Arsenal frittered away another 3 points against a top 6 side when they were downed by two late Chelsea goals. The result is very disappointing, the way it went down was very us, but you’d be hard-pressed to find many fans in that ground that weren’t happy with the way things are moving.
When it came down to it, there were some very fair mitigating circumstances the new manager was dealing with. We were missing Granit Xhaka, say what you will about him, he starts in this midfield. We were missing 3 full backs, plus Holding, Ceballos and Gabriel. That’s 7 players, which is a crisis. Then when we lost Cal Chambers, who was having a great game, and had to replace him with the absolutely dreadful Mustafi, well, you’re always going to struggle.
Both goals we conceded were very poor. I think the context, outside our limited set of players, was the amount of effort we were putting in. The players simply haven’t worked at that sort of level for a very long time, after 45 minutes, the energy levels noticeably dropped. In the second half that meant the players started to defend a lot deeper, which gave space for Chelsea to roam. We gave up our first goal from a hideous Bernd Leno error, he came racing out of his goal for a one-handed swipe at a cross, he missed, Jorginho was in at the back post for a finish he didn’t know much about. He’s been our best player this season, you just don’t expect that.
I don’t like to complain about reffing standards, but there’s no way Jorginho should have been on the pitch. In general, the tactical fouling on the halfway line was ignored by the ref for most of the day… arguably, if we’d been street smart enough, we’d have engaged in some of it for the second goal. Matteo G went for a header he was never going to win, he should have been sitting far deeper in my opinion, which is something I have no doubt will be fixed. Chelsea were allowed to run at us, Luiz and Mustafi dropped, and dropped, and dropped, the ball switched wide, Abrahams didn’t have Mustafi tight, he turned and put it past Leno. A shoddy piece of defending, but look, we’re not going to shake that in 2 weeks.
If there was a criticism to be had, I think it was about making aggressive subs a little earlier. Lacazette and Nelson weren’t offering much, I think there was a limited case to made that we could have brought on Pepe or John-Jules to bring more energy to the frontline. That said, when Pepe did come on, to watch and £80m winger spurn a chance because he couldn’t shift it onto his correct foot was quite depressing. Jules, well, an unknown quantity for a big game.
If we go to the first half, there was a lot more to be happy about. Firstly, the atmosphere is directly linked to what the fans are seeing on the pitch. We are energised by the efforts of the players, it’s fair to say the fans were buzzing for a large part of the game. Even after the game, there weren’t any boos, everyone respected the fight on show.
Arsenal were very compact. It was very refreshing to see our defenders a lot further up the pitch, people knew their positions, everyone was putting in a shift. I thought this new attitude was typified by the selfless performance of Auba. He held a very wide position all game and he actually tracked runners. A lot of people constantly rattle off the ‘not that sort of player’ line… well, Mesut Ozil and our best fox in the box are doing yards and making tackles now.
There wasn’t a whole lot of creation in the first half, but I think the purpose was more about containing Chelsea and nicking a goal where possible. Building from a solid foundation is what we’ve asked for over the years, we know we don’t need a lot of chances because we have elite finishers, so it was an interesting game from that purview.
I also thought we were very good in possession, again, it didn’t lead to much, but the passing in general was unrecognizable at times. We were seeing a different team that could move the ball out of the back fluidly, and shift the ball between the lines with relative ease. Chelsea were mostly chasing shadows for that opening 45, but what I loved is that were starting to reap the rewards of good off the ball positioning… Chelsea players were ratttled into making unforced errors just by where our players were positioned. Not perfect by any means, but you could see that we were difficult to attack.
Our goal came from a George Graham inspired setpiece. Cal Chambers, who is a beast in the air, nodded on for Auba at who was hunting in the box. It really was a shame he limped off with what looked like a serious injury.
A lot of people lay the genius of Chelsea at Frank Lampard’s feet when he switched Chelsea to a back 4 and brought on Jorginho. I’m not sure that was the difference-maker, I think Arsenal running out of steam was. When you’re tired, your body defaults… as a team, we defaulted to habits that Arteta hasn’t fully dealt with yet.
