I agree on the crossing, that felt desperate.
But 1.48xg from open play and 16 out of 20 shots were from inside the box and that’s away to Inter a very good side.
This will get lumped in as the same as the Newcastle game but it was far from it.
On another day with the run of the green on decisions we win that 1-0 rather than lose it and it gets praised as a dominant mature performance. Fine margins, 50/50 decisions. Doesn’t take away that we’re not playing well and we lack creativity but particularly the second half was far better than what we’d seen recently

Yes, and with white and timber as full backs and Martinelli and Saka as the hardest defensive working wingers in the league you will have more than enough defensively and off the ball. Ødegaard and Havertz hardly shirk hard work and defending from the front either!

I’d like to see that midfield but maybe right now Partey would deserve to be in ahead of Rice. He’s hardly put a foot wrong this season

https://x.com/bbcmotd/status/1854286387 ... -j6VVZXEoA

This goal was ruled out in the CL tonight for a foul by the striker. You’ll see who the ref is

In 4 CL games we’ve only allowed 6 shots on target, 2 of them penalties and 1 was a rebound from a penalty. Were tight at the back but not creating.

Yes putting in crosses against inter has always been a winner since 1963. This was dire. Watch our games and we continually fail to make triangles for the player in possession. We then play it back and across the field very slowly. Forward runs are always down a dry gully. I know Kiwi lives for this stuff but I think we are showing signs of fatigue after 2 hard seasons and I think the players no longer believe. The last transfer period was a disaster and I have a feeling Arteta may have had too much of a say and hence Edu has moved on. Not one of the players we purchased fitted a profile of a young hungry player willing to learn and change. I said the other day it’s starting to have the whiff of Wengers last few years. That was being harsh by me but I won’t say I’m not concerned by what I am seeing.

This was the Villa penalty they conceded.



Us v Bayern.

https://x.com/MusialaEra/status/1854241789772722665

Very harsh on Villa.
There is a law which allows the ref to judge these kinds of incidents against the ‘spirit of the game’.
I always say you can determine whether you are harshly treated by looking at all similar incidents and seeing how the majority are refereed. This is never given as a penalty, we were treated in line with the massive majority of similar decisions, people won’t have heard about it but this happened in Brighton’s game v Newcastle and not a peep from anyone.

If a ref is deciding this is a penalty then we need to pack up and go home the game is over.

Question to the forum.
Would you take a double domestic cup win but 4th in the league and KO of the CL in the QF?
If the answer is yes would you take the same scenario but 5th in the league and no Champions League next year?

I'd settle for scoring a goal in at least one of the next few games at this point.

Try and be realistic Warrior.

A goal before the end of the season perhaps.

A goal from open play in the next decade.

The thing is it wasn't actually a bad performance bar the end product.

I think it shows how we badly misjudged the pressing need for a top class striker or winger (or both) and thought we could get away with what we have for another season.

But that's enough about the US election ...

One of our best away performances this year against a very good side. Lack of goal threat is a frustration

I think the biggest danger Arteta faces isn’t the ire of the fans, but whether the players are losing their ‘trust in the process’.

Missing out on CL next year, to address the question Rich asked, would surely start some like Saliba or Ødegaard to think about what they’re missing out on. Not to mention, dare I say it, Saka.

A winger and striker would be nice but last night showed we actually need a creative midfield player who is comfortable on the ball.

Partey was our best player but the other 2 non existent. Merino looks like the reincarnation of Dani Ceballos and Trossard can’t play centrally in midfield. There was no player of any confidence in midfield who could play on the turn and find a pass.

If we spunked our entire summer budget on Eberechi Eze only we would be in a stronger position than now. We have got the balance of the side completely wrong and are playing George Graham post 91 football right now.

You leave Dani Ceballos alone. He has several CL titles to his name and plays a vital role warming the bench and then coming on to make no difference to the game whatsoever. He's a Madrid legend.

He’s basically the midfield equivelant of Scott Carson at city. Great work if you can get it.

We have limited attacking resources, but why not try something else when things aren't working?

Apart from the ones you mention, Arteta seems stuck on either Martinelli or Trossard on the left, Saka on the right unless unavailable, and Jesus as the emergency attacker to throw on when we desperately need a goal.

However, Jesus has been hopeless in the middle, Jesus has been OK when he plays on the right, but completely so why not try putting him on the right wing and switching Saka to the left?

Or give Sterling a run on the left wing?

Or play proper midfield with Trossard or Havertz up top instead of everyone playing out of position? They're the sort of player who can do well when we are dominating. They are not cut out to survive on scraps and having them both doesn't help our cause.

Hmmm - I have had 4 spammers that I've blocked this past week which is unusual.

The one just now was Russian from a common spam gang.

I let the first one have a run to see what they posted a week or so back. It was just comment stuffing in 3 successive posts for junk domains which I deleted a few minutes later.

The Russian one just now is from a different spam gang though.

It's a Russian origin IP using a German server of junk spam domains for reply addresses.

https://claychoen.top/

Not very high tech. But still, interesting.

Its a big fear if we drop our level. But yet when Liverpool finished 5th not one of their players who won the title 3 seasons prior jumped ship.

Slot has done really well at Liverpool but people forget that this team threw the title away last year far more than Arsenal ever did, we put up the fight when Liverpool crumbled. They also have a hugely settled squad with the backbone of title and CL winners still there. And possibly the biggest difference is they have one of the top 5 players to ever play in the prem right now in Salah. City with Haaland also, these are top class match winners who can turn a drab performance in to an easy win with moments of individual brilliance, we don't have that absolute world level superstar match winner yet. Which makes it all the more wonder how we've kept pace with City and beaten Liverpool these past 2 seasons.

