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I'd politely suggest that George's team also had George.....Quote:
Originally Posted by redgunamo
I'm not knocking Arteta but by every measurable metric we are getting worse. He HAS to look at that and acknowledge it. What have we stopped doing? Or started doing wrong? What happened in Dubai two years ago? Do that again!
We were less of a known quantity when Dubai happened. If you look at the highlights from that season you'll see teams tried to attack us leaving plenty of space in behind. Now, as we know, that's not the case.Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter
There are no amount of tactical changes that are going to radically move the needle here. The fact remains that we need more quality in forward areas.
Carragher said it at the weekend; it's unsual that Arsenal are top because they have no superstars and that none of Arsenal's forward / advanced midfielders would be close to getting into a PL team of the year.
It's a lack of technical quality. Odegaard has that quality but none of the others do. Doesn't make them bad players but it makes them succeeding when faced with a wall of 10 opponents very unlikely.
So Arteta has found alternative options in terms of goals / winning football games.
So just to clarify.... after leading the league for 3/4 of the 2022/3 season we entered 2023/4 as an 'unknown quantity' and nobody used a low block against us.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rich
This season, having served up ****e last year, everyone is digging trenches against us whilst charging forward against everyone else, including last season's champions.
And in 2023/4, presumably they started the season with a low block (where we struggled for goals in tje first half of the season) but then stopped doing it in the second half of the season because it appeared to be working......
Yeah, that makes perfect sense.... :-)
Let me ask you one further question. How do you explain the gigantic disparity between our scoring rates home and away this season? 28 goals at home, 14 away, over the same number of games.
Are teams deploying an even lower block at home than when they come to the Emirates?
And by the way, Carragher's point re the PL team of the year is ridiculous. Declan Rice has appeard in the last two. Odegaard two years running until last season, Saka as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rich
It may well be true that none will get in this year. But using that as evidence that they are not good enough is as stupid as arguing that they are not capable of reaching goal totals that they've reached before.
The question you should be asking is how we keep managing to ruin forward players. Look at Eze with us. Is that the guy we signed? Not even close. He currently looks like a **** Iwobi.....
Maybe we can sell him for ?40m...Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter
To Spurs :-)Quote:
Originally Posted by IUFG
If the handbrake comes off, we'd finish fifth from here :-\Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter
Fifth is fine. I absolutely do not want to finish second again.Quote:
Originally Posted by redgunamo
I sort of get that but not sure the manager would. Or even our supporters #ArtetaOutQuote:
Originally Posted by Peter
See how the thinking has permeated all of us. Always worrying about the worst case scenario.Quote:
Originally Posted by redgunamo
Aeteta has schooled us in risk management just as much as Wenger schooled us all in the true meaning and beauty of football.
It's like I said about Bayern Munich and Real Madrid; it's easy to talk like that if you've got the best team.Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter
Remember when Cristiano Ronaldo had been in Spain for about two weeks before declaring that that league was superior to the Premier League because even small clubs and teams actually try to play football and are not merely about set pieces and long balls and kicking you off the park.
Which, of course, is terrific if you play for Real Madrid! Bayern too with their disgusting banners at the Emirates. "We don't want to be like the Premier League!" or some such self-serving guff. Good Lord, imagine having some actual competition, a competition worthy of the name rather than that Bundesliga farce.
We are not those people, we are the Arsenal.
About that......Quote:
Originally Posted by redgunamo
What does it mean to win the league if you're Bayern, or Real, or even Celtic?
Is it even worth celebrating? As an achievement is seems to sit alongside me turning up on time for work.
Doesn't it get boring?
Most peoples don't appreciate the fact that the competition itself is the point, the thrill; not the winning.Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter
Only the English, because we love to play above all else; even if we have to lose in order to encourage others to play, we happily accept it.
It doesn't get boring because football is good, regardless of who wins. You have a few beers regardless.
I can agree with the beer part. But success and failure make the beer taste different, and there's no escaping that...Quote:
Originally Posted by redgunamo
Sure, but it's still beer. Indeed, maybe beer is the success.Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter
As Leonard Cohen said, you are locked into your suffering and your pleasures are the seal.Quote:
Originally Posted by redgunamo
But he never won a league title, what does he know.....
Right. Good man, that Lenny.Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter
So in football, everybody gets a beer, so everybody wins. Except the actual winners who get champagne.
Even Wenger never appreciated this truth :-\
See, he still believed in beauty in its purest form. An idealist. An artist.Quote:
Originally Posted by redgunamo
Those guys never get their round in :-(