courtesy @allthatchas
The Arteta revival of Arsenal is proving as spluttery as most expected. The Sheffield United game had positives, but the key thing we’re looking for is a victory and it once again alluded us.
The plan for the moment looks fairly clear. Arteta is trying to make us harder to beat, which in the main, seems to be working. We’re more in control of what’s happening on the pitch, the mistakes have reduced, and it’s in the main, a bit harder to create chances against us.
The main problem is that we aren’t creating enough in the final third to be a problem for most teams. Yesterday our best hope for goals was suspended, so we rolled with Lacazette, Martinelli and Pepe. It’s just not quite there. In the first half, the most interesting of our forward line was Pepe, who seems to be finding more confidence in the way he wants to play, but a lack of end product is still the common takeaway.
Our midfield is where the trouble comes from. There’s only one place a threat is coming from and that’s Mesut Ozil, his passing game was very off yesterday, though he was involved in our goal when he found Laca, who released Saka who found Gabriel for the tap with a deflected cross.
The overall lack of creativity in the side is a worry, not just that, we’re lack dynamism. Because there’s so little power, late runs into the box are a rarity, and if opposition planners know where the creativity is coming from, it makes you easy to play against. Part of the newfound ‘sort of’ solidity comes with a sacrifice in attack. The manager has yet to find the solution, but look, we bitched for 10 years about not having a coach who was interested in defending, now we have one.
I thought Saka showed a lot of promising signs down the left, he and Gabriel are players of the future, they work hard, they have power and pace, but at the moment, as teenagers, they are going to be raw and inconsistent. Arteta was effusive in his praise of the Brazilian after the game.
Absolutely. He’s an 18-year-old kid with all the enthusiasm but as well, he’s so brave to make decisions, to threaten the opponent every time. He’s all the time in the middle of the goal, waiting for an opportunity to come. The fact he hasn’t played 90 minutes for a while – since his injury – but is still in the way he went about every single action is impressive.
The real worry upfront is Alex Lacazette, he really stunk the place out yesterday, he looked slow, out of his depth and a little bit depressed. Not good and not helpful. I wonder if Eddie is going to land game time against Chelsea?
Our defence weren’t punished for their mistakes yesterday. Though in the main we looked solid, it has to be noted that Sheffield United weren’t at their best and we still nearly dropped clangers. I’m thinking about David Luiz not jumping for a corner and letting a man in behind him. I’m also thinking about Bernd Leno flapping at a cross, missing and having to rely on Granit Xhaka to save him on the goal line. I think Arteta made a good point about the general nerves when we’re 1-0 up being a problem he’s struggling to shake at the moment.
Yeah and there’s a history of [nerves in the stadium]. It makes it even more. In the Premier League we are 1-0 up and in the last 10 or 15 minutes you have to be careful, because anything can happen…
… Then when you’re 1-0 up, the last 10 minutes things change. They changed to a back four and they started to commit more bodies forward, and then they’d have six players in front of the ball. It’s more difficult to control when they play long balls or second balls like this. It’s not easy.
You also can’t ignore lady luck, who appears to have looked at Emery’s credit withdrawals last season and deemed us bankrupt. Sheffield United found space at the back post and Fleck hit the ball into the ground and it ended in the top corner, if that was on purpose, I salute you, but it felt like a mistimed shot paid off. The second bit of bad luck was having a ref in charge that always needs a bad decision to feed his ego. Pepe was clattered in the box, it was a clear penalty, but it wasn’t given. When you’re in a rut, these things go against you, and there have certainly been a lot of things go against us of late.
For me, the season was always a write-off. We’re 6 games into a rebirth, and it’ll take time to get the side playing the way the manager wants and the output is going to be inconsistent, but it will click eventually. It’s important to remember the scenario at the moment.
Onwards and upwards, a huge game at Chelsea next where we’ll be hoping to right the wrongs of the last game against them.
See you in the comments x
1st?
DM
DM?
Tr4phy
5th. Where Arteta should have been in our choice of managers.
Very fair report, the turnaround will be gradual, uneven and affected by the availability of our best players ( and we don’t have too many of those) . The biggest problem is the midfield and it’s not possible in the Premier League to carry a player like Xhaka who is channelling mid-1980s Ray Wilkins with his sideways and backward passing linked to his tortoise like pace. Torreira is much improved but we need to move the ball much quicker not prat around 10 yards inside our own half . Lacazette worked very hard but isn’t strong enough to hold the… Read more »
UnAt least I can admit I
Was wrong about emery.
