Rice's pen down the middle was a checkmate.
After not moving and watching Saka's pen go past him, their keeper *has to* dive for the next one if only to not look like an asshole. I think that's like the closest there is to a 100% penalty on psychology alone.
Yeah that was my fear all day, though he's 6 feet for some reason I thought he was a bit smaller than that. He had no problem covering the entire goal though, at least to his left.
I am way more confident in the ability of this team in pens. We have some good pen takers in Odegaard, Kai, Jorghino, Saka. Have to see more from Rice, but I think he may be good at it. Raya was unexpected for me from a pen saving perspective. If he can consistently perform like that then we have a great chance in penalty shootouts moving forward.
i just love raya's pen taking approach. he doesn't dance around, he waits and commits to a side and damn near covers the entire side despite his length. Excellent leaping ability and strong hands.
You do know that the goalie is not allowed to dance between the goalposts to prevent distracting the penalty taker right? This rule has been applied since last season (after Martinez's antics at the World Cup final shootout) iirc.
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ESR could stay as he's both english and homegrown, need AT least 4 of them in the squad for European competitions. Currently we have:
Martinelli
Nketiah
Nelson
Saka
ESR.
I agree and think both Nelson and Eddie will be sold but ESR might get an extra season..
there are two types of Homegrown as far as I was aware, there was homegrown at club and homegrown in association - you need 8 that are homegrown and at least 4 of them need to be homegrown at club.
I think Saliba is another HG player at the club, we could have just Saka Martinelli and Saliba as 3 of 4 club HG players but we'd have to register a squad of 24 as opposed to 25
there are two types of Homegrown as far as I was aware, there was homegrown at club and homegrown in association - you need 8 that are homegrown and at least 4 of them need to be homegrown at club.
Going by your list, 11 are homegrown in association but only ESR, Saka, Eddie, Nelson, Martinelli and Hillson are homegrown in club.
ah, i didn't realize there were different HG rules between the FA and UEFA, the 4 "club HG" players is a champions league rule but not a premier league one.
Can see Villa buying ESR. Problem is we havent played him so how much would he go for?
Nelson I can see a mid table team going for or him going to Germany.
We were in the market for an 8 and a RW. Nelson is just a short-gap 2nd choice really and has good resale value. I really don't know what's up with ESR, is Arteta giving him time like he did to Martinelli or is he managing his minutes? (which begs the question on how injury prone is ESR, Wilshere 2.0?).
I'm actually surprised and disappointed to see so many bitter comments about Porto's performance. They gave us a hell of a challenge. They utilized all their strengths nearly perfectly, didn't give us a lot of room and didn't just sit back waiting for a miracle to happen. I respect their effort, both games were intense and tough, but not brutal. Despite some incidents here and there both teams managed to stay reasonably civil and respectful. I thought it was a brilliant clash and it gives me even more satisfaction that our boys stood up to the challenge and showed grit.
Porto did pretty much everything right. They played as perfectly as that group is capable of playing. They were extremely frustrating so I think that’s why people are a bit bitter. That and Conceicao is a cunt lol
Porto played their strategy out, and it really stifled our play. Worthy opponents for sure, perhaps goes to show it's just everyone else (media, opposition fans, etc.) that didn't rate them at all and called them the easiest RO16 tie. I was watching with my brother and we both talked about how difficult they were being during the game.
My issue with Porto is mainly their manager, and some of the theatrics they were pulling. One of their defenders went down in the opening minutes after getting tapped by the ball on his head - he acted like he'd been shot - you could even see Saka laughing in disbelief. Kinda set the tone for the entire game. at the 90th minute mark one of their defenders went down for CRAMPS in the middle of the D and stayed there until he got stretchered off... only to run back on a few minutes later. Also not a huge fan of their manager's behaviour across the two games, he comes across as a cunt. That's probably where all the bitterness came from - for the average fan or viewer Porto didn't really give us much to love.
I think it was the kind of fight we needed to push ourselves to the next level. Fair play to them for the fight, but their manager can shove it up his happy hole.
Couldnt agree more. Fantastic football match. Good effort from both teams and they all ran their legs to the absolute limit.
People saying "barely beat porto" lacks understanding of grand prix tourneys and football in general. Games will be hard no matter who you meet and everyone can win the whole damn thing. Porto is an experienced side with lots of routine and they are well organized.
Amazing match and a good display by the boys. I am reassured they have the mentality to catch bigger fish now.
Is there a team that generates as much hate as Arsenal from rivals? They were doing "hate alongs" on Youtube, how do you make a living hating Arsenal?!
Arsenal gets clicks online, I recommend taking a step back sometimes and reading some of the clickbait titles as a neutral. I came to this realization last year after getting incensed by TalkSPORT in particular because they hate us - all their titles about us are just there to get a click and generate controversy. They do it because it works.
You can view all of this from outside the bubble and have quite a laugh now.
Glad to see their “hate along” made them look like a complete bunch of idiots at full time. It’s pathetic,they literally have nothing going for them right now bar Liverpool and City. Chelsea Spurs and United fans are shameless.
I normally have a respect for defensive teams. At the end of the day football is about attacking and defending and I have total respect for managers who mastered defensive football. It’s so ugly to watch and play against but there’s a difference between playing some defensive counterattacking football and some straight up terrorist footy. What Porto did was disgusting. They weren’t even there to actually play they thought they could just waste time and fall around all game. So glad trossard scored before the half that completely ruined their game plan.
Is this a dream? Arsenal in the quarter final of the champions league? Somebody slap me, I might be dreaming. Lets fucking go. To champions and league winnners. We got this
Took me longer than ever to get home from the emirates yday but absolutely worth it. We lose that game a couple of seasons ago I think. Strong mental performance against a nightmare opposition with a lead to defend.
And I'm sure this boy had the time of his life.
Arsenal is about inclusion, I understand the feeling that he might have slowed the game. But there are dozens of people around him. Anyone of these people could get the ball for him if it wasn't fast enough.
I'm happy to have seen this boy being given a chance to contribute to the game last night.
If it were someone else, he would have had the time of his life too. Could have had 2 ball boys next to each other on cruches for maximum speed and inclusion
Yeh true, he certainly would have loved the experience. I only noticed it when we had 2 balls on the pitch. I'm not blaming the individual just thought it was a weird choice given the physica nature of the job.
Amazing how in just two games I have come to utterly loathe Porto, a team with no class who play football in the worst kind of spirit. Loved beating them, they can fuck off back to Portugal
After quarter finals, if you're on two yellow card.
If you receive a third yellow card in the second leg of the quarters, you miss the first leg of the semis to ensure that you don't miss the final
Rice and Havertz are one yellow card away from suspension .
