OMFG A RESULT.
Sure, sure, winning in the Europa League last 16 isn’t busting out the red panties and champagne, but a win, is a win, is a win.
The game followed a very familiar pattern.
Total control + massive unforced errors. The main difference this time is we took our chances going forward.
The first half was painfully dominant. We controlled the play, had lots of different answers in attack, and we hit the target with TWO freekicks. It was quite the scene.
… but lurking in the dark, like a sweaty pervert at a work party, was an unforced error. The biggest one came from Martin Odegaard, he played a hospital pass across midfield, the ball was intercepted and we were lucky to escape the counter with a nothing moment. David Luiz also had one of his standard brain farts that has cost us so often in his short career with us.
The Norwegian loanee did make amends down the other end though. He took control of the ball on the edge of the box, looked up for the pass and decided instead to fire off a fizzing shot at the Olympiacos keeper who totally made a hash of the save. SCORCHIO was all I could say. What a way to open your goal-scoring account.
The second half should have been more comfortable than it was. The mistake was a Leno/Ceballos class in clowning. Bernd Leno received a fairly standard pass back him on the edge of his box, he had three options open, he chose to go back to a tightly marked Ceballos, the Spaniard didn’t have the skill to protect the ball, and we were punished to the max as usual.
I think we were all a little worried Arsenal would shut down like we normally do after a mistake. It didn’t happen this time. Willian came to the rescue with his immense creativity again. He dropped a deep cross from a short corner, Gabriel barged in front of Auba who was tracking, putting a sublime header back across goal. Inch perfect stuff from the Brazilian.
7 assists for Willian this season. The new Ozil? No. The new Arsenal GOD. He’s not my fave, but if he’s contributing, it’s a good thing for everyone.
The final goal was all about Mo Elneny. He picked the ball up in midfield, drove at goal, and unleashed fury. Stunning stuff from the best Egyptian in world football. He loves a goal in the Europa.
Arsenal left Greece for the 2nd time this month, but far happier. We beat a solid Champions League side with ease and left with a whopping 3 away goals. That means Olympiacos have to score 3 without a response to win. A tough ask against a team that doesn’t ship goals like they used to. Also a risky game to attack if we spring load our forward line with pace merchants like Pepe and Martinelli.
Some negatives?
Thomas Partey came off on 55 minutes, he didn’t have his best game, but I am sure he’ll be available for the NLD at the weekend. Even when he’s having an off night, he contributes. His assist set the ball rolling. I think we have to be fair with him, his fitness is precious and he’s still adapting to the club. I can’t wait to see him develop the way we know he will.
The main talking point was Bernd Leno again. Martinez fans were running around aroused after the game, keen to whine that we sold the wrong keeper. It’s certainly not that simple to my mind, but the more this new system evolves, the clearer it is that Bernd needs to sharpen his game with the ball at his feet. Leno made the error today, but let’s be clear, it wasn’t his at the weekend.
Some moan that it’s a system issue. I disagree. Playing out the back is part of the way Arteta wants to play. It has more benefits to our play than it does negatives, so to bin it would be a weakness (Emery caved, and he’s meek management 101). It’s about the players making better decisions. Everything else in the German’s game is electric. He just needs to double down and concentrate a bit more.
7 of the 14 goals we’ve conceded this year have been from unforced errors. Arteta knows this is a problem.
“We have to be very clear and honest with ourselves. We gave three chances to the opponent, they took one and at that level they are going to punish you,”
“If we want to go to the next level we have to stop that and be more ruthless and when we are that dominant, kill the games off.”
It’s annoying, but it’s also a gift. It means it’s absolutely clear the job that needs to be done this summer. Some of this can be eradicated over time. I do not expect Martin O to make those mistakes next season. Some of it can be addressed with coaching. Some will come with the natural churn in the squad as we upgrade.
Overall though, what we’re seeing on the pitch is exciting. As I’ve been saying for a while, there’s something brewing at Arsenal. The football has a clear identity, the players all know what they’re doing, and we’re producing high-quality chances over and over again. 18 shots, 8 on target… that’s a good outlay considering where we were a few months ago.
