Tag: Top 4

Ødegaard shutting me up (Arsenal – Bournemouth Reaction)

I’m not sure how to react or act to Arsenal right now. After the first three weeks of the season, I usually have countless things to complain about Arsenal by now but I have got nothing. I am what the adults would say, “in the mud”. 3 games and 3 wins from the Gunners to start the season and at the moment we are Premier League Champions. Arteta put out the same squad that has started the season and they did not let him down with a 3-0 thrashing of newly promoted Bournemouth. Easy game, easy win, and easy weekend for everyone supporting this cursed club.

THOUGHTS ON THE GAME:

  1. Gabi Jesus changes everything. Comparing him to Lacazette last season is not fair to the Frenchman. Gabi runs, he passes, he passes then run, he can play with his back towards the goal then runs forward. It’s just a sight to behold. What he did for the first goal to bring the ball down while shrugging off a defender and then to evade several defenders before laying it off to Martinelli is just outstanding. He also picked up an assist on the second goal and had a goal overturned due to a tight offside call. He’s been more than we all could imagine, he’s been absolutely perfect. I love him

2. Ødegaard shutting me the hell up. With Arsenal getting off to a flying start to the season, I felt some players were not quite at it from the start and Ødegaard was one of them for me. I expected more from him and then today happened, and he shut me up quickly and well. Two goals to get this account started this season with an assist as well that was tightly overturned to GJ9. To be fair, Bournemouth displayed optional defending in the first half, which gave Ø so much space to operate. He will obviously have to keep it up against the big boys but couldn’t ask more from him today.

3. Saliba is perfect. There is nothing more I could say about this kid. Anything more and I’d get in trouble with my girlfriend. He’s an absolute rock at the moment at the back. He’s composed, he’s tidy, he’s strong and he’s only 21. And to top it all off, he pulls off an absolutely ridiculous goal with his weaker foot in the top corner. No idea where the hell that came from but I’d see it every week no problem.

4. Bournemouth are not good. They got ran around by City last weekend and after watching today, that makes total sense. They were at home and you’d expect them to come out sort of like Fulham against Liverpool. It was nothing close. They sat back, let Arsenal play around with the ball and just like that, they found themselves 2-0 down quickly and could never recover. They offered no resistance to the Arsenal midfield and defense which let them pick out passes and holes between the lines. Just an abysmal performance and has relegation candidate written all over.

5. Arsenal still needs a proper test. I won’t even utter any words that resemble Arsenal challenging for the title. But….. we do look like Top 4 candidates. You can only win against who you play and after the Leicester defeat today, our strength in schedule looks suspect. But…. Arsenal teams in the past would have gotten 4/9 points after these first 3 games and we all know that. I’ll take the wins when I can but I still got my eyes out for when we play the big boys.

6. Our depth is crazy right now. For us to be able to bring on Tomiyasu, Tierney and ESR from the bench is wild. If things go our way here and there, we do look like we have a proper team that can challenge for the Top 4 and the Europa League. I still hate the Europa League and that we are in it, but I’d rather give our squad players more playing time to keep the morale up as the season goes on.

7. I am still not over with how last season ended. I finished the Arsenal: All or Nothing documentary and I have nobody but myself to blame. I knew it would piss me off to see us choke the season away in a documentary format and it did more than that. To just see the player’s reactions to the games in the locker room and at training just ticked me off. Just lifeless chokers they were man. I won’t question the manager and the team for not caring but after rewatching how flat we were against Spurs and Newcastle, it’s hard to argue otherwise with so much at stake. They just need to win the title this season to make up for it. We have Fulham at home next week, 3 points and nothing else.

Featured image credits: Reuters

Twitter credits: NBC Sports

My love for Gabi Jesus is never-ending (Arsenal-Leicester Match reaction)

After getting off to a blistering start in a 2-0 victory over Palace last Friday, there was always a possibility of a letdown. Growing up an Arsenal fan, this was always something you knew would happen instead of Arsenal keeping up the positive momentum into something more. And these guys have proven me wrong and shut my ass up again, in the Emirates debut for the team, we went out and slapped Leicester up and down North London in a 4-2 victory that should have been way worse. We were absolutely dominant from the start. There were a few slip ups here and there, but all in all, a comfortable victory.

