My oh my, did Mikel need that result. Finally, something to show for the all the process talk.
11th versus 12th is never a nice way to wrap a game, but that’s where we are. This was a very, very important 3 points for Mikel for so many reasons, not least, to counter some of the nonsense written about him by people eager for this move to be wrong for Arsenal
Things didn’t look good, the first half was pretty bad, the opening 25 minutes saw us register a miserly 1 shot at Newcastle’s goal. We grew as the half went on, but you sensed the fans in the ground going from deeply frustrated, to kicking themselves with internalised order to support a squad that was clearly trying.
The second half was a totally different beast. The manager clearly went hard at the players to be more aggressive in the final third. Dani Ceballos was put on the ball more, clearly instructed to pick up the tempo, his searching balls looked for openings for the front three, he was quick-witted, bold and he really made a difference.
Nicolas Pepe, a deeply frustrating talent at times really locked onto whatever was said to him, he was more direct, he looked to stretch Newcastle, and he took risks. He made the first goal, beating a man and finding Auba at the back post, that was a huge relief for everyone.
The second goal didn’t take long to land. Auba played Saka in, the left-back of the day beat two players and sent a ball at Mustafi in the box, Pepe took control of that scenario and buried his chance cooly.
I was really hoping we’d keep up the pressure, but we dropped a little, giving Saint-Traore the chance to rattle the post. I know he’s a nightmare to defend against, but he really did cause Bellerin more problems than I hoped he would. Our concentration wasn’t up to scratch in the final 20 minutes, but we did turn the game again, taking back the narrative.
Lacazette came on, he managed a goal and an assist in rapid time. He first set Mesut Ozil up with what looked like a bungled shot. Mesut’s shot was embarrassingly meek, but he scored with the help of a silly mistake from the Newcastle keeper. A goal that had 35 passes in the build-up. The moment eventually fell for Laca though, Willock worked Pepe into the box, allowing him to tee the goal-shy Frenchman up perfectly for a simple finish. A brilliant way to end the game.
So what did we learn?
I think today showed that we have more depth than we thought. Players that we thought were dead are showing up for the new manager, confidence is starting to pay dividends, it’s really great to see. Proper coaching, who’d have thunk it?!
Mesut Ozil had a brilliant game. He created 4 chances, he worked his socks off, and he kept the ball moving forward, something he hasn’t done over the past year or so. The goal was the cherry on top.
Dani Ceballos looked the player we hoped he’d be. Great energy, really good passing (96% pass completion, noting that he made more than anyone on the pitch), 3 chances created, and 9 ball recoveries. Arteta said he was the best player pitch, noting that his behaviour changed, now he trains and plays like an animal.
Lacazette finally delivered, Arteta said the players love him and he was pleased with the reaction. A lot of people asked why he hasn’t been dropped, seems clear he’s huge in the dressing room. Now he’s scored a goal, let’s see if he can go on a run and pay back the faith of the coaching staff.
Nicolas Pepe didn’t bring the heat in the first half, he was slowing play down, and he didn’t have much in the way of guts when it came to creating chances. Second half, he was a different man, he landed 2 assists and goal, he also looked scary. Running defenders ragged.
… come on, admit it, Mustafi looked elite. He was great, his passing was 89% accurate, he made 9 clearances, 5 headed, and he looked solid again. If he can continue to play like that, he’s welcome to be in the squad. Who doesn’t love a turnaround story? His one could be the most whiplash in football history… literally a meme last summer, now he’s playing like a beast.
We also brought some attacking flair to our game. Lots of people making the most out of a small sample of data to skewer the manager. One of the stats doing the round was that we’ve only managed an average of 325 passes per game under Mikel. Well, today, we were at 590. It’s kind of a pointless stat, but when it’s backed by 4 goals, I’ll take it.
I think overall, the second half showed us the type of football the manager wants us to play. We’ve lacked confidence in the final third for a long time, a 4-0 win should go a long way to restoring that. We have a great forward line, we just needed a system to unlock it. Next up… show some consistency. We are on a mini-unbeaten streak, let’s see if the squad can keep that going for the month.
