RAMSDALE SHINES AS ARSENAL MARCH UP THE TABLE

by .

I thought I’d take the later post today, see how things pan out, then get into the mixer on the Leicester game.

So overall, we teed up another, THIS IS THE DEFINING moment for the club. The reason Leicester was so important was quite simple, they are a really good side and they will be in the mix for top 4 at the end of the season. We were also dealing with an away game, an area of inconsistency for sure.

Well, we certainly picked up where we left off against Aston Villa. We started with outrageous ferocity, we nearly scored after 2 minutes with Saka weaving his way into the box. For the next 27 minutes or so, we ripped Leicester apart. They had no answer to our pressing, they couldn’t deal with Lacazette, their midfield argued with each other about being overrun, and we actually made the pressure count… twice.

Our first goal came from another corner. Saka on his 100th appearance swung a ball in at the front post, Gabriel bullied his way there and glanced a beauty of a header past Kasper. A great start and another example of the good work Nic Jover is doing with the set-plays this season. He seems to be channelling a bit of that 90s George Graham energy at our corners. He’s also taking advantage of the fact most of our corners for 10 years haven’t made it past the front post… now that’s an asset.

You have to note that this happened on minute 5. We are early starters now, something we were not last season. This is how Klopp transformed Liverpool in the early days. He also had fitness challenges. Unai Emery let his side tire themselves out in the Europa Final, then pulled them apart after 60 minutes. Plenty to work on, but I love that we come out the traps.

Saka was in the mixer for the second goal, his run into the box found Lacazette, who was tackled, but the spillover ball fell to ESR who stroked his shot past Kasper. Our young superstar #10 has 2 goals and 3 assists in 10 Premier League appearances. Kind of special as Mesut Ozil is out of the Fenerbache squad for an away game they lost with no injury. Has anyone tweeted him to Trust the Process?

The opening 27 minutes was beastly. It was an absolute scene to look at. The only thing missing was another two goals. When this project is further down the line, we’re doing what City did to Brighton last week. You give them no way back, so when the energy levels drop, you’ve already broken the opposition.

The next phase of the game was equally impressive. Johnny said on the podcast that this game was important because you knew we’d been in a fight. I agree. Matt also said during the match that this moment was about character. Did we have the right mentality to deal with the waves of Leicester attacks?

We did. It wasn’t always pretty, but there was a standout defensive performance from the team as a unit, and there were some outrageous individual performances as well.

Aaron Ramsdale really was the star of the show. He is, without doubt, playing to world-class levels in this moment. You can’t argue it. There isn’t a weakness in his game right now. He has found a spectacular level in a short space of time and he’s answering all the questions we had about him emphatically. The big moment was the freekick. Facing into the sun, he somehow managed to scoop out an inch-perfect kick and put it on the bar. Peter Schmeichel said it was one of the best saves he’d seen with his own son on the pitch. There was more to his game than that, his passing was exceptional at times, his command of the box was dominant. He’s even revving up rival fans by finishing their chants for them. It also didn’t go unnoticed that he told Ben White to get the physio out to waste time. You LOVE to see it.

If there were one slight piece of feedback, it would be that his choice of kicking when we’re tired put us under more pressure. Arsenal still has work to do on controlling the game when we don’t have the ball. At the moment, he goes into long ball mode and we don’t really have an outlet to deal with that. This might be part of the strategy, but I don’t think so, because it invites waves of attacks and gives the opposition and their fans the upper hand.

Gabriel was absolutely elite again. He is the rock in the heart of that defence. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a genuinely imposing centre back. Gabriel is raw athlete. He towers over strikers. He’s strong, he’s fast, and his danger awareness has kicked up a level. You want his name on that team sheet, he offers so much assurance from set plays and now… from our very own attacking set plays.

I thought Ben White did a really good job dealing with Jamie Vardy. He used his speed to great effect and snuffed out a lot of early danger. Our full-backs also put in a very good shift. Tomi’s adaptation at 21 has been something special, especially when you watch Emerson Royal over at Spurs dropping 5/10s. Tavares has also been a revelation. His directness going forward has always been a known quantity, but not so much his defending, which has been really, really solid. Arteta went out of his way to credit Edu with that signing, a show that things are good behind the scenes now everything is working.

Back to the game. We had a rough middle part, but the subs that came on changed our style a bit. Odegaard created two chances. Auba was bundled over and Evans should have been sent off. Towards the end of the game, you felt Leicester were spent. We went home with the 3 points and moved up to 5th in the table.

