Arsenal capped off a very odd year with a win.
Do I care how it happened? No.
Am I happy? Yes.
Should you be? Yes.
If you thought the path back to midtable was going to be Chelsea performances week in, week out, you were mistaken. Arsenal’s pivot in football strategy landed with a warning label: It’ll be non-linear.
Arteta did exactly what we the people asked for. He binned two senior players that have been problematic. He stuck with the kids that saved his career in the last game. He was rewarded handsomely with a very sound win against a Brighton that are tough opponents.
The only change from the last game was the intro of Auba for Lacazette, who had a back issue. Our start was painfully bland. We reverted to playing out the back, revisiting the over-rehearsed slow football we’ve seen all season. Xhaka and Mo were crabs, they looked more interested in their pass completion stats than moving the ball with the pace they had done for the whole game against Chelsea.
Our front 4 were barely involved. Auba looked isolated. ESR wasn’t involved. Gabriel and Saka barely touched the ball.
I WAS WORRIED.
The second half saw a HUGE change in attitude and belief. We came out roaring. The players reverted to the Chelsea game plan. ESR dropped deeper and started to control the game. Gabriel, Saka and Auba all livened up.
The break came when Lacazette came on for a very tired Gabriel. Saka turned on the halfway line, powered into the box, cut Laca in, the Frenchman took his time and curled a shot near post to perfection. A wonderful goal, but most of the credit went to Saka who did so, so well in the build-up.
We stopped pressuring after that. It was a bit grim at times. We started time-wasting in their corner flag area like it was a cup final and we were Yeovil Town. But that was the pressure of the day. Brighton didn’t really have much to offer. We took the three points. Neil Maupay cried (I can’t prove this).
So what did we learn?
The blueprint for the future is youth. Two games, two wins. What we lacked in quality, we more than makeup for with passion and hunger. There cannot be a return to the seniors that have let us down so badly. The fans don’t want it. It hasn’t worked, and it won’t work.
Willian can go in the bin. David Luiz too. Play those that want to be a part of the project, fuck the rest.
We just have to accept that there will be days like today. Kids are inconsistent. Teams like Brighton will be tough. The upside is that we’re working with players that’ll grow and get better. That is the path forward.
The future of our attack is ESR, Saka, and Martinelli. It wasn’t quite the Chelsea game, but it was still brilliant in its own way.
ESR is just so impressive. He fast, he’s strong, and he moves like a #10. His first half was slow, but he listened at half time and he made an impact in the second half. He takes passes on the half-turn and seamlessly moves the ball at speed. I love how hungry he is, his late-game defensive work, his movement for throw-ins, his confidence to put his hand-up for freekicks. I love it.
Saka is our best player now. Let’s not continue to debate this. There’s no one more consequential in our squad. The maturity to own the game in the second-half belied his age. HIs run for the goal incredibly powerful, the pass was so composed, he’s a fucking hero. What’s more, he likes playing with ESR and Gabriel.
Talking of the Brazilian. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN. He is all you want from a forward in 2020. He does not stop, what a fucking terror that boy is. The goals will come, no doubt. The most difficult thing the club is going to have to deal with is how hard he runs himself. We need him fresh. A cult hero before he’s twenty, we are very lucky.
Our midfield needs an upgrade. Arteta said after the game certain senior players make the younger players better. He needs to understand that long-term, that’s not Xhaka or Mo. The two of them work hard, but honestly, together, it’s painful to watch. The return of Partey can’t come soon enough. There was a very incorrect rumour before the game yesterday that he was in the squad, it was wrong. I’m reliably told the hope is Partey will actually be about for the Newcastle cup game. He’ll help, but we still need to add speed to our midfield play.
If you don’t move the ball fast, there’s no point in the attackers we have. Arteta needs to give more time to AMN in midfield. He offers ambitious passing, he’s an elite athlete, he has swagger, and he’ll grow in value if he’s given time. Why isn’t he offered more minutes? Maybe it was hard to drop GX and ME because of Chelsea. For West Brom, we have to start AMN and give him what he deserves.
