Exactly, which is why yellow cards for persistent fouling are so crucial - especially for full backs in the way we play. We hold the record for the most fouls by an opponent without a yellow card.

What annoyed me was once Palmer got a very deserved yellow card then the ref was itching to book an Arsenal player because the crowd and the chelsea players were on his back. Zinchenko got that yellow. Chelsea were only called up for 7 fouls in the entire game, absolutely crazy stat.

Douglas Luiz has made a superb start to the season, a few windows ago we were close to signing him, 3 rejected bids. He's worth far more now than what we bid back then but I can see a top class def mid still being on our radar soon. Jorginho and Elneny contracts are up at the end of the season and there are question marks over Partey.

In key positions we need to break the bank for top class signings, Rice is a good example and whoever we sign as a striker must also be that. But we must also still be able to pick up great players for knock down prices. We surely don't have the money for every signing to be in the £40m+ range. Makes you realise how easy it is to have no restriction on your budget though. See a tiny weakness in your team or things haven't gone quite as planned, throw another £60m at it until it works.

Rumours are that if Tonali gets his expected ban for betting on football that Newcastle will go for Saudi based Ruben Neves. I kind of want it to happen to see the reaction to Saudi owned Newcastle moving a player from the Prem to Saudi for big money to then move him to Newcastle for what will likely be a knock down price.

The not giving a yellow card when their is an advantage is just so illogical ... and inconsistent. It literally creates a lower standard for late tackles--which are often followed by an advantage because the fouled player has played the ball!

Also, don't you want players to play on rather than flinging themselves to the ground or, as Saka did, just waiting for the whistle?

I'd love soccer to follow the lead of rugby: play advantage but if it does not accrue in the following passage of play (i.e. until they lose possession, no matter how long), bring it back for the free kick. Give the yellow if warranted whether or not advantage accrues.

Yes, I don't remember him being that dominant. He basically had the beating of Cucurella, who should have been carded earlier. I think Chelsea did well to stop us getting the ball to him in the first place.

https://www.football365.com/news/arsena ... erate-help

Arsenal's two biggest fans Gary Neville and Richard Keys say Raya will end up 'costing Arsenal the title!'

I think if you have the opinion that Raya isnt an upgrade on Ramsdale thats fine and can be argued as plausible, but that he will cost su the title is a bit hyperbole. I also find it odd that people say Raya is a 'bag of nerves', if he was a bag of nerves he'd treat the ball like a hot potato and just smashing it down field whenever it came near him. If anything he's too calm!

of course the likes of Neville set their argument out so its almost inevitable they are proven right. Neville says Raya will cost Arsenal the title, so if we don't win the title he can declare himself correct

I think maybe a lot of those clips may have occurred in the final 15 minutes when we were well on top. Chelsea did well to stop our right hand site generally, but we needed to be better to get the ball out to Saka quicker. Saka's link play with White and Ødegaard just wasn't there.
Usually Saka gets in lots of 1v1's of if the opposition double up on him he find the inside ball to an unmarked Ødegaard, or uses Ben White as a 2 v2 option on the overlap. That rarely happened.

Whenever we've used Havertz as a 9 I think he's done really well. Apart from the Community Shield Havertz has only really been used there late in games to seal off a win or press for a winner.

The problem Arteta has is to start him there probably means leaving Jesus out of the team. But there are a lot of games to play in the season so playing Havertz there on occasion can also let Jesus go wide right and Saka get a rest. It does feel like we miss a penalty box presence at times, Jesus can be fantastic in the build up but after he's done his bit it is rare to see him busting a gut to get in the 6 yard box.

Probably the bigger problem is I still don't think we've found the right balance in midfield. Xhaka really gave us that balance, and he was far from a natural finisher or delicate creator in the final 3rd but he understood the role so well he made plenty of valuable contributions there as well is doing his primary role and a key strength which was recycling possession and progressing play.

I think most people agree the 3 we want to see is Partey/Rice/Ødegaard but even that may not have the right balance. I still hold hope for Emile Smith Rowe being able to do a job in one of the advanced 8 positions but I'm not certain he can do it in the same team as Ødegaard.

I think many are underestimating how poor the surface was on Saturday. It was soaked, the ball wasn't running true and I really do think that didn't help our natural game. Add to that so many being off the boil and it starts to make sense. Really good point in the end. As crap as we were, we didn't deserve to lose that from a purely footballing perspective.

I also think Saliba's pen was a pen under the current rules. Harsh, but that's what they're given for these days.

