Same old V Liverpool

[Marc Overmars]

We haven’t had to rotate because we’ve been playing every 7-10 days. Also, who do we rotate though? The only viable options on the bench last night were ESR and Pepe. The squad is mostly shit beyond the first 11, Arteta doesn’t trust any of them.

We’re only talking ESR/Martinelli really who could be interchanged seamlessly.

[Letters]

During the War! We used to play 4 games in a week on 5 inches of mud with a ball that weighed a ton!

Ha. Dad told me that back in the day they'd sometimes have the two North London Derbies over Christmas, one on Christmas Day and the other on Boxing Day.
Thems were the days!

[I am invisible]

On the plus side, the reaction from the fans in the stadium was incredible again - keep that going and it’ll be when, not if we start challenging.

[I am invisible]

Liverpool are a far superior team. Disappointing again to not really look like getting a result but how we react at Villa will be more telling.

It may not be pretty after 2.5 days recovery and trying to bounce back from a defeat, but if we can find a way to take 3 points in a crunch game at Villa then you have to say this team has grown.

We’re clearly still some way off the top two, but I really don’t feel we’re far off Chelsea’s level already? City are better and more consistent than us against all opponents and across a long season and 4 competitions, but I now fancy us to at least give them a game in our head-to-heads - our style just seems to match theirs up pretty well.

Liverpool is still the yardstick for us - an adhoc spot-test that we take twice a year to measure progress and get an idea of what we still need to do.

[Xhaka Can’t]

It might not feel like it, but we are gradually improving in these games. The panicky, PTSD moments are gone and we no longer go from 1 to 5 down in the blink of an eye. We matched them for about 40 minutes at anfield earlier in the season - yesterday we lasted about 60 minutes before we cracked (and even then we still had a couple of decent chances). It’s gradual, but it’s going the right way.

The fact is they’re just a better, more rounded side than us right now. They already have the exact players they want in every position whereas our best XI is still short a striker and a left 6-8. They have strength in depth where our squad is thin - losing someone like Tomiyasu hurts us, whereas they can casually bring Jota on for Firminio, Diaz on for Salah, etc, and have more options from the bench. They have an average of 3-4 years more experience than us per player.

(Plus it feels like there’s a ‘bogey team’ element at play here - I don’t know whether it’s a fundamental mismatch in styles that disadvantages us, or a just psychological / belief thing that we need to get over, but it always feels like we’re battling an extra… ‘something’ against liverpool?)

We’ll get there, but don’t forget we’re not even 1 year into this rebuild yet - we’ll need at least another couple of good windows and 2-3 years more experience before we’re at their level.

That is a really good analysis.

The part relating to how we react to losing a goal and the impact of that in big games is telling.

We no longer have a glass jaw. Now we need someone in the lineup that can be relied upon to deliver a killer punch when needed.

[I am invisible]

That is a really good analysis.

The part relating to how we react to losing a goal and the impact of that in big games is telling.

We no longer have a glass jaw. Now we need someone in the lineup that can be relied upon to deliver a killer punch when needed.

You can even see it on an individual level. Ben White had a torrid time against Toney in his debut, and you could see all the pundits and papers were just itching to wheel out the lazy ‘soft Arsenal player’ narrative - since then he seems to have made it a personal mission to prove that he’s decent in the air and won’t be bullied, and that he even has some dark arts about him, and he’s pretty much nipped it in the bud before it could gain any traction.

[I am invisible]

we need to start using Lokonga more instead of Xhaka too, plus making sure Holding and Tavares are getting some game time - they can all do fine against the right opposition

Lokonga’s an odd one - it’s starting to feel a bit like when Martinelli disappeared off the face of the earth last year, and we were all scratching our heads wondering why we weren’t using him. Then he comes back into the side this year and starts tearing it up, and looks like he’s been of training with Shaolin monks or something! I wonder if we’ve got Sambi on some kind of secret, fast-track training somewhere, getting him ready for a big reveal next season?

Tavares I expect we’ll see more of once Tomi’s back - we like to have one attacking fullback and one defensive / balancing fullback, and right now our LB has to be the defensive one because we only have an attacking RB available. Of the two LBs you’re not going to get Tavares to stay back.