Stoke vs Arsenal (PL)

Have we though. Lets hope your right but im far from convinced. Judging him on 2 games is wrong either way really. Holding me hand up to that as one who is.
Be glad to have me doubts proved wrong though.

Precisely

I dont think there is a premiership side who fluffs more chances or loses as many one on ones with the keeper than us.

Brighton would have scored at least 2 of the chances welbeck had yesterday

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Hey Iā€™ll take @Calum 's optimism in a time like this any day :per: nothing to see here people!

On a more pressing note. We could buy VVD and weā€™d still see the same defunct performances rear their ugly heads. Itā€™s 2 years of Wenger baby, Iā€™ve made my peace with expectations and they arenā€™t high.

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We had something like 80% possession and most times a team has that much possession wins. Our defence is shit tbh but we have the ability to outscore opposition when Alexis comes back. As for Lacazetteā€™s ā€˜goalā€™ itā€™s very close, his heel was off but how did the linesman spot that from afar, If it was given, completely different game, momentum is with us and we mightā€™ve gone for a winner. Shit happens

You keep going on about when Sanchez comes back but seem to forget he doesnā€™t want to be here.
You only have to look at Ozilā€™s display yesterday to see what an unhappy player contributes to the team.

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Heā€™ll be much happier when he is playing in a trio with Alexis and Lacazette, which guarantees goals. He seemed happy enough v Leicester, but Stoke is a shit place and the game wasnā€™t going for us so understanding he was unhappy. Still played very well

Oh yeah, Ozil is just unhappy he canā€™t play with Alexis :xhaka:

They have a good link up and relationship, Alexis is the only player on the same wavelength as Ozil. Who would be satisfied playing with Welbeckā€¦

you live in a world of rose coloured spectacles donā€™t you

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Yesterday was very shit. He thing that gets me with the disalowed goal is I donā€™t think it was offside and should have stood as his whole body was level, but if we had VAR the goal would still have been ruled out because his shoe lace was just off

Yeah but if we had VAR we wouldā€™ve had two penalties. If Welbeck was more clever and had gone down three.

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True that

Finally had a chance to watch - yesterday was devoted to Daddy-daughter day so I was spared the pain of live watchingā€¦

A few thoughts:

  1. We still look pretty uninspiring and unexciting and lethargic (movement and more importantly, thinking)

  2. I thought people were a tad harsh on Laca - our midfield was a disaster and yet he carved out a couple of really good chances, including a goal that was rule out (rightly or wrongly, it was close)ā€¦ its his second game with us with a shambolic midfield - he is doing ok.

  3. To point 2, our midfield is kind of garbage atmā€¦ I know I have been harsh on Xhaka, but I am really trying hard to watch for positivity and call it out when I see it - he has some good stuff, but man he is too careless and un-composed - again, I contrast any of our CM options with the old Cesc and it just makes me want to cry. He wasnā€™t ā€œat faultā€ for their goal, but he made 2 stupid errors - bad pass and then reckless chasing, leaving the entire team behind him exposed. Donā€™t see the intelligence at this point that we need thereā€¦ god I miss Cazorla.

  4. Welbeck - jury has ruledā€¦ not sure what he is really useful for at this pointā€¦ Should be sold if we can. Iā€™d rather see f*ing Nelson, AMN, or JRA in there atm.

  5. Ox winning me overā€¦ it wasnā€™t a masterclass, but he was one of our better players imho and really showing he can play at the RWB positionā€¦ Bellerin got into some dangerous positions from the left, but I am really disappointed with him in the last months.

  6. Starting to think I need to go to the Kaner-side and just be a fan that takes game by game without expectation and I will be happierā€¦ thinking we can potentially go for title is jokeā€¦ CL bigger jokeā€¦ top 4 is now even an achievement with all the teams risingā€¦ f*ing hell, starting to think it might be ok to call it a trophyā€¦ what a shambles my football psyche is atm.

  7. Big pic, 2 games inā€¦ nothing to get panicked aboutā€¦ we have 3 point at least and Sanchez hasnā€™t kicked a ball, our best player. Time is on our side, but if I am honest, I am even less confident than I was a few weeks ago, and then I predicted 4-6th for us, 10ish points at least off of top againā€¦ now I wonder if it is more likely that we are closer to 5-6th and 4th will be a big achievementā€¦ maybe we can win the Euro Leagueā€¦

Sighsā€¦ here we go again with Arsenal Groundhog Day and Monsieur Quixote at the helm.

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It was a fine performance to be honest. Deserved to win. Weā€™ll play much worse than that this season and win games. Atrocious officiating.

Was a standard performance imo

We dominate possession and create very little. Our build up play is slow and lethargic. There seems to be no urgency or pace to our play

Obvioulsy the disallowed goal should of stood. The linesman has totally guessed as there is no way at all he could of seen Laca being offside at such a small margin

I was prepared to give AW a chance when he signed his new deal and got Laca in early. Sadly though we have yet again just stood still since then. We then hear AW saying we have 33 players so wont be thinking of signing anyone right now. Christ we have 33 players and we cant find a fucking CB pairing from them all! How embarrassing!

Not looking forward to Sunday at all

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The weird thing about the disallowed goal is that it wasnā€™t actually offside.

The freeze frame they use to show Laca as offside isnt the correct moment to review. Such a shame really

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I noticed that as well. If they take it back a bit more then you get the correct point that Giroud touched the ball and Laca is onside

I feel we created good chances actually and there was some nice attacking combinations before we started panicking.

The problem was most of the best ones fell to a donkey whose known to be a unprolific finisher. I called for him to be dropped before the game because against Leicester his finishing was typically bad as usual.

Imagine if we sold Giroud and Welbeck was our only solution if Laca ever got injured. Shocking player.

Shouldnā€™t have to rely on a bad decision to level the game against a poorly organised Stoke side

Iā€™d say play Ramsey in Welbeckā€™s place against LFC. Letā€™s unburden him a large amounts of defensive responsibility and let his attacking instincts free. Maybe drop Elneny in midfield for better protection too.

How can you say that with such certainty? Where have you seen the right freeze frame?