Mikel Arteta didn’t just need three points against Aston Villa, he needed a proper performance. Boy did we get one! I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the 90 minutes on display was probably the best of the season so far. Arsenal beat Aston Villa 3-1 and performed to a very high standard for about 80% of the game.
Every mediocre result at the moment brings a mediocre analysis from certain parts of the fan base. The Palace and Brighton games weren’t about bad tactics, the rain, or the end game of a destructive manager that plays dull football on purpose. They were a result of inexperience and a lack of confidence. Team sport is about psychology. If you are getting pressed hard and you are confident, you can break that press a few times early on, then put the opposition on the backfoot. If you let the press happen to you, you fall back on the easy option… long balls. We let Brighton have their way with us because the midfield wouldn’t show and the defence wasn’t confident. We panicked when we went a goal up against Palace, hoped we could defend, and we invited bad times. Villa was different.
It was about confidence.
Alex Lacazette was the catalyst for that.
Not only did he set the tone for aggression and work rate early on; he also proved a really useful pivot for the midfield. The players trust him. You can see that. Trust is absolutely huge in football. If you know putting a ball into Lacazette will result in possession, you’ll make the run. Every ball that went into Lacazette seemed to result in a positive move. Our defence was brave on the ball. Ben White too a huge early gamble when he beat the Villa press and went on a marauding 60 yard run. Everybody in the team clicked, Sambi was more ambitious, Thomas Partey was far better when he had a partner in midfield, Saka and ESR controlled the ball and moved with purpose.
Confidence was the difference between two draws and a win.
Did you notice that the players had been told to take less touches on the ball? There was so much one touch passing. The ball moved up the pitch at outrageous speed compared to where we are normally.
We rolled with a 4-4-2. Proper old school. The first half was a battering. It was total destruction. We finished the half with 14 attempts at goal, 5 big chances, 4 shots on target and a two-goal lead. Thomas Partey scored the first after looking very threatening from corners. The second one he connected with went across Emi. Our second came from a VAR decision that went our way. Auba had his penalty saved but scored when the parried save fell close to him.
The third goal was a beauty of a counterattack. Smith Rowe intercepted a rogue pass, Sambi laid off the Partey who found Auba in the middle, he flicked the ball into the run of Smith Rowe who struck home off Mings. Who cares how they come, it was certainly deserved.
Obviously, we conceded. Just to make things spicy. Thomas Partey put in a bit of a wet challenge on the edge of our box and they scored with a sharp strike.
You want to know what inexperience looks like when it lacks confidence? That was the last 20% of the game. We didn’t have the maturity to close out the game. I wondered if the instruction to BE BOLDER WHEN YOU ARE WINNING was taken too literally. Panic set into the system and we started making silly errors. The ball went from sticking to feet to no one being able to control it. Again, no need to worry, that is a learning experience and we’ll get better at it… but damn, it’s painful viewing.
Performances?
… back to Lacazette. Dropping in to stop Douglas Luiz in the build-up? Outrageous stuff. He was so, so good.
Sambi Lokonga announced himself to the Premier League. I cannot reiterate how good I think this player is going to be. He’s so intelligent off the ball, he’s brave on it, he reads the game really well, and he’s BOLD. To deliver a performance like that after a mistake is special.
Aaron Ramsdale is just a brilliant young keeper. My big worry was he’d be a bit like Richard Wright. Great in a shite side doing 50 things a game. Bad in a side where he has 4 things to do in a game. I WAS SO WRONG! GIVE ME THE GoT SHAME BELL AND MARCH ME NAKED DOWN HOLLOWAY ROAD. He’s extremely alert to danger, he’s very fast off his line, and he’s a total athlete. Those daisy-cutter passes we thought were shanks in his first games are giving me life. Leno has ZERO way back.
Thomas Partey still has some work to do, but my oh my isn’t he better with a partner? I thought he bossed midfield. He was at fault a bit for their goal, but overall, he’s the first midfield since Paddy to give me Paddy vibes.
