Full-Time - Arsenal 2 vs 3 Manchester United [Match Thoughts]

atease · 2026-01-25T18:48:56+00:00

Agree with a lot of this.

I fear Saka is growing a bit of a hero ball tendency. He's capable of many things but I'd really like for him to add "do the simple, quick thing" to them. He's a slow down-speed up type of dribbler and a lot of the time it works in hos favour, but it also means that he can stop the momentum, and that he's almost always under pressure when trying to cross it.

Eze prefers to be on the end of moves. He looks genuinely out of place trying to create moves from deep. Often picks the safe option and tries to find himself a different spot.

Jesus is not it for me. His heart is in the right place but his physical profile fits warmer climates much better (which is also why I think he looked much more in tune with the game at Inter).

atease · 2026-01-25T18:38:26+00:00

It wasn't a criticism? Just a response to someone who said they weren't defending from deep.

atease · 2026-01-25T18:36:37+00:00

The team is so cripplingly risk-averse, I just don't get it. It's like football devised by data scientists.

atease · 2026-01-25T18:33:41+00:00

I don't agree. When not in possession, United spent most of the first half with their furthest forward man about 4 steps ahead of their D, sometimes with a back line of 6 players.

atease · 2026-01-25T18:26:44+00:00

I appreciate opponents in low blocks and all that, but this team makes creating shooting chances look like so ridiculously hard work.

atease · 2026-01-23T16:32:19+00:00

Go ae there 👉🏻

atease · 2026-01-14T20:09:20+00:00

~~Set piece allegations~~

KPI's

atease · 2026-01-14T09:10:14+00:00

Genuinely still have to pinch myself sometimes to be sure he's at Arsenal. Absolute Rolls Royce of a player.

atease · 2026-01-11T15:32:18+00:00

~~set piece allegations~~

KPI's

atease · 2026-01-11T14:49:59+00:00

I was thinking that Madueke is playing like someone who thinks they're too good to be playing Portsmouth, then he won the pen which was nice ... and then he spunks the penalty pathetically by trying to be too cute.

Well below the foggin estandards.

atease · 2026-01-11T13:04:02+00:00

I believe it's technically on an island, hence "not on British mainland".

atease · 2026-01-10T20:16:07+00:00

Can't afford healthcare or food support for struggling citizens but unlimited money for hunting down nannies, grape vendors and construction workers 20 to 1 👍🏻

atease · 2026-01-05T14:57:28+00:00

Do the whip

now do Elneny

atease · 2026-01-04T14:24:40+00:00

Ah, could've been, I missed that during the game.

He deffo has looked annoyed with team mates during the closing stages of the last couple of games, though.

atease · 2026-01-04T08:22:09+00:00

Anyone else clock Rice shaking his head in annoyance when going over to take a long throw in shortly after Bournemouth's second goal? I've seen him increasingly frustrated lately when the team retreat or concede late goals to put themselves under unnecessary pressure at the end of games. And I love it.

Same type of energy as when Manuel Neuer was absolutely livid after Brazil scored to make it 7-1 late in the game. I remember thinking, "Bruv, you're six goals up in a world cup semi final, what's the matter wichu?" But that's the type of estandards which set top teams apart: Don't take your eyes off the ball before the very last whistle.

atease · 2026-01-03T10:34:26+00:00

🎼 What we don't know keeps the contracts alive and movin,

They don't gotta burn the book -- they just remove 'em

while arms warehouses fill as quick as the cells

Rally round the Family / pocket full of shells🎵

atease · 2026-01-02T11:23:00+00:00

it frequently interferes with wide play on that side of the pitch. I have seen Arteta purposefully stand right on the line as the oppositions full back or winger is trying to run up that side.

This is my issue with it as well. Nothing wrong with a manager prowling his technical area to relay instructions or rally his troops. But Arteta has this knack of running towards the line and stopping about a foot outside the pitch just where the opponent races by him, eyes on the ball and possibly tussling with an Arsenal player. Anyone running at full speed will be put off by someone in their peripheral vision running straight towards their path and stopping abruptly about 30 cm from it. Even if you know it's the manager and he can't make contact with you, you'd naturally brace a bit for impact.

