Morning all.
Just a short one this Boxing Day morning ahead of the first game for new head coach Mikel Arteta. Shame the match isn’t at The Emirates but we’ve already played that one against Bournemouth. We won 1-0 thanks to an early header from David Luiz off of a Pepe corner but the performance was just another dull affair.
Team news – Bournemouth.
Diego Rico is suspended. Nathan Ake, Adam Smith, Harry Wilson, Arnaut Danjuma, Charlie Daniels, Lloyd Kelly and David Brooks are all injured.
Arsenal.
Calum Chambers is suspended after picking up too many bookings. Tierney and Kolasinac remain on the sidelines but the good news is that Sokratis and Bellerin are available for selection and Dani Ceballos is back in full training. Whether he’s ready for selection is a different matter. Gabriel Martinelli is a doubt.
As said, it’s first match for Mikel Arteta after just two or three training sessions so we’re not going to suddenly turn into a world class team. That’ll take time, money and a huge change in player attitude. The latter of course can be instantaneous IF this group of players respond to Mikel Arteta.
“The priority is what we are going to transmit on the team, is a reflection of the demands we are going to put on them every day in training.
“That’s commitment, accountability, aggression and passion to play this sport and to represent this football club. This is the basic I am going to demand from them, and from there we can start to build things.”
I actually believe him when he talks about his expectations of the players just as I believe that anyone who hasn’t or isn’t willing to comply with his demands will be out the door. Good, because he’s right about accountability. This group of players had a free ride under Unai Emery, again under Freddie but at some stage, one has to turn away from blaming the manager/coach and look at the individuals who are representing the club and quite frankly, they just haven’t been good enough. Not all I know and not as far as ability goes for many but the commitment, passion and aggression has been seriously lacking.
Mikel Arteta may have had only a few days with this group of players but that’s long enough for them to realise what’s expected of them. We’ll soon see who has got the message, or not as the case might be…
One player who might benefit from the appointment of Mikel Arteta is Granit Xhaka as the Spaniard has been quoted in the Mail as saying:
‘When I was going from Arsenal to City to start coaching and we were looking in that position, he was one of the players on my list.’ ‘This is how much I liked him. I was happy when Arsenal signed him because I thought he was going to be a terrific player. ‘He has done some really good things and now he has got stuck in a very difficult situation that, I think, was growing and growing and growing and one day it exploded.
‘But I have been amazed by how this relationship is starting to come back a little bit and I think the fans have been very very positive about him. ‘I told him how much I like him and what I expect from him, how important he is for the team. I am here to help him, I want him to feel we’re right behind him – not just myself but the whole club.’
Xhaka along with Mustafi, Ozil, Luiz and Sokratis are Arsenal’s marmite players. Kolasinac and perhaps Aubameyang and Lacazette too so it’ll be interesting to see how they perform today and over the weeks/months to come.
Have a great Boxing Day and stay away from the sales. A bargain is not a bargain unless you were planning on buying the item beforehand.
See you in the comments guys.
Good morning Rico and all.
Mike has also widths he will not be changing the captaincy at this point, there is too much other work to be done at the moment. A wise decision in my opinion as the problem could be solved for him in January by the departure of the present incumbent.
Not Mike, Mikel! Spell checkers eh? 😕
Morning all,
While I’ve always been a fan of Ozil, I believe Arteta has made it abundantly clear that if he and others don’t play their part, there will be no excuses at all, and they’ll have no complaints when sitting on the bench or sold.
Mikel said he will take away all the excuses players may have to perform below expectations, and that’s the ideal situation for the club.
Morning all and thanks Rico.
Quite worrying that Mikel likes Xhaka ! 😆
Mind you, I did a year back!
Was I the only one down the gym on Christmas day ?…………..off again there now…………………..the body doesn`t distinghuish between any day of the year, it wants working ! 😀
I don’t think that we can blame Freddie for not turning round the players attitudes.It was made clear that he was not the power that they would be answering to. His.job was to keep a lid on things until the next man arrived .
Now that man is here and the gravy train is at on platform 1 .they can get on or hit the buffers
I switched on the TV.
Follow the Boxing Day and Arsenal.
Have a nice day.
Afternoon to you all.
I wasn’t blaming Freddie Potter, just the players for being lazy..
Well done rico still getting a report out.
Not the gym Le Coq but a lovely 5k Parkrun at Maldon Promenade 9.00 am on a sunny Christmas morning. Bit wet today in Essex, bring on team news.
