There can be no doubt about it, our 17th game unbeaten was one of the sweetest. Arsenal powered to victory away at Bournemouth after a 2 week international break and 3 draws on the bounce. We hadn’t won for a little over a month. We were playing a team that sat 4 points behind us in the table, and 6 places above us in the xG league.
The game wasn’t pretty. The performance left a lot to be desired. There were some performances I could smell in New York. But once again, it was the 3 points that mattered.
Lady Luck was riding with us, which helped. The first goal of the game came from Lermar, the impressive number 8 brought in this summer for £25m. Iwobi was found in the half-space, he rolled a ball into Kolasinac who crossed dangerously into the box, Lerma was fully committed to the clearance and fortunately caught the ball clean on the volley and sent it past Begovic. A fucking great finish.
We couldn’t let the half finish on a high. We overcommitted in the Bournemouth box on 45minutes. Iwobi pirouetted, lost the ball, the counter-attack broke with Bellerin and Torreira nowhere to be seen. Mikhi tracked back for a bit, but gave up. The ball found its way to King at the back post and he made no mistake under no pressure and fizzed a perfect shot into Leno’s top corner.
The second half saw Arsenal claw their way back. We took more control of the game, Bournemouth started to look leggy, and our quality showed. We capitalised on our possession, Iwobi again found in the half-space slotted a perfect pass inside the fullback, Kolasinac made the most of his run finding Auba in the box, with the finish never in question.
Arsenal went full on banter years towards the end. Bournemouth hit the post from 30 years, Leno had to make a few very important saves, and Mustafi lunged into a stupid challenge on 95minutes to give us all a heart attack. The freekick went over, so it was fine.
So what did we learn?
#10 Drought
Emery doesn’t fancy his most expensive player against teams that ruffle feathers.
‘We thought how we can be better in the match, a very demanding match with physicality and intensity,’
‘But every player is important. We worked today and it is another possibility to improve or find our best performance in the squad.
‘In the beginning of the season we were speaking every day about the need to be competitive. We need to be organised, we need the individual quality to improve our performance.
‘It’s the same today. It depends. It depends how the match is going, what the result is. I decided for another option. We knew this is a difficult stadium, a difficult team.
‘Seventeen matches we haven’t lost, but the last three matches we drew. We know that is not enough for us, for our objectives.’
Quite the indictment, but an honest appraisal. The brutal truth is that we’re rocking £520k worth of #10 talent and neither are good enough for what we need. Mikhi was given a rare start, but he looked utterly out of place. He lacked urgency, I don’t think he worked hard, his passing was off key and his shooting was attrocious. I was game for rejuvenating his career, but it doesn’t look good. He doesn’t look focused on proving the doubters wrong.
The question I have is this: If Emery doesn’t fancy Ozil against physical team, what the fuck is he going to do against Spurs next week?
Keeping:
Bernd Leno continued to impress. He has the right level of theatre with his saves, but my word, he’s all over that goal. He made some very sharp saves yesterday. He’s just so reassuring to have at the back. It’s been rare to have a keeper that drops MOM performances, but I think this guy does.
Defensive worries:
Sokratis was in a wrestling match against King today. Sure, the Bournemouth striker is very strong, but my concern is the Greek just isn’t that mobile. He’s wrestling because he can’t keep up. Combine that with the donut behaviour of Mustafi, and, well, you have a problem next week against Spurs. Kane, Alli, Son and Erikson are going to have a field day if we don’t button up.
Midfield:
I think a few pointed out that Torreira didn’t look in good shape by the time he was taken off today. He’s bearing the workload of two players because Xhaka isn’t exactly mobile. He’ll have to do some work next week, so we have to hope he has enough energy in his legs, and that the club give him the right amount of R&R
Iwobi:
I took some pelters for suggesting Iwobi was regressing. I misphrased. I didn’t feel he was offering us the levels he was earlier in the season. I think maybe I was unfair, he was involved in two goals and the pass for the second was exceptional. But, you have to put that against the backdrop of the error in the build-up to the Bournemouth goal. I think we need to upgrade in our wide positions. We need pace, more technique and real width.
