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Here is just part of the interview with the numpty AKA, Paul Mersonā¦ Would appreciate if anyone can translate the bold section into something that actually makes any senseā¦!! :0)
"āThe difference between City, Liverpool and Arsenal is City can go for 10 wins in a row and nobody will pay any attention to it. If Liverpool and Arsenal do it, itās a big thing.
āAnd it could all be over for Liverpool in the title race in one week. They play Chelsea at home ā you have no idea which Chelsea is going to turn up. They can play, so thatās a hard game.
āThen they go Arsenal away, and if it goes like the way the FA Cup game went then Arsenal will win that game. Before you know it, itās all over for Liverpool."
If I remember correctly, we won 2-0 did we not 
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They did get more shots, more shots on target, and had a significant edge in possession. I would not want to let them do that two matches in a row.
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Yeah but the way it went was we won 2-0.
Thatās the way the game went.
Also in every title season or close to winning title season weāve had a run that has matched or eclipsed them.
Like the one two years ago.
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Sure, but at the 75ā mark, some of us were thinking getting out with a draw might be ok, and/or cursing a replay.
Itās Arsenal. They go down hard with a suckerpunch, and they did. But there was an element of robbery to that win. Next win one needs to be a little more punch-in-the-mouth right away, let them know it wasnāt us who got lucky last time.
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āIf it goes like the way the FA Cup game went - apart from the inconvenient part Iām overlooking, when Liverpool scored two goals and Arsenal didnāt score any - then Arsenal will have a better chance of winning that game.ā
I donāt see anything wrong with what Merson said.
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Iāll happily take a repeat of the FA Cup game, thanks Paul.
Going to the Emirates with a team that didnāt have van Dijk, Szoboszlai or Salah in it and trying to outplay Arsenal would have been a pretty poor gameplan.
As it was we went there to frustrate them, rode our luck a little in the first half, and then second half we did the classic thing that away sides do and played the game in 10 minute segments.
Once we decided to turn it on we were by far the better team.
Arsenal can certainly beat us, especially at the Emirates but I think for context it is worth remembering that we didnāt set out to play our normal style so Arsenal having more possession and shots was literally our gameplan. And it worked.
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Hes jumped on the narrative that Arsenal should have had 7 even though they shouldnāt have.
a) Merson is a former Arsenal player
b) he is paid to come up with controversial views
c) heās a thick twat
Ignore him. Everything he says is bollocks.
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You have never told a single lie.
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exactly this.
its a funny industry football, as its opinion are generally either far too forensic ( for many viewers) or just far too āprovocativeā almost trumpian statementsā¦
a simple explanation as you have given above is pretty much where my level of football brain sitsā¦and ive been involved playing and coaching for well over 40 yearsā¦so im guessing im in the large middle band of football intelligenceā¦
why not cater more for the likes of āusā with reasoned, yet not so forensic analysisā¦pretty much the only place to get this is sifting through posts on community forumsā¦(and yes i acknowledge the amount of whoppers on forums)
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I remember the first 20 being a bit of mess, probably put down to the fact that without VVD it was always going be a bit like that.
The second part of the first half they didnāt produce as much danger and we created a few chances, second half I donāt remember much from them bar possession and then we got the winners.
It will be tough as will Chelsea but we have to play 38 games as everyone else.
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Pretty much, although we actually got off the ropes earlier than that. They had 7 shots in the first 10 minutes, we didnāt get our first until 20 minutes in, but they didnāt get their 8th until 26ā. They had another flurry of 3 shots with about 10 minutes left in the half. Shots at the half were 13-2.
The fact that shots ended 18-12 tells the story of the second half. They still had more of the ball, but couldnāt do much of anything with it
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Except the couple of shots early on , they didnāt test alisson too much. You need to test the keeper in order to score and Arsenal didnāt do enough of that.
They dicked around with the ball , looking pretty at times but had no end product.
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Arsenal in a nutshell
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Weāve been slow starters in the first half of our games. Lightning is probably not gonna strike twice and Iād rather not bank on the fact that theyāll be āunluckyā again when they have another 7 shots in the first 10 minutes.
They did hit the woodwork so they did get past Ali
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Arsenal are probably second only to City in stopping us winning the league. So I wouldnāt dismiss them at the Emirates and think its going to be a handy one.
That said, the cup game was different than our normal approach, as highlighted by @Sweeting. Virgil will be back and his presence will mitigate against that early onslaught. This could be a game where we take a point and be happy with itā¦though
Somehow, I feel this result will determine much of the the season. Beat them and its probably a two horse race. We should be heading for full strenght ( Mo aside) so it could be the catalyst for great things.
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Not after dropping two points against them at Anfield. We need to win this one and at least maintain the gap to Cheaty prior to them coming to Anfield.
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IMO 4 points vs Arsenal and Chelsea and weād be right on track in the title race.
6 points (which I canāt see) and weāre definitely winning this thing.