Arsenal Banter Archive September 18 2014

18 Sep 2014 21:39:41
Evening peeps! Just watching the Everton v Wolfsburg match and I'd take James McCarthy over Gustavo every day of the week. Strong, covers the ground, and rarely makes a wrong decision. Also very clever with his tackling, very rarely risking a card unless absolutely necessary. I think he would be ideal for our squad and a safer bet than some of the players touted this summer. I'm positive Arsene showed some interest when the lad was at Wigan and I'm sure he'd be three times more expensive too! I very much doubt that Everton would sell though. What do you Gooners think?

{Ed025's Note - hes an un-sung hero at goodison MJ, works very hard mate..

18 Sep 2014 21:57:48
Players like Wilshere, Rambo, Cazorla, Ozil, Rosicky and Sanchez need players like James McCarthy.

Very good player.

Ed025, He very much reminds me of Gilberto. Very unsung but very effective. Both predators of a different kind, pacing about in front of the back four and breaking up the play yet also capable of starting an attack. Been a big fan of McCarthy since he joined Everton. He's got a great mentor in Gareth Barry too.

{Ed025's Note - your right MJ, i just wish he was a bit more vocal, but he is still young and that may come mate..

He would be ideal but the problem is that most players who fit the bill for what we need are at clubs in CL or at clubs who are vying for European football.

I think during the height of the summer madness with names the like of Khedira and Benzema being mentioned and demanded if anyone had dared to suggest we sign both Welbeck and McCarthy they would have been hounded off this page, what would we give to be able to pair them up now?
Sadly we'll be back to insane talk next summer, maybe we need to change as much as Arsene does? Just a thought!

{Ed025's Note - fair point G62..

18 Sep 2014 22:47:48
I'm going to slightly disagree with you G62 (although you are correct) and at the same time blow my own trumpet.

When we were all posting our wish list's, I was always slightly down to earth, mentioning players like Remy, Schneiderlin and Ashley Williams.

I prefer 'home' players to 'overseas' players because they integrate quicker.

I'd be exctatic if we got McCarthy this summer, or Barry tbh.

Both are fantastic players, the only problem with Barry is his age and lack of pace.

{Ed025's Note - barry is 33 akie, hardly a pensioner mate..

33 Ed! Are you sure?
I'm positive he played for Villa alongside Peter Withe

{Ed025's Note - it seems like he has been around forever G62, experience in largely underrated by a lot of supporters nowadays, they seem to prefer these headless chickens who can sprint like a cheetah but have the brains of a rocking horse mate..

True Ed Perlo has to be the best example in the modern game

{Ed025's Note - a fine example mate..

Watching Eveton reminded me of how we used to play, with pace going forward defending from midfield, free flowing football with the full backs getting forward, how I miss those days.

18 Sep 2014 20:24:22
Ed025, just watching your bunch in Europe, great start. But what I really want to say is what a great atmosphere there is at goodison tonight. Hope you go far in the competition. I reckon it could do your players like baines, stones, Naismith and jags the world of good in there footballing education. All good for the england national team (i know Naismith isn't english before I get that rammed down my throat)

18 Sep 2014 21:27:45
OMG the Worlds greatest striker has just come on, watch him go now!

18 Sep 2014 21:59:46
Super, super nic.
Super, super nic
Lol

18 Sep 2014 19:31:48
I don't get this formation we are trying to play it just doesn't make much sense to me given the players we have in our ranks.

Our most successful era and the invincibles played a 4-4-1-1 but had a lot of fluidity with our right and left wing and top 2 with the mercurial Bergkamp as a number 10.

Why we are incessant on playing a DMF and 2 CM's I don't know.

We have Ozil who has the vision and touch of Bergkamp, perhaps doesn't have the burst of speed that Bergkamp once had over 5 yards or the strength Bergkamp had but he can play the balls Bergkamp did.

We now have a striker with speed in Welbeck which is what Bergkamp had ahead of him and what Ozil had at Real Madrid.

We are currently wasting our best play maker playing him out wide so we can flood the midfield.

During our most successful era we played 2 in midfield a box to box in Vieira and a deep lying midfielder in Petit and latterly Gilberto.

So why this insistence on playing 3 in the middle especially when one is not quick enough across the ground and its not a natural position. Arteta!