Stats:
- We have won more away games this season than we did in the whole of last season. Which is good.
- We still haven’t led at halftime. Which is both bad, for obvs reasons. But good, because we’re masters of the second half.
- xNerd stats: Arsenal 1.65 Bournemouth 0.65
- We had 20 attempts on goal. 4 on target. 1 goal. Does the stat for conversion only count if it’s on target? Is our conversion rate 25% or 50% with an own goal? Either way, yesterday was a bad day in front of goal.
Bring on Spurs (AFTER WE TAKE THE KIDS TO VORSKLA)
P.S. Emery learns his English by way of the Peaky Blinders. I like him.
“Now I am watching English TV series to improve my English… Peaky Blinders is good but it is difficult, from Birmingham!”
“And it’s very aggressive. But it’s good, it’s good.”
DM
Here
I am going to go against the grain and say that Mhkitaryan was nowhere near as bad as what people are saying …I do understand that without ozil in the side we need a whipping boy but the criticism is unwarranted. Mhkitaryan was poor early on but grew into the game ,he took up very good positions , worked hard for the team and linked the play well ..his movement throughout the game was excellent. His main fault was that his finishing was woeful and that is what people will remember but obviously he was impressing Emery with his movement… Read more »
Tr4phy
4
whoa! a real comment in the top 4 LOL
To go from full backs to wing backs suits our full backs much better …I said before the game yesterday that Kolasinac and bellerin are strongest when they are in the final third and Kolasinac’s contribution in both goals confirms that . The thing is ,when we play a back 4 our full backs are just as high up the pitch but it leaves us short and open to the counter as we have seen many times this season. Bournemouth ‘s goal was the one time we were caught on the counter and we were punished. That goal shows the… Read more »
Mmnnn…not sure who could defend that gormless bastard Iwobi except maybe his mother or a lunatic. Ozil, Mikki and Ramsay need to be gone ASAP. Get what we can and rebuild the middle. Mikki was a fucking embarrassment yesterday and proved man yoo very right by getting rid. Ramsay proved why he has no place at a top team. His decision making is appalling 97% of the time. An on ‘paper’ player. Leno was excellent but our defence is still shipping over a goal a game. That isn’t good enough. City…are conceding a goal every three games. You can’t win… Read more »
DM waiting for a full minute and a half for that third comment, full on alert, his finger on the “post comment” button so that he can scavenge the tr4phy. lolz
Manure sitting on 7-th place, 6 points behind us with a goal difference of -1. Feelsgoodman
Emery has us playing without Ramsey. We don’t miss him when we ate playing good or bad.
Pierre
Surprise surprise, I agree with you on Mkhitaryan.
How is that possible?
Did you also notice that Ramsey’s introduction culminated in a break down in structure and discipline all over the pitch. Up till then, we had been in control.
Bye bye Aaron.
GOH
“We will need £300m of players”.
Lol!!!!
Its funny how fickle Arsenal fans on le-grove can be. Each match have a reaction totally almost indifferent from the previous. How one player can go from being the ‘fresh like a new signing’ (Iwobi)after putting in several nice shifts… to being a total embarrassment we need to get rid off the next match he makes one error. Unbelievable you lot are!
GOH
I can see Emery selling , or trying to sell, Mhkitaryan,ozil and iwobi ,or at least 2 out of the 3, in January or this summer.
I don’t think they really suit his philosophy of how he wants the game played ..he won’t sell Lacazette or Aubamayang unless a top striker comes on the market as they are quality strikers …
Defensively we look a bit like the keystone cops at times ….
I wonder what Ramsey’s thinking before he comes on the pitch. What exactly is going through his head?
The answer is simple……………. Absolutely nothing!
