Premier League debut mooted as defensive worries mount

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I tell you what, I’ve been listening to a lot of classical music this year. I’m not sure if that’s a sign of age, or that I feel disenchanted by the constant bickering between Kanye and Drake. Can’t you both just be friends?

Anyway, big up the classical music scene. Some absolute bangers from John Adams and Tchaikovsky pulling me through this post.

I know that it upsets people that I use references of the not-so-distant past to frame up where we are now, but look, for context, I’m the kind of guy who will make a beeline for a work colleague on a packed train, just to acknowledge that I have seen them… even if they are avoiding eye contact with headphones on. Simply put, I’m going to compare Wenger to Emery for at least another year, so get used to it.

Unai Emery showed exactly how different the mentality at the club is these days.

“I think we are doing our way and improving, but the reality is that we need more.

“Our ideas and work with the players is to learn together. All of us can give everybody new ideas.

“I think the players are open to listening to us about our new tactical work with our analysis in videos. We need to do this work quickly, but we also need patience.

If this had been 2 years ago, we’d be talking about winning the league and the big twitter accounts would be digging up tweets from 7 years ago gleefully proclaiming the victory was theirs!

Not anymore. Our manager is a pragmatist very much anchored to reality. We’re in 5th position, that’s not good enough, and even though we’re not losing, we could be doing better.

That’s a great attitude. That’s a message to players that complacency won’t be tolerated, nor will premature-back patting. We’ve achieved nothing this season and we’re still a long way off the levels City and Liverpool are bringing to the table.

This season is fierce, so many teams are on an absolute rampage. Spurs and City won again, Liverpool is likely to decapitate Jose Mourinho tomorrow when they host his shit-housing-extraordinaires. We have to keep up the pace, there’s no room for dropped points and that sort of pressure is hard to deal with.

It’s going to be very tough tomorrow against Southampton. You have a group of players who are under a new coach who is far smarter than Mark Hughes, so there’s an extra level of intrigue there. We also have a very old defence that is so worrying, you’d have to imagine even Southampton will fancy their chances. We could be rolling out with Hector, Lichtsteiner, Monreal and Koscielny. Two of those haven’t rocked a 90minutes in a while.

It’ll be very interesting to see how Emery deals with that. Do we sit slightly deeper to avoid counters, or do we just play the way we have been all season and try and drop them in the second half after going a goal down? I’d imagine there will be a tactical consideration here, because it does feel like we’re very exposed.

There are some rumours that are being fueled by Auba’s Instagram that suggest we could counter the age issue at the back by fielding Zech Medley. The U23 defender came into the side midweek and impressed in the second half. It’s risky, but these young players need game time if they’re to progress, and there’s no better way to know if a player can handle the pressure other than utilising them in an emergency.

Mesut Ozil will be back in contention for the game after a being out for a few weeks with back spasms, so we’ll see if the coach fancies him in the first team so soon… I’d imagine he’ll be benched and eased back into the first team. Aaron Ramsey is available again, which is great news. I do wonder if he’ll continue to be benched. We all want him to play, but it doesn’t make sense to get the fans used to his presence if we’re going to try and bin him in 3 weeks time.

There’s also the big NLD game that’ll be on the players minds. Spurs in the league cup on Wednesday is technically not as important as Southampton, but it’s huge one for the fans. How hard is Emery planning on going for that game? Is his priority #top4… or a trophy at any cost? So many decisions to be made!

Finally, just a few other items I wanted to check off.

People bringing Ashley Cole into the Sterling row are desperately revising history. He was an absolute darling of Arsenal football club until he betrayed Arsene Wenger in a shady backroom deal with Mourinho which he claimed was accidental. His book quotes were an abomination and a total embarrassment even for a mollycoddled footballer. Factor in the countless PR gaffs he brought on himself… like cheating on his wife with a hairdresser.

“We started having sex then he just rolled over and vomited on the floor all over the cream carpet, it was disgusting.”

“He had some mouthwash then jumped back into bed. We started having sex again but his mates piled into the room.”

For most men, that’s game over, so I have to give him credit for plowing on and being a solutions-oriented kind of guy… however, when you’re married to the most famous woman in Britain, you really can’t complain about bad press, especially when you sell your wedding to gossip magazines for a £1m.

Oh, he also shot an intern with an air rifle from 5 feet.

ALSO: Pavon and De Ligt being linked to Arsenal. Unrealistic, but damn exciting regardless!

Right, enjoy the game, I’ll see you in the comments.

P.S. I ran into an original Le Grove commenter in a New York laundry yesterday. The world is a small place when you’re a gooner!

