... although it would be handy if they could pull themself together and get something off City and Liverpool!

If I had to choose a side, I'll take Liverpool today for two reasons. First, it gives Liverpool more games for the run in. Second, it makes it harder to come back to OT for a win. It's very tough to win away to a major rival twice in a matter of weeks.

I think Man Utd will do no worse than a draw in the league game. They, surprisingly drew at Anfield in the first game. With a little luck, maybe even win. But that's a bridge too far for this Man Utd side I think.

Best wishes to Judith and her family & friends. Rog, Thanks for maintaining his wonderful legacy.

Thanks Lincoln. Unusually for St Patrick's Day the weather is lovely here and with Ireland having won back to back 6 nations yesterday and no Arsenal action I can sit back and enjoy the Man U v Liverpool game knowing that either outcome has benefits. Might need to have a whiskey later to complete the day.

Watching The Freiberg v Leverkusen game, 1-3 to Leverkusen. They are well organized and remind me of Arsenal but at a slower pace. Xhaka is integral to them. I think it would be a great tactical game between us but we have better players.

The commentator said they went from being known as Never-kusen to Never-losing. Must be English speaking fans of the Bundesliga saying that...lol.

It's an amazing accomplishment so far. It will be interesting if or when they meet up with Liverpool in the Europa cup. Good luck to them.

Still hoping Liverpool win it, but I want to see them work hard for it. Man Utd up 1-0. This gets interesting. I was looking up Man Utd vs Liverpool games historically and even when Liverpool were the best club in the country by far, they lost games to Man Utd which attests to how big the rivalry is.

My first view of English football was when I was very little, and the news showed cops on horses escorting a long line of fans. I thought it was insane they couldn't sit together.

These Liverpool games remind me of the Man Utd 99 team, where it seemed they were just getting over the line in each game. The further they go in each competition the more the media will play on it. To be fair they are a brilliantly coached side but often score against the run of play.

Crazy Man U v Liverpool game. Both teams guilty of being quite wide open at times. Hoping that knocks Liverpool for the run in

Echo those sentiments. All love to Judith and her family.

Deep and lasting thanks to Rog, but only 32% pay rise this year. Times is ‘ard.

Man Utd were absolutely rubbish in that second half. I hope they play like that against us. First half, both teams were really poor without the ball. Liverpool seemed really casual throughout despite being the better side. That 5 on 2 break was a shambles from both sides.

https://x.com/hayterstv/status/17694548 ... -j6VVZXEoA

Ten hag has never let go of the game v us. Here he is being asked about beating Liverpool 4-3 in the last second in one of the games of the season and he’s still hawking back to a game that was over 6 months ago!

He's a clown. If that's what the players are listening to, it's no wonder Utd are as bad as they are.

There are one of two ways Ten Hag can save his job. Win the FA cup or get back into the top 4. The former being the more important possibly as its an actual trophy of significance.

But for now, he's out in all likelihood. Man Utd will likely or should make have the next manager lined up and get him in and Hag out after the last whistle of the season.

I hope they play this open in our league game. I expect they will. I've rarely seen a Man Utd side play defensively against us. Especially at home.

Funny Bobby Charlton story.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Iz8sgThPo04

Funny. Unpopular opinions. Among them: "Theirry Henry is not a big game player".

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/8MYL8xb1qDE

Gary Neville reminisces nostalgic on the friendly rivalry that is Man Utd v Liverpool

Martinelli, Jesus, Tomiyasu, Partey haven't been called up for international duty - along with Ben White obviously

The Henry one does get bought up because he hasn't scored in a final. Compared to someone like Drogba who scored in virtually every final he played. Of course Henry stepped up against the best teams in big (non-final) games all the time. His goal record against the biggest English teams shows he certainly wasn't a flat track bully

Klopp chose to play first teamers on Thursday when they 5-1 up from the away leg. Salah played 90 minutes. Why?

Probably game time. He has spent a lot of time on the bench and not playing full games iirc.

I'm reading stories that the reason Ben White declined a call up was because one of the assistant coaches on the national team dressed him down in front of the team in Qatar. Its said he played and left shortly after back to England.

The coach got on him allegedly for his lack of commitment on the pitch in training. Others who may or may not know his supposed real reasons are saying ban him from another call up.

A points deduction awaits City. FA are very nervous to say the least. Not holding my breath.

https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/ ... y-28841336

extra reminder for ST holders for Munich

Your specific seat(s) will be available to buy online by logging into your Online Box Office account from 2pm (UK) on Thursday 21 March. The window closes at 2pm on Monday 25 March.

Thanks TG. I screwed up ordering my tickets for the Porto Match so I will try not to make that same mistake again. Unfortunately I've promised my kids the tickets so I'll be back in the pub again for that match. Someone offered me a ticket for Bayern away but with flights/hotel etc it was going to be over £700 for a 24hr jaunt which seems a bit mad.

Football in America. The fans of the sport has grown immensely. The young people got into it in one of two ways. Playing it in suburban communities as a kid as it was an easy sport for parents. And secondly, from video games.
The parents, older brothers of those kids got into the sport as a result. That said, the video doesn't talk about one glaring (at least to me) thing.

The athletes that feeds our professional American football, baseball and basketball teams are not playing football. Our potential Drogbas, Haalands, Odegaards, Van Dijks are either pursuing other sports or are not taking up the sport due to a variety of factors.

We've been watching the EPL in unprecedented numbers. It's readily available on tv and regular Americans, not expats and tourists from elsewhere are flocking to pubs for the 'atmosphere'.