It’s like you’re bringing a schoolboy onto the field. Remember, when we were kids, and the PE master would integrate someone into the game who you knew was going to be a complete and utter liability.
That’s master Ramsey.
Iwobi is an asset. Give him time.
Graham
It might be LOL but £300m is about the amount city spent sorting just their defence out. We need at LEAST that and more because we have major midfield issues and a soft attack.
Pierre
Great but we always have the Ozil wage hanging over our heads. I’d let the guy go for nothing to get rid. As for our defence…Leno is about the only stand out performer. The rest are very average but holding possibly could make a good defender one day.
Guys! Stay off the back of Iwobi and Emery!!! at least for now.
Recognize Iwobi is really putting effort and actually one of the few ‘squad’ players adding value far beyond the supposed first team players.
There are actually just a few first team players playing better than Iwobi this season!
Iwobi is a lump. Nothing more. Utter garbage.
What is it about arsenal fans and their blind spots to certain players?
GOH
In your case Guns, I would put it down to “blind spots” to everything Arsenal related.
Cheers.
RH Mavrapanos was supposed to be back in training now in November so should hopefully be back soon, been very quiet about him. As long as we’re ruthless with shifting underperformers out in the summer, which I think Emery will be after a season of seeing the shitshow in place, we’re going to be alright.I don’t for a second believe the 30m budget claim when we have more than that just in increased sponsorships. Backline: Mustafi and Chambers out, should be able to get 30-35m for a young english cb and former german international. Let Monreal go and keep Kola… Read more »
I don’t think mikki lacked effort or involvement. The whole team put in a shift imo. But mikki’s Passing and shooting was dismal and there was that one funny touch near the end
Iwobi wasn’t great but wasn’t terrible. I’d give him a 6/10. He’s a useful and good player but he’s not top class. Put a quality winger or world class playmaker alongside him and he can probably get the job done as an unspectacular but good player. But without more top talent around him his shortcomings are more frustrating
G62
Great response. Thanks.
Funny how the footballing world and media think Mhki was poor yesterday.
He was rubbish yesterday full stop. Weak on the ball poor with his hospital passes and his shooting was terrible. The guy looks likes he’s lacking confidence and Emery probably left him out there to give him just that.
Maybe if they score to equalize from that free kick and that mhki miss would be all over Le Grove today.
Mustafi placed us in a dangerous position again yesterday, conceding a free kick right outside our box with seconds to go. Had Bournemouth had someone like Eriksen take it yesterday, we would have been looking at a another draw rather than a win. Had Mustafi made that challenge a half a second later, he would have conceded a penalty.
Absolutely uncalled for. He got away with it yesterday but someone on the coaching staff needs to take him away and make it clear to him his stupid errors are unacceptable.
Graham
“Did you also notice that Ramsey’s introduction culminated in a break down in structure and discipline all over the pitch. Up till then, we had been in control.”
I’ve spent years trying to convince people that Ramsey is not a team player and never will be …
What’s the saying “you can fool some of the people all of the time ,you can fool all of the people some of the time but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time ” and that applies to Ramsey.
Pierre I agree that we cannot offload an entire squad as many posters on Le Grove will habitually suggest that we do, but I have to disagree with your assessment of Mkhitaryan. He is a very “soft” player and in my view is not on the same planet as Ozil when it comes to natural ability or performance level. Ozil does have his failings, but he is a significantly better player. If you discount the wages we pay him I would always keep in our squad. However, having watched Mkhitaryan since his arrival in January I see absolutely nothing in… Read more »
Pierre
Bloody hell, where’s my medication?
I’m agreeing with you on something.
I’m really hopeful that Fulham’s form picks up and they offer a decent amount for Chambers. If we can sell Elneny for £15m to Leicester and sell Chambers to Fulham for the same, that £30m we can put toward bringing in a left back or a scoring winger of quality.