We have a really solid group of players at the moment. Look at the squad reaction when Martin O scored that goal. The players are together. Look at how they reacted to BIG Mo scoring his goal. There’s a culture building. It’s exciting.
The fundamentals are there. We defend well, our off-the-ball movement is great, we have style, and we create excellent chances. Arsenal are on the right path. Now we have to prove our mettle by beating Spurs on Sunday. A huge ask, but a do-able one. That game is our Premier League Cup Final. Win, and it’s all smiles, anything else, it’ll be a problem.
See you in the comments. x
Own worst enemy
Could have easily lost this game….some silly play at times
3 away goals though….that’ll do
Tr4phy
10 th is the new trophy 😂😂😂.
Just joking. The performances recently have been very good. if we keep doing it the results will come too. The only thing that bothers me is Arteta’s patriarchy and the weird team selections. And of course the results. If things go our way we have a chance to win it all. We just have to cut out the dumb mistakes.
Thought we started the 2nd half to negative let’s not pull punches the Greeks are shit with centre backs SOK and M’villa, the game changer was the great header by Gab and it looked in that stage we were settling for 1-1. Please stop giving goals away my heart can’t take anymore!
Too negative
Total control yet we barely had 1.03 xG to Olympiacos’ 0.86. The best chance of the game being their goal at 0.4 xG. Our shots, excluding the 2 outside of the box goals and a header that good we will remember for a long time, were passes to their keeper. Same keeper that gifted us both long range goals. Odegaard and Elneny’s goals are both marked at 0.2 xG with Gabriel’s at 0.3 xG. We really didn’t create much. Pedro: “Overall though, what we’re seeing on the pitch is exciting. As I’ve been saying for a while, there’s something brewing… Read more »
Pedro: “Overall though, what we’re seeing on the pitch is exciting. As I’ve been saying for a while, there’s something brewing at Arsenal. The football has a clear identity, the players all know what they’re doing, and we’re producing high-quality chances over and over again. 18 shots, 8 on target… that’s a good outlay considering where we were a few months ago.”
Never mind that we created ZERO big chances … The salesman at work ” brings out the free tupperware, for a limited time of course
“Playing out the back is part of the way Arteta wants to play. It has more benefits to our play than it does negatives”
Funny that, because we can all highlight several times that it has cost us, but I can’t think of a single time that it has made a noticeable contribution to a goal in our favour.
Either dump the tactic or change the ‘keeper, it’s a poor fit.
A good opening 15/20 mins A good closing 15 mins . The bit inbetween was very average.. Luiz was lucky , all the Olympiakos player had to do was lay a 5 yaed square ball to his team mate and he had an open goal. I thought we were very slack in possession of the ball in the middle part of the game. Partey, Odegaard and Saka were culpable and it could have cost us the game. Willian and Xhaka were predictably safe in possession and rarely did anything more than recycle the ball. The sooner Arteta puts Smith Rowe… Read more »
I think Leno was 10% to blame and Ceballos 90%. It wasn’t Leno’s best idea, sure, but Ceballos must know the system by now; Leno plays out to the CB who essentially invites the press, and is meant to play the first time ball out to the available full back, which should then leave us in a stronger position to counter. Ceballos makes the same mistake as Xhaka by trying to take the extra touch when all he needs to do is play that ball quickly out to Hector. As for Willian, he wasn’t too bad yesterday, but his contribution… Read more »
“A good opening 15/20 mins
A good closing 15 mins .”
Yep, pretty much sums up the match. The result and the goals excited me not the all round performance if I’m being honest.
