I have a few things to say: Arsenal OUT of the Fa Cup! | Match Reaction

I have a couple of things to say man. Now obviously when you have a disappointing week that Arsenal had last week when you lose to both Manchester United and Newcastle in the only realistic competitions you can potentially win, fair enough if you believe Arsenal are going to be serious in the Premier League champs, that's neither here nor there. Yes, a disappointing week. Obviously I've gone to sleep, watched the game again, I've gone to sleep and you're at that as a football fan acceptance stage. Once again, Arsenal Football Club and any football club for that matter, like in sport, has no divine right to win anything. No divine right. And you have to be gracious in victory and defeat people and you have to give credit to United. Over 60 minutes with 10 men, obviously new managers coming in. Simply put, it's a cup game. They're through to the next round. They've had a great point against Liverpool. They've had a great penalty shootout and their second choice keeper, you know, to the point where I want to see Onana Ringo or whatever we play at Man Utd. But yeah, they deserve the applause. And what people are going to forget is obviously their keeper made a penalty save in normal time as well. So, bare heroics, man. Even Joshua Zurski who's had a tough time at Man Utd gets a little bit of a good spell, people. It is what it is. And that was a performance from Man Utd, regardless of how the FA Cup goes and whether you like the game or not, of how you should defend the title. Now, let's be the vast majority of the game was dead. It was really on brand with the Premier League game where Arsenal versus Man Utd, for those that are, you know, over age, it was definitely a bigger game and there was more quality. And it says, it speaks volumes of where both teams are kind of at this present day. So, yeah, United, big up themselves. We don't want to lose to them. End of the day, we did. They're through to the next round and, you know, Amarin's doing his thing and they're players. Now, for me, I'm not even angry at the penalty shootout. I'm not even angry that Odegaard missed the penalty. Of course, I'm disappointed to not win on penalties. And of course, I would have preferred Martin Odegaard to, you know, have scored in normal time. There's all ifs and buts and maybes, but the only penalties that are not missed are those that are not taken in it. And, you know, anyone that's got the bollocks to step up and take a penalty in the professional game in normal time or a penalty shootout, fair enough. My issues is everything else around that. The penalties, it's a gamble. It's 50-50. This week's been terrible. The performance we put in against Newcastle United was not good enough. This was a slightly better performance against Man United, but you've gone out of two cups, you know, and again, before I carry on, you know, rotten luck for Gabriel Jesus. We wish you a speedy recovery. Of course, I want to win the North London derby off-topic, but really and truly, who gives a flying monkeys? Beyond the obvious of wanting to win a game and it being the rivals and it's terrible night can get a lot worse. Who really gives a monkeys now? It's January and it is for me, you know, you could do the optimism and all of that, but the season's done. You need a miracle to win the Premier League. You need a double miracle to win the Champions League. The League Cup, you need a triple miracle to overcome that two-goal deficit at St. James' Park. And there's no do-overs unless anyone here has a time-travelling machine. We can't go back in that United game unless you could go back to when the owners actually bought this football club and then we might change the trajectory of it. But on a serious note, who cares really and truly? It's bleak. You've got an interim sporting director and there's no noise around a permanent appointment. Your manager's coming out and basically being very evasive on the transfer front. Of course, managers are going to do that, but it doesn't fill you with optimism, where even when everyone's fit, we've got a depleted squad. Every game we play, somebody is getting injured. Califuri missed out with a knock. Odegaard, it looked like he might have to come off. Timbo apparently came off. Gabriel Jesus is probably another long-term absentee, and we all know the long list of injuries. I could cry about the summer. I could beg these lot to act in January. For me, a lot of these issues are not circumstantial. They're self-inflicted. A lot of these issues we find ourselves crying about, they've been there. We're not creating that many chances. And when we do create chances, we're not putting the ball in the back of the net because these men are not clinical. They don't want it enough. I'm not going to sit here and say the players don't care and all of these things because it's you lot that think I woke up crap today because we're out and the outlook of our season is incredibly bleak. I wonder how the players. But at the end of the day, you lot are the ones playing and you're putting in performances which the fans don't deserve. Nobody connected to this football club deserves. It's too easy. There's too many ifs and buts. And then you've got the