I start to realize that Auba is a unit striker who is most effective with good winger. Unlike Laza, who can develop the game from the middle, Auba is an expert finishing passes from the wing. Yesterday, I did give credit to Emery for the formation. I said that we need this formation to play against Spurs and MU. Compared to playing Auba on the left wing and Iwobi on the right wing, yesterday’s formation looked much more balanced. I did give Mikki shit. That is purely out of disappointment. Look! Iwobi and Kolasinac were involved in the build up… Read more »
ES
Quote of the day, so far-
“Ozil does have his failings”.
Cheers.
Leeds gets funniest or most optimistic post of the decade.
£15m for elbeny!
Did you miss a decimal point?
Samesong
“Mhkitaryan was rubbish .fullstop.”
Which is a criticism of Emery for keeping him on the pitch .
If this military escalation doesn’t calm down between the Russians and the Ukrainians doesn’t calm down by Thursday, will they postpone the game? Or move it to a neutral venue?
Stroller
I would have ozil in my team all day long and I’m hoping we haven’t seen the end of him…though I do understand Emery’s reasoning in leaving him out of the team.
However , Mhkitaryan did not have a poor game generally apart from his shooting
He had a poor opening period but for the rest of the game he made intelligent movement and was involved in the play regularly , didn’t play great but the criticism he is getting is way off the mark…if you get the chance to watch the game again you may change your opinion..
Pierre
9 – The number of times that Henrikh Mkhitaryan lost the ball, 4 times dispossessed and 5 bad touches
Yeah, great game.
Not that that’s the only stat that counts, but he was pretty terrible otherwise too.
@Pierre
Funny you forgot to mention his passing was absolute shit as well.
“Mhkitaryan was rubbish .fullstop.”Which is a criticism of Emery for keeping him on the pitch .
Ah I see what you did there but he deserves credit for keeping that googly eyed weakling away from the pitch. By not playing him not only did we win but he didn’t get a chance to to pull a “bad back” or”illness” before the Spurs game.
Three points is three points is three points but several reasons for concern. 1. Mkhi- Id rather he passes the ball than attempt a shot. His shooting was atrocious and overall performance left alot to be desired. It was widely said we got the better deal than man-u got with Sanchez based on their respective performances but I beg to differ. 2. Mustafi- Another very shaky performance and almost gave away a penalty. Need s replacing in the summer. 3. Ramsey- Is yet to master how to be part of a counter attack. Completely unable to pass the ball before… Read more »
Mikki was pretty fkin bad yesterday. You cannot say that Iwobi was terrible and that Mikki didn’t have a bad game. Iwobi’s influence occupying the half spaces and passing perfectly to Kola was times more important than Mikki’s failures for the whole 90 mins. Yes, Mikki was moving, he was active, he was trying, but dear me, most of the things he tried, he failed at miserably. He looks like a player that is shockingly out of form and confidence. Doesn’t he do well in training? He’s playing like he hasn’t scored a goal in the last 5 years or… Read more »
Jamie Redknapp:
“I think they’ve changed the mentality too.In the last few years, they’ve been soft. How many times have we spoken about how they have no strength in the midfield?
“Too many times we’d see someone overrun them, overpower them, last year Xhaka had someone run off the back of him at Bournemouth when they scored the winner.
“Those things can’t happen, but they were happening time and time again under Arsene Wenger. They are more resilient, they are stronger.
Absolutely agree.
Credit to Emery for the change of attitude. Yes, we still look like novices just starting a new, never practiced before, job. But you can see that the players are trying to do what the manager wants. They see that his ideas are working. They just need to improve their execution. The idea to come out in a 3-4-2-1 (or whatever it was) formation yesterday was a game changer and a spectacular decision by Emery. We controlled the midfield, we made B’mouth’s wingers defend while limiting their influence in attack. Both of our goals came the exact way that Emery… Read more »
Wtf…. Pedro
You of all people…
Why the lame blame on iwobi for the Bournemouth goal…
Fact…
We overcommitted players going forward at the end of the first half… If xhaka or torreira dropped deep into the middle of the field, just in case of any surprises, we could have dealt better with that counter…
Every wide player loses the ball… It’s no rocket science
Mkhitaryan does look out of confidence, but is he player that needs to play to get back into form or does he respond better if he is dropped? I’d would say based on his previous performance against Vorskla he needs to play back into form.
