It’s back!
The mighty Arsenal, the rip-roaring Gunners, the one proper team in London are back!
BUT …… that opening exclamation is about the only predictable thing there is to say about an actual football match being played again in the English Premier League.
Well, there is one other predictable thing – the game is away from home, on a Wednesday night, in Manchester, making it nigh on impossible for away supporters to get home. Except it won’t. Because there aren’t any.
In case anyone is reading this in the archives years from now, this is the year 2020 in the time of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. Many people believe that football shouldn’t be happening again yet at all, given the tragic death rate that has hit the country. Well it is Jim, but not as we know it (ask someone old, kids – they’ll know 😏).
On a serious note, I hope this finds everyone reading this fit and well, and may I offer the sincere sympathies of everyone connected with this still new site, to anyone who is still unwell or has suffered personal loss.
So why no fans? Because this virus spreads faster than Jose Mourinho ruins young players, and large gatherings of people are banned. It seems that despite originally stipulating that the season’s remaining games would be played at neutral grounds, behind closed doors, to nullify home/away advantage and prevent travelling hoards from reinfecting the country, or home hoards from gathering in pubs close to the grounds, this fixture will now be played behind closed doors at the Emptihad Stadium in Manchester. Given the anticipated strange atmosphere, this appears to be a huge advantage to City, as they will be used to playing in front of those particular empty stands every other week.
The politics of why this is happening are well enough known – basically, money – but the reality of a game on TV with no fans, will be interesting for viewers and players alike. Will there be real intensity on the pitch ? There will probably be a fair bit off it, as TV directors and sound men with canned crowd effects and photos of massed stands, developed in cooperation with EA Sports FIFA 20 (ask someone young, oldies – they’ll know 😏), try to convince us that something approaching normal is happening out on the grass. They might even be able to drown out the insufferable co-commentators who have become the bane of the latter day TV match.
For The Arsenal, the Restart “pre-season” has been fairly mixed. On Saturday 6th June, the first friendly resulted in a 6-1 win against Charlton Athletic, behind closed doors at The Emirates, with goals from Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emmerich Aubameyang, Eddie Nketiah (3) and Joe Willock.
On Wednesday 10th June the team was back in action, again behind closed doors at The Emirates, this time losing 2-3 to Brentford. Joe Willock and Alexandre Lacazette were again on the scoresheet for the Gunners, but Brentford twice came from behind and grabbed the winner in the 88th minute.
Had we won, it would have been another encouraging indicator for the upcoming Premier League matches. As we lost, it was obviously purely and simply a fitness exercise and the result was totally unimportant!
This Man City fixture has, in recent times, become one of contrasts. A team owned by the multi-billionaire Sheikhs of Abby Dabbly (cheers BtM!) who give them everything their celebrity manager of the day desires – currently running at a total of around £1,500,000,000 – versus a team owned by an American multi-billionaire who gives his rookie, but hugely promising manager absolutely nothing. Sure, times are difficult and unprecedented and financial hardship will be widespread, but it is worth noting that Arsenal remains the only club to have negotiated, or forced, their players to take a pay cut due to the pandemic.
We mustn’t be ungrateful though. We have benefited in the past from City’s petrodollars, as they sought to relieve us, at show-off prices, of Gael Clichy, Kolo Toure, Bacary Sagna, Samir Nasri and last, but very much least, Emmanuel Adebarndoor, meaning that they paid for quite a lot of our stadium, if not all that much of their own – courtesy, unnecessarily, of a generous local authority.
This particular Celebrity vs Rookie contest is also one of Master vs Apprentice.
Pep Guardiola vs Mikel Arteta. The boss of the current Champions with his galaxy of expensive stars, versus the newly appointed manager rebuilding with youth, a club almost wrecked by the previous incumbent.
I should say that I am extremely happy with our choice. A young manager who clearly loves and respects our club and is ready to build and fight in the circumstances he has chosen. If we can’t buy the best, we at least now have a manager / head coach who is able to connect with and develop the best young talent we can gather. Mikel Arteta does seem to have won the trust of his squad very quickly, as evidenced by the immediate improvements in commitment, work rate and team spirit when he took over. He was also clearly integral to the players accepting that required cut in wages, which was perhaps surprising so soon after taking the reins.
So there, in the absence of the normal current cut and thrust of the season, we have the not very ancient and very modern history of this particular fixture.
