The Premier League season starting pistol has fired and for a temporary moment in time, Arsenal is top of the league, with 2 goals, and a lovely clean sheet.
We’ve also chalked off one of the toughest away days of the season. No one underestimated Crystal Palace before the game, so no one should after. They are a very aggressive side of extremely powerful and fast players. Going to the noisiest away ground on a Friday night is a very tough start by any standards.
We didn’t make a meal of it this time.
Arsenal were far better equipped and balanced through a blend of upgrades and internal solutions.
The superstar internal solution was William Saliba. A man that cost Arsenal £25m as a teenager 2 years ago made his Premier League debut and he was outstanding. You are not supposed to come into a Premier League defence at 21 years old and play the way he played. Outside his outrageous technical ability, it was the calmness of thought and stunning composure that stood out. He was so good, VVD followed him on Instagram after the match.
Last season, if we lacked Ben White or Gabriel in the middle, there was trouble. Against Crystal Palace, for a debut, what Saliba did was truly outstanding. People do have to temper the excitement a little bit. He’s a young player, young players have ups and downs, so I hope people will be with him when the inevitable errors land. They certainly haven’t been for Sambi, ESR and Martinelli of late and it’s a bit painful to stomach. If you are a Saliba Ultra, you should tune into our Youtube to see Johnny Cochrane smugging it up, a sight to behold.
The big tactical weakness for Arsenal was at fullback. Ben White is not a right back, but we know he can play there. For me, there aren’t many tougher wingers to go up against in the league than Zaha. As expected, minute one, it was all about putting the Ivorian in one vs one situations… but Benny Blanco stood up to the challenge most of the game. No one won more duels on the pitch than him. He played the dark arts at times. But overall, Ben White had the player under control. There was only one moment when he put Eze in… but there was a save, so no harm done. It was interesting to hear Arteta say that Ben White loves playing right back after the game. I guess if you have the ability to carry the ball, you don’t get to do that much as a centre back, in our system, you can invert and join the attack more often. Tomiyasu has an U21 game today to get some match fitness… at least it’s not vital he’s back like it was last season.
It should not go unnoted that Zinchenko also had a very, very good game. There were some misplaced passes that were unusual, but that was rustiness. I guess simply put, he does things with the ball that Kieran Tierney can’t. His passing is extremely crisp and he gives us more options going forward. He had a very assured debut. It’s just so good to see players like that lining up for Arsenal. He’s in his prime. What a talent.
Before I get onto the defence as a whole, let’s not leave without chatting Aaron Ramsdale. He’s been a bit inconsistent this year. He brings problems on himself by trying a little too hard with his passing, when he fucks up, it flusters his game. He did it again yesterday, he was a little ambitious with an early pass that led to a Palace chance. But after that, he leaned in with two outrageous saves. The first was a brilliant one-handed parry when Edouard had a free header. The second was a one vs one from Eze that he did brilliantly with. Those were BIG saves. The sort we expect of the best keeper in England. The sort we’ll need more of this season. I also loved his confidence dealing with crosses. Big, brave, and bold… like his dad’s hat attire.
The first 30 minutes were exceptional from Arsenal. The beautiful football people said Arteta didn’t want to play was fully on show. The only way I can describe the play is buttery. We moved the ball between the lines with outrageously crisp precision and confidence. Crystal Palace couldn’t press us because there was always an outlet and every player was brave. Honestly, at times, I couldn’t believe I was watching Arsenal play that way, it was really special. The thing that really excited me is that late in the game, under intense pressure as legs faded, we still stuck to our principles playing out the back. There was a lovely bit of play between Ramsdale, Partey and Saliba. Last season, we might have hoofed it. That shows maturity.
Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka really were a couple of rocks in the midfield. I thought the Ghanaian was close to being man of the match. He’s on top of his game, his one-touch passing is unplayable, and the sharpness of mind to control the waves of attack kept us very secure. Granit Xhaka was also really solid, some were in my feed calling him terrible… people, that is a really dated view in 2022. He had an 85% pass completion rate, he made the most passes in the attacking third, he won all three of his aerial duels, made 5 ball recoveries, and he was the most fouled Arsenal player. He was booked for diving in a passage of play where the ref played advantage for Arsenal because of a dive. Apparently, Xhaka is a booking, Eze’s two dives were not. There’s a Xhaka tax in the Premier League. Didn’t stop him showing up, putting his body on the line, and keeping things ticking over.
