Morning all.
It’s not been the best of times for Arsenal or Unai Emery since he took over at Arsenal. One or two really promising performances tucked in between what can only be described as careless and below par ones. The injuries have come, gone and then come again which certainly hasn’t assisted Emery in his search for a balanced and regular starting eleven. There’s been other problems too like Aaron Ramsey’s contract, Mesut Ozil and money. The lack of it I mean. The kind of things which fuel the media fires.
Then, just as it looked like another club would ruin yet another Saturday evening, Emery and his players pulled a rabbit out of the bag. Whether this is the beginning of things on the pitch beginning to settle, only the next run of games will give us a hint but for now, it’s impossible not to have watched our victory over Chelsea without a hint of a smile.
Don’t be suckered in by the negative reports about Chelsea, just appreciate the way Arsenal played. The closing down, pressing from the front. Aubameyang getting back to defend, Bellerin being back, Kolasinac being the tank we know he can be. Our two centre backs, solid as a rock with our captain superb. It was his day, the goal he scored off his shoulder told us that. Ramsey, Xhaka, Torreira and Guendouzi winning most of what they battled for. Lacazette’s work rate topped off with sublime ball control and a strike as good if not better. Poor Bernd Leno must have been bored having so little to do.
I thought Unai Emery might have made a mistake as he made his changes but as it turned out, no such concern was needed.
A lot of fuss is often made about possession, just as it is about playing three at the back. Yesterday Emery opted for a four man defence and midfield and we looked more compact. We didn’t have the majority of the possession yet when we attacked, we looked dangerous. So much so we could so easily have been four goals to the good before the break.
Ok, in the second half our levels dropped off a bit but not the determination or concentration. Hazard wasn’t in the game and that was because of the way we played. We stifled him and without him, Chelsea were toothless.
Yesterday can’t be a one off though, another isolated quality performance until the next one comes around in a few weeks or even months time.
Sadly, it looks like Bellerin is going to be out injured again and for a long time which is yet another problem for Emery to resolve. On the plus side though, it seems that Koscielny has found some form.
As said, yesterday might just be another flash in the pan. Equally though, it might just be a turning point. Whatever it was, I thought we were good. Very good.
See you in the comments guys…
Morning Rico. I thought we were good too. Chelsea were lucky to finish the game with 11 men after Alonso’s eye-gouging antics and then that horrible late challenge from the Psycopathic Squaddie (Barkley) was appalling too, but thankfully left no lasting damage from what we know.
I am hoping that Hector’s injury isn’t as bad as it first looked.
After a few early mis-placed passes I liked our game. We were compact and gave them the wide areas, possibly figuring that they had little aerial power in the box to hurt us.
All in all a very satisfactory result and watching Sari essentially accuse his players of something between indifference and cowardice was a nice touch too.
Morning Adam. There was some rough stuff going on out there that’s for sure and Taylor wasn’t really up for it. I’m surprised Luiz only saw yellow for his one on guendouzi. He might has got a toe on the ball but his studs were up and had he missed, our young Frenchman would not be playing for the foreseeable.
Good morning all. Except at the fag end of his reign, Wenger too would squeeze something out of his tiring team every year. I remember how we stumbled into top four on the last day. Consistancy was lacking then, so is it now.
Morning all.
I read Hector requires surgery on his quad and it’s a 9 month or so recovery but I hope it’s wrong!!!
I know Kos will receive high praise and rightly so but how good was Guendouzi? I hope we can keep hold of him as the years pass because I reckon he’s going to be a really special player.
Even Xhaka had a decent game… 😜
Hence the question Bnsb. Our next PL fixture will answer it, then the next and so on….
Emery needs to convince them that a top performance against Fulham is as important as it is against the so called better teams.
Rico, consistency will come with age, but he has the tools to be a serious player for us for years to come.
Seems to be a level headed young man, as well.
I think we set the tempo and had Taylor been the type of officious referee like say Atkinson , Dean , Oliver or Moss we would have been pulled up time and time again for the harrying and collective pressing that we were doing. In the first half you saw Hazzard and Willian looking to the ref for free kicks and once they realised they were not getting them they dropped a level , so don’t criticise if some things went against us. Bellerin was unlucky , no-one touched him it was an awkward fall looked like knee ligaments and another long rest.
What to do ? AMN , Lichtstiener or Jenkinson , personally Jenks :- as AMN is too valuable as Ramsey’s understudy and Licht is too slow for a 90 minute stint against nippy wingers and brutish forwards with pace.
The corporal is not the permanent answer but he is defensively minded , can head and has pace to get up and down . If we are not buy in then we have to use the players we have.
We need to stick to the 4-4-2 we had yesterday , our two centre backs were solid and the midfield worked well hunting down the opposition and it showed just how important Lacazette is with his dropping back winning the ball , holding it up and with the luxury of having Aubameyang up with him made Chelsea keep players back to look after them and made a gap between their midfield and defence.
Next up United , Lets see if we can do it again.
There was a difference between the approach though imo, some of Chelsea’s tackles were reckless, ours were just what we deal with week in week out.
I really like him already Scott, his mistakes aren’t many.
Agreed, Rico, and his errors are made for the right reasons, if that makes sense.
He’s a proper team player-there’s certainly plenty to like about him.
Fantastic job by our scouting crew.
Morning Gooners
Morning Rico
Yeah Scott, Sokratis and Koscielny seem a good fit.
If it is 9 months out for Bellerin the club has to do something permanent in the summer, it’s a bit like when we lost Debuchy a few seasons ago, Hector stepped in and after a couple of indifferent performances looked the part and kept his place.
So whose going to step in this time as I don’t see us signing anyone, not with 3 players in the squad who can play right back?