The initial period of Project Restart (ugh) is going to be fraught for any club without a very deep squad. After the first two weeks of the restart in the German Bundesliga, the injury rate was 250% of normal. That, for The Arsenal, with our history of injuries and many young players in the squad, is a worry and something that will take careful management, insofar as these situations can be at all second guessed. Four of our long term injured will hopefully have benefited from the long layoff and be as prepared as could be reasonably hoped to go again. They are Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding, Kieran Tierney and Lucas Torreira – in case you’d forgotten them!
As for team selection, anyone’s guess is a good’un. None of the players will have any form as such, after such a long layoff, so it will be interesting to see whether the boss decides to opt for as much experience as possible, or go for a young and adventurous “fresh start”.
Bernd Leno is a cert to start in goal and Bellerin is the obvious choice at right back. Personally, I would like to see Pablo Mari in the middle – he doesn’t have Premier League experience but he did spend three years at Manchester City, and must have a good idea of their personnel and tactics. If he and David Luiz can’t be shoehorned in together, then Sokratis Papastathopoulos (just because I can) should probably start on the right of centre, if he can avoid another Greek tragedy (even though I shouldn’t 😏). If Kieran Tierney is fit again, his inclusion would allow Bakayo Saka to move forward into his preferred more attacking role. I can’t wait to see how creative this terrific prospect can be playing on the wing, considering what he has done from emergency full back.
The rest of it is anybody’s guess. My own preference would be to see Lucas Torreira in a proper defensive midfield role, with someone a bit more mobile than the hereto seemingly indispensable Granit Xhaka. Joe Willock, Dani Ceballos and Matteo Guendouzi are the obvious choices, so it depends whether security or adventure take priority in the manager’s mind.
Ahead of them I would unleash Nicolas Pepe, Mesut Özil and Bakayo Saka to supply Pierre-Emmerich Aubameyang, in the middle, up top where he belongs (there’s a song there somewhere, I’m sure), with a youthful and exuberant Gabriel Martinelli waiting to explode off the bench, along with Reiss Nelson and a probably, in that case, grumpy Alexandre Lacazette. Rob Holding and Emiliano Martinez would provide the defensive cover, given that Calum Chambers is still out with his long term injury.
The Premier League has confirmed that teams can use up to five substitutes, with up to nine named on the bench instead of the usual seven. However, in order to avoid endless delays or time-wasting, there will still only be three occasions plus halftime when a substitution may be made.
In reality, the team could be anything, with so many games coming as thick and fast as Aaron Lennon (feel free to insert the name of your own least favourite speedy, not very good, probably winger, here). You would have to think the boss will want to put his best side out against his former master, but we’ll see.
The City team ? Come on, really – who cares?
As of Saturday 13th June, News Now was reporting that City should have their entire first team squad fit and available for selection, including their long term injured such as Aymeric Laporte and goalkeeper Ederson. It would be the first time this season that Pep Guardiola has been able to field his strongest eleven – how entirely typical that the opportunity should arise against The Arsenal.
I’m not going to pretend to have a clue who Guardiola will choose, especially in these circumstances, but as long as Kyle Walker finishes up losing and very upset, I’ll be happy.
It turns out that there is one more predictable element to this game – namely the referee. That honour goes to Manchester born Anthony Taylor, a firm favourite with all Gooners! For those interested in such details, his assistants will be Gary Beswick and Adam Nunn, and the fourth official will be Martin Atkinson. What could possibly go wrong?!
The VAR will be Stuart Attwell, who is beginning to look puzzlingly like Graham Poll —- insert your own jokes here —- and his assistant will be Stephen Child.
It’s going to be a very strange experience on Wednesday evening, but an interesting one nevertheless. Our reactions to the result are probably, at this stage, unknown even to ourselves. To me, this feels more like a disjointed prelude to next season, than the finale of the current one – but it is an opportunity to get behind The Arsenal again and hopefully have a good laugh at the Spuds!
Sorry not to be able to match the standards set by the ever greatly missed Guvnor, but I will take the liberty of using his typical sign off –
Enjoy the game, Holics! At least there won’t be any problems getting home!
Excellent preview Trev, full of optimism and verve just as it should be. Not sure about Ozil, but maybe this game is the wrong one for the likes of Willock. Pep normally plays two DMs against us and I wouldn’t be surprised to see that again, meaning pace and guile are needed. Come on you Gunners!
Cheers, Trev, and excellent preview. It does feel strange but with the return of your punnishing style some modicum of normalcy seems to be almost just around the corner. 🙂
Wonderful stuff Trev. I can hear the Guvna chuckling. It’s beginning to feel like Christmas or even a new season opener.
Just two quibbles.
You’ve forgotten Mustafi. I think Mikel likes him and his pre-shut-down form had been good. He might get the nod alongside Mari or Luis.
