I have a fancy new tool from SofaScore, they are getting SEO by giving me graphs.
Look at this pretty Google-friendly table:
The weekend was good to Arsenal.
West Ham lost to Manchester City.
Chelsea vs United was a draw.
Wolves drew.
Palace lost (lol).
Spurs had their game postponed which usually means the rematch gets wedged in at an inappropriate time.
So what can we take from the table?
We’re 7 points off top heading into December. The last time we were that close after 13 games was… under Unai Emery and we all know how things panned out there, so let’s not get too excited.
We have the same points as 4th placed West Ham. Their goal difference is 10 better than ours, but their form is a little shaky. They were battered by Wolves and schooled away from home against City. Our game against them will be very telling.
There are 5 points between 10th and 4th. What does this mean? That the table should not be taken too seriously right now, though it should still be enjoyed. Remember, we finished 8th last year but we were just 6 points behind European Champions Chelsea in 4th. It’s still painted as this mega failure, even though the reality is it was a prime example of getting the fine margins wrong… namely, totally fucking the first 14 games.
We need to look at the season in phases because there’s every chance we could drop down a few places and still be where we need to be. Leicester is in 10th, Brendan Rodgers is not in crisis or a dead manager because he’s 5 points short of Arsenal. Ralf Rangnick is not coming into a disaster. Antonio Conte can still get top 4.
What we need to avoid is catastrophizing individual results if they are nestled within a good ‘big picture’ run or bemoaning low league standing if the gap is spitting distance thin.
What else is interesting from a stats perspective? Well, we’re up to 7th in shots p/g, just 0.2 behind West Ham who dropped from 15 shots p/g to 14.2 after an away day at a top 2 side. Their 5 shots against City dropped their average by 0.8. If you take out top 3 sides against Arsenal, two of which we’ve played away from home, our shots p/g jumps 18.6%. Why is that important? Because we’re not going to be a top 3 side this season and it’s important to know how we’re dealing with the rest.
So many people are absolutely stewing that I’m splicing stats like this… but can you really criticise me now we’re level on points with 4th place? No, you can’t. I am still revelling in the glory that the much-derided half-season table I pulled actually was predictive.
So let’s get back to it: How about some table splicing?
This is the table since all the new signings were put into place (Phase 2 and beyond).
We’ve accrued the same amount of points as Liverpool, City, and Chelsea.
We have the 3rd best defence during that period, despite the hammering Liverpool gave us.
We’re 6th for goals scored.
The new team, so far, is pretty decent and improving.
Is anyone looking at that table still thinking ‘the signings didn’t move the needle’? I hope not. Long may this run continue.
How about this stat:
Only 4 PL teams have a positive goal difference (3 of them are 20+), 3 are even, the rest have a negative GD.
The top 3 clubs are in their own super league. pic.twitter.com/pMQU8DbygT— Gilles 🇳🇬🏴 (@_Grimanditweets) November 28, 2021
Only 4 teams in the league have a positive goal difference! That is something. Should we be doing better? Yes, at both ends. But it gives a bit of context to the situation.
One more fancy graph:
I know player rating scores are a bit of a mess, but SofaScore gets a lot of love for their offering. 5 of our top 6 players are Arteta signings, the other is a player he gave a league debut to. The talent ID that took a battering last season is getting on track, which is great news because he’s going to need to work with his Football Intelligence team to rebuild the attack this January.
Inject this comp right between your toes.
Albert Sambi Lokonga vs. Newcastle (H) 2021-22 pic.twitter.com/3N3aUkxpqL
— ⚙️ (@abduIinho) November 28, 2021
The atmosphere at The Emirates was a bit grim at the weekend by the sounds of it. That’s usually a combo of early kick-off, a lack of beers, and cold weather. But… at least the only folk participating in dickhead behaviour were attention-seekers online.
Not down at Brighton. Their fans booed Graham Potter for an unlucky draw against Leeds. Can you believe that? A team that has bummed around the bottom of the table giving shit to a man who has them playing champagne football sitting at the dizzy heights of 8th – 5 points off top 4. Honestly, it beggars belief.
