"Playing like this, there are very few teams in the world that can play at that level.”
Arteta on his side’s performance yesterday.
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I’m legitimately confused as to what he is talking about.
Was he referring to a replay of our CL game against Madrid?
Who would?
When the shit hits the fam and they’ve got the wrong man, innit, blud.
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I hope Havertz continues with that sort of finishing for a while - though I’m pretty certain he scored a few winners for Arsenal in narrow wins this season. I can’t forget that he scored a CL winner for Man City but I also can’t get his goal at Anfield in 2021/22 out of my head, that cost us the title in the end…
The more I watch them, the more I think it’s a shame that Odegaard is playing for them and not for Liverpool. Insanely talented and creative player, he’d fit Slot’s team like a glove.
Fixed
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But how when he’s never played for them?
Think you meant that he scored the winner for Chelsea against City?
But how does that differ from any of the other 7 games we dropped points in?
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My bad, I meant “for Chelsea against Man City”.
It doesn’t differ in any way - all the other games still live rent-free in my head. 
He just happens to be a guy who couldn’t finish his dinner last night (and more often than not, thankfully), yet he scored a pretty difficult header back then, in front of Kop no less.
Their best player by a mile. Brilliant footballer.
Havertz gets a lot of stick, I don’t mind him as a player at all. He’s one of those in last years that has been playing anywhere from an offensive #8, to a #10, to a false #9. He had a lot of sympathy when he was at Leverkusen though (not much less than Wirtz gets now), but who knows how much people watched him at that time. An unusual type of player, pretty tall, slim, lacks a bit of aggression (or killer instinct, he’s no proper striker) overall, but he does have qualities as well. That was a very poor penalty last night however.
I don’t think he was that bad at Chelsea and he’s better at Arsenal. Probably a club and team that suits him better, a fanbase that understands better a player like that. Something between a midfielder and striker, there are not many players of that type, because it’s a difficult thing to do. You combine playing in both directions a lot, in all phases of the game. Not a great finisher, but will still get you around 15 goals a season. It was always going to be a question how would Odegaard and Havertz play together in the same starting XI.
What they thought they were getting when they bought Jesus (was presented like a masterstroke) is more something where they failed to get what they wanted. Not even a year after his signature, most Arsenal public (not always right though) would say that they still need a “proper striker”.
In the balance of becoming tough to beat (Arsenal out of possession has been the best side in the league in the last 2-3 years maybe) and having that control, creativity, firepower… perhaps they need to find a better ground between that, more towards the other side again.
And I don’t even think it’s just a proper striker and that’s it, they’re suddenly winning the biggest trophies, but internal things as well.
Midfield for example, you have some top players like Rice and Odegaard. But you need more around or in the middle of that. Rice has done better more as a #8 last season than as a clear #6. So it’s also about those partnerships in midfield.
You have people like Jorginho, Partey and Merino. All good players more or less in their way, but is it enough in terms of real control? Jorginho is playing his last seasons. Partey could be off. Merino will try to prove he’s a better, finer version of Xhaka.
Raya also has a few more question marks before he proves he can be a key part of a winning team. It’s funny to me because we played Blackburn in a pre-season friendly in 2018, Raya was in goal for them and I thought who is this guy, he’s damn good for a lower league player.
For me, there are question marks both in attack and midfield, a little bit in goal also. Though the overall defensive part of their game is pretty good. Form can change.
I also think they’re forcing a lot some sort of connection with the fans and atmosphere. Having wars with the online world for years, “look, now we’ve won over the AFTV guys, now we even have an anthem”. There’s emotion everywhere and it’s fine, but with them it sometimes borders with desperation and that’s not good.
There’s also the question mark who replaces Edu?
Anyway I think they should stick with Arteta a little longer. He’s got a contract until 2027, then or a bit before that you assess it again and decide what to do.
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Anyone who wants to see just what you can do with a Pot Noodle.
Warning: it isn’t for the faint-hearted.
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Liverpool fan as well. There were rumours about us being in for him before he went to Real.
He actually visited the academy facilities and I think he even took part in training (I believe he did that with a few other big clubs) but opted for Real Madrid in the end. Kids usually don’t rebuild their careers after a failure at a club of Real Madrid’s stature but he’s done it perfectly.
If Arsenal don’t win anything soon, and with De Bruyne’s future in doubt, I would be surprised if Odegaard wasn’t in Man City’s sights.
Thanks for keeping it brief!
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Thanks for keeping it inane.
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Ödegaard looks like a shadow of the player he used to be since returning from injury.
I’m just wondering how to pronounce his name. If only somwone could offer us some insight. Until such time, we’ll just have to stick with Ohdeeguard.
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Thought this was good
I’ve been saying “odourguard”.
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