The morning after and I’m still feeling pretty immense about yesterday. It was the sort of game that builds the character of a team and shows who is there to cut the mustard and who there spreading low-fat mayonnaise like a melt.
Nearly everyone showed up, the key worry heading into that game for me was that Everton hadn’t played for 14 days. I mistakenly thought it was a week. That’s a lot of time to prepare, revive the legs, and get hyped to blitz a side on a shaky road to recovery.
For us, it was the 3rd game in 7 days. That has a huge impact when you’re fighting a team that’s had their feet up. The players looked toasted by the end, Mikel said they were cramping up, factor in that they only had two second-half subs to freshen things up, and the outcome was all the more impressive.
Everton gave us problems, no doubt, but they only hit the target 5 games in a match that was pretty evenly split for possession. I thought a lot of our problems came down Bellerins flank. We had a two-fold problem there, Hector looks disgracefully off the pace, I think we’re all seeing now why the club invested in a spare right back when the need didn’t look that important. We also saw the difference between what Pepe offers as cover and what Auba does. Chalk and cheese, the Ivorian needs to pull his finger out. He has so much to offer going forward, but the only way he’ll survive this regime is if he does his bit tracking back, especially when his right-back is struggling.
Talking of right-backs, it is sad to see that AMN has fallen foul of the new rules of the road. I suspect he’s complained about playing right-back (like he did to Emery), because surely that’s all it can be, he always works hard, hasn’t put a foot wrong when he’s played and looked a standout 5 weeks ago. Seems like a really silly thing to do, especially when your captain is playing on the left and mucking in defensively. Hopefully, he can redeem himself, I’d prefer to see him there than Cedric, so let’s see if his tune changes soon.
Thursday night will be an interesting test for rotation. Mari and Gabriel were both in the stands today. I struggle to understand the Gabriel omission, was pondering whether it was the body language and blow up at Xhaka on Thursday, the fact he’s played a lot, or a slight knock. Mari is going to be interesting, the Spaniard who just loves smiling needs to land some game time soon and a home match against Olympiacos could be a great way to introduce himself to the fans.
Arteta dropped some sexy hintations about Auba’s state of mind after the game.
“Hopefully not just the wins, but as well what we are trying to do,”
“That he really enjoys on the pitch every time he goes, that he feels very much part of what we’re trying to build here. And I think he’s with that mindset at the moment.
“I think it’s been tough for him. You know a player like him, there’s been a lot of disappointments in the last few months and years because he has big expectations. You know he wants to play for the biggest club in the biggest tournaments, and be up there with the best players in the world. And we have to try to support him and give him everything at the club so he really feels fulfilled here. That’s the challenge I have.”
I still think it’s a moonshot to get him to stay, but the manager has said over and over again that he’s our best player and most important. Hard to disagree. It was also interesting that he wasn’t sure if he could be the complete player, namely, could he defend (even if he wanted to).
“I had two questions. One was ‘ he doesn’t want to do it?’ or ‘he cannot do it physically?’. Once I found out that physically he could do it, it was just about convincing him he needs to do it every three days and he’s showing that.”
He’s certainly shown his hunger in bucketloads. If that leads to him to staying, you’ve gotta be onboard that hype train, if he leaves, we’ll land more money than we would of if Emery had stayed on.
The manager alluded to Saka being out of the line-up because of a fitness issue and also leant into some of the mistakes being geared around a little bit of believing-your-own-hype-itis.
“Well I’m never happy when something happens like that. With Kola, he’s been very unlucky with injuries. Bukayo had some issues as well before the game then he started to play after a few minutes. It was a great contribution defensively but as well there are other moments that he showed today that there is still a lot of margin for him to improve and he needs to keep his feet on the ground and we have to help him to.”
Finally, Mesut Ozil had a very good game again. He’s certainly not falling back into old habits, he has a coach that understands him now, and one that he very much seems to respect. Arteta had an interesting piece on him.
“Yeah, I’m very pleased with him. Obviously I played with him and I know him so I try to pinch him as much as possible to do what he needs to do because I know how much he can give on the offensive side. But as well, Mesut – it’s a good example for this game. When we are dominant, when the whole process is properly done and you find the player in the right position, it’s the type of game that he wants. When that game becomes like this (gestures back and forth) that’s not his game. So he needs his teammates, he needs the right structure and organisation for him to flourish. Sometimes it’s not his fault, it’s about the team that is not supporting what he needs.”