On another note, let’s hope Kos comes out of the U23 unscathed tonight. His experience and defensive nous will be valuable in this hectic schedule of games coming up.
Mkhitaryan was poor yesterday, but not because he lacks quality or because he wasn’t working hard. Things just weren’t clicking for him. It could be that he lacks confidence at the moment, or he could be just out of form, but he is undoubtedly a player of polish and technical quality. Given he has never performed well consistently for us or for United, however, it isn’t clear that he’s cut out for the PL.
4 – Wins by Arsenal in 19 away matches 2017/18
4 – Wins by Arsenal in 6 away matches 2018/19
16 – Arsenal points in away matches 2017/18
13 – Arsenal points in away matches 2018/19 (so far)#UnaiEffect
When Iwobi lost the ball Bournemoutj surged forward and scored.This had happened with rapid frequency during the fms time
As for Ozil may sell him.You nevet know.He goes missing when opponents give him no time and space to play.
I would say its pretty clear Mykhitaryan just isnt up to it. Hes 30 years old, he isnt getting any better, and hes miles off the quality we need. We have a bit of an issue in terms of wages at the moment, and a problem that the club will need to sort, before new additions are made. A lot of our high earners are not deserving of their salary. You should be paying the big money to your best players. Our highest paid defenders are Kolasinac & Mustafi, thats a big issue, because they are our worse 2 defenders.… Read more »
Marko ‘googly eyed weakling’ that did make me chuckle.
Dkingz, when you lose the ball in a sloppy manner against a team who are world class at the counter, you take the hit.
Arsenal fans taking Iwobi under their wing like countless other players not good enough over the years is not a surprise.
DDKings Iwobi’s pirouette in the box may not have been the cause of that goal, but it was pretty bad and pretty dumb. I challenge anyone to watch it again and not cringe at the silliness of his move/decision there. I’m going to try to stay away from debates over Iwobi, and I’ll acknowledge that he made a good pass to set up the second goal yesterday, but he lacks the quality of a top class, first-XI player and I don’t see that changing. All the same, we may badly need him against Spurs, as we’re short on bodies and… Read more »
Pierre
Mkhitaryan’s passing was also substandard. Several of the passes were underhit and failed to reach the recipient.
Ozil is a footballer who can be an asset in a great team. His problem in last few years is that he has played in a team, which was not great and frankly bang average to poor.
If Arsenal puts house in order with its defence and recruits a decent winger I
could see Ozil’s career being resurrected. The talent is there.
Good post, Akkimaniac. Those are important and telling numbers.
Great result yesterday.
We just need someone up front who plays wide and has some pace, trickery, creativity etc. He doesn’t necessarily have to be an out an out winger.
This would be instead of mhikitaryan or Özil.
.. And instead of Bellerin constantly bombing forward and leaving gaps at the back.
I think Ozils career at Arsenal is done. Second highest paid player in the PL, probably top 10 in Europe, and the manager admits he has to drop him in tough games. Ozil has been asked to put in the same level of effort as AMs like Silva, DeBruyne & Eriksen, and the result is a player whos barely creating anything. I did a comparison of the top teams AMs last year, and while Ozil wasnt too far behind in attacking numbers, he was miles behind in defensive. I asked the question, what would happen to his game if he… Read more »
gambon
“Sven made a big mistake recommending Mykhitaryan though”
It was to remedy a very bad situation. Alexis wanted to go to United for money and he was six months away from leaving on a free. We didn’t have any wriggle room after the mistakes of the 2017 summer that preceded Mislintat.
