Well, the mood today is feeling pretty sexy, no?
West Ham United did a few things that really pleased me:
- They changed out 6 players for Chelsea, preserving legs for Europa. That means their sole focus is that tournament. There’s no way they go with a decent team against us, just no way.
- They lost. Arsenal are now 8 points clear having played one game less. They aren’t fighting for Champions League or Europa via the Premier League this season.
- Craig Dawson, their only centre back, was sent off. West Ham can either rush injured players back, or they’re going to have to accept a very rough afternoon against Arsenal.
This is the Premier League, nothing is ever guaranteed, just look at Everton giving Liverpool problems today… but as things stand, we couldn’t ask for a better set of ingredients heading into that pivotal away game next week.
How about Spurs? 10 days ago, people were falling back on basic bitch analysis saying that Antonio Conte was a proper manager, Arsenal shouldn’t have fucked around with a rookie that makes mistakes, and we were doomed. Well, the manager that apparently doesn’t make mistakes has conjured up a miraculous 0 shots on target against Brentford and Brighton, with a fit Harry K and Son, accumulating just 1 point in the process. Where are the ‘ARTETA MAKES MISTAKES’ merchants? WHERE ARE YOU? If Conte is making mistakes, can we maybe accept that all managers make mistakes?
To make matters even MORE delicious, French media is running stories that Conte has dropped his pants and presented himself to PSG last week. He hates it a Spurs, we know that because we watch his pressers and listen to him. He was a disaster hire even if they do get 4th. It always ends in destruction with him. He’s tasted Clover Club like establishments all around the world, now he’s being asked to eat a cold hamburgers from McDonald’s at Spurs. That’s not him.
So who is ready to have a very serious conversation with me? Antonio Conte is only where he is with Spurs because of Harry Kane. If Harry is man-marked, Conte has nothing. Outside that, he has been the luckiest manager in the league this season. The only people who truly believe Conte is performing miracles are those that don’t spend any time watching Spurs play. They were absolutely battered by Brentford yesterday, it was embarrassing, I can’t believe they didn’t lose.
There are 5 games to go, nothing is wrapped up, there are still twists and turns to come… but we are back in the driving seat with the opportunity to MAYBE go into the Spurs game not needing to win the game.
I would hand the 3 points to Spurs for their Leicester game, though Brendan is capable of springing an unexpected tactical masterclass. But would I put money on Spurs turning over Liverpool at Anfield? I wouldn’t.
Things aren’t going to be simple for Arsenal. Bukayo Saka, the man with 16 g/a this season, which is better than Salah, and one short of KDB, is rumoured to be out for two games. That’s not great news for Arsenal, but we could absorb the loss if Pepe shows up and wants to prove a point like everyone else in the squad has. We could also work something out between Gabi, ESR and Odegaard.
The long and short is we have to find a way, like we have done all season, because we have done the hard work beating United and Chelsea. Don’t fuck it on West Ham and Leeds United.
THE DEFENCE OF TAVARES
Listen, the young lad is a reincarnation of Emanuel Eboue. Explosive, clearly talented, but mega CHAOS. You had it all against United. A goal, a penalty give-away, some powerful runs, some good passes, some shocking decisions, customary row Z shots. He’s not at the level we need right now… but he’s young, and 95% of you, myself included, bitched when Arteta put Xhaka in his place. This is our punishment. This is Arteta performing the ‘if you, the fans, know so much, then here it is.’
It’s important to support Tavares. Arteta had it right. We all sit there, fat, overweight, shit at sport… insisting we’d make better decisions against United in a MUST WIN game. It’s easy to be an armchair player. Tavares has to suffer to get better, and as a result, so do we. Slandering a kid online is shitty behavior, we are better than that, and we have been SO wrong on other players. Granit, BIG MO, League One Eddie, to name but a few. They are all part of the unit taking us to the promised land, so hold back the mean tweets, and be grateful they are all trying their best, because it could be enough this season.
I did a podcast with Johnny earlier and we landed on the mistake of not signing a striker in January. I can’t tell you how much I disagree with that take. The striker we needed was the England U21 record goalscorer who did the job against Chelsea. If he’d been given all the games from January, you’d have at least 8 goals.