10 THOUGHTS

  1. Gabi Jesus is more than anybody has expected. He runs, he scores, he passes well, he runs after he passes, he wins the ball in the air. He has done it all for Arsenal at the moment and I don’t know what will happen if he isn’t here. The first goal, where he chips the ball to the far post is just world-class.
That is a man in form right there

Look at this pass from Ramsdale and Gabi Jesus bringing it down with his head and then subsequently sending Jonny Evans to retirement. What a hat trick that would have been. Not only did he bag the goals, but he also got himself 2 assists as well. Just an all-around performance from our star man. The best performance from an attacking-player I’d say since one of the Alexis Sanchez hat trick games.

2. Martinelli has made himself a sure-fire starter. I’d think of benching Saka or Ødegaard over Martinelli at this point. He’s a menace whenever he has the ball, he is a menace when he is defending. He just doesn’t stop and I love it. Two goals in two games had Wesley Fofana on skates the whole match. With all the talk of Arsenal signing another winger, Martinelli has made a point for sure that his spot isn’t up for grabs.

3. Saka and Ødegaard need to step up. The Brazilians Gabi Jesus and Martinelli have gotten off to a blistering start. Ødegaard more so than Saka need to step it up a bit. The sharpness that the two Brazilians are playing with is lacking dramatically with Saka and Ødegaard at the moment. Nothing drastic needs to change, just a notice out to those two that they are falling behind a bit. Ødegaard also needs to be careful as Fábio Vieira is waiting out in the wings to take his place.

4. Granit Xhaka, our left-sided 8 for the season? I have been calling out for a while that we needed a more athletic 8 to insert into Xhaka’s spot but he has been objectively terrific this season. Outside of the blip with Fofana yesterday, he has been immense. The Aaron Ramsey runs into the box, the connection with Zinchenko and Martinelli, etc. I wish he had more athleticism to his game that would circumvent his slowness at times but he’s more than fine at the moment.

Got a goal for himself for his efforts as well

5. Zinchenko-Xhaka-Martinelli wrecking havoc – our left-sided attack has been absolutely amazing so far. With Zinchenko tucking inside into the midfield, Xhaka pushing into the box, and Martinelli out wide, teams have not been able to cope with that so far as opposing players seem lost on who should go with who. It’ll be interesting to see how this fares as teams get more and more tape on us, but so far, it is clear that our left-sided part of our attack has been more threatening and sprinkle in Gabi Jesus , it is a handful right now for everybody.

6. Saliba is still the greatest ever – naturally, there was more luck that would go against Saliba as how things work. Despite the own goal, he bounced back nicely and looked assured for the rest of the game. Ben White was also absolutely terrible in the build-up to Leicester’s first goal, he needs to at least challenge Justin for that flick on and just terrible luck from Saliba to try and cut out the flick.

7. Ramsdale is a bit fortunate – a huge reason why Ramsdale is our keeper and not Leno is for sure his aggressive and progressive style of play. He plays a high line and loves to come out to receive but also to defend and almost got caught out for the Vardy dive. He was smart and pulled out of the tackle and the ref did well to consult with VAR to negate the Leicester penalty. But he needs to be way smarter when coming out for those 50/50 balls. Also letting a goal through your legs isn’t great. Not totally his fault but not a great look.

8. My Jamie Vardy luck might actually be turning around. He owns me. Jamie Vardy owns me and I know there is nothing I can do about it. He won the 2015/2016 title over us. It feels like he damn well scores in every game he plays against us. He has 11 goals. Just a fucking pain in my ass for years. But…. it seems that things could be turning around. He got a penalty taken away due to VAR which years ago wouldn’t have been called off. And it was his header that let Gabriel Jesus get his second goal.

He very much still owns me but yesterday gave me back some of my fight in this rivalry with Jamie Vardy.

9. Tierney and Tomiyasu waiting in the wings. It is interesting that two of the subs we made yesterday were bringing on Tierney and Tomiyasu. Two guys who definitely think they should be starting. I’m all for competition within the squad and interested to see how Arteta uses them going forward. At the moment, it feels like Arteta can’t change with what has been working but we will see.

