We’re a couple of weeks into the season now and I’m increasingly finding myself bored of the usual partisan bs....CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
I’m a Liverpool fan on twitter and can’t be bothered with the takes like ‘I’ve never seen a worse decision’ (VVD’s sending off) or ‘it’ll be a disaster if we don’t spend £100M on a midfielder I had never heard of before the gossip started.
So, I’m trying to amuse myself in different ways and the one I’m going for today is – Great goals by meh players
As a Liverpool fan, the one that comes to mind first is Sebastian Coates against QPR – a centre back who was never quite good enough for the Premier League scoring an acrobatic scissor kick volley
Surely everyone has a favourite?
Christopher Illingworth
Hav a go
I don’t understand the Havertz signing.
The lad was taking quite a lot of stick from Chelsea fans and has seemingly signed up for more at the Emirates.
I don’t know if this signing will work out. But it’s still August.
Three league games in is a tad early to be having a go at the guy.
Bergkamp didn’t bang until that game against Southampton at Highbury and people forget Pires was actually quite pants in his first six months. Even Henry didn’t look great when he first signed.
I’m not saying Kai will ever be as good as the aforementioned trio but how about getting behind him and actually supporting him to give him the best possible chance of doing so?
Imagine starting a new job and everyone telling you you’re rubbish before you’d even completed a week. That’s the equivalent of what you’re doing to Kai.
Graham Simons, Gooner, Norf London
…There seems to be a lot of negativity around Kai Havertz after 3 games (zero losses BTW) much of it unjustified. What does he actually do? What’s the point of him etc. Look at the mitigating circumstances around his early performances for Arsenal. He’s been played as a left-sided attacking midfielder, a new position for him given his previous role at Chelsea in a new team who have altered their midfield significantly.
I don’t think Arteta or anyone else thought we’d have three different left backs/Wingback in our first 3 games (4 including Zinchenko’s cameo vs Fulham).
Zinchenko is fairly key to Arsenal’s build-up play when he pushes into midfield, Timber was put there as the most like for like replacement Arsenal had but once he got injured, Tomyasu and Kiwior offer significantly less in this regard. This will limit the options further forward in terms of progressive play which Havertz should thrive on.
Up front Arsenal haven’t had Jesus whose excellent movement challenges defensive structure and creates space for other attacking players to exploit (Xhaka, Martinelli, Saka and Odegarrd all benefitted from this last season).
I also don’t think Havertz is getting credit for the work he does off the ball either in defending from high up the pitch, interceptions, closing down etc. Seeing people already eulogising Xhaka is amusing as if we didn’t know what we had until it’s gone.
We do know what we had, a decent midfielder with mobility, defensive positioning and mentality shortcomings entering his declining years. Yeah yeah, he was great last season. It’s no coincidence that we bought Jesus and Zinchenko the previous summer.
This instant success mentality regardless of the high fee needs to stop. Arsenal have a decent history of taking players with talent who’ve endured difficult times and they’ve gone on to be great successes. Henry and Bergkamp are two obvious examples, took them 7 or 8 games before they scored a goal for Arsenal.
If they started this season the mailbox would be full of angry keyboard warriors 3 games in screaming… Henry out Bergkamp out! All I’m saying is, let’s wait and see how Havertz develops as we get more first choice players back before and the new players integrate. All this narrative gushing out, maybe we just need some time for the story to actually write itself out.
I reserve the right to retract everything in this mail if Havertz does indeed, turn out do be dog shit for Arsenal.
M, AFC
Still questioning Havertz
Surprised myself agreeing with one comment from Stewie’s email. There absolutely is something strange about the Havertz deal and price that needs to be questioned (somewhat similar to the Willian one a few years ago). $60m for a player with 19 goals and 7 assists in 94 premier league appearances to hinder the development of Emile Smith-Rowe (12 goals and 8 assists in 67 PL appearances) and Fabio Viera. I just can’t understand the logic.
There has to be more to this transfer or at the very least some commentary on why Havertz needs to play ahead of an academy favorite with better numbers and a player (Viera) showing more in 10 mins that Havertz in 3 years? It’s going to get more infuriating as Arteta (plenty of arrogance and stubbornness) will refuse to admit the mistake until its too late.
