UPSET WITH A POINT? THAT’S PROGRESS

by .

Well, that felt a little more like the sort of Arsenal/United match we’re used to. I mean, for a 0-0. 30 shots, a tactical joust, and some very good individual performances… it wasn’t bad.

We rode our luck at times, no doubt, but at the highest level, that’s how it goes. We could have lost 2-0, but equally, we could have taken the game 2-0.

I actually left the 0-0 frustrated, which is be progress considering where we’ve been. A few of our players weren’t firing at 100% and we squandered the chance to hit a United that felt there for the taking in the second half.

Let’s get the obvious talk out the way. Edison Cavani missed a couple of sitters he’ll be having nightmares over. The first one he fluffed an open goal, likely because he was put off by Cedric’s shadowing. His second, from 6 yards, fell slightly behind him. Outside that, Arsenal dealt really well with their dangerous crossing most of the game.

Arsenal had their chances as well. The first half the front 4 simply didn’t click. It was odd, no one really trusted Pepe early in the game and as a result, Lacazette and Partey opted incorrectly for potshots from 20+ yards. If they knew it was that Nicolas Pepe at the ground yesterday, they might have passed. As the half wore on, Nico had a moment when he dropped 17 stepovers before fizzing one of those trademark low shots wide.

The second half saw Gabriel M taken off for Willian. The Brazilian had a ‘not so shit’ game but his rustiness shone brightly when his shot at the back post was squandered. Pepe was cut in by Willian, the shot blocked by the lumbering leg of Maguire. Smith Rowe tested DDG with a brutal shot. Then Lacazette hit the bar with a beautiful freekick.

We drew, but there was no shame under the circumstances. So what did we learn?

Thomas Partey

Well, it turns out his is fallible. He didn’t have his best game. But, in the grand scheme of midfield performances, the shock was that he wasn’t the best player on the pitch. His pass completion dropped to 73% and his ‘life on the edge’ midfield game was a bit more miss than hit. What is rewarding is that even when he’s not great, he still keeps you in a game against a top side.

Granit Xhaka

Well, he was excellent. HIS PASS COMPLETION RATE WAS 97%. That is world class when you’re playing against United. I thought he really stepped up. He made lots of great progressive passes and his defensive contribution did not go unnoticed.

Holdindo

Sometimes, you just have to accept that Cheddar is an elite cheese. It might not be fashionable, it’s certainly not original, but accept the reality… with Cheddar on your plate, you’re always going be satisfied. That’s Holdinho. He’s an immensely satisfying lump of Cheddar. Understated, reassuring, and always on-point. He’s our best defender in the second-best defence in the league. Wenger SHOULD have paid £50m for him. He’s been a steal. Once again, he dominated his box, dropped an 86% pass completion rate, and kept things tidy. He’s a god. A cheese god.

Smith Rowe

Look, let’s stop pissing around, the kid is absolutely mustard. It’s not a fluke. He is built for this level. Arteta gave him a chance and he’s not letting it go. He had to play with a different group of players today and he was still electric. He follows the opportunities, he defends well, he reminds you of a different Arsenal great each week. I love him.

Nicolas Pepe

Do I think he’s the level of a £72m player? No. But, I am willing to hold my hands up and say that he had a really good game yesterday. He looked like he wanted to perform. He was more than an impression of a good player. He did the dirty work Arteta demands, he gave a lot to the attack, and on another day, two of those low fizzing shots find the net. That was the second BIG performance inside a week against top opposition. I was very impressed.

Willian/Martinelli

It was a bold sub by Arteta, but if we’re honest, Gabriel was offbeat in the first half. He looked behind the game and he didn’t give us the control we needed. Willian slows things down on the left, it’s painful at times, but yesterday, he put in a defensive shift and created two chances and should have scored one. It was pretty decent from him.

Performance

It was a 50/50 game… but remember, we were relegation fodder a month ago. Yesterday, we had 17 shots at the United goal. That is a BIG improvement. We looked well-coached, the players were interested, and on another day, we take all 3 points. You can accuse Arteta of many things this season, but one thing you can’t say is that he doesn’t learn from his mistakes.

