Morning all.
The similarities between the match against West Ham back in March and last night’s fixture were clear. West Ham can feel hard done by after giving Arsenal a really tough time. Our opener might have been given offside on another day, VAR could so easily have awarded West Ham a penalty after the ball clearly hit the arm of Gabriel. Apparently, Man Utd had been penalised for an almost identical incident earlier in the day, we however got lucky. Very lucky.
Bernd Leno did nothing to change my opinion of the goalkeeping decisions made by Mikel Arteta this summer. Emi Martinez was the guy in form, the guy who should have started the season between the sticks. Leno should be the one pushing to get back in the team. Instead we’re left with a keeper who despite looking brilliant one day, can have moments which resemble his opposite number’s nickname on another. Still, it’s Mikel Arteta who has to live with that decision now and I hope for his sake, he’s not already regretting it.
Despite being borderline offside, Aubameyang picked up the pass from Saka, took a few steps with the ball before looking up and crossing the perfect ball for Lacazette to head home our opening goal. I thought we’d push on from there, improve our level of performance and put West Ham under relentless pressure but we didn’t. Just before halftime they scored a deserved equaliser. Mind you, we did make it simple for them. Kolasinac couldn’t prevent the cross, Holding was beaten to the ball, Leno watched it go by. Shocking stuff really.
The first penalty appeal should have seen the West Ham player booked. If ever there was an attempt to con the ref, that was one. Gabriel just stood still, the West Ham player fell over. The second though, well, we were fortunate as already said. Just as we were when the crossbar kept the score at 1-1. West Ham looked the more likely to nick all three points but on 85 mins, up popped Eddie Nketiah with a winner. Phew.
Poor performance, lacklustre, disorganised and not what we’ve come to expect. However, many of us on here have mentioned before that ups and downs were bound to come. Arteta made changes by leaving Elneny and AMN out from the team which beat Fulham. In came Ceballos and Saka. Kolasinac replaced Tierney just before kick off which I hope was just precautionary as the thought of Kolasinac playing at Anfield next weekend is frightening.
Arsenal were lucky to take all three points but I don’t care. Winning matches when we’re not at our best is a positive. Ive know I’ve used this quote from Martina Navratilova before but it’s true.
“What matters isn’t how well you play when you’re playing well. What matters is how well you play when you’re playing badly.”
Arsenal played badly, but well enough to beat a West Ham team who caused us problems as they so often have in recent years. Sometimes the win is all what matters.
Another quote of hers I’ve kept in my mind over the years is:
Once you start believing in yourself, anything is possible. Once you start believing in yourself, your dreams take shape. The more you believe, the more you achieve.”
This group of Arsenal players are perhaps still going through the phase of believing in themselves as individuals and as a team. The FA Cup victory was great but it was a short journey really under Mikel Arteta. A handful of matches when we played well because that was the focus. The league performances however, weren’t as convincing. Now though, there’s a much bigger picture, bigger challenges to go with it. Four competitions to focus on over the next nine months. It’s a different ball game altogether.
Arsenal aren’t always going to play great football, at least not in my opinion and not with the midfield as it is currently, but if on the days they don’t, they still take maximum points, I think that’s progress in itself.
See you in the comments guys.
Morning Rico. Oddly enough, I was at that previous game which was the last where a crowd was allowed. The similarities were striking, as you say. West Ham, when they play us, are purely a long ball team where Antonio uses his boxer-physique or out muscle opponents to create openings.
There were lots of concerns arising from our rather insipid performance. I see little point in going over the goalkeeper situation again as it’s done and dusted now. But I can’t quite work out why the team changes happened. Also, we surely need some more midfield creativity and certainly mobility. Ceballos got better as the game went on and Xhaka became more static, content to play the quarterback role. Also the old Arsenal square-ball disease bit us once again. Kolasinac was horrible in the first half in particular. I can see why Partey and Aouar are such an attractive proposition.
Still, we were very average and won. I’ll take that and hope for better.
Not much to add really you have hit most of my bullet points however there is just one more thing , he says putting on his Columbo coat ,
I was not heariing everything in an interview as I was concentrating on something else but I am sure that Arteta said something to the effect that he made changes to keep everybody involved and if that was a couched way of saying “” I dropped Elneny to play Ceballos ” was that a sign that the Spaniards strop affected his thinking .
