Match Reaction v Leeds (away) & Match Ratings

[HCZ_Reborn]

I’m prepared to give Arteta and the team the benefit of the doubt given we’ve played two hard away fixtures with not much time between them (and a lot of the players played in both games)

But we got away with one and the performances need to improve starting with at home to PSV

And I don’t mean because I’m listening to the title hype being spouted by overpaid commentators, it’s because City, Chelsea and Spurs are breathing down our necks in the race for 4th….we are going to lose more ground this week where teams play in the league and we don’t. We are fortunate that United and Spurs are playing each other and can take points off each other and that City aren’t playing at all.

Chelsea are away at Brentford not an easy fixture but neither was Palace or Villa…they are getting results

[Letters]

I did hear last night that the previous 4 teams who started like this ended up winning the title
But I doubt they had other clubs as close to them as we do now.
I think we all know that this squad probably doesn't have the legs for the long haul, but what I was looking for this season was improvement - Top 4 or Bust.
We are clearly seeing that, if we are anywhere near the title race come Easter then that would be a lovely bonus, but that's not the metric by which I'd judge Arteta this season.

[HCZ_Reborn]

I did hear last night that the previous 4 teams who started like this ended up winning the title
But I doubt they had other clubs as close to them as we do now.
I think we all know that this squad probably doesn't have the legs for the long haul, but what I was looking for this season was improvement - Top 4 or Bust.
We are clearly seeing that, if we are anywhere near the title race come Easter then that would be a lovely bonus, but that's not the metric by which I'd judge Arteta this season.

If we remain in the title race but lose out at the end I’ll be bitterly, bitterly disappointed and might become verbally abusive to Arteta but no rationally it’s not the criteria he should be judged on. The highest points total Arsenal have achieved in a 38 game season is 90…now the last time the title was won with fewer than 90 points was Leicester City in 2016

A title win for us would be the level of Leicester in terms of being unlikely, yes we’ve spent a lot of money recently but we’ve got a very thin squad, a young coach and younger players up against a side with a striker who looks like he was grown in a lab from the DNA of the top goalscorers in world football. Now we’ve seen they are not invincible, but we’ve also lost ten times in a row to them.

This could be a strange season because we don’t know how the World Cup will affect teams. We also without doubt need to enter the transfer market if possible in January.

[Marc Overmars]

I feel like a drop off is inevitable but if that means we course correct to a top 4 fight then that’s what we all expected anyway. Of course if we bomb completely then that’s another matter entirely. We can dream of course but the title talk is just pure fantasy land at this stage. The goal is and always will be top 4 this season but if by some miracle we find ourselves top or close to the top after 25 games or so then I’d start to believe something great could be possible.

[selassie]

I did hear last night that the previous 4 teams who started like this ended up winning the title
But I doubt they had other clubs as close to them as we do now.
I think we all know that this squad probably doesn't have the legs for the long haul, but what I was looking for this season was improvement - Top 4 or Bust.
We are clearly seeing that, if we are anywhere near the title race come Easter then that would be a lovely bonus, but that's not the metric by which I'd judge Arteta this season.

Yeah I'm with you on this, it's how I feel too. Basically a top 3/4 finish would be job done in terms of the progress of this team and Arteta managing it.

Title talk is not even in my thoughts right now, it's all about us picking up as many points as possible to ensure we finish in the top 3 / 4.

[Mac76]

Think you're stretching for a stick to beat Arteta with there... Gabriel Jesus has played fewer minutes than Martinelli, Saka, Erling Haaland, Harry Kane, Son, Mo Salah, to name just a few. 20%+ fewer club minutes compared with most of those players from other teams that are in the CL, and he wasn't called up by Brazil for the recent international break, unlike most of them.

Well different players have diffeent energy levels, plus i'd argue he covers more ground than some of those others - i think a lot of them were looking tired yesterday, I still would argue that we shouldn't play crucial players when they aren't needed, e.g. that last 35 mins against Bodo/Glimt at home when 2-0 up

[selassie]

Well different players have diffeent energy levels, plus i'd argue he covers more ground than some of those others - i think a lot of them were looking tired yesterday, I still would argue that we shouldn't play crucial players when they aren't needed, e.g. that last 35 mins against Bodo/Glimt at home when 2-0 up

We are certainly going to need to dip into the market in January to pad out the squad a bit more. Loans or Buys, whatever....but we will need more bodies and players that can come in and do a job now. Our squad will be stretched to its limits after the world cup and we do not want a repeat of the end of last season.

[Mac76]

I feel like a drop off is inevitable but if that means we course correct to a top 4 fight then that’s what we all expected anyway. Of course if we bomb completely then that’s another matter entirely. We can dream of course but the title talk is just pure fantasy land at this stage. The goal is and always will be top 4 this season but if by some miracle we find ourselves top or close to the top after 25 games or so then I’d start to believe something great could be possible.

yes the aim's still top 4 and even there i'd say all we've done is improve our odds a little at this stage - I'm more worried about the 'bombing completely' end of things, last season we'd started riding our luck even before those three straight defeats that lost us our CL place

unless they recruit big in January it could be even worse - i think we're still short in midfield, we also need another proper left back who doesn't want to drift in-field, so we can play Tierney in the PL and someone else in the EL and cup games. and a striker - Eddie is still just 'ok' for me, we need someone better

one other thing - Arteta needs to play 100% kids in the League Cup when it comes

[selassie]

yes the aim's still top 4 and even there i'd say all we've done is improve our odds a little at this stage - I'm more worried about the 'bombing completely' end of things, last season we'd started riding our luck even before those three straight defeats that lost us our CL place

unless they recruit big in January it could be even worse - i think we're still short in midfield, we also need another proper left back who doesn't want to drift in-field, so we can play Tierney in the PL and someone else in the EL and cup games. and a striker - Eddie is still just 'ok' for me, we need someone better

one other thing - Arteta needs to play 100% kids in the League Cup when it comes

If we are serious about this season then we should write off both the domestic cups and fill the team with kids. I don't care, the League and Europa are the prime competitions here and that's what the focus should be on given our squad is small.

[HCZ_Reborn]

If we are serious about this season then we should write off both the domestic cups and fill the team with kids. I don't care, the League and Europa are the prime competitions here and that's what the focus should be on given our squad is small.

Yeah would be good to try and win a European competition even if it’s a b side competition

Win on Thursday and we are pretty much assured of a bye into the last sixteen