manager consistently coming out and saying we deserve to win. We deserve more. It's becoming a regular theme of Arsenal winning games and we're saying we deserve more. No, we didn't. We don't create enough chances and we do not put the ball in the back of the net because we do not have clinical players. You deserve to have what's up front. I think Kyle, on the face of it, has done a lot better in his Arsenal career than we thought. But fundamentally, the man is not a striker. The man is not a midfielder for Arsenal Football Club, regardless of who plays there. And the man's not a striker. So when he's missing a barrage of chances, which let's have it right, is comical and everybody else, it's got to the point you just check out. It's absolute nonsense. We don't control the controllables, missing chances, switching off defensively, unable to beat a side that their manager has just walked in. It's over an hour with 10 men. What is going on? What's going on? It's boring now at this point. And there's not much more you can really sit here and say really and truly. You've got the manager coming out and saying we're going to get what we deserve soon. There's no deserving. The season's written off. There's nothing you can do, man. And this is why I don't believe in life to back points blindly. People say this is one of the low points in Mikel Arteta's reign, and it probably is one of the darkest periods in Arteta's reign. But has that got anything on when we went out to Villarreal when he's playing Smith-Rowe as a false nine in the semifinals? And since we've won this very competition we're talking about in the FA Cup since 2020, let's be honest, every year. So from winning in 2020 to 21, 22, 23, and obviously 24, 25, it's been crap accounts of ourselves. It's been absolutely shocking. It's been absolutely shocking, man. It's absolutely shocking. And then the manager's coming out and saying, incredible how we don't win that game. The dominance is superior in relation to the opposition. We didn't get what we deserve. Manager, you've played Premier League football. You've done things that I as an armchair YouTuber cannot say. But I don't think you get it. You don't deserve nothing if you don't get it over the line. This is cup competition. This week was cup competition. It's just about winning games. Nobody cares about statistics. No one cares how many shots you had on target. You should. You've been here longer than Amirin. You've spent more money than Amirin. Your team is more in your image than Amirin's. You should be dominating. We're at home. Stupidness. Absolute stupidness. Credit to Yanaya. Dzerzhinsky dancing, Masawari doing all of that. My man Bayim there, last time he was in North London, conceded directly from a corner. Not yesterday. He's man of the match. He's got little folklore. Whether Man United win a league or not, or sorry, a trophy or not, that game there is something he's going to tell his grandkids. And from a neutral point of view, big him up for that. Big him up for that because he rizz up too. But us? Shambles. And I'm even putting it nicely. Shambles on and off the field. Shambles. There's only really two, three players you can believe in. Arteta, you've invented this mess. The players need to pull their fingers out and everybody has to hulk on. But this is your side. I'll be real. Even if you play today or not, if you're not Lewis Skelly, if you're not Spokaeo Saka, if you're not Ethan Namweri, to a degree, if you're not Saliba, Gabriel and Timba, and I might be missing one or two, nobody cares. I'd say Declan Rice, you look better. Nobody cares. And I'm talking about at this football club. You're the only ones I've got anything close to faith in. The rest of you are on some pretentious thing. It's not good enough to want it sometimes. You keep losing in similar fashions. Now granted, we're not going to lose via penalties too often, but you're cheating yourselves. It's the same thing week in, week out. This was your season on the line this week. This is a most important period. And the one thing I'll say, whether I rate the players or not, where I feel sorry for certain players, it's because of the squad. The club has not put its best foot forward. The funds that Arteta's had available, he's messed it up. Simple as that. He's messed it up. He's messed it up. The owners, they don't want to be winners. They put people in You get a budget. If you succeed, you succeed. The players, some of you want it sometimes. Very few of you want it all the time. Some of you want it sometimes. Some of you, I don't even think you lot don't care. Some of you just ain't got the fight in you. Some of you are just not built for this. I'm sure you're all nice lads. If you had a daughter, wouldn't mind her being married with some of these fellas, treat her right and that, but you're not nasty enough on a football pitch. You're not nasty and demanding with your teammates enough. And to me as a naive fan, you don't want it enough. You don't go up the gears enough. You don't die to win. This is why you'll always face yourself in this climate. The club is guilty of looking at last season and think, bloody hell, we got away with injuries. Of course, they couldn't predict it to this scale, but we have not equipped