The Mikel Arteta era started with a 1-1 draw away from home. The 1 point wasn’t ideal, but I think most fans felt very good about what they saw. It was a first step, but for 5 days work, it’s hard to argue there wasn’t progress on the basics.
We conceded a customary goal, looked shaky at the back on occasions, but the team showed far more fight than they have in a long time. We pressed, the boys looked hungry for the ball, they actually turned up for an away game. I enjoyed myself, which felt weird.
Arteta was fairly happy.
“I’m very pleased with some of the things I’ve seen in terms of attitude, character and the passion we showed, and the fight and the spirit the team showed. Spot on, and probably better than I expected over 90 minutes,” Arteta said. “A lot of things that happened in the game [that] we prepared and I think they [the players] understood them and they tried to take them on board and we liked the final product at the end.
“I did not know how long the players would last at that rhythm with the demands I made of them but the attitude was spot on. There are no negotiables at this club, there are standards that have to be done at this club and they held them.”
Outside the simple basics like effort, we also controlled possession like we used to. Our movement going forward had more purpose to it. We only landed 2 shots on target all game, but we had 17 attempts. I think our poor efforts in front of goal were more down to rusty players, youth, and a lack of confidence over anything else. Our chances were in good places on the pitch, and on another day, we’d have scored 4. I’m still having nightmares about Willock at the end. Just blame the rain and too much vegan turkey.
Our delivery was also really bad, even for us. Saka and AMN are not even full-backs, so to be expecting them to deliver like Liverpool was always a big ask. Had we started Hector and Kola, it might have been different. I also thought we missed the power, drive and confidence of an on form Martinelli.
There were a lot of people grumbling about Pepe not starting. For me, if the Ivorian record signing has been ignored by 3 managers all under huge amounts of pressure, I would suspect he probably trains very badly. If you’re not putting the effort in under Arteta, it’s clear he won’t play you. That said, Nelson is way off the pace. He looked a bit more confident than he usually does but his decision making was woeful and his delivery is nowhere near where it should be considering he went out on loan last season.
I also thought Lacazette was off the pace. He made lots of incorrect decisions and his timing was well off, that one-on-one he blew was nailed on in 2016… but he’s been Emeryfied and it’ll take some time to shake that off.
Things I liked…
Arteta managed to get a performance out of Mesut and he talked about it to the press.
“He worked and could have been the difference; we could have scored three or four goals from his balls through,”
“To be fair his attitude in training since the day I walked into the building has been incredible. I said I was going to give a clean slate to everybody and I went to give it to him.
The German was instrumental playing between the lines. His quick passing and clever movement off the ball was a real nuisance. I liked that when he was subbed off you could see his face was blotchy from all the effort. He might not be the #10 of the future, but if we can get him firing, he’d be very helpful to our end of season run… and yes, I am aware Bournemouth are very good to players like Mesut.
Full backs tucking in, a City special, was on show yesterday. It seemed to give our defenders more options as they moved forward and made us a bit more resolute when being countered.
I also thought Torreira had a really solid game, he’s gone from being anonymous to an absolute brute in a week. Long may that continue.
… and say it quietly, Xhaka did a very solid job. Bournemouth are perfect opposition for him, but still, his pass completion was 94% and there was some ambition to his play. Shite defensively and not suited to the league, but you have to give praise where deserved. Word has it he still wants to leave to go to Berlin and I really couldn’t care less, as long as we have a replacement lined up.
So overall, a shite result, but plenty that points to a brighter future. This season might be a write-off (I hope it’s not) but we should start winning if we continue creating that many good opportunities… it’s a promising start. The players responded well to the new demands and the early signs are that Arteta has a good vision of what he wants to do, with the authority to get it done.
I went hard on Emery who couldn’t create an identity in his first 4 months (or ever), many thought I was unfair for this. I personally believe any coach worth a sausage will have his players showing serious signs of their ideas within 3 months. I will stand by that view with Arteta. It’ll take longer for results, because we’ll need better players, but this is a good coach who will take us to a far higher level than Emery or latter years Wenger could. I think we’ll see good things this season, even from these players. I am still excited. You should be too.
Onwards and upwards, a very messy Chelsea next, could be a good home debut for Mikel.
See you there!
Marc
I think Xhaka is gone.
He’s already agreed terms with Hertha Berlin.
They are offering £21 Million which apparently doesn’t meet Arsenal’s valuation.