10. I am just waiting to see when Arsenal fuck me – Not sure if it will be next week or next month, but it will happen and I will lose my mind over it and will not be rational. You can’t blame me for feeling like this and being pessimistic. But these guys will do it, not a matter of if, but a matter of when. (Please don’t screw me Arsenal).

Featured image credits: AP

Twitter credits: Grimanditweets, NBC Sports, SHA3WAZA_2

Arsenal Preview 2022/2023 (Forwards) – Gabi Jesus Szn

Imagine a professional football team that tried to achieve Champions League football with a center forward that couldn’t run, jump, or move in any capacity. God Bless Lacazette, but that is what Arsenal tried to achieve last year. The combination of Auba, Laca, and Eddie Nketiah last year through 38 PL games accounted for 13 goals. 13 motherfucking goals. 37 year old Cristiano score more himself in a disoriented United squad. Salah had more than 13 himself halfway through last season. It is quite literally a miracle that we were one result going our way from making the Champions League. To the club’s credit, Arsenal have gone on and acquired the services of Brazilian International and multi Premier League champion Gabriel Jesus to lead the line and the change has been nothing short of drastic.

CENTER FORWARD/STRIKER: If you look at the numbers Gabi Jesus produced during his time at City, they may look underwhelming at first but he had a lot of extenuating factors that played against him. The stubborn Aguero refusing to give up his spot, an absolutely crowded front line, and lack of consistent game time hindered Gabi’s time at City. Gabi Jesus spent a good amount of time on the wings and was in charge of tracking back like any winger is asked to do which is something Pep appreciated from him however, that greatly hindered Gabriel Jesus’ chances for goals. At Arsenal, we go as far as Gabi takes us. He’s our star man and what our transfer window was based off of. It’s on him, management and the team to get the best out of him. In just a few games in preseason and against Palace, you can just see the quality oozing out:

He calmly brings the cross-field pass down with his chest and proceeds to pass and then RUN into the box to follow his pass and get the goal. I’d have to end myself before Lacazette did such a thing last season. This goal also shows the flexibility that Gabi provides in being able to play on the touchline if need be, for example if we need to team him up with Eddie for a goal and he has to float out wide.

This passage of play against Palace also shows the all-action footballer that Gabi Jesus is as he muscles Schlupp off the ball, megs Dourouré, and then sends Andersen back to Denmark all in one run before getting his shot block. Gabriel Jesus was absolutely everywhere in the first half against Palace and was extremely unlucky to not have a goal to his name for his effort. He fell off a bit in the second half but so did the rest of the attacking line as Palace grew into the game. He hasn’t seem to fully find a connection with Ødegaard and Saka yet but for the sake of Arsenal, we need them to find something if we want to achieve greater things than last season. 30+ G/A contributions should be the standard for Gabriel Jesus if he stays healthy and I don’t see why he doesn’t reach it. he looks sharp, he’s moving well, he just needs to opportunities. Oh and we also signed Eddie Nketiah to another deal to be our backup striker/CF. I would rather us have let him go after this contract ended personally as I don’t rate him highly but since we were dumb enough to not move him out with time left on his contract, Arsenal probably felt obligated to extend him due to not handling his contract situation efficiently.

WIDE FORWARDS/WINGERS: I will absolutely never give up on Nico Pépé even though his time at the club is more than done it looks like. Arteta doesn’t seem too eager to give him any playing time despite the wages and transfer fee he commanded. I don’t think Arteta has treated him well or given him the fairest chance but in his defense, Pépé hasn’t fully taken his chances despite scoring 10 goals in the 2020/2021 season on limited starts. I’d like to find a way to get a front line of Pépé, Saka, and Gabriel Jesus a chance to grow but we will see. At the moment, it looks like Saka’s and Martinelli’s positions out wide. In a time where the best wingers are getting close to and more than 20 goals a season, we are going to need more end product out of the two of them. Saka did fine last year despite him creating so many chances and messing up the final ball. Martinelli absolutely needs to get 20+ G/A in the league if he wants to be our starting RW. His respectable 6/6 G/A in the league last year came off only a half season being our out-and-out starter but will need more from him. ESR is the forgotten man at the moment as he hasn’t been able to stay healthy. In the first half of the season, he was like a bat out of hell scoring all the goals he did with his timely arrivals to the box. Having him rotate with Martinelli or off the bench would be dope, we just need him to be healthy. Absolutely can not have the #10 shirt Arsenal wasted to a bench/rotation/injured player. Reiss Nelson is still at the club as well and should be loaned/sold off by the end of the window. Love you Reiss.

