Well here we are. The day after. I’ve been doing some thinking. Ignoring the ‘haters’ as American’s would say, and I have some thoughts. Some people say ‘the best thoughts.’
Enjoy.
FRESH IDEAS FOR AN OLD PROBLEM
I bought into a hipster vision of a manager that would play exciting football that was so expressive, they’d put it in the Louvre. We haven’t seen that yet. There have been improvements, we’ve been more effective, and we’re solid… but, the football has paid the price.
We’re now into the Emeryzone when it comes to tipping points. We’ve lost 50% of our Premier League games, we’re averaging the lowest number of shots per game in about 50 years, and the football looks badly lacking in sauce.
Arteta needs to find a solve. If you’re going to bin of Mest Ozil, you have to have something up your sleeve that is more interesting than David Luiz playing Hollywood passes from deep. We need better ideas and we need them fast. Lose against United, and things are going to look very dire.
GIVE THE KIDS A SHOT
Arsenal Wenger is on a press tour, have you noticed? Of course you have. Well, one thing I liked that he said was about giving kids a chance, even if they cost you some points. Wenger gave Cesc a chance and he thrived. He overplayed Jack Wilshere when he was 18, giving him 56 appearances. Now, I’m not asking for that, but if we have kids that can break the lines with a pass, is there not a squad we could line up with that could protect the player? Is some creativity better than 8 attempts at goal for the rest of the season? ESR, where are you? Willock? Saka? Patino? THERE MUST BE ONE KID THAT CAN CREATE. We are not City where it takes 10 years to break as a youth players. We’re Arsenal. We could be Dortmund. Is there REALLY a difference between watching kids with high ceilings make mistakes… versus watching senior players make mistakes?
MOVE ON FROM THE SPINE OF DOOM
I know it was one bad game, but let’s be honest, it’s been coming for a while. Mustafi always has a switch-off moment, we know what he’s about, why is he being offered a new deal? Granit Xhaka can do many things well, but we are now at a stage where the experiment can end. Thomas Partey can do all the things he can +++. It’s time to move on from player that have failed us for years. It’s time to give our new players a chance. It’s time to make Arsenal better again.
GET GABI MARTINELLI FIT
Look, I know we over-rank players that are broken… but imagine Gabriel as a focal point in attack? Powerful, aggressive, great in the air, and HUNGRY. Surely he’ll at the very least get into that front 3? I really cannot wait to get him back in the squad. Anything is more interesting than having to watch Nicolas Pepe fall over himself.
SIGN JACK WILSHERE
Ok, I’m sorry, but he’s on a free. Would a pay as you play be so bad? He’s 28, not 39. Am I dreaming? Could he help out? Just for one game? Give him a shot? Ok… maybe I took this blog down an incorrect path.
That’s me done, listen to the podcast, it perks up after we get over our depression.
Early days still but Jota is showing signs of being the perfect fit I thought he would be. Blue-collar baller.
“I bet the bloke behind VAR is one of the many referees from the Greater Manchester area”
Apparently they’ve decided to cut out the middle man and just have Fergie do it.
Real have dominated Monchengladbach, they just have nobody that can stick the ball in the net.
Shows just how elite and vital that Ronaldo was to them. Always remember people saying that Real indulged him and made him look better than he really was, when the opposite was in fact true.
They went from having a 40+ goal a season machine to now having only one player in Benz that’s even capable of putting up 20+.
WE
Isn’t benzema playing? Not watching the match but isn’t he their talisman these days
Szoboszlai scored vs Atletico btw. Just sayin’.
London Gunner
I love Benz but he’s not even half the player that Ronaldo was.
He’s very streaky and at a club like Real Madrid, you need a player that scores every week.
Great technique from Felix there!
Has to be the winner.
Felix is class.
ZZ now level… great end to these two.
Casmiero scores important goals for a DM.
Manchester United were awarded 14 penalties last season, the most penalties awarded to any club in Premier League history. They weren’t all homers either, 7 home & 7 away. For comparison, Liverpool won 5, Spurs 4 and Arsenal 3. A total of 92 penalties were awarded in 2019/20.
Manchester United conceded only 3 penalties last season (total +11) whereas Arsenal conceded 8 (total -5).
Doesn’t look good for the Weekend especially with Dean in charge.
on 22 penalties last season some very soft and some not pens. In fact we won fewer penalties in three seasons combined.
Lol Madrid are back !
Would be hilarious if Suarez wins La Liga at Atletico. Barcelona fans would be seething
Marc
I’m betting two.
Dean has to be one of the most bent referees I’ve ever seen.
As much as I like Benzema, he’s a purple patch player. Not a goal scoring machine of the Ronaldo, Messi, Lewa not even in the Auba, Salah bracket.
