Bernd Leno shrugged a sigh of relief as Emi Martinez dropped his first blunder of the season as his Aston Villa side crashed to a 3-0 thumping at the hands of Patrick bloody Bamford.
Leeds had more shots yesterday than we’ve had all season. Sad times.
What is interesting about our lack of shots is the absolute consistency of our lack of shots. It’s hardly budged in 9 months.
People keep saying this is the same as it was under Emery, but I disagree. Our lack of attacking swagger is a clear choice by the manager. He wants to play football in a buttoned-up way. We’re trying to be more Atleti than Barcelona. It’s hard to stomach, but ultimately, I suspect an exCity coach would play the City way if he thought he had the players to do it.
Still, just because the way we’re playing now feels a bit sad, doesn’t mean that it will last. What we didn’t have in our last Premier League outing was a match ready Thomas Partey who ‘can control the midfield on his own.’
Does Thomas Partey mean we’ll see more ambition in the final third? Will we see our front three start to click? Will the manager settle on a starting 11 and loosen the handbrake? It’s clear he’s aware that his main goalscorer needs to see more of the ball in opportunistic positions.
‘He needs to get in more goalscoring opportunities, he needs to get the ball more around the box, in order to do what he is able to do. Thursday was a different game to some of the other games we have played against some of the big teams we have played this season’
I also like that he’s pumping his confidence.
‘It is the same for him or Aguero, who didn’t have a shot on target as well on the weekend [for City against Arsenal]. It is not an isolation of just our player. But Thursday it was promising, I said to him before the game, go out & win us the game, and he did it’
Arteta is painfully aware there’s a lot of work to be done, I find it weird that so many people think that we’re at the finishing line already… reading people say, ‘Arteta plays football like this because that’s what he was like as a player’ does seem to be the one observation that links dim people on the internet.
Though I wouldn’t be shocked if the plan with this squad of players was good defending and efficient attacking. It’s hard to argue that we should be playing the Bielsa way after we watched Unai Emery opt for 4-3s over 1-0s and absolutely tank his career.
We have seen, for 10 years, what playing open football does to our league position. If we’re trying the opposite while we develop the squad over the next few windows, maybe let’s see how it pans out? Remember, the only reason Arsene Wenger could immediately play expressive football was firstly, he had a world-class defensive united that had won titles at his disposal, secondly, he had money to throw around.
Leicester City is an interesting game for Arsenal. They are widely seen as a better side than us, but for me, they sit in the same collection of sides as Chelsea, Everton (based on form), Spurs, and United. We’re all a much of a muchness, and we can all do damage on our day. I think we should be beating them. It’ll be tough, they play great football, but they won’t sit deep, which suits us. They’re also not City or Liverpool in attack. It’ll be an interesting tactical battle.
I’m a bit concerned that we already have Willian fitness issues, but more worryingly, Dani Ceballos is also a doubt for the weekend.
Arteta was keen to impress that actually, the Rapid win wasn’t the loss many fans are painting it as. He acknowledged that Bernd fucked up, because he was told to take risks, and that’ll happen this season. The reaction was what made the manager happy.
One of the examples is the reaction the team had with Bernd after his decision [for the Rapid goal]. I ask them to do that, to take those risks, to play the way we want to play and sometimes it is going to happen, but the reaction of the team with him when we scored the first and the second goals was really good. That comes from them and the culture we are trying to create here.
I have been heavy on Leno, and maybe on reflection, that was deeply wrong and I should flog myself as restitution. As a fan, it feels like everyone is living more in the moment more than ever… versus looking at the bigger picture. Literally, one bad half of football and fans are questioning everything. It’s a bit exhausting.
The reality is, Arsenal is not a project that can be solved with one non-Raul window. It’s going to take some time. Arteta spoke to that in a delicate way.
It is about finding the cohesion in the team and the fluidity with and without the ball what we want. Finding some specificity was in my opinion lacking in the squad, to get the pieces in the right places where everyone is comfortable doing their job that we give them to do. I think we are much more balanced. The same with Gabi (Gabriel), the performance he had last night as well and what he brings to the team. We will see a team that is closer to what we are trying to do.
As fans, we keep asking why players are doing jobs they shouldn’t be doing. It’s because we’re still in a round pegs/square holes phase of squad building. I don’t think our issue is tragic, but it’s clear that there are things we lack. We don’t have a Jack Grealish. We don’t have an elite centre forward that can beast people the way Arteta needs. Willian and Pepe are both struggling on the right. All that might change. Pepe might click, Willian will no doubt start performing, and Gabriel Martinelli is ever so close to reclaiming a starting spot… and to my mind, he could play through the middle. Imagine that monster back to his best weighing 5kg extra?
