Morning all.
Absolute poppycock or mere truth, I don’t know but we’ll find out before kickoff when Solskjaer announces his team for tonight’s fixture. Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford are reportedly ‘likely’ to miss this match. As might Paul Pogba and Luke Shaw. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see all start, neither should Unai Emery. It’s the oldest trick in the book which no manager should be fooled by these days.
Our injury list is simple. Two out, Lacazette and Smith Rowe. In a couple of weeks time, both should be back.
This is a big fixture for Arsenal, for both clubs really but I don’t give a toot about them. Unai Emery made a bold statement by not only naming under fire Granit Xhaka as club captain, but by singing his praises too.
“I trust and believe in him and he is a good man, a good professional and a good player. Sometimes he has made a mistake, yes, but the most important thing is to analyse, to learn and to correct that in the future.
“His challenge, and our challenge, is to change that opinion and above all, show personality and improve in each match and give us his help every time. The first match is on Monday at Manchester United.”
Granit Xhaka is simply not my cup of tea and I’m sure that’s clear by now, however if his game improves and his leadership skills which Borussia Mönchengladbach and the Swiss national team saw/see in him suddenly become apparent then yes, I’ll be as thrilled as anyone. Bugger his leadership qualities, I’d just be pleased to see him cut out the mistakes in his game and work harder at looking after our defence. But that’s an issue to be resolved by more than just Granit Xhaka. First and foremost, by Unai Emery as he’s the coach and he should by now have turned our defensive unit into a far more organised one.
If Unai Emery and the squad he has available to him can’t muster up a victory against one of the worst Utd teams the Premier League has seen, serious conversations need to be had at board level.
Having Kieran Tierney and Rob Holding available again is a huge boost to our back line. Hector Bellerin played 90 minutes for the under 23’s on Saturday so it’s unlikely he’ll be on the bus to Manchester. Maybe we’ll see Torreira start this one too. I certainly hope so. Just as I hope to see us get at Utd from the off. Get under their skins early and put their dodgy defence under pressure. Don’t give them time on the ball either in fact don’t give their players time to think about a pass let alone make one. Be strong and decisive in midfield and defence and when danger lurks, opt for row z instead of trying to be clever.
KISS! Keep it simple stupid!
Regardless of whether or not Utd have their reported injured available tonight, this is possibly one of the worst performing teams they’ve had in years. Compare the two squads and I’d say ours is the better by far. Other than an in form Pogba, I can’t think of any of their players who’d improve our team. Not saying Rashford and Martial aren’t very good players but I just don’t think they’re any better than who we have. I know, this is when you guys tell me we could do with Maguire and perhaps we could but until our midfield is organised, even Tony Adams or Sol Campbell would struggle.
Ironically, it was last years trip to Old Trafford which ended Rob Holding’s season. It would be even more ironic if tonight he gets revenge. Not of course by ending a Utd players season but by having a major impact on us coming away from Manchester for the first time in ages with three points secured. Maybe with Xhaka’s left boot scoring the winner.
This is a big game as far as the top four battle goes, even this early in the season. A ‘six pointer’ is the expression often heard. It’s not of course, it’s just three to whoever wins but with Leicester City looking like a club who could seriously challenge for a Champions League place, these three points are much needed for us.
Unai Emery needs to make a statement, as does Granit Xhaka. One needs to lead with his team selection, his tactics and his motivational skills. The other to prove he’s worthy of the captains armband, to lead by example in the way he plays and by the way he supports the players during the game. He’s not Tony Adams, nor is he Patrick Vieira as there will only ever be one of each. He’s Granit Xhaka, Arsenal captain and now he has to prove he’s worth it.
Same goes for the rest of players. After all, they voted for him apparently.
Confident?
I’ll give you my answer around 10pm tonight….. LOL
Catch up in the comments guys.
Thanks for the post Rico, yep, Pogba, Martial and Rashford will play, the oldest trick in the book, you’d have to be pretty dumb to be taken in and if don’t start then so what?
Just plan your team and tactics around them starting and make adjustments if they don’t!
Toilet is a jinx ground, we seem to save our worst performances for there, our players have so many bad memories about the place and can’t seem to shake them off.
I’d take a draw now if you offered it, because you can bet that the crowd at the Toilet will be reinvigorated by the sight of our players and their players will discover an extra spring in their step on the evening.
Emery and his players need to deal with the psychological issues of that dump because we’re a much better team than them, which I guess tells you how sh*t they are!
I’d start Torrieira but El Genius won’t, but a midfield 4 for me, make sure we take something from that slag heep…
We shouldn’t e drawing up there tonight Kev, the right team and attitude should win. However, what kind of performance this team serves up is anyone’s guess. 442 for me, with Martinelli on the bench..