Second quibble: what about the Holic pound? How about sticking your neck out for a 2-1 to the Arsenal? Everything crossed of course.
Our very own Amy Lawrence in an non paywalled piece on Arsenal’s prospects.
https://theathletic.com/1864094/2020/06/15/arsenal-amy-lawrence-arteta-premier-league/
25-1 available for 2-1. The Guv’nor would have taken that, with a back-up, I suspect, on 3-2 at 50-1.
And excellent preview, Trev.
Trev was an excellent choice to preview this very odd occasion. This season has been a dismal one for Gooner’s save for the acquisition of ( as Trev rightly says) a fine new manager . It’s a very enjoyable and amusing preview and I suspect will be much more enjoyable than the game .
I can’t imagine a more forbidding side to play in these circumstances than Citeh who pass you to death and don’t rely too much on a passionate home crowd like the Bindippers do. It’s pissing on everyone’s chips when I say I expect us to go down about 3-0 and while I understand the financial imperatives of resuming I’ve not worked up any enthusiasm for this game at all partly because I suspect we may get a chasing and partly because I believe the season should have been terminated . I’m not sure the massive desire of the media to see Liverpool crowned is not behind this resumption.
I hope my pessimism is completely misplaced . I’m sure I will warm up if we embark on a sparkling unbeaten run ( in fact in league terms we are already on one ) . Roll on next season and something resembling normality
It’s being being so cheerful as keeps you going TTG.
😂😂
nicely done, trev, thanks! what a weird thing, coming back to football and all this is still going on. losing just can’t feel as sharp and urgent as it used to…though i dare say i’ll probably watch this one from behind the couch. i hope for a draw, but expect a narrow loss. just play with spark, not lethargy, boys!
hang in there, ttg.
Cheers fellas !
Bath, I wasn’t sure if we were continuing with the “Holic pound” feature or not, and as I know less about gambling than I do about underwater basket weaving, I was advised to leave it out. I’m happy to go with your 2-1 to The Arsenal though.
Mustafi was better under the new manager but “forgotten about him” ? No such luck !
I just prefer the idea of a freshen up of the defence and hope that Marí can fulfill the promise he apparently showed back in Brazil.
An enjoyable read thanks
Trev and much to ponder.
I’ve no clue who will start
and your XI looks as likely
as any. Only two warm up
games doesn’t offer many
hints to the starting line up
though Laca and Joe W may
be hopeful having netted in
both.
3-1 to The Arsenal
Good stuff Trev.
I’d love a good old-fashioned 1-0 to the Arsenal.
COYG
Pangloss, more old-fashioned than you might imagine. That indeed was the score in our very first league away game to them, on December 30, 1893 when they were still Ardwick and we were Woolwich Arsenal in our debut season in the old Second Division.
I bow to TTG’s superior usage, as per normal. 🙂 This from writingtips.com:
According to some speakers, normalcy is an abominable neologism to be avoided at all costs. This attitude is illustrated by this comment praising a writer for preferring normality over normalcy:
A Nobel in Literature to you for writing “return to normality” instead of the ugly neologism “normalcy,” first popularized by Warren G. Harding.
(Harding being one of our least praised Presidents, primarily due to his policy deficiencies, but apparently also to his linguistic shortcomings.)
COYG.
Cheers Trev!
bt8
Was Harding responsible for that colonial sports abomination “winningest”? Makes me shudder every time I hear it. What’s wrong with “most successful” ?
Essooooo ! Good to see you buddy !
Lots and lots of good smile promoting content in that one, Trev and very good to see the Milk Sheik of Abbly Dabbly being hauled up from the depths of days of silliness after all these years. I liked your efforts on team selection too and agree that Bernd Leno will almost certainly start, probably in goal.
I’ve been firmly in the camp of ‘forget about this season completely and move on sensibly to 2020/21’. However, unlike the EPL, I don’t have a £750 million guillotine blade hovering above my neck with SKY/BT & Co printed on it in blood red ink with an accompanying picture of the grim reaper. (I think this, rather than any media desire to see the bin dippers crowned is the primary motivator of the fiesta of football we’re about to enjoy being force fed, TTG).
I feel distinctly disconnected from all things Arsenal and instead, hard wired to my bike handlebars and golf clubs on alternate days and never at the same time, just as things should be in these balmy days of summer. However, I know I’ll end up watching on Wednesday and, I suspect getting frustrated and wishing that Santi Cazorla was on the substitutes bench because we always gubbed them when that little man played at the Emptihad.