Our two best central players are Ramsey and Wilshere there in lies an issue are we seeing the England team issue where Lampard and Gerrard could never play together well as they were both box to box in their pomp? Can Jack be converted to sitting deeper breaking up play like Woy sees him doing for England? Ramsey has the better engine so I would prefer to see him as the box to box and Jack sit deeper.

Return to a 4-4-1-1 with Alexis and Walcott wide but they need to know they have to track back as well which Alexis does.

Play Ozil in the hole let him do what we signed him to do, create chances.

Football is a ruthless business yes business and do you think Mourinho or Fergie would have persisted with this for as long as Wenger has? I don't they are ruthless and change the weaknesses they see In the team regardless of ego's or reputations.

I don't want Wenger out but I would like to see him show some of that footballing nouse he has. His stubbornness is his own downfall over the past decade excluding last years FA Cup.

Playing Ozil out wide is like playing with one hand behind our backs. He can do a job but not as good as Podolski or the Ox could with Walcott currently out.

The question is does he do as I say above when Walcott is back as I don't see Ozil playing wide over Alexis and or Walcott as they both possess pace. Does he drop Ramsey or Wilshere for Ozil I can't see it as they can both tackle better than Ozil and are box to box players.

The way we are set up we have no place for what could be argued is our best weapon when played in position. Ozil could become a £42m sub the way we are set up when Walcott returns to the team and yes I think its a full gone conclusion he is a starter once fit.

Welbeck, Walcott and Alexis with Ozil in the hole behind has the potential to be a scary problem for our opponents. Its just to two CM's behind that are an issue as neither of our best two are natural sitters and Arteta and Flamini are not of a required standard.

I could go on but that's more than enough sorry for the long post guys needed airing as its driving me mad.

After watch the games last night ( Man City Chelsea and there opposition) what I noticed is this, all teams who play a possession passing game play in triangles, but everyone else plays in triangles that are about 10 feet wider than ours, meaning we pass close together so it's easier to contain and close down, when you expand your triangled passing you open up the play more, creating more space, but what do I know!

18 Sep 2014 23:08:08
Great post Andy

18 Sep 2014 19:23:49
C'mon people, let's start thinking positive.

The season is only 4 games old and only 3 teams remain unbeaten, we are one of them.

Let's look at the other teams.
Man City.
No Negredo and Aguero has a history of injuries, this season will be no different.
Yaya will not have the same season as last, no way.
For me, they are not massively strong.

Chelsea.
Probably the team everybody fears, but like Liverpool with Suarez, they are a one man team.
They are nowhere near as strong without Costa and he has a dodgy injury record.
He will pick up injuries and they will suffer.

Liverpool.
Without Suarez?
Its like taking the engine out of a Bentley. Still looks nice but doesn't work properly.
Too many new players to integrate and the distraction of CL football.

Man Utd.
Great transfer window, awesome forwards line, but like us, some issues not addressed.
No spine in middle of team, poor defence, no natural captain and too many Galactico's who will want to grab the headlines.

Everton.
Normally, solid defence but having a nightmare this season.
Gained/Coleman top draw. Jagielka and Distin losing their legs.

19 Sep 2014 11:10:50
But Chelsea also have your boy Remy if Costa picks up an injury

18 Sep 2014 16:59:55
I apologize in advance for a lengthy rant lol.

We need to ditch this 4-1-4-1 ASAP, our team is heavily unbalanced and this formation is only being used to try to paper over the cracks.

Why would you buy a 43 million pound CAM and put him out on the wing? This after Ozil came out himself and said he prefers the number 10 position.

Why are we trying to play 5 players who all want to occupy the same positions on the field? It's like 5 guys all vying for the same spot, it's not going to work.

You have Arteta Jack and Rambo who are all central players, you then have Ozil on the wing who is always trying to cut in and play centrally, as well as Sanchez who likes to cut infield as well.

What Wenger has done is basically marginalize Ozil to the wing in order to play his two B2B midfielders together, in Jack and Rambo.

Also, this limits what Sanchez can do offensively, as he is playing deeper and further away from goal, this also leaves our CF isolated.

This is done to protect Arteta, so that he is not left isolated in open field having to close down space, but as we saw in Dortmund, this does not work against formidable opposition.

I don't have enough time to mention all the problems at the club at the moment, but it must be said, mismanaging the transfer window to the point where we are forced to throw a kid (Bellerin) in at the deep end in one of the most challenging grounds to play in, is criminal.