The game finished, but there were no boos. That was a heartening performance from a depleted team that’s about 2 weeks into a journey. We felt robbed, a bad feeling, but I didn’t expect to feel like that considering the circumstances. That’s a good sign.
I’m positive, I know most will expect me to be, but I think I’ve seen enough to know we’re heading in the right direction.
Arteta has taken over Arsenal in a chaotic fixture pile-up, with a broken squad, and very little confidence.
We’re seeing a huge amount of effort already. I read some people pondering whether Arsenal are capable of playing with intensity… absolutely. We’ve been playing with the handbrake on for well over a year, Arteta isn’t pushing Arsenal players to unachievable levels of effort, he’s bringing them up to a normal standard. It’s going to take time. We have a World Cup winning S&C coach who will be frontline shaping our intensity, we will be fine. Key thing for me, I was unsure if Arteta would be able to motivate players to push themselves to breaking point, he can, that’s good news.
The players are responding well. I thought Luiz had an immense game, Torreira is playing like a proper DM, and Mesut Ozil has turned up for the second game in a row, Auba is defending, and AMN is looking very solid.
David Luiz had this to say.
“For me he will be one of the best coaches in the world,” Luiz said.
“I am lucky to have have had many good coaches in my career, he is intelligent, he is clever and I think he will be one of the best.
Sure, I can take that with a pinch of salt, but no one was saying this about Emery. My point here again is that the players are showing you they believe in Arteta with the effort, but they are saying they believe in his ideas, which is even more important. It takes time to learn a new way of playing. It took Klopp and Pep a while to bed in the way they wanted to play, it’ll take Mikel a while, but you’re seeing good signs.
I’m also positive that the manager can raise the level of the squad. We have good players, saying we don’t is lazy, it’s also usually peddled by people that liked Emery. We matched Chelsea fairly comfortably with 7 players missing, with a brand new manager… they’re 5 months into their project with a fully fit squad. We haven’t had proper fullbacks for two games, even the addition of Kola will help. Holding is going to be immensely welcome when he joins, a ball-playing centre back with athleticism. I’m sure Arteta will draw more from Ceballos and I’m pretty sure Martinelli is exactly the mould of player he wants in his side.
The second part of having fit players is being able to select from a bench. A lot of criticism was levelled for his subs yesterday, but really, how many game-changing options did he have? Pepe can’t get a start ahead of Nelson, we can keep hoping he’s the real deal, but all logical indicators point to him not being that player right now.
We’ve also lost our ‘ex-captain’ to Hertha Berlin. 1) This is his level 2) We will have to replace him. Hopefully we find someone with the power and pace he lacked. They also need to be able to pass. That signing needs to be a game-changer, there has to be a good plan there.
Results have to come, they will come, but there need to be a level of realism. We’re in the most intense part of the season with a new manager who is having to communicate most of his ideas in meetings and one on ones. Still, we’re seeing the beginnings of an identity, which is what we all wanted. The players are fighting for the club, something we’ve not seen for years. Fans in the stadium are backing the approach, lots of positive sentiment during and after the game. Good things will come, the next 6 weeks will be rough, but we are moving towards something very exciting.
Right, see you all in the comments. x
I actually think there’s a case for buying a 27-28 year old central midfielder, if the opportunity for an opportunistic grab presents itself.
We need seasoned experience in that position. There’s no general type player in the middle. Arteta will need this at some point, if he’s to succeed.
Case example; if we get a chance to sign Abdoulaye Doucouré in the summer, should Watford go down…we should take it.
Marko
Save our season from what exactly?
Avoiding relegation and teaching the team how to win games [with a view to next season] is the goal.
How may strategic blunders do you think Arsenal are allowed to make before it all blows up in your faces?
