I’ve just recently started watching the Amazon series covering Arsenal’s 2021/22 season again and it’s quite illuminating to remember where we came from and where we currently are now. I think that series, despite some reservations within the club, was beneficial and helped in creating a closer bond between the fans, Arteta and the players. But one thing struck me and that was when Man City visited Ashburton Grove, the Gunners were in a decent run of form despite Arteta testing positive for Covid (remember that) and having to stay at home.
We actually played really well in that game where it was probably the first time under Arteta when we matched them across the pitch and at half-time we were leading 1-0. Then in the 2nd half we had Gabriel sent off for absolutely nothing and looking back now, you kind of wondered if the officials were really as honest as we’d like to think they were? How can you not wonder, given the recent revelations or not have serious doubts now about the integrity of the referee and VAR because it only takes those two of them to corrupt a Premier League game.
Of course City equalised against Arsenal and then in added time super-snide Bernardo Silva fell over the legs of an Arsenal defender and the 114 cheaters got a penalty. It really wasn’t a penalty but It’s impossible not to wonder now if the officials had actually been ‘got at’…
Anyway onto yesterday’s game. Eze kept his place on the left wing, Calafiori returned, Bruno started and Meslier got a seat on the bench instead of Kepa. Was Kepa injured or has Meslier taken over as No.2..? With the 114 cheaters winning 3-2 at home to Ipswich the Gunners needed a positive result to keep up the pressure and to remain ahead of surprise pacesetters Brighton. Gibbs-White missed the game through injury but we had the suspect Michael Oliver as the referee so a bit up and a bit down.
Nottingham Forest had not scored at the City Ground all season and with the pressure mounting on their manager Glaisner they went full low block, probably the lowest of low blocks we’ve seen this campaign. The Gunners were not at their best either, I know it takes two teams to make an entertaining match but we really struggled to grt any momentum going.
After a soporific opening spell of 19 minutes Calafiori almost gifted Forest a goal, the chance was smothered and the following corner cleared but it showed that even when you’re camped in your opponents half that you cannot switch off.
After 26 minutes there was a goalmouth scramble but the ‘red wall’ held and then on 41 Rice found Odegaard who didn’t take his customary 3 or 4 touches but he moved it on rapidly to Havertz but his attempt on goal lacked conviction. It was probably one of Kai’s least effective games since he returned from his long term injury last spring. With Arsenal unable to find any answers to the negative tactics employed by Forest the half petered out. H/T 0-0
Noni Madueke replaced the peripheral Eze at half-time and he added some urgency to the Gunners who still found it difficult to open up the home team. Rice probably should have scored but it was the injection of creativity on 66 minutes when Timber, Merino and Gyokeres replaced White, Bruno and Havertz which saw the visitors start to make some headway.
Our corners were still not hitting their target and Odegaard was still not moving the ball on quickly enough but the yellows started to open up the home team.
Then on 80 minutes the lively Madueke jinked inside and then went outside his marker before hitting a blistering drive which was going in across goal despite taking a slight touch on the way. The Forest keeper had no chance. It released the pressure cooker and the Gunners started knocking it around.
Forest made changes and came close a couple of times themselves as the visitors attempted to manage the game, or tried to. Murillo did well to escape and fire just over and Konsa, who else, stopped Delap in added time. From the following corner Raya was fouled and Oliver amazingly gave the free kick and that was that!
People will moan, of course they will, I also did at times, but Arsenal can’t be totally blamed if every opponent we seem to face nowadays doesn’t want to play, despite Brighton showing them the way.
Anyway it’s 3 points, a clean sheet and everyone else can do one…
We March On.
By Kev.
New post up
Totts want him too apparently Cicero.
It seems that Arsenal are looking to sign Club Brugge striker Nicola Tresoldi in January.
He’s 22 years old and 6 ft I in tall and is valued at circa £42 million. He has played u 21 s for Germany.
Well Luton Town won 2-1 so I’m happy for Jack, but some of the Luton fans remind me of Arsenal fans in the early Arteta seasons.
Still have to take the chance…
Gabriel Martinelli wins it LATE for Al Hilal | Powered by Toyota | Saudi Pro League
8 minutes 4 secondsShocking marking but !!!!!!
2 – 2 at Anfield now.
PSG 1-0 up v Barcelona
The 114 mob are 2-0 up
Villarreal leading at Anfield
Positive headlines don’t sell Kev..
Never let truth ruin the reality eh Kev, those journalists should feel ashamed.
They don’t give a toss Rico, I’ve met some of them, most of them are full of shit
Doesn’t help that players are missing good opportunities to score either..