Featured image credits: Premier League

Twitter credits: NBCSportsSoccer, arsenal_video

Arsenal 2022/2023 Preview (Defenders) – Saliba might be the best defender in the world

OUTLOOK: Going into this season, I was somewhat worried about the defenders/injuries that Arsenal was carrying into the season, but a French blessing in the shape of a William Saliba fell into our lap and now I can’t be more excited to see what our back line looks like with him. Despite the injuries to Tomiyasu and Tierney coming into this season, the arrival of Saliba has pushed Ben White out to RB with Tomiyasu out which affords the ability to not have to play Cédric. Saliba-Gabriel have created a formidable duo that looks as good as any in England especially given their age profiles. Zinchenko looks to have the left-back spot now with Tierney struggling to cope with injuries. Through the Sevilla and Chelsea friendlies to go along with the win against Palace, I imagine we keep this back 4 intact til things break down but you have to love the depth and flexibility we have right now when everybody is back, a huge problem we had last year that messed with my sanity.

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Man City owe Arsenal for funding their transfer window, Zinchenko coming to North London

(If for whatever reason this doesn’t happen, it is not my fault and I take no responsibility for it)

Arsenal missed out on Lisandro Martinez and that is fine, he decided to go and play with his former manager on a worse team in United for €57.37 million, which could rise to €67.37m through variables. From an Arsenal perspective, there is no reason we should have spent that much money on a CB who we it looks like we would have deployed at LB (even though he doesn’t play there for club or country, the only thing he has that resembles a LB is his preference of his left boot). We also missed out on Raphinha which I could give two shits about as he has publically and privately been twerking for Barca for months now, no need for Arsenal to cough up north of €60m for a guy who scored 11 league goals last year (Pépé got lambasted and called a bust for scoring 10 league goals the season before, makes you think). But no worry, looks like we got the LB we wanted, according to Fab, Arsenal and City have reached an agreement for Oleksandr Zinchecnko.

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I can’t stand this Raphinha guy

UPDATE: He signed for Barcelona lmaoooo. At a club that also just signed 33-year-old Lewandowski, 6 months after they signed 33-year-old Aubameyang, resigned Ousmane Dembele, and couldn’t keep their club legend, Messi, due to financial reasons went on to sign Raphinha for over £55 million. You can’t help but laugh. How many promises can Xavi make for a forward line that going into next season that has Lewandowski, Aubameyang, Ansu Fati, Memphis, Ferran Torres, Ousmane Dembele, and now Raphinha?

Growing up in elementary school, we all had that school crush that we were madly in love with and we all probably had a moment when the person we had a crush on didn’t feel the same way. Absolutely shitty feeling. You know the only thing worse than that? Still going after the same girl or having feelings for her when she already said she didn’t feel the same way. Nothing short of pathetic at that point. This exact scenario is where Arsenal finds themselves in search of the soon-to-be former Leeds RW, Raphinha. Arsenal were at the middle of June, the leader in the race to sign the Brazilian but Chelsea and Barcelona stepped in and messed everything up.

PLAYER PROFILE : Raphinha, is no doubt an absolutely brilliant player, a prototypical left-footed RW who loves taking on defenders and maneuvering himself to get shots/passes with his left-foot. He’s the type of player who hate to play against as he is always looking to go at defenders, and not the fake always where some players will do feint and then pass the ball back if the defender doesn’t budge. Raphinha LOOKS for it and is successful a decent amount of times. There’s a smoothness with his dribbling and movement which kind of reminds me of Di Maria as they have similar body types and are comfortable left-footed dribblers. They do both pick up different positions as Di Maria is probably the more complete player however Raphinha, I’d say is the more direct player.

This directness I’d say is the main reason why clubs like Barcelona, Chelsea and Arsenal are interested in his services, considering the man played two seasons at Leeds with 25 goals to his name at the club, those are more than decent clubs to be linked to.

