Atalanta vs Arsenal, 19.09.2024 - 20:00

[KSE Comedy Club]

Goals have mainly been from defenders ?? We’ve had one goal scored by a defender this season, and going back to the start of the 2022-2023 season we’ve had 19 goals scored by defenders out of a possible 185.

We all agree that we lack and out and out goalscorer but it’s clearly silly to say that our attacking players don’t get goals. Saka, Havertz and Trossard all got into double figures last season. Jesus, Martinelli, Odegaard, Saka got into double figures the season before that.

I’m not sure our goal output will be as high as it was last season or the season before that but that was 179 goals over two seasons. Which is higher than some of our best seasons under Wenger.

I think the over emphasis on defence blunts our attack, and without Odegaard we haven’t really bothered to identify an alternative attacking focal point. But equally we can look at it, in that we’ve had bloody hard fixtures to play in a short space of time and if we get a draw against city we have done well.

Slight exaggeration yes but it feels like it!
The attack has hardly been prolific so far this season.

I am only talking about this season too, not last year or the year before that. I am only looking at what they are doing currently.

Also, I would like to get a win against city rather than going for a draw. Whist in isolation it's still a good result, I would prefer to see a progression from where we were against them last time round instead of doing the same thing again.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Slight exaggeration yes but it feels like it!
The attack has hardly been prolific so far this season.

I am only talking about this season too, not last year or the year before that. I am only looking at what they are doing currently

I think we’ve had harder games to start with than the previous two seasons. The only easy game we’ve had in my view was the home game against Wolves…yeah we only scored two but opening game of the season and all that.


After City, we have four home games back to back Bolton, Leicester, PSG and Southampton. If we aren’t seeing more goals after those fixtures, then I will be a tad concerned

[KSE Comedy Club]

I think we’ve had harder games to start with than the previous two seasons. The only easy game we’ve had in my view was the home game against Wolves…yeah we only scored two but opening game of the season and all that.


After City, we have four home games back to back Bolton, Leicester, PSG and Southampton. If we aren’t seeing more goals after those fixtures, then I will be a tad concerned

Yeh maybe you are right

Let's see what happens after the City game but I still would rather we beat them for once

[HCZ_Reborn]

Yeh maybe you are right

Let's see what happens after the City game but I still would rather we beat them for once

I think even if we were free flowing with the goals, beating City would be a challenge. The fuckers just don’t lose, they’ve lost once in 2024 and haven’t lost at home since 2022.

That’s not to say we can’t or won’t win, it’s just a big fucking challenge

[Letters]

That double save
Penalty save was good, but standard. To get up and react and save the follow up was outstanding.

[Mac76]

I don't know how much you've watched this season Mac, but I have seen every game so far and what I have noticed from these players since last season:

Jesus - Doesn't score goals, always offside & pulls out of most 1v1's.
Partey - he's been off the pace since the season started, very sluggish looking in most games and the pen didn't surprise me as once again he was behind the play.
Martinelli - yes he has pace, but he is getting beating to nearly every ball in a 1v1 sprint, where he never was before.

The problem is we have workhorse players in abundance, but no one to actually be clinical and take the game by the scruff. The lack of goals from our attack is testament to this, Goals have mainly been from defenders and set pieces. I love our tough defence so that is a massive bonus - but even against Spurs, we looked creatively dead.
The attack just seems to dither, misplace passes, pass too much or shoot off target or straight at the keeper.

Not sure I trust what KSE say massively as some reports suggest we had over £100m to spend before PSR came into effect.

Almost all of it except spuds where i famously listened on the radio and then watched quite a bit after

Yes you are right about Partey, it is a bigger slump than i said above, he doesn't offer much going forward any more and has loat any speed in defence

Jesus has never been as good as he was pre World Cup but as i said i think he's still a useful squad player

And goals are a real issue i don't disagree and taking Havertz away from his best position doesn't help either

[Letters]

197

That's how many games we've played in the CL now.
No team has played more than us...without winning it

[HCZ_Reborn]

197

That's how many games we've played in the CL now.
No team has played more than us...without winning it

Yeah we’ve never been great in Europe

I think the UCL is a prize I would love this club to win, but it was massively devalued for me after Chelsea won it

No matter when or even if we win it, it will always be tainted by that

When we were exiled into the Europa League, I expected that we would win that competition and we should have done really.

The Fairs cup in 1970 and the Cup winners cup in 1994 is a pretty meagre return in terms of European success. Yes we have managed wins at Bayern Munich, Dortmund, Real Madrid and Milan. But really that’s no more than you’d expect of a team that qualified for the competition as many times as we have. I think it can be said that it’s harder to break the stranglehold of clubs like Real Madrid and Man City but similarly…one 1/4 final from the past eight seasons is pretty shoddy.


Arteta’s record with us in Europe can be described as average at best, but really he’s no worse than Wenger. Who never faired that well as a coach in European club competition with Monaco either, one final with us….one final of cup winners cup in 1992 when they were well beaten by Werder Bremen (managed by Otto Rehagel who went on to win Euro 2004 with Greece)

[Letters]

His failure in Europe is a big black mark on Wenger's time with us - given how good we were in that period. (Also never retaining a title, far too content to rest on his laurels, Utd never did that, they always strengthened, or tried to).

I was at the UEFA Cup final in 2000 and the CL one in 2006
The latter at least was a good experience - I mean, just being at a CL Final is pretty special.
But yes, as a club our record in Europe is poor.

[Mac76]

tbf 2006 was daylight robbery, we'll never know what might have happened if....