Ok, so results didn’t go for us on Sunday. We’re very much up against it as far as the race for top 4 goes, but as we’ve seen in the past, form means little when everyone is shit, but one thing is for sure, results are going to matter.
Chelsea routed Everton. It was embarrassing how bad Carlo’s boys were. Tactically inept, slow, and lacking energy. Quite the opposite of the side that came to play us after 2 weeks rest (and lost, lol).
United beat City fairly comfortably. They sat back, happily let Pep’s team ping the ball around, then caught the fast lads on the counter. It was a horrible day for Ederson, he was beaten at the near post with a fairly soft yet spectacular Martial volley, then he blew the game late on with a terrible bit of distribution. At the highest level, you’ll be punished for being a doughnut, Ederson was that, triple glazed today.
So where does that leave us? In a bit of a tough spot. We either need to put a fallen giant to the sword, or take an over the knee spanking to breath life into a miserable Pep G season. Traditionally, we’ve been a gift for managers that are struggling, so I don’t hold out a lot of hope. The most we can hope for is that we give them a tough game… but if all City have to play for is the Champions League, there’s the potential their minds will be on the European game the week after. That insight is more hope than reality.
Still, what we can deduce from United’s two wins against them this season is that they don’t have a very good backline at the moment. Their keeper has lost his sparkle and their defensive structure does not deal well with pace. We have that in bundles if we want to play the counter-attacking game. Auba, Gabriel, Nelson, Saka and Pepe can all cause problems in a counter-attacking system. The concern is whether we have the defensive confidence to sit back and let City happen to us.
Still, we’ve dealt with United, we had good games against Chelsea, even with 10 men, and you can count on Arteta and his staff really going hard at this one. It’s a game with low expectations from the fans, but one they’ll want to use to prove to the country they were the right people to put in place at a massive club that wants to go back to the top.
Anyway, brief thoughts today. See you in the comments. x
“There was no tangible evidence nor guarantee that Cazorla could even make it back, Charlie. Hindsight is what it is and the risk-reward came into play – something that Arsenal historically have not done particularly well.“ That’s utterly conflicting. The tangible evidence that he could come back is his playing time at Villarreal since. The tangible evidence immediately post-surgery wouldve been seen in his muscular performance protocols. He COULD play football again, that was the decision at the time. We decided he wasn’t worth a contract because there were doubts about his ability to last – this is where we… Read more »
Un,
What about the £9.2m we paid Santi for the 2 years he didn’t kick a ball for us? Free money?
CC
Immediately post surgery?
What do you think was wrong with Cazorla?
Tell me. Is that good business?
Not getting suckered in Don. Come on bro!
Lineup against City.
Leno, Niles, Mustafi, Luiz,Saka, Guendouzi, Xhaka, Ceballos, Martinelli,Aubameyang, Pepe.
Arteta is probably going to go with
Leno,Sokratis,Luiz, Mari, Saka, Ceballos, Xhaka, Ozil, Aubameyang, pepe,Lacazette
I just feel It would be better If we went there to strictly counterattack. No ozil. Mustafi is also needed I think. Mari and Luiz don’t look like a good pairing. They are too similar. we need one sweeper and one on the front foot defender. We need better defensive contributions. And We need to get at city’s fragile defense.
Habesha
Is Mustafi back from injury?
All hindsight Charlie. Cazorla was going to be a gamble no matter what. Had he not come back as he has then many would be saying prudent move not signing him. “We decided he wasn’t worth a contract because there were doubts about his ability to last” And this remains essentially true and equally i am in agreement with it. The risk evaluation on Cazorla, right or wrong, was the correct decision at the time. Considering Arsenal’s history of spending money on otherwise oft injured players, long term was not sustainable. Cazorla ticked off pretty much every box on the… Read more »
Ernest
There’s also the personal side of things – maybe Cazorla wanted to go back to Spain.
