Arsanal

[Breks]

Arsenal are serious contenders, they are a top team and Wenger is a top manager. Write them off at your peril. Only two times can we directly influence games involving them. The rest of the time we are merely hoping they fuck up.

[Original Dub]

I think arsenal will make top four. Their good start could see them third.

They aren't a top team. They haven't won a thing for about 8 years. As others have said, if ourselves and chelsea continue to drop bollocks then they will run it close but it would be very unusual.

I think they'll lose to us and chelsea, possibly home and away.

That should see them off.

[Ted Hughes]

Aren't you just the slightest bit worried that they are going to do what scum did last season? I kept expecting them to fuck up and they just kept going until the title was won, then they fucked up.

Of all the teams to go on a run like this, I would have expected it to be Chelsea streaking away, or even us...fucking away form...certainly not Arsenal.

I didn't expect the scum to fuck up enough last season, that we could catch them, looking at the fixture list ( hence why I was so miserable for most of it). I thought it was over by Christmas.

I think the opposite re Arsenal.

[Original Dub]

I didn't expect the scum to fuck up enough last season, that we could catch them, looking at the fixture list ( hence why I was so miserable for most of it). I thought it was over by Christmas.

I think the opposite re Arsenal.

Me too.

[Rag_hater]

I asked for someone to give me an example of one result which they have achieved which is different to any typical Arsenal season.

Can you find one ?

I can't be arsed looking for stats, so this may just be lazy generalisation, but I'd say Cardiff at the weekend. There's always been a suspicion that Arsenal are soft, especially on the road, yet they went to a team who beat us and drew with the rags a week ago and won 3-0. If we'd done that, or win 3-0 against West Brom, we'll think we've sorted the dodgy away form.

All season, they've gone to teams a title winner should beat and won. They've struggled against the better teams, but if you beat the rest, it probably won't matter, especially with the way the results are going this season.

I'm still hoping they are going to fall apart, but so far they've shown no sign off doing it. If we beat them and get the difference down to three points, we'll see how they manage the pressure, but we need to get the pressure on - that was our biggest failing last season, allowing the rags to stroll to a title without the effects of pressure.

That's not the question I was asking though.

Of course Arsenal sometimes fuck up v lesser teams, but if you look at the teams Arsenal have beaten so far, you would expect them to win those games & be moderately surprised if they didn't, with the exception of Spurs & Liverpool (but they often beat Spurs & Liverpool).

At the start of the season, Cardiff away is a game you would think Arsenal 'should' win, same with City & Utd. Most of the games Arsenal have won so far, you would have expected them to win before the season started.

The fact that Arsenal have won most of the games they 'should' win, & City/Utd haven't, is the reason they are top of the table, not because they have done anything spectacularly different .

Had the rags been their usual selves, & City not been shit away from home, Arsenal would already be under pressure to stay in touch, due to their defeat at the swamp & their home defeat by Villa.

At the moment, there is no pressure at all on them & they have another game coming up, v Hull, which once again, is a game you would expect them to win if asked pre season.

I recon it will suddenly go pear shaped in the near to mid future, once the first bit of pressure arrives.

After 13 games last year Arse lost 3 games drew 5
the year before after 13 games lost 4 drew 2
the year before after 13 lost 3 drew 2
the year before lost 5 drew 1.

This year after 13 games the fuckers have lost 2 and drew 1.If the cunts carry on doing what they should the fuckers will win

[Ted Hughes]

I asked for someone to give me an example of one result which they have achieved which is different to any typical Arsenal season.

Can you find one ?

I can't be arsed looking for stats, so this may just be lazy generalisation, but I'd say Cardiff at the weekend. There's always been a suspicion that Arsenal are soft, especially on the road, yet they went to a team who beat us and drew with the rags a week ago and won 3-0. If we'd done that, or win 3-0 against West Brom, we'll think we've sorted the dodgy away form.

All season, they've gone to teams a title winner should beat and won. They've struggled against the better teams, but if you beat the rest, it probably won't matter, especially with the way the results are going this season.

I'm still hoping they are going to fall apart, but so far they've shown no sign off doing it. If we beat them and get the difference down to three points, we'll see how they manage the pressure, but we need to get the pressure on - that was our biggest failing last season, allowing the rags to stroll to a title without the effects of pressure.

That's not the question I was asking though.

Of course Arsenal sometimes fuck up v lesser teams, but if you look at the teams Arsenal have beaten so far, you would expect them to win those games & be moderately surprised if they didn't, with the exception of Spurs & Liverpool (but they often beat Spurs & Liverpool).

At the start of the season, Cardiff away is a game you would think Arsenal 'should' win, same with City & Utd. Most of the games Arsenal have won so far, you would have expected them to win before the season started.

