Well, it’s pre-match-presser time already. A chance to get back into the mixer and make up some points in the table after a pretty disappointing draw against Palace.
This time, we’re playing Aston Villa. We know the routine. They might not have Jack Grealish available, but they do have plenty to offer attack wise. Dean Smith spent the money well this summer, he’s added goals, more pace, and creativity.
We have not dealt well with Villa over the last two seasons.
There are two ways this game goes.
Villa see what Palace and Brighton did and hit us hard early, force us into defending, and see if things unravel. This current squad has the tendency to buckle under pressure of going for the jugular and at the moment, their first instinct is to defend a lead, versus having the confidence to attack it.
The second way we could approach the game is that we rip into a team that has lost their last two games. Spurs absolutely battered them for the most part. Villa were dangerous on the counter, but spurs savaged them through the middle with a very direct game over 90 minutes. They had 17 shots with 8 finding the target, not bad for a team that registered just one shot on target against Palace.
There is going to be a lot of inconsistency this season, that is the nature of taking a different direction with the types of players you bring into the mixer, but that doesn’t mean our game shouldn’t move forward. What I’d like us to start doing is hitting a higher level of performance, even when the results don’t go our way. The pattern this season is that we we play well in spurts, but don’t keep that going for entire games. This system that we’re adopting requires confidence and it needs bravery. We’re not seeing that for enough of the game at the moment. Hopefully a win against Villa can make that happen, because we certainly need a bit of momentum heading into tough games against Leicester and Leeds.
One thing that would be nice: Better refereeing decisions.
We’ve been on the end of some bad ones already this season.
Cal Chambers being slapped in the face for the Burnley goal.
Bernd Leno being pinned for the Burnley second goal.
In the week, Bukayo Saka being actually assaulted by McArthur who should have gone considering his previous. I hate the blame the refs, but in this case, Mike Dean has been taken off Premier League duties this weekend because his approach to the kick was so bad… so there’s merit in suggesting that letting brutality fly worked better for Palace than it did Arsenal.
This doesn’t help Arsenal. More broadly though, how can the same cast of characters still be in the game when they’re not even performing with the aid of video? It’s one of those ‘but that’s just the way we do things’ moments. Why? Absolutely maddening that we have so much money in the Premier League, but we still can’t get the basics right when it comes to officials.
There are stories doing the rounds that our AFCON players (Partey/Mo/Elneny/Pepe) could miss up to 8 games across December and January, due to new covid protocols.
Quite something, wouldn’t you say? It’s just Twitter rumblings for the moment, but it really is something that AFCON can land in the middle of a season and decimate teams like that. If Wenger is right about anything, it’s that we need alignment on international tournaments.
Who will we play in midfield? We don’t even have bad options! No margin for injury either. We’re calling on Patino or Wilshere if things go south for hamstrings in the month that usually happens.
Arteta took aim at the abuse Steve Bruce has faced exiting over at Newcastle. It’s such a weird subject. The club he took over was a bag of mess, he kept them up last season, the football wasn’t great, but the viciousness that some people take towards managers, players, or execs really is a sight to behold these days. Why is it propagating? Because algorithms promote extremist views on the platforms. Dickheads say things that aren’t grounded in reality and the view gains traction. Then a little bit of that view sticks. So it goes again. The default mode online is disgust these days because it’s the only way you get attention. Doesn’t matter if the view is measured or grounded in anything real. But how do you stop it?
I’m not sure you can.
We’ve just seen the deadliest pandemic of all time sweep the world. People in hospital, fighting for each breath as the lights go out slowly, and painfully. A fucking tragedy of biblical proportions…. yet scientists banged out a vaccine in double quick times… still though, there needed to be a toxic debate about it. People lost jobs for the anti-vax cause. They took horse-dewormer because of Facebook posts. They literally died for the cause. If people are willing go against science and die… what hope have you got against @SteveBruceLikesGoats hate accounts? None.
You just gotta hope the generation growing up on more joyful curated tech platforms like TikTok might have a sunnier outlook on life. If the whole world was watching #FarmYardTikTok, the world would be a better place, I can assure you.
