Arsenal big names need a BIG performance at Old Trafford

by .

It’s the BIG ONE.

Arsenal vs Manchester United. Away from home. The reignition of a classic? Maybe.

Both sides head into this game out of form in the league. United haven’t won at home for three games. We haven’t won away against a top 6 side in 359 years. We are both not where we should be in the league.

It is a must win for both sides. Both sets of fans will be immensely frustrated with a sharing of the spoils

Arteta needs to win because though we’ve been tough to beat, we’re not racking up points in these big games.

Ole G needs to win because he’s spent a lot of cash for not a lot of output so far.

Arsenal fans are looking for a performance. I don’t buy that we have to have 62 shots on target to make a performance count, I think we just need to do better than we have been. Averaging 8 attempts at goal a game isn’t good for the soul. We need a bit more today. I don’t want to be celebrating a glorious loss again. We need to move beyond being competitive at this stage.

I think Arteta plays a fine margins game, but we’re not quite a fine margins team yet. To get a performance, he needs more than 6 of his players at the top of their game. I’m not sure we’ve seen a game like that so far this season.

These are the moments that are built for big players. Backs against the wall, low expectations, a grim record to surmount.

I want to see a ferocious Arsenal today. I want to see players like Willian show why we invested so much money in them. I want to see what Thomas Partey is all about. I want to see captain Auba impose himself.

Aside from that, I want to see some purpose and intent behind our attack. I think Arteta has cut out a lot of the nonsense we’ve seen from this squad in big games, but that’s led us to become a very low-risk side. When the objective is not to make a mistake, you improve defensively, but you also reduce the taste for risk. I want to see big players gamble. I want to see us take chances. If things don’t work out, I don’t want to see players hide… we need to keep plugging away until something good happens.

This is a huge game. It feels special. I am very excited.

You should feel the same. Let’s enjoy the game and see where we land. Catch you in the comments!

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Rich

Ishola70 You’re a straight up liar 🤥 You made up comments and attributed them to me, and you also altered one of my comments, to try and prove you’re point, but then got caught out. I can’t work out if your really slow? Or just difficult? Xhaka being our best available option over the past two seasons, doesn’t mean that I think Xhaka was a good option. He was just a better option than Torreira + Guendouzi + Ceballos in his first season. This season Ceballos has settled and improved, we’ve spent £45mill on an upgrade. We’ve now got 3… Read more »

Champagne charlie

Ishola going full metal moron on here now, deary me

Ishola70

Oh no the Xhaka justifier is back.

Time to clock out.

Enjoy the win guys.

And look forward to more impressive Xhakaless wins.

Ciao.

WengerEagle

‘Well the relevance is Weagle is that I have implied that N’Zonzi could have done a better job a few seasons ago for this team than Xhaka has.’ Haha, you were a little more generous in your praise for him than that. Have never seen you tout a player on here as much. ‘Then I point out to you that if not for the intervention of Arteta our boy Granit would be doing his stuff his stuff at Hertha Berlin now. And Rennes are a better team than Hertha Berlin.’ Has nothing to do with Xhaka though, we could have… Read more »

Ishola70

Weagle be careful now,

I don’t bother with these things but other posters do at times and you were absolutely brutal about Elneny on here and not too long ago as well.

If someone did dig up your recent post regarding him there would be Elneny blood over the blog.

But enjoy the win Weagle.

Good one.

WengerEagle

Ishola You have brought up Jota half a dozen times trying to be a smartarse and are now after one match telling me to be careful about Elneny? You’re a treasure. I remember you being scathing on the David Luiz signing, calling me and several others morons and relaying to us that he was literally one of our worst ever signings and that he wasn’t fit to be a PL CB. He goes on to become an important part of our FA Cup winning spine and not a peep from you, cowardly as ever. Can never admit when you’re wrong… Read more »

Bojangles

Great win. Most Arsenal supporters will be happy today.

Thomas and Elneny bossed the midfield, been a long time since we’ve done that. Hopefully this will be our midfield pairing going forward.