Gabriel Jesus didn’t score, but my word is he has the things we’ve been missing. He is a bag of chaos. He can go deep, out wide, play through the middle, lurk on the edge of the box… he is our Luis Suarez. A total nightmare of a player. There are two things I love about him, firstly, he can create something out of nothing. There was a moment in the first half when he went on a mazy run which led to Martinelli blasting his shot wide. Lacazette couldn’t do that. The second thing I love is his ability to occupy defenders. He chased down a ball in the second half between two Palace defenders, won it through sheer force of personality, and put Odegaard into contention. He is small but mighty. And he never stops working.
Martinelli was a difference maker in the first half, I still want more from him, he needs to impose himself a little more, I want to see some of that Bang-Bang we love. Saka was also a little quiet, but he was a difference maker forcing an own goal. Also worth noting that Eddie came on and carried on doing Eddie things. He was the pre-assist for Saka when he came on. The kid has great link play, need to see him getting starts this season.
There are some things we could be doing better. I think we still need to be more ruthless, we sat back a little bit after we scored, we know that doesn’t come from the manager, that’s a fallback behaviour the squad had last season when they’d go a goal up. We also need to kill teams earlier. All our players need to do better in front of goal, particularly Odegaard who squandered two really good opportunities in a bit of a disappointing game by his standards.
Still, take into account it takes 6-8 games to get truly match fit, so there’s a lot to come from this side, and there are still new relationships being worked out on the pitch.
We don’t yet have the fear factor teams like Liverpool and City have. But we are getting close. Arsenal are a nightmare to play against. We are getting close to being relentless. It’s hard to get chances against us. It’s hard to press us. We’re unreal off the ball. Now we have difference makers all across the park.
Arsenal still need to do a deal for Youri Tielemans and we need a better option to rotate Saka with. Nico is not the answer and Sambi is too early in his #8 journey to be our rotation option with Granit Xhaka.
Back to the result: A little context.
That’ll be the hardest game we play until at least the United game in September. Big teams are going to go there this season and get battered. We went there, controlled the game for large parts, were more clinical in front of goal, kept a clean sheet, and debuted 3 players without missing a beat. We did that missing KT, Tomi, and ESR from the starting 11.
The result was even better when you see that Liverpool just dropped two points away from home against Fulham.
Next up, Leicester. Maddison in talks with Newcastle, Youri T pining for Arsenal, Fofana protecting his limbs for the Chelsea move… they are a MESS. Which makes them dangerous. We need a BIG performance for our first home game.
FINAL NOTE: The aways support was electric. We aren’t a banter club in 2022 and our fans home and away are amongst the best in the league. I LOVE BEING A GOONER RIGHT NOW.
Check out our On The Whistle Podcast. We have a NEW brand design via the excellent Dear Future agency.
We needed to professionalize the brand identity and do something that’d make us stand out from the sea of red in the app store. We’ve gone with black and gold this season, matching to the fastest-selling away kit of all time. We’ll rotate between THE AOP and The Arsenal Opinion.
As part of the refresh, I’ve changed the Le Grove logo, so it all feels cohesive with the podcast.
The logo is great because it’s an idea. Le Grove has DNA in fan opinion, The AOP has followed suit with the LIVE chat, so it all connects well together. Hope you like it.
The podcast is Johnny, Pedro and Matt. We’ll have a great season together. So hopefully you can join the Patreon for the Before the Whistle’s and join us for the Premier League LIVE On The Whistle podcasts we do right after the game.
I love the idea of Marquinhos, but I think we’re better placed dropping some dollar on Diaby. He looks every bit as good as Saka. If we could supplement that with Tielemans and either Gvardiol or N’Dicka, we’d be very well placed to take 3rd and be within respectable distance of the top two, setting us up for a title tilt next year. If I were getting my crystal ball out, I’d then look at Ndidi to replace Eleneny (last yera of contract), and either Bllingham or Nkunku to replace Xhaka. We will also need to sack off Cedric, and… Read more »
Reading your post Pedro and your description of the game has now made it obvious that I need to watch the replay.