To all fans travelling (in their minds) have a great trip and shout loudly through the vacuum of digital space to contribute to the synthetic sounds of ecstatic Gooners I’m expecting to hear. And yes, one nil to the Arsenal would be a nice, if rather surprising little number if you’d kindly arrange for that to ring out.
Enjoy, Holics.
He could well have said that too, C100, no doubt in search of a most successful normality. 😆
BtM – good to see you in here and an excellent response !
I’m off to check my “Bernd Leno in goal” wording now 😂
C100
You shamed me a bit but it’s Mrs TTG’s birthday today and the situation we find ourselves in has made football a relatively minor concern to me of late . I’ve also always believed that it’s the job of a supporter to want his or her club to win whoever and whenever they are playing but to leaven this with a frank assessment of the performance after the match. I can never follow Dave’s practice of always tipping the Arsenal much as I want us to win. While I desperately want us to win I remember the game back in December. Much has changed since then , mostly in our favour , but it’s a tough ask to win at the Emptihad especially without Santi ! I remember the 2-0 away victory a few years ago in which he was sublime . I watched it on a sofa in the open air bar at our hotel in Barbados. I attracted a crowd of friendly waiters who dubbed me ‘ Mr. Arsenal’. That was one of Wenger’s finest moments in the latter stages of his tenure. A performance of that quality would be very welcome
No shaming intended Peter, just a lame attempt at humour. Mr Arsenal is spot on.
Oh and of course a very happy birthday to Mrs TTG who I hope is steadily recovering.
Happy birthday and many happy returns to Mrs TTG. I hope that your good lady is making steady progress toward full fitness. 🥂
C100
That’s very kind . She thanks you but suggests she may not be in front of the box on Wednesday! That girl does not appreciate a good time!
On a technical point I’ve thought about the side
I’d go
Leno
Bellerin. Luiz Mari Tierney
Torreira ( I know he will pick Xhaka though ) Guendouzi Ceballos
Martinelli Auba Saka
Best wishes to Mrs TTG from Oxfordshire.
Lots of ex-Arsenal faces involved in serie a at the moment:
http://dailycannon.com/2020/06/ridiculous-and-sublime-from-david-ospina-who-now-misses-coppa-italia-final/
What C100 said @24, TTG.
Playing Martinelli on the right to harass the hell out of De Bruyne isn’t a bad idea at all, but I don’t think he will start.
Arteta didn’t give much away in his pre-game press conference. His Auba answers were so artfully crafted. “I’m pretty positive that we can find the right agreement for all parties”, could mean anything from he’ll sign a new deal to we’ve got a really good offer for him or even that we will sell him cheap but have him back on loan for next season. Arteta was bigging up Nketiah, though, which suggests that one of Auba or Laca will be off at the end of the season.
bt8@28: Ospina wasn’t done any favours by his defenders, three of whom could have cleared Eriksen’s corner, especially the one who ducked under the ball.
Pangloss , Bath
Many thanks for your good wishes.
We had a virtual family celebration with birthday cake in two places and a continual stream of socially distanced visitors . I’ve never slept with a 67 year-Old before
Firstly late birthday wishes to Mrs TTG – assuming you still up both burning the midnight oil. I hope she is on a good recovery path.
An excellent summation of our opening fixture Trev. I guess we are all approaching this with a sense of curiosity as to how this new scenario will come across to the tv audience as well as some trepidation as to the actual outcome. On a more positive thought process we may be pleasantly surprised if we adapt to the strange atmosphere better than the hosts. Whilst I’m on a positive theme I’ll go for a 2-1 to the red & white army ( or yellow & blue etc ). I might be on an optimistic roll but not that far to expect a clean sheet.
COYR
Many happy returns to the lady TTG, and best wishes for continued health. 🙂
happy birthday to the mrs., ttg. may her new year bring robust health, sublime humo(u)r, and the patience to deal with your now being *behind* the couch as mr. arsenal… i’m glad to hear she’s doing better.
TTG – more good wishes for Mrs TTG’s birthday and continued improving health.
I hope she also enjoys scruz’s humour, be it u or non u 😉
Cheers Uply !
Too late but belated birthday
best wishes to Mrs TTG, I hope
she enjoyed her birthday even
with the social distancing
As there will be 9 subs I hope
we can include at least one
young potential debutant to
bring when we’re 3-0 up with
10 minutes to go.
Has anyone heard whether
Luiz is renewing?
@29
Ned, I’d guess Auba will go but his
position is not that strong really.
He’s 31 now and if say Barca/ Real
Madrid don’t want him then his
options are quite limited.