Raphinha has an absolute wand of a left foot as well. He loves to hug the touchline on the right flank, and then with a quick bit of acceleration, cut in his right foot and deliver crosses to his attachers:

Why did his teammate go and head the ball as if he was defending lmao

The flair and directness of Raphinha in a team at Leeds that had Dan James as a starter make it so obvious why Raphinha stood out so well at Leeds. Like no fucking shit the man was going to look like Robben reincarnated, these men gave up goals like a NYC turnstile, and wondered why they were fighting relegation all season long.

SITUATION: In the spring of 2022, when Leeds was fighting off relegation, it was pretty well known that Raphinha would more than likely leave the club whether they survived or not (they survived). The former Champions League winner with Barcelona, Deco is his agent and was putting out rumors of Barcelona and Raphinha being linked for months now. If that wasn’t fishy enough, it is well known now that Raphinha prefers the move to Barcelona over any English club with Leeds asking for £60million and £65m for the right winger. Like only Raphinha posting an Instagram story pleading for Barcelona to sign him would make it more obvious.

Deco seated with Raphinha on the day he transferred to Leeds from Rennes

Barcelona who are going through their own financial issues (you know, the one where they couldn’t keep Messi, the one where Pique had to take a pay cut, etc.), i.e they are in a shit ton of debt have been in and out of Raphinha depending on what day of the week it is. This waffling from Barcelona caused Arsenal to get in the mix for Raphinha who they have been tracking for some time now. At one point in early June, it seemed like we were the leaders to nab up the talented Brazilian as Barcelona were busy dealing with their own shit.

Arsenal set to make second bid for Leeds star Raphinha with winger ‘open’ to move as Barcelona drop out of race

Then out of fucking nowhere, Chelsea stepped up again as the constant pain in my ass and decided they wanted to ruin my life. This meant they were willing to agree to Leeds demands for Raphinha which Arsenal could not, as well as provide Champions League football to a player that has not experienced that before.

Even though Chelsea thought they had something with Leeds, Raphinha still yearns to play at the Camp Nou, and at this point, it is almost a complete joke with his team for next season still in the air.

KENT’S CONCLUSION: At this point, I just don’t fucking care if Arsenal sign him. I always thought £60 million for a player who only scored 11 goals last year was a bit rich but in this market, it is essentially big teams overspending on players and hoping they work out (Lukaku, Nico Pépé, Sancho etc.). Would I love to have him? Of course I would. But does he take us to the next level? Maybe? Here are the reasons why I don’t care at all anymore about if he comes to Arsenal

  1. We already have Saka: The man is clearly talented and would improve our team for sure, no questions about it. However, £60 million for a player that plays in Saka’s position isn’t the best use of funds. We also have a Nico Pépé sized transfer fee in the RW position that we still have on our books that we haven’t got rid of yet which makes it a little uncomfortable that we would go head first for another RW.
  2. He clearly doesn’t want to be here: Which is totally fine. It’s clear that his preference is Barcelona, Chelsea , and then a long look down to Arsenal. Arsenal have been an utter joke for a good part of the last decade compared to Barcelona and Chelsea, why would any player choose Arsenal over the other two if they had any sort of ambition. Those clubs have had way more success as of late and are playing Champions League football next season, no reason for Raphinha to choose Arsenal for him if money is all relatively the same, absolutely none and it doesn’t hurt my feelings at all.
  3. This situation is all for a Brazilian not named Neymar: Raphinha has every right to take his time on his next club, but for God’s sake, it’s like this guy is the second coming of Neymar. No way is this guy worth the hassle of stringing Barcelona, Chelsea and Arsenal along for £60 million. Neymar, yes he is worth the hassle for a talent like that. This guy, not even close. At this point, I wouldn’t even want the guy, he clearly rather play at Chelsea or Barcelona. Just take the L and move onto somebody else that hates his club situation enough to come play at Arsenal. 🙂

Video credits: SVMM, NBC, Brazil Scout Premium

GABRIEL JESUS COMING TO THE EMIRATES AND SAVING ARSENAL

They did it, they actually went out there and did the damn thing. Fabrizio Romano tweeted on June 26th, 2022 that an agreement has taken place between Manchester City and Arsenal for the services of Gabriel Jesus for a fee £45m.

