By Tony Attwood
I see that the ex-Tottenham manager and winner of the Europa League with them, a Mr Posttecoglou, has been sacked by Nottingham Forest. The Guardian is suggesting he is the “least effective Premier League manager ever.” And yet when he was manager of Celtic, the media happily reported that he was being offered jobs elsewhere all the time, with stories connecting him with Leicester City, Leeds United, Everton, Crystal Palace, Southampton, Chelsea, Southampton and Wolverhamton Wands, and at no state did any of these know-it-all scribblers suggest that the guy was useless and shouldn’t be working with the under 10s.
Now of course, they turn on him as a pack of wild hounds, because that is what they do. But he was the man who actually managed to give Tottenham Hots a trophy, which really doesn’t happen that often. He has been a manager at 13 clubs and in some cases he has been praised for his work, not least at Celtic (and for giving the Tin Totts a trophy – the first one in 19 years if you count the league cup, 36 years if you don’. Now the word is “At no stage did the Australian coach seem to understand the assignment he had been given at Nottingham Forest.”
So he will move on and find somewhere else – managerial club number 14 but probably not in England.
Meanwhile, Arsenal are top of the league, but don’t expect any accolades. The Guardian calls yesterday’s game a “mechanical performance”. Has any club top of the league been called mechanical before? And if Arsenal are mechanical, what are Manchester United, Newcastle and Aston Villa, as they reside in the lower reaches of the League?
Arsenal are not the top goalscorers in the league – that is ManC with 17 followed by Chelsea with 16 – Arsenal are third in that category with 15. But they do have the best defence with only three conceded, and the best goal difference with +12.
But if we compare that with recent years, Arsenal are not always keeping pace with their previous achievements. Indeed as the table shows, this is not as good as 2022 or 2023 except in terms of defence and goal difference.l The fact is that ManC and Liverpool have each been beaten twice already, and this season only Manchester City can rival Arsenal’s goal difference.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal 2025 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 3 | 12 | 19 |
| 3 | Arsenal 2024 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 17 |
| 2 | Arsenal 2023 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 6 | 10 | 20 |
| 1 | Arsenal 2022 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 8 | 12 | 21 |
Of course, none of this means we will or won’t win the league, but it does mean that Arsenal are top because other teams have slipped a bit and are beating each other. The league table in the order of the number of defeats so far reads.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 3 | 12 | 19 |
| 4 | AFC Bournemouth | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 11 | 3 | 15 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 5 | 8 | 14 |
| 8 | Crystal Palace | 8 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 13 |
| 2 | Manchester City | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 6 | 11 | 16 |
| 3 | Liverpool | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 15 |
So yes, it is great to be top, but I think for once the Guardian got it right. “This was a mechanical performance from Arsenal but it was enough.”.
What gives me hope for this season is that I still believe 100% in our new centre forward, and when he starts scoring, he won’t stop. But as ever we shall see.
Here’s another thing. Only Liverpool, Newcastle and ManC have scored against Arsenal this season – and each club has only got one goal. I have no idea if Arsenal can keep that up, but it certainly does bring about some confidence. (ManC have conceded six and Liverpool nine.)
So next up it is Atlético Madrid (fourth in the Spanish league, and six points behind the league leaders) on Tuesday, and then Crystal Palace (eighth in the Premier League) on Sunday. We should have some confidence in a win in each of those games. But what Arsenal also need is what they showed after the Liverpool game – that one defeat does not send them into a dip in which three or four games that we might expect the club to win, turn out to be draws.
But equally, Arsenal should not put everything into the game in Spain and then treat the Palace match as an easy affair. Every game has to be taken as one in which the opposition will seek to show Arsenal that they are not utterly almighty and can simply sail through every game.
And this, I think, is where the big squad, including those youngsters who are already showing such talent, will come into their own. With a spot of luck, Atletico will have been watching the victory this weekend, but not thinking about the players who didn’t make it into the team.
After this weekend’s game, the injury list is down to just four players – Jesus, Odegaard, Havertz and Madueke – and in time they will come back. All we need to do is keep winning without them.
Tony
“But if we compare that with recent years, Arsenal are not always keeping pace with their previous achievements. Indeed as the table shows, this is not as good as 2022 or 2023 except in terms of defence and goal difference.”
It all depends how you look at it, especially if you simply just compare this season to last. Personally, I think rather than comparing the first 8 matches against the first 8 matches, a better comparison may be to compare equivalent fixtures. If you do that then things look very different.
Ignoring Leeds, as obviously there is no comparison to make, if you compare the other 7 identical fixtures, then they look like this.
Season 24/25
Played 7 Won 2 Lost 2 Drew 3 For 12 Against 7 GD +5 Pts 9 for an average of 1.25 per match
Season 25/26
Played 7 Won 5 Lost 1 Drew 1 For 10 Against 3 GD +7 Pts 16 for an average of 2.28 per match
Every parameter better aside from scoring slightly less. BUT, and it’s a massive but, against a group of teams we habitually struggle against we have more than DOUBLED our points haul.
THAT IS REMAKABLE..
Final point. Was it a coincidence that our first 8 matches included all these, what are for us, ‘tricky’ fixtures? Who knows?
If you ask me, given our run of fixtures, this start to the season is unbelievable.
Sorry almost doubled our points tally. Still a remarkable increase of over an average of an extra point per match.
Nitram,
I concurr, and on the referee side, we keep beating each golem sent our way
And now Pool! have lost 5 in a row. Good for them.
Chris
I actually predicted that both Spurs and Liverpool could easily drop 2 points each today.
My reasoning was that Spurs are as usual, over rated. The media, as usual talk them up incessantly. Apart from their fantastic win at the Etihad they have failed to impress. Add to that Villa were on a role and I saw a draw.
With regards to Liverpool, they were riding their luck for so long and it had to run out, and it has done. BIG time. On the other hand I think United have actually been better than their overall results reflect. Visually and statistics wise, it is United they have given us by far the hardest match, despite the fact we won at old Trafford.
Again I said to Mrs N, I thought they would get a drew at Anfield.
I must admit I didn’t see them both losing, but hey, I’m not complaining.
By the way, what a goal Villas winner was.
From what I see, I am expecting an Arsenal-City title race.
Pool! have a poor defense and you can’t win a title this way.
I won’t talk about Sp*rs, I’m expecting them to end up lucky if they gent into Conference League, as Crystal Palace. Fulham, BHA, IMHO have better teams.
Chelsea could end up surprising us, but I’m doubtful that they have enough stability.
Arsenal have an Arsenalesque defence, A midfield as good as in the Invincible times and a forward line tnat fears no comparison, all of them used to working as one unit and having a clear identity, goal and mental cohesion. The mental cohesion, the ‘we are a family’ side of this team is going to be an important factor.
And week-end after week-end we beat the PGMOL virus that tries to insert itself into the game and results. So, I’m really enjoying thois season and can’t wait for the 4 injured players to come back and hope we’ll see MLS and Dowman soon in better roles.