GWT: PL Matchday 3

[booyakasha]

come next week, after the NLD, all the papers will have Pepe in the headlines.
He is going to make himself known to the PL.
North London is Red.

 

[YNWA14]

Is it though? No point in getting into this discussion again but results have not made it clear.

I had Arsenal above Spurs also. If they figure out they should be starting Torreira with a front 3 of Auba/Laca/Pepe I like them better than Spurs especially once Tierney and Bellerin are back/worked in.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

I remember back in 16/17, when Spurs nearly always played entertaining football. Ever since then, the number of entertaining games has decreased steadily as time has gone on. With the way they are playing this season, I want to barf.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Is it though? No point in getting into this discussion again but results have not made it clear.

I could be biased but I don’t even see arsenal/Chelsea/manu threatening the city/LFC while spurs can. In a one on one. Plus they just went to the final.

 

[Burner Account]

I'm not sure why anyone thought different really. The gap between Liverpool and Tottenham last year was 26 points.

You can probably chalk it up to transfer window activity bias

 

[AB13]

I remember back in 16/17, when Spurs nearly always played entertaining football. Ever since then, the number of entertaining games has decreased steadily as time has gone on. With the way they are playing this season, I want to barf.

You played the same way last season and the season before that as you have this season, do you genuinely still not think that Sp*rs have regressed?

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

You played the same way last season and the season before that as you have this season, do you genuinely still not think that Sp*rs have regressed?

I disagree about Spurs playing as poorly as this for a longer time. But I never said they haven't regressed as of late. I was hoping that the team would bounce back to start the season but they are falling further down the pit.

 

[Chimaera]

Probably some CL final loss hangover for Spurs.

I think Eriksen and the manager should’ve moved on. Neither did and so it’s an issue for the team right now.

 

[Gecklund]

come next week, after the NLD, all the papers will have Pepe in the headlines.
He is going to make himself known to the PL.
North London is Red.

Go to your own thread.

 

[S E P H]

Lol, love it when Spurs drop points, especially to a team of Toon's akin at home. That cheered me up from yesterday's game.

At Anfield, there’s no better right now.

Arsenal are much better than last season. But they don’t have the mentality or the quality to do more than they did.

Their backline is still bad. They don’t have the midfield to compete with Liverpool. Salah was the best player on the pitch.

They should make the CL, but today shows how far they still need to travel.

Robertson and Arnold both were whipping in crosses like no end, but nobody had finish on Liverpool. If you take Salah off the pitch, Liverpool played extremely average even with superior ball retention and more threat.

If Torreira and Lacazette had started the result would be different. We are still no where near our best starting lineup.

This should be our prime team:

Leno

Bellerin - Luiz - Sokratis - Tierney

Torreira - Ceballos - Özil

Pepe - Lacazette - Aubameyang

Oezil just doesn't work on the LCM in the EPL, it has been tried countless times with Wenger and it simply does not work unless he's on Team Germany.

80 million is what you get if you’re buying from the epl.... you can get better defenders elsewhere.

Leipzig wanted 100 million for Upamecano so...

I was shocked at the difference between Liverpool and Arsenal. It easily could've been 6-1. It still baffles me why the Gunners didn't improve their defense as drastically. Luiz was abysmal.

Arsenal did with Saliba which many of you are forgetting. Luiz and Sokratis are both stop gaps.

I would hope that next window we GTFO with Xhaka, buy a centreback like Upamecano and upgrade on Xhaka which is possible.

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

Great weekend for Chelsea. 3 points away from home, an incredibly fun match to watch, a confidence-boosting performance for the youngsters, a second half that was literally the opposite of our precious few second halves, and losses for all three of our top four rivals. You love to see it.

 

[YNWA14]

Great weekend for Chelsea. 3 points away from home, an incredibly fun match to watch, a confidence-boosting performance for the youngsters, a second half that was literally the opposite of our precious few second halves, and losses for all three of our top four rivals. You love to see it.

Definitely worked out well for Chelsea.

 

[Cassano]

As a Chelsea fan who also watched most of Leicester's games, I can't disagree more. Luiz wasn't even Chelsea's best defender, Rudiger was vastly superior. Maguire was also much better than Luiz last season. Luiz was really good with the ball last season with Sarri's system, but that's about it. At defending he was horrendous at times.

I'm not saying David Luiz is elite or anything - he's merely a decent starting CB. That's exactly what Maguire is - I don't believe he had a better season than Luiz.

