Morning all.
So, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored a hat-trick for his new club Barcelona yesterday, so what? That’s what can happen when a player moves clubs and it shows the right decision was made to let him go. Auba wasn’t doing what he did yesterday for Arsenal. He wasn’t happy, he was doing things which didn’t reflect well on him, especially as he was the captain of Arsenal.
The wrong thing to do would have been to keep him because he wasn’t the solution to our lack of goal scoring problem. The solution to that is in my opinion, something which will have to wait until the summer but between now and then, it’s down to the rest to step up. Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka are doing alright but Alex Lacazette, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Martinelli need to add goals to their game. Nicolas Pepe and Eddie Nketiah too when they get minutes.
As said yesterday, when a team creates 24 opportunities to score, the return should be better than 2. Another thing I’ve suggested before is promoting Mika Biereth. Not because I’m suggesting he’s the solution, although he might surprise us, but because he’s likely to have more interest in scoring for Arsenal than a player who is in all likelihood, walking away from the club in a few months time. I’m sure we’d all like to see Eddie succeed at Arsenal but I’ve accepted it’s not going to happen.
Results this weekend didn’t do Arsenal many favours as other than West Ham, the other clubs challenging for the 4th place all won. Wolves are one of those clubs, which adds a bit of interest and importance to our Thursday night fixture.
The media tried to turn Ruben Neves comments after our 1-0 victory over Wolves a week or so ago:
We saw the way they celebrated the win and that shows the level we are. I didn’t see Arsenal celebrating like this in the past 10 years – it was like they won the league.
That somehow translated into “Neves fires warning to Arsenal” – or something similar but for anyone with an ounce of common sense would know that Neves was more likely to be recognising how tough he and his teammates are hard to beat these days. Arsenal celebrated because to win at Wolves was a big deal for the players. I’d say it shows more respect to celebrate a victory than to walk off the pitch as if the win had been easy. It certainly hadn’t been easy and Michael Oliver didn’t help with his awful refereeing.Captain Connor Coady didn’t like us celebrating though:
We saw the celebrations, I’ll be honest with you, from our point of view we really didn’t like them. We’ve got two weeks to try and put things right when we go back to the Emirates and try to put on a good game against them.
I’m quietly confident that they’ll celebrate hard should they beat us on Thursday and regardless of what’s gone on before. If you don’t celebrate, why bother playing?
Personally, I love seeing an Arsenal team with players full of passion as it shows they care. Care about the club, the fans and winning. Isn’t that what we’ve all been asking for in recent years? For far too long we’ve been too nice, going through the motions and almost accepting of defeat. We’ve seen players just shrug their shoulders after conceding a goal as if it doesn’t matter, players smiling after they’ve missed yet another goal scoring opportunity, teams just wander off the pitch after a defeat as if it’s ok.
A player can be as good as Messi but if he doesn’t care about the club or the fans then he’s not going to care whether we win or lose. I think that’s what Mikel Arteta has changed. As he said a while ago now, get on the Arsenal ship with him, or get out and I truly believe that most of the players are right behind him now and those who aren’t, are unlikely to be at the club when the new season kicks off.
See you in the comments.
I’d imagine that things were said at the end of the game vs Wolves but don’t be under any illusion that Connor Coady, a gobby Scouser, wouldn’t have had things to say during the game and plenty more if Wolves had won. So what goes around…
I hope that all the remarks have a positive effect on the Arsenal players and focus their minds even more on the job, but that we stay cool.
Referee: Martin Atkinson. Assistants: Lee Betts, James Mainwaring. Fourth official: Kevin Friend. VAR: John Brooks. Assistant VAR: Stuart Burt.
This is the line up for Thursday night . So don’t expect any favours .
Referee: Martin Atkinson. Assistants: Lee Betts, James Mainwaring. Fourth official: Kevin Friend. VAR: John Brooks. Assistant VAR: Stuart Burt.
You must have quicker internet where you are . Up here with the wind we are using semaphore.
Don’t panic Mr Mainwaring!
If wind is your problem Potter, try charcoal biscuits…they worked for our dog. 😉
Good morning all.
Did anyone notice, yesterday Partey got a shot on target 😁, the ‘keeper saved it. 😕.
A good result on Saturday.
The team needed to do something a little different to break through the Brentford 10 man defence. Smith-Rowe’s direct running left the lumbering centre halfs flat footed and his finish maybe caught the keeper off guard (I’m being kind).
Expect more of the same against Wolves. The Portuguese/Mourinho model of defensive counter-attacking football works well for them. It will be a tough game.
Brentford are on the slippery slope towards the bottom 3. If they get relegated the coach’s eyes might expolde!
Morning Rico and all
It doesn’t matter who the club is, when the board back the coach then the best thing for players like Auba is to leave so he and the club can move on.
