Arsenal have been drawn against West Brom in the 2nd round of the Carabao Cup.
For those of you who didn’t even know there was a 2nd round, it’s for teams who aren’t in Europe, and sadly we’re one of those.
The game will be played at The Hawthorns on Tuesday 24th or Wednesday 25th August.
That’s pretty much all there is to it.
Listen to an Arsecast instead.
I have nothing to say about this.
Let’s talk about Messi to PSG instead then. I love Messi, watching him play at the arsenal was a privilege I’ll tell the grandkids about one day. But his tears at leaving Barca only to sign for PSG for all of the money in the world hours later made me do a sick in my mouth. One of those acidic ones that causes a rebound vomit. I really hate football. City. PSG. Chelsea. Barcelona and Madrid. UEFA. FIFA. They’re a cancer. A fucking pox on the game. I sometimes wish arsenal wasn’t part of my DNA. Then I could walk… Read more »
The goal where he sprinted into the box, killed the cross dead and smacked it past Cech was sublime.
I found the tears a little much.
I mean, the guy has been made a multi multi multi millionaire by the club. He could just have sucked it up and played for, like, £100k a week if he really wanted to stay.
“Oh I’m so sad because the club I love are refusing to pay me £30m a season. It’s so sad. What can I do?”
Give me a break.
And if we are going off topic, can I go one further?
I wonder how Xhaka feels seeing that Roma have somehow managed to find £34m down the back of the sofa for Abraham.
What a bunch of cunts. So glad we didn’t sell.
You’re glad we didn’t sell Xhaka….
Mate – Roma, like the rest of the football world, clearly didn’t think he was worth what we were asking for him, end of.
The real sad thing is that we missed out on Tammy
I think we dodged a useless overpaid bullet there, sunshine.
Guillem Balague wrote on the BBC site: “Barcelona had asked him to accept a 50% reduction in wages and he accepted without even trying to negotiate it.
In fact a 50% reduction is the legal maximum anyone can be compelled to take, so even if Messi had been prepared to accept a bigger reduction, the club would have been breaking the law had they agreed to it.”
I assume Balague would not make up the stuff about the legal max.
And to top it off, even if Messi’s salary was reduced by 50%, Barca’s wage bill only came down to 95% wherein the Spanish FA require the wage bill to be brought down to 70%, failing which no new players can be registered. Johnny, you realize that they have been unable to register the likes of Aguero and Depay as a result. And this means Messi will remain unregistered as he was a free agent by June and he is LANS. The greatest player of all fuckin times cannot remain unregistered because the club of his dreams who made him… Read more »
Exactly. And this is exactly what they mean by “financial and structural obstacles”
He could take the pay cut and then pay the money back to the club. There’s always a way. This is face saving bollocks, not that I’m actually suggesting he work for free but spare me the crocodile tears
But you cant state this fact because it runs against the narrative….
Since you don’t know – he couldn’t played at Barca this season for free even. Barca are in deep trouble and the Liga has enforced the rules.
WRT to him getting paid as much as he WANTS, this is not a side hustle. If anyone has any right to making money at Barca, it’s Messi.
What a fucking sour mean thing to say man
What a fucking sour mean thing to say man It’s fair to say that Messi generated a lot of money for Barcelona and doubtless feels an strong emotional tie to the club. But I’m sorry, I’m a bit over the lie being sold to supporters that the players are ‘just like us’ when in the vast majority of cases they actually do not care about the club they play for as long as the price is right. Save me your “you guys” letters RVP, your gentleman’s agreement Kane (even if that’s fucking hilarious) and your I love Barcelona. The time… Read more »
The time is coming where we need a discussion about players wages and an end to the fallacy that they deserve to be paid a kings ransom every week. Greed is greed. That discussion will probably have to be a bit more nuanced. As you said, Messi generated a lot of money for Barcelona. Of course, I’d prefer a more equitable wage structure at every club but even if it wasn’t exorbitant, should his salary not at least reflect that? I don’t know what the solution is but I wouldn’t let greedy/overpaid footballers distract from the fact that there are… Read more »
Thanks, great response.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for footballers to be multi – multi millionaires.
Messi (for me) is the best player in the world in the worlds best sport. I don’t begrudge him being paid handsomely.
But the current levels of greed and corruption have similar roots to the catastrophe that caused the collapse of the banking system. No club is too big to fail.
The role and demands of agents needs to be factored into that discussion
I sometimes wish arsenal wasn’t part of my DNA. Then I could walk away, follow the Orient or something.
Great quote.
I have similar feelings. I’ve even tried and failed to “give up” football. My dad allegedly threw me in the air watching the ’71 cup final when CG scored. I was 1. He jokes that I hit my head on the ceiling. I tend to think that was the moment I became an arsenal fan. Choiceless. Almost the first thing I remember is being an arsenal fan. The first game I remember seeing was the ’76 cup final and all I remember thinking was my team wasn’t in it. Since we lived some distance from north london we ended up… Read more »
Watching the Messi story play out makes me yearn for the simpler days of football.
Back when we were dominating the PL there was this Italian player, Damian Tomassi, whose knee was smashed playing against, you guessed it, Stoke. He was out for a year and didn’t know if he would be able to come back, but insisted the club but him on the lowest wages possible, a youth team players wages, as that was what he thought was fair.
Could you imagine a player doing that today, or their agent sanctioning it?
put football aside for a second, if i got injured working for my current company there is no way in which i am requesting for a pay cut and there are people who would request the same. so enough about the simpler days, not in today’s economic clime
Ugghh thought we had seen the last of Sam Allardyce.
Should be able to rotate one or two here. Tavares and Martinelli to start on the left could be really exciting.
Sam Allardyce isn’t at West Brom now
What a rubbish draw
If you want to be the best, you’re going to have to beat some titans along the way 😉
Of course, thanks for putting me back on track… 😀
League Cup, is going to be really important for us this year, for youth development we need to go deep into competition, for Azeez, Balagun really important competition.
Honestly, the only thing to look forward to this year.
What odds then that Willian gets a start?
How exciting!!! 🙄
Really enjoyed our Prem game last year at Hawthorns, in the snow.
My favourite goal of the season .. KT just cunting it in.
Very true! Felt like a bit of a turning point that game
What damning indictment of where we are…
Don’t forget now.
Be Excited.
Have to confess I still don’t really have any idea what Carabao is, and whether it can be bought at Tesco.
It’s an energy drink & yes you can find it at KT’s favourite shop
I’m pretty sure it’s something that runs wild in lidl
It was first introduced to me as the Cucaracha Cup by Blogs himself.
Thought he called it the ChupaCabra (Suck-a-goat)
We’ll be in the 2nd Round of the FA Cup by the time Arteta’s finished with us.
Misery is wasted on the miserable
Is that a Robbie Williams lyric? (In other words, a Guy Chambers lyric)
A chance to knock off another record since AW left – failure to get past 2nd round of the CC. Oh yay!
To be honest I can see us losing to a team like west brom in the second round.