We won. At Tottenham’s home ground. Kept a clean sheet. Moved to 2nd position in the league. Without 2 of the regulars – our captain and Declan Rice.
And to add to their misery, Spurs drop to 13th. Brilliant, mate.
Team selection was strange but that’s all we had got. Trossard had to cover the midfield in absence of Declan Rice and Jorginho replaced an injured Odegaard.
First few minutes were a bit nervy I must say. Kulusevski failed to score from a tight angle and a minute later, whipped a cross that missed everybody in the box. In 14th minute, Ben White gave the ball in our own area but the extra touch from Johnson went in our favor. We had our first and the most important moment in the game when Martinelli moved with the ball with his blistering pace but decided to shoot instead of passing to Saka who was 1v1 with a defender. That should have been a goal. After that, the first half was just a referee show who went on a mission to award as much yellow as possible. 7 in total, a joint best record of yellows in first half in history.
One of those yellow was for Jurrien Timber who was booked for a foul on Pedro Porro (unjustifiable), but then Vicario tried to intimidate him and Timber grabbed and pulled his shirt. That lad must have some confidence to grab a Tottenham player bigger than him, and at rival’s home ground. Brilliant, yet foolish. We get carded for no reason, and to give the referee one, is a foolish thing. In a single play of game, you can’t be carded twice (except Martinelli couple of seasons back) as per law, he was let go but he should have been more careful. Coming into a game because our backbone Declan Rice couldn’t play due a RED and then trying one for oneself is not a thing you should do.
We dominated more in the second half but nothing great to show except the Gabriel’s goal. Saka took a corner in 64th minute which our CB Gabriel headed into the net. It was a brilliant one and ended the deadlock for us. Another highlight was the Ethan sub. It’s good to see a 17 year old kid coming on the ground against the biggest rival we have, in an away game.
I like these boring games where you know you are most ‘likely’ to win and you do.
Right, that’s all for the day. Sorry for missing out a match post on the NLD, those 2 days of sitting in the swimming pool is what I am still paying for. Season’s changing and almost everyone is out sick here.
We have a Champions League coming this Thursday evening against Atlanta and it would be more fun that playing a mid-table Tottenham team who can’t even qualify to play in the league of Champions. We can at least hope so… See you soon.
I’m really struggling to get excited by the weekend’s result – it was a dire performance in a season of dire performances.
I can’t remember the last match we were in that was a good game of football. There’s plenty to be admired about a team who can go away and grind out a result at a difficult opponent but we look shit whoever we play.
The excuses of course go on and on – Wolves – it’s early in the season, Brighton – we had someone unfairly (my arse Rice was stupid) sent off, Villa – they’re a tough opponent.
I’m bored with it – we look shit, play shit and players look like they’re regressing. 36% possession against a shit Tottenham side is fucking embarrassing, not something to celebrate and certainly not something a team who’s supposedly going to challenge for the title should pass off as we got the win – if City had put in that performance win or not and Pep would have had them doing double training sessions as a punishment.
Marc
100% right in what you say.
Ambarish
How did we dominate the 2nd half with 39% possession? First half was 33%. We got lucky with the goal from a set piece and the ref and VAR being kind.
Let’s see how we do at City and Atlanta? I’m hoping to not have: ‘same shit different day…’
TRVL
See Slott is back on track with a win over Milan, at Milan. Looks like the loss was as you say, an international hangover.
KP
How did your teams do over the weekend….?