So where are we in the season now?

We’re one of the form sides in Europe now. Spanish papers are writing about the turnaround. Pep was paying attention last week when he said Arsenal are improving one game at a time.

The early season problems can now be seen with mitigating circumstances in mind. Playing Brentford with a covid outbreak is always going to be rough, they put 3 past Liverpool with no injuries. Playing City with a (now) entirely back-up defence was always going to be hard, especially down to 10 men. Chelsea was the same. We’ve even seen this weekend that Palace and Brighton are decent after they took points from Liverpool and City.

It’s time to move away from #ArtetaOut after every result. Everything fans wanted to be addressed has nearly been addressed.

His talent ID along with Edu now looks elite. You can’t knock the signings. They’ve all banged. Outside Runarsson and Willian last summer, hard to not look at Gabriel and Partey as bangers as well.

The football, with ‘his’ players, can hit a level we’ve not seen in a very long time. Spurs, Villa, and Spurs all shone a light on where we’re going as a team over the next two years. No more donut football. There’s movement, speed, range and intensity.

We’re not just copying Manchester City. There’s something different brewing. We’re like a counter-attack specialist team. As a Gooner pal said, this side feels more George Graham than Arsene Wenger. The foundations have been built on an elite defensive system in which the whole team has to be participants… I think that’s quite exciting considering where we were under Emery at one point: Ranked 1st for errors leading to shots. 1st for errors leading to goals. 1st for penalties conceded. 4th for shots faced. 10th for goals conceded. We don’t have days where a Watford like side could pepper our goal with 32 shots. We are hard to play against.

The squad that he’s built and the football that they are producing has the fans on another level. People are bought into the project. Away fans are making loads of noise. Home fans are making loads of noise. Why? Because something special is brewing at Arsenal and we can feel it.

Say it quietly, but you can now say that maybe, just maybe… the table since Christmas a lot of people cried about might have been more predictive of where the squad was going than we gave it credit for. Why? Because we’re actually now sitting in 6th on that same points as the team in 4th (West Ham). We’re 3 points off Manchester City in 3rd and 5 off Liverpool in 2nd. I don’t have to splice a table to tell you that is impressive. I’m sure we won’t be there at the end of the season, but I suspect if we have a good December we’ll be closer to 4th than we thought we’d be after the first 3 games where people were saying we’d finish 8th this season.

There’s still a long, long way to go this season. There are going to be ups and down. The players are going to drop disaster performances along the way. We’ll win some we shouldn’t. We’ll lose some we should win. But it’s time to move away from catastrophising every result because we finally have clarity where the club is heading.

Let’s also laugh at Spurs. Let’s laugh at the Arsenal fans who thought Jose was a power move. Let’s laugh at the fact they hired their 4th choice manager. Let’s laugh that Kane and Nuno had a mega bust-up because he doesn’t want to be there. Let’s laugh that their fans BOOED Harry Kane. Lovely stuff.

Right, that’s me done. I know you want to watch our On The Whistle video where Johnny makes a confession that will SHOCK you to the core. Enjoy, like, and share the work. LOVE YOU ALL x

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Pierre

Rich
Impressive bunch of young players there…..

Pierre

Without wishing to harp on about the difference that Tavares and Lakonga have made compared to xhaka/Tierney, i will ask the question

How many times in the last 2 league games has the ball gone out to the left wing and ended with a cross from the touchline into a crowded penalty area with little or no chance of our striker or strikers winning the ball .. i am struggling to think of any..

Our attacking play has a different dimension now, the aimless cross into the box is a thing of the past ……..hopefully.

Habesha Gooner

Pierre
I do like Tavarez. He has been a great find for 8 mil. I think we need to give it time to really see if this is his level. And I still believe Tierney is better. He is just out of form. Last season’s Tierney was one of 3 players that showed up along with Saka and ESR that saved what was left out of our season. He was reliable and had amazing crosses. And I hope that guy comes back because we are going to need both of them during the whole season.

Pierre

Habesha
Probably a fitness issue with Tierney asthis season he always looks knackered or is limping or going down with cramp, if he can sort himself out we will have 2 very good left backs..