** but his contribution WASN’T v much either**
Pedro Arsenal are becoming a Jekyll and Hyde Team. We are good enough at least on paper to beat most teams in EPL apart from perhaps Man City. On the other hand the schoolboy errors have cost us far too many goals and games this season. Let’s be clear the only side who has outplayed us this side of Christmas has been Man City. We could have beaten Man Utd and frankly should have spanked Wolves , but for two red cards. Frankly we are also better than Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Burnley. The reality is that we are… Read more »
DM “I think Leno was 10% to blame and Ceballos 90%. It wasn’t Leno’s best idea, sure, but Ceballos must know the system by now;” I’m not sure Messi could have wriggled himself out of that position. The ball from Leno had no pace, hence when it reached Ceballos the opposition were all over him… His best option would have probably been to hoof the ball and man as hard and as far as possible.. Leno’s fault, and why was he standing on the right corner of his area , leaving an empty goal ..there was no reason for Leno… Read more »
Cesc took those passes on the half turn all day long when he was 17.
Dani and Xhaka are average footballers, that’s why they keep making routine errors.
Willian is going to be our new Ozil/Giroud/Xhaka where he does just enough to make it look like he’s contributing but you know with a different player in there you could be doing so much better.
It’s going to be a long couple of years.
Pierre “I’m not sure Messi could have wriggled himself out of that position. The ball from Leno had no pace, hence when it reached Ceballos the opposition were all over him…” I’ve rewatched it and I’ll up it to Leno 30%, Ceballos 70% at fault. It was a worse ball from Leno than I had remembered (and he had an easy option in Bellerin), but even so, you can see that Ceballos tries to play it skillfully instead of either hoofing it or trying to get it to Hector first time. He shouldn’t be trying to “wriggle himself out” at… Read more »
We are progressing on the pitch but not at the “EVERYONE LOOK AT US NOW” “WHO EVER DARED TO DOUBT US?” stage.
We’re still an very inconsistent work in progress who are starting to twitch again after our near death experience in the first half of the season.
Onwards and upwards. But lets not preened were up and running when we’re walking with a crutch.
*pretend
Other than the 3 mistakes from Luiz, Odegaard and Ceballos, the overall performance was decent enough
3 really good goals, loved Gabriel’s header
Odegaard tried taking responsibility, particularly in the second half, he was probably our best player, Gabriel also played well
3 away goals against an opponent who’s caused us issues in recent seasons, I’d have certainly take 1-3 if I’d be offered it before kick off
Anyone else’s anxiety being kicked into overdrive ahead of the NLD on Sunday?
Pedro “Some moan that it’s a system issue. I disagree. Playing out the back is part of the way Arteta wants to play. It has more benefits to our play than it does negatives, so to bin it would be a weakness” It’s like the cast of Allo Allo on here at times; good moaning. There is nothing wrong with the system or that way to play. Doesn’t matter what system you play if players make basic mistakes or poor decisions you get punished. It breaks the press, opens teams up and enables you to play through the lines. Top… Read more »
It’s all about risk v’s benefit. That pass from Leno was all risk with zero potential upside that I could see. Ceballos couldn’t take the two opponents out of the game with only a first time pass back to Leno as an option. In simple terms Leno has poor judgement to go with his lack of ability with the ball at his feet. And given what happened previously it seems he doesn’t learn from his mistakes either. Not a winning combination.
Rich, Pretty much agree with that. What I liked about Odegaard was he didn’t seem fazed by a couple of bad passes early on, he still kept making himself available for the ball. he didn’t hide. That’s a sign of good character and confidence in his ability. The goal was a screamer, that really flew. Gabriel was as composed as usual and that was a brilliant header, a combination of timing, power and desire. He is a quality player. PS: Never enjoy an NLD, it’s too tense. Nothing better than beating them, nothing worse than losing. But it would be… Read more »
Pierre I disagree with you analysis of what happened between Leno and Ceballos, which had similarities to the goal conceded by Xhaka against Burnley. Leno’s “selection” of distribution was wrong, because Ceballos was not in space when he took delivery. Okay Ceballos poor control and physical weakness was also a factor as well. However, as Arteta indicated in his post match interview Arsenal’s problems are not down to the tactical formula, but rather the decision making of players. Let’s be clear Leno had better options than passing to Xhaka and Ceballos. He failed to recognise the risk or potential danger… Read more »
Leno is a very poor decision maker.
Often a quick throw will set an attack up and he just holds the ball and dithers so the opposing team have time to shape up their formation.
