Ok, so what are we talking about this morning?
Manchester City vs Aston Villa.
Wow. Don Unai Emery is really making his mark on the Premier League. Language barrier squashed, redemption tour bigger than ERAS, big results like a team trying to be in the mentions of ‘title talk’ twitter (x).
I can’t remember many Manchester City performances as drab as the one at Villa Park the other night. Unai had his player monstering a meek Manchester City midfield all evening (Rodri, clearly their best player). His side had 22 shots, with 7 hitting the target… to City’s 2 attempts all night. The win was one for the history books.
So what are we thinking for the weekend?
1. It’ll be really fucking hard
This is one of the first games of the season where I’d genuinely be happy exiting with a point. I think they are 14 home wins on the bounce or something mad like that. This game is going to be beastly. If we escape with more than a point, be thankful.
2. This is the same vibe as Newcastle two seasons ago
Villa is built like the Newcastle team that bullied us into a loss when we could tasted top 4. It’s a group of young athletes on the up that truly believe the world is disrespecting them as professionals. They are fired up. They are wildly brave, extremely good in the final third, and everyone is a runner… even Tielemans these days. Martin Odegaard was getting ghosted by Ross Barkley the other night, if he plays like that against Villa, we’re going to get toasted.
3. It’s Unai
He’s a great manager of smaller clubs. He doesn’t shy away from a fight. He will try and open teams up. He loves a D vs G type battle. That’s his weakness. He will come to play even if it means getting battered. There won’t be a deep-block and we have to be prepared to play a chaotic game. Villa are like Spurs. Feast or famine… and there has been a lot of feast.
I’m worried about this. The Unai Cuck Army has been sitting on the edge of their seats salivating over Villa. I think they might actually be upset that the Unai redemption is being overshadowed by Arteta. We need to keep it that way so the apologists of criminal football can’t convince us that actually, it was a mistake to allow him to leave.
SPURS lololol…
I don’t want to spend too much time here, but isn’t it amusing that the manager who gave Spurs their club back has 1 point in 15 with a game against Newcastle this weekend?
Yes, it is.
Big Ange took a point off City. 3 goals from 0.4 xG. Journos queued up to say:
‘Was he tactically vindicated?’
Luck is not vindication, and Spurs have had a lot of it.
Now they are facing the injury equivalent of compound interest. They lost players before the fixture crunch, which means a smaller pool of players not getting rotated, now the smaller pool is getting injured.
They lost Son.
It is going to be VERY hard for them to beat Newcastle at the weekend, because I have no doubt Eddie Howe will be seeking a massive response from his side after a SHOCKING loss to Everton.
I love it. Literally, I couldn’t be happier. Personally, the first-world suffering I went through on this very site telling Arsenal fans the winnertivity strategy of Mourinho and Conte was a fast-track to hell, has made this flop out worth it.
Onto Arsenal…
Tomiyasu is out for 6 weeks or so, and it was oh-so predictable. The biggest weakness of Arteta is his macho approach to player fitness, which is entirely baffling because he spent most of his Arsenal tenure injured. Tactically, we don’t see messy patterns of the same mistakes. If we, as fans, see something rubbish. It’s usually fixed. Where we don’t see improvements is on the fitness front.
Tomiyasu, by my calculation, is now in his third season of breaking down once he’s hit good form. Why does Arteta insist on overplaying him when a rank amateur like me knows what the outcome will be?
I really feel for the player… mostly because I know Arteta should be doing better here.
His biggest weakness is maintaining the fitness of his best players.
Worth noting that the fittest team in the league is City.
There’s some hype that Partey and Emile are going to be fit for this weekend. I’d tamp down that excitement on Thomas Partey – but pretty sure Emile will be back sooner or later. I’m not even sure I want TP05 back early. If he’s starting Liverpool, he’s going AFCON. That’s not good for us.
All of this does leave us short defensively. We’re getting to that part of the season when Cedric Soares dusts off his Copa Mundials. I’m game for that… but only if it’s for the PSV game.
