Arsenal doesn't have more ball possession against most EPL clubs. There is no secret in Arteta's tactics so everyone probably had figured out by now. His tactics or his ideas have been the same. It is always if he has the right players to implement his ideas. My honest opinion is we overachived this season so far.But once they keep winning…it will happen. Coaches will figure arteta out like they have tried with any team at the top. Things will get harder for Arsenal. No doubt.
Saka is the bigger talent than Martinelli, almost all Arsenal fans would agree here.I forgot about Elneny -- I keep thinking he's on loan somewhere or left the club. Your concern should be Saka. I think he's being overplayed. He may start to feel the effects like Rashford in a season or two.
Martinelli is my fav player on your team. You could see the IT factor even a couple of seasons ago. And for the life of me, I never understood why Arteta played him so sparingly a season ago. Then Saliba too -- I rated both of them more so than a Saka. Yet them seems to be ostricised or something.
yeah that's true, but like a Monopoly board, you took a chance and moved forward three spaces when you signed established winners like Varane and CasimeroYeah and that's impressive considering the fact we are technically 2 and a half years behind in terms of team development
By the eye test I would’ve said they’ve been quite comfortably the best team in the league so far.
Agree with both these points.There’s definitely room for them to improve which is encouraging for them, as they’re not quite at the level of City and Liverpool in previous years in my opinion (eye test and underlying numbers).
Feel we need to be a bit closer than that on their current form,would agree with you if either Odegaard or Partey missed a few gamesI believe that United will win against Arsenal on Sunday. I also believe City will beat Arsenal twice.
Arsenal has done brilliantly to give itself a cushion and, based on the fact they have points on the board, you have to favour them going into the second half of the season.
However, you can easily see how that 9 point gap between us and Arsenal could be eroded. Nevermind the 8 point gap between them and City.
We threw away an 8 point lead between April 2012 and May 2012. There's a long way to go and Arsenal are not so far ahead of the pack that they're nailed on. This isn't like that Pep season where we lost to City in autumn and it was already done. I don't see anyone finishing 19-20 points clear this year.
If we are 5-6 points behind Arsenal come pancake day, its very much on.
If they keep up their ratio they would be on course for a upper 90s season which was insane to think about just a few months ago.Agree with both these points.
They are definitely a good team but they (understandably) haven't reached the heights of those recent City/ Liverpool sides yet.
Have to disagree here. We comfortably outclassed them. Did you not see the signs last season before we bottled top 4? That potential in the squad is gelling and maturing. The only way we will drop points "regularly" is if we have an injury crisis because our squad depth is by far the worst out of the top 6. Our first team XI is pretty decent to be fair, can't see many weaknesses when you go through it. Would like a lethal goal scorer up top I guess if we are talking about directly improving the first XI.They are a good team, but my good Spurs were absolutely shocking yesterday and gifted them 2 goals. I think it is just a matter of time and a couple of injuries before they start dropping points regularly, but that will not be the deciding factor. City and United will drop points also.
Far far away from it. Arteta's school of football is to have ball possession over his opponents and also created more chances than them. We are not even close to any of them.but they (understandably) haven't reached the heights of those recent City/ Liverpool sides yet.
Yeah they have both brought such a winners mentality into our dressing room,very similar to you guys with Zinchenko and Jesusyeah that's true, but like a Monopoly board, you took a chance and moved forward three spaces when you signed established winners like Varane and Casimero
I meant nothing in Spurs defense, they were lucky to finish with just two goals down, but they were appalling despite Arsenal playing on 60% applications imo and the goals they conceded one was comedy gold the other a solo great goal by your best player. I think Arsenal are one injury away to Odegaard or Saka to look like a different team. White is no RB. the CBs and Zinchenko look solid but nothing special imo. Midfield I thin Odegaard is great and Partey is a top player, however Xhaka is garbe and a bottler. Saka and Martinely are top players but I think Jesus will be missed for sure.Have to disagree here. We comfortably outclassed them. Did you not see the signs last season before we bottled top 4? That potential in the squad is gelling and maturing. The only way we will drop points "regularly" is if we have an injury crisis because our squad depth is by far the worst out of the top 6. Our first team XI is pretty decent to be fair, can't see many weaknesses when you go through it. Would like a lethal goal scorer up top I guess if we are talking about directly improving the first XI.
I believe White plays extremely well in RB and Zinchenko is the major reason of the improvement of our game play this season.I meant nothing in Spurs defense, they were lucky to finish with just two goals down, but they were appalling despite Arsenal playing on 60% applications imo and the goals they conceded one was comedy gold the other a solo great goal by your best player. I think Arsenal are one injury away to Odegaard or Saka to look like a different team. White is no RB. the CBs and Zinchenko look solid but nothing special imo. Midfield I thin Odegaard is great and Partey is a top player, however Xhaka is garbe and a bottler. Saka and Martinely are top players but I think Jesus will be missed for sure.
