Well good morning to you all!
Lots going on in the world of Arsenal, my overall take from a fan perspective is that everyone is just a little bit miserable. Look, I understand you, because I look at your Facebook data for a living. You are sad that you stopped reading, there’s no more power-yoga session on that ‘really great app’ you don’t use, your closest relationship is with a bag of Haribo that you can’t stop topping up…. and the football, well, it’s starting to smell like a bag of rotting Emery.
Fear not… this is not how it ends my friends. So stop sad-eating Hagen Dasz, because today, the only dessert breakfast we’re treating ourselves to is a bowl of Cheeri-positivos.
I spoke to some United fans for The Elite Football Show yesterday and they seemed to think that we’re in a similar position to the one United were in before the last January transfer window… namely, lacking creativity.
Now, we all know how they worked their way out of that problem, they signed a world-class creator in Bruno.
I think the biting reality we’re likely facing with Arteta is that until that sort of signing comes our way, we might have problems creating. The issue we have is that at the very highest level, only special talents can truly make a difference if your objective is to hit the heights. We could pump money into a lesser mortal, but that’ll only move us so far. We need to go big on a talent that can grow with us.
Now, I don’t think that quite excuses the depths of our bland creative output, so I’m not giving up. We absolutely have the squad to start creating. There’s a potentially world-class spine developing. Auba, Partey, Gabriel, and Leno could be very special if they all find their game at once. Bellerin and Tierney are top drawer. Saka is an elite young talent. The question really is, who do you build around them?
Pepe, looks like a dud at the moment. He strikes a ball with outrageous venom at full pace, but we rarely see it. He needs confidence and about 5kg in weight. Can he do that this season? Jury is out…
Dani Ceballos hasn’t played a game as bad as the one he did at Leicester in a while. Can he occupy a more advanced position now Partey has joined the midfield?
Gabriel Martinelli might not have been a fave of Mikel’s before the break, but the coach can’t tell us he’s not good because we have seen him with our own eyes. I cannot wait to have him back, he certainly looks like he’s put on the weight Pepe needs.
Willian cost a lot of money. I’m still very unsure if that was Mikel and Edu or the dregs of Raul, but whatever the situation, he’s a quality player that needs to find a role in the team and sharpish. The whole point of him was that he’d not need 3 months to adapt. Well, we’re basically in November and it’s been bland. More to come. We need senior players to step up.
Then there’s the riddle of Joe Willock and ESR. Can they be the surprise packages this season? Will Arteta trust them? Who knows…
But basically, I think we need to pull our heads out of our backsides, realise that this season will be bumpy, and pray to the gods of football that this weekend is our watershed moment.
There’s so much going against us…
We do not win away at Old Trafford. Arsenal hasn’t beaten a top 6 side away since 1912.
We are a gift to struggling managers. That is OGS right now.
We are in terrible form when you look at our style of play and output.
This game is nailed on for a loss… or is it?
CHINS UP, spoons down my friends, this is going to be a great week. I’ll see you in the comments. Come join the party and AGREE with me.
CC
As a former ardent Pepe supporter I’m beginning to gravitate towards the point of view you’ve held for awhile.
His own fathers words how he needed to work harder, and that football is a job and not just something you do for fun, don’t inspire much confidence even if they were meant to be inspirational.
This is usually a speech parents make when footballer is younger than 24.
Rich, That’s exactly what I have been complaining about Arsenal structure. Everything is reactive. It does not seems to be medium term planning. In France because of budgetary constraints, most clubs have a 2~3 years plans. They buy a player in view of him stepping up in 1 year and then sell him two years later. So the buying, slowly integrating him into the first team and selling of players is planned from a medium term point. Leicester with their plan of buying Söyüncü, one year before they knew they would have to sell Maguire is an example of joined-up… Read more »
DNA Thats a good quote. Curious to see how he backs up this assertion. Not to say i don’t believe him. He did seem a bit shellshocked the other day, the spirit of ‘15 returned And either he didnt have the plan or the players to deal… Next few games we won’t be dealing w this except for perhaps molde whixh i confess i dont follow. Either way i’m surprised at the shit show last few days. So what, we lost to leicester. 6th game of the season 1stw partey, 1st team thats played like that against us and hasnt… Read more »
Regarding pepe,
He gets another year. In america hed still be on his parents medical insurance plan. Once hes 26 buh baiii
Dissenter
Rather amusing to see we have a few posters on here who have zero comprehension of the positive dynamics of a team sport and the negative consequences of interfering with them.