Leedsgunner

I hope Willian improves quickly because to me he was unimpressive again today.. After the first half I think I would have been tempted to sub him off. He’s supposed to be one of the creative outlets but we’re standing still with him in the side.

Guns of SF

Willian takes all set pieces, he will get some assists that way… we still need to practice our attacks in the final third. When Auba moved into the box he did much better. His lay off for Willian a case in point. I said a few days back that he needs the ball in already dangerous positions versus dribbling to create. He cannot do that. He can do however ,quick splitting passes in the box area to open players. I am looking forward to Gabby M playing… that right there would be enough to create channels and space with his… Read more »

Words on a Blog

Bojangles,

“Thomas and ElNeny bossed the midfield, been a long time since we’ve done that.”

You nailed it.

Normally our midfield is like an empty, arid desert, ceded entirely to the opposition, and we can’t wait to get the ball to the (mainly left) wing. I’ve cringed as unremarkable opposing midfielders suddenly look like Pirlo or Xavi.

Against Man U, we controlled the midfield. It’s been a long, long time since we’ve done that.

Refreshing.

HighburyLegend

Couldn’t watch the game live today. I’ve just watched some highligts…
Can’t say what’s shocking me most, the fact that it is our first win at Old Toilet since 2006 (unbelievable how time flies fast), or the fact that Granité was benched by Lego Hair. Lol

Seems that Arteta have eyes and brain, finaly… let’s hope he continues on the right path.

Nelson

I can see that those Arsenal fans in UK must be kicking themselves not be able to celebrate this win with the players in the stadium, especially once in the life time without Xhaka in the lineup.

DivineSherlock

Its clear we have big enough squad so now rotate the fuck out of it Arteta ! I dont wanna see Partey , Gabriel , Leno , Bellerin , Auba , Saka , Tierney , Elneny playing against Molde in Europa .

Gonsterous

Fk yah, woke up to an amazing result. Are we the new athletico Madrid??
Looking at the highlights, we fking dominated this game. Should have been more than 1, but I’m loving it. Hope we can build on this and not revert to type. Time to start dominating every game. That’s how we get top 4

Tony

Absolutely happy to be a gooner during and after beating Manure.

Well played all involved including Arteta for taking the handbrake off.

Partey had shades of a young Paddy V and Gabs was immense at the back as was industrious Elneny.

This win should be the catalyst to jump start our season where Villa should be the perfect next game to consolidate this win.

Over to you Arteta to keep the results coming with sorting out our attack.

Pedro has every right to pen his I-told-you-so post.

Is Hertha still interested in Xhaka?

Gonsterous

Mike dean may secretly be a gunners fan lmao.

Tom

“To my friends on @legrove: Arteta got his shape right; OGS got his second half changes wrong. United still have way more quality than Arsenal, & they’ll still finish 10+ points above Arsenal. If you think I’m wrong, let’s wager. I would be happy to take your money. #afc #legrove”

Tom

If this is really from Bamford then the fella has lost his mind completely.
United are not gaining 15 points on Arsenal the rest of the season.
I will take this bet all day every day and twice on Sunday.

raptora

They didn’t even show Gabriel’s potential 2nd yellow incident on Match of the Day. Although the commentator said it was a “very soft penalty”, they aired an interview where Pogba said he made a crucial mistake and he should have known better admitting the foul. On another day both decisions go against us and we don’t win yet again. Feels good we finally got lucky vs this bloody lot. We deserved it big time.

Dissenter

Elneny was very very good today, I just rewatched the game.
Damn he was good, he was driving forwards at every turn, even hassling United in injury time.
Let’s hope Arteta will get ruthless.

raptora

Dissenter: Elneny was very very good today, I just rewatched the game.

raptoraNovember 1, 2020 16:48:28
15 mins where Elneny has been playing like a man possessed.

He set the tone up for the rest of our players. Really made the difference.