Leno, AMN, Thud and Blunder, Saka, Torreira, Xhaka, Nelson, Ozil, Lacazette, Aubameyang.
No Martinelli on the bench.
Team to face Bournemouth: Leno, Maitland-Niles, Sokratis, Luiz, Saka, Torreira, Xhaka, Nelson, Ozil, Aubameyang, Lacazette.
Subs: Martinez, Pepe, Mustafi, Mavropanos, Willock, Guendouzi, Smith Rowe.
Quiz Question When did Ozil last start in a Premiership away game?
Beat you to it Rico. 😉
Too much lunch for me Cicero.. 😂
Not that long ago re Ozil I think. West Ham?
Ghendouzi and Pepe off the line up again.
Really really last chance for Ozil. Now, have a blinder. Let’s have a Christmas Miracle!
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Really really last chance for Ozil. Now, have a blinder. Let’s have a Christmas Miracle!
Not sure why Lacazette included in marmite players? Always thought he competes far more than other forwards and a pretty good finisher.
Okay Rico, how about outside the M25?
Arsenal bossing the game, plenty of possession, plenty of movement. Ozil having a good game working from the centre circle to the penalty box and creating chances. Just like old times.
Just need to keep a shot down lower!
And then we prat around passing at the back
No idea Cicero.
Darn playing out from the back.
Bang goes the clean sheet. Totally against the run of play we concede a goal. Just like old times. 😕
Yep, playing out from the back hurts us once again.
Hopefully, we can eliminate that tactic ASAP.
Half time, until the goal we were doing okay, but it seems to have knocked the stuffing out of a team with only the most fragile confidence.
Both Saka and Nelson are wasting crosses by over hitting them.
Well he can see first hand now .Amn , Nelson, Saka all promising but not ready
Apart from the goal a much improved performance.
Both Saka and Nelson have had numerous crosses put in from both flanks but precision lacking as Cicero says!
On a wet pitch with constant rain the shooting should be skimming off the turf not hitting it high!
Potter, time for the £72 million striker to comel on for Nelson I think.
AMN needs to get back quicker, he’s leaving the defence threadbare.
Not sure Potter whether AMN will ever quite make it, even in midfield. Maybe he will surprise me but other midfielders in the past like Hillier or Morrow, were way better, and they were fringe players.
Arsenal have reverted to type. Farting about with the ball in our own half, slow, slow build-up, having said all that we have somehow scrambled a goal. Aubameyang off a deflected pass and he ,stupidly, goes into the away fans and cops a yellow card. Pillock!
Saved by VAR
Seventeen attempts on goal…..only two on target. Just not good enough.
Much better performance, all round, than we’ve seen for quite a while so plenty of positives, but also a lot of work to be done.
Pass mark first up for Arteta.
Eight points off fourth place. Six points above the relegation zone. Yes, Arteta has a job on his hands!
Plenty to work on then. 😀
Chelsea then United next two up . Pressure mounting already .
Was offside. The linesman raised the flag.
Amn, Saka and Nelson zero good crosses in 20 or more attempts.
No. 10 is always misplaced. At the crossroads, the striker (s) are well placed in the area and take the defenses with them. Why is number 10 going too? Any interception is ball won from the opponent. On the other hand, there is no backward pass line. Defending is a pity. Nelson went on and on, especially in the first half, going into the middle of the ground opening his entire corridor because No. 10 never defended or is never where, where he should be.
Aubameyang does not produce much close to the side.
I never realized why Pepa, playing essentially with his left foot, always plays on the right side.
When did we win a game?
Much better performance. I thought we played well enough to win had Laca had his shooting boots on.
Doesn`t help to have quite a few players playing out of position. Nelson is not a winger as he lacks pace, nor are Saka and AMN FB`s and AMN looked lacking pace aswell!
As for trhe Chav and Man U games coming up, neither of them are looking that great judging by results…….anything could happen and usually does!
It`s obvious Arteta has a massive job on hand and seriously my wife who doesn`t know him from Adam remarked tat he looked like Captain Black……..she doesn`t rwead this blog so would have no idea I said it!………..come on!……..he does look like him ! hahaha
If we’d have taken our chances, we’d have battered them.., 😂
Yellow cards are void after the next match I believe so no harm done re Aubameyang.. shows he cares in some ways.l
We desperately need two competent, fit, fullbacks. We cannot continue with AMN and Saka.
