#ARSLIV match preview by Shard aka @ShardGooner
Liverpool may no longer be as good as the last couple of season when they were the benchmark for every team to judge itself against, but they are still a very good team. They’ll still be hoping to make the top 4 as well, and to finish higher than Everton. While we, or at least I, want Arsenal to chase down Spurs. Ultimately, both these quests could end in failure.
Liverpool are 5 points adrift of Chelsea, who just appointed Tuchel – Klopp’s successor at Dortmund. There is 6 points between us and Spurs, who still have Mikel Arteta’s twin managerial spirit in charge.
Ok ok. He’s not THAT bad. But I really hope he stops with passing the buck, and even more, that we start playing more attacking football. Take the game to our opponents instead of hoping for a smash and grab. Alright, I’m done sounding like a football commentator from 20 years ago. I hope our football goes back a bit though. What I’m assured is ‘modern’ football seems more boring, and not even as effective.
Crucial players in doubt
It’s going to be tough against Liverpool though. Not only are they a very good team, but we’re possibly going to miss some crucial players. Saka and Smith Rowe both have injury issues and will be assessed, and Granit Xhaka is a doubt with an illness. David Luiz is out, and also, Willian is back. We just can’t catch a break.
Partey and Ceballos should be press resistant though, and with Lacazette and Auba up front we will pose an attacking threat of our own. The current Golden Boy and Arsenal Player of the Month should also be available after an injury scare during the international break.
Klopp or Hodgson
I was going to talk about Liverpool, but there’s really no point. Everyone knows how strong they are, despite their injury issues and poor run this season. I’d rather talk about where we are in comparison. Everyone assures me, Arteta included, that Arsenal are on the same path of building the side. I have to confess I don’t see it. It seems more Roy Hodgson than Jurgen Klopp to me. But I’m happy to be proven wrong.
For this season, my target remains for there to be a St Totts resurrection. If we can win the EL that would be a huge bonus. Especially because the next transfer window will be crucial and a real test of both Arteta and Edu’s vision and ability. Top 4 next season is an absolute must, after all the grandstanding about being a big club led us here. Other teams will all get stronger too.
For now, we treat Liverpool as a benchmark. We have a decent record against them at home. Let’s try and match up against them, and if we can come out victorious, that will give us huge belief for the rest of the season and beyond. There’s 9 games to go in the PL. Let’s hop to it.
Written by Shard aka @ShardGooner
What a bad day at the office for Arteta and his team.
What happened Shotta?
There was no Xhaka in the team so the boo boys should have been happy. Who was the chief culprit last night for the poor showing?
It’s really funny to see the idiots fans at the blogsphe long for a top4 finish.The entitled brats mocked Wenger for 20 consecutive entries.
They deserve every torment Arteta is putting them through. Can you imagine making only three (3) shots versus Liverpool at HOME? Can you imagine sitting back with 11 men behind the ball and hoping to nick a goal on the counter? Pepe and Aubameyang playing as auxiliary fullbacks deep in their own half?
What a travesty!
Me and George had a go at the idiocy in our latest podcast. We took no prisoners .
It was a shameful performance last night.
Probably absence of Xaka Saka and ESR was the reason but still we should have done better.
Why do so many people assume that ESR is in the forefront of Arteta’s plans?
After he was forced to play him against Chel$ki and he did so well, Arteta proceeded to ease him out of the team over a period of a few games.
Then he had to bring him in again, when he had no choice, and I doubt if we will see much of whim other than on the bench for the rest of the season.
Had he wanted a player like ESR, he would have insisted on being able to play Ozil, a player with considerably more skill and experience in that role than ESR, but he chose not to, because he does not want that sort of player.
Now that that he has brought in Odegard, no doubt having had his arm twisted to do so, do you imagine that he wants 2 such players in his team of automatons?
This is a disaster unfolding in front of our very eyes and the bulk of fandom are watching like Nero, fiddling whilst Rome burns, with the usual platitudes about us being in transition and everything will get better after a few more transfer windows.
There are 2 transfer windows in a year, so a few means more than a year.
By the time Arteta was saved by ESR against Chel$ki, he and the club were on their knees in a downward spiral.
Does anyone imagine in those 2 years of “transition” and transfer windows there will be any improvement?
Cloud cuckoo land.
I am glad that I am losing interest fast.
I hardly felt anything when I saw the result this morning.
I feel really sorry for those fans who still take it so seriously. I fear that they are in for a rocky ride whilst Arteta is in charge making a dogs dinner of the club that we all love.