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PL: Manchester City vs Arsenal, February 3rd, 16:30 Sky Sports

Will Arsenal beat Bald Fraud FC?

  • Yes

    Votes: 16 16.7%
  • No

    Votes: 66 68.8%
  • Draw

    Votes: 14 14.6%

  • Total voters
    96
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Manberg

Predator
Clearly I didn't forget them or I wouldn't have mentioned the team that drew to Burnley.

I'm sorry to hurt your perceived ambitions but with the way we've been playing lately I don't think we can go on the winning run you think we're capable of this season. We've gotten results just as bad.
 

HBL

Established Member
Saka could not have been worse than most of our team today and might have been better. When your senior pros aren't cutting it, it's not a bad idea to gamble on youth.
No what would've been worse, is one of our youngsters playing in a game like this and having a below par game. Everyone on here would write them off immediately. There was absolutely no reason to play any of them in a game like this.
 

Big Poppa

Established Member
Trusted ⭐

Country: USA

Player:Saliba
Why is Özil even relevant to this?

He can't play in a 442 and if you use two strikers he leaves you even more narrow and exposed in midfield as you'd have to play a diamond or pyramid.

We couldn't even get the ball in the second half. He won't help you win more of the ball when the opposition are dominating like City were. He won't force mistakes or commit players by direct dribbling. He won't stretch defences by making runs in behind. He won't shoot from outside the box. His reaction when he gets tackled and loses the ball is pathetic.

We struggled because we faced the best team in the league at attacking wide areas with an injury-ravaged defence that was already subpar. We need an upgrade on Iwobi out wide but that is not Özil.

We need to reconsider season-long loans in the summer window with no recall clause. Especially when we knew we could only do loan signings in January. With Mkhitaryan's injury and Bellerin out for long term, we could really do with the dynamism of someone like Nelson on the right.
 

Mo Britain

Doom Monger
No what would've been worse, is one of our youngsters playing in a game like this and having a below par game. Everyone on here would write them off immediately. There was absolutely no reason to play any of them in a game like this.
It's not about here. it's about the real world. We protect these youngsters so much that eventually they stop being young and are shipped off on loan to Barnsley before disappearing into the old Vauxhall Conference.

They are either good enough to merit a punt or they are not. Playing first-teamers who aren't up to it is certainly not the answer. We know what they are capable of and the answer is "not enough".
 

Aevi

Hale End FC
Moderator
You just can't read into a game like this. Sokratis, Bellerin, Holding, Xhaka out. Away against last year's champions. We've generally been good in big games so I had some hope but the odds were stacked against us and the outcome was predictable. We just need to look on to the games we should be winning now and get it done.
 

Mrs Bergkamp

Double Dusted
Dusted 🔻
We shot ourselves in the foot by working hard in a way. Our strikers dropped deep and expended a lot of energy in doing so. I can't fault them for that but by doing so,we gave the City defence a day off. I don't know if Pep read Emery's mind in the way he deployed Fernandinho but it worked great for City and we did well not to be totally over run in MF. I can't fault the effort of Guendouzi or Torreira in MF but we need another b2b type that's also physically imposing-someone who can pick up the ball and feed the strikers. We also need a Pires like winger or two so we can leave our strikers up the pitch and nearer goal. It's disappointing given the effort we made to get back level and how well we coped with the threat until the second goal.
Worryingly, how bad can Jenks be not to bench Lichsteiner? As for Iwobi, we must sell this summer. This is shades of Ox,Wishere and Theo all over again where we latch on to positives when it's obvious that they will never be good enough for whatever reason. Even if Kroenke doesn't invest his own money in new players, cancelling the contracts of any player we can't shift (Özil and Jenks) will be a good start in the summer.
 

Big Poppa

Established Member
Trusted ⭐

Country: USA

Player:Saliba
A club with ambition versus a club without any. Changing the manager was never going to be enough.

Criticise Arsenal's management but come on, City have spent half a billion pounds of sovereign wealth.

Sp*rs on the other hand are comfortably ahead of us with zero signings and having spent comparable amounts. We are struggling from a legacy of poor squad management towards the end of Wenger's reign, and it will take more than half a season to fix.
 

al-Ustaadh

👳‍♂️ Figuring out how to delete my account 👳‍♂️
Top 6 games remaining for each top 6 club:

Arsenal: 2 (Tottenham away, United home)
Liverpool: 3 (United away, Tottenham home, Chelsea home)
City: 3 (Chelsea home, United away, Tottenham home)
United: 4 (Liverpool home, Arsenal away, City home, Chelsea home)
Tottenham: 4 (Chelsea away, Arsenal home, Liverpool away, City away)
Chelsea: 4 (City away, Tottenham home, Liverpool away, United away)

Then there's schedule congestion to consider, like Chelsea and City still being in the League Cup, a lot of the others still in the FA Cup, more difficult Champions League ties, etc.

4th place is still attainable. The three teams we're competing against for that spot have twice as many top 6 games to play (I mean, just look at Tottenham and Chelsea's top 6 fixtures). We just need to beat the teams that we SHOULD beat. No more messes like away at Southampton, etc.
 
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Gooner_girl14

Active Member
Why is Özil even relevant to this?

He can't play in a 442 and if you use two strikers he leaves you even more narrow and exposed in midfield as you'd have to play a diamond or pyramid.

We couldn't even get the ball in the second half. He won't help you win more of the ball when the opposition are dominating like City were. He won't force mistakes or commit players by direct dribbling. He won't stretch defences by making runs in behind. He won't shoot from outside the box. His reaction when he gets tackled and loses the ball is pathetic.

We struggled because we faced the best team in the league at attacking wide areas with an injury-ravaged defence that was already subpar. We need an upgrade on Iwobi out wide but that is not Özil.

We need to reconsider season-long loans in the summer window with no recall clause. Especially when we knew we could only do loan signings in January. With Mkhitaryan's injury and Bellerin out for long term, we could really do with the dynamism of someone like Nelson on the right.

We needed creativity, and Özil is still one of our best players at providing that. Iwobi was awful and turned out to be an even bigger defensive liability than Özil probably would have been. I don't think the result would have changed with him but the second half was spineless and embarrassing with no attempt on goal. Our strikers barely touched the ball and often had to come deep, no one could link defence and attack. Özil definitely could have helped with that.
 

Garrincha

Wilf Zaha Aficionado
Trusted ⭐
Of course they are better! Thats what we need to accept as a club & start acting on it tactically / squad wise. Its crazy we dont have any width or wide pace & a focus on countering these big teams.
 

Gooner_girl14

Active Member
That's... not what you want to hear. Sure, they're better, but the mentality you need to have is not to accept it but to go out there and prove everyone otherwise. Maybe the wording is off but I don't like that.

Yeah he said something before the Liverpool thrashing too that isn't what you want to hear from your manager - that he thought Liverpool could go the season unbeaten. So he went into that game not believing we'd win. Realistic sure but not the mentality you want, and a damning assessment of his own players before a ball has been kicked.
 

Mrs Bergkamp

Double Dusted
Dusted 🔻
I find this encouraging in a way. I've often felt that too many of our players think they're better than they actually are. Theo, Ox and Jack spring to mind. Ramsey and Mustafi too possibly. A dose of reality might make shifting the deadwood easier if they have any sense of pride.
 

Mo Britain

Doom Monger
We've got results when we play aggressively. Today we mostly stood off them and waited to see what they would do rather than press them high and try to make things happen.

Their defence was shaky and there for the taking. Unfortunately our defence was shaky and taken first.
 
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