Arsenal - world class side

[Shauntaylor85]

Simply sublime. No better side in Europe defensively. Arteta is top class. Winning the title this year no doubt. What do they do? Play it simple. Basically a 4.4.2! 

Edited September 15 by Shauntaylor85

[RUSSEL85]

They defended well today granted but thought Spurs could have played all evening and not scored.

[Jose]

1 minute ago, Shauntaylor85 said:

Simply sublime. No better side in Europe defensively. Arteta is top class. Winning the title this year no doubt. What do they do? Play it simple. Basically a 4.4.2! 

No doubt? Fancy a wager? Man City win it again with the freak up top. 

[Jose]

1 minute ago, RUSSEL85 said:

They defended well today granted but thought Spurs could have played all evening and not scored.

Are Spurs ever going to push on?  I look at that team and bar Son nothing to get excited about in the final third. 

[Mr Popodopolous]

4-4-2 is an interesting shout, feels more like a potential strikerless or 4-4-2-0 to me?

[Mr Popodopolous]

Or 4-4-2-0..doesnt smack of a true and traditional straight line 4-4-2 anyway.

[TDarwall]

Fine till about March when they'll collapse as per usual.

[W-S-M Seagull]

20 minutes ago, Shauntaylor85 said:

Winning the title this year no doubt.

If Man City beat them next Sunday then with a 5 point gap it will be game over already. 

Only way Arsenal win the league is if City get found guilty. 

[TDarwall]

Just now, W-S-M Seagull said:

 

Only way Arsenal win the league is if City get found guilty. 

Which hopefully they will. I think Arsenal would still bottle it though.

[maxjak]

1 hour ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

If Man City beat them next Sunday then with a 5 point gap it will be game over already. 

Only way Arsenal win the league is if City get found guilty. 

Credit where credit is due.....you are naive if you believe it is that simple?    Arsenal have the best   central defensive unit in the Prem/Europe?,  Saliba and Gabriel are outstanding..........to state that should Man City win next week,  that it is all over is just dumb IMO.  Arsenal can grind out results away from home, when even their top 2/3 players are absent, which indicates to me that this will go to the wire.   The best 2 sides in England will be neck and neck throughout the season..............and i am looking forward to Arsenal breaking the Man City Monopoly?

[Arsene's Wanger]

1 hour ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

If Man City beat them next Sunday then with a 5 point gap it will be game over already. 

Only way Arsenal win the league is if City get found guilty. 

 

[W-S-M Seagull]

5 minutes ago, maxjak said:

Credit where credit is due.....you are naive if you believe it is that simple?    Arsenal have the best   central defensive unit in the Prem/Europe?,  Saliba and Gabriel are outstanding..........to state that should Man City win next week,  that it is all over is just dumb IMO.  Arsenal can grind out results away from home, when even their top 2/3 players are absent, which indicates to me that this will go to the wire.   The best 2 sides in England will be neck and neck throughout the season..............and i am looking forward to Arsenal breaking the Man City Monopoly?

Hardly would be neck and neck with a 5 point gap would it?

[maxjak]

Just now, W-S-M Seagull said:

Hardly would be neck and neck with a 5 point gap would it?

Yawn

[Kid in the Riot]

3 hours ago, Shauntaylor85 said:

Simply sublime. No better side in Europe defensively. Arteta is top class. Winning the title this year no doubt. What do they do? Play it simple. Basically a 4.4.2! 

Was only today they tweaked it to a 442 as Rice and Odegaard were out. 

[Shauntaylor85]

58 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Was only today they tweaked it to a 442 as Rice and Odegaard were out. 

I watch them live a lot Kid, my wife is a season ticket holder. They do push up to a 4.4.2 quite regularly actually. 

3 hours ago, TDarwall said:

Fine till about March when they'll collapse as per usual.

They didn’t collapse. They had one freak result v Villa. This year they’ll win it. 