Auba was the last striker to score more than 20 league goals.
After Auba, none of Arsenal players scored more than 20 league goals per season.
Comparison of league goals scored from 2022/23 season:
2022/23 … 88
2023/24 … 91
2024/25 … 69
2025/26 … 71
The trend is that Arteta geared the team to share the goal scoring burden.
The reason why there is a goal drought since 2024/25 is Saka hamstring injury, Odegaard ankle injury and Martinelli muscular & hamstring injury as well.
Look at the Trio – Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli – league goal contributions:
2022/23 … 44
2023/24 … 31
2024/25 … 17
2025/26 ….. 9
2026/27 ….. 5 (Tzolis replacing Martinelli)
Since 2024/25, the Trio never recover from their injuries and there is steep decline from their goal contributions of 22/23 and 23/24.
It is not so much as getting a 20+ league goal striker, but to rebuild a goal-scoring team as of 22/23 & 23/24.
This season hinges very much on Saka, Odegaard & Co to recover their scoring touches such that we score 80+ league goals.
I hope so Kev.
Martinelli through the middle eh? Why oh why didn’t play there for us.
I see that Martinelli scored with a header on the weekend playing in the middle . Apparently beat his man for speed and got to the ball first . I mean who would have thought it ?
Scanlon up at Highbury perhaps Rico? 😉
That’s a very poignant view Cicero but clearly relevant to where we are, it has been made worse by the fact that we missed out on our major attacking target who ended up at Chelsea after they paid an enormously inflated fee and then missed out on the Vini opportunity which in time might be seen as a good thing, Mudryk anyone?
The boy at Man Utd isn’t mentioned anymore, Nicholas Jackson, Wissa, Ekitika, Isak none of them have been proven to be value for money, only Haaland.
Trossard probably wanted a new start after his divorce, Martinelli was sold because the club has other business to do over the next two windows and needed to balance the books, we also had to make a decision given the position of his contract, that is pay him a shed load more and be stuck with him because his salary made him unsellable or let him go for the biggest fee available, I mean nobody else came in for him and that tells its own story.
Look mate I wanted them both to stay particularly Leo but sometimes to have to break a few eggs to make an omelette. 😉
Or Scanlon perhaps?
Don’t need an apology Dennis, your views and opinions are yours.
We are still coming to terms with, perhaps, the worst decision in Arsenal’s recent history, selling both Martinelli and Trossard. Tzolis may well turn out to be an able replacement but Eze is not a winger. Maybe Calafiori could fill in until Tzolis returns.
I apologise Rico, in future I shall temper my comments to be more positive and pro-Arsenal.
When you’re in a discussion it’s easy to lose sight.
I know generally the club is in a good place, so I’m thankful for that.
I doubt there has been a day when you’ve not left something negative HH. You know, there are alternatives where constant moaning is the theme.
It’s not really everyday though Rico, is it, it’s everytime we play and struggle to put cohesive attacking moves together, quite often against ‘weaker’ opposition, like Forest minus MGW on Sunday.
“Or are we pretending it isn’t a long-running issue now we’re champions? It winds me up that Arsenal fans don’t see it and call it out.”
We don’t pretend and we do see it, it’s just repeating it the same old way, every day, is boring and gains nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Wenger was routinely ridiculed by the media during those early Abramovitch days but he was totally correct and none of those journalistic cowards who laughed at him have apologised
Never let truth ruin the reality eh Kev, those journalists should feel ashamed.
Our defence was in a mess, imo, it needed prioritising. In fact most of the squad was a mess so my guess is the club built from the back. Some of our attacking signings might not have had the desired effect we hoped for but look around, other clubs like Liverpool, Utd etc, they too spent huge amounts on strikers, many of whom were soon gone.
Injuries have hurt us so much in recent years and imo, hampered our playing style.
I personally don’t care how much we pay for a player all I want is one that can replace the weakest link, unless I am wrong didn’t Man u out bid us for a striker that we wanted, and that’s how come we ended up with Gyokeres. yet it seems Gyokeres has turned out the better player.
I still say our slow style of play doesn’t suit him.
Transfer fees are subject to inflation as is the rest of the economy. From Jimmy Hill to Trevor Francis to Isak every time the record gets broken the price of all the others goes up,
It’s called a transfer market because the fees are relative to each other and what ever the market will bear is the fee demanded.
Incidentally the English transfer record has in recent years been broken by Man utd , City , Chelsea and Liverpool or from abroad Real Madrid and Barcelona.
I can’t think of any striker that we’ve been linked with over the last 5 years who have transferred to another club and has been value for money, where are all these strikers?
