IT’S GONNA BE A BETTER DA…
Oh… lost 3-2 to Brentford did we?
But.
But..
But…
I mean, it’s a preseason game, it in no way foretells how badly we’ll get beaten by Manchester City.
The highlights felt pretty familiar. We were very sloppy for our goals. Dopey midfield switch offs, badly judged passes, a touch of laziness in certain areas.
But… we forgive. It’s a preseason game. There’s still a week to go.
One thing that is interesting to note is how the lack of atmosphere affects those games. Arsene Wenger said in one of his interviews that he felt smaller teams suffer without the fans. I watched the Brentford highlights and felt that our players looked like they’d switched off without the fans.
Either way, next Wednesday’s game is going to be tough.
Pep G is going to have a fully fit squad of players that he’s been lashing with a whip made of Messi’s 2011 hair. If we are not at the races, we’re going to get steamrollered.
The only thing keeping me going is that under Arteta, we may have dropped stinky performances, but we’re generally been difficult to beat and well disciplined. I have my doubts we’re going to allow ourselves to be opened up. This game comes with special fire for both managers. Mikel has to prove he’s not a bitch and can handle the highest level, Pep has to prove he’s still the greatest and he has to make a statement to anyone else thinking of leaving his orbit.
I’m looking forward to the game. It’ll show us how far we have to go this summer. It might also set the tone for the rest of the season. If big players don’t show up, maybe the final games are kids? If they do show up, and we pull out a good performance, maybe it’s them for the rest of the season.
This is a huge management task for Arteta. He has to motivate players that are going, he has to blood kids that are fresh, he has to build atmosphere and energy in empty stadiums, and he has to push us up the table.
It’s a big ask… but it’s a big job, so we expect delivery.
Can’t wait.
See you in the comments x
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Tro4hy
I’ll take Euro5a as well
Big game indeed next Wednesday… really looking forward to it. Wonder if Pedro is going to change his tune about Arteta if we get demolished, say 4-0.
Every team will be in the same boat.
Trouble is, ours hit the iceberg 10+ years back.
Difficult to make a prediction but under normal circumstances you wouldn’t give us much hope.
These aren’t normal circumstances though.
Statistically, We have been opened up as much during Arteta as during Emery, the only difference is we have daced less clinical strikers, once we face more top ten finishers, it will show
Im telling you for free!
Not one player in whole squad has leader capacity
name as many new players as you like but this is
one vital essence the side needs.
For the midfield i would say
Out:
Xhaka (10-15m)
Mkhi (5-10m)
Willok (loan)
AMN (20m)
In:
CM (Soumare, Partey etc.)
CAM (Szoboszlai, Jonathan David etc.)
Pedro didn’t even bother with a title, dude must have been between beers when typing.
Carried over from the last post Freddie This is where we disagree though. You lot focused on Xhaka to the point of obsessiveness. -Torriera isn’t suited to the league and would have been eased out of any other top premier league after one season. He was the worst player on the field in Baku, totally anonymous and he routinely makes as much mistakes as Xhaka. -Ozil… enough has been said and I won’t waste my time on him. -Guendouzi isn’t progressing – he isn;t getting any better . He is still young but you’ll think that with all the game… Read more »
No title pedders, Must have been a hell of a hangover when you wrothe this.
Anyway I doubt we will come away with any points but I want a better performance than our recent outings at the ETIHAD.
wrothe * wrote
Dissenter
He was the worst out field player in Baku
AMN and Koscielny say hi.
This is little to do with the game we played against them yesterday, but Brentford have played some good stuff this season and have a batch of exciting players.
New stadium for next season too (something different too and not a copy and paste like so many others at that level). If they can get promoted the future is very bright for them.
Habesha
There were many candidates in Baku but Torriera won the prize hands down. He didn’t put any foot right in that game.
Chris
Is Brentford a London club?
Isn’t it the job of the coach to motivate players? And to build a team that’s greater than the sum of it’s parts? Certainly is if you’re a ‘world class coach’.
Arteta needs a full season but we’ll have a good indication over the rest of this one if he’s the man to at least start the job of turning things around.
