Good day one and all.
In this podcast we look at the Wolves game and consider just what realistic chance we have of finishing above City and what may act in our favour.
Pedantic George
164 comments on “We’re Going To Win The League…..Maybe!”
Comments are closed.
Positively Arsenal 
a good comeback win, the 26th time a David Moyes team has lost to Arsenal
LikeLike
Mikel Arteta on Eddie Nketiah: “I just gave him a big hug. He deserves it. He earned it the way he played today, a typical Eddie Nketiah goal. It was an outstanding performance from him.”
LikeLike
Frustrating first half, exciting second. It must have been fun to be there and lovely to see Arsene back home. We’re easy on the eye right now and how great to have Eddie on the score sheet with the game clinching moment.
LikeLike
Lots of chat suggesting we are in the market for double M, the flying winger – but who in yesterday’s starting XI would he replace? And what would that mean for the formation?
LikeLike
Saka’s 1st goal should have stood, was not offside, how did var miss that?
LikeLike
Officials are going to cost us at some point.
LikeLike
Impressive display once again. As much as I was down on MA and our style of play in his first 2 seasons, I must admit this team is now very exciting to watch and MA surely has a part in that. MØ, Saka and Martinelli were very good and to see Arsène there and hearing his song was a great Xmas gift!
LikeLike
This team is a different animal to Mikel’s team we have seem ,worried about and criticized before.
We have seen a team unable to create chances, a team that couldn’t come back after going a goal down and worst of all we have seen a team that was stagnant and boring. All of the criticism of Mikel was just while we we watching those performances.
Now however I and anyone else who thought Mikel was wrong for the long term must give him credit for producing a team we can constantly enjoy.
The first two goals may have been fortunate against the hammers but we played nice football all the way through the game and Eddie’s goal was delicious and the 3-1 scoreline didn’t flatter us in the end.
LikeLike
The way I see it (& the way I see it could be wrong) Arteta’s style as a CM was to sometimes play it slow and short and ignore the runs made for more direct moves and at times as a coach it felt he was giving way too much to that tendency.
Yet one of his most memorable moments as a player for the Gunners and there were many was his long range screamer against City after a direct run from the c.circle.
My favourite moment of Arteta as a player was when he completely lost it with a titling ref and spent the last five mins of that near come back against Munchen in Munich fouling and screaming at the ref with every touch
I wrote here the record goal scoring run in December gave me hope in Arteta’s vision, and that taking Xhaka out of his midfield, again, made me question that vision. Then he signed Zinchenko.
LikeLike
Good win against West Ham. And the rarity of coming from behind.
Going from things I have read, Arteta has gone for a complex and sophisticated method of play, which needed time , specific and willing players, unwilling/ unable but still decent players have fallen by the wayside.
I don’t know enough about coaching to go into the specifics, but this team swarm opponents, and seem to have telepathic understanding of movements, positions, they can execute complex , unpredictable patterns of play extremely quickly , from defenders like Ben White ( Englands prehistoric coaching is their loss) , through the MFs to our wonderful forwards.
Arteta of course has a Barca background, and has worked under Wenger and Pep, not the worst pedigree, when Pep kept on about how clever MA is , even when results weren’t always going his way, was worth taking notice.
And the good thing , with the age profile of this squad, I don’t think they are anywhere near the finished article.
Some stiff tests are soon to come, but Arteta is impressing, to the extent where I would imagine the clubs number one medium to long term risk is someone very big and rich poaching him , because for any hige team sacking or losing their manager, a guy that has reduced the wage bill, bought through some fantastic young players , and sits top of the league will be a very attractive prospect
LikeLiked by 1 person
Indeed success can bring its own problems.
I have to pinch myself as the style of play is so easy on the eye. They do have the Barca influenced, smother and win the ball back approach.
The upcoming fixtures look very challenging especially as some of those teams are beginning to hit their stride. However I do feel we can match teams that play open attacking football as we are pretty strong in all departments.