The bigger hope I have is the childish behavior online rarely seeps into the real world (mostly). If I’m in an Arsenal pub at Christmas, no one will abuse me (bar my friends). I’ll debate Arsenal and no one will scream. We’ll go to the ground and people will be behind the players. The internet is a shit hole, not sure you’ll ever truly change that… until something better comes along.
Ok my darlings… here we go… NIGEL WINTERBURN, left back LEGEND, trophied superstar, all round good egg, dropped an interview with Johnny and I last night.
We cover some great topics:
- He talks about what it was like breaking into the professional game
- He goes over contract negotiations with the legendary George Graham
- He discusses Arsene Wenger and how he implemented big ideas with BIG players
- He also talks about who he’s excited about and what Arteta needs to do this season
Well worth you time. Nigel, thank you sir, you are a hero to everyone that reads this site!
One of the first?
2nd
Nice. See ya later
Tr4phy
Waiting for Ar8ta…..
Sid
You’ll be waiting for a very long time.
Swap Burnley for Brentford
Anyone remember when Pedro proclaimed it shouldn’t take more than 3 months for a manager to have his players playing to his style?
Oh happy days.
Anyone optimistic about the future is a rarity – unless he happens to believe in an afterlife. Maybe we’ve been that way from the dawn of civilisation.. Self-awareness – knowing that sooner or later you’ll die – is both a blessing and a curse. So, if there’s a reason for optimism, grab it! Is there good reason to feel optimistic about Arsenal’s future? Absolutely. There is a sense of mission at the Club. A direction in which to aim. Like the Pilgrims Fathers setting out for the promised land. One good thing about self-awareness is to be part of something… Read more »
“Xhaka is simply not good enough, it doesn’t matter how hard usual suspects push his elevated xWhatever stats, he’s too slow and he’s still making regular rookie mistakes. Being good at one thing will never counter for being a total donut twice a game. He is the new Wenger and it’s not surprising it’s the same fanboys who love him.”
One from the archives….. No prizes for who can guess the writer.
azed
If you pull up too much embarrassing material from the archives, you run the risk of being “archived”.
12th. Our league position.
When something don’t work, you rip it apart and start a fresh.
Like Arteta did with the team – Ozil, Kola, Mustafi, Leno, Bellerin, Elneny, Holding, Chambers etc.
It’s time for the manager!!
WOAB
There’s a reason i only put out small info though I still expect to be banned.
Pedro, honest question please? When you have guests on your podcast, are they compensated or do they freely give of their time? Just asking because i am curious and honestly do not know how it really works?
Again the narrative seems to be focused on the players rather than Arteta.
If the “instinct” is to sit on 1-0 leads and not generally be brave enough attacking wise surely that instinct is coming from the manager Arteta.
Pedro has become the Arsene Wenger of Arsenal blogging
Ernest, we don’t pay fees. We have started to search out advertising because the site is very expensive and I can’t ask Johnny/Matt to give up so much time for nothing.
Steve Bruce deserved a lot better than he got from both supporters and an incredibly lousy owner. Newcastle are factually a horrible team that managed to stay up last season despite having a lame duck owner and the results of neglect from said owner. Bruce, in my opinion, did an amazing job keeping them as competitive as he did.
Hopefully Steve Bruce will want to come back and continue managing because he’s really a decent manager who always seems to get the most out of the least.
Agreed with you on this one, Pedro.
Kris, to be honest mate, the point wasn’t really about horse-dewormer… I say this as the writer.
The best part about Villa is their midfield, they will run us ragged, out-tacke us and out-pass us down the middle. They have a truly marvelous young attacking/central midfielder in Jacob Ram Ramsey, he’s just 20 year old and just looks pretty good.
I don’t expect that we’ll beat Villa. I suspect there will lots of anger directed at the referee come tomorrow night.
Thank you Pedro, the insight is really appreciated. On that it’s obvious of your commitment and those of your mates to AFC. Great of Mr. Winterburn to give of his time and even greater of you and your friends to give so much.
Best wishes and continued success, Pedro!
Thanks Ernest, that was a Johnny favor on that one. He knows him. It really helped the podcast. Nigel had some really great takes, especially on the over-coaching piece.
