INTERNATIONAL BREAK DAY 2: EMILE LANDS A CALL-UP

by .

The fallout from the ‘incident’ against Watford at the weekend really does sum up how differently Arsenal are treated to other clubs. It goes back to the Wenger days when we were held to a different standard for a similar incident. We then had to ride the ‘they’re soft boys’ accusations that led to a snapped leg. Now we’re finally showing some edge and win at all costs mentality and it’s happening again.

Think about what we’ve dealt with:

Aaron Ramsey getting chopped down at Stoke and there’s no scandal about their fans booing him.

Hector Bellerin getting smashed over at Chelsea and the narrative is men vs boys.

The absolute scandal whenever we do something that remotely resembles unfair compared to other clubs is spectacular. I’m thinking as far back as the Sheffield United FA Cup incident when we actually replayed a game based on unsporting behaviour or the national indignation over the Robert Pires dive. I mean, don’t even get me started on Eduardo vs Celtic.

Chelsea, Liverpool, and United just don’t have to deal with this sort of press barrage after similar incidents.

Arsenal are held to different standards.

The debate over the Watford incident is not about whether the ball should have been kicked out. It was about whether a team that engages in rotational fouling as a spoiling strategy has any right to complain when something ‘unsporting’ happens to them.

To my mind, they don’t.

Arteta had it right, we’re so honest, it borders on naivety. I’m glad the players made the correct call that Watford were making a meal out of a challenge and trying to run down the clock.

I’d like to see more haranguing of the referees because it’s clearly a tactic that gets you better decisions. Just look at how Sissokho reduced the Watford card output for 19 fouls. You can talk about the red, but who cares when it lands that late in the game?

I want to see our players go to war for each other. Each game is a battle and if you let your men get kicked around it sets a shit tone for a game. I like that this new group of players is looking out for each other. Sambi Lokonga even posted to that effect.

We need to engage in the dark arts. Granit Xhaka will fall on the ball to get out of trouble, Alex Lacazette goes down like he’s been hit by battlefield shrapnel, we’ve started to make tactical fouls of our own. The reality is, if we want to get back to the top, these grim parts of the game are just part of the equation. There’s no point in being a moral bellwether 1) if it costs you points 2) if your rivals do the opposite.

I wish we’d punch back in the media, but I do understand that’s a race to the bottom and legitimizes these voices. Chris Sutton kicking off about the Watford incident when there’s a video of him doing the exact thing against Arsenal, at Highbury, without the context of rotational fouling is a prime example of why this happens: Our fans create viral moments out of insincere punditry.

Aside from that, I’m feeling pretty feisty heading into the November International break. We’ve done really well at managing the fitness of the squad so far, no injuries to worry about right now. We’ve found some rhythm from a performance perspective. The trend line for the type of performance on offer is shifting up a bit. We are offering good football even when we’re not at peak. 

There’s are also some nice bits with regards to the football. Brighton and Palace pushed us back. We defended too deep in both games and our keeper had to go long because the midfield wasn’t showing. We’ve seen Ben White and Gabriel push that line higher and whoever has dropped into midfield has given confident outlets.

The striking output isn’t back up to full steam yet but I think there’s finally a system that’s working with our 4-4-2. Auba and Lacazette are working like machines and having the Frenchman drop deep like he does has really opened our game up to speed. We’re much more often on the front foot facing the goal. Last season, everything involved more touches, and there wasn’t the confidence to move at speed.

Overall, the model is more George Graham than Arsene Wenger. The foundations are defensive. We’ve kept 6 clean sheets in 9 since the re-engineered back 5 was put in place. There was a lot of ‘We’ve spent £150m and the needle hasn’t moved’, but I think most can see how silly that view was. I also think people are realizing that upgrading a solid defence was necessary to make the overall system work better. Just look at the speed with move through the lines now. Look at the added height and aggression we have from set-pieces at both ends. Look at some of the deliveries Nuno and Tomi were giving us at the weekend. We just didn’t have that last season. Playing out the back with variety and speed has been absolutely essential to our game this season.