No other top club would go into a season with only 6 senior defenders, one of whom is a 19 year-old rookie. We are now one serious injury away from being in a crisis situation in September!

With our injury record, it should have been obvious to Wenger that we would most likely be in this situation. But amazingly, Wenger is the one who takes all the blame.

Arsene is a very good manager who used to be great, but the game of football has changed and is leaving him (and us) behind.

He has his strengths and weaknesses, but what nobody mentions is that he was just given a new contract, which implies that his employer (Kroenke) is happy with the job he has done over the last 5 years.

To me, this should be more worrying than any managerial issue we may have, the fact that our owner seems to have no ambition to push for major trophies, and is more than happy to carry on with the low risk, steady reward business model that has seen us remain in 4th place mediocrity for as long as I can remember now.

Arsenal is about making money, that's why we aim for top 4, to continue to bring in the Champions League revenue while providing minimal investment in the first team, doing the minimum to keep the fans happy while maximizing revenue.

We are rolling in money (5th richest football club in the world), yet Arsenal FC would have us believe that we must continue to work on a tight budget.

During these troubling times, many Gunners are calling for Wenger to step down and for a young, ambitious manager with fresh ideas to take the helm. While I am in favor of this, I do not believe that the intentions of the club will change until change is made at the ownership level.

I pray that I am proved wrong,

Thank you for listening,

In Arsenal we trust,

Trinidad-Gooner

{Ed025's Note - minimal investment TG?..tight budget?..hello..ozil, sanchez, and not forgetting chambers, thats nigh on £100m for them 3 mate..

18 Sep 2014 18:08:04
Doesnt matter how many games on it is, i'm right.
We have played poorly in every game this season

We have 6 defenders - ones already injured, ones a rookie and one is too old and slow to play our high line

Our captain was barely good enough when we bought him. Now he's our captain amd a guaranteed starter-what a joke.

We have a luxury player on 130k a week who only plays ONE position and is being played out of position.

We have ozil, alexis, podolski, ox, gnabry, rosicky, walcott competing for just 2 positions in the starting xi!

We have 2 mediocre strikers, one of whom is injured.

Im not being negative i'm living in the real world.

We are not winnimg the league or champions league this year, infact, we are not even competing.

Hey Ed,

Yeah that is true, we spent a decent amount and brought in five players, but all except for Sanchez were direct replacements for players that left.

- Ospina for Fabianski
- Debuchy for Sagna
- Chambers for Vermaelen
- Welbeck for Giroud (injury)

Only Sanchez was an actual addition, and if Giroud didn't get injured, AW was prepared to go into this season with only Giroud and Sanogo as our CFs again.

Original AG, I agree with almost everything you said man, just poor man management and preparation.

18 Sep 2014 16:54:21
Why can't ozil play on the wing he's played there before with Madrid and has done with Germany he's not even performing in his natural position so I think Wenger is right to test a few thing's out with ozil modric and Silva have played out wide and still seem to do the damage on the flanks or either drifting in ozil needs to start playing ore 1-2s in around the box and keep things simple

Ozil playing out wide for madrid

Khedira Alonso


Ozil. Modric. Ronaldo

Benzema

It was
Di Maria Ozil Ronaldo
Benezma

18 Sep 2014 16:17:11
A DM doesn’t even have to be a leg breaking protector of our defence who stops all in his path…

All we want/need is a player who can sit in front of our defence, break up play, receive balls from the defence and distribute to our creators.
The ideal choice for me? Stop panicking, go back to the formation and tactics used last season and wait until January. If anyone truly believes Wenger didn’t see what happened to his midfield in Dortmund they are just jumping on the WengerOut bandwagon. He will buy a Defensive Midfielder in January.

We all agree it is way too late then but what choice to we have anymore? My choices are Carvalho/Lars Bender but I’m sure there are plenty of players out there who fit the bill – a big name isn’t necessarily required as the job is a dirty job where not a lot of praise is given – look at Matic – he is a fabulous example of a player who just breaks up the play and sits in front of the defence.

Everyone needs to calm down and get off the WengerOut Tree and support the team. Everyone including Wenger knows what he should have done in the summer, all we can do for now is support and get behind the team until January.

Rob
Your spot on about the style of midfielder we need. Problem in January will be clubs won't want to sell players mid season especially the likes of Bender and Carvalho.

