Well good morning to you, this will be a BIG week of writing and podcasting. I have a VERY special backroom guest lined up on Wedneday and I just know it’s going to be a banger. We’ll be powering on with a lot of writing because no doubt, because there will be a lot of people trying to take things off track this week.
First port of call? xG statistics.
There’s a table doing the rounds… sorry… a few tables doing the rounds that indicate Arsenal are the worst at everything this season.
We have two tables here. The bottom one is xG for the season, which has us in 16th. The on the top is Sky making a fuss of our attacking statistics this season.
So how do we react?
Firstly, on the xG table and data in general.
Statistics are there to point you in the direction of problem or an opportunity. In the world of football scouting, data tools allow analysts to drill down into a profile of player they are hunting, which gives finite scouting resource sharper direction so they get to what the club needs quicker.
In football, a statistic is rarely the ‘thing’, because it’s a nuanced game that is chaotic and difficult to measure.
Example:
INTERNET HOT TAKE: Aaron Ramsdale has been relegated 3 times. He conceded over 120 goals in his last two loans. He must be shit.
Ok. What contextual reference points do we have that might counter the above?
He won Fan Player of the Season at three of those clubs. Ok, interesting, so clearly, if fans of relegated clubs love a player, there must be something there. Especially if it’s the goalkeeper.
Sheffield United had 400 centre back combinations in a season that was ravaged by injury. Ok, so maybe the players in front of him weren’t that good?
There are hardly any 23-year-olds regularly making starts in the Premier League in that position. Ok, maybe he has something about him that is so unique, managers with weak squads keep going out of their way to have him as the first name on the team sheet?
He’s played for progressive managers and clubs, even if they have been poor. Ok, what are those guys interested in about his game? Maybe his passing is special?
If you scouted Ramsdale by his xG saves number, would you have bought him? If you scouted him based on goals conceded, would you have bought him? If you scouted him based on team success, would you have bought him?
No. Because context and the eye test are VERY important.
The xG table makes for grim reading this season, but only if you are an xG junkie that watches highlights of Arsenal. Remember, xG is a stat that is designed to give you a deeper understanding of results. Weaponising it when we’re 5th in the table isn’t sharp unless you have a good angle of attack, especially when context would say fans that actually go are very happy, and pundits were asking Arteta if Arsenal were a title threat before the Liverpool game.
Our start was brutal. We had a covid outbreak that wiped out 5 players, plus 4 injuries. We lost to Brentford, then had to play the European Cup finalists back to back. That was not good for xG. We deserved to lose, but there was context to those failings, and I think we’ve all accepted them now.
So a bad start for xG.
Arsenal then went out and rebuilt the defence, got injured players back to fitness, and covid patients recovered. We started Phase 2 of the season with a team that had 5 new starters. By the Spurs game, we’d finished with 6 new players in the starting 11.
What was the football trend? We started very fast, scored goals, then sat back to absorb the pressure.
Did anyone watching the Spurs game (eye test) come out of that thinking we were unlucky not to lose? No? Well, we lost on xG. If we’d won that game 5-0, no one would have thought us lucky. But xG had it as a loss despite the control and ease of the afternoon.
The Leicester game was the same. We should have won 4-0, we started majestically, but we let our foot off the gas and they had a few nice chances. Was the game ever out of control? Were we ever really in danger? No. But xG doesn’t record the context of the game or how we played it.
What is the reality of the season right now?
We’re 5th. Even after getting spanked by Liverpool this weekend.
We are 5th after our worst start in Premier League history. This position been earned.
We are 5th after reengineering our starting 11 with 6 players under the age of 24. These players have had 9 games together.
We are 5th after playing Manchester City and Liverpool away from home.
The xG sample size is small, it lacks context, and the eye test isn’t really telling us the things the Emery eye test was.
If we’re going to use context, let’s be fair here… let’s look at our performance since Arteta had all the players he wanted available for games.
Arsenal since Phase 2 of the season started (Norwich)
We haven’t scored a lot of goals, it’s true. But we’ve scored 2 less than Manchester City in the same period. Even with the absolute drubbing we took at the weekend, it’s safe to say our defence is going to be pretty good: Liverpool, West Ham, and an in-form Wolves have all conceded more than us. We have the 3rd best record defensively over that time period.