Nothing to do with Martinez, this is all down to Arteta.
Quite funny really.
I think Pepe is very limited. It does not make matters better than he and Bellerin have no chemistry at all and our right side is non existent mostly.
Reiss is no world beater but is a stronger more physical player who has decent skills. Why not try him?
Arteta makes no sense and his loyalty to his senior players will hurt him long term I think.
So much for his progressive football.
the Manure game will be really telling. Will we line up the same? Will we see any more creativity?
Valentin That’s why I want stability and patience. A revolving door of coaching or operational personnel doesn’t really help us. I’m giving Arteta + Edu a clean slate, the only transfer I’m judging them on is Partey, but that transfer didn’t need much imagination, it just needed €50million cash. The Soares, Mari and 3years for Willian were really strange, while people will speculate, we don’t know who made those calls, all we know is that the guy running the show was fired. First we need a huge clear out, we could essentially lose 10 players without bringing anymore in. We’ve… Read more »
you both want to staunchly argue against a POV that I’d rather see Reiss Nelson play at present? That’s not what was happening at all. I personally was arguing against a clear biased opinion and a nonsense comment that Reiss Nelson was a better footballer than Pepe. The reasons offered up being a willing runner (on the basis of what exactly?) good work ethic (attitude problems at Hoffenheim meant he barely played after an initial good start) and him being a direct dribbler (ask most Arsenal fans and they’ll say that’s the one thing missing and that he was known… Read more »
Rich
Keep making good music.
I too don’t think changing managers helps us at all.
I’m prepared to give Arteta some time to make his mistakes and figure them out. We didn’t get an established manager so we have to be patient with the chap.
How much time to give him?
For me till this time next season, come what may.
Tom I’m critical of Pepe because of his inherent ability, this is what makes me laugh about views I get targeting my own POV of the player. And when we signed him I was feverishly excited by the potential for his ability and output to be applied directly to this team. I’m always one of the less demanding personalities of new players, or young players, when they land here because the issues of adaptation are vast imo. That said, a major red flag for me is a player that fails to deliver the basics in a reliable fashion, especially in… Read more »
Bellerin has beef with Pepe
Marko
You claim bias at every opportunity going, grow up. You can’t even defend Pepe with his performance level or stats as a counter – explanation enough that bias is a non-factor.
He’s been totally ineffective, it isn’t bias to claim another player would provide better.
No sauce for the Partey?
Dissenter The main thing will be how the team progresses, building cohesion, stability and patterns of play takes time, in spite of the bedwetting, I can see progress and the beginning of a structure beginning to take shape. It’s not just Arsenal who’ve been involved in tight games, and we’re very much at the beginning of a new cycle. The rest depends on the market, and how far KSE are willing to back us, because when we’re haemorrhaging money like we are, they’re going to have too, also some of the players we’d love to move on, we couldn’t give… Read more »
Thinking about Vardy’s goal, I couldn’t help but thinking that if Martinez were in goal, he would yell at Gabriel to cover Vardy and he could take care of Under. He is a leader in defense. Leon is too quiet.
Why not bench Pepe? Look we all want him to fly but its just not happening. If we strip it all away he’s simply not performing, if Reiss Nelson was putting in those performances the entire space would of called for his head. He’s been incredibly weak, starting with mentality, doesn’t put in the run’s we’d hope for, moment he’s touched he crumbles, not dribbling around anyone except moving backwards, virtually one footed to a detriment. As for the corner game…? Don’t see Arteta signing him, as Arseblog said not so long ago it’s a marriage of convenience and there… Read more »
Dissenter
Really strange is tipping Spurs to be EPL title contenders last season.
I see your crystal ball analysis has dried up after that fateful day of tipping Spurs for glory.
