Morning all.
Our match against Utd was hardly a good advert for Premier League football. Two clubs, desperate for everything to suddenly click into place on the pitch played out a poor game.
Chambers went into the book quite early which in itself I thought was fair but when the Utd players committed similar fouls afterwards which went unpunished, Chambers must have felt hard done by.
Kevin Friend had a stinker, unless you’re a Utd fan that is because we could so easily been playing against ten men, or nine even before halftime arrived.
Just before the break, Utd took the lead. A sloppy goal for us to concede and if Xhaka had shown half the bravery previous captains have, he wouldn’t have ducked. He should have taken that one for the team, even if it would have hurt. Grow a pair Granit!
Chambers was struggling somewhat during the first half and his booking made life for him even more difficult. I thought Utd would really go at him afterwards, just as we should have done Young after his booking but neither materialised, not really. After the break though, Guendouzi, who I thought had another really good game, gave Chambers more support, and as Utd played down our right, it was the Frenchman who mostly made the challenge with Chambers not risking a second booking. Common sense at last.
The second half was slightly better than the first as the game opened up a bit and eventually we nabbed an equaliser through Aubameyang. The offside flag was raised which was clearly wrong and VAR soon overturned. 1-1 and points shared.
The weather was dreadful, the football was average as both clubs continue in their struggle to find consistency and some kind of rhythm to their game. Not that I think either will find it under their respective manager/coach. I’m not trying to justify either teams performance but sometimes reality has to accepted. Hoping the return of Holding, Bellerin, Lacazette and Tierney will change the way we play is a pipe dream in my opinion. Of course they’ll make the team/squad both stronger and deeper but they’ll still be expected to play the same way our team already does. And there’s the problem, that way of playing isn’t particularly good.
Just a few questions went through my mind during the game.
Why did Emery not sure up our right hand side quicker when it was clear Chambers was targeted? Why was Pepe not replaced sooner than he was when he was clearly struggling? Why not be brave and bring on Martinelli after his fine performance in the Europa League? Whose crazy idea was it for Ceballos to take the free kick from the right late in the game when it was crying out for a Xhaka left footed ball into the box? What on earth was the earlier free kick about when a shot was on but Xhaka attempted a ball to Chambers which went horribly wrong. The Xhaka duck!!
It’s glaringly obvious that Arsenal are miles away from being a club ready to compete with the likes of Liverpool or City. I’m even not sure top four is achievable this season either, not unless the likes of Chelsea, Toots and Leicester etc go through a really long bad spell. Even if they do, there’s no guarantee we’ll be able to take advantage.
I stand by what I said yesterday in that our squad is better than Utd’s overall and probably better than most in this league bar a few and as odd as this might sound, individually, I thought most of our players were better.last night than they have been so far this season. But as a team, we look quite average.
Our football looks bitty, disjointed and unnatural if that makes sense. There’s no style and very little substance. The understanding between the players seems to be missing and it’s almost like they’re simply making it up as they go along. I’m sure they’re not but that’s how it seems to me.
There’s just something missing and it’s not just a holding midfielder…..
See you in the comments guys.
The Man. Utd players did a rael number on a weak ref. right through the match. How I wish the powers that be would take hold of the situation and put the players in their place.
Goodmorning Rico and everyone, truely we suck as a team. No need for long talk, Emery is equally as shitty as his almighty captain. Imagine our only hope it top 4 is dependent on our other rivals being shitty as well. Emery obviously is a stubborn one like Wenger but doesn’t have half the guts of Wenger, he is a poor man’s version. We need a new coach as soon as possible and I’m sure the back team management already know this. For god sake Allegri is still free. I would even fancy a Brendan Rodgers or morinho at this moment.
Morning Mexy, all.
I think I’ve run out of things to say. How can such a good group of players be so poor as a team….
Morning all, cloudless skies here and another 23C today. Don’t like the look of the weather heading to the UK.
I just saw the highlights Rico and we had several chances to win the game with balls played across the area but the finishing was just, abysmal – nothing on target!
Pepe doesn’t look anything like the same player whose previous exploits convinced us to buy him. Torreira actually played and missed a straightforward chance as did others and Xhaka’s deliberate avoidance of the ball just made my blood boil.
What a wanker!
Thankfully Leno made some great saves and Auba did what he’s good at.
The standard of Ref’s and Linesmen is as poor as ever and frankly the Rugby World Cup is a lot more exciting.
We could so easily have won Andorra but we’d have still been average against an even worse Utd team.
Friend and co were dreadful.
Don’t you just love this comment re last mights match?