Also he seems to have tunnel vision and there are players free and wide which he doesn’t see.
Goalkeepers are droppable and sometimes it’s the best medicine
Andy1886
“That pass from Leno was all risk with zero potential upside that I could see”
I agree. The overhead camera image showed that instead of going to the easy left/right options or going long he chose that one. What made it worse was the fact that he wasn’t in front of the goal when he did it, which meant he had made a risky pass with the goal exposed, so he couldn’t possibly save it. Bonkers decision.
Yes Ceballos got caught on the ball but the pass to him was the wrong option.
We were linked with David Raya pre season. I can see us being back in for him. He’s very good with his feet and he’ll qualify as home grown
whilst I am happy about the result the performance is still very frustrating and whilst i get the narrative about players individual mistakes not being the fault of the coach which you can agree with but at the same time you can also whole heartedly disagree with that train of thought because the players making these mistakes are the same players who consistently make these mistakes and are also consistently picked 2,3 and 4 on the team sheet . The issue then becomes the coach who continually picks these muppets .On top of that you have the post match interview… Read more »
Mourinho taking charge at Spurs has made the build up to the NLD even more excruciating
There’s current no more dislikable people in football than Mourinho, Kane, Bale, Son and Alli
I’ve backed Leno all season and did so last Saturday, but I’d point to the finger squarely at him for their goal last night. It was a ludicrous choice of pass. It’s good to hear Arteta publicly acknowledge the schoolboy errors while simultaneously look mightily pissed off about it. The competition will only get more fierce the further we go on this cup and more nonsense like this will trip us up. Leno has to sharpen up this aspect of his game. Work on it on training, simulate these scenarios until he is doing it blindfolded. If he can’t shape… Read more »
A match is won by moments like what willian did (pinpoint cross to Luiz vs foxes, cross to gabriel vs greeks). Point is if willian is largely doing nothing but produces a moment that wins us the match what else do you want. Also i don’t think we the fans want wins more than Arteta, so if the coach thinks willian is the best suit for the day’s tactics why should we whine that much ofcourse scrutiny is okay but we at times go overboard
Yay we can beat a Greek team in the Europa.
But China… The name that guns of Hackney gave Giroud, aka nougat boy, absolutely cracks me up. That’s all time hilarious
Stroller
“I disagree with you analysis of what happened between Leno and Ceballos,
Let’s be clear Leno had better options than passing to Xhaka and Ceballos. He failed to recognise the risk or potential danger when he passed. Leno was also poorly positioned on
the field when he made the pass to Ceballos and left his goal totally exposed..”
I would say that you are agreeing with me rather than disagreeing.
Odds gotta be fairly high we get either United or Spurs next round
For me the GK kicks the ball to the right or left to full backs it has less danger than down the middle to the receiving midfielder but have to say the touches by Xhaka and Cell were piss poor but then there is too much pressure on them which the full backs don’t have because they are already on the half turn.
Hopefully they draw each other
Think Man U will go out I watched most of the game and Milan were far superior.
Wilder about to leave Sheffield United
I would try to get their best player, Sanders Berge now.
They’ll be open to do a deal. Perfect age profile, Guendouzi replacement, Norwegian so we could use his arrival to entice Odegaard.
Good win, average performance We were lucky our shots went in ( terrible goal keeping) and theirs didn’t ( terrible finishing) Auba might have just stayed home, shocking from the captain Arteta is killing Martinelle career His confidence must be rock bottom right now How come he is not even getting 15 mins FFS!! Saliba, Guen, Pepe, Balogun, ESR all have been at the receiving end of Arteta’s wrath and retribution with different degrees! Saka obviously not at the races last 2 games and Arteta is running him into the ground! Anyone counting Willian’s 7 so called assists is obviously… Read more »
Win or Die
‘A match is won by moments like what Willian did (pinpoint cross to Luiz vs foxes, cross to gabriel vs greeks)’
The cross last night was a very speculative, floated cross into the box. You can say in hindsight it was a good cross because we scored from it, but that was made almost entirely from the quality of Gabriel’s header, not old man Willian’s floated cross.
