Well, well.
I’m back, fellas, and I must say, it’s a fun time to be an Arsenal fan. This is now my third Le Grove column for the 2018-19 season, and if you told me we’d be level on points with Chelsea and Spurs, sitting two points behind the leaders, I’d have called that the best case scenario.
(Not. bloody. likely.)
I admit, I’ve been optimistic since the beginning of the Emery era, but pretty-much-no-one thought we’d be sitting where we are, in the midst of a 10 game winning streak, so I won’t pretend I expected this.
It’s hard to offer commentary at times like this, because what can I say that yesterday’s game didn’t declare on global television: beautiful football is back.
If the Aaron Ramsey wonder-flick the other week piqued people’s interest in The Arsenal, Mesut Ozil’s technical masterclass put us back on the map, and has raised hopes higher than I was after my trip to a reefer dispensary in Boulder a few weeks ago.
Writing as I do from the American perspective, I must say that legal marijuana is the gift that keeps on giving. Why the rest of the world hasn’t caught on that Mary Jane is fun and beneficial is beyond me, but given the realities of Capitalism, you can bet the cash flow has fascinated the mega-corporations that will ensconce the weed industry in the 21st Century.
I was just telling someone in California last week that when they first approved the program in Colorado, they had completely different systems for in-state and out-of-state residents.
Different prices.
Different rules on how much you could buy.
It was annoying, and slightly discriminatory, as why would you want to soak the tourists bringing money into your economy?
There was little sense in the rules, so as they figured out what they were doing up there, (I live 35 minutes south of the border,) the system became more efficient, and now they’ve got it dialed in.
One price for all, (tax included,) and more types of THC delivery systems than there are languages spoken in London.
The tax dollars fund the school systems, the Denver metro area is booming beyond belief, and cool-kid-states like California are racing to catch up.
Sometimes, it takes a while for major organizations to figure out what the fuck they’re doing. Typically, once the money gets rolling, and the experience levels up, positive results will follow.
In this case, I’m using the weed industry as METAPHOR for KSE, the sports conglomerate we all love to hate. (Or used to, anyway.)
Honestly, in a multi-billion dollar sports industry, can you believe how many people lost their shit over the little $3 million fee that Stan and Josh were paying themselves for “consulting” a few years back?
They insisted they were willing to spend money, did the Kroenkes, (through their mouthpiece Gazidis,) only Arsene Wenger was too cheap to take what they were offering.
According to that narrative, our former, all-powerful, manager/General Manager had a point to prove, with respect to winning without money, but he no longer had the chops to pull his vision off.
I was dubious, and personally made fun of Stan et al many times in my previous column.
It was not as much fun as mocking Mourinho, sure, but between his silly mustache, and his whole “I married Walmart money, bitches!” attitude, it was easy to mock Stan.
Beyond everything, though, was the obvious mediocrity he seemed to support in his other major clubs, the “then” St. Louis Rams, Denver Nuggets, and Colorado Avalanche.
(The Colorado theme makes sense, right?)
But now it’s 2018, Stan’s “American” football team plays in LA, and is the best in the league at present. His stadium may be behind schedule, but once it’s done, not only will his team play there, but the now-LA-Chargers will too, meaning he’ll be making mad cash off of both teams in the 2nd largest market in the US.
Even better, after years of not-mattering-at-all, the Nuggets are ALL the sportswriters’ favorite trendy-team this year, and they just knocked off the 3x champion Golden State Warriors.
All of a sudden, within the span of two years, Kroenkes Sr and Jr went from laughing stocks, (who didn’t understand the connection between brand value and winning,) to progressive owners who’ve empowered grinder coaches to build winners from the ground up.
Sean McVay, the Rams coach, comes from a famous, multi-generational football family, and is known for being young, obsessed, and ahead of the curve with his ideas.
The team spent mega-bucks on several important players, (Aaron Donald, Todd Gurley and Brandin Cooks,) and is the envy of the NFL.
As for the Nuggets, their coach, Mike Malone, is also a second-generation NBA coach, and looks like the kind of guy who sleeps on his office couch, in his rumpled suit, because he’d rather eat glass than stop working.
