CONUNDRUM TO SOLVE IN ATTACK + SOFT JABS FROM LEGENDS

by .

Results weren’t going to keep swinging for us, this weekend, they’ve roundly gone against the top 4 dream.

Spurs beat Norwich looking super organised.

United beat Crystal Palace.

West Ham beat Chelsea.

Basically, the pressure is on. We’ve dropped to 7th place in the league.

The game against Everton really takes on a different kind of pressure.

The pressure to keep up with the pack.

Everton presents a weird challenge. They’ve been awful this season, Rafa hasn’t gotten a grip on their squad, they’ve won four games all year (last, 25th of September). On paper, this game should be a standard win. But they’ve been so bad, for so long, that we’re in that territory where something has to happen to them.

Will they down tools on Rafa to move on the Liverpool legend? Or will they show up and save him?

Great teams don’t pay heed to that sort of stuff, they just pile on the misery. Arsenal has to be that team on Monday.

Win the game, we’re right where we need to be.

In fact, if there’s a 2+ goal advantage to Arsenal and we keep a cleansheet, we’ll have the same amount of points as Chelsea over the stretch, we’ll have the same defensive record as Liverpool since the new team started, and we’ll move into the top 4 for goals scored over that period.

Lose the game and we start to get into shaky territory, especially with online fans, who seem to have desperately weak knees. Someone told me Arsenal was a ‘rotten’ club this morning… imagine being that disconnected from what’s going on at Arsenal?

So what are we looking for?

Well, an answer to our attacking problems. Auba is out of sorts, he’s not built for the system we’re trying to play, and as a result, it makes it hard to create and score goals.

Arteta can’t sit on that issue forever. We’re 5 games without a goal. Something has to budge.

The issue? Most of our options are either limited in the same way, or they’ve never been tested before.

Do you really take this moment to play Martinelli through the middle?

Do you take a chance on Eddie running the line hard when it’s clear his mind is on the fat contract he’s going to get next season?

We’ve seen Lacazette through the middle, he’s very good at certain aspects, but he lacks the speed we need.

Everyone has watched slack-jawed as Folarin Balogun has lit up the U23s, but he’s so, so green.

There’s no simple solve in the system.

Thierry Henry is channelling some of that Class of 92 spirit with his media outings. I love the man, he’s one of my favourite humans, but the cattle prodding at the Arsenal project is quite boring. This is his hot take post-United.

“Aubameyang is your captain. He is your goal scorer. You put him as your captain. 15 minutes to go, you’re losing 3-2 and you take him off.

“3-2 away from home, you need a goal and you take your captain, your symbol, off the field. You know he can score you goals so something is not right there.”

Arteta did make a mistake with Auba, he left him on too long, the guy absolutely stunk out Old Trafford, if we’d brought one other options, we might have made a go for it.

Everyone is entitled to a shit opinion, my issue with Thierry is we all saw him hanging out in the box with the Swedish billionaire. We all heard him say he couldn’t see what the plan was. We all know he’s being disingenuous with his commentary.

Each to their own, but insinuating dressing room unrest off the back of a poor take isn’t helpful… it’s not even good trolling, because I don’t think there’s an Arsenal fan around that would agree.

The striker rumour mill is getting spicy. DCL was linked on Saturday. We’re being linked with Jonathan David of Lille today, we know they’d sell anyone if the bid was right. Luka Jovic came on for Madrid yesterday and won a MOTM award, certainly, he’d be a possible loan candidate, Edu has a great relationship with Madrid. There are options, hard to see an outcome where we do nothing… as long as we’re in the mix for top four come Jan 2nd.

The ask at Everton is clear: 3 points. Keep up the pressure. Show that the chance creation issue is being taken seriously.

Check out The Arsenal Opinion below if you want some audio or visual fodder. I know I say it a lot, but thank you for listening and watching the videos. Podcasting is a new level of difficulty and building an audience has taken 3 years. We finally have one and it’s been such a great experience because people are very supportive and kind when it comes to audio.

Thank you! x

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DivineSherlock

1st ?

DivineSherlock

Hell I even read the post , Pedro maybe the solution is to not freeze our record signing ?