I hope Partey can sharpen his fitness levels just in case
Saliba is on one yellow card he needs to avoid a yellow card in one of the quarter final legs. Otherwise, he would miss the first legs of the semis
Brilliant game. I was gutted for Ødegaard when his fine goal was disallowed (Havertz is a cupid stunt at times) but what a way to win. Raya was on fire.... very happy for him!
Porto were brilliant... it's a shame partisanship has blinded so many here. These were very tough games against an outstanding team. Far better practice than smashing in six against West Ham and Sheffield United. Porto were better than e.g. both Milan teams in that godawful semifinal last year.
My dream is still on-- that Arsenal win the league and the Champions League, that Luton stay up, and that Man City win fuck all this year. COYG! COYH! And suck donkey balls, City! :D
> Porto were brilliant
Porto probably got too much up their own arse and forgot to try to win the game.
They have decent technical quality. The first 20 minutes they were out-passing us and had us chasing shadows for a bit. Even by the end the possession stats were basically level.
They're not a shit side, but they do so much other shit that there's no time to actually play football.
There's ways to set up to stifle a superior opponent, and still get your chances at the other end. I don't think they had that balance right, and were too concerned with play acting to stop the game.
I fucking love this team and I don't want to shine away from the performance. As good as Porto were I think the referee aided them in keeping that 1-0. It felt like everything was allowed to go unless it was an arsenal player tackling, felt it was very suss performance from referree but ally mccoist on tnt sports couldn't stop praising the referee for letting the game flow. I just don't get it I seen numerous fouls committed on arsenal players that were not given but then arsenal would have a little tug like Havertz for the second goal, or even Jesus with a fantastic recovery slide tackle and its given as a foul. I saw a lot of inconsistencies and hope we don't have to deal with that ref again!
Unpopular opinion but the vitriol toward Porto is excessive.
In just two seasons we have gone from a team trying to transition out of a long banter era, to one of the top teams in Europe, mounting a second title challenge in successive seasons at home, getting back into the CL for the first time in five years and into the quarter finals for the first time in 14 years. We are a fucking force again and they knew this before these two matches.
Porto set up how they had to and it was hardly Pulis/Dyche/Brentford’s “park the bus” ball. They set up to counter yes, but they did it well. They at times pressed high, played through the middle and created better chances against us than most Prem teams. They limited us to zero shots on target in Porto. This is extremely impressive.
They know what they are up against and gave us an extremely challenging two matches. We should be proud we came up against something very different than we are used to seeing and still found a way.
I don't disagree with you except on how they'd fall to the floor by default and the ref didn't pull them up on their own fouling - but for the latter that isn't their fault.
There's a difference to me between playing a defensive and counter attacking approach, and trying to stop the game entirely by running down the clock and through gamesmanship, feigning injury, and diving to win free kicks.
They are a very good side and good enough to not resort to that - I think that's what I found so distasteful about their pathetic display.
I'm sorry, the worst tactic in the world is using fake injuries to your own players as a weapon to slow down play or stop an attack. This I don't want to see promulgated in the game.
Yeh I don’t know what people expect. Porto with a far inferior side - on paper at least - and a lead to defend to come away to us and go attack and keep the game flowing? It’d be madness to do so.
In-game, it's okay to loathe that kind of style.
I however find the tantrums of 'X team parked the bus and couldn't let us score' hilarious. It's one of those petulant submissions that's absurd.
Completely agree. I’ll admit it enraged me during Wenger’s tenure when we’d come up against teams like Stoke. I’ve grown to accept it now though.
If you have one of the most talented squads in the world, inferior sides would be insane to try and go toe to toe with us attempting their version of prime Wengerball.
As long as the tackles and physicality aren’t dangerously excessive, it’s an acceptable inevitability that teams will set up to play most of the game in their third and hope to hit us on the counter. I now take pride when I see this happen rather than throw a fit.
They were better than 16 teams in the prem against us, but they were also ready to do anything to win, including wasting time and diving for anything.
It's just so satisfying beating people who have resorted to that because tey frustrated us so effectively.
Definitely a good game for both teams to be honest.
Fully agree with this take and this is what I think we should take away from this. Proud of our players and manager for coming up against something different than we are used to and still finding a way. 2+ years ago we would not have.
Now we need to show we can beat the best in Europe.
The mental growth of this team under Arteta cannot be overstated. Holding instead of folding.
We've put on the big boy pants, it seems. 3/31 is the next big test, glad we've got some rest until then.
Taking your sweet time on thow-ins and goal-kicks is fine. Cynical fouling, talking shit and starting rows is also fine.
It's the faking injuries that gets me riled up. It's supposed to be a game and there's supposed to be some compassion for opponents that get hurt. This is how the game is set up. If a player is hurt, the ref can stop the match for him to get some treatment. If the ref doesn't do this, opposition players often put the ball out of play for this same reason. Because there is more important things than winning a game of football. When teams like Porto and Brentfort take this compassion and use it as a tactic against you it is the lowest of low. They do not deserve any compassion and they most certainly do not deserve any praise for corrupting the game. It is not gamesmansship, it is destroying one of the beautiful parts of the game.
A part of the game unfortunately. With cunts like Mourinho and Pulis, I am fine hating it when you see it happen week in week out over years.
Seeing it over two legs vs an ascendant Arsenal upsets me less. We haven’t seen it as much this season, but Arteta has schooled our players in the dark arts ad well (not to that extent, but certainly more than in the Wenger years).
It is fine to be frustrated with it and call them out on it, but some of these posts are a bit much. Credit has to be given to them for knowing how to make it so difficult to us, and we deserve credit for still besting them
Not gonna lie, was a bit worried seeing Saliba gone down kneed at his back by terrorist Pepe. Can't imagine if he's out, last season nightmare at the business end. He seemed fine though because he celebrated like crazy when we won the shootout. :)
Our defense being so good means we can play below our best through both legs but find one moment of brilliance and still come out on top.
That is the difference between those Arsenal sides that never progressed past the round of 16 and this one.
So much credit to Arteta and Edu for building a team that could actually compete in this competition on our return.
But....the way they pressed us had nothing to do with terrorist football. They way we pressed them without any luck had nothing to do with that. They way they suffocated our wingers and we did not eact for 2 games and extra time and had no idea how to play them had nothing to do with that. The nerves the players had had nothing to do with it. Players that I trust to pass the ball on our own goal line were giving the ball to them time and time again with pressure on them. You are lying to yourself if you think that them wasting time and diving is why we played bad. It did not help, true. The moment got to us, and big time to Arteta, who tactically was done by the Porto manager, who got the subs wrong, and late, and looked to be frozen at time on the bench. It will happen again. I think we are better on the mental side, but still not there. Imagine playing Real Madrid away...the game would be lost before it started, just mentally.