I sincerely hope not. . The Elneny / Xhaka middle had worked well against Fulham , it just seemed a little strange to change it so quickly.
Morning all.
Good honest summary Rico. I thought the performance poor, pedestrian, problematic and ponderous. Slow and predictable and accompanied by some pathetic passing. Not a good advert for the game, even the cardboard cut outs looked unimpressed.
But, to reiterate what you quoted Rico, to win badly is always preferable to any other result. I’ll take the 3points and move on, as will we all. Perhaps the team will produce a more fluent performance next game, on their way to another 3 points!
Ever onwards, ever upwards. I notice that we have slipped to second in the table. I think that’s quite far enough for us to drop😀
Did we lose?
Leno is to blame 🙂
Morning all.
Hi Rico and all. As everyone else has said that was not a good performance but on the positive we never gave up and kept trying for that second goal were in the past we would have either given up or settled for a draw
I’m watching the replay as we speak, and I’m trying to see why there is much criticism from internet “experts” of the performance?
We had the better of play and the better of chances.
No, we weren’t great, but to suggest we were lucky is bloody ridiculous.
Social media “experts” should stick to marbles hahahaha
Morning Adam.
It’s odd how just a couple of player changes seemed to make the difference in the way we played. You’re right about the Martinez situation, it’s done and I know I need to move on from it. Kolasinac isn’t the solution when Tierney is missing that’s for sure, but I think we’ve saying that for a while. Does raise questions over what the club do if he leaves.
Seriously Scott ?
Watching after the match when you know the result is not the same as having your heart in your mouth everytime the ball was centred and Leno came dropped it or punched ineffectively . I have always said that Martinez was the better bet and nothing yesterday changed my mind.
There was a twenty minute period that had my heart rate increasing ,Soucek and Antonio were winning everything in the air whislt Leno looked like a fish out of water , we got away with it and West Ham were unlucky that major decisions went our way for once.
Hi Rico.. spot on. It was a horrible performance and one I wasn’t expecting… it certainly won’t live long in the memory – unlike United v Palace 😜
West Ham should be kicking themselves and rightly so, but if you don’t take your chances…I wiped my brow at the final whistle, for sure!!
I was at that last game against West Ham and I agree with what you said… imagine if we’d been there yesterday… I’d have been huffing, puffing and sighing!!
I hope Tierney will be back for Anfield… I hate to think how it’ll go if not….
Interesting thought re Ceballos Potter. I too was surprised to see Elneny left out so soon after a solid performance last weekend. Is Arteta going to another tinker man I wonder because if he is, it might prevent a settled side. Totally understand the changes for cups or whether certain performances are poor but change for change sake isn’t ideal imo.
Thanks Wavy. The passing was dreadful at times as you say. Hopefully a one off but if our errors were forced by the opposition being more at it than us, we could be in trouble in our next two fixtures alone.
Potter,
I did write that we weren’t great, but leave that alone lol
If we play well and lose, people complain.
If we battle away and win, people complain.
I won’t apologise for looking at the positives mate.
Scott, it’s all a matter of opinion and I don’t like reading the sarcastic undertone of your comment towards myself and others on here who saw the game the way I/they did. We were fortunate to win, lucky, or whatever word one opts for and funny enough, the very man you seem to rate so highly, said exactly the same.
Hi Geoff, exactly. A year ago, we might very well have lost that game so that’s a positive.
Look I am happy we won those 3 points might be the difference at the death.
I note that the keeper situation is done and dusted but I am entitled to my opinion that we made the wrong decision.
Martinez may well make mistakes at Villa and I will be proven wrong that’s why I am here and not earning a fortune bending Mikel’s ear .
Good morning one and all, felicitations Rico on a well written post.
I only saw the game once and thought that if our passing had been more careful and our final ball more accurate we could scored a couple more, but it was an off day.
I thought we was lucky with the handball and expected our first goal to be disallowed, fortunately it seems that where the feet are trumps the body so even though Aubameyang’s body looked offside a West Ham foot played him on.
West Ham caused us a lot of problems and will rightly feel hard done by, not that I care much about that. We could have easily cracked under their physical onslaught but Arteta has bred a culture of resilience similar to how George Graham constructed his bloody minded teams, the iron fist in the velvet glove so to speak.
I missed Martinez
Scott, the idea of HH is to have a debate, not be told to play marbles and not have opinion. It’s rude and quite condescending.