I disagree that Leno wasn’t at fault at the weekend. Yes he was less at fault for that error but he still played a part in passing to Xhaka who was central and facing and heading back towards his own goal while under pressure. He was more at fault for the Ceballos pass last night when there were far easier, safer and better options, Luiz out wide. It can’t be that hard to work out that if the possession pass is not on wide either side, then spank it long.
Why did we choose Leno over Martinez ? Is it because he’s German. It certainly wasn’t because he’s the more confident keeper.
We ll be third in the league with Martinez as keeper and a huge favorite for Europa. Leno reminds me of Xhaka in the sense that he looks like the guy who trains well, follows instructions well but ultimately not good enough.
Pierre
You actually made one decent Criticism of Leno out all these posts. His starting position when he received the ball from Gabriel was terrible. He was on the right side of the penalty box and far off his line. That made passing to either Gabriel or bellerin hard. That’s why he went to Ceballos. But Ceballos could have returned it if he had any awareness.
It was his mistake last week too, he shouldn’t have passed to Xhaka, he had one or two better options. But because he’s not a confident guy, he passed the ball to an under pressure Xhaka.
Martinez isn’t a scaredy cat.
Martinez is the best keeper in the league, he was showing that form before he left. He had something to prove. Yet we kept the scared, inferior one.
We keep letting go of great players like schezny( forgot how to spell) Fabianski, Gnabry and now Martinez. Who is the idiot making these decisions at Arsenal ?
Odegaard has a hammer of a shoot. I have seen it twice already. That is a skill he should use it more often. I wouldn’t advise Partey to fire any more long shot. It looks ugly.
I’m not sure Messi could have wriggled himself out of that position”
Partey did in the benfica game & it led to a goal. We just need better personnel of his ilk in that midfield.
Every pass playing out from the back is a risky pass.. The Leno pass isn’t the issue, the players are.
Emiratesstroller
You are looking at the wrong way here , Leno made the right choices on both occasion and the players let him down on both occassions. Both the CBs were too wide for him to play the pass , Ceballos made himself available and by the time Gabriel came inside , Ceballos lost the ball (also because he was not aware of his surroundings ) he took that touch that made it easy for Olympiakos player to snatch it.
I think we just have live with Leno’s poor distribution. Maybe when the club have the money another keeper might be on the wish list.
All Ceballos had to do was pass it back to Leno and the pass to Gabriel was on and then forwards. Its Ceballos fuck up , not Leno.
Not like Ceballos didnt fuck up earlier in the Benfica match . Honestly the Arsenal midfield needs a huge upgrade. Ceballos’s loan shouldnt be extended , Xhaka should be squad player or sold . Same for Elneny.
Our German keeper is too sophisticated for the lesser mortals in midfield.
it seems pretty clear that Arteta wants the CM under the most pressure to receive the ball in the middle of the pitch this is clearly a tactic and not an accident or for that matter poor judgement from the players instructed to execute the play (the bigger the risk the bigger the reward ) it is however an increased risk when you only have one player who has the attributes to make this tactic a very affective weapon for launching swift and profitable counter attacks .Ronald needs to realise this and buy some of the six players ne needs… Read more »
Sid a good goalkeeper would recognise that surely and play accordingly.?
I am trying to understand Arteta’s thought process. Sometimes, it appears that he values the system play more than individual strength. That’s probably why he selects Willian over Pepe. On the other hand, ESR is a typical system player. If he plays Ødegaard as the ACM, then I think he puts higher priority to get Auba going. But up to now, Ødegaard and Auba don’t seem to be linking up yet.
The Bard
The fact that we may have to buy a new keeper is a problem. We shouldn’t be buying keepers at all with the amount of good goalkeepers we ve allowed to slip thru our fingers. Keeping Martinez we would have been set for a few years.