So, is there any good news brewing for Manchester United? Well, it sounds like Brexit worked some magic for us because Ralf has to go through a VISA process. That means we’ll be left to deal with Michael Carrick, who to be fair, made some big decisions against Chelsea and earned a draw. I’m happy with that, there’s belief in the system for them, but not too much and not too little to see a THROW RONNIE IN THE STARTING 11 type reaction. It’ll be interesting to see if they try and shithouse Arsenal in the same way or do something more expansive.
Saka’s scan news might happen today, we’re all praying for his hip or whatever he tweaked when he scored that goal against Newcastle.
There’s some tasty speculation about how Arteta should deal with his absence. Nuno or Martinelli. For me, it would be very unfair to not give the guy who just scored a Thierry-like goal to seal the weekend game a run in the side. Nuno would give us security and wild unpredictability as a winger, but I’d prefer the guy doing well at left-back to stay there. Arteta didn’t drop Saka to left-back when he was our best option last season, do we think he’ll experiment with Nuno as a winger? Feels a bit Eboue-ish. Remember when he looked like he’d be a good winger before tanking there? I do.
Right, that’s me done for the day. Check out our podcast or the video version below. Give us a 5* review as it’s Christmas.
Also, thanks for not calling me a cuck-shill-big-advertising-sell-out for the adverts. x
Ozil has gone Pierre – what’s the point of your argument? He’s hardly tearing it up in Turkey and I seem to remember he got exceptional treatment from Arsenal when he had his German issues. We got paid back with a sophisticated but undermining social media campaign against Emery. Some sort of dodgy street situation in North London ( that no other player in the UK has ever seem to have experienced) and further silly sarcastic tweets.
Why not bring him back so he can play at Burnley away ? Thought not
Thanks, Danny that was good!
Ray Kennedy – RIP & thanks for your fantastic time in an Arsenal shirt particularly the 70/71 double season
Describing Ozil as lazy, overpaid, lacking commitment, faking injuries to avoid away matches , and the worst signing ever is all fair game even if I disagree with most of them.
Calling him disloyal while at the same time praising Arteta for extreme honesty makes me wonder how some in here manage to cross the street safely without getting run over by a truck.
What was the first thing the club said post Wenger?
Oh yea, cutting the wage bill to a more manageable Europa league level Arsenal belonged now.
Talk about announcing your motives for whatever actions followed.
I was behind that goal up the paxton end when Kennedy headed the winner…all on the pitch at the final whistle .great days.
Ray Kennedy a true Arsenal legend.
I remember that night so vividly. May 3rd, 1971. Glued to the radio with my father.
Five days later we did the double, on my 9th birthday!.
RIP Ray, loved forever.
Pierre
That was a manic night.
Treasure the memories.
Cheers!
Pierre
Criticism of Ozil was totally justified.
Yes, he had sublime skills and yes, there were periods in games where he made everything look so effortless BUT, unfortunately, he became a burden, both on and off the pitch.
Like most Arsenal supporters, I was relieved when he left the building.
Pierre, You are right. I was over simplistic in calling Ozil a passenger. I just didn’t want to re open the Ozil debate in my Ødegaard comment. I remember when Emery was clearly trying to get Ozil to work harder on the pitch, at the time he was still an important class player for us.. there was a game where we saw Ozil really ,trying hard, hustling more than usual. Emery took him off early that game for some reason, and Mesut was clearly annoyed. After that Emery benched him for a few games, and it became a war of… Read more »
RIP Ray Kennedy, I was on “the shelf” when he scored the winning goal to give us the first half of our first double in 1971.
Can’t believe it’s over 50 years ago.
Fan boy Nigel
Sorry you got your undies all twisted up about Ode.
Its folks like you that keep this board the way it is…. attacking and name calling because you dont agree with someones opinion. Please re-read my post regarding Ode.
I dont rate ode. Never have. Been consistent with this since day one. I feel we could have done better.
You love Ode, good for you. As I said, I wish him the best.