Dissenter Torreira would look a lot better next to someone with legs, someone that doesn’t have to shunted to left back just so he doesn’t get exposed in the middle of the park, someone that doesn’t require him to cover the whole midfield by himself. No way does Torreira make as many mistakes as Xhaka, that’s physically impossible. Guen has already shown that he has a higher ceiling than any of our current midfielders, he just needs to do it consistently and he also needs to cut out some bad habits, like lingering on the ball too long. He still… Read more »
We won’t get beaten badly by City because Pep will call off his dogs before any mauling might take place.
Just like they did when Freddie was in charge while waiting for Arteta to take over.
A three goal City advantage at any point in the game and Pep will pull the likes of De Brune and Co.
Torreira is doing what he is supposed to be doing, defensively he is the best of our midfielders,
Xhakalson is not good in defensive actions nor offensive actions
Hypothetically a pairing of Partey and Torr, is more effe tive than Partey and Xhakalson.
If we buy any top CM if xhakalson is the deepest midfielder we are in trouble when being attacked.
If the new CM is the deepest midfielder we are blunt while attacking.
Brentford are one of the better championship sides.
Chance of promotion to the Premier League through play offs and have the best GD in the league.
Charlton on the other hand are one of the poorest Championship sides who Arsenal beat previously.
Still shouldn’t be conceding three goals to them though but as it’s a friendly we will let them off and David Luiz trying to beat three players in midfield, losing the ball and them scoring.
So my predictions for next week:
If we go with Sok at RB, Mustafi at CB and Xhaka in the middle we’ll be destroyed – it’ll make some of Wenger’s terrible results look like a picnic.
Strangely Thursday’s piece by Pedro will focus on how Sanllehi has spent 79 gazillion taking his agent mates out for a Maccy D’s.
If we can avoid any of the above players (we have a chance that 2 won’t be in the line up) who knows.
“Hypothetically a pairing of Partey and Torr, is more effe tive than Partey and Xhakalson.”
OK – just to make sure everyone understands – any player in a pairing with Xhaka is a poor pairing – any 2 players where one of them isn’t Xhaka is a better pairing.
Marc
Essentially, Xhaka is the Devil.
Now you can go back to bed
Dissenter
The Devil has redeeming qualities – Xhaka doesn’t.
Lineup for City
I would go for,
Leno, Bellerin, Mustafi, Luiz, Tierney, Guendouzi, Ceballos, Saka, Pepe, Aubameyang, Lacazette.
Bench, Martinez, Mari, kolasinac, Xhaka, Ozil, Martinelli, Nelson
Arteta will probably have Ozil and Xhaka instead of Saka and Guendouzi but that lineup would scare the likes of Fernandinho at CB. Pace, Pace and More pace. I would use Mari instead of Mustafi but a pairing of Luiz and Mari is a little slow and both are sweeper players. So Mustafi will start for now.
Terraloon “Salah scores every 140minutes on average Mane. 148 Firmino. 302 PEA. 136 Lacazette. 188 Pepe. 397 So if you take the top two from each team there is very little difference but yep PEA may be slightly more clinical. Oh the irony that so many want him gone Lacazette isn’t even close to Mane Firmino isn’t lethal but Pepe by comparison is impotent. So back to the point as a front three Liverpool’s clearly produce more.” So basically , what you are saying is in their past full season ( 2018/19) Lacazette and Aubameyang are more clinical , plus… Read more »
” as I am rarely wrong ”
Very humble pierre
“Wonder if Pedro is going to change his tune about Arteta if we get demolished, say 4-0.”
Why would he, Upstate? Realistically, what are your expectations for a result? For me, a draw would be very welcomed. To the point, if the guys put in a solid and continued effort then that to me shows continued progress.
Remember, Arteta has inherited this shitshow. The fact that he actually has them on the same page and wanting to play now, thats an accomplishment.
“Watch this space , as I am rarely wrong”
Hello Pierre! how have you been keeping? Hope golf has been a needful distraction for you and you remain healthy.
“The Devil has redeeming qualities”
I’d say the devil has endearing qualities Marc, and again Xhaka doesn’t either.
ER
“Why would he, Upstate? Realistically, what are your expectations for a result?”
