The Barclays Premier League thread 2015/2016

[Jimmy]

Lamela was woeful today from what I saw. When he gets the ball he doesn't know what to do with it half the time and ends up giving it away. He also still gets muscled off the ball way too easy. Eriksen and Son were fantastic though. Spurs look infinitely more threatening when Eriksen is playing, he's so good.

Guess you just watched the wrong moments? Thought he played extremely well, gave Walker a lot of protection on the right wing, and then did so well to win the ball and start our attack off which saw us score our goal. He wasn't perfect, still has a habit of not always playing the right pass quick enough, but he did a lot of great things today, thought we were really fluid in attack. I also thought it was a really good performance, thought Son was great and Dier and Alli were superb. Not very Spurs like to keep three consecutive clean sheets, either. 

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Unbelievable save from De Gea.

[Whisper]

Super Tony Marshall!

[Hobo]

Finished 1-1. Norwich managed to get something from a set piece thanks to a poor bit of punching from Mingolet.

I honestly think Liverpool played well and probably should've won. Hopefully Benteke and Sturridge can help that. They both looked good but it seemed like neither were 100% today.

[DavidMarrio]

Coutinho is a gobshite. Could have cut it back to Ings for an easy goal...decides to do a crap shot from a daft angle instead. 

Promising moments but there's on oy so many games of promising moments you can have. Moreno was fantastic and Ings done great coming on. Milner was rubbish today.  

[Baddar]

Wasn't expecting Martial to start his United career this brightly, so the signs are good at the moment.

Glad we came away with the win but it always gets far too uncomfortable in games when we're just a goal ahead. Our defence just shits itself.

[Hobo]

Coutinho is a gobshite. Could have cut it back to Ings for an easy goal...decides to do a crap shot from a daft angle instead. 

Promising moments but there's on oy so many games of promising moments you can have. Moreno was fantastic and Ings done great coming on. Milner was rubbish today.  

Coutinho just seemed to get into a Gerrard-esque mindset where he figured the only way the team could win was by him doing something magical. 

I think maybe the lack of Henderson is causing Milner a problem. I dunno. The two of them looked great but since Henderson has been out Milner has looked a little more shaky.

[DavidMarrio]

Coutinho is a gobshite. Could have cut it back to Ings for an easy goal...decides to do a crap shot from a daft angle instead. 

Promising moments but there's on oy so many games of promising moments you can have. Moreno was fantastic and Ings done great coming on. Milner was rubbish today.  

Coutinho just seemed to get into a Gerrard-esque mindset where he figured the only way the team could win was by him doing something magical. 

I think maybe the lack of Henderson is causing Milner a problem. I dunno. The two of them looked great but since Henderson has been out Milner has looked a little more shaky.

Yeh that's exactly what Coutinho ended up doing. Trying to win the game by himself. He was fairly inconsistent today and that's partly to him being marked out the game at times but it just seemed to be cut in from the left and attempt to curl it into the right hand corner. 

I do think we miss Henderson. I thought the set up in the first and start of the second half was good, I don't know if that would mean Lucas being dropped when Henderson is fit though. 

[Rafael]

Coutinho is a gobshite. Could have cut it back to Ings for an easy goal...decides to do a crap shot from a daft angle instead. 

Promising moments but there's on oy so many games of promising moments you can have. Moreno was fantastic and Ings done great coming on. Milner was rubbish today.  

Tettey closed in the pass. Coutinho was expecting him to close him down so he could play the ball to a free Ings. Tettey didn't do it, he got confused, decided to shoot, though I agree he tried too hard a couple of times.

[brenchill]

Who's got dibs on Martial Law in the headlines?  We had Martial Art last week.

[Colly]

I'm having Martial Bravestarr when it becomes appropriate.

[Moses Julep]

Martial aside, so far I have seen the Son is shining, which I approve of.

[FLiam]

@arsenalist: GIF from ESPN Brazil's coverage showing Gabriel's 'kick' http://t.co/x8sTkpt3T2

Clearest video yet that I've seen of the "kicking" incident. Makes it even more outrageous. It's nothing, it's petulant perhaps. But to be now facing a three match suspension whilst Costa could receive nothing is embarrassing.

Things happen on a football pitch that are a millions times worse than that every single game. 

[Colly]

Was it a straight red or a second yellow?

[stokeriño]

Petulance was the entire point of the booking, from what I gathered. If he hadn't done it 10 seconds after the referee told him off the first time, maybe no one would have cared.

[DavidMarrio]

Was it a straight red or a second yellow?

My impression was a straight red. He originally got a yellow for the initial scuffle but a straight red for the flick/kick at Costa. 

 

Also Martial has done well in his initial two Prem games but saying it's 30mil well spent is extremely premature. Wtf Yoshida was doing with that back pass...sure that was identical to a Man.Utd goal against Southampton from either last season or two seasons ago. 

Edited September 21, 2015 by David Marrio

[FLiam]

Was it a straight red or a second yellow?

Straight red card. 

What I find staggering is that none of the officials managed to see Costa striking Koscielny twice in the face, pushing him over and then grabbing Gabriel round the neck. 

Yet they spot the tiniest flick of the boot. Just atrocious refereeing all round.

[Whisper]

Was it a straight red or a second yellow?

My impression was a straight red. He originally got a yellow for the initial scuffle but a straight red for the flick/kick at Costa. 

 

Also Martial has done well in his initial two Prem games but saying it's 30mil well spent is extremely premature. Wtf Yoshida was doing with that back pass...sure that was identical to a Man.Utd goal against Southampton from either last season or two seasons ago. 

Yep RVP scored a near identical goal there last season.

On Martial, it is absolutely too early to be saying "worth the money" or whatever, but the early signs are very, very good. I think what makes him different from, say, Macheda is that you can see in his all round play that he just looks the part. He's quick, strong, good in the air and holds the ball up well. He contributes (or has so far) pretty well to general play, so it's not like he's just popped up with a few opportunistic goals (like Macheda).

Martial also has the added bonus of being our only striker scoring goals, therefore necessity dictates he will have to play most weeks. The likes of Januzaj, Wilson, Rossi, Macheda etc never got a consistent run in the team.

Edited September 21, 2015 by Whisper

[Baddar]

What's funny about Martial is it was easy for people to say "what a fucking waste of money lol" before he'd kicked a ball for us, yet when he makes a great start it's suddenly foolish of people to claim that he won't be.

Again, looooong way for the guy to go, but I think it should work both ways. Don't immediately write him off then call hyperbole on others when he makes a very good first impression. 

[Colly]

Was it a straight red or a second yellow?

Straight red card. 

What I find staggering is that none of the officials managed to see Costa striking Koscielny twice in the face, pushing him over and then grabbing Gabriel round the neck. 

Yet they spot the tiniest flick of the boot. Just atrocious refereeing all round.

Theory question here rather than directly related to this, but it would apply. When a red card is appealed, are the panel re-refereeing the entire decision, i.e. using the footage to rejudge and if they can't get a good view the red is revoked, or are they looking for evidence that it shouldn't be a red, in which case if they can't get a good angle the original decision stands? Genuinely have no idea.

Edit: Just watched that gif above. Least violent conduct violent conduct red since the Aliadiere nose tweak. Terrible refereeing.

Edited September 21, 2015 by Ultra Rare Colly