Nketiah's poor form has highlighted our lack of purchase of a striker, but for me it is a selection issue. I'm not sure if the stats back this up, but my impression is that Eddie really doesn't contribute to our buildup play. He ball retention and passing is average and he's also often the weak link when we break. Those are crippling weaknesses for a team that plays as we do. We are so much better when we select a technical player up front (Jesus, or I agree, Martinelli) or Trossard, Emile Smith Rowe or Havertz to play as a false nine. So I think we have the players to make our forward line work. We just have to select the right ones.

Not that you would have heard it at all in the very pro Spurs media but they spent just shy of £250m this summer, and more than Arsenal

Yes my City comment was slightly tongue in cheek - nothing seems to affect the level of their performance.

In all honestly we couldn't have asked for a kinder CL draw, and the way the fixtures have fallen we have 6 home games after CL games, I think the next post-CL games are Wolves, Sheff Utd, Brentford, Man City and Brighton - even though the last two are tough they'll also be playing in europe that week so no excuse there

To be fair, the improvement from the turgid mess of last year is impressive, although they are limited up front still.

Right now and without any doubt from me the best midfield we could play is Partey/Rice/Ødegaard - they are by far and away the 3 most talented players in those roles. I think you could play Rice or Partey as the deepest midfielder but I maybe prefer Partey and release Rice on the left side a bit.

Arteta struck a nice balance last year with Xhaka being neither defensive or attacking. This year he's gone with 2 very attacking players in the 3 and its really harming the ball progression up the pitch - and even though it was supposedly the weaker part of his game Xhaka's attacking output looks better than any of the more attacking players we're putting in that position.

Yep, what Postecoglu has managed to do to them in a short space of time is very good, and is also particularly damning on Conte.
They're depth is appalling though, they have lots of players but the drop off in quality is stark. Lots of deadwood still hanging around spurs that I would be quite happy if they had to take a run of games. Any other CB is a liability, no creativity other than Maddison and I'm quite surprised they've scored as many as they have with Son as the only realiable goal-scorer, because Richarlison, Kulesevski, johnnson and Soloman are all a bit meh. Kulesevski scored his first goal in 27 games the other day - very little scrutiny on him for that in the media though which shows they operate at a very different tier to the elite clubs

There’s no way playing Rice in the xhaka role plays to his strengths. Hes all about cover, ball retention and winning duels and really that means he’s the one needed to be deepest. Then the alternative is to play partey in the xhaka LM8 role who has never played there. I feel he would be better than Rice but possibly not suited.

Feels to me our best line up has vieira in it (apart from the city game) and the message needs to be sent to Havertz and Partey they have to play their way into the reckoning

In the DHD camp for Wednesday btw. Play a vastly weakened side as it doesn’t matter if we go out and probably helps us

Play Havertz, Tomiyasu,Nketiah, nelson,Emile Smith Rowe and kiwior and a complete bunch of kids

If arteta involves Saliba, Jesus, saka or Ødegaard even as subs then he’s out of his *%^@*** mind.

When Raya pulled off that fantastic save and the camera cut to Ramsdale very obviously applauding it Sky (carragher i think) made a big deal of it like Ramsdale was doing it through gritted teeth. Talk about being damned if you do and damned if you don't. Ever since Raya played all we've heard is Ramsdale is going to be unhappy, ex-pro's are telling him to leave straight away. So Ramsdale showed an over the top sign of support for his colleague in goal and Sky have a go at it - it is agenda setting again, pre-determine your narrative and then wait for the moment you can use it

Agreed it doesn't play Rice to his strengths but I think he'd still be better in that role than anyone else currently, so probably would Partey.

It is the gaping hole in our starting 11.

Lots of praise for Udogie today, for me he had a mixed game, started terribly, was at fault for the first goal, nearly gifted a second with a pass back - the stats shows he won only 50% of tackles and duels, dribbled past twice and committed 4 fouls including a crude yellow on Saka. Much better later in the game as Spurs finally started doubling up on Saka and Saka himself tired and felt the kicks he'd had - but lets not pretend he had Saka in his pocket.

Over the last 2-3 seasons the player who has genuinely kept Saka quiet is Ake - and that's about it

Injury news:
Rice back injury not serious confident he'll be available for City
Martinelli and Trossard to be available for City
Partey ahead of schedule - was aiming for the October international break

Looks like we might have to get through the next 2 with a bit of a thin squad.