You claim bias at every opportunity going, grow up So if everyone of our forwards are playing poorly and the main issue is the manager misusing players and using dogshit tactics and YOU after games offer up Pepe is playing garbage without addressing the main issue as to why EVERYONE is playing shit then it’s biased. If you’re also of the opinion that his performances are so poor that this season is make or break while others are 4+ seasons into a generally poor Arsenal career then I dunno it’s a bit biased. He’s been totally ineffective, it isn’t bias… Read more »
Rich
Winning domestic trophies is not a measure of progress.
Finishing 6th is no better than Wenger’s last season.
Lots of fans were against this hire for obvious reasons.
Never thought much of Walcott but I would
start him in front of Pepe whoever scouted
him should be sacked.
Ishola
-Liverpool are running out of central defenders.to field.
-City don’t have strikers that are fit.
-Chelsea have too many pieces to put together
-United are utter crap with a piss poor manager
-Arsenal are ….
Only a court jester like you will rule out the team with Son-Kane combo with the added benefit of Bale in reserve
I mean we are talking about a season where giants are falling and every team is beatable.
Yes …Spurs will be in the running this season.
Ishola
Still waiting for wtf “robocop” defender means
Maybe one day you’ll tell.
how well did Pepe play when AMN was at RB?
Arteta is clueless, can’t even select the best team, let alone give them any idea how to play.
Are we in top 4 in the league, squad quality wise? Are we fuck. Do we have a manager who can make the team better than the sum of its parts? Do we fuck.
Dissenter
So you are tipping Spurs as EPL title contenders this season as well as you tipping them to be challenging for the EPL crown last season?
Way to go boy.
Double bubble.
Rangnick talking about the cognitive approach to coaching that Arteta is trying to develop at Arsenal.
From Pedro on twitter. Not one mention of Mikel by Ralf in the article.
Dissenter
It means that fans are fixated with physical attributes of a player.
It’s not a hard analogy to understand.
Dissenter
Hate to admit it but I also feel this Covid season will benefit Jose and Spuds.
Shite! What am I saying?
Dissenter has already failed spectacularly in his tipping of Spurs to be EPL contenders last season.
Dissenter has just given Spurs his own personal kiss of death.
Ishola
This season is wide open, don’t you get it.
No one is going to run away with 95-105 points this season. Liverpool and city are vulnerable, Lampard’s Chelsea have too many pieces to put together and United’s engines only runs on underserved penalties.
With all those in mind, you can’t rule out a team that has the firepower up front that Spuds have and a manager who’s won it all before.
They will be in the running , will they choke?…maybe.
Ishola thinks he’s shaming me
I wonder if his problem is the word “contenders”
Dissenter
“They will be in the running”
Of course just like they were last season according to you.
Marko
Explain the bias to me again? Doesn’t look for all the world that you have a clue what it actually means.
I’ve advocated for Auba as a lone striker with Saka, Willian, and Nelson operating behind him. The fact you get your arsehole tight as drum from that regarding Pepe is your own fucking bias entering the chat.
My ideal presently is to drop Laca, Pepe, and Ceballos to play what I consider a more balanced attacking quartet. The only person seeing Pepe as “THE” issue here is you.
In other news, Steven N’zonzi can’t play for Rennes in Sevilla tonight because he kicked a water bottle out of frustration at the end of their first game on his way to the drug test.
Pathetic. Just ask Arsene.
Dissenter
You’re embarassing yourself, Spuds are not competing for shite,) even their fans don’t think so, Top 4 is their target
You have effectively replaced Dariano on here as Legroves knee jerk master..Congrats!
Watching Chelsea’s game, that stadium has quite a number of fans.
Spurs only finished 3 points ahead of terrible Arsenal last season.
The only way they will be competing for the title is on performance enhancing drugs.
Rich, it amazes how level headed and measured your football views can be in comparison to those looney bin politics of yours.
Good thing there’s no Qanon football blog for you to latch onto.
If Lacazette’s header would have stood against Leicester which many believe shouldn’t have been disallowed then he would have scored a goal in every EPL game he has started so far this season. And yet the narrative on him is that he is absolutely turgid. Could he be improved upon? Yes. But he isn’t as useless as so many paint him. Not really. Having two forwards in Aubameyang and Lacazette is not the worst aspect of this team. Not having a functioning central midfield thus far has been the worst aspect of this side. The over the top frustrations regarding… Read more »
Developing players should be the job of his assistance. He has to set up the match day squad and study the technique of the opponents. He also has to answer questions from reporters and those noise fans.