I. Am. Purring.
Anyway, the main thing we need to remember. We have new players that open new possibilities, but new possibilities will take time to bed in. So be patient and let’s not lose our minds until we see what the shape of the side is going to look like.
… then, if we don’t like it, we can fire up the BannerAir brigade and get our message out there. Until then, let’s enjoy the games today and go to war tomorrow!
God damnit I literally missed everything he’s said today.
The clique is Arsenal fans, which is why I started the blog
sal
Something in our favour for next week. ManU have Leipzig and we have a team from Ireland that I’ve never heard of.
… back onto football please.
Looking forward to reading what Dariano will have to say about his guy, Banford getting the red card from LeGrove again…
So what’s the consensus on greenwood in england? Braindead idiot or misunderstood bad boy?
Yeah Marc, but there’s certain traits that is associated with bullying that cannot be missed or ignored.
Nor should they be.
I would never condone constantly going after a person to humiliate or make fun of them. Whether that’s face to face or the Internet.
WE – That’s the best pirate stream I’ve ever seen. Hasn’t even stuttered once. Everyone needs to bookmark it. http://crackstreams.com
Interesting that Rogan hasn’t been to one of the fight island events yet.
I can’t blame Pedro for binning bamford. This is an Arsenal blog, started by an arsenal fan for arsenal folks to discuss all things arsenal. Bamford unfortunately doesn’t tow this line and the consequence of that is the sin bin. Hopefully he comes back and understands that in as much as everyone is entitled to an opinion, those opinions should be tailored to the rules guiding the blog.
Clickable links are a new thing?
Coq
Sorry but when it’s a blog that’s also effectively anonymous then you need to man up.
I am hoping that the Pools will play better than these two. Otherwise, today is a total lost. Even the Classico wasn’t exciting.
Pedro
Share your thoughts about Liecester tomorrow
Another borefest or you fancy a much more improved showing? Just can’t tell with Arteta can you?
Willian at CF, Nketiah in the wing, wouldn’t be surprised to see Bellerin leading the line tmao..lol
Underrated, give it a rest. You are talking about a guy that went on a campaign against me last time, CCing anyone into his tweets who’d listen to what a monster I was.
He even tried to grass me up to journos.
So spare me the bullying nonsense. He comes here to troll, then gets upset when Arsenal fans, in the majority, react to it.
I don’t want to hear anyone talk about attacking intent and entertainment for a month after watching this game.
Same pot as City/Liverpool my arse, neither of these two are in their league. Only reason there’s speculation is because both City and Pool are still in 1st gear.
Sup Y’all? Watching … Manc/ Chelski.. thing.
0-0 would be good result for us. Pulisic injured again? dude is made of glass.
Oh man I guess I missed all the action today on LeGrove.
Dariano ….. set to make a rare appearance? Can’t wait.
Anyhow.. anyone got a weather forecast for our match tomorrow? Is it supposed to be shit as well?
Victorious,
Thomas Partey to start, Arsenal to play solid, but show a bit more aggression in the final third… 1-0 win.
Gabriel keeps Vardy quiet.
Marko
Greenwood is an elite Ravel Morrison, can’t see him doing anything until he puts the Air Forces away and grows up.
Thiago not even on the bench for Liverpool..that Everton game might just end up costing them more than they imagined
Pedro
Genuine question – if he did that why on Earth did you let him back on?
Guy I used to work with favourite expression was Leopards and Spots and let’s face it whether you like Bamford, find him irritating or think he’s a cunt he’s not going to change.
until he puts the Air Forces away and grows up.
What the fuck is that? An English thing? I used to like he-man myself
Coq
Then don’t expose yourself to an aggressive blog.
Sorry but people are too soft a lot of the time today. Personally I think a lot of it is attention seeking.
That’s 3 points out of the last possible 15 at home for ManU.
That is piss poor form.
Marko
Air Force 1 trainers by Nike, all the cool kids wear them. Hence Greenwood no doubt. Lads a melt and needs to understand football is his profession now. If not? Then see you at Southampton trying to rekindle things at 26.
Marc
In Ole we trust.
Cavani plays like a shit Giroud these days, can’t see him helping OGS much.
Anyhow… good result for us.
Marc, because I try to give most people a chance… but, patterns of behaviour tend not to change, unfortunately.
Underrated, amateur assessments of mental health based on incomplete information are not helpful to anyone. Citing my name does not change that.