The problem of a DMF is not a new one. We have been crying for a quality DMF since Song left (not that I am saying Song was quality). Wenger is supposedly one of the top managers in the world and earns 8mill per annum. Why did he not address that weaknes? He is very guilty of that one. For a top manager, his thinking and decisions leave much to be desired to be honest

18 Sep 2014 16:33:10
From what Arsene said it certainly seems he intends to get one but one who has all the qualities he's looking for.

Most of us simply want a 5h1thouse like Wanyama or Carvalho and I would say from watching him that Wanyama is ahead of Carvalho.

He got better as last season went on and had a great game against Liverpool this season, breaking play up and playing the simple ball to the creators in the Southampton team.

I'm just thinking Arsene wants more than that but Bender signed a new 6 year deal, is also prone to injury and Southampton would not let the Spyder go.

Strootman was another but injured, the same as Gundogan who probably fits the bill most out of all of them but his back injury was pretty serious.

I've no idea what is happening with Diaby but it could well be that Shad and Arsene are trying to ensure he has a career left. I keep expecting to hear him say he has retired through injury but genuinely hope that is not the case.

If wenger knows what he shouldve done why didn't he do it?

Our need for a dm didn't occur overnight, we are talking nearly 6 frigging years now.

All those wishing for a dm in jan, forget it.

All thosr wishing for ozil to play in the middle.

Forget it

This is the arsene wenger show and we all know he DOES NOT CHANGE HIS MIND especially after being criticised by peers ans fans

18 Sep 2014 16:39:58
The Original AG

The prime example of negativity on this site now. Jeez I thought all the doom/gloom fans would leave after the transfer window!

He knows more than anyone what he needs - he has seen his team ripped to shreds countlessly - it was reported everywhere who he was after and it just didn't materialise.

He bought Ozil and Sanchez through pressure - this amount of focus and pressure on our weak midfield and defence will cause him to break the bank to bring one in.

Regardless - will everyone cheer the fudge up?

Further to that it doesn't matter who well buy, we'll still have the same clueless dinosaur in charge

Do you really think Wenger just clicks his fingers and players arrive, its not fifa, Wenger could have a list of who he wants but if the board or money men can not agree terms then nothing will happen, if a player does not want to come nothing will happen, if the club do not want to sell nothing will happen, if city, chelsea, madrid or psg come in or show interest then we have no chance, players were were reportly in for got injured so nothing happened. its not fifa or champ manager.
and I don't really see how much Wenger earns affects what player we can sign?
I do agree that this is the one area we badly need improving (DM), but it has to be a lot better than what we have got an for some of the prices being thrown around about players it makes it hard. everyone says its been a need since petit/veria we have not addressed this, but Gilberto was good, Song was that good with fab that Barcelona wanted them both, and arteta did well when he first cam on board, he is no longer good enough at the top level agreed. but that only been most of last season and this,

{Ed025's Note - good post that GB...and very fair mate imo..

Fine. Believe what you want.


Funny though, when chlsea needed a dm, they bought matic, needed an am, bought cesc, needed a striker, got costa, needed a young protege centre back, bought one of those as well.

None of this, no ones available bowlocks.

Theyre going to walk this league because their manager addresses the shortcomings in his team

{Ed025's Note - its all about opinions AG, and your entitled to yours mate..even if they are a bit over the top.. :)

People still are backing wenger in the recruitment department. I can't believe it. We tried for carvalho we were told the figure they wanted we didn't pay it. The time he wouldn't stump up for cahill but ends up paying more for mertesacker. Wtf

18 Sep 2014 19:20:51
Derby,

Carvalho has a reported buy out clause of £37 million, I can't see he is worth half that mate.

18 Sep 2014 15:32:15
It would be a miracle to win the league with the squad we have. Too thin at the back and too one dimensional. Even IF that miracle does come to pass, Arsene has lost a few points in my books. I am tired of this "edge of your seat" play. I am thirty this year but I can die of hypertension any minute lol

18 Sep 2014 13:57:41
I understand the Frustration you lovely people but we need to remain positive, yes we have not started well at all, but apart from the result against leicester (im not including Dortmand as that game never happened in my head) we have not lost, and that's something we have not done to much of in the past.
When we hit form, Which we will then we will be a force in the league, City have dropped points and lost, man utd, Liverpool, and I know Chelsea have won all their games but they really do look easy to score against at the moment, 1 day off up front and I can see them dropping points as well.
its only 4 games into the league there is a long way to go, I actually think we are a lot stronger than last year and yes we have a lot of injury's but when do we not? you can only have 25 players so regardless who would would have singed we could still be in this position.

