RAMSDALE SHINES AS ARSENAL MARCH UP THE TABLE

by .

I thought I’d take the later post today, see how things pan out, then get into the mixer on the Leicester game.

So overall, we teed up another, THIS IS THE DEFINING moment for the club. The reason Leicester was so important was quite simple, they are a really good side and they will be in the mix for top 4 at the end of the season. We were also dealing with an away game, an area of inconsistency for sure.

Well, we certainly picked up where we left off against Aston Villa. We started with outrageous ferocity, we nearly scored after 2 minutes with Saka weaving his way into the box. For the next 27 minutes or so, we ripped Leicester apart. They had no answer to our pressing, they couldn’t deal with Lacazette, their midfield argued with each other about being overrun, and we actually made the pressure count… twice.

Our first goal came from another corner. Saka on his 100th appearance swung a ball in at the front post, Gabriel bullied his way there and glanced a beauty of a header past Kasper. A great start and another example of the good work Nic Jover is doing with the set-plays this season. He seems to be channelling a bit of that 90s George Graham energy at our corners. He’s also taking advantage of the fact most of our corners for 10 years haven’t made it past the front post… now that’s an asset.

You have to note that this happened on minute 5. We are early starters now, something we were not last season. This is how Klopp transformed Liverpool in the early days. He also had fitness challenges. Unai Emery let his side tire themselves out in the Europa Final, then pulled them apart after 60 minutes. Plenty to work on, but I love that we come out the traps.

Saka was in the mixer for the second goal, his run into the box found Lacazette, who was tackled, but the spillover ball fell to ESR who stroked his shot past Kasper. Our young superstar #10 has 2 goals and 3 assists in 10 Premier League appearances. Kind of special as Mesut Ozil is out of the Fenerbache squad for an away game they lost with no injury. Has anyone tweeted him to Trust the Process?

The opening 27 minutes was beastly. It was an absolute scene to look at. The only thing missing was another two goals. When this project is further down the line, we’re doing what City did to Brighton last week. You give them no way back, so when the energy levels drop, you’ve already broken the opposition.

The next phase of the game was equally impressive. Johnny said on the podcast that this game was important because you knew we’d been in a fight. I agree. Matt also said during the match that this moment was about character. Did we have the right mentality to deal with the waves of Leicester attacks?

We did. It wasn’t always pretty, but there was a standout defensive performance from the team as a unit, and there were some outrageous individual performances as well.

Aaron Ramsdale really was the star of the show. He is, without doubt, playing to world-class levels in this moment. You can’t argue it. There isn’t a weakness in his game right now. He has found a spectacular level in a short space of time and he’s answering all the questions we had about him emphatically. The big moment was the freekick. Facing into the sun, he somehow managed to scoop out an inch-perfect kick and put it on the bar. Peter Schmeichel said it was one of the best saves he’d seen with his own son on the pitch. There was more to his game than that, his passing was exceptional at times, his command of the box was dominant. He’s even revving up rival fans by finishing their chants for them. It also didn’t go unnoticed that he told Ben White to get the physio out to waste time. You LOVE to see it.

If there were one slight piece of feedback, it would be that his choice of kicking when we’re tired put us under more pressure. Arsenal still has work to do on controlling the game when we don’t have the ball. At the moment, he goes into long ball mode and we don’t really have an outlet to deal with that. This might be part of the strategy, but I don’t think so, because it invites waves of attacks and gives the opposition and their fans the upper hand.

Gabriel was absolutely elite again. He is the rock in the heart of that defence. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a genuinely imposing centre back. Gabriel is raw athlete. He towers over strikers. He’s strong, he’s fast, and his danger awareness has kicked up a level. You want his name on that team sheet, he offers so much assurance from set plays and now… from our very own attacking set plays.

I thought Ben White did a really good job dealing with Jamie Vardy. He used his speed to great effect and snuffed out a lot of early danger. Our full-backs also put in a very good shift. Tomi’s adaptation at 21 has been something special, especially when you watch Emerson Royal over at Spurs dropping 5/10s. Tavares has also been a revelation. His directness going forward has always been a known quantity, but not so much his defending, which has been really, really solid. Arteta went out of his way to credit Edu with that signing, a show that things are good behind the scenes now everything is working.