The defence returned to solid. The jury is still out on Pablo Mari. He’s looked a little shaky, but he’s barely played. Holdinho, to be fair, has been absolutely excellent. He’s just really solid. His passing isn’t always that sexy, but you can’t knock his leadership skills, aerial ability, and reliability. Hector is a tough one for me, he looked a mess in the first half, but he was sharp in the second. There was one point where he broke in the second in spectacular fashion, no one followed, I couldn’t work out if that was discipline or people knowing he’d not land a final ball.
The January window needs more than one signing. The major move is for creativity. There’s a lot of buzz around Isco. Outside everyone fat-shaming a guy who is depressed over his lack of game time, you’d be hard-pressed to tell me he wouldn’t give us something in quality an experience. I like the idea because he has something to play for. 1) A final contract because he’s old. 2) He probably wants to play for Spain this summer. 3) HE’S NOT ERIKSEN.
It’s clear we need more than just an Isco type. We need to shift on the deadwood. There simply MUST be a back-up keeper. I think we need more than one creative midfielder. BUT WE HAVE NO MONEY. So not sure what we’ll do this month.
Football might also be in the shitter. Covid seems to be going pretty wild again. I am half expecting the suspension of the season again. We’ll see though. I can’t work out if it’d be good or bad for us, but at least we could get everyone fit. BUT YOU, READING THIS, MUST STAY SAFE. I need those clicks. x
Right, before I go… LISTEN TO OUR LATEST ON THE WHISTLE PODCAST.
Jamie, Partey coming back into the side is going to be immense. Wish AMM was given more minutes. Having him paired wth Thomas would give us so much power.
Quite interested to see what happens when Gabriel comes back. Really hope he keeps Luiz away.
Seems everyone hate Isco. Not sure what we do on the creative front. Isco is top quality, but there are motivation issues. Buendia is talent, but he’s a risk. Doing nothing isn’t an option.
Funny that because they were praising ESR on TalkSport last night..
Purging this squad would be hugely beneficial. Even if we have to subsidise wages, which will likely be the case Just get Ozil, Sokratis, Mustafi, Kolasinac, Luiz, out the door, And if we’re not going to play Nelson + Saliba? Give them sensible loans to the championship, where they’re guaranteed to play regular football, and hopefully add some value, If it’s true Willian has been conniving behind the managers back? Then do whatever’s necessary to get shot of him, it’s better to admit our mistake now, than continue down a trodden path, we’ve been down before. Whatever your position on… Read more »
Pedro Im not talking about what we should do next weekend, Im talking about the ongoing strategy that will get us back to where we should be. I like ESR and Saka, although I think people are going way over the top about ESR so far. However, I’ll say it again, you dont get awarded extra points for commendable development of kids. Lets look at ESR in comparison to the best central AMs in the PL, Fernandes & DeBruyne. Last 2 games, combined xG and xA Smith Rowe – 0.36 Fernandes – 2.34 De Bruyne – 1.41 Now, unless we… Read more »
Thorough, he created 2 chances, had the second most passes into the final third, he defended well, ran hard all game, kept play moving really nicely in the second half.
There’s no one player you can pin you hopes on, but he’s been impressive, and should be given more minutes.
englandsbest
On the flip side, Barcelona wouldn’t have functioned without Messi over the past decade or so.
Guaranteed.
“To play ESR in every single one of those games could cause burnout or injury. He needs competition still,”
ESR doesnt need ‘competition’
We need a much, much better player in that position.
Shite!
I thought ESR was only 20.
Apparently he’s a 28 year old experienced international.
Give him some slack.
No wonder we are where we are.
Can we stop with the assertion that Fernandez was some unknown cheap gem discovered by ManUtd. They pay 50 millions for a full Portuguese international. If some did not know him beforehand, then it is on you but that does not make him an unknown player.
Gambon
Look at how quickly Saka has developed in 12 months.
There’s no guarantee foreign imports hits the ground running, for every Bruno Fernandes, there’s a Pepe, Havertz, Werner ect
Smith-Rowe has started 3 PL games, what’s to say he doesn’t learn on the job relatively quickly, like Saka, and in 12 months time, he’s well on his way to becoming elite?
