Chelsea’s run came crashing to an end at Wembley as a rampant Spurs picked them apart and showed that if you stop Jorginho, you stop all the good things Sarri has to offer.
That puts today’s game in an exciting light. Win, and we’ll close the gap on 4th to one point. Lose, and we’ll bring Bournemouth to within a point of our Europa League 5th place. A lot rides on this result, the most important item being confidence heading into a really tough period.
We’ve had one win in five, which isn’t ideal. Our last league win was October 22nd. This becomes a minor blip in the season, or it becomes a very big problem if the game goes badly today.
I’ll be looking for a few things today, knowing Emery has likely been holed up in a video room for 2 weeks working out a plan of action for phase four of the season.
Balance:
He’s going to have to work out how he can find more balance in the team. Our midfield base of Xhaka and Torriera isn’t offering enough protection for the back 4 and going forward, our Ozil experiment isn’t returning a bundle of assists. The coach is going to have to make a decision. He doesn’t get enough from Ozil defensively to keep rolling with what he’s doing.
Does he switch things up and try Mikhi in a more modern #10 role? Arguably his best season in a Dortmund shirt came under Thomas Tuchel who played him centrally or on the left. He’s naturally a #10 by trade. I remember being told years ago that the thing Arsenal like most about his game was how industrious he was. A relentless attacking talent that could open up matches like a chess player. Is he as good as Mesut Ozil at threading passes? No. But could he give us more balance in midfield if he could do 100% more than Mesut defending, and 70% of what he can moving forward? Is that a sacrifice that could help us find more rhythm moving forward?
We’re running extremely low on options…
Starting 11:
We’ve been appalling in nearly every opening 45 this season. That has to stop. We aren’t going to be able to chase game forever. We need to play more cautiously in the opening 20 minutes, or we need to find our game quicker. Bournemouth are likely going to explode at us this morning, if we haven’t picked the right starting 11, we’re going to pay a painful price. I don’t know the answer to finding focus early on, but we all know it’s an issue, hopefully, the coach has a plan.
Strikers:
Auba and Lacazette both have exceptional individual talents, but playing one of them out of position isn’t really working. Do we lean in hard at working out a two-striker system? Or do we search for a better way to achieve width? We have a bit of a nightmare with the two of them. One can’t hold up the play and is best as a fox in box or over the top. The other is great at holding up the ball and bringing people into the game, he’s just a bit lightweight and easily anonymised against big teams. If the club is going to be ruthless this summer, you’d imagine one of the two will be on their way. We need to find a balance of skill sets, and unfortunately, we need to lean into someone who is a Giroud+++.
Plenty of excitement to look forward to this morning, let’s hope this is the start of a beautiful run that sees us take phase 4 by storm!
x
1st
2nd
3rd
Tr4phy
Clean sweep. My work is done.
Now to read the post…
Nice one Groovey. I’m glad you stopped when you did… 30 mins all by yourself, you might’ve broken my record
So Emery relegates Ramsey to the bench and we start struggling to get wins. Coincidence? I think not. Arsenal has always had a good win percentage with Ramsey and this goes back years.
I thought Chelsea should have had one penalty and could have got another…sure spurs could have had 6, but swings and roundabouts.
Once again we’re discussing Ozil. Why? It’s an away game…so we’re playing with 10. Xhaka too?…that’s 9 against 11.
I think this could be a stinker today.
Ramsey came on as sub v palace and wolves and both in games our performance dropped …yes we did equalise v wolves but the final 15 minutes were our worse of the season.
I wouldn’t necessarily blame Ramsey though… I would put it down to bad decisions by the manager… Taking off both aubamayang and ozil v palace and wolves handed the initiative to our opponents..
I feel he needs to put more trust in aubamayang and ozil but that’s just my opinion.
Also
Also,mhkitaryan needs to play closer to aubamayang…
Yes, that’s what Ozil needs. More ‘trust’ and ‘love’.