United has conceded 19 since Phase 2 started.
Attack is a worry, but again, only 4 teams have scored more than us. We have some problems here. Auba and Lacazette aren’t the full ticket. We know that. The coaching team know that. They have a very delicate political situation to deal with. How do you deftly deal with a captain that isn’t doing it? Eddie wants out, you can’t use him. Balogun is too young. Martinelli has been dreadful since the start of the year. Something has to give.
The attacking issue is also more complicated. Overall, it’s clear, we aren’t creating enough high-quality chances. But I also think part of that is because we don’t have elite quality in the final third when it comes to strikers, that is combined with having two rookie players as the focus of our chance creation in Saka and ESR. Would I change those two for anyone? No. But we have to accept they aren’t Mane and Salah… yet.
Let’s look at attempts at goal this season. The Sky stat box doesn’t have shots on goal, a number we usually use. In total, we’re at 13.25 a game. An improvement on previous years, but not amazing. However, when you take out the top 3 teams we’ve played again, the average goes up significantly to 16.3 per game. How does that look against previous seasons? Well, that number would have us higher than Liverpool for the whole of last season. That number would have us higher than Arsenal of 2014-15 when we had Santi, Ramsey, Ozil and Sanchez in the side. Take out the top 3 teams this season and our attempt production isn’t that bad. We are 9 games into the new regime, my guess is that when the cognitive style of football kicks in, we’ll see better chances, more will be taken, and our attempts on goal stat will climb.
Now imagine we had a striker in the system that could hold the ball up and make a nuisance of themselves like DCL or Ivan Toney. We don’t have anyone that can make something of all the great crosses we know we can deliver.
I know we don’t have other tools available now. We don’t need another striker to challenge for top 6 this season. But let’s be honest, it’s going to be tough against the top 2 teams until we change that.
Final point on all of this.
This is Project Youth 2.0.
We are not ready to compete with Liverpool. Our aim is to compete with everyone outside Liverpool, City and maybe Chelsea. I think this calendar year, we’re at 36 games and only City and Chelsea have more points than us, so again, when you put some noise cancellers on the drama queens, we’re actually demonstrating the sort of consistency required to be seriously considered in the mix for top 4 this season.
There will be peaks and troughs. The boys just delivered a 10+ game unbeaten run after a shocking start. This catastrophizing over bumps in the road does nobody any favours. It’s just a shame the most moronic voices on the internet are rewarded because tech algorithms prioritise confident bad takes over those grounded in reality because one is exciting and the other is boring.
These players have had 9 games together, that isn’t an excuse, it’s reality. They have so much work to do to start playing the cognitive style of football this system requires. They have so many lessons to learn until they are ready to deal with shocks to the system as a group and on the pitch. Sometimes the football will be fluid and dreamy, sometimes it’ll be clunky and tough to watch.
… but when everything beds in and clicks – and it will – this team will be ready to go to the moon.
The current strategy is the only way we make it back to the top. We spent 8 years trying to sign ‘ready-made’ players and it was a fucking disaster we still haven’t managed to get over. The simple truth is this: If you want to make it back to the top without the most money, you have to take some pain. We are going to take some pain this season, but at least it’ll be for an idea that stands a chance.
The biggest issue on our agenda right now isn’t trying to find an answer for losing at Anfield. That shit happens to the best teams in the world. The biggest agenda item is beating Newcastle, then taking advantage of a United side in disarray. Win those two games and we’re right back on track (sorry, I mean more on track, because we are already on track).
Our season works in phases. We’ve won the last two after a poor start. The objective now is to take 20 points from the next 27 in Phase 4. That’s going to be a tough ask, but so was 20 points from 24 in Phase 2 / 3, but we managed it.
Spitting distance of top 4 by January 2nd is the goal. If we’re there, I promise you, we’re going to be in with a shout of top 4 come the end of the season, because the chances are, our young players will click during those months and start delivering a more consistent flow of performances.
Finally, I know I am going overboard in answering a loud minority of people that don’t really exist in the ground, but I do think it’s important to reiterate… how we react after a defeat is important. It’s painful to watch people go to the worst possible outcome as soon as there’s a single bad moment. #ArtetaOut after yesterday? It’s so childish. If the players behaved like that, we’d be truly fucked. The great hope I always carry is that the people that go know better, as they’ve shown over and over again this season. I am so thankful for that. I cannot wait to go to some games in December and experience it myself.