Ole sports science.
Pedro
“Marc, because I try to give most people a chance… but, patterns of behaviour tend not to change, unfortunately.”
Snowflake!
Champage charlie
Man Utd have won 6 Premier league away games in a row.
Ole was saving his players because this is a marathon and not a sprint.
Marc, tell me about it, I never learn.
I don’t mind winning tomorrow playing pragmatically, 3 points would be huge tomorrow, we have a tough sequence of games and our opponents dropped points
So Bamford is binned again?
Good thing you can’t keep Dariano down.
I thought that crackscreens was a porn website lol.
Pedro
Don’t worry Doctor Marc will write you a prescription for 2 testicles and a dozen bottles of Peroni.
Anyone who see’s the red half of Manchester as the better project to what is on offer at Arsenal can’t be taken seriously. OGS is as mediocre as they come
Redtruth
Man United are also 15th without a home win this season so far..
Dissenter,
Far prefer Dariano to Bamford anyway….
Marc, I bought a 6 pack of Peroni the other day… it really is a good beer. So crisp.
Dariano’s at the wheel…..
…….as they say in Manchester.
Chelsea, 1 shot on target… 250m outlay
Give me 3 points tomorrow and you won’t find me complaining about “entertaining” football if chelskis match is anything to go by
Le Sauce, agree. We just need to be effective.
Well done Pedro you’ve finally discovered Peroni, welcome to our world
Pedro
In my honest opinion, Artetas remit is champions league qualification at the end of the season. If the owners wanted beautiful football, Arsene would still be manager. This isn’t to say we shouldn’t look to entertain fans but with the squad we have, effectiveness precedes aesthetics
“250m outlay”
Admittedly at least half of that was on amphetamines to keep any one watching awake.
Le Sauce,
“Effectiveness precedes aesthetics.”
You have perfectly summed up Arteta’s philosophy.
There is only so much a 72 year old -62 years aTrue Arsenal fan can take.
Good riddance.?
Spanish Dave, clearly not an OG if you think you invited me to that world. I helped Peroni break in North London in 2007. I’ve done more for that brand than any of their adverts.
Agree Le Sauce… he’s doing this the only way he sees fit with the players he has.
If it works, hard to argue.
Well done Pedro nice piss take
SD, no piss-take. I was Mr Peroni… well, bar the fact they wouldn’t work with me because I lacked sophistication.
Yep… Pedro had Peroni running in his veins.. that’s why the whole oat milk thing has saddened me and many others. Feels like when… somebody I used to party with calls me up and tells me the benefits of soul cycling. 🙁
Midwest… I still love beer. There’s a lot of choice in America. I like Montauk Pils, Threes Brewery, and Steamboat Anchor.
Good to hear Peds… All good choices. Colorado is probably the epi center of good micro breweries if you ever get up towards Idaho Springs or Boulder, many choices.
Pedro what about Yuengling beer on draft? Oldest American beer
Loved the OGS’ explanation of the Maguire double Nelson tackle….. apparently he was pinned by Azpilicueta so naturally he had to react the way he did.
Every public defender in a rape case should have him on speed dial for a possible jury duty appearance.
Anyone else watching UFC besides me and Cutter?
Usual biased comments. One half of bad football my arse ! We have had one half of good football against Sheffield United, one half against Fulham and the rest has been dire.
You defend Arteta unconditionally. If Emery was still the manager you would crucify him this season.
Don’t try and conn your followers !!
Dave, I like pilsner that more on the german side. Crisp, clean, bright… Yuengling is a bit heavy for me. I get the same with Brooklyn lager as well. I prefer PBST
Mike, ten wins in 12, leave your tears for Emery at the door.
Squads are assembled in the transfer market, and through the academy. But teams are built on the training ground. I don’t buy into the idea you could just rip up a load of contracts, spend a couple of billion, and then perform the way City did for 2 years domestically, and Liverpool did for 18 months. Teams come and go in cycles. When clubs invest, they surely invest into a project timeline. You buy Havertz at 21 for £90million, in the calculated gamble he’ll do a job in the immediate, but you renew him in 2-3 years, at which point… Read more »
WE
Yep, if your stream works later I’ll be tuning in to see Khabib to a job!
“Football managers never get enough time.”
Except Wenger of course….