Emile Smith Rowe? 3 goals in 5? 2 assists and a goal for England U21? He played on Monday with a foot injury no one knew about. HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE THIS GUY? He’s just everything we love in a player. A London boy, high energy, creative… and now productive. What a great story he is. England caps are coming soon!
Our defensive unit was solid last season, now it’s exciting. The fact that our world doesn’t collapse when we lose KT for a game is progress. Tavares was excellent all game. He’s an elite athlete, his directness is a gift, and his defending was far better than I thought it’d be.
I also want to give a shout out to Auba. When you give him early balls, he’s better. It’s very simple.
So how did we finish the game?
22 attempts at goal.
9 shots on target.
6 big chances.
That feels like we can move away from THIS SYSTEM DOESN’T CREATE CHANCES. I think that’s the 4th game we’ve registered over 15 attempts on goal this season. We’re now averaging 14.6 shots per game, which puts us 5th in the league. Not a bad stat when you consider we’ve played Chelsea and City (BADLY) already.
We’re unbeaten in our last 7 competitive games. After the start we had, that is pause for a little praise. It’s not perfect out there, but if you asked the question: When Arteta has the players he wanted, is it better? We ‘might’ be getting to the point where we can say yes.
One of the criticisms people keep levelling at the project is: ARTETA HAS BEEN IN THE JOB TWO YEARS. It’s a tasty soundbite, hard to argue factually, but it’s not really the right way to look at things. The squad has undergone a brutal transformation. We’ve shipped out a huge amount of experience, we’ve finally replaced it with players all under the age of 24 (after a few misses under Raul), we now have the youngest team in the Premier League. The project we all wanted started this season. A year late, no doubt, but this Arsenal is the one that has an actual chance of being decent.
There’s not even an agenda here. That starting 11 had 5 of his new signings and two Hale-enders (thank you @SheWore). Who is crying about Buendia with his 76% pass completion rate? He was so anonymous, Odegaard made more passes than him in 22 minutes. Anyone crying about Martinez this morning? No way. Out of the 6 players this summer, which has been a miss? Not one. Fans love all of them.
This new model means new expectations. The football is going to be up and down. There will be pain. We’re going to have more games like Palace this season, that’s just a fact. The job Arteta has to do is make sure the fans are plated up more games like the Villa one.
The objective of this season is Europe. Arsenal needs to be in the top 4 mixer come January. If they are, there’s a chance they might bang the back half of next season.
Where are we now? One point off top 4. Brighton play Manchester City this weekend. Liverpool play United. West Ham play Spurs. Brentford play Leicester. There’s a high chance the top 4 pack don’t move a lot this weekend because those games could be draws. We are in good shape if that happens.
People need to chill out with the doom prophecies after every mediocre result and look at our reality. We moved away from ‘experience’, we’re going for a young player approach, that requires patience and a bit of faith. You know who said we should show a bit of faith? Nigel Winterburn, on the podcast. So you should pay attention to him because he’s won more trophies than you.
Right, see you in the comments, check out our latest podcast!
Tavares may have created a selection problem for Arteta’ as it was obvious that Tavares created space for smith Rowe with his energy and willingness to overlap with pace. Tierny can’t make an overlap without looking shattered as he struggles to regain his position. Alternately , Tavares looks like he has energy to burn. AThe team’s performance last night was the one we were hoping to see against Palace and Brighton , especially after the high intensity of tje Tottenham game. It was obvious that Arteta has learnt from tje palace game and demanded tjat the players do not take… Read more »
Two
🌲🌲🌲
Good win last night, thought Partey was excellent.
Watching Emi taking a fat L for talking all his shit was fantastic. Can’t stand the prick
OK accept the Impossible Tro4phy in respect to yesterday grinding of Martinez nose in the dust
OK, even with 5th place would be happy with
6
First? After actually reading the post slowly? Wow! Never got one then second one in the same year! Hopefully means we are making top 4
We’ve shipped out a huge amount of experience.
