Alex Collings

Appreciate he doesn’t get on the pitch in our bigger games* but Nørgaard is Sagna levels of Mr Dependable

*he absolutely should

Yeah he was brilliant from start to finish. And probably a medley of reasons tbf, between general chemistry with teammates and getting to grips with OOP duties, etc.

But no doubt the passivity/lack of personality in recent months has been a bit disappointing/unexpected. Hoping it changes from now.

So relieved that Mister Frank, a true gentleman and friend of The Arsenal, got out of there before letting a relegation discolour his CV.

100% agree; imo they’ve not worked well together AT ALL before today, where they combined wonderfully.

Yea true it could be that Saka in the 10 has helped (hadn’t considered that!) but tbf I reckon it’s mainly familiarity that’s come with more time together

That was the sort of performance we signed Eze for. Far more involved, willing to take charge, and the most in sync with the rest of the team I’ve seen him. Think it’ll be restorative confidence wise too, at an important point in the season.

Now please please please track your man vs Chelsea 😖

Gyok versus relegation fodder is undeniable

Come to think of it, the above includes our three best performers in that 23/24 run-in

Kai, Jorginho, Ødegaard all big losses in that regard.

Lowkey Ben White too, imo.

We’ve played with such a lack of maturity and game management at times this season.

Night and day compared to how we managed matches after going a goal up in the second half of 23/24.

AND IFEEEEE 🥹🥹🤩 feel like a proud father

BRANDO 🤩🤩🥹

Martinelli rediscovered passing with the outside of your foot like 6 games ago and has been having the time of his life ever since

Not as stamped as an Ethan/Myles/Dowman, even Marli, but has quietly been the guy I think has an outside chance of making that jump into the senior team.

LW but also very comfortable playing RW

My tweet about Ife: Ife Ibrahim: #6 who has played in defence at times. Suffered with injury but my personal fave from this list. Press-resistant single pivot with a lovely short passing game. Great timing of release, reads game well and interpretation of space means he's great when joining attacks.

A picture of Ife from ~a year ago

My tweet about BBJ a year ago: Brando Bailey-Joseph: LOVE Brando. Only turned 16 recently and now a regular LW for U18s. Explosive, creates separation well, quite two-footed. Has a great cross on him, robust & energetic defensively. Suits the new meta of wide players, excited to watch what he can develop into.

A picture of Brando from a year ago

Bite size profiles I posted about each of them a year ago

🫡

bsky.app/profile/alex...

Ife Ibrahim and Brando Bailey-Joseph are my #1 and #2 #PersonalFaves from the academy. So tonight means very much to me

Damn I was kinda annoying in this one

The SocieLads weren’t ready for today unfortunately

Not a fan of Trossard still being on the pitch tbf

Eze on (as a midfielder) is also ideal for this. Just a pity it’s 2-1 down when they’re no longer incentivised to give us space

We’ve had so many counterattacking opportunities we couldn’t capitalise on. Martinelli or Madueke on for Trossard for the second half please

It's not that he's the answer to the question we all want asked, it's that the question is currently 'can't someone offer more?'

It's like when Nketiah came into the side for Lacazette late in 21/22 and we immediately looked better. He wasn't the answer, but he was closer to it.

Small thing I’ve noticed re Mosquera: his tackles often don’t get the ball far away from the danger zone. Can even get stuck under him.

Compare that to Gabriel (who sends it behind or far away) and Saliba (who tends to come away with the ball neatly in his possession, because he’s Saliba).

Michael Jordan’s famous “I’m back” notice

Forgot about BlueSky ngl, but

Gabby J goals just mean more man

Too often we judge players on moments rather than momentum.

Hahaha yeah fair very jealous of that 😂 at least now I know who to keep an eye out for, hadn’t even heard of Said El Mala!

He’s shot hungry - and will favour that - but never blind to his other options in front of goal. That balance is pretty much exactly what we need from our centre forward.

Wasn’t expecting it but the thing I love most about Gyokeres’ game is his ~final action decision making.