NLD DAY: A back to basics sh*thousing is in order

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I LOVE A NORTH LONDON DERBY WEEKEND.

The banter on the group chat is firing up. The nerves are starting to jangle. There is a LOT of pride on the line.

Spurs look like title contenders. Jose has made them nasty. They’re well organised, they have the special sauce in Kane and Son that keeps you in contention if you keep them fit, they look very strong.

Arsenal is a mess. Our form has been shocking. Big players have shrunk. Young players have struggled to make headway. Our rookie manager is overseeing a bonfire. Can he tame it? Can he do what the big managers do when the chips are down? Can he shift the narrative on the pitch like he has done off it this week?

As Janan said in the latest podcast, most other managers have a history you can point to, with Mikel, it’s faith-based. North London derbies are about faith. Form is rarely a factor. It’s a crazy moment in time when a concoction of wild elements are slammed together in a Büchner flask, and you hope the end product works to your hypothesis.

Mikel Arteta has a job on his hands. I tried to eke out some good news from Arsenal in the week and there wasn’t much to be had. There have been lots of problems to deal with. Stories leaking from the camp seems to suggest a 1997 style come to jesus meeting. Reporters are saying it was constructive and the path forward was clear.

Thursday night might have been against a nothing team, but for me, those are usually the games you worry about. The fact we landed a dominant performance can only be a positive. The players were aggressive, they were bold, they took chances. We need that vibe to flow into Sunday.

Can that carry through to Sunday? That’s the test. I think it’s amusing reading people demanding we play the same way against Spurs. This is why fans aren’t coaches. We’re going to The Lane to shithouse the master of shithousery and I am ok with that because it’s the only option we have. If City can’t blast Spurs away, we’re not going to. If Chelsea can’t score against them, we’re not going to hit them with a blitz. Setting up to lose to satisfy aesthetics junkies would be the rookiest of errors.

The good news is there’s a high probability we’ll see Thomas Partey. That’s huge for Arsenal. We have lacked a press resistant midfielder with his class. Put him next to Mo Elneny and we speed everything up to the level we need. There’s also a shout for AMN to start after his ripping performance against Rapid. Imagine that, 3 midfielders with legs? Game-changing stuff right there.

I don’t know how we’ll play, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see Lacazette pick up that link-up role against a team he likes to produce again. I think we need an athletic midfield that can pick up the movement of Kane, Son and some of the creators. Højbjerg has been a key player for them this season, it’ll be interesting to see how we deal with him.

This 90 minutes is all about closing the widening gap at the top. It’s a moment for the squad to show there’s a way forward. It’s a game that big teams would eat up. Are we going to be a big team this season? There’s no better moment to find out.

Before you go, I need you to listen to our latest podcast. We welcome Janan Ganesh into the AO fold with our regular Alex. It’s an evergreen podcast. We talk about Arteta, leadership, football strategy, and fixing the creativity issue. It’s a good listen, so put it in your ears and give me a 5* rating on Apple. THANK YOU X

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Upstate Gooner

1

Upstate Gooner

2

jwl

1st

Just Another Customer

shithouse won’t work

Upstate Gooner

Boom

jwl

4th

Upstate Gooner

Well, ain’t that a bitch

jwl

That makes me laugh, JAC wins fourth and not even trying.

Up 4 grabs now

Thursday night might have been against a nothing team, but for me, those are usually the games you worry about.

Really pedro, there the games we should be sticking the kids out, like we used to in the league cup.

Leagues games are still the games we need to worry about. Especially with our form lately.

jwl

The chatter on arsenal twitter is that Partey passed today fitness test for tomorrow match, so that is good news.

Marc

U4GN

I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone rewrite history to quite the degree Pedro is at the moment.

We’d already qualified for fucks sake.

“This 90 minutes is all about closing the widening gap at the top.” Why weren’t all the previous 90 minutes about stopping the gap appearing in the first place?

jwl

What we are experiencing now is why i didnt want novice manager in first place. I am willing to bet that Arteta stress levels through the roof, he not sleeping well, irritable and his wife thinks he a twat the last few months. Arteta has not experienced this kind of adversity before and he stll has training wheels on. I hope Arteta can pull us through this bad period, we shall see. For tomorrow, i reckon we get battered by spuds or we shithouse our way to win and go on another 3 game losing streat starting with Burnley next… Read more »

Pedro

Up 4 Grabs, those are the games we use to try new things. Especially important considering our form.

Nelson

A win against Spurs would be massive, though I’d still take a draw waway yo the league leaders. Partey will make a big difference. Come on Arsenal! 💪

Marc

Pedro

There’s not a lot of point in trying new things in a match unless you’re using the players who will have to apply it tomorrow.