My final shout goes to Saka. What a talent he is. Next season, I’d love to see him further up the pitch, he’s wasted at left-back, but think about it, he’s 18, playing a foreign position and still bossing it. A brilliant game for him.
The fans in the stadium were superb, they are so important to the success of this season and beyond, they’re behind the project and today showed that. I’m excited, you should be too, let’s see if we can bring a similar level to the 90 against Olympiacos this week.
See you in the comments. x
Boom
2
Yo
4th
3
Did I ?
Well technically- 5th place gets you the tr4phy sooooo
Arsenal 6 points off 5th.
This result proves the value of a good manager that is tactical and is also a man-manager.
Xhaka is playing so much better….even Mustafa is performing above his customary shite level.
Arteta is an intelligent guy and can think on his feet and change the shape of a failing system.
4-0 flatters us. But I’ll take it .
The defense has 2 clean sheets in a row…that in itself is now a very welcome stat.
Good and fair report Pedro
We won, we scored 4 ,our goal difference is positve now
It’s much needed win, thank God for the barcodes
Weekend could’ve been better had those jammy cnuts weren’t gifted 3 points at villa park !
Un
What did you think about Ceballos today?
Huge performance? Did you see the first half?
Souness stating that the players can’t come out and blame a previous manager for their own individual poor performances. That they should be professional, knuckle down and give everything. Called out Ozil and his stats not being good enough.
The performance wasn’t HUGE.
The result was a good handsome one though that can give confidence.
LT, I saw 4-0 on the board at the end of the game.
Mesut had a great game, not sure Souness is ever going to have a good opinion of him regardless of what he does.
Imagine the overlaps of Tierney and Saka… that should cause some serious issues for the opposition.
Move Auba back to the middle.
He really needs to play in the center
Galway on Twitter:
‘Sky literally spent 15 minutes talking about Ozil running about a bit in 2020, over analysing the impact of an 18 yr old left-back. Shows lost without Carragher or Neville to provide even the slightest nuance. Dinosaur’s.’
Amen.
Arteta knows best….I really think he is the real deal. Of course.successful football management is an incredibly fluctuating thing…but this guy talks the talk and I believe he will walk the walk. He powered Manchester city’s success….and I see the beginnings of a success at arsenal…we need the investment though….
Pedro
The show is lost because they spent time analysing the 18yr old MOTM?
Pedro
Said the same thing on the other post, was a great start post-break all things considered. Great result, second half was excellent, handful of players getting much needed boosts in confidence (Laca, Ozil, Ceballos, Pepe).
But……after our biggest win in the league since Feb last year there’s folks wanting to make it about a mediocre first half where it was 0-0.
Some absolutely gutted we got a win, can bemoan a lack of a result this week so next in line? First half performance. Some way to view things that.
Neville and Carragher would have said that first half stank. Carragher would have also coughed up a nice phlegm greeny to spit in your eye.
Ahmeducrazy, it’s shit analysis. Souness thinks about the game through his own lense… which is dated. Mesut had a good half, but he hates him, so he’ll have a pop at him given the chance.
CC, I know… it’ll probably take a year to shake of the post-Emery-break-up effects.
Look at LT… 1000 words of positivity and all he wants to talk about is that it wasn’t actually a good performance.
Pedro
Fair enough. I cba to watch it tbh
Anyway, topline… some great individual performances, a lot of confidence boosters, and a bit of insight into where Arteta wants to take the football.
Wenker-wanger
“we need the investment though….”
Absolutely need investment in the summer.
There are present players in the side that can be built upon to make a much better side but there are also current players that need to be shown the door.
That’s if the plan is to make this team truly competitive at the top end.
We lost a bit of defensive stability without torriera. Newcastle had around 4 really good chances the whole game and I didn’t like that. It was Emery-esque first half. It wasn’t a huge performance but a huge result. We have played better under arteta and have gotten draws. The second was really good but still newcastle had two great chances. Pepe, Saka and ozil with stand out performances. Saka has 8 assists in all competitions this season. I really think he can be an elite winger. He can beat players and he has an eye for goal. He is doing… Read more »
Saint-Traore is an excellent typo, Pedro.
Amazing to see how much better we looked after 2 weeks of coaching. Arteta genuinely having an impact.
