man City 5 points back, and they played 3 games where and inexplicably dropped points in each of those games, and and then you play against the best team in the world or direct rival to the title, YOU CHOOSE TO PLAY THE SAME PLAYERS WITH THE SAME TACTICS. Like how dumb/incompetent do you have to be.

“Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.”

There aren’t really words to describe the assault that took place at the Etihad stadium tonight with Arsenal getting battered by Man City with a gracious score of 4-1, should and could have been much worse. The title is well and truly over, I don’t have an issue with losing to a better team but the fashion we did it tonight was just well and truly embarrassing. So lifeless and useless when considering everything that was on the line.

THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:

  1. I never want to see Rob Holding in an Arsenal shirt again: Rob Holding is 100% my scapegoat tonight for all of Arsenal’s failures, this loss is not all on him but it does start with him and ends with Mikel Arteta, let me explain, the reason why Arsenal couldn’t get the ball out of our own half, had trouble stringing 3 passes together was because we employ and played Rob Holding in our most important game of the season. We payed around 2m Euros for him from Bolton Wanderers and that is about what we have gotten from him in terms of value. When you have a team that is as disciplined and intelligent as Man City are in their pressing, all they need is 1 target to hound out and Rob Holding fit that to a freaking T. For City, it was so easy to press and get on top of us because they made it their mission to not cover or press Holding, what this means is that Rob Holding was always open when we were playing out from the back, Haaland literally stayed away from him, and what that did is gave two options, Rob Holding then would have time to fuck up a pass OR he would pass to Gabriel, Ramsdale, Partey etc. and then City would press like maniacs. City was able to maintain this press because they didn’t waste their time and energy on Rob Holding and saved it everywhere else which explains why they pinned us so deep so often and why they always won it back immediately when Rob would hoof it up to a City player. And whenever Zinny, Gabriel, Thomas, Ramsdale was under pressure, the only player that was open was Rob Holding, so they would then play it to him and then it was a revolving nightmare that would never end. Rob isn’t at fault for whole the performance tonight but he is the antithesis of the shit form we have been on.
Continue reading “My life was on the line and Arteta chose to defend it with Rob Holding, someone actually kill me (Arsenal-City reaction)”

24 hours later and I will never get over how Arsenal screwed this up so badly , the most ARSENAL thing ever (Arsenal-Southampton reaction)

What a choke job, bottle-job, embarrassment, etc. Whatever you want to call a team putting up a shockingly embarrassing performance in high-pressure situations where you are heavily favored, Arsenal just did that times a billion. I am being dramatic and might have some hyperbole in there but as a highly emotional, overly invested fan, this team is everything to me and the players/coaches/management just sold me down the river for slaughter.

Arsenal in their past two games before yesterday blew consecutive 2-0 leads which led to 2-2 draws against Liverpool and West Ham (relegation fodder) to drop 4 points in a highly competitive and tight PL title race against arguably the best team in the world (Man City). And yesterday they outdid themselves in the most Arsenal fashion ever by drawing 3-3 AT HOME (AT YOUR OWN DAMN STADIUM WHERE THE MAJOJRITY OF HOME CROWD ACTIVELY ROOTS AND SUPPORT YOU) to the last place team in the league (20th place), heavily struggling Southampton to extend their league to 5 points at the top of the league with City having two games in hand. Just a nightmarish scenario for all fragile Arsenal fans out there. 6 points dropped in 3 games. You can’t make this stuff up but for Arsenal fans, we are numb to this crap at this point. Our next game is at the Etihad against Man City in a game where we must win, HA. At this point, City couldn’t be in better form and we are looking like greased up fat pigs for slaughter, just end me at this point before next Wednesday.

Continue reading “24 hours later and I will never get over how Arsenal screwed this up so badly , the most ARSENAL thing ever (Arsenal-Southampton reaction)”

THE PRESSURE IS GETTING A BIT MUCH (Arsenal – West Ham reaction)

We needed this one, we needed this one so bad. Arsenal coming into today had a chance to go 6 points clear with City’s game in hand (76 vs. 70). It’s not much but it would provide some cushion before our clash with the them next week but bad stuff here, bad stuff there, sadness over there and Arsenal now finds themselves 4 points clear with City having a game in hand and I am not sure how much I can take. Arsenal away from home against relegation fodder West Ham squandered a 2-0 lead to share points with those clowns. For the longest time I have been preaching we have everything left to play for but at this point, I’m not sure I believe that.

THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:

  1. I’ll finally admit that the pressure is real and I am barely hanging on: We have been finally giving people what they want, Arsenal have answered 99% of their critics and have passed every obstacle with grace but this looks like to be a step too far at the moment. Losing at Everton, dropping points at Southampton away and Brentford at home, squandering a 2-0 goal lead at Anfield and now this, it’s a bit much than I can handle and unfortunately, it looks like the same could be same for Arsenal. Everything is still in our hands but will take me awhile to get over this one cause we needed it. We were cruising through the first 30 minutes, almost a carbon copy of the Liverpool fixture with two quick goals from Jesus and Odegaard with sublime buildup and then not sure what else I can say. We give up a dumb penalty, West ham fans get into the game to support their team, they get an ridiculous over the top goal and now I find myself speechless and hurting.
Continue reading “THE PRESSURE IS GETTING A BIT MUCH (Arsenal – West Ham reaction)”

YEARS OFF MY LIFE (Arsenal-Liverpool reaction)

What a sport, what a match. All things considered, could have been worse, could have been wayyyyy worse for Kent. Everything to play for, for Arsenal, extend our lead to 8 points at our haunted ground, win for the first time since Podolski and Cazorla, it felt like a win would all but give us the confidence to go on and win the league and then just like that, a 2-0 lead turns us into hanging onto dear life and now leave Anfield with a 2-2 draw. Easily could be a loss. Given the context of the game, felt like a 2 points loss to a point gained with Ramsdale making 3 incredible saves at the end to secure the draw for the good guys.

6 point lead with a game in hand and a game at the Etihad still around the corner. It’s looking bleak for us right now as Haaland and his dumb face and Julian Alvarez’s acne breathing down on our necks toward the end of the season. (I apologize Julian but I’m down bad now and lashed out) Hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

Continue reading “YEARS OFF MY LIFE (Arsenal-Liverpool reaction)”

GABI JESUS IS BACK (Arsenal – Leeds reaction)

Saka out with an illness, Saliba out indefinitely, Tomiyasu out for the season, Man City battered Liverpool 4-1 earlier today, not what you want to see as an Arsenal going into this Leeds game but we handled them with a second-half onslaught to take us back to 8 points clear with a game in hand despite all those things going against us with a 4-1 win over relegation fodder Leeds. Gabi Jesus got back on the scoresheet with two goals, Trossard got himself another assist, Xhaka got a goal, Thomas Partey didn’t get injured and I didn’t have to suffer through a roller-coaster of a game. All to play for with 9 matches left, 9 cup finals, let’s do it fellas.

Continue reading “GABI JESUS IS BACK (Arsenal – Leeds reaction)”