If you’re talking about players having a chance to play themselves into the team – I think we all know that tomorrows line up – injuries aside – will be pretty easy to get most of the players right.

london gunner

Does anyone know if espn plays premier league football and if I use a vpn from europe will it work?

About to sign up for the disney + hulu / espn bundle

Ishola70

If Maitland is picked in the team tomorrow and goes on to play a blinder in an Arsenal victory then the Rapid Vienna match was of significance.

Mark S

London Gunner-ESPN+ does play the FA Cup and Carabao Cup though in the US.

Ishola70

Mark S

“-ESPN+ does play the FA Cup and Carabao Cup though in the US”

London Gunner’s eyes lit up at the mention of Carabao.

He’s on the package as we speak.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

What are the rumours Pedro alluding to ?

Marc

Pedro I wouldn’t be surprised to see Laca back in the only other 2 who would be a bit of a surprise would be Mari and AMN. Any big match where they’re fit / available Gabriel, Bellerin, Tierney, Partey, Saka and Auba are 99.9% guaranteed to start Elneny is close to being in that group as well – that’s 7 of 10 outfield players who you’d be shocked not to see start. Right CB is a toss up, if we’re 3 at the back will we see Mari come in and keep Tierney at LWB? Probably too early right now… Read more »

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Is 70

There is no way BBB play Niles tomorrow

Dissenter

This was a very good post.
I loved that line about the ‘faith based’ requirement to keep supporting Arteta when every material evidence you see with your very eyes suggest the contrary

Dissenter

Wenger would have lulled off this NLD win. He was good at coming back from the dead.

TR7

That backpedalling video of Xhaka against Traore pretty much sums up the player.

Dissenter

*pulled off

andy1886

Is this ‘shithousing’ just another faddish buzzword or does it actually mean anything? If it’s playing safe and trying to mug the opposition on the counter we could feasibly do that. If it’s (as it was back in the day) rotational fouling, niggling and being generally nasty then we’ve got no chance, we’re terrible at the so called dark arts, we’re more likely to see someone take an early bath.

andy1886

Another question, to ‘close the gap at the top’ don’t you, you know, actually have to be somewhere near the top, not fourteenth?

Dissenter

How does Partey go from being out till the new year; to being fit for tomorrow?
It may be a mistake to risk him tomorrow only to make his injuries worse.

Marc

Pedro

” It’s something we’ve never had in the locker.”

We’ve never needed it against the Spud’s before – we used to like beat them and shit. You seem to be pushing the fact that we have no chance of competing so we’re going to do a Pulis as a positive.

Ishola70

Shithousing in the modern sense as it is used now is letting the opposition have the majority of the ball, defend deep in numbers and have sporadic breaks on the counter.

It’s not going around kicking the opposition although some of that can be sprinkled in as well if wanted.

Marc

Pedro’s going to be shortly hired by Arsenal to run a major new campaign telling parents who are fans “don’t let your kids learn to count, they’ll be happier in the long run”.

andy1886

Thanks Ishola, who’d have thought that being a bit negative would be so scorned. Probably because you can’t truly ‘shithouse’ anyone any more (shame but there you go). Arsenal in the mid-70’s would have been Shithouse FC on that basis.

Ishola70

Arteta has been shithousing previously because he realised he didn’t have a midfield to speak of that could compete against the better sides.

Gives up the midfield, abandons it to the opposition and that in turn sees the opposition dominate the ball and possession.

Now he has Partey there is not such a need but against the better sides including tomorrow may go to it again even with Partey involved.

Dissenter

Pedro
I hope you’re right about Partey, hope he’s back and he’s golden but there was news that he was out for several more weeks

I wonder if the ‘desperate times’ situation going on in the club may have something to do with his match fitness.

Pierre

Ishola
“If Maitland is picked in the team tomorrow and goes on to play a blinder in an Arsenal victory then the Rapid Vienna match was of significance.”

He won’t play , and here’s why..

Rapids goal on Thursday…AMN let his man go on the edge of the box , hence Arteta will regard him as a liability and will feel that he can’t trust him despite AMN having a very good game..

There are some players that Arteta will only see the negatives and not what they can bring to the team.

MGooner

We are 7 points away from the bottom 3. And we are playing the league leaders.

Lets be realistic, and rejoice because we’ve got our club back.

Pedro

Diss, absolutely not. The Twitter rumour was just false. The player wants it. Club won’t risk him for one game.

Pierre

Andy
” Arsenal in the mid-70’s would have been Shithouse FC on that basis.”