My guess would be closer to £30 Million and he will be sold.
Just go and pay Partey’s release clause after that.
PieAFC, spot on mate.
Also FBs are a lot more than that these days. For the top clubs they’re crucial to the way they attack. They are involved so much. They shouldn’t view it as a negative.
@Pierre Can’t agree with you there pal: the risk was significantly reduced if he had closed down the ball: 1. https://postimg.cc/Z0yV9xvJ When the ball is turned over, he has sight of all Bournemouth players bar one, with both Luis and Sok in good positions begind him & Torreira in the middle. He needs to go then and aggressively close down the space. Instead, 2. https://postimg.cc/62Fcjygs He allows him to turn and run at him, backing off to the edge of the box. He can still remedy it by closing down the space- but its a more dangerous position as there… Read more »
Cesc
I said earlier the gossip round Xhaka wasn’t going away and it supposedly includes quotes from his agent now as well.
The issue I have is getting my head round someone being stupid enough to pay £30 million for him – don’t get me wrong if we get that I’ll be thrilled but having watched him for over 3 years now I wouldn’t pay the cost of the bottle of beer I said I’d buy Serge for him!
Do Berlin have anyone worth looking at?
Pepe will get there. Players can take an age to adapt for a myriad of reasons. It doesn’t always happen straight away. Henry, Pires, Bergkamp are testament to this.
Needs ore intensity and i’m sure that’ll come but the talent is there without a doubt.
5 quid says when Xhaka leaves us he’ll come out with some statement cunting off Arsenal fans and not taking any sort of responsibility for his actions. Be interesting to see who Edu and Arteta target next month
Very good news regarding Xhaka. He looked decent against Bournemouth and West Ham but let’s face it he had a lot of space to operate with in the two games. He has never had any problem against teams which do not press hard or are not overly physical. Here’s hoping we find a suitable replacement.
Marko
He can call me anything he wants as long as it means he’s fucking leaving. I’ll even drive him to the airport.
If we manage to add a physically and athletically imposing CB and CDM/CM and if Arteta can get Pepe going we will look a different side in the second half of the season. I do wonder whether Arteta can use some of the techniques City use with Sane to get him going? Sane is a better all round technical player, but he too is a big winger, good dribbler, leggy frame and favours his left foot heavily. He plays LW where Pepe plays RW…I do wonder if over time Arteta will ask him to adopt a role more like Sane… Read more »
Arne Maier the second coming of Toni Kroos and Niklas Stark the highly rated CB are about the only Berlin players we could be interested in
Marc Stupid things happen all the time. Who would have thought anyone would be stupid enough to offer Ozil £350 000 a week…but we did it. I actually think Xhaka will go back to looking decent in Bundesliga. Most of the games will be more like yesterday, lots more time and space in the middle to play a passing game. We need to make sure we add someone who has a great engine, athleticism and tidy play. Never make the mistake of signing immobile players again. This could actually be an exciting time for us. This season may mean much… Read more »
I like some of the Wolves midfielders Nevez and Dendoncker.
‘come out with some statement cunting off Arsenal fans and not taking any sort of responsibility for his actions. ‘
Of course he will.
Our team is full of players like that.
Xhaka, Mustafi, Ozil etc all victim mentality players.
They aren’t going anything wrong…its hundreds of thousands of supporters who have the wrong idea about things and its them who have the right idea. Ozil isn’t wrong…you’re just looking at football wrong.
Marko
CA Kulusevski I’m hearing is Inter bound and Hakimi is going back to Real Zidane is a big fan and for good reason he’s a fantastic fullback capable of playing either side. Szobozlai could be on though.
Marko, give us the link where you read this and please don’t start with “from what I’ve heard…”. It implies you have friends/ contacts in high places, not just access to Google.
TR7 “He looked decent against Bournemouth and West Ham ” The West Ham game when he closed his eyes and turned his back on their CB who scored their goal. Truth is he is always on the brink of being a problem defensively. It’s understandable why so many are asking for a physcical CM after watching Xhaka at Arsenal all these years. But of course this more physical CM will also need certain attributes on the ball as well. Xhaka forcing himself out of the club is a funny sight really considering that so many have been wanting him out… Read more »
It’s a very common knee jerk reaction all Arsenal fans have it never changes. Absolutely nothing wrong with the Pepe signing you’ll see the second we stop being such a disjointed mess and start consistently playing him he’ll kick off. I even predict a proper RB alone will see an improvement from him. As things stand stand so far we’ve had a change in manager and an ever changing mess of a team despite all that he’s got 4 goals and 4 assists on the season. He will come good imo
Bill i dunno what to tell you all the reports in Italy have Inter and Napoli negotiating for Kulusevski and Zidane likes Hakimi coupled with Marcelo kicking on and Odriozola not working out Hakimi will be returning to Madrid at the right time
Don’t understand the previous talk of Rabiot at all.
