Why miserly Arsenal will win Premier League title over ‘typical City’ | OneFootball

Man City have gone for nostalgia and become pre-Pep ‘typical City’ again, leaving Arsenal to cruise to the Premier League title.

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Why the Premier League is heading to Arsenal

I read some comments on social Media last night that can be summarized :

“Arsenal would never almost bottle a game being 5-1 up”

“No. But then they’d never score 5- so what’s the point ?”

Well actually the point is that people fail to see that goal difference is a very accurate predictor of final placing. Something even better ? Goals against.

In this century no team has managed to win the league conceding 43 goals.

And in this century no team has failed to win the league conceding 21. (The closest was Liverpool coming second in 2019 with 22 conceded. And they came second on 97 points. I think Arteta would take 97 points and take his chances. )

Much can change. But right now the stats and the way these teams are performing suggest one winner. City do need to get their act in order defensively – and Saliba and Gabriel need to be crocked for a while. Or the stats say this is over in April. Johnno

Kudos to Fulham; typical City are back

Man City fan here. And without further ado, I cannot praise Fulham enough. Their intent, discipline, and work in the second half was simply awesome. The fact that I have no fingernails left and my heart pressure went through the roof during that game is neither here nor there. I would’ve pulled my hair out too but, sadly, that option was lost to me some years ago.

If it feels more like a Fulham loss than a City win, then I couldn’t complain.

Kudos Fulham.

As for City and our season so far? One word. Unconvincing. Or, for an old f*rt like me, more akin to the days of ‘typical City.’ That is to say, you have no idea what you’re going to get from game to game. Almost nostalgic. If that’s not encapsulated in a bonkers 5-4 game, then I don’t know what is.

At this point, personally, I have no idea how this season’s PL is going to work out. It’s just nuts so far. But then, bring on the chaos. Mark (Well played Fulham). MCFC

Liverpool fan angry about Fulham v Man City extra time

How was there only 1 min on top of the 8 mins injury time when Cherki was down for over a min and then the Ake sub on top? Palace scored at 96.59 against Liverpool when there was 6 mins injury time and only 1 sub and no injuries in that time.

Thought I was gonna actually talk about the match didn’t you? Nope, Patricio Del Toro

A mail sent before that absurd Spurs equaliser

As my beloved Spurs continue to labour against Newcastle, I’ve watched the last 20 plus of Fulham doing a madness against City. I remember watching us lose in a nonsense replay against Chelsea 20 years ago (ish), and even in losing it was a brilliant game. We cheered them off as Fulham’s fans are doing right now.

Football is entertainment Glorious failure is a thing. That’s how we should be playing in defeat. Not going four games straight without a shot on target in the first half of a match.

I knew I was right about Frank. Well, I said 7th to 9th so I might have been generous, on reflection. Jon (Poch, Poch come home….), Lincoln

Stonewall? Stonewall?

Gerald Kaufman once described the Labour Manifesto for the 1983 as ‘the longest suicide note in political history’. I would argue Jason Soutar describing the penalty against Bentancur as a stonewaller as the shortest resignation note in football journalism history, as you surely can’t expect to be paid to write about football if that’s your base level of understanding of the laws.

Does Bentancur briefly hold burn at the start of the sequence? Yes. Do 5 players do that at every corner? Also yes. After that does Dan Burn have him in a headlock and know full well what he’s doing as he shoves Bentancur to the floor? Also yes. Does what Bentancur do meet the criteria given by the premier leaguer for a pen? Absolutely not. Sustained holding? Nope. Both arms? No. Impeded his ability to get the ball? No. He isn’t looking at the ball at the start, but after a fraction of a second the reason he isn’t looking at the ball is because Dan burn has him in a headlock!!

It was an incredible decision, and as my final proof point I’ll say this – Dan Burn didn’t even think he had a case, which is why he was asking the ref what the delay was when VAR ludicrously decided to intervene. If the player allegedly being fouled doesn’t think he has a case at all but you think it’s stonewall you’ve got it horribly wrong. Phil, London

No justice for the 97

I am sitting here, shaking my head in total disbelief that, after all of these years, the years of pain of the families and friends of the 97 victims of Hillsborough, and the police and other authorities, are not being held accountable for their actions.

What is there to stop something similar happening if, after all they did to cover up their own incompetencies, blamed the victims, viciously blamed the victims, coerced false statements, fuelled the fire of the red tops, one in particular, that lasted for a generation or more, totally resisted any form of oversight or censure, none, not one, are held to account?

If even one of them had been held up as an example, perhaps…

But to be able to live on the rarified pensions the public sector provides the top police brass, after cynically and systematically attempting to destroy the reputation of victims, while families still grieve those lost ones because there is now no closure, is reprehensible.

It completely sucks the joy out of the game, out of life. I just cannot imagine the depths it must take those families. I feel for you. Paul McDevitt

We are killing modern players

Every day we see more and more injuries occurring to good players.

The games we see are swiftly becoming mediocre.

Why does no one in authority call this by its real name? – PLAYER OVERLOAD!!

If we look at the worldwide schedule that these players follow, it is inevitable that there are severe injuries across the spectrum.

I place the blame squarely on organizations like FIFA, EUFA and the country’s organizing bodies.

This is obviously a great money making scheme with no regard for the most valuable assets – the players.

Why is it necessary to have competitions such as

WORLD CLUB CUP

NATIONS LEAGUE

EUROS etc.

These competitions add considerable playing time to an already overloaded schedule.

Consider the existing schedule:

Local Leagues – German Cup, World Cup qualifiers

FA Cup, Carabao Cup, World Cup qualifiers.