Remember these points when thinking about January:
Point 1: We went hard for the most expensive striker available in January and lost out based on dodgy agent fees. The player wanted Arsenal, but he was pushed by his agent, now he’s rumoured to be unhappy about the horrible Allegri system he’s struggling in.
Learning here: We had the money, the intent, and we went for it.
Point 2: Some think we should have signed any old backup striker just to give us a body. Again, this sort of point is basically a brand statement, not a sporting statement. Fans just wanted it to seem like we were doing something but if you buy an average backup in the short-term, you pay in the long-term. No player moves for a bad deal in Jan, so you are tying someone in for 3 years. That potentially blocks a kid, it lowers the standards at the training ground, and it can cause friction when that average backup isn’t getting minutes. There will also be better back-ups in the summer. Which striker moved in Jan that you thought was a miss? Weghorst… 29 years old, a poverty Giroud, 2 goals in 15 games? Fuck that.
Learning here: A body for body’s sake gets you Pablo Mari. You pay for that in the end. We are a CL dreaming club. Shitty backups aren’t the way forward. Second learning, who signed a banger of a striker in Jan that we missed out on? Ashley Barnes? Any other names?
‘BUT THERE MUST HAVE BEEN SOMEONE’ doesn’t rub for me. We had £60m available. If there was a player that could have made us better, he’d be at Arsenal right now.
Point 3: It is better to delay signing a banger of a striker a year than sign someone that doesn’t fit the profile you need to go right to the top. Wenger did exactly that once, he crippled us by waiting for… Chamakh. Right idea, wrong execution. We are looking for a very specific type of player, there are probably only 5 or 6 that fit the bill, these players are at clubs competing for things. We have delayed the purchase because we get one shot at this. Stan K won’t keep spending money we don’t have. This striker is the most consequential striker signing we’ll make this decade. It will define us, shape our success, and orient where our spending goes in the future. Next season, you will look back on our lack of movement in January and thank the GODS of football we didn’t do something stupid because we will be a different beast next season.
Learning here: Just because you can buy someone, doesn’t mean you should. Fans live in the moment, window to window, football clubs have to be bigger than that and look at the long game. Arsenal has finally learned to be smart.
THE SHORT TERM BIG PICTURE: We are in control of 4th, with 5 games to go, with the youngest manager in the league, with the youngest squad in the league, without having had access to an elite striker all season, with 3 of our best players out injured, with the worst goal scoring record in the top 7.
Add an elite striker and a blockbuster midfielder to this squad and do nothing else… we are a top 4 team next year.
Bukayo Saka is already pushing KDB and Salah for numbers.
Martin Odegaard has created the most chances in the league since November.
Thomas Partey is one of the best midfielders in the league.
Our defence will be so much better next season.
Arteta will get sharper tactically, he’ll hopefully rotate the squad better, and he will just improve.
Bill Saliba is going to be at Arsenal next season, don’t panic, he’ll sign a new deal, he’ll give us better options when our key defenders are flapping.
Our inexperienced players are all developing Arsenal Winning IP as they fight nerves, physical drain, and emotional wreckage. They will come back different men next season.
Here’s the cut of it… if we do get top 4, the confidence in our very small camp will be absolutely off the charts going into next season. There is a chance for us to compete for 3rd next season, those players will believe they have a right to eat at the big boy’s table.
This season will be a success however we finish, Europa was the target, no one in Arsenal leadership gives a shit if Arsenal fans changed the target. Anything above that is MASSIVE and ahead of schedule.
If we hit our stretch goal, it will be so, so, so special and it will turbocharge our plans.
So let’s take a moment to enjoy that United victory, then regroup and focus on that West Ham game.
It. Is. Huge.
Now listen to our podcast and marvel at how funny Johnny is. Also, we wanted to thank you again for listening, we had our best week ever for podcast listens, and we also got our first deal to do read-through ads. We know we’re not Arseblog or Arsenal Vision, but it was cool regardless, it means we’re showing up on media agency listener tools. So thank you. We are going to do a Patreon package next season that’s a mix of editorial and extra podcast content.
China1 – I think Tierney’s game improves when we get our proper striker in the summer, he was a revelation in his first season and if not for the consistent injuries is the clear squad choice for the captain’s armband. I suspect his injury record will probably see him miss out to Odegaard next season but what we get from Tierney is similar to what Liverpool get from Robertson if handled correctly.