Oh and TG is right about Trossard. Something of the Solskær's about him. Just has this knack which is quite hard to actually explain.

I had the impression that White had a bad day going forward too, which didn't help our cohesion one bit. The ball seemed to bounce off him too often.

Like it or not these are the stats Arteta will like and why Raya is the No.1

He did, but as my other link showed he was instrumental in our equaliser

https://x.com/footballdaily/status/1716 ... -j6VVZXEoA

I think football is pretty universal in saying this was a penalty. Even Dermot Gallagher who will go out of his way to agree with the ref said it was.

Var is not the problem it’s the fools using it, it’s made their decision making worse because they are shying away from a decision because they know there is var but var is also shying away from correcting it

https://x.com/carra23/status/1716526931 ... -j6VVZXEoA

Carragher on Arteta’s switch to 4-4-2, going more direct and it immediately paying off.

Watching a bit of Spurs, they've just gone 1-0 up. Its amazing how smaller teams aren't treating them with more respect and sitting in a low block. The game has an end to end feel about it, Fulham have zero defensive settled shape and are trying to play out from the back and the first pass forward from their defence is getting picked off every time. Just feels like playing directly in to the hands of how Spurs would want their opponents to play. They're obviously playing well as well, but surely 4-5-1, congest the central areas Maddison wants to work in, force them wide and to cross from wide and the two big CB deal with those up against Spurs smaller forward line comfortably.

I think Spurs are benefitting from an element of surprise in the quality of their game and tactical set up this season, in the same way we did at the start of last. Teams didn't expect us or them to be that good so approach games very differently to play Liverpool or City. Our inverted full-back caught teams out, and pushing Xhaka on was new for us last season as well.

Spurs build with just the 2 CB and the 2 full backs not only both invert but often both end up in the forward line. I don't know the solution to counter that but managers will see Spurs play the same way game after game and will come up with a plan against it - just as every tactic in history has had a counter plan for it.

I'd also say the tactic is very reliant on Spurs having their best 11 available. Ben Davies and Emerson Royale as inverted full backs in attacking mid positions? Eric Dier as one of 2 CB playing the ball in tight areas in his own middle third? Oliver Skipp having to knit it all together in the Maddison role? Who scores the goals without Son leading the line?

A lot of similarities to us last season including (annoyingly) the vibrant football they are playing

And Fulham concede a 2nd goal identical to the first. CB for Fulham split wide then when they play the lofted ball in to midfield Spurs win the duel and Son is fed on the edge of the box with no defenders anywhere near him. Ruthlessly punishing the mistakes but just stop playing this way Fulham

To continue the Arsenal of last year and Spurs comparisons, people will come out and start looking at the quality of the sides spurs have played so far. They’ve played 6 of the bottom 8 including the bottom 4. Plus Man U, Liverpool and Arsenal. You can only beat what is in front of you

As Vince said...Wanky.

A statistical comparison of goalkeepers that is filled with passing stats but doesn't include clean sheets, goals conceded or even saves.

Daniel Levy must have been hit in the arse with a rainbow. He sells his 25-30 goal a season striker right at the death, brings in Ange who everyone belittles and sits back and waits for the shitstorm. Spurs fans don’t even mention Kane anymore. The squad doesn’t have much depth but basically in 3months Ange has done the squad clean out that it took Arteta 3 years to achieve. They have still got plenty of the old brigade on the books who they will have to ditch but they are ahead of our reorganisation. Plus he is very good with promoting youth players and is getting the best out of many players. Chapeau to Ange who I must say I like a lot since his Brisbane Roar days. They will have a lot of bad days ahead and he will have some goodwill with fans. At Arsenal we have rebuilt and spent a lot of money. Arteta has had an unprecedented round of support but we are now at the stage that we cannot afford bad days and bad runs. It’s time to produce.

Dear oh dear. I wouldn’t start breaking it the champagne yet Einstein.

Play our game against them again with a fit partey, Rice and Martinelli and see what happens. They don’t have any Europe and contrived to get themselves knocked out the league cup so they are all fit. Let’s see if they manage to maintain the vast 2 point lead they have throughout November and December eh

Did you read the f…en post. Who said anything about them winning anything. They aren’t going to win the league. But they are in a better place than anyone expected. Or did you expect them to be top in October.

I didnt say you had suggested that. Just try not to suck them off quite yet eh that club has a remarkable gift for natural implosion

I suggest you get some professional help. What a strange comment.

Worth noting Ange has spent more in one summer than Arteta spent in his first 4 transfer windows. He also didn’t have anything like the wage problem Arteta walked in to where players had to be given free transferred or played until their contract was up.

