Arsenal vs Crystal Palace 23.04.2025 - KO 20:00 GMT

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Originally Posted by Letters

I said "dead league campaign". Why did you change it to season? The season isn't dead because there aren't 4 games left, there are 6 - hopefully 7.
Three of those games could win us a trophy, the biggest one in club football, 4 can't. Which do you prioritise?
Now obviously you're going to say "all of them". But it's just human nature to have one eye on a CL semi-final when Top 5 is all but assured and the title is all but impossible.
If the title was still a possibility then sure, I'd agree that it's completely unacceptable to take your foot off the gas in the league because you are still in the CL.
As it is, I get it. They're not going to be straining every sinew and flying in to every challenge a week before a CL semi-final and risk getting an injury which will mean they'll miss it.
HCZ has given you multiple examples where this has happened previously and teams have gone on to win the trophy.
I've already pointed out we drew both league games before the Real ones. They stood up in the big games when it mattered. That's what winners do.
Will they finish the job? Head says no, but we can dream - the Real results make me think there's something about this lot which makes it a not impossible dream.


Because they haven't won it yet. And I have heard they haven't actually been playing that well and have lucked out a few times in games where they could have dropped points.
You may remember last time Liverpool won it they won 26 out of 27 games. They weren't mathematically champions at that point but it was basically impossible for them not to win it. Why didn't they smash the PL points total record? Because they took their foot off the gas, they lost 3 and drew 2 of the last 11 games.



You seem to think these guys are robots. They're not, they're humans. They're absolutely not losers - they've got to the very top of their profession.
If they finish the job in the CL no-one is going to remember a couple of admittedly annoying dropped points vs Palace.
If they don't finish the job then...well, we probably still won't remember it really. We will just remember this as a disappointing season where we drew too many games and didn't have enough up front to kill off games. That was the feeling before last night, I don't think it adds much to it.

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Dear Lord. Maybe you should pitch up and give them a foot massage? They have you under their thumb, that's for sure.

Pay me 100K every week and I'll show you what you get for your money - if it's even possible to justify such a ridiculous charge. I'd feel like an utter cunt if I didn't deliver every single time - WOUNDN'T YOU?

Take the day off? And bank the 100K? No mate. No way. Unjustifiable - no excuse. And if human nature is what you are falling back on then these are certainly flawed humans. Piss takers. Won't be having that at all. You go with your basement standards and be happy - not my business to tell you what's waht. From my point of view - disgraceful - unacceptable - hateful - embarrassing! Can't stand losers, they make my skin crawl.

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

As for my claim that we find it difficult to play defensive opposition, that’s not a claim that’s a fact.

A fact I think anyone who isn’t stubbornly trying to push a counter narrative would acknowledge

We struggle to open up most premier league teams and especially so since we’ve been playing without a striker

Since the Man City game we’ve averaged a goal a game, the Ipswich game against ten men was an outlier

Thus why I said it was silly to expect we could put five goals past them.

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Well okay. But I gave you the stats. Unless we've only started facing massed defensive ranks in the period you cover - we are still right up there with the best in the league. Hard to explain, isn't it? Hard to excuse. You and I both know damn well we have the players to break down ANY defence. But what you and I disagree on is the way we go about it. You forgive the stupid tactics, I don't. It's EASY enough to break down bus parkers - been done for decades. Successfully. 9 out of 10 you get the result if you apply the right pressure. Take that pressure off, go all Pep, and sure - you are FUCKED.

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

I don’t know what you offer, in terms of is it a product or is it a service. I’m not saying you’d ever produce substandard work but I can guarantee that there might be a variation of quality or it’s taken you longer than usual to complete because of external factors or the difficulty issue which we’ve both addressed.

But it’s all relative, unless something is mass assembled….with the best will in the world sometimes a piece of work will not be quite as good as another piece of work. Its all fine margins, I mean if a pilot or a surgeon has an off day people can die…and yet it happens.

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Blow jobs mostly - but hand jobs for the shy.

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Originally Posted by 21_GOONER_SALUTE

I can't believe I bothered to read this trash.

I got back to my senses and had to stop once he started making excuses for Odegaard....imagine saying he's suffering for being the only creative outlet in the team this season, like this is any different from the past 2 seasons where I must have missed Zidane and Pirlo offering him support!