The team I'd play in the league cup v Brentford:
Ramsdale, Walters, Tomiyasu, Kiwior, Sousa, Jorginho, Vieira, Nwaneri, Nelsen, Emile Smith Rowe, Havertz. Not a chance in hell Arteta plays this team.

Team I expect Arteta to pick:
Ramsdale, White, Saliba, Kiwior, Tomiyasu, Joriginho, Vieira, Havertz, Nelsen, Emile Smith Rowe, Nketiah

More links to Toney in January. If we want more clinical strikers then I don’t think Toney is any more clinical that Jesus, he offers a definite plan B though

I would think of giving Emile Smith Rowe a go at being the focal point. He has the twinkle toes and he can score. Worth a punt.

Eddie has 3 assists in 95 appearances..

https://www.premierleague.com/players/1 ... tiah/stats

It’s correct he’s just not contributing to the team at all aside from the finishes he provides inside the penalty area.

I think you are correct it’s a selection problem. If Nketiah wasn’t English and come through the academy would he have got so many minutes and so much persistence. Nope, He would have been binned a long time ago. Most of his goals come from lurking around the 6 yard box and getting change out of unorganised lax defences which is fair enough but what about away at city where you need to build attacks and they are super organised.

I think Trossard was unlucky that when we started him up front v Fulham arteta was in experimental mode with the defence that affected the team. Just play Havertz there when Jesus isn’t around and get the wingers and midfielders close to him to get knock downs and lay offs

When or if City gets knocked out of the league cup, that cup is wide open and winnable for us. I think City will have to be near their best to beat Newcastle.
However, we will have a tough time at Brentford as well. Even if we score early, tend to not be able to or work hard enough to kill games off of late.

When we left for the Totts game on Sunday, I noticed that my STs hadn't updated from the PSV game. I have little confidence in the new system anyway so I went straight to the ground - even though I hate getting there too early.

I told the woman on the gate who told me - cheerily - that it happens all the time. She advised that I contact the Club and give them as much grief as I could. She said they'd send me cards.

So much for the digital future.

…and another marketing triumph.

I bought a shirt from the Club for a mate in Holland – the new fluorescent yellow. The purchase all went well, I paid the increased worldwide shipping charge and the shirt was despatched the next day. That was 5 weeks ago.

Turns out the shirt’s been sitting in a Belgian depot for 4 weeks. The Club have been apologetic but pretty useless. Eventually they gave me a new tracking number. So I did their job for them. I got the message “Customs clearance is delayed due to missing or inaccurate customs documents”. That was it. No hint from anyone what additional information was required and no clue on who to send it to.

The club then gave me a phone number, though they wouldn’t phone it themselves. No point really since it was a wrong number. Bit of detective work and I established the correct number. That took me to a robot who referred me to the website which gave me a message I recognised….

You can’t phone anyone at The Arse these days so each of these interactions takes a few days by email. So 5 weeks on, I have no clue what is required or by whom to release the shirt. Nor does the Club. There are clearly issues with deliveries to Europe post-B***t but there absolutely nothing to warn anyone on the website and nobody in the Arse Marketing Dept has a clue - or gives a *%^@, apparently.

Blinding.

Looks like we’re going to be missing a lot of players for Brentford and quite possibly the Bournemouth game as well.
Brentford is less bothersome as many of the injured lads may have been rested anyway.
Timber, Trossard, Martinelli, Partey, Rice, Saka all out currently.

I really hope we see some younger players in the league cup. Arteta has been really reluctant to use them and it’s a shame as there are some talents there.

Am I alone in thinking that we should be going for better than Toney as our striker signing? His physicality etc would obviously improve us but having just gone for Rice as a real difference maker in CM it feels like we need to be in that level for our elite striker of we’re really going to compete for the biggest prizes. Someone like Osimhen may feel unrealistic but I thought Rice was too due to price and competition from other big clubs.

We’ve had 3 penalties so far this season and one given and taken away v Man U. We’re obviously facing much more defensive minded teams who are giving us more respect this season so perhaps a route to goal in packed penalty areas is to get ourselves in there much more, dribbling and getting more crosses/shots off for the hand balls. Maybe it’s just an anomaly for now

https://x.com/funwithflares/status/1706 ... -j6VVZXEoA

Good story from Gary Lewin former Arsenal Physio here

Wow. Clearly overmars.

Explains why we were so keen to let him and manu go

Petit's knee was fecked too and he wouldn't have surgery. Mind you, at the time it felt like we had completely broken a great team.