It’s also worth looking at some of the attacking decisions we made. Emile Smith Rowe was given the #10 shirt and he’s totally owned it. He landed his first proper England call-up yesterday. He earned it. 5 goals and 2 assists so far this season is excellent. You’d hope he might make it to double figures in both across all competitions. Saka still needs to kick into gear, but he’s been really good regardless of numbers. 2 goals and 2 assists so far. That’ll get better as we kick on, I’ve no doubt about it.

Then you look at the objectives I thought we needed to address this summer. Improve striking output by 20% and reduce errors in the system by 50%. Now, it’s hard to judge where we are on this because the first 3 games were a write off for so many reasons… but since then, it feels like we’re making less errors generally. Even when mistakes are made, we have the pace and positional awareness to cover for them. That Aaron Ramsdale save vs Leicester wouldn’t have had anyone talking about it last season because no one would have followed in for the clearance. There’s an elevated defensive mindset this season because everyone has the talent and wants to be here.

I know I’ve been going on about it all season, but the fans really have to be seen as part of the process. Having limited fandom in the stadium last season now looks like it was a disadvantage for Arsenal. The fans have been awesome, home and away, winning or losing. That’s massive progress and it’ll be benefitting the youngest team in the league this season.

My favorite part of the last 2 months is that we’ve seen the toxic voices driven into an underground bunker. It’ll be temporary, but you know the types. Only about with their views on what ‘elite’ is when we’re losing. I haven’t seen the screaming guy in the car for a while? Haven’t seen Thierry and Daniel Ek looking cool in the box since Spurs? Are websites still selling merchandise associated with sacking the manager? It’s all quiet, so I haven’t noticed. Hopefully, the fanbase has reached a level of normalization with Mikel Arteta. He’s probably not going anywhere for a while. He’s likely pretty decent and suited to this project. There’s a big chance he’s going to move us up a level this season if things roll well for him.

LATER TONIGHT: We have Perry Groves, cult hero to the fans, joining the podcast to talk about his career and his views on where this Arsenal team is currently! Let us know if you have any questions for him in the comments!

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AFC Forever

Taylor Swift Out of possession Arsenal move into a narrow 4-4-2. This to make sure there is no space in the middle of the pitch. Forcing the opposition out wide means we can shift across and keep dsitances between players close. That is the 4-4-2. In possession it is different. With ball at feet, you will often see a back three of Tomi, White and Gabriel. The other full back, Tavares/Tierney, will push high. This creates an overload. In posession it is more advantageous to have players in forward positions. So in possession you will often see us play as… Read more »

MidwestGun

Well I agree that a lot of formagtion is semantics… it morphs.. But we do play a 4-4-2 in defense and therefore the first part of our attack is a 4-4-2 until the halfway line.. It allows our fullbacks to overlap more if they want to.. Even TT has overlapped 3 or 4 times although that is not his game. Attack wise the formation is dependant on how the other team sits and what formation they are utiltizing and whether they are pressing high or low. So it is a hybrid.. My point mainly though is we have simplified what… Read more »

englandsbest

Right now, with nothing of interest going on, maybe we should re-assess the low opinion of certain Arsenal managers/players. I loved GG as a player and even more as a manager. Those who were around in 1988(?) when he became manager will remember what a fearful state Arsenal were in. He transformed the side into the counttry’s best, and the game against Liverpool that won the title remains my favourite Arsenal game ever Another is RvP. People blame him for leaving, and even more for joining Man U. But in reality the blames lies with Mr Egocentric Arsene Wenger. RvP… Read more »

MidwestGun

Ok Pedro Ill try to show up.. I better get a free Le Grove t-shirt or something.

Swkmoon

Mr egocentric Arsene Wenger!! Call for the white coats. From a man who favoured the GG years over Arsene’s exquisite football….

