Morning all.
Seems a 6-0 victory is being scoffed at in certain corners of the media. ‘Flat track bullies’, that’s Arsenal apparently, which is odd really considering just a few weeks ago we battered Chelsea with ease and they were a team heavily tipped to win the league before a ball was kicked in August.
The loss against Liverpool on the opening day of the season was awful but considering who we had missing that day, it was hardly surprising we got nothing from the game. Similar for the away match against Leicester, but at least we managed a draw, somehow.
But since then, this Arsenal team has greatly improved, albeit conceding two goals to Swansea last weekend was shoddy but things like that can be put right easily. Perhaps tactically, perhaps by changing personnel. I’m sure those players guilty of allowing Swansea to score will know exactly what they did wrong by now and the key is not to dwell on it, but learn and put it right in the next game.
As said after the game in midweek, Ludogorets gave us plenty of scary moments in early stages of the game but Arsene Wenger was right in what he said about the opposition gave far too much too soon in the game. Once their legs had tired a little, Arsenal took them to the cleaners with ease and by playing some scintillating football. It really was great to watch.
But it won’t always be like that. Mourinho will park his bus when Utd come to town, just as he did against Liverpool at Anfield and other managers will no doubt do something similar but this Arsenal team looks fit and strong and when they play with pace, crisp and quick passing and continue to be ruthless in front of goal, even the parked bus will struggle.
Burnley nearly succeeded a couple of weeks ago and I expect Middlesbrough will adopt the same style of play tomorrow, especially as they are away from home. I watched them lose 1-0 to Watford last weekend and the match itself was awful, they were dreadful and quite dirty, especially their right-back Antonio Barragan who really should have been sent off. Mike Dean is the man in charge tomorrow – deep joy eh!
Back to the flat track bullies label, which for the last few years one could say we deserve having struggled against the likes of Utd, City, Chelsea but last season we fared better against City and Utd, certainly at The Emirates and I’d go as far to say that it was the performances/results against the ‘lesser’ sides which cost us the Premier League title after dropping points against Sunderland, Palace, West Ham, Swansea, Southampton, Stoke and Norwich. Had we turned those draws alone into victories, we’d have romped home….
So as much as we need to improve our results against the ‘big teams’, we need to be beating those further down the table too and so far, apart from against Leicester, we are.
Finally, some injury news. Santi Cazorla is a doubt for tomorrow but Ollie could be back to face Reading on Tuesday in the FA Cup. Danny Welbeck is ahead of schedule with his recovery and should make his return in January. Ramsey remains out, as does Per Mertesacker and Chuba Akpom.
Have a good Friday guys….
Morning Rico.
Seeing as though Citeh got smacked, what’s the media saying about them?
Not worth worrying about 🙂
Obi, I just saw the post on Ozil awaiting Wengers call…could well be right as whether we agree or not, the man is respected throughout the football world like very, very few others.
Morning Scott…
They are too busy raving over Utd’s result last night… 😉
Fickle bastards, and easily pleased lol
Aren’t they just….
Quiet day on here today…
Rico. I watched 15 minutes of MU’s game before collapsing from acute boredom. Quite odd that Pep seems in such a rush to change personnel at City. Once that berk Bravo got himself sent off it was always going to be hard.
Adam, I was very surprised Hart went. He spared them from a few defeats last season, and for many before… Can’t say I really rate Bravo from what I’ve seen of him..
I agree. Outing Hart seemed hasty to me but then one never knows what a manager’s long term strategy might be. Looks like Aguero and Kompany will be gone soon too.
Who wants to listen to Stan Collimore spout on about flat track bullies. He’s the very last person who should be casting asparagus about bullying of any kind. Talk about the black calling the kettle pot! – He’s the bloke who beat up Alrika Johnson – his girlfriend back in the day
Kompany I could understand but Aguero? That would be an odd one..
Strange goings on, ré Aguero. Imo he’s the best finisher in the EPL, and by a distance. It leads one to wonder what the player has done/said to upset the Pepster? Same with Hart and Toure. It’s not my idea of good man management. But what do I know?
As for the press……f**k ’em!
Afternoon all.
dogbreath – I don’t give a toot what he or any other media numptie says really, and bearing in mind our history, he is talking poppycock.
Wavy, I’d love Aguero at Arsenal that’s for sure. He’s a super striker…
Collymore should go back to his natural habitat.
A car park.
