I place far less importance on the Liverpool game than many. Winning it is a massive confidence boost but it doesn't suddenly mean we will be title contenders. Either way we are on the right track of progression even though we are isolating one game and placing extra importance on it. A draw is a little meh and losing it just reaffirms they are a better team and we are still capable of losing (which I don't think anybody has lost sight of).
It has special significance because we want to feel like we can compete in the biggest games, but the last several league games tells us more than the next isolated game does and we are definitely progressing.
On a different note....I thought the away fans were fuhking superb. All I could hear was our fans all game. Nicely done lads!
Even if we beat Liverpool I don’t think we’ll be anywhere near challenging for the title, but wins against the other teams that make up the top 6 have been pretty rare of late. Would like to go into these games knowing we can take points off them rather than think not winning is a forgone conclusion.
United and Spurs back to back at the start of December will probably be more telling.
I'd be amazed if we beat (or even draw with) Liverpool.
I don't think we learned anything yesterday. We've been sloppy at the back during this run of wins, some of those wins could easily have been draws.
Overall I'm enjoying the way we're playing, I'm not expecting miracles this year.
I think our squad is good enough to challenge for the top 4, not the title. That's my benchmark this season although I wouldn't be #EmeryOut if we don't finish top 4 as he needs some time.
We seem to be heading in the right direction and that's enough, for now.
Having Xhaka at LB provides balance but as a defender he is hopeless and cannot tackle for toffee. We need Monteal back for the Liverpool game, last thing we want is Xhaka up against Salah and Mane.
I thought we should have pushed more for a 3rd goal, the longer it stayed 2-1 the more nervous we looked. Zaha is a diving cunt who does it every fucking week, nothing new there.
Liverpool will be a really tough game, they will punish any mistake we make, plus they have a good defence this year as well.
Pretty happy right now, we're moving in the right direction, some players are showing signs of improvement and given that's he's only been here a few months and has has to work with the squad he largely inherited he's done well.
Not sure why we can't seem to get going in the 1st half at all, that's a bit concerning, we could easily have lost a few of those we won had the teams we played against taken their chances.
I think we were trying to push for a third but things just weren’t sticking in the final third. Lacazette had an off day, his hold up play wasn’t as sharp as it usually is and Iwobi looked poor. Ozil was also ineffective but that shouldn’t really surprise anyone despite his performance against Leicester.
On another day we could have killed off that game after the quick turnaround but we were sloppy and Palace in fairness didn’t give up and made it really difficult for us.
Just one of those days.
I thought we did well to get a point yesterday, for long periods of the game Palace were the better team and caused us a lot of problems. They gave us the run around first half if we are honest and should have been 2 or 3 up.
I think one positive from yesterday is the way we dug ourselves out of a hole and came back into the game, games like this last season were 100% losses.
For me the Liverpool game next week is pretty much a write-off, I think they are too strong for us in every area and will cause our defence major problems.
Considering last season and the way we have started the season I don't think it is unreasonable to think we will have to play at our highest level to achieve a top 4 finish. I do still think we are arguably the 5th or 6th best team in the league so finishing above either place will be a decent achievement.
Like others have said, I think City and Liverpool are the strongest teams in the league and a level above us. I think Chelsea are slightly better than us and if I'm being brutally honest, Spurs marginally better than us. United I am not sure about, they have had a horrid season so far but I wouldn't be surprised if they catch us up.
It's not all doom though as I think Emery is exceeding expectations and once he has his team we will be a consistent top 4 challenger / side.