10 Games: Where do we stand?

[Gazza Martinez]

Considering we've played without 2 of our best players I think we've done quite well. We seem to have an extra determination and have developed quite a cynical edge as well, something we lacked but imo needed. However, we still give away too many gifts in defense and don't take advantage when we have momentum in a match. With a bit of luck with injuries I think we can get 2nd place and get one of the cups.

 

[DanDare]

TBH I don't really see winning at City as a plus over last season because we beat Liverpool last season away which is basically who City have replaced.

I'm not sure in terms of results we are ahead of last year but in terms of my confidence in the team I am ahead of last year definitely.

 

[Burnwinter]

Cautiously positive.

I'd give Wenger's signings over summer a good report card. They seem to complement the squad not just in ability but in age and temperament, they've arrived without inflated expectations, and they do the job that's asked of them, well.

The squad as a whole is looking very deep, apart from the situation at left back which worries me. And of course, the keeper issue. Once a couple of players return from injury, competition for bench places, let alone to start will be intense.

I think finishing ahead of United would be a good benchmark and that that's about where we're at. We have what feels like an endless run of tricky fixtures between now and December 13 when we go to Old Trafford, but I'd love to see us cut them adrift at their own place.

 

[Humble Rex]

I´d say we are just about as good right now as the PL table says we are. Behind Chelsea, on par with Man Utd and better than the rest.

We have a deeper squad, our new signings look legit, a few players have shown a good degree of improvement.

Will be an interesting season!

 

[squallkid]

We stand at 2 points from each game so far on average.

If we continue on this path we will finish on 76 points so that's not good enough there. Massive improvement needed if we are to win the title

Fa Cup: Hasn't started for us

Carling Cup- We are finally taking it seriously and once we beat Wigan, the cup will be right there in our path, in our grasp and I believe an Arsenal- Manchester United final is on the cards.

Champions League- It is business as usual here, we are doing our usual cruise through the group stages routine but it remains to be seen what will happen once we reach the quarters and possibly beyond, I just want to avoid Real Madrid and Barcelona, I think we can reach the Semis here with a little luck and top performances.

Premier league- As I said, we currently have 2 points per game from 10 games, so we must improve on that front and we will. We can't afford to drop any more stupid points and I would love it if we pushed on from here and went on a rich winning streak beating the likes of Sp**s, United, Chlesea along the way.

Squad-

Defence- Here we are now, we still look a bit shaky at the back overall but the defending has improved in the past three games as shown by the three clean sheets but our goalkeepers deserve some major credit for those clean sheets and maybe our new defending has something to do with the fact that Almunia hasn't been playing, (sell him now Wenger). I would rather we had Squillaci that Silvestre any day of the week and twice on Sundays, he has been a godsend and I shudder to think where we would be if Wenger didn't buy him. Koscielny has slotted in nicely and those two should be our center back pairing until Vermaelen gets back and then we'll go from there.

Midfield- Diaby has let me down, Denilson has pleasantly surprised me, I swing about with Song because one week I want him dropped, the next week he scores a crucial goal for us and puts in a great performance in midfield. Nasri has brought out a lot of "I told you so's" when I get together with my mates. Fabregas has simply been Fabregas, he needs no introduction. Wilshere has simply blown my mind, cant wait until Ramsey gets back.


Up Front- Van Persie is out so what else is new. Chamakh has been a revelation. Walcott has finally stepped up and showed us what he can do, he's no longer usain bolt lite on a football field. He's scoring goals reguarly, dribbling past players, putting in crosses now if he could just stay injury free then that right winger spot is his to keep. Arshavin has been listening to too much katy perry, he's blown hot and cold. Bendnter has continued his good form from last season and Vela just needs more time

All in all

7/10

 

[Eirico]

It's difficult to say much about our start of the season so far imo. We've done fairly well in the PL, but not anything more than that. It looks very difficult to catch Chelsea if they won't be hit by an injury crisis. In the CC and CL obviously we've done very well. I think we will know more of where we stand in the PL after November. We got some tough fixtures this month, and I can see us dropping points in several of those games.

Newcastle (H) after a trip to Ukraine
Wolves (A)
Everton (A)
Tottenham (H)
Aston Villa (A)

Another Black November or a serious push for the title?

 

[GaelForce22]

Agreed with Elrico that it's still too early to say a lot. Injuries and the form of our goalkeepers are going to be the two biggest factors behind how we finish this season.

