Ok, I know we had some fun with that Fortnite story that the media took a little too seriously this week. But The Sun ran with a Nick Parker special about Arsenal players inhaling ‘hippie crack’ in an epically pathetic hit piece designed to convince normal folk that Arsenal players have been engaging in peak Libertines mid-noughties style drug deviance.
TL;DR
The players went to a club. Got shitfaced. Passed nitrous oxide-filled balloons around for a cheap and very lame high.
The only thing we should be getting angry about is that they were dim enough to do something so subpar in front of security cameras.
I’ve never heard of this referred to as hippie crack. If anyone at a festival,party, or drug cave called it that, they’d be escorted from the event for false advertising. It’s like calling a Jaffa Cake ‘devils cyanide, or labeling a park swing ‘LOONTOWNS DEATH SPIRAL.’ It’s not a real drug. It’s like sniffing pens at school. It’s prepared with a chefs frosting gun ffs. Painfully middle class.
Sure, elite athletes shouldn’t do anything that resembles recreational fun, but in the grand scheme of things to worry about, I’d be more concerned about 5000 hours of Fortnite. And I’d hazard a guess that scientifically speaking, it’s the booze that’s the issue for a sports star. How many broken homes happen because Mum came down in the morning to 20 empty canisters and a stream of flaccid balloons around the living room? Not many.
To put a number on it, 8 people died from doing this in 2016. 8 too many, no doubt. 88,000 died from booze related illness. 259 people died from taking selfies. 1700 in traffic accidents. 9 people from jumping into water (seriously). This ‘hippie crack’ is so lame, Prince Harry does it and it’s not a scandal.
However, inhaling balloons for a cheap 10-second head rush isn’t the take away your average Joe… ‘crack party with Lacazette’ is… Just note this: we’ve outrun every team in the league and we’re 20 games unbeaten. It’s not a big deal.
On another note, what is it with nightclubs releasing that sort of stuff? Unbelievable breach of privacy.
In other news, Rob Holding looks likely to miss the rest of the season. Such a shame. He was really making a statement in defence. I have my doubts Sven will make moves in January. We have Monreal coming back into the mix, Emery has proven to be flexible with his backline, and there’s a lot of belief in Mavrapanos.
Aaron Ramsey also picked up a knock, which is a shame considering the good form he’s shown over the last two games (though Emery said it was minor). It is not unusual for bad fitness strategies to show up in December. Let’s hope the last two can be attributed to luck. Big questions over whether Burgess is going to be able to own the ear of Emery over his imported fitness coach. Julen Masach. If we’re going to have a good run, it really does have to go the Austrailian’s way.
There’s a piece doing the rounds in Germany about Sven and his diamond ways. He’s obviously very pleased with Guendouzi, who dropped unreal numbers against United (didn’t someone say he was no better than Denilson? Lol). He also talks in-depth about how he’s founded multiple firms that analyse data. Interestingly he highlights the dangers of spewing out insights based on isolated numbers, like distance run. He alluded to the idea that a player might be running about a lot because he’s making bad decisions all game (a hint at an issue with one of our players?). Muppets with stats really is a thing online, this week, Arsenal fans are peddling Mustafi over VVD. The audacity is quite something. Anyway, it’s incredible we have a scout of his prestige at Arsenal. I’d link the pirated copy, but that might not be legal, so I implore you to sign up to the site to read or go find the illegal shit.
Talking of MG, Emery had a scolding tip about what he should do about the bigger boys pulling his hair.
‘I think the best thing is that he cuts his hair before the next match, then the problem is finished,” Arsenal’s manager said. Just as Fellaini did. I have not told him that to his face, though. I respect a lot the players; their hair and their hair colour.’
BIG lol. Getting slapped down by a man who is rocking Shockwaves wet look gel in 2018. Gotta sting.
Our German power sniper is still in a weird place with his injury.