Arteta is incredibly open about everything, I love it, feels like we’re getting an inside look under the car bonnet, hopefully, he doesn’t stop with that. Anyway, I feel like that last part was interesting (and the pinching up bit tbh), because that game doesn’t always go the way of Mesut’s strengths, so what is the plan? Or does that mean that he won’t be the plan at some point. Anyway, great to see the player happy and contributing beyond just being a key pass quarterback.
Off-topic. Arteta beat Carlo in his first encounter. He also closed the gap on Spurs to 3 points. Mourinho is out here moaning about his lack of strikers like he’s the first manager to ever have an injury crisis and I have Spurs fans complaining the football he’s trying to play is straight out of 2010 and Nagelsmann made him look antiquated. He’ll tank, like he always does, just faster this time because he can’t shield himself with £500m of players. I’m still happy with who we hired.
RIGHT, I did a podcast for your ears, listen and enjoy. We have a VERY good bit at the end where we discuss hair cuts. We also do a deep dive into the Everton game, we touch on the players who are doing it, we slam veganism, we talk discipline, missing names, and what we think might happen this summer.
Dive in right this instant (and check out yesterday’s HUMDINGER of a match report)
The difference between the two sides was that Atsenal were more clinical otherwise we would have lost the game…
Tom
In saying that, I believe Ramsey and Mhkitaryan are as good or better than what we have In midfield.
Emery has a lot to answer for in his misuse of players and his man management.
Arteta arrived just too late for Ramsey and Mkhitaryan as I’m sure they would starters for us .
Blaming the costume…Now thats a first
I said at the time what in blazes are Juventus doing signing Ramsey.
The flop is Championship.level at best…
It was Wenger who allowed Ramsey’s contract to run down distracting Emery from building a title winning team…
Ramsey is injury prone, takes a couple of games to get back in form and then gets injured again shortly after, misses at least a third of every season and wanted stupid money to stay, completely the right decision to let him go. Mikhi is 31 years old, on 180k a week and is not good enough in the PL. Pepe will be much better for us once he’s adapted properly. We didn’t have enough in the budget to address everything we wanted to last summer but that was always going to be the case, hopefully the last pieces will… Read more »
I would imagine any stats on Arsenal players put out this season up until Christmas would be negative.
—————
Pierre
Guen and LT goal/ assist per game this season are on par or better than the last.
“Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville rank the greatest English club sides”
They ranked The Invincibles at a joint 6th place with mouninho’s Chelsea. Tossers.
Fred
Ramsey might be injury prone.
But he scored this weekend
As did Micki did.
Pepe didn’t score this weekend.
And I doubt he will ever be too injury prone.
Because he too bloody bone idol.
He dont want it enough.
Disgraceful his palpable lack of effort in not assisting a struggling Hector on Sunday.
No wonder he ain’t ever played a CL game.
Unlike Rambo and Mickki who have played in plenty of CL fixtures.
Mind you he might come good in 3 seasons time.
Raptora
That list had no variable for squad net cost.
For example our only signings in 03/04 were Lehman and then Reyes in January, less than £20 million.
No denying the Chelsea team of 04/05 were excellent and a scary proposition but it must have cost more than £100 million even then.
CG
Pepe will progress, I am convinced of that.
Your negativity has no bounds.
Pierre
Wilder was found out in the first fight.
He’s a one-trick pony.
The costume may have been a mistake, but Fury is the superior fighter by a mile and a furlong.
CG Who cares what they do in a slow Serie A? Pepe didn’t score but he got an assist, a goal and 2 assists the game before that, in the PL where it counts. I also doubt that he’s going to miss a third of all our games during his time with us and he’s not 31, declining and on way too much money for what he’s producing. I also doubt it’s going to take him 3 seasons to “get going” he’s already producing decent numbers and that’s being in and out of a shaky team in his first season.… Read more »
Graham “””Pepe will progress, I am convinced of that.”””” You dont shell out your record transfer fee for someone who might turn out to be any good. You pay £72 000 000 so the player hits the ground running instantly. You know, I know ,everybody now knows this deal stinks to the high heavens. He was not even scouted. (Raul and Mendez concocted this up- for their benefit not the clubs.) No chief scout would sanction this signing for this amount for a player who has this many flaws in his game to iron out. Saka is already a better… Read more »
So “The invicibles” ranked 6th according to Neville and Carragher.
Interesting.
I’d agree about Liverpool(75-78) being the number 1 team.
Phenominal unit.
UN
“”Ramsay was famous for his disappearing act from the middle to the opposition box””””
Oh, I must have missed something
I thought he was famous for scoring at Wembley.
