Yeah it’s a fair shout, he’s a beast but he is also benefiting from incredible service. If we can ensure we are letting them put in the tap in passes he’s been getting we’ll make it that much harder. United’s defending yesterday was so bad to call it defending is a blight on the phrase. One for KT to start at LB for sure.
I know Haarland changes the game ridiculously, but the way we took the game to city in the second game against them last year is a blue print for us to follow. We didnt necessarily press super high, but we pressed very smart that day and condensed the field for them to play in...(until the red card cough cough). Also, I cant see Arteta changing tact unless there is another injury crisis.
Yeah it’s a fair shout, he’s a beast but he is also benefiting from incredible service. If we can ensure we are letting them put in the tap in passes he’s been getting we’ll make it that much harder. United’s defending yesterday was so bad to call it defending is a blight on the phrase. One for KT to start at LB for sure.
looking ta his hattrick against United none werre eactly tap-ins. The service he gets from his wingers and midfield is amazing, this will put pressure on Xhaka, Partey, Martenelli and Saka - none of them are flash defenders. Xhaka is likely to get red carder and Partey injured.
Decent win this morn, good run out for the back-ups. Pretty strong lineup with the likes of Tierney, Tomiyasu, Holding, Nketiah, Vieira starting games like that. Very much liking the look of our squad these days. Massive game Monday morning then. Nervous already.
Was as comfortable a win as could be this morning.
Monday is a huge game. I'm not overly stressed about the games against City. We'll likely get battered like everyone else, but it won't turn us into a meme when it's happening to everyone. Realistically, unless they have some sort of major crisis and Haaland, De Bruyne and maybe a few others are out for the season, there is no challenging them for the title, and the unbeaten season record really does look under threat at this stage.
The games that will define our season are the ones against the other clubs battling for a top 4 spot. Last weekend was a massive test passed and this is another. We have an appalling record against Liverpool over the last few years, but given form so far this season and being at home it must be the first time in a long time we go into a game with them as the favourite.
What impressed me is that we put out a decent starting 11 but only 3 of them were in the starting 11 that battered spuds. We really do have some quality depth across the pitch. It's a big month for Nelson, real make or break time. Europa League and the cup matches give him a chance to make a stake for the rotational RW we are crying out for.
Random thought but seeing the role Xhaka is playing this season makes me understand why we were looking at Tielemans. He would suit that sort of role beautifully.
I’m still hoping we go for him on a free as a step towards life after Xhaka. The back up for Partey continues to be the real big money signing we should prioritise.paulm
Random thought but seeing the role Xhaka is playing this season makes me understand why we were looking at Tielemans. He would suit that sort of role beautifully.
We look awfully vulnerable, they have so much time in midfield, thats suicide with a high line. Were lethal on the break but lucky to be leading i feel.
was just a little hard for me to get up for this one, wanted too, but couldnt make it happen. Stoked with the victory, Liverpool was always going to be a tough one, despite them being down the list at 10th. Thought the pen against Jesus was a little soft but as a ref what are you gonna do? Games like this we've lost, to keep fighting and take the 3 points is a huge step forward.
Top of the table ✅ Salah stuck in Tomi’s pocket ✅ Klopp moaning about the result ✅ Saka tucking away a pressure penalty ✅ Martinelli destroying whoever was at RB ✅
Always great to beat them. What a roller coaster that was. Immense performances all over the pitch but in particular from Martinelli and Tomiyasu IMO. Forgot quite how good Tomi is with how long he’s been out. Certainly an argument for starting him anywhere across the backline. Feels like we are properly a serious team again with these last 2 wins. We deserve our current spot in the table and while we haven’t played City (tbf they haven’t played us yet either), no one can say we “haven’t played anyone yet” anymore.
The character Saka has! After the Euros experience he could be forgiven for never going near a penalty again. But he’s now buried massive winners against Chelsea, Man United and Liverpool. Also, doesn’t it feel a travesty that White is nowhere near the England squad at this point? With Walker out surely he’s a chance of being looked at.
Couldn't agree more re: Tomiyasu, he's a beast. Amazing that he hasn't been playing much and then steps in with a performance like that. I assume Tierney must still be nursing niggles, and we took a precaution by not starting him? Our backline looks really deep right now, very resistant to potential injury issues. Holding has been solid at CB as a back-up, and Tomiyasu can play on the right to allow White to go CB if needed as well. Excellent options and flexibility right across that line. Re: White I agree he should be in the England squad but I think he may suffer from the system we play, compared to England. He's not really a classical fullback, or a wingback, he plays a unique inverted midfielder type role for us. Arteta certainly uses his fullbacks in innovative ways. Saka's character, yes, immense. He's been better than ever at penalties since that miss. A lot of bigger players can't match that level of character. Even Bergkamp never took them again after the big miss in our '99 FA Cup semi.