I’d be happy with 1-0 or even 2-0 loss as long as I see some effort from our boys. A draw (or a win) and I’m gonna be over the moon. Any other result I would consider as a step backwards.
* 2-0 or 2-1 loss
Pierre
You really must be on some powerful stuff. Because that can be the only explanation for the viewpoint you are trying to defend
All I want is for Xhaka and Ozil to be replaced or we not going to improve significantly. I have no idea who they are but we need two players who play full tilt entire match and they give you at least 7/10 performances week in, week out. Teams are only strong as their weakest link and those two are major problems, i bet all our players would look much better if those two replaced with proper players. Brentford are interesting club as I found out yesterday wondering who they are. The owner is a professional gambler who made a… Read more »
3-1 City.
I cannot even think of how we have a chance to even win this game.
We do need Dani C in midfield tho… perhaps with Willock. At least those 2 can move much better than Torr or Xhaka.
You can count on Ozil in this game. Im beyond scratching my head at his inclusion in games- especially like this one… I bet Arty picks him.
Its then 10v 11 at that point.
These old friendships are not going to work out for the team.
Hoping Gabby gets some good minutes …
“Wonder if Pedro is going to change his tune about Arteta if we get demolished, say 4-0.”
Pedro is definitely going to find a way to blame Emery.
I’m telling you this for free.
azed
Nah it’ll be Sanllehi.
I started the countdown when In read azed write that Emery will be the fall guy
I started a timer to see how fast Marc will come in to rebut that assertion. It didn’t take long.
Really Arteta is still learning his trade, I won’t be shocked in the slightest if his Arsenal project goes belly up very quickly.
**I started the countdown when I read azed write that Emery will be the fall guy
The artificial sound at this Sevilla vs Betis match is making a better watch for me.
Dissenter
I don’t have an issue with Arteta – I genuinely want him to be successful and any reasonable fan knows that it’s going to take a while to turn this squad into something that’s at best functional.
The fact that I enjoy taking the piss out of Pedro who seems to suddenly be realising that Arteta isn’t going to turn this around in a couple of months and is laying down some prepared excuses is just a bit of banter.
Marc
Are you saying Pedro was biased in his “Emery had a squad full of world class players and only his ineptitude held them back” opinion?
How dare you?
There was a quote from Poch after one of his last defeats at the hands of Liverpool ,when he pointed out there were only two Liverpool players remaining from the squad his Tottenham beat when Klopp first took over.
This for the people who think Arsenal can challenge for the PL without a total rebuild.
Perhaps I’m in a minority but I really don’t think the loss to Brentford should be dismissed so quickly. The game is one of five margins and we don’t have them right now. Whether that is due to naive coaching or a squad bereft of talent is up for debate, I think it’s the latter for now, this group of players has simply disappointed to no end. Good thing is we have some youngsters coming through, and one could argue that reiss Nelson has arrived based on the film from this season, AMN hyperversatile swing man, ESR simply looks nice,… Read more »
Tom
How dare you make such a claim – it’s not Arteta’s fault that 24 world class players suddenly woke up and found that they were mostly shit after Emery was sacked.
I expect to find this level of ignorance and delusion in Spud fans.
“Another bit of good news is that the must sells will be playing out of their skin.”
Yeah problem there is that they’ll still be shit.
Agree with Pierre and I think some of you have missed his point completely. If Aubameyang, Lacazette and Pepe whilst being managed by Unai Emery and playing with a midfield and defence who let’s face it, none of them would get in Liverpool’s first team, can produce similar goal contributions to Liverpool’s front 3 who are probably playing in the best team in Europe at the moment, surely that’s positive? The problem on Le Grove is that people are so quick to jump down someone’s throat for having a positive opinion on the team or a player. It’s entertaining to… Read more »
Tom
To be honest, Emery used his ineptitude to turn the players from world class to sh*t.
Overmars
Have you ever considered the remote possibility that Emery is not as bad as people make him out to be?
Last season, Emery had Iwobi instead of Pepe and we still are the 3rd highest scoring team in the league.
azed
Some don’t want to admit that the club didn’t back Emery either.
Back then they used to slap him for using a power point during his interview . Emery didn’t get good players too.
Emery took us to the brink of CL qualification on two fronts, they always forget that.
