Why you should already write off this Arsenal season…

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I’ve already written off this Arsenal season
Much like Graham Gooner I too grew up loving GG’s defences and AW’s early years solidity but considering he was complaining after 2 games and now 4 his emails have a feel of red top comments about them. Whilst I agree that it is horrific and feels like little has changed I have to also agree with the previous email that it’s kind of fun in a chaotic what the flying f is going on kind of way. Full disclosure I’ve written off this season, I have given myself completely over to letting Emery have time and slowly bring in who he wants and ditch who he doesn’t so the alarm bells for me aren’t ringing.

Unfortunately for Emery he has been left up sh!t creek without a paddle with regards to the defence. At RB we have a kid who has had no guidance whatsoever who is playing alongside a defender who makes Gabriel seem intelligent (it’s no surprise Bellerin looked decent next to the brain of Mertesacker but useless next to Mustafi.) In the middle we have 2 aggressive, lumpering CB’s who would rather attack the ball rather than play the space and at LB it looks like after a few seasons of being our best player Monreal looks like he’s gone a season too far.

To be honest I don’t think any manager could make that defence look half decent and come the start of next season I can only see Bellerin starting and Sokratis in and around the first XI.

The good though is Torreria and Guendouzi look like they could create a good young defensive base and Auba and Laca have that sort of understanding and fun playing together which will bring plenty of goals. We’re starting to see Emery’s methods come through going forward with Ramsey providing a more all purpose no.10 and our passing game starting to take shape again after a couple of years off.

Truth be told trying to make this defence work is a bit like trying to get your brexit loving, casually racist uncle to drink matcha tea and campaign for women’s rights in so much as it’s easier just to say don’t bother, it’ll never happen. Maybe when Kos and Kola are fit we might see an element of calm return although the sooner Leno comes in for Cech the better as old dogs really don’t seem to be able to learn new tricks.
Lee AFC (undoing the last 10 years of big daddy Weng will a lot longer than Emery will be given it feels)

Why are Manchester City being punished for Tottenham’s cock-up?
If the reports about the Spurs vs City game being moved to the day after a NFL game are true, the Premier League are now punishing other teams for Tottenham’s incompetence. Not only will City now be forced to play 3 games in 6 days, one of them will be on a badly beat up pitch immediately after a NFL game. Having already made an exception exclusively for Spurs to have more than one home stadium in the same season, the FA are continuing to accommodate Spurs incompetence and lack of contingency planning.

All parties from Tottenham are placing the blame squarely on the contractor, but the fact of the matter is they are the owners of the stadium, they are the ones who chose the particular contractor and the buck stops with them. I’m not having it.

Instead of taking ownership of the problems created by their poor planning, they have passed the blame squarely on a construction company, when it was apparent the stadium was never going to be ready on time (as all the noises over the summer seemed to indicate). Additionally, considering all stadium construction in England is notorious for running late, this points to a shocking lack of contingency planning from Spurs.

It’s appalling that their poor planning is now affecting other teams with no consequences for Spurs, as the FA continue to accommodate their ineptitude in planning and communication.

I do feel sorry for Spurs fans but they have to demand answers from the club ownership or better transparency on what the original plans were, as well as reasons behind the delay.
Falooda in NY

Chelsea will get thumped by the best teams
So on most lazy afternoons, if Chelsea have won, I binge on team of the week/winners/mails etc. A thought occurred to me that, while everything seems quite rosy at Chelsea (apart from bloody Morata) – even RLC got minutes and looked smooth, I think we are going to get smashed by a couple of good teams.

Not ground-breaking thoughts I know but for the majority of my football-following life, Chelsea have had a ‘low-block’ defacto defending style (apart from poor AVB). This means that in defense, the margins for error are quite high in that, in case of error, there is often a covering defender in close proximity and not much space behind.

This high-pressing style means the opposite. Moreover, if the high-pressing style concedes a goal, it is harder for the team to settle-down and reset – in a low block one person switching off is less of an issue and can be compensated for by the majority. The high-press needs everyone to be switched on mentally (things that ‘pool and city have practised for a few years) and therefore conceding a goal can lead to ensuing chaos if there isn’t 100% trust between players and players haven’t mentally recovered and recognised their mistakes.

Therefore, in this season of adapting and re-establishment in the top 4 (little horse that still needs milk), I see a couple of thumpings, probably from Liverpool/Man City, the likes of which we Chelsea fans won’t be used to.

Why do I sadden my Mondays so? I just think it’s always good to temper excitement 4 games in – also, when/if it happens I could be satisfied in knowing that I was right – which would be no satisfaction at all, damn.
Saaj, CFC

Pray for Loftus-Cheek
I agree with Juanito about David Luiz and Morata. Morata in particular needs a few weeks out of the side to figure out how to actually play. What makes the situation more galling is both of them are blocking the paths of promising youngsters, in Christensen and err, Mitchy. On a related note, would someone with a little more understanding explain why the F**k we bought Ross “looks busy does fuckal” Barkley with Loftus Cheek unable to get a game ? It made no sense then and it makes no sense now.