West Ham’s goal came down our left, the side patrolled by Saka and Kolasinac, I thought we missed Maitland Niles even if Saka had a good game.
Morning everyone
Perhaps the reason they sold Martinez was because he said he had to be number 1 (first choice)
And villa were prepared to pay 20 million for him, arsenal need the cash to fund other players transfers.
I don’t see how you can guarantee a player he’s going to be first choice after such a small run in the first team (admittedly a very good one). I agree he certainly commands the box better and he can actually catch a cross. But then who’s going to pay 20 million for Leno who’s number 2 and on very high wages
Unless Leno is prepared to sit on the bench and just count his money like a few others I don’t need to mention. I think it’s not so much about who’s the best keeper it’s more the easiest player to sell to raise money to reinforce the midfield well hopefully anyway..
Morning Kev, thank you.
I’ll take the luck that’s for sure and the fortunate decisions which came our way, lord knows, so many have gone against us over time. I too think we missed AMN, he gives us something extra down the left, something more solid and aggressive. Actually, I think Aubameyang missed him too.
It’s a beautiful day out here in Essex, I’m sitting in the garden in the sunshine with an enormous mug of tea and life is good.
Arteta is still learning his trade, I think he lent on others when it came to decisions over the goalkeepers and we didn’t have any offers for Leno anyway – he needed to sell and that’s it folks I’m afraid.
He is going to make contentious decisions, it goes with the territory, we all need to take a chill pill, we’re on maximum points so what’s not to like about that?
Rico, I’ll remember this next time you or anyone else is sarcastic towards me.
Will you?
Reverse the statistics, and would anyone say we were unlucky to lose?
No, most would say we had our chances and blew it.
Why is it West Ham are “unlucky” for missing their chances?
They didn’t ‘miss’ a chance with the penalty did they Scott?
Scott, you’re never sarcastic to me, I wish you would be, I’d love it… 😁
I wasn’t suggesting you were sarcastic Scott, just rude really.
Good day all, a fine day here too Kev, just a chilly breeze off the North Sea keeping me indoors at the moment.
There are bound to be off days, Arteta is still learning about his squad and the enforced changes to starting personnel. Tierney and Luiz, threw a spanner in the Spaniards works. On top of that the mix-and-match defensive selections are not helping. I thought that right from the kick-off our defenders looked a bit nervous and that was not helped by a few erratic moments by Leno. Why was he, at one point, loitering almost fifty yards off his goal line? Hopefully as the defence gets more in touch with each other they will gain more confidence in Leno and he in them.
At the moment the decision to sell Martinez looks like it might bite Arteta in the bum.
Kev, you’re being sarcastic bahahaha
Mate, for years people told us we shouldn’t rely on refereeing decisions to win but then, when a call goes our way, the other team was “unlucky”.
2 wins from 2 games and already I’m seeing negativity all over social media.
Had Emery been on the sideline for that performance, he’d have been lambasted this morning Scott. My perception is that you’re taking the observations on yesterday’s game as a personal criticism of Arteta. It’s not.
Rico, here we go again hey???
It’s been a while.
Scott, look mate, I’m not seeing negativity on the blogs I go on, Twitter/Facebook is a different animal you should leave them alone because it gives you the hump, I saw people moaning on some Twitter accounts I look at occasionally and I just thought that those moaning are morons.
On here most people give an opinion, you just debate it don’t you, it’s simple. I disagree with Cicero over Aubameyang but so what, it’s a blog, he’s entitled to his view and so am I.
You’re entitled to your view as well Digger, even if your wrong all the time. 😆
Rico, your perception is totally wrong.
I’ve always said our fans complain when we win playing poorly and complain when we lose playing well.
You can use your search ability and go back 5-8 years and see that.
Kev, I know I’m always wrong in the eyes of some but that’s ok lol
Well if you know that then that’s all well and good, now have a couple of tinnies and relax 😉
I’ve no idea what you’re on about Scott.
Scott, you’re getting the wrong end of the stick. It’s not complaining, it’s about discussing what we on here thought about yesterday’s performance. You kicked the insults off first thing. I don’t understand why you’d do that or think it’s acceptable to do so.
What goes on on social media is irrelevant here, social media is full of internet bullies.
I know my place.
I’m put in it often enough 🙂 🙂
2 from 2-solid start.
Liverpool won how many penalties and games from dives last year?
