It was Dundalk buuuuut…

by .

Ok, so, let’s set the tone here.

It was Dundalk.

Every time some praise triggers you in this post, remember the above line.

Ok, here we go.

THAT WAS SO GOOD WILL WE WIN THE LEAGUE?

Just jokes…

Looking at a game like that, you have to unpack what’s going on in training. For me, the performance was impressive because it looked like there was a very aggressive attempt to get the team firing. We attacked with intent and purpose. Things didn’t always work, but we didn’t shy away from experimenting. I haven’t felt we’ve been purposeful like that in a while.

The addition of Willock and Reiss really added something different to the attack. Both players were very direct, they ran at people, tried to stay on their feet, and they both took chances.

Joe Willock had 40 odd appearances last season, I didn’t realize that, which tells you something about his form to date. Yesterday was a glimpse of what could be possible if he raises his level in the moments that matter. He’s fast, he loves to run, he can play on the turn, and he shoots. He might not be perfect, but his ability to act as the glue between midfield and attack gave us an extra dimension last night. I thought he read the moment for his goal really well, he took a chance on the run, controlled the blocked shot, then finished like a demon. He has a lot of energy and he was also big into the tactical fouls we were dropping on Dundalk every time they tried to break… no doubt that was practice for the United game.

Reiss Nelson was also pretty decent. He looked like a player that knows this is his last chance. He didn’t look scared, he wanted to stay upright, and he wanted to make things happen every time he had the ball. His decision making was far more promising than it has been. It was a good step forward for him.

Nicolas Pepe was a bit of a mess, but you can see he’s trying to develop his game. The goal he scored was outrageous, especially as it was with the foot we didn’t think he had. An absolute rocket. Overall, he played like a player struggling. He was selfish, and last night was all about him finding some form he can take into the big games. I am happy he was shooting, I am happy he kept on pummeling away at crosses, I am happy it worked out in the end. There’s a long way to go, but I will take a player that doesn’t hide from their form. You know a player like that? Adebayor. He never gave up. Eventually, after a while, it clicked.

The team still doesn’t know how to play with Eddie. He’s not balls over the top player, he’s too small for high crosses into the box, and I’m not sure he’s quite cracked tight spaces. He’s a guy that lives off scraps, but to make it at Arsenal, he needs to find a way to find more of the ball. Still, he scored, so that was nice.

Granit Xhaka as a centre back when we have 52 real centre backs on staff was amusing, and exactly the sort of thing Pep G would try. I would be very, very worried if we did that at the weekend. Imagine Granit facing off against the pace of United? We are in trouble though if Mustafi doesn’t recover from his knock. I don’t want to see Kola anywhere near our starting 11.

Folarin Balogun made his debut. I am very excited about his potential. He has all the ingredients to be something exciting. He has elite balance, he’s fast, strong, technically really good… and he carries himself with the air of a man that thinks he’s going to the top. I really hope he’s chomping at the first team by the end of the season, it was great to see him play.

Runar also had a solid start. He didn’t have much to do, but he dealt comfortably with the ball at his feet and he looks like he’s a catcher. He is very expressive though. A concern. I like keepers that are dead behind the eyes. It shows that football is all they are thinking about. Runar’s twitching is a worry. The question is, will the keeping coach address this? Can we have a calmer face next time? We’ll see.

Ok, that’s all I have for today. The big one is this weekend. What did YOU learn about the game?

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Guns of SF

1st

Upstate Gooner

2

Upstate Gooner

3

Upstate Gooner

Boom

Gommit

4th

Marc

“Folarin Balogun made his debut. I am very excited about his potential. He has all the ingredients to be something exciting. ”

Isn’t he the player refusing to sign a new contract that we decided to sell?

Gommit

Damn it.. Should have only written 4 and then post 😉

Marc

” I would be very, very worried if we did that at the weekend. Imagine Granit facing off against the pace of United?”