Marc—I have to concur with your rather “dire” assessment and I don’t see things changing anytime soon considering MA’s preferred 11, once Merino becomes available, his chosen off-season additions and our continued lack of directness…clearly he’s decided that he cares far less about actually beating top sides with an attractive brand of football and far more about constructing a side that’s less likely to cock things up against the lesser “bus parking” sides…just look at the more recent changes to our size profile…I know that we potted a shitload of goals from set pieces last season, but surely that can’t be the most viable way to break our title drought…at some point soon he’s undoubtedly going to field a team where Rice, Merino and Havertz will be 3 of our most advanced players, even though none of them have a clinical bone in their respective bodies…so get ready for a more cross-heavy game script with a bevy of flopping, so as to rack up fuckton of set pieces and penalty opportunities…that way if we don’t get enough calls he will have an “out” that will always garner ample support amongst those within the tin foil brigade…in the end we’ll likely look far more like Pulis’s Stoke, albeit with100 times the wage bill, than those sides that Wenger and Dein had so meticulously constructed with the beautiful game in mind
Tony—as I suggested on the previous thread Slot’s biggest task will be how he manages/massages the increasingly fragile ego’s of his most senior stars, TAA, VVD and Salah…none of them have any term left on their contracts and although they were saying all the right things leading up to the season, it was always going to get messier once the season began
I believe that this international break was always going to be somewhat problematic, especially for players of their ilk on expiring contracts, as they were undoubtedly going to face a myriad of questions about their respective futures, which might not have occurred within the much more controlled/insular environment of club life…these sort of sticky situations could have a decided impact on their performances immediately following the break…case in point, when I watched Salah on the weekend he just seemed off, like he was pressing too much, which resulted in a lot of selfish/poor play within the final third
problem is it would have been incredibly difficult for Slot to sub him off, as it would only exacerbate matters…now the win over Milan will certainly ease some lingering tensions, but it ultimately won’t help him thread this incredibly nuanced needle…of course, winning tends to be a cure-all, but watch the fuck out if they have even the smallest of rough patches…I feel for him, especially when it comes to Salah and TAA, as things were souring long before Slot arrived on the scene
TRVL
I hadn’t looked in the contract direction; I just concentrated on the players’ game time. Makes perfect sense what you’re saying. I thought Salah was back to his cunty arrogant self at the weekend that was detrimental to their play and incremental to their losing 3 points.
TAA seems to have settled more than Salah under Slott. Obviously, the RM tapping up by the media could well be destabilizing for him, but Slott is the right guy to help TAA use this season as a show window to get the biggest fee. I feel TAA is about the team and himself, whereas Salah is all about him being bigger than anything. It affected his form last season, and could well be counter productive for a big money move if he acts up like he can this season.
If I were Slott, I’d think about getting rid in the Jan TW if Salah doesn’t see what’s really best for him and the team pronto.
It’s weird, TRVL, I want Slott to do well because he’s a nice guy who is clearly a talented manager. Paradoxically, I don’t want him to finish above us, so there’s a limit to how well he does. Above Spuds and Chavs is fine for this season.
Your Marc’s address I agree with you both, and it’s why I’m so negative. Would I be happy winning the league with this kind off football, if that were at all possible?
Yes, obviously I would, but the one nil to the Arsenal GG era was far more exhilarating and breath taking getting and keeping their 1:0 wins. When we scored we had good hope we could keep a clean sheet. Arguably, with the Euro trophy you could say GG was our finest with Wenger a close 2nd for his first decade, but with the better football.
Wenger was a choker on the biggest stage pure and simple. GG had big pockets to fill for his retirement. Shame that! Still, Rioch gave us DB10 next so a real silver lining in GG leaving the club.
Now we have the opposite of Wenger’s and GG’s best football: anti football.
I accept the game has change and evolved, but we have to endure the same boring right centric attacks that create few goals in open play, so we have to rely on set pieces.
The season always evens up, I’m sure we’ll have a good goal disallowed at some stage of the season losing us 3 points or the next CL stage.
Winning against Spuds at their home is always special and is a good enough reason to celebrate. We can criticize a lot of things while celebrating :))
Feeling bad for the poor lad ESR. This would have been his moment with Odegaard sidelined for some more days and he could have got starting place in playing XI. We needed a competition to Odegaard, it was foolish to sell ESR and loan Vieira and not have anyone to rotate with our captain.
I can still understand the other 2 places in midfield, Jorginho + Partey can happen. Rice, Merino and Havertz can play if needed. But that RCM is a worry.
Cheers to Ethan Nwaneri, let’s hope he does well for himself and the club because we would need him a lot more than what Mikel has anticipated.
Hi Tony
I travelled up to Flint with the ‘travel club’s, all eleven of us. My second visit there this season but County lost his time to the other and arguably weaker team that shares this ground. In that corner of Wales they all sound like scousers which is a little disconcerting.
After a promising start, it’s looking a bit difficult to score, a fate that befalls many teams at all levels. Another game away this Friday though at Aberystwyth (easy for me to say, boom
boom) which should be winnable.
Anyway, probably bigger news on this forum at least is that two of the kids and I are going to the Bolton game next week. Tickets ‘only’ 30 quid. My first return to N5 since beating Leeds in the Carabao also a few years back.
