The Marble Hall Diaries

Well, I feel dejected, how are you all?  As many of us expected, Arsenal were not capable of going to Man City and winning. It puts us in a precarious position where it's a straight shoot-out to the title over the final five games, and if I were a betting man then Arsenal would not be the horse I'd be backing in that scenario.  Yes, the performance was encouraging, the best we have played in a while, but it still wasn't quite good enough and it leaves our title chances on the brink.  We came out impressively at the start of the first half, taking the game to City when everyone expected us to sit back and play for the 0-0 like a couple of seasons ago. We had some early threatening chances but couldn't quite make them count. Then Ryan Cherki (I really hate him now, but he's a fantastic player) danced through our defence far too easily to make it 1-0 to the home side. Thankfully, we didn't let our pressure drop and it led to us immediately responding as Havertz pou...

Welcome back to another post where I am struggling between two openers/schools of thought.  Option 1: Semi-finalists woohoo!!!! Option 2: BORING. Last night, I formed part of the 12th man again as Arsenal restrained Sporting C.P. to an uninspiring 0-0 in the second leg of the Champions League quarter final, which was enough to go through to the semi's 1-0 on aggregate thanks to Havertz's goal in Lisbon.  For pretty much the whole season I have very much been in the camp of "I don't care too much about our style of play, just win". However, when the winning has stopped in recent times, I have taken issue with the style of play, level of performance and lack of results. That is the risk you run with our current style of play.  Despite this, having paid a not-so-cheap sum of money to attend the game, my perspective has shifted slightly. I couldn't help but think that the way we are playing and the sheer lack of entertainment factor to our football matches is a lo...

To quote Wheatus, "man I feel like mould".  From quadruple chatter (yes I know it was ridiculous), to a good chance of another trophyless season.  The Liverpool fan at work has barely spoken to me all season. Today he won't stop messaging me.  Even some Sp*rs fans I met up with on the weekend were laughing at me - SP*RS. To demand so much of the fans, asking us to 'bring our dinner' when we all know nobody wants to smell the reheated leftover salmon I had for an easy meal. To build up that game with the motivational videos and clips of our players watching TikTok edits as they turned the training ground into an outdoor cinema. Only to turn up and perform like that? Embarrassing. Pathetic.  Our performance was a disgrace to be honest. The same issues occurring as we have seen so many times this season. The attack? Ineffective. The defence? Shattered and making mistakes. Creativity? None. We make it seem so so difficult to score a goal. Bournemouth were decent but n...

Hello and welcome to your second blog post of the week!  "Wow!" "Amazing!" "So cool and fun!" - (Your reactions) The sun is shining even brighter than when I wrote my last post, both literally and metaphorically, because I'm coming to you following a smash and grab 1-0 win away from home at Sporting C.P.  I think the result and the way it came about with a last minute goal of real quality definitely adds a bonus good feeling onto what would have been a still slightly improved feeling about the team had we drawn 0-0 instead, which seemed very likely at 90 minutes played last night.  The line-up was announced and I don't think there were any real surprises. Injuries and form pretty much decided it pre-game and I was very interested to see how we would get on with some of our key players back. It would be a telling sign of how impactful it was to not have the likes of Raya etc in the team for our two cup defeats. Turns out, it made a lot of differenc...

Good evening from a sunny (but still too chilly for my liking) London.  Spring is well and truly underway now and everything is starting to get brighter, unless you are an Arsenal fan or in any way closely associated with Arsenal Football Club.  Two losses in a row, the first time that's happened this season, and what a time for it to happen. After falling at the final hurdle in the Carabao Cup final to Manchester City, Arsenal managed to not respond at all in bitterly disappointing fashion by losing away to Championship play-off hopefuls Southampton. We now find ourselves going from tongue in cheek quadruple chatter to praying we don't throw everything away. To be clear, almost no Arsenal fans seriously believed we would win the quadruple, but the chatter around it from rivals was a nice reflection of how well we were competing on all fronts this season.  I completely agree and understand that the two domestic cups were our lowest priorities this season, but they certain...

Hello all and happy international break to all those who celebrate (FIFA officials and sponsors alone).  I appreciate it's been a whole week from when I should have posted the usual blog post, but for two main reasons I delayed it to today.  The first and main reason is my " real"  life got in the way of my time (ugh who needs one of those). The details are very boring and almost entirely work related, so nobody wants to hear about those.  The other lesser reason that I usually wouldn't have let stop me is that I was hurting after that League Cup final loss. I really wanted to win that trophy and believed that we could have because we have been the better team than City over the course of the season. However, for the reasons we've all read, heard and spoken about in the last week, we couldn't quite do it. I will share my thoughts on the game here, but I don't want to rehash it too much, I've never been one for picking at old wounds, it can leave a scar...

Before I get into things properly, can I just say one of my favourite things to come out of the Everton result is someone naming their new puppy Max. It is extremely cute: Anyways, hello one and all and welcome back to a brand new week, which means you lucky lot get to hear from me again in another blog post.  Lots to cover this week, including matches in our top two priority competitions (in my opinion) - the Champions League and the Premier League.  Leverkusen (A) This was a really interesting game, and by interesting I mean completely boring and soul sucking but the outcome was interesting. It happened in the midst of almost all the other British clubs faltering in Europe (that Kinsky performance will live long in the memory), and I saw many pundits and commenters lumping our result in with some of the others which I don't think our comparable. How can you put a battled 1-1 draw away to a team with one of the best home records in Europe in the same bracket as getting thumpe...