Welcome to Monday precious ones.
It’s international break. Kill me. Honestly, why do we need so many of these? Can you beleive Mr Wenger would ideally like this period to be AN ENTIRE MONTH OF FOOTBALL. Honestly, he fell off so hard. I cannot believe that all that good work he did managing his reputation, to just jump right into bed with FIFA and try and reinvent the game to have World Cups every two years, something he’d have hated as a manager. Really shoddy.
Anyway, I’ll take this break on the chin.
We’re going to have to be Perspective FC today because this season moves in phases and we have to look at how we’re tracking.
This batch of games was overall, a big improvement on what we saw in the first three games. 10 points from a possible 12. We’re 4 points off Top 4 having played 3 top teams so far. As Johnny said in the podcast, we’re now at a crossroads. We’ve lost some games we wanted to win and won some games we thought we’d lose.
Now it’s all about how we move on to the next phase: Consistency.
Some of that is going to come with time. Whether you want to accept it or not, this is a new team of players and new teams take time to bed in. Factor in that it’s the youngest in the league and you have to consider other elements like experience and maturity.
The game at the weekend was a prime example of what a lack of experience gives you. The weather was absolutely dreadful, Brighton’s press was bang on-point, and we didn’t have an answer.
Liverpool had the same issue against City. They were totally boxed in during the first half. Everyone was one step off the pace. The team reacted by stepping off City, which is exactly what Pep wants you to do against him.
Listen to how Klopp dealt with the issue tactically.
You don’t get this level of tactical insight very often from Klopp. Grab it while you can. pic.twitter.com/IIU6OmDehY
— Josh Williams (@DistanceCovered) October 3, 2021
It takes time and experience to do that. Arsenal’s young players didn’t know how to respond and didn’t really have the confidence to step up against the Brighton press. There was too much fear in the system. Long balls were the easier option, but tactically, Potter had an answer for that. Auba can’t play in a side that has a midfield frightened to break the press. He’s at his best when the ball is moved into his feet at speed. We don’t have an Olivier Giroud for long-ball football. Our players can’t allow themselves to be press-bitches like we were under Wenger. There needs to be more bravery in the system going forward.
Confidence doing that will come. Players like Tomi and Lokonga have never played a game that intense in their careers. They will learn and adapt. That’s just how it goes when you move the Premier League. Look at how hard it has been for players at all club. Emerson Royal and Christian Romero are taking their time to bed in. Jadon Sancho has been way off the pace and he’s English. Saul has had his problems. If it’s happening elsewhere, there should be forgiveness when it happens to us with less experienced players. Remember, it took Thierry 7 games to score his first goal, and Robert Pires took a long time to show that he had teeth.
Just as important for me was the fact we didn’t concede and our defensive structure looked solid for the most part. Brighton are excellent from set-plays and we dealt with it. Even more impressive when you consider the level of wind that was going off that day.
There’s still work to be done in the final third. It’s sloppy for the most part. But we are creating chances. Brighton wasn’t our best run out, but it’s worth noting that they conceded the third lowest xG last season. They are hard to get at. Their setup is well structured and they make it tough from a chance creation perspective. I very much doubt Palace, Villa, or Watford will have that level of discipline with their defending when we go there after the break.
Regardless, we need to see more shots finding the target. Thomas Partey needs to lay off the long-rangers, and our better players need to get sharper.
Overall, the key things we learned from Phase 2 of the season.
- The young players we signed are good and will get better
- We have seen what peak Arteta-ball can look like
- Arsenal can still defend, but now we’re doing it with players that can pass
If you need a bit of a hand with the explainer on what has changed, no one does it better than Statman Dave.
Just a quick one today, there is much to be done at work. If you desperately want more content, then check out our video or listen to the latest podcast.