So in short, I wouldn’t let xG worry you too much. We have good players, there’s a clear vision, we’ve hoovered up a lot of points, maintained a good defensive record, and hopefully our attack will kick up a gear in December.
On that note, check out our latest podcast below OR if you are feeling frisky, check out the Latte Firm video where I hang with FK, Walid and Rohan and talk xG and that ‘fight’ on the touchline.
ACAST | SPOTIFY | GOOGLE | CASTBOX
54 year old, eye glasses wearing, hipster uncle.
——————
Sid you should go to Specsavers, Klopp doesn’t wear glasses anymore.
Pedro “Arsenal are at the beginning of theirs, we have a great academy, the scouting is much better now, and when we are ready for the cherry on top, we’ll go big.” Again you talk as if you team / squad will definitely develop but it’s far from a given. Time after time after time we have seen young players showcase their skills at PL level and the world and their dog laud this new taken and then… they hit a brick wall. One thing I really wouldn’t over egg is the academy . Yep Saka and ESR seem jewels… Read more »
I always have a good chuckle when, my local team, Brighton and Hove Albion are brought into the equation. Actually, why not bring Worthing Town into the discussion, I can actually see their floodlights from our bedroom window. I’m sorry Pedro but by glossing over our predictable trouncings and capitulations against the better teams is a cop out. Using the words “childish” and “amateur” is very reactionary, which you have often labelled against me on here before. Yes, amazingly we are in 5th position but can you honestly say, hand on heart, that Arteta is the reason we are where… Read more »
Diet Peps tactic of using Lacatestes as an extra midfielder was nullifed by Klopp,
watch him fumble for the next few games until he stumbles onto a new working formula.
I think we have to bring in Odegaard for Newcastle. He will be effective against teams that will sit back. The Lacazette Auba Tandem had its run. Time to try a new method.
Not even Guen would sink as low as picking a fight with a man 20 yrs older,
the footbal gods are angry and will have to be appeased.
This is one those days where Pedro tries to outwit Einstein and just comes out looking like he works for Arteta.
xG has not changed since you used it to bash another Arsenal manager.
What’s the point of now trying to re-invent the wheel?
We are not the finished article yet, lets admits that and move forward.
The xG does not lie, all is not so well despite our recent resurgence and progress.
AFC will regress to the mean. xG 16th means we will not score much. On pace to score 41, probably around 50, but definitely not 60 goals this year. Our extra 3 shots are from distance, and we all know where those have been winding up. We are predictable, slow, and our chance creation non-existent. Look at the stats about what Arteta’s record is when we go a goal behind, it is atrocious. If AFC does not score first, his season is done, if we do not improve chance creation and score over 55 goals his season is done. Other… Read more »
Aaron
Nice presentation.
TR Why would I demand bonus points? I just understand why we are where we are, which is where I said we’d be You told me I was losing the plot for predicting 5th spitting distance of 4th after our first 3 games I also predicted we’d lose points in this period of the season with tricky away fixtures, and the usual suspects would typically overreact We’re at the beginning of a new cycle, building a new team, I have no problem with people who think Arteta is the wrong person to see out this process If he doesn’t deliver… Read more »
Maybe my memory is failing me here but didn’t Pedro use xG like a crowbar to beat Emery over the head with even when the team was around 5th in the table?
I believed that Emery should have been fired at the end of his first season with us-the players had essentially given up on him and he was a cultural mismatch for the club. Still, it would be nice to see a little consistency from Pedro once in a while.
Quite amusing that people like Chris are talking about mindless propaganda like the xG table is the truth. Bacary, there’s total consistency here. xG + context + eye test. Unless you think that this current scenario we are in is exactly the same as the one we had under Emery? That wouldn’t surprise me to be honest. Aaron, regress to the mean? What is that over the course of a year? Oh… 3rd most points. Only Chelsea and City have bettered us. Or are you suggesting that the first 14 games of last season are about to repeat? What is… Read more »
Dissenter, let’s be honest here, you are an Emeryista. It always comes back to him. But, as the post asks: context + eye test + xG
If you think what is going on at Arsenal right now is the same, tell me what are the similar threads?
“Quite amusing that people like Chris are talking about mindless propaganda like the xG table is the truth.”