The Sanchez-Mhyki swap allowed the club to save face. I think Sven just took one for the team there.
To add to what I have just written Ozil is not a “high octane” footballer, but what
he offers is football intelligence, a skill set and the ability to pass a ball, which few other players are able to do.
If we were paying him £120-140K pw I would not consider offloading him, but build a team fit for purpose around him.
“We just need someone up front who plays wide and has some pace, trickery, creativity etc.”
I would say we need 2.
If we sign a great wide player, we will still have Iwobi, Mykhitaryan or Ozil stinking it up on the other wing.
gambon
“Sven made a big mistake recommending Mykhitaryan though”
It was to remedy a very bad situation. Alexis wanted to go to United for money and he was six months away from leaving on a free. We didn’t have any wriggle room after the mistakes of the 2017 summer that preceded Mislintat.
The Sanchez-Mhyki swap allowed the club to save face. I think Sven just took one for the team there. City were hell bent on punishing us for the botched summer move and wouldn’t have been that much better had they taken Alexis that winter.
Pedro When you’re having a pop at an attacker doing a trick in the opponents box in case he loses the ball you’ve got an issue. What are your thoughts on Torreira in that goal? He received the ball from Bellerin and proceeded to give and burst into the 6 yard box despite the presence of all our attacking players. Sensible decision from a defensive midfielder with 1 min until half time against a “world class” counter attacking team? For me that’s ten times as ridiculous as Iwobi trying a trick in their penalty box. When is an attached suppose… Read more »
gambon Continuing our discussion yesterday about what it means to have a self sustaining model, I agree with your point on gearing. I’m hopeful now that with actual people that understand the modern football business like Vinai, Raul and Sven, they will take measured and calculated risks and bring in real quality. On quality though, although price is one indicator of quality, it isn’t the be all and the end all. Wenger, absolutely overpaid on players like Mustafi (our record signing in terms of defenders) and Xhaka. I still can’t believe he opted for him when Kante was available for… Read more »
Raptora
Jamie.redknapp was basically confirming that playing Ramsey in a 2 man midfield is unforgivable and wenger continued to make the same mistake time and time again since Cazorla was injured ..
Cazorla and coquelin have been our best balanced midfield in the last 5 years ..it all went tits up when wenger decided to put Ramsey as a permanent fixture at centre mid..
CC
Agreed
Wenger being linked with Bayern to replace Kovac…
They wouldn’t would they?
lol.
Cheers, Bamford10. Numbers don’t lie. Emery is already showing massive improvement over the shit-show of last two seasons. It’s hardly down to luck. He’s clearly much better at modern tactics than dinosaur wenger.
Emirates “Mkhitaryan’s passing was also substandard. Several of the passes were underhit and failed to reach the recipient.” Yeah, but there’s more to it than this. It’s not that he doesn’t know how to weight a pass or lacks the technical quality to weight a pass correctly. Like everyone else, I noticed his passes were off yesterday. Indeed you could see it in his first two or three passes. When I looked here ten minutes in, someone had commented “has Mkhi weighted a single pass correctly?” and I thought, “yeah, that’s exactly what I was thinking”. However, if you look… Read more »
Stroller on ozil
“he offers is football intelligence, a skill set and the ability to pass a ball, which few other players are able to do.”
totally agree ..I have always been his staunchest defender on le grove ….the problem is intelligence on a football pitch means nothing to many on Le Grove so you a fighting a losing battle I’m afraid…
Pedro Please answer the question CC just put to you. What is Torriera’s culpability on the goal we conceded. Iwobi tried a pirouette in the opposition 6 yard box, precisely the place you do it because any touch on him would be a penalty. That loss of the ball should not have resulted in a conceded goal had had Torriera and. Xhaka done their jobs. I get the sense you and Bamford wouldn’t be calling a pirrouete silly had it resulted in a deflected goal or something. The Bournemouth box was crowded like a rush hour subway train. It was… Read more »
“Iwobi tried a pirouette in the opposition 6 yard box, precisely the place you do it because any touch on him would be a penalty.
