Time for Aubameyang through the middle? Some numbers…

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Damn, waiting two weeks for football after getting spanked by Villa is a very long time. I hope Arteta is sitting in a cupboard for the first week thinking about what he did, and more importantly, what he plans to do when we come out the backend of this.

The good news is that after the break, there are three big games where we can show to league what we’re made of… Leeds, Wolves, then Spurs. Put 9 points on the board there and we go from ‘OH MY GOD IS THIS IT?!’ to ‘OK MAYBE LIFE MIGHT BE OK.’

That’ll be three very different challenges. Leeds will spray attack-minded football our way, quite simply, they have no other way to play. Wolves will be tough, they tried to bully us last time and we beat them the way we caught a lot of good sides out early on under Arteta. Then it’s Spurs. Everyone is loving Jose now. He has three of the best forwards in the league at the moment, that, combined with a solid base has Spurs looking like they might do something this year if he can get more performances out of the team. It would be huge to down him.

All of that is a long way off. If you were on death row, you’d pray that your last two weeks were during an international break… it’d be the longest two weeks ever.

The brief to Arteta is very simple, he has to figure a way of making us better going forward. He’s never been under this much pressure as a young manager. Some wither and die, the best rise to the occasion and find a way to succeed. The thing ringing in my head is Steve Round saying the Moyes project was going places but they didn’t win enough games to justify it. That’ll be Arteta if he’s not careful. Points is the best stat for any manager.

Arteta’s struggle is he doesn’t have a City squad to call on. His attacking options can’t do what they could do at City. His coaching projects have gone from making £50m Raheem Sterling world-class, to turning Reiss Nelson into a Premier League player. He knew the challenges when he took over. He cannot hide behind ‘it’s not possible’ because currently, we’re near bottom for shots in the second half across 92 clubs in English football. It’s a stupid stat, but that’s the way football fans work, and the reality is, we don’t need stats to see that this current side has no ambition in the final third.

What Arteta might need to learn is that when you manage a non-elite spender, imperfect attacking options are better than total caution.

He might have to learn to trust people he doesn’t believe in for a period of time, because sometimes, these people surprise you.

He has to innovate on something that isn’t really working this season.

Currently, we have one of the best sharpshooters out on the wing and he’s not getting the ball or being served chances. The purpose of the move out there was to give him more space to shoot. I don’t care what the stats showed last year, the core narrative of this season is BIG chances keep falling to the guy in the middle, and that guy is not converting.

Watch this video.

Here are the numbers on those goals that I did really quickly.

31 goals scored:

  • Inside 6 yards: 14 (45.16%)
  • Inside the Box: 15 (48.39%)
  • Penalties: 2 (6.45%)

So what can we draw from this sort of data?

Well, the eye test told me a few things. Auba is at his best when he’s fox-in-the-boxing. He has a sixth sense for knowing where he needs to be. It’s a bit of a myth that he relies on his pace for goals… he relies on instincts and fast thinking.

That particular Dortmund team has a few things our side doesn’t really have. Namely, a Dembele. His electric pace and final delivery is currently unmatched in this Arsenal team based on form. That said, if there’s a player that ‘could’ be him, it’s Nicolas Pepe. They both have electric pace, they can both ghost players, and let’s be honest… final ball is a form and coaching thing. Currently, we don’t get our wide players on the ball high enough up the pitch for this sort of player, and we don’t move the ball fast enough.

You could also argue that Gabriel M and Reiss could be trained to be more direct. They both have the pace for it.

The biggest miss we have compared too that Dortmund team is final ball merchants. Dortmund had Kagawa, Gotze, and Guerreiro, and Dembele. But more specifically, they have players that can do things through the middle of park. We don’t have that, but right now, we don’t have players taking chances from wide positions either.

My rough conclusion is that the best way to temporarily deal with a creativity problem is:

1) Put your best finisher through the middle. If Auba had played centrally all this season, we’d have more points, and we’d have taken the first goal in a lot of big games.

2) Take a chance on players that aren’t hitting the mark. If Pepe is whining that he wants to play in the media, give him a go. Be explicit about what you want from him. Pump his confidence in the media. Tell him to be more like Dembele 4 years ago. Do whatever it takes to max out the skills he’s not bubbling up… stop focusing all the attention down the left. Bring some balance by making your focal point involved where he’s most likely to score goals. Also, maybe give Reiss or Willock a go. Willock centrally is the only player that might be able unlock us centrally. Reiss is direct and his career is on the line. Try is, couldn’t be worse than what we’re seeing now.

Ok, done.

What do YOU think?

P.S. Carrying on from yesterday’s post, namely, keeping players on that should be sold… I cannot believe we turned down a good bid for Lacazette from Roma. Shocking stuff. The biggest learning for Arteta in 2020 is that he needs to be more ruthless. No more old players that can’t deliver. Move them on. Go with elite young players with high ceilings.

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shad

Interlull

Graham62

Pedro

My Arteta batteries are running exceptionally low.

Too many things don’t add up.

If he doesn’t react in a constructive and positive manner after the international break, that’ll be it for me.

Marc

Looks like the Pod People have gotten hold of Pedro!

shad

Completely agree with Graham there.

If I see the same lackadaisical tactics and formation with the same underperforming personnel, then Arteta might not cut the mustard. There has to be an urgency to bring back creativity/flair.

Marc

” I cannot believe we turned down a good bid for Lacazette from Roma. Shocking stuff.” If that is true and let’s say the bid was £25 million then Arteta has turned down bids totaling £70 million in under a year for a back up wing back who’s too casual, a CM who Arteta seems to have decided is not good enough (sure someone or 2 on here have been saying that for a while) and a striker who was shit last season rumours being he had personal problems, has gotten worse this season and will be down to a… Read more »

Champagne charlie

“The biggest miss we have compared too that Dortmund team is final ball merchants. Dortmund had Kagawa, Gotze, and Guerreiro, and Dembele. But more specifically, they have players that can do things through the middle of park. We don’t have that, but right now, we don’t have players taking chances from wide positions either.“

Really? Because Marko was arguing this very observation, and I’m still waiting to see his list of apparent number 10’s at the club right now.

Up 4 grabs now

Evening,

Mario gotze was available for free two months ago. 28 years old, not after huge money, just wanted a fresh start. I said he was worth a punt and was told it wouldn’t work.

Two goals in three games for PSV now.
Its lucky we didn’t need an attacking creative player.

Oh wait…….

Marc

We have Tierney who’s crossing is decent or better, Saka who’s crossing is decent or better, Bellerin who has the highest number of assists this season but isn’t pinging balls into the middle that often etc, Pepe who got 10 assists in all competitions last season. A creative midfielder would of course help us but there are enough ingredients there to serve something hell of a lot better than what we’re seeing.

Marc

SSN reporting that the injury to Joe Gomez is “potentially serious” – I think the odds that Liverpool dip into the TW in Jan for a CB are currently burrowing through the earth’s core.

Up 4 grabs now

Pedro, I’m still backing arteta for now, but think he’s at tipping point for a lot of people, and hes lost some fans already.

I’m still not sold on this great with the youngster thing either.
Sterling wasnt exactly the worst player in the world at QPR or the bindippers.
City paid almost 50 million for him, so wasnt buying potential either.
He might have helped improve him but it’s not exactly like changing perry groves into messi is it.

AC

just watch – makes sense

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGy6DEJP7ys

Kaz

Linked to another young Brazilian striker, I’m all for it.

Up 4 grabs now

Marc,

if the bindippers are after a cb we can flog them
Mustafi, mari, sokratis. Do like a buy one get two free type of deal!

GunnerDNA

This experiment feels like when fans didn’t want to admit AW days were over. Yesterday it was Pepe through the middle today it’s PEA, which should be the original plan from day one. It feels like when Arsenal was in need of a player to protect the back 4 and Thomas Vermaelen was the fans choice to do it. Unfortunately AW had different ideas. It feels the same with Mikel, if he was going to change anything he had the EL experiment and yet it’s the same slow boring display. It’s just a matter of time before it will get… Read more »

Marc

U4GN

More likely we’d agree a £30 million deal for Mustafi and Arteta would then stop the deal going through!

into+the+red

Do we know that Arteta has the final say in sales and transfers? I wonder. If so, he is cautious to a fault, a large fault. Decent logic, Pedro, and we will see in those three games if Arteta has the fabled ‘sauce’ to try something like it. If he doesn’t, and persists with this clogged up, over cautious jumble of players, I will conclude that under the bravado and press talk he is insecure and trying to force a plan on to players who don’t fit that plan, and defaults to the old stagers as extra ‘insurance’. Maybe he… Read more »

Kaz

And if our sub option remains Eddie for Laca in the middle and Willian and Pepe for each other, I’m going to scream.

We used to take the ever loving piss out of such managers.

Reiss, Willock and even AMN all offer something different that can make the play different.

GunnerDNA

A lot of fans are going to be left dissapointed when Arsenal travel to Elland Road after the int break. There’s no evidence that the manager knows how to play any other system than been ultra defensive. Let’s see how defensively solid Arsenal is when the team switch to 4-3-3.

Ovia

I must confess, tough am an Arteta fan I am really curious to see how he will come out of this purple patch. He has made some bold decisions that are beginning to look off. Not a big fan of Pepe but Looking at the treatment he has been giving Willian doesn’t justify his benching of Pepe at all..

englandsbest

The silver bullet right now is to play Auba through the middle. Strange, he scored a load of goals, won us plenty of games, coming in from out wide. Why not now? And then there’s this other in-vogue notion that Arteta is guil11ty of over-coaching. Strange, it seemed to work pretty good, won an FA Cup in his first six months as a manager. Look, Arteta, like all managers, makes mistakes. But playing Auba out of position is not one of them. Nor is over-coaching. We are not watching the end-product, we are watching a step on the way. What… Read more »

Up 4 grabs now

Marc,

Nothing would surprise me. Knowing klopp he would probably turn him into peak maldini or something. Lol.

Mattb

Great idea to move Auba to the middle flanked by Saka, Pepe or The real Willian. However we’re currently playing 3 centrebacks, 2 full backs and 2 defensive midfielders. That has to stop and move to either a 4-3-3 or 4-2-1-3. To increase chance creation the priorities should be off-the-ball movement, move the ball faster, get the full backs to overlap/create overloads rather than sitting back in fear that we lose possession; and play a playmaker. Who do we have? Bugeye, Ceballos (remember Mou questioned why we were bringing in another #10?), and as back-up the real Willian. Get to… Read more »

into+the+red

Exactly what I was thinking.

Marko

That particular Dortmund team has a few things our side doesn’t really have. Namely, a Dembele

We have 5/6 wingers now at the club who could play either side of Auba i.e there’s absolutely no reason to be playing Aubameyang LW or Reiss Nelson LW or something stupid you know.

Danny+S

I expect after the break we will see Willian, Laca and Auba up front as per usual. Maybe Arteta will ‘mix it up a bit’ and we might see Eddie up front instead of Laca.
Outside of his current vision and formula Arteta doesn’t seem to have much imagination.

He’s like the defensive version of Wenger.

Marko

Really? Because Marko was arguing this very observation, and I’m still waiting to see his list of apparent number 10’s at the club right now.

Our argument earlier on had nothing to do with final ball merchants. It was something stupid about how we shouldn’t target Szoboszlai cause he’d be the only player capable of playing CAM at the club. Kinda moving the goal posts now it’s just the usual

Marc

U4GN

What about us selling Saliba to Liverpool in Jan for half what we paid for him, Klopp dropping him straight into the first team where he performs so well Liverpool sell VVD in the summer!

Dissenter

Pedro
Sorry mate but no way we put 9 points on the board against Leeds, Wolves and Spuds. We could easily come out with no points.
It’s all on Arteta

Graham62

Danny + S

I have the same perceptions.

Who would have thought that so soon after our FA Cup triumph, it would come to this?

Marc

Graham

As much as we all enjoyed the cup win we need to remember that Martinez won the Cup with Wigan.

If you have a proven coach winning stuff is what they do – right now we don’t know if we’ve got the Second Coming of Sauce or a glorified cone guy.

Up 4 grabs now

Marc,

As crazy as that sounds it wouldnt be a shocker with arsenal. Knowing us we end up sending him on a free loan , and in return the bindippers loan us there star defender for their under eights team for 5 million.

Up 4 grabs now

Pedro,

We could come out with 9 points, but do you realistically think we will?

Marc

Pedro

I’m not going to get into a stupid Bamford type betting situation but how much would you really stake on us getting 9 points from those matches?

I’d love us to but right now 1 win and 2 draws would be fantastic results given current form.

Champagne charlie

Marko No moving of any goalposts, just you being you when it comes to transfers. I said I think we should be buying a more senior creative midfielder because we literally don’t have any at the club and you listed Nelson, Pepe, Martinelli as options we have to play as a 10 in an ignorant response to a comment I made about Sancho joining a stacked Dortmund side – largely because any highly rated teen instantly gets your knees quivering. Still you’re unable to provide a list of actual number 10 types on our squad because everybody knows it’s Ozil… Read more »

Marc

Cc

Who would you go for?

Black+Snake

If Arteta doesnt understand where to play Auba what chance do we have? He’s being paid millions to make shite decisions!!!

Ovia

It’s very okay to trust the process and still criticise some of Arteta’s decisions you know. Some fans here mistake criticism for Nagative vines or wishing him to fail.

Marc

Ovia

” Some fans here mistake criticism for Nagative vines or wishing him to fail.”

The blog follows Pedro’s vibes who because he wanted Emery to fail thinks thats what any criticism of Arteta means.

Ishola70

Ovia
“It’s very okay to trust the process and still criticise some of Arteta’s decisions you know. Some fans here mistake criticism for Nagative vines or wishing him to fail.”

There would be something seriously wrong if fans were not asking hard questions of Arteta at this time considering the overall performances from the side so far this season.

Only the “super fans” get agitated at criticism. Most here though have an honest debate and discussion about the team.

And what we are seeing atm is obviously falling short.

gnarleygeorge9

The faux crowd noises that are used for the empty stadiums, the fans should be charging the FA, etc. royalties for using their voices.

Oh, and one thing that COVID has shown about the game, the impact of the crowds far outweighs the over paid mercenary players that demand obscene salaries. Football is simply boring without the spectators.

Raulishuss

Fans are legitimately worried cus our form right now is drifting towards peak emery bad but arteta has the extra benefit of having no fans at the ground and time now to think of solutions to our problems. It is not just putting auba upfront or playing pepe which might be part of the answer to an extent but our attackers need to be getting into spaces to influence play and play more forcefully which they’re not doing ATM. I blame arteta to an extent but seasoned pros should look at themselves if they’re putting up such weak numbers imo

Champagne charlie

Marc I’m no football scout, I just think when a football team doesn’t have a particular type of player in their ranks it’s wise to firstly address that with a good player who can produce for you tomorrow – at least in theory. When you have a skeleton squad in place I’m all for us being the Elite Academy of Europe, but when you consider short, medium, and long term success I think it’s unwise to ignore the relevance of right now. Arguably more so in our current situation of 4 years no CL football, and a season in the… Read more »

TheLegendaryDB10

I was thinking about this earlier today and I am more and more convinced that Arteta has set up the team to minimise and mask the players weaknesses instead of setting up the team to maximise their strengths. If Arteta wants to succeed he needs to move on from this and learn that you have to play players in their best position, at least to start off. My worry is and the problem that we have is that Arteta is dead stubborn. I really hope that he learns to be flexible. But he needs to learn this now. If he… Read more »

Calypso

It seems people are more concerned with Arteta succeeding than Arsenal.

Raulishuss

Let us not forget that nobody in this team has played to their full potential yet. It can’t get worse than this in my opinion. Once the players take a deep look within themselves and arteta builds a comfortable structure to maximize their potential we’ll get going again I’m sure. How long that takes remains to be seen. Easier said than done tho.

James wood.

Champagne19.58.
Absolutely.
Liverpool are not the same without Henderson
Likewise. DE Bruyne.
Us without Partey seems he might be pivotal.

TheLegendaryDB10

Calypso/ Red I am more concerned with the fact that the club will want to keep hold of a total novice. The problem with Arteta is that he is too green for a club that has the problems that we have. The reason I was pinning for Allegri before Arteta’s appointment was all about experience. The state that our club was and is still in, requires an experienced manager to step in to stabilise the ship. Emery came in and failed, in massive part due to his very poor communication skills. Now we have a total novice of a manager… Read more »

TheLegendaryDB10

Pedro

You are missing out on the key word: experience.

This is what we need right now.

Arteta has no experience to fall back on. At this level it is a requirement.

You keep.on harping about how such an elite manager Arteta is. I so far seen nothing of this.

He isn’t even capable of changing the team set up in game.

I fear that you are betting on the wrong horse. Simply because he hasn’t the nous to take drastic steps to make changes to learn from.

Dissenter

Pedro
When you look at the backroom that Arteta has assembled. It is obvious that he doesn’t have the proper experienced heads a young manager should fall back on.
I thought he would have learned a few things form Pep who always had lots of greyed heads in his backroom.
Is there anyone around Arteta that can show him his blind spots?
Right now he has vast areas of scotoma, so effing large that you wonder how he can cross the road safely.

Pierre

Charlie
“Really? Because Marko was arguing this very observation, and I’m still waiting to see his list of apparent number 10’s at the club right now.”

I know of one.

Ustyno

Make no mistake if fans were allowed into the stadium, losing two straight home games back to back to a supposedly none top 6 would have given Arteta a reality check,he can get away with blue murder for now but it won’t be for long

I still believe he is smart and should come out better even though deep inside of me I’m doubtful

Danny+S

Graham

There are 2 main changes since the FA cup final, we lost our better keeper, who controlled the back like a boss and could actually distribute the ball (artetas call) and we gave a 32 yo striker a monstrous deal and expect him to run the flank like a 20yo still.

The other important changes have involved other teams who have all kicked on with players and tactics while we have stood still…….. kind of history repeating itself but on a much, much less spectacular scale.

Marc

Pedro

” doesn’t speak English”

I think you’ve just identified the problem – turns out Arteta’s english is crap. When he said left wing he meant striker, when he said keep AMN he meant sell him and so on.

Bring back Emery.

Ishola70

The FA Cup win and the way it was won was not sustainable over a 38 league campaign.

I would have prefered Martinez to Leno but even if Martinez stayed on and was not sold Arteta’s tactics which won him the FA Cup was always only going to go so far over an extended EPL season.

He was always going to have to innovate and progress from the tactics that landed the FA Cup.

Saladin

Anyone else miss that beautiful cunt Giroud? Feels like a massive downgrade from Giroud to Lacca. I hate international football week.

Danny+S

We don’t have a striker capable of hold up play, so Arteta needs to change how we play so we don’t rely on hold up play. It’s pretty simple really, or should be.

Marc

“I hate international football week.”

Does anyone know anyone who’s a genuine football fan who enjoys international breaks?

TheLegendaryDB10

Saladin Where we fucked up is that we should have got Giroud back and not that Chelski scumbag Willian. That turd is still wedded to Chekski, a bit like that twat Cech who was and still is wedded to these cunts (why do you think he went back to Chekski once he retired?). As much as we hoped professionalism from him, he is just looking forward to his 4 year pre-retirent scheme. We need to aim for young players (or experienced players) who are actually motivated to play and want to prove something. We can’t afford to have another passenger… Read more »

GunnerDNA

“It seems people are more concerned with Arteta succeeding than Arsenal.”

Facts! Arsenal twitter overhyped him and now he’s breaking the wrong records. Wouldn’t be surprised to see him give Elneny and Mustafi new contracts. He’s absolutely clueless!

Danny+S

Pedro

As someone who has been a manager for many years, I know how easy it is to walk into a shit show and immediately make it look 100% better.
The challenge there on is to take it up a level, to kick on. That is the hard part and that is what Arteta seems to be struggling with.
You can argue till the cows come home that we look better. Yes we do, but has Arteta so far shown he can adapt and innovate and improve on his initial impact? Not really.

TheLegendaryDB10

Pedro

Yes we are more defensive. I’ll grant you that.

But where is the attack?

At some point he is going to have to work on this. But when will he?

If one is so astute as he is supposed to be, one works on both at the same time, don’t you think?

Champagne charlie

GunnerDNA

Yea, reckon he got the job on the back of Arsenal Twitter and the hype there.

What a comment.

Saladin

TheLegendaryDB10

Willian’s deal, both in terms of money and the contract length, never made any sense to me. Dude is way past his prime. His legs and pace are gone and he hasn’t really played central midfield throughout his career to make up for it in anyway. And now we are stuck with him. I would rather have Nelson, Wilock and a fit Martinelli get some minutes on the wings than Willian.

Aussie+Gooner

How can we expect to score goals when we have zero creative midfielders? I am afraid that until the club addresses this issue we will continue to struggle. It is obvious to most on here but not to the Arsenal management/executive. We are all just clutching at straws and re-arranging the furniture on the deck of the Titanic is not going to help. These issues should have been dealt with pre Arteta. Winning the FA cup while being crap in the EPL is a reason for clubs like Wigan to celebrate – not a club of Arsenal’s status. The FA… Read more »

Pierre

Pedro “That said, if there’s a player that ‘could’ be him, it’s Nicolas Pepe. They both have electric pace, they can both ghost players, and let’s be honest… final ball is a form and coaching thing. Currently, we don’t get our wide players on the ball high enough up the pitch for this sort of player, and we don’t move the ball fast enough.” There is a slight flaw in this analysis … For Aubameyang to be prolific, he needs a rightfooted right winger and a left footed left winger. Pepe is a left footed right winger and consequently wouldn’t… Read more »

Pierre

Aussie gooner
“How can we expect to score goals when we have zero creative midfielders? I ”

I know of one

raptora

Wonder where we’d be if Emery had gotten his targets ahead of what the club forced upon him.
With Zaha and Nkunku I’d argue he would have left us a legacy.

Graham

Even when Emery had that unbeaten run the most worrying thing was that we never lead at half time. At first everyone was excited we had a manager that actually made substitutions and changes at half time (we had always believed Wenger that subs were not possible at Arsenal until the 67th minute). But after a bit the novelty wore off – especially as we realised that most of the changes were simply picking the team or playing he formation that most fans would have picked before the game started. Even if Auba through the middle does works what does… Read more »

Graham62

Pedro You can peddle things as much as you like but the bottom line is that we have regressed since our Cup Final win. Our movement, our transitions, our ball retention, our attacking prowess, our positive dynamics and our body language etc has fallen away. Even in the games we’ve won, with the exception of MU, we’ve struggled to get going. I include our Europa League games in this. Our tactics for the most part are ultra cautious and, if I’m honest, crap. We have become one of the most boring and predictable teams to watch. When you see teams… Read more »

TheLegendaryDB10

Saladin Absolutely mate. I totally agree with you. He is the kind of player that we should have avoided in the first place. Yes he looked PL ready, but at his age and the club he comes from (who has already won plenty of trophies) he was not the player to be targeting as he has no more motivation to win. I know that he was bought for his experience. But buying from a direct rival, he is not going to achieve much, in particular if that player is too wedded to his previous team. I genuinely believe that Willian… Read more »

Graham

Willian was not bought for experience but as a way of his agent getting money and he being able to get a good wage and stay in London with his family (who knows perhaps while he waits for a Chelsea coaching slot to come up) .

I can’t work out if it’s better if Arteta actually knows that and went along or if he was too naive to realise and genuinely thinks he was a good buy.

Ishola70

Graham

You seem to continue to think that the tactics Arteta won the FA Cup with were going to be enough for a 38 EPL league campaign.

Again Graham no the tactics used to win the FA Cup were never going to be sustainable over a whole league season.

Danny+S

Pedro

Are you going to reply to my comment?

