THE TOP TWO CONVERSATION + WORKING THE WORLD CUP
‘How will Lisandro Martinez do against Haaland?’
Well, they conceded 6 and Martinez has had a stinker… BUT, he does play the ball out the back nicely.
There will be pearl-clutching about the petrodollars, but I can’t have it today, United dropped £200m this summer, they have a fancy manager the whole of Twitter said was the greatest, they should be able to go away to their biggest rivals and concede less than 6.
It’s a shame their dead cat bounce was against Arsenal. They were shite then and they are still shite. They are a one-dimensional counter-attacking side. There’s a lot of talent in their squad, but it looks far from cohesive.
So… Arsenal are the only team who can stop City this season? Oof… sexy.
Arsenal fans are always finding new tests.
Can we NOT lose the first 3 games of the season?
Can we beat Brentford?
Can we do it on a Friday night against Palace?
Can we do it against at top 6 side?
We’re mostly passing these tests… the final one, for me, is ‘can we take something from the games against the BIG 2?’
We have a weird issue with Liverpool and City. Klopp just gets the better of Arsenal, we’re not brave, things go against us, and we get pummelled. One of our best games last season was Manchester City in January, the moment when most Arsenal fans knew there was something cooking at Arsenal.
We need to see a game like that City one this weekend against a Liverpool side that is very much lost at the moment. The gap right now is 11 points, if Arsenal make it 14 points after 9 games, we are, without doubt, in the conversation for the league this season.
Lose that game and we’ll just have to accept that the best we can do is the top 3.
I’m being a little bit dramatic here, but I do think a side transitioning into a title contender has to look at the Liveprool side as an injured animal bleeding out in the water. Are we going to be the shark that drags said animal into the sea to finish it off? Or will we let it recover because we’re overawed by its size and magnificence?
Listen, it’s great that we’re having this conversation in October. Don’t take your eye off the real prize this season, that’s making it back to the Champions League so we can spend proper money on our squad and keep our best players. Anything else is a bonus. The long-term path for Arsenal is looking very, very exciting. We have a young squad of mentality monsters. If we’re pushing the top 2 this season, that is putting us ahead of schedule… Arteta is reshaping expectations, but that doesn’t change what the actual expectations of this season are.
We all have to remember that this season is going to have some downs, young players go through dips, big players are going to get injured, the manager is going to make mistakes. The key is to minimize the impact of those bad moments. Last season, one loss would turn into three. This season, our only loss has turned into an instant return to form… because let’s be real, there hasn’t been a bad Arsenal performance this season.
It’ll come though and we have to brace for that reality.
Arsenal are definitely rolling the dice on getting into the World Cup unscathed. If you were running a risk analysis of things that could go wrong that would affect how we’re playing, there is really only one major issue we’d struggle with… Thomas Partey.
There are now 6 Premier League games until the world cup. All Arteta has to do is manage Partey’s fitness for that period of time and we could be in the conversation for the top 2.
Don’t put him in the League Cup games.
Don’t put him on a plane.
Don’t get tempted to play him against Bodo/Glimt
Just keep him fresh for the Premier League games and get him to the World Cup in good shape.
It is going to be VERY tough for Ghana to escape that group. If Partey’s team exits at the group stages, that’ll have him on a plane back to London December 3rd at the latest. Arsenal will probably have a training camp in Dubai, so he might not even need to go to London, it’ll be a 1hr 30m flight to a luxurious training facility where he can be pampered and wrapped in cotton wool so he’s ready to roll for our return game on December 26th against West Ham United.
This World Cup could work for Arsenal if we have a bit of luck.
Emile Smith Rowe will be ready for the second half of the season.
Mo Elneny will be ready for the second half of the season.
There are a lot of our top players that won’t be at the World Cup. Martinelli, Ben White, Big Gabriel, Odegaard, Zinchenko, Fabio, KT… all those boys will be getting rest in their legs. That is massive.
Then the January transfer window will open. Look at the talent available with 6 months left on their deals.
There are options. We can go for experienced players. We can go for a younger talent. There will be players that clubs will shift for cash. So it’ll be very interesting to see what we do. Also, don’t sleep on Kante or Jorginho if we make Champions League next season, Arteta LOVES Jorginho.
All of the above is predicated on luck. City and Liverpool can steamroll luck because they have deep squads. Arsenal are f*cked if they get serious injuries pile-up. But look, Leicester won the League because they kept their best players fit and focused on what mattered… can Arteta focus this Arsenal season in that way?
We’ll find out…
Right now, you need to get the latest podcast in your ears. If you want to hear it advert free, you can sign up to our Patreon here.
You can also listen to it free by watching or listening below. It’s a belter. A joyfest. One to kickstart your week with!