Last season injuries to Timber and White left us dangerously exposed and we lost the CL final because we had to play a rookie at right-back in the final, now we have Konsa who can fill in at right back when needed, so we don’t need to sell Saliba nor should we consider it unless the medical staff recommend it and maybe not even then.
Wenger was routinely ridiculed by the media during those early Abramovitch days but he was totally correct and none of those journalistic cowards who laughed at him have apologised
Nobody expected Man City would win all of their games not when you consider that they had to visit Old Trafford and Anfield. Arsenal have also set a blistering pace regardless of the media bias which has at the same time deliberately avoided criticising those Eastland cheats, the media cannot admit that it has been part of the problem, ignoring the corruption and rubbishing those journalists who had the courage to call out the cheating of City, Chelsea and PSG.
I was merely pointing out where their priorities are when they spend.
£130m combined for Havertz and Gyokeres, who will struggle to get 20 goals between them every season, let alone 20 each, and not addressing this problem area is letting the club and the fans down. Fix the roof when the sun shines. Or are we pretending it isn’t a long-running issue now we’re champions? It winds me up that Arsenal fans don’t see it and call it out.
If he’d have put as much effort into building a lethal attacking force as he did building his almost impenetrable defence, there’d be no need to complain.
Is attractive, entertaining football too much to ask of the chosen one?
Some managers just don’t have that skill-set in them.
William Saliba is the last player left who Arteta didn’t buy (excluding Hale Enders), and now Konsa has settled in we don’t miss him so much.
I feel Saliba will go next summer.
Kev, agree again. Football today, certainly in the PL, is very different to the Wenger era.
There are often exceptions to the rule Merlin. Wenger himself wasn’t the greatest footballer but he was clearly a footballing sponge in terms of what he learned and then deployed on the pitch. Not just in relation to football either.
On the flip side, not every great footballer makes a very good manager.
Agree Kev, Ben White was a first team signing and a very good one too it’s just when Saliba got his chance, he became a top right back.
I don’t get all this “Arteta paid” so much for player x, y and z because it’s not his money and nor is it his decision on how much to spend on who. It’s a club decision of which he is one voice.
I get it, the football hasn’t always been a joy to watch but throwing negative stuff around just for the sake of it is tedious and boring.
Let’s look at a different perspective after Round #7.
The Invincibles won the 2003/04 title with 26W 12D 0L = 90 points.
We won 2025/26 title with 26W 7D 5L = 85 points. Notice the number of wins same as 2003/04 season.
After Round #7, the comparison is:
2003/04 – 5W 2D 0L = 17 points
2025/26 – 5W 1D 1L = 16 points
2026/27 – 6W 0D 1L = 18 points
That is, we are still setting a title-winning pace, better than 2003/04 and 2025/26 season at this stage of the season.
Chelsea are scoring and also conceding for fun, they won’t be a threat, Brighton are a threat because they don’t concede but opponents don’t low block them just now, let’s see how they go when they start to face the low blocks?
Ben White was not signed as a back-up, but you know that so saying that is either provocative or dumb, I tend to believe, given your narratives on here that it’s the former and you’re just coming on here to try and wind-up people which is transparent and not particularly smart.
Right off to the quacks
Morning all.
Currently, the team is still in a state of flux, in transition, bedding in Guimaraes, Tzolis and the tactics on how to beat low block with high pressing to give Arsenal time and space to play out of the back.
We need to revisit on team tactics when I expected the team to bed in and start playing quick passing football as they can by end-Nov with both Tzolis and Guimaraes up to speed. Then, watch out EPL and Europe.
Both Havertz and Gyokeres offer different attacking option.
Arteta needs to solve this puzzle on who to field most efficiently against low block teams that hardly get out of their half, preferring to give 70% plus possession to Arsenal, and then hit Arsenal on the counter attacks and during set pieces and corners.
My main concern for the Defensive Unit that on the average, they committed one or two howlers per game offering clear goal scoring opportunity to opponents. So far, we have yet to be punished with 3 wins on the trot after Brighton.
But we will be punished soon if Arteta cannot solve this problem of Defensive Unit committing howlers in every game.
Also football has changed enormously since the period you refer too HH, 5 subs for a start, more sprints those numbers have rocketed, defensive organisation leading to less space because of, it’s why strikers as well as goalkeepers are changing, remember when Spain won everything with a team of midfielders, well go figure, we have a league of Spanish and Portuguese coaches…
We don’t play a double pivot HH, surely you’ve noticed that one midfielder drops back to make a back three whilst our full backs play like inside-forwards, Also every game is different depending on the opposition which means our tactics/line-up differ, the only thing that doesn’t change is the opposition playing the low block and that’s what is making games unentertaining, don’t fall for the media narrative and blame Arsenal.