Noted for being lazy off the ball.
Has a prima donna attitude.
But he looks nice on the ball.
Surely you don’t sign players just because they look aethestically pleasing on the ball especially when they have so many previous noted weaknesses.
Just as well as someone else stated that he is a player that is always linked but never signed.
While I agree there were positives in yesterday’s game — our interplay and movement in the final third was more patient and intelligent, for example — I think people are still being far too sanguine about this group of players and about our situation.Whatever positives we saw yesterday, we still drew 1-1 with a 16th-place, injury-laden Bournemouth. Our shape was better in certain ways, our play was more patient and intelligent in certain ways, and certain players, e.g., Torreira, looked better, but in the end we drew with a relatively weak team because our forwards and midfielders are lacking in… Read more »
Arsenal will finish either 7th or 8th but as I said yesterday if improve certain aspects of our game come end of the season, I will be happy.
Cesc
“Never make the mistake of signing immobile players again.”
Exactly. Like I said the other day: to play for Arsenal going forward, you must be quick, athletic, high-energy and high quality. No exceptions.
I like Rabiot but if he was the only CM signing next month I don’t think he’d be solving anything really. Him with Sander Berge or Can could work though. There are creative ways to have a good January honestly the likes of Demirel, Can, Rabiot could be available on loan
We all know the Chelsea game is going to be the real tester of early Arteta sauce. Mount will most likely return and he is a real handful with his direct runs into the opposition box. Abraham is a very physical CF who is most likely going to cause problems for any Arsenal CB combination. Kovacic is likely to return as well after suspension for the Southampton match and he has become an important midfielder for them now. And if they play back three again Marcus Alonso is a bigger threat for me at wingback than Emerson. Good news is… Read more »
It’s a shame though because yesterday I think if you had Martinelli instead of Lacazette we win that by a couple of goals.
I always liked Can, not saying he’s great but I always felt he was a solid player, good athleticism and general play.
the real problem is the gulf in quality between our team and teams like Chelsea, United and Spurs I would usually agree with this but the reason I don’t think top 4 is beyond the realms of possibility is because those teams are struggling too. We’ve all conceded similar amounts of goals only we’ve struggled with scoring this season. I feel like a January that brings in players that can help us out defensively until the end of the season will be enough to have a good second half of the season. Offensively building up the confidence should be enough… Read more »
Achieving top 4 is a big ask this season but there is still 57 points to play for and the one thing we’ve seen so far this season is a huge amount of inconsistency from the teams chasing top 4, Chelsea, the Spud’s and ManU have been all over the place. I also feel that Leicester would struggle with any injuries to a player like Vardy. A player or two in Jan, a bit of confidence and better coaching from Arteta could result in a run of wins. With the way the season’s gone so far that could see us… Read more »
Said it before but I honestly think if we can buy a very good CB and very good CDM/CM with the right kind of attributes we’ve all been talking about (powerful, athletic, good engine, tenacious, tidy etc) and if Arteta can get Pepe going and possibly tap a so far untapped source of quality in Ceballos then we will look a different side in the second half of the season.
Chelsea apparently set to blow £120 Million on Sancho is the wrong move for them in my opinion.
Banford
Arsenal have 1 win 13 games is it? Had our worst start since the 70’s, and are still just 4 points behind your “excellent” OGS and Man United.
They’re gash, we’re gash. You’re 100% pushing an agenda.
On the last post you were talking them up for spanking Newcastle 4-1, saying we’d never do that. That same side lost 2-0 to bottom placed Watford like two weeks ago. Spare us your United ramblings.
I’ve gone right off Lacazette this season. Poor form very moody and when we’ve needed someone to step up he’s wilted like a load of pansies. Doesn’t help that you see much younger strikers in Europe at the moment impressing and we’ve got an 18 year old impressing as well.
I’d sooner start Martinelli at ST over Lacazette.
Always thought he was very overrated and I’ve never really understood this supposed connection he has with Aubameyang…I don’t see it.