Back to the game. We had a rough middle part, but the subs that came on changed our style a bit. Odegaard created two chances. Auba was bundled over and Evans should have been sent off. Towards the end of the game, you felt Leicester were spent. We went home with the 3 points and moved up to 5th in the table.

So where are we in the season now?

We’re one of the form sides in Europe now. Spanish papers are writing about the turnaround. Pep was paying attention last week when he said Arsenal are improving one game at a time.

The early season problems can now be seen with mitigating circumstances in mind. Playing Brentford with a covid outbreak is always going to be rough, they put 3 past Liverpool with no injuries. Playing City with a (now) entirely back-up defence was always going to be hard, especially down to 10 men. Chelsea was the same. We’ve even seen this weekend that Palace and Brighton are decent after they took points from Liverpool and City.

It’s time to move away from #ArtetaOut after every result. Everything fans wanted to be addressed has nearly been addressed.

His talent ID along with Edu now looks elite. You can’t knock the signings. They’ve all banged. Outside Runarsson and Willian last summer, hard to not look at Gabriel and Partey as bangers as well.

The football, with ‘his’ players, can hit a level we’ve not seen in a very long time. Spurs, Villa, and Spurs all shone a light on where we’re going as a team over the next two years. No more donut football. There’s movement, speed, range and intensity.

We’re not just copying Manchester City. There’s something different brewing. We’re like a counter-attack specialist team. As a Gooner pal said, this side feels more George Graham than Arsene Wenger. The foundations have been built on an elite defensive system in which the whole team has to be participants… I think that’s quite exciting considering where we were under Emery at one point: Ranked 1st for errors leading to shots. 1st for errors leading to goals. 1st for penalties conceded. 4th for shots faced. 10th for goals conceded. We don’t have days where a Watford like side could pepper our goal with 32 shots. We are hard to play against.

The squad that he’s built and the football that they are producing has the fans on another level. People are bought into the project. Away fans are making loads of noise. Home fans are making loads of noise. Why? Because something special is brewing at Arsenal and we can feel it.

Say it quietly, but you can now say that maybe, just maybe… the table since Christmas a lot of people cried about might have been more predictive of where the squad was going than we gave it credit for. Why? Because we’re actually now sitting in 6th on that same points as the team in 4th (West Ham). We’re 3 points off Manchester City in 3rd and 5 off Liverpool in 2nd. I don’t have to splice a table to tell you that is impressive. I’m sure we won’t be there at the end of the season, but I suspect if we have a good December we’ll be closer to 4th than we thought we’d be after the first 3 games where people were saying we’d finish 8th this season.

There’s still a long, long way to go this season. There are going to be ups and down. The players are going to drop disaster performances along the way. We’ll win some we shouldn’t. We’ll lose some we should win. But it’s time to move away from catastrophising every result because we finally have clarity where the club is heading.

Let’s also laugh at Spurs. Let’s laugh at the Arsenal fans who thought Jose was a power move. Let’s laugh at the fact they hired their 4th choice manager. Let’s laugh that Kane and Nuno had a mega bust-up because he doesn’t want to be there. Let’s laugh that their fans BOOED Harry Kane. Lovely stuff.

Right, that’s me done. I know you want to watch our On The Whistle video where Johnny makes a confession that will SHOCK you to the core. Enjoy, like, and share the work. LOVE YOU ALL x

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Terraloon

Come Thursday evening the CL clubs, the EL clubs and Spurs will have played 4 of their 6 group games. Put aside the 4 CL teams because like it or not their squad depths are far deeper and as the league table tells us Chelsea, City and Liverpool are already demonstrating the depth and quality of their squads. In the case of Utd I hate to say it but I just can’t see them stuttering against the teams outside the top 3. WHU have all but qualified for the group stages and even though their squad doesn’t have great depth… Read more »

Leedsgunner

Remember how they were crowing after three games?

I bet the director who did their All or Nothing (for Amazon) series will be furious! 😂

If the crew doing our series had any common or comedy sense he would be over at White Hart Lane RIGHT NOW.

Tottenham, the gift that keeps on giving!

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Spurs will appoint from within until the end of season to keep Kane happy..

Samesong

Conte wants that London life again.

Will be a massive disaster if he goes there.