Davi ” Actually the wheels started falling off for Wenger when he decided Barcelona-style football was the way forward, and moved away from his pace, power, technique mantra” Yeah what a pile of shit were Fabregas, nasri, Rosicki, Hleb ,Wilshere RVP, Adebayor, eduardo, Diaby Cliche, Song , ox, walcott , koscielny, Ramsey …the wheels definitely started to come off around that time , and as for the football ……dreadful. Of course the fact that Ramsey ,Eduardo and Diaby were crippled by leg breaking tackles around that time had nothing to do with not winning the league …that would be a… Read more »
That should be “with Jonny and me”. You only say “and I” if it would still be “I” without the second person. Mention this as you write regularly so probably care about getting it right.
Ozil plays European football today while Arsenal and their supporters are on the outside watching….
Arteta’s Arsenal is like a student that has revised to pass an exam but can’t apply the knowledge in real life situations.
Arteta seems like a very knowledgeable man, But transmitting that knowledge isn’t his best suit.
Eventually he will get sacked but I fear by then he will have left us without a playing style.
I hope am proved wrong tough.
Thank you, Eduardo
William Alain Andre Gabriel Saliba… What a name!
Terraloon
“The sad sad point is far too many supporters likewise rubbed their hands with glee when the cash reserves hit £50 million, hit £60 million to such a degree it clouded what was going onArsenal had plenty of cash, plenty of opportunities to compete at the top level”
It is a stupid assumption to think that City and chelsea spending a billion each had an advantage over Arsenal, especially as we had , as terraloon says 50/60 million cash reserves ..
Proper Arsenal man Nigel was. Still remember his winner vs Chelsea at the bridge.
Ahh. The archives are full of gems: “I don’t want to bag on Granit, he’s a good guy in the grand scheme of the total bums we have at Arsenal… but he ended Wenger, he ended Emery, and now he’s close to ending Mikel Arteta. Well, at least under normal circumstances he would.”
https://le-grove.co.uk/2020/12/14/arteta-chooses-to-die-on-the-same-hill-as-wenger-and-emery-embarrassing-stuff/
When I booked to take my then 12 year old grandson on the Emirates tour I asked him who he wanted to take us round and he immediately said Nigel Winterburn. I didn’t know he was one of his all time favourites and he was thrilled to have his photo taken with him and have a long chat. Yes, Nigel Winterburn, top man.
Pedro, loved the Nigel Winterburn interview btw. He’s a top guy. Have to say, yourself and Johnny are top fawners and all.
Pierre “Yeah what a pile of shit were Fabregas, nasri, Rosicki, Hleb ,Wilshere RVP, Adebayor, eduardo, Diaby Cliche, Song , ox, walcott , koscielny, Ramsey …the wheels definitely started to come off around that time , and as for the football ……dreadful.” Yes we had some good teams and some v. Good/great players, but we won very little. I didn’t say the wheels fell off (like we dropped off a cliff), I said they *started* to fall off once we moved away from the pace, power, technique mantra – it was a gradual decline. Btw, I don’t think we even… Read more »
Englandsbest your post made my day. Boosterism at its best. Where do you get this ‘sense of a mission’ at the club from ? I sense we are being conned but maybe your sense is more finely tuned than mine ??
“Another stupid assumption to make would be to think that City luring away almost half of our outfield starting 11 around that time had spnething to do with the gradual decline …”
Some of the ones they lured were either past it or sick of being in an uncompetitive side. I don’t think you can blame it on that. Not sure how much we got for nasri but if have thought we could afford his replacement given we signed him for relatively little. We got dumber in the way we operated, declined as a club
The shrugging of shoulders. Ah Tic Tock will provide some optimistic respite to the toxicity of other social media scumbags eyeing up the profits and carrying on with just the token of reaction to stop the vitriol. Same with the crisis that we are facing with global warming, extinction of multitude of animals and plants that we have indulged in for far too long. Football has become an obscene child of all that is wrong with our world at the moment. Saudi takeover of NU is just a symptom of a world wide malaise. This is a despicable regime, authoritarian… Read more »
Arteta’s Ego is larger than Arsenal. Can’t be right. Out! Plenty of talented, experienced people out there who could move us forward. Cmon, this guy is emperors new clothes! We can do SO MUCH BETTER!