It’s a mental achievement that he has been their starting CF for 11 seasons now. Absolutely insane to make it for so long in possibly the greatest club in the world.
He’ll be remembered with good, but I know plenty of Madrid fans that don’t rate him as much. Donkey at times and misses sitters.
Felix is total quality, incredible ability for a 20 year old.
Receding Hairline
“Casmiero scores important goals for a DM.”
As a youngster for the Brazilian youth sides he could ball all day from midfield.
All round midfielder as a youth.
“but I know plenty of Madrid fans that don’t rate him as much. Donkey at times and misses sitters.“
They’re fucking idiots
I mean some RM fans turned on C. Ronaldo 🤷🏾♂️
I’d rate a prime aguero better than a prime benzema, but similar level players.
Rap
Agree to an extent but most Real fans do rate him highly.
It’s unfair to expect him to be able to replace the best ever Real Madrid player’s goals contribution to the team.
They replaced a 40+ goal a season player in Ronaldo with a 15-20 goal a season one in Hazard that hasnt even really played because of injuries/weight/off the field issues.
Whenever any other team gets injuries it’s headlines.
First the tackle on VVD & the outpouring of sympathy for him and villification of Pickford. Yet when Shawcross tried to end Ramsey’s career everyone was feeling sorry for Shawcross. Same Eduardo & Taylor.
Not sure any team has been as unlucky as us with injuries and violent leg breakers.
Benzema is a freak consistently worth 25 or more for how many seasons, that being pretty selfless for many.
Since Ronaldo left Madrid fans have come to appreciate Benzema, they love him now.
He isn’t the most prolific but he can also play. Not one of those strikers that are useless when not scoring
“Dean has to be one of the most bent referees I’ve ever seen”
Yep,bright up there. We have a dreadful record with him in charge. He didn’t even give a free kick when Man Utds McNair broke Jacks ankle & who can forget the handball penalty against Gibbs at the Hawthorns. Definitely biased against us.
For me prime level:
Suarez >>> Lewandowski > Aguero > Benzema > Ibrahimovic.
Suarez the best by a distance.
Longevity/consistency a different story:
Ibrahimovic > Aguero > Lewandowski > Benzema > Suarez
Aguero and Benzema are interchangeable though, Aguero the better scorer/ finisher and Benzema the better target man, link up player and creator.
Zlatan is at the top of every list.
Sal
Dont forget hes the 5th all time top goalscorer in the Champions League only behind Ronaldo, Messi, Raul and Lewandowski and ahead of names like Henry, Shevchenko, Ibrahimovic, Drogba, Eto’o, list goes on.
Pretty foolish of Pep to think he can make do with Gabriel Jesus when Aguero isn’t there.
I laugh at Americans arguing about choosing between 2 sane people.
Come to Africa, we have Buhari, bland, uninventive, illiterate, a C-in-C that commands the military to shoot at unarmed protesters.
Ya’al had better be going for Thanksgiving every Sunday. You don’t wanna belong to this mad clime.
Eagle
Indeed, think he catches the man he replaced in Raul on that list as well.
I always thought Villa was going to find the top tier, he did not but man that dude at Valencia was such a baller. Should of never made the Barca move. Saw him tear up the MLS a night or two. Positionally exceptional.
Jesus is a weird player, looks a world beater in flashes and equally can look very ordinary for long spells.
His all round skillset is very good but hes not a killer in front of goal, who knows he may well go on to develop that skill hes still only 23.
Di Natale and Vardy both didnt find that killer instinct until their late 20s.
Who is this Yunus Musah?
Never heard any of our London gooners rave about him when he was in out academy.
Henry didn’t make it to the latter stages of the UCL many times tbh whereas Real have won it in half of the years during Benzema’s stay.
WE,
Suarez is the best striker I’ve seen in my time. The year he almost singlehandedly won Pool the title is probably the best performance of any player in the Premier League. He was unplayable and a one man wrecking crew.
Sal Hes only 5 goals off of Raul now, could conceivably overtake him this season if Real get their act together and finish the group strongly. I remember being amazed at Raul’a record as a kid in the CL and Im about to see 4 players in the very next generation overtake him with 2 if those 4 potentially doubling it, crazy. Yeah Villa was the tits. Think his peak was 2007-2010 and IIRC he was heavily linked to us in summer of 2009 when Ade had left us and RVP was a perma-cripple. Imagine David Villa playing ahead of… Read more »
Okay, correction. Brazilian Ronaldo at his peak was > Suarez although a close one. I mean, during that short period Luis Nazario was probably the best player in the history of the game lol.
Rap
Yeah plus Henry played on the wing until he signed for us age 22. Benzema was scoring CL goals for Lyon in his teens, still remember his left foot banger vs Fergies United.
