The line-up is in and it’s a very strong team today.
Leno, Bellerin, Luiz, Gabriel, Tierney, Xhaka, Ceballos, Saka, Odegaard, Smith Rowe, Aubameyang
Clearly too soon for Thomas Partey, so we revert back to a centre midfield of Xhaka and Dani Ceballos.
Attack wise, we have all the tools in the box on display. Our best central defender for passing. Kieran Tierney prowling down the left. With probably the idea from 4 moving forward.
It’s the gun show today.
What are we looking for?
Goals, goals, goals.
The main worry is that we’ll be leggy after chasing shadows against Manchester City over the weekend. Post-Leeds, we weren’t really at peak physical condition, even though you’d be hard pushed to say we didn’t create enough to win.
We need a performance today. There needs to be an answer to their offside trap. We need to keep our midfield and defence super tight so we don’t give up an away goal. Everyone needs to give a 90 minutes of concentration.
I also want to see us take risks. Auba isn’t the only person that can score goals. Odegaard is capable, the same is true of Saka and ESR.
… but Auba does need to show up. We need a captains performance. Lead by example. Be the sharp shooter we need.
We need a big win.
We need to start a run of tough games positively.
This has to be a run.
So let’s see where it goes.
Enjoy the comments. See you there a little later. This will be fun.
Rich its not the age Its the one footedness. some on here will somehow gloss over this glaring fact. but just take a look at Pepe. All those excusing his play finally coming to realize his really biggest limitation is being so one footed. its no mystery that Mike is finding him better on the left now, instead of the right. That was a doomed experiment. Buzzy was right about Ozil. He could use both feet well. If you are an attacking mid player, you must be good with both feet. Its a no brainer. I dont rate Ode for… Read more »
Guns of SF
Sorry I don’t trust you on this one,
None of us know how young players will develop, unless you have a crystal ball?
There’s countless examples of one footed players doing incredibly well
Alexis was incredibly one footed, and he was electric for 3 seasons
Cesc wasn’t particularly good with his left
Messi is very left footed
Technically Odegaard is on a different planet to Pepe
Thank god for Saka because, without him, we are zilch.
Credit to Tierney, who is still not 100%, for driving us on when all looked lost.
Kudos to Aubameyang for finding his touch in front of goal.
Let’s be honest, Benfica we’re not that good.
Luiz plays like he’s living in a care home. So slow, so predictable..
Bellerin…………..well, what can I say?
Actually felt sorry for Ceballos. Don’t know why.
Leicester lost, so maybe they’ll be deflated at the weekend.
We won, so I’m happy.
Rich
More power to Ode. I just dont see it. I hope I am wrong.
I would also argue Cesc was great with both feet. He could break any low block and wall.
Messi in the same convo is a not fitting. He is a God.
Alexis also, used both feet well, that was his strength… wigglying and twisting and turning . you need both feet for those moves
Odegaard is, potentially, a class act.
I just saw that Ceballos header
What was he thinking? Did he gets spatially disoriented?
Odegaard is a massive talent
Whether he reaches his potential is another matter entirely
There’s a reason Arteta has taken one look at him, and is desperate for us to prize him away from Madrid
From the little we’ve seen so far, and from what he did last season in Spain, I’d be inclined for us to take a punt
There’s a reason Arteta has taken one look at him, and is desperate for us to prize him away from Madrid
And Mike is a known spotter of talent…. apparently. and No, Partey was Edu’s pick
our mids of the Wenger era never met a low block they didnt like.
All of them had no problems with this type of set up.
Now, its Saka or Martinelli that seem to be the only ones who can break through without much effort.
Ode is not one of them by a long stretch.
Lets see Rich, we can compare notes at the end of the season….!
Real Madrid would probably want north of £60m for Odegaard.
Not sure he’s worth it.
No speed to speak of and if there’s anything this league punishes more than others is a slow footed playmaker.
Guns Of SF
He’s 22
Come back in 2 years when he’s 24.
We buy Odegaard at 22, because he might be impossible to buy at 24/25
Cesc at 22 was twice the player Odegaard is.
