Ange Postecoglou could have done with a Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in that ‘horrible’ and ‘lost’ Spurs midfield against Livepool. Or a Chelsea outcast.
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So lonely
Morning all, here goes
A quick one on Carragher. You’re mostly right but get your facts right. Spurs scored one, not two late goals against Ajax. And since then, have won a couple of times at the Etihad and trounced Villa 4 – 0 away twice. I’ve seen us win in the San Siro. We very occasionally show up. The guy makes stuff up to suit his sensationalist narrative.
Speaking of sensationalist, asking someone if they’re lonely when you don’t give a s**t what the answer might be, is a bit off key. Spurs were atrocious yesterday, but Sky resemble vultures picking over the carcass.
It does look like a lonely old place though doesn’t it. A bunch of players who simply can’t or won’t bend to your will. I tell you who might have been a friend, but Ange didn’t seem to want him. Hojberg. It’s crazy to think he’s actually still a Spurs player. Not sure if his loan could have been cut short. That aside, Ange treated him pretty badly last year. Constantly being bought off the bench to clear up the mess of a midfield he’d created.
He just doesn’t seem to grasp that every premier league team that has any kind of success sets up with a reliable ball winner. Rodri, Rice, Gravenbach, Soucek, McGinn. Is Bissouma meant to be that? He wanted Gallagher but when they didn’t get him seemed to lose interest in finding someone like him. Or keeping Hojberg. The midfield three last night were horrible. Just horrible. They looked lost. Liverpool were awesome. That we overlooked Slot a couple of years back is the stuff of a Laughing Spanish Guy YouTube video.
So, the Danish viking could have been a friend. But he was cast aside for a style of play that’s been cast aside because it’s going to get Ange sacked.
Call time on it Levy. It’s gotten very dark.
Andrew
MORE ON SPURS’ STRUGGLES FROM F365
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👉 Postecoglou one game from the sack as Liverpool overwhelm Spurs’ clumsy and gutless low block
Encouragement for Ange
Some good news for Spurs: I’m not expecting Villa to put up any sort of resistance this weekend. The only clubs we’ve beaten in domestic cups since Emery has been in charge are Wycombe, Middlesbrough (just) and West Ham. We even got walloped by Stevenage 2 years ago.
Also Disasi is cup tied (I think) so we could be calling on James Chester and Derek Mountfield to make up the numbers. On the face of it, this is good news for the neutral: 2 teams who can’t and won’t defend even when they have some defenders available, going against each other without a back 4 between them; mirroring preferences for a high line that will see the game played on a subbutteo sized patch of grass; and enough #narrative everywhere to stop the TV coverage saying Magic Of The Cup!! every 5 minutes. And it’s not on ITV, so no Lee Dixon.
So 0-0 then. Let’s skip pens and decide it by a Big Train style Emi vs Maddison shithouse stare off.
Neil Raines
I don’t like cricket
Glen, Stratford Spur wrote in this morning to say he expected a cricket score.
Given the result in both the football and the cricket yesterday, I can only assume he meant when India are batting.
Rob, Salisbury
Liverpool transfers
Low level chat about Liverpool’s lack of January transfers, off the back of basically no business in the summer. However, while transfer spending often grabs headlines, it is a club’s total wage bill that serves as the most reliable indicator of long-term success in the Premier League. The ability to retain high-quality players over several seasons, rather than just making expensive signings, is what truly sustains competitiveness. We have all rocked up at a five-a-side league and clocked that our opponents are a bunch of 50 year olds in knee braces and thought we are in for an easy night only to find that they know each other so well that they just pinged the ball around all night.
A high wage bill reflects investment in established talent, ensuring continuity, squad cohesion, and a core of experienced players who understand the club’s system and philosophy. By contrast, clubs that rely heavily on transfer expenditure without a strong wage structure often struggle with instability, as players may see their time at the club as a stepping stone rather than a long-term commitment. This is why Liverpool were able to change managers, and the entire backroom staff, in the summer without needing a major overhaul.
Liverpool are the perfect example of this. While the club has made significant signings, and people always reference Virgil van Dijk and Alisson despite them being at the club for seven years now, it has generally been more measured in transfer spending than the likes of Chelsea or United. Instead, Liverpool’s financial model has focused on rewarding key players with competitive wages. In the squad currently Alisson has 280 appearances, Gomez 250, Van Dijk 300, Robertson 330, Alexander-Arnold 350, Jones 160, Salah 380, Jota 170. Even Nunez, Diaz and Elliott are at over 125 appearances. This approach means Liverpool maintain a world-class core, while being able to bring the likes of Bradley into a stable environment. The club’s wage bill reflects this commitment to retaining top talent rather than frequently overhauling the squad.
