Norwich City (h) - Instant Reaction

Yeah I agree. I thought he was decent. Am I right in thinking this was his first start this season. A little rusty?

"This is Norwich...conceded more than 2 xG in 2 out of their 3 games." True, but those 2 games were against Liverpool (Norwich 1.4 - 2.0 Liverpool) and City (City 2.7 - 0.1 Norwich) . They actually beat Leicester on xG (1.6 - 1.3) (source: fbref). And that's a pretty tough run of games to get an idea of how they'll do this season (similar to the situation we've been in). In terms of xG we beat them about as convincingly as City did, so if we use that as a measuring stick, a pretty convincing performance, even with the "it's only INSERT TEAM" caveat

Agreed. The only time Norwich really came into it was when we stopped pressing to conserve energy. Also, judging chunks of the game instead of the *whole* game is strange to me.

Anthony H

I think Elliott is a little harsh on our first half performance. After the 20 minutes, Norwich escaped the press a couple of times, Sambi and Pepe lost the ball a couple of times and we lost control. We should've been more patient in attack and slowed down the tempo for 5 minutes and go again which we couldn't do. we started the 2nd half with slower rythm and our cute combinations came off more. Arteta as much said in his post match interview - we were attacking "too early" making it end-to-end which will only favour underdogs. Our team as a whole - especially Ø, ESR need to learn in-game management skills - Ability to play at different rythms, switch tempos back and forth quickly, kill opponents momentum by just keeping the ball etc. I think that should be our next step as a team and recruiting a CM in the mould of a tempo setter like veratti/arteta will address this, will also take an all action b2b like Ramsey.

Start Saka in place of Pepe. Martinelli in for Saka. Or swap Martinellj for Aubamayang. And put Pepe ST.

Chivs tastic

Oh you just mentioned it lol

Personally, I think pepe should play on the left side of the attack. Because Tierney can hold the width on the left-hand side allowing him to play closer to auba. Then Saka can hold the width on the right as he is much better at that, than pepe.

Kinda harsh on AMN in my opinion, because whilst i agree he's probably not at the level required it bothers me that you only look at him trough the prism of the on the ball stuff. That's only one part of the game and his of the ball skill and defensive capability are probably better than any of the midfielders we currently have and also find it quite amusing to write him of when we all raved about Bissouma in the summer whose primary attributes are of the ball aswell. On the ball i also think his intention was often correct, just the execution that was a little of at times.

Here’s a take. Pepe is the french Walcott (Pepe a dribbler, Walcott a speedster, both good finishers but Walcott a better finisher). Like Walcott, Pepe doesn’t seem to know how to play. You can’t blame the coach when he isolates himself on the pitch, when he doesn’t get up and get back when he loses the ball, when he doesn’t press a defender when it’s on. He shouldn’t need that level of instruction. There is much more he could do to involve himself. He doesn’t seem to know how. It’s much more obvious live. We need to move on from him.

Nice one guys have to disagree with two stocks taht you discussed. Tomiyasu I thought did great. He trained for a day with this dysfunctional team and coaching staff and didn't put a foot wrong. He showed by ambition by talking a difficult volley and did good job defending. AMN please it's his first game after being frozen out. Pls give him time and I maintain this he is better than Elneny who I have supported no end and dare I say Xhaka. Yes there is a bit of casualness with his body language and passes but something that can be ironed out. It's amazing that you guys don't question a manager who is here for 20 months yet doesn't have a clue how to utilise Pepe and still has a lopsided team but all over an academy player who has been humiliated, banished from first team and played very rarely to be a Ronaldo on his first match after a long time. Mind you Arteta abs his staff manages every match and not an odd match here and there. Also let's not mock spurs, they are on 9 points while we are on 3. Talk about them when we move above them till then let's look at our house.

Maybe you misunderstood. What I was trying to say is that you want very good players who can also do other things. as opposed to trying to find a place for players who don’t fit anywhere

Absolute nonsense take on Monreal. For 2, maybe even 3 years at a stretch he was firmly in the conversation for best LB in the league because of how well-rounded he was. He wasn’t the absolute best defensive Lb in the league nor the absolute best offensive LB but he was good, verging on great at both ends and that made him a great player.

WE ARE BRINGING THE THUNDER TO MIDTABLE 😂

The players we bought are good. We can expect better days from here on out. Happy to see Mikel putting his money where his mouth is.

Tomiyasu signing is similar to the Sagna one

Whatever minute you’re at… stop listening 😭

I'm really hoping it's not a stock down for Maitland-Niles from Elliot ... There it is :/

We should be beating Burnley arteta hasn't beaten them yet though

Drowning out elliot

What was the atmosphere like there

Interesting take actually

Great pod as always. I think the music is going over the top at the end again

Great stuff from Paul today.

Really looking forward to this! Pre-emptively I’d like to give a stock rising 📈 to the fans at the game today. I felt we all got behind the team and manager, and got they needed our support not our judgment. Sure, some groans and bits when moves didn’t come off - but given how much thhe media have piled on to us (and have loved it) I thought we really stood tall with the team. Let’s see how hard the journos go in on Spurs after Palace 👀 be interesting if we manage to nab something against Burnley before the derby… COYG in the meantime!

I really do believe that Odegaard has the potential to replace Xakha in our midfield and become our "regista". He has leadership, vision and work rate. I'm getting a lot of Jorginhoesk vibes from him. Another player moved from a more attacking role to a deeper position.

Hey fellas. Love y'all and the pod to death but is there any chance y'all can please turn the volume down on the intro song? It cranks sooooo hard off the top I keep having to reach for the volume to turn it down.

The fotmob app has xG. SofaScore has heat maps.

Where do you guys get the stats from directly after the game? Is it a free website you can access?

Just got back from the game. Not sure what to make of that! Look forward to your thoughts

i. Dont. Give. A. Feck. We. Won.

I know Norwich didnt pose much threat, but Im in love with the new back 5

Jake Walker