First five: Page 4 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

First five

Claudius

Qwiss you can see how Pep has just kept out Rodri and Foden. We still don’t have his depth. I was looking at his bench yesterday and thinking we are a season away from this doping fuck’s quality. But we can beat him with focus

Burnwinter

Let's just beat Brighton, if we do that much we'll all be pissed if we don't get at least a couple of points out of City and Spurs.

Sicario2 - Tier 1

Got these tough games out of the way now.

Must go on a run and not look back not too dissimilar to our post Dubai form.

JazzG

11 out of 15 is fantastic and would have been 15 out of 15 had the referees not fucked us over.

Clrnc

JazzG yep. Extremely happy with not only our points but the performances to go with it.

goon

We've got 3 easy games then Liverpool (h), Newcastle (a) and Chelsea (a).

Any chance of Ode being back for those? It's around 5 weeks away so here's hoping.

That being said, I think the Rice/Partey double pivot with Kai as a 10 is a good workaround.

USArsenal

goon That being said, I think the Rice/Partey double pivot with Kai as a 10 is a good workaround.

We're also hoping that Partey doesnt break down during all of this. Not a given. I don't love Kai as a 10, but with no other real alternative, its what we have to do. It leaves a little light up top this way, unless Jesus (and Martinelli) suddenly find some form.

I think Ode will be back by those tougher games. Just a hunch. He's already been out for a week and a half.

flobaba

What’s the timeline looking like for Merino. Might be a welcome surprise boost to our chances to withstand the loss of Odegaard and give Partey some needed rest.

HomeSteak

flobaba Merino should be back after the next international break. So he will miss 2 more PL games. Odegaard if it's just 6 weeks...maybe Liverpool? the last game in October, but it might be too soon. If it's 2 months ... then probably after the break in November.

Claudius

One thing I am happy about from yesterday is how we went out and pulled a Sam Allardyce on these guys. We didn’t kick them like Gary Neville. Just played a fair, physical and muscular game. And they complained at every turn. Rolled around on the ground. I think other teams can look at that and stop this bullshit of it pitching up versus City.

All this crap City were saying translates to me as “Arsenal didn’t make it easy for us to play our game”

Burnwinter

Think we all agree that under the circumstances, 11 points we've fought well for is not bad—and we took points from City as well so they're only two ahead of us. It hasn't been ideal but it's been a good, fighting start to the season.

Claudius

Burnwinter Think we all agree that under the circumstances, 11 points we've fought well for is not bad—and we took points from City as well so they're only two ahead of us. It hasn't been ideal but it's been a good, fighting start to the season.

We've had an incredibly hard start to the season. Lots of away games and tough opponents. This is a very encouraging start. Glad to see so many players coming to the partey throughout the squad, even before guys like Merino and Odegaard are ready.

awooga83

The return from this set of fixtures has been good, still in touch with the top and the matches should become relatively easier. Really important that we don't drop any silly points from now and can show greater attacking quality. You don't want to get stuck with a 1-0 against a team you need to win against and get undone by bad luck or some individual brilliance. We need to put teams to the sword and not get the 1 goal and start to get comfortable. Will be interesting to see how we go about that.

flobaba

Next step in the refereeing anti Arsenal agenda is taking away our set piece strength. Just watch them begin to blow for fouls against us anytime we crowd out the goalie.

naz

I can't be the only one furious right now.

I thought we started with some good results already this season against some good teams. Then we somehow lose to Bournemouth.
Fuck the refs for the reds and fuck the international breaks for all these injuries.

Injuries, mistakes and ref mistakes happen but this is taking the cake now.

Arteta also deserves blame for this. Our players are idiots sometimes too

Sicario2 - Tier 1

The reason why we did so well post Dubai at the beginning of this year was a) we had minimal injuries and b) there were no damn international breaks for the first 6 weeks of that run. It meant we had momentum.

This season we haven’t won 3 league games in a row and to put it into context, I think we won like 10 or 11 in a row post Dubai (someone correct me if I’m wrong).

Everything has been 1 step forward 2 steps back. Cant build any rhythm or continuity or fucking momentum. Too stop start.

Arteta has to take some blame but this season has been a cocktail of bad luck, injuries, bad decisions and momentum being denied by international breaks.

Also it comes back to our summer transfer window. If we signed a someone proper (not Sterling) and a signed a striker then we would be much better equipped as well.

How to turn this around? Beat Liverpool. Last time we beat Liverpool at home it helped our momentum (that word again) massively.

Our lack of fire does and lack of quality cover still concern me and Sterling and Jesus have to prove they are not duds for this season to mean anything.

Burnwinter

Don't think it's alarm stations just yet by any means, but a big result against Liverpool would be a superb boost.

It's a positive that we're eight matches into this season and we've only dropped points when we've had a player sent off. Bodes very well provided we don't end up getting twelve more red cards before June.

Qwiss

Burnwinter Don't think it's alarm stations just yet by any means, but a big result against Liverpool would be a superb boost.

Next 3 league games need to cement our position as title challengers because if we drop more than 2-3 points we are done. Liverpool at the Emirates followed by Newcastle and Chelsea away. Its going to be incredibly nervy. I hope Saka is back this week because without him we are screwed.

Burnwinter

Qwiss Massive matches but they're also huge for these opponents, and we have the pedigree and the quality not only to compete, but to win all three. That's what it takes these days.

Liverpool have been doing well but Maresca's Chelsea are the toughest opposition they've faced all season. Liverpool beat them, so I guess either they're incredible or this Chelsea are not actually that good.

It would be fucking sweet to be going in with the five or so extra points we'd have if we hadn't been arbitrarily fucked three times by the refs, but that's the league.

Qwiss

Burnwinter Liveprool are very good going forward but their defensive record so far is a bit of an illusion based on their fixtures IMO. Chelsea are a similar case but even worse at the back. My worry is we end up over emphasising neutralising their attacking strength rather than punishing their defensive weaknesses. Newcastle are the opposite, very little attacking threat but still a bit of a bogey team for us so always a challenge.

Burnwinter

Qwiss My worry is we end up over emphasising neutralising their attacking strength rather than punishing their defensive weaknesses.

Right. I think Arteta is marginally over-managing our mini injury crisis at this point. We need to play our full game to produce our fullest performances. The negatives of our adaptation for Bournemouth outweighed the positives.

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