Chrispy

Sup

Chrispy

Tr4phy?

Duzie

Europa League

DivineSherlock

Leicester is losing so one result going our way I guess.

DivineSherlock

Disallowed , VAR is a joke in the UK . So Leicester is not losing yet.

Pedro

Graham, you’ll go in the bin today if the consistent trolling doesn’t stop. This is an Arsenal blog. You don’t behave like an Arsenal fan. Sean Dyche as a better Arsenal manager is boring chat. Pick it up.

Champagne Charlie

Divine

Arteta has bought just 2 attacking players since he arrived at the club. Clearly the approach has been a back to front overhaul of the XI. Say what you want about priorities, but the business we’ve done on that front has been excellent.

I don’t think for one second Stan is going to be denying Arteta funds to take that same approach further up the pitch. It won’t be cheap? Pepe wasn’t cheap either but that move was sanctioned with a lot less good will earned.

Havyn

He kicked the ball with the hand. No goal.

Like Barnes is preferable

Duzie

Arteta knows only one way to play. I hope we improve against teams, because that’s what will prevent our burgeoning players from jumping ship.

If that’s the case, how then would we class this model as sustainable. It would be just a repeat of Project Youth 1.0 – now we’d receive premium money from the sale of anyone who jumps ship.

If Arteta doesn’t finish 4th with this team, then it’s cheerio.

Duzie

Improve against big teams. Sorry for the omission!

Demetrios

Pedro, you need to stop bashing Thierry mate, this is at least the second time you’ve done it.
He’s entitled to his opinion just the same as anyone else……

Also his agenda is quite simple, he wants Arsenal back where they belong, and can’t see it happening with our current set up.

And just to confirm, there was quite a bit of unrest at elneny getting picked the other night. Many of the players didn’t understand that decision, just the same as we didn’t

Tom

The NBC studio crew just read the rule from the rule book and it seems the goal should’ve stood.
Maybe PL refs have a different book.

DivineSherlock

Champagne Charlie But we have 7 games to play to get to January ! It might just be too late by then . Also we cant have additions until we have outgoings , the same reason why we didnt get Tammy Abraham , so it might even take more time , meanwhile we have someone who is a ” good attacking option ” despite your claims to the contrary and if those same numbers were from Odegaard or Willian we’d be calling them a success , its just that you are viewing him from the angle that he was our… Read more »

DivineSherlock

To further extend my point , If Pepe was that piss poor as you suggest why didnt Arteta flog him in the summer and get a preferred replacement instead of wasting 6 months ?

Pedro

Demetrios, I’m entitled to mine. He’s shilling for his personal interests. That’s poor form. It’s not real opinion.

Zacharse

Thierry’s getting paid for his opinion

Graham62

Pedro

Sorry Pedro.

What about Potter?
or even Gerrard?

Pedro

Divine, do you there was a market for him this summer? He earns £150k a week.

Who would buy him?

DivineSherlock

Its all circling back like last season when we had AMN and Arteta decided not to use him and then sanctioned a loan move to West Brom . He was frozen out to such an extent that AMN had to resort to Instagram stories to fix the situation , why is Arteta so indecisive ? Its this indecision in squad building that is hurting us right now . And now that he kept AMN , he preferred Elneny over him in a massive game at OT.

Champagne Charlie

Divine Why are you asking me why we didn’t get rid of players and buy attackers this summer? I literally spent the whole time urging us to do just that. I can only speculate the reason why we didn’t is because we prioritised (wrongly imo) players at the back, and couldn’t move on the likes of Laca and Pepe who are on big wages to make space for the likes of Abraham. And there’s 7 games until Jan, so what? We’re currently a point off 4th with a win tomorrow. What we’ve done so far has been just enough, but… Read more »

Graham62

If I’m going to be binned, so be it.

Based on everything, I probably deserve it.

Tom

Leicester are a mess on defense.
Fofana is really costing them again.

DivineSherlock

Pedro

I dont know if there was but did Arteta even try ? I dont know that either but I didnt see any stories like I am right now of Arsenal looking to get rid of Pepe..

Dissenter

Pedro
“ Divine, do you there was a market for him this summer? He earns £150k a week.Who would buy him?”