White is a solid, solid RB for us this season. Hardly puts a foot wrong. Xhaka has been amazing this season just like your Rashford has redeemed himself. Again I'll refer to my point, if we had better squad depth we could have managed the game better yesterday with more quality subs. When our first XI tire, then we can be had at I guess. But IF the first XI (bar Jesus) are able to consistently play most games this season, I can't see us dropping points regularly.I meant nothing in Spurs defense, they were lucky to finish with just two goals down, but they were appalling despite Arsenal playing on 60% applications imo and the goals they conceded one was comedy gold the other a solo great goal by your best player. I think Arsenal are one injury away to Odegaard or Saka to look like a different team. White is no RB. the CBs and Zinchenko look solid but nothing special imo. Midfield I thin Odegaard is great and Partey is a top player, however Xhaka is garbe and a bottler. Saka and Martinely are top players but I think Jesus will be missed for sure.
6 points by pancake day is very possible. Even if we don't win at the weekend. City absolutely have to beat Arsenal twice and, if they do, then it all gets very tight at the top.Feel we need to be a bit closer than that on their current form,would agree with you if either Odegaard or Partey missed a few games
Its definitely Arsenal's to lose. Was in 2007-08 too until relatively late in the day. Arsenal finished 3rd.If Saliba or Odegraad get injured .. It will be tough for them
But I think they are winning the league this year
United is doing extremely well and they are in title winning form at the moment too.I think they are very likely to win the league.
I don't think it's an aberration either, they've been making progress for a long time and really building towards something. Even when the points tally didn't always reflect it, they were putting this together and approached their issues holistically. Their transfer market work has been great since the shift as well, predominantly targeting young players who suit their style of football. Not just in terms of on the ball technical ability, but being able to function well off it in a cohesive pressing unit. I spent years defending Arteta on here, so none of this is a knee jerk assertion, he made plenty of mistakes but when you hire a rookie manager you have to expect inconsistencies. It's not about blind faith but if you can see what's being built towards, and I always felt he was going in the right direction.
Next season will be very interesting regarding United, as they've made brilliant progress under ETH in a short amount of time. Casemiro has turned out to be transformative and along with him he's been able to transform some of the United players who'd been there prior but either looked like they'd regressed or hadn't ever got going. He's been able to do all this without really having a proper striker also.
The first goal was gifted, the second was all about the overloads in midfield because they have a fullback in Zinchenko who inverts and creates massive overloads. Keeping Saka and Martinelli wide caused Conte to play right into Arteta's tactics. When Saka collected the ball for their 2nd goal, it was primarily because of how Arsenal setup to nullify that rigid defensive shape out of possession by Spurs. It seems to me that Conte doesn't know how to change his tactics quickly (when losing), especially when he's facing a better team.They are a good team, but my good Spurs were absolutely shocking yesterday and gifted them 2 goals. I think it is just a matter of time and a couple of injuries before they start dropping points regularly, but that will not be the deciding factor. City and United will drop points also.
The 2 league games against City are key for Arsenal imo, 4 points from them games and you'd have to consider them favourites for the league.The thing about Arsenal's continuing run this season is that for every point of reasoning as to why they won't continue like this, there are even more points as to why all of the teams around them, bar City, won't keep up their form either.
If City don't shape up, then it would really take a proper meltdown from them to see someone else winning the league.
The deeper the pocket of the club the higher ceiling of the team. I still see City has the highest ceiling in EPL and followed by Newcastle.Can't see Arsenal losing it from here. City just don't look good right now. We are playing great and may very well have a higher ceiling long-term than Arsenal, but we are still a year of development under Ten Hag out to seriously challenge for the league. I think it will be more comfortable for Arsenal in the end than many are predicting here - they will have a lot of breathing room.
Yeah it's going to be hard for all the top clubs going forward. Along with Arsenal and United, you have City and Pep. Newcastle have had an incredible turnaround, and if they manage to get top 4 this season the combination of there resources and the prospect of European football will allow them great manoeuvrability in the market. Liverpool and Klopp have proven their pedigree, I imagine they'll have a big summer too depending on what happens with the owners. Chelsea look like they'll spend another billion.United is doing extremely well and they are in title winning form at the moment too.
Everyone in Arsenal is probably surprised and excited by the unexpected title challenge this season, but the short term goals remains to finish top 4 in a consistent basis rather than drift in and out. This is a bigger challenge in my opinion. With consistent CL participation it allows the club to allocate more resource in wage budget and player recruitment.
We probably achieved the goal of this season which is a top 4 finish. Just relax and enjoy the rest of the season.Its so excruciating having to wait till the end of the season, knowing that you would have to win pretty much every match to stand a chance. I'll take half a trophy if it were offered me today.