Is it a penalty? not for me.
Anyway, Jorginho hit the post…
Tom
“Rich, it amazes how level headed and measured your football views can be in comparison to those looney bin politics of yours.
Good thing there’s no Qanon football blog for you to latch onto.”
I swear…Rich is like a sage here with his measured comments.
Personally I find Rich a bit left wing.
“dwayne bngham”
Bang on the money. Arteta seems to have his favourites and so far seems happy to discard young players, the only one who’s an exception is Saka who had already proved himself prior to Arteta’s appointment.
To drop Pepe wouldn’t we first have to start Pepe more then a few games here and there. Would be hard to drop somebody that isn’t a starter. We have treated him like a youth player ever since he got here, getting spot starts and bench appearances. Just my opinion, but when you spend 75 mill on a player you have to try and make it work first before you drop him. Give him a run of 10 – 12 straight games and see what we actually have. Because being honest we still have no idea. Then if he turns… Read more »
CC
Putting forward a point you want to see Nelson is one thing.
Declaring Nelson is a better player than Pepe is another.
First decide the point you want to make.
Lucky goal
Midwest
Agree – it also doesn’t help he came into a dysfunctional team and has worked under 3 managers, that we mostly attack down the leftside and when the ball does go right he’s usually isolated and with his confidence obviously at rock bottom is getting no support or encouragement from his manager.
Middie “We have treated him like a youth player” tbf many of his appearances have been like a youth player. It has been commented on here before that you wouldn’t know who the youth player was between him and Saka in relation to their overall performances. There has certainly been something missing regarding Pepe. What Pepe needs to do is to grab his first team spot. Make it a no decision for Arteta. But he hasn’t done this. He has had a few good performances and a few good cameos but hasn’t backed it up with any sort of consistency… Read more »
CT
The point I made was clear. I said I’d prefer to see Nelson start, because he’s a better footballer. I further clarified what I mean by that and how I’m applying it.
Skip the semantics because you’d prefer to defend Pepe from any criticism. Reiss Nelson is a better footballer for me, which is an indictment of Pepe more than adulation of Reiss.
Explain the bias to me again?
Again after every abject performance it’s about Pepe being hot garbage. Not one mention of Arteta’s dogshit tactics his misuse of players or about how every player is currently underperforming instead it’s Pepe’s shit and we need to cut our losses.
My ideal presently is to drop Laca, Pepe, and Ceballos to play what I consider a more balanced attacking quartet.
Another biased in there too. You want to drop our best midfielder since the restart for some reason (we know the reason).
Anyway
Marc- Pepe could well turn out to be shit.. but with that kind of investment we need to damn well make sure he is shit.. Meanwhile……, Xhaka is penciled in every match when we 1 million percent know what he gives us. . That’s the disparity I don’t understand.
Makes it hard for me to get excited about the team. even though I really want to.
The problem with playing Nelson is what do we do when he isn’t doing much either?
Right now our biggest problem is the manager not being able to select a team in a formation that can perform.
Calypso
Unfortunately you don’t go from where we were when Arteta took over, to where we want to be in 18 months.
And since I think top4 might be slightly out of our reach this season, I’d love the joy of another cup win, ideally Europa, but I certainly wouldn’t look down my nose at either domestic cup.
Marc
I’ll try being less of a snowflake in future…..
#MAGA
dwaynianoford
Marko
I’ve literally just commented on how I’d change the dynamic of our forward line, personnel included, and you’re criticising me about not commenting on Arteta’s tactics? Are you a moron?
So my opinion is biased because….it’s my opinion? Fucking brilliant that is. What you actually mean is anyone that doesn’t share your POV is biased and wrong.
Midwest Pepe vs Xhaka – let’s forget that Xhaka is the worst player I can remember at Arsenal who was guaranteed a starting spot. One is an unpredictable flair player who isn’t performing. One is a plodder who is completely predictable (mostly in bad ways but that’s another conversation) who has managed half a dozen decent performances and this is his 5th season with us. That tells me that Arteta isn’t just risk averse because he doesn’t have a City type squad but he’s just plain risk averse. Our squad is too good and too expensively assembled to not take… Read more »
Rich
Where we were was Emery being sacked after 13 games which gave the next manager more than enough time to turn things around.
