Should’ve been red. Commentators on the world feed speculated that if it happened later in the match it might’ve been. Screw that nonsense.
Saka is struggling, though. I think he’s fatigued from being overplayed, to be fair, but that’s even more reason that he should be pulled. ETA I see now that I’ve been beaten to the punch on this. But the point stands and is reinforced.
Nah. But I think he’s really good. Also, why do we have to put them against each other? Can’t we just enjoy both?
I shouldn't have posted that for the reason you just brought up. I'm not against anyone, I love them both. The correct thing to say it's that I enjoy ESR's game more.
i never made the rosicky connection until andrew made it on arseblog the other day and it absolutely clicked. it's the ability/willingness to find and run into open space to receive the ball and how tidy he is.
Two more incidents that were nearly identical to incidents when Arsenal players saw red cards --- yet only yellow. It's ridiculous. And no, that's not excusing how awful we looked for about 80 percent of that match. Also, I don't understand people wanting us to lose on Sunday. First time that fans will be allowed back in the stadium in quite some time, finally starting to see some daylight after a long pandemic nightmare, and you root for them to sit through a loss? How misanthropic. No, I don't want us to play in Europa 2.0 Conference Super Duper Fun League either. But I'll root for Everton and West Ham to win, rather than hope for an outcome that will dampen the spirits of a bunch of folks who deserve a good day out.
I don't want the Conference League, but do want St. Totteringham's Day. Would much rather finish seventh than ninth.
Yeah, I’m with you. I did make a joke encouraging Arteta to throw the Brighton match, but I always want us to win regardless of what it ‘means’.
And I want us to get back into the CL. We have to think big picture. St. Totteringham's Day is great, but its not worth what it would cost us next season - where we could rebuild and likely re-establish ourselves as a team that finishes above spurs for the foreseeable future. Sure Everton could win and we could win, and spurs lose, and we get St. Totteringham's and no Conference league which would be the best case scenario, but City are going to want to end on a strong note before the CL final, so that is not a scenario we can count on. I can easily wait one more year if it means giving us the chance to do the rebuild we have so badly needed for so many years. We lost the weekend league game after 5 of our 6 Europa League group stage games. We had a fairly decent start to the season, and our 2 losses were away games to City and Liverpool when they still had Van Dijk. Our collapse lasted the entire run of the group stage. Everyone points to the league table since Christmas, but 9 days after the last EL game, we went to Everton, dominated the game and xg, but lost because we shot ourselves in the foot. If we can't be in the Europa League at the very least, going through the Sept-Dec period without playing in the european minnow league, is going to be a massive boon to our season, and if one of the current top 4 has an off year, we could be well positioned to take advantage of that. We don't even have to lose on Sunday, we could draw with Brighton. A month from Sunday, St. Totteringham's will be a distant memory, but a year from Sunday, the effects of playing in the Conference League will still be felt.
Yes that's why I wasn't really upset at Odegaard replacing him. It was the 2nd(?) match in a row that Saka came out mid 2T. I figure it's a clear plan devised by coaching staff and player, to limit his minutes now, perhaps with an eye towards trying to really contribute in the Euros (not that I follow what Southgate has been doing of late) BTW, Odegaard set up the game winner with an absolutely sumptuous pass to Gabi, and that alone vindicates Areta's decision on this one.
The final day thread is up... https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/arsenal-vs-brighton-epl-23-may-2021.2115279/