That's almost impossible to accomplish in today's PL. There are just too many teams that have the means to get top 4 in any given season. Only the club that utterly dominates will be able to count on CL qualification as a matter of course. While Arsenal have done very well this season, they've performed above their means and this is unlikely to last. This is not the natural level of their team, this is overperformance, and you can't really maintain that across multiple seasons.Everyone in Arsenal is probably surprised and excited by the unexpected title challenge this season, but the short term goals remains to finish top 4 in a consistent basis rather than drift in and out. This is a bigger challenge in my opinion. With consistent CL participation it allows the club to allocate more resource in wage budget and player recruitment.
That's not the only factor. I also rate ETH higher than Arteta.The deeper the pocket of the club the higher ceiling of the team. I still see City has the highest ceiling in EPL and followed by Newcastle.
I agreed with what you said and that's why I said it is a bigger challenge. Arteta with Arsenal's resource (same for Spurs) to compete with United, Chelsea, City, and even Newcaste for a consistent top 4 finish is a big challenge.That's almost impossible to accomplish in today's PL. There are just too many teams that have the means to get top 4 in any given season. Only the club that utterly dominates will be able to count on CL qualification as a matter of course. While Arsenal have done very well this season, they've performed above their means and this is unlikely to last. This is not the natural level of their team, this is overperformance, and you can't really maintain that across multiple seasons.
From the start of a season, City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, United, Spurs and perhaps even Newcastle can all finish top 4. Only four of them will, and while Liverpool and Chelsea are currently in the dumps, they could bounce back next season. In fact, I think it's more likely that they return to the top than that Arsenal stay there. I think the Gunners may very well win the title this year, but I could see them slipping right back out of the top 4 afterwards. They just don't have the foundation to maintain this.
Barring the horrific start (0 from 9 points) and disappointing end (defeats to Brighton, Southampton, Tottenham and Newcastle) to last season (where we had a number of injuries to a squad that was yet to have Saliba, Zinchencko and Jesus added to it) - we racked up a serious amount of points. Our performance this season is the result of filling in the holes in our starting lineup that led to those two horrible runs. It's not a flash in the pan, we've been building towards it for a while.That's almost impossible to accomplish in today's PL. There are just too many teams that have the means to get top 4 in any given season. Only the club that utterly dominates will be able to count on CL qualification as a matter of course. While Arsenal have done very well this season, they've performed above their means and this is unlikely to last. This is not the natural level of their team, this is overperformance, and you can't really maintain that across multiple seasons.
From the start of a season, City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, United, Spurs and perhaps even Newcastle can all finish top 4. Only four of them will, and while Liverpool and Chelsea are currently in the dumps, they could bounce back next season. In fact, I think it's more likely that they return to the top than that Arsenal stay there. I think the Gunners may very well win the title this year, but I could see them slipping right back out of the top 4 afterwards. They just don't have the foundation to maintain this.
Even more impressive that he was given time and he’s built a young team and improved players.They just keep winning. Impressive what they are doing right now, all very deserved.
Not sure about Liverpool/Chelsea next season. Could be the start of a drastic fall. Don’t forget if they miss out on top 4 then their transfer targets will probably be completely different. And they might be playing Europa league, but the way things are going they won’t even have that.If they win it will be because City fecked themselves up by adding Haaland and screwing up the dynamic.
Next year will be much more competitive, City will be re-awakened, we'll be even stronger, Liverpool and Chelsea might be back, etc
Arteta and Edu are building the foundation. However just like Wenger's time with Arsenal, if your resource is consistently lower than your competition you can't overarchieve forever.Barring the horrific start (0 from 9 points) and disappointing end (defeats to Brighton, Southampton, Tottenham and Newcastle) to last season (where we had a number of injuries to a squad that was yet to have Saliba, Zinchencko and Jesus added to it) - we racked up a serious amount of points. Our performance this season is the result of filling in the holes in our starting lineup that led to those two horrible runs. It's not a flash in the pan, we've been building towards it for a while.
Our squad is still too thin, to the point where a long-term injury to Partey would be catastrophic. But if we continue to make sensible transfers, I can't see why we wouldn't have the foundations to maintain our levels - we're the youngest team in the league. Partey and Xhaka are our only key players to have peaked. Almost all of our key players are 25 or younger. It's pretty unlikely that Jesus, Saka, Martinelli, Odegaard, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Tierney and Ramsdale are going to become worse players with an extra year of experience under their belt.
That doesn't mean we're going to be successful in future seasons - or even this one. But if we don't win any trophies in the short to medium term it will likely be because other teams improve and raise their level to above ours. It probably won't be because Arsenal spontaneously combust.
Yes I pegged them for a high 70 point finish (and I rated them higher than most) and they've blown my expectations away.If they keep up their ratio they would be on course for a upper 90s season which is insane to think about just a few months ago.
I wasn't knocking you guys as I think you have been the best team in the league so far this season , there are just some issues (squad depth) and at times being a little too passive which make me think you may get caught out later in the season and drop more points than those peak City/ Liverpool sides.Far far away from it. Arteta's school of football is to have ball possession over his opponents and also created more chances than them. We are not even close to any of them.