Cesc at 19 was twice the player, at 22 he was world class
Cesc at 20 was our best player already, had a season of 7 goals, 20 assists in 32 EPL games. 20 fkin assists.
Odegaard is so much worse than Cesc that it’s painful.
Tom
Players develop at different rates
Some mature earlier, some later
Some burn out later, some earlier…
De Bruyne went to Wolfsburg at 22
What Cesc was doing for us at a young age was exceptional, but he ended up at Monaco at 31, and had become a bit part player for 12 months before that
So Rich, to your own point, how do you know he will come good in a few years?
You kinda know who those players are, before they blow up.
Ex. Martinelli, Saka
Maybe Ode needs more time to adjust? EPL is brutal to those who are limited physically and technically. Attackers need to be robust and use 2 feet! 🙂
The individual errors that bedeviled Emery are still around under Arleta’s “process”
We have to stop making things so hard for ourselves.
SWG: “Bottom line, the style of football has generally improved under Arteta.” Getting knocked out by Olympiacos, literally 5 mins away from being knocked out by Benfica, 15 pts behind Leicester, 11 pts behind relegation fodder from last season West Ham, 6 pts behind a game in hand Everton, 2 pts behind relegation fodder with 2 games in hand Villa, 1 pt behind promoted Leeds, 2 pts ahead of fkin Palace. Football has been atrocious. If you think this football is improved, you are nothing but deluded. Even under old Wenger we never played this boring for more than 5… Read more »
Rich
There’s only so much anyone has in their legs over their career span.
Cesc was putting in serious PL miles before his 20th bday.
So was Rooney.
Players like CR7 are the exception not the rule.
Im not against Odegaard……….just saying he won’t come cheap.
Does Odegarrd have a higher ceiling than Saka
About a year ago, I wrote that Saka is the best player our academy has produced. I should have qualified it by adding …”in recent times” because maybe Ashley Cole was just as good
However Ashley Cole didn’t have the versatility that Saka has. Saka is solid in at least three positions on the field.
Rich
My only knock on Odegaard is his lack of pace.
KDB always had speed.
KDB always had fight. So did Cesc at very young age. Ozil never had it. Ode doesn’t have it. ESR has fight.
Guns Of SF I don’t know if Odegaard will reach his potential If I had a crystal ball, I’d by using it for much more productive things…. I just think writing off young players is a bit knee jerk, he’s started 4 games, after not playing much football this season Building new relationships with his teammates, and he’s not played much this season Odegaard is a massive talent, there’s no guarantee he’ll reach his potential, but from what I’ve seen from him, I’d be inclined to take a punt at the right price Statistically he was only behind Messi in… Read more »
Saka……………..the football brain on that kid is outrageous , someone should do a mock with saka and the tefal head . You can see he is knackerd but conserves his energy for the decisive moment and he makes it count almost every time dangerous dangerous player
Does Odegarrd have a higher ceiling than Saka ? no
Odegaard 2019/20
1st possession won in the final third.
2nd most through balls
3rd most expected assist (xA)
3rd most passes into the box
6th most chances created
These are really good stats for a player who was 20/21
Summarising tonight’s game we got out of gaol following two poor decisions by Ceballos resulting in two goals, which should have been avoided. There are of course other matters, which one could criticise about the way we played including the slow build up and failure to put Benefica under more pressure until the last quarter of the game. We know that our first team squad is very much a work in progress. What we learned tonight and frankly have known for two seasons is that Ceballos is a “powder puff ” central midfielder. Defensively he is weak and frankly creatively… Read more »
If you judge individual skill alone, Odegarrd is better than ESR. But I find ESR is more suitable to play in the EPL. There are many teams parking the bus. ESR’s game is one touch football and combination play (of course not today). His game is faster and more effective against low block. Odegarrd can hang on to the ball and try to play defense splitting passes. Against a compact defense like today, done of it went through. He was forced to play a lot of sideways passes.
“These are really good stats for a player who was 20/21“
Yes they are and that’s why Madrid would ask premium for him.
What your idea of “taking a punt” on him then?
It’s time to pay attention to when Real Madrid starts to release players or starts to loan them these guys are hardly ever wrong ,and it’s time we start paying attention they are experts at judging a player and knowing when to release them . somebody named me a player that’s been released by Madrid that’s gone on to have a better career somewhere else.