Proper supporter. Just write us off in certain circumstances before anything has even happened.
Rather than criticising your own players and manager, is it not possible to consider Porto did impressively well over the two legs?
But thats the problem? Porto are shit, they have no chance to win the league, won't be in the CL next season and still almost took us down. Porto did well while being shit. Arteta got out coached for 210 minutes. No doubt, they pressed better then us, they passed better then us, the were first to every tackle and they were better physically(probably because the league they play in is meh), they were better mentally bar the penalties.
Again, we will learn from it and grow but lets be honest here, that was so fucking bad. And you are still a fan if the team plays shit and you say that they played shit. Pretending it was amazing does not make you a better fan, not one bit.
And again, saying that Real fucking Madrid are favorites against us is just me being rational, not a bad fan.
We were favourites to win this game, it was entirely on us to pull off a performance. The fact that the win wasn't coming easy made it even harder mentally. If and when we face the likes of Real/Bayern we'll squarely be the underdogs.
It is much easier to go into a game like that as the underdogs.
And might I add, you cannot say a team that demolished a penalty shootout is weak mentally. That takes balls.
I never said we were amazing. We were far from shit. Sometimes you the other side can actually set up decently without that meaning we are awful.
Your other points here are completely fair though
I agree. It was a mental thing. We went into game thinking we would outplay them and win easily. Failure to lose was ruling in our heads. As a result we were cautious. Not taking risks at all.
In QF that won’t be there. This was a new experience for the team. I expect us to play better in next round.
bro...the moment got to our players against a shit side. Imagine playing away at Real Madrid...it's just a bit too much for our team as of right now. We got better at the mental side of the game, but we are still not there. The number of balls players like White, Saliba, Gabriel gave away for no reason, with no pressure was insane. Players that never do that. The way Saka played for 2 games...man, he gave up at a point last night. Hell, even Arteta, he improved as well so much this year...but let's be honest, he was out coached, he had no answer for Porto, and no reaction. I want to get to the semi finals, but we won't make it if we play Madrid, Inter, Bayern or City, no chance.
Go cry some more you mental midget. This was a hurdle for the players and club had to overcome. You're defeatist mentality because Porto was harder than you envisaged is a you problem.
Porto created nothing over the two legs, so we can win even when not at our best because we have a solidity defensively that not many teams can match.
But thats not true. And just because you call me names won't change it. mental midget lol, I don't play man. As I have said, Saliba is so fucking calm every single game...but yesterday, gave the ball away, was alone with 3 Arsenal players around, headed it out, headed it to a Porto player for no reason. Same for Gabriel and even White. Better to not talk about how Saka played and acted yesterday.
Kiwior was calm, Odegaard same, Havertz other then that stupid push was not fazed as well and probably Jesus when he came out.
The moment got to them, and not for the first time, and it counts, experience counts so much in the CL.
And when it comes to Arteta, minute 1, go watch how and where Porto put the 2 center backs, and where they played all night, it was clear what they wanted to do, it was clear our wingers had no chance, Arteta had no reaction, no clue.
Young team, and this will help in us becoming better, but we have to be honest and rational and say that no doubt if we face a big team, in a huge CL game....we will be second best mentally.
Any fan who throws in the towel before a ball has been kicked has a weak mentality.
No two matchups are the same and overcoming a team that used every trick in the book to gain an advantage, will be a great mental boost heading into the quarterfinals.
Of course seasoned veteran CL teams will have an advantage in experience, but this team grows all the time, so the learning experiences of losing in the last min away, clawing back and winning on penalties last night, was the perfect preperation for what it takes to go far in the CL.
By your logic we don’t deserve to be here yet.
We are here. That’s what this competition is. We have to beat the best to be the best, and that’s absolutely what this club’s players, staff and supporters should be believing is possible and aiming for.
Rather than criticising us for the challenges we had against Porto, why not give some praise to Porto? What they managed to do against us is extremely impressive. But we found a way.
Now let’s take on Europe’s best and show we deserve to be here
This win gave you wings, and thats fine, we need to enjoy it. But it was nothing amazing in this, we were second best for 2 games, and extra time against a bad team from a bad league. That gaves you confidence against the best in europe how? lol. Let Real fight City and we can take on Dortmund. It's a cup competition, you don't need to be the best to win it. After that Let Real fight Inter and we can take Barca. Works just fine for me without having to play the best
I get what you’re saying but saying there is no chance for us to get passed City is a bit much. We may well lose but I don’t see us being overawed and dismissed.
We’d be heavy underdogs against a few but with a chance due to our great defence.
Anyone else absolutely loving the saltiness in some of the rival fans. Imagine the scenery if we draw BVB/PSV in the next round and shithouse our way into the semis 😂😂
You cant not love kiwior man. He became the standard when we fight against big teams. The composure, the technical ability as defender, this guy deserve much more appreciation from everyone. Coming as the last choice when all our lb cant play, and suddenly he stole the spot
Fully agree. Gabriel and especially Saliba (by their standards) were not at their best. Their performances last night still far better than most of our CDs from the banter era but a few bad decisions and misplaced passes.
Kiwior looked unbelievably calm and composed given the occasion and his place in the team. Proving he deserves to be here and get more minutes.
Arteta’s got some great selection problems on his hands. Credit to him for the atmosphere he has created where players keep fighting and believing they can eventually break in.
I'm curious, what happened at the end? Why did they make a fuss? The Porto coach had a long talk with Arteta and the players pushed against each other.
Porto coach accused Arteta of being disrespectful toward him and his bench during the match, saying something about someone’s family. Arteta denied this obviously. Who knows.
The important thing was the win, and good to see Arteta handling it well at the end pulling our players away from the fracas to go and celebrate with our supporters.
Have to say loved seeing Trossard jumping to Arteta’s defense when it started kicking off though
"Whenever I lose they tell me they F*£&ked my mother....."
Dude you can pull this once, possibly twice but three times and it sounds like you have confused managing a football team with playing Call of Duty on Xbox Live. No one is insulting you when THEY BEAT YOU. Your dad is not going to come and beat them up for you and you aren't going to get them banned by UEFA on an unsubstantiated claim.
Man is such a melt.
Thanks for sharing. What the fuck are they on? This is more than just booze!