Ambarish – I’ll take some pics if you’d like them. Any sorts of shots in particular or just as many as possible. I’m looking forward to seeing some of the younger lads and the second string although the injury list will probably grow before then and they might ask me and junior to play. We’ll take our boots in a carrier bag anyway…
I think we can add Manure to the upset mix. Not to win anything, but to be a pain to get points from. They seemed to click in the 2nd half in their last league game.
Home and away Manure will be a much more different prospect this season compared to their disheveled last season.
By the time we host Manure Dec 3rd after a very tricky November it’s going to be interesting to see how the Manure game pans out.
Who will have improved the most by then and be the form team?
Only moving to the top spot is going to improve us currently from 2nd with 10 points and 5GD.
Manure are 4 points behind in 10th position with 0-GD and 6 points.
Have you got any thoughts on this TRVL? I wanted Ten Hag for us and I’m impressed the way he’s kept his head above the choppy waters at the turbulent United.
TH is not out of the woods yet, but he’s got them starting to fire with a touch of Ajax about their quick counter attack play.
De Ligt is a player I liked from his early days – once he settles and the hapless Don’t-You-Know-Who-I-am? Maguire gets retired to the donkey farm, but not in Greece, as they know who he is now.
Initially, I thought TH might have been a gonner and this season would be a another trial and error with the next manager. Looks like I could be way off that early thinking.
Shame because I like seeing Manure suffer – just a little less that the Spuds as in 10/10 for pain level with MU @ 9.5/10…….
Ambarish
ESR was man of the match last weekend. Once he really establishes himself and can maintain fitness he will, no doubt be sought after by top teams.
Tony—the difference being who the fuck spends 3/4ers of a billion dollars to put a blunt instrument of a squad on the pitch…no wonder Jose comparisons were being made by some on Sunday evening…not exactly a winning formula anymore, thus the reason why he’s plying his trade in the Turkish League nowadays
as for ten Hag, he just couldn’t get over the big club hump…he kind of faced a similar problem to that of Unai here, in that he didn’t have the full support of the powers that be, especially when it came to senior players of considerable influence/personnel decisions, which made no sense if they brought him there based on what he had accomplished at Ajax…as such, he, like Emery, became a bit of an easy target for pundits and fans alike…in order to overcompensate for such an uncomfortable situation he created this sort of farcical tough guy personna, which clearly didn’t sit well with many of the players…the fact that he didn’t get sacked in the off-season belies logic
now he did use this as a means to secure considerably more say, but that alone wasn’t going to solve all that ailed them…with Harry, Casimiro, Erickson, Antony, Rashford and Sancho, until the 11th hour, still under contract and unwilling to quietly accept more reduced roles, they’re likely still a few years away from challenging for things…that said, I do like his Ugarte and Zirkzee moves and the fact he started to introduce some academy pieces at the tail end of last season, but until he figures out what to do with his spine, from a DM and CB perspective, they will continue to be a rather inconsistent side
KP
As many as you can. Random ones just suits us better. Thank you.
Good that it’s Boltons and not Spuds, or you would have been the one grabbing Vicario instead of Timber.
NORG
ESR should have been with us. That 30 odd millions didn’t excite me at all.
Seems Odegaard has picked up a ligament fracture (can’t confirm yet), and it would be disastrous unless Ethan picks up.
Ambarish
Ode is out for some time El B has confirmed.
It’s why I kept banging the need for a quality 8 and MF back up drum all off season. We have neither, I asked here what happens if Ode through law of averages get a lengthy spell sidelined, now we are going to find out?
TRVL
I think Manure will be challenging next season but will take a few seasons to win the PL again.
With Ode out for weeks possibly a couple of months – as we saw at Spuds we are toothless in midfield. We only have DMs and zero creative work horses – forget Jorginho – maybe Nwaneri?
What’s your fix for our midfield?
Mine is we’re fcuked if we want to lift the trophy because we didn’t buy right in the summer TW.
Atlanta tonight were a win should galvanize us to go to City. Expect a negative tactical game from El B to try to salvage one point again.
No doubt City will want to improve on their Milan home draw last night.
Agreed Zirkzee and Ugarte are good buys. Zirkzee would have been a good upgrade on Havertz
New post – Champions League format, our draws and my predictions against Atlanta. We haven’t reached a thousand comments on a single post EVER, and today’s the day. #COYG
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsenal-odegaard-injured-atalanta-mancity-33703156