Nuno has way more upside than Eboue in my opinion. Both simply due to the recklessness of their play will be fan favourites but I honestly believe if Nuno is given game time, he will actually get smarter on the field, something I never felt Eboue would or could achieve.
For Tierney the injuries are obviously issue n1 I agree. But I think more so than the CF, I think it’s a tactical thing
Soares plays that style too with the constant slowing the game down and going backwards and too many high crosses. I’m sure arteta encourages this since both have been doing it, but as well players need to use a bit more initiative and see when there’s a better option on rather than keeping defaulting to the same thing
I will not stand by and listen to any if you guys diss Eboue.
The man was a legend ffs………he spoke Korean.
“We all sit there, fat, overweight, shit at sport… ”
Speak for yourself, I’ll have you know that I am a muscular cunt.
There is rumor that Poch will be sacked soon at PSG and Conte will take over. That is very good news for us. The Spuds players must have more information than us. Now I understand why their team performance fell through the cliff the past two matches.
Pedro
Cool post, General. I m glad that you also see the similarity between Eboue and Tavares. Crazy how some folks can’t see it. Eboue had that ability to look world class in moments then toilet class the next. Tavares has elements in his games thats huge, but in the same token he could end up playing for Norwich.
Edu do me a favor
“How can you go with the former when we’ve all just watched laca fail to score from open play since god knows when ?”
Exactly. You can’t have a striker who hasn’t scored in Eons despite getting chances to score, only to turn around and blame those creating his missed chances for him. Saka also should be on more than 5 assists but alas Lacazette was playing upfront.
Eboue non-ironically wasn’t a bad player and I always found it strange how he seems to only be remembered for his dodgy last year or so where AW shunted him out onto the RW.
He was part of to this day the greatest run of CL knockout clean-sheets defence that we have seen from any team. Not a single goal conceded in the last 16, QF or SF ties and that was against Real Madrid, Juventus and a brilliant Villarreal side.
That alone should earn him much more respect than he gets and elevate him far above the Hoyte’s, Gilbert’s, Jenko’s, Lichtsteiner’s of the world.
No he wasn’t Sagna good but who was going back nearly 20 years to Lauren?
Eboue was also a great crosser of the ball, much better than Sagna in fact.
I really enjoyed watching Eboue play at least in his earlier Arsenal days. I feel like many other Arsenal players of the time, Song, Rambo etc they lacked tactical discipline due to playing under late Wenger.
My concern with Tavares is that he is not actually a kid being at 21 older than Saka, ESR etc. Maybe we are seeing why the fans at his Portuguese club didn’t apparently rate him.
People still dissing Odegaard are either too stubborn or idiotic. Being married to the idea that he is an average player just because you thought he was shit in the past is very thick headed.
If you think he is still an average player after seeing what he brings to this Arsenal team, then your football intelligence is crap. What shocked me was even some Man United fans rate him higher than our idiotic fans. They would have him instead of Bruno Fernandez. But according to some he is average. It is ridiculous.
“How the hell can you say valhovic is struggling at Juventus, he’s scoring almost every game”
Paulie, every player who either turned us down or was even mentioned in the comments section as one to get is by definition struggling wherever they might be.
Vlahovic is therefore struggling and regretting his Juve move……..and Bruno G is struggling and behind Shelvey in the pecking order at Newcastle
.
I hope this helps.
Tavares to me looks a massive liability defensively and he causes Gabriel and White to shit themselves and extinguishes any composure that we have from the back.
He also is average going forward, poor end product cancels out his crazy athleticism and ability to get up and down the line.
Reminds me of Aly Cissokho.
China – I’d go along with that, it very well could be a tactical decision from the manager as Tierney’s first year was full of “on the money” crossing from the left, he actually looked better than Robertson in the attacking third for a long period of time. It will also be interesting to see how Tomi performs from now till the end of the season, I don’t recall him slowing the game down at all and despite what we heard about before he signed he is a very decent attacking full back.
In regards to the weekend, it was great to see Elneny show the level required over the last couple of games, he seems like a nice guy and just an overall highly professional experienced player.
However, the talk of a new contract needs to stop. We can’t re-sign Elneny and Laca for sentimental purposes. Xhaka was also outstanding yesterday but we 100% need also an upgrade on him this summer.
