Men's Soccer (Football) Thread Soccer • Page 446

Kill me.

 

Stepovers like that from Wolves deserve to go down as assists.

 

evergreen

 

holy shit

Harvey Barnes banger

 

Some turnaround this.

Also, I hate Newcastle being on Sky on a Sunday. Whoever this Scouse commentator is that they use pisses me off every single time.

 

Just realised it's not the usual one who annoys me. It's Carragher.

 

We’ve absolutely rattled him lol. Bro, you’re winning fuck all. You’re at Spurs.

 

Sky definitely need a deeper co-comms roster to choose from. I'm so so sick of hearing Gary Neville's nasally whine on every single Arsenal match.

 

If RVP has one hater, it is me. I check their results every week this season to laugh at how bad a manager this snake prick is.

 

When possible, I try to avoid SKY and watch foreign TV with English speaking commentators. For example, Hong Kong has Conor McNamara who I like from BBC 5 Live and New Zealand has someone else I can tolerate, too.

 

How is this him rattled? He said the same thing at the beginning of the season.

 

After getting away from the emotion of it, yesterday isn’t nearly as bad of a loss as the reaction would make you believe. We definitely still have things to improve on, and that’s ok.

Sure, Arsenal were missing a few guys, but they’re also deep into their project at a point where they can overcome something like that. We’re still fairly early into this Ange era. It’s far from a finished product. And on top of that, they played a style game that most teams do when they’re short-handed. 10-men behind the ball. Try to counter. Score on a set piece.

It’s still a game that I think we should’ve taken advantage of their situation and won. I’m not trying to excuse the areas we need to improve. But the best defense in the league dropped deep and made us grind, we struggled to do so. They capitalized on one set piece. And that was the game.

Sometimes it’s ok to just say they’re better than we are. It is what it is. But that doesn’t mean Ange is rattled, or that it’s a failing project. There’s work to do, and we all knew that before the season even started. The club investing in so many young players should be a sign that this might be a long road. I just hope the fans and board stay patient enough to let it develop.

 

I do think Arsenal's injuries/ absences were slightly overstated. It did affect their depth, but looking at the starting XI, how many starters were actually out, 2? Yes they were important players, but you'd still take that Arsenal XI over the Spurs XI every day of the week.

How many Spurs players would have made it into that Arsenal starting XI? Even being extremely generous, you'd say maybe Udogie, probably Son (though he's in terrible form), maybe Solanke. That's probably it. Arteta is also the better manager.

1-0 from a set piece actually isn't all that bad.

 

And it's not just that the starting XI is better, it's built for Arteta, by Arteta. They are a well-oiled machine fighting for the title. We are clearly not there lol we all knew that. It sucks losing to them. And getting them while they have their injuries is good fortune. But it doesn't make the loss as damning as it is being made out to be. I think that's the emotional response. The logical response is, the team that was suppose to win, won. It's ok to admit that imo.

 

Sorry for all the posts!

But one more thing I’ll say, we signed Solanke to address the lack of scoring issue. He’s played two games. One being the first game of the season after he’d only been with the club for a short time. Picks up an injury in the game. Misses the next two. Then his second start is against what I consider the best defense in the league, with said defense sitting back making things harder.

That’s what I mean by let’s be patient. Despite not scoring, he looked like a threat in both his starts. The goals will come.

 

It’s embarrassing that this is even discussed right now. It’s like people want a rebuild with zero pains of a rebuild.

 

Definitely not calling for him to lose his job, and want to be patient. I do think it is alarming that his record against the top teams has been very, very bad. Even our past managers have done better with lesser teams.

yesterday just felt like a culmination of a lot of the issues I constantly see with Ange’s tactics, and it’s worrisome. It doesn’t feel like he adapts, he’s very stubborn in his ways, for better or worse. I still trust the project and will give it time, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried.

 

Wissa out for 2 months. It feels like Brentford always get big injuries.

 

That’s all fair. But my concern is more with the players. I haven’t seen any of the updated stats, but thru 3 games, we were top in stats like possession, xG, touches in the opponents box etc. We just weren’t putting the ball into the net. The system is working and providing the chances. The players need to take advantages of these chances. And they haven’t.

 

Yeah, i felt nervous until I saw their lineup. Then I remembered how good our defence is, and that they have a LOT of nearly-very-good players. Brennan Johnson, 2024 Son, Maddison, Bentancur. All decent but nothing we can’t handle. Certainly not good enough to really phase our defenders.

As for what players they had that would get into our starting 11, i sincerely mean it when I say probably none. Yesterday, maybe Bentancur. Spurs are several years behind though, so it's expected.

 

4 games in, not in the relegation zone, and haven't given away a two goal lead.
I'll take that start to the season.

 

Watching Wrexham for the first time in ages tonight. Should be a decent test for their credentials away to Birmingham City.