8/8/22
On Saturday in the early game, Fulham drew Liverpool 2-2 at Craven Cottage. Mitrovic scored two (one from the penalty spot) to at least put some of the questions about his Premier League scoring record to rest for a while. Liverpool looked terrible and their midfield in particular seemed weak. Interesting to see if this was a blip or if they are actually going to take a tumble this season. I have them winning the League still, though this was such a bad performance that I’m rethinking things! Notable game, however, for the fact that Virgil van Dijk gave away a penalty. I think it’s the first time in four years that he has done that!
Spurs beat Southampton and I didn’t watch it. I do think, however, that a Spurs player (Sessegnon) tried to wreck someone’s ankle and this represented the first “If that was Xhaka” event of the weekend. He got a yellow card. Also, funny but true, he apparently won 100% of his tackles. This is the case because a foul doesn’t count as a tackle. Hey, don’t yell at me about it. I’m not the one who made that rule!
I watched Newcastle against Forrest and they looked pretty good. Joe Willock seemed much more involved in build-up play than ever before. He had 46 touches in 79 minutes. Last year the most touches he had in any match was 47.
Chelsea whupped Everton. Lol.. Everton are getting relegated unless they fire Lampard.
Brighton beat the basket case formerly known as Manchester United. It was a comprehensive defeat as well. New short king CB (he’s listed at 178cm but I don’t believe it for a second, he’s not 3 inches taller than Gary Medel) gave away a penalty on Welbeast, only it wasn’t called. Lord only knows why. And Scott McTominay, of the leg breaking McTominays, tried to break someone’s leg. It’s a horrific challenge and I really shouldn’t be making light of it.
Man U are a disaster and so is their shirt. I hate shirts with collars and especially if they have collars with a design on them.
Man City comprehensively defeated Wet Hams but I didn’t watch because I was watching Olympic d Marseille. Interesting game. New manager Igor Tudor has changed things up quite a bit from Sampaoli and apparently the players hate it! They went to senior management to complain and I can kind of see why. Their structure is gone from last year and now they seem to be quite loose in and out of possession. Out of possession they are especially weak and weird, their only defensive move seems to be to foul right away. I couldn’t tell if that was intentional or if it was because players are in such poor positions defensively that it’s the only thing they can do.
Both Arsenal loanees had good matches, however! Nuno Tavares scored a cracker from distance just at the end of the half and Balogun came on at the end of the game and scored Reims’ only goal. It was a reaction header off a deflected cross. Not entirely terrible!
That’s all I got for today. 明日!
1. Just our first match in, of the new season, and we’re already in ITWX mode? It’s going to be a long season…
2. There are many former storied ex-players who are s#$t managers. Lampard, Rooney, and I hate to say it, but Thierry Henry as well. Patrick Vieira not so much. He’s proven that he can manage at this level and so has Arteta. I wish Vieira every success except of course, at our expense. If we miss top 3 (f$%k 4th), with this team and the talent therein, I will be calling for Mikel’s head.
3. If Manchester United keep this up it will be a season of sweet schadenfreude!
4. Man City are scary, already and S$#s are already supremely annoying.
When I saw Martinez, I had the same thoughts about his height. But the scarier thing for him will be that his composure in a less intense league might have helped him look good as a passing centerback, but against Brighton, he got really exposed. I actually thought he was being signed as a defensive midfielder for them and also for us because he is very good in that role.
What I couldn’t laugh at with Man Utd is their inability to have intentional possession. To have the ball because your technical ability and tactics allow you to control the game. It just seemed like they had more of the ball because Brighton let them, which is what I felt with Arsenal on Friday.
I didn’t really see a need for a new midfielder, but the Utd game and ours have shown me that unless we can press like Liverpool, we will never control a game from start to finish without a midfielder like Jorginho or (hate to say this, but) Arthur Melo. Hopefully Tielemans or whoever we get can perform that role, but its hard to see any sides being ball dominant without such a player in their side.
Funny enough, Ten Haag might be fired this season because they look really bad. They were smart to keep Ronaldo because they will need saving all season long. Sp*rs scare me a bit. I have a feeling that they are good enough to take advantage of referees letting them get away with all the crazy sh*t they do. Chelsea are weird, Liverpool seem like a one-on-one game/crazy run of wins danger instead of a season long threat and City just look solid. They are my favourites to win the league over Liverpool.
All in all, we might sneak in third place or even second if we can get a player to help us stay on the front foot. I know Zinchenko would be very grateful to be called on less to defend in a block.
Ten Haag looked completely befuddled. It was odd and I too had the feeling this was a dead man walking.
I always thought his reputation was a bit inflated. He may well be good, but Ajax punched above their weight like twice. And the transfer rumors, and indeed business, this summer was that of a man who isn’t prepared for a new, bigger league.