Tom

White coats indeed. Close to £50m RVP siphoned off United for what was really only one good season, but I’m sure trophies were his main motive when Arsenal were only willing to pay him half of that.

andy1886

EB – 1986 when GG took over at the helm. Have to say I’m loving the GG positivity, for a while on here the acolytes of a certain Frenchman portrayed him as the anti-football-Christ which was bollocks. Wenger’s most successful spell was based on a hybrid of ex-Graham players at the base on which his own fluid attacking style operated. One wasn’t possible without the other. Post-Invincibles Barca-lite was 100% Wenger and fatally flawed as a concept. Worth remembering that the original Wenger sides were know as ‘dirty’. We used to win regularly when down to ten men and had… Read more »

Mulerise14

The pace we are currently playing at would get GX dizzy just watching it on TV…… though I prefer him to say Elneney ,but that’s taller than Mickey mouse contest, everyone is taller than Mickey mouse. Now we have pace from back to the front and a strong spine Ramsdale White. Gabriel Partey. Lokonga Laca We need Saliba to come in and provide competition and backup for our CBs. We need another CM in the mold of Partey We need to buy our Rolls-Royce of a striker for departing Laca.. That spine will serve us real good. LB-sorted LW-ESR/Saka RB-need… Read more »

englandsbest

Tom

Wrong as ever, you have a talent for it

Bring up ‘why did van persie leave Arsenal?’ and you will read his reasons for leaving.

Pierre

AFC “In possession it is different. With ball at feet, you will often see a back three of Tomi, White and Gabriel. The other full back, Tavares/Tierney, will push high” Yawn , back to the overload thing and the centre mid filling in at full back bullshit that does nothing for our game. Of course , we didn’t play that way v villa and Leicester and we were a much better team for it as it allowed Tavares to overlap fron a deep position , making him unplayable and it also created space for Smith Rowe. Sadly , Arteta did… Read more »

alexanderhenry

Pedro Quite right regarding the attitude from referees and the press towards arsenal over the years. If the club, manager or players say anything though, it gets worse. During the ‘arsenal are soft and deserve to be kicked off the pitch for being too tipp tappy era’, I believe Wenger was right to complain about the collective blind eye shown towards some of the outrageous, violent ‘tackling’ our team had to deal with, but it backfired and just exacerbated the situation. Best thing is to stand up to it on the pitch. Overall the team’s looking good and fitness wise,… Read more »

Northbanker

Andy – that Wenger relied on GG defence was true up to around 2001

But his most successful period was 2002-2004 and by then most of GG impact gone – Sol and Kolo flanked by Lauren and Cole and protected by Gilberto. Only Spunky. really left for that period

Mulerise14

Pieree… that is his wont, to over complicate things and think himself into problems…let’s hope this interlull would allow him the time to go back our matches this season….so that lessons learnt would be lost.

zimmie2652

Midwest,
The Pistons were the Bad Boys because of their level of physicality and excuse the terminology, thuggishness to how they played the game. They literally just beat the hell out of anybody whenever they saw fit and gave zero fucks about the rules of the game.

It really had nothing to do with the amount of fouls they accumulated.

They played hard nosed, incredibly dirty defense. That is what earned them that moniker.

MidwestGun

Zimmie they utilized rotational fouling. Invented by Chuck Daly .. so it was about teh ammount of fouls and who recieved them.. It was called the Jordan rules.

englandsbest

andy1886 I guess most of those with fanciful notions about Mr Egocentric came on board when he was manager. I have to admit that while he had DD to rein him in I was an admirer. Without DD his record is at best average. His book was an utter bore, a way of pinning medals on himself. And his promotion of a biennial WC is the mark of a 100% self-obsessive. Can you imagine his negative reaction to it if he were a manager? The current international breaks are undermining Club football leagues, but a biennial WC might put the… Read more »

Tom

EB, titles are nice , but I wonder when RVP kicks back in his lazy boy puffing on a cubano which will put a bigger smile on his face….. the PL winners medal, or the extra £25m from the United deal earning him a high interest.

andy1886

Northbanker, sorry I don’t agree. Plenty of players have pointed out that actually new players were drilled in the Arsenal way of defending – and fighting – by the old hands like Adams, Keown, Winterburn and Dixon. Paddy was instructed in the old ‘Arsenal Way’ early in his career, Cole grew up at the club under the eye of these players. The likes of PV4, Cole, Toure and even DB10 were well instructed in the dark arts. And Keown was still a bit part player even in 2003/04. It was only post-Invincibles that we got soft as senior players were… Read more »

Liverpool game doesn’t count in my eyes, the league resumes after the Liverpool game. 😆 so whatever the result we can’t lose.