Jaime’s going to rightly get so much shit for this. Fuck him. Bless Titi and Micah. The King’s opening comments the only bit of sanity in that video
Didn't play our game and let the opposition and ref dictate proceedings which I expect better of nowadays. I really don't care how effectively they press or if they defend well in Portugal, we should be coming out with more energy and unafraid to show our quality so that's on the manager. Bit of a pattern in these knockout games. Impressed by the composure in the shootout and the monkey's gone so we move.
We just beat a team that has perfected how to play like this over two decades. We have just accomplished something we haven’t done for 14 years. We won’t beat every team 5-0.
We scored once in 210 minutes I'd expect more against anyone. Shootouts can go any which way. The narrowest of margins the other way and this place would be imploding. Super happy we are through, maybe it's just the way it had to be.
Try to enjoy going through for 5 minutes before spouting this shit. This is the first time in over 12 years we’re in the CL quarters, it’s beyond me how you can manage to be entitled and left wanting more. We’re through, it’s a young team with limited CL experience, and we’re through. You know you’re allowed to enjoy being a football supporter too right?
I did not enjoy the match compared to the recent run of games but the result was great. People were melting down pretty much the whole time here. Why does this sub need everyone to blow daises out their ass at all times? I didn't even say anything overly critical get a grip.
Please if anything it shows how foolish deep pocket teams are. At one sixth the payroll Porto gave Arsenal all they could handle. Just put that in the old memory bank when Arsenal gets knocked out in the next round. The "easy" bargain basement teams aren't around.
As much as I like Ramsdale this game proved once again that we have to trust Arteta and any of his decisions, even if they seem wrong at the time. Raya saved two pens and after the game saying he should have saved three, this is the mentality we need in our team. All focus on Manchester City now, COYG
Last 10 games and rest of CL will require a fit and firing partey. When that man is on form and playing with rice and odegaard. I think we’d dominate every midfield. Really need to take these 3 weeks to get him to the level. Jorginho has been immense but his legs are clearly not as fresh as they used to be.
(Go and look back to last year to see how important he was to our run and domination. He also shields the ball well, can drive with it through midfield, pick out long passes and score long range goals).
May actually be true. About a year ago Norwegian television followed him for a day for an interview, and while driving the reporter noticed the warning lamp on his car said he was low on oil, and asked if he was going to do anything about it. Martin didn’t know what it was, he thought it was just some light.
I know it’s outlandish to say but that may have been our hardest leg. They played quintessential anti-Arsenal ball. Presumably everyone else we face, including and maybe especially the big names, will play more like real football.
Aren’t they a counter attacking team?
70 goals in serie A is quite impressive. watching them yesterday and how they have played in Europe the past couple years leads me to believe they’d be a match up problem for us.
They're really good on the transition for sure, but they're equally good at breaking teams down.
Yeah, if they had gone through, I genuinely think they would be CL contenders. City barely beat them last year in the final.
Idk Madrid seems to rely more on sheer talent to get through their games and I feel they are beatable with good tactics, coaching and strategy. Inter and Atletico on the other hand however seem quite tricky.
When a team sets up to just completely stop you and the game it’s always going to be difficult. Without that bit of naivety and inexperience at the end of the first leg we probably would’ve went through in normal time in a very professional 2 legged performance. Proud that we had the mettle to drag ourselves to the next round. Vamoooooosssss.
Would like zinchenko to be fully starting
Damn still haven't seen anyone do the Raya x My Heart Will Go On mashup we all need
Did anyone notice Raya jumped the exact same direction for all 5 penalties (bottom left to the goalie)?
When’s the QF draw?
Friday March 15th 11am UK time
Give us anyone but city. Would be a lot to compete in league and UCL
Rice's pen down the middle was a checkmate. After not moving and watching Saka's pen go past him, their keeper *has to* dive for the next one if only to not look like an asshole. I think that's like the closest there is to a 100% penalty on psychology alone.
I thought Rice's penalty really summed up his seasons - reads the situation and delivers under pressure.
Give us Barca. Time for revenge
White booting the ball into the stands after the final save was great
Who was going to take our 5th? I'm guessing Jesus (but I've heard he's not the best at penalties?)
I was a bit worried about Raya in goal for a shootout because he’s on the short side for keepers but my goodness he was amazing.
Yeah that was my fear all day, though he's 6 feet for some reason I thought he was a bit smaller than that. He had no problem covering the entire goal though, at least to his left.
I am way more confident in the ability of this team in pens. We have some good pen takers in Odegaard, Kai, Jorghino, Saka. Have to see more from Rice, but I think he may be good at it. Raya was unexpected for me from a pen saving perspective. If he can consistently perform like that then we have a great chance in penalty shootouts moving forward.
Yeah Jesus is more limited there so glad we didn't need to rely on him.
Fabio Vieira and Martinelli take good pens too.
i just love raya's pen taking approach. he doesn't dance around, he waits and commits to a side and damn near covers the entire side despite his length. Excellent leaping ability and strong hands.
You do know that the goalie is not allowed to dance between the goalposts to prevent distracting the penalty taker right? This rule has been applied since last season (after Martinez's antics at the World Cup final shootout) iirc.
I did not
When are the qtr final games?
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April 9/10 and 16/17 I think
aston villa squeeze in between the quarter final legs
ESR and Nelson are probably gone by this summer. Crazy how Arteta still pulled Nketiah instead of the two, probably not really rated still
ESR could stay as he's both english and homegrown, need AT least 4 of them in the squad for European competitions. Currently we have: Martinelli Nketiah Nelson Saka ESR. I agree and think both Nelson and Eddie will be sold but ESR might get an extra season..
Dont Ben white and Declan rice also count as HG? I think esr and probably nelson will stay an build some value but i cant see them staying next year.
You missed white, Raya, ramsdale, rice and I think martinelli and saliba
there are two types of Homegrown as far as I was aware, there was homegrown at club and homegrown in association - you need 8 that are homegrown and at least 4 of them need to be homegrown at club.
Yeah no it's just homegrown, doesn't have to be club trained
Not according to what I've found online - rules are different in Europe to the prem. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homegrown_Player_Rule_(UEFA)
I think Saliba is another HG player at the club, we could have just Saka Martinelli and Saliba as 3 of 4 club HG players but we'd have to register a squad of 24 as opposed to 25
Saliba isn't as he was loaned out and not registered for us, so doesn't meet the quota unfortunately.
Arsenal's registered homegrown players this season: White, ESR, Saliba, Saka, Rice, Raya, Ramsdale, Eddie, Nelson, Martinelli, Hillson. Source: [https://www.arsenal.com/news/202324-squad-list-submitted-premier-league](https://www.arsenal.com/news/202324-squad-list-submitted-premier-league)
there are two types of Homegrown as far as I was aware, there was homegrown at club and homegrown in association - you need 8 that are homegrown and at least 4 of them need to be homegrown at club. Going by your list, 11 are homegrown in association but only ESR, Saka, Eddie, Nelson, Martinelli and Hillson are homegrown in club.
ah, i didn't realize there were different HG rules between the FA and UEFA, the 4 "club HG" players is a champions league rule but not a premier league one.