Reading about those starting 30 mins is making me feel like I really missed something!!
What impresses me most is that the Club – even after the best intake of any club – is still focused on additional high quality signings. For me it’s a clear sign that Arteta/Edu/Josh are aiming for 1st place, to win the league not just settle for 2nd,3rd or 4th place. And on past record, none of them appear to be over-optimistic. As I said earlier, the need is for a physically dominating figure in midfield, somebody akin to Vieira or Petit or Gilberto. The talk is Teilemann, and perhaps he will come – but instinct tells me they have… Read more »
Official, confirmed. Dries Mertens and Lucas Torreira are Galatasaray players. Documents are signed, both will be in Istanbul tonight 🚨🟡🔴 #Galatasaray
▫️ Mertens joins until June 2023 with one year option;
▫️ Torreira joins until June 2025 for €6/7m plus add-ons to Arsenal. https://t.co/AWIRHqKPqp
Pedro
I’m a little sad because I have absolutely nothing to disagree with you about (well, maybe you overcooked the sauce on those two decent but not great Ramsdale saves) plus the redesign is absolutely superb. Kudos to Dear Future/Matt for a stellar rebranding. I heard you say that this will be the redesign for this season. Don’t blow it Pedro, lock this design in for the foreseeable future. You can’t go changing every year!
Guns of Hackney I always took you for a miserable fan but your Saliba going to ‘a big club’ comment makes you look like a miserable troll. I don’t think that’s typical behavious from you, though. If your point is that we run the risk of losing him to another big club that has guaranteed Champions League football and plenty of cash (PSG and Real Madrid are the biggest threats for me) then I can see your point. But we’re a big club also, so let’s not go overboard. Ultimately, it will come down to whether Saliba is willing to… Read more »
“The superstar internal solution was William Saliba. A man that cost Arsenal £25m as a teenager 2 years ago made his Premier League debut and he was outstanding. You are not supposed to come into a Premier League defence at 21 years old and play the way he played. Outside his outrageous technical ability, it was the calmness of thought and stunning composure that stood out. He was so good, VVD followed him on Instagram after the match.” Gary Neville said Saliba reminded him of Rio Ferdinand. Unless VVD and Neville eulogized the same way about White after his Arsenal… Read more »
guys, do any of you watch EPL on NOW TV or HULU using a VPN? I want to subscribe as they promise to show all EPL games, but i am not convinced it will work in UK. Any tips? thanks
Conflicting reports that Guedes is joining us or West Ham
Brilliant news about Torreira leaving. Lets get Mari, Hector, Pepe, and Ainsley going too
Lets hope he goes to Wolves and we get Neto
And Reiss nelson holy shit how is he still at the club
Marko
Is it Guedes of Valencia
Guedes has had some amazing stints in La Liga but also seems to be a bit injury prone. Not sure how he did last season but I think you could make an argument 2-3 years ago he was one of the top players in the league. Although it may have been 3-4 years how the time flies.
I seriously believe West Ham will rip City a new one tomorrow. People are underestimating the hammers..they have a pretty solid team right now. City on the other hand looks very raw and unprepared.
Saw some reports linking us to Moussa Diaby – has to be just for clicks right? He seems like a 60-70 million pound signing.
Tomiyasu played 45 minutes for the U21s! Good news
Dissenter, I think you miss the irritation on Chaka. How many times during the latter run of Wenger did we always end up coming one or two signings short of having a successful season? Again hate to beat a dead horse, but if we had paired an athletic midfielder like Bissouma with Partey we would have strolled through that game when the heat was at its highest point. Xhaka is a zero footballer and a passenger. A proverbial donkey in a race for stallions. He only influences the game in the negative and rarely for the positive … he simply… Read more »
Tom
Yes
Saliba is great. White is great. Tomi is great. Tierney and Zinchenko are great. We have many great defenders
Good news.
