I'm going to make this short and sweet. Not many sides will go to the Emirates and dominate posession like we did. The reports on the posession percentages varied from 51% in our favour to Arsenals 49% to 53% in our favour to Arsenals 47%. However we did get lucky with the sending off, but we exploited it and got our rewards for exploiting it. Unlike in 2008/2009 when Adebayor got sent off and at 1-1 we didn't exploit the sending off and the game petered out into a stale-mate. I still believe though that sending off or no sending off we would have won as we were clearly the better side. We never looked like conceding. Arsenal had no clear plan B,it was down the line to Walcott and that was it. If Walcott didn't create Arsenal didn't. Jose Enrique marshalled him superbly. I'm really impresssed by him, he's strong in the tackle and he's no nonsense and I personally like that. Once Frimpong was rightly sent off,(I believe it was a straight red offence), I knew we would be far too strong for them. Kenny got it 100% spot on with the substitutions.
If you think about things like this; to get 4th you need about 7.5 points out of every 12. or in other words 2wins two draws.... on average... thats 71points over 38 games. To challenge you need to be getting 10 points out of 12 sometimes and 9/12... or in other words for every one you lose or draw you win 3. So that does this mean? well if we just keep plugging away being hard to score against and trust in the quality we have in suarez (and others) to get the goals we can certainly be in the shout for 4th. just imagine enrique in 10 matches time when he's fully involved, feels more able to go forward (trusts team mates more) and is fitter than newcastle require.... elpisto makes good points on him.. i'm just waiting for him to improve as the games go on and looking forward to it. Carroll will improve, enrique will improve, henderson will improve, adam will improve... they all just need games. Kenny will give them it. Suarez needs minding, kenny will do that too.... but the time we're 10 games in here guys we'll be looking at a different story, we'll be absolutely flying.
Has Arsenal under Voyeur ever had a plan B? I was really impressed with Enrique on saturday, think he'll be your best new signing. (other than Suarez). I think you guys will be the strongest team in the race for 4th, but as a United fan I hope Spurs get it! I'm looking forward to seeing the new Liverpool vs the new Man United this year. Obviously we'll wipe the floor with ya, but it'll be a good game none the less.
Sputs won't get 4th.....not by a long way. They've been found out. Man United obliterated them with relative ease. The second half was a walk in the park for Man United, they just cut them to shreds. Spurs offered nothing. Jose Enrique will marshall Aaron Lennon with the same ease he did Walcott. Liverpool who are a strong unit already although they haven't fully gelled as of yet, will be better with the imminent return of Steven Gerrard. Liverpool have to be the favourites for a top four finish. Arsenal it seems,seem to be in a bigger crisis than Liverpool were ever in,and Liverpool must exploit that, and Spurs aren't really a threat. I do believe however that Kenny isn't targetting a top four finish, he will not reveal what he's targetting, he said all along, we'll take every game as it comes and add up the points at the end of the season and see where it takes us.
More attempted humour from Berb, trying for the double whammy of wumming both L'Arse and us in the same sentence. Sorry - FAIL!
I always expect us to win every game so I'm bound to be disappointed now and again. Tbh, I was resigned to the Arsenal game being a draw so after drawing the first I was expecting to end up with two from two so it's all good. As Orwell wrote:" Four points good, two points bad." Well, something like that.
My goodness, this thread would fairly irrelevant two games into ANY season...but this season of all seasons OP?? We have an almost entirely different team. How much relevance do we then place on two defeats at the hands of Blackpool last season? 0.001%. Each game of football is 90 mins. Let's just hold the indefinable vagues OP please.
Well, I'm actually basing it on the last number of seasons where we have shown up against big teams and won and then rolled over and died against poor teams no matter the personnel. Based on the last 6-7+ seasons really and wondering whether or not we'll do the same this time around. The first 2 games of the season are a perfect example of this, even with our "new team". Sunderland aren't a poor team but would you have expected us to take 3 points??? and when it came to the Arsenal match, surprise, surprise, we step up our game and take the points!!!
I know what you're getting at - it's just a leap to say that'll happen again this season. Do you think other teams are looking at 6 or 7 seasons in the past and then jumping to giant assumptions about this season? You're talking about football's abstracts...not science. Much-fabled "backbone" - momentum - belief - team spirit - will to win. These things doesn't come from analysing 7 seasons of results with a different team/manager/coaches. We have Kenny. He wouldn't judge such things in two games. If he's got any sense (think he might)...he'll base his next XI on what he's seen over those games - and in training. Simple as that.
"backbone" - momentum - belief - team spirit - will to win. Think about these things KK (and how they happen) and you might get a better understanding of why there's some daftness in your assumptions. In my humbles mate, in my humbles...
Also, describing teams as "lesser" already - again v presumptious. Sunderland were compact and brought the game to us second half. Arsenal were completely over-run in midfield. Fair results both.
Spevin Casey. For some unknown reason against Sunderland we were unable to keep the momentum we had for 45 minutes for 90 minutes and thats the reason why Sunderland grew into the game. As foe Arsenal, This is just my opinion Kenny got it 100% spot on, Liverpool ground Arsenal down, sending off or no sending off, I believe we would have won. He made the substitutions at just about the right time, for me I wish it had to been slightly earlier. However you can't have everything. This side will gel shortly, and with the immiment return of Gerrard it all bodes well. I've a hunch there could be another addition or two, ie a a striker and a centre back if rumours are true that Cole, Aquilani and Ngog are departing.
