Here we are, back together, ready to indulge in some peak-Barclays viewing today.
So what can we expect away at Manchester City?
A tough game. Sorry to be very obvious here, but Manchester City are hurting at the moment and they really need to impose themselves back on the league.
First game back can go either way. It’s an advantage in one sense, because teams have only had a couple of training sessions to crack the code. The fact that they don’t have KDB and a striker of note is also a big win for us.
Arteta has his side on better paper form, but really, we haven’t blown a game out the park so far this season. This would be a nice one to execute a sound plan really well.
Again, I wouldn’t be expecting us to express ourselves. We’re going to take our chances on the break, we’ll test their centre backs, and we’ll try and play very patiently.
The key is always defence. If David Luiz starts, you’ll know within 6 minutes which one showed up. We can’t have it be the Luiz who came on last time and had one of the worst performances of the season. We need the towering leader of a defender that took us to an FA Cup final win.
It’ll also be interesting to see how tempted the manager is to use Thomas Partey. Suspicion says it’s too early and he’ll go with Xhaka and Ceballos. Hopefully, he’ll see some minutes off the bench.
Nicolas Pepe, on form, could be interesting today. He lit up the last game with his energy and quick passing. Question is, does the manager really trust him? If we’re to have any sort of free-flowing football this year, it’ll likely have to include him. We know he has it in him to be world-class, we just don’t see it often enough.
I don’t have lot to offer today, but we’ll be back with a podcast and a match report tomorrow.
ENJOY THE GAME HAVE YOUR SAY BELOW! x
So funny listening to the predictable usual suspects like Bamford, enjoying the defeat. We have Micah Richatds, Sol Campbell & Pepe Guardiola praising Arsenal but the Le Grove baying mob know best. Arsenal are a work in progress, which you know. Pep has spent £820m to build his team while Artetas only just started out. We played away and lost by one goal. We had two great chances & a penalty denied. At last we don’t look soft, they hardly hurt us and we competed far better than the last League meeting. Criticising is fine if it’s fair & knowledgeable.… Read more »
Ishola,
It’s not even about which player, but that we kept doing it and Arteta didn’t give instructions to be more adventurous going forward, he didn’t move his defenders forward try to push City in, he didn’t make a meaningful change until the 83rd minute, he didn’t try Auba up front, he didn’t do anything. He let the game go same way it started. He didn’t change our plan. We ended exactly in the same way as we started. Losing by a goal.
“You lot should try facing facts occasionally rather than constantly lying to yourselves.“
The “fact” being that Thomas Partey will have little impact on Arsenal this season. Subjective opinion about about future events now considered fact, wonders never cease.
What an absolute bellend, got a crystal ball on loan from Dariano clearly.
Calypso
Any poster who revels in their own teams misfortune and bets against “their” side is a cunt, plain and simple. Repetitive boring cunt Bamford is.
Marko, Ceballos has been so good… he was outstanding in the first half. Gonna look great next to Partey.
This City team ain’t battering no top team…..them days are behind us. Arteta was timid and too deferential and that’s looking more and more like his true nature. This is not the City team of 2-3 years ago. Unnecessarily complicating the match with that Willian experiment.
Few cold hard truths
Pepe isn’t a good football player we need to sell him next season.
Willian should be benched for martinelle as soon as is fit.
However I cant see areta doing this.
First 11 should be
Saka auba martinelle
Partey ceballos elneny
Tierney gabriel Luiz bellerin
Leno
433 or 4231
Honestly top 4 is going to be hard. Its not the usual suspects this year.
Leicester, Everton, Tott, and others are going to be in the mix.
We could have gone 2nd today with a win, Now we are 5th.
This was a lame showing today…. a game we had to win …. we cannot excuse shit like this!
Ceballos:
Created 2 chances
10 ball recoveries
3/3 successful tackles
91% pass completion
raptora
“It’s not even about which player, but that we kept doing it and Arteta didn’t give instructions to be more adventurous going forward, he didn’t move his defenders forward try to push City in”
Well you know we have players in this team that prefer to play deep. They don’t like playing high up.
That’s where the problem starts.
Great wasn’t it in some FA Cup wins but not really progressive over a whole league campaign.
Moe, come back and tell us that in December.
Buzzy
Spot on
Why the fuck we sign the useless old cunt on a 3:year contract
He’s no pirlio
London,
I would make a small edit. Bellerin needs to sit for AMN. We get better defending and movement in the attack, than Bellerin can give. He did nada today for our attack.
