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The goal now is what it was on August 5th, get into the top fourQuote:
Originally Posted by Marc Overmars
This is I insist still a very precarious endeavour. Our failure in the transfer market has made us hostage to fortune, and especially so in light of the return of European football.
We are not favourites to finish top 4, we are distinct underdogs. Anyone refusing to acknowledge this is setting themselves for a catastrophic fall
I get that. I also understand that some people feel that Xhaka could be upgraded on. But:Quote:
Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn
and your criticism of the way Xhaka plays is, IMHO, one-eyed in the extreme. Pretty much every commentator that I have seen acknowledges that Xhaka has been one of our best performers this season, and some had him as MOTM on Sunday. You are entitled to your opinion, but in his new position, the player has been an integral part of our very impressive start to the season - and rather than disparaging the away fans who were singing his name I salute them for (unlike you) setting aside historic antipathy to Xhaka, and recognising the efforts he has made. In terms of how we have played as a team all season, Xhaka has simply not been the weak link that some insist in characterising him as.Quote:
He's still a huge weak link and has only been usurped as the worst player in the team by an incredible effort from Saka.
I wouldn't say we are either.Quote:
Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn
City are clearly at a different level. Liverpool probably are although they have struggled a bit so far.
After that...I don't see anyone else clearly favourites ahead of us. Chelsea, Spurs and Utd are the next lot, none of them clearly above us IMO.
I don’t believe we’re distinct underdogs. Maybe other sides are favoured more (and fairly so) because of recent history of finishing in the top 4, but based on what we’ve seen so far we may have as good a chance as any. We missed out by essentially a win last season so we’re not miles away.Quote:
Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn
It’s not like it was 10-15 years ago where the top 4 was a lock in. It’s a precarious endeavour now because the competition is stronger and 6 into 4 doesn’t go, 3rd-6th is potentially interchangeable. Maybe even Liverpool could be scrapping this year, which would be good for us.
Quote:
Originally Posted by IBK
Praise from commentators like with fans is ephemeral, I could understand the point you were making if Xhaka was in his second season with us and that last season was him playing beneath himself whilst he settled in. But he’s one of our veterans….only Elneny has been at the club longer.
All that changing his position has done is make us more dependent on Partey remaining fit, he has done well this season because we’ve had a combination of playing mainly spastic opponents And Partey and to a lesser extent Zinchenko covered for the spaces he leaves in midfield. Xhaka has become in fact the microcosm for Arsenal under Arteta where I’m constantly waiting for it to go disastrously wrong and recent history has proved me right consistently.
My list of Xhaka’s attributes are what makes me afraid every time I see him on the team sheet, because in a league which is won by a mixture of pace and power….persisting with a player that lacks either along with any dribbling ability is tempting fate.
It’s not just that we can upgrade on him, it’s the failure to do so is masochistic. And it’s not because he’s a shit player. His ball into Jesus on Sunday was sublime, as was the one two he played with Jesus to put the latter in on goal.
When under little pressure he has excellent passing range at times. But this isn’t the Bundesliga, it’s not Series A…you don’t get that time and space continually…and he will be exposed for his limitations again as sure as night turns into day.
I struggle with having to explain this to people who are clearly around my age or older and have watched enough football down the years to be able to come to the same conclusion. And the only explanation I can render for it, is the delusional belief that because the laws of science are based on finite probability, that by some miracle there is a chance no matter how small that having Xhaka there won’t fuck us.
Singing about him, is the equivalent to saying having your uncle fondle your Willy as a small child made you the man you are today.
Xhaka is still a huge weak link.Quote:
Originally Posted by IBK
Personally, I think it's the introduction of the position, rather than Xhaka, that has made the difference. The move from 2 DMs to one has been long overdue. It balances the team so much more (when the AMC is very right side biased) and offers that extra option/distraction in attack. That's the difference for me.
It just so happens that Xhaka is occupying that position just now but it's still ripe for improvement with a more natural fit.