Young players are now the go-to. He’s massively improved the connection between attack and defence. He’s finally getting a turn out of some of the senior players. Luiz, Willian, Pepe and Cedric were all bordering on very good yesterday. Tactically, we were strong. Everyone knew what they were doing. If we had the resources of United, things might have been different.

It feels like we’re finally on the right path now. There will be bumps in the road, we will still lose games, but it feels like there’s a vision we can all get behind, and it looks like we’ve turned a corner.

If a draw against 2nd placed United feels like a loss, something good is happening at your club.

Onwards and upwards. Let’s smash Wolves on Tuesday. I’m off for a plate of Rob Holding.

P.S. We dropped an ON THE WHISTLE with Johnny (check out his Youtube), Dom, and Matt. It is a GOOD conversation. Tune in. Give it a chance. Tell your mum to tell her hooligan mates about it. THANKS.

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SpanishDave

Bamford would be a useful player for us, good all round cf

Bergkamp63

Mark, The AMN thing happened or rather didn’t happen should I say is because Arteta had only been at the club for 7 months, 3 of which we were in lockdown for and wanted to give him every chance to prove himself which he himself decided to take up, if he really wanted to move that badly he could simply put in a transfer request. He was given his opportunity on a number of occasions and basically didn’t impress. Personally I don’t rate him that highly, others do, for me he is no better than Willock, Nelson & Nketiah but… Read more »

Dissenter

I won’t knock Arteta for learning from his mistakes or taking opportunities that covid-19 abstentions provided him.

He ought to be credited for being flexible and adapting to the changes that covid-19 forced on him.
Willian being knocked out by the virus was pivotal, only because Arteta was nimble enough to grab the opportunity.

Jamie

Imagine how frail we’d be with Brendo at the helm.

Nelson

Now I have to admit that Bamford is better than Eddie

The Godfather

Please no one should give Arteta credit for Saka and Smith-Rowe … if it was Arteta instead of Emery we would not have seen the Saka we see today. And if Willian wasn’t absolutely horrible, then ESR would’ve been an after thought.

I’m not even gonna go into the treatment of Guendo and his foolish stance with Balo that may turn into another Gnabry situation … sorry but the jury is still out on Arteta

Dissenter

Jamie
“Imagine how frail we’d be with Brendo at the helm.”

You do realize that Brendo finished above us last season and is very ;Oakley too finish ahead os us this season?
All these while operating from a lower budget

Bergkamp63

Leicester not the same animal without their talisman Vardy, same for Spurs.

It’s a long hard season and there are 4 months to go, not 4 weeks !

Dissenter

Yea, you see why Eddie was used as a training prop at Leeds
Bielsa got that one right.

Dissenter

*You do realize that Brendo finished above us last season and is very likely to finish ahead of us this season?

Dissenter

It’s city’s title to lose now but they still have to face lots of big teams.

Mark

allegiance is to the club… then pontificate that our form is luck and what’s missing is 2 two teenagers @Pedro Your oversimplified take on what people say is just a defense mechanism, I understand that P. Many people including yourself have questioned the change in player selection, which has influenced our current form. Like on one of your podcasts with Johnny you say, you refuse to believe that it wasn’t in Arteta’s mind all along to play the kids. . From your own mouth no less, so one could say it could have been luck. No-one said all that’s missing… Read more »

salparadisenyc

Brendo now looking down the table instead of up, top four up for grabs for many clubs.

Jamie

Dissenter –

Brendan Rodgers is a perennial choker whose only silverware was won in the SPL when every other club in the competition was consistently absolute pony.

Finishing above us when we’ve had back-to-back ‘worst starts to a season in 50 years’ or whatever isn’t anything to be proud of.

It wouldn’t surprise me if he choked finishing in the top 4 again when it was his to lose. He has a history of bending over at the business end of a PL season.

