Do agree with your points, with the caveat of also accepting a dip after Fernandes goes as he gets very good numbers for them as well as being a problem. But the main thing is I hope the DO try to build around Martinez as I think his lack of just mass and height is a problem and his injury this time came in part as he was trying to do something nasty to an opposition player. It wasn’t mentioned as he got a bad injury from it, but he was trying to execute a needless forearm/elbow smash as he shepherded the ball out. Then the player fell on his knee and injured him, again. He’s a nasty player who tries to “do” other players quite regularly and massively injury prone.

But Hojlund is everything you want in a big forward, Garnacho looks like he could be a Ronaldo clone and Mainoo is what I imagine Saka would be like if he was tuned in the garage to be a 6. Rest of the squad, not so much.

Loved Fulham’s victory yesterday

In City’s next 6 games they play all other top 4 teams, a Manchester derby and Brighton away. A tough set of fixtures. If they’re top after that then it will be goodnight. They have spurs away in their final 7 but the rest is easy for them.

I feel confident that if we bring our best game and have the best team fit then we can beat them at the Etihad, and I think we’ll need to to win the title

City away will be a draw at best most likely. We'll need an incredible run, another draw or two if City drop enough. Liverpool will also need to drop. I don't see it. I think second is doable. I think all 3 of us maybe separated by 5 or less when all is said and done.

Next season we should be in a better position. We have decent upside potential. I'm looking for transfers that will change us from title challengers to more City level. Favorites or co favorites. Truth is City and Liverpool have that level. We are title prospects based on their lack of performances. Right now.

Yes Martinez is a bit of a thug, but Arteta wanted him so there is something there in the right system with the right manager. I think Arteta wanted him for the inverted left back system.
Their plan should be to follow what we did, buy in the age range 21-25, English if possible and prem ready.

Liverpool don't look polished so far in the league cup final. The good thing for us is that neither City or Liverpool are looking like world beaters at the moment.

Is Nkunku still not match fot for Chelsea? He’s been on the bench a lot recently for Jackson, but he’s twice the player Jackson is.

Jackson tactically gives them place in behind and channels? Gallagher having a good game.

I think that is the right decision to rule that goal out for Van Dijk. Ref has to look at where the defender would have been had he not been so obviously blocked by Endo.

Carragher shouldn’t commentate on Liverpool games, he can’t be objective on that decision, can’t even possibly see why it’s called off and started spouting how Arsenal block the gk on ‘every set piece’. The difference is the subtlety in it. Ben white stands his ground and doesn’t have to get out of the gk way, Endo physically held off the Chelsea defender with only one intention and he’s done it from an offside position. Perhaps if he’d started onside it wouldn’t have been given as a foul.

Hope Chelsea win this so we can hear the moaning from Carragher after

In the Arsenal first 11, in as much as you can say that now, who would you actually upgrade for a new signing? If we buy Neto for example, I don’t think he’s replacing either of Saka or Martinelli, but having the 3 across the two wings seems a sustainable situation and amazing depth but not really an upgrade/replacement per se for either player.

Obviously we’ve got timber to come in at fullback if you aren’t fully sold on our options which are currently very good with Zinchenko Tomiyasu White and Kiwior.

I would say as well as Neto or another wide forward we’re looking at two more to come in to give depth at left 8 and centre forward.

So in priority I’d say
1)wide forward who can play both sides(Neto I’d love) essentially replacing Nelson
2)left 8 to provide rotation/competition for Havertz at left 8
3) Someone at CF of a different profile in effect to replace Eddie.

I’m not sure that’s really replacing anyone in the first 11 though.

No idea how this final is 0-0. Don’t think there’s been much quality on the game. Chances coming from poor defending rather than great play. Poor finishing and good gk-ing keeps it 0-0.

Liverpool look out on their feet. Injuries piling up. Would love extra time here

Got your wish. The amount of players out, their depth is quite something really to still be clear in the league. Hopefully it will start to bite soon. Surely it must.

This will get painted as Klopp’s kids winning the trophy but realistically this is a Chelsea surrender. How can they lose this game with what they are up against. Shocking

It was pretty shocking from Chelsea, just a dearth of quality when they needed it. Cole Palmer aside I’m not sure about any single one of that billion pound squad.

Having said that, even this represents progress for them.

Liverpool have done well to win that trophy with the injury list they have but they couldn’t have asked for a better opponent on the day. Any other big 6 team would have beaten Liverpool easily today.

I’m not sure the country is ready for the sickening level of arse kissing that Klopp is going to get for this and the rest of the season

It is bad enough to have Carragher commentate on league games, but a cup final is completely ridiculous. He makes no attempt to offer any balanced analysis. Added to that, Peter Drury is a terribly over-dramatic commentator. It was a truly awful broadcast...like watching Liverpool TV. Even Neville was cheering them at the end.

