via @Arsenal Instagram
Unai Emery needed a performance, he wasn’t going to care where it came from, even if it was against a team in the Championship.
Boy did he land one… for the first time this season, everything went right and he left the fans electrified about the possibilities.
We saw some new players, namely Keiran Tierney and Gabriel Martinelli.
We saw some, ‘like a new signing’ players, step forward Hector Bellerin.
We saw some form return. Hello Ozil and Reiss.
We saw some sustained performances. Saka, Chambers and Willock.
We destroyed Nottingham Forest, even if it did take a while to make things happen.
Some points I’d like to make.
Saka:
Love the kid. What a player. He is so adept at making space. He’s aggressive, hungry to move the ball forward and he has no fear when it comes to that final decision. What a great player we have on our hands. Read that he’s a straight A’s student as well. I like that, good at sport and elite in the classroom.
Mesut Ozil:
The player that has offered us next to nothing for the last 3 years shows up against a Championship side and people are levelling criticism at the manager. Please. That’s too much. Sure, Emery isn’t an elite manager of egos, but Ozil has been dropping tame performances for us for years (Germany / and for Wenger). One good game against Leicester or Forest doesn’t change the equation for Emery… you cannot rely on him. He’s not built for the modern world. He’s antiquated. He’s an expensive quarterback in a world that needs more rounded creators. He gives us something special that we lack, but not often enough. Move on.
Martinelli:
What a fun player. He’s everything you want in a Brazilian. Audacious, arrogant, fearless and deadly. His first goal was a work of art. I think it was a floated ball from Reiss to the right, BIG CAL volleyed the ball across goal where the Brazilian wunderkind put his head on it like peak Kevin Davies. What a goal. The late strike where he smashed it into the top corner was super special as well. He’s a livewire, could he be the most exciting youth striker since Anelka? Maybe…
Tierney:
Calls for him to start against United are early, but all the signs are that he’s going to be a beast of a player for us. He’s extremely fast, he has great delivery and I think he has something very special about him. Fans are going to worship him, I just hope Emery resists the urge to blood him too early.
Chambers and Holding:
Chambers delivery and general production in the last two games have been great. I’m not sure about him as a right-back, but he does have some silk under pressure. Seems like a top guy, too handsome to play next to Sokratis, but would definitely like to see more of him if he can cut out the errors. Also great to see Rob Holding back and on the score sheet, another young player that is a leader, another player we’ve greatly missed.
Key takeaway for the squad:
Whatever my thoughts on the manager, I think we can all agree that the squad is much more exciting this season. I love all the new additions and I think the kids are fantastic. We have to support them, they’ll all have ups and downs, but at least there’s hope this year. This feels special. It’s great to feel excited about the majority of the players who might start. Big round of applause to Freddie and Per on the youth, big hat tip to Raul and Edu for the signings, big round of applause for Emery playing them.
Key takeaway for Emery:
It’s looking very good for Emery now. He has a pretty straightforward run until mid-December. We should rack up more than enough points to be sitting comfortably in the top 4 by then. We’ll be top in Europe. I think we could see a similar run to the one we had last year if we can take down United on Monday.
Over the Unai.
See you in the comments. x
Dream10
You want to see Ozil? Away? At Old Trafford?
We need another good summer transfer window to really start cutting the gap with the top 2, oh and an elite coach. Whoever the coach they try and recruit, it’ll be fairly straightforward job to demonstrate that we have loads of young prospects. This will allow for focussed acquisitions in 3 or 4 positions, with the CCup team pushing for starts. Willock and Saka are the two that most excite me. Martinelli could also be amazing. Holding and Chambers should start, as should Tiernay (if fit) who looks the dog’s bollocks. If he’s that good making a debut after being… Read more »
Think too soon for Bellerin considering, hoping Unai goes with below.
____________PEA_____________
__Saka_____Ceballos_______Pepe__
_____Guendouzi___Torreira____
Tierney__Luiz___Holding____CC_
_____________Leno________________
Luiz or Mustafi, based on form its Mustafi but I just couldn’t do it but I won’t lie Luiz scares the fuck out of me.