And the mid 60’s, 80’s and 90’s

NJ+Gooner

I suspect that we will go with a 5-2-3 formation because they won’t risk Partey starting. Laca may start after a better performance on Thursday but he faces a far greater challenge here. Then Partey will come on if we are losing and we may switch to a 4-3-3. But I hope that Pedro is right and we can start 4-3-3 with Partey. I fear Xhaka will start although I still can’t figure out why. Mo, Partey and Niles would be great. I just wish that we had Pepe coming off the bench tomorrow. Sigh….. On the other hand, if… Read more »

DivineSherlock

Arteta should try dropping Xhaka tomorrow , even if Partey isnt fit. Pick players on current form except Aubameyang , that guy is world class.

Receding Hairline

Spurs will play a tight game despite being at home,we will also oblige cos frankly that’s how Arteta plays for now, small margins and all. Don’t expect an exciting NLD.

An early goal might change everything though.

Up 4 grabs now

Pedro I’m all for trying new things and god knows we need to do something different especially tomorrow, but these games are dead rubbers, I wanna see more kids play.

But if one or two do play, and play well they should be tried for the league games.
I’ve been calling out for amn to be tried in midfield and two strikers up top for ages now.

If arteta goes with the same old system and faces tomorrow he’s cutting his own throat.

Receding Hairline

Valentin if you are reading I won’t be surprised Julien Stephan gets the sack next at Rennes. They have been plodding along for so long.

Up 4 grabs now

Marc just seen your reply from earlier.
Yes good point.

Nelson

I hope we don’t put too much pressure on Partey. Last time, people expected him to dominate the midfield. He even ran charging the opposing GK. He may get his injury by doing that.

Up 4 grabs now

I’d like to see lacazette start tomorrow alongside auba, and the two play up top.
Laca can drop a little into midfield if needed but otherwise two strikers in and around the box.

If it’s the same old same old with auba on the wing and laca playing in midfield with nobody actually causing problems to the spurs keeper then its pointless.

Marc

Pedro

“Diss, absolutely not. The Twitter rumour was just false. The player wants it. Club won’t risk him for one game.”

Very much hoping you’re right on this one.

london gunner

pedro thanks for the tip!

Managed to use vpn/create a fake us address and then a fake american paypal account just to watch premier league football hahah!

It worked but was sad to see they only have 175 games. Don’t think there is anyway for me to get access to nbc sports as you need to have a cable subscript

Ishola70

If Xhaka plays expect Sissoko to be the one pressing him and giving him no time on the ball.

N’Dombele isn’t particularly good at the press. Decent on the ball not that good off the ball.

Kane dropping deeper will also be lookig to press Xhaka.

Just don’t pick him Teets. Xhaka that is.

Marc

“Arteta should try dropping Xhaka tomorrow ,”

Yeah but drop him from what? The top of the London Eye, the Shard or just a second floor window.

Marc

london

Have a look at getting a firestick – all sorts available, match coverage can dick about sometimes but for things like Saturday 3pm kick offs where there’s no other choice in the UK it’s free (after the cost of the firestick)

Up 4 grabs now

Marc third floor window just to be sure.

Guns of SF

ADTHE is a free stream website.

Be prepared to get clogged with spam, porn etc though.. the pop ups can take you by surprise so make sure the girlfiend or wife is not paying to close of attention to your screen

Rich

Lacazette as a No10 tomorrow, playing off Aubameyang?

Lacazette as a No10, is something Steve Bould has previously touted.

A midfield pairing of Partey + Elneny, give us legs centrally, and maybe room to gamble?

…………….Leno
…….Mustafi Gabriel
Bellerin………..Tierney
……..Partey Elneny
Willian Laca Saka
…….Aubameyang

Marc

SF

Yeah yeah yeah I can imagine the conversations you have with your better half – “no honestly I’m not looking at porn I really support Arsenal – look I read the bullshit pumped out by some bloke called Pedro every day”

Marc

U4GN

With railings underneath or is that overkill?

Sid

When i hear about diet Pep being a generational managers i know im being shithoused

Guns of SF

Marc I have already used that one… Im out of excuses now

Goobergooner

Andy

“Arsenal in the mid-70’s would have been Shithouse FC on that basis.”

Haha that is what the 2020 arsenal team is called 😂

Up 4 grabs now

Marc, no that’s harsh, maybe with a 50 foot pit, that should do it.

Rich

Footybite.com is decent

You also get really pretty girls who live in your area, and offer no strings sex.

Marc

SF

You already tried “I’m writing a thesis on browsing habits”?

Guns of SF

She’ll say thesis my ass.
Get out !

Upstate Gooner

“This 90 minutes is all about closing the widening gap at the top. It’s a moment for the squad to show there’s a way forward.”