–
We’ve shipped out a huge amount of shite.
Tears welling in my eyes as inch to our dedicated SLOT
Here for the comments
Just watched the game. What a fantastic performance. The bite in the tackles, the speed of play and the movement. Really good. There’s obviously some bad blood with Villa.
I though Laca was probably out MOtM. He was in for everything. We will miss him heavily if he leaves next summer.
If we can play that way more consistently and against big opponents then we will be up there at the end of the season. It’s a big “if”, mind you!
Need to chill out on the hype after every win that should be routine for a big team like Arsenal
I got a question and I’m bias
Who’s better Mount or The Smith?
The Smith my answer but what do you guys think?
Sid
😤😤😤
I think Odegaard should be behind in the pecking order now, but when he plays it should be one of the wide midfield positions. We need fighters like Lacazette in the middle.
There were 2 big decisions in the game , the Aubameyang disallowed goal and the penalty and I’m not sure either were correct decisions . Lacazette won the ball cleanly just before Aubameyang scored , yes there was a bit of a tussle but no reason to guve a free kick against Lacazette. It was a similar situation for the penalty , the villa defender made contact with the ball and for me it was more Lacazette planting his foot in front of the defender that caused any contact . Very clever play from Lacazette and he did milk it… Read more »
My heart says give Lacazette a new contract. My head says Don’t be stupid.
An one year extension would be ideal but I can’t see Lacazette going for it UNLESS we incentivised with a big signing on AND a big golden goodbye clause…
It might be worth it if we could tempt the likes of Newcastle to buy Lacazette for £30m or so…
Laca puts so much effort in that he can’t sustain his fitness over more than 2-3 games and is prone to get injured.
Impressed with Tavares’ performance. Tierney will be sweating as his level has dropped off a cliff.
Pedro Lacazette makes a huge difference to the team as we saw already in his cameo performance against Crystal Palace. The fact is that Arsenal are short of physically robust and aggressive players in their squad. Lacazette is one of the few exceptions to rule. Arsenal will most probably lose Lacazette at the end of this season, because he is unlikely to be offered a new contract and certainly not for the wages which are being offered in Italy. My viewpoint is that Arsenal should look to bring an equally robust goalscoring striker to replace him and that should be… Read more »
I think all of our strikers will benefit from playing 442
Great to see Auba back scoring regularly… is that 3 in the last 4 EPL games and 7 in all competitions?
Never in doubt.
Boy oh boy, how wrong was I and many others about Tavares. Guess I should be taking the opinion of emotionally charged fans on the internet with a pinch of salt. All the Benfica fans were literally begging for him to go and laughing at Arsenal for paying them 8 mil for a player who supposedly shit. Before he even signed for us, he was already written off by a majority of the fanbase. The mental strength he had shown to take that on has to be applauded. Everytime he has played for us he has looked good and yesterday… Read more »
Brilliant performance. White, Laca, ESR and Tavares the standouts.
We are much better without Pepe, and I’m sorry to say it, but it looks like swapping out Odegaard and Tierney helped too…
Great result and great performance. I’ve said top 6 all season and see noreason to change that view now.
What Lacazette brought to the team was fire and aggression. He set the tone for the team with his insane work rate from minute 0 and everyone followed. Though he did not last the 90 what he did out there yesterday is why we won. Most of our players in the starting 11 are sub 24 and in all honesty get intimated by aggressive opposition players. We have very few who fight back ( Gabriel, Xhaka, Laca). Of these Laca is the only one who can set an aggressive tone for the whole team as he is playing further forward… Read more »
Great win but the previous poor performances have all been a result of the managers influence or overthinking. Pepe should never ever start any game for us if it means moving Saka from the right hand side. The difference in football intelligence, movement and balance with Saka on the right instead of Pepe is astonishing. Also playing this weird Partey, Odegaard midfield two or this weird tactic with Tierney playing so high up that it forces the other midfielder to cover the left handside leaving Partey on an island by himself in the middle is just all bad management/tactics from… Read more »
Also one more thing
Gabriel is still only 23 year old.
