Afternoon guys.
This international break is nearly as miserable as the weather here on the south coast of England. Next month there’s another break too so no wonder players suffer injuries. A weekend fixture either side of two international matches is far from ideal. The League Cup and Europa League fixtures take place this month too which for some of our players could mean eight matches played this month alone. Pepe, Auba and Lacazette though have had two weeks without football which is great although there are rumblings about Pepe carrying a slight injury. Nothing serious according to the story in the Mirror and other outlets and in any case, Arsenal and the Ivory Coast agreed he wouldn’t feature during this break. Their matches were friendlies anyway.
Auba swooped both August awards for player and goal of the month with Joe Willock coming runner up in the player category, Guendouzi came third. It’s not the opinion of everyone of course as not all cast their vote on the official site but apart from Lacazette and Ceballos, I can’t think of other players who might have challenged them.
Having started the season well as far as the opening two results go, we got beaten again at Anfield. Then a really average Toots side somehow managed to nick a point at The Emirates in a game which we should have won comfortably. Xhaka was a plank for gifting Kane the opportunity to score yet another goal from the penalty spot, but whilst it’s easy to blame him, other really dreary stuff was going on too. Either Arsenal need to sharpen up in front of goal, or learn how to defend sharpish. Great sides, such as Wenger’s during his early years, do both. Once Pepe finds the back of the net, I’m hoping a glut will follow. I’ve read comments on other Arsenal related websites, they’ll remain nameless, comparing our record signing to Gervinho. Ridiculous in my opinion. The only comparison between the two is they both represent the Ivory Coast. Oh, and Arsenal. Once Auba, Pepe and Lacazette have trained and played together for a few more weeks/months, I’m sure the goals will come thick and fast. 🤞
Our injured defenders should soon return too with Rob Holding likely to be the first. When he does and as long as he’s back to where he left off before Rashford put him out of the game for almost a year, Unai Emery will have a decision to make. A few perhaps. Does Holding pair up with Sokratis and Luiz pushes up into midfield which would make us a bit more robust. The little and large combination of Luiz and Torreira would surely be stronger than having Xhaka in there. What then to do with the Swiss? Polite answers only please. Lol
What about Holding and Luiz? Can’t see Emery dropping Sokratis really, in fact I’d throw him the captains armband and give him a bit of responsibility. Perhaps then he’d think twice before tugging players over in the box.
Bellerin and Tierney. Do they both walk straight into the first team once fully fit and perhaps with a couple of under 23 fixtures under their belt or should they have to earn the right to return?
Where do Chambers, Mustafi and Mavropanos fit in? Europa and the Cups only? Unless injuries dictate otherwise I’d imagine so, certainly for the latter two although I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Mustafi was moved on in January without us see him playing again for the club. Saying that, wasn’t it him and Holding at the heart of the Arsenal defence which went on that long unbeaten run last season or did I imagine that?
Anyway, things to think about, that’s all……
The defense is very slow.
Xaxa, Guendouzi and Torreira, stand the deep “orphan” midfield.
Ceballos has to play in one of the three places but only in home games because away there is a player who does not defend and gets lost.
We need a fast central defender (I don’t know if he’s in St.Ettiene), a different player playing in front of the defense and solving the best way to get the ball to 2-3 ahead without losing defensive security .
Ceballos has a weird contract with no buy option.
Best news I heard was Xhaka is injured. Hopefully its longterm. Harsh but he costs us points. Luiz in midfield is a good shout though.
What’s his injury Chrispy?
Achilles problem I think Rico…
Thanks Lee, one like Koscielny’s I hope. Lol
Evening all and thanks Rico.
I must admit that I was pro Xhaka. I dont normally get it wrong with players but alas Xhaka is not an Arsenal player. I think he is talented enough, but it`s imo that his style is not suited to the current EPL style of mega pressing by nearly all teams……………………..plus as already stated, he`s been carrying an injury ……………………..otherwise he may be brilliant ! hahaha
At the end of the day though it`s up to Dick who picks the team and if he carries on picking someone who is turning out to be a liability (or the second coming of Mustafi in other words)………….. then Dick is going to end up with a reputation of ineptness ……………………….99% of the fans cant be all wrong !