Rich

Pierre Tierney was our most creative player last season, he was also our best player for large parts, It’s good we now appear to have a young player who’ll provide genuine competition + cover at left back Arsenal are becoming more direct, because Ramsdale, White, + Partey, are all naturally more direct through the spine Saka + Smith Rowe are good ball carriers, and the statistics point to Smith Rowe becoming significantly more direct this season than last The issue wasn’t Tierney crossing, the issue was the pace we transitioned from back to front, by the time Tierney had overlapped,… Read more »

Habesha Gooner

I love this from Johnny from the podcast.

” I am an Alien
I am a Ramsdalien
I love that Goalkeeper frome stoke”

Is it a chant?

Nigel Tufnel

Only Newcastle and Norwich have conceded more goal than ….

Emi Martinez.

His last proud moment was trolling Ronaldo and thrusting in a filthy manner at the United fans.

Habesha Gooner

Pierre It was not just a fitness issue. People haven’t realised but Arteta has made a few tweaks over the last two games and it is working for us. Tierney was bombing forward in order to provide the width while the CM in Xhaka or Lokonga were covering for him before. And that doesn’t suit him at all. He is asked to provide the only width on the left bombing forward whenever we have the ball amd the left sided attacker like ESR is asked to come infield. That was the 325 formation at work. Tavarez though is being asked… Read more »

Pedro

Nigel, you hate to see it

Pedro

Habesha, that’s a Johnny creation

Habesha Gooner

Pedro
I hope it becomes a chant. It is amazing. 😂😂😂

Bradybunch

Rich.
Completely agree. I really like NT, and h is now associated with our 2 best performances of the season/ decade possibly. But these were the best Team performances, where the whole 11 and subs outfought and out witted the opposition, and we consistently moved forward swiftly. KT would not have hindered this process.
I said it last week, calling him Austen flush in his absence from action is grossly premature.

Bradybunch

Austen?.. wtf? Don’t know who’s been using my keyboard! Busted

Pedro

Some MIA today:

Dissenter
Azed
Raptora
CG
PHD

Pierre

Habesha I get what you’re saying, but Tavares has that special ingredient….lightning pace , put that with his boundless energy and i don’t think Tierney can compete with Tavares pace or energy , hence it will be a different game when Tierney plays, one can’t imagine Tierney bombing past Smith Rowe to create all kinds of problems for the opposition defence the way Tavares does ….that’s how it is I’m afraid, and I’m not saying Tierney is not a good player, he is , I’m just that he’s different to Tavares. Arteta may have a selection problem very soon when… Read more »

Rich

Pierre

We need direct competition + cover in each position, these are exactly the type of headaches we want our manager to have

Foxy

Lokonga in the last two games has highlighted what we having been saying on this forum for ages, Party needs a high energy mobile partner in midfield i.e not Xhaka, to keep him fit. Yesterday Lokonga was all over the pitch whilst Party sat more centrally controlling the game.

Pedro

Foxy, Partey and Xhaka destroyed Spurs

Raulishuss

Its a good problem to have. Taveres came into a settled team plus he was getting caught out a bit yesterday but he’ll learn. Tierny looks unfit this season. Hope he gets his fitness sorted and comes back fighting but yea tavares is in a better moment right now

Raulishuss

Xhaka is still our best midfielder for control. I’m suprised some like pierre who wants to be recognized as the tactical brain box around here doesn’t have a clue. Sambi is growing in his role and i hope he develops fast but he isn’t there yet.

raptora

I stopped posting because you’ve been a prick to many people Pedro. If you think I’m hiding you are dead wrong. Or that I don’t enjoy when Arsenal win. But you are welcome to carry on.

raptora

Main reason I stopped posting on a daily basis is because the posts stopped representing me as a fan.

You can see me however, celebrating goals in the comments section during our games with “Get in”. Doesn’t sound like I’m hiding, now does it.

englandsbest

Raptora

We are all Arsenal fans on here, that is taken for granted. It’s just that some of us are less patient than others.

Northbanker

Well there is another option – play Tierney at LB and Tavares at LW. In a 4 4 2 formation ESR can then play the no 10 support role. No place for Ode though

Bertie Mee

Good commentary on yesterday’s game Pedro. You described the game I saw . This is an interesting blog. Through the summer it was very toxic, No belief in any of our signings – lots of people finding Leeds mates or Brighton mates who didn’t rate White, people who claimed Tomayisu was being hawked around Europe because he was an overpriced flop, Benfica contacts who said Tavares was shit and above all the dogs abuse aimed at Ramsdale from people who had never studied his game or understood his development trajectory . And the storm when we didn’t sign Buendia ,… Read more »

Pedro

Bertie, the Ben White slander was spectacular. My uncle, the biggest Leeds fan on the planet, did not want to talk to me about White this week because he’s angry Leeds didn’t sign him.