Mysticleaves

My gee El Neny turning up big time. Never would have thought I would be alive to see dissenter praise Mo. Always knew there was a player there. Xhaka was always the problem. Partey is a beast of a player and if he continues like this, 45m will look like 15m

Leftfootcurler

Great victory,so nice to finally win at OT after so long. We pressed more aggressively than usual and capitalised on an utd error. When we dropped our physical levels,we still kept a strong mentality and refused to concede. A great victory. From a long term viewpoint, it’s clear that Arteta’s attacking dynamics is that of a CF dropping and WF making blindside movements in behind. We don’t really have CF who can play that false 9 role well. We need to stay in contention for top 4 and buy mobile, clinical version of Olivier Giroud for that role. I was… Read more »

Mysticleaves

Hopefully, just hopefully Arteta has seen the light. Like I saw 2 seasons ago. Xhaka must not play all the matches. Infact, sell if possible cos he isn’t a bench player but shouldn’t be starting for us. We CLEARLY have people, about 2 that can do what he does/complement Partey better than Xhaka can so there’s absolutely no need for that

Captain Tierney

One player who is not getting the recognition he deserves after yesterday’s performance is Bellerin.
Has massively upped his game this season. Has lost some of his pace but his overall play has improved a lot.
This is the best he has ever been imo.

raptora

Gary Neville before #MUNARS about United’s team:

This team has turned the corner!

Roy Keane after #MUNARS about United’s team:

Some people were thinking that this team has turned the corner. I was never kidded on by that!

😆😆😆

raptora

Bellerin was basically our best (if not only) attacking outlet. His runs and crosses were top drawer. More of the same please!

Thorough

Nobody should ever complain Lille robbed us on Pepe.
Whatever we lost on Pepe we more than recovered from Gabriel. What a player. Gabriel at this stage will be worth 100 million in a couple of years. He’s at least twice the player the Manu unmentionable center back is.

Leftside

Tom, that is embarrassing from Bamford at this point. At this point its best for us to just ignore him and move on.

CHEN

Great win last night… Partey was everything I never saw in my life. Missed vieras peak. Gabriel was a wall… quick, commanding in the air and good reading of the game… Tierney, is consistent like monreal was… but with more quality (we did well on this transfer) But for me the most impressive performance came from Wenger’s signing… el neny and holding was great … Almost everyone including wrote off elneny but he has proven us all wrong… holding, considering he was sidelined for 1 month with many injuries in the past couple of years especially with rashford injuring him….… Read more »

Useroz

Buying and selling players is fun and not an exact science. And hindsight is always cool. Hopefully we’d do better overall. I think we still do ok just that when finance is down it makes the Xhaka, Mustafi, Pepe sort if deals so much more unpleasant. If we out Gabriel on the market asking for £60m, he’d be gone by tomorrow! And Manure probably offets Progba + £20m to join the Partey! Values of Holding, Elneny, Tierney have all appreciated somewhat i’d think. The immediate concern would be to move on as much dross as possible in the Jan TW.… Read more »

Steveyg87

Glad to see Bellerin starting to show some consistancy

Venga, Dani

Watching arsenal play without Xhaka is at least 20% more enjoyable. Probably more like 30%-40% actually.

Emiratesstroller

I was not a great fan of Elneny in the past, because despite his completion stats I found his square and back passing totally frustrating. However, his performance this season and in particular yesterday was totally different. He is now far more progressive in his passing and we saw even a shot on goal. Frankly I thought that yesterday’s midfield performance was amongst the best I have seen for a very long time albeit that I would like still to see a genuine “world class creative midfielder” in the team. That will require of course a 4-3-3 formation rather than… Read more »

Useroz

Watched the Southampton goals. Seriously I don’t know how many could’ve have been saved by any GKs. Leno included as a top shotstopper according to some. Some questioned the organisation of the walls etc. please watch the slow mo again. U wish we have someone who can curl even 80% like Ward-P. Both Fk/ shots skimmed the top of the walls and bloody dipped right in the corners. Oh my. That’s Ronaldo level Fks Arteta needs to make 2 to 3 from the team practthe hell out of it and get it right. When you lack goals Fks are bonus… Read more »