That loss of the ball should not have resulted in a conceded goal had had Torriera and. Xhaka done their jobs.”
This.
If Iwobi had done this in our half and it resulted in a goal that’s one thing, but he is an attacker and he tried to make something happen in their box… it just didn’t come off.
I think the lesson of the day is that Iwobi is just pretty shit.
Agree that Iwobi is not at fault for trying some moves in the opposition penalty box. He should’ve done a better job of it though.
He is not entirely at fault for the goal, but the way he executed the pirouette was a bit silly.
“I think the lesson of the day is that Iwobi is just pretty shit.“
You must be a dropout, he was involved in both our goals and deserves particular recognition for the quality in his pass that led to the second.
Pierre “the problem is intelligence on a football pitch means nothing to many on Le Grove” This is so silly. Everyone here appreciates intelligence on the football pitch just as much as you do, Pierre. But a good player has to bring a number of things to a game to be effective. Would De Bruyne have been sat yesterday? David Silva? Mo Salah? Eden Hazard? A younger Cesc Fabregas? No. All would have started for Arsenal yesterday. All also happen to be very intelligent footballers. But all also happen to bring more to the table in many ways than Mesut… Read more »
I think the lesson of the day is that Iwobi is just pretty shit.
Nah that’s just your personal takeaway
The lesson of the day is “Agenda”. Everyone has theirs and lashes onto the slightest things to forward that agenda.
If losing a ball in the opponents box is enough reason to be blamed for a goal then we might as well do away with dribbling or any kind of skill in football lest we loose the ball and be blamed for a goal
Pierre
What is also conveniently forgotten is that Ozil has also scored some excellent
goals during his career at Arsenal albeit not as many as perhaps he should have.
Also I would highlight the career of Pirlo. He was criticised for his lack of pace
and the fact that he was not the greatest defender on planet, but he was rated
a playmaker “par excellence”.
It is a role that I can see Ozil perform in the right team.
A pirrouette always looks silly when it doesn’t come off.
Same as a panenka penalty kick, clumsy bicycle kick, attempted nutmeg, unsuccessful Ramona, crappy volley and any other audacious football move.
That’s part of the game.
When it comes off it’s estatically delirious…when it doesn’t footballer fans get to be experts at calling it “silly”.
Wenger mollycuddled Özil and Ramsey — and Emery to his immense credit is refusing to put up with it.
Hopefully in Özil’s case he will come out hungry to prove himself back to his best. Let’s hope he does because on the wages he is at, he can’t be sold.
Emirates Right, but Pirlo wasn’t soft, wasn’t a pussy, and he didn’t hide from games. Sometimes you Ozil apologists simply refuse to acknowledge his limitations. It’s a bit maddening. I mean, I’ve been a critic of the guy for a long time, but I was perfectly happy to acknowledge after the Everton match that he was genius in that match. Genius. I don’t get why you lot can’t, in turn, be honest about his shortcomings. Further, if you feel as you do, are you at odds with Emery on this point? After all, Emery’s remarks clearly indicate that he doesn’t… Read more »
Wenger insulated Özil and Ramsey from criticism — and Emery to his immense credit is refusing to put up with it.
Hopefully in Özil’s case he will come out hungry to prove himself back to his best. Let’s hope he does because on the wages he is at, he can’t be sold.
Dissenter
Sorry, but that’s just not true. There is a time and place for a pirouette, and it is not when you are faced with a wall of five or six players. Also, if you re-watch the play — and I encourage everyone to do this — you’ll see that his pirouette wasn’t even going to take him in an ideal direction or into a better space.
It was silly. It was the kind of thing a lesser player does in imitation of better players and because he doesn’t have any other ideas.
Dissenter, the difference between Ronaldo
and Quaresma is that it comes off for one, not for the other.