Surprised he gets work these days…
I watched a pre-season piece on Bayern basically contrasting Pep man management with Ancellotti, and a few Bayern players particularly Ribbery and Alonzo were raving about Ancellotti as compared to Pep. It left no doubt as to why Pep leaves a situation every 3 years. Ribbery I wasnt surprise but Alonzo and the others I was. I could see the fallout with Aguero because Pep doesnt manage injuries well he acts as thou it’s the players fault, Aguero as good as he is is injury prone and keeps missing penalties both a no no with Pep.
Scott @11:32, in Ozil case he’s the factor. It’s interesting that even the players are unsure of his decison. Btw, about 2 seasons ago, AW kept saying that Ozil should be a scorer and can score “many goals”, I used to get a chuckle out of that but I guess AW is right. Ozil in 20+ fewer appearance has scored as many goals for Arsenal than he did at Madrid.
That surprises me about Pep….
Rico. You know Pep is rubbish. What’s he ever won? 🙂
Afternoon Rico and all.
if ever anyone was in doubt the media hate us and love the manchester Clubs.Hardly a mention about oour 6-0 win never mind who we played it was a CL group match.
Post match mourinho was talking about United and pogba as if they had won the European Cup.
Pep is a strange one.being reportedly paid twice as much as AW he feels the need for a keeper to be an outfield player as well and dropping Aquero was strange.
Hopefully they will both rot in hell.
🙂 Adam, it’s not all going too well for him so far…
Afternoon Kelsey.
Hi Kelsey. I’ve said this for years about the press not liking Arsenal. I’m with you about Mourinho, but I like Pep.
Lets just go about our business quietly, let the others talk.
We haven’t pulled up any trees yet.
Fingers crossed we can extend our winning ways tomorrow.
Good to see your well buddy. 😉
Did anyone watch ‘a league of their own’ last night? Big Tony was on there… what a guy he is….
Night guys, catch up tomorrow…
Morning has broken,like the firssst…zzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Morning Bt and all..
Early rise for you…. lol
Morning young Rico and all.
6.30am Rico…..lol
Have you tried wss app?
Morning all.
In all fairness to Pep, he needs to be given a full season ATM least to show his wares as he says inherited a chunk of his squad.
Judge him in May…..2018 🙂
Yes, I have whattsapp Bt…
If he stays that long Scott… 😉
Lol Rico……Roman doesn’t own them 🙂
I read an article Scott where it suggested Pep said he’d rather go home than change his tactics…
I bet he get’s things right in the end….
In my opinion, the club signs a manager and should know what they’re hiring.
No point signing someone based on their performances, then asking them to change.
I’m sure his squad will be quite different next season, whatever happens this time around.
I’m not entirely in agreement there Scott. Sometimes a manager has to change his tactics, or should do when things are going wrong. Perhaps if managers were more prepared and able to do so, there wouldn’t be so many sackings…
And how long have we been asking Wenger to change things?
Morning Rico and all. From what I can see Man City hired Pep to take them to the next level, alongside RM, Barca etc. I am sure they knew it wasn’t going to be an instant fix. With 21 titles in 7 years I would estimate that he will get it right eventually. A club and a manager has to be a comfortable fit but the ethos of today is for instant success so it might be a case of who gets fed up with who first.
Morning Adam. Not at Arsenal it isn’t instant success… 😉
Rico, Arsene signed players that were not always suited to the tactics he coached, so really, he backed himself into that corner, the club didn’t, and nor did they ask anything of him, ever 🙂
A lot of managers aren’t able to change their ways, but I would never understand any club signing a manager who’s succeeed at Stoke, for example, and ask them to manage a club like Arsenal….horses for courses, for mine.
If you want free flowing, attacking football, then sign Mark Hughes, why would he get sacked 6 months later for his boring style?
These are just some hypotheticals, of course.
Adam, it’ll be interesting.
He will probably need to sign players that suit his style, but will they suit the PL?
Interesting times ahead and I think this season is setting up beautifully.
Scott, yes he did and he’s only got himself to blame, he’s also wasted a lot of money on old has beens over the years, or stood by players who really should have been gone long ago. As for what the hierarchy have asked from Arsene Wenger, I doubt anyone of us know the answer as only the board and manager would know that.
But I get your point about Mark Hughes etc… lol
I always wonder why a board never sacks themselves after a manager fails.
I mean, didn’t THEY make the error??
New post up now.