Saka auba martinelle
Partey ceballos elneny
Tierney gabriel Luiz AMN
Leno
Marko
To add to yours and Pedro’s comments ceballos defensive stats have been top notch for a non dm midfielder even better than parteys. In fact all his stats from dribbling, passing and defensive actions has been very good. He isn’t quite the playmaking wizard but more a very technical all-rounder which is compliment not an insult.
Leicester and United away are no gimmes either. Probably draw both if past is prelude.
It’s infuriating that the best starting lineup is so obvious or at least the one on paper but Arteta will just not give it a chance.
Leno
Bellerin Luiz Gabriel Tierney
Partey Ceballos
Pepe Willian Saka
Aubameyang
I don’t know which god to pray to, to get this lineup in 5 games straight and see how it goes.
When Martinelli comes change it to
Pepe/Willian Saka Martinelli
Aubameyang
London
Pepe has less meat on his legs than a chicken
He has been sussed by the prem
Sell the cunt and use the 20m to get a decent player
Salute the cunt away
How anyone can justify playing Willian in the centre and sacrificing our top striker is srsly beyond me. You’re basically biased if you are not putting the blame on the manager for that.
It seems Jordan Pickford has condemned VVD to knee ligament/meniscus damage. He’s put for 6-8 months.
Just like that the fortunes of a club can change in one quick second.
“Bamford has to be the biggest cunt ive seen on here”
He’s a troll who doesn’t like Arsenal or it’s fans. Every now and then we he gets wound up, Dariano let’s his mask slip; referring to ‘Arsenal in third party terms like ‘your Arsenal’ etc. All he does us trash the club, it’s players and try to wind up Arsenal fans. No idea why Pete let’s him behave like this unless it’s because he gets everyone to bite driving can ntent. Absolute bell end.
Rap
Shit
Cunt William in team and two Bob Pepe
Pedro
“Ceballos has been so good… he was outstanding in the first half. Gonna look great next to Partey.
So you agree Xhaka isn’t good enough?
Why was he playing so high up the pitch in the first half? It just knackers Ceballos who has to cover the ground when Xhaka can’t get back.
Offside
Hahaha
Good for United
Diss
We’ve had that blow more times than a fluffer
Dissenter
Serious? VVD out for 6 – 8 months?
Dissenter
Yes agree. That Pickford challenge could turn the Premier League on its head. They just said Van Dijk could be out for the season. ACL.
I love that the fans can see issues but the top brass truly cannot.
For years we cried out to Wenger to buy a solid destroyer in midfield. He did not.
The fans are crying out for Auba to play in the middle. What’s the chances? 😂
R.S.P.C.Arsenal,
Man. Imagine getting 2 players for the RWF position in the last 2 years, both of them big names, and both of them look shit.
Clearly they are quality players. Can’t make up my mind who’s to blame and what can be changed to see much, much more of them than we are now.
Guns
I’d agree AMN over bellerin actually but I’d give bellerin some chances to start here and there.
I think AMN is better defensively. They are both awful final ball though. If you look at Liverpool they got Robertson on one side Arnold on the other reining death with inswing crosses and also both are capable of driving runs.
AMN and also Bellerin have shown glimpses of having the driving runs part but 9/10 they kill the final ball.
Bamford. I agree with you, I think we’re more set up for a George Graham season, it’s not pretty, but I don’t necessarily see that as a bad thing. We’re competitive, we’ve got some experience in the squad, and I’m not convinced we’re designed as a squad to play anything much more expansive, we also have efficient goal scorers. This season is likely going to be a massive scrap inside the top 8, and I don’t think changing the manager will change that. Hopefully the fans stick with Arteta, I like what he’s doing, we just lack some spark in… Read more »
That was a really good game couldve had a draw , Aguero didnt even have a shot apart from the first half header. I really think its time we move past 3-4-3 , makes us predictable now. 4-3-3 with Ceballos , Partey and xhaka / Elneny gives us more dominance. Probably in hindsight couldve played AMN from the start , with Saka in position of Willian .
“
Same City that lost 2-5 at the Etihad to Leicester and ended 1-1 vs Leeds in the last 2 rounds.
City had 1 point in their last 2 games.
And you are happy you didn’t lose 8-2. Okay. Our fans are something.“
Quite right. If there’s indeed special sauce, it needn’t take years to improve. Our forward has hardly changed for the better both aesthetically or analytically.
Probably still top 5 in shots against and bottom 3 in shots for/ taken. Is this the sort of improvement we look forward to?
Feel for VVD. ACL’s a biggie.
Likely will impact how well he moves when he’s fully recovered and his mobility is a huge part of why he’s elite.
The announcement of our arrival back in the big time is so premature..