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Sid Things aren’t static, different teams will both progress and regress, at different stages of their cycles Arsenal have had to start from scratch and build a new young team Ramsdale 23, he’s got a good amount of experience for his age, but should still improve significantly Tomiyasu 22, played 4 PL games, even the very best needed some adjustment period White 23, his best days should be ahead of him Gabriel 23, he’s developing well Sambi 21, played 4 PL games Saka 20, we’ve not even scratched the surface of his overall potential Smith Rowe 21, one of the… Read more »
Dissenter I think you have been one of the posters along with many others that have been saying that the transfers in this season have been very good. Now to start I am not saying here that these transfers won’t turn out good. What I don’t understand is how posters can term a transfer window as very good after just a few matches in the EPL. As others have pointed out we don’t have a “new” offense from last season. It seems people have distinguished from their memory that Odegaard was actually at Arsenal for half a season last term.… Read more »
He(Xhaka) is very technical, vocal and bleeds for the club. I think as fans we need to love the guy more. He has given everything to the club even after getting very little in return. ________ Say what? You can not be serious.. Xhaka very publicly wanted out of the Club this past summer. Only 2 years ago as Captain of the team he walked off the pitch flipped the fans the middle finger, took off his shirt and threw it on the ground. Bleeds for the Club? Please. Give me a break Not even gonna address the” very technical”… Read more »
Really the line is this is a very good transfer window because we didn’t buy any older experienced players this time around.
Dortmund buy older experienced players as well along with the younger players.
But what Dortmund seem to do is buy young players with the obvious intent of them being first team straight from the off many times.
I mention Dortmund because they seem to be mentioned many times in relation to this season’s Arsenal summer transfer window.
Ishola “I think you have been one of the posters along with many others that have been saying that the transfers in this season have been very good.” I thought four of the six signings were very good. Xhaka’s non-exit dampened things a lot. I wasn’t for Ramsdale but he’s proved to be stronger in the areas where Leno is weakest. His enthusiasm, direct communion and sheer presence has been exhilarating. He will still have some moments because he plays on the edge of massive risks. I wasn’t for Ben White, largely because we had a project that didn’t even… Read more »
It’s funny how no one mentions the first failed project of arteta.
But ready made players, and win the CL in three seasons.
Took us back wards and now it’s project youth, with no definite time line as to when we will be back in Europe or competing the CL.
Convenient for everyone involved.
And let’s be real.
If an older experienced player becomes available to sign further down the line that suits Arsenal’s budget and fits what they want in a player he will be purchased.
So this new land of Arsenal youth isn’t quite what many believe it is.
As said before Dortmund sign older experienced players along with the younger ones and they always seem to be the template in all this.
Ishola
Dortmund don’t combine a young- managerial project with their younger player project.
When they fired Lucien Favre last season, his assistant manager was appointed as interim manager. He wasn’t so shabby and won them a domestic competition but they still fired him to sign a substantive manager in Marco Rose.
lol Dissenter you have only one player in all this in this summer’s transfer window that you term very good that is a nailed on first team starter and also that is a genuine new signing that you actually rate and that is Tomiyasu.
One.
Lots of clubs buy players for the future in transfer windows that are not nailed on first team starters straight from the beginning. It’s nothing special. In fact it is very common with clubs.
Ashwin Gunner: Xhaka “bleeds for the club”. Xhaka’s agent José Noguera: “Look, I will say it frankly and honestly: We are in agreement with Hertha BSC and would like to go to Berlin. So we told Arsenal’s club boss Raul Sanllehi and sports director Edu Gaspar – as well as the new coach Mikel Arteta. It’s only about the transfer fee of the clubs.” Blick believe the fee offered so far has been in the region of €25m and has even submitted the offer in writing. “Granit would like to switch to Germany again.” New Gunners boss Mikel Arteta recently… Read more »
Rich “Arsenal have had to start from scratch and build a new young team” You do realise that this was Arteta’s choice /doing, he didn’t have to start from scratch did he. He chose to sell our best keeper He chose to freeze out our most creative player He chose to loan out Guendouzi who has a better pass percentage than any of our midfielders and is now captain of Marseille. He chose to ignore saliba and then loan him out. He chose to ignore AMN after he put in outstanding performances during our fa cup run. He chose to… Read more »
What are the odds that if Arsenal come eighth end of season Rich, Englandsbest and a few others will compile a list of all close plays that went against us, including unlucky ball bounces, miss kicks, and 50/50 ref decisions to make the point it was a circumstantial close margins failure really rather than a real failure?