Pretty sure Unai will have Xhaka pinning the mid and Sokratis in there as well paring Luiz. Then we can say the Circus is in town.
Any word on Lacazette?
I have a sneaky feeling Auba is going to age like a fine wine because whilst he made a name for himself with his ridiculous pace, it’s actually not the primary source of his goals I get the same feeling too. Hopefully it turns out to be true. He is at the peak of his powers rn and has never been better. His passing, dribbling , crossing are considerably better than last season and whenever he is playing you know he’s gonna get on the end of chances. . His positioning is top notch and he reads the game to… Read more »
lol Left had the same reaction than me about Ozil.
Play the brits and you see a performance like that There you go Stick with the youngsters. They want it. They will drop some clangers but they will learn. Also glad to see chambers and holding vindicating my belief in them So many of you wrote them off over and over. They are the best two defenders we have. I’ll argue that with anyone. Please don’t come to me with Luiz or Mustafi I will just laugh then ignore you The kids are blinding. All of them. Nelson has his role and offers as much if not more than Mkhitaryan… Read more »
Sal
Agree with your team.
Though an argument can be made for Willock over Ceballos given Tierney’s immense crossing ability, the late surge into the box could be a weapon.
Left testicle
Yep. Keep the ball and create chances. If not, Nelson #10, Martinelli on the left.
Don’t want to see Ceballos at #10. Don’t really like him there. Only like it when Willock makes runs from #8 and he drops deep. Long term, I don’t think Ceballos should be our #10 as he’s not offensive enough. Don’t think he’ll be a PL #8 in a double pivot.. He’s a balancer type.
Sal I actually think Mustafi is better He’s the better defender. Makes less mistakes Reads it better. Better in the air Luiz just makes the odd nice pass and that’s it. Shit signing like I said on the day Still once Bellerin gets fit we can move chambers into the middle with Holding and let Luiz, Mustafi and Sokratis play cup games None of that will sort out the shit show in midfield though and when Xakha gets the nod v United (we all know it) along with the muddled instruction then expect another embarrassment The only silver lining is… Read more »
CA Won’t be long until Willock is a cartoon stater in the league He’s just dropping quality performances and goals so frequently. Got to be him Torreira and guendouzi for me as our first 3 I don’t care that they are young. They are hungry and have it all in that combo. If Guendouzi continues to show he can dictate from the middle then this is gong to be a monster combination Still believe Torreira is our man to shield If he sits he conserves energy rather than running him into the ground further up where he’s wasted Some exciting… Read more »
Ozil, like his mate Kola and their brother in arms Xhaka, should not be anywhere near Old Trafford on Monday.
“Keep the ball and create chances.”
Amazing…
Leno
Chambers Luiz Holding Tierney
Torriera Guendouzi
Pepe Ceballos Saka
Aubameyang
If that team plays v Manure, 3-1 Arsenal.
Cesc, Willock could be a very good shout, definitely building for it. Unai needs to figure his most effective attacking MF and play it, for me that includes Torreira, Guendouzi and one of Willock, Ceballos or Ozil driving it. Tightening the whole unit up. Pretty clear Ozil and Emery despise one another so thats essentially a non starter with too much drama not to mention his ability to go very missing on the bigger occasions, but then we’ve covered that I believe. I’d be happy to see Willock in there. Un Agree based on form Mustafi should get the nod,… Read more »
;Don’t want to see Ceballos at #10. Don’t really like him there. Only like it when Willock makes runs from #8 and he drops deep. Long term, I don’t think Ceballos should be our #10 as he’s not offensive enough. Don’t think he’ll be a PL #8 in a double pivot.. He’s a balancer type
Very true. Emery seems to agree too. When ceballos came on yesterday, willock played #10 and he played #8. Ideally i think he is better suited to a 4-3-3 then a 4-2-3-1.
than * 😛
Sal
Mustafi is always an accident waiting but he’s solid 90-95% of the time
Luiz is not solid 90-95% of the time. He’s worse across the board other than with the hall at his feet. I’m not a big one for NEEEDING my cb to be Franz on the ball. Chambers and holding are perfectly fine on the ball and better than our tigers defensively.
