épieur

Think we managed it in the first division too back in the 80s.

I have a good feeling about tonight. Going to be a good time

Arteta has massively overplayed Saka for years. Really only have themselves to blame.

Think he's suffered from being asked to play centrally. He was on a roll on the left before that, better imo than Gakpo has been, and lost his mojo after the switch. We really need a proper centre forward.

Yer ma is awful, per se.

He wasn't awful per se. But when our competitors were signing players like Overmars, Klinsmann, Ginola, Dahlin, juninho, zola, vialli around the same time, replacing Barnes and Collymore with Leonhardsen and Riedle was just so f***ing uninspired.

Having a a few good games doesn't change the fact that he's had plenty of bad ones too. He's just not able to deliver like this on a regular basis anymore. Doesn't mean he'll never have a good game again. Just that he should have proper competition from his long-term replacement.

They have Lindelof, Maguire and Johnny f***ing Evans on the books.

Only six centerbacks left.

My takeaway is that we might have bid for kvaratskhelia in the summer, but since he was moving in January and our strategy was to monitor in this window, all we could do was brief that we were interested in and monitoring the player.

I honestly can't wrap my head around it. Under ten hag, they played a 433 where they struggled to control midfield and score goals. The solution? Tug your wingers inside as 10s and switch out your third advanced midfielder for fifth centerback, effectively weakening midfield control further and having an attacking player less on the pitch to help with the goalscoring. On paper, three centerbacks surrounded by fullbacks and a water carrying midfielder like Ugarte sitting in front of them is as defensive and defeatist a setup you can get. Yet he's trying (I think?) to use this setup to play possession football, which really doesn't suit their army of centerbacks. What is truly baffling to me is how much worse defensively they are given the setup. They conceded 11 in 9 league games under ten hag (1.22 goals per game). 22 in 13 under Amorim (1.83 goals per game). If you were trying to find the worst possible setup for this squad and try to amplify the existing issues in the worst way just after ten hag left, Amorim's plan would be right up there on the board. It's bizarre.

You could see what Jürgen was doing though. We were clearly developing as a side, even if result didn't necessarily translate. Same with Rafa in his first season. Really hard to see what Amorim wants them to do that is meant to translate into something better once they get the hang of it.

10Hags did a great job of using up their last bit of big club spending power to lower the overall quality of the squad. Amorim looks like he's come to finish the job. Selling off the players that don't fit the 5-2-2-1 he prefers and basically doing a much worse job than his predecessor who was sacked for underperforming. When the next guy comes in in about 12-15 months, he'll be left trying to work out how to build a team that can play 433 again with a squad that has no wingers or fullbacks and 7 centerbacks. Besides the overall lack of quality, their squad is incredibly thin now as well. Eriksen and Casemiro will gone in the summer, they have no money and great debts to service. That leaves them with ugarte and manoo for central midfield. mount (lol), diallo and Fernandes for attacking midfield and Højlund and zirkzee up front. Oh, and Garnacho who doesn't have a position in this team and four fullbacks (to add to their seven centerbacks) they have no use for in this system either. Honestly think a relegation battle could be in the cards for them next season. There are loads of teams with better players and the handful with worse players make up it by being well organized and well put together for what they want to do. Amorim looks like another AVB. Only has one system and will stick to it to the death, regardless of how it feasibly it plays out in real life. I have them down to finish 16th this season. Think spurs, Everton and west ham all have enough to go above them.

Was touched just before he hit it. Throw of the dice how he connects with it.