That said, I don't think anyone is disagreeing that Xhaka is playing his best fitba for arsenal just now.
However, form is temporary. Lack of class is permanent.
And, fwiw, I've never really been one for targeting Xhaka either. You won't find a post of mine about him that is personal in anyway. I don't dislike him or hold some weird extreme view of him.
Just a fitba opinion. Even in my ratings, and let's be honest they're the only ratings anyone actually cares aboot, I think I've had him middle to top end most games. I'm actually enjoying his wee purple patch. Good on him. That still doesn't detract from the fact that after Saka he's the player/position that is easiest improved.
Yes you’re definitely the person to listen to on player ratings by the same token Sidney Cooke gives brilliant advice on child safeguarding
I get that Letter’s misguided sense of Christian charity allows you to venture an opinion in public when you should be in an institution being studied as to how the human race has gone down such a blind cul de sac, but is the faux Scottishness really necessary. You’re not really even Scottish are you, you gave up on that country when it became apparent that most of your fellow countrymen weren’t insane enough to give the SNP the keys to an independent country.
I don’t know, is it a sign of misplaced guilt…if so Hardly necessary. That country is going down hill but it’s definitely better off without you there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marc Overmars
Ok I’m really going to have to do this? Blimey
As of the end of the game yesterday we are one yellow card away from losing Jesus through suspension. If that yellow card comes against Spurs we lose him for the Liverpool game. I like Eddie I really do, but then I liked Danny Welbeck as well but neither of them give me particular confidence when playing up front.
We’ve got Granit Xhaka playing in a more advanced role because Arteta has given up on even expecting him to not leave so much space in midfield. It’s like a school who has given up on a pupil and any hope that they might turn up for lessons on time, have the right equipment and actually produce legible homework…you might as well leave them to it and wash your hands off them when it comes to exam time.
Unfortunately for the team it requires the continued presence of Thomas Partey to prevent him from doing too much damage, and Partey is about as reliable in that respect as Batman is to Commissioner Gordon in respect of not disappearing mid conversation.
Lokonga could be a possibility but not at the moment because Arteta refused to play him enough last season to bed him in and when he’s been thrown in at the deep end, he’s looked desperately wanting which in Arteta’s mind is justification for not having played him to begin with….circular logic.
On top of that we have European football which we collapsed last season despite not having and our squad is so thin that we can’t get away without playing first team players even in the group stages.
We have no cover for Saka, we have two centre backs vying for the right back spot. We have one left back who clearly prefers cuddling up on the sofa with his boyfriend and watching Despicable me to playing football and one left back who doesn’t seem to understand what a left back actually does.
We lack any variety up top, just because at all of 5ft 10 Jesus was able to get between two centre backs and head in unmarked on Sunday doesn’t mean most defenders will be so obliging.
Our first choice playmaker has a tendency to go missing in big games (by tendency I mean he always goes missing) the second choice one is Injured, overweight and has one leg shorter than the other and Skeet Ulrich seems decent but still has the upper body strength of my mates Nan after three rounds of aggressive chemotherapy.
Spurs may be playing shit but they have two of the best strikers in the league and they don’t play silly buggers with their midfield for years.
Liverpool could slip but with their best XI available would comfortably nail us to the wall
Chelsea - If Auba is like he was in his last 15 months with us they are fucked, if under a decent coach like Xavi or Graham Potter and not monstrous egotists like Tuchel and Arteta he thrives they will finish above us
So yeah, it’s abundantly clear to me as it should be to anyone else that it’s not in our own hands
Yeah I agree with this. I don't think there is much if anything in it between us, Chelsea, Spurs and Utd. We are the underdogs in the sense that we haven't finished in the top 4 since 2016 but our performances and results for quite a while now place us firmly in the "Challenging for top 4" bracket. We are certainly not worse than any of those teams mentioned above, in fact on performances so far we look pretty much locked for top 4.Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters