via Arsenal Instagram
We did it. Arsenal finally broke their 5-year ‘WE CAN’T WIN AWAY AT A BIG 6 CLUB’ hoodoo (29 games). The last time we won away at United in the league was 14 years ago, I was like, 8 years old or something?! Make no mistake, that wasn’t a lucky win, that was the performance we’ve been waiting for in a big game. Arteta is the first Arsenal manager to win his first two games against United since Herbert Chapman. A super day for Gooners all over the world.
The starting 11 saw quite the reaction on the cyber terraces.
‘HE NEEDS TO GET OUT’
‘TOO NEGATIVE’
‘SERIOUS QUESTIONS MUST BE ASKED’
It’s quite a stretch to suggest that taking a pragmatic approach to United away was ever an incorrect way to think about this game. They absolutely destroyed RB Leipzig in the week. 5 goals against last seasons Champions League semi-finalists who have the best young manager in the world was a warning sign that things could go awry if we weren’t at our best… and at our best defensively we were.
I am rubbish at blow by blow football reports, but I’ll give you a list of things I really liked.
I thought Gabriel and Rob holding were absolutely excellent. Our new Brazilian centre back shaded it for me, he was unbelievable. He’s such a monster defender. He didn’t give anyone an inch all day. The performances of both were made all the more monumental by the fact they both picked up bookings around the 25-minute mark, Catnip for a ref like Mike Dean. Gabriel made 5 tackles, 4 clearances, combined with a 92% pass completion rate. Stunning numbers. It’s early days, but my word does he look like an incredible signing. Rob Holding also went a long way to justifying the faith Arteta has shown in him, rocking 91% pass completion in an assured return to action (after 1 training session). Also, side note, a massive shout out to the medical staff for getting him back ahead of schedule!
You need more than a good defensive pairing to win in games like that. Thomas Partey started his first big one for us and boy oh boy was he fucking unbelievable. The man is the coldest, crispest beer after running a marathon in the Sudan desert. How have we not addressed our midfield with someone this classy? He is such a difference-maker. If he loses the ball, he gets it back. If he breaks a press, he controls the ball out the other side. His passing is elite and he is so, so efficient. Most importantly, he gives us power in a place we’ve been weak. Watching him slug it out against Paul Pogba and win was special. Seeing him do it with 92% pass completion, with 12 of his 53 attempted passed heading into the final third was joyous. He had the most take-ons, he had the most ball recoveries, he made 4 tackles, 2 interceptions, and he had a shot on target. A superb game. What is even more amusing for me is there was actually a debate about his arrival because the Twitter spreadsheet merchants didn’t like his radar. It just goes to show you that data without good analysis is just a shit opinion.
My man of the match though? It was Mo Elneny. I give him the award mostly because he gets so much shit. People are having to face up to the reality that he’s actually a very tidy player. He’s been good all season. He was immense yesterday. His engine is outrageous, watching him lead the press in the 91st minute like Maradona after a bathroom break in the 94 World Cup was nuts. His passing has added some much-needed verticality, and it’s always fast and positive. He reads danger really well, he fouls when he has to, he plays with a smile on his face so he gets away with more. It already looks like he’s the bag man for Thomas Partey. Arteta says that the players love him and he transmits special energy in the dressing room. Good for him, that was his best performance in an Arsenal shirt, let’s see that consistently.
The game was won via a Mike Dean awarded penalty, which was super odd. Not sure many had that on their ‘how it happened’ bingo card. Auba buried the kick, he said after they practice a lot, which is nice to know. I think the biggest critique of our performance is that the players you need to be the difference makers aren’t firing on all cylinders yet. Auba isn’t taking his chances or gambling on balls like he was last year. Willian looks out of sorts, his composure is a little off, though he did show some nice moments. Saka was a bit overwhelmed by Wan-Bissaka. Lacazette had a better day, creating two chances, but he is still very easily overpowered by fridge like defenders. He had to drop really deep to involve himself and I wasn’t always sure that was part of the plan. It’ll come, but the fact we still won with that going against us made it more special
Still, you can’t argue we didn’t have the better chances. We tried harder to make things happen in the final third. The game was more Dundalk than Leicester. That part is important as well… Arteta used the Europa League as a live test run for what he did versus United. Mo was brilliant in that game as well. Our manager is young, he will make mistakes, but if he learns quickly from them, the fans will always forgive. He set out to make us competitive in big games, and we are exactly that.
Arsenal fans do need to accept that we’re more Simeone than Pep G. That game was fine margins like Liverpool, City, and Leicester. All those occasions were battles of chess and we didn’t win out in the decisive moments. The United game was the first one that rolled our way. It was hopefully a watershed moment. The Halloween ghouls can go back in the cupboard for a few more games.
We need an Aouar like talent to really unlock those moments. In the meantime, we need to hope that Gabriel M can give us a focal point through the middle… and we need to cross our fingers that maybe ESR can be more than a star in the Europa League… but a good start would be to show he can start in the Europa this Thursday against Molde.
Last weekend people were calling time on the Arteta project, today, we’re 2 points off 2nd place, with Villa up next before the international break. We’ve also played 4 teams that’ll be in the top 6 this season. We have the BEST defence in the league after 7 games, pretty great, right? Things are starting to feel positive… let’s see how we handle the next two games, in the meantime, enjoy Zoom gloating to all those sad United fans.
See you in the comments. x
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 »
1st
2nd
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Trop4y
5th
top6
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kamal mate how do you not see that someone posted before you so every one of your numbers is wrong
Immense day he really has got this set of players
as I like to say “AT IT“ Brilliant yesterday but
Consistency is the C word for the day.🥴
kamal dont show off
lmao
Pierre
New record for longest 1st post ever? Congrats man 😊😊😂
1-0 to the Arsenal
Good Game! Good Post! And don’t talk about Mo Elneny as if you were his biggest fan and we all hated him. We all including you thought he was shit but he has definitely improved this season. Looks like mikel has taken his hand brakes off.
1-0 to the Arsenal indeed!
Great post! 1-0 to the Arsenal! Hopefully we take lots of confidence from that and can build momentum ahead of some potentially tricky fixtures.
DM
Yeah… But I am still happy! We WON!
Great game!
Finally, Elneny and Partey made Arsenal fans proud. The combination worked and it seems it will be the beginning of a pragmatic relationship at the centre of the park for Arsenal.
We still need to work on fielding a 4-2-3-1.
Pedro
For once I agree with you, Gabi looks like a bloody immense signing, what a player he is and still so young. Thiago Silva might be past his best for Brazil, but this boy gabi will pick up the mantle seamlessly. We all know Partey’s class, but my word this is kind of defender we’ve needed since Campbell and toure left. Also agree on El Neny, and hopefully it’s last time we see xhaka starting unless it’s a europa league game.
As I said yesterday, pogba and maguire cost 160 million.
Partey and gabi cost 70 odd million. I know which 2 I’d rather have
Pedro
“The man is the coldest, crispest beer after running a marathon in the Sudan desert.”
I’m no doctor, but I’m pretty sure that beer would kill you
Almost everything was fantastic. The only things I would have changed was put Pepe on for Willian on 70 minutes to hopefully kill the game off on a counter, and I didn’t like Nketiah’s apparent lack of application, which felt odd considering he only played about 15 or 20 minutes and by the end was barely able to bother running. You’d feel he would put all his energy into those 15 minutes… Odd. But that’s almost nothing, and I was almost happier than when we won the FA cup. Elneny, Partey, Gabriel were all fantastic. Holding was good by his… Read more »
Elneny clear MoM yesterday. I said all summer it baffled me how no team was interested in Elneny. We were so desperate we’d have sold him for 4-5 millions. Even before this season he was a very tidy player with a world class engine. He rarely gets injured, got good pace and power, good reader of the game. The only thing he lacked for us before this season was verticality. He was a sideways pass merchant. Who knew a season of regular football and good coaching can help him address the areas of his game he needed to address. He… Read more »
Even after Xhaka’s massive improvement, it seems Marc was right all along.
Lovely day!
Utd in 15th.
A great result and a measured, professional performance from Arsenal.
We can build on this.
Sudan…bathroom brake ,that was a good read
“We have the BEST defence in the league”
I knew it. The world is ending. Arsenal and best derense in the league shouldn’t be mestioned in the same sentence.
Its great to finally win a big away game, and its great that we now have a defence that allows us to nick these wins. That said, Im confused by the reaction to the win. People seem to think we are title challengers, we have solved our right CB issue (Holding) and the midfield issue (Elneny). I couldnt disagree more. We once again struggled to create anything yesterday. We have huge issues going forward. Yesterday was not like watching Man City go away to a big club, it was Roy Hodgsons Crystal Palace. We’ll take it, but you have to… Read more »
not sure about the rest of you but when I saw the line up and no Mustaffi or Xhaka I immediately got more interested . Elneny may not be the most exciting but he is not a liability , the other two …
Man Utd have suffered their worst start at home for 48 years and that was prior to the Arsenal game.
Pedro United had a good last 15 minutes against Leipzig, before that they were average. Roy Keane tore into United yesterday about that, it was brilliant. Yesterday’s result was big for arsenal, but I think massive for arteta. It should put the naysayers back in the box for awhile. One game doesn’t change everything, He still needs to stop with a few of the dodgy decisions, but finally dropping xhaka made the difference. Our midfield was mobile, forward thinking, and there was trust there that partey when he could, would be able to go forwards knowing his back was covered… Read more »
Great win and Mo along with Mike Dean share the MOM award😁 The one thing I didn’t like was Arteta’s sub Lacazette for Nketiah , Lacazette was busy hussling but mostely ineffective, Maguire had Nketiah in his little pocket after and was initiating all manure attacks It would have worked better if he got a winger or attacking midfielder and just moved Auba central We could have nicked another goal on the counter. instead we had a nervous back to the wall 10 mins or so. but we rode our luck and hold on Fantastic feeling and a deserved win… Read more »
Also, you can talk all you like about coaching and tactics, but its all about the quality of players you have available. Nothing else really matters.
Outside of Auba, our 2 best players now are Gabriel & Partey, both new boys.
Arteta needs to stop overthinking things (Nketiah wide, Auba wide, Willian as a CF) and just focus on getting good players in key positions.
Buy a CB partner for Gabriel (right footed, fast and great technically)
Buy a CM that can shoot and create chances
Buy 2 top quality wide attackers
Thats how we take the next step.
A new No9 could be just as beneficial as a No8. Lacazette is a decent player who’ll bag us a few goals. But our front line lacks the raw physicality of Liverpool’s The way we pinned United in yesterday, put to bed the idea that Arteta binning Ozil was a bad idea, Ozil could never have played with the discipline and intensity we did throughout the game, particularly the first half. Willian has yet to really show much in terms of end product, but he’s such a disciplined and experienced player who provides structure to the team, and can carry… Read more »
Gambon,
Good go have you back fella, hope all is well.
“Good go have you back fella, hope all is well.”
Good good.
And how good is it to say Arsenal can defend?
gambon
Why are you pushing for players when it’s the coach’s role to set up a team to compete.
Gambon,
It’s nice to see two six footers plus that can head a ball out, holding and Gabriel won virtually everything yesterday.
Partey shielding them was like watching arsenal from twenty years ago.
Gambon, Are you the mighty gambon ? Big fan of your arsenal hate tweets.
Its mental when you think about it.
Partey and Gabriel are big, physical and technical.
its not rocket science, but for some reason we spent years accumulating short, weak, slow CBs – when everyone could see how stupid that was.
There was a moment yesterday when Partey intercepted a pass, and ran 50 yards upfield, running straight past (i think Fred?)
My first thought was that we honestly havent had a midfielder that could do that for fucking years.
@gambon
Spot on. Not rocket science is it
The return of “The Mighty” one.
….and yes Pedro, it feels bloody good this morning!
Dont think we need as many players as you think Gambon to compete but good to have you back fella.
And yes it feels so good to be able to say once more that Arsenal can defend 🙂
it is not rocket science “football is simple apparently “the prem is fast physical and technical …so get fast, physical and technical players funny how our two latest signings seem to be adapting pretty well, loving Partey though different level brother and to be honest the only 10 performance i saw
Agree holding was nice yesterday, but Gabriel is just a monster.
Love the win but don’t want to be blinded by the fact we won, no penalty and we Could easily have lost despite playing OK. The solidity is great, but being this marginal will bite us on the arse.
Stage 2 now needs to find a solid shape, consistent selection in the mid, we have a platoorm, I still think there is a lot to do with the front 3 in terms of personel and structure
Wow, gambon is back.this truly is the cold beer in Sudan. While I don’t completely agreewith the assertion that we are 6 to 7 players away from an EPL title (you can’t have world-class 22 man squad), I feel we are 2 signings away from beeing serious challengers: we need a proper #10 and a goal scoring wing threat ( I really thought we’d be in for Ziyech). The rest of the season can be managed with smart rotation and structure _ things I’m sure Arteta can use his sauce on. Great game yesterday though. ElNeny is the consummate professional.… Read more »
Shout out to partey, he makes football look so easy, complete cm, physical, to feet, progressive, drive. Partey is a key cog, houssem was a cherry,
Playibg xhacka now would be sacrilege after seeing Tommy dominate!!!
TT
When I said 7 players, I meant to compete with Liverpool and score 90 odd points.
I would say thats pretty fair when you consider we will probably finish 5th or 6th this season.
Unless saliba has turned into a complete donkey in 3 months he should be ahead int be depth chart ahead of mustsfi, Leicester was down to him, you can’t resurrect the dead arteta
Liverpool won’t reach 90 points especially as their best defender is out for the season.
Free Mustafi
Calypso
Thats irrelevant because we wont score more than 65 points.
The earliest AFC can win the PL is next season, where it will probably take 90 points.
If youre not building a team to score 90 points, then you arent serious about winning the PL.
Gambon has mellowed?
Free Saliba that should have read!!!!!!!!
Pedro hope that comment was tongue in cheek in Tierney, man’s pinging balls into the danger zone and we feel sorry for Laca having to head them, martinelli is a monster with the head who would eat them up
gambon
That’s a big jump 65 points to.90 points in one season. I’ll have whatever you’re smoking.
“That’s a big jump 65 points to.90 points in one season. I’ll have whatever you’re smoking.”
Hence why I said we need 7 more players.
Saliba has the attributes and it was and still is a big mistake to leave him out of the Europa squad , that can’t be dressed up that is straight dumb shit , I think we are three world class players short and one of those being a goal keeper , would loved to have been able to bring on martinelli instead of Nketiah last night . I know people rate Nketiah for his pressing and fox in the box attributes but the intensity Martinelli brings would have be ideal and will be in the future I am just hoping… Read more »
Gambon is back, still remember arguing with this guy a few years back, when Wenger still had my backing, must have been 2014 or so 😂😂
A title-winning team can’t be built in a day…or a transfer window . Look at Klopp. Those idiots on here who abuse Arteta ( amazes me why people like that hang around an Arsenal blog) seem to accept it may take two years to be challengers and then lose patience after six games . Pedro summed it up- at the moment we are more Simeone than Guardiola but we don’t have the luxury of unlimited expenditure and we don’t cheat the FFP rules so we have to accept iterative growth, this window has delivered two HUGE improvements and good coaching… Read more »
I’m so happy because of the win that I didn’t even bother to go to work today.
Or maybe it’s that bloody tooth abscess…
gambon
I’d say we need a new manager if we finish the season on 65 points.
“ , watching him lead the press in the 91st minute like Maradona after a bathroom break in the 94 World Cup was nuts”
You made me fall of the chair, Pedro!
On Partey… do you remember in the misty past when every new midfield signing was going to be ‘The New Viera’….
Well I haven’t changed my mind or my comments this season, from what I have seen, 4th is very much on,
I would say we still need an Aouar, another CB (Saliba too raw atm most likely) and a Lacazette replacement (he’s not good enough by a long way).
This won’t win the PL but will go a long way.
bnsb, Gambon doesn’t mellow, go see his twitter page. He has a style of his own when he decides to hate. we just didn’t give him good material yesterday.
“Gambon is back, still remember arguing with this guy a few years back, when Wenger still had my backing, must have been 2014 or so”
The Glory Days.
Nothing better than beating Man U away.. The downside is that it might push them into hiring Pocchetino.
Elneny and Partey dominated midfield. Let’s hope that’s curtains for Xhaka.
we dont need a new CF – Arteta just has to come to his senses and play Auba there and not waste him at LW. Saka can play LW as can Martinelli when he’s back and so in fact can Pepe (play him on his natural side ffs as it isn’t working trying to get him to be an inverted winger.) I’m not against new to level signings but we don’t need to wait for them as we should be making better use of our existing resources Let’s also start using ESR and see if he can be a creative… Read more »
top level
As said earlier we hav’nt scored in open play for 3 games so we have issues with our attack.
Laca has regressed as a striker he drops back deep and is slow up front.
We need a secondary striker in Jan as we don’t have the talent in our younger players to fill.the gap.
Good win though it boosted me a lot
Would we have won that game yesterday with GX/ Mustafi/ Kolasinac in the starting XI?
Not in a zillion years.
A fully fit Martinelli would do nicely up front !
Nketiah has done little more than scoring poacher’s goals. Martinelli is a much more rounded player, and he could be the one to finally replace Laca. Auba and Martinelli could easily interchange positions. Will be interesting to see what Martinelli’s hold-up play is like.
Dropping another 40m on a cb after the amount we have spent on that dept would be shocking.
I’ve come to the point now where we just need to accept arteta hates pepe, so we will need money there, we also need a creative mid.
Excellent result, good defensive performance. Partey is a monster!
My big worry is that next game we will have Xhaka back again instead of Mo! Why? Because Arteta, like Emery before him, does not know Arsenal’s best 11 or best formation and like Wenger, he has his favourites who will play regularly even though they don’t deserve to. Wenger never learnt from his defeats, I really hope Arteta learns from his victories!!
I’m thinking it’s time to unleash Balogun. There are 3 instances that spring to mind in years gone by when a young striker has broken into the team through luck (injuries ) or design and taken us to the next level . 70/71 season , Charlie George was injured and Ray Kennedy stepped in and formed a formidable partnership with John Radford ….we won the league 90/91 kevin Cambell made the break through and his power and strength were awesome ….we won the league. 97/98…Anelka broke into the side and transformed our attack …we won the league. Those 3 players… Read more »
“Dropping another 40m on a cb after the amount we have spent on that dept would be shocking.”
I dont think you will see Arteta playing a more expansive game until he has a “right footed Gabriel”
At the moment, our attack is being held back by both the system, and our lack of attacking quality.
Arteta seems to be a very cautious manager. He will want more pace and one vs one skill in there before he loses that caution.
Doesnt Upamecano have like a £40m release clause?
Playing versus top 6, top 8 teams, we could keep going with this pragmatic 5-2-3 into 3-4-3, but at home when teams are going to defend with numbers we should play the 4-2-1-3 or 4-2-3-1.
We have serious struggles creating. We could try and fix it with Saka playing behind Aubameyang in a 4-2-1-3 or with a 4-4-2 with Auba and Laca partnership. We need to start putting more people in and around the opposition box versus the lower placed teams. The 1 to 0 strategy is waaay too risky when your players are of higher quality than the opposition.
