Bit concerned about the lack of rotation in our team atm. Most players out there had big international breaks and played most matches before that. Athletic won't be a push over but I think we have the depth now to share the workload around.
I have an amazing ability to find my way out of mazes. I'm pathological.
That has been my concern throughout the Arteta years. I totally understand that not wanting to change a winning team but rotation is key if we are gonna keep our top players fresh and fit.
Spare a thought for poor Jamie O'Hara. Already grieving the death of the PL, he's had to witness the CL be killed by a couple more headed goals from set pieces.
Roughly a quarter of the way through the season and we are in a very good place right now.
Our nearest challengers all have flaws. City are heavily reliant on Haaland's goals. Liverpool have massive issues at the back, particularly the two new full backs, and Salah has regressed a lot following one of the best individual seasons the Premier League has seen.
We have a settled squad, probably the most settled in the league and I would say with the depth we have in all areas now arguably the strongest overall squad in Europe. Starting 11 strength could be argued amongst a few contenders but for overall squad depth I think we beat anyone.
We also have an imperious defence. We barely concede proper chances, let alone goals. Very simplistic but you only need to score once if you don't concede. 1-0 to the Arsenal? Part of our DNA. And the foundation for title wins.
I'd like to see us click a bit more in open play. We currently have a very low return on open play goals in the league this season, and that's about the only stick anyone can beat us with right now. If we can find a way to improve that without any other areas of our game regressing then I don't see us being stopped.
Long way to go but we have as good a chance as we ever have to finally bring that title back to North London.
I’m looking forward to seeing Havertz back in the mix. I like Gyokeres but he needs to really get off the mark and I think Havertz is quality and really adds to the team.
That said, I can’t believe our depth. I’m so impressed this year.
Eze man, this guy is having such a fairytale season. From the transfer, to his first goal against his former clove, you just know he is going to score us the goal that wins the title or a trophy in a final.
The weekend's results were a lovely birthday present for today. Didn't foresee such a strong position only a month or so ago when we were 5 points behind Liverpool and it was "their's to lose." Love that everyone is so upset by set pieces that have always been part of the game too. We endured those Wenger years where we lost to a last minute header from a corner or throw in to teams like Stoke, Bolton, Everton almost every other week and were told how embarrassing it was not being able to defend them and how it was "men against boys" and "don't like it up em" and "don't want it enough" etc. Now it's embarrassing and killing the game to be good at those things.
Still too early to get ahead of ourselves. It’s only 9 games and we’ve been here before with a lead. We’re at least a difficult team to beat and the summer recruitment means the whole house no longer falls down with 1 injury.
That was probably the most relaxed 1-0 victory I can remember. Never felt like we'd lose, our defence is so good. Is Gabriel just about the best player in the division at the moment??? Recruitment has been incredibly successful. Odegaard, Havertz out, Saka already missed a month, still getting the results, and with comfort. Wouldn't have happened last season or the few before. The attack will click, and when it does, look out. We'll start racking up some big scores.
This year's birthday haul from my wife. When we were over there and did the stadium tour in July I was buying a ludicrous amount from the shop and she grabbed half of it and said "I'll get these for your birthday, easier than finding something else." So brought them back home, wrapped them up and I "forgot" about them for 3 months. It's much harder to buy for her. 😂 20251028_193444(1)(1).jpg1.7 MB
Wow, really rotated team for this mornings game. Good to see but I don't think that it'll get past the seagulls, who haven't changed much by the looks of it. Oh and Dowman starts!!!
I have an amazing ability to find my way out of mazes. I'm pathological.
Question for the dads here, have you ever tried to name your kid after a past or present Gunner? I’m yet to decide if it’s cringe or not, but I floated Mikel as a middle name for our baby who’s due in a few months. The mrs shot it down so fast it was hard to believe.
Question for the dads here, have you ever tried to name your kid after a past or present Gunner? I’m yet to decide if it’s cringe or not, but I floated Mikel as a middle name for our baby who’s due in a few months. The mrs shot it down so fast it was hard to believe.
Seen stranger reasons given for naming babies after someone, middle name is fine, first maybe a little cringe.
I'm all for this carry-on but I always worry about the risk... What if Rice fades in his 30s, goes to Spurs in the twilight of his career, and scores in a NLD? Mikel has a long managerial career ahead of him and makes no noises about a wenger-esque run at Arsenal, who knows where he could end up one day, Man City title winner in 2035, pinching one at the emirates on the final day to seal it? 10 year old marked for life. Gotta go for the locked in names guys... Arsene might get a bit of stick in the playground, so I'd go with Thierry. Could also go with Henry, a standard name that would carry a nice double meaning.
Managers quotes sound very down on Gyokeres injury. Tonight’s going to be a bandaged together team, and suspect it’ll be the same with the international break. If we can get these two results with more than half our forwards out it shows a real mettle.
Looking ahead to the chaos caused by the Carabao Cup QF and the subsequent congestion in December, we’re going to need most of the currently injured lot back by then to have any hope of pushing through.
I believe that we did the right thing to agree to moving it, but that both teams still only get 1 day of rest between fixtures and the cup is not OK. I’d love to see both clubs protest and send out their U21’s.
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