We will be at odds on Cazorla, Charlie. I understand each of your arguments and can very much see where you are coming from, but from the perspective of a club that no longer appears to have an abundance of financial heft, you have to pick your investments on what you believe to be best return on investment. To that end, Cazorla had a question mark on his fitness. Was it the right call? At the time it certainly was and remains so today, after all they could have theoretically trying signing him again this past offseason or even enquired… Read more »
Marc
Arteta has said both Cedric and Mustafi are ready to play. This is what I read
Journo:-Are Cedric Soares and Shkodran Mustafi in the frame?
Arteta:-I think they will be available to play. Hopefully everyone will be able to train tomorrow and we’ll pick the best players we can.
Suarez was an Arsenal Emery move all the way and a beyond dumb one at that. Ceballos at his current cost can be a serviceable player but not one that I would take up on his option to buy. Cazorla remains, in my opinion, an enigmatic anomaly. I somehow truly doubt he’d be playing for us today.
Agreed Marc, Cazorla himself said he wanted to finish out his career at home. His team felt he was worth the gamble and have been rewarded.
E.R
““He’s playing with a groin tear and on pain killers.”
And I thought post Wenger – we were going all cutting edge.
(Wenger was an alleged dinosaur in these medical matters.)
If this is the case- its a shocking indictment of the current affairs at the club (including MA management in selecting the injured player)
How can you in this day and age you play a player who has groin tear and load him up with painkillers?
Do they want to do serious harm to Hector long term?
UN
I concur with your Santi comments.
What with the Spanish Mafia at the club at the time – keeping Santi would and should have been paramount.
Even if he gave us 10-15 games a season- it would undoubtedly been worth it.
Remember Big Per only gave us 1 game a season once.
But what a game and what a performance in the May Wembley sunshine.
It resulted in Arsenals penultimate piece of silverware too. ( those were the days, eh?)
All Seria A, Champion league and Europa league games in Italy have been canceled till April 03.
TR7
Not surprised by that – I really expected to hear an announcement today that PL matches were to be played behind closed doors.
Let’s be honest here , whether cazorla, wilshere, ramsey , Mhkitaryan or Ozil were injured or not , Emery made it perfectly clear that he didn’t want them in his team.
He marginalised Ozil and Ramsey and then sent Mhkitaryan out on loan , which tells you all you need to know, and he would have no done similar to Cazorla and wilshere injured or not.
And as Valentin rightly pointed out , Emery also discarded adelaide.
It will take a while to repair the damage caused by Emery
Yeah, gotta agree with that. Emery should have a warrant out of his arrest
Yes, I remember Adelaide was an integral part of the first team before Emery arrived.
How many of you on here moaned Mkhi leaving on loan? Hindsight is a beautiful thing eh The club spunks 72m on a players who isn’t worth that, Roma seize on that to make a late minute loan move for a player the coach clearly wanted to keep and said player forces a move because it simply hasn’t been happening for him in England. Let’s talk about Mkhi and Ramsey like you all rated them when they were here. Guess today is revisionist day. Deserves a warrant for his arrest for what exactly Pedro? You kept telling every one he… Read more »
I dont think that Emery is really any different than most managers who ultimately want players that suit their vision for their team. Is this any different than Klopp, who ridded himself of quite a few marginals. Same applies to Pep or any other manager from a Top 6 view of things. At the time Emery did what many of us had wanted for some time, to rid the team of underperformers that languished at Club Weng. The fact that Emery was a total and complete fuckup should not take away from the fact that his intentions were never concealed… Read more »
That so many midfield options have disappeared since five to six years ago compared to now is not all on Emery. The club has been failing over these years to get in good replacements or no replacements at all for the ones that left. If players of certain calibre were brought in sooner then they would have been waiting in the wings to take over when the likes of Ramsey and Cazorla left to name but a few. So many others. It didn’t happen. Arsenal management sat and saw these players disappear over time and didn’t have the gumption to… Read more »
Totally should’ve kept Wilshere on £80k a week. Managed 564 minutes of PL football for West Ham over the last 18 months. Stonks. Totally should’ve kept Jeff RA. 6 Ligue 1 goals and now out for 9 months with an ACL. Obviously down to Emery’s training methods. Lyon currently in 7th. Huge loss for us. Totally should’ve bent over and accepted Ramsey’s £400k a week wage demands. 798 Serie A minutes played for Juve and 3 goals. So worth. Totally should’ve swapped Alexis with Mkhi. Faring slightly better than Ramsey with 811 Serie A minutes at Roma, 6 goals. Roma… Read more »
“It will take a while to repair the damage caused by Emery”
Yeah and it will take a lifetime to rid the club of the stench left behind by Wenger, you putz Pierre. Only you could come up with something so ridiculous in its inception without ever laying fault where it all began, with your messiah. FFS
While that list earlier from five years ago showed far more options for midfield as others pointed out it also showed far too many ageing players and crocks.