We were all delighted when we got Ozil but they saw something in him that wasn’t apparently obvious to a lot of fans and indeed they were right about a lot of things.. ozil gave us really one good season
They have their sources and I’m sure they knew about all his extracurricular activities including smoking partying clubbing etc. they take all those considerations into account
Does anyone think Dani is going for play for Madrid again?
Once upon a time these teams would be clamoring for our players especially Barcelona now they laugh at us
Under normal circumstances £40-£50mill
In a decimated transfer market, £30-£40million
Depends on how he does over the remainder of the season, and if he’d be interested in joining a club with potentially no European football
Outside of Bayern Munich, and clubs with very wealthy owners, I don’t see much money being spent at all this summer
You have to admire Arteta’s gut to sub in Willian while we were trailing 2 – 1. All the fans were calling for Pepe or Martinelli. He would be toasted if we lost this game.
Guns of SF
You may be right, although I am sure that a lot of their supporters were disappointed when
Ronaldo left.
I would certainly not invest money in Ceballos and I need to be convinced that it makes sense spending a lot of money on Odegaard. There are better players elsewhere who will add more to our team
ES
Agreed. Every team has fan favorites and fan legends and it sucks when they leave we had our share as well but the folks over at Madrid know what they’re doing and they have a keen eye for players they been doing this for generations we just need to pay more attention to when they let players go or not them out
I keep banging on about this because it goes back to some of our root issues ,Being player recruitment and what we need as a team ,it’s still seems we are basing our judgments on big names big teams and big agents.
Stat Dna picked ode? I doubt it.
Or stat dna needs another set of eyes 👀
Emiratesstroller
How much would either Grealish or Maddison cost?
My guess is a 100-150% of the price of Odegaard.
Leicester will likely get CL, and we couldn’t compete with City, United, Chelsea for Grealish, certainly not without European football on offer
As we’ve seen with Havertz + Werner + Pepe, players often take time to adapt, and that’s if they adapt at all
I’d love us to buy a PL proven attacking midfielder who’s just coming into his prime, I’m just not sure who viable that is
Guns I disagree in that most of the points we dropped even in wenger peak years was against teams that parked the bus. Fat sam made a name for himself out of playing a 9-0-1 and rotational fouling and it worked a treat because we’d get very frustrated and they’d catch us on the break
One of Arsenal’s greatest European nights. Big comeback, big character. Such an important win, brilliantly led by
@Aubameyang7 (Piers Morgan)
…this club will be celebrating 11th place finishes soon
Good result
Btw another game where martinelli is dropped. Still a priority Pedro?
I hope we get one of those dross teams in the next round. Molde or young boys etc lol
The fewer real teams we have to play the better. At least Leicester are out as well
Lol @ piers Morgan
Never mind inter Milan at the San siro, cesc destroying juventus, Henry destroying real away, wilshere dominating Barca’s greatest ever midfield
It was that round of 32 game against benfica 😂😂
He’ll wake up and regret that one China, but the damage is already done as the trolling has commenced.
I really hope these rumors of us being in for draxler are fake
The last thing we need as to start hoarding wingers. We already aren’t selecting our best wingers on the regular, stockpiling more ageing wingers on high wages who will probably not help us is the last thing our squad needs. Literally the last
That away game against real included my favourite ever save from Jens Lehman. It was fucking magic
I think Jens also saves a penalty vs villa real late in the semis
Jens was a pretty erratic keeper and not world class imo but in 2005-06 he was a straight 10. Unreal season
China
Yah, Jens played like a boss. And saved a pen against riquelme of all players.
Martinelli dropped again. Willian has a horrendous showing for about 3 months now, and he still gets picked. This is why I have doubts about arteta being a generational coach.
We should be defeating benfica with our B side, but looking at AFTV, it sounds like we won the final or eliminated one of the favourites. Sad to see how far the standards have been dropped.
I’m in two minds about Ødegaard. Lovely little touches, and good positioning, but at this stage a bit slow in his decision making.
From what I’ve seen so far I prefer ESR , who brings a lot more energy and one touch combination play.