Afternoon, Good result, not the greatest performance though, but almost job done. Players making individual errors are the same time and time again, if their not moved on in the summer.then we will never learn. Xhaka, Luis,and probably Leno. Arsenal made a bad call selling martinez but it’s done now so not much can be done about that. Hey Pedro, remember you couldn’t believe I’d double down on elneny rather than your boy xhaka.the second best midfielder we had, you said. The final goal was all about Mo Elneny. He picked the ball up in midfield, drove at goal, and… Read more »
Saka and Odegaard seem to be taking up similar spaces on the right. Even though Saka can run in behind, both are left footed and prefer ball to feet.
Up for grabs.
That’s the trouble it’s a mental thing you make that many
mistakes safety first comes in to your game Xhaka is a prime example.
So many players in the side opt for the safe route.
We are playing better but we hardly flow over the 90 minutes.
The occasional purr move is rare?
The fractured game of the prime suspects stops this.
Odegaards great goal was against the norm from midfield lovely as it was he’s miss earlier was of THE Pepe miss of the game territory.
However we move on.👌
The lover’s weaknesses are my strengths. That is tolerance level and Williams euphoria
Leno fumbles for 1.2 seconds before he can make a a pass
Xaka has to make his standard dumb barge turn before “ ditto”
Luis has to move in a direction alerting about the portends to come until he makes a pass
But Dumber Sauce has to shoehorn his tactics no matter what personnel he has. Poor Half-Track still needs to sign 22-7=15 more players until he gets his own full team. Kroenke , he is going to cost you a bit for 7th place
Santi would probably of wriggled out that situation better than most player’s.
James, It’s true safety first, even when chasing games if we’re losing. You have a team under pressure and we pass back to xhaka who can’t thread an eye of the needle pass, so it goes back to the keeper and the opposition push out. I get no joy in saying it but you look at Ferguson’s teams it would be relentless pressure on the opposition box to force an error. And that was when they we’re drawing and needed a win. Even Wenger back in the day threw four strikers on sometimes. This recycling of the ball is so… Read more »
Friday joke time. Steve n John off grew up playing football 7/24. Now in their 60’s Steve receives a call from John 1 Friday night. “What’s up John?” “Steve i gotta tell ya I’ve got 2 days to live, I’m gone Monday”. After the tears Steve says ” John do me favour if u can come back an let me know what it’s like up there”. Sure enough Monday comes and John passes. Weds night in bed Steve hears a voice. ” Steve its me John, I’ve come back to tell ya” Steve says “well whats it like?” John says… Read more »
Samesong
To this day santi has never been replaced.
Hopefully ESR can step up and fill the void.
Up 4 grabs
Regarding the confusing, but predictable recycling of the ball is just Sauce putting lipstick on a pig and hoping to get something fab.
But still it stays a pig
That was the best Arsenal day I’ve had in a while. The best win I can remember since the chelsea game. We played our game and our players wanted it more than the other team, finally. Odegaard made up for his lapse. Elneny made sure to punish them if they let him do it and give his coach food for thought, something xhaka will never (have to?) learn. That willian assist was class and its good to see our big boi Gab getting another goal. Obviously some things i didn’t like. After our fearless run of the first 10-15 minutes… Read more »
There are times when you play out from the back and times that you don’t. In the eternal words of the late Jack Charlton “put ’em under pressure.” Now he meant the opposition and not ourelves. You can see from the really stupid situations where we do try and play out and put ourselves under all kinds of pressure that this is what they are being coached to do. Good in some instances but in others just clear your lines. At worst the oppsition will head it back and you pick it up around the midfield. Nothing wrong with that… Read more »
Zacharse
Willian’s come good? Sarcasm surely?
As fro the team selection. Same as, same as. The midfield with Ceballos and Xhaka there is just much too slow and with Luiz also swanning out from defence in first gear, we are painfully slow and easy to defend against. Bellerin does not deserve his place in front of Soares, Willian in front of anybody, Odegaard far too lose in his play although a cracking goal, and Martinelli still kicking up his heels on the sideline. Just lucky that the seats aren’t wooden or he would have splineters in his arse by now. It’s just worrying as to how… Read more »
Hell no its not sarcasm, hes been one of our only solid attackers the last 2 games. If you watched yesterday and didnt think he was solid i dunno what to tell u. Solid shift in d, kept control, worked into the attacking movements well ran w the ball well, only foot he put wrong was blazing over the bar on one attempt.