Is it of any surprise to anyone that Arsenal have lost a sense of urgency and purpose in attack ever since Ramsey was benched and Ozil brought back to the center.
“anonymised” one of your best Pedro.
Heard it all now, we’re dropping points because Ramsey is benched lol
Guns
Yea the chavs were denied an absolute stonewaller on Hazard at 1-0. That changes the game potentially, fine margins and all that. They were shit defensively all day though so maybe not, who knows.
Charlie is right ofcourse. That we are dropping points is also down to Xhaka, a cumbersome oaf that continues to drop clangers.
Rambo
Actually thought you were being tongue in cheek, kind of embarrassing that you’re not now I see your second post and further scorn towards Xhaka.
Get over it mate, the poster needs to come down off the wall at some stage.
Xhaka v Ramsay in a fight. Who wins and how?
I think they would square off and sexy kiss each other to exhaustion, before spooning themselves to sleep…then Ozil walks over and kicks them both in the head. Ozil wins.
Terrible.
‘So Emery relegates Ramsey to the bench and we start struggling to get wins. Coincidence? ‘
Classic example of fallacy of incomplete evidence.
TR7,
Incomplete evidence? Please, its been well documented over the years that Arsenal’s average points per game comes down whenever Ramsey is injured/not starting.
Charlie, how long do you reckon Xhaka goes without making yet another costly fvck up? I see him Xhakaing it up tonight.
Rambo
No idea, hoping Emery can coach him some more and see further improvements. Same goes for the other starters at the club.
Doesn’t solve your Ramsey fixation however.
We will need Torreira to have a monster performance to get a result today, that’s for sure.
China1 “I’m still not sold on this xg statIt has some meaning but it’s far too much of an oversimplification to build a major argument on Winning ugly and taking your chances is a sign of actually being quite good. Because it means that when you are actually on better form things will be easier rather than harder. There’s nothing bad about being efficient. That is a dream scenario. Rather than be disappointed that we were winning without playing teams off the park, I’m impressed that things can get easier as we find better form.” I absolutely agree with this.… Read more »
Come one Arsenal!!!
So Emery relegates Ramsey to the bench and we start struggling to get wins. Coincidence? I think not.
Good one. Lads been shocking all season long and you’re making a case for him during an unbeaten spell. Good one
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/11562928/arsenal-boss-unai-emery-says-peaky-blinders-helps-him-learn-english
Brilliant.
What time does this shit show kick off?
Guns
Wun furty kickoff geez
Really hope we don’t sit back and absorb pressure if we have a lead. We’re not built to handle wave after wave of opposition attacks. We’ve been punished twice, Juventus were punished against Utd and Spurs threw away a lead at inter when Pochettino sat back and defended
CC
So 12.40 GMT.
Interesting XI. No Ozil? No Lacazette? 3-5-2?
Back 5, Özil on the bench, no Laca in the 18
Leno
Holding, Sokratis, Mustafi
Bellerin and Kolasinac down the sides
Torreira and Xhaka double pivot
Iwobi and Mkhitaryan as dual #10s
Aubameyang as the #9
This club hides a lot of things. Worried Lacazette has a long term injury. Usually the part of the season where our players start dropping like flies
Looks like we are goin 3-4-3..
3 4 3, this is going to be interesting!
Ozil dropped.
God I love Emery.
I guess it could be 3-4-3. Anyone know why Lacazette isn’t in the squad? Thoughts on why Ozil isn’t starting?
Similar style of XI we played at Chelsea last year with Aubameyang,Mkhitaryan and Torreira instead of Lacazette,Welbeck and Ramsey. The latter two were excellent that day.
Expecting a difficult afternoon for Holding and Kolasinac. We’ll need at least two to get something.
The club is saying Lacazette has a slight groin issue and is being rested as a precaution.