So who’s going to buy him now that Arteta has frozen him out?
Who’s going to make up for the10 league goals pathetic Pepe scored last season?
Isn’t Arteta supposed to improve players?
We are not doing any better with goal scoring since Pepe was frozen out.

salparadisenyc

Watkins looking like everything we are missing up top.

Sid

Mr. Bob Dole
You’re too old to understand the way the game’s told
You’re lame, so I gotta hit you with the hot facts

Champagne Charlie

Tom

Still wrestling with the idea young players have a learning curve to go through, and teams need to absorb it. Scenes.

Tom

Dissenter, coaches improving existing players is so 2019.
This is 2021, get with the program.

Pedro

Divine, if there was a bid, he’d be gone

Gazza

OMG just looked at the table & S***s are actually above us now…not good !

Tom

CC., ha ha, the only one who’s wrestling with anything here is you having an issue with admitting for the first time on this blog about being wrong about anything.

Champagne Charlie

Pepe doubled his goal output last year in the league, in less games. That not improvement?

He does nothing but finish his dinner, that’s why he’s not in the side. Because ESR, Saka, Martinelli, and even Eddie are better all-round options than Pepe who gives the ball away for fun but can finish.

DivineSherlock

Champagne Charlie I am not asking you directly , you are not the director of football. I am saying either Arteta had decided he was convinced by the efforts of Pepe or he was indecisive as to whether flog him or not , either way that has cost us . Now we cannot flog him ( since he will be gone to AFCON) and the world knows we need to sell him because he has been shoved out of matchday squads , so we will get lowballed . And our inability to move him will again cost us in January… Read more »

Dissenter

If it ends this way, Villa would have had a very new manager bounce under Stevie G
Gerard has that X-factor These Villa players play emboldened now.

Champagne Charlie

Tom I’ve been wrong about plenty and have owned it. You’re that entrenched in your Leicester views that you’re trying to rehash them a year later still. Young players aren’t the finished article, and clubs who go young accept the liability that comes from them in the XI because the upside is so sweet. Fofana is a quality talent, and they miss him because he’s amongst their better defenders. But Leicester spent 38 million on him, and that money could’ve bought a defender much better than Fofana is right now, which would’ve helped Leicester massively last season, and this. Only… Read more »

salparadisenyc

Brendo being Leicester’d by Villa just a matter of time before they counter for 3rd.

Champagne Charlie

Divine

Sounds like you’re the director.

So the only options on the table were Arteta rating him, or being indecisive? Do you not believe for a second that we’d ideally want rid, but nobody was willing to offer us a fee resembling good business?

How about Lacazette? Did we want to keep him too….and then not offer him a contract? Or did we want rid but weren’t able to offload because of his massive wages?

Chris

An Everton fan group is trying to organise a walk out during the game tomorrow night, in protest against the boards running of the club. 27th minute walk out for 27 years without a trophy (yikes!) They really are in turmoil. A lot of the fans are in uproar,, they are missing numerous players. I read that their DoF is due to leave the club also. This is the type of game we have to be not just avoiding defeat, but winning with a convincing performance. A fast start like we have seen from us a lot recently, turn their… Read more »

SurferX

Pedro

I dont always agree with your opinions, but i always find them interesting and they have challenged & changed my own from time to time. Top blog, ignore the dickheads and KUTGW!

Ishola70

Yeah Villa could start climbing up the table.

You could see them finishing above Leicester given their contiuing defensive problems.

Leeds are a big disappointment this season considering they had plaudits for their football last season. They weren’t particularly well backed in regards expenditure on transfers in the summer to look to improve on last season but it may also be the case that the Leeds darling Bielsa is losing his mojo as well.

James wood.

Martinez with a RAMSDALE WORLDY.😉

Ishola70

Some clubs suit the underdog role.

I think Leicester are one of those clubs.

It’s not just about individuals it’s about the whole teams approach to games which come ultimately from the manager.

I think Rod-gers has been a little bit over ambitious this season in regards taking the game more to opponents in matches compared to past seasons.

Graham62

So if Everton fan group are planning a walk out, more pressure on us.

Oh no!