Matt B

EB: Bang on the money about GG and RvP, I never quite understood the vitriol the latter got when he left. A player of his quality had to win trophies and I never blamed him for going. Dare I say it, but his volley for Man Utd from that Rooney cross-field ball was one of the Top 5 PL goals in the past 10 years (I hate Manure, but hats off to that strike)

Swkmoon

EB….you an Arsenal fan? Wenger at best average…shame you didn’t tune into to all those great matches…what WERE you doing? ( Read with Daily Mail emphasis)

Matt B

Kris: You might want to read EB’s post again, you seem to have misinterpreted it…

Matt B

Oops, I didn’t see EB saying AW was average at best — apologies.

EB: That’s laughably silly mate

Wenger went south the day he believed he was Arsenal. I agree love/loathe him DD did help with the early successes definitely. Even Pires admitted turning to Dein in the early days when he worried he made a mistake in signing for us. But I’ll always love him as well as GG for giving me so many happy memories.

andy1886

EB – I didn’t buy the book, I had a good idea what it was going to be like and gave it a wide berth.

I agree, first decade Wenger was brilliant, project youth I could have lived with, but Barca lite was a bore and so obviously flawed that we spent the best part of a decade wondering why he couldn’t see that we needed a decent ‘keeper, or an actual DM, or latterly a clinical striker.

As for a bi-annual World Cup just forget it. Damages club football and dilutes the value of the existing WC tournament.

I mean that title win at Anfield will never be bettered. I know sky like to make out aguero’s was better, but no way. City were expected to beat QPR its only themselves who almost fucked it up. We had to go to one of the best teams in Europe at the time, to the fortress Anfield and win by 2 clear goals with a young team. No one gave us a ghostly. Best night ever. Fuck you Mcmahon with your 1 minute 🤣

Matt B

AW was the footballing equivalent of Quentin Tarrantino – they had it all in their chosen careers, but both needed someone to keep them on the straight and narrow. Tarrantino needed a decent editor to trim the excess fat on most his films and AW a technical director like DD to purchase the obvious signings his arrogance failed to see

englandsbest

Tom

I just wonder how you would react in a similar situation. Only a fool or a saint would stay in in a no-hope situation. Which are you?

Matt B

Tom: PL winners medal obvs

TheBayingMob

I’m off out ce soir for a dose of FAW (Football Association of Cymru ie Wales) and the premier league relegation 6 point clash between Haverfordwest County and Barry Town.”

Fun fact, I’ve watched Barry Town play Dynamo Kiev in the UEFA CL!! I shit you not

andy1886

“He was also the perfect manager to keep Arsenal competitive with the big-money clubs during the transition from Highbury to the Emirates. But I do believe, after the departures of Ashley Cole and Sol Campbell in 2006, a lot was lost and never recaptured. The replacement defenders have simply not been up to the same standard as what went before, because they have not been taught the art of defending properly. I have seen players like Gael Clichy, Hector Bellerin and Kieran Gibbs coming to Arsenal and not progressing as they might have — and Per Mertesacker exposed because of… Read more »

Swkmoon

Tony Adams. Arsenal legend. Great footballer. Shit analyst….worse manager.

LoveSausage

Wenger’s reliance on GG’s defensive structure is overstated, as Northbanker says. The one thing he was really over-reliant on was free/cheap transfers for defensive players. The man just refused the spend the money unless it was on an MF or ST. And there are only so many times (i.e. one) that you can get a player like Big Sol on a free transfer. His stinginess famously cost as a shot at the title because he wouldn’t pay for Cahill. RvP is a piece of shit. I don’t care if he left for money or titles. I’m usually very realistic in… Read more »

Tom

Just for the record, I was vehemently against letting RVP go to United at the time but the player needed to agree to the Juve move and he didn’t.
It was either keeping him for a year and losing him for nothing, or selling to United and getting £24m.

Normally when the emotions subside most people tend to see what had to happen there and stop blaming either Wenger or RVP.
Obviously EB is not most people and thank god for it ……otherwise we’d miss out on some top notch entertainment.

englandsbest

Ktis

I think you are naive to NOT believe. RvP. At he time he refused to comment, that showed his decency, his affection for the Club. Why on earth would he lie now, he has nothing to gain?

And that quote you gave rings as true as Big Ben – both of them.

