Next 5 aka the northern gauntlet: Page 2 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

Next 5 aka the northern gauntlet

Burnwinter

Big Willie wrote:
Why's this in the other football section?

Post midnight (in Perth, Western Australia) and three beers thread starting brain snap.

Qwiss! wrote:
Old man Burns gets confused. I've fixed it for him.

Also accurate, fair play and thank you, Dear Moderator.

Burnwinter

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert wrote:
Are we actually supposed to take West Ham seriously FFS?

Sadly, yes. We need to take all opposition seriously until further notice. We're on a decent run but let's not pretend we didn't nearly fuck it all up against Watford yesterday.

banduan

if it wasn't at Anfield I reckon we could take this Pool side. But it's up there and I'm not holding out for anything.

Everything else in this run is winnable - just very tough.

goon

It will be interesting to see how we perform at Anfield. It's the first time in a while where we're going into one of these big games with not too much riding on the result and a bit of stability around the club and results. I feel like in recent big games there's definitely been an element of apprehensiveness about the players' body language compared to Arteta's first half season.

KingslandBarge

Qwiss! wrote:
The good news is we are playing Liverpool at just the right time by the looks of it.

Watched parts of the game last night at a pub. Memory hazy on how West Ham kept producing 2v2 situations, probably because Liverpool were chasing. A vulnerability brought on by a particular scenario I suppose. That aside, Liverpool still looked so dangerous. They will cut through us like butter and soil our clean sheet tally but optimistic we'll have more punch than in August.

If we manage to get 4 points from the next two, Arteta surely wins another manager of the month and we break into top 4 as I expect United and West Ham to drop points against M City and Chelsea respectively.

Gazza M

goon wrote:
It will be interesting to see how we perform at Anfield. It's the first time in a while where we're going into one of these big games with not too much riding on the result and a bit of stability around the club and results. I feel like in recent big games there's definitely been an element of apprehensiveness about the players' body language compared to Arteta's first half season.

I'm keen to see how our back 5 comes through. this is the first time in ages where I feel our defense has a high enough ceiling that if they all play to their capability, they could give pool trouble

flobaba

All Westham did was match their intensity and stay disciplined, and they were able to execute a winning game plan.

We have to learn from that, and use or adapt that template when we meet them, and hopefully catch them on a day their stars aren’t in top form.

They’ll be well up for it because it’s us, however the international break should also serve to disrupt their rhythm more than it would ours. They’re sitting and stewing on a bad result, while we can go in there with a positive outlook, with only dickhead Auba having a point to prove.

Clrnc

Tierney struggles with Salah so would like to see if Tavares can do a better job.

Tomi vs Mane would be competitive too.

Qwiss

KingslandBarge wrote:
Qwiss! wrote:
The good news is we are playing Liverpool at just the right time by the looks of it.

Watched parts of the game last night at a pub. Memory hazy on how West Ham kept producing 2v2 situations, probably because Liverpool were chasing. A vulnerability brought on by a particular scenario I suppose. That aside, Liverpool still looked so dangerous. They will cut through us like butter and soil our clean sheet tally but optimistic we'll have more punch than in August.

If we manage to get 4 points from the next two, Arteta surely wins another manager of the month and we break into top 4 as I expect United and West Ham to drop points against M City and Chelsea respectively.

Liverpool only managed a draw with Brighton too and were played off the park. 2 weeks ago they looked unplayable but they've fallen off, a lot of players will be away on internationals too. We are in great form, this is our best chance to beat them.

Ricky1985

Their team and their fans will be bang up for it against us - they always are. So, I will be very surprised if we're not right under the cosh for most of the match - again, because we always are there.

I don't think they've fallen off btw. Runs of form are sometimes about the teams you face and the shape they're in when you face them. Liverpool are what they are - always difficult to contain offensively, always give you a chance defensively.

I don't see how they don't overwhelm us early in the game because even recently we have collapsed back nearly every time teams have played in the high-pressing style Liverpool will come at us with early on. I just don't think we have the midfield generally or a dominant striker to stand up to that brilliantly right now.

jones

Brighton played Trossard up front with a midfield of Bissouma Mwepu and Lallana, they had six shots on target to Liverpool's three.

Last game we played against them we lost 0-3 in one of the worst performances under Arteta, time to get revenge if we can't get a result or at least make it competitive until the end we might as well pack it in and go support Barnet.

Qwiss

I can't imagine Klopp will accept any less from them Ricky but I'd rather play them wounded and desperate than while they are flying high and full of confidence. I can't accept the sort of performances we've seen against them and City over the last year or so though, where we don't even turn up. If they beat us they better fucking earn it.

Ricky1985

I think they will have to earn it.

The problem is we can turn up all we want, but if they're really on it and with the crowd guaranteed to be baying for our blood in a way they wouldn't be for Brighton etc., we could still concede 2 or 3 goals in a rough and tough 20-minute spell.

I am sure the players will go there knowing this is a big day for them. Arteta will have really got them seeing this as an acid test. I'm certain of it.

If we can hold off their big charge early on, we can get at their defence because it's not very good. And if they play lights out for the first hour like they did against us last season then a draw would be an oustanding result.

It's them pinning us back that has me worried, because other than desperate defending (and to be fair, desperate or not, we've defended really well for the most part) I don't how we get out of it until they tire and relent. We couldn't get up the pitch to where I'm sure Arteta wants us to be against Tottenham, Brighton, Villa and Leicester - even if those spells were short in most of those games - we had no way of pushing back. And Liverpool at Anfield is as much of a siege as you get in football right now.

Ricky1985

Although, re not turning up in these kind of games, I feel like we've been mostly doing that for the last 10 years. It gives me hope that we have changed that a number of times under Arteta already.

Anzac

IMO the key v LFC will be can we resist their press and then transition with pace and more importantly verticality. If we play to our strengths we can hurt them, but if we allow them to play to theirs we're toast.

Gazza M

Clrnc wrote:
Tierney struggles with Salah so would like to see if Tavares can do a better job.

Tomi vs Mane would be competitive too.

tavares might be the better option, but only if we play a pretty brave style and try to have their fullbacks thinking about defending, which they're not that great at. passive safety football will get us picked off

Ricky1985

Not gonna lie, it made me smile to see Jack wearing Arsenal gear in training. I have this sneaky feeling we're going to give him a 6-month contract in January!

flobaba

I bloody well hope not.

Burnwinter

The fixture list looks a bit brutal after this somewhat expected, but still deeply distasteful reset to morale.

We'll need a big performance and a result against Howe's new manager bounce to get to 8–10 points from this run of five matches.

Qwiss

Hopefully Ole can hang on until we play them. The last thing we need is to be facing that lot trying to impress a new manager.

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