Arsenal V Spurs (2-2)

[Marc Overmars]

The game was there to be won but not for the first time we failed to show a lack of killer instinct when on top. Without Kane Spurs still had enough to do damage and they did just that. Injuries didn’t help but we wilted in the second half and that mish mash of a team that finished the game were never going to find a winner.

I’m sick to my stomach of how many goals we continue to give away at home and how many of them can easily be prevented. In the end I was just relieved that Spurs settled for the point too because make no mistake we were there for the taking in the second half.

City will absolutely destroy us in a couple of weeks if we don’t play ourselves into form.

[Marc Overmars]

There is some talk that we could move for Toney in January.

I’d certainly back that.

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

There is some talk that we could move for Toney in January.

I’d certainly back that.

If we'd kept Balogun and even Tierney, we'd have had more natural options. Eddie had a shitfest on Sunday and was lucky not to get a red but their was no option to take him off which was totally self inflicted.

Then we have Havertz coming in as some sort of super sub when clearly he is still battling depression caused by I dont know.... maybe being the 2nd highest paid player in the club ?! There is no logical reason Smith Rowe shouldn't have come in ahead of him and why he's had so few minutes, especially since we are assured of a minimum level of performance from him when he is fit.

I am just tired of Arteta and his"Mad King" behaviour.

[HCZ_Reborn]

If we'd kept Balogun and even Tierney, we'd have had more natural options. Eddie had a shitfest on Sunday and was lucky not to get a red but their was no option to take him off which was totally self inflicted.

Then we have Havertz coming in as some sort of super sub when clearly he is still battling depression caused by I dont know.... maybe being the 2nd best player in the club ?! There is no logical reason Smith Rowe shouldn't have come in ahead of him and why he's had so few minutes, especially since we are assured of a minimum level of performance from him when he is fit.

I am just tired of Arteta and his"Mad King" behaviour.

Balogun missed two penalties for Monaco at the weekend

[Mac76]

Balogun missed two penalties for Monaco at the weekend

Genuine question, missed or saved?

[HCZ_Reborn]

Genuine question, missed or saved?

They were saved but judge for yourself (the match highlights are available on you tube) . My attitude is unless it’s a world class save from the keeper, the forward has fouled up. And yeah Balogun fouled up, first penalty not enough power and straight at the keeper, second penalty more power but again straight at the keeper.

Can’t fault his nerve going back to take a second after he missed the first but still, the commentators said the last time the same player missed two penalties in a game in that league was 2007.

[Letters]

Just had a look. They were not good penalties.

EDIT: One of my football annoyances is when a penalty like that goes in and the commentator says what a great penalty it is. The goalkeeper going the wrong way and a weak penalty going in doesn't make it a good one

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

Balogun missed two penalties for Monaco at the weekend

I was aware of that even before I posted this as I put money on Nice to draw the game which you know they more than did.

What I don't get is how this is related to what I posted earlier i.e. we had no option but to play Eddie for 90 mins as we only have two strikers?

Does the fact that he misses penalties mean he wouldn't have been preferable to have had him on the bench on Sunday? Does missing penalties now erase all the goals he scored last season in Ligue 1? If Havertz scored 2 penalties in a row does that mean he is a justifiable buy?

I honestly don't get what you are implying here, unless you are saying you prefer Eddie to Balogun, which TBH is your prerogative but doesn't change what I said about us having the option of all 3 earlier this season and choosing to start and finish a season with only 2.

[HCZ_Reborn]

I was aware of that even before I posted this as I put money on Nice to draw the game which you know they more than did.

What I don't get is how this is related to what I posted earlier i.e. we had no option but to play Eddie for 90 mins as we only have two strikers?

Does the fact that he misses penalties mean he wouldn't have been preferable to have had him on the bench on Sunday? Does missing penalties now erase all the goals he scored last season in Ligue 1? If Havertz scored 2 penalties in a row does that mean he is a justifiable buy?

I honestly don't get what you are implying here, unless you are saying you prefer Eddie to Balogun, which TBH is your prerogative but doesn't change what I said about us having the option of all 3 earlier this season and choosing to start and finish a season with only 2.

Crikey….I thought it was meant to be me who got the hump too easily


Not being you or for that matter being psychic I don’t know what you know or don’t know about what happened in a French league fixture at the weekend


I think Sunday’s match suggested that it was quality rather than quantity we lacked up front. I’ve been very outspoken about how Arteta has spent loads on defenders and hasn’t actually bought an out and out striker in the almost four years he’s been here. But yeah I remain unconvinced that we shot ourselves in the foot by letting Balogun go, and actually more peeved that we spent sixty five million on Havertz rather than an out and out striker.

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

Crikey….I thought it was meant to be me who got the hump too easily


Not being you or for that matter being psychic I don’t know what you know or don’t know about what happened in a French league fixture at the weekend


I think Sunday’s match suggested that it was quality rather than quantity we lacked up front. I’ve been very outspoken about how Arteta has spent loads on defenders and hasn’t actually bought an out and out striker in the almost four years he’s been here. But yeah I remain unconvinced that we shot ourselves in the foot by letting Balogun go, and actually more peeved that we spent sixty five million on Havertz rather than an out and out striker.

I don't agree with you on this.

I mean yes "Quality" is obviously something we all want but not understanding that "Quantity" counts in a 38 game season where we will be seriously chasing 2 other competitions (CL & FA cup) that could mean an additional 25 games is more than naive if you ask me, and only adds to the notion that Arteta is still learning on the job.

I mean look at the quality we've already lost in Timber and Partey. Add that to the absentees we had on Sunday, if you don't have options you get f**ked like we did.

Lets go further back to an experienced winning manager we had ....AW started 96 season with 3 strikers, Wrighty, Bergy and Hartson, by February he was strengthening by adding an unknown "quantity" Anelka, meaning we had 4. Yeah Hartson also left in February but AW didn't want him to go. Anyway our title challenge faltered around February but Wrighty still ended up with 23 goals being the 2nd highest scorer.

The next season, AW again signs another striker he had worked with in Wreh and our 23 goal striker gets a long term injury at the start. However the quality that is Bergkamp and the unknown quantity that was Anelka take the reins and we win the league. Wreh also helps with some important goals.

Next season, despite the fact we won the league he strengthens further by adding about 3 or so strikers with Kanu being the star pick. Yes we didn't win it but we didn't fall far short either.

What I don't get is that we don't need to go that far back to realise that Arteta was playing russian roulette with this season yet again

Last season, when we had only one competition we were serious about, we started well thanks a lot to Jesus but once he got injured we all had our hearts in our mouth and wondered how we would cope. Despite Eddie surprising a lot of us and doing a good job what would have happened if he had also got a long term injury?

You would think that a manager who now waxes lyrical about having options for every position and who now freely admits that losing only one player meant he squandered a 9 point lead against Citeh, would make sure he has more than 2 strikers just in case.

Anyway, I didn't want this to be long but I think you get what I'm saying....there was absolutely no reason for us to get rid of some players we got rid of and not replacing them like for like after what we went through last season. Would it have really made much of a difference if we'd gotten rid of Balogun and Tierney in January instead? I don't think so.