ourselves. When things are going left, there's no options. When Bakaio Saka's fit, let alone when he's not dead, there's no options. And you look around the squad, the man are not young anymore. They're not young. And I'm not digging out any sort of player, but Thomas Partey, Jorginho, Trosser, Gabriel Magalhães. Man are 26, 27. Man are meant to be in their primes, and this is what you're doing. This is what you're doing, to the point where you can't even start rice and party in a game against Manchester United. Well, I don't give a monkey's where Arsenal are at, where Man United are at, whatever competition. That's one of the biggest clubs in Man United's case, if not the biggest in England, and it's one of the biggest fixtures. And that's the performance you turn in. That's meant to be the reaction from the Newcastle game. That's meant to fill anyone who gave anything close to a **** about the North London Derby on Wednesday, any optimism. But it wouldn't surprise me if you go Tom Poppy at Spurs, because now the season's wrapped. And it kills me. I'm saying that in Jan, that the season's done. If you put your head in the fairies and you hope for some kumbaya, we win the Premier League and the Champs, I hope you're right. Why would I not want either trophy? But it's a fallacy if you think Arsenal are going to win any of that. Fallacy. You lot have messed it up. Can't believe I want the season to be done in January. Regardless. Meant to enjoy watching my team. Meant to look forward to watching my team. Meant to believe that you lot, what I would want to see if I was a player in my team with you lot. And this is what we're getting. This is what's happening. You lot are representing a magnificent club in Arsenal Football Club. You're being paid handsomely. Handsomely. Manager, you're not finding solutions. It's the same old, same old. Minimal chances with players that are not clinical, that maths is dead. Barely got anyone fit. We're being briefed about the summer and all of these kind of things. And you see what happens to them fans there that are loyal to narratives. There's always an excuse and there's always a context as to why we haven't got three points. I'm not saying you can't be Mikel or Teter in or out. I'm talking about the ones that are doing up the cult thing. And more time, they're journalists that have media passes so they've got to play the game. You see what happens when you lie to people. You can lie to people some of the time, you can't lie to people all the time for those that bury their heads in the sand. The majority of football fans don't think. Football's an emotional game already. When we win, nobody cares about any issues. When we lose, everybody wants to sit down and speak about stuff. It's not good enough. To say it's not good enough is boring. Been here week in, week out. Because you lot will look back in May at various periods this season and the football to come, where it went left. This week is where it's mad. Because fans are leaving games earlier. You're out of two cups. You're not trying. Man United showed everything. Backs against the wall. Ten men, clearly the Man United squad. I'm sure Amirin and their fans, there's a couple players that if we were to play them this time next year in the FA Cup, won't be at the club, let alone in the squad. They made it happen. Backs against the wall. They made it happen. Like I said, I'm not even vexed at going out on penalties. Of course I am. Penalties, it is what it is. You get there. I'm not even vexed at Odegaard missing the penalty beyond the obvious. It's everything in between. And you lot know me, I love Martin Odegaard. But are you captain? Maybe it's on brand with the players. Because you're not. Nobody is standing up to be counted in adversity. Nobody. Any hint of adversity, we stumble. But it won't surprise me if now, with it feeling like everything's done, these lot are free. They go and play well against Spurs and they do whatever. Does anyone really care? Of course I want to win the North London derby. Does anyone really care about Aston Villa next week? Does anyone really care about the Spurs game? Because these men are moving like they don't care. I do think the players care. But the best communication is with your feet. Too many people connected to Arsenal football clubs sit here and come out with buzzwords and it sounds good. They look the part, they dress the part. A couple of times they're the part. They don't do it. They don't want it enough. Part of me thinks there's just an overall lack of quality. The manager's been here too long for me to say the same sort of things. The ownership have presented money but they don't want to be winners. I just think this squad, there's a lack of any real bite or any added determination to be winners. There's a lack of quality and it's not enough. It's not enough. It's not enough. But you don't want to come out with these statistics and say, oh well, that's our second loss in 14 games at the Emirates. We're the best team in 2024. All of this is copium. What does that mean? Every week we play, somebody is wobbling now. Again, best of luck to Gabriel Jesus. We hope it's not a long-term injury but I don't think we'll see him again this season. Odegaard, Timber, they're all carrying