Will you about Arteta??
At least emery made people emery in in the early stages
What’s Arteta done??
azedJanuary 19, 2020 15:14:21
Can we just stop all this bickering?
Arteta has made us more compact but that has come at a cost.
We are more compact because we are more cautious in defense.
We’ve blown leads in 3 of 6 matches
Joe, not sure anyone is going to play along with your gaslighting after your Unai Emery carry-on. It’s clear your analysis is coming from hurt feelings.
Pedro just wrote “the key thing we are looking for is a victory “.
Thought only Emery loyalists wanted victories. Thought the process was the key thing.
Lack of timely and right substitutions cost Arsenal points… there, Pedro, I fixed your headline. We’re not chasing the game. There’s no need for Nketiah for Lacazette. Bring another defender in, another midfielder at around 75th minute, and see out the game. Arteta still has a lot to learn. Hopefully he will but his mistakes are just as costly as the ones our players make at the moment.
RH, seems to be a very common thread of people that were loyal to Emery have now found their voice on Arteta after 6 games.
Very transparent.
Joe just said we should have hired Freddie and wants Un to admit he was wrong after 1 month of Arteta.
(Excellent Post ) Many thanks But one must never use the argument – that just because Klopp had a slow start at Liverpool and then came good – that MA will do likewise. Klopp had PROVEN himself at Dortmund He actually achieved success elsewhere. Arteta although promising: is learning on the Job. He has actually achieved nothing in his career as No.1. One should always bear that in mind. For starters: He should wear an Arsenal blazer and look like an Arsenal no.1. And secondly he should stand on his own two feet and choose the players he desires not… Read more »
Upstate, statistically speaking, bringing on another defender when chasing a game ends in more losses of leads than bringing on an attacker.
I’d rather be a protagonist. Not like we have an abundance of a elite defensive talent to lockdown games.
Pedro
Funny. Could care less that emery got fired. That’s what should happen when managers are not performing
I have no loyalty to emery. My loyalty is to Arsenal.
It’s you who was hurt for 2 years because Arteta wasn’t hired. For 2 years you carried on about it.
Let’s see what happens. Hope Arteta works Your analytical reputation depends on it.
Pedro
From previous post – no agenda here other than wanting Arsenal to win.
The only criticism I’ve made of Arteta is that he needs to start getting some wins. If you think that’s wrong please explain why?
Pedro the splaining Spinmeister is back at it
This is really entertaining
CG, you can use Klopp because the ideas come from the same place. High pressure, everyone working as a unit, possession-based football. Not sure why trophies factor into this. Arsenal need to shape up to be a modern football club with progressive ideas. That doesn’t happen inside 6 games. If it’s not Arteta, it’ll be someone else that’ll go through the same challenges. We’re a mess. Neglected for years. We’ll spend the next 3 months with the vampires at the window after every poor game, then they’ll all be gone by October next year and deny their embarrassing commentary when… Read more »
Pedro the you rated Emery so you don’t have an opinion bit will soon get old.
Let me ask when is it safe to start expecting wins? What should we expect from this brave new path? The football isn’t great in all honesty, you just said protagonist but we haven’t been that. Performance are already dropping from the usual suspects
Pedro
Why did Arteta support keeping Nkettiah instead of sending him away on loan?
Why isn’t he improving Laca
Why is leaving Ozil on when he was shite and Ceballos was available?
No. I didn’t say we should have hired Freddie.
Said he wouldn’t have done any worse than Arteta.
May as well should have just kept him on.
Allegri was my first choice. Poch.
Marc, it wasn’t directed at you.
Of course we need wins, it builds confidence.
It’s just interesting that we’ve gone from ‘these players can’t be coached’ as a serious argument to, ‘Arteta hasn’t won 6 from 6 we need to move on from this’
The club is being flipped on its head. I’m not surprised people are clamouring to be the first to call Arteta a dud, but they’ll be wrong.
October next year? Woah that’s some serious leeway.
I have just managed to see the game.
Ozil was dire dire dire he ceased being a top player
when he retired from the German national side siting
racism he was a decling player then and used this as a feeble excuse
for his own inability’s then onwards.
Arteta is enamoured with him because that is all he has in that position.
Ozil is a thorn in the teams side he will see out his contract and then retire
we are truly lumbered with this player who just can’t hack the modern game.
Joe, so your hot take of the minute is that we might as well have kept on a coach that had next to no impact on the players when he took over?
Seems smart.
