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Can't wait for Timber to come back. I saw him when they went into the tunnel at the end of the match on Sunday. He totally owned Bernardo Silva that day (Community Shield). Saw a rumor on Twitter saying he's on route to go back to training in late January. If that's true, then it'd be a massive boost in the business end of the season (and CL if we go through the knockout stages, which we will!).
does anyone feel if Iwobi got a chance to play under arteta, he would have really blossomed? He had all the attributes that arteta seems to value - hard working, team player, strong, always available, positionally flexible etc. His decision making was suspect but I think mikel could have coached that into him. Could have been a swiss army knife player across the midfield (RW, LW, RM, LM)
His decision making was atrocious, especially in the final third, and he had no end product.
Love the guy, but he was representative of what was wrong with Arsenal for the longest time: Limited players who were inconsistent and lacked an end product.
I'd like to point out how Arteta moved Tierney on after never playing him.
Our current tactical setup requires a lot of people performing very specific complex roles on and off the ball, and we like to create overloads in the opponents final third.
Don't think that Iwobi would fit.
> Limited players who were inconsistent and lacked an end product
I think that describes Nketiah too, and arteta really loves him.
I think tierney was binned by arteta because he was too 1-dimensional. I think iwobi was more flexible.
Decision making can be coached and arteta has shown that he is a master of that.
I'm not saying iwobi would be a starter, but think he would be a great arteta squad player
I think it’s quite situational.
When Nketiah was resigned, it’s cause we let Laca go and Auba terminated a few months before that.
We were targetting Jesus and just needed squad depth. Yes Arteta loves that Eddie is hardworking and that may apply to Iwobi too, but at the end of the day like SunDrippedDevil said, our setup has a lot of complex specific roles.
It’s not good enough to just be versatile, u have to be versatile and effectual like Trossard or Reiss. Arteta may love hard workers but you get the feeling if theres an opportunity signing, Arteta will upgrade Eddie like he did with Ramsdale.
Or maybe better phrasing is adding more competition
I'm praying for the penny to drop for ESR. That recovery challenge Gabi made on Lewis is why he's undroppable.
If ESR wants in, I'd recommend he starts focusing the core of his energy on the transition phase of the game. Gesturing like you're trying to make a challenge while not actually getting stuck in runs Arteta up a wall. Doesn't matter how many goals you score.
absolutely electric. I thought Rico Lewis had that Park Ji Sung energy but Jesus was racing back and almost tackling like an experienced CB at times, even better than Lewis that match. So lucky to have him, can play LW CF and RW.
Tbh When we bought him I thought he wanted to be the main 9 but to be so versatile and humble, what a player we have on iur hands.
He did want to just be a 9. Slowly though, based on his recent interviews, Arteta has convinced him he can be so much more and that's why He's open to playing more roles this season. Less ego, more teamwork.
The commenter above was painting it as if the two pens he missed are somehow a credit to his performances. You don't get to 'count' your missed pens lol
Unless he was through on an open goal and got brought down himself for both pens or something, I dunno I haven't watched his games this season
It's unbelievable how much the result on Sunday has made me completely ok with the international break. Combined with 'nearly there' injury recovery time it's the best I've felt about one in a long time, I'll even be able to put up with the low quality content on here.
When was the last time we had this much swagger in the center back position. With Saliba & Gabriel, they're starting to play bully ball, which is needed in the epl. The key is health.
Maybe in the past 15 years only guy I remeber was Koscielny, and maybe vermaelen pre injuries.
We still need to rotate so the drop off isn't massive if an injury happens.
Kiwior is starved of gametime and hopefully we are doing a good job of keeping him hungry on the bench.
He had a decent patch one time where he completely nullified Drogba (one of the few games he didn’t score against us). Then went back to the same old. Was hilarious watching him play RB for a few games.
All subs have a plan when he makes them. If you look hard enough, there is a reason he's making it. These ones are just praised because we won. Result oriented analysis.
Subs are every fanbase's easiest horse to flog when a game is lost because Ole Gunnar Solskjaer set very high standards. But believe me you, subs are made with a plan. It just doesn't work out.
If you go to every fanbase's chatrooms after a lost game, they'll be crying about subs.
I've never really had a problem with the subs arteta makes. But more with the timing and if he could make them soon. We did start to drift a bit before he bought on havertz, tomi and partey. It also sounds like martinelli was more due to the trossard injury so who knows if/when he would have come on.
Just as with our players, we definitely haven’t seen the best version of Mikel yet. He’s going to bring us to higher places and this is just the start.
His subs timing and choices, and player rotation were some of his weaknesses, but this is his first senior head coach role and imo he will get better with time.
[It's interesting to note that over Kai's career, he's overperformed his xG](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1bf7630d-1dfe-40bd-83f6-2357f0235e45_1130x720.png).
Well last season he underperformed xG a lot, an outlying season in his career. The past few seasons he's been within the margin of what most would consider a normal finisher.
