Morning all.
Away at Chelsea, always a tough place to go and a place we seldom come away from with much. Yesterday was no exception.
Right now it seems arsenal are stuck on pause. Defending is calamitous, our finishing is really poor and although we lost, once again we’re scratching our heads wondering how. With Man City, there was often the feeling inside me that they could step up a gear if needed and possibly would have had needed to we taken our chances in front of goal but yesterday evening, even at 2-0 down, opportunities to come back presented themselves.
Trailing 2-0 was down to the defending which was woeful at times, awful at others. Bellerin was being got at and he losing the battle big time. I was losing the will to live watching him. Mkhitaryan did bugger all to help him. Poor. Ozil, yet again a passenger for most of the game and meanwhile Xhaka should have done enough to prove his best position is on the left. By that I mean on the left in the changing rooms list. Iwobi at least tried but again, not enough work done on the defensive side of the game. How the heck are we going to improve if these players continue to solely focus on the attacking side of our game?
Talking of which, what has gone wrong with Aubameyang so far this season? I lost count of many sitters came his way, sitters which he blasted over the bar or just wide. Mkhitaryan missed a sitter too although he did manage to find the back of the net once, as did Iwobi and two fine strikes they were too but I’d not be exaggerating to suggest we could so easily have won the match about 7 – 4. Yes Chelsea had most of the possession as you’d expect them to at home but during a period just before halftime we could, no should, have been in front.
The home team took the lead, Aubameyang blasted high over the bar when it looked an easy finish and before we knew it, we were 2-0 down. Dreadful, certainly from Mustafi who just had the task of preventing Morata from turning him. Push him out right and we’d be safe as Guendouzi did later in the game but no, he let the Spaniard in and the rest is history. All from a long ball over the top played by Azpilicueta.
As said, we had a decent spell before the break and we were really putting Chelsea under pressure. Mkhitaryan nabbed one back with one of his few positive moves in the game before Iwobi, after setting up our first, struck home our second. This time it was the Armenian who provided the assist. 2-2 and game on, although we should have been in the lead by that stage. We were creating opportunities thanks to some really good build up play which Chelsea couldn’t deal with.
The second half was certainly less frenetic than the first and as much as Chelsea dominated, we were hanging on for a draw. Hazard was up to his old tricks and easily conned a free kick from a really good tackle which saw him drop to the ground, then a bit later, Lacazette lost possession of the ball all too easily, didn’t bother to do much about it and the rest, well you know. 3-2 and game over.
Cech kept the score down with a few good saves but his and the teams passing out from the back needs some serious work doing on it. Leno must be chomping at the bit for his chance. Torreira got another 45 minutes under his belt so hopefully he’ll soon be in the starting eleven rather than on the bench meaning Xhaka will drop out hopefully. I’ve see enough of the latter to last a lifetime I think. Ramsey offered more than Ozil had all game after coming from the bench and was unlucky not to grab a very late equaliser. The other change was Iwobi for Lacazette.
The defending was awful at times, but then so was our finishing. If by chance both can improve, then we might actually win a game.
Despite losing both of our opening matches, Unai Emery said after the game that he remained calm. He acknowledged there’s a lot of work to be done in many areas.
I’d never have guessed that…
Morning all and thanks Rico.
As most are rightly saying, it`s two games against two of the best and I for one did not expect a point from either !.
I spoke to a friend yesterday who went to the first game and asked him if it looked like anything had changed and he said , no !………………..just from highlights I have seen I dont agree, yes, we lost to two we rarely beat so that hasn`t changed, but the passing from the back as highlighted from our second goal is definately change to me, whether that style of football will take us to a new level I dont know as only time will tell !……………….do we press like `pool, spuds and City ?……….we`ll see !