Like a 13 year old kid wanking to love island…we ain’t going anywhere quick that’s for sure
We ain’t
When you see Saint Maxime running at defenses, you have to wonder why we paid so much for Pepe.
Our 25k weekly wage youth academy gradua is also outplaying Pepe.
Pepe needs to stand up and be counted. His body language makes Oliver Giroud look like a aunt.
Auba-laca
Saka
Xhaka-partey-ceballos
Tierney-gab-rob-hector
MARTINEZ(lol)
Created 2 chances
10 ball recoveries
3/3 successful tackles
91% pass completion
Yes Pedro yes. Lad is turning out performances that he’s not known for. I mean his ball winning ability these days is fantastic
I don’t want to see Arteta go gung ho away from home against the other top 6 but I’d like to see him just be 10% -15% more adventurous and see the difference it makes.
AMN is an athlete and has good pace, recovery pace, etc. Not playing him against teams like this makes me wonder. Bellerin, on a weekly basis gets turned and spun around all the time by the attacker. Most times he gets bailed out by someone who covers for him. he offers not much in attack either. AMN needs more minutes! I wonder how many teams were serious about buying him,,, I honestly think we could have grabbed some cash and used it on a CAM…. Anyhow, thats neither here or there… Arteta needs a hard review of this and his… Read more »
Pedro,
I surely will be back in December……this City team ain’t battering any of the top 6 teams home or away. Add Leicester and Everton to make it top 8 if you wish.
WengerEagle
As you say the recovery from an ACL often leaves longstanding mobility issues. It’s a shame for him but weakens Liverpool.
That’s a gianrmous blow for Liverpool.
Vvd decreases Liverpool chances of league win/cl victory by a ton of percentage points.
I think the league just opened up but it would so boring of city win it.
Referees still send players off after the final whistle is blown fir unprofessional. Induct/ dangerous play.
Where did that rule is can’t call a fouls because the ball is fed come from.
I’ve never fancied premier league referees
Jokers, the lot of them. It’s no wonder that it’s a premier league ref that have a player three yellow cards in the WC
Rap
We’ve overspent on dross .. mugged off by other selling clubs
We have been punching above our weight for years
Laca shit
Pape shit too skinny offers nothing
William … Wow worthless
Auba … Can’t do it when it matters against big six.. sell in Jan
Lol,
Arteta has washed so many brains at this point that fans want a midfield three of Xhaka, Dani, Thomas.
Yes. Why have creative players when you can have 3 DM/CMs. They have around 5 assists a season in total. Might as well have 1 player in the opponent half at this point.
** Where did that rule of “I can’t call a foul because the ball is dead” come from
Sorry everyone but I have zero sympathy for Liverpool or VVD – firstly Scouser’s are cunts always have been always will be. Secondly how many ACL’s have we had in the last couple of years? How many of those ACL’s were years off the injuries to Diaby, Ramsey, Eduardo etc etc?
spot on marc
Bellerin has lost his pace as well I thought it might come back as sometimes players get it back after the rust comes off after an injury.
I think if bellerin before injury was average paced player he’d be slow now because he was so fast I think his lost pace means he is now average paced. But pace was always his biggest assist so even of he isn’t sloth paced most of his game is gone.
Arsenal should have awarded a penalty on the stoppage time of first half… that highboot was dangerous
We had 2 to 3 big chances however didn’t take any.
• Saka ,shot hit GK shoulder 1v1
• Auba shot straight at GK 1v1
• Pepe free header wide.
First two came before HT. A very different game if equalised.
At this level, missed chances hurt like hell.
Rich
I agree. It’s not on Arteta. He’s working with a fairly inadequate squad. It’s going to take time to rebuild Arsenal into a genuinely top four outfit.
The last of those was 10 years ago Marc and they did get sympathy from fans other than those Orcs up in Stoke.
Like others have said, Liverpool being significantly weakened is a positive for the rest of the PL and I love it myself, but how can you not feel for the actual player?
Wenger eagle
The treatment of ACL/MCL injuries has come a long way. Recovery can be 100% in this age and time.
VVD will just have to adapt his game when he returns
“Arteta has washed so many brains at this point that fans want a midfield three of Xhaka, Dani, Thomas“
Is that why the fans spent the summer hoping Aouar would be signed, and the club did their best to chase him the whole way?
Maybe, just maybe, folk are speculating what they think would be the best balance of what we have.
Rob Holding also had a cruciate ligament injury almost 2 years ago.
Marc Arsene towards the end went with a back 3 Emery had never been with a back 3, but decided it was our best bet. Arteta started off with a back 4, but reverted to a back 3. I don’t think it’s a coincidence. I think it’s this group of players, and confidence was so low when Arteta took over, he just had to solidify the team. Arteta spoke at the end of last season about our lack of No10 types, Luiz can’t play in a back 4, and I’m convinced of any of our other 7 centre half’s can… Read more »
WE
Mostly because I’m a nasty fucker.