Okay Kev, I take your point, but football hasn’t changed that much that big clubs like Arsenal need to play a double-pivot DM combo against PL minnows, or anyone, particularly at home.
Xabi Alonso is just in the door and has Chelsea scoring for fun (2 of their 3 front-line were available to us, but we’d rather double down on defensive solidity. Joao Pedro was cheaper than Gyokeres, but our boys know best 😂)
Arteta is quite happy to pay Brighton £50m for a hybrid back-up right-back, but won’t give them £60m for a striker guaranteed to score 20+ goals a season.
Our transfer guru’s would rather pay more for an unproven PL striker to struggle in our system and eventually fall out of favour.
And we pay top dollar for that elite decision making.
I believe once sides stopped us from scoring from corners Arteta didn’t have a backup way to score. The way I see us play now is to use the first half to wear our opponents down and then use the last 20 minutes of the match to score,
How was Hubert Chapman professional footballer career? He is a revolutionary who was credited inventing the W-M formation away from then the 2-3-5 formation.
Arrigo Sacchi is an outlier, a shoe salesman in his family business.
He got obsessed with Dutch Total Football, kept watching and learning.
He felt that Italian Football got to move away from their catenaccio and update the mixed zone style.
Copying Dutch Football, he played a flat Back-4, press high and squeezed plays within 25 yards zone as dictated by Rinus Michels. Players trained with ropes to ensure 25-yard zone (remember GG used to rope Back-4 with 10-yard rope to ensure they are properly spaced apart, and worked the offside trap a treat?)
Many derisory comments Sacchi were thrown at him for being not a professional player before. He retorted:
“You don’t have to be a horse to become a jockey.”
Goodnight, all.
Indeed he is. Mourinho is about one thing. Mourinho!
Jose Mourinho is at it yet again, he did all he could to persuade Vini Junior to stay at Real Madrid before he took up the managers job and now, after some average results and criticism of his stewardship Mourinho has flipped 180* and has opined that Vini Junior made a big mistake in not joining Arsenal. He’s such a wanker…
Making comparisons between the era Wenger coached in and now is pretty reductive, football has changed so much since the late 1990’s and early 2000’s you might as well make comparisons with Billy Wright, it’s pointless.
Yes, of course you’re right Rico, Josh thinks the sun shines out of his rear-end, he’s probably one of the safest managers in the world right now.
He’ll never get a better job than this.
I don’t think it’s about acceptance, more about reality. The owners back him, what you, I or others think is pretty much irrelevant.
Not really Rico, but we set our footballing standards low if we’re saying we accept what Arteta is offering over a sustained period of time.
Do you really need to ask?
I mean it’s really just semantics, Rico.
The crux of the issue comes back to Arteta spending £1billion over seven years, playing cautious horse-shoe football, scared to take teams on toe-to-toe, and still not having a potent attacking force, or a team playing with any fluidity.
Which football is better to watch Rico, Wenger’s Highbury years, or Arteta’s?
Matters not, they were still players who Wenger inherited.
No Kev.
Merse and Wrighty didn’t last long under Wenger, but the ‘Romford Pele’ stepped up and played his part. (Great cup-final goal against Chelsea).
I think Dein bought Bergkamp knowing that Wenger would be there the following year.
An early present.
Rico, do I have a comment in spam?
Bellingham…
Don’t forget either, Wenger inherited Wrighty, Bergkamp Parlour and Merson. As well as a great defence.
Of course he didn’t because the market was very different and he had insight to the French players as well as others. There is no comparison between spending back then to now.
Where could a player be like Anelka be found and signed for under £1m?
You might be waiting a long time for that, partly because of what we face each week which probably eight times out of ten, will be boring defensive setup. Wenger never had to deal with that during his successful years.
Wenger spent nowhere near the amount of money in those first ten years as Arteta has done in seven, so the Spaniard should absolutely be held account for his style of football, and with his Barcelona DNA he doesn’t have much of a defence that stands up.
If he learns to play a better, more exciting brand of football against the best, as Wenger’s early teams did, I can get on board, if not, I’ll always want him gone, Rico.
But it won’t become a theme or repeated ad nauseum, obviously I realise there are more patient and generous Arsenal fans out there than me.
