Not sure if anyone noticed yesterday Tomiyasu and we were boxed in the right back area and Toni just pinged a 60 yard cross field ball with his left foot to Tavares. Tavares himself did something similar off his right foot and he’s already shown his willingness and ability shooting with his right.

I like Ramsdale for the following reasons:
takes command of the 6 yard area
comes out to claim the high balls
good ball distribution
fast ball distribution
creates camaraderie with his defenders

Yup, sure did notice that. Tomiyasu did not shy away from anything yesterday. I like his one-touch football when it was needed.

I was applauding him when he did that. We needed more of such plays.

A good set of results for us this afternoon. We kept our place in the table.

I’m perplexed once again. Chelsea got to retake a saved penalty because the keeper moved off the line. All perfectly reasonable and captured by the cameras and duly enforced.

What puzzles me is the assistant referee (once known as a linesman) who stands close to the goal watching the line like a hawk but who then bounces away seemingly entirely happy with it. He’s only got one single thing to do and he misses it. Or is it that he relies on VAR, as is the case with offsides now? In which case what is the point of him?

Even before VAR they seemed to often bottle this one.

It would make sense if that was left entirely to the technology, like whether the ball has crossed the line for a goal. It doesn't need to be a judgement call at all. Similarly, whether players of either team have encroached into the box. Its a break of play anyway, so why not?

Watford scoring 4 late goals against Everton is a nice boost.

With all the things that are bad at the moment, our inconsistent performances and general lacklustre attacking play, I have to give the club major credit once again for our recruitment this summer. Yesterday we started with five players signed in the summer and all five of them had excellent performances. Ben White is the oldest at 24. In terms of squad building it really feels like we've taken a big step forward in the last year.

Possibly helped by the departure of Raúl Sanllehí?

Arsenal 5th highest shots per game average in the league currently. It wasn’t long ago we were way down the league for shots per game.

Yet many moan about our lacklustre attacking play. I guess a shot counts even if it’s yards off target.

Wow, Chelsea is on a tear now. Tuchel has done wonders with this team.

Well done the Palace fans for that banner v. Newcastle. Nearly puked when I saw Beckham 'promoting tourism and culture' in Qatar for a load of cash. Guy must have fallen on hard times

The poor guy is down to his last $450 million. It appears even more hard up when you convert dollars into pounds sterling, simply because it’s a lower figure and some people may not always notice if numbers have a $ or £ at the front. $450m equates to a mere £327m. That’s verging on bankruptcy.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theric ... worth/amp/

It never ceases to amaze me how people who have accumulated such vast wealth are still willing to compromise everything for even more money.

Wenger a prime example who is telling the world and it’s mother a World Cup every 2 years is a great idea because he’s being paid to do so. *%^@*** hell Arsene. How much money do you need ?

Look at some of the movies Bruce Willis has made recently
? Straight to video budget rubbish yet he’s worth 250 million. Did he really need to make all these turkeys he knows he doesn’t need the money.

I saw an interview with the rap singer 50 cent where he admitted he turned down 1 million dollars to simply attend Donald Trumps inauguration because he believes “not all money is good money”. I found it remarkably astute considering he’s probably self made and the temptation to take the million dollars for a days work would be tempting.

Pains me to utter these words but C'mon Man Utd.

Hi Rich,

Yeh, but most of them are from Thomas Partey and they have been closer to the moon than the opposition net

come on Brentford , Westham & Man U. Man U only to protect our unbeaten season record.

I’ve not seen a lot of scrutiny on £78m Sancho at Man U. No goals, no assists, no chances created. I think if he was a foreign player he’d be getting far more stick in the media.
I don’t think Ole has helped him by playing him mostly on the left when he played almost exclusively on the right for Dortmund.
Sancho’s signing (and others) are symptomatic of Man U’s recent signings, big names that they feel they ‘have’ to sign, almost easy signings but without huge consideration for the balance of the squad and team or having a clear set of tactics to suit the player

Leeds on Tuesday in the league cup. I think we can afford to rotate and still put out a strong team to beat them.

To be fair Rich you fell into exactly the same trap when questioning Manchester United’s interest in Declan Rice. Not that long ago if my memory serves, although it wasn’t in the last few days (and I’d rather not define ‘last few days’). In my view Rice fits the current profile of what they need almost perfectly, and far better than Bellingham who I’m sure you spoke of your admiration for in the same post.