Strengthening the centre of midfield is the overwhelming priority. I fully accept the glaring weaknesses at the back and agree that we need replacements. But a fundamental reason the defence plays so badly is because our central midfield is so weak and they are continually exposed. This does not excuse Mustafi , for example, who is a very poor defender. But the midfield does not provide adequate cover and these weaknesses are easily exploited by good teams. People like Xhaka gives the ball away far too easily, cannot track back and cannot mark or tackle. Torriera was doing the work… Read more »
Don’t you think we’ve rolled the dice way too many a time. We have to avoid short-termism with Arteta. .The way back is not going to be so quick. We have to do be patient.
Then
“I actually think there’s a case for buying a 27-28 year old central midfielder, if the opportunity for an opportunistic grab presents itself.”
You are painfully consistent it makes my head spin. And what is with your new obsession with signing relegated players
“You seem to want Arsenal to be an anomaly in world football and behave like no one else.”
I was persuaded it was already the case…
Save our season from what exactly?
Mid table obscurity for one. We need European football at the very least.
How may strategic blunders do you think Arsenal are allowed to make before it all blows up in your faces?
You’re suggesting doing nothing and waiting to have our pick of the players from relegated teams in the summer. Don’t talk to me about strategic blunders.
HL
Well quite.
That was my argument. Look where a ridiculously cautious approach has got us.
We were a club perennially waiting for something on the horizon to save us when we should have been saving ourselves.
Marko
You sure like to put the cart before the horse
You left out my reasoning for that 27-28 year old midfielder.
“We need seasoned experience in that position.”
I even offered the likes of Doucoure as a case example, nothing inconsistent about that. You need some experience in every part of the field. We are talking 28 year old which a payer at the prime of his career, not a 33 year old FFS.
We don’t need seasoned experience in that area we need quality first and foremost. You can’t argue against a short term approach and then suggest a 28 year signing.
We are talking 28 year old which a payer at the prime of his career, not a 33 year old FFS
I would class 28 as a short term fix. It’s like 3/4 years max out of them. Most players hit that wall 30/31 with goalkeeper and maybe CB an exception but midfielders and attackers for sure hit that wall 31ish
Doucoure’s 26 going on 27 btw
Cesc
We haven’t been cautious tbh
HaD caution been the mantra, we would have adhered by common sense principles and sold off Ozil, Sanchez and Ramsey when they refused to extend their contracts.
Reckless and feckless are what we’ve been, not cautious.
We’ve hired a young manager and I fear you approach wil burden him and make certain his failure.
If we hired a veteran like Ancelotti then that high risk approach may be palatable.
Just my take of course.
“Most players hit that wall 30/31 with goalkeeper and maybe CB an exception but midfielders and attackers for sure hit that wall 31ish“
Interesting comment for someone so commonly against the idea of selling Auba, and I don’t mean relative to Lacazette.
Docoure turns 27 y/o on Jan 1st, hence my 27-28 year old comment. He will be 27 y/o by the time the summer rolls in.
“Wouldn’t you rather though just have a conventional set-up with midfielders actually central waiting to receive the ball from the CBs rather than this switching and covering of positions?”
Yeah, I would like a midfielder than can drop deep and receive it a higher up as well. Xhaka clings onto that role like lifeboat when you need players that have the ability to mix it up and get into the box and impact the game in a more meaningful manner.
Like the addict has to acknowledge their addiction to get better with alcoholic anonymous so do gooners have to accept the fact we are shit and have to work our way back.
There’s a lot of denial among gooners. Most of the names being thrown around will pick clubs in the CL before coming to Arsenal.
There has to be a different way to recruit good players,not off fantasy football lists. That’s why I’m glad it’s left to professional scouts. No one knew of Martinelli and here is is.
Have we changed the GK coach? Leon looked very insecure when he had the ball. It took a long time to decide. Most of his long passes were misplaced.
Interesting comment for someone so commonly against the idea of selling Auba
I’m not sure that’s totally true. I’m against selling him and not replacing him and rolling with Lacazette as first choice. I mean if we sold him and brought in Haaland or Werner or Jovic or Osimhen then I’m all for it. The other thing is that Auba hasn’t hit that wall though. He’s still very much scoring at the same rate as he was at 27/28.
January transfer is never easy.
Can’t see us signing anyone exciting until the Summer.
