Not gonna lie, beating Brentford with a Kai Havertz header from a cross is quite likely to end up being one of my favourite results of the season. The notion we would turn up today and simply batter them was fanciful, they're as strong as anyone at home. This was apparently the first London Derby they've lost at the Gtech since we beat them just over a year ago.

They've lost 2 league games since last october at home before us

lovely 3 points

I'm close to accepting this is simply how we're going to play this season.

on the pep-moyes scale, it's heavily skewing towards moyes. it's one of those things where it's fine as long as the results are there, which - for now - they are.

if our defense starts creaking or we start picking up key injuries back there, we don't have much else going on as a team

    Gazza M it's quite pep-ish tbf. For all his success his football is boring

      not this boring. his teams may be structured and predictable, but they do create chances and have the werewithal to play between the lines

      Havertz makes us better, despite his personal issues. Trossard is good, but he doesn't have that vertical running power, and he's a bit more dribbly and slows things down. Kai is an accelerator.

        Coombs he also combines well with others. Doesn’t get the credit for that though as he makes it look simple

            lorddulaarsenal yep, he immediately made us better in the middle third, and while he is still too conservative, a lot of his simple passing is only possible because he's there to do it in the first place.

              Coombs nice header, good day for him but an "accelerator", he's never been that in midfield. What he did today is what we need from him, impact.

              • goon replied to this.

                  Qwiss

                  Yeah. Whether he starts or comes on he needs to spend more time in and around the box and play off the striker, almost like a 10.

                  If teams are going to double up on our wingers we need to exploit the space left to swing in a cross. Havertz is a good option to exploit that tactic.

                    lorddulaarsenal Amen.

                    Talk less of one who is fresh and fit and sharp.

                    Just a mediocre player for me. Hope we dump him soon - if we are going to be elite then Arsenal deserves better. He'll definitely have suitors we can recoup a major portion of the Kai Havertz transfer fee from.

                      Also was thinking. With the way we play what would an Ivan Toney offer us?

                      Toney? Well he is physical so can occupy defences, he is good in the air and can link well with others so he’d be a good target man. Also carries a legit goal threat and gives us a different option up top.

                      Probs not my first choice but he’d certainly improve us.

                      Has a spikey determined attitude too.

                      lorddulaarsenal so common for him. One of the most Tunnel vision player ever. The anti Joel Campbell

                        lorddulaarsenal seeing that today made me just as angry as it made me last night. I legit would have subbed him off for that. Just basic stuff man...and then the "shot" he took. For me, Eddie should be 4th choice behind Jesus, Trossard & Havertz. Hell if all the above are out, I would probably play Nelson on the wing and Martinelli as a 9 before playing him

                          Kel Varnsen I hate this positional play style. There is no improvisation, flexibility or individual originality up front. Players just run to their designated spot and wait. We have to keep a certain amount of players in each channel and each zone and blablabla.. arteta is a fraud.

                          Hate the way we play. Ugly and rigid football. An example. When Martinelli gets the ball out wide, and unless he has an outstanding match, he'll nearly always pass the ball to Zinchenko. Positioned 10 metres further in and 5 metres further back. Zinchenko will then pass the ball back to Martinelli, 10 metres further in and 5 metres further back to Rice, or 15 metres further back to Gabriel. I get the idea. Wide angle triangular intersections. Connecting vertices (or effective tesselation) and cover most space most efficiently (shortest passes). But it is predictable and easy to defend. Why don't Zinchenko just sometimes leave his position and try to improvise something with Martinelli? Be more flexible and let players express themselves. Arteta has taken a good principle and absolutely destroyed it.

                              Don't think I have seen an opposition manager praise us so much before. Almost every match we play against Brentford Thomas Frank is in awe.

                                Arteta's 22/23 and 23/24 teams are amongst the best 20 xGa since this stat came in 2017