Winthorpe

The GodfatherJanuary 31, 2021 15:48:44 Please no one should give Arteta credit for Saka and Smith-Rowe … if it was Arteta instead of Emery we would not have seen the Saka we see today. And if Willian wasn’t absolutely horrible, then ESR would’ve been an after thought.I’m not even gonna go into the treatment of Guendo and his foolish stance with Balo that may turn into another Gnabry situation … sorry but the jury is still out on Arteta Lol Joke comment If it was emery we would be not far off bottom now The large majority of goals and… Read more »

Rich

Bamford is 27, he’s got 270+ senior appeances behind him

Nketiah is 21, he’s just starting out

The comparisons are ridiculous

Globalgunner

Nketiah is about as talented as the Leeds mascot. However Arteta seems him good enough for multiple games with Arsenal. He knows. He know6

Sid

Leeds winning is bad for Arsenal, check the standings

Im telling for free!

Sid

Why is the a red Pedro and a black Pedro?

Captain Tierney

Its less than 1 day before the window ends and we still have to sort out loan loves for Amn, Joe and Nelson. Also a permanent/ contract termination for Mustafi.

We have a technical director and Loans manager.

Bergkamp63

DissenterJanuary 31, 2021 15:53:12
*You do realize that Brendo finished above us last season and is very likely to finish ahead of us this season.

If this is some kind of cryptic rhetorical question ? Then allow me to retort.

You do realise we went unbeaten in 2003-2004 season (exactly wtf has last season got to do with anything or the umpteen seasons before that ?)

They may well finish above us, come back and gloat at the end of May if you are right.

Gbat

“If it was solely his choice, Mustafi would still be playing alongside Willian/Xhaka every week”

“No-one said all that’s missing is Balo & Saliba. However I think even you would be hard pressed to deny that we wouldn’t have looked/performed better had those two been given a chance to show what they could have added.”

What are you going on about? Mustafi has played 43 minutes in the league. And according to your we’d be better off if we’d played Balogun? And you know all this from a few sub appearances in the Europa League. Ok.

Dissenter

Bergkamp63
Actually the question was easily answered by Jamie without drama.
It’s not Da Vinci code or something, just an observation that you can’t knock a manager as crap when he is ahead of you.

Rich

Rodgers is a talented coach But he has a platform to succeed Leicester’s scouting, recruitment and selling is superb They buy at the middle of the market, and sell high They’re real value adders, who have superb succession planning Pereira £18mill Maddison £22mil Soyuncu £18mil Ndidi £18mil Fofana £35mill Justin £6mill Vardy £1mill Evans £3mill They signed Maguire for £12mill, sold him for a massively overinflated £80mill signing his replacement in Soyuncu 12 months earlier, giving him 12 months to settle, and so they wouldn’t have to pay a premium when other clubs know they’re awash with cash They got… Read more »

Bergkamp63

I have to admit, I wasn’t a fan of playing out from the back across our own penalty area at first as we didn’t look comfortable doing it, now we look much more at home with it, our defence looks pretty solid, how many years has it been since we could say that. That’s all on Arteta. The other aspect of this is that the front players of our opponents are now having to expend a lot of energy try ingto press our back line, this will hopefully pay dividends at the back end of the season when it starts… Read more »

Winthorpe

I mean we are doing well. Racking up points, scoring goals, barely conceding any and things are looking up and yet it seems to always come back to emery.
Especially from a guy who chastised Pedro for not being able to hold his hands up and admit a wrong call (which he did by the way) and here you are doubling down on your tired old emery/arteta stance.

Glass houses and throwing stones spring to mind godfather

The Godfather

@winthroat,
Clearly it’s a comprehension issue with you.

Rich

Man City might be flying

But other teams shouldn’t become deterred

They’ve got a League Cup final, they’ll look to go far in Europe +the FA cup, and with this schedule, they could easily run out of legs, even with their depth

The teams who don’t have squads to play every 3-4 days are currently dropping off

And teams who have squad depth to play in Europe, are picking up steam

But when European competition starts up again, and they get to rest.

Expect their results to improve again.

Jamie

“just an observation that you can’t knock a manager as crap when he is ahead of you.”

Poor observation. David Moyes is crap and ahead of 15 other teams in the league currently. OGS has spunked £280m so far at Utd and hasn’t won a pot to piss in.

