Let’s start this post off with a big congratulations to Man of the Quarantine, Marcus Rashford. The guys has been relentless in his giving, donating money when others dithered, then campaigning to land the kids of the UK a meal during a very challenging summer.
That there is a counter-argument to such a campaign shows the depth of misery some people voluntarily dive into. You have a dark heart if you think empathy, during the worst pandemic of the last 100 years, is misplaced here. There is no financial planning that could see parents in, say, the hospitality industry, through this moment. If you are chirping off about this on the internet, find a friend (if you have one) and ask them to confiscate your phone for a month because you are a disgrace.
Onto the football.
ARSENAL PLAY TOMORROW!
I couldn’t be any more excited about the restart. Sure, it’s likely we’ll get beaten, but who cares, we’re back in the mixer and we still have a European spot to play for. The manager says it’s one game at a time, and I agree. If the players react well to the full preseason we’ve just had, we’ll be in good shape… if they don’t, it’ll be problematic for the fans waiting in the wings to avenge the beheading of Senor Emery.
There’s a lot to be excited about.
We’re going to see the kids. The manager has a big bench and 5 subs he can make now. New youth will get a chance. This will set the tone for the summer and hopefully show the world the Arsenal we’re going to build over the next 5 years. We are one of the best-placed clubs when it comes to teenage talent, let’s hope we meet a new star
Better off-ball movement. Arteta has been trying to build a more cognitive style of football at the club. He’s teaching players shapes and triggers that help our off-ball movement. That was tough to do midseason, but a month in the training field is kind of ideal to implement this elevated approach to the game. The hope is that we see a better style of football, less mistakes, and more intelligence on the field.
Senior turnover is bound to happen this summer, but don’t expect it to be reflected in the starting 11. Arteta wants to win a cup and he wants to make the top 4 this season. That means he’ll lean on experience. Why ‘could’ that work? Well, our bigger names are low on contract in a very uncertain world. They are going to need to prove they are value buys so they can extend out their futures this summer. I expect to see fully committed players on the pitch because everyone is playing for their future. PUMP THAT VALUE.
Style. Yes, this something I’m looking for. I’d like us to move out of functional to something more elevated. We debated this on last nights podcast. What will we see? Getting by with what you have? Or something more exciting that shows the future? I’m hoping for a middle ground. But we’ll see.
The away advantage has gone in the Bundesliga.\
Since the Bundesliga returned in front of empty stands, where they call them the “ghost games” (“geisterspiele“), home teams have won 21.7% of matches (10 from 46 games), down from 43.3% before the shutdown of play in March. Home teams have also scored fewer goals — the pre-lockdown rate of 1.75 goals per game is now down to 1.28 — while the away teams’ winning ratio has risen from 34.83% to 47.8%. The same trends have been seen in Estonia (after 29 games there were just 11 home wins) and Czech Republic (after 32 games, just 10 home wins) since their leagues resumed when behind closed doors.
This works well for Arsenal because, you know, we’ve been shit away from home for years. The hope is that we level the playing field, win some games we might not have, then build confidence going into the future.
We can dream, right?
Ok, before I go, click my podcast and GORGE on its goodness. We cover about 500 topics. It’s great.
Why’s Martinelli not on!!!
AMN?
Nelson over Martinelli?
How is Pedro going to spin this shit show?
What’s the point of watching this shit
It’s hard but we are in a shit place at our club.
We are not used to this .
AMN on really! Arteta is mad
Blimry at last. Better keep our 72million pound winger on the bench.
Blimry at last. Better keep our 72million pound winger on the bench.
Dumb ass subs
No game time for Martinelli then. AMN, Nelson and Laca on.
I think arteta doesn’t rate Martinelli and it is plain stupid.
Well I was looking foreword to the PL coming back. Swallowed Pedro’s nonsense about Arteta having time with players hook, line and sinker. I think maybe Brentford wasn’t a freak result, it might just be about our level. Fucking cunt’s performance so far. Horrible. Mid table. No other way to play it.
But wait!! It’s ok, here come the skinny lightweight youth players!! It could all change yet … 😒
Please come back Emery,
Word to Leno tho. Would have been 5 or 6 without some of those saves.
What shit substitutions are these? No Pepe or Martinelli?
Does Arteta actually know what he’s doing or what?
I’d call if blind faith keeping Auba on the pitch. Eddie did more.
A shit mid field gives you nothing. We shouldn’t expect much more than that.
It might be that Arteta doesn’t think much of Martinelli.
“How is Pedro going to spin this shit show?”
The players still suffering PTSD from working under Emery.
Baying Mob
Exactly right.
Hook line and Stinker.
Hahaha Mavropanos? Doesn’t even get a Bundesliga side to loan him. All shit players
Hahaha Mavropanos? Doesn’t even get a Bundesliga side to loan him. All shit players
Shows how poor our MF options are though.
Quite like Nelson. Worst outcome from tonight will be when Pierre tells us that with Ozil playing we could have got something from the game.
