That cross field pass to Martinelli was 100% intentional, I don’t care what the commentator said. You can see him notice the run, and he absolutely loads up on his right foot and is watching the run the whole flight of the ball.

Absolute class.

United really are the great entertainers; I haven’t stopped laughing at them for weeks

I’d argue the opposite. Last season we averaged 2.3 goals per game, and yet the games that cost us the most were where we were open to a fast counter or a ball over the top and drew games we should have won (Liverpool and west ham away are the worst offenders for this) or lost games we should have at least drawn (eg Nottingham forest, conceding a goal from a turnover in midfield).

If we got a point from forest, and 3 each from Liverpool and West Ham, we would have been level with city on points at the end of the season. But unfortunately we were unable to control games, and it cost us a title. So personally I’m happy to see us slow up on going for chances and control the flow of games, because I believe the end result will be more points over the course of a season.

Guys I’m seeing the same point about “Oh Arteta is lying, he just picks favourites even if the mess up”. It really isn’t that complicated.

Boss says he’s creating competition for places.

Also says he will not drop players for making mistakes.

Therefore, his criteria for competition is not mistakes made, it’s ability to fit the system. And Raya fits better than Ramsdale.

You’re viewing Raya attempting a pass that gets cut out as a mark against him: for Arteta, I suspect it would be a mark against him if he had the opportunity to attempt it, and instead chose to clear it (which is exactly what Rambo was likely to have done).

Same with Raya standing in the centre of the box for Mudryk’s goal: fans and pundits see that and assume that’s a mark against him, but actually It would’ve been a mark against him if he stayed on his line and allowed the cross to go unchallenged.

Y’all need to relax. We haven’t even lost a game yet.We’re in 3rd by a 2 point margin. We’ve been disrupted by injury far more this season than we were up until the end of last season, our best attacking threats have all been in and out with injury, we have not been playing to our highest level, and we’re still finding ways to win games.

We just held man city to almost nothing offensively. Chelsea needed a suspect penalty and a fluke to get a draw against us even when we played pretty poorly by our standards.

And I know someone’s gonna say “but we’re allowed to criticize!! Reee” yes you are, but if you think we’re gonna be smacking everyone four nil and playing great football every week you’re completely delusional. So maybe hold your criticism for if we actually collapse, not have one average game (where, I’ll say again, we still got a point).

Dick Forshaw is a hell of a name, that’s Forshaw