Arteta has changed Arsenal for the better in so many ways Dennis, he’s just won the PL for the first time in years so I’m ok with cutting him some slack. But, that’s not to say I don’t see flaws in the way we play. I just wish he could find away to let players play, let them free and let them express themselves rather than keep them on such a tight leash.
Agreed, he’s definitely a low risk manager which is I’m sure hampering the quality we have within the team/squad and probably why a player as skilful as Eze struggles.
Yes, on that point I agree Rico.
The discussion we are having about Arteta is exactly why I believe he isn’t good enough, and one of the most fortunate human beings on earth.
He could fall in a bucket of s*** and come up smelling of roses.
Guardiola was the deep lying midfielder in the Barcelona team of Cruyff , he developed a midfield game of fast passing first time and Arteta modelled himself on Pep. He was at La Masia with Xavi and Iniesta and like with the Spanish team was never quite good enough to get in front of them and so he moved on.
We know that he went to PSG and played alongside Gabriel Heinze who now sits on the benches at Arsenal with him .
At PSG he played the Guardiola defensive role and I believe that he still plays that game on the touchline now which is why he values keeping the ball over taking the risks that we sometimes need to break through mass defences.
Not at all Dennis, he was great in his own right but my point is, he didn’t let his approach stagnate because he brought in new ideas. Thats being smart imo.
I think you do Fergie a disservice Rico when you look at what he achieved at Aberdeen.
He agreed terms with Arsenal in the summer of ’86, the only reason the deal fell through is because Arsenal refused to wait a fortnight while as Scotland caretaker manager, he had to take them to the WC in Mexico.
So we took George Graham from Millwall instead.
Maybe a different question works better. Do managers apply similar tactics to the set up in the team which they played for?
Im just scratching my head, trying to fathom why our football is so safe, especially with the quality of players we have.
Kev mentioned the City game from a few years ago in his post which I’m sure we all remember very well. How much input on our performance did Albert Stuivenberg have bearing in mind Arteta was at home recovering from Covid..
Wenger did inherit a fantastic back five but he still added great midfielders to support them. Petit, Vieira, Edu and improved Parlour. Gilberto was another fantastic signing and imo, Diaby would have been to but for Taylor’s challenge..
Dennis, I think Fergie was as successful as he was because he regularly changed his assistant and each brought new ideas. Fergie was the brawn..
Moysie was a centre-half in his playing days.
Mikel Arteta’s football journey starts from La Masia to Dick Advocaat (Rangers), David Moyes (Everton), Arsene Wenger (Arsenal), and 2 years as Pep’s assistant at City.
Clearly David Moyes has had the biggest influence on him.
Good question Rico, hard to answer.
Bill Shankly and Don Revie were half-backs (modern-day DM’s), Terry Neill centre-half, Don Howe, right-back. George Graham was a languid laid-back midfielder.
Pep was a DM, Fergie a striker, Mourinho a GK, Wenger a very average midfielder in the Farmers league, and Arteta, as you know, an average PL midfielder.
I always thought Fergie built his United teams with good defending and attacking balance. Wenger did too in the early days when he had the insurance of the defence he inherited.
A question, do football managers, in the main, play a style similar of football to how they played as a player? I think they do.
Local honey is amazing, someone within a mile of me keeps bees and even though it’s more expensive, it’s worth it..
By default, every team will put at least 2 players to mark Saka, Arsenal most dangerous player who will score and create plays when given space and time to pick his spot.
By moving Saka centrally, and receiving the ball in the centre, it will be a problem for the LB responsible to man-mark him.
Shall the LB tracks Saka into centre, exposing their left flank for Odegaard and White to drive in, with time and space to deliver at accurate cross or thru’ ball?
Worse, without LB support, Saka is 1-on-1 with a defender in the centre … and we know what Saka can do in 1-on-1 situation.
Arteta should follow Total Football with versatile players interchanging positions all the time, and to drag organized defence into error where in a fluid situation, man-marking will leave gaps in defence.
I see Saka problem is just too rigid and dogmatic, remaining rigidly at the flank all the time to receive ball without interchangeability into centre and just can’t find that yard of space with a split-second to shoot at goal before being closed down.
We see very little of those quick give-and-go or one-two (or wall pass) to beat man-marking that we saw Klopp Liverpool performed so well with Mo Salah.
Our players took too many touches before shooting. Look like ArtetaBall lost the Art of Volleying the ball with a half-touch. Guess our players are coached by Arteta to be risk adverse and always look for passes to a teammate in a “better” shooting position.