On Kiwior’s goal from the corner White started in the goal behind the gk but he moved out and it was Saliba screening the gk.

It’s made to look very simple how good we are at corners. It mainly takes 3 things.
1. Exceptional in-swinging delivery
2. Lots of runs and aggressive movement
3. Huge overload of runs to a specific place - mixed between front or back post

Then we win so many corners that it almost becomes inevitable

I for one thought it was thoughtful and balanced commentary when Neville screamed Chelsea were “billion pound blue bottlejobs”

Depends on the quality of player brought in…..

Priority 1. New striker to replace Eddie and offer competition. If Eddie is on the pitch the whole team doesn’t look like scoring.
Priority 2. New wide player to replace Nelson and offer genuine competition to Saka. Again bringing on Reiss isn’t quite as bad as bringing on Eddie but you can see the drop off immediately.
Priority 3 depends on Timber really, if he comes back and impresses at left back it’s a midfielder but I think it’s likely he was brought in to cover right back and centre which means in my opinion anyway that if you are serious about winning titles you need a left back with more technical ability on the ball but critically can defend too.

Glad it wasn’t just me then.

Drury was over the top and carragher plain ridiculous. Reminded me of Emlyn Hughes biased Liverpool commentary and tipping them when they had obviously no chance.

Drury can be grating with his pre written poetic nonsense, you can make it up yourself and it would sound like something Drury would say. ‘Young in age, but old in habits, Klopp with a smile as wide as the Mersey, he’s delivered another trophy on this fairytale goodbye’ wonder what he had written for Chelsea?

Much is made of Liverpool’s injury crisis so I thought I’d see what our team would look like with the equivalent injuries Liverpool had

Allison - Raya
Trent - White
Matip - Kiwior
Szobolszlai - Ødegaard
Jones - Vieira
Thiago - Jorginho
Salah - Saka
Nunez - Jesus
Jota - Trossard

Ramsdale, Zinchenko, Saliba, Gabriel, Tomiyasu, Rice, Partey, Emile Smith Rowe, Martinelli, Havertz, Nelson
Bench: Hein, Timber, Walters, Cédric, Elneny, Nketiah, Nwaneri

Our team would beat the team Liverpool put out yesterday I think. Konate would get beaten up by Havertz again

A couple of prem games v sheff Utd (a) and Brentford (h) should be seen as must wins. Then it’s the big return game v Porto. By then we should have some genuine selection problems for Arteta. Jesus and Zinchenko generally get picked by Arteta when they are fit - but Kiwior and a combination of Havertz and Trossard have been excellent in their place. Then the biggest decision is whether Jorginho plays at deep midfield. My thoughts are he should, he’s so calm, never loses the ball and crucially provides the crisp passing between the lines and a layer of creativity from deep. He starts v Porto for me

That's Chelsea's 6th cup final loss in a a row. Also given the performances of Caicedo and Mudryk I think we dodged some very expensive bullets.

Agreed. Porto will be set up defensively and Jorginho will have time and space he wouldn't get in the Premier League.

Behind a pay wall but all the same..................
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/20 ... -man-city/

Margins are thin. We'll see what we are made of. We are looking the strongest of the 3. But as we saw in Porto, we can revert to cr@p at any time.

And it allows Rice to use his superb anticipation and aggression to win the ball in the final 3rd - he did so plenty of times against Liverpool and Newcastle when afforded the extra attacking freedom.
So if we want Jorginho to start with Rice and Ødegaard the big question is who starts as the 9, Havertz or Jesus. The CL is where Jesus has put his best performances in, but against a packed defence maybe Havertz's extra physicality is just what we need

Maybe we're playing the best of the 3 currently, but City still look the strongest for me. Their bench looks very strong, with at least 3-4 genuine match winners on there rather than just fresh legs.

https://gunnerstown.com/arsenal/2024/02 ... c76b92d2c3
Always like this guy's Arsenal blog

As well as looking at what we need its worth tracking what players will leave in the summer and therefore where gaps in the squad numbers (as a minimum) will be:
I expect Ramsdale, Elneny, Cédric, Tierney, Tavares, Marquinos to definitely leave for a variety of reasons. The only player here who needs replacing properly is Ramsdale with a new No.2 GK
On top of this there are big question marks on the futures of Nketiah, Nelsen, Partey and maybe even Emile Smith Rowe. I would say anyone from that group leaving would need replacing and that's where we can elevate the squad.

The best of our academy still seem a little bit away from the first team, even if there are some real talents there so I'd also like to see us take some punts on some really talented 18/19 year olds, with a well set squad we're in the position to be able to do this in the summer I think.