Next one West Ham, now there is a game I expect nothing less than 3 points, but will the pressure of being a relegation threatened team hinder us ? 😆
This is what make`s Pep the best manager, bet Wenger never had this passion . 😆
https://twitter.com/JonnyGabriel/status/1030757602328604673?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1030757602328604673&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Farsenalarsenal.net%2F2018%2F08%2F19%2Fshambolic-mesmerising-perplexing-take-your-pick-chelsea-ratings%2F
So two games in and we are where most of us thought we might be . On a positive note that’s two of the really difficult games out of the way so perhaps we will see more of the Emery system against shall we say lesser opposition.
We now have a fair assesment of where we stand , not as good as City and on a par with Chelsea Our next 3 games are West Ham , Cardiff and Newcastle and theirs are Newcastle , Bournemouth and Cardiff after that similarity we will have a better guide of where we might finish.
I didn’t expect much from the two openers but now we need to kick on and if that means letting some of our senior players be shown that their places are not guaranteed then so be it.
Shaddup LC 🙂
Hello all.
A new season, and plenty to look forward to, imo.
I read a comment a few days back that said AKB’s would be happy we lost v Citeh and I agree, some would, but whatever their label, they’re not Arsenal supporters.
I’ve also read idiots (not on here) already suggesting Emery is not good enough but gee, that’s ridiculously harsh after 1-2 games.
Wenger is gone, so I believe everyone should move on, and throw 100% support behind Emery as we have a tough season ahead of us.
Emery is a damn good manager and will serve us will, I reckon.
Rico, thank you.
Morning Rico. As you know, I was just about to stop watching at 2-0. But, like a roadside accident I couldn’t stop myself. The early parts of the game were appalling from our point of view and I could see another 6-0 in the offing. But, we fought back and quite how we missed those three sitters I will never know.
They had Hazzard on the bench which proved a game-changer. We don’t have such a player. He is a great footballer but a quite revolting cheat. When was the last time he played against us without conning the referee into giving foul after foul. The way that little shithead can contort his face into a grimace of pain while sailing through the air only to lie crumpled on the ground is nauseating, especially when he’s had the ball fairly taken from him. He’s a really detestable man but a brilliant player.
From this range I can’t see Ozil, Xhaka and a couple of others having much future at the club and I hope that Emery demands funds for a couple of proper defenders in January.
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Good morning Rico and others.
As I said after the game, we could be sitting comfortably on six points had we taken the chances offered in front of goal. It’s not just Aubameyang, who has wasted nine in two games, but the malaise had spread throughout the team.
In the two games played so far we have had 27, yes twenty-seven, attempts on goal (City 12, Chelsea 15) and scored just twice.
It’s not just the defence that needs to improve.
Morning Adam, Cicero and all.
That period before half-time was enough to give me hope that better things are around the corner. The chances we created were after some really really good build up play. No panic passing just precision passing. The playing out from the back is clearly a work in progress and I hope we get there soon. Is Leno not the better option for playing that way though? Saying that, Cech made some really good saves again.
Guendozi – well it’s hard to believe he’s only 19 years old.
Adam, very true re Hazard, horrid little cheat but he made all the difference..
Welcome back Scott , hang around a bit now that the Wenger thing is behind us , and you are right Emery needs all the help he can get.
We have a number of players that are looking quite lost without their father figure and a number that frankly are back up quality rather than full on first teamers. Emery now has to work on them and get the best he can and perhaps the need to promote some of the youngsters might be productive for the future.
The unfortunate injury ( thanks a bunch Walker ) to Maitland |Niles has slowed down the progress of one that was making a career breakthrough and one has to ask whether Nketiah would have missed those chances 6 yards out yesterday .
The problem is that against West Ham we need the points so how experimental can he afford to be.
Ozil should be our Hazard but he’s just not doing enough imo.
I’d be tempted to leave him out and give Ramsey the free role, he gives us more and different imo.
Xhaka needs selling, dropping, whatever..
That’s ok Scott, it’s up to you now.
Good point re Eddie Potter, Lacazette might have taken one or two of them too but perhaps a lot is down to pressure. The more they miss, as they did against City and again yesterday, the worse it gets.
I’m extremely confident we will win our next 4 games and be back on track.
1-2 v Citeh and 2-3 v Chelski aren’t a total tragedy all things considered.