Then there is Odegaard for you. Risk adverse, looking for safe passes instead of taking a risk to execute an unpredictable drive to break the line. Anybody notices he avoided 50:50 balls, won 25% of his duel against Forest, and just not inside the box. Forest players knew that when pressed in final third, tackles flying, Odegaard will pass backward or sideway and seldom drive forward to beat a player.
Yup.
I remember those days of the French Spine and recalled that chilling message:
“If you score 3 against us, we will score 4 to beat you.”
Those were the Highbury days where teams came to Highbury not to win but to limit the cricket score.
And Arsenal fans had high expectation then – 3-0 up within 20 minutes 😀
It was Le Professuer Arsene Wenger that turned moi into an Arsenal fan.
Well done Kev, get well soon mate.
Right, no tin hats, here’s my thoughts.
Potter recently reminded me that attritional fine margins cautious football has long been the ‘Arsenal way’, and of course he’s right, from my timeline, Bertie Mee, Terry Neill, Don Howe, George Graham through to Mikel Arteta today.
But George Graham was 40 years ago, the manager who tactically revolutionised Arsenal arrived 30 years ago.
David Dein was a shrewd man, and in helping set up the Premier League, to promote and sell it to bigger audiences he knew it would need to be an aesthetically attractive package, which would include his club, and ours, Arsenal.
IMO if you’re sanctioning the purchase of Dennis Bergkamp, you are completely changing your tactical approach.
We’ve all bashed Arsene Wenger for various reasons (OT August 2011 was the final straw for me), but his time has to be looked at as two separate chapters.
Did anyone here not enjoy Wenger’s Highbury years, or his brand of football during that time?
His first ‘Double’ in ’97-’98 was special, but the football style evolved and for many of us, it was the best football we’ve ever seen.
I remember enjoying watching Holland in the ’74 WC, and Wenger’s football gave me that same enjoyment.
For me it is Arsenal’s golden period, and all done on a very reasonable budget.
Mikel Arteta joined Arsenal late in his playing career, and at a time when Arsenal were no longer title challengers, with the champagne fast counter-attacking football was replaced with technical light-weights trying to be Barca-lite, and always falling short when it mattered.
Was he an adequate Cesc Fabregas replacement, or good enough for Arsenal? Of course not, but Wenger had downgraded so much by that time, he sort of fitted with the ‘nearly but not quite’ narrative.
His management style?
Very much leaning into his English experience rather than his native Spanish culture.
The thing about attritional ugly football is that those early proponents were steeped in core British football values, Whittaker, Crayston, Swindin, Wright, Mee, Neill, Howe, Graham, from the late 1940’s through to the mid 1990’s under eight different managers, Arsenal offered very little variation of tactics, so Wenger offered something completely different, vibrant exciting football.
The idea of appointing a foreign manager is that you want something more expansive, an alternative from the traditional English fayre, and at a time when Spanish football and their managers are dominating world football, he isn’t delivering expansive Spanish-type football.
For the tactical philosophy that Dein changed when buying Bergkamp and appointing Wenger a year later, for me personally, I think Mikel Arteta had a certain responsibility to take some of what Wenger’s early teams produced and evolve it as Barca did (albeit with Messi), especially with the transfer budget he’s been given.
Arsenal are not under-dogs, they are power-houses on the global stage, and yet Arsenal’s football does not project this message.
During his Highbury years Wenger’s teams took teams on. He didn’t shy away from Fergie or United, he went for it home or away, and that’s exactly what we should be seeing from Arteta and his team for the salary Arsenal have rewarded him with.
Show us your attacking teeth, Mikel!!!
There is nothing like pure honey from a stall at country market, it tastes so much better than the bottle honey in the local shops
The advantage of buying local honey is that if you have any susceptibility to hay fever or such condition caused by flora from your area the honey gives antibodies that work directly on them. On the broads we have a bee keeper in the next village , his honey is not cheap but it keeps the coughs and sneezes away especially the ones that prevail when the weather changes from spring to summer and then summer to autumn.
Not too confident about taking Bayern on, they have a good record at home
Cicero, there is a website, it escapes me, but it tells you where you can locally source honey, I’d imagine that there’s a lot of beekeepers in East Anglia. I got some from Aldi but it was disappointing. There’s another website where you can access bread made without all the additives but there’s no one in my neck of the woods, the closest was Chelmsford and that’s too far.
Martinelli had pace though Kev, he was an outlet, a target player and one who would give defenders something to think about. Same as now though, it’s the pace we play at, it’s too slow and conservative imo.
Watching the way Brighton undid was imo, much down to the way they started that game as well as others. We start by passing the ball around whereas Brighton start on the front foot. We set the slow tone which helps opponents imo.
Semenyo ruled out for 8 weeks.