Willian continued playing until injuries forced Arteta’s hand in Dec-20 and Smith-Rowe (+ Martinelli and Saka salvaged some respect in the ‘21 season).
I also cannot understand why more people (media) are not questioning Gabriel’s omission from the defense? He literally never missed a game and grew a fabulous partnership with Saliba and Holding.
Why is this not being questioned more aggressively by the media. If it’s nonsensical Saudi interest then come out and clarify but it’s the height of arrogance and stupidity to hinder yourself unnecessarily.
Won’t go into the arrogance of Partey at RB since it’s been covered in depth. I just worry Arteta will be his own undoing and his arrogance will make it hard to feel anything but frustration for the fans.
Humza (NY Gooner – the Havertz money could have easily bought a good finisher / back up striker with numbers similar to a Wilson or Giroud).
Arsenal will be fine
What is Stewie on about with Arsenal and strikers? They scored 88 goals in the league last season! Way beyond any team sans MC. Whatever their ‘problems’ are, it’s not scoring goals or creating chances.
Arsenal’s Xg from the Fulham game as something like (depending on the which stat algo you go to) 3.5 to Fulhams 0.5. 99 times out of 100 you win that game. You just have to take a result like that on the chin. Arsenal will be fine.
Dylan, Seattle
Real Gabriel talk
It’s kinda obvious to me that Arteta’s odd tactics these past two weeks (Partey at RB, White at CB, etc…) are very little to do with shoe-horning Kai Havertz in to the side, and pretty much everything to do with the reported Saudi Arabian club sniffing around Gabriel Maghalaes.
It would appear there’s a very good chance that Saudi are going to offer non-turn-downable money for Gabriel, and after spaffing £200m this summer it’s clear that Arsenal need to recoup much of that.
If the rumour-mongers are to be believed, Gabriel, who forms one half of the best centre-back pairing in the Premier League (Man City play 3 at the back…), and is utterly crucial to Arsenal, will have an asking price of £150m to £175m. That sort of money. That’s nuts! It’s also a very good reason to not play Gabriel.
That’s why Gabriel is on the bench and White is at CB. It’s why Partey is at RB. At LB, Zinchenko is coming back from injury, Timber got injured, Tomiyasu got suspended, and Tierney went on loan. Not sure why Kiwior isn’t playing, but there you go.
It’s nothing to do with Havertz though, it’s to do with Gabriel. Dare I say it, but if Arsenal are considering selling Gabriel to Saudi, then Timber’s injury has just put his price up.
Dale May, Swindon Wengerite
What’s the Johnson fascination?
As a lifelong (and often long-suffering) Spurs fan, I am mystified as to why Ange Postecoglou and Daniel Levy hold Forest wingman, Brennan Johnson in high regard.
Johnson is OK and mobile, but doesn’t score a lot of goals. Besides, Spurs have Kulusevski, Perisic, Solomon and even Son as wide players. And even my mate from Nottingham – and who is a staunch Forest fan reckons he is not worth anywhere near the asking price.
Postecoglou claims he doesn’t want a direct Harry Kane mark II, and the goals have to be shared out amongst the other players. Granted, Kane IS a one-off! However, all the top teams and the wannabes, have a main striker and Richarlison is just not doing it for Tottenham.
I’d like to remind everyone that a few decades ago, Liverpool gave a chance to a young man playing in the old fourth division for Chester, called Ian Rush. The rest is history. So, reading from the same page Levy could get Gift Orban (whom they have shown interest in) from Gent. And for millions less than Johnson!
In his short career the Nigerian has scored 50 goals in 55 matches, albeit mainly in the Belgian League. If they don’t buy him and someone like Pep picks him up for Man City, he will soon be a £100 million pound player.
Jim Sokol
English transfers have been hits
Early days of course, but it is interesting to note that many of the early successes in the transfer market this summer have been English.
James Maddison fits right in at Spurs, James Ward-Prowse also fits West Ham’s style of play, Declan Rice is also becoming central to Arsenal.
Aboard, Harry Kane hasn’t needed long to score goals for Bayern, and Jude Bellingham is also doing fine in Madrid.