“On Friday we make the decision,”
“He had a backache and now he is working with one physio. Today he was on a pitch running and touching the ball. We are going to look when he can come with us.”
Odd how Emery is describing the injury, but whatever. We haven’t missed him. If he’s back, bonus, if he’s not, well, the party goes on!
Right, that’s me done, see you in the comments!
This is the midfield I’ve wanted to see for a while, get to see how it works today, I think Xhaka will have a more obvious playmaker role today.
Kos on the bench. Liecsteiner plays at back.
Good to see both Kozz and Monreal on the bench
Leno; Lichtsteiner, Mustafi, Sokratis; Bellerin, Xhaka, Torreira, Guendouzi, Kolasinac; Lacazette, Aubameyang
Subs: Cech, Elneny, Koscielny, Mkhitaryan, Iwobi, Monreal, Nketiah
4:0 prediction. We go ham today!
I’m glad Iwobi has been dropped.
He was awful against United and maybe he can gather some form from off the bench performances.
No Ozil again. 100% being dropped because he had issues with being dropped for the Spurs game. Should see the end of him by January
Looks like we are playing 5 – 3 – 2 formation.I guess we’ll rely on our two wing backs to supply the two forwards. Emery keeps experimenting new formations. I hope it didn’t confuse the players.
Pedro has posted a good stat showing that Emery has more points after 15 games in charge as compared to Mourinho, Pochettino, Guardiola and Klopp after their first 15.
He took over a 6th placed team with massive issues in terms of squad balance, no UCL, no real money to play with and a side that was totally under coached and a club going through a revolution off the field.
Sarri is tied with him but is taking over a side that, while it struggled last year, were champions the year before that.
When was the last time we picked a starting 11 without any winger or attacking midfielder in it ?
Getting Ozil off the books in Jan would be tremendous. Mikki next.
Nelson
I think this actually plays to our strengths because we have no wingers, therefore we’re dropping the 3 up front and going to 2 STs and relying on Bellerin and Kolasinac for pace out wide which to be fair they’ve done recently.
I think this may actually suit us and hopefully will allow us to control the middle of the field with Guendouzi, Torreria, Xhaka in there.
TR7
Is this a sign that Emery has actually given up on all our CAMs?
Big ask for Hector Bellerin to play every PL game this season. He’s the player we can least afford to lose. Our only outlet against decent teams when we get boxed in. Hoping AMN gets minutes at RB against Qarabag and Spurs because Hector won’t be able to start every PL match in December/January.
We already lost Holding after he was played three matches in six days.
Also cannot express how much I love that you can hear Emery the whole way through the games shouting ‘good’, ‘yes Auba’, ‘yes Mikki’, ‘press’ etc.
When was the last time we picked a starting 11 without any winger or attacking midfielder in it ?
Or two strikers up top. Wing backs to be very important today cutbacks galore. 3/4-0
I agree.
From the training videos they were working on holding it in the centre and then suddenly releasing it to the wing back to cross in to the ST.
Marko & Cesc Appeal
Set up tailor made for Kolasinac to be man of the match
Dream10
Agreed.
That is what we will go for I think, pass in the centre until you can release Kolasinac with a little give and go to then cross in where there will now be 2 targets.
Can see us giving up a penalty today, maybe a red with our back three. All front foot defenders
I worry more about Torreira than Bellerin. Defensively, Lichsteiner can step in for Bellerin. But if we lose Torreira, we have no other defensive midfielder who can come close to replace him.
Cesc
Except that Xhaka isn’t an advanced playmaker. If he is a “playmaker” at all — I personally don’t think he is — then he’s a deep-lying playmaker. If any of those three is to play in an advanced position, I’d expect it to be Guendouzi. If Xhaka is deployed there, he’ll struggle, as he isn’t nearly nimble enough with the ball at his feet.