.
BuzzyOctober 17, 2020 13:09:52
By the look of it VVDs done his knee..could be a super long term injury
Told ya
LG
Bellerin’s like Walcott, he was so stupidly fast that like you say, even any sort of substantial drop off would still see him quicker than the average player.
Go back and watch Arsenal 2-0 Bayern Munich to remind yourself of just how fast Bellerin was. And Walcott in his teens/early twenties before the Spurs injury.
Marc
Of course I feel sorry for VVD
Anyone who’s hacked down by an orc has earned my sympathy
To think the ref and VAR reviewed that and said … it’s okay is laughable
The timing of the VVD injury is a fucker, days away from being able to bring in cover.
Still hard to believe Arteta likes to play out the back, and ‘around the press’ yet we sold the keeper that is most comfortable with the ball at his feet and could actually hold a ball and command a defence.
Leno is not a possession keeper.
Dissenter
It’s not laughable it’s disgusting but it wasn’t an issue that needed dealing with when Arsenal players were being mutilated it was all giggles back then so fuck Liverpool and fuck VVD.
What goes around comes around – we’ve had two players pick up ACL’s caused by questionable challenges by ManU players in the last couple of years.
Xhaka was hopeless today
Cebellos was doing it all on his own, and that’s part of the problem why we couldn’t move the ball forward
He either passes sideway or backward, occasionally long ball, but he never tries one twos, pass and move forward with the ball.
He can be useful in some games, definatley not when you are outnumbered and outclassed in central midfield
Charlie,
You are the one who is happy “being sound defensively” aka playing with 0 risks sideways passing so we concede as least as possible even in the last 30, 20, 10 minutes of the game.
No way we are that shit when Leeds, Wolves, Villa, Everton, Leicester are all taking chances when going away to big clubs.
Might as well put another DM in there right. Sideway passing to the keeper and the full backs for 90 minutes. We will be very “sound defensively”.
Dissenter
“To think the ref and VAR reviewed that and said … it’s okay is laughable”
The whole VAR thing is a joke. It was supposed to stop miscarriages of justice but it creates them. They are so inconsistent with it. Another example ith Kyle Walker today who gave a penalty away but VAR apparently didn’t review it because of, ‘what they saw in real time’. No point having it if it’s the same poor referees in charge of it.
It has come a long way Dissenter but ACL is still pretty much the worst injury that a footballer can get. Between the long-lay off, instability in the knee when compared to the stronger knee making you susceptible to suffering another ACL in your other leg ala Ronaldo, Michael Essien, Strootman, etc and the effect it has on a player lateral movements and change of direction, which arguably is even more important for a defender than an attacker. Much like getting an Achilles in Basketball. There’s pretty much no examples of footballers who have come back after ACL injuries the… Read more »
St Maximin the next big thing in PL..looks a level above anyone else on that field
Marc
“It’s not laughable it’s disgusting but it wasn’t an issue that needed dealing with when Arsenal players were being mutilated”
This.
If ozil was English, would it be OK for him to come back?
G8 Dani has his limitations. I agree, he likes to play it safe with posession on offense.
He seems better in defense, breaking up play, dropping deep and helping.
Does not help when Xhaka does the same thing essentially.
Dani has way more mobility than xhaka, and him and Partey should start. Lets see what both of them can do….
Rich
The biggest problem with our CB’s has been no midfield in front of them. You put Dixon, Winterburn, Adam’s and Bould behind the shower we’ve had the last few years and they’d look shit.
Martinelli had a “knee injury”
the club did not reveal what it was specifically
I hope this was not a tear like ACL….. and I do hope he has kept his pace
Rich, pragmatism hasn’t got us so far though!
You have to take some risks sometimes , especially when you’re loosing the game
Anyone know anything about Azeez? I would love to transition to a midfield 3, but I dont think we can do that with only Xhaka, Elneny, Party, and Ceballos for a whole year.
AFC
Drives me nuts that so called Arsenal supporters are all teary eyed about poor VVD after the shit we’ve seen.
Death to Scousers.
And Manc’s,, Chav’s, Spud’s and all the other cunts out there.
Pedro seems to be happy with that result… well, good for him.
Raptora
Being sound defensively hasn’t been a thing for a good decade-plus, the very fact you can be such a toddler after that game away at City says everything to me. You’re as short sighted as it gets.
Marc, you certainly made me chuckle there. There I was thinking what a reasonable type you were.