GD4
How did Xakha contribute negatively vs palace? How many mistakes leading to chances?
By he way he was also involved in the buildup for the second
Fewer than 24 hours after Mikel Arteta’s first team beat Crystal Palace 2-0, the Spaniard was present at Meadow Park as two of his senior squad members turned out for the under-21s. Early last season, Eddie Nketiah and Folarin Balogun were given game time in Premier League 2 to keep sharp and match fit. This time around, Marquinhos and Takehiro Tomiyasu started a 3-1 victory over Manchester United. Under-21s head coach Mehmet Ali, who replaced Kevin Betsy last month after joining as his assistant in January, has been in dialogue with the first team and there are clear instructions for… Read more »
Un,
Is that all you were able to get from my post?
Cmon men
Well, well, well Bacary… welcome to the light my friend!
We need to get CL at minimum this season. Pay Saliba and Saka whatever, they are future of this club!
Huge improvement over last season Palace away, but still we were battered for most of the game. Ramsdale earn his keep this game, 2 WC saves.
Of course Saliba will sign. Puzzles me why anyone doubts it. AFC is not just any football club, it’s THE football club.
That is a great way to start the season! Been banging the drum on Saliba for a very long time. The guy has got IT! Started strong, Martinelli somehow missed one on a platter, but made up for it. Pressing was excellent and Palace stuggled to do anything past the halfway line, until the last 10 minutes of the 1st half. It was back and forth for the start of the second half with AFC edging it a bit. However, from minute 60-85, what the hell?? Palace should have score 2 goals, but Ramsdale made solid saves and our backline… Read more »
Of course Saliba will sign. Puzzles me why anyone doubts it. AFC is not just any football club, it’s THE football club
What the fuck does that mean
Moussa Diaby, will be an elite player for us if he comes. He is ahead in his development over Martinelli and ESR. He is very fast and his take on ability is fantastic. And he added goals last season too. I would be delighted with him. Guedes, less so. He is an okay player. But a lot of people were expecting him to explode and take off for a while now and he hasn’t. There are better talents in the portugese squad too and he isn’t getting a sniff as of now. Neto, Leao, B.silva all better and there are… Read more »
Englands best I think you let your optimism for Arsenal cloud your judgment sometimes. Haaland was never going to sign for Arsenal. And Saliba might choose to go. There are bigger clubs, no matter how big we think Arsenal are. The Spanish clubs are bigger and I think United and Liverpool are too imo. Bayern, Juventus, Ac Milan, Inter Milan also have a richer history. We could out spend the last two though. So there is a pecking order eventhough we are a big club. Players will always choose teams that have been winning recently. Like Haaland choosing to go… Read more »
We have to give the big money to Saliba though. Chelse going for Fofana over £70 mil says a lot about what it would take to replace Saliba. Same for Martinelli and Saka. Keep our elite young talent and we will go somewhere if we keep adding experience like Jesus and Zinchenko to our team.
habesha, where would you put him next to Raphina?
Pedro Potentially he is better. He is 22 and he came from PSG’s Academy like Nkunku because he didn’t get a chance. But right now Raphinha is more seasoned and at the age where he can make a huge impact. Diaby is younger and around ESR’s age. And he still has to improve his end product. But last season was his best and he looked terrific. He might struggle in some games if he comes but in a few years he is the better player for sure. Raphinha just edges it for me because he is ready for the big… Read more »
Diabys better than Raphinha for me. Good production from him he’s a worldie for me
thanks for the info guys, watching his clips earlier, he knows how to find that bottom corner
When we perform like this I invest as we all should and brought a shirt for the new season this morning. Meantime my mates in WhatsApp group discussed AFC and another Newcastle fan amongst others provided banter. The latter bet me that they the Ant & Dec team would finish above us. Of course I’m gonna take it, we should take top 4, the project looks on track. I believe in Josh supporting us more than Stan. So let’s pump positive vibes into our team and make it a season which we out voice these other fuckers. Strength in unity… Read more »
Marko I would say Diaby has produced better numbers. But he also plays in a weaker league and in a much better team. What makes Raphinha such a great player is what he gives you besides the end product and the skills. He is much better at pressing, helping out his fullback and executing a game plan. He is a typical south American in that regard. He is just a pressing machine and that leads to a lot of turnovers. And he is no slouch in attacking either. But he is much more a complete player than Diaby. Diaby has… Read more »
Bacary, I have to say I had the same thoughts about Hackney, thinking he was super miserable, negative. Just in the past few weeks, his short, negative comments make me absolutely sure he’s a troll. Who knows what team he really supports? No fan would say those things. In other Legrove hate news….. GD4, the resident genius can’t let go of the Xhaka hatred.. Surprising! And then goes and starts whinging about Bissouma… AGAIN Imagine how this guy is when he gets dumped by a girlfriend …. he can’t even handle getting over Bissouma! “If only Bissouma hadn’t forsaken us!”… Read more »
Diaby has elite potential on his take ons and his end product. But he doesn’t do the hard yards as much as Raphinha.