Again, this is all public knowledge. Look it up.
The Kroenkes, seemingly out of nowhere, are building winners and brand awareness simultaneously. They’re hiring determined talent, at the player, front office and coaching levels, and entrusting them to make some fucking money.
Does this sound familiar?
I’ve already come out in favor of Unai, Sven and Raul, and I hate to repeat myself. I also pointed out last month that Arsenal now have 2 verifiable match-winners, and a newfound winning mentality.
We also have 2 midfielders who, if we had guys like that during the late-Wenger era, might have made the difference between 6th and 4th, or 2nd and 1st. (Yes, I mean Guendouzi and Torriera, both of whom I’ve name dropped in each column so far.)
Last month, I ended the blog by suggesting that after 5 wins on the trot, we’d know a lot more in a month.
Now, it’s October 23rd, (when I’m writing,) and the winning streak has doubled.
I wrote about the emphasis on development, and making players better, and we’ve had drool-worthy performances from Alex Iwobi, Danny Welbeck and Mesut Ozil, not exactly players who flourished in the previous, super-stale regime.
So now what? Where do we go from here?
Honestly, I don’t know. (We’ll have to watch and see what happens.) But it’s possible that KSE has finally figured out how to not just own clubs, but support them properly.
And even if Stan only cares about money, and figured out that winning brings more, who gives a shit?
All we want are trophies and beautiful football, and we’ve already got the latter.
Why not more?
Follow me at @jblauphoto
Our first win in Portugal.
This has been beautiful.
This is how you are supposed to play away in Europe.
Well done Emery.
All 4 refs are blind apparently. How do UEFA do it to choose 4 blind refs to ref the same game.
Well well. It’s 1 nil to The Arsenal!!!! Can’t complain can we. Winning in an ugly fashion with the bonus of a clean sheet.
Fuck off Ramsey. Useless selfish c* making an absolutely stupid foul.
Ramsey again.
And Ramsey again.
Fucked up decision making, passing during injury Time is criminal as a Captain.
Wanker Ref.
The head butt must be reviewed and a 2nd yellow for the 6′ 6″ tall guy.
Still a great outcome.
11 wins and going. .
Well done boys
No focus on the palace…
Have the rest of the night off
Onwards and upwards. Good result at a tough away ground.
First side to win at Sporting since Barcelona did it last year.
Arsenal had never won in Portugal and Sporting Lisbon have lost only 1 of their last 36 games at home and that was to Barcelona apparently.
Not an easy game but we made it look that way, very controlled performance and we managed to rest a lot of players.
Have to say Xhaka did well given he is a mobility challenged CM playing LB.
Torreira changed the game, he passes very quickly and positively.
11 wins boys, woooooh!
In a way that was one of our best performances this season.
Well played arsenal. 11 and counting.
Eleven straight for Emery! Never going to get getting tired of winning.
Think they said this was Sportings first defeat at home for 13 months
grinding out results while rotating…superb
Didn’t see the match but have seen the goal, nice finish by Welbeck. From what I can gather it was just a solid professional away performance in Europe.
Exactly what the doctor ordered.
Not a vintage performance, but then again, what to expect from such a mix and match kind of team.
Great finish by Welbz.
Should have been 2-0 when you think of it. But well who cares a win is a win. Happy with that.
Onwards and Upwards The Arsenal!
Holding
Man of the match say talk sport
This competition will be tougher than last season. Chelsea and Spuds from England are in our way for starters
Yes sir.
In Unai I trust.
Radio said that Lt passedto Lacs who fucked it up…. Lt roared at him to be alert n alive an stuff… Bout time
future is bright with a torreira – guendouzi partnership
have a feeling emery will bring in banega this januari as a sort of stopgap to keep the midfield ticking when we need to rotate. Elneny off, maybe Xhaka too in the summer
LT best left on the bench but what a sub. Moved ball faster and forward (not side). Great buy.
Guendouzi did quite well. Must be said at 19 he’s very comfy on the ball. We always needed these guys in MF (remember santi?).