Pedro
I believe that was you, when you were using xG as a cudgel to bash another manager, were you being mindless at the time?
The xG table speaks for itself, at best you can present mitigating factors not try to undermine the methodology.
I suspect Arteta does not live in the same state of denial as you.
Graham,
You have had to wait three months to come on and tell us Arteta is terrible… and your moment is after a loss at one of the best teams in the world.
You talk about reactionary… you are literally saying Arteta isn’t the right manager after our first loss since early September. You can’t even follow your own principles.
“Arsenal since Phase 2 of the season started (Norwich)”
Is this the equivalent of ‘Christmas table’?
Dissenter, no statistic speaks for itself as a singular point of reference.
You have to watch the games.
If you have watched Arsenal over the last 3 months and thought we’ve been porous, uninspired, and lucky. Then tell us.
If you think this run of games is the same as the Emery unbeaten run, which was clearly very lucky, and unravelled… tell us.
Just typical opportunistic behaviour from the usual crew who seem hurt everytime we go on a run of good games.
Mb, same concept. Easier to share with people when 1) The ‘since Christmas’ table proved to be predictive of our form this season 2) We are 5th in the league right now. Showing that most of that form came when we switched to our 6 new signings feels like a pretty easy get
Pedro
I’m not even going after Arteta on this one. It’s a project that may be in it’s infancy
It’s your lack of consistency and selective goldfish memory that’s been called to task
Leave xG alone.
We do have to improve against big teams because they are statistical sinkholes for us. One bad loss against a big team like Liverpool undermines the data generated from two good games that we eked out 6 points from.
I would rather take 20 points from 12 games that get good xG numbers, same way I felt under Emery. That’s consistency for you.
‘People who demand we pack our team with inexperienced players, then kick the club when we get turned over by experienced + established teams, then claim inexperience and a lack of cohesion with 5 new players, had nothing to do with it….’
Rich, this point landed.
‘Balogun should have started against Liverpool’ was quite the reach.
I wonder what our xG would have been like when were squeezing out 1-0 wins to win league titles..
Pedro,
Of course over the entire season, what did you think halftime at the next game;-)
Look at the xG for the last 5 seasons and the final EPL tables, bet they are quite close, and that is the point now is it not?
Facts, 5th now, and 4 points off of 4th and 4 points off of 11th
.
xG by the end of the season, only the end of the season, and what only matters, will probably end up around 7-8th if things improve or we all know it will be midpack!
Aaron, what is more relevant in data circles… a years worth of actual points data, or an xG table loaded with contextual issues?
I’ll tell you what is more important, points on the table.
You can rewire why 5th is not great all you like. The reality is we’re 5 points off Liverpool, 3 off West Ham and we’re at the end of November.
Desperately trying to delegitimise the youngest team in the Premier League is the sort of behaviour I expect from Spurs fans, not Arsenal fans on an Arsenal blog.
Sid, I’ve got a lot less time for you snippy comments now I know you go into hiding when we’re winning. It looks like trolling proper now, not just a ‘character’ of the site.
Dissenter, I think some of those 1-0 to the Arsenal teams were pretty good attack-wise.
Agree with you. We have an issue with Liverpool and City, there’s no belief we can compete. That has to change. The home games are going to be crucial barometers. A good December might see us put up a fight. A bad one, and well, we’re in trouble again.
Pedro I believe you have very good intention with all these. We got 6 new players, we played some good football against Spu*s and Villa and we were kinda expecting a beating from pools. New players are bonding over and we will improve over time. However, these post Christmas table and phase 2 is crap, I’m sorry to say. We all know we don’t have oil money. We cheer for every bit of red and white and the self sustaining model Edu and Arteta are now building is the way to to. Now, if you someone comes in and asks… Read more »
Mb, the real table isn’t crap my friend. We are in good shape. When you look at the performance of the new players, the story is even better. So when we’re debating hypothetical stats, I’ll use whatever I need to to paint a picture.