We have to get through the Villa game, then one of Arteta’s young coaches needs to force him to put out ZERO first-teamers in Holland. The airport is next door to the stadium, our players could be back in bed by 11 if we play it right. But, what I’d prefer is our core group watching the PSV game IN BED.
Chatting January…
We have to take the January window week by week, but as things stand, it seems like defence is the most likely need of recruits. We’re short. Shifting players around to make up the deficit was a struggle last season and I don’t want to be praying the Decland Rice can cover at right-back this season.
I think @AFCcamden is probably right… a defender will be the move.
I’d love a striker, but where’s the value in January?
I’d love a midfielder, but it looks like we’re covered there, and again, it’s better to move on key targets when clubs have three months to replace… not 30 days in a primo market.
On the out-going front, I think there are players we’ll be open to moving.
Aaron Ramsdale to Newcastle for over £35m seems the most obvious. I know it feels like Raya ain’t the full package, but everyone I speak to that knows what they’re doing is telling me to buy stocks now. I didn’t go back in on Bitcoin at the bottom, so I have to put my pennies into Raya.
Thomas Partey is an expensive player that is at the peak of his powers. I think he’s the unlock for a BIG trophy run. He’s also an asset we could sell to move on a BIG midfielder this summer. Saudi, Italy, and France all names that could take a punt. Still think he’ll stay and NOT go to AFCON.
I’m gonna put Emile in here, but really, I don’t believe it. He needs 10 games to prove he’s still alive before we can get a decent fee for him.
Kiwior to Milan? All I hear is that he’s very impressive in training. He was signed early to prevent his fee going to £6om like Lisandro Martinez. I do NOT expect him to leave.
Ok, good post, chaps and chapesses. Now I need you to take a listen of our latest podcast with special guest, Jacob Hawley. We’re looking to expand the bench next year, so tell us what you think of Jacob!
Also, get on his Instagram; it’s top quality.
If it had been Wenger making the claim rather than Arteta, there is no doubt it would have gotten traction. When it’s an essentially rookie manager blurting out emotion, it’s not going to go over well. In the end it’s Howard Webb and the PGMOL telling Arteta to know your place. The fact that the club then issued a statement right after it essentially saying the same thing – yeah that’s going to go over really well. It’s Arteta’s bed, he made it and now he has to lie down on it. The best way to counter all the shit… Read more »
Hodgson fed up after match –
“The fact is I’m afraid I’ve been in football a long time and games like today make me realise that when the day comes to leave it behind, I won’t be missing anything.”
“The rules. Refereeing and the referee’s incentives,” he said.
“I’m absolutely sick about the handball interpretations, I’m sick about these yellow cards for time-wasting, I’m sick about player behaviour.”
i cant remember a single decision this season that went for us wrongly but i do remember a lot against us the nearest ‘wrong’ call was probably the non-pen in the palace game against eze, ir was 50:50ish i wouldnt scream conspiracy, i actually dont believe it. i guess its more of unconscious bias. if you live around manchester it is likely that you or a loved one or a good friend supports a team you are going to officiate – that alone will lead to bias. thats the reason why the north centred approach of refs need to stop… Read more »
I’ve watched both Villa games this week, they dominated Man City and fully deserved to win, alternatively they hung on for dear life against an Arsenal team that dominated them for most of the game. The referees bottling those controversial decisions is no surprise, regardless of what Arteta said recently it’s been for ever thus as long as I can remember. Arsenal should have won, not drawn, but won today, we were clearly the better team, but today our final ball and finishing was poor. It happens. Now we’ve gotta beat Brighton – and Villa, it wouldn’t surprise me if… Read more »
You are very generous to the refs Kofi. I am sure regional bias plays a part ,and it’s mad that Manchester refs are doing games for that areas big clubs. But another thing that’s mad, refs doing midweek jobs in Abu Dhabi then refereeing City the following weekend. We are told there is no problem because our refs are trustworthy.. maybe they are , but they need to be seen as whiter than white, some of the actions of the PGMOL do not fit this criteria. I personally don’t think there bags under the table corruption, but more the football… Read more »