Yeah Diaby ‘s actually known for winning the ball back in high positions. He’s always been the number one choice for me.
So that was a brilliant way to start the season. That first half hour was what we wanted to see. Jesus was causing havok and martinelli made up for a very big miss. Could have been going into half time in a much more comfortable position. We played a very high line first half, and when palace started getting into the game we were getting very exposed by Anderson picking out the long bombs over the top. This is where for me zinchenko was getting a little caught out. Gabriel and xhaka were doing well inside/behind him when that ball… Read more »
Saliba is an absolute joy to watch. What a show from him. Those stats posted, for a pl debut is incredible. He just seems so damn assured on the ball and his pace and size/strength make him incredibly tough to dribble past. White did very well up against Zaha. He was left more 1v1, but I think how saliba covered behind white was brilliant. Between the both of them Zaha got nowhere. That ball from white to Saka too was nice. Zinchenko apart from what I mentioned above was very good for the most part. Couple of off touches and… Read more »
Looks like Onana is off to Everton for 30m, going to be interesting to see how he does in the PL. Think we missed a trick there as a Partey stand in and eventual replacement. Diaby would be great obviously but if it’s a choice between strengthening our already very good wings or our threadbare (quality wise) CM then I’d go for the CM 7 days a week. Plop a Savic type player into Xhakas spot, someone much better on and off the ball, that has the capacity to reach double figures in both goals and assists there and we’d… Read more »
Also after the match, I felt like Pierre would have liked how much odes performance was reminiscent of latter days Ozil.
Passing the ball when in positions to shoot.
Lol @ goober. On his poorer days Ødegaard does remind me of the over passing Ozil. I hope Arteta makes him rewatch one play from the game over and over… the one where Jesus gets him the ball right in front of the 6 yard box, and he loses it by trying to switch onto his left. I think Jesus even reacted frustrated. I would do the clockwork orange treatment where his eyes are pinned open and he’s forced to watch it on loop for hours. Also Goober, your game summary is the the most accurate as to how I… Read more »
Pedro,
‘Well, well, well Bacary… welcome to the light my friend!’
Long may it continue!
Cheers Nigel.
Actually still buzzing the season has kicked off again and we got the 3 points!
The thing that disappointed me about the game was my internet haha. Just bought a giant lg screen to watch in 4k and my provider could only pump out 720p 😂😂.
Already 2 points ahead of liverpool
THE LEAGUE IS OURS FOOLS
Ted, you there mate?
Could you go back to the previous post and see how many (including Pierre, Useroz and Aasim) have echoed the same matter as me abt Odegaard? AMFs do have to score. Hope you agree on that.
BTW, what is a parody account, Ted?
Guns of Hackney is not a troll.. has been on here almost as long as anyone I can remember .. Like Gambon old. He just said yesterday he is excited about this team, first time in like forever. He is a contrarian . also enjoys sarcasm, tongue in cheek, and often says things people are thinking but afraid to say…. enjoys a reaction sure .. as from talking to him over the years I know in his younger party days he was a true punk rocker….. lived the lifestyle. and still carries some of that rock and roll attitude.. Y’all… Read more »
Marko – The football club was and is “The Arsenal”
That’s what it means.