Bellerin and Tierney either side with Torreira dripping in when the full backs push up is our best chance at plugging gaps.
Unpopular opinion This season we are better off with Europa league football than if we had CL football If we were in the CL we would of made maybe 1 or 2 more experienced signings. But that would of considerably reduced the playing time the kids are going to get this season. Many players would of had to play every 3-4 days . This would have affected our second half of the campaign. Thanks to EL we can play the young players in the EL and the cup games for thr first half. Keeping our Key Players fresh and giving… Read more »
Ozil is now a liability in any team/formation. Be it 1st XI or second string, the guy contributes nothing.
Should not be anywhere near our starting eleven at OT.
I’m in agreement with playing the kids.
So what if you’re only 18.
Martinelli shows raw talent. Unleash him.
It’ll be fun to watch.
Honestly don’t know why so many posters fall for Pierre’s game. It doesn’t matter what the topic is. It doesn’t matter if you show him a thousand of his own posts highlighting his agenda. This motherfucker is so smug, he will easily transform ANY amount of attention he gets about ANY topic into some sort of masturbatory pat on the back to himself, like he’s so clever for diverting so many people’s days toward a topic he introduced. Seriously. Just don’t. It really is a shame he gets like that so often though, cause the sporadic level-headed commentary he offers… Read more »
@HighburyLegend
How did you get 99%? Randomly, a hunch, or something else?
It’s not that important to win at OT this early in the season, but what IS important is that we go there with intent to win the game and play in such manner. To me that is more important than actual result.
But I can see it already, if we win on Monday, Emery haters will say that’s because ManUre are currently shit side, if we don’t win it will show that Emery is a coward etc etc.
____________PEA_____________
__Saka_____Ceballos_______Pepe__
_____Guendouzi___Torreira____
Tierney__Luiz___Holding____CC_
_____________Leno________________
I’d go with that too. A Laca and Bell away from being our best 11. Frankly that 11 makes me so happy because it’s less 4 error prone players in defensive areas. Still not perfect but a lot more sound for me
Why am i seeing teams with AMN in it starting at old Trafford? Haven’t we seen enough of him to know he’s not good enough
“It’s not that important to win at OT this early in the season”
I’ve stop reading right after this stupid quote.
An away win against a top 6 rival? That’d be a massive feather in the cap. We haven’t won an away game against a big rival I believe since City in 2015. They are very few and far between these last few years and United right now are there for the taking so it should be seen as a good opportunity.
I’ve little to no doubt that Xhaka will be in the team at OT, unfortunately.
Emery prove me wrong. If you like your job, prove me wrong.
A win at OT would go a long, long way in changing the narrative around Emery’s job security, for better or worse, from the more casual fans at least. Should have won there last year IMO.
We haven’t won in the league at Old Trafford since 2006. That is a heck of a long time. I know we won in the cup in 2015 but we are long overdue to make a statement there in the league. There have occasions such as 2016 when we expected to win and dropped a mediocre performance, and other times when we downright didn’t show up. It is important enough to win there for our top four aspirations but for those who lived the intense rivalry of the late 90s/00s it is still such a great feeling just to win… Read more »
I seriously cannot believe that some posters on here are being so blasé about the MU game next week.
I hate MU more than any other club in the country and would take a winning game of tiddlywinks against them if it meant we got bragging rights.
Some great great battles over the years.
Remember 1990 at OT if it was only yesterday.
Bloody bastards!
Winning at Old Trafford is as good as it gets, that moment in 2002 winning the title.
Its the peak.
I was there that day Graham, gave them a slap, beat them, had 2 points deducted but still won the league.