Pedro that’s the correct state of mind with Xhaka starting in midfield – at CB might as well just give them a 4 nil win.

Words on a Blog

I’d like to see a lot more of Willock and Nelson, especially in matches against “deep block” sides who are happy to sit back while we laboriously attempt to probe their defences.

Yes it was Dunbloodydalk, but it was good to see movement and inventiveness with and without the ball in our midfield and forward lines.

So, perhaps not against Manure, but it would be good to see them play against Villa and Wolves.

redbro14

top ten?

Words on a Blog

As for Eddie N, I like the player, but I’m not sure what qualities he has as a striker and overall footballer that are not already present in Auba or Laca.

DivineSherlock

Pedro

No news about Huss Fahmy getting sacked ?

redbro14

Runar twitching? It kind of made me laugh, not sure what it means, but it’s funny. Pedro, can you elaborate on this issue? How did you spot this keeper malfunction?

Kris

Marc,
“Pedro that’s the correct state of mind with Xhaka starting in midfield – at CB might as well just give them a 4 nil win.”

I don’t think they would take that. Goal difference matters.

G

Eddie will make it at Arsenal for sure.. Him and martenelli is our future
.. Remember some muppet describing him as a championship player..
Willock will definitely make it with us as well

HighburyLegend

“It was Dundalk buuuuut…”

But it was pathetic ?

Aasim

I think Willock should be starting regularly. His skill level puts him in the first 11, maybe his decision making doesn’t, but that can only come with games. I don’t think Eddie / Nelson are at that skill level to make the first 11. They compete with much better players to get in the team. Willock also doesn’t have any obvious weaknesses in his games. Like Xhaka who is slow as fuck and shyt on the turn which makes him an easy target.

Marc

Kris

A player so bad that if he’s in the team a 4 nil win for ManU would be a disappointment for them.

salparadisenyc

At this moment in time I needed Dundalk and so did you.

Marc

sal

That all depends on the weekend result – a piss poor result and even worse a piss poor performance will mean last night really doesn’t matter a toss.

Nelson

“Like Xhaka who is slow as fuck and shyt on the turn which makes him an easy target.”

So says Rogers.

salparadisenyc

Marko

I was speaking to this moment in time, nothing more.

Marc

Not Marko

James wood.

Huss Fahmy not another alias.😂

AC

Hi Pedro, Thanks for giving us something to read everyday about arsenal. I have been critical of your recent posts supporting arteta but the truth is irrespective of whether arteta has fans goodwill or not you do have our goodwill. I just saw that you had an interactive session with the commenters the other day. Can’t think of many fan blogs that do things like this. Keep up the great work. Cheers mate!

Champagne charlie

Arteta on where Pepe must improve: “Sometimes its the simple things: the deliveries, amount of situations he’s able to create or attract & then make the right decision to keep evolving that final ball, finishing, positioning inside the box which he has to be more consistent at.”

Imagine that.

salparadisenyc

Speaking of United who you guys hoping to see in the XI?
Not that it will be too big a surprise.

Words on a Blog

With Huss Fahey now going/gone, there’s been much more movement in Arsenal’s back room staff in recent times than there has been in our forward line!

Words on a Blog

Fahmy not Fahey!

karim

Are you all drunk ?

TR7

Basically Arteta is saying Pepe is not good enough for Arsenal and I totally agree with him. Cut our losses on him and sell him as soon as possible. Never been impressed by him even one bit.

Champagne charlie

Sal

Hope we see a quick front line that can threaten in behind. If we let United squeeze us I think we’re asking for trouble.

I’d like a return to 4-2-3-1 with Xhaka and Partey holding CM and either Willian or Ceballos playing ahead in support of Auba. I’d go Saka and Pepe either side of Auba with Willock and Nelson chomping at the bit for an opportunity to change the game.