‘ The real worry upfront is Alex Lacazette, he really stunk the place out yesterday, he looked slow, out of his depth and a little bit depressed. Not good and not helpful. I wonder if Eddie is going to land game time against Chelsea’
Laca is struggling at the moment. Strikers go through lean patches
He works hard for the team and brings others into the game even when he toiling. It was taking him out he replacing him with Nkettiah that flatlined whatever we were doing.
Pedro You see I don’t think writing this season off is a good idea. Come the summer when we’re trying to sign players what’s the attraction? No CL, possibly no European football at all, a reduced transfer budget without sales, we’ve just sold Auba our best player and our shiny new manager hasn’t shown he’s got a team pulling in the right direction yet. I appreciate it’s not going to be easy but a solid run of matches where we put together some wins is really important. Saying don’t worry it’ll happen next season is like your boss saying don’t… Read more »
Oh yeah. The Arteta impact on players are is amazing to see
We are lighting to the league with big wins over SFU, Bmouth, CP. Chelsea.
The players have really really stepped it up under special sauce Arteta
Burnley beating Leicester 2 – 1 with 10 minutes to go!
Burnley going to be a tough game. They go for the whole 90.
Judge Arteta next season from results perspective. This season it’s all about the process.
PedRo
“””CG, you can use Klopp because the ideas come from the same place.”””
But Klopp had toppled Bayern won the German League twice .
(He was a proven heavyweight manager.)
Like when we employed George Graham or Arsene Wenger or when Manchester United choose Fergie.
Or Watford with Pearson
All proven elsewhere.
Arteta is unproven.
He can have as many ideas as Bernie Taupin- does not mean he can implement them.
We agree on The Blazer though, eh?
(Otherwise- he just looks likes a poor man’s Pep)
Arteta just has to hang on tight till Auba returns to start saving him
…..you know like Auba used to save Emery.
Samesong
What can we reasonably expect from Chelsea and Burnley away in our next two matches?
1 point? That’d be 7 points from 7 games.
Where is our next win going to come from?
Chelsea or Burnley away??
Newcastle at home?
Henry
Sadly I don’t think we have the quality to win at Chelsea…
Newcastle managed to beat Chelsea yesterday who looked like a very average side. Why can’t we? I’ll answer for you. Because Arteta doesn’t exactly instill confidence.
Don the players are still not adequate.. What’s your point?
You are one of those who maintained we have a top squad so why can’t we get results and good football from them now?
You are all over the place with your posts and I will start ignoring them
TR7
‘Judge Arteta next season from results perspective. This season it’s all about the process’
Your agenda is obvious to anyone who’s followed your meanderings over the last 2 years.
You do realize that the difference between league pay-outs for 6th place and 12th place is the annual salary of a decent new signing?
Remember this the next time you bemoan the financials of Arsenal.
Pedro
All I’m saying is Arteta was the wrong hire at the wrong time.
No agenda. No anti Arteta bias. Or pro emery agenda.
Wrong hire at the wrong time for The Arsenal
And I said it before , I hope Arteta succeeds. Because arsenal need him to succeed.
Dissenter, would imagine his thinking goes beyond being a one-man team.
Joe, people would pay attention to your bleating if you didn’t go so hard at defending Unai Emery. We’re 6 games in, grow up.
CG, not sure what you’re getting at here. We couldn’t hire in Jurgen Klopp. We have taken a chance, would probably be smart to give him a chance to make and impact before writing him off and suggesting Nigel Pearson.
Pedro It’s just interesting that we’ve gone from ‘these players can’t be coached’ as a serious argument” It was and is a serious argument when it comes to some of those duds though. No knock on your favourite lego haired spaniard, thems are just facts. Ozil just needs a couple of more games and he would have a combined 90 minutes of good performance this season, same as the last 2 years, he’s done. Xhaka isn’t suited to the league, you can shunt him to the left to mitigate that he’s slow and shite under pressure but then you have… Read more »
I will cut Arteta some slack here. He didn’t have his 1st choice CB , LB & RB and the top scorer. Any team would struggle when it faces this type of scenario . There is a serious lack of options besides Ozil in terms of creativity. Lacazette has been disappointing this season. Also I think Nelson would have been a good choice as #10 when he subbed Ozil , but he too got injured.
Pedro
You were belittling emery every match of his 20-plus unbeaten streak.
Were you being “grown-up”
Dissenter
It’s the same a people saying we should miss out on the EL on purpose so we have a clear run at the PL.
It’s so fucking stupid it’s beyond comment – yet these fucking morons will still expect us to spend a shit loan of cash in the summer.