Well Well Well we lost a game our performance did not deserve. That matters more to me and I have faith, if the refereeing is definitely not corrupted, we have a chance this season, we just have to make sure the referring and VAR do not have too much to say in the final result of an Arsenal game, then I realised what a stupid statement I made. The premier league is now the most stupid Billions of dollars business, where the most unqualified and maybe less cognitively able make decisions beyond their capacity, and you can not blame them,… Read more »
No Ernest we’ve tried playing along with PGMOL like good boys for the last 20 years and where has it gotten us? Last season we got apologies for decisions which cost us in games where we dropped 5 points (and there were several more we should’ve also received apologies for). How many points did we lose the title by? I’m tired beyond description of arsenal needing to be levels better than our rivals to achieve as much or more than them City or liverpool could win the title this year by having an 8/10 season whereas arsenal can’t unless we… Read more »
It’s gotten so blatant and so bad that really rather the feeling of winning being one of simply joy, to me it now has a kind of vindictive feeling of ‘fuck you for being unable to stop us despite your best efforts’ Winning is supposed to be a happy thing not something so bittersweet every week. But arsenal have now been backed into this corner like a stray dog. Haaland gets off scot free but arsenal was carded for stepping slightly out of his box to celebrate a 97th minute winner. This is where the game is at now. It’s… Read more »
“ It’s not subtle. It’s absolutely ruinous to the spirit of football.‘
Then why keep watching? Why bother?
In the hopes that change will somehow be forthcoming?
I’m pretty much done with it to be honest, nothing will change because it’s nothing more than an old boys network.
“ We’ve been getting away with piss poor performances all season but it ended today. Arteta has made us a top 4 team but nowhere near the ruthless level of city or Liverpool. We’ve spent a lot of money but the difference is elite managers always win the major trophies. Arteta is not an elite manager despite all his bullshit spin and nonsense talk.”
-Paulie/ LG
You watch this Arsenal teams 3 games and you can sketch down the only four types of stock attacking moves they make. Its as easy as abc. Moreover this team is slow. They will give the opponent all the time they need to regroup. Let alone goals from counters, How many threatening counters can you remember this season? Arteta has sacrificed the fast attacking option of football at the altar of rock-solid defending. Let’s hope he has the marbles in him to shift to an attacking gear after a CF is signed. Till then all Arsenal fans have to stay… Read more »
As far as I am concerned Odegaard and Zinchenko are weak links in our team. I wouldn’t have them ever starting for Arsenal. Mid-table players really. I get pelters when I criticize Odegaard but that’s only because most people here have a herd mentality. But if you just assess players without bias then you will see Odegaard is bang average player who fools people into believing he is a great player by doing well in easy games Zinchenko just can’t defend. Martinelli another untouchable player who is painfully boring – a one trick pony whose even often repeated one trick… Read more »
‘ Then why keep watching? Why bother? In the hopes that change will somehow be forthcoming?’ Most of the time we are still good enough to bypass the officiating BS and get results. We’re still near the top. Everything is still to play for. My love of arsenal is also greater than my hate of PGMOL. I don’t wait for change Ernest, I am probably the most vocal of anyone on here in terms of ideas and proposals for what the club should do proactively to press PGMOL through any and all avenues until the pressure on them becomes untenable… Read more »
5) for cases which are so blatant and potentially costly that they can’t be explained (Bruno assault off the ball vs arsenal going unpunished after a var check), publicly ask PGMOL to advise what options arsenal have to seek compensation for it since we are directly impacted as a business by this mistake and there is no indication of acknowledgement or repercussions for the mistake from the officials’ sides. Pile on the toxic noise and pressure and do it publicly so that they can’t keep brushing it under the carpet and are simply forced to own their ‘mistakes’ and do… Read more »
Odegaard popping in the places he is, is what’s wrong in this team. We shouldn’t have the setup where he is our finisher time and time and again. A lot of our attacks revolve around that play when Ode is in the team. Yes, we’re doing good enough and all. I appreciate it. But it’s criminal that our setup revolves around Martinelli/Saka passing the ball to Odegaard who shoots when Martinelli is by far our best finisher. Marti is #59 in the league on shots per game Odegaard is #21 in the same table. This is not right and it… Read more »
Emery proves he is a better manager than Arteta.