LoveSausage

Rich, That’s pretty much in line with my current view on Arteta’s future. I’ve been in the Arteta Out camp for a while. I believe some of his excuses have been less than legitimate and he’s earned the sack 2-3 times. But I also recognise that once you restart the clock on a manager, it’s restarted. Can’t fire him now for things he did 6 months ago. Especially since things are looking better and no other manager could have been expected to produce significantly better results so far in the season. So like you, I also hope he succeeds because… Read more »

Jamie

EB – I backed pretty much all the signings for the same reasons. Relatively low risk (although some of the salaries were outrageous), professional, and Arteta was fully behind them. I was pouring buckets of ‘he’s a generational coach’ kool-aid down my throat after the FA Cup win, so it wasn’t a stretch to back the players he chose chose to extend/recruit. The only signings I generally don’t like under most circumstances are the expensive ones, regardless of who’s in charge. The potential for disappointment is much higher because expectations are naturally higher, at least for me. And for Marc,… Read more »

Leedsgunner

Will Ryan Mason get another go at being interim manager?

TR7

Arteta always stumbles upon a good formula either due to injuries to his favorites or pure luck but reverts back to the same old when his favorites come back. It has always been said that Xhaka and Ode slow down our play and don’t let us press with high energy. Tierney too doesn’t add anything to our attack. Will Arteta let the trio back in as soon as they are all fit and available for selection ? If he does then that will mean the recent upturn in our results is largely down to happenstance. Another concern is our level… Read more »

Kroenkephobe

surely one of the BEST weeks to be an Arsenal fan…

Leeds
It’s all good news, but I think that suggests we’ve been starved of success ourselves a little.

I think Mick McCarthy is also thinking of putting his name in the ring in N17 after taking Cardiff back to the dark ages. He’s pulled out his quill and boar.’s blood ink, and his missus is ironing some parchment. Sealing wax and a cockney homing pigeon are standing by. I think Levy will go for someone like Eddie Howe or tailor’s dummy Scott Parker. Just to be different… Again!

TR7

Fab Romano : Antonio Conte is expected in London soon to complete talks on final details with Tottenham. Deal at final stages for new Spurs manager after Nuno out ⚪️🛩 #THFC @DiMarzio

Antonio is more than tempted to accept Tottenham job. He already worked with Paratici at Juventus years ago.

Emiratesstroller

Terraloon I agree that we are unlikely to finish in top 4, but I do think that European qualification this season will cover top 6 in EPL. Arsenal need to work on that premise and plan to upgrade our squad accordingly. The Centre forward position for next season is the priority, because Lacazette and most probably Nketiah will be leaving. Nketiah can of course be replaced by Martinelli or Balogun. We may need also to review the DMF position if we have the budget. Xhaka is not rated highly on Le Grove. It remains to be seen whether we pursue… Read more »

Leftside

Conte to Spurs is horrible, they may actually become good again.

LoveSausage

If Conte is interested for real, it can only mean Levy has promised him a massive investment. Can you imagine trying to play catenaccio with that group of bums? He’ll want to bring in 7-8 new players.

Samesong

Let’s just hope Conte rejects spurs.

Mr Serge

Conte will not last a year at Spurs he can’t play his system with that team and will want massive money which he will not get

Kroenkephobe

Err lads, he’s already turned them down once when they were arguably in a much better position than they are now.

You’re more likely see Bernie Clifton doing it in that ostrich riding costume (the bird done up to look like a cockerel).

Kroenkephobe

Moreover, they snubbed a largish transfer war chest by keeping that lisping, mekon headed has been of their’s on the books.

TheLegendThatIsDennisBergkamp

#MindTheDebt, #MindTheManager, #FindTheManager, just getting creative on that hashtag folks…

Dissenter

Comte’s probably sick of not having a job Now that they have a director of football that Italian and they are more desperate, they will probably be more likely to accede to almost every demand Conte made in this summer. Levi spoke to Conte in the summer so they won’t be starting the negotiations like strangers. In all likelihood, Conte will like be Spurs manger by the new international window, I expect that he’ll be gone in a huff after the summer of 2022 becaus4 they didn’t sign the players he wanted. Honestly, Conte is a tedious whinnying ogre that… Read more »

Dissenter

* Honestly, Conte is a tedious whinnying ogre that not many club are eager to employ, despite his world class status

UTarse

Gutted the spuds have sacked nuno, let’s hope for another stroke of “genius” from levy. If conte goes to spuds, he has permanently devalued himself…

Foxy

TR7 I completely agree with you re is the current team Arteta’s plan or have events forced him. Has he seen the light and evolved or will he want to regress us back to the earlier slow possession model once Xhaka etc are fit? RE laca playing the deeper link role behind Auba, nothing new here and I seem to recall Wenger played him like that with some success. Arteta need to tactically sub Laca early with Eddie or via versa in games so both can go 100% flat out. That what they do with forwards in Rugby Union these… Read more »

Davey

On a side note how did Evans managed to stay on the pitch- Red all day

Emiratesstroller

We need to concern ourselves about Arsenal’s performance and results and not worry about
Spurs.

