Watching the Spurs game. VAR decision goes against them, then they drop a goal with some sloppy defending. Gotta love that.
VAR needs to have the kinks worked out. It takes too long and some of the decisions they’re looking at go against the spirit of the game. Why are football bodies so bad at implementing ideas? Then, why does it take so long for them to pivot?
The tech has to work for the fans in the ground. Getting to the right decision shouldn’t be so difficult. No one was complaining about millimetres, we mostly just too umbrage at obvious decisions, game-killing errors, and cheating.
In other Spurs news… there’s this:
Imagine KNOWING there’s a market for a book about a failed Champions League run.
What are you saying about your target? Imagine it was you?
Male, 20-50, low expectations, doesn’t value time, easily entertained, quite gullible, a loser
Unreal that there’s a book, absolutely unreal.
In Arsenal news, Hector and Kieran T made their U23 returns. The reports coming back are that Tierney is really fucking quick compared to Bellerin… which means he must be very, very quick.
Great to see our two full-backs heading back into the mixer. Look at Tierney’s leg muscles.
SPURS LOSING. Genuinely finding myself quite jealous that we didn’t hire Brendy. He’s a very good manager. Leicester compete. They have a balanced side. The players work for him. He changes things in realtime and it works. The football is attractive.
He’s just a bit of a donut.
Our new hero, Saka, had more to say on Freddie.
“He’s been with me since I was 15 and seen me do amazing things but he always tells me to stay humble and keep working hard because he really thinks I can be a top player,”
“He’s been a player before so he understands how I would feel. He’s played in my position and it’s just so good to have him there, an Arsenal legend giving me advice. There’s not much more I can ask for.”
The Swede really has impacted the kids in quite a way. They all love him. It’s great to see. I wouldn’t be shocked to see him as the Arsenal manager at some point, though I think it’d be a mistake post Emery. We’ll see though, United and Chelsea have made similar moves, though both clubs are struggling to find form.
I think the biggest job Freddie can do this season is keeping the kids grounded. Both sides of that coin as well. He needs to keep the Saka’s of this world focused on their game, avoiding the trappings of ego and money. On the other side, he has to make sure he helps the kids that are struggling. Reiss has bundles of talent, but he looks like he’s in a confidence hole.
Basically the only stat where Emery is winning this season is the amount of kids he’s having to use, I think we’re only bettered by Manchester United. That obviously comes with downsides, inconsistent performances and weakness when times are brutal.
We’re in for a ride this season… our biggest challenger for top 4 is looking like it might be Leicester. They don’t have a better squad, but they certainly have a better team than us.
Huge game against Aston Villa tomorrow. They’re going to have watched what Burnley, Frankfurt and Watford did to us in midfield. They’re going to know the patterns in defence. They are going to press us hard, with McGinn terrorising us like a lunatic from the off.
Emery needs a response. He needs to stabilise the squad. He needs to show the fans he knows what he’s doing.
Finally, I was talking about some of the fancy stats they’re using in football these days. Below is one called packing. It basically tallies the amount of players bypassed with passing for and against. It’s a bit of a weird one, but basically, it correlates quite nicely with winning. Liverpool is a bit of an eyesore in the validation of its usefulness, but it’s not shocking to see what our players are being bypassed more than they are bypassing.
What do YOU think about hipster stats like this? Tell me in the comments. x
P.S. Alex Iwobi on the bench.
P.P.S. Arsenal, 16 years ago today. x
When Arsenal were a national disgrace on the regular. pic.twitter.com/qlsHDUSLFs
— Le Grove (@LeGrove) September 21, 2019
Tr4phy
Good ebening!
Protagonist
4th
4th?
Tr4phy
Bellerin and Tierney can’t come back at a better time
Lol Sp*ds love celebrating near misses and hollow victories. Pathetic club.
Wanyamas age cheating has caught uo with him, reiss Nilsauce slight improvement on iwobi his ceiling is marginall above average.
It takes too long and some of the decisions they’re looking at go against the spirit of the game.
Yeah shame that. They should have just let the Spurs goal stand really.
Pedro
Brighton is 2nd on that table.
Bournemouth are last, but they’re 3rd on the real table.
Don’t think you can read much from this stat…..not after 5 games anyway.
Some legends in that video. That team would walk the league in 2019.
Gimme Saka baby!
What is our best central midfield three at the moment? This is a serious weakness, maybe our most serious weakness. If Torreira is fit, I think I’d say Torreira, Guendouzi and Ceballos. Xhaka and Ozil should both be on the bench, IMO.