I did notice Papa was sub for
Hector against Charlton and
Mus started for the first hour.
One more sleep. Nerves beginning to twitch this morning.
OM@38: Good point. Auba’s age must also be a factor for Arsenal. How many seasons at the top does he have left in him, and when will Nketiah and Martinelli be ready to start regularly?
Just as much a guess as anyone else’s, but I think Arteta will start:
Leno
Bellerin Luiz Mari Tierney
Xhaka Ceballos
Pepe Ozil Aubameyang
Nketiah
Bench: Martinez, Mustafi, Kolasinac, Guendouzi, Willock, Saka, Martinelli, Nelson, Lacazette
Torriera, according to the BBC, is not being considered for the Man City game as he is not yet match fit enough.
Xhaka is doubtful . May Heaven be praised !
Thanks for all the kind wishes which Mrs TTG is very touched by .
TTG, if Xhaka is out, then Guendouzi would start with a place on the bench for young Matt Smith, perhaps.
I hope Mrs TTG’s spirits have lifted at least a tad, and yours, too. These are difficult times but they will pass.
We almost agree, Ned, if Torreira is out.
I guess that makes Xhaka inevitable, unless he is injured – and I would have put Saka wide left and Auba up top.
We’ll see soon enough now.
To answer my own @38 it
seems Luiz will probably stay.
In which case I agree with Ned
except I think Mus will start with
Luiz.
i’m plumping for
herr leno
hecate luiz mus tierney
torreira guendo
pepe ozil saka
auba
bench: emi, mari, kola, willock, ceballos, nelson, martinelli, eddie, laca
that’s the expected plump.
the preferred plump would be:
herr leno
hecate luiz mari tierney
torreira ceballos
pepe willock saka
and i can’t decide between martinelli and auba, but probably auba…with martinelli first off the bench for him, pepe, or saka.
bench: emi, holding, kola, guendo, ozil, nelson, martinelli, eddie, laca
A pleasant plump scruz but
according to the BBC Torreira is
not being considered for fitness
reasons.
I’d guess Papa will figure somewhere as
CB and RB cover given Hec’s reliability.
But I don’t know though I can guess that
whoever is left out of a 20 nan squad will
be mightily peeved!
It’s match day Gooners!
COYG!!!
I would field:
Leno;
Mustafi, Luis, Mari;
Bellerin, Ceballos, Xhaka, Tierney;
Pepe, Aubameyang, Özil.
Actually, if they were fit, I’d stick Keown, Bould and Adams in that team. Not to mention Bergkamp, Henry and Pires.
COYG
Calmly taken half ton from Bath.
Did someone say match day?
Surely an occasion for beer.
off to bed as 4AM starts are
back on the menu
COYGS!!
Did the alarm work, Matt? If we pummel them by 4-0 or better it could convince you to set a second one. 😉
Hi All.
Can anyone reccomend a stream ?
Benn trying to purchase a Now TV pass for two hours and their site appears to be down….my own fault for leaving it until the last minute…
Arteta, who plumping is the plumping that counts, plumps for
Leno
Bellerin, Mustafi, Mari, Tierney
Xhaka, Guendouzi
Aubamayang, Willock, Saka
Nketiah
Bench: Martinez, Luiz, Maitland-Niles, Ceballos, Nelson, Pepe, Lacazett, Martinelli, Kolasinac
No Ozil, no Sokratis to be seen. Anyone any inside info on those two?
Also BBC suggests Auba will play up top with Eddie on the right wing.
I also wonder if the team selection means Arteta is going to start with a conventional 4-3-3 rather than 4-2-3-1, with Auba, Eddie and Saka as his front three.
Also if the eleven starters are who Arteta’s considers his strongest team, that is an exciting looking line-up for the future, even if a bit nervous-making for the present.
@55 http://www.hesgoal.com always worth a look
wow, that’s interesting. xhaka, he shouldn’t be in, but i guess he’s fooling another coach (kidding on the last part. sort of).
i agree with the 4-3-3, or the fluid 4-2-1-3 in defense and 4-1-2-3 in attack. guendo has the motor to shuttle, supporting either xhaka or willock depending on the phase. I HOPE.
and luiz on the bench for mus/mari. wow.
pissing down at the emptihad.
no sense in lining up, just take your places.
LOVE the BLM jerseys.
I suspect we might have a glimpse of the future. Luiz’s contract situation is problematical and we know Ozil’s huge contract is a financial millstone that Arteta must want to cut loose if he can. Cryptically Arteta is going to answer questions on Ozil after the match . What is interesting is the presence of Mustafi and Xhaka. They either have VERY naughty pictures of Arteta or the coach really rates them
COYG!
