Ten Hag needs time, we professed that for Arteta so the same must be true of ten Hag. There are endless similarities. Unbalanced squad, overpaid, underperforming, ageing. To an extent, the extent being an FA Cup win, Arteta bought himself time by finding a system (a back 3) which got some results. It was far from his preferred way of playing but it got a few results and allowed him to see who he could trust and who could cut it in our team.

Ronaldo is a huge problem for ten Hag, an Aubameyang size problem(?) I’m amazed they haven’t bought a ball playing defensive mid. They’ve chased de jong but he obviously has doubts about joining them, lower expectations and sign a slightly lesser player who you can mould in to the next de jong. I’d say drop de Gea but the back up is Tom Heaton! I’d say every single position on the pitch has problems for them

If there is one area I think Arteta needs to sharpen up in I think its his use of substitutions. We've got some cracking players on the bench now and can use up to 5 subs so he needs to start giving them some game time. They need confidence and trust and match fitness too. We will need all of them once the midweek games start coming.

They should bounce back in their next home game: Liverpool

after watching the Brentford highlights I was thinking first two games have been against minnows they must be due some stern opposition
.... and here we have it ; their worst nightmare , a high quality team that hates them .

Their home advantage nullified Liverpool and Man City don't care whether they play Man U home or away these days ; Old Trafford no longer the daunting citadel it was under Ferguson .

Lose that one , next up it's a stinky little trip to the South Coast to face Southampton who can be a burr under anyone's saddle on their day .

Four games in zero points ..what a mouth watering prospect ....... shouldn't laugh something sh**ty might happen to us

How United would love a pleasant coach to somewhere like Carrow Road next week to rebuild their shattered confidence .

How wayward is Bruno Fernandez's shooting he's like Thomas Partey on steroids .

Arteta spoke about the fans and their reaction after Saliba scored the own goal, the fans cheered him and Arteta said he’d never seen anything like it before and it hugely helped Saliba.

The fans have Tielemans a big cheer when he was subbed, he must want the move I’m sure, so that would have been great for him.

Morning Soc ... I had similar thoughts , Saka wasn't at his most effective , I'd have put Nketiah on 30 from the end .

Funny I think Jesus's burning desire to score the hat trick led to him abandoning his natural finishing if that makes any sense ... one through on the goalkeeper I'd have thought normally he would have chipped him .
Great performance the amount of chances he creates for himself is staggering , great role model for Nketiah , Martinelli Smith Rowe and Saka .

What was it 50 m for Madison 40 for Teilemanns ...? I'd stump up the extra 10 and buy the former ; thought his performance very impressive .

Question for the forum. What is it that you think has changed in the Kronke's in the past couple of years that has seen them seemingly take a sudden change in the amount of effort, interest and expenditure in the club?

We now have Josh very much front and centre and coming across as intelligent, likeable, clear thinking and certainly invested from top to bottom.

Question for the forum. What is it that you think has changed in the Kronke's in the past couple of years that has seen them seemingly take a sudden change in the amount of effort, interest and expenditure in the club?

We now have Josh very much front and centre and coming across as intelligent, likeable, clear thinking and certainly invested from top to bottom.

Good question. I wonder if it could be the overtaking of Arsenal by Chelsea as London’s biggest club. Look, I think there are various factors that translate into how big a club is. Worldwide fan base size, the stadium and filling it, well known players (look at the impact of Best and Beckham on Manchester United’s fame), a club’s wealth, newsworthiness, history and trophies.

There are no doubt others too, but rather than looking at the factors separately they are linked. For example, a very obvious overlap is that of trophies and fan base size. Prior to Abramovich Arsenal had a bigger fan base than Chelsea. That’s no longer the case and they’ve comfortably overtaken us. Believe it or not we still have more trophies (albeit not the biggest, the Champion’s League, that Chelsea have won twice). But Chelsea’s success is much more recent than Arsenal’s. That is vital in attracting new fans. Arsenal’s success in the 1930’s won’t drive our fan base upwards, apart from people like my dad making his children fans and me doing the same with mine.

It is recent success that is most important. As an example, Machester United always had a much bigger fan base than City. They still do. But I’m convinced City have closed the gap since their takeover.

Arsenal will surely have people that realise the crossover between success and fan base size. Venkatesham I would imagine, maybe even Sanllehi before him. I reckon they would have pointed out to Josh that relationship and he’d have told Stan. Because the bigger a club’s fan base size, the more sponsorship, merchandising and commercial revenues it will attract.