LoveSausage

And Wenger’s book is the worst load of crap I’ve read. I bought it because I hoped it would help me remember the magic and the love after so many years of toxicity. It just made me dislike him even more. If you want to hold on to whatever warm feelings you have left for the man, don’t read it.

englandsbest

LoveSausage

Sorry, but your comment is totally unrealistic. Put yourself in RvP’s position and you would have behaved the same – unless you were a fool or a saint.

Furthernore his transfer fee paid for most, if not all, of his wages.

G

Blimey you needed to read his book to try and remember the magic… should of saved your money and remembered
Henry, overmars, pires, Freddie , Anelka, viera , Kanu, cazola

englandsbest

Tom

Thanks for the compliment, mate, but you’ve managed to revive another painful memory of Mr Egocentric: he turned down £60 m for Sanchez, swapped him for Mikoyan, who was given away for nothing!!!

LoveSausage

EB, I don’t think it’s unrealistic at all. I don’t expect players to be fans of the clubs they play for unless they come through the academies. That’s why I wasn’t upset by Martinez and some others leaving. But I do expect them to be loyal to people who have showed them great loyalty and care, same as other normal human beings. My point is that Wenger went above and beyond for RvP and his career. Way further than any normal manager would considering the output. So I would have expected him to show some loyalty to Wenger and just… Read more »

LoveSausage

G,

I’ve watched the DVD with all the Henry goals 20+ times. The times were desperate, I needed new material. And despite it all, Wenger transformed the club. I really want to like the man but he’s making it so damn difficult.

andy1886

The art of great management is knowing when to delegate. The on/off pitch workload split between Wenger and Dein is a perfect example. Is it a coincidence that our greatest defensive accomplishment was when AW brought in Keown to coach our defence in the record breaking run in the CL with the likes of Senderos, Eboue, Flamini and Cygan featuring?

Mr Serge

Pedro really enjoyed the Perry groves pod great insight from an ex gooner and well worth a watch everyone

englandsbest

Saint LoveSausage

Tom

“Tom: PL winners medal obvs”

Mat , 289 players have won a one PL winner’s medal since 1993 I believe.
How many of those would exchange it for £25m do you think?

MidwestGun

I second Mr Serge… Love bringing back the ex-players for the podcasts. Forgot how much I love Perry Groves. Agreed with pretty much everything he said… and some good war stories too.

Mr Serge

I see you on there I was gonna start chatting to you but this is what here is for Midwest 😃

LoveSausage

EB,

Can’t communicate without the insults?

It really shouldn’t be that hard to grasp the difference between loyalty to a club and loyalty to a person.

And while I get that footballers experience temptations that we mortals don’t, the standards for behavior should be the same.

MidwestGun

Haha MR Serge.. I didnt want to spam their podcast chat so kept it brief. 😀

gnarleygeorge9

“the model is more George Graham”

Good, can The Arse chant be ‘Red & White Army’ again, not ‘red army’

“don’t even get me started on Eduardo vs Celtic.”

Don’t get me started on celtic, they should go back to Ireland!

Kroenkephobe

Fun fact, I’ve watched Barry Town play Dynamo Kiev in the UEFA CL!! I shit you not

TBM
Nice one mate. I assume it was the home leg in Wales🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 rather than the tie in the Ukraine🇺🇦! Anyway it finished 1-1. Good honest game between two evenly matched sides. Big ups to the Barry fans. They travelled over 100 miles in shitty weather and sang all the way through.

LoveSausage

Di Marzio is now saying that Vlahovic’s agent isn’t even interested in taking a phone call with us…

Funny thing is that Spuds fans are laughing about it as if it means they’ll get him now. You’d think they would have sobered up to reality by now.

Mr Serge

Where you hear that sausage ?

LoveSausage

Serge,

Google news. Multiple outlets referring to it.

Always hard to know what to think about transfer rumors. But if it’s true, it probably means he already has some kind of deal in place with Juventus. Would be pretty stupid to burn bridges like this otherwise.