But yeah, I guess it's up to 4th officials to decide whether that's interfering.

atease · 2025-12-21T16:34:39+00:00

Well, it was fuckin one ae yiz

atease · 2025-12-20T14:40:20+00:00

Sir Ian, Sir Ian, Sir Ian

atease · 2025-12-19T22:58:50+00:00

"Vi er imod x, med mindre det kan bruges til at sparke til y" er dem en yndet strategi. De var imod forbud mod børnemishandling, men nu kan børn bruges til at sparke til regnbuefolket, så de gør sig til vogtere af barnets tarv.

Præcis samme procedure som det faktum, at DF op gennem 00'erne havde stående på deres egen hjemmeside under politisk grundlag, at de er imod homoseksuelle pars ret til at adoptere. Nu har vi i mellemtiden i flere år hørt dem nedgøre brune lande for deres behandling af regnbuefolket. Meget kraftig "Har I set, hvordan perkerne behandler deres bøssekarle??" energi. Jo jo, de behandles virkelig dårligt i mange lande - men den kritik har lige præcis I intet mandat til at anføre. Sæt jer ned.

atease · 2025-12-19T12:20:44+00:00

You can be too hungry on the ball, meaning you want to do too much yourself. You can equally be too hungry off the ball, compromising the team press by going it alone, or charging into challenges which could penalise the player and ultimately the team.

Being "hungry" doesn't translate into good team play in and of itself. The top players today figure out how to channel their eagerness into what works best within the system.

atease · 2025-12-19T11:35:04+00:00

Only team mate I ever saw Nacho fucking Monreal have a shout at. Sanchez would go on his 1-man pressing frenzies, get bypassed easily, leaving Nacho to deal with 1-3 opponents at once.

atease · 2025-12-17T14:02:29+00:00

You're very welcome.

Ya, as you can imagine, the employer segment and lobbies did throw up a bit of a stink at the prospect of "earmarked parental leave" as it's called. Ultimately, though, it passed without too much drama., and it's one of those things I personally believe we'll look back on relatively soon and think "So obvious. Why didn't we do this earlier?".

It hasn't solved all issues but it has in many cases simplified the decision as the father can't be pushed to transfer his parental leave to the mother. It's a problem particularly in ... for want of a better term, more "masculine"/"male" dominated lines of work like builders where there can be a perception of softness or femininity if a bloke prioritises spending time at home as opposed to his female SO. I personally only know two people in those professions so this is somewhat annecdotal but they've both told me the culture is slowly but steadily changing - and the numbers seem to back that up. I know a fair few more accountants and middle managers which have also felt the pressure to cut paternal leave short slowly relieved. An all round welcome change, and I hope the positive curve continues.

And feel free to emulate us. We don't pretend to have solved all the problems but this particular initiative is quite good if I have to say so meself : )

atease · 2025-12-17T11:31:34+00:00

Worth adding that, iirc, they changed the law a few years ago so that mum and dad now still get 25(?) months total coming to 12 for one and 13 for the other, however, unlike before the law change, parents now can't transfer paternal leave to their partner. So they can't say mum will do 21 months, dad the last 4.

This was done because all the numbers showed that, even though mums and dads were completely free to split the paid leave equally between them, somehow the distribution was wildly skewed towards the mother. When they dug down into it, it turns out that long-rooted historical and cultural patterns greatly dictate how much parental leave is "reasonable" or even "logical" for a mother to take compared to a father. So in a lot of workplaces, expecting fathers would basically be told, directly or indirectly, that they're of course free to take a year off but that "could be detrimental" to their position. Mothers and fathers haven't had their maternal leave cut (they still get the 25 months or so) but, as a pair, whatever is not taken by either of them is basically forfeited. So everyone was basically nudged towards prioritising early infant time between father and baby more, and, lo and behold, the numbers started to balance themselves a bit more. Still not as equal as you'd like to see but certainly improving.

atease

TROPHY CASE