Also related to nothing I see that Gabriel Jesus now has 4 goals for Barcelona,probably just shows La Liga is a lot weaker than the Premier league.
Barcelona could be dangerous in the Champions league though.
People forget that George Grahams team played some great football between 1990/91 As soon as they stopped winning all that changed. Also between 88-90 we were quite free scoring,we won the league in 1989 on goals.
Don Howe is an Arsenal great but yes his team were dire,I remember one game in about 1986 with Niall Quinn up front, the game finished 0-0 we didn’t look like scoring in a month of Sunday’s.
I remember that too Geoff , my mum used to put camphorated oil in it , but that disappeared from the chemists then she used a bit of Vik but even that doesn’t smell the same now. Like many things in this modern world , if things work why do they feel the need to change it.
Eucalyptus added to the hot water works Kev.
I buy multi flower Polish honey from Lidl for my winter warmer breakfast porridge, 900 gram jar and a very reasonable price.
Thanks Limey, it is frustrating at times watching this team as they can be so good but it takes two to Tango. Frankly I couldn’t care less as long as we win, I know many might disagree with that and I understand but that’s me, brought up on Don Howe and George Graham. 😉
If we are to move Saka to the number ten slot we don’t need both Eze and Havertz, neither will be content to warm the bench so perhaps January would be a good time to move them on and maybe promote from within.
Yeah, I remember that Geoff, I think something was added to the water, something to help clear the congestion, honey and lemon is good as well the problem is finding some proper honey, nowadays we import a lot of it from China I believe and it’s rubbish.
Kev, I remember as a kid, my mum used to make us put our head over a bowl with hot water and then cover our head with a towel so the steam could help and clear the head,
God bless you Kev for staying positive,that was dire to watch for most of the game. We have won 9 out of 10 though 10/11 if you include the community shield. Our haters will be fuming. They can go to hell.
As seems to happen every week,the subs changed the game. Maduekes energy and quality on the ball makes him first choice at the moment.
I like Eze but it’s probably League cup/FA Cup for him,maybe the odd Champions league appearance. I like Havertz too but at this point surely Gyokeres deserves a run of games. Probably won’t happen.
Max Dowman is another worth a try.
Got a bit scary at the end but job done.
Merlin, I like Saka, but I have said for a while know that Saka is too easy to read, and feel that it may be time to try Dowman in Saka position
Morning Geoff, nah mate, I still feel a bit crook, but the Lemsip helps, it’s the cough, I always get a cough.
Thanks Rico, yeah I didn’t make any 2nd half notes from the Madueke half time sub up till when he scored except for the subs on 66, it was tough going but to me Forest are the main culprits, their best period was at the end of the game after they’d sent on some forwards and actually created some chances in added time!
Cheers Cicero, the Gyokeres conundrum eh? Would Viktor have been as ineffective as Kai from the kick off if he was surrounded by fresh defenders, I don’t know mate? It’s the current football world we inherit where by catanaccio is the order of the day, I mean it’s getting as bad as Serie A.
Let’s wait and see if the opponents of Brighton start parking the bus and see how that goes? But Arsenal need to move the ball quicker and Odegaard sets tempo and it’s too slow. Raya doesn’t have Martinelli to stretch the opposition anymore so if he gets possession he rarely has an option to initiate play quickly. I don’t think that Martinelli would have been effective against Forest either, he would have dribbled into blind alleys, where we miss him was from defending sets plays and having him as an option to spring turnovers. Up front we’re so pedestrian.
I actually think we miss Trossard more than Martinelli because Leo was great at operating in tight spaces but we should have Tzolis back soon and that may help?
Moving Saka inside is an interesting idea , it would also free up space for Dowman who does have quick feet .
Our dependence on the right has been something that I have been harping on about for at least two or three seasons and it’s one of the major reasons that Trossard and Martinelli were both used as a last resort and for ages hardly saw the ball.
Saka has always been fed by Odegaard and with White overlapping we tended to go that way 90% of the time . It only came left when the crab like square passing needed to adjust by which time the space was constricted and nine times out of ten it got passed inside to retain possession.
Playing a compact defence is easy when you only have to defend half of the pitch and it’s something we don’t take advantage of because if there are three players on Saka there should be room elsewhere and that’s where Gyokeres would be more effective as opposed to Havertz who would probably be looking for space anywhere but in the middle.
Morning Geoff.
Exactly, if we don’t shoot, we don’t score and thank goodness Madueke did both. We’ve seen Arsenal shoot more recently, our three against Lille show how things can go right but it’s almost like in the PL we try to pass our way through defenders which seldom works.