The Brentford game really doesn’t matter because no club is afforded 12 substitutions in a regular game.
I hope Arteta gets asked the question; what’s going on Cedric Soares? 🙂
azed
“Last season, Emery had Iwobi instead of Pepe and we still are the 3rd highest scoring team in the league.”
Yep, we had Iwobi, Aubameyang and Lacazette, all brought in by Wenger, so Emery was lucky to inherit them.
It’s a shame that by the end of last season and start of this season, that Emery had coached them out of regularly scoring goals and playing good football.
Azed, I’ll ask you the question, would you have still preferred Unai Emery to be manager now rather than Arteta?
Ok… Now we are linked with movic…
This ain’t gonna happen…
No cash unless both our main strikers leave.
Keeping well Ernest thank you..my suntan is coming on nicely , my golf is improving marginally , though it’s difficult in 20 20mph winds atm.
Always like coming on Le Grove to stir it up a little as I know my views are in contrast to many on here, but at least they are my views that I believe in .
Hope you are keeping well .
Can’t believe I’m reading people that are apparently pining for the Spanish Dracula. You know who else still wishes Emery was managing Arsenal? The rest of the premier league. That tells you all you need to know. Go ask a Spurs fan if they wish Emery was still here. Get real people. Is Arteta the answer? TBD. However I know the team has shown a lot more fight, effort and attitude since he got here. The end of last season and beginning of this season told you all you need to know about how the players felt about him. The… Read more »
Can’t believe I’m reading people that are apparently pining for the Spanish Dracula.
Where are you reading that?
I must’ve missed it.
Jwl, The most interesting thing about Brentford is how they decided to tackle the issue of lower league academy being legally pilfered by bigger clubs. They disbanded their academy and decided that instead they would hire young players discarded by premiership academy and give them a chance at first team much earlier than other clubs. Also their training regime for those new young players is two folds: 1) make them work very hard for the first six month, to break any sense of complacency that the premiership academy may have given them. 2) give them clear targets of where they… Read more »
Where are you reading that?
I must’ve missed it.
Me too..
“Yep, we had Iwobi, Aubameyang and Lacazette, all brought in by Wenger, so Emery was lucky to inherit them.”
Same way Arteta is lucky to inherit them plus Pepe.
Valentin – did not know that, it is interesting because I’ve long questioned the value of clubs running their own nine year old teams or whatever.
I am in Canada where our sports leagues draft players when they are 18 and have no real involvement training youngsters. I wonder if Brentford is copying draft players model when 17/18 instead of pissing money up the wall trying to develop your own.
“But… we forgive. It’s a preseason game. There’s still a week to go.”
Tell that to Liverpool who just thrashed Blackburn 6-0!!!!!
Aussie
‘’ Tell that to Liverpool who just thrashed Blackburn 6-0!!!!’
In fairness, Blackburn are at the same level as Charlton Athletic that we beat 6-0.
In a regular game, we wouldn’t be making 12 changes that would have given Brentford a chance to get back into the game.
I’m in disagreement on the significance of that friendly The result is inconsequential to our season but that doesn’t make it ok. If the only purpose of the game was fitness and sharpness then might as well play an internal arsenal friendly on our training ground, why even invite Brentford to play? Friendlies are a chance for players to show they should be in contention for the real games to come. They’re not a free pass to shit the bed and make excuses and walk away as if it didn’t happen Laca has been crap this season, if I was… Read more »
Reminds me of the interviews you see with Bergkamp where he said keown was kicking lumps out of him in training and it was common for tensions to flare up on the training ground for the invincibles
Not saying we need to have players being physically aggressive in training, but the point is the mental difference between players who fucking hate losing and desperately want to win big compared with the current crop who are wet as fuck and fans are happy to overlook it just because it’s a friendly.