Nigel Tufnel

I was just catching up on yesterday’s comments.. found this gem, must give it props: AFC ForeverNovember 8, 2021 14:05:45 Tom “Kinda funny reading posters clamoring for a clinical goal scorer after having seen them lambasting anyone who dared suggesting a £50m CB might’ve not been a priority.”Here we go again.You really are showing your ignorance here Tom. If you think we could have kept Leno and that back four and only needed a striker you really shouldn’t be so arrogant with your views. You don’t know what you are talking about if you genuinely believe that nonsense.We needed White… Read more »

Tony

I wish Wenger would find another managerial job in Qatar or somewhere similar. He is quoted as saying 99% have agreed with his biannual world cup. So he’s talked to 1 person who disagreed? The world cup as I mentioned yesterday should be every 6 years, not 2. Personally it wouldn’t bother me if it were scrapped altogether. It’s a waste of time and players need rests, especially PL players at the end of a hard season. Wenger finally agrees he stayed 7 seasons too long (should’ve been 12) and now the old senile idiot wants more football just to… Read more »

Tony

I never hid nor did most of Arteta’s detractors who rightly called Arteta out for being our worst manager ever, Nigel or are you AFCF? Arteta is far from out of the woods yet, as he’s about to play top 6 teams. Let’s see the results by Feb 1st, and see just how well Arteta has learnt from his copious amount of mistakes. Still waiting for Martinelli, Eddie and Bolagun to get the minutes they should have had last season. I’d wait until Arteta has secured 4th before regurgitating Pedro. The table never lies, Nigel. It’s people who lie or… Read more »

Dark Hei

Tony

Heh.

I will be buying tickets for the movie with popcorn in hand and my Wenger hat on. Will likely feel sentimental but tissues are for sissies.

Dark Hei

Also agree with Peds.

Winning and losing is one thing. Violent play is another.

During Wenger’s era, the refs just let the opposition kick our players to pieces and our own fans shamefully tell our own players to just drink more milk.

Dreadful.

When Diaby accidentally knocked John Terry out, he was rightfully shocked and contrite,

Was Dan Smith contrite when he ended Diaby;’s career?

We got so many broken limbs that screams statistical significance but the media and the EPL love the narrative and controversy they let it go on.

Tony

Dark Hei they make supper strength tissues for real men now.

Telling you for a friend.

Zacharse

Pete/sal

Whats the arsenal bar in manhattan?

Zacharse

Re Wenger

Hes a bit naive but his hearts in the right place. He thinks changing things would spread the money around more. Unfortunately hes wrong and hes just playing into the hands of those he fought w during his career

Zacharse

As a manager*

Tony
IAT-Robbie

@Nigel Tufnel That is as incendiary a comment as one could possibly make. Not sure why you take it so personally that some of us aren’t convinced by Arteta. RE: Arteta’s 100 game tally Yes, his number of wins is undoubtedly bolstered by cup competitions, which includes the Europa League. Arteta’s first 100 games: Played – 100 | Won – 56 | Drawn – 18 | Lost – 26 Points – 1.86 Arteta in the Premier League: Played – 69 | Won – 33 | Drawn – 15 | Lost – 21 Goals for – 100 | Goals against –… Read more »

Zacharse

Damn man, lamest post ever

IAT-Robbie

RE: Ramsdale and White. It was a fact that CB was the most manned position at this club this summer. Even after some depatures. I don’t blame anyone for thinking that £50m could have been better used in more urgent parts of the team. Thus far, Ben has put in mostly good performances. He still has a tendency to be a bit rash and impulsive (e.g the Maddison free-kick at Leicester) so I’d exercise caution if I were you before closing the curtains already. We can point to the likes of Xhaka and Mustafi as points of caution. Xhaka was… Read more »

Nelson

Robbie

You should also consider the trend. Arteta’s team just gets hot. I predict that he’ll have much better number in the next 100 games.

LoveSausage

Interesting interview with ESR in The Guardian. He talks about how he used to have bad eating and hydration habits earlier. I wasn’t aware of that but I’ve seen a huge difference in his fitness so far this season. He was amazing last season as well but he would look absolutely dead after 65 minutes or so. This season he looks like he could go on for another 20 minutes after the games are done.

IAT-Robbie

Nelson

I am genuinely envious that your predictions are more optimistic than mine. Wish I could still see the bright side of Mikel’s tenure. I sincerely hope you are correct.