The fact that Arsenal have won most of the games they 'should' win, & City/Utd haven't, is the reason they are top of the table, not because they have done anything spectacularly different .

Had the rags been their usual selves, & City not been shit away from home, Arsenal would already be under pressure to stay in touch, due to their defeat at the swamp & their home defeat by Villa.

At the moment, there is no pressure at all on them & they have another game coming up, v Hull, which once again, is a game you would expect them to win if asked pre season.

I recon it will suddenly go pear shaped in the near to mid future, once the first bit of pressure arrives.

After 13 games last year Arse lost 3 games drew 5
the year before after 13 games lost 4 drew 2
the year before after 13 lost 3 drew 2
the year before lost 5 drew 1.

This year after 13 games the fuckers have lost 2 and drew 1.If the cunts carry on doing what they should the fuckers will win

If they can beat teams like us & Chelsea & rags & get results at places like Anfield etc then by also beating the Cardiffs etc as they have so far, they will indeed win it yes.

[Ted Hughes]

The kind of dross served up by City & no doubt Chelsea & especially the rags today, is Arsenal's best chance for winning the title.

They are now under no pressure at all & should they get a result, can come to our place with everything to gain & nothing to lose.

I maintain that if any pressure is applied, they will fold, but that means we have to play much better than today or most of the WBA game.

[Twobob]

The kind of dross served up by City & no doubt Chelsea & especially the rags today, is Arsenal's best chance for winning the title. They are now under no pressure at all & should they get a result, can come to our place with everything to gain & nothing to lose. I maintain that if any pressure is applied, they will fold, but that means we have to play much better than today or most of the WBA game.

Just been saying exactly the same thing with me Dad, they could almost be handed it on a plate if the so called big teams keep screwing up.

[Original Dub]

They don't worry me in the least.

[Tesl]

The kind of dross served up by City & no doubt Chelsea & especially the rags today, is Arsenal's best chance for winning the title.

They are now under no pressure at all & should they get a result, can come to our place with everything to gain & nothing to lose.

I maintain that if any pressure is applied, they will fold, but that means we have to play much better than today or most of the WBA game.

I think this is bang on. We are more than capable of catching Arsenal, but unless they start dropping points soon they really could end up coasting through to the title. Its a worry.

I think we have improved somewhat and not beating Southampton away doesn't worry me too much, what is killing us is throwing points away to Sunderland and Villa.

Arsenals next 3 games are Everton, us and Chelsea. If they win all 3 of those I don't see how we can catch them. But then if they drop points in all those games its open season all of a sudden.

If we can get to the top of the league somehow I think we are more than capable of staying there and going on an unstoppable run. For the next couple of weeks Arsenals results are almost as important as our own results, as far as the title is concerned.

[dazby]

Everton traditionally struggle in London. Just saying.

[Beefymcfc]

It's funny isn't it, how no team actually wins it but every other team loses it.

Arsenal deserve to be where they are at the moment but it looks like some are handing it to them already. What happened to the 'The league isn't won in Aug/Sep/Oct/Nov/Dec' etc etc etc?

[Bianchi on Ice]

The kind of dross served up by City & no doubt Chelsea & especially the rags today, is Arsenal's best chance for winning the title.

They are now under no pressure at all & should they get a result, can come to our place with everything to gain & nothing to lose.

I maintain that if any pressure is applied, they will fold, but that means we have to play much better than today or most of the WBA game.

I think this is bang on. We are more than capable of catching Arsenal, but unless they start dropping points soon they really could end up coasting through to the title. Its a worry.

I think we have improved somewhat and not beating Southampton away doesn't worry me too much, what is killing us is throwing points away to Sunderland and Villa.

Arsenals next 3 games are Everton, us and Chelsea. If they win all 3 of those I don't see how we can catch them. But then if they drop points in all those games its open season all of a sudden.

If we can get to the top of the league somehow I think we are more than capable of staying there and going on an unstoppable run. For the next couple of weeks Arsenals results are almost as important as our own results, as far as the title is concerned.

In the summer everyone was laughing at arsenal. Now, theyve a queue waiting to felch them. Im still laughing...at arsenal and this queue that gets longer by the minute. Its early days. Im transplanting ADTVs bullishness from the ashes thread to here ;-)

[Twobob]

In the summer everyone was laughing at arsenal. Now, theyve a queue waiting to felch them. Im still laughing...at arsenal and this queue that gets longer by the minute. Its early days. Im transplanting ADTVs bullishness from the ashes thread to here ;-)

Love how you managed to get Feltching into the conversation :-) Key thing to consider is that if teams are 6 or. 9 points behind the Arse it takes pressure off them, they know if they slip up they have breathing space. Handy to have that gap over the winter games as they will no doubt slip up, but if other teams don't monopolise on that then the gap remains. Different kettle of fish when there's 1,2 or even 3 teams within a win of you.

