I agree. G
…reat midfield play is criminally underrated.
Spurs in sole possession of 4th place with a convincing win over Norwich. Erik Lamella has really been a revelation this year. He isn’t the player the team bought, but somehow he has become the player the team needs. Would love to see him on the pitch with Son more often. They complement each other nicely and Erikson is in desperate need of a break. He’s my favorite player but the dude needs to rest. Also Tommy Carroll scored his first league goal!
Mahrez has had an amazing season, and good midfield players are worth their weight in gold, but this is ridiculous.
Have you seen the goals Vardy has been scoring? Yes, he’s had some excellent service from the midfield, but on many occasions he has received the ball with a lot of work left to do, and his own pace and skill have been absolutely essential to many of the goals he’s scored this season. Yes, he would have scored fewer goals without Mahrez and some of his other support cast, but you can say the same thing for almost every striker in football, and to imply that Vardy is merely the product of an excellent midfield really does him a disservice.
Speaking of Leicester, i was happy to see Liverpool get a win today, especially after some of their mediocre performances recently. In any other circumstance, i would have been cheering for Leicester, because i’d love them to stay at the top of the table through the Christmas/New Year break. Like some other folks here, i’m not sure they have the depth to go the distance, but at the same time their form has been good enough that you can no longer attribute their top-of-the-table position to a mere run of luck.
It was nice to see Southampton stomp all over Arsenal today. The Gunners looked terrible, especially in comparison to how well they’ve played in some of their recent games. The referee had a terrible game, missing blatant fouls from both sides, and a couple of the Southampton goals (#2 and #3) also benefited from the officials missing some fairly obvious infringements, but i don’t think that any neutral observer would argue that the end result was unfair or unwarranted. The Saints were simply the better team on the day. And Cuco Martina’s opening goal was unbelievable. Hit like a rocket, and curved like a banana.
It was a fair result, given Arsenal’s lackluster performance, shitty refereeing or not. My Gunners play beautiful football, but are still plagued by inconsistency and fragility.
We’ve just got to move forward: two more games coming in about a week. I hate these setbacks but every side has them
Holy crap. Tottenham are in 3rd (for now) and only 3 points off the top of the table. They also have the best defense and best goal difference in the league and have scored 7 goals in their last three games and 12 in their last 5 (all competitions). They are on fire tight now.
So, do I hope for a draw of for arsenal to lose tomorrow? It’s so hard to decide.
What’s even crazier is that Watford is 8th right now. Watford!
(of course Leicester being in the top 2 for as long as they have has encapsulated the topsy turvy nature of this season)
They look good too. And Chelsea still look like crap.
Gunners put in the effort today to aid in forgetting the Boxing Day fiasco.
Fucking hell. Tottenham are going to finish in the Champions League but the Gooners are going to win the league. I can see it already. Third place is nice though.
Well, I think you are extremely underrating the Gooner’s fabled ability to bottle it time and again.
As an Arsenal fan, today’s Leicester / Man City match will be telling. I’d rather Leicester win and be second with a four point cushion over City, than be top but only by a point over City (and Leicester). City’s really the only squad that worries me - as much as I love what Leicester’s doing, like everyone else I don’t see how they can keep it up.
If City gets and stays healthy - and can figure out at least a tolerable defense - in my mind they’re the team to beat. De Bruyne, Toure, Silva, Aguero, Sterling - such creativity and attacking flair. De Bruyne in particular has been amazing to watch - he’s justified his huge transfer fee in my mind. Thankfully he’s at City where I can at least admire his performance to some extent, rather than at Chelsea.
Hell with that, Tottenham is winning the league! Probably the FA Cup and Europa League as well! You heard it here first!
Tottenham will win nothing and like it as usual.
Also a distinct possibility.
Given recent mixup of managers, who do you think will take over at Manchester United? Seems as though Woodward is actively looking for a replacement (Ancelotti said no to United before taking the Bayern job), so I think speculation that LvG will be gone at the end of the season is fair. Highly doubt it will be Giggs. Pep? The Special One?
Apparently Valencia wanted Giggs to take over a couple of weeks back (Owner Peter Lim being a gigantic ManU fan) but Giggs refused since he’s waiting for the moment Van Gaal finally falls. So not that unlikely.
Pep is City bound, apparently.
No, Arsenal is going to win the league and Arsene Wenger, having finally been justified, will retire in glory. Then Pep will take over the Gunners.
Right?
We Gooners can only dream.
I do feel that Wenger’s retirement is coming sooner rather than later, win or lose. And that Gaurdiola’s style and tactics would suit Arsenal better than any other Premier League side. He’s also spoken of admiring Wenger and Arsenal on more than one occasion. But I don’t see how the timing will work out, unless Wenger is planning on retiring after this season regardless of silverware, or if Pep takes a sabbatical, as has been rumored.
Everyone seems to think he’s going to Manchester City, and I suspect it will be them or shudder Chelsea. Obviously, it will be probably be one of the top Premier teams, since no one else could afford him.
I still have lingering doubts over Guardiola as a manager. Im unsure just how much he benefited from his predecessors(and the Barca scouting system) bringing in great players and just what he, Guardiola, brought to Barca as a manager. I may be being unfair on Guardiola, but im not yet entirely covinced by him.