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Odegard's been a disaster for months now but nobody will come out and say it. He's the worst captain we ever had. Everything a captain shouldn't be. The way he gave that ball to Saka for the pen - fucking disgraceful. Rice is the captain, on the pitch - maybe not off it. Arteta has a hard decision coming up but he better make it. And if Odegard doesn't want to pick up his game then he's surplus. Don't know why we are signing Zubi either - why do we need him? We need an extra 8, not a 6. Extend Partey's contract - he's won that privilege. And let the poor bastard play in EVERY game. Arteta needs to sort his shit out. He's being applauded as a genius right now. A genius that lost a title by double figures but MIGHT get lucky in a big comp that could trump that disaster. Not saying he hasn't had his good moments, but the Odegard captaincy isn't something he should be clinging to. Or Gabriel - he'd be a good captain. Or Miles - Adams did it. Anyone with the desire which Odegard has lost.

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Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn

I'd feel like an utter cunt if I didn't deliver every single time - WOUNDN'T YOU?

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I'd feel a bigger one if I went into a crunching tackle a week before a Champions League semi-final, injured myself and then missed it.

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From my point of view - disgraceful - unacceptable - hateful - embarrassing! Can't stand losers, they make my skin crawl.

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It's interesting then that you are ignoring the fact - and it is a fact - that the "real men" who played back in the day, the ones you eulogise, the ones you regard as winners, did the exact same thing before big cup games.

Again, if we still had a shot at the title then I'd be agreeing with you. But we don't, so I don't.

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Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn

The way he gave that ball to Saka for the pen - fucking disgraceful.

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You've no idea have you?

Odegaard ALWAYS takes the ball then gives it to Saka when the pel is ready to be taken - why? because that way he takes any heat from opposition players wanting to put off the taker, while Saka can quietly think about the pel - a very captain-like act don't you think?

Odegaard also makes sure newer/younger players are looked after and quietly goes about his business but does have words with other players when he needs to - just because he doesn't go around with his chest puffed out and bellowing at people, a la Rice, doesn't mean he isn't a good captain - in fact it's the oppostie it shows he keeps his head, which surely is what a captain should do...?

He's off form atm and does annoy me with some of the things he does/doesn't do with the ball, but this stuff about the captaincy is just BS from moronic cavemen

I find Odegaard lacks confidence and because of that rarely takes responsibility in attempting to get the team playing and moving up the pitch with any vigour. He’s still a good presser but I think he is capable of doing a lot more in the final third than he actually does. He’s in a funk so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt because he has shown what he can do in previous seasons, but his tendency to overplay is frustrating and definitely doesn’t help our already weak front line. Captain or not you want your most talented players to be able to play off the cuff when needs be but I don’t think Odegaard does that.

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Originally Posted by Marc Overmars

I find Odegaard lacks confidence and because of that rarely takes responsibility in attempting to get the team playing and moving up the pitch with any vigour. He’s still a good presser but I think he is capable of doing a lot more in the final third than he actually does. He’s in a funk so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt because he has shown what he can do in previous seasons, but his tendency to overplay is frustrating and definitely doesn’t help our already weak front line. Captain or not you want your most talented players to be able to play off the cuff when needs be but I don’t think Odegaard does that.

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100% agree with this

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Originally Posted by Marc Overmars

I find Odegaard lacks confidence and because of that rarely takes responsibility in attempting to get the team playing and moving up the pitch with any vigour. He’s still a good presser but I think he is capable of doing a lot more in the final third than he actually does. He’s in a funk so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt because he has shown what he can do in previous seasons, but his tendency to overplay is frustrating and definitely doesn’t help our already weak front line. Captain or not you want your most talented players to be able to play off the cuff when needs be but I don’t think Odegaard does that.

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Sure, as I said I agree he's off form and he's really annoyed me at times by trying to be too clever - vis a vis stupid short corners, backwards FKs etc

I doubt we'll see an improvement this season but maybe he can chill over the summer and get back to the basics - he ought to be coached to do that too

But as you say that's entirely unrelated to the captaincy, unless he really does lose serious form over a protracted period of time - even then I think to take it away from him we'd need to realise it risked losing him altogether as it wouldn't go down well...

As much as I’d prefer Rice as captain, I tend to agree in that I think if you just strip someone of the captaincy like that,it is going to create resentment that won’t go.

As for signing someone else, I think we probably need cover in that area if nothing else as we clearly were lacking when he was injured