As for who to play up front while Lacazette is out — when is he expected back, btw? — I think I’d start Pepe, Auba and Martinelli. As good as Saka looks, he is still very young and I don’t think you want to place too much weight on his shoulders at this point. What do others think?
I think we can all agree that most teams in the league seem to “ping”the ball about better than us. Our passing is slow and predictable in comparison to teams like Leicester and even Norwich, who were very impressive against MC. It seems our players are stagnated by too much Emery input. The paralysis by analysis scenario was never more evident than against Watford last weekend. The fact we have Auba/Pepe and Lacazette, when he’s fit, logically means we need to supply them quickly and efficiently. Villa will feel they can get at Arsenal. We can’t afford any more performances… Read more »
Given the lack of legitimate options at LW you’d like to see to Saka, Martinelli or Nelson given a go and you’d like to see Emery go with a front three instead of a two with Ozil or whoever behind but he’s a bit dickless and a bit gormless so he probably won’t.
As for midfield see above comment. Expect Xhaka.
Martinez with a lovely piece on Arsenal.com
‘The best thing that Reading loan taught me was to be arrogant on the pitch. It’s not that arrogance where you know you’re the best, it’s the arrogance that gives you the confidence to show it. You should never be that arrogant off the pitch around your team-mates, just when you’re on the pitch looking to prove yourself. ‘
If this isnt th best definition of Sauce. I dont know what is.
Pedro
You’re jealous of us not hiring Brenda Rodgers?!?
He’s not a top manager. He’s a flash in the pan. He has got Leicester on good run but a good run in September doesn’t count for anything (as Emery knows too well.)
Pierre
“The difference being is that I took continuous abuse for being the first ( with GOH) to highlight the faults of Emery including tactics , formations , selection policy , incoherent press conferences and his pathetic antics on the touchline.”Sounds like Wenger”…
Sounds like Wenger
Pierre
“The difference being is that I took continuous abuse for being the first ( with GOH) to highlight the faults of Emery including tactics , formations , selection policy , incoherent press conferences and his pathetic antics on the touchline.”…
Sounds like Wenger
Man City teaching Watford what the word “cojones” means… 3 up it’s not 20 mins gone yet?!?
Good to see the Spuds lost, even sweeter that they were 1 up! 😀
Thanks for the YouTube clip, giants from our past, Freddie and Edu can hopefully return us to where we belong
City 5-0 up in 18 minutes!
Xhaka is Emery’s moth ridden threadbare comfort blanket quickly becoming an executioner’s rope.
If he is blind to it, he has no one to blame except himself.
Bamford, the injury list states Lacazette is on track to return in October, but it doesn’t hint at early, middle or end of.
Wenger: “Why you look at me I have made 50, 000, 000 substitutions, you know nothing” lol lol
Crikey, this is gonna get bowling shoe ugly at the Etihad.
City showing how a team should play against Watford!! 5-0 in 18 minutes. We could see a record score today.
There’s a shellacking of the ages going on at the Etihad
City beating Watford 5-0 after 17 minutes
Just goes to show how pathetic we were last week.
Brendan Rodgers. King of Scotland but not even a Baron in England.
F–k Rodgers.
Spuds getting stuffed by VAR is pure Karma. Last season everything about their season came from VAR. they must have lost like 12 of the last 20 games.
Putting on the pressure as usual
Bamford
I don’t expect Lacazette to play until the after the intl break. So, Oct 21st @ Sheffield Utd
Crikey, this is gonna get bowling shoe ugly at the Etihad.
I’m going to use that in future. How do I look? Bowling shoe ugly.
I wouldn’t draw too many conclusions to what city are doing to Watford. They are after all Man City whilst we are after all Arsenal
Quike Flores shouldve known that uncoordinated pressing against Fernandinho otamendi Ederson mendy and walker is not the same as against Sokratis Kola amn and Leno.
N5, Dream
Then Emery absolutely must figure out his best front three — and quick. That’s another month w/o Lacazette. And if Emery plays Pepe in a front two again, he needs to be shown the door.
N5
“City showing how a team should play against Watford!! 5-0 in 18 minutes. We could see a record score today.”
Norwich 3 Man Citt 2 lol
Watford are so so bad. What does that make us?
pEp iS a FrAuD
Where all them idiots now?
That should have been 6. How did Aguero miss that?
And that my friends is how you treat Watford
Highlights how dire we are with that man in charge
“Norwich 3 Man Citt 2 lol”
Not sure what your point is. They looked terrible that day but that’s A) Rare and B) nothing to do with playing Watford.