Aaron, the difference between 5th and 8th, will likely be a maximum of 7 points Leicester finished 5th. 5 points ahead of us last season, If we’d beaten Leicester in the 1-0 loss at home, we’d have finished 6th, Leicester7th, Spurs 8th It’s fine margins It would be nice to get something against the top 3, but those games won’t define our season, particularly away Our season will be settled by taking minimum 4 points from Leicester, Spurs, West Ham, Villa, Everton, Wolves, these games are the 6 pointers Then having very few slip ups against the rest, I can… Read more »
Sophistry, mendacity and hubris. That’s all you get as teflon coating to deflect from Arteta’s averageness. Come next May the final table cant be spun beyond stark reality. This inept manager is taking us nowhere.
Nope, the real table is not crap. All 6 new signings are in playing XI and they all have improved the position they play for. You are right without even the need of these stats and tables and what not.
But that doesn’t let me not see Arteta’s poor in game management or our lack of scoring or the fact that Ramsdale is making so many waves the luck will run out someday…
Instead of addressing the points raised by Sid the only defense is ad hominems. Shame
**saves
Pedro, your trying too hard, dude. Arteta isn’t in any danger of losing his job. The Liverpool loss was bad but no one expected points from them. The team is young by choice and not necessity, but it is young and we roll with it. Stats can be useful ( although I’m not a huge fan) because relying on someone’s perception could be misleading. You, for example, thought a 9:0 combined score from the Tottenham and Leicester games would’ve been an accurate reflection, even after calling Ramsdale’s Leicester performance one for the ages( it was) ……….most people would say that’s… Read more »
Wasn’t much “context” to the XG table when it was being used to rightly judge a previous manager and the teams performances then.
Just saying though
You can dress a lot of things up as Pedro has done. Against Spurs, we were fantastic for 30 mins as we know, but if Kane hadn’t missed two sitters, we could have drawn with the worst performing Spurs side in the last 20 years. Against Leicester we started strongly of course, then faded so badly, only a world class performance from Ramsdale stopped us from losing the game. Big up those perfirmqnces all you like, but they were tiny margins, we haven’t won many games ‘easily’ this season but we sure have lost a few easily!!
Have i hit a raw nerve talking about Diet Peps inexperience while it okay to use the players inexperience as a defense.
Blind optimism is what’s going on here. Yes, I will be as positive as I can when Arsenal do well but I will also look at things realistically and logically when we lose. That’s called criticism. I don’t brush games under the carpet just because we are playing the better teams. I look at the game, see what unfolds and make what I feel is an honest and frank assessment of what went on. Saturday nights game followed a clear pattern. 1. Before Liverpool scored we were doing reasonably well. Generally, we were keeping the crowd quiet and nullifying most… Read more »
Were our players influenced
Graham
I’m an equally non- believer of what Pedro is preaching. . .but come on man – if it was a pretend fight from Arteta, it’s a sports and it happens. And there is no reason for it. And Mane is c*nt. And Klopp was one too.
Now that 12th man and all I understand but if my coach goes in a fight and we lose the match, I’m not gonna blame it on him.
I will blame him though for not seeing Sambi’s game 5 minutes in second half and brining AMN to calm things down.
Pedro Your cheap shots betray some real desperation on your part. I already said that Emery should have been sacked after the Chelsea disaster in the Europa League final. The players gave up on him and most of us could tell the writing on the wall. It comes down to results. You were hammering Emery during a long unbeaten run due to xG. Now you are going after people for doing the same thing with Arteta. It just smacks of hypocrisy. Despite the xG on Emery’s team during the unbeaten run, there were plenty of promising signs. Auba was firing,… Read more »
Pedro, Your blog, your time and energy for sure! Me, just a fan, not your type of fan, but nonetheless a fan, and for a very long time. The table at the end of the year is what matters, and if AFC does not get 5th or better, Mikel and co. need to go. More importantly, the futbol, from an entertainment perspective has been utter $h*tE for a few years, more than your boys 100 games, and Emery’s 78. A total of 3 seasons worth of EPL games, and they are f’n boring. Perspective, from what I wrote on another… Read more »
Rich I don’t whine really, at least I don’t think I whine 🙂 If I like something about Arteta I praise him for it and if I don’t I criticize him. My limited point is stop overplaying the fact that we have the youngest team in the league. It is not something which was enforced upon us. We chose to go with a young team. When ESR or Saka win games for us, nobody cares about their age. But if Sambi or Tavares cost us a game, everyone starts reminding people that our players are young and there will be… Read more »
Actually I take back my last comment. At this point, we all pretty much know what Pedro’s going to say. Not worth getting riled up about it.
