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.
Leno is Man of the Match
C’mon. Boot it upfield. Sok!!
Xhara hit the best clearance finally
Like I said before – thank fuck West Ham are shite in front of goal!
All West Ham now
Was that another reaction save by Leno? defending a lead is not our thing. Don’t need an Olympiakos repeat.
Take that bit of luck all day. The big deflection.
Shouldn’t have taken them so long to make the decision it was a goal though.
very good defensive work by Neslon in his own box
Play Martinelli to help the flanks… ARTETA BRO
This is embarrassing.
Can’t even sustain a bit of pressure on West Ham
No the point is not abt who replaced whom. It’s abt how you judge effective contribution
Wouldn’t it make more sense to comment on Nketiah’s effectiveness then given he’s keeping Lacazette out of the team.
TR7
Very well my friend
You seta. low bar for Arteta – improved performances
Yet you’re unperturbed by us not consistently meeting that standard
Fuck me,If it wasnt for Leno.
Our defending is so poor..
West Ham are good actors
We need to be dominant. Our body language is embarrassing
Fk me, David luiz having a great game. Motm definitely.
hang in there fellas…
Auba and Saka both went to one player leaving the other free.
Mari slots right in. He’s the real deal
Laca has no desire whatsoever to compete for a header when he calls himself a striker?!
VAR in the hands of these referees is like giving new iPhones to macaque monkeys
Well done Stockley Park. Superb decision.
1-0 to the Arsenal. 🎶
Dani C seems to be the only mid trying to do something…
This game really is bad… we came out the gates half asleep! and I am up at 7am watching this shit more awake than the players!!
Now don’t concede
They are getting more adventurous
Why are we still committing 5 players forward so late in the game
Xhaha all most gets us in trouble.
Xhaka is too heavy footed
Wow Ozil taken off? Is this real life?
Bellerin???? wtf
Is bellerin the best option from the bench??
Leno is having a great game … thank God.
Can anyone spot a difference between today’s defending and the defending under Wenger and emery?
Hopefully we win this, but being outplayed and out chanced by West ham at home is sorry viewing.
Midwest
Leno won us at least two points in this game
“Can anyone spot a difference between today’s defending and the defending under Wenger and emery?”
We defend with Sauce.
Every fucking time West Ham players drop its arsenal making a nudge and FK!!
Remember torreira got smacked and whacked on his ankle and NOT a FK.
Fuck off.
Nelson could have driven into the box.
Waste more time if nothing else
Diss-
Yep.. 5 mins to hang on.
thats it keep shooting
Reeece Nelson is looking more mature
He will push Peep next season for that starting spot.
MOTD will be fun to watch later. hardly any goals at all today.
Why doesn’t Laca challenge the CB at all? Just fucking stand there and watch tre clearance??
Pepe or Martinelli should be playing centrally IMO not on the wings. either could play in Ozil’s position.
I thibk part of why our defense looked so bad was really the offense being limp. I lay that at the hands of pepe more than anyone else althoigh there were very few bright spots. If the attack isnt fluid than the other team doesmt have to expend much energy in d
Honestly the players should pick VAR as the player of the season
Dani has a good work output… fella is everywhere
passing just off today a bit
Pepe is a huge disappointment at the moment
Mari just is a beast in the air. Love it!
Is Nelson stupid heading the ball back toward own box??
And yes this looked more like an emery win than anything ive seen under MA yet
Good defending by Ceballos there.. ok 1 min.
Seriously so many players to shift in the summer if we have an ounce of ambition at all.
Dhaka’s too slow and poor decision making
WTF was bellerin doing there? awful. he’s another player that has lost it.
Great 3 points but nothing to celebrate about.
Lucky win.
Hard earned win
Nkettiah can go back to the subs bench
He’s not doing enough to be starting.
Auba can be so annoyingly useless
Nelson ahead of Martinelli has got to be some kind of a sick joke. Martinelli hadn’t really put a foot wrong until Arteta rooted him to the bench.
Alright… That’s that.. needed that 3 points .. lot of work to do though, obviously.
Ugly unconvincing win but a precious three points at this stage.
Gained a couple of points on Wolves today.
They have 6 on target and we have only 2. Lucky win.
Happy with the 3 points but hugely disappointed with the performance .
We’ll get minced by City on Wednesday
Lucky win for us West Ham could have been 3 up in the first half.
Raptora
Nelson ahead of Martinelli has got to be some kind of a sick joke. Martinelli hadn’t really put a foot wrong until Arteta rooted him to the bench.
Martinelli is not good on the right wing. Auba currently occupies Martinelli’s position. And we cant bench Auba So.
1-0 I’ll take 3 points no matter the play. But fk me Arteta has a lot to improve mainly in his lineups and subs yet again.
Dissenter
“Nkettiah can go back to the subs bench
He’s not doing enough to be starting.”
Wanted the guy to lay a marker today but he failed.
Not a good game at all. Poor,slow, ponderous play with inaccurate passing throughout. Lucky to get 3 points. fair to say without VAR that would have ended 0-0.
Great win our rivals Newcastle and Crystal Palace both won!
Laca changed the game
Another fine day to see another Spuds collapse
3 points, clean sheet, hard fought win. Ozil and Ceballos good games.
We are staying up, said we are staying up!
