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Oddly enough, one of the things I miss the most from being home (London, well, Hackney to be exact), is reading the back pages on Monday, while taking the tube to work.

Tomorrow's papers will be covered with our (Arsenal) failures. Awful, just awful...

Arsenal's failures are on thing; mistakes happen, and players, even on bloated and obscene salaries, are still human.

What bothers me is that the defensive errors, brittleness, catastrophic judgment and breath-taking incompetence found in defence - along with the notorious mental fragility and lack of steel and ambition - are not new.

These have been flagrant features of Arsenal's brittle and fragile defence (especially when they are playing away) for years, now.

Granted, mistakes happen, but my issue is the mutton-headed and mulish inability to learn from mistakes - Sokratis's stupid error wouldn't have been made by a week-end five-a-side - and some sort of desire not to want to repeat them and to actually improve as a result of such error-strewn performances.
 
Arsenal were laughable in defense. It was telling that Xhaka said the team were "scared" in the second half - this will reinforce the stereotype of Arsenal as a bunch of spineless lightweights.

I don't think that's true, but right now they are a rebuilding team that lack a really strong identity and have, for years, lacked the resilience they need to be a top contender. This could still be a hangover from the Wenger years but Luiz was not a Wenger signing. Last season was a free hit for Emery but he does need to demonstrate some improvement this year, and with both Chelsea and Man Utd also rebuilding he can't afford to have those clubs significantly outperform him.

For what it's worth, I think Luiz should be employed in midfield, not defense. Unfortunately, that still doesn't solve Arsenal's dire need for a pair of quality center backs. At this point, a player of the quality of Kompany or Virgil Van Dijk -or, hell 2016 vintage Robert Huth - would be a bargain at any price.
 
Arsenal were laughable in defense. It was telling that Xhaka said the team were "scared" in the second half - this will reinforce the stereotype of Arsenal as a bunch of spineless lightweights.

I don't think that's true, but right now they are a rebuilding team that lack a really strong identity and have, for years, lacked the resilience they need to be a top contender. This could still be a hangover from the Wenger years but Luiz was not a Wenger signing. Last season was a free hit for Emery but he does need to demonstrate some improvement this year, and with both Chelsea and Man Utd also rebuilding he can't afford to have those clubs significantly outperform him.

For what it's worth, I think Luiz should be employed in midfield, not defense. Unfortunately, that still doesn't solve Arsenal's dire need for a pair of quality center backs. At this point, a player of the quality of Kompany or Virgil Van Dijk -or, hell 2016 vintage Robert Huth - would be a bargain at any price.

Agree with absolutely everything you say.

I have long thought that Mr Emery will need at least four transfer windows to begin to build or craft the sort of team that he has in mind which would be capable of challenging for serious honours.

However, it is depressing that were is little sign that those flagrant defensive deficiencies are being addressed or acknowledged, either by way of transfers, or in training.

And yes: I could not believe at the time that Arsenal failed to lodge a bid for Virgil van Dijk.
 
And yes: I could not believe at the time that Arsenal failed to lodge a bid for Virgil van Dijk.

...or Harry Maguire, for that matter...or even Gary Cahill, he just went to Crystal Palace this summer. To be fair, Virgil was explicit in his desire to join Liverpool, so I think him going elsewhere would have been an outside chance at best. But Arsenal need a star player at the back who will also provide leadership on the pitch. At this point, nothing is more urgent than that from where I stand. Arsenal have the attack they need, and they've always had a good midfield, but they are going to give up a lot of silly goals until they rebuild their defense.
 
...or Harry Maguire, for that matter...or even Gary Cahill, he just went to Crystal Palace this summer. To be fair, Virgil was explicit in his desire to join Liverpool, so I think him going elsewhere would have been an outside chance at best. But Arsenal need a star player at the back who will also provide leadership on the pitch. At this point, nothing is more urgent than that from where I stand. Arsenal have the attack they need, and they've always had a good midfield, but they are going to give up a lot of silly goals until they rebuild their defense.

Couldn't agree more.

Personally, I was rather surprised that more energy wasn't deployed (or expended) by Arsenal on strengthening that porous and brittle defence during the transfer window of this summer past.

And agreed re van Dijk, as Liverpool was his preferred destination, but serious money (and research) should have gone into securing some very solid and good defenders.

The forward line is extremely good, midfield reasonable, and Leno is excellent - but insufficiently protected by that woeful defence - but what irks me is that these defensive frailties are nothing new; this has been a problem fr at least the past four or five seasons.
 
Honours even at Villa Park then.
Not a bad result away from home with a man sent off.

Didn’t get to see much as I was busy this evening but that’s life sometimes.
Clean sheet helps my fantasy team with Diop and Fabanski.
 
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Brutal result for Liverpool. This was never going to be an easy match, and the scoreline flatters Napoli, but they certainly earned their win by pouncing on a couple costly Liverpool mistakes. Still, it's only the group stage. If Liverpool beat Napoli in the return fixture it effectively cancels this one out. It's a marathon not a sprint etc etc., and I'm not all that worried.

Chelsea beaten at home by Valencia as well.
 