Winthorpe

I have to admit, I wasn’t a fan of playing out from the back across our own penalty area at first as we didn’t look comfortable doing it, now we look much more at home with it, our defence looks pretty solid, how many years has it been since we could say that. That’s all on Arteta. Bergkamp I agree. This is how I felt initially too but it clearly displays arteta’s persistence with his footballing vision and how it is now starting to fall in line and take shape. ESR might have been an accident but he still chose… Read more »

Sid

Diet Peps initial plan was Willian on the right Auba on the left.
Playing the youth was NOT by design

Dissenter

Jamie
You really don’t think Brendan Rodgers is a good manager because his side finished 5th last season.
Do you realize that he still over-performed even though they had a late season collapse?

Bertie Mee

Very good blog post Pedro . You summed the game up very well but the key point is that we’re missing arguably the three players we would least have wanted to be out yesterday . We were ok defensively , an Emery side would have lost the game and Fernandes could well have had red for a really nasty tackle on Xhaka. That’s why people resent United, they are held to different standards. In the last year we’ve seen Aubameyang, Nketiah and Smith Rowe sent off by refs for tackles less violent or cynical than that( ok ESR was rescinded… Read more »

Left Testicle

Agree, Arteta stumbled on project youth 2.0. He didn’t give Saliba a chance, won’t even put Balogun on the bench and still insists on playing Saka in defence at times.

Jamie

“Do you realize that he still over-performed even though they had a late season collapse?”

Sounds a lot like Emery revisionism. They both choked the run in. ‘Over-performed until their collapse’ is loser mentality. You don’t get points for running hard for 90m and tripping over your own feet in the final 10.

Brendan hasn’t achieved anything of note in his career outside a one horse race SPL, that’s why I don’t rate him highly. If he was still there, Gerrard (who’s essentially a novice himself) would likely give him a run for his money.

Karsa

The plan can change as the season unfolds yet still remain the plan.

Rich

Sid

Nobody knows what the plan was for Smith-Rowe

We decided to keep him, he picked up a few injuries

Once he got fit, he was given an opportunity, and he took that opportunity

Unless you’re a psychic, or have inside knowledge?

You’re just painting a picture that suits your own narrative

It’s difficult to give opportunities to players who are injured

Winthorpe

Also, who fucking cares how we got there? The club has made mistakes, they’re in the process of rectifying them, and now the football is good.‘THE PATH HAS NOT BEEN PERFECT’ is pretty standard for every single manager out there. Because it can be used to feed their confirmation bias. People like this are incapable of admiring fallibility as they aren’t seeing reality for what it is. There can be no objectivity for such personality types. Anyway. I’m happy with what I’m seeing. I need arsenal these days more than ever as a distraction from the depression of what’s happening… Read more »

Sid

Rolling dice, trial and error is a mediocre plan of doing things

Karsa

Sorting the defence before gradually becoming more expansive is a solid plan.

Wingdings

“and now the football is good.”

Arsenal haven’t played good football for a long time.

Rich

Sid

Trial and error is what provides progress and innovation

If we never experimented, everything would stay the same

Thomas Edison quotes:

“ I haven’t failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work”

“ Our greatest weakness lies in giving up, the most certain way to succeed is to try just one more time”

“ Negative results are just what I want. They’re just as valuable to me as positive results. I can never find the thing that does the job best until I find the ones that don’t.”

Sid

Let us assume ESR was part of the plan.
Did we plan going into the season with a player with a history of injuries as our main creative player?

Chris

Good to see some productive displays from Pepe for a couple of games now. With that in mind it would be good to see him keep his place in the side, barring rotation of course.

He may not be a £70 million player but he is ours to utilise and he does offer qualities perhaps nobody else in the squad has. A consistent run in the team may sharpen him up to the point where the close missed chances nestle in the bottom corner.

salparadisenyc

The true Emeryista’s left the building the moment Chelsea was beat and have not come back.
Bizarre trend.