The main positive so far is the number of attacking players we have in good form, which should mean that games like yesterday are rare (as they were for most of last season). Koscielny looks a brilliant prospect too, but just a prospect at the moment.

 

[Rorz]

I hate Novembers. Looking at those fixtures, we could have a much clearer view by December of whether or not this team is up to winning anything. We need to win at least 4 of those games to keep in touch at the top I reckon, and all of them are potential banana skins.

 

[Raider]

I expected us to be where we are. We've faced Chelsea, City and Liverpool in the first 10 games and we currently have 2 losses out of 10 ( which was pretty obvious lets be honest )

Which then left me guessing it'll either be 6 wins and 2 draws, or 7 wins with 1 draw.

6 Wins, 2 Draws, 2 Losses it is.

For the next 10, which include United, Chelsea Sp**s, and also away trips to Villa and Everton; I'm gonna put my neck on the line and say 4 wins, 3 losses and 3 draws.

The next 10 Premiership games will be huge, I pray we come out of them with 18+ points, as the 10 after should be easy.

 

[otfgoon]

Yep, our second half of the season isn't too bad, we'd have played Chelsea twice as well as United, City, Villa and Everton away by then.

 

[diaby-is-god]

We have some back-bone this season. Some grit and determintation. Our younger players and new transfers play with a point to prove, whilst our more senior players are pulling out all the stops to keep their first team position. We haven't been phisically ***** like previous seasons and injuries look to be taking a turn for the better.

 

[Raider]

We haven't been phisically ***** like previous seasons and injuries look to be taking a turn for the better.

Yeah we have. We were down to only one fully fit centre back in Mid October, that's horrendous.

But the squad is bigger and better this season than last. Wilshere Chamakh and Gibbs are now there when needed, Djourou is back and Ramsey is soon to return.

When everyone is raring to go, our squad will be awesome.

 

[redanddread]

The fact we are still second despite missing Vermaelen and van Persie is a testament to how we've improved.

Hard to argue with this, and Cesc was missing for a couple of the opening matches too. I just hope that our usual luck with injuries stays away now, we would all love to see what the team could if we had some luck with the entire squad staying fit.

I have to say, based on what ive seen so far, this is the most confident ive felt that we REALLY could win something this year. Something ive not felt since, well, 2004/5.

We were pretty good in 2007/08 until our late season meltdown. Unbeaten for 3 months at the beginning of the season.

 

[Y va marquer]

Well we know where we stand – 5 points adrift of Chelsea and on the basis of the game we played against them they are still far stronger defensively and they appear to be physically better equipped for the campaign than we are.

I’d agree that so far we’ve been on a par with United.
Now that they have Rio and Vidic partnership back in central defence I’d expect them to eliminate the lapses that have seen them end up with draws from winning positions but if we continue our own improvement in defence we’ll remain in direct competition with them for 2nd place

Up until now neither Sp**s nor City have shown that they have the consistency to challenge for anything higher than 4th, possibly 3rd, place.

We are relying on maintaining our current PL form and on other teams to take points off Chelsea in order to regain lost ground – it’s possible that this will happen but at the moment Chelsea look ominously efficient and I'm still not entirely convinced that our back 4 + Fabianski are solid enough to steer us entirely clear of trouble.

 

[redanddread]

10 games and the verdict so far?

Inconclusive!

A lot will still depend on injuries.

Also we HAVE to beat MANU & Chelski to prove we can beat the big boys-an opportunity we shall have before the turn of the year.

We are heading into the usual doom & gloom of November. 5 tough away fixture plus one NLD. Lets hope we can make a statement this month.

In the EPL we are definitely in the mix though but Chelski look the team to beat.

In Europe, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea & Inter are the teams to beat. Can we beat any of them........hmmmm, not sure. Maybe, but should have a better idea come end of 2010!

I think we shall win some silverware this season though-even if it is the Carling Cup-it's a start!


We need to make better use of our deadball situations and be more effecient with our crossing. Interestingly we have been quite solid against set plays this season? (Have we conceded a goal from a set piece?)

Lets review again at end of November.

 

[redanddread]

I expected us to be where we are. We've faced Chelsea, City and Liverpool in the first 10 games and we currently have 2 losses out of 10 ( which was pretty obvious lets be honest )

Which then left me guessing it'll either be 6 wins and 2 draws, or 7 wins with 1 draw.