These are only two countries, but consider this type of schedule all over the world.

When do the players get to rest.

They are people, not automatons!

I appeal to the coaches, who are supposed to be closest to the players and have their best interest at heart, to oppose this criminal schedule. A former player, now supporter

Paqueta deserves your empathy

No one knows what’s going on in someone’s life, and having your career being taken away from you hanging over you for two years is a horrific strain to put on someone who it turns out was innocent. Paqueta could be getting counselling, no one knows, but sometimes the manifestation of that pressure comes out at the strangest times. You have no control over it. As someone’s who been there I understand it.

Having money doesn’t help with mental health issues, you can’t just bribe your brain into being better. Otherwise Robert Enke would probably still be here. To try to claim he’s maybe using it as an excuse to get off is disgusting.

Perhaps think before you type. Weldoninhio BAC

Celebrate the wins, FFS

The letter in this morning’s mailbox from “Disgruntled (anonymous)” dismissing United’s win on Sunday got me to thinking about how utterly pointless it must be for some fans to support one of the bigger clubs. I have a number of fellow United fans among my friends, and some of them are stuck in a similar rut of demanding perfection from the team and being disappointed 95% of the time.

I’m as realistic as anyone about how that game on Sunday went. On another day, we lose 2-0 and the knives get that bit sharper. Or we scrape a 1-1 draw and hands are wrung about how we didn’t deserve even that.

BUT, it was a win against a team who started the day ahead of us in the table and hadn’t been beaten at home in the league since February. While missing our 2 first choice front players, and coming off the back of a rotten result the week before. If anything, the result was massively unexpected and the manner of its achievement hardly matters.

To the people citing Palace’s fatigue as a factor – yeah, you’re probably right. But when part of the narrative around United this season is that they should benefit from no European fixtures, what’s the issue when that turns out to be demonstrably the case? We were all well aware of it beforehand, and will continue to be as the season progresses.

Anyone with a memory span superior to a goldfish won’t need reminding of how fragile United were last season, or how they would crumple in the face of any adversity. If Palace had taken the lead in the same fixture last season and continued to apply pressure, that would have been a game United lost in ugly fashion. The reaction from both Amorim and the players in the second half on Sunday at least showed progress in their mentality.

None of this is to say that United won’t go to shit again. It wouldn’t surprise me if Nuno manages to stifle us on Thursday. The wheels could once again fall spectacularly off, and the questions about Amorim could become louder again.

For the moment though, United are sitting seventh while still in the early stages of a full-on rebuild that encompasses management, playing staff, culture,playing style and potentially even the stadium. If you expect them to crush it every week in the midst of that, frequent disappointment will surely follow.

As a fan who’s had over a decade to absorb the post-Fergie decline, I’m doing my best to look at this as an opportunity to aim for an upward trajectory, but knowing that there will be plenty of bumps in the road to come. And you know what? It’s helping me to enjoy the victories as they come, while tuning out all the unrealistic negative vibes that surround every misplaced pass and spurned chance. When you support a team that’s fallen from a height, realigning your expectations to ground level is the healthiest thing you can do. Keith Reilly

…Just a quick riposte to Disgruntled (and anonymous) RSA – we are not the finished article. So, results and performances will not be sparkling all the time. It was an ok performance, but we still got the win. You say, “Also if looking at your bench and choosing the only non-youth team player who can play striker because of an injury is management then I’m expecting a call up any day now”. Again, I ask the question, what else did you want him to do?! WE WON THE GAME and are on a decent run of results.

This nonsense about 5 at the back against Everton also has to stop. It is a 3-4-2-1 which becomes 5 at the back when we are defending – against Everton we spent most of the game in the final third, so the wingbacks were often as far forward as the striker. I know because I was at the game and from where I was sitting, just under the away fans in SE corner of OT (who were brilliant all game BTW), I could practically hold their hands in the second half.

The gameplan against ten men is to move the ball quickly and spread the pitch. This system is made to spread the pitch – the issue was we didn’t move the ball quick enough or try to break through the lines (Cunha would have made a big difference). Sticking another body up front would change very little unless it was Sesko and we could throw the ball in (even then you’d question if we have enough quality yet at WB to do that successfully) but that plays right into Everton’s hands.

It was one of those games, but it’s in the past and you need to move on. Garey Vance, MUFC

Why allow the double touch?

The Palace vs United game featured the first time in the league that a penalty has been re-taken due to a double touch with Mateta scoring both the original and his re-take. I’d completely forgotten this rule had been changed and it beggars the question. Why are they doing this?

If a football player manages to touch the ball twice while taking a penalty then they’ve messed up. They’ve failed at kicking a ball properly, which for a professional footballer is ridiculous, and I simply don’t understand why the rules are giving them a mulligan in this scenario.

They only get a second chance at scoring if they have ‘accidentally’ touched the ball twice which makes you think of slipping as the ball is struck, like Beth Mead at the Euros. This in itself is stupid because it was the player who slipped, it was their own fault, no one pushed them. They failed at taking the penalty correctly, slipping is not an excuse.

What’s worse though is that Mateta didn’t slip. His standing foot was exactly where he wanted it to be. It was the kicking foot where he messed up, striking the ball so poorly that it bounced off himself. Why are we rewarding such ineptitude? Penalties are massively weighted in favour of the taker as it is, this rule gives them even more of an advantage.

It’s just more unnecessary complicating of the rules and treating the game as if its not played by adults who are responsible for their own actions. Can’t even blame PGMOL for this one, it’s the empty suits over at IFAB who have brought about this nonsense. Dave, Manchester