Laca / Auba both need selling if they won’t sign new contracts. We can’t let this shit happen again. We haven’t won anything with them so let them go.
Auba
Laca
Xhaka
Mustafi
Kola
Luiz
Sokratis
Ozil
Mhiki
Bellerin
Get rid of them all in the Summer/Jan.
The Aubameyang stories starting to heat up.
Transfer request rumours.
Stories of his representatives telling the club he wants out this January.
‘I don’t know why we didn’t get Mourinho. Maybe it was because he failed at his PowerPoint presentation. Maybe it was because Raul dithered and let Spurs get in. Maybe it was because he was too expensive. However I sincerely doubt that it was because Pedro wrote a scathing post about it.’ Valentin, As at the time the club considered hiring Jose, The crowd had forced out one manager and was successfully forcing out another. It would be grossly irresponsible to then ignore the outcries against Jose. If we had hired Jose and he lost an already won game so… Read more »
so do gooners have to accept the fact we are shit and have to work our way back.
Your answer to this though is by signing up relegated players next summer. So yeah denial alright. I’m going to stop now because all your writings and solutions for what’s going on at Arsenal seem really juvenile. I’ve very thankful that you are not involved in any sort of decision making at the club for obvious reasons.
lost an already won game
————-
What?
Lost an already won game.
Comment of the year goes to gentlytouchedbris. A whopper of a comment
I’m telling you now before it becomes horribly obvious in the next 18 months or so, the guys running this club are gamblers.
Never before in the history of this club had we made a record breaking signing who was benched by a kid who shouldn’t even be playing for Arsenal yet.
They went from there to hiring a guy with zero experience as head coach.
You wait for it…..it will eventually hit you in the face that your football club is being governed by blank brains and gamblers.
Danny, it’s decent to consider a home game against a side just done by Southampton won when we are still leading after 80 minutes.
*were
“We were a club perennially waiting for something on the horizon to save us”
Reminds me of a line from the movie Star Wars Rogue One, when K-2SO say “there’s a problem on the horizon. There’s no horizon.” lol
Gentlebris
—————
Anybody who watched the match could see that we were hanging on, and it was only a matter of time before they scored. The fact that they scored another was disappointing but not surprising but your comment that the game was “won” is quite amusing.
Marko
“Your answer to this though is by signing up relegated players next summer”
Liverpool go Robertson from Hull and Georginio Wijnaldum from Newcastle, both are regular starters for the best team in world football.
They also got Xherdan Shaqiri from Stoke.
Need I continue
*Liverpool got Robertson from Hull”
Based on my observations from yesterday’s game, are there any posters on here who went to the game and decided, when Chelski made it 1-1 with 15 minutes to play, to up and go.
If you did, why?
Azed, So now when a headcoach complain about the level of fitness of players at the club what he really mean is that players are shit! I am sorry but when a headcoach complain that the team is not fit, most often it means that the conditioning done by his predecessors does not cater for the kind of play he wants. They can’t run as fast as he want, or for how long he wants them to. For example when Henry came to Arsenal, Wenger told him to stop going as much to the gym. In Italy, he was doing… Read more »
“We need European football at the very least.”
Not necessarily
Liverpool had a season outside Europe and it did them a world of good
Ditto Chelsea
Whats the point of playing in the Europa league when 80% of Arsenal fans turn their noses up at it, we can’t fill the stadium on match days and the financial benefits really isn’t all that.
to up and go
————
Graham, I don’t know if you’ve ever been to the Emirates but in case you haven’t, there are tv screens through out the stadium. Fans leave early but stay near the exits watching the screens to avoid the crush at full time.
@Samir….completely agree…they are all crap
“Liverpool go Robertson from Hull and Georginio Wijnaldum from Newcastle, both are regular starters for the best team in world football.
They also got Xherdan Shaqiri from Stoke.“
Pretty water tight comment there.