2 FA cup winners
1 beauty V Spurs in his last season
Even Superman cant be everywhere.
CG
I know you hate it when your own argument becomes flawed.
I would say our biggest ever financial mistake will always be the hiring of Mesut Ozil.
£42.4m in 2013 and all the millions thereafter…………..and for what in return?
A few flashes in the pan here and there.
What about the £60m we could have got for Sanchez if he’d gone to MC. Another colossal mistake.
If your logic is based on finances, then make sure you get your facts straight first.
Of course, we had all those other financial restrictions that stagnated our progress after 2006.
Yeh, right!!
I would say that in Pepe’s limited game time , 6 goals and 8 assists in all competitions is a good return. He and Saka are our chief creators at this present time and both play out wide. This is similar to liverpool who’s chief creators are their wide players. Many of Debruyne’s assists are from wide positions as are sterling ,Mahrez and B.Silva. This seems to be a recent trend for some teams and is moving away from previous years when the CAM or No.10 were normally leading the assist charts . The link players are being used slightly… Read more »
UN
“””CG What is your issue exactly? “””
Do you actually watch this stuff we dish out every week.?
Sure it has improved markedly- but it wont last.
The stats tell us that.
This club has been systematically ruined in 2 years.( courtesy of Raul) and it will take us 30 – 40 years to win the League title if we are lucky ( like it has Liverpool).
That’s my issue.
And deep down you know I am correct.
Ramsey, for all his attributes, was always a bit of headless chicken(under Wenger).
I don’t blame Ramsey entirely for this and it was mainly down to our managers tactical ineptitude.
Arsenal’s transfer and wage policy was disastrous in the latter years under Gazidis and Wenger. The decision to allow both Ozil and Sanchez to run down their contracts to last 6 months was a complete disaster for the club. We should have taken the £60 million for Sanchez and allowed Ozil to run down his contract without agreeing a farcical wage hike. The decision to allow Ramsey and Welbeck to run down his contract was equally daft. Potentially we have lost at least £120 Million in transfer fees from departures of Sanchez, Ramsey and Welbeck and overpaid Ozil at least… Read more »
UN
“””Tell me though, we’re Ramsey and Mkhitaryan serving up better? “:
Yes
Undoubtedly
Maybe that’s why they are playing for CL clubs and Pepe doesnt.
A little reminder to my fellow Le Grove patients.
Pepe has never played a CL game in his career.
24 years of age.
Not 1.
And he will never probably will.
T.H.
CG,
Just wondering what percentage accuracy you ascribe to your prediction that Pepe will never play Champions League football.
Is it with the 87% accuracy of your prediction last week that we’d lose to Everton, Man U would lose to Watford and Wolves would lose to Norwich?
Wow Mhiki scores for Roma in a 4-0 win against lowly Lecce at home.
Has Mhiki ever scored a winning goal for his team to win the match 1-0?
He chips in at times when the team he is playing for is on top.
Wishy washy player who only turns up in fair weather at times.
Ring any bells with a player that is currently at Arsenal?
Why anyone would pine over Mhiki when we already have another fair weather player in Ozil.
Let’s flood the team with these types.
Seems a great idea.
Words “””Is it with the 87% accuracy of your prediction last week that we’d lose to Everton, Man U would lose to Watford and Wolves would lose to Norwich?””” I am glad you have touched upon my weekend predictions. The Le Groves mathematicians on here would have actually noted how accurate they were. Because CG predicted . 3 goals at Old Trafford 5 goals at Arsenal 3 goals at Molineux And that’s off course what happened. Now- even I cant get them all in the right order.( especially with VAR causing havoc ) Back to Pepe. He had a chance… Read more »
Graham
“I don’t blame Ramsey entirely for this and it was mainly down to our managers tactical ineptitude.”
Yes 50/50 I would say though it was Wenger’s job as manager to install the neccessary discipline into Ramsey’s game.
Arteta would have been the ideal manager for Ramsey , he would have ironed out his discipline problems whilst keeping the positives in his game.
I may be mistaken but wasn’t Ramsey’s best season in central midfield alongside Arteta.
Un
Not a fan of Pepe whatsoever.
Asked last week- hardest defender he ever faced?
His Answer- none of them.
Theres nothing wrong with that answer if you are a Ronaldo or Messi.
Strikes me – coming from him ( who has done absolutely nowt) in his career and cant even pass with his right foot as particularly arrogant.
Maybe , that’s why 3 managers have dropped him since he has been at Arsenal?
(One could never imagine the classy and World Cup winning Ozil saying the same.)