Our defence looked solid, Saka has an examplary workrate, özil should
be playing in a pub-team, Martinez is a prospect to behold ..
even Mustafi looked good .. selection for old-trafford is crucial !!
Marko I would go with that team.
I would even start Nelson, and sub him with Saka
or vice versa perhaps
No AMN please
No Ozil please
This selections has youth and legs and dribbling in it…
We need those things against better sides… and PLEASE GOD
no XHAKA!!!!
Wiltord !
Karim
“Wiltord !”
The best… Freddy running riot, Kanu jumping over Wiltord to celebrate the goal.
Fuck me.
Overmars, he’s done it this time!
Sad to see that a 20 year old Gooner was stabbed to death on a tube train on the way to the stadium last night because some loser thought he was “looking at him weirdly,” so knifed a stranger to death out-of-the-blue. Sad that London is descending further and further into this.
Xhaka will definitely start at United.
Emery can’t help himself and in keeping with the image of Xhaka being this big, slow, ponderous handicap to our midfield, he will be an anchor around Emery dragging him away.
Would be a giant fvck you to the fanbase If Emery predictictably returns to default mode and start the likes of Xhaka,Sok and Kolasinac against united, would be literally saying shut up and support the lads you mugs
Should that be the case I seriously hope the fans start giving him a hard time,boo his ass and throw load of shit at him, make him understand he’s wank and don’t deserve to be our manager.
Terrible news about the Gooner stabbed.
Victorious
It would hardly be a bigger Fuck You than you always wanting Arsenal to lose.
For the United game I think I’d go with Torreira, Guendouzi, Willock as the midfield 3. It runs the risk of not being able to hold onto the ball which is why I was thinking of Ceballos but I just think the energy, physicality and tenacity of those 3 is what we need there. Pepe, Aubameyang, Saka as the front 3. The RB position is an issue as Bellerin is likely not ready yet. Chambers has played well but worries me coming up against pace, that said AMN is a car wreck of a player. The rest of the defence… Read more »
Sad news that, no surprise London is fast becoming a shithole,Knife crime is rampant because there are no strong penalties for the offenders.RIP to the lad
Sancho
Wouldn’t be bigger than you wanting the same though when we was winning some trophies and playing swashbuckling football to boot
Never would I genuinely ever want arsenal to lose a game but watching Emeryball is making me hate football by the day,
guy is single handedly sapping whatever little joy I have left in watching a club I love so much play the game,guy is just so shocking it’s unbelievable.
what is the deal with the stabbings in London versus actual shooting? Us Yanks are so used to hearing about so and so shootings on the news daily. We rarely hear of stabbings….
Is it because guns are harder to get, or a shortage of them in London? Being shot and stabbed are both horrendous but somehow being knifed seems more gruesome to me.
Do you live in London Victorious?
No Bob,why?
There has been stabbings in london from day dot some of you guys are going on like it’s a new thing.
It’s only because the media and camera are magnifying thedr crimes. 20 years ago the same thing used to happen but less people would hear about it.
Victorious
You are correct regarding knife crime.
The penalties are not strong enough.
Is it because guns are harder to get, or a shortage of them in London
No, there loads of guns here. Having a gun almost seal your fate because it’s like having it means that you will enviatbly use it. Most of these youngsters carry knives because the other youths have knives too.
These guys are pussies the lot of them.
Cant fight one to one have to get their mates involved.
why knifing versus shooting?
lack of guns or ???
mber 25, 2019 18:56:12
why knifing versus shooting?
lack of guns or ???
What is easier to discard a gun or a kitchen knife?
Penalties I imagine are different for knife offenders versus shooting a gun?
Samesong
What a load of tosh!
Vic
Your last comment was literally too stupid to respond to. Grow the fuck up before coming around supporting Pool and wanting Villa to score more goals.
Graham
The load of tosh is you and your living outside of London without a clue you old fool.
Ffs, now 12 year old is having a meltdown too !
London is not a shithole.
