Well, I felt pretty terrible about life waking up yesterday morning, but then the mighty Spurs brightened up my day when they gave up a 3-0 lead inside 18 minutes after the second coming of Gareth Bale.
Beautiful stuff. That killed off ‘THEY’RE GONNA WIN THE LEAGUE’ talk pretty fast. Spurs will be up there this season, but contending the title? Have my doubts people.
Even better than that, Emi Martinez kept another clean sheet and Ross Barkley fired the impressive Aston Villa to another win against Leicester.
So, the weekend shook out quite nicely. We’re 5th, level points with Leicester. United, City, Wolves, and Chelsea are all behind us in the table.
Suddenly, losing 0-1 to Manchester City in a very tight game doesn’t look so bad. I mean, not great, but I’ll be the perspective police here and say it could have been worse. City are a very good team, we had good enough chances, we forced them into a cagey response. Games like that should be close and live on a knife-edge… I suspect if we add a little more flair to our attack in those sorts of games, we’ll not have that top 6 away record hanging around our neck much longer.
Additional good news: We currently have the second-best defensive record in the Premier League. Arteta is building from the back, if he maintains this sort of record all season, we’ll be in contention for the top 4.
A lot of fans are throwing around our dismal attacking numbers, and rightly so… but that will develop and if we’re honest, we’ll probably have to buy to really solve those challenges. We don’t have an Aouar or a Grealish in our squad and it is very unlikely anyone is going to develop into the role. The gamble for this season is that if we have a strong foundation, we can live off less chances because we have Auba. A lot of eggs in that basket though. We really need to up our creativity and share around the responsibility for scoring.
We do have a chance to experiment. This Thursday is sandbox time. We’re playing Rapid Wien, currently 2nd in the Austrian Bundesliga. This game is important as it sets the tone for the competition. Arteta will want to win, but he’ll be all too aware that we do not have the depth of quality in our squad to deal with an injury crisis this season. I expect some experience, but I also hope we see a lot of young players. Joe Willock and ESR are the best candidates for more attacking flair in our play… hopefully, they deliver a good performance. This is our back-up for top 4 this season, but we should really be walking the groups with our reserves.
We also have a really big game on Sunday. Brendan Rodgers, top 4 contenders, needs to make amends for the Villa loss. Arteta, will be desperate not to lose ground at the top of the table. It’s a huge game, how will the team react? We shall see.
Short one today, see you in the comments. x
Ernest: ““hopefully Partey benches Xhaka,” Raptora, do you believe that this will actually happen? It would be certainly ideal, but something tells me it wont.”
I am hopeful but I would not bet money on it. Not at all.
Same here Raptora.
Ishola Where’s the quality? Aubameyang world class finisher Saka magic Partey? We don’t know yet, but this is a player in his peak years, this ones 100% on Arteta Ceballos is a player on the way up, signing him without an option was a big mistake Tierney and Lacazette are decent enough. Leno is an elite shot stopper, but poor all around keeper. Then we’ve got a backup keep who was back to a bottom half of the table team in Ligue 1 Bellerin + Southampton’s backup right back Kolasinac……. If you were being kind, you’d describe Mustafi, Sokratis, Chambers,… Read more »
The only explosive thing I see is
Tierney playing pin ball with players
he is trying to beat.?
“what is mostly being debated is whether there’s an explosive brand of football Arteta is not playing because he’d prefer to keep it a secret.”
I think Pedro’s losing the plot
Rich,
I would appreciate if you don’t leave an empty row after each and every sentence. It’s really hard to read. I hope you understand.
Rich
You didn’t answer the question previously in why if the squad is so poor how did it manage to finish within a couple of points from fourth place just over a season and a half ago in Emery’s first stint. It has collapsed so quickly has it?
And please don’t give me the line that other teams have improved in that time either. Chelsea are conceding goals left, right and centre and Spurs being Spurs can’t even see out a match where they are 3-0 up at home and Man United get trounced at home by the same Spurs.
Marc
Pedro is far from losing the plot, he’s now stopped talking nonsense, and he’s seen the light.
By Xmas I’ll have him wearing a MAGA hat, screaming for De Blasio + Khan to step down, becoming a member of the Conservative Party, and being a passionate No Deal Brexiteer.
The conversion is on….
Again to emphasize the obvious errors being made at the moment. Auba far more impactful centrally than on the left it’s not even up for debate anymore and it’s at the stage where it’s just dumb not to play him up top. Forgetting the fact that we had Willian and Pepe taking turns at CF against City and it was painful to watch there was an example in the game of Auba crossing a ball from the left that Pepe headed straight at the keeper now people might look at it as a chance and example of Auba on the… Read more »
We’re all pleased with the improvement with our defence but the fact remains the only team who’s scored less than us in the top half of the table is City, they have a game in hand and have had serious injury problems to key attacking players.