[MarcusX]

Not hearing many of them talk about referees and second yellows today… Timber probably should have seen a second yellow for raising his hands to Vicario

[Ronnie Sinclair]

Odd to see Arsenal in black in this game - apparently too much white on their shirts for the referee to accept 

[Super]

18 hours ago, Shauntaylor85 said:

I watch them live a lot Kid, my wife is a season ticket holder. They do push up to a 4.4.2 quite regularly actually. 

They didn’t collapse. They had one freak result v Villa. This year they’ll win it. 

What's your point? Its easy to play any formation when you have top quality players.

[Mr Popodopolous]

It was more of a narrow than a conventional 4-4-2 at best.

There is a reason why top Club and International sides don't play the traditional 4-4-2 IMO.

This by few metrics is a traditional 4-4-2..

White is a CB playing RB? Unsure what the first position of Timber is.

Trossard and Havertz are not typical strikers. In some ways it seems like a 4-4-2-0 or a 4-4-2-0.

[Malago]

Man City just went through the “World Class” Arsenal defence like a hot knife through butter.

[And Its Smith]

That is a bad looking injury to the worlds best defensive midfielder 

[petehinton]

An absolute lesson so far. Lovely. I’m sure this is the FA conspiring against them somehow though, and that’s why they’re losing. 

[Kid in the Riot]

6 minutes ago, Malago said:

Man City just went through the “World Class” Arsenal defence like a hot knife through butter.

Arsenal's defence is demonstrably world class tbf, but that was crap defending from them there...cannot give Haaland space like that.

[Jackson Lamb]

What an equaliser 

[MarcusX]

On 15/09/2024 at 20:09, MarcusX said:

Not hearing many of them talk about referees and second yellows today… Timber probably should have seen a second yellow for raising his hands to Vicario

And to follow on, I’m sure we won’t hear them mention about where the free kick was taken from.

Heck of a finish though!

[petehinton]

Arsenal scoring because of a ref mistake yet the FA are conspiring against them to not win the league, makes you think

[W-S-M Seagull]

4 minutes ago, petehinton said:

Arsenal scoring because of a ref mistake yet the FA are conspiring against them to not win the league, makes you think

I missed the Arsenal goal, what happened? 

Surely if the ref made a clear and obvious mistake then var would have ruled the goal out? 

[And Its Smith]

2 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

I missed the Arsenal goal, what happened? 

Surely if the ref made a clear and obvious mistake then var would have ruled the goal out? 

Yeah cos VAR never makes mistakes! 

[View from the Dolman]

1 minute ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

I missed the Arsenal goal, what happened? 

Surely if the ref made a clear and obvious mistake then var would have ruled the goal out? 

No, that would be an illegal use of VAR - it doesn't cover restarts of play. 

[Ecko]

32 minutes ago, Malago said:

Man City just went through the “World Class” Arsenal defence like a hot knife through butter.

World class defender scores

[Barrs Court Red]

Kyle Walker lost his man quicker than he lost his wife. 

[Kid in the Riot]

3 minutes ago, Ecko said:

World class defender scores

Same goal as he scored last week - you'd have thought City might have picked that up!

[Ecko]

Just now, Kid in the Riot said:

Same goal as he scored last week - you'd have thought City might have picked that up!

They did the exact same from the same corner 5 minutes earlier too. Shows our integral Rodri is for them. Him being out for a while could genuinely hand the title to arsenal. 

[LondonBristolian]

18 minutes ago, petehinton said:

Arsenal scoring because of a ref mistake yet the FA are conspiring against them to not win the league, makes you think

To be fair, Arsenal scored their first because Kyle Walker ambled back into position without any sense of urgency. The referee didn’t spot that a free kick half way into Arsenal’s own half but Man City could easily have stopped it if their players had been concentrating.

[petehinton]

Hahahahahaahhaahah

[KegCity]

Moronic from Trossard.

[LondonBristolian]

Stupid red card. Why on Earth is he arguing?

[Super]

Braindead 

[Ecko]

What an idiot.

[W-S-M Seagull]

Silly to do that. 