Xhara defo a good backup LB.
But our fullbacks had not added to attack much at all. With rotation we can’t have all I suppose.
Emery has been very astute in utilising the whole squad. ESR in the last europa…
Surely 12th is a matter of days away!
Very professional performance and great utilisation of the squad.
This team haven’t lost at home for a long time, don’t let the naysayers claim this was anything other than a great win.
Emery’s use of the squad is exceptional, he’s a smart tactician
Eleven wins on the bounce, how marvellous to be an Arsenal fan. No nit-picking please.
Lets hope (for the moment anyway) that stealthy Stan won’t spoil everything. Odds-on that he will – but that’s for another day.
One of the best things about our season right now is opposition managers have to plan for us because Unai changes his team and system as opposed to the previous “we play the same way no matter what”
Have to say this…..
For the fact that gazidis went with unai Emery….I would forever be grateful for that…. that’sthe best decision he’smade in his decade reign at arsenal…..
The best CB right now is HOLDING, the guy is composed on the ball, imposes himself on the attacker and very strong in the air, won all his aerialduels today, better than sokratis…..
Good performance…..there was much more defensive discipline tonight from the start….the full backs stayed in touch with the centre backs throughout the game leaving no gaps down the channels .
Good half time change in putting aubamayang up top, closer to Mhkitaryan …
Torriera was his normal quality self when he came on ,controlled the game from the middle of the park plus Guendouzi had a decent game .
Even when their goalkeeper was saving everything I still have that feeling we’ll win unlike previous years. 11!
Didn’t know SPO has such excellent home record. Icing on the cake good feel. Pluses aside, the defense was ragged at times. Not sure Holding should be MoTM but he did ok. Papa and old Lich too. All managing. Can’t complain about the ‘makeshift’ back 4. Seriously, watching Ramsey dilly dally would bring back memories of piss poor wemgerball. Ramsey is either Hollywood or nothing. Hope they’d bring in someone more consistent. Mikki. Hard working but… don’t seem to keep the high tempo/ quality for 90 min. But willing to track back must say. Cech not going back to no.… Read more »
It wasn’t pretty but it’s a win.
Shame that we needed to bring Torreira to get it done though. The guy could do with a break.
It’s clear that Elneny isn’t good enough… sell him and use that money to bring in a scoring winger like Zaha.
Ramsey disappointing today as well. If nothing else, this was a shop window for him today… he should’ve bossed it today and alerted potential suitors.
If anything he’s making the club more and more justified in not offering him a new deal.
I couldn’t believe my eyes…
Holding was the man of the match for me..
Elneny out January, even for free
Or
Someone can give us $50m for mkhi, elneny and Ramsay…. So we can use the cash any other players, I don’t care who….
OnlyGod knows what elneny contributes to this team….
No tackles
No interception s
No Fouls
No drive
No chances created
No nothing…
What a total waste of space
Xhaka looks very comfy at LB.
Here’s hoping we can pick up another three or four players from Dortmund to join the three we already have here.
I’ll take Pulisic (replace Ramsey), Sancho (replace Welbeck) and Witzel (replace Xhaka).
Thanks Sven.
Why haven’t we had offered Welbeck a new deal though? He is a great third choice striker, a hard working athlete who delivers the goods when called upon without complications or complaint.
Agreed on Elneny, need to be sold even for 2m. Ramsey nuff said.
Danny Welbeck has now scored more goals than Romelu Lukaku this season, despite Lukaku playing over 800 minutes more.
With Maitland Niles now fit he should get the minutes Elneny has been getting.
That’s one we can sell in January.
With Emery squad management we’ll have options on the bench to impact the match positively if the first eleven is not working. Maybe it’s too early but Emery is a master of in-game management.
Sell Elneny and Ramsey in January.
Holding was never given the opportunity to develop under you know who.
He was excellent tonight, apart from that suicidal pass across goal in the first half.
There is a definite chemistry developing amongst the players.
Bravo Unai.
11 in a row. Can you believe it?