Poor Harry Kane can’t catch a break.
50 g/a for Tottenham in all competitions, league leading g/a tally, also a bunch for England as the runners up in the Euros………….ranked 23th in the Balon de oro rankings. Lol
Guns,
I’ll take wishing him the best.
Just don’t be tearing into him as useless if he plays well in possession, pressing, and effort, if he gets knocked off the ball once.
Nasty people here who “don’t rate” a gunner will say he’s sh1t if he doesn’t get a goal and assist every game.
You all know who you are.
Like I said, rewatched Newcastle game and White was excellent in 1st half. Really defending and moving us forward.
But he’s too short!
I love that. It must be Kanes annoying idiot voice turning voters against him lol
Rich,
Willock is lacking only three slight attributes… football instincts, decision making, and a brain.
Other than that he has a bright future.
If Arteta is serious. If he truly sees himself as a future title challenger. Then he will absolutely destroy UTD. You can talk,you can run down pdf spreadsheets all day. At the end of the day. Its a game. Its about winning and losing. If all this process project stuff is real. We will absolutely destroy Manchester utd. We have needed to beat them badly for years. The 8-2 has not been avenged. As a club. As fans. we need this.
Reality Check, football doesn’t work like that. One game doesn’t make us title contenders if we win and it doesn’t make us unserious if we lose.
Vieira has to be the unluckiest manager working, thats the 5th game they’ve lost or drawn due to extra time dramatics this season.
Well Sal that’s my hot take of the day … I declare Crystal Palace’s new manager bounce officially over. 2 losses in a row now.. Only 1 shot on target, today and completely dominated by Leeds.
Sal, when it’s this many you begin to wonder if it’s more than bad luck
Indeed, former Le Grove fave Benteke certainly did his part in taking Palace down as well.
This will really show Vieira’s metal. I can see them tumbling on a losing streak . Form can follow history and Palace have a history of upset’s followed by catastrophic loss of form
Midwest, her my hot take of the day…………Eddie Howe has a constant look of pain on his face.
Either that or he’s constipated.
Emery had some annoying touch line antics but I don’t think I could stand watching Howe grimacing in pain for 38 games when things aren’t working out.
Can’t believe some Arsenal fans wanted him.
Yep, Sal, Benteke makes Danny Welbeck look like a sharpshooter. Have to be careful bringing up Benteke though.. it tends to invoke the wraith of Dariano.
Tom- True.. Eddie Howe.. is really gonna look pained if they are fighting relegation in about 4 months. We will see how forgiving their new owners are.
Oops meant to type wrath… but somehow wriath works too.
So tomorrow I’m looking for a Southampton, Burnley, Watford, Brighton, Everton, Villa…
6 way .accumulator bet. Should pay somewhere around 3 billion dollars if my math is correct.
I think it’s too early to write odegaard off
He wasn’t flashy against Newcastle but effective
Looked like he was playing to instruction
He’s an intelligent player
I think he’ll come good
👆that last post was pretty good, I liked the words and the layout, but none of it rhymed.
Otherwise a good first stab at a poem.
Reality check says: “If Arteta is serious. If he truly sees himself as a future title challenger. Then he will absolutely destroy UTD. You can talk,you can run down pdf spreadsheets all day. At the end of the day. Its a game. Its about winning and losing. If all this process project stuff is real. We will absolutely destroy Manchester utd. We have needed to beat them badly for years. The 8-2 has not been avenged. As a club. As fans. we need this.” You do know Arteta isn’t actually going to play in the game, right? Also, if he… Read more »
west ham brighton should be an interesting bruiser. id put a bet on brighton snatching it
Re mesut ozil I was excited when we signed him. I thought we may see the ozil of old, from his leverkusen days. Running with the ball, taking on defenders, finding assists, tracking back, proving his skill and showing the world he is world class Instead we got the ozil that was integrated into the RM side where he just had to put the ball on a plate for ronaldo Yes we got a few good performances once in a while but the majority of his playing days at arsenal were just lazy, with football the last thing on his… Read more »
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12930602/
Haven’t watched yet as it just got access to it.