Leicester were given something like 15 penalties the year they won it-14 were dives and several of those meant a 1-0 win.
We weren’t allowed to use those decisions as an excuse for our poor performances in the League yet we are suddenly “lucky” due to a dodgy call that went our way.
I’m not sure why I get annoyed any more as it’s been happening for years but so be it.
We should be happy right now.
It’s funny, Rico, but I make a comment about internet experts and you take that as a criticism of HH regulars.
If I meant people on here I’d say so.
THAT is where things started, but I guess it’s just easier for me to apologise so we can all move on.
Sorry anyone I offended.
I saw a video on You Tube the other day of the Australian police arresting some woman in a park, then another one where 6 coppers nicked some bloke, what’s going on over there Scott?
We had a demo in London yesterday, people demonstrating against lockdown, I’m surprised that they weren’t all labelled as Far Right by the wankers in the media.
Hi Sue, sorry, your comment went by me unnoticed. The thought of Kolasinac playing at Anfield fills me with fear but I guess if Tierney is missing, AMN will come in as well as Kolasinac.
Potter, I thought Leno was going to break his neck after coming out for a cross. The way he landed looked horrid.
Kev, we have one state, Victoria, where the premier is turning into a damn dictator!
He made some decisions that directly caused a second wave of Covid-19 positives resulting in several hundred deaths, and is now doubling to try and show how well he’s controlling things!!!
He’s told the police in his state to act with a heavy hand, people are even being arrested in their home for Facebook posts and yet the man himself is absolutely complicit in the situation he’s now taking political advantage of.
He’s the most hated man in this country right now, is Daniel Andrews.
Kev, the Victorian premier is absolutely complicit in the second wave of Covid-19 in this country.
His state has over 90% of the deaths in Oz, and the massive majority of those can be directly traced to decisions he’s made.
He’s doubling down by trading to convince everyone in his state that he’s saving them all by bringing in heavy handed tactics to force all Victorians to obey the rules.
One lady, heavily pregnant, was arrested in her home and in front of her kids for posting on FB about a protest march.
Now this same clown did nothing about 30,000 people protesting under the banner of BLM, yet a Facebook post about a peaceful protest involving Aussies marching against these heavy handed tactics sees a young mum handcuffed in front of her kids.
His ego has gotten the better of him and the entire country is paying-some with their lives
Don’t worry about me and Scott Rico we’ve both got broad shoulders and can stand our ground . If he disagrees that’s why we come here , confirmation bias is the cause of so many problems and not just in football
Hi all,
Just thought I’d add my tuppence worth…
Re; Martinez. I also preferred the assurance of his handling in the box, so was a little disappointed he left (‘it’s strange he wasn’t prepared to fight for the spot when villa are saying he has to fight for the spot there anyway). But, I would add, since we now have 2 new cb’s who are both over 6’3”, perhaps Mikky is hoping they’ll help martial the box and take pressure off Leno.
With regards to the handball call, I’m not sure how we got ‘lucky’? You can tell from the direction the ball went that it clearly came off his shoulder. Had it hit his arm it would have bounced towards the ground, so that seems a good call from the ref imho (that’s a bit of luck, I guess).
All in all, I’m just glad we got the 3 pts. Got a tough run coming up, so I’m just glad to see we’ve not succumbed to the lesser teams as yet. That in itself is an improvement on last season!
Potter, the irony is my initial comment wasn’t aimed at anyone here, but Internet fans in general.
Kev, Daniel Andrews, the Victorian premier,
Single handedly allowed Covid-19 to hit his state with a second wave, causing several hundred of his states population to lose their lives, and he’s making the most of the situation to convince his state that he’s protecting them.
This includes very, very heavy handed tactics by the police in his state.
Having just seen another penalty awarded for a handball, I’m even more amazed the one against Gabriel wasn’t given. Maybe Lady Luck is shining on Arsenal for once. Long may it continue.
Ha ha, I won’t Potter. I just like freedom of speech to work both ways without accusations flying around.
Philly, replays showed it was Gabriel’s arm but hey, either way, it wasn’t given so we move on. In my case with gratitude. Lol
Two of your comments went in the bin Scott, goodness knows why but don’t start thinking it was me who put them there. I know how suspicious you can get. 😆
Scott I got stopped twice in one week just going to the shops for grocery now I’m waiting to be told we can only go to the toilet once a day.