World class defender in the making.
Three priorities for Edu for January
1. Sell Nketiah and Lacazette for a decent sum if possible
2. Buy a new powerful DM to complement Partey and to replace Xhaka
3. Buy young proven striker, strong in the air and good finisher between 21 and 27.
As I wrote during the game that it was a bit worrying that Auba and Laca could only muster one shot on target between the two of them (besides the rebounded penalty).
Regarding ESR, he saved Arteta from a sacking last season after he recovered from injury to play against Chelsea and he’s saving Arteta again, he’s definitely going to be one of our all time greats.
LeedsgunnerOctober 23, 2021 10:19:53
Three priorities for Edu for January1. Sell Nketiah and Lacazette for a decent sum if possible2. Buy a new powerful DM to complement Partey and to replace Xhaka3. Buy young proven striker, strong in the air and good finisher between 21 and 27.
1 Agree
2 Sambi?
3 Haaland 😀
Danny, we had a number of shots on goal. If these come from all round the pitch I’m happy about that as it’s hard to defend. PArticularly since our front line worked so hard to make space, create chances and defend from the front.
And it’s even better if we consider that in the first three games of the season we had fewer shots than Alec Baldwin.
Great to make jokes about someone being accidentally shot and killed.
What a toilet comment.
Great game, annoying to concede late again but we keep going. Leicester is a big game, hopefully we can get another result there like last season.
Leedsgunner Lacazette and Nketiah are unlikely to be sold. They have only 6 months left on their contracts. Lacazette has already announced that he will remain at the club until end of his contract when he can leave on Bosman. Chambers, Kolasinac and Elneny are also in final season of their current contracts and will also leave at end of season. There are perhaps 6-7 positions in squad where we require replacements. These are: 1] FIRST STRING STRIKER to replace Lacazette. 2]BALOGUN to replace Nketiah. 3]FIRST STRING DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER to replace Xhaka. 4] PATINO to replace Elneny. 5] SALIBA to… Read more »
TT
Sambi in my mind was the replacement for Ceballos. He is going to play a big role for sure. If Elneny is off, as it is heavily rumoured we still need another midfielder.
Ideally I would love to see one of our Hale Enders like Azeez or Patino step up and take that role so we could spend that money all on a new striker… but they’re probably too raw right now.
Shame we seem to have burnt our bridges with Guendouzi because profile and age wise he would have been perfect.
Oh well.
Every now and then Arteta stumbles upon or devises a good formation to get going but in the very next game he undoes his own good work by changing formation and personnel.
So If we see Odegaard and especially Pepe back in the starting line up again then that will tell a lot about Arteta. If Arteta is smart he should be able to figure out that he can’t play high tempo pressing football with Ode and Pepe.
I have always liked Tavares and Lokonga, so not surprised they put in great performances.
Absolutely essential we play with two CMs and two strikers. It doesn’t necessarily have to be Laca and Auba all the time, any two out of Auba, Laca, Eddie and Martinelli will do for me.
Emirates
So in other words we agree. 😂
Why say something in 30 words when you can say the same thing in 300. 😜
I agree with your suggested youngsters to fill the places in the squad by the way… except going to the market for goalkeeper.
Backup Goalkeeper should be given to Hein and or Okonkwo to fight it out if Leno gets sold.
Spend the money for a keeper on other areas like a striker…
WE, CC and Marko don’t post here anymore, do they ?
Captain Tierney – completely agree with both your comments.
Over the past year I’ve started to see Laca as our version of Luis Suarez – while he’s obviously not the same level, he fights and raises the level of those around him. He won the game yesterday by facing up to the early intimidation, and probably turning it on the villa players (maybe he was the intimidating force tbh). It gave others the confidence to play. We need that in the side – it’s why we get bullied by weaker teams in this league
Oh and if we get rid of Chambers and Mari… replace them with Ballard and Saliba.
TR7 –
Marko and WE have both been given temp bans in the past for voicing their concerns about Arteta, so I think they eventually just gave up.
