Six years at Arsenal for Mikel Arteta. He never set out to be decade-spanning manager à la Wenger, but is now the football league’s third longest-serving manager. How long will he stay? And what might his future hold? Some thoughts for @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/689...

The new @billycarpy.bsky.social is epic, if quite worrying because it points to the importance of connections - and how we keep having to form new ones - and many of the little things Gyokeres is getting wrong billycarpenter.substack.com/p/connections

City fan at work had completely forgotten about the charges. They haven’t gone away. And the Premier league has set a precedent by docking clubs points already.

We (me included) probably need to stop fantasizing about Havertz immediately "fixing" our attack. Like Jesus, we're going to use him carefully for quite a while. Gyokeres and Merino are probably going to see more minutes at striker than anyone else between now and the end of February.

A couple of things on the Havertz injury "setback." No other reporting yet, so just hold. But, it does fit with what Nagelsmann said about him during the most recent internationals.

I want City to go through and have a two legged tie against Newcastle. I know it’s bad but I’d also like us to forfeit the Palace game lol.

United’s defence reminds me how lucky we are to be stacked at the back

These results are annoying

A shining light this season has been Trossard’s passing. Adds so much balance to everything; his fellow left-siders always look better. If he’s fit, it’s a pretty easy (league) selection at LW right now, which I wasn’t expecting.

Saka saved us there and got smashed about for his troubles

Add that to the Villa game and it’s fair to say we’re not playing well in the Premier League at the moment. Need to reset a bit and work out how we want to play. Some big decisions about players too.

Points are points but more than a few worrying signs there

lol two own goals

I was just about to tweet how bad Jesus has been

We just stop challenging for the ball.

Love to see Gabby Jesus back but he also looks half a yard off it, which is understandable

I don’t know if we’ve improved that much in breaking down low blocks. But with our set pieces it might not matter.

Gyokeres had a much more physically confident second half

MLS’ red card against Wolves feels like a century ago.

Trossard’s passing and link up play with MLS making a big difference on the left

Annoyed that its an own goal and we still don’t get the Olympico

Hey

Fwiw we’ve played a lot of games like this against Wolves and usually just ground it out.

Getting slightly better but still not the intensity or pressure we need to apply

Gyokeres extremely lucky to stay on

I notice every one of our attackers is warming up

I’d be tempted to bring on Trossard for Martinelli and maybe Merino for Gyokeres.

That’s a very bad half of football

Trossard giving the boss the eyes and smiling a bit there.

Gyokeres looks off where he was at the start of the season. Like he’s lost a touch of speed and anticipation.

This is extremely frustrating, but if we keep getting corners we’ll score.

Ah Ben. He’s slotted back in so well, but we can’t have nice things.

Strong side. Great to have a defence again. Big days for Eze and Gyokeres.

This angle though! 😮‍💨🚀

That Noni goal was pretty good, you know

There’s not a lot of difference between 1st and 2nd. Perfect work from this Arsenal side to set us up. And remember we also rotated heavily tonight and against Olympiacos.

Don’t love City getting big results. But the big English sides are better at the moment.

Gyokeres is very obviously not fit

He is risen

The best long throws have length, speed, and a lower trajectory. Norgaard’s have…

Ultimately I think the club is really targeting both Premier League and Champions League, while most fans don’t think its possible.

This is the same Brugge who put three past Barcelona and four past Monaco btw (minus the manager)

There’s a real difference between the way some fans see the Champions League group phase and the club do. This is absolute maximum rotation. Arteta won’t like it either.

Thinking about it, every recent Villa away game has been a bit like this. We got a bit lucky with the 2-0 win last year - Watkins open goal - we were unlucky today. Rogers is always great against us too.

Buying another midfielder just seems like a smart move anyway. We've been ok with concentrated injuries everywhere else. But take Rice and Zubi out and my god we're a mess.

We need to resurrect Kai. But didn't Nagelmann suggest he was out until January?

This has been an awful weekend. But we're still ahead, still favorites for the title, and still have the best team when they're not all bloody injured or coming back from injury. Can we sign some more physios or faith healers in January?

Is Gyokeres a muscly Francis Jeffers or did he just have a bad day after an injury.

My most depressing take: today has Middlesbrough away 2007 vibes about it.