Football: The Return of the Carabao Cup

[BigFatCoward]

Good day for arsenal by the looks of it. Our run had to come to an end eventually. Could have done with man utd dropping points as well though. 

[The Sunland Lord]

Arsenal fans would accept Haaland scoring 50 more if City keep getting these shit results.

[polishgenius]

I didn't think Haaland would struggle to score, but I did think it was a gamble whether he'd fit in City's system in terms of overall team play. It isn't always a bad thing, of course- Mahrez was an odd fit for their team style and he's a great addition who gives a whole different option they wouldn't otherwise have. But it was a question whether Haaland would add more than he took away. 

 

Given how the season's going, I don't think that question has entirely been answered yet. I didn't see today's game but there have definitely been occasions this season where they've looked a man light in their buildup play. Nowhere near to the extent that Ronaldo did to us, like, but something's up with their form. And Haaland's scored just shy of half their goals, the kind of ratio more normally seen with smaller clubs with one star forward (like Toney at Brentford), and a complete departure from City's normal 'spread the goals about' modus operandi. 

[Mexal]

I also question whether Haaland makes City a better side. He's scored like 50% of their goals. When that happens, I feel like City is less of a threat over the course of the season as he can't score a brace in every game. When they spread the goals around, they're so dangerous.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

2 minutes ago, Mexal said:

I also question whether Haaland makes City a better side. He's scored like 50% of their goals. When that happens, I feel like City is less of a threat over the course of the season as he can't score a brace in every game. When they spread the goals around, they're so dangerous.

Are they less of a threat or just less interesting? 

 

[Mexal]

1 minute ago, Tywin et al. said:

Are they less of a threat or just less interesting? 

I think they're more likely to have matches like today's against Everton where they drop points.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 minute ago, Mexal said:

I think they're more likely to have matches like today's against Everton where they drop points.

They got an early goal from him though. I wouldn't assume they'd be better off with a lesser player in the same role. Obviously you don't want a team to become overly dependent on one guy, but having a top five player that can save your ass is rather nice to have.

[AncalagonTheBlack]

So the question now is will Arsenal bottle the title or not? 

[polishgenius]

1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

I wouldn't assume they'd be better off with a lesser player in the same role. 

 

Is it an assumption when we saw that over the last few seasons?

Like it's not a done deal, there's still time for them to go on a mad tear and it's fair to say that they're not that off form, Arsenal are just doing incredibly well. But just at the moment, I'd say that usually, City are terrifying. Right now, Haaland is terrifying, but I'm not sure that City are. 

 

 

 

eta: Odegaard's pass for Martinelli's goal was filthy.

[Spockydog]

25 minutes ago, AncalagonTheBlack said:

So the question now is will Arsenal bottle the title or not? 

Too early to say. I'm just enjoying it while it lasts.

[Mexal]

1 minute ago, Spockydog said:

Too early to say. I'm just enjoying it while it lasts.

 not even going to worry about it, didn't even expect to be in this position in the first place.

[MercenaryChef]

question:

of the current top four which team is in the most surprising position?

gunners

city

toon

united 

 

 

[AncalagonTheBlack]

19 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

Too early to say. I'm just enjoying it while it lasts.

Beat Tottenham and United this month and your game against City in February will decide it.

Of course you still have to take as many points against other teams till Feb .

From the City game onwards you have fixtures against mid table and bottom table teams which you should win.

In April you play us at our place and Chelsea at home.

[Mexal]

28 minutes ago, MercenaryChef said:

question:

of the current top four which team is in the most surprising position?

gunners

city

toon

united 

 

 

It’s gotta be Arsenal right?  No one would ever expect them to have won 14 of their first 16 and be 7 pts clear of City.

[BigFatCoward]

35 minutes ago, MercenaryChef said:

question:

of the current top four which team is in the most surprising position?

gunners

city

toon

united 

 

 

Arsenal, only 5 teams have ever started as strongly over first 16 games, they have no superstars (though a few who are very much on the cusp). 