Welbeck makes Lukaku look like a novice.
Lichtensteiner looked like he wanted to be elsewhere; it’s clear his legs are gone and he knows it… maybe I’m being harsh… he did play 2 games only three days apart…
Although, having said that he is a pro athlete.
If this game was in the EPL we would have had a player sent off and/or penalty awarded against us… but we didn’t. We just need to learn from it.
After today’s match…. I finally realized the great asset we have in bellerin, if he want 200k a week, we should give him, provided he signs an 8yrs contract extension, and gives us 12 assist every season, and takes an oath to always improve on his defensive duties…..
DAMN, he is better than luke shaw
Sell in January
Ramsey £20m
Jenkinson £3m
Elneny £5m
Welbeck £15m (if he doesn’t extend soon).
Use that sale proceeds to by a scoring winger.
Players look fitter, stronger, hungrier and far more motivated.
No more headless chicken runs and challenges and consequently, no more injuries.
I love Guendouzi and Torreira.
Amazing what structure and progression can do.
*Use thosesale proceeds to buy a scoring winger.
Leeds
Agreed.
Lichtsteiner looked his age tonight I thought, that’s why the win was even more impressive. Our full backs were Lichtsteiner and Xhaka, no pace and very little attacking threat.
Grinding out wins… even a touch of the nostalgia with the scoreline.
ONE NIL to the ARSENAL
Leedgooner….
I totally agree with you…. We need a right back fromthe academy to develop quick, back a LB, is a must by winter tw….. Just hope EMERY realises this, so he doesn’t get stubborn like the former military regime we were in, who doesn’t like and doesn’t make the right call at the right time……
For sure, from what I’m seeing, Emery looks like he knows what he’s doing, and what’s best for the club…
We win our 11th game on the row and straight away some fans are criticising our players and selling them.
For heavens sake, really?
Back to the great win, we now appear to have a squad that can be rotated which means we shouldn’t suffer later in the season. You need to have good bench players with the right attitude and we seem to have that. Emery is smart tactically too and you can see why he’s had success in this competition.
11 in a row is mental. How they fuck we managed that with Xhaka at left back is unreal.
Also, comments should be fixed later. Gonna try a more modern plugin… see how it goes. You’ll not have to keep re-doing your deets
Just read a column written by joe clayden…
This guy should be sacked by tomorrow morning…for saying AUBA was the star man of the match and rated mkhi 7/10…..
I can’t get believe this…. This guy is clueless
I guess this outing for Auba means he’ll probably come off the bench again versus Crystal Palace. He can’t complain… he should have taken his chances better today.
Zaha is a great player and he’ll score given half a chance… shut him down and you shut their main scoring threat… would love him at the Arsenal.
Shame didn’t pick him up when he bombed out at Man Utd a few years back.
He would have been cheap as chips!
Don’t get me wrong. I like Welbeck but just think he’s on his way out.
ddkingz
Yep, it’s a game of opinions and you do get some weird ones. I’m sure some people comment without watching the game.
11 in a row man that’s something special. Haven’t seen the game all I want to know is how Xhaka done at LB. Could be a legitimate position change
Leedsgunner
Grinding out wins… even a touch of the nostalgia with the scoreline.
ONE NIL to the ARSENAL
Felt the same when I heard the away boys sing the song.
I hope Unai now understands our song!
Auba
Julio Pleguezuelo has been playing as a RB for the U23s.
He’s 22. If he is not good enough, sell him on but after tonight I think we can only rely on Lichtensteiner very very selectively because he doesn’t have the mobility anymore.
Shame we didn’t keep Debuchy and sell Jenkinson… his experience would have been good and perfect for this situation.
Bellerin better not get injured!
You have to be careful you don’t buy a team of egos. Players like Welbeck are great squad players because they don’t sulk and therefore contribute positively.
You start buying all these Zahas etc and how will they accept being squad members? It’s not just about ability you also need great atmosphere and team spirit.
Look at Alexis and how he became a poison within.