we all know we need a new Holding/DEF CM and for what ever reason Wenger did not address this who knows what went on behind the scenes, but to suggest that he is no longer the man for the job (in my opinion) is RIDICULOUS. and i'm not talking about what he has done for us 10 years ago, last season we finished 7 points off the top, won the fa cup, signed Ozil, (which in turn will have helped with Sanchez). it was a very good season on the whole.
This has just started, and we have won a cup, not an important one but success breeds success, qualified for the champ league, remain undefeated in the league, Yes the game on Tuesday was an embarrassment, absolutely shameful, but many more teams will go there and look like boys against men as well, let's not throw in the towel just yet.

we are all entitled to our opinions and sites like this are great for true fans to come and have their say and let off steam, but come kick off, for 90 minutes no true arsenal fan should do anything but cheer on the team and sing Wengers name proudly.

On another note - Ozil - the man is simply put our best player, without question, and although he is not having a great time we still need to let him know we love him and we need to build the team around him.
I don't agree with the notion that even if he is played out of position he should still do a job and track back, that's not why we brought him, not why he is magical.
You don't buy a Bentley and then take in to a destruction derby, u use it what you brought it for, Play him in that number 10 roll, sing his name and watch him become the best player in the Prem bar none.

I think we are finding out that ozil just isn't upto life in the premier league.

how can a pro footballer get tired after 70mins? you get semi pro players in the conference who work til 5 then go straight to a game and still put a shift in

if you want ozil to perform you need a team around him that is tall and strong I believe and does his running. he must be the weakest player strength wise on the team.

cazorla ozil wilshire monreal etc in the same line up is just asking for a heavy defeat

Dortmund was just the start

Dortmund was just the start mate. If a manager in far off Germany knows our weaknesses and how to exploit them, then our title rivals certainly do as well.

Undefeated means d!ck all if your not winning.

Ozil is either not suited to the premier league or Wenger can't get what's needed out of him. Either way that's Wengers fault for signing him or utilizing him wrongly. You said yourself play him centrally one of the gripes fans have with Arsene, has he listened? Has he F***!

Last season was better than some of the ones that went before granted but this season was time to kick on and return to the top where we belong. In order to do this we needed to address certain aspects of the team where we are lacking and what started as a good window turned into disappointment. This again is down to Arsene.

At the very least Wenger is:
Predictable
Stubborn
arrogant
incompetent in the transfer market

Four qualities we could do without in a manager.

We finished in a top four where Liverpool took Utds place. How long before they are back up there? Everton are pushing on. Spurs are their own worst enemy but at some stage they to are going to click to at the very least be competitive. Arsenal can not simply sit still while other teams progress around us.

Arsene has took us as far as he can. Thanks very much, It's been wonderful but It's time for a change.

18 Sep 2014 13:46:59
Probably going to get slated for this but do we not think we're all being a bit too negative on here? Lots of '4th place trophy posts' coming up again. Have you forgotten we won the FA Cup last season already? I know it's been a bad start, but we clearly haven't got going yet. And our start hasn't been THAT bad. Still undefeated in the Prem.

18 Sep 2014 13:09:10
If I might add just a note:

like Pep, Mourinho, klopp, enrique, new age coaches, with new techniques and tactics put out teams to face all adversity, I feel the likes of wenger and even fergie ( smart timing for retirement) were left in the shade when it comes to this.

Arsenal have failed year on year in the champions league and while our players get better our play regresses, so while I admire wenger, I feel his time is up and at this moment, wasting the careers of Ozil and podolski.

talking as a fan of football rather than Arsenal.

18 Sep 2014 15:41:57
Totally agree Laker,

Agree laker.

We are but also rans on both the prem and cl and have been since 06

8 years, no progress

{Ed025's Note - i know i keep saying it AG..but 17 consecutive champions league qualifications does not a bad side make..you have been spoilt mate, and yes there is no harm in wanting to win things but lets have a bit of perspective fella, 17 other clubs in the prem would bite your arm off for the success arsenal have had over the past 10 years..