Then us. I'd say Arsenal fans, Newcastle fans and Man Utd fans are happiest at the end of the year. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

2 hours ago, polishgenius said:

I didn't think Haaland would struggle to score, but I did think it was a gamble whether he'd fit in City's system in terms of overall team play. It isn't always a bad thing, of course- Mahrez was an odd fit for their team style and he's a great addition who gives a whole different option they wouldn't otherwise have. But it was a question whether Haaland would add more than he took away. 

 

Given how the season's going, I don't think that question has entirely been answered yet. I didn't see today's game but there have definitely been occasions this season where they've looked a man light in their buildup play. Nowhere near to the extent that Ronaldo did to us, like, but something's up with their form. And Haaland's scored just shy of half their goals, the kind of ratio more normally seen with smaller clubs with one star forward (like Toney at Brentford), and a complete departure from City's normal 'spread the goals about' modus operandi. 

To add to that. City are not really underperforming pointwise. They are roughly on their usual pace with 36 points out of 16 games. Arsenal are just outperforming them (and everybody else) in the EPL atm. Right now I'd say they're neither stronger nor weaker, but somewhat different comapred to the previous years. Also worth keeping in mind, this is Haaland's first year at City and he is young enough for his game to evolve, so things can look somewhat different again next year. Also worth keeping in mind Haaland is or rather was supposedly the missing piece in their quest for the CL title. So that will have to be factored in too (if they were to win it).

[Consigliere]

1 hour ago, AncalagonTheBlack said:

So the question now is will Arsenal bottle the title or not? 

 

They'll bottle it. I wouldn't mind someone other than City winning the title but Arsenal's Twitter and Reddit fanbase are vomit inducing and are acting like this team have been perennial title contenders rather than a side that's bottled top 4 in each of the last SIX seasons. They're also extremely salty about the loss against United - these cunts thought that their team just needs to show up at Old Trafford to win and keep crying about refereeing conspiracies (it's pathetic!). So I wouldn't mind an implosion and watching the smugness being wiped off the faces of those arrogant cunts.

 

1 hour ago, MercenaryChef said:

Question:

Of the current top four which team is in the most surprising position?

Gunners

city

toon

united

Most people are saying Arsenal, but I'm going with Newcastle. Both teams have over performed relative to expectations at the start of the season, but I'd say that Newcastle have over performed more than Arsenal - I expected Arsenal to be in the top 4 and Newcastle to be fighting it out for EL or Conference league places, but Newcastle are looking favourites for a top 4 finish and are playing better football than Chelsea, Spurs and United. 

[Mexal]

10 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

They'll bottle it. I wouldn't mind someone other than City winning the title but Arsenal's online fanbase are vomit inducing and are acting like this team have been perennial title contenders rather than a side that's bottled top 4 in each of the last SIX seasons. They're also extremely salty about the loss against United - these cunts thought that their team just needs to show up at Old Trafford to win. So I wouldn't mind an implosion and watching the smugness being wiped off the faces of those arrogant cunts.

I guess I follow the grateful fans  

Think Arsenal fans are salty at the loss to the United because it was a missed opportunity. Arsenal played well until Arteta did a triple sub and threw off the cohesion of the side. At least that's why that game annoyed (and still annoys) me.

 

[Consigliere]

1 minute ago, Mexal said:

I guess I follow the grateful fans

 

I guess you do.

Twitter and Reddit fans OTOH act like this team are regular contenders rather than a side that's repeatedly bottled CL qualification. It's good to be happy that your team is performing well, but the cunts on the aforementioned social media outlets tend to be arrogant and obnoxious as fuck especially considering that Arsenal has been little better than a midtable side for the past few seasons.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

So how do our Arsenal feel about the ongoing involvement of Thomas P. in their succes story on the pitch?