Arsenal brilliance ‘can still all be for nothing’ but one player ‘unbelievable’ v Bayern | OneFootball

Arsenal fans are uncomfortable with all the praise but even they have to admit that the Gunners look brilliant.

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Arsenal praise making people nervous

I remember many years ago Arsenal being described as a ‘runaway train’. Now that term would appear to apply again.

However, I feel uncomfortable with the way Football365 are basically handing Arsenal the title and describing them as the best team in Europe. It’s too early in the season to predict anything. It’s still one game at a time. Anything can happen. I mean Liverpool were walking it not too long ago were they not?

I admit, I am feeling more confident of what Arsenal can now achieve although I am still wary of our opponents. I can’t write off City and in particular Chelsea who themselves are on a roll. Indeed, what I witnessed watching how Chelsea took Barcelona apart the other night made me feel very anxious.

But then we go and do that to Bayern Munich and that made me think: ‘anything they can do we can do better!’ The Chelsea v Arsenal game is massive and so we will see. Chris, Croydon

…Nothing is won. It can still all be for nothing.

Don’t say it, let the others talk. (What’s that Stewie?)

But from root to tips, that felt f-ing deliciously, sensationally good. I still remember looking at the 10-2 aggregate and wondering if we were ever really going to get close again in my lifetime. But tonight- “Welcome back to Earth, Vincent. Gabi, Noni and Jurrien will be showing you the exit”.

We used to aim at other teams through the gaps in our toes. Now it’s from the gap at the top. Long May it last.

Get. The f. In. Adam (the “harrykane” got rocked, no apologies ) Gooner in France

That second half was perfect

The whole team performed well, Merino pressing up front was impressive.

With these kind of performance, we need to win something this year. Long way to go but we are heading to the right direction. We have players to come and fill in when we have injuries.

Can someone please check on Stewie, am sure his Draft emails are piling up. Lwazi (South Africa)

…The start of that game was the epitome of a team feeling their way in. We gave up possession however I felt we actually looked more dangerous than Bayern. Then we scored and we looked even more dangerous. Until they scored a fantastic goal out of nothing. A really intriguing first half full of a lot of quality.

Ezes touch and nutmeg was a great example of this. As was a few of Karl’s touches. Really high quality football all game, all round.

I planned to write so much more but honestly I’m a little blown away. I know there was nothing riding on this but what a performance, especially second half. Declan Rice was unbelievable, but almost feels bad signalling him out considering how good so many were.

Unfortunately this didn’t apply to Lewis Skelley. Really poor all game. I have a theory that Arteta trusts him more in the Champions League as it is less physical. However technically defensively he was a real concern tonight. Hopefully just a bad game.

I guess this is the inherent Arsenal pessimism coming out in me after we just beat one of the to the teams in the world pretty comfortably.

What a performance. Dave (being and English and Arsenal fan creates a pessimist) Bracknell

Checking in…

On Spurs in Paris…

You’d think that this ridiculous game of football would at least make me feel something akin to excitement. I’ve been made indifferent to such things just by supporting this nonsense of a club.

At no point did I think we were gonna win, either. Fella I know at the ground said to me he doesn’t have a favourite player anymore and I get what he’s saying. At no point was Angeball remotely exciting to watch bar the start of last season (more like AngeWALL -credit given to my sister for that one) and your article on 10 reasons why it’s gonna go tits up for Frank says it all. What is the aim? I wasn’t sure then and I’m less sure now.

Anyway, Muani needs a chance, and Hernandez elbow was nuts late on.

Meh. Jon (I do have Micky van De Ven on my shirt this year – the black away one, obviously), Spurs (obviously x 2), Lincoln

PS my little sister was a mascot 25 years ago and got to have dinner with the first team after. I was poorly and at home. F**king Tottenham.

Teflon Pep?

I completely understand why Slot is getting pelters from everyone. Six defeats in twelve league games and a title defence in tatters before the end of November isn’t good enough. He gets paid a huge amount of money, so being beleaguered when you underperform is a part of the territory. Not being an idiot, I don’t believe that Liverpool should be looking to replace him, he has enough credit in the bank and it would be needlessly disruptive to pull the trigger on him.

But he is fair game for pundits, fans and trolls alike.

But what of Pep? Four defeats in twelve games, and a loss at home to Leverkusen in the Champions League?

He is coming up to his tenth year in charge – this team is his and his entirely. The club has spent nearly £2bn on players in that time, and well over half a billion in the last two seasons. And of course, they have freak of football cheat code Haaland playing for them, and he has scored nearly 60% of their league goals on his own. It makes one wonder if they aren’t much of a team without him.

City were poor last season, and they aren’t much better this season.

Yet Pep is untouchable, coasting along and underperforming. Anyone else think it’s a bit weird that he is getting away with it? Mat (they would have easily won anyway, but how on earth did the second Arsenal goal stand at the weekend? It’s fecking Schrodinger’s goal again.)

Pep surpassed by who?

So Pep might have been “ultimately surpassed”? By whom MAW? I dare you to say Arteta. It might happen, but every other manager in the PL is still way off, struggling to think of anyone in Europe who fits the bill either.

Ancelotti is arguably better, but he was here first anyway, and is obviously doing his thing with the seleção atm.

Also, Steve in Leeds is bang on about Ronaldo, although if I was in their group, I’d WANT him to play. Portugal are so much better without the walking ego these days, but no one has the balls to retire the mope. RHT/TS x

Depressed about FIFA

About 15 years ago, a friend lent me a book called ‘Foul!’ by the late Andrew Jennings, which concerned itself with sorting through the skeletons of FIFA’s closet. As this was the time of Sepp Blatter, Gentleman Jack Warner, Ricardo Teixeira and Mo bin Hammam, I was not surprised there were more bones in the wardrobe than a Boris Becker stag party.

As with the bit of Private Eye where they tell you about a government department giving a dodgy private company £500m to set up something that doesn’t work, before the commissioning MPs quietly bugger off and take up a massive salary on the board, I bailed out about two-thirds of the way through the book for my own sanity.

And yet, just as John Major and George Bush – George Bush! – are being made to look brilliant by their current successors, Gianni ‘I am disabled!’ Infantino is making me long for the days of Sepp Blatter wondering “if our game is played on another planet”.

Never mind ‘Johnny world cup’ cosying up to Trump in the now vacant Musk position; nor happily acquiescing to Trump’s threats to move games out of cities who have elected the wrong people. The club world cup is a malformed, unwanted mess.

The myriad problems with the sport globally – racism, sexism, drug taking (obviously we don’t talk about that one, we just pretend that every professional footballer has asthma in 2025), climate, fixture congestion, duty of care – have been either ignored or exacerbated on his watch.

The trampling of FIFA’s own statutes against homophobia, slave labour, human rights in Qatar. Before threatening any players or teams who wanted to protest.

Requiring Reshmin Chowdhury to be on silk purse duty every few weeks for tournament admin so boring that Bert Millichip’s FA cup draws look like the last half hour of Moonraker.

Salt Bae.

David Guetta.

And the ridiculous, board-sweeping 2030 world cup ‘hosting’ that accidentally left Saudi Arabia as the only eligible host nation for 2034.

These things are all bad. But unfortunately, without Andrew Jennings smacking them in my face, I have just accepted everything the new FIFA is doing with a sigh.

And now they’ve managed to go a step further: it turns out Ronaldo is going to have his suspension suspended until later – ie when it’s UEFA’s problem – because… well. Neil Raines