“In the context of a meaningful Premier League title challenge, this was the sporting equivalent of two bald men fighting over a comb.”
Ha ha Andorra, I like that.
Morning Rico and all. As a team we looked more resilient and a little better organised but, if you’re looking for quality play, then it has become abundantly clear that Unai is not your man. I agree with Chris that MU took full advantage of the hapless Friend and I reckon that Ashley Young and the other cloggers got away with murder last night. We are a poor team with some very good individuals. United are similar but worse.
We’ve seen enough to know that in the PL, Emery just isn’t good enough. I’m sure he’s a nice bloke and all that but he’s not an Arsenal manager in the sense that he’s bringing anything new or progressive to the team. After the last several years of a very turgid Wenger, Emery offers no sense of a bright future. At the moment we are not moving forward but are stumbling along and it’s hard not to think that there’s some very jumbled thinking at work here. Our record signing is dying on the pitch in just about every game.
If Josh is the man he sold himself as, I can’t see how he can let this continue and letting things drag on surely isn’t, or shouldn’t be an option. Sort the manager situation out before our options in that direction and the remaining games start to dwindle.
Morning Adam.
Add, ‘and our better players start to depart’ – what’s happened to Torreira is so sad to see and Pepe is on the verge of being destroyed before he’s got going.
also…another snippet from the BBC ..my thoughts entirely….”Maybe we should not have been too surprised. Manchester United and Arsenal are in various stages of transition and reduced circumstances. This was what they are.
The best they can aim for, their true goal, is a place in the top four but there are big doubts about whether either will even reach that target.
And the best of this fixture lies firmly in the past. It will be a long road back to anything like those glories.”
Sums it up really.
Rico. I agree. I don’t know which managers might or might not be available or who might be prised from their present clubs right now. But, this apathy can’t go on from what I can see. Getting into a rebuilding cycle is expensive and damaging.
Over to you Raul and Josh.
Adam, when I look at what Rogers is doing at Leicester it brings it home how badly we are being coached.
I just can’t see Raul allowing his name to be associated with this kind of football for much longer.
We could have won but also could have lost , two rather inept teams stuttered their way to a draw.
Throughout the last few years of the Wenger era I was critical of his methods of play and always thought that there was more to come with a different approach. Sadly I am in exactly the same place now .
I don’t know whose decision at the back it was after ten minutes to scrap the crazy goalkick routine , unfortunately they didn’t tell the forwards who were incapable of getting onto what surely must have made Maguire reach for the paracetamols having headed just about everything clear , but I doubt it was Xhaka who spent most of his first captain match pleading for parity of refereeing decisions .
We can talk about individual incidents that cost us the extra two points that we probably deserved on balance but really those things happen . More worrying is the lack of pattern , the lack of decision making and the seeming on the hoof way that we go about set pieces and a lack of awareness of the circumstances .
We all remember Steve McMahon asking the ref how long , did anyone ask Friend when we had that final kick ? . A deflection , a good header or just a mistake could have won it , but no just play it in and hope for the best.
The free kick at the end had Xhaka’s name written all over it…
Ceballos is another player who looked promising at the beginning but he’s really gone off the boil.
Rico. I have been suggesting Rogers to Kev for a long time now and had him in mind during my previous comment. I completely agree with you re his coaching.
I know Adam. 😆
Whether he’d be right for Arsenal or not is anyone’s guess but the harsh reality is, Emery isn’t. At least not imo.
Good morning Rico and all.
On his showing so far it looks to me that Pepe is money down the drain, he’s had time to get acclimatised to the Premiership yet has not shown anything more than the much maligned Mkhitaryan did on the right. Only one goal so far and that was from a penalty.
Torreira got to start the game for once, but was rightly hooked in the second half, he put in a lot of effort but to no avail, the United players just ran over him and his two attempts on goal were entirely wasted.
The fact that Xhaka was the player in position to duck out of the way of the goal bound shot says it all about our defence, one of Chambers, Luiz or Sokratis should have been in that position. That being so in no way excuses the duck.
The only effective member of our midfield was Guendouzi, despite the rotational fouling of him by half a dozen United players, a situation that the incompetent referee totally failed to deal with.
How Rashford got away with a two-footed, studs up assault on Sokratis without a red card is beyond imagining. It looked to me like a repetition of the same player’s foul on Holding which resulted in an injury from which he is is only now recovering.
Saka looks to be the answer to our left wing vacancy, he certainly gave Young the run-around..