He is actually 22 Foxy and while that is still young it isn’t 18/19, agreed.
You tend to see much more improvement from 18-22 than you do from 22-26, not sure how much in your early to mid 20s you can improve massive fundamental flaws in your game, especially off-ball.
Tavares needs to time his run going forward is all , he does have the recovery pace to track back but if he gains that awareness , he will improve a lot . Rather than Eboue I think he plays a lot like Clichy , leaving gaps all over.
He only cost us £8m and is on low-wages, it was a low-risk signing to be fair.
It hasn’t worked out and we should move him on imo and bring in a much more reliable LB to alternate with KT.
Totally agree Wenger eagle and the idea that he could be more useful as a wide forward look bit hopeful after the way he blazed two shot wide from good positions. Zero composure at either end is not what you need out of a RB in the prem.
Yes Tierney was previously excellent, no doubt about that
We need him playing like he was last season and we’ll be golden down that side
Habesha Gooner
April 25, 2022 12:45:16
People still dissing Odegaard are either too stubborn or idiotic.
————–
If you’re satisfied with 6 assist in 45 league games plus 2 penalties conceded in matches we lost then good for you.
Back up players need to be solid and reliable like Elneny or Milner that can be relied upon under pressure when needed.
WengerEagle
No one is calling Eboue a bad player for Arsenal. He was mostly good than bad. Like you said he was part of that 06 Champions League squad that went all the way to the final. But areas of his game had chaos in them. Sometimes good for Arsenal, sometimes bad. Like Tavares.
Is this Lukaku transfer the biggest flop in PL history? £100m and he has genuinely looked terrible and has scored just 5 goals in 22 apps.
8 goals in his last 35 apps in all comps after scoring 4 in 4 to start the season.
Would be amazed to see him and Tuchel both still at Chelsea next season, question is if the Chavs intend on holding onto Tuchel what do they do with Lukaku?
He will be 29 and his value has taken a tanking.
What a brilliant week.
Tets and the boys doing us proud. Top 4 is ours to lose for sure.
On another note I love to see both jorginho and Fernandes miss spot kicks. Absolute shit Kents hahaha
But unlike Eboue Tavares is still only 21 as opposed to Eboue who was something like 24 in 07/08 and 25 in 08/09. Let’s see how he develops in a couple of years.
Naija
Don’t get me wrong, I understand your point and the chaos factor. I just believe that Eboue at least brought positive qualities to the board offensively and he was capable of putting in solid showings defensively too even if he was error-prone.
Clichy as somebody else said was similar. I never felt comfortable with Clichy at LB late in games and always felt like he had a mistake in him, he often did. Birmingham springs to mind immediately, even though it shouldn’t have been given as a pen it was braindead defending from Clichy to even give the Ref an opportunity to award it.
Clichy was literally the league best LB from an athletic POV, even better than Cole and Evra. He was ab abdolite physical specimen, rapid fast along with being an ironman never getting injured and having Kante-like stamina.
But he wasn’t even a patch on Cole especially or Evra as a defender.
Tavares is actually 22 and older now than Eboue was in our 2005-06 CL Final run (he was 21).
Pedro, what do you mean here?
“Bukayo Saka, the man with 16 g/a this season, which is better than Salah, and one short of KDB”
I think people’s problem with Odegaard is that he can appear too calm. Unlike guys like ESR and Saka who are gung-ho, he’s more opera to their hard metal. When he receives the ball, it always feels like the game slows down a bit.
I myself ain’t sure whether this is a good thing or a bad one but I ll keep watching.
That Eboue was better than this Tavares and we still went on to upgrade on him at age 24 with Sagna and ended up letting him go in his late 20s because he never improved his game.
We cannot afford to have Tavares in the XI if Kieran is out for large stretches and I never want to see Xhaka at LB again.
16 G/A better than Salah? Lol, wut?
Salah has 35 G/A in the PL. Leads the league in assists ans the Golden Boot.
Maybe he meant to say Zaha? Haha
He said it again further down though Goober.
Can only assume he is talking about the famous post-Xmas G/A numbers so.