Luiz averaged 2.1 avg interceptions/tackles per game on a ball-possession heavy team vs 2.2 for Maguire.

We all know David Luiz is an elite passer of the football, his passing % and key passes blows Maguire's out the water.

Maguire averages 0.7 bad controls per game vs. Luiz's 0.4.

They had the same number of direct errors leading to goals.

Luiz put up 2 great performances in cup finals as well.

Playing with the ball is exactly why Luiz was brought in. None of the Arsenal CBs can play the ball out all that well besides maybe Holding. It's crucial to the system the team will need to play with the front 3.

Frankly, I never really rated Harry Maguire which is the main point I'm making. There are probably quite a few better PL defenders.

 

[S E P H]

Also Pepe was one player that you can tell scared van Dijk, he was constantly separating himself from Pepe by three meters every time.

 

[YNWA14]

Also Pepe was one player that you can tell scared van Dijk, he was constantly separating himself from Pepe by three meters every time.

He does that with most fast/tricky players. Watch Wijnaldum defend them and he does the same...it's smart. A lot of those guys don't react well or have the same instincts if they are given space rather than being pressured and you can delay until you get support or force them to make a mistake before pouncing.

 

[S E P H]

He does that with most fast/tricky players. Watch Wijnaldum defend them and he does the same...it's smart. A lot of those guys don't react well or have the same instincts if they are given space rather than being pressured and you can delay until you get support or force them to make a mistake before pouncing.

No doubt he's going to do the same tactics against Sterling, Kane, etc., but seeing him that far deep goes show how dangerous Pepe is going to be.

 

[Live in the Now]

Yeah, that's just how he plays against fast players. Remember that he had the highest top speed in Europe last year. It's not good team football to do what players like Luiz try to do against fast players. The reason van Dijk challenged Pepe the first time was because he looked up and thought he had support, and for once he was wrong.

Those are also the only kinds of players who can actually beat him. Against Kane he just bodies him out of the game.

 

[robertmac43]

Re-watched the Anodone red card. Terrible challenge, extremely scary, could have been much worse. Hate seeing it from a Brighton man.

 

[OhCaptainMyCaptain]

Also Pepe was one player that you can tell scared van Dijk, he was constantly separating himself from Pepe by three meters every time.

Scared... hahaha.

Does Van Dijk respect Pepe’s abilities? Yup. Scared, though? Laughable.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

what a shit club.....Poch has no clue what to do.

 

[Chimaera]

I’ll be interested to watch Spurs vs Arsenal.

Lot of talk emanating from one side who had a defender look like a clown yesterday. I would expect he starts again this coming weekend, so I don’t know that I would be excited.

Spurs haven’t looked great but they did steal one from City, whereas Arsenal got tanked by Liverpool.

I don’t think either side is as good as they might think, and both have some improvements to make.

I think at home both might give the top two a go, but it’s telling when teams who have silverware aspirations decide to park the bus in the first three weeks. Spurs last week and Arsenal this week both setup for damage mitigation and not to get thumped. That shouldn’t be a good sign that either really thinks they’re close to the grade.

 

[booyakasha]

what a **** club.....Poch has no clue what to do.

Do you think Poch has had his turned with other ooportunities that he's a bit distracted?

 

[booyakasha]

I’ll be interested to watch Spurs vs Arsenal.

Lot of talk emanating from one side who had a defender look like a clown yesterday. I would expect he starts again this coming weekend, so I don’t know that I would be excited.

Spurs haven’t looked great but they did steal one from City, whereas Arsenal got tanked by Liverpool.

I don’t think either side is as good as they might think, and both have some improvements to make.

I think at home both might give the top two a go, but it’s telling when teams who have silverware aspirations decide to park the bus in the first three weeks. Spurs last week and Arsenal this week both setup for damage mitigation and not to get thumped. That shouldn’t be a good sign that either really thinks they’re close to the grade.

I would have more faith if Emery starts a squad like

Auba - Laca - Pepe
Ceballos
Willock - Toreirra
Kola - Chambers - Sokratis - AM-N

 

[Gecklund]

I would have more faith if Emery starts a squad like

Auba - Laca - Pepe
Ceballos
Willock - Toreirra
Kola - Chambers - Sokratis - AM-N

That backline is just cringeworthy.

 

[Chimaera]

I mean, Arsenal had four in the midfield yesterday and got run by three. How is that lineup going to work if they can’t get the ball up to the forwards?

Maybe that lineup is good for a 4-2 loss or a 4-3. But they’re not getting a result at Anfield