Ødegaard was brought in for his defence-splitting passes, and we’ve seen none so far: he’s still playing pretty conservatively. Against Benfica earlier it was Saka who played those passes.
Ode was ok, he can give you what you expect a 6 month loanee to give you. The moment he understands how Auba moves, Real Madrid will get their developed player back. The problem is how poor the attack in general looks, which is clearly a coaching issue. Benfica didn’t have to park the bus or anything (no side does that against us anymore to be quite honest) and despite our two attacking midfielders and using the best creative weapons we have, we still default to the crosses. ESR looks less relevant with each match, it wasn’t a fitness issue,… Read more »
Arteta has opened up my eye when he subs in Laca and played Saka as right back.
China1
Lehmann’s save against Solskjaer was better.
Blackstock I don’t recall that one somehow??
“Arteta told reporters: “Willian specifically, I think he changed the game. He gave us much more composure in moments, produced some creativity, produced the goal for Kieran and we need everybody on board.” Madness. Happy for the win but he has been beasting that lineup pretty hard lately, Saka needs a break, he’s been by far our best player this season but he can’t play every minute. ESR isn’t a winger and should only play at the same time as Ode in a midfield 3 in front of Partey, if not it’s either of them. Why is Pepe benched again… Read more »
Continue with my last post. What I wanted to say is that Arteta finally woke up and realized that his favorite, Bellerin, is not very good!!!!
Watched the game this morning with my son. Saviour Saka with a killer “Mahrezesque for Sterling” pin point cross for Auba to win the game. I thought MO did well considering he’s still settling in and catching up with game minutes he’s been missing for many months. He will come good. Problem is the better he becomes the higher his price will be. Willian as sub again? No way we buy Ceballos at the end of the season or loan him back again. The reality is that Arteta problem will buy him. ESR seems to be far less effective out… Read more »
China1
https://youtu.be/AxbmiAcOxLc
Nelson
“Continue with my last post. What I wanted to say is that Arteta finally woke up and realized that his favorite, Bellerin, is not very good!!!!”
Any yet brought his favourite Willian on who once again did nothing of note.
I’m really sick of this pretence of a manager.
Right now MO is a tidy player settling in with the PL pace and close attention from opposition players. He’s both tidy on the ball and has great positioning for his work off the ball and vision for defense splitting passes. He’s never been a speedster but then nor was DB10; however, I’ve always seen similarities in MO’s play. Mo can speed up or slow the tempo down to suit the game or at least he was good doing that playing for Norway at 15 and RM at 16. I guess the $64K question is has MO peaked too early… Read more »
That good a coach*
One thing Tierney can improve upon is the effectiveness of his cross. Saka’s cross aims at Auba. João Cancelo plays Tierney’s position. His crosses aim at Silva or Jesus. I find Tierney’s cross aims at a location in the box and not where Auba is.
China, Wrong and right…. Wenger went undefeated and had much success with his teams. Most of the opponents would have to park the bus, but our industrious mids and forwards kept at it, finding the seams and cracks to break through. Most of my memories of Cesc is him doing just this, over and over. In latter days, we did get hit on the counter under wenger, with some mediocre defenders playing too high up… A big criticism of Weng was his inability to organize a strong defense. it is true. But to say that we struggled against the low… Read more »
I read somewhere this morning about the salaries of the players and Martinelli is on 90K per week@!>! I mean this is great for the young man financially, but is this prudent for a player who does not even play? a 5 year deal? I mean it makes me scratch my head. That is a big outlay for a club that is penny pinching to get by. And, the player does not play? It feels like a golden handcuff in some ways. Glad that he can help himself and his family with that kind of money, but at least freaking… Read more »
Its great that we won.
This team NEEDS a proper CM urgently,
Benfica passed the ball in midfield so much better than us. Our forwards are decent.
Guns ofc we were still quality and the invincible a and doubles were incredible – but my point is if you look at the way we dropped points and all those titles that Utd and then Chelsea won ahead of us, those points we dropped were not normally against the teams will to have a go at us. Those teams were the ones we’d hit 5 past. We normally dropped points against the bus Parkers of this world
Winthorpe we know why Qatar got the World Cup and it’s nothing to do with football!