Maitland Niles has a concentration issue, he goes into a kind of limbo as the game passes him by too often. He has the pace and physicality to play the Bellerin role it’s what he lacks between his ears that worries me.
Lichtsteiner is the obvious choice I guess, his experience and the fact that he’s a proper defender, but I can’t see him charging up the flank and getting back for 90 minutes, not at his age anyway.
Jenkinson has the pace, can defend, is good in the air and can cross a ball, probably better than anyone, but he lacks a bit technically and is bound to make mistakes. He’s never really had a run in the 1st team so I guess you could say that we really don’t know if he can cut it and Bellerin certainly looked a bit iffy when he first got into the side, but ofthe three I think he’d probably be Emery’s 3rd choice.
Personally I agree with Potter and I’d like to see Jenkinson get a chance even if I think it’s unlikely…
I get what you mean Scott.
Morning Kev. I think Emery has mentioned Jenks so he’s in his thoughts.
As I said earlier if we are to play with the pace we showed yesterday then Jenks has to start and possibly should we be ahead and lead protecting then Lichtstiener to replace him after 70 mins to wrap things up . The Swiss was always bought in to be a back up and to my mind that’s how to use him.
If AMN is to grow into Ramsey’s replacement then he needs time playing there . he is a natural midfielder and we have had too many player’ abilities dissipated by playing them out of position.
If we are as financially strapped as suggested then we have to protect the present whilst looking to the future , we need to keep picking up the poimts to keep us in touch but understand that when the young ones get caught out we don’t launch a witch hunt against them..
Emery’s task is not to win the league this year , it never was . he has a tenure to turn the club round to develop a system and bring players either from Hale End or the transfer market to play within it.
If it means selling Ozil then so be it . He cost us £ 42 million and we pay him 17 million a year. Get £ 25 million for him save his salary break even and cut our losses . He is a good player but if he doesn’t fit there is no point.
Erm, we did go 22 games unbeaten yano! Just saying in response to the “lacking consistency” chat above!
Emery needs and deserves time, hopefully as much time as Klopp and the spuds manager.
If we pay Ozil something like £17m per annum, then a club signing him would need to match that salary and on say a 3 year deal would be investing something like £51m for a bloke who looks like he can’t be arsed half the time. So I can’t see us getting much of a transfer fee on top of that tbh…
G’day all.
Yesterday’s result was great, beating a top four side, keeping a clean sheet, showing commitment, and a willingness to work hard as a team.
Consistency would be wonderful but we need take yesterday’s form, rather than the insipid showing against The Hammers, into the next match or three.
I wonder just what inspired the team to put last week’s awful showing behind them. Some judicious arse kicking perhaps?
Dexter, but since that run ended we’ve been entirely, consistently inconsistent.
Yeah, that’s true!
I think injuries, form, tiredness, new systems, ideas Tec, squad depth and quality all played a part.
I mean, when we played Southampton, we had a makeshift back 4 and they had a brand new manager! So, we can add bad luck as well! Haha…
Kev when we bought him he was seen as an expensive but talented asset and he commanded a large fee . That’s why I think some one will bite at 20 or so and pay wages . I don’t think we have to give him away just to save the money.
At 30 Ozil should command a fee of some sort, however his wages over the next 2 and a half years are roughly £45m. I can’t see many clubs going much higher on total spend.
Especially now other clubs know that Emery won’t play him, I doubt we will get anything for him. More than likely we will have to pay someone money to take home.
Needless to say those responsible for his contract and then the refusal to play him are responsible for a significant financial loss for the club and neither of them should escape with anything positive from this episode.
As for our performance yesterday I think it shows some simple things for Emery to take forward.
1. Play a back 4.
2. Torreira must partner Xhaka.
3. Lacazette and Aubameyang should both start.
Build the rest of the season around that.
Sounds a plan Hobart.
Hi everyone, and wasn’t that a result to warm the hearts?
I just read something about on loan Chambers being “Man of the Match” for Fulham as a central midfielder. Well, that’s some good news even though we can’t take advantage of that fact and get him back.
OH NO! Spurs have just scored the winner right at the end……………….+2 more points.
Damn.
Just got to keep plugging away and play like we did yesterday – I think it’s called consistency which might be a test without Bellerin?
Jenks for me…….
Speaking of Jenkinson, his contract runs out at the end of next season. As well as Ospina, Bielik, and Asano.
Should we assume we are actively going to be selling these players or are we going to give them away.
What a waste of money. Not the players, but the situation we’ve created.
Evening all and thanks Rico.
Nice win, but going by the season so far…………..a flash in the pan !……………….yes, someone can rant about the unbeaten streak or the lucky streak as I call it ………………piss poor in so many game yet we won !
Even though we lost both opening games we played better than in most we won and seem to play better against the top teams, we need to play like this against Soton and W Ham etc.
As I say nice win, but I`d rather beat Manshafter in the FA Cup on Friday ……………………….I actually got more excited by beating The Spuds in The FA Youth Cup than yesterdays win ! 🙂
Shame about Bellerin if he`s 9 months out as I dont fancy any of the replacements……we will be weaker !…………………….just as we will be weaker when Rambo goes, I`ve always been a fan…………although after what`s sort of been revealed, there was no way we could pay both him and Ozil such high wages if we want to buy in the summer.
The top four looks to be getting more interesting; Satan has lost Kane, Son and maybe Alli, Chelscum look wobbly, Manure seem to be doing well and we……………. {what are we?)
That first touch for Lacca`s goal was the dogs nuts !
Morning all.
The Suárez loan deal is getting very close.
That is all we have on the news front, but we should hit Stan up for some money as he’s on a high with his favourite team making the Super Bowl 🙂
New post up now.