Agree on Suarez. His level from 2013-2016 was the highest peak that I have ever seen for a CF. That Liverpool season he used to dominate games even when he didnt score. He didnt score against us in the 5-1 but he ran the show, nearly broke the post in half with that half volley attempt too.
I was too young for peak Ronaldo9, my memories of him were post-injury heavier Ronaldo that wasnt quite as devastating but was still one of the worlds best players even a couple of stone overweight.
World Cup 2002 was my first real memories of him.
From seeing the footage, 90s Ronaldo looked the best CF ever.
If we had to pick a CF at the peak of elite not over a career its Ronaldo 9, at Barca for the one season and the following for Inter before he buckled his knee in his second in Italy.
Unplayable.
Made France’s win in 98 all the more impressive even with all the conspiracy theories about Ronaldo in that final. Insane player.
Lol, that Sterling goal tonight was positionally a carbon copy of his epic miss vs Lyon in the CL.
Bet Pep still wants to put his head through the wall on a daily basis.
Yeah, Rise of the Warrior Apes is top viewing. If you look really close you’ll spot one or two members from a couple of rw think tanks. Evolution at work.
WE, So crazy that we’ve witnessed so many top class attacking players, with couple of them in Messi and Ronaldo going in the history of the game forever, then you have the likes of Ronaldo da Lima, Ronaldinho, Del Piero, Henry, Suarez, Ibra, Raul, Sheva. And from the current footballers quality wise the only one that is in the same bracket of class is Lewandowski. And that’s it. It’s like in Tennis. Yes, there is Haaland, Kane, Sancho, Mane, Salah, Son but I don’t see them at the level of the above mentioned players. Only de Bruyne and Neymar would… Read more »
Romafio is way more accomplished and skilful than Ronaldo.
What a Red thing to say.
Red Calyspo clearly prefers George Graham to Ronaldo 9.
Jack Wilshire – very funny Pedro. Mind you even with his Zimmer frame he would still be quicker than Xhaka and would have more desire to play for the club than Ozil!
https://youtu.be/ctIA4BLrYwc
Ronaldo
https://youtu.be/EvRGBH45TwQ
Romario
Call it nepotism, but Bidens son + brother have benefited from his public position, and these facts are disputed by nobody in the media.
Did you see the republican convention??
Nepotism is trumps middle name.
If we had to pick a CF at the peak of elite not over a career its Ronaldo 9, at Barca for the one season and the following for Inter before he buckled his knee in his second in Italy.Unplayable.
—————–
Bang on the money Sal. I’ll add it was at a time when tackling was still allowed.
I read that Barcelona’s now ex President, announced that Barcelona have agreed to join the future European Super League of football clubs, a project promoted by the big clubs in Europe. Barcelona have also agreed to accept the future Club World Cup.
If the big clubs unite, change will happen. It’s a matter of time.
A crew member of Trump’s tv show The Apprentice has become the first to break his NDA. Find out why he was called “Diaper Don” among other things. https://twitter.com/CaslerNoel “Mate no offence but america is an absolute mess right now. You can say anything even if its not controversial and lose your job and be shunned by society.” Yeah, that’s America’s biggest problem. Assholes facing repercussions for their actions. Not blacks being shot down in the streets/homes every day. Or an extreme catholic fanatic/cultist with three years experience as a judge and who has never a heard a case becomes… Read more »
Just watched the replay of Vardy’s goal. WTF was Mustafi doing on the pitch. He was wandering around and forgot why he was there.
Why Arteta played Auba on the right? He was so useless there. Arteta has to keep a stable front 3 formation. No top team changes the front 3 formation every game like he did.
http://arsenalist.com/f/2018-19/80-vardy-goal-0-1-2020-10-25.html
True. Gabriel does scream and make a gesture towards Mustafi asking him to line up with him instead of being so much ahead of our defence in no man’s land. Then Gabriel is suddenly in a 1v2 position and it’s over. Xhaka’s lack of pace is right on display yet again. Yet Arteta is a fan of both of them. Shocking.
Reviewing that goal, one has to ask… what in the world was Mustafi doing?
…and we offered an extension that Arteta has confirmed happened.
Szoboszlai banging in another goal in the CL, too bad he’s only 19…. Was on here calling for Thuram before he went to Germany for a ridiculously low fee, (12m?)and binning off Laca, would have solved so many of our problems, oh well. What is this nonsense about Biden and Nepotism btw? I mean clearly Kushner is qualified for all the dozens of high level jobs he’s had in the last 4 years, and Ivanka just oozes competence, clearly she got her jobs doing whatever the fuck it is she’s doing on merit alone. Comparing Trump with any sane person… Read more »
Reviewing that goal ask again WTF Chaka is doing?
