"My football is Paris Saint-Germain vs. Liverpool, Liverpool vs. Paris Saint-Germain. That is how I would love to have every single game, but you need to have two teams to have an open game of football and not all these things that don’t make a game of football nice... I did not change our style, but teams have changed their style against us."
Slot talking before the Arsenal game. It seems a few are fixated with this when the Dutchman was asked about being boring. Apparently he's mentioned PSG a few times. I don’t think we are trying to be like PSG, are we? Slot admires Guardiola but we're not trying to be like his "dominant" City side either?
Great read Andrew and nice to see some positivity, as it’s been a pretty miserable season so far.
We clearly aren’t as bad as a lot of people think. It’s one of those where the eye test is a bit deceiving, as we don’t look good, but the numbers don’t lie.
We are probably still the 3rd best team in the country, even though it doesn’t feel like we are and we might not finish 3rd because of variance and luck.
We have a decent record against Arsenal, all things considered, even if we don’t win at the Emirates too often.
Maybe a surprise positive result on Thursday can help turn the tide of negativity.
A positive result should help. And of course, playing as they have lately feels perfectly acceptable at Arsenal when it doesn't against lesser sides.
I agree, I do think Liverpool are the third best side. Villa's advantage is such that the Reds might not catch them, but it's been that kind of season unfortunately.
Thanks Andrew—fascinating article, and a great shout on John Coltrane.
To the eye, Arsenal this season look like they could score more if they wanted to, whereas we can’t always say the same—especially right now. But that’s the trade-off: control, risk minimisation, and playing the percentages.
I saw a breakdown this week showing Arsenal get strong goal contributions from defenders and midfielders, which likely reflects their set-piece output. What really intrigues me is what Arsenal saw in the data a few years ago that others missed—prompting such an early and sustained focus on low-risk, high-percentage set-piece execution, science?
Haha, I've been a bit obsessed with Coltrane over the last couple of years.
Fair point re Arsenal, they probably are holding something back but if it protects their leads then it makes sense.
I'm not sure if Arsenal spotted something or if Arteta steered them this way thanks to his Moyesian upbringing ;-) But it does make sense, anything you can plan to the best of your ability in a low-scoring, random sport is to be embraced really.
It's mad mate to even think we are close YET. We are so Unfit which is a metric that only the sports science dept can reveal but the eye test is undeniable the team are fecked on 60 and the bench is depleted of match winners with legs at both ends of the pitch. Its obvious to me they have not got the legs in them for this campaign and they are making good from a bad beginning, We have a plaster on the wound and have since Diogo. We are lucky to be 4th.
I agree re fitness, it's a big concern. But I don't think they're particularly lucky to be fourth. While they haven't played that well far too often, rarely have they been outplayed. I remain confident they can go on a bit of a run at some point this season... though maybe confidence in the team is too broken now for that to happen. Fingers crossed.
Is it mad to think Liverpool aren't that far behind Arsenal? Eliminating set pieces to prove it suggests yes ;-) But I think there's at least *something* in this...
"My football is Paris Saint-Germain vs. Liverpool, Liverpool vs. Paris Saint-Germain. That is how I would love to have every single game, but you need to have two teams to have an open game of football and not all these things that don’t make a game of football nice... I did not change our style, but teams have changed their style against us."
Slot talking before the Arsenal game. It seems a few are fixated with this when the Dutchman was asked about being boring. Apparently he's mentioned PSG a few times. I don’t think we are trying to be like PSG, are we? Slot admires Guardiola but we're not trying to be like his "dominant" City side either?
Great read Andrew and nice to see some positivity, as it’s been a pretty miserable season so far.
We clearly aren’t as bad as a lot of people think. It’s one of those where the eye test is a bit deceiving, as we don’t look good, but the numbers don’t lie.
We are probably still the 3rd best team in the country, even though it doesn’t feel like we are and we might not finish 3rd because of variance and luck.
We have a decent record against Arsenal, all things considered, even if we don’t win at the Emirates too often.
Maybe a surprise positive result on Thursday can help turn the tide of negativity.
A positive result should help. And of course, playing as they have lately feels perfectly acceptable at Arsenal when it doesn't against lesser sides.
I agree, I do think Liverpool are the third best side. Villa's advantage is such that the Reds might not catch them, but it's been that kind of season unfortunately.
Thanks Andrew—fascinating article, and a great shout on John Coltrane.
To the eye, Arsenal this season look like they could score more if they wanted to, whereas we can’t always say the same—especially right now. But that’s the trade-off: control, risk minimisation, and playing the percentages.
I saw a breakdown this week showing Arsenal get strong goal contributions from defenders and midfielders, which likely reflects their set-piece output. What really intrigues me is what Arsenal saw in the data a few years ago that others missed—prompting such an early and sustained focus on low-risk, high-percentage set-piece execution, science?
Haha, I've been a bit obsessed with Coltrane over the last couple of years.
Fair point re Arsenal, they probably are holding something back but if it protects their leads then it makes sense.
I'm not sure if Arsenal spotted something or if Arteta steered them this way thanks to his Moyesian upbringing ;-) But it does make sense, anything you can plan to the best of your ability in a low-scoring, random sport is to be embraced really.
It's mad mate to even think we are close YET. We are so Unfit which is a metric that only the sports science dept can reveal but the eye test is undeniable the team are fecked on 60 and the bench is depleted of match winners with legs at both ends of the pitch. Its obvious to me they have not got the legs in them for this campaign and they are making good from a bad beginning, We have a plaster on the wound and have since Diogo. We are lucky to be 4th.
I agree re fitness, it's a big concern. But I don't think they're particularly lucky to be fourth. While they haven't played that well far too often, rarely have they been outplayed. I remain confident they can go on a bit of a run at some point this season... though maybe confidence in the team is too broken now for that to happen. Fingers crossed.
Is it mad to think Liverpool aren't that far behind Arsenal? Eliminating set pieces to prove it suggests yes ;-) But I think there's at least *something* in this...