So many people have gone so much further than they ever though they could, just because someone told them the words:
“I believe in you, you can do this”
gambon
I’d prefer to see a Nick Pope in goal or that other half decent keep, what’s his name again?
Oh that’s right, Emiliano Martinez!
“I thought ESR was only 20.
Apparently he’s a 28 year old experienced international.
Give him some slack.”
You dont get awarded extra points for playing 20 year olds.
ESR is built for the league.
Watch this space.
Don’t @ me.
ESR is a talent.
Give him a chance to prove it.
Rich
And what do Arsenal do for the 12-24-36 or 48 months it takes for ESR to develop into a top class CAM?
Just pretend we’re happy in 13th?
And as for Saka…..2 goals, 1 assist in 14 PL games. He is absolutely nowhere near world class.
Pedro –
We certainly need more mobility in midfield, so pairing Partey with a runner should draw more opposition players into the centre and open up spaces on the flanks.
I’m not sure how credible the stories were of our loan interest in Coutinho over the summer, but any truth to them and that was a big miss.
In other news, when Graham starts using profane words like ‘shite’, you know he’s not fudging around.
Fulham- Spuds postponed???
Pedro.
Nobody can argue with that. But you wanna give him 38 games a season? No sir.
Valentin.
Who’s talking about money re Fernandes. I said he turned their season on its head as you’ll expect from a seasoned pro. Btw everyone don’t have to cost 50 odd millions, I was dying for Wenger to sign Payet for peanuts when we was available.
Thorough, why is your pushback today that the take is we need ESR for 38 games? ESR played two good games, he offered quality and a balance to a front 4 that’s struggled. Not sure why you are worried about 38 games half a season in.
Valentin
That is not the point. He is having more impact than the likes of debruyne are having on theirs. They paid and he is a guarentee performer right now. We paid for pepe and Lacazette around the same or bigger but they arent having any half the impact. Same with Jorghinho and Havertz at chelsea. Same with pogba at united. It is never about just the money. Its about the quality of the player. And Fernandez is quality. Dont be bitter.
Gambon
What exactly are your expectations?
Bearing in mind we’ve not had too much to shout about over the past decade or so, what are you looking for? Remember we’ve had shite owners, a shite board, shite executives, oh yeh and shite managers and numerous shite players.
I’m intrigued.
ESR should be seen as a positive.
having half the impact*
I get the ESR love in we’ve been so deprived of any sort of creative spark in the mid, think that will hopefully be addressed in January as the kid isn’t going to carry us thru season to level we need.
But this week I love him.
Most on here seem to have no interest in the potential Isco loan for remainder of season, laughable considering our options. With money their talking worth the risk for me. If we came out of this window with an Isco loan to summer and Buendia purchase i’d be happy.
I can’t see what ESR doing that’s amazing. I like him, just not going crazy over him. He’s doing the basic right comparing to the other bad midfielders we have.
Martinelli and Saka are at a different level to him. We still need an attacking midfielder that can do more than just the basic.
As for AMN, can not be trusted in CM. His attitude is too stoned, small and too relaxed for that position. That position needs an elegant player or an animal who guards the ball with his life.
gambon We are not going to buy our way out of this mess. If ESR is good enough then it’s imperative that he gets enough opportunities to stake a claim. We have to stop buying players that are clogging the developmental pathway of good young players like Willian. You don’t get awarded extra points for playing 20 year olds. —YES But you are laying a proper foundation for building a squad that will be contending for the title in 2-3 years. This season is a bust already so what do we have to lose. Play the kids until we know… Read more »
Jamie
Enough shite for you?