Good post Rico, thanks…
The last time we won at the Toilet (FACup) ManUre had a player sent off, but we’ve not had that referee at the Toilet since – the dark hand of Riley perhaps?
I’m not sure about the Xhaka duck since seeing it online? Did the shot take a slight deflection?
Chambers did so well to stay on the pitch after his early booking – 9th minute.
Kudos to him…
Saka was excellent, has he played his way into the side as a regular already?
Pepe needs taking out of the team, some players adapt quicker than others and he is clearly struggling. Maybe play him in the cups and use him from the bench up until the turn of the year?
Guendouzi is becoming our most influential midfielder, other teams know it and that’s why he is fouled all the time.
The highlights I saw didn’t show any of last nights fouls so I can’t comment, but ManUre are a filthy team at home because the officiating is weak and Riley is in their pocket.
Yes Rico, it’s a shame we didn’t see Martinelli, an opportunity missed by Emery.
We are more resilient than under Wenger and that’s maybe effected the quality of our football?
I see no point in comparing us with Liverpool or Man City, they’re on a couple of different levels, but we are competitive with the other top four clubs. Is that enough? Is that realistic as to where we are from where we came from, I don’t know?
Emery is the cleaner, under him we have got shot of a lot of dross, there’s still more to go, but we have some really good defenders to come into the team and maybe we’ll see a different team after the Interlull..?
Yes Adam, I was sceptical when you first suggested the man with the million dollar choppers, but he’s done a good job at Leicester, although under a lot less pressure and expectations than he would have had at the Emirates…
Could he do a job at Arsenal?
Well he did a good job at Liverpool with a really good team.
And won a lot of trophies in a one horse league in Scotland.
I’d definitely consider him as an option if Emery gets his P45 next summer…
Anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing our new defence on Thursday.
Thanks Kev.
I believe the one Xhaka ducked out of took a very slight deflection but on tv, it looked like he ducked out. Only he knows I guess but why not simply keep an eye on the ball anyway, he needs to know where it’s going if he wants to play it.
Stand outs for me were Saka, Chambers and Guendouzi. Auba for his goal too.
I thought it was positive too that no glaring errors made by defenders really and we were disciplined even though Utd were kicking us left right and centre.
Kev. I imagine the players would be hypnotised by the intensity of the gleam from his Hampsteads.
Hi Guys, I hate being so negative all the time. I feel like a real misery but after so much promise in the summer with shrewd signings and alike. I watch and and we get no better.
We can`t even take a corner without poxing it up. Christ ! So we keep doing the same thing.
It has to be the manager who trains them to do this rubbish. Also a good captain should say `listen lads this isn`t working, take a normal corner, kick it long or whatever`. We can`t seem to adapt.
I think after a shaky start Calum Chambers did well to be fair. Considering he was booked he still looked more dangerous than Pepe on that side.
I hate to say it but I don`t think most of the players like the wind and rain! It could be a painful winter for us Arsenal fans if things don`t change.
Mike, it’s hard not to be negative after watching that game..
I said this on another thread that Brendan Rodgers is light years ahead of Emery when it comes to getting his teams playing good football. Utterly depressing that I even have to type that. Cant wait for Emery to leave but the cost will be lack of CL football, Auba having to be sold having not signed his contract extension and a raft of ruined , disinterested players.
Yeah I agree Kev and Rico. Guendouzi seems to drag the midfield along on his own. It`s a shame he`s so young because he is captain material.
And the defense didn`t look quite so bad. Even Sokratis was quite disciplined in the tackle. We maybe got away with one with Kolasinac
in the area though.
Xhaka definitely ducked out ,and it gave Leno no chance .
Adam, his teeth are the most impressive thing I’ve seen since perhaps your potato bake.
That was a thing of beauty…
Xhaka was lucky not to be sent off for a drag back off the ball in the build up to their goal . Too many costly mistakes .
That’s kind of what I was alluding to re the individual player performances Kev. Bar Xhaka, no one really made the kind of mistakes they have in games before now.
It’s just playing together which seems alien to them.
That sounds positive Rico, I guess that Man Ure just kick us as they always have done because in the past it’s worked, this time it didn’t and maybe that’s progress of a sort?
Mike, it never ceases to amaze me how poor Arsenal are at dead ball situations.
You need to work on these phases of the game, but do we?
It didn’t seem the case under Wenger, all that seemed beneath him.
But being efficient at corners and inventive at free kicks doesn’t necessarily make you Stoke it just makes you smart.