On one hand pundits and rival fans tell us we have to win the league or are expected to win the league, but on the other they tell us we're missing a proper striker and have no cover for our best players. As always the right answer is in the middle, but that doesn't suit click bait engagement

Vieira's loan isn't pulling up many trees. 3 starts all subbed off early, and 5 sub appearances. 1 assist

Here you go:

“Now, I know folks are feeling and experiencing a range of emotions right now,” Harris said. “I get it, but we must accept the results of this election. Earlier today, I spoke with President-elect Trump and congratulated him on his victory. I also told him that we will help him and his team with their transition, and that we will engage in a peaceful transfer of power.”

Stop watching rubbish. Try a comic book, it will do less damage to your mind.

For me the most important part of Trump's victory is the way in which he has brought the working-class of America back to the forefront of politics. Love him, or loath him, he has basically challenged the elite consensus within both Democrat and Republican parties and found a message which is considered relevant by the majority. Batya Ungar-Sargon is eloquent on the subject and worth a short watch, as is Konstantin Kisin. The lesson is obvious for UK politics.

https://youtu.be/2EmeIJRdurA

https://youtu.be/KlFTLhei7J8

Yes. The lack of rotation, the reluctance to change either personnel or tactics is both frustrating and damaging. We are too risk averse. Saka apart, our attackers seem better at the defensive side of the game right now. The needle has gone too far in that direction and we already have excellent defenders and defensive midfielder. There are shades of 3 seasons ago and the dreaded horseshoe. Lots of controlled possession but little threat. And.....can someone take a shot from 25 yards every now and then please?!

There is an elite list of 20 referees, we’ve had 2 of them Oliver and Gillett for 7 out of our last 15 games. Why so high for just two refs? And that doesn’t count the times these two are on var as well.

There are no lessons here. It’s not a victory of bewildering strategy success.

You present people 2 choices and if one is the present choice that they aren’t happy with that they choose option B. It really is that simple. Elite consensus, he literally is the elite.

There are no lessons here only cycles and the next cycle in the UK will turn in 2029. Nobody is winning anymore there are only losers arguing amongst themselves. The outcome is irrelevant

https://x.com/upfrontpod/status/1854471 ... -j6VVZXEoA

Souness talks so much rubbish. We’ve seen British managers given some of the top jobs and they’ve failed every time. They are not getting the jobs because they’re rubbish not because they’re British. Jordan is spot on, if it was true that British coaches are overlooked unfairly in this country then why aren’t so many of them working miracles abroad?

Because of the global elite?

I expect that's a large part of it, but the other thing that stood out to me is that both of Trump's wins have been against female candidates and I wonder if that's significant.

(just to be clear, I mean that in the sense that swathes of the American public aren't ready for a female president rather than implying that female candidates are inferior in any way.)

And obviously race will be a factor for a lot of people too unfortunately. I read yesterday that the US electorate was 85% white*, which seemed on the high side to me, but there's undoubtedly a large white majority.

* and that was in an article which counted "hispanic" people separately to "white". *%^@ me it's depressing even thinking about the lengths some people go to to divide themselves from their fellow humans.

Ben White popped up on the left at one point and created an overload. He and Timber were doing well towards the end giving us width (until Timber was hooked). There wasn't enough of that. Jesus was trying to make things happen but seemed to be getting in the way more than anything else, and Nwaneri again too late to make a difference.

It feels like we haven't really got a plan A for scoring goals at the moment, let alone a plan B.

I also doubt there is such a thing as a 'working class' anymore. I don't think there ever was in the US.

A working class would have organic working class politics and leaders. Republicans peddling insincere populist and ultraNationalist policies just doesn't quite fit the profile for me. If you want to frame it in Marxist terms, it is more a Bonapartist/Caesarist--lumpenproletarian formation.

If there is a lesson, it is that the internet and social media have killed the independent media, and replaced it with echo-chambers, and platforms for billionaire to protect their interests and pollute public option with their worldviews. I don't know if that qualifies as a lesson, any more that finding out you have terminal disease is a lesson.

There was an article on undecided voters in Forbes magazine that highlighted this. This applies to men and women voters alike. They can't quite put their finger on it, but somehow they feel more comfortable even with a senile male orangatang as president than a women. The mindset that men are 'stronger' than women and make better corporate and political leaders (despite all the contrary evidence) is much more strongly entrenched in the US than in most other high-income countries.

Virginia went blue--contrary to your map. It does reinforce the point, though.

I just saw the City result and watched the highlights.
I guess Gyorkeres is now out of our price bracket.

He has a release clause, and is rumoured to be available for less than that at £58m or so. So well within ours and many clubs price bracket

Missed the boat. Surely the summer was the time. Every club in Europe will be after him and he seems destined to go to united now.

The reality in the UK is that at the July election people didn't choose only A or B. Over 42% of those eligible to vote didn't do so at all - no choice made there! And, remarkably, of those who did vote, about 43% went for neither Labour or Tory - the highest ever number of votes were cast outside the traditional two main parties. If you are saying that the cycle will simply return the Tories in 2029 then they are going to have to do something special to lift their vote from the wretched 24% they gained in the summer. It feels to me as if we are heading away from the traditional two-choice politics. As Mr. Zimmerman said, something is happening here and that is what it is.

You are right on one thing - Trump did not have to come up with a bewildering strategy to win so big - his opponents left the field open to him and are astounded when voters then went his way.