What amazes me most on here is the inability of some posters(fans) to accept the obvious. Being in a constant state of denial still afflicts many of our fans. Now we have a manager, in Mikel Arteta,who is giving his utmost to put things right after a traumatic period in the clubs history and yet there are still those folk amongst us that see only the negatives. Pepe, for me, is not a negative. Infact, based on the farcical cock ups over the past decade, I see him as a breath of fresh air and someone who can play a… Read more »
CG
What’s your take ( excuses) on the Ozil/ Sanchez debacle and the many other financial discrepancies over the years?
For £72 m Pepe is definitely a flop so far. There are many players who could’ve produced the same numbers for a lot less money.
Veron- Midfielder
Just a thought regarding the absurdity of Ozil’s contract. £350k per week, over 3 years, is £54.6m. At the end of his contract he will be 32, and only 3 months shy of 33. He essentially has no resale value because of the prohibitive cost of his wages. On the other hand, we could have spent £39m as a transfer fee on someone AND paid them £100k a week over three years for the same money. If they were young, we could even shove an option to extend in there to protect resale value. And even if they were worse… Read more »
Dave? Your my wife now, it’s Davey
Add salah, lukaku and debruyne to that list of wasted talent .
I suppose it made no difference to them as they could make mistake after mistake and just go out and spend another couple of hundred grand, similar to united and city.
Arsenal never had that Luxury , and people wonder why we found it difficult to compete at the highest level .
When all is said and done, Arsenal FC will have spent over £130m on Ozil by the time his contract expires at the end of next season, almost a third of the cost of building the Emirates.
Ha ha hilarious, my mate said it to his missus at the alter and loudly, half the church thought he had lost it!
Your my wife now
UN
“”””CG Everyone is different. How many top class defenders will he have faced at this stage? Not many””””
So why spend £72 000 000 on him then?
Complete buffonery at best or corrupt at worse.
Jamie
Christ I’d never thought of Ozil’s contract in relation to the building costs of the stadium.
Gazidis really was off his head when he signed that off.
CG has been shown for what he’s always been with the sacking of Emery. Slagging off Emery was OK on here and actively supported by Pedro. Now Arteta has come in and is making positive moves forward and has the vast majority of players and fans behind him and CG is still moaning.
CG is and always will be a Wenger boy.
I read that you need to buy a membership before you can buy a ticket. What does this membership offer me? Can I get a discount at an Arsenal store? Do I receive news letter from Arsenal?
Walt
“””CG is and always will be a Wenger boy.”””
And you will always be a Raul boy.
I back the greatest ever Arsenal manager with integrity and class.
You back the fatty Spaniard.
Who would nt even know the meaning of the 2 words.
Wenger never had us in 9th.
Raul has.
‘Classy’ ozil?
When he isn’t hanging around with his dictator mate, you mean?
Classy???? LOL
Nelson It’s been a while since I bought a Red Membership but if my memory serves me correct you get access to the website and a membership pack it also allows you access to buy tickets. It’s changed since I had a Red membership because the demand for tickets isn’t what it used to be. So there will be matches that go to general sale where anybody can buy a ticket but that’s hit and miss. What a Red membership does offer is the chance to use ticket exchange where ST holders who can’t make a match can resell there… Read more »
Ah wenger class too, like cheating on his wife.
Classy husband is our arsene
Jamie
I know, it’s frightening.
Not his fault though.
That’s the equivalent of two Pepe’s.
Add the Sanchez farce onto it and that’s half the Stadium build.
Never mind.
I remember when wenger held himself together with great class and dignity by stringing the club along and pretending he wasn’t sure if he was going to sign a new contract until the damage had already been done by the uncertainty. I remember the class when he lied bare face to the fans over and over again about having money and wanting to spend on top quality whilst doing the opposite I remember the class when he insulted the fans intelligence for daring to question his poor substitutions I remember the class when always pretending to never see it, if… Read more »
I have an insight into Wenger: the senile old twat who sold Gnabry to Werder Bremen for £5m
Reasons to be realistic rather than overly or blindly optimistic: one, not only were Arsenal outshot 17 to 9 at home against 10th place Everton, Everton had the higher xG (1.79 to 1.35). Yes, Arsenal won 3-2, but over the longer-term, those numbers could prove problematic.
Two, West Ham nearly beat Liverpool last night, and this at Anfield. There are no easy matches in the PL this season. To the extent that anyone was thinking that a West Ham, or a Brighton, or a Southampton will be an “easy” win, this is definitely not the case.
Wenger didn’t love the club he loved himself .