I feel like I’ve heard this somewhere before. Oh yeah, right here ahead of the Wolves game.

Marc

How did West Ham not score there

Receding Hairline

Just had a quick look at the stats from our visit to spurs in August, a 2-1 loss but they created enough to win by more. Won’t be surprised Jose decides to attack tomorrow, Nuno attacked us in the first half and we were all over the place

Goobergooner

Man U have such a shite away kit.

Also how the fuck is that plank Harry Maguire their captain? Haha good for them

Marc

Goober

I’ve only been watching 5 minutes (been watching the F1 qualifying and cooking) but West Ham are all over them – ManU look fucking awful.

Habesha Gooner

I would actually be happy with a midfield of AMN, El neny and Partey against spurs. It would have legs to protect us. And I think we would have more penetration against them. Xhaka and Ceballos have failed completely. Its time to give Ainsley a chance.

Goobergooner

Yeah Marc, they have had them on the ropes big time. Fornals could have had 2 already. Albeit the header would have been an absolute screamer

Karsa

I would actually be happy with a midfield of AMN, El neny and Partey

Me too. I suspect we’ll have to settle for two out of three at best though.

Goobergooner

Hahaha speaking of a good patch of dominance

MD-Gunner

@ london gunner Being in the US it is very difficult to get all the EPL games because of fucking Comcast who owns NBC. With Peacock you only get a few selected games mostly 7:30EST / 12:30 BST. I signed up for a year for $50 which gives me the NDL plus a few other EPL games. In addition Peacock has for me Rugby, Six Nations, Heineken Cup and Premiership. I also have ESPN+ and love it for $50 per year. It has ALL the cup games from ALL the countries plus ALL Seria A and Bundesliga games. In addition… Read more »

Marc

Are the Sky commentators complete morons?

West Ham score and the guy says “ManU giving ground away again” isn’t this the same ManU that have recently gone a load of matches without winning at home?

Pierre

I’d play a front 4 of Nketiah up top, saka on rthe left , Aubameyang on the right and Lacazette as the no..10…

Guaranteed goals and guaranteed a front 4 for jose to worry about..

Guns of SF

Haller was an idiot

Samesong

Hammers need to batter united. Too many missed opportunities.

Goobergooner

Old flappy with a great save to deny martial.

Haha and I’m not sure if that run from Haller before was called offside. But it should have been 2-0 if not.

Samesong

Why do teams give united a chance ffs.

Guns of SF

Hammers are killing em through the middle with those through balls

Dissenter

Jarrod Bowen is a very good player who cost only 20 million from Hull.
Westham got lucky with that signing He’s just 23 y/o

Goobergooner

That’s brave Pierre haha.

Dissenter

MD Gunner
I disagree it’s you about Comcast-NBC

This is the best delivery of the premier league in the USA
You should have seen it when it was Fox Sports

Habesha Gooner

Pierre that is a terrible line up for me. My line up would be a 433 with Nelson and Saka on the wings with Auba uptop. And a Midfield of AMN, Partey and Elneny.

Guns of SF

Habesha
Agree with your midfield….

Marc

Samesong

West Ham could easily be 3 up and I only watched the last 10 minutes of the first half – what odd’s ManU come out and win 2-1 now?

Pierre

Goober
I’ve had enough of watching us struggle to create a chance in the league….it’s soooooo boring to watch.

It’s time to take the poxy handbrake off

Play AMN in midfield and play a back 4 ..
No xhaka , no Ceballos , only play players who are progressive with the ball .

Pierre

Habesha
Nelson wont start and Partey is a week or 2 away from starting…..

With Lacazette Aubameyang and eddie on the pitch , we will cause tottenham trouble.

Receding Hairline

Pierre that front four isn’t worrying anyone, for starters three of them will be heavily dependent on Saka for possession, mark out Saka and we are carrying three passengers away to Spurs

Guns of SF

With Lacazette Aubameyang and eddie on the pitch , we will cause tottenham trouble.

this would be a disaster….

These 3 cannot find a way to play together at all… talk about being top heavy…. need something from the midfield. I would start Nelson for sure

Receding Hairline

Juve are pants under Pirlo it has to be said. Every game an absolute struggle

West Ham just created 5 big Chances in the first half alone against united, tell me more how I hate Arsenal for pointing out our performance against united in the win was nothing special

Guns of SF

Bell-Luiz-Gab-Kt
___AMN___TP__
Nelson__Saka___Willian
_______Auba____

Our right side is more solid with AMN there if Bell makes runs forward

I would try Saka in the middle… Willian on the left, these 2 can interchange during the game…
Not sure we have the luxury of sitting Willian… so this will have to do.

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