[I Just Blue Myself]

Ted made a really good point re Arsenal's schedule so far. I like the idea of breaking down the league into a top 6 (City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool, Scum), a bottom 6 (Sunderland, Palace, Fulham, Hull, Cardiff, Norwich) & the rest in the beginning of the season, then set a par course for the fixtures of the alleged title contenders. Say:

All home games: W (57 points)
Away against top 6: L (0)
Away against middle 8: D (8)
Away against bottom 6: W (18)

That's 83 points. If a team fails to meet the target for a game or exceeds it, the points get accumulated accordingly.

After today's results it would look something like this:

Arsenal -1
Chelsea -1
City -2
Liverpool -4
Spurs -8
Scum -13

Tomorrow, Arsenal can only lose points in this system, because they are expected to win their home game. Should they draw, they'd lose two points, should they lose it would be 3.

City were expected to draw at Southampton and neither gained nor lost points today.

It's particularly interesting in the beginning of a season, where the regular table can be really - for lack of a better word - deceiving.

[Fidel Castro]

All I know is, arsenal and Liverpool are pissing themselves silly after this weekend s results

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Really if you said Chelsea, scum and us would have a slow start, who will benefit early doors, it wouldn't take Nostradamus to come up with arsenal.

When one of the 3 mentioned sorts themselves out we will find out for sure if they can cope. Fact that they still got bummed by united makes me think not.

However, over the last few seasons, Arsenal have struggled up to Xmas with all the talk being that they might miss out on the top 4. They then go on a run to get in, usually at Spurs' expense. If they can still play after Xmas like they have done in the last few seasons, they will be very close to the title.

Hopefully they will revert back to how they were previously and their arse will fall out in January and they'll end up 3rd, just behind Chelsea and just ahead of Spurs. I still think we'll beat them in a couple of weeks, but it's the away games we need to start winning to get some pressure on them

If they continue to win the expected games, & come through difficult games & pick up points, then they may well win the league, & deservedly so, but they have so far just picked up points you would expect them to.

Let's see how they do when things get tough. I fully expect them to play well v City, they always do, but I don't include our result in that equation; we can beat anybody 6-0 or get caught out & lose if we're not quite right on the day. They could stuff us or be stuffed on a one off day.

What I want to see from Arsenal, is how they perform once City, Chelsea, perhaps rags etc are all right on top of them & fear of 'what happens if we lose?' enters in, week after week.

That's where Arsenal usually blow it.

You mean "Typical Pellegrini"?

[Ted Hughes]

Really if you said Chelsea, scum and us would have a slow start, who will benefit early doors, it wouldn't take Nostradamus to come up with arsenal.

When one of the 3 mentioned sorts themselves out we will find out for sure if they can cope. Fact that they still got bummed by united makes me think not.

However, over the last few seasons, Arsenal have struggled up to Xmas with all the talk being that they might miss out on the top 4. They then go on a run to get in, usually at Spurs' expense. If they can still play after Xmas like they have done in the last few seasons, they will be very close to the title.

Hopefully they will revert back to how they were previously and their arse will fall out in January and they'll end up 3rd, just behind Chelsea and just ahead of Spurs. I still think we'll beat them in a couple of weeks, but it's the away games we need to start winning to get some pressure on them

If they continue to win the expected games, & come through difficult games & pick up points, then they may well win the league, & deservedly so, but they have so far just picked up points you would expect them to.

Let's see how they do when things get tough. I fully expect them to play well v City, they always do, but I don't include our result in that equation; we can beat anybody 6-0 or get caught out & lose if we're not quite right on the day. They could stuff us or be stuffed on a one off day.

What I want to see from Arsenal, is how they perform once City, Chelsea, perhaps rags etc are all right on top of them & fear of 'what happens if we lose?' enters in, week after week.

That's where Arsenal usually blow it.

You mean "Typical Pellegrini"?

Or typical Mancini, Hughes, Sven, Keegan, Tony Book, Mercer etc etc.

Typical City.

For instance Arsenal ran rings round us at our place last season & could have been 4 up yet we beat them at a canter on their own turf. Neither outcome would surprise me next week.


This time last year, we lost to Utd at our place but then put 3 past Newcastle away, next away game lost at fucking Sunderland, then went away to Norwich & scored 4.

Then hammered Watford & Stoke, went to Arsenal & outclassed them. 2 weeks later, we drew 0-0 at QPR. In our next away game after that, we got fucking thrashed by Southampton.

Typical Mancini might be more apt.

[Breks]

Everton traditionally struggle in London. Just saying.

They traditionally struggled at the swamp until Wednesday.

[sheblue]

Everton traditionally struggle in London. Just saying.

They traditionally struggled at the swamp until Wednesday.

This could be a draw.