Good times for the project for sure.

Pedro

Raptora, playing the victim when we’re winning won’t rub with me… because you are certainly on here posting with vigor after we’ve drawn with a Crystal Palace like entity. Truth is, your agenda is dying and it’s hard to pivot because you went so, so hard at shitting on everything we did this summer.

Take the Johnny road. Come to the light. It’s more fun there.

IQ

I was at the Crystal Palace game when they scored twice and it was Lacazette coming on that changed the game then and everything afterwards.

He got the crowd back inside supporting the players and when he scored the equaliser it felt like we had won.

He’s reignited the connection between the fans and the players and that’s been the difference in all our subsequent games.

I’m not anti-Arteta (I’m not for him either) but if it wasn’t for Laca things would be very very different.

Bertie Mee

It seemed utterly daft to spend £50 m on White and £30 m on Ramsdale even to people who were prepared to give the project a chance . Now those look like very fair deals . Somebody at Arsenal stood up and pushed for those deals to KSE and persuaded them of the plan. It may still collapse to the delight of the naysayers on here but a lot of deep thought and courage was employed and it threatened to blow up in our faces after three games . January will be interesting because we might have a shot at… Read more »

IQ

Inside= onside

raptora

In my last post I did say that I wil stop posting and I let my reasons be known. It was still when we were in the gutter and it was regardless of good or bad results. Don’t try to rewrite history that I stopped posting because we’ve won games. Anyhow, just got annoyed you had my name in there like I am hiding. I ain’t.

Tom

Pedro, What Ben White slander?

Buckagh

S AsoaOctober 31, 2021 15:54:00
Apologize for putting Trop8y in wrong count.
So sooooory
Who gives a fuck

Tom

Pedro, haha I thought English was my second language not yours. I didn’t see “slander” in a my of those, just an opinion on White’s ability and size. Calling Ramsdale the Relegator, or saying he looks “retarded”….. that’s slander. Your uncle maybe upset Leeds didn’t get White at £25 m they bid for him. Ask him if he would’ve spent his clubs entire transfer kitty on him when they too have a problem scoring goals. You might get a different reaction from him then. You’re just too sensitive about Arteta’s transfer dealings and White in particular. The Pedro of yesterday… Read more »

Pedro

Tom, if I asked him: ‘Would you have made Ben White the star of your transfer strategy and the biggest purchase’ He’d have said yes 1000 times over. Slander, in English: the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person’s reputation. Ben White a midget? Dominated Harry Kane and Burnley. Ben White offering less value than Romero? That’s a criminal offence. Ben White unphysical: Are. You. kidding. Pocketing Jamie Vardy. Arsenal are cooking. The summer was a banger. The team has convinced the fans. All the people on here saying ‘when will you admit you… Read more »

Pedro

Not you personally, of course.

Pierre

Be wary pedro, remember Wenger’s wise words

” confidence goes up by the stairs and down by the lift” and at the moment we are almost at the top of the stairs.

A dodgy result at home to Watford next week wiuld be a confidence wrecker as we face liverpool the following week and we could be at the bottom of the stairs facing the long climb back up again as we sit in mid table…

All I’m saying is, we haven’t quite turned the corner yet, confidence can be a very fragile thing in football.

Tom

Lol, I still don’t think it’s slander,
One of the most appealing things about your blog is the banter between the posters , or yourself and the posters.
Everything said about White falls into ghat category for me.

Ramsdale, that’s a different story…..some People went too far with him, but as karma would have it, so far, he’s turned out to be the absolute revelation and a complete bargain.

Like I said before, White has a very high potential too……. He just ain’t there yet.

Pedro

Pierre, you are correct. But I’m not saying we’re about to win the league. I’m just saying the behaviour this summer, towards a decent window, and the carry-on after the start… is not looking silly.

The players are good. The system Arteta is implementing can deliver results and performances. We’re in good shape going into the next couple of years.

We could easily get spanked by Watford. But that’s part of the deal when you go for a young player approach.

Anyway, happy nearly all the players are doing well. Most likeable squad in a very long time.

Pedro

Tom, Raptora wanted an apology and a blood sacrifice after 3 games… I just want to sue him in court for crimes against opinion.

