Listen, I simply won’t tolerate it on this website. I will not have you laughing at Aston Villa. They are trying to be elite, people. It’s not funny that the team that went to great lengths to extract Emile from us this summer has now lost 5 games on the bounce in the League. I don’t think it’s amusing to point out that the last time they tasted victory was September 18th. Don’t even dare try to trigger me by saying ‘only two teams have conceded more than Villa this season’ (20) because I like Emi Martinez and he’s dealing with separation issues. None of this is funny and I truly hope their ‘elite’ summer signings some of our fans were pointing at come good… especially those that said they’d prefer Danny Ings to Alex Lacazette.
Now we’ve set the ground rules, can talk about what needs to happen tomorrow? Yes we can.
We need a win.
The club has done a lot of very good work in Phase 3. My target was 10 from 12. If we do the business against Watford, we could be on for that exact number. I suspect that a win will put us firmly in the top 4 mixer. West Ham has been one of the standout sides in the Premier League this calendar year, but I think it’ll be very, very tough for them to take 3 points off Liverpool. United were bounced 2-0 by City (lolololol). That’s as far as it goes for top 4 competition right now.
Win the game should be top 4 proper. No post-Christmas tables for us. That is GOOD news. Not that I want to hang on that post-Christmas table, but are we about ready to admit that the form was more predictive than many gave credit for? 5 months of continuous form was always a good sample, amazing that it was a debate. But, we were in a world where people were getting upset by the use of the word project, so there we are.
The Watford game is very winnable, but the focus simply has to be there. We don’t want the players reading too much of their good press and Arteta needs to make sure they know that you have to show up, even in the games that aren’t sexy. You make top 4 by racking up points in the winnable games. This is the sort of game that should start to form bread and butter, but I’m not sure we’re there yet.
The team has had the luxury of a week off again. There will be a full squad to pick from. I’m not sure there’s much reason to change what is working. There is always the challenge of finding balance. A squad is a living being. If you only water part of it, the neglected areas can wither and die. That’s why there might be some rotation at some point. Martin Odegaard might get some minutes and we could see some changes elsewhere.
Or maybe we’re in ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ territory. I don’t know, I’m not the coach, leave me alone.
Arsenal are making a big deal of Arteta’s first 100 games on the .com. It’s been a literal rollercoaster. But finally, it looks like we’re getting some traction as we head back up the table.
Has it been a success so far?
Depends how you want to frame it. On a football level, it hasn’t been… yet. But I think the Arsenal project so far has been bigger than results, it’s involved more people than just the coach, and it’s been harder work than anyone suspected it would be.
We’ve shipped out a lot of bad eggs, about 21 I think.
We’ve weathered the most consequential mitigating circumstance in sporting history.
We’ve brought in a whole batch of new players that are young, vibrant, and full of character
We continue to give chances to an exciting group of Hale-Enders.
We sacked our Football Director.
We pivoted hard on a new, more modern strategy
The culture at the club has taken a huge reboot.
Arteta is talking about ‘unity’ as the identity he has at Arsenal. I’m not quite sure that’s an identity, but it’s certainly the output of a lot of change, and we can see it on the pitch. We can even see it by the deals that are getting signed by players. Last season was about the young players pulling us to higher levels, this season, it’s about everyone doing that. So you have to salute the work and hope it lasts. Whatever happens with Arteta, you can’t deny that he’ll leave the club in a better state than he found it. Could you say the same of Jose Mourinho who joined Spurs at the same time? How about Carlo Ancellotti? How about Ole G at United?
Arsenal took the hard option when they went with Arteta, but the upsides still feel more tantalizing than if we’d moved on Rafa Benitez. We took the hard option on transfers this summer, fans went nuts about the deals, but it’s hard to deny the direction was wrong. We’re still on a long-term path and that will come with some pain, but this sustainable approach, when it finally delivers, will have us competing at the very highest levels for the very biggest trophies.
It’s exciting. There are no victory laps, but if you have a good plan, good ideas, a good culture, and everyone is united around the singular mission… you have a chance of doing great things.
So let’s see where the 100th game goes.
Pepe for Auba is a great call.
FFS. Play in their half….
@Dissenter
Yeah Watford will shit themselves watching Pepe cut inside and hit a shot at the keeper or over the bar
Josh Kroenke’s foo man chu beard is ridiculois hahaha Is this what Billionaires do with their time.. dream up ways to look as if they dont give a fuck about appearances.
Oh Neny
Lokonga should be off
Was that really Josh? Loool
Auba is just walking around now
Let him shoot from 30 yards out.
Arteta need to make subs
He’s too passive too
Aston Villa have sacked Dean Smith
Oh fuck. Arteta is going to try to hang on and defend this instead of killing it off.
When you need a second goal, Elneny isn’t the sub you should be making.
Here come MO.
Game is pretty open right now. Gotta tighten up.
WTF was that stupid stunt
Ramsdale doing a peak Almunia 🤣
Elmeny coming
Ha ha ha
Arteta has not yet lost his mojo
Empty goal. WOW!
Arteta is riding his luck
Elneny to sit on 1-0?
Bloody hell. This feels like an away game.
Sub should’ve been Auba.
FFS.. almost screwed that up…. sheesh.. Come on boys don’t let up and give this away.
Auba on is Arteta’s flaw
Ramsdale, lucky boy there
Josh has turned into Jimmy Hill…
What the fuck was that. Lucky to get away with that. Good thing King is a greedy fuck.
Why are taking risks?
