He’ll probably wait until the end of the month when we play you and suffer from the New Manager Effect. First Klopp, now Garde, Mourinho to follow…
I surely do. You don’t appreciate the humor, I see.
I checked and the five rich bastard clubs have won 18 of the last 20 FA Cups, but only 11 of the last 20 League Cups, suggesting that they are indeed trying harder in the FA Cup.
On another topic, what the hell is up with Leicester City? Any reason to think their hot start might be sustainable?
He was a beautiful player to watch before his knee injury - around 06-08 was his peak. All of his intrinsic skill plus dynamism and movement going forward. Extremely tenacious player as well - one of those smaller, but very skilled, men who are hard to dispossess. Recollect he was included, or about to be included, in the national squad just prior to the injury - although obv he had some big talents ahead of him. There was even talk of him playing for England, where he would no doubt have had several tiny talents picked ahead of him, but I don’t think it was ever a serious proposition.
After the injury he was still a classy player but lost his attacking flair. Well suited to strolling around the Arsenal midfield and dishing the ball about, but just another good player really.
IIRC he was selected, and stayed on the bench, before his injury.
I am surprised, as he seems to be an attacking midfielder in the Xavi mould, a guy who is not a deep lying forward like Mata or a false nine/ playmaker like Fabregas, he is a passer and a supplier like Xavi. At the time Spain used Torres and Villa up front, with Xavi supplying from behind, he would have made an excellent cover for Xavi. He seems to have fit right in.
If you like x goals as a predictive stat Leicester is a little bit for real. They are getting x goal numbers that show them as a 7 or 8th place team last time I checked.
I think they could be, perhaps not quite on the level of a Champions League berth, but top half of the table seems very likely. I just don’t think they have the depth to sustain a top four for the entire season, but we shall see. It’ll be interesting to see if they can build on this recent success, anyway; it’s always good to see smaller clubs find their way.
About Mikel Arteta:
He also has excellent positional and tactical awareness. There’s a reason he has served as Arsenal’s captain. He’s also been our best PK taker. Furthermore, he’s extremely likable.
I do agree that his injuries of the past few years have wrecked his chances to play on Spain’s national team, which is a pity.
I didn’t to be fair, so was posting from a position of ignorance (as usual).
I don’t think so, but it is refreshing to see a club get their points to avoid relegation in the first half of a season rather than struggle to do so in the second half.
A week or two ago, I was interested in how they are near the top. I think that their schedule has been on the easy side so far. It is good that they have performed well against some of the lower ranked teams, but let’s see how they do with the stretch that ends the year.
Nov 28 ManU
Dec 5 @ Swansea (OK not that tough)
Dec 14 Chelsea
Dec 19 @ Everton
Dec 26 @ Liverpool
Dec 29 ManCity
The thing about Leicester (if you believe the stats) is that, while they look like the probably really do have a very formidable attack, they should be leaking more goals to the opposition than they are. The quality of their opponents has a lot to do with this, and quality attacking teams will score on them more. Also some of it is luck. At this point I would place money on them finishing in the top half, but outside of the top 4. Are they Europa league good? Possibly, but they have a lot of teams that they are going to be in competition with for those spots. I think that Arsenal, Man City and Man U are the clear top three (yes in that order. I hate football sometimes). I think Liverpool and Spurs both finish above the foxes by the end of things. I think West Ham and Southampton probably do as well and Leicester end up about 8th. But luck is a funny thing, it can sometimes carry you through a whole season. I think they are a great story, and I hope they finish high.
Probably not. I’m British and had to grow up with Monty Python, Spike Milligan and Tony Hancock. I’m not sophisticated enough to understand the undoubtebly superior wit of Beavis and Butthead.
Interesting you should mention them…noticed this in the paper last Sunday (Tribune News Services):
Bayern Munich gave up their first league points of the season yesterday, being held to a scoreless draw by Eintracht Frankfurt. Their 10 straight wins to start the season fell one short of the European record, set by Tottenham Hotspur in 1961.
I didn’t know that! Pretty cool. BTW, for my fellow Yids in the diaspora, the Spurs website is offering free international shipping for orders over 40 pounds through the weekend, which is a good deal given that their usual shipping charge to the US is $35 or some such. Not too late for you Gooners to upgrade your wardrobe, either.
It looks like Andros Townsend will be off from Spurs in January. Rather a shame, he always seemed to be a good lad but Poch obviously didn’t take to him. The best of luck to him, he can’t really afford to be hanging around in the reserves.
Or punching people. Poche has suspended him from the team for getting into a fight with a trainer after the game.
I’d heard there was an incident, I didn’t realise it had gone that far. I’ll still stand up for the lad and with no disrepect to Poch he obviously isn’t wanted at Spurs. Put yourself in his boots… seeing his career going down the drain without first team football.
Hey, I think there was something else about Bayern Munich in the paper today! Let’s see, what was that again…?
They brutally put Arsenal to the sword. Not a good day for a Gooner like me, but I have to say that Bayern were magnificent, some of the most supreme football I’ve ever seen.
Bastards.
That’s freakin’ hysterical!
North London Derby coming up later today. Either I’ll be posting enthusiastically and elatedly, or I’m going to be avoiding this thread for a week. (:P)
We shall see.