BIG GAME TODAY
Feel like this is going to set the tone for the next few games. Really hope the players come out firing. Not seen that often this season.
more like 3-4-2-1
At least we are trying something different…means our wing backs can bomb forward knowing that there is protection…both have good delivery in attacking areas
Hoping Mhkitaryan and Aubamayang can hit it off ..let’s hope iwobi is on his game.
young Bournemouth midfielder Lewis Cook is a player I rate.
Bamford
Hope Lacazette is okay. He definitely should be our #9 next week vs Spurs. Need a forward who can play in tight areas wen marked by three CBs
“This club hides a lot of things. Worried Lacazette has a long term injury. Usually the part of the season where our players start dropping like flies”
Way to be positive about the club with no indication that Laca has anything other than a mild strain and is being rested with a couple of huge matches coming up after today.
Expecting a difficult afternoon for Holding and Kolasinac.
Have a bit of confidence in the team. Think we will will outshine Bournemouth today.
This club hides a lot of things. Worried Lacazette has a long term injury. Usually the part of the season where our players start dropping like flies
Respectfully what are you talking about he pulled out of the french squad with a slight injury and granted this club has lied in the past (remember withholding the severity of the Welbeck injury until after the transfer window closed so we didn’t buy anyone) but that was a different regime
Looks like a 3-4-3 today. Interesting use of Bellerin and Kolasinac rather than 4 midfield players.
Marc
Been scarred before. You’re right that I jumped the gun on his injury. Hope it’s nothing serious because we really Lacazette. Really like him in the bigger games. Wanted him and Welbeck together in every match vs the top 6
Yes, 3-4-2-1 rather than 3-4-3.
Very unlikely Iwobi and Mikhi are played wide when we have two free wing backs. Besides, Mikhi and Iwobi are by nature more of a playmaker than wide players.
Telling how unbalanced our squad is when we have zero defenders, 5 midfielders and 1 rookie striker on the bench.
We really need a couple of excellent windows to catch up to the rest.
Hope Emery can maximize what we have until that happens.
If Lacatalent is injured, why waste time with him on the bench?
Actually could be very smart what he’s gone with because Bournemouth are dangerous and should be respected. And in Josh King, Lerma and particularly Fraser and Wilson they have good attacking and in form players.
Dream10
Yeah we definitely want Laca back for the Spud’s and Utd. I also agree on Welbeck he’s not clinical but he’s a fucking nuisance against he big teams and his work rate is excellent. Hopefully Sven’s on the case for Jan.
Pierre/tr7,
I’d have to say you’re correct the 3421, and I hope that we can prove today how good we are without Ozil in the lineup.
Could somehow get him to pick up his game being outshone haha. Wishful thinking at its best.
Marko
The change in formation will be something Bournemouth didn’t expect so might screw their plans as well as giving us some support in defence.
Ramsey is done at the club, put a fork in it Rambo. He hasn’t particularly showed us why he should be kept on an exorbitant amount bar one nice team goal…..Besides Ozil has been benched too. My only gripe with Emery is his obsession with Xhaka similar to the old manager’s obsession with Ramsey
Dream10
Agree that Lacazette is much better than Aubameyang in tight spaces.
Hackney
Lacazette is not in the squad at all.
My only gripe with Emery is his obsession with Xhaka similar to the old manager’s obsession with Ramsey
To be fair when your only options are him or Ramsey or Elneny or a rookie alongside Torreira it becomes understandable if we’re honest. Hopefully though those options become better in the near future though
don’t see how torreira can play the full 90. he played both international games for Uruguay. Hopefully we get the result in the bag and the boss can keep him fresh for next weekend when we face spurs
is lacazette injured ? on paper this is a very weird formation. 3-4-2-1.
Emery knows if we play the same system that we’ve played recently we will likely be out of the game by half-time.
He’s trying to pre-empt it by changing it up and hoping it sparks us into some life.
