Spurs vs Arsenal (PL) 0-1

I love Keown. Him, Wrighty, Henry, Bent etc would make the exact same arguments and nobody would call them dumb.

Articulated himself very well in that segment. TalkSport is football cancer anyway, Jim White and especially Simon Jordan are arseholes.

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Jim White I like, Simon Jordan doesn’t come across as a clever man at all though. Just a bully and contrarian with a suspiciously red face. Glug, glug.

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We played pretty direct against them last year too, even with a full team. They even had more possession there in the first half (and were mostly ā€œdominantā€) while we were scoring those 3 goals.

So I definitely don’t expect us to have more possession now, and I definitely expect us to play pretty direct. Not just because of us, they just leave so much space behind, and we still have more than enough tools to punish them.

With or without Sterling we have enough pacy, direct players to punish them. Yeah, Sterling is a bigger threath in the final third than Martinelli, but wouldn’t leave Marti on the bench in this game because of his work rate.
We’ll need his legs from the start, while Sterling has the ability to make a impact off the bench.
Havertz? I just don’t see him starting up front considering we almost have no midfielders left. Altough we may see him and Trossard switching between those roles, they always do that anyway when they play together.

The more the game is getting near the moreI feel this is the most likely starting lineup.

White Saliba Gabi Timber

  Jorgi

Partey Havertz

Saka Trossard Martinelli

Btw, considriny you could expect us to spend most of the game sitting deep and trying to catch them on the break, I think Partey and Jorgi could be spending a lot of time next to each other, and that would suit them. So it could be closer to a 4231, or even a 442 (Tross and Havertz up front).

I think they are #1 in terms of possession.

https://x.com/afcstuff/status/1834539390124622123

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No shit besides I’m not listening to what John Lennon’s killer has to say.

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I don’t think we can start with a midfield that consists of Partey and Jorginho (+ 1 more). They don’t have the legs to play a PL game, no team can accommodate for that.

Nwaneri feels exciting but risky. However, I fully trust Mikel.

I’d love to see the boy feature. I think he’ll be buzzing and will more than rise to the occasion.

Both him and Sterling will deliver great performances for us

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Basically I started those rumours :grin:

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Throw in a surprise selection. Why not? It’s not like we’re playing anyone decent.
Of all the options, Ethan seems like the best like-for-like in terms of style of play, it’s just whether he’s mentally ready.

Anyway, I think he’ll be on the bench with either Jesus or Sterling up top with Havertz behind.

I have no problem with Nwaneri starting against spuds if Arteta feels he is ready. Even if we unfortunately lose. Nwaneri looks a hot prospect how is he going to build as a player unless he has time to grow on the pitch, These injuries are an opportunity. I remember people bitching and moaning about Saka when he came in and played some minutes ā€˜damn club we shouldn’t be relying on kids at this level’ Now look at him, i feel that Nwaneri will go the same way.

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Me too. I can see him skipping through a poor defence and scoring a worldie this season. Though possibly not in the NLD.

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https://x.com/TikiTakaConnor/status/1834568431825297636

Good work hiding him in the training footage, lol.

I am not. You will find a very recent post about Martin Kneown from me where I called him the worst pundit out there.

I would bet on Nwaneri starting.

There just aren’t any good alternatives. Jorginho and Partey in the same midfield means we have totally change tactically. Zinchenko and Timber are fantasy alternatives. Meanwhile, from the start of pre-season Arteta has made a bunch of decisions suggesting that he sees Nwaneri as viable backup for Odegaard - playing him there constantly in preseason, shipping off Fabio, etc. And Nwaneri has done what he can at pretty much every step to show that he should get chances this season.

I don’t think this is how Arteta would have planned Nwaneri’s introduction into the side. He’d surely rather play Merino or Havertz in Odegaard’s position away to Spurs if everybody else was available. But those aren’t options given Merino being injured and Havertz needing to play the Rice role.

One constant with Arteta is that he likes to change as little as possible. He doesn’t reshuffle the deck in crazy ways to surprise the opponent. The way you change as little as possible is Partey-Havertz-Nwaneri in midfield.

Since when was Simon Jordan some intellectual giant?

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That was the one of the few times Kewon hasn’t made a fool of himself on Talksport when he’s with Simon and Jim.

Not sure if he still does the show, I would hope not because he used to get embarrassed by Simon and Jim every time he was on.
The only co-host I’ve seen able to hang with those two is Murphy.

Can no-one spell Keown in this thread? Lmao

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I know right, how hard is it to spell Martyn Keown ffs

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