Jury is reserved on Harvey Barnes at Newcastle but there is hope there too.
All we need now is for Erik 10H to find Mason Mount’s best role.
By changing clubs, managers and styles of play, all these players are adding new dimensions to their game, and this is very good news for our national team.
Mike, CFC (We just need some English defenders to do the same though)
Trying to remain calm about Everton
I’ve refrained from writing on regarding Everton recently simply because I didn’t want my emotions to get the best of me. So, please bear with me here. Rather than zero points, we could have easily had six points going into next weekend and the mood around Goodison would be considerably better than it is now. As you stated in Winners & Losers, we’re paying for not taking chances and having Michael Keane partnered with Tarkowski.
Sean Dyche looked to make amends with he latter and overall, it paid off. Yes, we let in another poor goal but that CAN be fixed and Branthwaite, after a year at PSV, looks to be the real deal and can make the position his own.
Patterson is young but is growing each match. The jury is still out between Ashley Young and Mykolenko.
One thing that you must remember. When a team is utterly devoid of the ability to score, that puts massive pressure on the defense to not make any mistakes.
The irony is that that pressure ends up causing mistakes which leads to goals against. If we can start scoring, that would immensely help our defense, allowing them to play a bit looser without the pressure piling on. You tend to up your concentration a bit with the lead rather than playing from behind.
On to scoring goals. I won’t belabor the point regarding all of the chances we’ve missed. It happens to every team and every team in the Premier League, not just Everton, understands that it’s fine margins that can make the difference between winning and losing.
Just go ask Sir Alex Ferguson what he thinks about goal differentials. I believe we’ve been a bit unlucky on the offensive end but make no mistake, Neal Maupay isn’t the answer.
Yes, we have Beto coming in and Chermiti adjusting to Premier League life. I never thought I’d say it but here we are…we miss Dwight McNeil sorely. And yes, I think Jack Harrison can make a difference for us and create chances. Danjuma also looks good for us as well. I do think that with those players mentioned above, I’m not crazy in thinking we can start scoring. At least I hope I’m not.
Yes, we’ve had some tough losses with Fulham and Wolves (we deserved everything Villa gave us and more,) but like I said, fine margins, and they can go both ways. A goal here, a VAR decision FOR Everton there (haha…no laughing in back,) and we could find ourselves out of the muck.
I’m not sugar coating anything here. There is still a massive amount of work to be done, but I’m not giving up on us just yet. I do think Sean Dyche is the man to lead us out of it and needs to be given time, assuming he’s relegated Keane to the bench for good.
The last point I want to touch on is how the club is run. It’s clear that Moshiri is out of his depth and that we were counting on funds from his pal Usmanov to make things happen. Bill Kenwright has utterly destroyed any goodwill he may have accumulated over the last twenty years and I for one think that’s a sad state for all involved.
We need a new owner (please, please don’t let it be a nation state) or at the least, more capital injection which may or may not be incoming depending upon your particular news source. But it’s clear to the supporters that a massive change is needed at the very top of the hierarchy.
Thank you for listening and we certainly don’t deserve any sympathy here. Ownership and the board have earned every bit of the predicament we’re in right now as have the players over the last six or seven managers. All I can say is just hope your club don’t “do an Everton” with your people in charge. It’s not enjoyable at all.
TX Bill, EFC
Trying to remain interested in Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace 1-1 Brentford. Then we rinse and repeat, and the dance goes on.
*One of the Totally Football Show contributors has previously mentioned their uncle’s version of the league table, in which you measure how a team is doing by comparing their results this season to last season. Well, last season they had a win, a draw and a loss away at the promoted teams, lost to Arsenal at home and drew with Brentford, so pretty much the same.
*It’s reductive to describe this as a meeting of two teams adjusting to life without their star attacker from last season, but that did influence the differing approaches to this match. As much as both teams would have been happy to sit deep and counterattack, Brentford were able to dominate possession even if they weren’t able to create many chances – their goal was their only shot on target in the match.
Whether or not a more obvious (or more effective) target man in the form of Ivan Toney would have been a more effective outlet for the Bees is up for debate, given the strength of Palace’s centre-back partnership, but it did force Thomas Frank to take a different approach.