Ishola70

If Arsenal don’t beat Everton it’s got to go down as a poor result and a very bad time for a poor result looking at how things seem to be hotting up around the 4th place spot..

That’s the bottom line.

Tom

“I’ve been wrong about plenty and have owned it.”

CC, name one example just so we can all register it for Legrove posterity ha ha.
I’m not gonna rehash the whole Fofana debate you spent half of last season propagating, and putting your whole weight behind on here.

Weagle took you to the cleaners on that one with a forensic detail.

Leicester are my favorite team just like Westham and every other over performing team are my favs I suppose.

But keep trying to land that jab buddy lol.

Dissenter

Managers imbue their teams with their philosophies and also personalities
Steven G has already passed his style into his team. Some of our passiveness after scoring is definitely on Arteta, he was ultra-cautious as a player and now his teams have that mind set too.

Receding Hairline

Find this invented table where we are level on points with Chelsea and same defensive record as Liverpool amusing.
All this while we are behind Spurs and United who have had nightmare seasons and fretting over a trip to struggling Everton.

MidwestGun

Hmmm not sure what to make of Everton sacking their DOF instead of the manager .. Rafa power move? Haha Really is a must win for us considering the results. Do all the Brenda lovers still want him as a manager? or no? Is Stevie G the hot proeperty now. For me.. I can never get that moment out of my mind in that HBO documentary Brenda did when he was with Pool where he put 3 envelopes in front of the whole squad and said, in these envelopes are 3 players that will let us down this season, don’t… Read more »

Graham62

Anyone watching the F1 GP?

Joke!

Receding Hairline

Midwest Rodgers is a pretentious peacock. An okay manager who starts getting ideas above his station once his teams hit a run of form.

Never wanted him here and pray the press push united into signing him.

Leicester will do well to sack him if they want to save their season, three points off struggling leeds

Karsa

Even a draw will not move us out of 7th, so yes a win is an absolute must to stay with the pack.The GD is another handicap

So Leicester must be out of the race for Europe.

4 points behind us. Played a game more. A goal difference of MINUS 4!!

End of the road.

salparadisenyc

With you there Middy, love seeing Brendo get beat would of been harsh if Leicester found equaliser after Oliver and VAR butchered call disallowing 2nd for Villa.

Villa looked to of made right choice, Gerrard looks assured back in prem managing.

Champagne Charlie

Tom You talk bollocks trying to sensationalise matters to discredit. Nobody spent half a season doing anything relating to Leicester, bog standard comments were made and you flew into a tizz over them. Namely, that Fofana being a child was going to cost Leicester points in the short-term as he develops, and that Brenda was a bottler for being in the top 4 all year only to fall outside come crunch time. Two points you fought like a rabid drunk, and evidently mention today with no encouragement months after the last word on Fofana. But crack on with your storied… Read more »

MidwestGun

Var is like a secret Santa gift .. you have no idea what you are gonna get when the referee goes to that video screen.

Receding.. Yep I agree. Brenda is kind of a carnival barker type the way he comes off in the media. I pretty much knew Villa was up for the game when Stevie G was going on and on about how much he respected Brenda before the match. Seemed a little like he was setting him up. Playing to his ego.

Tom

CC, no examples of you being wrong then, thought not.

Receding Hairline

I’m still wondering what real advantage was seized by hiring Arteta.

We have written off a season and half waiting for him to explode, we are in his 2nd full season and even with big teams in turmoil we cannot beat our chest and say because we have a better manager we will achieve so and so come the end of the season.

So what exactly was the point of hiring a novice?

Champagne Charlie

Tom

I don’t need to dignify your ignorant remarks, there isn’t one poster on here that has a spotless track record. But it’s an irrelevance you’re childishly using to detract from your vapid regurgitated arguments about Leicester.

salparadisenyc

Mid

Var or shall we say the implementation and decision making around what it delivers is pretty special, once they go ultra slow motion its curtains. All nuance lost.

Schmeichel knew he dodged he bullet with that howler going full De Gea.

MidwestGun

Sal –
Yep.. Tim Howard was actually funny and entertaining for once.. He said I’ve played Keeper once or twice and that’s a goal.

Tom

CC, fascinating, truly.