China1

These World Cup proposals are pants and wenger surely can’t be so blind as to see that. It’s a very very basic cash grab from Fifa. Not even a hint of subtlety about it. There’s no footballing merit for it. All it does is lesson the significance of the worlds most important football competition by doubling its availability and serves to make the organizers richer whilst causing a massive headache for the organizers of the regional competitions. Waste of time. I can’t believe he’s shameless enough to even pretend it’s a serious proposal. But we did see in his final… Read more »

China1

The problem with wenger is he is very subservient to his paymasters for someone so high profile and respected He used to barefaced lie about our ambitions at arsenal when all he cared about was preserving top 4 income for the owners. He took so much heat from the fans because he preferred to be a fall guy from a club that stopped caring about winning. Now he’s at fifa towing the company line which just so happens to be shite – but interestingly serves to make them much richer. Whatever company he works for, he will just parrot their… Read more »

China1

There’s a guy I work with who never pulls any punches here and always does the right thing even when dealing with top management – regardless of if it will piss them off and bring him heat. He told me he doesn’t care what they think and will do whatever is right because he’s already financially secure to retire whenever he wants. He doesn’t need the organization so screw them if they don’t wanna hear the truth Wenger should be like this. The last 10 years he’s been so subservient tho for someone who really never needed to be at… Read more »

Pedro

Rio Ferdinand on Arsenal:

“There’s a team, there’s a united team. There’s a togetherness that I haven’t seen at Arsenal for a long time. There’s nobody doing more right now than Emile Smith Rowe”

But hey, no progress. Right Bamford? I mean IAT.

Zacharse

just realized no games while i’m there. Catch one at smithfield hall one day im sure

Zacharse

IAT Robbie is a machine learning program
Arent you IAT Robbie
Or should i call AI Robot

Graham62

Pedro

I see the progress now and take this opportunity to apologise for some of my previous comments. My dogmatic attitude to things can sometimes get the better of me.

Let’s hope the improvements continue.

Northbanker

Can’t believe the moaners are back despite the club’s unbeaten run. Why can’t you just enjoy the moment. And instead of shuffling stats around until you find the ones that suit your arguments, try understanding context a little more.

I’m not fully convinced about MA either but I am enjoying what has now been built. Whatever his selection and in-game faults (and there have been many) fact remains that he and Edu bought exceptionally well in the Summer and have given a platform which can really kick on.

Kroenkephobe

Some pretty cheap shots there typical of the worrying tendency for this site to become little more than a star chamber. And Nigel (yeah right!) having an easily seen through pop at Almunia who wrote some brilliant stuff on here that entertained us all during a difficult summer. IAT has put up some persuasive evidence based arguments today (and in the past) and yet you’re in a race to the bottom comparing that material to the foul racist bullshit pumped out by manure’s finest bamauberginecannonball. Or a robot for fuck’s sake! Really? You don’t hold a monopoly on Arsenal and… Read more »

Pierre

I like this Arsenal team, though I’m not sure this present starting 11 would be close to what it is if it wasn’t for a few well timed injurues that have proved to be a blessing in disguise.. Credit should be given to Arteta for changing our goalkeeper and centre backs as it would have been easy to continue with Leno, Holding and Mari who were statistically were our best cenre back pairing last season.. Ifvthe changes hadn’t worked then some serious shit would have come Arteta’s way There are good signs in this team that i like… I like… Read more »

Northbanker

Good post Pierre

Kroenkephobe

Northbanker and Pierre
I agree. A good precis of where we are and the improvements to the team.

The last pieces of the puzzle could be re-signing Ozil and rescuing Wenger from his dungeon in Geneva.

The Bard

It’s perfectly possible to hold 2 differing positions about something. The Arteta debate isn’t black or white. I am very happy with our current trajectory but remain sceptical about Arteta as a top class manager. My reservations about him are to do with his psychology not coaching. When the shit hits the fan he has a tendency to throw someone under the bus like Maureen.This is divisive in the long run. We shall see how far we have come after the Liverpool game.

Kroenkephobe

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/nov/09/emile-smith-rowe-arsenal-england-call-up-interview

Interesting read about ESR. Very level-headed and driven in a positive way. Great to see our young players are admirable role models. Don’t much like him having to talk about his eating habits – I thought it was an odd and silly think for Tets to mention post-Watford. Leave the kid alone in my view. He’s clearly on the right path.

