Would any club expect their second eleven to be as strong as their first eleven? If City, Chelsea, Liverpool and United all had their first team out I bet Guardiola, Tuchel, Klopp and OGS would all be moaning quick enough. Let’s go through Arsenal’s.

Goal: Ramsdale out, Leno in? Not a big difference in my view.
Right back: Tomiyasu out, Maitland-Niles in? Is the difference that huge?
Left back: Tierney out, Tavares in? I’ve been impressed with Tavares so far and if anyone can cover Tierney adequately, I think it’s him.
Central defence: White and Gabriel out with Holding and Mari out. A bigger drop in quality here perhaps, but I’ve seen both White (at Brentford) and Gabriel look poor with Holding and Mari doing well individually.
Deep midfield. Partey and Xhaka out, I think Lokonga could cover either adequately. If Tomiyasu isn’t out at the same time then Maitland-Niles could come in if both Partey and Xhaka are out together.
Wide or advanced: Saka and Smith Rowe out, Pépé and Martinelli in? I think arguments can be made a place should be found for Pépé anyway, and many still see Martinelli as a hot prospect. Ødegaard looks a serious loss but maybe, just maybe, it won’t be too long before Patino can cover him adequately for a game or two.
Striker: Aubameyang out, Lacazette in? Is that a terrible drop in standard? Aubameyang has had some very poor games, after all.

As I said earlier, any club would probably suffer if its manager’s first choice eleven was out. Arteta’s as well. But I don’t think our second eleven is as bad as you.

Tough game coming up. Brighton playing well if we go by the table. A lesser test than Sperz perhaps but its on the road against a team in form.

I'm actually quite surprised that people have gone so rapidly from being close to despair to being so positive about our first 11, let alone our backup players. I'm inclined to be cautious, given that players like White, Ramsdale, Tomiyasu and to a lesser extent even Emile Smith Rowe and Ødegaard are essentially untested, and our wins have come against inferior opposition (Spuds must be included in that bracket at the moment).

However, it is very exciting, with everyone fit, and a string of winnable games coming up, up until Liverpool away. Unless we are very unfortunate with injury, it will be a opportunity to gauge just how good the team and Areteta are and how well the 'project' is developing.

But I do agree with you about the depth of the squad at present. It looks good.

Indeed. Probably more of a test that Spurs actually. Looking forward to it!

You got in before I did my Leno instead of Klopp edit.

Saw some article on the BBC site about the spurs manager being under pressure already and fighting for his job. I know they were bad Saturday and it is proper funny but my god the bloke has had little time to change things.

And on that subject There is a plan it just takes time

https://twitter.com/gunner2jasper/statu ... 55428?s=21

I only saw the first episode. That was enough to put me off watching the others. If I wanted to sit through tributes to Manchester United, I’d simply use their official website.

Someone put a clip up of Arteta 1 year ago talking about a game when we played Liverpool, saying how we pressed well, almost perfect but then "Van Dijk hit a 60 yard cross field ball straight on to Salah's chest and they were out.....that's quality" The point of posting I believe was showing that Arteta knew what he wanted and needed to mould the team how he wanted and a big reason for signing Ben White.

I must say I've always felt much safer with centre backs who have pace and technical ability - if they can have height and power as well you've reached the pinnacle of CB.

True, but that was in the cosplay stage when he was trying to sew an occasional flawed diamond into a collection of sows ears.

Levi does not give his managers a free hand on buys and sales so it's strange he brought in this manager is it not? Likewise as a manager he made his own team and developed them himself.

I cannot see tyhings getting better for Spurs, such a shame, not.

French journalist Romain Canuti: "There are a few players at Marseille who are struggling with Guendouzi. His way of working, when he always blames others for things, when he falls to his knees in training to implore God because a touch isnt good enough, it grates"

quelle suprise...

Supposedly good news. ESL fines dropped.

https://www.justarsenal.com/uefa-drop-f ... ssion=true

Mertesacker invited Seaman to come and do some informal coaching work with the U23 and scholar GKs at the club. No indication it’s any more than that. A good move though. Seaman is an absolute Arsenal legend and having him give his time to the young players of only to educate them on the history of the club and what it means to play for us it can only be a good thing.

Good news for Kronke, hadn’t the Kronke’s said they would foot the bill for any fine rather than the club

And apparently Saliba had a shocker at the weekend vs Lens.

Hi Rich,
Pretty much Kroenke would take care of the fine. Yet Arsenal haven't officially withdrawn from ESL.

And so it goes....

“I don’t blame him for this attitude, we know this type of temperament in Marseille, but there are foreign players who aren’t that into it, who have a lot of trouble with that. When you’ve got a guy like that, who always criticises, you might not want to sympathise with him down the line. That being said, OM need characters, Guendouzi has some, so that’s good too”.