DigitalBob

Very impressive performance over the weekend, a great weekend of football might I say as well. Pool drawing with the excellent Brighton and City losing to a very tactically sound Palace show the unpredictability from top to bottom. I think this is perfect for us, as we will be inconsistent at times this season but we have enough to certainly finish in the European places come May. I was a Ramsdale sceptic mainly because it felt like a ton of money to spend on a number 2 goalie, however it was Bern Leno’s weakness/meekness against Brentford for me to realise… Read more »

Dissenter

Kris I disagree that the spurs team is unfit for Conte They have some very good players, they had two players nominated by fellow players to be in the premier league team of the year last season. They too had some interesting signings last summer, if you can find peace to begrudgingly concede that obvious fact. They will have a massive short term uptick, I don’t know how far that takes them this season. World class managers know how to wax winning formulas Problem is that Conte always poisons the well. It’s a amazing how the Inter people put up… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

It does not matter who Spurs appoint, because the same problem still exists.

Kane wants out of the club and his performance level this season reflects that fact. He is an
unhappy bunny.

The real problem is between him and Levy who has broken his word to the player.

Foxy

For years now we have struggled due to buying players not really suited to the Physicality of the prem, lightweight midfielders , small CB’s and FB’s etc. Partly due to the obsession with barca’s tippy tappy style of play which is now near obsolete and people such as Sven not really understanding the prem. So it is great to see players like Gabriel and Tavares out muscling even even Dyce’s Burnley thugs. Watching the last few games brings back memories of the invincibles.

Dissenter

Gooners won’t be too bothered about what happens at Spurs because for the current climate.

Same way no one of complaining about letting Emi leave for Villa this morning.

Samesong

Kane wants out of the club and his performance level this season reflects that fact. He is an
unhappy bunny.

Spurs become a better team once Kane leaves.

Leedsgunner

I’m not as sure as some that Conte will go to Spurs. He’s a cheque book manager at heart and I doubt Tottenham will want to open the cheque book again so soon after opening it for Nuno… especially after building a brand new stadium. I can see Tottenham going for someone like Ten Haag though. Young, used to developing youth players to sell on at a massive profit, plays good controlled football. I think personally I would be more gutted if someone like Ten Hag went to Spurs… and took players like Gravenberch with him. That really would be… Read more »

Gonsterous

Great fought victory on the weekend.

I may be wrong but this unbeaten run is kind of reminisent to that of the unbeaten run under emery. We arent playing great and though we are getting dominated and outplayed, we are still picking up positive results and being defensively solid

Thank you and goodnight

Can I just go on record and say personally I felt Nuno was doing an amazing job at spurs and I was sorry to see him leave 🤣 #reinstateNuno

gnarleygeorge9

Steve Bruce to Tottenham 😛

englandsbest

Levy not selling Kane to City for £100 mill rates with Wenger not selling Sanchez for £60 mill.

Signing Conte makes some kind of sense if Joe Lewis plans to sell THFC.

Fabregoat

You need to praise Partey more. A solid Gilberto Silva performance from him, he snuffed out most second balls and was everywhere.

China1

‘Allardicci’ LMAO

Don’t take his name in vain. He has the greatest win record of any England manager in history – 100%.

Habesha Gooner

I can’t believe people still underestimate Antonio Conte after all the titles and his credentials. What impresses me most about him is his ability to get every drop out of his players. Tottenham will improve under him and it is not good news for us. He might even help convince Kane to play football again for this season. Anyway we have chosen arteta it seems and I hope it doesn’t bite us in the ass.

DigitalBob

Fabregoat – When fit he really is a world class midfielder. As long as he’s not overused I think he’ll be key to any progress the team makes over the next few seasons.

Granit is the past imo, and shouldn’t be put back in the team on his return in the new year.