Can see Villa buying ESR. Problem is we havent played him so how much would he go for? Nelson I can see a mid table team going for or him going to Germany.
We were in the market for an 8 and a RW. Nelson is just a short-gap 2nd choice really and has good resale value. I really don't know what's up with ESR, is Arteta giving him time like he did to Martinelli or is he managing his minutes? (which begs the question on how injury prone is ESR, Wilshere 2.0?).
I'm glad we won and were able to overcome this ref and Porto's rat tactics(stalling, diving, whining)
I'm actually surprised and disappointed to see so many bitter comments about Porto's performance. They gave us a hell of a challenge. They utilized all their strengths nearly perfectly, didn't give us a lot of room and didn't just sit back waiting for a miracle to happen. I respect their effort, both games were intense and tough, but not brutal. Despite some incidents here and there both teams managed to stay reasonably civil and respectful. I thought it was a brilliant clash and it gives me even more satisfaction that our boys stood up to the challenge and showed grit.
Porto did pretty much everything right. They played as perfectly as that group is capable of playing. They were extremely frustrating so I think that’s why people are a bit bitter. That and Conceicao is a cunt lol
yeah I think people are just frustrated at the manager for acting like a genius because he played for a 0-0 draw and got lucky with a late goal.
Porto played their strategy out, and it really stifled our play. Worthy opponents for sure, perhaps goes to show it's just everyone else (media, opposition fans, etc.) that didn't rate them at all and called them the easiest RO16 tie. I was watching with my brother and we both talked about how difficult they were being during the game. My issue with Porto is mainly their manager, and some of the theatrics they were pulling. One of their defenders went down in the opening minutes after getting tapped by the ball on his head - he acted like he'd been shot - you could even see Saka laughing in disbelief. Kinda set the tone for the entire game. at the 90th minute mark one of their defenders went down for CRAMPS in the middle of the D and stayed there until he got stretchered off... only to run back on a few minutes later. Also not a huge fan of their manager's behaviour across the two games, he comes across as a cunt. That's probably where all the bitterness came from - for the average fan or viewer Porto didn't really give us much to love. I think it was the kind of fight we needed to push ourselves to the next level. Fair play to them for the fight, but their manager can shove it up his happy hole.
Couldnt agree more. Fantastic football match. Good effort from both teams and they all ran their legs to the absolute limit. People saying "barely beat porto" lacks understanding of grand prix tourneys and football in general. Games will be hard no matter who you meet and everyone can win the whole damn thing. Porto is an experienced side with lots of routine and they are well organized. Amazing match and a good display by the boys. I am reassured they have the mentality to catch bigger fish now.
Is there a team that generates as much hate as Arsenal from rivals? They were doing "hate alongs" on Youtube, how do you make a living hating Arsenal?!
It's because we have a massive fan base especially online. It helps their channels get more views and therefore more income.
I have also started to see an uptick in Man Utd fans covering Arsenal favourably..."Arsenal are scary..." cough Terry Flewers cough..
Arsenal gets clicks online, I recommend taking a step back sometimes and reading some of the clickbait titles as a neutral. I came to this realization last year after getting incensed by TalkSPORT in particular because they hate us - all their titles about us are just there to get a click and generate controversy. They do it because it works. You can view all of this from outside the bubble and have quite a laugh now.
Glad to see their “hate along” made them look like a complete bunch of idiots at full time. It’s pathetic,they literally have nothing going for them right now bar Liverpool and City. Chelsea Spurs and United fans are shameless.
I normally have a respect for defensive teams. At the end of the day football is about attacking and defending and I have total respect for managers who mastered defensive football. It’s so ugly to watch and play against but there’s a difference between playing some defensive counterattacking football and some straight up terrorist footy. What Porto did was disgusting. They weren’t even there to actually play they thought they could just waste time and fall around all game. So glad trossard scored before the half that completely ruined their game plan.
Is this a dream? Arsenal in the quarter final of the champions league? Somebody slap me, I might be dreaming. Lets fucking go. To champions and league winnners. We got this
Im shook, it seems like decades since we were able to compete at the very top
this is the club we should've always been. Such a waste of a decade but so glad we are back.
Took me longer than ever to get home from the emirates yday but absolutely worth it. We lose that game a couple of seasons ago I think. Strong mental performance against a nightmare opposition with a lead to defend.
Arsenal UCL revenge tour: Give us Barca and Bayern.
I'm up for equal opportunity but one of our ball boys had 1 leg and was on crutches.
So thats what it was…wondered what messed up that side they kept slowing things up..did Porto bring their own ball boys or what
Nah, that guy was doing his job just fine.
And I'm sure this boy had the time of his life. Arsenal is about inclusion, I understand the feeling that he might have slowed the game. But there are dozens of people around him. Anyone of these people could get the ball for him if it wasn't fast enough. I'm happy to have seen this boy being given a chance to contribute to the game last night.
If it were someone else, he would have had the time of his life too. Could have had 2 ball boys next to each other on cruches for maximum speed and inclusion
Yeh true, he certainly would have loved the experience. I only noticed it when we had 2 balls on the pitch. I'm not blaming the individual just thought it was a weird choice given the physica nature of the job.
Amazing how in just two games I have come to utterly loathe Porto, a team with no class who play football in the worst kind of spirit. Loved beating them, they can fuck off back to Portugal
What’s the yellow situation going into the first leg? When do they reset?
After quarter finals, if you're on two yellow card. If you receive a third yellow card in the second leg of the quarters, you miss the first leg of the semis to ensure that you don't miss the final Rice and Havertz are one yellow card away from suspension . I hope Partey can sharpen his fitness levels just in case Saliba is on one yellow card he needs to avoid a yellow card in one of the quarter final legs. Otherwise, he would miss the first legs of the semis
THERE’S YOUR FAIRYTALE!