How can anyone defend Ozil’s recent performances. Add in that he takes home £350,000 grand PER WEEK. Woop dee do,
he half turned up, at home, against an injury ravaged, poor Newcastle side.
Newcastle were really poor.
LT, he played well. That’s all anyone wants. So you should give it a rest today.
Dan, thank you sir. Improvements are exciting. Big game on Thursday.
Three wins in 4 months smacks of being bang average…
Over the top praise on individuals who are poor players is agenda driven
.
Pedro
I’m buzzing for the EL these next couple of months. Personally think that’s our shot at CL, and we’re a tough nut over two legs vs the prospect of putting a 10-game run together in the prem to get ahead of 4/5 teams.
I cant lie, Saint-Max gave heart attacks during that game
CC, agree. Do you think the line up today was partly due to the EL in the week?
Think we could take most teams on our day… though Inter are looking good in the domestic league this season.
bennydevitoFebruary 16, 2020 18:33:10
Great win, great performance, great stuff.
Well chuffed.
We’ve finally turned the corner
Ohhhhh Mikel Arteeeeta!
Lazio vs Inter Milan
Cmon Lazio!!!
Regarding Ceballos
” Arteta said he was the best player pitch, noting that his behaviour changed, now he trains and plays like an animal.”
My dear Arteta ,was Ceballos so bad or have Emery and later you , presumably hearing that Fraudster’s interpretation freezed Ceballos, projacting him in an allien environment ?
Ditto being done to Auba vs Laca.
Hopefully we learnt in Dubai the art of not making into ennuchs one of the most potent forward line.
S Asoa what is ennuchs?
Player Ratings?
For Me
Leno-7
Bellerin-6
Mustafi-8
Luiz-7
Saka-9
Xhaka-6
Caballos-8
Ozil-8
Pepe-9
Auba-8
Nketiah-4
Laca-7
Willock- N/A
Pedro
I think the lineup today was with that in mind, also it was a home game against a side that sits so that gave us more of an opportunity to go with Ceballos CM vs choosing between him and Ozil. Home crowd helps for Nketiah too.
EL will heat up, but we’ve every chance of rising to the occasion over 180 mins vs whoever. Inter the standout, but a good draw could take care of that. Be an interesting one to witness how Arteta’s approach takes to European football.
Excellent post match report from our PedRo. And I am glad- that PedRo highlights the increased number of passes in the match. Averaging 325. But today hitting nearly 600.( Wenger averaged around the 700- in his last season) The consequence: Today we scored late goals and didn’t concede them. (Folk , may think the game has changed, and have been brainwashed with this pressing nonsense……It ain’t really..) Keep that ball, caress it, cuddle it,pass it to your team mate. Dont give it away cheaply…. think like our only World Cup winner Ozil. Do that: you can win 4 zero ,… Read more »
We are only 6 points from 5th we can do this
I really enjoyed today’s game once we upped the tempo it was over
CG
You can keep and pass the ball all day long against opponents who let you.
The test comes when playing against sides that don’t sit and let you pass the ball forever.
Finally the pieces of the puzzle are falling in their place. This match was a real confidence booster. Laca. Ozil. Pepe. All shy of confidence and this match will have done them a load of good. First 20-25 mins were poor. Poor football. Sideways passing, careless mistakes , silly shirt tugs, overall bad footballer. Then we really kicked on. And I thought surely we’ll get a goal before HT. It wasnt to be but ill take the scoreline. Magnificent game from Ceballos, Saka , Ozil. The trio was outstanding today. Saka is just a Brilliant Brilliant player. His defending may… Read more »
Hopefully Mari can add some steel and proper leadership.
Ishola
“You can keep and pass the ball all day long against opponents who let you.”
just like we did under Emery ?
Wasi 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
CG, that almost read like a compliment to Mikel?
How did I forget to mention Pepe?
Maybe im just reveling in the feel good factor a win can give you.
When he is confident he really seems like a different player. Well taken goal , good cross for the first goal and good movement and pass for the final goal. All in all a very good game from our record signing. Maybe the haters can shut up for a bit now. Needs to work on HOW to NOT slow the game down. Elite level potential still there for Arteta to unlock it.
Pierre
”just like we did under Emery ?”
