Defensive woes persist, but Emery off to a winning Europa start

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Unai Emery led his men to victory against Vorskla in a cakewalk victory. The Emirates crowd, all 16 of them, witnessed Arsenal take a 4 goal lead, only to spoil the party late on with 2 needless goals.

The starting 11 was pretty strong. Rob Holding came in for Mustafi, Lichtsteiner for Bellerin. The midfield rolled with Lucas Torreira and Elneny at the base. The front three saw Mikhi and Iwobi reintroduced into the mixer.

The style of play imitated what Emery has been doing in the league, we played out of the back with a keeper who could roll with the sweeper style, we tried to draw the opposition out of their deep block, and we made it count moving forwards once things clicked after a rocky start. I thought Mikhi was special. His incisive thinking and contributions opened up space allowing Iwobi and Auba to shine moving forward.

The Nigerian found Auba at the back post for the first with a beautiful ball across goal. The man from Gabon still had a lot to do, sliding in, somehow flashing the ball across the keeper from his arse. The second came in the second half and saw Iwobi tee up Mikhi, he played a ball so perfectly Danny Welbeck really couldn’t do anything outside score with a beautiful cushioned header.

Our third came from another Mikhi assist, he found Auba about 30 yards from goal, he looked up and cruise missiled his shot low into the bottom corner. He really does give me Thierry flashbacks when he does that. The 4th arrived after Sokratis sent a silky ball into the path of Lichtsteiner, the Swiss managed to loop a cross into the path of Ozil who tapped home with ease. Fox in the box-ish. Maybe he’s been taking Auba tips?

At that point, I think everyone was praying for a clean-sheet… but always, the old Arsenal waits in the wings. Two replica shots from the edge of the box into the top left corner within 18 minutes sent our defensive dreams up in smoke. The first came from Chesnakov who made the most of Lictsteiner dithering on the edge of the box. The second came from the same spot, this time our whole defence was defending way too deep. They all failed to track Sharpar’s run into the box. BOOM. Leno’s net rattled again.

I’m not quite sure what to make of the shotstopping. Both strikes seemed pretty spectacular, and as Leno is new, I’ll give the benefit of the doubt… but it’s a bit of a worry. Not that Cech would have done any better, of course.

Overall, you can’t argue with 3 points… but, you know, fuck the folk who want to wait until next year to make a judgement. They are boring.

Arsenal has a defence issue. That was a pub team out there yesterday and we still managed to switch off and concede 2 goals after going 4 up. We’ve scored 14 and conceded 11 so far this season. That’s a real worry, especially as we’re dropping goals against really poor teams like West Ham, Cardiff, Newcastle and now a pub team from Ukraine. The two goals we conceded were purely down to concentration, and nothing else. You could put that down to it being a second string team, and I could roll with that, but this is an issue we’re having across the board. If you include preseason, we’re 11 games in and the defence looks more shambolic than it did last season.

It’s hard to read into the overall play because the competition was so lacklustre. I thought Torriera looked very solid. He puts his body on the line, he’s aggressive and his positioning and intelligence opens play up from the base of midfield. He’s incredibly aware of where he is on the pitch, he’s always moving into space and he’s very demanding of the ball. He’ll be a great addition when he gets fully up to speed with the league.

I also thought Elneny had a solid day out, he’s not world class, but he’s very good in games like last night. He works hard, covers a lot of ground and has a positive vision of how the game should be played. A great squad player.

The two stars for me were Iwobi and Mikhi. The Nigerian looks like he’s been focusing on his end product. His decision making was strong, he played with more purpose and he looked confident. Mikhi was very good, he’s another very smart player, he uses space well, he’s incisive and he moves the ball around the pitch efficiently. I think he’s been a little unlucky to see the bench in the league.

Overall, the winning machine rolls on. The performance this evening wasn’t dazzling, but we did the job. I’m really hoping this Sunday can be seen as a turning point from a football perspective. We need a real monster of a performance. We’re still on Emery training wheels, but we’re now 4 wins on the bounce. The confidence should continue to build and hopefully the manager can pick a team that works from the start on Sunday. Everton should be an interesting spectacle.

Onwards and upwards!

P.S. Great to see Sol Campbell sitting in cattle-class last night. What a hero!