Rich
“I’ll try being less of a snowflake in future…..”
I should fucking hope so. There’s only room for one snowflake on here and that’s Pedro.
Players we are told downed tools under Emery so why didn’t they pick them up for the next manager.
Dissenter we’re going to hold you to that when the Spuds inevitably crash and burn and Mourinho spontaneously combusts after one too many a VAR gone wrong.
They arent competing for the title, behave. Do you really believe that Son will score 35 PL goals this season and Kane 30?
On an almighty purple patch right now, the goals will dry up in time.
Calypso
It seems every other club on the planet gets a new manager bounce when one comes in – we got 1 win, 1 loss and 5 draws in Arteta’s first 7 matches.
WE
Mourinho has already started the press war with Levy – Klopp spent to improve the team.
On top of that Kane is now injury prone one excellently timed tackle on his ankles and he’s out for a couple of months.
Pepe can hit a free kick though
Marc
Really, he still moaning after getting in Reguilon, Doherty, Hojberg, Bale and Carlos Vinicius?
Wenger eagle Like you, I hope they have their customary crash and burn It’s just that this is s very peculiar season – City have no strikers and Liverpool don’t have central defender’s A shitty club like spuds can keep winning games they have no business winning with Son-Kane combo. It’s scary prospect because either of them can create and finish in equal measure. They can feed off each other while the rest of the team is average. . Note that I’m not tipping them to win the title …it’s the fact that there won’t be any daylight between the… Read more »
I understand the sentiment .. about we need more time and money. But be realistic we don’t have much time with a difficult schedule upcoming. I think your seriously deluding yourself if you think things will be ok if we go on a losing streak now. Every manager needs time but they rarely get it if result don’t follow. That’s why the Leicester loss wasn’t just any old loss. Also, why people are very concerned it’s not because they are freaking out to just freak out. . We have been down this road last season. Manchester game is huge, now.… Read more »
It’s quite clear thag Arteta is desperate to stamp his authority at the cost of the teams performance. Thisnis quite evident in the fact that the players he favours arent necessarily chosen on merit but his personal bias: >Martinelli was being benched even when he was fit because he’s not Artetas signing >Ozil was axed because he was bigger than Arteta and that came across as a perfect opportunity to make his mark. Ozil has 25mn followers on Twitter and Mikel has 1.5 mn. > Xhaka may not have been his signing but his peculiar situation at a time when… Read more »
WE
Yeah started in a press conference the other day. My guess is he was told this is next years money – which of course he agreed to and will now spend months moaning and bitching thinking he’ll wear Levy down.
Dundalk could be a moment for Pepe to find some confidence, who you boy hoping to see?
Training pics from today include, Martinelli, Saliba, ESR, RN, Iceman and yes Sokratis.
Dissenter
The Spud’s “were chasing down Leicester” during the 15/16 season with Kane tweeting loads of “we’re coming for you” bullshit.
They eventually managed to throw away 2nd in the league on the last day against a piss poor Newcastle team who were down to 10 men.
The Spud’s will always bottle it.
Dissenter What are you on about, Liverpool are missing ONE centre back in VVD, as good as he is they still have Matip, Gomez and Fabinho they can play there. Not exactly scrubs are they? Aguero will be back for Citeh in a few weeks with another interlull to break that up, Jesus wont be far behind and they still have Sterling, Foden, Bernardo Silva, Mahrez and Ferran Torres in the mean time. For all your Spurs praise they sit only 2 points ahead of us and have only won 3 of their 6 matches so far. Thats with Kane… Read more »
Didn’t Fabinho do his hamstring last night?
Exactly Marc, it is in their DNA.
Choking is all they know.