WengerEagle
Clichy was weird to me. Wasn’t great defensively but wasnt that great offensively either, but he played for Arsenal and Manchester city so he clearly was good at something. I think Tavares offensively has a higher potential than both Eboue/Clichy.
Defensively is where he comes short. Definitely not as good as those guys. He plays as if he should be a winger or attacking midfielder. If he can improve his defence, he would be a really good player.
Also Eboue was first choice right ? Tavares is a second option after Tierney.
Saka is brilliant though, said it in the summer that he is capable of scoring 15 in the PL because he gets into so many amazing scoring positions with his dribbling/movement and he just needed to improve his composure/ball-striking in front of goal which he has done.
In him and ESR we have x2 players that are good for 10-15 PL goals a season already at 21. I think that you need x4 of these kind of players in your squad including one of those that will score 20 PL goals to compete with the Liverpool’s and City’s in the future.
The latter being a CF.
Pool have Salah, Mane, Jota and Diaz now with Firmino still excellent back-up.
City are adding goal machine Haaland to Jesus, Sterling, Foden, Mahrez, KDB.
The real point is that both Tomiyasu and Tierney are injury prone. Can we afford to go into
a season and play both second strings in the same starting X1.
Arsenal have been vulnerable in last 5 games on the flanks in absence of both Tomiyasu and Tierney.
Foxy
“I really enjoyed watching Eboue play at least in his earlier Arsenal days. I feel like many other Arsenal players of the time, Song, Rambo etc they lacked tactical discipline due to playing under late Wenger.My concern with Tavares is that he is not actually a kid being at 21 older than Saka, ESR etc. Maybe we are seeing why the fans at his Portuguese club didn’t apparently rate him.”
Eboue was really good in his earlier days until 07/08. Even that season he started well, then at some point he started making all these errors. The errors continued almost on a weekly basis. At some point, fans got on his back and scape-goated him. He just got worse and worse from there. Never really recovered.
Emiratesroller
“The real point is that both Tomiyasu and Tierney are injury prone. Can we afford to go into
a season and play both second strings in the same starting X1.Arsenal have been vulnerable in last 5 games on the flanks in absence of both Tomiyasu and Tierney”
Do you think Tomiyasu is our best defender ? Seems our defence haven’t been the same since he got injured.
Naija
That is because Sagna was brought in to the XI to play RB in 2007/08 and AW started playing a RB Eboue as an auxillary wide player, a position that was alien to him.
It was the right decision to bring in Sagna as he was a superior RB to Eboue but that is the main reason for hos downturn in form here, he was played out of position and he was no James Milner.
Before Tomiyasu’s injury we were getting clean sheets left, right and center. Also Gabriel, White, Ramsdale all looked great. Since his injury we ve been conceding more regularly. Gabriel, White, Ramsdale haven’t looked the same.
Haha weagle, yeah I just noticed he mentioned it again.
Maybe he is seeing into next season’s numbers 😂
Naija + soccer
We got creamed by Crystal Palace on the flanks and in last game against Man Utd Tavares
was in my view at fault for goal because he allowed Ronaldo to blind side Gabriel and could
have cost us a second goal through penalty.
Tavares is defensively poor and Soares is weak in games against top class wingers such as
Zaha and Sancho.
If we’re honest the best thing about Clichy was that he wasn’t Ashley Cole.
What I mean by that is that after Cole’s defection fans were desperate to big-up Clichy to show that we didn’t miss him. Probably made him out to be better than he really was, for me he always looked dodgy defensively.
Pedro,
IMO, the whole discussion about buying players vs rotating the squad is framed weirdly because they are both means to the same end – to enter the business end of a season with a squad that’s stocked to compete. And we were woefully unprepared.
I agree with your point that Arteta messed up by not rotating. I’ve been making it for a long time. But I also don’t think Johnny is wrong, esp if you assume that Arteta had good reasons to not trust some of the players being given minutes now.
Eddie has certainly looked much more productive than I’ve given him credit for so good for him. Also, kudos to the manager for digging us out of that hole we were in. I was 100% sure the top 4 race was dead. Never been happier to be wrong.
That said, I’m not convinced that Xhaka and Big Mo will get us to the promised land. They were both brilliant vs United but the true test will be if they can perform against teams that play a low block against us.
Fair comment Weagle. He may improve, but let him do that away from PL. He will be exploited from now on. Why hasn’t he had a run in PL2?