Think it’s fair.

Nigel Tufnel

Pierre great point about the crossing. That was like obsessive compulsive disorder last season and I was tearing my hair out watching. Those games with 30+ crosses from Tierney, Bellerin, even Saka had me wanting Arteta out. Rich… Emi 5% chance lol. Worth saying again, the distribution and passing from Rambo are much better than we knew, and I was in favor of getting him anyway based in his shot stopping and commanding on corners and crosses. Good job by the scouts. Agree with someone else, we might want to use a few less long kicks when trying to kill… Read more »

Nigel Tufnel

Pedro WOW re-playing the angry cretins greatest hits from the recent past. I’m sure there’s hundreds more you can use to embarass them. Thanks for pointing out what White has done so far, though they will continue to ignore any positives about him. Easy to target a cb as they rarely get enough credit as it is. A player who can bring the ball forward from his position, dragging opponents out of position, creates more areas for our midfielders and forwards to move into. I also noticed what Pedro mentioned about how it’s even made Holding better and these are… Read more »

Tony

If we say the first 3 league births are taken by the usual suspects, it leave the 4th CL spot up for grabs. West Ham and Manure seem to be the biggest threats with BHA and Spuds also in with a shout at the moment. Can we be better than the above? Certainly, we should do better than the Hammers and Manure should lose out if they keep Ole. All of the above is keeping with my thinking that player-wise we have a squad that can finish with a CL birth. Our nemesis will be potentially 2-fold: injuries first and… Read more »

Aaron

The futbol is good for 25 minutes per game.

The rest is utter $h*te, the team stops pressing and just turtles it!

xG in that game was 1 (not counting Evans miss at far post on rebound)for Leicester and 1 for AFC

Fine margins indeed.

Last 3 games the opposition had clearer chances, just lacked finishing.

Partey and co. off to AFCON and a ESR injury AFC going back to 10th.

Chance creation will be the end of Arteta.

ps Graham’s 1-0 to the Arsenal are not this team.

Tony

If we say the first 3 league births are taken by the usual suspects, it leave the 4th CL spot up for grabs. West Ham and Manure seem to be the biggest threats with BHA and Spuds also in with a shout at the moment. Can we be better than the above? Certainly, we should do better than the Hammers and Manure should lose out if they keep Ole. All of the above is keeping with my thinking that player-wise we have a squad that can finish with a CL birth. Our nemesis will be potentially 2-fold: injuries first and… Read more »

Pedro

Aaron, since the end of the transfer window we’ve scored 17 and conceded 4. Won 7, drawn 2. Before the weekend, we were averaging the 5th most shots per game. The same number Chelsea averaged last season (they ranked 3rd in the league).

Chance creation isn’t going to be a problem unless we get injuries.

Naija+soccer

Tavares giving me the Gareth bale at left back vibes. I get the feeling he ll be playing upfield in a couple of years.

Fairly raw still but theres something seriously dangerous about his game.

Nigel Tufnel

Naija.. yes about Tavares. Possibly too good to sit behind Tierney. Definitely no reason to over play KT this season as we had done before.

Mb

Gabriel Magalhães has as many league goals as Harry Kane this season, in less appearances. Make of that what you will.

#copied

DivineSherlock

West Ham are in the same boat to us , they have Europa to contend with plus little squad depth , an injury to Rice or Antonio could derail them . Same as ours.

S Asoa

” Tom, Raptora wanted an apology and a blood sacrifice after 3 games… I just want to sue him in court for crimes against opinion.Think it’s fair. ”

The great Pedro back to his best., now he is off the Arteta gramophone record

LoveSausage

I actually liked the fact that Ramsdale went long, even if he gave away the ball. He did during the part of the game where we were at our most passive. No movement, we couldn’t string 3 passes together. The fact that he sends it long despite the fact that he can hit a fly in the ass from 60 meters away tells me he has good judgment. I feel a lot of people exaggerate how bad Leno is with the ball. He’s technically OK but he’s uncomfortable doing it and has bad judgment. He’ll make that short pass to… Read more »

Kroenkephobe

Pedro Great to see you sooooo cock a hoopy after your doom laden tirade before the Villa game. Doctors say prozac takes a few weeks to kick in so the timings are about right. Keep taking the tablets as they say. Might be time – after about 6 months of cajoling – for your aris to get off that fence and make a league prediction. You’ve been far too coy about this for too long. Anything other than a simple ordinal number will make me think you’re backsliding and most of these ad hominem attacks on people like rap (hiya… Read more »