That new manager bounce for Watford only lasted 90 minutes, enough to make PapSok pass the ball to a player facing his own goal and David Luiz to give alms to the poor.
Norwich missing 8 first team regulars 3 Man City 2 lol lol
Agreed B10. Emery seems as stubborn as Wenger though and will just keep doing what he’s doing hoping it suddenly just clicks.
My god, this should be 6 or 7 now. I can’t believe they are still attacking with such ferocity.
City doing in Watford, whom, we allowed 31 shots..
Emery really is shit.
Ta Marko!
I wonder what goes on in the mind of a professional footballer when his team is down 5-0 at 17 mins 22 secs?
We were the architects of our own downfall last week. Sok put us under needless pressure and then we continued to invite trouble on. No variation in play.
Need a good win tomorrow and a much more solid base in midfield. The diamond isn’t working.
N5/shad comparing Arsenal to Man City lol
Leeds, you’re not a flash in the pan over three clubs.
Ha ha I missed that Bowling Shoe Ugly is legendary.
What was that girl like you pulled last night. She was fit as fuck in the club, but when I sobered up and saw her boat in the morning light, she was BSU (bowling shoe ugly).
Ha ha.
Red, I think N5 is pointing out that a manager who you said was one of the best in the league, should have had a better plan for Watford… because they are shite.
Leftsideanch
“Need a good win tomorrow and a much more solid base in midfield. The diamond isn’t working.”
Nah
It’s Emery impression of the diamond that is not working; the NARROW diamond he’s deploying invites pressure from the wings. The amount of balls that gets crossed into our 18 yard box is crazy.
Redtruth, Not really sure where I compared us to City?
Thank you Pedro. You wouldn’t think you need to spell it out, but RT really doesn’t read between the lines.
QSF waits until his team is 5-0 down after 18 minutes, and makes a substitution and a tactical change another 15 minutes later. Ladies and gentlemen, meet your next Arsenal manager.
N5
At least he went with a 4-5-1 on Thursday, not a 4-4-2. That’s something. Let’s hope he continues in this vein.
Upstate: Wenger never made a change until the 70th minute. No matter the score
B10, I wonder if he’d used the 4-4-2 or the 4-5-1 after we went 2-0 up against Watford whether we’d still have drawn? We really need to shut up shop and learn to see a game out and we do the 4-5-1 quite well.
We still may have had the defence issues, but at least the middle wouldn’t have been overrun. It may have been a very different outcome.
PS good to see you back Bamford. I thought you’d been banned so glad to see that’s not the case.
Let’s get real Man City a far stronger outfit to Arsenal lost 3-2 away to a dilapidated Norwich while Arsenal drew away to Watford……which is the worse result…
Pedro
Behave, Brenda a “very good manager”? That’s the Emery effect in full force right there 😂 he’s another Everton level coach.
Pep Guardiola’s City are really basterds
The mentality is crazy, 5-0 …and they still don’t stop coming.
Bamford, Martinelli will get time on Tuesday. Saka has put himself ahead of him. Not sure your point about Saka being too young, when Martinelli is less than 3 months older than him . Nelson is hard to judge at the moment. Again I hope he gets time on Tuesday. I would go Saka, Martinelli Nelson on Tuesday with ESR or Willock in the hole.
Think tomorrow Ozil and Ceballos will join up with Pepe and Auba.
5 nill or whatever, they still have the best calf index!
Pedro
I’m sorry, I think we’ll respectfully disagree about the merits of Brenda Rodgers… to be fair to you, at least he has a record to speak of… unlike, ahem, Mikael Arteta.
CC, I’m hungover… leave me be.
City need to be really careful, Watford can come back from this second half. They’re mega and that
Hahaha Pedro I’ll let that slide, thought there might be alcohol involved with that assessment. I don’t rate him at all but he gets the principles right over Emery, that’s for damn certain. As painful as that is to admit
Red, Norwich looked so much better than them too. Their defence that day was awful. However, we’re not comparing who had the worst loss, or who is the better team. We’re discussing attacking the bottom of the table team who’ve not won in 10 matches and how teams should approach them.
N5
Definitely. But in truth, we should NEVER have been in a 4-4-2. Not at 2-0, not at 0-0. Pepe is a wide player, not a CF, and we have other players who can play wide as well. Plus our midfield is slow and unathletic and can’t do the work you need a midfield four to do. His decision to go 4-4-2 was wrong top to bottom, IMO.
City’s off the ball movement is a world away from ours…options, options, options
Whereas for our man in possession the pass is obvious, obvious, obvious
Emery after the Watford draw.