On paper, it was either a great start or a horrendous one, depending on the results, and it’s turned out a horrendous one, but we move on.
I’ve said for several years I’ll supoort whoever our manager is as long as I believe he’s giving his best-that also goes for players-and I’m behind Emery 100%.
No point comparing him to Wenger, Graham, Pep or anyone else as he is Emery, and he is our man.
I really do think he will succeed, but it’ll take time.
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It seems that as Emery has decided to go with a traditional back four and Nacho is fit to play in his best position, left back, Lichtsteiner must replace Bellerin on the right. Bellerin is just not good enough at his primary role, defending and Mkhitaryan is no help to him whatsoever. I would hope that Nelson could be given a chance on the right in place of him.
He does need time Scott, along with a bit more money next summer..
For sure, Rico.
At least 2 seasons, imo.
He needs to learn about the players we have, needs time to bring in a few players he wants, and our squad must learn his style of management and play.
Exciting times for us, I reckon.
Hi Potter, I’m back 🙂
Wenger is a non event now.
He’s someone we should all admire for what he brought to the club, but he’s gone, and Emery is our main man.
I know it seems funny, but after our opening two games, I’m even more more confident now that he’s the right man for the job.
The results obviously aren’t what we’d hoped for, but I reckon there’s plenty in the performances we can take positives out of.
Afternoon Gooners, hiya Digger, afternoon Rico, I’ll be very surprised if Xhaka is still an Arsenal,player this time next year.
Mkhitaryan could well be on his bike as well, very disappointed in him.
Good point Potter, AMN would be at the front of the queue to get a game alongside Guendouzi atm, with a Torrieira still adapting to his new surroundings.
I thought that a Iwobi did ok, he is still young enough to change his game to suit the new system, but I suspect a few of our more senior players need moving on.
Rico. I reckon he’ll need money in January. Defenders for me. If we hadn’t shipped these recent silly goals things might have been different.
Bloody spellchecker, every time I type a name it put ‘a’ in front of it, so Iwobi becomes a Iwobi, poxy nuisance….
Adam, Emery needs to be bringing in some radically different player types to what we’ve presently have, I really struggle to see the likes of Ozil, Mkhitaryan, Ramsey, Xhaka, Aubameyang and Lacazette adapting long term. As for defenders, I’m hopeful that Mavropanos will get some opportunities this season as I see Sokratis as a short term solution and the young Greek has some interesting qualities.
There could be internal solutions at the club in Nelson, Smith Rowe and Nketiah, but yes Adam, serious money needs to be spent on defenders.
Hiya Kev.
Xhaka has had enough time to adjust to the speed of the PL, and hasn’t.
He’s one of many that could potentially leave, but how many should we release and replace at the one time?
Lots will depend on how some of these guys perform before January.
Ozil, who I still think is a superb player given the right circumstances, is one we could be stuck with now, due to 300k a week lol
After selling Alexis, Wenger was in a no win situation as if he’d also lost Mesut, he’d have been crucified, so had to pay what the player wanted.
Same situation he was left in when we upgraded Theo a few years back.
Afternoon Kev. I thought we’d got a good deal with Mkhitaryan but now I can see why Utd let him go. Shame we didn’t push harder for Martial because apparently he wanted to swap.
Me too re Xhaka.
Defenders for me too Adam. I’m not sure if Chambers wouldn’t have done better than Mustafi yesterday and last week.
I’d bet money Mavropanos or Holding would’ve done better than Mustafi.
That was really disappointing.
They’ve all had it too easy for to long imo..
Long term yes Scott, short term, painful times.. lol
Scott, it also depends on how much Emery has to spend and what bargains Mislintat can dig up?
I’d sell Xhaka next summer and replace him with Rabiot.
We know that Kroenke won’t give Unai any extra funds so it all depends on what Emery can raise in sales and unfortunately we don’t have anyone to sell for a £100m. I’m sure that Emery would have loved to have signed N’Zonzi but obviously no extra money was made available by the owner. In fact all I’m hearing is that we have to reduce the wage bill.