A class act would have bowed out at the top, and not dragged us down to where we are now.
We knew what was happening he didn’t .
French outlet Le 10 Sport is apparently reporting that Arsenal have had positive talks with Aubameyang regarding a contract extension.
Did Wenger actually divulge his VAR ideas to his superiors?
Of course he did.
Classy guy.
Baying Mob
“”””I have an insight into Wenger: the senile old twat who sold Gnabry to Werder Bremen for £5m”””””
When Bertie Mee sold Ray Kennedy to Liverpool- I am sure fans at the time didn’t speak about Mr. Mee like you have with our Wenger.
Managers have decisions to make.
You seem like one of lifes ungrateful little urchins that seem ubiquitous on this site.
You and your ilk deserve the current excrement we watch on a weekly basis.
China “I remember when wenger held himself together with great class and dignity by stringing the club along and pretending he wasn’t sure if he was going to sign a new contract until the damage had already been done by the uncertainty.I remember the class when he lied bare face to the fans over and over again about having money and wanting to spend on top quality whilst doing the oppositeI remember the class when he insulted the fans intelligence for daring to question his poor substitutionsI remember the class when always pretending to never see it, if our own… Read more »
Another amazing thing on here is that the majority of posters, who I hasten to add are 100% correct in this matter, see Wenger for what he is.
The minority, on the other hand, always provide the excuses.
That’s right, just like Mr Wenger.
Yes Pierre “substitutions and dividing” was the only point I made right?
Try harder.
Incredible that people are still arguing about Wenger. I mean, I spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about that man, sadly, but it’s time to move on, no?
Wenger knew the fan base was tearing itself apart because of him and that was also going to hurt the club on the pitch with negative atmospheres but instead of doing something right for the club he professed to love, he didn’t only hang in there for his own egotistical and financial gain, he even had the audacity to string the fans along by pretending he wasn’t sure if he wanted to sign that contract. He wanted to punish the fans and he hurt the club to make a point that he is in control. He used to regularly come… Read more »
You know in all these years I’m still yet to see one AKB acknowledge that him cheating on his wife was a cuntish thing to do
Every time it gets raised it gets glossed over and ignored.
Either AKBs think that’s a perfectly classy and acceptable thing to do, they have cheated on their own wife and don’t want to judge, or they’re putting their fingers in the ears whenever a legitimate case of him being a count gets raised. Take your pick
Regarding last weekend’s game , I feel Arteta got it wrong with his substitutions. Sometimes bringing on 2 defensive minded midfielders ( Guendouzi, Torreira)for 2 attacking and technically better midfielders (ozi,Ceballos) will hand the initiative over to the opposition, and this is what happened. Our weak spots were down the flanks and that should have been addressed. Pepe was giving no protection to the struggling Bellerin and Saka was weak in the 2nd half . I’m not sure why AMN has gone out of favour as he is ideal to have on the bench. At any given time he can… Read more »
It’s great to have a Wenger rant every now and then.
It puts everything into perspective.
————————-
Actually looking forward to the CL games tonight and tomorrow.
Chelski and Bayern will be an interesting encounter, as will the Napoli v Barca game.
China1
Agreed.
Says everything about the guy.
Wenger was a terribly greedy man who got addicted to having his nose in the trough, tarnished his legacy and left like a confused lame dog. Thinking of him makes me physical retch …
TBM
I hear you.
Ozil’s apparent weekly wages seems to irk loads of people on here; however there is information on the internet showing that without us playing UCL he is actually earning close to £230k a week; And also the figures included his image rights which I think was also a huge factor. If one considers De Gea earns more than Ozil and also Martial is on £250k it puts things in perspective; saying that none of these players are worth that amount of money when you consider the average professional footballer outside of the 4 major leagues in Europe earns less than… Read more »
Pierre I think you bring up a great point re’ Pepe.
Plus apart from his assist I think he has been a very limited player.
China1, I have never cheated on my wife and I don’t intend to. But lots of people have done so, that does not make them cunt or asshole. You don’t know exactly what happen between a couple behind closed door. Look at Johnny Depp, two months ago he was viewed as a wife beater and a horrible person who should be banned from Hollywood. Now it has been revealed that Amber Heard was the abuser all along and that she is a serial manipulative liar. Maybe it is the French side of me, but I have always separated the private… Read more »
Un
The impression that your knickers are in a twist is the way you harp on and on about Emery being shit and thinking that your point of view was worth it. I wish Arteta the same luck and success as I did Emery, because he is the manager of the club I love.