Dissenter

is is possible to be able to clique Arteta without Malice and still be accept some of his positive attributes. He has made some mistakes and this is the type of platform where those errors are discussed. It’s possible to lambast him for offering a contract extension to Musfafi and yet praise Arteta/Edu for signing Mari as well as Cedric. I can accept that Cedric has been a good signing and still express misgivings about us signing him on loan in January when we could have had him for free in July. I assume we are allowed to hold complex… Read more »

Chris

Next 4 games

Wolves A
Villa A
Leeds H
Man City H

Tough run. 8 points may be a decent return.

Rich

Mustafi has just removed Arsenal from his bio on Twitter + Instagram

Apparently being shown around the London Stadium today

Sid

Playing 4231 with a proper AM is basic stuff not innovative.
Playing Willian as #9 is delusional
Playing Auba on the left and persisting with Willian on the right is amatuerish
Nothing Thomas Edison there

Dissenter

If Liverpool want Mustafi, then we ought to make them pay a fee.
Let Mustafi see what it’s like when the shoe is on the other foot.

Henry19

Playing easy teams has come just at the right time to temporarily save the manager’s bacon

Dissenter

Pedro
“Diss, where is your evidence we offered Mustafi a new deal?”

Are you really trying to rewrite history
Mustafi’s agent said it and Arteta tacitly acknowledged it

Are you suggesting that Arteta didn’t try to extend Mustafi’s contract when you’ve written about it in recent past?

Mark

Diss,

After an improvement in our form, you should know history will be rewritten. It was common knowledge and discussed openly that Mustafi the Great had turned it down.

salparadisenyc

This Atletico side a very different proposition this season, less are we seeing them defend a 1 goal lead and seeing it out. They just go and score again if needed, La Liga is theres.

salparadisenyc

Somebody is going to have to explain to me how Barca let that Suarez move go down, leading La Liga in goals with, Atletico 10 points clear game in hand.

TR7

Sal

‘The true Emeryista’s left the building the moment Chelsea was beat and have not come back.
Bizarre trend.’

Receding was calling me ‘shameless’ and ‘liar’ for defending Arteta, haven’t seen him since we beat Chelsea 🙂

Dissenter

Sal
“Somebody is going to have to explain to me how Barca let that Suarez move go down, leading La Liga in goals with, Atletico 10 points clear game in hand.”

I think Ronald Koeman was trying to weaken the Messi power base at the club.
It was more about loosening the Messi choke hold on the dressing room

Sid

‘Not sure the club thought Pepe, Willian, and everyone else would be so bad.’

Replace ‘the club’ with Arteta, loool

underrated Coq

Hairline and Champagne disappeared at around the same time.

Co-incidence or something more?

Rich

Who knows if it was true about Mustafi

It wouldn’t be the first time an agent was economical with the truth

Or the media whipped a fan base up into a frenzy with click bait nonsense

Hopefully we’ll see the back of him over the next 27 hours

salparadisenyc

TR7 I’m sure if Arteta and club start wobbling in slightest many will all reappear glossing over the good whilst lighting the flame thrower with negative. What an existence. Been a diabolical season but have to look at where we’re currently at, have been and take on board that much has been learned and utilised in right manner. Look no further than this transfer market and the outs, current first XI which is essentially cloaked in youth with a solid base in the Mid and various options in rears. Ødegaard may not come off long term but it surely signals… Read more »

Guns of Brixton

On this day in 2014, Kim Källström signed for Arsenal to combat an injury crisis. He arrived with a broken back. He didn’t make his gunners debut until April 15th. He left England 6 months later with as many trophies as any Spurs player since the turn of the millennium.

From twitter

G

So apparently Arteta didn’t know how good ESR was and Willian was shit or injured so accidently ESR was found..lol
Some of you might not be aware but in the history of football this is how it works..A players not available, A youngster gets his chance and takes it

salparadisenyc

West Ham corners, Liverpool goal in what 15 seconds?

raptora

Imagine Barca not extending Luiz Suarez. Monster of a player has 14 goals in 16 games for Atleti, #1 in the goal scoring chart. 85 mins per goal. The only player in 2 digit minutes per goal.

Idiotic decisions have been plaguing that club for quite some time now. No wonder Messi wanted to leave them.