🍺
Gambon Saka has more assists than any other teenager in Europe’s top 5 league’s in 2020. I think at the moment we have to accept we’re in a transition, and transitions are often painful, Successful teams come and go in cycles, and right now we’re hopefully at the bottom of a cycle, and things don’t get any worse. So growing a group of talented youngsters together, might be a decent strategy. I’m still convinced the best signing we could make would be Ralf Rangnick. We need someone competent to oversee our transfer business, and assemble a cohesive and balanced squad… Read more »
“Bearing in mind we’ve not had too much to shout about over the past decade or so, what are you looking for? Remember we’ve had shite owners, a shite board, shite executives, oh yeh and shite managers and numerous shite players.”
Hard to argue with any of this. Plenty of shite to go around.
ESR needs some more gym time too. He was knocked to the ground quite a few times.
But his ceiling does look high.
And he does like moving the ball forwards which is nice to see for a change.
But we really do need a WC AM to help mould him into the future, while allowing us to progress on the pitch shorter term.
Can definitely not hurt giving him a run in the team while we have nothing to lose.
Let’s see how Jan plays out though.
I just can’t imagine us having two Madrid rejects in our team.
For what exactly, to finish 8th instead of 12th?
“Saka has more assists than any other teenager”
You already lost me.
You dont get awarded extra points for playing teenagers.
Saka’s a massive prospect, not a massive player.
Pedro.
Thorough, why is your pushback today that the take is we need ESR for 38 games? ESR played two good games, he offered quality and a balance to a front 4 that’s struggled. Not sure why you are worried about 38 games half a season in.
Because people like Pierre are making it sound like we don’t need better.
From afar, ESR looks a very quiet and shy young man. Actually looks like a choirboy.
Give him a chance to mature and toughen up and I’m sure he’ll be an excellent addition to our team/squad.
ESR is twenty but born on the 28 th.
He has shaved twice in his whole life 😏
Pedro , what’s the new system? “Playing the kids” is getting a lot of mileage now , as if Arteta has binned half the starters for the young prospects. Saka has been an automatic for us and Martinelli is considered by many , Klopp included, a world class talent no one should be surprised to see in Arsenal starting line up when fit. That only leaves ESR as a somewhat unexpected starter for the Chelsea and Brighton games and when you consider the need for rotation in a congested fixture list, the whole “playing the kids” mantra gets exposed a… Read more »
How about we buy Fernandes from Man U to replace those two showers of shite Saka and ESR, who between them have been solely responsible for Arsenal’s poor performances this season?
Coz as Alan Hansen once so wisely said, “you don’t win anything with kids.”
It’s the implementation of gambon’s short termism that got us Willian last summer. The proponents of the Willian signing argued that it will give Saka time to develop. Instead it’s turned to shite clogging up the toilet. We are not going to buy our way out of this mess. We need to go down the path of buying up exciting young players that are desperate to succeed. If we have a young player that looks promising then play the kid until he swims or he drowns. If hewon’t make it then sell … but they need to get those chances.… Read more »
Gambon, we’ve just picked up 6 points playing teenagers/kids that we wouldn’t have without them.
If we’d taken this current approach to the season from the start, we’d be further up the table, no doubt.
It’s not elite, but we’re laying the groundwork for a different approach that will take longer, but be more sustainable.
“How about we buy Fernandes from Man U to replace those two showers of shite Saka and ESR, who between them have been solely responsible for Arsenal’s poor performances this season?” This is a good point you make, and kind of highlights where we are. Fernandes would improve us immeasurably. He is literally twice the player ESR is right now, in fact much better than that. It isnt a crime to say Arsenal players arent the best in the world you know. For years we had world class players that would often save our season. Thats not the case any… Read more »
“Coz as Alan Hansen once so wisely said, “you don’t win anything with kids.””
We are not going to win anything [tangible] with the veteran players in the squad either
Our best player is a 19 year old, are you going to treat him any different because he’s 19 years old?
Pedro,
I’m all for environmentally sound sustainable development – especially when the alternative is toxic Brazilian fossil fuels.
“It’s the implementation of gambon’s short termism that got us Willian last summer.”
Yes, spot on.
There is certainly no middle ground between playing unproductive 19 year olds and over the hill 32 year olds.
They are the only options a team has.
‘How about we buy Fernandes from Man U to replace those two showers of shite Saka and ESR, who between them have been solely responsible for Arsenal’s poor performances this season?’