A week or 2 ago , Charlie and Pedro ( and Marko) was 100% behind Arteta , defended every single decision he made and the style of football we are playing. Marko cannot deny what his eyes are telling him, reality is starting to sink in that Arteta really needs to change something to put a spark into the side, charlie and Pedro are starting to waver in their belief . Defending every decision Arteta was making is a naive road tò take, the list is getting longer and it’s a worry for any supporter of Arsenal fotball clùb that… Read more »
Marc The hope of any gooner is that they will keep bottling it. However tell me that you weren’t perturbed in the least after we got smashed in Bake and Spuds were heading into a 90 minute CL final with Liverpool? It’s football, the craziest and most unlikeliest things happen like Denmark winning the Euros and Leicester wining the league with an average of 46% possession. I hope they crash and burn but Liverpool can’t even deputize Fabhino as fullback for one month. Aguero is back in the sick bay for another month; that’s the craziness of this season. Maybe… Read more »
WE
Fabhino is out injured.
Sal
Must have missed that, maybe the title is Spurs’ after all!
Agree with Dissenter on the points tally though, 80-85 points should be enough this season.
Sal _
Papa Sok plays right back.. and I’m gonna need therapy. Would like to see mostly youth.. Don’t want to see Saka or Partey or Auba or any rescue party though. Save it for the League.
Imagine Eddie will get a go up top.
Middy
Think were safe regarding Sok as he’s not in the European squad.
Lets solve a few mysteries for some, find some confidence for others, I put Laca in just to torture him he’s been that irritating.
_____________Lacazette_____________
R Nelson________________________Pepe
______________ESR________________
________Xhaka______Elneny_________
Tienry_____Saliba____Holding_______Soares
______________Iceland_______________
Lol yeah, Leiecester winning the title in the season WHERE THE SPUDS BOTTLED IT!
Eagle
If Spurs title out i’ll find Dissenter and castrate him, so were good there.
“and Spuds were heading into a 90 minute CL final with Liverpool?”
No my faith in the football God’s is complete.
The reason Arsenal are struggling is because you lot are not worthy of the love of the football God’s – unlike me.
“If Spurs title out i’ll find Dissenter and castrate him, so were good there.”
You’ll need some delicate small tools there!
😂😂😂
Mid
“Papa Sok plays right back.. and I’m gonna need therapy.”
What about CF?
This one is a handball. Werner really hammered the ball.
Sal- that lineup works for me.. But I still think Eddie will get a go. Also, not sure about Tierney would like to see him get a game off.
I think we should be able to beat the Fighting Leprechauns with it.. If not all hell will break loose such as you have never seen. .
Sal
That wont work
I have supernumerary testis, too many to destroy
You may castrate what you can reach but you wont put me down.
Mid
Tough luck for Tienry, Kolas = dooooom.
Pierre
Stick to your “trolling” instead of a commentary on my views, you’re unsurprisingly wide of the mark as per.
ManU have Leipzig later we’re playing a pub team from Ireland and will have a day less to recover etc.
I don’t want to see any of our genuine first choice even on the bench tomorrow.
Marc
Yea, there is a god after all
Can you imagine if the ref had not give than penalty against Sissoko early in the CL and Poch’s tactics had worked to drag it into extra time and nick it one goal.
What would have happened to us?
Glory halleluiah, we lived to moan another day.
Pulisic bicycle attempt. made him laugh .. made me laugh too.. But if he does that against Mexico .. I’m not having it.
Look out for Kulusevski for Juve tonight.
Kid is an incredible baller. Only 20 but already one of the best wide players in Serie A.
Runnar has to play against Dundalk
Anything else and he would be considered kidnapped by Martians
With Zitech, Chelsea gets another weapon.They have so many forwards, even their bench can get into our starting front 3.
Why did we get Pepe when Ziyech was available at that price.
We paid double the amount for Pepe. That is just absolutely absurd.
I’m sorry but there is a difference in a player tearing it up in the French League in comparison to a player who was impressing in the later stages of the Champions League.
Calypso The metrics have moved, I made the case for Emery needing time as well, until he lost the dressing room and his position became untenable. Most were labelling our recruitment the best ever summer 2019, I did warn that we’d actually taken ourselves backwards and not forwards. Our level right now is 3rd/4th overachievement 5th/6th hitting par 7th/8th slightly under par The margins will be small, there’s not much between that cluster of teams. I’m more interested in how the team develops over the course of the season, and the structures put in place to build from. This was… Read more »