P.P.S Well done to Emery for being the most winningest Europa manager there ever was

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un na naai

Sort the midfield and attack and defence can improve.

Fuck me. Tactical genius at work here.

Ishola70

He doesn’t need to be an Olympic sprinter but at least be able to track players to some good enough degree.

Xjaka fails so many times to do this.

But of course this doesn’t concern you.

Ishola70

Un Nai has the gall to diss when one of his favs Lil Jack has been dropped by West Ham and they instantly improve results wise.

Let’s all listen to Don eh.

un na naai

Marc

I understand how it works so save your condescension. I know how bookies work. But they don’t give good odds to wild cards do they? Otherwise we’d be getting 4-1 odds for the league wouldn’t we? Why don’t we? Because we have no chance of winning it. No chance

Either way I’m not even concerned with the odds so stop focusing on it. What I am saying is that I’d welcome him back if the opportunity arose

Marc

I don’t think Xhaka is a bad player – he is however completely out of his depth in the PL. It’s just to fast and physical for him. Sell him to Italy – he’ll look good there, move Ozil into the 10 role, either drop Ramsey or play him next to Torreira, get Mikki on the RW and then we can at least judge a performance and players in there natural positions.

un na naai

Ishola

Yeah cos when you buy a striker your defence naturally works itself out

Fuck me you must have an 5 digit IQ.

Ishola70

lol Xjaka shining.

He was shining like a gold button when Everton’s midfield were passing by him like he wasn’t there in the first half.

Like a star in the night sky.

London gunner

We really need a winger.

I like iwobi because he tries to be inventive and beat his man. But he is squad level and welbeck though hard working isn’t good enough.

We are seriously weak in that position.

Marc

un na

I’d welcome the opportunity of Ana de Armas sleeping with me tonight. Which is about as likely as Sanchez resigning for Arsenal. We need a LW so let’s find one but it won’t be Sanchez.

un na naai

Marc

Ramsey cannot Play no8 for us and Ozil cannot play no10
Certainly not in the same side and certainly not with Mkhitaryan on any wing.

Anyone who watches arsenal will tell you this.

Ozil and Ramsey are done as arsenal players and I’ll be amazed if they are both here next season. I’d actually hazard that both will be fine by next September

un na naai

Gone not fine

Ishola70

It’s about getting a proper foothold in central midfield you silly Don you.

Get proper control of central midfield and other areas can improve just on that. Not deep midfield. Central midfield.

Difficult for you to understand though Don I understand given that you are so blind with your Lil Jack love-in..

Haven’t seen Arsenal have total control of central midfield in a true competitive match for a long time.

Problem.

Marko

We’ve done the xakha debate to death on here and so far he’s having a decent season

This isn’t true. Even today for example granted he was decent in the second half in the first half he was pretty poor. Standard stuff really

un na naai

Ishola

Well maybe if we keep buying strikers then we won’t need to worry right cis that should sort the defence out and Calgary can just pass. Great footballing philosophy there. Talking of stars, you’ll be the next big name with ideas like that. Move over pep. Ishola got him some ideas

un na naai

Xakha not Calgary

Ishola70

It needs to be talked to death because it is an absolute killer for Arsenal to get real serious again the central midfield.

Again tell me the last time Arsenal took over central midfield in a truly competitive match against one of the better sides in the league.

Think hard now.

Marc

un na

I did say either drop Ramsey or move him so fine drop him – he’s gone in Jan anyway so put Guendozi in CM alongside Torreira.

As for Ozil if he can’t play in the 10 position -then you have a major issue. He’s fucking useless on the RW so you end up with £350k a week doing fuck all for the next few years.

un na naai

Marko

Yeah pavon would be good but I’d still open my arms to Alexis
Best player we’ve had since rvp left and we won’t have anything that good again this season I can assure you of that

Ishola70

Don’t even take over central midfield against pap sides on enough occasions.

When we gonna get a central midfielder who can dominate and dictate from central position.

Hurting the club this lack of central midfielder.

un na naai

Ddkings

Woah there!!! Think it’s oast your bed time. Take omar’s Willy our of our mouth. Brush your teeth. Time for school/college in the morning. Don’t forget to take your happy pills too boy

un na naai

Ddkings

Woah there!!! Think it’s past your bed time. Take omar’s Willy our of your mouth. Brush your teeth. Time for school/college in the morning. Don’t forget to take your happy pills too boy. You clearly need them with your angry CAPS TYPING

Marc

Ishola

We’ve got one – it’s Torreira we just need to drop Xhaka out of the mix.

steve

@un na naai

Only a fool like yourself would believe there are legs to this Sanchez rumor.