CC has floated in and out of the comments over the years, but it seems to me like he was too ambivalent to get involved in the discussions when we got off to such a terrible start this season, which is fair enough imo. Hopefully he comes back. I really like his banter.
I like all their banter.
It is a bit early to pull out all the “I told you so” posters pedro. We still have an average manager. We were dogshit against Btìghtin and Palace. Let’s not rewrite those games.. But last night was a good performance. And every arsenal fan, even the Arteta Out camp like me enjoyed it. For me our average manager got it right last night. And it is going to take a lot of these kinds of performances in order for us to stop calling for his head. What last night proved to me again is that we have the players… Read more »
Christ, the turnbuckle going on by Pedro this week is something else. I’ve long seen people accusing Pedro of this behaviour but I’m surprised to see it so blatantly.
So, because of one great game last night, it’s all systems go again on the long term strategy I guess…
Arsenal 3 Aston Villa 1. Not quite Arsenal 4 Villa 0 FA Cup final stuff but much better than the last 24 months of dirge we have witnessed. A rare piece of good management from Arteta . Recalling Lacactte who off course will play well- he is fighting for a new contract or trying to impress suitors. And dropping the hugely overrated Tierney and playing Tavares. Another player who has something to improve. No surprise , the 2 most disappointing players this season are Tierney and Odegaard- both whom signed very lucrative 5 year contracts in the summer and have… Read more »
Nice to have a report in which the loss of Xhaka is not mentioned.
Tierney is clearly struggling with post summer tournament syndrome (Saka is to a lesser extent) and it looks as though we may be able to give him a decent break to refresh and renew motivation.
ESR is just a joy to watch. Ironically he is everything that Ozil should have been as a no.10 and wasn’t.
Even WE got a temp ban ? Pedro is becoming more and more thin skinned with age it seems.
Davi
Yup Luis Suarez is a good example but the only reason I didn’t mention him is because he is head and shoulders above Laca, in every department.
Torreira also had this kind of impact in his first 6 months at Arsenal.
And yes, loved how Laca was not one fazed going up against Tyrone Mings, taking elbows in the face and dishing out some blows of his own.
ESR, Saka, Ode, Partey, Auba dont do that.
Instead they are the ones who get bullied.
Seeing Laca there, allowed everyone to be more aggressive then they usually are.
“It is a bit early to pull out all the “I told you so” posters pedro.” This is the theme at the moment. Good result = evidence the process is working, bad result = expected because youngest squad in the prem. It’s a shame a top-down view isn’t taken more regularly. Enjoy the great victories like last night, but be critical they are still the exception rather than the rule. And don’t start the point tally at the beginning of any particular winning run as the only sample worth exploring. Seasons begin and end at the same time for all… Read more »
Great upbeat post, Pedro
Laca suits the team better than Auba. Arteta should extend Laca’s contract
With luck, NUFC will make an irresistible bid for Auba early in Jan
Just managed to see the game.
Some semblance of Arsenal at last.?
Work rate was as intense as the Spurs game.?
Really good result by all players .
But can we keep that work rate up every game.?
.
Nice. Read but stop making out excuses. I don’t know about how Arteta want things to work but in our bad games, what was bad was really obvious. I will point them out to you… vs Brighton – We couldn’t hold up play was the big issue here. Who did we need Laca. Laca does not start in the next match. vs Crystal Palace – We were too slow and Pepe and Odegaard was ineffective who did we need Laca. How Pepe even starts in this arsenal team baffles me as hell. How Odegaard starts at the base of the… Read more »
If it is true that WengerEagle got a ban that’s just silly.
He along with Romford Pele (remember him?) we’re walking and talking football encyclopaedias. Come to think of it, we haven’t seen N5 either. Or gambon.
All great raconteurs of the game…
*were NOT we’re…
Pedro, I said the other day I thought there was good football in this side but didn’t know where the spark would come from. I also thought the Friday night Lights/end of the working week crowd could raise the atmosphere. But, hand on heart, I never imagined that beautiful power play we were treated to last night.