I kinda find it funny Arteta is blamed for not fighting Klopp for real.
How would that have happened btw?
The fourth official becomes a ring ref, chops his hand downward and…………. it’s on bitches, let the best man win?
When was last time anyone saw players getting into each other’s faces and their teammates not trying to stop them?
TR7 I love Saka + Smith Rowe, but neither are at the level we need them to be at yet, they’re 20 + 21 Smith Rowe is going through a purple patch, but that’s unlikely to go on for the entire season, otherwise he’d be looking at 15- 20 goals, he’s almost certain to have a dip in form at some stage The club choose to go with a young team, but whoever our manager is, will have to go through teething stages, time will tell whether this project will come into fruition There’ll be times this season when we… Read more »
Liverpool run all over us because we didn’t adopt the right strategy. Arteta fucked up in thinking this was going to be like Leicester. When we go away to City, Chelsea and Liverpool, we need more protection. A 343 would have switched up our game and surprised klopp. And we could have nullified attacks from the wing. Their midfielders played well but the damage came from the wings. And Fabinho completely stopped Lacazette. I would have dropped Auba for that game. Our young fullback in Tavarez was completely exposed. He had no passing options because of Liverpool’s press. Instead we… Read more »
Arsenal have made substantial progress this year. Anybody who denies that must watch games with both eyes shut. But the progress is not just games , it goes far deeper, to what Arteta calls the ‘culture’ of Arsenal. It shows in every area of Club activity. And it shows here on Le Grove, in the way so many of us have changed our view of the team, the Club, the future.
Yes, there is still a distance to go yet to reach the elite – but now they are in sight.
We shouldn’t stress over a hammering by LFC when our level is Brighton, WHU , Leicester & ManU
however Arteta needs to get shot of Eddie & Martinelli if he is not prepared to give them any mins what so ever, especially when Auba/Laca both not performing to their ability
As night follows day, so the bedwetters return in full force after an Arsenal loss
All the usual suspects are back, bleating on about this and that — the Brighton supporters, stand up Graham, the Brendan Rogers gang, you know who you are, plus a Leeds Utd fan, take a bow Aaron: ‘I would rather watch Leeds play 7 days a week out of 7’
Rich
City, Pool and Chelsea are a cut above the rest and there is no shame in losing to them. But the game against Pool once again highlighted that we can’t create good opportunities against any organized hard working team.
We somehow snatched a draw against Crystal Palace. Even the Watford game was not easy, we were definitely better than them but we struggled to create. We have a manager who is more than 100 games old, I would have expected some sort of coherence in our attack by now. Days like Saturday could become more frequent.
TR7: We missed a penalty and had 2 goals disallowed against Watford — felt like we battered them
Rich
“There’ll be times this season when we come up against top teams who know exactly what they’re doing, and we’ll get pulled apart because our inexperience”
Inexperienced ? really , i almost forgot, thanks for reminding everyone and don’t forget to point out that we have ar team with an average age of 24 , which of course would be much lower if it wasn’t for the fact that we have a couole of srtikers with an average age of 31 or is it 32 , then again it might be 30 .
Talk about overreaction. So we lost 4-0 away to Liverpool. Well boo boo. I don’t care. We can all see the model, buy young and develop. That development faze is 9 games so far. 9 fucking games. I am far more interested in away to Liverpool after 99 games. There are so many agendas going, it’s ridiculous, borderline childish. The best game to judge where we are was Watford. At half time we had a goal disallowed, a missed penalty and we’re having the shit kicked out of us. We had nine youngsters, heads could have dropped, in fact, heads… Read more »
Any of you dry bedded a-holes got a link for the u23 game? I missed my bed this morning a pissed all over my radio times on my bedside table, turning it into a stinking pile of papier mache (out of which I made an effigy of Arteta’s junk). Every cloud has a silver lining.
Taylor
Tough talk. You go girl!
TR7 We haven’t been able to create much. But I think our attack needs a real focal point. Lacazette can do it a bit but he is not the full package. I think we are still trying to squeeze out as much as possible from Auba considering what we are paying him in wages. ESR and Saka are still young and inconsistent. I am hoping our attack improves just like our defense. Pepe needs to be sold and we need a couple of signings. We need a LW, a CF and a RW to compete with Saka after we sell… Read more »
Pierre
Go back to your Ozil poster collection and enjoy your hourly wank over your fallen hero
You haven’t mentioned Willock, or how Nketiah is going to be the answer to every problem that we have, for at least 20 minutes….