Christy, I did hear that the club are close to agreeing a new Ozil’esque type deal with Aubameyang, I guess we’ll know soon enough, but this summer coming is the last chance to sell him if he doesn’t sign…
Potter, you are right but United did a fair bit of dragging back and fouling of their own. Trouble is they are a bit cleverer than us about it.
Ashley Young on Saka stands out.
Kev, I feel that when we get a corner, the opposition are not worried or phased at all by it. So they don`t really mind if they give one away.
Us on the other hand are in deep panic when we concede a corner and other teams know it.
Rob Holdings goal the other night shows how important a good delivery is.
Sorry I`m ranting on about this because last night was especially bad.
Ranting is therapeutic Mike.
I dunno Kev, I wasn’t seeing much of that against Watford but then against Villa, we really did well and against the odds. Just as I think a corner might be turned, however small, we go and revert to type.
I don’t think we can afford to lose sight of how rubbish our opponents were last night. Other teams would have battered them I think.
That’s fine Mike, you rant away, I’d imagine that most on here would agree with you over our dead ball delivery.
As you know Rico, I’m not sold on Emery but I can see some changes from the mentally weak mob bequeathed by Wenger.
It’s not enough by Unai of course and I’m not sure if he has the tools to fix it long term, but he was handed one hell of a job, with no money and squad of surrender monkeys!
True Rico, no silly mistakes last night, especially in those conditions. Why can`t they play together ? We know they are good players so what is going wrong? Do they spend too much time watching videos and not enough training together ?
Only Unai can sort that out……… Or can he?
I don’t think he can Mike..
The prevailing evidence would suggest that you are right Rico. If he could’ve, he would’ve.
Without Lacazette we have nobody to hold the ball when we play it forward , all the others want a ball to chase so it leaves a gap between midfield and the forwards as the midfield is so deep trying to protect the defence. Going forward however when we play out from the back the midfield doesn’t show for the ball and often stands and is too static.
The balance is wrong , the ball either ends up going out for a throw on the 18 yard line or falls immediately into the oppositions path. From set pices and corners none of the forwards attacks the ball they all wait hoping for a knock down and apart from a push and shove there is no real movement and thats why opponents don’t fear us .
I know it’s a long time ago but Radford and Kennedy used to let the taller defenders go into the box and they would scissor run in late , they were vey hard to mark and in Armstrong they had someone that could find them.
Football is a simple game , a man that runs will always get a yard on the static one and will jump higher than the standing one.
There seems to be no understanding of who goes where and when , these basics were hammered home by the coaches even at County League levels . I wonder if it’s all become too complicated and they can’t see the wood for the trees.
Ceballos, Ozil when he plays and Auba, Pepe should be able to keep hold of the ball surely?
Half the problem is when Leno or the defenders hoof the ball up top, they don’t really seem to aim for anybody so often it comes right back.
No I`m not convinced either Rico. You mentioned in your blog about the return of the players Holding etc not changing the way we play. I think you are right because it is Emerys style. But………With Holding and Tierney i`m hoping that it will at least give us some of Kevs Bloody Mindedness as he puts it. Only time will tell.
That’s the hope we cling on to Mike, hoping Auba continues his fine scoring form because without him, we’d be mid table at best imo.
There was a certain set of circumstances in the Watford game Rico, Sokratis giving the ball away, Luiz conceding a penalty, the playing out from the back – Emery’s fault in not changing sooner and the new manager syndrome.
We fought back against the Spuds and Villa, that’s a change in mentality surely?
We fought back at the Toilet, kept going against Liverpool.
Agree Kev, it was a bit of a freak against Watford. Or at least I thought so until the Villa game. Lol
I get what you’re saying about the fight back etc, but what about conceding in the first place? That’s where I thought that individually we were better last night because there were no silly mistakes and for a long period of time, I thought our defence did pretty well. Well, better than of late anyway.
Potter, it’s all about the delivery and George Armstrong was the best crosser of a ball I’ve seen at Arsenal, Brian Marwood a close second. It’s a lost art…
Charles Watts
@charles_watts
·
3h
Reports circulating of an injury setback for Kieran Tierney. Word I’m getting is there has been no setback and he is available for Thursday night. He may not be part of the Scotland squad announced later, but it’s all part of a carefully planned return to full fitness.
Re Auba scoring Rico……. Don`t know about opinion , I think it`s fact.
Also when the ball is hoofed up, the only person who ever tries to jump and win the ball in the air is Torreira and he`s the smallest out there. The forwards never get any knock downs to nick or run onto. So with aimless hoofing and nobody challenging for headers the ball comes back as you say.
Hope you`re right about Tierney Kev, I saw Scotland didn`t pick him and feared the worse.