I’d be surprised if Saliba was allowed to be part of the squad in the way he is, if there are doubts he’s off
If we were going to sell at the moment or likely lose him a lower key just letting him stay in France would be so much easier
MidWesGun – perhaps Gun’s could attempt the direction of his fire at a rival club? The problem is there are a few on here who consistently undermine and attack Arsenal players and the Manager yet seem to leave any capacity to critique aside when talking about rivals. So you get acidic drip , drip , drip on our club but the same individual will give glowing propaganda about our rivals It’s got so bad from some, that other teams posting boards are less harsh. I’ve heard better PR for Conte on here for instance than an old Spud supporting duffer… Read more »
Haha yeah guns is a crack up
MarkyMark- Guns of Hack has never said anything positive about our rivals I can recall. … Pedro has known him longer then me. I think he can decide. Personally I have never read a rivals comment section..board. why would you even want to do that? who cares what they think and why would I compare? . The constant policing of this place for lack of the postitivity quotient whatever that seems to be..is more tedious to me then anything as then you are discussing what a true fan.. is.or thinks . and who decides, you, me? then it becomes the… Read more »
Midwest
All fair comments about Guns but that was what was so odd about his ‘big club’ comment yesterday. Like you said, I’ll put it down to sarcasm.
Torreira finally sold to Galatasaray according to Fabrizio Romano for “a three-year deal for between €6-7m plus add-ons.”
Hopefully he’ll finally be happy and we’ll finally start making a move for Youri Tielemanns… to buy him right before we play Leicester. If we pull it off and perhaps unveil him at the game that would be a risky strategy. Both the player and his former team would be fired up to prove each other wrong!
Good to see that we’re moving out Mari as well… hopefully permanently and not on a loan with an option to buy.
Small transfer fees upfront but the real savings actually are in the wages we don’t have to pay.
Does Guns actually believe Saliba is off? I dont know probably does… it is still a possibility but every game he plays makes it more unlikely .. in my opinion. And I think we will pay whatevr it takes. We have had this big Club debate before.. not gonna go there. I think we are of course but there are many who do not. depending on your definition .. not sure that changes your fandom though or makes you a troll. It was an especially painful comment though Ill give you that as it is an open wound at the… Read more »
you watch that post debut inrterview w saliba on the .com and i don’t think you’re reasonably telling yourself that saliba isn’t sticking around.
Damn mid west nailing it there.
I’ll have to apologise for being a pest at times 😂
Zacharse-I watch that interview with Saliba and I think he might be the deepest voiced player in Premier League history.
Yep I saw that Saliba post match… motm interview.. He seemed very happy and commited . on his part.. However, Sports agents are the devil.
Need Edu to get in there with the charm offensive.. which he will. Seems like that’s his superpower. Not that concerned about it .. probably why I just skipped over Guns hot take on it.
Hey Iwona, a bit late here. On the Hulu bit, I’m in DK and use a DNS to watch Hulu and EPL games come on live TV, specifically USA network and MSNBC. But that will be like 2 games a day maybe. Then I subscribe to Peacock as well as they would stream the rest of the games. Can be a bit pricey tho but my family watches quite a bit of movies so overall it works for me. Then Carabao and FA cup doesnt show there, for that u need ESPN+ I think. For Uefa u need CBS or… Read more »
I’m fairly sure guns just put a throw away troll comment out for a laugh and it’s led to a whole one day debate about it lol
There’s one winner in this conversation and it’s guns that you guys all took the bait hook line and sinker
Midwest
Open wound is correct.
Someone needs to sit Edu and Garlick down to watch Alec Baldwin’s speech in Glengarry Glen Ross. To be fair, they’ve done a pretty good job so far of renewing deals but it’s also why Champions League football is so important. As much as Saka loved Arsenal, he’ll not accept us continuing to miss Top 4.
Saliba will start every game on this form. Not sure what that means for Gabriel or Ben White when Tomi is back. Good competition tho as tierney is also back. Then there’s the midfield spot xhaka occupies, BW and Zinch can probably slot in there depending how we set up. Whichever way u look at it, our team hasn’t been this competitive and exciting for years. And Englandsbest said yesterday, if we bring in tielemans/savic and diaby we are definitely aiming to challenge for top honours. Such a squad doesn’t settle for top 4 to be honest.