18 Sep 2014 11:57:12
Last night I watched my sons u9s team vs the under 11s as part of training it reminded me of arsenal v Dortmund possession wise and ability to find cover

One thing you know though is that there wasnt an old past it player playing DM on the losing team lol

18 Sep 2014 10:06:46
Our performance against Dortmund was abysmal, no other way to possibly doubt that. But rather than succumb to knee jerk reactions of the Arsene Out brigade, let us get behind the lads, give them the support and love that only true Gooners can give.
So Ozil is played out of position, our DM is still unbought. So what?

We play with what we have, and by golly, we can win with what we have.

Victory Through Harmony

Remember?

Its getting worse though mate in jan last year we were top this jan we will be 4th at best, hopefully he goes out and spends in jan

lets win the league cup and get klopp in let wenger leave with a trophey

"So Ozil is played out of position, our DM is still unbought. So what?"

Is this a serious statement?

We play with what Wenger has purchased. We don't all have to like and lump it. The mans position is not untouchable and if it is, it shouldn't be!

Their is nothing knee jerk about wanting your team to succeed and their is certainly nothing kneejerk about the question of Wenger. This has been going on season after season and the faults in the team are evident to all.

No more blind faith, he has run out of excuses.

18 Sep 2014 12:24:58
"We play with what we have"

Any successful business, or any business that wants to be successful, has to have everything in place at the start of the day.

If you go into a pub and they don't have beer, you walk out, pub shuts down.

If you walk into a half empty supermarket, you will walk out again without a purchase, supermarket shuts down.

The list is endless.

4 games into new season and we have already lost 2 key players for 3 months.

The issues were not properly addressed during Summer Window.

Ok, valid points all around
But at this stage, do you really think we have any choice?
Will Wenger listen to us?
Heck, if Diarra is available, take him and stick him front of the back four.
What I am trying to say really is, let's get behind the boys. They play when and where the gaffer tells them to.
Show love for the team, and let Wenger know our gripes

18 Sep 2014 07:36:39
"Get at them in the first 20 minutes don't let them settle they can't handle it. Don't let them relax on the ball that's all that has to be done then they start to roll over."
THAT'S WHAT TEAMS ARE SAYING ABOUT US!
Better believe it too!
No good kidding ourselves we all know this is true, question is why are we allowing it to happen.
The match against Dortmund was embarrassing.
You couldn't really single out a good performance.Well actually it would have been easier to have asked the question "Who played well? "
If it wasn't so early in the competition I would have said the Emirates would be like a ghost town for the return game.
I for one would not be happy to pay for performances like that from a great club like Arsenal.

Imo a draw wouldn't be the end of the world away to Villa, we are in a 5 horse race for 3d and 4th place and 4pts from Villa over the season is a decent return.
If we concentrate on not slipping up to badly against the outsiders and not losing to CL place rivals Everton Liverpool utd and spurs then 3rd place is doable and an improvement

Nothing but a win at villa will do. To far behind and to long since we've won In the league already this season. We don't normally have a blip till Christmas. I dread to think what that's going to be like.

Let's be honest Ulster mate where not ready to compete for the league and won't be in a position to do so until at an absolute long shot January but the nearest realistic opportunity to right last summers failings will be next summer.
Our battle is with the other 4 champions league hopefuls with 5 of us right fighting for 2 places, we are still well placed in that race and can if Arsene was to see what's really happening not the world as he and Artetta talk of seeing it even act in January to stregthen that 3rd or 4th place bid, mind that you that's a long shot as I say

Agree with G62
The complete imbalance of the squad is a massive hindrance. It means we can and will only play one way. Attack attack attack. But can we defend? No. Plain and simple.
We need a higher quality defender in the middle at the back. And we need a decent holding mid who can orchestrate play from deep.
Until the defensive issues are addressed then 4th is our level

I hear what you are saying g62. Chelsea and City are stronger and it is theirs to lose but we played with the same Achilles heel problems last year and were not an incredible distance from the top. An opening day win against Villa last season would have taken us even closer.

I don't want to finish 3rd or 4th, I want to win or at the very least I want to aim to win and not make it easy for that chap Mourinho.

Villa have been flirting with relegation recently and while they have started this season brightly surely a team of our calibre should be aiming for 6 points.

If we can't do it against stronger opposition then teams like Villa have to be our bread and butter if we are to stand any chance at the top of the table. The gap is already too big.