Pierre

Injuries to Odegaard, xhaka and Tierney have done Arteta a favour.as it has allowed him to bring in Lacazette,, lakonga and Tavares anwhat a difference they have made. It allowed Arteta to tweak the system and now we look a much more balanced side.. Gabriel has been immense at the back, he did start last season in a similar vein and then his performances dropped off and he looked like he lost a bit of confidence on the ball, hopefully he will continue to comnand both boxes as he looks like a leader and captain to me . I still… Read more »

Graham62

My take on how good Arteta is. Supposedly our most influential player, who Arteta feels makes the team tick, has not been playing in recent weeks and, woe betied, Arsenal have been on a good run and looking a damn sight better. Is there an excuse for this or is this just a clever ploy from our genius of a manager to keep GX motivated so that other teams will be interested in him when push comes to shove. If this is the case then congratulations to Arteta. One other thing in respect to our star man Mr Xhaka. All… Read more »

Northbanker

Naija
Yes my post yesterday evening said much the same. Tavares could play further up ahead of Tierney rather than instead of. In a 4-4-2 those 2 both on the left could do some real damage

Northbanker

Kroenke – agreed. I have found myself switching from watching out of duty to actually looking forward to the game. Even posting on here has become an enjoyable experience again!!😂

Pierre

If you look at our league results and performances from the Tottenham game onwards, the worrying trend is our 2nd half performances. First halfs Goals for 8 Goals against 0 2nd halfs Goals for 2 Goals against 4 The top teams build on good first half performances and go on to win by 4 or 5. Arsenal go into defending what we have mode in the 2nd half and we allow the opposition to dictate and we tend to sit too deep I feel that Arteta needs to convince the players that they can continue to play 20 yards higher… Read more »

Pierre

“Is there an excuse for this or is this just a clever ploy from our genius of a manager to keep GX motivated so that other teams will be interested in him when push comes to shove.”

I’m sure you know the answer Graham .

Rich

We finished Saturday with all 6 of our summer signings on the pitch, 5 of our starters were under 23 8 of our starters were 24 or under Only 3 of our starters were over 25, building cohesion in a team takes time, and is such an underrated aspected of building sustained success Football teams are assembled through the youth team + transfer market, but they’re built on the training ground, and that can often take a bit of time, particularly when you’ve got a lot of young players still learning the game It’s funny watching fans go too far… Read more »

SurferX

Graham62 November 1, 2021 07:40:08 My take on how good Arteta is. Supposedly our most influential player, who Arteta feels makes the team tick, has not been playing in recent weeks and, woe betied, Arsenal have been on a good run and looking a damn sight better. Of course Mikel sees this, as he sees everything. ——————— See, I dont get it guys. You are still banging on about how good Arteta is or isnt (in this case)- its old. Frankly, (1) your opinion is irrelevant- nobody cares, it influences nothing and (2) Arteta is not the story anymore- its… Read more »

LoveSausage

4th has to be the target and I don’t think it would be an overachievement. The top 3 are in a class of their own. But we finished 6 points off 4th last season, having played the most miserable football I’ve ever seen from Arsenal for half a season. It’s only an overachievement if you genuinely don’t think that this team doesn’t have at least 6 points more in them than last year’s group of misfits and retirees. My take – they should have 12 points more in them.

LoveSausage

Sorry for the shitty grammar. I’m on a redeye and seeing double…

Jamie

I’d take 6th all day long. I said I would at the start of the season and I’d still be happy with a return to the EL next season. Top 4 would be incredible, frankly. I’m not sure we have the squad depth for a CL run though. EL groups are easy enough to field reserves and/or give minutes to youths, and much better for early season confidence than taking a hammering in a potential CL group of death. I’m happy with tangible incremental gains. p.s. The ‘I told you so’ chat is so cringe. It’s straight out of the… Read more »

Matt B

Very well said SurferX

Kroenkephobe

Frankly, (1) your opinion is irrelevant- nobody cares, it influences nothing

Surfer
Err dude… You do realise that includes everyone yeah? Your’s, mine, Pedro’s, Thierry Henry’s, everyone’s. It’s a sentiment and irrespective of our varying thoughts about manager, the team is in a good place and all supporters are happier. It’s further improved by schadenfreude for the way its going up the 7 sisters road and in Manchester. It’s a good moment but far sterner challenges to come than Leicester and shit on the Villa.