I’m not enamoured by the “V” midfield that sits Partey isolated slap bang in the middle and Xhaka/Ceballos moving deep wide. Mismatch against United imo.

azed

“Are you all drunk?”

Karim

It’s Friday, what do you think?

Marko

What did YOU learn about the game?

Sweet fuck all bar irish soccer is about a 100 years behind the rest of the world and therefore I wouldn’t read too much into the Arsenal performance

Kaz

Eddie is a pure fox in the box, he’d thrive playing off of someone in a 442.

He definitely needs that and to bulk up.

Kaz

Anyway for Man Utd, it’s going to be a real worry with which defenders we do use, they get penalties for sneezing.

We have Mike Dean, biggest prick of a referee.

Game will be hard for us, playing it along the back line is NOT a good strategy for this match.

Champagne charlie

Wonder what the odds actually are that they get a pen at the weekend?

Ripped from Orbinho, Twitter:

“Since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over, Man Utd have won 37 penalties in all competitions.

Arsenal have won NINE in the same period.

37 Man Utd
24 Man City
22 Chelsea
16 Liverpool
15 Leicester
14 Spurs”

It’s staggering.

redbro14

CC…that is an incredible stat. Mike Dean on Sunday will add to the tally, no doubt.

Calypso

Champagne charlie

Arsenal are too busy defending to be handed penalties.

englandsbest

I think all Pepe needs is playing time. I am guessing that Arteta told him to go out and do what he does best: attack. A break with the rigid routine. All at once, Arsenal became unpredictable. I make that good, very good.

More of the same on Sunday, please. Maybe early in the second half.

Jamie

Horrifying stat. Utd will almost certainly be awarded a sketchy pen. Cunts.

Valentin

From what the Athletic is saying, it looks like Huss Fahmy departure is less acrimonious than Raul. The review of Arsenal operations looks like it concluded that the issue is deeper than just Raul’s supper agents approach. Like I wrote earlier, the Arsenal negotiation team was viewed as a joke in France, so may it is for the best. Edu will not be able to hide behind Nobody left from the previous regime. He better hope that he does not mess things up. Making tabula Rasa is more often than not an all in approach. If it works it’s great.… Read more »

Marko

To be fair we aren’t getting any pens playing like we’re allergic to the opposition’s penalty area

Leftside

United are almost nailed on for a penalty, especially with the A grade twat that will be overseeing the game.

Champagne charlie

Calypso

I mean if it was a pure Arsenal comparison sure, you could make some baseless remark like that. But are you saying United are more attacking than City and Liverpool?

They’re 13 pens clear of any other side and second place is 24 ffs lol.

Also, I’m almost certain there was supportive data about the number of touches in the opponents box versus the number of penalties given. I’m sure you can guess what picture it painted? I’ll see if I can find it.

Rich

TR7 Arteta isn’t saying Pepe isn’t good enough, he’s saying he needs to improve. They’re two entirely different things. It’s a big season for Pepe no doubt, but he still got 10 goals and 8 assists last season, and has already influenced games this season. He’s raw, but if we iron out some creases, there’s no doubt he’s got ability, and he’s a match winner. Aubameyang didn’t have his real breakthrough season until he was 25, after 2 decent seasons at St Ettiene, and a season at Dortmund, he then exploded in his second season, and never looked back. Some… Read more »

Valentin

I don’t think that Arteta was really worried about Dundalk firepower. He went for an all attack approach. The game plan was a lot less structured than usual. That’s not going to happen on Sunday.

A team can’t be awarded penalty, if its players are never in the penalty box. I can’t remember which game where we ended up with less than 10 touches in the penalty box. So basically even with a corrupt referee, we could not not have bought a penalty outside of corners and set pieces!

Pierre

Kaz
“Eddie is a pure fox in the box, he’d thrive playing off of someone in a 442.”

