The Marble Hall Diaries

Hello all,  It is the eve of our next stress-filled nail-biting Premier League game against Fulham, and I am coming to you to provide some late reflections on the Atlético Madrid game, before previewing the league game tomorrow.  For the majority of the first leg showdown in Madrid, I thought our performance level was raised just as the seeming pressure around the team was lowered, which is really strange considering it was a Champions League semi-final. I think there is just so much pressure on the Premier League that the Champions League has offered somewhat of a reprieve from it all. It's like our campaign in that competition has existed in a nice bubble where we never lose and our performance levels have a clear floor.  Still, I thought we controlled large parts of the game and played well at a tough ground away from home. The shops in Madrid had their toilet paper raided faster than the pandemic times, which is ironic given most of what Atlético displayed o...

Well I'm so glad our performance against Man City was the springboard for Arsenal's free-flowing attack finally being unlocked and unleashed for the final five games of the run-in, aren't you?  Yes, last Saturday evening Arsenal reverted back to type and ground out a stressful, bordering on torturous, 1-0 win over strugglers Newcastle. Am I happy with the three points? Absolutely, I think this is one of our trickier games in the run-in despite Newcastle's recent poor form. Am I happy with the lack of goals to add to our goal difference when that could be the deciding factor of this title race? Nope. Am I happy with the performance overall? Also no! Firstly, the positives:  I thought Eze was our brightest spark (before this was extinguished) and his goal was a fantastic bit of magic that is really needed in these tight late-season games.  I thought Hincapié's performance was strong, battle-hardened in the face of adversity, when we needed a warrior to shield us from ...