You bang on about how Arteta has made us look less beatable etc, but he walked into an absolute mess and has made it look marginally better.
It’s the easiest part of management to clear up a shit show.

What has Arteta done to show he can take it up a level?

Pierre

Pedro
“Pierre, do you think Reiss has a next level?”

Possibly…he has good pace , he is not afraid to take a defender on and if Aubameyang is up top then Arteta needs to work on his ability to get half a yard and fire the cross in.
There are still doubts about him although he hasn’t really had a run of games .

I would prefer nelson to willian unless Willian can gain half a yard of pace.

Ishola70

Willian was never a real key player for Chelsea. Never a player they looked to when the going got tough. Sure he had some good periods of form at times and good moments in matches themselves but never one of Chelsea’s main go to players. Sorry but Willian was a poor signing. And as others have implied the suspicion of lining of pockets in this deal and favours between friends makes the signing even more distasteful. Willian may like at Chelsea produce periods of good to decent form but he isn’t going to be Arsenal player of the season any… Read more »

MD-Gunner

From the SUN:
Chelsea star Ziyech is perfect mix of Eden Hazard and Cesc Fabregas, says Nevin.. and stats show just how creative he is.

37m and 100k per week and AFC didn’t wasn’t in the running for him because…

Marc

MD

We didn’t have the money – of course not selling AMN for almost £20 million, Xhaka for £25 million and now reports of a substantial bid for Laca.

Arteta’s getting close to making Wenger not selling Sanchez look like good business.

Pierre

2 seasons ago it was obvious that Ziyech was quality…he has a final ball to die for

Marc

If we move Auba centrally but don’t change the way we attack there will be a slight improvement in goals scored but not much – we need to play in a way that gets the best out of what we have.

When we add new players we can change / adapt the style.

Graham

Starting to think the only sauce we ended up with was Toffee sauce.

Graham

Yesterday’s Toffee sauce to quote Ozil’s agent.

Marc

Graham

The speed we move the ball forward with looks like we’re passing the ball through toffee.

MD-Gunner

Looks like we are not the only ones here scratching our heads about the Arsenal team.

“Wright was shocked by Arsenal’s performance against Villa and says he is ‘really confused’ about the team. ‘I’m confused with what’s going on,’ he added.

Arsenal’s creative issues revealed as worrying stats show Aubameyang has fewer shots at goal than Harry Maguire. Auba is 51st on the EPL list of those having taken shots on goal.

Ishola70

Pierre

“2 seasons ago it was obvious that Ziyech was quality…he has a final ball to die for”

He was impressing in the later stages of the Champions League.

A very good sign wouldn’t you think?

But of course we had the Pepe deal instead that was investigated and Raul losing his job.

salparadisenyc

Where’s the funeral?

Champagne charlie

Sal

Fuck knows, but apparently Emery eulogies are the thing. Playing the ‘what if’ game with Emery is peak Arsenal fans I swear.

If he was any good he’d have got who he wanted and done the business, he wasn’t so he’s gone. Next up, Arteta. Same rules, same game.

Marc

Arteta won an FA Cup. – Great thing we were all happy with.

Beat Liverpool in the Community Shield. – It’s nice to win but in the scheme of things who gives a flying fuck.

Made us competitive against top teams. – Lost to Leicester, City, Liverpool this season.

Broke our away day top 6 record that had lasted 6 years. – Odd’s are it would be broken sooner or later and let’s not kid ourselves this was a ManU team that hadn’t won at home going back 2 matches into last season.

GunnerDNA

What’s hilarious is the sauce less Emery is second in La Liga and the sauce boss team is struggling to have a shot on goal with talents like Pepe, PEA, Lacazette, William and Saka. Football is a funny game 😂

Dissenter

GunnerDNA
“What’s hilarious is the sauce less Emery is second in La Liga and the sauce boss team is struggling to have a shot on goal with talents like Pepe, PEA, Lacazette, William and Saka. Football is a funny game 😂”

The crowd who were quick to bash Emery for losing on La Liga opening day to Barca have been predictably quiet.
We know who they are.

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