What worries me is we look so toothless going forward that if we concede first in a match we’re in serious trouble. It only takes a set piece or a poor referring decision and we got a massive problem.
Perhaps Partey and Ceballos are enough to provide defensive solidity to the midfield, both of which can also progress the ball.
That way I would like to see William playing as the creative man in the middle. The 3 of the attack must be Auba, Saka and Pepe. Pepe and Saka often receive the ball far from the opponent’s area, who knows, this formation may solve the problem. If Arteta is afraid to expose David in a back 4, he should play with AMN instead of bellerin, since Niles is better defensively.
Rich
I’m just intrigued when the fans are going to get to see Arteta’s secret explosive brand of football.
Marko
“). Fact is right now so much can be addressed if he stopped playing arguably our best players these past few months in Auba, Saka and Tierney out of position and given more positive instructions. Another obvious mistake is this hard on he has for Holding while Saliba is left in the cold. Day by day it looks a strange position to take given his potential his quality and the fact that Leicester had no issues with throwing in Fofana yesterday.”
Heavy criticism of Arteta there Marko…your mask is slipping .
Marko and Marc,
I agree with both.
Ishola
Other teams behind the top 6 have improved, particularly offensively
Emery overachieved not underachieved, and he did it through being pragmatic.
Finishing 5th, 2 points off 4th, was far from the disaster that it was being portrayed as.
And the same for Arteta, if Arteta conservatively keeps clocking points, keeps us competitive, then it’ll be our best bet of getting top4.
If he gets top4, then it’ll be a slight overachievement.
If we finish 5/6th he’s hitting par
Finishing 7/8th slight underachievement.
raptora
I worried we’re seeing the same issue with Arteta that I think will be the undoing of Fat Frank.
Being too clever for their own good.
When your goalkeepers nervous and indecisive it makes defenders behave the same.
On Saturday often our defenders chased the same ball and started to ball watch.
Our midfield drops back and our defenders were just hoofing the ball upfield.
What does Arteta call that?
Marc, you accuse me of losing the plot a lot… then I’m right. So I’ll take it as a compliment.
Marc if we were to play the top 6 exclusively over a 38 game period I’d fancy our chances there’s a real improvement in application and competitiveness in this club now. But in other games against other teams there simply has to be improvements and a different application going forward. It’s not sustainable going forward to get top 4 this approach to games we need to be able to score more goals and win games easier.
We don’t have any player that can run at defenders, maybe Saka is capable of that.
Villa have two of such; Grealish and Ross Barkley
It’s imperative that we get some loan signings in very quickly in January.
Rich
When you say that other teams other than the top six have improved offensively then that is not good news for Arsenal is it because there is a feeling at this time that Arsenal may fall down because of a lack of goals themselves.
If Emery can “overachieve” in his first season then we can have every hope that Arteta can “overachieve” as well. This squad has shown that it can respond in a poistive manner and get results and points on the board even if it is so-called supposedly overall not good enough.
Marko
The binning of Ozil and the sale of Martinez appear to be your main plusses for Arteta.
Both decisions have been detrimental to our performances and results..
The binning of Ozil and the sale of Martinez appear to be your main plusses for Arteta. No there’s others. And getting rid of Martinez wasn’t the issue it was more getting in funds to be able to afford reinforcements so getting rid of Martinez that we could be able to get in Partey is a major plus yes. His biggest positive though for me is that we’ve finally got a work ethic and hard working culture at the club basically the complete opposite of what Ozil is and I love that about him. That to me alone is worth… Read more »
People are acting like Arteta is playing Auba wide because he is stupid… that’s not it at all.. He wants a high press because it has forced many teams and keepers into mistakes passing from the back and we have scored quite a few goals from it. He doesn’t want Auba wasting his time and energy every match doing the donkey work of pressure and holdup play. Hence why he likes to play Laca and Eddie through the middle. Auba has more or less a free role to float into the middle when he deems it necessary. Now, I completely… Read more »
Pierre spending the first day of the school holidays obsessing over Ozil for a change.
He absolutely loved Arteta until his boyfriend was dropped from the squad. Poor lad.
Pedro
No don’t think I’ve accused you of losing the plot before – I’ve accused you of a few other things – but the comment:
“what is mostly being debated is whether there’s an explosive brand of football Arteta is not playing because he’d prefer to keep it a secret.”
If it was a joke it wasn’t funny if it was serious it’s just plain odd.
