Real shame we didn't get to see RicEzeGaard midfield combination, but the season is long and we will see it again. Saka has looked off this season, so really happy he scored but we really need to let Gyokeres take the next penalty. Deserves reward for effort.
Last season it was bantered about by pundits the least goals against record might be in jeopardy. That dream ended quickly. Quietly, we are taking an early stab at it. 3 goals against in 7 games. I just hope we end up under 20. Doable. I don't want to get carried away. Low 20s is very good. Its title winning defending. I still think if we can score 2 goals, we'll win almost every game that we do that in. Not many clubs are capable of scoring twice against us if we don't commit an error. In theory, we won't lose any game scoring 3 goals based on our defense over the last 2 seasons.
One of the things I like seeing is as soon as we lose possession, we double and triple team the opposition ball winner to stop him from making a long outlet pass. Barca, Brazil and other highly successful clubs did to near perfection. We are becoming machine like in efficiency. Not there yet but seems on our way. Team defense when we are settled in behind the ball is very, very good.
I noticed that too. It was windy and by the long sleeves and one or two using the ends as gloves it must be a bit cool weather.
Didn’t see the game, but I’m surprised to see that Saka took the PK. Didn’t you all tell me during the Leeds game that Gyokeres won the PK duties, and that’s why he took the PK against Leeds (it wasn't due to MO and Saka being out)? It seems like that would have been a good chance to get Gyokeres a goal.
Another clean sheet is great, but also good to see we didn’t get any cards today either. Need to be mindful of those we don’t lose any players for key matches due to accumulation.
Maybe he took the PK in honor of his 200th appearance for Arsenal today. We’ll have to wait and see who takes the next one.
You beat me to the punch. That's my guess as to why he took it. And in fairness, that penalty was unsaveable.
This is a great example of how a month of punditry went in to discussing random variation. Liverpools expected losses turned up including bad luck against Private Equity FC.
Liverpool are in a temporary crisis but we won't know if its a season long one. After our 2-2 draw at City they never recovered .We were leading them, 2-1, man down till the last kick when the referee gave them extra few minutes. (still regret that game). For whatever reason they went on a downward spiral. Similarly with Liverpool the season before. Klopp's final season. What seemed a temporary blip went to be a season long collapse. Chelsea the same last season after being near the top of the table in the fall. I've also seen where a blip ignited a comeback both of our titles in '98 and '02 we had a bad first half of the season. Came back from a long way to beat Man Utd. My guess is if either club falls 7 points behind by late November into December it may be too much to make up. There are other factors like the AFCON or injuries that could change things. Also, fixture congestion in too many competitions where you tire main players out too early although we would be at an advantage .Or a combination of the aforementioned. Too early. Now lets see how Liverpool handles adversity.
Wonder who will end up with the better season between Gyokeres and Sesko. Both clubs have each other's preferred signing were not due to money and other factors. I am also guessing that Arteta didn't have the intention to use Sesko in the same way he's using Gyokeres. I think the set piece coach would have also had a specific set up to exploit both Sesko and Gabriel.
And crazy as it sounds, I think we can win all our league games till away to Chelsea end of November. We might, just might be able to...whisper it quietly....put the season away if Liverpool go into a dip during that time. By putting the title way I'm thinking like 7 points ahead. Playing 'Catch Me If You Can'. We are that good. Maybe giving up only another 3 goals in that time. A few smash and dash, 1 nil games amidst them. Especially if Gyokeres starts scoring. He starts scoring, I'm looking at flying to London for the parade.
We CAN win them, but Palace and the NLD are very challenging matches especially since Spuds have a competent manager in charge and Palace are on an absolutely insane run of form right now, and as I type this they just go a goal up on Everton.
In the 97-98 season, yeah we definitely made a major comeback after being down by 10 points to Yanited after 20 matches. But the 01-02 season, I thought we were hovering around the top even in the first half of the season and then after that blip against Newcastle around Christmas, we put the peddle to the medal (to borrow a mid 70s era trucker term --- hat's off to you Mr. Kristofferson) and pretty much never looked back even after Pires did his ACL in late March. All that aside, I agree, waaay too early to write off Liverpool. But one of the interesting points the guys on the AV pod made is that their problems in defense and midfield can't really be fixed internally right now. They'll probably have to wait until January. So it will be up to Slot to set things up better so they're not run through so easily as is currently happening.