HAPPY NEW YEAR! HOW ARE YOU FEELING? Ok, ok, I’ll stop the shouting, but I will maintain a quiet energy with the prose because I need you up for the BIG game today.
It’s a huge one, Arsenal takes on Manchester United at home for Arteta’s 3rd game.
I think it’s a stretch to think we’re going to take points from them today. A draw would be excellent work, 3 points would have us all buzzing, but when you look at how their squad is fitness-wise and look at ours, it makes for grim reading.
We are missing a lot of defenders, which is difficult to deal with because even when we’re fully fit, we’re not exactly 90s Milan at the back. There might be some good news with regards to Bellerin who is close to returning, but knowing how fragile he’s been, you’d be hard-pressed to imagine he’ll start.
The manager was keen to impress that the defensive failures at Chelsea; with a very weak backline, were not structural.
“It wasn’t a transition where we had a bad structure or a bad organisation, when we are defending big spaces on equal numbers or are outnumbered – it wasn’t the case at all,”
“We made one half-bad decision [to back off] and these teams, when in space, they punish you, for sure. But the other option is to defend all the time and be there [in defensive areas] and we don’t want that.”
So at the very least, we’ll be prepared to deal with United. They have extremely fast forwards, they’ll probe for counter-attacks and they’ll look to stretch us using width. Arteta only recently tasted a loss against them when he was at City, it was quite a lucky United performance, but OGS had his team of workhorses make last years Champions look very old.
Going forward is where we’ll have to provide something more interesting. Containing their threat won’t be enough, we need to create chances. The good news here is Gabriel might be back in contention, his aggression in the press and all-round threat could be highly valuable to us. I’d also imagine we’ll be seeing a start from Pepe, there has to be some rotation today and that seems like the most obvious place to start. It’s hard to work out what the issue is with the Ivorian because no one will say explicitly, but it reads a blend of work rate and general fitness levels. 3 managers in a row can’t be wrong.
Ceballos is also back in contention, people forget he’s a young player, under a coach that helps him, he might be U21 Championship Dani, so it’s a new start for him.
Xhaka is also fit. Again, not my favourite player, but he’d start in our midfield at the moment. If he doesn’t play, we’ll know he’s off to Berlin. Worry with him is he mails it in as a final fuck you to the fans that booed him.
I mused before the manager started that he’d look for a turnaround project, and it seems he has one, he’s going all out to make Mesut Ozil the star of the show again. Makes sense, he’s used to having lots of #10 like talents to work with at City and on his day, no one can touch Ozil. Additionally, we have no one that gets close to him on the creativity front. We are a more intelligent team with him at his best. The German looks happy on the pitch, he’s put in two dirty shifts, he’ll have another chance to find his level again today and hopefully offer something more decisive.
“Mesut is putting in everything he has and his numbers, physically, have improved so much,”
“On his own he can’t do it. He needs the collective structure, organisation and his teammates. He needs the team to play in a certain way to facilitate his strengths more and more in the game. That’s what we’re trying to do.
“I put him in the team if I see every day that his attitude, desire and understanding of what we’re trying to do is there. The moment that this changes, then he won’t play.”
At the end of the day, he loves living in London, he loves his contract, and he’s a human… he’ll want to be impressing the fans, no one wants to be hated. He might also have the afterlife on his mind, if he tanks another manager, no one will risk giving him the big bucks in 18 months. Wenger didn’t have a machine that worked for him towards the end, Emery couldn’t see past running him into the ground in a shit system… it seems like Arteta has a more thoughtful approach to extracting creativity from him, whilst pushing him to support the system. It’ll be very interesting to see what the physical output looks like today, because he has done a lot of work in a short space of time. Some will say we’ve seen this film before, but maybe with a more elevated thinker in the dugout, it could be a different ending this time.
The main worry I have about today is how another loss will affect morale. Bournemouth was just an unlucky day at the shooting range, the Chelsea game was bad luck with fitness and Mustafi… we really need a result to prove out the hard work and progress. The fans will be buzzing for the game this evening, a classic win would be a great way to start the year, let’s see where we land.