And regarding Chambers, no he won’t make it at Arsenal because he’s not Arsenal level, hell he’s not even Fulham level.

un na naai

Ddkings

Hate to burst your psychotic little bubble but I’m not the only one who complimented xakha’s performance today
Even marko did and he hates him as a player. So chill those herbs kid. Goose fraablaa
Gooooose frablaaa

un na naai

Steve

What’s arsenal level right now? We are the new Liverpool. Perennial no hopers and have been for a while. And er, if Mustafi can keep his place in our side then I’d say that chambers could get a run too u less you think that Mustafi is what you would define as arsenal level

Ishola70

Marc
“We’ve got one – it’s Torreira we just need to drop Xhaka out of the mix.”

No he’s good at what he does but he isn’t going to dictate a match regularly from central.

He is going to be a very good partner for the missing midfielder we don’t have at present.

Central dictator.

un na naai

Ishola Chelsea last season in charity shield Chelsea in fa cup final Spurs last season City when we done them 2-0 and capital was fucking owning it. In fact that was probably the last time I remember our midfield functioning for more than 1-2 games at time With santi in the middle. I’m not disagreeing with you. Our midfield has been shit for a decade or more and it needs addressing but what I am also saying is that I think that xakha is better than he is given credit for and was a casualty of the Wenger era and… Read more »

un na naai

Cazorla not capital

un na naai

Ishola

Who is the super midfielder that’s going to choose arsenal above everyone else?? Wake up man.

un na naai

Arsenal level

That’s a good one Steve
You do know we are finishing 6th now and hat spurs are better than us?? It’s not 2004 anymore mate
PTSD???

ddkingz

YOU ARE PRACTICALLY AND THEORETICALLY, THE WORST ARSENAL FAN SO FAR….COMPLEMENTING XHAKA, INSULTING OTHER FOR GOING AGAINST YOUR FUCKING OPINIONS, AND REPEATEDLY OPENING YOUR ROTTEN ARMS TO SANCHEZ….SOMEONE ALREADY SAID, THE SPECIAL RETURN IS FOR TH14 AND COL…
YOU STILL DREAMING ABOUT THE MOST FUCKED UP FOOTBALLER RIGHT NOW ON PLANET EARTH TO SIGN FOR ARSENAL F.C….IS EITHER YOU ARE SO FUCKING NAIVE OR JUST A CLUELESS CUNT….

Ishola70

Un Nai

Don’t give out the old paupers line.

Arsenal if they tried hard enough could get in a player that could improve the central midfield.

Guendouzi was brought for peanuts and is a few years off. Peanuts.

There are players out there that could add more dynamism to the central midfield.

Ones that actually have proper stamina, can track players to a certain standard and can contribute offensively.

Xjaka doesn’t come close to ticking all those boxes.

Others will and can.

un na naai

Has anyone got a tranq dart to sedate ddkingz?? He seems a little excited.

So Sanchez is the most fucked up player in the world right now
A special return for Theo Walcott is on the cards apparently
I made arsenal derailed

I’m the worst arsenal fan ever

And I’m not allowed to defend xakha even though he played well today in our win??

Night night ya salivating window licker.

un na naai

Ishola Guendouzi right now is nothing but potential At the same age jw and Ramsey both had a higher ceiling. What’s to say guendouzi and it won’t fall apart in the next 2-3 seasons? Xakha was a lot better when he first joined too Potential doesn’t guarantee anything So where are the ready made cmf that would join arsenal today that’s better than what we have but would choose us over any rival? I’m all ears Don’t just say there is someone out there. You’re bitching about how shit our current midfield is but you have not one comparable and… Read more »

Leedsgunner

I’m pleased as punch for the three points and the clean sheet. It wasn’t pretty but we earned three points… and at the end of the day three points are what it is all about.

Well done Arsenal. A good day’s work today.