Danny , that’s crazy bollix talk. Please stop embarrassing yourself
WengerEagle
“Naija
That is because Sagna was brought in to the XI to play RB in 2007/08 and AW started playing a RB Eboue as an auxillary wide player, a position that was alien to him.It was the right decision to bring in Sagna as he was a superior RB to Eboue but that is the main reason for hos downturn in form here, he was played out of position and he was no James Milner.”
Hahaha you are right. Wenger pulled a Guardiola with Eboue except he was no James Milner like you said. This is when Wenger started incorporating his ‘square peg, round hole’ routine. Poor Eboue
I guess I see now why you think Eboue’s situation is different from Tavares. It was certainly unfair to Eboue that chaos he created for the team us similar to what Tavares is doing now.
*It was certainly unfair to Eboue but still, the chaotic nature of his game is similar to Tavares.
Wow, interesting stats doing the rounds.
It becomes more interesting if you apply some weighting to the numbers by considering the strikers each team has. The conclusion to draw from this is obvious.
TOTAL SHOTS
1. LFC 613
2. MC 603
3. AFC 511
4. CFC 479
5. MU 468
11. Spuds 414
SHOTS ON TARGET
1. LFC 224
2. MC 221
3. CFC 175
4. MU 170
5. AFC 166
6. Spuds 161
Article on Tavares
https://www.planetfootball.com/trending/nuno-tavares-arsenal-chaos-premier-league-man-utd-arteta-goal-penalty-foul/
AFC Forever
We have 3rd most total shots and yet we ve struggled for goals quite often this season. Nice to see that it isn’t for lack of trying.
Those stats prove how creative we are and that box to box we are tactically smart.
If we can add efficiency in the penalty area in the summer we are seriously going places. I was surprised by the shots on target, especially in relation to spuds with Kane & Son. These numbers are with a team of youngsters and no real finisher, after a terrible start to the season. We have to remember that we have top talents in players like Odegaard, Saka, ESR, Martinelli, who have yet to reach their prime. Keep these lads together and improve on our finishing with smart recruitment and it wont be long before we are challenging for the big prizes. Exciting times.
Naija+soccer
Yes, we are not efficient in the penalty area; but we knew that anyway. They are impressive numbers though when you take that into consideration. Funny how Man City & Liverpools numbers are almost identical…!!
I like Tom’s response on the Ødegaard criticism. Those passes he mentioned were huge. How many disappointing finishes have we quickly forgotten that came from sweet passes from Ødegaard. Must be a huge number.
Also, have we had a functioning CF at any point this season?
… that’s huge for a 10 like Øde.
Anybody trying to dig up stats to downplay Ødegaard is being pedantic, because all you have to do is watch him play. No stats necessary. He’s that good.
It must suck to watch football and not see that.
Nigel
Odegaard is pure class. Sometimes you read the comments and just shake your head. You can debate with that level of stupidity.
Ha ha. typo
“You CAN’T debate with that level of stupidity…….”
This is worth watching from GunnerTV:
https://youtu.be/y718OV1EMes
People forget Tierney had that left side locked down this season…. we stopped running the attack through him which got him beat many times last year, and improved the attack as well.
His stats for getting dribbled past are incredible this season.
Has anyone noticed Gabriel’s defense since Tierney has been out?… I’d bet that’s related. I think he’s taken for granted a little bit.
AFC
TOTAL SHOTS
1. LFC 613
2. MC 603
3. AFC 511
4. CFC 479
5. MU 468
11. Spuds 414
SHOTS ON TARGET
1. LFC 224
2. MC 221
3. CFC 175
4. MU 170
5. AFC 166
6. Spuds 161
This stat certainly looks promising for Arteta. Not bad for a rookie coach.
Nigel
Losing both Tomiyasu and Tierney has greatly affected our defence. Would be nice to have at least one of them available.
Agree Pedro with your comments about January window buys. It is just not the time to do deals for good long term talent.
Eddie at best is a back up striker so there is a need to strengthen there. Just do not make it DCL (has a had one good three month spell only) or Jesus (another Manchester cast off)!
Tierney has always had a suspect injury record I have mentioned it on here before, you can look at his Celtic appearance record. There is a need for a back up so a big few games coming up for Tavares. He has ability, it’s just the thinking and decision making with him that needs to improve- considerably.