Ned, Sokratis out for a couple of weeks with thigh strain.
Arteta “ No Özil or Luiz due to some things that happened in the last weeks “.
Cheerio then !
oooh, eddie!
“some things” ha!
nice tip, bernd.
thank god for 9 subs, xhaka already being replaced. dani coming in.
I’m watching without the crowd noise. What are others doing?
Xhaka conundrum solved – off injured after 5 whole minutes !
no choice but to listen to it with the announcers, unless i mute.
and now marí down. jaysus.
luiz in.
Not impressed what I saw of Mari.
Countryman.
No crowd noise for me either. I just can’t get my head around the idea of fake noise.
So far it looks like the break has benefitted us more than them
Looked like a pull on Eddie’s shirt.
certainly did, gsd.
nice save, bernd.
and another.
auba not happy on the wing, but eddie has looked lively in the middle.
We are hanging on to our clean sheet right now.
Ceballos has done well
most have, i dare say. not yet convinced by tierney.
That is just bitterly disappointing. To gift them a goal in injury time instead of going in level is such a shame. Gutted
Scruz. I can’t agree. I think Tierney looks excellent. Yet another error from side show Bob though.
Well we made a good start but, with Leno making four good saves and City playing lovely football, it’s hard to deny that they deserve to be ahead. Pity it was such a shocking error.
We allowed them to dictate the middle of the park we have no one in there who will do the dirty work.
If it wasn’t for Leno we would be four nil down.
Did we have a shot on goal yet?
i said not convinced…i think he’ll come good, just not really showing it today. agreed about sideshow bob. and his sidekick.
saka has been good, eddie, and willock middlin. turned off for a zoom meeting, i guess i missed their goal. damn it.
Just Auba’s high effort ATG. What do folk think of Saka on the right?
I liked Tierney’s first half. But I also saw nothing to be concerned by in what Mari did before his injury.
I quite like Luiz but mistakes like that are so costly. And when our other cb is Mustafi and he is even more likely to offer up one of those it just makes our lives so unnecessarily difficult.
De Bruyne is playing like peak Cesc. Some of those 10 yard passes into the area were delicious.
Leno and both full-backs excellent. Guendouzi showing lots of character. We haven’t got the right blend in midfield , we really need a strong defensive midfielder who sits in front of the back four but that’s been the case forever. Torreira is the nearest to that . Sideshow Bob can’t get a contract renewal at the rate he demands . I’ve seem much better defending in local football than that .
I like Ceballos but would like to see him further forward. If we get back into it I suspect Saka will need to be involved
I think Saka has looked fine on the right. Better than I expected. But he needs more service and then someone from midfield or Hector to get closer to him or overlap. At this stage in fitness I think that may be asking too much of Hector. If Saka gets more service then eddie looks lively in the middle and Auba can cut in from a position where he is harder to mark, as long as Saka finds a good ball across. We might cause some damage that way.
We lost our rhythm after 30 minutes, I can’t and won’t blame this on losing Xhaka and Mari. We stopped chasing the ball after that.
I honestly don’t like Saka on the right.
Arjen Robben aside, I’ve never been that convinced by inverted wingers (insert your own Freudian joke here).
Arthur. I think fitness is to blame for us sitting off more. City did it too and I think we will see more of it from everyone in the next month. And the more the players go for those explosive sprints the more injuries we will see. Positioning and blocking off passing lanes will be key.
Countryman.
Err… Pires?
i’d prefer, after the half, to see auba in the middle, saka on the left, and martinelli on the right. even though eddie did well enough first half.
we’re definitely missing torreira. or someone there. and have been for so long.
Was Bobby really a winger? But I take your point. There are exceptions.
Accidental ton. I’ll take it.
nice ton, c1000…
Sideshow Bob doubles up.
Well I think I have seen enough
Luiz either side of half time has screwed us. And the last thing our guys needed was to play a half with ten min.
There are no words for Luiz. He has signed his exit papers tonight .
This is about avoiding a chasing now. We have no other CB on the bench and we have difficulty with the options that we can take with substitutes. Now you know why I was pessimistic earlier in the week !
It sucks to have a half to watch when even an optimist would hope only that the score doesn’t get worse for us.
so glad i am on a zoom call and missing this. praying for a miracle finish. re luiz this must be added to “some things”…ugh.
Time to sub Auba. He’s not interested in the game. Martinelli please.
Cheer up lads. They’ve only got Sane and Aguero to bring on ….