AFC Forever

The first three games highlighted the difference the new recruits have made to us tactically. As was said last season, it was crucial Arteta bought in players that could play the way he wanted, from the back.He did that and was abused for the quality of those signings. To say our improvement was accidental is pathetic but demonstrates why people get things wrong so often. .Why they didn’t understand the profiling of the new signings. Informed opinion will always win, especially if the counter argument is based solely on who signed them. There is a great analogy about digging a… Read more »

Guns of Hackney

A workmanlike performance. It did the job.

6.5/10.

Ramsdale was good. His save was very lucky. Seems a decent lad. 5/10.

Northbanker

With an ability to now apply hindsight and look at the 5 signings made in the Summer (marred by the re-signing of Xhaka) it does seem that finally there is a methodical approach to transfers following a defined strategy Thee was a strategy before but it comprised signing so called established players so we could reap instant rewards and I suppose it was thought we would build the future in the future. That was former strategy was a disaster although it is incredible how many old posts are floating around the internet saying what an amazing capture Willian was. So… Read more »

Rich

LS Football isn’t played on paper, but United have a superior squad, superior firepower, and a significantly more experienced team We have no European football which should mean a more stable 11, which we can certainly benefit from as the season progresses, and in the latter parts of the season United are favourites to finish above Arsenal, they’re having a few difficulties, but they’re still ahead of us, they finished 2nd last season, have spent a load of money, and will win plenty of games i can see it being tight, but Arsenal finishing above United would be a “slight”… Read more »

Jamie

AFC Bamford straight in with the ‘we told you so’ chat and his superior form of support. Boring. “The backline we now have did not start the first 3 games. In fact it was more of the same from last season. Leno, Soares, Holding, Mari, Tierney” So after a year of coaching, the backline (2 of whom Arteta signed) learned nothing in training and showed no signs of improvement, and criticism of early season performances was therefore fair Or He made some poor recruitment decisions in his first season and corrected his multi-million pound mistakes by spending over £100m more… Read more »

Graham62

Surfer X

Fair point but it will be interesting to see whether Arteta falls back on Xhaka, when he becomes available again. The harmony that has clearly developed since his exclusion, due to injury, may be jeopardised if he’s thrown back in the fray, irrespective of the African Cup of Nations.

Points taken though.

Bankz

The Leicester win has got to be the height of our season thus far. I think it was even more satisfying than the Spurs win.
How wrong was I?
Really thought we’d find it difficult navigating games against villa and Leicester.
Hopefully the team continues to go higher from here on.
Hate that there is another international break lurking in the horizon. I really pray it doesn’t affect our newfound form going into the last lap of games for the year.

LoveSausage

Nuno sacked! What a shit show.

InsideRight

Think about how much money he will be paid off to leave.

Rich

Cedric was a strange free transfer, particularly as we has 3 other options there, and Mari cost £8 million, with a loan + obligation Both signings were apparently orchestrated by Raul Sanllehi, so not sure we can pin too much blame on Arteta, providing that was the case They’re both ok players, but even the most established coaches would likely struggle to extract much more out of those 2 The reality of our first 3 games was we lost a game we shouldn’t have against Brentford, but there were some mitigating circumstances, new players, a striker making his first competitive… Read more »

China1

Nuno sacked already? That must be close to a record for a first season at a new club in the PL? Nov 1st…

But it’s a shame tho as we’re better off with him here and tanking. They could get a new manager bounce now. Tho I don’t see anyone really good wanting to go there right now. The team is not that good, their best players want out. They don’t have loads of money. Expectations are high. Not a good role to walk into honestly. Only a good manager who is desperate would gladly take that

China1

Rich I don’t see us getting 74 points but if we break 70 it’s very clear progress. I also think 70 could be enough for 4th this year if Utd don’t find a serious groove. Spurs will not get there. Leicester and west ham may have a good season but not 70 points. Not concerned about anyone else for top 4.

Leedsgunner

Nuño sacked.

LoveSausage

Rich, Agreed that Utd have a stronger squad on paper. But as you said yourself, it’s not played on paper. They also have a manager who is terrible tactically and, according to rumours, has half the squad questioning him. Their defence isn’t fit for purpose. Plus, Ronaldo is a double edged sword. He completely destabilised Juventus. They replaced their playing style with the Ronaldo circus. I’m not underestimating the scope of this particular challenge. Their experience will count for a lot and they do have some very good players. But I think if we’re still in spitting distance by Christmas,… Read more »

LoveSausage

InsideRight,

I read something about his contract being structured so that the Spuds wouldn’t have to pay out the full value if he was sacked during the first year.

