I listened to a podcast last night where the guy seemed a poster boy for the term "fanboy": Arsenal could do no wrong. But by the end of the podcast, I agreed with his comments.
We have won (ugly yes, but a win is a win - 3 points are 3 points) or drawn every match since our loss to Liverpool back in August bar the kids to Villa. Our downturn in form has coincided with the loss of Big Gabbi (AND Saliba for several of those games) and the majority (if not all for, again, some of those games) of our strikers; and even Ode has just recently returned. All of that to say: of course our form is going to dip; of course we're going to let in more goals when we're missing one (and at times both) of the best defenders in the league; of course we're going to struggle to score when we're missing our midfield creator/mistro, all of our recognized strikers, and several of our wide forwards! If City were missing Haaland, Cherki and Foden, they would struggle to score goals. If Liverpool were missing VVD and Konate (and whoever their 3rd central defender may be), asking with several or all of their RB's, they would struggle even more than they have to keep goals out.
But here's the extra silver lining: Big Gabbi is back, Jesus is back, Havertz is back in training and almost ready, our wide forwards are all fit again, the injuries to Calafiori/Timber are not long term and they'll be back sooner rather than later. We WILL get back to our early season form shortly, and even surpass that form due to having all of our attackers available instead of just Gyok and the (incredibly great) standin Merino, who were the only 2 we had available when we were in that great form earlier this season. These pearl clutchers need a bit of context so they can release those pearls and pick up their pints and start singing "We're by far the greatest team the world has ever seen!" again!
Cheers Jonathan, thanks for another great read and a bit of context of your own, and COYG!!
That's a perfect summing up Andrew, I completely agree with everything you've said :) The usual narrative underplays our injuries and they've been a major part of the less flowing games. As you say, now that a whole bunch of players are on the mend it surely got to be an improvement in converting chances!
Nice one Andrew, thanks for that and glad you enjoyed this one pal.
I forgot to mention the scoring that of Big Gabbie too, along with his defensive abilities! Jesus on the score sheet too! Both players that I mentioned whom we've been missing, what a game!! ❤️🤍
Mate, we were superb! Good call on the the two Gabbys :) Ødegaard and Zubimendi were fantastic too. A truly dominant game even in the slower first half. Brilliant stuff
The thing is, he hasn't hit the heights we want, that's true, but he also hasn't had that Chamakhish aura either, he hasn't looked out of his depth really. So I'm with you pal, patience and let's see. The amount of times players have been written off in the first season (or few months) only to come good.
I listened to a podcast last night where the guy seemed a poster boy for the term "fanboy": Arsenal could do no wrong. But by the end of the podcast, I agreed with his comments.
We have won (ugly yes, but a win is a win - 3 points are 3 points) or drawn every match since our loss to Liverpool back in August bar the kids to Villa. Our downturn in form has coincided with the loss of Big Gabbi (AND Saliba for several of those games) and the majority (if not all for, again, some of those games) of our strikers; and even Ode has just recently returned. All of that to say: of course our form is going to dip; of course we're going to let in more goals when we're missing one (and at times both) of the best defenders in the league; of course we're going to struggle to score when we're missing our midfield creator/mistro, all of our recognized strikers, and several of our wide forwards! If City were missing Haaland, Cherki and Foden, they would struggle to score goals. If Liverpool were missing VVD and Konate (and whoever their 3rd central defender may be), asking with several or all of their RB's, they would struggle even more than they have to keep goals out.
But here's the extra silver lining: Big Gabbi is back, Jesus is back, Havertz is back in training and almost ready, our wide forwards are all fit again, the injuries to Calafiori/Timber are not long term and they'll be back sooner rather than later. We WILL get back to our early season form shortly, and even surpass that form due to having all of our attackers available instead of just Gyok and the (incredibly great) standin Merino, who were the only 2 we had available when we were in that great form earlier this season. These pearl clutchers need a bit of context so they can release those pearls and pick up their pints and start singing "We're by far the greatest team the world has ever seen!" again!
Cheers Jonathan, thanks for another great read and a bit of context of your own, and COYG!!
That's a perfect summing up Andrew, I completely agree with everything you've said :) The usual narrative underplays our injuries and they've been a major part of the less flowing games. As you say, now that a whole bunch of players are on the mend it surely got to be an improvement in converting chances!
Nice one Andrew, thanks for that and glad you enjoyed this one pal.
I forgot to mention the scoring that of Big Gabbie too, along with his defensive abilities! Jesus on the score sheet too! Both players that I mentioned whom we've been missing, what a game!! ❤️🤍
Mate, we were superb! Good call on the the two Gabbys :) Ødegaard and Zubimendi were fantastic too. A truly dominant game even in the slower first half. Brilliant stuff
*threat
Love this Jonathan. Especially the stuff about big Vik. Right there with you x
Thanks Ben, and yeah, there's more to come from the Super Swede I'm sure :)
There are a lot of fellow Gooners who don’t agree but I’m keeping the faith
The thing is, he hasn't hit the heights we want, that's true, but he also hasn't had that Chamakhish aura either, he hasn't looked out of his depth really. So I'm with you pal, patience and let's see. The amount of times players have been written off in the first season (or few months) only to come good.