But give Arteta 5 more years and a billion pounds, and he’ll catch up.
If Arteta knew he stood no chance against PGMOL, why go against them? Wenger in his early days spoke against the officiating and refs hated him but couldn’t stop him from winning, in fact, going unbeaten. Could he have won more? Yes. How was he able to win despite the refs being against him? By assembling mentally strong, ready to die on the field players who weren’t just technically good but also having the ready to die for Arsenal mentality. On the other hand, we now have a galaxy brain who isn’t mentally strong and has assembled mentally weak or… Read more »
@Ramdas, 5 years with a billion pounds will produce more Arteta robots on legrove telling us that Arteta’s project is for 2050
Why is the officiating so blatantly poor in EPL yet most other professional sports leagues don’t seem to have this problem? Maybe it’s corrupt but if it’s incompetence teams do need to band together as previous posts have mentioned. That’s the only way to force change. The EPL should also be looking to other pro sports leagues for guidance. In hockey and US football they have coach’s challenges whereby a coach can challenge a call or non call within a certain time after the play occurred. This forces a review of the play so it’s not left up to the… Read more »
If you want to fight a system, be ready to die fighting. This con artist of a coach thinks he can fight a system by displaying emotional immaturity and instability. If I were him, I’d not start a journey I knew I wouldn’t finish. There used to be an evil and dilapidated structure that occasionally served as a shelter for a family until a very unwise man from this family attempted pulling down the structure by stoning it, then the structure seizes to offer its occasional sheltering to the unwise man’s family. There’s an adage in yoruba that says ‘When… Read more »
We had 90 minutes to respond but couldn’t come up with something reasonable. Every team fancies at least scoring against us the moment they see zinchenko in the line up. One would expect Arteta to see the game differently since he occupied an higher ground yesterday but he still couldn’t see what’s wrong with our game throughout. Emery winning us by playing high line is Arteta’s fault all day because playing high line against us meant all we needed to do was utilise our pacy forwards by releasing balls to them quickly but we kept romancing the ball passing aimlessly… Read more »
The day the Pedro apologizes to Emery for mocking him unfairly,
Thats the day Emery will end humiliating Generational (Pedros man crush)
The obssesion with PGMOL on le grove is a condition called moral panic.(it was common on Untold)
The 1st step to recovery is burning your Arteta mannequins.
@LoveSausage: Fair play and respect to you re: your comments about our best player today [Kai Havertz].
No team can win every game. The amount of vitriol here is mostly spewed by those of you who boasted of an easy win, just because.
Generational should thank Emery for developing Saka and Not loaning him to championship sides like he has done with Patino.
@China1 “Haaland gets off scot free but arsenal was carded for stepping slightly out of his box to celebrate a 97th minute winner.” Rather than singling out Haaland the whole team got sanctioned. True no cards, bans bur fines to the club which is like water splashing on a stone. Not Arsenal but Arteta was carded. The point being when you are developing a stigma a reputation that grinds on those running the game you open yourself for all kinds of mistreatment. That is part of life and one has to deal with it in the best way one can.… Read more »
Emery in a different league to Arteta who is still a novice.
Odegaard….flat track bully.
Once Eddie comes on we know we’re fucked……
Who honestly thinks we can win the league with a goalie like Raya????
Orbinho stats from twitter –– Arsenal have conceded five goals from the last six shots on target they have faced in the Premier League
-Arsenal have only come back to win one of the last 21 Premier League away games in which they’ve trailed at half time (D4 L16), although that one victory came in this exact fixture last season, winning 4-2 at Villa Park (1-2 at half time).
-Artesunates : It is PGMOL’s fault.
Vickingz, why bother supporting a team that you hate so much? Tosser
It’s a top 4 team. Nothing better than wenger last 5 years teams. May win a league if both city & liverpool fuck up
Artesunates : I’m disappointed in emery’s tactic.
His tactics earned him 3 points, he’s just a point behind your lord and saviour and I can bet it that we’re not winning Brighton and Liverpool if data is to be relied on. Lose Brighton and Liverpool and it’s the end of Arsenal this season.