These times we(especially the so called big teams) all expect our teams to be competitively consistant and the nature of the current football animal fan means theres no time for patience and if the manager does`nt get it right quickly ( especially with no brainer mistakes like Mustafi and Xhaka ) then the will rightly or wrongly blame the first in line and that is Dick ………………………………get Dick Out is not a chant I really want to hear at the Ems……………………………………..I lied !…………………I do really ! hahahaha
I too was a big fan of Xhaka Lc. He looked good before he arrived in England…
Watford away will be tough.Made tougher by them having a new manager.They will try to bully us all over the pitch.
I’d like to see either Luiz or Chambers in midfield, alongside Torreria and Guendouzi.
Xhaxa problem is because is slow for English football.
In the Swiss team, he shines well and well, because the markings are not so intensive, one does not have to perform so quickly and there is time to think and execute. The point is, we have no other to play in his place. There may be an adaptation but not a solution.
Watford changed coach. One more additional problem.
These comments are sick. Wishing an injury on anyone is not on, let alone a young man whose health is his profession and who whatever his short comings has worked hard for our team.
Well said Reg. Wishing an injury on any player is disgraceful.
We’ve heard it before, and worse-hell, we’ve had people wish previous managers would
get cancer, go to sleep and and not wake up.
Those people are gone, from the House.
We fans can be pretty ordinary.
It’s just a game no matter what people say.
Well said, Reg.
Xhaka, imo, is nowhere near as poor as people make out and he gives his all.
If he isn’t good enough then So be it, but the abuse he cops is very harsh, I reckon.
I keep saying it-he or any defender make a mistake, cost us a goal and they’re crucified and it could very well be they’re only mistake for a game.
A striker misses 4 sitters, scores 2 and he’s man of the match.
No one has wished for an injury to Xhaka, just now he’s injured, hope he’s out for a while because it appears it’s the only way Emery won’t play him.
I don’t see the ‘working hard’ by Xhaka. He’s clumsy and makes the same mistakes again and again both for club and country.
I’m not sure comparing chances to score being missed and late/clumsy tackles in the box is a fair comparison.
Morning Rico. Seems to me that Xhaka is an ill-fit for a modern Arsenal.
Although I’m one of Xhaka’s biggest critics I don’t wish him harm. But imo he isn’t a top premiership player, full stop.
As rico says, he is slow, clumsy and offers little to our team. More than this, opposition managers have worked him out long ago. Hussel him into making rash silly mistakes. These kind of actions cost us games.
Surely if you have a pair of eyes you saw the stupid tackle he made against the enemy inside our box, I wouldn’t mind if this was a one off, but he keeps doing it time after time after time.
I would’nt expect one of my Sunday team players make such a tackle, let alone a premiership player.
I’m hoping we can move him on this next transfer window and replace him with a TQ midfielder we desperately need.
Morning Adam, me too. Today’s game is all about power and pace. He has neither really.
Vcc, i really can’t understand what it is Emery sees in him. For a supposed intelligent and proactive manager, he gets the Xhaka thing all wrong in my opinion.
Morning all.
Xhaka will be happy when Ozil or Mustafi are back playing lol
Scott,
Imo your 4.10am comment is right on.
Cheers Reg.
I get one thing right per season so it’s a long wait til my next one hahahaha
So according to Mkhitarayan he didn’t get any pleasure from the end of his time at Arsenal – no shit Sherlock… Nor did the fans who subsidised your inflated salary.
Now, go and have a fantastic season at Roma so that they want to sign you permanently next summer, maybe in January?
These guys are just deluded, he probably thinks he’s world class.
https://www.goal.com/en-gb/amp/news/there-is-no-bullsht-with-him-inside-raul-sanllehis-arsenal/3wmvswhrbrt41580lp5ksa6dc?__twitter_impression=true
Hiya Kev,
Raul is a genius negotiator.
To bring in the players he did on such a limited budget was ridiculously impressive.
Let’s hope he’s at the club a long, long time as he could be the difference maker.
Hi Scott
Yeah, after a slow start Raul has had a stellar summer, not just him though, all the staff concerned with transfers have performed. Now we have to go out and show a similar improvement on the pitch.
I get the feeling, from the outside of course, that Edu, Raul and co are not the sort to let things drift, if they don’t see Emery as the man to take us forward they won’t mess about, they’ll act.
After taking only 1 point from Liverpool and Tottenham there will be a lot of pressure on Emery to get a win at Watford. Never mind the new manager scenario, we need to get back on track asap, so in some respects the Watford game is a bigger game for Emery than the previous two where he was given some latitude. These are the teams that you need to put away if you have any thoughts of eventually challenging the top two.
Yes mate, wins need to start coming thick and fast starting this week.
Hi all.
New post up now