Pizy

As expected, Matic is exactly the player they needed. Hope the club are happy with that £40m that's sitting in the bank doing nothing while Matic looks perfectly set up and comfortable in a title rivals team.

^ Wow. Looks a completely different player when he's playing with confidence like he did there. Also pretty clear that he's a CM who's best at running with the ball from deep rather than almost a striker like Conte tried him as. Hopefully he develops nicely there and returns a much better (less lazy) player who's ready to slot into the first team.

It's like he was trying to prove to people that he's a modern, ball playing CB by bringing the ball up and joining the attack. He needs to just stick to the things he's good at and keep his game simple. Stop trying to do too much.

Easily controlling the game before he went off, lost control completely when he did go off. Yeah, sorry, he takes the blame. We win that game handily with 11 men on the pitch.

We know Luiz will be able to deal with the physicality of Wanyama/Dier/Dembele, it's the positional discipline I'm worried about. If we can slow the game down I think we have a decent chance. If they just press constantly and target our midfield we're toast.

I love Willian but like a couple of years ago we saw today that if he's our primary, go-to source for creativity and incisiveness in the final third we're in trouble. He's brilliant as a foil for Hazard or someone world class on the opposite side but he can't shoulder the load on his own. He does so well in the build up but is so indecisive around the box. This is why Pedro is often favored. Still, he's a warrior and I'm glad we kept him and refused Mourinho's advances.

Worry not. We'll have Danny D in by then. 👍🏼

Honestly, he's been getting away with several of that sort of tackle. He usually gets away with it because refs know he's not the sort of player to put in a rash tackle. He most certainly would've been bullied and made useless against Spuds anyways so it's not a huge loss.

City's bench today probably cost more than our best XI. Compare that to what we had there today and it's insane. How can Roman and the hierarchy see that and be okay with it? Their squad is light years ahead of ours. How are we expected to compete with a side that can bring the likes of Yaya, Bernardo, Sterling, Gündogan, Mendy, and Sané off the bench on any given day? An injury/suspension or two for us and you see how much trouble we're in. They could lose several top players and replace them with players who would start every week for almost every other club in the league. Ridiculous that we've let it get this way.

Immedietly strikes you after watching Costa for so long and Batshuayi recently how silky Morata is on the ball. Proper footballer rather than a battering ram. Goal scorer but also a creator. We have to make sure not to get carried away, but damn did he look excellent.

Think the only thing he really struggles with is playing the quick pass while he's being closely marked. He can make the simple passes just fine but has to continue to work on the trickier passes. He was great today.

Huge issue we had last season as well. We make it so easy for the crosser to pick his target out. Must work on closing that player down.

Think we'll be forced to play Luiz in midfield next week. You know he'll be hyped up due to the opponent and because he'll know he's got huge responsibility in that position. If that happens, it'll be a mega test for Rüdiger and Cristensen.

Even in those limited minutes Andreas and Rüdiger looked so much better than Cahill. Rudiger with his passing and athleticism and Cristensen with his class and composure.

Positives galore despite the result and red cards. Cristensen 👍🏼 Rüdiger 👍🏼 Kante 👍🏼 Morata 👍🏼 Luiz 👍🏼 Not a clue how we compete with Spuds next week.

We'll now have 1 fit midfielder away to Spurs now. Automatic loss. I could not have imagined a worse start to this season.

Not even trying now. Just letting them have crossing practice. Free to pick out anyone they want whenever they want. Embarrassing.

Bats can't hold the ball up to save his life when there's someone marking him.

How did Tibo not get a hand to that slow ass ball?

Just typical with the way things have been going for us...

Giving them a chance from a position of strength is great. Giving them a chance out of desperation like this is worrying.

Christ, that bench is shocking! Our starting XI doesn't look very good either with so many missing.

Rumblings on Twitter that Morata won't start this...

Already dreading it. The pressure will quickly build on him if he puts in poor performances while out of position and his confidence will be shot.

I agree. They have an excellent squad and today were missing 4 CB's and their 2 best players in Sanchez and Cazrola. I think any of the managers in the top 5-6 would win the league with this Arsenal squad. Actually really annoying that Arsenal have a deeper and more quality packed side than we do.