Let’s get the negs outta the way. We shoulda won by 4 or 5. I’ll take those negs any day. I love basking in a win like that.
If WE hasn’t received any temp bans, he certainly had some of his comments deleted. That might’ve been enough for him to pack in his le-grove career. Pity. As Leeds said, his content was top tier.
The real top tier, not Aaron Ramsey top 33 top tier.
Pedro, I do take issue with the Arteta thumb suckers excuse that this squad is too young to be consistent. It’s not too young, it’s just inconsistent. In the Premier league there is no room for ageism. You are either good enough or not. Tony Adams was 17 when he made his Arsenal debut. David O’Leary, Liam Brady and David Rocastle among others were all 17 when they made their debuts for Arsenal. No one made excuses for them because they were good enough. No one told Paulo Maldini he was too old when he went into his 40s still… Read more »
Jamie “This season we’re still -3 GD after 9 game.” Stats without weighting are just numbers. The first three games were easy to beat us up but missed a few facts: 1. We had a Covid breakout 2. We had injuries 3. We played City and Chelsea 4. Norwich was the first game many of yesterdays team played in Add the above to the fact that this is a new group of players and it should surprise nobody we struggled in those first three games. Some of the more pragmatic amongst us said it would take time for the team… Read more »
Home fans makes a difference in a match. Last game, the fans were calling for the PK and a few yellow cards to our opponent players.
Nelson
You are absolutely correct. I was at the game last night, the way our fans got behind the team helped the players confidence. We put the referee under pressure the way teams like Man Utd & Liverpool always have. I have always thought our stadium should be more intimidating, it was yesterday. We have to make it our 12th man.
1-0 Chelski.
Mount.
“It is a bit early to pull out all the “I told you so” posters pedro” Its really the theme here these days, a good performance and its all you critics have been bed wetters. Every team has a performance in them especially at home over the course of a season, what sets teams apart is the consistency of said performances. Yea we beat Villa at home and played wonderfully so let us go after all those who rightly pointed out we were atrocious against Palace and Brighton. This is not the first time we have all said “seems Arteta… Read more »
The crowd was great last night, a lot probably fueled by a booze filled Friday afternoon no doubt! (No such luck for me).
Absolutely love the status quo inspired Saka/Smith Rowe song!
Let’s play Friday nights more often!
Last nights penalty awarded 55 seconds after the challenge on Lacca, so that means those 55 seconds and maybe longer as the final whistle for the end of the 1st half was not blown have to be replayed. Why do football managers never no the rules of football. 2 mins injury time means a minimum of 2 minutes Can’t wait for shearer on MOTD to say it wasn’t a penalty as contact was made on the ball., who remembers in the early days at the Emirates when Villa won a penalty and Shearer played it back in slow mo and… Read more »
Times have changed. You’re considered a youngster now when you’re 21 or 22. The days of seventeen and eighteen year olds seem to have been forgotten by some. Rooney was good enough and experienced enough at 16. I know, he was an exceptional talent at such a young age but I don’t buy into this “we’re the youngest team” scenario. Arsenal were excellent last night, especially in the first half. Lacazette was the catalyst and the others fed of this. Tavares had a great game and deserves the plaudits. White showed his obvious talent and his forward runs were impressive… Read more »
Best Arsenal performance under Arteta to date for me.
Started with an aggressive, high intensity attitude that didn’t drop off until late in the second half, which was only to be expected since you can rarely dominate a team for the entire 90 in the PL, and Villa have scored 80% of their goals in second halves.
Impressed with Ramsdale’s passing range , two of the best passes in the whole game were his.
“It is a bit early to pull out all the “I told you so” posters pedro”
No it isn’t. Not when you’ve given Arteta 4 seasons to do what other managers had to achieve immediately.
Pedro isn’t gonna wait till May 2023 to claim moral victory of Arteta achieving top four, especially when chances are it’ll never happen.