Cesc
My guess is Emery is experimenting with various tactics and formations to figure out the one which one suits us the best. He expressed concern over our defensive frailties a few weeks ago. Perhaps he wants to see whether in 3-5-2 our defense gets better and to what extent our attacking prowess is compromised. That we are not playing a very strong opposition today gives him the leeway to try a new formation.
We will soon be found out. If the teams know we can only play 1 way it will be disastrous. Guendouzi should have a field day running around the whole pitch today. Let’s hope for end product from the team. Would take 1-0
TR7
I agree. Emery did say that we gave up too many goals. He wants to see how this new formation works defensively. If it couldn’t generate enough offense, he’ll bring in Mikki to replace Guen.
Two up top, we’re at home, koz and Monreal on the bench.
Fancy a high score today.
mhiki and iwobi dropped today. they haven’t been playing well so I’m glad they are on the bench. Don’t know how you play with a mid three of torr, xhaka and MG. All look too defensive and do not have that creative outlet but no better place to experiment it than against huddersfield.
we should definitely win the midfield battle with them three but something tells me huddersfield will be more than happy to sit back and absorb pressure.
I personally would have given a chance to AMN to partner Xhaka today to give Torreira a breather. I hope this decision to play him doesn’t come back to haunt us. Please, no more injuries today.
On a more positive note, great to see both Kos and Monreal on the bench. It should give us the experience to see the game out without conceding any silly goals.
Great shame we couldn’t bring them on versus Man United at Old Trafford.
Absolutely gutted for Holding. Just as he was finding his feet and establishing himself as a regular fixture in our starting line up, he got injured. In my book he is the most capable among all our center backs , I really hope his career is not derailed by this injury.
It’s good to see Emery trying a formation with two CFs, but the success of a two-CF formation depends a fair amount on the quality of the advanced midfielder, as this is the player who will often need to find the CFs’ feet or to find them in space. Yes, we will be attacking from wide positions via the wingbacks, but whether we can attack through the center will depend on the quality of our central midfield players, esp. the more advanced central midfielder.
In the space of one transfer window and 5 months in charge are team has really gone from looking extremely soft to quite an aggressive mix of players.
I mean look at that middle three. You know you can on all of them in a physical battle. I really like the make up of this.
Just need o sprinkle in the quality wide players
All Emery’s 5 signings starting.
Good to see Kos on the bench.
Quite a few empty seats.
Xhaka the holding; Torreira and Guendouzi the more advanced.
Ozil playing Fortnite?
There’s no creative talent in this side.
What’s up with Ramsey?
Scrappy. Need to keep hold of the ball
20 minutes of fuck all gone.
Back to poor first half again
We only have 1st phase players in central midfield.
Torreira is the only one that has shown he has the potential to be a 1st phase & 2nd phase player but even then he predominantly 1st phase.
Basically we have no line-breakers in midfield to join the attack.
Squad look flat. A bit handbrake-ish, dare I say.
Paulinho
If you’re trying to say Emery should have started Ramsey just spit it out. 😛
Hilarious the commentary thinking Mooy was yellow carded and saying he’s suffered because of the constant fouling on Xhaka and defends the referee after watching the replay of the foul, then finds out it was Xhaka booked for diving and defends the referee.
Shows you that commentators just say whatever a lot of the time.
Bad miss by Auba again
Sancho – Ramsey would be ideal but anyone with some ability to dribble or run beyond is needed.
We might win this game but it is a non-event midfield moving forward.
Auba should score that.
Ramsey has a knock on his ankle, apparently. As I said, whether this set-up works depends a lot on the quality of the advanced central midfield play. At the moment, it’s lacking.
Embarassing from our our 100 million strikers
Comedy of errors in front of goal by Laca this time. Should be 2:0 up
Auba and Lucazette both fuckin’ up.
At least Xhaka’s been booked…….
Aubameyang should’ve finished that.
WTF !
Our 2 strikers missing sitters
£100m misses
Xhaka booked for diving
—————————–
I think he was booked for kicking out. at the opposing bloke.