The front 3 was fine to have a go with but I remember having a conversation with Paulinho in the summer and we were saying we’d be back to talking about an unbalanced front line and lack of a LW option.
One of Aubameyang or Lacazette has to go to fund purchases elsewhere…I know who I’d prefer but don’t know if there’s a market for him.
One midfielder I really like but seems no one else does is Sergej Milinković-Savić.
Lazio player. 24 years old, sort of the “complete midfileder” but tbh is best deployed offensively and does quite well in a midfield 3.
Earned the moniker “serbian pogba”.
On the topic of Lazio I like Luis Alberto as well as a player.
Whatever you say, Charlie. But fyi, the only reason United are only four points above us is because of injury woes they had early in the season and a run of matches in which Solskjaer was forced to deploy mostly kids. They will separate from us as the season progresses. I’m sure of it. If I’m wrong, though, results and the table will show that I’m wrong, and I’ll gladly admit it. If you’re wrong, though, will you admit it?
Guns
Isn’t he going to cost £70-80 Million though?
I’d rather spend big money on the CDM/CM we need and then look to a youngster for the CAM position.
Serbian Pogba.
Like Chinese AIDS…it’s still fucking AIDS.
I absolutely hate those “new” labels that everyone gives players. Hate it!!!
Bamford
ManU have been inconsistent under OGS full stop. Started with a great run then had a terrible run, this season beat City one week lose to Watford another.
Look at their December results, draws at home to Villa and Everton, they beat the Spud’s and City and lose to Watford.
It screams inconsistency and also a managerial problem where the players seem to be up for the big matches and switch off in the lesser games.
Banford What’s the excuse for them being tooled by bottom placed Watford? Player poverty? “If I’m wrong, though, results and the table will show that I’m wrong, and I’ll gladly admit it. If you’re wrong, though, will you admit it?“ What would I be wrong about? I’ve said Emery was the issue, after 18 games he’s been replaced by someone and now the work starts to unfuck the side and start down a more prosperous path. I’ve set no concrete goals for that development much like I had no concrete goals for Emery’s first season in charge. That season I… Read more »
Joke Friday – Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house everyone felt shitty even the mouse. Mom at the whorehouse and dad smoking grass, I settled down for a nice piece of ass. When all of a sudden I heard such a clatter, I sprung from my place to see what was the matter. When out on the lawn I saw a big dick, I new in a moment it must be Saint Nick. He came down the chimney like a bat out of hell, I knew in a moment the f*cker had fell. He filled all… Read more »
Bamford10
I think you are poisoned by Emery. Under him, the players lost confidence and became timid and were afraid of opposition. It even poisoned some fans.
We need to believe in our coach. Our players will improve under him. Win or lose, we have to fight with no fear. Our team chemistry will improve with time and we’ll have our identity back.
Marko
Maier is a good player. High ceiling imo. And Dilrosun is not bad either.
Dont know how Berge can help us rn. But looks a good bet for the future.
Guns
Milinkovic is very good. But nobody here talks about him because we cannot realistically get him . Not this January anyway .
Charlie
“What would I be wrong about?”
The difference in quality between United’s squad and Arsenal’s squad. It’s pretty clear from my comment above that this is what I was referring to.
Evening all, We looked better yesterday with the basics, although defensively we wasn’t put under too much pressure. There was plenty of blame to go around before it comes to Xhaka and the goal but he was still average yesterday. In the first ten minutes he gave away the ball twice which led to a decent cross. His agent has said everything is agreed with hertha, except a transfer fee. I’d be shocked if this move doesn’t go through now. Torriera had his best game in months, so did ozil. Yes it was only Bournemouth but it’s a start. I… Read more »
Banford And you think the conditions are even remotely fair or comparable? Shocker. OGS has had how long in charge? Full pre-season etc. You want to compare that to our utter shitfest for half a season and then claim whoever ends up on top is conclusive proof of the better squad? Couldn’t think of a more lopsided ‘argument’ if I tried. We’ve finished above United 4 out the last 5 seasons, finished above them last term too and all I heard was how we had the 6th best squad in the league. Seems you’re utterly selective with what constitutes proof… Read more »
@Nelson, This looks like a cock up. Before we had a socialist wage structure because we wanted to pay average players more so they would run that extra mile and keep us in top 4. Then we spent next year’s transfer budget in the prior year in the hope it will bring us top 4. (Pepe), we also bought many crap players on the cheap. And way before we were fed up with being in top 4 and wanted to drop to 10th, so we could bounce back and challenge for the title. Is catching Liverpool any closer to us… Read more »
Nelson I get why you would say that, but I really don’t think that’s what’s going on here. You might recall that there was a divide here at the end of last season between those who thought Emery was to blame for how we faltered towards the end and those who believed we faltered on account of weaknesses and inadequacies in the squad. I was one of the latter. You will likely reply that my negative assessment of our squad’s quality was then too a reflection of what Emery was doing to or with the squad and not a reflection… Read more »
@Up 4 grabs now
Lots of good things in your post but I would question the Ozil bit.