My phone was silent today,back under the rocks-you swines!!
Dermot Gallagher has even defended all of the decisions that went our way on Saturday,I am in another timeline.
Naija+soccer
Yes I agree. That stat is actually an eye opener.
It shows just how much creativity we have. For a side that’s in its first season, with a lot of young players AND without a striker of the class other teams have, it’s telling. Don’t forget for months we were being told that we had no creativity and were boring, it answers all of that. Next season we will be further into our development, will have recruited and won’t have a disrupted start to the season. We are definitely progressing nicely.
While the Tavares criticism is merited. Both Gabriel and White have been poor defensively in recent games. The defence as a whole has been shaky. And as I said before Tavares is trying to impress too much. He looks nervous every time he has the ball. no composure. This is also down to coaching.
I still think there is a decent back up player. Just wrong time of season to be making these cock ups.
The only way that Tavares might turn into a player is if he goes on a season-long loan and gets regular play time. Yes, he’s young. But he’s too old to be this chaotic. If he’s still all over the place at 23 then we can safely conclude he’ll never be anything else than what we’re seeing. But we won’t find out if he’s just warming the bench at Arsenal.
Yes I agree Samesong, Ramsdale, Gabriel and White have been off colour since we resumed after the international break. Gabriel was more culpable for two of the goals against Palace than Nuno was but it was Nuno who was hooked off. Ramsdale also has been off colour for a little while now. So in essence we have a whole back four that is a little unsure of themselves and short on confidence.
Hopefully Tomi being back, plus two big wins against two big sides will help instil some confidence back in the side.
Thomas Partey it seems in ahead of schedule in his recovery already running on a treadmill so that could be a boost if we can get him back before the seasons end.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/american-football/thomas-partey-provides-major-fitness-update-ahead-of-arsenals-crucial-top-four-run-in/ar-AAWzi12?ocid=uxbndlbing
Tom
“Pierre, I wonder whether KDB’s City supporting cast and likewise that of Ozil at Real Madrid had anything to do with their superior chance created numbers…….what do you think?”
That being the case , one would think that David Silva would have ELITE figures like Ozil and Debruyne when it comes to key passes as he has the same supporting cast as Debruyne, and yet he is down with Odegaard, Eriksen and Maddison for key passes per game
So to answer the question , i would say that the supporting cast makes little difference for key passes, but of course it would make a difference to their assists as playing with better strikers is likely to improve those statistics.
Pierre
I’m just proud you found a way to mention Ozil again. You are an artist.
Tom
“Ozil had 52 assists for RM in the two seasons leading up to his Arsenal transfer, and here are some of his teammates:
Ronaldo, Higuain, Benzema, Di Maria, Xabi Alonso, Kaka, Modric, Marcelo, Ramos……”
Tom, there is a difference between assists and key passes created , we were talking about key passes not assists , although as you should know , Ozil excelled in both areas , in fact he was one off the premiership record for a season playing with Giroud up top, proving if you are an ELITE creative player you can adapt your game to play with any striker .
Bacaryisgod
“I’m just proud you found a way to mention Ozil again. You are an artist.”
It’s difficult to keep him out of the equation when one is talking about ELITE creative players..
Let’s hope Odegaard moves up to the ELITE level with Debruyne and Ozil..
Ozil was once elite but you have to go back as far as 2015/16 to a time where he was week in and out at that level.
From 2013-2016 Ozil was a joy to watch and a brilliant player for us and he gave us a solid season in 2016/17 too even if that was the beginning of the end, it is why I still consider his overall transfer here to be a success albeit not an overwhelming one given how bad he was from 2018-2020 and the fact that he pretty much mailed it in after signing that £350k a week contract.
new post
Pods going from strength to strength. Arseblog and Vision are stalwarts but you boys are the Hale End bloggers production line!
However, Matt needs to stop getting injured and show up in games more. Great when he plays but a little Tierney like!
Great stuff lads
haah, amazing comment Shropshire Lad, just sent that to matt
Maybe Tets should play Tavarez and Eddie more and manage Auba and Laca better, as this is his job and not talking nice bulshit in presser and pretending we are Crystal Palace level club aiming for Europa League.