Jamie

“Both signings were apparently orchestrated by Raul Sanllehi, so not sure we can pin too much blame on Arteta, providing that was the case”

If you go back and read the commentary around the time they were signed, they were being dressed up as smart signings. Low risk, professional, stop-gap solutions. I have no issue with that, or that they ended up being not particularly great signings.

But Arteta wanted them. And Luiz, and Willian. Let’s not rewrite history. The ‘I told you so’ gang likes to delegate failures (even relatively small ones) to someone else always. Super weird.

englandsbest

Tom

Why don’t you swallow hard, take a deep breath, and admit you’ve been off the mark with many of your comments on Ben and Aaron and Mikel. That way you may resurrect your reputation as a decent judge of fArsenal and the direction the Club is going.

Leedsgunner

A moment please, of silence for those people hailing Tottenham has a club of ambition in years past. All those poor people hailing a power shift in North London…

They might a new stadium but who cares?

Forever in our shadow.

Hilariously as if that wasn’t good enough they turned down a £100m plus for Kane too. It’s clear he doesn’t want to be there.

They’re going to go absolutely HUGE on the manager now…

Conte? Zidane?

… maybe Ian Holloway? 😂😂😂

Leedsgunner

*as a

Jamie

If they go for Sean Dyche, we’ll never see CG here again.

China1

Gabriel is awesome. My favourite non academy player. Called that one since shortly after he joined, even tho he’s different, he’s the nearest thing we’ve had to a sol Campbell in that he just dominates his space. We’ve had players who could do that with ability on occasions at least, but we’ve never had someone with height and power as well. He’s just got all the core aspects you want in a CB. He might not be a VVD (yet!) but he looks like he’s going to just own this position for years and years to come. I’m old fashioned… Read more »

LoveSausage

Leeds,

Don’t forget that great football philosopher Allardicci! Feels like a project worthy of his talents.

Emiratesstroller

Arsenal have played with a formation since substitution of Lacazette in Crystal Palace game, which appears to suit our game. I think that there are now 9 players who if fit will be considered starters. The two positions in the starting eleven, which may not be resolved are left back and defensive midfield. Tierney and Xhaka if match fit may still be preferred to Tavares and Lokonga Also I think that Odegaard will be rotated in the team selections. As Pedro has highlighted today Arsenal have been playing with Ramsdale in goal and White an Gabriel in CB positions. We… Read more »

Rich

LS I’ve never said anyone who questioned Arteta is a bedwetter, it’s some of the other mass hysteria that I consider bedwetting I don’t think Emery or Arteta have been our biggest issues over the last couple of seasons, we were a team in regression, with an unbalanced squad of disinterested players, I could see the rot setting in a mile off Managers come + go, I’ve been accused of being in the pro Arteta camp, and pro Emery, but I’ve been indifferent towards both, I just didn’t believe coaching or tactics were our biggest issues Or that our first… Read more »

Leedsgunner

Seriously outside of winning the double, surely one of the BEST weeks to be an Arsenal fan… certainly in the middle of the season.

Grouvillegooner

Another commentary Pedro without any mention of Xhaka and how much we will miss his influence!
I noticed how Arteta when talking about Gabriel recently mentioned how his English has improved; communication is so important for defenders. With Ramsdale there as well now our communication at the back will have improved significantly this season as will Gabriel’s confidence knowing that he can contribute to this aspect of the defensive game.

Leedsgunner

Let’s all laugh at Tottenham
Let’s all laugh at Tottenham
Let’s all laugh at Tottenham
Na na na na hey!
Na na na na hey!

😂😂😂

englandsbest

Jamie

I’m not sure where you stood but many on here thought Willian might be a good signing – even me, even tho’ my mantra was young and vigorous’. Same for Luiz. But they were clearly temporary, to fill in gaps until the young and vigorous came along.

It turned out that Willian was a mistake, and Luiz less of one. So it’s true that Arteta made mistakes..What is UNTRUE is to pretend that those of us with faith in Arteta deny that he made any. ALL football managers make mistakes.

TR7

Conte apparently in talks with Spurs, hoping the reports are not true.