Morning all.
Do you care that Liverpool played an ‘under strength’ side?
Are you bothered that the match needed to be decided on penalties?
Does the fact that Leno’s goal was under pressure for large parts of the game really matter this morning?
Did you love the Ainsley Maitland-Niles penalty?
Three no’s and a yes from me.
Of course it would have been great to go to Anfield at batter Liverpool, regardless of who played but not many clubs get anything at that old stadium. The whole idea of the game of football is to win within the rules. Penalty kicks are part of those rules.
I’ve only seen a few highlights so I’ve not much to say about the game itself but much praise has to go to Bernd Leno who pulled off a few fantastic saves. I’ve heard/read that Kevin Friend left his contact lenses at home and VAR was out of service.
I’m not sure what’s more stressful, watching a penalty shootout or waiting the seconds between texts from a friends update. We missed one, blood pressure up, they missed two. Excellent. Elneny needs a bit of practice before we face Man City in the next round. But what about the cheek, the confidence, the audacity of AMN? I love the guy, I really do and whilst he might not be every Arsenal fans favourite, he’s one of mine. When spot kicks like his come off, they are fabulous to watch but when they don’t, well, I hope we/he doesn’t find out anytime soon. A shout out for Joe Willock too who kept calm and focused right at the end.
Mikel Arteta on Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ penalties…
I told him in the dressing room that I’m going to have a heart attack because with his body language… Jesus Christ! He puts it in the net which is the reason why he was one of the subs.
That made me laugh. One of the reasons I like Mikel Arteta is because of his openness, seemingly honesty and enthusiasm. He’s not afraid to make big decisions either. He’s unpredictable in his team selection too which is refreshing if not sometimes frustrating. But it’s he who works with the players, his job on the line if things don’t work out in time.
And time is key to any project. Overnight success doesn’t come, well, overnight. Arsenal can’t become as good as Liverpool in just a few months.
To come to this stadium and beat them, it’s a great feeling,” our manager told Arsenal.com. “I am extremely proud of the players, the performance they put in individually and how the competed in the game, and collectively as well when some of them haven’t played many minutes… the way they handled certain situations and helped each other on the pitch.
“It is incredible. For me, [Liverpool] are the best team in Europe and I still believe there is a big gap between them and us at the moment, but we are trying too minimise that gap and compete in every game against them and give ourselves the best chance.
“Today, we read some situations much better than on Monday. I think the level of aggression that we played with today was phenomenal – you have to match them on that if you want any chance and then as well the courage to play the moments that are right to play against them. I am extremely happy.”
Arsenal fans should be happy too. I know I am.
See you in the comments guys.
Hi Rico and all I didn’t get to see the match and to be honest I don’t really care about these matches either too many good players get injured in them for nothing I would prefer to play our under 23team and rest our senior team.
Question is if he trusts our new goal keeper why not pick him
Hi Rico
I agree 100%. I listened on Radio 5 and I was REALLY pleased that the ‘pundit’ with the scouse accent – I don’t know or care who he was – had to swallow the result after a ridiculously biased performance.
I don’t think Leno is better than Martinez or vice versa, they are both top line goalies and I would be happy with either one, although Emi is more spectacular as he likes to catch crosses.
Once again Gabriel and Holding did a great job.
Brian P
News!
·
Oct 2, 2020
Breaking | Rennes are in active talks to sign William Saliba on loan from Arsenal, according to @SimoneRovera & confirmed by Ouest-France. More follows tomorrow.
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It is Arsenal’s failure to make sales in the central defensive area that has led to them considering to loan out William Saliba, according to RMC – an number of English & German sides also interested.
9:32 AM · Oct 2, 2020
Nice report rico…….. Like you, I also like Arteta’s openness.
The team done the job last night.
Is it me, or have I got rose tinted glasses on. It appears almost every referee has it in for us. How can that not be a penalty for hand ball against Milner?
Looking forward to Sheffield United on Sunday.
COYG
Morning all.
Hi Geoff,
Leno needs game time to get back to his best so it’s nothing to do with a lack of trust of the new lad, imo.
It’s about Leno getting back his fitness and confidence in his injury.
Beating Liverpool at tiddlywinks would be lovely, so I couldn’t care less that it was on penalties 🙂
Morning campers, yeah Cicero I’m in agreement with you, I thought that our centre backs stood up well under intense pressure, no other team in England or maybe anywhere will press us as Liverpool so that bodes well.
Loved the post Rico, but then I always thoroughly enjoy reading your posts after we’ve beaten Liverpool and this was n different.
Our guys dug in, had some luck yes but then Liverpool were favoured by the referee, not by much but enough to tip the balance so our good fortune evened it up.
We should have had a penalty near the end and I still can’t understand why our first half goal was disallowed, both incidents were barely discussed by Sky predictably.
