Derby day awaits

by .

Late-breaking post today because I feel… err… a bit warm… and I… have a… k… kind of…cough.

SHUT UP IT’S NOT THAT YOU DRAMA QUEEN.

Quick post regardless.

LT has broken his ankle. We’re really in a bit of a rut when it comes to injuries. Some unlucky, some fatigue looking, some that are just the aftermath of people feeling sad that we really gave Emery 18 months. Yes, it’s a fact that sort of shit can play HAVOC with the muscles. The manager had this to say.

We don’t know! I could not tell you with points. For sure since I joined, the amount of things that happened is enormous, but we just have to try to adapt. It’s part of football. It doesn’t only happen to us, unfortunately it also happens to many other teams. So we cannot be crying about that. It is what it is. Sometimes it’s bad luck, sometimes it’s part of the game we play and sometimes things that we can avoid and do better as well – the coaches or fitness coaches – but it is what it is.

The only silver lining with LT is that he seemed to be fairly out of favour. I think he’ll be shifted back to Italy in the summer if we can find a buyer. We need someone that’s more athletic and about 6 inches taller. Super basic, but I do think this team needs more power in midfield. I think a profile like Denis Zakaria (6’2) would fit really well for us, though I’m sure he’ll have sexier suitors than us this summer… maybe we go younger and a little more inexperienced.

Arteta wouldn’t be drawn on whether he thinks the top 4 is a possibility this season, probably a smart move, the team is very up and down and we’re a bit all over the place.

Beat West Ham on Saturday and we are closer. That’s all I am thinking because a few weeks ago it looked impossible and if we beat West Ham it will look more likely. So that’s the only aim. If game-by-game we go and start grabbing three points and three points and three points, and then we’ll have a chance in the last three or four games of the season.

He won’t say it, but I will. We should be making a very good go of the next 6 games. We need to, at the very least, be in with a shot of top 5 by the time we roll into our stick run of Wolves, Spurs and Leicester. By that time, it’s with the gods, but if our next 6 see 5 wins and a draw, I’ll be very pleased.

One thing is for sure, the remaining fixtures are going to be about the kids and blooding them.

I have to manage the resources that I have at the moment, and they are a big resource at the moment. It’s not just because they are young and they can be good because they are already very good. Some of them can be phenomenal. But they can only be phenomenal or very good if they play in a consistent way and we get them surrounded with good coaching, with good club culture and also with good players around them. We have to support them. I’m ready to support them and they responded.

If we don’t make the Champions League this season, it’s going to be all about the youth next season and we’re going to have to rebuild like Dortmund are. I’d be happy with that, expectations would lower, fans would get behind the team, and we’d probably like the team a lot more than we have during the expensive years.

… but, it would be nice to make the big trophy.

Right, that’s me done. BIG GAME, really need us to be delivering an aggressive win.

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DivineSherlock

I know Ozil got an assist and probably bad time to slog him but he was awful. Numerous times I saw him not passing it to Pepe when he had space down to run . Ozil at no.10 has to be atleast creating something. Only Xhaka atm looks like creating that final pass frok midfield. Ceballos as a DM was interesting. Teams have figured out our propensity of left sided Saka Auba Xhaka.Arteta needa to change it up a little.

Leftside

I haven’t seen anybody upset that we won except Thomas who is clearly not an Arsenal fan but allowed to post here.

Receding Hairline

Who exactly is gutted we won?

Because people are pointing out the performance wasn’t good enough?

Guess Pedro you hoped we lost every game last season then?

Stop projecting your style of support on others.

It was a rubbish performance but three points is three points. We are still very much in the mix for Europe.

Spanishdave

Yeh numbers two shots on goal! Ffs at home.
It was crap performance constantly giving the ball away, look at those numbers.
No movement in midfield , no pressing.

Mark

Ceballos played really well today. Good defensively and good moving forward with the ball. We need to provide more/better options as a team for our players to pass to when we are in possession. Stopped counting how many times our play broke down due to the shit passing of Xhaka! He takes more from the team than he adds and he is a total liability with his tackling or should I say fouling. I grt nervy any time he has to challenge anywhere near our box. . Why he’s not subbed is baffling me. The more Arteta plays him the… Read more »

Jamie

That was a piss poor 3 points and another xG loss, at home to a David Moyes team in a relegation scrap. I’ll take it though, because that’s how shit we are.