Zayn Ali Salman .
4 years old, the latest recruit and we wish him and his folks well.
Maybe project youth 5.0 with a twist?
Give it a few weeks and A&E will be saying season 2037 will be our year.
ps. Mertesacker, stop with the gimmicks and do your bloody job!
Pedro, Congratulations on getting the man who made the name “Nigel” cool for an interview. The fact that he agreed to sit down with you is a sign of the personal progress that you have made with the blog, which may be obscure to you on a daily basis. Next up? Lee Dixon please. He’s always a pleasure to listen to. I want to go for a 4-3-1-2 formation tomorrow, with both Auba and Laca upfront, and Odegaard behind them.. ESR and (if necessary) Pepe on the wings of midfield. While the criticism of Pepe was reasonable, we should bear… Read more »
Also disappointing……Partey and Oodegard……is it the players or Arteta’s system? A bit of both. We have good players, but our manager is not getting the best out of them. We surely have seen enough to get rid of this guy! We are The Arsenal. Not good enough! The Board….who are they? Does anybody know their names? Are they of any consequence or is it clueless Stan and his gormless son Josh? Ultimately these guys are fools, but at the end they will sell AFC for a profit, so who cares about now. Not them. We should demand better for this… Read more »
NJ, we have Perry G on the next one,
The Bard
Glad I’ve made your day.
Let me re-assure you, we are not being conned – though I can understand why many think so after the Wenger-Gazidis duo.
The mission has been stated by Arteta and confirmed by Edu, Josh, etc, etc: a return of Arsenal to the elite. And taking account of what I’ve seen – good or bad, on the pitch or off – it’s proceeding apace.
Red Bro 14
””””’The Board….who are they””””’
Stan Kronk,
Josh Kronk,
Stan Kronks attorney,
& Lord Harris of Peckam and he is touching 80.
Thats the Arsenal board in 2021 and thats why the have this failing manager and are signing toddlers and thinking its clever.
Top podcast you have there now Pedro.
Well done.
Thank you Ish, hope you enjoyed Nigel.
Pedro my man, if you are going to have stars on your podcast, you’ve got to up your coiff game to more stylish looks!!!
Ernest, I’ve had about 12 haircuts this year… this one is simple and easy to manage. I might go back to more of a swept look, but it’s so much aggro.
Now you’re talking Pedro, swept and styled!
Spuds losing.
Jose on the receiving end of an absolute spanking. FK Bodø/Glimt 6 – 1 Roma
My brothers an anti vaxxet, I find it hilarious. Every weekend they snort shit loads of coke cut with god knows what, pops an E or gets smashed on alcohol , and then has the audacity to say I’m not putting anything foreign in my body 🤣🤣🤣
It’s disconcerting that so many on here seriously believe they know more about how to play football, how ro win games, than Arteta. They come up with obvious solutions to what they see as failings, as if Arteta was unaware of them. And those who are sensible enough to know that if the solutions are obvious to them, then they must be obvious to him. think of him as obstinate, or egotistic. So if Arteta knew very well how to beat mainstream sides like, say, Palace, why didn’t he? The answer to that is obvious: the manner of victory counts… Read more »
TYAG
Couldn’t agree more. I moderate a bodybuilding forum and all the anti vaxxers are preaching away whist injecting themselves with stuff mixed in bathtubs just to look ‘good’.
Saliba is solid. 0 – 0 away at Lazio
TYAG, my aunt is the same (not snorting). Totally gone. Thinks the gov will take pets and there will be a mass death. Mad shit.
Zayn Ali Salman
“The answer to that is obvious: the manner of victory counts most with him.”
Imagine this being a serious take.
Jose getting pumped by a very avg team
englandsbest is a true believer in Arteta.rism.
No questions asked, just unflinching faith.
Pedro,
Perry? There is definitely an English flavor to your guests.
I await the hallowed day when Tony Adams appears!
