I am not going to lie, I think Sky do a great job with stats. Super simple, exploratory and usually insightful.
Their latest piece shows the stark difference between our first and second halves this season. We’re ranked 19th for 1st half performance and 1st for second.
The conclusion points to improved fitness and the tactical fluidity of Emery. He’s made 14 half-time changes so far this season, Wenger made 9 in the whole of last season. That’s some aggressive change management.
Now, you can look at this positively, and say we’ve been crying out for a manager who can change things during the game. Or you could say, how the fuck does he get it so badly wrong in the opening 45minutes?
I can’t give you an answer as to why our opening 45s are so poor, but I think the key point is we’re dealing with it at the moment. I actually think there’s something really interesting from a strategic perspective in the early changes. You simply don’t know what you’re getting with Arsenal. We’re finally unpredictable. We’re playing a slower version of NFL playbooks this season. We’re rocking two sides essentially, and the second side you play is countering your stratagems in real-time.
This approach means that unless you’re playing a very sharp manager, other coaches are going to struggle to adapt. I think that’s a smart move. The longer-term vision for Emery is that he can train his sides to adapt during the game. Pep Guardiola is the best in the business at this, he can roll with 4 systems in a half, prodding and poking until he’s found the weakness his incredible players can exploit.
Arsenal fans have been so starved of innovation, just having a halftime video analyst feels modern (not Boro sitting in the stands). Sven M was rocking that role 7 years ago. Arsenal needs to move the players’ education and execution approach to levels where the coach can move things around after 10minutes and make a quicker impact on the game when things are going poorly
Either way, our players are fitter (8th to 1st in the league for distance covered) and we’re a smarter overall outfit. That’s great news for the season ahead.
There are strong rumours Ozil is now ready to return to the side, Qarabag is apparently being earmarked for a return.
I couldn’t be less interested in this game. I don’t mean to be a party pooper, but the Europa League group games are almost as shite as international breaks. I cannot imagine there’s going to be a major turnout.
Dembele’s great goal pic.twitter.com/G2LxsgreBw
— Ali 🇲🇦✌🏽 (@maghrebinn) December 11, 2018
So that’s why we won’t be landing Dembele on loan this January. What a goal. A shame that Spurs progressed against a pretty poor Barca team, but that could benefit us freshness wise in the second half of the season. The longer they’re in the CL, the better the chance of them tiring and breaking down.
Right, that’s me done today, see you in hell.
Also, look at this funny meme you could use to show off your shit judgment.
Dembele’s great goal pic.twitter.com/G2LxsgreBw
— Ali 🇲🇦✌🏽 (@maghrebinn) December 11, 2018
I think the young players have a better chance now as Emery actually coaches them rather than trying to be a father figure.
I suppose then Julio Pleguezuelo is injured then if Koscielny is having to play? I thought he looked good when he started in the reverse fixture of this match… and tonight would’ve been good for him.
Time is running out though. If he isn’t good enough sell him… with a decent buy back clause IF does make it. He should be able to bring in a million or two I hope.
I’m all for giving our youth a chance but sometimes you have to
@Bamford
have you read other Achebe books besides “things fall apart”, if you like his igbo proverbs you could try “arrow of God’
@ Rambo
The fact you condone insults and see it as banter doesn’t make everyone else thin skinned, i bet the man at Stamford Bridge also thought it was stadium banter to shout swear words at Sterling while choking with rage
Leeds “If we are looking for reinforcements I would seriously look at bringing in more Uruguayan talents” Tim Stillman doesn’t know any more than you or I about Uruguayan players. There are good Uruguayans players just as there are crappy ones Coates didn’t do well at Liverpool and was as dim as a rock. They aren’t always culturally adaptable either, Diego Forman didn’t do well at United, it wasn’t until he moved to Villarreal and Atletico that he became a world class player. You guys need to calm down with all these generalizations. We are lucky we got a good… Read more »
*say you’ve needed to grab those opportunities… when they come.
*move our training ground to Montevideo
ESR out for two weeks with a groin strain… right before the Carabao Cup too. That’s two games he would have made a difference.
I’m not sure about Julio being injured?
Is there a chance Jenkinson is played CB again?
Also how bad has mavropanos’ groin injury been?! He has been out quite a while. Is he back in training?
Can’t believe Jenkinson is still a Gunner lol
Receding
I have been meaning to get to “Arrow of God”. Maybe over the winter holiday.
Yeah HL haha,
Imagine if all of those youngsters with arsenal flags on their wall growing up got a chance to sit on a fat pay cheque to do nothing.