Jaroda

Anyone else think that 17 points from 10 is par for the fixtures we’ve had. I predicted 16 so maybe slightly better than expected.

Jaroda

Next 10 games:
Ars v Wat
Liv v Ars
Ars v New
MnU v Ars
Eve v Ars
Ars v Sou
Ars v WHU
Lee v Ars
Nor v Ars
Ars v Wol
5 wins 3 draws 2 losses = 18 points, I reckon.

raptora

Leeds: “He’s a cheque book manager at heart ” His first job wasn’t Juve. Three of his first four jobs were in Serie B clubs. This is a guy who has promoted two different teams from Serie B to A. He won Inter the title with a total NET spent of £135m over 2 seasons. That’s around £60m per season. Inter’s max pts total in the last 10 years was 72 pts, he got them to 82 pts in his first season and 91 pts in his second. Chelsea won the title with a rampaging Victor Moses looking world class.… Read more »

Dissenter

Haabesha
No one is disputing that Conte is not a world class manager
What’s also indisputable is that he brings a tanker=load of bile along with him and will, poison the well very quickly, typically in the summer transfer window, if he doesn’t get his way.
Why is that none of the traditional big teams that needed managerial changes last summer went to Conte?
It’s almost like dining with the devil it seems. He’s good but clubs aren’t exactly lining up to sign him.

WengerEagle

Why would Conte reject the Spuds in the summer over lacking ambition only to 180 on that a couple of months into the season after fatty Nuno has already pissed on their top 4 hunt?

All part of his masterplan? I.e no European football next season for a title push? 🤣

WengerEagle

As for all of our signings banging, Odegaard most certainly has not. We look better without him in all honesty. He nullifies ESR’s game in the XI.

Jaroda

There’s only one reason why Conte would go to Spurs now having snubbed them earlier in the summer and that would be due to the size of the dump truck full of money being backed onto his driveway. I’d love to see Levy crowbarring his wallet open to do that….

Leedsgunner

raptora

Good points, well made, thank you for informing me.

His record is there for all of us to see… I still don’t see him going to Spurs though. He will want absolute power and control over his players and transfers and Levy will not want to give him that, especially not at the beginning at least… fair enough?

Jaroda

Has anyone ever seen Conte and John Travolta in the same room?… just asking.

Dissenter

WE “Why would Conte reject the Spuds in the summer over lacking ambition only to 180 on that a couple of months into the season after fatty Nuno has already pissed on their top 4 hunt?” A It’s not fun being out of work B. Spurs are as desperate as can be and will accede to more of his demands C. He’s come to realize that none of the traditional big clubs don’t want the drama that comes with Conte. d. A,B & C are correct What’s going on with your boy at United:-) Don’t think it’s just OGS though,… Read more »

raptora

Leeds, Conte: “I look at projects and I’m ready to stay at home if they don’t convince me. I like difficult challenges but if there is something with a club that does not convince me, I prefer to say: no, thank you.” Why the fuck would he touch anything spursy is beyond me. As reliable of a source Fabrizio is, I hope he is wrong. Odds will be against Conte to succeed. I’ve also booked him to join us once this rookie experiment is over once and for all. Conte improved on Inter’s record point haul in the last 12… Read more »

TR7

During summer there was this saga of Harry Kane which probably deterred Conte from joining Spurs or may be he was waiting for either Arteta or Ole to get the sack. With Arteta and Ole not going anywhere and Kane staying at Spurs he probably has decided to take the job. I think Nuno got the sack only after Conte said yes to them. Earlier it was being said Nuno’s position was under review. Things moved very very fast.

Dissenter

For all he talk about Conte, Mourinho’s performance at Inter from 2008-2010 was more spectacular …and you still wouldn’t be championing Mourinho as world class these days.

Conte won the league in his second season when Juventus were in aa natural decline, same season they hired a rookie manager that was previously scheduled to manage their U-23 team.

TR7

Conte’s mandate would be to get top 6 this season and compete for CL places next season. Of course he has the capability to overachieve. He’s up there with Pep and Klopp for me, truly a world class manager.

Dissenter

One thing for sure, it’s clear the club’s hierarchy lied to the fanbase about the stadium restricting our spending.

How are spurs who have been less successful over time able to commit to spending like this, after building a stadium that’s almost 3x the cost of the Emirates?