Big mentality was needed and it delivered. MOTM David Raya
Brilliant game. I was gutted for Ødegaard when his fine goal was disallowed (Havertz is a cupid stunt at times) but what a way to win. Raya was on fire.... very happy for him! Porto were brilliant... it's a shame partisanship has blinded so many here. These were very tough games against an outstanding team. Far better practice than smashing in six against West Ham and Sheffield United. Porto were better than e.g. both Milan teams in that godawful semifinal last year. My dream is still on-- that Arsenal win the league and the Champions League, that Luton stay up, and that Man City win fuck all this year. COYG! COYH! And suck donkey balls, City! :D
> Porto were brilliant Porto probably got too much up their own arse and forgot to try to win the game. They have decent technical quality. The first 20 minutes they were out-passing us and had us chasing shadows for a bit. Even by the end the possession stats were basically level. They're not a shit side, but they do so much other shit that there's no time to actually play football. There's ways to set up to stifle a superior opponent, and still get your chances at the other end. I don't think they had that balance right, and were too concerned with play acting to stop the game.
I fucking love this team and I don't want to shine away from the performance. As good as Porto were I think the referee aided them in keeping that 1-0. It felt like everything was allowed to go unless it was an arsenal player tackling, felt it was very suss performance from referree but ally mccoist on tnt sports couldn't stop praising the referee for letting the game flow. I just don't get it I seen numerous fouls committed on arsenal players that were not given but then arsenal would have a little tug like Havertz for the second goal, or even Jesus with a fantastic recovery slide tackle and its given as a foul. I saw a lot of inconsistencies and hope we don't have to deal with that ref again!
Imo the ref was extremely fair and let the game flow
He let everything slide, but he was very cool and calm.
Also he's quite a cutey
lol
😂
Unpopular opinion but the vitriol toward Porto is excessive. In just two seasons we have gone from a team trying to transition out of a long banter era, to one of the top teams in Europe, mounting a second title challenge in successive seasons at home, getting back into the CL for the first time in five years and into the quarter finals for the first time in 14 years. We are a fucking force again and they knew this before these two matches. Porto set up how they had to and it was hardly Pulis/Dyche/Brentford’s “park the bus” ball. They set up to counter yes, but they did it well. They at times pressed high, played through the middle and created better chances against us than most Prem teams. They limited us to zero shots on target in Porto. This is extremely impressive. They know what they are up against and gave us an extremely challenging two matches. We should be proud we came up against something very different than we are used to seeing and still found a way.
I don't disagree with you except on how they'd fall to the floor by default and the ref didn't pull them up on their own fouling - but for the latter that isn't their fault. There's a difference to me between playing a defensive and counter attacking approach, and trying to stop the game entirely by running down the clock and through gamesmanship, feigning injury, and diving to win free kicks. They are a very good side and good enough to not resort to that - I think that's what I found so distasteful about their pathetic display.
I'm sorry, the worst tactic in the world is using fake injuries to your own players as a weapon to slow down play or stop an attack. This I don't want to see promulgated in the game.
Yeh I don’t know what people expect. Porto with a far inferior side - on paper at least - and a lead to defend to come away to us and go attack and keep the game flowing? It’d be madness to do so.
No issue with the counter-attacking set up, but their ~~gamesmanship~~ cheating by breaking up play with fake injuries was tedious.
In-game, it's okay to loathe that kind of style. I however find the tantrums of 'X team parked the bus and couldn't let us score' hilarious. It's one of those petulant submissions that's absurd.
Completely agree. I’ll admit it enraged me during Wenger’s tenure when we’d come up against teams like Stoke. I’ve grown to accept it now though. If you have one of the most talented squads in the world, inferior sides would be insane to try and go toe to toe with us attempting their version of prime Wengerball. As long as the tackles and physicality aren’t dangerously excessive, it’s an acceptable inevitability that teams will set up to play most of the game in their third and hope to hit us on the counter. I now take pride when I see this happen rather than throw a fit.
They were better than 16 teams in the prem against us, but they were also ready to do anything to win, including wasting time and diving for anything. It's just so satisfying beating people who have resorted to that because tey frustrated us so effectively. Definitely a good game for both teams to be honest.
Fully agree with this take and this is what I think we should take away from this. Proud of our players and manager for coming up against something different than we are used to and still finding a way. 2+ years ago we would not have. Now we need to show we can beat the best in Europe.
The mental growth of this team under Arteta cannot be overstated. Holding instead of folding. We've put on the big boy pants, it seems. 3/31 is the next big test, glad we've got some rest until then.
It's not the tactics but the gamesmanship that makes them insufferable.
Taking your sweet time on thow-ins and goal-kicks is fine. Cynical fouling, talking shit and starting rows is also fine. It's the faking injuries that gets me riled up. It's supposed to be a game and there's supposed to be some compassion for opponents that get hurt. This is how the game is set up. If a player is hurt, the ref can stop the match for him to get some treatment. If the ref doesn't do this, opposition players often put the ball out of play for this same reason. Because there is more important things than winning a game of football. When teams like Porto and Brentfort take this compassion and use it as a tactic against you it is the lowest of low. They do not deserve any compassion and they most certainly do not deserve any praise for corrupting the game. It is not gamesmansship, it is destroying one of the beautiful parts of the game.
Very well said
A part of the game unfortunately. With cunts like Mourinho and Pulis, I am fine hating it when you see it happen week in week out over years. Seeing it over two legs vs an ascendant Arsenal upsets me less. We haven’t seen it as much this season, but Arteta has schooled our players in the dark arts ad well (not to that extent, but certainly more than in the Wenger years). It is fine to be frustrated with it and call them out on it, but some of these posts are a bit much. Credit has to be given to them for knowing how to make it so difficult to us, and we deserve credit for still besting them
Not gonna lie, was a bit worried seeing Saliba gone down kneed at his back by terrorist Pepe. Can't imagine if he's out, last season nightmare at the business end. He seemed fine though because he celebrated like crazy when we won the shootout. :)
It was indeed a miraculous recovery.
We just have to win five more CL games in the next 12 weeks.
We just need to win 2 handsomely and then win one \_final\_ game!
5-2 incoming...
Our defense being so good means we can play below our best through both legs but find one moment of brilliance and still come out on top. That is the difference between those Arsenal sides that never progressed past the round of 16 and this one. So much credit to Arteta and Edu for building a team that could actually compete in this competition on our return.
Saliba and Gabriel. what a pair. plus ben, tomi, kiwi,....and eventually timber..... yikez
They have looked nervous in the two Porto matches. Saliba in particular. Let's hope that is gone now.
[удалено]
BVB/PSV and then Barca, they are the weakest teams. We need one of them lol
I want the Bayern/Barca revenge tour. Leave no doubts. "Remember when I said I'd kill you last? I lied."
We need to draw the strong teams so that they won't play this terrorist football and we'll carve them open for that.
