EalingGreen
10/12/2025, 4:59 PM
i thought it was a big mistake to rest everyone good except Kelleher for the game against Arsenal (Collins, Henderson, Damsgaard, Thiago). As we saw with Sunderland, Arsenal can be got at by playing the type of football Brentford play and a point or three against Arsenal would have been huge for momentum, like it was vs Liverpool, United, Chelsea, Newcastle, Villa. Resting those players and foregoing the result puts huge pressure to get a result the next game (against the old manager) and a 2-0 loss to Spurs was the result.Maybe. With the benefit of hindsight at any rate.
Otoh, they played Arsenal as well as any team has done at the Emirates, only failing to get a draw by virtue of a stunning, world-class save by Raya and an injury-time second goal by Saka. Had that draw been achieved, everyone would have been piling in on Arteta for picking a below-strength team, and hailing KA as a genius.
All of which tends to reinforce Matthew Benham's contention that whatever the "Sacked in the Morning" mob would tell you, managers actually have surprisingly little influence on individual matches, with work on the training ground over a season or three being FAR more important.
Otoh, they played Arsenal as well as any team has done at the Emirates, only failing to get a draw by virtue of a stunning, world-class save by Raya and an injury-time second goal by Saka. Had that draw been achieved, everyone would have been piling in on Arteta for picking a below-strength team, and hailing KA as a genius.
All of which tends to reinforce Matthew Benham's contention that whatever the "Sacked in the Morning" mob would tell you, managers actually have surprisingly little influence on individual matches, with work on the training ground over a season or three being FAR more important.