You don’t necessarily need to play 90 minuets at the same level of intensity. Teams pace themselves. We were so deep from the start of the second half i struggle to see how and why we ran out of gas so quickly. We played at a high level intensity wise at home against Liverpool last season and we did not tire after the first half, in fact we upped the intensity levels after they scored to equalize. We also played a pretty high level against Spurs earlier this season after they went two goals up they simply couldn’t cope. The… Read more »
“Liverpool go Robertson from Hull and Georginio Wijnaldum from Newcastle, both are regular starters for the best team in world football.
They also got Xherdan Shaqiri from Stoke.“
“Pretty water tight comment there.”
All three players came from clubs who were relegated the season before….what your point? Is the statement false?
Gentlebris,
If they genuinely believed that Mourinho was the answer, they should be ready to handle some temporary uncomfortable moments for the good of the club.The textbook definition of real leaders is to have the courage of their conviction even in the face of adversity and to be able to face and convince your doubters.
So they either lack the courage of their conviction, dithered too much or were never fully committed to Mourinho. Your opinion is therefore between coward, incompetent, indecisive or unlucky. They can also be all of the above.
Receding
That it’s a pretty water tight comment, what was difficult to understand?
Liverpool go Robertson from Hull and Georginio Wijnaldum from Newcastle, both are regular starters for the best team in world football.
They also got Xherdan Shaqiri from Stoke.Need I continue
They also bought a fuck tonne of non relegated players and everything didn’t come together for them until they bought a 70 million keeper a 75 million CB and 100 million worth of CM’s
“That it’s a pretty water tight comment, what was difficult to understand?”
Beg your pardon, thought you were disagreeing with his post
its shame john jules has not been used at an earlier occasion, as both Lacazette
and Pepe are not fully at their best..
Not necessarily Liverpool had a season outside Europe and it did them a world of good Ditto Chelsea Right but WE need it because WE don’t have an owner that will dip his hands into his pockets. Those teams mentioned have a certain standing though as well that has to be factored in. Liverpool are Liverpool and Chelsea have won like 5 leagues and 3 European cups since our last league title in 2004. They can sell being out of Europe but confident of getting back in easier than we can. 3 seasons out of the Champions League we finished… Read more »
Receding
No, I agree with the sentiment about preying on opportunities like relegation sides with talent that could serve us well. I’m not a player snob, and that comment is a good illustration of the merits of it.
You look at the bottom three today and it’s:
Villa
Watford
Norwich
I’d cautiously suggest Grealish, Mings, Sarr, Doucoure, Max Aarons are all players with a profile and talent that could be of interest to our squad for the right money.
Is them being relegated cause for us to say no? Absolutely not imo.
There were positives but the result was still a loss. If anyone but Arteta was hired I wonder if they would have gotten such a positive write up.
Nope. I doubt it. If a similar result was achieved by Nuno, pro Arteta people would have spent it talking about how he needs to no given time… cue the free pass for Arteta.
“I’d cautiously suggest Grealish, Mings, Sarr, Doucoure, Max Aarons are all players with a profile and talent that could be of interest to our squad for the right money.”
Would rather go Deulofeu in place of Sarr.
I was a bit upset back then we didnt go for Wignaldum.
Been talking of Doucoure and Delofleu for a while now, not the flashiest of names but they’d do a hell lot if a job for us and more importantly, they know the league already, would be better than Watching Nelson and Auba as our wingers… Max Aarons is one we should be all over once Norwich are confirmed relegated as they most definitely will be… I’d actually take a season out of Europe if it isn’t the champions league… Wouldn’t also be opposed to selling Laca at this point, just not enough in returns for us
Leedsgunner
He will be given time,
Maintained that our recruitment over the last couple of years has been part if our problems and that’s why we are where we are…. We’re either buying players who are not suited to the league or players who simply aren’t good enough hence no matter who the manager is, they’d continue to be useless, it’s because the talent just isn’t there….We need to buy smarter….
Some people made the Adama Traore call and were disappointed when Wolves brought him cheap from Boro
He’s only 23 y/o and is becoming Zaha -esque already.
We have to stop the player snob because our station ain’t that high anymore.