#monumentallie

raptora

Dissenter: “Conte won the league in his second season when Juventus were in aa natural decline”

Juventus have only managed over 91 pts 2 times in their history. Conte’s Inter won 91 pts.

Raulishuss

Nobody is going to improve spurs much with that squad is what i reckon.

Tom

Conte has always wanted the United job but since they’re determined to stick with Ole, maybe Tottenham seems a better option than sitting home and sending out messages through agents mutual friends that he wants back in the game.

Not like high profile jobs become available every few months in football anyway.

Conte would make them an instant favorites for the remaining top four spot, and if he gets them there, then who cares if he blows shit up 18 months from now the Mourinho style.

WengerEagle

Dissenter I mean he’s not being played by Ole, who would have you believe the Donny Van De Beek is a Championship level player. Looks clear that Ole is just a yes man and weak willed and he bows to all of the big personalities in the team like Ronaldo, Fernandes and Pogba. Never disrupts the status quo even when they underperform whichnis why Greenwood, Pogba, Fernandes, Ronaldo himself and Maguire are all undroppable. Sancho will come good, you said the same thing this time last year when he had a slow start and were made to look very foolish… Read more »

Dissenter

Breaking news
Conte’s plane is only stopping at London to refuel, enroute to Newcastle.

TR7

Sancho has more.to.his game than Greenwood and Rashford.

WengerEagle

What the fuck are you on about Dissenter? Lol. 2008-10 was well over a decade ago. Mourinho has been shot as a manager since 2015. Conte literally won the league with Inter last season and he finished only 1 point off of Juve in his first season at Inter. With a fairly ordinary team really. Won the league with 93 points at Chelsea in his 1st season. 3 Scudettos in a row at Juve and built the foundations for them to dominate Italy for a decade. Sure you can question his CL performance which has always been poor but having… Read more »

Dissenter

Wenger eagle
You are a bit tetchy about Sancho, which figures because you over-hyped him.

Why do you think Ole isn’t playing him. Is he’s tearing it up in training why wouldn’t a manager play a marquee signing that may save his job?

Have you considered that the premier league is different beast to the premier league. I agree that Sancho will come good, maybe not as soon as this season though. He has to improve his overall game to move forward.

I knew you were going to hang it all on Ole

Dissenter

Wenger Eagle
You’re misreading my posts though. I said Conte’s world class status is indisputable. How much clearer can that get?
I made that point that he came on board at Inter at a time when the Juventus light was dimming, after they appointed a novice and were caught up in Ronaldo drama.

WengerEagle

Dissenter I am not tetchy on Sancho, you were trying to be cute and were fishing for a response and I gave you one. We all know that you love to jump the gun making conclusions on players. You never admitted you got it badly wrong on Sancho last season so why should I 3/4 starts into his Utd career hold my hands up? Ole is an absolute clown so yes, a lot of the blame lies at his feet. He has some of the best attacking players in the PL at his disposal and is getting white-washed 5-0 at… Read more »

WengerEagle

Dissenter

He pushed a decent manager in Sarri at Juve all the way in his 1st season at Inter with a much inferior squad which you conveniently forgot to mention.

If that is the case, what is the relevance in bringing up Mourinho’s 2010 achievements? What had that got to do with anything.

Dissenter

Wenger eagle
Always told you that the Bundesliga was ha-ha, I always have an asterisk on whatever happens there.
Sancho in my opinion, had better numbers because he was playing in Germany. Now that he’s in a tougher league, he’;s taking lots of time to settle in.
Do you think that maybe you may have overhyped him.

Dissenter

WE
Because Mourinho’s record is there for all to see and analyze and he did manager Inter in the modern era. An Inter team that won the CL with lots of oldies on their last legs.
Raptora was laudoing Conte a bit too much so there had to be some balance, hence my Mourinho chip.

WengerEagle

Off topic but Harry Maguire is the single worst CB I have ever seen that cost £50m or more and he cost £80m, wow.

Slow, clumsy, can’t play out from the back, thick as a brick. I could barely believe how bad he looked against Leicester and Liverpool.

And he is the Mancs ‘inspirational leader’/captain, LOL. Have seen more pashun at a library.

Jaroda

https://www.twtd.co.uk/league-tables/competition:premier-league/daterange/fromdate:2020-Dec-20/todate:2021-Nov-01/type:home-and-away/

Anybody looked at the ‘Since Christmas 2020’ league table recently? It’s at 34+ games now and we’re still 4th.

