I could see that as an option that would be extremely exciting one way or the other.
8 Aug 2023
107
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If it fit the narrative, motd would make a big deal about a striker picking up the ball from a corner, beating a man, playing in the winger and then finishing the move 100 yards down the field.
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I just hope Taiwo stays fit.
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Okay, pretty pleased with that. I was worried we would get a twatting today based on our inept pre season. Taiwo is the real deal and way better than Brennan as a number 9.. Our goal was very pleasing.
Turner was fine today. The first goal was a deflection. Not a chance He would save that and I don't believe any goalkeeper in the world would have stopped Saka's worldly. That was a stunning goal. The goals for the arse were because we were running into culdersacs. MGW was poor today. I love him but he was running into blind alleys. We need more speed in the team and someone who can hold the ball other than Taiwo. He options were limited but in this league you don't pfaff around the box with the ball.
Way more promising than the start of last season. Not sure what the problem was with Serge he was fine. He was making Martinelli very cross indeed. In fact the Brazilian should have been booked for pushing Aurier not once but twice when he was down. Yes, the Ivorian struggled in an attacking sense, but defensively he was fine.
A really physical midfielder like Sangare and Adams with a forward who can challenge Awonyi. Brennan isn't going to spuds and Brentford based on that, It's okay though because we can play to his strengths. Pity he didn't take the goal chance when he had it. I suspect that would have made it a completely different game.
Elanga is going to frustrate but his contribution for our goal was very pleasing.
Goal difference much better than last time we were at the Emirates and we also made the Arse twitchy at the end. Progress.
Chicago: Not altogether unhappy.
Edit: And of yeah, what the fuck was going on when Timber went down. We had an advantage and it was called back for what? He's injured but so what? Doesn't have a head injury. That was bullshit.
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I thought this too. In the short time he was on he was constantly calling for the ball and backing into Arsenal defenders with his bulk and then laying the ball off very neatly and not giving it away. It caused them a lot of trouble.
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I like this Nu-Taiwo. Maybe he's a confidence player and it took him a while to get there. If so, and this is a common refrain, we currently (and unusually) have the right manager.
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Probably better off finishing off with Anal. Even if only for hygiene reasons…
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He looked lost on the left, but was getting the pace of the games while he was out there. We said it at the time, but he needs to play down the middle. Once he was there, he started to look a different player. Instinctively knew the landscape around him better, the movements he needed to make there, and with the confidence of not having to think what to do, started to hit the ball better.
Would be my reading.
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Agree. But he also had the happy knack of the scrappy goal, which gave him the breathing space to learn the game that he otherwise might not have had.
And now he looks quite the player in full flight, and you’d back him to get better.
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Not going to argue with that. As well as being quick Elanga looks a lot stronger than I thought he was.
We have a frontline capable of absolutely running over teams on the break. I'm not too tense about us not having much ball. I might be more worried if we had it too much. Our ball handling is as much a threat to us as the opposition.
We could do with a declan rice type to pick the ball up, and start the attack. Unfortunately so could everyone else, and that's what pulls the big bucks these days. ( Which is what I imagine was at the root of the Shelvey failed experiment ).
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There's been criticism of Cooper for suggesting that VAR should have had the referee look at the Rice hand ball incident. That's the least they should have done really. If there's to be any consistency.
If Rice was the attacker in that scenario, and the ball had ended up in the back of the net, there's no doubt the goal would have been ruled out. There was more intent and unnatural use of the hands than, for example, in the Lewis Dunk penalty concession.
I accept that nobody knows what is hand ball, and what isn't, and they are just making it up as they go along...but this isn't an acceptable situation to be in, and football fans should demand some immediate action to stop these idiots making the game a lottery. The law makers and officials need to address the actual issues, not some arbitrary passive nonsense in self-justification. Define the criteria for hand ball. Apply it uniformly. Ideally all over the pitch. Same with offside. Same with fouls. Don't just add arbitrary slugs of extra time to the game. Address timewasting at the point of the action. Use sanctions against players to ensure that play is continuous.
Don't give us this wishy washy 'could be, my mate in the cupboard thought I might have been right'. Do your fucking job and fairly and equally apply the laws of the game. Over the whole pitch. You are in charge!
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Was it a penalty? I really don't know as I'm not sure I understand the rules there. Should VAR have had a look? Abso fucking lutely.
Feeling strangely positive after a loss.
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One that got me as the referee stopping play when Timber went down at the start of the second half. We seemed too passive in accepting that. Have to think if it was our player, they’d have played on and there’d have been no sympathy.
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I brought that up yesterday. Forest had a break on when Timber went down. Oliver blew up but for what? There was no foul.
I also saw that Rice hand balled and Bolly was not heading the ball. They didn’t even look at it.
Dump VAR it’s shit if it doesn’t do its job.
Steve Cooper is right about that incident even if he is wrong about Scarpa and Bade.
Chicago: Adjudicating.
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I couldn't see it hit Bolys head, if it didn't I can't see how it wasn't a penalty. Would have been harsh, but they seem to be the rules.
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Also, I hesitate to jump on the 'its all about the top four' criticism of MOTD because I'm not sure how fair that is, but, fcuk me, how could they not spend a moment talking about the Forest goal?
I suspect if Nketiah had calmly waltzed out of the Arsenal box after defending a corner, fed Saka who sprinted the length of the pitch with Forest players trailing in his wake before Nketiah bamboozled Wazza with his movement and buried the return pass, we'd never have heard the end of it. I mean a full-on studio w@nkfest at the sheer brilliance of it.
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Called it.
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I don't need their validation. It's good to be regularly reminded what fucktards* they are, and that the 'ship is foremost a marketing vehicle for stealing your football history in the name of profit.
All I needed was the pictures of pursuing arse an all players sitting on the floor, trying to come to terms with what had just happened to them.
Those assessing Rice as having had a great game must have had something in their eye while he was treading air, and failing to get anywhere near our lads. Not for pace, nor for positioning.
* this autocorrected to dockyard. Which is ironic, given that it's another 'ship related heritage asset that football club owner types have stolen from their communities.