Leeds, you are incorrect. You can claim I had an agenda against Unai, but reality is just called a dud a dud and I was correct in my assessment. I write what I see. Things are different with Arteta, think most recognize we are in a better place, i don’t even need to write propaganda, it’s obvious
Is there any news on Chambers injury?
It’s not about being snobbish you bonehead you’re arguing waiting until the end of the season and buying relegated players. How’s that helpful now? U wouldn’t mind Aarons. No to Doucoure and Graelish on the basis of price. No to Adama Traore
I think worrying about summer transfers at the moment is like worrying about where you’re going on your summer holidays whilst your house is on fire and you’re still in it.
Let’s see what we do in January and what effect Arteta has on the players over a few weeks and then start making judgement calls on who we need / would like to sign.
Everton apparently want to sign James for £43 Million.
That is a lot for a player who I do not think will take to this league at all.
Just Everton doing Everton things
Marko
What’s the rush for?
So long as we avoid relegation by the end of winter so that the manager can have the space to implement his approach, I’m fine.
I want to see improved coherent performances that are tethered to improved results .i.e form that can be built upon next season.
You want us to break or savings for players that may not be suited for what the manager is trying to do.
This season is gone. Live with that fact. It’s about next season right now and we don’t need EL footie to save Arsenal.
If I had to pick one midfield player from a lower PL team, it would be Gerard Deulofeu.
Imagine if we got relegated but won the Europa league. That would be interesting!
Yesterday’s match changed course immediately with the introduction of Jorginho and Chelsea’s switch to 3-3-4. Every metric from that point favoured them (possession, territory, shots, attempts, etc). You could speculate that we just happened to gas at exactly the same time but that would be a hell of a coincidence. Disappointed that Arteta decided not to make an adjustment earlier in the game to counter their dominance. In game management as a coach is going to be new to him but he needs to work on it. Another aspect which comes across as naive is speaking publicly about players fitness… Read more »
I like Gerard Deulofeu, but I would like to see him against teams that defend deep to judge if he would be a good fit for Arsenal. Nobody defends deep against Watford, nor against Everton when he was there.
However at Barcelona he struggled (obviously having at the club the best player in the world in your position had a serious impact on his playing time, but still), maybe now older and with more experience he is better at handling such situation.
Valentin
Gerard Deulofeu vs Adama Traore in the contect of the premier league
Who would you go for?
For me it’s Traore
“Imagine if we got relegated but won the Europa league. That would be interesting!”
Congratulations – out of many many stupid comments you’ve just managed to make the most idiotic one I’ve ever seen on here.
*context of the premier league
Dissenter,
The thing with Adama Traore is I am not sure that he would have made the same progress if he had joined us at the time.
Sometimes going to a lower club willing to spend time nurturing you longer is a better career move.
There have been so many players who joined big clubs too soon. They were not ready on and off the pitch, they got too impatient.
Traore for me, he has improved at a fantastic rate, although his potential transfer fee would go up with it. He is a hell of a specimen.
Im not convinced Grealish would leave Villa even if they went down, unless he has hinted at something otherwise. He seems like a one club man.
Valentin
That’s a good argument for setting up deals with other clubs to put youngsters whether home grown or bought out on loan.
‘Anybody who watched the match could see that we were hanging on, and it was only a matter of time before they scored. The fact that they scored another was disappointing but not surprising but your comment that the game was “won” is quite amusing.’
Yet had Wenger or Emery managed that game, my comment wouldn’t have been so amusing.
Watford came back to get a draw against Emery and the missiles here were something to write the queen about.
Blog of agenda.
It’s so tempting to respond but I can’t be bothered for the hours of whinging and bitching!
One wonders what is so stupid in a guy wondering whether a team playing Europa and hovering over relegation waters in the league could get relegated in the league but win Europa.
It’s not wondering that’s stupid it’s thinking it would be interesting that is so fucking stupid as to be almost beyond words.