Pedro, substitutions could and should have been done earlier. Not one, but two or three before they scored in the 83rd minute. I’m an Ozil fan but he was shite yesterday. Take him off, bring Ceballos in. Take Saka off, put Holding in, and go with three in the back. Do something… anything. Arteta didn’t, and we lost 2 points.
Divine
How many players were Palace missing the other week?
Joe, you mean correctly point at the 22 game unbeaten runs underlying statistics that were pointing to a crash… which happened.
That’s called analysis. You crying for Freddie is not that.
Upstate, it’s subjective though… you take off an attacker and invite more pressure on a weak defence… or you add an attacker and take advantage of the space further up the pitch.
Ha
We still seem like a car crash to me
Still in 10th place.
Only won 1 in 5 PL matches and a win not looking likely in the next 2
😂
I think it will serve Pedro well to approach Arteta with pragmatism and realism. Problem is that he’s bigged him up,so much now that he has to do a reverse. The argument s should be that he’s a young manager with a high potential. Because he’s young and inexperienced, he will make mistakes, lots of it . Let’s stop papering over his mistakes. We just have to hope he’s a fast learner. Example in point, we have a crush of games coming up. I have concerns about the ability of an inexperienced manager to make the right decisions. He’s learning… Read more »
Pedro
What are Arteta’s stats pointing to at the moment?
Because I can’t see a win in our next 2 matches.
we bitched for 10 years about not having a coach who was interested in defending, now we have one.
We’re still conceding. We’re conceding less chances but we’re still conceding chances and goals. The result of which seems to be a total lack of creativity in the side. The most assists a player’s got in the league this season is Kolasinac, Ceballos and Lacazette with 2. But we play with Ozil as a starter so what should we expect really.
Ozil did his brief renaissance under Emery too; remember that famous game against Leicester that Pierre won’t stop talking about.
The fact that he finished yesterday’s game when Ceballos was fit is an indictment of Arteta.
Marc
Was Roy Hodgson hired 5 games ago? dimwit.
Pedro.
Give us the underlying stats that Arteta is leading us somewhere.
Ozil nmblows out of his ass after 60 minutes, did it in his prime playing in sunny Espana and it sure hasn’t improved now.
Keeping him on for the full 90 against any team, nevermind a hardworking, intense team like Sheffield is never the right decision.
Maybe it’s part of Artetas cunning plan of finally showing Ozils last remaining fans that he’s a spent force and make Ozil fed up with all that running around so he moves on? One can only dare to hope.
Dissenter
‘Your agenda is obvious to anyone who’s followed your meanderings over the last 2 years.’
Raul and Co. hired Arteta on a long contract of 3.5 years which suggests even they are willing to give Arteta a long rope.
As for financials, we will register a net loss once again irrespective of whether we finish 6th or 8th.
Dissenter, my exact narrative was that we’d have a rough opening two months, people would lose the faith, but stick with it and it’ll work out. I also said this season is a write off.
Do you remember that? Or do you want to point to the write-up where I said this would be easy and we’ll be dropping record winning streaks in no time?
Marc
If Arteta was 2 seasons in and had this injuries to deal with ,I am confident he would be able to deal with it. Comparing this with Palace shows your knowledge.
Pedro
You can’t just write off the season
That’s a ridiculous position to take. You’ve always maintained that we have a top 4 squad. And that Arteta was special sauce
And yet you want to us to write off the season because Arteta isn’t performing to what you dreamt of.
We didn’t even get the new manager bounce
We are exactly the same
Good post. I hope we can now look forward to posts that actually focus on the football and what needs improving – like this one.
But I must say players stinking out the place must be something new. And hard-working Laca of all people!
I can’t recall any of them being so vile under the previous manager. 😂😂
Pedro Özil didn’t release Saka for the goal, it was Lacazette who dropped to the edge of the box and played a reverse pass into Saka. I noted yesterday that the side were playing with a fear of making a mistake with their forward passes which meant a lot were being fired through with far too much pace. That’s an overhanging frailty of having 2 wins in 15, and the most draws in the league, you get tense. Happened against Chelsea, Palace, and yesterday. You dont eradicate that in a few weeks, and we need to be diligent when we… Read more »
Judge Arteta next season from results perspective. This season it’s all about the process.
Considering that you yourself admitted to judging Emery after just 13 games that is about turn that. Seems fair. Again this writing off the season and downplaying the importance of results all of a sudden is really poor imo. Especially in lew of a “process” or some sort of glimmer of future potential because it’s still a real struggle.