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Leftsidesanch

Arsenal literally introducing ‘No Defender December”

Alexis

Wat wit all dis injuries

Dissenter

Auba is missing simple chances
Bamford will say I’m being dishonest with that assertion because the defender made a good tackle.

TR7

Beautiful touch from Mikhi again, he should do better now with Laca on.

China1

Pierre I can’t say it’s influenced the score yet but the ref certainly has been shite

Bamford10

Rambo

According to Joe, we are going to beat Liverpool at Anfield. So no worries at all on that front.

Dissenter

The referee has been shite but we bailed him out earlier in the game because we chose to play with the advantage rather than put him on the spot.

useroz

Auba is making a habit of missing big chances. Missed 1v1 twice today.

Didn’t even make good contact.

Leftsidesanch

Get it

Paulinho

Just attack these bluffers.

raptora

FKIN YESSSSS

Leftsidesanch

Now put the game to bed

azed

Goal!!

DaleDaGooner

Mhki….lucky, Laca and a Iwobi

DaleDaGooner

Guendouzi and Laca forced the error, good stuff

Dissenter

Southampton are worst team we’ve played this season in the league.
We have no business not getting all three points

Jamie

Jammy. We’re going to win this. 1st half donkeys, 2nd half specialists.

azed

How did Iwobi miss that?

useroz

Fucking rubbish. Iwobi’s shot wasn’t even close with all that time to shoot

DaleDaGooner

Why didn’t Auba just take the shot?????

TR7

Laca is such a good player, gets everyone involved in the play unlike PEA. Even Auba looks more threatening playing alongside him than playing alone.

Bamford10

Mkhitaryan shoots from outside the box and scores on a deflection. That’s one thing Ozil never gives us. Mkhi also made a deft little flicked pass on to Auba on that previous play.

Rambo Ramsey

Why does this donkey even bother shooting

Dissenter

Auba should have taken that shot earlier
Poor finish from Iwobi

DaleDaGooner

Oh my goodness?? We’re gonna blame Iwobi for Aubameyang letting Soton back in defensive action???

Bamford10

Iwobi showing his lack of quality.

TheLegendaryDB10

And we are still in the game! Come on Arsenal!! Now let’s stop chasing the score and score one.

Iwobi should have scored there.

useroz

Boys. Give ’em back if the fucking ref doesn’t

Tony

Where did they get this ref? Sunday league?

Paulinho

Bamford – Spot on. Ozil would just spend the entire game feigning to shoot.

DaleDaGooner

Laca comes on and makes us tick, Auba doesn’t have that effect

Dissenter

This referee is very poor
What’s his name again…sorry don’t want to know because he’s a nonentity. He’s not biased, he’s just useless.

Leftsidesanch

If we started with Laca also we possibly wouldn’t have so much work to do in the 2nd half usually

Dissenter

Actually Ozil needs to come on for Iwobi

…ASAP

Guns of Hackney

The ref. The go to place for a loser.

Dissenter

Lichsteiner needs to calm the fu*k up. He’s going to get a yellow card again for dissent.

Guns of Hackney

What role is Iwobi playing?

China1

That second mikki goal was a Frank lampard special loool

Rambo Ramsey

“What role is Iwobi playing?”

Useless?

DaleDaGooner

Laca starts over Auba, it’s a no brained, forget the tap ins, we need more dynamic hold up play

Samesong

Koz

Guns of Hackney

Leno looking less like the real deal every game now. Looks like a blond Fabianski.

useroz

Kos is rusty but clearly done in the new system .

DaleDaGooner

How’s that a yellow??? Fucking ell

Guns of Hackney

Rambo

Know what I mean though? He’s picking the ball up from the defence…on the wings, running about up front. He’s like a 4 year old.

Leftsidesanch

You get the feeling this Kos won’t get many more prem games this season

SUGA3

Koscielny you clumsy twat.

Bamford10

Dale

Except that what you and TR7 miss is that with only Lacazettte on, we have no threat in behind. So everything we do is in front of the back four and rather toothless.

The truth is that both Lacazette and Aubameyang are slightly incomplete strikers. Lacazette offers better linking and hold-up play than Aubameyang, but Aubameyang offers the length and pace that Lacazette lacks. This is why I have long said they should be deployed together, as complementary central strikers.

DaleDaGooner

Rambo Ramsey what’s your name gona be next season?

Dissenter

Guns
The defensive uncertainty are affecting Leno. He’s no flappianski, your knob

Guns of Hackney

Goddam this rebuild looks like it’s going to cost upwards of £500m.