I think Eddie Howe will prove a smart choice for NUFC. Right now his priority is to keep the Club in PL, and he’s experienced years of that with Brighton. He is wise enough not to bring in many players in Jan, just enough to allow his team to tick over to the summer.
Let’s hope he has Auba – a proven goal scorer – on his agenda.
Rich
Seems like i touched a nerve , put it down to experience ……or lack of.
A lot of people are saying we should be better than Brighton. Why? At this stage we are probably not better, but that’s ok. Brighton are a very good side. We are young, and that’s not an excuse.
I noticed a couple of comments about oil money and self sustainable. I’m not sure that’s right anymore. In his fantastic interview Josh made two extremely important points. There is further investment planned, and in response to the comment that Man City and Chelsea have resources, Josh, somewhat bristled, said “We have resources”
Matt B,
An oversimplification on your part mate!
Am a Marcelo Alberto Bielsa Caldera admirer, and not the only coach that I do.
Big difference, if you can separate the two ideas.
AFC until the end for me, however we have been descending for quite some time if you have been paying attention.
Question: How is it a coach can come in and take a team from 13th place in the Championship, spend 1/10 of what AFC has and in les than 76 games take their club to 9th place in the EPL?
Brains and an ethos that works!
I would love Doku, Isak, Anthony, Raphinha, Vlahovic, Noa Lang, Pedro neto, Moussa Diaby, Osihmen, David, Adyemi. There is so much talent to choose from. We need to revamp our forward line.
Will we really get 25m for Pepe and 15 for tiny torriera…
Be good …
Pierre, nice spin tactic
You accuse me of being repetitive, when it’s 2021 and your still talking about Ozil
Get over it, he’s gone, he was an overpaid, lazy, mercenary, who was on the slide since 2017
Sometimes the truth hurts, but everyone could see it but you…
. In his fantastic interview Josh made two extremely important points
Taylor
That brought a lump of sick to my throat. Are you being paid to produce that? Where is all this bullshit Kroenke hagiography coming from? Oooh – what a fantastic interview. You brown noser…
Aaron: Managing a team that came up from the Championship to play in the top flight for the first time in nearly 2 decades is very different to managing Arsenal
As a general comment, I’m desperate for the young players to shine, the new signings to maximize their promise and for Arteta to bring success to the club. However, if we can’t get 5th or even 6th place after the highest net spend in the league this summer and with no European distractions this season (unlike our current Top 4 Spurs, Leicester, Man U and West Ham) then all the propoganda in the world shouldn’t save Arteta’s job.
*current Top 4 rivals
Aubu was Watford’s best player in that game
We had the opportunity to replace Xhaka, Pepe and one of Laca/Auba in the summer. Arteta kept all of them and added another deadwood in Odegaard. No wonder we struggle to create. I am a fierce critic of Ozil but even a half arsed Ozil is twice the player Ode is and our manager spent a fortune on him. Ode an expensive flop just like Pepe. At least Pepe sometimes scores.
TR7
It is a bit soon to label a 22 year old Odegaard a flop while we are in to 10 games in to the new season, isn’t it? Pepe is for sure a flop. So is Xhaka. But We need to give Odegaard a fair shake before labeling him. How he played vs spurs is indicative of the levels he can reach.
Odegaard is a brilliant footballer, he’s been played in areas that don’t really suit him, and lost a bit of confidence
He’s 22, he’ll prove to be one of our best signings in years, quality young player who’s going to prove a lot of people wrong
Habesha
Takes 3-4 games to figure out a player.
Takes 3-4 games to figure out a player
TR7
Interesting. How many games, in your judgment, does it take to figure out a manager?
Ljungberg, Pires and Adebayor certainly weren’t bangers after 3-4 games.
TR
What did you make of Henry, Bergkamp + Pires’s slow starts?
Kolasinac got off to a flyer, before falling off a Cliff
Chambers was the new John Terry after 4 games.
Kroenke
10-12 games after a full pre season.
Pedro
Not everyone clicks in 3-4 games but you can make a sense of the inherent quality irrespective of their performances.