This is called sitting on players and not refreshing the squad enough.
The fall out from that is that you get old the oldies leaving around the same time and there are no replacements to hand inhouse to take over.
And who was responsible for that? Sitting on players for too long.
Ern
“At the time Emery did what many of us had wanted for some time, to rid the team of underperformers that languished at Club Weng.”
And the ” many of you” have ultimately been proved wrong.
“Only Ozil was left by the time he got the bullet and he was ruined by the Emery experience.”
BS Un, Ozil was ruined by Ozil. The revisionists are out in force today.
Look
Talking about yesteryear is only going to frazzel your brain.
We are where we are because of poor choices.
So for now it’s all about the future with art.
In a short space we have seen improvement so fuck all the past managers failings They don’t mean jack… As the Reynold girls woul say.
Don keeps going on and on about midfielders who could change games yet when pressed comes up with Wilshere and Cazorla, two players who offered close to nothing their last two years. Now Adelaide has made it onto the list.. Lol.
The love for Mhki here the past few days has been amusing as well, how many games has he missed through injury this year?
We have one of those game changers in Ozil, Changing it up with two assists all season.
Pierre, take up that offer for a frontal lobotomy already. That 50cc brain of yours is making too much noise.
Wilshere, Ramsey, Santi, Mikhi and Ozil on a combined wage of nearly 1 million a week can maybe be put together into 1 Frankensteins monster footballer that can stay fit for a whole season and not hide on the pitch but I don’t think we have the science for that yet. It was the right decision to let all of them go, should have sold Ramsey a year before though but that’s on the undynamic duo. The mistake was not replacing them but that’s what happens when a squad has been neglected for so long and crocks have been stacked… Read more »
Un
Ramsey should never have been allowed to enter the final year of his contract. Frankly, none of them should. That falls squarely on Wenger, and no amount of fancy footwork changes that.
Iwobi went for £35m like Ceballos cost us a £12m loan fee.
Receding
Definitely a massive case of “glory years” on here today. Remembering the good old days when those players were never injured and dominated football.
Un, no one knows what really went on with Ramsey. things happen behind the scenes all the time. He fell out of favour for a reason, just as others have at one time or another.
Jamie
They should never have been allowed to go beyond 2 years left on their contracts which was way before Sanllehi or Emery were anywhere near the club.
Un,
“So the club were right to give away 5 attacking midfielders and not replace them? Is that what you’re arguing here?”
I haven’t come close to making this argument. You’ve tried to attribute that fallacy to more than one person today.
Wenger didn’t do enough inhouse spring cleaning with the squad.
Sat on players for years.
Then you get the consequences from that at a later stage.
Freddie
It’d be like a fucked up version of the Wizard of Oz.
I want ankles.
I want hamstrings.
I want a £400k a week contract in Italy – doh!
Ishola
Spot on! Instead of losing players spread over time you suddenly have half a squad to move on.
Walt
“””They should never have been allowed to go beyond 2 years left on their contracts which was way before Sanllehi or Emery were anywhere near the club”””
What like PEA?