I think the doom merchants who said that not having CL football would affect our purchasing power will be proved wrong as the Arteta approach will be an attractive proposition for quality players who buy into it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
https://positivelyarsenal.com/2021/02/
Perhaps I was right to hope
LikeLike
it seems Arsenal have bid something like €40M + €20M in add ons for Mudryk, but Shaktar want a bid that could reach €100M in total. The reports suggest that a bid somewhere in the middle of the two valuations might get it done. Mudryk seems to be making it clear he wants to join Arsenal, and one can ask the question just how much of a bid can a club in a country currently fighting a war realistically turn down
david ornstein has said the feeling is a deal will be done, he also said Arsenal are interested in getting Joao Felix on loan from Atletico Madrid for rest of the season, but are not willing to pay the current asking price of the loan fee and his massive wages, AM are asking for £8M loan fee and his wages in full to be paid. It’s not clear if any purchase option would be included in any deal. Such an option could make the deal more appealing to Arsenal
LikeLike
well thats man city back up to 2nd, just the 5pts behind Arsenal
LikeLike
one other transfer rumor is that Arsenal are trying to sign Eintract Frankfurt left sided central defender Evan Ndicka on a bosman free transfer in the summer, but may pay a fee of under €10M in January to secure his signing, as his club are looking to sell him now instead of letting him leave in six months for free
LikeLike
The next four games leading to the mid point in the season all look pretty difficult.
To get to the 19 game mark while only losing one game would be a great achievement and a good set up for the busier second half of the season.
The old adage the league is a marathon not a sprint is certainly true however January will be a good indicator of how we will fair.
LikeLike
The biggest change for me since the time of Ødergaard’s signing is that we no longer see the two super-agents talking to the press pack on behalf of The Arsenal. That was the lowest moment.
Ødergaard was the harbinger of a return to football driven not agent driven signings?
What happened with Auba was a big setback but as we have learnt from sources such as Rafa Benitez Arteta most likely deserved a bye on that one.
Perhaps there is some little irony with Saliba being the one non-dud signing by the self declared Don (what a record! The Don.).
The super-frauds, these methylated Risdales have less to say at the moment perhaps Edu is keeping them happy who knows but they have shut up in public and I like to speculate that these talentless mule rustlers hit their peak under Arteta the with the Mari signing(?).
Interesting to see how the club proceed now that they are top of the league & players are keen.
Not sure MA will be able to bring back the scouts who signed Martinelli etc but yes we can see some similarities: of a coach running the team again.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Every Time I start to get really confident something happens to make me doubt myself.
The win against a resolute West ham side made me think we would be able to despatch sides who put eleven men behind the ball with ease and then I see their awful display against Brentford and I wasn’t so happy.
Yes I know the hammers played a different way at their place and the Bees managed to counter attack them but had hoped West ham would start looking a good side and our win would look very good.
There is no doubt about the Brighton side we play today. They are very good even though they have been disrupted by losing their long time manager and some very good players.
A win today would be a very good result and a good platform for what looks to be a difficult month COYG.
LikeLike
Man City draw 1-1 with Everton and Newcastle draw 0-0 with Leeds, so a great chance for Arsenal to open up a gap if we can beat Brighton this evening.
LikeLike
Arsenal: Ramsdale, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Partey, Xhaka, Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Nketiah
Subs: Turner, Holding, Cedric, Vieira, Lokonga, Elneny, Marquinhos, Tierney, Tomiyasu
LikeLike
Ramsdale, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Partey, Xhaka, Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Nketiah
Subs: Turner, Holding, Cedric, Vieira, Lokonga, Elneny, Marquinhos, Tierney, Tomiyasu
LikeLike
Sakaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa 1-0 to the Arsenal
LikeLike
HT: Brighton 0-2 Arsenal
Saka and Odegaard with our goals, heading for a 7pt lead at the top of the table
Partey and Gabriel booked in last couple of minutes of the half, need to be careful with Taylor in charge
LikeLike
Incredible scenes.
