No new injuries. That’s really all I care about.

Kiwior I’m not sure if I can defend anymore, he’s made several extremely costly mistakes in three appearances so far

You almost summoned up another one.

This goalkeeper must be getting tired of standing on his line and just watching balls fly into the upper left corner.

If not, it means the dominant club is knocked out of this competition.

I can understand that physically, you don’t always know what you’re going to get with players over 30, but with Jorginho you know that even if his legs were 100% gone, he’d be on the sidelines coaching and mentoring players.

Compare that to Chelsea signing a way-too-old Aubameyang, who offers essentially nothing except maybe fun vibes in the dressing room if he’s not scoring.

Kai Havertz and Thomas Partey coming on… sigh

And when Gabriel Martinelli went down I was groaning. Imagine losing him for an extended time because Arteta went with a strong team in the league cup. I really rank the league cup just barely above the community shield.

It would be nice to have another Arsenal academy GK make it. There sure have been a lot of GK prospects lately:

• Karl Hein
• Brian Okonkwo
• Ovie Ejeheri
• Hubert Graczyk
• João Virgínia
• Jack Porter
• Alexei Rojas

It’s amazing how slowly he kicks it. The body position makes it look like he’s driving it, but it’s really just a slow, careful volley.

I love goals where the goalkeeper just stands there without moving.

It seems to me that this is exactly the kind of match where you play players who lack match sharpness. Zinchenko, Kiwior, Jorginho and Sterling I can see because they’re first team players but they’re lacking in sharpness. I can even see playing Gabriel Jesus because he needs to find his form (and luckily he just scored). But Martinelli, Merino, Saliba and Timber really shouldn’t be playing. I hope they’re all removed at halftime.

Cool, thanks.

I was watching some Match of the Day, and saw ESR and Alex Iwobi playing well together. That got me in a “where are they now” mood, looking up some former players.

Fulham seems to contain a lot of former Arsenal players: ESR, Iwobi, Bernd Leno and Reiss Nelson.

Nketiah went off to Crystal Palace and this weekend he was part of the win over Tottenham. But, he’s not the only former Gunner at Palace, there’s also Rob Holding and… oof. His career has not gone well after leaving Arsenal. In his last season with the Gunners he made 14 appearances in the league and another 10 in other cups. At Palace, he’s made… 1 appearance. He played in a 3-0 league cup loss to Manchester United on Sept 26th 2023… and that’s it.

Exclusively? Or he’s made appearances there along with other positions? I haven’t seen anything that suggests that he isn’t still primarily a central / defensive midfielder.

If someone looks back at statistics in 5 years and sees that White assisted Saka for a goal in this fixture, they’ll probably say “Of course, White assisting Saka was normal” and won’t realize that it was White playing as a CB spotting Saka’s run from deep and playing a ball for him over the top. It’s great that that partnership exists even when White and Saka aren’t playing near each-other.

But yeah, Partey was shaky as a right back, especially defensively, and he and Saka seemed to have almost no connection.

But it’s that left back issue that IMO shows just how injury ravaged Arsenal has been.

1. Calafiori - Injured
2. Zinchenko - Just returning from an injury, not available to start
3. Timber - Injured
4. Tomiyasu - Injured
5. Tierney - Injured
6. Kiwior - Playing elsewhere
7. Miles Lewis-Skelly - Here’s your shot!

And it’s not even like MLS is a left back who finally got his shot. He’s mainly a midfielder, so he’s also playing out position. It’s great that he’s being picked, I love seeing youth players getting their chances, and not just in meaningless league cup games. I just wish it wasn’t because more than half the defenders at the club are injured.

It’s just so ridiculous that Arsenal finished that match with a back line of Partey, White, Kiwior and MLS.

That’s the 3rd or 4th choice RB, probably 3rd choice RCB, 2nd choice LCB and maybe 7th choice LB.

LB is the really ridiculous one. Probably Calafiori is #1, Zinchenko might be #2, unless maybe it’s Timber now. Tomiyasu is after that at #4, Kiwior is another option. And, if he were ever fit, there’s Tierney. I guess Zinchenko is technically available now, but he hasn’t trained much, so with all those injuries it was MLS who got picked. He did pretty well, but it’s just kind of ridiculous how few options there are at left back right now.

IMO it was that terrible back line that allowed Liverpool to equalize. It wasn’t that the defenders played too badly, but White and Merino had to play really deep to provide cover for them, and Martinelli was helping MLS, which allowed Liverpool to come forward and put on the pressure.

Last season Saliba started every game. Gabriel started 34 matches. White started 32. The only iffy position was on the left.

This season has barely started and already it’s a makeshift back line with everyone playing out of position.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/pretender

"a person who states they have a right to the high position that someone else has, although other people disagree with this: "

The sentence I used

Also has a presupposition.

“J Lou has stopped beating their spouse.”

If this sentence is true, it means you used to beat your spouse. If it is false, it means that you currently beat your spouse. Therefore, it proves that you are married and at some point in time you beat your spouse.

It’s not a paradox, it’s a dumb logic puzzle. It’s no different than saying something nonsensical like “This sentence contains 2 words”.

If it is false, there is an omniscient being that knows it to be true

No, if it is false, then it is simply wrong. A wrong sentence doesn’t imply something else is right, it’s just wrong.