Watching Aruba, Laca etc they all seem to accept the squad situation, no tantrums or strops even though they may be unhappy. It’s something managers put importance on but fans can under appreciate.
Auba
You’re not shifting Jenkinson.
His football career will likely end when his contract runs out, or he will end up in Australia or something.
Jenkinson literally won the lottery with us.
Bacaryisgod
“Don’t get me wrong. I like Welbeck but just think he’s on his way out.”
Hope not, quality player. Strong, pacy, good in the air and a great attitude when he does play. Great finish tonight, scored more goals than Lukaku this season and played 800 mins less! Great option.
Still though 11 wins. Even if we lose to Liverpool strides have been made and what Emery wants to do with the club has got legitimate potential. If he’s backed financially 100% we could be onto a winner here.
Marko
This was impressive because Emery rotated players and we beat a team that haven’t lost at home for ages. They’ve scored a shed load of goals too but they never tested Leno.
He’s smart, his substitutions are made earlier and with real purpose. Refreshing change.
We need to keep our feet on the ground and expect the blips but the fact is we are only part of the way into his first season, so the players are still learning his ways.
Bodes well.
I have a feeling Liverpool are watching our game and the they scared….
Just hope we manage to out run them in the midfield….
I said it before and I would still say it again…. Emery better partner LT and MG from the start and leave xhaka on the bench…. If xhaka starts, I see a horrible first half, because they would always harrass him, and xhaka needs space to play his sideways long pass….. And we all know Liverpool don’t afford you any space to do shit… I just hope I’m right and wrong at the same time
I liked the fact that the manager didn’t bring ozil on just to keep him happy ..will keep ozil on his toes.
Marko give it 3 hours and Banford will litter the place with a minute-by-minute rehashing, with his elite opinion free of charge. He’s good like that
Xhaka showing a touch of Petit about him, some auxiliary nous about him which is very welcome in a modern squad game. Emery could really unlock his potential for us at last.
Cesc
“Jenkinson literally won the lottery with us.”
Along with Squillaci, Diaby, Park Chu-Young, Lucas Perez, Chamakh, and Wilshere. That’s just from the top of my head.
All the while, the Manager who must not be Named, complained about not having any money to compete whilst taking home one of the largest salaries on the wage bill.
It’s funny how quickly things can change at a club. Last season it felt we had a rapidly ageing squad with our most important players either past or about to be past their best (Auba, Ozil, Mkhitaryan, Welbeck, Monreal ,Kozzer, Cech) and Ramsey running down his contract. It seemed like Arsenal had no long-term strategy other than plugging holes with expensive signings in their late twenties. Now look where we stand. 1) We have three young players who have been revitalized under Emery (Bellerin-23, Holding-23, Iwobi-22) 2) We bought in three key players who have yet to peak (Leno-26, Torreira-22,… Read more »
Charlie
Xhaka’s lack of pace was exposed at times by how Wenger played him. He’s actually a very efficient player and Emery has helped him. The same is true of Ozil imo.
I like this Manager, he’s gradually improving players by his tactical awareness and we haven’t really missed not having any left backs.
Of course it’s easier when confidence is high and we’re winning games but it just seems so much more organised.
Bacary
Great post @ 2132, thinking the same — although I would like to see some of the talented youngsters given more game time so that we can keep our best players fresh for the toughest EPL games… and injury free.
I know we have no left backs at the moment but on the whole, our squad is slowly becoming injury free — when was the last time we could say that?
Nemesis
I agree. Arguably my biggest gripe with Wenger was his lack of attention to the balance of the team.
Ozil and Xhaka are two examples of good footballers that have been used poorly in recent times, and their weaknesses anything but negated. Good to see Emery tinker where necessary and start to reap the rewards in terms of individual improvement.
How much so remains to be seen, but encouraging at least.
CC
With the recent improvements in iwobi, xhaka and Ozil under Emerys governship, why has Ramsey performances gone in the opposite direction and regressed?
Also why was everyone talking about how pace less sokratis is before we bought him. Seems to have a decent turn of pace by a defenders standards.