Pedro
Why don’t you admit once in a while that golden boy Arteta shifts the bed with some pathetic management decisions?
It wouldn’t deter realist like me from still supporting him.
Yesterday was on him, all on him.
Leaving Ozil on and replacing Auba with Nkettiah weren’t good decisions
Not adapting for 70 minutes to a simple Lampard change was unbecoming
Being cagey against pathetic Bournemouth wasn’t good either.
Maybe he’s gotten the TR7 memo that only the ‘process’ matters, wins aren’t important since he has the most comfortable job in world football.
And no. Arteta is currently nursing us through physio and getting us ready psychologically for the M25 again.
When?
Everytime I’ve watched Leicester without Ndidi they’ve looked distinctly average. Either Ndidi is a damn good footballer or the defensive midfield role in football is just so underrated.
Looks like Pedro wasnt really watching the game closely yesterday. “There’s only one place a threat is coming from and that’s Mesut Ozil, his passing game was very off yesterday, though he was involved in our goal when he released Saka who found Gabriel for the tap with a deflected cross.” Ozil played it to Laca who in turn released Saka down the left. “The real worry upfront is Alex Lacazette, he really stunk the place out yesterday, he looked slow, out of his depth and a little bit depressed. Not good and not helpful. I wonder if Eddie is… Read more »
Arteta will be okay when. Auba returns to save his arse.
Remember that famous line of attack against the other Sparniard?
4 or 5 new starters by the time August comes around and Arteta might be a success.
1 or 2, especially if no midfield changes, then no.
Same for any manager.
Wasi
You should have divided that long posts into 20 smaller posts
After all that hard work, nobody will read it
Joe
Emery stunk the season . We were already off the pace for top4 when Arteta got hired. If you couldn’t see that then I don’t really think anyone can convince you about anything really.
Wasi, CC, good spot. Corrected.
also said this season is a write off.
Unbelievable that. Kept hearing that the squad is top 4 quality it’s good enough we only need to get rid of the Spanish Tony Pulis and we’d be alright. Changed the manager brought in the popular choice and now there’s zero expectations on the season. Shouldn’t expect him to win with this lot apparently. Head spinning stuff really.
Divine My point was everyone’s can make a fucking excuse – I won’t ask what yours is. We look more compact but with an abundance of attacking talent we’re not creating or scoring anywhere near enough goals and Arteta needs to start getting the attacking side of our game together. We have 15 PL matches left which include: Chelsea A, Burnley A, City A, Liverpool H, Spud’s A, Wolves A, Leicester H, Southampton A so over half are at best really tough. With our current form we’re saying we can’t be expected to beat teams who are struggling let alone… Read more »
Cesc
‘ 4 or 5 new starters by the time August comes around and Arteta might be a success.1 or 2, especially if no midfield changes, then no.Same for any manager’
So no sauce then, just new player price tags
Currently, we’re below Wolves, Sheffield United, and Crystal Palace in the table. Do they have better squads than ours? I’d say No. So they all must have better managers then because the table doesn’t lie. Crystal Palace go to the Etihad and put City to the sword. And we’re struggling against the mighty Sheffield United. SMH. P.S. Brendan Rodgers is a fraud.
Upstate, what’s the average tenure of the managers at all of those clubs… is it less than a month?
Wasi good analysis.
That is naughty. If the squad is top 4 quality and Emery was this awful manager who the players just didn’t understand and basically threw in the towel on you’d expect a bounce…and a big one. Either Arteta isn’t as good as you said or the squad isn’t. Because if you’re honestly playing the ‘they’re so scarred from Emery’ card then, again, they are not of the quality needed after 3 months of bad results. I don’t think Arteta is bad, some positives from what he’s done, but I think you need to raise the white flag on your statements… Read more »
Marko, your head is spinning again?
Do you need the entire board to explain to you the context of this season to get your balance back?
Dissenter
I don’t think you can say that.
Arteta wouldn’t have sauce to make this lot play he’d have biblical powers.
This squad is so poor, you can’t make it do anything. It can’t press, it can’t use a high line, it can’t control possession, it can’t defend, it can’t create, it can’t score (outside one)…there’s always 2 or more players who will break any system you try to create, Ozil breaks any of them, Xhaka breaks most of them.
Pedro
Are you expecting Arteta to show a 30 to 40 point improvement over the course of next season?
