What he’s doing at his age is remarkable.

This contrasts with the approach in the US, where the National Football League (NFL) and Major League Baseball (MLB) have publicly-available policies for players, or staff, who have been accused of sexual or domestic violence.

This is also because there are very different procedural rules around naming individuals prior to indictment and the nature of libel laws. It’s not an instance where it’s just on the club, PL, or FA to develop better policies.

Pickford usually deserves it though.

The prevailing trend in discussing the team assumes that something will happen which will improve the team’s overall attacking output. There’s tension between our position in the table and the team not appearing to have any idea on how to create chances in the current set up. Arsenal still has the 11th best npxG and xG from open play trails behind Everton, Brentford, Brighton, City, Chelsea, Newcastle, Liverpool, Tots, and Villa. Arsenal has scored 13 goals from open play, the same as Wolves and Bournemouth. 38% of the team’s non-penalty goals have from from set pieces, only Luton and Everton are more reliant. Nothing about this attacking output screams title challenger, its mediocre.

Arteta’s discussion yesterday about the game state and opposition strategy is relevant, but I am not sure it offers a complete explanation for the steep drop in output. Open play goals/90 are down to 1 from 1.84 and open play xG/90 is down to 1.25 from 1.68. We are taking improvement for granted, and Arteta deserves some benefit of the doubt here, but I’m curious in what he will do to effectuate what’s needed.

Couldn’t watch any game yesterday but was getting updates on this one and was wondering about his performance. Slot relied on Kokcu to do very similar things and pretty much play all over the midfield. Still wouldn’t mind Kokcu.

Anyone thinking Odegaard get’s phased out at the end of the season isn’t being serious. He has the armband because he has the confidence of the manager to communicate his ideas to the team, in the same way that Jorginho had the armband towards the end of last game.

Leadership comes in a variety of forms. We had “captain without the armband” Xhaka last year, and Ode seems very content with allowing guys who are naturally vocal the space to do what they do. English culture has an obsession with the captain as some kind of cultural ideal. The reality inside the club is likely very different.

Raya will likely be our keeper until he’s in his thirties.

What we were all saying about Ramsdale this time last year. The club was saying something similar 6 months ago:

Sporting Director Edu said: “It’s great that we’ve agreed and completed a new contract with Aaron. We have enjoyed so many positive moments from Aaron’s performances in his two years with us, and are looking forward to many more.

"We must also remember that Aaron is still very young, so there is still a lot more to come from him, as we continue to build with our young foundations.”

Manager Mikel Arteta added: “We’re all so happy that Aaron has signed a new contract. The way Aaron has developed over the past two years has been exceptional, with his performances, contribution and overall adaptation to the club.

"It’s great that we’re continuing to build our future with our biggest talents in our young squad. We’re all looking forward to enjoying many more years of Aaron the player and the person at the football club.”

The media uproar and player discontent was so predictable. The situation isn’t good and hopefully Ramsdale leaves in the winter window.

It’s fair to say this experiment with Raya and Ramsdale, to the extent there ever really was one, has failed. We aren’t getting the best out of either keeper. I wonder about coaching, but more than anything else, the conventional wisdom about keeper management wins the day.

We’ve been in for a keeper for the last 4 years. Runarsson, Ramsdale, Turner, and Raya. Time to make it 5/5. Liverpool last spent money on a keeper in 2018 with Allison. City bought Zack Steffen in 2019. Odd way to spend resources.

Only Nuno. We aren’t going to come close to making money back on Ramsdale. We may break even on Lokonga if he comes back from injury and handles his shit.

Fun fact, Max Power plays in Saudi Arabia for Al-Qadsiah.

With lower defensive looks — Arsenal face the lowest average height of defensive actions in the league — and improving work further back, Arteta has successfully proven a major point.

I can’t help but feel like Arsenal are the architect of their own demise with respect to this stat. This is entirely driven by the way we play.

At this stage in Charlie’s development, it seems like so much of his performance relies on those around him. His real strength is in link up/interplay and a lot of his teammates haven’t been on a similar technical level. Swansea has been a breathe of fresh air compared to Blackpool in that regard, but I still want to see him in a more technical side.

Recovery speed is the only real concern I have. He doesn’t shy away from the physical side of the game and is almost a bit too eager to fly in on the tackle.

He’s going to need a lot of game.time to properly develop. He doesn’t get that at the club, unfortunately, but that doesn’t mean he won’t find high level success

Soucek goal…

Interesting to look at the overall stats of the team this year v. last year.

We all know we aren’t attacking with the same level of potency as last year, but it’s the differences are stark.

• xG is down 7%, but npxG/90 is down 24%. Non-penalty goals/90 is down 26%.

• xA and Assists/90 are down 30%.

• GCA/90 from live passes is down 45%. SCA/90 from live passes is down 10%. GCA from turnovers has increased by 92%.

• Conversely SCA from deadballs is up 30% and our GCA from deadball passes is up 213%.

• Goals and xG from open play are down 46% and 28% respectively.

• We’ve scored 7 goals in 12 games from corners - an increase per 90 of 71% over last year.

• We’ve doubled our goals from penalties (6) over last year (3).

• We’ve scored more goals from penalties and corners (13) than from open play (12). Maybe this team is ready for Ivan Toney…

• Open play goals scored v. conceded 12 v. 8.

• We are averaging more touches year over year, but less of these touches are coming in the middle third. The team is averaging more touches in the defensive third and attacking third. Touches in the attacking penalty area are slightly lower year over year. Considering that the overall number of touches and touches in the attacking third have increased, the decreased touches in the attacking penalty area is strange.

Flip side is nearly every defensive metric has improved. We are still only 12 games in, trends change, and I don’t think any of these figures are sustainable - particularly the reliance on corners and penalties. It’s tempting to blame it all on Kai and Jesus only be fit in 4 league games but I think most of this is a tactical issue for the manager to sort out. We’re winning, so it feels wrong to be worried or complain, but I don’t know if the the model for these first 12 games is replicable.

You can still Visit Rwanda you just can’t be forced to claim asylum there.

He also wouldn’t renew his contract.

Day 2 of the interlull, we’re doing the keepers now.

We need something to happen, we’re just talking about the same things, in exactly the same ways, every 5 days.

Gotta be a couple pints in to understand him though. That Waterford accent is rough.

Feels like more of an overcorrection of the failures of last season than a final form.

Not really limited to Rice though. The team misses runs from all over the place. Some of it may just be developing chemistry, but I think it’s also down to instruction.

My naive hope is that Arteta has deliberately kept the handbrake on to get through the group stages and festive fixtures and once the new year hits, the reins will loosen.