leffe186

They’ve scored more penalties in this one game than we’ve been even awarded in the entirety of the last two seasons.

Speaking of Watford, just watching highlights of the midweek games. Bristol City in cream shirts and maroon shirts, against Watford in yellow shirts and red shorts. Not sure how that got through.

Yeah, always had a soft spot for him after the entire Arsenal team were allowed to fight him with complete impunity after that penalty.

Not paid any attention, is there anyone in there who might give them a game? Every matchup of theirs I’ve seen so far has been a bit of a joke.

Not having been to Anfield for decades I can only comment on what I hear on TV and it sounds better than any ground anywhere ever so I can only assume what you are saying is just jealousy. Or is there another possibility?

“Real Madrid are the OGs of the dark arts” says Paul from Ipswich. I guess if you just say “Real Madrid have always been a cheating pack of cunts” yiu probably don’t get on the BBC live text.

No, we’ll have 12, you’re missing the third round of the FA Cup for us. Not the point though, it’s just too much for everyone.

I just checked - even last year’s pile-up wasn’t as bad. You had eight games in December and five in January (two FA Cup games - rounds 3 and 4). We currently have nine in December and seven in January. Sixteen games, and that’s only because the 4th round of the FA Cup is now in February. The whole thing is insane and unsustainable.

It was a bit rich watching you boo Fabianski for taking his sweet time

Proper curate’s egg of a game. Failing to beat West Ham at home with Fabianski in goal and no Kudus feels like a big missed opportunity. Kudus is so good and Fabianski is an old man, although he did OK. West Ham were what they have been for ages now - loads of good clever players going forward and right horrors in defence. They just rely on numbers at the back and 10 behind the ball for the most part to keep teams at bay, but they’re not good enough to do so for long. Your press was really good for most of the first half and it felt like just a matter of time before they caved, but then you basically gave them a goal. Hall was terrific all game except for a couple of early moments where he showed his inexperience and one ultimately led to the goal. Under no pressure he flubbed a simple pass to Gordon and West Ham broke. Then from the corner Kelly - another player who did well for the bulk of the game - just completely lost his way and was punished. After the goal you lost it for a bit. Joelinton was yet another who I thought looked great for the most part but oof, he was lucky the ref was trying to have one of those cardless games. You still pressed well and West Ham (Todibo in particular) are never more than a few minutes away from a big defensive rick. You just couldn’t exploit it. Then in the second half when they scored you lost it again and never consistently got it back. There’s not really a plan B, but there doesn’t necessarily have to be if you can replace like with like - you could see the midfielders lose steam midway through the second half and ideally would like to see one of the guys like Joelinton, Guimaraes or even Longstaff coming on at that point rather than coming off having run themselves into the ground. Tonali feels like the perfect guy to come on when you’re closing out a game rather than chasing one, although I can see the logic. Bowen was incredible. There are games where I think he flatters to deceive at the top level but he was absolutely everywhere and barely put a foot wrong. I credit him with much of their second goal, and he could have been involved in two or three more. I thought Kelly dealt with Antonio about as well as anyone could hope for. You just needed a bit of class and/or the ball to fall your way a couple of times and to capitalize. It happened more rarely than I expected, and you never did. I think with the benefit of hindsight you could have started Tonali. You were getting into a few good positions in the first half but created fewer key opportunities than I think you might have with a little more guile. I also wonder what the plan was down the left in that second half. It’s bizarre to me that with Barnes and Hall on that side, someone as defensive as Wan-Bissaka could spend so much time attacking.

I know Xmas fixture congestion is always bad but we have nine games in December which seems nuts.

Millwall call Crystal Palace the stripey Nigels and I’m totally down with that

Don’t think I’d have Arsenal as psychotic. Infantile? Weird? Pretentious? Hard to nail it down

Don’t you mean Utopian?

Supposedly we have scored the same amount of Premier League goals in Manchester this season as Manchester United.

Jesus Christ, did he really say that? I’d love to be his co-commentator and rip the piss out of him.

Oh yeah that’s really difficult to call. Some of it will depend upon whether Bentancur’s ban is upheld. I’d expect all three to be rotated somewhat. Maddison has the advantage of probably taking free kicks and pens if he’s on the pitch. Johnson will probably score more. I genuinely think it’s a toss-up between all three over the Xmas period.

Yeah he’s being managed full stop. He’d arguably be playing much fewer minutes too if Richarlison, Odobert and Moore were fit…but they’re not, so he’ll still probably see at least 60mins in every Premier League game. You just have to make the decision of whether that’s worth it. It’s long overdue - Korea basically play him in every game and that’s an absolute ton of travel too. He’s still brilliant.

All the challengers are always thoroughly unlikeable. You just have to pick the least worst option, and bizarrely right now for me it’s actually Liverpool.

#AnyonebutArsenal

And we were without three guys who are supposed to be rotating on the LW (Moore, Odobert, Richarlison). I actually thought it was four - didn’t realize Werner was on the bench and back from injury until just now. The bench today was hilarious, particularly compared to theirs. Honestly, I am getting too old for this shit. It’s just so stressful watching Spurs atm. Apart from the injuries, there’s the often seemingly gung-ho approach and then the weird quirks like the second half against Brighton (having pissed the first) and the Ipswich match. You can never just relax. I get that that comes with the territory but fuck me.

Yup, managed to get the racism out of him on international duty so he’s woke when he gets back.

IIRC we actually play Chelsea during the ban too

Also nice of them to wait until the Christmas period to do it

Without going into too much detail, you’ve both played four of the “Big Six” and both have a 0 goal difference. You’ve played Brighton and Fulham - they’ve only played Fulham. Similar fixtures I presume. I do think the CL has had an effect.