FA Cup coming up though…
I’d have more sympathy for him if he himself didn’t do shit like this. Clearly a policy at Arsenal that they then believe others also employ but then get the arse about.
You don’t lay hands on another player like that. Same with Gabriel and Wirtz. You can’t simply manhandle players because you think they’ve done or are doing wrong.
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I was pleased with our performance but also angered by it. Against Arsenal we were committed, focused, mobile and aggressive with technical excellence in controlling and passing the ball. So where has this team been all season? I didn’t see any of those attributes against the supposed ‘lesser teams’ when we have drawn or been beaten. Why not? I think people who have been relentlessly taking potshots at Slot (the reason I came here from another toxic forum) will/should be re-thinking their perspective after that show because if we had played with that intensity all season I’m sure we would be a lot higher in the table. Right throughout this season there’s been this vague sense that we are a bit of a pushover, lightweights and anyone can get something against us by being physical and working hard. And when you see what we can do when the players actually decide to put in a shift, you can see that the assessment is correct. The players last night were a world away better than the dross they served up in most other games. So what is going to be done to make sure last night becomes the rule rather than the exception? Because the obvious conclusion is that we can definitely play but the team only really wants to do it against the glamour sides.
Shout out to Bradley and Kerkez who were excellent. Grav a monster, Mac back to snarling best, Frimpers as a constant threat kept Arsenal honest at the back, Wirtz classy as usual and Gakpo worked his socks off defending with nothing else to feed on. MOTM was Dom though as he put in a real shift after two middling recent performances. Is there any positon he can’t fill?
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I am not sure how obvious that is. We have been dire against some other ‘glamour sides’ this season. As I noted in the in-game thread, this was a milestone game, because for the first time this season we saw a clear idea from Slot, obvious buy-in from the team, and sound execution from each of the players. In particular, there were some minor adjustments at half which produced about 35 minutes of ascendancy - where we have become accustomed to seeing minimal changes until about 65 minutes, then progressively more desperate attempts to attack, often following substitutions that had most of us puzzled.
None of that happened last night, which is a credit to players and manager - but I don’t think it supports the conclusion that players have for some reason not been willing to work hard all season. There are probably some lessons across the board
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He thought that because this kind of routine shithousery is endemic to Arsenal football club and the way they go about their business. Of course Martinelli would think Bradley was making the meal of it. That’s was he’s been trained to do.
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https://x.com/i/status/2009400354090217876
My respect for Gary Neville has gone up 
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As always, Mr Alternative. The voice of reason and serenity.
I really would have sent Robbo on with the expressed instruction to put a straightener on Martinelli. Take the red, and put down markers. Allow a cunt like Martinelli license and you get plenty.
As maligned as Darwin was, he wouldn’t have allowed that smug fucker Gabriel to manhandle Wirtz off the ground. Darwin had that streak, no one messed with him. We allowed Gabriel to behave as he did. That gives the others courage.
Thats where you need a nasty fucker in every team. If Souness or McMahon were there last night, then Martinelli wouldn’t have done what he did. I never wish injury on a player, but if he got clattered last night it would have been justified.
Sometimes, just sometimes you have to be a cunt, to combat cunts.
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I would like to see the data on our players’ performance from last night but surely you could see that we were a LOT more itnense, working harder and more focused than previous games? I don’t accept that was the first time Slot has had a clear idea of how to play this season, but will credit him for preparing the team for a game in which we had virtually no strikers available. Maybe it’s not effort but motivation or pride that gives the players a boost against the bigger sides (forgetting City and that was due to a ref aberration). Either way we all need to see that level of intensity in every game.
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This game was an awful advert for the Premier League. Current PL champions against the current PL leaders, and that was served up.
It was a solid defensive display from ourselves, but I don’t think we were playing for a win, which explains why we looked better. It was all focus on being tight and compressed, sit back and counter. When we have Ekitike and Salah back, and actually attack opponents, will we look as defensively sound, or will we revert back to the chaos of no midfield?
I was fuming at our players shaking hands with Martinelli at the end. Nobody had the desire to do anything about it. Kind of sums up the feeling about the squad. A bit soft, no grit or steel at all.
An easy week coming up with Barnsley and Burnley both at home, so should be some comfortable viewing at least in terms of goals and more expressive play.
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In numerous threads, posters have wondered why our intensity has been so mediocre so often. One of the explanations offered is that they are as baffled as to what the heck Slot wants them to on the attacking side as we all have been. On the defensive side, we have frequently been clearly poorly organized - blame that on senior leadership, coaching, whatever, but the evidence has been there. We are no longer a real pressing team, so a lower level of defensive intensity is to be expected, but that doesn’t explain woeful set piece defence.
Which match prior to last night would you identify as one with:
i) a clear idea of what Slot wanted the team to be doing?
ii) a clear improvement after halftime produced by minor refinements, rather than wholesale abandonment of what we had been doing for 45-65 minutes?
I am at a loss to point to an example of either. I was pointing to these problems when we were at the top of the league, because we were winning despite not playing at all well.
easy game…totally cursed us now! 
Agree with the rest though. It was a tpyical stalemate game but was compelling maybe.
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I mean, two home games against a side 17th in League One and a newly promoted side who are currently 19th. It’s a dream week. 
- RM, Villa?
- I don’t accept that what Slot has done in second halfs is a wholesale abandonment tbh. I do think he may be a little enslaved by the new ‘load management’ ethos though.
What I don’t accept is the idea that if the team performs badly it is always the manager’s fault. The players are experienced professionals at the top of the game and need to be scrutinised too. I’m not absolving Slot because there are things we do that infuriate me, such as dropping back after scoring and inviting the opponent to re-group. But he’s not the guy sloppily giving away possession, mis-directing passes and failing to get set pieces beyond the first man.
I wonder if he will make the mistake of fielding another academy side against Barnsley though? Hope not.
It might be a mix, but it’s possibly the only time we have to rest some players and avoid further injuries. We should definitely be seeing Chiesa and Rio at least!
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When I was a young lad there was a romantic, giant killing, aspect to the FA Cup. It feels that these days that has almost gone because the giants of the game will often play seriously weakened sides against lower level opposition, bringing an ‘upset’ well within range.
A famous Barnsley win because some ale house striker roughed up Wellity Lucky? That hypothetical situation is not a giant killing for me.
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Both of those games are notable largely because they were wins after a dismal period. But Madrid was a really odd game, in that we had relatively little of the ball, and less of it as the match wore on - and I am not at all convinced that was the plan. It looked nothing like the preceding matches. If it was Slot’s design, as last night obvious was, perhaps this suggests the inversion of your original thesis? Slot is more effective when he sets aside a dogmatic style and is compelled to design a game plan for an opponent with what he actually has?
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But Wirtz can’t/doesn’t press 
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Villa, Real Madrid, Inter!