Well the way Newcastle set up today and sat and gave up the centre yes even probably an Emery side would have had a healthy passing stat.
Let’s not kid ourselves that Arsenal have become a great and effective passing side within a couple of months under Arteta.
For Arsenal to become a more dynamic passing side and not just for those peering at stats the team needs a couple of changes in personnel for that.
Pedro
Learning from the best. 👍
Such a massive win today psychologically. Of course we’ll simply hear just how poor Newcastle were.
Still not sure about Ceballos and Ozil in the same team and felt we looked more exposed without Torreira mopping up and protecting the back. Hopping that Dani can take over the no 10 role
Arteta on qualifying for UCL: It feels possible after today. We need to keep winning, but the target is to keep improving performance.
Perfect.
Saka completed 6 dribbles today. Most by any player. That too from Left back. One of our own.
The hate for Ozil on here seems to never end.
Ignorance.
Wasi
Ozil has a lot more to prove than 1 good game and some other average performances.
I’d still rather have a modern 10 in there.
Pedro,
LOVE LOVE SAKA!!
Arteta’s team talk at half time clearly made a difference, because it was a much much better second half. It’s great that we can be flat track bullies again, rather than be bossed around by the likes of Watford.
I was initially puzzled by Arteta’s team selection (especially no Torreira plus playing both Ozil and Ceballos), but it was clearly made with Thursday’s match in mind, and with the way Newcastle play – sitting very deep, conceding lots and lots of possession and a very limited front press.
Great result, but performance was not great Ozil, Mustafi and Xhaka were crap and nearly red card and cost us goal.
Saka must be signed to long term contract.
Much much needed big win, and for those pointing out that we were at best mediocre and the score line flattered us, maybe that was the case…. but Liverpool were outplayed for long periods at home to Southampton a few weeks back and won 4-0…. and that was lauded as the sign of champions…
Ffs enjoy the win.
“””CG, that almost read like a compliment to Mikel?”””
I like MA immensely.
He joined us on the back of an 8-2 thrashing at Manchester United.
He took a pay cut too.
He even joined us when he was shafted by the Fat Spiv.
Plus he is a Wenger acolyte and believes in Wengerism.
(He sure did today, anyway )
But he needs to be judged on results.
Because that’s only fair…. for all spectrum of the AFC fans.
And that’s the name of the game,ultimately…… results.
He got a resounding one today 🍾
An 8 out of 10 second half performance from Ozil, at home against a poor Newcastle side has Wasi reaching for the Kleenex. Have you been watching Ozil for the last few seasons?
Left,
Kleenex or no Kleenex, there’s nothing wrong with praising a player when that player plays well.
Even if the player is Ozil.
So Ozil. You lend me £100,000. I pay you back a tenner. Do you throw yourself on the ground in front of me saying how great I am and praising me for my generosity. I think not. If Ozil earns a 9\10 in every game to the end of his contract he will still be in deficit. Just to remind you all this was Newcastle at home
What’s the point when he will go missing away to Brighton.
Bueleydave,
You’re absolutely right when you say that Ozil is “in deficit.”
The time to remind people of that (as if anyone on here needs reminding) is when he has one of his customary 5/10 or 6/10 performances – not when he has an 8/10 like he did today.
“Pedro February 16, 2020 19:09:32 Galway on Twitter: ‘Sky literally spent 15 minutes talking about Ozil running about a bit in 2020, over analysing the impact of an 18 yr old left-back. Shows lost without Carragher or Neville to provide even the slightest nuance. Dinosaur’s.” Not only is he a dinosaur, but he is wrong: @Orbinho https://twitter.com/Orbinho/status/1229117865409863680 Ozil ran 10.7km today. Only Xhaka ran the more of Arsenal players with 10.8km Quote Tweet That was the best game Ive seen him have in a couple of years- especially so if you take out the first 30 mins (which was a… Read more »
Bellerin is not the player he was, often there was space for him to attack the flank and cut inside, instead he meekly backpassed time and time again.
Hopefully Cédric will sharpen him up.