Just saw your @92 C100. No-one in this League plays like peak Cesc. If DeB was anywhere close, our ten men would be six down by now. 🙂
@54
the alarm didn’t work bt8 and
missed the 1st half. Woke up
in time to see Luiz kill us.
I’m sure that Anthony Taylor has (for once) made a call completely in line with the laws of the game to send Luiz off. But I reckon that’s a crap rule that makes that challenge an automatic red card. A yellow card and a penalty is fair. It was not remotely dangerous or malicious and it has killed the game. Surely a central defender on a yellow and a penalty they converted would have been a fairer punishment?
@113 Most certainly, GSD.
I agree totally GSD it’s the double jeopardy rule . It was a stupid challenge but Mahrez also dived
Co-commentator just called Luiz’s pull an ‘assault on Mahrez’.
Idiotic, unnecessary and dangerous from Ederson.
I hope this bloke is alright. Been down a while and looking serious.
GSD. – totally agree.
Luiz is a liability and clearly has no interest in playing for us and at least a straight red will keep him out of the team for a while. However, a straight red for that offence is ridiculous.
Garcia is in serious trouble here and that kind of completely reckless high challenge, normally involving heads, has been a bugbear off mine for a couple of years. Sure, teams want to win at all costs, but players have to have a duty of care towards each other to prevent someone eventually getting killed or brain damaged.
I agree Trev
He could almost have been sent off for violent conduct against his own player !
TTG – actually exactly what I thought.
Can we please go back into lock this is too painful to watch 😂
*lock down
So a promising start has finished in a familiar 3-0 defeat, injuries and a red card.
A lot of our young players show a lot of promise but lack real physical maturity and naturally an understanding that comes from playing together. More worryingly, we still lack any real defensive awareness – failing to track runners and we always seem second to everything in our own penalty area.
Hey ho.
Well, I’ve followed my usual matchday practice (adopted a few years ago after several successive matches in which I found a stream just before Arsenal conceded) of avoiding all news until I thought the match was safely over. Tonight, what with 11 minutes of added time, I got onto the BBC results & scores page just in time to “watch” a third go in.
Disappointing. If everyone’s OK with it, I shall avoid rending my clothes and gnashing my teeth and remember a first half that appears to have been a source of cautious, and slight optimism.
COYG, tomorrow is another day.
Even the initial line-ups exposed the difference in squad strength between these teams. We started four very promising youngsters who looked like fairly promising youngsters slightly out of their depth for most of the game. Luck wasn’t with us, and the early losses of Xhaka and Mari lead eventually to a double dose of David Luis, David Luis after which the game was effectively over.
Just before he went off, City ghosted past Mari as if he wasn’t there and amazingly, on the night, Mustafi was our CB of note. We must hope that William Saliba will deliver the craft his reputation promises.
Guendouzi and Ceballos tried hard in midfield but never managed to exert any real control against players of higher competence. Joe willock didn’t have his best night.
Our front three had poor service and so, very slim pickings. Nketiah looked best of the three and clearly should have had a free kick early in the first half. Saka looked adrift on the right and was off-side too often (and why did Leno keep punting high balls to him?) Auba either didn’t feel sharp, wasn’t interested or was just off the pace.
Leno our MotM by a mile. Both full backs did OK. There will likely be better days/evenings. Can I really summon the enthusiasm? I’m not sure I can. Roll on next season.
Well, missed the 1st half but the
2nd half was grim stuff. I hope
Garcia is ok and that we can put
that chasing behind us.
I thought the weird circumstances would give us a better chance than if we had played them three months ago. If we had gone in at half time at 0-0 and kept eleven men on the pitch we might have seen a different result. Not necessarily, of course, but it is the sort of stuff we needed to do to give ourselves a chance. Gutting to shoot ourselves in the foot.
Great to see the players taking a knee and the BLM message on the backs of the shirts. That is a top result.
Disappointed the team didn’t go over and thank the travelling support.
That was pretty miserable all round. About all we can take from that game is that it did not turn into a complete rout and our keeper is in fine form. Couldn’t be blamed for any of the goals and saved a bunch..
I see why Arteta did not to start Luiz.
Thank fuck I am not now facing a four hour drive home.
Following my early tech problems my daughter managed to get the Now TV app working through her X-Box. Wish she had not bothered now. Apart from Leno there were no positives after 20 minutes. Luiz had better not wear the shirt again.
Up until the inevitable David Luiz moment I actually thought we had been very decent, taking the loss of two players in our stride and Leno providing great service whenever they did get through, but the second half was abysmal after yet another pointless David Luiz moment and we never even looked like getting a goal out of the game.