Quite enjoyed Football365's "16 conclusions" piece today (they do these for all the bigger games); https://www.football365.com/news/16-conclusions-arsenal-premier-league-title-tilt-martinelli-alexander-arnold-arteta-klopp You'll like this bit ajc; "We await the full findings of the Celebration Police investigation into the scenes at the final whistle, but we’re pretty confident that Arteta and co will be once again found guilty as charged of celebrating a significant win in an important football match" And I enjoyed this bit about Xhaka; "Granit Xhaka, whose transformation from undisciplined, unreliable red-card-in-waiting to redoubtable box-to-box midfield general has been so complete that we almost found ourselves surprised to see him get involved in some unnecessary sh*thousery after the award of Arsenal’s match-winning penalty. Lovely to see the old Xhaka remains in there, just to keep us all on our toes."
The way the red spoke to the coaches I thought there might have been allegations of racism perhaps? I’d never seen a scuffle like that result in the actions the referee took without carding anyone - and neither Klopp nor Arteta seemed to over react indicating it was something bigger than the game at hand.theprof
apparently there as some kind of comment made by the Liverpool defender towards Martenielli which sparked it all up!
after watching most of the game, here are my random takes: - huge game ay. Showed that we have come a long way but also that we aren't the finished product yet. We were able to expose their weakness time and time again but never quite killed the game off. While they were also able to expose our high press fairly successfully. - But we managed to win it, whereas in recent years we would have drawn of thrown it away. - Think we played worse against Liverpool than we did against Spuds. - Surprised to see how Saliba played. Not sure if he was having an off night or the fact that Nunez and Firmino are very clever players, but he seemed to get dragged around a bit and lose connection with Gabriel. - Martenlli, wow, I mean.... I would marry him if he ever needed an NZ visa.
So far we have played 9 games, or 23% of our PL games. We have accumulated 24 points, or 35% of last seasons total. Just mind blowing, can’t believe how well we’ve started.
image.png57.42 KB Felt a bit robbed in 04-05. Still believe we'd have won that one if Mike Riley at Old Trafford hadn't happened. We should also learn some lessons from the 07/08 season (and the tail end of last season) and do some recruiting in Jan where it's needed. Ultimately we couldn't have anticipated Eduardo's injury to happen shortly after the transfer window, but from memory RVP was already out and we were desperately short up front with a title up for grabs. In 08/09 we probably wouldn't have got top 4 without signing Arshavin in January. Edit: Still not suggesting a title is possible, but it would be a disaster to let top 4 slip again due to ending up short in key positions in the run in.
I don't remember those starts so if we had more points than we have now, did we have 8 wins and one draw after 9 games in those two seasons? I can imagine the 04-05 team doing that as it was after the Invincible season
Yeah 04-05 was 8 wins and a draw (the final 9 games of the 49 match unbeaten run), before the diasaster at Old Trafford. Took time to recover from that as I think we then drew several games (there was a last second equaliser from RVP in the next game from memory) and had another loss not long after. At a quick look, 07-08 was also 8 wins and a draw and we didn't lose until the 16th game (11 wins, 4 draws in the first 15) that season and only lost 3 games overall. Title was in our hands then it all came crashing down after Eduardo's injury at Birmingham. Those two seasons feel like titles that got away with both seasons essentially crashing after a disaster in one game. The other one was the Leicester season. I thought we were going to do it after the win over them, then we lost the next 2 and couldn't buy a win after that.
Anyway, again none of that is to suggest a title is even a remote possibility this time, just illustrating that in terms of Premier League history this start is quite good and that earlier seasons with similar starts crashed when the squad ended up short in key positions.
It's key that we get that midfielder in January, going by that analysis, and a bit of common sense. I think we can survive in the forwards, with Smith-Rowe to come back and Vieira looking like the business.
CM is definitely essential. Partey is crucial to the way we play but has been very injury prone in all his time with us, and will be going to the World Cup too so we have to assume he's going to be out at some point (not to mention the other issues still to be resolved). We'd be very light up front if we lost Jesus for any length of time too, but I realise it's difficult to sign in that area while you already have an established first and second choice. Thankfully the signing of Zinchenko, White's performances at RB and Tomiyasu's versatility across the whole back 4 mean that Cedric is far enough down the pecking order that we shouldn't need to rely on him for any length of time. In saying that though, Tomiyasu, Saliba and Gabriel will all be going to the World Cup, with the latter two likely to go deep in the tournament (Saliba I think is currently a starter, not sure about Gabriel's place in the Brazil team).