It used to pass me off to no end how teams and managers would get credit for beating us with lowest common denominator rubbish of just putting everyone in and around their own box and scoring a winner off a corner kick
It’s legal but just rubbish. Requires zero footballing or tactical intelligence and literally just consists of having so many bodies at the back that there are too few avenues for the offensive team to exploit. A child could come up with that rubbish
Fat Sam literally built his name off that rubbish
SO China the point is, where are we now with attacking the low block? not very good IMO Bar Saka, attacking from the right with his step overs into the box, or KT on the other side putting in crosses, we still lack a center attacking who can make something happen. is this supposed to be Ode? Seems like it based on his playing position. IT goes back to my point about who and how are we recruiting new players. I get it that loans do not give you much options so take what you get. But, its does make… Read more »
Qataris have their culture and NO culture is superior to the other,
The money from the contractors in Qatar flows through London so the holier than thou act is hypocritical as usual
Back to football..
Guns
If true, maybe it’s to ward off clubs interests in Martinelli.
Should do similar with Saka and KT.
Some young players warrant high salaries/packages to help stop their heads being turned by clubs and agents alike.
Saka is on like 30K Tony, so it makes weird sense if any at all?
Fella should be the highest earner on the team based on play alone
No argument there Guns.
Do you feel Saka is being over played?
The one constant with Arsenal and particularly Arteta is their inconsistency.
Yes, and its a double edged sword.
On one hand, he is getting better with all the minutes, and really getting a confidence about him now. He is almost unplayable at times
Injury is a big concern… and a major one if he continues. Clearly he is in the red zone already.
Mike is dependent on him to save his bacon and its a shame. We have another player who needs minutes and could help spell Saka….
#freemartinelli 90 K PW man
30K PW man plays 100 percent of games
90K PW man plays hardly any minutes
What is wrong with this picture
Arteta using Odegaad to kill ESR
Havyn
I’d like to see MO partner Partey and move ESR more centrally.
KT and ESR seem to not have the same potency as KT and Pepe.
I think everyone can see you get much more tempo and speedy play when you play ESR at 10 for me this is Arteta again not seeing what a top coach should be , I was honestly thinking he was going to use ODE to give ESR a rest not play him over ESR,PEPE and Martinelli as that is effectively what he is doing by shunting ESR out left when it is clear as day that we play much better and at a much higher tempo when ESR is in the middle and you just get much more from Saka… Read more »
all that said , I don’t care what football anti manager plays but he really really needs to get something out of the foxes game and he needs a win against spurs ….a loss against spurs and that will confirm we have Damien Thorne as the Arsenal manager LOL………….LOL
Happy for the win (of course)… But I think it only reinforces the opinion that Arteta is not the right person for the job.
People talking about the great sub, Lets get real Willian did nothing in that move except pass the ball back to KT, it was 100% KT’s goal.
Arteta is going to end up getting himself fired. Bringing on Willian was nothing short of embarrassing. Pepe was firing on the left, looking like the real thing, hasn’t been seen since??
Going forward I’d like to see
Pepe – Martinelli- Saka
ESR -MO
Thomas
Works for me, Socrates
Can’t wait for Pedro to announce the win was the second coming.
Sell it, Pedro, I wanna feel your sauce pitch!
Is a manager on the touch line looking nervous and with fear on his eyes a generational confidence booster for his players?
Probably not.
Honestly , Ceballos is shit , cancel his loan and send him bback to madrid . I think we would have sttrolled to a 1-0 win if not for him. Partey is gold , the difference is for all to see in second half . Saka and Tierney needs to be protected at all costs.
. Still not convinced by Arteta and his subs selection. Chasing the game and bringing Willian on . ESR on leftwing , why ?
Reported that Arteta has told £200k a week Willian he should learn from rookie youth £30k per week, Saka.
Generational some say.
“Arteta told reporters: “Willian specifically, I think he changed the game. He gave us much more composure in moments, produced some creativity, produced the goal for Kieran and we need everybody on board.”
Madness.