If Emery persists with Xhaka and AMN and throws them both back into the starting 11 v Utd, he deserves all the shit thrown at him when we serve up another abject team performance. Those two assholes might play like peak Zidane and Cafu respectively in training, but on match day they almost always disappoint. Chambers at RB, Holding Sok/Luiz CB, Kola LB (unfortunately.. not sure it’s smart to throw Tierney in before he’s completely match fit), Torr, Guen, Willock midfield, Pepe, Auba, Saka front three. Should be enough to cause Utd problems. Our record at OT is abysmal, but… Read more »
Away to OT, I would prefer Torr and Willock to protect the back four while Guendouzi will be given a free role to support either the attack or the defense. I find Willock physically stronger and defend better than Guen.
If we are chasing a game, then Willock will be a box to box midfielder.
I was wondering Victorious how you were judging London. Feel that if you live somewhere you are able to judge it better. London, in my opinion, is not a shit hole, it’s still one of the greatest cities on Earth.
Winning the title in 89 at Anfield was the peak for me.
Had to win by 2 Micky Thomas got it last minute
Graham62
I don’t know if you were agreeing with me or just insulting my opinion. Without and reason. I apologise if I read that wrong.
I’m London born and raised lived here all my life. Know the ends so to speak and very street smart.
I know of two people that were killed and were even featured on crimewatch for being innocent and in the wrong place.
Jamie
Rashford is injuried.
“Only we need time. January is going to be a good opportunity too to fix this situation and the next one. That is the problem when something happens that you cannot control.” Poch.
Saucy manager seeks to remedy his club’s poor form by signing players… shocking I know
Nelson –
Ah, nice. Who starts up front for them? Martial??
Samesong
Knife crime is worse than it’s ever been.
Where have you been hiding?
Victorious is correct.
By the way, I know London inside out.
Jamie
Lingard is healthy. Martial is 50/50
Should that be the case I seriously hope the fans start giving him a hard time,boo his ass and throw load of shit at him, make him understand he’s wank and don’t deserve to be our manager. Surprised to see you knocking about so soon Vic I half expected to see you in hiding and to worm your way back in after a period of embarrassment. I don’t know why you even comment on here no one takes you seriously you former superfan you who has now twice wished we lose games. You’re a complete cunt of the highest order… Read more »
Nelson –
On paper, we beat them all day long then. In reality, it’s a crapshoot.
Graham
If you knew London inside out you would of understood what I meant by knife crime happening years ago too.
I wasnt making a thing of there not being more knife crime but I was highlighting that this isn’t something new.
You know London inside out? Wheres Mozart located then ?
I really like London and enjoyed visiting there last year. Like all big cities there are good and bad areas. Even here in Silicon Valley, I avoid certain places if I can. Thoughts on how to reduce knife crime??? I imagine harsher penalties? Im sure police have most gangs surveilled to some extent What I really liked was when I was told that in London, police do not drive in marked cars like here in the US. They are plains clothes and can use any vehicle. So you dont know when the “po po” is coming… Wish we had this… Read more »
Graham
“Knife crime is worse than it’s ever been….By the way, I know London inside out.”
I’m sure you must have seen many stabbings Graham, as it is so rife in the capital.
Guns SF
Harsher penalties doesn’t even scare these kids these days as prison is like a hotel for them. They can still run their operations from within a cell.
One thing that you don’t get here thank god kids causing massacres in schools.
Guns of SF
Don’t believe everything you are told about police cars and uniforms in London
Samesong
1. London is not and never has been a shithole. It is the greatest city on the planet..
2. Victorious is 100%correct though on our lenient penalties.
3. I have a good friend who’s son was stabbed and killed ,back in 2017, in London.
4.Whatever you may think, knife crime is a massive problem in this country and not just in London.
Cheers.
Vic wouldn’t be able to give you directions from Leicester Square to Oxford Circus without Googling it [he’ll do it when he reads this], such is his familiarity with London.
His sources tell him it’s a shithole city though.