Useroz

Agreed that stats could misled without context. The infamous Dennilson almost perfect passing record! Crab passes that is. Elneny should now have some confidence (if it was an issue) and kick on to progressing the ball in similar ways like yesterday. Take on defenders, draw a foul, make some final passes, etc. There’s more value i am sure even if only 60/70 % if these work out. I echo someone who observed Bellerin seems to (like to) work better with Willian and on much better wavelengths. Thats good but Willian can’t play every game. Bellerin needs to work with Pepe… Read more »

Useroz

*mislead*

Buzzy

Yesterday’s win was huge! Absolutely season changing, morale changing. The tactics were spot on because the 4 man midfield really suffocated United. The two wing backs made it so difficult for United to get out of their own half in the first half. That allowed Elneny and Partey to dominate in the middle of the park. Partey was so smooth and imposing but man what about Elneny? That guy had his best game in an Arsenal jersey yesterday. Always willing to receive the ball and got out of tough situations with intelligent touches and forward passing. Pressed them like a… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Arsenal’s strategy this side of Christmas should be to play where possible two different teams for EPL and Europa Cup.

Our Group in Europa Cup is fairly weak and it should be not difficult to win our remaining games using a second string lineup assuming of course that we do not have large scale injury problem.

Obviously in the new year the dynamics change once we play knockout football in Europa
and the opposition is significantly stronger.

Calypso

Emiratesstroller

Beating a lacklustre Man Utd who Spurs destroyed 6-1 makes 1-0 look like a bad result.

Emiratesstroller

Calypso

I am not getting overexcited by yesterday’s result. However, what is important is that we won this game and not making comparisons with Spurs.

Spurs have had some up and down performances this season so I will judge our performance when we play them.

Sofar Spurs have won absolutely nothing under both Pochettino and Mourinho.

Emiratesstroller

Calypso

For the record Spurs played against a 10 man team of Man Utd for much of the game. Martial
was sent off in 28th minute.

Up 4 grabs now

Morning, Just rewatched the game again, looks even better second time around. Partey was immense. With xhaka not playing, he wasn’t trying to hold the midfield on his own, big mo balanced well with him. And it gave him freedom to move forwards knowing there was somebody with pace behind him to cover for him. Probably the Egyptians best game, if he carries on with that form they will be a great partnership. Gabriel was great too. Holding looked a little rusty first 20-25 minutes but then found his form and really kicked on. Two defenders who won almost everything… Read more »

Calypso

Emiratesstroller

I’m not comparing teams, all i’m saying is Man Utd have suffered the worst start at home for 48 years and that was before the Arsenal game.

SpanishDave

We hav’nt scored a goal in open play for three games.
That’s a worry and needs to be addressed.Laca is poor as an attacker and changes will be needed in this dept.

Up 4 grabs now

Sky made so much about United losing to the spuds, they were 2-1 down then collapsed after going to ten men. Both teams were defending poorly.

Then again sky also made them world beaters against Leipzig.

They played pretty average and were 15 minutes away from winning 1-0 when Leipzig collapsed and let in four in the last fifteen minutes.

They were average gainst Chelsea as well.

Doesn’t matter, we won up there we now have a run of easier games get some momentum before we meet Maureen and his Neanderthals.

Calypso

Up 4

Calypso

Up 4 grabs now

Crystal Palace also beat Man Utd at Old Trafford 3-1.

Pierre

From day one , since I’ve been commenting on Le grove, I have always wanted Arsenal to play with 2 central midfielders who were disciplined, could read the game, were positionally perfect, worked as pair, technically good and never got ahead of the ball.. Yesterday, at long last , we saw the perfect midfield performance from Partey and Elneny.. The last pairing in midfield who gave Arsenal the base for the team to play were Coquelin and Cazorla. I was always critical of Wenger playing Ramsey in a 2 man midfield as , although being a good footballer, he lacked… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Pierre

What we saw yesterday with our central midfield pairing was “composure” and “football
intelligence”.

That makes a huge difference in the makeup of team.

Nevertheless I am still concerned about Arsenal’s lack of cutting edge and end product up front. We should not forget how Leicester absorbed pressure and were then able to cut us open when Vardy came on.

We need to start putting the ball into net from open play.

Up 4 grabs now

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