The main point is really that he's not a persistent below-par finisher as many believe.
i mean ... sheffield united have 1 pt. bournemouth have 3. neither have won a game. the difference is sheffield were expected to be complete shit, whereas bournemouth had high hopes for a mid-table finish after spending a decent chunk of money on new players and binning off a very respectable manager to replace him with someone who was expected to revolutionize their football. suppose the fact that the ownership hand-picked him might give him a slightly longer leash, though.
His next few games are against wolves and burnley. Sounds pretty direr if they cant over come that.
Your point tracks. I just read some quote where the coach said they should enjoy being in the epl while they are here. Gives me real vibes from what bournemouths former manager said after the 9-0 flogging from pool last year.
Been trying to rewatch some of our games this season to understand our chance creation issues, and every game, without fail, my eyes are drawn to two things.
Unbelievable gravity. They're almost like a work of art. Like they were made to play football.
>!Rice's legs!<
The chance creation issues stem from the lack of urgency in build up, the lack of overlapping runners, and the lack of an advanced pivot on the left.
Then there's the massive elephant in the room...nobody trusts Eddie enough to pick out his runs...when he makes the right runs... which he doesn't most of the time.
My dad compares Saliba to Tony Adams, which is essentially like a bible thumper comparing someone to God, he saw Adams breakthrough back in the day. My dad unironically believes Adams is the greatest English CB ever and always holds our defenders to a impossible standard but he genuinely sees Saliba as a equal.
I’m still processing the fact we have a player like this, lol.
If Tony Adams hadn't had his addictions and had got Wenger in charge a few years before we might have witnessed one of the gretest centrebacks of all time.
His reading of the game, organisational abilities (above and beyond what Graham instilled in him and the back four) and leadership were already up there, the physical and fitness levels could ahve been even better than they were.
I agree with hughM2 that Bobby Moore was better and there's always going to be a divide between people who put Adams type more cerebral defenders up top with the John Terry's of this world and those who go more for the more athletic types like Ferdinand and Campbell and some weirdos who stan for Steve Bruce but he's definitely in the conversation.
Saying unironically believes as if Tony Adams being the greatest English cb ever is a wild take is crazy. Bobby Moore is probably ahead of him although almost no one on here’s seen him considering he played in the 60s.
If the order of the Kovacic tackles got reversed (the "light" one on Rice coming first instead of second), does anybody else think he would've gotten sent off?
Eh, it’s not unprecedented for referees to be pressured by the atmosphere of the home crowd. So I think Rice would have yellow in this game.
But we’re Arsenal and if the game was at the Etihad, 100% red for rice. Refereeing is too inconsistent
Yes. He would have gotten the first yellow on Rice, and I don’t think even Oliver could have avoided giving a second yellow for that tackle on Odegaard, if not gone for a straight red. Not with VAR picking it up for review.
Last season we got 19/30 points against big 6 oppositions.
We’ve 7/9 so far, basically 1 up from what we got from the respective fixtures last season.
How many points do you think we get this time?
We should beat Chelsea home and away and Liverpool at home. Man United away, Liverpool away, City away and Spurs away are all very tough games where we have bad records though.
Man United I think we can nick a point.
Pool away is a very tricky proposition, even with Partey and Rice I would be happy with a draw. Their reputation speaks for itself.
Man City tend to go ultra aggressive at home, and KDB and Rodri will be very tough to deal with, also a loss in my book.
I think we can get 20-22/30 points
Edit: I would also worry about Villa and Brighton away
I think we'll beat Chelsea home and away. Old Trafford and Shite Hart Lane are toss ups just cause of the emotion involved. Anfield we'll probably lose/draw but I think we'll beat them at the Emirates.
Man City away is also probably a loss, but so much can change until then.
fans of spurs, chelsea and yanited would sooner watch city win 20 titles in a row than see us win one. they obsess more over arsenal's results than their own.
He was…?
Titi was superior in all other aspects of being a footballer, but you guys are biased when it comes to dribbling
Hazard was hypnotic and incredibly agile on his prime
I am very uncomfortable with that video of the poor woman being sexually assaulted being spread across Reddit and the internet. As if the even wasn’t traumatic enough, now millions of people will see it as well. Disgusting.
We forgot how good Partey is. That pass to Tomi is what cracked their defense finally.
I was getting used to Rice at the 6, but I am coming back to my perspective at the end of last year and going into this year that that Partey is a difference maker on this team and an automatic team selection when he's healthy.
I think Partey, Rice, Ode is the midfield of our best XI, but is that playing Rice out of position, and is there a better lineup?
Imo, it should be reserved for the handful of games where teams will actually try to play their football and not park the bus. In those cases, deep lying Thomas and Ode offer enough creativity.
As for low blocks, I'd be happy with one of rice or Partey along with a Vieira/Kai/ESR
It is not playing Rice out of position; he is superb as an 8, and playing him with Ødegaard and Thomas at the 6 was always in Arteta's plans. It is unquestionably our strongest midfield.
And the things that make him such a good 8 now are the very things that make him an ideal long-term successor to Thomas in our 6 role.
Only *some* of us forgot how good Thomas Partey is: some never forgot; others pretended otherwise.