Dissenter I am not talking about Arteta. You know my views on Arteta. For me he has to improve considerably for him to be a real worthy manager of Arsenal FC. I’m simply on about this “very good” transfer window you keep going on about. It may turn out very good in the future with some of these players but only two are nailed on first team starters with one of those a player that you seem not to rate. Clubs all over all the place buy younger players for the future but not nailed on first teamers right from… Read more »
Rich
“Arsenal have had to start from scratch and build a new young team”
Did he actually say that??? LOL
Mid
I agree with your post. Only those dieheart Arteta worshiper wanted to paint a different picture.
On the other hand, Arteta has currently a system which operators much better with Xhaka. He has Tierney playing high up with Xhaka backing him. He also has Partey who has good chemistry with Xhaka. That’s what I called plan A. Of course, there are many other plan B’s which will function much better without Xhaka. I am interest to see whether Arteta can come up other systems successfully in the next 3 months..
Tom
“What are the odds that if Arsenal come eighth end of season Rich, Englandsbest and a few others will compile a list of all close plays that went against us, including unlucky ball bounces, miss kicks, and 50/50 ref decisions to make the point it was a circumstantial close margins failure really rather than a real failure?”
Small margins Tom. All about small margins.
Tom
What are the odds that if Arsenal finish 5th, which is 1 place above where you expect us to finish
That’ll you’ll stop whinging, and looking for any little reason to kick the club?
Pierre
10/10
The new policy of signing youngsters is the half measures that the Kroenkes used to rein in Arteta’s penchant for seeking oldies.
It was dictated to Arteta from higher ups.
If it wasn’t for a couple of wenger boys , I’m not sure there would be much confidence in this present side. Saka and smith rowe are undroppable in my eyes, they are our most technical players they are ou most exciting players they are our game changers they give the fans hope they are the light at the end of the tunnel. Pedro talks about phase 2, for me phase 2 is the next integration of the hale end boys. Sadly we have sold willock , Eddie’s Arsenal career is hanging by a thread , but we have Balogun… Read more »
Pierre
Brilliant!
englandsbest
You should take a look at Barcelona’s history and philosophies before putting Pep and Arteta together as rookie coaches.
Pep was a player within the Barcelona set up for 13 years from 1988-2001 before becoming their manager in 2007.
He coached the Barca B team for a season before taking over the full squad in 2008. The rest is history.
He was brought up on a winning, stylish philosophy of football.
He was never a rookie because Barcelona knew what they were getting.
It is an insult to everyone to compare the two.
englandsbest
No disrespect but you sometimes come across as being a bit naive in respect to your knowledge of the game.
Here’s another hypothetical on a slow football news day for you……..suppose Benitez makes top four with Everton this season — I know it’s a really long shot but not impossible— the inevitable conclusion then would be he is an excellent manager outperforming his clubs talent and lack of spending and therefore comparing favorably to Arteta. Impossible to shot down, right? Not so fast , actually quite easy if you don’t set hard targets and frame the debate just the right way, like say, Arteta isn’t interested in merely making top four , his goal is to win the league and… Read more »
Nelson- I feel like the same people who say we can’t function without Xhaka were the same ones that were telling me we can’t function without Bellerin.. but I could be wrong. No way does Xhaka bleed for the Club though.. ESR bleeds for the Club… He grew up wanting to play for us…started at our academy at a young age.. Clearly loves the Club.. was beaming like the sun when he scored in the NLD . People sometimes have a funny sense of loyalty to some of our players who don’t give it back and assign feelings to those… Read more »
Pierre spoils his good comment previously though by banging on about Wenger again.