I guess thats Wengers fault too.
Un
Be honest and tell me how you would have got Ramsey to sign the contract that was on offer?
“Then of course there’s the weight around the clubs neck, the 350k a week cement boots, the face on Pierre’s “special sock”. That’s not exactly helping matters either.”
Priceless Freddie!
CG
No just shit circumstances that Wenger’s ineptitude put us in.
Un –
Then why didn’t Wenger extend Ramsey and Santi’s contract a year prior to his dismissal?
It is obvious to all the Le-Grove doctors that Santi would fully recover from his minor injury. Why only a 1 year extension, why not 3? He would’ve signed as sure as I have a hole in my ass for 3 more years of £80k a week. Wilshere same shit.
Ramsey 26 months ago re-signs for £160k a week no questions asked until the Ozil extension debacle happened.
My sources tell me all the players had completely lost faith in Wenger.
Un
Why do you keep using the “so it was right to let x number of players leave without replacing them” argument?
No one thinks not replacing players was a good idea but that doesn’t mean keeping a bunch of injury prone players was the right thing either.
Don
“RamseyPlayed 40 games with 6 goals and 8 assists last season”
Wait, I thought Ramsey was benched after 2 games? Now I’m confused, it wouldn’t be like you to rewrite history would it?
Only time he was benched was leading up to and during the January window because we were trying to sell him (allegedly) to Juve a couple of months early and get something for him and we didn’t want him to break down. Which he predictably did not that long after.
Crock, good riddance.
Jamie
“It is obvious to all the Le-Grove doctors that Santi would fully recover from his minor injury”
Sorry was that a serious comment? If yes what injury so you think Cazorla had?
Marc
I think your sarcasm o meter is off.
Marc –
I was being facetious. Guy almost lost his foot, but because he’s an anomaly, we should keep taking expensive punts on broken players.
Peak Wenger/Kallstrom logic.
Freddie
Well that’s why I asked if Jamie’s comment was serious. On here sometimes it’s difficult to know.
Jamie
Was just checking – no offense intended.
Why is Suarez in this conversation, you aren’t even moaning the lack of midfield options, you are arguing a player who missed two years of football should have had his contract renewed, this at a club that carried Diaby and Rosicky for how long? In case you haven’t noticed Jack Wilshere hasn’t played a game in ages. You keep name dropping Ceballos like he is some crap player, nonsense. You are simply longing for the good old days when we beat up crap teams at the Emirates and folded like a lounge chair whenever the stakes are high. That’s the… Read more »
https://www.transfermarkt.com/aaron-ramsey/leistungsdaten/spieler/50057/saison/2018/plus/1#GB1 That’s Ramseys detailed stats for his last season and which games he played and how many minutes. He was sidelined for 3 games in late December when we still had hope of selling him. Other than that he was handled like a crock should be handled, he still played almost every PL game he was available in but was either subbed off or on in many of them. He still managed to break down as per usual. There was no benching after 2 games. In october and November he was mostly used as a sub though, don’t know if… Read more »
Hearing that Bellerin is carrying an injury almost feels like good news to me. I was wondering if his loss of speed coming back from an ACL was permanent but now I’m hoping now that he might be able to return to somewhere close to his previous pace.
Much as I loved Cazorla as a player, it was hard to justify giving him a new contract with his injury record. Really glad he’s playing again but hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Uhn
No you’re not speaking Korean but you are avoiding the truth. Of course those players should’ve been sold but it was Wenger’s fault they weren’t.
Say the words “It’s all Wenger’s fault” 10,000 times and you’ll feel much better.
The best was waiting for Diaby to come good and throwing £25m at him in the process.
Released on a free, made like 5 appearances for OM before he retired from football.