Bob N16

Great summary Pierre.

Respect to you Graham62 6.58.

I see Partey hasn’t flown to Ghana yet. Don’t know how critical these next international games are but obviously feel Partey should not be risked having missed the last game through injury. Let’s not be ‘too nice’ about it!

Bob N16

Kroenke – ESR appeared happy to discuss the fact that he was eating too much chocolate and takeaways. His fitness and form has both been impressive. By making those changes, he’s shown sense and maturity.

Whether Arteta needed to mention it is more debateable but it doesn’t seemed to have had any detrimental effect. ‘Leaving him alone’ is really Arteta’s job.

Bob N16

‘Is not Arteta’s job’ when it comes making improvements to affect his performance.

Kroenkephobe

Hola Bob
Quite, I understand that. It was a just bit jarring for the eating thing to surface when the guy’s football form is on fire and it’s clear that he’s (at least now and in the future) super fit. A year in Huddersfield would drive anyone towards Nandos or Kebabs-r-us. Ditto Croydon. He’s still only 20 – the more important issue is to make sure he and Saka are paid commensurately to their value to the team.

Agree on Partey too – time to be much more Fergusonian about international releases.

China1

Artetas picked up the slack lately and full credit where it’s due. No recent criticisms from me

Tho let’s not try to rewrite history Pedro. Emery inherited an even worse squad that was still suffering a wenger hangover. Not sure on what planet arteta inherited a worse one?????

Emery didn’t even have any wingers! He had iwobi, welbeck and Auba, along with Mikki and Ramsey as options out wide. Stuff of nightmares compared with what we have now

China1

With Gabriel and white doing well as a partnership I’m quite curious if holding and mari have made any progress in training. If they haven’t we have to change the way we play when either Gabriel or white get injured/rested? Tbh I’d feel better with Saliba being third choice and he physically has the right attributes. For holding he’s a good player but he’s a traditional CB and not best suited to this system. Mari even less so

Bob N16

China, going on from your post, where we ultimately end up this season will depend heavily on how our injuries to key players compare to our fellow 4th place challengers. I notice Ogbonna is out for a considerable amount of time , breaking up West Ham’s first choice CB pairing. I think they are most vulnerable to key injuries. Man U have Pogba out now for a while, Varane is out for a few weeks etc. With Arsenal, given we have height with Tavares and Tomiyasu, could KT replace Gabriel if he were to be unavailable? Mari and Holding are… Read more »

IAT-Robbie

Pedro, 🤣🤣🤣 The only Bamford I know of is the one playing at Leeds United. No idea who you’re referring to. There are only so many words in the English language mate. To presume I’m the second account of (I’m assuming) a banned troll is a bit much tbh. I’ve been an Arsenal supporter long enough to know that as a fanbase, we have a tendency to talk up our signings very early on, only to tear them down when they can’t deliver. Reading the sentiment of comments about Mustafi pre and post Bayern in the UCL is like night… Read more »

The BFB

Some Le Grovers are asking where have all the Arteta non-believers gone. Well I’m still here and here are my thoughts. The team are playing more attractive football. The summer transfer window, despite the sums involved, was successful. Ramsdale and White have improved the side and don’t look overpriced and Tomi, Tavares and Lokonga appear to be promising acquisitions. I draw the line at Odegaard because I don’t think he’s robust enough for the premier league. Pedro keeps on about how significant our unbeaten run is but dismisses Emery’s 22 match unbeaten run as a meaningless fluke, and remember, this… Read more »

IAT-Robbie

“eg alienating players, diminishing transfer values, inconsistency of approach to players he’s favouritised, his addiction to Willian and that embarrassing u-turn on experience v youth dressed up as sone big vision, Xhaka, baffling in game management, surly and poorly handled pressers, oh and the really fucking annoying touchline shouting and gesticulating” Kroenkephobe, You just highlighted some of the gripes with Arteta’s management that I didn’t even realise I had. Incredible! Thanks for bringing the Guardian article to our attention, I’ll have a read. I have been a big believer in Emile’s potential since he was tearing it up in the… Read more »