Ozil and saka were the best players on the pitch. Saka edges it for being young and being played in an unfamiliar position. Ozil has been playing similarly and getting in between the lines, but the pass always comes too late after his man catches up with him or didn’t change at all. Ozil looked good because of how well and how quickly Ceballos and at times xhaka found him in space. Arteta was asked a question in his early press conferences about ozil and his ability to change games in his. Arteta’s reply ‘he can’t do it on his… Read more »
we should make a move for Almiron
He came from MLS!
Point is that we are dying for a dribbler with speed like that… he most easily beat our defenders- and one on one its a no contest. Most of the time we resorted to fouling the young man to stop him
Add that type of player and subtract Ozil and we just got a big dose of offensive contribution..
another that comes to mind- Jota
SurferX, players like Ramsey and Ozil would always have great running stats and generally feature in the top 3 for us whenever they played. But they do most of their running on the offensive side, especially ozil, and that’s where ppl have a pbm.
Because he is doing a little bit of defensive work now, hopefully he won’t get slagged as much.
A tip for a few of you gentlemen, games last for 90 minutes. Some of the comments on here during the first half were comical. Better off not commenting until the game has finished, as predicted, a comfortable win. And yet some till want to find holes in the performance, if you can’t enjoy that result and see the bigger picture of where we are headed, try something else.
Arteta is creating a line for players a see to the first team, but also competition. You perform well, you’re in. You don’t you’re dropped.
Eddie still got work to do. But hit the target twice, and hit the bar on a half chance. He should have been put out wide, ply his trade there, Auba in the middle.
Happy for the team and everyone.
Firstly. Lacazettes finish. Simple finish? Which he did his best to mess up. Ended up being a total fluke. Spent the time before that hiding – marking himself behind the CB as the ball went wide. No effort to separate at all. Maybe the goal will help but he looks shot to pieces to me. Mustafi looked elite ? We’ve seen this 1000 times before. Up against one poor striker and no real challenges from midfield he can thrive. No stress. No problem. Stress him and he collapses. We’ve all seen this. Why try to spin another sunnier narrative? I… Read more »
We all post during the game. But for the first 25-30 we were poor. Nothing wrong with saying that at the time, because it was true.
Ozil was simply ok today – he wasn’t great other than for a couple of movs/ Ceballos totally outshone him. I hope however he does have further good days – not only because it will obviously help us win moe but so we can offload hi this Summer with as big a fee as is now possible. We need to get rid of the attitude and the contract
You have to be deranged to believe it was a mistake to replace Emery with Arteta. Emery was desperately poor and it has taken Arteta some time to work out how to take this team forward . There are posters on here who are agenda-driven and don’t understand the game, who habitually back lost causes and who keep dredging up the fact that Arteta has drawn a lot of games. He has only had five home games and he has only lost one in total. He has yet to lose away . If one didn’t know better you’d think certain… Read more »
Pie it’s fair to say we weren’t at our best during the first half, and the tempo and control we exerted in the 2’d half would have been good to see in the 1st too. However some people were even suggesting Arteta isn’t the eighth guy, just because we aren’t 3-0 up after 25 minutes. Sorry but it isn’t ultimate team on FIFA. This is real football and a developing team is likely to have a few stutters. The result ended up being a comfortable win as a few of us predicted. The line up was treated with doom and… Read more »
CazOnARola- Im aware of that pal: just pointing out how cliched and pointless Souness is. Im not Ozils biggest fan- the contract extension was madness and if we could find anyone to take him on his wages its a no brainer.
But, Arteta has started getting a tune out of him- and thats pretty remakable since he has been dismal for a couple of years. In fact, Ozil,Xhaka, Mustafi.. they have all been far better since Arteta joined.
Bit worried Saka only has 18 months left on his contract
Manure sniffing around him don’t want another Gnabry on our hands
I think that the pieces of the jigsaw are coming together. The second half performance today was undoubtedly the best this season. Our defence is beginning to look more solid than it has done for sometime. We know that we are still short of quality in the centre back positions but at least they are concentrating on defending properly rather than playing “fancy dan” football. Also I think that the midfield had its best game this season. Both Ozil and Ceballos were “creative” and looked motivated. I don’t think that Nketiah was very effective up front, but Aubameyang and Pepe… Read more »
We can all come up with different combinations for our team inc why wasn’t Martinelli playing? To that extent we find ourselves criticising the manager. BUT what is for sure is the incredible impact Arteta has had on even the worst case under-performing player.