“Watford good team”
Leeds, he’d have us playing better than the Spanish Phil Brown.
So would Arteta.
Shameful that I’m worrying about McGinn tomorrow.
Bob
My point was that you don’t want to put too much playing time or pressure on the shoulders of a really young player. I didn’t realize, though, that Martinelli is only a little older than Saka. Regardless, I’d still be gentle with Saka.
I agree Bamford. That’s why I wish he’d switched to the 4-5-1 and like you say he did use that in Germany, so fingers crossed that sticks. We look much more comfortable like that too.
I’m sick of managers using the square peg round hole positioning. We have Pepe up front and AMN as full back. Shit show.
Commentator just said 5 in 18 minutes is a prem record.
Every Arsenal fan who wanted Wenger gone nearly a decade ago, genuinely hoped that Emery could deliver. After sixteen months their patience has finally snapped.
Every Arsenal fan who wanted Emery gone before he’d even started, were the same fans who chose to ignore ten years of regression.
Just saying you can give yourself a pat on the back for pointing out Emery’s failings but don’t forget you’re the same folk who accepted this regression.
Well done(Pierre) and also, before I forget, congrats for standing up for Mesut.
Wonder if we’ll have more possession than Villa tomorrow and dictate the game? Absolute scenes if we give up the ball to them and try and hit on the break.
N5
“We’re discussing attacking the bottom of the table team who’ve not won in 10 matches and how teams should approach them.”
Wenger was a flat track bully specialist, it made no overall difference to what a shit side we were.
Well said G62
Truth I’m not sure what you’re on about. Wengers gone get over it. We’re talking about Watford this week against Watford last week. Why are you struggling with that?
Graham, not sure there were many who wanted Emery before he started?
I blame the players for Arsenal’s shit performance against Watford. You don’t need tactics or formations to beat crap teams just better players which we surely have…
Nagelsmann and Tuchel have to be the top contenders for the board by the end of the season to replace Emery.
If it’s an ex-player then Vieira is the only choice. Not exactly excited by that prospect but would understand it being given a go.
Guys, just as a heads up, I’m scouting Graham Potter this season… working out his future viability.
Maybe the new Owen Coyle.
Tuchel would be a great shout, he’d bring some sauce to our football.
Think Nagelsmann might be a bit more practical if we don’t make Champions League, though I think Bayern will have something to say about that.
Red, a manager should be able to organize and motivate a team to go hard for 90 against bottom of the table Watford.
Is that the same Tuchel who Man Utd knocked out of the Champions league. Lol
Truth you’re all over the place, in one post you’re talking about how it’s the players fault if they lose or draw and in the very next post say Man-u knocked out the manager.
@Pedro,
Are you factoring in command of the English language? Seems it’s a major hindrance to how our qualideee players are executing the supposed instructions..
Professional footballers should not need motivating playing for Arsenal, besides that’s the Captain’s role to motivate and cajole his troops
Graham “Every Arsenal fan who wanted Emery gone before he’d even started” Not quite , but I knew within the first 2 weeks that we had hired a dud . Wasn’t that difficult to work out was it . Any manager that comes in and cant improve Arsenal defensively after Wenger, should be shown the door immediately. It’s taken you ( and many others) 16 months to work it out whilst I took all the abuse for saying what in fact was correct. The sooner he goes the better and I will also be proved right on Ozil when we… Read more »
Shad, yep, that’s why I’m scouting Potter. Elite grasp of the language, quality British name.
Still think it’s amazing that people were genuinely debating with a seriousness that Emery’s terrible English wasn’t a problem.
Red, Emery gave the captains armband to Xhaka… not surprising the team isn’t motivated.
Pierre, you called it, and now people are having to bow down to the new hierachy around here. #KingPierre
Nagelsmann and Tuchel have to be the top contenders for the board by the end of the season to replace Emery.
Yes to Nagelsmann despite the no English. Absolutely no to Tuchel. I don’t give a shit that he beat a piss poor Madrid side during the week he’s boring as fuck and irrespective of what people think he’s got no sauce.
Pedro surprised about you don’t you know Tuchel is an absolute magnet for injuries with how he trains players.
Also Tuchel 100% has bodies buried in his basement.
The sooner he goes the better and I will also be proved right on Ozil when we get a decent manager in who respects quality.
Yep King Pierre alright. We’re really just a different manager away from unlocking the potential of Ozil.
Look say what you like about emery but ‘good ebening’ is an institution and will likely outlive us all