Jekyll and Hyde perhaps

Merson saying if Arsenal keep their first choice 11 fit they can challenge for top 4. Only a few weeks back he was saying we were clueless and going absolutely nowhere. Far too much reaction is based on the last result whereas the reality almost always lies somewhere between the extreme views.
Every week in the prem another big club and manager are ‘in crisis’, it’s Spurs turn at the moment but it wouldn’t surprise me for Man U and Ole to be next in the media’s sights

Well that’s not possible even for the next game if Xhaka is out.

They never stop being in the media's sights. I think they'd be after Ole even if he won the EPL and the ECL in the same season, they'd just go quiet for a bit until the next lost game.

Both opinions are as daft as each other.
We've beaten two poor teams and survived Burnley. Looked good in one half against Spurs, but they did give us a fair bit of help. We could have a team able to go for a European place, but I can't see us getting close to top four this year.

Messi scored his 27th goal in 35 games against English clubs. So nearly a full seasons worth of games. And he’s playing all those games against the best 4 teams in the prem on any given year. And people still doubt whether he could ‘do it’ in this league.

There will be somebody somewhere who will have said anything and everything, including that. But to be fair I don’t recall anyone here ever saying it.

I don't know if it has any legs, but should we take Sanchez back?

Why is what I want to know? He's 32, a turncoat, and do we need him and more importantly is he anywhere close to what he was? Maybe he is. I've not watched any Serie A at all. I doubt it though.

Very true, Pode. As much as I enjoyed Sunday's result and the very promising performances of the likes of Ramsdale, Tomiyasu, White, Emile Smith Rowe etc we have to get real here. We've only played a few games, let's revisit this after 15 games and if our new recruits and star boys are still producing box office performances then we can start to believe that they may be the real deal.

As for now, it's obviously very encouraging but there are still lots of potential pitfalls ahead and lots of big challenges, both physical and mental, that need to be safely navigated before we can even dream of being a top four contender again.

Would imagine most know Xhaka will be out of action for three months due to knee ligament damage.

That’s a big blow. Really need Partey to stay fit. I’d guess the options in order are now, Lokonga, Partey on his own, AMN, Elneny

Worth noting the African Cup of Nations might not be as disruptive as some think. ACN is on from Jan 9th to Feb 6th. Arsenal only have 2 league games inside those dates. We have a game on Feb 8th so would imagine any players making the final would miss that as well.

Partey, Elneny and Aubameyang will all be away. Xhaka should hopefully be back

I'd love to see a ANC game some time. In fact, I would love to take some weeks off, get a Euro rail pass and just see the local sights and take in a match in various countries. I'm definitely going to see us play a home game. The Covid19 lockdown increased a need to visit when it was over.

Next 3 league games are more than winnable base on our recent performances. A good chance to perfect our style and tactics, build up some confidence and move up the table.

I am cautiously optimistic.

No you're right. People who question Messi's ability to do it in this league also tend to be the football fans who see nothing wrong with any tackle as long as you get the ball first, got to get in their faces 'avn't we? I don't see any of that on this forum.

I do enjoy debating the Ronaldo v Messi one with friends who side with Ronaldo, because Ronaldo is primarily an elite goalscorer - yet however you cut their stats Messi scores more goals than Ronaldo. Messi does this from a deep position not as a poacher/striker. Messi also creates.

Something I've always found ridiculously superhuman in Messi was the regularity and consistency of scoring goals from outside the box (including free kicks). His goal last night was a prime example first time shot in to the top corner from 20+ yards. Look at some highlight reels there has never been anyone do this with such accuracy.

From BBC: The league said only seven clubs' squads are more than 50% fully vaccinated.

I find that pretty astonishing. Why are 18-35 year old footballers so out of kilter with the general cross section of society in terms of getting vaccinated?....or are they? Are the 11% of brits yet to get vaccinated (or whatever the latest figure is) made up mostly of 18-35 year old men - it might be?

Saw that.

The comment about “ rewarding “ the players for getting vaccinated made me laugh. Of course they bear no responsibility for their own or others health right ? Literally live on another planet.

I said at the start of the season i said I doubt many of our players would have been vaccinated. Unsurprisingly we had a splurge of it.

!!!

I sometimes wonder if Geography is a subject taught in American schools. On holiday, having told a Californian where I was from, I once got asked if London was near Europe.

Huh?
Rich mentioned the Africans Nations Cup and I'd like to see it? What's strange about that? I'd also like to take a train around Europe and catch games in the various leagues (Bunesliga, Eredivisie, etc.).

lol...not sure what the exclamation points are for but....