However, to be fair, I have just looked up Liverpool’s wage bill and it is 5th in the Premier League, so maybe not spending on transfers and not spending on wages is the key!
Micki
Cut from the same cloth
There’ve been some great players who’ve left Liverpool , Keegan , Owen, Alonso come to mind and the lad in the middle now is TAA .
Clearly it is impossible to know what deep and personal feelings each professional footballer might have . When you are on the top plateau , the world is your oyster :
I’ve written in previously about Trent fitting in nicely with the galacticos – attack first – outscore the opponent ethos . Be a superstar kitted out in all white with gold trim. Then there is the dominance in Spain . Perhaps even hangin’ out with a good mate Don Belli’ham is right up there .
Nevertheless , imagine for a moment that Liverpool go on to do similar to what they achieved after Keegan went to SV Hamburg . Young Conor Bradley becoming the best in your position in Europe .
To be fair, Madrid have built a squad that ought to dominate for a good decade so I could argue that either going OR staying is utopian . Decisions , decisions .
I wonder what Shaun Wright Philips might whisper into Alexander Arnold’s shell like .
Peter ( off to Madrid for the derby and some galleries) Andalucia.
Couldn’t script it
Yeah Anthony, seen this script a thousand times before, like last season when LiVARpool had a goal ruled out that the officials knew should’ve stood and had 2 players sent off in very dodgy cicumstances (VAR did a freeze frame of the point of impact for Jones’s foot that slipped over the ball when the ref came to the monitor, which has never been done before or since and Jota’s first booking didn’t make contact with the player). Still took a 96th minute own goal to win the match and spark a lap of honour.
As for the Salah comment, glorious bitterness. Truly Spurs are the Everton of London.
James Outram, Wirral (Glen’s a decent mailboxer tbf)
A lesson in humility
So we go to Wembley to face a hungry Newcastle side, should be a cracker of a game.But as I watched ESPN FC and Steve Nicol was asked how different does this Quadruple possibility feel, it’s when it all came back.
Last season, our beloved German Genius whose team was also supposed to have a quadruple charge was hit with injuries, and returning players who weren’t a hundred percent on fitness.
We still did manage to win the Carabao Cup with academy graduates and a VVD winner (Makes me genuinely wonder if Klopp > Guardiola as the latter has spiralled into a nose dive because of one albeit absolutely influential player)
So coming back to the lesson in humility; it subconsciously reflects from the club to the fans;
From Van Dijk being absolutely locked in despite the team celebrating Gakpo’s opener (What a player the guy is becoming) to the fan base screaming that nothing’s won yet.
It’s because we’ve been here in the past; and with the cruel lessons of the past, we are still cautiously optimistic about hopes for this season.
Summing up, special call out to the Arsenal fan base; Y’all have successfully become so unlikeable that ManU fans (Hey Aman) are rooting for us to beat you to the title; doesn’t help the fact that Rice goes on to make statements like “We’ll hunt them down and win the title”; after beating a City side in decline only to get Knocked out by a superb Newcastle team in a semi-final.
This arrogance was only showcased by the ManU players and fans in their prime era, but even they were serial winners, where’s the entitlement coming from?
Once upon a time, the Arsenal fan base was a likeable one, what happened to you guys?
M.Nair
Howay
In my travels, I was able to listen to the League Cup semi-final, but never found a Wi-Fi situation that allowed better than a disgusting 260i resolution. So I watched it tonight.
I’m not the first to observe that Eddie Howe’s game plan for the League Cup second leg was brilliant. His calibration of the squad’s press was remarkable; everybody was on the same page, and Gordon’s goal was the reward. Conceding the ball, Newcastle relied on hopeful forward balls and a bit of brilliance from Gordon or Isak to gain possession as a forward-moving unit, it seldom came off, because Arsenal did a really good job of constricting passing lanes and seizing opportunities to double-team. Except when they didn’t.
It’s unusual to see that kind of strategy from Eddie at St. James Park, but the crowd supported it for as long as they possibly could. By the end, it looked and sounded like the most vocal Geordies were just shouted out.
It could have been worse for Arsenal, given Isak’s disallowed goal, not to mention clear chances that he and Gordon missed. Or maybe Arsenal could have drawn the match (not the tie), given the quality of some of the chances they created.
I thought the difference was that, across the squad and especially in the first half, the Magpies left a bit in their challenges — nothing very dirty, but often putting body on body when it wasn’t strictly required. Newcastle did to Arsenal what Arsenal often do to other clubs: bully them. One wonders whether Eddie requested that particular “Get Into Them” display from Wor Flags. A Gooner friend says we’ve replaced City as Arsenal’s bogey club, and for the moment at least, he’s right. (Now let’s be that for Chelsea and Man United!)