Fully agree Rich. If anyone named what they consider Arsenal’s strongest team, I reckon you could list a side with eleven completely different players that should be good enough to win on Tuesday.

I'd love to go deep into this competition. Leeds aren't pushovers.

Thinking of watching West Ham vs Spurs and it dawned me on there are a few invincibles who have never lost to Tottenham I think. And maybe only once to Chelsea. Can't swear by it and won't research it but I think so.

Victoria's fashion line must have taken a huge hit.

For me Bellingham is a better player than Rice. If I had £80m I know which one I’d buy. I think Bellingham is on a different level technically.

I’m not sure what the ‘trap’ is that you mention? I think Rice would improve Man U but that’s only because he’s better than what they have. I’m not quite convinced he’s right up there as a top level CM yet. Sancho certainly was at the top level given his goals and assists record in Germany. It hasn’t worked out for him yet though

The trap is that you were ignoring the point that Rice is exactly what they need to a bigger extent than Bellingham. Ipso facto, Rice would improve them the most.

https://twitter.com/footyaccums/status/ ... 56162?s=21
From yesterday, and why I think Bellingham is a class above Declan Rice.

Ok, I can see that a true defensive mid might serve Man U better than a type of mid Bellingham is but I just think Bellingham is so good that I’d be far more worried if Man U got Bellingham than Rice. I think a midfield of Bellingham and Fred is better than Rice and Fred.

Also I’m not sure what the correlation is between the rice/Bellingham conversation and me saying there has been a lack of scrutiny on Sancho not starting life well at Man U. Other than Sancho and Bellingham both played for Dortmund but I’m not sure how that is relevant to the points being discussed?

I think Sancho is what Man U have needed, most Man U fans I know have been crying out for a proper right winger in their team, even back to when they signed Sanchez from us a few were saying 'nice signing but he plays on the left, where is the right winger'. The problem Man U have is they are playing Greenwood on the right so have to accommodate Sancho on the left, now they have Rashford coming back who is best on the left. Greenwood has the potential to end up as the main centre-forward but the ego signing of Ronaldo will stop that this season.
Ronaldo will win games for them, and has done already, and there will be those silly stories like all the players now dodging pudding because Ronaldo did, but I don't think he's a good signing for them when you weigh everything up.

The thing with Man U was when was the last time they signed a player where you thought, that's interesting, they've done some serious homework and thinking there? Their transfer policy is like a 12 year old kid of Fifa, it doesn't mean they aren't good players or won't improve them. I thought Maguire and Wan-Bissaka were particularly good examples of this. For £130m combined I really think they could have done a lot better.

The correlation is that you feel their recent signings are, to quote you verbatim, “without huge consideration for the balance of the squad and team”. In my view Rice would be the most obvious replacement for McTominay. Whereas for me Bellingham would be a more obvious replacement for Pogba or Fernandez rather than for McTominay.

In my opinion, Rice instead of McTominay would represent a more significant improvement than Bellingham instead of McTominay, when they already have Pogba and Fernandez to put in their team.

First two yes but I'd like Liverpool to win. Manure are far bigger rivals for a Europa or, being very optimistic here, 4th place. The less they win the better.

That’s a very good point Gunfire. We also have to remember that we’re still a week away from the end of October. If it wasn’t for our friend from across the Atlantic mentioning it so much, there would be many games to go before I’d even give Liverpool going the season undefeated a second thought.

The 'Ammers are 'appy tonight.

Way too early in the season to start worrying about unbeaten records. We're 8 games in, Liverpool will lose at some point, but I hope they absolutely smash Man Utd today.

Incredible to see the amount of money Man Utd have spent on this squad to try and fight for the title, and still start with two central midfielders who doesn't belong in a top 6 club.

Man Utd missed a great chance to be 1 up and in a minute or two later down a goal. The miss at that range for Man Utd was unforgivable in such a big game. Nerves maybe.

2-0 already. The worry might be that it gets so embarrassing that they give Ole the chop and get a real manager in.

Was thinking the same! It's a fine line between wanting them to get smashed and wanting Ole to remain in charge because they're going nowhere under him. Such a poor team, only saved by having a couple of absolute elite players.