Ozil was good for 20 mins. Once Bournemouth muzzled him in the middle, he went to hide on the wings and that was it.
He shied away from the fight in the middle, so for me he will never be a player suited to this league – he should go to back to Span or Italy.
“Like Chinese AIDS…it’s still fucking AIDS.”
Lord alive 😂😂😂
Who really gives a sh*t about the quality of United’s squad in relation to ours?
We are both crap, give it a rest!!
Whatever you say, Charlie. But fyi, the only reason United are only four points above us is because of injury woes they had early in the season and a run of matches in which Solskjaer was forced to deploy mostly kids
You’re a supposed Arsenal fan making excuses for Man United. You need to sort yourself out
Nelson
“We need to believe in our coach.”
I do believe in our coach. It’s this group of players I don’t believe in.
Will Arteta be able to improve them somewhat? Sure, marginally. But ultimately he won’t be able to coach away the limitations and weaknesses of this squad, nor will he be able to coach away the limitations and weaknesses of many of these players. Arteta is a smart, serious, talented guy, but he’s not a miracle worker.
Xhaka is a proud dude
You strip him of the captaincy and humiliate him expect him to seek an exit. He was given the house keys over his older brother for crying out loud
@Bamford
What you say abour quality is questionable.
We were in the top 4 year in year out with midfielders like Denilson and Song.
Compare our current strike force to Eduardo/Bendtner. (top 4)
Compare Pascal Cygan at CB to Sok.
We always had average players. But the sum of the parts recently has been quite poor.
MGooner
One, the PL is far more competitive today than it was a few years ago. Two, even back then we had a better central midfield and better central defense than we have today.
You strip him of the captaincy and humiliate him expect him to seek an exit. He was given the house keys over his older brother for crying out loud Oh big whoop we heard about this shite with regards to him being a leader but in reality it’s bullshit and all it does is tend to his ego and make him worse. Shocking player who should never have been given the armband because as we’ve seen by his response to being booed he is no leader. Don’t care that his parents gave him the house keys maybe that speaks more… Read more »
Mgooner,
I thought he was better for more than twenty minutes.
He even won the ball back twice by tackling and chased back.
Don’t get me wrong he wasn’t man of the match but like torriera it was his best game in months.
If he can maintain that level he will be useful, if not he may well be gone in the summer.
I don’t think arteta will settle.for anything less.
Juve linked with Vidal and Rakitic likely means Rabiot and or Can are available this January.
szoboszlai not technically great just good but very athletic only beats Dozi on athletism.
Lobotka technically great.
Rabiot damaged goods same category as balotelli, carlos vela…
Marko,
With our current midfield I’d take both in a heartbeat.
@Bamford We made a Chamakh look like a world beater. It’s not as if there was no competition. If you look at the comparative cost of our midfield back then, you would be surprised. Same for our CBs. The only difference, is that we hammered into the payers head everyday that they were the best until they believed it. And we gave them proper training on the basics and technique. We were actually criticized for wanting to walk the ball into the back of the net. We oozed class. But the toxic atmosphere and new management team was largely to… Read more »
Mo salah didnt do well at chelsea at 24 yrs, Debruyne didnt do well at chelsea at 23 yrs
Dismissing Pepe will be a mistake of equal proportion
You heard it here 1st!
@Marko
Rabiot is not suited to our league, he would be a crock.
Hertha are only offering 21 mil if they up that too 27-30 we have to take it as earlier posters have suggested Xhaka played OK against BOURNEMOUTH, i WILL SAY AGAIN BOURNEMOUTH but he was defo at fault for the first goal and how many times have we seen this …. just not good enough and there is a reason he wants to go back to Germany . I must say I am really really pleased Xhaka is upset with ART BECAUSE THAT REALLY REALLY HAD ME WORRIED that said Xhaka is just not for this league and the same… Read more »
Arteta will extract more from the same squad than Emery did and it will validate what many others including myself have been saying about Emery’s ineptitude as a manager.
