Alex Rousseau

@FootballEra_ No they didn't. He's always been a very good player, but he's never been that guy, who strikes fear on his own just by being on the teamsheet.

I honestly find it hard to believe how ordinary Saka has become. He carries almost zero threat these days, no fear factor at all, struggles to better his man physically, struggles to dominate his zone. Arsenal used to go into games with an advantage just by him starting alone.💔

@StevenMcinerney Football is about risk. He's incapable. He makes the game anaemic.

Arsenal are fucking bang average. So, so bland. They might win the league, but there's nothing exciting there at all.

@AnfieldSector He doesn't use his squad. If he did, he might have more options.

🚨 Arne Slot: “Nobody in England is used to the fact that there are clubs that are selling players. So usually in England when a club is buying is already adding to the great squad they have, but this club have a different model. Nobody wants to see that and nobody wants to understand it. Certain pundits don’t want to tell you we sold £300m. If the £150m player is not available, that’s already one thing. If Leoni is not available, that’s another thing. Jeremie Frimpong is recently much more available. Mamardashvili is another signing. It makes complete sense when you win the league last season and you spent £150m, not £450m, that the expectations are high. At our club we are looking at the situation and the things we had, the challenges we had this season. We might be a bit more realistic as to why this season has gone like this. But it’s still not good enough! No matter how many excuses I can come up with, it’s still not good enough.”

@GuillemBalague @OllieHolt22 It's not difficult. I loved Arsenal 02-04. So it's not the club. The current PL trend is about hyper control, hyper coached, hyper risk-averse football. It's not a fun product currently. And his team is the best at it, so he's been labeled the pioneer. That's kinda it really.

Brilliant piece from @OllieHolt22 👇 This bit keeps coming back to me. "Many are still consumed by a strange kind of naked desperation for Arsenal to fail. That desperation seems to centre on Arteta more than any of his players, as if he has become a lightning rod for the schadenfreude of opposing fans and they cannot bear the idea that he is going to have the last laugh." Help me understand why the dislike (apart from the fact that winning gets seen often as suspicious in the UK, and that fans from other teams would use any stick available, no matter how flawed, to diminish a win from other clubs) But don't give me partisan lines, I would like some kind of sociological/psychological explanation (if possible)

@OllieHolt22 In a Premier League that's gone analytic crazy, he's stayed ahead of the curve. Not his fault nobody can either 1) do it better, or 2) play a more aesthetic style and beat him to the title.

Time to show Mikel Arteta the respect he deserves as Arsenal edge closer to first title for 22 years dailymail.co.uk/sport/football…

@henrywinter If it wasn't a penalty, it's not resilience. It's luck and ineptitude from the officials.

Another reminder of Arsenal’s resilience when off the pace, pedestrian even, and their strength in depth. They find a way. They fought back. Two subs Madueke and Havertz made the difference. Not a great performance, soft pen, but a good result for Arsenal #LEVARS

@henrywinter He's just not the absolute top tier player that people say he is. Still a damn good one, but he's overrated - as if he's amongst the very best in the world. He's just not. Same as Saka. People desperate for them to be THE best, when they're just a tier below. And that's ok.

Cole Palmer is a magnificent footballer, voted 8th in the 2025 Ballon d’Or, a force in major finals but clearly not at his fluid, confident, game-changing best currently. That’s a huge concern for Chelsea and England. Whether it’s a niggling groin issue, a deeper fatigue or he’s simply regaining sharpness after a thigh problem, Palmer isn’t right by his high standards. Palmer, 23, is a dedicated professional, who was back in the gym within 48 hours of the Euro 2024 final, working on core strength. He’s got a head coach at Chelsea in Liam Rosenior who believes in him, and has given him a freer role. But the chief executive of the PFA, Maheta Molango, is right. Football has to be careful about player workload. This is not Chelsea’s fault. They are mindful of player welfare, and keep an eye on their minutes. It’s the madness of the modern game with proliferation and intensification of competitions. Palmer has played in eight separate club competitions over the last three years. The Club World Cup, for all its riches and Fifa-driven profile, is certainly a competition too far. Clubs need money for PSR and player wages but there has to be a balance that ensures players are in peak condition for the major challenges. Palmer starred in the CWC final against PS-G. But how fit and in form will Palmer be against PS-G in the Champions League knockouts this month? How sharp will he be for the World Cup? Sympathy for well-paid footballers is rarely abundant but we want players in peak form, so workload needs examining. Palmer played 112 games in the last two seasons. He’s played in challenging tournaments the last three summers. On July 8, 2023, Palmer won the European Under-21s trophy with England in Georgia. Scarcely a fortnight later, Palmer started Manchester City’s pre-season game against Yokohama F Marinos in Japan. He travelled to Seoul (rested by Pep), back to Manchester, on to Wembley (Community Shield), Turf Moor (PL), and Piraeus for the Super Cup (scoring) before moving to Chelsea. He played 57 competitive games in 23/24, finishing on July 14 with England’s seniors in the Euros final. The PFA Young Player of the Year’s season lasted 343 days (358 including pre-season). Chelsea, sensibly, rested Palmer for their pre-season tour of the US. He played the friendly against Inter Milan at the Bridge on August 11, 2024, began the season on August 18 and started 36 of their PL games. He played 556 of the 570 mins at the draining CWC – so hot that Enzo Fernandez felt “dizzy” - which climaxed with that glorious win over PS-G – and two goals for Palmer - in New Jersey on July 13. Palmer’s season lasted 329 days (336 including pre-season game). Chelsea, again sensibly, gave players a delayed return to this pre-season. Palmer reported to Cobham on August 4 2025 and began the August 8 friendly against Bayer Leverkusen at the Bridge with victory in the VisitMalta Weekender trophy. He started the August 17 PL game against Palace but his season has been frustratingly stop-start. Sunday against Arsenal was only his 20th game of the season, out of a possible 46 for club and country (Tuchel has other options at 10, rw). Has this schedule – travel as well as playing – caught up with Palmer? Let’s hope not, and that a special talent regains sharpness soon. Because football is the poorer without the likes of Cole Palmer. #CFC #ENG