I was convinced he would be great for us but a couple of months in and it is plain to see we are on the up.
Xhaka getting booked after 8 minutes was actually very good for him because he played reasonably well from then onwards.
North banker, I suspect Thursday was on Mikel’s mind
https://www.coachesvoice.com/bournemouth-eddie-howe-premier-league/
A good read on Eddie Howe. I don’t think he could go further but needs to be applauded for how far he has taken Bournemouth.
Our midfield really needs a torriera alternative. None of our other midfielders can tackle and are a bit slow bar Willock and May be AMN ( now counted as a midfielder). We also need a creator. Summer needs to be all about those positions and a CB.
Right SurferX, i merely meant running stats won’t suffice for many ppl here, although in my opinion it is ridiculous as he is termed “lazy”. He has had such stats consistently under wenger. im being honest, i dont want ozil defending much and neither should auba. They would just end up getting cards. Their job would be to just hold the formation and not get dodged while trying to win the ball. But for that you need a team that’s good enough defensively all over and highly structured. As result, it’s best that we sell ozil in the summer and… Read more »
Good win, not the most convincing of performances but good win, Saka brilliant again…. Really hope though that Mustafi as a mainstay doesn’t become a thing.
Habesha, i suspect that and a new striker if Lacazette is also sold along with Auba. Auba is almost guaranteed to move away, hopefully for big money.
The CM, CB and CAM positions are probably already being looked at by the club.
I assume that he will play on Thursday:
MARTINEZ
—————
SOARES OR AMN
SOKRATIS
MARI
KOLASINAC
—————
TORREIRA
GUENDOUZI
WILLOCK
—————
MARTINELLI
LACAZETTE
NELSON
Good result but the performance wasn’t impressive. In all honesty the score line was flattering
Arteta needs CBs that can pass the ball. Sokratis cant do that. Which is why he is reviving mustafi.
This would also help us get good money for mustafi, ozil, xhaka etc in the summer.
He will play a stronger team than that Emirates.
El is our best chance of getting CL.
CazOnARola,
“Arteta needs CBs that can pass the ball. Sokratis cant do that. Which is why he is reviving mustafi”
Ozil, Mustafi and Xhaka shouldn’t be at the Club and it was evident today. If NewCastle has anything about them we would be saying something different 🤦🏽♂️
CazOnARola
I hope so. Those positions look like our weaknesses. Other than that Arteta is building a good structure as a team.
Emiratesstroller
Yeah I also think he is playing that team. Hahaha In all seriousness though it shows we have a large squad in numbers. We should be improving it in quality now.
GunnerDNA, if Newcastle beat us, we’d be saying different things? Is that your take?
Mustafi has seemed to improve the last few games I must admit.
He reacts much quicker now, and tries to stop , block anything near him.
In the past, he would watch and drop back… run with the runner.
Now he makes his move much faster… and tackles way outside the box.
Safe indeed and it seems to be working so far
2 1 Lazio!!
10 mins left on the clock!
20 sorry.
My boi savic 😂🤩
ES
Soares hasn’t trained yet and Mari isn’t up to full fitness.
The EL is our best hope of CL football next season. I think we may see Luiz and Bellerin and probably Xhaka starting a
Lazio arr muscling their way in to the title race. Serie A looks like the place to watch a real title race season. Finally after 8 seasons.
Guns of SF, you do that when your confidence is absolutely shot.
Infact, as pointed out earlier, he didn’t make a couple of errors today as well.
But mustafi had a pass success rate of 89%.
Ceballos at, 96%. That is why Arteta picked them today. Guendouzi not even on the bench because we needed different players to break a deep lying defense.
He did. *
Today Arteta gambled on an all out attack to win. We would do such things at the 70th min mark under wenger.
Arteta went for it from the outset cause he knows we badly needed a win and how deep Newcastle will defend
Henry Root
I understood that Mari was likely to play against Olympiacos.
I posted AMN as alternative to Soares because he had been injured.
I would imagine that Arteta will use Olympiacos and Portsmouth games as
opportunity to rest players.