Charlie Players like Xhaka, Bellerin and Iwobi have improved under Emery. This could be due them feeling more confident tactically of their roles or just good training drills. We used to have a soft underbelly, we would dominate games and lose due to tactical naivety. How many times did that happen?! We now seem to be learning how to absorb pressure and capitalise on the mistakes of our opponents. Our in game management is better and our substitutions are affect g games. Early days but signs are good. Fans need to maintain realistic expectations because we do have a fan… Read more »
I wonder, if you know 1-0 Arsenal chant, does it prove you been supporting gunners since at least George Graham era? I remember a few of us going to match in either Wenger’s third or fourth season and we tried to start 1-0 Arsenal chant and we were shushed by other gooners saying we expected more now. Do they even do 1-0 chant anymore, only the relics know it surely?
Anyways, haven’t had time to watch tonight match but a win is a win is a win.
Thanks Leeds. Agree with you on giving the youngsters more time but I guess he has a formula for the Europa League that he doesn’t want to mess with . Hopefully the youngsters can go deep in the EFL Cup. Interesting that the only injuries we have aside from Cech are with our defenders. Probably a statistical anomaly and nothing to do with how we train. London-As for Ramsey, he’s not been bad but I’m sure the uncertainty with his contract isn’t helping. A lot of players play really well in their last year of a contract but Ramsey has… Read more »
11 wins in a row!
Rotating the squad.
Everyone happy as they are getting important minutes
Pretty much qualified for next round of Europa.
Bring on CP. Bring on Liverpool!
#EKB
Out of the British core, it’s a great regret that we couldn’t hold on to the Ox because I reckoned he would have fitted into Emery’s system like hand inside a glove. Oh well, water under the bridge. I bet Ramsey’s agent is rueing the day he told Ramsey to play hard to get. Aaron looks demotivated… almost deflated. Perhaps in his mind he’s left us already. If he has, he surprises me because I thought he would be motivated to show what he can do. I bet he must be envious of the team spirit and even though he’s… Read more »
BacaryisGod – your story about Fat Sam and Jenks reminded of anecdote from Romford Pele’s autobiography. Apparently Wenger signed Igor Stepanovs because during his trial other players were trying to wind up Keown, so they were overly enthusiastic about Stepanovs even tho he had poor audition but Wenger signed him anyway.
@Nemesis
“Hope not, quality player”
Welbeck quality. Lol.
Didn’t West Ham want to buy Jenks for £12m and Wenger said no? I think after 2010 World Cup AC Milan wanted to purchase Joel Campbell for £15m… £27m we could sure use now!
In his latter years the previous manager just didn’t know when to cut his losses and held on to players far too long.
They weren’t players anymore but his surrogate sons.
If Xhaka were such a bad footballer, how is that he can adapt a functional role as left back in a competitive Europa cup game away from home?
It takes a lot of discipline and intelligence for Xhaka to do what he did tonight.
He played it as well as Kolasinac
Marko give it 3 hours and Banford will litter the place with a minute-by-minute rehashing, with his elite opinion free of charge. He’s good like that
I want people with actual knowledge to give their opinions though
Lots of moaning about Arsenal letting players contracts run down but:
Man Utd have 10 Players who’s contracts expire in the summer. Those players are:
De Gea
Darmian
Jones
Young
Smalling
Perreira
Martial (just refused new contract)
Herrera
Mata
Valencia
*source Sky Sports.
All these now available on free transfers.
This is Man Utd supposedly the biggest club in the world. Since the drunk resigned they’ve imploded.
The same club that has turned Lukaku, Sanchez and Pogba into Sunday league players and exposed Jose Mourinho for what he really is: a miserable, egotistical cheque book manager.
Amazing really.
Dissenter “If Xhaka were such a bad footballer, how is that he can adapt a functional role as left back in a competitive Europa cup game away from home?” He’s also an experienced Swiss International. Unfortunately there are fans who like to have a scapegoat. Xhaka was a convenient and lazy choice to blame for anything that went wrong. He wasn’t helped by the tactics we used to employ but like Giroud some people only focus on the negatives. Xhaka’s a very good player unless you isolate him on one on one’s. He’s experience means he can adapt to other… Read more »
Great win tonight. 11 on the trot is no mean feat. All of the players are up for it and Emery picked a balanced squad yet again. Tough place to go so the win is even sweeter.