The youngsters need bulking up but showed great heart and kept going, which sadly is more than I can say for Auba or Laca when he came on as neither of them seemed all that bothered, it is hard to take anything positive out of that game but at least things can only get better, well I can D.ream can’t I?
Apparently the manager has given Luiz five days off. As they came off he said “see you next Tuesday!”
And a belated agreement on the
red for Luiz, just unnecessary.
Certainly wasn’t an assault just
a standard pull back that Mahrez
made the most of.
Next, will be a million questions
about Ozil.
GSD@128: I, too, thought that if we got to half-time at 0-0 after the two forced substitutions, we had at least a chance of coming away with a point, even if we were second-best in the game. But conceding just before the break is never good and then Luiz’s penalty so soon after the restart was the killer. Having pushed Aguerro’s shot onto the post, Leno deserved better for the third goal than the ball bouncing straight to Foden.
Trev!
I honestly think this was our best shot, City looked rusty we seemed to have run out of gas at around 30 minute mark. I know this is City but we should have done better. We were always second to every ball and we lacked footballing intelligence on the pitch. Luiz did what Luiz did at Chelski what did we expect from him?
Saka playing on the right wasn’t a good choice, in fact as good as these youngsters are they are not the answer. We need a leader and that has been the case for some time now.
All in all this wasn’t a great restart by all means and a very disappointing result which could have been much worse if it wasn’t for Leno.
Stats speak for themselves no shots on target
Luiz evidently on Sky (I wasn’t watching, this was on Twitter), saying he wants to stay and Arteta wants him to stay.
Cheers mate but no. Just no.
@140.
To stay in Manchester? 😉
C100, in response to your earlier question about “crowd noise” on the TV, I watched the game in the same bar I described in the Olympiakos preview so the crowd noise choice wasn’t mine to make, but after the second goal the broadcast put on a phony version of phantoms singling Blue Moon which tipped the scales for me. As soon as the play stopped following the Ederson induced collision I got up and walked out of the place. Enough phony phantoms for me.
Very reasoned and sensible comments which won’t be replicated on some blogs tonight.
Sadly ( penalty and sending off aside ) this was almost exactly what I feared and if I could be arsed to quote myself I predicted a 3-0 defeat . Citeh are exactly what we didn’t need . They are light years ahead of us in almost every respect.They keep the ball pull you out of shape and play with defenders’ heads . Luiz is flakey enough not to need too much going on in front of him and he can certainly do one at the end of this interminable bloody season.
I wasn’t impressed with the body language of several players and we are so weak in midfield . I also think we will see an enormous number of injuries through muscle pulls and strains and by the end of the season we will probably be calling on the U18s. I hope they have more bottle than some of our team showed tonight .
one thing i did keep thinking is we’re at the very beginning of the arteta years (i hope). and he’s introducing something completely different to our side compared with either the emery tenure or arsene’s years. given time, and player turnover, i think we’ll come good. we did show some hustle and good swarming in the first ten or so minutes, certainly until xhaka went down. i think his injury and the absence of torreira were important in our slide downhill, not to mention mari’s injury and capped off by the introduction of luiz.
so, some small glimmers of positivity. and saka needs to play on the left. and auba…well, i don’t think his head is here anymore, there wasn’t a moment he looked much interested in the game, and he was doing the armwaving thing that steve round was saying is being stripped out of our players…or they’ll be stripped of position… not that auba leaving is positive, but if he’s disinterested, start with a front three of saka/eddie/pepe and bring in laca/martinelli off the bench.
of course, it is the defense…ugh. i don’t even have enough energy to conceive of solutions…i think adams/bould/dixon/winterburn *today* could have played better. i’m beginning to fear post-injury hecate is a full step slower, and given that was his greatest asset as a back…well, it figures. tierney i’ll accept that he played better than mine eyes saw tonight, and good for him to be able to fill in at center back. but luiz, an unsure mari, an unsurer mus, noDkola, and…no one. ugh.
City did look rusty in the first half, ATG. But a two-goal lead against 10 men for nearly all the second half let them to play themselves back into form.
Agree with Ned and scruz comments.
Luiz was great for City, they
could play it around and take
their best player off for the last
20 minutes. Afterward he said
the defeat was his fault. Fair
play I agree with him though
all his fault is too much. He’s
made mistakes before and
bounced back in his career
and I expect he will again – but
not with us after 30th June.
Time to give Mari/Rob/Saliba
a shot. I predict a Calum /
Saliba partnership by the
New Year 🙂
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>