The only people I felt really really sorry for were the commentators on the BBC Sports coverage who were basically wishing Everton to score against us. Haha, they hate it when the Arsenal win.

loyika

@ Una na nai Keep dreaming of Alexis Sanchez. You were the one that ran up here with the story and was wondering why no one was commenting on it!? Now people give their (honest) opinion on the bloke you are upset. You might see Alexis as WC but frankly I don’t. He was brilliant for us and the best player we had during his time here, (of that there is no question) but he was also a big “A Hole” who made things all about him in the end and frankly his time here is OVER!! I can bet… Read more »

Ishola70

Guendouzi has the attributes to be a player that can control from central midfield. Despite your love for Lil Jack he was never a player that was going to dominate a central midfield. His best stuff was always going to be further up and he lacked discipline to be a really good central midfield player. It soon became apparent as well that Ramsey was more about advanced forward midfield than central. Your rating of Xjaka is really commendable Don if you think there is not a player in world football that can give Arsenal more of an all round contribution… Read more »

Ishola70

Don is telling us that Xjaka cannot be improved upon by Arsenal.

Impossibility.

He’s that good.

Pierre

Emery Slowly getting there with team selection and tactics. Lacazette and Torriera are starters now . Also we have sort of given up on the playing out from the back and the high press has failed which was obvious as we don’t have the players for it. Next on the list is removing Ramsey from the no.10 position and bring in lichsteiner at right back . The question is,what does Emery want from his no.10 …it looks to me ,and I may be wrong,is that he uses his no.10 more as a first line of defence rather than a creative… Read more »

un na naai

Ishola

Lil jack dominated the greatest midfield of all time and Brazil twice

Come back when guendouzi has done that. Jack’s career may have fallen flat but at 19 he was a far better player than guendouzi is

Loyika. Yes I died for opinions and no i don’t agree with the responses
So what?? Football is game of opinions you mug.

Ishola70

lol one match and dominate is a strong word. He played very well this is true in that match. But as you know Don Lil Jack was raved about in what he did closer to the opposition box than what he did centrally. You would know this being a Lil Jack fan. Guendouzi looks a more balanced midfielder than Lil Jack albeit early stages. What people truly loved about Lil Jack was his bursts of dribbling going forward from central position. Let me tell you sporadic dribbling means nothing if you don’t have an all round balanced game. Lil Jack… Read more »

Ishola70

Lil Jack’s range of passing was never going to be good enough to see him as a truly world class central midfielder.

Already Guendouzi has shown better range of passing than Jack.

Not the dribbles though lol.

Redtruth

Arsenal need to drop the pedestrian Xhaka and replace him with an unknown player…

ddkingz

@ u Na NaAi…
now I understand…..
you sick, bro…
KEEP DREAMING
#SANCHEZ

Redtruth

Wilshers’s display against Barcrlona was hyped up on Tele by co-commentator Andy Townsend which in turn influenced the ignorant viewer.

Marko

Jack Wilshere has never dominated any midfield or any game ever

omar

Any person that still believes that Jack Wilshere is of any use is clearly a deluded fanboy. Cant cut it at West Ham, couldnt cut it at Bournemouth. The thing about Jack is that his constant injuries is what kept him at Arsenal so long and maybe it would have been better for him if he remained injured during his last year here. That way, all the deluded people would be still sitting and saying ”wait until he gets better”. But he had an injury free season at Bournemouth and an injury free season at Arsenal and showed nothing during… Read more »

Joe

Barcelona have 100 jacks in the youth setup

Why bring chambers back if he is our 6th place level.

We are trying to get away from wenger’s bang average players.

Well chambers Mustafi kos and buy 2 new cbs

Get rid of wellbeck , Ramsey, mkhit.

Bring in 2 wingers. A couple CMs.

Play Ozil at 10.

Joe

Omar

He was over hyped just like ransey was

Our fans over hype our players to ridiculous level. Especially in the wenger banter years

Too much belief in wenger’s bollocks.

China

Ramsey 3/10 barely did anything right. Almost every touch and pass was awful. Only did well for the first goal tho it wasn’t exactly rocket science

Ozil 3/10 I forgot he was on the pitch in the first half literally. In the second half he woke up but was shit so…

For the next game if we really must play one, put ozil at n10 and use iwobi our wide. I’d honestly prefer we drop both and play mikki n10 and iwobi wide though

Bamford10

“Ramsey, Özil and Aubameyang [are] all playing in positions that they don’t want to play in. Sooner or later a big decision has to be made on one of them. It’s a collection of our best players, but it’s not balanced.” – Tim Stillman

China

Un nai do you realize you talk about jack in more than 80% of your posts…?