Temperature might increase in the second half after the burst of cards
COYG
LikeLike
Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, makes it 3-0 to the Arsenal
LikeLike
saka booked, puts both him and saliba on 4 bookings for the season so far, one away from a suspension
LikeLike
Tomiyasu and Tierney on for White and Zinchenko
LikeLike
brighton score to make it 1-3
LikeLike
Martinelli makes it 4-1 to the Arsenal
LikeLike
Elneny on for partey
LikeLike
Arteta wanting to continue with the ingenuity to keep opponents guessing & happy to roll out a Partey long throw when 0-3 up.
Seven points clear at new year? Incredible scenes.
LikeLike
16 games played and we are going 13pts clear of spurs in 5th
LikeLike
young irish lad ferguson pulls another back for brighton, 2-4, with 12 minutes plus stoppage time left
LikeLike
we are really struggling now
LikeLike
our next 3 league games to bring us to the half way point of the season are Newcastle at home, spurs away and man utd at home.
LikeLike
Holding on for Odegaard
LikeLike
surprised Taylor didn’t send off Saka there
LikeLike
ah for fucks sake its 3-4
LikeLike
lucky lucky lucky, that goals was ruled out for offside, its still 2-4
LikeLike
we are into stoppage times as that goal was ruled out for offside 2-4
LikeLike
Taylor found 6 minutes of stoppage time to play, 2-4
LikeLike
FT: Brighton 2-4 Arsenal
Saka, Odegaard, Nketiah and Martinelli with our goals, to give us a 7pts lead at top of the table. Game was far harder than it needed to be after being 3-0 and 4-1 up, we were hanging on and very thankful for a VAR offside call to stop it being really big problems
Newcastle up next
LikeLike
The trouble this evening is we scored too early (in both halves) and then played at half pace in both halves, giving them the ball rather than the run around. So in a funny sort of way we were not ever nearly at our best so when they threatened we just weren’t up to pace. It felt a bit like the Southhampton game earlier this season, but no damage done this time. And 3 points when playing poorly is always a bonus.
LikeLike
we play newcastle midweek before man city go to chelsea, so we have a great chance to put some real pressure on them.
just a mad thought but if we win our next 3 games in the league, then at the half way point of the season we would be a minimum of
7pts ahead of city,
12pts ahead of newcastle,
14pts ahead of man utd,
15pts ahead of liverpool
16pts ahead of spurs and chelsea,
I did say a mad thought
LikeLike
4 yellow cards for Bukayo Saka now in the Premier League. Only1 player has been booked for a foul on Saka. Dirty Arsenal
LikeLike
Happy New Year to you all – and thanks for all the friendship and fun times this last one!
LikeLike
Hopefully Saka and Saliba are sensible and get booked just before the Oxford game of it works like that.
Anyway Happy new year everyone
LikeLike
Happy new year.
Hope you are good George & enjoying this Footy.
Wishing you all a happy & healthy 2023!
LikeLike
Saka booked four times & only one card against.
Blimey.
Or as Mbappe might say: incroyable.
Can we say it? The people/institution that ignored Clough (& Potter, Howe etc.) do not know Football. Be sure of that. I hope no shrinking violets and faux patriots are offended.
A new year has begun and Arsenal’s form and fortune may have been through the full cycle after AW left but the pigMOB are reliably still a farce/charade when compared with less affluent sports like the cricket, rugby & even field hockey.
No one can defend these weirdos without lowering themselves to their level. Whilst the peddlers of shite non-rugby rugby football for shite footballers belch their bollocks the game has simply moved on (see Heading in Scottish Football).
I think I would personally help sponsor the current shirt with a new advert over a picture of Grandmaster Riley for my own gambling company: kissmyarsenaldotcom).
LikeLike
ian I seen it reported that ban only apply now to the competition got it, so any player with 5 bookings before the 20th game will be suspended in the epl
its possible we could see saka and saliba get their 5th by then, missing any of the 18th, 19th or 20th epl game, i think gabriel and xhaka in danger too, is it 3 each for them, pgmol might see to it that all 4 get to 5 each in the 19th game, v man utd, and then all miss away to everton
LikeLike