knots. Califuri's been getting knots. Even going back to the summer, two points off City. What game changes and level raises did you lot sign? What's going on? What's going on? Nobody cares internally at that football club. New contracts are not handed out before a deal, before the season is really kicked. Ball's kicked in the season. You don't have a transfer market. I'm not even trying to dismeray Califuri or Sterling. None of them, if you name Arsenal's strongest 11, are pushing anybody. You don't come into a season like that and then come out here and tell me you want to win trophies. You don't. There's naivety and complacency and that stuff in football, especially elite sport, anything in life where you want to improve, it is poison. It's poison. So they're going to have to sit there and hold that. They're going to. They're going to have to live with it because you can't go back in time now. Newcastle United in the cup, Manchester United in the cup and that's how I want to play. That's what you want to put out. We have no divine right to win but you see, if I see everything, we're fighting, we're doing what we need to do and we're just not the best men on the day, fair enough. But before I could ever point any finger at any referee, I think for both teams, ref stunk, but we're not going to do that. Before I could look at what Man Utd did well or good, I'm looking at us and how many left it all out there. How many were above a six, if anything, even a five? And I'm trying to be nice because it's a number of hours after the game's done. How many? How many? It's the same old things. Of course, the context is a bit different. It's the same old things, time and time and time again and we're going to be here again and again and again and again and again until people want to learn. I said I mentally checked out, that was a bit of a lie. I've definitely mentally checked out. I love my football club, will always support, will always watch but what is there to get behind beyond my blind supporting of this football club because I'll never leave it. What's there to get behind? You lot don't play for the fans, you lot don't play for yourselves, you don't even play for your name on your back, let alone the badge. And of course I know you do but why is it the young players that get it? Why is it the same old? And we're going to go through this time and time and time and time and time and time again. But you know how it is, people are going to sit there and say oh maybe it's a positive we're at the Cups now, Liverpool are going to be in all of them, City are still in them if we do this. Any time it gets into the ifs, the buts and the thirds, man, it's jarring. And now I'm going to talk about salvaging the season. What is there to salvage? What is there to salvage? What is there to salvage? I know what mathematically you could still do. I know what in theory what competitions you're still in until we actually have to play in them. What is there to salvage? What is there to salvage? But we'll be fed the PR about we're going to do this in the market and that in the market in the summer, you know, couple of wins, football does move quickly, go again. Because me, I wish it was me. I wish it was me because you've cheated everybody that supports this football club with the depth, with not addressing issues, with Mikel Arteta on the field issues, with how certain players are performing, with the naiveties, assuming that certain positives from last season we're going to carry on. You are not going to win, I'm not even trying to diss Kai Havertz, you're not going to win **** all with Kai Havertz up front on a long-term capacity sort of solution. He could be in the squad, you're not going to win nothing with Martinelli on the left, you're not going to win nothing if you have to rest Partey and Declan Rice and that's who you're putting out and with the greatest of respect to Jorginho and Moreno, you did what you need to do. If Odegaard keeps turning out performances like that as captain, you can forget about it. If you are not creating minimal chances and you do not take those minimal chances, you're not going to win nothing. At home, at home against 10 men, Man United really lived up to the United part. First time I've seen them do that this season, credit to them. You know, you lot saw my watch-alongs, fans doing them all, like my Man United supporting friends doing the most, but it is what it is. I can't get angry if the players don't care. How the hell am I going to care? Who really cares about the North London Derby? Honestly, yeah, you don't want to lose that and the players need to stand up to be counted, but this, and I don't care about not having clinical strikers and who's on the market and all that because we saw last season what not putting the ball in the back of the net does. It's a fallacy, it's naivety. If you've ever watched Mighty Ducks, if you've ever watched Coach Carter, if you've ever watched them kind of things and you see how it ends, that's what Arsenal's on brand with. You don't care. You don't care. You don't play like that if you care. Some of you just ain't got it and it's cool, like it's proper cool, some man just ain't got it. They just ain't, they're just soft. Unfortunately, it is what it is, man.