In the first half, up till the time the ball went in our net, we looked pretty good. One could see a distinct improvement in effort and determination but it was undone by the suicidal attempts to play the ball out from the back. By the end of the game we were barely hanging on for the draw.
Arteta will have little time to improve things with the upcoming fixtures so close together. Sunday Chelsea at home. Wednesday Man U at home. Monday Leeds at home. Saturday Palace away.
With recovery time between matches limiting the time for training and coaching Arteta will have trouble getting his ideas across a group of players so short of belief and confidence.
I think Arteta will only be able to get his points across once the season ends and preseason starts.
By which time Arsenal could be a Championship side.
Not quite that bad I reckon Cicero, as we have a few quality players who can turn it on for short periods like against West Ham. But AMN looks like he’s just got out of bed, whether it’s walking onto the pitch or chasing back from half way line. I guess I’m still smarting from him turning his back and shouldering ball into.own net a few weeks ago. Can’t blame Saka for defending out of position, but what’s happened to his and Nelson’s crosses? Still, a more resolute performance, midfield better, even Ozil and Xhaka.
I don’t get the negativity here really. Did anyone really expect much to change in less than a week?
A lot more effort which is what we hoped for, the rest is going to take a long time..
Overall happy rico, but did hope a change from trying to play out from the back, especially when we have two full backs playing out of position. Without that, we may have taken three points and it’s not a hard tactic to grasp. In fact I reckon you or I could instruct then not to play short if in any way pressed, and they would understand 🙂
Arteta was bound to play out from the back though Andrew, it’s the Pep way and so many others. At least we only cocked it up once.. lol
With all due respect, I don’t see how people could find so many negatives in that performance.
As Rico said, if we took a few of our chances, we win easily and everyone’s happy or would they be?
Are we all really so down atm?
Well a few wins will change that and they’re coming soon after that performance.
That was a different set of Arsenal players to anything I’ve seen in quite a while.
Arteta has been there less than a week, the players were out there to a man busting their arse for him, so give him a chance.
I’m with you there Scott.
Ozil ran his backside off, and I think was taken off as he was just spent so if that doesn’t show an immediate impact from Arteta then nothing will 🙂
Even Xhaka was damn decent today, best he’s played for goodness knows how long.
If I appear to be talking things up as I’ve supported Arteta, I don’t mean to, Rico, because i honestly thought the difference in effort and energy was pretty obvious but hey, I’ve been known to look through rose coloured glasses before hahahaha
I also thought we looked more composed in defence today, and if we are to continue playing out from the back, we’d better work on it, but I’m sure we will, because it cost us the goal today, but in general, we were much more solid.
The only negatives I can see are those carried over from the period before Mikel arrived, and they’ll take time to fix.
Onwards and upwards.
Scott, you forgot to mention Aubameyang challenging for a ball in the air in front of goal. When did that last happen?
I agree with what you said earlier, had we taken just the one chance extra and won 2-1, I think the reaction would be different. There’s plenty of work to be done, but didn’t we all know that!
Yep, I saw that Rico.
We shouldn’t be automatically looking for the negatives, I reckon.
I saw enough to be happy we have the right man at the helm, though it’s obviously early days but we must get behind him and the squad.
Whether Arteta is right or not i doubt he even knows right now Scott but if the work rate level remains as it was today, then imo, the biggest hurdle will have been overcome. I know I keep saying it but this is about long term, not some quick fix…
Rico, Pep has better quality defenders than we have. That needs to be taken into account. We still struggle to get the ball over the half way line! But agree, great effort, although that’s a bad reflection on some players, you should always give your all. So impressed with Arteta so far, he will give everything for us.
I did think Ozil was worth one more chance under a manager who supported him, even away from home. If we had taken a couple of chances after three delightful through balls, we would be raving how he won us the match 🙂
Not this season Andrew. 😝
I don’t think Emery could get his message across, something I think most of us believe caused him and the players a problem but perhaps Arteta will coach the playing out from the back in a simpler way so it’s understood. Saying that, Leno was kicking it out too so perhaps it’s not such a rigid tactic.
I enjoyed the match so thats a big plus imo… lol
Rico, it’ll take a few seasons, but until we had the right man in charge, we couldn’t even begin to improve so it’s a start 🙂
Good point on Leno bombing a few long as well, so it seems we aren’t playing out at all costs, which is a definite positive.