How about prisoner exchanges? With some of the South American and African countries? like El Salvador, where they will be sharing a room made for 10 inmates with hundreds, I don’t think they will want to make the trip there again if they ever made it back alive.
Pierre
What’s that supposed to mean?
Explain please.
Graham once again where did I say the place I live is a shithole?
Remember when you had a black and white tv? No wifi and no social media? Are you telling me that people never got stabbed back then?
Do you remember the mods the skinhead they were doing the same thing back then.
Samesong
Surely you’re not as juvenile as you come across.
I really wish we could stop with this semi-political talk, the simplistic suggestions made by some of you to just make the punishment harsher, as if that’ll fix it? Didn’t work before, didn’t work for drugs, won’t work for knife crimes. Additional police presence isn’t the answer, it’s proper application of police forces of any size, which is an existential problem more than anything. International prisoner exchange, does anyone even think of how much money some of these suggestions would cost, where would these programs be funded from? If someone doesn’t have actual applicable problem-solving methods to contribute, it’s better… Read more »
Samesong
Read Victorious’s initial post at 18:35
You may learn something.
He was the one who said London is fast becoming a shithole.
All I was doing was countering this but agreeing with his view that penalties are not tough enough.
Graham you don’t know london that well.
You’re just noise on a blog. Mozart is in North west london once quite a rough estate for knife crime but you wouldn’t know that would you. I’ll even tell you this also Stevie Wonder came to that estate in the 80s and I met him.
Maybe you haven’t taken you meds this evening but please don’t even try to insult me.
I don’t even know.london inside out but in pretty confident i know more places then you.
Guns SF, Statistically, there is less crime in London than 20 years ago. However violent crime is on the rise. Back then excluding passion/domestic violence crime knife crime only affected gang member and other hard criminals, when now they now tend to affect younger and more random victims. Hence the higher reporting of such crime. Today’s rise in violent crime is the direct result of 10 years of cut to police numbers, social services, mental health clinics (including psychiatric hospital for dangerous unstable people) and justice services (prison guards, parole officer, …). Those cuts looked financially good at the time,… Read more »
Valentin add to that youth centres also.
Ffs Can we just keep the debate to football. Boasting about who knows London better is boring
(Mozart WAS in Ebury Street)
Maybe I’ll switch over to Crimewatch
Maybe I’ll switch over to Crimewatch
Mozart estate
Statue is in Orange Square
Northbanker
Never mind.
I assume you’re talking about that shit heap in Queens Park but pointless question
From Emery has no sauce to him being dud. Players now saving his blushes according to some.
Guys, please pipe down on the hype of our kids. Vela, Merida and a few where heralded as the next big thing.
Anyway, Wilford’s goal at ot is one I cannot forget. And sadly, one I cannot forget is that Giggs goal against us in the FA semis. The commentator made it worse for me.
See Northbanker I know you’re a Londoner just by that answer : )
Not just by your name.
Interesting how most of the posters on here picking almost the same team for Monday
So why the fuck can’t Emery see the same thing
Same song -yep
In the blood !
Northbanker
Liking you already mate!
How did the refs not see the Pool GK catching the ball outside of the penalty box? It was clear to every viewer in the stadium.
Samesong
Oh dear, it seems that it’s become a competition.
Go on then oh wise and knowledgable one, why do you think society( not just London) is now witnessing far more violent crime than ever before?
Obviously you went to school in the sixties when the kids were taught discipline and respect and the vast majority of parents knew how to bring up their children.
Oh yeh and what the fudge has Stevie Wonder got to do with all of this?
As I said very juvenile.
Samesong I make you right. Most of them are pussies and can’t hold their hands up. I remember a funny story outside our boxing club when we were young. One of them tried it when we were going for a club run. We used to run circuits round Wandsworth and on our third lap I remember one of the lads just ran past and sparked this fat fucker off a wall who was giving it about shanking one of us. We were never troubled again. I disagree entirely though that it’s as common as it was before It’s getting worse… Read more »