Gbat

There’s an interview where Mustafi says they hadn’t discussed a new contract. Playing only 43 minutes seems to go against the rumours that Arteta wants him to stay.

salparadisenyc

Based on this West Ham look in false position, woeful.

TR7

Looks like Citi and Pool will compete for the league once again, doesn’t it ?

Kaz

Frustrated with the draw?

Nope!

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Even partly says he had a mare yesterday…

Yes he could be a good player for us but he is a long way off .

Until Then I don’t rate him…

I will when he bosses games on regular basis

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Musrafi another one mugging the club

G8

We are still in the bottom half, and with the upcoming tough games I wouldn’t be too cocky!
Arteta hasn’t proved anything yet!
Never mind the city, manure, Liverpool, Chavs and spuds, the likes of West ham, Everton, Leeds, villa and Leicester are all outperforming us at the moment !

Kaz

Partey not a great player?

Someone is on the sauce

SAGG

Arsenal are 8 points awy from 4th, even if all the teams win their games in hand. There is still hope is we manage to keep this form.

Leedsgunner

If Ainsley Maitland Niles thinks himself above the manager’s opinion and he doesn’t want to play where he is called upon… let him go. It’s not just Arteta who thought him this. Emery and Wenger both placed him there… as a young full back. Yet, it’s clear he doesn’t want to play there and that’s come out on how he’s approached his job. Shame really though, he could have been Arsenal’s starter RB if he wanted to challenge Bellerin for it. If Leicester wants him perhaps we could do a player plus cash for Maddison could be done in the… Read more »

Leedsgunner

*sell him on the cheap!

AFC Forever

Rich “We’re still a work in progress, I’m not sure why people are stressing over a 19yr old centre half, who’s played less than 50 senior games” Because there’s not much else to have a pop at Arteta about. The straw clutching desperados are even refusing to give him credit for Sakas improvement or Smith Rowe. What kind of fans are these? What makes this straw clutching so transparent in our defensive record. Second best & we’ve gone from 18th in the league for letting in set piece goals to the best! How stupid do you have to be to… Read more »

AFC Forever

G8

“Never mind the city, manure, Liverpool, Chavs and spuds, the likes of West ham, Everton, Leeds, villa and Leicester are all outperforming us at the moment !

That’s not true they aren’t outperforming us at the moment. Our form is amongst the best in the league. You are mistaking league position for performance. Yes pre-Christmas you could say they Spuds, Everton, Villa etc were outperforming us. Now you can’t.?, no because it isn’t true. It’s total bollocks.

Vintage Gun

“I would happily sell: Guen, Lacazette, Xhaka, Saliba, Nketiah, Willock, Nelson
.Put all our money into Grealish and Bissouma.Promote: Azeez, Balogun, Cirjan, Cottrell‏.
Bring back: Mavropanos”

Swap Saliba for Torriea and i’d take it

AFC Forever

Leeds, AMN going on loan would make sense. It wilil give him a good run of games to prove people wrong. Successive managers haven’t thought him good enough to be a regular and if he believes he is a CM he needs to prove it elsewhere. Win win really, as it may raise his value should Arteta decide he can leave.

AFC Forever

*leave permanently.

Tom

“Because there’s not much else to have a pop at Arteta about“ AFC I appreciate your positive attitude, I really do, but Jesus …… we re sitting tenth with every team around us with game or two in hand. Not to mention the fact our goal difference is poor and any points gap to top six , never mind top four, has to be looked at in the context of gaining an extra point to overtake clubs with better goal difference, unless we go on some scoring spree of course. Considering the fact Arteta was heralded as generational managerial talent… Read more »

WengerEagle

West Ham are in a false position, got pulverised by a far superior side today in Liverpool.

Real gap starting to form now between City and the rest of the pack if they win their game in hand.

All done with no Aguero, impressive stuff.

G8

AFC
Its not bollocks, it’s the truth and it hurts
they all have better points tally than us ,so they’re currently outperforming us over 21 games

Come on you seagulls ,stuff those bastards!
A cruciate to Son and couple of hammies wouldn’t be bad either