@markgoldbridge The issue you have is they're Utd. Just say it.

Everyone's entitled to their opinion but the issue I have is, Van Der Sar is the original modern goalkeeper with ball playing and Schmeichel is original origin keeper before that. So Cech as no 1 doesn't make sense

@markgoldbridge But at the same time there is also bias against recent. Bernardo Silva not in there. Firmino. Trent. All did more than Klinsmann, Di Canio or Ginola for instance. They're pure nostalgia picks.

How many chuff monsters were involved in this....and people pay a subscription for it...No Irwin or Vidic at all is criminal.

@talkSPORT It's the 'no debate' people who are tiresome. Have a favourite. Go nuts. But if your position on who the better player is between JT and VVD is 'no debate', on either side, you're a troll.

🔵 "Terry is the best centre half the Premier League has ever seen." 🔥 "He's head and shoulders above Van Dijk. It's not a conversation." Jason Cundy says there's "no debate" that John Terry is a better defender than Virgil van Dijk

@KayLFC05_ The 'how many have you seen?' is the maddest attempt at an argument I've heard.

All it took was United to go on a little unbeaten streak for their fans to get back on their bullshit. ‘Liverpool are not a historic club because they haven’t gone b2b.’ Acting like football started in 1992, yet they sing ‘20 times’ every game🤦🏽‍♂️

@TheClubLiveTw @JamesB_afc @Chelsearory @Flav_Bateman You have to understand that these people judge on fandom and nostalgia. They don't use their eyes.

Is Virgil Van Dijk OVERRATED? 👀

@LewisSteele_ He's insane. We'd essentially won the league before we went out of the CL, so it had zero bearing.

Arne Slot: "Again this is not going to be a popular opinion what I tell you now, maybe the reason we won the league last season is because we played Paris Saint-Germain. We had a week to prepare for league games (after going out of CL)."

@LukeTheNuke180 I didn't know your Dad was Aaron Rodgers.

I’m here now because of everything my mum, dad, family, friends, team and sponsors have done to support me. never would of dreamt of being a back to back world champ but it doesn’t stop here. on this rollercoaster together and wouldn’t have it any other way❤️

@fpl_tactician This is the game now. It allows pure aggression because transfers are plentiful. It is what it is.

Everyone has decent teams obviously as the game gave us 5FTs. With everyone getting a reset of chips soon as well, I’ve got a horrible feeling it’s going to take ages to get an advantage once again.

@Utddoja I think it also points to how the game has changed since his day. Football was mainly one-on-one contests around the field. 'Win your battle'. 'Beat your man'. Etc. He's unable to talk about tactical nuances because it wasn't the major concern back when he was in his pomp.

You can see why he failed as a coach. Never any real tactical analysis from Keane just buzz words like body language or effort

Why does everyone force introverts to leave their comfort zone, but no one forces extroverts to shut up for a while? Why???

@FabrizioRomano He didn't adjust. He threw attackers on and hoped.

🚨 Arne Slot: “If things go well or things go bad it's always my responsibility. I tried to adjust a few things that didn't really work out”. “We have quality players. It's my job to get the best out of them. I am not at the moment. It's my responsibility”.

@BBCSport As an aside, the term 'servant' is so stupid in the context of elite football players.

Will Trent Alexander-Arnold show what Liverpool are missing as he returns to Anfield on Tuesday? 🤔

@RealSkipBayless The pretending in modern sports that legends of the past didn’t have similarly bad games is always wild to me.

I am about to unleash a video about the wildly overhyped Patrick Mahomes.