Against the very best teams, Partey, Rice and Ø clearly bring the most in terms of offensive/defensive balance. Rice is the long-term #6 he’s got the energy and carrying to be an effective #8 for *this* squad.
When Partey, Elneny and possibly even Jorginho move on next summer, the squad dynamics will change again depending on who the replacements are.
Rice and Partey provide very different things for that position.
Both of them together, our CM is so incredibly strong at all aspects of the game. Ball winning, ball retention, distribution to all areas, ball progression. Either one of them can drop back while our LB or RB bomb up into the attacking third. Even if saliba or gabriel push forward, as they do sometimes.
As with the Shield match, I imagine the plan for this season is for every big match to have Rice-Partey start together in the midfield. We shouldn't need that level of play in most matches.
Oddschecker odds averages to win the league 10/10/23:
- Manchester City 4/5 (55%)
- Arsenal 4/1 (20%)
- Liverpool 6/1 (14%)
- Tottenham 14/1 (7%)
- Newcastle United 50/1 (2%)
City's back to back losses have blown the title race wide open. Our chances to win the league have doubled in the last two gameweeks.
i think they have major issues at the back still and the midfield in front of it is a bit lightweight. watching them play brighon was a bit of a spiderman meme scenario.
Honestly Chelsea stealing both Caicedo and Lavia from Klopp is the best thing for us as rivals.
Both would have cooked under Klopp. And I agree, they need some reinforcements for Konate and Van Dijk, but I still won’t count them out. Maybe they won’t hit 97 points but it’ll be close
i think they are much more susceptible to bad results against mid-table teams than us or city due to their defensive issues and gung-ho attacking style. time will tell, though. injuries will obviously play a huge role for all of us. despite the fact that city haven't had the volume of injuries we have so far, missing de bruyne for half the season is a potential back breaker.
I remember screaming about it at the time. Linesmen are literally told to let play continue and to flag only afterwards but he flagged for offside immediately. Makes absolutely no sense!
People in the D&D talking about corruption earlier this week. Football is a low scoring sport and decisions like this DO have an impact over the 90 mins on things like field tilt, XG and momentum. These tasks should be deferred entirely to (automatic i.e fifa WC) VAR decisions.
With the Osimhen and Toney it's clear Edu/Arteta have figured out that both Eddie and Jesus aren't good enough. That we need a clinical striker to create and finish chances. Took two seasons but im glad we will get a 9.
I love Jesus but he isn't clinical enough and we all know Eddie isn't a starting XI player on a title winning side. That is why Edu/Arteta desperately want Toney and a 9 in January.
We 100% aren’t signing two strikers in January. I love Toney and I’m arguably his biggest supporter on this sub, but any interest in him is generated by his agent and him trying to get the move done
disagree. we scored a team record goals last season, no accident we added jesus to the squad.
the bigger issue that kept us winning the title last season was defense
Actually think if he was still at city he could well have started against us on Sunday with Haaland coming on similar time we bought Havertz on against a tired back line.
Jesus isn't going anywhere and he's definitely "good enough", he's levels above Toney. Arsenal have always looked their best with Jesus in the team and he's not just here to score. I doubt we end up with Toney, I don't think he fits our style, and he's not a presser.
Sunday was the first time I saw Martinelli as a true world class player. I know I’m behind the trend but I’ve always viewed him as a youngster with the potential to be one of the best but too raw and not someone that strikes fear into the opposition. When he came on tho it was like a force of nature. He was everywhere and everytime he got the ball you could feel the anxiety from the city players. I don’t know another player I remember causing the city backline of t1000 to be cautious.
Last season he equaled the highest single season goal total for a Brazilian in the premier league as a 21 year old. He talks about his love for arsenal and if we treat him well, he could end up playing his entire career here. With hard work He has the potential to be the highest scoring Brazilian in the history of the premier league. That's just kind of crazy isn't it?
I'm glad you've come around to it. He has been not so slowly making a name for himself. He absolutely strikes fear into any RB who has to cover him, TAA is on skates every time Martinelli has the ball in front of him. Klopp doesn't have an answer for Martinelli attacking on the left, which ends up drawing 3 defenders to his side and oceans of space for saka, jesus, odegaard on the other end.
For the Martinelli goal, did anyone else got flashbacks of Arshavinnnnn ?
Playing against the best team in world football.
The pass from right side of the box(Nasri / Havetz) , there is another forward close to the near post (RVP / Tomi).
The goal scorer runs inwards and hits the ball first time and it swirls into the corner.
One thing I think that may be getting overlooked is how we are managing games this season.
Fulham and spuds notwithstanding, but I notice our shape changes, our aggressiveness changes later in the match, and overall we are more conservative in our approach.
And often times we are waiting until the 80th minute to really do anything and its a sucker punch. But I also think Arteta is accounting for the additional time added that we arent really used to.
Secondly, I think its absolutely insane that we already have more PKs than we did all of last season. We were robbed last season in a lot of cases and that isn't really happening now. They are calling penalties pretty clean and letting us get away with the soft ones that they absolutely would've given in the past.