It seems curious that it’s taken Arteta so long to make the change up front. I dont think you have to be a tactical genius to work out the having Auba on his own doesnt work. Laca’s availability and capacity to hold the ball up and bring others into play made us much more of a threat. It also means the midfielders can get forward with more confidence. As to the question of whether we offer him a new contract I would argue not. We have been here before. Players seem to raise their game when they want a new… Read more »
AFC Forever
Good stuff from a man who was there.
I agree wit your every word. Won’t make a hape’th of difference, though, to the doom merchants. They’ll be waiting for the next ‘disaster’.
The reason why some of the fans are still not convince with Arteta. Last game, he played the players in their best position. He is not asking Partey to be the lone DM against three opponent midfielders. Just wonder how he can be so wrong setting up the team in the Palace game.
We played great, very happy with it. I’m also happy to see a 4-4-2 as I was talking about it just the other day. Lacazette was an utter boss. Therein lies the problem. He’s playing like he’s after a £300k a week contract. We can’t keep doing this to ourselves. Auba was amazeballs until he got his new deal, he’s not been the same since. If we give Lacazette a juicy extension, he’ll be rubbish next season. You know it’s true. The only way it’ll work is if it’s a single year with another option or whatever. We cannot do… Read more »
Great performance yesterday
The players were clearly not restrained to “zones”
If arteta can continue to allow these players to express themselves and use some intelligence with his jdp mantra this team will certainly excel
May the courageous approach continue
My team against Leeds?
Leno
Holding-Chambers-Mari
Pepe-Patino-Akinola-Odegaard – Martinelli
Nketiah -Balogun
Subs
Hein
Elneny
Salah Eddine
Kido Taylor Hart
Biereth
Cedric
Tavares
Lacazette
Gabriel
Kolasinac
Even with the number of youngsters we should have more than enough experience to defeat Leeds who I suspect will play their second XI and youngsters.
When peope say front two and it was a 4-4-2 against Villa it wasn’t strictly that was it. Really it was the old Laca upfront with Auba wide but Auba wide high up and floating inside. Auba made a fair amount of runs with the ball like a winger last night running down the flank and getting in or attempting to get in crosses from wide positions as well as coming inside to be more central with Laca. This was the position for Auba that so many posters on here hated for Auba in the past. This team more times… Read more »
Leedsgunner
That’s a title winning team right there.
As i said earlier , our next 4 away games will give us some indications if we have turned the corner. I fully expect us to beat watford , newcastle and Southampton at home if we play with the same positivity, intensity and aggression. However, away fŕom home it will be Leicester, liverpool, united and Everton who will be the aggressors and we need to find a way to combat this.. This season more than ever it has highlighted how the officials are influenced by the home crowd. During covid , there was more away wins than home wins, this… Read more »
Norwich’s defense got to be the worst in the EPL.
Lacazette has always shown that intensity.
Whenever he plays, the whole team plays better.
I’ve always been a massive fan.
Hopefully Arteta will utilise him far more.
Oops!
5-0!
Could be seven or eight.
It wasn’t down to the players individually for the most part that there was a disappointing performance against Palace .
Most knew that the unsatisfactory performance against Palace a big part of it was because Arteta incorrectly decided to play Partey isolated on his own.
Please if there is real hope that Arteta is going to be a major success at Arsenal let’s hold him accountable for the good as well as the bad we see like all managers are subjected to rather than hiding behind the it’s all about the players line.
Pierre
Good post.
Norwich’s GK got to be one of the worst in the EPL. He just put the ball into his own net. Bad defense and GK, fatal combination.
The Bard
Arteta played Auba up-front, in case you didn’t notice.
Arteta’s aim is a style of play that takes time to instill. Repetition is the key, which is why he sticks to the pattern, rather than take the easy way and make changes.
Some of us (myself inc) think Laca better suited, and maybe Arteta thinks the same and will sell him to NUFC in Jan, and if needed, spend the cash on a slugger up front.