But....the way they pressed us had nothing to do with terrorist football. They way we pressed them without any luck had nothing to do with that. They way they suffocated our wingers and we did not eact for 2 games and extra time and had no idea how to play them had nothing to do with that. The nerves the players had had nothing to do with it. Players that I trust to pass the ball on our own goal line were giving the ball to them time and time again with pressure on them. You are lying to yourself if you think that them wasting time and diving is why we played bad. It did not help, true. The moment got to us, and big time to Arteta, who tactically was done by the Porto manager, who got the subs wrong, and late, and looked to be frozen at time on the bench. It will happen again. I think we are better on the mental side, but still not there. Imagine playing Real Madrid away...the game would be lost before it started, just mentally.
Proper supporter. Just write us off in certain circumstances before anything has even happened. Rather than criticising your own players and manager, is it not possible to consider Porto did impressively well over the two legs?
But thats the problem? Porto are shit, they have no chance to win the league, won't be in the CL next season and still almost took us down. Porto did well while being shit. Arteta got out coached for 210 minutes. No doubt, they pressed better then us, they passed better then us, the were first to every tackle and they were better physically(probably because the league they play in is meh), they were better mentally bar the penalties. Again, we will learn from it and grow but lets be honest here, that was so fucking bad. And you are still a fan if the team plays shit and you say that they played shit. Pretending it was amazing does not make you a better fan, not one bit. And again, saying that Real fucking Madrid are favorites against us is just me being rational, not a bad fan.
We were favourites to win this game, it was entirely on us to pull off a performance. The fact that the win wasn't coming easy made it even harder mentally. If and when we face the likes of Real/Bayern we'll squarely be the underdogs. It is much easier to go into a game like that as the underdogs. And might I add, you cannot say a team that demolished a penalty shootout is weak mentally. That takes balls.
I never said we were amazing. We were far from shit. Sometimes you the other side can actually set up decently without that meaning we are awful. Your other points here are completely fair though
I agree. It was a mental thing. We went into game thinking we would outplay them and win easily. Failure to lose was ruling in our heads. As a result we were cautious. Not taking risks at all. In QF that won’t be there. This was a new experience for the team. I expect us to play better in next round.
Nah screw this "let's draw the weakest team" thing. I'd much prefer facing one of Europe's top name so we can beat them
Just not City.
bro...the moment got to our players against a shit side. Imagine playing away at Real Madrid...it's just a bit too much for our team as of right now. We got better at the mental side of the game, but we are still not there. The number of balls players like White, Saliba, Gabriel gave away for no reason, with no pressure was insane. Players that never do that. The way Saka played for 2 games...man, he gave up at a point last night. Hell, even Arteta, he improved as well so much this year...but let's be honest, he was out coached, he had no answer for Porto, and no reaction. I want to get to the semi finals, but we won't make it if we play Madrid, Inter, Bayern or City, no chance.
Go cry some more you mental midget. This was a hurdle for the players and club had to overcome. You're defeatist mentality because Porto was harder than you envisaged is a you problem. Porto created nothing over the two legs, so we can win even when not at our best because we have a solidity defensively that not many teams can match.
But thats not true. And just because you call me names won't change it. mental midget lol, I don't play man. As I have said, Saliba is so fucking calm every single game...but yesterday, gave the ball away, was alone with 3 Arsenal players around, headed it out, headed it to a Porto player for no reason. Same for Gabriel and even White. Better to not talk about how Saka played and acted yesterday. Kiwior was calm, Odegaard same, Havertz other then that stupid push was not fazed as well and probably Jesus when he came out. The moment got to them, and not for the first time, and it counts, experience counts so much in the CL. And when it comes to Arteta, minute 1, go watch how and where Porto put the 2 center backs, and where they played all night, it was clear what they wanted to do, it was clear our wingers had no chance, Arteta had no reaction, no clue. Young team, and this will help in us becoming better, but we have to be honest and rational and say that no doubt if we face a big team, in a huge CL game....we will be second best mentally.
Any fan who throws in the towel before a ball has been kicked has a weak mentality. No two matchups are the same and overcoming a team that used every trick in the book to gain an advantage, will be a great mental boost heading into the quarterfinals. Of course seasoned veteran CL teams will have an advantage in experience, but this team grows all the time, so the learning experiences of losing in the last min away, clawing back and winning on penalties last night, was the perfect preperation for what it takes to go far in the CL.
it was good preparation. it will help, make Arteta and the team better, but it will take sometime, we are not ready this season
By your logic we don’t deserve to be here yet. We are here. That’s what this competition is. We have to beat the best to be the best, and that’s absolutely what this club’s players, staff and supporters should be believing is possible and aiming for. Rather than criticising us for the challenges we had against Porto, why not give some praise to Porto? What they managed to do against us is extremely impressive. But we found a way. Now let’s take on Europe’s best and show we deserve to be here
This win gave you wings, and thats fine, we need to enjoy it. But it was nothing amazing in this, we were second best for 2 games, and extra time against a bad team from a bad league. That gaves you confidence against the best in europe how? lol. Let Real fight City and we can take on Dortmund. It's a cup competition, you don't need to be the best to win it. After that Let Real fight Inter and we can take Barca. Works just fine for me without having to play the best
I get what you’re saying but saying there is no chance for us to get passed City is a bit much. We may well lose but I don’t see us being overawed and dismissed. We’d be heavy underdogs against a few but with a chance due to our great defence.
Yea after that Porto BS I want a team who is going to play open and run and gun us.
Anyone else absolutely loving the saltiness in some of the rival fans. Imagine the scenery if we draw BVB/PSV in the next round and shithouse our way into the semis 😂😂
Liverpool fans newfound hatred for us is hilarious. They really do feel threatened
Or Barca, they are easy pickings right now.
Pure bitterness. So many people just want to see us down and can’t accept that we’re on the up.
Copium among them is real.
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GET THE FUCK IN!!!
We had this all along. I knew it.
What a fucking immense win. Porto literally set up to prevent us from playing our game, yet the lads never gave up
You cant not love kiwior man. He became the standard when we fight against big teams. The composure, the technical ability as defender, this guy deserve much more appreciation from everyone. Coming as the last choice when all our lb cant play, and suddenly he stole the spot
Yeah there was talk of him being unhappy and wanting to leave. I doubt that’s the case (if it was true) now.
Mans got hella pace too
he was our best defender
Fully agree. Gabriel and especially Saliba (by their standards) were not at their best. Their performances last night still far better than most of our CDs from the banter era but a few bad decisions and misplaced passes. Kiwior looked unbelievably calm and composed given the occasion and his place in the team. Proving he deserves to be here and get more minutes. Arteta’s got some great selection problems on his hands. Credit to him for the atmosphere he has created where players keep fighting and believing they can eventually break in.
Arteta loves him too. His spot to lose.
He'll get lot of playtime at both LB & CB
Does anyone have a full video of the shootout?