Wenger School of Education Financial Footballing Pro Management Why You Look At Me 10,000 Substitutions
Walt “””””No just shit circumstances that Wenger’s ineptitude put us in.”””” If Arsene Wenger spent £ 30 000 000 on left back from Scotland with Tierneys injury past and he then broke down injured playing for AFC – most on here would be raging and spitting feathers. Yet The Spiv does it – hardly no one bats an eyelid. They say he is one for the future. Real ineptitude is – when you as a fan never knew you had it so good. I did. I loved The Wenger Years All of them- good and bad. 66 games since He… Read more »
I cant speak for Emery, Un. I don’t know what was said and why it was said.
Don
He played 80-90 minutes in the next 4 games after the 2 where you said he was benched. Looool
I didn’t say he was a nailed on starter every game, read my post again. He’s a permacrock, running down his contract, why would we play him the full 90 every game?
Fred
“, Ramsey still played almost every PL game he was available in but was either subbed off or on in many of them”
Now who’s rewriting history.
Ramsey was fit and was benched for 9 (nine) consecutive league games in a 3 month period before Christmas
Un –
“Suarez, lich, Tierney and soares seem to indicate it’s not isolated to him
We throw money at crocks but won’t keep cazorla on when we desperately need that quality in the final third
Great logic”
—
The logic is to stop throwing good money after bad.
I suspect Arteta will move Tierney, Holding, Chambers, Hector, and any other player out who can’t prove consistent fitness by the end of next season. His tactics demand it.
Probably one of the reasons he loves Xhaka – he’s almost never injured and probably trains like a monster.
Un
Don’t need to but then I’ve been saying it periodically for years. Pedro’s count is somewhere north of 14.3 million.
Pierre
Learn to read.
Only in 3 of those games didn’t he play.
I thought you hated Ramsey anyway? Oh let me guess, you’re upset that I joked about your wanking sock with Ozils face on it? Cry me a river sockboy.
I’m a great fan.of Wenger, but come on, Kallstrom and Sanogo were useless.
“Probably one of the reasons he loves Xhaka – he’s almost never injured and probably trains like a monster.”
Unfortunately it’s the great Sloth monster who can’t focus his attention for very long.
“Cry me a river sockboy.”
Well that imagery has destroyed that song for me forever!
Un
How many times – you keep moving the timeline to after Wenger had left but you don’t let a player get within 2 weeks of his contract expiring you resign him months and months before.
Wenger and Gazidis let them go.
Nice joke fred ,
if you’re a 12 year old schoolboy !
I’m not surprised Ernest was impressed with your wanking reference.
You need to be a merchant banker to find something as childish as that funny , and Ernest is certainly one.
Yeah it was and remains funny, Pierre. The thing that bothers a melt like you most is that its true. Seriously, get a life already…and…get a sense of humour already you old fool.
Un
The old version – didn’t even know whatever his name is had done a different version
“I remember when I had my first beer”
No you don’t, you’ve been drunk for so long you couldn’t possibly remember.
Still bloody fuuny, Freddie. Hahahahaha.
Ernest
You need to get out a bit more .
Self isolation is obviously sending you stir crazy.
Aww come on Pedro.
Totally uncalled for.
“To that end, Cazorla had a question mark on his fitness. Was it the right call? At the time it certainly was and remains so today, after all they could have theoretically trying signing him again this past offseason or even enquired of a loan this winter?“ Ernest I have time for you, but I can’t fathom this at all. You cant shrug and say ‘hindsight’, at the time there was discussion with many backing his retention but it was understood if they didn’t want to then they needed to replace him. They did neither, and laughably tried to bandaid… Read more »
Ernest
I had a nice game of golf in the sun today, then into the club house for a few beers.
Had a great day …..what was your day like.
Have to say I’m rather enjoying this Don love-in with Ramsey.
Slightly bizarre after over two years of slating him at every conceivable juncture(as recently as two weeks ago), but enjoyable nevertheless.
Iheanacho dear oh dear.
Terrible
Dear oh dear Reina you shiny headed twat
Taken well by Barnes though.
Just as well because Iheanacho isn’t going to help them much. Poo player.
“Had a great day …..what was your day like.”