Marc, I laughed then tried to zing you because it’s Monday.
Marc
Stop playing the referee
Marko
That was sort of my point. I have no issue with being pragmatic in away matches at City, Liverpool etc it’s looking laboured against teams we should be able to beat with a reasonable amount of comfort. Sooner or later as I said earlier one of them will go in front whether it’s a bit of luck, bad referring or just a bit of brilliance doesn’t matter but it’s how we’ll react that does worry me.
Pedro
Mate you should know better!
Dissenter
Eh?
“The binning of Ozil and the sale of Martinez appear to be your main plusses for Arteta.”
Actually the credit for sussing out Ozil as a fraud most certainly is with Emery. For as many things that he got poorly wrong, he absolutely nailed Ozil correctly.
Ishola We can get top4, it’s not in the least bit far fetched, but I think a few other clubs are just slightly ahead of us. There’s a lot of evidence other clubs have improved offensively, and overall. Villa have players like Grealish + Barkley, both would walk into our current starting 11 Leicester have Soyuncu, Pereira, Maddison, Vardy, Ndidi who’d all get in our starting 11 Brighton and Everton have assembled very good first elevens The league is as competitive as I can ever remember it. If we get injuries to Aubameyang, Leno, Ceballos, Saka, we’ll be in big… Read more »
The only thing “explosive” these days is my diarrhea. Arsenal’s style of football these days does not exactly conjure up the use of that word.
I knew it.. Marc is a referee… that explains his lack of vision.
Always said post Wenger notably Emery’s interim season he should build from back and get that as sorted as possible, never really came off and we all know how that ended. Arteta has come in gone with this formation and settled the defense, clear signs of improvement there. Now needs to integrate more attack minded play into that, going to the Etihad against Pep and limiting it to a 1-0 is so fucking un-recent Arsenal i was kind of shocked. Had we taken our chances we leave with a 1-1 draw likely, definition of pragmatic. Its becoming clear with Arteta… Read more »
Marc
Pedro is untouchable.
Say that again….Pedro is untouchable.
Midwest
That’s worse than calling someone a cunt – careful!
If on Thursday it’s the same dull boring football against Rapid Vienna, the lack of creativity is from terrible coaching. Fans defending the City display, when it’s not only at City the display was hard to watch. Arsenal completed just 250+ passes at Liverpool after that they got beat 7 by Villa. If after 9 months, we can’t even look good been a flat track bully, what’s the point. All the “we looked better defensively” talk is laughable, what fans expect from playing 7 players behind the ball?
Rich
Maybe.
But as Marc and Marko have alluded to there is a concern with this approach all across the board.
If you are telling us that virtually every EPL team has improved significantly offensively then the pragmatic Arteta approach could fall down short.
For Arteta’s pragmatic approach to succeed we don’t want to see these EPL teams being better offensively because in head to heads against them the fall back on being sound defensively becomes precarious.
Midwest….That’s worse than calling someone a cunt – careful!
________
Ha! Marc, fair enough I guess….. your not from Manchester anyhow.. are you? are you? answer the question!!!
Hope Partey settles in quickly.
He didn’t look up to speed with the pace of the premier league in his 10 min run out. La Liga is a different ball game.
10 minute is a tiny sample but it gave a snippet of what lies ahead of him. The next few games will be against some pacy teams so fingers crossed.
Midwest
Now you’re calling me a Northern monkey – you really are looking for a fight.
“what fans expect from playing 7 players behind the ball?”
Who are the 4 players in front of the ball?
Ishola Mustafi comes with an attention span of a goldfish, but stylistically he’s probably our best chance of going with a back4 alongside Gabriel. it’ll be interesting to see what type of player Partey is, hopefully he gives us a serious upturn in quality, and then Willian and Pepe start offering a bit more, so we’re not so dependant on Saka to carve open chances. Arteta’s stabilised us defensively, hopefully the rest of our game will develop as the season progresses. Moyes said yesterday, he thinks it’ll be the side with the best defence that wins the title, maybe building… Read more »
you really are looking for a fight.
_________
No not really, not anymore. My fighting days are past. I did a little boxing in my youth though… I was a Banter weight. 😀
Dissenter
Lets give the man a full 90 with a start before breaking it down, shall we?
The Athletic mentioned that Wenger used to use 3 creative mids in his set ups. We have what, one maybe if you consider Willian that player. ( he is not) I am not sure how Arteta addresses this without buying that mold of player? You can shift formations, but we do not have that innately creative player currently. ( no Pierre… please let me stop you there) I would take a chance with ESR in a few of the easier games to see how the kid pans out… Other than that, January window might be another chance to get someone…… Read more »
“If on Thursday it’s the same dull boring football against Rapid Vienna, the lack of creativity is from terrible coaching.”