Anyone see the god awful Everton Chelsea match ? Yeah the Chavs are real proper shit , Tuchel only knows one formation which is 352 with wingbacks who can defend . If Everton had DCL fit , they would have won it. Glad we didnt go for DCL .
China .. I just talk about GoH when he is not here so he will call me a cunt later.. it balances out my universe and then I feel like I win. 😀
Chelsea had 12 corners during the 1st half I believe.
Each one dealt with pretty easily and not the hallmark of a creative team agree with Divine. If Everton had any decent forward yesterday they would have at least some drawn if not won.
Tough opening game and an excellent result. The highlight for me was Saliba. Looks a fantastic prospect.
After that masterful performance, if Arteta can’t convince Saliba to stay what other choice does he have but to sell?
Conversely, if Saliba wanted to leave I would have thought he would have asked to be sold in the summer… if he continues to get chance to play I’m anticipating he will sign a new contract.
In the end money talks and players and their agents know the EPL is the most lucrative league in the world… he will most likely want to remain in it.
Hahaha mid yeah no winning against guns when he’s on his trajectory 😂
To be honest , after spending over half a billion since wenger left , one would expect the team/squad to be competitive , and being competitive should mean challenging for the title or at least being in a position to go for the title with a third of the season left. At long last we are bringing in players who suit the manager’s philosophy, which will only help the club be successful. Will pablo Vieira suit the manager’s philosophy, i have my doubts as Arteta tends to prefer players who run around a lot like martinelli , Odegaard and jesus… Read more »
Pierre – Eddie could have been bought on perhaps 10 minutes earlier to press and disrupt Andersen. If we’d nullified him more successfully I’m convinced it’d have been a lot easier to contend with. Arsenal tend to fall back by a couple of metres , perhaps due to stress in adopting the press. That’s something can be worked on. Liverpool though were given a real headache yesterday. They’ll have Palace , West Ham , Brentford doing the same. Further point it really fucks yer chances when there are so many derbies with teams being up for it. Then falling back… Read more »
Marko
Every longtime Arsenal supporter knows what ‘THE football Club’ means. Evidently you are not one, so I’ll explain. Arsenal have the finest tradition, history, prestige, fans, of any club in England.
successful.Will pablo Vieira suit the manager’s philosophy, i have my doubts as Arteta tends to prefer players who run around a lot like martinelli , Odegaard and jesus , which is fine if they can still produce quality and are calm and composed when it matters most like in front of goal or producing the killer pass..
Hey old man. Arteta bought viera I’m sure he knows a thing or two about quality players. Isn’t nketiah part of the run around type too?
https://twitter.com/JMNDComps/status/1556014403887194113?t=v_pfSBPOi9-y4C02nNK0Vg&s=19
Pierre, previous seasons showed that possession doesn’t win games, goals do. For all the possession we would have we would lose games so I all honesty that small difference in possession means nothing, especially away from home. Palace only picked up possession stats when our players were tired so no worry there.
Vieira is a lock pick, when teams sit deep we don’t need run around players, we need lock pickers and that’s why he was brought in. Hom and odegaard will play together against deep blocks to unlock their defence which is something we struggled with.
Pierre Nice to see you become a convert, when I tried explaining to you that the best teams control the game through technical security, you seemed a bit perplexed, and went to your usual ridiculous answer of “football is a simple game”… Of course we need players with a high level of specificity in order for us to install a consistent style of play, you only need to examine City + Liverpool’s squads to see that, you’re still stuck somewhere between 1997 + 2015 when it comes to the tactical side of the game. Football has moved on since peak… Read more »
Arteta sets the team out to start games playing quick fire football, we score and then we sit back trying to defend a single goal.
This is his way and last year we lost many games because we couldn’t answer when the opposing team scored.
He is not confident in playing aggressively, he reverts to his defending mentality.