This seemed to be largely trying to attack down the left, believing Joel Ward to be the weak link in the back line, and this was the source of their goal. Kevin Schade dribbled at Ward, who kept backing off, then cut inside him and shot beyond Sam Johnstone. Ironically it was exactly the sort of goal Wilfried Zaha used to score at his rampant best.
*Palace, meanwhile, wasted chances from winning the ball high up the pitch: Eberechi Eze shooting straight at Mark Flekken and Odsonne Edouard tripped over his own feet after a mazy dribble, though he drew a fine save from Flekken with a 20 yard free kick.
Ignoring the standard pessimism of a Palace supporter, it did feel like an equaliser was coming. When it arrived, it was from an unlikely source. With the Eagles camped on the edge of the Brentford box, Joachim Andersen played a one-two with Jordan Ayew and appeared to take a heavy touch, but slid through to poke the ball past the goalkeeper. The spirit of Chris Wilder lives on, somehow.
*This will be an interesting week for Crystal Palace in the transfer market. There are several players attracting interest from bigger clubs, which is to be expected given they were signed with a view to selling them on at a profit, but losing any of Andersen, Cheick Doucoure, Eze or Marc Guehi will weaken the team drastically and require a gamble on a replacement. This is far easier to do at the start of the summer than the end.
*One of the most surprising developments of the season so far is the Eagles not falling foul – or at least, not being severely affected by – the new anti-timewasting directives. Some of the yellow cards have been a bit “the next boy to act up will be sent out of the classroom”, which must be good news for the “football should be more like rugby union” brigade.
However, as with all events involving humans interpreting the actions of other humans, there cannot be complete objectivity, and with more incidents to interpret, there are bound to be greater inconsistencies. That’s how we arrive at the situation where Trent Alexander-Arnold is commits two offences potentially punishable by yellow cards and is only shown one.
There are two obvious conclusions here: one is that life would be easier if everyone just accepted that these discrepancies are part of life and got over themselves (and on with the game); the other is that if you’re playing Liverpool you want as many of their defenders on the field as possible, it’s the attackers you want to be sent off (not that they did anything this time, so it’s clear).
If Alexander-Arnold is sent off in the sixth minute, whoever replaces him at right-back is not making an error taking a touch in the 25th minute, they are leathering it down the field as far as possible, trying to spring Mo Salah on a counterattack.
*Virgil van Dijk has long had issues with ball-watching instead of tracking runners. On Sunday, he was too far from Alexander Isak to track him properly because he was overly focussed on the ball. He gets caught out and ends up committing a professional foul.
It’s been at least 20 years since “got the ball and the man” has been either a fair challenge or a mitigating circumstance, but I saw and heard it a few times on Sunday, including from Gary Lineker. It was a bit like when the late John Motson was still saying “in these days of three points for a win” in the 2010s, in reference to a rule change dating back to the early 1980s.
This could be an interesting test case for the new respecting the officials directives. His initial red card is only one game, but there is clearly scope for adding on an extra match for failing to leave the pitch immediately, and for additional sanctions for his dissent on the field and from the technical area.
Two games and a big fine would not be beyond the question, and if there is supplemental discipline, van Dijk will only have himself to blame.
*Speaking of elite Premier League centre-backs, one of the latest rumours about Harry Maguire made me laugh the other day. Out of favour with his manager, not popular with his own club’s supporters, and in need of regular playing time to get fitness and form to keep his place in the England squad. And still, despite all of this, he didn’t fancy a loan move to Everton. I’m not saying the Toffees are in a sticky situation but when someone in Maguire’s position is turning you down, it’s not a great look, is it?
Ed Quoththeraven
A cold wet Tuesday night
So after four games and after selling their best players, Leicester City are top of the Championship with a 100% record.
And who is their new manager? Enzo Meresca you say; who spent one whole year as first team coach under one Josep “Pep” Guardiola.
I recognise its not Doncaster Rovers et al, but it does provide some evidence to suggest that Pep would be just fine managing a lower league club on a cold wet Tuesday night.
After all, many of these clubs are now a playing out from the back, something that was ridiculed when he arrived in the premiere league….READFULL