Savage
“Nketiah has done little more than scoring poacher’s goals.”
Exactly the same argument has been aimed at Aubameyang since his time at Arsenal.
I always thought that a strikers job was to score goals and he has done that at every level he has played at.
I do believe he is our top scorer this season despite only starting a handful of games.
He has his limitations as most strikers do ( henry the exception)
Is William saliba omitted from PL squad too???
I wrote about two weeks ago, that Elneny had in his locker the kind of vertical passes as he does it when playing for his national teams. I never understood why he was so inhibited at club level. It is like he has been told to play it safe and defer all attacking decisions to the better players. On Sunday, he suddenly revel in the role of quiet leader by example. By blocking the easy passes, he forced the opposition’s into more tentative passes that Partey was then able to intercept. Taking the mantle of Gilberto Silva and his invisible… Read more »
Don’t get me wrong upa would be great but somebody needs to explain how 28m on a young cb has gone to tatters in the space of 3 months, saliba is right footed, fast and strong. Its a very weird scenario, as his profile is perfect, it’s like traorre all over again except this time we spent 30 m to wait 2 years to find out he’s shit.
Upamecano has played 140 top level games, and is 22.
Saliba has about 20 games, and is 19.
Theres a huge difference.
Gabriel, Upamecano, Saliba, Holding isnt a bad foursome.
In fact its probably too young, so maybe we need a 25-26 year old to partner Gabriel.
But we have clear physical weaknesses that need to go.
All our Right CBs, Xhaka and Lacazette are too weak physically to stay in the team.
Saliba can play in the EPL. He is 19 yo and you are free to register unlimited amount of U21 players.
Ye fine but in that case spend more on upa and get it right rather than spend a lot of money on a 7th choice cb, it’s poor planning if that’s the play
Mo and Partey should be our midfield duo from now, the more they play together better
Who would you guys see play in the CF role that isn’t past his prime?
Kane, Lukaku, Haaland, Icardi, Osimhen, Jimenez, Calvert-Lewin, Milik?
Elneny is the son of a coach, and he has been a good student under Arteta.
Great performance and a great result yesterday, though it took a pen to make the difference ultimately. I thought Gabriel was MOTM with Partey, who it seemed needed all of one game to settle into British football. How have we gone so long without a presence like that in the middle? It makes such a difference. El Nene, the Spanish pussy king seems to have made a strong partnership with the big man already. We were much more positive, so Tets is learning and adapting. Our next test will be how to be more effective against the sides who sit… Read more »
@Raptora, I would love Haaland, though no way he comes to us.
Gambon We’re currently in a mix of 6 clubs between 3rd and 8th. I think we’re probably in the middle of that mix, but the margins are small, keeping key players fit, and having a bit of luck could be the difference between 4th and 8th. If we sign like you say, a quality right footed centre back, who can do what Luiz does, but with much more mobility, aggression and concentration I quite like Soyuncu at Leicester We need a more dynamic no9, I love Richarlison, but I also think Zaha would be a decent alternative, and would add… Read more »
Haaland will cost over £100m. Can see him ending up at City, Madrid etc.
It wouldnt surprise me if we are closely watching Edouard & Daka.
The Kroenkes are going to have to make a tough decision about investment, because theres no doubt we are broke right now.
We probably couldnt afford Partey.
We will struggle to sell anyone because of Coronavirus.
So they have to decide if they want to trust Arteta and invest in more Gabriel/Partey level players.
We wont move forward without some more great signings, but I dont see this team getting into the CL.
It would be ridiculous to not build on the spine that Gabriel & Partey have given us.
I got outright laughed at for saying El Neny is a useful player who is very tidy at the start of the season Now he’s looking like he should be the guy to compliment Partey. I won’t read too much into it as form is temporary, but let’s see if this really is his level now because if it is he will be saving us a chunk of money and I for one like how he plays. I think a key question is if arteta will fully trust him now tho. Arteta has a habit of dropping players after a… Read more »