Ceballos on is correct. Martinelli off is not. We aren't scoring with Willock involved; he needs to come off. His ability to keep possession and advance the attack is basically non-existent. Pepe for Lacazette should be the next sub.
I almost pulled the trigger on taking the afternoon off and going to the Globe for this one. Glad I didn't. This game sucks.
Sokratis off the bar, Mustafi misses wide with the rebound, and Sokratis looks finished, as he goes down for the second time in 3 minutes. Mustafi is also down.
But I think Sokratis gets my nod and the match ball for his gutsy effort although he looked gimpy on one leg later on
When was the last time we had such a prospect come through (Saka). Is he Diaby level promise? (Martinelli as well)
I wasn't able to watch the game or catch any highlights, but it sounds like Mustafi put in another strong performance. That's only a good thing, imo - as it creates real competition for playing in the team, rather than having him as a "last resort". Yes, I'm concerned about future brain farts from him,but Mustafi brain farts were easily +1-2 per match. Now, it's going several games back since a major screw up. If Arteta is demonstrating he's a "horse-whisperer" with Mustafi too, then I'm cool with that. As said in the Newscastle match thread, at worst Mustafi playing well builds up his value if he keeps playing like this and we sell him this summer. If Mustafi keeps seizing his opportunities in spite of an uncertain future here, good on him.
It could've very easily 2 or even 3-nil if we buried our two other chances, the 5-on-2 that got squandered and also when Sokratis hit the bar and Mustafi failed to put in the rebound in a yawning cage, two great opportunities to really put the squeeze on Olympiakos in this first leg of this last-32 tie, could that come back to haunt us come the return leg next week at the Emirates, we'll find out.
.....and unlike ManCHEATER City, OUR club is owned by someone who doesn't falsify the books, as much as we might not like Stan Kroenke, at least he doesn't cheat, this news could REALLY cause a mass exodus of players and even their manager Pep Guardiola. I'm sure you all know by now (I just found out this afternoon when I inadvertently hit the BS home page while trying to refresh this forum about it) about the big-time trouble Sheikh Mansour has gotten his club into. What do you guys think??? This is serious about City, they have already been fined 30M euros, will lose over 200M euros in UCL prize money, and that's just the beginning, you can bet your bottom dollar that FIFA, The FA, and the Premier League, could all go after City as well. So much for Arab oil money, right down the drain, I'll even bet they'll have to forfeit a title or two. Right about now I'll take nothing but good-old American greenbacks or British Pounds Sterling ANYTIME!!! No Arab oil money PLEASE!!! Not after this!!! Sheikh Mansour, you have just been shown THE RED CARD by both UEFA and myself (see pic below)!!!
Thank YOU ALL!!! Sporting (for football reasons) Bishop Park could not have a better new tenant, however I DO have to keep it down here when cheering for The Gunner Nation as this is an apartment complex with both an aging (retirement/disabled, my developmental and psychiatric issues got me a place here as my unit's previous tenant passed on opening up this spot here at unit 111) community and also a strict 10:00 pm-8:00 am nightly noise curfew, so cheering on The Gunners in EPL matches would have to be kept pretty much on the down-low although all of my neighbors know about me being a Gooner, it's not like Towne Point FC was where I could go off and nobody would mind let alone even hear it, the walls have ears here!!!
Not our best performance, but it's a positive side to be able to still be able to get the win on the road in the knockout rounds. Willock needs a loan. He's learning and getting reps at the expense of of the 1st team. Laca finally finished one, but with the emergence of Martinelli and Saka, I think he can be offloaded this summer. Those two could bring us plenty of goals for years to come. Lock Saka up. Glad Sokratis a strong match and Ceballos is back as well. Ceballos might be the help we need in mf since Torrerria and Ozil can't play more than 3 matches in a row without sometime happening. Even those they play different spots, Ceballos is versatile enough to help out in enough mf spots to have an important role. Luiz had a quietly strong match. I like our chances at home with the 1-0 lead.