Hahaha Mavropanos? Doesn’t even get a Bundesliga side to loan him. All shit players
If Arteta doesn’t rate Martinelli then he clearly is out of his depth.
He’s had long enough with this squad and is still selecting odd lineups and even odder subs. Not that big a fan of sauce anyway.
How is Auba captain. No leadership, no effort and goes missing.
DONE WITH ARSENAL. Till Dangote buys this club.
Re Martinelli. Had he played from the start, he would have rattled MC for sure (and who knows scored) wiyh hid guile.
Why can’t Arteta???
Habesha – What a player 20 year Cesc was…………….bossing midfield’s at such a young age.
I dont blame Willock and Guendozi they needed a bit more next to them, and no Xhaka would not have made the difference.
We are 10 men against city because of luiz of course we are going to be shit
It’s an exercise in not getting embarrassed now
Even before the break Arteta was regularly making strange and questionable decisions.
He got a lot of credit for his role in the paycut negotiations (rightfully so), but people seem to forget how green he was on team selection and in-game management.
Peanuts is a spud why does he even come on here lol
No shut on target yet.
Please no third goal
Whose bright idea was it to restart football during a pandemic lol
Wtf are these water breaks about?
My honest position is I have never seen Arsenal this inferior against any team.
Water break? Our players haven’t even broken a sweat.
I can hate smartphones sometimes. Like when I accidentally put my finger on the screen and press send.
To be blunt, first goal shouldn’t have happened.
Second goal. We have all seen refs waved that off before.
Did Luiz PULL mahrez? Only they know. Replays show that they are buddies and Luiz places a hand around mahrez’s shoulder! Nothing more.
If Arteta thinks Nketiah is better than Martinelli then we truly are fucked!
These water breaks are a joke lol
Not one shot on target…. Again
Digital Bob
Yeah. We can’t expect them to out play prime debruyne and Gundogan with an aging but still capable Silva in midfield. I still think there is a future for both. but they need time. Partey and Van debeek would be nice.
Well we have clearly not being doing any preparation, training or fitness conditioning during lockdown.
What we will find out tomorrow is whether Pedro has been been practicing how to deploy his flimsy list of Arteta-special-sauce and it’s-all-emery’s-fault excuses.
Oh @Marc do you see what i meant about letting Auba go? What’s the point of his goals when they don’t matter in the grand scheme when he can’t even score against the top 6 to win us games. Why is he playing on the wings? Captain that isn’t showing up against a Man City? His goals aren’t getting us into top 4 so why keep him because he’s the difference between finishing lower in the table which again makes no damn difference. I’d rather have Martinelli as the starting CF moving forward. Pace, “aggression”,heading ability, finishing, just let him… Read more »
un,
Arteta can be blamed for the shocking lineup and piss poor subs though.
They are light years ahead of us. I can’t think of one of our players that would get in their first 11.
Luiz and Auba can go. Sooner the better
Un, Luiz screwed it for us. We still would have struggled though as we were creating nothing in their half.
Bright spots? Leno and Tierney.
Fuck off. Did sterling not catch mustafi’s foot?? Why is this a fucking card??
sterling 2 foots mustafi no card
luiz grabs mahrez’s shoulder red card
If Auba is off then don’t play him.
Arteta is doing a Wenger being loyal to the wrong players.
‘Even before the break Arteta was regularly making strange and questionable decisions.
He got a lot of credit for his role in the paycut negotiations (rightfully so), but people seem to forget how green he was on team selection and in-game management.’
At some point, Pedro will stop the shit he has been pushing here.
Said on here loads I genuinely think City’s two easiest games of the season is against Arsenal.
Sterling didn’t mean it and not that sort of player , they all said
Saka still very good as a LB
hahaha the Arteta out movement begins.. Pedro isn’t gonna have anyone left to talk to anymore. *sigh* 3 months later same old same. We need a total midfield rebuild and a partner for Saliba and hope he is the real deal. Other then that things are aces. To be honest I was hoping this season would be cancelled best thing that could have happened. no matter how much I miss football.This weird empty stadium every 3 days with piped in noise stuff combined with our current roster isn’t worth it.
Looooool… Behold the meltdown on here! I mean what were y’all expecting from this fixture? A point? Perhaps 3? Lmao
Saw from a mile off the moment rookie Arteta trotted out the line up..Guy is average at best, been a fvckin understudy to Pep for years and learnt fvck all
Our players are wank, correct but have you watched how OGS seems to have Pep’ s number?
Arteta has been fvckin disaster and I can’t wait to see how Pedro will spin this one.
That’s exactly what you get when hire a total novice.
At this point, we should just call it a loss on David Luiz
Whatever we paid or didn’t pay, just let it go and let him walk away.
When all is considered, he’s been one of the worst central defenders we have signed in recent years. He’s always needed a more senior CB to hold his hands and keep him focused.