Onwards and Upwards!
Xhaka was a convenient and lazy choice to blame for anything that went wrong
That’s bollocks
That’s a lazy response.
Xhaka has not been very good for us the last 2 seasons. The opinions were based on his play not because Jt was convenient or
Lazy
Fuck me akbs have some bollocks saved up to spit out
Like Giroud, he will prove a lot of people don’t know as much as they think they do, pundits included
Ummm giroud was never a #1 striker.
Most people , including me, said he would be a great option off the bench, a # 2.
Please enlighten us on how we don’t think we know as much as we do
Please tell us why Xhaka and giroud were not used properly ????
Oh right, fucking wenger didn’t use them properly. But Xhaka still caused a lot of goals and gave the ball away a lot and let’s players stride past him.
He’s deserved all the criticism he’s recieved including this year.
That he looks better as LB than a MF says a lot
Fantastic to see welbeck winning us the game. I’m happy with his contribution this season
But nemesis, since when is he good in the air? How many headers has he scored in his career? Giroud was good in the air. As was (date I say it) chamakh. Welbeck doesn’t score with his head and doesn’t get many useful flick ins with it either
Regardless, well done Danny. I couldn’t see the game because it was too late but it’s made my day seeing the score already
Seeing Hleb at 37 still kick ball is MAAAD
China
“Welbeck doesn’t score with his head and doesn’t get many useful flick ins with it either”
He had a great headed goal disallowed for no reason in the game. Very good headed finish from a cross.
Joe
Are you always this rude and aggressive?
There’s no need mate, really it’s all a bit unnecessary. If you want to behave like that go onto a Spurs blog and treat their fans like that because they’ll give you what you want. I won’t.
“With the recent improvements in iwobi, xhaka and Ozil under Emerys governship, why has Ramsey performances gone in the opposite direction and regressed?“ Personally I think Ramsey is affected by the off field stuff at present whereas the others have simply knuckled down and looked to absorb everything the new coach has laid out for them. In an environment where everyone should’ve been “fearful” of their future due to uncertainty. You have Ramsey who (through his team) is giving it large about the player he is for the club. Now he’s had his nuts kicked with the contract withdrawal. I… Read more »
Charlie
Pretty much agree. These players get a bit too big for their boots, greed plays a big part in that. Taking the contract offer away should act as a motivating factor. If it doesn’t then its time to move the player on imo.
Team spirit is so important. I like Ramsey I just think he’s been badly advised by his agent but we don’t need problems in the camp.
Best thing Ramsey can do is play so well we all want him to get another contract!
Nemesis
Answer my post please
Nemesis Xhaka doesn’t have a bad reputation here because anyone is scapegoating him. He has a bad reputation because he has made mistakes with the ball in our own third countless times and those mistakes have been catalogued here. He has also been guilty of countless dumb tackles. These are just facts. He has been a little better of late, but he remains the same inadequate player he has been for a couple of years now. Also, I love you telling Joe that he should be nice to you. Unless I’m confusing you with some other new arrival here, you… Read more »
Banford
Why do you continually assume the position of authority to dictate what this space is to folk? It’s fucking annoying, which admittedly just scratches the surface with your overall input.
Le Grove isn’t some “negative” sanctum of yours that people are disrupting with positivity. You’re not anything close to an authority on what is or isn’t the right type of commentary for this space. Get a fucking life Professor Emo
Like in previous games we were average/poor in the first half, but began to dominate the game in second half as Sporting Lisbon’s energy levels declined. My view is that the club is now reasonably competitive in goalkeeper, midfield and forward resources and we have improved in these departments. The one area where Arsenal needs to improve if we are going to compete at top level either in EPL or Europe is our defence. Most of our defenders would not make the starting lineup and in some cases the bench of any other top team in Europe. Our Centre Backs… Read more »