Mark

I feel Ceballos played really well today. Good defensively and good moving forward with the ball. We need to provide more/better options as a team for our players to pass to when we are in possession. Stopped counting how many times our play broke down due to the shit passing of Xhaka! He takes more from the team than he adds and he is a total liability with his tackling or should I say fouling. I grt nervy any time he has to challenge anywhere near our box. . Why he’s not subbed is baffling me. The more Arteta plays… Read more »

TheLegendaryDB10

Pedro

And we are 3 pts from 5th with a game in hand as it stands.

Happy with the 3 points despite the performance. In this case, we really had to as West Ham were shite. Drawing to them would have been grim.

——–

I can’t wait for this summer to come to see what we do. I really hope we start working on this very dysfunctional midfield.

TR7

The thing is you can’t play Xhaka, Ceballos and Ozil all in the same 11. None of them can make off the ball run or score goals or really up their tempo.

Dissenter

Un nai
‘Ceballos is good in deep areas. Some lovely touches but he runs out of ideas as he approaches the opposition box.”

Yes I agree with this
He needs to swivel his head more, he failed to spot Saka’s runs in the first half over and over again. He’s a good passer of the ball though.

Dissenter

Spurs have two players starting today that should be in the sin bin;
Dele Ali and Dier.
Stinking FA will take their time until their injury crises remits.

Receding Hairline

TR7 we are 15 games in so I think it’s fair to ask seeing as you seem more interested in that sort of stuff .. What is Arteta’s philosophy?

Ishola70

TR7
“The thing is you can’t play Xhaka, Ceballos and Ozil all in the same 11. ”

None of these three though factor if we want to see a really good Arsenal midfield.

Arteta must improve the midfield with a buy or two or he will fail.

We have had this sub standard midfield for far too long now.

Habesha Gooner

Pedro is just backing his horse no Matter what. Favouritism and playing some players no Matter what all seem like traits shared with Arsene Wenger. Results have improved and performances have been crap. It reminds you of a certain someone who did the same in his first season. And pedro has criticized both coaches for the same reasons. The only common denominator has been a terrible midfield. Arteta needs to fix that before talking about us as a champions league team again.

Pierre

Beautiful cushioned header from Ozil to put the ball on a plate for Lacazette. .

Mari was a plus
Leno had a very good game.
Ceballos great game .
Sake decent .
Sokratis decent .

The rest were average and the team as a whole was average at best.

What it does show week on week this season is how spoilt we were as fans with the quality of football we witnessed over the past 20 years.

We have struggled over the last 18months to even recreate the football of Wenger’s last 2 years

Dissenter

Un nai
I knew you’ll take the bait and write something daft… and you met my expectation.
You’ll notice race wasn’t the only criteria I listed and I also finished with ‘etc”
You’ll do well to read what’s written before swinging in like Tarzan.

FYI; I’m more conservative than you’ll ever be. You Neo-right wing leanings aren’t conservatism.

Zacharse

Hopefully nelson usurped pepes spot. Hopefully mari is now a starter. If there were better options than ozil
And xhaka id love to see them but guen and willock are not reliable enough. Reffing horrendous. AGAIN. The backline was not the problem it was the midfield. I think the problem stems from xhaka ozil and pepe playing together, really ozil and pepe. Thank god leno had a night.
Lets hope playing city brings out a bit more fight

Ishola70

There is no evident philosophy from Arteta just yet.

Just a bit of better sructuring of the team.

We have been promised more evident philosophy when he has a summer and pre-season with the side.

Look forwward to it.

If his philosophy is to continue with Xhaka at the core of his midfield he and Arsenal are going really nowhere though.

TR7 must be praying that Arteta’s philosophy and vision doesn’t entail Xhaka just like so many others on here.

Vladdy P

Am hoping it gets better now we are out of the euro Cup and less fixture congestion, but Arteta kept preaching effort and ruthlessness. Am not seeing either from his players or himself in his decision making. Same suspects get to play again and again no matter what.

Leftside

‘Same suspects get to play again and again no matter what.‘

Of course. We’ll likely see the same suspects lining up next season.

Dissenter

If we get a good fee for Auba in the summer, will Teemu Pukki be a reasonable and cheap option to replace him?

Major_Jeneral

I still don’t get this accusation of favoritism.

Thomas

Bring Wenger back lol. Like he wasn’t fucking awful in his last years.

Dissenter

Mari will get better once he settles in. He has all the makings of a good premier league defender.

Vladdy P

If ozil or xhaka are here next season count me out.

No one who was raised at la masia and worked with pep can possibly look at xhaka and say ‘now THAT’S a no4’

Samesong

I’ll take the 3 points all day.

MidwestGun

Yes.. Go on Burnley!

