Arsenal 0-1 Everton - Friday 23rd April, 2021

[RandoEFC+]

28 minutes ago, MUFC said:

What has Pickford done to his hair?

[Lucas]

26 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

Nah, I'm not having that we've robbed anyone else quite that badly this season. 

And as always when people make this point, I have a problem with the word "deserved". If a team has more possession or shots in a football match but doesn't manage to put the ball in the net more times than their opponent, they don't "deserve" anything more or less than what they get either.

By all means, use "shithouse" or "smash and grab" or "win ugly" but personally I don't think style and approach amount to "deserving" better or worse results.

A matter of perspective IMO. That's how you simplify a game, nothing wrong with that, but for me there's more to it than that.

I can't reflect on that 90 mins in particular having watched it and acknowledge a fair win given what's riding on it and what you put in to getting it. Let's face it, it was pure jam. Normal circumstances you should be putting more in to win a football match.

As the saying goes, you don't always get what you deserve in Football so equally, it work's the other way for me. Shithousing/Smash and Grab is an acknowledgement that you robbed the opposition, therefore in my eyes, undeserved.

But hey, it's just terminology.

Don't forget, I am talking from the perspective of a team that plays attractive stuff, creates a number of chances but struggles to convert those chances to goals so perhaps I'm spoilt 

[UNIQUE]

35 minutes ago, Lucas said:

It's an impressive number of times Everton have managed to nick games they really didn't deserve this season.

I'm not quite sure how they have done it in truth but credit to them for staying resolute I guess.

Arsenal are an absolute joke of a club. For their sake, its a good job the Super League never happened or they would have been the Sheff Utd of that league.

without getting relegated 

[Dr. Gonzo]

1 hour ago, Lucas said:

Arsenal are an absolute joke of a club. For their sake, its a good job the Super League never happened or they would have been the Sheff Utd of that league.

For Kroenke... he's got to be absolutely gutted the super league isn't going ahead. Guaranteed money without any need to show any sort of ambition in the year - he wouldn't care what sort of mess Arsenal are in as long as he was getting that Super League money. He's probably so annoyed he's got to keep trying to go after the CL to keep Arsenal making him real money.

[6666]

Hopefully we're saving up our energy for the Europa League. Or it's another game where we look like we have no ideas going forward. I miss having an attacking manager. Sad times. Boring times.

[Chaaay AFC]

Missed this one, what a shame. I must've missed at least 70% of our games this season, I haven't been so disinterested in football for such a very long time. This whole Arteta experiment has sucked the life out the club, Edu and Vinai are absolute disasters to.

I'm not one to blame everything bad about the club on the Kroenke's, but they have failed to appoint the right people time and time again. It's clear they put serious trust in the wrong people and it's one of the many reasons for this downfall. It's no wonder they clung on to Wenger for so long, his coaching left a lot to be desired towards the end but he did know how to run a club. If they don't sell which I don't think they will, their first port of call is to target the best CEO's around, who would be willing and have a proper track record. 

[Danny]

For anyone wondering why Arsenal are so bad, they're a fully fledged midtable team.

[Rick]

51 minutes ago, Danny said:

For anyone wondering why Arsenal are so bad, they're a fully fledged midtable team.

This. They have been preparing for this moment for a few season now and here the are. They look a millions miles away from being competitive at the top. We have had a terrible season, yet somehow Arsenal manage to make it look half decent. 

[Inverted]

Arteta has genuinely done a Mourinho-esque job on Arsenal. 

Constantly played his favourite senior players, frozen out or stunted a whole raft of brilliant young players, and then massively underperformed anyway. 

He’s not achieving much, and he’s not even putting in the building blocks for the next guy - if anything, it’s going to take a massive rebuilding job to repair the damage he’s doing to the squad’s age profile and the playing mentality. 

[Danny]

8 minutes ago, Inverted said:

Arteta has genuinely done a Mourinho-esque job on Arsenal. 

Constantly played his favourite senior players, frozen out or stunted a whole raft of brilliant young players, and then massively underperformed anyway. 

He’s not achieving much, and he’s not even putting in the building blocks for the next guy - if anything, it’s going to take a massive rebuilding job to repair the damage he’s doing to the squad’s age profile and the playing mentality. 

His first full season and he has not come close to finishing near Unai Emery, the whole point of the appointment was to surpass him.

Not sure he has frozen out young players? Saliba yeah but Saliba has also been a fuck head, only other player I can think of is Nketiah and he's hardly set the league alight. Are Maitland-Niles, Willock and Nketiah good enough to be starting? I remember @SirBalon didn't rate a lot of them

[Inverted]

8 minutes ago, Danny said:

His first full season and he has not come close to finishing near Unai Emery, the whole point of the appointment was to surpass him.

Not sure he has frozen out young players? Saliba yeah but Saliba has also been a fuck head, only other player I can think of is Nketiah and he's hardly set the league alight. Are Maitland-Niles, Willock and Nketiah good enough to be starting? I remember @SirBalon didn't rate a lot of them

Guendouzi too. As for the rest, I don’t like Nketiah that much but they’d surely do a job - I’m sure Maitland Niles could be getting a game if Xhaka is playing LB.

[Danny]

2 minutes ago, Inverted said:

Guendouzi too. As for the rest, I don’t like Nketiah that much but they’d surely do a job - I’m sure Maitland Niles could be getting a game if Xhaka is playing LB.

Wasn't there an issue with his attitude? I don't know what happened there, under Emery Guendouzi seemed like a bright light for Arsenal. Talented and fiery, but then it went downhill when Arteta came in

[Storts]

No idea how Arteta isn’t under more pressure to be honest. But then again he has a bang average squad so what more can he do. Definitely got to be looking at the ownership too 

[Dave]

1 hour ago, Storts said:

No idea how Arteta isn’t under more pressure to be honest. But then again he has a bang average squad so what more can he do. Definitely got to be looking at the ownership too 

I think a part of the issue is that to replace Arteta they'll need to hire a head coach and a DoF. 

[6666]

2 hours ago, Danny said:

His first full season and he has not come close to finishing near Unai Emery, the whole point of the appointment was to surpass him.

Not sure he has frozen out young players? Saliba yeah but Saliba has also been a fuck head, only other player I can think of is Nketiah and he's hardly set the league alight. Are Maitland-Niles, Willock and Nketiah good enough to be starting? I remember @SirBalon didn't rate a lot of them

Maitland-Niles, Guendouzi, and Willock should be a part of the squad. Guendouzi especially should be. Don't know what's happened to Ceballos but he's been crap. Wouldn't say the issue is Arteta not trusting young players though, but it is an issue how he seems to just write off players completely for not fitting into the system he wants to play. He's learnt that from Guardiola, difference being the system Arteta wants to play is shit.

[6666]

1 hour ago, Storts said:

No idea how Arteta isn’t under more pressure to be honest. But then again he has a bang average squad so what more can he do. Definitely got to be looking at the ownership too 

He presents himself in a very strong, professional way. He gives off the vibes of what a good manager is supposed to be so he obviously can't be at fault.