City P35 83pts
Che P35 70
Mnu P35 65
Ars P34 64
WhU P35 64
Liv P34 60

WengerEagle

Dissenter

Is 2 months and 4 starts/450 mins of football a lot of time in your world? Firmino took half a year to get to grips with the PL from the Bundesliga as did Fabinho from France.

Time will tell if I overhyped him, you have to at least give him a season here though before you come out with any sort of I told you so rhetoric.

No doubt you had Calvert-Lewin up there with any ST on the planet this time last year.

WengerEagle

Dissenter

Their Inter spells were a decade apart so again, where is the relevance to 2021 with Jose leading a great Inter side in 2010?

2010 was a long time ago, we had Cesc, Nasri, Arshavin, Van Persie and Almunia between the sticks back then.

Dissenter

Wenger eagle I too think Sancho will come good. His ceiling his very high. I actually think Ollie is giving him cover right now to settle in. I never considered him to be an established wordle which is why I always poured water on those Bundesliga stats you used to put out. use to put out, An established worldie gets off the ground running. To me he’s one of those uber talented players that are signed to build a team around in the near future. He has to build his overall game, not unlike Saka who started out playing at… Read more »

Dissenter

Wenger Eagle
“Their Inter spells were a decade apart so again, where is the relevance to 2021 with Jose leading a great Inter side in 2010?”

When I think of a successful Inter manager, the first one that comes to my mind is Mourhino. His domestic successes can be attributed to the aftermath of the Calciopoli scandal but the European run with that team of oldies still jumps at me.
Just a difference of opinion, that was the only time I ever liked Mourinho, seeing him beat down Barca in the semis.

Rich

Good start for Conte, first 6 league games:

Everton (Away)
Leeds (Home)
Burnley (Away)
Brentford (Home)
Norwich (Home)
Brighton (Away)

Should average north of 2 points a game over that sequence

No sure what was going on with Nuno, he was an experienced manager, only 2 points off 5th, and only 5 points off 4th, Spurs were roughly where they’d be expect to be

He’d also been away to Arsenal + West Ham, and had the return home fixtures to come, must have being chaos behind the scenes to pull the plug so early

Tom

“Tom Why don’t you swallow hard, take a deep breath, and admit you’ve been off the mark with many of your comments on Ben and Aaron and Mikel. That way you may resurrect your reputation as a decent judge of fArsenal and the direction the Club is going.” —————- EB, the only remark re Ramsdale from me was that Arsenal probably weren’t paying 30m for a back up so not sure what there’s is to apologize for. White has been spotty at best on defense and nowhere near the RR moniker bestowed on him by Pedro, or his uncles The… Read more »

Rich

“TR7November 1, 2021 14:26:16
Sancho has more.to.his game than Greenwood and Rashford.”

But our boy Saka is even better than all 3

WengerEagle

Dissenter

I think that 2009-10 Inter season was easily the peak of Mourinho’s career and agree. I just don’t at all see how that bears any relevance to Conte’s work there 10/11 years later.

Conte’s is relevant because it was this year, Mourinho’s was ancient history in comparison.

WengerEagle

I prefer ESR to Saka tbh.

Be interesting to see who ends up the better player.

UTarse

No Arsenal fan worth his weight in salt would be happy or dismissive of conte going to the spuds. He’s a far superior manager than the one occupying our hot seat.

WengerEagle

Rich It on the surface didn’t look too bad for Nuno. They have beaten everyone you would expect them to this season with the exception of maybe Palace and also beat Citeh on the opening day. But they were scraping 1-0 wins together and playing stuck in the mid football that isn’t going to fly at a club more ambitious than Wolves. And the manner of the defeats, they were not just being beaten but absolutely demolished. Battered by us, Chelsea, Palace and United. Two of those at home, conceded 12 goals (3 in each) and scored just 1 across… Read more »

Samesong

WE

Same. ESR looks more confident in front of goal also.

TR7

Rich

No doubt, I have always said Saka is incredibly intelligent for a young kid. Saka, ESR and Foden are all special players.

Dissenter

UTarse
“No Arsenal fan worth his weight in salt would be happy or dismissive of conte going to the spuds. He’s a far superior manager than the one occupying our hot seat.”

What’s the point though?
What will be, will be. We don’t have the power to change it.
Conte will improve them no though, by how much? That’s hard to tell.
We survived Poch and that CL run so we’ll do just fine.