Gabriel isn't a guarantee for world cup - both of them actually. Would seem mad if they didn't make the squad but both were left out for the last international window. Would benefit us!
Typically rusty with a much-changed lineup, and an odd one at that with Vieira playing in a deeper midfield role. I was quite surprised at Bodo/Glimt's home record in europe, astonishing really. They had won all of their last 14 european games in a row! Including victories over Milan and Roma (6-1!). They are actually a very good side, we've done well to win there I think. And it was critical that we did as we have PSV to play twice yet. Be nice to wrap up the group early so we can afford to be rusty in these matches. Hopefully Jesus was just a rest (he needs it with his all-action, combative style), and also hoping Zinchenko is back shortly. Hopefully Liverpool can get a result at home against City this week, and we can keep hanging onto the top spot as long as possible. I am still focussed on simply the top 4 at this point but the longer we stay at the top of it the better it will be for our confidence. If we get injury/fatigue issues after the world cup, these points we are banking now will be invaluable to sew up that top 4 spot. Champions League and the confidence top 4 brings could push us on next season, both in terms of our confidence and our power in the transfer market to shore up those couple of key spots.
Gabriel isn't a guarantee for world cup - both of them actually. Would seem mad if they didn't make the squad but both were left out for the last international window. Would benefit us!
I thought the reason our Brazilians were all left out last time was so a few fringe players could be looked at in the friendlies (and possibly Edu having a word). I guess Jesus is a definite, and surely Martinelli's performances haven't gone unnoticed. In general though most players only get a couple of chances at going to a World Cup (some who can maintain fitness and a high level for a long period of time might get a 3rd or even 4th if they are a freak) so while the break might benefit us, mentally a player missing out doesn't help us.
Anyway, good to get the 3 points again but fairly forgettable game that will probably only be remembered for one goalkeeper fouling the other which is the first time I've ever seen that. No fringe player did much for their chances of starting in the PL.
None of our Brazilians are locked in to go to the WC. Tite's doesnt think they fit his system (Bar Gabriel who is just down the list of defenders). Firmino, Richarlison will be going in their places.
All the better for us. Personally I think they're mad, mind you. Martinelli is next level, what a talent, and Jesus is an amazing option off the bench for them at the absolute least, given his nature of making things happen and his ability to play across the forward line. Gabriel I can understand more, he was excellent last season but this season I've been disappointed at his propensity to make a major error per game.
Gabriel’s become the weakest link in our starting 11 for me. I think that’s down to the level around him being raised considerably, while he himself is in a bit of a lull. I think it’s all in his head, as technically he has the skills as demonstrated last couple of seasons. Just need to get him to catch his breath and stay in control of his emotions when making decisions. However if I was the opposition he is who I’d be having my players targeting to both wind up and run at every game.
Good luck with the season Arsenal fans- your teams doing well.
We play each other Monday morning. Id suggest you rest up anyone you regard as invaluable to your season. The way Marsh has Leeds playing at present is bound to cause a serious injury at some point- extremely extremely aggressive ,in the patchs the team can keep it up. really high foul rate - ugly football. Im hoping for a new Coach at the World cup break. We have some good players - but the brand of football is not enjoyable to watch.
Well that was a tough one and thankfully VAR came to the rescue in the end. Definitely clinging on a bit in the second half but that's going to happen sometimes that you have to grind out a result when under a lot of pressure. Didn't watch live but got up a bit early to watch before work. These games always have a way of going on extra long when you try and do that don't they? Felt like last week had about half an hour of injury time too. Left myself enough buffer to just make the train although it did need a run from the car.
Then get on the train and look up the other results to find the unbeaten season lives on for another season. Happy days! Thought it was under real threat this time.
That was a pretty crazy game. First time Saliba has struggled for a period. The handball was a bit unlucky but Bamford had him rattled for a long time there in the second half, and the heavy touch to let them in and need a Ramsdale save was very poor. Did anyone else notice there was one replay after the actual penalty had been given, where it showed them offside about 4 passes or so before the ball went in and hit the hand? What happens with that? Is it deemed too long before the decision to be looked at? I was spewing. The commentators never said anything about it and it was never raised, but I thought I saw it clearly in that one replay. Gabriel left his foot up slightly after being pushed by Bamford at the end there, it was silly even if quite mild, we were lucky the shove from Bamford was so clear that it was given our way. Very tough game I thought. Ben White was very poor, all day, it was quite unlike him. Overall we were decent in the first half but not great, and very very bad in the second. Important to grind out the points on days like that though, onto the next. The PSV games don't look easy and Southampton next weekend will require another grinding no doubt.