[Midred]

See Arteta there what can he expect from his players on the pitch? 

[Kodjias Wrist]

It’s as if fate wants Man City to win the league again haha. Why oh why would he do that what an idiot in such a high pressure game.

[Maltshoveller]

1 minute ago, Super said:

Braindead 

Agree 

BUT

Why was the ManCity player not carded when he kicked it away earlier

Just be consistent 

[Super]

1 minute ago, Kodjias Wrist said:

It’s as if fate wants Man City to win the league again haha. Why oh why would he do that what an idiot in such a high pressure game.

Arsenal still lead though. They defend well won't be easy for MC

[TV Tom]

7 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Same goal as he scored last week - you'd have thought City might have picked that up!

They should be sticking Haaland on him from set pieces 

[formerly known as ivan]

Arsenal, in between all the nice attractive football, have also been getting very good at the not so pretty side of the game as well, i.e. those set pieces, cynical fouls etc…

But that’s twice now petulance might cost them. Firstly Rice the other week and no Trossard. What Arteta is manning about I don’t know.

[Supersonic Robin]

5 minutes ago, LondonBristolian said:

To be fair, Arsenal scored their first because Kyle Walker ambled back into position without any sense of urgency. The referee didn’t spot that a free kick half way into Arsenal’s own half but Man City could easily have stopped it if their players had been concentrating.

That's a bit harsh. He was only out of position because the ref called him over to speak to him 30 yards away. Think it's reasonable to expect that the referee allows adequate time for Walker to return before restarting play.

Walker understandably furious. 

[LondonBristolian]

1 minute ago, Supersonic Robin said:

That's a bit harsh. He was only out of position because the ref called him over to speak to him 30 yards away. Think it's reasonable to expect that the referee allows adequate time for Walker to return before restarting play.

Walker understandably furious. 

Walker had more than adequate time. The fact he chose to slowly jog rather than run is 100% on him and 0% on the ref. Players have to be awake to the possibility of a quick free kick. He was not.

[Maltshoveller]

3 minutes ago, TV Tom said:

They should be sticking Haaland on him from set pieces 

Would you not put your best DEFENDER on him

Square peg round hole

 

[Maltshoveller]

Just now, LondonBristolian said:

Walker had more than adequate time. The fact he chose to slowly jog rather than run is 100% on him and 0% on the ref. Players have to be awake to the possibility of a quick free kick. He was not.

Walkers fault the free kick was taken 10 yard from where it should have been?

That part 0% walker      100% ref

[TV Tom]

Just now, Maltshoveller said:

Would you not put your best DEFENDER on him

Square peg round hole

 

No, your best defender might be 5ft 8in

[LondonBristolian]

4 minutes ago, Maltshoveller said:

Walkers fault the free kick was taken 10 yard from where it should have been?

That part 0% walker      100% ref

That would be why I did not at any point say that. Maybe try reading people’s posts and then commenting?

[Maltshoveller]

5 minutes ago, TV Tom said:

No, your best defender might be 5ft 8in

Best defender at defending crosses

[1960maaan]

Is it just me or is this a strange way to set up at a corner?
They had already tried it once , 2 players moving towards the keeper to stop him getting near the deep cross. 
5 Arsenal players deep with one Man City player in the middle of them , 5 Man City players marking space on the front post . It seems madness not to have changed it after the first corner. Arsenal can just keep doing long corners and getting an overload.

[MarcusX]

39 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

I missed the Arsenal goal, what happened? 

Surely if the ref made a clear and obvious mistake then var would have ruled the goal out? 

Free kick in Arsenal half, ref called walker up from RB to have a word (presumably as skipper) then allowed Arsenal to take the free kick 10 yards from where it should have and without letting walker get back in to position.

24 minutes ago, Ecko said:

They did the exact same from the same corner 5 minutes earlier too. Shows our integral Rodri is for them. Him being out for a while could genuinely hand the title to arsenal. 

