I didn’t say I was a perfect psychic. 
I’m really surprised that Arsenal bit it today; next week won’t go well for them, either, if everyone’s on the injured list as it seemed at the end of their match today.
Sad to say, I wasn’t surprised at all. You can see the players’ confidence after Wed. night’s match is still shattered. As soon as Stoke scored their first, I thought to myself “We will either come back and score 3 or 4 goals, OR we will huff and puff for the remaining 80 minutes to no avail–possibly getting an equalizer, but just as possibly conceding another goal or two.”
I figured whatever the outcome was, it would demonstrate what this Arsenal side really had inside itself–or didn’t.
It’s clear, anyway, that this Arsenal side are still too young, still haven’t found a decent replacement for Patrick Vieira (who left 4 seasons ago!) in a defensive midfield position, still haven’t found a decent goalkeeper, and our central defense is a.) too short, and b.) too prone to lapses in judgement, professionalism, and leadership.
Not to mention the lack of a inspirational captain (Gallas isn’t fit to tie the boot-laces of Vieira, Adams, etc.–although he didn’t play today, Gallas has been, IMO, a significant liability to the team’s overall morale and performance the past season or so).
It’s not that Arsenal haven’t faced these or related problems in the past, but the combination of all of these factors has dealt a powerful blow.
Wenger really needs to get this sorted out… but next week, potentially without Sagna, Walcott, or Adebayor, and definitely without van Persie (silly boy), against Man United… I don’t feel very confident about it.
Ah well, nice while it lasted. Now starts Liverpool’s slide to 4th place. :rolleyes:
I doubt that very much my friend.
Even as a Man City supporter I can see Liverpool winning the premiership
woohoo! unlucky chowder. Sure is a relief to get off the bottom.
Oh crap 
Nah, we’re overdue for our Autumn Nightmare[sup]TM[/sup] wherein we drop points to rubbish teams we should otherwise nail, then stage a decent but too-late recovery over xmas.
It normally would have started with Portsmouth last week, but we decided to leave it for a really dire team just for fun.
Liverpool got what, 3 lucky results with people getting sent off and coming from behind? They’ve been kinda crap in many games, no surprise they finally lost one.
Why Arsenal struggle, from a guardian blog
Seriously though, Denilson needs to stop attacking and become a DM. Or Wenger needs to buy one, either works. Fabregas is vastly better at creating than Denilson, but he’s spending half his time defending these days.
Couldn’t agree more with this (as a Man U follower) - the funniest thing is that he was replaced by Toure, who is even worse!
Blimey. 2-1, despite the Six minutes of Fergusion-time and a Ref who might as well have been wearing a Man Utd shirt.
Wasn’t expecting that!
Neither was I. Arsene might’ve yelled at his players just right, eh? 
I think 'Pool is going to finish up in second place just on the basis of goal difference.
The bottom half of the table is grouped in the 11-14 point range which could make for an interesting end-of-season race for the bottom if that keeps up.
And…chowder is off sulking someplace.
I probably should have mentioned that Keane isn’t an appendix anymore. 
I’m saying nothing
Well, of course pending the visit today to Craven Cottage, it would seem that the trouble with Tottenham was entirely due to Juande Ramos. Certainly the form of the club since the arrival of Harry Houdini has been spectacularly better, without any significant change in personnel.
I simply had a sense that, whatever Ramos’ merits as a coach might be, his attitude, and maybe his lack of English, didn’t result in the players wanting to put out for him. Sometimes, it’s just an attitude issue.
Sulking?.
That’s putting it mildly me owd cock.
Anyways, as I said upthread, Liverpool are a hot bet to win the premiership this season. Given that the Arse have all but blown it all that remains is for those red buggers at mould trafford to lose just a few games and it’s all done and dusted
Funny, you don’t mention anything about that OTHER London team, you know, the ones that wear some funny bluish color…
Personally, I’d not lay too many odds against Villa managing to stay in the top three or four this year. O’Neill is an amazing coach…
I wanted him to be the English manager after Sven instead of McClaren, purely objectively as I’m not English. I thought he would do a very good job.
Now on a personal note I’d like to mention my team’s performance today in beating Norwich at Carrow Road. I hope Gorilla Man is suitably impressed.
On the X-Files, Fox Mulder had a poster on his office wall that said “I want to believe”.
So I do, because that’s my job, but Discordia made a good point up there. Ugly wins are worth the same three points as classy wins but this early-season, late-game scrambling doesn’t really fill me with hope, and the boardroom drama does absolutely nothing to relieve my innate pessimism.
And DSYoungEsq can have a seat in the corner just for bringing up the Russians. Punk.
Ok, I’ll take my punishment and go sit in the corner, but while I’m there I’m going to have to contemplate the truly amazing statistic of only 4 goals allowed in 13 games, and a goal differential of +28 (meaning they AVERAGE winning by 2 goals a game!). Folks, that’s scary good. :eek:
Today will be interesting because the first game has two in form teams playing, and the second game has two teams suddenly having troubles playing. If either Everton or 'Boro have any real pretensions, they need to win a game like today’s fixture. I’m really more interested to see how Hull do. Losing the game last week was not a good sign for them. If they can’t win at home against a City squad that is wandering in the wilderness without an apparent star to guide their bark, then maybe the start to the season was just youthful enthusiasm and next year will see them again in the second division.
Now for MY note from the lower tables: Leicester and Leeds both seem to have finally turned things around. Leicester look likely to move up for sure, Leeds I think will at least make the playoffs. I’ve been a Foxes fan since Keller was their 'keeper, and I always felt bad for the fans of Leeds after the financial meltdown there.
And nary a mention of Burnley or Drogba hurling coins at the spectators