Again, Emery knows all this but he’s probably thinking keep it tight in the first half — don’t concede anything silly – and then bring on Iwobi or Mikhi in the second half once Huddersfield have been softened up.
We’re probably tired as well, and that midfield three does give us legs in the engine room.
Paulinho
Yes I was just being tongue in cheek (badly), if fit pretty sure Ramsey would have been included.
Lacazette with a bad miss as well. Lack of focus? Maybe they are all high on hippie crack.
Lichtsteiner is a very good defender though
Aubu would we be walking the golden boot if he would be stop missing sitters.
Paulinho, I would.say Matteo is more of a.phase 2 midfielder than Lucas.
Mkhitaryan is our only creative attacking midfielder on the bench. Emery will likely bring him on for Torreira or Guendouzi in the 60th or so.
Xhaka’s been utterly Wank today.
Even worse than usual.
Xhaka got that yellow for simulation. If he had gotten it for kicking out, we would have gotten the free kick. We didn’t.
TR7
Disagree, think Torreira has made more intelligent runs and made himself available in dangerous spaces more often the past month or so. Guendouzi ultimately may have more of that in him but right now he is a little inexperienced. Shows good potential though.
The Terriers are obviously trying to play the same Stoke type game United did against us. Dirty as hell. Ref better get this in order real quick.
TR7 – I would’ve thought the same a few months back but I’ve seen scant evidence of of any ability/willingness to make runs into the box or play any give and goes like Torriera has so far.
Not really a criticism of him. Think he’s got lot of ability but I just think it lies in deep transition as a controller.
Huddersfield playing Like Stoke . Could be rads in the 2nd half
Lichtsteiner Unnecessary, I like his passion but he didn’t need to get that
6 yellows so far.
Cannot understand starting with three holding midfielders against Huddersfield. No creative players. Why not try Smith-Rowe
Reds*
Scandalous yellow for xhaka to start with..
And now he is giving it left and right..
The level of refereeing in the premier league is just shocking
Xhaka probably hates having midfielder close to him. Hasn’t got the ability to play any combination football in congested spots.
Koscielny better be ready. Papas and Mustafi will miss the next game. Mustafi will surely get a card
Needs changes at half timeline.
Laca not offside
Terrible offsides call. The refereeing is the worst I’ve ever seen in this league.
Our first half struggles are getting absolutely ridiculous.
How are we supposed to compete with teams that play for 90 mins when we only play for 45?
This is just criminal now from the PGMOL
The sooner we get VAR in, the better, Huddersfield player passed the ball
How the fvck is that offside?
Shocking referreing
Huddersfield player was in control of his pass, should be a goal for Laca
No centre halves next week then
Torreira has a strike on him
Fucking love Torriera.
Not in the same way Pierre loves Wenger mind.
7 yellows.
I thought Mustafi already had 5 before today?
lol ref is a joke. I said Mustafi was next
What the fuck this ref is blind
Mustafi diving haha.
So both our CB are out vs Southampton…..great
Good strike from Torreira. Great save from the keeper.
Mustafi and Sokratis are missing next match due to yellows
Again we fail to lead at half time.
And we could easily gona man down….
45 mins to get our first shot on target.
We seem to have real issues in the first 45.
Too long into the season for it to be explained away as an aberration.
Where was this referee last week?
No problem booking Mustafi for that, but there was contact, as long as that is applied across the board to Hazard, Kane, Son, Ageuro etc
This ref should be investigated
Listen to those boos for the ref. VAR can’t get here fast enough.
What a nothing first half.
Sancho and Paulinho
I see what you are getting at and I agree Lucas runs are more.penetrating but Guendouzi has in him to hold an advanced position in the mold of an.attacking midfielder. He has shown glimpses of that today as.well.
The ref let Huddersfield persistently foul our players with no yellow, then he starts dishing it out to us, 2 for simulation. He must hate cry babies more than thugs