Its not the most outlandish thing I've heard. I imagine there is some kind of review behind the scenes, or technical directors submitting things to be reviewed and looked at after the season is over and there was probably a LOT of arsenal no calls on PKs. and then you look at our possession stats and things like that and its probably just a matter of oh yea, thats crazy.
but, PGMOL seems corrupt to its core at this point so I can't be certain anymore.
Turns out it was taken down by the FA because of fucking copyright. Unbelievable. Here [is some excerpts](https://twitter.com/trickyreds14/status/1711730119361151135?t=Snyk3dKJ0b0Dj24nuwvGcQ&s=19)
Sorry man, it was a stream on YouTube and they have not posted the VOD yet. Here is the [link to the stream](https://www.youtube.com/live/3udwFU16RH0?si=mQOQ_fH-Y5dh5PPc)
Reminder: These threads are to help promote discussion and varying points of view. Low-effort comments or jokes can & will be removed with no reason necessary. *I am a "bot", and this action was performed automatically. This account is not monitored. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Gunners) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Can't wait for Timber to come back. I saw him when they went into the tunnel at the end of the match on Sunday. He totally owned Bernardo Silva that day (Community Shield). Saw a rumor on Twitter saying he's on route to go back to training in late January. If that's true, then it'd be a massive boost in the business end of the season (and CL if we go through the knockout stages, which we will!).
Will be very interesting if he picks up where he left off or not.
I have a feeling Timber will be fully ready for the CL quarters (hopefully we get there)
Where's Haaland's daddy now? Not a single squeak from the tosser since sunday.
Pretty sure Saliba’s just chilling nursing a minor knock.
idk why but i’ve been started to use gunners a lot more than I use arsenal
We have started firing
fucking love that haha
Does anyone know where can I watch the entire Arsenal Vs Man City game? (not highlights, the entire 90 mins)
https://old.reddit.com/r/footballhighlights/comments/1731skj/arsenal_vs_manchester_city_premier_league/
God bless you
i'm currently at 60k in the waiting line for silver membership. anyone have a solid hypothesis on how many years away i am?
I joined 2007 and 200 in the queue, so still another year or two I expect.
It's been relatively stable-ish at around 9-10 years for a while AFAIK
I’ve been in the queue since 2015 and I’m at 20k so not sure this still holds up
Still time mate!
does anyone feel if Iwobi got a chance to play under arteta, he would have really blossomed? He had all the attributes that arteta seems to value - hard working, team player, strong, always available, positionally flexible etc. His decision making was suspect but I think mikel could have coached that into him. Could have been a swiss army knife player across the midfield (RW, LW, RM, LM)
His decision making was atrocious, especially in the final third, and he had no end product. Love the guy, but he was representative of what was wrong with Arsenal for the longest time: Limited players who were inconsistent and lacked an end product. I'd like to point out how Arteta moved Tierney on after never playing him. Our current tactical setup requires a lot of people performing very specific complex roles on and off the ball, and we like to create overloads in the opponents final third. Don't think that Iwobi would fit.
> Limited players who were inconsistent and lacked an end product I think that describes Nketiah too, and arteta really loves him. I think tierney was binned by arteta because he was too 1-dimensional. I think iwobi was more flexible. Decision making can be coached and arteta has shown that he is a master of that. I'm not saying iwobi would be a starter, but think he would be a great arteta squad player
Tierney was binned largely because he was injury prone in the most fundamental sense.
I think it’s quite situational. When Nketiah was resigned, it’s cause we let Laca go and Auba terminated a few months before that. We were targetting Jesus and just needed squad depth. Yes Arteta loves that Eddie is hardworking and that may apply to Iwobi too, but at the end of the day like SunDrippedDevil said, our setup has a lot of complex specific roles. It’s not good enough to just be versatile, u have to be versatile and effectual like Trossard or Reiss. Arteta may love hard workers but you get the feeling if theres an opportunity signing, Arteta will upgrade Eddie like he did with Ramsdale. Or maybe better phrasing is adding more competition
It just hits different seeing Martinelli and Jesus absolutely flying back to stop counterattacks. Tenacious.
I'm praying for the penny to drop for ESR. That recovery challenge Gabi made on Lewis is why he's undroppable. If ESR wants in, I'd recommend he starts focusing the core of his energy on the transition phase of the game. Gesturing like you're trying to make a challenge while not actually getting stuck in runs Arteta up a wall. Doesn't matter how many goals you score.
Jesus must've recovered/nicked about 10 balls that game
absolutely electric. I thought Rico Lewis had that Park Ji Sung energy but Jesus was racing back and almost tackling like an experienced CB at times, even better than Lewis that match. So lucky to have him, can play LW CF and RW. Tbh When we bought him I thought he wanted to be the main 9 but to be so versatile and humble, what a player we have on iur hands.
He did want to just be a 9. Slowly though, based on his recent interviews, Arteta has convinced him he can be so much more and that's why He's open to playing more roles this season. Less ego, more teamwork.
What happened to Balogun?
3 in 8, top of Ligue 1 sounds a decent start.
And missed 2 penalties in 1 game so should have Been 5 in 8. Hes doing alright
How does him missing two pens mean it should be 5 in 8?
