Arsenal

[hughy]

Very interesting to see what kind of team they put out tonight. Between AFCON and Injuries they're nearly as fucked as we are at the moment.

Doubts over ESR, Odegaard and Tomiyasu for today. Any two of those three missing on Sunday will be very handy.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

I’ve noticed a lot of posts, particularly in the Vlahovic thread, saying that Arsenal are close to being the finished article. One in particular made me chuckle: ‘Arsenal are a striker signing away from being an incredible team’.

Undoubtedly they have improved since last year when they finished 8th. But they are only 2 points above us and we have 2 games in hand, and have sacked a manager. I suspect that some have seen a slight improvement and have got carried away at their convincing wins over Norwich and Leeds. I went to check the stats behind their first half of the season (taken from understat).

The first thing I noticed is that they are 14th in the league in a table of xG against (lowest at the top), and 7th in actual goals against. Is Ramsdale really so good as to sustain that season in season out? Are they just getting lucky with opposition’s poor finishing?

The second thing I noticed is the Goals vs xG for their 6 main forward players this year:
- ESR: 8 goals from 3.5 xG
- Odegaard: 4 goals from 1.3 xG
- Saka: 6 goals from 5.0 xG
- Martinelli: 4 goals from 4.3 xG
- Aubameyang: 4 goals from 6.9 xG
- Lacazette: 3 goals from 4.2 xG

ESR and Odegaard just aren’t going to keep up the goalscoring they have shown this year so far. They don’t get in nearly enough dangerous areas. No player in world football sustains that level of outperformance. Aubameyang and Lacazette can clearly be improved on but even a striker that replaces them would have to far outperform, and settle immediately to make up for the impending shortfall from ESR and Odegaard, just for arsenal to stay level with what they achieved in the first half of the season as far as goals scored goes, alongside sustained outperformance in goals against.

Add to the above the fact that was achieved with no Europe. Consistently you see this favour teams, certainly in the first half of the season such as West Ham last year and Leicester in prior years.

For sure they have improved but comments like ‘they are so much further ahead than us in their rebuild’, ‘one step from incredible’, ‘playing amazing’ is pure hyperbole for me. We are marginally behind them, and in fact ahead in points per game, and we are improving dramatically under a new manager who has barely got his feet under the table.

I’m interested to see if the above comments are a widely held belief or if I’m just focusing on them as I find them quite jarring. Do we expect to be overtaken by Arsenal this year and in the years to come?

Great analysis mate.

I think looking at it simply, they've improved under Arteta and have actually made some good signings recently where as in the past few years they've wasted a lot of money on crap just like we have.

Their players are more used to Arteta and the tactics and style he wants them to play.

When they are on it they are very good e.g. 1st half vs Man.City the other week.
When they are off it they can be quite poor.

So consistency is an issue for them.

As of now I think our squads are quite similar overall in terms of ability when everyone is fit.

However we have only had a few months with Conte vs their 2 seasons with Arteta and we've not made any signings for Conte yet.

As for Sunday, if Dier, Romero, Reggi are fit and Lloris and Skipp come back into the team as expected I think we will just about edge it but Son is a big loss for us. If Dier & Romero and Reggi are still out I think a draw is the best we can hope for and we will likely lose.

As we know, our 'B team' players are really poor, as are a few of our A team so missing 4-5 of our best players really effects us.

We shouldn't be naive to dismiss them and think they're over-rated, it takes a very good team to dominate City like they did for 60 mins the other week but at the same time they're not consistent with these performances and still have some weaknesses.

If Man.U don't sort their shit out and we and Arsenal make some sensible signings in Jan and Summer I think the top5 will be quite clear, West Ham mabye 6th and Man.U might drop to about 7th (next season).

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Very interesting to see what kind of team they put out tonight. Between AFCON and Injuries they're nearly as fucked as we are at the moment.

Doubts over ESR, Odegaard and Tomiyasu for today. Any two of those three missing on Sunday will be very handy.

