Odegaard is a genius. Sad to see his development stuttered in Madrid. Happy that he's finally blossoming!

Odegaard and Haaland must be such a deadly combo for Norway. Hoping for Norway to make an underdog run for the next Euros or even WC in 2026!

DropBear

Australia4400 Posts

January 01 2023 05:56 GMT

#1211

Actually at the point where I finally accept that Arsenal can win the league. Martinelli and Saka are incredibly dangerous, Nketiah is clearly able to lead the line, he showed it last season too. Xhaka and Partey are the perfect anchors yet still can contribute offensively. The defenders don't even choke. And Ramsdale has been a revelation. It's hard to pinpoint a weakness.

I think it's also becoming clear that Man City selling off Sterling, Zinchenko and Jesus all at once has been a really, really bad decision. Liverpool are too far back, Chelsea Spurs and United don't have the stones and Newcastle surely can't keep this up forever. It might take an injury crisis to stop Arsenal at this point.

And I forgot to mention Odegaard as well. What a leader he is turning out to be!

RKC

2848 Posts

January 01 2023 07:26 GMT

#1212

Ironically, Arsenal's success is down to something all the top teams are lacking this season - offensive output. Both Man City and Liverpool are struggling to be more clinical in the final third (the problem that Arsenal has been struggling with post-Wenger). Nunez is wasteful, Haaland is not getting enough chances to kill off the game once Man City takes the lead. Losing Mane and Jesus hurts their offensive options, of course. But all the other established players like Salah and De Bruyne have been underperforming and lacking consistency (by their lofty high standards).

But we are not through the half way mark yet. And once Liverpool and Man City hits their stride, they can be unstoppable. So I wouldn't be too confident of Arsenal's chances to win the league just yet. Despite their fantastic run so far, I still don't think Arsenal's performance has hit the peak levels of Liverpool and Man City in last 4-5 seasons.

Then again, I haven't been watching all Arsenal games, so I stand corrected by someone who has

evilfatsh1t

Australia8854 Posts

January 01 2023 08:50 GMT

#1213

not sure how you can say man citys problems is not scoring enough goals or haaland isnt being given enough chances. the guys on 21 goals halfway through the season. scoring goals isnt citys problem, conceding them is

Liquid`Drone

Norway28789 Posts

January 01 2023 09:49 GMT

#1214

On January 01 2023 14:25 RKC wrote:
Odegaard is a genius. Sad to see his development stuttered in Madrid. Happy that he's finally blossoming!

Odegaard and Haaland must be such a deadly combo for Norway. Hoping for Norway to make an underdog run for the next Euros or even WC in 2026!

Not sure how much his development really stuttered with him being one of the top players in the PL at 24. He did spend two years playing for RM's 'B-team', but a) that was a really good B-team (I saw him cite the strength of their B-team as one of the primary reasons why he signed for RM) and b) that was ages 16-18, and he didn't have near the physicality of a midfielder like Bellingham, so I'm not sure even Ajax/Dortmund would necessarily have been great choices. (Might not have gotten consistent play time for either, while the B-team would have been quite a bit worse.)

I mean maybe he could've gotten to where he is faster, but I think he's one of the big teenage talents who has actually developed into a player matching the teenage hype, and that's far from given in the first place.

For the second part, I'm seeing Norwegian FM2022 players report that Norway makes championship finals with some frequency in 2024, 2026 and 2028! (And that Haaland is basically a cheat code, and one who 'breaks' the internal statistics of the game.) And ye - arguably, the best player for the first and second placed team in the PL is Norwegian. Pretty absurd change from the past two decades of mediocrity, where we'd barely even have two players starting for mid-bottom tier PL teams.

RKC

2848 Posts

January 01 2023 10:25 GMT

#1215

Didn't RM keep loaning out Odergaard to some mid-tier teams for a few seasons before Arsenal? I just assume his performance wasn't exactly stellar due to the lack of any news.

Anyway, important thing is that he's developing into a world-class star like Christian Eriksen. He's still young and has his best years ahead of him.

For Norway, the real question is whether there are other players who can also step up and play at or close to the level of Odergaard and Haaland. Or at least produce a well-balanced squad like Denmark. Will be rooting for Norway in the coming years!

Pandemona

Charlie Sheens House51493 Posts

January 01 2023 11:54 GMT

#1216

On January 01 2023 17:50 evilfatsh1t wrote:
not sure how you can say man citys problems is not scoring enough goals or haaland isnt being given enough chances. the guys on 21 goals halfway through the season. scoring goals isnt citys problem, conceding them is

While i think you are right here, it is still crazy watching City fail to score more goals in their last few games. Vs Liverpool at half time should been 3-0 up and weren't, vs Everton should have won 5-1 and drew 1-1. Its crazy lol, even like you say with Haaland on 21 goals already

Deleted User 173346

16169 Posts

January 01 2023 12:14 GMT

#1217

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RKC

2848 Posts

January 01 2023 14:04 GMT

#1218

Man City and Liverpool setup is "offence is the best defence". Just like Spain and Germany in the last WC. Or Pep's Barca and Klopp's Dortmund. They need to be 2 or even 3 goals in front to have a sense of mission accomplished. Having a single goal lead is not good enough. By still wanting to dominate possession and play the high press even after taking the lead, they run the huge risk of being caught in transition and sucker-punched on the counter*. More defensive minded teams like Chelsea and Tottenham will tend to sit back after scoring a goal and don't need a second or third goal as much.

Haaland has met his KPI. Unfortunately, the rest of Man City's strike force have fallen short this season (even De Bruyne has gone missing for long periods in certain matches). Liverpool's failing is both defence and attack - going behind too easily, and not clinical upfront enough.

* In fact, attacking teams often concede goals not because the opponent is on the attack but simply because their own eagerness to build up an attack fails. Like Everton's goal coming from Rodri sloppily making a wayward pass. Or Messi being caught in possession leading to Mbappe's goal in the WC final. The defenders lost focus and caught out of position because the 'attacking' players were caught napping. Such goals is more of the attackers fault rather than the defenders, in my view.

Deleted User 173346

16169 Posts

January 01 2023 18:41 GMT

#1219

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Bacillus

Finland2044 Posts

January 02 2023 08:30 GMT

#1220

On January 01 2023 04:55 plasmidghost wrote:
Was looking back at this thread and Jesus fuck I cannot believe how much the club has turned around in just 16 months. I can't imagine how dire things would be right now if Arteta had been sacked

https://www.reddit.com/r/Gunners/comments/pd9piq/post_match_thread_manchester_city_5_0_arsenal/?sort=controversial

I always find the what-if game really interesting. There were definitely moments where sacking Arteta wouldn't have seemed like a terrible overreaction. They stuck with him and now it seems it was all part of a longer plan. I wonder how many similar stories have been missed because the board pulled the trigger too early.