Experts say that when your dopey mistake costs a goal, you shoulder a chunk of the blame.
That is true ,dissenter.
But some players are better at those skill moves and some just aren’t.
Legrove is the theatre of absurd agendas. The good thing is you can see them coming from outer space. Anyone that calls a failed pirrouette in a jam packed opposition 6 yard box ‘silly’ needs to have a word with himself in front of a cracked mirror. You want players to be spontaneous, try something different. Would you have rather had Iwobi blasted a silly shot on the opposition player that’s six inches in front of him or passed the ball back like we used to do befire. The player stated that Emery told him to express himself and that’s… Read more »
Bamford, true. Better players don’t tend to do it. Too much risk. Kovacic did it at the weekend and it failed.
ES
“It is a role I can see Ozil perform in the right team”.
When exactly?
Comparing Ozil and Pirlo is a non-starter. Pirlo was the conductor of the orchestra. Ozil is a bit part performer, who only turns up when he feels up for it.
I applaud Emery for doing what he’s doing. You never know, it may motivate Ozil to pull his finger out.
Ditto, Pedro.
Pedro
“Experts say that when your dopey mistake costs a goal, you shoulder a chunk of the blame.”
That’s why it’s called a team game and team performance.
When you say “dopey mistake”, are you referring to Torriera’s best impression of Aaron Ramsey.
Why was he in the penalty box ahead of the ball in the 45th minute.
Why didn’t Bellerin fall back to mark properly? He’s the pace master, right?
Why did Mustafi decide to switch off?
Where the bloody hell was Xhaka.
It was a massive clusterfu*k of collective defensive errors.
Go watch it again.
It was silly. It was the kind of thing a lesser player does in imitation of better players and because he doesn’t have any other ideas.
Iwobi has pulled off quite a few tricks in his time playing for both Arsenal and Nigeria so i don’t think he needs to imitate anyone
He is not a fan called down from the stands to take part in the game.
Dissenter, many questions I asked in the main body of the blog. But the agenda truly comes from the folk who deflect where the mistake came from…. Iwobi, trying something stupid in the box.
Pretty sure Emery didn’t have that move down as ‘express yourself’ in his pregame Pep talk.
We need Iwobi’s athletic attributes.
He is improving under Emery.
Dissenter on iwobi
“The player stated that Emery told him to express himself”
So it was the managers fault in your opinion
Dissenter “and that’s precisely what he’s trying to do” “Trying” is the key word here. He’s “trying” to play like the top class player he will need to be to start for the Arsenal Emery is trying to build, an Arsenal that can compete with the best, but he simply doesn’t have the quality of such a player. He just doesn’t. I appreciate that he is working hard and contributing, but he lacks quality. I don’t know if we’re going to get anywhere on this point, though. I think this one is matter of: let’s see what time tells us… Read more »
Bamford, Sorry, but that’s just not true. There is a time and place for a pirouette, and it is not when you are faced with a wall of five or six players. Also, if you re-watch the play — and I encourage everyone to do this — you’ll see that his pirouette wasn’t even going to take him in an ideal direction or into a better space.“ What better place to do a pirrouette? …. than in the opposition 6 yard box (where defenders can’t commit easily), 114 yard away from your own goal and when you assume you’re shielded… Read more »
Iwobi an offensive player was trying to do something in his sphere of play.
Xhaka, Torreira, Mustafi and Bellerin abandoned their posts for some unknown reason with the seconds running out in the first half. Who is the leader to caution everyone against this?
Had the defensive players did their jobs Iwobi’s mistake wouldn’t have mattered… but hey let’s criticise Iwobi for trying to make something happen.
Dissenter
We’ll have to agree to disagree. Cheers.
Up in Grimsby today.
What a lovely place.
Guess what? Fish and chips for lunch.
“We have won more away games this season than we did in the whole of last season”
lol Pierre, are you there ?? (rhyme)
Pedro you are up to something right??