Marko and Dissenter The in or out of Europe debate is an interesting one. If you pull back a bit, it’s a strange time in arsenal’s history. The club seemes to have reached the point where it has to scrape into the Europa League to generate a bit of cash. Last time I looked KSE was one of the world’s largest sporting conglomerates. Kroenke himself is worth over $9 billion. The logical thing to do would be to provide a cash injection and boost the club’s squad and therefore chances of success. This type of speculation would, in the long… Read more »
Disenter well said mate a relegated player does not mean a shit player it means a shit team
Like I said sone internet fans are mad
Lots of positives to take home. In the 2nd half the idea was to catch them on the break. A good tactic considering that there was very little left in tank for our boys. If Laca and Willock had taken the chances that came their way it would have been an early shower for the chavs. The subs came a bit too late. A good learning curve for both coach and team.
If we had bought Mings and Nzonzi for a combined total of 40/45 mil in the summer it would have solved so many problems. If we buy Fleck and Aaron mooy in January at a decent price , that would also solve so many problems without breaking the bank. Of course the know nothings will scoff ,the way they scoffed when I advocated buying Mings and Nzonzi, but fleck and mooy are exactly what we need in our midfield at this present time. Both are better allround players than xhaka , Guendouzi and Torreira and would suit Arteta’s style of… Read more »
“Im not convinced Grealish would leave Villa even if they went down, unless he has hinted at something otherwise. He seems like a one club man.“
Grealish states in an interview recently that had Villa failed to secure promotion last season he “knew for a fact” he’d have been sold.
The guy isn’t a one man club as much as he’s very much the heartbeat of his side at present. Fully expect him gone in the summer, absolutely certain if they get relegated.
If it’s the players fault then why replace Emery for a novice.
Didn’t Adama Traore cost 18 million?
Hardly peanuts, that’s a good chunk of change. I still find him to be a very physically impressive version of Theo, without the finishing ability. Not a type I’d personally favour, but I see the appeal even if I consider him incredibly raw.
Gentle Bris “””Anybody who watched the match could see that we were hanging on, and it was only a matter of time before they scored. “””” Well observed. Matter of time – before Chelsea scored. So bleeding obvious. We didn’t even have a shot on their goal in the second half. When are we actually going to win a game.? Man Utd – no chance. Palace away – no chance Leeds – no chance if they put out a full strength team Sheff Utd- draw or sneak a win? Everton – no chance. Etc (Needed to beat the woeful Cherries… Read more »
Fans were complaining about conceding on average 21 shots per game in the last 3 league games v wolves, Leicester and Southampton. Over the last couple of games this number has been reduced to 12 shots conceded per game v Chelsea and Bournemouth. We now have fans complaining about the amount of shots we have had on the opponents goal . I think some fans need a reality check to decide what they want, because it seems they expect our defence to improve whilst at the same time creating numerous opportunities at the other end. In the real world, that… Read more »
Marc, It is very unusual to buy a player and then loan him for the next two years. Maybe clubs may need to revisit that kind of deal. It would bring stability to lower league clubs. Two years loan give them visibility and medium term benefit. At the same time, it would bring a path to the first team to the players. However such deals are really frown upon by the football instances. FiFA, UEFA and local FA are trying to limit the number of loans and the length of loans by clubs. Their argument is that they are trying… Read more »
Pierre
I can’t believe you’re suggesting that it’s not reasonable to expect Arteta to have fixed everything already
Dissenter, I am not sure about either players, but I would take Deulofeu. I find Adama Traore very raw. I got the feeling that he would need a lot of coaching for a peak that like CC said would not be much higher than Walcott. He is a powerful and pacy, but he is not a great dribbler and can be quite wasteful in 1v1 situation. It took a lot of time for him to integrate the demand of the premiership. I would not be surprised if he could not adapt to Arteta style of play. I don’t want to… Read more »
Valentin
I think the thing with Chelsea was the sheer number of loanee’s – it was up about 50 odd if my memory serves me right. ManU did it with players like Beckham back in the day, having half a dozen young players out on loan picking up experience wouldn’t be a bad thing.
What I’d really like to see is the formation of “B” clubs where we could control the younger players whilst allowing them to develop.