The club have, IMO, handled the Ramsey scenario like amateurs.
That is a major fcuk up and will damage next summers transfer business, it really has to be sorted this January otherwise someone should lose their job!
We have players on huge salaries with no sell on value and that’s going to hamstring Emery and that’s a hangover from the previous incumbent.
I’m with you Rico, Mkhitaryan has been seriously underwhelming this season but I’m not sure ManU would have given us Martial.
I guess it was Wenger’s call on who we got in exchange and he already had a Lacazette and Aubameyang.
But yes, more poor decision making on the transfer front.
Exactly Rico, playing for Arsenal over the last few years has been easy money.
Nobody has to accept responsibility for poor performances as Wenger sucked it all up.
Now they have to earn their dough and their place in the side.
Wenger would never have subbed off Ozil or Xhaka at half time.
It’s as much a psychological change.
Adapt or leave?
G`day Scott, hope you aint too exhausted from your excurcions on Love Island Australia 🙂
Ozil is not our Hazard imo…………………Alexis was our Hazard and before that Peter Marinello 🙂 now we dont possess a Hazard type player !
Dick needs carressing into the position and the most help he needs is not us fans, but by Kroenke …………………financially !………………………….I can never see that happening, Dick (and anyone after him )has a hard if not impossible job imo to buy the type of player he needs on limited budgets and to take us back into contention with City !…………………………Doomy ?, yes, but I`m looking at the financial facts and just cant see anyway arouns apart from a lucky “Leicester” .
He has all the skills to be Lc..
True, Rico, but it’s not all hopeless, I reckon.
Some top class kids coming through, which will help down the track.
Kev, we are in a corner with Ramsey.
I’m sure nobody wants him to go, but we also don’t want to see it take 200k a week to keep him.
This keeps happening, and it should not.
We’re all doomed 😄
LC, I hope everyone realises the contestants on Love Island Australia were selected from those with the lowest IQ’s we had to offer.
It’s ok to watch with the volume turned down lol
It may sound like I`m more doomy than usual…………..and I am ! 🙂
Point is, I had slim hope that Uzzy might buy out Kroenke, but now Kroenke is the full owner I have adjusted my expectations from cuddly toy doomy to DEFCON 1 DOOMY ! hahaha
Same here Scott……………….IQ the same as the amount of packs on their abs !……………….I`m recording the whole series to watch after I`ve caught up on all the British versions !…………………….they are all lower than their IQ`s, both male and females, but I cant stop watching ! hahaha
Hahaha LC, I’ve gone the opposite way.
I m hoping the fact Stan is now the main man, he may have plans to spend a little, but that could be the drugs talking.
3 months off work with a crook back and I’m even more hopeful than normal 🙂 🙂
Sean has been selected for an Aussie U/12’s side so is headed to South Korea this week for a tournament.
Heads home for two weeks and then is off to The Netherlands for a tour.
Hard life, these kids have today lol
You mean LI contestants are not a true reflection of the Australian human race Scott? I’m shocked. 😉
I’m not sure they’re human at all, Rico lol
It’s incredible how just plain stupid they all are.
There’s one guy who loves himself Scott, actually, most of them do but this one is a pathological liar…
Scott. was 0-2 versus M. City.
Mourinho did not want Ozil or Mihtarian because they simply did not defend. And in this case, defending is not covering the area where they should be. It’s not be a defender. It is to contribute to the cohesion of the collective, filling the area where they should be.
Returning to the theme that I wrote yesterday: how we are defending is an authentic suicide. Uncover the lateral areas and open to the center.
We are defending man-to-man. Totally wrong. For example: nº 2 covers the nº 11 opponent. Whenever it moves, the number 2 accompanies it. But in doing so, he deposes the whole defense. Because? Just a side save will quickly clear the “hole” left by the defender (which no other player has filled …), to be comfortable to play, stand facing the game, allow all other players to move and above all, have already won the back of the Arsenal defense. This often provides 3×3, 4×4, 4×5, etc. Our players are what they are, but if we do not defend collectively, it’s all wrong. We’re going to have a lot of problems.