As we all know you can be 5'8", slightly built and be a fantastic footballer. That potential Fabregas aren't taking up sport. They will try the other traditional American sports until their size removes them from progressing or they don't play at all.

It's a varied and complex issue. This also includes the money in playing professional football in America is no where close to even the 4th tier sport like ice hockey. That wage is being paid to players from the European league in their 30s and no longer able to play at the highest level week in, week out.

Also, the road map to professional football in America is not connected. The AYSO, the national youth organization for the kids, have no connection to the High Schools. There are no youth academies as we know it in Europe and South America. There is a connection from the High School players to the university only because its how American football, basketball, baseball get their players. Baseball is the only sport that has a somewhat similar set up to football clubs. They routinely offer contracts to high school players who play in the 'Minor leagues' which is kinda, sorta a lower division set up but the teams are owned and run by the team in the MLB (Major League Baseball). It's akin to Arsenal and the EPL sides having a team in the championship an division one. And at anytime called up to play in the EPL.

My personal opinion is that all the football institutions, AYSO, high school, uni, MLS get together to work out a road map that everyone can agree to. Secondly, spend the money to set up youth leagues in the areas where the best athletes are. It's still largely a middle class suburban sport. We are about a quarter latino, but have not produced great footballers. The ones that play are in middle class suburban areas where my brother coaches in northern California. My guess is you will find hungrier, more comitted players in inner city Los Angeles, Oakland, and San Diego who see no other option just like many who play basketball.

Even though he missed a chance when we played Barca, had we not had a man sent off there would have been more.

He was used in a position in Barcelona that had others as the primary goal scorer. But Real Madrid might disagree with that when he scored there in our run to the final. But to be fair, Droba was a beast. But I wouldn't say Henry is a not a big game player because Drogba was.

There is talk of Kimmich being available in the summer, wants a new challenge. Fantastic player but for me, despite now positioning ourselves to be taken seriously by such players, I don’t think he’s what we should go for. He’s 29, lacks a bit of physicality and pace which are both crucial to the prem. he feels like a Pep signing for City

Arsenal should be building for the future. With the current squad, there is no need to pay "over the value" for a player who is on his last legs. We were once desperate for any player willing to come over. And we paid the price for their inept performances. The Arsenal of today should be attracting top talent. That said, forget Ivan Toney too.

personally I'd like to see them using our youth more. Nwaneri we are told is a strong forward give him game time. also there are others, I recall a midfielder and defender, Biereth is it, who should also be going through the motions of moving up before they decide to move on.

Coincidentally saw this today:

https://www.arsenal.com/news/loan-watch ... l-11-games

Enjoy......

I have tried to get a list of the charges against city and what is alleged. Not much success but a few summaries. Best I can do is in relation the FA charges: 4 years where there was a secret contract paying out Mancini which had not been declared. But a lot of other charges appear to be a rehash of UEFA breaches which they were punished for or were time barred. No such time bars exist for the FA apparently. The problem with a lot of the UEFA charges is that the evidence was illegally obtained. I expect the hearing to start with an application to exclude the charges which rely on any offences which are proved by that evidence. I think it should be excluded otherwise it does not appear to be a fair hearing. Any action and result have some appeals process. If anyone knows where I can see the actual charges and allegations I would be interested in a link.

Maybe they can sign Lukaku as well. Has there ever been a player so consistently overrated, overpriced and then dumped in history?

There are 3 fairly big youtube fan channels, 2 are Man Utd, maybe the 3rd, can't recall. But they are all saying how Arsenal are being dismissed generally as contenders, etc. A lot of respect actually. I like it better when we are doubted. I don't want added pressure.

Do you ever read what you write? Can you not see the inherent contradiction?

I'd love to find clips of Ødegaard when he was here on loan. He played decently but his heart wasn't in it. His head was still in Madrid. He still felt he could make it there. Now, you can see he is fully committed. It's his team. He has fully bought in. I loved seeing the transition. And he's in a team that is challenging. If we get past BM and happen to face RM, he will be at his best. He will want to show them what's what. He will be very, very motivated.

His loan season. I forgot we had Pépé starting many games. Wow. Seemed like a life ago. What is he up to these days?

Pep doesn’t prioritise pace and power like Arteta has. I think for most teams pace and power are required for the prem but Pep has built teams with players that don’t have these qualities because he compensates for it elsewhere. David Silva, Bernardo Silva both crucial to Pep and neither could be described as pacey or powerful. Was Gundogan pacey or powerful? Even Foden could be classed in the same category. But what Pep does is have bundles of it in defence and a monster up top to make up for it. You need to have a super ‘rest of your team’ to be able to accommodate these smaller technical players. Let’s see where Kimmich ends up

I know we are going to sign a new striker in the summer but i'd love Biereth to be brought into the squad maybe to replace the outgoing Eddie as a support striker.
Something about him......

Tomiyasu signed a new deal until 2026 with the option of another year. His previous contract was due to expire in 2025, so effectively a 2 year extension.
Contract expiry dates of players in the squad (I’ve added any option years on)
2024: Jorginho, Elneny, Cédric
2025: Partey
2026: Zinchenko, Trossard, Emile Smith Rowe, ramsdale
2027: Tomiyasu, Saka, Saliba, Jesus, Gabriel, Nketiah, Vieira
2028: Martinelli, Nelson, White, Kiwior, Rice, Havertz, Ødegaard, Timber

That’s very, very good work from the club to get us in such a healthy player contract situation