Morning Rico and all. It’s difficult to understate the importance of tonight’s game for Emery. It’s only 3 points for sure but he really does have a chance to give his many doubters pause for thought. Man Utd’s form is erratic to say the least, but can Unai get the balance of the team right and send them out with enough confidence to actually beat this ghastly club on their own ground? We know that he is, by nature, a cautious coach but is he actually up to it at this level? Can he put all the early-season silliness behind him and forge a win to give our season a kickstart?
If he wins then that might well gain him more support from the fans and confidence in himself and the team. But, if he loses, then it will be a sure sign to the board that they are going to need to act unless they want next season in the Europa league too.
This is certainly not just another game.
Morning Adam, like you, I think this match tonight is a big one and will certainly answer a few questions running through my mind right now.
Good afternoon all.
A little harsh on Emery there Rico. Quote “But that’s an issue to be resolved by more than just Granit Xhaka. First and foremost, by Unai Emery as he’s the coach and he should by now have turned our defensive unit into a far more organised one”.
A look at the list of defenders injured, departed, not available or just not good enough in his time at Arsenal offers a fair reason to partially exonerate him from that particular charge.
Bellerin, Holding and Mavropanos injured long term. Koscielny never fully fit, did he ever start and complete a game last season? Now departed. Chambers and Jenkinson out on loan last season with the latter now departed along with Monreal.
Mustafi went through a terrible period last season and should, by common consent, have been sold, loaned out or simply discarded.
The replacements signed, Lichtsteiner, particularly, and Sokratis were obviously intended as short term stop-gaps. Lichtsteiner was such a poor signing that, even though Bellerin has not yet fully recovered from his injury, he was released at the end of his loan period thus leaving just Maitland-Niles, an inexperienced midfielder to fill in at right back. The jury is still out on the worth of the other replacement, Luiz.
So far this season Emery has rarely, if ever, been able to select the same back four in consecutive games.
The return of Chambers to the squad and the imminent return of Bellerin and Holding along with new signing Tierney offer some degree of hope for a more stable and better organised defence in the coming weeks and months.
It’s odd, but I hardly ever give Mavropanos a thought, yet when he first joined and played we were all quite enthusiastic about him becoming a big player for us…
Since then he’s been superseded by Holding, Chambers to a degree, Sokratis, Luiz and eventually Saliba.
Now wouldn’t it be cool if he got a few cup games under his belt and started to look handy?
Zech Medley was another who looked promising Kev, I think Rico was quite enthusiastic about him at one time, but haven’t heard much about him lately.
Yeah Rico, you’re quite right, given the quality in both squads and their current states we should be going up there and getting a comfortable 2-0 win, but this is Arsenal as we are now and as we have been for over a dozen years.
There is still a thread of mental fragility about many of our players and that worries me in games like these.
We’ve seen too many collapses at places like Stoke and Liverpool and Southampton in recent years, more akin to a batting collapse by England than an over my dead body attitude from Arsenal teams of the past with a few rugged English defenders in there. Hopefully we’ll see that bloody mindedness return with the likes of Tierney, Holding, Chambers and Spanish cockney Hector…
With Medley I think it’s a physical thing Cicero, the rest of his physique needs to catch up with the growth spurts. Once he fills out a bit I reckon he’ll be ok and Daniel Ballard isn’t a bad player, he seems to have a strong mentality, a determination to make the grade, a bit like Pat Rice so to speak…
Hi all, kev, I really like your analogy ( hope thats the right word) of bloody mindedness. Our back line of late has been more chaos and desperation.
I`m worried about Sokratis especially, he`s so unpredictable and can`t keep his hands of people. I can see us giving them a penalty.
He could throw himself on the floor clutching his face if someone treads on his toe though!
Hi Mike, Adam is our wordsmith on here, if I’m not sure I always ask him. 😉
Yeah, the crowd at the Toilet is still good at winning pens and with Dean on VAR, that is a big worry…
And with the puppet master Mike Riley hovering in the background, anything can happen – to us…
I don’t think so Cicero, teams with ‘lesser’ midfield/defensive players defend better than us..
Funny you should say that about the mental frailty Kev because this time last season, you, i and others too noticed a more determined and dogged approach from the team. I wonder where that’s gone. Could it that the honeymoon is well and truly over and the players don’t believe in Emery…
Yeah Kev, Lets hope we don`t let Riley get involved at all ! I can`t enjoy watching these days until we are at least 3 up. But even though my stomach is already churning I`m thinking positive tonight.
He’ll be involved alright Mike, with Friend with the whistle and Dean on the camera, he’s had his input. We just have to be smart and give them nothing to do.