Arsenal with nine draws in 19 league games the joint highest in the league with wolves.
Defending is where the issue is. Too many dropped points.
Turn a couple of those draws into wins and we would be sitting in the top four.
Arteta needs to fix this where Wenger and Emery didn’t.
It’s been an issue since Campbell left.
@ Sid
For a player who cost that much, he should focus on doing the basics first.
The thing with this guy is that he is always showboating . I do not like his smart ass attitude and he will not progress until he changes his mindset.
Quality wise, there is no photo finish, he is a top player and can be the best winger in the league. But he is far from that atm.
We need a minimum of 2 technically great players for this team to Make Arsenal Great Again (MAGA) like we had
Berg & freddie/pires
Cesc & rosicky/Nasri/Carzola/ RVP
Firmino is the most important piece in the liverpool team.
Im telling you this for free!
“Im telling you this for free!”
That’s a fucking good job because I wouldn’t pay for any advice posted on here!
MGooner You can forget about “catching Liverpool”, our first priority is to remember how to win games again. As for your assumptions that other bloggers caused the toxicity over the past 4 years, nothing could be further from the truth. 2006 marked a change in the tide of opinions on how our club was being run. The swell of negativity increased year in year out as the visible regression and suffocation of the club continued. Go back to the 08-09 season and browse through our results. That’s when drastic changes should and could have been made but unfortunately we sat… Read more »
Sid
Are you son of CG or something?
“One, the PL is far more competitive today than it was a few years ago”
Is it though. We still have two teams who are really the only ones seriously competing for the title (ManU & Arsenal, ManU and Chelsea etc)
Arsenal are awful and have changed manager twice in 18 months, the Spud’s have just sacked the best manager they’ve had since the age of black and white TV and ManU go through managers quicker than I go through bottles of beer.
Theoretically with more money the lower teams are better but it’s not that different really.
Competitive in the sense that there’s no easy games I guess
“it will validate what many others including myself have been saying about Emery’s ineptitude as a manager.”
Heard you the first one thousand times TR7, getting boring now change the channel
You don’t also rate Allegri as a manager but you think Pochettino is third best in the world behind Klopp and Pep. Your ratings of football managers competencies leaves a lot to be desired.
A man failing at a job does not an inept manager make, jobs in football do not work out for a number of reasons.
Graham
I agree with 99% of your response to MGooner. The one point I’d add – blog sites do not have that much influence on fans in the real world. If they did Pedro would have had Wenger out almost a decade earlier.
Marko
Tell that to the pretty shit ManU team that spanked Newcastle yesterday.
By the way we do not improve defensively if we replace Xhaka with Rabiot, not at all.
We may will more effective easy on the eye and press resistant, but we will still lack a shield for the defense and no Torriera isn’t that either. He actually tried to get to the Bournemouth goal scorer yesterday but his physical limitations meant he was always second best.
“Who really gives a sh*t about the quality of United’s squad in relation to ours? We are both crap, give it a rest!!“
“Heard you the first one thousand times TR7, getting boring now change the channel“
Calls me the headmaster despite trying to rule the roost as far as what people should be talking about.
A+
Lille owner on Pepe “You mentioned Pepe, it took him a while to get going at Arsenal … I think Pepe is a winger who is also a world-class finisher. This is a guy who played goalkeeper until he was 13. He understands them like few others — that’s why his finishes, even from long range, are rarely blasted and always placed. I say this because it’s one of the two factors that, I think, have slowed him a bit. We played Pepe in a 4-3-3 in a very specific position: He was wide, with freedom to come inside and… Read more »
Grabs
“Realistically to get 4th you need 71-75 points.”
Not this season ..
Chelsea are 4th atm , half way through the season with 32 points , 5th have 29 points.
68 points will do it …maybe less.
To do it we need to beat Chelsea and United, if not , forget it.
Predictable ..how sad
“To do it we need to beat Chelsea and United, if not , forget it.”