He’s living the dream
Other ones are living the same dream… while playing video games.
Hahaha Pierre’s mate Ozil.
Sub me in to his shoes any day.
Though I’d probably turn my shit around.
Of course it has something to do with nationality.
Certain countries just get it right for a period, and that’s when you want to cash in.
France and Belgium in recent years. Germany and Spain previously.
By completely abandoning the French youth market we missed out on some amazing talents, the only one we actually signed was Sanogo, which is laughable.
Pierre In response to your 08:34 post regarding “my respect for Ozil”, I am well aware how tough it must have been for him to reach the top of his profession. Don’t no though why you brought TonyD into the equation. For every one Footballer that makes it to the top of his profession, like Mesut Ozil, there are thousands( nay,millions) who don’t. I am old school in many of my beliefs and principles and although I have no idea why Ozil shows such negative traits to us all, I do feel he is taking the piss by not showing… Read more »
Pierre
Too cold for golf today.
I expect a treble from Mesut tonight, considering the weak opponent.
Maybe he will feel a bit humiliated by the fact of playing this not much important game, surrounded by youngsters ??
He will chase the bad thoughts later tonight, on his Playstation
HighburyLegend
The ball is in Ozil’s court.
He plays tennis also ??
Graham Correct …I don’t mind the cold but the strong easterly wind is not pleasant . With regarding to bringing Tonyd into the conversation , he had a little dig at me(for no reason) so it was my duty to have a little dig back …. As for Ozil ,let’s wait and see…if he is ,as you say ,taking the piss, then of course he deserves to be criticised but he was also criticised and accused of lack of commitment ,bad attitude etc in the 2nd half of last season and there were quotes from Jens Lehman ,the German national… Read more »
https://www.facebook.com/426081327455716/posts/2182735301790301/
These lot are as embarrassing as Pierre Vicky and the rest of the akbs
lol Joe
If Ozil is plagued with persistent back problems where he can’t play to his full potential, he should be retired or released from his contract. If he is deemed fit to play, then at the bare minimum he should play to the system Emery dictates along with every other member of the team. The problem is that when Ozil does play, the consistency is just not there. The odd game of brilliance is just not good enough to warrant his contract and salary. The PL is the most demanding league in the world imo where I truly believe Ozil cannot… Read more »
Tony I fear the ozil proving himself ship has sailed
He is more than capable of beating form for the next few months ‘proving the doubters wrong’ before vanishing entirely again. He’s literally been pulling this trick for years where he dominates a while and builds up enough credit with the fans before disappearing from the face of the earth for months on end
Even if he was the world’s best player for the next few months, I wouldn’t believe he’s going to maintain it long term. We’ve been stung far too many times in this regard
Agreed China as Ozil did when playing for his contract.
Difference is now I believe Emery has the measure of Ozil.
Personally I’d love to see Ramsey, Mikhi and Ozil replaced with younger talented and mobile players in the CAM/10 role.
The next 4 weeks are going to stretch our limited playing resources to the max.
The youngsters I want to see are: AMN, Eddie, Willock, Saka and Medley. Too bad Nelson and ESR are not available. Hope that this Spanish coaching team can develop some of them into Emery type players.
Tony
Unless we buy 1 Jan. Let’s hope Monreal and Kos can hit the ground running.
Mustafi and Sokratis I believe are back this weekend.
Ramsey is fit again for his super sub role.
Come on Ozil. Put yourself in the shop window and have a 6 month purple patch for us.
#emeryknows #ekb
Joe
Both Mustafi and Sokratis are suspended this weekend.
“Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino is unhappy that the Premier League title race is perceived as only being between Liverpool and Manchester City.”
lolZ.
Left
Its amazing really, I’m Italian and lucky to have been married to the most amazing Nigerian woman ever. I’ve had to learn live with getting the “stare” from people almost daily its now become so normal. Had to move to Florence years back cuz wifey would almost always come back from work with a sob story of inhumane things said to her.
Rambo Ramsey
That wasn’t a necessary statement to be fair, you can throw abuse at people and say they react cuz they haven’t got thick skin
“Didn’t you say you were in the entertainment industry a while back? Something to do with theatre maybe? Or am I getting confused with someone else?“
Something like that, it was me getting talked about though. I’d consider myself more of a Samurai at this point though, sounds cooler too imo.
Rambo continues to be the modern warrior we all aspire to be, with his thick skin and carefree attitude. What a hero, Aaron will be so proud
Pierre
I had a total hip replacement last year and had suffered for several years prior to this with back problems. Yes, it is debilitating, as are most injuries, but I personally feel alot of this is down to Ozil’s psychological condition not his physical problems.