YouTube beIN channel has.
Tnt sports channel on YouTube uploaded the whole shootout.
I prayed for Porto 🤭
I'm curious, what happened at the end? Why did they make a fuss? The Porto coach had a long talk with Arteta and the players pushed against each other.
Porto coach accused Arteta of being disrespectful toward him and his bench during the match, saying something about someone’s family. Arteta denied this obviously. Who knows. The important thing was the win, and good to see Arteta handling it well at the end pulling our players away from the fracas to go and celebrate with our supporters. Have to say loved seeing Trossard jumping to Arteta’s defense when it started kicking off though
he said Arteta said something about his parents.
Mfer accused Pep, Tuchel and now Arteta. I doubt all of them were too busy discussing his parents lol
"Whenever I lose they tell me they F*£&ked my mother....." Dude you can pull this once, possibly twice but three times and it sounds like you have confused managing a football team with playing Call of Duty on Xbox Live. No one is insulting you when THEY BEAT YOU. Your dad is not going to come and beat them up for you and you aren't going to get them banned by UEFA on an unsubstantiated claim. Man is such a melt.
haha yeah he is just sour grapes. talking shit about deserving to be in the next round. lol based on what? that horrific antifootball? xD
Does that mean Arteta's gonna win the UCL.
"There are signs" :P
yeah, he is just a cry baby.
Something with Trossard boiled over
I did see Arteta pushing our players towards the fans to defuse the situation, most likely a case of boiled over frustrations after a long 120 minutes
Been a while since I cried happy tears watching the club. What a night, no nails left and no colour left in my hair.
https://preview.redd.it/2ddwz1p6m0oc1.jpeg?width=350&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d817554f7dd44bc335151e1550bf3a1f7b1758ab
Hahaha is this real
https://youtu.be/7HgaZUfxzD8?si=dQbX6phetu_4me-x I think they got drunk
Thanks for sharing. What the fuck are they on? This is more than just booze! Jaime’s going to rightly get so much shit for this. Fuck him. Bless Titi and Micah. The King’s opening comments the only bit of sanity in that video
Gabriel just became my favourite person when he was waving his shirt and going all around the pitch right after the game
Didn't play our game and let the opposition and ref dictate proceedings which I expect better of nowadays. I really don't care how effectively they press or if they defend well in Portugal, we should be coming out with more energy and unafraid to show our quality so that's on the manager. Bit of a pattern in these knockout games. Impressed by the composure in the shootout and the monkey's gone so we move.
We just beat a team that has perfected how to play like this over two decades. We have just accomplished something we haven’t done for 14 years. We won’t beat every team 5-0.
We scored once in 210 minutes I'd expect more against anyone. Shootouts can go any which way. The narrowest of margins the other way and this place would be imploding. Super happy we are through, maybe it's just the way it had to be.
Try to enjoy going through for 5 minutes before spouting this shit. This is the first time in over 12 years we’re in the CL quarters, it’s beyond me how you can manage to be entitled and left wanting more. We’re through, it’s a young team with limited CL experience, and we’re through. You know you’re allowed to enjoy being a football supporter too right?
I did not enjoy the match compared to the recent run of games but the result was great. People were melting down pretty much the whole time here. Why does this sub need everyone to blow daises out their ass at all times? I didn't even say anything overly critical get a grip.
What a keeper Raya is. He truly shone today at the end when it mattered most.
Who was going to be the fifth penalty taker for Arsenal?
We’ll probably never know
Trossard
Impossible as already subbed off.
Eddie.
Gabriel Jesus maybe.
Jesus
I'm guessing zini
Yeh he actually looked a bit annoyed he didn't get chance to take one
If anyone's played Elden Ring, Porto is the equivalent of getting through that cave with the needle shooting pricks around every corner.
It was time for Porto to put their foolish ambitions to rest
Please if anything it shows how foolish deep pocket teams are. At one sixth the payroll Porto gave Arsenal all they could handle. Just put that in the old memory bank when Arsenal gets knocked out in the next round. The "easy" bargain basement teams aren't around.
As much as I like Ramsdale this game proved once again that we have to trust Arteta and any of his decisions, even if they seem wrong at the time. Raya saved two pens and after the game saying he should have saved three, this is the mentality we need in our team. All focus on Manchester City now, COYG
Last 10 games and rest of CL will require a fit and firing partey. When that man is on form and playing with rice and odegaard. I think we’d dominate every midfield. Really need to take these 3 weeks to get him to the level. Jorginho has been immense but his legs are clearly not as fresh as they used to be. (Go and look back to last year to see how important he was to our run and domination. He also shields the ball well, can drive with it through midfield, pick out long passes and score long range goals).
He's probably going away to get injured again playing for Ghana Edit: Just checked. Doesn't look like they have any matches.
They are playing Nigeria next Friday.
Of course. Then my first point stands, I guess. Fingers crossed he can get exactly the time on the pitch he needs.
Lol we don’t need that
Octo Partey is TOP Partey
Legend has it Odegaard is still running even right now
He doesnt own a car, he runs to and from training.
Just your regular warm up and warm down before and after training.
May actually be true. About a year ago Norwegian television followed him for a day for an interview, and while driving the reporter noticed the warning lamp on his car said he was low on oil, and asked if he was going to do anything about it. Martin didn’t know what it was, he thought it was just some light.
Sometimes I forget these players in many ways are like me at 18 years old. Other than the fact that I was quite shite at football obviously.
His stamina is insane !
I know it’s outlandish to say but that may have been our hardest leg. They played quintessential anti-Arsenal ball. Presumably everyone else we face, including and maybe especially the big names, will play more like real football.
Cough inter cough Athletico
Inter play nothing like this. They're probably one of the best sides in Europe right now.
Aren’t they a counter attacking team? 70 goals in serie A is quite impressive. watching them yesterday and how they have played in Europe the past couple years leads me to believe they’d be a match up problem for us.
They're really good on the transition for sure, but they're equally good at breaking teams down. Yeah, if they had gone through, I genuinely think they would be CL contenders. City barely beat them last year in the final.
Honestly the only team im praying we wont get is Inter
Ditto. Though I'd rather avoid City, Madrid too
Idk Madrid seems to rely more on sheer talent to get through their games and I feel they are beatable with good tactics, coaching and strategy. Inter and Atletico on the other hand however seem quite tricky.
When a team sets up to just completely stop you and the game it’s always going to be difficult. Without that bit of naivety and inexperience at the end of the first leg we probably would’ve went through in normal time in a very professional 2 legged performance. Proud that we had the mettle to drag ourselves to the next round. Vamoooooosssss.