Just finished watching this BBC documentary from a year or two ago about Paul Merson, his gambling addiction / mental illness, the depravity of the gambling/advertising industry, etc. Pretty powerful stuff, and it sure makes you feel for Paul, all that he's lost (not just 7 million quid either), but also how he's trying to turn around not only his own "little life" but our broader society by getting out there and talking. It's an hour long but some of you might find it worthwhile (I did):
Arsenal have 50 points from 19 matches (16-2-1) after beating ManU 3-2. Wenger's invincible team only had 45 at the midway point of the 2002-03 season (13-6-0).
Arsenal well in top against City and playing far better football despite playing a weakened team ( 6 changes ) , being away from home and with Saka having an off night . Trossard looks a bargain .. easily the best player on the pitch thus far . He has fitted in even quicker than Diaz did for Liverpool I can see him displacing Martinelli very quickly
I absolutely love watching Arsenal play - such beautiful play , intricate and inventive- must be the devil to play against Don’t know why but I find City to be predictable and samey even though they have three of my favourite players ( Grealish , Haaland and Silva)
Arsenal's possible opponents in the Europa League Round of 16:• Union Berlin• Juventus• Leverkusen• Roma• Sevilla• Sporting Lisbon• Winner of Shakhtar/Rennes (currently in ET)The draw will take place tomorrow at 11am UK time.#afc pic.twitter.com/jK7jaVkBjk— DailyAFC (@DailyAFC) February 23, 2023
Intriguing Chelsea star Mykhaylo Mudryk is ‘not in a good mood’ at the club according to Shakhtar Donetsk director of football Darijo Srna as the 40-year-old admitted that he would happily buy the player back. The winger is yet to impress since his big-money move to Stamford Bridge in January after the Blues beat London rivals Arsenal to his signature.
Union Berlin v Union Saint Gilloise Sevilla v Fenerbahce Juventus v Freiburg Bayer Leverkusen v Ferencvaros Sporting Lisbon v Arsenal Manchester United v Real Betis Roma v Real Sociedad Shakhtar Donetsk v Feyenoord
So that means the first leg on Mar.9 is at Lisbon right? (I had a very personal interest in it being the other way around, since I am in London that week)
538 had Sporting as the 3rd toughest draw Arsenal could have faced behind Roma and Juve. They aren't going to be a pushover, they are mid-table PL quality with a rating just above Brentford. I'm sure Arteta will rotate some but he can't rest everyone in the starting XI. That said, they also have Arsenal as the strongest team in the competition, with a 71% chance to advance and a 24% chance of hoisting the trophy.
Union vs Union means we miss out on an easy win against Union but also miss out on a very tough draw against Union.
We used to annual “laughing at Spurs” thread on this forum. Will be good if we can get back to those again in the future. Hopefully this is the best place to put this. It’s glorious. 1626126052710809601 is not a valid tweet id
Here’s something that I think fits this thread’s intent perfectly… https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podca...ow-about-arsenal/id1488521732?i=1000602233680 also at... https://theathletic.com/podcast/150-handbrake-off/?episode=180 Amy Lawrence did a little soundscape piece while she spent an afternoon with the Ashburton Army. Evoking the new atmosphere that’s been developing at the Grove. Some would say we’re a little late to the party but so be it.
Hard not to smile while reading this little piece by Gunnerblog… https://theathletic.com/4307869/202...er-arteta/?access_token=10973488&redirected=1
It's crazy to think that no Arsenal player has scored a hatrick in the PL this season considering the number of goals they have scored. Toe-to-toe with Man City who have Haaland scoring hatricks for fun.— All Things Arsenal F.C. (@allthingsafc1) March 20, 2023
IDK it might be a bit too jinxy to start a pre-season thread, so I'm just posting this here... Strong rumors that Arsenal will play pre-season in LA and also DC, as opponents for the MLS All-Star Game at Audi Field July 19th.
this guy is pretty good... Oleksandr Zinchenko taking on the Puma control challenge.That last touch. 😮💨[@karthikadhaigal] #afc pic.twitter.com/0TAbM8ZQDU— afcstuff (@afcstuff) March 20, 2023
To be fair, we have a much better spread of goal scorers and I think thats a better option than having one guy carry the load. When City have drawn and lost games, its because Haaland hasn't scored and no one else has stepped up. Looking at just the EPL, we have 14 unique goal scorers (that doesn't include Jorginho because his rocket came off Martinez so really its 15) and I find it hard to believe at some point ESR and Holding won't score, meaning we could potentially have 17 different players create direct goals. But even then, its currently 14. City have 10 unique goal scorers and the guys who haven't scored for them don't look like doing so. The burden is strongly on Haaland, Foden and De Bruyne. Of our 14 goal scorers, 3 of them are on double digits and had Jesus not gotten injured I expect he would have scored at least 10 as well. Find it hard to believe Eddie wouldn't have gone close either if he hadn't gotten injured. And there is still enough time for one of those two to get 9 or 10 goals. City have just Haaland (28 goals). Foden has 9, and then after Foden they have Mahrez and Alvarez on 5. So if we don't have anyone score a hat trick this season, its not that big a deal because I would rather we have results like we did against Palace. Makes us far less predictable when it comes to shutting down our goal avenues.
We haven't had this kind of goal scoring balance since Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, Freddie, and Wiltord were all together.
nostalgia forced me to buy the gold long sleeve Sega 2001 away kit brand new with tags on still, right before Covid began for $400. I thought it was insane at the time but I just had to have it for all the memories!
Weren't those teams super reliant on Henry for goal scoring? IIRC Pires was the only other player who scored double digit goals.
The gold 01 season was more balanced, Henry 24, Freddie 12, Wiltord 10, Bergkamp 9, Pires 9, but by 2003, it was Henry far ahead, Pires as you said, and the rest much lower, around 4-5. But when Reyes came around, it was balanced again. 2004-2005: Henry 25, Pires 14, Freddie 10, Reyes 9, Bergkamp 8. After that season, super reliant on Henry again.