Right, that’s me done, see you in the comments x
Emery used to fuck up 1st half and have us rejuvenated in 2nd half, under Arteta it is other way round.
Sauce ??
Get in you Gunners!!
(#prayfor2ndhalf)
I don’t want to dwell on negatives because this is far the best I have seen us play for a while…but… AMN should not be near the first team. Not a prem quality player imo.
Luiz has been great tonight.
Wan-Bissaka really is poor going forward, rock solid defender though.
Fuse him and TAA together and you’d get some player.
It’slike we carry a grenade around just to blow ourselves up.
This playing out from the back needs to be suspended.
Stay on your feet Xhaka my boy.
What the fuck is this?
Nelson not pacy enough to threaten
C’mon reiss
Don’t leave gaps behind
A 2nd half very similar to that against Chelsea
“What the fuck is this?”
Sauce ??
Ozil not interested now. Is he still on the field?
Midfield and forwards aren’t match fit…stopped closing down, hence constant pressure on our back 4
Leno’s distribution is appalling at timea
PhD
Sorry, but my public criticism of Pedro’s treatment of me — on which he was tagged — was neither “nasty” nor “spiteful”. I believed I had been unfairly treated and I made my case publicly. Pete had every opportunity to respond. So, sorry, but no.
You are the one who comes here to insult and abuse others, not me. I come simply to share my views re Arsenal and re football. And I do so without “nastiness” or “spite”. You on the other hand ….
Who’s down??
Reiss Nelson is so meh
What does he do well? He’s not even defending well.
Ozil is finished at 70 th minute if he is playing at this intensity. He used to play 65 to 75 minutes for real.
Does Arteta hand out hot chocolate and hot towels at half time?
Good pass from Ozil.. No one to sprint and take it. Miss Pepe
This is where you see the lack of cohesion when you have to play through resistance to get through the lines.
In the first half, like Sunday, we didn’t need to work for territory high up.
Guendouzi ready. Ohhhh….
Torreira our of steam?? Or injured?
lacazette needs to be subbed off. bring martinelli on.
TR7
Can we let Arteta manage the first half while Emery manages the second?
According to some Özil is cooked, yet he is still one of our more lively players.
If the midfield change is Torreira that is such a fucking pain.
Only one with legs in there.
Hang on everybody it’s nail biting time.
Getting the single malt out now
Banford
Publicly attacking Pedro’s character is the epitome of spiteful and nasty.
Just stop talking today you’re making yourself look a higher tit than usual. First waxing OGS and United, now defending yourself right to go on a Twitter meltdown and curse Pedro.
Go for a walk.
@Cesc…lol….horlicks, our new sponsors!
Chocolate Sauce ??
Bamford10January 1, 2020 21:32:16
PhDSorry, but my public criticism of Pedro’s treatment of me — on which he was tagged — was neither “nasty” nor “spiteful”. I believed I had been unfairly treated and I made my case publicly. Pete had every opportunity to respond.
——
LMFAO…
Joker and full of shit..
Squeaky bum time. Need the win.
Laca needs to relearn to shoot
Worrying this second half but we look solid enough and I can’t really fault the subs. Not quite sure it’s fatigue that’s the issue it looks more like certain types haven’t been asked to do 90 mins in a while that they forget how to do it
United are shit against low blocks so tonight is fine but work to do for Arteta.
Game of two halves.
“Joker and full of shit..”
Banford Sauce ??
Lacashit
Can’t we just start then new year with amnesty?
Peace unto all men [just made that up]
Laca is terrible.
Laca needs to be dropped
Laca needs to be dropped
Laca is dog shit
Laca is done for useless at scoring
Like I said ten minutes in, our plan was to possession them to death, and it has worked. It has neutralized their pace, made it impossible for them to establish a rhythm and preserved our legs.
Well done, Mikel Arteta.
What is Lacazette doing?
Omg. This Laca miss from there??