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Brutal result for Liverpool. This was never going to be an easy match, and the scoreline flatters Napoli, but they certainly earned their win by pouncing on a couple costly Liverpool mistakes. Still, it's only the group stage. If Liverpool beat Napoli in the return fixture it effectively cancels this one out. It's a marathon not a sprint etc etc., and I'm not all that worried.

Chelsea beaten at home by Valencia as well.
Loosing Mount didn’t do them any favours.
Anyway won’t all the English teams be out of Europe by 31st October? :p
 
Man City put on a master class this afternoon. 8-0. Shame Stirling didn’t play as he’s my vice captain. But several of my competitors have him as their captain.

But 6 different scorers shows they are all capable of turning it on.

Things don’t look good for Watford. Propping up the league.
I can see a managerial change soon.

Surprised at Spurs to. They don’t look nearly as strong as last season.
 
Man City put on a master class this afternoon. 8-0. Shame Stirling didn’t play as he’s my vice captain. But several of my competitors have him as their captain.

But 6 different scorers shows they are all capable of turning it on.

Things don’t look good for Watford. Propping up the league.
I can see a managerial change soon.

Surprised at Spurs to. They don’t look nearly as strong as last season.

Not that surprised about Spurs; they have done exceptionally well on a fairly thin squad for the past few years, and, sooner or later, that was going to take its toll on them.

Stunning result for Manchester City, but the defeat to Norwich last week probably stung, and motivated them to an even greater extent to inflict a serious defeat on whoever they faced today.
 
Not that surprised about Spurs; they have done exceptionally well on a fairly thin squad for the past few years, and, sooner or later, that was going to take its toll on them.

Stunning result for Manchester City, but the defeat to Norwich last week probably stung, and motivated them to an even greater extent to inflict a serious defeat on whoever they faced today.
Agreed. Glad we weren’t facing them today.
 
Well, @Apple fanboy, it appears that you (West Ham) are two nil up against Manchester United with less than five minutes to go.

Happy days.
Well for me. Not so much for @JamesMike or my ex boss.

United didn’t look on form at all today. But we certainly did. Up to fourth in the table.

Top club in London!
 
Manchester United seems to just try to throw money at the problem but nobody wants to actually play. Really sad how much these guys get paid and how little they seem to want to actually win anything.
 
Well for me. Not so much for @JamesMike or my ex boss.

United didn’t look on form at all today. But we certainly did. Up to fourth in the table.

Top club in London!

No comment on the last sentence, but, yes, a very good win for West Ham.


Manchester United seems to just try to throw money at the problem but nobody wants to actually play. Really sad how much these guys get paid and how little they seem to want to actually win anything.


United are still not playing as a team, a unit, an outfit with a common vision or ambition.

It is not enough to have talented - and sometimes, exceptionally talented - (if occasionally unmotivated) players in individual positions, if those players cannot play together as a team, as a unit with a shared vision. The other issue is getting the best of out those talented players, and this, too, remains an issue with Manchester United.

These problems has long predated the arrival of OGS as manager at Old Trafford.
 
Manchester United seems to just try to throw money at the problem but nobody wants to actually play. Really sad how much these guys get paid and how little they seem to want to actually win anything.
Not there fault. They just came up against a world class team! :)
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Very disappointed in Man U play, kudos to @Apple fanboy's team they played well and deserved the win.
Very gracious of you. We did look like we wanted it more.
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No comment on the last sentence, but, yes, a very good win for West Ham.





United are still not playing as a team, a unit, an outfit with a common vision or ambition.

It is not enough to have talented - and sometimes, exceptionally talented - (if occasionally unmotivated) players in individual positions, if those players cannot play together as a team, as a unit with a shared vision. The other issue is getting the best of out those talented players, and this, too, remains an issue with Manchester United.

These problems has long predated the arrival of OGS as manager at Old Trafford.
Agreed. Look at least Arsenal are the fourth best club in London.
 
A fight back from Arsenal? Surly not! 3-2 now.

I couldn't find any mention of this - it is not being followed in the Guardian/Observer (to my astonishment).

Anyway, a pretty good result, - and psychologically, being able to mount a fight back is a very good sign.

But, sigh, that defence.

Elsewhere, Liverpool hold out - after a superb first half - to hang on and defeat Chelsea by 2-1.
 
I couldn't find any mention of this - it is not being followed in the Guardian/Observer (to my astonishment).

Anyway, a pretty good result, - and psychologically, being able to mount a fight back is a very good sign.

But, sigh, that defence.

Elsewhere, Liverpool hold out - after a superb first half - to hang on and defeat Chelsea by 2-1.
Well you are now above us on......
Alphabetical order. Because that’s the only difference!
 
An interesting day in the league, to be sure. Man Utd looked lost today, but West Ham deserve plenty of credit for taking control of the match.

Arsenal looked just as comical in defense as always, but their powerful attack bailed them out today.

Big win for Liverpool. I expected Chelsea to score a couple today, and to be fair they probably should have buried one more of the handful of chances they created. But as it turned out Liverpool’s two goals were enough to take all three points.

Leicester looked good this weekend as well. Apart from the top two the league looks very open right now.
 
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