Are you feeling ok?

China

Bamford agreed. Let’s make Ramsey the sacrificial lamb!

China

Jack is entirely irrelevant to major world football for the past decade No one is losing sleep about facing him. No one is sweating about making space for him in their team. He’s irrelevant entirely His ceiling at 18 was higher than our others. Sure. He dominated Barca sure. But good players you don’t have to pick out a few great games to show how good they are. Greatness is everpresent. You don’t have to think of Henry against Madrid or RVP against charlton to prove how good they were. It was a week to week thing, year after year.… Read more »

gonsterous

I keep reading ramsey made a 5 yard pass for the first assist. But did you see the turn to break free from the guy. That was class. both goals we had torreira win the ball and laca win the ball back. That’s great to see. 3 points. onwards and upwards. who’s next ?

China

On a far more important note, the ref yesterday was fucking fat lol

Straight up fat bastard. He looked like a Newcastle fan with a shirt on. Jesus!

Joe

Did anyone read Santi’s quotes regarding wenger?

Wonder what the AKBs make of that?

gonsterous

pedro goes missing more than ozil sometimes. Where’s the new post pedders.

Bamford10

“Arsenal’s new managing director has promised to bring back the glory days to the club.

Vinai Venkatesham told a supporters’ meeting that the club is well placed off the pitch to help Unai Emery deliver success on the pitch.”

The Rabble: Another sleazy liar!!!

Bamford10

A well-written, honest assessment of yesterday’ win.

“Unai Emery’s system beats out a dull rhythm that fails to entrance”
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2018/sep/23/unai-emery-system-dull-rhythm-arsenal-everton?CMP=share_btn_tw

ddkingz

RAMSAY has been at arsenal for a decade and yet does not know his playing position….this speaks volume..

the best position for Ramsay is the number 8 position, albeit he doesn’t have the killer pass, but has a little killer instinct…

playing Ramsay at the number 10 position clearly exposes our midfield, doesn’t track back to collect a pass, low passing accuracy.

emery, should stick to his guts, but for sure we would pay heavily against Liverpool, for the shortcomings of all our possible number 10

Emiratesstroller

Summary of yesterday’s game. Positives. 1. Cech had best game for two seasons. Only concern is that he is not suited to playing ball to feet. 2. Torreira is the defensive midfielder that we need. He is positionally excellent,mobile and passes the ball exceedingly well. Only negative is that he does occasionally make reckless tackle. 3. Aubameyang and Lacazette are turning out to be an excellent combination. Despite some of the negatives expressed in past both can play well together. 4. We managed to complete a game by not conceding a goal for first time this season. Negatives 1. There… Read more »

un na naai

Stroller

For the first time? He’s had motivational issues from the off

un na naai

Ddkingz

You don’t want Ramsey anywhere near the no8 against Liverpool
If hedoesn’t protect at 10 then he’d be worse at 8

Bob N16

Agree with your positives ES, I would add Holding’s performance(apart from getting caught in possession once) and I felt that Bellerin had his best game for a while. We also kept possession well in the last 10 minutes or so, to close out the game (Iwobi looking stronger this season, contributed to that) Negatives I would sum it up with the word, balance. Ramsay doesn’t appear to have a position and Ozil is not a RW. I would try Mhiki on the right and Ozil in the middle. In the next two windows, as has been said by others, we… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

una na naii No that has not always been the case. However, I do think that some very difficult decisions need to be made both in short and long term. I think that Arsenal stand to lose a huge chunk of money if both Ramsey and Ozil were to leave in January or June. Does the club decide to write off a huge investment in both players? Ozil’s departure could also land up being a loan, because of the massive wages we are paying him. I could not visualise anyone paying a transfer fee plus his wages. Obviously if we… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Bob N16

Apart from what I have just written I would not personally get rid of Welbeck,
because I do think that he is a good player to have sitting on bench.

My priorities at moment would be to sort out defence and what is going on with Ozil and Ramsey. Having to deal with these matters will cost a huge chunk of money if we have to replace them.

UTarse

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