Clearly Xhaka was having a 'mare and Ozil hasn't really got going yet, but overall it seemed to me that we were heading for a relatively routine victory.
What went wrong?
Not really, no. Disappointing and frustrating to be sure, but no disaster.
Mind you, Sellback (as my autocorrect insists on calling him) may have incurred ire once or twice duet to his cack-footed profligacy, I must admit. You're right about Xhaka and his apparent determination to give Stoke the ball, also.
Last edited by Burney; 08-21-2017 at 08:37 AM.
"Plenty of strikers can score goals," he said, gesturing to the famous old stands casting shadows around us.
"But a lot have found it difficult wearing the number 9 shirt for The Arsenal."
There is certainly no reason for losing the plot as it is but one game / one defeat.
One could look at certain elements of the manager’s thinking and wonder what the fúck he was doing, specifically in defensive selections, but you know he is in charge and all that. One could maybe ask if he really has got the midfield balance right and if he has not after so long when he is going to do so.
Thing is, we are both intelligent chaps, so we both are 100% aware that more or less every defeat this season will see a reaction perhaps not in line with the cause, a resurrection of the ill feeling that pervaded last season and a continued questioning of the decision to give the man a new two year deal.
In summary, the season is going to be one long fúcking ball ache.
I can forgive the midfield, if they are taking risks with their passing which can naturally result in a loss of possession. In fact, I want them to do more of it. Trouble is, everyone is obsessed with the process nowadays, rather than the result; people are happy with 70% of the ball, regardless of whether it actually gets you anywhere or not. Mafia bosses seem to be the only men who can demand actual results these days.
Young Danny Welbeck is more difficult to forgive. Has he already forgotten that we just signed a fifty million pound striker precisely so that he would never have to shoot for goal ever again? The man has a big "9" on his back and everything
"Plenty of strikers can score goals," he said, gesturing to the famous old stands casting shadows around us.
"But a lot have found it difficult wearing the number 9 shirt for The Arsenal."
"Plenty of strikers can score goals," he said, gesturing to the famous old stands casting shadows around us.
"But a lot have found it difficult wearing the number 9 shirt for The Arsenal."