It's 2023 and we essentially have Almunia in goal again. In recent weeks that's now crosses flapped at against Spurs, Chelsea and Newcastle that have all led to goals and dropped points, plus the one he almost punched into the net against Sevilla. Crosses are looking a major concern that are now repeatedly costing us points. Much like Havertz the signing didn't make sense and it's looking a massive flop. Or flap even.
Agree with you re VAR - the whole point is to be able to make a decision on whether the ball is in or not. Why ther fudge have they not got a camera in the right place, they've had this system for years now! Even then the nagle they have is better than the refs so any decision they make is better than his - from the only angle we saw it was clearly out.
Re: Raya, I dunno, Ramsdale hasnt exactly been doing a lot to strengthen his cause.
Also weird that during the match Ange got carded for talking back to the refs but after the match he’s spouting how we must respect them and that’s how he has always done it. Jog on sunshine.
He's no longer the media darling, but I'm totally fine with him coming out swinging like he has on VAR. To his credit he's then immediately chilled out and not gone at the issue again.
10 point deduction for Everton for being 20mil over their FFP level. Chelsea and city have been reported to be around the 300mil over theirs. I wonder what that is going to mean for them!
City and Chelsea will get away with it as the find some loophole that excuses their financial irregularities. It'll be such a good loophole that Everton wont be able to utilise it.
If City and Chelsea dont get points deducted soon then you'd have to assume that Everton will use that as part of their appeal. Amazing at how much money these massive clubs lose every year.
Ramsdale will be starting against Brentford this weekend as Raya can't play against his parent club. It will be interesting to see what happens the week after.
Trossard scores and VAR is gonna rule it out! Fudge I hate the way the offisde is ruled. Bring on the Wenger version where you're only offside if your entire body is ahead of the defender,
Do you remember how wildly this was mocked when he suggested it? While we would still have the same issue about drawing a line somewhere to determine separation, I think it could move to more attacking football.
Ramsdale gives me a serious case of the willies when he’s on the ball but overall he did the job today.
I didn’t think we were going to get the 3 points but stoked to see the team get it over the line. Also happy to see Havertz make such an important contribution. Also couldn’t help but notice that it looks like White and Arteta have the same eyebrow specialist.
Really wasn’t sold on the margin of offside that the VAR came up with. It looked pretty close but given Gabriel Jesus was in the air I thought it would be closer still if not onside. But credit to the whole team for pushing til the end.
I’ll be the first to admit that I questioned why we were determined to pay so much for Declan Rice but he was immense this morning. Didn’t make one mistake. So reliable on the ball. He’s quickly becoming one of my favourite players.
The only loser on Saturday was Ramsdale, lads confidence looks shot. Not the performance he needed. Locks Raya in for the future, which seems a sad ending for him.
Raya has been far from perfect either. The whole goalkeeping situation has been a bit of a shambles this season.
While I agree, I remember the Almunia / Fabianski years well enough to think it could be far worse. But yeah if we’re going to win the league one of our goalkeepers needs to step up.
I remember the change when Cech joined. It was just such an unfamiliar feeling having a competent man between the sticks.