Graham62

Tom

I’m one of those that CC is talking about.
My advice in respect to CC though is just let him do what he’s good at doing.
Intelligent poster but…………….well, you know the rest.

Champagne Charlie

Graham literally nothing I’ve said concerns you, I spoke to Divine, and then to Tom.

Bit weird you’re angling for inclusion and then using that to make some puerile remark about me.

Taylor Swift

DS,
“Why is Arteta indecisive?”. The guy fields five new signings in the line up and nine players under 24. How indecisive do you want him to be?

These idiots, I’m sure just make criticism up without engaging their brain, assuming of course they have one.

salparadisenyc

Villa had an extra gear, new life coarsing thru veins. Takes a special manager to snub Emi’s fight, it was time for Smith to go and Gerrard looks a solid choice for the complete neutral.

With amount of investment they’ve put in, no crime in demanding more.

Receding Hairline

Pedro no one compelled us to field the youngest squad in the league, it was a choice made by the club so stop bringing it up like its something we were forced to do and have to overcome. Yes if we win tomorrow we will be one point off West Ham, I bet that wasn’t something you would have called progress two and half years after appointing a generational coach. Guess what, struggling Spurs win their game in hand they will go above us. Chelsea were below us under Lampard, look where they are now. Can u honestly say with… Read more »

Taylor Swift

Why has so many people decided Arteta wants us to sit on leads? If any of you, I don’t know, but if any of you maybe actually went to the games and see him frantically urging us forward, you may form a different opinion

What % of posters go to the games, does anybody know?

Ishola70

Ms Swift

If Arteta is urging his players forward and they are ignoring him Arteta is accountable on two fronts.

First that he can’t communicate to the players.

And secondly if it’s the players ignoring him he has signed the wrong players for his team.

Receding Hairline

Taylor swift that sounds like something that can be rectified on the training ground, you know with coaching.

Frantically waving the team forward would have sufficed if his job was to direct traffic. He is a coach.

Rich

Maybe dominating games for 90 minutes, in the most competitive league in the world, isn’t as easy as some seem to think…

This is a new team, we’ve regularly fielded 5 new players, building cohesion takes time, even the famous back 5 took time to gel

We’ve also got a young team with a lot of players still learning the game, improvements won’t come in a spike, they’ll be gradual

Graham62

Get in there Lewis!

Tom

“Just saw the Villa score. Feel a bit for Dean Smith, that Villa side was due a turn, now Stevie G is getting all the credit.“

Pedro, today was the first time I saw Gerrard speak and answer questions, and I have to say he sounds and looks impressive. Levels above Smith.

He’s got a presence about him Dean Smith doesn’t, and not all related to his being a former elite player.

Graham62

Controversy in Riyadh.

Maybe not heard the end of this.

Receding Hairline

Rich no one mentioned dominating. Just don’t fall back to defend a lead anytime you have one.

Regularly fielded five new players? Again that’s why they train together daily, this players don’t meet for the first time on match day.

Graham62

Gerrard was an elite player and he comes across as being, potentially, an elite manager.

Two weeks v two years.

Interesting.

Ishola70

Rich we are not really talking about dominating here. This problem with the team Arteta supposedly has in not being able to get his team more pro-active in the attacking sense is very unusual in regards younger players. Younger players are usually scolded for being too enthusiastic and over committing. If it’s a confidence thing then that is down to Arteta to install that belief and confidence in them. If he can’t do that either Arteta is not good enough or the players he is responsible for signing aren’t good enough. And this has to be rectified soonest as we… Read more »

Spanishdave

We will finish below Man U and Spurs.
They have better managers than us and better squads.
Like Receding says what was the point of hiring a complete novice?
Probably he was cheaper and moved cones at Man City.
Aston Villavare also on a good run with Steve, so probably 8th again.

Spanishdave

No just a realist.

Dissenter

Taylor Swift would have us believe that the players are actively defying Arteta when we get passive after taking a lead?

That’s implausible tbh.
Arteta dominates the team, no one would defy him like that. I see him gesticulating to get them back into positions. It’s all about JDP for Arteta.