Receding Hairline

Pierre still rewriting the last decade of Wenger’s tenure bless him.

Receding Hairline

Dissenter I’m not going to make any declarations about Mari just yet.

Ishola70

Xhaka is more important to bin than Ozil.

The midfield needs revamping and to truly do that you need to replace the core midfielder. The guy who sets the tone and tempo of the midfield and that has been Xhaka.

Ideally you get rid of both but I could just about live with the wet sponge for one more season if two players are brought in to improve central midfield.

Dissenter

Unai nai
You are really a strange dude living in Lala land
You’re one of those people that think everything will just be fine if we stopped talking about it. You’re probably one of those holocaust deniers I suspect. I believe it gets better when we talk about stuff openly and respectfully. I’m the one in the middle trying to make sure everyone gets heard.
Remember your right wing nonsense isn’t conservatism, it is just a new type of well disguised hate.
Anyways behave yourself and let’s stick to footie.

Batistuta

A bit of a reach to claim anyone is gutted we won, huge sigh of relief all over even on the blog

Vladdy P

Diss, what are you going on about?

Like what I see from Mari. He’s very calm. Never looks afraid or in a rush like the others in defence.

Dissenter

What will happen if Mourhino loses today and another Spuds player has a meltdown.

Ishola70

Receding
“I’m not going to make any declarations about Mari just yet.”

Very wise.

Dissenter seems real keen on this certain signing.

I think he likes his exotic South American sojourn with Flamengo.

Let’s hope he fits in. He was done a couple of times in open play today with opposition running at him.

Going to be good for the team with aerials though.

Guns of SF

no Pukki here
Puke

Dissenter

Vladdy
“Diss, what are you going on about?”

I held the same sentiment regarding Mari

Guns of SF

How much will Ceballos cost us?

Ishola70

lol fuckin Pukki.

TR7

Receding Aeteta has a clear tactics in defense and in attack. We play 4-2-3-1 but when we attack Xhaka shifts to left back and our right back moves in to midfield. So in attack we move to 3-2-4-1. Emery used to focus on individuals pressing high but Arteta focuses on positional pressing that is players occupy right positions to stop the opposition and help us have more possession of the ball. We also commit more players in opposition areas while attacking. Like Pep, Arteta prefers ball playing defenders as is clear with regular starting spot for Saka and Luiz and… Read more »

Ishola70

Splendid though isn’t this melt down of Spurs.

As predicted.

Dissenter

Ishola
I said Mari has the makings of a good premier league defender. I wasn’t crowning him with anything just yet.

comprender?
You can’t expect him to just be dominating front the beginning, even VVD has moments of uncertainty initially at Southampton.

Receding Hairline

Ishola the defending from him on the chance when Antonio failed to square it for Haller was school boy.

I don’t want to pin it on him but today was his first premier league partnership with Luiz and I don’t think Luiz enjoyed it. West Ham could have scored two today and no one would say they were lucky.

Aerially he was sound but we have been here before with some of his predecessors. Still early days

Ishola70

Dissenter

We won’t know if Mari is going to be a good EPL defender until we see him dealing with opposition running at him in open play when he is drawn out.

Mind you David Luiz has made a living in England. But we all know he isn’t that good a defender don’t we. Not overall.

Markymark

Unai nai – stick your the football, you’ve often make good points and they are reasonable. Soon as you go into politics you seem to get some odd chip on your shoulder. If you were truly comfortable with yourself you wouldn’t need to race bait. I know many conservatives and 95% of them have no issues with other races but I do know the odd Enoch Powell amongst them. If he is your hero just be aware he stirred up racial tensions and attacks on ethnic minorities by using made up letters. Not a nice guy . You can be… Read more »

Ishola70

Receding
“the defending from him on the chance when Antonio failed to square it for Haller was school boy.”

Yes that particular play was very concerning.

But we hope he learns from it.

Stew

Are we ever going to get an Arsenal player to take a (proper) shot on goal?? Enormous amount of possession and almost every time we fail to test the goalie.
And – can we please stop using 11 men to defend a corner? It’s a ridiculous tactic that doesn’t help defensively and means we can never make a breakaway attack. Drives me nuts. Anyone else feel that way ??

TR7

With every new job, Mourinho puts a dent to his reputation a little bit more. He should retire and stick to punditry.

Dissenter

Unaio na
I brought cup abuse based on race, religion…etc
But your warped and debased ego was mortally offended by a reference to “race” You choose to zoom in on it.