Strange situation in Napoli where their official TikTok social media account posted a video openly mocking star striker Osimhen, I’ve not seen the video but some are saying it has racist undertones as well.

Osimhen’s agent now talking about suing Napoli. Go on Arsenal rescue him from this club!

This explains the missed penalty against Bologna Sunday. Osimhen trolled on Tik Tok being called "a coconut".

Only problem with this plan is that Havertz doesn’t really drive into space in the 6 yard box to finish low crosses. I’ve seen a few time where he’s had the opportunity to do so at the inside post but he hasn’t. But agree with you that at this stage he’s the better of the 2 options.

I had this issue once with something I bought online that didn’t show up. Eventually I called the Credit Card company and raised a payment dispute (effectively fraud claim) and got a refund.

Tbh it more made Carragher look like an unsportsmanlike knob who lacks humility. But I didn’t expect anything less. Short memories because I’m pretty sure Ramsdale also applauded / congratulated when Leno made a good save and at the time was still #2.

So you gain something in the build up but lose something in the area. Would be the same for Trossard. To be honest I’m ok with that.

There is a trend for more classic No.9's now. It may be a response to the advancement of general tactical thinking, gone are the days of a 4-4-2, many more teams are much more capable off the ball now, structures are good even in weaker teams, they know how and when to press and how to mark/close a man down and cut off a passing lane at the same time. deeper blocks are more organised as well. So the return to the classic no.9 could be a return to wanting those penalty box skills, the ability to be lethal and have brilliant movement, but also as a way of beating the press, being able to go more direct.

Some 9's really aren't involved in general build up play at all, Haaland has very few touches per match but he is lethal when he does get a touch. I can't think of many who are able to do both - Kane would be the most obvious, very accomplished at linking play and is an underrated creator, but also remains lethal with his finishing. Ferguson, Hojland and Sesko are three younger 9's. Then you have more of an old fashioned English 9, a bit like Antonio or Wilson - they work hard, run the channels and do all the things 9's were taught to do since football was invented.

Then there 9's who are primarily a target man, physically strong, hold the ball up, decent enough technically but aren't running behind or being a chief creator - maybe Toney fits this 9.

For a long time many teams goalscorers came from wide positions (or at least not the central forward), Salah, Mané, Messi, Mbappe - even Rashford. It feels like things are swinging the other way

One thing is for sure we need an upgrade in that central position, and it shouldn't be a 'he'll improve us' signing, it has to be a guy who we think can make us champions

Looking forward to seeing if Smith Rowe can stake a claim for a role in the team. he wasn't particularly sharp against PSV but a few weeks ago it was almost unforseeable when he might get a chance.

he has more goals in him than Eddie and is a very calm shooter of the ball from all around the box, not just the 6 yard.

In other musings, we're still unbeaten despite a tonne of tinkering with players out of position. Can only hope that it will help them to learn more about the overall game and positional dynamics. Especially for the co-ordinated press that will make them better players as the season wears on.

Still very early so i'm still thinking there is time for a little patience.

Now who said a 12 game win streak and we'll be right back in it.

Not up front. When he was scoring for fun he tended to occupy the left area where Havertz / Veiera have been favoured and I still think it's his strongest position. But for the league cup, play him down the right for all that it matters just to let Saka rest/heal.

Charles Sagoe Jnr starts tonight. Wasn’t expecting that.

White/Gabriel CB, Tomiyasu and Kiwior full backs.
Jorginho, Emile Smith Rowe, Havertz midfield, Nelsen and Nketiah up top. Ramsdale in goal

Sweet, Walters and cozier-dubery on the bench. With Cédric….

Brentford look pretty full strength to me

Tough for the likes of Emile Smith Rowe to come in and feel he HAS to impress in a mixed team devoid of its best players to buzz around him and give him a better chance of impressing.

Desperate for Havertz to score to get the monkey off his back. Seems lots of off the ball stuff and stats showing he’s working hard but we need the end product - especially if he’s not really getting involved in the build up

Bookings on throw ins for time wasting are a bit of a farce. There is no directive to say how long is too long, is it when the ball goes out or when it’s in your hands? Is it ok for a team who is losing to take longer on throw ins that the team who is winning. If as the defending team you just man mark every player you will slow down the throw and pile pressure on the ref to book him. The attacking team are basically pressured in to giving away possession.

1-0 to us at HT Nelsen with the goal.

FT 0-1 in to the next round