Seems to be a bit of a running theme for us and the other teams that emphasise playing out from the back. I think VVD thinks that him touching it can only lead to a corner, so he leaves it for Ali to supposedly launch it clear in play. It was like against Lille where Elliott should've given away a set piece but almost presented a great chance for Lille by trying to clear it in the opposite direction to where he was facing. Luckily that wasn't punished.
He could easily hoof that out for a throw. He had bags of time. He demanded another players come far further to deal with what he had in his purview.
Watching MotD, pretty clear foul on Alison for the Southampton goal. Yea VVD should have cleared, yeah Alisson could have come out sooner, but when he does, the attacker treads on his foot and stops Allison making the challenge.
Also don't get why people were clamouring for a red for Darwin, pretty obviously nothing more than a yellow
I think he moved to New York. He's probably been gassed by the MAGA folks unfortunately. RIP Jimmy, I miss you. If you are still alive, come back.
I could see it being either depending on what ref was officiating on the day. It wasn't particularly dangerous, but it was the nature of it... It was clearly an act of frustration rather than part of the game. It felt a lot like the red he got in his very first Liverpool game. A wtf are you doing? Moment. From the danger/severity/placement of tackle it wasn't a red. Because it was so unnecessary and clearly lashing out from pure frustration rather than being part of the game, I can see a red. I probably would have given a red if I were ref.... There again I'd be a hardaas ref that no one likes throwing cards all over the place... Because I'm a stickler for rules in the game.
I liked what slot had to say post game. I liked all the subs which all were done at the right time. Jones needs to take a hard look at himself, too many times now. We keep sticking him at cm and he keeps running off anywhere and everywhere else or hogging the ball. Jones strikes me as a poor man's Palmer who could score a lot of goals getting on the end of balls into the box late but he has some serious bad habits that keep surfacing time and again. Tsimikas wasn't that bad but he's been taken off in inject urgency. Szoboszlai is exhausted and should have started. Then nunez sub was at the right time, I'd have had him off at ht. Then endo Then quansah. Hopefully having 6 subs at least gets us ready for Tuesday. The arrogance though. That's a real cost.
Still think this 16 points is misleading. Obviously Arsenal have 2 games in hand so the lead is really only 10 points. If Arsenal win 3 games back to back to get that down to 7 before tough game against Everton after an international break The positives are that we don’t play until the Tuesday and most of internationals are done by wed/thur (Argentina v Brazil is Wednesday) - fingers crossed no injuries there but means SAmericans will get decent rest before our game for a chance. plus it’s a night game so atmosphere should be brilliant which always makes a difference. Arsenal have on paper 4 tougher games in United away, Chelsea home, Fulham home, Everton away. If they win all 4 then they still have a chance because they then play Brentford home, Ipswich away, palace home, Bournemouth home which you’d expect them to win.
We are complacent against Southampton, forgetting that there is no easy win in the Premier league. Alisson had the opposition to pick up the ball(not a bye pass). VVD had the opportunity to put the ball out of play. Then we were punished.
No, the lead is 16 points, but could potentially be reduced to 10. When we had a game in hand no-one assumed that that game was won, so we shouldn't make that assumption for Arsenal. Points in the bag is much better than games in hand - the pressure is on them.
Former Premier league referee Mark Dean believes that VAR made an error not to disallow Smallbone's goal for offside.
Arsenal are averaging 2 pts per game so statistics point to them being 12 pts behind after the games in hand are played .
3 games. Utd, Chelsea, Fulham. Each their own challenge, 2 at home. Thry have to play their two games in hamd and then its Fulham for them and Everton for us.
Just a thought on salah Can anyone remember watching Gerrard on pens earlier in his career? He was quite inconsistent and missed quite a few but it didn't matter he was the man and he was taking them But by the end he had zero nerves about it and would just place them wherever he wanted to. For me.salah has also been quite inconsistent, absolutely blazing them at goal at times and they were going anywhere. Now he is just hitting the ball hard still but just slotting it where he wants to.