Hahaha, absolutely brilliant
Graham
“Give him a chance to mature and toughen up and I’m sure he’ll be an excellent addition to our team/squad.”
That’s the conundrum
How is he going to mature and toughen up without playing on the top level, not some damn EL games against Molde?
Gambon
ESR may not be the finished deal but since this season we gonna do fuck all , you’d think it is sensible to play the kid in order for him to be ready next season . Same with Saka and Martinelli . What part of that you cant understand ? .
Dissenter
Learn to recognise a joke.
Even when it’s a poor one.
“Our best player is a 19 year old, are you going to treat him any different because he’s 19 years old?”
Our best player is a 19 year old that has scored 2 goals and 1 assist in 14 PL games.
Hence why we are 13th in the PL and the 20th most creative team in the league.
“Learn to recognise a joke.”
I’m not sure this is a possibility.
DivineSherlock
Where exactly have I said we should drop ESR?
We are not 14th because of Saka and ESR but rather due to Arteta, Willian, Pepe, Auba and Xhaka.
Arteta should play Willian and Pepe in the EL and FAC to reduce the amount of games for Martinelli and Saka. They shouldn’t play more than 20 games each in the PL from now until end of the season.
But, to save his job they might end up playing them over 30 games and that would be a problem.
Gambon
What exactly are you proposing ? I am confused. You know we cant just buy out of trouble . Man I’d love to have Grealish . Whats likely is that Arsenal cant break the bank for him.
Gambon, think that’s more a sign of our season than quality. Auba has how many goals this season? The whole thing has been a mess, I doubt Saka will have numbers like that back half of the season
We need a plan, maybe get a proper DoF in
Then get exciting young players with high ceiling…and play them until the drown or they swim.
I don’t like this short termism approach we’ve been using to try to squeeze/bluff our way back to the top.
That’s why we bought Auba 5 months after we got Laca.
That’s why we got Gabriel even though we had Saliba coming inafter his loan.
Auba and Gabriel are great signings but they left us with a disjointed squad because now you have two good players who won’t fit in easily.
Gambon Football teams are assembled through the youth team and transfer market But they’re built on the training ground. Klopp didn’t turn Liverpool into the best team in Europe overnight Only 3 years ago the narrative around Klopp was he was defensively naive, and you could play high octane pressing football fir 38 games in the PL I don’t buy into the idea that if we spend £1billion, that would automatically make us the best team in Europe. Teams aren’t built that way. We’re at the start of a new cycle, and the only way we get back to the… Read more »
Rich
Klopp got 4th in his first full season, and CL final in his 2nd full season.
Lets not pretend it took him 17 years to scrape CL football.
As for how great teams are made – I dont remember Klopp coming in and saying Joe Allen, Adam Lallana, Benteke or Ibe were good enough.
Thats exactly what Arsenal fans wouldve been doing.
Most AFC fans seem to struggle to understand that to finish ahead of a team, you need to have a better group of players.
Emery used an average Iwobi to get us to the cusp of CL qualification
We fell short and the lad wasn’t good enough but at least that exposure got us a good transfer fee when we sold him.
There are benefits to playing academy players. That mediocre Iwobi still out-performed better paid veterans like Ozil in the 2018-2019 season and we went on to make money off him.
Gambon
I think you can make a case for bringing in first choice to be played ahead of esr.
but not saka he is our superstar young player he needs the minutes to keep improving and should 100 percent be a starter.
if your good enough your old enough i think that’s what fergie said about top tier young talent.
its just like sterling he used to be wasteful and miss goal scoring opportunities and assists but they kept playing him because they knew the goals and assists would come its exactly the same with saka.