@pseudo warrior, still having hang over?
I hate not Arsenal, I’m a fan of Arsenal not Arteta’s fan boy
what the fuck is up with Tielemans and getting a boner in the middle of the game? Pics all over the net. Noticed that too like WTF is wrong with him
Tielmans has a long tail unlike Zinchenko and Odegaard
Why is it that Artesunates only cite PGMOL as the culprit each time we lose under the galaxy brain? When we were losing under wenger, pedro and his ‘Arsene out’ ilks went on rampage crusading Arsene Out, In Arsene we rust and all sort despite Wenger calling out the refs, despite the obvious maltreatment from PGMOL. For pedro, it was Arsene Out and again for Emery, why is it different for Arteta? Arsenal have conceded 5 goals from last 6 shots on goal from the opponents yet Artesunates are so blind that they still blame PGMOL. It is OVER for… Read more »
Wenger must be smiling everytime he reads Le grove these days
The obssesion with PGMOL on le grove is a condition called moral panic.(it was common on Untold
It’s painful viewing and listening on the radio..It is an obsession.
People actually believe the PGMOL are corrupt and out to get Arsenal and Arteta?
Anyone tell me , why they are doing this?
Villa incredibly won their 15th successive home match in the premier league, Emery deserves huge credit and all we hear is conspiracy nonsense from the likes of China
Painful, we lost because just like against Newcastle , we didn’t score and they did.
The early goal killed the game. Villa lost most of their ambition. Their high line should have been a gift but outlier shitty finishing across the board couple with every possible ref call going against us screwed us. Ø was in pretty shitty form, which happens, but the issue is we don’t really have adequate cover without making too many structural changes. He’s learning a new position but like with Partey’s absence, we ultimately need one of Vieira or Lokonga to have come good. Both medium term 50/50 punts of which neither have demonstrated their ability to contribute. Ditto we… Read more »
‘’ …like with Partey’s absence, we ultimately need one of Vieira or Lokonga to have come good. Both medium term 50/50 punts of which neither have demonstrated their ability to contribute. Ditto we need to shit or get off the pot with ESR. ‘ Save to assume we have lost these punts, barring some miracles . The PGMOL relationship wouldn’t improve materially short term either unless all/most EPL clubs act in concert and speak up thou don’t see it happen unfortunately, with too much vested interests. at club level. Like someone said here, we’d need to strengthen to the extent… Read more »
Some interesting comments on UE being better than Arteta. Let’s wait and see come seasons end, I can guarantee you Arsenal will be in the top four, Villa will be somewhere in mid table.
Emery was a shit manager at Arsenal, granted there were issues and execs beyond his control. Look at the signings, the toxic atmosphere, generated during that time
Emery was not a shit manager at Arsenal Arsenal wasn’t ready for a head coach after 21 years of Wenger. We surrounded this man with a bunch of misfits and incompetents- he never got the players he asked for. Wenger left a shambolic squad behind and had overindulged them for too long and it’s no wonder that not even Arteta could work with them. He too had to move them out to succeed. In the end, Emery earned his deserved sack for footballing reasons, the results weren’t good enough. Arteta, being the smart dude that he is, learned from it.… Read more »
Arteta is good for Arsenal Avery is good for Villa It’s not a question of one better than the other I’ve always felt that many people didn’t appreciate how shambilic we were as an organization after Wenger left. Imagine Gazidis recruiting and setting up a management model of two antagonists in Raul and Sven, who needed to report to him ….to make it work Then he hires a manager who’s the epitome of ‘head coach’, who didn’t have a football political bone in his body and was still learning the English language ….then Gazidis resigned after a month !!! His… Read more »
Agreed Diss about the post Wenger, Gazidis-driven chaos. It was a sad day when I realized we were going down the Raul’s Rolodex Route. We’ve come a long way since then.
It was pay back time from IG. For years he pleased to get rid of Wenger but Stan wouldn’t have it.
Elneny is playing very well for someone that’s been in the sarcophagus for so long