Maybe it’s those curls that make him so endearing but he’s a damn useless defender.
Oh good. Aguero.
ederson punches his own player
I can’t see there is any system to attack.
These water breaks are a joke lol
Especially in Manchester. It can’t be anymore than 60d and it’s been fucking pissing it down.
Omg. That was lovely!! That was the best bit of the match!! Knock that cunt out!!
Looks bad No movement.
Arteta hasn’t used his weapons properly yet in my opinion. he still needs time but some of the players he prefers are really questionable.
“Bright spots? Leno and Tierney.”
What has Tierney done? Same as the other 9 players – Nothing. And I’m still not sure if Willock played or not.
Victorious tell me about it 3 months away and the moaners are back in fashion
What did we expect
Please anyone got a working stream guys?
Before luiz did the luiz we created nothing
Hence the problem we have had for years
Useroz
Give it up, Luiz is an ‘experienced player’, he could have body-checked him to make it more difficult, instead he used his hands.
Red card 9 times of 10.
Call in the ambulance if one’s on standby
Can football go back in to lockdown please.
Midwest, not sure losing to the league champions away from home is the death knell on anything.
“What has Tierney done”
Played some decent balls and took on a couple of dribbles in the first half. Did okay defensively and slotted in well enough at CB in a shit defence.
What do you want? Walking on water?
Please anyone got a working stream guys?????
It’s the fact that we don’t still seem to have any pattern or style to what we’re trying to do, thought we wouldn’t still look like a hangover of the Emery days
Lool why do you want a stream Georgio?
Leftside
I agree. We have been an absolute walk in the park. We are still stuck in first gear (and i am being generous). In the first half you could clearly see Man C step up. Us? Zilch. City have now steadied and are in cruise control. And they are still a threat.
Why the fuck don’t they have carts to take players off instead of the wobbly stretcher!!!
Always wondered about this ancient practice
Pedro
“Midwest, not sure losing to the league champions away from home is the death knell on anything.
We haven’t done anything all day.
Arteta needs to be more decisive. He shouldn’t be persuading the club to keep these uselesss oldies like Luiz.
Pedro
No one realistically expected anything other than a defeat but it’s the performance, or lack of it that’s the issue.
Useroz
Give it up, Luiz is an ‘experienced player’, he could have body-checked him to make it more difficult, instead he used his hands.
Red card 9 times of 10.
No problem with the pen.
But rather the consistency or lack thereof exhibited by these so called professional refs is shocking at times
It’s the way we lost Pedro…nothing has changed!
Artetas substitutions did him in, he had started well
The unbeaten run is over, buckle up it going to be a bumpy ride.
“Please anyone got a working stream guys?”
Don’t do it… save yourself from this shit show.
Shit Players,
Shit Coaching,
Shit Ownership,
Shit Show.
PedRo
“””””Midwest, not sure losing to the league champions away from home is the death knell on anything.””
Only your credibility, perhaps ?
Ollie seems to do ok there ..
Guns of SF
“Why the fuck don’t they have carts to take players off instead of the wobbly stretcher!!!Always wondered about this ancient practice”
-Carts can damage the watering system for the turf
-Carbon footprint of the carts
-The EMT people need their exercise
I think serie A used a trolley? Much better esp for serious injuries
Elite , My Arse
Olympiakos
Brentford is our level.
Village Idiots everywhere.
Pedro_
I get it man… you gonna have an uphill battle is all.. I actually feel for you.. I don’t think Arteta is the problem. It’s our senior players imo, they are all pretty much done. No win situation. You do you though. It can only get better right?
This looks really serious.
Arsenal should of pulled a sickie and postponed the game.
Irreparable damage is being done to this club whilst this clown remains in charge
Arteta does the best press conference
CG Ollie has better players than us and it’s a derby
MidwestGun
Everyone and their grandma know we have an average team with some good parts.
The question is, is Arteta delivering the best with what he has? Is he able to make the team better than the sum of its parts ? I don’t think that is nearly the case at the moment.
That’s all that matters with regards to a coach,whether he’s managing Wimbledon or Watford or Arsenal or Man City. All the other BS is irrelevant
DB10
Yep. City never have to break a sweat to beat us. They usually have a short spell of utter dominance where the game is won and then cruise through the rest of the match whilst still maintaining a good level of performance and threat.
It’s almost as if there is underlying pity for us.
Taking a long time to get Garcia off
Really, it’s safer and more stable for four men to carry that stretcher than a cart.
Those carts are not a smooth ride.
I hope the kid is ok it looks really bad
“No one realistically expected anything other than a defeat but it’s the performance, or lack of it that’s the issue.”
Exactly…. I said before the game that I would gladly take a 2-0 or 2-1 loss as long as I see some improvements. Hunger, passion, desire – nothing from our guys tonight… AND… it starts from coaching.
Napoli about to win
Damn Napoli are so close to winning the COPPA ITALIA .
Leading in the penalty shootout.