I’d say there are four players who would make it to my new squad…no more.

Guns of Hackney

Diss

What about my knob?

DaleDaGooner

Well Bamford, that’s what I mean, pointless leaving either one of them off when our best chance of scoring is both

Rambo Ramsey

Oh great, here comes Long.

Dissenter

“Rambo Ramsey what’s your name gona be next season?”

Ramsey-is-gone. 😊😊😊😊

Leftsidesanch

Long and Austin are two C grade strikers who have joy against us. Can’t afford to gift silly chances.

Guns of Hackney

Kos looks like he’s been on the mulled wine. That was eboue like incompetence.

Dissenter

Shane Long and Koscielny

A marriage made in heaven.

useroz

Why the fuck is Iwobi loitering around mid field?

Go up there and earn your wages.

Pass fucking properly too.

Leedsgunner

Redmond is being made to look like Roberto Carlos, thanks to this shambolic defence.

Honestly with our attack we should be well away with this…

DaleDaGooner

Kos isn’t ready…. fuck me, training since August and he’s no where near ready

Guns of Hackney

Long Austin or Austin long. Both great porn names.

Dissenter

Iwobi needs to come off quickly
What’s Emery doing?
Waiting fir the 67th minute?

Rambo Ramsey

Dale,

Maybe I’ll keep the same. Tribute to player who scored the winner in two out of our three FA cups

Paulinho

We cannot string a pass together.

Zfree

I think we need to score 4 today to get all 3 points.

Guns of Hackney

Considering Southampton is a port town…there are lots of oddities in the stadium. Funny looking bunch.

Leftsidesanch

Ozil coming on for Iwobi it appears

useroz

Why Auba didn’t take a shot. Keeper wasn’t exactly back.

Rambo Ramsey

Mkhi and Iwobi are useless. Our only creative threat is coming from Laca.

Guns of Hackney

Iwobi is Ade Akinbye. But on more money.

Leedsgunner

Kos is a cup player at most now.

Guns of Hackney

A world class forward would have lobbed the keeper. Auba was soooo slow.

Rambo Ramsey

Ozil, the stage is yours lad.

China1

Earn your salary ozil

DO IT

Marc

Come on Mesut show us what you can do.

Samesong

Nasty challenge

Guns of Hackney

Lichtsteiner is a diving pussy.

Ozil just handed his PS4 controller to Reiss Nelson…he’s on the last level of Fortnight.

DaleDaGooner

Iwobi off thank goodness, we can read about another “useless “ player here instead of Iwobi… Mhki still on, He’ll Share …….they’re hurting our defenders

Dream10

Bamford10

Agree on Mkhitaryan’s willingness to shoot. Good quality. Our only #10 that can shoot well from distance.

Dissenter

Iwobi vs Ade Akinbye???

Guns
You local weed dealer has laced your daily dose with turpentine

useroz

Why doesn’t Monreal move to LB and Xhara moves back to MF.

So’ton got away for too long.

C’mon. We have more than enough firepower to punish them.

Guns of Hackney

Diss

Actually I lace my turps with weed.

Samesong

This playing out the back is so frustrating to watch it’s done at such a slow pace and then all of a sudden someone hoofs its to the opposition player.

raptora

Lol at Ozil!

useroz

Let’s be ruthless. Pass to mates is fine is we are 3 up.

AMN on for Licht who limped off.

Guns of Hackney

Why do the officials still check studs? Seriously! Back in whenever…Sunday league players did sharpen their studs but I hardly think pros would. Waste of time.

Leedsgunner

I want to see Özil step it up. A draw isn’t good enough we need to win this. A defence splitting assist would be suitable retort to his detractors.

DaleDaGooner

Ozil is all hunch

Dream10

Emery’s got us playing like a midtable side. He was playing this way without injuries as well.

No Ramsey on the pitch today at all?!?!
I’m afraid Unai is not the right man for the job. Shame it had to end this way

Leftsidesanch

Our defenders just want Christmas off

DaleDaGooner

Lichtsteiner is such a bag of anger lol

useroz

Time wasting anyway

Offside.

Fuck off.

Wake the fuck up.

raptora

Fantastic Leno!

Guns of Hackney

Good call by the lineslady. Lucky arsenal.

Leftsidesanch

Long is another one from the Iwobi school of running with mouth open

DaleDaGooner

I’d kiss Massey if it was ok

Dissenter

That was a great save from Leno
Point blank
The defense was late to react

azed

Lucky escape

Guns of Hackney

Southamptons pub forwards are tearing us a new one. Embarrassing.