And they changed it, Walker took over from Doku marking Gabriel. It was very good movement from Gabriel, I’m more surprised that they chose to go zonal but had 6 players at the front half of the goal and it beat all of them.

16 minutes ago, TV Tom said:

They should be sticking Haaland on him from set pieces 

I disagree, I can’t imagine he’d be the best man marker in that team. They don’t necessarily need someone good at heading on Gabriel, they need someone who can track his run and compete physically. The free men in the zonal set up should be looking to win the header. Much easier said than done of course.

12 minutes ago, LondonBristolian said:

Walker had more than adequate time. The fact he chose to slowly jog rather than run is 100% on him and 0% on the ref. Players have to be awake to the possibility of a quick free kick. He was not.

It’s not a quick free kick if the refs stopped to have a word with the captain - at that point restart should be on the whistle IMO. As a captain myself I’d always be asking the ref to let me back in on that situation.

[Supersonic Robin]

13 minutes ago, LondonBristolian said:

Walker had more than adequate time. The fact he chose to slowly jog rather than run is 100% on him and 0% on the ref. Players have to be awake to the possibility of a quick free kick. He was not.

Hmm, have to agree to disagree there mate.

IMHO you can't pull a player 30 yards out of position and then expect him to sprint to get back in. I'd agree with you had Walker walked back, but given that he jogged back I don't think Walker can be accused of dawdling.

If referees are going to insist on speaking directly to the captain, then they sholuldn't punish teams/players for complying with that. 

[Markthehorn]

Arteta will go mad about the red card if Arsenal lose .

He probably already has .

[Henry]

Sort of game where you think Ivan Toney would have been a good signing for Arsenal.

[robin_unreliant]

What a boring second half. Arsenal sitting deep and not even trying to break. Pep and mini-pep really entertaining us with their modern football here.

[petehinton]

Drury screaming at every shot is unbearable. Just shut up man. 

[KegCity]

Just now, robin_unreliant said:

What a boring second half. Arsenal sitting deep and not even trying to break. Pep and mini-pep really entertaining us with their modern football here.

Was a great first half in fairness, the red card has killed the game.

[robin_unreliant]

Just now, KegCity said:

Was a great first half in fairness, the red card has killed the game.

Probably partly sour grapes on my part as I only started watching at HT.

[Robbored]

1 minute ago, robin_unreliant said:

What a boring second half. Arsenal sitting deep and not even trying to break. Pep and mini-pep really entertaining us with their modern football here.

What d’you expect? 

Arsenal at the Etihad, 1-2 up and down to 10 men. Of course they’re defending deep.

[Markthehorn]

2 minutes ago, Robbored said:

What d’you expect? 

Arsenal at the Etihad, 1-2 up and down to 10 men. Of course they’re defending deep.

And take time out of the game .

Predictable as you say .

[Maltshoveller]

Just now, Robbored said:

What d’you expect? 

Arsenal at the Etihad, 1-2 up and down to 10 men. Of course they’re defending deep.

Yeah shocking tactics by MA

Should be going all out to kill the game off Should be 3 up top attack attack attack!!!!!!!!!!!!

He shouldnt be worrying about the result He should be thinking of us armchair fans 

[Charlie BCFC]

7 minutes ago, KegCity said:

Was a great first half in fairness, the red card has killed the game.

Agree, can’t blame Arsenal for doing what they’re doing

Edited September 22 by Charlie BCFC

[Charlie BCFC]

58 minutes ago, Barrs Court Red said:

Kyle Walker lost his man quicker than he lost his wife. 

I’m sure if Trent Alexander-Arnold did that we’d never hear the end of it

[And Its Smith]

Amazing how bad Man City are at breaking this arsenal defence down.  

[And Its Smith]

Gary Neville calling faking injury ‘cuteness’

[1960maaan]

Just now, And Its Smith said:

Amazing how bad Man City are at breaking this arsenal defence down.  

It's a time I want to see wingers on their right sides, getting to the by line and hitting crosses low & hard. As it is it goes wide, stop, pretends to take on the FB and passes inside ... repeat.