Blud, it's the Arsenal thread, fam

Genuine answer - He isn’t.

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His play acting was genuinely annoying as the game went on.

If the two wide players, Saka and Martinelli, were in last season’s form, then your question would not be raised. Saka has the numbers (not at the level of last season, granted) but Martinelli has struggled. Trossard yoyos between the bench and in the starting eleven.

But they are still in contention. Much the same as us, apart from Salah, the likes of Nunez, Diaz, Gakpo, and Jota (for various reasons), are behind in terms of numbers.

We’re hoping Jota coming back to fitness can change that (especially with Mo going to the AFCON). And if Martinelli steps up a touch, then the questions around Jesus will die down, as he would be the one that brings their wide players into play.

Also, Arsenal’s midfield of Rice with two attacking players (usually Odengaard and Havertz), requires someone like Jesus to drop deep and interchange. If Jorginho gets back into the eleven to solidify the midfield, then the case for a Ivan Toney type would be stronger.

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Their top scorer has 5 goals in 19 matches. Coupled with an average goalkeeper, I don’t rate them at all. They have a chance in the title race just because both us and City have dropped our levels too much, which is annoying.

I enjoyed this today very much, considering the ref decision not to award us the obvious penalty against them. Thanks Karma for making it on time today.

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He is what we knew him to be…a talented, hard working and clever forward who won’t score you a ton himself, but will make things mesh in a good attacking side. He is doing what he’s always done, but it won’t be enough if Saka and Martinelli continue at this pace.

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Arsenal can improve the side with a top class centre forward. Right now is not bad, but not world class. It was nice to see them lose today. They have spent a lot of money to back the manager. At the moment they are more of a thereabouts sort of side than winners.

Definitely a good side, but even at this early stage of Klopp 2.0 I think we will finish above them.

What will it take for Saka to get the reputation of a diver?

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An Egyptian passport? :joy:

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Word.

Saliba, Jesus, Odegard , Rice might make our bench but none of them would make our first choice XI

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We’ve improved not got worse.

Remember this is a rebuild season and remember that last season.

This!

Don’t know about this. I’d suggest Rice would start alongside Dom immediately and I could also see Odegaard and Saliba forcing their way in very quickly. Not a huge fan of Jesus but it’s also possible he could somehow partner well with Diaz and Mo/Darwin and end up starting a lot of games. All four would definitely enhance our team.

You really think so? Saliba, Odegaard and Rice would certainly start for us. Jesus would be a rotation piece probably.

Arsenal’s biggest issue has been the downturn in form of Saka and Martinelli. Martinelli in particular has been absolutely terrible over the last month or so. Add to that Raya, who has been one of the worst goalkeepers in the league this season and it’s clear why they haven’t been able to capitalize when others lose.

But Rice, Odegaard and Saliba are not the issue - they’re the guys holding it all together.

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Saliba would get in to our back four.

All due respect to Endo, but Rice would be an upgrade.

Hard to choose between Macca, Jones and Odegaard.

An on form Martinelli would get in a combined team, but he’s not on form at the moment. Mind you, Diaz isn’t either.

In form or prime nobody is pushing Matip to the bench.

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Except Matip himself with his injuries.

Apart from Salah, the others have been up and down. We now need Gakpo, Darwin, Jota and Diaz to step up a touch.

Our more prgoressive midifled now has goals in them, so this of course reduces the need for those four to rack up Mane/Salah numbers.

The Arses result was good for us. Now we need to string a few wins together.

I think Matip and Saliba are pretty similar players and of course you take that partnership of van Dijk and Matip because they know each other already but it’s a shame Saliba went to Arsenal - him and van Dijk next to each other would be a phenomenal defence.

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Thing is even without it they probably still lose. West Ham played the same game and the second was a corner which wasn’t particularly gained from players going forward.

They just looked utterly blunt. Bit like our game after 10 mins.