Another out of steam
Could have been 4 up …
How many years since our last win vs the fuckers at home ??
Why is Laca getting all these dog abuse?
Laca can barely walk now. Is this fatigue thing due to heavy Christmas period fixture ?
Torreira has been fantastic.
We need a win I don’t care how.
Somebody was defending Lacazette earlier.
Laca is running his legs off buh no end product.
Who ever is the fitness coach needs their p45….
Laca has worked very hard for the team. He’s in a poor phase of form but has had a good game.
Yeah Banford you’re right, shitty 2nd half as usual, so well done Sauceman!!
Laca is completely spent. Auba can still run a lot.
Torreira having an emery gel.
Good performance from Lacazette. He just needs to rediscover his goal scoring touch.
11 minutes too late. He looked gassed after 70.
Laca’s job is to score.
When did he last score? Remind me.
Torreira been my Motm.
Nelson bless him doesn’t seem to have much of anything.
Lacazette is honestly shite. My god does this count as a good game by his standards? One decent turn aside in the first half he’s been gick
Can arteta coach added pace into Nelson ??
That small Terrier has done very well today
Torriera looks like kante right now.
Nelson is so meh
Ozil playing well Auba doesn’t get it.
Once again Aubameyang has just shown that he can’t make clever run outside the penalty box. Ran in a straight line instead of zigzagging to confuse the defenders and open space for Özil.
“This is what happens when your team isn’t fit enough
Another parting gift from emery”
Lol un dos tres, not enough sauce in the new coach to fix this problem ??
Playing really deep
AMN thriving under Arteta.
Honestly, Bellerin shouldn’t just waltz back into a starting position
AMN thriving under Arteta.
Honestly, Bellerin shouldn’t just waltz back into a starting position
Do you want us to get relegated is that it
We do play shit passing the ball across the defence, school boy stuff.
Auba is a crap footballer can’t pass
Just keep bloody possesion
Guendouzi needs a lot of coaching
Auba really is trash unless he’s scoring goals.
Luckily he’s very good at that.
If Arteta’s methods are going to work then he needs a fitter squad.
Ozil is on empty but still going earned his dosh today
In 5 min Arteta would have his 1st managerial WIN he’d never forget
What better than doing the manure
Don’t know what game some of u are watching.. Lacs has had a good game
Arsenal wanted it more today. Ten times more. Well done to all the players. Well done, Mikel Arteta.
Arteta for prime minister
Pedro for home Secretary.
PEA, Ozil and Torreira have put in epic shifts in terms of energy. The whole team worked hard.
Torreira MOTM for me.
4 min f regime
Cmon
Nelson is weak
Saka has been booked for an off the ball incident. So ManUtd despite all their niggling fouls will finish without a yellow card while Arsenal who has been in the receiving shive and tackle will have at least two.
Nobody will convince me that the PGMOL is not corrupt.
Ozil is to advanced for these attackers. In an organised set up with clear tactics applied. You can see what ozil is trying to do versus what these players have the ability to do. Auba laca are good yh. But if ozil was in man citys team the world would thinks hes Worldclass again. Auba laca reiss pepe are not on his page. I’m one of his biggest critics but in terms of cleverness and imagination, ozil is on a different page. Aubas ball into reiss just now. See that, not presice, not deft, not intricate. These are good players… Read more »
Saka does us proud
Some of the Arsenal players have a very poor understanding of their surroundings. Only Ozil and David Luiz constantly show great awareness.
Leno great save. Brave too
Again.. ozil was free but guendozi could see him an elite player would see ozil like KDB but the ball into ozil would have to be precise. Guen loses ball, ozil exhales in a little frustration.
Saka is an impressive player, playing out of position and still not putting a foot wrong.
Refs in the Prem won’t improve Mike Dean gets out of it.
But all the guys like their cosy jobs
Guendouxi couldn’t*
Clean sheet breeds confidence.
Freddie boy what a free kick
The monkey is off our backs
Lol Bamford doing his best to have Pedro’s favors….