Marc
I’ll leave that to the others..
What was the atmosphere like v Chelsea , I would imagine that the 2 late goals were a killer.
That’s the first time I have been really gutted at a result for a while now .
I had the right hump, my son came in to ask me a quite reasonable request just as we conceded the first goal, I told him where to go ….did apologise later.
Arsenal have genuine interest in Bruno Guimaraes but so do lots of other clubs. If Xhaka does go he’s an option
Bruno Guimaraes was linked with Atletico, Benfica, Flamengo and us. Atletico want a striker, Benfica are apparently signing Weigl from Dortmund so it potentially leaves just us and Flamengo for his signature. Guarantee you that instead of looking at him we’ll hum and haw about whether or not to let go of a poor player for the majority of the month
Marc, Chelsea had 70 players on loan which was deemed excessive. However that has an effect on decision made by FIFA. Like the Webster clause that allow a player to leave a club by simply paying the sum of his remaining wage as termination fee, there was a talk of introducing a clause in the case of what a lawyer called incessant loaning. Basically the idea was that if you sign for a club. That new club could not just keep lending you out and profit from you while you had no stability nor prospect in your career. I am… Read more »
I had the right hump, my son came in to ask me a quite reasonable request just as we conceded the first goal, I told him where to go ….did apologise later.
Where to go? You told him to go to his biological father? That’s just mean
Pierre The atmosphere was on the whole good – good amount of chanting and you got that North Bank vs Clock End chant going back and forth for a while which I haven’t heard for a while. The late goals were a kick in the teeth and it didn’t help that the first was not only a crazy error by Leno but the free kick and goal were scored by a player who shouldn’t have been on the pitch. The vibe I picked up from people around me was that they were pleased with the level of energy and commitment… Read more »
Valentin
“Chelsea had 70 players on loan which was deemed excessive. ”
Really for fucks sake. Thing is I don’t think putting a youngster out on loan for a year or two would be seen as an issue providing the club is viewed as trying to develop players and not as you say circumnavigate the FFP rules.
Marko
“Pierre never told you what happened to your father, Jose Mourinho is your father”
“Noooooo”
Marc, But then the issue becomes how do you prove that the loan were made in good faith? A club buys a young player on a 5 years contract and decide to loan him for 2 years to improve him. After those two years it is clear that he won’t make it there. The club can’t resell without taking a loss, so then loan another year. Now the player is on wages that matched his potential at the time but not today’s worth. The club cannot resell the player because he refuse to accept a pay cut. There was a… Read more »
Marc
Ozil .half hour of brilliance, then next to nothing.
Has he got it in him to last the pace for 90 minutes..debatable.
The ovasion he received from the Emirates crowd was impressive though I would imagine it would have grated on the nerves of a few on Le Grove.
First of all good ebening, Good post Pedro, I can’t let the double standards go unchecked though, sorry. Under Emery no new players were needed as we already had a top 4 squad. There was no player poverty. Under Emery he too had players out injured for a long time. Bellerin, Tierney and Holding for starters but that was never allowed to be used as an excuse. There were matches we lost against Palace and a few others last season where players were injured and suspended but you tried to pass it off as Emery deliberately changing things in preference… Read more »
Walt “”””The late goals were a kick in the teeth and it didn’t help that the first was not only a crazy error by Leno but the free kick and goal were scored by a player who shouldn’t have been on the pitch.”””” That dear boy, is called professional sport. It’s not unlucky either. If you Fail to Prepare, you will always Fail (or be unlucky) I suppose it’s been unlucky for 15 games now, too? Unlucky that Pepe cant use his right foot? Unlucky Tierney is injured ? Unlucky saliba is not here? Unlucky that Cebollas is garbage and… Read more »
and weak as p××s
???
Don’t know where the optimism is coming from. Two points from nine is hardly progress. We were in the game for about 25 minutes and then lost the plot, as soon as Lampard changed his team. This team cannot win the EL in my view, without some of our key injured players returning. And we know what our medical staff’s history of success is like!
CG
If you want a conversation with me use my name.