Lamela did make the most of that and he was looking for any contact from Van Dyke and he got it. He orchestrated that well. Something for Van Dyke to learn in future.
Van Dijk had no idea that Lamela was there, which is pretty poor. You can't swing your leg in the box if you don't know what's around you.
That's true, he must have got the clueless bug from his new defenders. It really sloppy from Van Dijk, poor to see a supposed top defender make such a rudimentary mistake. Lamela took maximum advantage over Van Djik's ineptitude.
Top four back on for Arsenal? Still think it's unlikely but beat Spurs and hope Liverpool or Chelsea **** up again and who knows.
They will all drop points but so will we with our iffy midfield. But we will also pick more points up with our new strike force. When you have clueless £75m defenders giving away pens, then you're guaranteed that Pool will continue to drop points. Chelsea also look to be undergoing some sort of civil war, so they should also drop points. We still have an outside chance, a slight one. But we need to be a lot better away from home to stand any chance.
It's shocking to think that a CB worth £75m could be so clueless. It seems that no matter how much money Klopp throws at his defence, Liverpool are as vulerable as **** at the back.
We still have to play city at home and united away. I read somewhere that before yesterday we had a 10% chance of making top 4. We won't make it. To be honest, I don't care. We have our forward line sorted for next year. We will be able to attract top defensive players (not world class players but that we couldn't attract with CL anyway). Hopefully with a new coach (but doubt it).
There's always a chance, so we have to play every game like we are aiming for top 4, but yeah it would take a fairly monumental **** up from Liverpool or Spurs for us to climb above them. Although Chelsea also look like they could implode at any point with Conte's future looking far from secure, and we have of course overhauled and 11 point advantage that Spurs had over us in 2012 But as you say, I think we should probably consolidate this season with a decent finish, hopefully a cup or even two and then strengthen defensively in the summer
Chelsea imploding is a huge possibility and Conte leaving. Would you take Conte as a replacement in the summer? Very doable. Chelsea and Conte look like two people trying desperately to break up but finding the best way to leave on their terms.
Very big ask IMHO. You also have the matter that 1/2/3 of Chelsky/Poool/Spurs may no longer have CL distractions in a few weeks time, while you will still have EL participation (which you have to keep open in case a PL top 4 slot is lost to you) .
You cant swing your leg in the box??.. are you serious? Seriously how does one kick a football without swinging his/her leg?
Definitely a big ask to beat two of the teams above us to 4th. Not impossible yet though. Plenty of big games to play. Beating Spurs in the next game would open things back up again. We've been lucky to get a good draw for the europa so I imagine we will use our second string for a bit longer but towards the end of the season we are more likely to have European games than Spurs, pool or Chelsea. It'll be difficult but stranger things have happened in football! I just hope the new signings have given the team enough of a lift to improve our away form.