We are in re-build because the vast majority of what Wenger left behind wasn’t good enough.
Wenger told everybody that what he left behind was good for the next manager coming in. It was so good that Wenger himself couldn’t get top four in his last two seasons.
So was Wenger unintentionally questioning himself then.
“What are the odds that if Arsenal finish 5th, which is 1 place above where you expect us to finish That’ll you’ll stop whinging, and looking for any little reason to kick the club?“
I’d say a 100%
China1October 5, 2021 10:13:36 The other issue is that many of us ‘bed wetters’ take issue with people telling us to ignore the bad and only be positive about the food when many of the same people were incredibly negative when Emery and even arsene was here. You can’t have your cake and eat it. Emery was fucking garbage, and he went. Wenger lost it and he went. Arteta is still here, when he goes you can rub it in whoevers face you want. Personally I dont care nor does it matter- but the bad faith arguing about “oh this… Read more »
zacharse
“A soft club that showed Over the last 4 games they dont want to play that way anymore”
This is an interesting comment.
Tom
How about if Arsenal end the season 6th or better. Will you be saying Arteta was lucky,, had the best players, spent the most money, etc, etc?
Bit childish this continuos“ BEDWETTERS “ remark
in nearly every posting.?
zacharse: “And that a lot or this whining and yelling is just an echo of The media- claude, roy keane, jermain jenas, carragher- at least skip bayless doesnt care about football other wise It might be too much to take.” I don’t really read, watch or listen to any of them. In fact, the only blog I read and the only pod I watch/listen to is LeGrove. I give a rat’s ass what the media’s narrative is on the problems/success of my team. My opinion is based on my understanding, my views and on the views of the quality posters… Read more »
“The bad right now should be obvious, arteta dealing w his own issues but also the issues of wenger and emery- lack of leadership lack of continuity the bullshit half assed recruitment straight up failure since basicLly emirates move.“
Zach , what are the Wenger issues Arteta is still dealing with?
“How about if Arsenal end the season 6th or better. Will you be saying Arteta was lucky,, had the best players, spent the most money, etc, etc?“
No, because I don’t move goal posts.
“Zach , what are the Wenger issues Arteta is still dealing with?”
Unsuccessfully trying to be even nearly as good as him.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/oct/05/burnley-rough-team-red-card-record-premier-league-turf-moor#comments
Food for thought re: epl refs
Word on the street is that VAR doesnt work in burnley because they dont have internet there yet or something like that
I’d say the biggest issue that is a wenger issue that arteta is dealing w still is the MF
I can go on if thats not good enough, if some would rather see a starting pair of elneny and AMN…
James wood
Ive barely used the term bedwetters on here but i really wanted to mix metaphors and have the bedwetters make a wet bed
Truly that was all lol
“all The bedwetters will have to make their wet beds and be forced to admit they know fuck all about the intangibles of sport – loyalty, commitment, teamwork, killer instinct”
Those aren’t intangibles.
Pierre I hate to break it to you, but Ozil was regressing, he was finished at the top level, and that’s why he’s now sitting on the Fenerbahce bench It was clear to anyone with a functioning pair of eyes, that Ozil was on the slide from 2017 If he was applying himself, then he’d have been playing I like Guendouzi, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him end up at a top club in 2-3 years, but he wasn’t exactly pulling up any trees in Germany last season, at which point he’ll still only be 24/25….. Saka + Smith… Read more »
Graham52
A rookie is a rookie is a rookie. It means the guy hasn’t done the job before.
Are you saying that if Arsenal knew what they were doing, Arteta wasn’t a rookie. If so, I find that reasoning hard to understand.
The only knowhow I have of football is as a player and as a fan. So I give you thumbs up if you have deep-seated knowledge. And I wish you’d show some in your mournful posts.
I’m not being negative here but can someone on here take the time and effort to explain to me the reasons why Arteta is so special.
Bulletin points would suffice.
Any relevant data provided would also be beneficial.
Please don’t use the words “patience” and “time” in your response.