The only sad thing about the way that Auba, Ozil and even Santi leave was that the fans didn’t get a chance to clap the player of the field after his last match. Maybe one day we could get to see them do a lap of the ground before a match so the fans can say thank you.
I know it’s a bit early but apparently we are in talks with Napoli central midfielder Fabián Ruiz. Actually I don’t believe that. We never start transfer negotiations until three hours before the window closes.
I don’t think that Ozil and Auba would get the reception that Santi would.
I think they burned their bridges with comments after they left but Senor Cazorla would get a very warm reception.
Pete, I wish more players would run at defenders instead of going for the pass all the time.
What a mess this article is. It completely ignores WHY he might have been upset. Not to mention the tactical breakdown of Barcelona is far more suited to Auba than Arsenal’s approach of throwing hundreds of crosses into the box for 90 minutes.
Morning Geoff. Santi is the only one I’d have liked the fans to say goodbye to properly. A bit like Rosicky when he left.
Why was he upset then JT? You’re clearly in the know…
I do love it when someone comes on here with a name to suit their approach to a debate.
@OzzieGeoff
There are a number of Gooners who think that Ozil deserves the Clap.
😂 Pete.
Rico, just for the sake of constructive conversation, what should happen for you to post an article that “Aubameyang … shows Mikel Arteta was wrong”?
Of course I don’t want to limit the options to a handful, but obviously if Auba was about to become a huge flop that would also prove that Mikel was right getting rid of him. However if all scenarios lead to the same conclusion that’s not really an argument, but an axiom.
Is there (could there be) any chain of events where Arteta doesn’t get the reward for selling the club captain for minus (!) 8 million?
Irrespective of whose fault was the lack of motivation and mental preparation on Auba’s side, apparently it was a temporary thing. If we could have
– brought his ‘old’ lethal self from him again
– sold him for 5-7M (there was a rumor about an offer from the Emirates or from the KSA on the table)
– terminated the contract on a mutual consent without any financial obligation
then why does Mikel keep being the good guy all the time?
Pbarany, I’d be more than happy to post an article suggesting Arteta was wrong if you’d like to write one.
I don’t believe Arteta is always the good guy, just sometimes, when the club make such a big decision as they did with Aubameyang, there has to be a reason.
To add, it really matters not which club may or may not have made an offer for Auba or any other player, if that player refuses to move there, there’s nothing the club can do.
I got this feeling Auba may be one of these people who love there job but just can’t stay at the same work place for too long as they like a change in scenery.
I recon there is still more to come out about what happened between Auba and Arteta.
Rico I was only thinking about the good things the players done for the club not the way it ended. I keep forgetting about Rosicky.
I recon it would be nice if we could get say 2 players from the past to do lap in a golf cart during all home games so the new fans and younger fans can get to see some of the past champions of the club.
I don’t Geoff. There’s enough footage on the internet which fans can watch. Lol
In fact at half time they often do a chat with a past player but of course it’s not shown on tv as they have to give time to their talking heads.
And of couirse before the game a highlights package is shown of past players and their skill and ability . However this doesn’t get shown either.
Putting Diaby or Denilson in a push chair and wheeling him round the pitch wouldn’t have any effect really.
As to Auba and Arteta . Auba is a short stay cyclone that whips up a storm in his first few years and just as he did at Dortmund and with us he will play his socks off for Barca until the wind dies down and then it will be career end I should think at age 35.
😂 Potter re Diaby and Denilson.
That’s part of the problem living over seas, we don’t get to see or hear what happens before the match or half time, all we get is the players running out on the field then a load of adds at half time, last season after the match it went into the studio’s and they talked about the match and showed the interview with the best players and coach but this season after the match we are lucky if we get to see the interview with the players let alone the coaches. and no more back to the studio. Even a few weeks back I was watching a non Arsenal match and the kept showing a replay of what happened 5 minutes earlier and mist a goal so they had to show replays of the goal.
We don’t get a lot more here, it’s all about the pundits and whatever they want to spout.
Evening Rico and the House
Watching u23 game at Leicesterr.
A goal by Hutchinsom makes it 1-1at half time
Finished 1-1
Not avery good performace by our boys.
When will the acadamy coaches accept the boys are not
good at playing it out from the back
Rick, unfortunately playing it out from the back is the current fashion, more and more clubs are adopting the tactic. It requires all players to be confident on the ball, they must be capable of quick and accurate passing. Being a central defender is no longer about heading the ball and hoofing it up field. The game in general has evolved into a much more technical sport and demands more skilful players.
I think the tactic puts too much pressure on youngsters both physically and mentally.
Trouble sleeping Cicero?
Hi Rick.
Isn’t it the same story though, whatever style of football the first team are playing filters down through the academy so those who come through are already used to playing in such a way?
Morning all.
A consequence of aging, Rico. 😕
I know the feeling Cicero. ☹️
New post up now