Meanwhile, against Leicester C, I’d be very surprised not to see Auba up front.
“Arteta’s aim is a style of play that takes time to instill. Repetition is the key, which is why he sticks to the pattern, rather than take the easy way and make changes”.
Yet we didn’t see much repetition last night rather we saw clear changes. Seems he took that easy way in your view.
Do you even think before you type England best?
england’sbest
Auba’s position last night and how he played was no different to how he has been used prior.
And so many posters on here hated it previously. Why the fuck is
Auba on the wing out wide when he is the top scorer of goals blah blah
People have short memories.
Norwich cannot cut it in the Premier League with their present boss. They were humiliated last time out and will be further humiliated now. The time has come for them to decide what sought of club they want to be going forward, Thomas Frank has shown its not rocket science to compete in this league, a -19 GD after 9 round of matches is not competing
Biggles ””””Lacazette was an utter boss. Therein lies the problem. He’s playing like he’s after a £300k a week contract. We can’t keep doing this to ourselves. Auba was amazeballs until he got his new deal, he’s not been the same since. If we give Lacazette a juicy extension, he’ll be rubbish next season. You know it’s true””””” Well said, Laca wants a piece of the action and his retirement fund Like PEA and like RVP before him. They all play like worldbeaters when they are in their last year of their contracts. The moment Lacazette get his new contract-… Read more »
Ramsdale’s passing and distribution is so impressive.
No need to read motives into Lacazette’s performance, he has been okay most of his time here, didn’t live up to his initial billing though. What he is playing for now is his next contract which ideally should not come from AFC, what Arteta can do is capitalize on that hunger for the rest of the season to meet his objectives (provided he has any beyond young team bla bla bla ). Top four is there for the taking, a return to the Europa league a bare minimum, although that will be an achievement for the man Arteta rather than… Read more »
RH
Don’t entirely agree.
Lacazette has always had that fighting instinct. The fact that he could be back in the fold is a massive bonus as far as I’m concerned.
Funny how certain posters have crawled out the woodwork since our win last night. The only poster I have respect for (even if I don’t agree with him) is Englandsbest . Win lose or draw he’s on here. Credit to him. AFC has crawled out the woodwork even though he hasn’t been seen for a few weeks. Pathetic
“Norwich will show their true quality as soon as their schedule eases up “ was posted after Arsenal beat them 1 nil and I agree, but it will be next season in the Championship.
Should of said the Arteta in crowd I don’t respect except for Englands best. Love the rest of you of course.
“Don’t entirely agree. Lacazette has always had that fighting instinct. The fact that he could be back in the fold is a massive bonus as far as I’m concerned.” Graham 62 then you are agreeing with me I said he has always been okay most of his time here and it was up to Arteta now to use his hunger for a new contract well. Dunno what you don’t agree with. Although with Lacazette there is always a drop off, whenever he is out of the side he comes back strong but once he gets consistent starts you notice a… Read more »
Patiently waiting for Tavares Bale-like transformation from LB to elite winger.
I’m not sure what the difference is between ‘I told you so’ today or when I said ‘we will have ups and downs’ after the Palace game.
This is the season pattern. We chose young players. They will be inconsistent.
Everyone got the performance they wanted last night. The players showed up, played with confidence, and delivered to the level for longer than 45 minutes.
Now we have to do the same away against Leicester.
Laca didn’t always have that fighting spirit? He was never this aggressive at his last club. He’s learnt to fight in the premier league. He struggled to score goals that’s why we brought in Auba.
If you watch Laca he was very much a link up player and finisher in France.
“This is the season pattern. We chose young players. They will be inconsistent.” Except the inconsistency is more to do with a manager learning on the job and being risk averse than the age of the players. Arteta has not shown anything that literally 100’s of managers cannot achieve and much earlier with AFC, but yet all timelines have been suspended while he learns and the likes of you now have “young players” as an alibi. The youthful nature of our squad is meant to be an exciting advantage not the disadvantage you have chosen to run with. The elephant… Read more »