Jorginho to. His contract expires and it’ll be interesting to see if the club want to take the option to extend it. The tantrums when he signed seem a long time ago

We seem to be constantly linked with holding midfielders too

Rio Ferdinand: "Mikel Arteta would leave Arsenal to join Man United, 100%"

"No one is saying it’s happening but if Man United in a wild dream said, ‘Do you know what, Erik ten Hag, thank you’ or Erik ten Hag has been poached by Bayern Munich, and he goes there, and then Man United say top of the list is Arteta, Arteta is going in and saying to the lads, ‘listen, guys, it’s been emotional but I’ve got to move, I’ve got to go.'"

Just when you think Rio Ferdinand can't embarrass himself any further as a pundit he says this. Now If he'd said Man City, Barcelona or PSG - you could kind of understand it as he has links to all 3, but what makes him think that Arteta would leave what he's built at Arsenal to go and try to do the same at Man U before he's even got near to achieving the best he can with Arsenal?

Also, and this may seem petty or a bit pie in the sky but I do believe that this very public arrogant attitude displayed by a lot of ex-Man U players does contribute to their current problem. It creates an noise that Man U are still in some way THE team. It is this kind of arrogance that filters down to media, supporters and in to the club and clouds sensible decision making. It leads to quick fix, flavour of the month players. Casemiro at 30, Varane at 30. Big names but no plan and on a downward trajectory. It makes them re-sign Ronaldo on £500k a week, it made them sign Maguire, Sancho etc - we're the best so we have to beat anyone else to what is considered the best - but with no squad building plan or plan of how to get the best out of them.

I feel like I could write a pretty basic plan of how Man U should fix themselves, but it would take everyone to buy in to a 3-4 year project and would involve turning over at least 20 of the current team. Man U don't have the humility to do it

https://x.com/Carra23/status/1762202917644157029?s=20

I don't like Carragher on co-comms as I think he falls in to the pre-determined narrative and can't be rational or unbiased when it comes to Liverpool.....BUT on Monday night football he is good. Clichy here as well has been on MNF a few times and shows himself to be a decent thinker - I think he's in the French U21 set up with Henry

A bit surprised to hear Rio say that. He grew up a fan of Ian Wright and a few of the other Arsenal players. I would say Arteta would not want to manage Man Utd. For a while I actually thought he was more of an Everton old boy than Arsenal but he's spent almost the same time with us as he did with Everton.

He's managing a club he loves and who he's played for and familiar with. A club that is big in its own right. My guess is he doesn't want to manage the egos that come along with Man Utd. In his mind he's fine where he is, I'm guessing.

I do think he will likely get tapped up by a bigger club stature wise if he hasn't already. We've gone from 8th to seriously challenging for a title and will get stronger. We're playing some of the best football in Europe. It's a huge achievement.

Ten Hag has to go. My guess he's lost the locker room. The players he has are pretty much internationals. They are big names in their respective countries and the accompanying egos that come along with it. Ten Hag is a build from the ground up type. They don't respect his opinion. He doesn't have a name.

Man Utd is not one of those sides you can bring in a young manager and start over with younger names you can bring up together. And then in 2 or 3 years yield benefits. No, they want trophies now. They want to challenge for the title now.

They have to bring in a big name like Zidane, or entice Klopp to come back. Names the players will respect from the start.

Saka and Willock, not sure why Saka would give him a shirt, they're mates, been on the same team as youngsters.

I think you’re right, with the current crop they need a big name to get them in line and get them giving 100% every game. The best guy for that could be Simeone. But if they want to play progressive, aggressive and attacking football and are looking for their own Arteta then they need to throw out the bad eggs and give the new manager time.
First move for Man U is to become more humble as a club, accept their current standing in the game, accept that their name alone carries far less weight than it did and start a proper clear out. Identify 3 categories of players to move on
1. Bad attitude players
2. Won’t ever be good enough players
3. Players who can generate a decent fee to enable the rebuild

Ferdinand’s comments on Arteta either show his extreme arrogance and naivety to all things Man U, or shows that he’s given up on being taken seriously as a pundit and will just say things that will get a reaction - like a common fan YouTube channel. It keeps you in the conversation, generates hits and presumably makes you more money - but surely you put your credibility a bit higher? It’s very easy to get attention by being an idiot or outspoken but far harder to actually put the work in, do your job better and come up with sensible, well thought out opinion and debate.

Mainstream football media is being taken over by hyperbole trolling to garner reaction rather than say anything worthwhile.

I would remain satisfied if they never won another title in my lifetime. Entitled a bit like those pricks at Liverpool.

I never thought Mourinho was a fit for Man Utd because he starts from the back and is not a manager that attacks. Mourinho prefers a 1-0 game with the opposition getting 1 or 2 shots on goal than a 5-3 game. He even said as much when we beat Tottenham I think by that scoreline.

Man Utd want to play attacking open football and have been that way for a while. I have long heard that from their older fans.

Simeone has a big enough name I think. He's done a lot at Atletico. Whoever comes in may have cut a couple heads in the ranks. Players who are just disruptive and divisive and are not happy no matter what.