I await anyone’s feedback.
I hate to break it to you, but Ozil was regressing, he was finished at the top level,
_________
Hahaha Now you’ve done it… Pierre is gonna go postal on ya.. Pierre doesn’t do regression.. as evidenced by his undying love for Arsene. That’s his achilles heel. Other then that though he talks sense, mostly.
Ish Id almost guarantee that even though we’re not yet firing on all cylinders, we will be and we wont be losing, but may be drawing for a while, away games at midtable etc. teams that play to intimidate us I imagine w a few more games like the brighton one where we arent aT our best but dont let the team sink to their worst and lose, we see big strides. We’ve had so many individual errors and bad luck that we’re still expecting the worst and not quite free of the disaster thats been going on since the… Read more »
Anyone?
Graham the fact that he played in the epl for length of time and the teams he did puts him in the 1% of footballers to begin with. He’s no more specialthan anyone elseatthat level but what everyone whoseworked w him says about him is that his work ethic and focusis incredible. I dont think he the end all if he is greatbuthe is top level at the moment (fa cup win counts for somethingto arsenal fans no?)
If i was to give an analysis of our new signings and my first impressions , I would say that in the main they have done well. The pressure they were under after a poor start made it incredibly difficult as the media were ready to pounce on any poor performances. These are my honest opinions of them. Ramsdale Surprisingly good so far , his enthusiasm shines through and importantly he looks to dominate his box.. I’m not 100% sure about him by any means as he has had fortune on his side on a few occasions, for instance dropping… Read more »
Graham
Solid CV (for a rookie)
History with the club
Played under wenger (continuity)
Won fa cup less than a year in
SPEAKSFLUENTENGLISH
Well respected amongst peers
Good w youth and player development
Ishola
“Pierre spoils his good comment previously though by banging on about Wenger again.”
Saying saka and smith rowe were wenger boys(which they are) is not banging on about wenger again .
Aight i’m done
Have a good day my red fools
Spoke too
Soon
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/arsenal-transfers-aston-villa-watkins-21763012
Zacharse, he’s a gooner!
I think with any transfer window you have to wait about a season to see how it pans out. Have to wait for the initial rush of enthusiasm to wear off and see how the players settle after the grind of a long season. Remember Chamakh started out great guns. But I do think about 50% of our signings will work out long term and thats a pretty good percentage. If I had to guess I would say TT, Loko and Ramsdale would be the ones that will be remembered in 5 years time as good signings. No major injuries… Read more »
zacharse
It was an interesting comment for perhaps not what you replied with.
If the last four matches are the Arteta template we won’t be ding much.
Freddie Ljungberg … not sure why auto correct spell checker thingy not working today… or maybe it doesn’t do Swedish.
I’d be more excited for this “supposed” Gunner
Damn International breaks are brutal. You know it’s bad when your sitting around trying to figure out how to use a bird identifier app. Northern Mockingbird, apparently.
‘Ramsdale
Surprisingly good so far’
Well yeh, if you wrote him off before he even kicked a ball in red+white, as you did Pierre and a whole litany of others on here.
So, why she should we take the word of anyone such as yourself who is so closed minded as to rubbish a player before you’ve even seen him kick a ball.
Stick to Ozil mate
Watkins really would be a capture with Pepe going the other way.😏
Watkins would be an excellent signing.
Actually, that was rude — appreciate your take on a lot of things Pierre, just bemused as to why so many people dismissed White and Ramsdale before they’d even seen them play
“why so many people dismissed White and Ramsdale before they’d even seen them play” Must have something to do with shelling 80m in defence, for 2 players that were not universally recognized. You read Watkins or Calvert-Lewin or even the likes of Mings, Cash, Cresswell and just like now, in the blog, people are excited for Watkins just by some gossip dropping. 80m is a truckload of money and we spent it in defence, for 2 players of unknown quality, both risky signings that can go either way. They are not a Varane, or a Lukaku that you know their… Read more »
New post ofc.