This ESR debate is nauseating. As of now we haven’t got anyone better than the kids. ESR probably needs to play a backup role in the next few seasons and earn his spot. Saka has earned it. The teo goals and 1 assists criticism doesn’t go well for me. We need to give them time. We just spent 72 mil on pepe and saka is better. Spending isn’t always the answer. As of now I wouldnt spend a penny on Forwards. We have around 5 players that can play C.F, and 6 players that can play on the wing if… Read more »
Pedro, I see that you called out my comment in today’s podcast and after listening matt and your reply on Edu/Arteta forward path I feel exactly the same way that Johnny Cochrane felt during the last 20 minutes of the Podcast -“Voice Suppressed” I actually hope you are correct on Arteta because that would mean we challenge for top honours in 2 years. But the reality is Arteta has too many flaws in his interpersonal skills, judgement, leadership that he is probably not going to be a success. Secondly, generational coaches come from two backgrounds, either they are absolute legends… Read more »
. Outside everyone fat-shaming a guy who is depressed over his lack of game time _________________ Sorry Pedro but it is not fat shaming when your a professional athlete.. It is LITERALLY your Job to be in shape. Isco is getting paid a huge amount of money to have ab definition and stamina. We are not talking about Joey the 13 yr old fat kid from down the block in goal at the local soccer mom tournament because he can’t move fast but takes up a lot of space.. That is fat shaming. So if I wanna call Isco ….puff… Read more »
gambon
I think most people get your point
You’re just misidentifying the players that are screaming mediocrity. It’s not the youngsters.
TR7 gave an excellent reply minutes ago; “We are not 14th because of Saka and ESR but rather due to Arteta, Willian, Pepe, Auba and Xhaka.”
It’s the “better players” that are stinking up the place.
Gambon, most Arsenal fans just want to enjoy a win right now, and hope ESE, Saka, and Martinelli can turn it on for the rest of the season.
Most understand the squad we have has been built badly.
Not another Klopp/Arteta analogy, surely.
Someone has mentioned Marco Silva up thread, that’s more like it.
I second TR7s point.
Arteta should have taken his current approach to the season, we’d be better off right now and much closer to top 4.
Willian, Luiz, and Auba… nightmare stuff.
Saka and Martinelli are first 11 materials without a shadow of doubt. I’m not even sure I can put ESR on their level. Saka has done this consistently over 2 years. That’s a big deal.
And it’s absolutely not about age. I’ll take a Szobolai over ESR now and he’s just 20.
https://mobile.twitter.com/BodegaaCat/status/1343992673502420992
Watching this every week is just horrible and humiliating.
Gambon Managers are not omnipotent, and we’ve got a very average squad. This isn’t 2016 This is a COVID world Arteta probably recognises which players aren’t good enough, but in the current 2020 market, it’ll be almost impossible to move them on, The overall quality of PL teams is now much higher, lower placed PL clubs can now pick off talent from most clubs outside around 12 other clubs globally, such is the financial might of the PL So many PL clubs have consist match winners, this hasn’t always been the case The talent coming through in this country, is… Read more »
Afternoon Grovers, Good post Pedro. Not wishing to jump the gun but it’s looking like we’ve turned the corner with Arteta which I’m genuinely glad about as I don’t believe in perpetual sackings. It does however appear that Arteta has brought in the youngsters through circumstance rather than choice but the main thing is that he learns on the job fast and carries on with them. If he reinstates Luiz and Willian as soon as possible to the detriment of the team then he’ll be sacked eventually. If it were me I wouldn’t buy or loan anyone this January and… Read more »
Maybe ,in a round about way , Gambon is highlighting how much we are missing Ozil’s creativity, not his assists though just his creativity . Thought I’d better get that bit in before the obsessives start quoting stats , though i did notice that yesterday someone posted a chances created stat as a way of highlighting a players creativity . Anyway, what i like about ESR is the simplicity of his game , he gets it and then he gives it and then he moves into space to get it back . He predominantly passes to the nearest team mate… Read more »
Arteta doesn’t have enoguh skin in the game to succeed as PL manager. Remember he is already on a 5M contract that would be good for his retirement fund. .I wouldn’t be surprised if arteta is already exploring alternate careers in wine making, bio technology or even a career in football punditry. With his “percentage” game he would make a great pundit
Cheers Benny , have i spoilt it by mentioning the unmentionable
If arteta has a career as a football coach he would probably end up like mark hughes, steve bruce types manager. All average former premier league players want to be in limelight and make more money so that 2nd and 3rd generation doesn’tneed to work hard.