To anyone who thinks ‘it’s just a friendly’
Well we had two legs to bypass an absolutely crap Olympiakos in a second rate European competition and we botched that just the same. Complacency is complacency regardless of the circumstances and that is always toxic to developing a winning culture
Dissenter “In fairness, Blackburn are at the same level as Charlton Athletic that we beat 6-0.” Sorry but I don’t agree. Blackburn are currently in 10th place on 53 points and, under normal circumstances, could have been pushing for a play off place. Charlton on the other hand are in 22nd place on 39 points, in the bottom 3 facing relegation and on a downward trajectory. They also have serious personel problems and a host of players trying to get out! Liverpool also fielded an experimental team with a mixture of youth and experience as did Arsenal. No excuses –… Read more »
China
Couldn’t agree more! Complacency has been rife for some time. It reminds me of a class full of kids with a ‘soft’ teacher who are allowed to get away with anything. No discipline, no fight and a laissez faire attitude all round.
The senior players need to lead by example and put in the effort not turning their backs on shots and pulling out of tackles. I posted a link to the TH doco – that showed how things used to be. Blood and guts spilt for the club, competitive players and true leadership on and off the pitch.
China “I’m in disagreement on the significance of that friendly” Basically, in your little world, if we win 6-0 there is no significance whatsoever , but if we lose 3-2 then the significance is magnified. It reminds me of when we played in the pre season community shield ( the super cup in other European countries) , if we won , which we did regularly, the likes of China etc would write it off as just another pointless pre season friendly, yet if we lost, all hell would break loose on the significance of the result. It’s just how it… Read more »
If Xhakalson and Ozil wil have major roles is this team next season the results from last season and the previous will continue and it will be Artetas downfall
You can take that to the bank!
Pep got rid of Ronaldinho and Deco in his 1st season at Barca, thats all we are asking for from Arteta (we know if they are still here the Sanhelli card will be played) and Europa qualification, not trophies or CL
Is that too much?
Laca is another who seems to be enjoying the “finer things in life” of the field like a Deco wannabe.
Because Pedro loves and likely fancies Arteta, you all think he’s gonna sort Arsenal. A man with a clear head can tell you he won’t. Arteta can’t pick a team, he can’t manage a game and his team selections – THE most important think in football are hideous. On top of that, he doesn’t play Martinelli. Martinelli was our best prospect. Martinelli played 0 minutes in the friendlies. Arteta has an issue with him, because he’s a mug. Arteta will be sacked before May 2021
Overmars It’s not a question of missing Pierres the point it’s not agreeing with what is in my view a ludicrous claim. If you just look at the way those three at Liverpool set up it’s consistent and play as a unit the Arsenal are three individuals who very much play that way. Firmino, Mane and Salah add so much to Liverpool’s play not just in the penalty box but their runs pulling opposing defences out of position. Those sort of assists don’t feature in the bog standard stats Pierre is relying on. In a way it’s why a very… Read more »
Terraloon “If you just look at the way those three at Liverpool set up it’s consistent and play as a unit the Arsenal are three individuals who very much play that way.” With all respect , you are talking rubbish. Aubamayang and Lacazette have had a very good on field relationship , so to say they are 3 individuals is totally wrong. Those 2 had more goal contributions in the 2018/19 season than their counterparts from liverpool despite playing in front of a far inferior midfield and defence. You say “By Pierres reckoning you have to compare Pepe with Firmino… Read more »
Pierre
June 11, 2020 19:06:54
Well said mate
Pierre
No one, with even an inkling of Football knowledge, has ever taken the Community Shield too seriously.
It is and always has been, a glorified pre-season warm up. A prelude to the real stuff.
Our problem was that some of our fans considered it a major achievement.
Apart from the watch this space paragraph 😂😂😂
Also just to say cheers to my fellow Gooners. Just had my first pint off tap for months hahaha
Pierre
Why do you go to great lengths to prove you are right?
Every time you make a statement even of it’s knee jerk you just go with it. Sometimes it’s okay to admit you are wrong. And Arsenal’s front three might have potential but Liverpool’s is better currently as a unit. I don’t see the reason why this statement offends you.
Pepe has the potential to be world class, his dribbling skills are 2nd to none.
Arteta needs to get him in the right areas of the pitch to inflict maximum damage.
That’s why I would play him in a 4-3-3 ,so he picks up the ball higher up the pitch, he could prove to be lethal.