Beating them on pens was sweet revenge for a year ago.
Morning Rico. I thought it was nice to see that the bloke with the bun who I imagine was called Williams, had received personal coaching from Mane on how to deliver a quick-fire punch to the face while avoiding any consequences. It shows that the Klopp concept of team continuity is in rude health I’d say.
Arteta 3, Klopp 1.
Hell of a stat.
Morning VCC. Yes, I forgot the handball by Milner. Bought his hand down to control it on the deck and yet they say No Penalty, even if VAR was in use. Weird.
Scott it’s nice to beat anyone however not counting euro or similar matches i think we need to concentrate on the main season and the FA cup and use all other Matches to let Arteta see what we players we have waiting for their time to come.
As for Leno what would you prefer give him game time and possibly a season long injury or give our second goal keeper game time just in case Leno gets injured or needs a brake
Geoff, the best way to avoid injury is to be fully fit so I’ll go with giving Leno as much game time as we can for now.
Adam you’re quite right about the penalty call. I would add that Mil er’s arm was above his shoulder at the point of contact, despite him lying on the floor! So,, all criteria met but no penalty awarded😀
Morning all. Excellent summary Rico of what was a pretty turgid game, but we won and that’s all that counts!
Look the manager who I am 100% supporting had to make a choice and did so . From his comments last night it seems that he did not want to lose Emi but circumstances and finance dictated that he did.
The only problem is that we did not drive a big enough deal , Villa got a bargain and we did not get enough to supplement where Arteta wants us to. We also have the squad rules that means that while Ozil and Guendouzi hang around like a bad smell we are being forced to offload players that no other team is wiling to pay for . They will take loans to get them on the cheap but if we get a fee or loan deal it is unlikely to be enough to finance our desired purchases.
I often feel that looking around many Arsenal sites the contributors would not recognise realism if it smacked them in the face .
Arsenal will face League of Ireland side Dundalk, Rapid Vienna and Molde in Group B of the 2020-21 Europa League.
Winning games, any games in any competition builds confidence and builds towards a winning mentality, something that has been sadly lacking in Arsenal squads for a decade or more.
Wenger tried the “academy player route” in early rounds of cup competitions but, sadly, the policy failed to bring home the bacon.
A mixture of established first teamers and up and coming youngsters is the preferred method of all the major teams. It gives the youngsters a chance to shine and more established players valuable minutes against varying levels of opponents.
At the moment it is more important for Leno to play as much as possible in order to create the understanding between him and the defenders in front of him.
So Arsenal have now beaten Liverpool 3 times in less than 3 months.
Thanks guys and good afternoon to all.
Im in agreement re Emi. When one considers the price Kepa, Allison and Ederson or whatever their names are went for, we sold a keeper heading into his prime for peanuts. If we’re that hard up as a club, demand more I say. Which is why if our young English players have to be sold, do what other clubs do, sell for £50m plus, not £10-15 million.
The whole world is raving about Sancho, ok, a slight exaggeration there, but what has he proved in English football? #justsaying
Reading Mikel’s comments about our new keeper, I don’t think we’ll see him for a little while anyway.
Charles Watts
@charles_watts
Lucas Torreira said his goodbyes at London Colney today. He is due to travel to Madrid in the next 24 hours to complete his medical and finalise his loan.
Shame it’s not a sale Kev. Actually, it’s a great shame things didn’t work out for him in the PL.
Rhian Brewster , no first team appearences , 20 on loan for Swansea and Liverpool trouser £23 1/2 million for him .
Something wrong in the way we negotiate.
Absolutely agree.
Arsenal transfer news and rumours:
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/11958266/arsenal-transfer-news-and-rumours?fbclid=IwAR1ZN1_HR-g7q4SzQ03qSlHlTt_hCMi1eg2PVgPVGJu7GScnlUpWpGPdo4U
Nothing new there Quim, it’s a rehash of the past week’s rumours.
Rumours that Mane has tested positive to Covid-19…..
I hope that none of our staff picked up anything from two visits to that Merseyside toilet.
Wouldn’t surprise me re Mane, Thiago (spelling) has Covid.
Ditto Kev. Mane got a bit too up close and personal with a few of ours. Bellerin and Tierney especially.
Looks like Donald Trump isn’t good. He’s been admitted to hospital tonight.
Trump in hospital, that’ll bring the Brown Shirts of Antifa out on the streets to celebrate.
Scott I still don’t think we need to take a chance with our number 1 keeper in a Mickey Mouse match it only takes one young player trying to prove them self and he is out injured again
Our new keeper isn’t ready Geoff, Mikel made that clear.
New post up now
Rico if our new keeper is not ready then why buy him and who becomes keeper if Leno gets injured