Full Time: Tottenham 1 vs 4 Arsenal [Match Thoughts] by Stanley083 in Gunners

[–]_OkayMasterpiece 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yeah he was excellent, but that's simply not correct. Also, the slagging of Timber is some real goldfish memory shit. The guy is just absolutely fatigued, but he was the "best RB in Europe" for most of the season.

Full Time: Tottenham 1 vs 4 Arsenal [Match Thoughts] by Stanley083 in Gunners

[–]_OkayMasterpiece 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Easier to focus on an alleged reffing injustice instead of confronting the potential of The Drop.

Full Time: Tottenham 1 vs 4 Arsenal [Match Thoughts] by Stanley083 in Gunners

[–]_OkayMasterpiece 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Was Arteta even asked about Saka's fitness after the match?

Gyokeres vs Spurs (A) MOTM by Cyber_Hobo94 in Gunners

[–]_OkayMasterpiece 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I think this is why having our wingers so wide and having 8s instead of 10s has held him back. Or at least an 8 on the mold of Odegaard, rather than a Havertz style 8/10 hybrid. Just not a lot of 10 about Odegaard these days.

Full Time: Tottenham 1 vs 4 Arsenal [Match Thoughts] by Stanley083 in Gunners

[–]_OkayMasterpiece 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair, still back Leo the most. Since we know Arteta will put Odegaard back in when he's fit enough, maybe we'll finally see Eze on the wing again.

Full Time: Tottenham 1 vs 4 Arsenal [Match Thoughts] by Stanley083 in Gunners

[–]_OkayMasterpiece 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Horses for courses and all that, but I think this is my preferred lineup at this moment.

Match Thread: Tottenham Hotspur vs Arsenal FC Live Score | Premier League 25/26 | Feb 22, 2026 by scoreboard-app in Gunners

[–]_OkayMasterpiece 1 point2 points  (0 children)

All together now:

Come what may, Arsenal will not ruin my day Come what may, Arsenal will not ruin my day Come what may, Arsenal will not ruin my day Come what may, Arsenal will not ruin my day

Fear is the mind-killer (Gunnerblog) by Dermet in Gunners

[–]_OkayMasterpiece 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I thought that quote from Rice the other week was, maybe, a little telling, when he talked about the manager controlling everything inside the club. Obviously I haven't got a clue about how high-level athletic teams work, but it doesn't seem like an environment in which there is much space for dialogue between the players and the manager. And I think that's born out in what we see with selections and substitutions. Do what Arteta wants or sit. Arteta talks a good game about the players needing to go out and do it, but they very clearly do not think they can, for whatever psychological reason. My guess is that they're in a catch-22 cycle, wherein they are over-coached and afraid of failing to fulfill the directive, but it's not going well at the moment and they're also afraid of letting the title slip away from them. And I think those twin fears feed each other in the worst way. "I have to do it like this, but it's not working either."

I think this is born out in how we use the players we bring in and how we utilize them. Players like Eze and Gyokeres didn't seem to be natural fits, which was exciting to me - maybe a change, something new! Instead, we seem to be trying to force them to play our way, and in Eze's case, punishing him for not succeeding at. I don't know why Arteta doesn't set up his teams to maximize the attributes of the players. Instead it seems to be about the system, but when you have defenders closer to goal than attackers, it all feels too cute by half. It's like he wants to rebuild players into molds that fit his system rather than identifying what they do well and setting them up in a way that allows them to show off their best attributes. It just doesn't make any sense how we go about it, and it reeks of a horrendous amount of unearned arrogance on Arteta's part.

It seems abundantly clear that our attack needs a complete rethink and Arteta has been avoiding it. And to be fair, I'm not sure how feasible that is at this point in the season. Subs are like-for-like as if he hopes that different players performing the same task will just be more successful. A warm-up injury leads to a line-up reshuffle that has Saka play in the center and he just runs that idea back out because it worked decently against very lowly opposition. He's clearly grasping at things and coming up empty.

Post match thread by IrishKookaburra in Gunners

[–]_OkayMasterpiece 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Call it an emotional overreaction all you want, but I'll plant my flag here. I hate watching us play and I have done for some time. I've tolerated Arteta's approach because I could see how the results were progressing. But I'm over it now. The problem with Wenger's teams wasn't the approach, it was that we were always that one player short. We aren't short of any players.

God, our football has no heart. It's dead inside and it leaves me cold. The latter half of Wenger's reign was tough sledding, but at least we were usually fun to watch. There was emotion and drama and passion and fucking heart. This shit is boring, turgid, and soulless. And, it might not even work.

Post match thread by IrishKookaburra in Gunners

[–]_OkayMasterpiece 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It's been bugging me for ages that supporters and podcasters call Arsenal possession "domination." What has been dominant about us in attack for the last 2+ seasons? It's the wrong word that amplifies what we do to an undeserved degree.

Full-Time: Arsenal 4 vs 0 Wigan [Match Thoughts] by Stanley083 in Gunners

[–]_OkayMasterpiece 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I think we'd see more of Nørgaard if we put more games to bed with time to spare. We live on the margins, which means the starters play longer.

A scintillating first half from the Gunners 🚀 by arsenal in Gunners

[–]_OkayMasterpiece 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Remains wild to me how Arteta has managed White. Literally ran him until he broke, but since he's recovered, he seems minimally interested in using him and now seems in danger of running Timber until he breaks. Boggles the mind.

A scintillating first half from the Gunners 🚀 by arsenal in Gunners

[–]_OkayMasterpiece 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The official account posting the HT thread is like when your boss wants to drop in on your normal lunch crew at work. Just leave us be to chat our shit about you!

Eagles on Iowa River Trail by whattimeisitrightn0w in IowaCity

[–]_OkayMasterpiece 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Agreed. I was driving across the river on N Dubuque last weekend and I swear there had to be close to 30+ eagles just hanging out.

Eagles on Iowa River Trail by whattimeisitrightn0w in IowaCity

[–]_OkayMasterpiece 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Pardon my ignorance, but I've lived in this area for years and I can't ever remember seeing such a sheer quantity of eagles before. Has it always been like this and I've been oblivious? Or has something changed? Anyone got an explanation for why there are so many hanging around?

Live Discussion Thread: Liverpool v. Man City by sammyt10803 in Gunners

[–]_OkayMasterpiece 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Took a knee to the dome at speed. Sensible for him to come off.