What's new

Reasons to be Cheerful

doctor stefan Freud

the tired tread of sad biology
Sep 2, 2013
15,170
72,169
There’s been considerable angst, anxiety and despair lately, and while squandering a two goal lead at Arsenal isn’t great, I have hope:

While we are still a fragmented team, we showed some bright counterattacking football today.

We haven’t really benefited from Ndombele and GLC yet but both are technically decent players that will enhance us significantly.

Clearly we need a more defensive minded midfielder to partner Tanguy when he returns- a rejuvenated Dier has performed this role with efficiency before. And he’s still young.

Eriksen is staying, for at least a season. He was better today. Imagine him and Lo Celso on the same pitch, controlling the tempo and feeding Kane.

Sessegnon will give us something else out wide- either as a LW or a LWB. Him and Davies being available will put pressure on Rose to up his game.

The return of Jan- greatly needed.

Poch committing. Goodbye uncertainty.

Right back will evidently be a priority either January or next Summer. Clearly this is an issue at the moment.

Anyone expecting us to win the league this year is being unrealistic, but we are in good shape for the future. With the exception of Bellerin, Arsenal were at full strength today. We are still reforming. I expect us to be outperforming them by November/December.

Up the motherfucking Spurs
 
Last edited:

yankspurs

Enic Out
Aug 22, 2013
41,883
71,188
Eriksen is staying for 3 months. Once that pre contract is signed in January, he will stop playing even more so than he did after last January.
 

Neon_Knight_

Well-Known Member
Jul 20, 2011
3,975
6,608
Eriksen is staying for 3 months. Once that pre contract is signed in January, he will stop playing even more so than he did after last January.
4 months, or longer. If he does actually leave, at least we're able to ease Lo Celso into the team in the meantime.
 

spids

Well-Known Member
Jul 19, 2015
6,647
27,841
We’ve had arguably 2 of our toughest away games of the season and didn’t lose either.
Kane is showing glimpses of his old self.
Lo Celso looks class.
 

spids

Well-Known Member
Jul 19, 2015
6,647
27,841
Eriksen is staying for 3 months. Once that pre contract is signed in January, he will stop playing even more so than he did after last January.

Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan - we can get 5 decent months from him.
 

JKendall13

Well-Known Member
Jul 2, 2012
1,040
6,953
None of Alli, Son, NDombele, Vertonghen, Lo Celso, Sessengnon, Foyth, Davies, Dier, or Aurier properly integrated into the side yet due to injuries, suspensions, fitness, and having just signed.

We’re going to look a lot better very soon. It’s a transition period, keep in mind we haven’t had to really integrate significant new players for a few seasons. Everyone is forgetting what it’s like.
 

SpunkyBackpack

Well-Known Member
Dec 8, 2005
7,831
9,372
I thought we did alright, with the front three they had and the makeshift right back we were always going to be under pressure so we played on the counter nicely and could have on another day come away with 3 points which we never do at Arsenal, that's if Sissoko knew that practicing kicking the ball is a fairly key part of playing football.

Also I'm in quite a good mood because i never went into the match thread, which i assume was full of woe and lunatics once we weren't a goal up after 2 minutes.
 

littlemandefoe

Conte's Blue and White Army!
May 22, 2005
4,245
4,540
There’s been considerable angst, anxiety and despair lately, and while squandering a two goal lead at Arsenal isn’t great, I have hope:

While we are still a fragmented team, we showed some bright counterattacking football today.

We haven’t really benefited from Ndombele and GLC yet but both are technically decent players that will enhance us significantly.

Clearly we need a more defensive minded midfielder to partner Tanguy when he returns- a rejuvenated Dier has performed this role with efficiency before. And he’s still young.

Eriksen is staying, for at least a season. He was better today. Imagine him and Lo Celso on the same pitch, controlling the tempo and feeding Kane.

Sessegnon will give us something else out wide- either as a LW or a LWB. His and Davies bring available will put pressure on Rose to up his game.

The return of Jan- greatly needed.

Poch committing. Goodbye uncertainty.

Right back will evidently be a priority either January or next Summer. Clearly this is an issue at the moment.

Anyone expecting us to win the league this year are being unrealistic, but we are in good shape for the future. With the exception of Bellerin, Arsenal were at full strength today. We are still reforming. I expect us to be outperforming them by November/December.

Up the motherfucking Spurs
Think Tierney will be a quality player. But yes, Eriksen and Lo Celso could be very interesting. Lo Celso showed some signs today of his great touch and movement. COYS
 

JayB

Well-Known Member
Aug 24, 2011
6,652
26,046
Completely agree with the main thrust of this thread. I understand the gripes about the end of last season but for me it is not fair to carry those criticisms over into this season. The form of the team has to be considered on a case by case basis and the underlying causes of that poor form are different.

The squad was deeply flawed last season and we unsurprisingly had a poor campaign as a result. There are still glaring weaknesses (namely defensive midfield and right back), but we've addressed what had far and away been the biggest problem by bringing in Ndombele and Lo Celso. They both clearly have the quality we've been lacking in central areas and, once fully integrated, should make an enormous difference over what the central midfield offered last season. The problem is that the former has been injured and the latter had no preseason at all, so we've seen very little thus far of the players that Poch was counting on to transform the team.

Beyond that you've had injured, suspended, and unsettled key players such as Dele, Eriksen, Vertonghen, Dier, Son, Foyth, and Aurier. I wouldn't be surprised to see Aurier leave the club over the next day but each and every one of the others will very likely play an important role this season if they manage to get and stay fit.

Taken all together it's a very different picture of why we haven't been at our best than last season, which was fundamentally a problem of squad depth and fatigue. It's been a disjointed start to the season but the underlying causes should be addressed by the closing of the window and the reintegration of the players who have been unavailable. We aren't going to challenge for the league title but then it was always going to be a transitional season to begin with. There's plenty of reason to believe we will get much better as the season goes on.
 
Top