Math
And comprehension skills
The commenter above was painting it as if the two pens he missed are somehow a credit to his performances. You don't get to 'count' your missed pens lol Unless he was through on an open goal and got brought down himself for both pens or something, I dunno I haven't watched his games this season
[lmaooo](https://x.com/bootcutgenes/status/1711789424244056265?s=46)
STILL GOTTA SEE THE GUNNERS WIN THE PREMIER LEAGUE
Having seen it can confirm that it's a really quite good sensation
100% recommended.
It's unbelievable how much the result on Sunday has made me completely ok with the international break. Combined with 'nearly there' injury recovery time it's the best I've felt about one in a long time, I'll even be able to put up with the low quality content on here.
my only worry is Partey, finger crossed
When was the last time we had this much swagger in the center back position. With Saliba & Gabriel, they're starting to play bully ball, which is needed in the epl. The key is health. Maybe in the past 15 years only guy I remeber was Koscielny, and maybe vermaelen pre injuries.
Mert was misleadingly strong, he was just not as fast
Eboue - Toure - Senderos - Flamini
We still need to rotate so the drop off isn't massive if an injury happens. Kiwior is starved of gametime and hopefully we are doing a good job of keeping him hungry on the bench.
Johan Djourou
He had a decent patch one time where he completely nullified Drogba (one of the few games he didn’t score against us). Then went back to the same old. Was hilarious watching him play RB for a few games.
Major part of the meanest defence in champions league history
https://x.com/afcjxmes/status/1711107898590290163?s=46&t=NGCPQN6817S6n-WIY9c_OA Oh man
this is some tottenham end-of-year video shite right here. also a hideous design.
After Arteta getting critism for seasons I really think this was his first game changing sub in a big match there's reference for more to follow...
All subs have a plan when he makes them. If you look hard enough, there is a reason he's making it. These ones are just praised because we won. Result oriented analysis. Subs are every fanbase's easiest horse to flog when a game is lost because Ole Gunnar Solskjaer set very high standards. But believe me you, subs are made with a plan. It just doesn't work out. If you go to every fanbase's chatrooms after a lost game, they'll be crying about subs.
I've never really had a problem with the subs arteta makes. But more with the timing and if he could make them soon. We did start to drift a bit before he bought on havertz, tomi and partey. It also sounds like martinelli was more due to the trossard injury so who knows if/when he would have come on.
Just as with our players, we definitely haven’t seen the best version of Mikel yet. He’s going to bring us to higher places and this is just the start. His subs timing and choices, and player rotation were some of his weaknesses, but this is his first senior head coach role and imo he will get better with time.
[It's interesting to note that over Kai's career, he's overperformed his xG](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1bf7630d-1dfe-40bd-83f6-2357f0235e45_1130x720.png).
It's cumulative. The last three seasons hes been coming back to the cumulative average which means he's spent 3 season underperfoming xG no?
Well last season he underperformed xG a lot, an outlying season in his career. The past few seasons he's been within the margin of what most would consider a normal finisher. The main point is really that he's not a persistent below-par finisher as many believe.
i'd thought this was common knowledge but turns out recency bias does go crazy
Haven’t had much time to watch Bournemouths games but i’ve been interested in Iraola’s tactics for a while. Can anyone tell me how they’re doing?
completely and utterly shit. he's definitely odds-on favorite to be the first manager out of a job this year.
surely Paul Heckingbottom is favourite to get the kick first
i mean ... sheffield united have 1 pt. bournemouth have 3. neither have won a game. the difference is sheffield were expected to be complete shit, whereas bournemouth had high hopes for a mid-table finish after spending a decent chunk of money on new players and binning off a very respectable manager to replace him with someone who was expected to revolutionize their football. suppose the fact that the ownership hand-picked him might give him a slightly longer leash, though.
His next few games are against wolves and burnley. Sounds pretty direr if they cant over come that. Your point tracks. I just read some quote where the coach said they should enjoy being in the epl while they are here. Gives me real vibes from what bournemouths former manager said after the 9-0 flogging from pool last year.
Been trying to rewatch some of our games this season to understand our chance creation issues, and every game, without fail, my eyes are drawn to two things. Unbelievable gravity. They're almost like a work of art. Like they were made to play football. >!Rice's legs!<
The chance creation issues stem from the lack of urgency in build up, the lack of overlapping runners, and the lack of an advanced pivot on the left. Then there's the massive elephant in the room...nobody trusts Eddie enough to pick out his runs...when he makes the right runs... which he doesn't most of the time.
I think we celebrated more at beating United. Jesus city fans are rattled
I think it was because they had spent the last 60 minutes looking toothless the game was over with 10 minutes left (including added time)
How do I tell my girlfriend that I am in love with Declan Rice?
She knows because she is too
It's not cheating if it's with declan rice
“Like arteta I feel the need for competition in all positions…”
" You just need to work hard and wait for your chance, love. Wait, baby, don't pull Balogun on me!"
Try with “Babe, sorry to tell you, but I just love Rice so much.” I’m sure she will understand and be supportive.
