That’s rather like arguing which leg you’d miss most really isn’t it?
Our problem isn’t Odegaard’s absence, it’s the lack of variety in our tactics when we have injuries to key players.
Saturday’s match was the perfect guide to how to nullify Arsenal. Into injury time we’re still knocking it across the back, looking for that perfect pass through Newcastle’s low block.
You don’t get lucky last minute penalties, deflections, corners and own goals by passing across the back-line, time for a few high crosses into the penalty box. Ironically that’s what our best chance came from and how they scored too. Arteta’s a smart guy but it’s possible to overthink things sometimes.
I think it is two fold. Ode and Partey are the creative midfield. So having both out of the midfield has made our transition from defence to attack so different
If we dont get a win at Chelsea then I’m really struggling to see us catch up, especially if Liverpool win with their extra day of rest vs Villa and not having to travel.
Still think Liverpool aren’t that flash but if we were 10 points behind, that’s a significant gap even early on in the season when we haven’t looked like stringing together a decent run of wins thus far.
Because we’ve also lost our best player since September.
I’m getting sick of this rhetoric that, just because we lost to Newcastle (tough away game let’s not forget), suddenly everything is so bad at Arsenal. Nobody was moaning when we beat spurs and villa or put PSG in their place with a chance to lock in a strong CL spot tomorrow.
People are saying city are off it this season yet still comparing us to city at their best to say that’s what we need to win the title. How can you have it both ways?
God forbid inter do what’s very possible and win tomorrow…there will be gooners on suicide watch.
I mean… I did say omitting the Newcastle and Bournemouth losses, we still could’ve been sitting in 3rd with 22 points.
We have to remember that even with Odegaard in the team, we weren’t actually playing all that well. He put in some stinkers before that injury iirc.
The main cause of our issues (in my view), has been the red cards - whilst I do think PGMOL targeted us, we also did it to ourselves - just keep giving them reasons to send us off.
They’ve had a few defeats in the cups but in the league, in spite of that last result, they’re still very much the favourites. Don’t think we can say they are falling apart. They’re not as good as they usually are, but that was the case last season as well.
They always look like something isn’t quite right around this time of the season and then they switch gears after Christmas.
Actually you said ‘should’ve’ which implies we should’ve beaten the two best teams outside of us in the league, 1 away and 1 home.
But ignoring all that, if we ‘should’ be in third on 22 points why is everything so bad? You obviously recognise we’ve had a rough combination of bad luck, ref issues, stupid mistakes and tough games.
So why is there so much uproar now? It wasn’t there before the Newcastle game. Im not saying it’s just you btw, it’s everywhere.
I think it’s because we’ve had consistently bad news for the last 3 weeks running. Both on & off the pitch. We’re 7 points off already, injuries galore and now probs have to go on better run than we did last season. With no Dubai trip to look forward to also hehe.
It seems like the only good news we’ve received is that Ode is finally training with the team again.
I hope i’m eating crow come end of the season though.
On one hand you’ve got people saying we’re playing like shit and don’t look like contenders, regardless of the injuries.
On the other hand you’ve got people saying we’ve been unlucky and should’ve had more points, which includes the two games against our two title rivals. That means we should’ve beaten one if not both of them, despite the absentees or playing with a man down for an entire half.
We’ve looked pretty uninspiring in a few games, we’ve been unlucky in a few and there have also been some impressive performances albeit rarely for a full 90 minutes.
It’s that old horror called inconsistency and most teams suffer from it, especially when the starting line-up is also inconsistent due to injuries and suspensions.
We’re not far off the pace, it’s early doors, we don’t have to go to White Hart Lane, The Etihad or Newcastle in the league again this season, there’s no need to panic just yet.
This might be the season where we finish above Man City but we could also see Liverpool or even Chelsea challenging with us for the title.
Next season Man U will have a top quality manager who will bring in players the quality of Gykores instead of Ajax signings so with spurs and Aston Villa also going for a top four place, the title race might involve several clubs rather than the usual Man City and Arsenal title race.
It would be interesting to know if Arteta regrets not buying a couple top quality attacking players rather than GK’s and defenders because players we’ve been linked with, like Williams and Gykores, would’ve given us more of a lift than Trossard, Havertz, Jesus or Sterling.
It actually pains me so deeply seeing Liverpool being lauded as some super special team.
Fuckers have basically had a perfect bill of health and the easiest run of games. It’s allowed them to build momentum and confidence. Cunts. I’m waiting for the Van Dijk or Salah injury.
Meanwhile we’ve had to play Villa away, Spurs away, City away, Newcastle away and now have Chelsea away. It’s bonkers how poorly balanced our fixture list is. Very difficult to build momentum and confidence when you have this set of fixtures all close together. Really have been shafted.
Liverpool finally have some tough games coming up albeit mostly at home.
I won’t write off our title challenge until January time when the games everybody has played has evened out a little, and we are through the CL league table phase.
But fucking hell, we have to WIN at Chelsea this weekend. Got to arrest this poor run of results.