Credit where credit is due
Zacharse If you think that Willian’s ‘assist was class’, I don’t know what to tell you. Gabriel made that goal, it was just a hopeful floated ball into the box. I’m amazed how easily impressed some people are. And before it is said, just because I am not impressed with his 7 assists, it doesn’t make me a doom monger. Pedro is continually asking us to judge the progress under Arteta with our eyes and not just focus on stats. Well I say the same about Willian. He may have 7 assists, but he has been nothing better than average… Read more »
No William has been ordinary, nothing special, nothing fantastic and that’s the thing, we need special and unpredictable and we have players IJ the squad that can give us that.
There’s too many safe option players starting games for us hence part of why we are where we are
All ceballos had to do was play a one touch pass. Same exact thing as xhaka on the weekend. Saying that Leno should know better than to pass to his teammate isn’t acceptable. Blaming it on Leno is just armchair quarterbacking. Especially as we all know the fundamental flaws in bot xhaka and ceballos’ game. After that game i can accept we’re going to make mistakes because we seemingly have the heart to mKe up for them and seize the game like ode and elneny did. This is the thing thats been missing and driving me especially crazy in regards… Read more »
Williams like Xaka are bureaucrat class. Always looking at ways to save their arête making safe back / sideway passes . Their stats look good , Arteta is impressed and Yes – Yes men cause no heartburn.
I’m thinking it’s a big clear out in the summer of the old guard and some big wages disappearing. Luiz, lacazette, bellerin, Kolasinac, chambers The likes of willock, Nelson, runarsson and Eddie all moving on or being loaned out. Eight players that don’t really effect the first eleven, and probably only lacazette, luiz and bellerin that makes the bench. Get shot of xhaka and ceballos and you could slot guendouuzi and torriera back in for them. Saliba and mavroponas plug the defensive gaps and amn would cover bellerin. Martinelli covers for lacazette. All without spending a penny, but saving 600k… Read more »
Matt
Great that you have an opinion but the fact remains that the assist was great. Their CB’s were a lot smaller than Gab and willian took advantage. If thats not good enough for you, hardly my problem. Like i said credit where credit is due. He put in asolid shift, had a classy assist and certainly played a much more well rounded game than saka who lost focus after the early fouling on him and couldnt get back into the game
Fantastic to win with 3 away goals, makes for a less nervous home tie. Definitely agree that large parts of the game felt lacklustre in possession (not too different from other games I’ve watched this year). It really feels like a “moments” game we play, like when Arteta used to talk about creating “moments”, just with middling parts in between the “moments”. The goals…long range gifts and I’ll take it. I’m starved of recent YouTube approved Arsenal goals from outside the box. But the goals doesn’t speak to whatever system is being argued about; that system didn’t create too many… Read more »
Zacharse Fair enough. I think you are giving William far too much credit for recognising in a split second that all of the defenders were smaller than Gabriel (never mind that he was likely aiming towards Auba) and as such he played a high floated cross in to the area. Saka is a kid on £30k a week who has been our best player all season. Willian is 32 year old Chelsea reject (who openly admitted he never wanted to leave) who is on £250k a week who has contributed very little since he joined. I’m glad you think he… Read more »
Asoa
So willian’s a bureaucratic player? Top analysis…
Sounds like youd prefer more gervinhos dribbling all over the pitch, losing possession and getting us caught out.
Reason we weren’t scoring much earlier in the season is teams stopped pressing our MF the same way and dropped deeper knowing thatbwe were helpless if auba/saka couldnt sneak in behind the defense. ESR started to change that, odegaard and willian are now able to do it too by playing whatbyoud call bureaucratic football and the rest of the world calls possession play
Matt
If youre trying to tell me he was looking for auba with that cross maybe you shouldnwatch it again. I’m not buying it personally
James
“So many players in the side opt for the safe route.”