Funny thing about anti-vaxxers. Some of them that I talk to seem like normal people. They walk, talk and often act like normal people. They are not all uneducated. But a new poll shows that only 48% of Republicans trust their doctors and less than a third of them trust scientists.
https://www.radioiowa.com/2021/10/20/grinnell-college-poll-finds-28-of-republicans-have-high-trust-in-doctors/
We are clearly doomed!
NJ, that is absolutely it. Anti-vaxx isn’t a class or education thing. It’s a disease. Is it the film inception that calls an idea the deadliest virus that can infect?
We’ll mix up the nationality of our guests as we go. It’s hard to get in front of them.
Take pets 🤣🤣🤣 haven’t heard that one yet
Who’s to say we haven’t been injected with super powers, 🤣 we might be able to shoot lighting bolts out of our arse. Just saying 😀
What about the idea of starting Auba and Laca in a front two tomorrow with Odegaard behind them and ESR, Thierney and Pepe bombing down the wings?
I finally have found video of Englandsbest
https://youtu.be/E_z3-N2MFR8
Pierre It is a stupid assumption to think that City and chelsea spending a billion each had an advantage over Arsenal, especially as we had , as terraloon says 50/60 million cash reserves .. The point about the reserves was they were growing year on year. There was vast sums potential available to buy players . Theta £50-60 million soon became £100+ million . Chelsea and City didn’t quibble about that extra agents fee or that extra £5 million fee for a player they spent and during that period Arsenal had the resources or facilities to spend but they didn’t… Read more »
@Ernest
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I work in a hospital and I know doctors who have refused to take it.
Ideas don’t have to have any merit for people to believe in them.
All the hard data in the world can’t convince these people who will then grasp at straws, the thinnest of arguments propped up with the weakest of theories, to confirm their already rigid bias.
And rational intelligent well-meaning people at that.
Just absolutely crazy.
Haven’t seen the podcast yet. I will tomorrow. Good job pedro.
Although I don’t agree at all about your opinions on Arteta, I can’t fault the effort you put in to the blog and the podcast. We wouldn’t mind a few ads to cover the cost of the servers and such. YouTube also generates cash if you get regular viewers. It’s the least you deserve for running the blog for so many years for free.
And my wish is you seeing the light when it comes to Arteta. He isn’t the guy.
And let us not forget the ever growing list of “I could have signed” elite players that Wenger states with pride. Why didn’t he sign them? Its not like he didn’t have the funds to sign them when they were not in their “Superstar” status as he claims. Maybe it was never about the funds but rather continued lapses in judgement or more likely early buyers remorse before even buying?
Fingers crossed for tomorrow. In some ways, it doesn’t matter who partners Partey in midfield if the mentality is wrong. This could go one of two ways over the coming games: the players play more bravely against a concerted press, albeit inconsistently; or they go into a downward spiral as their confidence is eroded by consistently being unable to play the system they are being set up to play. Really tough to instil this type of thing with raw talent. Maybe not the best strategic decision to try to apply it having spent only on youth. Hope Lacazette leads the… Read more »
Dennis, agree. They need to have a moment like they did against City at Wembley. Break the press early and put Villa on the back foot
Great work on the pod Pedro, it has really become top class.
Another quality man management move has been Azeez move on loan to Portsmouth. Azeez has had nominal minutes in spite of one win in the last 10 games. We’ll done
Pedro, Great podcast, really enjoyed that. Nigel is a true hero. I thought his answer to your question about over coaching was very interesting. I do believe that over coaching was a thing during the lockdown. You could literally hear Arteta on the TV, barking orders for every other pass. But I’m not buying that it’s an issue with fans back in the stadiums. It’s probably a combination of extremely rigid and predictable tactics and a lack of that maturity that Nigel was talking about. We have a mostly young team. The older players lack characters. No one is going… Read more »
Who are you people?
I’ve been in moderation hell for three weeks now and I’m starting to suspect that this whole forum is a conspiracy.
I just want to participate in the conversation.
I have always maintained that the Arsenal board is a joke. They are waiting for an Arteta Miracle of some sort. Hoping he turns thing around soon. Sadly, that won’t happen. There are no miracles. What we need is muscles. Muscles to act and be proactive. One more season without Europe to me is equivalent to relegation. One more season without Europe, will be too much of a set-back. Too much to bear.