I know of no conservative person who thinks everyone has the same opportunity, only superficial thinking neo- right wingers like you, living in a state of willful denial think so.
You’re always offended by ANY mention of race, why is that?

Receding Hairline

Nice TR7 thanks for the breakdown. My question had nothing to do with Emery by the way so dunno why again he is dragged in. You guys keep mentioning Xhaka tucking in,that isn’t a philosophy by the way, just allowances made for a player with deficiencies. A Since you brought it up emery did have a clear idea of what he wanted to do based on the opposition, you dont fluke your way to 21 wins in the premier league. Just like the players are apparently struggling with what Arteta asks of them can’t same be said for Emery? Anyway… Read more »

Guns of SF

3 points from 5th
we have a game in hand
altho its man city

dammit

MidwestGun

I believe Mourinho is done as a top manager.. His man management skills are gone.. Every team he manages now ends up with player dissention and acting out. And eventually they implode. Happens to all managers really.. eventually they lose their mojo. It will happen with Pep, Simeone, it happened to Wenger. Managers have a shelf life just like players. Think Emery is done too. Some fans don’t get that.. think player and managers always perform to their optimum career levels. They don’t, except maybe Messi or Ronaldo. who are consistently brilliant every season. That is one of the best… Read more »

TR7

Receding

You can’t talk abouy anyone’s philosophy in isolation without contrasting it with someone else’s. That’s why I pointed out how Emery used to employ a different approach, it wasn’t meant to be a dig at him. He tried what he believed in and unfortunately it didn’t work out.

Guns of SF

yes we need this win today. Man City is next… praying for an Arteta miracle there.
Lets see if the apprentice can beat the master…

Dissenter

Unai’na
“Didn’t day everyone has the same opportunities
Just that everyone has equal opportunity.”

Idiotsa
“Same” and “equal”, what’s the difference ?

Everyone does not have equal opportunities.
There are stratas in every society, in some places it’s derived from a history where people were intentionally left out by the power of the state. The US in one of such.

You are living in a self-induced state of denial. You’re also a superficial thinker.
Whatever you are, you are no conservative.

Vladdy P

Lol at anyone who thinks un is right wing.

Dissenter

Pedro
A thousand apologies
Really, I made a random point about abuse and Unai zoomed in on “race”
I’ll abstain from non-football issues for the next 5 minutes

MidwestGun

Un … Yeah Sir Alex was probably the exception to the rule. Also arguably the best manager of all times.

CG

Pierre “””What it does show week on week this season is how spoilt we were as fans with the quality of football we witnessed over the past 20 years. We have struggled over the last 18months to even recreate the football of Wenger’s last 2 years”””” Well said as always Pierre. 100% agreement. (Wenger made this management game look so so easy) His teams were always so fluent, so harmonious. Memmeric at times Now watching Arsenal- is like pulling teeth. (We used to destroy teams like this at home under his watch.) Not now. But thats what the phoney progressives… Read more »

MidwestGun

The announcer keeps saying Burnley look like scoring every time they attack.. I’m like yeah I wish they would.

TR7

SAF overrated

TR7

New post

CG

UN

“””Good ol Bobby Robson
How the modern game could use a touch of his class”””

Well said.

He nearly joined Arsenal-but he had given his word to the Porto FC chairman.

Very loyal and classy gentleman ( like our Wenger)

Imagine if Le Grove was around then and SBR did become AFC manager

The majority on here would have wanted him out too.

Too old , not progressive enough etc, etc.

CG

PedRo

“”””CG, we hired a young progressive coach called Arsene Wenger. Much better choice.”””

Had SBR joined Arsenal.And he was desperate to do so.

There would have probably been no A.Wenger.

Funny old game.

Either way. Both men are exactly the sort of calibre of manager I want to see at the club.

None of this Head Coach /Teck Deck/Head of soccer nonsense.

China1

The var work yesterday was an absolute disgrace Who on here didn’t manage to be totally confident he was onside within the first 10-15 seconds of watching the replay? Then he drew the first line and it was nailed on onside, zero potential dispute. 3 mins later I don’t even know what they’re talking about, and they’ve gone back to draw the line again This needs to stop and the officials responsible all need sacking. WHAT ARE THEY ACTUALLY DOING??? It was a tight one at full speed in real time but it was VERY easy to see he was… Read more »

Gonsterous

We are a point behind spuds with a game in hand. Sadly that game in hand is against city.

Last night’s result was great but judging by the way we played, we won’t make top 4 this season. We were terrible, and west ham should have been 2-0 in the first up, if it wasn’t for dodgy finishing.

Don’t expect city to miss those chances.

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