That man is Balogun , they could be sensational together …

DivineSherlock

Not that I was looking for a scoop but would that be another scalp for Tim Lewis or do you think that maybe Vinai said we need some new blood for contracts negotiation ( no more Gazidis hires left)

Pierre

Àrteta should try Balogun/Nketiah partnership in the Europa …Balogun all power and strength ( and skill) with Eddie feeding off Balogun..

Both are prolofic in front of goal, both have great movement and as a pairing would be superb at pressing the opposition…have them supported by Martinelli and they could destroy the opposition.

Champagne charlie

Here you go, from July 2020…

https://mobile.twitter.com/StatsSwearwords/status/1287449665106071553

Guy is a Liverpool fan full disclosure, so if you suspect bias then fair enough but the numbers are numbers and he certainly ain’t doing Arsenal any favours with them.

I’m not sure the time frame used for this metric, I just know he’s a statsdna fan hence the handle and proclivity towards number crunching (often in favour of Klopp and Liverpool).

Rich

You couldn’t blame Balogun for jumping ship, or any other youngster. We’ve got a first team squad of 31, 2 players we can’t register in the league, a €30million centre half we haven’t registered in the Europa league. 3 players out on loan We could easily lose 10 players from our squad, without the need to replace any of them, a squad of 24 is plenty. Complete mismanagement, the path to the first team from the youth team is log-jammed, really not a good look if you’re trying to convince a young talent and his parents that Arsenal is the… Read more »

karim

Azed

Cheers bro !

Marc

Rich

What is worse is that a fair chink of those players are absolute gash and still get on the bench etc before the kids.

That’s what will make them move on.

Marko

Saliba starts for the under 23’s tonight which means Mustafi starts at United with I guess no other CB on the bench? Tierney or Kolasinac LCB cause you know 3-4-3 is a mainstay

Nelson

Signing Auba and Willian for three more years are bad news for youngsters. Arteta starts to see the light. He starts by playing them in the Cup games. Laca most likely won’t get an extension.

Pierre

I’ve been trying to tell everyone on here for years about the disparity in penalties awarded to Arsenal and penalties conceded by Arsenal.

Never really received any support for my views probably due to wenger being our manager…

Nothing’s changed with the officials, they were and still are biased against Arsenal…
VAR hasn’t helped as it’s the same corrupt officials overseeing the decisions.

Pierre

For willock, nelson to mot be involved and to stick Eddie on the wing v rapid tells you all you need to know.. To bring on ceballos last night when he could have had azeez on the benchand given him a little run out was also a baffling decision… We should be giving our kids game time at every opportunity. As i said earlier , how good would it be to see Balogun and Nketiah start up top in the europa next week .. As i see it , there is nothing to lose, play a solid defence and midfield… Read more »

Pedro

Pierre, ref conspiracies was an Untold thing. Was a bit weird

Pierre

Arsenal 859 touches in the box per penalty

United 68 penalties in the box per penalty

Let that sink in..

Pierre

Touches

Pierre

Pedro
Maybe it was , but that doesn’t make it wrong…they have the figures to show how anti Arsenal the officials have been over the years.

Red cards
Yellow cards per foul/tackle
Penalties awarded
Penalties conceded

You name it , we would be the most hard done by…and it’s still happening..

James wood.

I have noticed Our Arsenal players are a bit more
prone at getting in referees faces than most other teams
might be a reason why we don’t get those penalties.?

Nelson

Since Xhaka played 90 mins yesterday, we may finally see him replaced by Partey in the midfield. I predict Partey and Ceballos will be the DM pair with Willian/Saka playing in front of them. The three attackers will remain Auba, Laca and Pepe. If Saka plays CM than Willian will replace either Pepe or Laca with Aube starting in the middle.

Pierre

Pedro
859 touches per penalty compared to 68 touches per penalty is not weird , those figures are a disgrace.

Pierre

Nelson
No chance , was a stroll for xhaka last night , he would use more energy taking his dog for a walk.

He’ll start.