And you accuse me of always being negative…FFS GunnerDNA.
At least a game or two Dissenter.
Sal
10 min is a small and incomplete sample but he did get a yellow card needlessly though. Maybe his physicality wont be as much a problem in the premier league as it was in La liga where he racked up 17 yellow cards last season.
I genuinely can’t wait till Martinelli is fit although that is tempered somewhat by Arteta’s decisions to not use him.
Leftside
I suspect Arteta is going to keep him on the bench for a game or two.
That’s what Klopp did for Fabhino.
Guns of SF
Arteta was saying that at the end of last season, that we used to have loads of creative No10 types, but now we didn’t, but hopefully that would change in the future.
Hopefully Smith-Rowe has a breakthrough season, or when this Ozil debacle comes to its drawn out conclusion, KSE put their hand in their pockets again.
GunnerDNA wants Arsenal to play expressive football like Emery so it can be proved, that playing football like Emery is most certainly ineffective.
It’s a sharp narrative.
Dissenter
It would probably be to his benefit to see a little gametime on Thursday, to get further acclimated to playing with the team in actual games so we may see that.
‘Jacinda Ardern is indeed an inspirational leader of New Zealand, a young woman with a young child and bags of courage. Not only the success of keeping a lid on COVID but also her handling of the Christchurch mosque massacre was exceptional, showing true leadership and compassion. Many a world leader could learn from her‘
I don’t know……. my president doesn’t think too highly of her.
As for saving lives from the covid pandemic……..Trump has saved millions so far and he’s not even done yet.
That’s inspirational.
Ernest Reed,
“If on Thursday it’s the same dull boring football against Rapid Vienna, the lack of creativity is from terrible coaching.”
“And you accuse me of always being negative…FFS GunnerDNA.”
We’re playing Rapid Vienna, there’s no need for 7 players fighting to be the best CB who can make the most passes to Leno.
Guys, let’s not start talking politics today.
The match hasn’t even happened yet GunnerD, how will anyone know the tactical setup or approach?
Pedro
I’ve converted you from “anything less than third is abject failure, and we should be playing better football”
To you realising this squad isn’t that great, and conservatism is the way forward.
You’re not scared I’ll have you wearing a MAGA hat and screaming for a no deal Brexit by Xmas are you?
Jacinda is a great leader. Agreed, other leaders need to see what she is doing that is working…
For some leaders you simply cannot fix stupid tho….
‘My fighting days are past. I did a little boxing in my youth though… I was a Banter weight. 😀’
Midwest, is that one level above or below bamford weight?
Its true we always had loads of #10 wannabe’s but they were always injured. Rosicky.. injured, Wilshere injured, Ramsey injured, Ox injured, Arshavin injured, Diaby injured. So by the time game time rolled around we usually only had one who could play which was Santi Carzola..until he got injured of course.
Midwest, is that one level above or below bamford weight?
_______
Hmmm not sure.. Ill have to check my Banter power ratings.
To not play Saka on the left is criminal. He proved at the weekend that if he receives the ball in the offensive third in the left channel, he can hurt any team. 3 or 4 times in the first half at the weekend he showed his class when attacking the left corner of the penalty area. That is the area he needs to be on the ball.. Aubamayang does score goals from the left, but it’s time to try something different… 4-2-3-1 was successful for Arteta before lockdown so why not try it. Using the 4-2-3-1 we scored more… Read more »
Rich, we’ve got a very solid squad. It’s just not built for explosive progressive football.
A serious question to posters from down under, Is there a Fox News in the land of Oz or Kiwi?
Pedro
Our squad’s not exactly reliable in defence unless we play very conservatively.
I’m just hoping Partey can give us a presence in midfield which will take pressure off the defence and help us with forward play.
Pedro, we don’t have explosive progressive players , that’s true, but Arteta might not be very adventurous in his style ……..we just don’t know.
Maybe Sid was right all along and we just assumed Arteta would be a mix of Wenger and Pep.
” we just assumed Arteta would be a mix of Wenger and Pep.”
You mean rather than a mix of Pulis and Allardyce!
Tom, I know for a fact that Arteta is an adventurous coach… but he’s a pragmatist. He knows he only moves the club to where it needs to be if he has CL football. That’ll mean less adventurous football this season, unless we have a breakout star.
Yes Marc, sadly.
Pedro 16.42
Will that get you a top 4 place.?
Or should we have gone for the
Other guy Aouar.