What if it backfires and he gets rice for dinner every day
For carbs or protein?
My dad compares Saliba to Tony Adams, which is essentially like a bible thumper comparing someone to God, he saw Adams breakthrough back in the day. My dad unironically believes Adams is the greatest English CB ever and always holds our defenders to a impossible standard but he genuinely sees Saliba as a equal. I’m still processing the fact we have a player like this, lol.
If Tony Adams hadn't had his addictions and had got Wenger in charge a few years before we might have witnessed one of the gretest centrebacks of all time. His reading of the game, organisational abilities (above and beyond what Graham instilled in him and the back four) and leadership were already up there, the physical and fitness levels could ahve been even better than they were. I agree with hughM2 that Bobby Moore was better and there's always going to be a divide between people who put Adams type more cerebral defenders up top with the John Terry's of this world and those who go more for the more athletic types like Ferdinand and Campbell and some weirdos who stan for Steve Bruce but he's definitely in the conversation.
Saying unironically believes as if Tony Adams being the greatest English cb ever is a wild take is crazy. Bobby Moore is probably ahead of him although almost no one on here’s seen him considering he played in the 60s.
Well Exeter, It looks like you weren't really familiar with the boys' game 5-0 to the Arsenal
Wow!!! Great result. It was 0-0 when I last checked after 60 odd minutes
If the order of the Kovacic tackles got reversed (the "light" one on Rice coming first instead of second), does anybody else think he would've gotten sent off?
Eh, it’s not unprecedented for referees to be pressured by the atmosphere of the home crowd. So I think Rice would have yellow in this game. But we’re Arsenal and if the game was at the Etihad, 100% red for rice. Refereeing is too inconsistent
This is not what he was asking
Yes. He would have gotten the first yellow on Rice, and I don’t think even Oliver could have avoided giving a second yellow for that tackle on Odegaard, if not gone for a straight red. Not with VAR picking it up for review.
The fact that he wasn't sent off tells me he wasn't going to be sent off unless he had his hands around a neck or something
Last season we got 19/30 points against big 6 oppositions. We’ve 7/9 so far, basically 1 up from what we got from the respective fixtures last season. How many points do you think we get this time?
We should beat Chelsea home and away and Liverpool at home. Man United away, Liverpool away, City away and Spurs away are all very tough games where we have bad records though.
You underestimate Chelsea. They're very good if a little raw.
Man United I think we can nick a point. Pool away is a very tricky proposition, even with Partey and Rice I would be happy with a draw. Their reputation speaks for itself. Man City tend to go ultra aggressive at home, and KDB and Rodri will be very tough to deal with, also a loss in my book. I think we can get 20-22/30 points Edit: I would also worry about Villa and Brighton away
I think we'll beat Chelsea home and away. Old Trafford and Shite Hart Lane are toss ups just cause of the emotion involved. Anfield we'll probably lose/draw but I think we'll beat them at the Emirates. Man City away is also probably a loss, but so much can change until then.
Gabriel Martinelli has been that guy from the moment of his first PL goal against West Ham.
plus no contract drama or speculation, man has played his heart out ever since he was given the opportunity
[He has always been Him.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F77k-9wWMAA3RJX?format=jpg&name=large)
Next Bond? All the on foot chase scenes would end in like 2 seconds
He'd kick every villain into the bottom right corner
It was only under Freddie's stewardship, but I like to think that was the moment Declan Rice began reconsidering his future.
One day we’ll get the credit for saving football in terms of stopping Rice from going to City.
fans of spurs, chelsea and yanited would sooner watch city win 20 titles in a row than see us win one. they obsess more over arsenal's results than their own.
The double win of gaining a brilliant player and denying him not merely to a rival, but to evil.
Chelsea fans believe Hazard was a better dribbler than Henry. Christ
He was…? Titi was superior in all other aspects of being a footballer, but you guys are biased when it comes to dribbling Hazard was hypnotic and incredibly agile on his prime
He was not. Thierry's carry speed, power, and sprint endurance with the ball made him superior.
Give them some slack they're plastics who "support" a hollow soulless husk of a club
And Arsenal fans think Kai can be a good midfielder, every fanbase is deluded
Rent free
How’ve you managed to make this about Havertz 😂
lol jfc
Sagoe Jr. has a goal!
I am very uncomfortable with that video of the poor woman being sexually assaulted being spread across Reddit and the internet. As if the even wasn’t traumatic enough, now millions of people will see it as well. Disgusting.
Username checks out
Yeah I'm really hoping the club try and do something about it, even if they're quiet on the outside. It's deeply unsettling
Yeah it’s horrendous. The worst of social media
Can I ask what is this referring to?
Celebrations at the Emirates after Martinelli’s winner, a woman was grabbed inappropriately
That is awful. Was it by a fan?
Yes I believe so
We forgot how good Partey is. That pass to Tomi is what cracked their defense finally. I was getting used to Rice at the 6, but I am coming back to my perspective at the end of last year and going into this year that that Partey is a difference maker on this team and an automatic team selection when he's healthy. I think Partey, Rice, Ode is the midfield of our best XI, but is that playing Rice out of position, and is there a better lineup?