However, coming to the style of football, I suppose it comes down to individual preferences. Blood and thunder sounds like fun, but my heart-rate would beg to disagree. And having lived through enough of the guts and glory over the last few years, I’ll take tippy tappy passing and pretty triangles any day of the week.
Subir, Singapore ( Please ban the words Sari-ball)

Has Sarri turned Kante into Ramires?
In yesterday afternoon’s mailbox, Chelsea fan Juanito commented that the games against Newcastle and Bournemouth offered lots of pretty Blues passing, but no penetration. I agree, and while that sort of thing might be understandable against a Rafa Benitez side parking the bus, it shouldn’t be happening at home to Eddie Howe.

Unfortunately, I think the problem lies with N’Golo Kanté, who in his new role is distressingly similar to a former Chelsea number seven, Ramires. The Brazilian was often asked to push forward, but despite the famous goal against Barcelona, was always much better in defence than attack. He added very little to the side’s creativity, and that’s the problem with Kanté now.

It’s not his fault, of course: he’s a world-class holding midfielder being played out of position. Jorginho is a fine deep-lying playmaker, but in the final third the side needs more creativity. Imagine if Cesc Fabregas were in the role. Do Chelsea really need another fundamentally defensive player against sides hoping to pinch a point?

I very much hope I’m wrong, and Kanté proves to be a smash as a box-to-box man. And naturally his defence will be very useful against more dangerous sides. At the moment, though, Chelsea are one attacking player short, and just barely getting by.
Peter G, Pennsylvania, USA

On Robbie Savage and Spurs
I’m a Spurs fan – I remember when we were truly in the s**t. If we don’t win a trophy with this group of players I’ll be bitterly disappointed but it won’t detract from the hard work the entire club has put in to rebuild over a period where other clubs we were competing with like Villa, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Bolton and Portsmouth were horribly mismanaged and left their fans in a horrible situation. Whatever I think of Daniel Levy when it comes to first team affairs, I’ll always respect him for looking after the long term interests of the club.

To go onto my main point, I was listening to 606 from Saturday where Robbie Savage once again rudely belittled a Spurs caller. Savage and his co-presenter posed the question “can Spurs push Liverpool this season” to which the caller responded that Spurs have finished above Liverpool in 8 of the last 9 seasons.

We’ve both won one league cup in the last decade – a pathetic return. But we’ve both got a lot to be optimistic about our sides. Yet Spurs are seen as if we’re not worthy of being in the conversation.

I appreciate people will now say “you lost to Watford” but my response would be winning at Old Trafford didn’t confirm us as title challengers just like losing at Vicarage Road didn’t say otherwise. It’s too damn early to be making such calls. If we beat Liverpool in our next game we’ll both be on 12/15 points but they won’t be written off after one loss, and rightly so.

I am not averse to criticism of my club. Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Graeme Souness, Rio Ferdinand and others criticise when we rightly deserve it and even when it doesn’t appear so. We do have to take the next step and win a trophy. But they do it with a perceptive line of thinking and explain it so. Unlike Savage who shouts down his callers and even his own co-presenter from rebuttal.

Moreover, and this is a point the caller missed – Savage predicted Spurs to finish 6th last season and Manchester United to win the league. Now unless he expected 1st-6th to be a mere four points away it’s odd how he now uses Spurs finishing 3rd as if it were a failed season to prop up Mourinho, when he could prop up Mourinho on the back of his own work at Utd.
Otto L

Oh god we’re still talking about Harry Potter
I enjoyed the Harry Potter examples to examine the relationship between Liverpool and United. Instead of it being a direct case of Harry Potter versus the Dark Lord, I propose that the situation is more akin to the split in the House of Black before the first wizarding war. The status of both clubs places them into the pure blood footballing world or the Noble and Most Ancient house of Black.

It really is a question of what set of values each club and its fans value at present. Liverpool can be compared to Sirius Black or even his brother Regulus with an emphasis placed on following the light. In this context, Klopp would be Dumbledore as he represents hope, kindness and belief in his players. Dumbledore never blamed the children despite the fact that they never ceased in their pursuit of trouble or disobeying house rules.

United can be viewed as Bellatrix Lestrange in the sense that the club have placed their faith in the dark lord despite the fact the the dark lord doesn’t really see the relationship in the same way. Jose is a nice fit for Tom Riddle as he views himself as the superior footballing mind and while his 3 titles don’t directly equate to horcruxes, they do persevere his identity at present.

What does this mean in terms of the season? None of the characters mentioned survive the war and in this respect I think it is fair to say neither team will win league.
Jamie, Eire

The problem with head-to-head
In response to Mikey cfc, h2h isn’t perfect. In fact it has serious drawbacks. The problem is that if you use h2h then goal difference simply doesn’t matter.

What this means is that the small fry of la liga and Serie A will often rest some of their players against Real Madrid and Barcelona etc. If you are going to lose anyway and it doesn’t matter how many goals you concede then save your players for the game against your relegation rival where you might get points or they may be your h2h competitor. That is why the giants of la liga often win by 4,5 or 6. The small fry aren’t more likely to go for a win as the gd doesn’t matter. They are more likely to capitulate and not care.

Also h2h is simply less fair. The team that stays up isn’t the team that did very slightly better over the whole season it is the team that did slightly better over two games. Decisions and luck might balance out over a whole season, they certainly won’t over two games.
Paul, Ickenham

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