The order of the day seems to be avoid defeats outside the top 6 and everything will be hunky dory
WE
Roy keane came back a better player after his acl.
I think its a terrible injury but everyone’s body reacts differently and has a different capacity to heal.
Marc We’re amongst the lowest for tackles and interceptions in the league, and also amongst the lowest for chance creation. We’re the least dynamic team in the league, even though we cover the most ground, both under Emery and Arteta. My worry about our centre half’s is only Luiz is comfortable in possession, but you can only play Luiz in a 3, and you never know which side of the bed he’s going to get out of, The FA Cup win and turning over some big teams has got fan expectation up, but this season is going to be another… Read more »
The tackle on VVD wasn’t as bad as the ones on Ramsey, Eduardo and Diaby. Injuries is apart of the game he will be ok!
Fuck me that game was horrible.
Puke emoji
Cc
Good foundations being defensively sound. It’s how good teams get built. Something we haven’t been for years. It’s funny how hypocritical people can be.
Arteta is doing great. We are organised, players know what he wants and we are no longer a soft touch. Foundations care in place to build on. We are good off the ball now it’s doing the same with the ball. We do need more creativity but that will come. Some people either don’t understand football or don’t want to.
Guns,
Martinelli had a meniscus tear brought to you by Luiz.
https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/12107041/arteta-weve-come-a-long-way
Arteta: “I’m extremely happy with the performance we put in today. We’ve come a long way. I’m extremely happy. If we have to lose football games, please let’s do it like this.”
Sideways passing for 90 mins. Setting up not to get battered. Playing with less ambition than Brighton. Maybe I’m the one that doesn’t get it.
G8
Pragmatism won us the FA Cup and Charity Shield, it’s also made us more competitive in big games than it has at any time over the past 15 years
We don’t have the creative midfielders or the central defenders to play anything much more expansive,
“Xhaka was hopeless today
Cebellos was doing it all on his own, and that’s part of the problem why we couldn’t move the ball forward”
Agree and why was Xhaka so far up the pitch so often – it takes him too long to get back in position.
AFC Forever
You are the hypocrite, denouncing Stoke and now praising Arsenal for playing the same way.
AFC
I’m always perfectly reasonable but fuck bullshit and fuck excuses from other teams.
It’s Emery people “We created some big opportunities, maybe two or three, and we have to convert them if want to win matches like this. “We didn’t, but apart from that the belief I sense in this team made me very proud. “I have seen a lot of teams come here in four years working here. So I know to do what we did tonight is really difficult. “Overall I cannot be any prouder. If we have to lose football matches, I would prefer to lose matches like this. So I can take a lot of positives, but I hate… Read more »
“Sideways passing for 90 mins. Setting up not to get battered. Playing with less ambition than Brighton. Maybe I’m the one that doesn’t get it.” Not the only one, no. It’s funny isn’t it. Last few years people have been moaning we can’t defend, are useless off the ball and don’t know what we are doing. Arteta has fixed that. We had 2 great chances, Saka and Auba plus a stonewall penalty. Creatively we have some way to go but if you can’t see how we are improving and developing I can’t help you. If you don’t think building a… Read more »
We don’t have the creative midfielders or the central defenders to play anything much more expansive, Rich, I dont really agree with this…. we have talent, but Arteta is struggling on how to use them properly and also develop attacking tactics. It seems he is more or less ok with just give the ball to Saka or Willian and let them do something. He will burn these players out in no time. His late subs did not help when chasing the game. He needs to take some responsibity with this loss. Show some fucking ambition, we gave their back line… Read more »
Where’s Pedro?
You’re little boys being beaten up on here mate.
AFC Our soft underbelly and brittle defence has been a meme for years, fact we can suffocate a team like City who are levels above us for ability is testament to the work being done. Personally think it’s a bit of a joke to expect all pieces of the puzzle to be “on” at this stage all things considered. We’ve signed up a young manager to a dedicated project, and we’re 5 games into the PL season hearing about how we’re horrible for not turning over City at the Etihad. Bore off with that. We’re a work in progress, I… Read more »
Kaz
The coach has obviously been brainwashed playing under loser Wenger.
Our current tactics worked when we had a 6’5 keeper with long arms and velcro hands who could distribute the ball quickly and had the repertoire to pass short and long. They worked because no one knew how we were trying to get Auba into the left hand channel alone with a diagonal ball over the top. We sold the the first and the second has been worked out. Tactically we gotta change. I cannot believe he’s proud of that. You would think our players were relegation level. They aren’t. He has to demand more from them and from himself,… Read more »
Calypso
And he wants to bring him back in to fold…
Very bad move
List it with arteta