I think Palace will get some luck this season, things tend to even out sometimes… over the course of the season
Zach, you a warriors fan by chance?
https://talksport.com/football/993348/
ya guns
don’t follow bball at all now, i live about 10 minutes from oracle/coliseum.
definitely catch highlights, curry is in a class of his own
that article is rthat gab maghaeles and his buddy got stuck up by bandits and gab socked the guy and took his baseball bat!
I recommend this video on netflix. Watched it last week.
Gives me more understanding of the life and struggles he went through.
Heartbreaking to see him tear up throughout the film
https://www.netflix.com/title/81074673
PELE
kinda lost the last bit of interest i had when they moved.
i used to go a lot. not much since the prices went 10x. used to get very decent seats for $40 a pop, 20-25th row
Oracle arena. True home of the warriors.
You in oakland Zach?
I saw the shit warriors in 2005, 4th row seats versus the lakers. At that time I was dating my wife ( soon to be ex)
Saw Kobe drop 47 points on them, about 15 feet away from me.
Utterly amazing experience.
I also hate the new arena. I took my son last season and it was shit. Sterile
Plus the hot links and drinks are better at Oracle
that’s awesome guns. my years were like 06-09. saw a bunch of games when they were 8 seed and upset the mavs. that thug team w steve jackson, montae- a lot of fun. Baron Davis king of style lol. a kid o went to high school with was baron davis’ backup at ucla. they transitioned the plan from losing every game in the 4th to winning every game in the 4th mark jackson turned a big tide there. fun times. feel you on the sterile vibe. oracle was our highbury. hopefuilly what’s going on now turns the emirates into a… Read more »
those years when the nuggets had that thug team too w carmelo, jr smith as 6th man, cant remember the bruiser forwards they had- super fun rooting against kroenkes garbage teams haha
you’re following them this year though i bet guns
ya ive been in oakland since 12-13 somewhere in there.
i like the look of this kid tyler adams, evidently he’s a gooner…
Yea the new stadium remind me of Emirates.
Blah
Like the analogy with Highbury…
Curry and this new team are really doing great this year….
Gonsterous I agree that his languid style just wasnt what we needed , but 3 times FA Cup winner ! plus if Wenger had done something in 2015/16 instead of just signing Cech we wouldve ended up winning the league . Prime Ozil was a dream #10 but if you put Aubameyang up front in that team of Walcott Sanchez Cazorla Ozil Ramsey we’d have won the league . Not his fault. Odegaard meanwhile is trying to play 2 different roles under Arteta , one is to press high and other to initiate attacks from deep . I really think… Read more »
Gabriel was attacked in his garage by muggers in August? Then he went out and played for us the way he has done. Club legend already.
English cant do a mugging properly, Magalhaes is from Brazil.
Congratulations Barbados! Wales should follow their lead
Guns
will be interesting to see how a playoff run looks there
Draymond will never win you games on his own but will make you lose plenty.
grrrr
“White had his best game in an Arsenal shirt, doing what he was advertised to do this summer: pass the ball forward, carry the ball forward, and so on. He led all players with 474 progressive yards passing, made 9 progressive passes, had 11 passes in the final third, led all player with 5 carries into the final third, led all players with 369 progressive yards carried, led all players with 12 progressive carries, and was dispossessed just twice. Really great game from him, he made it look so easy, almost like a training game.“ That’s from “the spread sheet… Read more »
Those White stats!… it’s what I was talking about seeing.
As you read each stat, just remind yourself, THIS IS A CENTER HALF.
Also part of many clean sheets and good defence overall.
Are any of the people who “are not convinced about White yet” beginning to understand the signing and the price yet?
Clearly this is what Arteta envisioned.
Hate him all you want, the guy is a lot smarter than you about football.
People who watch the game and understand it notice these things, like I did.
Grovers: “he’s still too short!”, “He must grow!”
Tom, that guys is a bang average spreadsheet merchant and I would never post his work here… even though he is NOW on the agenda after using terrible analysis to throw shade at where we were heading.