Odegaard and ESR out would be huge for us if they have both of them out. Odegaard has been making them tick recently and ESR is obviously class even though he's been coming on off the bench most weeks.

 

[Jgplk1]

Xhaka should be out Sunday after that red card.

 

[Buggsy61]

Xhaka should be out Sunday after that red card.

Not sure if that’s good news or bad news as that half wit can normally be relied upon to do something really stupid.

 

[Delboy75]

Getting ESR fit is crucial for them. They currently have 1 CM in lokonga and no obvious 10 with Odegaard out. If ESR is out as well they look pretty screwed. Especially after heavy shift last night and no opportunity to rotate. Saka also had something up with him at the end and had to come off.

 

[Gbspurs]

Getting ESR fit is crucial for them. They currently have 1 CM in lokonga and no obvious 10 with Odegaard out. If ESR is out as well they look pretty screwed. Especially after heavy shift last night and no opportunity to rotate. Saka also had something up with him at the end and had to come off.

Dr Tottenham to the rescue. I'm sure we will make whatever tea lady they draft into midfield look like a Messi regen.

 

[whitechina]

Them trying to get this game postponed is taking the piss!
They only have 1 of their regular starters confirmed and they have been using younger players of late!
Why are they wanting to postpone our game? They must be shitting themselves that we are going to put them to the sword!
Hoping we play tomorrow and leapfrog them in the league (with still 2 games in hand!)
COYS

 

[Flynn]

Them trying to get this game postponed is taking the piss!
They only have 1 of their regular starters confirmed and they have been using younger players of late!
Why are they wanting to postpone our game? They must be shitting themselves that we are going to put them to the sword!
Hoping we play tomorrow and leapfrog them in the league (with still 2 games in hand!)
COYS

If they're so short handed maybe they shouldn't of sent 2 players out on loan this week.

 

[mr ashley]

Apparently it’s off according to the athletic

 

[dirtyh]

Scabby cheating bastards

 

[whitechina]

FFS
Cheating bstards
bright side- Chelscum just lost

 

[McFlash]

I think I remember legends being automatically changed to legends on here

Edit: haha it still works!

Now I really need to know what word that is!

 

[spursfan77]

It’s fucking annoying but I suspect deep down we all knew as soon as they requested a postponement that the game wasn’t going to happen.

 

[DJS]

Their fans continue to show how deluded they are too as they have no shame that they’re so clearly in the wrong.

 

[SpursMadDave]

Their fans continue to show how deluded they are too as they have no shame that they’re so clearly in the wrong.

Just making the most of the. 'rules' same as Liverpool & Leicester really. Having players banned and on load should not be counted, the same as playing in AFCON, but the Premier League have given clubs a way out so some will take it. Its disappointing but we have injuries too so might be for the best anyway, apart from the congestion coming up!

 

[Timberwolf]

Their fans continue to show how deluded they are too as they have no shame that they’re so clearly in the wrong.

It's pretty funny given how angry they were at Liverpool barely a week ago. I'm sure a fair few of them were slagging off Leicester for their postponement too.

Bet you anything if the shoe was on the other foot, SC would be up to its neck in hypocrites right now, though.

 

[DJS]

It's pretty funny given how angry they were at Liverpool barely a week ago. I'm sure a fair few of them were slagging off Leicester for their postponement too.

Bet you anything if the shoe was on the other foot, SC would be up to its neck in hypocrites right now, though.

The arsenal fans really are a different breed.

Watching them on arsenal tv it’s like a different species lol and all they seem to be able to respond with is how empty our trophy cabinet is - what does that have to do with them bei ng dirty cheats??

 

[Spurslove]

If I had to make a choice between watching Arsenal TV and having my eyes gouged out without anaesthetic, I'm not sure what I'd choose. Hmm. Tough call...

.

 

[SpursMadDave]

If I had to make a choice between watching Arsenal TV and having my eyes gouged out without anaesthetic, I'm not sure what I'd choose. Hmm. Tough call...

.

Hopefully SC will do an audible version as a podcast so you can keep up with things on here ?