After pressing hard in the first half, how should we play in the second? Do we use subs to maintain a press, if this is sustainable? Alternatively how can we control possession better in the second half – do we have the players to be able to do that? Last season we had great first halves at home against Liverpool and City but we’re unable to sustain this in the second halves. I accept there are periods of the game where you have to withstand the other team’s dominance, I just worry that we’ll drop points that could be avoided… Read more »
I believe Saliba will sign a new contract. Every time Arteta had to convince someone important to play for him, he has done it. Aubameyang, Nketiah, Balogun, ESR, Saka, Martinelli Tierney, have all signed new contracts under him. Some of them even were going to go on a free. But he convinced them to stay. As long as Arteta is fair with Saliba and doesn’t drop him if he is performing, a new deal will be a given. There were rumors that him and Saka have even agreed new deals already.
Rich
“Nice to see you become a convert, when I tried explaining to you that the best teams control the game through technical security, you seemed a bit perplexed, ”
More like bored
You need to move on from repeat mode, do you just copy and paste the same comments day after day, week after week , month after month.
Richard “, Arteta now has a set of defenders that’ll allow us to play a much improved pressing style by making the pitch much smaller for the opposition.” My question would be , if we now have a set of defenders that allow us to play a much improved pressin style , then why did Arteta allow Andersen the time and space to hit inch perfect 40/50 yard passes over the top of our high line defence. Surely the first rule is to put a man on the one opposition player who can hurt us and then we can play… Read more »
Richard
“, I know you hate attackers who put in a defensive shift,”
You’re struggling now aren’t you.
Do i hate Eddie …no , and he is our best player at putting in a shift and closing down the opposition, his record in that area speaks for itself
Chelsea, leeds in the league , leeds in the cup , all succumbed to Eddies superb pressing last season , resulting in goals…
I would go back to your copy and pasting if i was you.
Rich
The game is simple – it’s the rules which make it complex.
Every longtime Arsenal supporter knows what ‘THE football Club’ means. Evidently you are not one, so I’ll explain. Arsenal have the finest tradition, history, prestige, fans, of any club in England.
Oh so just what I thought shite talk made by a juvenile. Haven’t been a force to be reckoned with for a long time but apparently we’re THE football club in English football. Sure pal
Raul, Agree that Arteta wouldn’t let us buy a player who can’t press or at least have signs of potential for work rate. When we got Vieira I listened to some breakdowns from Portugal experts.. apparently his recent coach was a hardass about that, and he wouldn’t have played him otherwise. If we get any forward before the window is over, you can bet he’ll be one that can press or have that potential. Sometimes we wonder why Pepe isn’t playing… It’s not for lack of effort on his part, it’s about ability to do the job. Can’t have a… Read more »
Marky,
All our subs should’ve been at least 10 minutes earlier. I liked the Sambi for Øde as a defensive move. I hope we use that more in the right situations, like if Fabio is playing on the wing.
Not a good sign that Arteta is going to change regarding subs.
Pierre I learned from the best, why don’t you tell us more about how Ozil was unfairly treated, he’s had quite the unlucky streak of managers + clubs who just don’t get him… He’s like my brother who’d been divorced 3 times, and is now engaged to a 4th, he flat refuses to accept it might be him who’s the problem.. About your irrational fears about Eddie + Smith Rowe not playing enough, even though one of them hasn’t even been fit to play, and the fact we’ve now only got 2 strikers, so it’s perfectly logical that Eddie is… Read more »
Can I say again how much I love Graham Potter as a manager. If this guy had a budget there won’t be much distance between him and Pep in terms of the quality of football they’ll play
Martinez not looking very good for United.
Very short for a CB. Thank god we have Saliba.
United are terrible. Lol.
Welbeck playing well. Best first touch I’ve seen from him ever.
Lol come on Brighton at
Pierre,
“(Eddie Nketiah) is our best player at putting in a shift and closing down the opposition, his record in that area speaks for itself”.
Even you have to admit that this statement is over there top for a team that starts Gab Jesus and Martinelli.
But yes.. It’s true that Eddie should have come on much earlier.
United looooool
United are a one man team.
ten haag getting sacked in the morning!
2-0.
Give Graham Potter some money and he will do wonders … what a coach