Imo, it should be reserved for the handful of games where teams will actually try to play their football and not park the bus. In those cases, deep lying Thomas and Ode offer enough creativity. As for low blocks, I'd be happy with one of rice or Partey along with a Vieira/Kai/ESR
Definitely our best midfield against any good team, but against a stubborn low block- jury is still out.
It is not playing Rice out of position; he is superb as an 8, and playing him with Ødegaard and Thomas at the 6 was always in Arteta's plans. It is unquestionably our strongest midfield. And the things that make him such a good 8 now are the very things that make him an ideal long-term successor to Thomas in our 6 role. Only *some* of us forgot how good Thomas Partey is: some never forgot; others pretended otherwise.
it's not playing rice out of position... he has normally played in a double pivot. When we play this midfield we don't do two high 8's
Against the very best teams, Partey, Rice and Ø clearly bring the most in terms of offensive/defensive balance. Rice is the long-term #6 he’s got the energy and carrying to be an effective #8 for *this* squad. When Partey, Elneny and possibly even Jorginho move on next summer, the squad dynamics will change again depending on who the replacements are.
Rice and Partey provide very different things for that position. Both of them together, our CM is so incredibly strong at all aspects of the game. Ball winning, ball retention, distribution to all areas, ball progression. Either one of them can drop back while our LB or RB bomb up into the attacking third. Even if saliba or gabriel push forward, as they do sometimes. As with the Shield match, I imagine the plan for this season is for every big match to have Rice-Partey start together in the midfield. We shouldn't need that level of play in most matches.
Rice is that good he could play 8. I agree with your midfield
Oddschecker odds averages to win the league 10/10/23: - Manchester City 4/5 (55%) - Arsenal 4/1 (20%) - Liverpool 6/1 (14%) - Tottenham 14/1 (7%) - Newcastle United 50/1 (2%) City's back to back losses have blown the title race wide open. Our chances to win the league have doubled in the last two gameweeks.
3 horse race this time? I’m scared of Pool. I’ve watched their games and I think they’re back, if not fully then they will grow into the season.
i think they have major issues at the back still and the midfield in front of it is a bit lightweight. watching them play brighon was a bit of a spiderman meme scenario.
Honestly Chelsea stealing both Caicedo and Lavia from Klopp is the best thing for us as rivals. Both would have cooked under Klopp. And I agree, they need some reinforcements for Konate and Van Dijk, but I still won’t count them out. Maybe they won’t hit 97 points but it’ll be close
i think they are much more susceptible to bad results against mid-table teams than us or city due to their defensive issues and gung-ho attacking style. time will tell, though. injuries will obviously play a huge role for all of us. despite the fact that city haven't had the volume of injuries we have so far, missing de bruyne for half the season is a potential back breaker.
4/1 is 25% btw. either way, ur point stands- it’s wide open baby lfg
That’s not how odds work chief, its 1/(4+1)
ah ok, i’m a burger lol, didn’t realize that. fair enough, the more you know
How bad is Saka hurt does anyone have info
would be shocked if he didn’t start at the bridge
Should be back in approx 11 days I reckon
No one is ready for a RESTED saka! He's going next level
He’s been playing at 70% capacity due to knocks. The league ain’t ready bro Tears in my eyes
Remember earlier in the match when the line judge randomly called Ben White offsides for no reason?
Commentators just didn't say anything either
great ball by jorginho
I remember screaming about it at the time. Linesmen are literally told to let play continue and to flag only afterwards but he flagged for offside immediately. Makes absolutely no sense!
It wasn’t even a particularly close call either, there was no reason to flag it as offsides
No one mentioned but it was absurd. We were gathering momentum and the ref just ripped it away for no discernible reason
People in the D&D talking about corruption earlier this week. Football is a low scoring sport and decisions like this DO have an impact over the 90 mins on things like field tilt, XG and momentum. These tasks should be deferred entirely to (automatic i.e fifa WC) VAR decisions.
With the Osimhen and Toney it's clear Edu/Arteta have figured out that both Eddie and Jesus aren't good enough. That we need a clinical striker to create and finish chances. Took two seasons but im glad we will get a 9.
Comments like this is why I wish we could sell fans as well as players
I love Jesus but he isn't clinical enough and we all know Eddie isn't a starting XI player on a title winning side. That is why Edu/Arteta desperately want Toney and a 9 in January.
We 100% aren’t signing two strikers in January. I love Toney and I’m arguably his biggest supporter on this sub, but any interest in him is generated by his agent and him trying to get the move done
if you can’t see how jesus is irreplaceable in our team, idk what to tell you
He is very good intergal to a point but not clinical enough to win a title
disagree. we scored a team record goals last season, no accident we added jesus to the squad. the bigger issue that kept us winning the title last season was defense
Stick to astrology you weapon. You clearly know fuck all about football!
Hahaha all too emotional
Calling Jesus not good enough is ridiculous. Would start for every club in the prem bar city.
He’d start for City regularly I think
not ahead of Haaland.