Jesus Poerre, you talk about Ozil obsessives then go on a virtual meat beat about him.
The only one obsessed is you.
Benny, the circumstance is we’ve been shit.
Gabriel is out because of covid. Luiz and Willian are ‘sick.’ They’re dropped.
Pierre,
Lol! You did! 😂
“Maybe ,in a round about way , Gambon is highlighting how much we are missing Ozil’s creativity, not his assists though just his creativity .”
I think he meant we missed the creativity of Bergkamp . You brought retired footballers first. SMH.
Benny
If you read the comment , you will find I didn’t actually say anything about Ozil.
Why make up stuff, Pedro? Arleta didn’t bin anyone… again. Both Willian and Luiz were out sick against Chelsea, and were still not feeling a 100% yesterday. And both will be re-instated very soon, I have no doubt. As for the rest, it was the worst first half display in 20+ years of me watching Arsenal games. We played Brighton FFS, not Liverpool. One shot with no on target is unacceptable. Second half was better but again, we played Brighton, one of the very few teams that was actually lower than us in the table. The fear factor is completely… Read more »
Of course we are missing the creativity of Ozil.
We are the 20th most creative team in the PL. Frankly, we are missing the creativity of Quincy Owusu-Abeye.
The problem with Ozil is there is a cost to his creativity. The cost is that he barely scores, barely tackles, has no intensity and goes missing in away games.
Even the Ozil of 2015 is a luxury most teams cant afford when players like Fernandes and DeBruyne can match his creativity while doing far more elsewhere.
To be fair though, the football has been so dire I’ve actually been calling for Ozil’s reinstatement on Twitter. I happen to think Arsenal’s treatment of him has been appalling and paying all that money we may as well play him.
For me I’d rather put Ozil back in the team interchanged with ESR than sign either Eriksson or Isco.
“The problem with Ozil is there is a cost to his creativity. The cost is that he barely scores, barely tackles, has no intensity and goes missing in away games.“
And calls sick when having a late gaming session.
Gambon
“The problem with Ozil is there is a cost to his creativity. The cost is that he barely scores, barely tackles, has no intensity and goes missing in away games.”
You forgot to mention that he heads the ball like a girl.
Us that Sexist ?
Gambon, who would you sign in January?
Is
Pierre, yellow card
Coutinho on loan at the start was something we couldve seriously considered . Alas everyone thought he was a bum .
Divine, he’s injured for 4 months.
“We are the 20th most creative team in the PL. Frankly, we are missing the creativity of Quincy Owusu-Abeye”
The mighty gambon strikes! Wish you would tweet a lot more about percentage pulis than what you are doing right now. Most witty and sarcastic arsenal fan that I discovered in Twitter.
AC, don’t encourage him
Jesus, who ate isco?
gambon just gave Pierre a big sack of candy
The West Brom game should give us the opportunity to rack up some goals and really give the team some confidence but it’s fat Sam so you just know a defeat is on the cards.
Every time I watch Riqui Puig he reminds me of Juninho the ex Middlesbrough player when riding the tackles and running with the ball, and we’ve been connected to him.
The redemption of arteta, has begun. The Chelsea result really saved his arse, because there’s no way we win last night without the confidence from the chavs result and the kids playing. I think if we had lost boxing day and last night we would be looking for a new coach today. Now arteta isn’t out of the woods yet, he now has a run of easy games, and it looks like partey will be back any day now. To win people back I honestly think it’s five wins from five and our season is back on track. If it’s… Read more »
“don’t encourage him”
Haha pedro, He is the perfect antidote to tweets from Arteta worshippers
The West Brom game should give us the opportunity to rack up some goals and really give the team some confidence but it’s fat Sam so you just know a defeat is on the cards.
Liverpool probably thought the same.
Right now he is Pedro , but at the start of the season ? We really could’ve used him . Look at James Rodriguez the start he gave Everton .