Pedro, good morning from west of the Hudson. I think that he bought on Eddie because Arteta likes to defend from the front, saw that Lacazette was tiring, and wanted to save him for Tuesday. The decision was in fact to use a forward defensively. Unfortunately, Eddie did not seem to put the energy into that task that I expected. I am sure it’ll be the subject of a conversation between the two this week. I also think Arteta is trying to use Eddie to see if he can line him up as a replacement for Lacazette next season. I… Read more »
CA, if you’d had this squad with Arteta from the start of the season, we’d be competing for top 4.
Now we’re dealing with injuries, a lack of fitness, broken confidence… and learning an entirely new system midseason after the busiest part of the season.
Why is that context so hard to fathom?
Marc, I expect Arsenal to make the Top 4 next season.
The people that keep saying results don’t matter ough to realize that results translates to more money for transfers. The difference between running up the table to finish 6/7th and continuing our current form to finish 10-13th is a the one year salary of a good new transfer. He has to build form for the next season, hence he has to show he knows how to set up winning teams. Winning teams also translate to more money for the club. Europa duo is crap but it’s still a money earner, nit in the same scale as the CL. Not qualifying… Read more »
Marc Its not an excuse its a fact . The manager has a lot on his plate , has to now deal with an injury list too with no backup seemingly arriving in January. Just an example for you had Kolaisnac been fit , Saka most likely wouldve played in his original position which then means that Arteta could’ve added another attacking sub later on , instead of Guendouzi , shifted Martinelli to CF. Not to mention if we had Chambers or Holding or Sokratis fully fit then might also be able to see out that game 1-0 and build… Read more »
Cesc
But that comes back to me that Arteta is at best being naïve is selecting these players. Surely as Ass Man of City he’d be aware of who the opposition saw as our weak links so should have come in knowing this.
I don’t expect Arteta to walk in and get everything right first time every time but I still see the same liabilities on the pitch.
Cesc
I disagree though.
Arteta was brought to improve players as well.
Emery got stick because he supposedly used a power point to convince the club that he could improve players. I’m pretty sure Arteta didn’t tell the club they have to get him new players to succeed too.
He certainly isn’t improving Lacazette, removing him for a player that can’t get minutes at Leeds isn’t a way to rebuilding his confidence.
“Are you expecting Arteta to show a 30 to 40 point improvement over the course of next season?”
Ranieri already captured that lightning in a bottle. Won’t happen twice in this lifetime. We need to narrow the gap to the top 4 before the season’s end to put ourselves in the mixer for next season.
Looking for marginal gains until we can have a clear-out this summer and give Arteta at least some of the tools he wants in order to deliver success.
Divine
Oh dear – OK Arteta was short of players yesterday what about Bournemouth away? Palace where he had these players available?
My point is if you look hard enough you can find an excuse. If we can’t get a result against Sheffield Utd at home how are we going to fair in the 8 matches I listed earlier?
https://twitter.com/mixedknuts/status/1218834062430949376
Here’s another xG analysis for those that like a graph.
Marc, so your take is that because yesterday was poor, that’s it… things don’t move forward?
Pedro
I hope you’re right because its a huge amount of points to make up. Arteta could also be without / will most likely be without Auba – he’s not going to have an easy time just because he has a pre season.
That the thing, you can’t say it’s a top 4 squad and all it’s missing is a better manager and then turn around and say we should write off the season once a new manager comes in, that’s just being dishonest… We either have a top4 squad or we don’t, the amount of spinning going on here I’m sure the CIA would be immensely proud of some of you
The only reason the season is a write off is because we hired a fuckin novice.
years ago i wrote on here that laca was going to be the final nail in wengers coffin. he was one of them but i never thought he was up to prem standards, small and slow. he scores a fucking goal and the last few games look very different. in fact, i believe the last goal he scored was a 90th min equalizer that postponed emerys sack which he didnt celebrate. would be fitting if that was his final goal for the arsenal
NJ GunnerJanuary 19, 2020 16:12:55
I though Nketiah would of hugged the ball in the wide areas and draw fouls like he has in previous games.
We haven’t really been good for awhile at defending from the front.
Red, you said Emery was a top 3 manager in the world.
Pedro ‘Why is that context so hard to fathom?’ The context isn’t hard to fathom. You’re deflecting for Arteta. Your staunch loyalty to a guy you championed for near 2 years now is the context. So you need first to admit that…you know you may not be the most objective commentator in which case you need to tone down the faux outrage at critique. Just admit you were wrong on the squad. Arteta can be every inch as good as you think. it will never be realised with this squad. Why is that context so hard to fathom? Because this… Read more »