Not sure if we have an under 23 thread, we were 0-3 down heading into stoppage time and Hein had gone off injured, match ends 3-3 and Balogun with an amazing goal in the end.
Maybe the Youth thread? Or the Other Teams thread? I heard we were 0-3 down up until 91’, then we scored 3. Whoa.
RIP Ray Kennedy, age 70, after long battle with Parkinson’s. He was a towering goal scoring giant when I first hooked up with Arsenal in the 70s. Went onto Liverpool after that. I just learned about this on SSN and had to laugh, hearing all of the presenter’s copy about him being a Liverpool great, YNWA, yada yada. While 100% of the video clips they showed were of his Arsenal exploits. He’ll always be a London Red in our eyes.
No good thread for this so here it is… I’ve listened to NPR radio several times a day for decades. Almost never has it overlapped with my footy obsession. So just now I did a double or triple take when their PM show smashed into that world. It started with Nedum Onuoha, Man City, UAE, then NUFC, MBS, human rights, sportswashing! Tariq Panja ended as the main talking head. Qatar WC, Beijing Olympics… There’s nothing in here that most of us don’t already know, but boy is it a novelty to hear it on this mainstream American news platform: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/consider-this-from-npr/id1503226625?i=1000547239974 or, this version… https://www.npr.org/2022/01/06/1071...tern-money-despite-ethical-price-tag-attached Ps. There’s not a lot of love around here for the Kroenkes but we might take a little solace that our beloved Club was nowhere near being mentioned in this story.
PEA being "returned" to Arsenal from AFCON.... Source I learned from the Gabonese Federation that there are two reasons for the decision to return both Aubameyang to Arsenal and Mario Lemina to Nice, the first reason related to the complications of the Corona virus and the desire of their clubs to reassure them, and the second reason relates to a quarrel with hotel security in Cameroon due to taking girls Aubameyang, Mario Lemina, assistant coach in the national team left the residence hotel yesterday during the team’s training without permission, the trio are not participating in the training due to the complications of Corona, the team officials did not manage to reach them because their phones were turned off, but in the early hours of the day they returned to the hotel and were drunk There were girls with them. The hotel security refused the girls entry because they were not authorized to enter. The trio quarreled with the hotel security, who informed the officials of the national team mission and submitted a report to the CAF because of what happened. Immediately, the Gabonese federation, in coordination with the national team coach, Patrice Nouveau, quickly agreed to the request of Arsenal and Nice to leave the duo, after they were scheduled to travel on Wednesday, but Patrice Nouveau demanded their travel today and permanently exclude them from the tournament. In the same context, I learned from a source from the Confederation of African Football that they are waiting for clarification in the coming hours from the Gabonese Federation due to the hotel management filing a formal complaint against the team’s delegation due to a quarrel between the team’s players and hotel security due to the desire of some players to accompany girls inside the hotel.
from athletic: don't know the area so don't know if that paper is legit or any type of mouthpiece but oof.
In some other thread(s) there was discussion of this and I believe @Tonerl & @casoccerdad47 debunked this somewhat, or at least the sequence of events. Still, at the very least, it's not good times for Auba these days... professionally, personally, health-wise, etc. I feel sorry for him, but at the same time he needs to take responsibility for his own life and how he fits into the organizations and communities he's a part of. And it's also sad that there are big questions as to whether his Arsenal career can be rehabilitated. And that many of us fans have moved on psychologically from him, looking towards a new crop of attackers to take us to "the next level". Edit: Just saw that CBS/Benge article that says Saudi's Al Nassr has offered to take PEA on loan (paying his full wages presumably) with a $9M mandatory buyout clause. Sounds like a rather tempting offer, if Auba would be willing to go there at this stage of his career.
Xhaka may be in trouble... The FA is investigating a yellow card received by an Arsenal player in a Premier League fixture this season, amid concerns of suspicious betting patterns.— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) January 19, 2022 65K matched on Xhaka to be carded. Matched on betfair at 2.56 about 10 mins to go. For conetext most books we’re about 2.88 PREMATCH. Very strange. Anyone know what that’s about? pic.twitter.com/FQRco2Atwe— FoG (@FoG_BLoG) December 18, 2021 Poking around and there are rumors that a friend of Xhaka made a bet (I think late in the game) that he would receive a yellow against Leeds. He did indeed receive one for wasting time when we were up 4-1.
If only our footballers just concentrated on playing their best football. Not to mention our “leadership group”.
Can't in good conscience feel sorry for him. It's one thing when you're just an unfortunate victim of circumstances, it's another when you invite said issues upon yourself.
Saw that same rumor. But here's a counter. His ridiculous tackle on Raphinha was in the 49th minute or thereabouts. It was certainly worthy of yellow, bordering on orange. If Xhaka was in on it, why would he make such a challenge, especially if the time for the yellow on which the wager was placed was in the final 10 minutes? Very weird. Would that indicate the ref was in on the action as well??
The bet was made late in the game. So Xhaka goes to his friend and says "hey, if we're winning by a bunch in the 80th minute and I haven't gotten a yellow yet, put money down, I'll take care of you."
That still raises the question then why would he make such a rash challenge in the 49th minute already up 3-nil? Even if this was sort of a contingency bet like you're positing, it would seem counterintuitive to jeopardize it by what he did in the 49th, especially when the match-state didn't call for such a challenge.
Ha. I've been advocating for moving on from him for several seasons now, so it's not like I'm a fan. But I'm still skeptical about this story.
Yeah, I'm not saying he's clearly guilty - plenty of explanations that don't involve him at all. Just wouldn't be surprised because he is very, very stupid.
i mean, i'm basically the last xhaka fan on this board and even i would put money on him getting a yellow. he's that much of an idiot.
what was debunked was your comment in the matchday post: that's why @Tonerl said: i also said the same thing: and, yes, i saw the video while it was up on twitter. it has since been removed. at least the post i saw. as @casoccerdad47 said: which was why i made sure to include, "Both Aubameyang and Lemina immediately denied the allegations on social media" in the quoted part and, like i said in the same post, i have no idea the validity of the paper or whether they are some type of mouthpiece for people who would like to discredit the players.
Which would finally force Arteta's hand in getting rid of Xhaka. And I assume it would nullify any contractual/financial obligations we have towards him. But even if this is true, and it's proven in whatever court of law is required, how long would this take to play out??
It took 2 years for Sturridge to get banned for passing on insider information regarding his own transfer, so probably something like that.