Spent in quarantine, Pierre. Some knucklehead in my neighbourhood came back from China recently and decided not to follow health protocols and stay in self-isolation. So, I’m doing what knuckles didn’t want to do, look after myself and my neighbors and co-workers and stay at home for the next two weeks.
All in all, i can still work and do what i need. Life remains good.
No disagreement with you Charlie, they did not replace him even remotely adequately and instead we remain an immobile midfield that lacks any real creativity. All that i am saying is that they had a decision to make and made it based on their own risk evaluation. I would have done the same but…i would have obviously sought out a replacement and a real one at that. That remains hindsight as who knew that the guy they let walk would in fact turn his career around?.
Not sure how people get time for golf
when their posting on here all day long.
Pierre, if you are going to be an asshole, at least try to be a decent one. Geez but you are a full on misery.
Fuck me, shoulder is now handball. VAR can get to fuck.
How is the tip of the shoulder a handball?
Fuck is this atrocity?
One day, you may read about Cazorla in medical textbooks. “Mikel Sánchez, the surgeon, puts me in his talks, a case study,” he says. “He and the physios say they’ve never seen such an extreme case.” There were knee, foot and ankle injuries, targets missed, seemingly endless setbacks, and 10 operations; beneath the skin, splitting open and exposed, an infection consumed 10cm of tendon leaving the bone squishy, risking his leg and his career. Arsène Wenger said it was the worst injury he had seen and a doctor told Cazorla to settle for walking around the garden. “I’m a football… Read more »
British Press Alert.
Manchester United and Fergie in for Bellingham.( defending off Dortmund)
The new Trevor Francis?
£35 000 000 for the 16/17 year old.
That’s progressive.
We spend that on the SPL crock Tierney.
That’s regressive.
Manchester United are on the march again?
UN
“””:Bellingham is meant to be blinding
Lots of big noise about him””””
I have no idea if he is any good.
But if Dortmund are sniffing about- that normally means he is decent.
The point I was trying to make.
Great clubs like Manchester United or Bayern celebrate their legends( like Fergie or Beckenbauer)……we at Arsenal on the other hand belittle our icons and their achievements.
If Wenger was still involved at the club ( as President as he should be)
The Bellinghams and their talented Boy would be Arsenal bound.
Arsenal could have offered pay as you play contract to Cazorla, but the decision was made not to do it. The argument that Cazorla was injured is a non-sense argument because the fact that he played his first game on 18-Aug-2018 means that clearly he was fit enough to play some football in August. Lots of clubs sign players who have had serious injury. Having been injured for a long time does not necessarily means that the player will be injured again in the future. That’s why there are medical: to assess the current medical situation not the history. The… Read more »
Funnily enough last summer I made the point that there is quality in the English lower league. The same people refused to even consider that Arsenal may be better off buying an talented but still raw 18~22 years old who has already a few season of Championship or League 1 than old experienced with low ceiling. Maddison, Grealish, Bellingham, Cantwell, etc are just the tip of the iceberg. There are massive amount of talents. They just need to be discover and properly coached/guided. There are 3 positions in which England does not have abundance of talents at any level. They… Read more »
Never saw the appeal of diaby, and Ramsey. Maybe in part because we have been blessed with so many great midfielders. Loved jackie when he was playing on loan to Bolton. But sadly injuries did him in.
Loved santi and rosicky to bits though. I remember doing rosickys circling arms celebration when I scored for my school team.
Don
Diaby was the complete midfielder had it all.
http://7amkickoff.com/index.php/2020/03/10/arteta-v-emery-arteta-needs-time/
Good balanced piece comparing Arteta to Emery. It’s main conclusion, based on a small number of stats, is that Arteta is superior but only marginally so at present.
He is getting there, but will need better players more attuned to his style of football to make a significant improvement.
One thing to note on the 7am piece is that the stats there aren’t adjusted to take into account our two sendings off, which skew the stats somewhat against Arteta.