Morning all.
A big fat wow from me to kick off with. Arsenal have shown a ruthless streak in the way they’ve dealt with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and they get my backing 100%. Aubameyang has been stripped of the captaincy and he’s not in the squad for tonight’s match. He joins a long list of pretty poor captains in Arsenal’s past, the worst perhaps being William Gallas, Laurent Koscielny, Mesut Ozil, Granit Xhaka and even Mikel Arteta himself.
Aubameyang has broken rules, club rules and Covid rules so what other choice did Arsenal have? If the captain is setting bad examples, it’s only right he gets punished and this time, which is not the first, he’s had the book thrown at him. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we never see him in an Arsenal shirt again. In the real world, he’d probably be put on gardening leave and moved on.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta on the reaction in the dressing room to Aubameyang’s demotion:
They accept the decision. They have committed to our culture, our demands and how we want to represent this club at a next level and if you do not do that you cannot be involved in the basics. The players are dealing with it extremely well.
It is the right decision in the interests of the football, It was a personal conversation, face to face and he had to accept the decision. We have the leadership group and the different players nominated to be captain, we will follow that, it is an unpleasant situation and it is not the situation to take any rash decision.
As many of us have often said, Arsenal FC is bigger than any one player or manager. Credit where it’s due though, Mikel Arteta hasn’t bottled making this decision, just as he didn’t when moving on other players.
What might cause issues with fans though is if he turns to Granit Xhaka as Auba’s replacement. Personally, I fell it would be a step backwards. Arsenal are a young team moving forward together and I’d like to see one of the players who are going to be at the club as the team matures given the captains armband. If Rob Holding was a regular starter, he’d be my choice.
Enough of that, West Ham make the short journey across London tonight, that’s if Covid has hit either squad by then. It’s rife at other clubs causing fixtures to be postponed. At the time of writing, neither West Ham or Arsenal have had any positive Covid tests within the squad.
David Moyes is doing really well at West Ham, he’s got his team organised, disciplined and certainly on the front foot. Everything they do, they’ve been doing really well. Results haven’t gone their way of late but give them an inch and I’m sure they’ll take a mile. They have players who can cause the best of teams serious problems all over the pitch, Declan Rice and Antonio being just two of them. Mikel Arteta’s players will need to be on the ball from the first whistle to the last. They’ll need to be ready to battle too as Moyes team will be strong and physical I’m sure.
The off-field issues were rumbling before the Southampton game and once the jitters had past, the team played some good football. Tonight though, the good football, the disciplined football has to be from the get go. If we allow West Ham to dictate the play, old and habits will probably return and that won’t do if Arsenal are to win this ‘6 pointer’.
See you in the comments.
Morning all.
New post up now.
So according to Ian Wright the reason why Auba is not scoring is because there is no one in the team that knows we’re to put the ball for Auba.
Wrighty it’s not the Arteta or the teams fault that Auba missed goals from one metre out and no one in front of him.
So Ian Wright recons Arsenal should have kept the Auba situation in house and that Auba is the one who has helped Arteta get to we’re he is.
So Wrighty the fans and members have no rights to know what is happening at the club what Bull crap
Morning all.
Auba-bye bye.
Give him away, I don’t care, I just don’t want to see him in the shirt again as he’s shown he has no interest in the club other than each month when the ATM lights up.
That was a fantastic performance, start to finish, and though we made some errors, we never sat back and allowed them into the game.
I’d keep Laca.
Ask him would he be prepared to play a mentoring role, which he already seems to have adopted, start some games, come off the bench in others as he’s clearly enjoying himself and is very effective imo, and it’s clear he enjoys interacting with the youngsters.
Martinelli-he’s had that required time of 12-18 months back on the pitch after major injury, and is getting back to his best.
That was an Henry like finish, and he’s as composed in front of goal as anyone we’ve had in quite a long time.
Progressing nicely, as a squad.
Hope you’re all doing well!!
Hmm, it’s on various other bits of the media but he’s only talking about how the pair have a good relationship and Tuchel is offering his support after Aubameyang was stripped of the captaincy. 😕
Good morning all, if you can believe the Mirror, Chelsea boss Tuchel intends contacting Aubameyang. That could solve the problem quite quickly.
Great performance. Crisp passing and lots of one touch.
Never a penalty, let alone a red card so maybe Laca felt a miss would be fair.
Loved the finishes from Martinelli and ESR. I haven’t seen that kind of skill for a long time in an Arsenal shirt.
Still think we need to do better in defence, still too many times poor clearances and silly passes putting us in trouble.
Super Ramsdale saving us again today, best Arteta buy.
Cicero I hope that’s not just another day in the office we can’t afford to miss penalty shots.
Great win, only got to see highlights but we didn’t miss Auba, we seem to look a bit nerves in patches. looking forward to watching the full match later to day. Bad miss by Laca for the penalty.