You don’t think Odegaard has quality? Captain of Norway at his age?!
Rich
“Odegaard is a brilliant footballer, he’s been played in areas that don’t really suit him”
Well, he hasn’t been playing in goal
He hasn’t been playing at right back
He hasn’t been playing at left back
He hasn’t been playing at centre back
He hasn’t been playing on the left wing
He hasn’t been playing on the right wing
He hasn’t been playing as a striker.
So I’m curious as to what areas he has played in that do not suit him.
Pierre, you have a vested interest in his failure because he replaced Ozil and pushed out Willock
Pedro
Will go out on a limb and proclaim Ode will never be a top player. You can make a mockery of me if he proves me wrong. I made a similar proclaimation about Pepe and unfortunately I wasn’t proven wrong 🙂
No disrespect intended but Norway is not a footballing giant. Being the captain of Norway does not mean a whole lot, does it ?
A distrust of one-footed players, I see you.
Odegaard started 2 games on the left side base of our midfield
He’s a player who’s best coming from the right or right centre onto his left foot
As he develops he might learn to play that deeper role, as he’s a player who likes the game in front of him, but he’s not there yet
Brilliant footballer though, people have jumped in with lunatic, knee jerk “hot takes” as per usual
Pedro
How is a player we just signed for 30 million following a 6 month long trial not starting games.
Odegaard is going to dropwown the pecking order when Xhaka returns.
I’ll even start El Neny ahead of Odegaard currently.
What’s Ode’s excuse- he’s not acclimatizing to the league, is he?
@Matt “I swear Pedro must think people have memories like goldfish and won’t pick up on the hypocrisy.” Some of the blog pieces border on split personality disorder “The thoughts, actions, and behaviors of each personality may be completely different”. Many who have followed from the Wenger through Emery and now Arteta management may have come to the same conclusion. After the loss to Villa “Arteta has to go” to the present “Trust the Process”. By repeated statements from different individuals “we need XX points from XX games” tells you they are hanging on by their finger tips hope for… Read more »
I love to hear the excuses when Arteta finishes 8th again lol. Or he’ll finish 7th and Pedro will shine the light on improvement and young team haha
Whichever way you look at the table Arteta has his team 5th and now is the opportunity to prove the doubters wrong. That’s including me. I just don’t think he will do it
Matt B Get used to it. By the way, if you’re so enamoured by Arteta, take me through your critical appraisal of Saturdays game. It’s amazing to think that those people on here who enjoy watching the game in general, yes, I enjoy watching my local team Brighton, are scorned by those naive individuals who, for some reason, feel they’ve got more Arsenal blood running through their their veins because they don’t want to admit they like watching other teams play. My blood has been running red for 53 years By the way, I also enjoy watching Leeds, Palace, Wolves,… Read more »
“Brilliant footballer though, people have jumped in with lunatic, knee jerk “hot takes” as per usual”
You mean people don’t have enough data on him after seeing him for almost one calendar year.
Hope you’re in the business of selling adult nappies since you started the “bedwetters” smear on those that disagree with you.
“Brilliant footballer though, people have jumped in with lunatic, knee jerk “hot takes” as per usual”
Well unless Odegard prove his doubters wrong, you can’t call them lunatic.
jdawg
With no European football and a massive net spend this past summer, anything lower than 6th should be seen as a disaster.
MD- Gunner
So true.
Again though, Hey ho, that’s Pedro’s prerogative.
You know, to do and say as he pleases
Rich said Saka and ESR were far off from the level of Mane and Salah and this “briliant footballer” Odegard can’t even get a game ahead of Saka and ESR, some “briliant footballer” eh ?
Pedro, I have vested interest in Ode succeeding because I wanted him over Maddison but he’s been poor apart a handful of plays.
Writing off talented 22yr olds is knee jerk
How many 22yr olds in the modern game are performing consistently at the highest level?
“Writing off talented 22yr olds is knee jerk”
That he is talented is under question. Why are you so fixated with age ? I see you talk more about age profile than attributes of players.
Dissenter, Odegaard is 22 years old, reckon we should give him a bit of time before writing him off.
Suspect he’ll be seeing more game time in December, along with Martinelli.
Tom, if it makes you feel any better, James Maddison has one goal and one assist in 17 apperances.
Odegaard will be ok.