Poor performance but very crucial 3 points. 2 points off United.
Mari is great in air. It will be interesting to see whether he can make up for his lack of pace with good aerial ability and good reading of the game.
Ceballos and Saka played very well. Good cameo from Laca. Leno was very good too.
Nketiah can be good in and around the box but other than that he’s next to useless.
Very laboured win.
Got the 3 points in the bag.
We seriously need to learn how to m9ve the ball up the pitch faster. Why aren’t we pressing anymore?
As for Xhaka: sell him for either £20 million or 1p but please get rid.
We really need someone who can actually control a game and know how to move forward.
Well at least now .. I can be happy we got the points and root for Burnley to continue the Mourinho meltdown.
Man City will tear us a new arsehole if we play anything like that. Arteta needs to find a stronge team. sadly I dont think we have the midfielders at the club.
Ooof, grim performance, but that 3 points is so vital…
Still 10th, but the pack tightened again. 6 points 10th to 4th. Unreal
Calvert -lewin renewed a 5 year contract. Why are we having so much trouble with Saka!
No structure, no focus, very lucky win today. West Ham are shite but put the fear of God into us on every break and set piece. 70% possession – 2 shots on target. WH 30% possession – 6 shots on target – go figure!
Big up Leno, Ceballos, Mari and perhaps Luiz. Everyone else piss poor – including Arteta! Once again poor in game management and team selection.
We got through that by the skin of our teeth. We just aren’t seem to be moving the needle at all.
Also, today offside shows why wengers suggestion is so much better than what we have right now, measuring millimetres. With the fifa president backing it publicly hopefully next season we will see the rule changed.
Its good to play both Eddie and Nelson.
Cant see any of them being good enough for Arsenal, but could fetch some good 20mil+ a piece this summer if they are somewhat exposed/played till the end of season.
Would sell Willock too if he doesent improve.
Ugly win today but I will take it.
Raptora
Who would have been your starting lineup?
Note:LT is injured, Mustafi is probably not fit and Bellerin has been suspect in that past few games he has played.
This is a team that has been relying on the flanks for quite a while now.
Plenty of other teams go big on the flanks as well but what seperates the truly good sides from the also rans is that they have an added factor to go along with it. Strong flank play plus good midfield or defence.
Arsenal have neither a good midfield or defence.
This is the job in the summer. To improve midfield and defence primarily the midfield and then Arsenal can start thinking about becoming a truly good side.
1-0 wins everywhere.
The midfield was not up to it today.
So many displaced passes. If westham finished better they could have scored during one of those interceptions
Two shots on target for us.
At home.
Arteta pants.
He has developed favoritism with certain players which is not the receipt for improvement
Arteta is looking more Arsène Wenger than Pep Guardiola
Dani Ceballos for Arsenal against West Ham:
Most touches (121)
Most passes completed (86)
Most recoveries (14)
Most interceptions (6)
Most tackles (5)
Most fouls won (2)
So many people absolutely gutted we won that. Pathetic.
TR7, didn’t look like a top performance, but the numbers tell a different story
Ceballos was also guilty of some sloppy passing as well.
I think most know now that he will not be bought and he will go back to Spain.
He has some decent to good attributes but overall he is not good enough and isn’t going to propel this team forward.
Pedro
Ceballos was very very good today and I thought that was very apparent too. Moved the ball brilliantly from deep areas.
TR7, it was an all-action performance. Just surprising that numbers like that return such a poor rate of shots. Still think he takes too many touches.
How in the world is Eric Dier still able to start today after whjatv happened midweek? Is the precedent that any player can run into the stands to defend their siblings when another fan is taking shots at them. Adebayor was punished for running to celebrate a goal in front of Arsenal fans yet Dier is being handled with kid gloves when he did the indefensible? All abuse isn’t even illegal, unless that fans was abusing Dier in specific pejorative ways like on race, religion, ethnic origin etc …it wasn’t illegal. How many times do we say players are “crap”… Read more »
Zacharse
And yes this looked more like an emery win than anything ive seen under MA yet
—
Okay
Pedro
“So many people absolutely gutted we won that. Pathetic.”
You’re now trolling on your own blog.
Who’s gutted we won?
Nketiah is very similar to auba but lacks the explosive pace. He doesn’t offer a lot. Xhaka had a stinker. If he starting for us next season arteta isn’t going to be the guy fir us. No elite coach accepts a player with such limitations. Saka has the potential of an elite winger. No need to waste him at left back when his best work comes in forward positions. Ceballos had a mixed game too. Definitely wouldn’t sign him permanently. Martinelli is a forward that is being inhibited. He just wrecks havoc when he is around the penalty are and… Read more »
Pedro,you sound ridiculous.
There is no pressing. There is no saucy football as promised. Compared to the way they played in Arteta’s first few games, it’s regressed.
Emery was shit. He had to go. But don’t try and spin the way they are playing now as an improvement.
Ceballos is our best bet to improve our play but he still has zero off the ball movement, doesn’t present himself as a link man ahead of the ball, and doesn’t really dribble either. You need at least one of the those three things to actually trouble the opposition.
Pedro
Yes Ceballos is a ball hogger and takes a lot of touches but at least his end product is generally good. We have midfielders who take a lot of touches only to produce a 5 yard regulation pass. So Ceballos is still better than other mids we have.