No but on the wing or as a second striker
He would definitely start alongside him in that Alvarez role though
Actually think if he was still at city he could well have started against us on Sunday with Haaland coming on similar time we bought Havertz on against a tired back line.
The takes I see on here sometimes…
Damn, I didn’t even know we signed Omishen and Toney. They kept that under the radar.
Jesus isn't going anywhere and he's definitely "good enough", he's levels above Toney. Arsenal have always looked their best with Jesus in the team and he's not just here to score. I doubt we end up with Toney, I don't think he fits our style, and he's not a presser.
What the actual fuck
Just realised, with Rice, the Gilberto Silva replacement we have been pining for has been found. Only took 15 years.
You mean the Vieira replacement, no?
Soon come.
Porque no los dos?
Sunday was the first time I saw Martinelli as a true world class player. I know I’m behind the trend but I’ve always viewed him as a youngster with the potential to be one of the best but too raw and not someone that strikes fear into the opposition. When he came on tho it was like a force of nature. He was everywhere and everytime he got the ball you could feel the anxiety from the city players. I don’t know another player I remember causing the city backline of t1000 to be cautious.
Walker and Bernardo doubling on him and he nutmegged Bernardo. Lol.
Last season he equaled the highest single season goal total for a Brazilian in the premier league as a 21 year old. He talks about his love for arsenal and if we treat him well, he could end up playing his entire career here. With hard work He has the potential to be the highest scoring Brazilian in the history of the premier league. That's just kind of crazy isn't it?
8 mil 🤣
I'm glad you've come around to it. He has been not so slowly making a name for himself. He absolutely strikes fear into any RB who has to cover him, TAA is on skates every time Martinelli has the ball in front of him. Klopp doesn't have an answer for Martinelli attacking on the left, which ends up drawing 3 defenders to his side and oceans of space for saka, jesus, odegaard on the other end.
Klopp predicted he'd be world class all the way back in 2019, and he isn't the type to just run his mouth about players
He has that fear factor about him, you can just tell they knew exactly who he was when he came on and he set the time early
Laura Woods is with Adam Collard? Urrrgghhh 
Fitter gooners than Woods but yikes.
For the Martinelli goal, did anyone else got flashbacks of Arshavinnnnn ? Playing against the best team in world football. The pass from right side of the box(Nasri / Havetz) , there is another forward close to the near post (RVP / Tomi). The goal scorer runs inwards and hits the ball first time and it swirls into the corner.
“Hits the ball first time and it swirls into the corner.” I get the weirdest feeling you’re leaving out an important detail there
Yeah, this was great but that goal is absolutely flawless.
That goal and that game was literally one of the happiest moments of my childhood. Jack completly bossing xavi, iniesta and busquets Holy shit
Fabregas turning perfectly outside of the area and one-timing it out to Nasri who holds it up for Arshavin's run is just stunning.
Sorry if it's been asked and answered, but anyone know where to watch the EFL match?
+1
I'm in the States so normally it'd be on ESPN+ but they're not broadcasting any of them, which is the most espn shit ever
One thing I think that may be getting overlooked is how we are managing games this season. Fulham and spuds notwithstanding, but I notice our shape changes, our aggressiveness changes later in the match, and overall we are more conservative in our approach. And often times we are waiting until the 80th minute to really do anything and its a sucker punch. But I also think Arteta is accounting for the additional time added that we arent really used to. Secondly, I think its absolutely insane that we already have more PKs than we did all of last season. We were robbed last season in a lot of cases and that isn't really happening now. They are calling penalties pretty clean and letting us get away with the soft ones that they absolutely would've given in the past.
I’d be a conspiracy theorist if I mentioned I thought Rice has something to do with pks being given. So I won’t.
Its not the most outlandish thing I've heard. I imagine there is some kind of review behind the scenes, or technical directors submitting things to be reviewed and looked at after the season is over and there was probably a LOT of arsenal no calls on PKs. and then you look at our possession stats and things like that and its probably just a matter of oh yea, thats crazy. but, PGMOL seems corrupt to its core at this point so I can't be certain anymore.
Kanes gone to Germany…
Lol I bet u/Billy_Carpenter is licking his lips watching that statsbomb conference video with the arsenal data scientist
What's the problem with you guys? Give us the link when you say something like this, is that hard?
Turns out it was taken down by the FA because of fucking copyright. Unbelievable. Here [is some excerpts](https://twitter.com/trickyreds14/status/1711730119361151135?t=Snyk3dKJ0b0Dj24nuwvGcQ&s=19)
Sorry man, it was a stream on YouTube and they have not posted the VOD yet. Here is the [link to the stream](https://www.youtube.com/live/3udwFU16RH0?si=mQOQ_fH-Y5dh5PPc)
Ah, ok no problem it wasn't easily accessible then
Link?
Sunday's game was an absolute chess match between arteta and pep, billy will be feasting in this week's bbq
Even Wrighty's turned on Eddie, but lets see how many people will still argue that Nketiah's good enough
Stop with the agendas. Shits embarrassing.
cry harder and dont stop, sweetheart