Yes when not under pressure! Unfortunately when pressed then it is Kamikazi time!
Arsenal aren’t buying a keeper to replace Leno no matter how much money lands magically in our coffers. Even contemplating a Leno replacement would be tantamount to admitting making a serious error in judgment by Arteta in selling Emi and that’s not something you’ll ever see from him , if playing Willian in every game is anything to go by, his 7 assists for the season notwithstanding. My worry with Leno is that with every mistake that leads to a goal , no matter how the blame is apportioned, his confidence will drop and other aspect of his performance will… Read more »
I’m sure Pedro’s comments on Willian were largely tongue in cheek – at least I sincerely hope they were.
Tom
We all know the team is trying to play one touch passing out of the back, so when xhaka/ceballos decide in the moment they can’t be bothered, take an extra touch while everyone yells at them where to pass it, then lose possession, I hardly think it’s fair to bring back the emi discussion. Leno is solid in goal. If thebpoint is tonget the attack tonwaste energy chasing our one touch passing and the MF isnt up to it, why blame the GK. Just doesnt add up to me
A totally weird game. We should have been up by two in the first five minutes but also should have conceded two with horrible errors by Luis and Martin Ode. Saka had another off game and spare me this rubbish about Willian and his seven assists … the guy is trash pure and simple … his cross was a poor one and it took an incredible effort and headed finish by Gabriel to put that away. The fact that we keep seeing Xhaka and Willian are a testimony to the poor judgement of Arteta. That game was crying for Pepe.… Read more »
The Willian ball to Gabriel is kinda like all those assists Traore had for Wolves when Jimenez was playing last season. Hang a hopeful ball and expect your CF to do his bit, which he did.
99% of the credit goes to Gabriel for making it his and 1% to Willian for not missing the ball while trying to cross it.
It was a very good result, no doubting that. But the bar is set pretty low! Their goalkeeper wouldn’t get a game in Scotland! Two of the goals were from his mistakes, Runnarrson level – we can’t rely on EPL goalkeepers to gift us goals like those! We struggled to put passes together unless it was backwards/sideways and did not create enough clear cut chances on goal. I won’t even mention the traditional ‘lets shoot ourselves in the foot’ moment! Why do we continue to play with the ball until we loose it? Why do our goalkeeper/defenders continue to play… Read more »
@Matt:
I highly doubt it.
He will do anything to prop up his boy Mikhela
Tom
‘99% of the credit goes to Gabriel for making it his and 1% to Willian for not missing the ball while trying to cross it.’
Ha ha, very true!
Tom
I’m sure in the locker room afterward Gabriel took willian aside and told him he only deserved 1% of the credit right? The thing about this kind of ridiculous view is it just says more about you than anything about the team or the game
Has anyone seen this article or notice this?
https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2021/03/12/definitely-noticed-it-arsenal-fans-think-odegaard-and-saka-avoided-passing-to-one-teammate/
sorry if it’s already been mentioned.
Martin Ødegaard was just selected as the new captain for the Norweagian National Team 🙂
‘I’m sure in the locker room afterward Gabriel took willian aside and told him he only deserved 1% of the credit right? The thing about this kind of ridiculous view is it just says more about you than anything about the team or the game’
What does that even mean? I’m sure he didn’t pull him to one side. The point being made was it was not a great assist, it was a hopeful ball and only made a goal from a world class header from Gabriel.
Matt
Looked like a pretty easy header to me, jumping over a guy he was 4″ taller than. Explain how it is world class? Pretty standard fare for an EPL quality defender
Zacharse
You need to relax friend.
I’m not against Willian who isn’t going anywhere anytime soon and getting paid a fortune for his trouble.
Name any player on Arsenal 25 player roster who couldn’t make that cross Willian made …..was only my point.
Zacharse
You think that was a standard header, but a world class assist? Interesting viewpoint…
Zacharse
Now you are just digging that hole deeper
Matt
he puts the ball where it should be, I NEVER said it was WORLD CLASS those are your words. I said it was CLASSY