Yep, any designs on fourth then you need six points from both games. Draw or lose both then we can all concentrate on patterns and what not for the rest of the league season while Dissenter serenades us with the possibility of relegation
“I think most fans felt very good about what they saw” Risible narrative-shaping. “I think” most fans who forced themselves to watch felt it was dire. There were a couple of bright points, but this was still a miserable performance. Nelson is dogshit and so is AMN. When Willock came on, my wife (who knows nothing about football) said he looked gormless, and she was spot-on. A totally gormless and feckless loser. Lacazette is finished, get rid. Pepe has to be playing, shit teams like us need players like him to carry some kind of goal threat. Why do you… Read more »
@ Graham I partly agree with your views, I think the turning point for our club was when DD was fired from the board. He shared a lot of responsibilities and would have taken the club forward, especially with Usmanov on board. From 2006, as you rightly pointed, the winning mentality was gone, we became a kind of Monaco which was always second and happy to be second behind Bordeaux in the 80’s. But saying that top 4 was irrelevant is a bridge too far for me. we stayed in the top pack in spite of serious constraints. I was… Read more »
Now tell us what you really think Eduardo
Eduardo, it only takes a cursory look around the internet, this comments section or your Arsenal whatsapp groups to see that you’re in the minority on yesterday.
Hodgson or Allardyce for next manager? Elite commenting .
Bamford
““One, the PL is far more competitive today than it was a few years ago”
Last 3 seasons the title was won with
98 points
100 points
93 points.
That tells me that the premier league is less competitive as the gap at the top is widening compared to a few years ago .
A general lack of consistency should not be mistaken for increased competitiveness.
Eduardo
LegoFace is a breath of fresh air – he has not put a foot wrong so far. I think he has won over the fans and most are willing to give him time.
I just hope that he is well supported with funds. In fact, I feel they should get Raul off his back and give him full freedom to select what players he wants to buy.
Receding
My post on Emery was in response to a poster who was raking up player poverty yet again.
@Pierre
I would not say that. The PL was competitive before and it is now also. Look at the number of teams which were doing well in the CL before and look at now.
You may remember the Chavs owner firing managers who would end up without a major trophy, That was competitive.
Similarly the Liverpool vs Totts final last year.
The PL has been fiercely competitive for the past 15 yaers at least.
I cannot see us beating Chelsea with that bunch.
Lampard may be a newbie but he has done well after a shaky start. Remember they are doing it in spite of selling their best player Hazard.
With Ozil in the team, we already and 10 against 11. The midfield – Xhaka will give away his customary goal. Luiz is a disaster waiting to happen. AMN is always a weak link in that position.
“My post on Emery was in response to a poster who was raking up player poverty yet again.”
TR7 player poverty is no longer the taboo it once was on here, get with the times
Wasi, “We played Pepe in a 4-3-3 in a very specific position: He was wide, with freedom to come inside and a full-back behind him who always covered for him. Now he’s in a new team, his teammates don’t know him and he has to jell. That takes time; the same thing happened when he joined us and it took about six months for him to be very productive. In fact, we were almost relegated.” Thanks you for posting the comment. I made exactly the same points last summer and was lambasted for it. Anybody who had followed Ligue 1… Read more »
Both teams are going to want to play like the away team on Sunday.
I think we’ve got to go with MAP and look to break with pace and directness.
A solid central midfield is needed with someone who can get at Jorginho and try to steal the ball away from him.
“I cannot see us beating Chelsea with that bunch.”
Why not?
Southampton sliced them open at will with some one touch play yesterday. If indeed most saw what they believe they did then Chelsea should be as worried about us as we are about them.
Be that as it is we will not be afforded anywhere near the space we were yesterday, most seem not to take that into account while praising the obvious improvements.
Receding
Is that the same Southampton team that lost 9 nil to Leicester a couple of months ago?
@ Cesc
A solid central midfield is needed with someone who can get at Jorginho and try to steal the ball away from him.
And who would you play in that midfield 😉
“Be that as it is we will not be afforded anywhere near the space we were yesterday, most seem not to take that into account while praising the obvious improvements.”
How do you think we earned the time and space in the first place?
We found too much space to Ozil in the first 30 mins. That couldn’t continue so they dropped off. That in essence allowed Xhaka more space on the ball. It’s not hard to see.
Pierre, receding,
We might beat utd and Chelsea but it’s the other 13 out of 17 we would also need to win that is the problem.
Cesc Appeal
“A solid central midfield is needed with someone who can get at Jorginho and try to steal the ball away from him.”
If he plays.
He was dropped for their game at Spurs and though he has improved a bit off the ball he is still a weakness for them when they don’t have the ball.
Kovacic is seen as a more all round midfielder this season.