Despite my initial concerns with Gabriel Jesus actually coming to Arsenal as stated in the previous post below about Gabi Jesus in April 2022, I feel like the driving reasons how they were able to lure the star Brazilian striker was:

  1. Higher wages/ London lifestyle – at the end of the day, I am sure the man is getting compensated way higher compared to what he was earning at Manchester.
  2. The star man – This transfer fully establishes our attack being centered around Gabriel Jesus which would attract anybody if they are the focal point of a soccer team. With that establishment comes a massive amount of pressure and it is Arteta’s and Gabriel Jesus’ job to make sure that faith is fully paid back on the pitch.
  3. Haaland’s arrival to City: I am sure Pep’s conversation with Gabi and his team sort of went like “Have you seen what this Erling Haaland guy looks like? Let’s make this easy on both parties and get this transfer to Arsenal sorted. We get £45m and you get to play at a joke club.” (So bascially City used us to get the better, younger player while our transfer fee substantially pays for that said better, younger player. Gotta respect it.)
Gabi Jesus to save Arsenal?
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REST UP NORWICH, TOMORROW IS THE DAY YOU BECOME KINGS

To Norwich City,

Rest up kings, we need you guys tomorrow. Tomorrow is the day you become legends forever. Tomorrow, you do not let Harry Kane or HM Son score a goal. Tomorrow, all Arsenal fans are behind you. Tomorrow, you will give Arsenal fans some sort of happiness because we all know damn well our own team will not do it. WE ARE NORWICH CITY!

Love,

Depressed and inconsoloble Arsenal fan

Featured image credits: Getty Images

Arsenal needed to win today to secure Champions League but instead promptly lost 2-0 to Newcastle because Arsenal

They did it to me again. The one constant in my life, that I can always count on, is for these clowns to let me down, time after time. There is nothing for me to say anymore, I can’t even make “kill myself” jokes anymore watching this team cause I might actually at this point. With 3 games left in the season this is what the standings looked like (on 5/12/2022):

Arsenal had 4 points on Spurs with a win against them last Thursday securing Champions League if they weren’t cowards.

Arsenal had 4 points on Spurs with 3 games left with a victory over them last Thursday being all we needed to secure that 4th place spot. Now you probably know, this is what happened last Thursday against Spurs:

Things I wish Arsenal did today to make me not want to kill myself

Despite me overreacting and panicking after the Spurs defeat, WE WERE STILL GOOD. We had a point over them which meant if we won our next two games, we would qualify for Champions League but nah. After Arsenal doing what they do best which was massively choke against Newcastle where a win would still keep us ahead of Spurs going into the final weekend, this is what the standings look like with one game left:

Just absolutely have to get the bath and toaster ready.

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Arsenal almost blew a two-goal lead to 10 men Leeds

There is nothing like supporting Arsenal Football Club I swear. No team is able to be gifted great opportunities to only almost utterly collapse at the end and ruin everything. Arsenal (2) – Leeds (1). At this point, I keep stressing, results over performances. 3 points are all that matter despite how abject we were today against Leeds.

FIRST HALF: Coming into the match, Leeds found themselves just outside of the relegation zone with any point(s) helping in their cause to stay in the top division in England. We deployed Ramsdale in goal with a newly formed back 4. Cédric took up the right-back position with Holding and Gabriel as our center backs with Ben white still recovering from an injury. Arteta deployed Tomiyasu at left-back over Nuno Tavares which I am assuming was to make sure Raphinha from Leeds was kept in check and he probably didn’t trust Nuno to do as much. Legit before I could get myself settled into the game, Arsenal was gifted the easiest goal we will get all year from the Leeds keeper:

All things being considered, if I was fighting relegation, I would not have let the other team (Arsenal) have such an easy goal, but that’s just me. Arsenal were then able to break the game open the game a few minutes later with Martinelli doing well to get free on the left flank before cutting a cross back to Eddie for the easy finish:

And it just got worse for Leeds when Luke Ayling goes in with two feet on Martinelli with the stupidest tackle you’ll see all weekend to give Arsenal the pleasure of playing against 10-men:

Just the absolute dumbest thing Ayling could have put his team through

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