I think a 3-5-2, like the one Wilder is using here would have been better for us at Anfield rather than 3-4-3…It gives you that extra body in midfield which we so desperately lacked..Elneny and Xhaka really got suffocated in that game with the only outlet being Auba
Pen for sheffield
Jamie and Leftside
The legend of Ole lives on, spare us all from Fergie 2.0
The question is……Has lampard just shown us how easy it is to play boring negative football to get a result.. We know Chelsea can play open expansive football and now we know they can play the opposite. Lampard has taken a leaf out of Arteta’s book tonight, maybe tomorrow Arteta will take a leaf out of Lampard’s book. Of course there is nothing wrong in winning football matches 1-0 or even drawing 0-0 against tough opposition……the opposite in fact.. If you analyse our last 2 games v rapid and city, there were similarities to the way we approached the game… Read more »
Left
Will be a barnburner. I reckon Khabib subs him sometime in round 3.
Always interesting though with Gaethje’s KO threat, much heavier hands than Porier and better equipped to deal with Khabib’s takedowns than McGregor even though he will get taken down at some point.
Come on Sheffield, I want to see tetchy Klopp in his post match interview.
Liverpool 0-1 Sheffield United.
This is season is nuts
Should be 2-0…even with VVD their defence was looking shaky..without him they are getting bullied
What a season we’re experiencing. At this rate Liverpool fans would be having PTSD whenever they’re facing the so called smaller teams.
Just seen Ajax won 13-0. We need some of that sauce.
Definitely should have tried for Overmars and not Edu.
Gaethje has good wrestling ability so will make Khabib work hard for the takedown but as you said WE its only a matter of time till Khabib submits him.
Great fight and looking forward to it!
Nobody is unbeatable but Khabib is near enough it right
Quite the winning hangover Liverpool are having.
VVD going to be such and issue for them this season
# Emi would’ve caught that
VVD going to be such and issue for them this season
Pedro, not just from set pieces but his over the top ball is second to none.
“Wenger could immediately play expressive football was firstly, he had a world-class defensive united that had won titles at his disposal, secondly, he had money to throw around.”
Money to throw around??
“Money to throw around??” **SIGH** When will the myth of poverty stricken Wenger finally be killed off. Not as much money as say United but up there with just about every other club. For example Wiltord, Henry and Reyes were big money signings, Campbell was a free but on mega wages. Talking of wages Wenger’s Arsenal were in the top 3 or 4 wage bills for pretty much the entirety of his tenure. Even when we had Denilson, Song, Bendtner and Almunia stinking out the side. Leaving aside the fact that nett spend was around £260m that was dwarfed by… Read more »
Ferguson losing to Gaethje really ruined everything..the press conference was like some family affair..no way that happnes of Tony was there…you could see Khabib doesnt even take Gaethje seriously enough..easy win for him once the American is take down and exhausted!
Middy
You put cash down on this Liverpool match… odds were mental for Sheffield to take the win.
Alisson doing a Leno
What a wordlie offside goal
Wenger marking right there.
Jota looks a good signing for Liverpool.
Who was it on here who said he was shite?
I think the talk of liverpools demise because of no vvd is a tad far fetched.
They have the best fullbacks in the league best goal keeper in the league best wingers/inside forwards in the league.
Add to that one of the best link up cfs in the world which fits their system perfect and very very good well rounded midfield. Insanely strong bench and even their cbs such as gomez are pretty damn good.
VVD is a loss but it doesn’t stop liverpooo from winning a tip title
Chris Henry
Jota is far from bang average he obviously has a top level since he joined Liverpool he has been an instant starter… klopp knows best
WengerEagle?
Well he has looked pretty good and not just because of scoring tonight.
He looks a very good runner on the ball for Liverpool.
Sheffield Utd doing very well keeping in the game, they as one coach said will be proud losing 2-1.
Meh, bang average was exaggerating but not worth 45m. They could have had a better player for that kind of money.
Or 35m.
Khabib time.
It looks like the odds are heavily in favour of us playing with 3 Centre Backs for most of the season. I can’t imagine any other reason for us to have 8 CBs on our books even if two of them aren’t in the Europa or Premier League squads.
‘VVD is a loss but it doesn’t stop liverpooo from winning a tip title’
Don’t think many were saying this, just that it makes the league more interesting as he’s Pool’s rock and leader.
I still have Liverpool as favourites given how inconsistent Citeh are.
That wasn’t good play by Jota though.
He ran blindly into the defender.
But he’s got loads of energy and is a classic Klopp player by the look of it despite not having finesse.
Fabinho is pretty good at the back but he can be in trouble if he is isolated with an opponent running at him.
Give that flag-waving, crucifix tattoo wearing cracker a beatdown.
Wenger eagle
Your bias is exposed. Jota is easily a 35 million talent he is many levels better than iwobi who went for a similar price.