Nelson

The Wolves RW are making those perfect crosses. The Palace’s defense has been taken apart.

Ovia

Very Good game yesterday. Nelson and willock gave so many positives to smile about. Hopefully we sell Nketiah and give Balogun a chance come January.
Let’s just hope Arteta doesn’t over complicate things with his tactics this Sunday.
#COYG

Aaron

manure practice to get penalties, get awarded too large of a number for it to be normal, fA is corrupt.
Simple really.
they will get a penalty
AFC will get the victory.

Frost

“What did YOU learn about the game?”

That we still shit.

Danny+S

We didn’t look like we could control the game. It was a very hectic, full on go for goal match with no real thinking behind it other than Dundalk are virtually an armature team so posed very little threat. You can gauge the young players performances no better in that game than you can in a reserves match. I would have liked to see us pass it around Dundalk like bosses, making them run about and put by 5/6 goals. I just hope Arteta didn’t look at this game and think that Xhaka is a good fit for CB. Eddie… Read more »

Graham62

If GX plays at OT, Arteta will be in the last chance saloon as far as I’m concerned.

Tom

“The Wolves RW are making those perfect crosses. The Palace’s defense has been taken apart.“

Their 19 year old French left back was arguably the MoM.
Wolves are beginning to click that’s a worry.

Marc

Graham

Not only will he start but he’s guaranteed to start if fit.

Matt

I’m with Pierre on this. The refereeing against arsenal is shameful and Mike Dean is the worst offender. It may come across as whinging and having a victim complex, but how ridiculous is it that we are going into an important game on Sunday almost certain of two things; a United penalty and at least one dodgy Mike Dean decision against us.

Aussie+Gooner

Manure will be told to target Mustafi or Xhaka in the box. Run at them with/without the ball, instigate contact, go to ground like a sack of spuds, penalty given – simple plan. Perhaps we can help Manure set a new record – the most penalties awarded in a match! I think the five penalties awarded in Crystal Palace vs. Brighton & Hove Albion, 27 March 1989 may be the one to beat.

Aussie+Gooner

Balogun Thurday night – “A real honour to make my debut tonight. Thank you to everyone for the messages! Journey is just beginning,” he wrote on Twitter. Does that sound like someone keen to leave? And Arsenal may target Red Bull Salzburg’s Dominik Szoboszlai in January, Good news if it happens – he has the potential to go all the way. Glad to see someone at Arsenal realises that. However if we hang about in our customary manner we will end up losing him to a ‘big’ club as usual. How are Arsenal currently ranked the 11th best club in… Read more »

Aussie+Gooner

Art imitating life from a FIFA 21 game simulation of tomorrows match –

“A disappointing display in our FIFA 21 simulation for Arsenal, with United’s 4-3-1-2 formation proving to be particularly effective against the Gunners’ 3-4-3.
The substitute even had time to put a bit of gloss on the scoreline. It was Fernandes once again who found space in the area, drawing a save from Leno, with the rebound falling kindly for the Dutch midfielder, who had the easy task to sidefoot home.”

Dissenter

People are already preemporily blaming the referee.
Since when did we become the club of whiners?

Samesong

People make me laugh. If Willock and Nelson play against United and we get trashed they will be the first to be ripped apart if they have a bad game.

Judgement still out on those two.

Guns of SF

We better win sunday. I hate Manure more than any other team. They are a dirty cheating cuntish POS , arorgant and utter garbage team and fans. This is a real test for Arteta. I do NOT want to hear him say its a game of fine margins. Fuck that, we need to win an come out guns blazing. I dont give a shit, we need to take shots from outside the box, shoot on sight. We have played them tight the last few outings, we can do this, but we need to take the handbrake off. I DO NOT… Read more »

Guns of SF

Its in our dna to attack. Arteta needs to figure that out sharpish.
Pepe did good from the middle of the box, he has scored from there before- let him roam tomorrow…
He needs to drag defenders out of place,… we need to totally mix it up tomorrow….