We do have to find a way to get round this because expecting other clubs to open up so that we can play isn’t going to happen. I also think the Eze on the left experiment needs ditching.
Morning all, the only team with a reliable system of overcoming the low block is Man City and Haaland and he’s a freak. The Arsenal tactic is grind down the opposition, wait for fatigue to kick in and then send on fresh legs, it doesn’t make for great entertainment but Coventry showed what happens if you take us on. Brighton are where they are on merit and they beat us fair n square, let’s see how we do with Bayern?
Having watched it again MADUEKE STRIKE EARNS ALL THREE POINTS! | Nottingham Forest vs Arsenal (0-1) | Premier League – YouTube.Looks like it was going straight at the keeper but as they say , if you don’t buy a ticket etc.
We really do have to formulate a system against this low block / retreating defence that it is seemingly only used against us . Give someone a complete hiding when they use it and the others might start to think about using it,
We all have theories about how to do it and certainly playing with pace is one and as yesterday proved so is shooting and that is something that we have to get better at .
One curious stat is during 1st half, virtually 70% to 80% plays are at our right side, with left side ignored. Can’t blame Eze for not seeing the ball with plays all at right side.
Forest deployed 3-man press against Saka whenever he got the ball. Two pressing him instantly to close off his passing angles, forcing him back. Whenever Saka dribbled passed them, Murillo was directly in front of him to sweep away the ball, easily a yard or two ahead of Saka. Saka does not have superb, closed control like Latin players (or Bergy or Henry) like ball glueing to his feet.
Saka is extremely predictable and compounded by Arteta very predictable and one-track tactics.
Saka had lost his explosiveness and quickness as a RW. As discussed, few years ago when a versatile Saka can play across the forward line, and pundits were toying with the idea of Saka as no. 10.
I see Saka more as an inside forward with the guile and skill to off-balance defenders to gain a split-second and a yard of space to shoot accurately at goal. And this is why Saka is so precious, his potency in front of goal. This season, we see Saka cutting inward more and more frequently and shooting more instead of passing. That is a right inside forward in a 4-4-2. Saka has the football intelligence and the guile to play in the Bergy Hole to support Goyeres.
Havertz or Gyokeres?
HIs instinct is to drop out of the box in midfield and never an instinctive targetman like Gyokeres who has a centre forward instinct to move into space inside the box to anticipate passes … but those passes never arrived.
I believe it is time Arteta trusts Gyokeres to lead the line and to build the team around Gyokeres and Saka Pairing as our goal getters.
Morning Rico and all
Hope you are feeling better Kev.
As long as any team don’t press hard you can just sit back and let them play kick to kick and wait for the loose pass to counterattack
Morning all.
I think we have 74% possession in 1st half without a shot on target, 12 attempted shots in all?
And we have 91% pass completion out of 331 passes.
That said it all – movements without penetration in attack.
Silver lining that we learn how to win “1-0 to the Arsenal” ugly football.
Teams usually clicked during Oct/Nov and move up a gear in Dec, bedding in new buys and new tactics.
Arteta needs to bed in the team by end-Oct/Nov, i.e. before 10 Nov International Break with his tactics in place and team moves up one or two more gears.
We can’t depend wholly on Defensive Unit to bail us out all the time with clean sheets. Leeds United is a warning shot across our bow.
The decision to sell Martinelli gets harder and harder to understand as each game comes and goes.
Morning Cicero.
This persistence with Havertz makes no sense to me, I just don’t see what Arteta and others do. It’s ok to oik Eze off at half time, understandably I hasten to add, but not Havertz even when he’s having a stinker.
Good morning Rico,
Nice one Kev, our build-up play was so slow that even the slowest of Forest’s defenders had plenty of time to amble back to join the parked bus.
One of the culprits was Captain Odegaard, playing deep and rarely carrying the ball into contact, did he actually get into the penalty area in the first half?
If Arteta has so little faith in Gyokeres that he kept him on the bench beyond the 60th minute when Havertz was having an absolute mare of a game, then the January window and a prolific goal scorer can not come soon enough.
It’s late October and our leading scorer is Saka with three in all competitions.
Nice one Kev, thank you.
Morning to you and all.
My goodness that was a tough game to watch. A really unimaginative performance from Arsenal. Arteta needs to wake some of the players from their slumber because we’re playing more like a team at the end of a long and hard season rather than the beginning of one.
I know this can happen after a World Cup, we’ve seen other clubs start slowly, including City in the past so hopefully, we’ll pick up soon as the injured return and start improving. The key word being hopefully.