Apparently Arteta is upset the abuse football managers get. He feels sorry for Steve Bruce for the abuse he has received; however, Arteta neglects to mention the £8m Bruce is getting to help him recover from the abuse. Ok I get it when owners don’t support their managers but Bruce knew exactly what he was getting used to; he’s no rookie. Football is a results game where players and managers alike are read the riot act from supporters wanting better for their time and money. Arteta knows he’s a loss or 2 from similar abuse because of his belligerence as… Read more »
Pedro As you know I have no problem to contribute to pay to read Le-Grove even though I just come for the comments and don’t bother with the podcasts, sorry Pedro I get what I need from the comments part of the site. Same as I don’t read other Arsenal blogs unless a poster send a link to Le-grove. What I would ask in return for payment is ‘Balance’ in your posts. You know I have no problem if you support Arteta that’s your prerogative; however, you can write the facts without lowering your support for the manager. Aggressive petulance… Read more »
N J Gooner
What % of non USA citizens think that it’s government is a feeble, soft laughing stock?
“””””””PedroOctober 21, 2021 19:41:38
TYAG, my aunt is the same (not snorting). Totally gone. Thinks the gov will take pets and there will be a mass death. Mad shit.”””””””
Im sure she is a big Diet Pep supporter too, Lmfaooooo
Mike Dean should be fined a weeks wages and 3 match ban for not sending off Mccarthur. What’s 1 game going to do?
An ambitious owner would have got rid of Arteta end of last season. If he is to last the whole season expect to finish no higher than 8th.
🚨⚽️Breaking: A first team player for Tottenham Hotspur FC has been excluded from training after releasing photos to some of the squad members of him pictured in bed with a Premier league managers’ daughter.
@TheAthletic
Eddie will probably sold in Jan @Pierre
what the f is this shit “Like the Pilgrims Fathers setting out for the promised land.” can just see it now with old lego head dressed in a Kaftan at kings cross station saying “come on boys we are off to Newcastle lol…………………………lol” I wish
Cal Chambers being slapped in the face for the Burnley goal
————-
Man City……..
Burnley didn’t score against us- very poor Pedro
Great pod, Pete! Love Nige!
Game day let’s go. All 3 points desperately needed to stop the wheels from coming completely off before the start of November.
Arse 1- Villa 3
Davey that’s not helping
Samesong
I wouldn’t be surprised if said first team Tottenham player is Delle Ali
Sorry I have no faith
1 goal better off than last years debacle
Honestly Arteta played under wenger, a man known for his love for beautiful flowing football then moved to work under pep whose approach to entertaining football is unmatched. How do you work under such brains and still come out a dud playing the most negative football in club history? 7 goals in 8 for a man that allegedly started his playing at la masia is beyond shocking how do you evwn explain this? I believe majority of fans will take draws if they see a very clear identity on the pitch. Honestly we are at a point where midtable teams… Read more »
Englandsbest: stop telling arteta what to do he probably knows better than you!
Also englandsbest: i think arteta should play white next to partey! 😂 😂
Reading Arteta’s interview (Daily Mail) I wondered what he’d make of Le Grove. It’s littered with childish name-calling and derisive personal attacks. I guess none of that would surprise him and I expect that people offering advice on how to play the game (like myself) would raise a smile – or maybe a scream.
But let’s be clear: everyone in the public eye (bar the Queen) gets that kind of treatment sooner or later. It’s called Free Speech. Try that in Moscow and you end up in jail, in Beijing, you are ‘re-educated.’. Here, it sells newspapers.
I was watching a documentary last night and in 2006 we lost DB10
Ashley Cole
Lauren
Sol
Pires
Reyes
Apart from Reyes all giants for us
The next season we lost
Henry
Freddie
Hleb
In a 3 year period we lost 10 world class player
(PV4 ) 2005
I don’t think we have had 10 world class players since
Tonight I go to watch us play villa and I think we will lose 15 years ago we would have form apart
We are a shell of that club since the kronkes took over
Sad sad times