‘Is Arteta the answer? TBD. However I know the team has shown a lot more fight, effort and attitude since he got here.’ Exactly as it was said when Emery first arrived. There were dudes on record singing about video reviews and tactics, throwing dog abuse at Wenger for not being as great as Emery. Some of us wanted to point out the drab football, but we were shouted down and accused of not seeing the good tactical set up being launched by Emery. It was after Liverpool that I couldn’t take it no more and went full blast on… Read more »
Pierre
I agree with your perceptions on Pepe.
He could be our lethal weapon.
What the Brentford game showed was the attitude of some of the players. They can’t be arsed. Just taking the money.
I don’t see any toughness in Arteta yet.
Arsenal is 3rd in EPL goals table, 10 goals less than liverpool, on the other hand liverpool is 22 goals behind man c,
Conclusion the gap between Arsenals and liverpools attack is not that great,
Arsenal have a problem in midfield and defence
Manc c has a problem in defence.
Hab “Liverpool’s is better currently as a unit. I don’t see the reason why this statement offends you.” How did you come to the conclusion that liverpool being a better unit offends me, of course they are a better unit , they have been playing under a manager who understands the game and how to get the best out of them, whereas our attack for the last 2 seasons have played under a manager who never realised what a talented group of offensive players he had at his disposal. I’m talking about Aubameyang, Lacazette, ozil, Mhkitaryan and ramsey. Aubameyang and… Read more »
Arteta shoul get rid of 1 senior player like Lampard got rid of luiz, thats when i will believe he has a left testical, if gets rid of 2 i will know he has a pair,
He is yet to earn ball points after the Xhakalson tranfer debacle
You heard it here 1st!
We are still 10th on the table
————–
We’ve been 9th for over 3 months now……..
Spanishdave
It was a warm up.
A training session.
12 substitutions.
Yes we have visible problems.
Let’s see what materialises over the next few weeks.
Our chances against MC are very slim but you never know.
“They can’t be arsed. Just taking the money.” This has been the case for well over 10 years at Arsenal and nothing has been done to address it. How many ex players have to come out and tell us stories of team mates not giving a single fuck about the games they play in? Cesc, Sol, RVP just a few to come out and say the club is full of players that don’t give a shit and its obviously gotten worse since their time. Its been rampant throughout the club for well over a decade now, we are a club… Read more »
Sid
I get your point but keeping Xhaka and playing Mustafi has not really backfired on Arteta.
Ultimately, he will need to bring in better quality in midfield unless he sees potential in a willock , Guendouzi, saka midfield 3.
I feel that Arteta will want a deep lying playmaker who can comfortably receive the ball from the defence or keeper and link the play , pass between the lines and is a good reader of the game.
He tried Ceballos there before lockdown with limited success but I do expect Arteta to sign a midfielder as a priority.
Hope we get rid of luiz. The most over rated CB. Just saw a video last night of big team’s who have been humiliated defensively and voila, luiz features in a lot of them. When PSG got spanked he was there, when brazil got nuked, he was there, when Chelsea was humiliated, guess who was there. And now he’s doing the same for arsenal. Sadly, his long kicks make most of the people conclude that he’s a terrific defender, giving us another outlet for attack they say. I miss the days when the only job of a defender, was to… Read more »
Pierre has been sitting on le-grove since 6am trying to convince anyone who will listen that our front 3 are on par with Liverpool’s.
Poor lad desperately needs a date/some company/a job.
“Arsenal is 3rd in EPL goals table, 10 goals less than liverpool, on the other hand liverpool is 22 goals behind man c,”
WTF are you talking about Sid?
We’ve scored 40 goals, less than Liverpool (66), City (68), Leicester (58), Chelsea (51), ManU (44), Wolves (41), and Spurs (47).
At that rate we’re on course to score 54 goals this season, strictly mid-table stuff. And people want to sell Auba who has scored 17 of those (43%).
‘We’ve been 9th for over 3 months now……..’
Yes, pls…a vast difference you will admit.
‘Poor lad desperately needs a date/some company/a job.’
Just a hug from Ozil will do.
“Poor lad desperately needs a date/some company/a job.”
Another little snide remark from jamie.
He does appear to be a little obsessed with me …
When people say get rid of Luiz, I say wait a minute, isn’t that the only defender we have who can pass the ball?
Maybe get rid of Luiz, but get rid of Mustafi and Sok before.