——————
Freddie
Arteta trying to justify to Kroenke that he hasn’t wasted £30m of his money on a player most amateur observers new didn’t deserve those wages.
Nothing to see here, just more bs from the generational one.
Devine
“Still not convinced by Arteta and his subs selection. Chasing the game and bringing Willian on . ESR on leftwing , why ?”
Because he overthinks all the time and then wants to appear generational, forward thinking and the smartest guy in the room.
AFC is going to appear later and have a hay day naming trolls.
Did bergkamp 63 leave citing he won’t be back until the Arsenal trolling stops?
Then a day later return as berg13kamp?
Asking for a friend.
Seriously anyone who is happy after that game must set the bar pretty low. Benfica are useless and any decent team would have slaughtered us. How can the spuds put 8 past a bunch of farmers yet we continue to struggle? Or Ranger put 9 past Antwerp? This is not trolling, just being brutally honest. Same old mistakes, same old crosses into the box to no one, same old Xhaka getting his head out of the way of the free kick to preserve his looks, same old lack of desire, same old Willian sub when chasing the game (please don’t… Read more »
Tony,
I’m not Arteta’s biggest fan but some of the criticism he’s receiving is more about the emotions of the posters than the reality. The idea that he believes he’s a ‘generational’ post and his arrogance is betrayed by his team selections seems like projection from an emotionally charged section of the fan base. Fair enough if you don’t think he’s good enough but arrogant, don’t see it myself.
‘generational ‘ coach
Whilst we standstill we Arteta, Tottenham is considering bringing in Nagaelsmann.
He actually IS a genuine generational coach with a track record and independent admirers….
After this season who genuinely believes Arteta is a generational coach? (Your best friend and your mum doesn’t count.)
Besides Arteta and his obsessives like to have it both ways…
When he wins he’s a generational coach… but when he loses he’s a newbie who.should be given more time and more allowances. You can’t have it both ways.
Arteta has to be held accountable.
When players are clearly not good enough but you play them anyway, at the expense of leaving out players that clearly are good enough or have upped their games, something is clearly wrong with your leadership skills. When I see Bellerin play each week, along with Luiz and Willian( let’s add GX to the list) you have to question Arteta’s abilities at progressing the team. Lacazette is being ignored. Pepe, who was showing signs of improvement, is not to be seen and Martinelli is a spectator. Cedric should be ahead of Bellerin all day long and Holding ahead of Luiz.… Read more »
Qataris have their culture and NO culture is superior to the other, The money from the contractors in Qatar flows through London so the holier than thou act is hypocritical as usual Back to football Sid Breathtakingly shallow post even by your standards. This isn’t culture we’re talking about in relation to the Qatar world cup, its naked exploitation of workers and corruption, in a place where they’re organising one massive sports washing event. Thousands of migrant workers have died building those ridiculous stadia and you’re saying “nothing to see” .. Other pariah states such as Israel, Russia, UAE, Saudi… Read more »
Ok celebrate the comeback which means progress in the competition but let’s be brutally honest Benefica are a sad image of a once great club who over two legs should have been dispatched with ease. What we witnessed last night was not inspiring in any shape or form and highlighted just how much work needs to be done to get Arsenal back into a position where there could be a realistic challenge for a top 4 place that must be achieved if not just income is to grow but linked to that is to attract that next generation of supporters… Read more »
The world cup in qatar will be one of the worst but so long as fifa gets paid they won’t care. It’s not a sport anymore, it’s a business.
The UN and Nato are some other corrupt organization, that just cater to the well being of the top 6 nations in the world. It’s kind of like a hidden dictator for the world.
Kroenkephobe
100% agree … Where fundamentalist ideology meets crony capitalism and not for the first time in history, nor last.
Yea Sid, not a great take on cultural differences. I actually wish my country would adopt some of the aspects of foreign cultures that might be superior to ours. Public stoning would be really cool, where they bury poor bastards waste deep in the ground and chuck rocks at their heads. Instead of spring training the major league pitchers could practice their fast balls all year round on millions of adulterous Americans. One thing I don’t get though………..why bury women shoulders deep and men waist deep? Hardly seems fair. Women are already smaller and then you give the stone throwers… Read more »