6 Wins, 2 Draws, 2 Losses it is.

For the next 10, which include United, Chelsea Sp**s, and also away trips to Villa and Everton; I'm gonna put my neck on the line and say 4 wins, 3 losses and 3 draws.

The next 10 Premiership games will be huge, I pray we come out of them with 18+ points, as the 10 after should be easy.

I think if we realistically wish to challenge for the title, then 23+ pts out 30 is a must

Also, by now most realise that there are no easy games in the EPL. Some may look easy on paper but reality is very different-yesterday being a fine example.

 

[P_Gunner]

We're doing decent so far, but in my opinion if we are to challenge for the title we should be doing better. We're 5 points behind a Lampard-less Chelsea and on par with the weakest United team of the decade.

Our goalkeeping situation is still a disgrace for a club like us. Fabianski has shown that he could possibly be number 1, but it'll take longer than 4 games to convince me (and in many of these games he wasn't outstanding - just error free).

Clichy has once again generally looked some way off his 2007/8 form, but his last 2/3 games have been an improvement and I just hope for that to continue.

Sagna looks good as always.

Squillaci was a good CB acquisition, but missing Vermaelen could end up causing trouble. Without Vermaelen we have done better than I thought we would, but lets be honest here. Koscielny looks to have a lot of talent, but he's still too inexperienced and error prone and it has blatantly showed in some of the matches he has played for us. I do expect a rapid improvement from him, but I would prefer if our starting CB was a bit more experienced/reliable.

Song started off horribly but is picking up and has looked great in the last 2 games. Wilshere has been a revelation. He's simply been outstanding. I expected him to have a substitute role, but right now in my opinion he's a full fledged member of our strongest starting 11.

Fabregas good as always. Denilson and Diaby have also for the most part been good.

Arshavin has looked poor in games but his productivity speaks for itself. Chamakh has started brilliantly considering it is his first season. Nasri and Walcott also seem to have made huge strides forward in their game. Bendtner seems good as well.

Overall I'd say about 6.5 - 7/10, but thats because in all honesty right now we're not challenging Chelsea for the title, we're just "there". 5 points behind after 10 games played is not something to be proud of for a team that should be challenging to win the premiership.

I do however think we will massively improve during the season as RVP and Ramsey come back and if Walcott stays fit.

 

[bertlb2]

I am happy with our start of the season, given my expectations. We got an easy CL draw and dispatched three weaker opponents with ease. We played a strong CC team (in fairness, because we have more depth) and got away with a big win against Sp*rs, even though the scoreline wasn't as confortable as the performance. In the PL, we sit second, which is great, but it is also because MU, City and Sp*rs hit some bumps on the road. We conceded late at Sunderland, but scored late against Liverpool and WHU. Beatting a big team like City will hopefully boost confidence.

I think the 3 newcomers have been massive successes, so much so that we coped without Robin and Thomas with relative ease. Kudos to Laurent, Sébastien and Marouane.

Kudos to Jack, who is better than expectations, and kudos to Samir, not being called for the WC is really a blessing in disguise. Because of them, Cesc's absence was felt, but we coped pretty well.

There are question marks on the GK and FB positions in my mind, even though some individuals provided some good performances. I would have expected more competition from Kieran and Havard. On the other hand, Johan is doing a pretty good job as a 4th CB.

I believe we need to keep playing our squad players, so that they are sharp when needed. This includes Denilson who didn't feature a lot until the last 2 games. I am pleased we aren't/don't need to play Emmanuel in some unfamiliar spot. I think he is an important player in the squad, but not a backup RW.

 

[Anzac]

Despite the squad looking better on the whole, IMO there are still a number of players who need to perform or prove their fitness this season.

AW has made noises about the impact of the 25 man squad & the need to have what amounts to having virtually 2 starting quality XIs to cope with the quality/demands of 4 comps. For me this means we can ill afford any passengers over 21 yrs in terms of either consistancy of performance/fitness, let alone quality.

 

[progman07]

The West Ham game was very worrying. We couldn't break down a terrible team yet again, and the 3 points were dependant on a lucky goal from the craziest possible combination - Clichy's right-footed cross found Song in the box.

You could say that it was stuff of champions, I think it was stuff of a team who was lucky not to finish without scoring against the bottom team at home.


We won games like this in every single season, the issue is that we also drew many of these, and I think we will this season as well.