Surely we must aim to keep 11 men on the pitch and not concede a penalty. That’d be a good start.
Or a miracle…
Torreira and Chambers start in place of AMN and Ceballos.
Pogba and Rashford both start…
Why am I not surprised.
Arsenal team: Leno, Chambers, Sokratis, David Luiz, Kolasinac, Guendouzi, Xhaka, Torreira, Pepe, Aubameyang, Saka.
Subs: Martinez, Maitland-Niles, Holding, Ceballos, Willock, Nelson, Martinelli.
Double standard officiating again.
It’s so Chambers can be off next foul rico. Linguard? England player.
Indeed Andrew.
So our captain ducks out of a shot and they score… embarrassing
Captain fantastic ducked it
The referees are biased and terrible!
MU would normally have at least twice as many yellow cards as Arsenal!
Lucky Kolasinac there.
Excellent VAR. 😆
This is when Chambers needs to be careful because Friend won’t hesitate to give Utd an advantage imo.
And no gung ho football or we’ll get clobbered on the break…
That must have hurt Dean
Get Pepe off
Thought we might have seen Martinelli come on for Pepe..
Odd game but I think we missed a huge opportunity tonight. On another night with a different, honest referee, Utd would have been down to nine..
So poor both teams. 9 points behind! Only positive Guendouzi, make him captain, and Chambers.
Last kick of the game ,a perfect chance to shoot and give de gea something to do ,so we cross it to the near post . If ever it called for Xhaka’s left foot and the chance to be a hero.
Pepe was absolutely terrible, saka is the one who looks like 70m.
If I’m honest I’m happy with a point because we usually get tanked up there. But that was a disappointing performance..
I said exactly the same here indoors Potter. Xhaka’s left foot, a glancing header and three points.
Our set pieces were dreadful tonight.
Pepe has been a disappointment so far Kel, but he needs a bit of time I guess. Second half of the season I hope we see a lot more of what he can do.
Guendouzi was very good, Chambers very mature after his booking and played well too.
Saka better than Pepe. Guanduzi better than Pogba. What’s going on?
A one all draw at Old Toilet? That’s progress.
Mike Dean left the VAR studio on crutches, he kicked himself so hard after awarding Arsenal a goal that he couldn’t walk unaided. 😉
The so called Elite Group that officiate in The Premiership are a bunch of incompetent morons, is it time to bring in referees from Europe?
I reckon Pogba was either injured or seriously wants out of Utd…
We must surely hope that Pepe is better than we are seeing.
I`m sorry everyone but that was dreadful ! If we can`t beat that United team we are in trouble. Why didn`t he take Pepe off sooner ? He was shocking. I Really like Guendouzi but I`ve said it before he is slow, and with Xhaka it doesn`t work.
Morning all,
I caught the last half hour or so, and all I’ll say is Liverpool and City are so far beyond us and Utd, it’s quite scary.
Some of our young guys offer us hope but then, if things don’t change quickly, I honestly think Auba will go and that could start a chain reaction.
I hope I’m wrong, but really, he is too good for us at this point in time.
Oh, and it’s an undeniable fact that since Xhaka was made skipper, we remain unbeaten so leave him alone 🙂 🙂
Sad to say, Pepe reminded me a bit of some of Gerv the swerves contributions, or even the magnificence that was Glenn Helder. He needs to improve and adapt to the EPL quickly otherwise he’ll be warming the bench whilst watching some of our youngsters outshine him.
I was not much impressed by tonight’s game. Until our players recognise their team mates and manage to pass to them consistently we ain’t never going to improve. Our passing is woeful as is our running off the ball and supporting or making themselves available to accept a pass drilled to them at speed. And those are just for starters!
Is it the coaching or are the players, good though they seem to be, just not goose enough?
Goose = good
Wavy, I do think we have a damn talented squad, but they’re also a bit of a rabble atm.
There is also a lack of consistency in the starting 11 which could be something Emery needs to look at.
It can’t help with team cohesion so maybe he needs to select what he thinks is the best 11 available and give them a string of games.
Maybe it’s time to take Pepe out of the firing line, put him on the bench for a few games before the fans turn on him. Emery should go with the kids…
Saka on one flank with either Martinelli or Nelson on the other for a spell and bring Pepe on from the bench as an impact sub, it’s still early days for him and acclimatising to the EPL and England.
I have to say that Pepe looks like £72 million down the toilet 🚽 very disappointing.
Gee, some of our best ever players would never have succeeded if we flicked them this early.
How many games as he played guys?
Very, very early days so Kev, I’m with you-ease off with him and give the guy time.
The talent is there.
New post up now.