Dissenter

I agree that Arteta didn’t have any hand in the decision to hire younger players.
When he had a major say, after the FA cup win we signed older players that have become burdens for the club.
…and so the club over-corrected on their earlier mistakes.

Receding Hairline

“RH, your problem is you have no vision” Guess that’s another way of saying you don’t see things my way, like that imaginary table of yours were we are up there with the cream of the crop. “Hire in the best young players. Hire the best young coach. Let them grow together.” Don’t think its universally accepted we have the best young players. I mean who are we comparing them yo ? Erling Harland? Jude Bellingham? Trent Alexander’? Vinicius? Chiesa? As for having the best young coach.. Again what’s this based on? Your ranking? How was he named the best… Read more »

Receding Hairline

The best young players are known for being entertaining albeit naive, score for fun.

We have scored 11 less goals than a David Moyes team competing on two fronts with a right back as striker yet we have the best young manager and the best young players.

Everyone thinks he has the prettiest wife at home in the words of Arsene.

You still haven’t told me what we gained by hiring Areta, if the youth thing isn’t his vision, it means his vision has bombed and he is living KSE’s just to be in a job, not very visionary.

Dissenter

There an incongruence in this inexperience” excuse

Pedro argues that we have the best younger players so he uses the inexperience of the players to mitigate everything.
However Pedro. [and similar thinking posters] NEVER cite managerial inexperience.

It’s always players, players….and players being green behind the ears
Why not admit that’s one of these problems are because Arteta is still learning his job.

He signed Odegaard and argued to extend Auba’s contract, yet Ode made ZERO passes to Auba in 79 minutes at old Trafford.

Rich

The way football usually works, is when the away team scores first, the onus is then on the home team to do something about it This isn’t anything revolutionary, it’s usually the way football works. apart from with the very best teams It’s no surprise that after we battered Spurs in the first half, they were better in the second, or that after going 0-2 up against Leicester, the home team were on the front foot When we were chasing the game at 2-3 against United, they dropped very deep There’s obviously a bit more of an issue there, but… Read more »

Dissenter

* Why not admit that some of these problems are because Arteta is still learning his job

Spudnik

Pedro, as Mick McCarthy used to say ‘it’s getting squeaky bum time’ around the 4th spot now. Arteta was clearly angry about the Old Trafford result and bit his lip rather than throw any of the players – especially the senior ones – under the bus in public. I liked that. I’d love to see a positive reaction and as you said, good teams put struggling ones away.

Rich

Xhaka, Leno + Smith Rowe all being assessed ahead of tomorrrow’s game

Bit off subject, but how has Rob Holding now got a full head of hair?

It definitely doesn’t look like a wig, and his hairline was going way back a few months ago

Dissenter

Rich I’m looking t this in a different way The reason why we don’t keep going is because our attacking systems are weak. We are not creating enough chances …nd we know it so we try to keep what we already have. The team is not confident of its capacity to creat chances Then our midfield is not hyper-aggressive enough. We don’t commit enough niggling rotational fouls to break up play. City, Chelsea and Liverpool do this all the time. That’s one thing I thought Arteta will teach the squad. Rotational fouling has to be practiced on the training ground… Read more »

Graham62

Let’s see how it pans out tomorrow evening.
I’m intrigued to see what happens and especially intrigued to see who starts up top. Aubameyang a big NO for me.
Everton are struggling, big time. We have to come out and play on the front foot from the word go. There’s no way Everton should be allowed to dictate the game.
Will Tierney start ahead of Tavares?……..I hope so.
Partey and Lokonga please.
Arteta, the pressure is on.
Don’t bottle it.

Graham62

Dissenter

The list of Arteta’s mistakes is extensive and yet all we here about is the excuses.
Too young, lack experience, it’s part of the process blah! blah! blah!

Tomorrow is a massive game.
Please release that bloody handbrake and give them belief.
It’s not that difficult.

Raulishuss

RH
You’re either daft or you have a miserable agenda(emery gate). Either ways it’s obvious you’re not interested in the team and you’re boring.

Rich

Graham

With you it’ll always be about the next game being sensationalised, if we win, you’ll just claim that the next game is the real test

And if we lose, you’ll catastrophise the whole thing, even though we’ll still have 69 points to play for….

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