From that, I honestly feel Stan will have been convinced about the importance of Arsenal enjoying success on the pitch. He will have more business acumen in a strand of hair from his wig (let alone little finger) than the rest of us. You don’t accumulate the vast fortune he has without it. As a result, he’s now ‘putting his hand in his pocket’ to enable it, as he’ll be motivated to make Arsenal a good investment. I’d like to think Josh will also enjoy seeing Arsenal have success on the pitch, if we do. That’s what I reckon anyway.

Do you think it is any factor that his other ‘projects’ have succeeded? He built the amazing Rams stadium, they won the super bowl, I think his ice hockey team won the Stanley Cup recently(?) perhaps now Arsenal is the one to take his focus?
I don’t know enough about his American teams and the money generated but I think the teams he won with invested in a young progressive coach and players. I’d assume there is still more money in the biggest American sports than football but football is certainly more global and perhaps Kronke wants to or sees football becoming even bigger in America (it is already huge in the womens game).

What’s more important to Kronke? Making money? Or the prestige of winning? The latter one assumes also gives the former, but the former is probably easier to do if you already own a big and stable club like Arsenal

Did anyone else notice the change in the screens at the ground yesterday?
We now show the game as it happens and also replays, with the two teams either side of the picture
Something else they showed yesterday, that they haven’t before, was the penalty incident; not while the VAR check was ongoing, but straight after the decision had been overturned.
It was truly a shocking dive with zero contact based on the replay they showed on the screens; I’ve noticed that the majority of the papers and a few posters here refer to “minimal contact”. Is there a camera angle that showed any contact?

I also don't expect us to be undefeated by the time we face Man Utd. No team wins the matches they 'should' . Points get dropped unexpectedly all the time. Always has, always will and we are no different. I hope we win all the games till then but I won't be shocked if we don't.

Did anyone else notice the change in the screens at the ground yesterday?
We now show the game as it happens and also replays, with the two teams either side of the picture
Something else they showed yesterday, that they haven’t before, was the penalty incident; not while the VAR check was ongoing, but straight after the decision had been overturned.
It was truly a shocking dive with zero contact based on the replay they showed on the screens; I’ve noticed that the majority of the papers and a few posters here refer to “minimal contact”. Is there a camera angle that showed any contact?

Anyone know the story about the group of black-clad ‘ultras’ crammed in, two-to-a-seat at the front under the clock? Maybe 50-80 of them. Not kids. Standing, very loud and animated throughout.

Must be club-sponsored and it really worked. Lifted the place.

By the way Martinelli had Fofana on toast yesterday. The same Fofana that Chelsea are ready to spend £80m on. I think Fofana is a decent player but it shows what the market can do when you've put your eggs in one basket and seem desperate. Makes the business we've done over the last 2 summers look even better.

jesus, Zinchenko, Tomiyasu, Ødegaard, Ramsdale, Gabriel - is 6 players in to the starting 11 at an average of £27m a player is very good.
There are more expensive guys like White and Partey, but then there is also the combined £6m for Martinelli, Saka, Emile Smith Rowe and Nketiah.

Smart business

4 definite misses: Mari, Willian, Runarsson, Cédric

What on Earth makes Cédric a definite miss? A free transfer and as a back up reserve, has he ever let us down?

What on Earth makes Cédric a definite miss? A free transfer and as a back up reserve, has he ever let us down?

Question for the forum. What is it that you think has changed in the Kronke's in the past couple of years that has seen them seemingly take a sudden change in the amount of effort, interest and expenditure in the club?

We now have Josh very much front and centre and coming across as intelligent, likeable, clear thinking and certainly invested from top to bottom.

Cheering a little bit for Chelsea today, because I think Tottenham can become really dangerous if they get off to a good start. Think Tottenham wins this though, just have a feeling of a shock result for Chelsea who seem disjointed and with bad energy all around the club.

I don't really get Tuchel's insistence of playing a back five. They have the personell for a very good back four - James is one of the best right backs in the league, Thiago Silva and Koulibaly are excellent central defenders and both Chilwell and Cucurella are very good on the left. Their collection of central midfielders are among the best in Europe in my opinion, and with a combination of three of Kante, Jorginho, Kovacic and Gallagher they should be able to win the midfield battle against most teams and provide better support for their misfiring attackers.