Interesting watching the spurs game, spurs gk Vicario had at least 2 awful passes out from the back where spurs gave it away in their own area or very close to it, similarly spurs defence also had some similar moments playing out. Fulham were just not good enough to punish them. The spotlight is on Raya but so many other gk who are receiving nothing but praise are doing very similar things where managers have this philosophy.

Arsenal are rightly under the spotlight more than spurs irrespective of the level of expectation- we will always face greater scrutiny as we’re a bigger club.

Spurs will have the same problem as there are a lot of older players still on the books. No one will want to pay for them. I don’t think he will have had much say in any of the summer purchases. Jota may be the first player he actually advocates for. It would work to our favour if they have a reasonable season and actually take points off teams in with a chance of top 4 such as United, City, Liverpool Chelsea. They weren’t playing well second half of the Fulham game and maybe Palace will take points off them as they have a reasonably quick turn around. City don’t look as good this season and it may well be a season where we can take advantage. But we need to improve.

Huge test tonight in the Champions League. Sevilla are down in 13th in La Liga, but for me that means nothing when it comes to tonight's game, they are pretty much heavyweight European quality. They know how to win in Europe, they are physical and will play the ref at every opportunity and get a noisy crowd on site.

The biggest concern for me is can we match the tempo. I find in virtually every game I watch it is usually quite clear which team are more at it, both in and out of possession, you can see visually which team are sharper and have more intent about them - 9 times out of 10 that team goes on to win the match. The concern for me is whilst we prioritise control and having lots of the ball it is done at a controlled slower pace and to try to then click in to a ferocious high press when you lose it is difficult

It was noticeable as soon as Spurs made the subs Fulham dominated and if they were more clinical could easily have got a draw from the game. The back ups are beyond poor at Spurs. But no european football and KO of the league cup cheaply, they is no excuse for them to pick up injuries.

I agree. And he was much better in the second half. I'm not criticising him because he's a key player and always gives 100%. But both he and Zinchenko so instrumental to us getting forward, so when either or both is off, we lose a great deal of fluency.

Completely agree. Some balance and pragmatism needs to be restored.

Provided we can get a bit of momentum and not pick up any more crucial injuries, I'm not scared of Newcastle. Easy peasy.

Are you TG in disguise??

I think many people aren’t aware he’s actually our most lethal player, if you give him a sniff he seems to score. He’s one of those players Darren that almost never gets let down by his technique. I saw him being interviewed and he was showing the interviewer the different ways of taking a shot and that he could also knuckle the ball I think it’s called where it’s struck in a way it distorts it’s flight. He seems a very technically excellent player.

Something of a dilemma is that Martinelli is the only player in our squad with really explosive pace so is often accommodated to offer that variation in our tactics to trench the opposition because Trossard is a really good player

I think you can looks at stats for guidance and it’s always interesting to compare but if you have an exceptionally high ball retention rate yet let a completely avoidable goal in your net there’s an element of common sense.

Also stats are misleading. I saw the ones Rich posted yesterday that showed more impressive distribution for Raya but how it doesn’t reflect any saves or goal metrics or the fact that Ramsdales appearances were at the start of the season when Arteta was messing about with the team defence in every game.

I think you can have a debate about the keepers and who is better, for me on only what I’ve seen so far it’s Ramsdale however it’s kind of missing the main problem and point which is the new keeper is far from an obvious upgrade which to swap your keeper should be a no brainer that nobody should question. He’s played quite a few games now and I can’t recall thinking “that’s precisely why we got him”

Now the scenario will evolve where the manager doubles down on his decision to bring him in spite of really his performances and the polarising debate will continue.

Trossard is a gem of a player so how do we accommodate him?

He hasn't really impressed starting wide right with Jesus or Nketiah, where I think a good fullback can contain him. I think he's better receiving the ball nearer goal.

I'd say Trossard and Martinelli complement each other well actually. Martinelli not only has pace, he's aggressive and direct. He makes the sort of run that Trossard is so good at picking up, and he can create that little bit of space Trossard needs to have a pop.

If Rice or Emile Smith Rowe can developing into that 8 role, the left side might flourish.

I'd be thinking of starting Havertz or Trossard up front and using Jesus and Saka interchangably on the right.

Hopefully your last point is wrong. I get the feeling that Arteta's sometimes hard-to-fathom player preferences are not born of stubbornness or loyalty. He's pretty ruthless if he thinks a player isn't delivering, and doubt he is swayed either way by criticism.