Can any one else remember so many goals being scored in one round ( all clubs )
Ups and downs we’re bound to come doesn’t mean the downs should come from playing against teams like WestHam. I expect arsenal to comfortably beat these types of opponent but no, we struggled to win! Look at Everton and see the Spurs, when last did we scored 5 past the midtable teams? Well, am happy we didn’t lost the game but grabbed the 3points.
VAR and Liverpool contract has expired last season so Arsenal has signed up with VAR this new season. I am so happy because VAR would not punish us again this season for any action.
I believe that if any Club, were interested in Leno and proposed 20 million, it would have been sold. Martinez chose to make his way, which is to be commended because he was a good professional at Arsenal. Surely, he will always be well received, regardless of emblem he has on his chest.
All games will be very difficult. In addition to the 4 competitions plus the International games, we must not forget that the vacation period was shorter, that the pre-season was short and that the frequency of games is very high. Being playing 2 games in a row with the same team is, in my view, utopian and probably not the best policy. It is one of the reasons why I understood that there should be 2 goalkeepers who deserve trust, which is not the case now.
As I posted yesterday, it seems to me that Ceballos and William playing at the same time don’t work. We are stronger in attacking but much more fragile in defending, because the defensive intensity and defensive positioning is weakened. It causes instability in the team. On the other hand, Xhaka is trapped behind what did not happen when playing Elhemi. In other words: I think that an “inverted triangle” in the midfield is more useful and productive to us than a conventional triangle.
Thierney will be a player I don’t know how many games he will be able to play during the season. We need to have a set of players available, which allows us to have 2 players per position and not “patches”.
Ok Scott, we’ve got the same kinds of tossers in local government over here, apparently you can be fined £10,000 for not obeying the rules, let’s see if BLM march again if any of those Marxist arseholes get fined, it’s all over the place mate it’s endemic in western society, Antifa, Extinction Rebellion, Momentum, the BBC, Channel 4, all the same kinds of people who don’t care about minorities or civil rights they just care about their own narrative and fuck everyone else….
Don’t worry Kev, we’ll be in lockdown again soon everywhere will be quiet.
All the Chelsea signings aren’t on the same hymn sheet yet. Long may that remain the case.
Kepa is having another nightmare…
Yes, Rico… just think for all those moaning about Leno, it could be a whole lot worse, we could have Kepa!! 😂😂
Thank goodness we haven’t Sue. Mind you, we’d never pay that much for a keeper in the first place.. lol
Well said, Kev.
Too many want to be seen to be caring and “woke”, because it’s popular to do so.
Ridiculous situation.
Let’s hope we can pick the same team we had in round one for Liverpool they seemed to gel better
So looking forward to Liverpool match I forgot we play Leicester in some small cup round
Arsenal are deep in talks to sell Lucas Torreira to Atletico Madrid, with Thomas Partey moving in the opposite direction. Sale of Emi Martinez making up the difference
Arsenal will then sell Sokratis, Sead Kolasinac and Callum Chambers, and go “all out” for Houssem Aouar. #AFC
Arsenal have also been considering a move for Wilfried Zaha, but they are wary that recent performances in the centre forward position have raised his asking price.
Edu is willing to offer cash plus Reiss Nelson on a season long loan deal in order to secure Zaha’s services. #AFC
Scott.. Do you think this could be the ‘madness’ mentioned the other day??!!
I’d of course welcome Wilf with open arms, I just don’t see this happening…. Roy would be happy with losing Wilf for Reiss??! I mean come on!!
If that’s true about Zaha and we get him, just goes to show that Emery might not have been as daft because going by the rumours, he wanted Zaha rather than Pepe, and N’Zonzi instead of Torreira. Not suggesting things would have turned out differently re his sacking, but it certainly makes one wonder.
Morning all.
Sue don’t share your desire for Zaha he is not that prolific and is a sending off waiting to happen. Big fish by repute in a small pond and little more than a new shiny , shiny addition.
The whole thing is again probably agent and media motivated.. He is not the player that we are looking for . A replacement for Ramsey is still where we need to supplement i.e. powerful Box to Box with a few goals thrown in.
Rather than waste Martinez and probably Nelson plus more money to get him we should be chasing after players like Maddison , Cantwell , Traore , Tielemans far lower in price and more productive in midfield with proven Premier league experience.
Hope we don’t get Zaha he fall’s over to easy unless Arteta can change him like Xhaka