Bournemouth overwhelmed us in the same fixture last year. Wilshere dominated the game for the first 30 minutes. He ran out of gas and for the last 60 minutes, Jack & Xhaka had no chance as a pair in the centre. We’re fitter now, so hope we can last the pace.
Paulinho
Looks like got your wish sort of.
3-4-2-1 instead of 4-3-2-1 but still.
Cesc – Yeah, be interesting how wide Mikhi and Iwobi go. Hopefully they do stay central.
Paulinho
Think they’ll be allowed to drift and offer support wide hopefully it’ll pull Bournemouth all over the place.
First XI:
Leno, Holding, Sokratis, Mustafi, Bellerin, Torreira, Xhaka, Mkhitaryan, Kolasinac, Aubameyang, Iwobi.
Subs: Cech, Maitland-Niles, Guendouzi, Ramsey, Elneny, Ozil, Nketiah.
Bournemouth are not going to make it easy for us. It would be good to see us start on the front foot for once.
Gabriel paulista, I challange you to find a more anonymous player
Xhaka captain?
Mkhi giving the ball away in the first minute. Never gonna understand what some fans see in this guy.
Yeah because Ramsey never ever did that did he.
Iwobi is a fucking donkey.
I can’t believe he has a cult following.
This is the reason why Iwobi won’t amount to anything.
Impressed with the way xhaka jogs around the pitch
Mustafi always on the floor. Don’t get it
This is the reason why Iwobi won’t amount to anything.
Why? Because he took a wild rebound shot?
I really hate the way Mustafi goes sliding in
Bournemouth all over us like a cheap suit.
VAR would have given that goal too, we got very lucky there.
Starting to worry about what Emerys plan is.
It seems to involve letting teams have a huge number of shots.
Talk of us improving defensively just isn’t true.
We seem to struggle to cope with the pace of pretty much all PL teams.
That’s right, Dale. The guy has zero composure and his ball skills are wildly overrated.
Mkhi has had, what, 3 good games for us since he signed? What a fucking waste that swap deal was. Still waiting to see that ‘telepathic’ relationship between Mkhi and Auba that Pierre repeatedly spoke of recently. Naturally, neither Mkhi nor Auba should track back or defend because they’ll waste ‘50% of their energy’.
Bournemouth are pressing more, wanting it more!
Aubameyang should have scored that.
Torreira just did the same wild shot Rambo. Think you and gambon need to relax on the Iwobi bash, he hasn’t done anything bad so far. You boy Ramsey takes loads of wild shots
Dale
Do you think any non-Arsenal fans are saying “you know what, I wish we had Alex Iwobi”?
It seems the only reason people rate him is that he plays for Arsenal.
No one can point to anything that he does well.
He wouldn’t get in this Bournemouth team, and they go into every season hoping to stay up.
Papas wasn’t even aware of the ball…..ref is becoming a cunt
The refereeing in the Premier league is the worst in any professional league anywhere. Thank God for VAR next season. It will be needed often.
One small positive today is we’ve got some shots on target. Fraser and Brooks, the south coast Ribery and Robben are starting to feel their way into the game.
Mhki is another joker that needs to be booted out asap
*meant shots not shots on target
Christ, this does not look good, does it?
Gambon come on all the other Prem teams, including City have a player even Arsenal won’t want. What’s the point of complaining about Iwobi’s involvement? Chelsea won the league with Moses in the side
Mhki is so weak on the ball another lightweight waste of space.
What a strike that was.
Lol
Funniest goal you’ll see all season.
Loool
What a super finish
The mighty Bournemouth rocket the ball into their own net. Hilarious.
Luckiest team in the football league.
‘Ribben’ really should have been a thing.
Goal. An orrible gaff.
Great finish!
what a finish lol.
Ohh lucky there, us up in the 1st half – looks strange!
Good goal….lol lol
We have been so lucky this season so far.
Leicester 2015-16 levels of luck.
The replays make it look even more impressive.