Gonsterous

Go into youtube, you will see a lot of new ozil skill videos. This is the risk the club takes when they bench any player and not perform. We need to start getting creative or fans will start questioning the reason why ozil was benched, even if at the time it was justified.

Moray

Fahmy out. Makes sense as our contractual dealings have on the surface been extremely odd at best.

Plus, as was said at the time, a background in cycling is not really the best grounds for upping our contractual game.

Moray

We were underperforming with Ozil and now we’re underperforming without him.

I don’t see any linkage

Sid

Peter Attwood and le untold crew already blaming the ref.

Captain Tierney

Since the start of last season Pepe is only second to Auba for goal involvements at Arsenal.

A fun fact about Pepe – He has never started 4 games in a row for us.

Ishola70

All sounds a bit defeatist on here already. Very unfortunate. We must remember that players inititaing contact and going down in the penalty area is a dark art that has been practiced by teams all across the board and virtually all players of every team and this appeared a very long time ago. If Man United are the masters of this art it is only masters of what is universally widespread and not confined to Man United. We will all know anyway during the match if a very poor decision is given in favour of Man United so I don’t… Read more »

raptora

If a lot of teams have, if you excuse me, naive fucking idiots like Xhaka and Mustafi who are getting baited easier than a child with an icecream, it’s no going to be surprising if there is indeed a penalty for Manure. Players like Rashford, Martial, Pogba, Zaha they are quick so one bad move and they are going to fall and the ref is going to give it. Let’s not pretend we’ve had a lot of quick dribblers in the last years. It’s also Manure’s game plan to rely on individualities ahead on anything else, and not on team… Read more »

Ishola70

I have said before I don’t have great sympathy for a defender that gets in a position where he is in danger of getting trolled by a Man United player because in the vast majority of cases it is the defenders poor play in the first place that leads him being in this position i.e. poor positioning and allowing an opposing player to get a run in behind him. It’s a case that the defender and his team get punished and even if the actual decision is borderline or even plain wrong in many cases the poor play from the… Read more »

Chris

Does any other ‘big’ team in the Premier League have a worse record at Old Trafford than we do? It’s is simply embarrassing. 3 wins since 1998 (all 1-0 and all glorious it must be said) Whatever psychological barrier we have about playing there has to be smashed through and with there being no crowd this is a great opportunity.

It would be galling to watch us slip to another insipid defeat there so soon after watching Spurs smash them up 6-1. I’ll settle for another 1-0 win for sure!

Matt

Anyone who has confidence going into this game is just naive. As much as I would like to draw on anything to suggest that we could get something out of this game, it’s just not there. It’s not about being whingers or whiners. It’s unfortunately just being realistic. Look at our xg, look at how many penalties United are getting, look at our defence…

Pierre

Chris “Does any other ‘big’ team in the Premier League have a worse record at Old Trafford than we do? It’s is simply embarrassing” We are unbeaten against united in the previous 4 league games ..won 2 , drawn 2. so the question coukd be asked “has any team a better record than us against united in the last 2 seasons ” …it works both ways. I’m sure Arteta will be reminding the players of the positives instead of focusing on the last time we beat a top 6 side.. I’ve no doubt that if we hadn’t beaten united for… Read more »

Chris

Pierre I get your positivity there but the 2 recent wins against United came at home, where we haven’t had too many problems against them. It’s our record at Old Trafford that is abysmal, there can’t be too much debating that. Call it bad luck, refereeing decisions, a psychological barrier or just plain out poor performances, we have not put up a decent showing up there for years and years. United haven’t won at home this season, there is no crowd, and I do have more faith in Arteta to get a result there than Emery or latter era Wenger,… Read more »

Leftside

I don’t see this game as a foregone conclusion, a lot of this game is about our team selection and approach. United have been poor at home all season.

Matt

Need an unwanted record broken, we’re your team!!