PL | Manchester City v Arsenal | 5th November 2017 | 14:15 GMT | Sky Sports

[Makingtrax]

Unlimited resources but I'm comfortable with the squad I've got. Even though they finished bottom of the league last season. I will focus on our own quality

Coaching an amateur team is a bit like being an England coach. You don't have them long enough to be able to make much difference. Team selection is your only weapon.

 

[Mark Tobias]

Coaching an amateur team is a bit like being an England coach. You don't have them long enough to be able to make much difference. Team selection is your only weapon.

By the way England play, that is exactly what it is, a coaching role with an Amateur team.

 

[Lookin' for a new Baby]

Unlimited resources but I'm comfortable with the squad I've got. Even though they finished bottom of the league last season. I will focus on our own quality

The only way is up!

 

[A_G]

It's one thing for @Makingtrax to pontificate about "net spend" etc. - check out this twitter post.

I read somewhere that Guardiola's net spend at City is only £7m more than Mourinho's at United.

 

[A Lighter Shade of Blue]

Just read a stat that says Arsenal, since the start of the 14/15 season, in 18 games away to other 'top 6' sides, have won only one, at our place, three seasons ago.

That's just terrible.

 

[Makingtrax]

Just read a stat that says Arsenal, since the start of the 14/15 season, in 18 games away to other 'top 6' sides, have won only one, at our place, three seasons ago.

That's just terrible.

That's better than you, you haven't won away at our ground at all in that time.

We beat Chelsea twice away at Wembley recently We also best Man U away in March 2015, why isn't that included?

The vast majority of games against top teams over the years tend to be draws, home and away.

We'd have drawn against you yesterday if the ref hadn't given a soft pen and an offside goal

 

[Mark Tobias]

That's better than you, you haven't won away at our ground at all in that time despite having spent more than double what we have.

Fixed

 

[A_G]

We also best Man U away in March 2015, why isn't that included?

It's only for PL games.

 

[A Lighter Shade of Blue]

That's better than you, you haven't won away at our ground at all in that time.

We beat Chelsea twice away at Wembley recently We also best Man U away in March 2015, why isn't that included?

The vast majority of games against top teams over the years tend to be draws, home and away.

We'd have drawn against you yesterday if the ref hadn't given a soft pen and an offside goal

No, but we've won away at Chelsea, twice, at old trafford too, amongst others.

 

[Makingtrax]

It's only for PL games.

Really annoys me those sort of stats. ' So we can make Arsenal look bad if, we just take away matches, just against the top teams, leave out all cup games, leave out draws and start at 2014/15.

@Toast did a post showing the full stats, home and away, all comps, against all the top sides in the last 5 years, and it came out pretty even. People posting these skewed stats are just trolling.

 

[Makingtrax]

No, but we've won away at Chelsea, twice, at old trafford too, amongst others.

Go and troll those sides then.

 

[A Lighter Shade of Blue]

Go and troll those sides then.

haha!

 

[A_G]

Really annoys me those sort of stats. ' So we can make Arsenal look bad if, we just take away matches, just against the top teams, leave out all cup games, leave out draws and start at 2014/15.

@Toast did a post showing the full stats, home and away, all comps, against all the top sides in the last 5 years, and it came out pretty even. People posting these skewed stats are just trolling.

Yeah but league matches is a much fairer comparison, since the top 6 all play 5 big away games each season.

You could argue that the 2014/15 start date isn't arbitrary either, since that was supposed to be the start of a new financial era at Arsenal and so it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect better results in those games.

 

[Makingtrax]

Yeah but league matches is a much fairer comparison, since the top 6 all play 5 big away games each season.

You could argue that the 2014/15 start date isn't arbitrary either, since that was supposed to be the start of a new financial era at Arsenal and so it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect better results in those games.

There's no purpose to it unless you look at the full picture.

City haven't won one game at our ground in that time, but so what? It tells you nothing.

 

[Ärsenik]

That's better than you, you haven't won away at our ground at all in that time.

We beat Chelsea twice away at Wembley recently We also best Man U away in March 2015, why isn't that included?

The vast majority of games against top teams over the years tend to be draws, home and away.

We'd have drawn against you yesterday if the ref hadn't given a soft pen and an offside goal

Playing at Wembley cannot be considered as an away game. It's a neutral ground.

But indeed, we have a "decent" record against the top 6

2013/14 Manchester City FA Community Shield 3-0
2015/16 Chelsea FA Community Shield 1-0
2016/17 Manchester City FA Cup semi-final 2-1
2016/17 Chelsea FA Cup final 2-1
2017/18 Chelsea Charity Shield 1-1 (4-1)

 

[Mark Tobias]

There's no purpose to it unless you look at the full picture.

City haven't won one game at our ground in that time, but so what? It tells you nothing.

When you give it context it does mean something. So when chatting about the EPL, you isolate those fixtures. If you look at overall competitions then that is different. Modern fans covet the EPL title and the champions league title. Everything else is a training game to get drunk at. I don't know why. I regard all games as important. I want Arsenal to win every game they play.

I hear your point though and this is also why I hate stats. Messi has never scored for any English club is another stat we could give. Doesn;t make him any less exciting to watch

 

[Mark Tobias]

Playing at Wembley cannot be considered as an away game. It's a neutral ground.

But indeed, we have a "decent" record against the top 6

2013/14 Manchester City FA Community Shield 3-0
2015/16 Chelsea FA Community Shield 1-0
2016/17 Manchester City FA Cup semi-final 2-1
2016/17 Chelsea FA Cup final 2-1
2017/18 Chelsea Charity Shield 1-1 (4-1)

We're so clearly a cup team, aren't we? If the EPL was a 6 week tournament round robin style, we'd win every year

 

[BobP]

We're so clearly a cup team, aren't we? If the EPL was a 6 week tournament round robin style, we'd win every year

You make a good point, probably won't go anywhere in the CL until the knockout ties are reduced from 2 to a single leg.

 

[<<reed>>]

You make a good point, probably won't go anywhere in the CL until the knockout ties are reduced from 2 to a single leg.

I am intrigued to see how we will perform in the EL against a half-decent team in the knockout stages. My biggest fear is we will play the same disjointed second string team in the first leg, lose something like 3-1, and then Wenger will try to win the second leg with a better team selection, but it will be too late.

 

[Gooner Zig]

@Makingtrax Off the top of your head, can you think of one big piece good fortune we've had this season? I.e, players lucky to not get a red, a dodgy pen in our favour or offside goals?

West Brom were denied a pretty clear penalty in the first half at the Emirates which would have changed the game IMO. That's the only one that stands out off the top of my head.