When you don’t have pace and there is no hard pressure on a midfield passer you are supposed to drop to give yourself a head start. Instead the fool lets the crosser get behind him and GABRIEL has no choice but to try to get over and close … less said about the squirrel brained Mustafi the better.
Again Chaka and Mustafi will Continue to kill Arsenal as long as they are on the books … two horrible signings
To think £70 million went into the pairs signing and yet some fools will come here to dog the Kroenke’s for not spending … add 70 mill plus for Pepe and you can see how their money keeps getting misused
Our front 3 should be auba at CF with Saka on the left and no idea on the right…
Stop complaining about xhaka. He’s in the starting 11 against utd.
If I had a vote, I will pick Joe Biden, because he is more towards the middle ground.
That way real people can get along to repair that country.
And the MEGAs and the Wokes can go shout at one another in a corner, feeling so meaningful and purposeful.
Le Grove can also go back into the freeware business of football discussion and slagging one another over mangers, tactics and what nots.
Wait ,what? Biden is corrupt? And his son was taking advantage from his daddy’s cushy job for years ? Fuck me sideways that’s a shocker. He’s a former senator from Delaware – our own Cayman Islands , or Bahamas if you will, with a very peculiar , world famous corporation registry. But comparing Trump’s nepotism and corruption to Biden’s is like putting in the same sentence what Bill Cosby did and some other guy who gave a girl Tylenol PM instead of a regular one. Kushner and Ivanka were both denied a top security clearances by Trumps own State Department,… Read more »
Tom
Do you remember that famous video of Ivanka hanging out with elected leaders of the G-20, just ,mouthing off …yea…year like the barbie doll that she is.
Trump took nepotism to a new high, never again will it happen in such brazen fashion.
Dissenter I love when you get on a good roll you crack me up sometimes…
ex against Rich today
lol
Dissenter
The funniest thing about that was how all those politicians looked down on her because she’s such a fucking airhead.
I think whoever wins the elections , it will have a knock on effect over the world . Simply because there are many issues on which Trump has made his stance clear , like climate change for example. Biden winning the election will not bode well for many of Trump’s rich friends and most importantly the silicon valley technocrats . That is why they wanna ensure Trump wins no matter the cost . Americans need to wake up .
Silicon Valley is where I live Divine. No CEO here supports Trump .
Big Tech hates this man….
This Rich fella seems fairly measured but sure does remind me of Unnai with those right wing conspiracies.
Did Unnai become a better writer recently? Is it him? Is that you Unnai???
Voters should kick the establishment in the goolies and vote Trump
Guns
if it’s multiple personality Don, then he’s cut and pasting. No way he’s at that level of syntax.
Rich isnt Don, no way
Guns
No doubt , but I am talking about the CEOs who silently help him . Jeff Bezos , Zuckerberg . Jack Dorsey recently got some spine and started flagging his tweets but other than that I dont see anyone opposing him.
Anyone that votes for Trump is a total dork.
Just an opinion.
The Vardy goal was excellent in execution, perfect through ball, perfect cross and perfect movement and header from vardy….all done in the blink of an eye. It was a similar type of goal that Eddie scored in the last minute v west ham in the movement and execution. He has that ability to get goal side of defenders similar to Vardy withiut being picked up. It’s the timing of the runs from the striker that is very underrated by many , Aubamayang’s winner v rapid was an example of perfect movement and execution. Very difficult to defend against if all… Read more »
Graham62
The alternative is by far worse.
The Vardy goal was a result of Xhakalson being in no mans land for the initial pass to Cengiz and Mustafinovs not covering Vardy,
basic lack of intelligence from the usual suspects.
100% agree with your take Pedro. Now is the time to blood the kids ESR, Balogun, Azeez, Cottrell, Okonkwo, Saliba and anyone else that has some kind of instict to win! We know only too well what we will get when the same old faces show up as starters.My big concern is if we rush Gabi back too soon. It is crazy that we are all pinning so much hope on his young shoulders.
AFC is Don.
Yeah, afc is Don
Calypso
If you say so👎
Xhaka must be playing very well he never gets dropped, star performer!!!
Pierre
Agree. Bloody hell! twice in a week.
This is why we need Saka our on the left and not Aubameyang.
If Pepe could do what Saka does our strikers would be salivating.
out
The defeat was very sour because of the inevitably of it all once Vardy took off his silly hat and tracksuit to come on the pitch.
Boys, I’ve been taking part in an app, beta phase has just finished, will be a community app based on whatever, I’ll be talking about Arsenal.
You guys are welcome to roast me or agree with me however you wish, I’m not naming the app as I don’t want to advertise it, but would be great to see Pedro on there too!