Kieran Trippier put in a remarkable performance, barely putting a foot wrong while winding Arsenal up mercilessly. He walked the fine line of a card with precision. He never stopped shouting and organizing that compact 5-4-1 in defense. Arsenal’s attacks repeatedly evoked the same responses from NUFC’s defense to the extent that it sometimes felt like watching a replay, with that tight nine maintaining its two banks until a chance came to clear. I’d honestly thought he was done, but he remains a leader, and probably just enhanced his transfer value.
Dan Burn certainly got away with one. In fact, he gets away with a lot — he has a remarkable gift for it. I credit the fact that he never b*tches at referees when defending himself and that his fouls could seldom be called dirty. But Arsenal players got away with quite a bit too, especially Declan Rice, who was increasingly unpleasant as the match wore on. It was remarkable that he wasn’t booked, especially when the fouls were getting worse and the referee was trying to assert control.
The commentary on the Paramount+ feed was occasionally observant, but seemed to miss that Fabian Schär was straight man-marking Rice when Newcastle were out of possession (i.e., ~69 minutes) and frustrating him all night. When he nicked the ball off Rice for Gordon’s goal, Rice got increasing indulgence from the referee. A nice bit of versatility from an aging hero.
And the broadcast team never cottoned to Tonali’s close attention to Martin Ødegaard at all. Tonali appeared to operate with more freedom than Schär, but was only a bit less effective in limiting Ødegaard, who will have left the pitch sore and angry.
I’d also like to give a nod to Matt Stead’s piece about managerial bookings, which pointed out that Eddie (among others) had zero cards in an atmosphere with lots of cards. It’s something I really like about the guy. But I was honestly surprised that after nearly matching the record last season, Mikel Arteta has reigned himself in a bit. Probably a failure of observation on my part, as I often watch Arsenal if they’re not in the same slot as Newcastle.
Chris C, Toon Army DC (Don’t see us beating Liverpool right now, though. They’re excellent, they got the ju-ju over us, and I can’t bring myself to pray for Mo Salah to get injured.).)
Seamus, definer of rivalries
Seamus clearly knows as much about playground bullying as he does about football. Did he call Newcastle a “right bruiser” when they lost to Fulham the other week or losing 4-1 to Bournemouth at home? I doubt it.
I didn’t say clubs are trying to manufacture rivalries with us, I said we had a rivalry with City right now and I think that’s fair. But it’s not because “we need to validate ourselves”. What does that even mean? Are you only a legitimate football club if you have had a rivalry since the 1960s? We are rivals because we were competing for titles. Why does a rivalry only exist if it’s been around for decades? Who polices when something can become a rivalry? Why can’t a rivalry be short lived?
There’s lots of different ways to define rivalries. For the last 2 seasons we have been Cities closest rivals, yes that is the word every fan and media outfit uses, to the title. If you want to look at wider aspects, they have taken players we didn’t want to leave, we took their assistant manager. Before Arteta we had lost 14 of the previous 15 games conceding 36 and scoring only 6. The club has been very critical of Citys finances and their approach in managing a club. All reasonable bullet points to add a rivalry I would say.
City had a rivalry with Liverpool as their closest title challengers for a few seasons in a row. They never had one before this and who knows if they will have one again but ask City or Liverpool fans if they felt like rivals during the Klopp/Pep era, you know what they will say. Is this rivalry invalidated because they didn’t hate each other in 1995? What a load of bollocks. City have a rivalry with United that goes back decades so not sure what you mean by they failed to make rivalries with other top clubs. Genuinely bizarre comments.
I don’t think we have a rivalry with Newcastle at all. They are a bit of a bogey team, they rough us up a bit but it’s not a rivalry. And I doubt any Newcastle fans would call it one. So I’m not exactly sure what Seamus is trying to get at here? He’s the only one trying to say we are creating a rivalry here in his strange little school bubble.
The potty training insult is just genuinely weird mate…
Rob A (at least Stewies mails are mildly entertaining…) AFC
Why Arsenal are the hate and banter club du jour
The lead in to yesterdays mailbox – fans want to know why everybody hates Arsenal or is it just laughter?
Want to know if a team is hated / ridiculed more than others? Put them to the Fulham test. Fulham, being the wacky team that can get any kind or result against any kind of team, are a great barometer for gauging fans attitudes towards different clubs.
This season Fulham have taken points off of Liverpool, Arsenal, Forest, Bournemouth, Newcastle. Media and fan reaction to these results show that yes, Arsenal are hated and ridiculed more than other teams.
Why? You’ll be glad to know that I have a theory. Generally in football, the better a team is, the more disliked they are by fans of other teams and the more they get the piss ripped out of them at any opportunity. The tried and true method of avoiding the aforementioned piss-ripping is to, you know, actually go and win something whereupon the attitude of opposing fans distils into straightforward hatred a la the Anyone But United Fergie era.
