Arsenal 5-1 Man City, Player rating and Match Reaction

[Mac76]

The point of being a Labour member as opposed to just a voter is to be politically active and attend local constituency meetings. I can guarantee you now that the conferences absolutely are representative of political membership. I’m not even singling Labour out, all party political membership holders are middle class….

I know from my own experience over many years, in more than one geographical area, that it's utter BS to say most Labour members are middle class - sorry but sitting at your computer all day reading websites doesn't qualify you to know the reality

[HCZ_Reborn]

So we didn't win yesterday, it was city who lost? It's still city and they were coming off a run of wins, weren't they. In the PL. So while they aren't at their own standard of recent years it doesn't mean they've dropped to a standard where "poor" players can dominate them. We dominated them because we finally decided to exploit weaknesses that have come into their game, and to do that we have to be capable of exploiting those weaknesses. It wasn't as if city were kicking he ball into the net for us.

If you’ve watched how City have played this season even in games they’ve won, you would see that without the ball that yes even poor players can exploit their weaknesses (I didn’t exaggerate when I claimed they had no chance of winning the title without Rodri, a lot of ageing players being made to play in a way that teams can exploit). Is Rice a poor player? No he’s an excellent no6. But arguably so was Gilberto Silva and he absolutely lacked the attributes to play in the Vieira role

[HCZ_Reborn]

I know from my own experience over many years, in more than one geographical area, that it's utter BS to say most Labour members are middle class - sorry but sitting at your computer all day reading websites doesn't qualify you to know the reality

All I can say then is you have no idea what working class is. Which wouldn’t be a surprise given how confused most of the comments you make about politics are. What you think may be working class, are cos players playing class war. It’s not the same thing. There’s no sea change…it’s always been that way.

Political activism outside of trade union activity (and even that is largely middle class in this day) has always been a middle class hobby, especially on the left.


The thing is chief, it’s what you are….you reek of middle class. The white guilt, the stunningly misaligned social conscience, the superficial concern for the hardest off people which doesn’t do a great job of masking your utter contempt for them.

I’m not working class either…the difference is I don’t pretend to be like these people you claim to have met.

[Mac76]

All I can say then is you have no idea what working class is

I've literally studied what working class is

anyway whatever

[Niall_Quinn]

If you’ve watched how City have played this season even in games they’ve won, you would see that without the ball that yes even poor players can exploit their weaknesses (I didn’t exaggerate when I claimed they had no chance of winning the title without Rodri, a lot of ageing players being made to play in a way that teams can exploit). Is Rice a poor player? No he’s an excellent no6. But arguably so was Gilberto Silva and he absolutely lacked the attributes to play in the Vieira role

So we'd have done even better yesterday if we played Rice deeper and let him trail his man as far as the halfway line then limit himself to breaking up the play? We have the best back five in the league, why do we need to spend 100mill+ to supplement that? Is that what you believe Arteta and Co were admiring when they got the chequebook out?

Okay, fine. Rice is just a bog standard scrapper, good engine, no technique, can't pass, it's worrying to learn that.

So who would we have put in his place?

[HCZ_Reborn]

I've literally studied what working class is

anyway whatever

You’re priceless you are


You studied what working class is? Am I led to believe you studied sociology ?


That explains so much….including why you got the hump when I spoke about graduates coming away from universities with useless bachelor of arts courses (I’m a BA honours myself so I feel like I’m free to say this)

[HCZ_Reborn]

So we'd have done even better yesterday if we played Rice deeper and let him trail his man as far as the halfway line then limit himself to breaking up the play? We have the best back five in the league, why do we need to spend 100mill+ to supplement that? Is that what you believe Arteta and Co were admiring when they got the chequebook out?

Okay, fine. Rice is just a bog standard scrapper, good engine, no technique, can't pass, it's worrying to learn that.

So who would we have put in his place?

I can’t tell if you’re being obtuse or whether these are actual questions

[Niall_Quinn]

I can’t tell if you’re being obtuse or whether these are actual questions

Well you said Rice is no good in the role he's playing, can't pass, lack of technique, etc, and he'd be better as a defensive midfielder, or did I hear that wrong? Or are you referring to the 80s #6 role at centre back?

Regardless, if we're shifting Rice around, who are we shifting him with, or who are we brining in?

[HCZ_Reborn]

Well you said Rice is no good in the role he's playing, can't pass, lack of technique, etc, and he'd be better as a defensive midfielder, or did I hear that wrong? Or are you referring to the 80s #6 role at centre back?

Regardless, if we're shifting Rice around, who are we shifting him with, or who are we brining in?

1) the Point was that Man City’s paucity means that we could play Rice there and not come up too short


2) I literally say in every match thread that we should swap the positions around and play Partey at 8, he’s better on the ball, better passer, better reading of the game and where other players are going to be. Also he’s useless at tracking runs, and putting out danger so our back four is more exposed this season. Partey isn’t the perfect no8 either…arguably it’s a role that doesn’t need to exist. If we bring in Zubimendi would make sense to move Rice on and bring in a more attacking midfielder to double pivot with Odegaard. Or keep him on the bench for when we play away at big sides and need to stodge up the game

[Niall_Quinn]

Partey. Knew it.

So the Rice thing is just a byproduct of the Partey thing? Not going to spend the next 2 days arguing about why the idea of Partey in that role would be catastrophic. But the amount of balls we'd give away in critical areas of the pitch ought to be enough to knock that on the head. If he's useless at tracking runs and putting out danger for the back four, why would we ever want him further up the field applying these special talents?

No, not spending the 2 days. So we'll let you have Partey there.

How old is Partey? How much longer will he be here? Almost left in the summer didn't he? Is he here next year if we can't bring in a more attacking midfielder to double pivot with Odegard? We'll have sold Rice, or he'd have demanded a move to keep his international career afloat rather than warming the bench for us. Sold at a loss I would think, and a big one.

It's one way to go I guess. We're bringing in Zubimendi, big wages there, and hopefully a striker, big wages. We'll save some on getting rid of Rice, of course. So maybe there is some room to bring in a more attacking midfielder to double pivot with Odegard.

But who? Any names spring to mind? Somebody who could be double pivoting up top with Odegard, and Partey, Rice and Jorginho all booted? We'd have Trossard, Martinelli, Saka, Zubimendi, and don't forget Sterling if he stays. Which leaves Merino as the steel in the middle, given the bloke we dump Rice for will be pivoting away up front.

You sure you thought this through fully?