Andrew, you’re right.
When we see what players can do, they need to shoulder at least some responsibility for what’s happened previously.
I was actually looking forward to the match. That’s a start after recent months!
Agree Scott, under Wenger, Ljungberg and Emery, coach too often blamed when it’s a shared responsibility.
Andrew, that’s why I love what Arteta said about removing all excuses from players, basically saying they’ll have no reason to whinge and nobody else to blame.
Brilliant stuff to be honest.
Just watched the scousers tear Leicester apart if they are the second best team around then the gap is enormous.
All that matters is that someone beats them and stops their invincibility.
Arteta doesn’t have the players but he needs a result against Chelsea to get the spirit up A good second of the season depends on it .
I see our turnaround to be more of a slow process than a rapid new manager bounce . We are not going to beat the top teams but staying in touch is a result at the moment.
Rico, we even tried playing it out from the back during added time at the end of the match. The one time it was vital to get the ball up the other end of the pitch to either give us a chance of a winner or to just keep it as far away from our goal as possible.
If you watch Manchester City, or others good teams, when they play out from the back it’s with two or three crisp passes, by which time someone has moved into space ready to receive the ball. We make at least four sideways passes and end up with the back at Leno’s feet or in the back of the net.
The basic problem with the way we play the system is that our central defenders sit too deep, they need to be at least as far forward as the front of the penalty box. They should then keep the ball moving forward rather than sideways or back as they look for an outlet, and they have to be quicker with the ball and crisper with the passes.
It’s football not rocket science.
Cicero, and how long and how much money was spent in getting it right for the likes of Pep and Klopp etc?
Certainly not four or five days. All I’m suggesting is give the players and Arteta time. And more importantly, support.
Rico, we started playing out from the back under Wenger, it didn’t work. We continued with the tactic under Emery, it didn’t work. Under Ljunberg, it didn’t work and it isn’t working under Arteta either. With this bunch of players I can’t see it working even under Guardiola. So why use the tactic until the players can understand what’s expected of them and until they have been coached sufficiently to at least get the ball up to the halfway line without gifting it to the opposition. To stick rigidly to a tactic that our players are patently unable to put into practice is not only stupid but it’s costing us points in almost every game.
I hate the tactic lol
I don’t see the benefits in it other than retaining the ball but I do see the risks, and they’re plentiful.
If we are to keep doing it, as long as it’s not at all costs and under all circumstances, I can live with it, but as we are already error ridden in defence, play safety first from the back when required.
Maybe Cicero, but we’ve different players now to the AW days.
I’m not saying I agree with playing out from the back, I’m just saying let’s see what happens over time under Arteta before pretty much writing off his ability to change something after just a few days..
He said himself that the immediate priority was changing the players mindset. The rest will only come with time, training and probably a squad shakeup.
I think that he must realise that he has to change things one at a time. His first job has been to get the intensity back and today that looked better. Changing the style will be another step that we will have to wait for.
Morning all.
Potter, you’re spot on.
No wholesale changes will work, just step by step, whittle away at the cure problems and over time, the squad will change as well.
I think most fans will be damn happy if we see small but constant improvements and that’ll see us show patience, and we do need to.
Morning HH’s…
Now let me see if I’ve got this right???
The agent of Granit Xhaka has agreed terms with Hertha Berlin for the transfer of the said player, he’s told Raul, Edu and Arteta as much – so it seems according to his Tweets…
Therefore there is no barrier to Granit returning to the peaceful and tranquil serenity of the Bundesliga – bless him…
Of course there is one hitch, the transfer fee, although Xhaka’s agent seems to have swept that away with the proverbial wave of his little agents hand.
I mean, how dare Arsenal expect to recoup a sizeable chunk of the fee that they overpaid for the Albanian/Swiss/Bosnian midfielder, the cheek of it I ask you!
No, it seems that Mr 10%, (or is it more, who knows?) just has to say the word and Granit is free to express himself in the German capital and Arsenal have to swallow a big loss.
And woe betide Arteta claiming how he rates the Swiss/Bosnian/Albanian player.
Well that’s all settled, we let Granit leave for bugger all after doing bugger all in our midfield for a few years and we accept whatever we’re offered to replace him with…
I’m glad I sorted that out…
Kev, you are now officially qualified to be an agent 🙂
Morning all.
New post up now
😂 Kev.