He’s got 2X the problems: he’s got a number of players who don’t respect him, in addition to his inexperience in the League. That 90th minute sub was super weird.
He’s learning about too-big-to-fail club politics – like the fact that they bought an un-benchable ex-player because shirt sales and/or Man City couldn’t be allowed have him.
If he glances across at how our guy is doing, key is to brass it out – bring in your own guys, recommend sales for anyone who challenges your authority (rhymes with Schmonaldo), make recouping money ownership’s problem.
United have huge issues. Almost none of their players would get into another of the top sides and they don’t play well together. We’re never going to have a better chance to win at Old Trafford than in a couple weeks. And Mctominay is a Stoke-level thug. He needs a couple reds before he ends someone’s career.
As far as coaches go, Viera looks the real deal. Lampard doubtful. Gerrard, we’ll see. He did well in Scotland, but he had a team well above the league average. Rooney, can’t believe I’m saying this, but who knows…I don’t think you can judge him one way or another on what he’s done so far
For the record, I’ve never seen Granit Xhaka get a card or a caution that he didnt deserve. Ive sometimes seen him get away with sly, tuggy, niggly crap. But I cant remember a caution that I found contestable. I did feel sorry for him when — last season — Gabriel and White sold him short and left him the last man to cover a man running onto a ball through the middle (Diogo Jota) from an Arsenal high line gone wrong.
Sure, yes… EPL refs are hella inconsistent. But Xhaka can be a really good player one game, and a bonehead of the highest order the next one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olDew6cgmOk
This one always stood out for me as a ridiculous straight red. Given some of the tackles like the one Tim shows above, Granit’s red against Swansea stinks of personal bias from Jon feckin’ Moss. Of course, this does support your comment about refs’ inconsistency…
Absolutely no attempt to go for the ball and a cynical challenge on a player’s achilles. Seems pretty red to me.
Well cynical, for sure, and boneheaded without doubt. But the slow motion looks to me like he just hooks the front of the Swansea player’s ankle, not his Achilles. I dunno, I suppose you could argue he deserved a red for stupidity, but I don’t see that challenge as particularly dangerous at all.
Well, I can tell you without any reservation that if a player tackle me that way there would be a fight.
Why can’t both things be true? Xhaka makes lots of bad tackles. Everyone knows that, especially referees and opposition players. That makes it easier to think that his next tackle will be a bad one too. So maybe some refs some of the time think he must have done worse than he did, especially if they didn’t see it properly and the opposing player is rolling around. Most refs most of the time judge him correctly. He has a reputation that sometimes hurts him unfairly but is probably overblown at this point, like a player who is so well known for diving that he never dives anymore. That’s my view.
The reason he makes so many fouls is that he gets put into positions where he has to defend too much space. This was especially bad when he was used as the holding midfielder. That would be fine in a team that sits deep all game (like Switzerland) but Wenger and Emery’s teams both tried to keep a high line. Arteta’s use of him as a roving box to box midfielder was one of his better ideas, I thought. It means he’s seldom the last line of defense but can still use his frame to pressure the ball and win headers, cover the space vacated by Tierney’s forward runs or Zinny’s forays inside at left back, or combine with the forwards and help retain possession high up the pitch. That last bit is important for a team without a lot of size in attacking areas and also adds an element of unpredictability.
One thing I’ll say for Xhaka is that he absolutely puts in the work. He’s a model professional in that sense. He’s also something of an emotional leader on the team. More often than not he is the one speaking or trying to fire them up in the pregame huddles. Overall he brings a lot to this team and we are better when he plays. At the same time Arsenal have to transition away from him and bring in a younger player who can do all the things he does but also with the ability to advance the ball with a dribble and win the ball in space without fouling.
If I’m a ref in doubt a red card for Xhaka always seems like a good option.
“Harsh” might be the worst criticism I’d ever get for this decision, but most former refs and pundits will gladly concur such is his reputation for dumb challenges.
The absolute worst tackler in the PL since its inception, Paul Scholes, got away with ten times more because Fergie would chew up refs for targeting him.
Yes, but pointing out that someone else was a thief — in the fact of overwhelming evidence of your theft — never impressed a judge or magistrate.
Xhaka grabbing Bernardo’s shirt while Bernardo was in the act of diving (and thus making clear how the VAR check was going to turn out) will never not piss me off when I think about it. Hands off Bernardo and it’s a free kick the other way, and probably a caution for the City player. And btw, Xhaka had been playing REALLY well in that game.
Cannot understand why the Welbeck penalty was not given. Clear shove in the back with force. How does McTominay consistently get away with leg breaking tackles all the time?
Am I only one to think that Liverpool were very unlucky. First goal was a foul on Henderson and the penalty was so soft that it should have been reversed. In my opinion.
City play so well that their games are boring to watch from a neutral perspective.