Kanu Nwankwo would have scored that. Easy
Stay in Watford half
Ramsdale was always going to have his moments
No one lives t the summit of Mount Everest, have to come down at some point.
Auba has had a shite game. Arteta has bottled making attack the best form of defence. This is where the in game management lets us down. We’re almost inviting pressure now.
Keep rolling travas
Auba has been v. poor.
Knuckledragger is off. Not before time.
Please don’t let Auba near the free kick.
We good.
Thanks Ref.
Good. They lose a blocker.
Told you there would be a red.
The boy from Portugal saved us.
Commentators say red was harsh
Our yellows were harsh too
Kuco looks like he just got out of jail.
He just whacked him like he’s a piñata
Nice Tavares got the RED on that Linebacker pretending to be a footballer.
Ease a few more minutes
Corner… keep it right there
Ffs 6 minutes Fergie time
Has Ben Foster been eating weetabix , Jesus
Tavaras has no final.products at all despite passion
6 mins? was there even an injury? Whoaaaaa Loko with a pretty good shot. was a screamer.
WOW… WOW… WOW
Martinelli graces the pitch for 3 minutes !!!
Martinelli’s developing a bit of a Freddy Mercury look about him.
Fuck’s sake. Has Auba had a no sub clause written into his contract?
‘ Tavaras has no final.products at all despite passion’
Neither does Tierney, by the way.
Hahaha Auba gets to finish the game..
If we miss the top4 spot, it is all Auba’s fault.
Should be about 6-0 but it Arsenal so… can never be easy.
Arteta hates Martinelli surely. Sending him for namesake
What’s the point of that substitution?
Fuck off Arteta. Ffs . What’s your problem with Martinelli or even Eddie. Keeps playing that useless lump Aubu
When Ranieri is braver than you, you need to have a word with yourself as manager
Martinelli’s developing a bit of a Freddy Mercury look about him.
>>>>>>>>
Didn’t Queen have a song called The Invisible Man?
Put it in the locker ODE… there ya go. Close this one out.
10 seconds
Auba can’t fucking run and arteta keeps.us to 10 men
Hard working 3 points
Still not a.yellow for.sissoko
We had the cojones to win !!!
Martinelli got a touch!
Level on points with West Ham in 4th. Solid.
We rode our luck a bit there.
Need a change of mentality to seeing out games.
3 pts in the bag.
Fucking rubbish auba … but a nice win
Didn’t Queen have a song called The Invisible Man?
Good one!
1 nill to the Arsenal is a good result!
Its fine to say it hasn’t been Aubas day, but he has been shite for sometime now!
The guy needs to improve x10 or get dropped
Next Manure
Two coaches had a.few.words….
Still playing on my stream!
Ok then… wasnt always pretty but 3 pts baby…. all we need.. 5th place.
At less 3 points. But we miss a +ve goal difference.
Tinkerman complaining. Fuck off fouling twats
What Ranieri had to say to Artera?
Made hard work of that. Liverpool next. 😕
Both Spuds and Leicester games tie
Auba is lucky we grinned one out
Good win
Nice to go into an international break without drama
I can finally breathe now lol Good result, could have been and should have been more goals but we move on. And btw, fuck Ben Foster for turning into Buffon against us again. He did the same shit against us at OT a decade ago or so when Diaby’s own goal gave Man Utd a lucky ass win.
Nervy but we got it done. This was a bogey game all the way, did very well to get 3 points from this.
The big positive here is that this is a game we would 100% lose a year ago. It shows that the mentality of the team is changing.
But let’s be clear we won despite Auba and Arteta’s in-game management. These two were as shambolic as they’ve ever been and that’s saying something.
‘’ Fuck off Arteta. Ffs . What’s your problem with Martinelli or even Eddie. Keeps playing that useless lump Aubu‘’
Maybe cause Martenelli’s done fuc all
Thank God we have the Smith!
What Ranieri had to say to Artera?
>>>>>>>
Why the fook you no play Martinelli?
Scrappy lacking quality could have been 1-1.
Thank gawd for ESR FEEDING ON SCRAPS.
Still I will take that.
Ranieri has no right to complain. Their tactics were dreadful, that was Anti-football, horrible stuff, no shots on target
We are 4th now, 3 poiints behind Man City.
*ground this one out
“The way Saka is playing Martinelli should get at least 20 minutes.”
The way Auba is playing Martinelli should get at least the 2nd half..
Agreed Saka been well below his standard and Martinelli should start or has much more.time than 3, yes 3 minutes, especially when auba was still on the pitch
We are going to see the foul the shit out of us tactic a lot so … have to get used to it. I suppose. I thought AMN played well. not as creative as Partey that’s for sure but we need him to step up and I thought he did.. Loko is still young.. he has his moments but sometimes looks lost.
Overall …. Can’t complain too much.. as we are looking great in the table.
The most negative blog in the entire world. The reason martinelli and now Pepe don’t play is because they don’t play with team mates. They bury their heads in the sand and just run into alleys.
Rose was a knob for not booting the ball in row Z at the half way line. I suspect he’ll get a bollocking behind closed doors.
Auba is frustrating but martinelli isn’t the solution. I’d rather Nketiah
8 months ago, if anyone had said ESR was better than Ode, they would have been met with sneers.
I believe that question is settled now
We just need to get a youngish Conor Gallagher type of midfielder now to throw into the rotation
Results have suited us again so far this weekend. This steady push up the table is so encouraging. Feel more invested in the results than I have for awhile.
Dissenter
In the 4231 formation, ESR is nowhere near Odegaard as an AM, in the 442 formation, there is no place for odegaard has he has no pace.