Rico found HH on the computer today
Rico you were too quick for me. I’ve only just finished watching the recording. Really enjoyed the game despite some of the worst refereeing I’ve seen in a long time.
Two goals, a clean sheet, three points. Just another day at the office. 🔔🔔
Pierre Emerick who?
Very good game from Arsenal. Stood up to WH physical tactics and dominated the second half. The players didn’t let Arteta down after the PEA decision.
Impressive throughout. 10 out of our 23 goals scored this season by under 21 year olds, interesting fact.
2-0, just another day at the office.. beat you to it Cicero. 😜
They are down to 10 now just pass them to death
Off! Pemalty. Not sure.
Lacazette terrific so far. Such quick turns!
Ramsdale going mad with joy at goal!
Disgraceful dive not seen by Lino 3 years away! Nearly a great top corner Tierney strike, but parmef onto crossbar. Brilliant Martinelli!
BT. He did and another dive by the tall Czech bloke which was a joke.
Thanks Adam, are you on a stream or BT?
Partey got the ball didn’t he?
Rico. Not in Anthony Taylor’s world. A couple of truly shocking free-kick decisions against us though.
We’re any of the penalty shouts a penalty?
Playing well, better team, solid so far.
Me too re a stream. Can’t find one yet.
Evening Rick, I might start with watching the women.
Evening Rico and the house.
If things are going wrong tonight
turn over and watch the women’s team.
I’m hoping for a good win both
Just back from swimming so you could say I have got out of one stream and am now looking for another
It’s the only team that he can pick assuming that Smith Rowe is not ready for a full 90 minutes.
But I do hope that he hasn’t fallen behind Odegaard in the picking list.
With ESR just back from injury this must be our strongest starting eleven.
Arsenal XI: Ramsdale, Tierney, White, Partey, Gabriel, Saka, Odegaard, Lacazette, Tomiyasu, Xhaka, Martinelli.
Subs: Okonkwo, Smith Rowe, Maitland-Niles, Holding, Pepe, Tavares, Lokonga, Elneny, Nketiah.
I’ve just emptied my glass… lol
Well I’ve just poured myself a beer and my glass is a bit more than half full so I’m feeling confident that we’ll get the three points.
C’mon The Gunners!! 😉
Afternoon Andrew, me neither.
Afternoon Rico, all.
I am NOT going to look forward to watching tonight. I did so for Everton and still haven’t recovered.
Stats dna lie so i hope so.
For now re the ACON…. The way things are going, I can see football coming to a standstill again.
Major scouting additions have been made in the form of Toni Lima, Romain Poirot and James Ellis who will focus on the Spanish, French and domestic market of players respectively.
The Gunners have now added Florian Bluchel, formerly of Bayern Munich, who will focus on the German market. His experience with Bayern saw his responsibilities expand into Spain, Italy, North America, the Czech Republic and Poland.
Is this the end of Stats dna.?
So money trumps players and supporters safety .
There’s a surprise.
The Confederation of African football, CAF, have declared that reports of the cancellation of the ACON are fake news.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.😕
Good re the ACON, at least we get to keep Partey who if can stay fit, might up his game a level.
He should last the duration if he’s our main striker Wavy.
Afternoon all
Rumours that AFCON is to be cancelled.
Today we will see who has the support of the team Arteta or Auba;
Whoever gets the gig it will need to be someone that buys into the process completely.
For a long time we have lacked a voice on the pitch , the antics of Arteta on the touchline has been evidence of that.
It’s time for the club players , owners , management to march as one army . Slowly we seem to have pared out the different factions . We can’t afford to keep changing tack , we need to set a direction and follow it to the letter.
So in one way the next captain has to be on the pitch a yes man that’s not scared to discuss things off of it .
Personally I would tempt Lacazette with the extra captain’s cash and ask him to stay for the next season and then let him go for free to get a last pay day .
He leads the kids and they do look up to him and that’s what we need , a leader.
Morning all
Where’s the new Tony Adams? who is he?
That’ll be my contribution to the debate!
Tonight’s result could go the way of any 3 results…..take your pick😀
The outcome will depend on which Arsenal turn up. The one touch, high pressing mobile and clinical Arsenal or the sleepy backward passing 5 touches to control and fearful static players watching style.
Lacazette will be captain tonight but to whom will he pass the armband on to in the 65th minute when he’s subbed off? That might be a pointer to whom the gig will go to in the future.
Everyone has slept in I guess
Very quiet here today..
Agree refer to Xhaka right now I would be happy to select Laca for the rest of the season and see if we can pick up a captain in January who can play in the positions we need to strengthen or if not pick a young player at the end of the season to take us forward for the future.
Morning Geoff, all.
I kind of feel the same although I’d be disappointed to see Xhaka given it because of history and to be honest, he shouldn’t really be an automatic first team pick imo.
Morning Rico and all
At the end of the day I don’t care who the new captain is as long as he sets a good example and the other players respect him and most importantly Arteta decision, then hopefully the players can move on.