Only an opinion.
Ozil could have one or both hands replaced if he continues to play(station) to much.
Sarri said that Cahill is not in his plan for the season. He is not even good enough to be on the bench. Apparently, he is not good technically. I don’t think he is that bad. He can play in the middle of the 3 men CB. I would pick him up in January.
@Nelson
Hope you are picking him (Cahill) up on your own account and not to play for Arsenal
We are getting rid of dead wood not bringing in more
I’ve just read that Reiss Nelson and Jadon Sancho share the same agent… work it Reiss work it! 😉
Sancho would be a good signing. Him and Lozano/Pepe would be amazing. What they lack in experience they’d more than make up for in proper potential.
I think Sancho will be a £70 Million or more player now.
It’s that sort of market, playing well, elite level teenage prospect and English. All adds up to massive money.
I think Sancho will be a £70 Million or more player now.
Nah 40-50 million or there abouts.
Interesting team tonight…Ozil to orchestrate youngsters.
Why are we playing Lacazette?
RH
We don’t have any deadwood for CB. If you follow our team at all, we don’t have any Premier league CB available for today’s game except our captain, who hasn’t played a real game for 6 months. Cahill’s contract will expire in the summer. We may get him for free as a stop gap solution.
‘Why are we playing Lacazette’
Because he only played 45 minutes at the weekend and likely won’t start against Southampton.
Glad that Torreira and Aubameyang are getting a rest, not even on the bench
@Nelson
Will Cahill sign a six month contract?
I say no he won’t
Not having players available for one game is not enough reason to offer a finished Cahill a contract
CA
I know but we are in the busy period and every game comes with the risk of injury. We should not be taking that risk in a dead rubber game.
And I am done with stop gaps. We didn’t hire Sven to get stop gaps least of all one right under our nose who isn’t rated by managers of his club and country
Agreed Receding, would hope our recruiting is more progressive than getting in a stop gap. Unless of course we have successfully targetted replacements which are unavailable until June.
How courageous of the mighty Özil to crawl out of bed and save us from the impending doom that is Quarabag 🙄🙄
Bob the thing is Cahill was never that good to begin with, then you factor in he hasn’t been playing for a while now and when he does reminds every one why, why should we take a problem off Chelsea’s hands and offer him what will be his last contract? We picked up Dino for 2 million quid, I would even sign a Holding from the lower leagues before I touch Cahill… Such a backwards signing stop gap or not
No to Cahill, if we are getting a defender, lets go all out and get a proper one.
Quality freekick from Giroud
The Wenger banter years are over of signing players like squillaci, Silvestre etc.
We don’t Gary Cahill. We have a proper people in the places where they need to be and a proper manager.
No more Wenger era joke signings
My prediction for the day …..
The match kicks off ..ozil’s first 20 passes find a team mate ..not a mention from commentators or the experts on le grove ..after 25 minutes ozil makes his first misplaced pass and its “350 grand a week and you misplace a pass , what a fucking waste of money ” …
Cahill my dick. That’s a firm no
Ozil starts. Oh my sides.
The match kicks off ..ozil’s first 20 passes find a team mate ..not a mention from commentators or the experts on le grove
So we’re to shower praise on the frog eyed twat after he successfully completes a pass now? Went from assists to chances created and now to passes… what’s next Pierre credit for putting on his jersey? Maybe an attaboy for tying his boot laces? You know he’s lazy not ret@rded
Never noticed before but have Emirates not paid for Europa League rights or something?
Called the Arsenal Stadium.
This is the kind of match ozil is paid to play….
Playing against an average sidee
My prediction for the night Ozil has a half decent game at home against the team from Minas Morgul and Pierre proceeds to rigorously masterbate later staring at his Ozil poster. A mess ensues
Oi Pedro! What do I have to do to get my comments out of pre-moderation? Thanks kindly.
This is the kind of match ozil is paid to play….
Playing against an average side… Where he can maybe impress his fans and critics alike…..
What a shame….
Who’s gonna place a wager….
Ozil will miss either the NLD cc quarter final or the game at anfield…
Cesc
When you say called the Arsenal stadium what do you mean? The commentators, signage or something else?
Ba3 is almost dead…..
But if ozil manages to give a decent display and create chances and someone comes on here to talk about ozil been back to his best or trying to masturbation on the situation, then that person needs to be binned of from here….
Gonna miss the game, but hopefully we win this one and the next…. And maybe ozil put in a decent performance to help not just the team but himself and his worshipers worldwide and on Le-fucking-grove
Marc
Everything.