I also don’t really understand why effective football that makes us more competitive is an anathema to people that have watched us be uncompetitive for 10 years trying to play like artists.
” I know for a fact that Arteta is an adventurous coach…”
I can actually back this up – he had a super hot curry on a squad night out earlier in the year.
James, I really hope so.
We did go for Aouar as our first choice. We were pretty solid defensively already. So I think there might have been a lot of value in a more creative player… but, Thomas Partey is going to be so good for our power and competitiveness in the midfield. So can’t complain.
January window is not far away.
Arteta was not creative, I disagree with the writers of the Athletic piece.
Dude was like Elneny, just kept the ball moving with his tidy passing…
Got overrun in the center plenty of times… lacked major pace
So yes, he did play within his skill set.
creative not tho
What defined Wenger in his early years was the power, speed and fluidity of the team.
I’m not a massive fan of the pass pass pass brand of football.
If Arteta can continue to improve on our defensive unit but at the same time add a more direct and progressive approach to our offensive play, I’d be a happy bunny.
I do hope though that we don’t become a carbon copy of MC and that Arteta gets us to play a brand of football that we can all relate to.and be proud of.
Pierre
Moving Saka to a left sided No8 is a move I’ve championed myself, but the offset of that is we then lose our most creative wide player.
We really need Willian and Pepe to start finding some form.
Giving Willian a 3 yr deal was a big call, we was signed to make an instant impact, it’s early days, but so far he’s been a bit blahhhh
Graham
I remember the ball going from the keeper to the back of the opposition net in 11 seconds.
Saka as an 8 would be very interesting. He’s our most creative player as it stands… by quite a margin as well.
Tom
SkyNews is Australia is Conservative, very similar to FoxNews
Where over here the reporters are all metro liberals and Blairites.
Pierre-
I’m all for playing any formation with 4 at the back.. because it means we can stop trying to use Bellerin as a wingback. He hasn’t a clue what he is doing there.
Last thing we need is a Wenger mid packed with #10s, liking the direct place we seem headed with Partey box to boxing just need a creative link to present itself either in Willian, ESR or Saka to get us to January.
By then i’ll have had a word with Aouar’s people and that will be on.
Nobody fucks with Sal.
“It’s just not built for explosive progressive foot”
They are a competitive team, Pedro. From my perspective, given all things, is a fair assessment.
Rich, similar as in conservative far right, or similar as in propaganda over real factual information?
Fox News viewers are the least informed out of all network watchers in the US according to independent studies…………..which of course are fake news.
guys… I do not want the warped political views of Le Grovers on show today.
Arsenal will win the league is as crazy as it gets today
Pedro
Does that mean I’m not allowed to start selling tin foil hats on here?
With you on that Graham. Tippy-tappy won us sweet FA, ‘football as an art’ is complete bollocks, football is a sport. To be honest for the last few years Wenger’s sterile possession game was as boring as f*ck, I remember an evening kick of against Swansea where we played that tune and got mugged when they had the only decent shot in the entire game after 85 minutes.
Rich
Where do I sign up?
Nobody fucks with Sal.
____
Nope, not unless you like swimmin’ with the fishes in the East River.
Typical to see Arsenals early season
Bookmakers odds 66/1 have been
halved after 5 games.
Those bookmakers again not taking any
chances.
123 a place.
I’m happy with my £5 ew Arsenal 66/1
early odds.
Just looked up that game from 11/05/15:
23 shots to their 8
Zero shots on target
68% possession
762 passes
6 corners
Boring as f*ck
About as sharp as a jellyfish.
Marc, There is a damning stats that shows that under Arteta Arsenal is the worse premiership team to retrieve points when going behind. Basically if we concede first more often than not we lose the game. 10 minutes left on the clock, We lose 1-0, Arteta makes a like for like change in personnel but will not throw another attacker. Even Mourinho the arch pragmatic would throw another attacker. To me that screams of a manager who is unwilling or incapable of making a positive attacking change mid way through a game. I still can’t see what Partey could bring… Read more »
“This is my first, and last post,”
Thank fuck for that
Andy was Ozil playing? asking for a friend. 😀
Is Stonerose Pedro’s Dariano?
Valentin, you obviously didn’t spend a lot of time with Arsenal when GG was coach. If we continue to defend well, compete with the best teams, and maintain our form… no one will be up in arms at the ground.
Valentin
As I’ve said a couple of times on recent actions it appears that the Kroenke’s will give a manager 2 chances to get back / into the CL. This is Arteta’s first real attempt, I have no idea how this season will pan out so far it’s been bonkers but if we do miss out on top 4 it will actually be harder next season as I just can’t see there be much money to spend in the summer.