Dissenter

That CL run Spurs had in 2019 drove me to the brink
My spurs friend asked me is if would chose to win the Europa league final in Baku and let them beat ‘Pool in the final of the CL. He said, “surely you can’t hate us that much”
I said I would rather lose to Chelsea if it meant Spurs would lose to Liverpool.
I would have quit football eternally for badminton or cock-fighting, had Spuds won a CL before us.

TR7

Saka is Iniestaesque, probably won’t have great no to show for but will influence most games

Dissenter

It seems Emery is the leading candidate to take over at Newcastle. He’s open to returning to England.

It just gets merrier for us,
Juicy, juicy, juicy

UTarse

Dissenter, add him to the list of worldie managers that have gone to our competitors and made them world beaters… another missed opportunity. We could have had any of pep , klopp or conte but we are stuck in this paralysis of Kroenke ownership and mediocrity.

Rich

TR7

The end product will flow for Saka at some point

When he starts scoring + assisting consistently, he won’t stop

13 goals + 23 assists in 100 senior club games is good going for a 20yr old

3 goals + 3 assists in 13 at international level

The sky’s the limit for Saka,imperative we tie him down, and don’t end up educating him, only for another club to see the benefit of that education

WengerEagle

Dissenter With respect mate, are you not being a tad hyperbolic there? You live in the States, how many Spurs fans do you encounter on a daily basis? I myself admit that I hate United more than Spurs as I am surrounded wall to wall by Mancs over here in Ireland and they were our arch rivals all throughout my youth. No doubt Spuds are an odious bunch and are well up there in my club list hatred but I would be lying if I said I even close to felt the pain that the local North London based boys… Read more »

WengerEagle

ESR for me is more comfortable on the ball than Saka and more intelligent in his decision making when to make a run/release/hold on to the ball.

Saka clearly has more weapons with his pace and versatility but for one specialised position as of now, imo ESR as the CAM is our most important offensive player.

Rich

WE

It’ll be difficult for Smith Rowe to sustain this form for the whole season, go back to last season and it was the teenager Saka who was carrying us for long periods

Saka’s having a little dip, which isn’t uncommon with young players, he played more minutes than any other teenager in Europe’s top 5 leagues last season, then went to the Euro’s

Where we’d be if we hadn’t pulled there 2 gems out of our academy, wouldn’t be a pretty place

They’re both a breath of fresh air, Saka my favourite player since Cazorla

Dissenter

WE
I don’t casually run into Spurs fans on a daily basis but I have a few long term acquittances that are spurs fans. There a footballing community here that endured the time when football wasn’t as popular.
They were vocal during that CL run, lots of group texts and whatsapp taunting

Ther United fans i know are smug, they aren’t as loud as the Spuds.

WengerEagle

Huge fan of both Rich, just slightly prefer ESR. Agree on Saka finding his way still. I actually do think ESR’s level is sustainable though he was one of our best players since January last season too and he is our MVP imo as we look much more potent with him in a central role than Odegaard.

Fair enough Dissenter, for me it’ll always be United. Their supporters over here are the worst, half of them literally do not even watch football but still crow when they win. Luckily have won f all nothing since Fergie retired.

Leedsgunner

Choosing between ESR and Saka?

Why?

I’m glad we have them both in Arsenal colours…

Can you imagine what it would cost to replace them in the current market?

Dissenter

I think Saka is having his post-Euros dip right now. These may be his low points

Great because even his nadirs are still better than the peaks of many players

Samesong

WE
I think ESR can score around 10 goals in this season. Which would be excellent.

I must say this also ESR rarely miscontrols the ball. Almost glued to it.

Samesong

Saka is a local lad round here. I love him went to the same high school as my cousin.

WengerEagle

Samesong

His pass completion rate for a player who spend most of his time in the oppositions half is astounding. 90% this season and 89% last season on decent volume (x30-35 a game).

Guy is immense in possession.

WengerEagle

ESR that is. 3 PL goals already, I would say 10-12 is well within reach and 15 in all comps.

izzo

ESR is the best young CAM in Europe in that age bracket.(UNSELLABLE) would be criminal to ever consider selling him. He and Saka are our future. If we had an in form 30+goal a season Auba we would be topping the table but I don’t see Auba ever recapturing that ability or form. Shame!