The graphics, the commentators, the announcer in the stadium etc.
Cesc
Really? I can’t believe that Emirates don’t have full naming rights. I don’t remember it ever being so at CL matches. Strange one – maybe the new management have picked up an over sight in the contract with Emirates and are looking to get them to fork out some more money – would be pretty good!
Marc
Maybe.
I thought it was a mistake at first but then when the announcer said it.
Pierre
One assist for Ozil.
Mesist back with a bang LOL
Taking the piss obviously fk him and his fortnight bullshite
Ozil assist lol
The quality of comments has really taken a nosedive. Pedro, what are you going to do to address that?
Can we move on from Arsene Wenger? Can we also stop attacking those people who believed strongly in him? We have Emery, and we need to unite and enjoy him.
I won’t blame people for the way they think….
They have become accustomed to the wenger ways….
Not their fault….
But if they don’t have anything relevant to contribute, they should STFU and just read comments with knowledge, instead of going around saying we should buy cahill….
Are you that dumb….. ( you know yourselves)
Washed up Cahill. We are 6 years too late in my opinion. Like Pedro said, the manager has tried his best to put our players to optimal use – however to encourage sustainability and progressive performances, we hope he is fully backed in the upcoming transfer window. Make the defense tight, get two wingers, and get rid of those who are contributing zilch to the team. We need to evade the lazy route of buying an old, has-been player for now.
Hopefully Lacazette gets taken off at HT. I don’t want another absolutely unneeded injury like the one Cazorla got vs Ludogorets.
Well it falls in line with Pierre’s backing of Wenger.
Ridiculous childish statements
Pierre , el neny usually has a near perfect passing percentage as well when he plays
Maybe he should be paid 350k a week and be starting for us week in week out?
We all know the recent struggles of the Liverpool team…. They can score enough goals, but they manage to concede as much….. Remember, they sold Suarez for about £75m, and bought about 11 dead wood players (where are they now??? )….. Maybe except mane.. They learnt from that and never again made that mistake….. So after selling coutinho for that outrageous fee, they bought VVD for a World record fee and since then they have been a force to reckon with at the heart of the defence…. Going to the CL final and then conceding just 6 goals in 15… Read more »
It is a dead=rubber game. Lo, we are not even concerned. I hope our bigger players get subbed.
Let’s hope Man U do Liverpool this weekene
“Let’s hope Man U do Liverpool this weekend”
Nah, its let’s hope Liverpool do Man U this weekend. We need them out of the running for top 4 as soon as possible.
Racist chants again by Chelsea fans tonight.
Azed, Dembele is naturally left footed but is happily ambidextrous.
WOW! How shit is Elneny?
Mystic
Thanks.
Lol, Ozil given the captain’s arm band. Yea, real captain material that one.
Marko
Did you see the match or are you going on the press reports?
How did Saka miss that?
Hey Saka! What the hells got into you?
Gawd… shoot me now
It’s even exciting to watch the academy players under emery
Oh by the way Pierre, is that 22/23 in a row?! I’ve lost count.
5 clean sheets in the group stages. Tied the record along
With Napoli and someone else
Joe
You can quote impressive stats all day long but deep down you know that really it’s all because of Wenger and if he was still in charge it’d be even better.
Lads what are the ratings on the yout players?
Good to win tonight. As well as Chelsea, we must be huge favourites for the EL. Some of the kids look promising. Sana looks like he could be top class. It’s all about players having certain qualities that they can fall back on. Saka won 8 dribbles, fouled 5 times. That is huge for a 27 year old, let alone 17 year old. Should have scored though. Nketiah is a trier, but I’m starting to worry about his ability to affect matches. Maitland Niles and Willock just don’t have the level of quality to make it here. Both will be… Read more »
Saka really looks it – drinking, fast, intelligent movements- we may have a great player if he does not become complacent and lazy. With UE I think he should reach his potential
Yeah salad looks a player. His nut meg after being clattered was Awsome
Marc
I know mate. It’s so hard for me admit that if Wenger was here we would have beaten city and Chelsea at the start of the year and been been unbeaten the whole season.
And we would have had 6 clean sheets not 5!
Careful what you wish for Marc
Champions League teams that will be joining us in the Europa League in January include:
Inter Milan
Napoli
Shaktar
Valencia
Decent teams already in the competition:
Leverkusen
Sevilla
Chelsea
Making us, I think, one of eight (reasonably) good teams:
Arsenal
Napoli
Inter Milan
Sevilla
Shaktar
Valencia
Leverkusen
Chelsea
How confident should we be? If we get to the semifinal or final, who/what would your XI be?