The problem is not Mustafi, or Hollding or Xhaxa. The problem is that the forward drags the defender, who goes behind him and opens a clearing in the back where he should be. It is not always having at least one player between the ball and the opponent. . Can not anyone tell this to the coach?
The second mistake, before the players we have is this: making a high pressure is very productive but if we have players who know how to do it, who want to do it and especially, have recovered quickly to their positions. What happens is that we do it in an offhand way, we do not recover and we allow the opposing team to quickly face the game and in numerical advantage. The guilt goes back to the defenses and Xaxa or Gendouzi, who is not true.
Third mistake: what is the idea of begin the game on the sidelines between the big area and the final line? The two players in the back half are the ones who have to start the game and preferably in the middle.
If we change these 3 aspects, we might get between the first six. Otherwise, we struggled not to be relegated.
As for winning the League, before August 20 is already lost.
Great news about the boy, Scott and hope your back is better !……………………………..dont say anymore about Ozzie Luv Island as I`m recording it !…………………mind you all the series`s I`m watching are all basically the same, just different narcissist`s.
No idea what Joaquim said there, but impressive tactical mind bending drug stuff ! 😆
That was an impressive win at Burnley by Watford.
Brighton weren’t bad either 😅
I just awoke to the news Utd were touched up-how goods that???
I can’t give away what happens in LI guys as I only saw it for 5 minutes 🙂
Cheers LC, the boys going well.
He’s suddenly found a few yard space and someone had the bright idea of throwing up front, and he’s scoring for fun at this stage.
Long way to go, but he’s working hard and loving life.
JM, I don’t know enough about Emery’s past to make a call on whether he can sort out iur defence or not, but he’d better lol
Definitely in no mood to criticize Emery at this stage, ridiculous to do so i.m.o. We,re just gonna have to sit tight, be patient,
It does seem Emery,s levels of preparation, analysis, and organisation hasn,t been enough as yet, to change the defensive failings that are all too familiar to what he inherited from Wenger. It will take time to undo the bad habits.
The defensive start to our season has been a disappointment, Miki, Xhaka, are a worry too, also Auba,s confidence could sure do with a goal or two.
Saying all that, I do believe in Emery and want so much for him to be a success at Arsenal, I,m sure we,ll see his system in action, and the role and tactics he,ll demand from his players over the next few months, it,ll take time, unfortunately the media, don,t afford new manager,s that pleasure….
So was Man City Rico….. 😬
Kev, Citeh will waltz it in again, I reckon.
Thanks a great read. Emery should listen to these comments.
##WARNING##………this link may offend and maybe too strong for fans with a weak disposition, may also contain scenes of horror !
https://twitter.com/IwonaN14/status/1031429988808048641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1031429988808048641&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Farsenalarsenal.net%2F2018%2F08%2F20%2Ffailing-the-football-proficiency-test%2F
Morning all ! 🙂
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Good morning all.
Thank you Senhor Mourinho. By your teams totally inept performance, against newly promoted Brighton, you have given the hacks enough blood to satisfy their cravings and thus to give Unai Emery and Arsenal a few days respite.
We have all criticised our own defence but Mourinho’s centre back pairing make Mustafi and Sokratis look world class.
Thank you again Jose. Your third season in charge looks to be heading the way of your previous thirds, with the sack.
The major problem this season is the center backs… we have no player with any pace.. why did we sign the fat greek? he is no taller or quicker than mustafi . sure Sven diamond eye, must have known he was a greek carthorse.
The club is a mess , Ramsey Contract,,, dreadful transfer window, and 2 expected defeats already.. will we still be the flat track bullies of old. perhaps. but unless we get some decent pace in the middle of the defense then we will be carved open by any team that has a speedy forward. but the way morata did the defence even Glen Murray would fancy his chances in a race with our two
Morning all.
Jonathon (Dublin) sorry you were stuck in moderation, I was fast asleep 😉
Welcome Lower East.
I must admit, the signing of Sokratis is baffling me too right now.
New post up now.