U21’s are at Peterborough Utd tonight for the Leasing.com Trophy…
Yeah, that is an issue Rico, we aren’t clinical enough across the team, it’s Aubameyang or forget it atm…
It reminds me of the Arsenal team with Ian Wright up front.
The football was awful but our defence was solid.
Mike, I heard that Arsenal asked Scotland to leave him out to manage his recovery.
I think he might play an hour on Thursday and then have a good rest during the Interlull.
Dan Critchlow
@afcDW
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48m
Arsenal’s top-three chance creators in all competitions this season are Nicolas Pepe (12), Bukayo Saka (11) and Joe Willock (10).
The youth are making their mark again. Worth noting Özil is joint-fourth with eight chances despite only playing 142 minutes.
That’s why I hoped we sign a tall, strong and mobile midfielder back in the summer Mike. Our players don’t seem to like challenging for a ball in the air. Luiz isn’t too bad but the best imo is Mustafi.
It’s been an issue for a while Kev, since RvP days I think.. we were a one man goal scoring team then too.
Apart from Santi and Ramsey, I don’t recall many goals from midfield.
How refreshing was is to see Martinelli score with his head last week, a rarity.
Yes , cracking cross and cracking header! More of the same on Thursday I hope. Martinelli looks a great prospect too.
Nice one Rico.
Weirdly I feel fine about us at the moment, looking forward to some more re-instatement on Thursday night with Holding, Bellerin, Tierney and a point at Salford is what I would have took before kick off !.
I dont read to much into how bad a start Manshafter have had as I bet they will take points off our other rivals for top 4.
I`d give more time for Pep le Pew, he looks a talent to me and it will come out, although I have been and still a fan of Ozil and up untill about a month ago was adamant Xhaka was our Alonso, so I could be wrong ! 🙂 I must say though……………….other than having Dicks love child how on earth can Xhaka be ahead of Ozil in Dicks plans ?………………………he does`nt make the mistakes Xhaka does and is more productive with chances created !………………..yes I know different positions but it`s not like Xhaka is the best DM going.
This love in with Xhaka will lose Dick his job…………………….then again judging by comments on here that wont be a bad thing for some……………………………….wonder how many of the manager hopefulls who went for the job would have persisted with Xhaka ?
Spuds smashed 7-2, Gnarby with four..
You just got love the spuds..
My Dad always said when things get tough there’s always Tottenham to cheer you up .
Good boy Serge ! Once a gooner always a gooner
Guten Morgen Goonerz
Being fluent in many countries accents today may I say……………………..Norden London ist rot !……………………or as I say to my German friends…………………..Zee schweine vankers gotz zee beatingzz ov zee livezz !
Obviously I speak better German than Serge…………..
https://twitter.com/SergeGnabry/status/1179146898503913472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.givemesport.com%2F1509604-serge-gnabry-tweets-north-london-is-red-after-scoring-four-goals-vs-tottenham
I saw Serge Gnabry make his debut for Arsenal at Carrow Road a few years ago, Arsenal were quite ineffective, Norwich were flying and we lost 1-0 (I think?) in a game that I’ve pretty much forgotten about except for the Gnabry debut and the big changes I saw at the stadium.
Gnabry was on the right wing and did bugger all…
It’s easy to be a revisionist, but I saw nothing in him at that time to made me think that one day that he could become the powerful wing forward who we saw destroy Tottenham yesterday evening.
The media try to paint a picture of Arsenal incompetence but he was injured a lot, he choose to go to West Brom and he refused to re-sign for Arsenal before returning to the Bundesliga.
It happens!
He is German after all.
Good luck to him.
It was a combination of factors and Bayern went behind our backs to engineer him leaving London, so I don’t blame Arsenal, maybe we should have got him to sign a contract before he joined West Brom?
But Wenger had previous in that regard…
Donyall Malen is a similar story, he was injured a lot and didn’t settle in London, he made the right choice returning to Holland. We maybe could have loaned him to a Dutch club for a couple of years, but you can’t win them all.
Maybe we’ll be able to thumb our nose at ManUre if Martinelli fulfils his early promise and becomes a big player for us, after they passed up the chance to sign him?
Morning Rico and everyone, it’s a bit chilly this morning…
Morning Kev, all. Nice bright morning though which makes a nice change…
Good comment re both players imo.
New post up now.
Have to say though , before we let the Gnabry comments go over the top . Ou results against Bayern ae nothing to write home about.
Feel like a Pirate with a sore throat . Having trouble with my RRRR’s
Did you mean a parrot? 😉